Chapter 4: Reunion

Ichigo was still holding the necklace close to her chest as Renji went in to sit down and Kisuke left to call Isshin. She looked at her friends and could see the unsure looks in their eyes. Almost as if they were dreading something that she couldn't figure out. To her, it didn't matter. She had finally broken out of that place and out of that dreadful armor. She wasn't really caring all too much about why they were looking at her with eyes that held pain in them. She decided to just take the direct approach and simply ask them if need be.

"Why are you two looking at me like that?" She asked them in a tone that would ask if she had something on her face that was a distraction.

Both Renji and Orihime looked to one another then back to Ichigo who still had an impassive expression to her face. It disturbed the two in the room since they weren't used to seeing Ichigo like that. Where was the strong and determined young man that would always try and protect the ones closest to him? Where was that fire that would always burn brightly and inspire people? It was almost like they were looking at a completely different person than the Ichigo Kurosaki they knew from before.

Ichigo sighed as she could tell she wasn't going to get a clear response from either of the two. She looked out the window in the room and saw that it was still a bright morning. She let out a low sigh and smirked before standing up with very little trouble. She may have still been drained of most of her spirit energy, but physically she was just fine.

"Whoa Ichigo! What are you doing?!" Renji asked as he quickly stood up followed by Orihime.

"You really shouldn't be up for a while." Orihime starts as she tries to make Ichigo lay back down on the futon. To her surprise, Ichigo didn't even budge from her grip on her shoulder.

Renji stepped over to also try and make Ichigo lay back down, but the second he placed his hand on her other shoulder, Ichigo reacted, violently. In a motion that would be on par with Yoruichi, Ichigo jabbed Renji in the chest hard. He went through the wall and landed in the hall in front of both Kisuke, Tessai, Jinta and Ururu. Renji sat up with a small grunt of pain from having his chest nearly caved in by that punch and looked straight at her. Everyone else followed suite, with Kisuke being slightly on guard now. Ichigo was breathing sporadically for the moment as she still had her arm extended out and her other and clutching onto the shark tooth tightly. She took a few deep breathes and calmed herself down from whatever had just happened to her and looked to everyone there.

"I-I'm sorry Renji." She started after a heavy sigh. "That was a just on reflex."

Before anyone could even say anything, Ichigo had left the room and then the shop. Kisuke ran out to get her back only to see her standing outside and looking up at the bright sky. She was smiling at the feel of the sun on her skin and the wind flowing through her long hair. But then what really caught Kisuke completely off guard was the fact that she started to giggle lowly and tears were streaming from her eyes. Kisuke had seen Ichigo laugh before, but this was different. It wasn't out of some kind of joy but rather a longing. Almost as if she wanted to feel the sun and the wind. He had never seen Ichigo cry though. To see him- er, her doing so was completely foreign to the shopkeeper.

Ichigo wiped her face of the tears and looked to one of the tall buildings around the shop. She leapt up and landed on the roof. The sight she saw was truly breathtaking. The city she was born and raised in illuminated in the afternoon sunlight. Amazing. She sat on the edge of the roof and just stared at the sight in front of her.

Kisuke watched her intently as she sat there with a small smile on her face. He had no idea just what it was that had her reflex and attack her friend, but he would have to careful and inform everyone to ease into making physical contact with her. He went back inside the shop to informed everyone of what he wanted them to do. He walked into the room and saw Orihime already finishing up with healing Renji.

"What the hell was that all about?" Renji asked Kisuke in a little irritated tone. He was Ichigo's friend and would never hurt him in just a casual greeting. True, they would rough house a little, but they never meant each other ill-will. "Why'd Ichigo attack me like that?"

Kisuke took off his hat and sighed a little. Using his free hand, he pinched the bridge between his nose and regained his composure. "I don't know. She said it was on reflex despite not doing that to Orihime. I don't know why she did that, but for now, I want everybody to give her her space. Don't want her to start putting everyone through my poor shop walls anymore than she already has." He said that last part with a smirk on his face as he put his hat back on. Everyone in the room agreed and that was when Yoruichi came out to see what all the commotion was all about.

She saw the destroyed wall and perked up a bit from her sleep. She then looked inside the room and saw that everyone in the shop was there, except for a certain orange haired teenager. Yoruichi immediately woke up and started to panic.

"Where the hell is Ichigo, Kisuke!?" She yelled out as the shopkeeper had saw her standing in what used to be a doorway.

He could see the panic and anger in her golden eyes and tried his best to ease her mind. "Yoruichi, calm down." He started as he motioned with his hands for her to do so. Everyone stayed out of this confrontation as the two friends were in a heated discussion. "Ichigo is fine. She's just on top of a roof outside."

Yoruichi was about to make her way outside when Kisuke stopped her by grabbing her arm. She looked back at him, wondering why he did this.

"Listen Yoruichi," Kisuke started in a serious tone that stopped her in her tracks instantly. "We don't know why, but when Renji put his hand on her shoulder, she did attack him out of reflex. Orihime had to heal him, it was that bad, so just be gentle with her. Okay?"

Yoruichi slowly nodded and made her way to the perched teen a few seconds later. The flash goddess slowly approached the teen as she was staring out into the town. Yoruichi didn't bother to say anything as she figured that seeing her home town after so many years was a relief to her. Yoruichi smiled when she saw the smile on Ichigo's face and was about to turn and leave her to her own thoughts. That was when Ichigo spoke up to her.

"You can sit down if you want Yoruichi." She said, catching the older woman's attention.

Yoruichi turned around and saw that Ichigo was looking straight at her with the same smile on her face. Yoruichi didn't know what came over herself, but she smirked and went over to sit next to Ichigo. They sat in silence watching the sun set and the night sky wash over Karakura Town. Yoruichi liked this. She always found the night time to be so calming and peaceful, especially in Karakura Town. She looks over to Ichigo and frowns when she sees that Ichigo is no longer smiling at the sight. Ichigo looked depressed now and saddened by the faded sunlight. Yoruichi chalked that up to being in Hueco Mundo for three years and always being in constant night. Yoruichi didn't like seeing that sad look to her face not one bit, so against her better judgement and what Kisuke told her, Yoruichi decided to comfort her. She thought about what to do before simply going for holding her hand gently. Ichigo felt the gesture and looked at her former teacher. For a brief moment, she didn't see Yoruichi, but another dark skinned woman she cared for. Ichigo grabbed at Yoruichi's hand gently as well in response and leaned her head onto the woman's shoulder. Yoruichi had no idea what to think of this notion and simply let Ichigo do it to calm her down.

Back at the shop, Isshin had finally shown up a few minutes later to see his son- er, daughter now. He was still in his gigai when he showed up and wanted desperately to see if she was okay only to notice that she wasn't in her room. He also noticed Tessai repairing a damaged wall and that Orihime was still here. She should've been back home by now. Just as he was about to ask where Ichigo was, Kisuke came in.

"Kisuke." Isshin started in a concerned tone. "Where's-"

Before he could finish, both Yoruichi and Ichigo walked into the shop and made their way to the room. Ichigo saw her dad and could see the absolute joy in his eyes.

"Ichigo!" Isshin said as he rushed over to her before Kisuke could warn him of her bizarre reflexes. Isshin went up and hugged Ichigo tightly in a warm embrace only to feel her shaking violently. He let go and noticed her clutching onto that necklace tightly, a look of fear in her eyes almost as she looked down to the floor.

"Ichigo." Isshin started again as he grabbed her by the shoulders. "What's wrong with-"

He didn't get any further as Ichigo had grabbed his left arm in a bone shattering vice and threw him outside of the shop. Everyone was absolutely terrified when they saw just what Ichigo did to her own father. Orihime quickly rushed over to the fallen Kurosaki and quickly went to work healing whatever injuries he had. Fortunately, Isshin leapt out of his gigai long before he started to crash onto the ground, but his left arm was still pretty banged up from Ichigo's killer grip. Orihime still healed both his soul reaper form and his gigai form nonetheless.

Everybody looked to Ichigo who was still breathing erratically and shaking as she clutched her necklace tightly. She took a few more breathes before looking to everyone else in the room. The awe at what she did along with the fear had them on edge at just what was causing these 'reflexes' to occur. Ichigo looked away from them all and looked down to the floor again.

Isshin and Orihime came back into the shop a few seconds later with the gigai in tow. Ichigo didn't look at her father the entire time as she was too ashamed that her honed reflexes and paranoia had kicked in at the worst possible time.

"Okay then." Kisuke started, getting the groups attention. "Lets go to the basement. Don't think the shop can take another hole in it like that." He pointed to the large hole now leading to the front of the shop. Kisuke opened the hatch after telling Tessai to do what he could with the damage. Everyone, aside from Jinta and Ururu, made their way down to the training grounds and all eyes were on Ichigo once more.

"Okay." Kisuke started in his usual jovial tone and flipping his fan up to his face. "Ichigo, mind telling us just why exactly you keep attacking your friends every time they touch you."

Ichigo let out a sigh as she looked at both Renji and her father. Both men were fine now, yet Ichigo still felt an absolute dread wash over her when she was asked to explain herself to them all. She looked over to everyone and took a deep breath.

"I trained myself to react like that when I was in Hueco Mundo." She started as this got everyone's attention fast. "I trained that way in case someone tried to touch me."

Immediately Yoruichi stepped up. "But you didn't do that when I touched you Ichigo."

Ichigo looked at Yoruichi and smiled weakly to her. "That's just because you remind me of her a little bit."

"Remind you of who Ichigo?" Isshin asked her, wanting desperately to get to the bottom of this.

"The one good thing about being there all that time." Ichigo says to her father with her smile widening as she started to touch the shark tooth.

"And what exactly is this person's name Ichigo?" Renji asked her while tilting his head to the side.

Ichigo smiled a little more before answering him. "Her name is Halibel."

Done.

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