Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. Tite Kubo created this fictional universe. This is just a fun writing exercise.

CHAPTER TEN: THE FAME GAME

"…and in other news," a male reporter said on the television, "a boy identified as Ichigo Kurosaki, from Karakura Town was seen on live television last night-"

The channel flipped to an image of a female reporter. "Who is this boy?" A picture of Uryu Ishida being down by security guards was shown on the TV. "More, importantly," the reporter said, "Who is he?" A clip was shown of Ichigo ranting in front of a microphone.

The channel flipped to another male reporter. "…if his words can be believed, this boy could be an amazing spirit medium! Certainly his actions show it-"

The channel was flipped again, this time to a female talk show host. "That's right people!" she said, "We have Don Kanonji himself, right here in our studio this morning!" The camera shifted focus zooming out to show Don Kanonji walking to the table where the host was. As he sat down, she smiled at him, "So tell us, who were those two boys?"

"My new sidekicks!" Don Kanonji said proudly.

"What!" Ichigo yelled. In the dining area, of the Kurosaki home Ichigo sat at the table eating breakfast. In another corner of the room, the television was on. Ichigo had the TV remote in his left hand. He was flipping through the channels even as he held chopsticks with the other hand. He dropped the remote and the chopsticks on the table. He stood up looking livid. "How dare he!"

Ichigo's sister Karin was sitting across from at the table him. She was annoyed. She was scowling at Ichigo. "When you're famous," she told him, "you have no privacy. They say whatever they want. You shouldn't have gotten in front of those cameras last night. You really shouldn't have spoken into that mike."

Yuzu was next to the chair Ichigo just left. She looked up at Ichigo in a worried sort of way. "We got a death threat over the phone this morning."

Karin looked equally worried for a moment then suddenly she smirked. "There were five marriage proposals for you, Ichigo. One of them was a guy, who seemed to you were a girl! There were two TV show contract offers, one of which seemed completely fake. I mean what kind of kind of show title is 'Teenage Stripper Medium' anyways?"

The phone started ringing. Ichigo glared at Karin then Yuzu. "Don't answer that!" he yelled.

Isshin walked into the room. He went to stand beside Ichigo. Isshin smiled goofily as he patted Ichigo on the back. "My son, the celebrity!"

Ichigo turned his glare on his father. "You want to make something of it?"

"Not really," Isshin said, "Just that Daddy won't be stepping out of the house much for a while, not until those reporters and certain others are no longer watching."

Ichigo raised a brow. "Others? What others?"

"You'll find out," Isshin said mysteriously. His expression for a moment was serious. He ruined the effect with another goofy grin.

"Oh man!" Ichigo shouted, "How am I going to get to school?"

A little while later, over at Karakura High School, in a classroom students sat at their desks. They wore the lighter uniforms of late spring and summer. For the girls only major change in the uniform was no jacket. For the boys this meant a short sleeved white shirt and tie. Two of the desks were noticeably empty. One other desk was also empty but no one had sat there all year.

In front of one of the empty desks, Mizuiro Kojima sat nodding. "I saw it as I passed near his house. I didn't actually go up to his house. The reporters were mobbing the place!"

"Yeah," Keigo Asano said, "You're not that stupid! If I hadn't stopped him, Chad would be in the same mess! I wonder how they did those trick wires?"

"It wasn't a trick!" Tatsuki Arisawa shouted.

Orihime Inoue looked about the room. The door to the classroom opened. Orihime's face brightened for a second. Then she saw who was coming in the room. It was Uryu Ishida. Orihime frowned. "I hope Kurosaki-kun is okay."

The teacher stepped into the classroom with a girl in a school uniform walking behind her. "Class," the teacher said, "this is Kiyone Kotetsu. She's a transfer student." The new girl had short blond hair. Her eyes were grey. She smiled energetically. She waved a hand wildly. There were short white gloves on her hands. "Hi! I'm so excited to be here! It's so, so, so great to move to a new place! Meeting new people and trying new things is wonderful!"

Uryu sat down at his desk, his eyes going wide with alarm. What is she doing here? Uryu thought.

Thirty minutes later, Ichigo walked into the classroom. More than half the students were starring at him. Many of the girls were eyeing him in a dreamy sort of way. As Ichigo walked to his desk, he looked increasingly nervous. "What's their problem?" he asked Kojima. Ichigo sat down at his desk.

Kojima turned around to face Ichigo. "Everyone is talking about you. They're talking about you more than the new girl!"

"New girl?" Ichigo asked.

Kojima gestured over at a desk. "That's Kotetsu-san. Her family had to just up and move for some reason. It's kind of weird. School is almost over too."

The new girl waved a hand. She smiled widely at Ichigo. "Hi! We haven't met before and already I've heard so much about you! I'm so pleased to meet you! Gee, you know the other girls are right, you are kind of cute." The new girl giggled. "Opps, did I say that out loud? Sorry!"

Ichigo scowled at her. What an annoying girl, he thought, wait a second…did she just say the girls think I'm… cute? Oh great, that explains the girls…it doesn't explain the looks I'm getting from the guys… Ichigo glanced about the room. Many of the students were looking at him with open adoration. The few exceptions stood out. Ichigo quickly spotted Uryu, who was busy shooting glares at the new girl. So he was right! Uryu Ishida was telling the truth. He does go to this school… why is he staring at the new girl?

At lunch time Ichigo sat on the roof, eating his lunch. A crowd girls of sat around him. Others stood behind them. Ichigo glared at them.

"I get it!" one of the girls sitting in front of him said, "You were possessed by an evil spirit that day!" The girl had short brown hair. She was smiling at Ichigo in a shy sort of way.

Possessed? Ichigo thought, Oh no! that's the girl Kon tried to kiss! An image passed through Ichigo's mind. It was of him in spirit form and Kon in his body being connected by the chain of fate. It was an image of Kon kissing the brown haired girl's hand. Kon was inhabiting my body…I guess possessed is as good a word as any…though I wouldn't call him evil. Annoying, yes…

"Coming through ladies!" Asano yelled as he pushed his way through the crowd of girls. He stopped to smile at one of them. "Ichigo is my best friend, remember that!" he said to the girl. She walked away from him in disgust. Asano kept on moving until he accidentally stepped on the legs of one of the girls who was sitting near Ichigo. All the girls turned on Asano. Acting as one, they shoveled practically throwing him out of the crowd. "Hey!" he screamed, "No fair! You girls are supposed to like me, not him!" This got Asano slapped by Chizuru Honsho.

Chizuru Honsho had short red hair and classes. She had a reputation for chasing other girls. Asano looked at her confusedly. "Hey," he said, "I didn't think you liked boys!"

"I don't," Chizuru said, "For a guy as famous and soon to be rich as Ichigo-kun, I might make an exception. Or at least pretend for the money and fame. If only I could get him interested in cross-dressing! Besides, all the girls are hanging around him!"

Ichigo's eyes went wide. He looked spooked. Then he glared fiercely. Chirzuru laughed. "You're too easy to tease. You're funny." she said. An expression of mock sadness came into her face. "You're famous. You're popular. If you're as smart as your grades suggest, you'll soon be rich. You have wonderful hair. Now, if only you were a girl." Chizuru shook her head. "But you're not. Oh well." Some of the other girls started laughing.

A blush crept into Ichigo's face, which only increased the laughter. The girls who weren't laughing started getting angry. They raised fists. The normally shy girl, the one with the short brown hair was the most livid looking. "You be nice!" the brown haired girl yelled, "It's not easy being a spirit medium. He doesn't need your mockery!"

"Oh cool!" Asano said, "A catfight!" Asano frowned. "Oh not cool! Why couldn't they be fighting over me?"

"Get out of here!" Ichigo yelled, "All of you! You too, Keigo-san!" he yelled at Asano. In his mind Ichigo was thinking, …Can this day get any worse!

A voice shouted over the school intercom, "Attention, the following students please report to the principal's office, Ichigo Kurosaki, Uryu Ishida, Keigo Asano, Orihime Inoue, Tatsuki Arisawa, Mizuiro Kojima and Yasutora Sado. I repeat, the following students…"

"Aw nuts! Why me?" Asano complained.

Ichigo stood up. He moved through the crowd of females. Asano lingered around the girls. Ichigo grabbed Asano's arm and dragged him away. Asano yelled out, "I didn't do anything! I didn't! You can't make me go to that pit of torment, the principal's office!" Tears poured of Asano's eyes. "It's not fair!"

A few minutes later, on a projection screen an image of Ichigo and Uryu jumping the security barrier was shown. "Take a look at this," the gym coach Kagine said. Kagine was a tall muscular man with a mustache. He was glaring at the students who had been called to the principal's office. The projection screen was hanging above the head of the principal who was sitting at his desk. The principal was an old, white haired man. Standing beside the desk was a woman who was one of the teachers that taught the class Ichigo was in.

"This was seen," Kagine said, "on a live television broadcast, nationwide." Kagine moved an way intended to be intimidating. He came to stand very close to Ichigo. "Well, Kurosaki, what do you have to say for yourself?"

"That it needed to be done?" Ichigo said nervously, "Whoever that guy was, he did the right thing?"

"You moron!" Kagine yelled, "That was you!"

"No," Ichigo said, "He must have been my twin separated at birth or something. Maybe he was a look-alike. They say everyone has one."

"Oh give me a break!" Kagine shouted, "I know it was you, Kurosaki!" Kagine turned his attention to another student, Uryu. Kagine's voice was filled with fury. "You, Ishida, why? You're a model student. Why did you follow along with that moron in pulling this stunt? Do you two know how much shame you brought to this school?"

Tatsuki put a hand on her hip. Orihime was standing beside her. "Kagine-sensei" Tatsuki said, "I don't know you called Orihime-san and me down here. We had nothing to do Kurosaki-san's foolhis actions."

"But you girls were with him!" Kagine said.

Tatsuki shook her head. "No, we weren't. Orihime might have run into him but that was it. We were at the back of the crowd. He was at the front."

"That's a lie!" Asano shouted, "I invited Inoue-san and Arisawa-san!" Asano's shoulders slumped. "It's not fair," he muttered.

"Pay no attention to him, sensei," Tatsuki said, "Asano-san is prone to delusions." Tatsuki took Orihime's hand and walked to the door. "Did I say you could leave?" Kagine asked.

Tatsuki smiled nervously. "Honest, sensei, we had nothing to do with Kurosaki-kun's childish stunt.

Orihime nodded. "I'm glad he was there though. He saved people! A samurai girl saved us from a monster!"

Kagine looked at her in disbelief. "You expect me to believe that? He looked around at all the kids in the room, at Ichigo, Asano, Kojima, Chad, and Uryu. Kagine's eyes narrowed. "None of you give the teachers any credit. I'm watching you!"

"Why don't you just let them go?" the principal asked, "Before you leave, Kurosaki-san, would you give me your autograph?'

Kagine walked over to the principal's desk. He glared at the principal. "Sir, it's an outrage! They all deserve detention!"

While Kagine was busy talking to the principal, all the students in the room, snuck out the window. Kagine turned back around. "You, come back here! You know what this means? You're all suspended!"

. "Relax!" the principal said, "It's not that bad for the school! The school is famous now!"

Kagine put a hand over one of his eyes. "You mean infamous!"

Outside at the front of the school there were TV vans. There were reporters. Ichigo and the others with him found themselves running straight toward them.

"Greetings adoring public!" Asano shouted out. He took a bow. Chad picked up Asano and swung him over his shoulder. Asano protested loudly. "Stop! Stop! They might be after Ichigo but I might as well enjoy fifteen seconds of fame!" To the reporters he yelled, "I'm Ichigo's best friend! Anything you want to know about him, I know!"

"Yeah right!" Tatsuki said. The group ran around the building away from the reporters. They ran to the street where they slowed to a walk. Tatsuki stretched her arms out. "I was thinking it was a shame. If they were going to get mad anyway, I wish I had done something to get on camera. Then I saw those reporters. Kurosaki-san, I'm glad I'm not in your shoes!"

"I'm not!" Asano whined, "It's not fair!" Asano beat at Chad's back like a kid throwing a temper tantrim. Chad dropped Asano like he was on fire. Asano let out a yelp as he fell to the sidewalk. "Ow! What did you do that for?" Asano stood up glaring. He suddenly smiled. "Well we did get away from Kagine. A happy ending for all!"

Uryu glared at Ichigo. Ichigo glared back. "What's your problem?" Ichigo asked.'

"You are," Uryu said, "You got me in this mess." Uryu turned his head to look at Asano. "All is not, all's well that end well. This is not a happy ending." Uryu gave Ichigo one last glare before walking away. Uryu quickly disappeared down the street.

"What's his problem?" a voice said from up in a tree. It was a kid's voice.

"Who are you, kid?" Tatsuki asked.

Up in the tree a redhead boy was laying across a branch. He had a Shonen Jump magazine in his hands. "None of your business!" he said.

"Jinta-kun!" Ichigo yelled in recognition.

"You know him?" Chad asked.

"You bet he does!" Jinta said as he jumped down from the tree. Chad grabbed the boy before he could fall too far.

Orihime looked upset. "Please, don't do that. You could have been hurt." "You don't even know me!" Jinta yelled, "Don't tell me what to do! And you big man! Put me down!" Chad lower Jinta gently to the ground.

Asano trying to suppress a laugh, snorted instead. "Big man," he said with a hint of laughter in his voice, "That's a good one."

"What are you doing here, Jinta-kun?" Ichigo asked.

"Skipping school." Jinta glared at Ichigo.

Ichigo scowled at Jinta. "You shouldn't be doing that, brat!"

Jinta shrugged. "You're not one to talk, Strawberry. Aren't you guys doing the same?"

"Get lost, brat!" Ichigo snapped.

Jinta walked away, then turned back around. "I forgot to tell you something. The boss told me to tell you this!"

Ichigo's eyes went wide. "Not here, brat!"

"THEN WHERE?" Jinta yelled at an incredibly loud volume.

"Ow!" Kojima was standing near Jinta. Kojima rubbed at his ears. "That hurt! Where did you learn to yell so loud."

Jinta smiled smugly at Ichigo. "What was it he told me? Oh right…The boss told me to tell you not to go near his shop for the next few days. In addition to those dumb reporters, you've got at least a third of Division Thirteen of the Gotei watching you!"

"Is that all?" Ichigo asked.

"No, there was something else-" A look of concentration crossed Jinta's face. "Oh yeah, I was supposed to give you something!" Jinta reached into a pocket of his pants. He pulled a badly bent business card. He thrust it into Ichigo's hands. "Go there Saturday at 11:30 a.m. Don't let the dumb reporters follow you! Bye!" Jinta ran off down the street.

All the others standing around Ichigo looked at him curiously. Ichigo stuffed the card into a shirt pocket. He glared at everyone near him. "Like I'm telling you?" he said, "It's personal." That address…that neighborhood, Ichigo thought, it's all industrial…the only thing there is rundown warehouses! What is Urahara-san up to?

Several minutes later after the group had all gone their separate ways, Ichigo was walking down a street alone. Uryu was following him. Ichigo turned around and looked at him in surprise. "How long have you been following me, Ishida-san?"

"Ever since you spilt up from those friends of yours," Uryu said, "There are things we need to discuss."

Ichigo scowled. "Start talking then."

"Out in the open? I think not." Uryu's glasses were falling off his face. He straightened them back into place. "Come with me."

A short while later, Ichigo was standing in a cramped apartment living room. The room was almost empty of possessions. A large cross hung on a wall. One love seat sofa, an arm chair and a TV were the only other things in the room. Uryu sat on the sofa then gestured at the arm chair. Ichigo chose to remain standing.

Ichigo was serious looking as he asked, "You invited me to your home? Why?"

"This is the only private place I could think of," Uryu said.

Ichigo smirked. "I didn't think you liked me. I thought you hated me. You trust me that much?" "No." Uryu gave Ichigo a icy glare. "I don't trust you. But I trust the shinigami even less. You are only the son of an exiled shinigami. You are not actually a shinigami. So no, I don't hate you. You are not my enemy. We are at best reluctant allies. "

I think he's trying to say we're sort of friends, Ichigo thought, what a weirdo!

The son of a shinigami, Uryu thought, is still too close to a shinigami for comfort. Yet the son is not the same as the father. I must try to be reasonable. I need allies. "As we are or could be allies," Uryu said, "I felt it wise to share important information with you. The new girl in school is a shinigami."

"No way!" Ichigo shouted. This guy is nuts!

"Don't look at me like I'm crazy!" Uryu's spirit energy flared. For those that could such thing, white ribbons suddenly surrounded Uryu.

Ichigo was startled. He jumped back. "What are those things?"

Uryu laughed a bitter laugh. "I'm surprised you don't know." Uryu grabbed at Ichigo. He grabbed at Ichigo. He pulled at the thin air around Ichigo. There were suddenly white ribbons around Ichigo.

"It's Reiraku. It's spiritual threads," Uryu said, "It is a visualization of Reiryoku, spiritual power. You are constantly flaring. That is how I could follow you today. The Reiraku is how I knew you were getting stronger these past few months. If you were a shinigami it would be red. Kiyone Kotetsu's were red. If you concentrating on anything besides the spiritual pressure of hollows, you would know some of this already. From your own conclusions if nothing else."

You know, Ichigo thought, he could be right…constantly flaring…could that be why the hollows sense me all the time… "So what am I doing?" Ichigo asked, "I'm flaring reiraku?"

Uryu shook his head, appearing mildly annoyed. "No. It's reiatsu, you're flaring.

Ichigo was confused. "Reiraku? Reiryoku? Reiatsu? What's the difference? It's all spiritual stuff, isn't it?"

Ishida sighed. "You are ignorant. It's like saying American football and soccer are the same because of similar names. Or that chess and checkers are indentical because they are played on the same board. They most certainly are not the same. This 'spiritual stuff' as you so bluntly called it, has many forms. Reiryoku is spiritual power. It's the energy inside you. Reiatsu is spiritual pressure. It's energy you're sending outward, energy that you can use. It's possible that someone with high Reiatsu could beat someone with higher Reiyoku."

"So," Ichigo said, "You're saying I'm constantly leaking too much spiritual pressure? Can you help me to not do this?"

"I thought you had shinigami mentors you could receive answers from," Uryu said, "What little I saw of that hat and clogs man and your father led me to believe this. If it is true then it looks like you aren't asking them the right questions."

"Just answer my question!" Ichigo yelled, "Will you help me?"

"As much as it is possible for a Quincy to help the son of a shinigami," Uryu said, "Yes."

Later that afternoon, Ichigo walked up to his house, only to find that there were more reporters there. Aw man, he thought, don't they have anything better to do. Like report a fire or something…I'm going to have to sneak into my own house! Maybe if I leave and come back they'll be gone by the time I get back…

Ichigo walked away. A minute later, Ichigo suddenly glanced around. I think someone is following me. It's not those reporters…it something spiritual…let's try that Reiraku trick, Ishida showed me… Ichigo closed his eyes. He saw images of ribbons. He opened his eyes. His eyes went wide. Ichigo's eyes narrowed in annoyance. He glared in the direction of red ribbons. "Alright, you shinigami, what are you doing?"

A woman in a black hakama jumped down from a tree. She had short black hair with a piece of fabric on the side of her head. "What do you mean? What am I doing? What are you doing! You're not supposed to notice me!" she yelled, "I've been trailing you for half the day, and you hav't seen me before!"

Ichigo smirked. "You're not exactly invisible. Not to me. You know, you're the second person to jump out a tree at me, today." What was Jinta saying…something about the thirteenth division of the Gotei watching me…this must be what he was talking about.

The shinigami glared at him, then took off runing. Ichigo shook his head. What a nuisance! It's worse than those reporters…

In a park, seven shinigami sat or stood around talking. The leader was Captain Jushiro Ukitake. The only not in a black hakama was Kiyone Kotetsu. She was wearing the school uniform. "Why did I have to be the one to wear a gigai?" she asked, "Why did I have to be the one to go to that kid's school. Why couldn't it be you, ape face?"

The one she was calling ape face was Sentaro Kotsubaki. He had black hair and a goatee. He had a thin white headband around his forehead and white strips tied around his shoulders. His face was going red with anger. "What did you call me? Don't you dare call me that!"

"Fine," Kiyone said.

"That's better," Sentaro said, relaxing.

"Ape face," Kiyone muttered.

Sentaro was instantly angry again. "Hey, you take that back! I'm superior to you!"

"Only slightly," Kiyone said, "Only in rank. We share the same responsibilities, the ones a lieutenant should have. If the captain ever got around to choosing a lieutenant you know it would me!"

"It would not!" Sentaro yelled.

Off to the side, Ukitake was smiling in amusement. Rukia was looking annoyed. Ukitake moved to stand between the two arguing shinigami. "This has gone on long enough," Ukitake said.

"Yes, captain!" Both Sentaro and Kiyone spoke at the same time. They both bowed in a such way that it was as if they were trying to out bow each other. They shot each other slight glares.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry," Kiyone said.

At that moment a woman in a black hakama came running. "He saw me!" she yelled.

In another part of Karakura Town, Ichigo walked slowly down the street. A car, a convertible seemed to be following him. He turned down a street, and the driver did the same. The driver was dressed like a chauffer. Ichigo raised his brows. Now, what?

Ichigo stopped moving. The car slowed to halt and parked beside the sidewalk Ichigo was standing on. In the back seat of the car was a tall man with a black cloth draped over him. The man got out of the car. The man threw back the cloth, revealing a garish costume. The outfit was a gold and red mockery of a military dress uniform. On the man's head was a vaguely crown shaped hat with the name, 'Don' written across it.

Ichigo jumped back a bit. "Don Kanonji! What are you doing here?"

"That's right," Kanonji said, "It is I, Mister Don Kanonji! I'm here to offer you a ride."

"No, thanks," Ichigo said, "I don't take rides with strangers!"

"My number one pupil! My best sidekick!" Kanonji shouted, "You wound me! I'm not a stranger!"

"You might as well be," Ichigo muttered. More loudly he said, "I'm not your pupil. I'm not your sidekick. Neither by the way, is Ishida-san! Now get lost!"

Kanonji tilted his head down. He appeared sad. "All these years, I thought I was sending souls on to a peaceful existence. I had no idea what I was doing. I hurt them. I didn't help them." Kanonji sunk to his knees. He reached and took a hold of Ichigo's shirt. Staring up at Ichigo he pleaded, "Please help me to understand the truths that were hidden to me. You are just a boy. But already you know so much more. It is I who should be your pupil. Please teach me!"

"What! No way!" Ichigo broke away from Kanonji. Ichigo took off running as far from the man as possible.

That evening when Ichigo walked into his house, his father was waiting. "One more minute," Isshin said, "And you would have been late. You would have been out past curfew." Tears rolled down Isshin's cheeks. "I'm so ashamed. My son the delinquent!"

Ichigo scowled at his father. "Knock it off, Dad!" Ichigo went over to the dinning area of the home. His brows went up. A man in a business suit was sitting at the table. He had a briefcase out on the table. There were papers out on the table, papers which looked suspiciously like contracts. Ichigo pointed at the man. "Who is that?"

"An agent," Yuzu said, walking into the room. She smiled. "At least, I think that's what he said. He's very nice. He could get you on TV!"

"Ichigo Kurosaki," the man said, "I know you are a young man of unique abilities. I'm here to offer you a chance to star in your own show. We would call it, 'Agent of Shinigami!"

"NO!" Ichigo screamed. He ran out of the room. He ran upstairs to his bedroom. He slammed the door. A muffled sound came from his closest. Ichigo opened the closet to find the plush lion body used by the mod-soul Kon. The plush lion was covered in duct tape. Kon was taped to the inside of the closet door. Duct tape even covered his mouth. Ichigo yanked the tape off of Kon's mouth.

"OW!" Kon yelled.

"What are you doing in here?" Ichigo demanded.

"Scary sister did this. She did it this morning!" Kon said, "If you paid more attention you would have known that!

Ichigo glared at Kon. "She is not your sister!" Ichigo put the piece of duct tape back over Kon's mouth. "I don't need to listen to you, right now!" Ichigo went to work untaping the rest of Kon. There was a lot of tape covering the small plush form. It took a few minutes to undo it all. As soon as Ichigo had Kon free, he opened the bedroom door and threw Kon out. As before, Ichigo slammed the door.

Ichigo collapsed onto his bed. Looking up at the ceiling, he thought, This has been one of the worst days ever… not as bad as the hollows, but still…I hate popularity! I hate reporters. Above all else, I hate fame!

NEXT TIME: CHAPTER ELEVEN: A QUINCY'S ANGER!