Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ The Memories Long Forgotten ❯ Lost Till You're Found ( Chapter 3 )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: TheSorrowfulVampress 
Chapter 3 Lost Till You're Found
Anime/Manga: Bleach Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Comedy | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.25.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 498 | Status: Work In Progress
Chapter 3 Lost Till You're Found
Anime/Manga: Bleach Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Comedy | Type: Yaoi | Uploaded On: 01.25.2009 | Pages: 3 | Words: 2.7K | Visits: 498 | Status: Work In Progress
Hello, all! Here's the next chapter! Dedicated to One Republic's 'All Fall Down'.
Disclaimer: It's in chapter 1...
The Memories Long Forgotten
Chapter Three
Lost 'Till You're Found
-
Ichigo soon came to find that, like Kuchiki-san, these people didn't care to tell him all about himself and brag about how they knew him and tell him how close they really were. Instead, Kenpachi kept trying to get Ichigo to fight with him, only to get shot down each and every time. Sakura and Yachiru seemed to like each other well enough, and Yuusuke had long since lured Ikkaku into showing him 'some cool moves'.
So Ichigo, Kenpachi, Yumichika and some others sat around the camp fire that night, trading experiences. Ichigo listened in quietly, only commenting when asked to do so; Yumichika seemed determined to draw him into the conversation, with limited success.
Finally, Kenpachi grunted and stood. "I'm goin' ta bed," he stated. "Don't make too much fuckin' noise." He turned and headed to a tent that had been put up for him. "Yachiru!" he shouted toward the two little girls, who were cheering Yuusuke on as the boy tried to learn how to shunpo. "Get yer ass ta bed, brat!"
She giggled and flitted over to him, appearing on his shoulders, even as he ducked into the tent.
Ichigo smiled slightly as Sakura, Yuusuke and Ikkaku came over. The little girl curled up in his lap like an overgrown cat and watched those around the fire. With the leave of their captain, several chose to turn in as well, leaving Ikkaku, Yumichika, Ichigo and the children alone.
"Did you have fun?" Yumichika asked the kids.
Sakura smiled and nodded slightly, though she looked exhausted and didn't speak. Yuusuke imediately shot into a fully-detailed report of his and Ikkaku's 'training', much to the feminine man's amusement. Soon enough, he had Ikkaku critiquing him and the two got into a full-blown argument about the effectiveness of hitting certain ways when in a fist fight.
Ichigo palmed his face and let out a sigh. He peeked between his fingers and looked down to find that Sakura was staring back up at him curiously. "What?" he asked quietly.
"Is something wrong, Ichigo-chan?" she asked, worry bunching her eyebrows as she drew them together.
"Nah, Saku-chan," he replied and smiled slightly to prove it.
She smiled back, her expression easing, then looked over at the sword laying down beside him. "Where'd you get that?" she asked, her curiosity successfully diverted.
He'd been wondering almost exactly the same thing. "Ayasegawa-san," he said in answer and question, just barely loud enough for the feminine man to hear him.
Yumichika turned his attention from the escalating argument and onto Ichigo. "Yes?" he asked, raising a brow.
Ichigo reached one hand out and laid it almost possessively on the sword. "Where'd you get this? And how did you know to bring it?" he wondered aloud. "Unless you were..." His brow furrowed, and he just knew Yumichika understood.
The feminine man shook his head. "No. We weren't looking for you, Ichigo-kun. Oddly enough, it was Kuchiki-taicho who gave it to us. He said that we should have it on us, just in case we ran into you." He frowned in thought. "Now that I think of it, he seemed pretty sure we would..."
"What do you mean?" Ichigo demanded, feeling a bit uneasy. Kuchiki-san couldn't have known... Could he?
Then again, he had known about Ichigo's strange ability with that energy ball. Maybe... Maybe they'd known each other before...? That could be it. Maybe Ichigo and he were close friends and Ichigo still had the same habits. It could be that Kuchiki-san had simply predicted upon that, knowing he might possibly be near Zaraki, which was where Kenpachi and his team were scouting. That was a very real possibility. Though, Ichigo didn't really believe it himself, so he didn't bother pointing it out.
Yumichika shrugged. "Kuchiki-taicho seems to know quite a bit, despite rarely ever leaving Seireitei unless he's on a mission. You said you'd met him, right?" he asked, referring to the near interrogation he and Kenpachi had dropped upon Ichigo as soon as all three children were distracted.
Ichigo nodded. "In a town Southeast of here. Nanmakamura," he recalled, using the name the villagers used for it.
The feminine man stared off into space, thinking. After a moment, he nodded. "Well, you tend to go Southwest before any other direction, so he probably figured we had more of a chance of crossing paths with you than anyone else," he decided, his words very close to what Ichigo had assumed before.
The strawberry man gave Yumichika an odd look. "Were we close?" he asked, then clarified when Yumichika lifted a brow. "Before. Me and Kuchiki-san, I mean."
Ikkaku, overhearing as he sipped straight from a bottle of sake, choked on a laugh and coughed. "You two? Close?" He snickered. "Ta put it plain, you guys were about as close as the sun and th' moon," he said, still coughing the alcohol out of his wind-pipe.
Ichigo frowned at this. "We weren't close? Than how does he... I mean, he seemed very nice when I met him before, so I thought-"
Ikkaku snorted. "Nah. He's the great Kuchiki-hime, and you're some ryoka brat from the real world. Always have been, always will be, plain as 'at," he said, gesturing with his sake bottle to better convey his point. "He was probably just sympathetic ta yer plight."
"Or maybe afraid Rukia-chan would attempt another blind date," Yumichika put in, eyes twinkling in amusement at some joke Ichigo wasn't privy to.
Ikkaku choked on another swallow of sake. He coughed it out and threw an empty bottle at the other man. "Not my fault! She threatened me with Yachiru!"
"Ooh, terrifying," Yumichika replied in a mocking tone.
"Tell me about it," Ichigo muttered with a half-hearted shudder. "That kid creeps me out..."
Ikkaku nodded in whole-hearted agreement. "You and everybody else, Ichi. You and everybody else..."
-
After deciding it wouldn't be too bad to stay with them a little longer - at least until they were safely through and away from Kusajishi - Ichigo and Ikkaku kinda-sorta-in-a-way-but-not-really became friends. During the day, Ichigo would walk and talk with Yumichika and sometimes Kenpachi while Ikkaku chased the kids around and ran yelling and screaming from Yachiru's rather violent attacks. At night, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Ichigo would stay up past midnight just talking, and sometimes Ichigo would even drink with the bald man.
Two weeks went by mostly peacefully and quietly - again with the exception of Yachiru - before Ichigo began to feel the first trickles of strange power. When they stopped for camp that night, he asked Yumichika about it.
"That's reiatsu," he replied with a slight smile. "We're three days travel East of Seireitei."
Ichigo blinked, having heard much about the city of Shinigami. "Really?"
Ikkaku snagged up a giggling Yuusuke and nodded, tickling the boy. "Yeah. I'm surprised you feel it, though; I can't. Only taicho and Yumi can feel all th' way out here."
Yuusuke, gasping from his up-side-down position, kicked Ikkaku in the chin and shunpo'd a few yards away. Ikkaku darted after him, the boy keeping just out of his reach despite the older man's best efforts. Yumichika shook his head in amusement as he watched.
"Will you be leaving us soon?" he asked, looking back at Ichigo.
The strawberry man shrugged. "Maybe. I think I'll stop by Shiba-san's house and apologize for leaving so abruptly. I hope she forgives me."
Kenpachi shuddered. "That woman's a freak o' nature," he pointed out.
Ichigo nodded. "I know."
Yumichika laughed and went to help Ikkaku catch the slightly faster Yuusuke - the boy was learning quickly.
-
Ichigo and the kids reached Kuukaku-san's house just as it started to snow. Or, rather, where her house used to be. The house was gone and the plants had already started laying seige to the plot of land. Ichigo sighed.
"So much for that idea," he muttered under his breath.
"Aw," Sakura whined. "I wanted to meet her..."
"Me, too," Yuusuke piped up.
Ichigo noddd. "I know, guys. Maybe we can find out something in town, hm?"
Sakura grinned and Yuusuke 'yahoo'd. Ichigo chuckled and shook his head before leading the way to the nearby town. Once there, they asked everyone they could think of, but to no avail; no one had even known she was there in the first place. Ichigo was just about to give up when he saw a familiar feline turn a corner and start in his direction. Once she reached him, he scooped her up, scratched behind her ears, and motioned for the kids to follow him out of town.
"Hey, Shihouin-san," he greeted, once they were back where Kuukaku had lived.
Yoruichi sniffed disdainfully and started cleaning a paw, not bothering to reply.
"Look, I'm sorry," Ichigo apologized, ignoring the staring children. They must think he was nuts, but he didn't care. He knew this cat could talk. "Would it help if... If I called you Yoruichi?" he continued, searching for something that would get her to talk to him.
She lowered her paw and skewered him with a rather eery glare, for a cat. "You had Kuukaku scared for you, you know," she stated, much to the surprise and delight of the children. Or Sakura, at any rate; Yuusuke pretended not to care.
He snorted at that. "Somehow, I doubt that," he said. "I barely know her, and I know she wouldn't be scared for me."
Yoruichi's glare intensified until Ichigo flinched. "That's. Not. The point," she said slowly, relenting that Kuukaku hadn't, in fact, been 'scared' for him. "The point, Ichigo, is that you took off without so much as letting anyone know where you were going. And! You come back with kids!" She gestured with a paw in Sakura's direction, ignoring the fact that the little girl was staring at her covetously. "What poor woman did you impregnate!"
Ichigo choked, unsure whether he should laugh or gasp. "What! No! They-... I-... What-... Not mine!" he squeaked, eyes widening.
Yoruichi snickered. "Of course not. It hasn't been that long," she pointed out smugly.
Ichigo flushed in embarassment. She'd gotten him. "I..." He sighed, clamping his mouth shut.
"Where's Kuukaku-sama?" Sakura asked Yoruichi suddenly. "We wanted to meet her, but she's gone and..." She trailed off with a shrug, scuffing the ground with her small sandal, which Ichigo had made a point of buying when they'd first come into his care.
Yoruichi snorted. "A few days travel from here," she answered. "I guess I'll take you, but Ichigo's gonna hafta help Ganju clean the canon."
Ichigo gulped. He'd seen the canon and it was huge. "But..."
Yoruichi shut him up with another glare before hopping off the stump he'd set her on and transforming. Both Ichigo and Yuusuke let out identical squeaks, while Sakura stared in awe before clapping in childish delight.
"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, DAMMIT!!!" Ichigo shouted. "THERE'S KIDS HERE, THIS TIME!!!"
Yuusuke peeked between his fingers, hands covering the majority of his face. "You've seen this before? Lucky teme..."
"Watch your language!" Sakura shouted, beening her brother with a rock, successfully knocking him over.
Yoruichi snickered and winked at Ichigo, who flushed scarlet. She trotted over to a nearby tree and pulled a bundle of cloth down before dressing. "Such shy boys," she teased, grinning as she walked past them again. "This way."
-
Luckily, when they got to the new Shiba house - shaped like a giant mug, with windows in the handle - Kuukaku was drunk, and by the next morning, she'd gotten over it. It took Ichigo and Ganju two days to clean the canon entirely, especially since Yoruichi forced them to do it with rags and buckets of water. Sakura developed a case of hero-worship for Yoruichi, and both the cat-woman and Kuukaku adored the tiny chocolate-haired, doe-eyed girl to pieces.
And for a few days, everything was wonderful. Until Urahara Kisuke showed up.
The store owner was accompanied by both Kuchiki-chan and Abarai-san, the former gasping in surprise as soon as she laid eyes on Ichigo. "Ichigo!" she cried, running up and embracing him. "I was so-"
He pushed her away and took a step back, every instinct inside him screaming for him to fight or flee. There was a tense silence that descended around the room, unbroken. Abarai-san shifted so that Rukia was behind and to the side of him. Ichigo could only stare at her, his fingers itching to grab up that heavy sword less than a foot away.
Ichigo, she is your friend, Ossan whispered in the back of his mind.
Ichigo shook his head. But she's not, he argued. I don't know her... I have no idea who she is.
You did know her. Before, the old man replied reasonably.
But... I don't want to. Not anymore. Ichigo straightened, surprised to find he'd hunched over defensively. Which would be the reason for the tense atmosphere.
Abarai-san relaxed slightly, but he didn't move from his defensive stance in front of Kuchiki-chan. She was looking back and forth between Abarai-san and Ichigo, confusion and hurt swimming in her eyes. Finally, Urahara-san stepped up beside Ichigo, who tensed, and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Perhaps this was not such a good idea," he said with a sigh, breaking the silence. "It's still too early for Kurosaki-kun here." He looked at Kuchiki-chan and smiled sympathetically. "Sorry, Rukia-chan."
Sakura walked up to her and silently offered her a flower. Kuchiki-chan took it, a tear worming it's way from her eye and rolling down her cheek. Ichigo, struck by how comfortable Sakura seemed near the girl, realized how much of an idiot he was being. Deciding, he dropped to his knees and bowed formally.
"Gomen nesai, Kuchiki-san," he said. "I'm... I'm being a jerk."
This time, the silence was stricken with surprise, until Rukia too dropped to her knees and pushed Ichigo to a kneeling position, rather than prostrated before her. "Don't bow to me, Ichigo. Never before have you bowed to anyone, and I don't want that to change." She smiled hesitantly at him. "I'm sorry, too. I just find it difficult to imagine that you may have changed since losing your memory." She sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I think it's a little obvious to everyone, now, that you aren't the same Ichigo we knew before. You're a different person, and I, for one, would like to get to know you, if you'd like."
Without thinking about it, not that he really needed too, he nodded. "Yes. Of course."
"Friends?" she asked, holding out a hand.
"Friends," he answered, shaking it.
Sakura cheered.
-
Yes, I know it's shorter than the other ones, but oh well. I'll start working on the next chapter shortly. Thanks for all the support! R&R
Lots of Love,
Sorrow
Disclaimer: It's in chapter 1...
The Memories Long Forgotten
Chapter Three
Lost 'Till You're Found
-
Ichigo soon came to find that, like Kuchiki-san, these people didn't care to tell him all about himself and brag about how they knew him and tell him how close they really were. Instead, Kenpachi kept trying to get Ichigo to fight with him, only to get shot down each and every time. Sakura and Yachiru seemed to like each other well enough, and Yuusuke had long since lured Ikkaku into showing him 'some cool moves'.
So Ichigo, Kenpachi, Yumichika and some others sat around the camp fire that night, trading experiences. Ichigo listened in quietly, only commenting when asked to do so; Yumichika seemed determined to draw him into the conversation, with limited success.
Finally, Kenpachi grunted and stood. "I'm goin' ta bed," he stated. "Don't make too much fuckin' noise." He turned and headed to a tent that had been put up for him. "Yachiru!" he shouted toward the two little girls, who were cheering Yuusuke on as the boy tried to learn how to shunpo. "Get yer ass ta bed, brat!"
She giggled and flitted over to him, appearing on his shoulders, even as he ducked into the tent.
Ichigo smiled slightly as Sakura, Yuusuke and Ikkaku came over. The little girl curled up in his lap like an overgrown cat and watched those around the fire. With the leave of their captain, several chose to turn in as well, leaving Ikkaku, Yumichika, Ichigo and the children alone.
"Did you have fun?" Yumichika asked the kids.
Sakura smiled and nodded slightly, though she looked exhausted and didn't speak. Yuusuke imediately shot into a fully-detailed report of his and Ikkaku's 'training', much to the feminine man's amusement. Soon enough, he had Ikkaku critiquing him and the two got into a full-blown argument about the effectiveness of hitting certain ways when in a fist fight.
Ichigo palmed his face and let out a sigh. He peeked between his fingers and looked down to find that Sakura was staring back up at him curiously. "What?" he asked quietly.
"Is something wrong, Ichigo-chan?" she asked, worry bunching her eyebrows as she drew them together.
"Nah, Saku-chan," he replied and smiled slightly to prove it.
She smiled back, her expression easing, then looked over at the sword laying down beside him. "Where'd you get that?" she asked, her curiosity successfully diverted.
He'd been wondering almost exactly the same thing. "Ayasegawa-san," he said in answer and question, just barely loud enough for the feminine man to hear him.
Yumichika turned his attention from the escalating argument and onto Ichigo. "Yes?" he asked, raising a brow.
Ichigo reached one hand out and laid it almost possessively on the sword. "Where'd you get this? And how did you know to bring it?" he wondered aloud. "Unless you were..." His brow furrowed, and he just knew Yumichika understood.
The feminine man shook his head. "No. We weren't looking for you, Ichigo-kun. Oddly enough, it was Kuchiki-taicho who gave it to us. He said that we should have it on us, just in case we ran into you." He frowned in thought. "Now that I think of it, he seemed pretty sure we would..."
"What do you mean?" Ichigo demanded, feeling a bit uneasy. Kuchiki-san couldn't have known... Could he?
Then again, he had known about Ichigo's strange ability with that energy ball. Maybe... Maybe they'd known each other before...? That could be it. Maybe Ichigo and he were close friends and Ichigo still had the same habits. It could be that Kuchiki-san had simply predicted upon that, knowing he might possibly be near Zaraki, which was where Kenpachi and his team were scouting. That was a very real possibility. Though, Ichigo didn't really believe it himself, so he didn't bother pointing it out.
Yumichika shrugged. "Kuchiki-taicho seems to know quite a bit, despite rarely ever leaving Seireitei unless he's on a mission. You said you'd met him, right?" he asked, referring to the near interrogation he and Kenpachi had dropped upon Ichigo as soon as all three children were distracted.
Ichigo nodded. "In a town Southeast of here. Nanmakamura," he recalled, using the name the villagers used for it.
The feminine man stared off into space, thinking. After a moment, he nodded. "Well, you tend to go Southwest before any other direction, so he probably figured we had more of a chance of crossing paths with you than anyone else," he decided, his words very close to what Ichigo had assumed before.
The strawberry man gave Yumichika an odd look. "Were we close?" he asked, then clarified when Yumichika lifted a brow. "Before. Me and Kuchiki-san, I mean."
Ikkaku, overhearing as he sipped straight from a bottle of sake, choked on a laugh and coughed. "You two? Close?" He snickered. "Ta put it plain, you guys were about as close as the sun and th' moon," he said, still coughing the alcohol out of his wind-pipe.
Ichigo frowned at this. "We weren't close? Than how does he... I mean, he seemed very nice when I met him before, so I thought-"
Ikkaku snorted. "Nah. He's the great Kuchiki-hime, and you're some ryoka brat from the real world. Always have been, always will be, plain as 'at," he said, gesturing with his sake bottle to better convey his point. "He was probably just sympathetic ta yer plight."
"Or maybe afraid Rukia-chan would attempt another blind date," Yumichika put in, eyes twinkling in amusement at some joke Ichigo wasn't privy to.
Ikkaku choked on another swallow of sake. He coughed it out and threw an empty bottle at the other man. "Not my fault! She threatened me with Yachiru!"
"Ooh, terrifying," Yumichika replied in a mocking tone.
"Tell me about it," Ichigo muttered with a half-hearted shudder. "That kid creeps me out..."
Ikkaku nodded in whole-hearted agreement. "You and everybody else, Ichi. You and everybody else..."
-
After deciding it wouldn't be too bad to stay with them a little longer - at least until they were safely through and away from Kusajishi - Ichigo and Ikkaku kinda-sorta-in-a-way-but-not-really became friends. During the day, Ichigo would walk and talk with Yumichika and sometimes Kenpachi while Ikkaku chased the kids around and ran yelling and screaming from Yachiru's rather violent attacks. At night, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Ichigo would stay up past midnight just talking, and sometimes Ichigo would even drink with the bald man.
Two weeks went by mostly peacefully and quietly - again with the exception of Yachiru - before Ichigo began to feel the first trickles of strange power. When they stopped for camp that night, he asked Yumichika about it.
"That's reiatsu," he replied with a slight smile. "We're three days travel East of Seireitei."
Ichigo blinked, having heard much about the city of Shinigami. "Really?"
Ikkaku snagged up a giggling Yuusuke and nodded, tickling the boy. "Yeah. I'm surprised you feel it, though; I can't. Only taicho and Yumi can feel all th' way out here."
Yuusuke, gasping from his up-side-down position, kicked Ikkaku in the chin and shunpo'd a few yards away. Ikkaku darted after him, the boy keeping just out of his reach despite the older man's best efforts. Yumichika shook his head in amusement as he watched.
"Will you be leaving us soon?" he asked, looking back at Ichigo.
The strawberry man shrugged. "Maybe. I think I'll stop by Shiba-san's house and apologize for leaving so abruptly. I hope she forgives me."
Kenpachi shuddered. "That woman's a freak o' nature," he pointed out.
Ichigo nodded. "I know."
Yumichika laughed and went to help Ikkaku catch the slightly faster Yuusuke - the boy was learning quickly.
-
Ichigo and the kids reached Kuukaku-san's house just as it started to snow. Or, rather, where her house used to be. The house was gone and the plants had already started laying seige to the plot of land. Ichigo sighed.
"So much for that idea," he muttered under his breath.
"Aw," Sakura whined. "I wanted to meet her..."
"Me, too," Yuusuke piped up.
Ichigo noddd. "I know, guys. Maybe we can find out something in town, hm?"
Sakura grinned and Yuusuke 'yahoo'd. Ichigo chuckled and shook his head before leading the way to the nearby town. Once there, they asked everyone they could think of, but to no avail; no one had even known she was there in the first place. Ichigo was just about to give up when he saw a familiar feline turn a corner and start in his direction. Once she reached him, he scooped her up, scratched behind her ears, and motioned for the kids to follow him out of town.
"Hey, Shihouin-san," he greeted, once they were back where Kuukaku had lived.
Yoruichi sniffed disdainfully and started cleaning a paw, not bothering to reply.
"Look, I'm sorry," Ichigo apologized, ignoring the staring children. They must think he was nuts, but he didn't care. He knew this cat could talk. "Would it help if... If I called you Yoruichi?" he continued, searching for something that would get her to talk to him.
She lowered her paw and skewered him with a rather eery glare, for a cat. "You had Kuukaku scared for you, you know," she stated, much to the surprise and delight of the children. Or Sakura, at any rate; Yuusuke pretended not to care.
He snorted at that. "Somehow, I doubt that," he said. "I barely know her, and I know she wouldn't be scared for me."
Yoruichi's glare intensified until Ichigo flinched. "That's. Not. The point," she said slowly, relenting that Kuukaku hadn't, in fact, been 'scared' for him. "The point, Ichigo, is that you took off without so much as letting anyone know where you were going. And! You come back with kids!" She gestured with a paw in Sakura's direction, ignoring the fact that the little girl was staring at her covetously. "What poor woman did you impregnate!"
Ichigo choked, unsure whether he should laugh or gasp. "What! No! They-... I-... What-... Not mine!" he squeaked, eyes widening.
Yoruichi snickered. "Of course not. It hasn't been that long," she pointed out smugly.
Ichigo flushed in embarassment. She'd gotten him. "I..." He sighed, clamping his mouth shut.
"Where's Kuukaku-sama?" Sakura asked Yoruichi suddenly. "We wanted to meet her, but she's gone and..." She trailed off with a shrug, scuffing the ground with her small sandal, which Ichigo had made a point of buying when they'd first come into his care.
Yoruichi snorted. "A few days travel from here," she answered. "I guess I'll take you, but Ichigo's gonna hafta help Ganju clean the canon."
Ichigo gulped. He'd seen the canon and it was huge. "But..."
Yoruichi shut him up with another glare before hopping off the stump he'd set her on and transforming. Both Ichigo and Yuusuke let out identical squeaks, while Sakura stared in awe before clapping in childish delight.
"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON, DAMMIT!!!" Ichigo shouted. "THERE'S KIDS HERE, THIS TIME!!!"
Yuusuke peeked between his fingers, hands covering the majority of his face. "You've seen this before? Lucky teme..."
"Watch your language!" Sakura shouted, beening her brother with a rock, successfully knocking him over.
Yoruichi snickered and winked at Ichigo, who flushed scarlet. She trotted over to a nearby tree and pulled a bundle of cloth down before dressing. "Such shy boys," she teased, grinning as she walked past them again. "This way."
-
Luckily, when they got to the new Shiba house - shaped like a giant mug, with windows in the handle - Kuukaku was drunk, and by the next morning, she'd gotten over it. It took Ichigo and Ganju two days to clean the canon entirely, especially since Yoruichi forced them to do it with rags and buckets of water. Sakura developed a case of hero-worship for Yoruichi, and both the cat-woman and Kuukaku adored the tiny chocolate-haired, doe-eyed girl to pieces.
And for a few days, everything was wonderful. Until Urahara Kisuke showed up.
The store owner was accompanied by both Kuchiki-chan and Abarai-san, the former gasping in surprise as soon as she laid eyes on Ichigo. "Ichigo!" she cried, running up and embracing him. "I was so-"
He pushed her away and took a step back, every instinct inside him screaming for him to fight or flee. There was a tense silence that descended around the room, unbroken. Abarai-san shifted so that Rukia was behind and to the side of him. Ichigo could only stare at her, his fingers itching to grab up that heavy sword less than a foot away.
Ichigo, she is your friend, Ossan whispered in the back of his mind.
Ichigo shook his head. But she's not, he argued. I don't know her... I have no idea who she is.
You did know her. Before, the old man replied reasonably.
But... I don't want to. Not anymore. Ichigo straightened, surprised to find he'd hunched over defensively. Which would be the reason for the tense atmosphere.
Abarai-san relaxed slightly, but he didn't move from his defensive stance in front of Kuchiki-chan. She was looking back and forth between Abarai-san and Ichigo, confusion and hurt swimming in her eyes. Finally, Urahara-san stepped up beside Ichigo, who tensed, and laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Perhaps this was not such a good idea," he said with a sigh, breaking the silence. "It's still too early for Kurosaki-kun here." He looked at Kuchiki-chan and smiled sympathetically. "Sorry, Rukia-chan."
Sakura walked up to her and silently offered her a flower. Kuchiki-chan took it, a tear worming it's way from her eye and rolling down her cheek. Ichigo, struck by how comfortable Sakura seemed near the girl, realized how much of an idiot he was being. Deciding, he dropped to his knees and bowed formally.
"Gomen nesai, Kuchiki-san," he said. "I'm... I'm being a jerk."
This time, the silence was stricken with surprise, until Rukia too dropped to her knees and pushed Ichigo to a kneeling position, rather than prostrated before her. "Don't bow to me, Ichigo. Never before have you bowed to anyone, and I don't want that to change." She smiled hesitantly at him. "I'm sorry, too. I just find it difficult to imagine that you may have changed since losing your memory." She sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. "I think it's a little obvious to everyone, now, that you aren't the same Ichigo we knew before. You're a different person, and I, for one, would like to get to know you, if you'd like."
Without thinking about it, not that he really needed too, he nodded. "Yes. Of course."
"Friends?" she asked, holding out a hand.
"Friends," he answered, shaking it.
Sakura cheered.
-
Yes, I know it's shorter than the other ones, but oh well. I'll start working on the next chapter shortly. Thanks for all the support! R&R
Lots of Love,
Sorrow