Author's Notes: Now I know you guys may be thinking... What the hell are you doing! Get back to One Week! I would like to tell everyone that I am, and that this is simply because the new chapter of Bleach was that fucking awesome.
Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach it'd be one huge f**k-fest! So I'm glad Tite Kubo owns it.
SCREECH!
Ichigo looked up in horror, afraid that more madness was slowly descending into his life. However, instead he found himself looking his boss straight in the eye. He wasn't concerned with the fact that she had seemed to just appear out of nowhere or that in actuality that he had run at least fifteen blocks nonstop. He wasn't concerned with her questioning gaze or the accusing tone in her voice as she yelled at him to get into the van; all he could do at the moment was stare at her with fear evident in his eyes.
"Hey, what're you doing out here, Ichigo?" The older woman asked while looking at Ichigo, "What happened?"
As Ikumi drove down the dark street both she and Ichigo were quiet until she decided to question him further, "Jeez, you're all dirty and you're not even wearing shoes… What the hell happened?"
Ichigo sat in the seat next to Ikumi, saying nothing, chocolate brown eyes hidden beneath his hair. He was so preoccupied with his thoughts that he didn't even notice Ikumi's gaze switch from the road to him. She took in the man's features, and found herself thinking about some of the things she had been hearing about him lately.
She had called Ichigo's cell phone to get him to come in for work, but his younger sister, Yuzu if she recalled correctly, had picked up. The first thing the young girl had asked was who was calling and did they know where her onii-chan was. Even over the phone Ikumi could basically hear the desperation dripping from the young girl's every word. Before she could even ask what the young girl was talking about she found herself being yelled at by one Karin Kurosaki, effectively explaining who else had Ichigo's attitude in his family.
When she had finally been able to get a word in, and introduce herself Ikumi found herself being apologized to fiercely by the more outgoing of the Kurosaki twins. She excused herself from the phone, and when Yuzu came back to the phone she apologized for her sister's behavior, she then explained the whole situation. How Ichigo was coming home at all times of the night, being withdrawn from his friends, even missing school. Though she had intended for it to be a yelling match between her and Ichigo, Ikumi now found that she was instead trying to comfort Ichigo's sisters.
As she looked the young boy over right now she found herself wondering, 'Have you gotten tangled up with the wrong people, Ichigo?'
Cause here a boy who normally played with her, and denied of simple things, someone insane like herself, was sitting here looking like a puppy who had just been kicked around. She didn't even notice when she pulled in front of her shop, however she was thankful that she had put Kaoru to bed earlier.
"Here, drink up…" Ikumi found herself saying as she sat a steaming cup of tea in front of Ichigo. Since she had brought him into her home/store and told him to sit on the couch and make himself comfortable, he had done nothing but sit with his fingers intertwined and his head hanging low, looking as if the world had dropped all of its problems on him at once. Definitely not a look a handsome young man like himself should have been wearing.
Ikumi's eyes widened at that thought, and she mentally scolded herself, while reminding herself that she was first, too old for him, and secondly she had a child. To deter herself from thinking anything else stupid or inappropriate, she found herself speaking before she even thought about her words, "Stay as long as you need to calm down." She bit her bottom lip before trying to mend her statement, "If there's something you want to talk about, talk."
Ichigo answered without even looking at her, "…Thanks…Ikumi-san…"
Ichigo didn't notice her intense stare, he wasn't even aware of her actions, hell, she wasn't even aware of them! Ichigo's eyes widened when she grabbed his head, and pressed the side of it to her breasts. While Ichigo certainly had grown up, he was still a virgin and a teenage boy; this got the expected reaction out o him, but instead pushing her away and yelling obscurities he simply found himself blushing, "I…kumi-san…?"
"SHUT UP! IT'LL BE OK!"
Ichigo didn't say anything else, but instead rested his head on her chest. After awhile of just sitting like that both getting comfortable in their relative positions, the door bell rang, startling Ikumi out of her thoughts.
DING DONG!
She let out a sigh, and allowed Ichigo to pick his head up off of her, "Jeez, who is it at this hour…?" The door bell rang again and Ikumi all but yelled, "COMING!"
She turned to stare at Ichigo one last time who had shifted back into that 'The world is out to get me vibe', and let out a sigh. Whoever this was better have had a damn good reason! As she walked away she had no idea of the thoughts going through the young man on her couch head.
'If I want to talk, huh? I can't. There's no way I can.' Ichigo thought somberly, 'Ikumi-san doesn't know about Shinigami, or Hollows or Fullbrings. I'll only cause her unnecessary worry if I say something out of the blue…'
However Ichigo was unaware of the commotion going on at the front of the shop.
When Ikumi had left Ichigo's side she had felt a sense of dread rushing through her body at once, and simply shook it off as a desire not to leave the young boy's side. When she opened the door however she immediately knew that she had been incredibly wrong.
"Who are you?" Ikumi found herself asking harshly; even though she hadn't meant to, however now that it had come out she wasn't taking it back.
The man tilted his head to the side and smiled actually causing Ikumi to step back in fear, "I'm Tsukishima, Ichigo's cousin."
"No… you're not, who are you!" Ikumi found herself yelling.
"Please stop yelling, or you'll attract Ichigo's attention, don't you think he already has a quite a bit on his mind?" Tsukishima calmly stated.
For the first time that night Ikumi put everything together, and found herself yelling before she could even stop herself, "YOU'RE THE BASTARD CAUSING ICHIGO ALL THIS TROUBLE!"
Before she could even stop herself Ikumi had balled her fist up, and pulled it back ready to hit the man with everything that she had in her body. As her fist neared his faced he just disappeared. Eyes widening she opened her mouth to scream Ichigo's name, but before she could even get the words past her lips the man appeared once again catching her totally off guard, and with a white blade in his hand. Her body locking up in fear Ikumi couldn't even muster the strength to move or even scream for help. The last thing she found herself thinking before the blade came down, and black overcame her vision was, 'Ichigo… I'm sorry… That I couldn't help you…'
As Ichigo sat on the couch in Ikumi's living room waiting for her to come back while trying to sort out his thoughts, he heard someone enter the room. His head snapped up quickly embarrassed, because of his actions he began to apologize, when his blood went cold.
"ICHIGO! Isn't it great?" Ikumi yelled, or in Ichigo's mind this fake Ikumi, "Tsukishima-san just came by to pick you up!"
'No… no… no…' were Ichigo's only thoughts.
Ichigo found himself running once again. No destination in sight, no anything in sight.
'What the Hell…! What the Hell's happening!Isn't there anyone… Anyone normal left in this town! Did he get everyone? My family, my friends, Chad, Inoue, Tatsuki, even Ikumi! Please… God let there be someone left!'
As Ichigo ran down the street he heard someone yell out his name. He turned around and found himself face to face with Ginjo.
Not even letting Ichigo say anything while trying to catch his breath Ginjo explained, "HE GOT US… RIRUKA…KUTSUZWA…YUKIO… JACKIE… ALL OF THEM…! TSUKISHIMA GOT TO THEM ALL…!
Ichigo couldn't even respond, he couldn't even think, 'Everyone… he got everyone… This…. This… is… insanity! He even got the one person that I could have protected… What is he? What is he? I'm so sorry Ikumi-san… I'm so sorry…'