"Waaaah!" Isshin wails as he dashes over to the large picture of the girls' mother that he keeps on the wall. "Masaki, how am I supposed to take care of three daughters without you?! They're growing up too faaaaast!"

"Dad…" Ichigo whispers, a few more tears escaping as the realization that all of her family accepts her truly begins to settle in. A warm feeling begins to grow in her chest, and she hugs her little sister even tighter. "All of you…" Her chocolate brown eyes turn to Rukia, who is watching the scene before her with a soft smile and joy alight in her amethyst eyes. "Thank you."

They all stay that way for a while, Ichigo and Yuzu tightly hugging each other, Isshin crying to the picture of Masaki, and Karin and Rukia sitting back and watching it all with affectionate looks on their faces.

Ichirou wisely elects to just stay quiet until somebody else realizes that nobody's discussed why Ichigo's old body is just moving around on its own.


Bright Queen
By: Eva Grimm
Chapter Two: A Girl and a Shoujo Hero

"If you say that your heart doesn't change
Then that is strength."

Tite Kubo, Bleach, vol. 54


Chapter Summary: Ichigo takes the first steps towards establishing her new life as Ichirou's 'twin sister,' but not everyone is fooled.

Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Bleach. Bright Queen is a fan-based work and not sold for profit.

***SPOILER ALERT: Spoilers for any Bleach book — they're going to happen. You've been warned.


Chocolate brown eyes slowly peel open as Ichigo wakes, the early morning sun shining down on her face. She continues to lay there for a few minutes, savoring the sensation of her new body and her memories of the previous night. It had been eventful to say the least. Even after an awkward dinner with her family, struggling to explain her new situation while being utterly terrified of how they might react, and then being dumbfounded by the uncompromising acceptance they showed her after, the night still had not been over. Together with Rukia and Ichirou, she explained about her original body's new occupant and how she would forever be bound to that body's fate. That hadn't gone quite as well. Yuzu and Karin had qualms with the idea of their new 'big brother,' and Isshin… Well, he had been typical Isshin, running to the picture of Masaki on the wall and wailing about needing to defend his daughters from perverts, which given Ichirou's past proclivities while he was a stuffed lion… might actually be a legitimate concern. In the end, it was agreed the new 'Ichirou' was a necessary evil (Ichirou hadn't been too thrilled at being defined at such, but he took what he could get.) for the sake of protecting Ichigo's original body, so the group decided to hold out Ichigo to the neighbors and to Karakura High as Ichirou's twin sister who had just returned to Japan after time abroad with relatives. Yuzu, Karin, and Isshin would mention the 'return' of the eldest Kurosaki daughter to the neighbors, and Rukia would handle getting the orangette registered with the school in whatever mysterious way she managed to get herself registered there.

Ready to face the new day, Ichigo pushes herself up into a seated position on the bed and slips out from under the covers and onto the floor, careful to not disturb Rukia, who is still sleeping on a futon set up against the opposite wall. She has mixed feelings about keeping her old room, since all her memories of using it involve being in her original body, but it's bigger and better than the storage closet the family is going to refit into a room for Ichirou. She quietly makes her way to the door, feeling a tad ridiculous in the overly large shirt she borrowed from her old clothes to serve as sleepwear for the night, and slips out into the hallway. From there, it's a short walk to the family's small furo, and upon opening the door, she's pleased to find that Yuzu has, as promised, already washed and dried her clothes from the previous day and left them folded for her to wear after her bath. She sets the door's sign to occupied then sets about washing, taking a longer time than usual as she familiarizes herself with her new body (Though she avoids exploring her genitalia too thoroughly, not wanting to do that in the family furo.). Satisfied with her cleanliness and her inspection of her gigai, she slips into the hot furo with a delighted sigh, making a mental note to thank Yuzu later for drawing the bath.

Someone knocks at the door a minute later and calls out, "Ichigo, is that you in there?"

"Yeah," she replies, recognizing the voice as Karin.

"Mind if I join you?"

Instinctively, she opens her mouth to answer 'no' but catches herself just in time. Well, what's the harm? We're both girls… "S-sure," she answers, trying to speak confidently and not quite managing it.

Her raven haired younger sister slips in and sets about stripping down and cleaning herself as if nothing is out of the ordinary. Ichigo carefully keeps her eyes trained on the wall, a faint blush dusting across her cheeks as she begins to question whether this is really a good idea.

After splashing cold water over herself to wash away the suds, Karin abruptly says, "Ichigo, look at me." Startled by the sudden break in the silence, the teen instinctively turns her head to face her sister before her old way of thinking can cause her to second guess herself. "We're sisters," the ravenette points out, her tone making it clear that she has no misgivings about Ichigo looking at her. "Even if you like girls" (The older girl sputters at this, but Karin plows ahead.) "there's nothing wrong with looking at me. Besides, beginning tomorrow, you'll be using the girls' restroom and locker room at school. It's better that you get over any irrational fears here and now while you're with somebody in the know."

Ichigo just stares at the younger, quite naked girl for a minute, her mind processing her sister's logic. Eventually, her blush fades away, and her lips lift into a small smile. "You're right. Thank you, Karin." She scoots a little bit closer to the edge of the small bath to make some more room and gestures at the empty space. "So, are you just going to stand around naked all day, or are you going to get in?" she asks with a grin.

The ravenette grins as she crosses over to the tub and slips in. It's a tad tight for them both, since the tub is designed to accommodate a fully grown man, but neither of them complain, simply enjoying the chance to soak before starting their day. After a time, Ichigo stands up and steps out of the bath, and as she crosses over to where the towels are, she pauses and turns back to her little sister.

"Hey, Karin?"

"Hm?" the pre-teen mumbles, lazily opening one eye to glance at her older sister.

"Thank you."

"No problem. Now, are you just going to stand around naked all day, or are you going to get dressed?"

Ichigo playfully makes a face at Karin before dissolving into a fit of giggles, and Karin ignores her in favor of closing her eyes and lounging in the warm water, her grin returning in full force.

The older girl quickly dons her clothes, a feeling of satisfaction rushing through her as she pulls on her skirt, then steps into the hallway and makes her way into the dining room. Yuzu, Isshin, and Ichirou are all already there, the latter two anxiously waiting as Yuzu puts the finishing touches on the breakfast in the kitchenette. Oddly enough, Ichirou has a red, foot-shaped mark on his cheek, and after puzzling over the sight for a few moments, she realizes that her father probably hit him with one of his usual 'good morning' flying kicks. Well, at least some things don't change, even if I'm not the one in that body anymore!

"Morning," Ichigo says with a smile as she heads over to the table to take a seat.

"Good mooooorning, Ichigoooo!" Isshin, who has only just now noticed her, cries as he bounds over to her in a way that only he could ever manage and pulls her into a tight bear hug.

"Dad," she manages to gasp out, her face turning blue from oxygen deprivation, "I can't breathe!"

"Oh, I almost forgot!" her father suddenly exclaims, releasing her and dashing off towards the clinic for a moment before swiftly returning with a couple stacked boxes that he holds out to his now panting for breath daughter. "We don't have enough money to buy you an entirely new wardrobe, but I remembered that some of your mom's old clothes from when she was about your age were up in the attic, so I go them out for you!"

Ichigo's breath hitches painfully in her chest at that and the corners of her eyes burn as she resists the urge to cry. "Wait, what?!"

Yuzu, however, has a very different reaction. "Kya! That's so great! I'm sure big sister will look beautiful in them!"

"No!" the orangette cries in dismay, drawing everyone's eyes to her. "I c-can't… I know none of you blame me for mom's death, but… but I do, so I can't just take these. They're memories of her, so you should kee—" A box being shoved in her face cuts her off.

"Do you remember what I told you at your mom's grave?" Isshin asks, his expression serious as Ichigo fumbles with the box for a moment before clutching against her chest. "I'll tell you: It's no one's fault that she died, and if I were to blame her death on you, she would get mad at me. Right now, you need clothes, and your mom's are the only ones we have that will fit you properly. Do you think your mom would be happy if I let our eldest daughter run around in ill-fitting clothes for the sake of old memories, or do you think she'd want me to give them to you so you can make new memories with them for us all?"

A lone tear breaks free and slides down the teen's face, but she says nothing. Yuzu moves the food from the stove to a pot holder on the counter, walks over to Ichigo, and wraps her arms around her neck in a light hug. "Come eat breakfast, big sister. I'll help you get everything hung up in your closet after we're done, then you, Karin, Rukia, and I can go get you new undergarments and a school uniform."

"We'll come too!" Isshin and Ichirou declare in unison, the latter for reasons much more perverted than the former.

"Hell no!" the Ichigo shouts back in righteous indignation, breaking out of her funk. "Girls only!"


"How do the ones I gave you before fit?" Yuzu asks through the changing room door while Karin, who really only came along the trip as moral support for their big sister, sits in a nearby chair idly reading a manga and Rukia wanders around the store looking at this and that.

"Most of them are fine, but a few are too loose or tight on my chest," the orangette replies from the other side. "I think I've got enough to get by now, so I'll be out in a second."

"Okay! The other shop should be done making the uniform alterations soon, so if we grab some groceries on the way back, then I can make us lunch when we're home."

A minute later, the older girl exits the changing room once again fully clothed, a batch of bras in each hand, one of which she tosses into a nearby bin meant for clothes that need to be rehanged. "Thanks for your help, Yuzu," she says with a smile as the pair start making their way to the register.

"No problem!" responds with a smile of her own just before a cell phone nearby begins to loudly beep.

A wide-eyed Ichigo whirls around to face the direction the sound's coming from, all too familiar with that ringtone. Sure enough, Rukia is already pulling out a soul candy dispenser and racing towards them. "Where is it, Rukia?" she says in an abruptly serious tone that startles both Yuzu and Karin, who had been listening in.

"The intersection up the street that way," she points, "sometime within the next twenty minutes!" the shinigami replies in a no-nonsense voice as she tosses the orangette the dispenser.

"Yuzu, Karin," the teen says, turning to her sisters, "I need you to go pay for those, then stay with Rukia here in the store, and she'll keep you both safe, okay?" Without waiting for a reply, she pops a candy into her mouth, and a pale Karin watches in a mixture of awe and horror as her sister's soul rockets out of her body in a shihakushou with her enormous zanpakutou.

The substitute shinigami quickly starts towards the glass window display, intending to phase through it, but is stopped short by Karin grabbing her wrist. "Wait, what are you doing, Ichigo?" she cries loudly enough that some nearby staff and customers turn to look and are confused to see the girl grasping at seemingly thin air. Rukia and the artificial soul in Ichigo's gigai both see this and move so they're blocking the onlookers' view of Karin.

"Have you already forgotten, Karin?" the teen's soul asks, turning back to give her an intense look. "Or did you think I was joking when I told you about being a shinigami? Until Rukia gets her powers back, I'm the only defense the people in Karakura Town have against hollows!"

"Karin, I don't understand," Yuzu whispers while looking back and forth between Ichigo's gigai and Ichigo's soul. "I can see a blur, so you're talking to a ghost, right? But Ichigo's over here…"

The ravenette spares a brief glance at the still clearly standing Ichigo then replies at a lower volume than earlier, "Ichigo's soul isn't in there. I'm holding her right now." She turns back to her obviously growing impatient sister's soul and begs, "I know what you said, but… But it's one thing to hear you say it and another for you to be rushing off into danger. Please don't go…"

Before either of them can continue to argue one way or the other, everyone but Yuzu suddenly hears a hollow roar, and knowing she has no time to argue, Ichigo tears her wrist out of Karin's grasp and races away. Less than a second later, the pre-teen bursts into a sprint and races through the front door to chase after her sister before Rukia can stop her. Uttering a curse that ought not have been used near poor Yuzu, the powerless shinigami rushes out after the two girls as well, leaving a flustered Yuzu behind with the artificial soul in Ichigo's gigai.

"Um, Miss Fake Big Sister?" the brunette says, turning to face the taller girl's body. "Would you please pay for these bras then wait with them outside the store?"

"Sure thing, pyon ("hop")!" the artificial soul readily answers while saluting with one hand and grabbing the bras with the other.

"Ah…" the younger girl trails off, suddenly questioning whether this was a good idea, but the thought of why an artificial soul is in her sister's body spurs her into action anyway, and she dashes out of the store after the other two girls and her older sister's disembodied soul. As she crosses the threshold, she turns to face where Rukia pointed earlier and is surprised to find Rukia and Karin walking on the sidewalk back towards the store. "I-is it over already?"

Ichigo, who Yuzu can't see is also walking back with the other two girls, opens her mouth to reply before remembering that Yuzu won't be able to hear her like this. Instead, Rukia replies, "Ichigo was just about to attack the hollow when some sort of reishi attack struck its head and killed it." Seeing the look of confusion on the brunette's face at the word 'reishi,' she quickly explains, "Err, reishi are spirit particles, the same material that makes up your sister's soul."

"I got the bras, pyon!" the artificial soul loudly calls out as it exits the store, causing a passing teenage boy's nose to abruptly gush blood.

Ichigo groans in embarrassment before promptly sliding back into her gigai, causing a soul candy to pop out of her mouth and into the teen's practiced hand. "Aaand we're going home," she mutters as she passes the candy back to Rukia, who is trying — and failing — to not laugh. As the four girls begin walking back to the Kurosaki clinic, the orangette can't help but bemoan the unfortunate side effect of telling her family about her 'part-time job' and can't help but ponder about the attack that killed the hollow and who might have done it.


"What's his problem?" Ichirou whispers to himself as he catches Uryuu Ishida sending a funny look his way for the third time in the past ten minutes. "It's bad enough I had to get here early with her… I don't need him staring at me too."

"Hey, Ichirou," Mizuiro greets as he walks up and takes a seat at his own desk, having just arrived. "Why'd you have to leave for school early this morning? Yuzu told me to go on ahead when I arrived to walk with you and said you'd tell me why."

"Hey," he replies, doing his best to remember the lesson Ichigo gave him the night before about how to act around her old friends in order to not be suspicious. "Sorry 'bout that. What a pain… You'll find out soon enough."

The dark-haired boy quirks an eyebrow at that, and for a second Ichirou panics, thinking he's already blown his cover, but is relieved when Mizuiro responds, "Oh? Well that's certainly mysterious! How fun!"

The two of them continue to idly chatter as they wait for class to start, and Keigo joins in when he arrives just a few minutes before the bell. Besides the strange looks Uryuu sent his way earlier, the only other interaction that makes Ichirou worry is when he and Orihime greet each other and the dark orange haired gives him a peculiar look. Still, the mod-soul is confident he's pulling off the 'cold, indifferent loner' attitude well. It's unfortunately easy to do, he finds, whenever he thinks about why Ichigo acted that way. If Soul Society hadn't ordered all mod-souls to be destroyed, he nevertheless would have been slated for a life of being moved from body to body at the behest of shinigami, never truly having a chance to settle into a body and call it his own. Ichigo had been trapped in a body she was uncomfortable in her entire life, so Ichirou could relate to that pain.

Eventually, bell signaling the start of first period rings, and Misato Ochi enters classroom 1-3, announcing, "Class, we have a new student today! Please join me in welcoming her!"

Ichigo steps into the room after her sensei with her bag slung over her shoulder and dressed in the summer uniform of a gray pleated skirt, short-sleeved white button down shirt, and a red ribbon tied as a bow under her shirt's collar. Her hair is done up similarly to how it's been the past few days, but her low ponytail is held in place with a hair tie with strawberry ends that match the strawberry hairclip holding back her bangs. The students immediately begin to whisper amongst one another about — or in the case of Keigo Asano catcall at — the orange-haired girl, who lightly blushes under the scrutiny (Though most of it is due to Keigo's whistling.).

"Okay! Please write your name on the board and tell the class a little about yourself," the teacher says, drawing Ichigo out of her reverie.

"Huh? Oh, right," the orangette replies only just remembering that as a 'new' student, she would have to introduce herself. As she grabs a piece of chalk and starts to write on the board, the chatter continues behind her.

"Hey, Ichirou," Keigo whispers. "The hot new student looks kinda like you. Have a secret sister you've been holding out on us, man?"

Instead of replying with words, the mod-soul lazily raises an eyebrow and points at the board. The brown-haired teen turns with a confused expression to look at where Ichirou is pointing, and his jaw drops at the name on the board.

"Ichigo Kurosaki (矞后 黒崎)," the orangette reads aloud as she finishes writing, turning around to face the surprised faces of the students. "It's nice to meet you all! So something about myself… My twin brother Ichirou is your classmate," roughly half of the class begins to look back and forth between the two orange-haired teens, comparing them against each other, "and we haven't seen each other in years because I was living with relatives overseas. They… they died recently, and that's all I'll say about that." Ichigo pauses for a moment, casting her eyes down and milking the 'dead relatives' for all she can.

Rukia fights to suppress a grin as most of the class gasp in shock and dismay and are practically sitting on the edge of their seats. They're really eating up the story we made! Success!

Eventually, Ichigo continues. "But I'm happy I get to be with my brother and the rest of my family again." A small smile finds its way to her lips, and she lifts her eyes once more. "Beyond that… Well, I'm sure we'll find plenty to talk about." She finishes with a bow and as she pulls herself upright once more, her eyes drift over the class, judging everyone's reactions. Ichirou is busy feigning indifference like she told him the night prior, Rukia is giving her a discrete thumbs-up, Keigo's eyes are predictably locked onto her breasts (She barely manages to resist the urge to roll her eyes at his predictable reaction.), Mizuiro looks like his interest is peaked for good or bad, Tatsuki is obviously in shock and probably wondering why Ichirou never mentioned having another sister, Chad appears to be shocked pure and simple, Orihime has an unreadable expression, and Uryuu…

Ichigo nearly jumps back in surprise at the cold expression he's sending her way, his dark blue eyes practically cutting through her they're so steely. What the hell is wrong with him?

Unsure what to think of the glare her crush is sending her way, she pushes the matter to the back of her mind to ponder over later when she's not standing in front of her entire class. As it is, she brings her focus back to her teacher just in time to hear the latter half of her statement. "—ake the empty desk next to your brother."

As the orangette slips into her seat, which is next to the window and behind Orihime in addition to being next to Ichirou, a small smile finds its way to her lips. All things considered, that went pretty well!

The school day passes by in the typical blur of lectures until the lunch bell rings. Like a pack of wolves that has been waiting for the opportune moment to strike its prey, most of the class immediately begin to descend upon Ichigo's desk. Salvation from the oncoming onslaught arrives in the form of Tatsuki, who is by her side in a flash, asking, "Hey Ichigo, would you like to have lunch with Orihime and me?"

"Oh," the teen replies, pleased that her old friend is already reaching out to her new identity. "I would love to!" In the corner of her eyes, she notices Rukia stand and start to walk towards the door, so she adds in a voice loud enough for the shinigami to hear, "I don't think Rukia has anyone to eat with either. Do you two mind if she joins us?"

The shinigami stops and turns around, surprise in her eyes, and Tatsuki asks in confusion, "Wait, you know Rukia?"

Shit. Right, I'm supposed to be new here… "Ah, y-yeah… I got into town on Saturday, and Rukia hung out with Ichirou at our house yesterday, so I got to know her a little bit then." Saved!

"Oh," the martial artist replies. "That makes sense. Well, I don't have a problem with it." She turns to face the desk in front of the orangette. "What about you, Orihime?"

"That sounds great!" the dark orange haired girl cheerfully responds, the earlier unreadable expression she had while Ichigo introduced herself now gone.

"Great," Ichigo says with a smile before pushing her chair back so she can see past Tatsuki to Ichirou. "Big brother, you still have the bento I asked you to hold onto, right?"

"Yeah, yeah."

Soon enough, the makeshift lunch group is sitting down to eat, even more people joining them than originally planned. The original four, Chizuru, Michiru, Ryou, and Mahana all end up sitting underneath the tree in the school yard, chatting idly while eating. Ichigo, to her own surprise, has a small smile upon her lips the whole time, the amiable atmosphere among the girls leaving her wondering why she waited as long as she did to admit to herself that she's a girl. I know I was scared about how my family would react, the teen thinks, but that can't have been the only reason because once Rukia questioned me about whether I'd risk losing my old life, I told her that everyone would understand if I risked losing them to do what would make me happy… So what was it? Could it really be that I just couldn't admit the truth until it was thrust upon me then night I became a shinigami — the night I felt what it was like to be a girl?

"What are you thinking about, Ichigo?" Orihime asks, drawing her out of her thoughts.

"Oh, nothing that important. Just, ah, thinking about how good my little sister's cooking is," the orangette replies, trying to downplay the matter.

The dark orange haired girl looks thoughtful at that. "Oh, okay." She was frowning just now, even though she was smiling the whole time before that… And for some reason, every time I look at her I can't help but think about what Rukia and Ichirou said on Saturday… Her resolve to learn more about her new classmate, Orihime asks the first question that pops into her mind, "Ichigo, you said you and Ichirou are twins, but you called him 'big brother' earlier. Why did you do that?"

The small smile from before finds its way to Ichigo's lips again as she replies, "Well, we are twins, but he was born first." Technically not a lie. Her smile grows into a full blown grin as she adds, "If you were to ask him about it, I'm sure he'd say it's 'such a pain' to have three little sisters."

"Yeah, that sounds like Ichirou all right," Tatsuki quips with a grin of her own before her eyes grow thoughtful. "Still, I've been wracking my brain since this morning, and I can't recall Ichirou ever mentioning you."

"H-he didn't?" Ichigo responds, trying to contain her nervousness and remember the lie she had planned ahead of time with her family and Rukia.

Luckily, the shinigami comes to her rescue, commenting, "That's just like Ichirou, never talking about what's bothering him. I wouldn't be surprised if he had convinced himself Ichigo didn't exist until he heard she'd be coming back in mid-May." The other girls all laugh at that, spare Ichigo and Orihime.

So Rukia thinks that must be it too? the orangette thinks, reviewing her earlier thoughts. It fits… After I gained shinigami powers, I was able to look back and realize that I'd known all along, yet I never really admitted it to myself until that day.

At the same time, Orihime looks thoughtful again. Ichirou did seem really depressed since mid-May. That's why I wanted to talk with him on Saturday…

Unbidden, her memories of that day come rushing back.


"Mhm… Is that why you want to be a girl so bad? Because he only likes girls?"

"Rukia! That's not it. How many times do I have to tell you? I've wanted to be a girl for as long as I can remember."


And now, Ichirou doesn't seem depressed anymore. The very same day his twin sister, who he's never mentioned before, joins our school. Contrary to what many people in Karakura High think of her, Orihime is not a stupid girl. The only question is… Should I ask hi— her about it? If she's happy again, then does it really matter how it happened?

"Hey, Rukia!" Mahana suddenly asks. "Do you… like Ichirou?"

Rukia spits out the juice she's drinking in surprise, and Ichigo nearly chokes on a piece of fish she's chewing on. "What?" they both ask in unison.

"Well," the dark brown haired girl says with unabashed curiosity, "we were just wondering what exactly your relationship with Ichigo is?"

"Relationship…? He's a friend…" Rukia replies as she wipes the juice off of her face.

"Mahana! How can you ask her so bluntly like that?" Michiru cries in mortification.

"What are you talking about? You guys were curious about it, so I asked!"

"I… I'm not curious at all!"

As the other girls continue to talk — except for Ryou, who's caught up in a book as usual — Ichigo and Rukia share a look of bewilderment, neither having expected the topic of whether the shinigami likes Ichirou to comic up.

"Well?!" Mahana eventually says, turning the focus back to Rukia and leaning forward expectantly. "So what is your relationship with him? Ever since you came, you've always been around Ichirou! What exactly are you two to each other?"

Suddenly feeling mischievous, Ichigo leans forward as well with a sly smirk. "Oh? I didn't realize you'd been that close with my brother, Rukia! I want to hear the answer to Mahana's question too!"

Traitor! Rukia thinks to herself though there's no heat in it. "Ichirou is… just a friend," she finally answers, plastering a false smile on her face.

As the other girls go on talking around them, Ichigo silently watches as Rukia's expression slowly slips into one of sorrow. Why does she look so sad? She doesn't… actually like me — err, old me — does she? By the time she returns to class along with everyone else, she still hasn't come to an answer.


"Rukia won't be walking home with us," Ichigo tells Ichirou as she pauses by him at the lockers.

"Wait, why?" the mod-soul asks as he slips on his shoes and slams his locker shut loudly enough to make her cringe. "Is this because of whatever you said during lunch that made her sad?"

She frowns. "No, I… I mean, I'm not sure, but I think that maybe she likes…" The orangette glances around to check for eavesdroppers then leans in and whispers. "…likes old me."

"And what's wrong with me?" Ichirou declares slapping his hand against his chest as he starts towards the front grate, a groaning Ichigo following him. "After all, I'm the new and improved Ichirou!"

"Would you be quiet?!" Ichigo hisses at him through clenched teeth when a couple of confused students turn to look at the passing pair. "Somebody might hear!"

"Yeah, yeah," he says, waving off her concern. "Let's just get home, so I can get some more of Yuzu's delicious cooking!"

The shorter teen sweatdrops. "Really? You're already hungry? You're gonna get fat if you eat at that rate."

"Eh, if I do, then I'll just join a sports club like soccer. I do have the proper equipment," he comments without a care as they turn down a side street a ways from the school.

"The proper equipment for cheating, sure," she replies, remembering how high and how hard the mod-soul can kick and jump while in a body.

"That's quite the serious accusation, Kurosaki."

The siblings whirl around to face the voice and find Uryuu there, leveling a cold look at the pair.

"U-Uryuu," Ichigo replies without thinking. "I didn't mean anything serious by it."

"Oh? You know my name do you?"

Shit! I screwed up again! "Ah, one of the girls must've mentioned it at lunch," she weakly explains, barely resisting the urge to wince at how obvious her lie is.

"Even if that were true," the dark haired boy counters as he starts to slowly walk towards them, "the real reason you know my name is obvious, Ichirou."

"I think you've got us mixed up, Ishida," Ichirou says with a scowl, unconsciously stepping forward and putting himself between Ichigo and Uryuu.

"No," the advancing teen replies without hesitation. "I knew who you were the moment you entered the classroom and introduced yourself, Kurosaki. You're the real Ichirou. Now tell me what you're playing at! How did you get a new body, and why are you pretending to be a girl?!"

Ichigo takes a step back, visibly shaken by his words. I don't understand… Only my family and Rukia were supposed to know! "N-no!" she replies, her pitch high and wobbly. "I'm not… I was never… never Ichirou. It's a lie! It's always been a lie…"

"You think I'm bluffing, do you?" the pale, raven-haired boy says as he stops just out of reach of the tense Ichirou. "You seem to lack the ability to sense people with high spiritual strength, but I noticed you, Ichirou Kurosaki. I noticed from the day I entered Karakura High that your spiritual pressure is unusually high, I noticed when you gained shinigami powers in mid-May, and I noticed the moment I saw her that Rukia Kuchiki is really a shinigami." A stunned Ichigo and Ichirou watch as the air suddenly fills with long, white papers that all run off in different directions. Uryuu's hand snaps out, grabbing the one attached to Ichirou's chest. "As you can see, this Ichirou's reiraku is white. But did you know? The color of a shinigami's reiraku is different." He steps past Ichirou and snags the red paper dancing out of Ichigo's chest into the air. "It's red. So stop lying to me, Ichirou Kurosaki!"

Tears that she can't hold back stream down Ichigo's face she stares up into taller boy's dark blue eyes, their vehement, ferocious glare cutting into her. "I… I've…" She starts to tremble and can't get the words to come out but still keeps trying, unable to stay silent while pinned down by his gaze. "I've always…"

What is this? Uryuu thinks to himself as he watches her struggle to speak. The Kurosaki I know is a brash delinquent, someone who would lash out at having been outed like this. So why then is he acting like this? Isn't this all just a joke, some plot or plan? Why does he seem to be honestly scared?

The sound of a tremendous weight crashing into the ground further down the street interrupts the moment, and a horrendous, unmistakable scream tears through the air and into the trio's ears. Ichigo starts violently because of her already fragile emotional state, and when she spins around to face what she knows is a hollow, she inadvertently trips and falls backwards into Uryuu, sending them both toppling to the ground.

"Dammit, Ichirou!" Uryuu cries as she lands on him, preventing him from easily summoning his kojaku bow.

"Two tasty looking humans, heeee!" the dinosaur-like hollow says to itself as it begins to swiftly dash towards them on four legs, the large spines running along its back and down its tail whipping back and forth and the claws on its feet tearing apart the ground with each step.

"I'm not Ichirou!" Ichigo cries despite the severity of the situation as she rolls off of the boy and towards her brother before scrambling up to her feet while crying out, "Ichirou, the gokkon tekkou!"

"I know!" the mod-soul shouts back, having already pulled on the soul-ejecting glove.

"Toooooo laaaate!" the hollow cries with glee as it takes the last steps towards Ichigo with its mouth open and ready to bite her with sharp, gleaming fangs.

"For you," Uryuu declares in a harsh voice as a bow made of reishi bursts into life in his right hand from the cross adorning his wrist. In one swift movement, he slips his finger left pointer finger into the circle attached to the cross, creates a reishi arrow by drawing back the circle like one would draw back the string of a bow, and releases the circle, sending the arrow rocketing straight through the one eye socket on the mask and out the other. The arrow kills the hollow, and force of Uryu's attack combined with the forward momentum of the hollow knocks the corpse off course, sending it hurtling through the space in between Ichigo and Uryuu and crashing to a halt some distance further down the road.

Ichigo and Ichirou are frozen in shock, the latter a mere step away from striking her with the gokkon tekkou. Uryuu lets his right arm hang loosely at his side but doesn't dissipate his bow as he turns to face the orange-haired duo.

"That… that was…" Ichigo mutters, as she stares at her classmate.

"Me who killed that hollow yesterday?" Uryuu finishes for her, thinking he knows what she's about to say.

"So cool!" she cries in awe, her chocolate brown eyes suddenly alight. Uryuu and Ichirou are both entirely thrown by her outburst, but she continues to talk, either undeterred by their shock or otherwise so completely lost in her fantasies that she doesn't notice. "You've always been so awesome with your quiet loner nature, but now on top of that, you're like some hero straight out of a shoujo, saving the girl who has a secret crush on you just before she's attacked by a monster with an awesome hidden ability! You even dropped a badass one-liner at the last second! How cool is that?!"

The two boys share a look of confusion over Ichigo's head (Which isn't hard, since both boys are over 170 centimeters tall, and she's just 158 centimeters.) about her sudden fangirl rant, but they both quickly recover.

"A 'hero straight out of a shoujo?'" Uryuu asks, sounding simultaneously repulsed by and attracted to the idea.

"You have a crush on Ishida?!" Ichirou shouts in astonishment before he realizes what he's saying.

The orangette promptly whirls towards Ichirou in order to put her back to Uryuu and hide the very prominent blush now covering her cheeks, thus (mercifully) missing the look of horror on Uryuu's face, as she yells back, "N-no I don't! Stupid Ichirou, making false claims like that!"

"Enough of this!" Uryuu shouts, his brain now too over-loaded from trying to grasp why 'Ichirou' is acting like such a girl. "I don't know what you're up to Ichirou, but it just makes me hate you even more!"

Ichigo pales at his words and slowly turns her head to look over her shoulder. "Hate me… 'even more?'" she whispers, unable to hide the distress in her voice.

Ichirou has always been a shameless pervert with no qualms about looking up girls' skirts or any other equally terrible acts, but there are lines that even he won't cross. Uryuu Ishida had just crossed one of those lines. Enraged, Ichirou storms past his sister and grabs Uryuu's shirt with a snarl. "You jerk! How dare you talk to any girl like that, much less my sister?!"

"Ichirou!" she cries out in dismay, whirling around and trying to pull him away. "Stop it!"

"But he sai—," Ichirou starts to say, glancing over his shoulder, but he's cut off when Uryuu swings his bow up and into Ichirou's side. The orange-haired boy grunts in pain and releases Uryuu, who quickly hops away, putting distance between himself and the Kurosaki siblings.

"You want to know why I hate her?" Uryuu says, his voice and expression dark. "It's because I hate shinigami. I am a quincy, one who holds the power to kill hollows. Shinigami like you… are unnecessary, and I intend to prove that here and now. Fight me, Ichirou Kurosaki. Fight me, and I will show you you're unnecessary."

"No," Ichigo replies without hesitation, her soft voice contrasting with the hard look in her eyes.

"Heh. Are you just going to run away from my challenge then? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. You're a shinigami whose power was granted to you by Rukia Kuchiki… In other words, you are a 'temporary shinigami.' Without her permission, you can't even move a finger."

"Wrong and wrong." She takes a calm step forward, placing herself at her brother's side. "Whatever else you might have thought about the old me, know this: I only ever fought to protect people. Everyone always called me a delinquent, a hoodlum who picks fights for fun, but I was always fighting to help someone who'd been wronged, to protect people who couldn't defend themselves. Back in May, a hollow my family's clinic. Rukia came to help us and got herself hurt because I was an idiot and tried to convince it to eat me instead of my family. I saw her that night, Uryuu, but where were you?"

"Excuse me?" Uryuu replies, caught off guard.

"You heard me," she hotly responds, her eyes blazing with righteous fury. "You said that shinigami are unnecessary, didn't you? If that's true, then where were you that night? Where were you when that monster slashed open my dad's back, leaving him unconscious and bleeding out? Where were you when it then attacked Karin, giving her a head wound so bad she barely managed to get away? Where were you when it would have eaten Yuzu if Rukia hadn't cut off the arm holding her?!"

Uryuu can only stare in shocked silence, his bow dispersing into scattered reishi particles once more. Her heated words were piercing through him, and his blood feels like ice. What could he say to that? Why hadn't he been there? Ichirou too is watching in surprise as his sister verbally tears into Uryuu.

"I became a shinigami that night because Rukia couldn't fight anymore after she saved me. I did it to protect my family, and when she told me that she hadn't recovered her powers yet, I chose to use my power be her replacement and protect the people in this town while she recuperates. I refuse to use that power to hurt someone, even if he's an idiot spouting nonsense about how shinigami are 'unnecessary' while people still need shinigami help. If you want to prove that quincies, or whatever the hell you said you are, are better than shinigami, then prove it through your actions! Until then, you're just a shoujo hero — not a real one."

"Goddammit, this is taking too long! If you're not going to get out of that gigai, then I'll make you!"

The eyes of all three teens snap up to the rooftop, the direction the new voice came from, but the black clothed figure vanishes in a burst of speed. The newcomer appears in the trio's midst, and before any of them can react, he grabs the hand Ichirou has the gokkon tekkou on and shoves it into Ichigo. Uryuu instinctively forms his bow to try and defend against the attacker, but before he can do anything further, the newcomer grabs Ichigo's ejected soul and stabs through her sternum with a katana, causing the orange-haired shinigami to cough blood and drop her zanpakutou in pain. The katana — No, it's a zanpakutou, Uryuu corrects himself — slips back out causing blood to spurt freer from the now unimpeded wound in her chest, and Uryuu starts to form the arrow.

I'm not going to make it! Uryuu thinks as the blade is thrusted towards Ichigo's stomach, not questioning in the heat of the moment precisely why he's defending someone he wanted to fight a few minutes earlier.

A split second before the blade cuts into her a second time, Ichirou's foot slams into the figure's chest, sending the attacker flying backwards from the sheer force and skidding to a halt a handful of meters away. "Who the hell are you?!" the teen demands in a rage as Uryuu trains his now drawn bow on the attacker.

"Heh," the man says as he rises to his feet and slides the goggles he's wearing up onto his forehead. He has no eyebrows, and in their place he has tribal style tattoos that rise high up across his forehead and into the deep ridges on either side of his widow's peak. His bright red hair is pulled back into a ponytail that flares out into a voluminous ponytail. "Well, since you asked so nicely, I'll tell you. The name's Renji Abarai."