As the shamans boarded the jet, they all looked around for their enemies and for anyone they might recognize that could help them fight against Hao again. The X-Laws were spotted right away. Jeanne was sitting in her dress, tears blobbing in her eyes—proof that Marco had scolded her pretty well for running off—and when she saw Yoh and the others looking at her she wiped them away quickly and waved, a gentle smile on her face. Of course, not even four rows away, they spotted Hao, who repeated the same actions the Iron Maiden had. They turned away quickly (Lyserg giving the boy a glare) before Yoh spotted Ichigo helping Rukia into a seat. The orange head looked Yoh's way, smiled, and then looked surprised and scowled. Yoh blinked, thinking it was for him, and turned around. Just in front of him a man in white was sitting himself down with two other men, one with a fox-like smile and the other with skin the same chocolate-brown as Chocoloves. The first man had messy brown hair that fell in his face. He looked at Yoh through Coke-bottle glasses and smiled before placing himself in the seat. Yoh turned to Ichigo, who was growling profanities that made Rukia slap his arm. She pulled him roughly into the seat beside her and whispered something into his ear as the dark-haired man Ren had spotted two days ago sat behind Ichigo and eyed the orange-haired strawberry dangerously, even though he couldn't see it. The shamans all exchanged looks and simply turned in their seats. There certainly was a strange line-up of people that had entered the tournament this year. Jeanne hopped out of her seat and walked over to Yoh, bending down to his ear level.
"Be careful of him," she whispered almost inaudibly. "He's very strong. You don't want to have to tangle with him in the future." Yoh turned to reply, but the dainty woman was already making her way back to her seat. Ryu murmured something about her not lying in her torture chamber for the plane ride so that she wouldn't be considered as luggage and turned back in his seat. Lyserg was still twiddling his thumbs as Ren stared out the window. The jet's engines started and it wasn't long before the plane was in the air and the shamans and Soul Reapers were talking and mingling like it was nothing. Yoh was tapping his foot to a rhythm he only heard until someone shook his shoulder. He opened his eyes and grinned, pausing the music.
"Hey Ichigo," he greeted, seeing the man in front of him turn in interest before looking back to his lap. Ichigo scowled at the man and turned back to Yoh.
"Hey, do you know how this whole thing is going to work, Yoh?" he asked. Ichigo gestured back to Rukia and the man. "Rukia keeps asking me questions." Yoh shrugged.
"Well, aside from the jet—they didn't do this last year—we just land in the USA and have to find our way to the Patch Village from wherever we land. We have three months and whoever doesn't make it to the village in time is out of the tournament." Yoh slipped his headphones off and leaned closer to Ichigo. "Say, what's with you and this guy?" He pointed to the man in front of him. The man who resembled Chocolove turned around, tensing, but the man with brown hair—the one Ichigo had been glaring at—simply told him to turn around. Ichigo bared his teeth and straightened up, strutting back over to Rukia and explaining their situation. Yoh looked back to smile and saw that something in her bag was moving around. Ichigo glared at her sheepish smile and hit the bag with his fist. Yoh could have sworn he heard a grunting sound and then returned to his music. Ichigo gave her a look.
"Of all things to bring, you just had to bring Kon!?" he hissed. Rukia nodded.
"Of course!" she hissed back. "What if we happen to run into a Hollow? Hunh? Who would keep your body occupied to make the shamans think nothing was wrong?"
"He'll make everything worse…"
"Give me some credit, Ichigo!" came a reply and Ichigo punched the bag again. Byakuya eyed him dangerously as he did so, narrowing his eyes. "Ow! Treat a person better than that!"
"You're not a person; you're a stupid soul in a stupid stuffed animal!" Ichigo yelled. Horokeu turned around to shut him up, saw Byakuya, and turned around in his seat. He shivered. That man could kill with looks. "Really, Rukia, have you seen any Hollows lately? There haven't been any while we were staying with Yoh and the others."
"So?" she shot back. "What if they were to appear while we're America? Then what would happen? We'd probably have to reveal the existence of Soul Reapers to the shamans and I don't have my magic-poofy-thing that makes up memories to replace ones I want gone!"
"The Memory Chikan?" Ichigo corrected. Rukia snapped her fingers.
"Yeah! That!" She grinned. "Don't worry, Ichigo, everything will be fine, but I just wanted to make sure that we were prepared for the worst." Rukia brushed her hair out of her eyes, giving the sight outside her window a fond look. All she could really see was the ocean the plane was crossing on its way to the USA. She wriggled in her seat, bending low and yawning with fake fatigue.
"I'm taking a nap," she stated, pulling her knees up to her chest and leaning so that her head was placed comfortably against Ichigo's bicep. "If you move, I'll kill you."
"W-what? Rukia!" Ichigo didn't have a chance to retaliate as the dark-haired shinigami had already closed her eyes and moved around until she was comfortable leaning against his arm and hugged the bag with Kon inside it. "Pushy little…" Ichigo let his words trail off from fear that the older Kuchiki behind them would like to make him mincemeat before he had the time to finish it anyway. So, he just shifted carefully so that her bony skull wasn't putting his arm to sleep and looked the other way, trying not to look down at her. He could hear Kon complaining to get out of the bag and he flicked the side with his opposite hand, making the stuffed animal cry out with pain and shut up. (But only after five more flicks to the nose and one to the eye.)
"Ichigo," a sharp voice said, making the substitute jump. He turned to see Soi Fon (wearing her usual uniform without the captain's cloak) staring down at him with a sharp glare. Her hands rested on either of her hips and Suzumebachi was clearly visible on her hands. He smiled nervously and jumped when she leaned down to look him in the eyes securely. Great, now he had glares from both sides. "Tell me, after the tournament, are you planning on becoming the Soutaicho?"
Other Soul Reapers looked their direction. Toshiro and Rangiku were visibly seen, the young captain cradling his recently healed scar, and Kenpachi and Yachiru weren't really sore thumbs with all of the strange-looking shamans around, but they were still sticking out. Ichigo was pretty sure it was his hair that stood out. He smirked back at Soi Fon, though the attempt was a failure.
"What if I am?" he challenged? Soi Fon narrowed her eyes and pointed Suzumebachi into his neck, pushing in the skin to the point where any given turbulence or turn of the jet would cause the needle to pierce his skin. He tensed. The captain's mouth formed the words very clearly.
"If you do, the other captains will be ready to kill you," she said slowly, making sure her words were carefully chosen and made the right effect. "We would prefer our Soutaicho not be some human who happened to gain powers from a Soul Reaper who should have been doing her job right. We need the Soutaicho to be there for us at any given notice, and you can't because of school and your family, correct? I believe it's your best interest to stay out of the Soul Society's business."
"And to think," Ichigo started with a grin, "you were letting me spend the night in your district's quarters." His voice went low. "Don't worry, I'm not interested in that old man's job. I'm just in it for the fun. Chad and Orihime and Uryu aren't in it for the position either. So just sit back and relax. And get your weapon out of my throat. People are starting to stare."
Soi Fon's expression seemed to relax and she sighed with relief, pulling her weapon back and pulling her cloak over her arm, hiding her right weapon. Ichigo could see the other Soul Reapers (he spotted Ikkaku and Renji) relax and turn back to what they were doing. So that was what they were up to? Uryu gave him a "You about got your ass killed, stupid!" look and turned in his seat, pulling out a book and reading. The captain bowed towards Ichigo and turned on her heel swiftly, making her way back to a row of seats with her Omaeda, who was stuffing his face with salted chips. Ichigo turned back to Rukia. The girl was still fast asleep, curled up into a fetal ball. He laughed to himself and turned back to the front. He could see Aizen whispering to Kaname, and he jabbed his thumbs over towards the aisle beside him. Ichigo looked around until he saw Yoh glaring at Aizen. Ichigo blinked, rubbed his eyes, and looked again. In the few hours they had been separated, Yoh's hair had magically grown to his waist and he had changed from his usual white, unbuttoned T-shirt to a tan poncho. He even had his ears pierced?
Oh no, it wasn't Yoh. Definitely not. The boy had turned to Ichigo with the same glare he had been giving Aizen and then it softened and turned into a sneer. The boy turned towards a small, African girl beside him and whispered something to her. The girl looked ahead, not sparing the boy a look, and nodded, giggling. Ichigo watched as the boy stood up, shimmied out of the aisle and started walking by him. He pretended to just notice Ichigo staring at him and smiled sweetly, waving. Ichigo hesitated, then waved back. The boy laughed and walked on by towards the bathroom. His heart suddenly stopped. He let out the heaviest breath and sighed. Good, he was still alive. He made sure by standing up, making Rukia fall over and bump her shoulder against the arm of the seat. She sat up, rubbing her eyes, and then frowned up at Ichigo.
"Ow," she said, rubbing her head. Ichigo huffed and sat down again. He just took a calm breath and let it out shakily. Rukia noticed his breath and straightened up. "Is something wrong, Ichigo?"
"Hun? Ah, no," he said, smiling and waving it off. "I'm fine. Totally fine."
A/N: Okay, well, I won't be updating as often as I used to because of some restrictions and whatnot. So, chapters won't be coming out every other day like during Christmas. I think I even updated on Christmas. XD