Chapter 52

"Bleach" and all it's Characters, and elements (with the exception of the few characters and attacks I created exclusive to my story) are owned by Tite Kubo, Viz Media, Shonen Jump, Studio Pierrot, and Shueisha Publishing of Japan… please, if you can, support the series, by buying the DVDs, Manga and other merchandise like I do …

It was the next day after Ichigo, Hiyori and his friends had talked about Soul Reaper related things at lunch and Ichigo, Hiyori and Rukia were making their way to school. It was a normal morning with Ichigo scowling, Hiyori complaining and Rukia reading a romance manga while Ichigo would occasionally grab her shoulder and pulling her out of the way of incoming street poles that she didn't notice due to being so into her manga.

They eventually managed to get to school, where Keigo did is usually greeting and got knocked on his ass by Ichigo. As soon as they walked into the classroom though, Ichigo was on the receiving end of being knocked down for a change Ichigo sat up a ways and opened his eyes to find the small grinning face of Rurichiyo Kasumioji a she sat on him.

"Good morning Ichigo" Rurichiyo said smiling. "Is it not great that we are in the same classroom?"

"Uh… yeah.. Sure.. Um.. Since when are you enrolled in high school though?" Ichigo asked, rubbing his head. "Are you even old enough to be here?"

"I'm enrolled since now.. Thanks to Mr. Urahara that is" Rurichiyo replied, still smiling brightly.

"Urahara?.. Guess I shouldn't be surprised that Mr. Hat and Clogs is involved" Ichigo said, while face palming. "By the way.. Could I get up now?"

"Huh?.. Oh sure.. My apologies Ichigo" Rurichiyo stated , getting off of him with a slight blush.

"Don't worry about it…" Ichigo said waving it off as he walked into the classroom, and glaring at everyone who was staring at him.

"Kurosaki…" said the glaring Kenryu as he stood at the front of the room with the big silent guy Enryu and the teacher Mrs. Ochi.

"Um.. You.. What's your name? I don't remember" Ichigo replied somewhat awkwardly back, as he made his way to his seat with Hiyori and Rukia in tow.

"Alright class have a seat so I can introduce you to out three new transfer students" Mrs. Ochi said, clapping her hands to get everyone's attention. "Go ahead you three.. Tell everyone your names and a little about yourself if you feel like it"

The three did as asked but only Rurichiyo said anything beyond just her name. Rurichiyo and Kenryu then decided to field questions since so many of the students had them. Kenryu seemed to ignore most of the questions and the ones he did answer were vague at best which only ended up annoying everyone. After taking some questions, they finally took seats and Rurichiyo insisted on sitting near Ichigo.. Which wasn't easy with Hiyori sitting to Ichigo's right and Rukia to his left. She settled on a seat in front of him which people like Keigo stated was a bit unfair while Kenryu was just plain unhappy with it.

At lunch, Rurichiyo, Kenryu and the silent Enryu joined Ichigo, Hiyori, Rukia and the others on the roof which led to Keigo once again complaining until Hiyori and Tatsuki growled at him and gave him the evil eye which quickly shut him up. All things considering, it was a fairly normal lunch again, except Rurichiyo occasionally asking Ichigo things about the world of the living.

After the rest of school past which was way too long in Ichigo and Hiyori's opinions, they headed home and by time they reached the final few blocks before Ichigo's house, it was down to a still fairly large group, consisting of Ichigo, Hiyori, Rukia, Rurichiyo, Kenryu and Enryu.

Kenryu suddenly walked near Ichigo and whispered so that no one else could hear him "Ichigo… can I have a word with you?"

"About what?" Ichigo said raising an eyebrow at him.

"Something rather important.. But Rurichiyo can't hear our conversation.." Kenryu whispered back.

"Sigh.. Fine.." Ichigo replied back. "After she goes to sleep tonight, come get me for whatever it is.. Better be important though"

"I assure you it is…" Kenryu stated before falling back near Rurichiyo again.

Ichigo opened the door first and got the privileged of almost getting drop kicked by his insane father. Fortunately, thanks to all his training and battles, dodged the attack and uppercutted him all before one could blink.

"TKO" Hiyori said as she and Rukia entered the house. " Gotta wonder if he'll ever learn"

"I'm finding it hard to believe he was a captain in the 13 court guard squads.." Rukia commented as she walked past the now laid out Isshin.

"Good afternoon Ichigo, Hiyori, Rukia…." Yuzu said, appearing from the kitchen. "How was school?"

"Same boring stuff as usual…" Ichigo asked, walking over to the table. "Hey. .where's Karin at?.. She doesn't have soccer practice today.. Not as far as I remember anyways"

"Oh.. She wasn't feeling well… and went to her room to lay down" Yuzu replied, in a worried tone. "She wouldn't tell me what was wrong though.."

"Not feeling well?" Ichigo asked, his eyebrows furrowed. "I'm going to go check on her,.. Maybe she'll tell me"

"Good luck" Yuzu called as he went up stairs. "I hope it's nothing serious…"

Ichigo headed upstairs and stopped in front of the room that Karin and Yuzu shared where he gave a few knocks before speaking "Karin?"

"Go away Yuzu.. I told you already" Karin answered from inside her room.

"Do I sound like Yuzu?.. It's me Ichigo" He said with a slight amused tone for a moment. "Yuzu told me you weren't feeling well"

"Ichigo?… it's… it's nothing really" Karin answered after a moment.

"It's not nothing.." Ichigo said back, as he took taken a hold of the door knob. "I'm coming inside.. I'm not asking.. I'm telling you.."

Ichigo opened the door to find Karin in her bed, with the covers pulled over her, facing away from him. He walked over to the bed and carefully sat down on the edge of it, next to her.

"Come on.. Tell me what's wrong Karin" Ichigo said, trying to sound gentle. "Your my sister and I love you… the last time you were sick was when that spirit of that boy was stuck in the bird.."

"It's not the same as then.. It has nothing to do with spirits this time" Karin said, still not moving from under her covers.

"That's good to hear.. But it still doesn't let me help you.." Ichigo said reaching out and putting his hand on her head. "Whatever it is, I wanna know so I can help you"

"I… I appreciate that Ichigo.. Really.. But this isn't the type of thing you can really help with" Karin answered, shifting slightly. "I'm .. I'm glad that you still look out for me and all.. But this is…Well.. It's embarrassing and not something you can help with"

"Embarrassing?.. This is the Kurosaki household we're talking about… the place where my dad screamed to the picture of mom when I hit puberty…" Ichigo said, shuttering slightly. "Trust me.. Whatever it is.. I won't make fun of it.. I give you my promise as your big brother"

"Fine… it's my period.. Ok? My first period.. You sure you still wanna help me with it?" Karin said rolling over and facing Ichigo.

"Is that all it is?.. Sigh.. I thought it was something serious" Ichigo said finally relaxing, until he saw Karin glare. "Relax.. I know it's serious to you, I just meant I'm glad there's not dangerously wrong with you"

"…"

"Ok look, I'll admit that as a guy and not a girl I can't fully sympathize with you having your first period but you know you can come to me with anything, and I'll still do my best to help you in anyway if I can" Ichigo said, trying not to show how uncomfortable he was with talking about it. "That said, the best advice I can give you that I think will help you, is for you to talk to Tatsuki"

"Talk to Tatsuki?.." Karin asked, looking up at Ichigo.

"Yeah.. She's a girl, so she's been through this already. And the two of you are a lot alike.." Ichigo said trailing off. "Given both of those things, I think the best thing to do is for you to talk to her about this. I'm your brother and I'd go to hell and back to help you, but in this instance, I think it's best to talk to another girl who been through this and has a similar way of thinking as you do.. In fact, if you want, I can call Tatsuki and ask her if she can come over because you have something important to discuss with her"

Karin looked hesitant for moment but then crawled over, wrapped her arms around Ichigo's waist and rested her head on his lap. Ichigo smiled and stroked her hair, thinking how rare it was for Karin to act ..well...like Yuzu.

"If you tell anyone about me laying like this.. I'll kick your balls into you stomach" Karin stated, while laying fairly still.

"Trust me, I wouldn't have told anyone anyways" Ichigo replied, with a grin. "We both have reputations to uphold.. And I've already let mine slip a bit as it is"

"Thanks, Ichigo" Karin said with a slight smile. "You're weird sometimes, but your still a great brother"

"Thanks.. I think" Ichigo replied shaking his head slightly. "You want me to call her, or do you want to call her yourself?"

"I'll call her…" Karin answered, reluctantly taking her head of off Ichigo's lap. "If Yuzu's still worried, just tell her you took care of it and that.. That I'll probably talk to her later"

Ichigo nodded and got up, walking over to the door, pausing after he opened it. "Next time, make sure to come to me if something's wrong, instead of me having to come ask you… even if it is embarrassing, I'll still listen no matter what's on your mind"

"Sure" Karin said, before tossing pillow at him. "Now get out and stop the mushy crap already"

Ichigo just stuck out his tongue at her before leaving and closing the door behind him before heading back downstairs.

"Ichigo.. How's Karin?" Yuzu asked as soon as Ichigo reached the bottom of the stairs. " Would she tell you what was wrong?"

"Relax, Yuzu.. She's fine" Ichigo said patting his sister on her head. "She said she'll probably tell you later… oh and Tatsuki might come over for something later and I might see if she wants to stay for dinner"

"Why's Tatsuki coming over?" Hiyori asked, as she sat on the living room couch.

Ichigo waked over and leaned down, before whispering in her ear, briefly, before standing up straight again.

"Oh that…yeah.. It's been so long since my first, kind of forgot how scary your first is" Hiyori commented with a slight glaze of red across her cheeks. "Anyways… what's for dinner tonight?.. I gotta admit she's a pretty good cook, for a human"

"Maybe you could get some pointers from her on cooking" Ichigo said, sitting next to her. "I'm not claming to be a world class cook either, but the last time you cooked something I swear it came to life"

"Your exaggerating, dumbass" Hiyori said, smacking him with a flip flop. "It didn't come to life.."

Ichigo shook his head and muttered to himself. "Close enough…"

Soon enough, Tatsuki showed up and went to talk with Karin while Ichigo, Rukia and Hiyori get homework. Well, more like Ichigo and Rukia did homework while Hiyori copied off of Ichigo because she didn't feel like learning much about Japanese history...Ichigo couldn't understand why she needed to learn some of it at all, especially since she had lived there for over a hundred years and had seen lot of the things the books talked about first hand… her reply was that she was lazy and didn't feel like it.

Later on, Tatsuki said she couldn't stay for dinner because she had to make sure Orihime ate a proper dinner instead of something weird like she usually did. After the others all ate dinner, Ichigo decided to go outside and wait to see what Kenryu had wanted to talk about that was so important. As Ichigo reached for the front door however, he got a strange feeling… a feeling that he should have his Soul Candy on hand for some reason. Following this gut feeling, He went and grabbed his soul candy dispenser with the hollow mask on it, that Hiyori had gotten him a while back, before heading outside.

It was rather warm outside, thanks to it being almost summer, as Ichigo walked outside and came to stop, while looking up at the sky. It just getting dark and some stars were beginning to become visible and Ichigo had admit that taking a moment to look at the stars, enjoying the peace and quiet while not worry about fighting monsters was kind of nice sometimes.

After waiting outside for almost 15 minutes, Ichigo wondered if Kenryu had either forgotten about wanting to talk to him or Rurichiyo was still awake. He was debating going over to the house next door himself when he felt he huge surge of strange spiritual pressure from next door. A few moments after feeling it, Hiyori and Rukia came jumping out of his window, landing near him already in soul form.

"You feel that that too?" Ichigo asked as he got out his soul candy, popped it into his mouth and separated from his body. "It was from next door.. We need to check it out"

Everyone nodded and leapt over the fence and landed in the air with swords drawn as they look around. Suddenly a flash of light appears and crashes into the roof of the house with a loud crash. Ichigo growls and flash-steps over to the roof and see Kenryu running in Soul Reaper form to the same area as Ichigo jumped to.

"Kenryu!" Ichigo yells, looking around. "What the hell just happened?"

"That doesn't matter right now" Kenryu replies back, eyes narrowed. ""We have to find Lady Rurichiyo"

"Rurichiyo?.. Fine" Ichigo said nodding and jumping into the hole in the roof. "But after we find her, I expect some answers"

Kenryu nodded as they landed inside the house and find Enryu carrying Rurichiyo.

"She's safe.. good.." Kenryu said breathing a sigh of relief. "I'll leave him to you Ichigo"

"Him?" Ichigo asked as Hiyori and Rukia finally caught up with him. "Who are you talking a-"

"That guy over there, moron" Hiyori said pointed over to the opposite are that Ichigo was looking.

Ichigo looked in the direction of Hiyori pointing and saw a strangely garbed man wielding a even stranger sword that appeared to have a mirror like object in it. The man raced in the direct of Enryu making Ichigo, Rukia and Hiyori flash-step in front of him, blocking him.

"Your after the girl aren't you?" Rukia asked, watching the man carefully.

"Rurichiyo?.." Ichigo asked, barring his teeth at the man. "What the hell do you want with her?!"

Instead of answering, the man swung his sword at Ichigo, who easily blocked it with his Zanpakuto. The man turned his sword, which caused a bright light to be shown, blinding Ichigo momentarily. He used the opportunity to slash at Ichigo, giving him a long, painful cut across his arm. Hiyori growled and gave the man around house kick to his face, sending him flying backwards into a chimney. The man got shakily to his feet after dropping to the roof and readied his sword again. He man attempted to use the mirror to blind them again but Ichigo used flash step to appear in the sky above him and used a large, black Getsuga Tenshou, that shot down and forced Hiyori and Rukia to quickly move out of the way. The man, raised his sword trying to block the attack that he barley noticed at the last moment, but it's didn't do any good. The attack caused a huge explosion that enveloped the man and the area part of the roof he was standing on as Ichigo, Hiyori and Rukia regrouped away from the area.

"Did I injure him?" Ichigo asked, glancing over at his female companions. "Or did he escape my Getsuga?

"Somehow, I don't think he got away from that" Rukia commented somewhat dryly. "I'm pretty sure your Getsuga destroy him…Whoever he was"

"Wait.. I killed him that easily?" Ichigo inquired with raised eyebrows. "I wasn't trying to kill him.. And I tried holding back my spiritual energy level in that attack… guess I didn't hold back enough"

"That's not what's important right now, Ichigo" Hiyori said, cutting in. "That man was after Rurichiyo.. And I'm pretty sure that Kenryu knows why"

"Uh.. Yeah.. Let's.. let's go have a chat with out "friend" Kenryu" Ichigo agreed, putting his sword on his back. " So we can find out what's going on here"

With that, Ichigo, Rukia and Hiyori, flash stepped away to find Kenryu, Enryu and Rurichiyo, who had ended up at Urahara's shop. As soon as they arrived at the shop, Ichigo made sure they called up Tatsuki, Orihime, Chad and Uryu as well. Once they were all gathered at Urahara's shop, Kenryu reluctantly agreed to tell them what was going on.

"It's a bit complicated but.. Essentially.. Not only is Lady Rurichiyo a member of a noble clan as you already know.. But to be more specific, she is heiress of the Kasumioji clan" Kenryu said, sighing.

"The Kasumioji clan!" Rukia said loudly. "Are you serious?"

"Rukia?.. Do you know who that clan is?" Ichigo asked looking over at her.

"Yes.. Of course I do…" Rukia replied, with wide eyes. "The Kasumioji clan is the most powerful clan in the Soul Society, next to the four great noble clans.. What is the heiress doing here?"

"It was for her safety… you see… a man named Gyokaku Kumoi is behind numorous attmpts to assasinate lady Rurichiyo in order to get control of the clan" Kenryu said, sighing heavily. "Her mother somehow died in child brith and then her father became ill from strange sickness that climed his life as well and although we don't have proof, I believe that Kumoi was involved in their deaths as well"

"I've gotten the impression that Rurichiyo doesn't know any of this .. Does she?" Ichigo asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. "She truly believes she's in the world of the living for a vacation?"

"It… telling her that seemed better then worrying her.." Kenryu replied after moment. "Lady Rurichiyo has a had a lot of so called "Accidents" over the yesrs that have led to her almost getting killed each time.. And in order to try and give her childhood that is free from this, we believed that not telling her about how bad the situation is, was the best for her state of mind"

"… I can kind of understand your reasoning to a degree.. But at the same time.. Shielding her from everything might not be the best thing to do" Ichigo said trying to remain calm. "She's obviously not stupid and will eventually find out that you've been lying to her.. Which might make her find it hard to trust you.."

"I.. I understand what your saying.. However what would you have me do? Tell her that people are trying to kill her?" Kenryu replied, folding his arms. "Me and Enryu have been watching over Lady Rurichiyo since she was first born and have tried to raise her right.. Give her a good childhood. How would she act knowing someone wants her dead?… telling her would shatter her life.. And take away her change of growing up properly"

"Maybe.. But things can't continue as they are" Ichigo retorted. "I defeated the man sent to assasinate her. But it was propably because he wasn't expecting a Soul Reaper Captain to be next door to where shewas staying… even with Hiyori, who's captain class In terms of power and Rukia.. Who's to say the next assassin doesn't succeed"

"I know.. Which his why I need you to look after Lady Rurichiyo.. As her bodyguard" Kenryu said, making Ichigo stare with a open mouth. "You and your human friends may be the only ones who can protect her"

"…why are you asking me now?.. Instead of when you first arrived the other day?" Ichigo finally asked after getting over the slight shock of the request. "You wait until after the ones behind this know about my presence tosek for help?.. How stupid are you?.. And for that manner.. Your lucky I happened to be living next door or you wouldn't have the chance to ask for my help now"

""Actually.. We had Urahara rent out this house for us, knowing your lived next door before hand" Kenryu revelaed, shocking everyone and not just just Ichigo. "Everyone knows about your exploits in the Soul Society and how strong you are.. When I heard you were in the world of thwe living, me and Enryu bought Lady Rurichiyo here and tested you to see your strength first hand. Once we confirmed you'd be abekl to help ,we contacted Urahara, who was already making us gigai, and had him purchase the home next to where you lived in order to make sure you'd be nearby in case the assassins came after Lady Rurichiyo again"

"You gotta be fricken kidding me.." Ichigo groaned, smacking himself in the forehead out of frsutration. "Why do I always have complicated shit like this happen?"

"Cause you have that strange luck, Ichigo" Urahara said, popping into the room. "The only question is.. What will you do?"

"… not sure.. I came here for a small break and got dragged into a battle with Aizen's Arrancars…" Ichigo stated, groaning as he did. "Dealing with this on top of Aizen.. I don't know.. I'm not the kind of guy who can just sit by and let a little girl live in fear of being killed though…"

"So what are we going to do?" Hiyori asked, leaning close to Ichigo. " We going to help her or not?"

"It might not be your choice for very long" Rukia chipped in. "If, or most likely when, the head captain discovers that your helping a nobel clan with internal clan matters like this, he'll order you to stop immediently or face reprimands"

"So your saying I shouldn't help, just because the old man might get his panties in a twist?" Ichigo asked sarcastically.

"I'm not saying you shou;don't help.. Nor that I won't help you either for that matter.." Rukia said sighing. "I'm just making sure you know what to expect.. Things are different when you're a Soul repaer captain, instead of a substitute Soul Reaper like before… you have certain rules to follow"

"Yeah, yeah… rules" Ichigo said in a slight mocking manner. "If I followed rules set by the Soul Soceity, you would have been executed for no reason a little while back.."

"So we're helping her" Hiyori said with a slight smile. "I figured as much"

"Yeah.. We'll help her" Ichigo said briefly closing his eyes, before opening them and showing off steeled eyes. "…and we'll stop this Kumoi guy too.. No matter what"

"Now there's the Ichigo we all know" Urahara said with a slight grin as he tipped his hat. "Something tells me things are going to get very interesting again.. .. Even though I'll be busy with a projext for the head captain, I'll make sure my "staff" are available as much as you need"

"Right" Ichigo said simply with a nod. "I take it you still want this kept from her ?"

"Yes.. It's imperative that she not learn about everything for as long as possible" Kenryu replied, nodding back.

"Alright.. We'll do our best in that regard" Ichigo said, standing up. "Hiyori, Chad, Orihime, Uryu, Tatsuki… I can on you right?"

They all agreed in their own way, ranging from Chad's thunmbs up to Tatsuki's "Fuck yeah!"

"What about you though, Rukia?.." Ichio asked, looking over at the raven haired girl. "If you don't wanna help out of fear of getting in trouble then I won't force you to-"

"Idiot!" Rukai exclaimed ,slapping Ichigo in his head. "Of course I'm going to help you.. We're friends aren't we?…besides, like when you saved me from execution….sometimes breaking the rules is necessary for the greater good"

Ichigo held out his fist to her and Rukia bumped her fist against his with a slight grin, before turning serious.

"Ok then…" Ichigo said, looking around. "It's pretty late though, so we'll start tomorrow.. That good with everyone?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and stood up, getting ready to leave.

"I already sent Tessai over to your house to repair the roof.. It won't take him long to finish" Urahara said with small yawn. "Your welcome to wait here where it's safe till he finishes…"

"That won't be necessary Kisuke" Ichigo said, looking at the man. "Rurichiyo, and the other two can stay at my house next door till Tessai finishes.. It will take sometime before that Kumoi guy finds out his assassin failed so it should be safe. And there are 3 powerful Soul Reapers at my house to protect her.. 4 if you count my dad "

"Very well.." Kenryu agreed, looking a bit reluctant. "Enryu.. Can you fetch Lady Rurichiyo?"

The tall silent man nodded and a few minutes later, came back into the room carrying a sleeping Rurichiyo in his arms. With that, everyone went their separate ways to get home, with Ichigo, Hiyori, Rukia, Kenryu, Enryu and the sleeping Rurichiyo all heading to Ichigo's house. It wasn't long before Tessai came over announcing that the roof was fixed, and Kenryu, Enryu and Rurichiyo left Ichigo's place to go next door for the night.

As Ichigo and crew slept in the world of the living, a bearded man with slicked back white hair and a red monocle in his left eye, was sitting in a poorly lit chamber in the Soul Society as another man dressed in the same garb as the would be assassin of Rurichiyo knelt before the bearded man.

"Give your report" The bearded man said, as the dim light made his red monocle glow slightly.

"Yes sir" The assassin said, still kneeling. "It's not good news I'm afraid.. Not only were the girl's caretakers present, but so were three powerful Soul Reapers, who killed your man sir… and that's not the worst part"

"Not the worst part you say?" The bearded man asked, glaring hard. " What could be worse then your failure?"

"One of the Soul Reapers present had captain level Spiritual energy sir… and.. well" The mans said. while stuttering. "The apparent leader of the three.. His spiritual energy was above a Captain's level…and he himself wore a Captain's Haori sir.."

"What!?" The bearded man demanded , slamming his fist onto the arm of his seat. "That girl has Soul Reaper Captain as a body guard!.. And two other powerful Soul Reapers watching over her now as well!?"

The man visibly shuttered again as he spoke "I'm sorry sir, I did-"

What ever he was going to say, was cut off , when the bearded man nodded his head and a man In the same assassin garb appeared behind the kneeling man and with one swipe, removed his head from his neck with a sword.

"Remove that trash from here" The bearded man said, dryly. "Sigh…it appears things are getting more complicated here.. But no matter.. The girl will die. One way or another"

Several days had passed since then, and Ichigo, Hiyori and Rukia had started walking Rurichiyo home after school every day and spending a lot of time near her to protect her. At the moment they were walking home and Rurichiyo spotted a vending machine.

"Ooh.. Ichigo, Ichigo!.. What is this thing?" Rurichiyo asked happily running up to it.

"That's what we call a vending machine, Rurichiyo" Ichigo replied, with a smile, walking over next to her.

"A vending machine?" Rurichiyo asked, titling her head slightly. "What's it do?"

"If you put money into it, you van get drink from it" Ichigo explained calmly, as Rurichiyo's face lit up. "You wanna try it?"

"Ooh can I?" Rurichiyo asked excitedly, jumping like a, well, like a school girl.

"Sure.. here" Ichigo said fishing out some coins from his pocket and handing them to her. "Decide what you want, put the one into that slot and hit the button under the drink you want"

"Ok.. how about some cold green tea?" she asked, looking up at him.

Ichigo pointed to which one was green tea, and Rurichiyo proceeded to do as instructed, rewarded with a can of green tea like she wanted.

"You should refrain from referring to Lady Rurichiyo in such a casual manner, boy" Kenryu stated, while glaring at Ichigo.

"It's fine Kenryu" Rurichiyo said as she drank her green tea. "He didn't offend me"

With that the group walked along again, until Rukia spotted a nearby arcade and got an idea.

"Hey, Lady Rurichiyo?" Rukia said, getting her attention. "Have you ever been to an arcade?"

With a reply of "what's an arcade?" Rukia drags her, Ichigo, Hiyori, Kenryu and Enryu off to the arcade to have some fun. Rukia, Rurichiyo and even Hiyori started playing the various games at the arcade and spent quite a bit of time doing so. Eventually Rurichiyo got them to cram into a photo both to take some photos and Kenryu became pissed at Ichigo after several pictures, when Rurichiyo pushed out everyone but her and Ichigo and jumped onto his lap for one last photo.

Ichigo might have been a little dense about girls still, but even he could tell that Rurichiyo had crush on him, but he had come to think of the girl as a third sister, so he just ignored it and chalked it up to him probably being the first guy she had ever encountered outside her clad compound.

After giving Rurichiyo piggy back ride home, to which of course Kenryu yelled at Ichigo for until Rurichiyo told Kenryu to stop, they stopped at Ichigo's house for the time being and were greeted by Ichigo's sister Yuzu..

"Hello, I'm one of Ichigo's sisters, Yuzu" Yuzu said , giving a little curtsy( where a girl with crouch and bow slightly while holding out their dress/skirt a little). "It's nice to meet you"

Rurichiyo did the exact same thing to Yuzu as she introduced herself and Yuzu suggested that Rurichiyo and her friends should stay for dinner. While waiting for Yuzu to make dinner, Ichigo, Hiyori and Rukia did homework, while Rurichiyo was kept amazed by TV and it's various programs and Kenryu and Enryu sat nearby not doing much of anything.

Realizing that there was quite a while still till dinner , Ichigo said he was going to take a quick shower, while Hiyori almost immediately said she was going to go lay down till dinner. As soon as Ichigo grabbed a towel, a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom though, he heard small foot steps behind him found Hiyori standing there with flirty grin on her face.

With almost no words spoken they both quickly took off their clothes, turned on the water and hopped into the shower together. Some 45 minutes later, of fun ended with Hiyori pushed face up against the inside of the shower door, Ichigo behind her, as she moaned out to him and him giving a loud serious of grunts as he finished for the second time and Hiyori virtually collapsed with her shaky legs. After drying off and getting dressed Ichigo helped Hiyori to their room where she collapsed onto the bed, complaining that her hips were sore and her legs felt like jelly.

"I didn't hear you complaining earlier" Ichigo said with a grin as Hiyori managed to find the strength to hurl a flip flop at him. "We still have some time before dinner, so you rest up and I'll come and get you when it's ready"

"Love you brat" Ichigo said, leaning down and kissing her to which Hiyori eagerly welcomed despite to her situation.

"Love you too, idiot" Hiyori said stretching as she laid on the bed.

With that, Ichigo walked out his room, closing the door and headed downstairs to the others.

"You sure took a long time to shower Ichigo" Rukia commented, as she read through a manga.

"Yeah.. Well , so what.. You take a long time in the shower too you know" Ichigo retorted with slight blush. "I recall you being in there for almost an a hour the other day"

"Ye-yes.. But.. But I'm a women and we take longer then men do" Rukia nearly yelled with a slight red face. "It takes a while to properly wash this much hair you know"

"Hiyori has longer hair then you and doesn't take that much time" Ichigo countered with a smug smile.

"Um.. Shut up, strawberry!" Rukia huffed.

"Where is Hiyori at anyways, Ichigo?" Rurichiyo asked, looking over from the couch.

"She's still laying down.. And enjoying our vacation like we originally intended when we first came back to the world of the living" Ichigo answered, putting his hands onto his pockets. "Every time we come to the world of the living for some down time something pulls us away from it.. And this time it was the Arrancars"

"I still don't understand how or why the Soul Society let one of it's Captain and Lieutenants take a vacation in the world of the living" Kenryu commented, folding his arms.

"That's because Ichigo here is technically a human with Soul Reaper powers" Rukia replied, now over her embarrassment. "He was granted the title of Captain of squad 5 by the head captain"

"A normal human with Soul Reaper powers?" Kenryu restated with widened eyes. "Who was made a captain in the 13 court guard squads no less?"

"Please tell us how this all happened Ichigo" Rurichiyo said, now ignoring the TV.

"This I gotta hear" Karin said walking over from the table where she had been sitting.

Ichigo shrugged since there was nothing else to do and proceeded to tell them how he became a Soul Reaper captain.

"… and then he made me a captain for some reason.." Ichigo said, finishing up the tale that he slightly edited for Rurichiyo's sake.

Just after finishing, Yuzu announced that dinner was ready so Ichigo went and got Hiyori before they ate together. Apparently, Isshin was busy at some conference out of town and wouldn't be back for a few days, so he was absent from the table this time.

"This is most delicious, Yuzu" Rurichiyo commented as she ate happily. "You called it curry and rice?. I'd love to eat this every night"

"Eat your carrots too, Rurichiyo" Ichigo said, as he too ate, sitting next to her with Hiyori on the other side of him. "Don't eat around them"

"But I don't like carrots" Rurichiyo said stubbornly.

"You keep referring to her far too casually. And now your telling her what to do.." Kenryu complained.

Ignoring Kenryu as usual, Ichigo took a page from his book of being a big brother and also played on the crush he knew she had on him.

"You wanna be a strong leader when you take over your clan someday right?" Ichigo asked, in a clam brother type voice. "Eating your vegetables will help you be strong and smart enough to lead.. Just like getting plenty of rest helps you grow…"

"But.."

Before Rurichiyo could protest anymore, Ichigo scooped up some of the curry with carrots in it and put the spoon into her mouth. She was of course shocked and blushing at this but chewed as he instructed while Kenryu and Enryu made faces of horror at Ichigo doing such a thing… even though Rurichiyo didn't seem to mind as much as her caretakers did.

"You're a respectable young lady who I know I can trust to the rest, right?" Ichigo said, handing Rurichiyo back her spoon who nodded at him with red cheeks.

"Smooth, Romeo.." Hiyori said, loud enough for only Ichigo to hear him.

Ichigo gave a simple reply back. "Thanks"

After everyone finished dinner, Ichigo, Hiyori and Rukia walked Rurichiyo back over to her house with Kenryu and Enryu when suddenly Ichigo came to a stop.

"What's wrong Ichigo?" Rurichiyo asked looking up at him. "Why did you stop?"

"Stay behind me Rurichiyo.. There's someone here.." Ichigo said, as he fished out his soul candy dispenser and separated from his body. "Take her back to my house where it's safe"

"Yes sir" the fake soul now in Ichigo's body said.

"I'll go with her, keep her safe" Rukia said, appearing in Soul reaper form as well. "We'll leave whoever it is to you and Hiyori… good luck and be careful"

Ichigo and Hiyori both nodded and said "Right"

Sure enough, a man dressed exactly like the first assassin appeared holding a katana in his hands. There was one difference between him and the first man though….the man held a second weapon on his back wrapped in bandages. The assassin dashed at them with his sword held tightly as Ichigo and Hiyori draw their Zanpakutos and readied themselves.

Hiyori was the first to engage the assassin, blocking his sword with her own with ease. She pushed back against the weapon before spinning around and kicking him in his stomach, which knocked him back, and had him sliding on his feet a little ways. Before he could counter, Ichigo came up beside him, swinging his Zanpakuto downward, which the man barely dodged.

He jumped back, and dropped his normal sword, pulling the bandaged weapon off of his back, which he revealed as strange looking sword that he swung, sending a wave of green energy at them. The energy somehow turned into a slab of wall that pushed at them, and forced them to flash-step to safety. Wasting no time, the assassin send several more waves of energy that became slabs of wall, flying at Ichigo and Hiyori. This time, instead of dashing away, Ichigo simply took a rigid stance and slashed at the wall diagonally both ways which destroyed the wall before it ever made contact.

"Who the hell are?!" Ichigo demanded, glaring at the man. "Your with the man from last time, right?. Why are you after Rurichiyo?"

Not even bothering to answer, the assassin sent wave after wave of energy attacks from the strange sword he wielded. Annoyed, Hiyori jumps in front of Ichigo and releases her Zanpakuto. "Butcher him, Kubiriki Orochi!"

Using her large, cleaver-like sword, she swiped her sword horizontally and sent nearly invisible wave of energy at the walls flying at them, which, tore through them and headed for the assassin himself.

Cursing to himself, the assassin was forced to run off to the side, but because he couldn't actually see Hiyori's attack, his left arm was severed, flying off in a spray of blood. The man, of course, reacted by yelling out in pain as he held his bleeding stump.

"Jeeze Hiyori…Was that necessary?" Ichigo commented, looking at his short girlfriend in front of him.

"You killed the last assassin, remember?" Hiyori stated, shrugging. "All I did as cut off his arm… and considering he would have done the same or worse to us, I don't see the problem here… it's kill or be killed in our line of work, Ichigo"

"I didn't kill that last guy on intentionally.. I don't like killing on purpose.. I'm not that kind of person" Ichigo replied, furrowing his eyebrows. "Besides.. If we can capture this guy, maybe we can find out some stuff out their leader, this Kumoi guy, that Kenryu mentioned"

"Does that even matter? We already know who's sending the assassin's and why.. What's there to learn?" Hiyori asked, sending several more invisible wind attacks at the assassin who actually dodged them this time, despite the injury. "Does this guy seem like he'll be talkative even if we do capture him?"

Ichigo didn't reply this time at first, as he saw the assassin's weapon glowing green and somehow attach itself to his arm.

"What the hell?" Ichigo commented, staring at the man. "Did that sword thing just attach to his arm?.. Just what the hell is that thing?"

"No idea.. Let's just concentrate on stopping this guy" Hiyori replied, tightening her grip on her sword. "Something tells me that whatever's going on, it's nothing good for us though"

Ichigo nodded in agreement ."Yeah.. Got that right"

The assassin swung his sword that was now fused to his arm in a upward arc at Ichigo and Hiyori, causing several, thin, but strong slabs of rock to form out of the ground that traveling in a path towards them as they rose out of the nothing.

Ichigo and Hiyori launched attacks simultaneously, sending a Getsuga Tenshou and a Haipa-Kaze Tenkuu which hit the walls of stone together, causing a small explosion which rang down bits of rock all around the area. The assassin himself remained unharmed though, and tried attacking again.

"This bastard is pissing me off!" Ichigo growled, dodging more of the stone attacks. "Guess I need to stop this up before he does any more damage to the area"

"I got this Ichigo… no need to show the enemy all of your power unless you have to" Hiyori said, holding her sword in front of her and gathering her spiritual energy. "Bankai!"

Now wielding her dual Kusarigama that were attached to her red and black hand guards, Hiyori dashed at the assassin at speeds faster then anyone could possibly follow, and swung her weapons like helicopter blades as she ran.

The assassin swung his sword, creating dozens of layers of stone walls between him and Hiyori, but she cut through them like butter and continued her advance. Realizing that his attacks wouldn't stop Hiyori, he jumped down to the near by street as Hiyori gave chase. Ichigo, who had been letting Hiyori handle the situation, saw that several high school girls from his class were walking down the street near their battle holding bags from a convenience store and talking.

He didn't know if Hiyori would see them in time to lead the battle away from the humans, so Ichigo flash-stepped over to a roof top near them, and readied himself to keep them from danger if necessary.

"Hiyori!.. Keep the battle away from here.. There are people here!" Ichigo yelled to her.

"Kind of busy here.. You wanna help them, then you move them out of the way!" Hiyori yelled back as she raced down at the assassin that was still running while throwing waves of green energy at her. "I'll take you down you assassin asshole!"

She gathered her spiritual energy and unleashed a huge visible wave of energy that tore up the street as it shot at the man at high speeds. The man tried putting up more stone walls, but it was pointless as the attack sent by Hiyori destroyed the wall and hit him full force.

Ichigo saw that the wave was too close to the girls on the street so flash-stepped down as fast as he could, and grabbed the girls who were screaming about the explosions of Hiyori's attacks. Struggling in the grip at what they believed a ghost that had grabbed them, Ichigo deposited them a few blocks away where they'd be safe before heading back to Hiyori.

He found Hiyori ,who had already undid her Bankai and released her Zanpakuto back into it's sheathe.

"What the hell Hiyori!?" Ichigo demanded a he grabbed her by her shirt. "You almost killed those people!"

"I knew you'd get to them before anything happened to them.." Hiyori replied, rather calmly, as she pushed his hand away. "Maybe it was reckless, but the assassin looked like he was going to go in the direction of your house, where Rurichiyo, your sisters and everyone else was.."

"That's not the point!.. You could have stopped him in a less dangerous way!" Ichigo yelled, putting his sword back onto his back. "This isn't the same as in the Soul Society...we have to be more careful here"

Before Hiyori could retort, Urahara appeared in a flash-step next to them.

"Ichigo, Hiyori.." Urahara said calmly. "I felt the high spiritual energy here and came over to see what was going on.. I take it another assassin came after Rurichiyo?"

"Yeah" Ichigo answered after a minute. "This was one had strange, and powerful weapon though.. He was far stronger then the first guy"

"I see.." Urahara replied, looking troubled. "Maybe I should put up a barrier around Rurichiyo's house to provide protection for her… but for right now, you should probably go check on her and the others.."

Ichigo nodded and ran to his house, leaving Urahara and Hiyori there alone.

"Hiyori… perhaps you should go cool down for right now" Urahara said putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Get you damn hand off of me" Hiyori said, pushing his hand off harshly. "Stay out of myself and Ichigo's problems.. It's none of your fucking business"

"Maybe not.. But even so.. He was right about your attack being reckless" Urahara stated rather seriously. "You could have killed those girls if Ichigo hadn't gotten them to safety.. I thought you knew better then that"

"Don't you start lecturing me too… I knew he would save them and the assassin needed to be stopped" Hiyori replied, narrowing her eyes and barring her teeth at Urahara. "They were just a bunch of useless humans.. But we we're protecting that princess girl who's probably worth more then them.. The choice to stop him from getting to her was the right choice"

"Have you forgotten that one of the main jobs of a Soul Reaper is to protect human souls?.." Urahara asked, standing back. "You almost got them killed.. And as a member of the 13 court guard squads you would have had to answer if they had died"

"I'm a Vizard first.. Soul Reaper second" Hiyori argued back. " I've killed people before that have gotten in my way…"

"I know this.. I'm the one who had to cover that incident up that you cause almost 100 years back when your Hollow took over and broke out of the warehouse" Urahara said as his hat cast a dark shadow over his eyes. "This time is different.. Your once again a lieutenant of the Soul Society and would be held responsible if you purposely had killed those humans.."

"We're done here" Hiyori said, turning away from him. "I'm going to your training room to blow off steam.."

Meanwhile, Ichigo checked on Rurichiyo, Rukia, his sisters and Rurichiyo's bodyguards back at his house.

"I take it you defeated the man?" Kenryu asked, sitting on the couch with Rurichiyo.

"I'm so glad your ok, Ichigo" Rurichiyo yelled, running over to him and hugging his waist. "Where's Hiyori at?"

Ichigo patting the girl on her head, but didn't look down at her or answer her.

"Ichigo?.. Is everything ok?" Rukia asked, walking over to him. "Did something happen?.. Is Hiyori ok?"

"She's fine…though honestly at the moment, I could care less" Ichigo said with a steeled tone in his voice as he Rurichiyo let go of him and he got back into his body. "I'm going to go to a walk and then get some early sleep.. Good night everyone"

With that, Ichigo walked out of the room, out the front door and out of sight.

"Ichigo?" Rurichiyo said, with a concerned expression. "Is.. Is he alright?"

"I'm…I'm not sure" Rukia answered with a concern look as well. "Ichigo doesn't easily open up if something's wrong though.. So he might not tell us"

"It obviously has something to do with Hiyori" Karin said, walking over to the others. "Maybe they had a fight or something"

"A fight?.. Do you think it was serious?" Yuzu asked worriedly, while putting her hands together. "Maybe someone should go and -"

"No Yuzu.. You know he won't tell us, no matter what it is" Karin said cutting her off. "Worrying about something we can't do anything about is pointless"

Yuzu looked uncertain at Karin. "But…"

"Give it a rest, Yuzu.." Karin said, putting her hand on her sister's shoulder. "You know how he is…"

Yuzu looked like she wanted to try always, but instead sunk her shoulders and reluctantly sat back down.

"So.. What happens now?" Karin asked, looking over at Rukia.

"Now?.. We should get Rurichiyo home for the time being" Rukia said while sighing. "We'll deal with damage control tomorrow after everyone gets some sleep"

"That might be for the best" Kenryu said, standing up along with Enryu. "We should we going, lady Rurichiyo"

"But.. What about Ichigo?.." Rurichiyo asked, looking over at Kenryu. "…and that man .. Was he really after me?…why was he after me?"

"I'm sure Ichigo will be fine in the morning, milady" Kenryu insisted. "As for that man.. I have not idea.. But what ever the reason, we'll protect you with our lives, so do not worry"

"I…fine…" Rurichiyo said, feeling defeated. "Let's go home… I am tired I guess"

With that, Rukia escorted Rurichiyo, Kenryu, and Enryu back over to their house, leaving Yuzu and Karin there.

"Karin?…" Yuzu said, getting her sister's attention. "Do you.. Do you think that things will always be this complicated?"

"..if anything.. I think things will get more complicated from here on out" Karin replied, sighing. "It's unfortunate.. But that's the ways our life is now"

"I hope Ichigo will be ok through all this" Yuzu said, looking out the window. "He deserves some peace on his life"

"Yeah, he does.." Karin agreed, joining her twin. "He definitely does Yuzu…"

Meanwhile, a few blocks Ichigo was walking with his hands in his pockets as he looked up in the sky at the stars.

"What a mess" Ichigo commented out loud.

"You look like crap kid" said female voice from his left. "Have a rough day or something ?"

"Who's asking?" Ichigo demanded though in a voice that showed he didn't care too much.

"Just little old me" Said a tall, well endowed women with a cap and goggles, who was stitting on a bench. "So what are you doing out so late kid?"

"I'm not a kid.. I'm 15, going on 16 for crying out loud…" Ichigo answered, coming to stop. "..and my name isn't kid.. It's Ichigo.. So who are you suppose to be lady?"

"Actually I already know your name Ichigo Kurosaki.. But since were exchanging names, mine's Ikumi Unagiya.. Nice to meet you in person" The women said a with a grin. "Before you get mad or anything though, don't worry.. A mutual friend of ours told me about you the other day"

"Mutual friend? Who exactly?" Ichigo asked, his attention fully on Ikumi. "Who could you know that I know?"

"You could say a certain black cat.. but Yoruichi Shihoin is more of an exact answer though" Ikumi replied, calmly. " She seems to think highly of you.. You know that?"

"Yoruichi?.. You know her?" Ichigo asked, somewhat wideeyed. "What did you track me down for then?… she knows me fairly well enough to answer most questions"

"Maybe.. In any case…can you come with me?.. I need some work done and Yoruichi recommended you" Ikumi said standing up and wiping dirt off of the back of her pants. "Well?"

"Sorry.. Right now I'm busy helping someone deal with something rather dangerous and can't be sidetracked" Ichigo siad folding his arms. "Maybe after I deal with this, but right now I-"

"Th jobs can wait.. But talking to you can't" Ikumi said, adjusting her hat. "Come on.. I'll make you some tea and we'll chat"

"Like I said it will have to wait til-"

"Is that anyway to talk to an adult?.. Or better yet, Ikumi Unagiya.. Formerly know as Ikumi Shiba.." She said as Ichigo stared at her in disbelief. "So…are you going to come home with your cousin by marriage.. Or do I have to drag your spikey haired ass to my place?.. Better choose fast Ichigo"

"Um.. Ok?" Ichigo managed to say as Ikumi took a hold of him and dragged him to her van, and shoved him into the passenger's seat.

"Alright little cuz… let's go chat!" Ikumi said grinning as she started the van up and they drove away. "We have a lot to chat about little cousin of mine"

With that they drove off with Ichigos head spinning.. Both metaphorically.. And figuratively, because Ikumi drove like a mad women.

End of chapter 52

To be continued….

Please read, enjoy and review. Ask any questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them.