IN MY WORLD - Step III: Survive

He scowled slightly, despite missing the sight of the four-walled barrier standing around him. He glanced back at her, "You really don't have to do this, y'know… They're not because of you." He pointed out. Of course her healing was as effective as it had been over a year ago, another thing about her he found to be a mystery.

She rolled her eyes, moving her power to another blotchy spot on his back. "Part of me wants to believe that, but the other part knows that's not true." She felt him stiffen momentarily at her words and she smiled wryly, keeping up her healing. "Thank you for that, though. Been a long time since I've had my ass saved by someone like you." She felt her cheeks warm a smidge and that strangely made her smile widen.

His ears burned slightly and he coughed, making a face she didn't see. "Tch, don't get all sappy right after you acted like a badass out there. Just because you're a girl don't mean you should act like it right after fighting off that Tsukishima bastard." He bristled slightly at the mention of said man, brow furrowing.

She scowled slightly, lowering her hands once the session ended, brushing strands of blonde back. "He's not so scary; Zaraki is at least a thousand times scarier than him… He won't let this go, you realize. If he's got it in for you then that only means he'll make a comeback. And I'm gonna be there when he does." I won't let him hurt you… not while you're still training. Not while you're still trying to master this Fullbring thing.

Ichigo glared at her over his left shoulder, bringing her stare back to his, brown clashing with garnet. "Like hell I'm gonna let that happen. You're not fighting him again, Kawa. Just because you're a Vizard it doesn't mean you're indestructible!" His brown eyes hardened. "He'll figure out a weakness, some way or another… It's me, he's after." He stated.

Yasakawa balked momentarily before straightening her expression and glaring back. "You're still in training, greenhorn. Knowing you're down for even a split second will give your enemy an advantage! I'm not letting you fight while your Fullbring or whatever the hell this is progresses… And even if you're progressing quickly, there's still the matter of coming up with a countermeasure against him." She stated stubbornly.

Both Fullbringer and Vizard glared at each other, locked in a staredown solely based on determination.

"Your girlfriend's right, actually. Pretty clever mind for someone who's damn-well scary wearing that mask." A low voice said in what sounded like appreciation, making both of them perk up and look at the spare room's doorway to see Kūgo standing there, arms folded.

"Ginjō…" Ichigo began quietly, noting she tensed where she sat, garnet eyes tightened.

Yasakawa closed her eyes momentarily and huffed, face calm even though the twitch in her jaw muscles said otherwise. "Is that how all of his training sessions are going to go; life-threatening to the point where he's inches away from his impending death? If that's the case, you should've at least consulted his girlfriend first." She said dryly, willing the heat rising in her neck to not reach her cheekbones at openly agreeing with him at eye-balling their relationship status.

Kūgo smirked smoothly at her, noting she certainly talked as spunky as she appeared, relaxing his posture. "Aren't you overprotective. Ichigo, if you're done with your little meeting, Yukio is willing to train with you in the other room." He nodded to the redhead.

He nodded slightly, straightening and pulling his shirt back on, shuffling away; he paused short of shrugging past the older man to look over his shoulder at her garnet stare that was soft when it held his, though it looked stoic at the same time… He looked away and continued on his way out.

He smiled wryly at her once the boy left, noting her eyes hardened suspiciously; sharp one, too. "You're welcome to stick around and watch if you've got nowhere else to be." He offered, seeing her nod, before he turned to follow his friend's exit.

"Hey." She watched him tilt his head back to look at her, brown meeting garnet; her brow tightened. "If anything happens to him, keep in mind that I won't hold back on you just because you're his mentor. Got it?" She growled out the last two words, a death threat imminent in her low tone.

He shrugged and smiled again, hands sliding into the pockets of his jacket. "Scary fox girl." He continued walking.

::::::::x-x::::::::

A pair of magenta eyes squinted at her.

Quirking a brow, she sighed and complied to the tension, glancing at the set of magenta eyes, garnet eyes bored. "Can I help you?" She asked dryly.

The redhead –whose hair coincidentally matched her eyes—straightened up to glare at her, fists placed at her sides, a thin line on her lips. "So you're her, Ichigo's girlfriend." She sounded out the two syllables of the last word with venom and sarcasm jumbled together.

She shrugged, crossing her arms. "Just eats you up, doesn't it?" She mused quietly.

"E-eh…? What the hell does that mean, huh, bitch?" Dokugamine Riruka –ah yes, that's what her name was; Ginjō had given a brief introduction of his comrades, his fellow "Fullbringers", earlier, including Sadō Yasutora, a childhood friend of Ichigo's—growled cattily, a vein twitching dangerously on her brow.

Yasakawa shrugged again, gaze stoic. "You like him as more than a friend or compatriot. The kid's just a greenhorn at this Fullbring thing, but he's pretty sharp. Isn't that what you see in him?" She elaborated placidly.

Riruka opened her mouth and then closed it, glowering at the petite girl also waiting for his training to end. "I… Tch, why the hell did Ginjō let you in anyway? Just because you handled Tsukishima out there today? Don't tell me you're into him too! Skank." She snapped, her obvious distaste for this girl's correct words that stabbed like a knife evident in her voice.

"Spare me the grief; Kūgo… Kūgo isn't someone I can trust. I'm not sure why he let me stick around, probably because he figured I'm capable at combat and healing, but even so." Her garnet eyes hardened as she fixed her gaze on the tall black prism the blonde Yukio was obviously in control over, jaw tightening. "Maybe it's because he knows he'd have to answer to me if anything happens to Ichigo." She smiled softly.

I have no place to like him, not in that way… But still. Has this observation mission really come to this? We barely know each other, and then earlier when I was healing his injuries… Her eyes softened.

Maybe… Just maybe.

"Hey, Mori-san, Ginjō's asking for you." Yukio spoke up, jerking her out of her reverie.

She blinked once before shuffling forward, watching him open a portal for her to drop into. "Um, right…" She bit back a yelp when she felt a pulling and tugging, before she fell in a light heap inside the box.

Looking around her, she took note of a few pixelated crosses posed above where Kūgo stood and less than few above where Ichigo was; she perked up to see him crouched to the floor, scratches and cuts marring his skin.

"Ichigo…"

"You're technically a Shinigami, so your healing powers shouldn't affect humans. Though I guess because of that mask you have, it affects the living." Kūgo nodded his head in the direction of the disheveled teenager. "Fix him up." He instructed.

Yasakawa thought to correct him and say 'how dare you order a captain around' but kept her mouth shut for risk of blowing her secret, instead nodding and trotting over to where he was, a four-wall barrier coming to life when she crouched at his side.

Ichigo looked up when catching sight of blonde, noting the worried glimmer in her garnet eyes and he quieted, letting her patch up his wounds. "Where'd you learn to heal?" He asked quietly so as Ginjō couldn't hear, glancing up at her.

She smiled softly, moving to a particularly nasty cut on his left shoulderblade. "I was an eighth seat in Fourth for a time, but Isane-chan helped me better my ability." She replied, seeing him perk up, brown eyes widening a smidge; she smiled again, shrugging. "There's a lot y'still don't know, Strawberry-kun."

"…Tch, shut up, kitsune." He bit out, cheeks coloring dark pink like his ears, and he pretended she didn't chuckle at his affectionate nickname.

"You two done making out already? It's starting to get boring, and impatience doesn't suit me." Kūgo asked, coming forward, scowling from the blonde to the redhead.

A translucent rectangular barrier came up as he took a step closer, surprising him. "Give me another minute. Healing isn't exactly done within seconds nowadays." Yasakawa remarked grouchily, a threat in her eyes if he dared break that Dankū spell, one hand still hovered over the boy's cheek.

This barrier looks like it's high-leveled, even for someone of her caliber. Does that mean…? Brown eyes narrowing in annoyance, Kūgo stepped back respectively, eyes trained on the blonde. "Fine, one minute. Just one."

He reveled in the new evolution his Fullbring had shifted into, noting the white trim on his otherwise-black suit that didn't cover his eyes save a likewise white strip from his right jaw to the bridge of his nose.

A low whistle sounded behind his mentor, "Dayuum, that looks much better now." She said in appreciation, a mild smirk on her lips. She hopped up from having lounged on the pixelated couch (which she'd dozed on and off on overnight; strangely comfortable…) to examine his suit with a calculating eye, circling the redhead. "Definitely." She peered around his left shoulder to wink up at him.

Ichigo ignored the blush rising in his cheeks, scowling shyly at her and that smirk. "Geez, who'd have thunk you were so perverted…?" He grumbled.

THWACK.

"Try that again and see what happens, strawberry…" Yasakawa dusted her hands off from giving him a good sucker-punch to the nose, closing her eyes serenely.

Rubbing his nose gingerly with a hand, Ichigo pouted at her, looking down at the Deputy Badge in hand and watching a blade extend from the top part as if from a hilt, looking like a short-nosed zanpakutō blade that he sheathed in the scabbard strapped to his back. "Happy now? Y'don't have to watch my back anymore." Even as he said this he had the strange urge for her to stay. It wasn't because he liked her in that way, moreso because he had gotten used to having her around for the past few weeks… Right?

Yasakawa rolled her eyes and poked his chest with a finger, crossing her arms. "Just because you're standing on your own two feet now doesn't mean I'm gonna leave; not while that man is out there." She tightened her gaze momentarily before it calmed, garnet meeting brown.

He blinked once at her words before recognizing the determination glimmering proudly in her eyes and he smiled slowly, nodding. "I didn't expect you to quit now." He mused, tousling her hair.

She blushed slightly at his gesture before smiling softly, sighing and lifting his hand off her head. "Damn straight." She met his gaze and winked.

"That sure is something to look at; I almost mistook you for someone else." Kūgo declared nearby, making them both look at him, a smirk on his face. "Come to think of it, your Fullbring needs a name, too." He added.

Yasakawa quirked a brow at noting he was lighter about this, almost chipper, and this unsettled her. Of course she didn't tell Ichigo, not now. Not when he'd finally gotten only inches away from regaining his Shinigami powers.

No, she would tell him soon… For his sake, she had to.

::::::::x-x::::::::

"Um, you're sure it's okay?" She asked, looking up at him as they walked through another street, now only several blocks away from his house.

After being released from training he had all-but rushed back home at warp speed when being reminded by Yukio that his family was most likely worried about where he had disappeared to. As if on reflex, he dragged her with him by the hand.

Maybe it was reflex by this point in time…

"Yeah, positive. Besides, Yuzu seems to have taken a liking to you, and Karin too; Dad prolly will badger you with an inquisition, but I don't doubt he'd like you too." He glanced down at her and smiled assuringly, "it'll be fine, Kawa."

She blushed slightly, lowering her gaze and smiling a little. "If you say so."

As they both walked in with him in the lead, Yuzu poked her head into the foyer with a bright smile on her face, "Welcome home!" She chirped, slipping out of the living room to greet them. "Thank God Onii-chan's home!"

Ichigo smiled slightly at his sister's near-tangible excitement, "Er, yeah… Sorry I was so late."

"We were waiting for you; we've got a guest who's a blast from the past!" Yuzu said chirpily, making them both blink.

Yasakawa elbowed him gently, tilting her head. "A relative of yours…?" Of course he'd have relatives; dummy, he's still human. He still has ties in the living…

"Good question, who is it?" Ichigo chimed, lifting a brow.

"Guess!" She said, unyielding.

"Gimme a hint." He sweatdropped.

"Well okay… here's a hint! It's a cousin!" She sang lightly.

Both blonde and redhead echoed simultaneously, "… 'A cousin'?"

Yuzu turned around to skip back into the living room, letting the two shuffle after her lead, singing lightly, "Onii-chan's home!"

Ichigo stepped into the living room's doorway first, Yasakawa shortly at his side; both sets of brown and garnet eyes widened in shock.

Lounging as politely as one could on the living room couch, that infernal mild smile on his lips, sat Tsukishima.

"I see, I bet you're surprised, Onii-chan; it's Shū-chan! We haven't seen him since Grandpa Rin's funeral, so it's been years, ne? It sure brings back memories!" Yuzu was chattering on happily, blissfully unaware of the slimeball seated on their couch.

"Why hello, Ichigo… It's been a while." Tsukishima said politely in that smooth voice of his.

A/N: so Tsukishima has finally hit home! how will Ichigo counterattack with a situation so sticky...!? and has Ginjō figured out Yasakawa's secret!?

[just a head's up, i think there's only... two chapters left after this. this story has been fun to write and i hope you guys know and appreciate how much work has been put into it. anyway, feel free to leave some feedback, people! stay beautiful~ /waves cheekily]