Hey everyone.
This will be the last chapter for The Perfect Line for a bit as I will be going back to working on Power of Three for the time being since I now have new ideas for that story.
I do have some bad news though. If you have ever read my second story, Pulse, then you know it was a Michael Vey/Young Justice crossover that I started over three years ago. Well, I had asked for help from the readers for ideas involving background and creative details about the Electroclan (the group of main characters in the Michael Vey series). It's been THREE YEARS and I only got ONE INCOMPLETE idea from a reviewer less than TWO MONTHS prior. That is not something I consider to be an achievement. It is a horrible attempt at a story, I had barely watched Young Justice at all, and on top of that, the Michael Vey series is getting new books with book number eight on the way (which I am very happy about). In short, it is not my best work and I will be cancelling it and not rewriting it at all. In addition, I am deleting the entire story of Fanfiction. Sorry to those who did enjoy Pulse, but it was a flaming pile of trash that should have never been written when I had first started out on this site.
Anyways, on with the show.
It was Saturday morning and the ghouls were waiting at the airport for Ichigo to arrive so they could catch their flight. They hadn't been waiting long, only for about five minutes but Fu was starting to get restless like the hyperactive ghoul she was. She kept rocking back and forth on her heels completely bored out of her mind. Her friends began giving her weird looks as to why she had so much energy so earlier in the morning. "UGH! When's Ichi gonna get here?! I'm bored!" she whined.
Yugito heard the little nickname her mint-haired friend gave the new student and immediately started grinning. "'Ichi'? You gave Ichigo a pet name already? You move fast, Fu. Trying to snatch him up before he's off the market?" she teased the mothwoman.
Fu started to blush madly and tried to cover her face with her wings, embarrassed that she had been caught giving Ichigo a nickname. "Yugito! It's not like that, I'm just shortening his name!" she cried out.
"I know, I'm just yanking your chain." smiled the blonde werecat. Realizing it was just a joke, Fu began losing her blush and calmed down.
What the rest of them failed to realize that while she was sometimes easily embarrassed by certain things and this was not out of character for her, that due to her outcast status that had followed Fu for most of her life, she was unconsciously becoming infatuated with the teenage manster and developing a crush on him. Normally this would be brushed off as a schoolgirl crush, but Fu did not have many friends outside of the group and was avoided most of the time because of rumors of who she was, so a boy interacting with her without being forced to and genuinely wanting to become friends with her was a huge accomplishment for her. And meeting Ichigo, a guy who could relate in a way with her and was nice to her without needing a reason, for the first time and becoming friends with him had set off fireworks in her heart in a way that nobody else had been able to. Whether he reciprocated her unknown feelings remained to be seen.
A taxi pulled up about two minutes after Yugito's teasing and Ichigo's familiar head of spiky orange-and-white hair popped out of the cab as he collected his luggage from the vehicle's trunk. Hoisting his backpack over his shoulders and starting to roll his suitcase and put the bag holding his board over one of his shoulders, he waved to the ghouls and they greeted him as he approached.
"What's up, ghouls? I hope I didn't make you wait for long, did I?" he asked them.
Tia waved off his concerns. "We haven't been waiting too long, but we should really get going so we don't miss our flight." They picked up their bags and made their way through the airport, dropping off their luggage and getting their tickets and boarding passes, then going through security along the way to the gate area. Entering the plane after getting their tickets and boarding passes checked, the group of monsters settled into their seats and began to catch up on lost sleep. The flight was close to five hours long, so there was plenty of time to get some more shut-eye during the flight.
The pilots of the plane prepared the aircraft for take-off as the 9 monsters drifted into sleep and the other passengers finished stowing away their carry-on luggage and sitting in their seats. The two pilots taxied the plane onto the runway and with a rumble of the powerful jet engine, it took off into the early morning sky, heading for Oregon.
About five hours later, the group landed in Oregon and they walked out of the plane and into the airport, rested and ready to grab their bags and get a bite for breakfast. They retrieved their luggage and made their way to a trio of vehicles, which were a Ford Explorer, Honda CR-V, and Jeep Wrangler, that belonged to three of the ghouls; Konan owned the Honda, Tia drove the Explorer, and Samui owned the Jeep. To allow everyone to have enough space in the vehicles, they decided there would be three of them in a single car. Nel and Yoruichi hopped in with Konan and Anko and Fu entered Samui's Jeep, leaving Yugito and Ichigo to ride with Tia.
Samui took the group, with her Jeep in the lead, to a local diner near Monster High for breakfast. They sat down for their meal and ate relatively quickly, talking amongst themselves and asking Ichigo more about his life but not getting too personal with the questions. After they finished eating and paid for their food, they got back on the road to their houses. The drivers dropped off each of their passengers and headed home themselves to unpack their own bags.
Ichigo had just entered his new residence to unpack his bags and was greeted with the sight of boxes piled in the house that probably held the rest of his stuff from his old house, also noticing there were no indications of whether his cousins were present or not. "Okay, so all my stuff, except for my car, is here." He inspected the boxes to make sure nothing had been damaged during the move. "But where are Kukaku and Ganju? Their cars are in the driveway, so they should be here somewhere. Please don't tell me Ganju did something stupid again..." he muttered under his breath. "Kukaku? Ganju? You here? It's Ichigo!" He set his bags down and walked into the kitchen to see if they were trying to pull a dumb joke...
"SURPRISE!" a pair of voices shouted out in excitement as their owners jumped from out of nowhere into Ichigo's line of sight.
"GAH!" The pale-skinned teen was startled by his two cousins' sudden shouting. "Oh jeez, you two scared the living daylights out of me!" he said, breathing heavily as he held his chest and tried to catch his breath. He then noticed a banner hanging from the ceiling that said "Welcome home, Ichigo" and a medium-sized cake sitting on the kitchen table with three plates surrounding the delicious treat.
Kukaku laughed heartily, "Sorry about that, cuz. We wanted to surprise you with a little 'Welcome Home' celebration from us." She smiled sadly and gave him a hug. "We heard about what the Central 46 forced you into, I know the compromise Yamamoto was able to get with them is not ideal but we'll help you through this. No shallow, gold-digging, hussy nobles will take advantage of you if I have anything to say about it. You just find people who won't have a problem with your situation and who you can trust, care for, and be happy with. You find anyone like that, they'll stick with you through thick and thin."
Ichigo nodded. "Thanks, Kukaku." he said as he buried his face into her shoulder, grateful that he had such a caring cousin like her.
"Come on, let's each have a slice of cake, we can get all your things sorted after we eat and chat a little bit."
They each cut themselves a piece and sat down at the table to eat. Ganju and Kukaku had asked him how he had been and he explained how his touring with the snowboarding league went. They also wanted to know how his last day in Colorado was, to which he responded that it went well and he met the group that would be helping him get accustomed to Monster High at the competition. Ichigo said to his cousins he asked the ghouls that he wanted to become friends with them and they said okay. Kukaku jumped on the opening and immediately started questioning him about the ghouls he had become friends with.
Ichigo knew that his cousin was fiercely protective of her family but also wanted him to be happy and he figured that she saw or understood something that he didn't, so he told her about the eight ghouls. She listened as he talked about them and how beautiful and nice they were, and the entire time she started to come to the realization that Ichigo was fascinated with them, not in a creepy and obsessive way but because they caught his interest because of how they treated him as any other monster instead of as something to be loathed.
Ichigo had a small smile on his face as he described his newfound friends, having no clue that his cousin knew exactly why he was so interested in them, even if he had no idea himself. He continued his story completely oblivious to Kukaku's thoughts, and he had no idea what was going on in his other cousin's brain.
While Ganju was not as gifted as his sister when it came to thinking deeply and analyzing, he could read people like a book with little to no effort. The man saw that something had changed in his pseudo brother and had given him new life, and he recognized Ichigo was slowly starting to develop feelings for the female monsters he had met in Colorado. The Shiba male knew Ichigo would eventually become conflicted with his feelings and not consider his situation, possibly pushing away the ghouls because of his inability to express his feelings, so he made a mental note to discuss this development with Kukaku after they finished talking with their cousin.
They finished eating and spent the better part of a few hours putting away Ichigo's stuff and getting him settled in. After that was finished, the teen told his cousins he was going out to look around the monster side of New Salem and left the house out the front door after changing into a new set of clothes.
The two siblings sat down in the living room and were quiet for a little bit, Kukaku read one of her novels and Ganju checked some of his emails and texted Ichigo's family to tell them he had arrived at their residence. "What do you think about the eight ghouls Ichigo told us about, sis?" Ganju asked his sister out of the blue.
The busty woman set down her book and hummed in thought. "Ever since Ichigo was nearly put under the Central 46's control, he hasn't been the same, his actions are somewhat reminiscent of paranoia and he doesn't trust females to an extent because of what they had planned for him. When he started talking about those ghouls that came to meet him, it was like the incident had never happened in the first place. I do not think he realizes it but I believe that even if he only met them for the first time recently, they now have a special place in his heart."
Her brother nodded his head. "It's more than that though, they treated him like he was just an ordinary monster. Call me crazy, but to me it looks like he has feelings for them. But Ichigo may not want to accept that he harbors romantic feelings for more than one ghoul in his life. Even with him knowing polygamy is accepted as a norm in monster societies and communities, he will probably cause heartache for himself by restricting his feelings and not accepting them. He has more than enough love in his heart for multiple ghouls but doesn't understand that." he explained.
"They're special to him, I believe some of them may understand what it's like to go through hardship." She sighed. "I just hope they don't attempt to use him like he's an object and manipulate him and his feelings. I don't want him to end up heartbroken."
"Even though I am better at understanding how other monsters are, you're better at getting through to others than me and getting a read on their intentions. Maybe you should try to have a chat with those ghouls and see what they want from him and warn them away from playing with his heart. Wait for a month or two, then try talking with them, and if Ichigo has not told them about what he's being forced to do, you explain it and the circumstances and background information surrounding the situation."
"Alright, I'll do that, maybe I can get a clear picture of their characters and who they are as monsters."
Meanwhile, Ichigo walked along the sidewalk through New Salem completely unaware of the in-depth conversation his cousins were having about his love life. He was listening to "The Awakening" from a band called Discrepancies, a rap rock outfit that was one of his new favorites to listen to. Music always helped him keep a clear head and relax, listening to some of his favorite bands and artists also gave him inspiration on how he wanted his videos to look in their final forms and choose the songs that would make them the best they could possibly be.
It was not known by many but he would help Kensei some of the time with editing the footage and compiling the final cut. Sometimes he would get ideas on filming short, little clips of dramatic moments to give the video more intensity, and it worked in their favor really well. Some of the videos they finished would look just like a high budget music video or trailer for a blockbuster movie and made for great viewing. The songs he usually chose were ones Ichigo felt were inspiring to the viewer such as tracks from LINKIN PARK, Discrepancies, Skillet, and Dangerkids to name a few, the choices supposedly resonating with the viewer. Though if he wanted a video to just look badass and get people's blood pumping, he'd select songs that were intense and more suited for moshing, Limp Bizkit, Five Finger Death Punch, Hollywood Undead, ICE NINE KILLS, Motionless In White being some of the bands he chose typically.
Ichigo was dressed in ripped, baggy, black cargo pants, a grey, charcoal black, and silver light snowboarder's coat, a grey t-shirt, blue-and-black high-cut Supra Skytops, and a white flat bill snapback. A few of the classier monsters walking around town looked at him with disdain because of their assumption that he was a hooligan and gangbanger. He could feel their looks of scorn that were directed at him and his appearance but brushed them off, it was not the first time he had been the target of disdainful looks and unfounded assumptions and it certainly wouldn't be the last either.
He walked into the local maul to look around and check out the stores it had, hoping to get lucky and maybe find a sports store or manster's clothing boutique. Lord knows he needed a couple new sets of outfits and other clothes to wear to both school and around town, he could not just wear his limited selection of clothes daily. He could wear what he had on at the moment for school sometimes, but he needed more sets so he wouldn't be wearing the same style of outfit all the time. Getting another pair or two of snowboarding gear that he found appeasing was also a must.
Ichigo strolled through the building and found a directory for where all the shops were, locating the athletics store and a Aberzombie & Fitch, Scare-merican Eagle, Hellister, and Rot Locker as well. He walked into each store for about five to ten minutes to browse their selections and was quite happy with what he found, deciding to come back another time, possibly the next day, with his wallet and ask for his new friends' opinions to see if they liked what they saw.
He paused mid-step. 'Whoa, hold up! Why did I just think about something like that? 'Liked what they saw'? You're going way too fast, Ichigo. You shouldn't be thinking about if they like your appearance.' Shaking his head, he continued on his way. 'They're nice ghouls and have most likely been friends since before they met me, I'm not going to just play with their hearts like that and cause them to fight with each other because of my circumstances. Even if there is the possibility of having a deeper relationship with them, I can't just ask them if I could be with them all, they would not accept it and most likely hate and despise me for it.'
"Ichigo, we get that you're trying to stick to the moral high ground, but you have done so much for others without thinking about yourself or your happiness. You've essentially begun to tear yourself apart over this, it's making you unhappier and more miserable than you already were before the Central 46 got involved," a older man's voice told him inside his head. "You deserve to be happy for once, you have much to give in terms of caring for others."
His counterpart chimed in, "You know we're reflections of yourself, Kingy, so we know how you tick. But it's time you got the affection and love you gave to others returned to you. You should've seen how happy you were talking to those ghouls, you were ecstatic that you had finally found some friends who wouldn't treat you different. Remember, I'm your Hollow side and instincts, they won't judge you for that and will accept you regardless, and if what I could sense from them is any indication, they are glad to have met you and I think one of them wants to approach you about something they're feeling but is unsure of herself. Plus, that little problem that's been happening to you is affected by your emotions, mood, and feelings, and they may aggravate it and cause you to change more frequently."
The Kurosaki teen sighed in contemplation and sat down in a chair in the food court, staring out the glass window in thought completely silent and not moving a muscle.
'Zangetsu, Old Man, I hope you're right, I hope to God that the both of you are right about this. Because if you're not, then I might lose their friendship and my freedom. And that's something I do not want to happen.'
And that's the end of the chapter. Please read and review.
The stores that Ichigo visited are Monster High store parodies that I created. For anyone that didn't know which stores I parodied, Aberzombie & Fitch is Abercrombie & Fitch, Scare-merican Eagle is American Eagle, Hellister is Hollister, and Rot Locker is Foot Locker. Just let you know which is which.
Crash out.