Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or have any rights to it.
Yuzu was worried about her brother's recent behavior. He seemed upset about something, but refused to talk about it with anyone. It was now morning and she made her way up to his room so she could wake him up. He had probably forgotten to set his alarm and she wanted to tell him that breakfast was ready.
Ichigo and Soi Fong's eyes shot open as they heard Yuzu's scream. Apparently, they had both been too caught up in their romance to consider the consequences of waking up together. As they both sat up in bed, they saw the shocked and surprised look on Yuzu's face before she dashed out of the door.
"Dad! Ichigo's in bed with a woman!"
Isshin leapt out of bed as if what Yuzu said was some kind of key phrase. "He's become a man already! I have to meet her!" Moments later, Ichigo could here Isshin bounding up the stairs from his room on the ground floor.
"Damn it," cursed Ichigo under his breath as he and Soi Fong leapt out of bed. Soi Fong instantly got the message and pulled her pants on before Isshin raced into the room.
When he entered the room, Isshin's eyes zeroed in on Soi Fong. "Hello young lady," said Isshin as he raced forward and shook her hand. "It's very nice to meet you." He eyed her and noticed her stoic expression. "What's wrong?"
Moments later, Karin sent her father flying with a punch to the cheek. "You're making her uncomfortable!" Karin turned to Soi Fong and smiled. "Don't worry. He's always this weird."
"At least he's not trying to test my reflexes," said Ichigo as he stared down at his father with an annoyed expression.
Isshin may have been dense, but he could tell that Karin knew who Soi Fong was. "You knew about this Karin?"
All three pairs of eyes turned to Isshin, who was staring at the three with a betrayed expression. Karin gave him an unsympathetic look. "To be quite honest, I can't blame Ichigo for not wanting to tell you."
"No!" Isshin began crying overdramatically. "My son and daughter! Why? What did I do to deserve children like you?" However, he was shut up when Ichigo kicked him in the face, causing him to collapse on to the floor.
"Would you quit making a scene?" Ichigo was clearly unsympathetic. "You'll wake everyone up and it's the weekend."
"Is everything alright up there?" called Yuzu from downstairs.
"Let's get downstairs before he gets back up," said Ichigo to Soi Fong and Karin. All three of them with downstairs and began eating breakfast with a surprised Yuzu.
"Hey Yuzu," said Ichigo as he gave his little sister a sympathetic smile. He directed her gaze to Soi Fong and said, "This is Soi Fong, and she's my girlfriend."
"Hello," said Soi Fong with a smile. "It's nice to meet you."
"…Hi," replied Yuzu uneasily. Looking across the three of them, Yuzu turned to Karin for answers, "You don't seem too surprised about this Karin."
Karin shrugged it off. "I ran into him and her earlier when I was…hanging out."
"Hanging out?" asked Yuzu with a raised eyebrow as she sat down to eat. Then, she noticed that their father hadn't come down to eat with them yet. "Do you think dad's okay? He hasn't come down and it's been five minutes already. He usually gets back up faster than this."
"Maybe Ichigo hit him harder than he usually does," said Soi Fong, earning a mock glare from Ichigo, causing Yuzu to giggle.
"So why were you two sleeping in the same room?" asked Yuzu innocently. "Does Soi Fong need a place to stay?"
"Yes," replied Ichigo. "You see…I met her when I was on my trip during the summer and she's here visiting me so…"
"She's helping him fight ghosts," blurted Karin, completely throwing Ichigo's composure, and earning a smirk from Soi Fong.
"Wow," said Yuzu with admiration. "You can see ghosts?" Soi Fong nodded. "That must be cool. I wish I could see ghosts, but I can only sense them."
Shaking off his shock at Karin's statement, Ichigo decided to take the topic somewhere else. He didn't need to have Yuzu worrying about Soul Reapers and Arrancars. "So…since we're on the subject of boyfriends and girlfriends, how about yours?" He gave Karin a knowing smirk, as his sister glared at him before looking around to make sure their dad wasn't around.
"You have a boyfriend?" Yuzu's faced beamed at the thought of her gloomy sister finding someone. "You're so lucky Karin. Does he go to our school?"
"His name is Toshiro," replied Karin. "He…doesn't go to school…I don't really know what he does during the day. I guess he just wanders around. Then, he shows up to soccer practice and help my team out."
"Wow so your both dating…" Yuzu suddenly felt a bit left out since she was the only one who hadn't found someone yet.
Ichigo saw her sudden change in mood and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Yuzu, you'll find someone some day. I mean you don't really have to think about this kind of stuff seriously until much later. Besides, I'm sure that when the time comes, there will be lots of guys after you."
"Thanks Ichigo," replied Yuzu in a more cheerful tone.
Soi Fong couldn't help smiling at this interaction. Ichigo's such a nice older brother. He's always looking out for his sisters.
"I won't be too long before that happens," added Karin for good measure.
As they sat at the table, talking about all this, they never noticed Isshin peeking at them from out of Ichigo's room. He had been able to evade detection up until now, but after hearing about Karin's boyfriend and Yuzu's supposed desire to have one as well, he couldn't contain himself.
"NO!" Isshin dove down from the stairs and hit the floor next to the table. Quickly getting up, he faked tears. "No! My babies can't grow up so fast!"
"You were spying on us?" Karin got out of her seat and kicked Isshin in the stomach, doubling him over.
"Karin!" Yuzu never liked it when Karin would hit their father; she always thought her sister went overboard. In fact, she didn't really like the fact that their father insisted on attacking Ichigo, and forcing him to fight back.
"Yuzu…" Clutching his waist, Isshin struggled to his feet. "Don't grow up too fast. You don't need a man yet." However, before he could continue, Karin sent him into the wall with a punch to the face.
"She'll grow up as fast as she wants."
Isshin immediately turned to the poster of his wife. "Oh my dear Masaki! They've grown up so fast. We now have a fourth daughter and a second son." Isshin pretended to be weeping for tears of joy.
"A fourth daughter?" asked Soi Fong with a raised eyebrow.
"Rukia was staying here earlier before she went back to the soul society and my dad called her his third daughter. Apparently, Byakuya wants to train her personally before he lets her come back to the living world."
"I see," replied Soi Fong before looking over at Isshin. "Your father seems…"
"Crazy, over-dramatic, and weird?" Finished Ichigo.
Soi Fong chuckled lightly before shaking her head. "I guess you could call him extreme. He's acting like any parent should, albeit to an extreme."
"Yeah…I guess that's one way of putting it," said Ichigo as he chuckled nervously, glancing briefly at his dad, who was still weeping in front of his mom's poster.
After breakfast was done, Ichigo and Soi Fong decided to get out of the house. They didn't want to have to deal with Isshin and his constant questioning of their non-existent sex life. However, now they had a new dilemma; neither knew what they would be doing.
As they walked down the streets, Soi Fong kept glancing around them, taking in the foreign sight of the living world. This world is so different from the soul society. The people there don't have any advanced technology like they do in the living world. She then remembered her primary mission. "Hey Ichigo, are you up for some training?"
"Off course," replied Ichigo with a confident smile. "I guess that was why you were sent here. So what do you have in mind?"
She shrugged, not really hung up on where to start. "Guess we should just pick up where we left off in the soul society."
They snuck back into Ichigo's room, where they left their bodies and headed towards the park. Ichigo and Soi Fong started out with hand-to-hand combat, before Soi Fong asked him to do a few kido spells. They didn't have to worry about being seen by anyone because they were invisible to normal humans, though they kept their reiatsu suppressed to avoid unwanted attention from any of the soul reapers stationed in the area.
After several hours of training, they were resting in the grass, where Yoruichi found them. She smirked deviously when she realized that they hadn't noticed her as she peered down at them from a tree. The black cat leapt down from her perch, landing behind them.
"I didn't know you were here Soi Fong," said Yoruichi, laughing on the inside.
Upon hearing her master's voice, Soi Fong turned around, and stared wide-eyed. "I'm so sorry lady Yoruichi I should've come and told you I was here."
"No need to be so uptight about this," replied Yoruichi as she looked from her to Ichigo, then back. "Were you two having fun and hoping no one would catch you."
Soi Fong and Ichigo's faces turned beat red. "Oh! No lady Yoruichi! We weren't!"
"Yeah, even though we're in our spirit forms, we wouldn't do something like that in a public place."
"Would you do it in a private place?" asked Yoruichi slyly.
Ichigo was taken aback by her comment, and the fact that he was flustered didn't help the situation. "I um…that's not what I meant."
"Really?" asked Yoruichi accusingly.
"YES!"
"Ah, so you admit it then?"
"No! I meant yes to no!"
"Now you're talking non-sense," said Yoruichi as she snickered on the inside.
Soi Fong cleared her throat, knowing that Ichigo was getting wound up. "Why don't we go and eat something? I'm sure it will take our minds off things."
"Well Soi Fong," replied Yoruichi proudly. "I guess you've finally learned how to relax and take it easy. Did Ichigo teach you that?"
Soi Fong blushed again. "…Yes."
"Let's just go already," said Ichigo, not wanting to get drawn into another embarrassing conversation. He knew that Yoruichi could twist anything he said into something perverse and trap him with leading questions.
"What did you want to talk about Orihime?" asked Chad as they sat on the school's roof. They had come here so Orihime could tell her story without worrying about eavesdroppers.
"I'm sorry about bothering Chad, but Tatsuki was busy with karate practice and you were the only one I could think of. Thank you for coming here to see me during the weekend."
"Don't mention it," replied Chad. "So what's on your mind? You seem distressed about something."
"Well Chad…I've had this crush on Ichigo for some time." She looked to see if he was giving her a funny look, but he was just sitting patiently, listening to her. "But in the soul society, I saw him with another girl. I missed my chance to tell him how I felt." A few tears fell down her cheeks. She didn't use Soi Fong's name because she assumed that relationship had been a secret.
Chad placed a hand on her shoulder. "You don't have to remain stuck on Ichigo. You're too good for that. Ichigo found someone he loved, and maybe you'll run into someone else sooner than you think, but first, you'll have to accept the past and let go. I know you can do it."
"Thank you Chad," replied Orihime. "However…when I saw Ichigo with that other woman…I felt jealous. I know I shouldn't have…and I'm so ashamed of myself."
"There's no shame in being human Orihime," replied Chad. "You don't have to be ashamed. It's only natural that you would feel jealous. That's natural for us humans." Orihime nodded, but was still a little shaky. She then felt Chad pull her into a hug. "It's okay Orihime. You can cry now."
She did cry, and it would last about ten minutes. It wasn't just about Ichigo, but about all the hardships and feelings of helplessness she had throughout her life. Chad stood there patiently, waiting until she was completely finished.
"Where were you yesterday captain?" asked Rangiku in a seemingly knowledgeable tone. "Were you with that soccer girl?" She giggled as Toshiro shot her an angry glare.
"I was…hanging around. It wasn't anything important."
"Just wandering around?"
"That's correct."
"I don't believe you," replied Rangiku with a smirk as Toshiro looked like there was steam coming out of his ears. "Come on, admit it. You were with that Karin girl, weren't you? Don't worry, I won't tell."
"I've told you eight time already! I wasn't seeing her! Now drop the subject!" Toshiro's fists clenched and he was shaking, but he didn't notice the light blush on his face.
"Whatever you say captain," replied Rangiku, chuckling to herself as she walked out of Orihime's house. "I'll be out shopping. See you later."
When she was gone, Toshiro let out a disgruntled sigh. If word got around, I wouldn't here the end of it. Come to think of it though, why was Soi Fong with Ichigo? Things are getting really weird. I'd better not ask.
This chapter took longer than I wanted it to. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it.