Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and positive reviews! It seems like a lot of people like this story! I will 'try' to update this frequently when I have the time.

I am really, really, REALLY sorry for the late update. I don't have any excuse AT ALL.

Also, I will call Ichigo as Tensa Shirosaki and FemIchigo as Ichigo! You might want to get used to this fast.

Disclaimer: I own Bleach…..the cleaning product, that is. The manga? Not so much. That belongs to The Great Tite Kubo, the God of Trolling.

Strawberry X Strawberry

Chapter 2 : I am Tensa Shirosaki

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Fem! Ichigo's POV

What the hell is going on here?

This Tensa Shirosaki has the same hair color and eye color as I do, and even the same likes! It's just a coincidence…right?

"Oh yeah…..and this hair color is NATURAL!" he said.

Okay, I take that back. This can't be just a coincidence.

"Okay, Shirosaki-san, you can take your seat next to Ichigo Kurosaki. Kurosaki-san, please raise your hand so Shirosaki-san knows where you are." Ochi-sensei said. I raised my hand, and Shirosaki gone to the seat next to me that was empty and sat down.

As the lesson continued, I stole quick glances at him, trying to confirm that his looks, which are similar to mine. Of course, I tried to make it looked like I wasn't checking him out, since that would no doubt start some ridiculous rumors. Other girls were staring at him too. Sheesh, is sappy romances the only thing in their empty minds?

Nevertheless, I need to find out who this guy is.

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"I need to speak to you." Shirosaki said to me during lunch time. I stared at him for a second. I thought he would wait until school to accuse me of being a thug or a slut. I have no time for this. I need to get to the rooftop and eat lunch with Tatsuki and Orihime. I swung my fist at him.

But he did something no one has done before. In a flash, he blocked the punch…by grabbing my fist.

How is that possible? The only person who have withstood my punch is Tatsuki, and even then she would rather much avoid them than get hit. This guy just blocked it with his hand!

"What the hell is your problem? I just wanted to talk to you!" he said, annoyed.

I pulled my fist away. "Then what do you want to talk about?" I demanded.

"Well…."

Third Person POV

Tensa didn't know what to do next. He didn't really plan much. He had two options. Tell her the truth, or keep it a secret and help her only when it is truly needed. 'What should I do?' he asked himself.

'Well, Ichi-I mean Tensa- , I don't think you should tell her the truth. Aizen is probably watching her every move. He might overhear you. We have the element of surprise to our advantage. By not telling her, she wouldn't ask you for help too often and grow on her own, which is best for her. Also, Aizen would never know about you. When the time comes, he would never see it coming.' Zangetsu said.

Tensa nodded. "I just want to introduce myself. I am Tensa Shirosaki"

Ichigo looked skeptical and wary. "I'm Ichigo Kurosaki….and I'm not looking for a boyfriend right now."

"WHAT! I'm not asking you out! I just want to be friends!"

"Really? My apologies, then. It's just that most guys come up to me to ask me out. Now if you excuse me, I need to see my own friends." She said and turned around.

'Well, that was quite an unfriendly start.' Tensa thought as he sighed.

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"Hey Tatsuki, Orihime." Ichigo said as she arrived at the rooftop.

"You're late!" Tatsuki said, a small amount of anger in her eyes.

Ichigo sighed. "Sorry. It was the new guy. " she said.

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow. "Did he ask you out or did he challenge you to a spar?"

"Neither." She said, surprising Tatsuki and Orihime. "He just wanted to be friends with me."

"Well, that's quite the surprise." Tatsuki said.

Orihime frowned. "Awww, I wanted to be friends with him too!" she said. Orihime was a friendly person, always searching for new friends. This was no exception.

"Well, why don't we be friends now?" Tensa said from the doorway, shocking the girls.

"Wha-what the hell? Did you follow me here? Are you a stalker?" Ichigo asked.

"THE HELL? NO! I just wanted to eat on the rooftop too!" he said. Even back in his own universe, he always ate lunch at the rooftop.

Orihime stood up. "Hello! I'm Orihime Inoue! Nice to meet you!" she said with a smile on her face.

"Likewise. I'm Tensa Shirosaki." He said.

Tatsuki stood up and walked up to Tensa. "I'm Tatsuki Arisawa. If you even think about making a move on Orihime, Ichigo and I will crush you!" she said.

Tensa frowned, not used to hearing Tatsuki being so unfriendly with him. He took a step back. "Don't worry, I'm not going to. Just trying to get acquainted with people." He said.

"Fine, I believe you…for now." Tatsuki said.

"And you already know me." Ichigo said simply. Tensa twitched at the sheer unfriendliness of the tone.

"Well….nice to meet you all. Now if you excuse me, I'll go back downstairs." Tensa said, walking towards the door.

Tatsuki raised her eyebrow. "What happened to eating on the rooftop?" she asked.

"Well, can't exactly eat when there are three strangers are with me." He said, not realizing what he just said.

The girls blushed at the unexpected compliment. Even Tatsuki's and Ichigo's face went red. Tensa went downstairs, completely not realizing what just happened.

"Th-that lying bastard! He IS trying to make a move on us!" Tatsuki said, trying to suppress her blush.

"C-calm down, Tatsuki-chan! H-he just wanted to compliment us!" Orihime said, trying to stop Tatsuki.

Ichigo stayed quiet. While she was suppressing her blush, she was thinking. "Hey guys…don't you think it's weird?" she asked.

"What is it?" Tatsuki asked.

"I'm sure you both have noticed. That guy…..he is way too similar to me. He has the same hair color and eye color, he has the same likes and dislikes, and his family name is Shirosaki. Just that close to my own Kurosaki. This all can't be a coincidence." She said.

"Yeah…you're right. It's weird…..it's almost like he's some sort of clone of you, only male." Tatsuki said.

"Maybe…maybe he's a male version of Ichi-chan from a parallel universe who came here to save us from destruction!" Orihime said.

Ichigo and Tatsuki chuckled at Orihime. "Oh, Orihime, you have such a wild imagination, you know that?" Tatsuki said.

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Tensa's POV

Walking through the hallway, I planned for my next actions. The other me, she was very unfriendly to me. Well, I've never been too friendly with strangers either, so no surprise there. But I need to get close to her. I need her to trust me. If that doesn't happen, then problems will surely arise.

But, it's not even one day yet. She barely knows me, so of course she doesn't trust me. I have to get closer to her slowly, day by day. I still have one week until the day Rukia comes and gives her powers to the other me. Of course, that could change, but it probably wouldn't, considering Aizen is behind this.

And even then, there's still quite some time until the day she goes to Soul Society to save Rukia – which is when battles start to get much harder.

I was so much deep in thought, I without notice accidentally hit another student and fell to the ground along with him.

"Oh, sorry about that." I said. Looking up to see who I just hit, I froze. Another person I never thought I would ever see again. Uryu Ishida.

"It's fine." He said. He picked up items that fell with him, which were various needles, threads, and other items.

"Uh, Okay then. Are you in the handicrafts club?" I asked. I already knew the answer, but I asked anyways. I started helping him pick up the items.

"Yes. You are the new student, yes? I am Uryu Ishida." he said. He stood up and extended his hand.

"I'm Ich – I'm Tensa Shirosaki. Nice to meet you." I said. I stood up and shook his hand.

"Likewise. Now if you excuse me, I need to get back to class." He said and left.

Well, that was unsurprisingly cold. I still am surprised he agreed to teach me Quincy powers, because - wait a minute here.

The reason why Aizen was interested in me back in my universe was because I was the child of a Quincy and a Shinigami.

However, the Ichigo of this world had a normal family. Why would Aizen be interested in her?

It couldn't be simply because of her abnormally high reiatsu, because there are probably thousands others all over the world that also have spiritual pressure. He could have simply picked others.

It just didn't make any sense.

There was something else here.

And there was only one person who could know.

"Urahara Kisuke." I muttered.

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After school, Urahara Shoten

"So you want to know why Aizen is so interested in this universe's Kurosaki Ichigo?" Urahara asked.

I nodded.

"I thought you would already know, but it seems our worlds are really that different. First, let me ask you, what do you know about the cycle of reincarnation?"

I raised an eyebrow, wondering how this was related to anything. But I answer anyways. "When a human dies, it becomes a plus. A plus can either become a Hollow, a Shinigami, or a normal soul. If it were to become a Hollow, the second it is killed by a Shinigami's Zanpakuto it is purified and is sent to become a human again. When a Shinigami or a normal soul dies, it is also reincarnated back into a human again. And the cycle repeats. The only way to get out of the cycle is to have your soul completely destroyed, such as getting killed by a Quincy arrow. Even those who are condemned to hell are reincarnated after they get enough punishment." He answered.

"True. Now, tell me, do you know about your past lives?" Urahara asked.

I shook my head. "None that I know of."

Urahara raised an eyebrow. "That's odd. The other me should have told you already. But considering you're from a parallel universe, it might not be the same. Well, you see, the Kurosaki Ichigo of this world is the reincarnation of Genryuusai Shigekuni Yamamoto's granddaughter, Hime Yamamoto, the former 3rd seat of the first division, but she had the power level comparable to Shunsui Kyouraku, it's just that she didn't have bankai. This alone can warrant Aizen's attention." Urahara answered.

"I see…..this makes our situation better, albeit not by much." I said. I began thinking. The most powerful advantage we have right now is the fact that Aizen does not know about me – at least I don't think he does. We can't afford to have him know about me.

There is also the fact that I am incredibly powerful at the moment. Surely, Aizen would be suspicious if there was suddenly a very powerful shinigami entering the picture. And so, I need to limit myself….perhaps even untrain myself.

"Urahara, thanks for the help so far, but I can't stay here any longer." I told him.

"Oh? And why is that?" he asked.

"Because Aizen would definitely be suspicious if he finds out a supposedly 'normal' human was staying with you. I can't stay here." I told him.

"Well….that's true I guess. But where will you stay?" he asked.

"I…..I can manage that. Don't worry about me." I told him.

"Very well then. I will give you money and clothes. Good luck." He told me.

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"Hmmn, I hope those guys are still there. Who knows what kind of changes there are in this world compared to my own. Just hope they can do what I have in mind…." I muttered as I was walking towards my destination.

My thoughts were cut off when I heard the sounds of fighting. Noticing it came from a nearby road, I walked over, to see that both the other me and Tatsuki were fighting a small army of thugs, meanwhile Orihime were behind them, shivering with fear.

Now, normally I wouldn't be worried, because I have no doubt that both girls could kick the asses of any thugs, there were quite a lot of them – about 20 to 30. How they managed to fit that many people in a small space, don't ask me. To make it worse, most of them were armed, and I saw a few of them had handguns keep in their pockets. Clearly they're serious this time.

Well, time for a Big Damn Heroes moment. I need to stop hanging around TvTropes…..

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Fem! Ichigo's POV

"Dammit…..how many are there?" I asked myself, as I kicked the balls of another thug and punched the face of another. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Tatsuki knock out some thugs with kicks and punches.

A few minutes earlier, the three of us – me, Tatsuki and Orihime – were walking home together. When we reached this street, we were surrounded with thugs from both ends of the street. Damn it, how could have I not see them following us? I've been too careless!

If it was just, say, 5 thugs, I could probably take them out myself. But, there too damn many! No matter how many I beat, there would be more to replace them.

Three thugs lunged at me, two of them armed with pocket knives. I kicked the face of the thug without a weapon, dodged the attack of another that had a knife and bashed his head with my elbow. I grabbed the knife of the third and punched him across the face.

I was getting tired fast. I could see from the corner of my eye that Tatsuki was also the same. If this keeps up, then all three of us…..we'll all get…..violated.

I, Kurosaki Ichigo, have been a tomboy my entire life. I've beaten up thugs, I've beaten bandits, I even have beaten yakuza, but I'm still a teenage girl. One of my biggest fears is for me myself to get beaten up and…..violated by some random dirty thugs. I…..I don't want that to happen. Not to me. Not to Tatsuki. And especially not to Orihime.

I can't let that happen. But now….only a miracle can save us. I prayed to whatever god out there to get us out of this mess.

The screams of thugs cut off my thoughts. Thugs were getting flown around in by someone in superhuman speed. In just 5 seconds, 7 of the thugs were bleeding on the ground. I glanced at our savior, and he certainly didn't look like god. A teenage boy with spiky orange hair and brown eyes, much like me.

"You!"

I yelled, recognizing the person immediately. Normally I would have been confused by the fact that I remembered this guy's name and face even though I just met him, but I pushed those thoughts for later.

"So we meet again." Tensa Shirosaki said with a scowl on his face and a stoic expression (yet another similarity between him and me), looking carefully at the army of thugs.

"W-what are you doing here?" I ask, surprised at his sudden appearance.

Tensa scoffed. "Look, if you don't want me to be here, I'm happy to listen…."

"No, that's not it!"

"Then don't interfere." He said, looking back at the thugs, his eyes hardening.

The thugs also made their move. Seeing the newcomer as a threat, 5 of them surrounded him.

Tensa immediately dropped down, and slid his right foot 360 degrees around him, instantly tripping them to the hard, concrete ground. All of this in the span of about 3 seconds.

"This is absolutely nothing…." He started to mutter as he took on more and more. "….all of this…..all of this power, all of this strength…." He muttered something I couldn't understand.

"….all of this, and yet I couldn't even save one person!" He yelled out, his eyes dulling and he starts to curbstomp all the thugs with no mercy or hesitation.

By now, many of the thugs were getting scared shitless and tried to flee like the cowards they are. He responded by outrunning them and tripping them, immediately followed with a stomp to the head.

"Woah….this is insane….." Tatsuki muttered.

I couldn't agree more, Tatsuki, I really can't.

Eventually though, there was only one thug left. He was backed up against the wall, knees shaking, tears flowing. Tensa calmly walked towards him, his scowl and stoic expression the same as always.

With an 'eek!', the last thug pulled out a handgun from his pocket and pointed it at Tensa. "Don't come nearer, or I'll shoot!"

Damn it, I should have known that those cowards would do something like this!

Tensa widened his eyes for a second, but only for a second. Calmly, he grabbed a crowbar that a thug had dropped, and….charged at the last thug.

He's and idiot!, I thought. Actually, I still think he's an idiot.

The panicked thug shot a bullet, and when I thought Tensa would get a bullet straight through his chest and bleed to death, he instead pulls off yet another miracle. Using the crowbar, he swiped away the bullet as if this was some clichéd kung-fu movie.

It is only later would I learn that these were all no miracles but instead feats of great skill and dexterity.

The thug fell into greater panic, and started shooting randomly. Tensa repeated the same skill over and over again, swiping away many of the bullets. Some got pass him, but that was only because he presumed they were not fatal, and he was right, only getting mere grazes, but never actual penetrations.

Tensa finally caught up to the thug, and without mercy or hesitation, he attempted to stab through the thug with the crowbar.

And despite using a blunt weapon, it worked.

The crowbar went straight through the thug, completely ignoring the bluntness of the weapon, a testament to Tensa's skill and strength.

The thug yelled out in pain, but Tensa wasn't finished with him just yet.

Taking the gun from the thug's hands, Tensa pointed it towards the thug's forehead. No way, he wasn't going to…

"STOP!" yelled out me, Tatsuki, and Orihime. Orihime, who was looking awestruck beforehand, now looked horrified, while Tatsuki and I tried to stop him from pulling the trigger.

Despite out best efforts, he didn't budge, but his eyes widened and the life returned to his eyes. He dropped the gun and took a step back, his face full of mixed expressions.

"Damn it…sorry, I went too far." Tensa muttered.

"That's an understatement." Tatsuki replied. Again, I couldn't agree more…..

"Why the hell did you almost kill him?" I ask.

He showed a pained expression for a split-second, before looking down. "….He who fights monsters…should see to it that he himself does not become a monster… And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. Let's….let's just leave it at that." He said a cryptic quote.

I raised my eyebrow. "Why the sudden Friedrich Nietzsche quote?"

He smirked, but that too was only for a split second. "…Because it fits my situation."

With that cryptic reply, I decided to not delve into any more details.

Then Tatsuki raised her own eyebrow. "Who the hell is Friedrich Nietzsche?"

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"Oh my god…." Yuzu, my little sister, muttered. "ONEE-SAN BROUGHT A BOY HOME!" She yelled out in excitement.

Karin, my other little sister, smirked as he looked at me and Tensa, the new visitor. "Wow, sis, you got lucky. That guy's pretty good."

"YES, FINALLY!" my idiot father cried out. "MY BELOVED ELDEST DAUGHTER HAS FOUND A BOYFRI– OOF!" he said, before I smacked in the stomach.

"HE. IS NOT. MY BOYFRIEND!" I shouted out, punctuating for emphasis.

Now, you may wonder it came to this.

You see, after that fiasco with the thugs was over, Tatsuki and Orihime suggested that Tensa would stay in my house when they heard that he did not have any place to stay for the night, saying that since my family owns a clinic, they could also treat him for any possible injuries he might have got in the fight.

I couldn't really refute that, and I owed him a favor for saving our asses anyways. So here we were, inside my house, where my family was completely misunderstanding the situation.

As for Tensa himself…..

"Wh-whoa….." he muttered wide-eyed as he scanned our home. I don't know what's up with him, he seemed to be trying to contain his emotions pretty hard at the moment.

My idiot dad got up, "If he isn't your boyfriend then, who is he?"

I explained the situation to him, to which he responded wide-eyed and shocked.

He walked up to Tensa, and with a smile, "Boy – Tensa Shirosaki, was it? – you've saved my eldest daughter from an unlucky fate. I can't thank you enough for that. You can stay here as long as you want. Call this place home, Tensa-san, because you've earned it. Heck, you can even call me Father, and you'll be my first son!" He said, his smile turning into a toothy grin.

Just as I was about to smack my father, I stopped when I saw the expression on Tensa's face.

He was crying.

"Yeah….I'm home…..I'm finally home…."

.

.

.

End of Chapter 2

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MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE! As a gift, may I present you the long-awaited 2nd chapter of Strawberry X Strawberry!

I know this is nowhere near as long as it should be, especially since I was gone for almost an entire year, but I'll try to get more updates from now on. The keyword here being try.

I hope you enjoyed this update! If not, feel free to criticize, as long as it's constructive and not mere flames.