It was close to 10 pm by the time everyone left. Ichigo told his friends they were free to take some of his cake since he didn't eat sweets much, but he still saved some for himself. He was full and tired, and ready to crash for the night. He headed upstairs, but then someone tapped on his shoulder.

"Hey Ichigo, I got a question for you." It was his father.

"What is it?" Ichigo said tiredly.

"Tomorrow after school, could you help me clean my office? There's some old patient's records that I need to toss and the place needs some spot cleaning, mind giving me a hand?"

Ichigo would've loved to say no, but he couldn't. He was used to helping him out, this was no exception.

"Sure, I'll help." He yawned.

"Thanks son, I know you're tired, get some sleep," Isshin gave him a hard pat on the back, "Happy Birthday."

That hard pat made the teen lurch forwards and almost fall, and almost throw up the food he ate. He scowled at the older man who started to walk away, Ichigo rubbed his back to soothe out the pain.

Isshin stopped walking and stared out the window, he was frowning. He seemed to forget Ichigo was there, who noticed this. Was he seeing something?

"Hey, is there something wrong?" Ichigo said curiously.

"Nope, just my imagination." Isshin headed to his bedroom.

"Okay then."

Ichigo climbed up the stairs and went to his room. He remembered he still had the gloves from Uryu and the small box from Keigo in his pockets. He took them out and sat at his desk. The gloves he liked a lot. But he felt odd having two of them, maybe he could give one of them to someone? After all, the original glove was only a single set, which was what maybe felt off. He put them aside on his desk. Then he opened Keigo's, it contained 5 yen and a note;

Sorry Ichigo, my sister took all my money to buy her own stupid things and made me go get them for her. I swear, I wish I lived on my own. But this is all I can give, I hope it's enough. I'm sorry I get crazy and drive you nuts all the time, but you're a great friend and I wish you a Happy Birthday. - K

That was probably the most sincere letter Keigo had ever written. Ichigo knew underneath that hyperactive outer shell of his, he was a good guy. Which was the reason why Ichigo stuck with them all this time. He then looked at the charm he had found on the doorway with a language he couldn't understand. Someone must've meant to give it to him, the glittering white stone looked like a genuine rock and not factory made.

He heard a sudden sharp tap at his window, it made him flinch and break his thoughts. He quickly looked...it was Rukia.

"Rukia!" Ichigo got up from his seat and set the gifts down on his desk and looked at her. He couldn't hide the smile on his face, he was that happy to see her.

"Fool, can you not just stand there and let me in, please?" She demanded.

"Fine, fine, jeez. It's good to see you, too." He unlatched the lock and she jumped onto the bed and stood to face him, her jaw length hair blew from the breeze that came from outside and she patted her pants down. She was in her Soul Reaper form. She smiled at him.

"How are you? I heard it was your birthday and I do have something to give you later. But right now I need you to come with me."

"What? It can't wait?" Ichigo yawned, at this time he was supposed to be in bed.

"It's Captain Kurotsuchi and Ukitake's orders. We can't ignore it...there's some strange things going on and it might involve Hollows. We're going to a certain location to only observe and try to find anything out of the ordinary, are you awake enough?"

Ichigo sighed. Again something he wanted to refuse, but couldn't.

"Aright, but let's make it quick."

One quick grab of his Soul Reaper badge and he placed it on his chest, and they were off. They jumped into the air and it took them 10 minutes to get to the location. The flashing lights of police cars were impossible to miss. Radios were spitting static noises.

Ichigo tried to sense anything, but didn't.

"So what's been going on? You gonna let me in on it?" Ichigo rubbed his face, trying to keep his eyes focused.

"There's not much to share, that's why we're here." She stated.

She stopped and so did he. There were also ambulance vans and fire trucks, was there an accident?

"They said this is the location, let's take a look. But be warned..."

She turned to face him with a sad and serious expression.

"There's dead people over there… and there might be blood." She finished saying.

Ichigo felt all the tiredness leave his body, as soon as he heard the words "dead" and "blood."

Ichigo wanted to ask Rukia more questions in order to make more sense of what was happening, then he reminded himself that's why they were there, to understand and try to find any clues. He prepared for what he was about to see.

For the normal people surrounding them, they couldn't see them of course. Which made Ichigo see why it was easy to take a look around. There was yellow caution tape in their way and they both lifted it to get through.

Ichigo's eyes widened in horror and shock.

She was right...blood was everywhere. There were 4 people sprawled on the ground, dead and wide eyed. Two of them a man and a woman held kitchen knives in their hands, one of them had a crazy smile on her face and it remained implanted. It was obvious a massacre took place here. There were even bits of internal organs that had been cut out and splattered on the ground as well. Men held cameras and took pictures of their bodies.

"What the hell is this? What's going on, Rukia?" Ichigo asked, horrified.

She looked at him.

"This happened once before, but it was only 2 people that time. And that was less than a week ago. This may look like a typical murder case, but Kurotsuchi said they detected a Hollow's presence while these people went rampant. This is the same thing. The reason I brought you here is so you know about what's going on and what to look out for so you won't endanger yourself." She explained.

Ichigo smirked. "You're doing this because you're concerned for me? How generous."

She rolled her eyes, "Hey, I'm not the one who's concerned, it was Ukitake who wanted me to come, he's the one who's worried for you."

Ichigo may have been wrong and due to being sleepy, but he thought he saw some red on Rukia's cheeks. But it may have been his imagination.

"You think a Hollow's responsible?"

"It could be, the guys at Squad 12 are looking into it right now." Rukia looked over one of the bodies for herself.

"If that was the case, my Badge would've gone off when this has been happening." Ichigo just realized that.

"If it didn't go off and if there's a Hollow responsible, then we just have our work cut out. It might be something other than some normal Hollow."

They decided to take off, the sight of the scene was starting to make Ichigo feel uneasy. Rukia knew he was tired so they hurried back to his house.

After they got back to the bedroom Ichigo got back inside his body and immediately he was tired again. He almost crashed onto the bed but not before Rukia said something one final thing,

"Hey, I'll be back sometime. But here's my gift to you." She said cheerfully, she handed him an envelope.

"Thanks, I'll have to look at it tomorrow." He responded tiredly but happily, he set it on his desk.

"Goodnight." She left out the window.

Ichigo yawned.

It's crazy that I still want to sleep after seeing a gruesome scene earlier. Does that make me weird?

He turned off the light and finally got in bed, and he fell asleep as soon as he pulled the covers over himself.


Ichigo heard his father's voice calling him. "Hey! Sleeping beauty, wake up!"

Ichigo automatically jumped and sat up, the morning sunlight almost made him go blind and he held his fists up. He thought his dad or someone was going to attack him, then he just sat there dumb folded.

He looked at his door, his dad was in the way holding it.

"It's almost eight,you gonna get to school, or sleep in today?"

"It is?! CRAP!"

He jumped out of bed and started to take his shirt off. However, his dad was still watching.

Ichigo grabbed the door and pushed Isshin into the hallway and heard a loud bang after he closed the door.

"You're welcome for waking you up!" Isshin yelled sarcastically.

"I need my privacy to change, idiot."

After 12 pm…

"So, Ichigo. You were late this morning?" Mizuiro asked, taking a bite of his lunch.

"Yeah, I was really out of it. Must've been from last night." Ichigo replied drinking his water bottle.

"Sounds like someone partied a little too hard." Keigo snickered.

"But thanks for the gifts guys, I appreciate it." Ichigo said to them.

"No sweat about it." Chad said softly.

As Ichigo was eating, he overheard the guys talking, then they went on about what was discovered the previous night.

"I was getting ready today and I saw on the news there was some freakish murders that took place last night and they said that the murderer possibly turned on herself after killing the other ones."

"R-really? Maybe she did it out of guilt? Some killers can do that after they realize their mistake."

Ichigo pretended to keep eating and continued to listen, he still remembered what he saw last night. He remembered one of the dead victims being a woman, she had a frozen insane look on her face. He started to feel chills.

"Hey Ichigo, do you know what might've happened?" Keigo asked, dramatically waltzing towards him.

"Hell if I know." He muttered.

"Aw, birthday boy grumpy? Here, lemme give you a hug." Keigo perked his lips at him.

He leaned his body against Ichigo's back and started to tackle. Ichigo was getting really tired of people trying to jump on him, Orihime was an accident, but it was time to take some steam out.

Ichigo stood up and did it fast, he let his reflexes take over and grabbed his friend's collar and threw him on the ground on his back.

"Please don't touch me like that." Ichigo huffed.

"Come on, he was only teasing. You didn't have to be so hard on him." Mizuiro sighed.

"I'll say this guys," Ichigo patted off his pants, "It's best you stay out of it. It may have something do with Hollows and I don't want you to get hurt."

"Hollows?" The two friends said at once, surprised.

"Yeah, that's what Rukia said when me and her took a look around last night-"

He said too much.

My big mouth.

"What? You and Rukia went together to look there?" Said Mizuiro

"It's been awhile since we've seen her and she only comes to visit you? No fair!" Keigo whined.

"You sound disappointed, did you expect her to come see you? You're not her type." Muzuiro said.

Keigo turned into a stoned statue and moaned. An arrow with the word "harsh truth" had been stuck through his head.

"But yeah guys, let the Soul Society and me deal with it, I'm not even supposed to tell you this stuff, so don't say another word to anyone and stay out of trouble."

"We got it."


It was after school and time to head home, Ichigo remembered he had to help his dad as soon as he got home. He was still a bit groggy from the party he had, sometimes some hot tea would wake him up when it wasn't time for bed yet and he needed to get his homework done.

I should make some when I get there, and maybe before I help dad so I'm more alert.

Suddenly, someone had called his name...

"Ichiiiiigoooooooooo!"

Ichigo sighed. This again? Ichigo could hear whoever just called him, running footsteps coming towards him at a fast rate, he distinctively raised his arm...

"IT'S BEEN SO LON-ACK!"

He stopped it with his arm and he fell to the ground, moaning.

"Give me a break, Keigo! I'm sick of your-" He stopped.

This person wasn't Keigo. In fact, he didn't know who this guy was. He had dark brown spiky hair. He wore a dark blue shirt and jeans.

"Who the heck are you?" Ichigo said confused.

This man was out cold, drool was coming out his mouth and little swirls were circulating where his eyes should be, and his nose started bleed, his arms twitched.

"Oh crap. Hey! I'm sorry! Are you okay?" He said, concerned.

Ichigo set his bag down and took the man's wrist, feeling for any sign of a pulse. Positive. And he was still breathing. He smacked his face gently to try and wake him up, but he wouldn't.

"You can't be dead after that."

He needed some help. His house was still some ways to go and he just needed someone to look at him. Then he remembered Kisuke's shop, he could take him there and it was much closer. Then he thought about changing into his Soul Reaper form, but he scratched that idea, he would have to come back for his body if he did that and that would just be a pain.

"Looks like I'm hauling you there." Ichigo grunted.

He picked up the unconscious boy onto his back and went jogged there. A few minutes later, he was on Kisuke's doorstep, he knocked on it hard.

"Hey, Hat-and-Clogs! I need a hand!" Ichigo yelled.

The door opened. A tall man he recognized came out, it was Tessai.

"Kurosaki? What're you-?

"Questions later, help me with this guy." Ichigo directed his eyes on the passed out man on his shoulders.

"Who is he?" Asked Tessai.

"I don't know, he tried to jump me and I accidently sent him sleeping." Ichigo explained.

Tessai led him to the spare bedrooms, there was already some blankets in the one they went into, Ichigo gently laid down the man.

"What can I help you with?"

Kisuke came in, with his usual cheerful tone and smile, he looked at the passed out boy on the floor.

"New friend of yours, I take it?"

"Why would you think that? I've never met this weirdo and he tried to attack me." Ichigo glared.

"Oh? Like" kill you attack" or?"

"Forget it." Ichigo said irritably.

How long was this going to take? He was supposed to be home soon and help out his dad like he promised and he was sure he was going to be receiving a massive kick to the head if this guy didn't wake up now...

"Where am I?"

All three men looked, and sure enough he was waking up. The boy put one hand on his forehead and rubbed it. Then he opened his eyes all the way.

The color of his eyes took Ichigo off guard a bit, they were a bright lavender. They looked familiar to him, but he couldn't place where he had seen this man before. The man looked at him or rather, the kid did. Now that he could see, this kid looked to be about his age, maybe older.

"ICHIGO!" He smiled happily.

He opened his arms wide and latched himself onto him and it caused him and the boy to be forced onto a wall. Ichigo's eyes went wide from the unexpected hug, he was abnormally strong for a skinny guy! How could that be?

" It's been too long, dude! I've missed ya!" He said happily, and hugged him tighter, now Ichigo couldn't breathe.

"You...idiot...let go of me." Ichigo choked. His eyes where becoming white.

"Hm? Oh sorry!" The boy let go, worried.

Ichigo gasped for breath.

Tessai and Kisuke only watched, trying to understand what was going on. Kisuke made a nod to his assistant, signaling to him that they should leave the two alone.

"Ichigo, let us know if you need anything." Kisuke tipped his hat.

"What? You guys are gonna leave me alone with him?!" Ichigo said, flabbergasted and pointed that the kid.

They said nothing and closed the door. Ichigo was nervous, he was afraid this guy might accidentally kill him with his strength alone. The kid smiled widely, his light purple eyes shimmered with joy.

"It's good to see you again, it's been 7 years since I've last seen you." He chuckled.

"Hang on a second will you?! I've never seen you in my life, this has to be a mistake."

He looked confused and tilted his head.

"Realmente?" (Really?) He said.

Ichigo had no idea what he just said.

"Ah! Sorry! I forgot to speak normally, instead of Portuguese." He scratched his head.

"Who are you? And how do you know my name?" Ichigo was getting impatient.

He looked hurt. He bent his head down.

"You don't know? Do you not remember me...?" He looked at him again.

"Ichigo...it's me! Saisei!"

"Saisei...?" Ichigo tried to think, he tried to remember anyone with that name, but got nothing.

"Maybe it will help if I tell you this; I was with you when you and your family went to your mother's funeral after she died, do you remember that?"

Actually, he did. They were memories he never wanted to think of again because they were so painful at the time, but he remembered a child's face that looked like Saisei. He remembered holding hands with that child and hugging him.

"Give me another one." Ichigo told him.

"I was with you a few times with Tatsuki, she came to help fight some bullies for us and kick their asses while we were in middle school?"

Ichigo blinked. "Really?"

"Yeah, and we met when we were five."

Ichigo thought more. Yes. It was all coming to him. But he had to make sure and ask again.

"Shoot me one more."

"I know you can see the dead and ghosts and stuff, because I can too." His tone was firm.

Now he remembered everything. He met Saisei sometime after he met Tatsuki and they would have rounds with each other together with her at the dojo. He remembered Saisei wasn't much of a fighter even though he had unusual strength for a kid his age and didn't know how to utilize it at the time. They did so much together, motivated each other to get stronger, both of them were bullied for being different than some kids for their appearances. They were like brothers.

Ichigo smiled and made a light laugh.

"Saisei, it's good to see you too. I'm sorry for acting harsh to you, it's been so long and I must've forgotten somehow." Ichigo patted his shoulder.

Saisei's eyes gleamed. He put his fist on his eyes and started to sniffle.

"Are you crying?"

"No I'm not... but… okay maybe... but it's just that I'm happy you remember, and ever since I left you a lot of crap happened that I had to deal with and I'm trying to hold it in."

For a few moments Ichigo felt like he was looking at not an adult, but a child. He sort of remembered Saisei was the sensitive type. Despite his age now, he still has a big heart.

"I know this is stupid. I'm supposed to be a man and not cry like a baby." He sniffed up his nose.

"It's okay, Saisei. Let me tell you something though; I have a friend, who you could probably meet later, she told me that crying is just a way to show you're strong, not weak."

"Really? I feel better then. Thanks."

"Don't worry about it, everyone has to cry, I sure have in the past." Ichigo said assuredly.

For over an hour they stayed in that room, talking and pointing out things they remembered in the old days. Ichigo forgot his worries and listened to Saisei, who let out some anger and frustrations he had experienced over the years. Ichigo was starting to like it, he never felt so relaxed talking to a friend like this in forever. He was less tense and he never wanted to stop now. He remembered another thing, Saisei possessed some talent in making others feel safe and secure, as soon as you met him, it was like a spell that couldn't be broken.


Daawwww cute, eh? More to come and there's going to be some moar creepy things and ACTION finally, yes! For now this will be put on hold after I release new chaps of my other story, so stay tuned.