The schoolyard for Karakura High was packed. The bell had yet to ring, and gossip and chatter filled the front yard. We are focusing on a group of second-years though. They are near the right side of the yard by a tree.
Let's listen to their conversation.
"Who is this?" The orange-haired boy pressed his raven-headed girlfriend, jealously. The blond boy next to her just smiled and tilted his head.
"I'm..." The blonde now grinned, "Someone you KNOW, Ichi-kun! I'm SO SAD you don't RECOGNIZE me!"
Bored, Ichigo Kurosaki turned and walked closer to the school doors. "You don't sound SAD at all, creeper." He grumbled, "In fact, you sound more like-" he whipped around to get a better look at the mysterious 15-year-old blond. He was wearing a paperboy-cap, and his hair stuck out at both sides like a football. He had a tuft of hair that was parted in the front by his nose. The boy smiled like he knew something Ichigo didn't.
Such a familiar smile! How did it take so long for Ichigo to recognize him?
"URAHARA!" The orange-head shouted aloud. The merchant pulled his paperboy-cap and grinned even wider.
"Aw, you're making me blush!" It was obvious he wasn't blushing, but he was faking the event anyway. Somehow a fan had appeared in his hand, and it was over his face like a princess would have it, so you couldn't see the bottom of his chin.
"W-what happened to you?" Ichigo exclaimed as he inspected the merchant. "Y-your my age!" Urahara just closed his eyes and nodded wisely, fanning himself. Rukia rolled her eyes.
"I came to but more soul candy. He said there was a 'Chappy' in stock, and by the time I got there, he was running around screaming with his clothes almost falling off like this" She motioned to the boy to her right.
The duo then explained that that they had to rush over to Ichigo's house to steal one of his old uniforms then filled out the school papers as fast as possible. Ichigo recognized the uniform, and that it was too small for himself, but fit the fake-teenager perfectly. Urahara was very short but lanky as a teenager. But right now, this lanky teenager looked scared, terrified even. This took Ichigo by surprise; it was so out of character for him.
"Yorichi can't find out! If she discovers that her boyfriend is currently hundreds of years younger than her, she'll freak! She can't find out! She'll have my head! Promise you won't tell!" Ichigo knew Yorichi well, and that he was right. The blond would be dead.
"HEY ICHIGO!" A redhead girl behind him screamed. "Ichigo?" she looked around, then up. "Ichigo why are you in a tree?"
"'CUZ YOU JUST SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME!" Urahara burst out laughing, causing Orihime to look at him, so he stopped.
"The substitute soul reaper, Hero to Soul Society, scared of a scream!" He couldn't help but giggle. He looked over at Rukia, and she was smiling too, like this wasn't the first time it's happened. The blond pictured this happening in different settings, and laughed again, only to fall over on all fours coughing. He could see drops of blood falling onto the sidewalk, from his mouth.
"Ura- Koune!" Rukia exclaimed as the fell onto her knees and tried to calm the teenager down. Orihime seemed not to realize that Rukia had caught herself.
Koune? Ichigo thought, then realized 'Urahara' was an old name and would raise suspicions, and if the blond didn't want Yorichi to find out, he probably didn't want Orihime, Sado, and Ishida to find out.
Ichigo slowly climbed down from the tree and looked at Orihime. She had a concerned look on her face as she rubbed the male's back; offered words of comfort to calm the coughing boy down. Her words seemed to work, and the boy slowly stopped coughing. Orihime sighed, "I wish I could use my healing magic on you." This made Urahara's eyes widen, and he scrambled back from the girls. "Oops! I shouldn't have mentioned it! My bad!" She laughed nervously and rubbed the back of her head with her hand.
"Why is he so scared of her magic? Is he surprised she 'spilled the beans', or does he think she knows it's him? Is he faking it, pretending he's not Urahara? Is he just creeped out by her magic?"
Rukia mouthed the question Ichigo didn't speak. "He's been cursed. He's coughing because of a side effect, at least that's what he told me. Orihime's magic will not work, and he's faking he doesn't know."
Ichigo looked down at the blood on the pavement. There was a considerable amount. "I'll take Koune to the nurse. This new remark made the merchant wipe all the blood off his face and scramble away from the group.
Rukia laughed at the grown man in the teenage body, and started chasing him. Orihime chased after the two and asked, "Who is this guy?"
"Ichigo's extended family!" Urahara shouted from in front of them. "I just transferred!"
"Ah! No wonder why you look so alike!" She shouted back.
"Look alike? Related? Leave it to Urahara to be able to trick Orihime with some fantastical answer! He could have said he's from outer space and she'd believe him!" Rukia thought, icily.
Ichigo was breathing hard as he ran across the street. The blur next to him was keeping up. It was gym and the class was required to run through the streets of town, for the 2nd semester grade.
Rukia was in first for the girls like usual, and Ichigo and Koune were tied, constantly coming neck-and-neck as the goal came closer. Koune sure was fast for such a lanky teenager, but then Ichigo realized that spiritual entities didn't need to breath, making Ichigo feel cheated. A turn was coming up, and 'Strawberry' was going to cut the merchant off, but the blonde sped up to pass him, and that's when he heard the raspy breathing. Ichigo's opponent was purposely pushing himself despite his physical condition to beat him and show even as a teenager he's better.
Ichigo mentally sighed. "He's still immature, as usual," he thought as he raced to keep up. "He's adapting to his new body fast." As the goal was coming close, the coach squinted to see the two boys, and glanced at his stopwatch, then stared with his mouth agape.
"Five minutes! They finished the track in FIVE MINUTES!" But by the time he looked up, both boys had finished, and glaring at him. All three knew that the coach hadn't caught who won. The coach returned to watching for kids. He didn't notice one of the tied athlete's coughing fit.
"Welcome back class!" The teacher announced, "Today we have a new student. I know it's a weird time to transfer, but his dad has to travel. Unfortunately, he'll be gone by next month."
"Next month? He thinks he can break the curse by then?" Ichigo thought.
"Class, meet Kurosaki Koune-kun!" this brought Ichigo back out of though. "URAHARA WAS PRETENDING TO BE MY FAMILY!" He mentally screamed.
'Kurosaki' walked into the classroom, and the class stared at his hair. He, thinking they were staring at his face, stared back. He then grinned and waved at them.
"Hi… um… I'm Kurosaki Koune, Ichi-kun's cousin. I'm from out of town, obviously, and I hope I'll have a lot of fun with you guys this month!" He shoved both fists in the air "Right?"
"Yeah, like he'll get a response from that kind of speech. What's he-" Ichigo's thoughts were interrupted by a roar from the class, leaving him thoroughly surprised. Urahara seemed like this was so normal to him, but Ichigo knew that this black market merchant was sly and cunning, and an excellent actor, despite his appearance.
Once he got home, he'll probably freak out.
"Home? Is he just going to go back to the shop? I wonder what his subordinates think." Ichigo figured he would ask him later. He saw his teacher point to the desk next to Ichigo and his 'cousin' nodded. Ichigo scrambled to find a piece of blank paper, and scribbled 'Have a cell phone?' at the top, and placed it on the table before Urahara got there. The blond glanced, at the paper, then at Ichigo. He then pointed to himself, confused. Annoyed, Ichigo nodded. The merchant read the note, looked up, as if thinking, and then scribbled an answer back. Ichigo then read it, and was surprised.
'That's the little pink thing Rukia carries around that can send written messages via airwaves and you can talk to people without a hell-butterfly right? The thing that you get orders on?'
'Yeah.' Handed back.
Received. 'Oh… yeah, I do. I need to figure out how to work it. I would ask Jinta, but I'd just get some long lecture. Kids these days.' Handed back.
'So… your number?' The bell had rang once Urahara received the note, and scribbled a response. He turned to see the girls behind him giggling.
"He's cute."
"I love his hair!"
"-and his eyes!" Ichigo rolled his own, "This will only boost his ego." True to Ichigo's guess, the blonde raised his eyes up and down as a lecherous gesture of 'Hey there.' and the girls giggled again.
"He's so unlike his cousin!"
"I'm surprised they're related!"
"Cuz we're not!" Ichigo screamed mentally.
Urahara gathered his books he borrowed from the teacher and gave the note to Ichigo. "See ya' later!" He grinned and followed the girls out. Ichigo looked down at the note and saw the number that was requested, memorized it and nodded. He had Lunch next, and this underage merchant was sure to strike up some embarrassing conversation.
"Ahh! Whose the girly guy?" Keigo screamed, tears running down his face.
"Girly… Guy?" Kisuke echoed, pointing to himself, his expression slightly offended.
Mizuiro slowly walked up next to Keigo and nodded. "Yeah, he's talking about you. Don't mind him, he's a loser." Keigo disappeared. Not caring, Mizuiro continued. "You're the transfer student, aren't you?"
The 'student' looked around for the missing crybaby; only to find him on all fours in the corner, looking depressed.
Dismissing the event like it never happened, the blond turned back to the 'Raven headed Jinta' and grinned. "Yup~! Kurosaki Koune! Ichi-kun's cousin." Mizuiro nodded a greeting to Sado, Orihime, and Ishida as the came up and sat down. Then it occurred to him about what the merchant said.
"Cousin! Ichi-kun never said he had any cousins!" Sweat drops appeared on everyone's heads due to his outburst.
"Hehe~! I'm adopted. Just recently too, like… a month ago? No wonder he hasn't talked about me, today was the first time Ichi-kun and I met too~!" Kisuke heard a grumble of 'Liar' from his left, were Ichigo stood, but ignored it.
"You have to be adopted! You not only look nothing like Ichi-kun, but you don't sound or act like him!" Keigo added, obviously over Mizuiro's insult. He looked down at the new student, and saw him on one knee by Ichigo.
"I'm very grateful for your family welcoming me with open arms, Ichi-kun. Arigato."
This was right on target.
The whole group -save Sado, Rukia, Ichigo and Koune- burst out into tears. Murmurs of "So touching" and "Kawaii!" were heard.
Ichigo heard a 'Pst' in the crowd of praise, and looked down. "Play along." Kisuke mouthed. Ichigo was at a loss for words. This was embarrassing, but what would happen if he didn't play by the elder's rules? The blonde's cover would be blown, and he would forever be a laughing stock.
"Fine, I'm game." He mouthed back. Kisuke grinned and rested his head back on his knee. "No big deal, you're family now," He grumbled through gritted teeth.
"Oh, by the way, do you know anyone by the name of Kisuke Urahara?" the Quincy asked. 'On no!' He's caught on! Urahara recovered first, and shook his head.
"No, should I?" Uryu shook his head. The blonde, not seeing this, still waited for a response. Once he thought he wasn't going to get one, he turned back off at the scenery outside school.
"Grrrrr!" All off the fighters stood immediately, aside for Urahara.
"I don't sense anything." Rukia whispered.
"You shouldn't~!" They all looked down to see the merchant pointing to his stomach, grinning. "That was me! I'm hungry, and don't have lunch."
Orihime gasped. "Here, have this!" The redhead shouted as she thrust a wrapped package into the merchant's hands. "It's a marshmallow, leak and bean-curd sandwich!" Ichigo and the gang tried their best to hide their grimaces from their best friend. Koune accepted the food gratefully, and politely smiled.
"Thanks!" As the blond wolfed the food down, Orihime couldn't help but blush.
"You're welcome."
Ichigo walked into his house and heard the vacuum going off. How did Yozu get home early? Me school lets out an hour before hers!
"Oi! Ichigo!" The teen looked down to see an orange stuffed lion grab his pant leg. "Where's ne-chan? WHERE IS SHE!" His shoe was now wet due to the lion's "tears." One kick and the animal was falling down the wall.
Kon rubbed his head, "OW! Ichigo! Oh yeah, Jinta wants to know where Urahara is. Any clue?"
He's not home? "Got to go" Ichigo said as he ran up to his room- backpack still on. Throwing it onto his desk chair, he fished for his cell phone out of his pocket and texted the number he was given earlier that day.
[yo. Its ichigo. where r u?] He waited, and in a few minutes a received a response. Must have been trying to figure out how to work the phone. Ichigo joked to himself.
[Stalking you. Look out your window! 3] Before he had a chance to follow the order, a knock was on the windowpane, right by his bed. The window opened and a teenager stepped in. " Hiya~!" Said the grinning blond. Ichigo grumbled a response then turned to the storeowner.
"Jinta and Ururu don't know where you are." The merchant stopped grinning, and frowned. "You didn't tell them, did you?"