The night before Rukia is taken back to the Soul Society, Ichigo gets an unexpected visitor, in an unexpected place. The beautiful woman tells him the snowy city is his inner world? And that she is his friend's Zanpakuto? Obviously Ichigo thinks this is crazy...but he has no idea just how wrong he is...
The Snow has Stopped the Rain
is a Bleach fanfiction by SkywalkerT-65.
Taking place near the beginning of the series, it turns out that after Rukia transferred her powers to him, Ichigo was able to directly communicate with her sword Sode no Shirayuki as well as use her shikai release, something supposedly impossible. As a result, Soul Society is (for the most part) more interested in learning how such a freak occurrence could happen than killing him. Of course, the villain is thinking the same thing...
This fanfiction contains examples of:
- And Then What?: Orihime in an unusually serious moment asks Ichigo what he plans to do after rescuing Rukia, since Soul Society would only take her back. Ichigo doesn't have an answer for her.
- Big "WHAT?!": Shirayuki lets out one of these when Zangetsu asks if Aizen is into little boys.
- Blood Knight: One thing Zaraki and Zangetsu agree on:Zaraki: Real men fight blade to blade. We revel in the contest of combat. Enjoy the feel of blood pumping and splattering against us. If you can't enjoy that, there isn't any point to fighting. And this will be a boring fight...I hate boring fights.Zangetsu: ...I'm fairly certain it's my Hollow side, but I kinda agree with the bastard.
- Blunt "Yes": Zangetsu asks if he's really that scary looking since he's basically a hollowfied clone of Ichigo. Rukia, Ichigo, and Shirayuki all answer "Yes" in unison.
- Buffy Speak:Rukia: Is this your inner world?Ichigo: Yes, but it isn't usually this...naturey.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Ichigo tells Ukitake that had Soul Society actually tried talking to him instead of trying to kill him and Uryu and snatching Rukia, they wouldn't be in their current mess.
- Dramatic Irony: Uryu thinks to himself that if he didn't know any better, he'd say Ichigo and Ganju were related because of how similar they are. Unbeknownst to him, they're cousins.
- Epic Fail: Ichigo thinks this of when he first attempted to do a level one Bakudo and managed to cause it to literally blow up in his face. The fact that it was a binding spell should have made a reaction like that impossible.
- Facepalm: Instances include-
- Ichigo when his friends had decided to "rescue" him and an arrested Rukia, when he had been in the middle of trying to get her out using legal channels.
- Shirayuki (on herself unusually) when she realizes the ease of which she and Ichigo had been communicating via a Psychic Link should have been impossible and the implications of it are huge.
- Uryu barely resists this when he realizes Ganju had slipped away from the group when they're in hostile territory. He gives up and does it anyway when Ganju shows up screaming and being pursued by a large number of armed Shinigami.
- For Science!: When the captains are all told about Ichigo being able to wield Shirayuki and even use her shikai, some of them want to bring him in for questioning partially because such a thing is just such an impossibly that they have to learn more about it. Except for Mayuri, who wants Ichigo brought in solely for this reason and immediately starts thinking about dissection.
- Full-Name Ultimatum: Shirayuki uses Renji's full name in a rant when she's furious at him for attacking Rukia as he was trying to take her back to Soul Society. It might have even had an affect on him if he'd had any way of hearing her.
- Fun with Acronyms: The team breaking in to Soul Society call themselves the Rescue Rukia (and Ichigo) Team or RR(I)T for short.
- Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Rukia does this (along with Stunned Silence, followed by incomprehensible babbling) when Ichigo shows up with Ukitake when she's in jail, as she wasn't even sure if he was alive or dead, let alone would suddenly waltz right up to her. Zangetsu sums up her reaction by saying, "We broke her."
- In-Series Nickname: Most of the time Rukia's sword is called Shirayuki, both by the text and other characters. Zangetsu takes it a step further and uses the nickname Shira.
- "Metaphor" Is My Middle Name: Played with; Rukia continued to look at the little group, trying to figure out why Ichigo 'what's subtlety?' Kurosaki would be trying the legal route to get her out.
- Ms. Exposition: Initially Shirayuki is Ichigo's most useful and constant source of information about zanpakuto and Soul Society. The trope is played down after Zangetsu shows up and they get Rukia back, since then the job could be shared among more people.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Shirayuki remarks that Ichigo and Zangetsu are frighteningly similar as they're both prone to being hot-headed and irritable. The fact that they simultaneously object to this comparison only reinforces it in her mind.
- Only a Flesh Wound: Zaraki shrugs off most injuries Ichigo manages to inflict on him. He ignores the pain and instead takes joy in their fight, each hit only making him more excited.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ichigo realizes something is up when, after mentioning Urahara is involved with the invading Ryoka, Kyoraku's perpetual good mood immediately turns sour.
- Psychic Link: Rukia and Ichigo eventually develop one of these, as well as being able to hear both of their zanpakutō at all times.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Zangetsu is crude, violent and hot-blooded while Shirayuki is (usually) calm, collected and proper.
- Right for the Wrong Reasons: Zangetsu is suspicious of Aizen because of his interest in Ichigo, but then he asks if he's a child molester, one of the very few crimes Aizen doesn't commit.
- Sarcastic Clapping: Zangetsu does this the first time he and Shirayuki meet when she states he's obviously not Ichigo.
- Shipper on Deck: Shirayuki and Zangetsu both encourage Rukia and Ichigo to make a move, as the tension between them is really obvious.
- Super-Empowering: This trope goes both ways when Ichigo and Rukia end up with a second version of the other's zanpakuto, which gives each of them a larger variety of abilities than they had before.
- To Make a Long Story Short: Ichigo actually manages to keep it fairly short- "Long story short, my soul is a mess. I've got my human side, my shinigami side, my hollow side and some other sort of power none of us is sure about."
- Training from Hell: The training Uryu receives (in place of Ichigo) from Yoruichi.
- Twitchy Eye: Both Ichigo and Shirayuki (whom he's wielding at the time) do this when Renji is mocking him about his inability to control his power.
- You Called Me "X"; It Must Be Serious: Ichigo knows to take Zangetsu seriously when he calls him by his real name instead of King (or some variant).
