Never Fade Away

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Chapter 2

Rukia and Byakuya arrived exactly at noon. Past experiences had taught Ichigo that he should be ready when Byakuya was ready or suffer the consequences. He could be scary when irritated; he had used razor sharp reiatsu to motivate him to move faster. Ichigo had responded in kind, causing Rukia to yell at them to knock it off before they accidentally killed each other. Both had responded with a muttered “Accidentally?”

Rukia tried to tackle him when he opened the door, but he was expecting it so he side stepped, making her land face down on the floor. “I’m leaving!” He yelled into the house, dragging Rukia out with him before they could be stopped.

Byakuya was sitting calmly in the car, giving no response to Ichigo’s polite ‘hello,’ ignoring his general presence. Rukia took the front seat and continued to bug Ichigo on the drive over. For once Ichigo was happy for the distraction. It kept him from getting nervous, although he wasn’t normally nervous.

They pulled into a large forested area that didn’t show any sign of life. Ichigo glanced at Rukia curiously, but she just snickered to herself at his ignorance. “It’s shielded from view. Kind of like a visible barrier that also keeps humans out.”

Ichigo looked ahead dubiously, but then it was like a film was removed from his eyes and the castle came into view. He didn’t know it was so huge! How many people belonged to the Shinigami? Certainly not enough to actually populate the castle…at least not enough people in this area.

They pulled up to the front and Rukia dragged Ichigo out of the car while Ichigo struggled against her, he was more than capable of getting out of the car without her help. Byakuya remained impassive in the driver’s seat, but gave an almost unnoticeable smile at Rukia’s stubbornness.

Ichigo and Rukia walked inside while Byakuya parked the car. Once inside, Ichigo tried not to gape at the massiveness of it all. Some of it must have shown in his face, though, because Rukia giggled and nudged him with her elbow. A tall man with spiky red hair strolled up to them with a yell of “Rukia!”

“Renji!” Rukia said back cheerfully. “I didn’t know you would be here today.”

Renji grunted and gave Ichigo a once over. “So this is the Strawberry?”

Ichigo gritted his teeth; he hated it when people called him that. “It’s Ichigo.”

Renji snorted at the response, but smiled at the fire in his eyes. It would be fun to tease this little berry.

“Nice hair, Strawberry.”

Ichigo fumed and made to hit him but Rukia got in between them. “Renji! Ichigo! Not right now, we have to introduce him to the others and see if he is accepted or not.” She turned to Ichigo, “Obviously not everyone is here right now, but there is enough to be witnesses for the test.”

“What kind of test?”

Rukia smiled at him in what she thought was a reassuring manner, but wasn’t at all. “Nothing too serious, just a fight between you and another member.”

Yeah, that definitely didn’t reassure Ichigo. For all he knew he would have to fight Byakuya which would not be beneficial to Ichigo. The bastard would probably do all he could to humiliate Ichigo.

“Who am I fighting?”

“Renji!” She gestured to the red-headed man who smirked at him. Well that was good, he didn’t know what Renji’s powers were, but Ichigo was confident in his ability to beat him.

Rukia ushered the two of them into the next room where a few other Shinigami were. One was completely bald and had small red marks by the corner of his eyes; he was talking to another guy who had black, bobbed hair and had the presence of one who thought he looked very attractive.

There was a dark-skinned woman that was talking to a blond haired man wearing sandals and a striped green hat. Standing off to the side by himself was a white haired kid that looked like he belonged in elementary school. They all had swords attached to their hips except for the bald guy who had a spear and Urahara that had a…cane?

“This is Ikkaku Madarame, Yumichika Ayasegawa, Yoruichi Shihōin, Urahara Kisuke, and Hitsuguya Toshiro. You already met Renji Abarai. And this is Ichigo.” The Shinigami regarded him critically.

“He doesn’t look like much.” Ikkaku said eyeing his body.

“Neither do you.” Ichigo retorted. Ikkaku blinked and then smirked.

“Fair enough little Strawberry.”

“It’s Ichigo!”

The other’s snickered at this response except for Hitsuguya who rolled his eyes. Byakuya arrived behind them without them noticing until he spoke.

“Where are Kenpachi and Yachiru?”

Yoruichi was the one who responded, “Oh they are probably lost in the castle somewhere. They have no sense of direction.”

“How unattractive.” Yumichika sighed.

Just then a tall dark haired man appeared behind Byakuya, and Ichigo fought down his initial response to run in the other direction. He had lanky black hair that hung across his right eye and scar that ran down his left eye. He was tall and very strong. Not bulky, but wiry. This sinister appearance was shattered by a small pink haired girl popping over his shoulder with an enormous smile and a wave.

“So this is the Strawberry?” The voice was deep and a little gravely.

“It’s Ichigo!” Was Ichigo’s instant retort. How long were people going to call him strawberry?

The man smirked, “He doesn’t look like much, but at least he has spirit.” Ichigo growled underneath his breath. What did the bastard know? When he kicked Renji’s ass they would figure out he was not some kid they could mess with.

“This is Kenpachi Zaraki and Yachiru Kusajishi. Kenpachi, Yachiru, this is Ichigo.”

Kenpachi’s first impression of the kid was that he was a weakling. But when he called him Strawberry there was a fire that lit in those brown eyes that spoke differently. The Strawberry had orange hair and was moderately tall, but had a narrow frame. Kenpachi hoped that appearances were deceiving and the Strawberry put up a good fight.

Ah! The boy was still glowering at him. It made him grin, he wished he was the one that got to fight him first, but alas, that task fell to Renji. Kenpachi acknowledged that Abarai was an okay fighter, not in his league, but not terrible. It made Kenpachi indifferent to him.

“Alright!” Urahara flicked the fan he had been using closed. “Now that everyone is here, let us move to the courtyard for the fight!”

This guy crept Ichigo out for some reason…maybe it was because that hat shaded his eyes from sight. They moved out of the room and Ichigo had to fight not to jump when he felt Kenpachi hovering behind him. Kenpachi could feel the tension he created in the boy and it made him smirk.

The courtyard was pretty much a fighting area that was partially blocked off with arched open walls and had no ceiling. In a little alcove protected from nature was a wall of practice weapons that consisted mostly of swords. Urahara saw him looking and smiled.

“Those are weapons specifically made for Shinigami. If you are inducted we will match you with one. Today, however, you and Renji are only going to be fighting with hand to hand combat and your powers. You understand?”

Ichigo nodded and watched Renji who was cracking his neck and joking around with Ikkaku. Ichigo took the moment to watch how Renji moved, trying to predict how he would negotiate his body in the fight. Urahara saw him watching and smiled while clapping him on his shoulders.

“Everyone who is not Renji or Ichigo, please move aside to give them space, yes you too Yachiru.”

His stomach flipped over, he was confident in his ability to fight; he had done it enough with his classmates and hollows. But he was still nervous. Across from him Renji was smirking confidently. This toughened his resolve to win, to beat him.

“And…begin!”

Ichigo had to dodge out of the way instantly as Renji’s whip-like reiatsu lashed out at him. He glowered at the man and concentrated his reiatsu into the palms of his hands and threw it at Renji in a burst. Renji’s eyes widened at the amount of power behind it and just barely managed to get out of its way. It smashed into the ground behind him, showering Renji with dirt.

He heard Urahara saying that maybe they should have gone outside for this, but pushed it aside to concentrate on the fight. They were both stepping back slightly to recalculate their knowledge of their opponent before dashing in again.

Ichigo dodged Renji’s reiatsu, but it curled around his arm and tightened cutting into his skin and making him bleed. Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the pain and concentrated his reiatsu around that arm to push it off; Renji noticed this and tightened the grip he had on the arm.

Figuring it would not be so easy to escape the grip; Ichigo instead grabbed a hold of the reiatsu and yanked it towards him, pulling Renji off his feet because he was attached to it. When Renji was off his guard, Ichigo concentrated another burst of reiatsu and shot it barreling towards Renji.

It hit him in the middle of his chest and sent him flying across the courtyard before landing harshly on the ground. Ichigo hadn’t put enough power into it to kill, just to knock him unconscious.

Everybody was surprised for a moment before they laughed, “I suppose you aren’t so weak.” Ikkaku said, at least the boy wasn’t a total weakling.

“I have yet to discover if I can say the same about you.” Ichigo replied with a grin.

“Oh you will.”

Rukia had checked to make sure Renji was still breathing and then came over to Ichigo. “This means you’re in!” She punched him in the back of the head lightly.

“We should probably see to that wound of yours.” Yoruichi said.

“Eh, no need to.” Ichigo replied, brushing the comment off.

Yoruichi smiled at him, “I know how much damage Renji’s reiatsu does, you need to get that healed.”

Ichigo held of his arm, “It’s already starting to heal.”

Yoruichi blinked and then narrowed her eyes and took his arm. There was blood smeared across of it, but the wound was already remarkably smaller.

“How is that…?”

“Didn’t Rukia and Byakuya tell you?” Asked Ichigo, propping his hands behind his head and surveying the group, “I can heal most of my wounds. It’s pretty useful.” Most of the other’s looked surprised except for Urahara who was smirking behind his fan and Kenpachi who was grinning crazily at him.

Ah yes, Kenpachi was interested in the fact that the Strawberry could heal, but not really surprised. There were lots of different ways that reiatsu manifests itself in the users, Kenpachi’s own was very useful. It would make fighting with Strawberry a lot more fun when the time came.

The Shinigami went off to do their respective things leaving Ichigo with Rukia and surprisingly Kenpachi. Yachiru had gone off to snack on some ice cream. Ichigo eyes Kenpachi but Rukia just ignored him.

“Come on Ichigo! I’ll show you around.”

Kenpachi followed behind. “Are you planning on staying in Seritei?” Kenpachi asked curiously. Rukia shot him a questioning look, Kenpachi barely ever showed interest in other people except for Yachiru.

“Seritei?”

“It’s the name of the castle.” Rukia responded.

“Is staying here an option?”

Rukia nodded, “It makes it easier for us to get a hold of the members and take care of hollows. Most members don’t live here, but a few do.” She gave him a side-long look. “Once you graduate it might be nice for you to stay here and get away from your crazy dad.”

Kenpachi was surprised at this information and glanced at Ichigo. “You are still in high school?” Ichigo nodded warily, “Hah! You are more of a kid than I thought.”

“Hey, I’m 18! And I’m graduating in a month.”

Kenpachi chuckled, “That still makes you a kid.”

“I’m not a kid!”

“Sure, Strawberry.”

“Stop calling me that!”

Rukia rolled her eyes and smiled at the interaction. She had a feeling those two were going to get along…if they didn’t kill each other, which was a possibility with Kenpachi. She snorted as Kenpachi ruffled Ichigo’s hair and Ichigo tried to get him to stop.

Kenpachi didn’t usually act like this, even with Yachiru. It made her question exactly what Kenpachi’s interest in Ichigo was. Kenpachi was given strict instructions to not instigate a fight with the new member, which he grumpily accepted. She wondered how Kenpachi would act around Ichigo when they did fight.


Alright! Another chapter out. Please review, it makes me write faster.