The Knight and The Strawberry

chapter 1

Dismal. That's how most would describe the evening. The sky was darkened, lightning was crashing, and the rain was coming down in a deluge. It had been like that for most of the evening. In stark contrast, earlier in the day the sun had been out and it had been abnormally hot. Most would have called it a dreary evening, but not Ichigo Kurosaki. No the day to him had been great. His mother had packed his favorite lunch, at recess they played soccer and he had gotten to hang out with his best friend Tatsuki at Karate! And now, to put the icing on the cake he was walking home with his mother. She was amazing. She was beautiful and kind, she always knew just how to rub your tummy after dinner, and she gave the best hugs. She was the world to Ichigo. He always felt safe with her

Yes today was a good day for little 9 year old Ichigo. Until

"What's that girl dong?" Ichigo said before he saw the girl take a step towards the river. "AH. I'll be right back

"Ichigo where are you going?!" Masaki called to him "No! Ichigo stop!" she cried chasing after the boy. He couldn't see the monster waiting to attack him, but she could. And she wasn't going to make it in time.

Ichigo felt something hit him hard on the back and he fell forward. He could hear his mother scream, and then?

Nothing.

He was surrounded by nothingness. 'Where am I? What happened to the girl by the river? Where's my Mother?!' he thought. He tired calling out to her but his voice never came. He tried looking at his hands, but saw nothing. Just the continuing unending darkness. Where was he?

Tap

'What was that?'

Tap...tap...tap

'Footsteps? Could that be mom?' Ichigo hoped. As the steps got closer his vision slowly returned to him. He could see a blue sky above him, and as he lifted his arm, he could see his hands blurring into existence. The taping came closer. He felt something smooth and hard beneath him. 'Glass? Why am I lying on glass?'

"...Ichigo"

Someone was calling him. He tried to look around but couldn't see anything. As he began to sit up he realized that he was hanging from the side of a skyscraper.

"Aaahhh!" Ichigo screamed, pressing himself against the building.

"Why are you laying down like that Ichigo?" he heard the deep voice of a man behind him. He craned his neck to see who it was that had spoken. What his eyes saw surprised him. Standing perpendicular to the side of the building was a tall man with a sharp angled chin covered in a thin layer of the beginnings of a beard. His hair was long and brown and flowed in the slight breeze. He wore sunglasses over his grey eyes, and had a long tattered black coat on.

"Who are you mister?" the young Ichigo asked

"You have not yet answered my question" the man said stoically. "Why are you lying down Ichigo?"

"Uhhh... well if I stood up id fall." Ichigo stated as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Who was this guy? Did he forget about gravity? And how is he...

"Then why have I not fallen?" The old man asked, causing Ichigo to stop and think. In fact as he thought about it, he did feel like he was laying on top of the building instead of pressing against the side of it. And if the old man could stand here then maybe the building was on its side, although Ichigo couldn't think of one good reason as to why that would be. "Stand up Ichigo."

Ichigo did as he was instructed and slowly got to his feet, testing the ground to make sure he wasn't just about to slide down. Satisfied that he would be okay for now the small boy looked up at the mysterious man "So who are you anyway?" Ichigo asked. He wasn't used to talking to strangers but for some reason he felt oddly comfortable with the man. 'Why do I get this strange feeling from this guy? Its almost like I've known him my whole life.'