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:
I can't be bothered to read through it right now; I'm so tired I can barely see straight but it's been a while since I uploaded the last chapter and I didn't want to make you guys wait anymore.
There are only 3 Parts left before we come to the end of FTB and things are really started to heat up this chapter! So if you enjoyed this chapter please favourite and leave feedback if you have time! Enjoy! ^_^
Fade to Black: Memories of the Black Sun
Part IX
Seireitei- 12th Division
"Ichii..."
"I'm alright." Ichigo reassured the pale sibling as he was helped to his feet; Ichigo looked over to where Hoshi was crouched to the ground surrounded by her purple and black Spiritual Energy.
"What's wrong?"
"I hate Shinigami." Hoshi whispered before her eyes widened in shock as flashed appeared behind her eyes; a Shinigami charging at them with a Zanpakuto, Ichigo getting thrown to the ground and finally Ichigo being held in the air with the Shinigami's hands around his throat.
"Shinigami are...!" Hoshi screamed but before she could finish her sentence the room was shook violently by a huge explosion.
"What?" Kazuki shouted as the wall exploded with a shower of ice and snow; Hoshi looked over her shoulder in shock as the sound of waraji hitting the tiled floor reached their ears and Kazuki narrowed his eyes.
Ichigo's eyes widened in shock when he caught sight of Rukia and Kon standing a few feet in front of him; wrapped around them was a strange giant bone snake and a red-headed Shinigami stood next to them.
"Ichigo, we've come to get you back." Rukia stated simply as she held her white Zanpakuto in her hands; Kon held up his paw in a greeting.
"Ichi-go!"
"So that's Ichigo..." Renji whispered to himself as he finally could put a face to the strange teenager in his memories; Ichigo gasped as memories tore through his mind as his eyes locked with Renji's reddish brown eyes.
Bringing up a sword to block a strong attack, grunting in pain as someone stood on his back, laughing as someone spat their drink over the table, standing back to back to someone as they were surrounded by Hollows and finally receiving a brotherly hug from Renji Abarai.
"Renji..." Ichigo whispered in shock and Renji smirked slightly but stayed silent.
Ichigo's breathing suddenly picked up and his body trembled in pain as he brought his hand up to his forehead; his eyes clenched shut in pain.
"Leave! Leave Shinigami! Ichii doesn't know any of you!" Hoshi suddenly shouted out as she ran in front of Ichigo, she spread her arms out and glared at them; Rukia scoffed as she glared at the girl right back.
"Like I'm going to believe that. Ichigo is our precious friend." Rukia said simply but Hoshi shook her head violently.
"Ichii doesn't want any of that! Ichii doesn't know either of you!" Hoshi screamed but Rukia ignored her as she looked over at Ichigo.
"Ichigo, think back! The Ichigo I know would never give up being a Shinigami!" Rukia shouted out and Ichigo looked at her with his brown eyes full of confusion and pain.
"When we first met you were willing to give your life to protect your family! Ever since you gained that power you wanted, you protected everyone close to you! Even me! That's how strong you are!" Rukia shouted out furiously and Ichigo blinked before he clenched his eyes shut; his breathing slightly heavier.
"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted out once again and Ichigo opened his eyes again as he looked to the floor.
"I..." He whispered before he closed his eyes and grabbed his hair between his fingers and clenched it tightly in pain.
"Don't! Please don't Ichii!" Hoshi suddenly cried out as she turned to Ichigo and gript his shoulders; Ichigo looked down at her his eyes showing his pain and confusion.
"Don't make that face! Don't Ichigo..." She whispered desperately and shook his shoulders slightly before bursting into tears and buried her face into his chest.
"Don't go back to being a Shinigami again!" Hoshi finally cried out causing Ichigo to stiffen in shock; he grabbed her by her wrist and pulled her back so he could look at her
"'Go back to being a Shinigami again'? That means I was a Shinigami before, doesn't it?" Ichigo demanded but Hoshi shook her head in denial as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"Shinigami, please tell me one more time; what is your name?" Ichigo asked as he stepped around Hoshi's shaking form; Rukia smiled slightly at the familiar line.
"It's not Shinigami. My name is Rukia Kuchiki." She stated proudly and Ichigo's eyes widened in shock as memories flashed before his eyes once again.
Faces were flashing across his mind; a black haired bearded man; Oyaji, 2 girls one with black hair and the other with light brown; Karin and Yuzu, a huge dark skinned male; Chad, an orange haired girl; Inoue, a black haired boy with glasses; Ishida and a red headed man with black tattoos; Renji.
"Even if no one in the world believes in you, stick out your chest and scream in defiance! That's the kind of man you have been in my heart Ichigo!"
A strong feminine voice shouted through his mind before a black haired girl with big violet eyes appeared in his mind.
"...Rukia!" Ichigo gasped as his memories returned and everything fell back into place; Rukia allowed herself to relax as she saw Ichigo's familiar scowl.
Her relief was short lived as Hoshi suddenly screamed as her Spiritual Energy exploded sending Ichigo backwards with a yell.
"Ichigo!" Rukia cried out as she went to take a step forward but Kazuki suddenly appeared behind him and placed his scythe at Ichigo's neck freezing her in place.
"Don't move!"
"You scum!" Rukia screamed furiously as she realised that he was deadly serious; if she took one step forward he would either slice Ichigo's throat or erase his memories again.
"I won't let you have Ichigo!" Hoshi screamed as she glared harshly at Rukia and Renji; her Spiritual Energy continuing to flow around her causing Kazuki to look at her in worry.
"I won't let you have him! If you're going to try and take him away again then we'll...we'll become one with Ichigo!" Hoshi declared causing Kazuki to look at her sharply.
"If we do that then Ichii will disappear too. Are you okay with that?" Kazuki asked her softly but Hoshi continued to glare harshly at the 2 Shinigami's causing him to sigh.
"Alright." He whispered before he realised his own Spiritual Energy.
"We'll be with Ichii forever." He stated simply; Ichigo held his throat as he tried to breathe through their crushing Spiritual Energy's, with his own sealed he could barely breathe with all the power around him.
"Ichigo..." Kazuki whispered as he stepped forward and Hoshi did the same repeating Ichigo's name; the 2 siblings crouched besides Ichigo's form.
"Ichigo..."
"Ichigo!"They both screamed as they forced their Spiritual Energy's to forcibly connect; Ichigo gave a loud scream of pain as the twins foreign Spiritual Energy forcibly connected with his own.
"Ichigo!" Rukia shouted as she felt goose bumps rising on her skin as Ichigo gave one last scream before falling silent; a flash of light caused Renji and Rukia to clench their eyes shut but Rukia quickly forced them open.
"Ichigo!" Rukia's eyes widened in horror as she caught sight of what happened to Ichigo after the siblings forcibly combined with his body.
He stood wearing a grey coloured hakama that was torn up to his knees and a grey jacket similar to his Bankai coat; his feet were bare and around his shoulders was a dark purple cloak. His hair had lightened in colour to platinum blond, his iris were a light purple colour, his sclera were black and his pupils similar to that of a cat's; finally he held the sibling's scythe in his hands.
"Disappear..." Dark Ichigo suddenly whispered as he tore the sickle off the side of the scythe and Rukia's eyes widened in shock at the sound of Hoshi's voice echoing with Ichigo's.
"All of you...All of you disappear!" He suddenly shouted before he slammed the sickle violently into the podium; it gave a loud hum before exploding at the sides causing the Spirit Particles to start to rise once again.
Shuuhei and Rangiku watched in horror as a giant monster rose in the middle of Seireitei; it was grey and had multiple eyes that glared at the world around them angrily.
"What is that?" Rangiku asked but Shuuhei had no chance of answering before the monster shot out multiple tentacles out around the Seireitei; the 2 Vice-Captain's eyes widened in horror when the tentacles gained mouths and started spitting Spiritual Particle liquid out around them.
"Get away!" Shuuhei shouted to the multiple Shinigami surrounding them as he and Rangiku used Shunpo to move away; Shinigami screamed as the liquid grabbed hold of them and completely covering them.
12th Division
The 12th Division has now been completely destroyed by the Spiritual Particle liquid and in it's place stood a huge white platform; clashing of metal echoed loudly around the area as Rukia continued to block Dark Ichigo's attacks.
"Ichigo!" Rukia called out desperately as she jumped back, Rukia narrowed her eyes as she held her white Zanpakuto to the side; she didn't know what to do, how on earth was she going to get Ichigo back from this?
The two of them stood at a standstill as they glared at each other waiting for the other to move; Dark Ichigo bent his knees before his bare right foot skidded forward on the rocky right path. In response Rukia's took a slight step back as she watched Dark Ichigo adjusted his hold on the double-edged scythe.
'Reap her.' Hoshi whispered quietly inside the mind of Dark Ichigo.
'Yes. Reap the Shinigami.' Kazuki hissed with his cold voice and Dark Ichigo's black and purple eyes narrowed before he shot forward.
Rukia released a startled gasp as Dark Ichigo suddenly shot forward and attack her; she jumped to the side before quickly spinning around and blocking the next attack with her white blade.
'He's fast...' Rukia thought herself wearily as she kicked out sharply forcing him to jump back; Dark Ichigo snarled angrily before he held up the Scythe sideways and started attacking Rukia with the pointed end. Rukia could feel her legs protesting violently as she continued to dodge the fast attacks.
Dark Ichigo's expression remained blank even as he took the scythe in both hands once again and swung it towards Rukia once again; Rukia quickly jumped over Dark Ichigo, she barely turned around in time to bring up her white Zanpakuto to block Dark Ichigo's next strike though.
Rukia grunted as she brought up her arms to block the strike Dark Ichigo had intended to bring down upon her head; she grit her teeth as a crater formed underneath their feet from the force of the blow.
"Stop it!" She ordered loudly but she was ignored as Dark Ichigo continued to push strength down on both the scythe and the blade; Rukia didn't see any other choice and quickly took 1 hand of her blade and held it towards the person wearing her best-friend's body.
"Hadō#-31. Shakkahō!" Rukia shouted after silently apologising to Ichigo in her head; Dark Ichigo hissed in anger as he jumped back to avoid fire ball from hurting him and landed lightly on his feet.
"Ichigo, please! Snap out of it! Don't you recognise me?" Rukia begged but Dark Ichigo simply narrowed his eyes before diving forward once again; Rukia cursed as she blocked the attack and stared into the black and purple eyes of her enemy.
"Remember Ichigo!"
Thunder crashed down hard from the sky as the monster continued to roar and scream; the Spiritual Particle liquid continued to spread calming more lives of the Shinigami around them.
"Damn it! At this rate it's going to destroy the rest of the Seireitei." Shuuhei growled as he and Rangiku watched the strange monster from further away.
"Matsumoto!" A familiar voice shouted and Rangiku smiled in relief as Toushirou Hitsugaya appeared not far behind the 2 of them.
"Are you okay, Matsumoto?" He asked and Rangiku nodded causing him to release a small sigh of relief; it wasn't long after Toushirou's appearance did Juushirou, Shunsei, Soi Fong, Kisuke and Yourichi all appear with Shunpo.
"What is that thing?" Juushirou questioned and Shunsei sighed as he pulled down his hat to cover his eyes before he smirked.
"Oh dear; seems like we've got another oddity to deal with." He snorted causing Juushirou to smile at him in amusement; Kisuke carefully walked closer to the monster before he nodded sharply.
"According to Kurostuchi-San that monster we're looking at has was created by Spirit Particle convergence device that had fallen into the enemies hands. This disaster is a result of the device going out of control. Unless we destroy the device there is no stopping it." Kisuke explained gravely and Shunsei looked at him with an eyebrow raised.
"But it doesn't look like it's going to let us get to it without a fight." He pointed out and Kisuke smirked as he turned to face the group behind him
"Rukia-San should already be inside of it. We just need to prevent the Spirit Particles from spreading around Seireitei any more than they already have." Kisuke summarized easily and Juushirou chuckled softly in amusement.
"He makes it sound so easy."
"He's always like that." Shunsei snorted but before more could be said a huge lightning bolt crashed down heading straight for the group; Kisuke narrowed his eyes before he drew his Zanpakuto and held it in the air.
"Okiro, Benihime!" Kisuke shouted before a blood red shield appeared over the group's heads blocking the powerful blast in its tracks.
"We must stop the Spiritual Particles from spreading, understand?" Kisuke repeated loudly.
"Understood!" Everyone called back before they all separated into different groups; deciding it would be best to try and take on the thing on different sides.
Omake
Glossary
- Hadō#-31. Shakkahō (赤火砲, Shot of Red Fire) — Fires a ball of red energy at a target. Incantation: "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!"
- Benihime(紅姫, Crimson Princess) - When sealed, Benihime takes the form of a shikomizue (a blade hidden inside Kisuke's cane). Because it resides in a cane, its hilt is still the handle of the cane, so it looks different from most Zanpakuto.
-Okiro (起きろ, Awaken) - Benihime's Shikai takes the form a sleek, medium-sized sword. The grip has a gentle decorative bend that ends at a crimson tassel dangling from the pommel. Instead of a cross guard, there is a U-shaped decoration covering the first three or four inches of blade, with a flower petal design just as it meets a red string wrapping. The string is wrapped thrice around the hilt, with a three-loop bow on one side and a folded paper decoration on the other. Benihime's blade is straight and slim, though somewhat short, with the tip ending in a slanted razor-like edge instead of being tapered to a point.