Just to be clear here, Ichigo isn't abandoning his shinigami powers. He just doesn't want to be caught with Rukia's powers since he knows full well that the penalty for awakening a human's spiritual ability is an instant death sentence to both parties, and he doesn't want to be on the Soul Society's radar just yet.
He'll help out occasionally, but otherwise he prefers to stay out of the whole Substitute Soul Reaper business, as he prefers to be a Magus in memory of his mother.
Rin took one look at him and her eyebrows rose.
"What the hell happened to you?" she asked.
Rin knew the basics of his special eyes and why he had to wear the Mystic Eye killers all the time. She winced in sympathy. Ichigo explained about the reaper.
"So why are you here?"
"Thanks to her stupidity, the hollow damaged one of the support beams under my room. It was either sleep on the couch since Arc was in town, or bum a room off of you. She left before she entered the area for some reason, and she's been stalking me all day."
"Probably wants to make you take up her work since she's injured," said Rin in disgust.
Reapers and Magi traditionally did not get along.
"From how she reacts to me being able to kill a hollow without a sword, you're probably right," grimaced Ichigo.
"Why is she still in the area anyway?"
"She was hurt pretty badly from the hollow and I heard rumors that a new transfer student was coming in tomorrow, which was why Dad agreed to let me come here for a week until the support beam is repaired, since I usually take my magecraft things with me. I think that the soul reaper was an unseated officer, though her inner world was too developed for that."
Urahara had, after making an agreement with Ichigo that he would explain about the Soul Society in exchange for him helping with his experiments so long as it didn't get him killed, given Ichigo a long detailed book about the place. It helped that he had left barely over a hundred years ago and that captains generally stayed in their position until they died or were 'replaced'. It was extremely rare for a Captain-class reaper to retire, if at all.
"So how long are you staying?" she asked, tapping her foot.
"Until the house is repaired. Dad already filed a temporary leave of absence from school, so I'll be staying in Fuyuki for a week at least. In the meantime, we can study magecraft after classes," said Ichigo.
Rin smirked.
"You're avoiding your new stalker aren't you?" she said.
"The sooner I can get rid of her without being tricked into doing her job, the sooner we can alert the idiots in the Soul Society about Kirei. I don't think they would be pleased to learn about what he's been doing around here," said Ichigo.
Ichigo had 'graduated' from Kirei's course barely a week ago, and now had what was left of his mother's crest. Surprisingly, she had at least ten circuits of the Emiya clan crest, though he had no idea why.
If staying with Rin meant avoiding the Reaper who might very well try to sucker him into doing her damn job, then he would stay with Rin.
Besides, the girl was almost ready to get her family crest, and she needed all the help she could get.
"Hey, Ichigo! Where were you man?" asked Keigo.
Ichigo only associated with him out of convenience sake. The boy was an idiot, but he apparently had the ability to see reapers without having much in the way of spirit energy.
"I was in Fuyuki. Since the support beam to my room was damaged by the truck, I had to stay at a friends house for a while. Didn't the teacher mention that?" asked Ichigo.
Judging by the amused look on Tatsuki's face, she had, but Keigo hadn't listened.
"I thought there was a spare bedroom in your house?" asked Tatsuki.
"Arc was visiting again, and the only open space was the couch, which was too close to the hole itself. It was easier to visit a friend of mine, and she didn't have much problem with me crashing at her place."
Not after he helped her earn her crest a full year early at any rate.
"So Ichigo, you gonna make a move on the new transfer or not? She seemed pretty into you, if you know what I'm saying," said Keigo.
Ichigo leveled a look at Rukia, then at Uryu who looked somewhat amused at her.
"Not interested in midgets," said Ichigo loud enough for her to hear. She glared at him.
"Everyone, we have a second new transfer student. She's from England so be nice," said the teacher. Ichigo did a quick scan of the area and nearly choked.
Oh dear lord, was she really that bored?
Arcuied Brunestrud waltzed into the room looking about six years younger than her apparent age. Uryu choked upon seeing her.
"Hi, my name's Arc!" she said chipper.
Rukia suddenly found herself displaced as Arc stole her spot after hypnotizing the entire class to believe that was her seat. She was stuck at the back of the room to her irritation.
What compounded her annoyance was that Arc immediately claimed Ichigo in front of the other girls, and he didn't fight off her advances like he had some of the others.
Tatsuki was rather surprised Ichigo let the blond cling to him like that, when he had avoided the girls who had a thing for 'bad boys with glasses' rather strongly.
Just because he refused to dye his naturally orange hair didn't mean he was a delinquent. Ichigo just didn't tolerate bullies was all.
Tatsuki saddled up to Ichigo in private near the boy's restroom and asked him straight out what the deal was between Rukia and the sudden English transfer.
"Rukia is a shinigami who's been displaced, and she seems to think she can sucker me into doing her job. As for Arc...I have no idea but I blame Zelretch," said Ichigo.
Tatsuki knew of magecraft, but she didn't have any circuits. She was one of the rare few mundanes who was allowed to be in the know. She made up for this by training her spiritual power.
"I'm here to keep that bitch Rukia from tricking you into being a reaper. If you started killing hollows the soul society might try to claim you as theirs despite the fact you're a fully fledged Magus. Besides, I was bored," said Arcuied.
"You're that weird blond girl who has to go to the Kurosaki clinic for transfusions once or twice a week aren't you?" asked Tatsuki.
"Arcuied Brunstrud, at your service."
"Meh, not my problem. Perhaps you can be his fan girl shield instead of me for a change," said Tatsuki.
Arc looked at Ichigo with amusement. He rolled his eyes.
"There are at least five different horny girls in this school who find bad boys who wear glasses attractive. All of them have tried, at one time or another, to jump me," he said tiredly.
Tatsuki had been his shield after the second attempt.
Arc seemed to take that as a challenge. She rather liked Ichigo, who treated her as another Magus and even listened to her. He was infinitely more interesting than Shiki, the only other Magus with the same Mystic Eyes.
And unlike Shiki, Ichigo hadn't killed her upon their first meeting. She still had no idea if that was because of some lingering thing from that damn Roa or if it was because of the Eyes.
Rukia finally 'cornered' Ichigo in an abandoned courtyard in between his spare time. She seemed aware Arc was close by, but she had enough.
Rukia slipped on a glove and shoved it through Ichigo's body. It took all he had not to throw up.
Surprisingly, his glasses stayed on even in spirit form.
She looked surprised by that. He had been wearing glasses up till the point he killed the hollow with an ordinary blade.
"What are you?" she asked.
"A magus. And don't try to rope me into doing your damn job Reaper. I have no love for you or your kind," said Ichigo.
"I don't understand...when I first saw you, you had those glasses on, yet you fought and killed the hollow without them. Why do you wear the glasses?" she asked.
"I wear them to keep my sanity, reaper. The only reason I took them off, which I normally never do unless there is no other choice, was because it was the fastest way to get rid of the hollow. Had you done your job right, or not gotten in the way at all, I could have ended the entire fight with a single hit."
Arc made her presence known then.
"Ichigo has a rare set of eyes that allow him to kill with minimal effort. He hates using them, so he wears the glasses to keep from seeing the lines and falling into temptation. As it is, your kind would try to kill him on sight because of his heritage."
"In any case, there is now way in the Root that I'm going to let you rope me into doing your job."
"You have to! Do you have any idea what would happen if there wasn't a soul reaper to manage the souls around here?" said Rukia.
"Do you know what you soul reapers have done when you practically murdered off the Quincy clans?" he countered.
"What?"
"About a hundred years ago, there were a group of people called Quincy. They had the power to completely destroy a soul and remove them from the cycle of reincarnation. Now instead of trying to dominate the souls, they only went after those that attacked the innocent, namely hollows. You soul reapers showed up and bitched about the fact they were destroying instead of purifying, and wiped them out down to a small scant members, all of whom were Magi who had little luck with their spiritual half of their powers. And now a hundred years later, there is a massive overpopulation problem. Do you know why?" he said glaring.
"I fail to see a connection."
"Quincy acted as cleaners. They got rid of the older souls to make room for new souls, but thanks to fools like you, there is an overabundance. You claim to be maintaining the balance, but I know for a fact that you people can only act in your territory. There is no way in hell that a bunch of samurai wannabes can police the entire world, which is full of billions of people," said Ichigo.
"There is only one soul society!" said Rukia.
Ichigo snorted and got back into his body. He grabbed Rukia's arm before she could force him back out.
"I don't know what that glove is, but get one thing straight Reaper. I have no intention of getting in the middle of your hunts because you were careless," said Ichigo.
Rukia was irritated beyond belief. How was she supposed to kill hollows if the idiot who took her powers wasn't going to cooperate?
Plus thanks to the vampire, she couldn't hide in his house and force him to do her job for her until she recovered.
In other words, she was homeless, powerless and would likely be stuck acting like a normal girl until she got her powers back.
"Urahara, what do you know of a glove that can force people's souls out of their bodies?" asked Ichigo with narrowed eyes.
"She didn't..."
"She did," said Arc.
Urahara face-palmed.
"Sorry about that. I didn't know why she needed it when she's only wearing a gigai until her powers recover," said Urahara.
Which wasn't likely considering he had given her the 'broken' one.
"That reminds me! I found something in the back store room that you can play with. I might get busted by the reapers if I keep it or sell it, but they won't bother a magus since you have a tendency to kill your test subjects," said Urahara, tossing him some sort of demented Pez dispenser.
"What the hell is this?"
"Modified Gikongan. It says Soul Candy on the side because the SWA complained about the name," said Urahara cheerfully.
"SWA?"
"Shinigami Women's Association. Didn't you read the book I gave you?"
"Just the important bits," said Ichigo.
"Anyway I can't exactly get caught passing something like that without getting busted, but I can trade it to a Magi without them complaining."
Ichigo looked at the duck.
"How does it work then?" he asked tiredly.
Urahara cheered up and told him. So he just had to put it in his mouth and then use a device to remove it after?
"Great..." said Ichigo. He would have to borrow one of the dolls that littered the house. Though somehow he had the worst feeling about this innocent looking green pill thing.
Kon, as he was called, was a pain in the ass. He was like a less annoying version of Ruby, the odd staff Zelretch had made that everyone disliked, if that was possible.
On the plus side, when informed that Ichigo had no intention of handing him off to the reapers, he was a lot easier to deal with. Because of the fact he was in a plush body, he didn't exactly feel the pain of being tossed around by Arcuied, who found him amusing.
Kon could deal with being a Magus' experiment if it meant he was allowed to live, since the soul reapers would kill him if they learned what he was. If he was an active experiment to a Magi, they had to leave him alone.
Ichigo mostly used him for stress release though.
Rukia Kuchiki was livid. Not only did the Magus who nearly got her killed refuse to own up to his mistake, he also had known Soul Society property!
To make matters worse he was killing hollows, but it was less from a sense of duty and more from the fact they were stupid enough to attack him!
She was able to pass on the young boy, but she glared at Ichigo's back.
Uryu seemed to be having fun, and it didn't take a genius to figure out why.
He was able to piss off a soul reaper. And he had a willing accomplice in Ichigo and Arcuied.
Ichigo seemed to delight in goading the Kuchiki girl (he had lent the book Urahara gave him to Uryu, since they had a shared dislike of Soul Reapers) and Arcuied made it clear she wasn't letting the reaper get her hooks into Ichigo or dragging him into her job.
Strangely enough, despite the fact the True Ancestor was only playing at being Ichigo's girlfriend from overseas...she actually acted like one even when it was only him and Uryu talking. Or when he was with Chad and Tatsuki, the only people who knew he was a Magus but had no circuits themselves.
Chad was Ichigo's friend because on the times they went outside of town for mage experiments, Ichigo hired him to keep an eye on his sisters. Tatsuki had been told the truth by a naïve Ichigo when they were little and since she knew to keep her mouth shut had been left alone.
The only time Ichigo had ever used his eyes to cut the lines of existence was the day he first met Yasutora Sado and he had been bound in chains too thick to cut normally. He had no idea of Chad's strength at the time, so he had used his knife to cut the chains directly. When told of why he didn't just break them himself, Ichigo had offered him a deal. He would use his strength to help Ichigo, and in exchange Ichigo would help him out so he wouldn't have to deal with the idiots who thought them delinquents because they were different. Ichigo also gained permission from Clock Tower so that they wouldn't be memory wiped after seeing magecraft by labeling them as his 'assistants' and not mentioning that neither of them had any prana to speak of.