Loss

Ichigo woke late. 8:00, or at least that's what his clock said. Rukia was apparently ready to leave – he woke as she dropped one of his text books onto his back. He woke very suddenly

He glowered at her angrily over his pillow. He'd been having a pleasant dream, of what though he didn't remember. All he could remember was the fall of autumn leaves all around… Only he had the strangest feeling it hadn't been the text book which had ended it.

"I'd get a move on if I were you – You're going to be late as it is."

Rather than complaining directly, Ichigo's morning greeting was this: "It's freaky having you around – living in the bloody cupboard… How no-one's noticed you after all this time I'll never understand."

"Skill." She said, and jumping lightly out his window.

Ichigo frowned. There had to be more to it than that – somebody must have, noticed a girl hopping out of his two story window every morning, surely? How about the makeshift bed, mattress included, in his cupboard. Or the conversations with himself? Or the yelling matches, even with Kon? He sometimes thought Karin might know something, but the other two? If they really had never noticed anything, he only had one word to sum them up: Dimwits.

He got dressed for school, and then glancing at his clock again, groaned. He wished he could go to spirit form and shunpo to school. He'd be there in a second, and then he could eat first… But he'd have to carry his body and people saw a lifeless Ichigo enough. If they saw one flying the air on the other hand, they might decide something else was up. Either that or they'd go to see the shrink.

Ichigo made it out the door five minutes later, and ran as quickly as he could towards the school. He wanted to be there on time today for once.

Life had other plans. He hit a corner, stopped for a second and then realised that the throbbing on his chest wasn't a heart attack. His substitute Shinigami badge was pulsing, which could only mean one thing. Not gonna make it, not gonna make it, sung the voice in his head, sniggering. Shut up, he replied.

A damn Hollow had turned up before he could even get to school… He looked at his school bag, and was faced with a choice between sending Kon to school, or whacking himself with his badge. It wasn't much of a choice. He whacked himself with his badge. He left his body and turned to see it fall down onto its face. He grimaced. He supposed he probably should do that lying down, he'd nearly broken his body's nose a couple of times now. Kon must have worked out what was going on, because he was screaming at Ichigo to let him take the body, as Ichigo sped away towards the Hollow.

The Hollow turned out to be b grade, no make that c grade, at best and Ichigo wondered why he'd even bothered to come take it out. It felt like a two year old with an ounce of reiatsu could have knocked the thing through a brick wall it was so weak. It was like a spinegaunt to a Hive Tyrant. It steps on it, keeps on going and doesn't even notice. And yet, a year ago, he didn't know that Hollows even existed, and that pathetic little thing he'd just fought could probably have wiped the floor with him. In fact, it was rather like the one he'd had such difficulty dispatching with the Bwuhahaha man. This was, in Ichigo's opinion a good reason to attempt to forget the whole thing.

In less than a minute he'd sent it on its way, splitting its white mask in half, and dispersing it into a black cloud of dust which drifted away in a slight breeze. Fertiliser. Well, not really, but it was a nice thought.

As Ichigo returned to his fallen body, and school gear, which were remarkable un-noticed, or at least remarkably well ignored by passers by,(It was an old-folks district. Old folk tend to reminisce over the good old days when everyone was thoughtful and helpful, while at the same time being less friendly and helpful than the average teen, and no doubt providing inspiration for many young folk to be less thoughtful and helpful. This is what Ichigo was thinking. Unbeknownst to Ichigo, however, several people had stopped briefly to help but then had made a wide de-tour around upon hearing a string of curses emitting form the bag lying at the side of the orange haired boy, and passers by had thus naturally assumed he was faking it) and set off towards school again. He paused, and as he had gotten into the habit of doing recently, he reached into his back pocket and felt… nothing? He delved somewhat deeper and then he realised – It was gone. His ribbon – Senna's ribbon – His memory of somebody – had vanished.

He stopped momentarily and thought of Senna – his memories of her were just as clear as they had been before he'd realised his loss, and he suppressed a sigh of relief. He'd been hanging onto it as if it had returned his memories, but perhaps the ribbon had just triggered them… That would be the most logical explanation, but what was logical to a guy who could jump tall buildings and shunpo at sonic speeds – and fight in a similar fashion – to someone who's Bankai had been so fast that the first time he'd used it he'd broken all the bones in his body? Illogical was second nature to him…

Ichigo pulled himself together, promising himself that he'd look for the ribbon at home, and trying to convince himself that Karin had just used it on Kon's tail. His attempt failed. Kon was here, and without a ribbon. It was at home. It must be.

Or at the Ferris wheel? He shook his head and tried to forget about it. School was more important now, and afterall, a ribbon was just a ribbon. Almost worth nothing – he could just go buy another if he really wanted to. But he knew that it wouldn't be carried to him upon a wind sown with autumn leaves… He walked onwards.