AN: Woah…that popularity spike was sudden. O_O Thank you to everyone who favorited, followed, and reviewed! It made me very happy! Since this story isn't a complete flop after all, I will be updating it. ^-^
Uh…some questions were asked, so here's the answers to them, in case others were also confused about it:
Q: So Ichigo doesn't have his shinigami powers in this?
A: No, he does not. However it is not an AU where he did not possess them in the first place. He simply never regained them after losing them, and the Fullbringer Arc never happened.
Q: Will Ichigo be getting his Soul Reaper powers back?
A: The answer to this is a spoiler, so I'll tell you when you can get the answer: Next chapter. Sorry!
If you have any more questions, I'll do my best to answer them!
Happy Reading!
The New Addition to the Family
Chapter Three: The Forest
Ichigo stood at the window, looking down at Bella, Edward and Emmett.
"Is this safe?" He asked.
"Perfectly. You're immortal now; a little fall won't hurt you." Edward said reassuringly.
"I'll haunt you if I die." Ichigo threatened and took a couple steps back. He then ran forward and leaped from the window, soaring over everyone on the ground's head before landing in a crouch.
"Impressive." Emmett congratulated, grinning.
"Arigato. Er, thank you." Ichigo corrected himself and looked around, taking in the sights and sounds. "Where are we going?" He asked, trying to distract himself from the dull sound of beating hearts in the house behind him. They seemed to be coming from the pair he had sensed earlier.
"Across this river and farther into the forest." Edward replied, pointing. Ichigo eyed the wide river as they hurried over to it, scowling. Noticing his expression, Edward chuckled. "Just watch us." He began taking a few steps back. Emmett did the same and both of them launched themselves to the other side, disappearing into the trees.
Ichigo studied their movements and glanced at Bella. "Is the somersault at the end necessary?"
Bella laughed. "No, that's just them trying to look cool. You can try it though." She said, smiling at him. Ichigo shook his head.
"I'd rather not." He muttered, taking three steps back. He moved forward and kicked off, sending himself flying across the river. Bella was right behind him.
Ichigo landed on his feet just inside the trees with a loud thud and hurried over to the two waiting guys while Bella landed farther in.
"That was a nice landing. Better than Bella's first try." Emmett grinned, clapping Ichigo on the back. Ichigo could hear words of protest coming from Bella, who was carefully picking her way over to them.
"Thank you. Like I said, I'm a fast learner." Ichigo explained, following Edward through the trees.
"Hm. So, tell us about yourself Ichigo. Can't hurt to know some background information on our new family member, right?" Emmett said, and Edward nodded in agreement.
"Ah. Well, I'm eighteen, and I'm going to college in Seattle on a scholarship. I live in Seattle too. I've got two little twin sisters – Yuzu and Karin – and my dad Isshin back home in Japan. My birthday's next week on the fifteenth." Ichigo smiled a bit, looking at the three in front, beside, and behind him.
"What were you doing Forks if you live all the way in Seattle?" Bella asked curiously, lifting an eyebrow.
"Running. I was visiting some a family friend's acquaintance in Forks when some people from an organization I used to be allied with came after me. I started running away, but there were too many, and I got overwhelmed." Ichigo explained, a deep frown etching itself onto his face. "They cornered me in an alley and explained that they were going to kill me because I was more useful dead than alive. So they inflicted fatal wounds and left me to die." He explained.
Emmett whistled. "Were you part of a gang or something? Holy shit."
"No. The Soul Society isn't a gang. More like the law enforcement of the Afterlife." Ichigo muttered, climbing over a fallen tree trunk.
"The Afterlife?" Bella asked incredulously.
"Yeah. Remember when I said I could see ghosts? Well the Soul Society is a large group of ghosts that have sort of…leveled up, to become Shinigami." Ichigo glanced over at Bella.
"Shinigami?" She lifted a perfectly curved eyebrow.
"Er…I think a literal translation is 'God of Death', but the English equivalent is a Soul Reaper, I believe." Ichigo scratched his jaw and looked over at Edward, attempting to change the subject. "Are we going to hunt anything or are we just going to walk through the forest talking?"
Slightly put off-beat by the sudden subject change, it took Edward a half second longer than it would have normally. "Well, there's a herd of elk about half a mile to the right…"
"Well let's go then!" Ichigo exclaimed, turning sharply to the right. Edward, Bella, and Emmett quickly followed after him after exchanging startled glances.
As they closer to the herd, they saw Ichigo spring up into the trees and jump almost soundlessly from branch to branch until he was just outside the clearing the herd was grazing in.
Curiously, the three experienced vampires decided to watch Ichigo first. For some reason they got the impression he wouldn't have much trouble, and would know what to do based on nothing but instinct.
Maybe it was the predator-like way he now held himself, or the way his eyes gleamed bright red in the sunlight streaming through the leaves, or even how he was crouching, muscled coiled, tensed, and ready to spring.
His whole body screamed 'predator', and even the three below felt a slight sense of unease by just watching him.
Ichigo looked down at them, and judging by his expression he had something to say. Edward tuned into his thoughts, once gain meeting the slight resistance from before. Hey, will you all stop breathing so loudly, please? The herd knows something's up. Edward quickly pulled himself away from Ichigo's thoughts, frowning.
He nodded anyway, though. He whispered as quietly as possible, "Don't breathe." Before doing so himself. Emmett did, but not without raising a questioning eyebrow, while Bella simply followed instructions.
Looking back up at Ichigo, they watched as he suddenly sprang from the branch down onto the unsuspecting herd below.
The animal let out a hoarse noise as Ichigo quickly latched his mouth onto its neck, and shortly collapsed to the ground. The other three speeded to catch the few elk lagging behind, feeding themselves.
Ichigo quickly finished and lifted himself off the animal's carcass, heading over to the others.
He was almost completely spot-free, but some of the blood had dripped down his chin and onto his white shirt. He looked every bit like a vampire, dangerous and wild yet beautiful and elegant.
As he waited for the others to finish, Ichigo wiped his mouth and winced at the blood that came off on the sleeve. It wasn't his shirt, and according to the many lectures from Yuzu blood stains were a pain to get out of fabric.
Edward finished first, hardly a hair out of place when he stood up. His eyes were noticeably lighter than before, now a warm brown similar to Ichigo's own eye color. Or what used to be his eye color. Ichigo had no idea what color they were now, but was guessing they had changed some way or another.
"My throat still burns." Ichigo said frowning once everyone had finished.
"Hm…there's bound to be another herd somewhere. Maybe we can even track down the one from before." Emmett said, rolling his shoulders. His eyes were lighter as well, along with Bella's.
"Well, we better start hunting again now if you're still hungry. It'll be getting dark in an hour or two, and we don't want to worry everyone by staying out too late." Bella said, and Ichigo glanced up at the bit of sky shown in the clearing.
Sure enough, it was becoming a purplish pink color, changing from blue.
"Alright, let's go then." Edward grinned. Everyone followed him out of the clearing, after the scent of elk.
"You're really good at hunting, Ichigo." Bella complemented as they were walking away from the river they just jumped across.
The rest of the hunt had gone smoothly, Ichigo mostly taking the lead while the other three followed. Surprisingly, Ichigo only got blood on his clothes the first time, and after that fed neatly with ease.
"Thank you." Ichigo nodded. They reached the house and Ichigo looked up at it in awe. It was a beautiful house, and he took a moment to ogle it.
"When we get inside, please try to restrain yourself as best as you can. If it's too much, Emmett can take you outside for some air." Edward instructed, gesturing towards the door. Ichigo nodded determinedly.
Bella was the first to go inside, followed by Edward and Ichigo, and then Emmett.
Ichigo picked up on the feeling of energy from the two mystery people he had sensed earlier, and he peered around Bella and Edward's bodies curiously to see who the people were.
Sitting on the couch in what Ichigo assumed was the living room, were a girl and a boy. The boy was sprawled out on it, the girl snuggled up next to him as he read a children's book to her.
They looked up as the group of four entered the house, as did the other people in the room. Ichigo couldn't seem to quite remember their names, so he just nodded in reply at their greetings.
It was then that a smell hit him, and he froze. It smelt incredible, like Yuzu's New Year's meal times a million. His eyes slowly moved to rest on the girl, and he realized this was probably why they wanted him to feed before coming downstairs.
She was human.
Edward and Bella both whipped around, staring down Ichigo and ready to restrain him. Emmett's intimidating presence was felt by Ichigo behind him as well.
Ichigo felt his instincts and emotions bubble up, demanding he go on the offensive while being cornered by them.
THE GIRL WAS HUMAN.
As that thought began echoing in Ichigo's head, he bared his teeth and snarled.
AN: Holy shizznuggets this is SO late. I am sorry. SO sorry. I wanted to update, I really did! But I just didn't know how to write this chapter out. And then real life has been a pain in the ass, so I've been a bit short on time. So short I decided to put my other story on temporary break. -_-'
Um, please review, so I can try and stay focused on this story! Feel free to leave suggestions, corrections, helpful tips, etc. Criticism is ok too, as long as you either give me a reason or a way to fix it.
Until next time, ciao!
~ Luci-chan