Wow... I didn't realize it has been over a month since I updated... I'M SO SORRY!!!! This chapter is extra long, so hopefully it was make people happy. ^_^ I promise I'll get the next chapter out as soon as I can! I have the whole this already planned out in my head. I just need to find time to type it on the computer. :D I know I said before that I had 11 chapters done and all written out, but I kind of now don't if you haven't caught on. I had to re-write a lot of chapters to make them longer. Plus, I didn't like how I originally wrote them. I'm sure I've said this before, I just don't remember. It's been a hectic few weeks for me. I'm lucky if I remember what I had for breakfast this morning.
Anyway, thanks for all the comments everyone!
I-Elli: Thanks so much! Sorry I didn't update soon like you had hoped. I've been so busy with work, prom, etc. I'll do my best to get the next chapter up as soon as I can! :D
Peaches-Life'sSimplestTreasure: Surprisingly, I got Ichigo a little on the romantic side in this chapter. It's pretty funny, I think, because... Well, you'll just have to see when you read. ^_^ About Kana being bothered by Ichigo talking to Rukia thing, you totally just gave me an idea for a chapter in this story. No lie! Thanks so much, though you most likely have no idea what I'm talking about but still. lol And yes, I'm totally a sneaky person, can't you tell? lol
ruler of dragons: Ukitake was Kana's mother's captain. I mentioned it breifly (I believe) in the last series, but I don't remember... It was so long ago. And sadly, Ichigo doesn't have much competition. The captains all look to her as a daughter (except Hitsugaya. She's more like a sister to him since he's so young and everything) so there's no romance. I do have to say that there is a small surprise in the next chapter that readers might find entertaining. :D
emm297: Thanks so much for liking this story! I know there aren't a lot of good IchigoXoc stories out there and that kind of depresses me a bit, so I'm glad that you like this one. :D
A week had passed since that particular hollow attack and everything seemed to go back to normal. Hollow attacks still came, but it was just like the attack from before: the strange spiritual pressure was always present. Ichigo would get frustrated because just when he believed he knew where the source of the reitsu was, it disappeared. He wasn't the only frustrated one either. Rukia was in the same boat as he.
While all this was going on, Renji was still in the Soul Society doing only God knew what. Ichigo and Rukia expected him back by then but thankfully, Kana didn't notice anything strange with that scenario. Ichigo hadn't told her about the soul reaper, and he didn't feel the need to seeing as it wasn't that important compared to other things.
"Ichigo, I don't get this," Kana said dropping her pencil on her homework. She was currently sitting at Ichigo's desk in his room while he sat on his bed doing his homework. "Why does every math question ask to find 'x'? I mean, why do all the work if 'x' is right there?" she continued, pointing to the "x" on the page.
Ichigo sighed in amusement and got off his bed after placing his things down on the bed. He knew very well Kana was just getting frustrated with the math homework and that was why she had said those comments only Keigo would say. He hovered over Kana slightly, resting his left hand on the back of the desk chair and using his other to pick up her pencil.
"You have to multiply both sides by 12 then square-root both sides," he told her as he finished the problem in her notebook. "See?"
"Oh… I knew that. I was only testing you," Kana said as she smiled playfully. "You know, Keigo's going to kill you if you get high scores on your tests again."
"Yeah, like I'm scared of him," he told her and placed the pencil back down. "Do you need any more help?"
"How about questions two through twenty?"
"I'm not doing you're homework."
"I know," Kana said with a laugh. "I was just kidding. Still, I don't get why we have to know this stuff. It's not like I'm going to use it in the future. Not with the job I want."
"You have to use math in every job, Kana," he told her, leaning more on his hand that was on the desk as he looked at her. "It's impossible to have one and not use it."
"I know one," she said, avoiding eye contact with him.
He looked at her quizzically and asked, "What is it?"
Kana looked back over at him with a playful, almost teasing, smile. Then she leaned forward a bit and placed a kiss on his lips. She pulled back a little bit leaving little space between their lips and continued to smile.
"That's my little secret."
Ichigo became curious, but he wasn't able to ask Kana anything because she kissed him again. This time, she didn't pull back. He accepted the kiss and deepened it by placing a hand he had on the chair to the side of her face. The two would have enjoyed the kiss even more if two certain people didn't bust into Ichigo's bedroom like a herd of animals.
"Were you two just kissing?" That voice belonged to Yuzu who sounded excited. She, being the hopeless romantic, was happy for her brother. Ichigo's father, on the other hand, didn't see it that way.
"No! Masaki, our son is growing up too fast! Make it stop!" Isshin cried out with tears streaming down his face like waterfalls.
Kana and Ichigo, who jumped apart the very moment they heard the bedroom door swing open, were totally shocked by the intrusion. Kana was trying her best to hide her face with her hand to help block the intruders from her view. Ichigo ended up being a few feet away from Kana when his two family members busted in.
"What the hell?!" Ichigo yelled. Isshin's and Yuzu's perfect timing to jump in made Ichigo believe the two were listening outside his bedroom door.
Little did Ichigo know, he was completely right. Karin stood in the hallway out of sight of Ichigo's shaking her head disappointedly.
"Waiting until a silent moment occurs… You two are sick," Karin commented about her sister and father and then walked downstairs pretending she had no idea what was going on.
Back to Ichigo's room, he was still yelling at his crying father and hopeless romantic sister. "Why are you in my room?!"
Yuzu had ignored her brother's questions and ran up to Kana who was still extremely embarrassed. Kana pretending to continue her math homework, only glancing at the child from the corner of her eyes.
"Are you okay? Your face is all red," Yuzu asked.
"I'm fine, Yuzu," Kana replied, doing her best not to look straight at the girl.
Yuzu didn't believe her and said, "You don't have to be embarrassed about kissing my brother."
"Yuzu…" Ichigo stated, signaling her to stop before she gets any further on the subject.
"He's a little scary, but he's really a good person."
"Yuzu…"
"And don't worry if he sucks at kissing. You are his first girlfriend after all." Kana couldn't help but giggle at the girl's comment. Yuzu didn't see anything wrong with what she had said, but it was the last thing that should be coming out of her mouth.
"Okay out!" Ichigo yelled, his face becoming as red as Kana's from embarrassment, and he pushed his younger sister and father out of his room. Then he slammed the door shut. "God, my family is crazy…" he muttered as he walked back over to Kana.
He began gathering his homework together and placed it in his bag. Then, he gathered Kana's things together and also placed them in her bag. Kana was confused about what he was doing considering they were nowhere near done with their homework.
"Ichigo, what are you doing?"
"Do you really think we're going to stay here after that?" Ichigo asked and to be honest, Kana suddenly felt the urge to runaway from the house, but she wasn't going to let that feeling show to Ichigo.
"It's okay. They're your family," Kana said with a small smile. "They're suppose to be nosey."
"Not like that," Ichigo said. He took her hand and pulled her to the door. There was no way he could stay in his house with his girlfriend after that.
"Where are we going then?" Kana asked as she took her bag from him so he could open the door. "The shop doesn't have much privacy either. I have five other people living there."
"The shop will be better than staying here," Ichigo admitted as he swung his bedroom door open.
The couple was surprised to see that Yuzu and Isshin were no longer standing outside the bedroom door. They were gone, but something flew in the air and landed on Ichigo's face. Crying came from the suppose-to-be-inanimate object and Ichigo groaned at who it was.
"Why would you lock me out, Ichigo?" the lion cried out.
Ichigo peeled the stuffed lion off his face and dangled the lion in the air. "What the hell are you talking about. You weren't suppose to leave my room period."
"I got bored when you were at school so I roamed around you house and got stuck in your sisters' room. Your sisters came home and the tomboy wanted to use me as a soccer ball while the other one wanted to dress me up in frilly girly clothes-" Kana began to softly laugh at Kon's rant and that made him notice her. "Kana's here?! I didn't know that! Let me go, Ichigo! I want to give Kana a hug!"
As Kon began attempting to get out of Ichigo's grasp, Ichigo looked over at Kana with a cocked eyebrow as if to say, "You want to stay now?"
"Fine. You win," Kana said smiling. She could deal with Ichigo's crazy family, but she could not stand to be with Kon longer than what was needed. "Let's go."
.: - :.
"Finally," Ichigo sighed while digging his hands into his pants' pockets. Kisuke's shop was in view meaning the couple was almost to freedom. "It's about time."
"C'mon, Ichigo," Kana said, walking next to him holding her schoolbag with both hands behind her back, "your family isn't that bad. If it weren't for them, we might not be as close as we are now."
Ichigo had to admit that was true. Yes, the two became friends after meeting, but it wasn't until Kana had dinner at Ichigo's house they became good friends. And that led to where they were now: boyfriend and girlfriend.
"Actually, I think I started to like you back then," the blonde admitted with a smile. "I just didn't realize it until later when Rukia began coming to our school."
Her confession surprised Ichigo. That dinner happened over a year ago. Ichigo had a hard time believing because he only realized he liked her liked her after she was in danger. She realized her feelings months before that even happened. Her secret keeping ability was excellent especially if the secrets were her own.
Once the two reached the shop, Ichigo continued to walk, but Kana had stopped at the front door. Ichigo noticed she stopped right away and turned around to face her. She was looking over her shoulder slightly as if she was waiting for someone to follow her. Ichigo knew the reason why she had stopped from the look in her eyes and sighed.
"Go ahead. I don't care."
A huge grin appeared on Kana's face and released her school bag with one hand. She turned around and began to wave her hand in the air.
"Bye, Mr. Kurosaki!" she yelled out. "Bye, Yuzu! Bye, Karin! I'll see you soon!"
Then Isshin jumped out from behind a nearby bush while Yuzu and Karin walked out. Surprise and shock were shown on Isshin's and Yuzu's face while Karin only smirked with her arms crossed over her chest.
"How did they find out?" Yuzu asked, still in shock.
"Next time we must be more secretive!" Isshin yelled out to his blonde daughter who only agreed with him.
"You two are idiots," Karin stated while letting out a sigh.
"If you didn't like the idea, then why did you come?" Yuzu asked her twin.
"Because I wanted to see you two make fools of yourselves."
Yuzu didn't say a word, but Isshin began crying and looked up at the sky. "Oh, my dear Masaki! One of our daughters has become rebellious to her father! What shall I do?"
Kana laughed at Ichigo's family as all Ichigo could do was shake his head. His family was embarrassing. He couldn't understand why Kana liked being around them, but then again he did. He knew she liked them because she doesn't have a family with siblings or parents. Sure, she had friends that cared deeply for her like she was family, but she liked the normalcy that Ichigo's family had. There was no worry about hollows there or evil family members who could kill someone without a care in the world. Even with that knowledge, Ichigo still couldn't fully understand why Kana would like his families over many others.
"Hello? Anyone home?" Kana yelled into the quiet house. Kisuke's shop being silent was a scary thought. It was always loud with Jinta's rudeness, Kisuke's indirect responses, and Renji's yelling (when he was there). In other words, the shop in a silent state was a scary thought. "That's weird… I don't think anyone is home…"
"Uh-huh," Ichigo agreed and followed Kana into her bedroom. He had stopped in the doorway and watched Kana place her schoolbag on her desk.
Kana could see the annoyance that portrayed on Ichigo's face and couldn't help but smile. She walked over to him and said, "Are you still angry about before?"
"No."
Ichigo obviously was still angered, but he tried to not let it bother him. It was rare that Ichigo had any time alone with Kana. There were friends gossiping with Kana at school, Ichigo's sisters wanting to hang out with Kana, or Renji or Kisuke following the two around. So obviously, Ichigo quickly got annoyed when the little time they had alone together would get rudely interrupted.
All Kana could do was smile and walk up to her boyfriend. He couldn't see her because his eyes were closed, but he could definitely tell that she was smiling. Suddenly, he felt her warm hand touch his cheek making him open his brown eyes to meet her blue ones.
"You know," she said in a whisper, "you are such a bad liar."
This time, Ichigo made the move first and leaned his face towards Kana's. No one was home. No one was there to interrupt. This moment was the perfect moment and not get disrupted by people. Finally for the first time, Ichigo and Kana has real alone time.
Their lips were only centimeters apart… Not even centimeters apart when the unthinkable happened.
"Heeeeeelloooo, beautiful couple!" Even Kana groaned with Ichigo at the sound of Kisuke's way too happy greeting. "I thought I heard you two come in."
Ichigo, getting frustrated by the millisecond, turned around, pointed at the man, and yelled, "Where the hell did you come from?!"
"I was in the basement discussing important matters," Kisuke answered like Ichigo wasn't ready to go soul reaper and chop of his head. "I'm actually glad you two came when you did. You need to hear this too."
"How about later. We're busy," Ichigo growled and placed his hand on Kana's door, ready to slide it shut.
"Oh I am sorry. Did I interrupt something?"
"Is he really acting like he doesn't know?" Ichigo mumbled in a low tone as Kana hid behind him slightly embarrassed to be caught in the act the second time that day.
"In any case, I need you two to meet me in the basement. The others are there as well," Kisuke told them both as he began to fan himself with the fan he always carried around.
"Why did we come here again? I think I can deal with my family now."
"There's still Kon," Kana replied with a sigh.
"Damn." Even though Ichigo asked, he already knew the answer. He was seriously getting frustrated by the whole thing. All he wanted was to spend some time with his girlfriend but no. Everyone was too entertained with interrupting the couple and watching Ichigo blow up to even care for the word privacy. Ichigo could also tell Kana was getting frustrated to by how she talked.
"Now follow me, you love birds," Kisuke said happily, not noticing the dark aura that filled the air. "We have a lot of things to discuss."
Kisuke then began to walk down the hallway, slowly getting out of Ichigo's and Kana's sight. Now that the mood was killed for the second time that day, they both no longer cared. It wasn't like they wouldn't get interrupted again if they left and went somewhere else.
"Come on, Ichigo," Kana said while grabbing one of his hands with her own. "We might as well go. Who knows who they'll send up next if we don't get down there soon."
"Who are they going to send?" Ichigo asked, believing there was no one who was more annoying that Kisuke Urahara. He had thought Renji would be a bad choice considering Renji thought of Kana as a sister. Too bad Renji was in the Soul Society. Oh darn, Ichigo thought sarcastically right before he began to speak again. "Rukia? Jinta? They won't do anything."
"They might send Ururu."
Ichigo paled at the name. That tiny, scaredy-cat had a mighty punch for someone of her size. He would know from the training Kisuke gave him to retrieve his soul reaper powers back.
"Let's go," he said, pulling her out of the room and towards the ladder that led to the basement.
.: - :.
"Why is everyone here?" Kana whispered to Ichigo as she waited for him at the bottom of the ladder. When she said "everyone," she meant Kisuke (who somehow got there way before the other two), Yoruichi, Rukia, Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu. They all were gathered together in a circle and were muttering things Kana couldn't hear.
Ichigo jumped off the ladder and landed next to Kana, looking at the group also. His thoughts were exactly the same as her own. Something big must be going on if they were grouped together like that. Even Yoruichi (who tended to leave and come back when necessary) was there. Something much have happened or someone figured something out.
"Oi, Ichigo! Kana! Hurry it up!" Kisuke said while sticking his hand up in the air and waving them over. "We have important business to take care of!"
"He better have found out who kidnapped you," Ichigo mumbled as he and Kana began to walk towards the group, "or I'm gonna kick his ass."
Kana only laughed and said, "I'm sure it's something important. Kisuke doesn't joke around with stuff like that."
"If you don't hurry, we'll begin planning you're wedding without you!"
Ichigo's eyebrow twitched once again at the blonde shopkeeper's comment and looked over at Kana who only gave him a sideways smile and shrugged her shoulders. Kana could help but think that was the last time she would ever stick up for Kisuke as she and Ichigo approached the group.
"Now that everyone is here," Yoruichi said, smirking from Kisuke's last comment with her arms crossed, "Ichigo, come here."
"Okay." Ichigo stepped forward and walked forward until he was in front of Yoruichi. Then without question, Yoruichi pulled out her hand that wore a fingerless glove with a skull on it and punched Ichigo right in the chest. "HEY!" he screamed as he continued standing in his soul reaper form and his body fell to the ground. "What the hell was that for?!"
"You're going to be training today, Ichigo," Rukia stated, obviously amused by his outburst. "You can't be in your human form when you train."
"I'm not a dumbass. I know that!" Ichigo yelled at the small, black-haired girl. "I could have done it, though. Yoruichi didn't have to punch me!"
"But it was more fun that way," Yoruichi stated.
"Whatever," Ichigo muttered and held in the anger he had to get straight to the point. "Why do I have to train, though? I'm more than ready to kill those bastards that took Kana in a second."
"Whoever said you were the one who needs more training?" Yoruichi said, continuing to be amused by Ichigo's frustration and confusion. "We want you to be the teacher."
"Wait, what?" Ichigo couldn't grasp what Yoruichi was saying. He was suppose to train someone. Why did they choose him to train someone? Why did he have to train someone? Most importantly, who did he have to train?
From the corner of Ichigo's eye, he could see Rukia and Tessai staring intently at the area behind him. Slowly, Ichigo turned around and his eyes widened the moment he saw what was about to happen. Kisuke somehow snuck around and was now currently standing behind Kana with his cane held up, revealing the skull at the bottom.
Kana didn't realize what was going on behind her and stared at Ichigo questioningly. "What's wrong, Ichigo?"
Ichigo didn't look away from Kisuke as the blonde smiled and moved the cane forward to make impact to the back of Kana's head. The carrot top's eyes widened even more as he began to run to Kana, preventing what was about to happen…
But he was too late…
I know, I know... I shouldn't have ended it like I did since I haven't updated in over a month, but I had too! I didn't want the chapter to be 10,000 words in length (an exageration but I'm sure many of you readers wouldn't mind that lol). I had to split this chapter in half. I will write the next chapter right now and hopefully get it out within the next week or two. Next week I have a bunch of senior/graduation stuff to do so it's going to take a little more time to write this.
Please review! I like hearing about what you think. :D
