I am sorry this took a little while to get out! I just couldn't muster the energy to do it! I was working on a bunch of new one-shots and they took away my attention from this chapter. I've posted three new one-shots since my last update, and I'm very proud of that but I neglected this story so I'm sorry!
I hope you enjoy this chapter. When I finally sat my ass down to write it I really got into it and am VERY pleased how it came out!
By the way, tell me how you like the new page breaks I made! I think it looks cooler than before!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with the Anime/Manga. They belong to Tite Kubo and Shonen Jump Magazine. Please support the official release.
-Soaring Free-
After the fight Ichigo couldn't get home fast enough. He knew he should have gone after Renji and scolded him for using his powers like that, but he was in slight shock and he wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. Once Renji left Ichigo took another look around at all of the unconscious men and turned back to his car and drove home, ignoring his family's worried questions about his bruised face as he stormed through the house to the bathroom to clean himself up.
His face was badly bruised around his left cheek and right eye, the lid closed slightly as it swelled. His lip was cut, and his jaw hurt like hell whenever he moved it. He cleaned himself up and went straight to bed, thinking about what Renji has done and how he must be feeling right now about it.
Ichigo contemplated calling him, or Rukia for that matter, to talk about it. But Ichigo knew Renji wouldn't want to talk about it. It was in the heat of the moment, Ichigo knew, and Renji had acted in self-defense. He understood that, he really did. When fighting you move on instinct, not by logic, and it's easy to lose yourself when you're being beaten to shit. Renji had acted out to protect himself. That was all.
The next morning Ichigo got up and checked his face to see it was just as bad as it was the night before, though a bit more swollen. He showered and dressed and slipped by his family before they could see him to run to his car. He decided that even though he wasn't going to talk to Renji about it, he was going to talk to Rukia. He was worried for their friend, and he wanted to see what Rukia thought of the whole thing.
He drove straight to Rukia's twenty minutes earlier than usual and ran up to her door, knocking on it and waiting as he heard the hurried steps of Rukia running down her stairs to the door. When the door opened, Rukia's eyes widened to the size of saucers and she gasped loudly.
"Ichigo! What the hell happened to you?" She yelled in shock at seeing his face.
Ichigo frowned. "I need to talk to you," He said, ignoring her question. "Can I come inside?"
Rukia gaped at him, her mouth slightly agape. She blinked, and then shook her head. "Ichigo, whatever you have to talk about it can wait until after you tell me what ha-"
"It's about what happened," Ichigo cut her off. "I need to tell you about what happened."
Rukia frowned at him, then nodded as she let him inside. Ichigo walked in, listening as Rukia closed the door behind him as he walked to the couch and sat down.
"Let me get you an ice pack for you face. It looks pretty swollen." She said, making to walk to the kitchen.
Ichigo shook his head. "No, it's fi-"
"Shut up, I'm getting you some ice." Rukia said, dismissing him as she went into the kitchen to get some ice. Ichigo sat on the couch and waited as she bundled some ice into a cloth and came back to hand it to him. He thanked her and placed it on his bruised eye, shivering at the cold material on his injured face.
He looked at her, about to tell her what happened when he noticed something odd about her. He frowned, looking her up and down in confusion. "Rukia, why aren't you in your uniform?" He asked.
Rukia was dressed in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved white T instead of her white and gray school uniform. She looked down at her clothes, then shook her head and waved her hand in the air. "I'll tell you after. Just tell me what happened."
Ichigo frowned in confusion, but decided to accept this and went on, "We need to talk about Renji." Ichigo said once Rukia was seated in the chair parallel to the couch.
"Why? What's wrong with him? Did he do that to you?"
Ichigo frowned at her, raising a brow. "No, he didn't. Calm down." He said. "It was these assholes in front of Renji's apartment building. I went to drop him off and they started messing with him so I jumped out to help him. We started fighting and, well...Renji lost control."
She furrowed her brow in confusion. "What do you mean? He lost control how?"
"He used his powers," He said, watching as Rukia's eyes widened in shock. "He beat the guys senseless with his powers. I tried to stop him but...he wouldn't listen to me."
"Jesus!" She said. "How could he do something like that?"
He shrugged. "Heat of the moment I guess...but I'm worried about him. He ran away before I could talk to him about what happened." He said. "Have you noticed? He was being so...distant yesterday."
"I did notice," She said, running a hand through her hair. "I didn't say anything because I figured...well his Dad ya know?"
Ichigo nodded. "Same here. But even if he was angry about his father he shouldn't have done what he did. He completely blew those guys away, literally."
"We need to talk to him," Rukia said sternly. "We can't overlook this. We have to go get him and talk about this."
He sighed, nodding slowly. "I guess...maybe after school we'll come back here and-"
"No," She said, shaking her head. "We're going to have this talk now. Let's go pick him up." She said, standing and walking to the door to place her shoes on.
Ichigo frowned at this, watching her in confusion. "But what about school?" He asked.
"I was going to say when you came over before," Rukia said, fixing her shoes on her feet before grabbing her coat from the hook next to the door, waving for him to follow as she opened the door. "We're skipping today. I have something to show you guys after we have our...talk."
[–]
Rukia didn't explain what it was she wanted to do show them, even though Ichigo pestered her nearly the whole way to Renji's apartment building. She refused to give any hints or details as to what it was, but she seemed very excited about it from the way her eyes lit up when mentioning it. Ichigo actually found himself anxious about it, because it had to be something spectacular if Rukia was willing to skip school over it.
When they arrived at Renji's apartment building Ichigo saw that none of the men from last night were there anymore. Had they woken up and stumbled off? Or did someone find them and take them to the hospital? Ichigo hoped they just stumbled off, because it would be a major issue if they went around blabbering about an orange haired kid and his friend using telekinetic powers to throw them around like rag dolls.
Ichigo parked in one of the empty spots near the stairway leading to the second floor, and stepped out alongside Rukia to ascend the stairs and walk to Renji's apartment. When they knocked, there was no answer for a good three minutes. They knocked again, and suddenly there was a thump and a muffled curse on the other side of the door.
"What the hell is going on in there?" Rukia whispered to Ichigo, frowning as there was a few more thumps and curses.
"I don't know..." Ichigo said back.
Suddenly, the door swung open and there was Renji, his face badly bruised like Ichigo's and his hair disheveled all around his shoulders. He was wearing his school uniform, the shirt not tucked in properly and his pants not yet buttoned. He frowned at the two of them, glancing at Ichigo and averting his eyes instantly.
"Oh...hey guys." He said softly.
"Renji, we need to talk." Ichigo said.
Renji looked up at him quickly then at Rukia, who nodded. He furrowed his brow, nodding as he closed the door to his apartment behind him. "I guess you told Rukia about last night...huh?" He asked Ichigo.
"Of course," Ichigo said. "What was I supposed to do?"
Renji shrugged, looking down at his shoes in shame. He noticed the state of his dress and buttoned his pants and fixed his shirt. "I don't know..." He whispered.
"Renji, we can't go around using our powers like that." Rukia said sternly, crossing her arms. "What if someone saw you doing it and called the cops? You'd be taken away for experimentation or something! Or, even worse, what if you killed one of those guys?"
Renji looked at Rukia, looking like a small child being scolded by his parents. "I didn't kill them though. I just knocked them out. I watched them get up and leave this morning."
"It doesn't matter," Ichigo said. "That wasn't right. We have to be careful with our powers."
"Exactly," Rukia nodded. "We've been given something spectacular, and we can't go around using it to hurt people. We need to be careful."
Renji nodded slowly. "I know...I'm sorry. I just...lost control." He said.
Ichigo placed his hand on Renji's shoulder for comfort, nodding at him. "We get that, bro. You were just protecting yourself, but next time just work harder to use your fists rather than your head."
"You're good at that, right Renji?" Rukia teased, grinning at him playfully.
Renji returned the grin, chuckling as his mood began to lighten. "Yeah, it's my specialty."
The three shared a pleasant chuckle, the tense air beginning to dissipate. Ichigo was glad to see that it really was just an accident, and that Renji was alright and understood what he did was wrong. He was very relieved to see this.
"So, we going to school or what?" Renji said. "I just need to go back and get my-"
"No," Rukia cut him off. "We're skipping school today." She said.
Renji froze, turning to gape at her in surprise. "What? For real? Why?"
"I have something to show you guys." She explained. "Go back inside and get your coat. This is going to get very cold."
[–]
Ichigo wasn't sure what Rukia had in mind, and he was even more confused slash curious as to what she wanted to show them as she had him drive out of town to an abandoned old construction site. He parked by an old warehouse used for storage, stepping out wearing his black and red winter coat just as Rukia had instructed. He was lucky he kept it in the trunk of his car, so he didn't have to run home and get it.
Renji was wearing his own brown coat while Rukia wore her favorite white peacoat. They walked out to the middle of the site, Ichigo and Renji looking to Rukia for whatever she had to show them.
"So what is it?" Renji asked. "What's so cool that you'd let us skip school for?"
Rukia grinned at them both, a giddy look in her eyes as she walked a few steps ahead of them and turned on her heel to face them. "You guys, prepare to be amazed." She announced dramatically. "Last night I was thinking about how yesterday we were complaining how we weren't pushing ourselves, so I decided to test how strong I was."
"And how did you do that?" Ichigo asked curiously. Why was she playing around with the theatrics like this? She must be really excited.
"Well, I started off by simply lifting things in my room. My school bag, my laptop, my dresser, my bed-"
"You lifted your bed?" Renji asked in amazement. "Wow, I didn't even think to try something like that."
Rukia cleared her throat loudly, bringing the attention back onto herself. "Anyways," She shot a mild glare at Renji for interrupting her. "At first it was difficult, but it got easy after a while of just lifting it up and down. So I wanted to go further...and it hit me."
"Quit with the suspense!" Renji threw his arms up in the air. "What hit you? Just tell us damn you!"
Rukia smirked at Renji, giggling at his outburst. "Check this out guys."
Ichigo and Renji watched as Rukia planted her feet on the ground and shook out her arms. She looked down at her feet, narrowing her gaze as she furrowed her brow in concentration. Suddenly, the dirt and a few of the nearby rocks began to converge around her, the legs of her jeans ruffling slightly as she began to lift into the air slowly.
"Oh my God!" Ichigo gasped as Rukia continued to rise into the air, a smirk gracing her face as she watched their astonished reactions.
"Rukia!" Renji breathed in awe. "You...you're flying!"
"It's not as hard as it looks," Rukia said, dangling her legs about above the ground as she halted herself with ease, as if she had been doing this for years. "It takes a hell of a lot of concentration to get off the ground, but once you're up it's really easy. Try it!" She encouraged.
"Oh, I am so on this." Renji grinned, taking a step forward before crouching and launching himself into the air.
"Wait! Renji! It doesn't work like th-"
Rukia's yell was unheard as Renji tried to catch himself mid-jump but ended up just smacking himself in the legs and crashing hard onto the ground face first. He groaned, rolling over to rub his already bruised forehead which took most of the force from the fall.
"Nice going!" Ichigo laughed, crouching over to hold his stomach.
"Shut up..." Renji growled as he pushed himself up. "How do you do it?"
Rukia giggled. "You have to lift yourself. Just like lifting an object. Just picture yourself floating off the ground and into the air. Once you're up you have to maintain a certain level of concentration to stay up."
"Sounds easy enough..." Renji grunted, standing and brushing the dirt off of his coat.
"C'mon Renji, give it another go." Ichigo snickered from behind him.
Renji glared at him, genuinely frustrated with his friend's taunting.
I'll show you, asshole.
Renji turned and looked down at his feet, mirroring what Rukia had done not even a few minutes before. He focused all of his energy on the image of him lifting off the ground, picturing it in his head with as much vividness as he could muster.
Ichigo's eyes widened as he watched the dirt around Renji's feet begin to stir, and in an instant Renji was up off the ground, rising slowly into the air as if gravity had become invalid.
"Dude! You're doing it!" Ichigo cheered.
Renji's eyes widened, his mouth opening in shock as he continued to rise higher and higher into the air, higher than Rukia. "Oh my God! I am doing it! This is so cool!" He laughed excitedly.
"Good job!" Rukia tilted forward, gliding towards him to grab his hand to stop him from rising any higher. Renji looked at her smiling face, flushing as he held her hand.
"Your turn, Ichigo!" Rukia called to him, not noticing how Renji was disappointed by her turning away from him. "Give it a go!"
Ichigo nodded, planting his feet on the ground as he prepared himself. He took in a deep breath, relaxing as he pictured himself floating off the ground. He felt the air around him shift, his pants being tugged on by an invisible force as the dirt swirled and he was plucked from the ground by the will of his own mind. He grinned, watching as the ground began to slowly drift away from him- well, more like he was drifting away from it.
"This is amazing!" Ichigo laughed as he continued to rise. "I can't believe this!"
"Don't get too excited yet," Rukia said, reaching out to take his hand to hold him steady. She was now holding both of their hands, smiling at them both as she spoke, "This can only get better."
[–]
Rukia had been right...it was freezing.
The cold air whipped by Ichigo's head as he and his two friends flew through the clouds, soaring through the air like birds without wings. Ichigo could feel his fingers going numb from the cold as he shot through clouds, the moist puffs of white smoke wetting him and making him shiver. But he was able to ignore all of this, because never in his life did he feel so alive. So free.
"This is insane!" He faintly heard Renji cheering over the roar of the wind, spinning around in circles as the three of them flew in sync. He more saw Rukia laughing than heard it, and couldn't help but smile brightly as he pushed himself forward ahead of the group, cheering as he rose above and in between the clouds.
It took a level of constant concentration to stay afloat, but the longer he remained in the air the easier it became to maintain the concentration while also enjoying himself. He cheered, letting his voice echo into the sky as he enjoyed the wind that ruffled his orange hair.
"Go down!" Rukia's voice was muffled by the wind, but Ichigo just barely caught it as he turned and looked back at her. She dipped, descending back down towards the earth through the clouds. Renji followed, and so did Ichigo.
The three of them were coming up on the ocean. They had flown very far from the construction site, Ichigo realized as he looked down at the boats loaded at the docks of up town Karakura, the part of town for the ridiculously rich who owned yachts and liked to parade around the waters fancily to show off their wealth.
Staring down at the water as it caught the sun's rays, Ichigo couldn't help but marvel at the beauty of it. The waters languidly swished back and forth, forever moving with the wind and rippling as the obstruction of a boat moved across its surface.
This is so incredible...
Rukia shot ahead of him, diving down towards the water like a bullet. He and Renji followed, angled towards the water.
Rukia straightened herself out just before hitting the water and flew over its surface. She looked down at her own reflection, smiling at it as her hair whipped around from the wind. She tilted to the side slightly, letting her hand dangle across the surface of the ocean to send up a shower of water in her wake.
Ichigo and Renji flanked her from above, staring down at their reflections as well to smile at one another.
"Yo! Check it out!" Renji yelled to the two of them, flipping his body around so it was straight up. He lowered himself and pretended to be running across the water, his feet every so while splashing against it to add to the illusion.
Ichigo and Rukia laughed at the scene as Renji readjusted himself so he was laying flat against the wind. The three of them began to climb back up into the air, spinning around one another with cheers and laughs. Ichigo spun upside down, feeling the wind wrap around him like a blanket and press down on him in resistance, but he fought it and kept spinning, grinning like an idiot as he flung himself over Renji and Rukia.
"Hey! What is that noise?" Ichigo heard Renji yell.
Ichigo frowned, listening to the roar of the wind. He couldn't hear anything other than that for a few minutes, and then he heard it as well. It was a louder, more vicious sound than the whipping of the wind. He looked at his friends, his brow furrowed.
"I don't know!" He called back to Renji, listening as the noise grew louder as they flew.
"It's getting closer!" Rukia said, looking around the sky.
Ichigo was about to suggest they stop for a moment to try and figure out what the strange noise was, but was shocked into silence as suddenly something came crashing through the thick of clouds towards them.
It was an airplane.
"Holy shit!"
The plane shot by them, barely missing them by inches, but the aftershock of the plane's passing smacked into them and all three of them began to tumble around in the air and fall back down to the earth.
Ichigo could hear everyone's screams, and didn't realize he himself was screaming as well until well after they started to fall. He fought against the wind that had once seemed so weak and powerless against him, trying to catch himself and stop from falling. But the wind proved to be much stronger than before, and whipped him back and forth as he tried to steady himself. He caught glimpses of his friends falling as well, gliding away from him in the current of the sky. He ground his teeth together, closing his eyes as he tried to build the power to save himself.
"Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
He was unable to bring himself up back into the sky, but he could direct his trajectory. He opened his eyes and forced his body to glide towards the closest person he could see- Rukia.
He shot through the air towards her, slicing through the gales of wind to reach and wrap his arms around her. He held her tightly against his chest, her arms instantly clinging to him for safety.
"Ichigo!" Her voice was muffled by his coat and the wind, but he could hear her scream all the same.
"I've got you!" He called back, looking around at the mess of clouds to see if he could spot Renji. He was nowhere in sight, having fallen away from the two of them as Ichigo went to save Rukia.
"Shit!"
Ichigo directed Rukia and himself towards the trees that were below them, approaching rapidly. He steered them towards a clearing, placing all of his focus on cushioning the fall the best he could.
The air was knocked straight out of him as they landed, most of the force of the fall being taken by the telekinetic barrier he placed between them and the ground, and the rest of it being taken by Ichigo as he tucked Rukia against him and rolled along the ground.
When they stopped rolling Rukia was on top of him and he lay spread out against the grass panting. That save had taken just about every ounce of energy Ichigo had inside of him, and just lay there panting as his heart hammered against his ribcage and Rukia lay on top of him.
Rukia looked up at him, her eyes wide and frightful as she pushed herself up from his chest. "Oh my God..." She whispered. "We almost just died..."
"Yeah..." Ichigo breathed, looking down at her as sweat poured from his forehead.
"Oh my God!" She said again, this time much louder. "We almost just died!"
Ichigo was about to respond, but at that moment something came shooting down from the sky and rolled across the grass next to them. They both turned to see Renji laying there on his stomach panting as he stopped himself from rolling. He looked ready to vomit, his face pale and clammy as he lay there, looking around in shock until his eyes finally landed on Ichigo and Rukia.
"Holy shit...you guys made it." He said.
"Renji!" Rukia stood and ran over to him. "Are you okay?"
Renji looked up at her, nodding. "Yeah...how about you?" He asked.
"I'm fine," She said, turning back to Ichigo as he forced himself up into a sitting position. "Ichigo! You saved my life!"
Ichigo looked up just as Rukia came barreling towards him, wrapping her arms around his neck and laughing loudly as she clung to him. "R-Rukia?" He stammered, blushing.
"You saved my life!" She said again, laughing. "We almost just died! But you saved me, Ichigo! Thank you!" She leaned up and kissed his cheek, Ichigo's whole face turning beat red at this.
Renji watched the scene play out in front of him, scowling deeply as he felt jealousy swell deep inside of him.
Does it not help I was listening to Alive by P.O.D when writing this?
Haha! Ichigo saved Rukia from certain death! And now Renji's jealous of her gratitude! Oh how the plot thickens...and now they can fly! Which I have been fussing about for some time because I was trying to find a way to integrate it into the story properly.
The scene where they are flying is a lot like the scene in the movie, but without the football- WHERE THE HELL DID IT COME FROM?- thing in it. If you've seen the movie, which by now I've seen only a handful of you have, you'll see the similarities between that scene and this one, but you will also see the differences. Like how Rukia showed them how to do it. It was different in the movie.
OH! A shout out to a really rad chick! Celestia Capedalupo drew a pretty awesome picture for this story and I love it! Link is in my profile, go check it out!
Also, you guys need to check out a very special person's Fanfiction for me! My girlfriend, Rising Harvest Moon, is really awesome and she has two stories up for Naruto and Harvest Moon! If you like either of those kinds of Fics, check her out for me! Her link is in my profile, and she's under my favorite author's list! Love you lots Katie!
I hope you guys enjoyed!
REVIEW!
P.S. Can anyone help me out with something? I'm behind on the Bleach Manga, and it's frustrating the hell out of me. I had been reading it on Mangastream, but they stopped posting it along with a few other Animes. I started reading it on this other site, but now the site is being a bitch and won't let me see any of the last three chapters. Can anyone tell me where I can go to read the latest Bleach chapters? I need to keep up with them dammit! Or I shall explode!