Author's Note:
Hello all, I am Getsuga Goon. Welcome to the first part of my Bleach what if story/fanfiction.
This is 'What if Rukia arrived too late' or, as I like to call it, "White: A Bleach What If".
Acknowledgements: Based off the Bleach Fanfiction named "White" by Melkor's Mercy, which has not seen an update for over 3 years as of 5/13/2023. The following is my attempt at a rewrite/reimagining of this scenario to be more consistent with the canon timeline, but many ideas will be carried over.
Find the original fanfic here: s/11021904/1/White
The Author's Note on Chapter 7 goes over some general changes I have planned.
Chapter 1: Death and Rebirth
Karakura Town
In this world, there is an afterlife—multiple afterlives to be exact, which come with their fair share of spiritual beings that mortals like to call ghosts. Shinigami are the death gods known to protect and preserve the natural order involving the afterlife, a task which they have done for over a million years. Rukia Kuchiki is one such being, taking the appearance of a young raven-haired girl in a samurai outfit—which is the signature look of all Shinigami.
Rukia is currently patrolling the streets of Karakura Town, a suburb of Tokyo, per the instructions of the captain of her company, Jushiro Ukitake, having sensed strange spiritual pressure in the area. However, after about an hour of searching, she starts to get lost in thoughts about her former Vice Captain, Kaien.
"Captain Ukitake… would he really have killed Kaien?" The woman shakes her head and slaps herself mentally for getting so lost in thought while on duty. "Besides, thinking about what ifs won't change what happened. What's done is done…"
Just then, her spirit phone goes off, alarming her that an evil spirit appeared in the area. However, it's in a completely different part of town from where she is now, so she rushes towards its position, praying it doesn't harm any Humans before she gets there.
Kurosaki Clinic, Karakura Town
Ichigo Kurosaki is an orange haired high school student who is often insulted for his hair with names like 'Strawberry'. The boy has the unique ability to see ghosts, something only a handful of mortals can ever dream of doing.
Ichigo returns home late after straightening out some punks who desecrated a memorial for a Child who died recently, which greatly upset the Child's spirit. Just as he opens the front door, he is assaulted by a familiar foot to the face and is knocked on his ass.
Isshin, Ichigo's dad, starts scolding him, "You shouldn't let your guard down!"
Ichigo counters, "That's no way to welcome someone home after helping a spirit pass on!"
They continue bantering as Isshin remarks, "Just because you can see ghosts and I can't does not make you man of the house!"
Yuzu, Ichigo's younger sister, pleads, "Would you two please stop fighting?! Come over and eat dinner before it gets cold!"
This prompts her twin sister Karin to reply, "Let them fight. It means more rice for us." Karin promptly grabs more rice with her chopsticks, placing it in her bowl.
Isshin is making to punch Ichigo, which the teen plans to counter with a kick to the face. However, a chill rushes down Ichigo's spine that causes him to flinch and take the punch. Isshin celebrates his victory, while Karin, now wide eyed, asks, "Ichigo... Did you feel that too…?"
Ichigo is about to respond when a giant hand bursts through the walls of the house and grabs Karin. It's a bestial creature, the likes of which Ichigo has never seen. The force of its fist going through the wall was enough to knock Yuzu out cold, which greatly angers Ichigo. Ichigo turns to see if Isshin will help as he grabs a chair to assault the monster who dares attack his family. What he finds is panic clear on Isshin's face as he is frantically dialing a number on his phone.
Ichigo clicks his tongue, "The Authorities aren't going to make it in time! We need to save Karin NOW!" Isshin shouts to the boy to come back, but to no avail.
Ichigo moves to slam the chair into the hollow but is easily knocked back as the monster hits him with its fist. The beast sniffs the air briefly, as Karin is still shouting at it to let her go, before opening its mouth to speak, "You there! Boy. You are the delicious soul I've been looking for!"
The beast drops Karin and instead grabs Ichigo. Seeing as his family is safe, Ichigo ceases all resistance, which pleases the beast, as it declares, "I will be able to feast on this soul without interruption in Hueco Mundo!"
Regaining her bearings, Karin looks on in horror as her brother is dragged away by the beast. She's about to call out when Ichigo looks back at her, shaking his head at her to remain silent. This devastates Karin, even more so when Isshin, after getting off the phone and making sure Yuzu was ok, asks where Ichigo is.
Karin mutters, "After that monster let me go, Ichigo stopped resisting… it took him away… he's gone…"
Now it is Isshin's turn to be devastated as he curses, "I thought I taught you not to go down without a fight! Damnit!" Isshin starts to cry, "Curse this useless, powerless body!"
It's at this time that Rukia arrives. The woman quickly sizes up what happened and decides not to give up just yet. She uses a high-speed technique known as flash-step to move around the area to see if the monster—known as a hollow—is still in the living world. To her dismay, it is not. She was too late.
The Menos Forest
In the lowest depths of Hueco Mundo, otherwise known as the land of the hollows, lies the Menos Forest—a harsh, desolate place that serves as a nest for the Adjucha and Menos Hollows. Only hollows of the Adjucha class can ever hope to leave the Menos Forest, as the surface of Hueco Mundo is full of even more power Adjuchas and the legendary Vasto Lordes—the total number of which one could count with the fingers on their hands.
The minor Hollow known as Fishbone D feasts on Ichigo's soul, but suddenly begins to painfully transform into something else. Ichigo's soul is too powerful—it's dominating the consciousness of the Hollow's being. There is a bright flash of light and an explosion of reiatsu so intense that it scares away any remaining minor Hollows in the area. There stands a towering behemoth of a hollow, pitch black, save for its white mask with black tribal-like markings running down each side through the eye slits. A Gillian the likes of no other has been born.
A group of Gillians led by a Bird Adjucha approaches the new Gillian after having sensed its birth. The Adjucha declares, "You there! Yeah you, the new Gillian! This is my territory and therefore you must be subservient to me… or else die!"
The new Gillian fires a massive blast of hollow energy, known as a Cero, at the Adjucha, who takes it head on. Steaming after the blast, the Adjucha remarks, "That managed to somewhat hurt me… although you showed real back bone by defying an obviously superior being. You must be something special, it would be a waste for you to die so early on in your lifespan."
The Adjucha is silent for a moment before continuing, "We shall be partners for now. To celebrate, we all will go to the Living World and feast!"
The World of the Living
At a neighboring town to Karakura Town, the violence-hungry Captain of Squad 11, Kenpachi Zaraki, with his tiny, pink-haired sidekick, Squad 11's Vice Captain, Yachiru Kusajishi, perched on his shoulder, sits on a tree incredibly bored as this last bout of Hollows were way too weak for his liking. A distance away, Ikkaku Madarame and Yumichika Ayasegawa, Squad 11's respective 3rd and 5th seats, finally finish off the remaining Hollows after an hour of fighting, when they would normally be able to beat them in less than 5 minutes. Of course, this is Squad 11, so every battle is extended to its utmost duration, as once the fight is over, so too is the fun.
Kenpachi sighs as Yachiru remarks, "It looks like it's time to pack up and go home, Kenny…"
Kenpachi leaps off the tree, "I wish we were stationed in Karakura Town instead of that Kuchiki girl. I heard that a lot of strong spirit energy fluct—fluct… uh…"
Yachiru notices Kenpachi struggle, so helps, "Fluctuations?"
Kenpachi nods, giving his Vice Captain an appreciative look, "Yeah, those. A lot of those occur there, which means strong opponents! But instead, we are out here in the boonies!"
Just as one of the Squad members is about to call for a Hell-Butterfly, to return to the Soul Society, a rift in time-space occurs and a fleet of giant hollows rush out.
"Menos Grande?! Perfect!" Kenpachi squeals in delight as he unsheathes his sword for the first time of the night.
One after another, the Gillians are brutally cut down as Squad 11 all cherish the chance to go all out, especially their Captain who is leading the charge. This continues until Kenpachi notices two particularly strong looking Hollows in the center. An odd-looking Gillian and an… "Adjucha! Now THIS will be FUN!"
Yachiru climbs off his back and attacks a weaker Menos behind them as Kenpachi charges off towards his new prey. The Bird Adjucha doesn't even have time to fly off and avoid the strike as Kenpachi cuts straight through its Captain-level Hierro, a hollow's protective skin, like a knife through butter, removing one of its wings. The Hollow screams in pain and slashes Kenpachi across the chest with its talons, which prompts Kenpachi to get even more excited, slashing at it again, which grazes part of its mask, removing a piece of it. Kenpachi is about to deliver a fatal blow, but before he can an enormous blast of red Hollow energy rains down on him, forcing him to a knee. As he attempts to regain his bearings, a giant foot kicks him across the forest they're fighting in.
"Captain!" Ikkaku calls after cutting down another Gillian.
The Adjucha looks up in disbelief as the Gillian definitely did not have that much force in its previous Cero—wait, could that have just been its way of trying to communicate before?!
Just as fast as he was kicked away, Kenpachi comes back and is right in front of the Gillian's giant mask, about to deliver a slash right in its face, but is grabbed by its hand and thrown to the ground. The Gillian isn't done, though, as it continues by launching three ceros in succession causing the entire forest to shake from the sheer intensity of it.
Once the Gillian is finally winded, Kenpachi stands in the crater left, his Captains coat completely burned away and Shihakusho in ribbons.
He gives another one of his signature toothy grins, "Now THIS is what I'm talking about! Why can't there be more Hollows this strong! This is what I live for!"
The Adjucha, truly recognizing that this is NOT the average Shinigami Captain, shouts to the Gillian, "Run, you fool! Leave me behind or else you'll die!"
The Gillian grabs the grounded Adjucha gently and utters a single word, "Protect".
This truly causes everyone present, most of all the Adjucha, to gasp in surprise, as a speaking Gillian is completely unheard of. However, the Adjucha opens another rift, known as a Garganta, for the two of them to escape before the Gillian can protest further. Kenpachi leaps towards them, attempting to reach them before the portal closes, but just as he is within arms reach the Garganta shuts in his face.
"Damn…" Kenpachi laments for a moment.
Yachiru walks over, "I hope that Gillian is stronger next time we see it, don't you Kenny?"
This causes Kenpachi to grin, "Yeah."
The Menos Forest
Once more in the depths of the Menos Forest, the Gillian is confused and slightly irritated as it thought it was going to keep fighting that strong opponent. Its attention is grabbed by its wounded Adjucha companion calling for it to… feast upon his remains? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Is the message it gets across by intensely flaring up its reiatsu, however, the Adjucha continues, "You truly have the potential to become the strongest of all Hollows… should you evolve into a Vasto Lorde. To do so, you must feast on me."
The Gillian is still rejecting the idea as the Adjucha follows up, "That's the way things are in Hueco Mundo—the strong prey on the weak. If you don't like that, you will need to become strong to change things…"
The Adjucha wheezes before continuing, "I have a feeling, that you are the one we've all been waiting for—a king whose strength is only matched by his compassion—his… heart."
The Adjucha chuckles at the irony as Hollows have lost their heart but this is lost on the Gillian who seems to still be registering his words. The Adjucha now yells at the Gillian, "Devour me now! If you don't, someone else will!"
The Gillian finally decides to eat its companion. Feeling a surge of energy and a greater feeling of emptiness than before, the Gillian realizes that it is hungry for others of its kind, so feasts on any other Gillian it can find in the area until it glows again the same way it did when it was born. Left in its wake is a not quite so massive winged Adjucha, not unlike Western depictions of dragons. A long orange mane flows out from behind its mask all the way to the tip of its tail and from the mask there are two, sharp long horns protruding from each side. The pattern on its mask has remained the same as it was as a Gillian. The beast roars as, despite this transformation, it has not had anywhere near enough to sate its hunger. So, the beast takes to the sky, praying upon any Hollow it can sink its teeth into.