Wondered how Ichigo would deal with someone who ticks him off and wanted a match for Tatsuki.

I yawned as I walked down the main road, searching for a flower shop nearby. It had been a busy couple of hours, surprisingly, since morticians don't normally get a whole lot to do. Then again, I normally had my step-father doing a majority of the work but it had been 3 years since he passed on, giving the shop to me, so I was doing the work alone now. I adjusted my tie, loosening it a bit in an attempt to get some air under my black suit as I found the shop I was looking for.

"Ah! Satoshi! It's nice to see you again. You here for more lilies?"

I shook my head. "No. Some daffodils, actually, Miss Kurihara."

The woman nodded and went into the back before returning with some bright yellow flowers tied together with a ribbon. I handed her the money and she quickly began calculating the change.

"Who's it for this time?"

"The young girl who was hit by a car a few days ago."

"Ah, right. Poor dear. Give her my blessings."

I nodded and walked out of the small shop. I had known Miss Kurihara for years, ever since I had started helping out with my step-father at the morgue. He had this thing where he'd always bring flowers to the deceased person a few days after everything that happened, just to wind down after work and I guessed that I just got so used to it that I kept doing it even after the guy kicked the bucket. The man should know better than to leave a 15 year old kid with a family morgue to run. Even if I do look older than I actually am.

I pulled a hand through my neck length silver hair with a sigh as I approached the street where the girl was killed. As I heard voices shouting, my bright blue eyes scanned the street to see a group of punks a bit further up. I'd rather not start a conflict with any of them, but I still needed to give the girl her flowers so I started heading towards the group. Getting closer, I was able to hear a part of their conversation and it seemed that one of the guys was actually trying to punish the others.

"Then why is the vase knocked over?"

"T-That's…"

"That's cuz we knocked it over skateboarding?"

"I see…Then shouldn't you apologize to her?!"

I raised a brow as the orange haired guy gestured to a girl and the punks hurried off with apologies. With a shake of my head, I walked up to the knocked over flower vase behind the guy and the girl's ghost. I fixed the vase and put my flowers in it just as the girl noticed me.

"Satoshi! You brought me flowers!"

I nodded and pat the ghost girl on the head.

"I promised you, didn't I?"

"Mhmm!"

"Oi, you can see her?"

I looked over at the orange haired kid as I stood up.

"I've been able to see them since I was born. It's convenient where I work."

"Oh yeah? And where's that?"

"A morgue."

He looked surprised, dropping his tough guy act for a moment before turning to leave. The little girl next to me waved with a smile towards him.

"Thanks mister!"

He waved in return. "You're welcome. Hurry up and go to heaven."

She gave a childish pout and stuck out her tongue as I, too, turned to leave.

"He's right, you know. You should head up there soon."

"B-But what about my mom? She's so sad."

I knelt down to her level and looked at her calmly.

"I know your mom is sad, but if you don't go to heaven, won't she be even more sad?"

The girl nodded and wiped at the tears coming down her face.

"Listen, how about I send your mom some pretty flowers just like yours. Then you could go to heaven and I promise to send her some every year on your birthday. Will that be okay for you?"

She looked at me surprised for a moment. "R-Really?"

"Of course."

"T-Then I'll go…But, um, how do I get to heaven?"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out a black leather glove, putting it on my right hand. The girl was confused, but she trusted me at this point and I held out my hand in front of her. In my palm, a small glow turned into a small sparrow.

"Here. She'll lead you there."

"O-Okay. Thank you, mister."

I gave her a nod and headed back home, replacing my glove back in my pocket. For some reason though, I was on edge. That's never a good sign. Hopefully, nothing like last time will happen. I already have too much work. I sighed again and soon settled in for the night as a black cat jumped onto my window sill before curling up on my stomach. Scratching her behind the ears, she gave a rumbling purr as I spoke.

"Things have been getting hectic around here, Yoruichi. Makes things interesting, don't you think?"

She meowed, agreeing with me and I smirked before falling into a peaceful slumber.

The next morning, I was glad to discover that I had no work to do so I decided to take a walk in something other than my black suit. My torn jeans were a nice change and it felt nice to not be suffocating now that I was wearing a white t-shirt and my dark green, short-sleeved, over shirt. I pulled a cigarette out of my pocket and lit it up, having been a smoker ever since my step-father died, and blew the smoke up in the air as I saw an interesting sight.

A huge hole in the side of the Kurosaki Clinic had me stopping in place and watching as Mr. Kurosaki himself came around the corner with a bundle of boards. He spotted me watching and waved me over.

"Hey, Satoshi! Haven't seen you in a while!"

I walked over and helped him with some of the boards.

"You too. What happened to your wall?"

He chuckled and scratched his chin. "Would you believe it? A truck hit our house last night! None of us woke up or anything! I'm just glad no one got hurt."

I nodded and picked up a hammer to help him nail the boards to the wall temporarily.

"Yeah. Wouldn't want to wake up and find out I had more work to do."

He laughed and hit me on the back. "Ahaha! Always the joker! You know you might actually be able to get a lady if you weren't so stoic all the time.~"

I let out a drag of my cigarette as I squatted on the ground depressed.

"I'm only fifteen. Why does everyone have to make me feel like an old man?"

He laughed louder as a young girl with light brown hair and a ladle, and another girl with black hair walked out.

"Dad! Breakfast is ready! Huh?" She looked over at me. "Dad, who's this?"

"This is Satoshi Yuuma. He runs the morgue down the road."

The black haired girl gave me a look while the other introduced herself.

"Oh! Well, I'm Yuzu and this is Karin." She said, pointing to her sister. "I hope my father didn't drag you into this."

I shook my head. "No. I don't mind helping a friend of my father's."

She blinked and tilted her head to the side. "How old are you, Satoshi?"

"Fifteen."

Her eyes widened. "What?! No way! You're the same age as our brother?!"

"Somebody called me?"

The same orange haired guy from yesterday walked out with a yawn, that is, until he spotted me.

"Ah! You're the guy from yesterday!"

"Oh? You two already met?"

I nodded at Mr. Kurosaki. "Yesterday, when I was delivering flowers to the site of girl that died a few days ago."

He hit his fist on his palm. "Right! I remember her…Anyway, Ichigo!" He slung his arms across Ichigo's shoulders with a smile. "Isn't it a miracle?! For a truck to crash into the house and for nobody to get injured!"

"Though it's even more miraculous that nobody woke up! Oh, brother! Breakfast is ready too. Are you going to join us, Satoshi?"

I glanced over at Yuzu and shook my head. "I shouldn't-"

"Nonsense! You have to join us, Satoshi!" Mr. Kurosaki grabbed my shoulders and began leading me into the house. "We need to catch up, after all."

I sighed as I put out my cigarette and sat down at the dinner table to have breakfast with them. Ichigo seemed a bit lost in his own thoughts for the moment, but once the questions started, he quickly joined in.

"So how's business been?"

"Dead, as usual." I muttered as I ate some rice.

"Don't you go to school, Satoshi?" Yuzu asked.

"Why the hell would this old geezer go to school? What, did he get held back a few years?" Ichigo scoffed.

"Brother! You shouldn't be so rude! Satoshi is the same age as you, you know!"

Ichigo looked shocked. "Wha-No way!"

I nodded with a slight frown. "I've always looked older than I am and I haven't been to school since elementary."

"What? Why not?"

"Didn't need to."

"Oh…Well, we better get going, dad. We're going to be late. Nice to meet you, Satoshi!"

I nodded at Yuzu as her, Karin, and Ichigo left for school while I finished eating with Isshin.

"You should head back to school, Satoshi. You might learn something and maybe you'll be in Ichigo's class!"

"Can't. I have to work."

He frowned. "You and I both know that you can balance both of those. You could work after school. Besides, your father told me how smart you are. Keeping up your grades would be no problem."

I sighed. "Why are you so adamant about this?"

"Because you're like a son to me."

I quickly looked up at him to find him smiling like an idiot.

"We barely know each other." I said blankly.

"And what does that change? Every kid needs a father."

He smiled and ruffled my hair from across the table as I frowned.

"Okay, okay. Fine. I'll go back to school. Crazy old man."

I muttered the last bit, but he heard me and started laughing. "You sound like my son already!"

I rolled my eyes and thanked him for the meal before heading out. The day lasted too long for my liking, but I was informed by the school that I would be joining classes starting next week. I wasn't excited about it, in fact, I was more depressed than anything. I won't be allowed to smoke. Man, this is going to suck.

I continued to think about all the bad things about school the next day, as I dressed up an elderly man for his funeral in a few hours. I had already visited his family that morning and paid my condolences, as well as purchasing the flowers and making sure he had already passed on and wasn't just hanging around. By the time I had finished working on him and another guest, I attended their funerals and ended up heading to a Chinese take-out place for dinner since it was already pretty late. Crossing an intersection, I noticed a girl about my age singing in front of me.

"Ra is Ra from Ramen. Shi is Shinigawa Sushi's Shi."

I smirked slightly at her odd choice of words, popping my cigarette back into my mouth, when I suddenly heard the squealing of tires. A car was speeding in her direction and my body suddenly acted on it's own.

I dropped my bags of food and ran towards her, shoving her out of the way. I was still in the path of the raging vehicle, but I was at least semi-prepared. I jumped up, placing one hand on the roof of the car, twisting my body before pushing off. It was a difficult and dangerous move and I could see why when I landed.

My ankles gave out under the weight and my left wrist took the brunt of the impact, breaking almost instantly. I grit my teeth, biting down on the cigarette that I had somehow kept in my mouth, but I was alive and so was that girl. Said girl, was staring at me with wide eyes.

"I-I'm so sorry! Thank you so much for saving me! Are you okay?! We need to get you to the hospital right away!"

I blinked at her in confusion as she continued to freak out when I remembered the driver of the car. I saw the smoking car nearby, having stopped when it hit a pole, and I hurried after it as the girl finally took notice.

"Ah! I completely forgot!"

I ignored her and used my elbow to break the man's window since he was knocked unconscious and the door was locked. I quickly unlocked the door and dragged the man out of the car carefully. My wrist was killing me and my elbow hurt now, but I had a high pain tolerance so I easily disregarded it and called up Isshin's clinic.

"Kurosaki clinic. Can I help you?"

Yuzu. "Yeah, Yuzu, right? It's Satoshi. Uh, I'm going to bring in a guy. Okay?"

"What?! Did you get in an accident?"

"Uh." I rubbed the back of my neck. "I guess. I'll be there soon."

She started freaking out, but I disconnected and heaved the guy up to start walking. The girl was fine enough if she could continue freaking out, so I was surprised when some of the weight was lifted off my shoulders. Glancing around the man's slumped form, I gave the girl a look that she just smiled at.

"I just thought I should help! It's my fault after all. Oh! I'm Orihime Inoue. Who're you?"

Odd girl. Helping a stranger before even knowing who she's dealing with. "Satoshi Yuuma…Your brother died a few years back, right?"

She stared at me with wide eyes that quickly turned sorrowful. "Yeah…But, um, how did you know? Have we met?"

I shook my head 'no' and looked forward again as we approached the clinic.

"No. I recognized your last name. I work the morgue not far from here. My father took care of him, I think."

"Really? How old are you, Satoshi?"

"Fifteen."

"Wah?!"

She nearly had me dropping the man when she suddenly yelled and I winced at the volume.

"Really?! How come you're not in school? I've never seen you around."

I sighed, puffing out smoke. "I dropped out a while back. Never saw a need to keep going. I'm starting again next week though."

"Wow! So maybe I'll see you in class."

She smiled again and I returned a smaller grin. "Yeah."

I sent her off once we reached the clinic and I dragged the man in just as Yuzu looked up from her apparent pacing. She immediately went off in a rant about me hanging up on her when she didn't know what happened, and about me smoking in the clinic, when she snatched my cigarette and put it out before helping me bring the man to a bed.

Isshin walked in then and began looking him over while Yuzu brought me into another room to clean out some scrapes I'd gotten during my little stunt. It was then she noticed my wrist and she hit me on the arm.

"Why didn't you tell me you broke your wrist?! Dad!"

She hurried out of the room and brought Isshin back looking a bit ruffled as she pouted at me.

"Satoshi's wrist is broken, I think."

"Ah, yes, well-"

A growl interrupted the conversation and the two of them looked towards me as I turned away with a red tinge to my cheeks, scratching my nose in embarrassment.

"I-I was getting dinner."

Isshin chuckled and smiled. "Why don't you go find Satoshi something to eat, Yuzu, while I see what I can do about his wrist."

She nodded with a smile and hurried off as I was brought to an x-ray. Turns out, I was luckier than I thought. My wrist was only fractured and not broken so it was easier to fix and less recovery time. After my injury was wrapped up, I was given some food to eat which was difficult because I was left-handed, before preparing to head on my way.

"Thank you again for the food, Mr. Kurosaki."

"No problem." He waved it off. "But it's a bit late. Perhaps you should-"

"No." He looked at me, concerned. "I'll be fine. I have some…business to take care of."

He let me go and I quickly returned to my house. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong. When I returned home, I quickly began searching through my father's logs when I came upon the problem.

"Three years ago. Sora Inoue died after a car accident. Spoken to, but not confirmed. No wonder."

I dropped the log and leaned my head back against the wall in my bedroom. At the accident site, I saw a monster there reaching out for Orihime. I had dealt with those monsters before and I knew they were trouble, but I also knew they were once ghosts. Ghosts that weren't able to pass on. And this one…This one I recognized. Not the monster itself, but the aura.

I pulled out my glove and stared at it for a moment. Ever since I'd hung around the clinic, something's just been off. Ichigo's aura had become overbearing almost overnight and I was somewhat concerned since it seemed to have something to do with the giant hole in the wall of their family clinic. Glancing at the log again, I got up and went to replace it on the bookshelf in my room along with the others.

My step-dad was very meticulous about these things and had kept a long standing record of the people we dressed and how they died. The big thing was, we also kept a record on whether we helped them pass on as well. He was another one of those who could see spirits, only he couldn't actually see them. He could only hear them, so it was harder for him to confirm whether they had passed on or whether they just stayed silent or disappeared. Although, I suppose that's one of the reasons why he adopted me seeing as we had similar 'gifts'.

"And it's your choice on whether you treat it as a gift or a curse. I'm not going to force you to like what you've been given, but it's best to enjoy it while it's there. For all you know, it might just disappear one day."

I gave a small smile as I remembered him telling me that with a big grin on his face as he ruffled my hair and I stared back at him like he was insane. He was nice though, definitely better than the foster families who tried to take me in, and most certainly better than my actual parents.

"Meow."

I didn't even notice when I had returned to my bed or when the cat on my window sill had turned up, but I welcomed her in all the same.

"Sounds like tomorrow's going to be a busy day, Yoruichi. Tying up loose ends is never fun."

The next afternoon, I had no work and closed up shop before heading out to grab something for dinner a bit earlier this time in case something else happened. I was still in my suit and tie from work, but I could care less as I strolled up to a convenience store, nearly running into a familiar girl.

"Sorry."

"Ah! Satoki, right?"

My face turned down a bit at her mistake. "Satoshi, actually."

"Oh! Sorry. So what are you doing here?"

I held up my grocery bag with my uninjured hand. "Getting dinner early should I run into you again."

She laughed brightly as my mind finally came up with her name. Orihime Inoue, right. Got to remember that one.

"Me too! So funny, huh?" She paused for a moment as we left the store together, looking me over. "Why are you wearing a suit, Satoshi?"

"I just got off work and didn't bother to change." I said as we headed towards the park. I suppose it was unintentional, but I seemed to be walking her home and, either she didn't notice, or she didn't care. I pulled out a cigarette and stuck it in my mouth, but didn't light it. I wasn't sure if she would appreciate it if I did, so I didn't take that chance.

"Inoue."

"Hm?" She smiled brightly at me and I turned my head away for a moment to compose the heat rising to my cheeks . Not from her, mind you, but from the embarrassment of what I was about to ask.

"What…Uh, what was that song I heard you singing earlier?"

"Oh that? It was a song I made up! I just take different kanji from different names of places. It's really fun. You want to try?"

I shrugged and soon enough, she was off skipping a bit ahead of me as she sang.

"Do is Drunk Dragon's Do~ Re is…" She trailed off, allowing me a chance to continue it.

It took a little bit, but I found a place that should work and sang a little. "Re is Ereki Comics' Re."

She smiled and turned her back around as she continued. "Mii is always Ereki Comics' Mii~ Fa is-"

I cut her off this time. "Alf-alpha's Games' Fa."

"Ah! It's Kurosaki!"

I stopped and followed her gaze as she looked down into the park and saw Ichigo talking with another dark-haired girl on one of the benches. Orihime waved for me to follow her with a mischievous glint in her eyes, so I did and we walked up behind Ichigo silently; just barely hearing the end of his conversation with this other girl.

"If you keep talking naively like that, you'll end up dead!"

That definitely wasn't something I expected to hear from her and I scrunched up my brows as I felt her aura. Odd. Her's is higher than normal, but the feeling it gives off is different. It reminds me of Yoruichi's and Ichigo's.

"Hello, Kurosaki!"

I winced a bit at Orihime's yelling, but decided to ignore it for now.

"I-Inoue? W-W-What are you doing here?!"

"Eheheh. Just doing a little dinner shopping. I bought onions, butter, bananas, and gelatin!"

I silently wondered what her stomach was made of to even be able to eat that. God. I hope she's not mixing those together. I'd rather not have her end up in my morgue because she ate something weird. I sweat dropped at the thought when I was suddenly pulled out of my musings and she tugged me over.

"And look who I met! This is Satoshi!"

Ichigo glared at me as I gave him a half-hearted wave. "Yo."

"Again?! How many times am I going to run into you?!"

I shrugged, gently tugging Orihime's arm off me and going over to sit on the bench as the two of them got along. Of course, that meant being near the other girl who was giving me an odd look.

"Kuchiki?" Orihime questioned the girl and I assumed that was her name.

"Hm. Who the hell are you?" She asked when Ichigo suddenly leaned back and whispered to her.

"Idiot! That's Inoue! She's in our class!"

Kuchiki's demeanor suddenly changed and I raised a brow as she curtsied to Orihime. Ichigo glanced over at her then, and noticed the bandage on her arm.

"What's wrong with your arm? You fall down?"

Orihime, being the clueless person she is, just smiled and answered bluntly, "Oh this? No! I was hit!"

"H-Hit?! By a car?!"

"Well, not really." She said, pointing to her chin in thought. "Satoshi pushed me out of the way before I could get hurt!" She dragged me over and held up my injured wrist. "See? He was more hurt than me, so I helped him carry the driver to the hospital."

She was laughing, while I just sighed and flicked her in the forehead.

"You shouldn't be laughing, Inoue. I'd rather not have to find the measurements of your casket." I said blankly while Ichigo and Kuchiki paled, but she just laughed some more.

"Ahah. I guess you're right. But it's not like they did it on purpose."

"You get hurt often, Inoue?" Kuchiki asked.

Ichigo answered for her though. "More than often! It's almost everyday!"

Orihime chuckled and rubbed the back of her head nervously. "I zone out a lot, so…"

"Then you shouldn't act like it's unavoidable like that!" Ichigo growled back.

I watched the two of them bicker for a moment, before giving up on being courteous and lighting my cigarette. Orihime was a bit too much for me to handle. Giving the Kuchiki girl a glance out of the corned of my eye, I followed her gaze to Orihime's left leg where a large bruise seemed to have formed. I frowned at the aura it was giving off and let out a huff of smoke as Kuchiki questioned it.

Orihime only ended up arguing more with Ichigo and I rolled my eyes at the two before looking at my watch. It's getting late. I need to hurry up and check about her brother if I can. I got up from the bench and tapped her on the shoulder, interrupting her conversation with Ichigo.

"Inoue, it's getting late."

She, in turn, checked her own watch and stared at it in shock. "Oh! It's this late!"

"In a rush?" Ichigo asked as she scrambled up the stairs, completely leaving me behind.

"Yeah! Laugh Hour is almost on!"

Ichigo called up to her while I just sat back down, since it seemed to me that I was being ditched.

"You want me to walk you home?!"

"Wh-What?! N-No, I'm fine!"

"Ok! See you tomorrow!"

"Huh? Um, yeah! Tomorrow! And thanks for walking with me this far, Satoshi!"

I gave her a wave as she disappeared over the top of the hill. Ichigo came back over and I stood up once again as he sighed.

"Haa…looking at her wears me out, because you start worrying."

I placed my hand on his shoulder, briefly. "Better worry now than regret it later." I muttered before heading off with a wave over my shoulder. "Nice to meet you, Kuchiki. See you tomorrow, Kurosaki."

When I reached home, I began making the necessary preparations for tonight. I had a bad feeling that Orihime wouldn't be with us much longer if I didn't take care of this soon.

A dark silhouette landed on top of the apartment complex that belonged to Orihime Inoue, in a silent leap. Their face was covered with a dark piece of fabric that they had revealing only their bright blue eyes. A long blade sheathed on their back and was only noticeable by the chiming of a bell attached to the end of a long ribbon come off the end of the katana.

The area was too silent for the figure's liking and immediately they climbed into the window of Orihime's apartment the moment they heard yelling. This isn't good. She invited somebody over? That's only going to make things more difficult for me. The figure landed in the room just as a dark haired girl was shoved to the floor, her shoulder bleeding. Shit. I'm already late. The figure quickly unsheathed their weapon and smacked the back of the blade against their wrist, giving off a loud ringing sound from the multitude of rings that were swinging from holes in the sword. The beast in the room howled in agony and the person quickly went to the aid of the injured girl.

The girl couldn't see this cloaked person, but there was another in the room who could. Orihime's spirit was huddled against the wall, confused as she wondered why her body was a few feet away from her and yet she wasn't in it. It was then, that she looked up and caught sight of the dark figure over by Tatsuki. Not knowing who the figure was nor what they were doing, Orihime acted on instinct and tackled the figure.

They tumbled on the ground for a moment, before the person she tackled groaned slightly. They made sure not to speak, should Orihime recognize their voice, but the bigger problem at the moment was the large hand aiming for them both. Silently cursing, the person shoved Orihime towards Tatsuki in an attempt to protect her from the monster.

Chimes echoed throughout the room, but they reacted a bit late and the demon managed to cut the figure's shoulder. While the beast writhed in agony from the noise, the cloaked person brought a gloved hand to their shoulder and allowed it to glow green for a moment when a familiar aura drew even closer. Great. The person quickly rose to their feet and sheathed their sword before jumping out the window and to a roof nearby.

They knew they couldn't just leave, but more importantly, they wondered why the person belonging to the aura they felt before was even here. Watching carefully while being sure not to get spotted by said individual, their expression quickly changed to mild surprise when an orange haired shinigami jumped through Orihime's window. He's a…shinigami?!

Not quite sure what to do next, the figure sat back on the roof as another familiar aura came up behind them; the clicking on the roof tiles also giving them away. The dark figure leaned back on their hands and tilted their head back to look blankly at the hat wearing man behind them.

"They'll be fine you know.~"

"And why should I trust you?" The figure asked the man.

"Oh? How about if I stay here and watch them for you? Would that be a better deal?"

The cloaked figure rolled their eyes and stood up from the roof. "I don't make deals, but I have school tomorrow, so…do what you want, Urahara."

The man gave a chuckle and waved off the figure as they jumped off the roof. "Bye, Satoshi~"