Ichigo the Dealer
Fare thee well
It was pouring this night. Just like it was the night his Kaa-san died. Whenever he looked at his hands on nights like these, he would see them covered in her blood. He sat on his bed and hugged himself as he shook.
"Kaa-chan." He whimpered quietly. "What should I do?"
The question was not directed to his deceased family member, but to the voice that started speaking within his mind days after her death. He was scared the first time he heard the voice and spent day and night ignoring it. That is until it started making promises of helping him forget the tragedy. Promises that it kept, except for on days like this. The pain of remembering when it rained was too much for him.
You must leave, Ichigo.
"Where, Mister?" Ichigo asked as he held his head in pain, as the memories came to the surface of his mind again and again.
This town is causing you pain. You must leave; allow your mind to heal, become stronger and to no longer be hurt by these memories. Can you do that? Leave your family and your town?
Without answering, Ichigo got up and quickly, but quietly, moved around his room, grabbing what he thought he would need on his journey. He made sure to grab his bag to carry all of his things and after making sure he grabbed everything, even the five-pronged cross that his mother gave him a week before she died, and sneakily crept out of his room and down the stairs. He went into the kitchen and grabbed some food and containers. Filling the containers with the food, he placed them in his bag and headed to the front door. He made sure to put on his shoes.
He stretched to reach the handle, and after making sure it wouldn't make a noise, he opened the door and exited his house. The rain had let up and was only drizzling now, so Ichigo wasn't feeling as bad as he had before, though there was still a small amount of pain. He started walking in the direction of the train station that was a couple of kilometres out of Karakura.
It was as he was reaching the edge of his town that he heard a cat's meow. Turning around, he saw a black cat sitting on the ground with its yellow eyes trained on him. It stood up and stalked towards him and rubbed itself against his leg. Leaning down, Ichigo picked up the cat, and noticed that it was a she.
"Hello there, Kitty. What are you doing out here?" all he received from the cat was her meow. 'What should I do? She doesn't have a collar, so she must be a stray.'
She is a stray and she already likes you. Why not take her with you. A physical companion will help you much more than I could.
With that, Ichigo held the cat a little tighter and asked her his question.
"Would you like to come with us, Miss Kitty?"
He received the cat's response in the form of a content purr as she snuggled closer into his body.
"Okay! Let's do this!" the nine year old said as he started to leave the town, not looking back.
7 YEARS LATER – LAS VEGAS
"Come one, come all, and be amazed by the dazzling tricks of The Dealer and Miss Kitty!" called out a teenager of sixteen years of age as he waved a black cane with a silver handle around dramatically.
He stood at slightly over six feet in height, with orange hair slicked back (the hairstyle he had when he fought Ywhach), wearing an all-black suit, except for a white dress shirt and a red tie, which was loosely hanging from his neck. His cane was slightly longer than a metre and the handle was in the shape of a cat's head… an Iriomote cat's head to be precise.
He was currently standing in Fremont Street, which was in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was the second most famous street in the Las Vegas Valley after the Las Vegas Strip. He stood in front of a sign on a stand and on the sign are the words; 'THE DEALER AND MISS KITTY'.
There was a group of about ten people standing in front of him, all with looks of expectation. One of them, a man in his late thirties, called out to him.
"Hey! Who the hell's this Dealer guy and Miss Kitty?" the people who were standing with him wanted to know the same thing.
The man offered them a charming smile, which caused some of the women in the growing audience to gain blushes and replied to the man with a dramatic bow.
"Why, my dear man, I am The Dealer. And this…" at that, he raised his right and laid his left arm under his chest. He then swiped his arm down and all saw that suddenly there was a black cat resting in his left arm. "This is Miss Kitty." He received applauses from the audience, which he then clicked his fingers and suddenly within a hand of all the females in the audience, a rose appeared.
He received applause before bowing and speaking clearly to Miss Kitty. "I do hope that you're prepared." He then turned and spoke loudly to the audience. "Be prepared to be amazed."
AT NIGHT – ICHIGO'S HOTEL ROOM
After a long day of amazing people, Ichigo returned to his hotel room to relax. Entering the room, he let Miss Kitty out of his arms and walked over to his single bed before promptly falling on it.
"It's been a long day hasn't it, Miss Kitty?" he asked the cat that jumped up onto his chest.
"It has indeed." Replied the cat in a deep voice.
"Aw, now I'm hallucinating again. Better take my pills." With that, Ichigo got up and placed the talking cat back onto the bed before walking over to his old schoolbag and opening it. He pulled out an old looking wooden box with intricate designs all over it. Opening it, he pulled out a clear pill bottle full of black and white pills. Taking off the cap, he lifted the bottle and poured most of it into his mouth, which he swallowed with a cup of water.
"You shouldn't be taking that many pills, Ichigo." Miss Kitty told him with a voice full of worry.
"Don't worry Miss Kitty, you'll be just like any other cat in a moment and that voice will stop torturing me."
It was a couple of minutes later that he stood up and entered his bathroom take a cold shower. He came out a bit later and looked at the cat as she followed his movements with her eyes. Letting the towel drop, he opened his suitcase and took out some boxers. He put them on and lay back down on his bed, next to Miss Kitty.
"You're not able to speak anymore, are you Miss Kitty?" he asked as she slid her body into his and started purring. He took that as his answer and closed his eyes, trying to let himself fall into unconsciousness.
XXXXX
Hurt him
No!
Hurt him, now
No! I won't do it!
You are weak.
No I'm not!
Yes you are
If you are not weak then kill him
Hurt him
Slice him
Dice him
Hurt him
No!
Yes
No!
Do it
No!
Yes
No!
Do not do it, Ichigo!
I won't!
You will or she will die
Ichigo, don't listen to him!
You wouldn't kill her! You don't have any control over me!
Do you really believe that
Ichigo! Remember, he doesn't hold any power over you. You have to listen to me!
I won't listen to you!
Then watch as I kill her
No!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!
No! Stop it! Please, stop it!
XXXXX
"Stop it!" Ichigo screamed out as he woke up from his nightmare, scaring Miss Kitty, whose hair stood on end before calming down as she realised that it was just another of Ichigo's nightmares.
'Ichigo, what's going on with you?' She thought as she looked at him with worry-filled eyes.
He got out of the bed, body covered in sweat, as he went into the bathroom. When the door closed, the only sound Kitty could hear was his retching.
There was banging on one of the walls from someone in the next apartment.
"Oi! Shut the fuck up, you bastard!"
Kitty was pissed and quickly transformed into a purple-haired, dark skinned beauty, who hit the wall and called back.
"Why don't you piss off, fucker!"
"Why don't you come over here and suck my-"
Before anymore arguing could happen, Ichigo walked back into the room and saw the cat transformed into human and raised an eyebrow at her.
"Miss Kitty? When did you learn to do magic?" he then promptly fell onto the bed and was snoring lightly.
"It's Yoruichi, Ichigo." She told the passed out man as she lay down beside him and pulled his body into hers.
XXXXX
"Let me get this straight." A man reached out to a painting on his wall and straightened it. "There, now let's get to the reason why I have called you all here."
The man returned to his seat at a long rectangular table, which had five people seated on each side. Taking his glasses off and slicking his hair back, he raised his eyebrow at his subordinates, expecting them to question why they were there. They didn't disappoint.
"Why are we here, Aizen-sama?" asked none other than the third Espada, Tia Halibel.
Aizen let a chuckle escape his lips as he stood up from his chair and again walked over to the only painting on the wall. Ignoring what the woman asked, he gave his own question.
"Do any of you know what this painting is of?" they were all confused as they truly didn't know what the painting was of. "I see." Clapping his hands once, the painting enlarged itself until it almost took up the entire wall. It even enhanced its own quality, making it clearer for the Espada to see.
"This," Aizen began, "is a painting of one, Kurosaki Ichigo. Though now I believe, he goes by the unusual name of 'The Dealer'."
"Why are you telling us this?" asked Grimmjow, the sixth Espada.
"Well, Grimmjow, Kurosaki Ichigo currently has a god residing within his soul." Aizen explained with an amused smile as he saw the shock on the Espadas faces, even the usually emotionless fourth Espada, Uliquiorra and Tia, who had great control over her emotions.
"Aizen-sama," began Tia, "why do you have a painting of the boy?"
The others were also wondering about that as well and looked towards their leader expectantly.
"Since Kurosaki is currently residing in America, within the world of the living, I sent Gin out to see one of his shows. He returned with the painting"
"Shows? As in magic tricks?"
"Yes Starrk, Kurosaki is what many would consider a magician. Tricking your eyes into thinking that they had seen something, when he in fact does something completely different. Any other questions?" when he received no other questions, he clapped his hands and tousled his hair before putting his glasses back on with a charming smile upon his face. He then opened his own portal into Soul Society and started walking through it, not without calling back to his subordinates.
"If all goes according to plan, you all should be meeting him in person."
As the portal closed, the tenth Espada, Yammi, spoke up.
"He's a dick."
Everyone agreed with the giant man, but didn't voice it as they left the room. When the door closed, Ichimaru Gin stepped out from the shadows and walked over to the giant painting. Tapping on it, the painting returned to its original size and he took it off the wall before walking over to a different door from the one that allowed entrance into the room. This door led to Gin's room, where he was close enough to listen in on meetings without having to be in the meeting room itself.
"You're right, Aizen-sama. If all goes according to plan, we will be meeting Ichigo-kun… but it won't be your plan that's the cause of it."
EXTRA
"Miss Kitty! Put down the sock. It is very dangerous." Spoke Ichigo as he tried to calm down the cat that currently had his sock in her mouth. It wouldn't have been that bad if it was an ordinary sock, but this one held a magic 8 ball in it and if you didn't know, they hurt a lot when hit by one.
The cat swung it at him when he got too close, almost hitting him in the face.
"Damn it! Shit! Fuck, that was close!" looking at the cat with murder in his eyes, he was about to jump at her, when another cat's meowing caught his attention.
Looking over to the source of the noise, he saw a cat that was identical to the one that had his sock and magic 8 ball. Though this one had a collar and a tag with the name Miss Kitty on it. The real Miss Kitty was giving him a look that made him feel like an idiot.
"Oh… come to think of it, that isn't even my sock and I don't own a magic 8 ball."
When he left the room that he had just randomly entered, Yoruichi was still giving him the 'A you serious' look.
'Ichigo, you are an idiot.' She thought before Ichigo picked her up and started scratching her. 'But you know how to scratch a girl in all the right places.'
With that, Yoruichi started to sleep, dreaming of strawberries, socks and magic 8 balls.
XXXXX
[A.N.]
Don't know where I'm taking this or any of my other stories as none of them are planned. I just type and it goes where it goes.
If you would like to help, leave a chapter title in a review, four words or less, and I will use it as the basis of what that chapter will have.
English is my first language, and unlike all those authors whose third language is English and are good at writing stories, I'm not. So sorry if any of my stories are badly written as I do not have a BETA reader.