Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. The only part of this story I own is the story and the Takashi family.

I know, I havn't been sarcastic lately. I don't know why. I've been really calm. I've had so much going on. I'll update as soon as possible. I'm using a public computer to upload the stories, and that's why it's been so slow. I've got a lot of stories up now. Most of them are incomplete. Yep. I don't know how to finish one thing before starting another. Hope you like this chapter.

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Everyone was looking at Ichigo expectantly. Ichigo noticed that two people were missing and asked, "Where's Karin and Yuzu?" They weren't there and Kaze said they'd all be spending the day together. That made no sense at all.

Nami smiled and said, "Oh! Takuto took them to school to get their assignments. He went to get yours too."

That scared Ichigo. How long were they planning to keep him out of school. He needed to talk to Rukia. Speaking of the midget, right after Nami finished her sentence, Ichigo's phone vibrated. He took it out and looked at the caller ID. It was Rukia. He flipped it open and said, "Hello?"

"Where the hell are you, Ichigo?" Rukia asked. She didn't sound happy.

Ichigo hesitated for a moment and said, "Uh...some family showed up a little early. They're having me skip school today."

He heard her confusion when she asked, "I thought they weren't coming until later."

"I didn't know either. They just kinda showed up." At least he wasn't lying. She always managed to find out and made him pay for it.

"But I've got to give you some stuff from Yamamoto!" she screamed. He flinched and saw two sly smiles spread across his aunt and uncle's faces. That made him blush slightly.

He thought about it for a minute then realized he had no idea what she was talking about. "Wait. What stuff?" he said, turning from flustered to serious in a flash.

He could feel her smirk even though they were talking across a distance. "You'll have to wait to find out."

"Dammit, Rukia!" he snapped, but she had already hung up.

"You're girlfriend, Ichigo?" Yuko asked with a tone of voice he didn't like. He glared at her and said, "Hell no!" That just made everybody laugh.

Ichigo tried to walk away, but instead of Kaze grabbing his collar, it was Hiroshi. He was smiling and seemed to be having as much fun as everyone else. Ichigo started to feel panicky. Last time he had seen someone smile like that, they had almost killed him. Ichigo yanked out of Hiroshi's grip a little too frantically and stumbled back a few steps. He knew they could tell something wasn't right with him and immediately ran up to him to see what was wrong. Feeling suffocated, he held up his hand to tell them to stop where they were and said, "I'm fine. I just need to go for a walk." When they tried to follow him he said, "Alone." His phone vibrated again and he answered it, snapping, "Hello?"

"Ichigo?" a voice asked. It was Tatsuki.

Calming down a little, Ichigo replied, "Hey. What's up?"

"They're back, Ichigo," she said simply.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Tatsuki?" he asked, getting annoyed and worried all over again.

Seeming very aggravated, Tatsuki urged, "Think back to the one time you were terrified most. The time you honestly thought you were going to die. Dammit Ichigo, it's not that difficult!"

Ichigo knew what she was talking about when she told him to remember the one time he thought he'd lose his life. "Where are they?" he asked gravely.

"Why? Are you planning to go after them? If you do that, Ichigo, I will kill you myself!" she promised.

He closed his eyes and said, "I'm not stupid. Where are they?"

She hesitated for a moment, then said, "At the park. So avoid the damn park, Ichigo!"

He smiled lightly and said, "Sure. See ya." and hung up the phone.

Ichigo looked at his family and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

Hiroshi looked at him with more intensity than he thought possible and said, "Why was your friend yelling, Ichigo?"

Ichigo hesitated for a moment and realized that he had no excuse. So he just said, "She's just loud. I'm going now. See you guys later."

He started walking off and realized with relief that they weren't following him. He continued walking until he reached the park. Even though he told Tatsuki that he'd avoid the park, he couldn't resist. He had to find out if they'd changed and if they'd threatened Tatsuki. He walked into the park with little to stop him and followed the winding path to the central fountain. There, he saw a dozen figures staring at the water and talking and smiling and laughing. Even though, it only lasted for a minute, he began to remember the last time that he saw them.

~Flashback~

Ichigo was slammed into a tree by someone much bigger than him. He winced as he felt the back of his head. It was wet and sticky and he knew it was his blood. He looked at his attacker. He was huge. Maybe sixteen or seventeen. He and his friends had been torchering Ichigo since he was seven. He was nine now and had no mother to protect him and hold his hand.

"What did you say to me, brat?" the young man growled. His name was Alex. He was feared by everyone at his school. He managed to pass off as a good student in school, but when he was outside of school, he was a menace. He didn't know any other emothion than hate and anger. No remorse, sadness, or joy.

"I didn't do anything!" little Ichigo cried, trying to back away from him, but the tree was blocking his route of escape.

Alex smiled at him, and being a little child, it looked genuine enough to Ichigo, and when Alex bent down to his level and held out his hand, Ichigo thought it was to help him up. When Ichigo grabbed his hand, Alex's smile turned evil and he jerked him up and started the beating all over again. Alex was careful to plant the blows to parts of Ichigo's body that could not be seen without some effort.

After thirty minutes of this, Alex decided that he'd caused enough damage for one day and dropped Ichigo on the ground. He stood up and turned away.

Ichigo looked at him crying for a minute until Alex looked back at him. But it was a blank look; no hatred or anger in it at all. Then he said, "I'll see you again, brat. I hope you'll be prepared." Then he walked out of the park and left Ichigo by himself, crying in the freezing rain. Blood spilling from his more serious wounds and his broken bones throbbing. If someone didn't come soon, Ichigo believed he'd die. But when help would get there, they'd never suspect it was a beating. They'd say he fell down a hill. They'd never know what really happened.

~End Flashback~

He continued walking past them and went to the other side of the path. He didn't bother looking at them again. If he did, it might lead to more trouble. It didn't surprise him when they looked at him as he was walking to the other path that went through the other half of the park.

"Hey Alex. It's the orange haired kid," a guy with bleached blond hair said. His name was Kashi. Ichigo clenched his eyes shut and continued walking, still remembering their last encounter. The one only Tatsuki knew about.

Alex looked from the fountain over to Ichigo. His long, brown hair had grown out and his eyes, with were a strange shade of grey hadn't changed much. There was something different, but Ichigo didn't bother looking to find out what it was.

"Brat?" Alex called softly.

Ichigo didn't even stop to acknowledge that he knew that Alex had called out to him. He wouldn't respond to being called brat. And apparently Alex guessed that after a moment.

"Ichigo."

Now Ichigo stopped. He'd never even known that Alex knew his real name. "What," Ichigo answered in a toneless voice. He heard the entire group let out surprised gasps. He heard someone begin walking toward him and turned around, with a serious expression on his face. He saw Alex walking toward him. However, he didn't seem to have any malicious intent, but he could be mistaken. It had happened before.

"What..." Alex trailed off. For once, he had nothing to say.

"Surprised to see me?" Ichigo smirked. Alex's eyes widened. "Did you think I'd give up just because I was abused as a kid?"

"What happened to you?" Alex asked softly.

Ichigo chuckled and said, "Nothing much. I'm just going through stuff right now. Why? Expect me to be afraid of you?"

Alex took a step back. "I-I'm sorry..." he stammered. He looked honestly sorry. That's what had changed in his eyes. There was no anger or hatred.

"I believe you. I know why you hurt me so much back then too. You're parents were sick. You saw me having a happy childhood and wanted to show me that it couldn't go on like that forever. The last time I saw you, your parents had died. You knew my mom was dead, too. That's why you said what you did. You were telling me to be prepared for your apology." Ichigo explained.

Alex looked at the ground and said, "Now you know what it's like to lose someone. Now you know what I had to go through."

Ichigo's expression turned into his normal scowl as he said, "I've got to deal with others who have lost loved ones too. It's my job." Alex looked up at him in surprise at this and was obviously confused.

"You have a job? What do you do for these people?"

Ichigo smiled and said, "You'll find out when you die. I'll make sure I'm there to do my job." Then, he felt his badge vibrate.

Alex and his group noticed the sound and Alex asked, "What was that?" This time it was Ichigo's turn to look surprised. Only people with high levels of reiatsu could see or hear his badge.

"Uh...work," Ichigo said as he took out his badge, hiding as much of it as he could with his hand. The little screen on the front said 'Aizen' and Ichigo grimaced. He didn't want to deal with him. Then right when he was about to get ready to fight, it changed and said 'Ichimaru'.

"What the hell..." Ichigo wondered aloud, temporarily forgetting about Alex and his group.

"Ichigo!" he heard a voice call out. It wasn't the voice he expected. This one was female.

"Rukia?" he guessed and turned around to see a short girl with black hair coming toward him.

When she reached him she looked at Alex and got in a defensive stance and said, "Tatsuki told me you'd do something stupid."

"What the hell is she talking about, Brat?" Alex asked, genuinely confused.

Ichigo looked back at him for a moment and said, "Nothing. Just ignore her," then added, "I wish I could," under his breath. Thankfully, she didn't hear that part.

She shook her head and said, "There's some big guy with Yuzu and Karin! He's huge! Not as tall as you, but still!" She was obviously talking about Takuto.

He walked over and stood about half a foot away from her. He looked down at her and saw that she had to look straight up to see him. He laughed, "Everyone's a giant compared to you."

"I'm serious! I've never seen him before!" she snapped.

Ichigo sighed and said, "That's just my pain-in-the-ass of a cousin, Takuto. He's getting our assignments. I'm not allowed to go to school today."

She looked at him skeptically and said, "That's stupid."

Raising an eyebrow, Ichigo said, "You think I don't know this?"

He turned back to Alex and said, "Well, I guess this means I have to go. See ya." When Alex said his good-bye, Ichigo and Rukia turned and walked to the park's exit. There, they came face to face with the last people Ichigo wanted to see.

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A/N: Ha! Dont' know who it is, do you? Well, if you do...I don't know. My hands are frozen though. This was a very long chapter...Well, I hope that satisfies you for a while.