The Soul and The Wolf

**The Soul and The Wolf** is the twenty-ninth episode of the Bleached Wolf's Rain series.

Having a normal life, Ichigo lives it out in Karakura Town. But the dreams he has makes him think he had another life, even when a wolf becomes involved in his life.

## Summary

In a dream, a familiar Soul Reaper falls into the depths of the water. He looks up as he takes his last breath, until he finally passes.

Waking up, Ichigo sits up in his bed. He thinks about the dream he had, giving him the impression that it felt real, although he doen't know what to make of it as he looks out the window towards the new day. Getting dressed, he makes his way down into the living room and kitchen, greeted by his sisters, Yuzu and Karin. As he smells breakfast, Ichigo asks about it, Yuzu revealing it to be scrambled eggs, sausages, and bacon. Ichigo comments on the sauce she uses, when their dad, Isshin, greets them all and joins in. While they take to enjoying their breakfast, they talk about what to expect from school, when their dad brings up that he'll be taking a business trip fro the clinic he works at, and doesn't know how long he'll be gone for. After telling them that Ichigo's in charge while he's gone, Isshin then remembers something he wanted to give him, and presents him with an emblem badge. Taking, Ichigo wonders what it is, Isshin saying that it's a combat pass used by Shinigami to signify themselves as spiritual guardians. He thanks his dead for it, then gets ready to go.

On his way to school, Ichigo starts thinking about the dream again, pondering about it's meaning, until he hears someone calling him. It turns out to be Orihime, allowing them to greet each other. With that, they walk to their high school together.

Inside the classroom, Ichigo is welcomed by Keigo Asano and Mizuiro Kojima, then Tatsuki Arisawa. Class starts, Ichigo trying to pay attention, but can't seem to stop thinking about his dream, which turns out he has been having frequently lately. Once school finally let's out, he says goodbye to his friends, and decides to take a shortcut through the park. That is, until he comes across a stray dog. At first, he thinks nothing of it, until Ichigo notices that it seems to be hungry, so he decides to give it some of his leftover lunch. He watches it sniff it at first, until it finally starts eating it. Feeling content, he begins to leave, when the stray starts following him, causing him to tell it that it can't come home with him. It appears to understand, surprising him. Still, Ichigo assures it that he'll come by everyday after school to check on him. Again, the stray seems to understand him. At night, Ichigo thinks about it, wondering about it.

The next day, Ichigo makes his way to the park to check on the stray dog, which apparently seems to be expecting him, to his surprise. Afterwards, he goes to school, until it's time to head home. Before he does, he makes his way to the park and spends some time with the stray. It becomes a part of his daily routine. One day, Ichigo checks on it, which makes him start having a feeling that it might not be an ordinary dog. During practice, he gets distracted. Tatsuki seems to notice this, and asks him what's wrong. He apologizes, admitting that he was thinking about the stray. When she asks Ichigo if he's found its' owner, he replies that he isn't sure that it has one, and for some reason doesn't know if it even is a dog. Curious, Tatsuki wants to know why he thinks that, when he sees a small gang pass by outside the school. He thinks nothing of them, until one of them mentions a dog. Hearing this, Ichigo informs Tatsuki to stay where she is, causing her to ask him what's going on. But he already makes a run for it, making his way to the park. Once he reaches it, he's there in time to find the gang, one of them the leader hitting the stray dog with a metal bat, asking if it thought it could leave him. As they beat it up more, Ichigo finally demands them to stop. They do, the leader wanting to know who he is, but he simply tells him to stop attacking the stray. Uttering a laugh, the leader introduces himself as Yokochini, then reveals that it's not a dog, but a wolf, taking Ichigo by surprise.

As he claims, Yokochini says that the wolf belonged to him for his dog fights, until it managed to escape from him. Now he plans on teaching it a lesson, and swings the bat, hitting the wolf as it whines in pain, until Ichigo comes over to hit Yokochini in the face, knocking him to the ground. Pissed off by this, he orders his gang to attack him. One at a time, Ichigo fights them off and takes them out. Finally, Yokochini draws a knife, intent on killing him. However, Ichigo catches it, and punches him in the gut, dropping him. As he grabs hold of him, he tells Yokochini to leave his neighborhood, or else. He clearly understands, and orders his gang that they should get out of there. Once they make a run for it, Ichigo sees the wolf is lying on the ground in a very weakened state as it starts raining.

Checking on it, Ichigo asks it if it's alright, but it doesn't seem like it can respond, only looks at him. He says that he's sorry, feeling remorse. Just then, a voice says that he shouldn't be sorry, Ichigo realizing that it's the wolf. Believing he's imagining things, he says nothing as the wolf goes on about how caring he was towards it. That although he thought it was a mere stray he showed how caring he was to it. As it starts losing consciousness, the wolf thanks him, until eventually, it passes. The only thing Ichigo can do is take in what happened. Overwhelming guilt comes over him, until in that moment, something triggers inside him.

Suddenly, his past memories all start coming back to him. Being a Soul Reaper, being with the wolves, the journey to Paradise. All of it comes back to him in that moment. Seeing the wolf lying there motionless, Ichigo only puts a hand on him, and after a while, finally thanks it. Unknown to him, a figure is watching him.

## Appearances In Order

* Ichigo Kurosaki
* Yuzu Kurosaki
* Karin Kurosaki
* Isshin Kurosaki
* Orihime Inoue
* Students
* Keigo Asano
* Mizuiro Kojima
* Tatsuki Arisawa
* Teacher
* Stray Wolf
* Yokochini
* Gang Member 1
* Gang Member 2
* Gang Member 3
* Gang Member 4
* Rukia Kuchiki (Flashback)
* Kiba (Flashback)
* Renji Abarai (Flashback)
* Tsume (Flashback)
* Hige (Flashback)
* Toboe (Flashback)

## Notes & trivia

* This is the first episode to only feature Ichigo and none of the other main characters (not including the memory flashbacks).
* In the episode, Ichigo's life is a normal reflection of his previous life at the beginning of the series, where he has no Soul Reaper powers and no knowledge of the existence of wolves.
* The stray wolf is based of the character Wolf Man from the anime film *Wolf Children*.