1

The day before he had to start his classes Ichigo sat in his room at his desk drumming his fingers restlessly on his desk. He was supposed to be up here reviewing the new student material for Karakura High his parents had given him instead of downstairs playing with Kon and the rest of his family. That was the reason he had given them anyway. He was too anxious to read the material, and he doubted that it had changed much from the first time he saw that booklet. He sighed again and stared out at the blue sky outside his window. It wasn't that he was nervous about going to school. He was nervous about who he would meet there. His oldest friends, or rather the people who had been his oldest friends.

On one hand, Ichigo was ecstatic about being able to see all of them again. On the other hand, he worried about dragging them back into a world that he knew was dangerous, even deadly. Ichigo felt that he would not be able to help himself once he met them again. Even with all of his regrets over what had happened the first time he would find a way to keep them at his side.

What was really bothering him was seeing Ishida again, alive, that had his nerves humming with tension and bile rising in his throat. It had almost broke Ichigo, seeing Ishida as his enemy, impaled on Zangetsu. The reishi particles slipping through Ichigo's fingers as he tried to say that he was sorry. He had been forced to kill Ishida, all for his damn Quincy pride. Ichigo had thought that he and Ishida had become friends of a sort in spite of annoying the hell out of each other on a daily basis.

Yhwach had to have gotten a kick out of that. Ichigo clenched his fist. Light flashed in his eyes. He was going to kill that man, no matter what it took. But even with second chance to save Ishida, Ichigo was not sure he could win against Ishida's cherished Quincy heritage.

A loud knock on the bedroom door interrupted his self destructive thoughts. Ichigo's head shot up and he quickly smoothed his features into something less frightening. "Come in," He called through the door.

Isshin poked his head around the door and peered at his son. After concluding that Ichigo wasn't going to throw something at his head he stepped into the room.

"I thought you were down stairs with everyone else playing with Kon," Ichigo said fiddling with a pencil he grabbed of the desk.

Isshin smiled with his eyes shining. "Kon is still trying to explain to Yuzu that he is a boy, and it is not appropriate for boys to wear pink dresses," He answered with a fond smile. "But it is safe, right, a mod soul with it's own sentience?"

"Kon's a good guy, annoying but all around decent," Ichigo said. "And he will protect the girls. He can take care of any low level hollows that come around, and he can take my place if I ever have to go anywhere."

"I see. He does seem to be adapting nicely to the family," Isshin frowned at his son. "But you, my beautiful son, should be down stairs as well! Playing games with your sisters and having precious family moments, not sulking upstairs all alone like a lonely hermit!" Isshin yelled dramatically shoving his finger in Ichigo's face.

Ichigo growled and thought about actually biting that finger. He slapped it away instead. "Don't say such embarrassing things. My hair color will be giving me enough problems at school as it is. You are forbidden to speak to me in public or even acknowledge that you might even know me."

"But Ichigo!" Isshin wailed. "Papa is just so proud of his son," He said in a pouty baby voice.

Ichigo raised his eyebrows so hard they strained.

"But really," Isshin went on in a more serious tone. "I did not expect high school to be such a stressful experience for you. From what you have said you did very well the first time." He looked at Ichigo expectantly for an explanation. "I assume that that is why you are up here."

"It's not going back to school, idiot," Ichigo yelled. His frustration got the better of him. He briefly debated telling his dad the whole truth about what happened to Ishida but squelched the idea. "I'm nervous about seeing my old friends again is all," He admitted instead.

His dad nodded sagely. "It must be hard knowing so much about people, being so close to people, who don't even know that you exist."

Ichigo stiffened. He had not thought of it that way. He had always assumed that his friends would accept him and eventually come to trust him as they had before. "When we became friends before it was was fighting hollows together, fighting Aizen, saving Rukia... We broke into Seireitei together."

Isshin's eyebrows bounced up at that last bit of information. Breaking into the seat of power in the Soul Society was no easy task. "How did you manage that?"

"Kukaku's giant cannon and a whole lot of reiatsu," Ichigo shrugged it off.

"Mmm, She always was very proud of that thing,"Isshin said fondly. "Do you believe that your friends will fight at your side again?"

"I don't know?" Ichigo said scratching his neck uncomfortably. "I'm not even sure at this point that I should include them."

Isshin looked for a moment like he was going to say something ridiculous and sappy, then his face took on a rare serious expression. "It will be different this time as you will be making that choice for them, whether they want to fight with you or not," He sighed loudly. "But true love will conquer all!" Isshin said throwing his arms wide.

"I'm going to go for a walk," Ichigo said abruptly. "As stupid as his father sounded, his words had given Ichigo something to think about. "I need to clear my head."

Isshin nodded silently and watched as his son jumped out the bedroom window into the yard below. He scratched his chin thoughtfully before joining the rest of his family down stairs. Growing up was hard, and Ichigo did not choose an easy path for himself.

2

Ichigo shoved his hands further down into his pockets. It wasn't a particularly cold day, but it made him feel better to skulk around and look sullen. He studiously avoided going to Urahara's, especially after he realized that he had chosen a path that would take him strait to the shop. That was becoming a bad habit.

He continued on for a while until he got to the outskirts of the warehouse district where he knew the Visoreds to be. He was sure that the group could sense him easily. Either they would confront him or go to Urahara for information. He purposely brought his hollow reiatsu to the fore and let it mingle with his Shinigami reiatsu. That should get their attention. He was not ready to confront the lot of them right now but giving them a fair warning that he was in the neighborhood was just the polite thing to do.

After he left the warehouse district Ichigo was busy paying more attention to the slight pulse in his reiatsu field that meat meant one of the Visoreds had decided to follow him than he was to his surroundings. This caused him to run strait into someone. He stepped back and mumbled an apology. He started to walk away with barely a glance at the other person when a hand shot out and grabbed his upper arm in a tight grip. Ichigo had to consciously stop himself from throwing the man into the brick wall across the street. It was only a human after all.

"Hey! What do you think you are doing you little punk?"

Ichigo looked up and glared at a delinquent that was not much older than he was. He was a standard delinquent: tight jeans, t-shirt with rolled up sleeves, stupid hair died red -crap. Ichigo really did not need this right now. The idiot had made him lose the reiatsu signature.

"How dare you bump into me? And you don't look the least bit sorry. Does he boys? The big boy trying to act like he's so hardcore with that hair," The young man said with a sneer.

Ichigo glanced over his shoulder to see other delinquents move up behind him blocking any escape from that route. They laughed at their leader's "joke." They were well trained in sucking up. He pinched his nose to stop a sudden headache. "I bumped into you; I admit that. I said I was sorry, which is common courtesy. Now we can both move on to more productive things," Ichigo said as if speaking to a small child.

The bully's face went from lightly flushed and superior to a brilliant red during Ichigo's little speech. "I'm gonna beat the crap outta you, you little shit!"

Ichigo snorted. "You look like the type that likes to beat up weaker opponents because it makes you look stronger than you are." He cracked his knuckles. "If you had any sense you would realize that I am not a weak opponent."

The group surrounded him on all sides now. They obviously weren't into playing fair. Not that this mattered much to Ichigo. The only problem he had was hitting one of them too hard and accidentally killing him. Ichigo considered whether he could get away with using just one shunpo in his physical body without doing much damage. Human bodies just weren't made to take the stress. Ichigo did not want to beat up a normal teenager no matter how annoying he was. The phrase overkill came to mind. It just seemed so wrong after battling self proclaimed gods.

Ichigo was about to make good his escape and leave the group of delinquents wondering what the hell had happened when he saw it. Dangling around the lead delinquent's neck was a familiar Mexican coin on a metal chain. You just didn't see that all that often in Japan, and Ichigo had only ever seen one. It was Chad's memento from his grandfather.

That day in Junior High when Ichigo and Chad had met Ichigo had retrieved that coin from a group of delinquents that Chad himself would not fight, thus securing the gentle giant's friendship and loyalty. Except this time Ichigo had not been there to stand up for his friend. Chad himself would not have prevented the theft, would not have fought back for it because he considered it wrong to use his strength for his own gain. Ichigo frozen envisioning a badly beaten Chad mourning the loss of his grandfather's memento and the world went white.

He felt his fist connect with flesh several times. At one point he was sure one of the delinquents had gotten him in a momentary choke hold and then was gone. Ichigo remembered throwing that one into a second that was just pulling himself off the ground where Ichigo had knocked him down seconds before. It took the group a few tries, but eventually they learned that it was better to stay down than to get back up again.

The next thing Ichigo was fully aware of was the smack of a chain on the back of his hand. He looked down at the coin resting in the palm of his hand and wondered exactly how it had gotten there. The next thing that caught his eye was his red knuckles and a dull throb on the left side of his face where one of the delinquents had got in a lucky hit.

He looked down at the five thankfully groaning bodies. Ichigo had not taken it too far. It would have been a tragedy if he had to be arrested on his first mission in the living world for killing one of the idiots.

"You shouldn't take things that are not yours," Ichigo said nudging the leader with the toe of his sneaker. "It does not always end well."

"It's mine you dumbass," the leader had the gall to say.

Ichigo stepped on his hand. "I happen to know who you took this from," He said in a low dangerous voice. "And I know that he will be relieved to get it back." He rubbed the coin as he walked away. He needed to get this back to Chad without arousing suspicion. His first run in with Rukia drove home the fact that not everyone would take him knowing so much about them well. It would probably be best if Chad never saw him with it. Even better if Ichigo could drop it into Chad's mailbox with none the wiser.

Decision made Ichigo turned down the street that would eventually lead him to Chad's apartment.

It was nearing dinner time when Ichigo finally made himself walk up to Chad's apartment. He had checked very carefully to make sure that Chad was not home to witness him dropping the coin off. He did not know how he would explain himself if he ran into his old friend. It was only the fact that his family would be worrying about him soon that he walked up to the mail box and dropped the coin inside. He sighed in relief and was turning to leave when he ran smack into a wall that had not been there before. Ichigo looked up into Chad's almost emotionless face and started swearing mentally.

The other boy hadn't changed. He still wore loud Hawaiian shirts and jeans when he wasn't in school. This shirt was blue with a yellow flower print.

Chad was curious about him; Ichigo could tell, even if most people just saw a dead stare. He caught the brief twitch of an eyebrow and the slight widening of the eyes that usually meant Chad was surprised.

Ichigo stepped back and slapped a big smile on his face. It was painful -physically- smiling just wasn't something he did. It felt very fake, though he was very glad to see his friend again.

"Hi," Ichigo said thinking fast for a reason why he would be standing outside Chad's apartment.

Chad grunted in response and nodded his head.

Oh good, a friendly greeting,Ichigo thought. "Umm, I was looking for room 207..." He trailed off looking at Chad expectantly. Ichigo knew full well that 207 was on the other side of the building because of a quirk that the building architect had with putting apartments on the north sides of buildings. It was supposed to be bad luck or something. But Ichigo himself used to give directions to people looking for Tanaka-san's apartment.

Chad crossed his arms clearly not believing him for some reason.

"Eh, Tanaka-san is a patient of my dad's. He wanted me to check up on her since she is an old lady living alone," Ichigo said hurriedly. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo by the way," He said bowing slightly.

Chad studied him for a moment then nodded solemnly. "It is on the other side of the stairs," there was a long pause. "This building is odd."

"Oh okay," Ichigo said trying to look innocent. He already knew this of course. "Thank you," Ichigo chirped to keep up his act and turned to leave before he did something stupid, like hug the other boy. He shoved his hands into his pockets and headed toward the stairs that were thankfully around the corner from Chad's apartment. Ichigo intended to start running once he was out of sight.

Ichigo could feel eyes on him as he walked down the hall. As he turned the corner he glanced back at Chad to see the other boy still watching him with a broken chain clenched in his fist.

Ichigo rounded the corner and broke into a run. As good as it was to see his friend again, he could not have that conversation right now. He couldn't handle it if he were rejected by Chad as well as Rukia.