Welcome back to the Strawberry Shinigami Network and please enjoy your stay. As always I am your host, Strawberry Taicho. You can call me Berry-chan! Thank you guys sooo much for your support. The first chapter is doing quite well so I figured I would go ahead and make another! Aren't you excited!? I am! A few things first. Pairings. While it won't start for a bit, I'm leaning toward somebody not seen very often. Let me know what you guys think, because I want to hear from you! Obviously Ichigo will be going to the Overlord universe at some point, and will probably need to take his pairing with him, so if you have suggestion, rapid-fire please! That's all for now, so without further ado, let's get this party started. Let the cameras roll!

Disclaimer: By the curse of Kami, I do not own Bleach or Overlord. Damn it.

Overlord and Strawberries

Chapter 2- A New Arrival

Bankai Training Ground beneath Sokyoku Hill, 12:15 a.m.

Standing silently in the vast training grounds, Captain Commander Shunsui Kyoraku surveys the others there as he waits for the Squad 5 representatives. His co-lieutenant Nanao Ise stood behind him. To his left stood Shinji Hirako, captain of squad 8, and his lieutenant Hiyori Sarugaki. Next was Kisuke Urahara, captain of squad 12, and his lieutenant the ever silent Nemu. After them came Yoruichi Shihoin, co-captain of squad 2 and her lieutenant, Hachigen Ushoda. Next was Tier Harribel, the beautiful captain of squad 3 and her equally beautiful lieutenant Nelliel Tu Odershvank. Finally, was the newly appointed captain of squad 4, Isane Kotetsu. Everybody was talking quietly amongst themselves, already made aware of the situation. Shunsui made sure they got their letters half an hour before Ichigo, so they could be informed of the details ahead of time to make sure Ichigo would not do anything rash. Everybodythough was visibly worried, even Nemu, and Hiyori looked agitated. Shunsui decided to state what everybody was thinking.

"Ichigo is not going to like this," he said

"No you think?" said Hiyori sarcastically. "You remember what happened with Ulquiorra? If he loses control, can you honestly say that we can stop him?"

"Not only that but if he decides to run off Gin will no doubt follow and support him. Yare yare, it's a huge mess." Kisukes said dryly.

"Ichi-kun would never put us in danger," stated Nel, and Tier nodded in agreement.

Suddenly Yoruichi stood up and looked across the clearing.

"He is here," she said right before two figures shunpoed into view.

As Ichigo and Gin neared the training grounds. Ichigo detected several reiatsu signatures near Shunsui, all of them familiar.

'Hmm seems like he called in several people. The question is, for what purpose?'

"Hey guys," Ichigo greeted to everybody as he and Gin touched down, dodging a sandal as it flew by his head.

"You're late baldy," said Hiyori

"Good to see you too Hiyori," Ichigo said warmly, smiling slightly. "Shunsui-san, Nanao, Shinji, Yoruichi, Hachi, Geta-Boshi, Nemu, Nel, Tier, Isane, hello to all of you, he said nodding his head to each person.

Hi Ichi-kun, I missed you!" yelled Nel, tackling him to the ground in a hug.

Ichigo smiled and patted her head. "I missed you too Nel, but it's only been a few days."

"Oh my, quite the procession we have here. All this for little ol' us?" Gin grinned, as he knew his guess was on the mark.

"Hachigen, the barrier please," asked Yoruichi.

Hachi made a few gestures and clapped his hands and a blue dome like barrier surrounded them.

"This will be sufficient to keep out any prying eyes or ears," he stated.

"Alright then, what exactly is going on? You all seem to know something I don't." Ichigo stated, helping Nel up from the ground.

"Ichigo, you already know what Ywach did right before you defeated him. I don't like having to bring it up, but it's relevant to what I'm going to tell you."

Everyone looked sad, and Ichigo was no different. His eyes were distant and in pain, as if recalling a nightmare, one he couldn't get rid of.

"Remember? I will never forget that day."

Flashback- 6 years ago, the day of Ywach's defeat

Ichigo glared at the battered form of the Quincy King Ywach, his eyes screaming with grief and rage. The love of his life Rukia laid dead in his arms, her wounds too much with nobody around to heal them. Everybody else was occupied with battle elsewhere or dead, as numerous corpses littered the ground. Many people died because of the asshole in front of him. Old man Yama, Sasakibe, Retsu Unohana, Omaeda, Byakuya Kuchiki, Sajin Komamura, Rose, Yuzu Kurosaki, Karin Kurosaki, Isshin Kurosaki, Chad, Uryu, Orihime, Tatsuki, Grimmjow and many others, gone forever because of one man's twisted self-absorbed bullshit.

"Foolish girl, interrupting our battle. She got what she deserved. Although, had you been a bit faster and dodged that last attack, she would still be alive." Ywach smirked at him as Ichigo screamed in grief and agony over the loss of those he loved most.

"No, no, no, no, no! You can't leave me Rukia! What am I supposed to do without you?"

"Ichigo…"

Ichigo's eyes widened as his tear stained face stared down at his other half, hope briefly filling him, then vanishing with her next words. She raised a shaky hand towards his face and dried his eyes, smiling weakly.

"Don't cry baka," she whispered. "Promise me you will never cry again unless they are tears of joy. Promise me, strawberry."

Blinking and choking back further tears, Ichigo stroked her raven black hair. "I promise my love."

Rukia smiled again, beginning to cry herself. "Could you kiss me? I can't seem to reach you."

Ichigo lowered his face and pressed his cracked, blood soaked lips to hers. Her lips were so soft and she tasted like strawberries, just like always.

"I love you Ichigo Kurosaki."

And with those final words, Rukia Kuchiki passed from the world.

…

For a few moments, Ichigo stayed silent, not saying a word. Ywach smirked.

"You give up boy? Finally realize how useless you are?"

Then slowly he began to move. He kissed Rukia one last time, and laid her gently on the ground. Then he turned to face the cause of all his pain and suffering. He narrowed his eyes in anger and raised Tensa Zangetsu at Ywach threateningly.

"For what you have done, and for the innocent lives you have taken throughout you're existence. I will kill you here. Face your end."

From Ichigo's body stepped two figures. On his right was an exact copy of him, white in color, with black teeth and hungry yellow eyes. Shiro. He growled at Ywach, visibly pissed off, but abnormally sane.

"You killed the rest of King's family but that wasn't enough was it? You had to murder the Queen too!? Listen up fucker, if it was up to me I would chop off all your limbs an inch at a time and toss you into a hollow nest in Hueco Mundo! I am going to inflict as much pain as I possibly can before Ichigo kills you. There will be just enough left of you to rot in hell for all eternity you stupid son of a bitch!"

On his left was a young man dressed in a torn black cloak, shades over his eyes, and his blac hair flowing in the nonexistent wind. Tensa Zangetsu. He was angrier than Ichigo had ever seen him, completely forgoing his silent, broody demeanor. He drew his sword and pointed it at Ywach, his eyes blazing in rage.

"Ichigo had finally achieved happiness, and for a brief moment, the rain in the soul that we share had ended. You have brought a bigger storm than you could possibly imagine! It's time you died by the wrath of that storm!"

Shiro and Tensa both vanished, and two swords pierced Ywach's eyes, blinding him. He screamed out in pain, clutching his face with his free hand. Then it started. He was assaulted from so many directions at once that it felt like he was being attacked by a few dozen Ichigo's instead of just three. He tried to block the attacks, but his efforts proved futile.

"What's the matter am I going to slow for you? I can speed things up if you'd like."

Growling at his words, Ywach flashed back trying to create some distance between them.

"You're not getting away!"

"Indeed, we aren't done yet. Getsuga Tensho."

The white crescent tore at Ywach's legs causing him to stumble. Shiro grabbed his face and shoved his open palm into his mouth.

"Hado #31! Shakahho!"

Flames erupted into his body and charred his tongue and throat black, making it feel as if he was melting from the inside.

Then he felt a thud, and both his arms dropped to the ground, blood spraying from his sockets. He screamed again, this one louder than the last, and fell to his knees. Then he heard Ichigo speak, his voice cold steel.

"I know you aren't dead Ywach, but you soon will be. While I would love to prolong your pain even further, I have wounded to tend to and family to bury. Time for you to die."

Tensa and Shiro put away their blades and stepped behind Ichigo, nodding at him. Nodding back, he dragged his hand across his face, summoning his hollow mask. Raising both his arms, he charged a red Gran Rey Cero on the tip of his left finger, and a black Cero Oscuras on his right. Then he pumped reiatsu into them at the same time, causing them to begin to merge. As they merged, a cero three times as large as the other two appeared in the middle, except it was pure white and tinged with purple. Sending the doom blast to its intended target, Ichigo spoke the last words Ywach would ever hear.

"Cero Catastrophica."

End Flashback

Ichigo's eyes were downcast, and everyone else either look saddened or ashamed. Nel was crying softly and in a hug from Tier, and even Gin was frowning. They knew the general story, but until now they didn't know all the details.

"So, what does this have to do with why we are here now?" Ichigo asked, trying to steer the conversation in another direction.

"Ichigo you know that the ranks of the Gotei 13 changed a lot after the war, and the reason for that." Yoruichi said, stepping forward.

Ichigo nodded, knowing what she meant. Soul Society had undergone a lot of changes in rank, due too many people dying in the war.

"Right we had to promote people and move things around due to our high body count. Renji and Isane became captains. Tier and Nel joined us too." Ichigo responded, nodding to those present.

The captains we lost all had their deaths confirmed right? I was there for a few of them."

Urahara spoke then, his eyes serious for a change.

"Ichigo I'm going to be honest with you. While we thought that they were all confirmed I was proved wrong yesterday. I have been finding and getting rid of all of the previous squad 12 captain's disgusting experiments. However yesterday I found a machine that even I could not use. It was a reiatsu tracker, and a much more advanced one than what we currently use. It could tell us the approximate age and gender of the person who we were tracking. The problem though is that it only responds to two people. Nemu, if you would"

Nemu spoke up then, her monotone voice unusually worried.

"Only my reiatsu and Mayuri's reiatsu could power the machine. On Kisuke's request I used it to confirm that all the of our losses in the war were indeed losses. For the most part, all deaths were confirmed. However, we found something interesting. It seems that Mayuri Kurotsuchi is not dead. We found his reiatsu in one of the outer districts of the Rukongai."

Ichigo's eyes widened and Gin frowned slightly. Ichigo tried to speak, but stopped when Shunsui put up his hand.

"Let us finish please, Ichigo-kun. After hearing this, Kisuke did a sweep for all the reiatsu in the area. We found something near Kurotsuchi's location. Ichigo, we found people. Many people all seeming to be young, very young. We believe Kurotsuchi faked his death and fled, and is continuing his experiments in the Rukongai."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed, and his brow furrowed in anger.

"What the hell are we doing here then?" Ichigo asked turning to leave, but stopped as a hand grabbed his shoulder. He turned to see Shinji holding him back.

"Please wait Ichigo. We still aren't finished. During the scan, we found somebody mixed in with all the others. A girl, around age six. "She has very high reiatsu for someone her age. What surprised us the most is the composition of her reiatsu."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means Ichigo, that the girl we found has reiatsu traces of both you and Rukia Kuchiki."

End of Chapter 2

And cliffhanger! Yaay! Chapter 2 is finished! We got some background here and a few suprising revelation! Not to worry though. I promise the action will start soon! I changed the Gotei 13 around a bit, and the squads will be posted below! Plese review, I want to hear what you have to say! Have any ideas? Let me hear them! Thank you so much for your support, and I will see you soon!

Current Gotei 13

Squad 1 Captain- Shunsui Kyoraku

Lieutenant- Nanao Ise and Genshiro Okikiba

Squad 2 Captain- Soifon Feng and Yoruichi Shihoin

Lieutenant- Hachigen Ushoda

Squad 3 Captain- Tier Harribel

Lieutenant- Nelliel Tu Odershvank

Squad 4 Captain- Isane Kotetsu

Lieutenant-Yasochika Iemura

Squad 5 Captain- Ichigo Kurosaki

Lieutenant- Gin Ichimaru

Squad 6 Captain- Renji Abarai

Lieutenant- Izuru Kira

Squad 7 Captain- Love Aikawa

Lieutenant- Lisa Yadomaru

Squad 8 Captain- Shinji Hirako

Lieutenant- Hiyori Sarugaki

Squad 9 Captain- Kensei Muraruma

Lieutenant- Mashiro Kuna and Shuhei Hisagi

Squad 10 Captain- Toshiro Hitsugaya

Lieutenant- Rangiku Matsumoto

Squad 11 Captain- Kenpachi Zaraki

Lieutenant- Yachiru Kusajishi

Squad 12 Captain- Kisuke Urahara

Lieutenant- Nemu Kurotsuchi

Squad 13 Captain- Jushiro Ukitake

Lieutenant- Momo Hinamori