Chapter 10: Arrival

It didn't take long for our heroes to exit the Senkaimon and land, with relative difficulty, on solid ground. It was strange to Yoruichi as the cleaner did not show up to at least attempt to stop them. Their entire journey through the Precipice world was all too easy for them, and that did not sit well with the feline at all.

They landed on the grassy plains of a remote area far away from their intended destination. The teens all looked on in both wonder and awe at their environment. This was definitely not what they were expecting and Yoruichi had to admit that it was almost refreshing to see them like this. That is until the feline turned towards Ichigo and could see a hard scowl on her face. This confused him as there shouldn't be any reason for Ichigo to look to her immediate surroundings like that.

"Um, Mr. Yoruichi," Orihime started, gaining the cat's attention.

"Yes Orihime, what is it?"

"Where exactly are we?" She looked all around as she had never seen so much greenery before in Karakura Town.

Yoruichi smirked. "This, my uninformed pupil, is -"

"The Rukon district, near the 78th district to be more precise." Ichigo interrupted, causing the others to look to her and the teens noticing her hard scowl.

"H-how did you know that, Ichigo?" Yoruichi asked in a slight shutter in his voice.

"Because the 78th district is where Rukia used to live before entering the soul reaper academy." Ichigo answered as she took a deep breath to calm herself down. "Her memories are bled into my own along with her knowledge and experience. It's weird being angry for something I've only seen with my own eyes once right now."

"Are you going to be okay Ichigo?" Uryu asked her, genuine concern in his voice of which he did not understand why.

Ichigo looked to her friends and smirked, putting them all at ease. "Let's go and save Rukia guys."

The teens nodded, feeling confident as they followed Ichigo. Yoruichi wanted to protest at this since Ichigo shouldn't know her way around, yet once the feline remembered her words about Rukia's memories being bled into him, the cat stopped himself. With a sigh, Yoruichi followed behind the teens, making sure to keep a very close eye on Ichigo the entire time.

"Hey Ichigo." Orihime spoke up as she stood next to Ichigo. This was odd for the girl as she usually had to look up to the teen, now they were practically eye level with Ichigo just being an inch or two taller.

"What's up Orihime?"

"I was wondering, what's it like to be a girl in your soul reaper form but a boy in your human form?" Orihime asked, curiosity and the desire for an answer in her eyes.

Ichigo could only chuckle slightly at the girl's forwardness while Chad and Uryu simply face faulted. Yoruichi shook his head at this but decided to listen in to get further insight on the boy-turned-girl.

"It's," Ichigo paused in her words for a moment as they continued to walk. She gave a twitch of a smirk as she continued. "Exhilarating, and terrifying at the same time." She huffed for a second. "Sometimes I feel like I'm about to explode with all this energy and power that I have sealed in my human body. Whenever I'm in my normal body at school or at home or even just around town, I feel like I'm being choked by the very power within my soul. I'm constricted by it. I'm tightened by it. I'm not me when I step into myself." Ichigo had a faraway look in her eyes that was concerning to the group. "I feel like I'm invading another person's body and stealing it for my own purposes, yet it's supposed to be my body."

The teens felt bad for her. Seeing Ichigo at school and the way he would always look uncomfortable or in severe agony for a moment only to insure them that he was okay made the three feel morally terrible for not realizing something was wrong earlier. Orihime instantly hugged Ichigo, muttering how she was sorry for not noticing her pain. Ichigo simply smiled to her and returned the hug in kind.

"It's okay Orihime." She started once more as she separated the girl from her and smiled to her and her friends. "Not a single one of you need to feel guilty for not noticing it before. I chose not to tell anyone to protect them from, well," she gestured to the world around them, "all of this." She looked to her friends again. "I'm sorry for not trusting you guys with the truth."

"It's okay Ichigo." Uryu smirked to her. "I think we all understand why you decided to do what you did, and not a single one of are angry about it."

"That's right." Orihime said enthusiastically as she held a determined smile on her face.

Chad just nodded and gave her a thumbs up. That was pretty much his affirmation to the situation.

Ichigo smiled to her friends. "Thanks guys. From now on, let's all have each other's back."

They nodded to her as they continued onward, almost forgetting about the black cat behind them. Yoruichi had listened in on the whole thing and was visibly worried. There was no real record of a soul imprint within the soul society nor anything that Kisuke was able to find out. It was all rumors and speculations from far before their time when the thirteen-court guard was not even into its infancy. It was a law passed down by the head captain himself as he believed it to be dangerous in and of itself. To this day, no one knew what would happen if a soul imprint were to occur, until it happened with Ichigo and Rukia. No one knew the implications of the imprint and when word got out of it happening after the Menos incident, a swift response was in order. When the report came of Ichigo' demise at the hands of Byakuya Kuchiki, there was both a sigh of relief and one of irritation as most who have heard of the rumored soul imprint were curious as to what it would bring about.

The fact that Ichigo no longer felt like a true host in his own body and more like an invader in a sense was not good. It seemed that his soul was no longer compatible with his body and the body was rejecting him in defense of itself in a sense. This was information Yoruichi would need to inform Kisuke about as soon as they leave for the world of the living.

Really happy with the way this chapter turned out as more establishing a bond between Ichigo and her friends for the sake of later on more so than anything. The next chapter will have some action in it.

Also, the only reason I couldn't post anything last week for thanksgiving was mainly because I was enjoying family I hadn't seen in months/years. Sorry about that. I'll make it up to ya'll by posting tomorrow as well.

Stay awesome, and as always...

PEACE!