BLEACH: World Cup Fever

In conjunction of the World Cup I decided to post a story that would probably span for few chapters. I hope it will be enjoyable to you guys.

This will not only focus around Ichigo and Rukia, but it will focus on multi characters in multi-different plots, some maybe unrelated to each other.

In here I made Japan qualified to go to the finals against South Africa. Few places mention in here will probably be fiction.

The timeline of this story is unable to fit in the bleach timeline.

Its somewhere before the Winter War and Inoue somehow managed to return to the living world.

Bare with me

. =B

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Bleach or the World Cup.

CHAPTER 1

Welcome To South Africa

Soul Society

The streets of Rukongai were empty. Sure they were still few souls that carried on doing their everyday routine, but the difference in the intensity of the crowd were vastly visible. Children that used to be seen playing soccer down the street were nowhere to be found. The screaming of the ramen vendor was inaudible, creating an unusual silence for the few who still roam the street.

In comparison to Seiretei however, the emptiness of the scene was far more absurd. No shinigamis patrolling the area. No sound of Kenpachi or Ikkaku craving for some blood-thirsty action. Even Hitsugaya Toshiro was missing from his office in the 10th Division building, and the stack of paperwork was left undone. The whole Seiretei was empty as it can possibly be. Except for one part of it. The 12th Division Research and Technology building.

"Mayuri-sama, you look excited today," Nemu told her Captain-Father-Boss.

"Nemu. Stop talking and do your work. Make sure the VGA cable is attached to the correct place!" Mayuri responded, typing something to his large mainframe screen.

"Sir, which one is the audio cable? The one with the red or white?" Rin asked, not familiar with the two long wires stretched from two large speakers placed at the division's huge backyard.

"Baka! They are both audio cable. Connect each cable to that PA Equalizer System over there. Can't anyone do anything right around here!" Mayuri got up from his chair and exited the room towards the yard, mumbling curses on the way.

"Mayuri-sama's been really cranky lately. More then usual" Rin innocently commented to Nemu.

"Hmm," Nemu acknowledged the comment while attaching the VGA cable to the large contraption labeled Interworld Media Converter. "We can't blame him. Mayuri-sama wants everything to be prepared before tomorrow night. The whole Seiretei will be here to watch the World Cup Finals, Live on TV"

Living World

Ichigo flushed his diluted faeces down the toilet bowl. He let out a large sigh and stood up, pulling his jeans up while leaning on the wall. The toilet was small in area, allowing him to lean from one side of the wall to the opposite without much effort.

"All passengers please stay at your seat and fasten your seatbelt. We are entering a storm cloud and may encounter a slight turbulence. Breakfast will be served soon. Have a nice flight" a monotone voice on the PA speaker said.

"I hope they don't serve anymore fish.." Ichigo mumbled as he washed his hands "the one they served me for dinner just caused me diarrhea."

He opened the restroom door and suddenly encountered a foot ramming him straight on his face.

"ICHIGO! You're TOO SLOW!" an older man wearing a yellow Hawaiian polo shouts, "Did the altitude got to your reflex?"

"YOU STUPID GOAT!" Ichigo angrily yelled before kicking Isshin on the stomache sending him crashing to the restroom door. "WHAT THE EFF WAS THAT FOR? THIS IS NOT OUR HOUSE. WE'RE ON A FREAKIN PLANE! YOU DO NOT KICK PEOPLE ON A FREAKIN PLANE!"

"You gotta expect the unexpected! For the unexpected will expect YOU!" Isshin said, one hand on his tummy while the other giving Ichigo a thumbs up.

"Is everything okay sir? Do I need to call the Air Marshall?" a stewardess asked, suddenly rushing towards the commotion.

"I'm sorry for the noise miss. No need for any Air Marshall. He's just a retarded father of mine." Ichigo shyly explained to the lady with his hands in his pocket.

"ICHIGO! You're hitting on the stewardess? GOOD JOB! From her looks I am sure my grandchildren will be all cute and adorabl—" Isshin's face was hit by Ichigo's foot causing him to crash face down on the restroom floor.

"On second thoughts, tell the Air Marshall there is a lunatic terrorist on board," Ichigo said pointing to Isshin.

He walked through the aisle leaving his dad crying something about getting disowned while the stewardess stood there not knowing what to do in the current situation. His stomach still ached in pain a little. Those fish and chips the plane served yesterday were probably expired. He didn't get a proper sleep because of it and had been in a plane for almost ten hours now. Hence, he was slightly irritated.

"Hurry up Ichigo! You need to fasten your seatbelt!" a voice shouted from one of the seats while waving her hand.

"Relax Rukia," he replied with a scowl as he entered his row sitting between Rukia and Ishida.

Rukia screamed joyfully like a little girl from elementary receiving a bunny sticker for an A on a test as the plane enters the thick black cloud. She was at the window seat, constantly peeping out the window. Rukia was excited. It's her first time to be on a plane. Sure she flew (more accurately Shunpoed) all the time during her hollow battles or to move from one location to another. But flying in a plane is a whole different thing. The comfortable chair, the free meals, free pillows given for them to sleep at night and not to mention the children Chappy magazine that can be found on the side pocket of her chair were some of the reasons she enjoys this flight.

"Kurosaki, seatbelt. Now." Ishida said. He was seating next to Ichigo, holding a magazine with his hands gripped tight on the article. His hands were shaking ever since he got on the plane yesterday night. In contradiction to Rukia, Ishida was afraid of flying. Not because he was afraid of height. No. It's the whole idea of letting a big chunk of metal crafted to imitate the physical property of a bird to carry him hundreds of kilometers from sea level with a 50-50 chance of crashing. He's not afraid of death, now knowing how the afterlife would be like. He just hated the idea of dying on a pathetic plane crash.

"We….are gonna….crash…" Ichigo whispered to Ishida's ear, mimicking a ghostly voice the best he could, only to receive a nice hard slap from him on the face.

"What the hell?" Ichigo exclaimed painfully, touching his sore cheek. "Did you just bitchslap me Ishida?"

"Shut up Kurosaki!" Ishida said, fixing his glasses on the bridge of his nose "that's what you get for talking crap to me!"

"A slap? Seriously? What are you, a girl with a PMS or something" Ichigo said, still dumbfounded by what just happen. He expected a fist on the face, or kick on his gutter from Ishida. But a slap? That's just.. unexplainable. Maybe his height phobia brought up his feminine side, he thought, chuckling by himself mentally.

"Kurosaki-kun, Ishida-kun. Keep your voice down. Everyone is staring at us." Inoue, who sat on the row in front of them with Chad and Isshin (who was still whining at the restroom), looked back and told them. Chad was listening to his Ipod, humming the tune of the music that was playing in his ear. Inoue had tried to spark up a good conversation with him during the flight, but to no avail for all he said was "hmm" and "then?".

Two rows ahead, Karin, Yuzu and Toshiro were fastening their seat belts. Karin was smiling. Her smile was wider than any smile Yuzu ever gave during her lifetime. Her smile was so cheerful and happy that Yuzu was worried.

"Karin, are you sick?" Yuzu asked.

"No my dear twin sister," Karin said with the same smile "I never felt better in my whole life." Yuzu dropped the conversation after that.

Toshiro, who sat near the window next to Karin, was staring at her for a while now. He loved to see her smile that way. With all the aggressive attitude and the infamous Kurosak-scowl her face usually show, the smile made her looked….well, prettier. Realizing the sudden blushing on his cheek he shook his head and turned his glance to the window view.

"Thank you Toshiro," Karin said, punching him on his arm "for taking us on this trip!"

"Yea sure," was all he replied. Just being with her was enough to thank him. Well, technically, he should give the credit to Uruhara and Rangiku for setting up the whole idea of going to the World Cup finals between South Africa and Japan. Karin kept mentioning about her wish to actually watch the final match to him, and unfortunately, Rangiku overheard. So she began organizing another lets-get-taichou-a-girlfriend scheme with Uruhara. Somehow Uruhara managed to get plane tickets, the soccer match tickets and a vacation package (hotels, food etc) for ten people, all expenses paid. Toshiro knew there will be something Uruhara want in return. That bum would never be this generous without a catch. The only reason Toshiro agreed with the plan was because Rangiku actually did her paperwork (Well, some of it at least) in return for his agreement. And apparently Rangiku invited Karin too. To make sure Karin would come, she invited Yuzu. To make sure Yuzu would come she invited Ichigo. To make sure Ichigo would come she invited Rukia, Chad, Inoue and Ishida. To makes sure they got an adult supervison, she invited Isshin. It was a full proof plan. A very well planned scheme by Rangiku Matsumoto, surprisingly. There was suppose to be one more to join the group for the trip but he or she didn't show up. Toshiro could not recall who it was suppose to be.

"Who do you think will win the match, Toshiro?" Karin's voice snapped him off his thoughts.

"Um, Japan?" he replied. He was not really following up with the soccer news in the living world so he was not sure what to answer.

"I think so too, because I kn— Look! Its Africa!" Karin's sentence was stopped by the fascinating view of the savannah grassland far below them. Antelopes can be seen gliding through the land, Giraffes gently nibbling on the leaves of the trees and elephants traveling in groups in search for new greener pasture. Seeing that they had exited from the storm cloud, she unbuckled her seatbelt and lean forward to the window for a better view. Her knees were on her chair, her hand was on the window, and her head was in front of Toshiro's face. The sweet lavender shampoo smell of the silky raven hair attacked Toshiro's nostril aggressively causing his face to turn red. To make matter worse (or better) for him, a short turbulence caused the plane to jerk, causing him to accidentally kiss Karin on her cheek. Karin stared at Toshiro with a surprised red face for few long seconds while Yuzu remained oblivious with what just happen.

"Karin, I—" Toshiro stuttered, still blushing heavily

"HOW'S MY SWEET DAUGHTERS AND FUTURE SON-IN-LAW DOING?" yelled Isshin who appeared out of the blue.

After receiving a severe blow from Karin on the face, Isshin was forced to seat next to the Air Marshall for the rest of the flight.

Hueco Mundo

"Foodbol! Foodbol!" little Nel shouted as she, Dondochakka and Pesche ran across the white desert chasing after a dark green sphere like object. Nel then kicked the ball to the opposite direction and the group continued after it.

"Nel! Let me kick the ball!" Pesche grunted, chasing after Nel.

"No! Nel found its. It's Nels!" Nel said, picking up the object.

"But I wanna kick it too dontcha know!" Dondochakka yelled.

"No! Nel found! Nel found so the ball belong to Nel" cried Nel

"I helped you take it from the room in Las Noches" Pesche said trying to defend his case.

"And I help breaking down the door, dontcha know" Dondochakka added.

"Hmmm," Nel entered a deep thought "Okay, we will take turn kicking the bol"

So they played with the object happily, kicking it in every direction possible in the large spacious environment.

Back at Las Noches, Szayel was anxiously searching for something in his room. Starkk went in and yawned. He was wearing a Japan National Soccer Team jersey on top his Espada uniform. Lilynette was behind him with the Japanese flag painted on her face.

"Is the set up ready for tomorrow night? Aizen-sama was asking for confirmation" Starkk asked.

"We have a problem. Someone stole the Reiatsu-Emf Amplifier." Szayel responded, his fingers fiddled with his glasses.

"The Reyata-what-now?"

"It's a green spherical orb that contains a receiver that could receive the broadcast signal from the living world and momentarily convert into a spirit energy as it enters Hueco Mundo. From there I can attach the orb to my computer in the media chamber and transmit the signal to our satellite dish. " Szayel explained seriously.

"Oh no. Does that mean.." Starkk stopped, expecting Szayel to continue his sentence.

"Yes. That means no watching the Word Cup Finals tomorrow night."

Living World

Few lions were slowly stalking on a pack of buffaloes, expecting a glorious meal for the day. They almost attacked their prey until a bright light appeared suddenly in the middle of the African grassland, causing the buffaloes to run away. After the bright light, a Senkai Gate was seen. The door slid open and a large reiatsu was released causing the lions to back away quickly with fear. A large figure with ridiculously spiky hair in black tank top and khaki pants stepped out. On his shoulder sat a smaller female childlike figure wearing a Liverpool jersey.

The smaller pink-hair girl clapped her hand joyfully and said "Hooray! I think we're in Africa!"

The large man took a deep breath through his nose. "I can smell you Kurosaki! This is going to be fun!"

"Ichigo will be glad to see us here," the girl continued "right Ken-chan?"

And sorry for no IchiRuki moments in this chapter.

And for the names I put for Mayuri's device and Szayel's orb, if you can suggest a better one do tell me. I can't think of anything good.

Anyway, review.

=B

*Kon Flies across screen*

SHINIGAMI GOLDEN

Renji looked at the torn piece of paper on the floor of Uruhara Candy Shop. His only freedom for the weekend was torned to pieces. He looked furiously at Jinta who was also staring at the pieces of paper. Both of them bend down and picked up what was left of the plane ticket to South Africa.

"Its all your fault you BAKA! Now I can't watch the World Cup Finals LIVE" Renji shouted at Jinta

"Shut up freeloader! I was supposed to be the one who went on that plane! With Yuzu!" Jinta yelled back, he stuttered a little when he mentioned the little Kurosaki's name.

"Says who! Dammit you don't even LIKE soccer! You're a baseball freak for crying out loud"

"Says Rangiku! She told Uruhara to give the plane ticket to the Red Head" Jinta exclaimed then pointing to himself, "me!"

"You blind asshole! I'm a Red Head too!"