- Real world -- Karakura Town -
A mother and son were walking on the footpath near a riverbank. They were both holding hands as they took shelter from the rain under one umbrella. The boy had a joyful smile plastered on his face as his brown eyes radiated happiness. He had one distinguishing feature, his unnatural spiky orange hair. He held a closed umbrella in his other hand while he was clad in a yellow raincoat. This boy was Kurosaki Ichigo. The mother was an older version of Masaki that had long wavy hair tied into a ponytail. Motherly love filled her eyes as she looked at her little treasure
While Ichigo was walking, he saw a young girl about to jump in the river.
"Hey, that kid…"
Seeing the girl about to jump in Ichigo rushed out,
"Hold on a second!"
Masaki was surprised seeing Ichigo run out,
"Ichigo?"
Looking towards the girl, Masaki was surprised, it was a hollow. Ichigo was still young and couldn"t identify between a real girl and a soul, he didn"t even know what a hollow was.
"No! Ichigo!"
Ichigo stretched his hand out trying to catch the girl but his hand touched nothing, and he fell forwards. Seeing the hollow about to attack Ichigo, she jumped in front of him, willing to take the blow. Masaki tried to summon her blut but failed to do so, she had lost her Quincy powers.
Hugging Ichigo she covered him from the attack, but the expected attack never came. Slowly turning around, she saw a katana coming out of the hollow"s torso.
The hollow slowly dissipated as a youth appeared behind her. He was in tattered Shinigami clothes, with rips here and there. He was missing one shoe and the remains of a white jacket was behind him. His pitiful look did nothing to diminish his beauty. Just as she was about to unconsciously compare him to her husband, she collapsed. It seems the recent stress took a toll on her as the burden of losing her powers came flushing in. Ichigo, in front was barely conscious, as he saw a man with white hair and tattered clothing lift him and his mother.
Picking the two up, he arrived in front of a clinic and rang the doorbell. A familiar man opened the door as his eyes widened in shock. Isshin had grown a bit of a stubble since he lost his Shinigami powers. He was waiting for his wife to be home after he felt grand fisher"s reiatsu. He knew she could protect herself, but time pa.s.sed as he started to feel uneasy.
He waited and waited when the doorbell rang. At first, he thought it was Masaki, but she should have a key, so it probably wasn"t her. Settling himself, he went to open the door. What he saw will forever be etched in his memories as it would be the cause of numerous nightmares to come.
A floating Masaki and Ichigo first came into view, seemingly unconscious.
"W-w-w-what?!"
He jumped back in shock which created enough s.p.a.ce for Itsuki to enter and lay the two on the couch.
As he laid them down, Isshin"s voice was heard
"Is it you, Itsuki?"
Itsuki never talked as he knew Isshin wouldn"t be able to hear it.
"I have to say thanks"
Itsuki just got up and left. He had no reason to be here and would need to make haste to return to Soul Society. He still had one more place to be.
In a barren warehouse district, Itsuki saw a cat lazing around. It seemed to have no care in the world and looked just like an ordinary cat.
Sneaking up behind it, Itsuki suddenly cuddled her and started patting its head. The cat was first surprised but then seemed to melt with Itsuki"s touch,
"How many years has it been…"
This thought flashed through Yoruichi"s head as she felt Itsuki"s touch. She had missed this touch, even craved it. Sitting down Itsuki put her on his lap as she turned into her human form. Sitting there Itsuki just spoke one word,
"Why?"
One word yet so many meanings. Yoruichi felt her heart tremble upon hearing this as she just closed her eyes and leaned back. It wasn"t that she didn"t choose to answer but it was because she couldn"t. She had wronged the two most important people in her life that day. Itsuki put his arms around her and buried his face into her neck, the two stayed in that positions. They didn"t know how much time had pa.s.sed until Yoruichi moved Itsuki"s head and pulled it into a kiss. At first it was ok, but Itsuki started to avoid it,
"No Yoruichi, don"t, you can"t just kiss me and…"
This was the first time Yoruichi had seen Itsuki show this much emotion. Itsuki wanted to carry on but when he looked at her tears, he suddenly felt something clog his throat. He couldn"t get the right words out; he hated those eyes Yoruichi had.
This time Itsuki leaned in for a kiss, it wasn"t a pa.s.sionate one but a light one. That one kiss seemed to have forgotten about the past and all that mattered was the present. They just enjoyed each other"s company that night as they both went over their experiences.
In the morning Itsuki made his leave amidst Yoruichi"s silent protests and kisses. He reluctantly left the unsatisfied cat as he stabbed his zanpakuto in mid-air and opened a senkaimon. Later that day, Urahara was quite surprised to see Yoruichi in such a joyful mood.
Back at the Kurosaki clinic, Isshin was surprised to learn that Masaki had lost her powers. He felt lucky that someone had saved her otherwise he never knew what would happen if he lost her.
"So, who saved you?"
A dreamy look was in Masaki"s eyes as she spoke,
"I don"t know, he was really handsome."
Isshin"s face crumbled as he knew exactly who she was talking about. Back in soul society he never knew the pain a married man faced but he had now experienced it first-hand.
- Soul Society -
- Main Senkaimon -
The kido guards were surprised seeing the senkaimon open. There weren"t any reports of anyone that would be entering soul society that day, so this was completely unexpected from them.
Getting ready for any invasion, a report was sent to Yamamoto and the 12th Division. What intensified the situation was that the division had no reports about anyone inside the Dangai. This increased the chances of an invasion happening.
When the Senkaimon opened, no one stepped out. Suddenly, a ma.s.sive amount of Reiatsu pressured the whole of Seireitei. All the captain"s felt the pressure as they hastily made their way to the main Senkaimon. A total of 12 captains appeared alongside their lieutenants with Soi Fon being the only lieutenant without their captain. Aizen had someone unknown as his lieutenant as he couldn"t get his hands on Hinamori.
They all got battle ready when they saw Seikyo land on the shoulder of the figure that stepped out.
Rangiku and Soi Fon were shocked before hope appeared in their eyes,
"Please, let it be him…"
Shunsui, Ukitake, Unohana and Byakuya also had hope in their eyes while Yamamoto slightly opened his eyes in antic.i.p.ation.
The figure then stepped out and they all got to see the rags he was in. He had a hooked eyebrow seeing the entourage waiting for him upon his entrance, then, as if realising something, he contained his Reiatsu making it absolutely invisible to others. If they weren"t looking at him, they wouldn"t have noticed he was there.
Before anyone could react, Itsuki and Yamamoto nodded at each other and disappeared from their locations. Rangiku and Soi Fon couldn"t believe their eyes as they stood in their place. Toshiro, the current 10th division captain, noticed this and left Rangiku on her own. Aizen, Gin and Tosen had no changes in their expressions as they left. Shunsui, Ukitake, Unohana and Byakuya made their way to the 2nd Division HQ to meet Itsuki there, their lieutenants following them. Only Soi Fon and Rangiku were left looking at each other. Seeing the joy in each other"s eyes, they knew they weren"t dreaming as both of them also made their way to the 2nd Division.
Zaraki Kenpachi had a smile on his face
Landing in the 1st division HQ, Itsuki then made his report.
"Quite hard to believe you were fighting for this long and you ended up in Hueco Mundo."
Itsuki nodded while Yamamoto felt that Itsuki was hiding something, he just brushed it off. He knew his disciple best and knew that he would have soul society"s best interest in mind. Knowing that he had friends waiting for him, he dismissed him. After that was a touching reunion with the four captains. Shunsui had tears streaming down his face while Ukitake had his usual smiling face. Unohana just came to tell Itsuki of their next sparring session and that he was finally back. The three left while Byakuya remained behind.
From all of them, he was the closest to Itsuki. It seemed that Byakuya had changed the most as had reverted back to his own self from the anime.
"…visit us sometime soon, Hisana would be happy to meet you."
With this Byakuya left and Itsuki was the only one left. The door to the main room opened as two figures walked in.
Itsuki could see the dried-up tears in their eyes as they both jumped at him. He let himself be pushed down as to not hurt the two. Both of them rubbed their faces on his ragged clothes as they had missed him for years. The three stayed like that for some time before, surprisingly, Soi Fon made the first move. She looked up with a determined red face as she leaned in for a kiss. Rangiku seeing this, leta pout surface on her beautiful face,
"Not fair Soi Fon…"
Grabbing Itsuki"s head, Rangiku also leaned in for a kiss.
Itsuki was surprised with the initiative the two took. It seemed their relationship had gotten closer with his absence. Itsuki wasn"t wrong as they only had each other when he went missing.
Finishing the kiss, a slap made its way to his right cheek while Rangiku slapped his left one.
Both had tears in their eyes as they spoke together,
""Don"t do that ever again!""
When he went missing, it had hurt them the most. It was as if they had lost a piece of their souls. Itsuki was still dazed at what happened, first he was getting kissed and the next he was getting slapped. But when he saw the tears in their eyes, he just hugged them, he really hated those tears.
News of Itsuki"s return sent another shockwave throughout Seireitei. The Onmitsukido, that were slowly losing hope, seemed to have been reignited as they started completing mission after mission with a hundred percent completion rate. The central 46 got wind of this and with Yamamoto submitting a report, they glossed over the questioning they were preparing.
Soi Fon, Rangiku and Itsuki started spending time together more often as a smug smile kept appearing on her face. Seeing this irked Rangiku as she questioned,
"What"s with that look?"
"I was Itsuki"s first."
A happy smile appeared was on her face as she recited those words. Itsuki was stunned before he decided to make it clear,
"Actually, you weren"t…"
Soi Fon turned into stone while Rangiku was also shocked,
"Then who w"
Only one girl flashed through their minds as the two looked at each other,
"Was it her?"
Itsuki gave a nod while Soi Fon asked further,
"How far?"
Itsuki started feeling cold as he told the truth,
"All the way."
The two were shocked with what Itsuki just said. They both looked at each other and knew exactly what the other party was thinking.
Jumping up, they shouted
"Rock, Paper, scissors"
Soi Fon threw a rock while Rangiku threw paper. Soi Fon seemed sad as Rangiku cheered. They weren"t taking their chances with Itsuki as they didn"t want something like that to happen again. Now, knowing their rival was a giant leap ahead of them, they got compet.i.tive.
Itsuki just watched on with a smile, this was something the two girls deserved, and it was not like he was losing out.
- Ahem -
- Ahem -
*************************************
Author"s note
Going to try and focus on the romance aspect now.
Plus its now the end of Volume 2, Hooray :).
So, I"ll be taking a one day break, awwww ;(.
Plot will most likely start next chapter.
It was my first time writing romance so please be lenient with your criticsm.
Just to make it clear, Itsuki is still a pure Shinigami as the one that absorbed the hollow power was his zanpakutos which inadvertently gave him hollow powers.
Shall I do something like you guys ask me a question and I answer them. Well I"ll see from your response in the comments. If yes then I"ll do it tomorrow.
Sorry guys, three is enough. I had thought of Kukaku but too less time compared to the other girls.
Anymore then it will truly be difficult, so maybe in any of the future novels.