Universe: Bleach

Parings: None!

Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Adventure

Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo

Warnings: Some Spoilers for Fade to Black, Mild Swearing and Violence.

Author's Note:

Damn it! At this rate I'm never going to get to the middle of the movie! I thought for sure I would get Rukia at least into Rukongai this chapter but nope...Renji and Byakuya took too long thinking!

God I've been so busy recently guys! I'm trying to get this done as soon as I can so I can put all my attention on GS but at the moment my drawings are gaining my attention more than my stories!

Every time I finish 1, 2 more suddenly pop up in my head! It's annoying! Especially since I've planned on going through some of my old pictures and re-doing them. I live to torture myself -_-.

Anyway! Please enjoy guys and if you have time give me feedback! ^_^

Fade to Black: Memories of the Black Sun

Part V

South Rukongai: District 78; Inuzuri

Morning came quickly and soon a light fog had settled over South Rukongai as the residents slowly awoke from their drunken sleeps.

Ichigo sat perched on the roof of the hut he had been staying in with his legs pulled close to his chest to try and keep warm; he sighed buried his face into his arms.

His sleep had been anything but peaceful; he had dreamt of a woman screaming his name and also an old man asking why he wasn't calling his name.

He didn't know what was going on; his mind was a huge mess and his memories were in complete scrambles. Ichigo was honestly surprised he even remembered his name let alone other things like his age, birthday and even his favourite food.

"Damn it." He cursed quietly as he raised his head once again and allowed his eyes to look down at the light blue sleeves of the haori he was wearing.

"Then I made the right decision making this then." She suddenly said before she stood up and walked back into the hut; Ichigo blinked in confusion as he turned around slightly.

"Making what?" Ichigo called after her before she walked back towards him with a small brown package in her hands.

"Here." She stated as she dropped it into Ichigo's lap; he blinked at in confusion and picked it up slowly; feeling that it was something soft through the paper.

"Well just don't stare at it. Open it!" The old woman ordered sharply and Ichigo nodded before tearing off the paper only for his eyes to widen in shock.

He slowly stood up and allowed the bundle of cloth to unravel to reveal it was a long sleeved haori; it was sky blue in colour and it was tinted white around on the ends of the sleeves and also the hood.

"I-It's amazing..." Ichigo whispered as he rubbed the fabric between his fingers only to realise it was made of pure silk; he swallowed as he looked at the Old Woman in shock.

"I-I can't accept this...!" Ichigo objected but she merely waved him off with another snort.

"Don't be stupid boy. I'm not going to sell the damn thing, it was made for you! So stop standing there and try it on." She ordered and Ichigo nodded silently before he slipped his hands into the Haori's sleeves and slowly pulled it on.

Ichigo flinched as a sharp pain invaded his head from the sudden memory and quickly closed his eyes; at least he knew Kazuki was telling the truth when he explained that Ichigo had received the haori as a gift from an old woman.

He still couldn't throw of the horrible feeling of unease that had been plaguing him since he woke up in the cabin though.

"Ichii?" Hoshi's voice called softly breaking Ichigo from his thoughts; he looked behind him in confusion to see the girl hesitating on the top of the roof with a blanket clutched in her hands.

"Do you mind, if I join you?" She asked and grinned when Ichigo silently patted the space beside him; she easily walked to him before she crouched down, making sure to place a hand on the roof to steady herself.

Hoshi looked over at Ichigo as the boy turned to look back out to South Rukongai and she couldn't help but admire the way he looked in the Haori; she always liked how well it fit him and she was glad he was wearing it again. She didn't like the fact he had the hood up though, hiding his brown eyes from view but she knew that was simply because it was so cold.

"Ichii...Is something wrong?" Hoshi finally questioned after sitting beside him silently for a few seconds; she watched as Ichigo sighed sadly before lifting his hand to look at the palm of it.

"It's just, even though this place is familiar to me I don't have the sense of calmness that usual comes with home; I don't understand it but I feel like I'm missing something. Something that's a part of me." Ichigo explained quietly and Hoshi bit her lip in worry; she didn't understand much about the way Shinigami work but she did know they had very strong connections with their swords.

Their swords, or Zanpakutos as Ichigo told her they were called, were basically extension of their souls; spirit beings born inside the Shinigami to help them fight in battle. If Hoshi had to guess, she would say the feeling Ichigo was experiencing was from having his Zanpakuto blocked from him.

"Ichii..." Hoshi whispered sadly as she leaned forward and rested her forehead on his shoulder; for the first time since she thought of this plan, she wondered if they had made the right choice. Ichigo didn't remember their names, hell he barely remembers them! To top it off the lost feelings he was having were never going to go away, unless he gained back his Shinigami powers and Hoshi couldn't let that happen.

"You were waiting for me for such a long time weren't you; waiting for the name that I gave you back then?" Ichigo suddenly whispered and Hoshi slowly raised her eyes to see him smiling from underneath his hood; her eyes with filled with tears as she caught sight of the lingering sadness even as he smiled.

"Don't worry. I promise I will remember your names." Ichigo swore and Hoshi sniffed before grinning widely; she pushed all her doubts to the back of her mind as she remembered the reason why she was doing this in the first place.

Ichigo was the only person she had left and even if he forgot everything she would still want him to protect to her. It was at simple that.

Suddenly the sun broke through the fog causing Ichigo to look back out to South Rukongai; his eyes widened as he caught sight of an open cliff covered in grass and red poppies.

"Ichii?" Hoshi whispered in confusion as Ichigo suddenly stood to his feet staring at the cliff in the distance.

"I..."

"Come on, Ichii!" Hoshi cried out as she kept pulling on Ichigo's hand to make him go faster; Ichigo smirked as he stumbled along after her.

"I can't go any faster, -." Ichigo called out but the little girl kept pulling his arm, Kazuki laughed as he ran a little ahead of the two.

"Where are we going anyway?" Ichigo asked as he picked Kazuki up and placed him on his shoulders.

"Up there!" Hoshi cried out as she pointed up ahead; Ichigo blinked as he saw a hill up ahead.

"It's called the Castle Ruins." Hoshi explained as the two of the walked and Kazuki giggled slightly as he threaded his fingers through Ichigo's bright hair.

"It's our favourite spot to play in and now we're going to show Ichigo!" Kazuki cried out happily; Ichigo winced slightly as the young boy tugged too hard on his hair.

"Ow! Be careful -. I like my hair better on my head than in your hand." Ichigo stated playfully and Kazuki petted Ichigo's orange hair as an apology.

"I remember that cliff." Ichigo whispered in shock before the wind blew strongly pushing down his hood revealing his bright orange hair; Hoshi slowly stood to her feet as she stared at Ichigo's form in worry.

"Ichii..."

Seireitei- 4th Division

Renji hissed as he forced himself to sit up from the bunk he had been placed on; his mind was rolling trying to work out what had happened the night before.

'What on earth is going on?' He thought to himself in frustration as he thought back to the disastrous fight he had with Rukia.

"Remember him, Renji." Rukia pleaded quietly causing Renji to growl in anger as he pushed her back before swinging his Zanpakuto once again.

"I don't know what you're trying to get me to remember!" Renji shouted back and Rukia blocks the attack before she kicks Renji sharply in the stomach.

"Use your head, Idiot! Remember him! Remember Ichigo Kurosaki!" Rukia shouts as she holds her blade above her head and Renji's eyes widened when he saw a blurry figure appear in front of him where Rukia was standing.

It was the orange-headed Shinigami again, blood was covering the side of his head and his face was still shadowed but Renji saw the clever Zanpakuto held in the same position as Rukia held her own blade.

"When you attack someone, you kill!"

"What's the matter with me?" Renji whispered as he placed his forehead in the palm of his hand; suddenly his Zanpakuto glowed a bright red and to Renji's shock a large monkey with a snake tail slowly took shape.

"Zabimaru?" Renji said in confusion; this was the first time his Zanpakuto had ever materialized in the real world, he had only ever seen his Zanpakuto in his Inner World. Seeing him come out on his own so easily, it through Renji off quite a bit.

"Why didn't you use your Bankai?" Zabimaru demanded causing Renji's eyes to widen in shock.

"W-What?"

"Ha! Whip that stupid look off your face! I know all about your soul!" The Zanpakuto continued on as he stepped forward while narrowing his eyes.

"Have you truly forgotten about the conversation we had in your Soul?"

"Man! Talk about pathetic!"

"What the hell are you going on about?" Renji growled angrily having enough of his soul-partner's personalities.

'Man we these two I think I understand what Ichigo goes through every day.' Renji thought to himself briefly before his eyes widened as he realized what just went through his head; Zabimaru narrowed his eyes in satisfaction having caught the thought too.

"So you're starting to remember." It wasn't a question and Renji swallowed as he looked up at his Zanpakuto with confusion clear on his face.

"Zabimaru...What the hell is going on?"

The Kuchiki Mansion

Byakuya Kuchiki sat at his desk stiffly as his mind tried to work out what exactly was going on but without success; he just couldn't find any logic in anything that was happening lately.

"You told me all about her after you saved me from Ichimaru's attack; you told me how she abandoned me in Inuzuri and then searched for me until her death day. She then made you promise her that you would look after me-"

"I don't remember telling you anything of the sort."

"Exactly!" Rukia cries out as she slashed her hand out in front of her in frustration; she knew how stubborn her brother was but she needed to get by.

"You don't remember telling me this! No one seems to remember anything because they've all forgotten one important person! The one person who changed everything for all of us! No one remembers Ichigo!"

"Ichigo...?" Byakuya whispers in confusion as he tries to work why this person is so important to Rukia; as he stands in front of her Byakuya could tell why Renji said she showed great distress when he said he didn't know this Ichigo person.

"Ichigo Kurosaki?" Byakuya whispered tasting the strange name on his tongue trying to see if it brought anything familiar to his mind; but it brought nothing of the sort, his mind didn't bring up any memories of someone with that name.

With narrowed eyes Byakuya stood gracefully to his feet and made his way over to a large selection of books behind glass doors; they contained all the records from the Kuchiki family since it began.

With a quick scan of the dates Byakuya quickly found the book he was looking for; he flipped the yellow pages easily as he looked for recent dates in the neatly written files.

Finally his eyes came upon something that had happened 1 and ½ years ago, not that long ago to him considering Shinigami could live for centuries; his eyes widened in shock though when he read what had been recorded.

1st Division

Generysai sighed as he stared out towards the destruction that was Seireitei; he couldn't believe how much had happened in almost 2 days.

Half of his Shinigami are out of action, 1/3 of Seireitei was destroyed and now a Shinigami from a noble family (not a pure blood noble but still a noble) has deserted. It was times like this that made him wonder why he was still Head-Captain.

'Rukia Kuchiki. What exactly are you planning? Why were you so desperate to get into South Rukongai?' Generysai thought to himself in as he gript his walking stick tightly in his hands.

His eyes narrowed as he held out his right hand and gathered a small amount of Spiritual Energy in his palm; with a small flash of black aJigokuchou appeared waiting patiently for his message.

"Captain Hitsugaya, I order you and a group of Shinigami you chose to head into South Rukongai and capture Rukia Kuchiki." Generysai stated before he allowed the Jigokuchou to fly off; he sighed one more time before turning around and walking back inside his office, hoping that they'll soon solve the mystery that was happening in the Soul Society before it got too far.

South Rukongai: District 78; Inuzuri

Kon and Rukia walked slowly through the messy streets of Inuzuri; the sun was shining brightly with it's morning raze and some residents were still out cold from their drunken night.

"Nee-San, did you really grow up here?" Kon asked as he looked around in slight shock; his beady eyes watching as the residents who were awake gambled and started drinking.

"Yeah, it hasn't change at all." Rukia muttered as she made sure to keep eyes on some souls who looked like they were willing to attack her.

"I can't believe it! Nee-San would never grow up in such a-?" Kon broke off from his speech as something brushed past his nose; he sniffed hesitantly as was immediately assaulted by the smell of cinnamon and apples.

"Nee-San..." Kon whispered as he quickly jumped on to Rukia's shoulder; the young Shinigami smiled as something familiar brushed against her senses.

"Yeah. It's Ichigo." She replied before breaking into Shunpo; leaving the disgusting streets of Inuzuri once more.

Omake

Glossary

-Jigokuchou (地獄蝶, Hell Butterfly) - They guide the Shinigami through the Senkaimon when travelling between Soul Society and the Human World, thereby saving them from the inconvenience of passing through Dangai. Jigokuchou are also used as messengers between Shinigami, often carrying important Butterflies are taken care of by Shinigami in Seireitei, the latter task being carried out usually by new and inexperienced members of the Gotei 13. Jigokuchou, like the Shinigami themselves, are only visible to spiritually aware beings.