Chapter One:

Ad Hoc

The ivory angel stood with his head turned up, eyes closed to soak in the sunlight falling along his face. He was so completely still that, for a moment, Rukia wondered if perhaps he was made of stone. But no, the breeze flowed and ebbed through his hair, his robes, and each and every incandescent feather of his wings.

He was the most beautiful being she had ever seen, second only to God. He worked very closely with Them, she knew. It was a privilege few angels had and he was lucky enough to be part of that exclusive fold.

"Hello," the ivory angel said.

She jumped, ruffling her wings in a poor attempt to shield herself.

His laugh was like twinkling stars. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

When he opened his eyes, Rukia felt the very breath stir from her chest. They were like burnished gold, the color of sunlight among the clouds.

"What's your name?" he asked, turning towards her

She stood at attention. He was a Seraphim, after all. A regular angel like herself had to answer to their every whim.

"Rukia."

"That's a beautiful name. Like light." He stepped closer. "When God said, Let there be light, I wonder if They already had you in mind to protect it."

Her heart felt full. Just this and God's own love would be enough to push her through her duties for eons to come.

"And you? What's your name?" she dared to ask.

It was only then he paused. "My name?" he repeated, as though surprised she didn't already know it. "My name is…"

Ichigo's thoughts were murky and far away. He could barely concentrate in class today. Hell, he couldn't remember the last time he felt like himself.

Chad strayed from Mizuiro and Keigo arguing ahead to walk next to him. "You okay?"

All Ichigo could manage was to shake his head. For the past few weeks, this odd prickling sensation thrummed at the back of his neck. It was like someone was watching him. Always he turned, and always no one was there. It didn't bother him much at first. Not until that sensation spread and that damn voice began to accompany it.

It started with disembodied laughs at a distance then whispers in the back of his mind. All easy enough to ignore.

But today…

An unbearable itch struck his whole body before his first class could even start. He scratched at his arms, his chest, the back of his neck, anywhere he could get. The classmates closest to his desk threw him wary side-glances. Some even scooted their desks a little further away from his manic scratching.

Indecipherable whispers swirled around him, pressing against him as though they were searching for a way in.

All at once, they stopped. A hush swelled within the classroom.

"I'm coming for you, King. Just wait."

The voice came from directly behind him.

Ichigo shot out of his seat so fast his chair clattered to the floor. Everyone turned to look at him, faces split in too-wide, eerie grins. Their eyes were all black save for rings of glowing yellow burning into him.

He blinked. The classroom returned to normal. Concerned, if narrowly repulsed, eyes stared back at him. Right as their professor strolled in, he made some quick excuse to step out to the Nurse's Office.

He recovered a little since then. Chad hadn't said anything about it to the others. No need when they attended different universities and barely had time to hang out anyway.

"Hey, can I ask you guys something?" Ichigo began as they entered downtown. Something about the constant hustle and stream of cars felt safe. Like the noise would mask this conversation from the world.

"What's up?" Keigo asked.

"I have a…friend who's been hearing a voice. Like in his head telling him to do…bad things."

"A voice? Not voices, plural?" Keigo snorted. "What's the voice telling him to do?"

Mizuiro smirked. "Is this friend here with us right now?"

Ichigo lightly smacked his arm. "Dude, shut up. I'm really worried. From what he tells me, it's a lot of the same violent stuff over and over."

An uncomfortable pause permeated through their group. Eventually, it was Chad who piped up, "I think you should look into therapy. For your friend."

Ichigo nodded absently. "Sure. That's probably for the best."

His stomach churned in humiliation. There was no way he could continue. Telling people you heard voices was a huge red flag. How would they react if he told them that he was also constantly waking up in random spots outside his apartment?

Keigo acted as goofy as ever, overeager in his attempt to cheer his friends up. They strayed to an arcade for a couple hours then a family restaurant for a while afterward.

It was enough to lull Ichigo back into a sense of security. He could be normal, if just for the evening.

His friends dropped off one by one to walk back to their respective dorms or apartments. Chad was the last to break off, leaving him with a hard, final pat on his back.

Ichigo's single-bedroom apartment wasn't anything special. Cheap, very tight on space, especially for someone as tall as him. His delivery job and all those other odd jobs he took on in high school helped fund the rent, bills, and any other amenities he needed. He didn't have particularly noisy neighbors. They all seemed to be salarymen or others like him too tired to do much past sunset.

His blanket fluttered up around him when he collapsed onto his bed. Lately, he'd taken to intermittent, sparse naps rather than a full night's rest. He hadn't woken up in random places in the middle of the night in a while brcause of it, but God, he was just so tired.

"Damn…" he whispered, throwing an arm over his eyes.

He just needed sleep. That was it. Just…one night…

Harsh light flooded his room. At first, he thought it might be a truck passing by. Once he lifted his hand, however, he was nearly blinded by a barrage of brilliant colors.

At the center of this kaleidoscopic halo stood an angel. A myriad of violet eyes dotted her skin, laser-focused on where he laid. "Be not afraid," she said as she turned to him with open arms. "For I—"

Ichigo kicked out at her stomach. The angel coughed, and the light sputtered out pitifully.

So she was real. Either that or he'd finally cracked.

"How dare you! I am an angel of the Highest Order and you attack me?" She sounded more appalled by the fact that he lashed out than at the actual pain.

"You broke into my room, you creep!" he protested. "Who even are you?"

"I am a Principality. I was assigned to look after you," she sniffed. All the other eyes on her skin had shut, perfectly blending in with her pale skin. Her wings—the purest white he had ever seen—fluttered once then shattered into bits of light as they disappeared.

In the far dimmer moonlight, she looked like an ordinary girl in a flowing white dress.

Ichigo swallowed hard. "Like a guardian angel?"

Her eyes brightened, almost glowing in her excitement. "Yes, exactly that."

"Are you serious?"

The angel blinked up at him. It seemed she wasn't used to being called a liar. Could angels even lie? He just had so many questions swimming in his head.

"I've been watching over you your entire life," the angel said. "I know you, Kurosaki Ichigo. And I know how much you have suffered. Lately, a voice has been calling to you, hasn't it? One that tries to tempt you to sin."

A sudden cold stung the back of his neck like an admonishment. Or a warning.

Ichigo barely repressed a shudder. Whatever this was, a hallucination, his sanity breaking, he wanted answers. "I'm not crazy, right? Someone has been talking to me all this time?"

Her expression softened. "No, not crazy. This demon is crafty, but he—"

"Whoa, hold on, demons?"

"Yes?"

"Those are real, too?"

The angel sighed, pressing a hand to her chest. "If you now know that angels exist, is it such a stretch to think that our infernal opposites do as well?"

This was just too much to take in at once. He ran a hand through his hair and looked his guardian angel in the eye. Might as well indulge the illusion while it lasted. It was pretty to look at, at least.

"A demon, huh? Okay, what's this demon's name then? Lucifer? Beelzebub?"

The angel crossed herself and muttered a quick prayer. "No. And don't take those names lightly, you fool. You'll entice them here."

"Sorry."

His angel frowned, looking at him up and down. Judging his eternal soul, no doubt. Maybe she wanted to know if he truly was worth saving.

"This demon has no name. It's been lost to time…and himself. A demon with no name is dangerous. They have even less to lose and thus, will try even harder to escape from Hell." She took a deep breath. "So you need me. All humans need an angel to look after them, or who knows how they'd fare?"

Ichigo's eye twitched. Were all angels this condescending or was he just lucky to be stuck with this one? "Isn't pride supposed to be a deadly sin? You're sure full of it for an angel."

Her shoulders tensed. Another sore spot. Maybe it was a little mean of him to pick on an angel this much.

"For a human, you are unabashedly brash. Kicking me then insulting me…" She took in a deep breath. "But to err is human. To forgive—"

"Spare me the lectures. Why're you here now? Are guardian angels supposed to, I don't know, interact with the people they look after?" He held out a hand and patted the top of her head. She barely got to the top of his chest. "And besides, how's an angel this small supposed to protect me?"

"You!" Her face flushed pink. "You are treading on thin ice, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"No offense, but you couldn't even protect yourself against a kick. Sorry about that, by the way."

"You…I cannot believe that…" she spluttered. "If I dare to lash out against a human, I would be no better than your common Fallen. It is not my place to enact punishment…worthy of it as you may be."

"Wow, thanks, I feel so safe now."

The weight of the angel's sigh felt…wrong. If this was some grand hallucination like that moment in class, then why didn't he feel himself tripping up? Why could he take this supposed angel's presence in stride when before he'd felt as though he was falling apart?

"This was not how I imagined this would go, you know. I had hoped that…" She shook her head. "Never mind. I should've seen this coming."

"Sorry." When the angel frowned up at him, he added, "Really. I'm just…not sure I can trust what's going on, you know? I haven't slept much in the past few days. Weeks."

"Yes, I know. I've followed you the times you've snuck out of your house." She didn't sound smug for once. It made him feel a little worse.

"You're really worried about me, huh?"

"Some angels see this as just a job. I care for my charges' well-being." The angel gave a pithy shrug. "If anything, I should be the one apologizing. I should not have barged in as I have. Maybe it's presumptuous of me to reveal myself to you at this stage, but…I had to try something to scare off the demon haunting you." Even in the dark, he caught the resolve practically radiating off her.

Now he really felt like a dumbass.

"I don't think I got your name," he said, feeling even dumber. This angel knew everything about him, and he never even let her introduce herself properly.

The angel's smile was gentle. "Rukia."

The edges of his mind reached for something. Where had he heard that name before? "That's pretty. Like light?" he ventured. A shot in the dark.

The angel, Rukia, blinked up at him. "You…how do you know that?"

"I…I don't know. I heard it somewhere, I guess." Unease crawled up his shoulders to clamp tight around his throat. Something was wrong.

"Ichigo, I need you to—"

Ichigo couldn't hear the rest. Those damned whispers had returned with a vengeance. This time, he felt the very tips of sharp nails scraping up his arms, a deliberate reminder that they could pierce into his flesh at any second.

The whispers grew into more decipherable words that coiled and slithered all around his mind, taunting him. Tempting him.

"No, no, no."

The angel squeezed his arms. It was only then faintly that he realized this might be real after all.

"Ichigo!"

"He's here."

Rukia immediately sensed the change. The air drew in toward Ichigo like a vacuum, hushed and heavy. She spread her wings as a warning. Too late. The darkness was not perturbed by Heaven's light gleaming in the room. In fact, it seemed encouraged by it, writhing this way and that as though dancing in the attention.

Ichigo's head tipped back, but he did not fall. The darkness pooled in his eyes where it finally sank.

The silence was unbearable. Then slowly, so painfully slow, he lifted his head. His eyes were all black save for golden rings focused dead on her.

"My Queen," Ichigo said in a voice that was not his own. Smiled in a mockery of past admiration. Anything to wound her.

Rukia stiffened. "You must leave. Now."

"I don't think so. Not when this body was so clearly made for me." The demon spread his arms wide. The shadows gathering behind him looked akin to wings, forever burning.

Her own wings bristled in response. "Enough! This human has nothing to do with you. He is my charge. I won't see you harm him."

A slow smile crept across his face. "Seriously? A human made to look just like me, and God assigns you to look after them? Seems like way more than coincidence to me."

As he took a step toward her, she took one involuntary step back. He paused where he was, his smile growing to become a gash across his face. "Maybe it's some kind of test. Maybe this is your second chance to get it right this time. Or maybe he'll Fall because of you, Rukia."

"Don't."

"Don't what? Speak the truth?"

Don't say my name like it's a curse.

Rukia set her jaw, determined to keep a stone face. He would not break her. Not after thousands of years apart.

The flat of her palm pressed against his chest and she shut her eyes, muttering prayers in a language no mortal could speak.

"Oh, you're exorcizing me? How interesting!"

He lunged faster than she thought possible. Her head cracked painfully on the wooden floor, cutting off her shocked cry.

"You angels are all the same. You all think you're so powerful. I bet you've never had to fight since the War. A waste, really." The demon wrestled her arms to her sides, clamping tight to stop her from moving. "I mean, you used to be stronger. How else would a mere angel have nearly killed a Seraphim? This is just…pathetic."

"Let Ichigo go. He doesn't have anything to do with this. He's innocent."

"Innocent?" the demon scoffed. "Believe me, if you knew the stray thoughts running around this kid's head, even you'd think twice about protecting him. His first instinct is for violence and I'm going to cultivate that to the fullest."

When she squirmed under him, he only stared at her like one might a pinned bug. "What? Don't want to harm your precious human charge? Or…do you just miss me?"

"Stop it."

"It's just a question." The demon leaned down to rest his forehead against hers. "I missed you."

Something in Rukia's gut twisted. He was lying. The only reason he would ever want to see her again was to destroy her, plain and simple.

"Demon from Hell, I won't allow you to corrupt my charge. Kurosaki Ichigo is not yours to have." All at once, every eye along her skin opened and glowed white.

Heaven's light in this intensity would've blinded a normal human. As it was, the demon raised an arm to block it out with a hiss.

She took the opening. Her palm slammed hard into the center of his chest. A pale form rippled out of Ichigo's back with a cry. His skin, once so vibrant, now looked sallow under the moonlight. Tall horns jutted out and up over his head. The inky black of his wings was fully eclipsed in even darker flame.

The demon swore as his form began to melt away. Without a body, an open host, he couldn't stay in this world. At least, not until the next time he crawled out of Hell.

Its flesh dripped like candle wax, sloughing off to reveal sharp bone underneath. A brittle bone finger pointed accusingly at her. "I'll be back, Queen! I'll devour that pathetic brat's soul and prove to you how hollow your mission truly is! You'll see!"

The words rang in the too-small apartment long after the shadows faded into nothing. Rukia was breathing hard, clutching Ichigo to her chest as though afraid something would take him away again.

His breathing came slow and even. He was fine. He had to be.

She shifted until he was resting in her lap. The dark bags under his eyes began to clear a little. He was able to finally rest at last.

A/N: Happy Ichiruki Month 2023! This AU has been rattling around my brain for a good while now. When I saw the prompt for Day 1, I knew I had to finally get it out somehow.

I hate to post a first chapter without any kind of schedule or idea when the next one might be coming out, but it fit the theme too well. I hope you all enjoy anyway!

Thank you for reading! Until next time!