Fate (A Bleach Fanfiction)

Chapter 67: Heading back home

Kuroki's pov

"Where could he have gone?" I looked around the entire Seiritei for Ichigo, but I couldn't find him anywhere. Strange, very strange. It's been a full week since Aizen and his goons deceived the Seiritei and the entire 13 court guard squad. I was bored most of the time and took up more training with Yoruichi, in the little time that we had, I had been mastering a lot of things. She first taught me how to keep control of my reiatsu, then I learned how to properly use Shunko and finally I became good at Shunpo.

I was faster than Ichigo, and even Byakuya but not fully up to par with Yoruichi. However, she told me that I was faster than Sui Feng, which made me happy. I didn't have to the best of friendship with the stealth squad, but Sui Feng did take a liking to me. "Hey, have you seen my brother? Spiky, orange hair?" I asked, "No, haven't seen him." I sighed and continued walking.

"Hey, why do you look so down?" I turned my head to Jushiro and Shunsui standing behind me, with smiles on their faces. In the time I had after training, I had made good friendship with Shunsui and Jushiro who are much like father figures. Jushiro is such a sweet man, while Shunsui is nothing but a big pervert. "I can't find Ichigo. I've been looking for him since I woke up." I turned to look at them. "Well, we'll help you with that." Jushiro smiled, "Thanks, Jushi." I smiled, "Jushi?" Shunsui asked, raising an eyebrow at me. "It's my new nickname for him." I said "Oh, that's so sweet Kuro. Do I get one?" Shunsui begged. "No," I was now standing in between the two men and we still hadn't found Ichigo, it must have been about 20 minutes.

"Why not?" My eye started to twitch and I was starting to get annoyed. "Stop bugging me, old man!" I yelled at him. "Whoa, calm down, Cherry." He said, putting his hands up in defense and I growled at him. "Why did I get the feeling I would find you here with those two?" I turned my head to see Rei and Yukio, "Hey guys." I waved at them, "I knew we would find you with those two." Yukio said, "Why?" I had lost both my cape and black hairband, which I didn't care for much anyways.

"You obviously love us so much. Don't you, Cherry?" Shunsui pinched my cheek, so I punched him in the face. He flew backwards and I heard a loud crash, "Was that Shunsui that just flew past here?" Yoruichi asked, as she came walking towards us. "Yeah, that was. The damn pervert." I huffed and Jushiro chuckled, "Come on. We have a brother to find." I said, pulling on Jushiro's arm, leaving behind the others.

Shunsui soon caught up with us, "So Kuro, how are you feeling?" Jushiro asked. "I'm fine more or less." I shrugged, "I think what Jushiro meant to ask was, how are you holding up since the whole Seiji thing?" Shunsui asked, "Well, I've been getting there. I still have so much hatred for him right now. Honestly, I just want to forget about him." I said to them, "Alright then." Jushiro nodded as I finally sensed Ichigo, he was nearby which made me happy. "Bye guys, I found Ichigo." They waved goodbye and I shunpooed to Ichigo. As soon as I saw that orange haired idiot, who I hadn't seen all day, I became happy.

"Ichigo!!!" I jumped onto him, making us hit the ground. "What the- Oh hey Kuro. What's up?" He asked, lifting his head to look at me. "Don't you 'oh hey kuro, what's up?' Me. I haven't seen you at all today!" I yelled and he sighed. "Sorry about that, Kuro. I meant to see you this morning." He patted my head, as the two of us stood to our feet. "Have you seen Rukia?" He helped me stand up. "No, have you?" He shook his head and an idea struck in our head. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I turned to him, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" He asked, "Renji!" We both yelled and high fived each other, so we made it a point to go see Renji. We actually ran into Orihime along the way, I could tell she liked Ichigo. I just had a feeling that she did, but I honestly thought that Rukia would be a better fit for Ichigo. Sorry Orihime, but I am going to set Rukia and Ichigo up. They have the chemistry.

All three of us headed to the hospital, where Ichigo and I jumped onto the ledge. "Renji!!! Have you seen Rukia?!" Ichigo blared into the room and poor Byakuya got the most of it. "I'm so sorry," I smacked Ichigo on the head, turning to look at Byakuya. He had a look of complete shock on his face, poor Byakuya. He probably wanted to have a nice quiet time and my idiot of an older twin ruined that for him. "What the hell?!! How dare you charge in here like that? I was ready to about say something really cool and you totally ruined the moment!" Renji yelled, closing the distance between Ichigo's face and his.

"Sorry about that. How was I supposed to know?" Ichigo gritted out, making me clear my throat so he could focus. Ichigo looked over at me and when my eyes met Renji's, I quickly looked away with a light blush. I think Byakuya could tell that I liked his lieutenant, but he still had that shocked look on his face. "Sorry, but have you seen Rukia? Cause we've been looking for her all day." Ichigo asked, "What? You mean you lost Rukia?!!" Renji yelled, "No! I didn't lose her, I just can't find her!" Ichigo retorted. 

"Oh," Renji spoke a little quieter, "Well sorry, but I haven't seen her since this morning." Renji said, making me sigh. "Well thanks for your help." Ichigo said, "Bye Renji. Bye Byakuya." He jumped down first, "Bye Ren. Bye Byakuya!" I jumped down after him, we headed out and kept looking. "I know where she went." I knew what he was talking about so when we found her, she was apologizing to Kukaku. But Kukaku had already forgiven her and walked off.

"Hey, I suspected you came here." Rukia saw us three and smiled. "Hey guys," I smiled, "We're heading out tomorrow. Are you coming home with us?" I asked, "No, not this time. I'm gonna stay in the Soul Society for a little while longer." She said, "Is that what you really want?" Ichigo asked, "Yeah." She said, "Well it's fine, really. As long as that's what you want." He said, making me smile.

~

The next morning, we were finally heading home. I had stopped by Squad 10 to say goodbye to Rangiku, and Toshiro and found Toshihiro there too. "Aww, you're leaving so soon?" Rangiku said, "Yeah, I'm glad we became friends." Rangiku squished me against her chest, and almost suffocated me until Toshiro pried her off. Now I know how poor Rei felt when I did that to him that one time. "Bye Shiro." I gave Toshiro a hug even though, he didn't want one and then one to Toshihiro. I left after my last goodbye and Jushiro was there to send us off. "Here you go, you two." Jushiro handed us a badge. "What is it?" Ichigo looked at him, as I looked down at the badge. "It's a Soul reaper substitute badge. You two are officially substitute soul reapers." I smiled, giving him a hug. "Thanks for everything, Jushiro." I smiled and we left. Yoruichi was coming back with us, which made me happy. We emerged from the dangai above Karakura town but was caught by Kisuke, Tessai, Jinta and Ururu.

"Don't worry, I forgive you Kisuke." I said, knowing he was going to apologize. "But make sure when you see Rukia next time, you apologize to her." Ichigo said. Everyone gets off on their own stop, "The next time we see each other, we will be enemies. Got it, Kurosaki siblings?" I shook my head at Uryu and Ichigo told Kisuke to drop of us a little early. We get off, saying our goodbyes and we walk to the family clinic. "We're finally home." I smiled, as Ichigo ruffled my hair and we headed inside.