Ichigo's POV

Ichigo Kurosaki was a Shinigami. Not a Substitute, well, not anymore. He had decided to become a full-fledged Shinigami once he turned 19. That day had passed, and he was now . . .

Writing out an essay on Hell Butterflies and the workings of the Senkaimon. Yep, he was back in high school. Well, technically it was the Shinigami Academy. They're pretty much the same thing, except that the latter was for dead people. I didn't know they even had a Shinigami Academy . . . thought Ichigo.

Luckily for him though was that, out of gratitude for him defeating Aizen and all (most) of his cronies and giving up his powers in order to do so, the only part of the Academy Ichigo had to be part of was the Kido skills and learning about the other types of sprits, other than the Common Plus, Hollows, Arrancars, Visored and Shinigami.

And (of course) Hell Butterflies and the workings of the Senkaimon.

Of the other types of spirits, Ichigo learnt, there were Ayakashi and Yokai, which the divided into various 'Types'. These were the most well-known of the spirit types to humans, but also the hardest for humans to see.

Ichigo was looking at the results for his essay on Hell Butterflies and the Senkaimon when he noticed a flyer tacked to the noticeboard. It read:

Study Tour to the World of the Living!
Residents of the Academy! This is your chance!
We will be travelling to the World of the Living to a large Ayakashi and Yokai hotspot in the form of a small village in the mountains.
Anybody welcome!

"Cool" Ichigo said to himself as he read the flyer, he noticed the fine print at the bottom of the page:

Note: students MUST have grades higher than a B in order to go on the trip.

"Crap!" he exclaimed, as he frantically flipped through his essay results. There! There it was! He had scored a B+, barely scraping in. Ichigo looked at the flyer once again, and saw the lines provided for students to sign up. There was only one space left! Ichigo looked behind him and saw a fellow student who looked like he was itching to sign his name in the last space. He even had the brush in his hand!

Oh, and that was another thing about the Academy. They had to use traditional ink brushes. No pencils, no mechanical pens, just ink and a brush.

Ichigo looked at the date of the Study Tour: 15/09/12

Swearing, Ichigo quickly signed his name, shot an apologetic glance at the poor kid and ran to his dorm to start packing. The Study Tour was tomorrow after all.

~time-skip cuz im lazy~

As Ichigo arrived at the Senkaimon, he took note of those he would be going with. Of the Academy residents there was Kaoru, Takeshi, Natsuo, Mayu, Ai, Shizuko, Yusuke, Sakurada, Sonoko and himself. Then there were the "Supervisors" of the group, the Squad members: Tsukino, Kushina, Heiji, Tatsumi, Shiroko, Shinichi, Haimaru, Yuna, Renji and . . .

Rukia?

What's she doing here? Wondered Ichigo, there's only supposed to be 10 of them . . . and Renji! Granted, he's a 3rd seat now, but it's only supposed to be seated officers below the rank of 3 . . .

He walked up to the two to ask them about it. "Yo, Renji, Rukia," they turned around and saw Ichigo making a beeline towards them.

"Hey Ichigo!"
"Yo,"
"What are you guys doing here?" Ichigo asked
"We signed up." Rukia replied, as if it were the most obvious thing in the universe.
Ichigo sighed. "No, that's not what I meant. I meant what are a Lieutenant and a 3rd seat doing on a Study Tour to the World of the Living? I thought it said only officers bellow 3rd seat could supervise."
"Well," began Rukia, in a very stuck-up tone, "As you know—"
"*coughKuchikiinterventioncoug h*" Renji coughed, earning an elbow in the gut because of it.
"What?" he practically whined, "It's true!" this time earning himself a knee to a rather . . . sensitive area of the male physique.
". . . right, well that explains Rukia, but what about you Renji? How'd you get here?"
"I-I thought it'd be fun" Renji indignantly
Ichigo face-palmed. "So basically, you both snuck through the Senkaimon." Ichigo cut Rukia off as she opened he mouth to argue, "Kuchiki intervention or not."
"Why does it matter how we all got here?" Sonoko piped up, "Let's just enjoy the trip, huh?"

". . . Fine . . ." the three grumbled in unison.

If Ayakashi or Yokai, who were usually benevolent, found out that there were trainees within the group of Shinigami, they would quickly become violent and fight the trainees as a way to prove themselves amongst the other Ayakashi and Yokai. So, to avoid such a situation, those of the Academy were given a Shihakushō for the duration of the trip, so as not to attract any more attention than necessary. Ichigo, for one, was ecstatic to be able to wear a proper Shihakushō again. The Academy uniform felt strange to him, he felt out of place wearing it . . . then again, it seemed the total opposite for some of his fellow trainees. They stood there with the nameless Zanpaku-to issued to them at the beginning of the tour, awkwardly shifting from foot to foot, like they were about to be caught out any second, others stood there proudly, puffing out their chests like roosters on steroids. Ichigo was allowed to have Zangetsu with him, seeing how unaccustomed he was to wielding a sealed Zanpaku-to. For that, he was also very grateful.

Because the tour was longer than any they had been on before, they were also issued Gigais and were to attend the local high schools as part of their human studies. Of course, they weren't all going to the same high school, just ones within the area. This time, Ichigo was on the same page as his classmates. It was the first time he had worn a proper Gigai . . . well other than his body of course.

Ichigo was issued Renji as his guide, much to his displeasure. Thankfully, Rukia decided to come with the two male Shinigami to 'make sure they didn't do anything stupid'. They were going to the closest school, and were to enter the school as first years. For Rukia, that would be a piece of cake, Ichigo and Renji? Not so much.

The three were sitting down on the grass eating their lunch when Rukia began to talk. "Hey, Renji, remember that Ayakashi from when we came here last?" she asked.
"You mean from when we were in the Academy? No, sorry, I went to Karakura instead. This is my first time in this part of the Living World." Renji replied.
"Oh, well anyway, last time I came here, I met this Ayakashi, I think his name was Madara or something, but you should've seen his face when I told him I was a Shinigami!" she laughed, and as Rukia told the two more about this Madara, the more they wanted to meet the guy.

"So what else is there to know about this Madara guy?" Ichigo asked
"He's a terrible drunk, I'll give you that much. He's even worse than Rangiku when it comes down to it."
"No. Freakin'. Way. That's impossible!" cried Renji. As Renji started to list off all the terrible things Rangiku had done while she was drunk, Ichigo turned to Rukia for more info. "So, what's this guy look like anyways?"

Rukia tried in vain to explain Madara's appearance to Ichigo in words, but in the end resorted to her sketch pad, which she had somehow managed to bring along. "Umm . . . yeah, thanks Rukia, I'll look out for him," said Ichigo, knowing that whatever Madara looked like, it would be far from what had been depicted in Rukia's drawing.