Veiled Moon

by Ghostface211

Co-written with Windrave aka Wheeljack on TFF. A Sekirei crossover. Ever go left when you normally go right? Here's one such case, causing a meeting that would not have happened otherwise and whose repercussions will cause many plans to go awry.

7. Feather Three

Just a few quick things to note before we get started.

For those wondering, this chapter will be the last full chapter in this story where Ichigo and Uzume are in Karakura.

Also, because I haven't been able to say this before ch.1 being broken up into four parts was a formatting issue that seems to have corrected its self with these later chapters. Wish it'd have worked its self out sooner, but it is what it is.

Finally, for those asking when Ichigo's gonna get his powers back… It ain't gonna be for a while so stop asking. And no, no Fullbring either. I don't believe I could work it in with what I've got planned anyway at the moment, so don't worry about that either.

And now… chapter three.

Enjoy.

---

Bleach is created by Tite Kubo and distributed by Weekly Shonen Jump,

Shueisha, Studio Pierrot, TV Tokyo, Adult Swim, & Viz Media LLC.

Sekirei is created by Sakurako Gokurakuin and distributed by Young Gangan, Square Enix, Seven Arcs & Funimation Entertainment

No permission has been obtained from any of the copyright holders for the use of the characters and situations from this series. This work of fiction is not for profit and not intended to infringe on copyrighted intellectual property in any significant or harmful way.

Should they, or any of their affiliates, request it, this non-profit story will be taken off line as quickly as possible.

Any original characters, however, are owned by me. If you steal them, I shall hunt you down and skewer your nuts. You want to use them? Just ask me first as I'll probably say yes.

Feedback is encouraged. That's why I write. Also for the cookies. And The Root Beer. The sweet, nectar-of-the-gods root beer.

Flames are pointless, as the author is a flaming retard.

...hold up, that's not what I meant. Uh, let's just start the story.

---

"Argh," a man muttered as the light came on and brought his hand up to his face, shielding his eyes. All too briefly though the too bright light intensified before dulling quickly before a crinkling noise came to fore and the room darkened further. The bulb flickered a few more times before finally dimming, leaving the semi dark room illuminated as well as it could be.

"You sure can pick them," another voice dryly said, looking around at the shoddy brown colored two bed motel room that had seen far better days.

"Shut up," the other replied, rubbing his eyes as he made his way to the closest bed. "It's not like I know the area."

"Your stomach found a good place to eat but it leaves a lot to be desired for sleeping arrangements. Again, tell me why we're sharing?"

A withered sigh came as the figure sat on the bed, springs creaking so loudly that a grimace crossed his face before moving slightly to bounce up and down, the increasing the noise. He sighed. "Last room, remember, or were you not listening?"

"No, I was busy trying to figure out what the hell are we doing here while trying to fight down a migraine."

"Oh, I don't know...," the first muttered before a puzzled look came across his face. 'Why are we here?' he thought again for what seemed like a millionth time that day. It was night, and they had been in this town,

Kataku- no, Katama-, Karakuru or something or other. No car, no supplies, just seemingly dropped off so far from MBI headquarters without any reason for why. Not to mention the headaches he and his partner had been having.

'What the hell did we do?' he thought irritably. He didn't feel drunk, and he never did drugs, so what the hell did he eat or something? He looked up to find his partner gone, a clicking sound causing him to turn to where this dump's bathroom was supposed to be. A few muffled grunts could be heard signaling a prayer to the porcelain gods and he mumbled to himself once more.

"Nice to see you're a devout worshiper," Kurokawa quipped at his partner.

The door opened and his partner walked out. "Shut up," he said as he walked to the other bed.

"What the hell did you eat anyways?" Kurokawa asked. "I mean, if you're gonna be makin' donations all night I should know if I need to get the gas mask out."

"If I feel nauseous again, you'll know. Believe me," his partner retorted. "Anyways, did you figure out what we're supposed to be doing here yet?"

"Kinda hard to think with you retching all over the place," Kurosawa sniped. "I was about to call HQ, see if they could tell us."

"You sure that's wise?" his partner asked.

"No, I'm pretty sure that it's tantamount to career suicide," Kurosawa answered as he pulled out his cell phone. "But unless you start remembering why the fuck we're here I'm shit outta options!"

"Man do you have to curse so much?" his partner asked.

"If it helps me deal with stress then fuck you and the dude you suck you fat motherfucker," Kurosawa replied as he dialed in.

"God you're an ass."

"That's what your boyfriend said I'll bet."

"Whatever," he grunted before sitting and rubbing his head. "Just call them so we can get this over with."

"Sure thing partner," Kurosawa sarcastically growled as he put the phone to his ear. "Yeah, Kurosawa reporting in. Pass-code one-zero-eight-sugar-carrot-lace."

After a moment a distorted voice responded, "Good evening Agent Kurosawa."

"Good evening HQ," Kurosawa responded.

"Report," the voice responded.

"Ah..." Kurosawa paused.

"Report," the voice beckoned again after a moment of silence.

"That's the thing..." Kurosawa paused. "I... I kind of need some clarification."

"Continue."

Kurosawa cleared his throat as his voice took a nervous tone, "I... I kind of need you to... to repeat our order."

Silence.

"Repeat."

"Yes," Kurosawa replied. "We... we seem to have forgotten our mission."

A pause before a deep breath. "All of it?"

Silence.

"Explain."

"Ah," Kurosawa paused again as more of his nerves entered his voice. "I don't know how, but we ended up in Karakura with no idea how we got there and my partner was pants-less."

Again with the silence.

"Come again?"

"I know," Kurosawa responded. "But we have no idea how we got there nor what our mission is. So I called for... for clarification on what we were supposed to be doing."

Pause.

"Ok," the voice responded. "This has been an amusing joke, but you can drop it now. *Report.*"

"I... I'm not joking," Kurosawa answered. "We have no idea what our mission is supposed to be."

"Agent Kurosawa," the voice responded, unable to hide how hard it was to cover up their incredulity. "What is your current status?"

"I'm in a god-forsaken motel and my partner is looking green around the gills. And I have no idea where I am," Kurosawa answered. "My status is not well."

"Where is your vehicle?"

"My vehicle?" Kurosawa questioned.

"You don't know?"

"I. Don't. Know."

Silence.

"Tracking." A moment passed, the time before response seemingly an eternity until- "No signal. Agent, what have you been doing? Where is Kurosaki Ichigo?"

"Who?"

"Your target. To watch and maintain surveillance on Kurosaki Ichigo and his sekirei, Number Ten."

"That was our mission?" Kurosawa ventured.

"Yes. Your mission was to watch and, if necessary, call for backup in the event Kurosaki Ichigo exposes the true nature of his sekirei known to the outside public or if he should take his sekirei for use to a rival corporation. You are currently located in his home town of Karakura-cho, Hino, West Tokyo."

He grimaced as something came to fore from that info dump. "Wait, isn't that Izumi guy the owner of-"

"Izumi Higa has terms to not use his sekirei for that until if or when he is crowned the winner of the game."

Kurosawa sighed, "So we're supposed to track this Kurosaki brat and make sure he's not skipping town to sell Number Ten. Anything else?"

"He has already, as you've said, 'skipped town'. You are to ensure he does not do anything to expose the nature of his sekirei nor seek assistance for financial gain to a rival, among others. If so you are to contact MBI for backup to be able to deal with them."

"Right," Kurosawa paused for a moment before he asked, "Ummm... Did you find the van yet?"

"There is no signal available for your vehicle. You cannot recall how this occurred?"

"Like I said, me and my partner have no idea where we are or how we got here much less what happened to his pants or the van." He sighed. "Belive me I wish I was joking, but I'm not."

Another round of silence.

"Tomorrow you and your partner are to resume surveillance on Kurosaki Ichigo. We will be forwarding all pertinent info to your cell phone and will be adjusting your cards limit to allow you to purchase what you need until we are able to send another surveillance vehicle in the morning, which should arrive from seven a.m. to two p.m. We will give you rendezvous coordinates in the info packet. Set your cell phones to secure and we will be updating in a few moments."

"Roger that," Kurosawa replied. "Will that be all HQ?"

"That will be all. Resume surveillance procedure tomorrow."

-CLICK-

"Yes sir," he muttered before sighing and pinching the bridge of his nose. Setting his phone to secure, he ran his hand through his hair. "Dammit all, that could've gone better."

"So, are we fired?" a weary voice muttered.

"Thanks to whatever deity's looking over us, no," Kurosawa answered. "We're gonna be back on duty tomorrow. But I know we're on thin ice as it is."

"How thin?"

"Thin enough that your fat ass better get a life jacket," Kurosawa answered. He sighed again, "Think I'm gonna be hitting the hay early. That call just about drained me."

The other sighed in agreement before turning over.

"This is gonna be a long mission," Kurosawa sighed. "I just know it."

---

Ghostface211 presents

In Association with Wheeljack...

A Bleach - Sekirei Crossover

Veiled Moon

Feather Three: Goodbye Rolling Days

---

The next day...

It was mid morning back at Teito. The sun beat down overhead as Minato sat in his room and numbly eyed the ceiling, his mind drifting towards the previous day and the surprising information Musubi had delivered to him. The fact that she had picked a fight with Uzume made a bit more sense now that he knew she was a Sekirei, yet at the same time it brought heaviness to his heart as it reminded him of Musubi's words and the reality that these super-human girls were in some kind of grand battle-royal.

He sighed as his thoughts went back to Uzume and the strange orange-haired man she had draped herself all over mere moments after the impromptu fight had ended. From the way she acted when he was around him, and the fact that she was a Sekirei, it stood to reason that Minato's new neighbor was Uzume's Ashikabi. He took and breath in a and blew it out as he couldn't help but wonder how that man felt about this whole competition. He hoped he was against it as the fewer problems, the better it would be for him to deal with in the long run.

He also had to wonder where the pair had gone. He had barely been able to introduce himself and in mere moments it seemed, Miya had informed them that they had left for Karakura and wouldn't be back for a few days. A paranoid part of him idly wondered if that was the truth or if they were they plotting something against him and Musubi. He quickly squashed that part of him into mush, they had just met after all and it was no use in wondering about what ifs and things of that nature until he had a better inkling of what the heck was going on in the first place.

Besides, he still had his own mess of a dream to figure out.

---

Elsewhere...

An hour earlier and miles away from Maizon Izumo, Ichigo's eyes slowly opened as he awoke, his mind knowing it was early but still in advance of his alarm clock settings. He mumbled and smacked his lips as he took a breath in through his nose and blinked a few times to overcome his still blurry eyesight. He started to roll over to confirm the time on his clock with what he thought it was before he was aware enough to realize that someone's head was resting on his shoulder, impeding his progress. He caught himself and stopped, but by then it was too late. Uzume moaned quietly as she readjusted and slid over him until most of her upper body lay across his chest, yawned, then relaxed and sighed as she became silent once more.

He managed to fight off a blush as his mind idly drifted back to the events that had brought her into his room in the first place. With a slip that some people proclaimed was a teddy and at that angle and position where she was resting her head there was no way for him to avoid catching the swell of her one of her impressive breasts on his chest in his line of vision. He sighed as he tilted his head towards his wall, somewhat reluctantly away from her feminine wiles as he continued to wake up. He gulped as he thought about those very same feminine wiles that he nearly succumbed to last night.

He finally admitted it to both Uzume and himself last night. He liked the girl who laid content on him and in his left arm. It surprised him, but at the same time he found that he really couldn't say that he was shocked.

All the weekends that he had spent in that boarding house with her had made their impact.

His eyes narrowed slightly as another thought penetrated his head and he sucked in a breath. This was *not* Maizon Izumo, and his usual alarm clock had yet to make *his* appearance. He rose slightly, more awake now and bringing the sekirei sleeping on his chest to stir slightly.

"Hm?" Uzume let out drowsily, her head lifting slightly. "Is it morning already?"

Ichigo smirked. "Ah. It's morning," he confirmed for her as his eyes then looked around his room as best he could from his angle.

"That's nice..." she said softly, smiling with her eyes still closed. "Now lay back down for me pillow man, I'm not ready for the world yet," she breathed as she snuggled back into his chest.

Ichigo briefly looked around again and sighed, almost completely awake now. He flicked his eyes to the window - shades closed, no draft, still a possibility of his old man using it for an entrance.

Not that that minor detail would stop him but...

"Look, I know you want to sleep in but its not a good idea right now."

"Don't be silly," she lazily got out. "It's a great idea. Now lay down."

"Uzume," Ichigo stressed her name. "I told you my pops is psycho, remember? He could be here any second, and I really, really do not want to give him any fodder to work with..."

"He's not crazy, he's awesome," Uzume commented. "Now go back to sleep."

"Uzume," he said again. "I've lived with that man for eighteen years. Trust me, he's crazy. Nearly everyday since I was fourteen has been started with some kind of crazy attack. I would rather us be out of sight all-together when that happens."

"You're so silly," Uzume yawned out as her eyes opened. She pouted cutely as she looked up at him. "But now I'm awake before I was ready. Thanks a lot."

"I'll make it up to you somehow," he said, moving his head back and forth and then suddenly turning up to monitor the ceiling. Renji and the others used that once...

"Here's a thought," Uzume began as she brought a hand to his face to tilt back down away from the ceiling, why she couldn't get, and back to her. Ichigo blinked as Uzume smirked slightly at him, "How's about you make it up to me right now?"

"How-," was all he got out until Uzume moved herself upward and kissed him tenderly.

For a few seconds Ichigo lost himself as his tongue played with hers, blinking as she pulled away, smiling at him. He was about to smile back when his mind registered the dimming lights from her wings, reminding him of what she was and were they were at as he suddenly went rigid as he sat up, looking around again far more intently this time now that he had the room to.

Her smile turned into a confused frown as she propped her head up on an elbow, watching him. "Ok, what's up with you really?"

"I'm not joking with you, Uzume. My old man is bound to show up sooner or later."

That was when her frown turned into a deadpan look and her eyes became half lidded as she gazed at him, "You can't be serious."

"The windows have been replaced four times, we've spackled the wall eight times and re-coated it six times," Ichigo mumbled as he began to list, scratching his head and looking around, remembering all those past instances and how they occurred.

Uzume sighed and closed her eyes. "Look if you don't wanna make out with me, you could've just said so."

"Making out with you is much more fun than having to...," Ichigo trailed off, his face turning a hard red as he realized what he said. "Come on," he said stiffly, now getting out from under the blanket and off the bed.

"Better to head out now and cut him off," he proclaimed, going to his closet to look for clothes.

"What was that?" Uzume asked, grinning at his expression and leering at his waistline.

"Nothing, let's go," he said quickly, ignoring her gaze and putting an arm through a shirt as he kept a ready air about him.

"Not until you finish what you were about to say!" Uzume pouted, sitting up now on his bed indian style, the blanket they had both been under now pulled halfway off the bed, and not bothering to pull up a strap that had fallen precariously low off her shoulder.

He quickly skimmed off his sweatpants and literally hopped into his jeans, zipping them up quickly. "I'll let you get changed and head off pops in case he's already waiting up here!" he finished and went for the door.

"Get back her you!" Uzume growled, reaching out to him before crossing her arms under her breasts as the door shut behind him. "Oh, that Ichigo..." she began as she glared at the door. "He is such a tease!"

And thus, another morning in the Kurosaki household came to a glorious beginning.

Outside his room with his door behind him, Ichigo sighed in relief as he felt his heartbeat slowdown to a reasonable rate and the blood fade from his cheeks. Truly, it was a stroke of luck that he had managed to get out of that situation before his idiot pops managed to launch his usual sneak attack. Honestly the last thing he needed was to give that man-child any more ammo to use against him in his war to completely embarrass him.

At that, he turned his head and looked across the hallway cautiously, making sure that the fool wasn't hiding out here waiting for him to be alone. It would figure he'd be trying to put on his best face for Uzume to make him look like a idiot. A feat that if going by the sekirei's reaction in his room was kind of successful. He frowned as he grabbed his jeans waistline and re-adjusted himself. There was something else she had proven successful in doing this morning as well.

After a few minutes of silence Ichigo slowly began to be fully convinced that his father was not about to jump out of one of the bedrooms and launch an idiotic attack before came down the stairs. The smells of a western breakfast wafted towards his nostrils as he made his way to and descended the stairwell. When he entered the living area, he was greeted with an odd sight.

Yuzu was in the kitchen, cooking yet another delicious meal. And Karin was sitting, waiting at her usual spot that much he could see. Nothing out of the ordinary there. It was the other person sitting that was so damn disturbing.

Isshin was sitting at the table, reading a newspaper and wearing... were those reading glasses? And was that a pipe in his mouth? What the hell?

Ichigo gave Karin a glance who shrugged helplessly before extending two fingers to her side nonchalantly and poking at the empty space.

"Ah," Cried Isshin as he noticed Ichigo standing in the stairway. "Good morning, Ichigo! How are you this fine spring morning?"

Ichigo gave Isshin a flat look as his father folded up the newspaper, "...Ok who are you and what have you done with my pops?"

Isshin simply chuckled, "Oh my son you are quite the comedian aren't you?"

Ichigo continued to stare at him as he cautiously took his seat. Idly wondering if he had stepped into a parallel universe and this was Evil Isshin or something. That would probably be an improvement... "Whatever," he grunted finally. "You mind telling me what you're up to with this getup?"

"This getup?" Isshin blinked in confusion. "Why whatever do you mean my son? This is my traditional morning attire. Was your night with Uzume-chan too rough son?"

At the stove, Yuzu ground her teeth and glared at the skillet in her hand at the mention of the new girl in her brother's life. "His room," she muttered quietly. ."..She was in his room... doing... doing..."

Karin looked at her twin sister muttering in the kitchen and palmed her face. Oh this was the promising start to a glorious day, that was certain.

Ichigo, naturally, did not notice as he looked at his father with suspicion clear in his eyes. "Y'know I'm not even gonna dignify that question with a response."

"And what is with this hostility my son?" Isshin gasped in saddened surprise. "And after all the trouble I went through to ensure you two were not to be disturbed this morning!"

At the stove Yuzu blinked.

Pause.

"What." Ichigo flatly responded.

Isshin shook his head sadly. "Yes, seeing as you two will soon be married and all, I thought it only right that you two got used to your regular routine in the morning. So I, as you honorable and loving father, decided to let you two newlyweds have a private morning. Honestly, I'm quite surprised to see you up as early as you are."

"What." Ichigo repeated.

"She was in his room...doing this and that... but my brother can't... he wouldn't... not with that... that..." Yuzu muttered angrily as her grip on the skillet grew all the tighter.

Karin poked another persistent spirit aside as she glanced at her seemingly shell shocked brother. Yep, this day was already off to a glorious start.

"Good morning!" chirped Uzume as she appeared down the stairs and into the kitchen. She was dressed in a long sleeve black top and a pair of blue jeans as she smiled sunnily at the Kurosaki clan.

Isshin smiled, "Good morning Uzume-chan!"

"What." Ichigo responded again as he continued to stare at this man who somewhat looked like his father, but was now officially his evil alter world counterpart. That was the only reasonable explanation to this madness.

Uzume blinked puzzled as she looked at her Ashikabi and then looked at Isshin, "Something wrong with Ichigo, papa?"

Ichigo gurked at Uzume's question. Isshin shrugged, "That I cannot say my daughter." Isshin brought a hand to his chin and tilted his head. "He has been acting rather peculiar this morning. Did you two do something to affect his memory last night?"

Unseen, Yuzu clenched her fists.

Uzume sighed as she hung her head sadly, "No. I still couldn't get Ichigo to ravish me, papa."

Karin pressed her lips together as Yuzu relaxed slightly at the sekirei's words of disappointment. Damn, it was tough being the sane one in this house. Isshin meanwhile, gave Ichigo a disseminated look as he rolled up his newspaper and bopped his son over his shell shocked head.

Ichigo blinked at the sensation, "What the hell was that for?"

"Oh my son!" Isshin sighed dramatically, "I cannot believe the shame and dishonor you have brought upon the Kurosaki name!"

"Well I did learn from the best," He dryly replied.

"This is no time for such sarcasm, Ichigo!" Isshin responded. "To leave your fiancée so... so unfulfilled... it is not just a stain of shame on our clan, but a stain of shame to men in general!"

Ichigo groaned as he palmed his face, "You know what? Screw it, I give up trying to make sense of this situation."

"He's right you know," Uzume grinned coyly as she turned towards him. "It's not nice to leave me hanging like you did." She turned back to Isshin and gave the Kurosaki patriarch a mock look of hurt, "Did you know he tried to use you as an excuse to not stay in bed with me?"

Isshin gasped and turned on his son, "How... how horrible! What kind of a man uses his own father as a scapegoat for avoiding his woman?"

Ichigo and Karin just gave their father a flat stare in response.

Uzume rose from her seat and patted the man's shoulder comfortingly, "There, there papa. It's not his fault, he's just shy."

Isshin clasped Uzume's hand and looked up at the Sekirei, a tearful look mixed with hope and anticipation. "Oh my daughter! You... you are far too good for my son." Clutching his forearm to his face, he futilely held back a stream of manly tears, "I knew I was right to entrust my foolish son to you!"

Ichigo groaned as Uzume smiled at Isshin reassuringly, "I can't believe she's buying this." he muttered.

Karin sighed as she poked another stray spirit aside, "I can't believe how far goat-chin's willing to go for this deception. Especially since it's your graduation day and all."

Ichigo blinked and groaned anew as he looked for the clock, "Ah damn, I can't believe I almost forgot about that." He ran a hand through his hair as he confirmed the time. "Still got an hour and a half or so before the thing starts though."

Uzume and Isshin turned back to Ichigo, "An hour and a half?," Uzume cried with a bright smile on her face.

Ichigo looked up at them and frowned deeply, "...Get that look off your face right now."

"Papa." Uzume began, ignoring her Ashikabi.

"Yes, my daughter?" Isshin asked.

"How long would it take for all of us to get to Ichigo's school?"

"Long enough for you to make a man out of him and get a shower," Isshin answered. "I give you my blessing daughter!"

"Thank you papa!" Uzume chirped as she reached for Ichigo's arm.

-THWOCK-

The group at the table stared blankly at the spatula that had embedded itself vertically into the table inches from Uzume's hand. Slowly, the family turned to find Yuzu smiling pleasantly at the group, but with a tight grip upon the frying pan. "You shouldn't play at the table like that," Yuzu spoke as calmly as she could. Almost as if she was holding herself back for some reason. "Not on such an important day in Ichi-nii's life."

Isshin, Uzume and Karin just nodded dumbly while Ichigo just sat there in an almost catatonic state.

"Sorry," Uzume mewed, backing up.

Yuzu didn't acknowledge the apology as she briskly walked to the spatula. "Breakfast will be ready soon," she spat. "I would suggest that you all sit quietly and wait for it to be finished, ok?"

The assembled group nodded dumbly as Yuzu pulled out the spatula and went back to finishing the meal.

"Your little sister reminds me of Miya," Uzume whispered to Ichigo as she re-took her seat.

"I can see how," he answered as he continued to eye his little sister oddly, wondering when his youngest sibling had become so radically different. He sighed, "It's too early for this."

In the kitchen, Yuzu simply smiled as she continued to put the finishing touches on the pancakes in the skillet. There was nothing more satisfying than letting a rival know her place in the hierarchy after all.

---

Back to Teito...

VA-WOOSH-

With that, Minato washed his hands and dried them as he exited the washroom and stretched, yawning as his right arm went out and his left curl up behind his head. He let off a bit of a shudder as he relaxed and shut the door behind him.

He blinked as thoughts of last nights dream came to fore once more. Again with that girl. Who was she? And why was she in trouble? He began to walk down the hall to the dining room to bid the landlady welcome when a thud and cry came forth.

'That sounded like…' he thought in realization as he rushed to the open engawa.

And his mouth dropped open as he stared at the scene before him.

Musubi was practicably invading his landlord's personal space, her eyes blazing with admiration and intensity as she clutched her hands into fists. "Landlady-san! That was amazing! Would you spar with me?"

'Spar?' Minato thought for a second before he paled as he remembered what sparing meant. 'Oh no!'

Miya simply giggled at Musubi's enthusiasm. "I don't see why not. It would make for a wonderful exercise before breakfast wouldn't you agree?"

"Yes!" Musubi nodded as she took up a stance. "Please take care of me!"

'Oh no' Minato thought. 'This is bad! Bad, bad, bad, baaaaaaaaaad! Miya-san's a normal human! Musubi-chan'll kill her by accident!'

"Yes," Miya said as she smiled pleasantly. "And I would ask the same of you."

'I have to do something!' Minato though as his mind raced in panic. 'I can't be an accessory to accidental homicide! I haven't even made it into a decent school yet!' Noting Musubi's feet as the planted firmly into the ground, his mind quickly reached a conclusion. 'No time! I gotta risk it!'

"I'm ready!" Musubi shouted.

"Come," Miya called, taking her stance.

And go forth Minato did. With a speed that surprised himself and the two who were about to spar both turned with surprised eyes to see him charging towards Musubi. "Minat-aah!" Musubi gasped as Minato tackled her from the side. Both landed with a thud, a small cloud of dust rising from the area of their impact.

Miya blinked, still in her stance as she looked at where the two had landed.

"Minato-sama~," Musubi mewled.

Minato blinked, thinking how much that fall didn't hurt, and that it was like he had been cushio...oh no... He gulped, as he realized that yes, two soft mounds had indeed cushioned his fall, and that he was still 'buried' within them. "Uh..."

"Minato-san?," a chilly voice called out.

With a chill running up his back, he stiffly rose to a crouching position and turned, eyes wide at what he knew would be there. "Y-y-yes?"

"While I am fully aware of the fact that you are a new resident," Miya began in a sweet tone that could not mask the malice behind it. "Besides violence I will not tolerate lewd behavior out of my residents. Are we clear?"

"Y-Y-Yes ma'am!" Minato squeaked. "I'm sorry! I was just... I was just..."

"Minato-sama," Musubi cut in. "Did you slip on something?"

Minato blinked and turned back to Musubi, "Huh?"

"Well I thought you might have wanted to spar with us too, but you slipped and fell on the grass or something."

"Uh, no." Minato shook his head negative. "I was trying to keep you and the landlady from fighting."

Musubi blinked in confusion, "Huh? But why?"

"Musubi," he whispered. "She's just a normal human, you could hurt her!"

"But she's so strong!" Musubi countered. "I bet she could take it!"

"Musubi, no," he whispered a bit firmly, eyes turning to see Miya watching them in confusion. He turned them back to Musubi. "Please Musubi, don't."

Musubi pouted but nodded as she relented, "Alright Minato-sama."

Minato let out a sigh of relief at her answer. "Are you two done having your private meeting?" Miya asked. "I would like to return to our spar please."

"Oh there's no need for that," Minato smiled pleasantly as he got up to his feet. "Musubi-chan's changed her mind, right?"

Musubi nodded as Minato offered up his hand to her, "Yes Landlady-san. I'm sorry."

"Oh," she asked, surprised. "Why-ever for?"

"Because Minato-sama asked me not to," she answered.

She turned to look at Minato, mystified. "Is there a problem?"

"Ah no," he lied. "It's just that... well... it would be bad to fight on an empty stomach right?"

And at that moment...

-BUURRrrrUUURRuuuRRR-

Both turned to look at Musubi.

"Ehehehe," Musubi blushed and bonked her head in an embarrassed gesture. "Well I haven't had breakfast yet."

And with that Miya brought a hand to her mouth and giggled. "Don't worry, I'll have breakfast ready shortly then." And with that, she changed the grip on her sword as she turned to head back into the inn. "If you'll excuse me, I'll get started on it," she said, walking in.

Minato sighed in relief as she walked away from them. 'Barely dodged that bullet.' he thought.

"And after breakfast, we can have that sparring match." Miya chirped before she disappeared.

"Really?" Musubi cried as her eyes sparkled in excitement.

'Oh crap,' Minato thought. 'Looks like someone had another barrel.'

---

After such an eventful breakfast Ichigo was, for once, not frowning as he descended the stairs. A contemplative look instead graced his features as he lightly dusted off his graduation outfit. The outfit was styled like his usual school clothes but where the outfit was gray and drab, this outfit was a dark navy blue color with gold trim along the hem. He sighed as he made his way to the living room area and sat down on the couch, and his thoughts too on an introspective tone.

'So this is it,' he thought as he closed his eyes and clasped his hands in front of his face. He took in a deep breath and sighed, 'It's finally here.'

A shiver passed through him as the weight of this day finally hit him. Three years. This day had been three years in the making, and the road to this day was nothing along the lines of what he expected.

Should he be happy? Nervous? Freaking out of his gourd? He wasn't sure. It wasn't like Soul Society or his final showdown with that god wannabee Aizen. This was the official close of a chapter in his life, and the making of a new one.

Still, in the year that had flown by since that Winter War... it seemed as though mere days had passed in comparison. From the dull doldrums that had been his day to day routine of study, swindling school teams for money using his super human talents and chilling with the others. Peace had come and he was stuck in the unenviable position of what now? What does the man who saved the world do with the rest of his life?

Little did he realize that he'd find that answer at the start of winter.

He sighed. If the months after the battle with Aizen were a dull have, then the three months after meeting Uzume could be described as a whirlwind. It was so much more than he'd bargained for when he protected her from those S&M Sekirei girls. And that wasn't the scariest part of it.

In those three months since he met Uzume, and despite all logic, one thing was growing all the more apparent. He liked Uzume. Indeed, his feelings for her were growing stronger by the day it seemed. It was getting harder and harder to not have the sekirei girl not enter his thoughts when he was alone, and although he'd left her behind at Izumo on that day, he always made time to see her. And was moving into that boarding house to be near her as well as schooling.

Still... was what he was feeling for the girl real?

He groaned as a bead of sweat dripped from his head at last night's little rendezvous replayed in his head. She was so close he could smell her, and odd fragrance of jasmine and remembered the feel of her lips on his. A taste of honey and strawberries that sent his senses ablaze. And the air she exuberated... if he were a weaker willed man she would have had her 'wedding night' several times over.

But then... what if his feelings for her were caused by their bond? What if it was simply accelerating things far faster than if they had met under normal circumstances and she was a human? How could he be sure that what he was feeling for the girl was real and not fake? And what if...

What if he was just looking for an excuse to deny what he really felt?

In any case, it wouldn't be fair to Uzume to do... 'Those' things until he was sure what he felt for her. Despite the parts of him that screamed at him to claim her as his. Until he knew for sure, he couldn't go that far. It would just be taking advantage of the girl and she didn't deserve that.

But that wouldn't extend to making out. He was disciplined, but had his own needs too dammit!

And speaking of making out...

He frowned once more as he remembered his morning start, and how his idiot old man had ruined it by doing the opposite of what he expected him to do. Just what the hell was that old coot up to? Outside of that deceleration of Uzume as his fourth daughter and him allowing Uzume to sleep with him in the first place he had almost been a normal father in many regards.

Clearly the man was up to no good.

The question was what did that idiot have to gain by acting this way? So far all it had done was make Uzume think he was being silly to the point of stretching out a gag. To say nothing of the ruined early morning make out. Still, whatever the old man was up to he'd reveal it before long. Isshin was many things, but a schemer wasn't one of them. Before he left, that idiot would tip his hand and then Uzume would see what he was talking about.

And then he could deck him properly one last time.

"Ichi-nii!"

Ichigo blinked as he heard Yuzu's voice calling from the stairwell. Turning he found his younger sisters descending from above, dressed in kimonos. Yuzu in a light yellow kimono and Karin in a darker shade of blue for her own kimono.

Yuzu giggled as she walked towards Ichigo, twirling slightly as stood in front of her elder brother. "How do I look Ichi-nii?"

Ichigo looked up at his youngest sibling for a second before his eyes went downcast, "Looks ok I guess." he mumbled.

Yuzu frowned at her eldest sibling, "You guess?" Off to the side Karin smirked. Ichigo continued to look down as Yuzu crossed her arms and pouted, "What do you mean by that Ichi-nii?" Ichigo did not respond, still lost in thought.

Yuzu's frown just deepened as she walked up and mushed Ichigo's cheeks together, "Gaah! Whub da heck?" Ichigo asked in surprise.

She would have continued had she not been yanked from behind. "Down," her sister said rolling her eyes as Yuzu glared at her and shrugged to break Karin's hold.

"Lemmie go Karin-chan!" Yuzu commanded. "He still hasn't explained himself!"

Ichigo rubbed his sore cheeks as he eyed his struggling sister oddly, "Is she all right?"

"Explained what?" she responded.

"What he meant when he said 'I guess'!" Yuzu responded. She turned and glared slightly at Ichigo, "Do I have to break out the spatula or do I have your attention now?"

"Uhhh..." Ichigo paused slightly and looked at Karin, "What?"

"She just wants attention," Karin explained.

"Karin-chan!" Yuzu cried. "You're not helping!"

"Of course I'm helping," Karin answered as she pulled her twin sister into the kitchen. "I'm making sure you don't make a bigger doofus outta yourself than usual."

"I don't want your help! I want answers dang it!" Yuzu cried in response.

"Of course you do," Karin continued in a patronizing tone. "I'm sure there's a clue over in the pantry."

"You're going on my list Karin-chan!" Yuzu threatened.

"I'm shaking I'm sure."

Ichigo sighed as Karin continued to pull the over acting Yuzu away. "What the hell was that about?" he muttered as he combed a hand through his hair. He shrugged and put the antics of his sisters aside for the moment. There was still the not-so-little matter of his father's idiotic schemes that he had yet to uncover.

What game was that idiot running now? It couldn't be something complex; he wasn't going to be there that long after all. They were leaving tomorrow afternoon, so he had enough time to uncover that idiot's ruse. The question now was what did his dad have to gain from this plot? What would make the most sense for that dope to act like a slightly goofy but reasonable human being?

"Or maybe his whole game is to get into my head," he muttered. After a moment he snorted at that thought, "As if it really was that simple."

"IIIIIIIIII-"

Ichigo blinked and looked up, his line of vision paralyzed for a brief moment at what he saw.

"CHIIIIIIII-"

Yuzu was in the middle of twisting and twirling her way out of the kitchen area, a bright smile on her face. He could only watch in numbed silence as Yuzu continued to go through her routine, stopping only for brief moments to make a silly pose that she thought was cute.

"NII!" she cried out as she finished. Settling on a pose with her bent over slightly and giving Ichigo a sunny smile. She had her right hand in a sideways V over her eye as she winked at her elder brother.

Ichigo blinked as she continued to stand there, her open eye looking at him expectantly, "Uhh...What are you doing?"

Yuzu twitched slightly but ignored Ichigo's question to ask her own, "How do I look Ichi-nii?"

Ichigo blinked. "You look fine, Yuzu."

Yuzu grin grew as she moved out of the pose, a faint blush on her cheeks. "No need to guess anymore huh?"

"I still have no clue to what you're talking about." Ichigo responded.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Yuzu growled as Uzume's voice came from above the stairwell. Her frown only deepened as she made her way down and she caught a glimpse of what she was wearing. It was a slightly dark blue cocktail dress that went slightly past her knees. From slightly in between her sizable bust until the end of the dress, gold sequins flared out in a 'V' shape, with the collar a matching tinge. Her frown turned into a scowl that would make her brother proud as she noticed the dress tried and failed miserably to downplay the swell of her breasts.

'Tramp,' she thought as she unconsciously patted her own developing chest.

"Eh heh," Uzume chucked in slight embarrassment. "So... um... how do I look Ichigo?"

Yuzu turned back to the man in the center of the storm, as it were, hoping beyond any reasonable hope that this would be the straw that broke the camel's back. That he'd finally see this tram for the interloper that she was and kick her to the curb but good. Heck, for him to treat Uzume as he did her earlier would be a welcomed sight.

It was all she could do to keep from crying as his eyes were drawn to her. Darn it all, what sway did this demon woman hold over her Ichi-nii!

Unaware of his younger sister's dilemma, Ichigo continued to stare agape at his sekirei's choice of wear. "Um... wow," he managed to get out. "Where..." he let out a small embarrassed chuckle before he continued, "Where did you get that outfit?"

"Bought it in between your visits," she said, drinking in his gaze with a smile before looking down to pat it and push it a bit to give Ichigo a slightly better look. "I had wanted to wear it on one of our dates but we never did get to go out that last time."

Unseen, Yuzu growled as she shot daggers at Uzume's side.

"Uh huh," Ichigo mumbled. A little louder he asked, "And just where did you think we would've gone to dress like... that?" He gestured at her dress for emphasis.

"I have a few resources that I can use. And a few favors," she grinned, thinking of Kagari.

"Ah," Ichigo nodded. "Did those favors pay for that dress too?"

She gave him a mock look of surprise and brought a hand to her chest theatrically. "Why Ichigo, why ever would you think that?"

"Why indeed?" he asked in a deadpan tone as his father came down the stairs.

"Oh my goodness," Isshin gasped as he caught sight of Uzume. "Well aren't you the spitting image of radiance, my new daughter?"

Uzume giggled as Isshin took a hand and kissed the back of it gently. "Why thank you papa."

"My pleasure my child," Isshin responded. Missing the daggers his youngest child was now delivering to him, he smiled at his son, "It does a father proud to see his son's fiancé take care to dress well enough to celebrate such a momentous event in his life."

Ichigo just frowned at his father as he rose from his seat, "Yuh huh. So we all ready to go or what?"

"All ready and accounted for Ichi-nii," Karin responded as she came out of the kitchen area and took her place near Yuzu. Yuzu frowned as her twin took hold of her obi and gave her an amused look, "Down girl."

"You are totally on my list Karin-chan." Yuzu growled.

"I'll be sure to quake in fear when the ceremony's over," her sister retorted.

Ichigo just sighed again as his sekirei took his right arm. "So this is how we start my last day as a high schooler."

"Look at it this way Ichigo," Uzume paused to kiss her Ashikabi's cheek. Ichigo blushed slightly while Yuzu stared in stunned silence at the display of affection. "It can only get better from here."

"K-K-K-K-K-Ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-ki-" Was all Yuzu could say at what she had witnessed.

"Oh great, now she's broken," Karin sighed. "This is gonna be a long day isn't it?"

---

Kurosawa sighed and laid his head back onto the leather seat, letting the head rest cool the back of his neck as he tilted it to the side.

"They're still in there?," he grumbled.

"Yup," Jiro mentioned, taking another bite out his breakfast before quickly taking another look through his binoculars.

Kurosawa sighed louder this time, bored out of his skull. "Somehow... I don't think this kid's gonna be any type of threat. All it seems is that he brought Number Ten to visit and that's it."

"I agree with ya, the higher ups are pissing themselves over nothing," Jiro mentioned, finishing up his food and cleaning his hands before resuming his vigil.

Kurosawa rolled his eyes and turned his head forward, gazing out of the windshield but looking at nothing in particular. "Maybe I did get drunk enough to forget this boring as hell mission."

"You say something," Jiro asked, quickly twisting his head to Kurosawa before quickly turning back.

Kurosawa turned back to him and snorted as he saw the wrappings and napkins haphazardly strewn on the floor. "Nothing a tub like you needs to be bothered with," he growled out.

"How nice to know I get a side of asshole to go with my coffee."

"Fuck off, you know how I am with mornings." Kurosawa groaned.

"I hear ya," Jiro commented. "But were on the clock, no matter how shitty it is."

"Hasn't stopped you from stuffing your face while I'll just end up doing the heavy lifting."

"I ain't just a non-fucking-morning person but I'm an asshole too," Jiro muttered quietly.

"You say somethin'?"

"Just how lucky I've been being partnered with you"

Kurosawa snorted out something that could be vaguely perceived as "Yeah, right" before things quieted down again.

After several minutes the clinic doors slid open and the group came out.

"Finally," Kurosawa muttered as both henchmen turned to see Isshin lock up before heading to the car. As the doctor opened the car for the twins he yelled out something that he couldn't make out, but from behind the corner, likely where the home entrance was, two figures came into view and both men narrowed their eyes and sat straighter as their targets came into view.

With that, they also entered the car, the carrot topped boy riding shotgun and his busty Sekirei in the back with the girls. After a moment the car pulled back and drove off.

"And that's our cue," Kurosawa mentioned, feeling vaguely better he turned the keys and felt the engine come to life. To his side Jiro quickly sat correctly in his seat and buckled up.

"Well what are we waiting for?"

Kurosawa snorted as the van began to move and grinned, happy to be doing something. "Oh, now were all energized? I wouldn't have figured with you stuffing your face?"

"Shut up and get moving or I'll eat your share too."

Kurosawa grinned at that as he switched gears and pushed on the pedal, the van now shooting a bit after its prey.

---

Later that afternoon, sunlight streamed down onto the rapidly-warming grounds of Karukata High School amidst the sounds of assembled Underclassmen wishing their graduated Sempai the best in their futures or those same graduated students being congratulated by their parents for the very same achievements. Today was the final day that these gathered students would be children nestled in their parent's bosom and would begin their journey into adulthood.

"I DID IT!"

And one student was celebrating it harder than many others.

Crouching in the courtyard of Karukata with a grin that was full of joy and accomplishment, Asano Keigo looked at the diploma in his hands. Vindicated proof that he had accomplished his dream. To cruse through high school with as little effort as possible. And thankfully his parents did not have high hopes, so they were easily impressed. And he even managed to get into a college!

True, it wasn't the most prestigious school in the world; at least it was close to home. So he didn't have to leave home at all to go to school! Now he saved money and packing time! It was truly a wonderful time, despite his parent's clear efforts to keep the joy from their faces when he revealed this little tidbit to them. It was almost a pity that Mizuho was in Teito for college and couldn't come to his crowning moment of greatness.

The key word there being almost.

Not like he missed her as she was probably still in her place in Teito plotting another hunt for that Ikkaku dude. Good thing he was in that Soul Society place and there was no chance he was coming back anytime soon praise all that was holy. Bad enough to see that crazy bastard fight, he shuddered to thin what might happen if Mizuho got her way and Ikkaku was his brother-in-law or something equally life threatening. He quickly turned his thoughts to something pleasant, like his living arrangements.

Besides, so what if he was gonna be staying there for another four years? It's not like they needed any privacy anymore right? Besides, they were clearly proud that they had raised such a fiscally aware son if his dad's scream of joy was anything to go by.

He sighed as he put his diploma back into it's container. There was still one thing he was missing to make this day the epitome of perfection, and even now as he neared the precipice of manhood, he still could not reach it. That elusive goal that many a man seeks throughout his life.

A sweet piece of tail. That elusive creature that was simply known throughout the world as woman. Even now, a successful high school graduate and college man, he was unable to procure himself a woman so awesome that it made all other men feel insufficient. A woman so beautiful she made other girls feel like hags. And a woman so horny she'd break his pelvis by accident.

Yeah, it'd hurt. But at least it'd be the good kind of hurt.

"Oh well," he sighed as he bid the eternal dream good night for now. "At least I can bug Ichigo one last time!"

And with that though in mind he grinned mischievously as he set off toward the courtyard. His quest to annoy his sullen friend one last time officially underway.

---

Chizuru walked onward, dazed.

'It's over. It's really over...'

Wordlessly and subconsciously she weaved and moved out of the way of her fellow graduates leaving the auditorium, many smiles and tears passing by.

Her head turned downwards, to her hands holding the beige colored metal storage tube that contained her Certificate of Graduation and held it close, tightening her grip again, the tangible proof of her accomplishment in her hands. She took another calming breath when some soft wails caught her ear.

She turned her head to see two girls weeping in each others arms, friends saying goodbye for maybe the last time.

'Me too...', she thought, her thoughts turning bleak, knowing her own situation.

She missed her first and second choices for college but got her third. The third however, came with both a good and bad situation.

The good was that she had family in the area who had enough room to allow her to stay with and not spend her tuition money on apartments or other costly living arrangements.

The bad was that it was up north in Nagano, and pretty much all that really mattered were still going to be nearby here somewhere in Tokyo.

'Hime-chan', she thought despondently. To be nowhere near the light and love of her life for the last three years. To no longer see her cute face, to no longer hear her melodic voice talk about her strange concoctions, to no longer seeing her wonderful mammaries in motion.

She sniffled at the unfairness of it all.

But...

But there was still one last chance.

One final chance to go for a long distance relationship that she'd gladly pull her tuition money for, for what is more important than love!

"Chizuru-chan!"

She gasped, shocked and nearly jumping in place.

"Hi-Hime-chan!"

"Isn't it wonderful? We've both graduated!"

"Yes," she agreed, holding up a strong front and pumped a fist. "We did! Hime-chan?" she then said in concern.

"I...I hear you're going north, and we may not see each other again."

Chizuru gave her a wan smile and tilted her head. "Y-yeah," she confirmed.

"Will... will we ever see each other again?" her Hime-chan asked hopefully.

"I... I don't know, but... Hime-chan?"

"Yes?"

"I-I have something I want to say to you," she said, taking one hand off the tube and holding it to her heart.

"What is it, Chizuru-chan?"

"You see Hime, I... I love you," she said softly, and Orihime gasped.

"Chi-Chizuru-chan!"

"Yes, Hime, I love you."

Orihime turned, blushing cutely and holding a bent hand to her face, peeking at her and turning, making Chizuru's heart melt.

"Chizuru-chan?" she asked uncertainly.

"Yes?"

"I...I love you, too!" she then said.

"Wha-what?" Tatsuki whispered, as if in shock.

Breathing hard, Chizuru noticed another hand outstretched with hers, having used their own storage tube to hit Tatsuki in a double attack.

"Hime-chan?," she whispered in shock, for both she and Orihime moved in tandem to strike back at that angry bitch.

Orihime smiled at her before standing up.

"Tatsuki-chan! That was a very bad thing to do," she said firmly, waving a disappointing finger at her.

"Orihime, but..."

"No, Tatsuki-chan, you can no longer stay in the way of love,," she proclaimed, taking Chizuru's hand.

"Hi-Hime-chan," Chizuru gasped happily, her heart beating fast as her Princess turned to smile at her before taking her into an embrace.

"We'll never part," Orihime said, eyes glistening.

"Never," Chizuru proclaimed, loving the feeling of being pressed against her. Oh, what they were going to do tonight. "I love you, Hime."

"And I love you, Chizuru-chan."

With that, they leaned into each other, lips opening, ever closer to-

-KA-THUNK!-

Chizuru paused for a moment as her forehead began to throb. After a moment, she fell to the ground unceremoniously. Rubbing the growing bump on her forehead, she whimpered in pain.

"Owwww..." came a lower toned voice that she identified as male. "Damnit why don't you watch where I'm going?"

"What?" she growled. "You got some nerve guy! Bumping into me just as my dream was getting to the good part!"

The male voice let out a sigh in resignation at her complaint, "Lemmie guess. Inoue-san just helped you stomp Tatsuki and was declaring her undying love for you?"

"Geh,' Chizuru gasped, holding a hand up and leaning back. "How did you know?"

"Because," Keigo sighed as he stood up and rubbed his own tender bump softly. He offered his hand to Chizuru to help the bespectacled girl up to her feet, "You've been having the same damn daydream for the last three years."

Chizuru let out an annoyed noise as she took the offered hand, "If you know how my daydreams go, then the least you could do is not bump into me and interrupt them!"

"So sorry," Keigo replied sarcastically. "So, where you goin' after all this is done?"

"Why's it matter to you?"

Keigo shrugged, "Just nosy I guess. C'mon humor me here. One last time at least?"

She sighed. "Nagano. Its up in Nagano, happy?"

Keigo whistled, "Damn, that far huh? You said goodbye to Inoue yet?"

"No," she said disappointed.

"Ah," he nodded. "Well, I was on my way to find Ichigo to bug him one last time. And I betcha Inoue'll be near him if I know her as well as I think I do." He nodded his head towards the courtyard, "Wanna come?"

Her lips became a long line as she growled a bit at the name. She actually did like Ichigo, not in the like-like bit of course, but she was grateful for what he did and that he saved her Hime-chan. But dammit why did her Hime-chan have to like *him*. "Sure," she responded evenly with a grimace.

"Oh don't be like that," Keigo grinned. "While I'm busy playing with Ichigo, I bet you could get some time in with Inoue-san!"

"That's true," she conceded before her face dropping, knowing that not only will Hime-chan be hovering over Kurosaki but *she'll* be there too.

Keigo blinked at her sullen look, "What no- oh Tatsuki." He sighed again as she nodded. "Well, ya never know, you might get lucky and she's too busy with her parents or something to be with Orihime at the moment. Right?"

"Right," she said, not really believing it. Bitch had radar or something locked in on her.

"That's the sprit!" he grinned as he turned towards the courtyard. "All right, Operation: Annoy Ichigo is on!" And froze dead in his tracks as he saw...

HER.

Chizuru blinked as Keigo was standing like a statue, "Keigo?" she asked. "What's up with yo-" and her question died upon her lips as she too spotted...

HER.

'Oh damn,' they thought simultaneously as they spotted this vision of loveliness in the middle of the courtyard. They eyed this unfamiliar woman standing before them as if she were a cool drink of water in the Sahara desert. This was no mere girl that stood before them.

'Those hips..." Chizuru thought lecherously

'Those legs...' Keigo all but cried to the heavens in thought.

'That face,' Chizuru noted.

Them thighs," Keigo all but drooled.

'And THOSE BOOBS!' they simultaneously thought as they noticed the lovely pair of melons.

'I must have her,' they thought. 'I gotta get rid of this doofus, and then...'

"She be mine," the spoke simultaneously. Blinking they turned and looked at each other suspiciously.

"What'd you say?" Keigo asked.

"What'd YOU say?" Chizuru asked back.

"I said I saw her first!" Keigo shouted.

"And I say tough tits, she's mine!" Chizuru retorted.

"And what about Inoue?" he asked.

"It doesn't change a thing!," she retorted. "I will have them both!," she murmured, drooling.

"Not if I get there first!" he cried as he charged towards this mystery woman.

"Ah!" she cried and gave chase, " Hold it you dirty cheater! Ladies first!"

"Only if you beat me, four eyes!" he taunted.

A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by the supersonic flight of an aircraft. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion. The crack of a supersonic bullet passing overhead is an example of a sonic boom in miniature.

What does that have to do with anything you may ask? The answer is simple dear reader...

For you see at that moment, both Keigo and Chizuru were moving so fast in order to meet this mystery woman it almost seemed as though they were trying to create a sonic boom of their own. As it stood, it was the closest any human outside of a Quincy had come to mimicking shunpo. The fact that they did not pass their intended target was in and of it's self a miracle. "Ha Ha!" Keigo cried out as he neared the mystery beauty.

"Looks like I win, Chizuru!"

"Keep telling yourself that," Came Chizuru's voice from in front of him. The newly graduated student could only stare in shock as he saw Chizuru had somehow managed to get past him and was in a position to

fondle this woman very generous melons.

"No way!" Keigo cried out in amazement.

"Ha ha!" Chizuru crowed, "And this delectable lovely is joining my garden of lilies!"

-THUD-

Neither Chizuru nor Keigo could mutter a word of pain as they suddenly flew back from the woman before them. 'What the hell?' Keigo thought. 'Did I hit something? My nose is killing me!" He looked in front of him to find Chizuru a thicket bush a little ways back from the woman. It was apparently a rather thorny one at that if her twitching let was any indication. He frowned slightly as he noticed the woman didn't look any different than when he had first seen her. 'Hohkay,' he thought as he rolled up his sleeves. 'Let's try that again shall we?'

With an internal cry, Keigo charged forward once more, barreling at top speed towards this mystery lady before the queen lesbian could recover her faculties in time. He grinned as he caught sight of her face and the wondrous model-like looks that adorned her features. Oh yes, he would love to see her 'O' face. And that was as far as he got as he uttered a startled cry, and went sprawling, smashing through a bush, coming out the other side, and rolling to a halt a good foot away.

"Ow... my... my spleen..." he muttered in pain as he laid on the ground. "What... the hell... just... just happened?"

Chizuru yelped a bit as she pulled out another thorn. Groaning as she pulled herself out of the thicket bush and was just barely able to witness Keigo's last failed attempt and groaned out of sympathy.

Rubbing her side she gingerly began to stalk her prey again, her eyes never leaving the hypnotic sway of the girls rear as she continued onto wherever she was heading to.

"Eiyah," she heard off to the side and briefly turned to confirm that Keigo was rising once more. She gave a growl of annoyance as the boy soon came to be walking side by side with her.

"I told you, she's mine," she told the boy.

"And I told you," he hissed back. "She's-"

"Ichigo!" they heard a cry and turned their heads.

"Huh?" they both uttered as the girl had sprinted off.

"There you are!" the mystery woman cooed as she ran towards the spiky haired young man sticking out in the crowd. The pair could only stare in shock as she effortlessly moved through the sea of people and managed to wrap her arms around Ichigo. "Congratulations, Ichigo!"

Their jaws dropped as Ichigo did nothing to remove the girl's arms from him. Simply shrugging at her words of congratulations, "Eh, I'm just glad it's over. I was getting kind of sick from all the singing."

"Well I thought you were wonderful," she complemented.

"And how would you know?" he asked.

"Because as your lady I know these things," she countered. Giggling as he rolled his eyes at the statement.

"What." Chizuru muttered.

"The." Keigo muttered

"Hell?" they muttered simultaneously.

"Pinch me," Keigo muttered. "Because this turned from one sweet dream into a hell of a nightmare."

Chizuru slugged him on his cheek.

"Gah! Damn it!" Keigo cried as he rubbed his swelling cheek. "That hurt! What the hell? I said pinch me, not punch me!"

"It's all the same thing," Chizuru responded in a distant voice. "This is a nightmare. Another piece of pure femininity wooed by the vile and corrupt flesh that is man." She let out a sniffle that turned into a full fledged bawling, "What a waste!"

"I still fail to see how that gave you the right to punch me," Keigo deadpanned.

"It's because you have a 'punch me' face!" Chizuru got out in between sobs.

"The hell does that mean?" Keigo growled as he continued to rub his cheek. "Geeze, and I was gonna help you with Orihime too..."

And now...

Pause!

Chizuru stopped crying as a dark pink aura surrounded her body. Keigo gulped slightly at the sight, unaware if this was a good thing or a bad thing and starting to inch away from the crazy lesbian girl. "That's right."

Keigo paused at the eerie calm that excluded from Chizuru's voice.

"If Kurosaki has someone... that means that my Hime is free."

Keigo pursed his lips at her line of reasoning, "Oh this is not gonna end well." he muttered.

"Hime is free!" Chizuru cried out. "Don't you worry my cute little Hime! I'll comfort you in my tender bosom!"

And with that Chizuru made off like a blast bulldozing her way through the sea of humanity, leaving a dazed and confused Asano Keigo eating her dust. After a while Keigo simply shook his head and turned away from his long time friend.

He needed a freaking drink.

---

Meanwhile...

"Congratulations!"

"Congratulations!"

"Thank you," a tearfully happy Michiru said to her friends, looking all of them over.

"Don't be like that Michiru," Ryo said tenderly as she patted the tearful girl on the shoulder.

"That's right, Michiru," Orihime chimed in. "There's still so many things to do!"

"And not all of us will be leaving," Misato said as she readjusted her glasses, a little teary herself.

"C'mon, girls, our parents are in this direction," Manaha said, motioning her head in the direction specified.

"I know," Michiru said, rubbing her eyes while the other girls gave each other happy smiles.

"Are you sure you guys can't make it later?" Tatsuki questioned Ryo.

"I wish I could, but my folks want to me to spend time with them as I help their shop full time," Ryo said.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Manaha added, knowing what she was in for.

"We've already told Keigo, so it's ok to go on ahead," Misato said before leaning in to both Tatsuki and Orihime.

"But if you could," she whispered to them. "Could you get me a slice of their cheesecake? I've heard its absolute-"

"Weiiigght gaaain~," Manaha teased in a sing-song tone, also leaning in.

"Shut up!" Misato shouted back, red faced. "But anyway, could ya?"

"Sure thing, Misato," Orihime said while Tatsuki was giggling off to the side.

"We'll be seeing you girls later, so keep in touch, ok?" Ryo called out as she and the others began to leave.

"You can count on it!" Tatsuki called back.

"Good bye and good luck!" Orihime shouted back, waiving her hand that held her diploma at them.

With that, Ryo and others had disappeared into the crowd.

"Well I'm sure as hell glad that's all over." Tatsuki sighed, referring to the ceremony as she turned to the direction of the school gates. "Between all that singing and speeches, I'm lucky I'm still sane."

"It wasn't that bad Tatsuki-chan," Orihime responded. "Still... I can't believe we're really done here."

Tatsuki sighed, "Heh... we really are don here aren't we? I guess... I guess that's still gonna take some getting used to."

And with that, both girls became quiet, contemplating what may or may not be in store for them. As they walked, the sea of students they had been enveloped in began to widen up a bit, allowing them to see their whereabouts better, as both were looking for one certain orange haired boy that they had lost sight of a few moments back.

Tatsuki smirked and gave Orihime a slight nudge, "Oy, Orihime." She muttered as Ichigo managed to become clearer in view.

"I see him," Orihime called out.

"So..." Tatsuki began.

Orihime's face reddened as she understood her friend's tone. "Y-yes!" she said, gathering her courage.

As she took her first nervous step she heard Tatsuki suddenly hiss and stopped, looking at her.

"Tatsuki-chan?"

"She's here."

"Wh-," she started and stopped as she realized who Tatsuki meant. Turning she saw Uzume standing in front of Ichigo, and her eyes widened a bit at the fancy getup the girl was wearing. The dark blue cocktail dress was quite the eye catcher, judging from some of the looks she was getting, but that was in her opinion mostly because of the 'V' collar that showed a bit of her cleavage. She grimaced, another reminder that the girl was indeed a bombshell and the type of clothing was something Orihime didn't really get into.

Tatsuki looked at the couple and back to Orihime, not liking the girl's posture at all. Growling, she took a quick step back behind her friend.

"Tatsuk-ah!," she cried in surprise, having seen Tatsuki's sudden movement before feeling a hand against her back pushing her forward.

"Go tell him!" Tatsuki proclaimed. "We can deal with her later!"

"B-But Tatsuki-ch-"

"No buts!" Tatsuki cut her off. "It's the final hour Orihime! Now go tell him the truth!"

Orihime looked at her, her eyes widening slightly in realization of Tatsuki's words. Frowning cutely, she took a deep breath and released it, giving Tatsuki a sharp nod.

Seeing this, Tatsuki smiled and nodded back, liking the look in her friend's eyes.

"HHHHHHHIIII-"

Orihime turned and gave a sharp look in Ichigo's direction. Her fists clenched in determination, she took a tentative step forward.

"-IIIIIIIII-"

Tatsuki nodded in approval as Orihime marched forward, only blinking slightly at the odd sound that was growing louder. 'Why is it?' she asked herself in thought. 'That I have this familiar feeling of dread?'

"-IIIIIIIIII-"

Her eyes widened as the sound grew closer, and that feeling of dread turned into a more familiar feeling of disgust. 'Goddammit all, not now!' she mentally screamed.

'IIIIIIMEEE!"

"Oh hell no," Tatsuki growled out. "Not this time psycho!"

It was quite an impressive sight. In one moment, Tatsuki's shoulders suddenly dropped, her back hunched over as if in pain, and her hands hooked into claws. And in the next split second, the martial artist surged forward like a tsunami, the poor lesbian Casanova having no idea what hit her as Tatsuki managed to bowl over into her and completely deny Chizuru her long sought after prey. When the pair landed and the dust settled Tatsuki was sitting on Chizuru in a Boston Crab maneuver, and the bespectacled girl was tapping on the ground with her diploma tubing and howling in pain.

"AHHHHH! MERCY! MERCY! MERCY!" Chizuru cried.

"No way sicko!" Tatsuki growled. "Ain't no chance in hell of your screwed up ass getting in the way here!"

"B-B-But it's our graduation day," Chizuru mewled out. "Can't you show some mercy just this once?"

Tatsuki blinked, easing her pressure on the hold. "Mercy?" she asked incredulously.

Chizuru let out a sigh that was mixed with hope and relief. Maybe this beast could finally be reasoned with after all!

Tatsuki then shrugged and slipped her knee into her neck and resumed her pressure on the hold. Chizuru howled anew at the new, intensified pain that traversed all through her spine. "Is mercy something you eat?"

Tatsuki asked, a devilish grin forming on her lips as Chizuru resumed pounding on the ground futilely.

"Damn it all!" Chizuru cried in between screams. "I won't let you get in the way of my plans you horrible beast!"

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow at Chizuru's words, "Plans?"

"Yes!" she screamed. "I will claim my Hime now that Ichigo is taken!"

"Like hell," Tatsuki growled.

"Its true!" Chizuru whines in pain. "I saw it myself, some boobalicious babe was in his arms. Clearly its a sign for me that all is clear! Right, hime?" She asked calling out to Orihime. "Hime?" she repeated in a pleading voice upon not seeing her.

Tatsuki blinked and turned her head to her left to see Orihime slowly, but surely coming close to arms reach of Ichigo and Uzume. Tatsuki gave a soft smile and unconsciously eased on her hold to get a better look, nodding to herself in approval. "Good," she whispered.

Chizuru frowned, "Good"?

"Yes." Tatsuki answered, her approval clear in her voice.

"Why?"

Tatsuki grinned in response, "Because she's finally going to say it."

Chizuru's eyes widened slightly, "'It'?"

"Yes"

Chizuru pressed on, ignoring the growing dread building up in her stomach. "What's 'it'?'"

Tatsuki snorted, "Nothing you need to concern yourself with, perv."

Chizuru paled as she finally caught sight of her precious Hime and noted the faint blush on the girl's face as she got ever closer to Ichigo. Her heart almost leaping out of her chest as she saw Orihime's arm stretching out towards Ichigo to grab his attention.

She couldn't let this happen! Her hands clenched into fists on the ground as Orihime continued to get closer and closer to gaining Ichigo's attention. And the dread that filled her stomach was replaced with a new sensation as she pounded the ground in determination, cracking the dirt.

"!"

There was no noise that penetrated Chizuru's ears when she roared. All she saw was the purest lily that she ever had the honor to lay eyes on about to be corrupted to an intolerable level. All she could see now was her beloved Hime, whom she had admired for so long from afar was in the gravest danger she had ever been in to lose her innocent naiveté.

She could not let that happen.

Her Hime was cute, spacey, fragile, and sweet. She loved those things about her, and she wouldn't allow anyone to besmirch them. It would be like taking a magnificent painting down from a museum display and using it for a doormat.

She could not let that happen.

She would not let that happen.

She would save her Hime, and finally proclaim her pure and true love for her!

And it was with this determination and fire that flowed through her veins her legs flowed with a power that was seldom seen in wrestling. And Tatsuki could only blink in surprise as Chizuru's legs hooked to her under arms and shove her off her back to a distance that would normally be impossible. She didn't even notice as she growled in determination, pushing herself back to her feet and running towards her princess.

"Hah?"

'!' she cried out mentally, arm stretched out and running as fast as she possibly could. Despite her best efforts, it seemed as though her princess was growing all the more distant from her. Her arms seemed trapped like statues and her legs felt as though weights were strapped onto them. But she would not stop, she would not falter.

Come hell or high water, her Hime would remain pure.

---

Back to reality...

Orihime blinked, unsure of what to do next. Yes she was so close to Kurosaki-kun she could almost smell the scent of his shampoo wafting in the breeze. But at the same time, a new complication had arose from being so close to her long-standing loved one.

He was smiling.

Yes the smile was a small one, minuscule really. But on someone like Ichigo it was about at awe-inspiring as an ear-to-ear grin on anyone else. And it kept her feet rooted to the spot.

Her emotions cried out in panic. What was she about to do really? Yes, this girl... this Sekirei was being forced into a fight that was cruel and sadistic in her eyes and there was apparently the real situation that she would not survive this test. And yet here she was, about to interlope in this small bit of happiness and peace the girl was experiencing here in her town.

And Kurosaki-kun... she was making him happy. What right of it was hers to interfere with that? To confuse him with her own feelings? She should be happy that Uzume-chan was bringing about such a change in him right?

"Hey, Inoue."

Orihime blinked, shaken out of her thoughts by Ichigo's voice, "Ku-Ku-Kurosaki-kun!"

"That'd be me yes," Ichigo responded.

"Hey, Orihime-chan!" Uzume chirped. "Congratulations!"

"Ah y-yeah," Orihime nodded. "Thanks Uzume-chan."

"No prob, no prob," Uzume nodded as she stepped away from Ichigo. "So tell me Orihime-chan, where you plannin' on going for school?"

"Tokyo Medical," Orihime answered. "I'm going for a nursing degree."

"Nursing eh?" Uzume smiled, "You do have that aura about you for it."

"Thank you Uzume-chan," Orihime answered.

Uzume turned to Ichigo, a curious look in her eye "Hey isn't that near were you're going to school Ichigo?"

Ichigo made a slight face, "Kinda... sorta. Tokyo Medical's in Chiyoda so she's closer than a lot of the others are going to be. Uryu's going there too, by the way."

Uzume grinned, "Cool! So we can hang out when you're not crammin' for tests, right Orihime-chan?"

"R-Right," Orihime nodded. "Still we got a month before classes begin, so..."

"So you can visit us before you're lost to the halls of academia?" Uzume cut in. "That's great isn't it Ichigo?" She blinked as her ashikabi was looking around slightly. "Ichigo?"

"HHHHHHIIII-"

"You hear that?" Ichigo asked.

"-IIIIIIIIIIII-"

Orihime blinked as she heard the odd cry, "What is that?"

Uzume frowned a bit, her arms tensing. "Good question," she responded. 'Something's not right here.' she thought.

"-IIIIIME!" came the loud voice of Chizuru.

"CHHIIIIZZZUUURRRUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" came Tatsuki's roaring voice in response, hot on the heels of Chizuru, outlined in black and looking as if she had two red spots where her eyes were as she came ever closer to her prey.

"Why do I get the feeling that this won't end well?" Uzume asked as she looked up and saw the descending forms of Chizuru and Tatsuki.

"Because it never does," Ichigo answered. "That's some pretty nice hang time," he commented dryly.

"Shouldn't we move?" Orihime asked.

"With our luck, they'll find a way to still land on us," Ichigo answered. "Best to just face the music."

And then the world went dark.

-BAM-

-CRASH-

Orihime could only watch in silence as Chizuru and Tatsuki managed to crash into the Shinigami-turned-Ashikabi and his Sekirei, coughing slightly at the dust cloud the collision had produced. The gathered crowd could only cough alongside the girl until the cloud died down. And after that, they could only gape in awe at the scene before them.

Chizuru remained blissfully unawares of the spectacle she found herself in the middle of as she continued to nuzzle and bury her face deeper and deeper into the warm bosom of her beloved princess. Her expression was dreamy, as despite the so-called guardian's best efforts, the gods had finally decided to smile upon her and bless her with the honor of being with her one true beloved now and forever. "Oh Hime! My Hime! I finally caught you!"

"Ah~..."

A wolfish grin formed on Chizuru's face. Aw, Hime was shy now that they were finally alone. "Now, now My Hime," Chizuru cooed as her hand drew ever so closer to her bosom. "There's no need to be so shy. Let me hear those words I-"

-SqueezeSqueeze-

Chizuru blinked. 'Wha? I don't remember them being this big. Or were they smaller than I imagined?' she thought in shock, unbelieving that her eye measurements were incorrect.

"Excuse me."

Chizuru looked up and saw Uzume looking down at her, a slightly annoyed look on her reddened face. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Making sure to pay proper tribute?," she responded.

"That makes no sense," Uzume replied in a deadpan tone.

-SqueezeSqueeze-

"And would you stop squeezing my tits?" Uzume growled. "Those aren't yours!"

"Dear God, they're real!" She whispered in an awed tone, completely missing what Uzume had just said and smiled like a happy child. "Can I borrow them?" Chizuru asked in a louder voice.

"What is your major damage exactly?" Uzume asked.

Before Chizuru could properly respond, she paled as she felt a deep dark murderous intent come from behind her. "Oh no," she moaned.

"You got some good guts, you know that?" Tatsuki growled. Chizuru could only gulp as she felt Tatsuki grasp the top of her head. She didn't have to turn around to know that her rabid tormentor had a wide, homicidal grin stuck on her face. "To be so brazen even on our last day as high school students. I think that deserves some kind of reward."

"A reward that involves letting me go?" Chizuru asked hopefully.

"Hehehe... you're funny," Tatsuki mumbled as she pulled Chizuru up from her resting place on Uzume's chest. "C'mon let me show you your reward, ok?"

"What if I don't want it?" Chizuru asked.

"There's that sense of humor again," Tatsuki responded.

"Shouldn't we do something?" Uzume asked as she irritably rubbed her groped breast.

"Nope," Ichigo answered. "This is about par for the course."

"But isn't she gonna kill her?" Uzume asked confused.

"She's tougher than she looks." Ichigo answered as he helped Uzume back to her feet. "Just give 'em a sec."

---

And now... a brief pause for this break of mindless violence that cannot be described in mere words. Go on, read a book or something. We'll be here when Chizuru gets her phoenix downs.

---

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that," Tatsuki said as a smoking crater is seen with a twitching leg jutting out of it. "She put up a bit more fight than usual."

"What the hell is she thinking?" Ichigo grumbled

"Eh, you know her," Tatsuki grumbled. "Probably saw Orihime and Uzume together and lost her marbles quicker than usual."

Ichigo gave Uzume a quick glance and shrugged, "Yeah, I could see that."

"Hope she didn't interrupt anything," Tatsuki said, giving Orihime a curious glance. "She didn't interrupt anything, did she?"

Orihime paled a bit and gave a bit of a grimace, looking more cute than hurt. Tatsuki just rolled her eyes and glared at the crater, as if to zap Chizuru again after watching one of the girl's leg give another twitch. "Just our luck," she mumbled.

"You say something?" Uzume asked.

"Nothing important," Tatsuki responded.

After a moment each heard a stuttering breath being inhaled.

"Ku-kuro-Kurosaki-kun...?"

Ichigo turned towards Orihime, eyebrow raised slightly. "Yea?"

"I... I... I... uhh...," she blushed faintly and lowered her head, "That is... I..."

Tatsuki leaned towards Orihime a a bit, nodding in anticipation. Finally, it would all be out in the open at least! No more goddamn pussyfooting around!

"You...?" Ichigo pressed, looking at her curiously.

'Say iiiiiit...' Tatsuki thought, trying her damnedest not to smile.

"I...," Orihime smiled faintly, "I hope you and Uzume-chan are ok." she laughs. "Chizuru and Tatsuki can be rough like that at times," she said, tilting her head.

-THUD-

Tatsuki face faulted.

"Nah, I'm ok," Uzume reassured her, holding and stretching a wrist. "She just caught me off guard, that's all. No biggie." At that Uzume gave an amused chuckle and wink to Orihime, "Man I never thought I'd be getting groped by a girl on Ichigo's big day."

Tatsuki woodenly stood up, nearly tilting over backwards as she nearly up-righted herself too far. "O - ri - hi - meeeee...," she seethed quietly, her voice creaking up a notch as she drawled out her friends name.

Orihime gulped and gave Tatsuki such a pleading look that she had no choice but to step back and give a resigned sigh. She then looked at Uzume who was looking back at her with a neutral look. Tatsuki's nostrils then flared as she snorted before turning back to Orihime "Alright!" she announced loudly, catching all of their attention. "Me first. Then *you*."

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked flatly, a little more than annoyed now at the last few moments.

"You'll see," Tatsuki answered before glancing back at Uzume. Taking a deep breath, Tatsuki turns to fully face Uzume stiffly and raises a hand, palm facing the sekirei girl. "Yo, uh..."

"Yeah?" Uzume asked.

Tatsuki hesitated for a second, "Um, well, uh... about... about yesterday...," she tsked her lips.

"Yes? What about it?"

"Well," Tatsuki retracted her hand to the back of her neck. Rubbing it slightly as she looked away, "We...we didn't get off on th' right foot in all, so..."

Uzume lifts an eyebrow. 'Well if that ain't the understatement of the week,' she thought.

"So... I'm..."

Ichigo blinked once and stared slightly open mouthed at his oldest friend as realization continued to dawn at what he was about to witness. Finally he blinked once more and licked his suddenly dry lips wondering if he was daydreaming. It had to be a daydream... That it had to be an illusion or a weird daydream and he'd wake up still in class or on the train to Karakura again. But after a quick pinch to his wrist, he only had one thought swimming through his head.

He needed to record this.

And with that, he quickly fished for his cell phone. 'Damn it where's my phone?' he thought. 'I couldn't have left that thing back home!'

"I'm sssssssssss..."

Uzume just looked blankly at Tatsuki as she continued to struggle to find the words she wanted to say.

"Sssssssssssss...oooooo..."

Uzume tilted her head and blinked once more with a dry look on her face as she realized what the other girl was trying to say.

"Sssssssooooooo...oooo..."

"You're sorry?'" Uzume finished for her with a raised eyebrow and arms akimbo.

"Yeah, that!" Tatsuki blurted out, snapping her fingers and pointing at her. She frowned slightly as her vision moved sideways and caught Ichigo's disappointed look. "What's with you?"

"Just wish I could've found my phone before Uzume said anything," Ichigo lamented before smirking. "It's something I don't think I'll ever see happen again."

Tatsuki made a face at him. "Blow me you jerk," she growled. After a brief moment she sighed and schooled her features and best she could and turned back to Uzume and coughed into her hand. "Anyway... uh... yeah, uh... I knew was a bit pointed with you yesterday," she said, turning away and grimacing. Still, she couldn't help but feel some relief at the fact that the sekirei had managed to keep her from saying the 's' word herself. "But, y'know... Can't help but be concerned for berry-tan here," she finished, thumbing pointedly at Ichigo, who simply rolled his eyes. "Even when he's being a jerk-wad."

Ichigo then shrugged indifferently at his oldest friend's remark. For her part, Uzume simply gave a smirk to the martial artist and gave her a little bow. "Apology accepted!" she then chirped.

"Uh... yeah… right... Cool," Tatsuki muttered in agreement, then stiffly turned to Orihime "See? Not that hard," she said holding her arm out for emphasis while tilting her head towards Ichigo.

Orihime nodded, blinking a few times.

Ok. This is it.

For real now.

Taking a deep breath, she brought her hands to her chest and clenched her fists, which then began to lightly tremble after a few seconds.

Ichigo blinked. "Uh... Inoue?," he ventured, confused.

"SHA!," Orihime then blurted out, her face snapping up and her hands suddenly shooting outward, angling up a bit and away, her diploma nearly shooting out of its tube.

Ichigo and Uzume blinked and Tatsuki watched eye wide before a smile graced her face.

Finally.

"Ku-Kurosaki-kun! I have something to say!" she said resoundingly, giving Ichigo a bold stare and her fists now back to her sizable chest clenched.

"Y-yeah?," Ichigo said wide-eyed, taking a step back by this sudden change.

"Please listen carefully," she then said and Ichigo nodded mutely few times.

Uzume blinked, a bit surprised at this turn around before blinking again in thought. What was this odd mood she was sensing?

"Kurosaki-kun, I want you to know, that... that..

Ichigo blinked, now concentrating on Inoue fully.

"...that, that I..."

-"!" Isshin cried rising up from out of nowhere to appear to Ichigo's left.

-..that I love yo-, huh!," Orihime gasped.

"Huh!" everyone said, surprised at Isshin's sudden pop up and interrupting whatever Orihime was going to say.

"What the hell?" both Ichigo and Tatsuki then cried as their heart rates returned to normal.

Isshin ignored them both as he suddenly grabbed both of Ichigo's shoulders and shook his boy not too violently with a giddy look on his face. "Ichigo, guess what!"

Ichigo brought his hands up and outward suddenly and broke his fathers hold on his. "What?" he asked nearly exasperated.

"I was just talking with your friend over there," Isshin began before pointing over in the distance to Keigo, who was standing next to Karin and Yuzu and Mizuiro, who was busy talking on his phone. "And he said that you were having this last get together, but some of your friends couldn't make it and invited us!" he said happily.

Ichigo and Tatsuki blinked and processed exactly what Isshin had just said.

Keigo, in the distance had been watching the scene, mostly for Ichigo gorgeous new lady friend and felt a crisp cold chill run down his back and turned his head slightly to see both Ichigo and Tatsuki woodenly turn their heads towards his direction with matching twitching cheeks and small pupils. Gulping, he stepped sideways towards Mizuiro and ducked behind his friend.

Not caring in the least, Mizuiro took a giant step back out of the way while still talking on the phone and not missing a beat to reveal Keigo curled near the ground in a fetal position.

'Y...you invited my dad...?' Ichigo thought angrily, that get together was supposed to be friends only!

'Y...you interrupted Orihime's confession for this...?' Tatsuki internally raged.

Orihime blinked at it all and deflated a bit, the mood and gusto gone.

"From what the boy said," Isshin continued, rubbing his chin in thought, "It seems that the tables were already paid for he's invited me, Karin, Yuzu, and Uzume over so the money doesn't go to waste! Isn't that a wonderful"?

"Oh, wow," Uzume then sighed. "Ichigo, why didn't you say anything?"

Ichigo growled as he peeled his eyes away from Keigo's twitching form to look at Uzume. "To be honest, I actually forgot about it until now," he admitted.

Tatsuki blinked, realizing that she had also just now forgotten about it her zeal at this opportunity to get this confession out in the open. Speaking of that, she turned back to Orihime, who looked dejectedly towards the ground.

Damn. Even she could tell that whatever courage Orihime had worked up was broken now. She mumbled a curse under her breath.

"Inoue," Ichigo then said, getting both of their attention. "You were saying?"

Orihime blinked and then gave a wan smile after a few seconds. "N-nothing Kurosaki-kun," she said quietly, waving her hand. "It was... it was about reminding you of the get together."

Tatsuki snorted at that, but didn't say anything.

Ichigo blinked before smiling back at her before grimacing as he remembered his father was next to him. Not one for doing anything small, Isshin surprised both girls by giving them both loud congratulations and a few rousing bouts of 'banzai', causing both to blush. After a few more minutes of small talk Karin and Yuzu came by to drag their father off, and with that the Kurosaki's bid their goodbyes and congratulations to both girls.

Orihime watched them leave, noting how Uzume had slid next to Kurosaki-kun and that both their heads turned slightly to each other every so often, signifying that they were talking with each other.

Tatsuki turned her head to her friend, having seen the same thing and noting that Orihime had seen that as well. She took a breath in and blew it out through her nose audibly and contemplated their next move.

Below both of them and off screen, even to readers of this fic, a forgotten voice could be heard.

"M... mah... my Hime is... safe..."

With that, still looking in the direction where the Kurosaki's disappeared into the crowd Tatsuki, on autopilot, lifted her foot up lazily and stomped downward, grinding her foot into the ground.

---

Kurosawa adjusted his sunglasses reflexively as he stared at the mass of humanity that flocked out of the school gates. Idle thoughts of his own graduation day briefly passing through his head when the sound of his phone vibrating on the console in front of him shook him from his thoughts. The tinted windows of his rented car prevented anyone from seeing in, but he still could not help but feel slightly irritated at himself for essentially falling asleep at the job. Fortunately, the caller was a great way to vent.

"Hey fatass," he greeted. "What's up?"

"Oh nothing much jerk," his partner greeted. "Jeez can't you at least act like you're on duty for once?"

"If you can find the gumption to lose twenty pounds, maybe I will," he retorted. "In the meanwhile, please tell me you at least did your job without passing out in your own sweat."

"Anyone ever tell you how cute you are dickwad?"

"Not any gay dudes. Thanks for being my first." he answered, pausing to pop his jaw. "So spill already bitch, what'cha got?"

"Not much thankfully," Jiro responded. "Looks like the Ashikabi of Number Ten just brought her here for his graduation."

"Like I couldn't tell by looking," Kurosawa grumbled. "You got anything of worth to tell me? He spill the beans about the plan or what?"

"No." Jiro growled. "He's just graduating and saying goodbye to his friends. I'm thinking HQ's making a big hullabaloo over nothing."

"Yes well it's a good thing HQ doesn't pay you to think otherwise all we'd be doing is hitting up okonomiyaki places and yakisoba carts." Kurosawa said in a condescending tone.

"I am so gonna kick your ass when this job is over."

"I'm shaking I'm sure." Kurosawa snorted. "Now get back over here Land 'o ass, jobs not done till Number Ten's back in Teito and we gotta check in."

"Yes sir, master sir," he heard Jiro grumble before his partner hung up his phone.

"Ok it's official," Kurosawa grumbled as he leaned back into his seat. "I had to have gotten drunk enough to forget this lame ass mission."

---

Elsewhere...

Minato gave a small sigh as he checked his phone for the time. He nodded at the display that read thirteen hundred hours and pocketed the device back into his coat. He still had an hour before his next interview, and that would be the second of four today. Currently, he was sitting at a ramen-ya getting lunch. The cart was nearly empty; a somewhat lucky break for him considering it was the lunch hour rush. He hoped that wasn't a sign that this stall wasn't one to brag about.

He sighed again, kicking himself in the pants slightly as he had rushed out after the incident at breakfast. He had at least been able to make sure that Musubi would not under any circumstances fight their landlady.

That was far to close for his liking, and it had distracted him a good deal in an earlier job interview. He hoped that it wasn't too noticeable, but it was too late to undo what possible damage that might have been done.

He nodded in gratitude as he was served his meal and dug in. It was a typical Tokyo-style bowl of ramen, with slightly thin, curly noodles served in a soy-flavored chicken broth. Topped with menma, pork, and spinach. It was ok, but nothing too outstanding, Minato noted. Still, it did allow him to not worry too much about what would be awaiting him at home, job or no job.

Yes, it was best to concentrate on his upcoming interview and not on how his sekirei had wanted to spar with his landlady. And really his thoughts needed to stay away from anything related to how messy an affair that would be. A normal human woman sparring with a super powered alien girl who could possibly forget to control her own strength in a fight. And the cops who he would have to answer to when the call was made.

No, it was best to get off that train of thought right now and focus on getting that job! Yes... yes get a job, keep roof over your head, no accidental killing of landlady.

---

Karakura...

"Aaaaahhhh," Isshin sighed happily as the key clicked, opening the locks. "And with that, it's finally over," he said, turning to the man of the hour. The current man of the hour was silently fuming as he saw the door open and Karin walk briskly by him to go inside right behind their father. He too would have stepped forward to go if not for the holdup keeping him in place.

"Oy," he said, "We can go in now, ok?" He turned to see Uzume and Yuzu clinging to each of his arms, their weight and pull on them as such keeping him in place.

"Well I'm not stopping you Ichi-nii," Yuzu said as she glared at Uzume. "Maybe Uzume should let go."

"Umm... I'm not holding him in place," Uzume responded with a raised eyebrow.

"We'll never know if you don't let him go," Yuzu quipped

"Yuzu," Ichigo said flatly. "She hasn't been pulling since the door opened..."

"And you don't see the problem Ichi-nii?" Yuzu asked. "All that tugging is making your arm to tired to raise up! She should let your arm go so it can rest right?"

He sighed loudly and turned his head downward to face her. "Yuzu, you're still pulling."

"Because your arm needs exercise!" Yuzu quickly retorted.

He closed his eyes before opening them, facing the door and stepping forward, Uzume following still holding his arm and Yuzu yelping as he dragged her with him. He sighed as Uzume closed the door behind them,

"Ok. We're inside now. Can you all let go so I can sit down at least?"

"I'll let go as soon as she lets go," Yuzu declared.

She blinked to find Uzume not only no longer on his arm but next to her standing in front of Ichigo fixing his collar before cupping his face. "Come on, Ichigo, no need to have that face today."

"What face?" he asked.

She smirked at him before her fingers traced his frown. "This one," she said as she pushed on the edges to raise them up a bit, causing his lips to twitch in response.

"Aren't you cute?" he responded in a deadpan voice.

She smiled at him. "Nice for you to notice."

"Ha, ha, ha," Ichigo blinked as a strange sound filled the air. "What's that?"

"I don't know, but it sounds painful," Uzume responded as she looked around before looking down at Yuzu still grasping Ichigo's arm. "Yuzu-chan!" she cried as she spotted the youngest Kurosaki member mouth open wide enough to see her teeth grinding in anger. "Yuzu-chan, what are you doing?"

"Testing the strength of my teeth," she growled in-between grinds.

"Well could you test it in your room?" Ichigo asked. "I'd kinda like my arm back now."

"Never!" cried Yuzu. Ichigo blinked and gave an odd look to Uzume who simply shrugged in response.

"Looks like you could use some help," came Karin's voice as she descended the stairs.

"You got changed quick," Ichigo quipped as the middle child of the Kurosaki clan came into view. He then quirked an eye as he saw her bounce a soccer ball on her was towards them. "Where are you off to?"

"Heading to the playground. Got time to kill," she said.

"Not by much," Came Isshin's voice as he to descended from atop the stairs. "We do have a graduation party to host you know."

"It's not for a few hours," Karin called back.

"Just something for you to keep in mind, daughter." Isshin retorted. He smiled at Uzume, "So my new daughter. How did you find the ceremony?"

"I liked it papa," she chirped, causing all of the Kurosaki children to roll their eyes at Isshin's growing grin. "It was very interesting." She turned to Ichigo, "I had no idea you could sing like that Ichigo."

"How could you tell it was me?" he asked. "We sung as a group after all."

"I have very good ears," she responded.

"I see," Isshin interrupted. "And how did it compare to your own graduation?"

"I...uh," Uzume said wide-eyed, completely caught off guard from the question.

"Daughter?" Isshin asked.

"She was in a private school!" Ichigo said suddenly. "They really didn't have anything like that."

"Private school huh?" Isshin grumbled before nodding to himself. "My dear daughter you certainly are well traversed are you not?"

"Um, eh, yeah!" she chirped, bringing a hand to the back of her head and chuckling nervously.

"I suppose it's just more proof that you're just too good for my boy!" he exclaimed before letting out a hearty laugh.

"Y'think so huh?" he grunted before giving Uzume a flat look.

"Well this was fun," Karin snarled. "But the field's calling me." She turned to her younger sister, "As much as I'm sure you're having fun there, you wanna join me sis?"

Yuzu looked up at her sister and shook her head, "No, I'm go-"

Karin blinked at her sister's sudden pause, before she let out a small groan as she noticed the devilish grin that was beginning to develop upon her twin's face. 'Oh no,' she thought. 'She's thinking something stupid again.'

If Yuzu could read thoughts, she would humbly disagree, as she was coming up with the mother of all realizations. Slim thought it was, there was a chance that she could convince the conniving little hussy to join them in a 'friendly' little game of soccer. And should something like an 'accidental' ball to the face should break every single hussy tooth in her head... well that was life right?

Schooling her devilish grin in to a sunny smile and forcing down the bile forming in her throat as she turned to face Uzume. "Uzume-neechan?" she said in a sweet tone.

Uzume looked down and smiled at Yuzu, "Yes Yuzu-chan?"

'Oh man, I wanna hurl,' she thought. Aloud she said, "I was wondering..."

"Hmm?"

"We... well would you like to come and play with us?"

Uzume's face brightened, her mouth slowing opening wider as she realized what she was asked. "Sure!" She turned to Ichigo, giving him a quick peck, so happy that his family seemed to be growing all the more to liking her that she turned to run up for the stairs. "I'll be back real quick, ok?"

And like that she was gone; everyone just simply staring to where she rushed off to, sans Yuzu, whose eye ticking was reaching an unhealthy point. "I...I'm so gonna break her face..." she muttered.

"Oh this is soooo not gonna end well," Karin muttered.

When she came back down, she was dressed in a long sleeve black top, a pair of blue jeans and tennis shoes as she smiled sunnily at the Kurosaki sisters, "You all ready to go?"

Karin spun the ball in her hands, a raised eyebrow quickly going from Uzume to Yuzu. "Sure," she said. "Let's go."

"Yea!" Yuzu chirped. "C'mon Uzume-neechan! Hurry up!"

"Alright!" Uzume chirped, pumping a fist into the air and stopped as she caught up with them.

"Are you ok, Yuzu?"

Yuzu had turned away from both of them, looking a bit green and grimacing as open and closed her mouth, as if tasting something nasty. "F-fine," she said, regaining control.

"You sure?" Karin asked as the green faded from her face slightly.

"Y-yeah," Yuzu said, blinking hard. "Let's go!," she said, quickly running ahead of them.

"Can't say I've ever seen her so psyched to play football before," Ichigo muttered.

"Hey hold on sis! Do you even know where the field is?" Karin cried. "You didn't even change!"

The sounds of wood hitting the pavement stopped suddenly, and the family just looked flatly as Yuzu re-entered the house. Panting slightly, she gave Karin a dark look, "Don't. Say. One. Word." She turned to

Uzume and gave a tired smile, "Sorry Uzume-neechan. Guess I was just so excited to play with you, I lost my head for a second!"

"That's not all you've lost," Karin muttered under her breath.

Yuzu turned and glared at her elder twin, mouthing the words 'On My List!' to her as her twin just shook her head.

"Ehhehehe," Uzume chuckled. "Don't worry about it Yuzu-chan. We got time to wait for you, right Karin-chan?"

"Thanks... Uzume-neechan," Yuzu nodded, pausing as she fought off the bile rising in her throat. "Let me just change and then we'll be ready to play!" 'And then I can break your face you dang hussy,' she thought darkly.

Ichigo just raised an eyebrow as he watched his youngest sister ascend the stairs, "I wonder if she's gonna be all right..."

"DOH-HOHOHO!" Isshin wailed, bringing a wrist to his face and keeping it there as his shoulders hunched up and down. Ichigo and Karin stiffly turned to stare at him.

"Papa!" Uzume cried, completely caught off guard by the old man's sudden emotional outburst. "Are you ok?"

-Sniff! - "I... I'm fine, Uzume-chan, I'm just so HAPPY," he said bringing his head up as he said 'happy' to look at his new addition, "to see all my beautiful girls get along!" And with that, he turned back into his wrist.

She stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm so happy too, papa! I was hoping we'd all get along, but I wasn't sure...," she said before Isshin turned to her fully.

"My Daughter!"

"Papa!"

And with that, both hugged each other as one wailed. Ichigo closed his eyes and turned away, his eye twitching bad enough to pop out if he didn't try to stop it. Across from him, Karin was hunched over, nearly toppling to the floor as she watched slack-jawed. 'She... she doesn't get it...'

Both he and Isshin waited a few moments, quiet as both were still staring at where Yuzu disappeared to. After another moment both heard a loud 'thump' followed by heavy but quick footsteps that were soon coming down the stairs.

Finally Yuzu came into view, her posture arched forward as her heavy footsteps continued pass them without so much as an acknowledgment other than a string of mumblings that only stopped when she near slammed the door shut behind her.

"...That was weird," Ichigo muttered.

"You have no idea," Karin muttered as she opened the door. She gave Uzume a cool glance, "You coming?"

Uzume shook her head and turned to smile at Karin. "Sure," and then followed.

"Behave yourselves ok?" Ichigo called out.

"Yes dear," Uzume replied as she stuck her tongue out playfully before closing the door behind them.

Ichigo sighed as the door closed, "Are they really going to be all right?" His face took on a more neutral tone as he sifted his head to the left, dodging his father's fist. He sighed as a flurry of attacks came from the Kurosaki patriarch and he deftly dodged every one of them. "Hey pops," Ichigo growled as he got enough distance between him and his father. "What's the deal? Thought you weren't gonna challenge me no more 'till I became a man or something."

Isshin nodded as he took a stance, "That is true my son. And I'm keeping true to my word!"

"Oh really now?" Ichigo responded flatly, "How so?"

"This isn't a true challenge," Isshin began as he charged his son. "This is a simple spar! Gotta make sure my new daughter isn't dulling your edge after all!"

"Should've figured," Ichigo muttered. He ducked low under Isshin's kick and swept out his feet to take away his footing, "So you were waiting for a moment when Uzume wasn't around to be an idiot again?"

Isshin rolled away from a punch directed to his head. Flipping up, his grin grew as he charged forward again, "Oh, I have my reasons for this boy."

"Is that a fact now?" Ichigo asked. "We'll see how brilliant you're reasoning is... when you're flat unconscious!" he rounded upon his opponent with an uppercut that sent the Kurosaki head reeling. He sneered as his father landed in an unflattering heap upon the floor, "Idiot."

"That's it!"

Ichigo turned and found his father do a back flip that had him back on his feet and a maniacal grin on his face. "That's my boy!" He wiped away a small trickle of blood from his lips, "Now come on! Show me what you're made of Ichigo!"

"Would you knock it off already old man?" Ichigo cried as he charged his father, his fist cocked back.

"Make me boy!" Isshin responded as his own fist cocked back.

And the battle was joined.

---

Take it outside...

"Nyahaha," Yuzu lightly tittered to herself as she, Karin and Uzume had made it to the park, ready to do battle and crush this hussy into the ground.

Taking the hand at her face away as she stopped her quiet laughter, she turned around, not noticing that she had been so giddy that she was practically skipping the rest of the way to the park. So giddy that she didn't notice Karin's bewildered stare for most of the way here.

'I've gotta baaad feeling about this', Karin thought, watching the 180 her sister had gone through since they left home with Uzume in tow. She slowed down a bit and tilted her head up to Uzume to peer at her from the corner of her eyes and saw the girls face light up at the park as she began to pick up speed after Yuzu.

She sighed as she too began to pick up the pace, letting the soccer ball fall to the ground and kick it along, mindful to keep it in front as she began to catch up to both Uzume and Yuzu.

Yuzu smiled brightly as she saw Karin begin to catch up as they made it to the small field, turning to see Uzume directly between them. 'Hehehe, she has nooo clue', she thought to herself. Between her and Karin, they had this girl licked. No way could a girl with boobs as big as hers ever be as good or as fast as she and Karin could be!

Well, Karin actually, but she was sure that she could run circles around Uzume; she had no boobs big enough to be a hindrance!

She got into position as Uzume turned to face Karin and Karin began to get closer, kicking the ball back and forth before halting several feet away, keeping the ball in motion.

Ahh, she could see it now...

---

Imaginationland Part 2...

-THUD-

"Ooooowwwwww," moaned the big breasted home wrecker as she crashed face first into the dirt. "Ugh," she mumbled as she struggled to lift her face. Managing to do so, Yuzu couldn't help but feel bad for her fallen foe; her hair was a mess, the scrunchy that held her ponytail long gone, her face dirtied and muddied from one too many falls face first into the dirt and looked absolutely exhausted.

Yuzu smiled, some of her sympathy evaporating as she recalled that the girls' big boobs likely cushioned her fall, but one can't have everything, now can they?

As for Yuzu herself, she stood several feet away from the fallen Uzume, moving in rhythm, the soccer ball bouncing up and down from her pumping right knee, a testament to her skill.

Karin, dear Karin was behind Uzume, a foot to one of the girls knees keeping her still.

"Are you ready to give up now," she casually asked as the girl disappeared and reappeared under bouncing bangs as she continued to keep the ball going.

"Give up?" a confused Uzume asked. "What do you mean...?"

The sound of the bouncing ball stopped as it hit the ground and was suddenly stopped by Yuzu's foot slamming it to the ground, trapping it there. The dust that was kicked off from the hard stomp billowed in the wind past Uzume, causing her to cough as she breathed it in.

"You know," Yuzu coldly said. "My Ichi-nii. Release him. Now!"

"Ichi...," Uzume said in realization. Suddenly, the fallen girl's features darkened. "No," she said. "No, No, NO, NO!," she said, each 'no' being punctuated more forcefully and darkly as the witch now knew that they were onto her.

"Karin."

"AAAHHHH!" Uzume screamed as Karin applied pressure to the back of her knee.

"As you can see," Yuzu said, taking her eyes off Uzume to turn and walk a few steps away, "you are in no position to make demands of anything. Now, I ask again. RELEASE HIM!"

"No-NO!"

"Karin."

"AAAAAHHHHHH!"

After a moment, the screams stopped. "I... I..., I lost," she heard Uzume utter.

"What?" Yuzu asked, putting a hand to her head to cup her ear as she leaned towards Uzume.

"I lost! Have your brother back! I didn't care about him anyway!"

"Good," Yuzu said, turning back to her. "That's good. Because now-AAAAHHH!" she stopped in surprise, feeling herself being lifted.

"Yuzu!"

"Ichi-nii!" she squealed, seeing who had from nowhere suddenly sweep her off her feet.

"Yuzu, thank you," he said, smiling at her. "If it weren't for you, I..."

"It's ok, Ichi-nii," Yuzu said, promptly forgetting her sister and foe. "As long as your safe and with me::cough:: us, yes, us, you'll be ok."

"Thank you, Yuzu. Let's go home."

"Ahh, ah?" she mumbled seeing Uzume still on the floor. Oh yes. "Karin?"

"Yeah," her sister drolled.

"Give this hussy a going away present," she said as Ichigo began to take her away from the park.

"Sure," Karin said, moving past Uzume to where the ball was and put a foot over it and nudged it into position between her and Uzume.

"What...what are you doing?," Uzume asked.

"Just followin' orders," Karin said as she moved back to get a running start.

"No, no, waaaiiiiiittt," she wailed as the ball was kicked towards her at blazing speed.

---

Reality...

"Hehehehe," Yuzu giggled. She loved it when a plan came together.

---

Forty-Five Minutes Later…

-THUD-

"OW! OW! OW!"

Uzume stopped, bringing the ball forward and back to hold it between her shin and foot as she turned to see Yuzu flat on her face and arms outstretched.

"Yuzu, are you sure you're ok?" she asked in concern.

"I...I'm fine...," she mumbled as she got up, spitting some dirt out as she did so.

"Are you sure? If you need to sit down a bit its ok."

Yuzu's eye twitched at the implications. "Are you saying I can't keep up with you?" she asked a bit ragged.

Uzume blinked, the girl was exhausted, and you could hear it in her voice. "N-no… but you've taken a few bad falls, and I don't want Ichigo to be worried."

Behind her watching, Karin snickered. She didn't know what Yuzu had been thinking, but this girl was really something else. She was fast and quick with the ball, causing Karin to ask if she had been in any soccer teams when she was younger.

Uzume had replied in the negative, saying she didn't get a lot of time for things like this, but it was really fun now that she had a chance to. Karin shook her head, as it kind of sounded like this was the first time Uzume had played, but from the way she moved it was obvious that she had some experience. No one could be good that fast.

But.

It was a challenge to keep from overly grinning. Not so much from Yuzu's antics, but because she was having fun, as she and Uzume got in a game of every girl for herself, with Yuzu desperately trying to keep up.

Uzume was quick, and Karin found herself hard pressed to keep up with her, managing to surprise the girl a few times.

But all too soon some of her surprises no longer worked as Uzume adapted, forcing her to change strategies as she jumped over and around her sister, who was maneuvering with the speed of a goalpost as she chased the two around.

Where was this girl a few months ago? And why wasn't she younger so she could be on the team together? Their school would easily be tops if she could join.

She smiled again as play resumed as she charged Uzume, trying to take the ball from under her with a slide, causing the girl to quickly hop over and kick the ball a few feet away. Hopping back up she rushed the elder girl and engaged in a hard mix of dance like steps as she did her best to steal the ball away.

"Uuuggghhhh!" growled Yuzu as she picked herself up yet again and charged into the middle.

Both Karin and Uzume split as the girl flew between them before reengaging in their duel. Suddenly, Uzume got the ball underneath her foot and kicked back, causing the ball to swiftly roll behind her a few feet before suddenly back pedaling. Karin's eyes snapped open, realizing that she had been suckered into getting close to the designated goal area. Uzume was getting ready to go for the goal as she suddenly stopped in front of the still rolling backwards ball and pulled a foot back.

Karin hopped back, getting into a goalie stance as she raised her arms. 'Oh no, not again', she thought as she braced herself.

-KICK!-

-SMASH!-

-THUD-

Both Karin and Uzume blinked as the ball was sent violently off course, having ricocheted of Yuzu's face as the girl had tried to come between them again, not recognizing what Uzume had been doing.

"YUZU!" Uzume screamed as she rushed towards the girl, game forgotten.

"Awayawyawywawawwawa," Yuzu mumbled, her eyes swirly as a round pink shaped bruise appeared on her face.

"Yuzu, Yuzu-chan! Speak to me!" Uzume said in a near panic.

"It's alright," Karin said as she bent down to cup her sister's face. "This isn't the first time this has happened," she said, again trying to hold back from snickering.

Uzume frowned in concern as she looked down on the youngest Kurosaki's face, "Are you sure? She doesn't look that good."

Karin nodded as she turned to the elder girl, "Give her a few minutes, trust me."

'Oh, Yuzu', Karin thought, 'you've got a lot to learn...'

---

A break from mindless child violence...

Minato sighed as he stared distantly out the window of the building he sat in, his mind mile away from his station. This was his fourth interview of the day, but he still couldn't get his mind off of the events this morning. Heck, he was almost late to his destination twice as he worried about what he would inevitably have to deal with once he got home. He sighed again as he idly wondered if all Sekirei are battle crazy.

"Sahashi-san?"

He shook his head at that thought. It was a silly thought. He couldn't base the actions of all sekirei solely on the actions of his own sekirei. Besides, wasn't there that other tenant of his? Uzume? Hadn't she said that she was a sekirei? And she had been busy avoiding a fight with Musubi-chan when they first met. A light blush graced the bridge of his nose as he remembered exactly why she was so busy trying to avoid a fight in the first place.

"Sahashi-san?"

That brought up another question, if Uzume was a sekirei was that guy she was gushing over her ashikabi? And he was a surprise as well considering how brief his interaction was with Miya, and how much of an impression he had left. Although inhuman reflexes aside, his neighbor was a mystery. He just met him briefly after all. Questions like what did he do or what all did he know about this game would be irrelevant until he came back to Izumo.

"Sahashi-san?"

"Gah!" he blurted out toward the voice. Brought back to reality, he gave an apologetic smile towards the man before him. "Ah! Y-yes?"

The man gave him a curious glance in response. His raven black hair was cut short in the front and top, so not to interfere with his vision but grew it long in the back, twining into a Chinese style braid that slithered past his shoulders. His features were sharp but attractive nonetheless. His black eyes burned with concern as he continued to look at Minato, "Sahashi-kun is everything ok?"

"Oh uh... everything's fine." Minato chuckled as he rubbed his head apologetically, "Guess my mind wandered for a second there. I'm sorry."

The interviewer gave a small relived sigh, "I see." He smiled pleasantly at Minato as he continued, "Well, everything seems to be in order Sahashi-kun. And if you can keep your mind on earth, I do believe you'll find this job rewarding in more ways than one."

Minato blinked in surprise before his own pleasant smile graced his features, "So... so I got the job?"

He nodded as he stood up from his seat, "We'll see you bright and early tomorrow morning at nine." His grin gained a slight cocky edge to it as he extended his hand to Minato, "Hope you don't mind a workout Sahashi-kun."

Minato stood as he took the hand and shook it, bowing slightly as well. "Not at all sir! Thank you so much! I promise you that you won't regret it!"

The interviewer gave a hearty laugh and patted Minato on his shoulder, "I should hope not!" He released Minato's hand and nodded at his new employee, " Well then until tomorrow Sahashi-kun."

"Yes, until tomorrow!" Minato gave another polite bow and turned to leave the building.

Well, that's one problem solved.

---

Back to Karakura...

"Lemmie at her... I can still go..." Yuzu muttered in a daze.

Uzume just chucked at the younger girl's actions as she cradled her ashikabi's little sister in her arm. "Well I will give Yuzu-chan credit for spirit at least."

Karin simply shrugged as she trailed slightly behind Uzume, a small smirk on her face as she looked at her dazed and confused sister. "Yeah, to bad she never learned not to block the soccer ball with her face."

"You mean she never played soccer before?" Uzume asked.

"Oh yeah, every now and again." Karin answered. "She's just not very good at it as you've seen."

"Ah," Uzume nodded as they continued their journey back home. "Well with all that spirit she showed, I'm sure she'll be as good as you in no time!"

"Somehow I doubt it," Karin responded. Her smirk grew as she looked up at her brother's girlfriend, "She probably only acted like that for you."

Uzume's eyes widened, "Really? She didn't have to go through all that effort just to impress me!"

"Yeah, let's go with that." Karin muttered. "In any case, I gotta say you got some sick moves Uzume."

"You think so huh?"

Karin nodded, "So where'd you play at? No need to be modest now. Yuzu's playing sleeping beauty so you can tell me."

"I told you Karin," Uzume sighed. "I never played before today. I never had the time to." She grinned and gave the younger girl a quick wink, "Maybe you just brought out the athlete in me."

Karin's smirk turned into a grin, "If only it were that simple. Now I kinda wanna see you and Ichi-nii go one on one."

"That would be fun," Uzume agreed. "Maybe next time?"

"So long as you don't try to distract him with the sexy to much it'd be cool."

Uzume gave Karin a sly grin as they neared the clinic, "No promises."

"Heh fair enough," Karin shrugged as Uzume turned the door knob...

And the sekirei gasped at the mess and destruction laid before them. She brought a hand to her mouth as she gasped at the scene before her, "What... what happened here?" Uzume whispered.

Karin glanced inside her home and simply groaned at the disheveled mess of furniture and papers. "Well I was wondering what was up with the doofus," Karin groaned.

"Were we robbed?" Uzume asked as she looked around. "Where's Ichigo? Where's papa?"

"Oy," Karin muttered as she noted the rising panic in the older girl's voice. "There's no need to panic. I can expl-"

"Uz... Uzume-ch.. chan..." came a soft voice.

Uzume blinked and turned to the kitchen, "Papa!" she cried. Laying Yuzu on a nearby couch pillow, she ran into the kitchen and gasped again at the sight before her. "Oh papa... papa are you all right?"

Isshin gave the Sekirei a pained grin, "Heh, heh... ow." He grimaced as he struggled to laugh, "You... you should... see the... other... guy my daughter." he groaned. The Kurosaki patriarch was quite the sight. His nose looked to be broken, and from what Uzume could see, he was missing quite a few teeth.

"This is no time for jokes papa!" Uzume cried as she cradled his head in his lap. "We need to get you to a doctor!"

"Heh... a doctor... going to see a... a doctor," he groaned again as he tried to laugh. "Uzu... Uzume-chan..." he groaned again as he reached out for the sekirei.

"I'm here papa!" Uzume cried as she clasped his hand. "I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere!"

"I... I need you to..." he gasped out. "To... Ichigo..."

-PLOP-

"Oh no, Ichigo!" Uzume cried out as she unceremoniously dropped Isshin's head to the cold tile floor. "I need to find him!"

"Owch," Isshin muttered. "D...Daughter?" Isshin's question went on def ears as Uzume rushed out of the house like a woman possessed. "But... but I never got to..."

"Hey dad."

Isshin slowly turned his head towards the voice, "Oh... oh Karin-chan..." He reached out to his middle child, "you... will you avenge... your beloved papa?"

Karin tossed her soccer ball into Isshin's face.

"ARRRRRRRRRGH!" Isshin cried as he cradled his face. "Why did you do such a thing Karin-chan?"

"Because the only person you were fooling with that act is gone now," Karin muttered. "Now get up and clean up your mess."

"How can you talk to your own father that way Kari-"

-THUMP-

"OWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"

"Because one of us has to be the adult here and it sure isn't gonna be you," Karin answered her father's unfinished question. She sighed as she walked towards the stairwell, "And I'm all sweaty as it is."

"Hehehe... Ichi-nii," Yuzu muttered in her sleep.

---

The room was cool and quiet, the window shades pulled up allowing the air to ventilate. Around the room were miscellaneous brown carton boxes of different sizes piled together, some next to each other and a few on top of others that looked a bit disoriented. The only thing that broke the stillness was the sound of packing tape being pulled.

-ZZZIIIILLLLLTTTT-

-FLICK-

And with that, Ichigo closed and taped another box shut, the tape gun cutting the tape and setting it aside so he could smooth the hanging part flat on the boxes' side. With that down he set it down and sat from his crouching position and looked around to pause at his surroundings.

Around half of his packing was done, some started when he knew for a fact he would be boarding at Maison Izumo (that was just a bit before his father came in to tell him that he knew about Uzume) and some more done today. It should be finished tonight.

But looking at it now and gazing around the oddly emptier room, he couldn't help but feel an odd tightening that settled below his chest and just above his stomach.

When was the last time he had seen his room like this?

On the floor one could easily see where some of the heavier items were, a few straight lines of a very light layer of dust aligned with smooth clean floor. And the walls to have the same pattern from where he removed some pictures and posters that were no longer needed.

It had to have been around the time they moved in here, as memories of his mother came to mind as he remembered her helping put some of the up and he smiled, his mind settled in the past before gently shaking his head, forcing himself back into the present.

If he allowed himself here to get distracted he'd have no more time and looked around once more.

Not everything would be going, as Izumo would not be a permanent residence, only to be enough for his time in college and maybe just after he finds a job in his field. With that he could hopefully find something better with Uzume...

He blinked and he blew out a breath as he reached for another box to fold open. That girl really has permeated his life...

Just as he had the tape-gun in hand he heard it.

-thudthudThudThudTHUDTHUDTHUD-

'What the hell?' he thought, turning to the door where the sounds seemed to be approaching.

And with that, the door flew open, hitting and bouncing off the wall before being stopped by an outstretched arm.

Speak of the devil...

He blinked as he took in her state and immediately stood up.

She was at the doorway, breathing hard with her left arm outstretched holding the door open and her feet were set wide apart from each other. Her chest was rising and falling as she looked at him, her eyes wide with panic. Her hair was a bit of a mess, no doubt from her having played with Yuzu and Karin. So why...?

"Uzume?" he asked, for a moment feeling a chill at thinking maybe something happened to his sisters.

"ICHIGO!" she cried as launched herself towards him, bowling him over and crashing into his pile of boxes, sending them flying all over the place.

He sucked in a bit of breath at the fall and from feeling his body protesting having a few corners jabbed into it, albeit briefly. "Ow! Damn it, Uzume what the hell?"

He looked down at his sekirei who was on top of him and holding him close, nuzzling his chest as it looked like tears were beginning to fall. He looked at her in askance and addressed her. "Uzume, wha-urk!"

He never had a chance to finish as before he could blink their lips were locked and his eyes shot wide open, feeling her tongue on his as she did everything she could to deepen their connection. Immediately her wings spread, the oh-so-solid looking wing shaped golden light spread up close to the ceiling.

Flabbergasted, he looked on in amazement before succumbing to returning the kiss. Finally, after a long intense moment she released him and quickly peppered him with kisses before once more burying her face in his chest and tightening her hold on him.

Blinking and taking a few deep breathes to calm himself he looked upon the girl on his chest as she sniffled a few times before looking up at him with damp eyes.

"Na...not that I'm complaining but...," he took another breath, "what was that for?"

Another sniffle. "I'm...I'm just glad you're safe," she said, her head coming down again to his chest.

"Safe," he repeated in confusion and frowned. "What are you talking about?"

She blinked at him in confusion. "What am I talking about? What are you talking about? We've been robbed!"

"What?"

Uzume rose up a bit to a sitting position, her derriere resting on his hips as she straddled him. "Yeah!," she affirmed to him and waved her arms out. "I just got back with your sisters!" She then twisted around to swiftly point in the direction of the door while not taking her eyes off him. "It was awful! The living room's a mess with all the stuff those dirty crooks couldn't make off with! And papa...," she trailed off as she blinked away a few tears. "They got papa!"

Ichigo had closed his eyes as he felt a headache begin to come on, having a pretty good idea of what she saw already. "Wait a sec," he said. "Robbed? Dad's a mess? I don't think tha-"

"Yes!" she said, cutting him off before once again lowering herself to him and he took in a breath. "And for this to happen on your special day," she moaned before coming back up, taking on a fierce look. "We need to find those jerks and get our stuff back!"

Ichigo blew out a breath and tried not too look as resigned as he felt. "Uzume, calm down."

"But Ichigo we've been robbed!"

"Uzume," he cut in before she could go off again. "I can guarantee you that we weren't robbed."

She paused as she looked at him. "Are you trying to say I didn't see what I saw down there?"

He blinked at her. Finally, the damn truth about the old goat will finally come about. "No, but I know we wern't robbed while you and the girls were out playing. C'mon," he said as he sat up as straight as he could. "Get off me and I'll show you."

Uzume looked at him in confusion, unbelieving at how calm he was being. Wiping her eyes with her forearm she got off of him and helped him to his feet.

Taking a quick look at all the boxes strewn about from their fall Ichigo shook his head and walked out of his room with Uzume quickly catching up with him. As they got to the bottom of the stairs Uzume then moved a bit faster, reaching the bottom before he did and grabbed his hand we he finally got there and pulled him in an attempt to hurry.

As she dragged a nonplussed Ichigo she turned to the living room and was prepared to stun him with the carnage that was awaiting him. Seeing the living room as she turned she blinked, unbelieving.

"Bu-but..."

The living room itself was still a mess, but no where close to the carnage that she saw earlier. Sure, there was a chair or two still upside down, but that mass of papers, shelves, upturned curtains and various cups and objects that were all over the floor were no longer there as if whatever happened didn't take place at all.

"But how?" Uzume finally gasped.

Ichigo coolly looked around, seeing most of the damage earlier had been picked up. "Robbed, huh?"

"There was... and here had...," she trailed off as she quickly turned to Ichigo to take him by the shoulders and looked him directly in they eye, confusion reigning clearly on her face.

"I'm not crazy, Ichigo! This place was a war zone when I got back!"

Ichigo looked around with his eyes once more and clicked the insides of his cheeks, not happy with this development. Taking a hold of her hands on his shoulders he removed them and held them in front of him and addressed her. "It's alright Uzume, for what its worth, I believe you."

He internally growled, however, cursing the old man for having this place fixed so soon. It was bad enough he pretty much had Uzume wrapped around his fingers, but this...

Ah well, better for it to come out sooner than later...

Just as Ichigo was about to explain Uzume's head lowered and she sighed. Lifting it up she looked over the living room and let go of Ichigo's hands to turn around.

"I don't understand... I know what I saw. This place was a mess, and papa...," she blinked as she trailed off. "Papa!," she cried, remembering how he had looked when she raced off to Ichigo. "Where's papa!"

"Aaahhhhoooooo," a loud moan could be heard from the kitchen area, and both turned to see Isshin enter the living room only to brace himself against the wall while his other hand went to his head to rub it. As he got his bearings he continued his way into the living room wobbling to one of the chairs.

"Papa!" Uzume cried and rushed to help support him.

Behind her Ichigo closed his eyes and cursed his father for playing his normal minute injuries up.

Allowing the girl to support him from under his right arm he smiled gratefully at her, and together they moved to one of the still upright chairs.

"Thank you, Uzume-chan," Isshin said as she helped him to sit on the chair. "I don't think I might've made it."

"Papa what are you doing?" Uzume asked concerned. "Moving around in your condition? Are you crazy?"

"I'm sorry, but I just had to...," and as Isshin went on to tell Uzume why, Ichigo groaned as his father began to milk the injury for all its worth, an eye twitching as Uzume made her points of what to do or that she would have done it come to fore.

Isshin then coughed and made a pained expression as a hand went to his back to rub his 'injury'. "Maybe... maybe you're right, my daughter, but... I just can't rest," he then paused as he held a hand to his mouth as he coughed once more. "I can't," he continued, "just rest when my home is in such a state, can I?"

"Well, you can rest now papa. Ichigo and I can handle the rest from here!"

Isshin gave her a pained smile. "Oh... oh thank you, Uzume."

Uzume then blinked as a stream of tears suddenly flooded out of Isshin's eyes and a hand balled into a fist came up. "Truly I am blessed to have such a daughter such as you in my son's life!"

"No papa!" she cried, her own eyes threatening to spill out at his proclamation. "It's me who's blessed to have Ichigo in my life! To... to just being able to call you papa... The honor is mine!"

"My daughter!" Isshin cried.

"Papa!"

And with that Isshin nearly leaped off his chair to hug his ersatz daughter, to which she returned never noticing his sudden energy. In the background to all of this stood an utterly still and hunched over Ichigo, his right arm partially raised as if he were to reach for him with complete look of disbelief on his face, his mouth slightly open. With some sniffles, both Isshin and Uzume released each other from their embrace, only to have Uzume give a yelp of confusion as Isshin wobbled passed her.

"Papa, what-?"

Isshin waived off her concern, "its ok Uzume, just trying to make it to my seat."

But Uzume would have none of that as she took the arm behind her neck, "No, papa. You need to do more than sit down. Let me and Ichigo get you to bed to get some rest, ok? Here," she said as she began to help Isshin towards the stairs. Before she could take hold of him she turned back to Ichigo to address him.

"Ichigo, you star-, huh?"

She blinked, not seeing him. Quickly turning, she found him slowly walking towards the stairs. "Ichigo? Where are you going?" she called after him.

He lifted a hand to wave at her without turning around as he continued to walk away. "I'm going back up to finish packing."

"Packing?" Uzume asked as she blinked in confusion. "Ichigo... you're not gonna help with Papa?"

Ichigo stopped and turned around to give his father a look, noting at how he stood behind Uzume. Isshin simply blinked and smiled back innocently. His eye twitched and then began to turn around again. "He's fine, Uzume. He just needs to walk it off."

Uzume just gaped at him. "Walk it off...," she whispered. Briefly, her mind flashed back to Isshin's stiff walk. How papa was trying to waive off her concern despite being in clear pain, "Walk it off?" she repeated, louder.

Ichigo stopped in mid-turn to look over his shoulder and nodded. "As a matter of fact, I've seen him shrug off things worse than this. He'll be fine; he's just milking it for attention."

"Ichigo...," she muttered, stunned at her ashikabi's callousness.

Ichigo didn't notice as he continued to walk upstairs, "Lemmie know if you wanna help me finish packing when you get the old man all tucked in, ok?"

"Ichigo wait!" Uzume cried out, and Ichigo paused surprised to hear the disappointment and anger intertwining in her tone. "How could you be so cold to your own father? He's in pain and needs help!" she said.

Ichigo sighed, a bit frustrated himself at how deep he had let Isshin get to her. "Uzume… listen to me on this, ok? The old man is faking it. He's fine."

Behind Uzume, Isshin sighed and gave a weak chuckle, causing Uzume to turn around to him. "Yep," he said. "I'm really...urk!" he grimaced as he held his side, "...faking it, yeah."

Uzume quickly moved to support him to get him back to the chair. As she helped him sit down she turned back to Ichigo, who hadn't moved from where he was at and still looking at them with his usual scowl.

"I can't believe you, Ichigo...," she whispered.

Ichigo blinked, hearing her tone and bit taken aback, not having heard it before. She frowned and turned to him, and he couldn't help but resist the temptation to turn away at the hurt and disappointed look in her eyes. "How could act like this to your own father? How can someone as kind as you be so cruel to the person who raised you? He's in pain and you think he's joking?"

"I don't 'think' he's joking, Uzume. I *know* he's joking," he growled.

She turned away, hurt and disappointed at his dismissal of the situation. "Ichigo, this is going too far," she told him a bit stronger, facing him once more as Isshin watched from his seat.

"Too far?" he repeated and Uzume nodded at him. He scowled as she took the time to quickly look over Isshin to see if he was comfortable. As she turned away from Isshin the old man turned to him, watching the current drama playing out. "Uzume, you don't understand," he got out, knowing the idiot won this round and tried to salvage it a bit.

"You're right, I don't understand," she cut him off; hurt and confusion now clear in her voice. 'Why does he seem so different? He's so different with everyone by why is he so callous with his father?' Visions of his interactions with Miya and Kagari as well as watching him and his sisters came to fore, confusing her all the more. Finally, she stopped and looked at him. "I'll tell you what; why don't I finish packing for Ichigo and... and you can make sure papa is fine in here? Sound good?"

"Uzu-," he stopped as she stormed up to and by him, her cheeks flushed and eyes watered.

"Great," she said, voice barely above a whisper as she ascended the stairs. "Make sure to let me know when my Ichigo is back, ok? Don't worry... I'll make sure not to drop anything important, ok?" she called back to him.

"Uzume, wait!" he called out as she disappeared. "Goddammit," he angrily whispered as she disappeared. After a moment he heard a sigh and turned, remembering the cause of this mess and grit his teeth.

From his chair Isshin looked on calmly, but Ichigo was too angry to notice his expression. "I am sorry, my son. Believe me though; you'll probably thank me for this."

"I'll... be... thanking you?" he growled disbelievingly. Ichigo's lips thinned and balled his fists at his sides so hard the knuckles could be heard cracking. So help him if his old man moved from his chair he'd deck him so hard he'd wake up in Soul Society. At least he would, as at that moment his head informed him of what Uzume might do if she did so and let out an audible sigh of frustration as he nearly stomped his way to the opposite couch, glaring a hole into his father as he continued to look after him.

Isshin leaned back and stared back, his expression becoming serious when Ichigo was no longer looking at him. 'I am truly sorry, my boy', he thought, watching Ichigo do his best not to stab at the different objects before getting to the chairs. 'But I wasn't joking, she is almost too good to be true. I like her, but if your relationship can't survive this little test, then it was never meant to be'.

---

Elsewhere...

The walk felt surprisingly brief. The sun overhead was beginning to set, and the red glow that was cast was beginning to be swallowed by the coming night sky. A cold wind blew, but Minato had hardly felt it in his walk home. His hands were in his pocket and soft smile graced his face along with a keen sense of accomplishment filling him, causing him to ignore the tediousness of the distance from the station and the weather.

For the first time in a long, great while, something that he had felt in his bones that was going to be a trying and stressful time ended up being accomplished within a day. Sure, he was turned down several times today but he never believed that he would actually find anything at all much less actually landing the job. He had been braced for at least a weeks worth of turn-downs, denials and hearing that he was far too overqualified for what he applied for, but it was thankfully all for naught as he was now employed! And the money too was decent!

His smile grew a bit larger as tomorrow would be his first day in the role of a construction worker, and he had the address for where he was to report to. True he would be doing a lot of physical work, but that was ok!

Money was money and he was sure it would pay off in the end, especially when he would receive his degree. And the bonus would be that with all the lifting and whatnot he would grow a bit stronger himself! Plus, the construction workers gig should all in all be pretty quiet with everyone doing their jobs; so what wasn't there to look forward to?

A part of him wondered what kind of coworkers he'd meet before setting that aside as the current reality came back.

One problem solved… thirty more on his plate.

He sighed a bit, the reminder of this mess called the Sekirei Plan coming back to him. He and Musubi and many others in this weird-

He violently shook his head as if to cast away those mood dampening thoughts to concentrate back on that he had accomplished something good today. 'I should be at least be able to celebrate the quick end with Musubi-chan and the landlady!' he thought looking upward at the darkening sky, a fist brought up and clenched. 'The money that will be coming in is something to be thankful for as well...', his head and fist then dropped, '...before its all squandered away...' He chuckled sadly at that.

Turning at the corner of the fence that surrounded Izumo he made his way to the door. Reaching it he knocked on it twice with his right hand knuckles before putting it back in his pants pocket.

-CLICK-

"Hm?" was all Minato got out as the door slammed open and a familiar figure came flying towards him.

"MINATO-SAAAMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"OOFF!" he cried as he was tackled by his busty sekirei. For that matter, that was the last coherent sound he would make as the pain coming from both the hard landing on his back being more pronounced by the girl's force and the fact that she had flown along with him towards the ground, being on top of him as he hit the concrete.

"UUuuuuhhhh," he groaned as he lifted his head up, the pain from his back subsiding being replaced by something a bit more... 'wait, it feels kinda good...,' "ACK!," he gaped as Musubi was straddling his crotch, wiggling her waist as she nuzzled his chest before rising up to bring her fists to her heart and smiling.

"Mu-Musubi-chan?" he said while he rubbed his head to help relieve the pain.

"Yes?" she blinked at him.

"I-I'm happy to see you too but... but did you need to go that far?"

"Far?" she asked, bewildered and tilting her head a little.

Minato gave his sekirei a flat look at her question, sighing a bit before he continued. "The... the tacking bear-hug... or do all Sekirei greet their Ashikabi that way?"

Musubi blinked and put a finger to her mouth as she looked up in thought. She shifted her hips unconsciously for a better position, unknowingly causing Minato's eyes to widen suddenly and bite back a gasp. A minute passed and Musubi still had a hand to her lip as her eyes turned to another direction, still in thought. "Hmm..."

Minato blinked in confusion as Musubi continued to think over her Ashikabi's question, "Musubi-chan...?"

Suddenly her hands clapped together. "Ah!"

Minato blinked again, "Yes?"

She looked down at him. "I don't know as I don't know any other Sekirei!" she answered happily.

Pause

"Huh?" Minato asked intelligently.

"I can't say other than I don't know any other Sekirei besides Uzume-san!," she said as she stopped again to put a finger to her mouth as she got lost in thought again.

Minato continued to stare at her fore a moment before giving an amused chuckle, "That is true isn't it? S-So how was your day Musubi-chan?"

She turned to him, her mouth wide open to then suddenly drop as her good mood instantly vanished. "It was pretty boring today, Minato-sama. You weren't here... I helped the landlady... but..."

"Ah." He sighed, "Well, I'm sorry you were bored Musubi-chan."

"But its ok now that your back, Minato-sama!" and with that, her good mood was back as she determinedly looked forward and clenched a fist.

Minato chucked again, "Glad to be of service to you, Musubi-chan." A light flush graced the bridge of his nose as he felt pressure on his stomach, "Um... M-M-Musubi-chan?"

"Yes?" she chirped, fist still clenched.

"D-Do you think you could get up befo-"

"Oh ho, ho, ho."

Minato blanched as a cold shiver went up his spine. From his vantage point, he can see a pair of feet near his head. A whimper escaped his lips as he looked up to find Miya smiling serenely down at him.

And a Hannya mask crying tears of blood near the side of her head.

Minato turned a respectable shade of white at that lovely image.

"Oh my…" Miya exclaimed in a deceptively calm tone, "I do believe I warned you that illicit acts are not allowed in the Maison Izumo home, did I not?"

Minato nodded woodenly as Miya pointed towards the broken fence. "That includes the fenced in areas as well, Minato-san." Minato and Musubi both paled slightly as a dark aura surrounded their landlady, "Now I do hope that I am not forced to punish you two considering you just moved in and all."

"NONONOnononononononono!" Minato cried as he was suddenly able to slip his way out from a frozen Musubi's sitting posture Musubi gave no argument. His sekirei was too shaken to move and as such she didn't notice her rear hit the ground as Minato slipped away.

Miya's smile grew at the ashikabi's response, her mask fading into non-existence. "Good. Now then, On your feet if you please. I am interested in hearing how your job hunt turned out." Miya turned on her heel and walked back towards Maizon Izumo, "And I should get started on dinner while I am at it no?"

-GRUMBLEUMBLE-

"Ah...ahahaha," Musubi giggled, putting a hand to her head and closing her eyes.

Miya giggled slightly at Musubi, "Yes I should get on that dinner quickly then! I shall see you two in a moment. And do be sure you're all clean before then alright?"

"Y-yes, ma'am," Minato said as he slowly rose from his position on the ground.

"Yes, Miya-san!" Musubi chirped.

Miya nodded in approval, "Very good." And with that, silence reigned throughout the yard as Miya finally disappeared into the complex.

Minato let out a sigh of relief as his landlady disappeared from sight, "That... that was very scary."

---

Dinner time...

The clouds had come by, rolling over the skies with gray as the Kurosaki clan made their way towards the family restaurant for the farewell dinner. The drab setting for the walk to the restaurant from the car seemed to be perfect for the eldest Kurosaki offspring, and as he turned behind him he gave a soft snort towards to latest reason for his dower mood.

"Are you sure you're ok papa?" Uzume asked as she walked with Isshin under his umbrella.

The Kurosaki patriarch simply smiled at her concern. "I'm better now, my dear. Thank you."

The Sekirei gave her Ashikabi's father a concerned look, "Are you sure? There's no need to strain yourself."

Isshin gave Uzume a grin, "Who's the doctor here daughter? I'm fine enough to see you kids have one last hurrah before you leave tomorrow."

Uzume sighed, "Alright papa, but if you push yourself to much I'm gonna carry you back home. You got me?"

He nodded, "Yes my daughter." He gave a small smirk as he caught Ichigo glancing at him irritably, "She really is too good for you son of mine."

Ichigo just snorted irritably at his father's words, knowing good and well that the Kurosaki head was milking for attention now. Even if he wasn't limping as much the damage was done, Uzume had barely spoken to him in the aftermath of his injured act. He would have wondered what the whole point of his father's act was, but it was probably something so idiotic that it only made sense to him. He simply gave an irritable sigh as the family continued on to their destination. He had to nip this problem in the bud soon.

So focused on his thoughts, he failed to notice the reaction that the recent events had on other member of his family.

Karin was doing her best Ichigo impression as she walked with her younger sister, who was a ball of excitement under their shared umbrella. Continuing to look back and forth between Uzume and Ichigo, it was clear that she was hatching some inane scene once again to take advantage of whatever tiff had caused the two of them to be silent towards one another. After giving up a silent prayer to whatever god were in the area to avoid any needless headaches, she gave a curious glance towards her father. All her years as a snarky observer had made one thing clear to the middle Kurosaki child, her father was up to something.

The only questions were what and why go so far?

As they neared the entrance, Ichigo broke from his lead of the group to come to his Sekirei's side. "Hey, Uzume," he said softly, trying to get her attention. Uzume made no response that indicated she heard him.

His lips formed a thin line at this, "Oy, Uzume."

"What is it?" Uzume asked as she looked up, and Ichigo let off an involuntary grimace at her look. In her eyes a hurricane of conflicted emotions raged. Love. Disappointment. Hurt. Hope.

It took Ichigo back once again and he turned away from her, sighing once more. "Nothing."

Uzume's eyes were downcast as they entered the building, "Ah."

"Gotta say one thing about this place," Tatsuki mumbled as she looked around. "At least it's lively."

Tatsuki and Orihime were seated in a corner booth in the appointed restaurant for their final get-together for a good while. The area had a more decidedly western flare, and was very popular with those her age and slightly older. To her left was a rather stylish glass aquarium filled with fish that she couldn't be bothered to recognize. Around the area were installed television monitors with various sports programs playing, and even a small bar area for the appropriate patrons.

Orihime nodded at her friend's assessment. "It's loud too," she shouted.

"Yeah," Tatsuki nodded. "I like it! Keigo found a cool place!"

"I can not begin to put into words my disappointment in missing your apology attempt," Uryu muttered softly. He was seated near Orihime and had his arms crossed as he stared ahead in mock disappointment. "What are the odds that such a rare phenomenon takes place again"?

Tatsuki lightly smacked her fist on the table. "About a quarter past never," she grumbled, earning a giggle from Orihime. These two had looked to have gotten on each others nerves, especially since Tatsuki had involved herself in the afterlife business with her growing spiritual energy two years ago. Both had gawked and stuttered at Orihime's suggestion that Ishida-kun was using Tatsuki as a substitute for his old bickering habits with Kurosaki-kun.

"So any word on when the others are going to show up?" Uryu asked.

"Soon, I think," Orihime mentioned.

Tatsuki turned her head around the restaurant and blinked. "Oh, here they come!" she said, raising an arm high to get their attention.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~~~!" chirped Yuzu as she skipped towards the older girls. "Isn't tonight a lovely night?" she asked.

Tatsuki gave a flat look towards the youngest Kurosaki family member, "Ah... yeah if you say so squirt."

Yuzu giggled as she took her seat, "I think tonight is going to be a very special night, Tatsuki-neechan!"

"Tatsuki-neechan?" whispered the martial artist. "When the heck did I become Tatsuki-neechan?"

"I'm guessing by that look you got on your face, you met the happy Yuzu," came Karin's dull sarcastic tone as she and Isshin came into the group's view.

"What are you talking about Karin-chan?" asked Yuzu. "I'm always happy!"

Karin snorted as she took her seat near Tatsuki, "We'll see how long that lasts this time." she mumbled.

Uryu raised an eyebrow at the middle Kurosaki's comment. He leaned over to Orihime and whispered, "Why do I feel as though we're missing several pieces to this puzzle?"

Orihime nodded silently and Tatsuki just took a sip of her glass of water. 'Wonder where Ichigo is?' she thought a moment before her answer appeared.

"Yo," Came Ichigo's curt greeting as he came into view.

"Hi," greeted Uzume as she appeared. A strained smile on her lips as she trailed Ichigo.

Tatsuki blinked, noticing that. 'What the...'

"Hi Uzume-chan!" Chirped Orihime as she took her seat near Isshin.

"Hi Orihime-chan," responded Uzume. "Congratulations again on your graduation."

"Thank you," Orihime responded as Ichigo took his seat near Orihime who smile turned brighter at that.

Uryu blinked, finding that odd for some reason.

"So where's everybody else?" Asked Ichigo as he turned to his oldest friend. "I thought they'd be here before us."

Tatsuki blinked again, turning towards Ichigo, "Hah?"

"I was asking where everyone else is." Ichigo responded. "Did they spike your drink already or something?"

"Uh... right." Tatsuki shook her head, "Chad said he's running late. His band mates threw him a mixer or something like that too. Mizuro'll probably be here soon. He just went to pick up Keigo."

Ichigo nodded, satisfied with that answer as he cradled his head and looked away in disinterest. Tatsuki simply rose an eyebrow at her oldest friend's actions but did not press the matter further as the waitress arrived with extra menus. After a quick polite discussion on how they were still waiting their waitress excused herself after taking a few quick orders for drinks. Tatsuki blinked and stared at Ichigo and then turned to look at Uzume, who had lifted her menu high enough to not show her face. She then turned back to Ichigo who looked moodier than usual and scrunched her face up.

At that Ichigo turned to her. "What?"

"No-nothing," she replied, shaking her head and turning back to her menu. 'What the hell is going o-'

"Hey," Orihime suddenly cried, waving her arm in the air. The others looked upward at her shout and to where she was looking at to see.

"Heeeeeeeey guys!" Cried Keigo as he walked towards the table, waiving happily to the assembled group. Mizuro trailed behind him, giving a brief glance to his cell phone before looking up and giving a warm smile towards his friends.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii~, Asano-kun!" Yuzu said, waving her hand at them.

Tatsuki and Ichigo blinked, looking at her before turning around to glare mightily at Keigo.

Keigo froze at the dual glares directed towards him, "W-Why're you guys lookin' at me like that?"

"You know what you did," Tatsuki growled.

"No-no," Keigo squeaked quietly as he quickly took a seat, which happened to be close to Uzume.

He gulped nervously as turned towards the mysterious beauty, smiling politely and blushing slightly. "H-H-Hi there," he began. "Name's Asano Keigo. How you doin'?"

"Fine," she mentioned as turned to him before looking back to look at the menu.

Keigo smiled before feeling another chill and looking forward at Ichigo. "I-I-Ichigo?" Keigo squeaked as he felt a dark aura coming from the former shinigami.

"Yo Keigo," Ichigo growled. "Glad you could make it."

"Why do I get the feeling you're lying to me?" Keigo asked.

"What makes you say that?" Ichigo questioned through nearly clenched teeth.

"The 'fight or flee' instincts of mine that are telling me to run like hell?" he asked.

Ichigo simply snorted and looked away again, allowing Keigo to heave a sigh of relief. He blinked when a massive shadow appeared over him, looking up he saw the mountainous Chad towering over him. "Hey Chad!" he greeted.

Chad nodded. "Ichigo," he softly rumbled before turning to nod at the others.

Tatsuki shuddered involuntarily as Chad turned to her. She blinked as it quickly passed, "What the heck was that?"

"Hn?" Chad rumbled before a look of comprehension dawned on his face. "Ah." And with that, one massive arm reached around over his shoulder, and without fanfare pulled it back in front...

...Only to have a fuming cross-armed Chizuru glaring at him as she hung four feet above the ground.

Tatsuki blanched as her head repeatedly bounced atop the table, "Oh fuck me no," she mumbled. "Now I got a goddamn Chizuru-sense?"

"Hey!" Chizuru cried as a collective groan rose from Ichigo and Uryu as she turned and frowned at the Mexican/Japanese man. "This isn't close enough to honor our deal!"

Ichigo grunted as the others gave their polite greetings. When those were finished Tatsuki nodded and picked up her menu, "Looks like everyone's here that's gonna be here." She turned and growled at Chizuru, "You get one warning, you understand me party crasher?" She then blinked as the spot she had last seen Chizuru occupied was now blank.

"Hn," Chad raised an eyebrow.

"Geck!," Ichigo squawked out as he suddenly leaned back, his chair tipping over a bit before regaining its balanced.

"HHhiiiiiiiiiiii~, Hime!" Chizuru sang, now in the seat next to Ichigo and leaning over past Ichigo's private space towards Orihime. Chizuru paused as her eyes narrowed at the fist that suddenly appeared in front of her face, keeping her stretched over Ichigo's tilted form.

"First and last warning..." Tatsuki growled as she flicked Chizuru's nose, tilting the other girl off balance. "Next time I break your face."

Ichigo's left eye twitched as he turned to glare at Tatsuki. "Cutting a bit close, huh?" he said as she retracted her fist back.

"Did you say something?" she asked as she re-took her seat.

"Yeah," he grumbled, double checking his shirt to see if her buzz hadn't torn it.

"Now now," Orihime cut in. "Let's just get our dinner started alright guys?"

"Did you all order already?" Karin said, noticing the menus still on the table.

"Only some appetizers," Uryu answered. "They should be here shortly."

"Sweet!" Keigo grinned as he picked up his menu. "What kind?"

"Some popcorn shrimp and salads," Tatsuki answered. "Keep things simple I say."

"Right, Right," Keigo nodded in agreement. He turned to Uzume and gave his best smile, unable to keep the blush off his cheeks, "Sounds good don't it?"

"Uhh, yeah," Uzume muttered, stealing a glance at her ashikabi for a moment.

Keigo missed this as he continued on, "So... uh...Where exactly are you from miss?"

"Around," she curtly replied as she stole another glance at her ashikabi before burying her nose in her menu.

"Around huh?" Keigo nervously chucked as he continued on. "Is that near Odiba?"

"Yeah… sure," Uzume answered distractedly as she averted her gaze back to her menu as her eyes locked onto Ichigo's for a moment.

Keigo took a quick glance at his menu before turning towards Uzume again, "So uh... see anything good?"

"So Chad," Uzume turned to the giant Mexican, missing the soul crushing sigh that fell from Keigo's lips. "You said you were in a band right?" Chad nodded. "I remember that Tatsuki said you were running late to this thing. So did you guys have a late practice or something?"

Chad nodded again and Uzume continued, "So I guess your show's coming soon right?"

Chad shook his head.

"Oh really?" Uzume asked. "So it was just a regular practice?"

Chad shook his head negative once more.

Uzume gave an exasperated chuckle, "Not much of a talker are you?"

Chad shook his head negative.

"Heh, walked right into that one didn't I?" Uzume muttered. She was spared any further dialogue as the waitress for their dinner came up and presented their appetizers and proceeded to take their orders. Once placed, the gathered mass of family and friends broke off into either pleasant small talk, silent lustful longing, and stoic quiet.

Tatsuki frowned as she noticed the group exercising the later. While she continued to snipe lightly with Uryu, she kept stealing glances towards her oldest friend and the new presence in his life. There was an odd air about them tonight, nothing like yesterday. And it made her curiosity stand at notice.

Quietly, she nudged Orihime to get her attention.

"Hey," she whispered.

Orihime blinked and turned to her best friend, "Yes?" she whispered back

"Get a load of that," she said, motioning her head to both Ichigo and Uzume.

Orihime turned her head to see Uzume staring longingly at Ichigo for a moment, only to avert her gaze when their eyes met for a moment. At this, Ichigo would give Isshin an irritated look before scowling and turning away. "Something's wrong," she whispered.

"Yeah," Tatsuki muttered, taking a sip of her soda. She then nudged Orihime again.

"What is it Tatsuki-chan?" she asked.

"Looks like things aren't peachy perfect as our friend makes it seem. It's your chance."

"Chance?" Orihime asked.

Tatsuki closed her eyes in a fight to keep them from rolling and open them half lidded to stare at her friend and tilted her head. "To confess."

Orihime blushed appropriately enough, "B-B-But Tatsuki-chan... shouldn't we be wondering what happened between them?"

"There's no time," she half whispered, half hissed. "What matters is there's an opening, and you'll have a chance to make him think twice."

Orihime's blush deepened as she lowered her head to hide it, "I don't... I don't know."

"They're likely leaving tomorrow. If I know Ichigo, he's gonna wanna book it as soon as possible. And you're going to check out your university when? Next week? It's going to be way too late by then. If you don't do it now you may never have another chance," she emphasized. "And at least now there seems to be enough of a wedge that when you do tell him he'll lean toward you as he knows you better."

Orihime was silent as her friend finished. Tatsuki sighed again as she reached under the table and clasped Orihime's hand. "And even if... if god forbid he doesn't return your feelings... at least you finally told him and can move on from there, right?" Before Orihime could respond, Tatsuki felt a chill run up her spine, and she glowered at her dubbed 'Chizuru-sense'. She looked up to find the crazy lesbian girl glaring fiercely at her.

Her cheeks puffed out in anger and her hands balled up into fist, it was all Tatsuki could do to keep from slapping her forehead in exasperation, "Oh god, what's wrong with you now?" she muttered.

"You..." Chizuru growled, and it was clear that it was taking all of her will to keep from lunging at Tatsuki. "You get your hands off my Hime!"

Tatsuki raised an eyebrow in response, "Hoh? Are... are you threatening me by any chance?" Chizuru blanched as she felt an evil aura come from the martial artist. Tatsuki smirked as she continued, "You... you are threatening me, yes? Please say you're threatening me. Just give me an excuse."

"Down," Muttered Uryu as he placed a hand on her head. "No need to be so hostile on this night is there?"

Tatsuki growled slightly at him before turning back to see Ichigo looking at her with a raised eyebrow. "What?," she asked, feeling her face redden.

"What are you doing?" Ichigo asked.

"Talking with Uryu, why?"

"Because Honshou's busy grabbing onto my shirt like you just tried to kill her again."

Tatsuki growled again, her eyes flicking towards Chizuru who slowly backed away before turning to see Uzume's half lidded stare at the lesbian who was slowly letting Ichigo go. Not like she had anything to worry about the-huh?

Her thoughts were interrupted as she suddenly turned away and looked to Ichigo who was staring back in her direction before scowling and turning back to his food.

Blinking at the odd behavior again, even she began to wonder what was going on. She sighed as she looked down to find her food on the table, 'Whoa, when did that get there?' she thought as she picked up her utensils and dug in. As she ate, her eyes idly looked back at Ichigo once more, and sure enough he was glaring at someone. Her eyes looked in the direction that he was facing, and she had to pause for a moment.

The martial artist almost did a double take as she realized that Ichigo was glaring fiercely at his father. 'I must be out of it,' she thought. 'Was he always there? Hell, why is he so damn quiet?'

She frowned as she looked at the Kurosaki head, continuing to eat slowly. It was odd enough as it was, and the fact that she had just now noticed Isshin was the icing on this creepy cake. Whatever this feeling of oddness that had permeated the evenings proceedings, she knew in the pit of her stomach that he was at the center of it. He usually was. But that still didn't make the oddness all the easier to deal with.

'Maybe Orihime has a point?' she thought before she shook her head, 'Even so, we can't squander this opportunity! It's do or die time tonight!'

And so she ate, a sure proof plan forming in her head.

Oh yes, tonight was the night progress would be made.

---

Teito...

"Congratulations, Minato-sama!"

"Congratulations on your job, Sahashi-san."

"Th-thank you," Minato said a bit both relieved and a little nervous. He, Musubi and Miya were at the table, about to start dinner when both women offered their felicitations and it was all he could do to not wilt in exhaustion from what the day threw at him.

"I must say I am pleased that you found a job so soon, Sahashi-san," Miya said, taking a sip of her tea about nibbling a bit on her food. Beside her Musubi was taking rather large bits, almost enough to stuff and bloat out her cheeks as she happily concentrated on her food.

"O-Oh?"

"After all I would hate to throw you two out into the street if you couldn't pay your rent," she said as she giggled.

"A...ah," Minato sheepishly replied.

Beside him Musubi happily swallowed, leaving a bit of a smearing around a few parts of her lips as she went for another bite. And so silence reigned for a few moments as all three continued to eat. During that time, Miya had been taking a few looks at both Minato and Musubi, and had recalled Musubi's somewhat subdued attitude earlier. While mostly from her charge not being there was that other thing that was getting to her.

Minato paused in his eating as he caught his landlady's look. "Is something the matter?"

"I was just thinking, Sahashi-san, about how Musubi seems so much more cheerful now than earlier."

"Oh that," Minato chuckled a bit as a slight blush came to his face. "Well... she just missed me is all."

"Hn," Miya responded before taking another sip of her tea, her food nearly finished. "Although… she was also looking rather longingly at the yard area."

Minato paused, "S-She was?"

"Yes, Min'ho-shhhhaaaannnn~," Musubi agreed through full cheeks before swallowing.

"Musubi-san, it is improper for a young woman to speak with her mouth full."

"Ah! Yes! I'm sorry," she said, surprised and a bit upset for not thinking about that and quickly gave Miya an apologetic look. Thankfully, nothing else came, as Miya could be very scary she learned.

Minato chuckled nervously, "I... can't imagine why she'd be looking at the lawn. Nothing much there after all."

"It was where I was practicing earlier," Miya said matter of factually. At her words, Musubi's eyes began to glow as she remembered what she saw of the landlady before deflating as she recalled that Minato had forbade her from having the chance to spar with her.

"Oh, were you?" Minato asked as inconspicuously as he could. "I did not know that."

"Yes," she confirmed for him, giving him a calculating look.

"Maybe Musubi was thinking about things." He turned to his Sekirei, "Right Musubi-chan?"

"Hhhhhhnnnnnnmmmm~," Musubi moaned. She looked sooooooo strong too…

"See she's deep in thought now!" Minato cried.

"Really, now, Sahashi-san. It's more than alright if she wants to spar. It's been a long time since I've had someone to teach."

"Spar?" Minato gave a nervous chuckle again, "Don't be silly! Musubi's a peaceful girl! She's not the type to fight!"

"But I am a fist type Seki-uurrmphh!" was what she got as she was cut off by Minato's hand moving faster than he ever thought it could.

"You can't talk about that in front of Miya-san, remember?" Minato whispered in a panic tone.

Musubi's eyes widened suddenly. "Imshrrry," she replied into his palm.

"Rude table manners are unbecoming, Sahashi-san."

"Errk!" Minato choked out and removed his hand from Musubi's lips as if they were on fire, "I'm sorry!"

"And really now, Sahashi-san, like I said, its ok of she wants to spar. I have no issues with it." At that, Musubi's eyes once more began to glow as she clenched both fists in front of her massive chest.

"B-But..." he paused as he struggled to come up with a reasonable excuse to avoid bloody murder.

"But?" Miya prodded.

"It's just..." He turned to Musubi and whispered, "Musubi-chan help me!" He let off a small stream of tears as he noted Musubi looking at Miya with an excited look. "Musubi-chan..." he muttered.

"As I said… if she wants to it's not a problem."

'But that's not the problem here,' Minato thought. He sighed as he noted Musubi barely contain her excitement. 'At least don't kill or injure our landlady Musubi-chan.' He placed a hand on his Sekirei's shoulder, "Musubi-chan... do you want to go through with this?"

"Yes, Minato-san! Yes, she looooooookksss soooooooo strong! I can't help but be excited!" she exclaimed, her face brightening up profusely.

He sighed, "You're absolutely sure?" She looked at him giving him a few strong nods. "I can't change your mind?" A negative shake of her head. He sighed once more, "Can you at least make sure to take it easy on our landlady?" he whispered. "I don't want us to have to deal with the problems that would cause if you went all out."

"Of course, Minato-sama!" she said, again clenching her fists to her side, nearly causing the surrounding area to sparkle.

Minato gave off another nervous chuckle, "Ok... just... just make sure not to hurt yourselves I guess."

"My, Sahashi-san, you are very thoughtful, but it's ok to not be so overprotective."

'I'm not being overprotective for her sake,' he thought. Aloud he chuckled, "W-Well I just don't want you girls to hurt yourselves accidentally."

"She's in no danger at all, Sahashi-san, I assure you. Though... the way things have played out between the two of you since you arrived I never thought of you being the controlling type."

"C-Controlling type?" Minato asked confusion clear on his face.

"Telling her what to do and not to do, not letting her make her own decisions...," she trailed off.

Minato blanched, "What? No! I-I'm not! I-I just-!"

"And not to be able to let her make her own decision as to something so simple as sparring..."

"You got the wrong idea Miya-san!" Minato cried. "I just... it's just..."

"And I see no harm in letting her have some choices in matters like this. I assure you, she'll be well taken care of."

Minato moaned, trapped between bad circumstances and REAL BAD circumstances. 'Geeze, why is it so hard to protect people from themselves!' he thought. He cradled his hands in his head as visions of his landlady's lifeless corpse fluttered about in his head. Further scenes of him being arrested or captured by MBI and tortured for his rule breaking soon followed. 'Oh this is gonna be a bad end, I know it,' he thought.

"This is gonna be great!" Musubi squealed as she pumped her fists up and down excitedly.

'This is gonna suck,' Minato thought.

---

Isshin sighed as his eldest child glared at him again while eating. Honestly, that son of his was going to scowl himself into an early grave at this rate. Still, this was for his own good. He would see that some day, though definitely not at the moment.

Looking at his left he gave a warm smile to Uzume, sighing inwardly as she returned the smile wanly before digging back into her meal, or poking at, as she had since dinner began. From what little he had seen she was a sweet girl, and he really believed that. He liked her, of course, and the way she was he knew she was an honest girl.

And with that honesty came a... for lack of a better word, certain 'air' about that two that was a bit surprising from his point of view.

To say he was pleased to find his son finally make progress on this end was a vast understatement, but there was a bit of concern in that what he expected to happen in high school had happened directly after, and at a point in which his son's life would take direction on his own. That he had been visiting this girl every weekend was surprising, but his concern was that he might have been shirking an adult responsibility in his search for a home for college in favor of spending time with this mystery girl at her place.

That was partially the big deal in wanting to meet with her. He not only wanted to see the girl that made such an impact on him whereas Orihime could not, and began his own sets of tests for both of them. Ichigo had been on guard, as expected, and the girl had taken to him and his act, also expected, putting things into motion.

He would agree that he was being a bit more than underhanded, but it had to be done. Seeing the two together for the first time was an eye-opener in how his son behaved with her. Gone was the normally pathetic displays the boy would put out at even the tiniest hint of female admiration or teasing; admirable but to be done with it in less than three months?

Yes, his boy had it bad.

But was it real?

His first major concern was that Ichigo would be moving in the same apartment complex with her, a likely first major mistake that if things went south would be very difficult on not just his studies, but his own well-being. It was one thing to mope around trying to get over a girl, but to do in a place where you were likely to see her everyday?

No, that wouldn't do.

That it also wasn't purely based on hormones was also a bit concerning in that air that both of them had when they were together. He wasn't lying in the slightest in the longing for the pitter patter of little feet but the two acted in a way that just didn't seem to fit the bill he had not only expected for Ichigo but for those in the first steps of a relationship. Even he and Misaki had a bit of time when their courtship had started, and the hurdles they had faced had made both stronger.

Yes, this was most serious indeed. And all the more reason to check things out before it got too far.

And so the moment of his boy and Uzume in their seemingly first major tiff, and as he had expected, the boy had no idea how to handle it. He was also watching Uzume to see how she would react, and hoping that the seemingly 'too good to be true' act wasn't an act at all.

The girl wanted his boy. Badly. The second of his tests being their night together. And as expected, the boy did nothing. Her teasing and lack of moping in the morning had been major bonus points in her favor.

And now, the major test, to show there was some foundation to this relationship. How they would handle themselves in this situation, being so close to going back and in the middle of a fight. It would end in either an understanding between the two, making both of them stronger for the experience or it would fall apart, proving that their relationship had nothing to stand on.

If the latter was the case, better to do so now. It would hurt, but his boy would get over it easier than later on while in the middle of studies and living in the same complex with her.

All that he needed to wait on now was the next move Ichigo would make, and flipping his eyes to see his son's eyes flicking back and forth between his food and Uzume would likely be any second now. It was then that Uzume suddenly got up and mentioned that she'd be right back, leaving and heading towards the restroom. A few seconds later Ichigo got up and left after her, saying nothing.

---

The path to bathroom area was fairly empty for such a busy night, but Ichigo was not one to pass up this moment for privacy no matter how slim the window of opportunity. It was a large area, with black ceramic tiles on the floor. Like most restaurants it was frighteningly clean. Ichigo pushed those idle thoughts aside as he studied the woman... his Sekirei before him. Uzume was looking down at the floor, her free arm resting under her breasts.

Ichigo sighed, raking his free hand through his bright orange mane as he released her wrist, "Ok Uzume... what do I need to do?"

Uzume looked up at her Ashikabi unabashed surprise plain on her face, "Excuse me?"

"I said," Ichigo began, "What do I have to do? We need to get past this if we're gonna be living together Uzume. So tell me what do I have to do to get us back to the way we were this morning?"

Uzume shook her head in exasperation. "You... are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious," Ichigo snorted. "Shit's been weird between us since this afternoon and I'm sick of if. So come on, tell me. What do I have to do to make things right between us?"

"You really don't know?" Uzume asked somewhat worriedly. "You can't see what it would take?"

"Uzume," Ichigo groaned. "How many ways are we going to go about this? Just tell me already."

Uzume sighed as her arm fell from under her breast and claimed one of Ichigo's hands, "Ichigo... it's not like I want us to be like this either. You're my Ashikabi after all. I don't want us to be acting like this all the way back home either."

"So...?" Ichigo prodded.

"So..." Uzume paused for a moment as she looked into Ichigo's eyes, "Tell me. What do you think I want you to do? What do you think I want from you?"

Ichigo gave her a flat look, "I don't know. It's kind of why I keep asking you."

Uzume gave a bit of mirthful chuckle at his answer, "Ok, Ok. I walked into that a bit. But still, it's rather simple if you stop and think about it Ichigo."

Ichigo didn't respond immediately at first, his was mind reeling from several things, and how badly he still wanted to punch his father in the face at his sneaky behavior today. Also he was partly distracted by what Uzume had said, but mostly from Uzume herself, the heat of her touch, the scent of breath, the sight of her breasts against the material of her top, everything.

Even in this serious atmosphere, his Sekirei was still freaking distracting as hell.

"Ichigo? You still with me?"

The former shinigami shook his head, "Ah. Sorry."

Uzume smiled, "Well you're on the right track at least."

Ichigo paused for a moment before slapping his forehead at her words. "Ah dammit, now I feel like a jackass. All you wanted was an apology?"

Uzume nodded, "Yes."

Ichigo nodded and gave Uzume a small smile, "So... so are we good now?"

Uzume raised an eyebrow at him and then closed her eyes and slowly shook her head, "Not quite yet." Opening her eyes and seeing Ichigo's confused look she continued, "I'm not the one I'd like you to apologize to."

Ichigo blinked for a moment before something clicked in his head. When it hit him, his small smile turned into one of his fiercer scowls, "Ooooooooooooo no... nonononononononooooo... you can't mean..."

Uzume slumped more than a little bit. "Honestly Ichigo you don't mean to tell me that papa doesn't deserve at least that much?"

"You're damn skippy I am," Ichigo grunted out. "This mess is his fault in the first place!"

Uzume just let out a sigh that was heavy with disappointment, "If you don't want to do it... then that's fine. If you order me to forget about it, I'll do that too-"

"What? What do you-," he started, interrupted by the buxom sekirei's raised finger. She lowered her hand dramatically and continued.

"Ichigo, if you really don't want to do this... and you want me to forget about it... then I will. I am yours after all, and what you say goes." She crossed her arms under her breasts and looked at him expectantly, "But you wanted to know what it would take to get things right between us. Well... there you go."

Ichigo sighed and closed his eyes, letting out a frustrated breath. His scowl faded slightly, but he was still clearly irritated at what his sekirei had said. It took a while as he tried to clear his head to at least not look like he was about to murder his father in front of a lot of witnesses, but when he opened his eyes his scowl had faded to one of his more familiar irritated at the world scowls. "You sure don't make this easy do you?"

"Well you're my ashikabi," Uzume answered. "I expect the best from you after all."

Ichigo groaned, "You don't fight fair either." He groaned for a moment, causing Uzume to look on her Ashikabi in curiosity before his demeanor changed. His hands clenched into fists, he stood straight and tall. His gaze hardened, and his eyes were sharp and alert. It was a look she had seen once before, when he had winged her three months ago.

Ichigo fixed his gaze on his sekirei, knowing he was about to something that felt fundamentally wrong to him, and not particularly concerned about it. There was something more important than protecting his pride he had to accomplish. "Ok Uzume," he began in a quiet whisper. "I'll do it. But I want you to know something. I ain't apologizing to my old man for his sake. I'm doing it for yours."

"Ichigo..."

"Just... just have a little more faith in me next time all right?" Ichigo continued. "There is a reason why we act like we do y'know."

"But why?" Uzume asked. "You... you love your father, right? Why would you two do that to each other?"

'Why indeed?' he thought to himself. Ichigo held his gaze with her, unblinking as images of their daily morning fights replayed in his head. How he never held back as his father gleefully came at him with that idiotic grin, one that got bigger as he was defeated soundly in those days. Those days would blur into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years.

And in that time, even though he did not realize it at first he grew. Moves that he learned in fighting his father would save him and give him the upper advantage from those who would seek to harm him or his family. Odd, when he had thought about, those first few days after he awoke after losing his powers. Thinking about how his father had come to his rescue against Aizen… that shock at seeing him.

Yes, he had his reasons, he had said and realized.

"Yes I care about goat beard," Ichigo calmly answered. "And yes, I know in his own bizarre, idiotic way he loves us. But that doesn't mean I like the man. Nor does that mean I agree with how he expresses his affection. It's a long, complicated mess that I really don't want to get into right now. But I'll tell you what... maybe if you ask him nicely, he might tell you about that mess."

She blinked as he finally turned back towards the end of the hallway and back to the dining area. 'Ichigo', she thought as he began to walk, his gait as strong as it was the day they met.

'Maybe... maybe I will ask papa about it,' she thought.

---

Keigo sighed again as he looked at where Ichigo had disappeared off with Uzume, his head resting on his arm in utter defeat. There was still pleasant chatter going on around him, but he couldn't get himself to care at the moment, "Mizuiro," he sighed. "Can you tell me just how Ichigo does it?"

"Nope," was Mizurio's reply.

"I mean, he's had Inoue-san crushing on him for years,' he moaned."And there's the girls he's managed to have crushing on him… well at least the ones that he hasn't scarred off with his scowling. Not to mention Kuchiki-san when she was here. I'm so sure she was crushing on him hard when she was around."

"Yep," Mizuiro replied.

"It's not fair is it?" Keigo groaned. "I mean he does it without even trying one lick! Or even aware that girls exist like that! If he had something that looked like a sex drive he'd like you but with girls his age!"

"Yes, but you have a nice butt." Mizuiro said.

"Yes I do have a nice but-" Keigo paused in his response as he raised his head and gave a shocked look at his friend, "What did you say?"

"Don't worry about it Misato, I know you couldn't make it to my graduation." Mizuiro continued with a small smile on his face. "I got your gift though, thanks."

Keigo's eyes narrowed as Mizuiro continued to talk, "Mizuiro... are you on that damn earpiece again?"

Mizuiro blinked as he heard Keigo's voice, "Hold up a sec." Putting a hand on his earpiece he turned to Keigo, "You say something Keigo?"

"... You know what never mind." Keigo turned away and pouted, "I'll just sit here and continue to be ignored by the universe at large."

"Oh, ok. Good luck with that," Mizuiro nodded and removed his hand, "Sorry about that Misato. So you were saying?"

"Why does life love to pick favorites?" Keigo cried.

Not all that far from the moping teen Tatsuki was chewing on her dinner, but her eyes glided back and forth between where Ichigo and Uzume had run off to and Isshin. She frowned at the elder Kurosaki's face. He had smiled ever so slightly when Ichigo had taken the sekirei away from the table, the only sign of emotion he had shown so far that evening. This could be bad, Very… very bad. Or it could end up being very… very good.

She didn't know, and a fire of anger burst to life in the martial artist's gut at that fact.

This was the crucial moment, and everything could hinge on how the two came back to the table. Three years worth or plotting, match-making, and encouragement hinged on what happened tonight. Or not. Or maybe it did. Or maybe she just needed to punch Chizuru in the face. That psycho was always good for a charthrisis.

"Hiiiiiiiiiiime~!"

Besides, she was practically begging to be used for a vent at the moment anyway.

"Hm?" Orihime murmured. "Kurosaki-kun and Uzume-chan are back, she said, looking over her shoulder passed Chizuru.

Tatsuki looked up and nodded, "So they are, Orihime. So they are." She turned and gave her friend a determined look, "Are you ready to rock?"

"Himmeeeee...Ne, ne, Himmeeeee~," Chizuru whined, trying to get her attention.

"Huh?" Orihime said, barely hearing Tatsuki.

"Shut up stupid," she growled out at Chizuru. Turning back to Orihime she said, "I said are you ready to rock?" She looked at Chizuru, somewhat confused at what she meant, but nodded, her lips tightening. "This is the moment of truth, Orihime." Tatsuki continued. "It's now or never, you get me?"

"This way, Himeeee~," Chizuru whined again, yearning for Orihime's attention.

Orihime nodded, ignoring Chizuru. "Just remember I'll be here if you need me," Tatsuki said in an assuring tone. "You can do this Orihime." Orihime gulped as her lips tightened again as she noticed Tatsuki's face turn up, looking at something above and behind her.

"Hiiiiiimmeeee~," Chizuru continued on. She let out a yelp as she felt a poke at the back of her head, "What the hell?" she cried and turned at the offender.

"Yo," Ichigo called out. "You're in my seat."

"Oh..." Chizuru muttered. "Switch?" she asked in an adorable fashion batting her eyes.

"No." Ichigo answered in a flat tone as Uzume re-took her seat to little fanfare.

"Pweassse?" she asked batting her eyes all the more.

"Out. Now," Ichigo answered.

"Oh come on!" Chizuru cried. "What kind of a man kicks a helpless girl out of her seat anyway?"

"The kind that doesn't let others steal his seat." Ichigo retorted. "Now move before I sick Tatsuki on ya."

Chizuru turned to find Tatsuki glaring a hole through her, and let off a nervous chuckle. "You wouldn't would you?"

"You wanna find out?" Ichigo responded as he gestured back to Chizuru's original seat.

"Fine," Chizuru sighed as she stood up and moved back to her seat. "At least I still have a nice view," she muttered.

Ichigo pretended not to hear that as he sat back down. Sitting down he sighed as he looked at his nearly empty plate. "Did you have to steal my food too?" he asked. Taking a utensil and picking at the remains he gave a small frown as he looked up hesitantly at Uzume to find her looking back at him, expectantly and giving him a small smile.

He took a breath in and looked down again before lifting his eyes again towards his father. His father gazed back at him, expression curious but neutral. After a second a wide toothy grin breaks his face before immediately going back to neutral. Ichigo gave his father an irritated glare before he went back to his plate, playing with what little that remained. He looked back at Uzume, a pleading look on his face as he gestured his head towards Isshin. Uzume nodded, gesturing to Isshin with her head as well.

Ichigo sighed, rubbing his forehead irritably. "Pop." he said after a moment.

"Yes, my son?" Isshin asked in a neutral tone.

Ichigo groaned again, fighting down a bit of bile that was forcing it's way to his throat. "Like I said about earlier..."

"Earlier?" Isshin asked in a curious tone.

Ichigo's lips tighten as his irritation grew, 'Dammit dad, don't play dumb now! This shit's hard enough as it is.' Rubbing the bridge of his nose, he continued, "Yes earlier. About your... your..."

"My?" Isshin prodded.

"... Your 'mugging'." Ichigo finished.

"Yes, what about it?" Isshin asked.

Tatsuki's eyes narrowed suspiciously as everyone else watched on in curiosity, 'Bullshit.' she thought. 'No way Kurosaki Isshin gets mugged. Not with all the fighting he and Ichigo do. What the hell's going on here?'

"Well, umm..." Ichigo paused and looked down at his plate again. When he looked up, a patient smile was on his father's face. Oh god, he wanted to deck the idiot. This was making him look too damn good.

"Take your time son," Isshin said in a reassuring tone.

'Yeah, enjoy your little moment of glory you jerk' Ichigo thought. Aloud he said, "It's just... just that... that I..."

"You?"

"I completely... disregarded your... -gag- pain and suffering and I...I..."

Isshin's eyes widened in surprise. Was he about to...?

"I'm... I'm..."

Reactions were mixed around the dining table as Ichigo continued.

Keigo had managed to gather himself out of his manic depressive state to allow his jaw to drop at what he was witnessing

Mizuiro had hung up on his latest lady friend and was watching in rapid attention.

Chizuru let off a bored sigh as she plotted how to remove Tatsuki from her guard duty to 'play' with Orihime all night long.

Chad's eyebrows were raised in surprise. The dreaded double brow.

"I'm... sssssssssssssssssssssss-"

Orihime let out a gasp in surprise at the shocking event being played in front of her eyes. Karin did the same, idly looking up and seeing if there were pigs flying.

Tatsuki was doing an admirable job of keeping her jaw from breaking the table, and cursing herself for not bringing her camera phone to record this.

Uryu watched in awe, careful to make sure that neither Kurosaki male noticed his camera phone recording this moment in Kurosaki clan history.

And Yuzu?

Yuzu was wondering who the heck this man before her was and what he had done with her elder brother? And how long was this facade going to go on before they realized that Ichi-nii had brought home a witch? A witch who had kidnapped the real Ichi-nii and put this demon in his place!

Unaware of all this, Uzume continued to look on in rapt fascination at Ichigo.

Ichigo caught her gaze, and took in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, folding his arms to his chest. When he lowered his head, his eyes opened, and gave his father his steely gaze and in a calm tome continued.

"I'm sorry."

Isshin watched, facial expression slowly losing its neutrality as he was watching something he thought he'd never see. Well, never see directed at him at any rate. Glancing to his left he saw Uzume, watching in unabashed hope as she slowly nodded every few seconds, as if egging him on or trying to will him to do the impossible. Seeing her and her raw emotion and turning his gaze back to his stuttering and reluctant son he felt suddenly nostalgic and something within him shifted, knowing now that Ichigo had made some semblance of growth.

"You're sorry," Isshin said, almost awed.

Ichigo nodded quickly at his father's statement. Isshin looked at his son in now in stunned silence, what he just witnessed now fully hitting him. Not since the daily spars had begun had Ichigo ever apologized for his behavior, nor did Isshin look for such a thing. It was just a routine. Granted, Isshin was giving the boy an outlet for his rage that did not involve damn near killing punks that got on his nerves, and any other dangers that the boy might have brought. But at some point it had just become a part of the daily grind and it was something Isshin was going to miss.

Isshin was shaken out of his thoughts by a sound beside him, looking down he noticed Uzume giving an approving smile towards Ichigo. 'So... so he did this for her?' he realized, knowing now what had happened when the boy chased after her a bit ago. Isshin continued to look at her for a moment before giving her a small smile, 'My goodness... maybe I was worried for nothing. You just might be good for my boy yet.' Inwardly, he gave a devilish grin, 'Oh I just got an idea.'

Schooling his features he turned back to his son and spoke in a calm voice, "Apology accepted Ichigo."

Ichigo grunted but otherwise did not acknowledge his father's words.

"I must admit that it takes quite a man to admit when he's wrong and try to make amends."

Ichigo groaned inwardly, 'Oh goddammit, he's gonna milk this isn't he?'

Isshin nodded sagely, "Yes, It brings a father tremendous pride when he sees the fruit of his loins mature into a fine, ripe fruit of a man."

'Ah, fuck he is gonna milk this.' Ichigo thought sourly. 'Stupid Uzume and her stupid expectation with her stupid sad eyes. This is gonna be hell.'

Isshin sniffled as he wiped away an imaginary tear, "Truly this has been a glorious day in the holy annals of Kurosaki clan history. My eldest child has managed to graduate high school. He will soon be living on his own with a fine woman," he paused to place a hand on Uzume's shoulder. "A woman who I am proud to call daughter on this day."

Uzume placed her own hand atop of his, "Thank you Papa."

Isshin nodded before he turned back to the group, "Yes! This is a great day in our clan's history! I am proud and honored that all of you were gathered to witness this magnificent event! This day in time where Kurosaki Ichigo began his humble march towards manhood!"

'Stop talking, stop talking, stop talking, stop talking, stop talking, stop talking,' Ichigo repeated in his head, clutching at his hair in irritated anger.

"And it just so happens that in the event that such a historic day should occur while I was still coherent to see it, I wrote a song."

"...What?" Ichigo whispered.

"You!" Isshin cried as he pointed at Keigo.

"Hah?" Keigo intelligently got out.

"Yes you boy!" Isshin nodded. "Stop looking so silly and give me a beat!"

"A beat?" Keigo asked before he felt a cold chill up his spine. Sparing a quick glance to his right, he found Ichigo giving him a glare that would have had Grimmjow shaking in his Espada boots. Keigo gulped, the message clear and turned to the Kurosaki patriarch, "I... I don't think so sir."

Isshin pouted, "Oh fine. You're no fun."

Ichigo nodded in approval, 'At least this can't get any worse...'

"Please tell me you're getting this," Tatsuki whispered to Uryu.

Uryu nodded, "I'll forward it to you later."

"I love you Uryu."

"Yes I know," Uryu smirked.

'Ok, I'm gonna kill my best friends. Question is, where do I hide the bodies and who can I get to konso them with no questions asked?' Ichigo thought, his murderous glare cooling into a more neutral stare as his friends marveled at the spectacle they had just whitnessed. 'More importantly...' He calmly thought as he turned his gaze back to his father. The gears in his head began to turn furiously as his father gave a dramatic speech that had Uzume enraptured, 'How am I gonna make him pay for this mess?'

Because make no mistake about it, Isshin was going to pay for this mess he made.

Dearly.

---

An hour later…

The sun had just set under the horizon; the skies above a mix of darkness that encompassed all above except for the last bits of escaping daylight as it followed the star passed the horizon. Still early March, the wind outside was still very cool, though not quite as biting as it was a week prior; a hopeful sign that it would be an early spring.

"Ummmmm~," Keigo moaned as he stretched his arms high above him, holding it for a moment as he visibly shuddered before bringing them down, one going to his stomach to pat it satisfied. He and the others had long finished with dinner, and were now in the process of leaving to go home. With the food paid in full beforehand all that was left was to tip the waitress, something that they all pitched in a bit.

"Man..., that was really good stuff," he said aloud to no-one in particular.

"Yeah," Uzume said as she walked out of the glass doors to the restaurant, Ichigo and his family trailing her. "That was good, wasn't it?" she asked in confirmation.

Keigo grinned as she finally gave him a look. He didn't know why, but she seemed a bit happier after Ichigo's unannounced humiliation. He continued to grin as he shook his head in wonderment. Did he lose a bet or something? Damn if he didn't have a picture for this once in a lifetime chance.

"I've no complaints," Uryu mentioned, eyes neutral as he stared into his phone, his thumb pressing a few buttons before turning it off and pocketing it. He sighed as he closed his eyes, preparing to depart so he could get to his patrol.

Ichigo growled at hearing that. Oh, he had complaints... He caught Keigo looking at him and glared back, not forgetting his butt-monkey's roll in this.

"What?" Keigo squeaked. "C'mon, Ichigo, it wasn't that bad," he said, giving a weak chuckle...

"I have to say I never saw anything like that coming," Tatsuki spoke up ruefully, the final trio of Orihime, Chizuru and herself walking out the door, and she closed it behind her. Keigo gave a small frown as he noticed Orihime seemed a bit... dazed. However that was put aside as Tatsuki stepped up to him and gave him a wry smile. "I'll give it you Keigo, you picked a good one," she said.

"Yeah, I enjoyed it," Chad confirmed before the others began to nod.

"Ehhehehehe," Keigo chuckled, a goofy smile growing on his face and holding a hand to the back of his head, feeling pretty damn good at this rare instance. "It was the least I could do, though Mizuiro did a lot of the work too," he said, looking at Mizuiro who nodded at him, smiling in another rare instance in that he had his ever-present phone put away.

"It's just really too bad Ryo and the others couldn't make it," Mizuiro said a bit sadly.

"Yeah," Orihime also chimed it, almost looking as if she were trying to get her mind on something else. "They really would've liked it."

"Yeah, but at least we got each of them that cheesecake thing Misato wanted," Tatsuki said, holding up a bag with a small container in it. Both she and Orihime smiled, knowing that Misato would practically tackle them for this bag later on.

"Yeah, it is a bit bad, but I can't see why we can't do it again later on, right?" Keigo asked aloud.

Silence.

"Right?" he said in confusion as he looked at his friends around him before his eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

Looking around he saw his friends looking at him not quite amused, but not mad. Almost as if it were somehow... solemn.

"Keigo," Mizuiro said softly.

"Hmm? Oh? Oh," he then said as realization kicked in and then he too took a breath as he found himself looking at everyone, a strange feeling forming in the pit of his stomach.

"What?" Uzume had said, confused at the sudden change in mood.

"This is it," Ichigo said softly, his own gaze softening as he found himself beginning to look around.

Seeing the change in everyone, Isshin for once kept his mouth shut and took hold of Yuzu's hand as he gently pulled her along. "Karin, Yuzu, let's go. Ichigo, we'll be in the car, ok?," he said to his son, who nodded without so much as looking at him, his mind now firmly thinking on the people around him, looking at each of them before finally resting his eyes on Chad, nodding at him.

Chad nodded back, silent but all too understanding of the look Ichigo gave him and returning it.

So many memories here, for both of them before meeting everyone else, save Tatsuki.

A strange silence befell the group as many of them found themselves not wanting to be the first to break the spell, of wanting to be together for just a little bit longer.

"UmHmm," Uryu coughed into his hand after a moment. Sans Ishida, of course, he had work to do.

"Oh that's real nice," Tatsuki muttered at him, irritated at the moment being broken.

"My apologies, but I do need to be leaving soon," Uryu said, taking the chance to readjust his glasses.

"I'll miss you too," Tatsuki muttered back at him half lidded.

"It's alright, Uryu, we all know why," Ichigo said. Uzume blinked, not quite getting it and feeling a bit out of place, knowing this was important to her ashikabi but being able to participate. Ichigo then frowned, his lips becoming tight as he looked downwards, thinking.

"Ichigo," Uzume whispered at him, seeing his gaze.

"Thank you," Uryu said before looking at the group, missing Ichigo. "I know that some of us never quite got along," he started, giving Tatsuki a look, "but I enjoyed being with all of you, both as friends and comrades. I hope for each of your success in the future," he said before bowing to them. "May we all meet again someday," he said as he then began to walk off.

"Since when did he think he was so cool all of a sudden," Chizuru muttered as he went out of sight.

"Didn't think he had it in him," Tatsuki agreed giving a wry smile.

"Tatsuki-chan," Orihime chided.

"It's not like he won't be seeing some of us soon, especially you."

"Hmmmmmmmm~," Chizuru fumed, not liking that both her Hime and Ishida would be attending the same University. Dammit, why didn't she think of going into medicine!

"Uryu, hold up!" Ichigo then called out after him. Uryu paused and turned, a bit of an irritated look on his face. After a moment he sighed and made his way back.

"Yes, Kurosaki," he asked, keeping his voice even.

"Sorry, but, just wanted to say something while everyone's still here, ok?" Ichigo then sighed, his mouth opening and closing a few times before taking another deep breath.

"Kurosaki-kun," Orihime said in concern.

The others turned to give him their full attention now, and he was silent for another moment. He smacked his lips a few times, and at the moment Uryu was about to simply give his adieu once more when Ichigo closed his eyes and rolled his head downwards as he brought a hand up to scratch the back of his neck. Standing straight again he looked at each of them and then bowed deeply to all of them, causing the rest to look at him in unfeigned shock.

"Thank you," he said, still holding the bow, his voice deep with emotion. "These last few years... it's been hell, y'know? Not being able to do anything, not being out there." He then stood straight again. "But you've all still stuck with me, still keeping me in despite not being able to do jack. Thank you for putting up with me and that flack, you really don't know how much I appreciate it."

"It's gonna be weird for awhile, getting used to Teito and not many people I know around," he continued, taking the chance to look at Uzume who smiled back at him. "But I wanted all of you to know how much I've appreciated it and that I'll miss these times we had together," He rose a bit more and smiled slightly. "I love you guys. All of ya. And I'm gonna miss the hell outta y'all while I'm in Teito."

An eyebrow rose as a soft sobbing sound could now be heard. Turning his head slightly in it's direction he found Orihime crying. Her mouth attempting to muffle her sobs. He sighed as he then walked up to her and reached out, placing a hand on her shoulder, giving it a small squeeze. She sniffed and hiccupped as she brought a hand to wipe her eyes, her heart already beginning to hurt while at the same time feeling the warmth of his hand on her shoulder.

"C'mon Inoue," he said softly. "Ain't no need to act like that. It ain't like we're never gonna see each other again, right?"

Orihime nodded as her tears faded away. Ichigo smiled softly as she calmed down, finally taking his hand away. She sniffed a few more times and smiled at him, nodding.

"Hime," Chizuru whispered in concern at her object of affection's current state.

Uryu then locked eyes with Ichigo, both Quincy and former Shinigami giving one last measuring look at each other before nodding.

"Until then, Kurosaki," he said before finally turning around and walking off into the night.

"It is getting late," Chad then said as he was looking after where Uryu had gone before turning back to them, "and I got practice in the morning." Chad then looked at each of them before stopping at Ichigo. "Give us a call if something comes up," he said, causing Ichigo to roll his eyes.

"He will," Tatsuki said, turning her head to give Ichigo a hard gaze.

"Take care of yourselves," Chad said, also bowing to them all before rising up and walking off in the opposite direction Uryu had taken a moment earlier.

"I know he'll still be here for a bit, but I will say that I'll miss the guy when all is said and done," Tatsuki said, smiling after him.

-Sigh-

Blinking, she turned to who made the audible sound and found Keigo looking downward, his hair covering his eyes.

"Asano-kun?" Orihime said, wiping another tear away.

"This is really it, isn't it?," he said a bit shakily. He looked up at them, and even his eyes were a bit red now. "It's almost not fair, all you guys goin' away, y'know? Could've at least stayed a bit longer before you all go off on your own, right?," he said, turning to Mizuiro, who gave a soft shrug.

"Don't worry Keigo, I'll be here just a bit longer if you want someone to keep you going," Tatsuki called out, causing him to cough heavily for a bit, eliciting a few laughs.

"Yeah," Keigo then said. "That'd be great." All of them raised an eyebrow at that.

"You be up early then, I'll make you jog 'til you wished you hadn't said that," Tatsuki said, not unkindly.

"C'mon Keigo," Mizuiro said, trying to save his friend a bit of dignity. "Ichigo, you watch yourself out there, ok? Teito's a lot different than Karakura."

'Understatement', Ichigo thought. "I will," he called back. "You take care of yourself at Waseda, ok?"

"Trust me, I will," he said, smiling as he pulled out his phone, causing all of them, sans Uzume, a still slightly sobbing Keigo and Orihime, to roll their eyes.

"Until we all meet again," Mizuiro said, echoing Uryu from earlier and bowing. "C'mon Keigo," he called out, pulling on his friends shirt to bring him along.

"You all take care of yourselves," Keigo called back.

"We will, Asano-kun!" Orihime shouted back, another tear falling.

"Just us, now huh?" Tatsuki said.

"Yeah," Ichigo said.

After a moment, Tatsuki smiled and held out a hand to Ichigo, who looked at her oddly before holding his out. Grasping his hand Tatsuki pulled him towards her and embraced him. Blinking, Ichigo's mouth couldn't find the words to say as he then held her back.

"Don't do anything stupid," she said as she pulled back.

"I won't."

"I would hope not, you don't have me to look after you anymore."

He snorted at that, "I'll get by."

"We'll see. Oh?" she then said.

"What?"

She then pulled him downwards and whispered into his ear. "I'm still better."

He smiled. "You wish," he whispered back before they both pulled away completely and shared a small laugh with each other.

Uzume blinked at them both. "Huh?"

"They've known each other since they were four," Orihime supplied, her damp face turning to her briefly.

"Oh," Uzume said, unsure of what to say, feeling all the more like an outsider from the last few minutes, before gasping softly as she then realized that Tatsuki was the other kid in that photo she saw the other day.

Silence again befell those who were left, and Orihime found herself lost in thought, her mind on Ichigo, looking downward as she then wrung her hands, the concrete below blurring as her tears began to fall in earnest.

"Orihime," Tatsuki then said as she put a hand on her friend's shoulder. Orihime turned to face her, and Tatsuki gave her a stare and a nod.

"It's time," she said. "For real now."

Her lips becoming a thin line, she nodded as she sniffed and turned to Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

"Yes, Inoue," he said, not sure how to respond when he saw her begin to cry again.

"I... I have something I need t-to tell you," she said a bit shakily.

"Yes?"

Tatsuki nodded again, trying her best to send all of her confidence to her friend, who needed it now.

Alongside Tatsuki, Chizuru watched both of them, her face turning from Ichigo to Orihime to Ichigo to Orihime and back again. She then paled and gasped, realizing what was going to happen.

"Ori-URK!," she barely got out as Tatsuki's arm looped around the girl and brought a hand to her mouth, muffling and silencing her as Tatsuki then tightened her grip, holding Chizuru close to her chest as she made sure that the girl absolutely would not ruin this last chance.

"I... I... ll...," she said shakily, doing her best to muster up her courage.

"Orihime-chan," Uzume whispered, walking up next to Ichigo as she looked on in concern, hoping the girl was alright.

Orihime turned to look at her, and realized that her view had both Uzume and Kurosaki-kun side by side, looking at her with mirrored gazes of concern and her heart twisted, remembering what she saw earlier.

After Kurosaki-kun's odd and completely shocking apology to his father, both he and Uzume again walked off towards the restroom area. With a hard nudge from Tatsuki, she got up and followed them, knowing that Tatsuki wanted her to grab Kurosaki-kun on his way back from the restroom to try to confess then.

What she saw was another stake through her heart. She had turned the corner as she followed them and stopped, as both of them were down the small hall to the restroom, and both of them were talking to each other, Ichigo with his head bowed low and red with embarrassment, and Uzume looking up at him with what looked like both relief and pride.

From where she was at she couldn't hear them, and she had taken a step back enough that she wouldn't be seen as she was still a step in the dining area.

After a moment of talking Uzume then stepped up to Kurosaki-kun, giving him a hug to then tiptoe up to kiss him on the cheek. She had gasped again as she saw it, but what floored her was after that Ichigo had then encircled his arms around her and pulled her to him, and they held each other tightly.

She didn't know when they parted, as by that time she had turned around to go back to her table to find an exasperated Tatsuki. She gave her friend the best smile she could manage, as at that moment she couldn't ever remember feeling so empty.

Seeing them side by side now drove that point even harder now.

"Kurosaki-kun...I..."

"C'mon, c'mon," Tatsuki silently whispered, urging her friend onward.

She sniffed as she could feel her heart beginning to empty out, its contents now falling as tears as they now made their way freely down her face.

"I just wanted to wish you well in Teito," she said, bowing to him. "I'll miss you so much," she said, her voice cracking.

To the side Tatsuki's mouth dropped, not quite believing what she was seeing.

"Inoue," Ichigo then said.

"Yes," she said, still bowing. "Huh?," she then gasped as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

Lifting her head she saw Ichigo giving her a small smile and surprised her more as he brought her close and hugged her.

"Ku-kurosaki-kun," she sniffed as her shoulders suddenly rocked hard.

"I'll miss you too, Inoue. Thank you," he said as he held her. She held on tighter as her sobs then increased. After a moment he patted her on the back and pulled back slightly. "It's ok. Remember? You'll be at Tokyo Medical. With that being so close I'll probably see you more than anyone here."

She shuddered again as she pulled away, not looking up at him but nodding.

"Uzume-chan," she then said a bit shakily.

"Yes?"

"You'll... take care of Kurosaki-kun, right?"

"Absolutely," Uzume confirmed, bringing a hand to her chest for emphasis.

Orihime wiped her eyes with a wrist and looked at both of them and bowed once more. "Take care." And with that, she turned to both Tatsuki and Chizuru, who watched in stunned silence.

"Orihime..."

"C'mon Tatsuki-chan. Its time to go home," she said with a smile. A hollow smile, both girls could tell.

"Ah," Tatsuki confirmed. Gulping in some saliva, she looked over at Ichigo and Uzume. "Good luck and take care!"

"You too!"

Chizuru looked back and forth between Tatsuki and Orihime several times, unsure of what to do herself before fuming at it all and turned to Ichigo and then bowed herself.

"Good luck and thank you. I... I know we wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," she said.

Ichigo blinked but nodded, and Uzume looked on in confusion.

"Good luck to you," she then said and turned to follow both Orihime and Tatsuki.

"And good luck to you, Honshou!" Ichigo called back, but by then she had already made good distance.

"Hn...," Ichigo sighed, moving his head back and forth. He continued to stare in the direction the girls left in for another moment.

"Everything ok, Ichigo."

"Hn...? Oh? Uh, yeah, I'm ok, Uzume. Just... just unsure, y'know. Inoue's always been... y'know, but... I, I just wasn't quite expecting that."

"Do you think she's ok?"

"With everyone going, probably not for a bit. Tatsuki'll be with her, and Tatsuki will kill just about anything that tries to hurt her, but..." he then shrugged, not quite sure of himself.

It was then that the headlights to his dad's car shone on both of them before veering to the side. The noise of the engine getting slightly louder as the car pulled alongside them both. Letting his dad know everything was ok, both he and Uzume got in, and Isshin turned the car out onto the street to go home.

---

"Please tell me we're almost done here," Kurokawa asked almost hopefully. Jiro eyed him impassively as he re-entered the car.

"I think we basically are," he admitted. "Looks like this was just one big goodbye."

"Great, so I got a nice sob story to go with my dull ass report," Kurokawa groaned. "You get to hear when he and Number Ten were leaving?"

He shook his head negative, "But it probably won't be long."

"Let's hope so," Kurosawa grinned as he put the car key into the ignition. "The sooner I'm outta this place, the better I'll feel." Jiro nodded. "That said, let me congratulate you fatty for not eatin' out the place and blowing our cover! I know that took a lot outta ya."

Jiro groaned, "Is that all you got? Gay and fat slurs? Can't you come up with something better?"

"I'll try to when you don't give me such material to work with." Kurokawa responded as he pulled out into the street. "Y'know, my sister knows a guy who loves fatties like you."

"If you don't shut your trap I'm gonna sit on you," Jiro warned.

"Oh, that's perfect! He loves when a fat guy does that!"

"God, shut up!" Jiro groaned as they followed the Kurosaki clan back to their home.

---

MBI HQ...

It has been said that Teito was a city of layers and no building in this area represented this fact more than it's crown jewel and reason for it's rapid development into a beacon of the future than MBI Headquarters. It was a beautiful building and state of the art on every floor. Still, even in a place as advanced as MBI, you couldn't take away the element of office work. And in this particular office, one woman knew that better than anyone at the moment, and it annoyed her tremendously.

"Those damned idiots..."

She was slight of build and stature, hair an unchecked tangle mess of brown cascading over her shoulders and hanging over the chair she was sitting in at the moment. Striking green eyes were narrowed in irritated slits at the manila folders she held in her hand. She pinched the bridge of her nose, and the aura of annoyance was now complete. She let out an irritated breath as she put the folders down on the desk in front of her, dossiers of Agent Kurosawa and his partner Agent Jiro.

A knock at her door took her eyes off the folders to see a smiling man in her window, two mugs of coffee in his hand. He is of foreign decent, a Japanese-German mix. Standing at an average height for an American but a tall man for a Japanese man. His black hair was cut nice and trim and sharp brown eyes tingled with amusement as he gestured to the door. With a sigh, the woman got up and opened the door for him, and he smiled gratefully at his co-worker.

"Thanks Keiko." he greeted as he handed the woman a coffee mug, "Little late to be making that face don't ya think?"

"Hardly," Keiko replied as she re-took her seat, "Considering how my day's been Kevin-kun, I'm surprised I didn't look like this sooner." She coolly glanced at Kevin, "And what have I told you about being so familiar with me at work?"

He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, "To make it worthwhile later?"

Keiko snorted and looked away, a faint blush on her cheeks, "You are not that cute."

Kevin clicked his tongue, "Damn, it was worth a shot." He took a quick sip of his coffee before he asked, "So what's getting to ya? You can tell me."

Keiko pushed the folders towards him, "Take a guess." she answered as she pulled out her keyboard.

Kevin groaned as he spotted the names, "Oh these class acts." He sighed, "What'd they break now?"

"Don't I wish it were that simple." She paused to take a sip of coffee, bringing her focus back onto her computer as she continued, "You know the Kurosaki kid right?"

He nodded, "Kid from that Karakura-cho right? He winged Number Ten a few months back if I remember right."

"Yea. But did you know he took Number Ten a couple of days ago and bolted?"

"He what?" Kevin's eyebrows raised in surprise.

Keiko snorted, "Exactly but from what I managed to gather on the security tapes from the train he's taking her to see his family. Good thing for him this isn't stage two yet or he'd be in deep shit."

"Oh I get it, so you sent Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dumb off for protocol. To make sure he wasn't planning on abandoning the game right?" Keiko nodded and Kevin continued, "So what, did they rough the kid up against orders?"

"Don't I wish." Keiko sighed irritably, "At least then I could fire their asses at long last. Get this, they claim to forgot their mission."

Kevin smirked, "Well that's a new one, at least."

"No kidding. They said they had no idea where they were, what the mission was, hell they even loss the car. "

"Get out."

Keiko shook her head, "I am not kidding you." she paused in her typing to lean back into her chair and sigh, "And you know the most messed up part of it all? I believe them. I believed them because... because hell I could hear it in their voice. They were telling the truth. And say what you will about those guys, they wouldn't forget a mission as simple as this. Besides..."

"Besides?"

Keiko shrugged and took another sip of coffee, "I dunno I just... I just had a funny feeling all during his check-in." She smirked, "Then again, that could just be from K telling me that J lost his pants."

Kevin paled a bit, "Now there's an image I'd like some brain bleach for. Thanks for that."

Keiko smiled, "Consider it your nightly entertainment from me to you."

"Love you too," Kevin replied. "I'll let you get on with it then. See ya."

Keiko nodded half-heartedly as Kevin left her office. The man looked around for a moment before he made his way to the men's room. Looking around the area to find it deserted, a small hidden smile comes across his face. Checking to make sure there were no cameras in any complicated areas, he enters a restroom stall. Pulling out his cell phone and dialing a number.

-Hello?-

"Hey man, you're never gonna guess what I just heard..."

---

Bedtime...

Ichigo had a far away look in his eyes as he laid in his bed. It was dark in his room, almost as dark as the time of midnight that softly illuminated on the clock beside his bed, except for the moonlight gleaming down through the window. Although the whirlwind of a day had now concluded, he still remained in that hazy daze in-between the land of sleep and alertness. It was almost fitting in a way that his final full day would conclude here, as the reality of what was to happen tomorrow was slowly setting in.

His eyes wandered downward to see Uzume curled up on his chest sleeping peacefully. The light of the moon shined softly on her still form, magnifying the sensuousness of her curves even under a blanket. Ichigo shook his head, idly tracing her cheek with the back of his hand. He had found out long ago that her immense energy level was supported by the fact that she could fall asleep almost instantly, and often did.

'That must be nice,' Ichigo thought as Uzume smiled softly in her sleep at his touch. 'To be able to sleep like that no problem.' Last night not withstanding, he had found it hard to sleep the past few days as he anticipated just what would happen in the lead up to introducing Uzume to his family and friends. Now that it was over and done with, he was filled with anxiety once more. Anxiety for the future, and all the mystery it held.

What secrets did the future hide from his sight? Would his powers return? Would he figure out the true nature of this sekirei game? Would he ever be able to understand the feelings this girl that slept so peacefully on his chest was managing to evoke from him? His eyes left Uzume's face for a moment, looking at the corner of the room where he first spotted a slip of a girl dressed all in black come into his room two years ago. That's where it all began.

The awakening of his power, and being granted the power to protect those he cared about. Strange now that it was all over. To give everything up to save everyone... In his heart he knew he should feel relieved.

Free.

But.

But not being able to really be part of it anymore.

He shook his head and sighed. That's part of the reason to be out on his own. 'Who knows?' he thought. 'Maybe being out on my own and seeing what normalcy is like will finally ease my mind. And tomorrow... tomorrow I'll take my first step and seeing just where my future may lie.' He looked back at Uzume's sleeping face, 'And just what part you'll play in it.'

He sighed, chuckling ruefully as he cradled his sekirei's head. 'No use in worrying about what will be. War, peace, love, school, whatever life wants to throw at me. I'll deal with it.' Finally he looked up into the clear sky he looked at the bright moon and smiled.

"Later Karakura." he whispered as his eyelids finally closed, thoughts of how he was going to payback his father the last bits he remembered before succumbing to sleep.

---

Underneath him, Uzume smiled as she laid in contentment upon her ashikabi's chest. She could feel the warmth of Ichigo's skin against hers where his arm wrapped around her, on her face where it pressed against his shoulder, and under her arm and hand that lay across his chest. Her hand sitting directly over his heart. Her nose tickled with his sent, and she could feel her heart drinking in his very essence.

It felt so good it had to be a dream. She savored his presence, not wanting to ever leave it. Not ever wanting to be without it again. And thankfully, she could take solace in the fact that now she would never be away from him again. But even so, a lurking thought continued to make her presence known in her head and not allow her to sleep in her ashikabi's arms.

-Just... just have a little more faith in me next time all right? There is a reason why we act like we do y'know. -

'I don't understand... Why in the world would they be so... at odds with each other?'

She sighed, wondering when things got so complicated. Then she frowned, realizing that there was still one way to get some answers. Ichigo himself had said it... if she wanted to know, ask papa. 'When did this get so dang complicated anyway?' she thought.

She yawned softly, finally feeling sleep creep upon her. Feeling the soothing rhythm of her ashikabi's heartbeat underneath her, she was quickly in the land of Mobieus.

---

Uryu watched impassively as several Hollows dissolved into the night. Lowering his arm and allowing Ginrei Kojaku to dissolve, he closed his eyes as he spread his senses out, and felt two of the other Hollows that he had sensed in the distance fade away as well. Good. It was nice to have competent help, even if they may be Shinigami.

It was then that he sighed and opened his eyes, disappointed at the lack of catharsis in his current exercise. A new chapter was to begin in his life, but try as he might he couldn't quite quell the odd feeling of loss in the closing of his old one. How odd, in meeting one particular substitute Shinigami would open him up to a group of people he otherwise would have had nothing to do with, and as of this moment would no longer see on a regular basis.

And now, despite having had many a patrol on his own, he could not just shake the odd sensation of being alone. His lips thinned into a frown as he spread his senses out to feel nothing other than Kuchiki-san moving off to continue her own patrol. If anything, for at least a week before he and Inoue-san would get to tour their new campus in Chiyoda he'd have more than enough time to keep up with Kuchiki-san.

Eyes suddenly flickering in the opposite direction he disappeared using Hirenkyaku, determined to beat Kuchiki-san to the next target.

---

In his bed, Sado tossed as he couldn't get comfortable. Opening his eyes and sighing, he turned as he moved his blankets mostly off his body, once again feeling too warm to keep on, and knowing that in a few more minutes it'd be too cool to leave off. Looking at the ceiling, his thoughts were also on the future and the friends that would be moving away, including one he considered his best friend.

He turned once more, trying to bury the troubling feeling that trouble was going to happen sooner or later.

---

"Yeah. Don't worry, I'm fine. Yes, she's already in bed. No, she'll be ok, just the day getting to her, graduation and all, you know".

"..."

"I will. Thank you mama, I'll see you and dad tomorrow. Good-night". Clicking the phone off Tatsuki put it back on its receiver and fumed silently, tired, exhausted and worried. She was already in her pajamas, spending the night with Orihime, not wanting to leave her alone after what had happened earlier with her failed confession to Ichigo.

She didn't understand it.

She thought she'd really do it this time, and just as quickly as it came Orihime did more than simply crash and burn. The poor girl had simply broken down in a way she couldn't remember seeing, and it bothered and scared her. Managing to finally get Chizuru to take the hint with a promise of calling her tomorrow to let her know the girl had left them alone as they turned the last few corners to Orihime's apartment.

Moving towards Orihime's room Tatsuki noted Orihime's sleeping position, on her side curled into a loose ball with her haired flared behind her, looking smaller and more forlorn than the girl could remember. Slipping under the blankets to spoon with her friend put an hand on Orihime's shoulder and rubbed it softly, doing her best to console her friend.

Her face fell slightly as she saw Orihime's damp and red face, knowing that she had cried herself to sleep. She shook her head slowly, sighed again, and stared up at the ceiling again cursing whatever gods that made this possible; the odd quirk of fate that brought that girl into Ichigo's life. She then moved her hand to rub Orihime's head before bringing it back as she curled on her end and fought the moisture that threatened to spill out of her own eyes, swallowed the lump forming in her throat. She was angry... angry at herself for pushing the girl so hard. Angry in her arrogance in thinking that it would never come to this.

She had fucked up, plain and simple. When she had heard from Rukia that Ichigo had met someone and then learning that she had been invited over her anger and competitive streak had won out. And in her anger and competitiveness, she had decided to make sure Orihime would finally confess her feelings.

And look where it got her best friend, whom she had sworn long ago to protect...

All she could do now was be here for now in the time that she had left, and hoped that Orihime would be somewhat back on her feet when the time came for both of them to part, and then it would be up to Ishida to pick up the slack less some deranged pervert try their hand while she was at college.

And with that her thoughts turned back to Ichigo, and then sighed as she found herself now too exhausted to be mad at him anymore. It wasn't his fault, she knew on some level, and even then she had been irked that he was responding to someone none of them knew while Orihime had been trying for years for his thick head to not notice.

She sighed, feeling again that this was her fault, that she should have done something sooner, pressed harder, hell, gone with Ichigo when he went into Teito.

GAH! It was just so frustrating...

-Sniff-

She looked up as Orihime's shoulders trembled a bit as she heard her sniffle, and once more brought a hand up to her head, hoping that the girl could feel in her sleep that she wasn't alone. Giving a soft kiss on Orihime's head, she pulled back to resume trying to comfort the girl, rubbing her shoulder softly as she continued to sniffle into her dreams.

---

Back to Teito...

Minato finished sloshing the water in his mouth before spitting into the sink, cupping another handful of water before spitting again once more. Rinsing his toothbrush he tapped it on the sink to dry it and took a towel to dry his mouth. Taking one last look in the mirror he lowered his head and shook his head as his momentarily escape from reality ended.

What the hell did witness earlier?

Dinner had ended some time ago, with Musubi shaking from excitement in that she could spar with Miya. So excited the girl had been bouncing in her seat that the landlady had offered to have their first a half hour after their meal. To work off the food, she had said and laughed if away when he inquired why it had to be so soon.

He turned off the light to the bathroom and made his way to the stairs to go up to his room and bed. Reaching his room he opened the door and paused, quickly remembering that Musubi was inside. He gulped, momentarily taken aback as a quick thought of catching her in a possibly indecent pose drifted passed his mind.

"Mu-Musubi?" he called out.

No response.

He then continued to open the door and noticed that the lights were off and entered the room fully, confused as Musubi was still inside when he went to brush his teeth. With the dim light of the hallway lighting a bit of his room he noticed both futons out side by side with Musubi already in one, smiling away. He blew out a small breath of relief and disappointed as he closed the door behind him, the room now becoming completely dark.

Taking a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness he made his way to the futon and lifted the covers as he got in and stopped as looked at his sekirei, lightly snoring away, and was struck once more at the contradictions she seemed to extrude. Looking at her now she looked like a normal, but very cute girl. She was softly snoring through her mouth, but with each opening and closing her lips were turned slightly upwards, showing even in her sleep her boundless positive nature.

And that belied just how powerful she was, causing him to grimace at how the spar went, and gulped at how Miya had responded to it.

It was mind-blowing.

This girl who had easily run off with him away from those S&M twins without noticing him when they first met; this girl who had lept so far into the sky with him, bursting through the rain clouds to gaze at the moon before forgetting that she also had to land...; the same girl who had picked up his bag of stuff from his apartment and brought it here, as if she were simply holding a purse behind her, for all that it seemed to weigh when she held it...

And for all that strength, she couldn't even lay a hand on the landlady.

He had gulped in fright and held himself back in terror at picturing in his mind what he was going to tell the police and the hospital doctors as they would rushed Miya into intensive care, hoping to identify the remains should Musubi forget to hold back in her enthusiasm. He nearly had a heart attack when Miya suggested that she didn't have to hold back if she didn't want to.

And then it happened.

Miya was like the wind.

Invisible. Untouchable. Impossible to catch, to the point where even he had a hard time keeping up.

And through it all Musubi smiled like a child gazing at their first look at an amusement park. The spar hadn't gone on long, and soon enough Musubi had piled on a helping of lumps, one on top of each other, forming an almost comical look springing from her head. With the fifth lump appearing on top of the fourth, much to his shock as he was sure that was impossible, Miya had called it quits, saying that it was time for a bath and lessons could begin in earnest the next day.

Bowing to a despondent Musubi, who had hoped that it would go on longer, she had also smiled at him, and he bowed back, knowing that she had proved her point. That she, a normal human, could keep up and best a Sekirei so easily...

"Man... when Miya gets mad she's hella scary."

He blinked, the words Uzume had said the other day coming to him, causing him to pale a bit and pray that he stayed on her good side. With Uzume, the landlady, and Musubi living here it would seem like only he, Kagari and Ichigo were the only normal people there...

Looking at Musubi one more time, he shook his head and laid down, too tired and now thinking of what needed to be done tomorrow and his first day on the job.

---

Elsewhere...

Homura sighed as he continued his vigil, perched atop a ten story building overlooking the area that had been a grassy park not just two days ago. He leaned a bit over, a foot on the border that surrounded the roof, which only coming up to just below his knees from the floor. He had been here since the wild growth had sprung out of nowhere. Well, not nowhere, for he was one of the few privy to the events that spawned this unnatural scenery to occur. Takami had called him with the details, and over his protests for her own safety and well-being all but ordered him to keep watch for the tiny girl who was still in and for whoever may try to go in.

His eyes narrowed at that as he looked up to several choppers flying overhead, passing over the area every several minutes before going back to where they were going originally. On the ground were three MBI heavy armor vehicles with a few dozen MBI soldiers milling about. All here under the veil of 'keeping-the-public-out-of-what-dangers-may-be-hidden-within', or so the news had said when he was last able to watch the news. At that he did sigh again; guard duty wouldn't pay the bills, not that he had too, mind you, but it was good knowing he was pulling his load. That, and he was missing several repeat customers who had spent big in the past.

He looked up again as the whine of another chopper grew loud as it approached and peaked as it flew over his head towards the former park, a hand brought up to his face to block as much of the brief violent winds it produced and to keep his hair from being to mussed up. He hoped that MBI figured out what they wanted to do and soon, as each passing hour was also a lost one in protecting the unwinged Sekirei who had yet to find their ashikabis.

"Damn it all," he quietly cursed as he continued to wait.

---

In another place...

On a high rooftop somewhere deep within the Capital, amiss the busy and bustling Teito night life, the clear and serene night sky was obliterated by the sounds of sudden mortal combat. A shocked gasp was muffled by the sounds of a busy night life as one of the fighters looked up to see the malicious glint of a blade reflected by the pale moonlight.

-CLING-

-CRACK-

-CHINK-

Another shocked gasp was uttered as metal met metal.

-THUD-

The attacker gave a cold smirk as the intended victim brought up her tonfa in a defensive gesture, making an 'X' shaped shield as the screeching sound of a blade was blocked. Finally, the attacking figure hopped several steps back, letting her opponent catch her breath. Her eyes narrowed as she gasped for air, her tonfa held up in a defensive position. Cautiously, she got the first real look at her attacker.

She stood a bit shorter than her and was covered in dark clothing, the only part not covered was her stomach and hands, dark-skinned it seemed, but it was still difficult to tell in the darkness with little illumination since she had hid in an area shaded by the moonlight. Baggy gray pants covered her legs with an oversized belt accessory circled her waist. A black long sleeved shirt covered her chest and arms. A curved dagger gleamed in what little light there was held in her right hand. Her head and face were covered, the turban-like garment the same color of her pants leaving only her eyes uncovered, and they sparkled with amusement at the situation.

"What the hell is your problem?" the near victim gasped, her breath ragged.

"Nothing wrong with getting an upper hand on the competition my dear. Wouldn't you agree Number Forty-Four?" was the reply, the voice slightly muffled by her coverings but her amusement was clear in spite of it.

"You really should see about fighting those who've already been winged," the aforementioned Number Forty-Four called out, her breath now steadying.

"It's not my fault you walked away from your chance," the unnamed Sekirei called. She smirked at Number Forty-Four's shocked face, and noted with amusement how dirty and mussed the sekirei's red hair had become, her high ponytail looking a bit frazzled. Her red and gold trimmed kunoichi outfit looked dull in the night light, and her arms fell to her sides in surprise.

Catching herself Number Forty-Four snapped back into a defensive decision. "So is that what you are? Vengeance?"

"Maaaaybe," her aggressor said lightly, "Maybe not."

"He was NOT my Ashikabi, and his damn Sekirei had no business to come after me," she said. "So just go back and tell your Ashikabi to go screw himself!"

"Oh you... you think he's my Ashikabi?" she replied amused before finally giving in to laughter.

"What?" she growled.

After a few seconds the laughter subsided. "He's not my ashikabi. Like I said, I'm just cutting down the competition." And with that, she brought her dagger in front of her and brought another hand out to steady the other.

Number Forty-Four's eyes narrowed. "Well then, if it's a fight you want...," she trailed off. "Number Forty-Four, Maki, shall oblige you!"

"Your funeral," Maki's opponent warned as both charged each other, the sounds of battle again filling the air.

A quick slash, a step back. A flick of the wrist and upswing, tonfa spinning high. A sudden lean back and spin return back swing. An echoing clang as tonfa blocked steel, again causing screeching sounds as they slid off each other. Each move and counter move faster than the last, the two sekirei now a near blur with each attack.

"What's the matter?" Maki sneered after a moment of nonstop to and fro, seeing some of the masked sekirei's clothing was torn in a few places; the speed of her tonfa making the wake of her spin razor sharp. "Bit off more than you can chew?" Her sneer became a grimace, as she realized abruptly that blood was running down her cheek from a missed cut above her right eye. Furious at herself, she reached up to wipe the trickle of blood away.

The covered sekirei came out of her defensive posture to stand upright and calmly smirked back at her. "I don't know. Did I?"

And with that, she disappeared.

"Shit!" Maki's eyes widened in shock, before flickering back and forth in an attempt to see her opponent had gone to. "How?" It was at that point, some extra sense flared in her head and she whirled around only to gape in astonishment.

An arm, literally appearing as if someone had unzipped the night sky was outstretched, dagger in hand making a whipping noise as it was brought down.

Maki was caught completely off guard by her new move and howled in pain as blood flew from her arms where the attack scored. She gritted her teeth at the faint sound of her opponent's laughter floated through the breeze, "Oh I'm sorry," she said in a taunting tone. "Did that hurt? Don't you worry hon... It will all be over soon."

"You goddamn bitch," Maki growled as she struggled to keep her arms held upright. "Come out here and face me dammit!"

"Awwww... and ruin the surprise?" her opponent replied in a voice dripping evil pleasure. "But if you insist, look up."

Maki's eyes went skyward against her better judgment, only to gasp in shock at what she saw.

A seemingly endless stream of blades rocketing towards her.

'How did she-' was her last pain-free thought as the blades clashed with her skin, and Maki could do naught but close her eyes and grit her teeth in pain as metal met flesh. And moments after it began, it was over. Maki stood there as blood dripped from her numerous cuts before she collapsed in a heap.

A cold laughter further chilled the night sky as slow footsteps could be heard along the gravel rooftop. Blood painted the rooftop a dark crimson and splotches splattered the floor close to a trail that followed Maki as she desperately tried to crawl away in an attempt to flee and ignore the excruciating pain as various slash marks covered her battered body.

"Da... damn it n-no," she weakly gasped, her arms feeling heavier with every inch gained. "M-my ashikabi...," she bemoaned as she felt her life ebb out of her. Her tears streaming hot on her face and mingling in with the blood as an agonizing realization came forth. She now knew she would never have her chance to find the one meant for her. Another screech tore from her lips as another stinging sensation of a new cut was felt across the back of her leg.

"Oh dear," her opponent began in a disappointed tone. "And here I was thinking that you might be more fun than this..."

'You bitch,' Maki thought as her opponent gave another slash as her leg. She bit back the scream this time, determined to not let her opponent have to much satisfaction. If only she could get some room... create some space... maybe she could have one good shot at taking this bitch down with her.

She tried very hard not to think of a sekirei with eyes as silver as the moon shining down on her as she crawled away, hoping to at least die fighting. She let off a strangled cry as her opponent stepped on the small of her back.

"Any last words my dear?" she asked.

"Bite... my perfectly toned ass... bitch..." she replied.

Her opponent gave an amused chuckle at that, "How cute... you want to look so strong for the reaper." She raised her blade high over her head and bent down, near Maki's neck. "And so with that," the masked sekirei calmly said as she surveyed her fallen foe. "The end."

Maki's eyes stretched wide open as her mouth opened in a wordless scream, a few choking sounds barely being able to come forth as the intense sensation of a blade being driven into her neck. Tearing through tissue, nerves, cartilage, and bone, effectively pinning her to the floor of the building before it was suddenly pulled back. Causing the body to lift a bit before flopping back down in a lifeless heap.

And with that, Number Forty-Four was eliminated from the competition.

After a moment the sekirei looked upwards, closing her eyes and breathing in the night air. Enjoying the sensation of the kill, she opened her eyes and scanned her surroundings, noting how her opponent's blood had decorated the rooftop and grinned in satisfaction. "Hmm, this is getting to be rather fun," she softly told herself before bringing her head up to race across the roof and jump off, her job here finished. Silence once again reigned as Maki's body continued to drip, the pool of blood surrounding her growing ever so slowly.

Unnoticed by both, and by all but a select few in the world, a figure slowly stepped forward, eyes lowered in sympathy for the girl and face twisted in disgust at the violence he witnessed not a few moments earlier. Had anyone been able to see him, they would've noted the strange garments he was wearing, but in a time of super powered girls and a few boys running around the Capital in various costumes it would've likely also been quickly forgotten.

Silently, Sagara Keisuke of the 6th Division waited patiently for the soul to appear so he could bestow Konso on the girl so she could be sent to Soul Society.

The first several moments went by quietly. And soon enough, that became a half hour as Keisuke continued to be patient. After another fifteen minutes confusion finally began to set in, as a soul should have appeared by now. His head turned to took a quick look around, open to the possibility that maybe he somehow missed the soul's appearance.

Nothing.

And with that, he took a step toward to take a better look at the body when another figure suddenly came over the rooftop to stand on the ledge. He took a step back as he looked the figure over, a woman with a high ponytail wearing an open haori. The woman hopped down to the rooftop and leisurely made her way to the body, glancing around and grinning at the new decorations.

Finally reaching the body, the woman took her time looking at the fallen sekirei before crouching to touch and getting a better look.

"Heh," he heard the woman chortle to herself and raised an eyebrow.

With that, she stood and reached into her haori and pulled out a phone. Dialing, she waited a second or two before the other end picked up.

"Karasuba here. Yeah, there was a battle here."

Silence as the other end talked.

"Whatever. Just know that you have another fly to pick up."

Again, the other end spoke.

"I don't know… she was alone. But I gotta say… whoever did this, I like the cut of their jib," she said amused.

With that, Keisuke walked forward to get a better look himself and see why no soul came forth. Perhaps, though unlikely, the girl was still alive? He grimaced, not liking that thought at the girl suffering anymore.

"No," the woman, Karasuba said into her phone. As he came closer he noted that she stood just a little bit taller than him. "Tell them to hurry up, I could care less if this is here all night but I'm not going to wait-"

-SWISH-

Keisuke gasped, his breathing deep and quick as he looked up from his position on the floor, and arm propping himself up. No warning, but his reflexes kicked in, warning him of danger as he all but threw himself back onto the floor. Looking up, glimmering in the moonlight was Karasuba's outstretched blade, high enough that it was where his neck would've been had he kept standing. He then berated himself, as even had he still been standing nothing would have happened.

"Hello? Hello?" a muffled voice could be heard from the phone.

Without moving her position she brought the phone to her ear. "I'll call you back." Without waiting for a reply she hung up, re-pocketing her phone as she brought her outstretched hand back to look around, her eyes open and scanning the rooftop. On the floor Keisuke watched, his eyes widening a bit in realization before calming.

Silently, Karasuba's eyes came down to look at him, or where he was at on the floor. For a moment only his own heartbeat could be heard as she stared at his location. Finally after a chilling moment her eyes narrowed before flickering in another direction and turning her head. "Something's here."

With that, she took a few steps away and looked around the rooftop, again turning back to look in his direction, eyes narrow and looking back and forth, unable to see what it was she sensed. "Hmm," she said before sheathing her katana and turning back to Maki's body.

Standing shakily Keisuke kept his distance this time, again looking at the body to find no soul coming forth. After a tepid several minutes another sound could be heard in the distance coming closer and louder until finally the wind was blowing overhead as an MBI helicopter shone its light on the body as it slowly maneuvered over the rooftop.

Keisuke looked up to see several lines being thrown from the helicopter and several figures slid down, one unfolding a stretcher the moment he hit the rooftop. A few others walked towards Karasuba, who briefly looked at them in contempt before masking her features as they neared her. Before long the body was placed on the stretcher and lifted to the helicopter along with the men who came down. Karasuba herself stayed as after another moment the helicopter turned and left.

As the noise of the propellers disappeared into the distance Karasuba once again surveyed the surroundings. "I know you're here," she called out conversationally and Keisuke paused once more.

A few steps forward as Karasuba continued to look around to once again stop and stare in his direction. After a moment her features twisted in frustration before calming once more, giving the rooftop another glance. With a soft curse she turned a hopped over the ledge and into the night, leaving the stunned shinigami behind her.

A bloodbath. A death. No soul. Another human who seemed to be somewhat spiritually aware, albeit weakly. A strange pickup. And once more, no soul whatsoever.

"What the hell is going on?"

---

Elsewhere...

"Yes. Excellent. Good work." And with that, a cell phone flipped shut.

"Higa-sama," the speaker, Kakizaki called out.

Higa Izumi turned from his point at the window, watching the glow of Edogawa City from his office. It was on the tenth floor, and the building was his. His viewings were a pastime he took pleasure in, something Oriha, one of his sekirei, could not understand. Beside him, two other figures, women, both well endowed and a bit shorter than him with one having short cropped hair, the other one having longer hair, also turned in tandem with him to face Kakizaki, his aide.

"Yes?" Higa replied, arms still clasped behind him.

"Number Forty-Four has been terminated as you requested."

Higa nodded before turning once more to face the city.

"Che, I don't know why you just didn't have us do it," the short haired one muttered, ignoring Kakizaki's cell phone ring.

"I know… it wouldn't have been a problem."

"Sometimes," Higa said without facing them, "It's best to have a few pawns to keep our hands clean, and I don't want anything leading back to me yet, Ichiya, Toyotama."

"Yes, Higa-sama," they both chorused.

"This is their third job, and at least they didn't manage to botch this one up like their first. I'm surprised you decided to give them another chance, Higa-sama," Toyotama then replied.

"It was easy enough to cover that man's death, if anything its unfortunate they allowed that sekirei to get away. But, I was feeling magnanimous in giving them another chance, and so far they've delivered."

"Higa-sama," Kakizaki called out once more, again flipping his phone shut.

"Yes?"

"I have some interesting news. It seems an Ashikabi managed to take his Sekirei out of the capital..."

---

End Chapter 3

Next time…

Some last good byes…

Some new faces…

More Tits and Ass…

More Violence…

And someone invests in Tylenol…

Good Times!