Summary: If everything is supposed to be good in the world again, why does it leave such a bad taste in my mouth? A Bleach IchiRuki story

A/N: So… I'm back, with a Bleach story! celebration But, I do feel bad for abandoning my two Naruto stories… Well, one and a half (to see what I mean, go check them out ). But I've fallen in love with Bleach, so… Yay! I hope you enjoy. I don't know when the next update will be, but don't expect anything for a while. Please, read and enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach... yet.

Bittersweet: Chapter 1

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He really wanted to say something heroic at that moment, something like "This is the end of your evil deeds, Aizen! You die here!" However, he didn't. After all, he had an image to keep. And saying something that cheesy just didn't fit. And besides, why waste breath on such useless words?

"Kurosaki …" Aizen managed to whisper, despite his fatal injury. "What a shame… You held… so much potential…"

"Shut up," was the orange-haired teen's only reply. Despite his calm exterior, inside, the teen was exploding with rage. His hometown, Karakura Town, was in flames. Aizen's push against the living world caught Soul Society off guard, and they were unable to react fast enough to save the town. Even Ichigo couldn't get there on time. By the time he had arrived, half of Karakura Town was already in ruins. All who had left Hueco Mundo with him, his friends and the shinigami that were sent to help, immediately sprang into action. But even the combined efforts of all the fighters couldn't repair the already damaged Karakura Town. All they were able to do was stop the spread of destruction. And stop it they did.

As Ichigo reflected on the events leading up to this moment, Aizen merely smiled. Not one of joy, nor one of mania. Rather, a smile of contentedness.

"I'm impressed, Kurosaki…"

"Shut the hell up, bastard. You-" Ichigo was about to say something lame, like "Your reign of terror ends here," but once again, he reminded himself of how lame it would sound. Then, without another word, he brought his sword down upon Aizen, cleaving him clean in two.

-One year later-

"Ichigo!" yelled a raven-haired girl. She was wearing Karakura High uniform, minus the jacket. However, the said boy did not respond. Unless grunting and facing the other way was a response. "Wake up, you lazy-ass! Did you forget? Our graduation is today!"

"WHAT!?" the orange-haired boy shot up in his bed. "WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP EARLI-"

"GOOD MORNING MY SON!!! TODAY IS THE DAY YOU LEAVE BEHIND THE CHILDISH WHIMS OF HIGH SCHOOL AND TAKE YOUR FIRST STEP INTO TRUE MANHOOD!!!" cried Isshin as he flew into Ichigo's room, landing a solid kick to Ichigo's face.

"YOU!!! IS THIS ANY WAY TO WAKE YOUR SON FOR HIS GRADUATION!? DO YOU WANT ME TO SHOW UP TO THE CEREMONY WITH A BROKEN FACE!?"

"Nii-chan! Daddy! Please stop fighting so early in the morning! Breakfast is ready!" pleaded one of Ichigo's younger sisters, Yuzu, as she stuck her head into Ichigo's room.

"Ah! Yes! I shall gladly eat the meal that my darling daughter has prepared for us this fine day! Mother! Our daughter is growing up so fast!"

"Get out, all of you! I need to get ready!" yelled Ichigo, pushing out Isshin, Rukia, and Yuzu. He slammed the door right behind them and locked it. "Damn Rukia… Barges in here like she owns the place… Just because we let her sleep here… And that idiot father of mine…" the disgruntled bright haired teen grumbled. He opened his closet to find his graduation robe, along with his regular high school uniform, hanging, freshly laundered. 'Heh… I'd better remember to thank Yuzu.'

Ever since Aizen's attack, things were never the same. Many of his classmates were gone, dead. However, those who had their memories modified, which were most of the general population, thought of them as having 'moved away for private, family, or business reasons'. This pained Ichigo more than he allowed others to know. It was, in his mind, his fault that they had died. If only he had been stronger, and gotten past all those Espada faster, he may have been able to find out about Aizen's attack that much sooner, and saved perhaps even one more person. But he couldn't… He wasn't strong enough…

"Nii-chan! Are you ready yet? Breakfast is getting cold!" came Yuzu's voice through the door.

"All right! I'll be right down!" Ichigo replied, shutting the closet door.

"Eh? You're still not ready? Nii-chan, you'll be late for your ceremony then!" Yuzu said, her voice full of worry.

"That's right, my son! As you enter manhood, you should learn to take responsibility! And that means-"

"Don't worry about it, you two! He still has three hours until he actually needs to be there, and another hour after that until the actual graduation!" Karin said, taking another piece of pancake from the big stack that Yuzu had whipped up for them.

'I can't believe… that I'm graduating already,' Ichigo mused, smiling to himself more than anything. 'I still remember… the day I met…'

"What's with that idiotic look on your face for?" came Rukia's voice, interrupting Ichigo's thoughts. Ichigo had been looking at Rukia as he smiled, leading the raven-haired woman to believe that she was the recipient of his 'idiotic look'.

"Bah. What's it to you?" Ichigo replied, his face turning back into a scowl. "I'm gonna go get ready now," he suddenly said, getting up from the table.

"But nii-chan, you've only-"

"It's fine, Yuzu," Ichigo said nonchalantly, walking away.

"And now, we gather today to send off these promising young men and women to their future, where they will surely-" The speaker was taking a damn long time. Ichigo wanted, more than anything else, to get out of the stuffy, uncomfortable robe he was in, and just go back home. He didn't know how long the balding man had been talking for, but it was much too long for his liking. He let his eyes wander, scanning over the crowds. He saw his father, jumping up and down in his seat like a lunatic, waving frantically trying to get Ichigo's attention. Embarrassed, Ichigo chose to not return his father's waves. His eyes continued to move amongst the crowd, when he saw- No, it couldn't be! That bright red hair, those freaky eyebrow tattoos… Renji. Ichigo could feel the beads of cold sweat of fear forming. Next to Renji were… No… 'Somebody kill me. Please,' Ichigo thought. Rangiku was wearing a very skimpy outfit, and when she saw that Ichigo had seen her, she blew a kiss to him. Of course, this did not go unnoticed by the many classmates that were ogling at her, and they all thought that the kiss was meant for them. Next to Rangiku, looking rather uncomfortable and bored, was Hitsugaya. The seats behind them were occupied by Ukitake, Ikkaku, and Yumichika. Then, even behind them were Urahara, Yoruichi, Ururu, Jinta, and Tessai. 'What… what are they doing here,' Ichigo worried. He looked over at Rukia, who was sitting next to him. She had apparently noticed them a while back, and gave him a worried look as well. This couldn't be good…

"Ah, Kurosaki-san," came that all-too-familiar voice. Ichigo turned to the direction of the voice, to find none other than Urahara Kisuke, grinning at him.

"G-Geta-boshi," Ichigo said, staring at him. "What do you… What are you doing here?"

"Well, well, I thought it might be a nice gesture to drop by. After all, you only graduate once, right Kurosaki-san?"

"Well, I… but what I-"

"Well, well, if it isn't Kurosaki," came that all-too-familiar cocky voice. For the second time, Ichigo wheeled around to face his tomato-headed rival and friend, Abarai Renji.

"And you!" Ichigo yelled, pointing an accusing finger at Renji and the group of shinigami behind him, "What the hell's the big idea!? Just showing up here like that!! I thought you were all supposed to be busy!!"

"Well… Ukitake Juushirou Shigekuni said it was all right," Renji replied, a cocky smirk forming on his lips.

"So you just- Wait… Did you say Ukitake Shigekuni!? As in… General!?" Ichigo screamed.

"Damn right. And you're looking at the new Captain of the 3rd Division!" Renji said, his arrogance practically drowning every shinigami within earshot.

"You… Captain!?" Ichigo was truly in shock. This was just not registering in his mind. "What kind of a sick mind do I have, creating a nightmare for myself like this!" Ichigo screamed.

"What the hell did you say!?" Renji yelled. There was no way that he, now a Captain of a squad now, would take this kind of abuse from a substitute shinigami. "Do you want to die? And on your own graduation day, too?"

"My, my, what a lively bunch we all are? Why don't we all just calm down? After all, we have business to discuss," Urahara said casually, as if it was common knowledge.

"Yes, that we do," spoke Ukitake for the first time, "but can't we push it off until tomorrow? After all, tonight is his night," he said, nodding towards Ichigo.

"Well, if the Shigekuni doesn't mind, then I don't see why not?" Then, without a second thought, Urahara turned around and began to walk away.

"You… where are all of you gonna stay?" Ichigo said, turning to the group of shinigami.

"Don't you worry, Kurosaki," Hitsugaya piped up. "We won't bother you this time around," he said, referring to the last time he was here with the 'Hitsugaya Primary Expeditionary Force'.

"Yup!" Rangiku chimed in, as cheerful as ever. "But while we're here, why don't you show us some fun?"

"Onee-saaaaan!" came a cry. "As beautiful as alwa- OOF!" Keigo was struck down by Rangiku, who didn't even bother to turn to look in his direction. "You… you weren't gonna just leave me, were you?" Keigo moaned, twitching on the ground.

"I'm just going home," Ichigo said. "It's already getting dark. The damn ceremony took the entire afternoon, and I'm beat. I'm calling it a day." And with that, he left behind a group of shocked and somewhat offended shinigami.

"Onee-san, you won't leave me here, will you?" groaned a hopeful Keigo. He was, however, merely ignored and stepped on by the said strawberry blonde.

"Well then, looks like we have to show ourselves around you guys. Let's go," she said, dragging an unwilling Hitsugaya behind, followed by the rest of the shinigami entourage.

"What the hell was that about, Ichigo?" came her all-too-familiar voice from behind him.

"What are you talking about, Rukia?" he shot back, not even having to turn around to identify the owner of the voice.

"It was very rude of you to just turn them down like that. They did come to see your graduation, amongst other things."

"Bullshit. They probably came here on some stupid shinigami business that happened to comfortably coincide with today."

"Are you really so dense, Ichigo?" Rukia shot back, fighting to keep her voice even. "Are you really so blind as to who cares about you and who doesn't!? Sure, they may not show it the way humans do, but in their own rights, every person here today came for you!"

Ichigo decided it was best to not argue with her. "All right. Fine. I'm sorry. I'm going home." And with that, he began to walk away when he saw his family at the end of the block, waiting for him. "Rukia," he said, turning back to her, "if you want, go out with them and have fun, all right? Don't let me rain on your parade. It was your graduation too, you know." And with that, he turned back to his family and began to run to them. "I'll see you tonight!" he yelled back, not turning around.

"Idiot," she whispered to herself. And with that, she began to slowly follow after her vibrant haired friend. "As if I trust you enough to leave you alone for even a single night."

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A/N: So… I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Yes, it does start out slow, but I need to slowly introduce the plot devices somewhere, and better now than later, right? Because otherwise, the story would just drag on for longer than necessary, which I have a habit of doing. And I need to ease myself into the world of Bleach, and its characters, customs, personalities, and the likes. Also, I will probably stick to the Japanese nicknames of characters, so I might get it wrong, or you may not be able to understand, but please, be nice! Correctly me kindly, and there's always Wikipedia for your reference. Anyways, I don't think the next update will be for a while, but the more reviews you guys leave me, the more I'll be motivated to pump out the next chapter. So… feel free to leave me comments, constructive criticisms, and the likes. But if you're gonna suggest other pairings or flame me, don't bother. I won't even take you guys seriously. Anyways, if you bothered to read this block of useless ramble, give yourselves a hand, and help yourself to some cookies! So expect the next chapter within two weeks at the latest. Later!