AN: I'm so sorry for this really late update! Please don't hate me! I was stressing over exams and then my friends and family wanted me to do a bunch of stuff with them so I couldn't finish and upload this chapter until today. Good thing is last week was my last week of school so I'm currently enjoying my summer vacation. So hopefully that means more time to write and update.

Umm warning - OOCness, swearing, possible violence, some random POV changing…and other stuff. c:

Hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter Four: The Flyers

The next few days after the party were relatively calm, with the occasional argument or brawl over trivial things. Like who's worthy of being an S-Class wizard, for instance.

Obviously the old top ranked members were going to definitely pass as S-Class wizards, plus Ichigo who already achieved S-Class rank previously. That made eleven total. That left the rest of the guild, though.

So in order to keep everyone from getting their panties in a twist, Ichigo declared all S-Rank missions to be off-limits until everyone had completed an S-Class wizard test. This decision was met by many complaints, but a few head butts from Nel shut most of them up.

Soon enough, it was the weekend. Ichigo was tempted to follow Starrk's example and laze around the entire Saturday, but a message from a certain Hat-and-Clogs trashed that idea.

It came in the form of a high-speed object rocketing through the open doors of the guild, splattering all over the wall next to the bar. It looked very much like some kind of b-rated horror movie, where the killer writes on the wall in blood or something.

The blood formed letters as it slid down the wall.

Dearest Kurosaki-kun,

A certain humble shopkeeper would very much appreciate it you decided to volunteer your time at his shop as a slave employee for today.

In the case you should you refuse, I will remind you of the outstanding debt of which you owe me from the many free meals both you and your dear brother have received.

Kisuke Urahara
A Very Humble Shopkeeper

Ichigo stared at the message, as did the rest of the guild. Yep. Definitely like a cheap horror movie. As he thought this, the words reformed to say:

P.S.
Anyone who thought this looked like a cheap horror movie scene obviously has a very bad sense of humor.

Ichigo's eye twitched as he glared at the words. If that shit stains the wall or floor, so help me, I will… Ichigo stopped as the words changed again.

P.P.S.
It stains.

Almost everyone in the guild swore.

"God damn Hat-and-Clogs. I'll kill the bastard one day, I swear it…" Ichigo muttered, pulling on a t-shirt and some jeans. He snatched a hoodie off the coat rack by his bed and yanked it on, then slipped on some sneakers. He completed the look with a couple bracelets and two necklaces.

On his way out he nabbed a baseball cap off his dresser and put it on, then yanked his hood up. This successfully covered his bright orange hair, and shadowed his face well enough that it would be hard to tell it was him. He really didn't want to get jumped by thugs because of his hair today. Ichigo was in enough of a pissy mood to send whoever decided to fuck with him to the hospital.

He strode out of his room as casually as he could, glancing around. He saw Nel bossing around Nnoitra and Grimmjow as they scrubbed the blood/paint stuff on the wall, Hallibel and the Tres Bestias beside them scrubbing too.

He approached Ulquiorra who was currently sitting and reading. He placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned down. "Tell the other I left for Urahara's. Make sure they behave, okay?" Ichigo murmured to him, and when he nodded he stood up and quickly left.

"Kurosaki-kun! Welcome!" Urahara said as Ichigo walked into the shop.

"Oh save it for someone who cares, damn Hat-and-Clogs." Ichigo grumbled.

Urahara unfolded his fan and held it front of his face, most likely hiding an extremely large grin. "My, my! Aren't we a little crabby this morning?" Urahara asked.

"Shut up." Ichigo growled, walking behind the counter. "What do you need me to do?" Ichigo asked, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I need you to stand outside and hand out flyers for our Beef-Bowl Special promotion. Eat twenty nine bowls of the extra-large beef bowl within forty five minutes, and it's free. But if you fail, you have to pay for all of it." Urahara said gleefully, snapping his fan shut.

"Who can eat twenty nine bowls of ramen?!" Ichigo asked incredulously.

"Exactly." Urahara said, handing Ichigo a stack of papers. "Just go and walk around town handing these out. When you're done, you can come back here and eat a free meal, then go home." Ichigo stared at Urahara suspiciously.

"That's it?" He asked.

"That's it."

"…Fine." Ichigo took the papers and turned around. But before he could leave, Urahara stopped him by saying, "Oi, Kurosaki-kun, don't you think it would be better to take off that hat and pull down your hoodie?" Ichigo groaned and leaned his head on the wall.

"Yeah…" He then pulled his hood and hat off, and tossed the hat to Urahara. "Keep it safe for me Hat-and-Clogs." And then Ichigo left.

"Urahara Shoten's ramen special! Today only! Eat twenty nine bowls in forty five minutes, and it's free!" Ichigo called out on the busy road, handing out flyers. It was going surprisingly well. Apparently a lot of people in this town had bottomless pits for stomachs, or believed they did.

"Hey carrot-top, gimme one of those." A deep voice said behind him. Ichigo turned around, a flyer ready and a scowl in place.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't call me that." Ichigo growled, handing the flyer to the scuzzy guy.

"I can call you whatever I want to call you dipshit. Especially with that bright-ass dyed orange hair color. You think you look cool or somethin'?" The guy asked, and Ichigo's eyes twitched.

Ignore it. Ignoreitignoreitignoreitignoreitignoreitignoreitig noreit. Ichigo dismissed his inner alarm bells and glared at the man.

"You trying to start something?" Ichigo asked in a low voice.

"The fuck you mean am I trying to start something? You're the one starting shit. And now you're glaring at me. Oh, I'm so scared." The guy said mockingly with a grin.

"You just think you're all that and a bag of fucking chips, don't you?" Ichigo asked.

"What the hell did you just say? I'm gonna kick your ass, you know?" The guy said, getting into a fighting stance that looked stupid as hell. It was one of those 'praying mantis' poses.

"Alright, fine. Maybe I can knock some sense into you." Ichigo set the papers down on nearby stacked crates, and rolled his shoulders.

Natsu was minding his own business, walking down the street, Lucy and Happy with him. They were tagging along with Lucy on her trip to the local magic shop so she could look at the new keys they were supposed to get in today.

"Mannn…" Natsu moaned. "I'm so hungry…"

"You just ate!" Lucy exclaimed.

"So?"

"…" Lucy sighed and shook her head. There was no point in arguing with Natsu on the subject of food.

"Hey, wonder what's going on up there." Happy asked, and Lucy stood on her tippy-toes to try and see what the flying cat was talking about. There was a small crowd gathering around some random thug and an orange-head teen that looked oddly familiar.

"Is that…Ichigo?" Lucy asked.

"Aye!" Happy said, and Lucy began to panic.

"What's he doing? What if he gets beat up or something by that thug?" Lucy asked worriedly.

"Uh, Lucy, wasn't he the guild master or something of that new guild?" Natsu asked, stretching.

"Oh yeah! But still, he's just a kid, Natsu! He's even younger than us!"

"So? If he's a guild master, he must be pretty powerful. I've been wanting to fight him myself, actually." Natsu said casually.

"I don't care! You have to go help him Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Fine, fine…" They quickened their pace and broke through the crowd, only to see Ichigo cracking his knuckles with a grin on his face. He then made the 'Come At Me Bro' gesture, dropping into a loose defensive stance.

The thug charged, his fist cocked. "Take this, little shitty carrot-top!"

Ichigo dropped down into a crouch to dodge then shot up, head butting the thug in the chin. The thug reached out and grabbed Ichigo's shoulders to keep from falling, and using this to his advantage, Ichigo kneed the guy in the crotch. The thug bent over, clutching himself, moaning. Ichigo then elbowed him in the back which made the thug jerk upwards. He then grabbed his head and kneed him in the chin, sending the thug flying to the ground. Ichigo walked up to the thug who was trying to stand, and lifted his leg high, before bringing his heel down on the thug's side hard, causing him to cry out in pain.

The fight was completely one-sided.

After kicking the thug, Ichigo frowned.

"See what happens when you fuck with people? You get your ass handed to you. If I ever see you starting shit again, I'm gonna really kick your ass." Ichigo threatened, turning to pick up the flyers he had set down. The thug picked himself up and limped away, throwing glances back at Ichigo until he was out of sight.

Ichigo sighed and looked around, spotting two people and a flying cat he thought looked familiar. They were staring in awe at him, eyes wide and mouths open. They kinda looked like the Fairy Tail members that had attended the party a few days ago. If only he could remember their names…

"Oh. Uh…hey." Ichigo greeted. He scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "What's up?"

They looked at for a few more seconds before huddling together and whispering to each other. Ichigo sighed.

Here we go…

Lucy glanced at Natsu. After recovering from the shock of seeing who they thought to be a calm, kind, and polite person (based upon their impressions from meeting him at the party) beat the shit out of someone with ease, they huddled together and began to whisper. The thug hadn't even stood a chance. Watching the fight was like watching Plu attempt to fight a dragon.

"D-did you see that?" Happy asked nervously.

"Yeah…he was really strong after all!" Natsu said excitedly.

"Idiot! Is fighting all you ever think about?!" Lucy asked for the millionth time.

"…No. I think about eating too." Natsu replied, grinning.

He's an idiot. Lucy thought, sweat-dropping. She then heard someone cough right behind them. All three of them whirled around and faced the person, who turned out to be Ichigo.

"Oh! Uh…hi, Ichigo!" Lucy greeted nervously. "Remember me? I'm Lucy, we met the other day at your party!"

"Yeah." Ichigo reached down to her, "Let me help you up." Lucy hesitantly took his hand. "So what're you guys doing here?" Ichigo asked after helping Lucy stand from her crouch. Natsu stood as well, while Happy sat on his shoulder.

"Well, we were on our way to go check out the gate keys the local magic shop was supposed to get today. But then we saw you in trouble and were about to help…but you know…you didn't really need any…" Lucy trailed off scratching the back of her head.

"Oh man, I really want to fight you now!" Natsu remarked, eyeing him gleefully.

"Yeah…maybe some other time, uh…what was your name?" Ichigo asked.

"My name is Natsu, and this is Happy!" Natsu said with a grin.

"Natsu. Maybe we could fight another time, yeah? I don't really have the time to fight you right now…" Ichigo gestured to the flyers in his hand.

"What are those?" Lucy asked, pointing at them.

"Does that say Urahara Shoten?" Happy asked.

"Uh, these are flyers for a special promotion Hat-and-Clogs is doing. Here." Ichigo handed each of them one and Natsu's eyes widened.

"Oh man! Look at this Happy! Free food!" Natsu turned to Lucy. "Can we go, can we go? Please?"

"Sure. But I'm not helping you pay for the ramen if you can't eat it all…" Lucy muttered, but then thought over her statement. "Oh, who am I kidding? Of course you'll be able to finish all the ramen."

"Well, I have to hand the rest of these out, but I'll probably see you in a bit." Ichigo said, turning and walking off with a wave.

"See ya!" Lucy called after him, watching him leave. After Ichigo was out of sight, she turned to Natsu. "Hey, you go ahead to Urahara Shoten, okay? I'm going to go tell Master about this. He told us to tell him anything that happens with Hollow Moon, remember? He's been locked in his study for the majority of the past couple of days researching about the guild, with no luck."

"Hmm…okay. See ya Lucy." Natsu said, turning to leave.

"Bye, Lucy! We'll save you some fish!" Happy said.

But you're going to eat ramen…Lucy thought. "Okay, bye!" She then turned and headed back in the direction they had come from.

Handing out the rest of the flyers had been a breeze, since there was only ten or so left in the first place. Ichigo sighed, and turned to head back to Urahara Shoten. It would take a while considering he was on the other side of town from it. He was now in the same area Fairy Tail was in, and a sudden idea popped into his head.

Why not pop in and say hi, as well as introduce myself to everyone there? After all, he had only met six of them at the party. Surely there was a shit-ton more than that.

But he quickly scratched that idea when the sound of his stomach growling was heard. It sounded similar to a roaring lion, and he thought about it. When was the last time he had eaten?

…

…

…

…

Yesterday morning Ichigo believed he ate half a piece of toast.

The rest of the day he spent finishing up paperwork, dissolving a fight between Grimmjow and Nnoitra, getting Aaroniero to stop teasing Lilynette, and stopping Yammy from killing some random guild members that were trying to nurse his wounds from a recent request.

Damn it. He was fucking hungry.

So he used one his magic abilities, which he had learned from one of his old teachers Yoruichi called Flash Step. It allowed him to move incredibly fast in short bursts, so it looked somewhat like he was teleporting along a path. He'd be start one place, then disappear and reappear forty or so feet away, then disappear again and reappear forty or so feet away, and so on. It was fairly handy when he was in a hurry.

He reached Urahara Shoten within forty five seconds, no sweat. He had mastered that magic at age nine, so he was pretty good at it now.

He walked inside, but was almost immediately shoved back out by the mass of people inside. Using his height to his advantage, he saw inside was incredibly crowded. People had maybe two inches or so to move around in, but that was it.

It was also really loud, and it looked like people were cheering on someone. Ichigo tried his best to wiggle himself inside, with no luck. Getting rather irritated by his growling stomach and his lack of progress on his quest for food, Ichigo resigned himself to something he only did in absolute emergencies; he started plowing people over with no remorse.

He shoved, pulled, poked, and wiggled his way through the crowd, knocking more than a few people over and receiving more than a few curses and middle fingers stuck up at him. He reached the cash register somewhat intact. He had no idea what happened to his hoodie, and when it got taken off. At the moment though, he really didn't care. He jumped the counter, receiving a few yells of complaint from people.

"Oh stuff it. I work here." Ichigo yelled at them, but in the roar of the crowded shop, it sounded like he had whispered.

"Hat-and-Clogs! Where's my ramen?" Ichigo yelled, opening the door to the back hallway which led off to the kitchen, storage room, freezer, offices, bedrooms, and other rooms.

"You can have it later! Right now I want you to referee the current ramen contestants." Urahara said. He then walked Ichigo back through the door and pointed out the object of everyone's cheering – three people sitting at a table devouring ramen, several empty bowls already stacked up around them, with Ururu standing there with a stopwatch.

Ichigo jumped the counter once again and shoved his way through the hoard of people. "Hey Ururu, Hat-and-Clogs told me to referee this…but I don't see the reason to if you're here. You're pretty scary when you wanna be." Ichigo said, taking a spot next to her and staring at the three guys who were eating. He blinked and shook his head as he realized that it was actually three people and a cat. And one of the people was Natsu. And the cat was Happy.

He glanced at their piles of bowls, and felt his jaw drop. There were twenty six bowls in front of each, while the other two contenders only had eight. Yet they were still slurping down more ramen.

"Um, Kurosaki-san? They've only been at it for ten minutes, but they are already almost done. Will you watch them while I go and get more bowls of ramen?" Ururu asked timidly, handing him the stopwatch.

"Sure. Be careful." Ichigo called after her as she headed into the crowd.

He sighed and stared at Natsu. He was on his twenty seventh bowl now, but Happy was still working on his twenty sixth. How such a small cat could put away twenty six bowls of ramen was beyond him, so Ichigo simply wrote it off as the cat being jinxed with a bottomless pit for a stomach or something.

The other two were making progress; they were now on their tenth bowl. However they were starting to look a little green, so Ichigo got prepared to have to haul them to the bathrooms located in the back. Suddenly Ururu appeared next to him carrying six bowls of ramen.

She set them on the table, and Natsu pulled one towards him, Happy doing the same.

"That was fast." Ichigo noted, raising an eyebrow. Ururu pointed at the floor.

"I used a super-secret passage way." She said quietly.

"Ah."

"I'm done!" Natsu called to them, holding up his chopsticks in a victory pose. Ichigo glanced down at the stopwatch. Fifteen minutes. "Congratulations!" Ururu said, fist pumping shyly.

"I'm done too!" Happy yelled. He then laid down on the table and fell asleep.

"How did a cat beat us?" One of the other contestants asked. He then pushed away his bowl. "Screw it. I can't eat anymore."

"Me neither." The other said, pushing his bowl away as well.

"Well, that'll be $66.00, mister." Ururu said, holding out her hands. The two men slapped the money into her hand then stood shakily, leaving without another word. The crowds had mostly quieted down, or as much as a crowd of people could, and began to leave, their entertainment over.

Ichigo walked over to where Natsu was sitting, a grin on his face. "Congrats. You have successfully ruined Hat-and-Clogs' plan to make extra money." Ichigo said with more glee than was probably necessary.

"Thanks." Natsu said, stretching. "I'm gonna go back to the guild now. Oi, wake up Happy! Lucy's waiting for us!" The cat grumbled something and rolled onto his other side. Natsu sighed and scooped up the cat and cradled it. "See ya Ichigo!"

"Yeah, see you." Ichigo waved, watching the pink-haired guy walk out of the shop.

"Kurosaki-kun~!" Urahara shouted just as Ichigo was about to sit down and order some ramen. Ichigo sighed and stood back up, heading to the back hall to see what he wanted.

"What do you want Hat-and-Clogs?" Ichigo asked, finding the man in his office. He raised an eyebrow at the communication lacrima crystal sitting on his desk.

"It's not me who wants something, but him." Ichigo glanced at the lacrima crystal and walked around the desk so he could see who he was talking about. It was Starrk, surprisingly.

"What are you doing up?" Ichigo asked bluntly. Starrk yawned and blinked wearily.

"Lilynette woke me up." Both Urahara and Ichigo paled at that thought. The child's methods were not conventional when it came to waking others. But then again, waking Starrk is impossible unless you use unconventional methods. "So Ichigo, you really need to – " There was a crash behind him, and a lot of yelling. Starrk turned his head to see what was going on, and after a few moments sighed. "Please come back to the guild. I'm afraid Barragan won't be able to hold down the fort for much longer."

"What happened to Ulquiorra?" Ichigo asked worriedly. Starrk scratched the back of his head and frowned.

"Well…that's the problem really. Nnoitra was picking a fight with Grimmjow, Nelliel tried to stop them, and then Yammy jumped in wanting to fight them. Ulquiorra went over and knocked the fuck out of Yammy, then started ranting some shit about trash and emotions. Grimmjow told him to shut the fuck up, which led to him getting the shit smacked out of him too. Szayel attempted to drag Yammy's body away to do god knows what with it, but Aaroniero jumped in and knocked him out. Zommari demanded that everyone stopped fighting, but everyone told him to shut up. Barragan got pissed and ordered his little posse to go and beat everyone senseless. Didn't work." There were some loud booming noises, and Starrk ducked as a chair flew past.

"What the fuck was that noise?" Ichigo asked.

"Uh…" Starrk glanced back once again and winced. "You don't want to know."

"Starrk…" Ichigo growled.

"Just hurry over here, okay?" He glanced back again, and threw his arms up in the air. "Really guys? Put that down! It's brand ne – " There was a loud crash. "Was brand new." He finished.

"I'll be there in a few seconds." Ichigo muttered, and disappeared. Urahara sighed.

"You know, I think he's gotten faster since the last time I saw his Flash Step Magic. I almost couldn't see him leaving." Urahara adjusted his hat and grinned.

"Yeah. He might be able to give that cat of yours a run for her money in a few years." Starrk agreed. The was a slamming noise, and Starrk looked back. "Oh, he's already here. I better go. Later." His image disappeared from the crystal.

"Poor Kurosaki-kun~ you just can't catch a break, can you?"

AN: Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed this long awaited chapter.

It's a little bit long (nine pages on Word) but I think you guys deserve it for the long wait. Once again, I'm so sorry! But my schedule is fucked up, so there's not much I can do about it.

Please review and tell me what you thought about this chapter and parts you liked/disliked. Also any errors or mistakes you find, please tell me and I'll try to correct them.

Pairings, friendships, enemies, plot ideas, and suggestions are welcome!

Also, I'm looking for two OCs to use in an upcoming chapter! Have one you'd like to see in this story? Let me know! However I can only accept two, so please don't be disappointed if yours is not picked…

Uh…I think that's about it! Until next time!

Ciao~

~ Luci-chan