*IchigoxRukia*
Summary: Ichigo and Rukia are unexpectedly reunited in Tokyo the summer after the defeat of Aizen. Finding they have to come to terms with their ways of dealing with the war, themselves, and each other, they start another journey together that eventually takes them back to Karakura. A canon-to-chapter 423 IchiRuki reworking of the time skip.
Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11484734/1/
Word count:326k
Chapters:72
Chapter 1
'Bye, Rukia.' With that it'd been over, like it'd never happened at all.
• • •
It occurred to him over the course of the first few days that he'd never really beaten Nnoitra, Ulquiorra, Yammy, Gin, or Aizen.
Nnoitra had been beaten by Kenpachi; Ulquiorra had been beaten by the Hollow; Yammy had been beaten by Kenpachi and Byakuya; Gin had been beaten by Aizen; Aizen had been beaten by Urahara. The last person he himself had truly beaten had been Grimmjow.
It hadn't been because of a difference in power. In the end he'd proven he was stronger than any of them and he'd briefly been among perhaps the strongest fighters to ever exist, but he hadn't vanquished them. Why hadn't he won against them? It was easy to say that it was just a matter of timing. It was easy to say that he'd always gotten stronger just a little bit too late. It was easy to say he hadn't had enough time, that if things had gone slightly differently, he would've won every battle. It was easy.
It was wrong.
It had replayed through her mind while he was convalescing that she'd almost been killed by Grimmjow, Aaroniero, Zommari, and Yammy.
Ichigo had managed to delay Grimmjow the first time; Shinji had saved her from Grimmjow the second; she'd just barely beaten Aaroniero; her brother had saved her from Zommari; Ichigo had delayed and later her brother and Kenpachi had defeated Yammy.
She'd killed an Espada and essentially beaten the head of the Exequias but in the end she'd played a small part. She would have died many times over if not for the intervention of others. Why was she still alive? It was easy to say that it was because everyone cared about her. It was easy to say that Ichigo, Byakuya, and the rest all just wanted to protect her. It was easy to shift the blame onto them and say she'd been spoiled, that she'd never had a reason to truly step up and prove herself. It was easy.
It was wrong.
• • •
Before they'd left for Karakura his dad had asked, 'Will you sit there and cry that you couldn't protect anyone?!' Would he still ask the same? Isshin had never criticized him again—not once. Still, his answer didn't change; that wasn't the kind of man he was.
After he'd beaten Zommari her brother had said, 'Now humble yourself and wait until you are completely healed to prepare for the real battles that lie ahead.' Would he still say the same? Byakuya had never criticized her again—not once. Still, the order didn't change; that was the kind of woman she was.
• • •
When his mom had died, he'd taken up defending his sisters and others, his dad had taken up maintaining their morale, Yuzu had taken up keeping them clean and healthy, and Karin had taken up not being a burden. He swapped places with the last without ever saying a word about it.
When their friends had died, she'd been the one to propose that she and Renji join the Gotei 13. He'd followed her lead, but he'd been the one who'd worked his way up from the bottom, while she'd been whisked off to a life of nobility. She took up his mantle without ever mentioning it to him.
• • •
Everyone they cared about had made it through alive and well. Wasn't that enough of a victory?
• • •
When one of his friends (usually Ishida) would run out of class, he'd pretend not to notice. In turn, they wouldn't discuss such things with him. Even those who'd gained some measure of understanding—like Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro, and Chizuru—never asked exactly what'd happened. He stood apart. His problems were mundane ones. That was fine.
When her colleagues swapped war stories or went on training exercises, she'd pretend not to notice. Accordingly, they wouldn't bring them up with her. She'd never really been close to Renji's friends—like Kira, Momo, Ikkaku, and the rest—and they'd kept their distance too. She stood apart. Her problems were organizational ones. That was fine.
• • •
It was before the winter break when he found his substitute Shinigami badge in his backpack and put it in his closet.
It was less than a month before she stopped getting very many reports at all about how he was doing.
• • •
He kept in shape and took up more regular exercise. It wasn't that he really cared much about staying fit for its own sake, even though there were practical benefits. The main thing was it kept him occupied. It gave him a different perspective. He would eventually lose his body, but he wouldn't lose his mind.
She kept up her studies and took up kendō. It wasn't that she much liked zanjutsu, but she'd always excelled at kidō first and foremost, and practice made perfect. The main thing was it kept her focused. It gave her a different perspective. She might lose life and limb, but she would never again lose hope.
• • •
They focused on the basics—on surviving.
• • •
He wasn't one for numbers, but the math was pretty simple.
A Gillian was made of thousands of souls, and they were expendable foot-soldiers, so there had to be at least thousands of them. That accounted for millions or billions of souls. Adjuchas and Vasto Lordes, though much rarer, likewise must have been composed of many thousands or millions of souls. Soul Society was, of course, constantly burying the souls of the dead, liberating them from Hollows, and creating new ones, only for all of them eventually be reincarnated.
A few thousand Shinigami could oversee the whole thing if Hollows were mostly limited to a select few places like Karakura. They sent weak Shinigami because in the end it didn't actually matter whether you got a soul burial or were eaten by a Hollow; you were in their system either way and they'd get to you sooner or later. It was a recycling system. They were glorified garbage handlers. They were all grist in a vast machine. Suffering was simply the currency of the realm.
She wasn't one for numbers, but the math was pretty simple.
On a long enough timescale, everyone's odds of survival dropped to zero. It could be an accident the next day or it could be a peaceful death in a hundred or so years on the outside—maybe more depending on how the medical science of the Living World advanced—but it was all the same in the end. Everybody who didn't go to Hell for some heinous crime would wind up in Soul Society sooner or later.
Everyone with reiryoku—like his family and friends—would likely end up inside the Seireitei. It was impossible to say where he would wind up. Thinking about it was pointless. He'd live his life and then he would be split up from everyone he'd ever known or cared about, lost somewhere in Rukongai—just like she had been—unless he once again had reiatsu. He'd lose everything yet again, for the third time. They were just gears in a vast machine. Suffering was simply the currency of the realm.
• • •
He wasn't suicidal or fatalistic. It wasn't his style.
She wasn't sulking or anguished. It wasn't her style.
• • •
He took solace in handiwork and crafts. He learned to cook and clean from Yuzu and even learned how to wash clothes by hand.
She took solace in art and poetry. She studied ikebana and shodō with Byakuya and even learned how to appreciate Noh theater.
• • •
They'd both always been lonely. Maybe that was part of why Aizen had so gleefully picked them out as his chief pawns. Maybe he'd felt some kind of twisted affinity for them. Maybe it'd just been circumstance. Regardless, their loneliness predated him, and although he wasn't technically dead it survived him too.
• • •
His greatest newfound inspiration wound up being Enter the Dragon. When Bruce Lee was asked, 'What's your style?' and replied, 'My style? You can call it the art of fighting without fighting,' something in his head just clicked. He looked up works on Jeet Kune Do at the local library and often thought about its commandment to 'be like water'.
Her greatest newfound inspiration wound up being ame ni mo makezu—Be not Defeated by the Rain. The lines, 'not losing to the rain / not losing to the wind / not losing to the snow nor to summer's heat /' resonated with her. She resolved to read it daily and often thought about its commandment, 'count yourself last and put others before you / watching and listening / and understanding / and never forgetting /'.
• • •
He didn't ask for her to visit. He didn't often think of her. Both were deliberate.
She didn't ask to visit him. She didn't often think of him. Both were deliberate.
• • •
In the end, he thought of it like the title of one of the James Bond movies: You Only Live Twice. Life was just training. They wanted to see if he could get back to where he'd been from where he was. It was nothing personal. He fought without fighting, all alone.
In the end, she thought about it like a famous haiku by Issa: 'The wren / Earns his living / Noiselessly. /' Duty was just training. They wanted to see if she could grow stronger than she'd been. It was nothing personal. She watched and listened and understood, all alone.
• • •
No one seemed to notice. It wasn't that they concealed any of it from anyone, it was that nobody ever asked and they never felt the need to talk to about it.
• • •
Kurosaki Ichigo became a kind of model high school student. He was always at school on time, his grades were just below the top of the charts, he socialized as much as he was expected to, he did what people asked when they asked it unless it was ridiculous, and he got a job to save up money for when he was finished with school.
Kuchiki Rukia became a kind of model fukutaichō. She was promoted to the position in short order, she was always on duty on time, she finished her reports and paperwork before they were due, she was the very picture of order for the 13th Division, and she worked on getting new recruits acclimated and ready just like Kaien once had.
• • •
Neither of them thought of themselves as depressed—and technically speaking they weren't. Everyone else saw whatever it was that they wanted to see.
• • •
Saturday, July 27, 2002
Beams of morning sunlight slowly skimmed across the Seireitei through shifting cloud cover, casting the office of sōtaichō Yamamoto Genryūsai in a dull, slow strobe. The man himself was seated behind his desk as usual, his hands resting flat upon it.
Ukitake Jūshirō stood some distance away from the other side of the desk, managing to appear almost as though he'd always been there, like some sort of office fixture. His bearing was relaxed, but every bit as atypically inscrutable as the set of his features.
"What is so important that you needed to seek an audience with me on such short notice, Jūshirō?" Yamamoto finally rumbled.
Ukitake was silent for a moment as he considered his words. "Kurosaki Ichigo has disappeared," he said at last. Trying to sugarcoat things by beating around the bush would simply provoke Yamamoto's ire. Being direct was infinitely preferable. There was no simpler way of articulating the matter in a neutral fashion, and given his audience, he had finally just chosen to address the human by his full name.
A beat passed and Yamamoto opened his eyes a fraction. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"We don't know where he is."
A second passed that conveyed something between disappointment and disdain. "You do not know where he is." There was no 'we' in this affair; this program had been Ukitake's responsibility in its entirety. "Did you not take steps to monitor him?"
The rebuke rolled over Ukitake without any visible effect. "Shortly after his recovery in the Living World from fighting Aizen, he left the badge I gave him following his initial incursion into Soul Society among his personal belongings. He hasn't moved it since. As he has no real reiatsu to trace, we've been relying upon reports from his friends and the current guardian of Karakura, Kurumadani Zennosuke, to track his movements," he said.
"Why are you only bringing this to my attention now?" Yamamoto's tone was only slightly lower—that was enough to convey his irritation to someone so familiar with him.
"He has occasionally done this before. In each such case he would leave Friday evening, and reappear no later than Sunday night. His family showed no alarm when questioned about this behavior. It would always turn out to be something trivial, like camping nearby or socializing with other friends. I wanted to make sure this wasn't a false alarm, and I've had people searching for him."
Yamamoto took note of the rather strange phrase 'camping'—why would the boy be in an encampment like he was conducting a siege?—but ignored it. Ukitake's command had as of late been producing voluminous and bizarre reports regarding the Living World, and that was surely something to do with more of the same. "How long has he been missing?"
"Including the previous Friday when he was last seen, today is the eighth day. He's presently on summer vacation and not expected back at school for some time." Ukitake knew the specific date was September 2nd but saw no reason to mention it. Soul Society still utilized a lunisolar calendar, as Japan had before adopting the Gregorian calendar. He was adept enough to translate between them, but as he already had to invoke several new and foreign concepts in his explanation it seemed imprudent to expound too much upon them.
"I take it his family didn't know?" Yamamoto continued to ignore the superfluous information.
Ukitake furrowed his brow a little. "He'd informed them he would be spending the break with some of his friends on the island of Hokkaido. Upon questioning those same friends, it became evident both that they had plans of their own that would take them elsewhere, and that they had never heard any such proposal from him." This effort at deception was what was truly concerning, in his estimation.
Yamamoto closed his eyes and let out the slightest exhalation. Ichigo was indisputably a hero of Soul Society for his actions during the war against Aizen, and a great future asset to the same. It was simply unacceptable for him to go missing without any indication as to where he'd gone or what he intended, and with no guarantees as to his personal safety.
The only saving grace to the matter was that, given these circumstances, it sounded unlikely that he'd do anything drastic. Furthermore, as someone with no notable reiatsu, it was highly improbable that he would draw the attention of any Hollows. Still...
"I assume you've already turned Karakura upside-down looking for him?" Yamamoto prompted. The way he said it conveyed that it wasn't really a question; given the time Ukitake had taken, nothing less would suffice.
"We're certain he's not there," Ukitake said.
"How many people have you had looking?"
"Everyone we could spare without raising suspicion, so only six non-seated soldiers." Ukitake left unsaid whose suspicions he was most concerned about. It had become increasingly difficult to conceal even so few unscheduled troop deployments from his ever-vigilant fukuaichō, detail-oriented as she was. Having to coordinate matters through his 3rd Seats (Kotsubaki Sentarō and Kotetsu Kiyone) again had left him with both an even deeper appreciation of her, and a sense of unease and heartache. Not for the first time, he found himself doubting the righteousness of his decision to conceal a matter from her. Ichigo was her...
"And his friends have no idea where he might have gone?"
"They're as surprised by this as we are, and they've been helping to look for him. So has Urahara-san. I haven't asked the Visored." There was a note of reservation to Ukitake's last sentence. When Hirako Shinji, Ōtoribashi 'Rose' Rōjūrō, and Muguruma Kensei had once more accepted positions as taichō within the Gotei 13, they'd done so with the understanding that they had the authority and leeway to interact with their comrades staying in the Living World. He didn't have authorization to do the same and would've needed Yamamoto's approval to approach either side and enlist them in the effort.
Yamamoto's tone grew sour. "I am by no means an expert on the Living World, but I understand that with a week's head start he could be almost anywhere now."
"Postcards from various places in Hokkaido have been arriving at his household since the fifth day of his disappearance. These have borne messages from him, and were no doubt sent to reassure his sisters, though they may also be an effort at further misdirection. We're—I'm certain he didn't have the financial resources to go even that far on his own."
"You were also apparently certain he would not go anywhere at all," Yamamoto rebuked.
Ukitake lowered his head in contrition. They both understood one another well enough for that to be sufficient, and there was a long pause.
"Has Urahara Kisuke made any progress with the device he's working on?" Yamamoto didn't like having to rely upon the exile at all, but he'd so far proven himself a trustworthy—if not quite forthcoming—ally. His loyalties still clearly resided with Soul Society. Yamamoto also had little choice; no matter how much he'd threatened or provoked Kurotsuchi Mayuri, the latter had steadfastly refused to work on the project, either on his own or in cooperation with the former head of the Shinigami Research and Development Institute.
"He's said it remains slow-going. The technical problems he described were beyond my understanding."
"I suppose it cannot be helped. I will call a meeting immediately. Send orders to your division to get everyone you can spare ready—our search efforts will be primarily derived from your forces." Yamamoto rose and made ready to depart.
"Even..." Ukitake began.
As they spoke, Yamamoto had advanced sufficiently that they stood beside one another, and he turned his head fractionally. "Who did you think would be leading the effort? Kuchiki Rukia knows him best, does she not?" With that, he left.
Ukitake stood in contemplation for a time. At last, he pulled out a soul pager he'd brought along just in case of such an event and began issuing orders. His mind wandered as he did so. Rukia hadn't really been the same since the war had ended—not that she would ever admit it to anyone. Still, maybe even so dire an event would bring some light back to her smile.
"The situation confronting us is this: 185 hours ago, the forces of the Gotei 13 lost track of Kurosaki Ichigo." Yamamoto paused for a split second and glanced toward Ukitake to punctuate his words; although this had been Ukitake's mistake as far as he was concerned, it had become the problem of the Gotei 13 as a whole. "His current whereabouts and status are unknown. We have reason to believe that he remains within Japan, but the only thing presently known for sure is that he is not in Karakura, and none of his associates know where he might have gone."
There was an immediate uproar from the assembled taichō.
Yamamoto banged his walking stick and continued on. "The effort to search for him is being expanded immediately. The bulk of the allocated soldiers will be pulled from the 13th Division. However, I expect all of you to deploy forces totaling not less than ten percent of your available strength. Their composition is at your discretion. This effort will be coordinated and led by the 13th Division fukutaichō, Kuchiki Rukia, for reasons I would hope are readily apparent. The safety of Kurosaki Ichigo is to be regarded as a paramount strategic concern."
Yet again there was an outcry as the taichō clamored in response to both the personnel requirements and at the leadership of the effort.
Yamamoto once more silenced them. "Kurotsuchi-taichō, as our chief technological expert, do you have any particular contributions to make to this effort?" His stare made it clear he hadn't forgotten the man's refusal to assist with other matters involving Ichigo.
"Not really," Mayuri replied lightly, drawing glances.
"Meaning?"
"In Soul Society, tracking an individual is relatively straightforward," Mayuri lectured. "However, in the Living World, it becomes much more technically complex. The best that could be done right now is providing a localized geographical area that wouldn't much improve on these efforts."
"Are you really that useless?" Zaraki Kenpachi immediately asked. He rarely missed a chance to make a dig at the mad scientist, and his disgust this time was palpable.
Mayuri rolled his eyes theatrically and pulled out a soul pager, playing with it for a moment. "He's still within the Greater Tokyo Area at present."
"Well, that's a lot smaller than all of Japan," Shinji muttered in response, loud enough to hear.
"It's 3.5% of the area, but still 29.9% of the population to comb through; give me another week and I can find the exact path he's been taking." Mayuri waved a hand dismissively and briefly regretted the fact that he'd never had the opportunity to infect the boy with tracking microbes like he'd done to Ishida Uryū.
"For a matter of this importance we do not have another week. You have your orders, execute them! Dismissed!" Yamamoto concluded.
The first that anyone else heard about the circumstances was from an announcement that came over the loudspeaker system shortly after the meeting ended: "All fukutaichō and seated officers, report to your divisions for immediate briefing by your respective taichō. I repeat, all fukutaichō and seated officers, report to your divisions for immediate briefing by your respective taichō. This is not a drill."
Link: https://m.fanfiction.net/s/11484734/1/