Ichigo's remedy for stress

That night, Ichigo had a massive headache. Hatori brought him some aspirin but it didn't help much. It wasn't until Hatsuhara asked him what was wrong that he felt any noticeable relief. Hatsuharu talked with Ichigo for over two hours. It was soon clear to Ichigo that his headache was caused by a lack of freedom. It was thanks to Rukia insisting that he had to fight Hollows during his free time that he was so stressed out.


"Maybe you should relax. If you're stressed tomorrow then you won't be able to fight in the morning," Haru remarked.

"I've forgotten the meaning of relax thanks to Rukia! It's like the only way to escape her is school!" grumbled Ichigo.

"Yikes. Maybe you should switch with her and put her through the same hell so she'll know what it feels like…"

"I wish! If I could switch with her then I wouldn't have to do this again!! If she hadn't lost her powers when we first met then I might not have to do this," griped Ichigo.

"So the only reason you're doing this is 'cause she lost her powers? That doesn't make any sense!" said Hatsuharu.

"She lost her powers so I could protect my family. If she hadn't done that then I wouldn't be here today," Ichigo replied.

"So you're repaying a favor?"

"Something like that. She sacrificed her power to a stranger who she didn't even know. And since she lost her powers to me, I figured that the least I could do to repay her was to do her job until her powers came back."

"Now that makes sense! Right now though, we need to help you relax. What did you use to do to wind down before this mess started?" asked Haru.


It was around this time that Shigure entered the room, Ayame alongside. Ayame made the unfortunate mistake of acting like the idiot he was. The only reason that it was a mistake is because Ayame reminded Ichigo a little too much of his father. And as such, he got the same reaction that Isshin Kurosaki received by his children.

"Will you knock it off already?! It's embarrassing!" Ichigo said automatically while inserting his foot on the Snake's face. (Ouch.)

As luck would have it, Hatori and Yuki were passing by when this occurred. Yuki couldn't stop laughing. Hatori had to get Yuki a glass of salt water to relieve his sore throat he got from laughing so hard.

Shigure on the other hand just sweat-dropped. Haru was chuckling behind Ichigo. And ironically, this helped relieve Ichigo's stressed out nerves.

"Weird, I actually feel better. Um, Haru, who is this moron anyway?"

Hatsuharu burst out laughing at the comment. He could barely say "You…kicked him…without knowing…who he… was?!"

"It a reflex that I got from having a father with the maturity level of a five-year-old. My bad."


Akito was walking past when he heard Ichigo make that comment. He had come to see what caused Yuki to nearly die from laughing! Akito actually laughed at Ichigo's supposed 'reflex' comment. It almost made the Sohmas present die from shock. This was the first time any of them had heard Akito genuinely laugh! Ichigo couldn't understand why everyone was so shocked at this guy laughing.