(A/N: Hey how's everyone doing? I know most of you are probably expecting some development on the rising tension regarding the planned genocide of Aselia, but we're going to shift gears for a lighter and softer chapter for the time being. Please enjoy. Also I dedicate the fetish fuel in this chapter to a reader who shall remain anonymous, but they know who they are.)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Tales of Symphonia

3rd Person pov

Kyoto University

Ichigo pulled his car into the parking lot and shut the door. It had been about a week since Kon had ruined his life, but a dose of Sheena's Iggaguri brand memory charms and some late night prowling and he and Sheena had managed to get things pretty much back to normal. As Ichigo strode over to the back of his car he got a friendly slap on the back by his classmate Ryu Anderson. Ryu was half-American, his dad having moved to Japan several years before meeting his mom. The young man had spiked black hair like a porcupine and was probably the only friend Ichigo had on campus. Of course the relationship was about as tight as Ichigo's with Keigo when he was in high school.

"Hey, Ichigo, what's up man?" Ryu asked him.

"What do you want Ryu?" Ichigo asked him. Ichigo began walking around to the passenger side of his car.

"I just wanted to know what you're going to do about your simulation project," Ryu asked, "You're supposed to present tomorrow."

"Wait a minute that's tomorrow?" Ichigo freaked out.

"What? Don't you remember you were the one who wanted to go on the last day possible so that you could have time to prepare?" Ryu asked. He shrugged and said with a friendly smile, "I know you're always rushing to the bathroom or the nurse, or skipping a class every now and then for some reason or another, so I was wondering if you needed any help putting your project together because…"

The sound of bone against metal could be heard as Ichigo lightly smacked his head against the top of the trunk to his top of the line, black Nisan. He let his head rest on the car and groaned. In all the excitement and desire to get his life back in order he had completely forgotten about the simulation project.

As a relatively fun final assignment, Ichigo's professor had decided that each student had to do a simulation of some sort that involved medicine or medical science in some way, whether they acted out a scene from their favorite movie or showed a digital version of how to do a proper procedure of a quadruple bypass.

Ichigo, however, had completely forgotten about the assignment. Ryu patted his back. "Hey man, it's okay. I'll help you if you need it."

"Ugh," was all Ichigo responded.

Realizing Ichigo wasn't opening the passenger side door for her any time soon, Sheena opened the door herself. She dusted off her short shorts and looked around, taking in the campus air. "I-Ichigo," Ryu said, trying not to have a nose bleed.

"What?" Ichigo said grumpily, head still facing into the trunk.

"Who's the babe?" Ryu asked.

"Huh?" Ichigo lifted his head. "Oh, right," he gathered himself and walked over to Sheena. "Ryu this is my girlfriend, Sheena."

"DUDE!" Ryu was flabbergasted. "Where did you find such a smoking hot girl like her?"

"Hey hands off Ryu," Ichigo smirked. "She's mine don't forget."

"Well I can certainly see why you blew off your project. Damn, even I'd have trouble concentrating with a chick like that." Ryu approached Sheena and stuck out his hand. "Ryu Anderson. Although I'm sure Ichigo's told you much about me."

"Sorry, I don't think he's mentioned you before," Sheena said shaking his hand.

Ryu let go of her hand and faux whined in a fashion that reminded Ichigo of a certain brown haired coward, "Ichigo how could you do this to me?"

"Get over yourself," Ichigo huffed. "Anyway I need to head to admissions. Sheena said she wanted to enroll."

The day proceeded in the way he figured it would. People were giving him and Sheena looks and by mid-morning it was all over the school that Ichigo had a girlfriend, and a really hot one at that.

Sheena had a visitor's pass for the day, as she would have to go through the admissions process if she was actually going to be a student at the school. Ichigo's biggest concern was where she was going to get the money. Enrollment wasn't cheap.

At 1 o' clock, Ichigo had his Medical Ethics class, the same class that he had an assignment due tomorrow in. Ichigo's professor, Masasa Talahime-sensei, was a woman with long, luscious brown hair and oval framed glasses. She was the type of teacher that if any student had a fetish for older women, she was the one to go after. She was constantly called the least strict teacher in the medicine and medical science curriculum. Today was another day of presentations, but Ichigo was hardly paying attention to what was going on, on the teaching platform. Instead he was pouring over his notes, and the assignment hand out trying to come up with some idea as to what he should do for his final assignment.

Seeing his stress, Sheena tried to help. She pulled out a blank talisman she normally used for making charms and scribbled on it, what's wrong?

Ichigo scribbled in his notebook, my presentation is tomorrow and I haven't done anything yet.

Do you have any idea what you want to do? Sheena scribbled back

No. Ichigo wrote.

The silent conversation seemed like it ended, but after a couple of minutes Sheena wrote back: Is there a storage closet for medical equipment and clothing?

Ichigo scribbled back: Yeah, why?

Sheena scribbled into the book, I have an idea. Do you have any classes after this?

Ichigo wrote back. Not until 4.

Good, Sheena wrote back.

Class continued as normal from there. The presentations weren't of anything particularly exciting, at least not to Ichigo. He'd worked under his Dad's guidance before and so he'd seen a lot of strange things and he'd read and watched more interesting things on his own.

After class Ichigo took Sheena to the medical storage room. There were shelves of medical tools and bottles of medicine stacked up. Ichigo saw Sheena looking around for something until she got far into the back and found some traditional medical uniforms. She saw a pink nurse's outfit and stared at it for a moment. She blushed and shook some lewd thoughts from her head. Now is not the time for that.

"Sheena what exactly are we doing here?" Ichigo asked.

Sheena turned around "I decided that I'll be your partner for the project tomorrow. I think I can help."

"How?" Ichigo asked.

Sheena tossed him a lab coat. "Here put this on."

"Sheena, what are you up to?" Ichigo asked her.

"Something I saw on that magic box you call a television," she said as she undid a nurse's outfit from the stand it was attached to. She put it on over her clothes. She found it rather confining in the chest. She decided it probably wasn't the best idea to pick a size small. At least it covered her legs beyond her knees.

"Right, so now what?" Ichigo asked.

"Now, just roll with it," Sheena smirked. She picked up a nearby clipboard and cleared her throat. She then bowed. "Doctor Kurosaki, thank you for giving me the promotion of head nurse. I know I've only been here a few short months but I…"

Ichigo rolled his eyes in disbelief that Sheena was pulling this. For a girl who was shy about her body and violent to anyone besides him who looked at it luridly, she was a real go-getter with all of her antics. Still, he decided to play along. He sure wasn't coming up with anything sometime soon. He wasn't too sure he and Sheena should do something like this. Still, it was better than getting an F. And his professor did say the students could use volunteers in their presentations. He sighed and decided to play along, "Don't be silly Miss Fujibayashi, you've been the best nurse on the field since I hired you. With you as head nurse I expect efficiency at the hospital to reach an all-time high."

"But what about Mimi-senpai?" Sheena asked standing upright.

Ichigo broke out of character. "Okay time out."

"What? What did I say?" Sheena asked.

"Why are you bringing her into this?" Ichigo asked.

"Everyone needs to get the message that you're off limits," Sheena said, "You saw what Kon did."

"So this is your idea of revenge? Thanks to your memory charm she doesn't even remember the incident," Ichigo said.

"I don't share Ichigo," Sheena said walking towards him.

"I didn't think you were the jealous type," Ichigo laughed.

"I'm not jealous. I'm the one you have," Sheena told him. "This…this Mimi woman. Did you see how she looked at me when you and I sat down in dining hall for lunch? She's not going to give up Ichigo. I'm just an obstacle to her and I'm not going to give up what's mine."

Ichigo closed the gap between him and Sheena and put his arms around her. Sheena did the same. "No one is going to take me away from you the same way that no one is going to take you away from me."

"I know, but that doesn't mean people won't try," Sheena said.

"You can't be scared to lose me Sheena. We passed Verius' test. We're meant for each other. We'll never be separated. No one is going to come between us," Ichigo lifted Sheena's head up to look at him, "okay?"

Sheena leaned up and kissed Ichigo. "Okay."

"Ok then," Ichigo let her go. "Let's try and practice this so that I don't fail this project."

Karakura Town

Orihime's apartment

Kiku sat in the guest room looking out the window. The sky was gray and dreary, almost a reflection of her own internal turmoil. Once Kiku and the Mizuho moved to Karakura Town the chances of her finding her Mama would become nonexistent.

She knew her friends didn't see half-elves in any bad light. She knew that, but at the same time she didn't think telling them would do anything. Kiku walked up to the window and put a hand on it. "Mama…I miss you."

Orihime knocked on Kiku's door. "Kiku, lunch is ready. I made garden salad with wild rice, fudge sauce and red bean paste."

Kiku approached the door and opened it. She walked to the table and sat down to eat. She didn't mind Orihime's cooking. She'd been eating it all week. She didn't even have a problem with it the first time. She was used to Sheena's cooking and some of the interesting combinations her senpai had put together like putting pineapples in curry. Still, most of Sheena's recipes strengthened the original, which was in contrast to Orihime whose recipes were of much less divinity to Kiku's taste buds, but the whitette would never say anything.

Kiku had lived off of the fruits and nuts that grew in the Gaorocchia Forest for so long so her taste buds were rather dull and she was never a picky eater. She was very grateful the first time Sheena offered her a crust of bread when she was still living in the forest. Kiku knew that Sheena had also been abandoned in the Gaorocchia forest, but Sheena was recovered from it long before Kiku ever got there.

When Orihime suddenly reached over the table with a napkin Kiku froze, unsure what brought on this sudden action only for Orihime to wipe the side of her face. "Kiku you're such a messy eater you got red bean paste stuck to your face." Orihime pulled the napkin away when she was done and put the napkin down. "There, all clean." Kiku didn't say anything and just continued to eat. Orihime just squeed, "You're so cute!"

Kyoto

Ichigo and Sheena were quickly heading for Ichigo's car. It was close to 6pm and it was pouring rain. "Sunshine all day my ass!" Ichigo griped. He and Sheena got to the car and Ichigo put the things he was renting out from the school for his project in the trunk. He drove to his house, parked the car in the garage and he and Sheena went upstairs to continue practicing. "Ugh, I hate rain," Ichigo said as he went into the bathroom to get a towel for him and Sheena to dry off. As he handed Sheena her towel he noticed that her shirt had become see through. "Uh…here's your…"

"H-hey quit staring, gimme that!" Sheena said, blushing heavily.

"I thought staring was ok so long as I was the one looking," Ichigo joked.

"I'm a woman," Sheena said, drying herself, "I reserve the right to be inconsistent."

"Whatever," Ichigo sighed.

"I'm going to go change my clothes," Sheena said and went into her room. Ichigo just sighed, removed his shirt, put the shirt in the washing machine to clean later and sat down on his couch to turn on the television.

"Today's top science story, scientists are still trying to discover the origin and purpose of the large purple comet still headed towards Earth. The comet has shown to be slightly larger than originally conceived and is now estimated to be within Earth's gravitational pull by Wednesday morning. We'll have exclusive footage of the comet, recorded by a deep space probe, later today."

The news went on to discuss the rest of the top stories when Sheena came back into the room. She didn't have to say anything. Ichigo could tell by her footsteps. He turned his head around. She was in her nurse outfit for tomorrow. "That eager to practice?" Ichigo smirked.

"Sh-shut up," Sheena blushed.

"Eh, whatever, I'll get my lab coat and a white shirt," he got up from the couch and got dressed. He and Sheena began practicing for tomorrow.

They were ready by the time Ichigo's class began. Ichigo prayed he was last to go. If he was last, he didn't have to wait around for whatever strange looks he would be given.

Unfortunately fate decided to torment Ichigo and his teacher called him up first.

Ichigo strode to the front of the room, already dressed for the occasion. He and Sheena set up their little stage and then Ichigo addressed his class. "Today, my partner Fujiybayashi Sheena and I will be doing a little acting to entertain you all. And for the record this was her idea."

"All right Ichigo you can begin whenever you're ready," his teacher told him.

He and Sheena faced each other and prepared to start. Sheena took a side glance to see Mimi staring erotically at Ichigo in the uniform he was wearing. She hissed internally and then bowed before speaking the first line of the act. "Doctor Kurosaki, thank you for giving me the promotion of head nurse. I know I've only been here a few short months but I…"

"Don't be silly Miss Fujibayashi. You've been the best nurse on the field since I hired you. With you as head nurse I expect efficiency at the hospital to reach an all-time high."

"But what about Higura-senpai?" Sheena asked.

Mimi stopped staring and leaned forward, right hand laying on top of the desk, left hand pushing down on it. Her surname was Higura. Scowling eyes began to form.

Ichigo went behind his character's desk and sat down. "I know talent when I see it Miss Fujibayashi."

Sheena approached the desk and put her hands on it, leaning over it. "But is this fair? I've heard the other nurses talking, Higura-senpai sounded like she was guaranteed the position and I don't blame her."

"She could have all the experience she wants and I'd still choose you over her every time. You have special qualities about yourself that she doesn't," Ichigo told Sheena.

"Like what?" Sheena snapped.

"You're very caring for your patients. You always go above and beyond your status quo. I need a head nurse that's going to give everything they've got for this hospital. You do that and more."

"But I'm just an intern working on an at will basis," Sheena said leaning up off the desk.

Ichigo opened a desk drawer and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. "Then I'll write up a report to put you here full time." Ichigo looked directly into Sheena's eyes. "I don't know what you plan to do with your life Miss Fujibayashi, but I think nursing is your calling. This hospital needs you Miss Fujibayashi." There was a dramatic pause. "I need you."

Grief stricken and angry, Mimi left the room and slammed the door. Ichigo and Sheena did their best to ignore this development figuring it would happen at some point in the act.

"Doctor Kurosaki," Sheena bowed, "You are too kind."

"I mean that," Ichigo rose to his feet and walked around the desk towards Sheena. Sheena stood upright when she saw his feet come around the side of the desk. "You're talented, beautiful and compassionate. I couldn't ask for a better employee."

"I…I feel really uncomfortable," Sheena blushed.

"Why?" Ichigo took a step back and asked professionally, "What's wrong?"

"I…it's just…ever since I've started working here," Sheena gave Ichigo a maidenly look, "I've always liked you Doctor Kurosaki."

Ichigo put on an easy smile, "Would you like to join me for dinner Miss Fujibayashi?" he asked her.

"I would love too," she said.

"Then I'll see you outside your apartment at eight," he walked towards Sheena and planted a big, passionate kiss on her lips. Many of the students cheered or whistled. He then walked past her and to the invisible door that marked the edge of his imaginary office. "Don't forget." He shut the 'door'.

Sheena put her fingers to her lips. "I won't forget," she said calmly, "And I certainly won't forget that either." She addressed the audience. She then bowed and everyone applauded. Ichigo came back on stage and he and Sheena took a bow.

After class Sheena went to the restroom to relieve herself while Ichigo volunteered to pull the car around so he could get going. His 4 o' clock class had been cancelled for the day.

While she was in the bathroom, washing her hands, Sheena could've sworn she heard sobbing that seemed to be coming from the far right stall.

Sheena knocked. "Is everything all right in there?"

"I wouldn't expect some bitch like you to understand," came a voice on the other side of the door. Sheena knew from the reaction who it was immediately.

"I understand you're hurt Mimi, but locking yourself in a bathroom stall is probably the worst way to handle this," Sheena told her.

"How would you know? You have no idea how I feel. You have what you want. You have Ichigo-senpai all to yourself. So leave me alone," Mimi sobbed. "You don't know him like the rest of us do. Ichigo-senpai is the one of the brightest and most capable students in the curriculum."

"Wait, Ichigo's your senpai?" Sheena was confused.

"I'm a freshman. He's a sophomore, but that's not the point," Mimi sobbed, "You don't know what it's like to see him every single day as he walks around like he doesn't care about anyone except himself, but underneath his rough exterior he's the most compassionate person you could meet."

Flashback

Mimi was riding her bike, long light brown hair flowing out behind her. She was on her way back to her house when she took a turn too wide and fell off her bike. She skinned her knee and sprained her ankle. She sat there groaning in pain. Ichigo, who had been driving by at the time, pulled over and got out of the car.

"Hey are you okay?" he asked Mimi.

"I-I'm fine," she said and turned her head, "you're too close."

"Sorry," Ichigo backed off. "Are you sure you're leg's okay. I have bandages in my car."

"It's fine, I…" Mimi tried to stand up only to cringe and get back down. "Ah my leg!"

"You can't walk like that, come on. I'll help you up and drive you home," Ichigo offered.

"I'm telling you it's just a scratch," Mimi insisted.

Ichigo whipped out his wallet and showed Mimi his junior first aid license, "I'm a certified First Aid specialist."

"So am I," Mimi pulled out her own license.

"Ok, how old are you?" Ichigo asked her.

"Eighteen."

"Nineteen. Now get in," Ichigo told her. Mimi growled and let Ichigo help her up. "So where'd you get your license."

"Through the program at Kyoto University, what about you?" Mimi responded.

"Kyoto huh? I go there too," Ichigo said, "What's your name?"

"Mimi, Higura Mimi," Mimi answered.

"I'm Ichigo, Kurosaki Ichigo," Ichigo answered. He helped Mimi into his car and then went and tied down her bike to the back of his trunk.

"Ah, you didn't have to do that," Mimi told him.

"Hey, I'm the one volunteering to help," Ichigo told her.

"I never asked for your help," Mimi reminded him.

"I know, but I'm doing it anyway," Ichigo told her. "So where do you live?"

End Flashback

"That's why you like him?" Sheena asked, in complete disbelief.

"Well no, at first I found him really annoying. I thought he was expecting something from me in exchange for helping me, but when I went to thank him…"

Flashback

"Ichigo-senpai," Mimi ran up to him.

"Hmm," Ichigo turned around. Mimi caught up with him. "I…you are Kurosaki Ichigo, right?"

"Yeah and…"

"I'm Mimi, Higura Mimi, you helped me the other day when I fell off my bike," Mimi said.

"Oh that," Ichigo scratched his head, "Don't worry about it. I was just passing through the area. I just did what anyone would've done."

Oh that is such bullshit. Mimi screamed in her head. Not everyone would help a girl who fell off their bike they didn't even know just because they have a first aid license.

"Anyway, I'm going to be late for class. I'll see you later," Ichigo said and took off.

End Flashback

Sheena now had her back to the stall door admiring her boyfriend's selflessness. Mimi was still curled up on the toilet seat with her head in her lap. She had ceased sobbing, but her caramel irises were accompanied by red sclera from all her tears.

"So was that what made you decide to like him?" Sheena asked, "Because he was nice to you." There was a pause. "Ichigo's like that to everyone he meets. He never lets a person suffering right in front of him leave his field of vision without doing anything. That's just the sort of person he is."

"I don't understand. Why do you get to have him?" Mimi moped.

"Ichigo and I were an item long before you two ever met," Sheena told Mimi. "You never really had a chance to begin with. I'm not even sure why he chose me."

"Then give him up," Mimi grumbled.

"I won't…because I love him. I wasn't the first, and I certainly won't be the last, but I was the first he chose," Sheena played with her hands, "and I want to be the only one he'll ever choose."

"If you two were together why did you choose now to show yourself? Why let me be led on?" Mimi pouted.

"It's complicated, you wouldn't understand," Sheena said calmly. She pushed off the stall door and leaned against the wall.

"Try me," Mimi said.

"It's a really long story and I don't have the kind of time to tell it to you," Sheena said. "But what do you care anyway? You're a year younger than I was when Ichigo and I first met. You and I are both still young, you have time to find someone else. With your looks you could find anyone you wanted."

"But I don't want anyone else," Mimi sulked. "You're not right for Ichigo-senpai anyway. He needs someone who can stand by him. You're just a shameless hussy. I can understand why that whole drama was your idea."

"You don't even know the real Ichigo," Sheena sighed.

"Oh and you do?" Mimi snapped.

"You're…probably the only girl I know who doesn't know the real Ichigo and is head over heels for him," Sheena answered. "I have a friend who was already very much in love with Ichigo when he and I first met. I don't think he knew how she felt about him. She loved him and I'll say this she knew him a lot better than you do and she had known him longer than you have. But she's handling it a lot better than you are. She just wants him to be happy and he's happy with me. Don't you think you should do the same?"

"So I never had a chance…at all. Even if I hadn't come into the picture that other girl would be his girlfriend, wonderful," Mimi said depressingly.

"Get over yourself!" Sheena was now at the end of her patience. "So the boy you love doesn't love you back. Is that any reason to act like your whole life has ended?" Mimi didn't answer. "Whatever, I'm leaving." Sheena walked out the bathroom and left to go find Ichigo. His car was parked near the crosswalk.

"Where have you been? I've been sitting here for eleven minutes," Ichigo said.

"Just drive," Sheena said.

"Something happen that I should know about?" Ichigo asked.

Sheena thought to tell Ichigo about Mimi, but decided it wasn't necessary. She realized she had already humiliated the girl, why make it worse? If she opened her mouth to Ichigo he'd try to set things right and the moment he did things would get ugly. "Something did, but I don't feel like talking about it."

"Well that's your business then," Ichigo said. He put the car in drive and took off for his house.

The next day

Derris Kharlan

The large purple comet had just passed through a field of asteroids hours ago. Now it was coming up on a red planet and a blue one would follow. As Mithos stood up on the deck, in aged up form, looking out into the vast reaches of space, an angel contacted him through hologram.

"Lord Yggdrasill," it said, "permission to speak."

"If you must," Mithos responded.

"Sir, I picked up a strange reading out here on the navigation deck. You're going to want to see this," the angel told him.

"I'll be right over there," Mithos answered. He sent a message to Pronyma to meet him on the navigation deck and headed over there. She showed up half a minute after he did.

"What requires my attention?" Mithos asked.

"Over here sir," an angel flagged him down. Mithos recognized the angel's station.

"This is the monitor we used to use to monitor the chosen's progress. I would've thought you would've found a new station rather than stay at one that no longer serves a purpose," Mithos poked fun, though it was lost on a soulless angel.

"I do what I can for you sir. I know my job is boring, but it is all I know," the angel said, "At any rate. Take a look here." He brought up a low-bit 3-D graph of Earth. On the far east reaches of the graph there was a small orange blip.

"How odd," Mithos commented. Back on Aselia the color code of the graph used Exspheres as yellow blips and orange blips as Cruxis Crystals.

"How can there be a Cruxis Crystal on the far side of the planet like that?" Pronyma asked.

"Zoom in," Mithos ordered.

"Yes sir," the angel answered. He zoomed in on the source of the signal. The landmass with the blip turned out to be an island area.

"Does that world have a satellite uplink?" Mithos asked.

"I…I don't know," the angel responded.

"Move," Mithos said, losing his patience.

The angel moved to the side, "Y-yes sir."

Mithos sat down at the terminal and began pushing buttons. Pronyma was lost, but she trusted her lord to know what he was doing. In a matter of minutes Mithos had a visual, unbeknownst to him, of a bird's eye view of Karakura Town. To the blonde angel he was looking at an industrial development, the likes of which he hadn't seen in nearly three thousand years once Magi technology began falling into serious decline. "Pronyma, I do believe we're going to take a little landside tourist trip."

"We're going planetside?" she asked.

"Yes," Mithos answered. "I will hook Derris Kharlan into the planet's gravitational pull and lock it in, allowing it to rotate around it like many other moons and asteroids we've seen rotating around other planets. At which point we'll have all the time we need to investigate."

"Can you zoom in any farther than this?" Pronyma asked.

"Are you expecting something Pronyma?" Mithos looked over his shoulder.

"Sir there's only one person you and I know that has a Cruxis Crystal that is not from Aselia," Pronyma responded.

"I will try," Mithos said. In a scant few moments he zoomed in on the southern end of the town around a bunch of apartments. "I can't get any closer than that, but if we take a portable tracker it shouldn't be difficult to locate."

"How long before we are in range to land?" Pronyma asked.

"Approximately two hours," Mithos answered.

Karakura Town

Orihime's apartment

Orihime got up and stretched. She and Kiku had stayed up last night to watch a movie Orihime had rented. When Orihime woke up Kiku was still dead asleep. She had her blanket draped over her and her fingers up by her mouth. She looked so peaceful.

"Awwwwwww," Orihime was reveling in the cuteness, "Kawaiiiii!" Orihime's high pitched squealing woke Kiku up. Kiku rubbed her eyelid and then looked around the room. "Good morning sleepy head," Orihime giggled. Kiku got up off the couch and went to look out the window. A butterfly passed by the glass. The sun was out and shining. There was a really awkward pause. "Right!" Orihime said with an upbeat attitude. "I'll cook breakfast."

Orihime hummed a tune to herself as she cooked whilst Kiku went to her room and changed out of her pajamas. Orihime was preparing a favorite of hers: banana and rice pancakes with mint frosting and scrambled eggs with red bean paste. As she cooked she realized she was out of bananas. "Oh no, I can't cook without bananas. Oh well, I'll just substitute grapefruit. It should taste just as good."

The doorbell rang as Orihime was preparing breakfast. "Ah, I'll get it!" Orihime went and got the door. She opened it to reveal Tatsuki. "Ah Tatsuki-chan, good morning. How are you?"

"Not bad, just thought I'd drop by. I was talking to Ichigo on facebook yesterday. He said you have a friend of his girlfriend's staying with you," Tatsuki questioned.

"Ah you must mean Kiku-chan. Oh I just know you're going to love her. She's so cute. I'll be right back," she went to the guest room. "Kiku we have company."

Tatsuki let herself in and sat down on the couch. She sniffed the air. Orihime-chan must be making her custom made pancakes again. Glad I got an egg and sausage sandwich on the road.

Kiku walked down the hall with Orihime, clinging to her waist. She was very shy dealing with new people. It took her a while just to open up to Emil, Marta and all her other friends. Now Orihime, whom she was barely accustomed to, was introducing her to another person. "Oh Kiku, you don't have to be shy. Tatsuki's a really nice person like Kurosaki-kun," Orihime pat her head.

"Orihime she's adorable," Tatsuki said looking in Kiku's direction. She walked over to Kiku who started sliding behind Orihime. "Hey you don't need to be scared of me. I deal with kids all the time. I'm Tatsuki," she gave Kiku her hand. "Nice to meet you."

Kiku came out from around of Orihime. "H-hello." Kiku shook Tatsuki's hand and then looked at Orihime. "Please let me know when breakfast is ready." She walked straight back to her room and closed the door.

"Are you sure she's friends with Sheena, she seems kind of…subdued," Tatsuki said.

Orihime sighed and folded her arms, "I know what you mean. Kiku-chan hasn't smiled once since I've met her. I really wish I knew what to do for her."

"What have you tried?" Tatsuki asked.

Orihime spread out her fingers, "I got her candy. I took her to the park. I took her to work at the bakery with me. We watched a movie last night. I've even shown her our graduation party video. She didn't even crack a smile when Asano-kun skateboarded off the half-pipe and faceplanted straight into the congratulatory cake."

"I remember that," Tatsuki laughed, "Ichigo was so mad too. His sister spent all afternoon making that cake." She and Orihime stopped laughing. "Not even a smile?"

"Not a single flicker. I'm worried about her. According to Kurosaki-kun, even Presea-chan, who I told you about, has showed some emotion, but Kiku-chan speaks even less than when I knew Presea-chan," Orihime said.

"Well don't let it get you down," Tatsuki pat her friend on the shoulder, "You'll figure it out eventually. I gotta go anyway. Some of my students are ranking up so I need to be at the dojo early."

"Ah you can't stay for breakfast," Orihime said.

"I got breakfast on the road, sorry," Tatsuki apologized, even though she knew she'd turn green if she had Orihime's cooking.

"Oh well, maybe next time," Orihime said.

"Right next time, well I'll see you." Tatsuki said and walked out the door.

Kyoto University

Sheena decided to stay home today so Ichigo was on his own. She didn't say why and Ichigo didn't feel like pressing. She still hadn't told him what happened in the bathroom yesterday. He figured she didn't want to talk about it. Ichigo pulled into his parking space, got out of the car and threw his suitcase of notebooks over his shoulder.

"Hey! Ichigo!" Ryu ran up to him.

"Morning Ryu," Ichigo said to him.

"Where's your girlfriend man?" Ryu asked.

"She didn't want to come today, said she wanted to stay home," Ichigo said, "She's entitled. She's not exactly obligated to come to classes since she's not a student yet."

"I suppose that's true," Ryu said as he walked with his hands in his pockets. "What do you think Talahime-sensei is going to give you on your presentation?"

"I don't know. I'm hoping for at least a C. That whole thing was last minute," Ichigo responded.

"Ah c'mon, Talahime-sensei is the nicest teacher in the school. She'll give you the A you deserve man," Ryu stated.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Ichigo accepted Ryu's compliment, but continued to think he wasn't going to get a high grade.

As he and Ryu strode towards the medicinal building someone called out to him in an angry voice, "Kurosaki Ichigo!"

Ichigo and Ryu both turned around. Ryu recognized Mimi immediately. He looked at his watch, "Well look at the time. I have to meet Ganzai-sensei about an internship. Bye Ichigo!" Ryu took off.

Mimi stomped towards Ichigo. "Look Mimi if this is about yesterday I…"

Ichigo didn't have time to respond when Mimi suddenly pulled out a pocket knife. Students ran away screaming. "If I…if I can't have you…then no one will!" Mimi rushed at Ichigo with a demented look on her face and aimed to stab Ichigo in the chest. Ichigo sidestepped at grabbed Mimi's arm at the elbow and pulled up, causing her to drop the knife. He put his foot on top of hers and applied pressure before pulling Mimi's arm behind her back and spinning her around and pinning her to a support beam.

"Now then," he said, "Can you calm down and tell me what's going on?"

"I told you…I won't let anyone have you, but me. It's not fair, you helped me and were sweet on me and you already had a girlfriend. Why would you do that to me?" Mimi started to cry, "Why would you toy with my heart like that? And then humiliate me in front of the whole class like that? I love you so much why would you do that to me?"

"I didn't mean to do that to you. I'd help anyone who was in danger. You were hurt so I helped you. Another girl I know was on the verge of rape so I helped her. Another girl was about to be killed. I helped her too," Ichigo told Mimi.

"But you humiliated me in front of the whole class, you and your girlfriend both. Why didn't you just tell me you were seeing someone? Why?"

"How was I supposed to know this was how you felt?" Ichigo asked in a serious tone. "You should've told me. I'm not a mind reader. Even a friend of mine tells me I'm about the worst there is at picking up subtleties. I never meant to hurt you Mimi. If it means anything, I like you as a friend."

"That's not good enough for me," Mimi turned her head towards the support beam.

"Then I'm sorry, but there's nothing I can do. I'm in love with Sheena. That's all there is to it." Ichigo said. Mimi began to cry. "If I let go of you, will you not attack me?" he asked her. Mimi nodded. "Okay." Ichigo let go of her hands. Mimi turned around and gave the man she loved a big hug, sobbing uncontrollably. Ichigo helped her down to the ground, crouching on one knee. "It's okay, Mimi, relax." He told her. He stayed with her until the cops showed up. Mimi was arrested for possession of a weapon with the intent to kill. Ichigo proceeded through his day as if everything were normal.

Orihime's apartment

Orihime had decided she was going to take Kiku to the mall today. She was in the middle of fixing her hair when she heard the door bell ring. "Ah coming!" she put the brush down and ran to the front door. When she opened it her eyes widened. Standing in the doorway was a tale male with long blonde hair and white spandex, with a low V-cut, and to his left, Orihime's right, was a woman with green hair and a tight fitting red shirt. Orihime broke out into an ecstatic smile and jumped at the woman outside with a big hug. "Pronyma-san!"

"My, someone's awfully chipper," Pronyma laughed softly.

"May we come in," Mithos requested.

"Yes, yes of course please," Orihime let her friends into her house. "Oh it's so good to see you two. So that purple comet really is Derris Kharlan isn't it?"

Pronyma nodded, "We were passing by your planet and our sensors picked up the energy of a Cruxis Crystal down on the surface so we came to check out the source. We didn't expect to exactly find you here, but it's nice that we did. It makes our lives easier."

"Yes, oh I'm so happy to see you both, will you please stay awhile?" Orihime requested.

Mithos smiled, "We have all the time in the world."

"Wonderful, why don't I make us something to eat, surely you both must be hungry…or wait," Orihime realized, "Mithos-san you haven't lost your sense of taste have you?"

"If you're referring to what happened to Colette that was the result of Chronic Angelus Crystalis Inofficium, I have no such defects, if you wish to prepare a meal I'd be more than happy to have some," he said.

"Oh wonderful, please make yourselves at home, I'll be right back," Orihime went to go finish doing her hair and then went into the kitchen to start working on a recipie.

Pronyma and Mithos let themselves in. Both looked around the room, intrigued by the way things looked. "It certainly is an…interesting living arrangement."

"Yes quite," Pronyma commented. Humming came from the kitchen as Orihime prepared her meal. Of at the other end of the hall a door opened slightly and then closed. Mithos heard the noise with his heightened senses.

"Orihime, is someone else staying here?" Mithos asked.

"Oh, that must be Kiku-chan," Orihime said, "You don't have to worry about her. She's shy is all," Orhime said. She put a finger to her cheek, "I'd invite her to come out to meet you, but she was really skittish even around Tatsuki. I don't want to make her uncomfortable." She went back to cooking. "Sheena-san said Kiku-chan was like that around the village too."

Hearing a member of her world mentioned struck a chord with Pronyma. "Miss Sheena…of Mizuho…knows your friend?"

"Huh? Oh yes, Sheena-san and Kiku-chan are great friends. Kiku-chan is one of the Mizuho. I wish she wasn't so shy. She's so adorable," Orihime giggled.

"Does…does Kiku have white hair?" Pronyma asked.

"Huh? Yeah she does, but how'd you know that?" Orihime asked.

"I…I would like to see her. Please persuade her," Pronyma said earnestly.

"Um…I'll try," Orihime went to the guest room at the far end of her apartment and knocked on the door. "Kiku, our guests would like to meet you." The door locked. Orihime giggled, "There's no need to be shy," she leaned forward, "Come on out. It's okay, you can trust your nee-san Orihime." Orihime said flexing her left arm.

The door unlocked and Kiku opened it. "I will…go see them." She clung to Orihime's leg as the two moved down the hall, but let go and stopped when she got a good glimpse of Pronyma.

"Kiku-chan?" Orihime looked back at her.

Kiku stared at Pronyma, her mouth dropped open slowly. Memories from her long discarded past began flooding back to her. Pronyma nearly lost her breath when she got a good look at Kiku.

Kiku's lip quivered. "Ma…" she got choked up and swallowed. Tears accented the bottoms of her eyes. "Mama?"

Pronyma covered her mouth and fought to hold back tears. She nodded vigorously.

Kiku sniffed and then ran forward. "Mama!" she ran toward Pronyma at top speed and leapt into her open arms. Pronyma held Kiku tightly to her.

"Oh Kiku! Oh my darling baby girl. I thought I'd lost you forever," Pronyma sobbed.

"I take it you lied to me then," Mithos said.

"What was I supposed to do?" Pronyma said through tears. "You were going to subject her to some awful experiments. I just wanted to take care of her, to nurture her. If you hadn't gotten involved I may have even been able to use her to revive Martel without sacrificing her life, but you just wanted to turn her into a guardian. I took this girl and gave her the only life she had. And you forced me to give that up."

"Pronyma, I'm sorry…I…"

"It's in the past now." Pronyma hugged Kiku tighter, "The only thing that matters is that I have my Kiku back."

"Mama," Kiku murmured.

Pronyma and Mithos heard blubbering and crying, and looked to see Orihime trying not to turn into a busty ball of tears. "Orihime?"

"I'm sorry, it's just it's so beautiful. I just love happy endings," Orihime pulled out a handkerchief and blew her nose. She really was happy, so happy that all she could do was cry.

Omake

Ichigo returned to his apartment later that afternoon to find Sheena in the nurse's outfit, standing on one of the shelves and reaching into the spice cabinet. He smacked his forehead. "Ah, right we need to return that don't we?"

"Huh?" Sheena looked in his direction. "Oh, no, actually I was at the costume store earlier today and rented it out."

"What? Why?"

Sheena smiled and then pretended to faint as she fall off the stool she was standing on. Ichigo was there to catch her. "Doctor Kurosaki, I feel lightheaded all of a sudden."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Seriously, Sheena?"

"What's the matter?" Sheena said and stood up, "Don't you like it? I know you do," she laughed. "You could barely contain yourself during rehearsal. Admit it," she wiggled her ass provocatively, "You want to do me in this sexy nurse outfit don't you?"

"I have to ask when did you become such a sex addict?" Ichigo asked.

"Only around you," Sheena said. She twirled around and landed her back against Ichigo's chest, "And only if it's working." She reached up and stroked his face, "Is it?"

"You tell me?" he asked her.

"I'll take that as a yes," Sheena answered.

Within a matter of minutes, Ichigo and Sheena were soon playing an X-rated version of hospital.

End of Chapter 10

(A/N: So yeah a bit of a cool down chapter before we rush back into the action. It's still early on in the series and I don't want to hit a point of no return until I'm ready. Next chapter will either build more on the light and airy sensation we already have or we'll dive headfirst into the war on Aselia. Whatever the case may be. See you next time)