Chapter Two: Fun in the Sun?

It was a beautiful day in Karakura Town, the sun was beaming down and birds were singing as they darted through the thin wisps of clouds. Ichigo Kurosaki was enjoying a rare lie-in as the sun rose higher in the sky, that was until something loud and slightly worrying snapped him out of his slumber. Someone downstairs was shouting at the top of their lungs; it sounded as though they were fighting off a mob of megaphone-wielding elephants and, knowing his father, Ichigo thought that probably wasn't far from the truth. He slid out of bed and quickly threw on some shorts and a red shirt before stumbling sleepily down the stairs.

In the kitchen Karin and Yuzu were sitting at the table eating breakfast. They seemed almost bored with whatever their father was doing and so Ichigo guessed it mustn't be very important, he was probably just yelling at another unsatisfied patient. The orange-haired teenager sat down and grabbed a slice of toast from the rack before smothering it in butter. As he was about to shove it in his mouth Isshin, his father, came bounding into the kitchen sweating and out of breath. He waved his arms around silently for a moment and then jabbed an accusing finger at his only son,

"ICHIGO!"

"What?" Ichigo asked, without lifting his eyes from his toast.

"Help me subdue this intruder!"

Ichigo sighed heavily and turned to Karin, "What's he going on about now?"

"This guy with red hair's been trying to get in for about an hour but Dad doesn't like the look of him," she filled him in with even less enthusiasm for her father's situation. Ichigo turned to look at him,

"Well maybe he's sick and needs help! You can't just send him away because he looks a bit shifty!"

Isshin practically folded inside-out as he tried to explain his reasons, "He doesn't just look shifty! He is shifty! He tried to get in through the window! And he's got all these weird tattoos and-" he stopped as Ichigo shot to his feet, "What is it boy?"

"Tattoos?" Ichigo asked, "Like here and here?" he pointed to his forehead and shoulders and his father nodded,

"Yes! Do you know this delinquent?"

"I'll take care of it," Ichigo marched past a shocked-looking Isshin and made his way to the main entrance of the clinic. There, behind the glass door, was Renji. He looked bored and uncomfortable somehow, like his own skin was making him itch which, if he was wearing a Gigai, was probably correct. He saw Ichigo and a wicked grin spread across his face,

"Ichigo! You gonna let me in?"

With a sigh Ichigo opened the door and stepped outside; he didn't want Renji anywhere near his family. It wasn't that he didn't trust him it was just that he was, well, a little rusty on human customs.

"Whaddya want Renji?"

"Is Rukia around?"

"She's with Orihime. I think they went shopping or something," Ichigo stretched his hands above his head and hoped that Renji would take the hint and leave. He didn't. Instead he scratched the back of his head and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder,

"Well some of us are going to the beach, fancy it?"

Knowing that he wouldn't hear the end of it if he didn't join them, Ichigo agreed and they both made their way to the deserted beach where the rest of the Soul Reapers were waiting.

~ o o O o o ~

Yachiru was sitting in a huge hole about three times her height that she'd somehow managed to dig with her zanpakuto whilst Kenpachi stood over it like a spiky-haired guard dog. Woe betide anyone that tried to fill in the hole without permission. Captain Unohana and Isane were standing at the edge of the sea, letting the waves lap at their feet and Byakuya was busy creating something out of sand that vaguely resembled a potato with arms. Shunsui had spread out his pink haori and he and Jushiro were sitting on it watching Toshiro with great amusement. The smallest captain was sitting cross-legged on the sand with a bucket and spade that Rangiku had 'kindly' bought for him, trying his hardest to make a sandcastle with the unfamiliar equipment. He kept filling the bucket with sand and patting the top of it with his plastic spade before tipping the bucket upside down onto the sand. Each time he lifted the bucket off, however, the 'castle' simply flopped down into a pile of useless grains.

"Do you think we should tell him he needs to wet the sand before it'll stay in shape?" Shunsui asked Jushiro, a hint of a smile twitching at his lips.

Jushiro smiled weakly, "I think he'll figure it out eventually."

With an exasperated grunt Toshiro jumped to his feet, tore out his zanpakuto, and pointed it angrily at the sand. Jushiro and Shunsui watched, a little shocked at Toshiro's extreme method, as the tenth squad captain shouted,

"Sit upon the Frozen Heavens, Hyornimaru!"

A whoosh of ice erupted from the end of his sword and swirled through the air before collecting on the sand in front of him. It curled in on itself and twisted into an extravagant ten-foot sculpture that was as far from your average sandcastle as possible, although it did resemble some sort of castle. Shunsui couldn't hold in his laughter anymore and tipped backwards onto his back taking huge gasps in between guffaws. Hitsugaya sheathed his sword and shot an equally icy look in the eighth squad captain's direction. Rangiku suddenly appeared from one of the small shacks on the beach wearing a very brief bikini; she was running and looking into the sky at the same time.

"Nanao! You threw it too hard!" shouted Rangiku.

A thin orange disc zoomed through the air towards Toshiro and, just before it hit his ice castle, Rangiku caught it with one hand and squealed happily. She waved it in the air for a moment, tripped backwards over her captain's bucket and spade and crashed into his newly erected castle, smashing it into thousands of shards of ice and making it rain down onto Toshiro like snow.

"Oops!" Rangiku got to her feet and made sure her bikini was still in place before turning to her captain, "Sorry Captain!" She looked down at what she'd tripped over and gasped, "Oh no! I broke your bucket! I'll have to buy you another one!"

Toshiro's eye twitched involuntarily but he remained silent. The only sound to be heard was Shunsui's hysterical laughter as he rolled around in the sand.