Hi again! Well, here's chapter 2 of my story, Strawberry Fix. I appreciate the reviews I received for the last chapter, and I think I must clear the air about some things.

To TB(I'm assuming that's your real name or something): I apologize if you feel that way, but it's only the first chapter! I can assure you, a typical IchiRuki story is NOT where I'm heading. I've already written out a few chapters ahead, so I know so. I understand what you mean, although I never thought of it that way.

However, please don't generalize people and shoot down my story from one simple chapter. I did not stick that part in on a whim just to satisfy people. What I wanted to do was establish a back-story and how a typical life (Typical for Ichigo) could be torn apart so suddenly (Which will be the chapter after this). Not only that, I wanted to show some (but not a complete OOC kind) maturity in their characters from their old days, WHICH includes Isshin as well. I admit though, I may have gone overboard on the abuse, but what's done is done, and I won't change it for now.

Since you brought it up, I'll admit I'm completely green when it comes to writing romance. But this is a more Adventure/Action centered story. I never wanted to go overboard with the romance and I have no intention of doing so. So if you are convinced, stick around. It's definitely not a typical romance story IMO and i hope i can change your mind.

To Alyssa: It was an accident! She's not a complete sadist.

To pigsinthesky: I don't want to reveal yet, sorry! Kinda takes away the fun. I will, in a couple of chapters, and if no one guesses it.

Other than that... Nothing else to say I think. Oh yeah, this chapter's plot is kinda slow so I'll post the next chapter on Wednesday. So without further ado, here's the second chapter of Strawberry Fix! Read, hope you enjoy, and review please. Still waiting for a guess too!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, its characters, as well as any real life places or organizations mentioned in my story. Neither do I own the series my story is based on.


Strawberry Fix

Chapter 2: Miracles

Past

Friday 0858 hrs

The two teenagers barely made it to class on time. Without a word, Ichigo moved to his usual corner seat by the window and planted himself firmly in, his scowl never leaving his face. Rukia sat beside him, but he purposely ignored her, choosing instead to affix his glare on the head of the person directly in front of him.

Truth was, he wasn't angry with Rukia anymore. Not that he'd admit he was wrong, but he was never able to stay angry with his midget best friend. They had known each other since grade 5 in elementary school. He'd come to her rescue when she was being bullied by three six-graders. He'd managed to give two of them a sound beating, not before he got bruised slightly as well, but he was surprised to see that she had the last bully caught in a chokehold. They could've been suspended along with the school bullies, but were, quite surprisingly, let off with two weeks' detention due to multiple eye-witness accounts that had seen the episode unfold.

They'd been fast friends after that. Their relationship and interactions were somewhat unique. As time wore on, Ichigo found that his best friend had a tomboyish side to her, but could be soft and caring if she wanted to. They cared for each other and were always on the lookout for one another. That included even the many fights Ichigo was forced into due to his orange colored hair. She was at a disadvantage due to her size, but that didn't stop her from helping Ichigo. She was definitely more dangerous than she looked. At other times, they hung out like any normal friends would.

The height related teasing only began in junior high as Ichigo's growth kicked into high gear while Rukia had stayed short. One day, Ichigo had called her short and she retaliated by kicking him. By then they'd known each other well enough to differentiate teases from insults, and it only served to draw them closer, knowing that they could be so familiar with each other.

Unfortunately, it was the first time Rukia had kicked him where the sun didn't shine, and even though the pain had subsided, his mind still kept replaying the scene, and he cringed internally as he imagined bolts of pain shooting through his whole body. Once again, he mentally cursed his best friend. He hoped she was now swimming in guilt.

A paper projectile connected with his temple. Ichigo turned and saw Rukia staring at him. She gestured towards the small crumpled wad of paper on the floor. Wanting to get revenge, Ichigo smirked at her before kicking what he assumed was a note back to her desk. She narrowed her eyes and hissed, "You're supposed to read it, dumbass." He merely propped his head on his hand and resumed staring at the whiteboard. He could feel her incensed gaze piercing him but he ignored it.

He sometimes enjoyed evoking an angry reaction from her just to see how she would respond, even though he often suffered from it. Besides, the way she glared at him was kinda cute… Wait, where the hell did that thought come from?

Suddenly, something harder and definitely more painful collided with his cheek. He yelped in surprise. Thankfully, his voice didn't carry far and their teacher didn't hear him. He sent a challenging glare to those that did. Once he was sure no one was watching, he bent down and picked up the ball of paper.

Opening it, he found that it had been armed with a small Chappy the Bunny eraser. He glared at Rukia, who was ignoring him with an innocent look on her face. Ichigo contemplated flinging it out the window, but Rukia would probably do him an injury before dragging him down town and force him to buy another one. He considered tearing it in half too, but decided it would be going too far. Rukia was obsessed with the cartoon bunny and Ichigo had found himself buying Chappy related merchandise for her on more than one occasion, even though he was sure she had the funds to do so herself.

That reminded him. He'd initially wanted to uphold his promise to not return the chocolate she had given him on Valentine's Day just to spite her. He was surprised when he found out that the chocolate she had given him was honmei-choko, even though they weren't dating, and homemade at that. When asked why, Rukia said it didn't feel right to simply give him giri-choko since they had been best friends for a while. The fact that she had blushed while saying that didn't register until much later, but Ichigo dismissed the thought as quickly as it came.

After all, he was too busy trying to tactfully reject the honmei-choko some girls had tried giving him; he just wasn't interested. But as his anger ebbed away, he found himself subconsciously planning his return gift. It wasn't until over-exuberant ideas invaded his mind that he was finally able to mentally kick himself. A solid life-sized Chappy the Bunny chocolate? Where in the world was he getting such ideas? And why was he putting so much thought into her present? He was her best friend. He should be pulling a prank on her instead.

He stared at the note. The words 'You feeling better?' were written in Rukia's handwriting. Unable to help himself, he smiled. So she actually did care. As his gaze dropped to the bottom of the paper, so did his smile. There at the corner was a drawing of Chappy, and beside it were the words 'Chappy says get well soon!' He scowled. The bunny had effectively destroyed the note. He had nothing against the bunny, but her drawings were, in the nicest word possible, horrible. Unfortunately, she considered her 'artistic talent' to be of a high caliber, and was prone to reacting negatively if someone told her otherwise. Moreover, she was bordering on becoming a fanatic.

He was surprised to find her looking at him with a mixture of apprehension and guilt. Perhaps she thought she had done some lasting damage and that he was still mad at her. Not wanting to give in so easily, he scribbled 'Let me decide' on the paper and tossed it back to her, making sure to scribble all over Chappy at the same time. He smirked as she read the note and glared at him, though he suspected it was more due to his disfigurement of Chappy than his message. Either way, she didn't pursue the matter for the rest of the period.

It was only at lunch when the topic was brought up again. "So?" Rukia asked. They were sitting on the roof along with their three other friends, Asano Keigo, Kojima Mizuiro and Ogawa Michiru.

By that time, Ichigo had forgotten about the note, so he stupidly asked, "So what?"

Rukia gave him an incredulous look, "So are you feeling ok? You said you were still deciding."

"Oh right. I forgot about that." Ichigo admitted. Moments later his face met with Rukia's empty juice box.

"Are you serious? I spent the whole morning worrying about your reaction and if I did any permanent damage and you tell me you forgot about it?"

"Why are you getting so worked up? I'm perfectly fine. If something like that can defeat me so easily, I don't deserve to be called a man. And I didn't know you cared," Ichigo said with a smirk.

He was surprised to notice a slight blush on Rukia's face. "Idiot. I never said that. I was just worried you might not become a father because of me," she said.

They had momentarily forgotten about their friends, who had witnessed their verbal altercation. Then, Keigo interrupted them. "What! Rukia-chan, are you ok? What did Ichigo do to you to warrant such a violent response?"

"Shut up Keigo. I didn't do anything. She kicked me in the groin on purpose and was about to apologize before you butted in." Ichigo said.

"No I wasn't. You started it first. And I was aiming for your stomach. Who asked you to get up?" She challenged.

"For the record, midget, you did. So you should be apologizing for nearly castrating me."

Rukia remembered all too clearly, but she wasn't going to give in. "No way, you just said you were fine, and now you're claiming the damage was almost permanent." They both glared at each other in silence.

Sadly, Keigo had the misfortune of not being able to keep his trap shut, so he said, "Does this mean you both were having some fun before Ichigo became too violent?" He grinned at them suggestively.

They both looked at him bemusedly, before understanding dawned on both their faces at Keigo's insinuation. Rukia blushed while Ichigo's expression changed to one of rage and he backhanded Keigo on the face, sending him flying away. "What the hell Keigo! Die, and take your perverted thoughts with you!" Mizuiro shook his head at Keigo's stupidity while Michiru sighed as they both watched the scene unfold. It was just another typical day in high school for this group of friends.


Present

Thursday 1500hrs

Ukitake was sitting in his office. He was staring at the email he'd received from the from another kids charity organization on the money they pledged to send over. There was still so much to do; allocation of resources, overseeing operations, calling of volunteers etc. but his mind just wasn't into it. He'd entered his office today to find out that the next shipment of toy donations would only arrive a day before children's day. There was no way they would be able to send them to the Tohoku region in time.

He sighed, wondering how Ichigo-san was doing. He never did catch his family name. He hoped Ichigo-san had made more progress than the police did, although he did admit chances were slim. Yet, there was something about Ichigo-san that seemed different from almost everyone he met. He exuded a calm and composed demeanor, but there was a certain gracefulness in him movements that exhibited a strong, confident person. Although, he certainly didn't look the part.

There were also his words. "Trust me," he had said. Ukitake liked to think of himself as being a good judge of character, even though he reserved judgments on total strangers. Yet Ichigo's tone when he had said those words simply screamed at Ukitake to put his trust on a man he had only met for half an hour. Somehow, his gut told him that Ichigo would do his best, even if he didn't succeed. Feeling slightly more at ease, Ukitake returned his focus to his computer.

Moments later, his concentration got interrupted again as his phone rang. Not bothering to check his caller-id, he answered it. "Hello?"

"Hi, is this Ukitake-san? How far is your office from the warehouse?" Came a familiar voice, but Ukitake couldn't place it.

"What are you talking about? Who is this?"

"Oh sorry, this is Ichigo. How far is your office from the warehouse?"

Ukitake was surprised to hear from Ichigo so quickly. 'Why does he want to know my office location? What has that got to do with the toys?' Ukitake thought. Could it be? He didn't want to get his hopes up yet. "Hello? Ukitake-san, are you there?" Came the disembodied voice from his phone.

"Oh, uh… around…" He did a quick mental calculation. "Three kilometers. Why?" He heard the sound of a loud horn through the phone, but he disregarded it.

"Come over to the warehouse now, I found something interesting. Oh and call the police too."

Ukitake's interest was piqued. Did Ichigo find something the police had missed? "Sure, but what did you find? Can you tell me first?"

"Sorry, I'm driving right now, and I don't want someone to die just yet. Just come down. I personally guarantee that you wouldn't be disappointed. Need to go. Bye!" A prolonged horn that had sounded was cut off as Ichigo ended the call. Ukitake stared at the phone in shock. Who was going to die? He was slightly unnerved, but Ukitake retrieved his coat and left the office in a hurry.

He arrived the same time a police car was turning into the warehouse area. As promised, Ukitake referred to Ichigo's instructions as an anonymous tip-off. It seemed that the Tokyo police department decided that his tip-off did not warrant a full squad of police cars. The first thing he noticed was that the place was deserted, which was somewhat unusual as there could always be a few people found fishing since the warehouses were located near the sea.

The next thing he noticed was the white colored truck parked directly in front of the warehouse where the toys used to be stored. The container it was carrying was completely unmarked and it was park such that the front of the truck was almost kissing the warehouse door. He identified himself as the person who made the call with the two police that had arrived. The third thing he noticed as they got closer was that someone was screaming, and it was coming in the direction of the truck. It was an understatement to say that Ukitake got the shock of his life once he found the source of the scream.

He found a man tied to the bonnet of the truck. The fronts of his pants were wet and the top of his shirt was stained with blood. The man was mumbling incoherently and he had an abject look of pure horror on his face. He stunk of defecation and vomit, and the strangest part was, he had two antlers glued to his hair and his nose was painted red. Upon catching sight of the man, the two policemen who were on the scene radioed for back-up and an ambulance before they started to clear the immediate area, leaving the man tied to the bonnet in case they aggravated any injury he might have suffered by cutting him loose.

Ukitake turned away, horrified at the sight. He had a fleeting suspicion over the person responsible for this act; a suspicion only confirmed awhile later when they finally opened the container.


1508 hrs

Ichigo could feel pain lacing just below his right lung every step or breath he took. He was pissed, pissed at himself for not being careful enough. Finding out Dorudoni's identity had been simple enough. He had called Urahara and asked him to relay a message to his contacts, asking them to keep their ears open for anyone who was looking to sell a large shipment of toys. If anyone knew anything, Urahara was supposed to put Ichigo down as an interested party. Urahara had shady contacts, but they, like Urahara, were honest, even if they weren't always selling legal stuff. The reply was immediate, which allowed Ichigo to find Dorudoni so quickly.

Against his better judgment, he had opted for a direct assault on Dorudoni once he confirmed it was him who had stolen the toys. Sure enough, it was the wrong choice, as he had gotten shot after staying in the open for too long. Just as well though; Ichigo was just about to rush at Dorudoni when he got a gun pointed at him. He could have easily gotten hit in the head if he had gotten any closer and it would've been bye-bye Ichigo.

Thankfully, he had gotten hit in his chest, which would have been fatal had he not been wearing the Kevlar vest he'd gotten from Urahara. Who knows when a lucky shot could hit him on any other part of his body? Sure, unless he had gotten hit in the head, he would've survived, but bullet wounds were hard to explain. He couldn't just prance into a hospital or clinic and get treatment without receiving a barrage of questions. The shot had still hurt like hell though. Ichigo made a mental note to go get the hit checked on to confirm his lung wasn't bruised, right after he'd returned the items to Urahara.

Ichigo was glad that he had kept his sanity in check after getting shot and the presence of mind when he had felled Dorudoni. His vision had gone red and he had to exercise all his self control to stop himself from simply killing Dorudoni. The leaded gloves were really useful though. True, they made him slightly slower, but it was no trouble against an inexperienced person.

He drew a deep breath, ignoring the pain that once again pressed against his chest. He would've hailed a cab, but the warehouse was a half hour walk away from his house and he needed to clear his head. Doing a quick calculation, he estimated that Ukitake-san would probably have discovered Dorudoni. The truck was registered to him and finding the toys in his possession would be damning enough despite what Ichigo had done to him. Whatever the case, Ukitake would eventually be calling him.

That being said, Ichigo turned off his phone and took out his battery. It was a disposable phone, not one of the new smart phones, since Ichigo realized he had no need for the special features. He wanted to remain under the radar and untraceable, and he had read on some website that it was possible to track people even if their phones were off. He wasn't taking that chance. He only turned on his phone whenever he needed it. He could contact Ukitake later.

After returning the suit, Ichigo headed back home. He kept the Kevlar though; he didn't want Urahara to see the bullet hole and start berating him about not being careful. Besides, he could use it in future.

He peeled off his shirt as he stood in front of the mirror and grimaced. The blow had already caused a deep purple welt to form which he found strange. The shot should only have caused minor bruising upon hitting the Kevlar vest, not an injury, fatal or not. Ichigo could only assume that Dorudoni had used armor piercing bullets. "Since when did pistols have AP bullets?" He wondered out loud.

He sighed. 'Looks like I can't put off a visit to Unohana-sensei' he thought. Doctor Unohana Retsu was the person Ichigo usually went to for treatment. She had her own private practice and was able to handle treatments short of surgery. Best of all, she never asked too many questions, so Ichigo didn't have to worry about her having to report any bullet wounds he suffered. He made a call to her office. Thankfully, she was in. After stopping for a change of clothes, he picked up his car keys. She was located in Yokohoma in the neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture. He would have to drive this time.


1900 hrs

After his check-up, Ichigo found himself wandering Yokohoma. He was feeling quite relieved when Unohana had told him his injury was just some bad bruising and he had suffered no internal injuries. After that, he had returned a call to Ukitake who had been ecstatic at how quickly Ichigo had managed to retrieve the toys.

"… He kept screaming incoherently even as the police led him away. The only sentences I managed to make out were 'I'm not Rudolph!' and 'I'll sorry Santa. I'll be good this year, I promise.' What in the world did you do to him?"

Ichigo couldn't help but smirk. "Trade secret," was all he said.

Ukitake laughed. "You know, after seeing what you did to him, I was almost inclined to feel sorry for him. Until I saw the toys in the truck container. Then all sympathy went out the window. Though I'm quite… shocked at your methods, I must say, Ichigo-san, Shunsui wasn't kidding when he said you were reliable."

"It's what I do, Ukitake-san, and I'm proud of it. Anyway, you didn't mention me to the police did you?"

At this, Ukitake laughed. "No, no I didn't. They were scratching their heads at your antics though. Which reminds me, how and when do you want me to foot the rest of your payment?"

"I'm out of Tokyo at the moment so let's make it tomorrow, same time and place where we met. Oh and cash please, I don't want to leave a money trail where people can track. I accept gold as well, but I'm fine with cash."

Ukitake agreed and Ichigo hung up after saying goodbye. He adjusted the cap that he was wearing to cover as much of his hair as he could. It was a black cap that had the Manchester United crest on it. Ichigo would have bought the red one, but it clashed horribly with his hair. He was aiming to divert attention, not attract it. He wasn't a diehard football fan, but he enjoyed watching the occasional game, enough to pass off as one if the need ever arose.

He considered visiting the Isezakicho district, which was a short walk away. There was a well known bookstore there and Ichigo was hoping to find Othello, one of Shakespeare's books which despite its popularity, Ichigo just could not get his hands on.

A hand moved absentmindedly to the swelling on his chest. Once again, he cursed himself for his own carelessness. In that short moment of distraction, as he rounded a bend, he nearly collided into another man.

"Oh, I'm sorry," they both looked at each other and said at the same time. Ichigo turned back round, not noticing that the man was still staring after him.

"Ichigo?" Ichigo froze at the sound of his name. He turned round and saw the man staring at him. No, wait. It couldn't be. Yet there was no mistaking the spiky hair, which was graying slightly, the facial hair and the grim expression he'd seen ten years ago on that fateful day.

"Dad?"


Yup. Wasn't very happy with the first part but I thought it was necessary, since the 'past' part has a flow in it as well. Was slightly lost on the dialogue part too. If you didn't like how I ended the 'past' part, the feeling's mutual. Didn't really know how to end that. Definitely not my best chapter. So I shall update again tomorrow. Some extra stuff:

The places I mention all exist. Also, the bookstore I mentioned near the end is called the Yurindo Bookstore. What they actually offer though, I have no idea.

I don't think I need to mention what the Valentine's Day terms mean. If you've been around FF longer than I have, you should know what they mean:) But what does happen if a girl gives honmei-choko to some guy who doesn't like her? Anyone can enlighten me on that?

Like I said, I don't plan on this being the usual kind of IchiRuki story. For one thing, it will not go overboard with the romance. I write ahead, so if its not up to your liking, wait for the next update BEFORE attacking my story for being too boring/cliche/lousy.

Tell me what you think by Reviewing please, and if you want to criticize my story, please don't turn it into a flame. Thanks a lot!