This has been sitting in my computer folders for a dang long time and I honestly think it's about time I put up something else. I mean, I've realized I've basically gotten stuck in the rut that is only my uploaded stories and frankly, it sucks. It's not like I don't write anything but my uploaded stories, so yeah. I think it's about time to put some up. This story was inspired by...I have forgotten what. But the gist of it is that I'm trying to be so realistic as to make the entire point of OC/SI-insert moot.

If I, and here I literally put myself in a story, were to be transported to the world of Bleach, where life-threatening fights are practically a daily thing and where girls can get punched in the face no matter how pretty or big-breasted they are and...well, basically you can get hurt really bad when you get involved...I probably wouldn't survive. Let's be frank, the only way anyone would survive is if they avoided the entire thing and moved far, far away. Except you don't get that choice too because you don't have cash, you don't have an identity, you don't have anything but the shirt on your back...oh, and you're 'conveniently' the same age as the protagonist.

Let's take a look at how it goes, okay?

It isn't often that a young girl is unceremoniously deposited in another world. It is even less often when it is not accompanied by Revelation or some apt epitaph and perhaps a thunderstorm or two. Conversely, it is more common when she (boys are less common) is deaged to a suitably young age as to be able to utilize the natural gift that is a child's innocence and puppy-dog-eyes.

Incidentally, she always meets the Hero.

xXXx

There's a hero in every story. A hero, a main character, the leader who is blessed with an indomitable will that naturally translates to an indomitable strength.

Their character may be flawed, their personality may be less than 'perfect', but every single one of them will always be there to save the day.

Thankfully, the main character of this story, who also happens to be the main character of his Story, is very kind and takes her in.

Of course, the girl is very familiar with the Story.

xXXx

Let us start from the very top of issues you will face when you are inserted into a fictitious world:

Take into consideration that you are an average human being living an averagely privileged life complete with computer and decent Wi-Fi so as to sustain your intense interest in one of the loves of your life: Manga and its respective fan fiction. In addition to these two hobbies, you have a third which consists of wondering what you would be able to do should you somehow have the power to affect this story. Obviously, the simplest solution is that you have to be in the verse in order for it to work. Just as apparently, you have powers you know not but will discover either through completely safe self-testing or miraculous in-battle happenstance.

You will be powerful, of course. You will most definitely be the smartest person in the room no matter how filled with geniuses it is. You will also hold all the cards and dish them out in tiny, stingy doses in order to have the best and most long-lasting effects while simultaneously maintaining your cool, mysterious persona by not being surprised by anything.

You will not fall in love with the hero.

The hero will fall in love with you.

Then reality comes crashing and you realize that if you want to actually turn this idea into a story, you cannot Mary Sue your way through. You, yourself, hate Mary Sues and thus you are empathically in agreement that corrections are in order.

'You' becomes 'someone else' and 'she' is unable to resolve anything in the blink of an eye. 'She' has a flawed character, a less than ideal personality, but somehow, despite lack of strength greater than the main character, manages to save the day anyway.

She is not the smartest person in the room, although she may manage to enough cards to overcome that. She dishes them out in tiny, stingy doses to have the best effects for her because once she uses them all, she won't have anything to hold against her enemies, while some will simply lose effect once the events pass. Sometimes she is forced to play more than she wishes and sometimes she makes horrible mistakes. Any hope of a cool, mysterious persona is completely obliterated because there are so many genuinely cool and mysterious characters in the story that any attempt falls flat.

Eventually, she builds up enough strength of her own that she can at least play support, at most stand back-to-back with the hero. She will be relied on, she will grow into her own, and she will be loved by whichever character she spends the most time with who is also decently handsome.

She may fall in love with him too and it's either the end already or they steadily grow more in love as they continue to fight the good fight and resolve more problems that you disagree with.

You do not fall in love with anyone, because they are puppets dancing in the palm of your hand and she is not you and thus she is able to love even someone she once considered fictitious.

She will have children or a good life or die a heroic death with a smile on your face.

You will wake up the next morning with the screen shining in your face, drool on your sleeve and the next episode on your playlist.

xXXx

Except you don't.

Return back to the issue at hand, you are you and you are in a foreign land with foreign people and you have nothing.

You are sitting on a pavement while people walk past, casting curious looks but nothing too concerned because a young girl sitting on the pavement with a dazed expression on her face is not something truly concerning. Youth is foolish and filled with daydreams, after all.

You rifle through your child-sized clothes—one of the small kindnesses the universe provides you—and turn up completely empty. You are a prepubescent child with no money, no family, no home and no identity.

You attempt to find the nearest police station.

Lo and behold there is none.

There is also no Home for Orphans. Or shelter for the homeless. There isn't even a church/temple.

There are concerned adults who attempt to help you look for your parents, but your name does not make sense to them and they believe you are unwilling to share your real name. You look too obviously Japanese to have an English name. Some of them buy you some food or candy, so now your pockets are filled and you will at least not starve for the next few days.

You're still wondering where you are. It's not as if the first realistic thought you would have would be a pastime you indulged in.

Night falls.

xXXx

You spend your first night sleeping on a bench. It is hard on your young back and the lack of pillow is difficult to overcome. You are too anxious to simply fall asleep and it is cold when the sun sets in Japan.

And frankly, the park becomes extremely creepy at night.

You spend the night twitching at shadows, curling into yourself, and surreptitiously scratching at the ant/mosquito bites on your legs.

xXXx

The next morning brings with it a rather welcome dawn. You are only unafraid of the darkness in your own home. The outside is too open and exposing especially when you can't see what lies beyond the streetlights.

At least you have food.

You go back to the pavement, looking slightly more unkempt, and this time the concerned looks are more severe. You are approached by more adults who attempt to pry a Japanese surname from you, some with more forceful methods than others. They think you're a runaway.

One woman slaps you in righteous indignation and rants about the hardship of parenthood and ingratitude of children. Sadly, you are within the age of reasonable physical punishment (this is the East, where Child Services doesn't work that way), not barely out of toddlerhood. You are still embarrassed when you burst into tears though.

She doesn't believe you when you say your name, just as she doesn't believe you don't know where you are.

She does give you the name of the town, when she drags you to an unrepentantly cheerful town map at what is supposed to be the entrance of the town so you can point out where you live.

You manage to escape while she's debating between slapping you again or shaking you until you rattle out an answer she can accept.

You run to the town park. You can hardly think with all the noise.

xXXx

There are children at the park. Some barely out of toddlerhood, some on the cusp of teenagerdom. They are separated into clear ranks and when they see a new girl running over crying, they prepare to adjust the hierarchy again.

When she refuses to play though, they outlaw her.

Since she's already crying and is just sitting there sobbing, they return to their antics. Children have a callousness adults don't have. They're children themselves, why would they feel sorry for another?

(Kindness isn't really as common as we wish)

They don't really notice her now-silent form when the sun sets and it's time to go home.

Except one boy, of course.

xXXx

You are at a loss, your head aches after your tears, and you wonder what is about to happen to you now. You know the manga and pretty much everything up to the Aizen arc, after which you refused to continue to read because that was bullshit. But that doesn't concern you right now, because what is of utmost importance is how are you going to survive here?

You think of approaching the characters, but…you don't dare to. You don't know which part you are in, and you don't know whether they will help. The characters of this Story are…kind but not necessarily charitable. And those who are, are not be in the position to help. You won't burden them with yourself, you still have some pride and decency as a human being after all.

(When there's nothing left to cling to, you find something anyway. You'll probably change your mind when you're starving to death, but you're not there yet…)

But…what are you to do?

"…Hey, are you okay?"

xXXx

In every fairy tale there is a hero. And that hero is kind.

Ichigo looks like the only kind person in town right now, and he is your saviour, because he believes your name and how you are utterly lost. He actually offers to let you stay with his family after hearing your (partially edited) story. You don't really believe his parents will allow you to stay on their son's say-so, but perhaps they might help you find a place to stay in.

So you nod and follow him, hope burgeoning with every step.

(That pride is ignored in favour of survival. You're not nearly strong-willed enough to cling to something useless when offered help.)

xXXx

Ichigo isn't at the age of teenage rebellion, or even at the age of pained defiance. His mother is still alive, which is why he is open and vulnerable in a way you have not seen in most of the Story. His eyes shine so brightly and clearly it almost makes you guilty at how you are relying on him. Disregarding your physical condition, you are much, much older than him. You should not be the one being protected. Ichigo is not the hero yet.

As you near the Kurosaki Clinic, Ichigo grabs your hand firmly, as if aware that you are debating making a break for it. You're not sure what is going to happen if you interfere in the story, and there is a tiny voice in your head berating you for changing things already. What is the life of a single, not-even-of-this-universe person compared to the potential lives of hundreds? You are not that important.

You feel your breath hitch as you cross the threshold.

(And isn't it just convenient, that it's now too late to turn back and you don't have to face up to the decision you have made?)

xXXx

Kurosaki Masaki is a very warm and kind woman. You can see that Ichigo inherited her will and heart on top of the colour of her hair. She is extremely understanding when you explain that you have no idea how you came to be in Karakura Town, as well as how your name is not even the slightest bit Japanese.

Kurosaki Isshin, on the other hand, is suspicious of you. He knows of the supernatural world, so he must suspect something of that nature. (What, exactly, that nature consists of, you are unsure.) He stares with wary eyes and not-quite-looms over you. You squirm in your seat as toddlers Karin and Yuzu clamber onto your lap with childish curiosity. Everything is so different from what you remember of the Story.

(And yet it makes sense, if they were real people. Because lives are stories where most of the parts do not get told. You wonder which parts of this story never got told, because it's already an outrageously long story. Except, of course, it's life. There's always going to be more left unsaid then told.

But it's just a story…right?)

Despite the differences in opinion, they offer you a night's stay which you gratefully accept. Ichigo even offers his bed in an attempt to be gentlemanly but you turn him down—the couch is already heavenly compared to the park bench.

You shower, change into a set of Ichigo's pyjamas, and collapse into the first real sleep you have had in far too long.

xXXx

It is unknown what sort of research Isshin-san has done on you, but it seems you pass whatever test he requires. He relaxes a little more into the role of the happily married human and even makes jokes about your name. He tells you that he can't find anyone with your name or background in Karakura or even Japan and that his friends are looking into finding your parents overseas. You nod timidly, because even the happily married human is rather intimidating to your now puny size—Isshin is a very large man.

Ichigo must have noticed, because he takes this opportunity to insist vehemently that you stay with them. You vacillate between refusing and remaining silent, because you really don't want to trouble them and take advantage of their kindness, and because you're not sure if you can survive on your own.

(You realize you're actually kind of useless on your own. You really have no survival skills. Maybe in your own world…but that's still a maybe. You appreciate your parents a lot more now, though now that you're thinking on them you realize they may have become a moot point.

And then you realize why everyone who is anyone always wants to go home despite this exciting new world/powers/love-life. You could probably live without ever seeing them again, but there's something suspiciously close to heartbreak when you entertain the possibility.)

You're kind of crying before you notice, to the horror of the collective Kurosaki siblings.

Masaki-san is very, very warm and very, very kind, you note, as she pulls you into her arms. You haven't hugged anyone since you were a kid and it's an unbelievably good feeling. Isshin-san also pats you gently-for-him on the head when you stammer your thanks—the little voice at the back says your genuine anguish is helping to erase his suspicion and you hate it.

(Hate it but can't help but trust it.)

And you still can't stop crying, so much so that Ichigo's decided to shoo everyone else away and bring you to his room to look for his trusty stuffed toy that is guaranteed to chase away monsters. On clapping eyes on it, you burst out laughing—it's a stuffed lion!

Ichigo looks very pleased at your response, and pushes it into your arms. You grin from ear to ear as you squeeze it—it's a lot bigger and rounder than Kon, and furred too. It's definitely relaxing to hug. The orange of its mane matches the boy's hair exactly—probably why his parents had purchased it.

Tears are still rolling down your cheeks, though. Ichigo points that out with disappointment.

You agree wetly, and ask for a hug from him too. Surprisingly, he agrees and wraps his skinny arms around both you and the toy.

It's definitely the last straw.

You fall in love with Kurosaki Ichigo.

xXXx

The next few days are a little awkward, because the Kurosaki family has decided to accept you and that means—as far as you understand—fully adopting you as one of their own. You're a little stunned when Isshin-san later corners you and explains that he can't find your parents or even any documentation on your birth. Which you already knew meant you do not exist.

(You wonder what will happen to your soul if you die here, then. And then it hurts to think because the possibility of death looms over your shoulder the closer you keep to Ichigo—and yet you can't bear to tear yourself away from him now. You know he'll protect you, and you can't help but burden him. You're not anywhere near strong. Strong in body, strong in mind, strong in spirit. You're nowhere near it.)

SO, he continues with a reassuring grin, he had asked a very good friend of his to make them for you—else you wouldn't be able to attend school, he adds. He's obviously not expecting you to understand what that actually means, but he gets to the main point that he wanted to address: That the name on the birth certificate was a Japanese one.

They could continue calling you by your real name, he assures you hurriedly, but due to circumstances, the name you'll have to write on your homework will have to be the one on the certificate.

And. Well. Apparently you're a Kurosaki now. Kurosaki Hana to be precise. Ichigo's cousin from his mother's side.

(Mother's side?)

You dissolve into tears again because you're a big crybaby and you never realized the hero's family would obviously be equally heroic—that shit was hereditary after all.

You manage to calm down enough to assure the frantic man that you love your new name.

xXXx

A few more days pass and you settle a little. Karin thinks you're cool because you showed her what happens when you put Mentos in Coke and Yuzu likes you because Karin likes you. You're sharing with Ichigo at the moment because Karin and Yuzu's room is too cramped and the both of you are too young to feel awkward.

You've started helping Masaki-san with the housework, and Isshin-san very proudly lets you watch him at the clinic. You're registered to start school with Ichigo in the spring.

You find that, after all that has happened, everything worked out.

(For now, the clock continues to tick. But you don't let yourself dwell on these thoughts, or there will be yet another breakdown. There's an imminent one waiting in the wings, but you have time yet. For now, the bells chime.)

Because Ichigo saw you and thought to ask if you were okay.

Heroes, after all, always save the day.

And that's why no matter how you disparage a damsel in distress, as long as you're useless, you'll remain that way forever. You can certainly be snarky and intelligent and whatnot, but if you can't defend yourself, if you always need saving...you ought to wake up and smell the roses. Your ego got hurt? Too bad. In real life when you get publicly embarrassed you don't miraculously get a do-over or even cover it up.

I'm not sure where this story will go, because the Bleach story has gone seriously way over the limit. Originally, you have a not-so normal teenage boy who suddenly attains power and goes around kicking lots of ass. But then it turns everything upside-down and this boy suddenly becomes the most abnormal thing ever in that he's coincidentally the child of the phoenix and dragon and tiger and tortoise and oh by the way, he has the powers of all of them plus the ability to summon deux ex machina from his ass! He levels up to max level, breaks that limit, levels to that max level, breaks it again, levels...oh for chrissake. And how do all the original side characters keep up with that unbelievable power-leveling?! By all rights, he should be leaving them in the dust by now. Ugh.

Anyway, this isn't about what's wrong with Bleach Canon. It's about realism. I don't have a lot of this written yet, but that's how stories always start, yeah? So I'm gonna put it up, and maybe I'll put up the one after that. (After enough editing)

Memory25~