Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ The Memories Long Forgotten ❯ Transition ( Chapter 1 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
I got the idea behind this while watching the Bleach movie, Memories of Nobody. It's an eventual ByaIchi. Hope you like.

The Memories Long Forgotten
Chapter One
Transition

-

Death is something everyone endures. And no one is an exception, not even Kurosaki Ichigo. He got terribly ill around his 27th birthday. An advanced case of influenza, the doctors said. And so, Isshin, Karin, and Yuzu were forced to watch the main man of their lives die. The twins were just starting college, too. He was sick. Very sick. And when he died, Rukia was the one that came for him.

Ichigo sat on his window sill, never to again enter his own body. He stared out over Karakura when he felt something with a slight power enter the room. He turned to see Isshin. The older man sighed and sat on Ichigo’s bed. “Stupid. How could you go off and leave me? Leave the twins?” Isshin asked.

“Not my fault, Goat Face,” Ichigo muttered half-heartedly, figuring the other man couldn’t hear him.

“Isn’t it?” Isshin looked directly at him. “Couldn’t you have done some healing kidou… or something?” he demanded.

Ichigo’s eyes widened. “You can see me?!” he asked in surprise.

Isshin shrugged. “No point hiding it any more. You’re dead, after all. My last name hasn’t always been ‘Kurosaki’.” He rubbed his arms as if to warm them. “It was once ‘Yamamoto’.”

Ichigo stared at him. “Yamamoto? Ain’t that the guy with the funny beard?” he asked.

Isshin grinned. “Yeah. The guy with the funny beard.”

Rukia appeared in the doorway, out of her gigai. “Hey, Ichigo. It’s time to go,” she said softly.

“Do me a favor when you get there?” Isshin asked, surprising the female shinigami. “Tell grandpa I said ‘Hi’.” With that, he left the room. “Karin! You look so wonderful!” he called as he exited.

She stepped in and ran forward. “Ichigo… I’m gonna miss ya,” she said, hugging him fiercely. “I’ll tell Yuzu you said good-bye, okay?”

He hugged her back and nodded. “Yeah. ‘Bye Karin.” He stood still as Rukia pressed the hilt of her zanpakutto his forehead. “I love you guys,” he said as he vanished.

A small black hell butterfly fluttered out the window.

-

A young boy opened his eyes. He lay in a bed, no memory of where he was or anything else, besides his name. He remembered it was Kurosaki Ichigo and that he was 27, but he couldn’t recall anything else. He sat up and looked around the room he was in.

It was pretty nondescript. Wooden walls, dirt floor, sliding door. Nothing unusual, though he couldn’t remember what was usual. He sighed and pushed the blanket off his legs. He was in a pair of pants and a tee-shirt and his sneakers were set off to the side.

He was pulling them on when the door slid open and a beefy guy stood there. He wore a yellow haori with a white under kimono and gray hakama. His messy dull brown hair reached his shoulders and he had brown eyes. A piece of white cloth was tied around his head and he had two-toed socks on his feet. He grinned at Ichigo. “Heya, Ichigo!” he said.
“Um… Do I know you?” Ichigo asked, a bit afraid of this strange man.

The large grin on the man’s face slipped away. “I forgot. New souls forget their lives from the real world sometimes. Eh, no worries.” He shrugged sheepishly. “I’m Shiba Ganju. Welcome to the house of Shiba. Well, this one at any rate. We might move in the next few years.” He laughed. “Well… ‘Nee-sama said to invite you to dinner. I’m sure you’re hungry.”

Ichigo was about to decline when a loud rumbling reverberated through the room. He flushed. “Um… That would be nice.” He glanced down at his insistent stomach. “And I believe my stomach agrees.” He smiled.

Ganju returned the grin. “Right! Let’s go!” He strode out the door and Ichigo followed silently. “So, Kurosaki, I guess you’ll be wanting to join the academy?” he asked.

“Um… Like, a school?” Ichigo asked curiously.

The man nodded. “Yeah. A school for Shinigami.” He turned down another hall.

Ichigo shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe in a few years. I… Just want to get used to things right now. How did you find me?”

Ganju glanced at him over his shoulder. “Well, luckily, you materialized in the field just by the house. The guards saw you and recognized you from your visit before. They informed me and ‘Nee-sama immediately that you were here. We’d been keeping an eye out for you to give ya a place ta stay. In here.” He motioned toward a sliding door and pushed one side open. “’Nee-sama! He’s awake!”

They walked in and a woman with outrageously large breasts looked up. She had messy black hair with a cloth tied messily around her head and white hakama. Her shirt cut down in a ‘V’, showing plenty of cleavage. The collar was white and what looked like a swirled spike was printed in black on the red fabric. Her eyes were gray and one of her arms looked… unnatural. Like it was fake. Upon closer inspection, he saw it was indeed fake. It had a hinge in the elbow and was a slightly different color from the rest of her skin. She was smoking a pipe. “Hey, Ichigo. How ya doin’?”

“Um… Okay,” he replied, definitely not looking at those humongous breasts practically falling out of her shirt.

She laughed. “Yoruichi’s right! You’re such a shy boy!” she gushed, getting easily to her feet. She strode up to him and leaned over. “Go ahead. Look.”

Ichigo flushed and averted his eyes. “I’d… rather not…” he mumbled.

“Come on! Go ahead! Here, you can even touch!”

He let out an ‘Eep!’ when she grabbed his hand and pressed it against her left breast. He yanked his hand away and took a step back. “I said I didn’t wanna!” he snapped.

She laughed. “So shy!” She grinned and sat back down in her previous position. She looked at Ganju, who was looking toward the ceiling as if to ask ‘Why me?’ and narrowed her eyes. “Well? Get us some food, you idiot!” she ordered.

“Uh, right, ‘Nee-sama!” He grabbed up three trays and gave the two one each, keeping one for himself, before sitting down to the woman’s right. “Ichigo, this is Shiba Kûkaku. She’s the one who said you could stay.”

Ichigo sat and nodded, still a little red. “Right,” he muttered, suddenly very hungry. He picked up the chopsticks, broke the apart, and began to eat, trying not to be a slob in the process.

After they were finished, Ganju offered to bring Ichigo to the Urahara shop in the real world. “He’s pretty decent. And he knows you from your past life.”

Ichigo shrugged. “Actually, I’m kinda tired. Can we do that tomorrow?”

Ganju nodded. “Sure, man. Get some rest. You remember the way back to your room, right?”

Ichigo nodded. “Yeah,” he said. He wandered about until he reached his room and sat down on the futon, noting the powder blue sheets and blankets. He sighed.

“Something wrong?”

Ichigo jumped and looked around, his eyes finally landing on a small black cat on the dresser. “Um… Did you just talk?” he asked, bewildered.

The cat laughed. “Yes. This isn’t my true form. I see you really did forget.” The cat leaped to the floor and plodded over to him before curling up in his lap. “They all miss you,” he said.

“Who?” Ichigo asked, scratching the creature’s ears.

“Your family. You’ve been gone for three days already. Yuzu broke down when you moved on to this world.” He leaned into Ichigo’s scratching fingers. “That feels good. Now if only you’d do that when I was in my real form,” he said dryly.

Ichigo frowned. “What is your real form?”

He leapt up from Ichigo’s lap and turned, looking smug. “I’m glad you asked!” And then he transformed. Steam surrounded him and he got bigger. Then the steam cleared.

“PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!!!” Ichigo shouted, blushing and hiding his face in his pillow.

The woman with the purple hair laughed. “Yeah. I love that reaction. You said the same thing last time, too.” She chuckled.

Ichigo peeked, but quickly hid his face again after realizing she had yet to comply. “Get dressed,” he snapped, his words muffled by the pillow.

“Hm,” she replied. “You know, I don’t think I will.” He was aware of it when she crouched down beside him, but he refused to look up at her. He ignored it, even, when she lay down on the futon. “Go to sleep, Ichigo,” she whispered.

“I can’t,” he mumbled.

“Why not?”

“Because there’s a strange naked woman in my bed,” he groused.

She laughed. “Well, then at least lay down. Your butt’s in the air.” She pushed him down onto his side and he squeezed his eyes shut. “Shy boy,” she murmured. “Here.” She arranged them so that he had his arms around her waist and her back was against his chest. “Now sleep, Ichigo.” And she seemed to relax in his arms.

He opened one eye, relieved that he could only see the curve of her breast this way. These women were strange with their teasing of his innocent mind. Ichigo allowed himself to relax bit by bit as he lay there, holding a strange woman to his chest. Now that he thought about it, she’d never given him her name. “Who are you?” he asked softly, not wanting to wake her up if she was asleep.

“Shihouin Yoruichi,” she replied after a moment.

“Oh. Kûkaku-san said something about you… I can’t remember what though. She was trying to molest me.”

Yoruichi laughed. “That sounds like her alright. Go to sleep, Ichigo.” With an obviously practiced moved, she reached back and yanked his shirt up over his head, and then tossed it across the room. “That was bugging me,” she explained. And then she twisted around so that her breasts were pressed against his now bare chest.

Ichigo flushed. “You’re doing the same thing,” he protested. “Only she was clothed.”

Yoruichi chuckled and closed her eyes. “Go to sleep, boy.”

He soon found his eyes closing against his better judgments. The last thing he felt was a soft hand trailing down his cheek gently. And then… nothing.

-

Ichigo paused by a rosebush. The tiny, delicate blossoms were just opened for the day and their petals were spread wide, soaking up the sun. But, though they seemed harmless, when he tried to pick one, he quickly withdrew his hand. A tiny bead of blood was gathering on his finger and he lifted it to his mouth.

He’d managed to evade the trip to ‘Urahara-san’s shop’ by saying he had a headache. This was good. And Shihouin-san was gone when he’d awoken, which was also good. All in all, he seemed to be having a pretty decent day.

Except he felt like he was being followed.

Every few feet, he’d hear rustling, but when he turned, there was no one there. It was starting to get annoying. And kind of creepy, too. He wanted to shout and demand who was following, but if he was just being paranoid, he’d look like an idiot. Shouting at the empty road. Well, path, but still….

He started forward again, still sucking on his index finger. There it was; the rustling. Deciding, he ran as fast as he could around the bushes and stepped out behind a redhead and a small woman with black hair. Both were leaning out over the path in puzzlement, looking for him.

“I thought he’d forgotten everything,” the redhead muttered.

“Maybe it was an accident. That’s how I learned shunpo,” the woman suggested.

The man grumbled something under his breath before speaking up. “That stupid strawberry has all the luck. I can’t believe he forgot us.”

Without announcing himself, Ichigo bonked the man on the head in annoyance. “I’m not a strawberry!” he snapped before stomping back onto the road. “And stop following me!”

“I-Ichigo!” the woman cried in surprise, leaving the redhead where he was crumpled in the dirt, dazed. “Wait up!” She ran forward and slowed beside him. “Hey! Ichigo! What… Why are you walking alone?”

“To stay away from weirdo people that say they know me, that’s why. And big-boobed women who try to molest me, too.” The thought sent an involuntary shiver down his spine. “I swear she’s gonna kill me.”

The woman choked on her laughter. “KShe’s tried to molest you? I would have pegged Yoruichi-san to do that.”

“She tried, too,” he admitted, ignoring the small woman’s laughter. He scowled, muttering under his breath. “With only marginally more success. That woman’s crazy.”

The woman seemed to hear him and choked as she tried to withhold her laughter. After she gained control of herself, she grinned up at him. “I guess you don’t remember me, huh? I’m Kuchiki Rukia of division 13 of the Gotei 13,” she introduced, bowing. “Dumbass there,” she jabbed her thumb in the redhead’s direction, bringing Ichigo to realize that he was now following silently behind them, “Is Abarai Renji, fukutaicho of division 6. His taicho’s my older brother,” she explained, ignoring the glare she received from Renji for the ‘dumbass’ comment.

“I really don’t care,” Ichigo replied in irritation. “Can’t you weirdoes stop pestering me and leave me alone? The only reason I put up with Ganju-san and Kis because I live with them. Beat it,” he snapped.

Rukia gaped as he walked away, seeming utterly stunned. “But… I-Ichigo!” she called, mortified.

“No! Leave me alone!” he snapped back at her before taking off in the general direction of K’s house.

-

I hope you liked. I did my best while writing it. R&R.

Lots of Love
Sorrow