"Hey Chad!" Ichigo waved to his friends with a happy smile. "Inoue!"

"Ichigo!" Orihime waved back as Chad simply nodded. Ichigo threaded his way through the tables, going to join his friends. They were at the local pizza joint and arcade, which was really a ton of fun. They normally wouldn't have been – the arcade could cost quite a bit of money – but there had been an essay contest in the newspaper. To everyone's surprise, Orihime had won it and as a consequence, she had a hundred tokens to the arcade. She was giving them each a portion, and in return they were buying her dinner.

And the pizza was really good. Ichigo settled into his chair and got to enjoy just being a normal teenager for a while. And it was even better without his hollow's nasty remarks or even just the sense that the bastard was eyeing Chad. Ichigo wasn't sure why he'd always felt that his hollow was interested in the other teen. Maybe it was because his powers were more hollow than anything.

Pushing aside any thoughts of his departed hollow, Ichigo examined the menu. The pizza here was very good and he quickly settled on his favorite, double pepperoni with olives. He was completely unaware of someone at another table noticing him.

"Hey Shiro, that guy looks like you." One of the novices, a young man named Nakao, said. They were all in street clothes and the four of them were visiting this place as a treat. It was Tataki's birthday and with the money his parents had sent him, he'd invited three of his friends out for supper. Shiro was mildly surprised that the other novice considered him a friend, but he had helped him with cleaning out the grease traps. That had been nasty and Shiro hadn't been ordered to do it, he'd just been feeling helpful.

"Oh yeah?" Shiro said, not really paying attention. He was giving his full attention to the menu, which was fascinating. He knew his King had always ordered the double pepperoni with olives. Of course, the hollow had never been able to taste it. He was tempted to order something else just to be contrary, but he was curious to see what Ichigo liked about that particular combination.

"He has bright orange hair!" That made Shiro's head snap around and his eyes narrowed into slits as he spotted his nemesis. He was tempted to go start something right away, but then his eyes slid carefully to the fourth person at the table.

Ken was not a novice. He was a stocky man with deeply tanned skin, black hair and hazel eyes. He was one of the youngest monks, and he'd just joined a year ago. Shiro had no idea why he'd committed to his vows but he thought there was an interesting story behind it, since Ken was an expert martial artist and also very good with knives. He gave the novices lessons in self-defence and they adored him, which was why he had been invited. But he posed a problem for Shiro's plans of revenge against Ichigo. If he moved against the teen Ken would be sure to intervene. He knew all about Shiro's abilities – they'd been sparring frequently – and he would not take any use of them lightly.

"Too bad for him. Must make him easy to spot at night." Shiro said with faked indifference, turning back to his menu. He had to wait until Ken wasn't around. Deciding to order Ichigo's favorite – he really did want to know why it was so good – Shiro surreptitiously monitored the small group. To his pleasure, he saw they were just getting their food. His former King would be around for a while.

"It's too bad Uryu couldn't come." Orihime said sadly and Ichigo nodded, his mouth full. "He works too hard sometimes."

"It's difficult, staying number one on the list." Chad said quietly and they both nodded. His position on the list of students was very important to Uryu, and he'd stayed home to work on a very large project. Of course, he'd made it far more difficult than it had to be, but that was why he was on the very top of the students.

"I would never want to do it, but it's really impressive. So what are you guys planning to do this summer?" Ichigo asked, changing the subject as he took a drink of his coke. He didn't like coke that much in general, but it went well with the pizza. "Dad wants us all to go camping at one of the national parks." They were all looking forward to that like a hole in the head. In fact, it looked like a revolt was brewing since Yuzu and Karin desperately wanted to go see Don Kanonji's special show instead. Normally Isshin would want that too, but they'd done that several years in a row and he'd suddenly decided his daughters needed more fresh air. Ichigo honestly wasn't sure which idea he liked least. The camping might be fun, but he could just imagine how his dad would act. Don Kanonji's show wasn't his thing but at least it would be over relatively quickly.

"I will be working more at the chip truck." Chad said, eating a bit of his pizza. It was a margherita pizza with nothing but tomato sauce, cheese and fresh basil. "I need to save for my apprenticeship." Chad had decided that he was going to go into the trades. Apparently, there was currently a lot of skilled tradesmen retiring and plenty of openings. Ichigo was seriously thinking of looking into that.

"My sister is taking me to Europe!" Orihime said, eliciting immediate envy from her two friends. "We're going to be backpacking across the continent for months before finally flying home! It'll be so much fun!" She clapped her hands and bounced a little, making both the boys smile. It was really extremely cute.

Over at Shiro's table, he was finding that he really liked Ichigo's double pepperoni and olive pizza. Vaguely annoying, but not really surprising. Nakao and Tataki were talking about cars, a subject that went completely over his head.

"Shiro, I was wondering. If I got a sweater, could you decorate it like yours?" Ken asked and Shiro reached up to unconsciously touch the hood of his sweater. He'd found some fabric paints and had carefully painted a pattern on the left side of it that mimicked an eye. It was very tribal and vaguely reminiscent of his old mask.

"Sure, if you want. Would you want the same pattern or something different?" He asked, still keeping an eye on Ichigo. They were finishing eating. Would they be leaving or going to the arcade? Shiro was pleased when they went to the arcade. It would be easier to catch Ichigo in there.

"Something different, I think. That suits you but I don't think it would work for me. What would you recommend?" Ken asked and Shiro blinked, giving the question his full attention for a moment. "I am rather fond of dragons."

"I could do something with that, easily." Shiro said, pleased. "A really long, serpent like one. Maybe I could have it curling over your shoulder?" He really liked that idea and Ken seemed very pleased at the thought.

"That would be wonderful. I'll get the sweater for you soon. Did you want to try the arcade machines?" The monk asked and Shiro nodded with a grin. He couldn't wait to try the arcade machines.

"Absolutely!" Ken got them all some tokens, probably as a small payment for the artwork. Shiro quickly took his and went into the arcade area, separating from Nakao and Tataki as he looked for his target. He did get briefly distracted for a moment as he spotted Chad. Of all of Ichigo's friends, Sado was the one his hollow liked best. The combination of his slightly hollow reiatsu and his quiet demeanour had a calming effect on Shiro.

But calm was not what he wanted at the moment and his eyes narrowed as he tried to find Ichigo. He finally located the teen on a racing simulator, where he was quickly failing against the machine. Shiro grinned and deliberately cocked his elbow.

"OW!" Ichigo was taken completely by surprise by the burst of pain. Turning around with a glare he froze as he saw the color white. His gaze travelled over white sneakers, white cargo pants, white hoodie, and finally settled on a horribly familiar smile. The hood was hiding the eyes but the tribal pattern on one side of it was familiar, and when the boy lifted his head Ichigo met his eyes. The black and gold, malicious stare made him feel like his world was falling away.

"Hello, partner. Long time no see." The words were followed by an evil grin. Ichigo knew he was gaping but he couldn't help it. He'd never expected to see his hollow again. "Why don't we pick up where we left off, hey?" Then there was a hand in the front of his shirt, pulling him out of the chair and the teen snapped out of his daze.

"How the hell? How are you human?" He demanded. Because his hollow was definitely human. Ichigo could just barely sense his hollow reiatsu, and it made him feel a bit like Chad. The hollow sneered.

"Oh, now you want to talk to me? Fuck you King!" The hand left his shirt, but only so the hollow could throw a punch. Ichigo blocked the blow and responded in kind, almost knocking the white haired boy into another kid. Vaguely, Ichigo noticed that his hollow still had long hair. It was caught with a black tie and was hanging down one side of his chest.

But there was no room for a proper fight inside the arcade and Shiro snarled to himself before making a quick break for the exit. He darted easily past a group of girls then grinned to himself as his 'King' nearly ran into them. There was a muttered apology as Ichigo went around them and Shiro stopped on the pavement outside the arcade, turning back and falling into a fighting stance. He was going to make Ichigo pay for the pain he'd caused him.

There were no words now, only blows, and Shiro grinned as he felt the bloodlust rising. He'd been keeping it under strict control lately, both because he had no one to vent it on and because his human body was so weak and fragile. But now he was embracing his hate and rage and letting everything out. He dodged a punch and kicked Ichigo in the stomach, laughing wildly at the whoof of air and the way the teen doubled over for just a moment. But Ichigo was every put as good as he was and Shiro's feet were swept out from under him. Snarling, the hollow rolled and bounced to his feet in time to block a blow with his forearm. Pain radiated from the hit and Shiro knew he was going to be hurting tomorrow but he didn't care –

Then, to both their surprise, Ichigo's fist was caught by a larger hand and Shiro yelped, folding over as he was kicked in the stomach. They hadn't been watching the bystanders and one of them had chosen to intervene, very effectively.

"SHIRO AKUMA KUROSAKI!" Shiro cringed, still hunched over, as Ken shoved Ichigo away and turned on him. A hand caught his ear and the hollow yelped as he was yanked forward, his hood falling back. "What do you think you are doing?! You are a disgrace!"

"Hey, why are you assuming I started it – OW!" Shiro winced as his ear was pulled roughly. That really hurt, but he didn't dare strike at Ken. He really enjoyed his life at the monastery and between the two of them, Ken and Ichigo could certainly kick his ass. Besides, he rather liked the martial arts instructor.

"Are you telling me you didn't?" Ken asked and Shiro wisely kept silent. "You are a horrible example to the other novices!" Ichigo was looking at them both in utter disbelief and Shiro snarled, giving him the finger. "SHIRO!"

"OW! STOP!" Shiro really, really wasn't enjoying this ear pulling thing. "I'm sorry, okay?" He was sorry Ken had caught him, so it wasn't a lie, technically.

"You should be! You will have to apologize to Tataki for ruining his birthday party, and explain your disgraceful conduct to Sajira-sama! Now come!" Ken let go of his ear to grab onto his arm, which was a change Shiro was in favour of. As he was pulled away, Shiro gave his former King a backwards glance full of hatred.

He was not going to forgive and he certainly wasn't going to forget.


"Kurosaki-kun, what was that…?" Inoue said timidly as all three of the teens watched the departing monk and his charge. They only knew he was a Buddhist monk because of the comment about the novices. Two other boys were quickly following, and Ichigo could only assume that they were his hollow's… friends.

"That was my inner hollow." He said, still cushioned by shock and disbelief. When he'd asked to get rid of his hollow, he'd never imagined it would be like this. "Shiro Akuma…" White demon. It did suit him. "Why is he using my last name?" That was irritating. There was a sigh in his mind.

He has every right to it. He is part of you. Zangetsu reminded him, making the teen scowl.

"That thing is not part of me." He muttered to the zanpakuto who sent him a feeling of disgust.

He isn't now. The grumpiness in that reply made Ichigo blink. Zangetsu really wasn't very happy with him and was acting surprisingly crabby about the whole thing.

"Your inner hollow is a novice at a Buddhist monastery?" Chad asked and Ichigo cringed a little at the thought. It was wrong on so many levels, he hardly had words to describe it.

"He seems to be." Was all he could come up with. "Forget about him. He's no real danger." Ichigo was certain of that. His inner hollow had attacked him with nothing but fists and ferocity. He was still a dangerous fighter, but if he was trapped in his human body, and Ichigo was willing to bet he was, the damage he could cause was limited. Inoue and Chad both looked dubious. "No real danger to you. I'll have to keep a watch for him." The look his hollow had given him when the monk dragged him away… he was sure he'd be seeing Shiro again someday. And Karakura town wasn't really that large. They were bound to run into each other eventually. "Let's get back to the arcade." He rubbed his chest. He had a few bruises, but they would be fine in time. Then he frowned. Would his hollow try to hurt him by harming his friends? But somehow, he didn't think so. He'd definitely had the opportunity to go after Chad or Orihime, and he'd gone straight for Ichigo. But the teen couldn't help but worry.

He remembered the threats his hollow had made.


"Ugh." Shiro mumbled as he cleaned off his hands, again.

The sun was hot and he was feeling uneasy at the crowds. Fortunately, the young mothers and children waiting in line for his attentions were all relatively well behaved. Unfortunately, that didn't save him from dribbling or upset babies. So far, he'd needed to clean the drool and snot off his hands five times, and the puke once. That had gotten his shirt, too, and it was slightly stained now.

As both a punishment and a community service, Shiro had been volunteered to work at the local fair. Apparently, it was a common punishment for young delinquents, and Sajira-sama thought it would suit him perfectly. So Shiro had spent the morning doing hard labour, helping set up some of the temporary merchants. Then he'd gone to work at the face painting stall. The abbot had specifically requested that spot for him, citing his artistic talent.

And it really was going well. He could make beautiful designs with nothing but his fingers, and his speed was second to none. As far as he could tell, all the parents were pleased. Shiro grabbed his bottle of water and took a quick drink before motioning the next group over. To his surprise, he recognized them. And one of them recognized him.

"You! You're the boy who came to my clinic!" Shiro grimaced to himself. Only a week later and he was running into Ichigo's dad and his sisters? But then, Karin and Yuzu would like face painting. It wasn't just for babies. "Did you find your family?" Isshin seemed quite concerned and Shiro evaded the question.

"I found a place to stay." He said as Yuzu took a seat on the stool in front of him with a smile. "What kind of pattern would you like?"

"A butterfly, please! And could it be purple?" She asked and Shiro nodded as he began to paint. Unfortunately, it did take a few minutes and that gave Isshin plenty of time to pepper him with questions. Some were easy, like his name, but others were a bit difficult.

"Why did you leave the clinic?" He asked and Shiro frowned, carefully adding some blue to the butterflies' wings. The wings surrounded Yuzu's eyes and traveled onto her cheeks and forehead, while the body was on her nose and the head was between her eyes. He made the body a simple black, curved line and the head was just a black dot with cutely cocked antenna.

"I'm not that fond of the police." He said, which was at least somewhat true. The inner hollow wasn't fond of any authority figures. "Hmm." He outlined the wings with black, then added tiny white dots. The result was simple but gorgeous. "There you go." He said with a smile, cleaning off his hands as Karin jumped onto the stool. "What would you like?" Shiro asked and Karin shrugged.

"I don't know, surprise me." She said and Shiro blinked then grinned. That gave him a marvelous idea… breaking out the white paint, he gave her a credible version of Ichigo's mask. Not the full one – that would take too long – but the smaller half-mask he'd used when he first came out. When he was done Karin looked in the mirror approvingly. "Creepy. I like it." She said, hopping to her feet. Shiro's grin widened. He was sure Ichigo would have a nice reaction to it. It was only a shame he wouldn't be there to see it.

"Tell Ichigo that Shiro said hi." He said and the kids gave him a startled look as Isshin smiled happily. The elder Kurosaki paid him for the work, and Shiro put it into the cash box. All the money he was earning today was going to charity. The hollow could tell that Isshin was assuming he was Ichigo's friend, which was pretty amusing. He wasn't going to correct the mistake, though.

If Shiro had been there to see the look on Ichigo's face when he saw Karin's half-mask, he would have laughed himself sick. And the Kurosaki clan did find it rather amusing, even without knowing the cause.

"You trying to catch flies, nii-san?" Karin asked with a fiendish grin. That made the situation slightly worse, as the expression reminded Ichigo forcibly of his inner hollow. "Or pee your pants?"

"Karin! That's mean!" Yuzu said, shocked, as Isshin laughed.

"I never thought my son would be so frightened by a bit of face painting!" That made Ichigo's mouth snap shut and he blinked. Face painting? Then he looked at it again and saw it was definitely paint, although it had been very artistically done by someone who knew exactly what his mask looked like. And that meant… "You should get one yourself, Ichigo!"

"Uh, yeah, I should. Where is this guy?" He asked and followed their directions. He wasn't sure what he was going to do, but he wanted to find out what his hollow was up to, putting that mask on Karin.

Although managing to talk to Shiro turned out to be difficult. Ichigo was a little shocked to see how hard his hollow was working, and how deft he was at it. He would pick up a bit of paint with one finger and turn it into something recognizable so fast, it was almost unbelievable. Although…

"I hope those paints are edible or you're going to be getting sick." Ichigo said as his hollow smeared a bit of paint on his lips by accident. The white boy didn't even twitch at the familiar voice, just glanced over with a sneer.

"We put it on babies' faces. I dunno, do you think it's edible or not?" He said contemptuously and Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "If you want to talk, get in line and pay for a painting." Shiro said as he went back to his work. Ichigo scowled, considering just demanding some answers. But then a lot of normal people would hear their conversation. Reluctantly stepping away he got into line for a painting. It wasn't very long before it was his turn and Ichigo reluctantly took a seat across from his hollow, fully expecting him to attack. But the hollow was all business. "What d'you want?"

"Um…" Taken aback, he realized he should have thought about that. He wasn't sure he wanted the hollow to get too creative, that might be embarrassing. But he couldn't think of anything. "Do you have any suggestions?" He asked warily and Shiro shrugged.

"Yeah, a tiger, it would go with your hair." He said and Ichigo blinked before nodding. That actually sounded good and the hollow quickly began working on the design. "So what do you want, King?" Ichigo swallowed at the hatred in that word. He'd always known his hollow hated him, of course. But somehow it was different when his hollow was just a boy, not a horrific force inside his mind. It made him feel… guilty.

"What are you doing here?" He pushed the feeling away, giving the hollow a severe look. Shiro laughed shortly as he painted.

"Doin' penance for trying to fuck you up. All the proceeds go to charity. Next question?" The hollow said and Ichigo frowned. "Oi! Stop that, you're messing me up here."

"Uh, sorry." He tried to keep his face still as Shiro applied the black stripes. "Why did you put that mask on Karin?" That was really bothering him. Was his hollow going to target his family?

"To screw with you." He said and Ichigo blinked, giving his hollow a skeptical look. "What? How was I supposed to even know you idiots were at the fair? So tell me King, are you missing your horse yet?" Shiro asked and Ichigo scowled, not caring about the face paint.

"Why in hell would I miss you, you monster?" He said and Shiro tittered. It was that high, maniacal laugh that Ichigo had always hated. "Stop that!" He barked, just like he had a thousand times before. His hollow just grinned at him.

"I'm not going to answer that for you, King. But I'll give you something to reflect on. Tell me, what is the King without his Horse?" Shiro asked mockingly and Ichigo frowned again. "Zangetsu could tell you, but he's too kind. Go on, Ichigo, find out the hard way. I have things to do." Brown eyes met black and gold for a long, hard stare. But Ichigo finally stood, reluctantly breaking the staring contest. He probably couldn't win it anyway.

His hollow had always been good at that sort of thing.