Well, this was an interesting chapter. I was actually at a bit of a loss as to what to do, but now I have a bit of an idea of where this particular day is going.

Chapter 13 is a little shorter than most (but not the shortest, so there's some consolation there), but I liked where I ended it.

Why?

Heh…You'll see…

And for anyone that cares:

Master File Word Count: 52,828

Master File Page Count: 129

Again, without author's notes.

And I still don't own anything

Ichigo woke up with a bag in his face.

He almost screamed.

Almost.

Instead, the teen jumped back reflexively, wondering how the hell he'd managed to get that close to his new clothes when he was sure he'd set all of them against the wall several feet away from where he had set up the futon the night before.

After all of the trauma, the shopping and a street fight, the gender-bent teen had been fairly exhausted when he and Orihime had gotten back to the apartment the night before. At least he'd managed to set up his own futon and move all of his stuff out of the way, while Orihime did her homework. They had both silently agreed to leave what happened earlier alone for now and just concentrate on taking care of the necessities. This entire situation was asking a lot of both of them, and Ichigo just didn't feel like discussing it.

Instead, Ichigo tried to pay attention to Orihime's homework and what their class was doing, but after nodding off for the third time his friend had suggested that he go to bed early. He wasn't in the mood to argue, and the next thing he knew he was in a new pair of pajamas and sound asleep on the futon.

But he wasn't on the futon anymore.

Apparently he had rolled off sometime last night, because he was lying on the floor several feet to the left of where he should be, practically laying in the same space he had set the bags last night.

The change of scenery had effectively startled the teen awake. It occurred to the Substitute that waking up with his heart hammering in his chest like that all the time couldn't possibly be good for his health.

As he sat up Ichigo idly noticing that it was fairly early in the morning. His gaze found its way to the path between himself and the futon, and he couldn't help but wonder how he had managed to roll that far, losing both his pillow and his blanket in the process, without waking up even once. Had he been in his bed back home, the teen would probably have fallen off again, but at least it would have woken him up.

At the moment, he wasn't quite sure which scenario was more embarrassing.

It was around that moment that he heard the door to the adjoining bathroom open, followed by a muffled squeak.

"K-Kurosaki-kun… you're awake."

Ichigo looked around his shoulder to find Orihime standing in the doorway, her uniform on and her hair damp. She looked a little flushed, but Ichigo hadn't quite noticed. For a split second he found himself completely captivated by a little droplet of water as it made its way…

Ichigo blinked, and it snapped him out of whatever trance he'd wandered into. He averted his gaze while nodding his head, indicating that yes, he was awake and, yes, he was alright. After a few verbal prods the healer resumed getting ready for school, apparently satisfied that Ichigo could take care of himself, while the gender-bent teen sat, legs squirming involuntarily as he fought down both a blush of embarrassment and a groan of reproach.

Inside his head, Ichigo was vehemently cursing himself, using words and phrases that would have made his own father blush. It wasn't like him to space out like that and he was just glad that Orihime hadn't seemed to notice. He had no idea what came over him, but for that one second his mind had gone completely blank…

Ichigo got up. He didn't want to think about it anymore. Whatever happened was over, whatever caused it was gone, and now he felt grody again for some reason. The teen quickly shook it off before realizing that Orihime had been awake before him, and had to have walked right past him to get to the bathroom from her bedroom. There was no way she hadn't seen him rolled off the futon and coiled up against the bags from yesterday.

Ichigo didn't bother suppressing the groan this time, instead deciding to just accept the fact that he was never, ever going to salvage his image as far as the healer was concerned.

Eventually Ichigo figured that he'd sulked long enough so he might as well start being productive, and began rifling through his new wardrobe. He wanted to get clean before he tried to do anything today, and this time he wanted to wear something more his own style once he was done.

Most of the clothes he'd bought were still in the bags, and they were actually similar to the clothes he normally wore, just from the girl's rack instead of the boys. He had a few t-shirts, two pairs of jeans, two pairs grey of cargo pants, a black hoodie with a beige organic design down the arms, and a pair of black and blue sneakers. In another set of bags were his new school uniform and gym clothes, as well as a few required items like socks, underwear, and… a bra.

That thought alone sent a bout of searing heat to Ichigo's face as he reflexively looked away, unfortunately allowing his gaze to fall to one particularly offending bag. Off to the side, away from all the others, was a bag that Ichigo refused to even acknowledge. Tatsuki had forced him to get what was in that one, and he had absolutely no intention of ever opening it to remove its contents. He had even forced the martial artist to carry that bag herself, refusing to even touch it if he didn't have to.

Ichigo shook himself from the disturbing memories, and returned to deciding on what to wear today. He settled for a red t-shirt, the hoodie and a pair of cargo pants, mostly because they were the easiest to get to at the moment. After setting the outfit down, Ichigo then spent two minutes debating about whether or not to wait for Orihime to leave before sequestering himself in the bathroom. Eventually he, and his red cheeks, decided that it would be far less embarrassing for the both of them if she wasn't there, so he set the clothes aside and checked the clock.

The healer had about ten more minutes before she would have to leave in order to avoid being late. Ichigo looked around and found her putting a bento box into her school bag. The teen's face contorted a bit, remembering that there hadn't seemed to be that much to actually make a lunch with the day before. He found himself wondering what exactly she had put into that box.

His imagination tried to supply him with a few possibilities, which he promptly put a stop to. The last thing he wanted to do was make himself ill right before Orihime had to leave for school. If she thought something was wrong she'd probably skip school to look after him, which was the last thing Ichigo wanted right now. Things were awkward enough as it is. He didn't want to make it any worse.

While Orihime finished her morning preparations, Ichigo decided to straighten up the disaster that was his bed. Back home he wasn't very industrious, but here he just couldn't help it. He felt bad for imposing on his friend like that and his conscience was running on all cylinders because of it.

Eventually Orihime finished gathering her things and left for school after being assured for the fourth time that Ichigo could manage on his own. She still left the keys to her apartment with him in case he wanted to go out, which made Ichigo a little nervous, and a little flattered, that his friend trusted him with her home so easily.

Once she was gone the gender-bent teen was finally comfortable enough to get clean. He decided that morning that he really, really liked baths. With all the fighting and running around he normally does, Ichigo had just gotten used to the ache that usually followed the next day. But sitting in a pool of hot water took so much of that away that he resolved to take leisurely soaks more often, even if he had to reinforce the lock on the bathroom back home to do it. The bath itself went much the same as last time, only with a slightly less severe blush and a little less war with his hair since it was still fairly straight from yesterday.

As he lay in Orihime's bathtub for the second time in as many days Ichigo finally started thinking about his family. It was strange, being in the same town, knowing that all you had to do was walk a few blocks and they'd be there, but also knowing that if you did so you'd just be a stranger to them. What happened with Chad the day before was a bitter pill to swallow, and Ichigo knew that it was only going to get worse. He couldn't imagine how hard it would be to see his sisters looking at him like he was a random person that just walked in off the street. He couldn't help but wonder if they were worried about him, or if they even noticed he was gone…

Just as he was starting to really bum himself out, Ichigo heard the telephone ring.

He knew that Orihime had just left no more than twenty minutes ago, so by now she was at school and homeroom had already started. There was no way she could call home during class, so Ichigo again went through the list of people that might be calling.

It was fairly short.

And there was no one on it he wanted to talk to.

So he ignored it.

Or at least, he tried to.

But the phone just kept on ringing…

Eventually Ichigo'd had enough. He got out of the tub, letting the water out in the process, wrapped himself in a towel and marched into the living room, wanting to scream at whoever was on the other end.

Somehow the teen managed to curb the urge to yell and when he answered the phone he spoke at a respectable pitch, but he was obviously annoyed.

"Inoue Residence."

"Ah, Ichigo-san! I was wondering if you were ever going to pick up…"

Ichigo resisted the urge to yell, again, while simultaneously forcing his hand to relax so he didn't break the receiver. The last thing the teen wanted to do was damage Orihime's property.

What he really wanted to damage was on the other end of the line.

"Urahara…"

This was more of a transition chapter, so there is less dialogue, but there is some very important foreshadowing for later on…

Trust me, when it comes around you'll love it.

And if anyone was wondering, the Dresden Files reference I made in the last chapter was 'Vanilla Humans.' It's a phrase that shows up a lot later on in the series that refers to… well, vanilla humans, people with no magical abilities or mystical affiliations.

Otherwise known as diner, most of the time.

I love that phrase.

Also, I was wondering if anyone knows which day of the week the Kurosaki Clinic is closed. I think it was mentioned once, but I can't remember and I haven't been able to find out via my usual methods (aka, google). I'm hoping someone remembers, 'cause otherwise I'm going to have to start searching through manga again.

I hate when I have to do that.

I get distracted…

Anyway, I'm going to go watch episode 271 now. Then I'll try to go to bed.

I'll probably fail.

But I'll try anyway…