The Core of all Things

Chapter 2

No matter how much he thought about it, Ichigo could not come up with an explanation as to what was happening. Currently he was listening to Kyoraku-taichou - no, Kyoraku-sensei – talking about world war two. Ichigo took notes just like everyone else in the class, even though he found his situation slightly on the odd side.

Ichigo had saved his questions for later. For now he had only listened as Rukia and Renji had talked with each other during breaks. From what he had collected Kira, Ikkaku and Yumichika were also students in this school, only in different classes. And Ukitake, Kyoraku and Unohana worked for the school, Unohana being the school nurse. Ichigo had asked from Rukia and Renji if they were on a large scale undercover mission from Soul Society, but this question had been rewarded with quizzical looks and questions about his mental health so he had decided to keep such inquiries to himself for the time being.

Ichigo looked at Hitsugaya who was listening to Kyoraku intently while taking notes. Hitsugaya was supposedly a genius, so maybe he could figure something out? Of course, asking his help would mean that Ichigo would have to explain everything to him as Hitsugaya probably didn't know a thing about Hollows and Shinigami either. But it could be worth a try. He could tell Rukia and the others too, of course. But he doubted that they could come up with anything. They were more like him, running around during crisis and then coming out victorious thanks to other people's advice and some dumb luck. Ichigo couldn't wait that long to figure things out. He'd go after Hitsugaya when the school day was over. He just hoped that they were close enough in this realm so the boy would take the time to listen to him.

Turned out that Ichigo didn't need to wait that long to make "first contact" with the white haired genius.

"Kurosaki. Kurosaki!" Ichigo started from his thoughts and looked up from his table, gazing into deep jade pools, framed by white fringe. He blinked.

"Toushiro." He acknowledged. Hitsugaya's eyebrow twitched.

"I don't remember being on first name basis with you, Kurosaki. Now give me the questionnaire on your career preferences." Hitsugaya extended his hand to receive the mentioned paper. Ichigo just stared stupidly at the hand. Hadn't he already returned that questionnaire months ago? Actually, if he thought about it, he had already been to all of these classes. Or at least studied the material, since he had spent most of his days running after hollows. The hand he stared at suddenly twitched and Ichigo glanced at Hitsugaya's face. He seemed to be running out of patience, judging by the vein throbbing on his forehead.

"Ahahaha…! Yeah the questionnaire! I should have it here, somewhere…!" Ichigo quickly rummaged through his desk and when he found nothing, he went through all the stuff in his bag. And came up with nothing. "Eh, I don't seem to have it on me…" Hitsugaya heaved a sigh before turning to leave. Ichigo grabbed the boy's wrist. "Wait!" Hitsugaya turned to look at the blond, raising a thin eyebrow at him. "Um, you wouldn't have any of those questionnaires lying around?" Ichigo went for a charming smile but Hitsugaya was unimpressed.

"…You can come with me after classes and we'll get a new one from the staff room." Hitsugaya said and yanked his hand free, continuing his duties. After he had collected the questionnaires from everyone within hearing range Renji turned to Ichigo.

"You've got some guts, pissing off the ice prince!" He said.

"What, you scared of him, Renji?" Ichigo asked. He was curious as to how the (ex?)Shinigami saw each other now that there were no military ranks to guide and contain them. Renji blinked.

"Well not really. I mean he's a good guy, but a pissed off Hitsugaya is scarier than a woman scorned." Renji said, crossing his arms on his chest. Ichigo looked towards the white haired boy in question to find him talking to the same black haired boy he sat next to in class. Hitsugaya was smiling lightly, not seeming scary at all. Come to think of it, he never really had seen the small captain smile quite so… effortlessly. It was kind of nice to see him like that now.

"He didn't seem that scary right now." Ichigo said.

"Well you just irritated him." Rukia turned to them. She looked at Ichigo suspiciously. "You know, you've been really weird today." Ichigo swallowed. They had noticed after all.

"How so?"

"First of all you asked us these silly questions and now you're acting like you don't know Hitsugaya." Renji nodded. He had been thinking the same. Ichigo looked at the two before putting on his best "I really don't know what you're talking about" –smile.

"Hey, everything's fine! I just… had a funny dream!" He tried to explain, clearly not convincing anyone with his lies.

"Uh huh. A weird dream." Renji deadpanned.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Ichigo thanked every god he knew when he heard the familiar voice. He turned to see Inoue Orihime heading his way with a huge smile plastered on her face. Tatsuki was trailing after the busty girl, looking only a little grumpy when she saw him. So that meant that she was happy. Obviously something great had happened. Kurosaki just prayed that he wasn't supposed to know what.

"Inoue. Tatsuki." He acknowledged the girls. Inoue leaned down, giving him a nice clear look inside her blouse. Blushing, Ichigo struggled to look into her huge sparkling eyes instead of her huge…assets.

"Kurosaki-kun! They gave us permission!" Inoue exclaimed, taking his hand into hers. Ichigo blinked. He had no idea what she was talking about.

"Uh, to do what?"

"The test of courage of course, silly!"

"Oh. Ohhhh! Great!" He said, playing his part rather admirably.

"Yeah, and they gave us permission to use the school building, not only the grounds." Tatsuki added.

"Wow, that's great! But I thought they were against it?" Rukia said, looking at the dark haired girl.

"Yeah, but Orihime and Hitsugaya went to plead our case together. How could anyone say no to them?" Tatsuki said.

"Obviously no one can." Rukia said and high fived Inoue who giggled excitedly.

"So when's it gonna be?" Ichigo asked. He could see Inoue practically deflate in front of his eyes.

"Ah… about that…They only agreed to let us do this if we found some teachers who are willing to supervise. Ochi-sensei, Kyoraku-sensei and Ukitake-sensei agreed to do it but the only weekend they are all free is this weekend so…" Inoue said.

"So?" Ichigo asked.

"I hope everyone can come with such a short notice…" Ichigo shook his head. He never really quite understood Inoue: she seemed to make the smallest things into some large problems. The only thing that kept him from saying it to her face was the fact that he had the tendency to do just the same.

"Well then let's just ask everybody!" Rukia said and she dragged Inoue to the front of the class, with Tatsuki in tow. As Ichigo listened to the girls retelling their story to the whole class, he realized that in his world they never took part in the practically traditional test of courage. He and his friends had been too busy dealing with hollows and other distractions to actually live a normal high school life. Maybe he finally got to live it? Should he? Ichigo was so engrossed in his thoughts that he didn't notice the class emptying around him until he felt something or someone smacking his head.

"Kurosaki!" Ichigo blinked and looked up at an irritated Hitsugaya who was holding some papers in his hand. The papers he had smacked Ichigo's head with.

"Toushiro."

"It's Hitsugaya. Come on, were going to get you a new questionnaire." Hitsugaya headed out the classroom door without waiting for Ichigo, who hurriedly packed his pack and ran after the short boy. They walked in silence for a while before Ichigo felt the need to say something.

"So… You and Inoue got the teachers to agree with the test of courage." Hitsugaya nodded. "Are you going to participate?"

"Yes." Ichigo was slightly surprised at the answer.

"Really? I thought you wouldn't be interested."

"I'm not."

"Then why would you-"

"Because, Inoue Orihime would not leave me alone unless I did. And neither would Kusaka." Hitsugaya answered Ichigo's unfinished question. Ichigo laughed.

"Yeah, that's Inoue alright! ...Wait, did you say Kusaka?"

"…Yes."

"As in Kusaka Soujiro?" Hitsugaya sighed.

"Who else would I be talking about, Kurosaki?" Ichigo didn't answer. He couldn't really, because the words that he knew would escape his mouth would be really weird for someone to hear. 'But isn't he dead?' was the question he wanted to ask. But glancing at Hitsugaya's face he could see no regret or sorrow or anything like them in Hitsugaya's jade eyes while he talked about Kusaka. Ichigo wasn't really all that informed about the relationship between the two but he had gathered that they had been close. Best friends maybe. And then Hitsugaya had fought the other boy under orders and later had to do it again. And it seemed that like many other things, this hadn't happed in this world either. Ichigo smiled. It was nice that the little shinigami captain had nice things coming to him for a change.

"Yeah, right." Hitsugaya just glanced at the smiling blond, before he raised his fist to knock on the staff room door three times. The door was opened by Ukitake-sensei who seemed delighted to see them, or at least Hitsugaya (who on the other hand seemed a bit wary of the man).

"Kurosaki-san! Hitsugaya-kun!" Ichigo could see Hitsugaya's eye twitch at the honorific used at the end of his name. "What brings you here today?" Ukitake was smiling widely, his eyes shining with warmth and excitement.

"Ukitake-sensei, Kurosaki here lost his career questionnaire. I was wondering whether any of the teachers had some extra copies." Hitsugaya explained. Ichigo just nodded, still finding it strange to hear someone calling the captain of the thirteenth division their teacher. Ukitake looked at Ichigo, smiling gently.

"I'm sure we have some lying around. Wait here for a minute." Ukitake went to his desk and looked through some papers before pulling one sheet and returning to the two students. "Here you go." Ukitake said and gave Ichigo the paper. Ichigo took the paper, muttering his thanks. "Did you need anything else?"

"No. Thank you." Hitsugaya and Ichigo gave short bows before they left the staff room. Ichigo eyed the paper. Three career choices, huh?

"Return that to me tomorrow morning." Hitsugaya said before he turned to leave. Ichigo grabbed the boy's arm.

"Hey, where are you going?" The way Hitsugaya took led to the back of the school.

"I don't see how it's any of your business." Hitsugaya said, trying to yank his arm free of the other but Ichigo refused to let go.

"I was hoping that we could walk home together." Hitsugaya sent a weird look towards the blond teen.

"Kurosaki, we live in opposite directions."

"We do?"

"…Yes, we do. Now let go of me, I have to get to practice."

"Practice?"

"Yes. Practice."

"Which club?"

"Soccer. Let go." Ichigo stared at the young genius for a while before he let go. Hitsugaya headed straight towards the back of the school where the soccer field and club house was located. Ichigo looked at Hitsugaya's back before he turned to leave the school as well. Ichigo made it to the school gates before he noticed something. Or rather, someone.

"Yumichika!" Yumichika looked up from his cell phone. He looked as the blond made his way towards him without as much as blinking. Ichigo was a bit nervous, not knowing really what their relationship in this world was. Not that they were all that close in his world but it was still a bit of a mystery as to how the pretty boy would react to him.

"Kurosaki."

"Are you waiting for Ikkaku?" Yumichika looked up with his purple eyes. Ichigo wondered briefly why the boy didn't have his trademark feathers on but then he figured that it probably had something to do with the school rules.

"No, he has kendo club. I was waiting for Hisagi but he just texted that he can't make it."

"So, you're free?" Yumichika blinked in surprise before he narrowed his eyes.

"To do what?"

"I don't know, maybe we can grab a coffee or something?"

"We never hang out with just the two of us. What are you planning?" Ichigo snorted.

"I'm not planning anything. What's with the distrust?" Yumichika smiled and shook his. He pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning against smirked at Ichigo.

"Fine then. Let's go." Ichigo smiled and the two fell into step and headed for the closest café they could find. The waiter welcomed them, showed them to a table and took their orders (Ichigo took regular coffee while Yumichika had decided on a cappuccino after ten minutes of debating on what to drink).

"Thank you." The waiter smiled at the two handsome men before she left their table. Ichigo sipped his coffee and looked at Yumichika who was looking at him like he was about to blackmail the pretty boy.

"So, what is the real reason you asked me to come?"

"Seriously Yumichika, I'm not up to anything, I swear. I just didn't want to go home and there you were, dumped by Hisagi. So I thought what the hell; it's about time we get to know each other. Better, I mean." Yumichika seemed to mull over the blonds words.

"Fine then. I'll believe you for now. So you didn't want to go home. Problems?" Ichigo blinked, a little shaken by the sudden, rather personal, question. He thought about how to answer since 'Why yes actually, my dead mother is walking around and I'm finding it hard to adapt to the situation so I'm hoping to avoid going home by talking to you, and since were on the topic, you should really be dead too' didn't seem like a good choice.

"Not really, nothing major anyways." Yeah, right. "I'm, actually waiting for someone."

"Hmm… who?"

"Just someone from my class, they've got club activities and I didn't feel like hanging in school until evening."

"Is it Orihime or Kuchiki?"

"Huh?"

"Are you waiting for Orihime or Kuchiki?"

"Why would I be waiting for Inoue or Rukia? Wait, they're both in some clubs?" Yumichika looked at Ichigo, looking really unimpressed with what he saw. After a long silence Yumichika sighed heavily while shaking his head. Ichigo thought he could hear the pretty boy mutter something along the lines of: "I can't believe I have to explain this to him…"

Yumichika fixed Ichigo with a gaze that nailed you in your spot. Ichigo had sometimes seen Yumichika use that look on Ikkaku during some dire situations or when the other had crossed a line with the purple haired man.

"Kurosaki, you do realize that both, Kuchiki Rukia and Orihime Inoue have had a crush on you for years now."

"Really?"

"Yes, you idiot. It's obvious, well at least in Orihime's case, Kuchiki has hid it rather well."

"…Oh" Ichigo had been rather surprised by the sudden revelation. 'I wonder if that's true in my world too…'

"But I see that you don't return either one's feelings. Otherwise you would have known that Kuchiki is in the manga club and Orihime in the cooking club." Ichigo felt a small twinge in his heart but when the words that Yumichika just said registered in his brain, a feeling of dread spread like a wildfire throughout his body, numbing the twinge.

"Inoue's in the cooking club?" Yumichika nodded.

"I believe she was going to bake you cookies or a cake on Valentine's Day." Yumichika raised his cup to his lips but then paused. "I think you should skip school that day." He added as an afterthought. Ichigo nodded. He had seen the lunches she made herself… And he valued his health too much to try anything that she cooked.

They spent some hours like that, chatting about this and that, and Ichigo actually found himself enjoying the time they spent together. He had always thought that Yumichika was way too vain for them to get along but Yumichika turned out to be surprisingly patient and perceptive for someone from the 11th division. Ichigo had even managed to get some useful information from the man without any inquiries as to why he was acting a little strange (not that it meant that Yumichika didn't wonder, Ichigo had seen him raising his eyebrow at times, clearly thinking that something was off). They left together, heading back towards the school. Yumichika had decided to tag along, figuring that he could meet up with Ikkaku. Ichigo was of course going to go and pester Hitsugaya. They split up after they reached the school gates, Yumichika heading towards the kendo club house while Ichigo started towards the soccer field.

When Ichigo reached the soccer field the players were just cleaning up and heading for the club house to change. Ichigo approached the small building, hanging near the exit, waiting for one particular student to exit. He nodded to some of the other members when they made their exit and then finally Hitsugaya emerged from the building with another person in tow.

"Toushiro!" The small smile that had been playing on Hitsugaya's lips turned into a frown in no time and he glared at Ichigo.

"It's Hitsugaya!" The correction sounded like an automatic reaction and after Hitsugaya had said the words and seemed to really register who had called him, his frown lessened some. "Oh, it's you Kurosaki."

"Yo!" Ichigo shifted his eyes to the other person, standing next to Hitsugaya. It didn't take him long to connect the person's face to a name. Feeling a bit unsure, Kurosaki nodded at the long haired man.

"Kusaka." He greeted.

"What do you want now, Kurosaki?" Ichigo smiled, amused by Hitsugaya's lack of enthusiasm; Hitsugaya's tone and expression clearly told that he would prefer it if Ichigo just let him be. But Ichigo would not let that happen.

"I need to talk to you."

"About what?"

"Just… stuff. It's private." Ichigo glanced towards Kusaka. Hitsugaya sighed and turned to look at his friend.

"This'll only take a minute." He said to Kusaka.

"Actually, it's going to take quite a bit longer so you should probably go home instead. Don't worry, I'll walk Toushiro home." Hitsugaya was about to protest but Kusaka smiled and nodded.

"Okay then, I'll leave Toushiro in your care, Kurosaki. I'll see you tomorrow Toushiro!" Kusaka said and with a wave of his hand he left, heading towards the school gates.

"Yeah." Hitsugaya waved back and looked at Kusaka's back before he turned to Ichigo, looking pissed. "So, what did you want to talk about?" His tone was clipped, hinting at his quickly waning patience. Ichigo shook his head.

"Not in here. Let's go somewhere a bit more private." Hitsugaya looked like he was going to protest but he stopped himself before saying anything. After a quick look around, Hitsugaya nodded. The grounds were still quite crowded with students since most club activities were ending for the day. They left the school property, walking in silence with Ichigo in the lead. They made their way to the river bend, sitting down on the grass, a good distance away from other people who had gathered in the area.

After more silence Hitsugaya turned to Ichigo.

"Now will you finally tell me why you have been a pain in my neck all day?" Ichigo chuckled but didn't say anything. He was mulling over what to say and not sound totally crazy. How on earth he would be able to make the other believe that he was from another world or dimension or alternative universe or whatever, just not from here, from this world where his mother was alive and all his dead (and supposedly a lot older) friends were in school with him? He saw Hitsugaya shift and lifted his eyes to meet concerned pools of jade.

"Kurosaki, what's going on?" Hitsugaya no longer sounded annoyed. No, now he sounded serious, worried and alarmed. Ichigo looked into those eyes that seemed unusually full of unguarded emotions. He let out a breath.

"Will you promise to listen to whatever it is that I might say and not just… I don't know, run away and abandon me?" Ichigo finally asked. Hitsugaya blinked, seeming to consider it for a while. Ichigo let all of his weariness and confusion and helplessness show in his expression, hoping for it to be enough to persuade Hitsugaya into helping him. And it worked. Hitsugaya nodded.

"I promise."


So, how is Ichigo going to explain this one and how will Hitsugaya react? And what about the Hollow? "As time ticks away, I will kill those you love, one by one", that's what the hollow said, remember? So who'll be first to go? All of these questions and more will be answered in chapter three!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter!

- Pureya