Ha-ha! I told you it wouldn't be as long a wait!

So here you have it!

Also, BE WARNED!

I have discovered PLOT, and I am not afraid to use it!

…Okay, seriously though, there really is a plot now. And a few sub-plots later on. And I've finally (FINALLY!) started writing like I used to. I've been writing recreationally for years, but it's only thanks to the internet that I can now share it with others...

So I hope everyone enjoys it.

Also, for anyone wondering, I have figured out what to do with Uryu. It'll be interesting, I think…

And if anyone's curious…

Master File Word Count: 19,371

Master File Pages: 49

And I still don't own Bleach.

Diner was a simple affair. There was rice, some soup, and some fish. At least, that's what Ichigo thought he saw before he started eating ravenously. He had no idea what any of it tasted like, being too busy eating and too hungry to care.

He finished in record time.

While everyone else was still eating, and tactfully ignoring the way Ichigo had unceremoniously wolfed down everything placed in front of him, the gender-bent teen was able to finally consider his situation seriously. By the time the other diners had finished he had come to several conclusions.

One – Being full made him much less irritable.

Two – In being less irritable, he no longer felt the burning need to strangle Kisuke Urahara. He was still going to get even with the demented scientist somehow, once all of this was over, but at the very least he felt like it could wait.

Three – After thinking about it, he believed that he should be able to survive being a… girl… for a month. Even if he had to go to school, and if he didn't want to fall behind then he would, all he really had to do was lay low and play dumb. Just mind his own business and stay out of everyone's way and they'd probably not even notice. Maybe. He hopes.

Four – He had the sinking suspicion that he was going to be blowing himself up. A lot.

Having the chance to mull things over helped to calm the Substitute Soul Reaper down quite a bit. He was still mad and annoyed and a dozen other things, but at least now he could think again.

Thinking, of course, led to curiosity.

"Urahara-san, I get why you brought out the big book, but what are those smaller ones for?"

Ichigo was indicating the three books sitting at Urahara's side. The larger one had been moved from the table when diner had arrived, but the other two were still a mystery.

Everyone around the table stared bewilderedly at Ichigo for a few moments, wondering if he had actually calmed down or if he was just simmering, waiting for someone to say something and get the pot boiling again. After a few moments and another confused look from Ichigo they were for the most part sure that the teen wasn't going to get temperamental and was actually asking the question seriously. Everyone looked to Urahara for the answer.

The shopkeeper silently congratulated himself before saying anything. He knew that Ichigo was much smarter than people realized, but this little stunt had just proven his theory that the Substitute Soul Reaper was also more rational than people gave him credit for. The teen only seemed to become inconsolably irrational when his family or friends were in danger.

Then again, perhaps it was Ichigo's logic that was sound, and the Soul Reapers were the ones that had it wrong.

It was something to look into…

…later.

Right now, he had a question to answer.

"These," Urahara began, handing the two smaller books to Ichigo and Orihime respectively, "Are the new textbooks for training new recruits in Kidou. After centuries of using the same system for teaching Soul Reapers at the Academy, the top brass have decided to update their material. Of course, this was mostly because some of the more… influential members of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads began complaining about adjusting to the world of the living, such as it is. Apparently, people have been complaining about the cultural and technological differences for some time now, but a few recent… events have finally forced them to actually do something about it."

"Wait a second," Ichigo looked a little perplexed as he scowled, "If these are the new textbooks then why did you lug out that big book before?"

"Uh… dramatic flair?"

"… You're an idiot…"

Ichigo's face deadpanned as he wondered how someone so smart and conniving could be so damn flakey.

Urahara just waved off the minor insult, literally. He had found his fan in the storeroom while he was looking for the textbooks. How in the world it had ended up behind a box labeled Prune Jellies he would never know.

"Anyway," the shopkeeper continued, "for now all the two of you need to do is start memorizing what's in the books. Just worry about the little spells for now and we'll worry about the big stuff after we have a feel for where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Oh, and before I forget, this should cover any expenses you may have over the next 25 days. Feel free to keep whatever is left afterwards for yourself…"

Urahara handed Ichigo a billfold and watched amusedly as Orihime leaned over and looked at the contents. The two teens' eyes widened considerably. The reaction was highly amusing.

After all, there was a lot of money in that wallet.

But nowhere near as much as he was going to make for this little experiment.

Ichigo almost reverently slid the billfold into the textbook he had been given. The teen had never seen that many bills in one place before, except for on TV…

…Maybe he wouldn't use Urahara for target practice… much.

"I believe," The shopkeeper continued, "that this concludes the evening festivities. I would like the two of you to drop by next weekend so we can give you a proper lesson, but other than that I believe we are done. It was a pleasure doing business with you!"

"Y-yeah…"

The two teens thanked Urahara for having them over for diner, still slightly stunned by the last thing the shopkeeper had given them. They collected their things, Orihime even remembered to grab the groceries that she had discarded when she fainted earlier, and began making their way to the door. Ichigo hesitated for a moment before letting the blanket that he had been wearing fall off of him, leaving it piled up on the floor. He couldn't exactly take it with him, and Orihime's apartment wasn't very far away. She probably had a blanket he could borrow there, anyway.

After the pair left the Shoten, Kisuke Urahara glanced over to the side, where the discarded and forgotten body of Ichigo Kurosaki lay lifeless. The shopkeeper sighed, partially with exhaustion, and partially with relief. The hard part was done. The rest should be easy…

"Looks like it's time for me to go visit an old friend…"

It was dark by the time Orihime and Ichigo had managed to leave the Shoten. Ichigo lead the way to her apartment, mostly out of habit, with Orihime following a little behind and to the side. They talked a bit at first, and apparently Orihime planned on asking some of her girl-friends to come home with her after school in order to get Ichigo more settled in. This was apparently Yoruichi's idea, and even though he honestly thought it was a bad one, the Substitute Soul Reaper wasn't about to tell the Healer no. This whole situation was putting her out the most. If she thought she needed some help to help him, he wasn't about to argue.

Unfortunately, this meant that he was going shopping for girl's cloths, with girls. He was not looking forward to it. At the very least if he pretended to be a Tomboy, which probably wouldn't be that hard all things considered, he should be able to convince everyone to keep him away from the really girly stuff. However, there was one thing he wasn't going to be able to avoid.

They were going to have to buy him a new school uniform.

A girls uniform.

With a skirt.

And he was going to have to wear it.

In front of everyone.

Ichigo Kurosaki was not pleased.

The pair fell into as companionable a silence as they could manage given the bizarre situation they had found themselves in. Orihime would occasionally spare a glance in Ichigo's direction, and she couldn't help but notice that he didn't seem to have any of his usual spunk at all.

In fact, Orihime noted, Ichigo seemed downright depressed.

'Maybe he's just tired' the innocent healer thought to herself as the duo continued walking down the darkened streets. Orihime considered the idea before nodding to herself in agreement. It made perfect sense that Ichigo was tired. After all, he'd had a very big day. What, with being knocked out, turned into a girl, stuck in an energy suppressing gigai, and even hollowfying on top of all that!

Orihime remembered the last time she had seen Ichigo hollowfy. It had been at the end of his battle with Ulquiora. At the time, she had no idea that it wasn't Ichigo in control just then. She remembered being too distraught to feel very frightened. After all, watching the person you love have a hole the size of a watermelon punched in his chest while trying to save you can be pretty upsetting.

Orihime thought back to what had happened after that fight. Ichigo had rushed down off of the roof to help Rukia and the others fight Yammi before Captain Kuchiki and Captain Zaraki took over, sending Ichigo and Captain Unohana back to Karakura to help deal with Aizen. What happened to Ichigo after that, she didn't know. He refused to talk about it, and whenever she asked someone from the Soul Society they all said the same thing; "Working together with the Captains, the Substitute Soul Reaper was able to defeat the traitor."

The young girl had felt a little stung that Ichigo wasn't willing to tell her what had happened to Aizen, or how the fight had ended, but after a while she realized that she was just as bad. After all, she hadn't told him what had happened to her back in Hueco Mundo. Not that much had actually happened, really. She had been treated well, for the most part, and the food wasn't that bad once she had started eating it (even if she was threatened for being stubborn and refusing to eat). Even after Ichigo left, nothing spectacular happened. She had finished healing Uryu, and then he was kind enough to bring her down from the roof so that she could heal their friends while the Captains continued to fight with Yammi. In the end, it was Captain Kuchiki who delivered the finishing blow to the last Espada after Captain Zaraki had let his guard down and was subsequently flung half-way across Las Noches.

Once the battle was over, Orihime healed the Captains as well, and then insisted that they go look for the Hogyoku. She told them all about her plan to reject the perilous orb out of existence, and how Aizen had shown her where he kept it. She thought for sure that the Captains would jump at the chance to retrieve and destroy such a dangerous artifact.

So when Captain Kurosutchi informed her that the Hogyoku's spiritual pressure was no longer within the confines of Los Noches, she was slightly heartbroken. She had so desperately wanted to be of some use, but in the end she was just a burden again.

She had kept quiet the rest of the way back to the World of the Living. By the time they arrived the battle was already over and everyone was in the process of cleaning up the mess. Captain Unohana had let her help heal a few people, and she even got to heal Ichigo again, though his injuries were nowhere near as severe as she thought they were going to be.

The Soul Society gave her a formal apology for accusing her of treachery, saying that they wanted Aizen to think they were abandoning her so he would pool his forces and attack the World of the Living, leaving Las Noches poorly defended. That way, they could send a few Captains into Hueco Mundo to clear the area and wait for Aizen to attempt a retreat so that they could catch him on both sides.

The explanation got slightly complicated after that, so Orihime stopped listening. She instead began watching Ichigo, and noticed something that worried her a bit. Despite the victory, Ichigo had seemed tense, and maybe a little upset, but he was doing a good job of hiding it. It reminded her of the day before the anniversary of his mother's death. People would clap him on the back and congratulate him for a job well done, and he would force a smile and say thanks. No one noticed how uncomfortable and fake it was.

She remembered somehow getting up the courage to wander over to Ichigo and ask him to walk her home. He agreed instantly, and looked so relieved to be able to get away from all of the noise and celebration.

He stayed over at her apartment that night, refusing to leave until he was sure everything was alright and insisting that he wouldn't get any sleep anyway. Of course, once he held still for more than a few moments he passed right out and slept the whole night through sprawled over the table. He was still out cold when Tatsuki came barging in the next morning, hugging her best friend tightly before deciding to violently wake up Ichigo and get that long-over-due explanation out of him.

Orihime giggled at that memory. Tatsuki had tried to hit Ichigo in his sleep, but just before the punch would have connected Ichigo had unconsciously grabbed the martial artist and swung her down, pinning her on the floor. Everyone was shocked as Ichigo slowly blinked the sleepiness out of his eyes, then blushed and gruffly apologized, having realized that he was holding down someone other than his 'psychotic father,' as he put it.

Orihime had laughed then. Really, truly laughed for the first time in what had felt like ages. Everyone in the room quickly joined her in her mirth. Even Ichigo chuckled a bit, though whether it was from embarrassment or just raw nerves she didn't know.

She giggled to herself again then, walking down the street with Ichigo on their way back to her apartment.

While Orihime's mind wandered in the past, Ichigo's was focused on the present. More specifically, he was trying to keep his teeth from chattering. It was cold; much colder than he thought it would be. The day had been so mild that he had completely forgotten it was still early February. About a block into the trip it occurred to Ichigo that he should have brought the stupid blanket with him regardless of how weird it might have made him look.

His breath came in white puffs as he resigned himself to having to just deal with the cold until they got to Orihime's apartment. He continued walking, putting one foot in front of the other, while trying to suppress a fit of shivers by carefully repositioning his book and wrapping his arms around his torso. He would have crossed them over his chest except that now… there were certain somethings in the way. As he moved he was careful to keep from brushing up against the more… sensitive parts of his new anatomy, and he adamantly ignored how his shirt was rubbing up against him with every step.

Thankfully, Orihime's apartment wasn't very far. It wasn't long before Ichigo caught sight of the stairs leading up to her front door through a puff of his own breath.

At about that moment, he heard a giggle come from Orihime's direction. The gender-bent teen looked her way and realized rather quickly that she was off in her own little world. He couldn't help but be a little curious as to what she thought about when she was like that. He considered asking her what she was laughing at, but thought better of it. After all, he'd heard from Tatsuki what her imagination could be like, and it frightened him just a little.

Ichigo kept quiet as the pair reached the stairs leading up to Orihime's apartment. He stopped, and then noticed a moment later that Orihime didn't. She was giggling to herself again and, even though he felt a little bad for interrupting whatever daydream she was enjoying, Ichigo had no choice but to intercede.

"Oi, Inoue!"

The wandering princess came back to earth with a squeak of surprise. She had been so lost in her reminiscence that she had to look around a bit before she realized where she was.

"Oh… were here…"

Orihime instantly blushed with embarrassment, realizing that while she had been thinking about the past she had completely forgotten about the present. A hand found its way to the back of her head as she apologized for her spacey nature, which Ichigo simply waved off with his usual, casual gruffness.

She stood there after being reassured that everything was fine, lost again for a few moments before realizing that Ichigo was waiting for her to unlock the door. She suppressed another squeak and rushed up the steps while reaching for her key, Ichigo following a few steps behind. Orihime fumbled with the lock a few times before finally getting the key in and turned just before opening the door. Ichigo tactfully kept quiet, not wanting to upset or embarrass the girl by commenting on her nervousness.

Orihime stepped into her apartment and automatically flicked on the lights. As she held the door open, she turned around to address Ichigo Kurosaki, her new roommate.

"W-well," she began, with something between excitement and embarrassment in her voice, "it's not much, but make yourself at home."

Hee-hee!

I know what happened! Unfortunately all of you are going to have to wait a while before you get to find out! It's already written and everything!

…

Well, not all of it. I mean the part that gets told in this story. I'll probably have to write a very long one-shot to tell the whole story of how I think the fight with Aizen will turn out. Or should turn out. I've got a couple of theories, in any case…

Of course, by then it will be AU anyway, so meh...