บท 1: Chapter 1 – Death of a strawberry
~ The day I died ~
The first chapter – Death of a strawberry
'What is this chain?' Ichigo thought as he stood frozen, next to him was a body, closely resembling his own, squeezed to death by a hollow. Remembering the scene was quite frightening as it happened in less than a moment's notice.
~ Flashback ~
Ichigo was in his room silently biding his time, reading some magazine Tatsuki gave him. When all of a sudden his room collapsed and he got caught by a massive hollow; its shriek deafening and its strength a couple of magnitudes bigger than the strongest living man.
The monster held Ichigo tightly as it slowly moved closer to devour Ichigo, only to be stopped by a woman clad in black; her blade wounding the monster, making it no less angry.
The monster turned towards the woman, now in a fighting stance, and charged towards her. The monsters speed caught her off guard as she was launched several blocks away only to crash into a three story building. The monster scoffed at the, presumably, dead woman.
It turned its attention back to Ichigo, gripping his already numb body and squeezing it. Coughing up blood, Ichigo glared at the monster 'Is this really how I'm going to end up, squashed like an ant-' he wasn't able to finish his thought as his mind went blank and all he felt was emptiness.
It was dark and cold, he couldn't breathe. His eyes shot wide open when he realized that he was in fact underwater. He tried to swim to the surface, looking up to the light, 'It must be the surface, a safe place', he thought; only to notice that he was in fact, not moving, still in the same spot as earlier. His thoughts went blank again, leaving him unconscious.
He was soon awakened to the real world, by the deafening cry of a hollow; the one that squeezed the life out of him a few moments prior. Ichigo opened his eyes only to notice that he had a chain on his chest.
~ End of flashback ~
He couldn't comprehend what happened, what was this chain on his chest, why was it so cold and why he was still breathing. Ichigo turned towards the cry, surprised that the woman clad in black had defeated the monster. She turned towards Ichigo, slowly walking up to him.
His ever present scowl deepened, he eyed the woman in clad carefully. She was short and petite, had short raven hair, with a couple of strands hanging between her deep purple eyes. Her face looked like as if she was battle hardened and ready for anything.
She had a scowl that almost rivaled his own; walking up to him she bowed "I deeply apologize!" was all she said as Ichigo tilted his head, still not comprehending what just happened. "I could not save you in time…" She said while still bowing. "I will accept any berating and any insults you throw at me." Noticing that he hasn't moved even slightly she lifted her head, his eyes showing no hate or hostility towards her, raising an eyebrow she looked at his dumbfounded state. He had a blank stare that showed no emotions, causing her to shiver slightly.
Ichigo was stuck in a thought loop, his mind was a mess. Monster, chain on chest and a woman dressed as if she's from the past. He was brought back to the real world with a quick snap of her fingers in front of his face, pushing aside his thoughts for a second he looked at the woman, now being his queue to raise his eyebrow.
"Who the heck are you?" he asked bluntly, causing a vein to pop on the woman's forehead, pushing aside the thought of punching him, she composed herself "I am Rukia Kuchiki, a shinigami..."
She looked back to where the now disintegrated hollow was "And that was a hollow." Ichigo slowly nodded, until he noticed what she said "You're the reaper of souls? I never thought it would be a woman…"
He raised his eyebrow as he continued to eye her. She quickly shot him a glare, as cold as the night, "I am not the only one, of course. How could one person keep an eye on every soul, it's ludicrous. There are thousands of shinigami positioned in the world of the living and thousands more in Soul Society." She pointed towards herself with a small smile. "But the real question isn't who am I, it is who are you?"
She looked at him, he was higher than most men she knew, and his hair was obnoxiously orange making him stick out a lot more than most people. He had amber eyes and a scowl that would definitely rival her brothers. 'And his attitude is also a something else…' She mentally nodded to herself.
"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, an high school student…" he said while scratching his head, he had no idea what to say, he was a high school student even if it wasn't something as impressive as a shinigami.
She looked at him carefully 'I never knew hollows attacked humans, especially someone who should have little to almost no reiatsu…'
"Uhm, Rukia… was it?" she got out of her deep thoughts and simply nodded "What is this chain?" he said while holding his arm out, on his palm he had his chain that was still attached to his body. Getting heavier as time passed…
"You still haven't noticed?" she tilted her head to the side, her eyes landing on the unconscious body on the floor, squashed to pulp. It wasn't a pleasant sight whatsoever. Not that she would even express her emotions to anyone, she was a Kuchiki, a royal, she had to present herself as an idol to the next generations of shinigami, if not her then who will?
Ichigo noticed her eyes looking at a body on the floor, body was sort of an exaggeration it looked more like minced meat with a lot of blood splattered all around it. It only hit him a moment later "You're saying…" he narrowed his sight "…that this thing on the floor is…" the emotions he felt at that moment couldn't be described even if he tried his hardest "…me?" It was confusing, he was squeezed to death 'and she bowed and apologized and looked at me weird when I showed her my chain' his eyes widened at the thought of death.
Rukia thought that he may fall into despair and break before her, only that the opposite happened. Her eyes widened at his grin, his eyes full of hope, void of any doubt, hatred or despair
"Now that was a nice prank! Come on Keigo, I know you're behind this twisted joke!" Ichigo shouted out, he ran and checked every corner and hiding spot there was, only to stop at the last one "How or who will explain this to Karin and Yuzu…" his voice no longer filled with hope, cracking at the names of his sisters. He turned to face Rukia "Tell me shinigami, what do I do now?!" he shouted at her, his eyes full of remorse; his mind was filled with nothing but fear. He walked up to her, grabbing both her shoulders and looking straight into her violet eye "Help me Rukia." His voice was soft this time, he hoped that she knew what to do; after all, she was a shinigami; if anyone, she would know what to do now.
She knew that he will eventually find what he had to do, but right now it was time to send him to Soul Society 'He will learn what to do when he arrives at Soul Society'.
"I'm going to send you to Soul Society, where all souls are." The pain she felt was something she hasn't felt for a while now, because of her lack in strength, a poor high school student's life is ruined and over 'because of my lack in strength' she thought as it stung her heart. "Now be still, I will now perform Konso, it will judge your soul, should you be worth you will be sent to Soul Society, if not..." She looked away as she said the latter in a grim manner.
She placed the hilt of her Zanpakuto on his forehead, only to be sent back several feel by the amount of reiatsu that exploded from Ichigo. The cloud of dust erupted in the area and the force behind his reiatsu wasn't faltering, if anything it was growing stronger.
It was a constant barrage of reiatsu, wild reiatsu. Rukia's eyes widened, 'this unkempt and wild reiatsu, sealed inside a high school student?!' It was a huge shock to her, the force behind the push kept her away from Ichigo and his wild reiatsu kept her at bay as her breathing became harder by the second.
She saw a bright blue light emitted by the high school student's body; it was so bright that she could've sworn it turned night into day. The glow went on for some time until is began fading, getting dimmer by the second; his reiatsu getting lowered as well. The glow completely faded, allowing Rukia to breathe normally and move. She made her way to Ichigo, who was slowly fading into thin air. "You were judged worthy of Soul Society" Rukia gave him a small smile through exhaustion.
"What's going to happen now?" he tilted his head slightly, still confused what just happened.
"You are going to appear again in the outer regions of Soul Society. Make sure to come to Seireitei, after all your powers seem quite adequate." She smiled as he was trying to comprehend what she just said "Just find the white tower."
He simply nodded, noticing his whole body almost faded "If you're positioned in this city, could you please look after my sisters while I'm gone?"
Rukia nodded "I will check on them when I have time." To which Ichigo sighed in relief and smiled softly. He disappeared only a moment after, leaving only a tiny trace of his reiatsu and an awestruck, exhausted Rukia.
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