Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or have any rights to it.
The next morning, Ichigo woke up without Yoruichi's weight on top of him; something he had grown accustomed to.
With a yawn, he sat up and carefully got out of bed without disturbing Yoruichi. He knocked on the closet to wake Rukia up.
"Hey Rukia wake up." There was no answer so he knocked again. "Rukia it's time to get up for school." There was still no reply. "What the hell is going on?" He forcefully opened the closet to find that Rukia wasn't there.
At this, Ichigo became confused. Now where could she have gone? He looked around, but couldn't see her anywhere. She must've already left for something else. I'll probably meet up with her at school.
When he got out and closed the door, he was met with a punch to the face.
"Hahaha! You've let your guard down son!" Isshin shook his head. "How disappointing. I guess that cat has made you soft."
"Shut up old man!" Ichigo punch Isshin back, sending him to the wall at the far end, near the stairs. "Call that soft?" he said defiantly before going downstairs, rubbing his sore cheek from the punch.
Ichigo then realized that the punch from his father had hurt more than he remembered. Am I really getting softer? Come to think of it, I haven't trained in a while. Could I really be weaker than I was at the soul society?
"Slipping are we?"
Ichigo recognized that voice as belonging to Hichigo, his inner hollow.
"What do you mean?" Ichigo tried to sound strong. He didn't want to show any sign of weakness to the hollow.
"Oh…you know what I mean. Your father's punch hurt more than it was supposed to. You've started slipping and it's all that cat's fault."
Ichigo became angry. "Don't ever talk about Yoruichi like that!"
"I rest my case. You're more caught up in her than you know."
"So? It's the desire to protect the ones I care about that gives me strength."
"True, but that desire cannot replace the training you've haven't been doing. You better watch out King!" Hichigo started laughing. "Or else, I'll take over and become king myself!" The hollow's laughter slowly died down as the conversation ended.
As Ichigo reached the foot of the stairs he reflected on the hollow's words. If he couldn't maintain control of his own body, then how would he be able to defeat Aizen? He couldn't blame Yoruichi though.
"You're not off the hook yet son," said Isshin as he leapt down at Ichigo from the top of the stairs.
A new fire lit up in Ichigo. All right dad…I'll accept your attacks. I'll use them to help me get stronger, so I can defeat Aizen.
Rukia arrived at Urahara's shop, with everything she would need to go to school.
Ururu was outside, sweeping the ground.
"Good morning Ururu," said Rukia. "Where's Mr. Urahara?"
Ururu pointed inside. "He's inside."
Rukia thanked her and went inside. "Hello, Mr. Urahara. I need to ask you something."
Urahara was currently sitting at a table in the eating room, sipping his morning tea. "I'm in here Rukia. What is it you need to talk to me about?"
Rukia stepped in and threw Kon on the table. Kon groaned as he shook his head in an attempt to reorient himself.
"This perverted plushy tried to grope me in the middle of the night. I was wondering if you could keep him here."
Urahara shrugged. "Sure."
Upon hearing this, Kon burst into tears. "Ruuuuuukiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaa! Please don't do this to me!" He leapt towards her chest. "You don't have to play hard to get!"
Rukia smacked him to the ground with her fist. This caused Urahara to chuckled. "You weren't kidding. He really doesn't know his boundaries."
After thanking him, Rukia left the shop to go to school. When she got there, the students around her started muttering about the new student and how pretty she was.
She found it annoying, having to start with a clean slate almost every time she came here, but she did like the fact that they wouldn't pester her about where she'd been since she was taken by Renji and her brother.
"Hey Rukia!" Orihime ran up to Rukia and hugged. "I didn't know you were coming back."
"I had to come back on because of the recent increase in hollow activity. I wanted to surprise all of you guys by coming here, although Ichigo already knows."
Orihime suddenly became timid. "Um…Rukia…"
"Hmmm? What is it Orihime? You look nervous about something."
"Um…well I was…I was just wondering if um…if there was anything between you and Ichigo."
Rukia raised an eyebrow. "No…why do you ask? Do you have a crush on Ichigo?"
Orihime turned away and blushed. "M-Maybe…"
Normally Rukia would've teased her to coax the information out, but now she found herself in a fix. She had been set on getting Ichigo and Yoruichi together, but how could she refuse Orihime if she asked her for help.
"Hey Orihime!" Rukia was saved when Tatsuki came up to greet them. She then turned to Rukia. "You must be the new student we've heard about. I'm Tatsuki Arisawa and it's nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too," said Rukia in cheerful voice.
As they walked into school, Rukia let out a sigh of relief. She felt sorry for Orihime, but at least she hadn't agreed to help her.
When lunchtime came around, Ichigo sat alone on the roof of the school. He liked coming here during lunch, to get a good vantage point, and have no one secretly spy on him.
"Enjoying lunch?"
Ichigo jumped when he heard a familiar voice. He looked over at the railing near the ck end of the school and saw Yoruichi in her human form, fully clothed.
"What brings you here Yoruichi?" God, I forgot how pretty she was!
Yoruichi grinned, she liked seeing him surprised, but she decided not to tease him. She didn't want regain his image of her as a pervert.
"I came to inform you that your training would start today. Meet me in the park after school."
Ichigo's face lit up and he nodded yes. "Off course. I look forward to it."
Yoruichi gave Ichigo one last smile before leaping over the edge and flash stepping away.
Neither one of them knew that someone had been listening to part of their conversation.
The conversation she had heard played through in Orihime's mind. She didn't recognize Yoruichi's voice, since she was used to the cat voice.
"Meet me in the park after school."
"Off course. I look forward to it."
"Something Orihime?" asked Uryu as he passed by in the hallway.
Orihime quickly put on her happy face. "Nothing's Uryu, I'm just fine!"
Uryu took a step back. He was always started by her happy outbursts. "Okay then. I'll be on my way."
Orihime sighed in relief. She didn't want to confide in anybody just yet. So Ichigo likes someone else? I guess I missed my chance.
As she walked started walking through the halls, she bumped into Rukia and Tatsuki.
Tatsuki immediately picked up on the fact the Orihime was upset. "What's wrong Orihime?"
"Nothing's wrong, I'm okay." Orihime's act would have fooled a normal passer by, but Tatsuki had known Orihime long enough to see through her charade.
"There's no point trying to hide it Orihime, I know there's something troubling you."
Orihime sighed before beginning her story. "I heard Ichigo talking with a girl on the room. They were planning to met up at the park after school."
Tatsuki's eyes widened. "Ichigo has a date?"
"I…I think so…" Orihime started whimpering.
"Maybe it isn't a date," said Rukia naively. I'll bet he's receiving training from Yoruichi.
"I highly doubt that," said Tatsuki. "When a boy and girl meet up in the park after school, it's usually a date. If it was just studying, they would go to one of their houses."
"It doesn't matter now," said Orihime. "Ichigo wants someone else. There's nothing I can do about it."
Just as Tatsuki was about to say something, the bell rang and they each had to got to different classes.
When she reached her next class, Rukia saw Ichigo sitting in his usual spot near the window. He was staring outside for some reason.
She decided to ask him about his meeting in the park since there were a few minutes left before class began.
"Hey Ichigo." She walked up to him. I heard about your meeting in the park. Are you going there to train?"
Ichigo smiled as he turned around. "I am. Yoruichi said she would train me."
Rukia nodded. "That's good. You need to be in tiptop shape for the upcoming battle with the arrancar."
Ichigo nodded in agreement. "What about you Rukia? Did your powers come back yet?"
"They did, just recently. That's why they chose to send me."
"So how long until the other members of your team arrive?"
"It should be sometime this week."
"Oh…" Ichigo wondered who the other soul reapers would be. He hoped that Zaraki or Byakuya wouldn't be one of them. Yet still, he found himself thinking about his upcoming training session with Yoruichi. He would enjoy getting back into shape with her.
I've finally regained my inspiration for my bleach stories. For those of you who are fans of 'Made for Each Other,' I'm working on the next chapter for that as well. This chapter wasn't as exciting as I hoped it would be, but the next chapter should be better and hopefully longer.
Also, I'm not sure how Tatsuki would react to Orihime's assumption that Ichigo likes another girl, I would appreciate some advice on that.
