A/N: Edited (24th Feb 2015) to clarify some things. Thanks to Guest reviewer EJ for pointing out the confusion. I hope it was rectified. (If not, just let me know and I'll re-edit)

Ichigo was most particularly edgy, everything these days set him off. Well, who could blame him? The 16 year old was forced to grow up painfully fast, grasping and using skills that would have taken lifetimes to learn of, facing the same amount of danger and despair as he fought relentlessly against Aizen Sosuke and his forces.

When the fighting had ended, it was almost surreal. The short but sharp fight was almost painfully predictable; hero versus villian. It has cost him his very existence as a Shinigami. It was everything he fought for, believed in. With only a tiny percentage of reiatsu left in his body, poor Ichigo was left to wallow in despair. He so badly wanted to wake up one morning with Urahara telling him it was a silly miscalculation on his part and he would get his powers back. Of course it could never happen, and as his powers slowly dwindled to naught, so did his interactions with the Spiritual World.

The last he had heard of them, they were building up Seireitei again, while in Hueco Mundo, Grimmjow, Neliel and Halibel were working together to polish off the remaining Arranca that still believed in Aizen. They (more like Neliel) promised to send a messager to Ichigo to check up on him when they had settled down, but days melted into months, and it seems that everyone had forgotten about their hero.

One summer evening, just before dinner, Ichigo was lying miserably on his bed, flipping half heartedly a comic book, his mind replaying all the wonderful (and dangerous) times he spent with his friends, saving the world. Suddenly, something whizzed by the corner of his vision, and he sat up abruptly. It was a bat, roughly the size of a clenched fist. It flew with great purpose and settled upside down right above Ichigo's head.

The orange - haired boy bit back a shout of surprise. Surely there couldn't be a coincidence that a bat of all animals decided to get comfortable in his room, on top of his head. Maybe Ulquiorra had somehow managed to survive the battle? Perhaps Orihime managed to reject his death? Ichigo stared at the bat, weighing the possibility, he may be carrying a message from the Hueco Mundo crew and in his current state, he would even gladly receive a message from Grimmjow. He concentrated on sensing the reiatsu of his visitor, but it was futile. Even at full strength, he was one of the worst people in existence when it came to reiatsu and it's uses.

"Ulquiorra?" He asked tentatively.

The bat opened its wings in a decidedly Ulquiorra-ish fashion.

Taking heart that it may be his now undead foe, Ichigo launched into a tirade about his lost of powers, the Shinigamis and Hollows abandoning him once he had outlived his usefulness, and asked if he (the bat) brought any news from his allies in the land of Hollows.

The bat stayed silent at this, but continued to eye Ichigo with intrest.

After a rounds of trying to get an answer out of the bat, Ichigo snapped.

"Oh for gods sake! I know I brutally murdered you, but is this really the damn time to be mad at me? Just deliver your message and then get the hell out of here!" He all but yelled at the poor bat, raising his voice. The bat, once again, had no reply. With a yell, Ichigo got to his feet and plucked the poor bat out of his resting place.

"Look right here, fourth Espada, I've killed you once, and that's enough. Don't make me kill you again." He warned, gently squeezing the bat that was flapping its wings furiously, trying to make an escape.

"I don't give a shit about whatever stupid grudge you have against me, Ulquiorra, but give. Me. The. Message." Ichigo all but snarled, applying more pressure to the animal, who started screeching really loudly.

Before he could shut it up, he heard Yuzu knocking on the door, saying that she was coming in, and the door opened before he can say 'Aizen's glasses'.

"Ichi-nii!" She gasped, as the ladle she was holding almost slipped from her grasp. "What are you-" she began, looking at the bat, then at her brother with a quizzical look. Well, she couldn't be blamed. A 16 year old boy in all his teenage glory was knelt on top of his bed, his hands around the fluffy bat, who had finally given up struggling and was lying limply in his grasp.

"Uh... Yuzu..." Ichigo stammered, dropping the fuzzy creature, which promptly took off.

"Ichi-nii! What are you doing?" Yuzu said asked, seeing the bat fly off into the night. "How could you do that ?" She all but screamed, waving her ladle dangerously around.

"Why why why why why?" She asked, her voice going an octave higher with each word. "She was so nice! Now she won't come back again!" Yuzu shrieked to a very confused Ichigo. Ulquiorra did what? "Yuzu..." Ichigo began, not quite knowing what brought about that fit.

Cue Karin to walk in, her attention piped by the hullabaloo. "What's going on Ichii-nii? Is Yuzu having one if her random crying fits again?" She enquired, taking in the scene before her.

"Karin-chan! Karin-chan!" Yuzu squeaked, "Ichi-nii...ichi-nii was doing disgusting things to her!" She sniffed dramatically.

Karin kept her questions to herself, but raised an eyebrow all the same. "At first...at first I thought Ichii-nii was in his room doing homework... but then there was a lot of high pitched screaming and I thought he was being attacked by a screaming robber!" Yuzu continued, her sobbing becoming more sparodic. Karin rolled her eyes. Typical Kurosaki family evening, she thought.

"But..." Yuzu continued, "when I went in...he was sitting on top of her and strangling her!" Karin's eyebrows shot up to her hairline, her eyes going really wide. Ichigo was doing what?! The same time, the ex shinigami realised how bad the situation reflected on him.

"Okay Yuzu that's enough now, you and Karin should get to bed, you have school tomorrow!" he said weakly, trying to shoo them out of his room with whatever shred of dignity he had left.

"I can't get to sleep! Not with what I just saw!" Well that was the icing on the frosted cake.

"Ichi-nii, I respect that you're a boy and have...urges and shit. But please don't bring them back home. Or at least do your...weird strangling stuff when no one's around!" Karin eyed him seriously, putting a firm arm around her younger twin.

"Wait but I wasn't doing-" his sentence was duly ended with a well executed kick that would have sent soccer balls flying across the field. With a satisfied crunch that came from her foot making contact with his ribs, she ushered her bewilded sister off, muttering about pervert elder brothers.

Ichigo sighed, running his hands through his hair. Stupid bats.

Omake

It had been several days since the incident.

"Hey Yuzu, what happened to that bat you like to feed? The one you called Batsy." Karin asked one evening. "I don't see it around."

"Karin-chan, Ichi-nii almost killed her! Of course she won't come along anymore." Yuzu replied, slicing up the vegetables with a dark look in her eyes.

"Since when? Ichi-nii wouldn't kill a bat. Stop making up weird things Yuzu. It probably found another place to get food."

Yuzu spun on her heels, pointing the knife at Karin. "Well that's what he was doing a few nights ago! And Batsy was cute too!"

"HUH?!" Karin's eyes grew as large as saucers as she almost spat out the drink in her mouth. "So you mean...he wasn't messing around with some girl?"

"Karin-chan, what did you think he was doing?"

"Nothing...nothing... So instead of a pervert we have an animal abuser. Great." Karin muttered as she took another sip of her drink.