"Gah, where the hell did this rain come from?" Ichigo growled as the three of them walked across the grounds of the Takagi estate, trying to stay away from the large puddles on the ground, Saya the only one with an umbrella as Tatsuki walked beside him with the crossbow that was in Shizuka's friends weapons locker, over her shoulder. "I hate the rain."
"I know." Tatsuki sighed. "You have said it at least fifteen times in the last ten minutes." She growled out. "We get it, you hate the rain."
"Why didn't you grab us an umbrella as well!" Ichigo snapped at Saya who was marching ahead, clearly protected from the rain. "Hey! I'm talking to you!"
"Don't care." Saya huffed as she led them towards the large tents where the survivors had set up their own living space. "Come on, let's get through with this." Ichigo sighed but nodded as both Tatsuki and Ichigo walked in after her.
"What do you want?" A woman in a purple coloured shirt asked standing up from where she had been seated. Ichigo shook his head, his hair flying about water going everywhere. "Hey! You're getting water everywhere!" The woman shouted at him.
"God Ichigo, can you be any more like a dog?" Tatsuki asked.
"I could bark if you want?" Ichigo smirked at her before it dropped when both Saya and Tatsuki turned to look at him with amused grins and cocked eyebrows. "That was a joke." He told them making them both sigh. "Hey don't get so depressed over it!"
"And here I thought I could put a collar on you and lead you around." Saya mused running a hand through her pink hair.
"You're a sadist!" Ichigo snapped back at her.
"I always wanted a puppy." Tatsuki added making Ichigo's eyebrow twitch as he saw her smirk.
"What do you kids want? It's miserable weather and we don't want to deal with you at the moment." The woman huffed in annoyance before Saya stepped forward.
"I've come on behalf of my father." She told them folding her arms over her large bust.
"I thought you called him Daddy." Ichigo mocked making her turn on her heel and glare at him making him chuckle lightly. "Go on, get on with it." He told her making her huff in annoyance before turning back to the woman, and now surrounding other adults that had come to listen to what was going on.
"As I said, I'm here on behalf of my father." Saya continued, glad that Ichigo hadn't stepped in with one of his mocking retorts.
"You mean the man who wants us to kill other human beings! That monster who slaughtered the man on a stage like it was a sideway carnival show!" She yelled at Saya making the three look at her as if she was the most stupidest person on earth. "You along with your father want us to become murderers!"
"She's cracked." Ichigo sighed. "Totally cracked."
"Duct tape can't even fix her." Tatsuki sighed alongside him.
"Would you two shut up!" Saya snapped back at them. "Listen Lady! They are anything but humans, their dead! Every single one of them! You get bit you die and come back as one of them!" Saya growled at her. "So please tell me how the hell that is murder!"
"They are not dead! How can people come back after they're dead and kill people! It's some type of pandemic! It will pass and the world will go back to normal! Leave it in the hands of us adults and the police." The woman told them.
"What did you say!" Ichigo snapped at her. "A pandemic? Are you fucking nuts!?" He growled out. "This thing probably isn't just Japan, it's more than likely world wide, and from all the reports it is! So please tell me how the hell you expect that to go back to normal!"
"You're just a bunch of kids! You don't have any say in this!" A man shouted.
"Fuck you ass hole!" Tatsuki barked. "We have every right to a say in this! We're going through it just like you fucking morons! We accepted it because we know what's going on! You probably haven't seen your friends die at the hands of 'them'! So don't tell us we don't have a god damn say! We've been through more shit then all of you have!"
"How many times do I have to tell you people! The dead are rising! They are killing and we have to work toget-!" Saya shouted before she was cut off.
"You can't believe all of them are dead!" A man shouted at her.
"It has to be some type of new disease, all we have to do is..." The woman started but Saya cut her off.
"Well of course it's a disease, but unless you're a surprise, top grade medical research scientist with access to a lab and even if you are, do you think the rest of us have time to wait around until your research is completed!?" Saya yelled at her, only for the woman to come back with an answer but fail at it.
"Well... it's just... uh..." The woman muttered out.
"We have to concentrate on surviving that's all! Try not to get eaten! I can't believe how idiotic you morons are being! Did you not listen to a word my father said!?" Saya growled out.
"Oh I see now!" The woman shouted a twisted grin coming to her face. "I was wondering why high school students were flashing guns around like they were cops!" She called out.
"Sword." Ichigo muttered.
"Crossbow." Tatsuki added.
"I don't have a gun." Saya dead panned.
"After all, that's what you're after, you're just saying you're going to protect us, people out here are trying to control us with violence! Violence! How dare you when there are so many people suffering in other Asian countries."
"Huh? What's world suffering got to do with this?" Saya asked before she felt a hand on her shoulder and looked back to Ichigo who just shook his head and turned for the opening of the tent.
"Let's go, these idiots aren't going to listen." Saya turned back at the woman who was now yelling out that they weren't going to be murderers. Saya simply huffed before turning on her heel and walked back out into the rain propping her umbrella out as she did so. Tatsuki and Ichigo followed after her as they walked back to the house. When the three arrived under the balcony both Ichigo and Tatsuki shook themselves off, Saya protecting herself from the droplets with the umbrella.
"You do know there was a bunch of umbrellas just at the door?" She questioned with an amused eyebrow making both Ichigo and Tatsuki grit their teeth and hold their tongues as they saw her smirk. "I'm not sure as to why you two didn't pick one up."
"You're a bitch." Ichigo huffed out in annoyance shaking his head, his hair flailing about as water went everywhere.
"So I'm told." Saya shrugged. "You two need to go shower, you're going to be walking around the house dripping wet otherwise." She continued as she saw them both dripping onto the ground. "Then Ichigo we need to speak with my father."
"Yeah yeah, I heard you. Come on Tatsuki let's go shower."
"What!" She shouted at him, her face red. "I can't shower with you!"
"What? I meant you can go first." Ichigo told her. "What is wrong with you?" Ichigo asked but she shook her head and marched past him trying to cover her embarrassment up. Ichigo just shook his head, not knowing what was going on with her. "I swear she's acting strange."
"Maybe she wanted to shower with you." Saya smirked. "I bet you wouldn't mind, right?" She asked, her smirk growing as she noticed Ichigo's blush.
"You make me out to be some kind of pervert!" Ichigo snapped back at her.
"By the way you're blushing, all I can think is that you're imagining is that you're showering with Tatsuki. What else am I meant to think?" She asked before sighing. "Geeze, you're such a pervert, I hope you don't think about the other girls that way."
"Would you quit it!" Ichigo snapped at her. "You're making me look like the bad guy here and I'm not blushing!"
"Just don't go around peeking." Saya told him. "I'm surprised you didn't peak when you had the chance the other night."
"It's because I'm not a damn pervert!" Ichigo roared at her.
"So you're a prude?" She asked, making his eye twitch. "Or you're gay? Which is it?"
"Would you just shut up! I'm not a prude! I'm not a pervert! And I'm definitely not gay!" He turned and started to walk inside.
"That's a relief." He heard Saya mutter to herself, he was going to turn around and ask her what it was about but decided to leave it and go shower before he catches a cold. He trudged up the stairs, glad he didn't have to use crutches any more, it still hurt from time to time but now all he had to worry about was the bruising on his face. Ichigo stopped and looked up the stairs to see Takashi walking down.
"Morning." Takashi greeted. "Tatsuki came up here pretty flustered."
"Yeah blame Saya for that one." Ichigo sighed. "You know where another bathroom is? I need a shower cause I'm dripping wet." Takashi nodded and directed him down another hallway, opposite to which Tatsuki had walked down. "Oh by the way, Me and Saya are going to talk with her old man after I'm done, if you want to tag along."
"Yeah, I wouldn't mind hearing what's going on." Takashi told him and Ichigo nodded his head before walking off towards the bathroom.
Ichigo, Saya and Takashi stepped into the large office of Saya's father who was sitting at his desk, he rose his head as they entered and gave them all a once over, even Saya. Ichigo placed his hands in his pockets and walked forward and sat down in a chair in front of his desk, both Saya and Takashi stood awkwardly for a moment before following in suit, sitting either side of Ichigo.
"I'm sure you're here about something important?" Souichiro asked.
"As a matter of fact we are." Ichigo told him. "It's about what we're going to do as a group."
"Hmm?" Souichiro hummed in thought as he sat back in his chair and continued to look the three over, both Takashi and Saya slightly nervous in the presence of the man while Ichigo seemed bored. "What do you mean group? Are you referring to the larger group, your smaller group or both groups?"
"Our smaller group." Ichigo continued. "After you leave that is."
"I figured you wouldn't come with us." Souichiro chuckled. "And what of you Saya?"
"I'll be sticking with my friends Daddy." Saya said determined and Souichiro just nodded.
"You are a smart girl, you are old enough now to make your own decisions." Souichiro told her. "However..." He cleared his throat. "You will be telling your mother." Ichigo chuckled lightly as he saw the man's nervous expression. "Continue Ichigo. I'd like to hear your plans. Also, Komuro, don't you and Miyamoto need to find your families?"
"Yes sir." Takashi nodded his head in agreement.
"I'd like to hear how you are going to do that." Souichiro added making Takashi sweat slightly as he was directly under the man's gaze.
"That's mixed in with our plan as a whole." Ichigo told him. "After your larger group leaves we would like to remain here." Souichiro raised an eyebrow at him and gestured for him to continue. "We would fortify the gates so that nothing could break them down, make sure that only one is able to open while the others always remained shut." Souichiro nodded in agreement. "We would have the grounds to keep livestock if we get any, use it for farming, it is large enough for it to be sustainable for a smaller group such as ours."
"Indeed it is." Souichiro smiled. "I'm guessing my daughter was the one who suggested this?" He asked turning his gaze to Saya who nodded her head.
"It was." She told him. "Ichigo is a capable leader, but he's a complete idiot."
"Hey!" Ichigo shouted at her. "I'm not an idiot."
"Fine, you're not the biggest idiot, but you are dense to some of the smaller things." Ichigo gritted his teeth but shut up all the same as Saya turned back to her father. "Is this plan all right?"
"Very well." Souichiro said. "I will allow you to use the Takagi estate as a home from this day forward. But one question still remains." He said turning back to Takashi.
"That's easy." Ichigo shrugged. "We will go and find their families and bring them back here. Then it's settled and done with."
"Then what will you do?" Souichiro asked. "Live here for the rest of your days?"
"At the moment? Yes." Saya told him. "There is nothing we can do until the dead either stop multiplying or just starve, if that's even an option for them. Right now there is an endless army of dead out there and only small groups of survivors. There is nothing we can do right now. It would be impossible to do anything right now without being slaughtered. So after we find their families, nothing else matters but survival."
"Very well." Souichiro said standing up and reaching into his breast pocket and Saya's eyes went wide as it was the master key that he pulled out from his pocket, and laid it on the table. "This key opens every door on the grounds. You will need it to continue living here." Saya nodded and reached for the key and picked it up before jabbing Ichigo in the ribs with it.
"What was that for?" Ichigo growled out at her.
"I'll hang onto this." She told him. "I won't lose it."
"You're saying I would?" Ichigo narrowed his eyes.
"Probably." She shrugged before the door opened and one of Souichiro's men was standing there slightly wet from the rain that he had probably ran through.
"Sir!" The man shouted.
"What is it?" Souichiro asked. "If you haven't noticed I'm in the middle of something."
"This is important sir! More survivors have arrived at the front gate! They have been let into the grounds and are heading to the front door as we speak!" Souichiro turned back to Ichigo.
"Follow me." Ichigo nodded his head without question, Saya and Takashi already knew what Souichiro wanted Ichigo there for and Ichigo probably knew himself. The man with the message bowed to Souichiro before leaving once more as Saya, Takashi, Ichigo and Souichiro headed down to meet these new survivors.