Chapter 2: Streets, Shops and Residences.

Well, this is going to be weird, thought Ichigo as he walked next to Byakuya. It was always weird when Shinigami stayed over at Karakura town in gigai. Between Rukia, Renji, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku and Toushiro – Ichigo thought he had faced the worst already. He could see now though, that he was mistaken. Kuchiki Byakuya, the captain of the sixth squad, the twenty-eighth head of the Kuchiki clan, Rukia's cold emotionless brother with a huge ego and the most arrogant attitude known to man and Shinigami, was going to live in his house and "monitor him closely". At least the others had been friendly and at a lot of times rather fun to be around. Ichigo was not looking forward to Byakuya's stiff silence, which when broken usually involved haughty remarks about how he looked down upon everyone else.

This was not Rukia. Byakuya would not fit in his closet. He would be in his bedroom. Ichigo was already feeling infuriated about what he'd have to deal with. For months? Put up with that attitude for months?

He glanced sideways. Despite his ridiculous clothes and internal rage, Kuchiki Byakuya was walking with look of serenity on his expressionless face, grace and sophistication in each smooth step. His royal pretty highness, Ichigo scoffed in his mind. He wondered how Byakuya would survive here for months. He had lived for centuries in his sprawling manor, and Ichigo could picture that he was used to being surrounded by maids and butlers doing everything for him. I can't believe I'm stuck with this spoilt noble.

"Byakuya, what kind of clothes are you going to buy?" Of course, the silence was broken by Ichigo.

"I am not aware of the fashion in the world of the living. I've told you already have I not? Take me to the elite stores here." Byakuya didn't even bother looking up as he replied.

"Look Byakuya, I know you're the upper crust or whatever in Soul Society and you have more money than your bankai has petals. But this is the world of the living, and the kind of stores you're asking about are insanely overpriced and…"

"Kurosaki Ichigo, do you take me to be a fool? I have of course made the necessary arrangements to access my assets in Soul Society for use during my stay here." Byakuya interrupted.

Ichigo was about to roll his eyes and make a dry remark but he suddenly noticed that something was strange about the street they were walking on. The people around were dressed in outfits more revealing than Byakuya's (Ichigo laughed in his head at this comparison), the women were wearing garish makeup and everyone was eyeing them with weird looks in their eyes. Realization was about to dawn on him, when a woman who looked to be in her late thirties but was dressed like a desperate teenager stepped in front of them and said, "Oh my, I haven't seen such pretty creatures around here for ages. Are you boys new here?"

Byakuya raised his eyebrows at Ichigo. The orange haired boy was rather taken aback and said "Sorry, ma'm I don't know what you're talking about…"

The woman let out a harsh rasping laughter and said, "Playing innocent are we? How cute. Are you two a combined package – because I'm more interested in your gorgeous friend here." Turning to Byakuya she asked, "How much for a whole night?"

"WHAT?" Ichigo exclaimed, turning bright red now.

Byakuya was also taken aback, his eyes first widened and then he narrowed them into a deadly glare. "How dare you think that I'm here to sell my body?" His voice was low and deep, but still dripping with malice.

"Oh," the woman replied, "That's not why you're here? You could make a lot of money you know, if you sold a body so beautiful. Then I suppose you punks are here to buy?"

Surely this is the first time Byakuya has been called a punk, Ichigo thought somewhere behind all his shock.

"I do not need to sell myself, I have more than enough wealth already. And I certainly do not need to buy such products. Unlike you I can get that without paying for it." Byakuya replied, still sounding murderous. Ichigo's jaw dropped hearing him say that. "Remove yourself from our way."

The woman was livid with anger now. But Byakuya's glare had obviously scared her. She turned on her heels and walked off muttering "Stupid rich spoilt punks…"

After she was gone, the glare was directed at Ichigo. "Kurosaki Ichigo, what is the meaning of this? Would this be your idea of a sick joke?"

"Byakuya, shut up! I did not land on this street intentionally. I was trying to take a short cut and somehow ended up…in the…red light area of town." Ichigo's voice trailed off in embarrassment. As Byakuya continued to glare at him, he added "Look this is all YOUR fault, I never shop in the high-end stores so I'm not used to getting there. I must have taken a wrong turn. Now let's get out of here before anything weirder happens!"

After finding the right way and another five minutes of walking, during which Byakuya's behaviour seemed to Ichigo to be some form of silent expressionless sulking, they reached the fashion store Ichigo had decided to take Byakuya to. The words expensive and snobbish were exuding out of the extremely classy looking store. Byakuya still did not look entirely convinced. Ichigo was thinking about how shopping here would require more money than his family's expenses for six months. Their thoughts were interrupted by some hushed but obviously audible voices saying, "What do those punks think they're doing in a place like this? Do these kids think they can afford anything here?"

Byakuya had been called a punk too many times for his liking today. His patience was running dangerously short now. He turned to the store attendants who had been talking about them and said, "You people are supposed to be keeping a store for the elite running with that sort of flawed judgement? I'm surprised that your business has not failed yet. You have no idea who you are talking about here. Start behaving and bring me the best clothes you have."

Oh my God, thought Ichigo. Weren't Shinigami supposed to minimize drawing attention while on mission in the world of the living? He had a feeling the store attendants would be skeptical about Byakuya acting like royalty. This is not Soul Society!

"Please forgive the rudeness of my colleagues," a thin man wearing a badge that said 'Manager' approached Byakuya. "If we could have your name, please, sir?"

"Kuchiki Byakuya."

"Kuchiki Byakuya-sama," the manager said respectfully, "What kind of clothes are you looking for? Casuals or formals."

"Well I personally favour formals but I do not know the trends in this place," Byakuya replied and then turned to Ichigo. "Kurosaki Ichigo, what would be more appropriate given the work I am here for?"

If the Shinigami was going to be "monitoring him closely" and staying in his house, Ichigo figured it would be ridiculous if he was always dressed in a suit. "I think you'll need more casuals than formals, Byakuya."

Byakuya promptly asked the store attendants to bring him four sets of formal wear, six sets of casual wear, with shoes and accessories to go with them.

Ichigo stood gaping as store attendants started treating Byakuya like an aristocrat. It seems they saw the substance behind his attitude. Or money.

Despite being new to this environment Byakuya seemed to have a good knack for chosing clothes that were classy without looking extravagant. Ichigo felt annoyed at how good the noble looked in every outfit he was trying on, as the people at the store fussed around him getting him the right sizes and coordinating the clothes and accessories. For the amount of shopping, it was over quite quickly and settled with a swish of Byakuya's credit card as the attendants looked on fawningly.

Credit card, eh?That's something Ichigo had not seen any of the other Shinigami use.

As they walked out of the store with the shopping bags in hand, Byakuya seemed to be thinking something.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, there is one more thing that I'll be needing," he said.

"What now?" Ichigo had already had quite enough of shopping with the captain.

"A school uniform."

"A WHAT?" Ichigo's mouth hung open even after he spoke.

"I do not like repeating myself."

It took Ichigo a while to recover his ability to speak. Has Soul Society gone insane? "Byakuya, that's ridiculous. Are you telling me you'll be going to my school?"

"Yes, those were part of my orders. I am to monitor you, after all." Byakuya replied with a hint of irritation in his voice.

"You'll look like an idiot." Ichigo was horrified at imagining Kuchiki Byakuya attending school with him. How old was this guy? Five hundred? More?

Byakuya was well aware of how strange it would be for him to show up at a human high school, but he did not take kindly to the way Ichigo was reacting. "If Renji, Vice Captain Matsumoto and those barbarians from the eleventh squad could pull off being high school students, I think I will actually do a good job of it."

Ichigo paused to consider this. And he realized, Byakuya was quite right. Between red hair and tattoos, feathery eye-lash extenstions, bald heads and …well, Rangiku san's flaunting of her shapely figure, the other Shinigami had been a freak show at school. Toushiro's white hair and lack of height had drawn unnecessary attention too. Compared to that, Byakuya was a lot closer to normal. In fact, even if he was not, he looked younger than the others had, especially in human clothing.

But still, there was the fact that Byakuya looked and acted like a prince.

"Maybe you're a lot less weird than those guys, but you'll still draw a lot of attention," said Ichigo. "And you look nothing like what a high school student should look like. You'll also have to do something about that attitude."

"I will be needing a uniform, Kurosaki Ichigo." Byakuya stated, making it clear that how he would fit into the high school demography was not up for any further discussion.

Cursing Byakuya in his mind, Ichigo reluctantly lead the noble to the shops that sold school uniforms. Maybe I should buy a new set too, he found himself thinking.

After reluctantly running another errand for Byakuya, Ichigo started heading home. He was not looking forward to having the stiff captain stay over. He was not looking forward to explaining this to his family either.

"Hey, Byakuya, we're almost at my place. Try not to intimidate my family. And I know you're used to living in some huge mansion with many servants and endless luxury – well let me just tell you this is going to be different. And…"

Ichigo was cut off in mid-sentence by Byakuya speaking up. "Kurosaki Ichigo, it appears you take me to be some spoilt rich child . Do not forget that I am in the elite military of Soul Society. I have not spent all my life in my manor, served by loyal servants. I've had to deal with less luxurious lodgings during training and such. I am not going to complain about the circumstances I have to deal with on a mission. This is my duty. Yes, I am accustomed to a life of luxury. But I am not incapable of surviving without it."

Oh we'll see, thought Ichigo, annoyed at the lengthy lecture. Tch, he doesn't think it's justified to see him as spoilt and rich.

"We're here," Ichigo announced in a sulky voice.

Byakuya looked up to observe the Kurosaki residence, with an expression of disinterest. He had seen photographs of it from Soul Society intelligence. He wondered how it would be to live here for a few months. Ichigo lead him through the front door, and Byakuya was a little surprised when the orange haired boy suddenly spoke loudly "Tadaima1 . I brought a guest."

His face did not show it, but Byakuya felt a little awkward standing next to Ichigo at the hallway.

"Ichi-nii, you're late!"
"Okaeri2 Onii-chan! A guest? Is it a girl?"

Byakuya looked at the two children who had just appeared from inside the house. They must be his younger sisters, he thought. The first one that had spoken had black hair and a scowl similar to her brother's. The second one had light brown hair, and was very high-pitched. Both were now looking at him with curiousity.

Ichigo found himself caught in the awkward silence between the twins, who were gaping at Byakuya, and the noble who had his blank expression on.

It was Karin who broke the silence, "Ichi-nii, is he a friend of yours? We haven't seen him before."

"Kurosaki Ichigo is not my friend." The girls were startled at Byakuya's cold, deep voice.

Ichigo cleared his throat and said, "Exactly, he's not a friend. He's my friend's brother. Remember Rukia – the midget who stayed over for a while?" This earned him a glare from Byakuya. "This is her older brother Kuchiki Byakuya. He's going to my school for a while and will be staying over." His voice trailed off as he found himself speaking the unpleasant truth of having Byakuya at his house for a few months.

"Byakuya, these are my sisters Yuzu and Karin. My father is away on a conference, so it's just us at home."

Much to Ichigo's surprise, Byakuya turned to the girls and said, "Thank you for having me over at your house, I hope I will not cause too much trouble."

Even more to Ichigo's surprise, by now the girls were looking at Byakuya with expressions that showed they were thoroughly impressed.

"No, not at all, Kuchiki-san. We're very glad to have you over," said Yuzu, "Oni-chan does not have friends like you, it's quite a pleasant surprise to see him in such good company." Ichigo could not believe what he was hearing.

"Yeah, in fact, your sister once told us that her onii-sama was a wonderful, kind, dashing, strong, intelligent guy that she considers her role model," added Karin.

Byakuya was warmed on the inside to hear that, but his expression remained unreadable.

Ichigo's expression was furious. "Yeah, whatever. Okay it's getting late, I'll be heading up to my room now. Goodnight," He said and motioned to Byakuya to follow him upstairs.

"Goodnight Kuchiki san!" The girls said in chorus.

Footnotes:
1. Tadaima is what the Japanese say when they return home
2. Okaeri is what the Japanese say to greet the person returning home.

Next Chapter: Pants

Let me know what you think of my story! I wonder who will be the first to review me!
(For the yaoi fangirls getting their hopes up – yes, the next chapter is something of a treat!)