Moshi Moshi c: Hi everyone, hope you like this chapter. If not, oh well. At least you are reading this and I like that idea.

Disclaimer- Yeah we all know I will never own the Bleach franchise. Unless you count the one magazine I have that has a picture of Ichigo in it..

R- Reaper

Throughout life, you encounter death. It's around you like a cold wind, you can feel it. One by one, people leave the world. It haunts your mind every once in awhile, it goes to your world to take another. Elders always told you to live your life and grace death's appearance as it comes for you. But never accelerate your time to face death at a young age. Never die alone, death will find you and catch you at your weakest moment. The elders always scared children away from doing dangerous things. They said at the end of it, death will be creeping up at you from random places you didn't see. It was the same for Ichigo Kurosaki when death came through his window one night.

Death disguised itself and was easily seen by this young teenager. Yet he wasn't sure that this young looking girl was death, or exactly the grim reaper. It confused Ichigo more than ever. He knew from stories that Death would be dark and demon-like, but this girl that claimed to be a Death God who was like the grim reaper made Ichigo think there were people out there crazier than his own demented father. This was the first night that Ichigo thought he was finally losing his mind. It wasn't everyday that you had a small teenage girl hopping through your window at night. He thought it was a dream that a person named Rukia Kuchiki was barging into his world talking about death and saving innocent souls. It wasn't until later that Ichigo truly got to feel death with this so called "soul reaper" as she was taken away and he was left in the street to die.

Ichigo never thought it would be possible for him to go to the place where souls went to after death, but as he stood in this sanctuary to save Rukia Kuchiki he finally took in the idea of death not being as scary as it was once told. Fighting through barriers were tough for the young substitute soul reaper, but he succeeded in saving Rukia. As Ichigo left this place that was full of souls, he never thought he would really miss the feeling these souls gave him. It felt stranger to Ichigo, but he felt more alive with these passed away souls than the human beings that roamed Karakura Town. He felt a spark of life again when he saw Rukia Kuchiki months later standing on the window in his classroom.

Even though Ichigo accepted that he became a substitute soul reaper, he never thought one day he would lose his powers and feel lost. He didn't know what to do when he would see his friends run off at random times. Ichigo knew where they were running off to, but he knew he would get in the way or possibly hurt them as he tried to help. It made Ichigo fall to the deepest depression that made many notice but not question. Day by day Ichigo would give enough attention to people to not notice his mood change. Just a few nods to show life and that Ichigo was truly not hollow. But in his heart, Ichigo felt more hollow than the ones that dragged themselves in hell.

Only people close to Ichigo like Orihime, Uryuu, Chad, and his family truly knew how Ichigo felt during the months after the Winter War in Soul Society. As his friends stood on the sideline, mixed emotions were thrown around as the orange haired teen slowly went through the daily motions. Orihime felt conflicted the most as she watched Ichigo from a distance. Orihime was one to hide her emotions that she felt would leave a heavy burden on others, but when she would watch Ichigo and see how much he was in pain, Orihime really wished that she could be the one to help him by taking all the pain away. Orihime couldn't bring herself to that action because she knew she would fail.

Orihime knew that she couldn't change fate. She knew that fate was supposed to have her meet all these wonderful people, and all of the spiritual world. Fate was supposed to lay out her fairytale life of living with her hero that will always save her. Her eyes were always on Ichigo Kurosaki, and she admired him as her hero. A hero that saves innocent people, not a reaper. She never once thought that she would see Ichigo in black robes hunting down hollows protecting spirits. No, she never thought death would be around them constantly or that death could bring happiness out of oneself. In the end, she never believed that Ichigo Kurosaki would be revolving his whole life around a world filled with souls that passed away from the living world.

It wasn't just Orihime that really noticed the change in Ichigo, it was Isshin Kurosaki. Even though Isshin messed with his only son, he always kept a close eye on him after his mother's death. When Masaki died eight years ago, the whole family mourned over the loss. It was Ichigo who was brought down into a depression that Isshin feared would ruin his son's life. It wasn't until his son was at the age of fifteen did he think it would change. Being a Shinigami for hundreds of years gave Isshin a sharp eye that would notice small details that changed in his son. He felt a spiritual pressure in this town but ignored it. Isshin knew it was a shinigami from the Thirteen Court Squard, so he knew not to worry about it. But Isshin never thought it would be the day where his son would meet the one he would spend his whole life with.

When Isshin first met Rukia Kuchiki, he already knew he met his son's perfect match. His "third daughter" was just the person he was looking for that would change Ichigo's world. It wasn't until after the Winter War Isshin got a true glimpse about how much appreciation his son had toward the soul reaper. Isshin could feel when Rukia was leaving Karakura Town, leaving his son and taking his heart with her. Isshin felt that he was letting his son down during those seventeen months when Ichigo had none of his powers. It would hurt any father to watch his son crumble down to the lowest point of humanity. Many nights during that period led to Isshin dragging himself to sit at the cemetary smoking a cigarette.

The night that rains always led Ichigo to a sour mood. Rain represented sadness in his eyes, and brought sad memories that haunted his mind. There was nothing good that ever happened when the rain poured in Karakura. It was already expected for Ichigo to feel depressed on days like these. It made him lose all hope and just feel like the world was falling onto his shoulders. Breaking down in the rain was all Ichigo could do. Trying to gain the power to protect and have it taken away once again took a big toll on the mind of the teen. All hope was lost and Ichigo thought his world was over. It wasn't until he looked up to the moon that he felt hope once again.

It was then that Ichigo felt strength from the moon's light. The moon was here to guide Ichigo back to the path of protection. With a sword in hand, Ichigo felt the power surge through his body. Looking back towards the one he wanted to see the most, Ichigo lets a smile fall on his face. "Rukia, you're back." Soon Ichigo could feel his world tilt as his face slams into the ground. He was not surprised to be kicked down, but the fact that Rukia was back made it all okay. The internal battle that Ichigo struggled with daily seemed to end, the rain started to dry and disappear. It was coming back and Ichigo knew he could go back to what he was destined to do. A death god that guided souls, a reaper who hunted down and ceased destruction. Together as one, the two soul reapers balanced the world of life and death.

Well I hope you liked the chapter. Please review and suggest other ideas. I wanted to write about how others thought about the long seventeen months. I hope you have a wonderful week. Thank you, cheers. c: