Bleach: Cross: 015 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Fifteen: White Princess Rebirth
SOUL SOCIETY – YORUICHI AND KISUKE’S TRAINING GROUND
For once in a long time, Sam felt safe and no longer alone. Sure, it seemed like an insane dream she wished never to accept, but somehow she had made it this far. She was human but no longer human. She was loved. She was loved for who she once was and now for all time.
But all things end. The very fact she was here evidenced that. “I can’t be her,” she said at last to Kail. “That life was so long ago. I have lost my will to live. I have only revenge. For—for….”
Her voice trailed off. She should say “revenge for Kenny,” but that was not how she felt. She wanted revenge for herself. Ichigo and the others of the Royal Family were her murderers. She could feel her blood leave her body again. She died alone. For them. And yet she died with the thought of a child in her arms. A child that was hers that she never knew.
“I sent Zangetsu back.”
“I know, hime-sama,” he said. When he looked at her then, she no longer heard “princess” in her head.
Her words turned to seething. “I sent Zangetsu back to that Touguu.“
Kail gasped at her grasp of the language. Sam was truly possessed by a vengeful spirit, her own, one rightfully seeking revenge.
“I want my child. I want my life. I want a life of my own!” Her voice finally rose to a scream and with it her reiatsu flared.
Although he was holding her, Kail knelt to her. “I swear, Shinnouhi….”
“I don’t want promises, Shinnou. I want actions. The words of the Royal Family are empty.”
“As you wish, Shinnouhi.” He leaned in and kissed her.
oOo
ROYAL REALM
Senna’s puple hair swayed in a rare breeze. The breeze reminded her of her many other lives and one in particular as she looked down to the hilt of her zanpaku-to. Her eyes skirted past the patch emblem on her arm which indicated her position in the Shinnouhi Royal Guard. She was the taicho of the one guard who seemed to function in name only.
As every king before him, the current soul king was bound in a blood debt to The Shinnouhi, Shirayukihime no Tenjou. One betrayal many generations ago had brought death to the Royal Realm and a near endless cycle of repentance. Shinnouhi had appeared before, but only to meet death. And the punishment upon the Royal Family grew harsher each time.
The current king had only one child and would have no other. But it would be some time before this child, if ever, had a child of his own. For the child of the king was none other than one who held a closer place in the blood debt tie than the king himself.
Senna took her thoughts away from the Touguu and remembered her duties. Her soul called to the soul of the Shinnouhi, as it had every day since she had been born. As she looked to the heavens, she wondered if her calls would ever be answered.
A sudden flash of reiatsu knocked her to her knees. With a quick glance behind her, she could see the other soldiers were more paralyzed than her. She felt her entire body wish to shake apart. Remembering all she knew of the Shinnouhi, she rose with purpose and ran for the Inner Temple. It was what remained as the Temple of the Element God Hyorinmaru and she knew Touguu would be there.
oOo
URAHARA SHOP
The reiatsu flash threatened to cripple the shinigami and Orihime. Yoruichi no longer felt the ghost’s grasp on her. Slowly, she turned her head to Ichigo and Orihime. Orihime had been knocked aside by the blast.
Standing in place of the woman was the spirit of Zangetsu, Ichigo’s zanpaku-to. He seemed in mourning. The ghost Yoruichi was standing in front of him, pleading. Yoruichi could hear the ghost.
“Where is she? Where is she?”
But Zangetsu said nothing to the ghost as it faded.
Yoruichi fell forward but caught herself. She ran towards Zangetsu. He looked at her briefly then to Ichigo. He stretched his arm out to Ichigo then faded.
Kisuke remained silent. There was no doubt in his mind that the ghost Yoruichi was somehow the same as the Yoruichi he had known for over 100 years. What bothered him more was the silence of his blade. Benehime became silent before the woman appeared and she had said nothing now. She briefly reached to the ghost Yoruichi before she faded but Kisuke could not hear Benehime’s thoughts then.
Tessai extended his hands to Orihime, healing her as he quickly performed a kido. He bent down to Ichigo and examined the fading reiatsu in the air. The power of it disturbed him. “Kouten,” he repeated. Kisuke flinched. “Kouten. What does it mean?”
“It seemed powerful enough to be a bankai,” Yoruichi said at last. She could see other images in her mind, memories of the encounter. If she could put words to them, perhaps she would have some answers.
Ichigo began to move. Slowly, he extended his fingers into the air as if trying to grasp the fading reiatsu. “Love.” The only one of his words that could be heared. “My love, where are you?”
Kisuke looked to Rukia who was unconscious. No, he had not imagined it. Ichigo had reached for the reiatsu and not towards her.
Orihime began to stand. She extended her hands to Ichigo but Tessai placed his hands on hers. “She needs you more,” he said, gesturing to Rukia. Orihime did not move. She seemed determined.
“Don’t touch that reiatsu,” Yoruichi warned her.
oOo
Mini Dictionary
Shirahime: White Princess
Hime (-sama): Princess
Shinnou: Prince of Royal Blood
Shinnouhi: Imperial Princess
Shirayukihime no Tenjou: Snow White Princess of the Heavens
Touguu: Crown Prince
Bleach: Cross: 014 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Fourteen: Answering An Old Prayer
The King of Soul Society lived in a place far removed from both the Earth and Soul Society. Once every lifetime he and his heirs would return to life among the commoners to correct a wrong committed long ago. Every lifetime, the King and his brood vowed their loyalty to the martyred Princess of the Heavens, whom their greed itself once destroyed.
~ Element God Hyorinmaru
URAHARA SHOP
Ichigo screamed. Tessai’s attempts to stabilize him had failed.
Both Kisuke and Yoruichi felt slightly relieved as they sensed Rukia’s spiritual energy come closer to them.
Rukia allowed Orihime to enter ahead of her, knowing full well that they both shared strong feelings for the unconscious Ichigo. Tessai did not need to tell Orihime anything. She only needed to use her power. She fought back tears as she walked closer to him. She knelt down beside him. Holding out her hands, she called out to her spirits.
“Sōten Kisshun, I reject!”
An icy blue barrier surrounded him, then disappeared. Ichigo sweated even more and groaned.
“It didn’t work,” she said to herself. She tried again. “Sōten Kisshun, I reject! I REJECT!”
The blue light did not appear this time, but still Ichigo did not change.
Everyone except Orihime and Ichigo seemed pinned in place by the surge of spiritual energy that fought back Orihime’s power.
“Tessai,” said Kisuke, “can you pinpoint that energy?”
“No,” he said. “I can barely fight against it.”
“That’s what caused all this,” Yoruichi said. The energy belongs to the person we need to fight.”
“Perhaps,” Kisuke said. He unsheathed Benehime. He had not performed his bankai in quite a while, but now would be a good time to call upon that power. Benehime glowed red for a brief moment then its light faded.
Yoruichi saw what had happened. Again, her accusing memory returned to her. “He took her from me.” For a moment, the energy’s hold on her lessened. She took advantage and summoned up Shunpo. Her clothes tore and she began to sense the power swell about her.
The energy shoved her back and pinned her against the wall. She looked into her own eyes and saw a ghost of herself. The woman’s glare sent waves of negative energy rolling against her. This energy was different from the one of the blue light.
“Yoruichi!” Kisuke had called. His eyes widened. He saw a ghost-like Yoruichi clamp her hand around Yoruchi’s throat.
The ghost-like form of another woman appeared in front of Ichigo. She was thin and tall. Others would call her beautiful, but at the moment, the amount of power radiating from her caused all to tremble in fear. She raised an electric blue zanpaku-to towards the heavens. The zanpaku-to’s hue reflected off of her sapphire blue eyes.
“Kouten.”
oOo
SOUL SOCIETY – YORUICHI AND KISUKE’S TRAINING GROUND
Kail held Sam in his arms, flesh returning to bone where his body touched hers. “My love. Princess. Wake up.” Each word was a plea on deaf ears.
More of Sam’s humanity seemed to fade as she lay in his arms. Yet all that would remain would be a ghost of a royal princess.
Kail had heard her words. Kouten. Many words in one. Revolution of the Heavens. Change demanded by royal mandate. Why did she send Zangetsu back to unworthy Ichigo? Kail’s reiatsu sustained Sam’s physical life, and the remains of Ichigo’s reiatsu sustained her spirit. Upon entering Soul Society, Kail had transformed the butterfly watch into a bracelet with butterfly charm. It seemed like a teenager’s gift, not befitting the nearly thirty-year-old woman, but here in Soul Society she began to transform. The level of physical maturity in soul society is related to the soul’s maturity.
Shirayukihime no Tenjou, Snow White Princess of the Heavens, had lived several hundred years before she died after giving birth to her one-and-only child. Kail knew that she had lived past the birth, but that she had become so weakened that she was easy prey in the battle that took her life. To a human’s perspective, Shirayukihime looked only twenty-three when she died. Now Sam Hawthorne, Shirayukihime’s reincarnation, transformed to her past self. Her dark black hair slowly turned snow white and she looked younger and grew taller.
It was more painful for Kail to watch this. So long as she remained as Sam, he believed the past’s vicious cycle would not repeat. But if she returned to being Shirayukihime, the past would again return.
With a groan, she opened her eyes, eyes that were now blue. He would bow to her, except that he held her up. “Princess,” he said.
“Kail?” she called to him, reaching her hand out to him and taking his hand.
“Princess.” He had nothing more to say and feared calling her by name.
“I saw her,” Sam said. “I saw the woman you love.”
“You’re right here with me,” he said. “I can’t love anyone else.”
Bleach: Cross: 013 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Thirteen: Zangetsu’s Truth
SOUL SOCIETY – YORUICHI AND KISUKE’S TRAINING GROUND
Kail held down her human body, looking accusingly at him. Yet even he would not deny that this was perhaps the most necessary of all. Zangetsu pulled out her soul form for the briefest of moments and time itself seemed to stop and began moving backwards.
The power of Shirahime—the woman she had been long ago—surrounded Sam’s body in an icy blue light. She had once felt immense pain, but now she was filled with warmth.
oOo
ZANGETSU’S INNER BATTLEFIELD – A DESOLATE FIELD
Zangetsu had been sleeping for a long time. He had no desire to return to any Earth or Heaven. He remembered only the great war he fought in and the love he would never hold again.
“Zangetsu!” Prince Ichigo had called to him. “Zangetsu! Quickly, the Princess! She’s out there fighting.”
“If you want to save Rukia,” Yoruichi said to him, “You must master your zanpaku-to. If you want to survive, you must hear his name.”
“Ichigo,” he said, “you said my name so many times then. But that was long ago. Do you have no more desire to fight?”
A warm light appeared. It was colorless, but familiar. Yes, there was once someone he fought for.
“I want to save Rukia.”
He has someone to fight for now. Even though that will never bring back the one he wronged.
I don’t want to go back. I don’t want to go anywhere.
Zangetsu had refused the cycle of reincarnation. After all, how would she return? Yet, he wasn’t alone. Somehow the prince’s younger brother and Zangetsu had both found themselves as subordinates of the reincarnated prince.
A man stood up across from him. He, too, had been asleep. He, too, had been pulled briefly into The Sideways Building.
“We weren’t king last time,” he said. “We will be this time.”
“I don’t care,” Zangetsu said. “It’s not Ichigo I want to be close to.”
“She’ll be here,” the other said. “The Princess will return. I believe it.”
“Do you?”
“Yes, so for now, I’ll let Ichigo live. I’ll need him, after all.”
Zangetsu remembered every day and detail since the day Ichigo said his name again. He remembered every time they met in his inner battlefield. Gradually, he chose to stay there. A few times he had seen the other one, but usually he stayed in his own battlefield.
oOo
KAIL’S INNER BATTLEFIELD – MEMORIAL TO SHIRAHIME
Kail knelt before a stone statue of Hyornmaru. He bowed his head to the mat. His bones were covered in his flesh of long ago, his eyes the same as Ichigo’s. His prayers remained silent, but he had nothing else to say. The prayer was the same as it had always been. If he had a thousand lifetimes to live, every single life held this same prayer.
“Is this why you believe?” Zangetsu asked.
Kail got up and saw that his old sword master had again intruded upon his ritual. Tiny red lights swirled around Zangetsu and he looked more like he did in the past life.
“I didn’t ask for this.”
“Did you ask to be the horse?”
He looked over accusingly at him. His sunglasses had faded away. “You still pray.”
“Hyorinmaru is here,” he said. “Shirahime’s picture is gone.”
“You let go of it?”
“No. My god has taken it. I gave up everything I am to become Ichigo’s shadow. Hyorinmaru has finally answered my prayer.”
“No prayer is answered that easily. Especially concerning her.”
“Shouldn’t you be happy, teacher? After all, you can’t hide the fact you still love her.”
“The Princess is gone. And I—and you—are mere shadows of what we were. We exist now to fight with Ichigo.”
“I exist to reclaim my one. You can choose whatever you want.”
“We are the same now.”
“No. I am Shiroyuki,” he said returning to the statute. “She called me that one, and one day, I will hear her call me that again.”
“As you desire, S—.”
“Don’t let that name out of your mouth!” Kail whirled around and brandished White Zangetsu at him. “Don’t dare. That name is for Shirahime alone.”
“Very well, prince. I need your anger anyway. Ichigo is not ready—we must prepare him.”
Kail sheathed the zanpaku-to and bowed to the likeness of Hyorinmaru. “I will do what you want, teacher, for today my heart filled with happiness. When she returns to me, Ichigo will no longer be my king. You should want the same.”
“When the time comes….”
oOo
SHIRAHIME’S INNER BATTLEFIELD – ROYAL PALACE COURTYARD
In this place, the line between Sam’s consciousness and Shirahime’s blurred. Only with Shirahime’s power had Sam been able to, for the briefest of moments, separate her soul from her body. She had seen Zangetsu’s and Kail’s memories. She heard Zangetsu’s with perfect clarity, but she could not hear all of Kail’s. He had expended his energy holding her body down, so it did not concern her much that her vision of him was incomplete.
Zangetsu’s thoughts had been mostly of Ichigo, and because of that, Sam learned much of the boy who had sent her the watch.
“He channeled his spiritual energy into that,” Zangetsu said as he stood beside her. “Not that he meant to, but he wanted to protect her.”
“He was my husband. I remember now.” Sam tried to look beyond the courtyard, but could see nothing except mist.
“You died out there,” he said.
“She did. I am still alive, for now. I suppose I have you and Kail to thank for that.”
She sat down on a cushioned bench and held her arms out to her side, examining the gown she wore. It was white as snow but it glowed in the moonlight. There had been no moon in this place, but she looked aside to discover that Zangetsu was her moon in this place. Light emanated from him and reminded her of the vision of him dancing with her in the past life. She thought of the white-haired prince that asked her to dance.
“He loved me, too,” she said.
“He still loves you,” he said.
“Do you?”
“I will always love you.”
“Good,” she said, “because now I must send you back.”
Bleach: Cross: 012 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Twelve: Enter Inoue, A Revelation of Past Light
URAHARA SHOP
There was nothing Rukia could do for Ichigo. She hated seeing him in such pain and helpless. Without his zanpaku-to, perhaps a Soul Reaper would be only without power for a short while. Yet Ichigo was missing the hollow part of himself. She should be glad of this, but Rukia and doubtless the others wondered if Ichigo’s hollow had taken Zangetsu for himself.
All of this was unprecedented. Then again, not many Soul Reapers were part hollow, and certainly none but Ichigo was also human. At least, that was how much she knew. She did not know of Isshin, Ichigo’s father, who had been a captain most likely during the same time Urahara had been one. She did not know of Sam Hawthorne, the human who would soon discover her past and the importance of her future.
Human or not, Rukia cared deeply for Ichigo. She smacked him around and insulted him on more than one occasion, but strangely that was because she cared so much for him. She had treated Renji Abarai much the same way, but as time went by, she cared more for Ichigo. When would she cross over the line of simple friendship?
She was not alone in her admiration and growing love for Ichigo. Another, Orihime Inoue, had known him longer and sometimes fought her own jealousy over Rukia. Orihime possessed an unprecedented power to reject fate. She had brought her friend back from the dead as her first rejection, simply on the idea that she didn’t want to be without her. She had healed Ichigo before. Perhaps she could do it again.
Rukia stood, and with one final glance to Ichigo, told the others she was going to get Orihime.
oOo
ORIHIME’S HOUSE
Orihime found her thoughts returning again to Ichigo Kurosaki. She thought of the first time she had met him and then again to what Tatski said about him losing his mother. She wanted to be strong for him and the others. She wanted to be his friend. Above all, she wished she could be his girlfriend. Like that would happen. She tried to push the thought aside. She doubted it would ever happen, but still she wished it would.
Ichigo was somewhat popular in school, even without anyone knowing that he had special powers or was a Substitute Shinigami. There were many other girls at school that flirted with him, but he never seemed interested. No, Orihime’s one competition was not human at all. Rukia Kuchiki had given Ichigo her Shinigami power in order for him to protect his family. He had his own power all along, but it took Rukia to awaken it. He and the others traveled to Soul Society to save Rukia when she had been sentenced to be executed as part of the traitor Sosuke Aizen’s plans.
Ichigo fought for her out of loyalty to his debt for her, but Orihime knew it extended to more than that. Rukia had become important to Ichigo and close to him, all that Orihime wished she had been.
A chill came upon her. She knew someone was there.
Her nervous smile covered her apprehensions. Rukia in her soul form appeared in her window.
“Inoue,” she said, full of grief.
“Rukia-san.”
“Inoue, Kurosaki needs you.”
Every apprehension she had felt came upon her again. She had longed to be of use to Ichigo. She had wanted to hear him say he needed her, but there was only one way Rukia meant. Orihime Inoue could reject fate like none other, and she knew only power would save him now.
oOo
ICHIGO’S HOUSE
Kon did not know what to expect or to do when Isshin would appear. Mere seconds became moments in eternity. Kon had a bond with Ichigo, and now in his body, he felt stranger than he had before. Something had affected even his human body.
“Maybe I’m not alone.” Ichigo’s voice. “I want to give her something to say ‘thank you.’ Even though I’ve never met her before, I feel like I’ve known her all my life. I want to protect her.”
Who had Ichigo talked to? And who was he talking about? Surely, it was not Rukia. If Ichigo vowed to protect someone, surely whoever it was would be okay.
“Kon,” asked Chappy, the Soul Candy Rukia, “what do we do now?”
“Well I’m certainly not going to kiss you.”
“That’s a relief,” she laughed, “but we’re in big trouble.”
“Yeah. No sense hiding in the closet.”
The door flew open. Isshin stood there, not in his normal carefree way, but in a way that completely freaked Kon out. He had a plastered “concerned father” smile on his face, but his eyes bored into Kon—he knew Kon was there and not Ichigo.
“Are you two alright?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
Isshin nodded, fully knowing what he really asked was, “Is Ichigo’s body and Rukia’s gigai okay?” Then said, “You, come with me.”
Kon complied, following him, not sparing a look at Rukia’s gigai.
Out in the hallway and low enough not to wake his daughters, Isshin turned on Kon and asked in a near growl, “Where is my son?”
“Rukia took him to Urahara’s. He’s missing his zanpaku-to…and his hollow.”
“Well,” he said, clamping a hand on Kon’s shoulder, “do a good job, Kon. After all, my two little girls expect their brother to protect them.”
oOo
URAHARA SHOP
Ichigo had a vision—that much had been clear to Yoruichi. Although she did not see it, she felt strangely familiar spiritual pressure from him. It was not his she recognized, but another’s. Her mind returned to her uneasy night.
She had been dreaming of a time long ago when she and Kisuke were so much more than they were now. They felt like family then and had strong bonds and tragedy that kept then together. She had been weeping. Her sadness seemed not to end, but she could not remember or feel what it had been for. She had been crying into a blanket—a pink one sized for an infant. Crying over a child.
“You took her from me.”
She heard the conviction in her own voice. She had sad the words, but it had been her past self that was so enraged. She said them to Kisuke.
Her. A child.
Her child. Their child.
He took her. Kisuke took their child away.
Kisuke walked up to her and touched the tears streaming down her face. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” She turned to him and threw her arms around him. She startled him with such a public display, but he wrapped his arms around her.
“Kurosaki is a fighter, Yoruichi.”
“It’s not Kurosaki I’m crying for.”
oOo
SOUL SOCIETY – YORUICHI AND KISUKE’S TRAINING GROUND
Far away from the pair, another human shinigami smiled for the first time in a long while. Although she began to understand that Zangetsu, her first love, was now in incarnation of a sword, she had finally been reunited with someone she loved.
“My love,” she said to him as they embraced. “No one ever knows the shortness of life. Can we just have ours here and now, no matter how long that is?”
“I love you,” he said, with the same depth he would have long ago. Although Kail was still inside of her, this time he did not fight against Zangetsu.
She moved out of their embrace and looked into his eyes. Taking his hand, she said, “Show me.”
After all, teaching her to fight during their dance had been intrusive enough. He had to have her permission to show her the truth of the present.
“Forgive me,” he said. “This will hurt.”
Bleach: Cross: 011 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Eleven: On His Deathbed
THE PAST LIFE – CROWN PRINCE ICHIGO’S ROOM
Ichigo Kurosaki looked on at another who looked like himself. He felt the movements of the other person as if it was his own.
The prince threw his dress sword on his bed. He sat down beside it, anger dripping through his pours. “Why? Why did he do this? He never asked me.”
A knock at his door.
“Come!”
A young servant girl he did not recognize entered, followed by a tall woman in a robe, her face hidden.
“My lord,” addressed the servant, “may I present the honorable Princess Shirahime.” The servant bowed to him and allowed Shirahime to pass her.
The prince stood at the mention of her name, his mouth slightly agape. “Shirahime? Shirahime.” He had never believed this would have been the one his father would have chosen for him.
Shirahime stood across from him, fearful of his reaction.
“Please accept her, my lord,” the servant begged. “Please take care of Shirahime.”
“Enough, Senna,” Shirahime said.
“Sorry, my lady,” Senna apologized and bowed low to the ground.
“Please leave us,” said the Prince.
Senna rose and left, closing the door softly behind her.
“I didn’t think it’d be you,” the prince said. Although he could not see her face well behind her veil, he thought for a moment he saw her tears. He reached up to wipe them from her face, not yet touching her skin. With his other hand, he lifted up her veil, finally looking into her piercing blue eyes. They were full of sorrow. He kissed her, hoping to ease her pain. She didn’t return his kiss or push him away.
“Hey,” he said. “We don’t have to do this.”
“I have no one, my lord. I have only you.”
“I won’t abandon you,” he swore. He kissed her again, hating himself for giving into his base feelings.
“Stop it!” screamed Ichigo Kurosaki, “Stop hurting her. Can’t you see what you’re doing?”
The Prince looked up, hearing the voice of his future self through his confusion. “Forgive me,” he said, and turned away from Shirahime.
Shirahime reached out to him, turning him back to her. Her lips trembled, prepared to say words she did not mean, but her voice did not come through. She looked away for a moment. She turned back. “I am to be your wife. Whatever you want from me will be yours.”
oOo
BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH
Ichigo Kurosaki left the world of the past life, now in a limbo in his current time, wavering between life and death. “Shirahime,” he said. He pondered the woman he had seen, yet he had never seen her before in his current life.
“Ichigo,” said a long lost familiar voice. He turned to see his mother, looking the same as the day she died, except she seemed content. No expression of shock or cold death played on her face. “Ichigo, I am so proud of you, my son.” He felt the embrace he had not felt for a very long time. He cried freely with her. He relished the feeling of being in her arms again, fully willing to let go of this life.
His mother heard his thoughts. “No, my son. It’s not time for you.”
“Mother, I haven’t seen you in Soul Society. I want to be with you again. I don’t care where I have to follow you to.”
“It’s still not your time. Am I the only one you want to be with? Be honest with yourself, Ichigo.”
“Ichigo.” He had heard that voice before. He turned to it and his mother faded away. The girl Ichigo met not long before he met Rukia appeared before him. She held out the flowers he had given to her. “Thank you for your kindness, Ichigo.”
“Ichigo.” Kaien Shiba appeared before him, although Ichigo did not recognize him. “Don’t give into Fate’s will, Ichigo.”
A woman sprinted up beside him and took his hand. He recognized her face from the vision of his past life. A veil from his memory fell away. He had seen her another time, too.
“Senna.”
She was the memory rosary, although no one remembered her. How did she end up here?
“I lived to serve my princess, Ichigo,” she answered him. “I came back to the human world to see you and to save you.”
“But why?”
“You are Shirahime’s prince, Ichigo. You lived a long time ago. You had a life with her, with us, long ago. Keep searching for the truth, Ichigo.”
Bleach: Cross: 010 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Ten: Ash Cat, Ice Dragon, and Hollow
AMERICA — SAM’S COLLEGE
Why are they coming here? Hitsugaya wondered. Somehow, in the human world, a far greater mystery began to show itself. This Sam Hawthorne, who lived so far away from the current spiritually dense area, Karakura Town, drew the presence of several hollows.
But was it the presence of Zangetsu or False-Zangetsu that drew them?
He unsheathed Hyorinmaru.
“Will you always seek the truth, Toshiro? No matter what the cost?” asked Hyorinmaru.
He had no verbal answer for the dragon that slept within his zanpaku-to. Instead, he focused on Matsumoto below him. He had hidden his spiritual pressure from all even before the hollows came. If they sensed anything, they only felt Matsumoto. Hitsugaya would have the advantage.
Four hollows rushed in. Two of them sniffed the air, searching for a scent no longer there.
At once, the hollows surrounded Matsumoto.
“Growl Haineko!” she cried, transforming her zanpaku-to into ash. By her will, the ash blade struck her enemies. One of the hollow’s arms fell from its body. The largest of the four hollows flung itself towards her chest.
“Matsumoto!” Hitsugaya cried. Swinging Hyorinmaru, he rained down icy blasts upon the hollows. He raised his sword again, and as he brought it down, he jumped on the hollow at Matsumoto’s chest. His blade nicked the back of the hollow’s neck, but it did not fall. Matsumoto had moved out of the way of the hollow’s grasp, but she fell into another hollow. Controlling Haineko, she cut that hollow’s chest.
Hitsugaya’s hollow howled, but Hitsugaya did not falter. Cleaving his enemy’s head from its body, Hitsugaya poised to kill the remaining hollows.
“Why are you here?” Hitsugaya demanded.
“We want The Thorn,” one hollow answered.
Hitsugaya thought to himself that “Hawthorne” sounded like “The Thorn.” Surely that’s what the hollow meant.
Hitsugaya and Matsumoto stood back-to-back, each ready to kill.
“This poor woman,” Matsumoto thought. “On my honor as a soul reaper, I won’t let these hollows get to her.”
“Now,” said Hitsugaya, “what do you want with her?”
“To feed,” said the other hollow. “We will get her power.”
The hollows converged upon the two soul reapers. Although he’d rather have questioned one of them further, Hitsugaya knew he had no choice:
“Sit upon the frozen heavens—”
“Gah!” Matsumoto cried, clutching her breast. Another hollow had snuck up upon them, striking Matsumoto.
“—Hyorinmaru!”
The ice blast from Hitsugaya’s zanpaku-to struck the hollows. They all fell, except the one that struck Matsumoto.
“Get off of her!” he shouted, impaling the hollow.
Matsumoto cried again. Even without the hollows there, she was in great danger. She had already lost too much blood. “How did she lose it this fast?” he wondered.
“Taicho . . . .” her voice weakened by the second.
“Behind you!” warned Hyorinmaru.
He turned to strike the hollow that struck Matsumoto just before it hit him. In one swift motion, he removed its head.
“Next time, Hyorinmaru,” said the hollow as it fell.
He returned to Matsumoto’s side. “Hold on, Matsumoto!” He grabbed Sam’s belongings then picked up Matsumoto.
Bleach: Cross: 009 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Nine: Remembering An Old Prayer
SOUL SOCIETY – YORUICHI AND KISUKE’S TRAINING GROUND
Zangetsu heard Kail in his mind. Strange, now, since Kail was inside Sam. “It’s not working, old master. She can’t choose. The past life or a life she’s already lost.”
oOo
ICHIGO’S INNER BATTLEFIELD (THE SIDEWAYS BUILDING)
Zangetsu found himself face-to-face with Kail. Sam was nowhere in sight. So, even he had an inner battlefield of the mind. He focused on Kail. He was in his hollow form, but gradually, he gained flesh and looked almost duplicate to Ichigo, except for the white hair.
The battlefield of Zangetsu’s mind spun around him. The surroundings changed to that of long ago. He looked up to see Kail arguing with his father. Although Zangetsu could not yet see the father in his mind, he still remembered him.
oOo
THE PAST LIFE – THE EMPEROR’S CASTLE
“I am blessed by the god Hyorinmaru!” Kail declared. “Then I deserve to marry her. Let me take the princess as my wife. Who are you to stand in the way of a god?”
“I am the Emperor of Heaven,” said Kail’s father. “No god dictates my ways. You are the younger brother. Be happy you have a choice in who you will marry.”
“I have made my choice,” Kail said. “Let me have the princess!”
“That is a choice you cannot make. Your brother is the Crown Prince and will be the Emperor after me. The power the princess possesses must remain with the main royal line.”
Kail ran his fingers through his snow white hair, both the only difference he bore in appearance to his brother and what he believed to be his blessing. Though forbidden, he offered a quick prayer to Hyorinmaru, in hopes that the princess would marry him instead of his brother.
His father walked away, eager to resume preparations for his older son’s wedding. Only Zangetsu remained.
“My prince,” said Zangetsu. “Perhaps Hyorinmaru’s blessing to you is not to marry the princess, but to set her free.”
“Free?” Kail asked, a sneer crossing his face as he turned to Zangetsu. “I am the one who is trapped.”
“You are not alone. She stands to lose everything. Her family has all but sold her to your father and to his will. She has no one. Will you not be her friend when she needs one of those more than a husband?”
“I can save her from my brother. She could marry me.”
“She could. But have you stopped to ask if that was what she wanted?”
“You’re too philosophical, old man. You’ll never be married with that attitude of yours.”
Bitter words, Zangetsu thought. Yet I am the one who should be angrier.
“The only way she could ever be free is to be dead. That’s the only way any of us here will be, those of us shackled with immortality.”
“You should be careful with your words. Hyorinmaru may become angry.”
oOo
ICHIGO’S INNER BATTLEFIELD (THE SIDEWAYS BUILDING)
The past world faded away and only Zangetsu and Kail remained, the flesh faded from his body.
“Do you still think Hyorinmaru would be angry? I forsook my entire lineage for her. I think he may have given both of us another chance.”
“It is no coincidence that Hyorinmaru has appeared when she has. I think Hyorinmaru may have someone else in mind for her.”
“That little reaper?” Kail objected. “He hasn’t even grown up yet.”
“If Hitsugaya is truly in tune with Hyorinmaru, then he will take up the mantle of protecting her. We cannot stay here forever. How long can we stay apart from Ichigo?”
“Now that I am in her body, I could care less even if Ichigo died. I will be with her forever.”
“Are you truly with her now, or just watching on the sidelines?”
“Zangetsu. . . .” another voice intruded. “Zangetsu!” the voice became louder.
oOo
SOUL SOCIETY – YORUICHI AND KISUKE’S TRAINING GROUND
Zangetsu opened his eyes, staring into the face of the princess from long ago.
She wrapped her arms around him, and he remembered that now she was different. “Please forgive me. I don’t care about the past life,” she said. “Just don’t leave me again.”
“Leave you?”
She sat back and looked into his eyes. “I don’t know what happened to you. I thought you were going to fade away.”
As she embraced him again, he realized that his time with her grew thinner. He was only a zanpaku-to now, after all. Regardless of the past life, he would have to return to Ichigo. With or without Kail.
Kail looked on from inside Sam. He suppressed the jealousy that welled up in him. Now Zangetsu was the horse, and Ichigo was the master. Kail never wanted to return. Though he had not done so in a long time, he offered up a prayer to Hyorinmaru. “God Hyorinmaru, you’d better change Hitsugaya for the better. Zangetsu cannot stay much longer. If anything happens to me, then swear to me your little reaper will take care of her. I won’t bury her again, not so long as I live.”
Bleach: Cross: 008 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Eight: Knowledge of Fate
URAHARA SHOP
The previous night, Yoruichi found herself plagued with strange dreams, those from a past life long ago. She woke up beside Kisuke, only to find that he had already left. Could he have felt her uneasiness?
In the basement of his shop, Kisuke Urahara worked through sword forms all familiar to him. He reached out for the mind of his sword, but found no reply. Benihime, why are you silent? Yoruichi had not slept well, and he thought he felt Benihime mourning.
How strange the twists of fate which brings and binds us together, he thought.
“Kisuke?” Yoruichi’s voice. “Kisuke?”
Kisuke turned around to see her watching him.
“The same uneasiness is mine, too,” he said.
He walked up to him and placed her hands on his shoulders.
“Something in the past bothers me. In a past long before our meeting in Soul Society.”
“Yes,” he acknowledged, feeling that in some past life, they had once been closer than they were now.
Then he felt it. They both felt it. The spiritual pressure of Rukia Kuchiki.
“Ichigo,” said Yoruichi. “something’s wrong with him.” The god of flash whisked her way towards Rukia. Kisuke followed behind her. They found Rukia in one of the main rooms of the shop.
With tears in her eyes, Rukia laid Ichigo’s soul form body in front of them. His spiritual pressure fluctuated.
“Tessai!” Kisuke called.
“He has no zanpaku-to,” Rukia said. “It’s gone.” She began to cry. “He said it felt like someone stole part of his soul.”
Tessai arrived and began setting up a protection barrier before proceeding with any Kido.
“How can someone take his zanpaku-to without him noticing?” Yoruichi asked.
“His hollow?” Kisuke guessed. Taking Benihime, now in its cane form, he penetrated Tessai’s barrier and touched the end of it to Ichigo’s forehead. Just as this would have forced the soul form out of the gigai, he would be able to force out part of the hollow.
“The hollow is gone,” He said, drawing back Benihime.
oOo
SOUL SOCIETY – YORUICHI AND KISUKE’S TRAINING GROUND
Zangetsu stood in front of her. His sword remained pointed at her. He swung it to his side. Slowly, he moved through various forms, showing her first what she would soon experience. Dashing to her side, he took her in his arms.
“Open your mind to me. Let me become one with you.”
Soon, Sam moved through the forms as if she always knew them. Zangetsu held her tight, as if leading a dance. Through the dance, Sam saw bits of Zangetsu’s past life. She saw him lead a beautiful princess around the dance floor. His gaze was steady with a hint of sadness in them. She felt the emotions of the princess. She could feel her sadness.
“Today, he will give me to one of them,” the princess said. “Today, I will no longer be with you.”
“You will always only belong to yourself, beloved. No matter what your father decides, he can never stop my love for you.”
Zangetsu released her. She exhaled, as if she had held her breath for a long time. She looked up into his eyes. He hid them behind his sunglasses. Reaching up, Sam took off the glasses. Zangetsu’s eyes widened, shocked. With her other hand, she touched his cheek. Looking into his eyes, she asked, “What are you hiding from me?”
Intertwining her arm with his, she reached for his sword. Her hand wrapped around his.
“Zangetsu . . . .”
She leaned in closer to him, her mouth inches away from his.
“My love, Zangetsu . . . .”
“Sam . . . .” She heard Kenny’s voice. “Can you believe it? We’re almost married. I never thought you would say yes.”
Sam stopped. Tears streaked down her face.
“You always had someone else in mind.”
Sam unwrapped herself from Zangetsu. She turned away from him, and his sunglasses faded away.
“I shouldn’t have pried,” Sam said.
Bleach: Cross: 007 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Seven: Enter Toshiro, Rangiku
AMERICA — SAM’S COLLEGE
The humans in the world of the living could not see the two soul reapers, just as they could not see the hollows that had attacked before. Toshiro and Rangiku would alter their memories just in case, but no sense rushing to do so. They first needed answers.
“Just who was that human?” Toshiro asked. “Why her?” They looked around. Besides looking a little on edge, the other humans seemed unfazed. The unknown threat to them had been defeated. By that same human, thought Toshiro.
The professor walked in, right past Toshiro and Rangiku. For a moment, Toshiro felt sick. Odd, he thought. “Matsumoto?”
“Yes, taicho,” she said. “Something isn’t right.”
“Well, class, I see the famous Hawthorne has decided not to join us.” She scoffed, nearly covering a laugh.
“Hawthorne?” asked Rangiku. “She must mean the woman.”
“Yes, but why call her famous?”
The professor shot a quick glance over at Sam’s books, notebook, and bag. A sinister smile crept into her face. “Now, let’s continue with inclusion and IEP programs . . . .”
Toshiro and Rangiku watched as the professor engrossed herself in the subject. One woman, the one who Sam told to call her “Sam” earlier looked a bit unhappy, stealing glances at Sam’s abandoned things.
“Taicho,” asked Rangiku, “do you see that woman? She seems to know Hawthorne.”
“Yes, you’re right. I have an idea. Take her and Hawthorne’s belongings outside.”
Rangiku leaped across the room, grabbing first the belongings, and then taking the woman. Once she took her outside, Toshiro took out Soul Society’s memory altering device. As he flashed it near each person, he told them that Hawthorne was never in their class and there was no disturbance today. He felt sick again when he neared the professor, but he flashed her, too.
“We don’t have gigai’s, taicho,” reminded Rangiku.
“I know, but I should be able to get her to talk.”
The woman looked terrified. She didn’t know what had happened to her.
Toshiro took out Hawthorne’s notebook and a pen. “Matsumoto, get out the translator program. Show me how to write, ‘I am here to help you find Hawthorne. Who is she?’”
Rangiku pushed the commands into what looked like a cell phone. Moments later, the English translation appeared on screen. Toshiro copied it on the paper, though it looked shaky.
The woman, still afraid, brightened at the mention of Hawthorne.
“I don’t know who or what you are, but that professor has always had it out for Sam. That’s who you mean. Her name is Samantha Hawthorne. She goes by Sam, even told me I could call her that. Wasn’t that sweet? A famous writer like her. I don’t know much about her personal life. She wrote Kail the Knight while she still worked as a copyeditor. She got laid off, so I guess that’s why she’ll be a teacher now. But I don’t think she will, not after the way Professor Mitchell treats her. Please find her,” she asked.
Toshiro wrote down “Thanks” on the notebook and whisked the woman back in the classroom and altered her memory. He returned in a flash, taking Sam’s belongings to the rooftop. Rangiku followed him.
“Are we sure that Professor Mitchell is human?”
“She is,” he answered. “But something isn’t right.” He began looking through the notebook. Class notes, he assumed. He stopped when he saw a wallet-sized photograph. Sam was smiling, her arm around a tall man. He turned the picture over, “our last picture together” written on the back. The wind caught the photo and blew it out of his hand. Rangiku lept after it. Toshiro found more papers, labeled “Mitchell,” “Kenny,” and “Doctor Yachiru.”
He heard it. The scream of a hollow. No, several hollows. “Matsumoto!”
“I heard them, Taicho.” She picked up the photograph. They seem to be after Sam Hawthorne. Tucking the photograph into her robe, she drew her zanpaku-to. We’ll have to figure this out when return to Soul Society.
Bleach: Cross: 006 (M)
03 Jul 2011 Leave a Comment
in Bleach Tags: Bleach Cross, Bleach Cross Main Story, Ichigo + Rukia, Kisuke + Yoruichi
Disclaimers, etc., see chapter one
Opening Theme: Hanabi by Ikimono Gakari
Ending Theme: Life by Yui
Bleach: Cross
By Eugena
Chapter Six: My Love, Zangetsu
“If something were to happen to me,” Kenny asked, “do you think we would meet again somewhere?”
“It depends on how strong our love is for each other. If it is strong enough to defy Heaven, then reality itself will be rewritten for us.”
oOo
SOUL SOCIETY – YORUICHI AND KISUKE’S TRAINING GROUND
Sam Hawthorne awoke alone in the recovery pool. She had many visions lately, and wondered if she simply was lying in a hospital somewhere in a coma and this was how her brain dealt with her trauma. Yes, maybe she should have died along with Kenny and this was her unfortunate survival, making up an absurd world where souls are reborn into a spirit world. And a split personality whose darker half was determined to have her allegiance.
Allegiance to what? What war could she fight anymore? She could not get enough evidence on Professor Mitchell to have a lawyer indict her with conspiracy and murder one. She was defeated. Any way she looked at it, she lost.
“Don’t give up so easily,” Zangetsu said. “This is only the beginning.”
She looked over at him. He had been watching her for some time.
He pointed to a pile of clothes, a robe similar to his and a white sash. “Please, change your clothes. I must get rid of your human ones.” He turned away, allowing her privacy.
“You say my humanones. What am I now, Zangetsu? Am I some dead soul looking for an afterlife?”
“No soul ever dies,” he replies. “It lives on. You are in Soul Society. This is the place where souls must go before they are reincarnated into the world of the living, the human world. There is no requirement for a human form here. But since you came here with both your soul and your body, you must be well prepared. If the soul reapers find you, they will capture you, perhaps even kill you.
“I took clothes from a female soul reaper then I enabled them to conceal your spiritual pressure.”
Sam walked over to the robe and examined it. She found a flower emblem on it. Beneath the robe was a simple uniform.
“It was taken from a member of Squad Ten. The two you saw before were the Squad Ten Taicho and Fukutaicho.”
Captain and Vice Captain, somehow she understood the words.
She put on the uniform and the robe and tied the sash around her waist.
She walked over to Zangetsu and handed what remained of her human clothes. Her glance caught on her wrist where she once wore her butterfly watch. Instead of a watch, she wore a bracelet with a butterfly charm.
“It is a gift from Kail,” he responded to her unasked question.
“How is it you seem to hear my thoughts?” she asked.
“If you can believe in reincarnation, then I will say that we knew each other in a different life. You are as logical now as you were then.”
“But that doesn’t explain . . . .”
“You will understand, in time. For now, I must show you how to fight.”
As he reached out to take her human clothes, he touched the bracelet, the tangible reminder that this time, Kail had claimed her first. Yet, just like before, he would argue that she was free and that she could be claimed by no one.
“My love,” her voice echoed in his ears from long ago, “My love, Zangetsu.”
