Chapter One: Usual Formalities

Ichigo Kurosaki awoke and found himself in another day.

Ginjo and the Fullbring's were dead or scattered and good riddance. His powers had been returned, and he was back in action. It had been that way for months.

Unfortunately, the action was slow.

"Morning Rukia," said Ichigo.

Rukia was coming down the road to meet him. She'd apparently finally decided to get her own apartment. The petite, dark-haired girl was clad in a gray and white school uniform with a red bow. She waved with a smile as they neared eachother. "Hey, Ichigo. I just got finished communicating with the Soul Society. No hollows to speak of predicted. Looks like a slow day."

Another one? "Great, guess we'll just have to head to school then."

"Right, sure," said Rukia.

And together, they walked.

Only something was missing. It had begun to dawn on Ichigo as hollow attacks began to grind to a halt. He and his friends had forged an unbreakable bond fighting Aizen and so many other villains. But ever since peace broke out, it just hadn't been the same.

"...You know, things are different now," said Rukia.

"Are you seriously complaining that no one is siccing hollows on us?" asked Ichigo, though privately, he thought he might do the same.

"No, not at all, obviously, I just think... never mind. Things are different now, is all," said Rukia, looking away.

And they walked like that in silence.

No bickering over her brother or about how to finish the mission. Nothing but silence as they tried to think of something to say to fill the gap. Ichigo wondered if he should talk about hobbies, but he didn't really have any hobbies. Hunting hollows was how he had fun, really. It was productive and helpful.

But now Houco Mundo was ruled by a Benevolent Queen.

"Ichigo, Rukia!" called a cheerful voice.

Orihime Inoue rushed toward them. The already buxom girl had somehow become even more curvaceous in the past year. Where Rukia seemed to be lacking in a growth spurt, Orihime seemed to have had several. Her long, auburn hair flowed before them as she came to a halt before them.

"Orihime, why are you running up to us?" asked Ichigo with a sigh. "We see eachother every day; it's not like it's anything special." Nothing special summed it up.

"That's not true at all. Every day is a chance to make things special," said Orihime, full lips beaming widely. "I thought that up; what do you think of it?"

"It's pretty nice," said Rukia.

"Not like it makes a lot of sense, though," noted Ichigo.

"Do you have to be so insensitive, Ichigo?" asked Rukia as they walked in the morning light. "I think it's a fine philosophy."

Ah, an argument. This was more familiar ground. "This coming from the person whose family wanted to execute her out of principle."

"Hey, that was a sadistic choice for my brother, and his response to it was morally sound," said Rukia, crossing her arms. "Just because you choose something different doesn't mean his decision was wrong."

"He was going to let you get burned alive," noted Ichigo and realized the argument was turning serious.

"He didn't know that Aizen was planning everything," said Rukia.

"He should have helped you even if Central Forty-Six had made that call, Rukia," said Ichigo simply.

"I dunno, I mean in Europe, there's this legend called King Arthur, the greatest king England ever had," said Orihime, looking up at the sky. "And his wife got caught cheating on him, and he was forced to choose between obeying his own laws or doing what he wanted to do."

Ichigo blinked. "Since when do you read Arthurian Romance, Orihime?"

It had all seemed like really boring and dry stuff to him. Ichigo didn't read much at all, and trying to decode Mallory wasn't worth it.

"Um, well... Uryu recommended it to me. I started reading them, and I liked them," said Orihime, looking away. "Anyway, King Arthur's whole thing was that the ruler had to obey the rules he put in place since everyone was equal. That was what made him a good King. So he either had to kill Gwenevere or discredit everything he stood for."

Ichigo thought this sounded familiar. Sort of like what happened with Byakuya, actually. "What did he do?"

"Well, um, he reluctantly ordered her execution," said Orihime. "But then Lancelot, the best knight in the realm, came in and saved her and carried her away."

"Good on him then," said Ichigo, annoyed by the resolution. "Some King he turned out to be."

"What happened to Lancelot?" asked Rukia. "In this story, I mean. I've read several living adaptations of these events."

"Well... Lancelot killed many knights while escaping," said Orihime. "And King Arthur led his army out to besiege his castle. They did battle in a huge war, and in the end, Lancelot was forced to give up Gwenevere.

"Arthur sent her to dwell in a monastery. And Lancelot became a hermit."

"That's a terrible ending!" said Ichigo suddenly. "The hero ends up a glorified hobo, and his love interest a nun?"

"Arthur was the hero, Ichigo," said Orihime. "Lancelot was his best friend, and well um... Gwenevere did sort of betray his trust. And a hermit isn't a hobo; they willingly give up on worldly pleasures for spiritual enlightenment. Anyway, that wasn't really the ending to the story.

"See while King Arthur was occupied in France fighting Lancelot, his son Mordred took over the Kingdom. And he became a wicked tyrant and hurt huge numbers of people, and Arthur was forced to return and do battle with him. There was this huge battle, and in the end, Arthur had Mordred at his mercy but was reluctant to kill his own son.

"So Mordred stabbed him when his guard was down and fatally wounded him. And Arthur cut him down with his last breath before dying. His sword, Excalibur, was returned to the Lady in the Lake, and he was taken to Avalon."

"So everyone dies?" asked Ichigo.

"It's history, Ichigo," said Rukia. "History that took place before we were born. Of course, everyone died."

Ichigo blinked in surprise at Rukia. "You mean Avalon is real?"

"It's another part of the Soul Society, run by a different set of Soul Reapers by a different name," said Rukia. "Sort of."

"Oh, are there like witches on broomsticks who fight dragons and stuff?" asked Orihime.

"What? No," said Rukia. "That'd be ridiculous.

"Although I guess we don't really know what they're doing now. They cut ties with us a long time ago."

"Seriously? Why?" asked Ichigo.

"We don't exactly have a very good relationship with them," admitted Rukia. "In fact, they hate us. Our attempts to wipe out problematic species that we created in the world below alienated them further. But Yamamoto's power alone was an excellent deterrent.

"Aizen's rebellion was applauded by most of them."

This was... pretty big. "Why haven't I heard about any of this?"

Rukia shrugged. "I assumed you knew, Ichigo.

"I mean, I understand you're not exactly big on research, but... how is it possible you've never asked about this? Other areas of the afterlife? You didn't really assume that the Seretei was the only city in the afterlife, did you? It's called a world for a reason."

Ichigo got annoyed at this. "Nobody tells me anything. Besides, I was a bit busy saving all of you over and over again."

"Right, well, now you know," said Orihime cheerily, but it wasn't quite as cheerful as usual. "...Has anyone seen Tatsuki?"

"No," said Ichigo. "Doesn't she usually walk to school with you?"

"Yes, but I didn't see her at the corner, and I waited, but she didn't come," said Orihime. "So I figured I'd meet you two and ask if she was with you."

"Maybe she's out sick," noted Ichigo. "It's not really a big deal if she's running late for school." He hadn't really talked with Tatsuki much since revealing the Soul Society to her. He wondered how she was holding up.

Eh, she was probably fine.

"Aren't you worried about her?" asked Rukia.

"Tatsuki can take care of herself," said Ichigo with a shrug. "Besides, what am I supposed to do in the next five minutes?"

"Well, you could go into your Soul Reaper form and pay her a visit?" suggested Orihime, leaning forward in a way that made her bosom sway in her school uniform. "She can see you these days, and with your speed, you'd get there in seconds."

"That's a lot of work for one visit," said Ichigo with a sigh. "Let's just get to school."

And get to school they did. As they entered, Ichigo saw Chad leaning against a wall while reading. The huge Mexican was looking at a magazine of sorts, and Ichigo waved to him. "Hey, Chad."

Chad looked up beneath his bangs. "Oh, hey, Ichigo."

"What you got there?" asked Ichigo.

Chad showed it. "A magazine on boxing. With my size I could do pretty well in the ring."

Boxing? That made sense. "Oh, well, I guess you're size will help a lot with that. Still, what happened to throwing punches for other people? This doesn't really seem like something you'd do."

Chad shook his head. "That was years ago.

"It's a good career. And the punches I was throwing for you weren't exactly doing much good."

Ichigo saw his point and nodded. "Oh, well, to each their own."

And he walked on.

Rukia went up behind him. "Um, Ichigo, don't you think that was a little insensitive?"

"Insensitive how?" asked Ichigo in surprise. "Chad could bend steel before he got powers. And he's gone through a lot worse stuff than I have.

"If he wants to go into boxing, I don't have a problem with it."

"But his whole ideal is not fighting for himself," said Rukia. "Now he's thinking about fighting for money. It's contradicting everything he believes in."

"Why do you keep pressuring me about every little thing, Rukia?" asked Ichigo. "Does it look like anyone cares? It's his choice, and I'm not gonna hassle him about getting a good career.

"Besides, that whole pacifism thing pretty much evaporated after we raided the Soul Society." Walking up, he saw Keigo looking through a book in the hall. Ichigo waved. "Hey, Keigo."

Keigo looked up. "Oh, Ichigo, what do you want?"

Ichigo was surprised at the resentment in the tone. What did he do? "I'm just saying hello."

Keigo nodded, and Ichigo realized Keigo had put a lot more work into his grades lately. Around the same time, Ichigo had been having trouble keeping his up. "Right, well, I'm looking for Tatsuki. She is late, the nurse's office hasn't gotten any kind of notice, and I'm worried about her.

"She never misses school."

"Maybe she decided to sleep in or set her alarm clock wrong," said Ichigo, sick of the subject.

"I thought that as well, so I called her. She's not picking up," said Keigo.

Ichigo sighed. "Fine, let me try."

He drew out his phone and dialed a number. A moment later, he got a voicemail. "Hi, this is Tatsuki's number. If you've got this, I'm not on the phone. Leave a message, and I'll get back to you when I can."

There was a beep, and Ichigo hung up. "...Maybe she left it unplugged?"

"Oh yeah, any excuse to not care about other people, huh?" asked Keigo suddenly, voice angry.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" asked Ichigo.

"I dunno," said Keigo, tone hard. "Ever since you took up hollow slaying, you don't have time for anyone who doesn't have tits the size of a planet. No offense, Orihime."

"Um, I'm not really sure we should be-" began Orihime.

"What the hell is your problem, Keigo?!" said Ichigo. "You were never like this before?"

"I'm not even going to dignify that with a response," said Keigo. "Enjoy being the chosen one, Ichigo. Us mere mortals didn't get the call to adventure." He turned and walked past them. "I've got a test to study for. Rukia, nice to have you back."

"Oh, thank you," said Rukia, curtsying.

Ichigo stared. When had Keigo become such a jerk? He'd never acted like that before. Granted, he'd stopped being as enthusiastic in greeting people, but Ichigo had been glad of that. It saved him the trouble of shutting him down. "What is with him?"

"I'm sure he's just in a bad mood, Ichigo," said Orihime.

And so they finally arrived in class to wait. You were over to one side sewing up a teddy bear for someone. He'd been in the arts and crafts business for a while and had even started selling them online. It seemed like a girly way to make a living, but who was Ichigo to judge?

On and on.

No hollows.

Classes passed, and no hollows. Keigo gave him several dark looks, and Tatsuki never showed up at all. Chad was completely silent as lunch break came around and not a single hollow. Why was this bothering him so much? He'd been in a dry spell forever. Why today?

"Rukia, are you sure that hollow detector is working?" asked Ichigo. He'd hate for someone to get eaten because of glitchy equipment.

Rukia sighed. "Yes, I'm sure."

"We usually have something by now," said Ichigo.

"Why don't we focus on schoolwork," said Rukia with a sigh.

"Alright, but I think we ought to take that thing to Hat and Clogs and see if it's working. This is boring as hell," said Ichigo.

"Welcome to the world, Kurosaki," said Uryu, still sewing.

Ichigo looked up. "You, what's up with you?"

"Nothing. I'm trying to complete my stitching before class resumes," said Uryu.

"I would have thought you'd want to hunt them and show me up," admitted Ichigo.

"I might," said Uryu. "But I am unlikely to show you up. And I have other things to allocate my time to. So we'll have to trade verbal barbs another time."

And they didn't trade verbal barbs. Ichigo backed off.

Only the thing was, neither one had anything to say. With no crisis, they had nothing in common. Ichigo had never done any sewing in his life, and Uryu didn't go to martial arts classes. Their Fathers were associates. But Ichigo and Uryu had never given one another the time of day until hollows had entered things.

Same with Rukia and Orihime. Without a crisis, Ichigo didn't know how to talk to anyone. Though at least his relationship with Chad was pretty much the same. That hadn't changed any.

After school, Orihime wanted to go check up on Tatsuki. But the hollow detector seemed a more important thing. So they headed to Urahara shop, checked in, and asked him to look at it. They waited a bit, and Urahara came back.

"Well, I've looked through your hollow detector, Ms. Kuchiki," said Hat and Clogs. "As far as I can tell, it is completely 100% in working order."

"Seriously?" asked Ichigo. "So things are that boring."

"Well, you killed a great many hollows in Houco Mundo, did you not?" asked Urahara. "And many more have been slain since. By now, you probably have a very fearsome reputation.

"Especially with Halibel keeping a leash on them."

"So, nothing is going on?" asked Ichigo.

"Not that I am aware," admitted Urahara.

"No mysterious disturbances or strange readings. No mysterious girls falling out of the sky?" asked Ichigo. The last one sounded stupid, but it had happened a lot more often than you might think. Every damsel in distress in the afterlife seemed to end up in Karakura Town at some point with his luck.

"No," said Hat and Clogs. Then he looked concerned. "Why are you asking? Has something happened?"

"Ichigo doesn't know what to do with himself when there isn't a crisis," said Rukia, smirking.

"Shut up, it's not that. I just feel useless," said Ichigo. "I got into this business to protect my friends. Now it doesn't seem like there is anything to protect them from.

"I got into the habit of always being on guard; I can't shake it just like that. And with our luck, I probably shouldn't. It bothers me, is all."

"Yes, well, if there has been a disappearance among your personal entourage, I am not aware of it," said Urahara. "Now, if you'll excuse me-"

Then the door was flung open and windswept in. A mysterious black-robed figure stomped into the store. "Oh, for God's sake, are you people stupid!

"I'm a mysterious black-robed figure. I have kidnapped your childhood friend Tatsuki! And I have imprisoned her in yonder black castle!" The black-robed figured pointed to the sky, where a huge, black castle appeared. "What, do I have to spell it out?!"

Ichigo tried to process this. "Um, okay..."

"Didn't you people see the letter?!" said the figure.

"Letter?" asked Orihime.

"Yes! I wrote a letter in ink on her wall that only spiritually sensitive people could see!" said the figure. "If you'd bothered to check up on a friend who was behaving oddly, we'd be done by now! There was a whole riddle you'd have to race against time to decipher!

"But no, everything is all about you, isn't it, Ichigo?!

"Rescue Tatsuki before she disappears into nothingness or don't. I don't even care at this point." And they disappeared in a wave of darkness as the door slid shut.

Dead silence.

"...Well, that's convenient," said Urahara. "Off you go."