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brittscafe · 1 year

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Aftermath of TYBW

Finding each other after Ywach invades the soul society.

Includes: Jushiro, Shunsui, Shinji, Byakuya, Kenpachi, Renji, Ichigo, and Toshiro.

CW/TW: Angst...I think, but happy endings for everyone 🫶🏻 Plenty of fluff to go around for everyone.

Jushiro: Everyone had already lost so much and you weren't going to be able to handle the loss of your husband. You enter one of the buildings that was left standing, the hospital.

So far, you knew most of the captains had made it out alive, but there was no word on Jushiro.

Your palms are sweaty as you burst into the hospital full of people roaming in the hallways and loud chatter. Your eyes dart around and you sink down in your figure.

Jushiro and you were on opposite sides of the hospital, trying to see over the crowds of people. He clenches his fists and your eyes catch a glimpse of his silver hair.

A smile tugs on your face as you push through the other soul reapers and Jushiro's gaze meets yours. His eyes light up as you run over to him and practically crash into him.

Jushiro wraps you up in his tight embrace and relief washes over your body. You were at home and you were so happy.

"You're okay," you breath out, squeezing him as tightly as you can.

"I am, but I won't be if you keep squeezing me like that," Jushiro struggles to speak and you quickly release your tight grip.

Shunsui: Your feet thud on the ground and you pant heavily. You stumble over the rubble of what used to be buildings in the soul society and your feet slide across the ground.

Ywach and his army had just left and you couldn't find Shunsui. You couldn't feel him anymore and you were just imagining the worse.

Shunsui was barely holding himself up on the palm of his hands. Blood was running down his face and his right eye is gushing out fresh crimson blood.

Your jaw drops open and you fall onto your knees in front of Shunsui. He glances up at you, a smirk forming along his face and you frown widely.

"Shunsui, oh my god," you breath out, bringing up your trembling hands, but stopping before you can touch him. You didn't want to hurt him.

"Oh, come on. It could be worse, y/n," Shunsui teases you, grabbing onto your hands and rubbing your skin gently.

"You're hurt and we need to get you to the Unohana and the others," you demand, chewing on your bottom lip.

"I've got new responsibilities, y/n. I'm the new head captain," Shunsui points out and you shake your head. You pull away from his hands and cup his face.

Shunsui slightly winces at your touch, but leans into it, craving more of you.

"Not yet. Let me take care of you, please, Shunsui," you beg him, fresh tears glistening in your eyes. A pout dances along Shunsui's face and he nods his head.

"Thank you," Shunsui whispers and you pull his face towards you. He rests his forehead on yours and relishes in the peaceful moment.

Shinji: You were both searching for each other, hearts ramming against your chests as both sprint through the soul society. You were both injured, but on the better side than the rest of the soul society.

"Shinji!" you call out with a roaring voice. Shinji spins around and his face lights up at the sight of you. Shinji sprints over to you and he wraps his arms around your waist and spins around you.

"I'm so glad that you're okay," he breathes out, nuzzling his face into your neck.

Your feet are still dangling into the air as the tears stream down your face and you let out a tiny sob. Shinji's eyes widen as his eardrums fill with the sound of your sobs and he loosens his grip on you.

Your feet hit the ground and you slowly pull away from Shinji. His eyes rake over your face with concern and he places his hand on your cheek.

"I was so worried...that I had lost you. I can't lose you, Shinji," you hiccup out in between sobs and Shinji frowns widely.

"You will never lose me, ever," he reassures you, gathering you into his arms again.

Byakuya: You couldn't help the streams of tears rushing down your face as you laid your eyes on Byakuya, pressed against the wall and his sword on the ground.

Your stomach twists into uneasy knots as Byakuya's eyes meet yours. His eyes are full of agony, shame, and deep sadness. You rush over to him and he does everything in his power to hold himself up.

"Y/N," Byakuya calls out with a soft voice.

"It's okay. I got you," you reassure him, placing your hands on his shoulders. Byakuya leans against you and instantly falls down onto you.

He holds himself up against you, his chin resting on your shoulder and his arms wrapped around your waist.

"I'm sorry. I couldn't protect you," he mumbles out, a frown tugging on his face. Your breath shudders and you rake your fingers through his hair.

"No, don't you dare say that. You did protect me, Byakuya. Now it's my turn to protect you, okay?" you assure him and he inhales sharply.

"Okay," he whispers and you give him a gentle squeeze, carefully not to break him in his fragile state.

Kenpachi: Finding him face down on the concrete was the scariest thing you had ever witnessed. You never had to worry about Kenny, he was always so strong.

He never gave up and a bitter taste had formed in the back of your throat that you couldn't seem to get away.

You drop down onto your knees in front of him and start to shake his body, hoping he'll get up. Panic starts to flood your body as the large man doesn't move and you stand up onto your feet.

You kick him in his side and he still doesn't move. Your hands become sweaty and you let out a shaky breath.

"Get up. Get up, Kenny," your voice starts out as a whisper, begging and pleading him.

Ikkaku hears your voice in the distance and starts to rush over to you.

The tears fill up to the brims of your eyelids and you bite down on your bottom lip. "Get up! Goddamn it, get up! Kenny, please!" you start to scream out and Ikkaku's eyes widen.

You start to leap towards Kenny when Ikkaku's arms wrap around you, pulling you back.

"Y/N, stop!" Ikkaku demands, but not before you get in one last kick. You become pudding in Ikkaku's arms, blood-curdling sobs leaving your lips.

Ikakku's loosens his grip on you and you drop down to the ground.

"Hey, you kick me one more time, y/n and I'll make you regret it later," Kenny's voice growls out as he slowly lifts his head up from the ground.

"Kenny?" you call out, sniffling as he groans and grunts as he struggles to sit up on the ground.

"Why the hell are you crying so much? I'm still alive," he asks, examining your face and you throw yourself into his arms. Kenpachi grunts as you slam yourself against him and he secures his arms around you.

"I'm okay," he comforts you, gently rubbing your back.

Toshiro: Heavy pants leave your lips as you hunch over on the ground, your fingers loosely wrapped around the handle of your sword.

There was blood everywhere, surrounding you. Your comrades blood and yours everywhere. Your lungs were burning and every inch of your body was covered in hot, sticky sweat.

A pair of strong arms wraps around your body and easily lifts you off the ground. Panic fills your body and you snap your head, glancing over at your shoulder.

You gaze into Toshiro's icy eyes and let out a sigh of relief. You rest your head against his shoulder and close your eyes for a minute.

"Are you okay?" you ask, opening your eyes and they glue to the blood painting his face.

"Don't worry about me, y/n. Are you okay?" Toshiro asks and you tug away from him. You turn around and Toshiro's eyes widen.

"I'm not really sure. This guy did stab me pretty good," you point to the sword wound sticking through your chest.

"Y/N," Toshiro calls out, his jaw dropping open.

"I'm sorry," you mumble out.

"Shut up!" Toshiro speaks through gritted teeth and your eyes widen.

"Listen, I have to be honest with you, Toshiro. I don't think I'm going to make it back to the hospital," you explain as Toshiro forces himself up onto his feet and lifts you up into his arms.

"Stop talking!" Toshiro raises his voice and you shake your head.

"I just want you to hold me, please," you beg him, tears spilling down your cheeks. Toshiro frowns widely and shakes his head rapidly.

"I will do whatever you want after I get you to the hospital okay? Once we get there, I will hold you forever," Toshiro rambles on, biting back tears as he leaps off of buildings trying to save you.

"You promise?" you choke out, glancing up into his icy blue eyes. Toshiro glances down at you and nods his head.

"I promise," he reassures you.

Toshiro did keep his promise once you woke up in the hospital. He laid in the tiny bed with you, kissing every inch of you and holding you with every ounce of love.

Renji: He didn't care that he was hurt and could barely walk. He didn't care. All Renji Abarai could think about was you and the way your scream echoed throughout the soul society.

Your scream rattled his eardrums so he pushed himself to sprint as fast as he could to you.

Renji freezes in his tracks when he finds you laying on the ground on your side. Blood covers every inch of your uniform and his breath shudders.

He slowly walks over to you and peers over your body. Relief washes over his body as he sees your eyes open.

"Renji, what the hell are you doing?" you scoff out as he grabs onto you carefully. A tiny gasp leaves your lips as Renji effortlessly lifts you up into his arms and starts limping away from the rubble.

"Renji, put me down!" you scoff out, smacking his chest.

"Never," he shakes his head, too prideful.

"You're hurt, Renji. You barely have the strength to stand up yourself. Please put me down before you both send us crashing to the ground," you explain, clutching onto his shoulders tightly.

"If you don't stop talking, I'll make you," Renji comments, rolling his eyes with annoyance.

"Oh, really? And exactly do you plan on doing that because you-" you ramble on when Renji presses his soft lips against yours.

You quietly groan against his lips and bring your hands up to his cheeks, your thumbs brushing his soft skin.

"I plan on kissing you again and again," Renji speaks, peppering your face in soft kisses.

"I see that now," you grumble out, unable to hide your growing smile.

Ichigo: Late. He was too late or at least that's what Ichigo thought. You were fighting in the soul society and he had just gotten here. His eyes were full of sadness and despair as he gazes over the whole soul society, absolutely destroyed.

Ichigo sprints through the destroyed walls and his eyes dart around. He's been running around for a good 10 minutes and he still cannot find you.

"God damn it!" Ichigo curses out, clenching his fists and shoving it into the concrete wall beside him. He didn't realize that you were laying on the rubble right behind him.

"Take it easy, substitute soul reaper. The wall is innocent," you croak out, your voice weak and fragile. Ichigo spins himself around and lays his eyes on you.

His breath hitches in his throat at the sight of you, laid over the rubbled and covered in crimson blood. He rushes over to your side and kneels down.

"What the hell are you doing? I told you to wait for me," Ichigo scoffs out, his eyes softening as he meets your gaze.

"I don't wait on you. Just who the hell do you think you are, asshole?" you still manage to scoff out as Ichigo grips onto your upper forearm.

"Your boyfriend who you should listen more to," Ichigo explains, lifting you up onto your feet. You barely stand on your own feet for 2 seconds, before your muscles start to ache and throb, giving out on you.

You stumble over and Ichigo easily sweeps you up and onto his shoulder.

"What are you doing?" you hiss out, kicking your legs in the air.

"Taking you to a healer. You're not dying on me," Ichigo speaks sternly, starting to make his way through the destruction.

"Ichigo..." you call out, resting your head on his upper back.

"What?" he replies dryly.

"I love you," you whisper, placing a soft kiss against his upper back and Ichigo smiles warmly.

"Don't talk anymore, y/n. You need to rest for now," he assures you, tightening his grip on you. Ichigo carries you the rest of the way to where the hospital was set up, knowing he loves you more than you could ever know.

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ecoamerica · 1 month

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unohanadaydreams · 3 years

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It’s the live blogging for the beginning of the Arrancar arc that I forgot to post after I read it. Just a warning that I talk way too much in this one.

Ichigo looks genuinely SO scared that Tatsuki can see his deputy badge. Not just shocked, but scared. He doesn’t want her to be a target, but as we know, she becomes one after not dying immediately after Yammy does his mass soul suck.

He just got back from the Soul Society and it’s like he’s just remembering ‘oh fuck, I’m home again and all the people I care about are still at risk. Saving Rukia didn’t suddenly change that’.

That one, big battle against Byakuya didn’t suddenly end everything. The world is still changed for him and for the people around him and the happily ever after didn’t come just because he won.

Not sure, because I haven’t gotten to when Ichigo actually takes Shinji up on his offer, but I’m sure what Isshin says is the Central 46 cover up version of things, because as we know, it’s not true.

And Isshin saying this is very funny, because you are ALSO a lawless ex-soul reaper, sir. If you stepped foot in the Seireitei, they would beat the shit out of you. The remaining Shibas would flower cannon their way in and join the party, too (mostly because that’s how they express concern, but yknow).

Real friendship is being so horribly gross to each other that you are embarrassed for yourself and each other. Shinji doesn’t even wanna do this, it’s just something he has to do, to preserve his shaken honor and to make Hiyori regret the day she thought touching his pancake ass was a good idea.

Okay, so I don’t have anything grand to say, just that I really enjoy how ALL of the Arrancars are introduced in the sexiest way possible on panel. Even Yammy looks great when he’s introduced. RIP to the ppl who only know these characters from the anime, because the optics of this arc was lost in translation, for sure.

Like, the designs of the Arrancar are literally so fucking good. Even the designs that ppl say are “ugly” fuck so hard. Kubo truly is un fucking beaten at making seggsy characters.

God this panel FUCKS. Not only the swaths of black that signify Hichigo trying his best to take control of Ichigo the moment he sees a strong opponent, but the way that Ichigo automatically looks to Orihime and Chad because he is genuinely scared that once he loses control, they will be as likely a target as the Arrancar.

It also makes his consequent instinct to push them both away later on, both in his reluctance to speak to Orihime and his insistence that Chad run away instead of fight beside him, more nuanced later on.

He’s not just guilty. He’s scared. He knows that Shinji is right, as much as doesn’t want to get involved with him. The idea that he would not just fail to protect his friends, but be the one putting them in danger pulls him back to how he felt in the beginning, when he was made to realize that his friends and family where at risk due to his spiritual pressure luring in hollows/giving them sight and powers.

And once again, Rukia forces him to understand its not something he can change. And it’s not something he can shoulder alone. Not just when she forces him to speak to Orihime with some fucking honesty in his voice, but also when she looks disappointed at Chad running the opposite direction of Ichigo when Grimmjow shows up, because there is only one reason he would do that (because Ichigo was scared and told him to leave).

Sometimes you just have to slap the self destructive tendencies out of your local human delinquent turned friend because he’s so used to aggression that its the way he’s most comfortable speaking about his baggage in any capacity.

Damn, ma, how’d you package all these onigiri? And don’t you fucking lie to me 🔪🔪🔪

The concept that there are soul reapers that don’t understand mass production is actually so fucking funny.

They go to the human world and treat malls like modern day castles. They are humble gods lording over their mall food court feast.

This is how I know the majority of shinigami know how to sew and cook, because there is no way they can just pop into some local convenience store or fast fashion shop.

Except for the 12th division/R&D. They eat like malnourished college kids trying to develop scurvy for the fun of it and wear embarrassing merch after they spill mountain dew on themselves.

I know some people don’t like that Orihime has so much time dedicated to her feelings of jealousy, but I think its one of the best handled parts of this arc, because her jealousy stems first and foremost from her insecurity that she no longer belongs--that for all her smarts and unique powers, it is not enough and will never be--she is not enough and never will be.

Orihime just got back from the Soul Society, where she feels she has done nothing of help, and she comments on this multiple times. She was not hurt, because she did not battle, and could not hear Isane call out the news of Aizen’s betrayal. She was not strong enough to help Uryu against Mayuri or Ichigo against Byakuya.

She doesn’t view her contributions in Soul Society as valid, because she is not proficient in battle and above that, she does not want to kill people, even enemies. How could she possibly belong to the same world as Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu when the sight of complete strangers being blown to bits makes her crumple and her every attempt to fight is met with an immediate defeat.

This growing sense of insecurity is fully aggravated to something unbearable when the arrancars show up and Tatsuki, Chad, and Ichigo are all harmed and nothing she does is good enough to stop it. Not just that, but everyone seems to drift farther away from her afterwards. She knows its because they feel bad too, but it sucks. It feels like she’s lost her friends even when they’re right there, avoiding making eye contact with her.

And, I’m sure Orihime does feel jealous of the connection Rukia has with Ichigo, of her ability to make Ichigo stand up and look his fears in the eye, but that seems like the easier thing to admit than that she feels completely unimportant and useless as a person compared to someone like Rukia, who originates from the supernatural world that Orihime is struggling to navigate.

Not just that, but Rangiku is EXACTLY right. It is very human to reject those kinds of feelings or take those feelings and weaponize them in an attempt to put power over someone and therefore those feelings.

But, Orihime doesn’t do that. She is thankful to Rukia. She loves Rukia. She loves that Ichigo can depend on Rukia--that she and her friends can depend on Rukia.

She has emotional competence and strength that a lot of teenagers straight up do not have and she cries to Rangiku, convinced that she is irredeemable and weak for admitting that she wants to be more. That she wants to be grown up and graceful and strong and she doesn’t like herself compared to Rukia.

I also really like the full scope of what Rangiku says, because AGAIN, she’s right. The idea that you only need one person and that Ichigo doesn’t draw his strength from all his friends and family, isn’t true. The idea that Orihime is losing a competition and Ichigo has already chosen the winner isn’t true.

Calm down, Orihime. Keep doing your best for the people you love. Keep doing your best by Ichigo and he’ll keep doing his best for the people he loves. He’ll keep doing his best by you, too. Nothing’s been lost and nothing’s been won. You’ve seen the finish line already--death--and all you can do now keep trying to fight it.

I just really like how well they lead up to this moment, because Orihime does broadcast her feelings of insecurity, even when she dresses it up as her being silly and care-free through out the previous arc and beginning of this one. And how they execute it, as well.

#manga live blog #bleach live blog for the shinigami soul

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ariadnekurosaki · 4 years

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At the End

Pairing: Ichigo Kurosaki/Rukia Kuchiki

Rating: T

Warnings: Major Character Deaths

Summary: At the end, the black sun and the white moon fall so that the worlds they protect do not. Canon-divergent and angsty.

At the End

Yhwach’s promise echoes through the air as he leaps through the portal. Rukia and Renji rush forward toward Ichigo, whose body is broken. Orihime is healing him beneath the dome of her Sōten Kisshun, and she is crying.

“I couldn’t stop him with my shield,” she whimpers. Rukia wraps a comforting arm around her friend and watches Ichigo’s wounds heal.

“We can’t just let him get away, we have to go,” Renji says as he pulls Zabimaru from his hip.

“You already know we can’t do it without Ichigo,” Rukia chides. Ichigo’s eyes open and the look in his eyes is both relieved and tender as his eyes meet Rukia’s.

“Rukia…”

“I’m here, Ichigo,” she murmurs.

The yellow glow of Sōten Kisshun dissipates and Ichigo sits up, grabbing for his blade. “Yhwach went through the portal. We have to go after him – we have to do it now,” he says, and leaps to his feet.

Ichigo grabs her hand and she stands as well.

Renji and Orihime are both looking at them. “We’re coming with you,” Renji says.

But Rukia shakes her head. “Go back and find the wounded. Orihime’s powers are needed there, and you need to guard her.” When Orihime opens her mouth to object, Rukia says gently, “My bankai will kill you. Go, save who you can.”

Then she kisses Orihime lightly on the forehead. Her free hand touches Renji’s arm lightly. Ichigo ruffles Orihime’s hair and nods at Renji. It feels like they’re saying goodbye.

Then Ichigo and Rukia take off at a run toward the portal. “Rukia,” he says when they are no more than a step away. His eyes catch hers and there is more in them, as there has always been, than just worry for a friend.

“I know.” Her mouth finds his in a hard kiss and then she unsheathes Sode no Shirayuki and awakens her shikai. They turn back to the portal and leap through.

And Yhwach is there, grinning with his too-many-teeth and laughing at them from under his mustache. “My son,” he says. “And one of your weaklings. Is this the best you can do?”

Ichigo just scoffs but Rukia looks up at the touch of a familiar – too familiar – reiatsu, for Aizen is there.

Soul Society’s most powerful prisoner nods to Ichigo and attacks Yhwach, slashing with Kyōka Suigetsu before flying away. But then Rukia can see an image of herself attacking Yhwach and being beaten back, an image of Ichigo leaping forward and losing an arm even though he was right beside her, and –

“Now, Kurosaki,” Aizen’s voice calls, and Rukia realizes he is using Kyōka Suigetsu’s illusions again.

Ichigo is by her side again and they look at one another before he rushes forward. Ichigo’s Getsuga Tenshō blazes forth in a tidal wave of bright yellow reiatsu. The blast overcomes Yhwach, who screams his pain. Rukia smiles.

And then black energy washes over them all again, and they both know it wasn’t enough. Ichigo falls back by her side and their hands find one another. His mouth finds hers once more and there is a whisper between them (I love you. We have to. I know. I love you too.) before they part. In the blackness Rukia calls, “Bankai. Hakka no Togame.” White energy blasts around her and the world is plunged into the bone-breaking cold of absolute zero. She is clad in a white kimono and jewels of ice, and Sode no Shirayuki in her hands is a long, beautiful blade of ice. White ribbon writhes around her form. Her hair is white and her eyes are palest lavender.

Ichigo spares one second to think that her bankai is the most beautiful he has ever seen. His reiatsu is so strong that it partially insulates him from the killing cold, and he leaps for Yhwach. Rukia’s bankai sends a blinding white pillar of ice and reiatsu flaring up around their enemy.

Ichigo’s blade pierces the pillar and injects black reiatsu into it. White light explodes, destroying everything it touches, and the world shakes. Ishida, the only one of their friends close enough to see what’s happening, looks up as the earth bucks under his feet and gets a glimpse of Ichigo and Rukia wrapped around each other before the light engulfs them. He is sent flying through the air by the blast.

Screams echo throughout what’s left of the Seireitei and the whole of the Rukongai as waves of reiatsu radiate outward and wash over Soul Society.

In the World of the Living, the earth shakes and scientists the whole world over report tremors and earthquakes. In Karakura, streets crack open and buildings fall. As far away as England, vases fall from mantels and shatter glass onto wooden floors.

Orihime’s Sōten Kisshun shatters over Urahara and Renji shifts into bankai and calls “Hihio!” quickly. The skeletal arm rises above them and deflects falling debris even as Renji throws himself over Orihime and Urahara both to protect them with his body.

When the shaking stops, Yhwach’s reiatsu is gone. Urahara stirs beneath Renji and says very quietly, “It’s over.”

His words have more than one meaning, as they all discover when the survivors of their battle with the Sternritter make their way through the destroyed streets of the Seireitei to the epicenter of the final battle with Yhwach.

The crater they find has swallowed up the entirety of the Sōkyoku Hill and the Senzaikyū and turned them both to dust. Shards of ice melt on the ground, and there still a chill in the air although it is no longer cold enough to freeze. In the center of the crater is all that remains of Yhwach: a quickly-disintegrating Quincy Cross. Aizen’s remains lie closer to the edge of the crater, as if he tried and failed to escape the blast.

Ichigo and Rukia are gone; only the hilts of their zanpakuto remain. A red ribbon binds them together.

Orihime, who has reached the crater with Renji, screams, and then keeps screaming. Renji just stares blankly, arms keeping her from flinging herself into the crater. Eventually she is sedated by a member of Squad Four.

Uryū, bloodied and battered from being thrown almost twenty yards by the blast, tells them all what he saw: Ichigo and Rukia sacrificing themselves (and Aizen) to destroy Yhwach.

It is Kyōraku who takes his hat from his head and holds it to his chest, then bows low toward the bound hilts. Byakuya follows, and then others do the same, heads bowing down in a sign of thanks and respect for the substitute Shinigami and the Squad Thirteen lieutenant whose deaths have ended the war.

The aftermath of the war is somewhat less respectful. There is a fight amongst the captains over what to do with the hilts of Zangetsu and Sode no Shirayuki: whether to bury them, burn them, or make a memorial of them. The memorial wins, and within a week there is a raised pillar on a grassy hill holding them in a glass case.

Renji holds on by a thread when the hastily erected memorial is unveiled seven days after the end of the war. Ichigo’s friends are there for the unveiling and he has no idea who brought them, but Byakuya stands behind Karin and Yuzu like a sentry of stone. He gets plastered later, in an izakaya that hasn’t been destroyed, and Rangiku carries him back to the Sixth and listens sympathetically. (She never tells anyone what he screams.)

Funerals are held for the dead. They burn the bodies, and though Renji doesn’t exactly expect a funeral for Aizen he does wonder why he has heard no word of the body being burned. The worlds, destabilized by the death of the Soul King, are righted by some unknown means that no one will speak of. All Renji knows, when he tries to ask, is that the faces of anyone involved grow pale and some even turn a little green. He doesn’t ask again, but in the very back of his mind he wonders if the two things are connected.

Byakuya places a picture of Ichigo on his butsudan next to one of Rukia, and lights incense for them both. No one dares to ask where the photo came from or why Ichigo has earned a place on the Kuchiki family altar. There is a rumor about a ghost marriage.

Chad, Uryū, and Orihime go back to the World of the Living with Urahara and Yoruichi when the latter two have recovered. All three look haunted, but the Gotei Thirteen are not in the habit of caring what happens to soldiers, even child soldiers, after the war.

Isshin Kurosaki and Ryuuken Ishida appear back in Karakura Town a month after the war. Isshin takes care of letting the school know about Ichigo’s death (from the earthquake, he says), which allows his friends to mourn publicly. Ichigo’s entire class wears black armbands with their uniforms for 49 days.

Everyone in school is surprised when Orihime enters school to be a nurse. They are even more surprised when Chad decides to become a counselor. No one is surprised when Ishida starts his own fashion business, although the stark black and white theme of his first collection is startling.

In Soul Society, the Gotei Thirteen rebuild. Tetsuzaemon is made Captain of Squad Seven. It is a struggle to find a captain for the Thirteenth, for everyone thought Rukia would succeed Ukitake after his death, not turn to ice and dust. Renji refuses the position.

The squad runs for years with neither captain nor lieutenant through the sheer stubbornness of Kiyone and Sentaro, until Hisagi apparently achieves bankai and agrees to take the captain’s exam. In passing, Renji wonders how the Thirteenth feels about having a captain who looks like two dead men. The answer is “not great”: Kiyone transfers to the Fourth to serve under her sister and Sentarō transfers to the Fifth a month later.

When the Sōkyoku is rebuilt, bigger and worse, in another part of the Seireitei, Renji gets smashed again and this time it’s Kira who drags him back home. Byakuya catches them but just calmly thanks Kira for returning his lieutenant. There is a hangover tisane waiting for him on his nightstand in the morning. Renji’s pretty sure his captain is the one who left it there, and vaguely recalls smelling sake on Byakuya’s breath. Maybe they are both disturbed by it.

Life in the Seireitei goes on as it does in the World of the Living, even with holes in both worlds shaped like a petite Shinigami and her orange-haired substitute. Sometimes when Renji looks at the Sōkyoku or sees one of the monitoring devices that Captain Kurotsuchi has planted around the Seireitei, he wonders what would have happened if they’d lived.

Sometimes – just sometimes – there is mercy in the cycle between the worlds. Time passes: a decade, then three, and then it has been seventy-five years since the war. In a park in Sapporo, near the Hokkaido Shrine that still stands tall amongst the skyscrapers, a young man and woman lounge in the sun. His hair is still orange, and her eyes are still violet, though she is a little taller. There are rings on the fourth finger of her left hand and a matching one on his. They sparkle and shine in the sunlight.

#ichiruki #ichigo x rukia #bleach #bleach fanfiction

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littleeyesofpallas · 4 years

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There's a Bleach rant ive been trying (and failing) to sort out in a nice orderly succinct post for a while now about how thru a mix of my usual rundown of the Arrancar Arc set up, my (also) usual metatextual reading, and then also slipping into some headacanon-y territory, I've convinced myself that the real endgame on the Arrancar Arc should've been a confrontation between the Visored as "surprise" villains and the Vastlord Arrancar as surprise good guys.

In part key to this being my already kind of established theory on this blog that the Fullbringers were basically a rehash of a dropped Visored plot that we never got to see fleshed out in the Arrancar Arc. I'm pretty certain the Visored's goal (if they'd ever even gotten around to being given one...) would have been to obtain the Hougyoku to become human again(again this kind of banking on my other established theories including that the Visored weren't actually shinigami but human substitute shinigami like Ichigo) as their hollows were a curse. But then as a twist they'd really be out to further push their hybrid power as neither Shinigami nor Hollow. Meaning they’d have been a ragtag group of 3rd party humans without rank, whom Ichigo turns to for guidance when the Shinigami and Urahara can’t help him, who appear initially hostile, end up friendly and kind of goofy, but ultimately were training Ichigo for their own benefit and not out of benevolence.

But then, opposite this, the Arrancar were clearly positioned to be an inversion of the Visored, not just in the basic outline of their powers but in their implicit alignment as well. Notably, the shinigami were already of questionable morality after the Soul Society Arc and it seemed like Kubo had every intention of following up on that.

Now, there’s a lot more to all of this than that... but that’s kind of where I keep tripping myself up in tangents, so let’s just kind of move along for now...

If we figure that the Visored were positioned to be villains masquerading as allies, and posit from there that the Arrancar might not all be as villainous as they seem we find that any potential evidence of this being set up hinges on the elusive nature of the Vastlord. We know they're human sized and stronger than a captain as hollows, that they are very few in number, and that Aizen is actively seeking them out in order to complete/perfect the Espada, and that he is quick to discard and replace weak Espada. (ala Grimmjow/Luppi and the Privaron.)

The first and only real Vastlord we see is Wonderweiss, as we catch a single glimpse of him as a Hollow, but bound in bandages, just before he’s turned into an Arrancar by Aizen; the only time we actually see this process; He is clearly humanoid in shape and size in this scene, and given the context above all being freshly exposited at that point in the story, it’s a pretty clear inference. This would mean that Wonderweiss is positioned to be one of Aizen’s new, perfect Espada ranks, soon to replace one of the existing ones. (although this is never followed through on.)

Of note, Wonderweiss shows up in the diversion party covering up Orihime’s abduction alongside other Espada, and takes Urahara offguard, strongly suggesting that he is in the very least stronger than Yammy, who struggled to keep up with Urahara previously. Other than just a nebulously high power level, Wonderweiss stands out by his vacant/dimwitter and/or child-like demeanor. Of note: Tousen refers to him as “Pure” although even he doesn’t seem to know what exactly that means.

But you know who else has a nebulous power level, ominously foreshadowed (before not being followed up on for a long time) and a generally innocent and child-like demeanor? Nel.

When Nel is first introduced she actually drops a bit of info about how the Numeros are the ranked Arrancar of Aizen’s army, and how she isn’t one of them, implying that there are just other arrancar living out in Hueco Mundo. Additionally there are a few peculiarities about her and her companions: For one her mask is not clearly broken nor actually missing much of itself at all, which seems to imply her mask wasn’t removed properly (something Kubo does happen to follow up on, but I’ll get to that later...) and although their brief discussion with Ichigo does identify all three of them as Arrancar, Dondochakka and Pesche don’t actually look like Arrancar at all. Although it can be argued that Pesche’s mask is broken and hidden under the fabric bolted over one eye, Dondochakka’s mask appears fully intact, and he doesn’t even have a hollow hole...

So here’s another bit of where I get tripped up by my own meta headcanon... Kubo seems to have a general habit of taking old ideas and reusing them, sometimes it’s character types or dynamics, sometimes its powers and themes, sometimes it’s certain panels or scenes. And I feel like he does this most often when the first time he tried, he didn’t quite get everything he wanted out of it.

I also believe that Kubo’s very traceable plans for the Arrancar Arc that he set up early on, were effectively ditched by around the time the Grimmjow fight happened. And broadly speaking, I realize that that is a less substantiated theory than some of what I peddle. And I can go into a lot of the kind of orbital evidence that I think suggests it, but it still only goes so far, and doesn’t amount anything irrefutably concrete, so I’m going to also fight the urge to go on that particular rant...

NOW, with that in mind, I think Nel’s dynamic with Nnoitra was originally part of something that Kubo was effectively at risk of losing when he shifted gears to wrap up the Hueco Mundo rescue mission faster. And in his usual style, I think he quickly retooled key moments of that dynamic into what we wound up with in order to quickly shoehorn it into what remained of the Hueco Mundo phase of the arc while he still had the chance: Nnoitra taunting Ichigo for not knowing “what” Nel is; his inferiority complex; and a number of small scenes and exchanges, including the one where Nel waxes philosophical on what it means to have gone from Human to Hollow to Arrancar. I believe that this accounts for a number of issues I see with Nel’s whole reveal and fight and backstory with Nnoitra not really fitting into the general flow of the story or the timeline we’d been given prior. (which is, you guessed it, another rant I’m not getting into here!)

A few additional weird notes that I don’t even know how to rectify personally...

in the Unmasked character book Ulquiorra gets his little flashback origin story, which I don’t really know if I’d place in the realm of building on Kubo’s final continuity for the arc, as something he salvaged from old ideas, or something he honestly just did more or less outside of continuity as bonus content just because it’s what he was vibing that week... But it suggests Ulquiorra wasn’t actually made by Aizen but was a naturally occurring Arrancar who removed his own mask. And in the bounds of this particular building theory that actually puts him in a category similar to Nel, as a Vastlord who got his masked removed by means other the the Hougyoku. And I don’t think I need to remind you about his whole character arc with Orihime and his fixation with finding out what Heart is and how he die a more sympathetic figure than most of the Arrancar.

Starrk’s awkward death flashback where he also appears to have not actually been made by the Hougyoku at all, but is in fact a naturally occurring Arrancar. And his similar disposition to Ulquiorra, where they both seem possessed by a sense of longing for surprisingly human connections(and understanding of Heart, and companionship) and is actually rather adverse to fighting if he can help it.

And finally (I promise this is all going somewhere...) Zommari’s extremely peculiar death in which he berated Byakuya and shinigami for having arrogantly and self-righteously appointed themselves protectors of humans and executioners of Hollows, something he suggests is against a kind of natural order or sense of justice. He dies praising Aizen, implicitly as someone who appears to have promised him and the other Arrancar an alternative to this system. As a tiny tack on, Aisslinger also dies with similar praise for Aizen, saying that Hollows are born from fear and only someone fearless like Aizen has the right to lead the Arrancar.

SO... Now that we’ve collected these kind of disparate bits of data I’m not even gonna waste your time with trying to suss out the difference between the inferred continuity, the meta-textual intent, or speculation(because that’s where I get lost in these drafts) I’m just gonna launch right into fullblown headcanon...

...in a part 2 post.... because otherwise this’ll be twice and long and nobody wants that...

#bleach #meta #rant #ramble

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hesesols · 4 years

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A Man of His Word

Day 23 of Ichiruki month 2020

Summary:

The transition from boy to man comes with inner peace. It comes with the realization that he doesn't have anything to prove, that a blade should only ever be drawn to maim and kill; and that Rukia will go to the ends of the world to hunt him down and end him herself if he was dumb enough to get himself killed.

"Now get going! I promised my wife I'll be home by the end of the week so get your asses on the move!"

Rating: T (for Ichigo’s potty mouth)

FF/ao3

It is universally acknowledged that Captain Ichigo Kurosaki of the Fifth Division, Hero of Soul Society is a powerhouse. He is the man who made the impossible possible, the feats he accomplished the stuff of legends.

Just ask anyone and they will gladly recount the most romantic story ever to grace the pristine city- retold and re-enacted for the public for as many times as the sun rose over the arches and columns of Seireitei and it still never gets old— the story of him rescuing the Kuchiki Princess from the Blades of Soukyoku or the time he spearheaded a rescue mission with his nakama from the Living World to infiltrate the depths of Hueco Mundo to save one of their own, defying official orders in favour of doing what's right.

The nobles will tell you with a haughty sniff that it's because of his bloodline. The noble Shiba ancestry renders him practically blue-blooded and his esteemed bloodline shines through and through even if one's father is disgraced and the rest of his clan equally uncouth.

The folks from the streets of Rukongai will tell you that he is a true man of the people for he champions causes dear to them. For the better of Soul Society, he led and spurred social reformations- speaking out against archaic customs, bullying and strong-arming indifferent nobles to his cause, championing better living conditions for all by way of schools, orphanages, clinics and roads being built.

Such a man to inspire such loyalty and following among so divided a crowd, to be so brave and bold in leading these reforms!

It's a no brainer then that he would be the ideal person to lead missions, especially dangerous missions into uncharted and unfamiliar territories for weeks or even months on end.

Think again.

Because Ichigo absolutely loathes being on missions.

Anyone who knows the man personally or have had the misfortune to go on such a mission with him will tell you in fact the man loathes doing anything that forces him to spend more than a day away from his wife.

Final year academy students shuffled nervously, sword arms shaking as they gathered behind the orange-haired Captain, one with a scowl so fierce that it seemed to stop Hollows dead in their tracks, paralysed them with fear before the man finished up the job with his twin blades.

Glaring at them, he barked harshly, "Don't just stand there like sitting ducks! Do you want to be eaten?"

They gulped as a collective before remembering their years of lessons and turned to face the horde, their zanpakutos drawn and gleaming.

It was their first foray into the Living World- a week-long field exercise that will count towards their final grade prior to graduation. Their academy instructor has reassured them with a beaming smile that it's all part of the new school curriculum. If nothing else, the experience would make sure that they're well prepared when they come face-to-face with Hollows on their own and made sure they blended in and behaved accordingly during missions, following procedures and obeying the direct chain of command once they're in the Living World.

The instructor even congratulated them on their luck as their accompanying seated officer for this particular mission was the one and only Captain Kurosaki.

Just imagine!

For the duration of this short excursion, they'd have the actual privilege of fighting alongside the legendary man, working under him even!

Well, thought Jun as she narrowly sidestepped a pincer from the disgusting-looking bug Hollow she was up against; it sure started off that way. For the first ten minutes or so every academy student was certainly gawking; stunned by the appearance of the tall, broad-shouldered man. His hair, they whispered, it really is as bright as the Sun; and the twin blades- they gasped; the only other person who's ever had the sheer gifted prowess is that of the Soutaichou!

The excited chatter was loud as expected. These bright-eyed Shinigamis-in-training would be lying if they told you that they didn't dream of being given the opportunity of working under such an esteemed man.

Jun would begrudgingly admit that she was one of those moon-eyed students, taken in for a split second by the legends woven of the Captain. She's one of the orphans- the first few actually who were taken in by the Kurosaki-Kuchiki Orphanage and she looked to him with as much respect and hero worship as one would expect.

That was until the man unceremoniously dropped them straight into the battle grounds. A dozen or so ugly Hollows snarling and growling away, hungry at the prospect of being fed. The infamous Captain then ordered them without a hint of preamble or motivating speech to fend for themselves or risk being Hollow-chow for the day.

The impact was jarring.

Seriously, she bit the insides of her cheek as she parried, what was she thinking? Wasn't there a Living World saying that says to never meet your heroes for they're sure to disappoint you?

Disheartened by reality, she tried her best, kido spells coming to mind as easily as breathing. Adrenaline pumped through her body, blocking and parrying as best as she could with her zanpakuto, trying desperately not to get herself killed.

Then, she slipped up.

In hindsight, it was the inevitable given the amount of thoughts swimming through her head- the fear that came with the self-doubt and she missed the killing blow.

She cursed.

The Hollow had no such qualms and made full use of the missed opening to dive in for the kill. Jun stumbled, upsetting her balance and the Hollow's gaping mouth loomed close to her face, enough for her to feel the putrid stench from its breath. She shut her eyes tight as she awaited the crush from the monster's jaw but the pain never came.

Instead what she heard was the annoyed voice of her acting Captain as he pushed her aside, overwhelming the Hollow's impending attack with sheer brute strength and in one clean slice purified the monster.

She fell flat on her ass on the ground, eyes wide in disbelief as she regarded her saviour. If he hadn't swoop in, she'd have been in a world of pain, possibly even made mincemeat and dinner by the Hollow.

"T-Thank yo-"

"You were distracted. That's your first lesson. Don't let fear cripple you. You can't give into fear during a fight! Now pick up that sword of yours and try again! I won't be there to save you every time."

With those parting words, the man shunpoed away; possibly to help out another classmate of hers, leaving Jun to her thoughts. She drew a shaky breath, getting up on her feet- the blade burning in her hands.

This time, she didn't miss; cleaving the Hollow's mask in two as she pivoted and that she realized, that was her first real encounter with the Captain Kurosaki.

Five days into her training, Jun has learnt enough to not be intimidated by the ferocity of Captain Kurosaki's scowl and know the kindness hidden deep and I mean- way deep behind his gruffness.

She was sincere and humble as she asked him for advice.

The Captain snorted, "Here's one: try not to get killed."

Jun pressed on undeterred and after much badgering, the taciturn man finally relented, addressing the group huddled around the burning fire. It's the closest they ever got to a motivation speech from their acting Captain.

"Alright, listen up 'cause I'm only going to say this once: it's meaningless to just fight. You fight to win! But even that's not enough. I'm not just fighting to win. I fight because I have to win. My advice to you is to find out what's your reason to win and hold true to it."

"Just like that?"

He rolled his eyes, mumbling something that sounded like amateurs under his breath.

"Believe me. It's much harder than it sounds. It takes courage to really dig deep and to know yourself. Finding out is actually half the battle. Once you figure it out, things will fall into place- bit by bit. I can't promise you that it'll be easy. But I can assure you that it can be done."

"What is your reason then?"

Someone in their group was feeling bold only to be mercilessly shot down by a snappish reply.

"That's none of your business!"

The excursion was eye-opening- expectations were met properly and Jun was given a real taste of what her future job role would entail.

By the end of the week, her connection and bond with her zanpakuto was stronger than ever, her confidence of her own abilities skyrocketed and rang in every strike that she parried.

She had also never felt so tired and bruised in her life. Her muscles ached and she needed a hot bath. Her bed, she never thought she'd say this but she missed her tiny quarters in the student dormitories.

Jun turned the corner, cutting through the bushes and passing through the backyard of some of the other barracks, eager to go to the Fourth Division to be cleared for her return back to her dorms.

She suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, making sure she's safely hidden in the shadows as she watched on. Realization dawned as she realized that she must be passing through the training grounds of the Thirteenth Division.

There was hardly another soul in sight and Jun had much trouble reconciling the fiercely scowling Captain she had served for the better part of a week with that of the smiling man standing less than six feet away.

Captain Rukia Kurosaki-Kuchiki, Captain of the Thirteenth Division, adopted sister of Captain Byakuya Kuchiki is a woman of short stature, demure and polite by all accounts but widely regarded as one of the most dangerous Captains among the ranks of Gotei 13. Powerful in her own rights, her Bankai is the stuff of nightmares, revenge is a dish best served cold as is absolute death striking her opponents down at the absolute zero temperature, her attacks so pretty that it's almost an honour to be cut down by her.

The other important thing to note is that she has the powerful Captain Ichigo Kurosaki at her beck and call. It's no secret that he adores her and will move heaven and earth if she so desires. People like to say that she's a lucky woman- the other half of a power couple, ushering the era of peace with her husband by her side.

In their ignorance, they forgot much of her humble beginnings, making light of her efforts; but Jun remembered. She remembered the kindness of the lady when she visited them in the orphanage. Those hands that pressed treats to her were just as callused as that of an experienced swordsman.

Watching them now, their Captain haori softly billowing in the winds. The woman's smile radiant and gentle; Captain Kurosaki's notorious scowl gone as he pressed the hand of the woman reverently to his cheeks, bending over to kiss her on her crown as the other hand rested tentatively on the barely-there baby bump. Of course, there were rumours that the two Captains were expecting their third. It's a girl this time, if rumours were true- Jun believed they were.

They were comfortable in the silence, soft in their gazes and warm in the arms of each other. Two- no, three children later, and they're still so obviously enamoured by the presence of each other and Jun realized, they were not lucky.

It's not the right word.

They were blessed- blessed to have each other, to have found each other and be able to hold on. That's the truth that they know deep within their souls as they brushed their lips chastely against each other.

She wisely crept away, careful not to make a noise lest the two became aware of her existence and thought that she was spying on them. She flashed back to the conversation by the fire.

It's clear to see what or rather who Captain Kurosaki's reason to fight and win at all costs, is.

FF/ao3

Another venture into the 'my babies are good parents' AU world. Happens before events that take place in The Good Life.

Review, reblog, comment, like or send me an ask to share a headcanon- alternatively reach out to me on the Seireitei Discord. I won’t bite I promise!

#ichiruki #ichirukimonth2020 #ichirukimonth #irmonth2020 #fanfic #mine #Day 23: promises kept #a man of his word #my babies are good parents AU-verse #gruff ichigo but with a heart of gold #all is well #686 who?

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ecoamerica · 2 months

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darisu-chan · 4 years

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Kaien vs Ichigo: A Memories in the Rain Analysis, Part 1

Hello

It’s me again, back with my bs lmao

I finally finished the mini arc of Memories in the Rain pt. 2 and, as I’ve been sort of discussing certain stuff that’s happened in Bleach as I re-read the chapters, I decided I needed to talk about MITR as a whole. If you’ve been following my posts, I didn’t really analyze the first part. I saved it to compare it with the second part. I also thought that instead of just saying my thoughts as I have been doing thus far, I’d go the extra mile and truly analyze both parts, specifically comparing Kaien and Ichigo.

So, sometime ago, I wrote this post about how it bothers me how people compare Kaien and Ichigo as being the same, and using that to establish IchiRuki. When, honestly, you don’t need to. Ichigo and Rukia’s relationship stands on its own. In fact, it is so strong that, years after the ending, people keep being fascinated by IR. The LA was centered on their relationship as well. And it’s still the Ichigo and Rukia show, thank you very much.

And though I made some good points in that post, I decided to further explore Kaien and Ichigo, as well as the events of both MITR and how that relates to Ichigo and Rukia.

It’s probably been done many times before, but I’ve never analyzed them in much depth, so here we go.

The first part will soley be about Ichigo and Kaien as individuals. On the second part, I’ll finally explore MITR

1. The Shiba Gene

So, as we all know, Ichigo and Kaien look like each other physically, and in Everything But the Rain we finally found out the reason why: they are cousins. This put a stop to all the “Ichigo is Kaien reborn” theories people liked to come up with back in the day.

Now, in the story, this resemblance was pointed out by Byakuya and even Ukitake, to an extent. Which means Kaien was designed to look like Ichigo on purpose to further draw parallels between them. What I mean to say is that this is a seed that was planted in the readers’ minds, and as such, comparing both guys was done on purpose.

Interestingly enough, neither Kukaku nor Ganju are ever seen to believe Ichigo looks like their older brother.

In EBTR we see Isshin as a young man, and we can see how Isshin, Ichigo and Kaien resemble each other, meaning the Shiba gene is a strong one, and, if Ichigo had actually stayed in SS, that same resemblance could have been used as a way for him to claim that part of his heritage, but I digress.

We are all aware they look like each other because they are family, so we don’t need to go deep into detail in that aspect. Now the true question is, just how similar are they to each other?

Physically speaking, there are a few noticable differences, like hair and eye color. Kaien’s hair is longer and there’s the fact Kaien has very long eyelashes, as Kukaku and Ganju have. He’s also taller.

Although key differences, they are not enough to negate their similarities. Hell, Ichigo does look more similar to Kaien than Ganju, his actual brother.

But there’s something very important that sets them apart: Kaien always carries himself as if he didn’t have a care in the world. When we’ve seen Kaien, he’s always able to smile freely. Sure, he also scowls, gets upset, and the like, but he goes back to smiling. This is something Ichigo hasn’t been able to do since his mother died. Hell, there’s a whole chapter about that (Can’t Smile Don’t Blame). There are very few times in which Ichigo actually smiles, and all of them are short-lived. In fact, whenever he’s tried to give big smiles, they seem off, as seen when he smiled to Orihime back at the beginning of MITR and later on, in the Lost Agent Arc, when he smiled at Yuzu.

Even when Rukia has a flashback of Kaien while looking at Ichigo, their smiles look very different:

Ichigo more often than not smiles through his eyes, while Kaien tends to smile with his eyes closed:

Although brash and arrogant as well, Kaien is also more mature. He can go from joking around to having deep conversations with Rukia. Ichigo, as a teenager, has yet to mature and will become more and more like a grown up as time passes by. At this point in the manga, he really isn’t there yet. Now, this will be important later on.

In short, even though they look very similar, they carry themselves with different auras. Kaien is more of a free-spirit, while Ichigo is a person who seems to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.

2. Prodigies

Ichigo, as the MC of a shounen manga, is obviously special. From the very first moment, we know he’s not like everyone else. He’s able to see spirits, which is not the norm. And then Rukia informs us his reiatsu is too powerful for a normal human.

And as time goes by, as he keeps fighting hollows, he grows exponentially.

When Urahara trains him, he realizes that, which is why he tells Yoruichi that if there is someone who can achieve bankai in 3 days, is him.

As the story goes on, we learn that Ichigo is even more special, as he is also part Quincy and Hollow. But he also has very impressive skills when it comes to swordmanship, shunpo, and the like.

What is more relevant is Ichigo’s ability to grow at a fast rate, always learning from his mistakes.

And although he was never taught how to be a Shinigami in the traditional way, we can see how he surpassed his peers.

Now, although Kaien is not as special as Ichigo, we learn from Ganju that, for Shinigami standards, Kaien’s very impressive:

Hisagi, for example, failed the final exam numerous times. Rukia says she barely passed the entrace exam. Finishing the curriculum in two years is a great achievement. And the fact that he made VC in 5 years means a lot. It took Renji, let’s say, around 35 years to be promoted to VC. And Renji was in the special class at the Academy.

People like Ichigo and Kaien are not the norm. They are very skilled and special individuals. Might be because of their genes (it’s never explicitly said, but they might come from a long line of Shinigami), or just because they were gifted with those powers, but the point is these characteristics set them apart as more powerful than the rest.

3. Brash, Rule-breaking, Arrogant

The words above can be used to describe both Ichigo and Kaien, and that’s certainly Byakuya’s opinion of them.

Kaien and his siblings are not like the nobles we know. They’re certainly very different to Byakuya and the Kuchiki Clan, but they also live very differently than Soi Fon, Omaeda, the Shihouin Clan, and so on. They seem to live more like the common folk than like dignified people. Hence, Byakuya seems very against this sort of attitude, at least early on in Bleach.

Because of being loud, less refined, brash, and with a penchant of rule-breaking, Kaien seems totally different to other nobles. However, I dare say these characteristics extrapolate what Ukitake meant in this scene:

Not anyone would be able to go against the whole Soul Society, specially if you are a Shinigami.

Byakuya was certainly not going to do any rule-breaking. As we later find out, he had even promised not to break anymore rules and was going to stick to that promise.

Renji, until confronted by Ichigo, had decided not to go against the SS.

Even Ukitake wasn’t about to start a revolution to save Rukia. It took him seeing Ichigo to decide on what to do.

Basically, only Kaien would have been upfront about his own intentions.

And what we know of Kaien is that he was the sort of guy who would break the rules when necessary. That means, that he would do the right thing. Specially when it comes to saving his peers. He even tells Rukia as much:

He might not have been the most elegant of individuals, but Kaien’s brashness and even arrogance came from the fact he had a good heart.

Now, who does exactly what Kaien would have done?

That’s right.

Ichigo.

Here the comparison of Ukitake trying to imagine what Kaien would have done is directly compared and contrasted to Ichigo, as before that scene Ichigo confronted Byakuya.

Now, Ichigo wasn’t raised as a noble. He had no idea he was one until almost the end of Bleach. But he was raised with the idea of protecting other people and of doing what is right.

We have seen him protect other people, even before he became a Shinigami (his friendship with Chad, Keigo and Mizuiru respectively reflects this, as he saved the three of them).

Ichigo is not the kind of guy who can just do nothing while an injustice is taking place.

Ichigo has been, from the first moment we saw him, brash, rule-breaking and even arrogant, but note that from his introduction, we saw him protecting a little ghost girl. It goes to show that Ichigo would go to extremes to protect others and do what’s right. So, it’s no surprise he jumps at the chance to go to SS to save Rukia, and that he grows stronger and stronger each time to save her, as he cannot let her die.

However, there’s a key difference.

If Kaien had been alive, he would have saved Rukia as 1) he would’ve probably figured out an execution was too hard a punishment for Rukia’s crime, 2) he told her he would always stand by her as long as they were from the same division, and 3) he wouldn’t let her just die.

But Ichigo’s reasons to save Rukia are much more complicated than that. As I’ve said in other posts, Ichigo is filled with guilt, as Rukia’s in this position because of him, firstly because she saved him by giving him her own powers to protect his family, and secondly, because Rukia got taken away to protect him as he feels he failed to protect her.

But, even then, it’s not only guilt that fuels him or the fact that he owes Rukia.

There’s the fact that Rukia is an important person to Ichigo regardless. Particularly, she is kind and good. Certainly not the type of person who deserves to die, much less because of a stupid rule.

Then, there is something else at a deeper level Ichigo doesn’t say out loud

My point with this is that Kaien and Ichigo are certainly the same type of rule-breaking people and that’s the sort of person needed to pull a stunt like saving Rukia from execution, in such a way that this person would even inspire others to help. Both guys are special in that way. However, in practice their actions come from different places. Certainly there’s a closeness Ichigo shares with Rukia due to circumstances that adds more complexity to his intent to save her and that, may I add, also fuels him to such a degree he refuses to lose.

Which brings us to...

4. Rukia

The last main common denominator between them is no one else but Rukia, a person they both have inspired in different ways. However, the type of relationship they have with her is different.

Let’s start with Kaien:

So, their meeting takes place shortly after Rukia was adopted into the Kuchiki Clan and graduated early from the Academy. Ever since, it seems she was judged for both not really being from a noble family and from having been adopted by one. We can say that no one is looking at who Rukia truly is, but they are making assumptions about her at this point. This is isolating to Rukia, who now has to deal with a new identity and a new way of living. She’s now apart from the one person she had known most of her life to that point (Renji) and is feeling out of place.

Then, Kaien swoops in and he treats her like he would treat any other subordinate. He doesn’t treat her like a street rat, a pampered noble or even a pet. And she says it herself that having that normality is exactly what she needed. Rukia didn’t feel comfortable at home with Byakuya, but she could at least feel more at ease in her division, working under Kaien.

Their relationship was that of mentor and mentee. Later on we find out Kaien trained her in swordsmanship and probably other skills.

But he also taught her important lessons about life:

And these are lessons Rukia will carry in her heart the whole series. Protecting others, making others feel welcomed, forming hearts with others. Rukia made hers everything that Kaien taught her.

He’s very special in her life because Kaien was the first person to make her feel as if she belonged in her division, and even as a Shinigami.

In short, he’s acting like a parental influential, or even being the brother Byakuya failed to be at this point in time. Teaching Rukia and accepting her, so that she could feel she had a place she belonged to.

And we know that Kaien was the one to make her feel good

But here we have a power imbalance. Because Kaien is doing the teaching, he’s changing her life, but we don’t know if it’s mutual. We don’t know if Kaien was affected by Rukia’s actions and words. It’s a very unilateral situation.

Furthermore, if we go with the route of Rukia had a crush on Kaien, there’s more power imbalance and impossibilities, as we know that:

She already couldn’t be the person closest to Kaien, as Miyako existed.

Rukia recognized Miyako as having great qualities, probably what Kaien even liked about her, and aspired to be like her:

So, Kaien and Rukia were never in a position of equality for several reasons, starting from the fact Kaien was her vice captain.

This is even exemplified when the find the hollow that killed Miyako:

Rukia acts like a subordinate, trying to be helpful, and is denied:

Finally, there’s a key aspect that I will be analyzing with more detail in another post, but Kaien is for Rukia what Masaki is for Ichigo:

The root of her trauma is that she failed to protect Kaien, who was the person who taught her so much and helped her when nobody else did. Rukia feels as if she didn’t do anything to save him from his fate:

And when Kaien became a hollow, instead of running or trying to help him, Rukia let instinct take in and we know what happens next:

And the fact she couldn’t save him is worse becase Kaien doesn’t blame her:

So Rukia ends up in a state of guilt, because she couldn’t save the one person she probably wanted to save the most.

This trauma will continue on for some time until HM, where Rukia comes to terms with what happened. However, that doesn’t change the fact that her relationship remains a one-way street.

Now, as for with Ichigo, they have a different relationship altogether.

It is true that Rukia was Ichigo’s first teacher when it comes to Shinigami stuff, but it is not as if he never taught Rukia anything.

Their relationship is so special because they’re two sides of the same coin. The fact that one is a Shinigami and the other is a human being makes it so that they end in a relationship of equals. As Ichigo needs to learn how to be a Shinigami, Rukia has to learn how to be a human.

Even when they just tell each other their names, the panel demonstrates this equality

Even the way they’re both holding the sword symbolizes this equality:

They’re both holding it and directing it towards Ichigo due to a common goal.

The fact they also call each other by their first names is important. Rukia always used “-dono” to refer to Kaien, a term of respect, while he called her by her last name. Meanwhile, Ichigo and Rukia call each other by their first names, symbolizing they’re close, something that is even pointed out within the story.

They also grow together.

Not only does Rukia teach Ichigo about his powers and her philosophy of saving others, Ichigo keeps surprising her at every turn:

Ichigo teaches Rukia how to be human, and not in the way of how to appear human or do human things, but how to feel, how to make connections with others

We always say Rukia changed Ichigo’s world, but he had that same effect in her:

It was always a mutual thing.

A relationship so different to any other in this manga.

But the best example of how different Kaien and Ichigo’s relationships with Rukia are is the fact that Rukia doesn’t think Ichigo is like Kaien from the get go.

She’s reminded of Kaien twice:

1. When Ichigo’s fighting Grandfisher, and I’ll analyze that part in the next post.

2. When Ichigo finally appears in front of her in SS and reassures her he’s not going to die. He smiles at her and Rukia remembers Kaien’s smile. She closes her eyes due to all the emotions she’s feeling.

My best explanation as to why Rukia thinks of Kaien in that moment is, as I said before, because Kaien was also reassuring in the fact he was not gonna die, yet he did and by her hand. Rukia doesn’t want to cause Ichigo’s death and she already feels guilty about turning him into a Shinigami, Byakuya hurting him, and everything else he’s gone through to try to save her. Rukia doesn’t want Ichigo to be like Kaien and die for her sake, as she believes she’s not worthy of being saved:

This is yet another thing Ichigo and Rukia have in common, they both feel guilty for having in some way cause harm to the other.

Because, above all else, they both want to protect the other.

The thing is, the two actually achieve it: Rukia saves Ichigo’s life in the first chapter and when Byakuya is about to kill him. While Ichigo ends up saving her from execution, making it so their relationship stays equal.

That is the beauty of IchiRuki.

It’s never unilateral, but their feelings parallel each other’s constantly.

They want to save each other and they do.

They learn from one another, and they have faith in one another.

One doesn’t take while the other receive, they both give and receive something in return.

Because, in their eyes, they are equals.

Anyway,

This is the end of this very long post.

The rest of MITR will be analyzed in a later post.

Thanks for reading!

#ichiruki #darisu-chan reads bleach #tagging it ichiruki because you're the only ones who'd like to read this #lol

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photorose11 · 4 years

Text

An Unbreakable Bond Ch.2

I apologize for posting this so late. I ended up working a ten hour shift today, I got home and my daughter was not happy tonight at all. lol It took me awhile to write this on my laptop and post it. But here it is! Chapter Two to ‘An Unbreakable Bond’ I ended up reading this chapter several times over adding some things and fixing errors. I am done with chapter three already, but will have to wait to post until tomorrow night if I have time. I hope you enjoy chapter two! It was fun writing this one. (Chapter three is my favorite so far btw. I can’t wait to post that one.) oh and great song recommendation for this chapter. “Still Have You” by Freya Ridings which is actually the title of the third chapter but honestly this song works so well for both chapters. ❤️

Disclaimer: I don’t own Bleach. (If only..)

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Chapter Two: Slowly Unraveling.

He had won the battle. Rukia knew that he would. But it had come with a price, she could see he was upset about Ginjo's death. The whole thing was fucked up, they all knew that.

"You're staying for now, right Rukia?"

She turned around to see Renji and her brother looking at her, waiting for her reply. She gave a small smile and nodded her head.

"Yes, I had requested two weeks off and they were approved."

Originally, she was not going to take any time off. The last two years she had been working non stop since being promoted to Lieutenant. Renji had been telling her for some time now that she needed to take a break, she was wearing herself out. Her brother even confronted her one evening and told her he thought it would be best she take a break and take some time for herself. After talking with him about it, she reluctantly agreed that she would.

She had never told anyone, not even Renji; but she only worked so hard all the time because it helped distract her from thinking about how much she missed Ichigo. She could not show anyone how depressed she really was, It was exhausting. But she knew it was what she had to do in order to keep moving forward.

After Kisuke Urahara had asked her if she would like to help assist him with restoring Ichigo's powers, she knew the perfect time to take her time off would be once his powers were returned. She would want to spend her time off with no one else but him and his family. She also really missed their friends Orihime, Ishida and Chad. She knew they had been involved with the battles with the Fullbringers, but she received word that they were all okay and only suffering from migraines due to temporarily having their memories messed with. She would have to call them tomorrow. She was excited to see them.

Renji took a few steps towards Rukia, giving her a stern look.

"'I’m glad you're finally taking time off." he said to his friend, with a smile growing on his face. He slowly leaned forward, in response the raven haired Shinigami slowly leaned backwards.

'What the hell is this idiot doing?"

"By the way, I know why you're taking your time off here." Rukia raises an eyebrow at his odd whispering. He just gives her a wide grin and winks. She rolls her eyes at his stupidity, looking away with a slight blush on her cheeks.

"Stop that, Renji! It's weird." She couldn't help but give a smile back at her friends anitics though.

She hadn't told him how much she missed Ichigo, but he knew. There were nights the first year after her return where he would find her at one of the bars sitting in a corner, drinking sake by herself after work. She had never done that before. He would sit with her and keep her company. He still remembered how utterly broken she looked.

A moment later Byakuya walks up to Rukia and his Lieutenant, clearing his throat in order to get their attention. He turns towards his sister, and notices that she has a slight blush to her cheeks and Renji snickering behind his hand.

He does not even want to know what that's about.

"Be safe during your time in The World of The Living. I am glad you are taking the time off that you need and deserve. You have worked hard these last two years, there is nothing wrong with taking time for yourself."

Rukia looks up at her brother, surprised by his words. She knew that he had been concerned about her well being the last two years even if he hadn't said it. The fact that he had confronted her about taking time off proved to her enough that he was indeed worried about her. She bows respectfully before speaking.

"Thank you very much, Nii-sama. I promise I will be safe during my time here in The World of The Living." She looks back up at her brother, giving him a genuine smile. If she looked closely, she could see in return he gave her a small smile back. Renji has noticed, and was looking at his Captain like he had suddenly grown two heads. With his mouth agap, he looked towards Rukia and then back to Captain Kuchiki; clearly in shock to seeing his Captain showing emotion.

Rukia watched her brothers gaze turn away from her and saw him staring behind her.

"Ichigo Kurosaki!"

Rukia's eyes widened. This was it. She would be talking to Ichigo very shortly. She tried to calm her racing heart as Ichigo walked up, standing beside her.

"Byakuya Kuchik. It's good to see you again, same to you Renji." He gave them a sincere smile, truly happy to see them both again. He was even happy to see Byakuya. (He honestly never thought he would think that, ever.) He never thought he would see them again.

"Rukia has informed me she will be spending her time off here in The World of The Living. I am sure she will be staying with you. I am aware Rukia can take care of herself, but I still expect you to keep her safe and make sure she enjoys her time off."

Ichigo's eyes widened at the Captain's words. He did not know Rukia would be staying temporarily. He had seen the Lieutenant badge on her arm, and with her promotion; he figured she was not allowed to stay here for any long periods of time. He gave the older Kuchiki a grin.

"I completely understand, Byakuya. You know I will protect her with my life, you have my word." With that said, he looked down at Rukia, giving her a small smile before looking back up at her brother and Renji.

"Good. We will take our leave then. I will see you in two weeks, Rukia. Take care." With that he nodded to Ichigo and Rukia before turning. By then Renji had opened the gate about twenty feet away from where his friends stood. After Byakuya went through, Renji turned around and waved at the pair.

"Ichigo, do me a favor will ya and cheer her up! She's been so damn depressed the last two years, who the hell knows why." he said with a knowing grin on his face. The pair blushed looking away from one another.

"She's been working her ass off every day for two years straight! Go buy her some candy and do everything she says! or she'll-"

"Kick my ass! I know! I got you, Renji!" The two men give each other and understanding look, before the red headed Shinigami walks through the gate and it closes behind him, disappearing from view.

After that it is silent.

Rukia doesn't know what to say, she's at a loss for words. She's been wanting this moment since the day she went back to Soul Society. Now that she has it, she's frozen.

She musters up the courage to turn and face her best friend, and is once again speechless when she looks into his eyes. She can read him like a book and the look in his eyes is reminding her of that night three weeks ago when she heard him say those three words.

"Rukia."

"Ichigo."

She feels like she is going to have a heart attack. It is crazy what he can make her feel just by looking at her. She says the first thing she can think of that seems appropriate in this moment, considering the battle that just happened.

"I'm really sorry about what happened with Ginjo." She says somberly, while reaching a hand out to hold his. He grips onto her hand, and instinctively intertwines their fingers. He looks down at her, giving a sad smile.

"It's okay. I just.. I feel like I should still be mad at him for betraying me. I was really starting to think he was becoming a friend. But he's gone now, and I can't be mad about it." He said it all just above a whisper but she heard him perfectly. She understood.

Before Rukia can process what she's doing, she's stepping closer to him; still holding onto his hand with her left. She slowly wraps her right arm around his waist and lays her forehead on his chest. She lets out a breath she didn't realize she had been holding.

He wraps his free arm around her shoulders, holding onto her. He is sad for who he thought was his friend, but he is so happy in this moment to be able to see her now and hold her. He can feel himself slowly starting to unravel at the seems. He rests his chin on the top of her head, and closes his eyes.

"I really missed you, Rukia."

She buries her head deeper into the front of shirt, holding onto him tighter; while trying not to sniffle. But she really feels like crying. She ends up sniffing anyway and to her it sounds pathetic.

‘Oh Kami, I really hope he didn't hear that!'

"Don't cry, Rukia."

“Shit, he did hear.’

“If you do, I'm going to cry too."

Her eyes widened at that. His voice was thick with emotion, to her it sounded like he was holding back tears. She sniffles once more, before slowly pulling away and looking up at him. The look on his face wasn't one of sadness, but happiness. His eyes were glazed over with unshed tears but he had a smile on his face, a genuine smile. She was not sure if she would ever see his smile again.

Before she can think it through she quickly leans up on her tip toes and wraps her arms tightly around his neck, burying her face there. She's pretty sure he's gotten taller. It's obvious he has grown up in the years that have passed. She wishes she had been there to see him grow, but she will take this none the less.

He wraps his arms around her waist, holding onto her tightly. Her feet are barely touching the ground. He can feel her tears on his neck, it makes his heart clench in his chest. He had only seen Rukia cry a handful of times. He was struggling to hold his back. How did he go over two years without her?

"I missed you so much." She says through her tears. She felt like a pathetic fool for crying, but he was here and he could see her now and kami he loves her and he has no idea she even knows.

They definitely needed to talk.

"Let's go home, Rukia. We can talk there."

She pulls away slowly, looking up at him while nodding her head. He gives her one of those smiles again, the ones only meant for her; before gently wiping the tears off her cheeks. They settle on a decent walking pace side by side. He takes her hand in his, intertwining their fingers again; like it is something they do every day. She feels a shock go through her and it almost makes her stop. She looks up at him, he's slightly blushing and trying not to meet her gaze. She's nervous about their talk at the house, but something tells her the next two weeks will be wonderful.

#ichiruki #ichiruki fanfic #ichiruki fanfiction #ichigo kurosaki #kuchiki rukia #rukia kuchiki #kurosaki ichigo #ichigo x rukia #an unbreakable bond #chapter two #bleach #bleach fanfiction #rukia #ichigo #abarai renji #byakuya kuchiki #love #ichigo and rukia #fanfiction

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lo-55 · 3 years

Text

Shattered Chains of Fate Ch. 13

End of an Era

Ichigo was going to kiss Yoruichi for teaching him how to move so damn fast.

Or maybe just buy her a bunch of over priced cat food.

Yeah, that sounded better.

Something to show her that he appreciated what she’d done when she had drilled him between bouts with Zangetsu when he was learning his new skills and techniques. It was more or less like a second ascension, this Bankai he’d learned to use.

(One day, all in all, and he had shattered so many swords even EMIYA would have been hard pressed to keep pace with him, before he finally found the right ones. He had to. After the show they'd put on Rukia was scheduled to die in just one day, barely enough time to prepare a scaffold.)

If she hadn’t shown him how to use reitsu to launch himself off the ground and really move faster, he would have never gotten there in time. He would have never arrived in time to see Gin, the man who had attacked him at the Shiba house, half covered in ice and a man next to him completely coated while Rukia stood over a bleeding Renji.

Ichigo had barely noticed she’d been pulling on his powers again. Yet there she stood, a perfect white blade held in steady hands, and determination pinching her brows.

He came just in time to see Kyo shatter her zanpakuto into snow flakes with his bare hands and hit her with the roughest kido Ichigo had seen yet before grabbing her by the horrible red collar that was still stuck around her throat.

“Hey!” Ichigo shouted, levelling his sword point at him. “Drop her.”

Frantically, he searched Kyo’s eyes for that flash of recognition from before. There was nothing. Just calm, flat brown eyes. It was just like when they’d first met, only this time Kyo is a much better liar. He looks docile, even though he’s holding Rukia by the neck. Mild and kind.

Ichigo isn’t fooled. He hasn’t been fooled by Kyo for a long, long time.

“Ichigo Kurosaki. You’re quite the interesting one. Sad to say you’ll have to tell Kisuke that your mission ended in failure.” Kyo waves his hand and chants a spell and light smashes into Ichigo from all sides. It’s the same spell Byakuya had used in the human world, just a billion times stronger. Kyo rips the ribbon off of Rukia’s wrist and Ichigo’s power fades from her, leaving her in the simple white kimono.

Ichigo paused, frowning. He is loath to attack Kyo without knowing more about what he’s doing here, or where he’s been. Is he the captain that had ‘died’? It sounds like something he would do. He’s smart enough to fake his own death.

“What does he have to do with this?” Just because he opened a gate for them?

Kyo smiles, a smug phantom, and Ichigo realizes suddenly that he’s been chasing on thread on a tapestry the entire time.

He’s completely missed a bigger picture.

“Did you not wonder why Gin came to visit you? Or knew where you were? It was because I knew you would arrive in western rukongai. I even had him waiting at the gate for you, in case you charged in. You see, I knew you would have to use the Shiba canon. With such a dramatic entrance-”

“It left you free to move around without anyone noticing,” Ichigo cut in. He narrowed his eyes. “You used us as a distraction. Was it you who brought Rukia back, to lure us in? Why the west?”

“In part,” Kyo tilted his head, the smile still in place. “And the west was simple. That is where Urahara Kisuke’s referencial residence is, you know… oh.”

Ichigo grit his teeth. His temper was starting to flare, and with it so was his reitsu. Urahara had been using them for something. Kyo was using them for something. He wasn’t a damn puppet!

“I was under the impression that you were his subordinate. That you came here on his orders. I see now. So he told you nothing at all about what was happening here, or who I am or what I might be doing. I bet he didn’t even tell you about what he needed Rukia here for.”

Ichigo listened with half an ear as Kyo explained about the limits of shinigami powers, and the only way to break through them. The only way that Kisuke had ever found to break through them.

Hollow hybrids. White masks. Holes in the chest. Still shinigami. Rukia was just a container, and a hiding place.

Ichigo grips Zangetsu tighter. He stands somewhere between the present and the past. America and seireitei blur together and he struggles to piece apart the Kyo he knows and the man who stands before him, cold smiles and distant dreams. He is insubstantial and untouchable.

The bindings on his arms tighten.

Without warning the world explodes under a massive sword stroke from-

A werewolf?

A day before the execution, after they have been freed by a wanna be porcupine,Uryu wonders if he’s ever admired so or been so afraid of a girl that chases butterflies before.

Orhihime had changed somehow during the fight they’d had with Mayuri Kurotsuchi. Before that she had skittered around fights, even when they’d first been attacked. Uryu had vowed to protect her, but somewhere between the explosion at the start and the wall of gold that signalled the end of the fight she had changed.

Oh, she was still kind. Still gentle. She treated their former enemies with care and healed them back up to their fullest potential. She greeted their strange, rambunctious new allies with smiles and delight.

But when it came time to fight she didn’t hesitate anymore. She picked her target and put them on the ground, missing limbs most of the time. She hadn’t killed anyone since the Mayuri, no one else had deserved he guessed. At least not in her mind.

But she was vicious and determined when she had to be.

She was also, apparently, a frightening hand to hand fighter.

Uryu watched with muted horror as she and the little pink terror cleared the way for the rest of them to march up the hill, where Ichigo was.

“Geez,” Ganju scrubbed his hand over his head. “Why are women so damn scary all the time?”

“I wish I could tell you,” Uryu winced in pity when Orihime slammed someone into a wall with enough force to crack it.

She turned to them with a bubbling smile. “Let’s go! We need to hurry everyone!”

“Yeah,” Yachiru bounced at her side, blood on her tiny knuckles. “Let’s go lets go! Maki Maki let’s gooooo~”

Aramaki gave a long suffering sigh. “It’s not the worst nickname she’s given me… Okay, it’s a le-”

“To the right!” Yachiru declared.

“...we’re gonna be late.”

* *

The werewolf lasts a total of twelve seconds before Kyo goes right back to monologuing. Ichigo almost pities him.

“Of course, once you were here,” he said with only a small under current of smugness, “I assassinated the entire Central 46.”

Ichigo stares at him, and starts laughing.

He can’t help it.

After everything Kyo had told him before about the way this place was run, he’d finally offed them.

Maybe I shouldn’t have told him to ask Robin how to commit a coup?

He can’t help feeling it's partially his own fault, and entirely justified. If no one even questioned the orders sent out they were clearly just as power hungry and arbitrary as Kyo had described, all those years ago.

“Sorry, sorry,” he waves his hand as best as he can, feeling hysterical and worn out in all the worst ways. Somewhere under the betrayal is the twisting need to understand everything. This hogyoku, trapped inside of Rukia, was some kind of super powerful object. He’s getting sick of those.

“Sorry,” he says a third time and finally manages to get himself under control. “Okay, so your grand plan failed. Give me Rukia and we’ll all go our separate ways. Or, no,” he holds up a hand to stop Kyo from speaking. His mind turns. He still knows Kyo. He still knows how he thinks, even if Kyo doesn’t know him anymore. “You’ll have a back up plan.”

Kyo looked mildly miffed at being interrupted.

“You’re impertinent.”

“You know that old man said something like that when I told him to grow a brain, too.”

“...My point stands. All the same, you’re right. There’s another way. Another method developed by Kisuke Urahara. “ Kyo held up a small cylinder and tapped it on Rukia’s chest. A hole opened up.

Ichigo twisted and thrashed. A burst of energy shattered the bindings at last, but by the time Kyo had already pulled out something from Rukia’s chest. Small, faintly glowing and blue.

The energy hit him suddenly. Unshielded, unfettered energy.

The curl of fog. Electricity along his skin. Children lost in the river. Sorrow. A desperate wish for change.

Kyo pulled his fist back to strike Rukia. Ichigo lifted his left hand, pouring power into it. He’d done it a million times before. He’d never done it alone. He’d never done it as a ghost.

“ Gandr! ”

Kyo freezes. Ichigo darts forwards, his hands outstretched. He gets knocked off course at the last second by Gin’s zanpakuto. He ends up stumbling, and wasting precious few seconds while the spell holds. He doesn’t have time to think of the how or the why, only that it works, but now he only has time for one.

Rukia or the Hogyoku.

Rukia or the _______

It’s not even a question. He snatches her off the ground and rolls to protect her body.

He comes to a stop hovering above her, Zangetsu raised in defense.

Kyo twitches back to life a heartbeat after and looks at him with new eyes.

“An interesting kido, I’ve never seen it before,” he says idly. “You really should have taken the Hogyoku. It’s much more valuable than one girls life. Even a noble one.”

“I don’t give a shit about any of that. Kings or rebels, gods or demons, the only part I care about is if they’re my friends. You should know that!”

“Should I?”

The words bite harder than anything else. Ichigo actually flinches.

He opens his mouth to say something before a blur shoots out of nowhere. Yoruichi lands with a knife to Kyo’s throat.

No, he’s not Kyo anymore, is he?

* * *

Kisuke hated having to make the call. He really, really did.

He wanted to have faith in Ichigo, but he was no fool. He knew he needed to be prepared for the worst case scenario. He knew that Ichigo, as bewildering of a child as he was, could still fail against Aizen.

Probably would fail.

But he needed Ichigo for other reasons. He needed him stronger. He needed him more motivated. He needed him to see first hand just what he was up against, and how desperately they needed to put a stop to it.

Ichigo wouldn’t forgive him for his trickery. Another sin Kisuke could live with.

He did have to wonder what was going to happen to Ichigo now. He’s already lost faith with his father. If he hadn’t already he soon will lose faith in Kisuke, and Yoruichi too.

What will happen to an already isolated boy when he’s further pushed away?

“It’s heavy,” Ichigo says, his brown eyes dark and distant. The brilliance he’d displayed during their spars is gone. The vicious gleam and the near recklessness on him is gone, tempered and stamped down.

“Heavy?” Kisuke repeats, eying this boy. Perhaps not as much of a boy as Kisuke had thought. He’s seen eyes like these before.

“The weight of their lives.

So he makes the call and he gathers the army, scant as it is.

* * * *

Kon likes this guy, and the lady too.

She’s terrifying, and she nearly killed him the first (and only) time he tried to cop a feel, but the second she met the girls she basically adopted them. Kon would have left them in the spare house, but neither of them was letting him go anywhere without at least one of them.

They have a trick where they go invisible, it makes it easier for every day life.

The guy is fun. He’s agreeable and gentle, and he doesn’t mind people watching with Kon. Even if he would rather go fishing most days. He’s kinda weird, too, and he insists that Kon practice fighting regularly. Ichigo’s body knows what he’s doing, if nothing else.

They wile away the summer days while waiting for Ichigo to return.

* * * * *

They’re surrounded by people. Enemies and allies, all of them focused the man Ichigo had once called friend. A man he would have trusted with his life. Had , trusted with his life.

Blades gleam in the sunlight and fury weighs heavy across the battlefield. Rukia lies beneath him, her strength vanished, and one man comes to stand between them. His hands are red and raw and his hair is faintly damp but Byakuya puts himself between the pair of them and the traitor.

“He’s surrounded. It’s over now,” Byakuya says surely.

“Don’t be an idiot,” Ichigo cuts in. He raises to his knees, then his feet. “He wouldn't come this far without a back up plan.”

The sky splits open. Ichigo hates it when he’s right.

Beams of light encompass the three traitors and throw everyone else aside. They’re untouchable inside of them, and menos grande hover at the mouth of the tear, floating through it. Dragging them up and out of reach.

There’s a buzzing in his ears. Fury roaring under his skin.

“No one starts at the top.”

“I was born in the-”

“From the very start, no one has stood upon the heavens. Not you, not I, nor even gods. However, that intolerable vacuum has come to an end. Henceforth...I shall stand upon the heavens.”

All Ichigo can think as he watches (Kyo) Sousuke get swallowed by a hoard of menos and darkness is just what the fuck happened in the last two hundred years?

“Farewell shinigami, and Ryoka. You were… interesting.”

Brown eyes watch Ichigo, and Ichigo alone as the darkness closes in around him.

* * * * *

#bleach fanfiction #Ichigo Kurosaki #BAMF!Ichigo Kurosaki #Ichigo Kurosaki is Ritsuka Fujimaru #gin ichimaru #sosuke aizen #rukia kuchiki #urahara kisuke #uryu ishida

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orenonahaichigoda · 5 years

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I had a rough day, and came to a realisation. I will say a bit about my own experience, and then, after having to lay the groundwork of explaining 400 things about Japan because American schools and media think the whole world is the US, Western Europe, and places to blow up, making explaining necessary, will tie it to Ichigo, or at least how I portray him.

I'm Post Dankai Juniors, growing up in Japan. So's Kubo, actually. The boundaries of this Japanese generation are roughly '75 to '85, Yutori, the following generation that's always translated and localised as Millennial, pretty solidly set as beginning at '86. These things are always fuzzy because you can't vivisect living brains and find the part that likes char siu buns and the part that likes jazz fusion. I *majored* in Social Science. You'll have teachers who say "it is absolute that we date people who are similar to us because we're all actually narcists." (It *might* be because they're like our beloved family or community. Narcistic Personality is not universal) But it really just is fuzzy, and that teacher/book author is an idiot. Anyway, Yutori is always translated as Millennial. I don't know the end boundary. Post Dankai Juniors covers almost totally a debated throe for Germanic nations (I know Britain, Germany, and Nederland use the same generations as America, and their languages are Germanic) because of how fuzzy it all is, though.

Anyway, so since coming to the US, my interactions with other Asians, again, how is this defined when China, Mongolia, Japan all border Russia and West Asia includes Jordan and Saudi Arabia, South Asia is India's area, Southeast Asia is Laos, Thailand's area, I mean, find the Arabic kanji. I don't think Thailand even uses soy sauce. What the heck IS Asia, really? (Or "Middle East" when half of that's Africa and the other half shares plate with Europe? )

Anyway, my experience with Asians that are Boomer ages tends to be people who immigrated as adults, who more identity with a generation like "Dankai" or "Sirake." My experiences with Latinos older than me... I've never actually asked if the generational labels are even the same.

The thing about that is that when the name is the same, it means enough cultural traits are shared.

My biggest experience with people who grew up under the term "Boomer" are Black and white.

I've noticed a unifying trait.

If they're something oppressed (Black, gay), their attitude tends to be"it is mandatory to stand up for *my* demograph...but kicking the person behind me on the ladder in the teeth is wholesome, pure, and fun."

Outing me to large groups and saying I "speak Asian" seem to be the most common two. Calling me "Chinese" long after I've cleared this up for them is a close third.

I mean, don't get me wrong--my experience with Italian Americans past GI generation has been that now acquiring the "white" label, just like biphobic/aphobic/transphobic cisgays, they're more often staunch priveledge defenders than cishet people of Anglo descent! And it's just as true for X and Y as it is for Boomer (for the latter, one need only look at NYC destroyer and trump defender Giuliani) I actually don't really identify with my Italian side at all because I was kinda locked out of making any meaningful connection.

But back to my point that even in so-leftist-it's-almost-not-America Bay Area, Boomers are still like this!

The kind of stuff that flows out a X/Y TERF's mouth, or the mouth of an X/Y person with a Confederate flag on his wall, American-raised Boomers say with ease regardless of their alignment! It's banananas.

(Please note that I also just have not met a whole lot of Native Americans, period, nor enough people significantly older than me from any one place in Africa, that was an omission of lacking data, not intended as erasure)

How I tie it to Ichigo--

So Kubo avoids specifying birth years for anyone.

When I see something like this, I generally assume date of publication, as do most people in most fandoms (which of course gets screwy when you have something endlessly rebooted like Superman or Batman or something eternally unchanging like Detective Conan)

Anyway, the first Bleach something published was the comic in '01.

I generally assume it was supposed to be the start of a new school year, as Ichigo doesn't know many of his classmates until at least the first test scores come out. So it's probably April or something.

If Ichigo was 15 then, he'd also be Post Dankai Juniors, just barely. If Ichigo TURNED 15 shortly after, during his adventure, he'd be undebatably Millennial.

Now, there is still something up with Dankai and Sirake. PM Abe is the latter, b. 1954. A lot of his age-peers are behind him. This is the guy who supports remilitarisation and was caught funding a private militarist/fascist high(?) school that teaches that people from countries Japan conquered during its brief phase of trying to beat colonial Europe are less than dogs.

Now, I left there as a teen. Clinton was US president. Scandals still got people kicked out of public office in Japan. I hadn't figured or come out yet. Sure, I got bullied for being mixed, but kids will pick if you like different singers than the "cool" ones. They'll pick based on what's in your lunch. That data is sausage.

I'm not 100% sure what Ichigo would face day-to-day sociopolitically as he grew up/aged. I haven't had living family since'95 there, and friendships don't get deep enough to ever last distance until at least high school. For me, adulthood.

But I've kept/caught up enough (you try keeping up in the South before the internet was more than ten University sites!) that I know he'd face fascists (c'mon, the guy takes on a martial law government to save a new friend--that's anarchist, he just doesn't seem anarchist in his own world. He only fights humans in defence) I'm not sure how he'd feel about the JSDF, but he only fought the sinigami's war out of feeling like it was his responsibility because the adults around him kinda made it so. I super don't see him being for *starting* wars. In a human war, I see him actually being like Sugihara Chiune, a historical figure who died when I was a kid who I majorly admire. He worked at a Japanese embassy in Nazi territory, and when the embassy was evacuated,he continued throwing passports to Jewish people to go to Japan from the train he was departing on,and is hidden from Americans in the same spirit that Martin Luther King is...pulled the teeth out of. (PS, speaking of,go Google Steven Kiyosi Kuromiya)

Also, Ichigo's whole schtick is defending those worse off than him. He's not someone I see defending Yamato Japanese priveledge. Heck, I could see him joining Uchinanchu efforts to get Parliament and the US base to leave them alone. I can easily see him sticking up for a Filipino domestic worker he met thirty seconds ago.

To this end, I think regardless of what he is, he'd have a large rub with Japan's equivalents of Boomers.

Not to mention that Abe supporters tend to be very sexist and queerphobic, which isn't even homegrown but imported from Américanisation. I mean, there were female warriors--assasins, which is what Yoruichi and Soi-Fon are styled after, and go look at some Ukiyoe, like Utagawa Kitamaro. Quite a few artists in the 200-ish years of the Edo period depicted life in the queer districts. I've also had people posit that Noh might've been a welcoming draw for trans people the same way drag was all over the US in the twentieth century and still is in rural areas, where there's less cisgay gatekeeping. But this isn't something I can reasonably research without access to plenty of older and not well known dusty documents, and lots of time, and I live in the US many years now. And do you know how much round trip airfare alone is!? Also, the language changed so much and I can't read anything before Meiji without dropping words. Rukia, Byakuya, Yoruichi all have made for TV old-sounding Japanese like period dramas. Actual 18th Century Japanese would be unintelligible to the unspecialised.

So this stuff isn't really native, but Abe and a lot of people his age support all these -isms.

I super don't see Ichigo being happy about this.

(I also feel like Issin's old enough to remember before these -isms, but that's my own thing. In my project, he was in those districts, but that's me)

At the same time, I'm still writing this through my own lens. Also, not still being there, I just don't have enough data on Yutori in adulthood, or the grown Yutori lens. Honestly, even most other immigrants I meet are older than that. Or older than that and their adorable three year old children. So I have no clue.

In the early 2000s, I got myself from the South to CA and began to reconnect, but began to is the key phrase. I can tell you right now that Abe is as much of a second phase of Nakasone as trump is of Nakasone's buddy Regean. But what shifted when, I can't say. I'm not entirely sure how Koizumi ran the ship, as it were. I know some things, but not enough to say.

But whenever things shifted however, and whichever year Ichigo was born, I just cannot imagine him being any more on board with current events than really anyone in my area not born between 1946-1964 and raised in America.

I feel like he'd probably be too tired or self-effacing to fight for himself, but he'd take on, loud and proud, any bigotry against *others.*

I...also can't really say I'm much different, except my joints are held together by the power of wishes, so I'm more like "get the victim to safety" than "give the attacker plenty of regret." So, I can only do anything in limited ways.

Ichigo is also entirely fuelled by the power of love. Lost his ability to protect and feels like his sinigami friends ditched him? Mondo depressed, however much he wants no one to notice--which most do a great job of ignoring! Everyone in his world turned against him for a guy who has attacked people close to him? Terrified, and murder can now be an answer. (Fullbring Arc)

I was going somewhere with that. I've forgotten, but I'll leave it.

But anyway, I feel like he really only comes close to fighting for himself when others are taken away from him in a way that's also wronging them.

So yeah, I super don't see him happy with current events or Sirake gen.

I'm not sure how much I see him fighting for himself as mixed panromantic grey-ace. I mean, we know he fights people who are about to punch his face in for his looks, but what else can you reasonably do at that point? Get your head bashed in? I'm not sure how much I see him fighting hateful words pointed at him versus resigning himself to "people are the worst." I mean, when he talks about being picked on, he kinda seems resigned, or at least like it's a fact, like shoes being for outside or something.

I guess I tied it to Ichigo a lot better than I thought!

But also, the struggle against people born just after the war is not just you, and not just America. It's a major problem.

And it's likely that Ichigo would agree.

#out of body #musings #baby boomers #generation x #millennials #Japanese generations #Japanese politics #queerphobia #colonialism #moritomo gakuen scandal #sugihara chiune #japanese history #yoruichi shihouin #edo period

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aba-ridemerenji · 5 years

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headcanons for Byakuya Kuchiki falling in love again?

Lots of companionable silence. Byakuya’s not wasting his time with anyone he doesn’t want to be around. But he just wants to be around you. If you haven’t been intimate yet, just being next to you is intoxicating to him. (because Byakuya dont do casual sex, sorry. Too risky.)

Don’t think for a second that he’s some smooth operator at all times. He’s just as big as a dork as the rest of us in love, he just hides it better ;) If you bump into him in the morning, he’s going to be concentrating very hard on his work for the rest of the day - his thoughts keep drifting back to you, how your hair looked in the morning light, the light scent of soap wafting downwind as you rushed towards your first training exercise of the day, the bare skin of the nape of your neck visible as you made a deep bow to greet him.

Compliment him? He’ll say thank you, and then just look you in the eye, letting the silence go on for a touch too long. When you break eye contact and give an awkward little laugh, he’s torn between kicking himself for making things weird, and tamping down the bubbling flutter in his chest - you just have a really cute smile, ok?

This dork has his moments though. Remember those quiet moments you spend beside him? Maybe you’re taking a walk in the garden on a perfect spring day. Maybe it’s in the privacy of a drawing room at dusk. Whatever it is, he always makes sure that you’re both alone, when he makes his move. The subtlest of steps, and he’s inches from you. As a noble, Byakuya is acutely aware of social cues and appropriate behaviour - invading your space this way is very much intentional. He’ll test the waters a little, give you enough time to back away, to clam up and look away. But when he’s this close, every shallow, uneven breath is drowned out by the blood rushing to your head, but every hitch in your breathing is perfectly audible to Byakuya. For someone so aloof, the heat emanating off him makes you want to laugh, warm enough to match your reddening face. These are the times he has the upper hand, and you both know it. When he gets like this, commanding, imposing, utterly impossible to ignore, you always seem to admit something you never would normally, say something that makes your cheeks heat up. He’ll draw it out of you effortlessly. A concession that he’s been on your mind. An admission that it happens more often than you’d like. A confession that these thoughts include those of the...explicit variety. (He likes that last one very much. The way you flushed bright red and your voice faltered a little only made your revelation all the more delightful.)

Ok the big one: the dead wife.

He takes ages to get over Hisana. Fucking forever. Not even in human time either, in shinigami time, which is like what, 600 years at the very least? Considering his naturally guarded personality and the need to Choose Wisely™ because of his social standing and position, put another 100 years on top of that.

My theory is, he’s not falling for anyone if the relationship is too tough to pursue and see through. He’s had a taste of true love. (Ok I know Hisana canonically said “sorry I couldn’t return ur love” but I interpret that as “I couldn’t love you as much as you loved me/I couldn’t do as much for you as you did for me”) I’d think Byakuya would want to do it ‘right’ this time - he’s big on righting wrongs and doing the proper thing.

Regardless of whether it’s an ideal match or not, he’ll know when you’re starting to grow on him. It could be an immediate attraction - the kind where everything either of you say or do draws the other in like a whirlpool, circling and dancing around the issue the long way around even though yall know damn well where things are headed. Yeah he’s not a dumbass, Byakuya knows when he’s starting to have feelings~ for you, but somehow, it hits him like a boot to the face when he realises he capital L *loves* you.

Byakuya doesn’t suddenly turn into his bratty teenage self around you and only you. Oh no. You’ll soon realise that’s because he’s a bratty teenager ALL THE FUCKING TIME. When he’s ordering Renji to fetch him a teacup. When he delivers a icy barb of reproach when speaking to Ichigo. When he purposely terrifies his squad members a little. All the time. The catch is that if Byakuya is in love with you, he’s comfortable enough giving you enough peeks to that side of him. To let some of the irritation, glee, pouting, and pettiness leak through his noble exterior - just enough that only someone very close *and* very observant would notice.

I could see him falling for a fellow noble. He’s already done the whole rebellious thing, u & me against the world bb uwu!! And he’s mature enough now to consider that there are more things that make for a successful match than love alone. (Don’t get me wrong, he won’t settle for a marriage of convenience - if anything, I think loving and losing Hisana made Byakuya even more determined to marry someone he truly loves, if he ever does marry again.)

She’d have to be a boss ass lady, the queen to his king. Someone who understands the power of her position, and the sacrifice and responsibility that comes with it. Someone like him, basically. Think Claire Underwood (house of cards) but not evil. Byakuya wants an equal, not a trophy. Sparks could fly right away, but I also think that Byakuya would be open to starting with someone who’s a good match on paper - even if there’s less chemistry than desired - and trying to get to know them and grow the relationship from there. Maybe someone the clan set him up with.

The bottom line in this relationship is that this time, it’s for good. He’ll search for someone who ticks all the boxes, and he won’t give himself over until he finds the one that does. Someone the clan approves of, meets his standards, and of course, he really fucking loves. So he’ll fight for you, and he’s very, very serious about spending the rest of his long, long life with you. (Please don’t die on him)

#asks #anonymous #Kuchiki Byakuya #Bleach #Bleach headcanons #Bleach headcannons #Anonymous

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omghealthdrink · 6 years

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Bleach LA Notes: As I Watch

The first ten minutes of the movie where a direct copy paste from the first manga chapter. If only the rest of the series remained that cool...

Isshin Kurosaki cooking for his family was not only homely, but made 100% sense. Better than have a 9 year old cook for a whole household.

Masaki’s poster was replaced with a gigantic photo. I approve.

I will never understand how Rukia never recognised Isshin. He is from the same shinigami clan of Kaien right? Rukia’s first love? (It’s been a while.)

Maybe Isshin revealing himself as a shinigami wasn’t planned from the start (otherwise why did he do nothing in Fisher’s original attack) but I like that in the LA movie he was stopped from the rubble of the house’s ruins. A normal human would be stopped by such a hazard. Also, the wardrobe scene. Knowing Isshin IS a shinigami, it makes it extra hilarious. Also he still needs to be called out by Ichigo if a movie sequel is ever made.

Yuzu’s line changing from ‘run away’ to ‘I’m scared’ makes sense. SHE’S A NINE YEAR OLD KID FOR CHRIS-

If Masaki was a Quincy why was she defeated so easily by-

Did the movie just skip the Sora scene?? But it was so VITAL for the series as a whole! Like the life chain detail that went absolutely nowhere!

Speaking of Orihime.... why is she acting like she and Ichigo are dating? You like him, we get it. At least it’s because he’s funny this time. (Not because of his ‘funny face’. Changing it to grumpy was good too.)

Tatsuki, what have they done to you??

Ishida was in Ichigo’s classroom? Boy what are the odds.

Renji, don’t act like Envy from FMA, you just can’t pull it off.

Wait. Wait wait. Wasn’t Rukia caught by SS because of the Sora incident? Byakuya and Renji just found out Rukia miiight have shared her powers with a human because....?

The Marauder's Map turned into a Smart Phone for Reapers is cool.

This Ichigo is kinda into being human, he didn’t embrace his shingami powers as easily as his manga counterpart did. I like that change.

Byakuya and Renii’s meeting spot looks like an abandoned theatre.

Tatsuki is coddling Orihime quite a lot. Again, not an item.

Ishida looks like he needs some sunshine. Ulquiorra is that you?

Could you imagine how cooler Bleach would’ve been if Ichigo’s Quincy powers were awakened from the start? No? That’s silly? Okay then. “Is there anyone sane around here?” - 100% good shit, right there. It feels something annoying is miss- NO KON! Ah, feels good man.

Okay that Ishida intro was cool, waay cooler than the manga. Somehow that arrow hit Aizen’s backside, he says thank you. Second one killed Mayuri, instant death

“Wait this is too complicated!” - The scriptwriter after reading spoilers.

The bait scene is still here. Why did people say it was given to Renji and Byakuya? Ishida still used the same Hollow bait.

And the first thing Renji tells Rukia after 40 years is... ‘You didn’t dodge that, I went easy on you.’ Err.... movie? You DO know he doesn’t stay an enemy right?

Rukia bowing the moment she saw Lord Fluffy expy Byakuya.

That Isshin/Ichigo moment.. excuse me. *sniffs*

That died on the spot joke got as old as Mayuri’s welcome very quick.

Will the real Tatsuki just please stand up?

Ichigo being grateful for the shinigami powers was a nice touch. (I always thought Urahara was gonna turn out to be the real villain before the whole Aizen reveal.) Speaking of them, man these shinigami being all haughty and above it all towards humans. You’d think there was a reason why this was challenged in the SS arc. Hmm.

MOAR training - this time following flirty mirks and a pouty stoic face!

Didn’t Renji and Byakuya take Rukia away by now? I don’t recall them visiting the human world three times like this.

Chad casually listens to yet another pointless McDonalds scene.

Does Ichigo even attend class anymore?

This training montage is a far more satisfying answer for Ichigo’s sword skills than the ‘I know karate’ explanation we had in the SS arc.

Byakuya: ‘People die when they are killed.’ Renji: No fucking duh boss...

Aww, Rukia is not wearing that Sabrina esque outfit in the anniversary scene, I miss that hat. And Isshin.... you’re a soul reaper. Like, soulphone your wife? Text message? Pay her a visit to SS sometime?

But Masaki’s soul wasn’t eaten by GF... right?

“Chad, protect them.” Unlike manga, Chad and Orihime still cannot see Ichigo. But the movie is hinting their spiritual power is slightly awakened?

ISHIDA BEING ON GRAND FISHER ACTION ON YEAAAAH

YEEEEEEEESH ICHIGO BEING THE ONE TO SLAY GRAND FISHER FUCK YEAH 1000000% GOOD WRITING AWW YISS!! (Sorry the Isshin reveal shouldn’t have been at the cost of Ichigo’s CD.)

Aww, Ichigo is really happy at the idea of Rukia staying after all.

Syke! Knuckles with a vengeance shows up!

Nice to see that the gatekeepers of death cannot uphold a promise.

Ichigo your level needs to be 20 before dreaming of defeating Byakuya.

At 8:26 remaining from the end of the film, I’m getting FB vibes.

It’s okay good Shining twins, big brother loves you both.

The minute Ichigo sees the class + Orihime, he turns to see Rukia’s empty desk. Hooooooooooooooo-

Wait this is how it ends? Ichigo smiling towards a book?

No stinger? That’s it? Ah, bollocks. I’ma rewatch Bojack S5.

#bleach #bleach la movie #bleach movie #there was some ichiruki i guess #the first training montage was kinda flirty #i wish orihime and tatsuki were in the scenes beyond to talk about how hawt ichigo is #chad was kinda in the background #i guess the bait scene was downplayed compared to the manga #but it had it pros #no kon #bless this movie #ichiruki #i guess?#bleach live action #ichigo x rukia

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dreamedsilverwings · 6 years

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Forget me not

Summary: [IchiRuki Month! Day 20: Eye contact] He looked up, and their eyes finally met, after so much time, but Rukia noticed that something was missing. His amber eyes didn’t shine when he saw her, they didn’t open as wide as usual, his pupil didn’t expand, nor did his breathing fail him for an instant.

He looked at her as if she was a stranger as if she had never seen her in his life.

On FF and AO3. If you want to read it in Spanish, it’s here.

Notes: I cried like a bitch doing this, I really do. Maybe I'm a little overdramatic, tell me what do you think. My first language isn't English, so maybe this will be really bad, tell me if there is something that I can improve please, I love to learn.

For Rukia, there came a moment where time stopped. Between the captaincy, raising Ichika, her marriage and her duties with the Kuchiki family, she ran out of time. In Soul Society it was very easy to let time pass, and the excuses for not going to the world of the living were not lacking. Without realizing it, they spent years without visiting their friends. It wasn’t until July 12, that she remembered that it was about to be Ichigo's birthday. When she told Renji, he thought it would be a good idea to go visit the Kurosaki family after so long. When they arrived at the celebration, the reality fell like a bucket of water. Their friends there, who apparently had done a better job of keeping in touch, had aged, while she and Renji still looked as if they were barely scraping their thirties. Even Ichika, who had been a great friend of Kazui, still looked like a teenager while he was already starting to look like an older man. "Kuchiki-san! Abarai-san!" Orihime, who, despite her age, still looked beautiful, greeted her with a smile and a hug. Rukia was about to ask her to call to her by name, that after so many years of friendship shouldn’t have been in vain, but realistically it hasn’t really been quality years. "But look at Ichika-chan, how much have you grown, in height and beauty, you look beautiful!" Ichika smiled slyly, loved compliments and although she was very sure of herself, they never hurt. She liked being able to stand out, whether it was because of her height, the girl was almost as tall as her father, because of her vivacious hair or the beauty of her mother's features. “Thanks, Inoue-san. You look great in that dress.” “Oh, come on, I'm too old to see myself well.” “Don't say that Inoue, you're still a beautiful woman.” Although Rukia's words were sincere, she had little to do with the vivacious Orihime of years ago. Something in her looked ... sad. When he noticed the decorations for the birthday party, she noticed a very important detail, which made her realize how much time had passed away from them. This was Ichigo's seventy-second birthday. She had spent almost four decades away from her best friend. At that moment she couldn’t help asking. “Where is Ichigo?” “Oh,” Orihime paused, “he's in the dining room...” Before she could finish Rukia started to walk away from them, walking to the dining room she had known for too long, she heard Orihime shouting her last name, but it didn’t stop her until she got there. He was sitting in the same chair he used when he was a teenager, although his hair was completely white and his face was wrinkled, she could still say it was him. “Ichigo!” She shouted with joy, feeling her heart overflow like every time she saw him again after a long time. He looked up, and their eyes finally met, after so much time, but Rukia noticed that something was missing. His amber eyes didn’t shine when he saw her, they didn’t open as wide as usual, his pupil didn’t expand, nor did his breathing fail him for an instant. He looked at her as if she was a stranger as if she had never seen her in his life. “Kuchiki-san!” Orihime went in agitated when she noticed that they had already met she looked at her with some degree of pity. “Can I talk to you? “Orihime. Who is she?” Rukia saw him devastated, she couldn’t believe what she had heard. For a moment, it was as if reality had failed her as if the impossible had happened. Did Ichigo not remember her? “Ichigo, don't you remember me? It's me, Rukia, I know it's been a while, but...” she frowned,” I know you must be upset, but this is very cruel.” “Kuchiki-san,” Orihime spoke softly as if trying to rescue the situation. “Who is she Orihime? Why do you speak to me with such familiarity?” For Rukia her heart fell in several pieces, she felt incomplete now. She felt tears forming in her eyes. “Ichigo.” Orihime took her arm, wanting to move her from that place, but she couldn’t move. “Have you forgotten me?” It sounded more like a sob, almost inaudible as if I didn’t even want to pronounce it or hear it. It sounded crazy. She didn’t even realize when Orihime had taken her from the dining room to take her to what had been Ichigo's room, where they had first met. She made her sit on the bed and sat next to her while holding her hand. “Ichigo has a human disease called Alzheimer's.” “What is that?” Rukia didn’t understand anything. She didn’t know what was happening. Orihime bit her lip. “It is a disease that affects memory, Kuchiki-san. Sometimes you don’t even remember how to put your clothes on, don’t feel bad, please. For Rukia the resemblance something impossible, all that was so unreal. Everything in her screamed that something was very, very wrong. She couldn’t even stand the urge to cry. Orihime saw her sadly, closed her eyes for a moment and then sighed. She wiped her tears with her hands and smiled as kindly as ever, but it had been something else, she wasn’t the same girl. “Could you leave me a moment alone?” Orihime nodded and left the room without saying anything else. When the door closed Rukia allowed herself to break once more. She curled up on the bed, while she clenched her hands in her fists and closed her eyes tightly. Biting her lips. What happened to their oaths? With its unbreakable bond? With the battles? With the adventures hunting hollows and surviving school life? With his warm gaze? Where had all this gone? Didn’t mean anything now? She cried like a little girl, who didn’t understand anything about what was happening because this couldn’t be real. It must have been a kind of a joke for taking so long to return, and she really deserved it. She hoped that when she left the room Ichigo would tell her that she was a dumb dwarf so she could tell him that he was a brainless man for such a cruel joke. But Ichigo never went up. Nor Orihime. Not even Renji dared to knock on the door. Rukia inhaled air and dropped her sobs even though she knew it was in vain. She felt as if something had been lost in the depths of her being. Nobody dared to come to the room. She didn’t have the composure to go down either. It came out as if it had been done so many times before, through the window. She ran and ran until her legs couldn’t move more, and only then she decides to return to the Soul Society on her own, hoping that Renji and Ichika would understand. And they did it because for Renji it was also very discouraging that Ichigo didn’t recognize her, but it hadn’t been with the same intensity as she, and he knew that very well. Rukia once again tried to keep her mind on anything. If Ichigo had forgotten her, she would too. It wasn’t difficult; it had been like that for decades.

She filled herself with work, and she looked for even more. She helps Byakuya even though she doesn’t tell him why. She spent too much time in the squad. She tried not to sleep.

“I think that's enough.” Renji told her as she prepared to sleep, after almost seventy hours of not doing it. “Of what?” Renji grumbled, unable to believe how stubborn his wife was despite the years. “Ichigo.” “Ichigo?” She acted as if in her life he had heard his name. “Yes. Ichigo Kurosaki. Our friend, the substitute shinigami, the guy who you gave your spiritual powers, which makes you almost killed, and the one who saved you. “The same one that forgot me.” “Rukia!” He sounded indignant as if he could n’t believe that she had said. “How can you say that? Ichigo has a disease! He can’t help it, and you immaturely, have decided to act as if he didn’t exist while you destroy yourself slowly? You think that is fair? Rukia looked away, knowing that he was right. But she didn’t like it anyways. “He was the only one who didn’t forget me.” Renji looked down in distress, although the years still could n’t overcome having completely forgotten a Ruin in that incident with Homura and Shizuku. Any other day she would tell him to not blame himself, but she didn’t even have the cheer, anyone. He sighed heavily, as he had done for weeks. “I still can’t believe it”. She wasn’t going to cry; she had cried enough. “I didn’t either Rukia, but Ichigo decided to live a human life, and human beings got sick.” He takes her hands like he does every time he tries to make her understand. “We can’t do anything against that, the only thing we can do is support them. “What am I supposed to do? I can’t insert his memories back.” “But you can help Inoue.” Rukia saw him with surprise. “No, I don’t think I...” Renji squeezed her hands. “I have investigated that disease. She will need a lot of help, especially if he also forgets her. “But what about you?” She saw him as reproached for thinking that it would bother him, “But what about Ichika?” “Ichika will understand. She is a big girl already, I can help her while you help down there, we could also help.” “But the squadron.” “I will deal with Shunsui. I'm sure he'll understand, it's the least we can do for Ichigo. “We would leave two squads without a captain. It will not allow it. “You could go and then me. We will find a way.” “I... I don’t think I can do it.” Renji kissed her forehead, with a lot of tenderness, and then hugged her, that was something she really needed for a long time. “You are strong; the strongest woman I have ever met in my life. You can with this and more.”

When Rukia arrived at the Kurosaki house again, she did it with her head held high, although her heart still hasn’t recovered. Orihime received her with a hug, this time even stronger as if at that moment she was her light in the darkness. “Who is she?” This time he asked a little more self-conscious, even with some fear. “It's a friend of mine, Ichigo, she'll stay with us for a few days” Orihime lied when she presented her, she was going to stay much longer. “Her name is Rukia.” “Good afternoon.” He greeted with a courtesy that Rukia wasn’t familiar with, not from him. “Good afternoon, Kurosaki-san” it hurt to not be able to say his name, but she had to do it. “Take good care of me.” She leaned forward, closing her eyes, hoping he would answer something, anything. It wasn’t until Inoue took her hand that she straightened. Ichigo had apparently lost interest completely and had started to organize poker chips as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. “Excuse him,” Inoue said embarrassed. “Don't worry” although Rukia was starting to feel sad, she knew she wasn’t there for that. “Little by little we will improve.” She said with apparent confidence because she wasn’t sure about that.

At first, she was mainly in charge of helping with household chores, until little by little, she was encouraged to speak with Ichigo again. They were sporadic conversations, like "where's Orihime?", "Can I turn on the TV?" or the most common "What is your name?" Until one day, while folding the clothes to keep it while Orihime went to the shopping he knocked on the door even if it was open. “Can I come in?” he asked politely. "Sure," she smiled warmly, pleasantly surprised that he wanted, apparently, to make her company. He sat on the bed, watching as she folded his clothes without saying anything. “Can I help?” He asked with fear, which made Rukia feel bad, maybe she was being too cold with him and he thought she doesn’t want him near. “Of course that you can” she approached the basket of clothes so he could take the garment that he wanted. “I need a little help.” Ichigo smiled, and Rukia couldn’t help doing it too. She watched in silence as he folded his clothes, almost perfectly, much better than the way she did. When they finished, she put the clothes in the corresponding drawers. “Thank you very much, Kurosaki-san.” “Could you tell me the next time you're going this? I like to do it.” “I will don’t doubt it.” “Thanks ...” He looked at her uncomfortably, obviously, he had forgotten what he wanted to say “Could you remind me your name? “My name is Rukia.” “Oh, I'm sorry” he smiled sadly, as he had before, softening her like never before. “Thanks, Rukia.” He left the room and briefly grabbed her shoulder, and she closed her eyes, savoring those words because she hasn’t been able to do it for too long. She had missed them so much.

To fold the clothes together they began to draw, Ichigo always told her that her drawing skills were horrible, and although every time she acted like if she was indignant to make him laugh, the truth is that she was finally taking the time to draw Chappys and other animals. Ichigo, who sometimes asked her to call him by his first name, others by his surname and others who even demanded that he call him “Kurosaki-sama”, but always asked hers, was more artistic. She tried to draw inanimate objects or plants, she had even drawn a realistic rabbit once for her. Everything was normal until Orihime showed her that Ichigo had already made several portraits of her, drawings he did in secret because she had never seen them. He didn’t know how to explain that. Orihime smiled sadly, she already knew that Ichigo was always going to prefer Rukia. “I suppose he wants to remember your face if you leave.” “It must be that.” Rukia knew that he was lying. But it was the best.

“Kurosaki-san” seeing that Ichigo didn’t grumble continued. “What if we adopt a pet? He denied with his head. “You have enough with having to take care of me.” Rukia pouted. I hoped that I could adopt a rabbit at last. “And what about plants? The garden is very lonely.” “I suppose it would be fine.” They went to buy seeds, plants, pots, compost and black soil, also a watering can, gloves for gardening and three hats. Gardening became a hobby for the three, something that Orihime enjoyed a lot. If a plant was dying, she secretly used her powers to heal it and prevent Ichigo from becoming sad. "You love him very much," Rukia affirmed one night while they were watering alone because Ichigo was very stubborn that night and wanted to go to bed early. “I do. I have always done it.” “I admire your strength” she was being honest, she didn’t know if she would have been able to endure this. “And I always yours, I even envied her.” Rukia didn’t understand very well because when the extraordinary there was her.

When Renji came to visit with Ichika, Ichigo didn’t take it well. He remained hidden behind the newspaper while Rukia talked with her husband. If Ichigo didn’t ask anything about Renji because he forgot or because he didn’t want to know the answer, she didn’t know, and Rukia chose not to inquire into that. There were things that were better left as they were.

“I remembered something.” “Yes?” replied attentively while watering the forget me not, which had become, ironically, Ichigo's favorite. “The figure of a woman. A very important woman.” Rukia paid him even more attention. “Important?” “She is a little bit small, with black hair and wearing a black kimono” Ichigo licked his lips, trying to formulate the words, usually he wasn’t that talkative. “She has a strong temperament and proud eyes.” He smiled, his eyes shining with memories. Rukia felt a little hope. “Tell me more, what do you remember?” “The memories of our days together. Days in which we entrusted our lives to each other when we cut ourselves with our swords. There is no way I can forget about her. I know that woman.” Ichigo was exalted, and very much. Rukia released the hose and let it fall to the ground to take her arms to try to calm him down, although she felt like her heart almost came out of her chest with emotion. He was remembering her. “Ichigo, calm down.” “The memories were carved inside the bottom of my soul, they were floating...” He paused, as if having difficulty being able to pronounce the following, and feeling that he had her name on the tip of his tongue, and then, it went out “Rukia!” “Ichigo!” She answered his call with tears forming in her eyes, relieved “Ichigo!” He took her cheeks, admiring her features as if it were the first time, his wrinkled hands felt callused, but that didn’t matter. “How could I forget you?” Rukia shook her head, he had not, not quite “Rukia, you changed my world.” “Oh, Ichigo. You have no idea of the chaos and calm you did in mine.” They laughed as they haven’t done for decades because it was true. For a few hours, Rukia again had her friend, who said her name as if it were something sacred. He hugged her with fear, and Rukia knew why. He was afraid of forgetting her again. She went to sleep, fully happy, knowing that although Ichigo's brain didn’t remember her, his soul did.

The next morning, Ichigo woke up moody, complaining that he had forgotten something very important again and that frustrated him a lot. Rukia put on a record of his favorite band, Bad Religion. That immediately changed the mood of Ichigo, who began to sing and even to dance making Rukia laugh. She had never seen him do it, but in the end, she ended up doing it also guided by his spontaneity.

When Ichigo got tired of them reading Hamlet, he asked if they could see photographs. She totally agreed, without thinking much that he would find pictures of her. “She is your mother?” He asked when they find one in which they are at his father's birthday party, shortly before she married. He knew it would be too much for him to remember the way life works after death, and probably still wouldn’t believe her, so she decided to lie. “Yes, she is.” Ichigo tenderly touched her face in the photograph. “Was she a good friend?” She couldn’t contain the question and was about to tell Ichigo that he didn’t have to answer when he did. “I loved her” such a simple answer made her whole world tremble as only he had before, and no one but him. “I think I still love her.” Ichigo sighed as he turned the page, commenting on a name he could remember or even anecdotes. The ones that amused him the most were the ones he had hitting Keigo. When they finished the album, he asked to go up to his room. Rukia accompanied him, and before closing the door, Ichigo stopped her. “Don’t tell…” Lately, he has been forgetting Orihime's name, much to her sorrow. “Orihime?” “Yes, Orihime.” He said it so as if that way he won’t forget it, but that wasn’t going to work. “What I told you about your mother. It's going to hurt her a lot. “You can trust me” she smiled, it was obvious she wasn’t going to say it, she couldn’t do that to Orihime. “I know it.” She was grateful that even if he didn’t remember her, he still trusted her.

One day, Ichigo arrived with a crown of flowers, forget me not, daisies and cherry blossoms. “Can promise me, that even if I'm too bad to remember your name, will you never forget me?" Rukia smiled. “I'll never do it.” “You promise?” Asked insecure. And she took his hand, closing the secret pact. Ichigo didn't’ need anything else.

Ichigo got sick, and all he wanted was for Rukia to bring colors or some Shakespeare novel to read together, although that will cost Orihime a lot of grief, he never claimed anything at all. Rukia didn’t understand how she had so much strength. Although Ichigo kissed Orihime's cheek sometimes, every day less often, she knew it was just to keep up appearances. Even so, she accepted them resignedly.

The moment that was eventual came, Ichigo died in his sleep.

She woke up seeing Orihime crying in the dining room, and ran to the main room, he was there, she could see him in his spiritual form, just like the last time he had seen him, sitting on the desk chair. Rukia left the room and took the soul candy. She left her gigai and showed herself before him as a shinigami. “Are you an angel of death?” “I am a shinigami” she answered things as they were, she saw the drawing on the desk in front of the bed, it was a portrait of her smiling with the wreath of flowers, on which he had been working the night before. “I suppose you come for my soul.” “Yes.” “It was nice meeting you.” “The pleasure was mine.” He drew his sword, and he didn’t panic, as if he knew what was going to happen. She stands in front of him, positioning herself. And just for a moment, while she was looking at him to practice the konso, his eyes shone as before, like when he was fifteen, just like when he saw her when they were shinigami. And Rukia knew it, he had recognized her, he had finally done it, this time she wasn’t going to have to remind him her name. “Thank you, Rukia.” And he disappeared when her hilt touched his forehead. Finally, after so much time, Rukia could throw herself to the floor, with the zampakuto without even saving, to let out a heartrending scream, taking out all the pain she had sustained all this time. She cried and cried, until she began to laugh with the purest of joys, seeing how the hand of the body of Ichigo, still in bed, held a small forget me not, as if to make her remember the promise. “I will never forget you, Ichigo.”

#IchiRuki #IchiRuki month #IchiRuki month 2018 #my fanfic

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sonnets-and-snowdrops · 6 years

Note

For the fanfic prompts, could you do “ i got you. it’s gonna be okay, you’re going to be okay.” for a Ukitake/Byakuya ship piece? (maybe with Ukitake saying it to Byakuya?) Your stories are amazing, btw ^^

From here || Always accepting!

I’m SORRY that it took me so long to get to this. Thank you for your patience, kind Anon-san! And thank you EVEN MORE for your lovely words! I’m so happy you like my stories! ^_^

Also I uh kinda forgot that this was from a hurt meme and totally made it about emotional shenanigans instead of an actual physical injury so umHope that’s okay

It also might be worth mentioning that I went with a kinda-sorta-established-relationship-type-thing here. Just made more sense, I thought. Okieeee, I think that’s all - enjoy!

Heshould have known better than to come here, if he sought solitude.

Hekneels, head bowed and hands folded in his lap, and he keeps his diligentvigil. The sun rises slowly and casts long shadows across the grass, and hesquints when its willful rays breach the top of his parents’ grave, and pierce likeso many traitorous blades into his tired eyes.

Itis the first day since the fall of the Sōkyokuthat Byakuya has had the strength to come to this place.

Hetells himself that it is because his body had not yet recovered. He tellshimself that it is because he did not, until today, possess the fortitude toput one foot in front of the other, to maintain any true semblance ofwakefulness and mental clarity, to stomach any lingering pain from the deep andgrievous wound in his chest.

Hetakes some solace in the knowledge that this is not entirely a lie.

Itdoes not surprise him when he hears the footsteps approach. As like as not, hehas been shirking some duty by spending his valuable time here; perhaps thereare reparations he must attend to, or finances he must distribute, or legalmatters he must brush away or bring to a head. Perhaps, for all he knows, anotherlegion of menos has descended silently from the sky, leagues away, and SoulSociety requires his sword already.

Butas the footsteps grow closer, Byakuya finds himself struck by uncertainty. Thereis no urgency to the footsteps. There is no rush, and no hurry. Byakuyalistens, but he does not turn his head. His vigil has not ended, for one thing,and he would be horribly remiss to let his attention stray from his meagerattempt at atonement. For another thing, it annoys him, ever so slightly, thathe cannot place this interloper’s gait. The steps are too heavy to be Rukia’s,and too steady to be Renji’s, and this newcomer, whoever they are, has kepttheir reiatsu tightly furled and guarded, so that even Byakuya cannot identifythem by the telltale swirling of their soul. A person of some skill, then. But who…?

Asif in answer, a low voice, cool and calm and kind, breaks what has been, forByakuya, an hours-long silence. “If youwould prefer to be alone,” it says softly, “you need only tell me so.”

Atthat, Byakuya longs, desperately, to melt.

Senpai, he thinks, and his heart swells.

But Byakuyaanswers simply. “No,” he says. He tightens his fists in his lap, as if doing sowill help him maintain his firm grip on his composure.

Byakuyasenses movement behind him, and then, he finds himself bathed in shadow.Ukitake Jūshirō stands at Byakuya’s shoulder,tall and proud, white hair and white haori billowing behind him in elegantwaves as they are caught by the warm breeze of the summer morning. His face isset and serious. In his hand, loosely held, are two bright snowdrops.

Ukitake turns his head, and hesmiles. “No?” he repeats. “I must beg your pardon, Byakuya-kun. An answer asvague as that is beyond an old man’s understanding.”

Byakuya is not amused. “You wantto hear me ask,” he says flatly. “That’s in poor taste, senpai, given thecircumstances.”

Ukitake’s green eyes glint, andhis smile twitches. “Perhaps.” A moment passes, and then his smile fades, justa little. “But - you’re right, of course. I see that I must begyour pardon once more.” The petals of the snowdrops tremble faintly in Ukitake’spale hand. “Please, forgive me for seeking something familiar in the midst ofthis strangeness.”

Byakuya shakes his head. “There’snothing to forgive,” he says. “Don’t speak in riddles, senpai. It’s in evenpoorer taste, and you know that.” He eyes the snowdrops more closely. One issmaller than the other, and both look as if they were picked freshly thismorning. “Shiba-fukutaichō?” Byakuya asks.

Ukitake nods, slow and somber. “Miyako,too.”

“You’re on your way to visitnow, I take it?”

Ukitake nods again. “I want totell Kaien about Ichigo-kun,” he says. “It will make him happy, I think.” Ukitake’sbreath hitches - a hesitation. The moment brief, but Byakuya notices. “I’lltell him about Rukia, too,” Ukitake says quietly. “He’ll want to know, and sheisn’t ready to tell him herself. Not just yet.”

Byakuya turns back to hisparents’ grave. “Good,” he says. “Go, then. I won’t keep you.”

But Ukitake makes no move todepart. “I don’t mind being kept, Byakuya-kun,” he says. “Not if youneed me.”

Byakuya’sfingernails dig into the soft flesh of his palms. “Thank you, senpai,” he says,“but I do not need you.” His words are tight and stiff. His chest aches, and Byakuyadecides that his wound, not his heart, is the source of the pain.

Hehears a whisper of shifting cloth, and a dry rustle of grass. A gentle handdrops onto Byakuya’s shoulder, and Byakuya suppresses the urge to cringe.

“Please,senpai,” Byakuya says, “don’t. I know what you’re going to say.“

Hecan almost hear the smile in Ukitake’s voice. “Oh?” Ukitake says. “What am I goingto say, Byakuya-kun?”

“Itdoesn’t matter.”

“Doesn’tit?”

“No.”

“Andwhy not?”

“Because,”Byakuya says firmly, “need and want are hardly equal in importance.”

Thehand departs from Byakuya’s shoulder, and the shadow cast across Byakuya’s facedisappears. For a moment, Byakuya actually fears that his senpai has allowedhim to have the last word, for once, and panic grips him -

“Wanting,”comes Ukitake’s voice in Byakuya’s ear, “is not weakness, Byakuya-kun.”

Andthen, strong arms wrap Byakuya in what is, perhaps, the warmest and mostwelcome embrace that Byakuya has ever experienced. “I’ve got you, Byakuya-kun,”Ukitake murmurs. He kneels behind Byakuya and, snowdrops still in hand, holdshim close, and presses a small kiss to Byakuya’s temple. “It’s going to be allright, Byakuya-kun,” Ukitake says, and he kisses Byakuya again. “It’s going tobe all right. It’s going to be all right…”

Fora long, long time, Byakuya is still. He rests his heavy head against Ukitake’sshoulder, and he swoons like a lovestruck fool beneath his senpai’s tender kisses- his forehead, his ears, the nape of his neck, and his fingers, one by one byone. When Byakuya’s weary eyelids drop closed, Ukitake laughs, and kisses them,too. Something familiar in the midst ofthis strangeness, Byakuya thinks, as Ukitake’s gentle hand finds its wayinto Byakuya’s hair.

“…Ithought I’d lost everything,” Byakuya hears himself say.

Ukitake’shand drops, and starts to rub small circles into Byakuya’s back. “Hm?” he asks.“How’s that, Byakuya-kun?”

“Everything,”Byakuya says again. He cracks his eyes open and turns his gaze sideways; hewants to see his senpai’s face when he says this. “Rukia,” he says, first. “Renji.The respect of my fellow Captains. The respect of Soul Society. The right tocall myself my parents’ son. The right to mourn my wife. My pride,” he says, his voice cracking. “And…”He swallows, hard. “You, senpai… Iwas certain I’d lost you, too…”

Goodhumor flashes in Ukitake’s clever eyes. “If you intend to lose me,” he says,ducking his head and placing a kiss on Byakuya’s shoulder, “you’ll have to trymuch harder than that.”

Byakuyabristles. “I’m serious, senpai.”

“Soam I.”

Theykneel together in silence until the sun has risen fully, and the day, brightand brazen and blue, has emerged. After a time, Byakuyacasts a glance to the snowdrops which still hang, all but neglected, betweenhis senpai’s fingers. “You’ve kept Shiba-fukitaichō waiting long enough,” Byakuya mumbles. “You should go,senpai. Before the hour grows too late.”

“I supposeyou’re right,” Ukitake says. His eyes are softly fixed on the grave before him.“I hope you know,” he says, “how proud they would be, Byakuya-kun.”

Byakuyaalmost laughs at that. “I betrayedthem,” he says.

“Onlyin your eyes,” Ukitake says.

Withwhat seems to Byakuya like a great effort, Ukitake rises. He lets his fingertipslinger on the top of Byakuya’s head before, at long last, pulling his hand awayand heaving a great, long sigh. His steady footsteps begin, and then growsofter and more distant, and then fade away altogether as he departs.

Byakuya,for his part, returns his gaze to his parents’ grave.

Hewill depart soon, he decides - but not quite yet.

#bleach #byakuya #ukitake #byauki #kuchiki byakuya #meme #fic meme #prompt fill #thank you for the ask!#Anonymous

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ariadnekurosaki · 4 years

Text

Love Lives, and I Will Defend Her

Prompt: Day 4, Crossing Blades, Crossing Hearts

Pairing: Kurosaki Ichigo/Kuchiki Rukia

Rating: T

Read on AO3.

Summary: She screamed as if the very heart of her was being torn out, and Ichigo leapt to her side as the rain poured down. I’m still a little salty about one specific part of Fade to Black - when Rukia screams and not one person helps her - so I wrote this. The first several paragraphs align with and contain dialogue from the movie. The title comes from The Cruxshadows' "Defender".

Love Lives, and I Will Defend Her

“This time, Rukia, I’m sharing my powers with you!” Ichigo shouted. The tattered robes of his bankai swirled around him while pale blue reiatsu filled the air. He grasped Zangetsu in both hands and ran forward. Rukia – melded with the two strange beings who’d possessed her – howled and leapt toward him, purple-black power radiating outward in tattered swirls around her. “Come back to us, Rukia!” Come back to me.

His blade pierced her with a squelch and scrape of bone on metal, then kept going, impaling her and sending blood spraying everywhere.

For ten horrifying seconds nothing happened and Ichigo thought he’d killed her. But Zangetsu murmured reassurance in his mind and power exploded between them. His reiatsu spilled into her and shoved outward, pushing out the souls of the brother and sister who’d taken over her body. The strange white garb Rukia was wearing shredded to nothing, revealing a shihakusho, and her hair darkened.

Without meaning to, Ichigo brought them both to a kneeling position on the ground, one arm holding her tightly around the shoulders while the other kept ahold of his blade. Rukia stirred underneath his arm and he reluctantly let go, a hand running through her hair as Rukia straightened up.

“Ichigo…”

His eyes softened as they looked into hers. “Hi,” he said softly. Her violet eyes showed the truth: she remembered him. Rukia was back. The tightness in Ichigo’s chest eased.

They both looked at the two spirits lying on the ground not far away. “Go on and help them,” he said, when Rukia looked at him again.

She ran on sandaled feet across the cracked and barren ground. Ichigo kept his zanpakuto at the ready, but Renji and Byakuya seemed content to watch and the two souls – the brother and sister who’d kidnapped yet clearly cared for Rukia – were dying.

He heard her name them, heard her call them Homura and Shizuku, and thought to himself that they were good names. Heard Urahara explain that they’d tried so hard to get back to Rukia after sacrificing themselves for her. And then they died – again. Ichigo stood silent, head bowed as the first raindrops started to fall.

Rukia, though – Rukia raised her head and screamed as if her very heart was being torn from her.

Before it was a conscious thought Ichigo ran forward, dropping Zangetsu on the ground only when he reached Rukia’s side. He barely noticed when Urahara deftly stepped out of his way. His arms slid around her and he pulled her close, body covering hers protectively and shielding her from the worst of the sudden downpour. Ichigo’s hand slid through her already-soaked wet hair and down her back, rubbing gently while she sobbed into his chest. No one else moved; Ichigo wasn’t even sure if their memories had returned yet.

“I’ve got you,” he whispered. “I’ve got you, Rukia.” Rukia just buried her head deeper into his chest and Ichigo pulled her closer. They sat in the cold rain until she started to shiver despite the warmth Ichigo radiated. He wasn’t much better: his shihakusho was completely soaked through and his hair hung limp around his head, dripping rivulets of water into his eyes.

Movement registered in his peripheral vision and he looked up: Urahara and Renji were wrapping the bodies of Homura and Shizuku in dark fabric, and members of the Fourth Division had stretchers ready to carry them away. He wasn’t sure why they hadn’t dissolved – but Ichigo had other things to worry about. Like Rukia, who was shivering ever more violently in his arms.

He dropped out of bankai and fastened Zangetsu onto his back. Then he slid one arm under her knees and the other around her shoulders and rose to his feet. Rukia didn’t even seem to notice. Ichigo looked over at Byakuya, who was standing in the same position as he had been a few minutes ago despite the pouring rain.

“The Fourth Division relief station will still be overrun, if it has not been destroyed. You may bring her to the manor,” the Sixth Division captain said calmly.

Ichigo nodded briefly and disappeared a second after Byakuya did. It was harder to use flash-step after exerting so much power over the past few days, and Ichigo stumbled to a stop outside of the Kuchiki Manor. The guards had the gates open already and one nodded briefly in greeting while the other stepped aside to allow him to walk through. Ichigo stepped inside, grimacing as his sopping wet sandals and socks squelched on the wooden floors and he dripped water everywhere.

“Lady Rukia!” a young woman in a simple pink kimono gasped as she came around the corner. She had a badge with the Kuchiki crest on the left side of the kimono, just below her shoulder.

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief and adjusted his hold on Rukia. “Can you show me to her rooms, or…somewhere she can lie down? Rukia’s had a bad shock and needs a hot bath and a change of clothes, right away.”

“Y-yes of course, come this way, kyaku-sama.” The young woman hurried forward and Ichigo followed her through a series of rooms separated by ornate sliding screens, dripping water all the way.

Finally, they reached what was apparently Rukia’s room; Ichigo spared a smile for the chappy plushie on a shelf – a dead giveaway that they were in her space.

The servant nervously introduced herself as Miura Yuina and disappeared into a washroom through yet another screen. After a minute Ichigo heard the sound of running water. He looked down at Rukia, who was resting her head against his chest. “Rukia?”

She stirred and opened her eyes, which were swollen and reddened from crying.

“Can you stand?” Ichigo asked. “You’re in your rooms in the Kuchiki manor and Miura-san is running a hot bath for you.”

“I think so.” Rukia’s voice was rough and barely above a whisper. Ichigo nodded, sending water showering down on them both, but bent and let Rukia’s feet touch the ground before letting go of her legs. He straightened back up but kept one hand on her forearm, stabilizing her, as she stood. “How...?”

“I used flash-step to get us both back from the Twelfth,” Ichigo explained. She opened her mouth to speak again, but Ichigo shook his head briefly. “Everything else can wait. You need to get warm and dry or you’ll get sick.” He pushed a soaked strand of hair from her eyes and tucked it behind her ear.

Yuina came back into the room and smiled nervously at Rukia. “Lady Rukia, your bath is ready. Please allow me to help you.”

Rukia stepped away from Ichigo and allowed herself to be ushered into the washroom. Before the door closed, Ichigo called to Yuina, “Please put a cold cloth on her eyes as well, Miura-san.”

Ichigo could hear the slap of wet cloth hitting the ground from beyond the door and the low splashes of a body sinking into bath water. Then: “I’ll return in a moment, Lady Rukia.” The washroom door opened and shut once more.

“Kyaku-sama, please allow me to escort you to a guest room so that you can change into dry clothes,” Yuina said. She eyed the puddles of water Ichigo had left on the ground with apparent disfavor.

Ichigo grimaced. “It’s Kurosaki Ichigo. And yeah, that would be great, thanks.” He cast a worried glance toward the door Yuina had exited but followed her halfway down the hallway into a much more spartan space. “Sorry about the mess.”

“It is no trouble. I will have dry clothing brought to you,” Yuina offered. “Please, feel free to bathe and make yourself comfortable.”

Ichigo nodded his thanks and when she slid the door shut behind herself, he stepped into the washroom. Rukia had cut him up in more than one place while she was possessed by those kids, and he grimaced as his sopping wet shihakusho stuck to the open wound on his arm. The sandals and tabi socks were a loss – the sandals were already coming apart – but he piled the rest to one side.

He bathed quickly and when he stepped back into the guest room two ensembles were waiting for him, as was an unsigned note encouraging him to rest. The first outfit was a simple pair of striped blue and white jinbei, while the second was a clean set of shihakusho. Thankfully, there was also a roll of bandaging.

Feeling much better once he’d bandaged his arm and dressed in the jinbei, Ichigo turned to the futon that had been laid out for him. It was only just getting dark outside but suddenly he was so exhausted that he could have fallen asleep standing up. He wanted to check on Rukia, but – she needed to rest.

He laid down on the futon and searched for her spirit ribbon the way he had earlier in the day. This close, he sensed her without any assistance, and followed the red ribbon in his mind to her bedroom. The ribbon was much more solid, Ichigo noticed. There was something else there as well – a red thread running alongside the ribbon and connecting them.

Rukia was also on a futon, wrapped in many blankets. This time Ichigo could tell that, while she wasn’t entirely at peace, she had cried herself out for the time being and was falling asleep. He contented himself with that and fell asleep holding onto the ribbon – and the thread – in his mind.

Ichigo bolted awake in the middle of the night; the ribbon and thread were vibrating anguish and fear in equal measure. He scrambled from the futon and slid the door of his guest room open. The manor was dead silent, and for a moment Ichigo thought he’d imagined it, but the ribbon seemed to tug at him.

There was no one else in the hallway, and he padded toward Rukia’s room in bare feet. “Rukia?” he asked in a soft whisper when he reached her door. There was no response. Feeling foolish, Ichigo turned to go back to his rooms before another one of those blood-freezing screams echoed through the thin paper doorway. He shoved the doorway open without another word and found Rukia in the darkness, blankets twisted around her body.

Ichigo slid the door shut behind him. “Rukia,” he called again, and knelt by her side. When she groaned in her sleep but still didn’t wake, Ichigo’s hand found her shoulder. He’d never been very good at hiding his reiatsu or controlling it except through Zangetsu, but instinctively he let it flow over Rukia like a blanket.

Slowly and by degrees, Rukia’s body slackened into true sleep. Her hands unclenched from around the blankets and the lines of stress between her eyebrows smoothed away. Ichigo gently untangled her from the blankets and smoothed them back over her. He lightly pressed his wrist to her forehead; she wasn’t feverish, but her forehead was damp with sweat.

Ichigo stood and found a cloth in the washroom. He dampened it with cold water and knelt back down to bathe Rukia’s forehead.

The door slid open again; Ichigo looked up as the blue light of kido illuminated Byakuya in the doorway.

“Kurosaki Ichigo. What are you doing in my sister’s room?”

“She was having a night terror or something. Kinda surprised no one else came running – she screamed loud enough.” Ichigo kept his voice low.

“I did not hear her scream. I felt your reiatsu spike.”

“It seemed to comfort her,” Ichigo admitted. He folded the washcloth and rested it on Rukia’s forehead, then stood.

Byakuya was still staring at him. But all he said was, “I see.”

Ichigo looked back at Rukia one more time and walked toward the doorway. Byakuya stepped aside to let him pass. “Kurosaki,” he said when the younger man was halfway toward his room.

He stopped and turned in Byakuya’s direction. “Yeah?”

“Thank you for saving my sister. Again.”

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. “Sure, no problem,” he said uneasily. Then he actually looked at Byakuya. “I wasn’t lying when I said that I would pass through even one hundred million blades for her.”

The hallway was silent for a moment. “Then for her sake, I hope your blade will always block them.” Byakuya turned and walked back toward his own rooms.

“It will,” Ichigo said into the darkness. There was an answering echo of certainty from Zangetsu and further down, from the hollow. “It will.”

#IchiRuki #ichirukimonth #irmonth2020 #bleach fanfiction

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saranel · 7 years

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Do you think UraYoru has lil parallelism with IchiRuki bond and chemistry ???? 😊😆🐕🎩 🐇🍓✨

Tagging @cocosy who asked the same question

I think they have some big differences in terms of dynamic, seeing as how the personalities and combinations involved are quite dissimilar, but I can definitely see ways in which they are alike.

Fights against Yammy are pretty romantic, I guess?

(more under the cut)

1. Chemistry

Okay, let’s start with the obvious one! There’s a reason both are such popular pairings (the most popular for each character by far), and chemistry has a lot to do with it.

Anyone who’s ever done any creative writing can attest to this, but certain characters simply take over and do the work for you, so to speak, once you become familiar enough with them. I’ve only ever written the one IchiRuki fic, but when I tried to write dialogue for them, it just… flowed. Same with Kisuke and Yoruichi. I may have to tweak and polish to get the final result feeling as IC as I can make it, but the way they interact with each other feels natural and easy to replicate on paper.

And it’s all due to the fact that these two pairs have been set up in canon to work so well together. Both Ichigo and Kisuke interact with plenty of other characters in the story with fun results, but when they interact with Rukia and Yoruichi respectively? That’s when we get sparks.

2. Bond

As a pair with such a long history, Kisuke and Yoruichi have an understandably deep connection. There’s little doubt in my mind that they ‘clicked’ from the start, whenever that may have been, but there’s no denying that their centuries-spanning relationship contributes to their intimacy (both platonic and romantic).

For earlier adopters of the manga, I imagine the wait from the moment Yoruichi first gave the audience a glimpse of her shared past with Kisuke, to seeing them share panel time again must’ve built a lot of hype. Kubo went on to be a tease for years concerning those two. The nature of their relationship was even brought up in Kisuke’s Radio Kon interview, so this was obviously something the readers were wondering about from early on.

And I think that one of the earliest events of the Arrancar arc was basically Kubo’s response to the audience’s rising curiosity:

Kisuke and Yoruichi were a big mystery to us at that point (NOT TO MENTION ELEVEN YEARS LATER), and Kubo displays some tremendous, economical storytelling here by giving us a succinct, yet rich answer as to what exactly Kisuke and Yoruichi are to each other:

Partners.

In every sense of the word.

I’ve often seen fans talk about the shadier aspects of Kisuke’s character and exclaim, aghast, “Does Yoruichi even know about this?!!!” and it always makes me laugh. Because honestly, does anyone truly believe there is a single thing Yoruichi doesn’t know about him by this point?

Yoruichi knows exactly who this man is and she accepts him, warts and all. And vice versa.

They know each other well enough that words are hardly ever needed:

And this is why it astounds me that Ichigo and Rukia reach such a level of understanding in only a few short months.

Like I said, I firmly believe that Kisuke and Yoruichi were also a pair that developed a deep bond very fast, but given their long-standing relationship, they serve as an example of an unbreakable bond in the manga. No one in their right mind is going to dispute those two are close, so when it becomes easy to draw a comparison between them and other pairs in the manga, that’s when you know it’s real:

^^^ What she actually says is more along the lines of: “Well I thought I might as well use this piece of crap you made so you wouldn’t whine, but without it, I would’ve dodged just fine!” which is a tsundere’s way of saying ‘I love you’

And now you know why Kisuke wears that little half-smile in that panel ;)

3. Personalities

A few months ago, I made this super long post about the bond between mentor and student, and in writing it, I was surprised to discover ways in which Kisuke and Ichigo are alike that I hadn’t considered before.

I like to think that this is one of the reasons Kisuke chose to mentor Ichigo: because he sees everything good about himself in his student, but none of his worse qualities. He sees a version of himself that was once more optimistic and a little less pragmatic, fiercely protective in a way that bordered on carelessness.

Kisuke was a lot like Ichigo before the events of TBTP and his exile, and though he learned to trust in his subordinates and colleagues, his more sentimental side always shines through when someone he loves is in danger, façade and common sense be damned. He couldn’t stop himself from following Hiyori, and he couldn’t stop himself from rushing to Yoruichi’s aid, either, instead of joining Ichigo against Yhwach.

Similarly, Ichigo is the ‘softie’ of the pair to contrast Rukia’s stricter, more militaristic personality. It’s Ichigo who found a little ‘sister’ to protect in the middle of the damn Hueco Mundo desert, Ichigo who will fiercely defend and show concern for people who were once his enemies:

It’s Kisuke and Ichigo who will drive away even the people they love in order to protect them (it’s worth noting that Rukia also does this at a certain point, but the circumstances are different and I’ll get to why shortly):

And it’s a similarity Kisuke himself remarks upon:

That’s not to say that Rukia and Yoruichi are cold in comparison, or not just as protective; not by a long shot. But perhaps because they were both raised as nobility, they often fight a visible war with their own feelings:

In Yoruichi’s case, this is far more pronounced, to the point that she appears borderline emotionally stunted at times (see: tsundere). Yoruichi was most likely taught that emotions are a weakness since she was a child (see: Byakuya, too). I have this headcanon (last section) that Yoruichi must’ve been a very lonely child before she met Kisuke, carrying the immense weight of a legacy on her shoulders from a very young age. And if, as I suspect, she had to compete with other candidates to earn the title of Clan Head, she was forced to sacrifice many things about herself in the altar of duty.

Rukia’s upbringing for the first few years of her life was radically different, but we know for a fact that she was forced to grow up fast, in order to survive on her own in the Rukongai. When she lost every single friend but Renji, she was the one who kept on pressing forward, the one who suggested entering the Academy. And in a perfect storm of terrible events, her own feelings of inadequacy were only exacerbated when she was adopted by the Kuchiki Clan and treated so abysmally by Byakuya. Rukia has been swallowing her own feelings since she could crawl: she swallowed the pain of being alone for a big part of her childhood so she could toughen up and survive, she swallowed the pain of losing her friends, the pain of under-performing in the academy, of being so blatantly ignored by Byakuya, the tremendous guilt over what happened with Kaien.

What’s fascinating to me is that despite all this pressure, despite their loyalty and recorded sense of duty to the Gotei, both these women are in possession of a heart that always steers them in the right direction when it matters:

At this point, even Rukia has resigned herself to the fact that Ichigo is going to die. She doesn’t think there’s any chance of survival, and yet instead of begging and pleading for forgiveness, for mercy, she doesn’t hesitate to make matters even worse for herself. She is literally throwing her life away just so she can be there for him in his final moments.

And then, of course, there’s this:

Do I even need to say anything here?

Yoruichi was a woman who had everything: beauty, wealth, status, respect, power, a family, friends, apprentices, and she left it all behind without a moment’s hesitation, when she didn’t even have to.

Both these women seem to struggle with expressing affection at times, but their actions always speak louder than words. And when it comes to giving their men a swift kick up the ass when they desperately need it, they don’t hesitate even for a second:

4. Bonus: Design

It’s a well-known fact that Kubo’s original concept art for Bleach (then ‘Snipe’) had Ichigo in glasses, with black hair, but he famously changed the design specifically so it would match Rukia’s:

“Before the story was decided a Shingami uniform popped up into my mind. Unlike the design we have now it was like a uniform from Catholic school where they wore a black jacket over a white blouse with a black bowtie… and they carried a huge scissors. I thought that was what Shinigami was like. After that, to match Rukia’s design I changed Ichigo’s character design. Like Rukia had black hair so it’s best if Ichigo didn’t have black hair.”

– Tite Kubo

And I just… I live for this kind of crap in fiction, because when it’s applied to a pair that already works well on so many different levels, it becomes the icing on the cake:

THEY LOOK SO DAMN GOOD TOGETHER.

I love that they’re opposites in many ways, but still similar in plenty of others. There’s always a great deal of love for pairs that are completely opposite, but from personal experience, these kinds of relationships aren’t built to last. Give me pairs that complement each other, not pairs that are always in disagreement. Pairs that challenge each other, but can still coexist harmoniously. Ichigo and Rukia have their moments of tension, there’s spark, there’s passion, but they’re on the same wavelength where it counts.

And I can’t help but feel this also applies to Kisuke and Yoruichi to a T.

Kubo never made a similar declaration about Kisuke and Yoruichi’s design, but looking at this panel*** makes me think that he applied the same design philosophy here as well.

Black hair, fair hair; dark skin, pale skin; black uniform with white obi, white uniform with black obi; black turtleneck, white undershirt.

Even in their color versions, they are created to look harmonious: the pale yellow of Kisuke’s hair is complementary (i.e. opposite on the color wheel) to the purple undertones in Yoruichi’s; her golden eyes are similarly complementary to his bluish grey eyes; green, purple and orange form a color triad:

Yoruichi shows up early enough in the manga (albeit in her cat form) to make me think that Kubo conceived of Kisuke and Yoruichi as a pair from the beginning. They were designed to look good together, and they do.

*** Not to mention that in the manga, this panel is framed in black, making it a memory. And since it’s Yoruichi speaking, this is her memory. Notice how Kisuke looks on ahead, looking happy and lively, while Yoruichi is the one who’s looking at him, showcasing a gentle, affectionate smile we’ve never seen before or since in the manga.

She’s always been a happy, laid-back person, but expressions of open, genuine affection are extremely rare from her, and the fact that she looks at him with such pride, smiles at him so softly, is really all the proof I need, tbh.

#asks #bleach #ichiruki #urayoru #kurosaki ichigo #kuchiki rukia #urahara kisuke #shihouin yoruichi #Anonymous

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