Karakura Town

7:30 P.M., Friday

"What the...!?" a man asked staring at the two of us. "You come here, stomp Li'l Yama in the face, and order us out like we was dogs?!"

"You crazy, punk? Got a deathwish? Speak!" I looked at my twin and could see him growing more annoyed at the boys surrounding us. I looked down at my feet and remembered why we were doing this again.

Ichigo "Strawberry" and Ayame "Iris" Kurosaki:

15 Years Old

Hair: Orange

Eyes: Brown

Occupation: High School Student

"Say something, you..." Ichigo raised his foot at our attacker's face and let him run into his foot.

Special Skill:

"Lord Buddha..." one of the two still standing said as their friend fell.

"He dropped Li'l Toshi!"

"Do you think they come up with these names on their own?" I asked Ichigo and he just smirked.

"I hope not."

"This is messed up... Real messed up... that's one bloodthirsty Berry Head."

"That guy's a total stone-cold psycho! Mess with him, and he'll kill you!"

"Shut up!" Ichigo shouted stepping on one of them. "All of you chumps, look at that!" Ichigo pointed at the bottle that was knocked over next to my feet. "Question one! What's that?! You smelly lookin' dude! You tell me!"

"Huh? M-me? Really?" the boy asked. "Umm... an offering for some dead kid?"

"Check out the brain on smelly!" Ichigo kicked the guy in the face knocking him down.

"Li'l Mitch!"

"Question two!"

"Li'l Mitch?!"

"Why is that vase... lying on its side?"

Ichigo "Strawberry and Ayame "Iris" Kurosaki

15 years old

Hair Color: Orange

Eye Color: Brown

Occupation: High School Student

"Dat's 'cuz... We knocked it over with our skateboards?" the other one asked.

"Is that so?"

Special Skill... They can see Ghosts

"Then you better apologize to her, hadn't you!?" Ichigo pointed at the little girl who had blood covering one of her eyes and was hiding behind me. the boys screamed in fear before running away.

"WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRY!"

"DON'T HURT US! WE'LL NEVER DO IT AGAIN!"

"Heh... I don't think they'll be back," Ichigo told the girl.

"And if they are, you know where to find us," I told her offering a kind smile.

"Sorry for using you like that," Ichigo said.

"That's okay. I asked you to get rid of 'em," she reminded us. "I was glad to help."

"We'll bring fresh flowers soon," I promised her.

"Okay. Thank you," she said with her own smile. "Now I can rest peacefully."

"No problem," Ichigo said. "Yeah, you rest in peace."

It's true. We can see and talk with ghosts. Our family runs the local clinic. We're entrusted with the lives of the living. Maybe there's some connection to why my siblings and I can see spirits.

"We're home..." Ichigo called out and I ducked as our dad kicked Ichigo in the head.

"You're late!" Dad said. "Do you two know what time it is, Delinquents?! Dinner in this house is at 7 o'clock sharp, every night!"

"Jerk!" Ichigo shouted as he stood up. "Is that how you greet your son who just helped a ghost find peace?!"

"No excuses!" dad shouted back at him as I went to sit next to one of my younger sisters. "The rules of my house are iron! You break 'em, you gotta bleed! Or maybe you want to rub it in my face that you can see ghosts and I can't!? Why can't I have the gift?! Why?!"

"I didn't ask for it!"

"Shut up!"

"Please stop fighting!" Yuzu asked them. "Dinner's getting cold!"

"Let them fight, Yuzu," Karin told her. "Leaves more for us."

"Don't we all know it," I said grabbing some dinner.

"Your rules are way too strict!" Ichigo yelled at him. "Decent fathers don't make their teenage children be home by 7:00!"

"Ichigo, there's another one following you around," I told him.

"Hey!" The male ghost greeted.

"Geez, when did you...?" Ichigo asked. "I exorcise one and another latches onto me! Crap!"

"They see then, talks to them, touch them and channel them," Karin said. "A quadruple threat. Must be a pain, Strawberry, Iris, to be in such high demand."

"But you know, we're bound to be a little envious of you, Ichigo. They're just blurry shapes to me," Yuzu said. "I'd love to see one clearly."

"Not me," Karin said. "I don't believe in ghosts."

"But can't you see them clearly, too?" I asked her.

"I'm in permanent denial," Karin told us. "If I refuse to believe in them, it's like they don't exist."

"That's cold," I commented.

"So, here's my latest plan," Karin said. ""Want to flirt with ghosts while being caressed by the first breeze of summer? A limited engagement for the month of May, the Karuizawa Ghost Picnic.""

"Dammit, Karin!" Ichigo shouted.

"Cherry Blossom watching was last month, right?" Yuzu asked.

"You're not making money off our grief!" Ichigo ordered. "We're not freakshows!"

"Dropped your guard!" Dad shouted grabbing Ichigo's foot and knocking him to the ground. Dad stared at Ichigo curiously before Ichigo threw him off.

For real... We've been able to see ghosts for as long as we could remember. We can see the dead as well as we see living. So...

"Oh! Ichigo!" Yuzu called after him as he left.

"That's it! I'm going to bed!" Ichigo called out.

"He left," Karin noted as we heard the door to Ichigo's room close. "It's your fault, dad."

"What'd I do?!" Dad asked her.

"Ichigo's been under a lot of stress," I told him, stretching my arms above my head. "We've been seeing more ghosts than ever and he's fed up with it."

"What?! He talks about stuff like that with you!" Dad asked me.

"Duh, I'm his twin," I reminded him. "I'll take some supper to his room later if you want to separate some of it for him," I told Yuzu who nodded at the suggestion.

"That boy... why doesn't he come to me with his problems?"

"Are you serious?" Karin asked him. "I wouldn't bring my problems to you either. You're over 40 yet possess the emotional maturity of a preschooler."

"Aw... Mother..." Dad floated over to a large poster of our mother. "Maybe it's because they've hit puberty, but our daughters treat me like dirt..."

"First, take down that stupid memorial picture," Karin told him.

The existence of Soul Reapers had never crossed my brother's mind, but I knew the truth. I'd discovered something about myself a few years ago that I couldn't share with the one person who I shared everything: my twin brother.

Sometime later, dad went upstairs to complain to Ichigo about the noise he was making. After he came downstairs I sighed when he cried pathetically about Ichigo's treatment of him. While this was odd, this was our family and I wouldn't change a bit about it. It wasn't until after I was going up to my room, I heard it. The loud roar of a monster outside. What the hell was it doing so close to our home? I ducked when a crash sounded from downstairs and a scream promptly followed.

"Yuzu!" I shouted going back down to them. I ran to the monster but was backhanded by it. My back slammed into the wall and it went for Karin. I got up and summoned my blade and ran to it. When I pulled my blade I left my body behind and my soul had on its black outfit. My blade was thin but just as deadly as a larger one. Dad had already been thrown around and been hurt and the monster tried to grab Yuzu, but I cut off its hand before it could get to her and, just as I was about to attack again...

"Ayame!" I turned to see Ichigo staring at me

"Ichigo? What are you staring at?! Get out of here!" While I was distracted, the monster grabbed me with his other hand. I dropped my sword and screamed as it started to squeeze me tightly. In the corner of my eye, I noticed Ichigo grab a bat and try to attack it, but it simply swatted him away, as it had done me. It moved towards Ichigo, but a stranger I didn't notice before cut its arm and I dropped from its now open grip.

"Ayame!" Ichigo caught me when I fell and held me tightly. "Ayame! Are you alright?!"

"I'm fine," I told him, wincing in pain.

"Stay calm, boy! The Hollow has not eaten any of your family's souls yet! You! Soul Reaper! What Division are you with?" the mystery girl asked me.

"The hell you talking about?" I asked her getting up and grabbing my sword once again.

"Wait..." Ichigo said stopping whatever she was going to say. "It hasn't eaten their souls yet?"

"Not even the soul of your father who lies on the floor!" she told him.

"Wait! You said the Hollows attack people to eat their souls!?" Ichigo said.

"That thing has a name?" I asked him confused.

"Why'd that thing attack my family..." Ichigo asked.

"Hollows are drawn to high levels of spirit energy, but they also attack opportunistically," she told him.

"What's that mean?" Ichigo asked her.

"I have never known a human who could see soul reapers or break a binding spell before." I saw her glance at my discarded body. "Or one who could shed their mortal bodies and become soul reapers. I have never heard of humans with so much spirit energy. I believe he was looking for the two of you!" I froze at her words. Was that thing after us? That's why it attacked our family? I looked down at my dad, bleeding on the floor, and Yuzu, a scratch on her cheek and knocked out on the ground. A streak of blood where Karin had dragged her body upstairs to warn Ichigo.

"What?! He was after us?!" Ichigo asked.

"They're dying cause of us?..." I asked quietly.

"Wait..." the woman said. "That is not what I meant..." Suddenly, the Hollow backhanded the girl into the wall across from the house.

"Soul Reaper!" Ichigo called for her. The Hollow turned back to us and we stared up at him. I gripped my sword in anger at it hurting my family.

"I've had enough of you!" Ichigo yelled. I stood in front of the Hollow with Ichigo close by.

"Hey!" I called up to it, drawing it towards me. "You want a soul?! Come and get it you son of a bitch!"

"Forget the others!" Ichigo called out to him. "Then fight me like a man! Kill me!" the Hollow attacked, but before it could get us, the girl jumped in front of its mouth. It chomped down on her, seeming to nearly bite her in two.

"Soul Reaper!" Ichigo called to her as she fell to her knees before falling on her front.

"You... Fools..." she said. "Fool... Did you think it would be over if you gave him your souls? Then you are fools!"

"I'm sorry..." Ichigo said as I looked away. "I just wanted to..."

"I fear... I cannot console you... I am too badly injured to fight it..." she told us. "It is a matter of time... until we all become its food."

This was all our fault... Why did we have to be such freaks... Even in our family... We were all going to die... and it's all our fault...

"Do you wish to save your family?" she suddenly asked.

"Just tell me how!" Ichigo asked him quickly. "I'll do anything! Tell me!"

"There is a way... I should say... There's only one normal way..." the girl told us. She picked up her sword and pointed it at Ichigo. "You must follow your sister's example and become a Soul Reaper!"

"What?" Ichigo asked her. "What're you talking about? I can't be a..."

"You can!" the girl insisted. "I don't know how your sister became a Soul Reaper, but if you place the point of the Zanpakuto, Ghostcutter, over your heart and I infuse you with half of my Soul Reaper powers - my dark force! You will temporarily have the powers of a Soul Reaper. To give you two a change against the Hollow."

"No," I told them, turning back to the monster. "He won't have to. Tell me where to cut it and I'll destroy it."

"Would you be able to do something like that?" he asked her ignoring me.

"I do not know," she answered. "Perhaps, because your soul is so powerful, but the chance of success is low, and, if we fail, you die!"

"That's another reason not to do it," I told him.

"If he is to help you there is no other way, nor is their time to ponder it," she told him.

"Ichigo..." he turned to me. "This is dangerous and either way, you could die. I've been fighting these things for a few months now. I can kill it on my own." He just stared down at me before smirking. He turned to the girl and walked to her.

"Gimme the sword, Soul Reaper! We'll try your plan!"

"Not "Soul Reaper"," she told him. "I am Rukia Kuchiki."

"Oh... Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meetchya. Let's pray this won't be our last meeting," Ichigo told her.

"Ayame Kurosaki," I introduced.

"The Hollow's coming," Rukia said. "We must hurry." He grabbed the hilt of the sword and pointed it at his heart.

"Ready?"

"Yes." I turned away as she stabbed my brother in the chest. I had to shield my eyes from the light before the Hollow's other arm was cut off. Behind the Hollow was my brother with a large blade nearly the size he was.

"No, I meant for only half..." Rukia said behind me. "I have lost all of my powers..." The Hollow ran at Ichigo and Ichigo cut off his foot.

"That's for attacking my family you fish-faced freak!" I attacked from behind it as Ichigo attacked from the front. Both of us cutting its head in three.

Ichigo "Strawberry" and Ayame "Iris" Kurosaki: 15 years old

Hair: Orange

Eyes: Brown

Occupation: High School Student/Soul Reaper