Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or have any rights to it.
It had been a few days since their last meeting. Soi Fong had told Ichigo that she wouldn't be meeting him for a few days. She wanted to make sure her lieutenant wasn't just pretending to pick up the slack while she was around, so she had increased the pressure by keeping her vigilance. She also had some paperwork to do.
When Ichigo woke up, he saw a hell butterfly on his nose. Huh? What's this about? Picking it up, he held it to his ear to receive the message.
"Ichigo…. its Soi Fong. There's this…nice…place that I want to show you. Please meet me where I showed you my Bankai around noon."
After letting the butterfly go, Ichigo paused, blinking in surprise. Did she just ask me out…on a date?
"Hey Ichigo." The door opened to reveal Ganju. "Orihime and the others agreed to heal you."
Ichigo winced as he pinched himself. "So this isn't a dream."
"Off course not," replied Ganju in an awkward tone. "So are you coming to get healed or not?"
"Right," said Ichigo as he jumped out of bed and ran past a stunned Ganju. All right! I'm getting my powers back. This'll be great!
Staring at the spot where Ichigo had been, Ganju, blinked himself out of his daze. Wow…didn't know it meant that much to him.
When Ichigo arrived in the living room, he saw Orihime, Uryu, and Chad waiting for him.
"Good morning Ichigo," said Orihime. "I guess Ganju told you the news."
"He did, so can you heal me right now?"
"What's the rush?" asked Uryu.
"Is it so wrong for me to want to get healed?" asked Ichigo.
"That's okay," replied Orihime. "If he's in a hurry, it's his business."
"Fine Orihime," replied Uryu. He didn't want to cause any more trouble in front of her.
Ichigo sat on the couch and remained still as Orihime started healing him. The process only took a minute since he had already recovered some of his strength.
"There; all done," said Orihime with a smile. "So are you going to run off again?"
Ichigo shook his head. "No, I think I'll stay here for a little and go out later."
"Are you at least going to have breakfast here?" asked Orihime. She seemed happy enough on the outside, but inside, her mind was racing. I hope he says yes. I worry about him when he goes off like that.
He shrugged casually. "Sure. I'll stay, but I'll leave when I have to."
"Sounds good enough for me," replied Chad.
Uryu simply nodded. I know he still has a secret. Orihime is worrying about him, yet he won't even tell us why he's been disappearing off for so long. What could he be so secretive about and why won't he tell any of us?
They went over to the table and started eating. After that, they talked about leaving the soul society and returning home.
"Tatsuki would be worried about me," said Orihime. "Maybe we should return to our world some time soon."
"I agree," said Uryu. "This place is nice, but it isn't exactly a place where I'd like to spend my vacation. I didn't finish the summer assignment early to hang around in a world of soul reapers, even though I admit there are nice people here."
"We should ask Yoruichi about it," said Chad. "She'd know what to do, or how the movement between the two worlds works. Right Ichigo?"
All heads turned to Ichigo, awaiting his reaction to the idea.
Ichigo wanted to see his family again, and he also felt better in the real world. The soul society was nice, but he felt a bit like a fish out of water while there, but at the same time, he didn't want to leave Soi Fong after getting to know her. He had barely established a relationship, yet he felt a sort of kinship towards her.
"Well Ichigo?" asked Uryu.
"Well what?" asked Ichigo as if he hadn't been listening at all.
"What do you think of this idea? How do you feel about returning to our world?"
"Oh that…I think it's a good idea. I'm sure my family's missing me."
"Yeah…sure." Pushing his glasses up his nose, Uryu gave him a suspicious look.
A few minutes later, Yoruichi arrived from her morning walk. She was in her cat form. "I heard that Ichigo got his powers restored. So Ichigo, how are you."
"I'm fine Yoruichi," replied Ichigo.
"We were thinking of returning to our world some time," said Chad. "Is it possible for us to leave within the week. Our friends and families would be worried if we were gone too long."
"That's no problem," replied Yoruichi. "I can arrange for all of us to got back home within the week."
"Thanks," replied Uryu.
Looking at the clock, Ichigo realized what time it was. 11:45! I'll be late if I don't leave now.
Ichigo got up and bolted for the door.
"Hey Ichigo, what's wrong?" asked Orihime.
"I'm in a hurry. I have to be somewhere," replied Ichigo before running out the door.
Ichigo weaved through the streets. He then spotted the meadow and leapt onto the side of the road before heading off in a different direction.
Soi Fong had been lying in the grass for ten minutes. When she felt his characteristic reiatsu approaching, she sat up with a smile. "I see you're fashionably late," she joked, noting that he was in his normal soul reaper outfit.
Ichigo came to a stop and panted. "Sorry about that. I was talking to my friends and didn't notice the time."
"Relax, I didn't expect you to find a change of clothes within a few hours. At least your outfit is clean."
Smiling back at her, Ichigo noted her attire. She was wearing a kimono, much like his, only suited to her size. "I see you're not in uniform."
"A captain's outfit or stealth force uniform would stand out too much. Dressing up like a regular soul reaper would allow me to blend in more. Besides, we're not going anywhere fancy. Just a nice spot I'd like you to see."
They started walking through the meadow, with Soi Fong leading the way.
"So what's so special about this spot?" asked Ichigo. "Is it a place you visit often or a beautiful place?"
"You'll find out," replied Soi Fong.
"It's a surprise?"
"Kind of. It's just better if you don't know. That way you won't raise your expectations too high and get disappointed."
"Makes sense to me." Ichigo then remembered what he and his friends had discussed. "Soi Fong. Let's stop for a while, there's something important I have to tell you."
Turning around, Soi Fong raised an eyebrow. "If it's about you're powers being restored, then I already know. You've leaked out so much reiatsu that I could immediately tell."
Ichigo shook his head. "My friends want to return to the real world earlier. It makes sense since our families would be worried, so I couldn't refuse them."
Soi Fong's gaze softened. "I understand your responsibility to your friends and family, though I'm sad that we don't have as much time together."
Ichigo walked forward and pulled Soi Fong into an embrace. "I loved spending time with you. We're alike in a lot of ways. I'll miss you."
"I'll miss you too." Soi Fong looked up and smiled at him. "That means we'll have to make these last few days count. All the more reason for us to reach that spot earlier."
Smiling back, Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, and I know that you probably won't be visiting the living world, especially after Aizen's betrayal, but maybe I could come here again some time."
"That would be great," replied Soi Fong as she pulled out of the embrace. "Now let's go."
It took them another twenty minutes of walking to reach their destination. They arrived at a crystal clear lake with nice, short grass surrounding the shore. There was a sort of bridge going into the center of the lake where there were a few pagoda-like structures, sitting on a wooden platform with several decks at different levels, allowing people to gaze out at the beautiful lake.
"There it is," said Soi Fong, pointing out at the structure.
"It looks nice," said Ichigo. "I had no idea they had these kinds of building in the soul society."
"It's true that, being founded long ago, the soul society was slow to keep up with the ever advancing culture of the living world, but this was sort of a leap of faith on its part."
As they walked down the wooden bridge, Ichigo couldn't help but look left and right in awe. "This is so cool. I've never been on one of these buildings before."
Soi Fong couldn't help but chuckle. "Just wait. You'll really like what's inside. There are many activities we can do in here."
They arrived at the pagodas and Soi Fong led Ichigo to a sort of Café. It was set up like a bar with a set of chairs lining the front counter where people made their orders.
"Let's have lunch first," said Soi Fong. "You'll love it here."
"Yeah, and I can see some of my favorite foods too," replied Ichigo as he scanned the menu.
They were soon served and started eating. Glancing around between bites, Ichigo noticed a few people staring at them and talking quietly to themselves.
"Don't mind them," said Soi Fong as she drank some more tea. "People are always saying things about soul reapers. They don't know much about them, so they're speculating. Soul reapers also don't come by here that often so it's natural that they would start talking, but they won't have the balls to approach us about any issue they have with us. Just ignore them."
"Right…it's just awkward, that's all."
After eating, Soi Fong took them to one of the decks, where they bought some fish feed.
"This is one of my favorites," said Soi Fong as she leaned over the edge and dropped some of the fish feed into the water.
Within minutes, several eight-foot long catfish were swarming the area. As Soi Fong dropped more food in, one fish leapt out of the water and caught it midair.
"Wow," said Ichigo. "Those are some big catfish!"
Soi Fong giggled and through some feed farther out into the lake. Several giant catfish leapt cleanly out of the water and collided midair as they all tried to get at the food. They all landed with a big splash before dispersing.
Ichigo laughed. "I didn't know catfish could jump like that. It reminds me of the cartoons I used to watch as a kid…do people in the soul society know what cartoons are?"
"You mean those ridiculous stories in the entertainment section of the newspaper?"
Ichigo stared blankly at her before finally catching on to what she meant. "Oh…those…those are from long ago in the living world. Nowadays, we have what's called television. We show cartoons on those."
"Television…you mean screens which transmit visual information?"
"Um…you could think of it like that." Wow…talk about technical.
They spent some more time feeding the catfish and getting them to do more tricks before heading back into the building. Soi Fong then took Ichigo up to the second floor. There were a bunch of arcade games on this floor. They enjoyed playing games, like ring toss, for while before leaving the pagodas and returning to the lakeshore.
Ichigo stretched out on the grass, closing his eyes and sighing happily as he felt the cool breeze lick his face. He then felt something warm putting pressure on his chest. Opening his eyes, he saw Soi Fong staring down at him.
Leaning down, Soi Fong brushed her lips against his. "You're a very special person Ichigo. Otherwise I wouldn't have brought you here or showed you this side of me." Her expression then became sterner. "You better not tell anyone about this…except lady Yoruichi."
"Don't worry. You're secret's safe with me."
"Good." She then captured his lips in a deep, passionate kiss.
Snaking his arms around her, Ichigo kissed her back. He wasn't thinking, his body was just moving instinctively.
They weren't thinking about all the obstacles that would face them. All they cared about was enjoying their last few days together.
It's been too long, but better late then never. I hope I haven't lost my feel for this story. The good news is that I finally have some direction for this, and that I will only b updating two other stories over the summer. Hopefully I'll be able to finish this and those other two stories before the fall. I don't plan on retelling the entire Bleach story line though.