If this chap sucks, then blame it on my stress levels.

I'm having to shut down the only means of contributing to the household bills at the end of Feb. And I'm trying to sell as much as possible before that happens.

But people really, really suck.

And on top of that I have another outstanding bill that needs to be payed and my mom wants me to make her a pendant to wear and I'm...just feeling overwhelmed on top of everything.

I hate my life...

Once Ichigo had picked out a week's worth of bra/panties that she at least could tolerate enough to wear at any point whatsoever. She payed for her things and then they left the store to go see about a few other things.

One or two of which was something that she probably wasn't going to like all that much. The first of which would be a hair cut. Ichigo's near waist length strands were overly long, shaggy looking and full of split ends.

And while Toshi didn't want all of the length taken off.

He knew that she wouldn't make a very great impression on anyone, looking as she presently did, once she decided which school that she was going to go to. Especially since Shouta was still hoping that she would seriously go to UA.

And the kids there tended to be high profile. Not to mention that a specific majority of the kids at UA also came from families that were high society hob-nobs. They were rich, famous, and very much the center of attention in the public eye.

And those kids could make getting along at school difficult for the girl if she didn't blend in a little bit better. So before the other two kids could drag her off to look at/shop for something else- he made a point of pulling her aside and making a friendly suggestion for her to maybe get a trim and style.

Ichigo hadn't looked all that upset, a little bit insulted maybe. But she hadn't put up any kind of fight since once she had checked some of the longer strands- she'd found that he was right, she'd shrugged and thanked him for pointing it out to her and then walked off.

Calling out to Izuku and Kyoka, he told them that there was a slight alteration in their plans and Ichigo was going to go to the hair salon.

Izuku had groaned.

Because he was a teenage boy and didn't understand why girls cared so much about their physical appearance. Whereas Kyoka ran over, grabbed Ichigo's hand and started to chatter away about various short haired styles that would look 'good' on her.

Toshi fell into step behind the two girls and listened to some of Kyoka's outrageous suggestions with a carefully concealed look of disgust. The styles that the girl kept suggesting for Ichigo to try were far too short and mannish to look even remotely good on her.

The whole bone structure was wrong. So were her features.

Yup- short hair simply wouldn't work well on her.

Izuku must have thought so too because he was very quick to tell Ichigo that her long hair was pretty. So she should keep it long.

Toshi was hard pressed not to pat the boy on the back for thinking fast and possibly diverting a disaster. Especially when Ichigo gave him a grateful look after Kyoka had suggested that she get a five inch mohawk, dye the tips pink and shave the sides of her head.

Once at the salon, Ichigo quietly went to sit down and maybe look through some hair style books to see if there was anything that interested her as Toshi went up to one of the ladies working and asked if they could work her in. The woman smiled at him and told him that they'd have to wait a few minutes, but they'd get to her.

Once Toshi was sure that Ichigo would be worked in, he meandered over and peeked at some of the styles in the book that she was thumbing through.

"Find anything that you like?" He asked curiously. She hummed and flipped back a few pages to one that she had marked and showed him a long mullet style.

"It's the same style that I've had for years. If I have the length and split ends taken off, it should fall a little ways past the middle of my back in layers and wisps."

Toshi took a moment to try picturing the style on her and finally nodded his head after some careful deliberation and then sat himself down next to her. They waited for nearly ten minutes before one of the other's working in the salon came to get her.

And since Izuku was currently keeping Kyoka entertained- Toshi was in no real hurry to leave when he could supervise what was done instead. Following along behind the girl as the stylist chatted at her and asked her what she wanted, he watched the woman like a hawk.

He needn't have bothered though. The woman doing Ichigo's hair was a professional and obviously knew what she was doing. It simply took a little longer than he had expected that it would due to the length and poor shape that the girl's hair was in. But once it was all done...he had to bite back a whistle of appreciation.

The cut and style looked perfect on her.

It certainly seemed to accentuate her features in a wholly feminine way that would have Shouta beating boys away from her with really, really big sticks. Which was just part of the reason he decided for Ichigo's new hair style to be a surprise for the man.

Leaving the salon and rejoining the others, Toshi waited until they were starting to pass a nice formal dress shop before carefully suggesting that maybe Ichigo should look inside and see if she liked anything.

Ichigo looked at the clothing hanging up in the windows, curled her lips back from her teeth and actually snarled. "No thanks."

Sighing because he knew that not everything would be easy with her, he tried to argue that she might want to look. Like for when she got asked to a formal school dance or something. He even reasoned with her that she wouldn't be able to show up to a formal event with a date- in jeans. It simply wasn't done.

But she merely crossed her arms and gave him an unimpressed look and refused to budge while merely stating that she never intended to go to any formal stuff.

She had been raised to be a fighter- not a girly-girl.

And then tacked on that she would never wear a dress anyways. The styles in the shop window were 'tramp-ish'. Which he supposed she had about right. And they showed far too much skin. Besides, she then joked that she had far too many ugly scars and would be likened to Frankenstein's monster if she did wear one.

So thanks, but no thanks.

Toshi honestly felt at a loss about what to do or say to that. On one hand he wanted her to at least try and look. Even if she didn't decide to get anything, he could at least mention something to Shouta and let him get something for her without her knowing about it.

So hearing her say that she would never wear one because of her scars and such made him feel bad. Especially when she made fun of herself.

Sighing softly, he decided to let the subject drop, and simply ruffled her hair and told her that that was fine. He would talk to someone who could design formal attire for her. Something nice and feminine that didn't make her feel self conscious about her body, or feel as if she'd be likened to a monster.

Not long after that, Ichigo decided that she'd had enough of clothing shopping and asked if they could leave. It was a little bit past one and she still needed to go by a grocery store to pick some things up so that she could cook for Toshi.

Kyoka decided to stick around the mall for a bit longer after sending Hizashi a text. After which she told the rest of them bye, and wrangled a promise out of Ichigo to hang out again sometime.

Ichigo simply smiled at her and nodded, after she gave her a quick hug and then thanked her for her help. Once the goodbye's were out of the way, she asked Toshi which grocery store was the closest to their current location. And then waited patiently for him to show her the way.

Izuku decided to stay with them instead of going home since he wanted to see what Ichigo was up too now. And walked quietly beside Ichigo as she followed Toshi away from the mall and down the street to one of the nice local grocery stores a block or so away.

Once there, the three of them walk inside and Ichigo grabs a buggy and starts looking for a place to start her shopping as she absently asked Izuku if he wanted to stay for dinner or something while Toshi texts Shouta to let him know where they were and what they were doing.

Shouta was standing in the living room of a nice, remodeled, two story cottage style home trying to imagine living in it. Which was a lot easier than he had thought that it would be. The three bedroom, two bathroom house was just awesome.

Way better than any stinking apartment.

It was nice and roomy, had plenty of space for himself and Ichigo a couple of cats- it even had a nice, decently sized, fenced in yard with a little man made pond and creek in it full of minnows and other small fish.

He might have to get a few more pieces of furniture to fill some of the rooms up. But all in all, it was perfect. Feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket, he dug it out and checked the text that Toshi had just sent him.

He had to read it twice before he could think to remind Toshi to remind Ichigo that she needed to get hygiene stuff while she was there. And also to let Izuku know that he could have dinner with them if he wanted, but he better watch himself.

Once he was finished texting his friend back, he turned back to the realter and told him that he'd take the house. The guy gave him a shark like grin and clapped his hands together happily and then told him that he'd go and grab the papers from his car and they'd start the buying process.

Ichigo was checking how ripe a honeydew melon was when Toshi walked up and asked her if she was okay. He was still a bit bothered by their 'dress' discussion and couldn't help but wonder if perhaps he'd hurt her feelings or maybe upset her.

She didn't act upset.

But she was being oddly quiet. Almost like before when they had left the apartment. So he'd thought to ask, just in case.

She lowered the melon away from her face and looked at him for a moment before slowly replying. "No. No, I'm not upset."

"I see... Well all the same- I feel as if I owe you an apology. Just in case I did upset you."

"You don't," She cut him off when he opened his mouth to apologize. "I mean, I understand you're reasoning. It's not like it was flawed or anything. Specific school events and such do call for formal attire. I just thought I'd stay home and pretend to actually have a life outside of school on those days or nights. Ya know, since I'm not really the type of girl who really gives a damn what a bunch of jerks think about me anyways."

Toshi couldn't help the small chuckle that escaped him.

That sounded a lot more like her than the whole 'being likened to a monster because of her scars' thing. But then again... Maybe she was simply trying to make him stop fretting over her feelings by pretending not to be bothered.

It certainly seemed like something that she would do. He thought to himself as she placed the melon in the buggy next to some pears and other fruits.

"What are you planning to make for dinner?" He asked, deciding that a change in topic might be best for the time being.

"It's sort of a tossup between some traditional foods and a few non-traditional. But I do plan to make some stuff specifically suited for you."

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I know a few things that I've learned from having a ton of stomach injuries myself. There were times when I couldn't eat anything either. So I did a little bit of research and I worked on some really inventive recipes to make some stuff that I could tolerate. One of which is a banana and fruit salad with a nice creamy, whipped, sweet ginger dressing-" Toshi would be lying if he said that the fruit dish she'd just mentioned didn't sound pleasant. Because it did. It sounded so pleasant that his mouth started to water. "I can also make some nice veggie dishes, soups, sandwiches, and even some pudding that's high calorie enough for you to gain at least ten pounds over night after eating a big portion of it."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"W-What about cakes and such?" Toshi asked hesitantly. One of the many things that he'd absolutely hated about being unable to eat much was the fact that he'd had to stop indulging his sweet tooth as much as he'd used too.

"Yeah. I can make some of those that you can eat too."

"Really?!" He asked in a shocked tone as visions of cake and other things danced around in his head and he asked, "What kind?"

"Well, I know some spunge cake recipes. Some cheese cakes, dounuts and even some mochi. There are some that are some muffins and cupcakes too."

Toshi almost sank to his knees and cried right then and there. And he seriously would have if he hadn't jokingly said, "Marry me. Seriously, your parent figure is a dick. Marry me and take care of me, please." Instead.

Ichigo laughed at him as he leaned down a little bit and lay his head on her shoulder and looked pitiful as Izuku; whom had seen and heard enough decided to cut in and save Ichigo from him by grabbing him by the back of his jacket and literally dragging him away from her, kicking and screaming.

Leaving the girl to watch the spectacle with an bemused grin.