Ichigo Kurosaki (shatterfate) wrote in thegalaxy, @ 2016-04-12 16:17:00 |
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The trip had been more fruitful that Luke could have hoped, but he cautioned himself at thinking too far ahead. He had been in this position fifteen years ago, and watched it go up in flames, nearly destroying his family. In some ways, it had. His brother, Han, was dead now, and his sister wounded deeply in heart. Remaining on Ahch-To relieved him of having to face some of that grief, even as he still sought solutions, answers, a key to bringing back what had been lost to the past. In a deep, secret part of himself, he believed he might even have found it, but he could not speak of that yet to the others, even those masters whose company he finally shared. No, his steps must remain careful, above all else. Qui-Gon’s speaking of the newer Force-sensitives, especially those that had come through the rift on Naboo, gave a welcome direction to his thoughts. Thorough sifting through the records available, and those conversations on the holonet, had given Luke a few promising leads. However, he felt that this young man he had reached out to, Ichigo, might be the best place to start. It was as much for Luke’s benefit as his visitor’s, however. Although he had Rey now, and their training was already progressing, there was much Luke had to prove to himself. Could he develop such a rapport with someone with no preconceptions, no idea of the Force, for good or ill? Someone who had little knowledge even of this world….was he a good enough teacher to begin this journey? The best way out is through. A toss-off remark from Han, but one that had stuck with him. So Luke had invited Ichigo to Leia’s apartment, knowing that there were others places they could retreat to if this became compromised. He had meditated on this path and had sensed no malice inherent, and truth be told, he needed privacy that only the General’s place could provide right now. The spartan place had few items of any sentiment to her, but Luke was happy enough that it retained a sense of home to it simply because she stayed there. It was in her nature, he supposed. It was small, but in a very well-to-do part of Theed, and the upper floor apartment looked out of the green plains and waterways that marked the capitol city. Leaving the windows open to the midmorning breeze, Luke settled on the chair in the main space, and closed his eyes, relaxing his mind as he waited for his visitor. Ichigo had only half been kidding when he’d told Luke that his life felt like one long training montage. He’d almost forgotten what it felt like to not be in training. Ever since he’d met Rukia, here had been something new to learn. From the most basic steps to purifying a Hollow, to the more complex issue of achieving the Final Getusga Tensho, Ichigo’s survival had depended on his ability to acquire new skills swiftly. He’d had to leave pursuit of the Final Getsuga Tensho behind when he’d come here. Ichigo had no idea how well that would go over in the long run. Cutting off in the middle of his meditation had left him feeling unbalanced, even months later. That was the main reason he worried now about the Dark Side. Ichigo had fought hard to establish control of his Hollow. Now that he had the Force, he had a feeling that the stakes were even higher. Jacen had taught him a few things, and Jaina had given him some good advice, but Exar Kun’s words had been uncomfortably reminiscent of Aizen’s. Aizen had pursued the power of Hollows in a manner not unlike what Kun had said of his pursuit of the Dark Side. It was well past the time when Ichigo should have found a way to align his new Force abilities with the demands of his Soul Reaper powers. He hoped that Luke Skywalker would have some answers for him. The boy who knocked on the apartment’s front door was unremarkable, save for the shock of red hair that had gotten him into trouble for most of his life. Not many people on this planet seemed to worry about it, though. Different cultural norms, he guessed. Ichigo shoved his hands into his pants pockets as he waited for Luke to answer. Feeling him arrive, Luke rose before he heard the knock, shaking off the last of his meditation. Sometimes, it could be more taxing than helpful...a thought for another time. Opening the door, he smiled automatically at his visitor. “Ichigo,” he said, his voice warm with the greeting. “Please, come in and be welcome.” Luke stepped back, giving the younger man room to come in. “I am grateful you agreed to come. I saw that many were giving you advice on the Force...I imagine it must be less clear now, than it was before. Would you like something to drink?” Fortunately, Leia’s ingraining of good habits served him well here. He closed the door behind Ichigo, as his attention returned fully to the present. This meeting may well decide how he pursued the idea of a new training base, but Luke was determined to keep an open mind. “I’m good.” Ichigo smiled hesitantly as he stepped through the door. It felt odd to be having this meeting at all. Luke wasn’t like the teachers Ichigo had worked with in the past, and the customs of this galaxy were a little different from the customs back home. He almost toed his shoes off out of habit, but he hadn’t seen anyone on Naboo automatically take their shoes off after entering a residential space. “Thanks for having me over. I guess you know by now that I’ve got a lot of questions.” In his mind, Ichigo heard the Hollow laugh. He spared a fragment of his concentration to push the creature further back. Not now, he hissed. “You are far from the only one with such questions,” Luke answered, his tone more serious than he meant to be. Inviting Ichigo to sit down, Luke took the chair opposite, his gaze seemingly kind although an intensity burned behind his eyes. “I have to tell you, this was as much for me. Until now, my path to finding those who were able to utilize the Force was….set, or at least, understood. You, Ichigo, represent something very different. As you yourself said before, this is unlike your world….and what powers you wielded there, am I right?” “In a nutshell,” Ichigo agreed. He took the offered chair, perched on its edge with his elbows braced against his knees, hands folded together. He was tall for his age, hair a little too long, figure lean from almost a year of intense fighting and training. A haircut would have been nice, to compensate for the time he’d spent in meditation in the Precipice World, but he hadn’t bothered. There’d been too much to take care of here. Too much to figure out. “Could be a good thing that this is new for both of us,” he offered. “My experience lately has been that doing things the old way gets you into more trouble than it gets you out of at times like this.” The Soul Society still hadn’t settled from the upheaval Ichigo and Rukia had caused, though that was as much Aizen’s fault as theirs. “Like you said, I’m different. The usual methods, whatever they are, could blow up in our faces.” “So it could.” Luke’s smile had not faded, but he fell silent a moment, regarding Ichigo, as if he could glean as much from how the younger man presented himself. If he formed an initial impression, he did not say so as yet. In Luke’s experience, he was better off listening to his instincts than forcing his thoughts into order too soon. “Would you tell me about where you come from?” He asked, as that moment passed. It was time to listen, to allow the Force to tell him what it must. “What your world was like….and how you served it.” “Pretty normal, at first.” Ichigo snorted and shook his head. “At least, that’s what I thought. Guess I should have known something was fishy when I could see ghosts. But everything else was straightforward. Democratic government, public schools, stores, hospitals, public transportation. Nothing supernatural or hard to explain. Again, only if you overlook the ghosts and the fact that nobody else could see them except me and my sister. Then, I met Rukia.” The teen took a breath and looked down at his hands. There were calluses there from swordwork he’d never actually performed in this body. “Rukia’s a Soul Reaper. A more normal one than me. She’s a member of a noble family in the Soul Society. Her brother adopted her when he saw her at the Soul Reaper Academy a while back. She was assigned to my town, to keep an eye out for Hollows and perform konso on ghosts who couldn’t find their way to Soul Society on their own. A Hollow attacked my house one night. Rukia was hurt, so she gave me her powers. I’ve been working with her to protect the balance of souls ever since. With my own powers now, though. Which is kind of a long story.” “I am here for long stories,” Luke answered, both reassuring and amused at the same time. “I don’t want to dissuade you from retelling it, so if my questions cause us to go off on tangents, feel free to stop me at any time.” Smoothing his hand over his beard, he asked, “Am I right in assuming that this….Soul Society was an afterlife that was meant for the ghosts of your dead? And what made Rukia a more normal Soul Reaper than yourself? Just seems a specific way of looking at it…” Ichigo’s smile warmed with relief when Luke understood so quickly. He’d kept Soul Society a secret for so long, and the few times he’d had to explain it had been tricky, at best. “You’ve got the right idea. There’s a cycle. It’s basically supposed to be a back-and-forth balance between Soul Society and the world of the living. You spend a lifetime, however long yours is, in the living world, then head off to Soul Society when you die, and your time there can last hundreds or thousands of years. I think Rukia’s captain’s at least a couple of thousand years old, and he spends half his time sick in bed. Imagine how long someone can live in Soul Society when they’re healthy. No one’s ever said as much, but I get the feeling that when souls die in Soul Society, they end up reincarnated in the world of the living, assuming they aren’t destroyed or consumed by a Hollow. Rukia arrived in Soul Society as a baby, with her sister. So my guess is that Rukia and her sister somehow died together in the living world before they crossed over. That’s what makes her normal compared to me.” Among other things, some of which Ichigo didn’t understand, yet, so he left them for later. “Rukia comes from Soul Society. She doesn’t naturally have a physical body in the living world. Whereas I’m a living human being with a physical existence who wound up having Soul Reaper powers. It’s never happened before. I threw Soul Society a big enough curveball that a lot of people almost died over it.” Fascinated by the explanation, Luke leaned forward slightly, the sleeves of his robe falling over his clasped fingers. “So, in a way, two lifetimes. One in your living world, and then one in the world of ghosts.” While it bore little resemblance to this world, Luke could see why Ichigo had asked about the Living Force, and the Unifying Force. There were certainly some parallels in that belief, he could see. “Tell me more about being a Soul Reaper, what it entails. Only those who have crossed over into Soul Society have possessed this power in the past, until you? And do all those who live in Soul Society possess this, or just a select few?” “Only a few, and even then, most of them aren’t that strong.” The discussion was becoming comfortable, Ichigo reciting what he knew as though he were delivering a presentation in school. “A Soul Reaper has higher than usual reiatsu or spiritual pressure. For an average soul, that means they might be a little stronger, or a littler faster, or maybe that they can do a little kido. The further up the ranks you go, the stronger the Soul Reapers get, until you have people like Rukia, who can hear the voice of their zanpakto and master the most difficult abilities.” Ichigo paused, considering how he’d convey the next part. “Uh, the zanpakto is a weapon. A sword, usually. It’s manifested from our spiritual energy. Since it’s a part of you, it’s alive, but it’s also independent. You can’t start to master its power until you know its name, and, for a lot of Soul Reapers, just getting that far doesn’t even happen. Mine’s called Zangetsu. We’ve worked out the different levels of power releases pretty fast. There’s a sort of resting state, then shikai, and, finally, bankai. It’s supposed to take years to achieve bankai. I … um, well, I did it in about three days.” “So even on your world, you are exceptional.” Luke stated it as matter of fact, accepting the explanation easily. After all, he had known of great Masters of the Force….he could imagine Yoda was once much like this. “For you to have exhibited the Soul Reaper abilities while still living was likely a good indication that you were meant for greater things. That often comes with a commensurate expectation, mind you.” Yes, he could see many parallels, and why Ichigo had reached out, about the Force. “How did you obtain this sword, your zanpakto?” Surprisingly perhaps, Luke did not stumble over the word, but then he had heard many, many languages in his time. “That’s why I wanted to talk to someone about the Force,” Ichigo admitted. “I got Zangetsu in an unusual way, and I’ve been feeling the consequences ever since.” He left off for the time being exactly how he wound up having his own Soul Reaper abilities in the first place. There hadn’t been time to ask his dad for details, and, frankly, Ichigo hadn’t been ready. “A while after I met Rukia, a couple of Soul Reapers came from Soul Society to arrest her. The captain beat me down pretty hard, and said he destroyed the site of my powers. I had to get them back if I wanted to save Rukia, so I ended up training with a guy named Urahara. Part of that training was cutting my Chain of Fate. When that goes, it’s not long before a spirit becomes a Hollow. I had to go into my Inner World to find my zanpakto and become a Soul Reaper again if I didn’t want to become a Hollow myself. That’s when I heard Zangetsu for the first time.” Ichigo tapped the side of his head. “And it’s how I ended up with my own Hollow in here.” “You mentioned the Hollows before,” Luke mused, tilting his head slightly as he reviewed the explanation carefully. Thankful that his training improved his memory as much as it did, he sifted through what had been said. “One attacked your home….and hurt Rukia? What is it that makes Hollows dangerous? Where do they come from?” It certainly seemed that in every galaxy, not just this one, good and evil came in recognizable forms. “And if you have one inside your head, as you say…..it seems that you are in for a struggle, perhaps a perpetual one.” “Tell me about it.” The teen flashed a wry smile. “He’s annoying as hell.” Ichigo sobered, then, and gave himself a minute to think over his next answer. “A Hollow is a soul that’s lots its heart. Typically, they come from souls that have lingered too long after death, or already had some kind of malice in them when they died. Say a murderer dies in jail, someone who killed another person for some sadistic reason. That soul’s likely to turn into a Hollow pretty fast. But it can happen to an innocent soul, too. Say a man sticks around because he loves his kids, but, as time goes by, his children talk less and less about him, and it starts to hurt because he has nothing else to fill his hours with. If he becomes bitter, and resentful, he can start the transition to become a Hollow. Once someone changes,there’s usually no way back. They prey on other souls, trying to fill the emptiness inside of them, and they’ll keep doing it until they’re either consumed by another Hollow, or a Soul Reaper or Quincy comes along to stop them.” “This reminds me of something perhaps a little similar that we have here,” Luke observed, almost more to himself. After all, the stories of the Sith spirits were plentiful. And for that, Ichigo could be susceptible. “As I am sure you have seen, many die here being so disillusioned. The past few generations have had struggles on a large scale, with one war after another.” And in that interim, those strong with the Force had been forced into hiding, or slaughtered outright. “So, in this, how does a Soul Reaper like yourself, or Rukia, help them to move on? And who is Quincy?” “We cleanse the Hollows, which, if I’m honest, looks an awful lot like killing them. Every Hollow has a bone mask. Cut through that, and the soul is freed to go to Soul Society. There are some exceptions, mostly souls who did so much evil in their lives that they go to Hell. It isn’t pretty.” Ichigo shifted uneasily as he recalled the times he’d seen Hell’s gates open. Terrible as the souls who’d been dragged through were, it was difficult to imagine anyone damned for eternity. “The Quincy have a different method. They’re living human beings with spiritual abilities. They can tap into and control the spiritual particles around them. They destroy the Hollows instead of cleanse them.” Ichigo smoothed his hair back in a nervous gestures. “I’ve never argued with Ishida about his methods. He’s the only practicing Quincy left, and he’s nearly been killed more than once helping me out. “I guess the good news is, I haven’t seen a Hollow since I got here. Ghosts, sure, but none who looked like they were about to start hunting someone else. Sounds like I maybe haven’t looked in the right places, from what you’ve just said.” Luke unclasped his hands, resting them on his knees. “I believe our….version may be more rare than in your world, which does make me worry for your own,” he admitted. He felt the slight change in Ichigo’s thoughts as he mentioned this hell, and in regards to the Quincy. That this young man was predisposed towards the Light, Luke had no doubt, but it wasn’t as simple as that, these days. “Once I start with my own story, your questions will likely be plentiful,” Luke said, “so I would prefer to ask you first...you said you now housed a Hollow inside you. Tell me about that. Why does it live within you, instead of being cleansed? Is this related to how you awakened your abilities?” Ichigo nodded to show that he understood. So far, Luke had been remarkably patient. It reminded him of Ukitake, in a way. Rukia’s captain was a quiet, patient, and ultimately kind man. Shame the rest of the Gotei-13 hadn’t taken notes. “The Hollow’s a part of me. It can’t be cleansed. It was created when I regained my powers. Turns out I wasn’t fast enough finding Zangetsu to beat the Hollowfication. I didn’t realize what had happened until several days later, and it didn’t become a problem until weeks later. “Soul Reapers who can speak with their zanpakto are able to go inside of our spirits. It’s called an inner world. Everyone’s is different. Mine’s a bunch of sideways skyscrapers. The first time I went in, only Zangetsu was there. Every time since, the Hollow’s been there, too. We’ve got an understanding by now. I trained with some people to learn how to control the Hollow powers and use them to give me an advantage in a fight. But I sort of broke the terms of the agreement.” This was interesting. “If I am understanding you,” Luke replied, slowly, “that means this Hollow is you, in a way. Not just part of you, but a part of your soul that changed.” If this bothered the Jedi, it did not seem apparent, only that he was fascinated by the story. “You broke terms of an agreement? What did you break, and how does that affect your advantage going forward from here?” Ichigo hadn’t considered that. Was the Hollow actually him? Not just some kind of permanent infection? That raised a whole new set of questions, ones that he couldn’t find answers to right now. “Maybe,” he allowed. “I’ll give it some thought. I could try asking him, but I don’t think he’ll tell me.” Laughter echoed at the back of his awareness again, and Ichigo imagined himself scowling at the Hollow. “He told me not to die before the next time we met. Apparently, that’s a problem, now. I got here in the middle of trying to figure out the balance again. Everything’s been off kilter since. Zangetsu is keeping secrets from me, which isn’t all that unusual, and I don’t know what the Hollow wants.” Ichigo looked up, holding Luke’s gaze. “If the Dark Side works the way I’ve heard, the last thing I want is to set a Hollow loose on your galaxy. No one will be able to see him coming unless they can sense ghost, and he could destroy a city on a whim.” Luke sighed. “I could see even before we got to this concern that you had a valid reason for reaching out about the Force. You have been keeping your Hollow in check with the skills you already possess, but it seems like you are in a constant race to learn more, so you can stay one step ahead. The Force….the path is a little different. It will teach you a way to center yourself and immerse yourself in the galaxy, so that you aren’t battling at all. Instead, it’s a way to find a peaceful coexistence.” Luke hesitated; he wasn’t sure if that was how he wished to begin the conversation on the Force, but it was the natural progression of their conversation. Lifting one hand to his beard, he smoothed his fingers over his jaw. “What have you heard about the Dark side? And for that matter, the Light? Because they do exist together...so closely together, that in many ways, they are intertwined.” Ichigo sat back and let out a long breath. He was relieved that Luke accepted the presence of the Hollow without condemning him for it. “I’ve heard rumors, which I’m guessing is all most people know about the Force these days if they aren’t Jedi or those Knights of Ren people. I know that it has something to do with your emotions, and that it’s hard to put it aside once you start using it. Honestly, that guy, Exar Kun? He had the most to say about it, but he sounded way too much like someone I know back home for me to trust him. I couldn’t tell if he thought you could use the Dark Side without falling into it completely, or if he thought that you’re always going to give in. It’s just a matter of how long you can hold off the consequences.” Luke nodded. “Many years ago, those in the Jedi Order numbered in the thousands, maybe more. Even I do not know...after the fall of the old Republic, the new Empire destroyed as many records as they could of the Jedi, so today, there are many who believe we are a myth at best, a menace at worst. Once, it was a privilege to be taught, and now, such abilities are hidden. I tell you these things first so that you understand what you possibly may face from those who learn of your skills. Some have been attacked, and some killed for knowing the ways of the Force.” At one time, Luke had been idealistic, and while he still was in many respects, he now had to use such a warning to those who only wished to learn. “The Force….is much as the name suggests. I suspect that you have already felt it, in fact. It is a sort of life-sensing, and it flows through anything that possesses life in our galaxy. Obviously, you will feel it more when you are in places abundant with green, and less in cities made of steel and stone. But it is everywhere. Eons ago, the Jedi learned to recognize this, feel it, and then utilize it to hone ourselves. It allows us to do many things that seem impossible to others. Physical feats, mental feats….spiritual feats. The Order formed to teach those sensitive to the Force, created a Code, established temples. And it evolved over time, but the basic tenet is the same. We respect the Force, and listen to it. It’s not quite like worship, although some have drawn that parallel.” As Ichigo’s voice had done before, Luke’s melded seamlessly into that of a teacher, imparting a lesson. “I believe that those coming through the rift are finding that their innate abilities and powers are….recognized by the Force, and affected by it.” “It sounds a little like reiatsu, but some of the properties are definitely different,” Ichigo contributed. “Maybe if Ishida were here, we could find out if the Force exists in particles that can make up spiritual structures, but I suck at manipulated reiatsu, so we’re stuck, there. I noticed something was weird when I started being able to do things that not even Soul Reapers who went to the Academy can do. I’d think about something, and find it floating in the air, or I’d sense a living person nearby when I usually only sense the dead, and even then, only if I’m really trying.” Ichigo managed a faint smile. “I don’t mind if this is dangerous. I’ve had people trying to kill me almost every day for the last year. I can manage.” Luke gave him an answering smile, sympathetic. “The Jedi came to represent peace and order in our galaxy, and that was the overall goal. There are always those who want the precise opposite.” He nodded at the description of Ichigo’s newfound abilities. “It sounds like you are tapping into it already, which does not surprise me. Lifting objects, sensing people...you may get to a point where you are able to sense actions before they happen, or the intent of someone poised to attack you, or even visions of the future. And yet you may not….not everyone shares the same talents.” Steepling his fingers once more, Luke continued, “There is a physical aspect that I believe mimics the reiatsu, although naturally not exactly so. This is something I am not very well versed in at all, but the Order of a few generations ago could measure the ability of a person with the Force by testing for the number of midichlorians they had in their bloodstream. These are microscopic organisms, living inside our very cells, and the higher the concentration of them within us, the better adapted to sense the Force. That testing method has fallen by the wayside now, but I have thought about reviving it, to help us find more able individuals. The other Jedi Masters here, they are the experts and I am just a student, in that respect.” The boy shook his head. “I don’t think the midichlorians are a match for reiatsu. It’s more like the spirit world’s version of matter. In the living world, everything is made up of atoms, and substructures of atoms, right? Reiatsu does the same thing for souls and for everything in Soul Society that you’d expect to be made out of matter. Soul Reapers can manipulate reiatsu with practice, and so can the Quincy, but you have to learn how to do it. Let’s say I’m fighting a Hollow, and I need to get up above him. I can run across the sky if I have to, but it’s not because I’m flying. I’m standing on reiatsu that I’ve gathered beneath my feet. “Some of the talents match up, though. I already have a pretty good read on what someone’s doing in a fight. I’ve heard people say I can feel the emotion behind my opponent’s sword. I’m not sure if that comes from being a Soul Reaper, or if it’s just how I fight, but it lines up with some of what you’ve said. Soul Reapers who’ve been through the Academy can perform spells, and that’s probably as close to things like moving objects as using reiastu gets. You, uh, might not want to teach me that one.” Ichigo ducked his head, embarrassed. “Rukia’s just about given up on me figuring out the finer points of being a Soul Reaper. I’m mostly good at fighting.” Luke smiled, a bit indulgently. “There is nothing wrong with being a strong warrior. Many, many times Jedi are called to fight, although we have tried to do so only to defend ourselves and others. If that is where your talents lie, then embrace it.” He paused, remembering a little of what he had seen Exar Kun tell the young man. “This does delve into what was spoken of before, about the Dark Side of the Force, and the Light. It’s not as simplistic as fighting, however.” Gathering his thoughts, Luke took a moment to compose them for what he wished to impart. “Jedi ascribe to the Light. It is part of the way of the Order, for the tenets of the Light are for unity, service….justice. Part of this tenet involved sacrificing for others, adopting a life in service, putting the needs of others ahead of our own. I’m sure you can see how some of this mentality can be seen as the incorrect path, and thus lies the Dark Side.” Yoda’s words from decades before had never left him, and he found himself ruminating on those. “The Dark Side is both attractive, and useful. I asked my mentor if it was stronger, and he said no….that it was easier, in many respects. From feeling it myself, I have come to agree. The Dark Side allows for a different clarity of thought, because you are not weighing as many factors into any decision. Your motivations are considered correct because they are yours. It taps into anger, frustration, grief, but also a sense that might makes right, that power is more important than justice. And even more difficult to reconcile, it can feel like justice.” He knew that this was what Qui-Gon imparted to him the other evenings. “When striking down an enemy who has caused great pain and suffering, the Dark Side can feel righteous. But it forgets that we are defenders….not judge, not executioners.” Ichigo shifted uneasily in his chair. He ascribed to many of the things Luke had said the Jedi valued, but Soul Reapers didn’t work the same way. “What if you have the Force, but you don’t become a Jedi?” he asked, uncertain. “Then you are a Force user.” Luke’s blue eyes regarded him, openly. “Ichigo, you are who you are. Becoming or not becoming a Jedi will not change that. To a degree, it seems you have a different obligation to this power you have inherited, above any obligations the Jedi hold. There are those who want to become Jedi for many reasons, from being with others like them, to wishing to be a symbol of peace in this galaxy. But that does not mean that only Jedi can accomplish these things. My sister, for example, is extremely skilled but she has purposefully chosen not to pursue Jedi training, so that she can serve in a more political way. And truthfully, I would not be able to accomplish what I can now without her abilities and connections with those in office. She does not need to be a Jedi to do that.” “And if being a Soul Reaper sometimes makes you judge and executioner?” When Ichigo looked up, his expression was grim. He looked much older than the sixteen years he’d soon have to his name. He’d fought, and killed, and decided the fates of Hollows and other creatures who had threatened Soul Society and the world of the living. Ichigo didn’t like cutting down his enemies--he spared them whenever he could--but battle wasn’t kind. Luke did not flinch from the look. “We strike down when we must. There is no other way, sometimes, and accepting that is part of the path. But there is a vast difference between duty, to save others and prevent further bloodshed and pain…..and striking an enemy down because it satisfies your own needs. Do you see the contrast between the two? I feel some of that turmoil, Ichigo. I feel it coming from you. But I also sense that you do not battle a Hollow because you hate them for what they are, or because you hold rage or hatred against them in your heart. This is not your personal vendetta. And that is the difference between the Dark and the Light. There are those who will argue that having a vendetta against evil, or even against those who wrong you, is not a poor choice of path. But that path does consume you in the end if you follow it.” “I can’t say I’ve always gone into battle without a personal stake in it, but maybe you’re right. Maybe it wasn’t so much a vendetta as feeling like I owed it to someone to put things right.” He’d had a deep personal stake in his battle with Grand Fisher, for the sake of his family, but had it been revenge? The more he thought on it, the more Ichigo thought not. There was a difference between vengeance and honor. “I don’t think I can be one of your new Jedi,” he finally decided, “but I want to learn. I need to find control or balance, or whatever you want to call it, and I need to know that someone understands what I am well enough to stop me if something goes wrong. But I don’t just want to learn. If you’ll take it, I’ll give you whatever help I can. I know that this whole First Order business has made a mess out of things, and I’m not sitting aside and letting them do whatever they want.” Luke nodded as he felt the emotions as much as he heard Ichigo’s words. “I do believe that your methods tend towards the Light, but I wanted you to know some of what the Dark Side is about,” he offered. “And if you wish to learn, we are glad to teach. We do need help in what we are attempting, to revive our Order, but as I said before, help can come in many guises, not just from Jedi.” He smiled, thankful his initial reading of the teenager had proved true. Seeing any young fall to despair and to rejection hurt him deeply. “I would like to get to know more about you as well, and also about this world you come from. I think there are lessons you hold that could teach me about myself, in a way that this world has not yet.” “All right, then.” Ichigo nodded, resolute. “Ask away, I guess. I don’t have all of the answers, but I can explain the things I understand.” He longed, momentarily, for his father. He had so many questions for the man. Though he’d told Isshin that the answers could wait until Isshin was ready, he hadn’t expected something like this to happen. He hadn’t even been sure he’d still be alive this many days out from the battle with Aizen. “Most of my questions will come over time,” Luka began, reassuringly. “I won’t be able to know you after just one meeting, but this is a good start. I would like to know about your family, though.” His tone had gentled, as he did not know what life Ichigo had come from. “You’ve told me a lot about your skills, and the general basics of a Soul Reaper, but what about where you yourself come from?” That caught Ichigo off-guard. He’d expected to go into more detail about powers and techniques, or how the Gotei-13 was structured, maybe the differences between the living world and Soul Society. But his family? Ichigo had done his best to avoid thinking about them, though he missed them every day. He could drive himself mad wondering what was happening to them back in his own reality. The Hollow was strangely quiet as Ichigo thought about his father and his sisters, though Ichigo had expected another sharp laugh or remark from it. “My family.” Ichigo rubbed at the back of his neck. “Okay. Um.” Where to start? With the riddle that was Isshin Kurosaki, or what Ichigo had thought his family was before the war began in earnest? “There’s four of us. Me, my sisters, and my dad. Karin and Yuzu are twins. They’re younger than me by a few years. Karin’s the only one who can see ghosts, like I can, but she’s not a Soul Reaper.” Ichigo hoped she never would be. “Yuzu can’t even sense them. She runs the house. Dad runs an emergency clinic. He’s a surgeon, but he doesn’t have much in the way of facilities, so he sometimes has to transfer patients to one of the hospitals in the area.” Ichigo took a deep breath, and stared down at the floor. “My mom died when I was six. At the edge of a river. I didn’t know it at the time, couldn’t even tell the difference between ghosts and the living, but a Hollow killed her. Because it wanted me, and she got in the way.” His lips curled in a rueful smile. “I blamed myself for a long time. All I knew was that something went wrong by the river, and my mom died because of it, even though she tried to get me to stay away from what I saw. Becoming a Soul Reaper’s the first chance I’ve had to understand what really happened that night. It’s how I learned that my mom dying wasn’t an accident, and that there was some kind of justice to be had.” As Luke suspected, there was a factor in Ichigo’s past that influenced this unique path that he had taken. “I hope that blame is something you have left behind,” he said, gently. “The Hollow made that choice, not you. Your choices here, and going forward, that is what will define you.” A heavy burden, for one so young. Luke had to cast his mind back to when he was that age. He would not have handled it as well, he suspected. “But I am sorry for you. I know what it is like to lose a mother. Even when you believe that you have dealt with your grief, or the loss, you discover that you have not. It will remain there, always.” It was strange for Ichigo to think of his mother’s death while he sat in an entirely different galaxy, opposite someone who could do things he’d never heard of before. Ichigo didn’t even know how the dates corresponded between his world and this reality. It struck him that he wouldn’t be able to track the anniversary of his mother’s death as he had done for the past nine years. Rukia would probably slap him upside the head and shout, “Good!” if she were here to find out. She hated to see him depressed. “She died because of me,” Ichigo began after a brief silence, “but I know now that it wasn’t my fault. Back then, there wasn’t anything I could have done to stop the Hollow.” But why didn’t someone else? The treacherous words echoed in Ichigo’s thoughts, and he shoved them away. The Soul Reapers who might have had a chance of saving Masaki Kurosaki had their own reasons for not coming to her rescue. They were all far from perfect, just like anyone else. “Besides, Mom wouldn’t have wanted what happened back then to stop me now.” His expression warmed as he thought of the woman his whole world had once revolved around. Ichigo’s mother had been the heart of the family, the one person who could make them all laugh or smile no matter what, who made all of them feel safe. “She’d probably tell me to stop giving my dad a hard time for being ridiculous, and tell Yuzu not to fuss so much, and Karin to smile more.” Although he caught a stray thought that was there and gone, Luke only smiled, warmly, as Ichigo recalled his mother. “Those are the important memories,” he affirmed. “Not how we lose, but how we appreciate what we had. She, your father, your siblings...this is all what makes you who you are, more than any power, either from the Soul Society, or the Force. That’s why I wanted to know about them. You started from a good place, and that will help you going forward.” His eyes roamed over Ichigo’s face, as if weighing the emotions there. “And it is a heavy burden for one so young as you, even before you came here and found yourself with a different world entirely, to deal with.” The teen shrugged. “I’m used to the weight.” For all that he’d once told Rukia that he didn’t care, Ichigo couldn’t imagine another path for himself. “Maybe Mom knew I’d need to be. ‘Ichigo’ means someone who protects others. In retrospect, Dad ambushing me all the time was probably some crazy plan to get me ready for that.” He refused to believe what Aizen had said, about his whole life being planned for some maniac’s scheme to destroy the world. “So. What’s next? Is there a test or something? Hazing ritual?” Ichigo’s eyes gleamed with good humor as he asked his questions. “Secret handshake?” “If there is one, they are keeping it from me,” Luke replied, with a wry laugh. “My sister says if there was a key to her door, I would lose it immediately. So, no, nothing like that. But I do have to ask that you keep this planning, and the search for other Force-sensitives, a secret for now. The First Order has apparently attacked one of our own, and I do not know right now how she fares. It does seem that they are singling out those strong in the Force, either to recruit them or to hurt them. As much for your own protection or ours, I would avoid bringing such attention to yourself.” “I can handle myself,” Ichigo promised, “but thanks for the warning. I know there are people out there who make easier targets than me.” He wished that he had Kon with him, or even one of the standard mod souls, so he could do more. “Is there anything I can do until you have things up and running?” Luke paused. This was not something that he and the others had discussed explicitly yet, but he listened to his instincts. “If you find others who are able to sense and use the Force, and you trust them, let us know. Bring them to me, if you can. There are simply too few of us Jedi to reach them all, and I fear for those who don’t know where to turn. Soon, we will establish a safe place that we can meet, and train. In the meantime, I would at least like to keep track of them.” “Not a problem. If they need a safe place until then, I can make sure they have one.” For now, Ichigo had the advantage of surprise. No one in the First Order, or anyone else in the galaxy for that matter, knew what he could do. Not all of it. “How do I get in touch if I need you?” Pleased, Luke nodded. “The quickest way right now is through the holonet, since I will be traveling with my sister for a short while. We are likely making our base on a nearby planet, as Naboo attracts too much attention with the rift here. But…” He rose, then went searching in the other room a moment. When he came back, he held out a small communicator, which looked like a short, large pen. “You can reach me directly this way if there is something you need right away. It will find me wherever I am, but this is not as easily coded if it has to travel very far. Treat any messages on this as if they will be overheard.” Technology was so tiny in this world. Ichigo couldn’t get over it sometimes. He reined in his fascination with the fact that an intergalactic cell phone could be the size of a pen. “No secret transmissions. Got it.” He tucked the communicator away. “Anything else I should know?” They were simple words, but Luke felt as if advice was choking his throat as he looked at Ichigo. Again, he was setting out a man, barely more than a child, into dangerous territory, all because it simply had to be done. Ichigo didn’t deserve to be thrust into this, but at the same time, he could not be left out, not even for his own protection. And inside that young man, Luke knew that there was a soul that had grown up far past the physical years. He would do anything not to cause more pain. But what he said was, “Just to be careful. It is not so explicit, but we are at war. It’s already underway, and I am sorry that you are caught in it. But since you must be, I want to help all I can.” Luke placed his hand on the young man’s shoulder. “Be safe.” “I will,” Ichigo promised. For once, the Hollow had nothing to say. Ichigo stood. “I guess I’ll see you around, then.” Releasing his shoulder, Luke replied, “May the Force be with you, Ichigo.” |