This is my fanart for Know The Difference
When Ichigo was still a kid, he could tell that there were two types of creatures; ghosts and Youkai. It was easy to identify them. Ghosts came from the death of a human, were transparent and usually had a chain on their chest; but that was just usually and that meant the ghost was recently dead. Youkai were basically on another level; sometimes they were born from the death of a human, sometimes, if they've stayed on the living planet long enough, couldn't pass on and turned into a Youkai by the energy around the earth. Some of the ex-ghosts maintained their human appearance, some of them took another form entirely. Sometimes Youkai were practically born looking like a monster. The easiest way to differentiate which one is which was this; Ayakashi were a lot more solid than ghosts.
That was why when his mother was gone, the only things he could do to lessen the pain were helping his sisters around the house and the ghosts who were recently passed away; persuade them to please, pass on. If they don't want to and were waiting to change into an Youkai, he couldn't force them. One of the ghosts he met before said it was because he wanted to see his family grow up. He didn't want to leave them alone even though his family couldn't see him anymore.
Now Ichigo has learned about the existence of a third kind of creature.
A hollow.
He didn't know why he never met them before—maybe they have their own place to live and now can finally come here because some clumsy Shinigami forgot to close the Senkaimon—but when he realized the Hollow was targeting all the Ghosts, consuming them cruelly like they were a mere snacks and not former living beings, he couldn't just stand still. Sure, he acted like he didn't care when Rukia asked him to exorcise the kid that time. Yet the thought of those innocent ghosts, eaten just because some monster thought these people exist solely for the monster to satiate their hunger, cease to exist entirely—
While they have family they wish to see. Family they were forced to leave behind because of the cruelty of fate, because of an unlucky accident. Because he was too late. Too naive. Too weak! I'm sorry, Mama I'm sorry—
(He hoped. He desperately hoped. That his mother passed on peacefully)
(That she didn't get eaten by a hollow and could live happily ever after in the afterlife. Please)
So it was a jarring experience for him when Rukia shrieked and pushed Ichigo to do a Soul Burial quickly because that thing is so scary, what the heck, it has twelve hands!
"You've never see a Youkai before, Rukia?" he asked, watching the petite girl trying to duck behind his figure, "it's just a Hecatonchires. Hello sir."
"OoOh...A hUmAn. YoU cAn SeE uS?" Ichigo nodded. The green creature with twelve hands and three heads laughed uproariously, face basked in joy, "OoOoH...iT's bEeN a WhIlE sInCe A HuMaN sTruCk a CoNvErSaTiOn WiTh Us. Do YoU hAvE sOmE TiMe To SpEaK wItH tHeSe OlD MeN?"
It was kind of hilarious though, that Ichigo was having a good talk with the Youkai yet Rukia kept hiding behind him; waiting for the nice Demon to strike her when she careless enough to drop her guard down. He waved at the Hecatonchires—the old Youkai said he wanted to visit a Yoko near the shrine, his friend that was an ex-Ghost—and turned to meet the frightened girl, "seriously, is this your first time seeing them? There are no Youkai in Soul Society?"
"...No. I haven't seen one before," She hesitantly straightened her posture, glaring at the still amused orange-haired teen, "Yes, I've heard my brother talk about Youkai, although I've never met them in the flesh before. Not in Rukongai. Not even near the Shinigami barracks. Granted, this is my first time staying in the human world for this long. I've been here a couple of times but never realized their shape was something like...that."
"Hmm...maybe they have their own realm? Like those hollow?" Ichigo mussed, "I've been seeing them since I was a kid. I thought you knew everything, as you're a shinigami and all~"
"Shut up!"
Ichigo felt amused, like the world was making fun of the petite companion, since at almost every corner during their journey to Orihime's house—the plump girl wanted to do a group study for an exam that would be held next week—they encountered many Youkai; be it a human looking one (Rukia was confused because they didn't have any chain on their chest) or another monster looking one, striking a short conversation whenever they realized Ichigo could see them. Ichigo was silently laughing. He was sure the ex-Shinigami was going to make him pay for this, but it was worth it.
His fun was cut short when he heard a familiar roar. Their attention instantly snapped to the towering hollow on the far north; it was shaped like a humongous bear, with a mask hanging low on its jaw and the hole in its stomach. Without any prompting, Ichigo swallowed the soul pill—threatened Kon not to do anything funny with his body—and shunpoed to the scene.
It was fortunate that there was almost nobody on the street, just a couple of dogs and a cat near the trash bin, looking for something to eat. Although, his brown eyes narrowed into a slit, there was a man walking on the pavement, slowly coming to the place where the Hollow was. He was too caught up playing with his phone and listening to some music, it seemed, as he watched that mouth moving and body swaying, following the slow and upbeat tune only he could hear. The thing that made Ichigo stop for a moment was—
Was that man possessed?
Because the teen saw something on the older man's shoulder. Something like...a skeleton. Wearing a black veil, floating, hugging him from behind and staring at whatever the man was doing on his phone.
Ichigo had met possessed humans before; they become easily tired and sick. He hoped that the skeleton was hanging around the man for a moment (just curious but what was that human doing) and had not permanently possessed him. If she had, Ichigo would need to do a force soul burial on...her? Her.
He shifted his focused back to the hollow. Now that Ichigo was near it, it had sensed his presence and turned its attention toward him. With another loud roar that rumbled through and shook the ground—lucky that he was on the air right now—the monster punched, fist ready. The orange-haired teen unsheathed his bulky blade, crouched low and moved.
When Kon/Ichigo and Rukia finally arrived at the battle scene, the Hollow was already slain, Ichigo was hopping down from the bare air, strapping his blade back to its place.
"Good job, Ichigo. It only took ten minutes. And no casualties this time," Rukia praised.
"Yeah, the hollow was pretty slow. I just needed to flash step to its back and kill it from behind," he said with a shrug. "Oh, by the way, I saw a man possessed by a ghost over there."
"Possessed?"
"Uh huh. There's this skeleton floating near his shoulder. Oh, there he is." He pointed to the man in the expensive looking suit—still on his phone too. Man, it was lucky that the Hollow was stupid or else this man would have gotten squashed in a second. "And that's the gho—"
"That's not a ghost!" Rukia suddenly hissed, eyes widening in shock.
"Huh?"
"Hello, Kuchiki Rukia. Kurosaki Ichigo. Kon."
Ichigo whirled back around when the foreign voice echoed around him and was instantly face to face with the skeleton he just saw. She must have approached them silently the moment his eyes were diverted from the pair. The man itself was still on the corner, leaning on the wall and was too busy playing with his phone, maybe he decided to stop for a bit before he crashed into someone. Now that they're this close, Ichigo could say that she was pretty. For a skeleton. She smiled, Ichigo felt her aura waved and seeped into his very being. "It's nice to finally meet a Japan shinigami. How's Soul Society doing?"
"We-we are doing fine, Mistress!" Rukia bowed—that Rukia! That Rukia who was stubborn like a rock! Bowed!—and stuttered. The black-haired teen took a deep breath and continued, "I'm...not a shinigami at this moment though, Mistress."
"Alas, you're still registered as one in my book. That means that you're going to get your power back someday, so don't worry."
"T-Thank you, Mistress."
Mistress? Ichigo hummed, clasped his chin between his fingers. Where did he hear that name before? Mistress...Mistress...
"Ah!" he almost shouted, barely holding back at the very last moment. "You're the Mistress of Death?! The very boss of every shinigami, the central 46 and even the soul king?!"
Rukia had told him about it before, when he first became a substitute shinigami. She said that, as he was one of them for now, he needed to learn the history of Soul Society. She had told him about how the Shinigamis' ranks worked, what their role is, and their purpose for existing. She told him about the Soul King, who appointed particular spirits to be the members of Central 46 and gave them full control of Soul Society's government, while the king himself was bound to his duty to regulate the flow of souls into and out of the realm of Shinigami, keeping the flow stable.
Rukia's older brother told her one day that the Soul King actually wasn't at the top of the chain. (It was supposed to be a secret, one only the captains should know. Still, he had told Rukia anyway because if she wanted to be a captain someday, she should know about this knowledge.) Granted, he's the very king of Soul Society, but that was all. Soul Society was only for the Japan prefecture, while in other countries they have their own Soul Society. The Soul King was actually just like the members of Central 46; appointed by the leader of all the kings and queens of the afterlife realm to rule over their section.
The name of their leader was Death.
The Mistress of Death.
"Ichigo! You're being rude!"
"It's okay, Rukia Kuchiki. I read his file; temperamental, has no tact, but has a nice heart and is protective over what he considers his." Ichigo wanted to protest but couldn't because he realized that the assessment was right. He settled himself to grumble in silence. Kon just loudly laughed though and Ichigo smacked him over the head. The Mistress giggled.
"If I'm not bothering you, Mistress?" Rukia started though paused. When the Mistress waved her hand to let her speak, she continued, "What are you doing in this realm? If you want to reap the soul of the human, you can just ask one of us."
"Oh no, I'm not on duty today. I'm here for sightseeing," she answered, "and to accompany my human, as always. So I'll be there when he finally dies."
That sounded...morbid. Ichigo shuddered.
"And this human is—"
"Me~"
Their heads swiveled to the source of the voice and realized that the man the Mistress 'possessed' before was finally here; grin wide and hands on hips, looking smug. The Mistress floated back to the man's shoulder as he tilted his head to the side and said, "I gotta say, that was a great battle, kid. Oh, and my name's Tony Stark. Nice to meet you."
"...wait. Great battle?" Ichigo frowned. "So you can see Hollows?"
"Oh, so that was its name. J, don't forget to record that," he spoke to the phone, which it blipped once before it settled into its semi-sleep state. "And yes, I saw the monster. I mean...how could you not? It was almost as big as my tower! Also, was that really your first question Ichigo-chan? Not 'oh my god, you're Tony Stark!' Or 'can I have your photograph?!' Like that~"
-Chan?!
"Tony Stark?" Now it was Ichigo's turn to tilt his head. As recognition flashed in his brown eyes, he snapped his finger, "Oh, that Tony Stark. I almost forgot."
"Wow, what a blase reaction," the man himself looked half-disappointed, half-amused. "But it's a nice change of pace, so I forgive you."
"Riiight..."
"Tony Stark?" Rukia's whispered. She didn't know about him, it seems. Ichigo didn't blame her, as she didn't really watch television and was busy with her own duty. The human news was not interesting enough for her.
"He's Iron Man, a hero from America. An honest to God hero. Like, the one who can fly and shoot magic through his hand. It's more science though as Tony built a suit that helped him fly and shoot laser beams," Ichigo whispered back. "You saw Karin's superhero comic right? He's a real-life version of it."
Rukia let out a low hum in understanding; mouth took a shape of an O and eyes widened in awe, seeing the normal human in a new light. For a spirit, she was pretty enraptured with mortal fairy tales. Just like a kid.
"Wait, don't change the subject!" Ichigo switched his attention back, scowl deepening. "If you saw the Hollow, why were you walking toward it? Yeah, you were going slow and I finished the monster as quickly as possible but what if I missed? The Hollow could have destroyed some building and the rubble could have hit you or something! You could have died!"
"The thing that I really want to see. But dying by an accident is not one that I prefer for you, Tony."
This Mistress of Death is really creepy, Ichigo belatedly thought, how could she say something like 'death' to the person she claimed as hers? Does she like him or hate him?
"But how can I record your awesome fight if I didn't get closer?" Tony pouted then showed Ichigo the phone he was holding the whole time. It was a video of a blank sky, nothing was there but Ichigo knew it was the same place he and the Hollow had been fighting. There was a graph on the side of the screen, fluctuating up and down. "Yeah, there's nothing here. However, at least I got the reading. Here, it shows how much power output you released. It was as powerful as Nyan-Nyan's flash attack and this was not even your full power, right? That was awesome! Maybe I can use this number to power up my beam? I won't satisfied until it can penetrate a metal as strong as Vibranium and—"
They blinked when Tony started to tap incredulously fast on his phone, mumbling things they couldn't even understand. Maybe that was why the media called him the Genius to rival Einstein, Ichigo mussed, sweatdropping as words kept coming from his lips without pausing.
"SO!" the man suddenly shot up, startling the teenagers from their staring. The brunette grinned, "You're Shinigami huh? I thought your kind was going to look more like this woman here." ("That's rude! That woman you're talking about is the Mistress!" Rukia exclaimed in outrage. Ichigo cut her off with, "I don't think he's listening.") "However, you look like normal people! Or maybe it's just your disguise and you really are a skeleton? Well, we humans do have a skeleton beneath our skin, but you know what I mean."
Ichigo looked at Rukia, asking silently if he should explain. Rukia looked at the Mistress. And the Mistress gave her the 'a-okay.'
"Don't worry, Rukia Kuchiki. Tony will never blab the secret. I'm here to assure that. And I'll also vouch for you if your leader decides to punish you just because of this." The Mistress smiled, leaning her chin on top of Tony's head, the chocolate hair curling against her cheek. "Don't ask anything sensitive though, Tony."
"I'm not~"
Rukia nodded and Ichigo shrugged.
"We retain our human appearance because we were essentially a human being before we died," Rukia said. "Maybe in another country, the other Shinigami look like skeletons just like you've said, as the Mistress herself is one but in Japan, we're all human looking."
"I'm a half-Shinigami," Tony quirked his eyebrows and Ichigo explained, "I'm a human, but I have the power of a Shinigami. Rukia lent her powers to me. You see, I'm in my spirit form right now and here is my actual body," the teen said, then pushed Kon/Ichigo forward for Tony to inspect. "The reason why he's still standing and breathing even though I am out is because I used a modified soul to keep my body from rotting."
"Modified soul?"
"Yeah." Ignoring the protest of the soul, Ichigo pushed Kon aside as he stepped into his body again. He spat the pill out and showed it to the beaming brunette. The man literally had stars gleaming in his eyes. "This container is Kon's soul."
"So this mere pill has a soul in it? He has his own personality?"
"Yeah. He's a pervert."
"Amazing..."
"I'm sorry for asking you to tell him about the work of Soul Society, Rukia Kuchiki." The Mistress floated away from the conversing duo, deciding she wanted to talk to the ex-Shinigami. "He needs to know some of our culture as Tony's fate is interwoven with so much trial and tribulations, not to mention straight up trouble; it's almost like a tangled web. Just like Ichigo."
"Ichigo too?" Rukia was surprised. She thought her punk friend was just an unfortunate human she crashed into. A normal human she asked to shoulder a burden that should not be his. Though if the Mistress said that—
"Yes. That's why I want you to always be there to help him. And when the time comes that something bad happens to you, your friend turned into your enemy..." she elegantly waved and a black feather appeared on her bony palm. "Just give your leader this. He'll know that you're under my protection. Use it when you feel it is the right time."
"One more thing. I see a bleak future awaiting us if I don't give you any warning. We have to stop that no matter what. This is for the sake of the balance between life and death."
Rukia gulped. For the Mistress of Death to say that, it must be something really big; even bigger than the massacre of the poor, innocent Quincy.
"Remember this, Rukia Kuchiki. The most damaged people are the wisest. But… the one who hides the darkness, smiles the brightest."
A chilling wind blew the leaves away, leaving nothing but sense of dread in its place.
"Are you done there, Mistress?!" Tony's voice reverberated through the lonely street, startling Rukia from her staring. Ichigo stood with his phone out—it looked like he just exchanged his phone number with Tony Stark's (if Keigo heard about this, he'd go berserk)—and the genius himself was looking at them curiously. "I need to be back before sunset. You know Takashi-chan's going to be so mad if he realized I was out without notifying him again, right?"
"I left a note on his desk, Tony. Don't be alarmed." She patted the still frozen Rukia on the shoulder then floated over until she claimed her spot once again on Tony's back. "Do you want me to teleport you or ask Abeno Haruitsuki to lend you the Mononokean?"
"The latter of course. I still have a ton of questions to ask~"
"You said you had to go back before sunset?"
"But you also said you already left a note, so I'm not worried." He dialed a number and put the phone to his ear, "Hello, Itsuki-chan. It's me. You busy? I wanna visit the sweet Mononokean. Come on, it's your duty, right? I'm not abusing the rule, I'm just stating facts! Okay, the address is..."
"Those two are weird," Ichigo finally said after they opened someone's tool shed door and disappeared—the teen raised his eyebrows at that. Although, he had seen weirder things, so he didn't think about the vanishing act too much. He realized Rukia hadn't moved for several minutes, jaw slightly agape and eyes covered by her bangs. Ichigo started to worry. "What's wrong, Rukia? Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah." She stammered, still not looking up to face Ichigo's concerned face. "I'm okay." She clasped the black feather gently yet firmly, the Mistress' warning echoing softly but continuously in her head. "I'm okay..."
OMAKE
When the time came that Soul Society decided Rukia had done something forbidden and unforgivable by giving a human her power, she showed the black feather to a visibly shocked Byakuya and a confused Renji. Rukia said 'there's a traitor in their ranks' and, as not to alarm the mentioned yet unnamed traitor, they have to proceed with the 'execution'.
The brother of Kuchiki sent a hell butterfly, reporting the new development to their leader immediately. Ichigo was surprised when an old man came out of the Senkaimon, spilling a large amount of reiatsu. The teen almost choked on his own saliva. The old man looked grim and with one look at the black feather Rukia held, he decided.
Geta-Boshi was baffled when the leader of the Shinigami visited him directly.
Once he learned why the leader of the first division was in his shop, Urahara bowed without any prompting, kneeling to the startled Rukia. Furthermore, he apologized, saying that he had hid the very thing the traitor wanted inside her fake body.
The Hyougoku.
(Even though she was surprised, Rukia still slapped him for draining her spiritual power by giving her the defective, fake body though. Only after did she decide that she would consider forgiving him.)
Ichigo told his friends about the strategy. And yes, The Kuchikis and Renji knew about the plan, but not the other captains, as they didn't know which one was the traitor(or if there were more)—even though with Death's description, 'The one who hides the darkness, smiles the brightest', they had a clear idea who was it. So they would face a serious battle, not a fake one Ichigo and Byakuya would enact.
Yamamoto thought, 'if the traitor is going to strike, it'll be right at the execution.' So the plan was, since Ichigo cared about his friends, he would try to save 'Rukia'. Byakuya, as the brother of the 'accused' and leader of the Kuchiki clan, would try to uphold the law and fight back. Because of this, they would face off and 'fight' against one another, hopefully causing the traitor to relax and think that they would be able to continue pulling the wool over their eyes. Of course, they couldn't have these two tiring themselves out because their side would need as much manpower as they could get. Especially considering some of them would not be available for the fighting they would inevitably face.
(Ichigo still thought they should share the plan with a couple of the captain Shinigami, the ones that they trust without a second guess, just in case. So Yamamoto conceded and said he would tell Kyouraku and Ukitake. And maybe Hitsugaya, as one of his family was under the clutch of the person they thought was the traitor and/or ringleader.)
His friends agreed to the plan nonetheless. As much as Ishida hated Shinigami, Rukia was their friend. Always would be. Ichigo nodded, feeling gratitude and determination welling up within him.
Aizen was surprised when his hand didn't grasp anything. Nothing. No Hyougoku in sight.
But that was impossible! He used the device Urahara invented himself to extract the orb, and killing Rukia in the process too. How could—
Rukia's body didn't evaporate. It didn't even shimmer to nothingness.
It was only a normal fake body.
He'd been tricked!
"It was a miracle Rukia didn't die from the extraction, you know." Byakuya, the man that he thought was too tired to stop him, stood regally. Not a bit of exhaustion could be seen in his rigid posture. Ichigo too, as he hefted his big sword on his shoulder, glared at Aizen with an intensity of a burning inferno. "Of course, I will still punish Urahara after this."
"Oooh, don't leave me out of the loop, Byakuya. I need to give him a smack or two as well. That geta-boshi is a sneaky bastard," the teen let out a low growl. "We need to defeat this son of a bitch first, though."
Aizen refused to show his emotion (his plan! His beautiful plan! Ruined!) and smugly said instead, "What? You two assume you can beat me? A mere captain and a pitiful human?"
"You thought it would only be us?" Byakuya calmly answered back. In a mere second, four other figures appeared at their side; Yamamoto, Kyouraku, Ukitake and Hitsugaya, a little battered but otherwise fine. The older Kuchiki was now the one who smugly smirked, "Think again."
"You okay there, Toshiro?" Ichigo asked, eyes still rooted to Aizen. The ever-smiling man finally let out a small expression, seeing the leader of Shinigami was also there, okay and well, without a scratch.
"It's Hitsugaya to you!" the snow white-haired child snapped. He let out a short wheeze. "I'm fine. I succeeded in making Gin think I was defeated. I have enough power to help you from the sidelines."
"Aizen Sosuke," Yamamoto started speaking, his voice rumbling and letting out an incredible power, "for trying to kill one of the Shinigami, killing the Central 46, and doing illegal experiments on the previous captains and framing another innocent one, you've not only incurred the wrath of the Soul King, but also the Mistress of Death." The captains sucked on their breath and Aizen involuntarily gulped. (He just wanted to kill the Soul King and reform the Soul Society. Not to attract unnecessary attention from the Mistress). Yamamoto's eyes opened and the pupils contracted, every Shinigami present readying their sword, "As such, you are to be punished and will hereby be executed right at this instant.
"Face the consequences of your actions."
All at once, everyone moved.
They failed to catch the traitors, though at least that vile man didn't get the Hyougoku he had wanted for years to finish whatever deranged plan he was plotting.
Toshiro fell unconscious, stamina finally depleted to zero the moment the danger was gone. Ichigo instantly moved to catch him before the child faceplanted on the ground.
Yamamoto declared a job well done and a week rest for everybody.
Rukia woke up from her rest, body still weak from the extraction. She saw Byakuya sitting on the small stool in the room, looking at her with nothing but grief.
"I'm sorry, sister."
She weakly smiled and grasped his hand, in which Byakuya tightened the hold. He didn't want to let go. "It's okay, brother. It's okay.
"I forgive you."
Ichigo put the phone to his ear and pulled it away the next second—
"ICHIGO-CHAAAN!"
—a scream rang through the speaker.
Annoyed, Ichigo asked, "What is it, Tony?"
"I heard from the Mistress. Did you really fight in a war?! Everything alright? You didn't die, right? Well duh, of course you didn't, you just answered the phone." The teen let out a huff, amused by the man's behavior. His rambling came to a stop and the concern was palpable, even through the phone. "Are you really okay?"
"I am, Tony. You don't have to fret. My friends are here to help."
"Thank God," he whispered, the tone sounded tired. Ichigo hoped the man didn't tire his body out by worrying over him. "What about Rukia-chan? Is she okay?"
Ichigo watched from the ajar door, as the older Kuchiki hugged his sister, and let out a small smile. "Yeah. She's okay.
"She's going to be just fine."