When It's All Said And Done: Chapter 1

It was seeing the blood his friend had lost in the name of their promise.

It was seeing the monster born from that sacrifice.

It was seeing the mask pulled back to reveal his face.

It was seeing his friend was still there, fulfilling his end of the deal.

It was the realization of what a picture the two must make, fighting side by side like they do.

It's the irony of the situation, really, that makes Ichigo laugh when he thinks about it. The Masked and the Unmasked, together fighting Hollows, Arrancar and whatever other dirty little secrets the Soul Society throw at them, fulfilling a promise made when they were too young to fully understand what such a promise meant.

It's knowing their promise is so strong it binds their souls, transcending physical death, social barriers and even sanity that gives Chad a true sense of purpose. It was knowing that at the end of the day, when it was all said and done, when the Hollows had been purified, the souls sent on their way, and the traitors put in their place, that they are both still the thirteen year old boys who made a promise to fight for each other within days of meeting. They are still just the two tough guys who stuck together when people tried to mess with them for strawberry blond hair and fists too large. Even when the punks became monsters who ate the souls of the living and the dead alike, and the friends became guardians of the dead, they stuck together. They became the living representations of that which they would soon become, terrifying allies and enemies alike, and they were only 15. They are still too young, too strong and too strange.

And none of it means a thing, because no matter what they are back to back, fighting for a promise made back in Junior High by two kids with a hero complex, one with nothing to lose, the other who had everything at stake.