Disclaimer: The only kind of Bleach I own is for the laundry.
Story: When Rukia comes to Karakura, Gin tags along for supervision (and because he made some nobles angry). How will Ichigo deal with both of them, while they adjust to a surprising human that could do things she shouldn't? Especially given the odd things that keep happening around her. Fem!Ichigo AU.
Set as a genderbent AU.
Spoilers: Yes, most definitely.
Pairings: Ryuuken Ishida/Ichigo, Gin/Ichigo, Urahara/Ichigo, Aizen/Ichigo, Ukitake/Ichigo, Kyouraku/Ichigo, Byakuya/Ichigo, and maybe one-sided Others/Ichigo, Grimmjow/Ichigo, Ulquirrora/Ichigo…
Warnings: My usual crap…crazy writing, some perverseness every now and then, drama, angst, wild humor, drama, romance, drama, and that kind of thing…

Bleach It Orange!
Chapter Six: An Explosion of Events

Ichigo put on a burst of speed and caught up to Orihime, kneeling next to her downed figure and restraining herself from going into panic and focusing on her friend. She barely noticed the other two catching up and hovering behind her, but actually respectfully keeping a distance and letting her handle things.

"Orihime, are you alright?" she asked her friend in concern.

Orihime started to blink slowly before blinking and then sitting up suddenly. Her face swiftly lit up.

"Ichigo-hime!"

Ichigo sighed. She missed Gin mouth "hime?" to Rukia, who mouthed "later" back. Instead, Ichigo concentrated on Orihime, checking to make sure she was okay. She noted the ominous bruises on Orihime's leg. She frowned to herself and could bet the other two had seen them too.

"I'm fine, Ichigo! Let's go, let's go! Let's head to school together since we're all here," Orihime was fast back to her cheerful self, though Ichigo was feeling very skeptical then. She kept it off her face then, plastering on a smile for the other girl, but she was definitely keen on keeping an eye on her. But then Orihime finally noticed the new addition to the group and looked curiously at Gin. Orihime gave him a hesitant smile, and Ichigo gave him a look.

Gin put on a friendly face. "Hello~ I'm Gin. Nice ta meet ya."

Though still confused and hesitant, Orihime smiled happily. "Hi! I'm Orihime. Nice to meet you too!"

"We're going to be late," Ichigo frowned, watching her friend carefully and glancing briefly at the bruises she'd noticed before.

"Ah! Let's go!" Orihime grabbed Ichigo's hand and started to rush towards school.

Ichigo's lips moved up fondly, more so as Rukia yelled for them to wait for her and ran after them. Gin just went along with things gleefully, running after them and outpacing Rukia, catching up to Ichigo and Orihime easily.

Ichigo grew a little bit more fonder of this group.

School moved very slow. It was nearly painful (not an exaggeration) to be there, especially when Ichigo couldn't help thinking about Orihime and worrying about the girl. But as school ended, Ichigo once again headed towards her tea ceremony class, even in troubled thought. Rukia had disappeared straight after school to find Gin, only saying they were setting something up for her. She was curious, though probably more suspicious, but that's how she always was regarding those two Shinigami.

"Kurosaki-san, I see you're heading to our class."

Hearing the familiar voice, she turned to see Tamashii smiling at her and she hesitantly smiled back. There was something about him that she couldn't help noting, and it had been this way ever since she first met him.

She was finding it harder and harder to ignore that feeling the more time spend in his presence.

"Hello, Tamashii-san. Um, since you let me call you by your first name, you can do the same?" she offered, trying to not sound as unsure as she felt.

His smile widened slightly. "Thank you, Ichigo-san. Would you like to walk together?"

She blinked, but found herself beaming happily, something unusual for herself. Her heart also felt oddly warm.

"That would be nice," she accepted.

She couldn't find it in herself to think too hard about what was going on with herself.

Gin was probably practically vibrating in excitement, which he could see exasperated Rukia. But then Ichigo was home and he straightened up in anticipation.

He didn't know why he was so fascinated and interested by Ichigo, or managed to instantly like her so much. Maybe it was because her hair reminded him of Rangiku's. She was also really fun to play with and rile up (which was actually kind of hard to do, so he's made it a mission to do it as much as possible). And what made it better was that even though she got irritated or got exasperated with him, she didn't dislike him or think he was some sort of treacherous snake, like even Rukia did (though she was warming up to him since partnering up…a bit). Actually, Ichigo even found him amusing (if weird) most of the time, and more than tolerated him, unlike everyone else he knew.

It was nice to have someone other than Rangiku who didn't mind having him around.

"Welcome home, Ichigo!" he exclaimed as he came close to practically skipping over to her.

The roll of her eyes but quick quirk of her lips made him exceedingly giddy.

"Hey, you two," she greeted casually. She shifted in suspicion at their strange behavior, since Rukia had now joined Gin in being really excited. "What is with you two?"

"We have a contact," Rukia started eagerly.

Gin continued. "He said he had a place where we could train you. No Hollow will stand with us as your trainers!"

Ichigo smiled slightly. "Thanks, you dorks. When do we start?"

"Tomorrow, after your tea ceremony class. It'll probably last a few hours though," Rukia tacked on tentatively.

Ichigo looked thoughtful. "That should be fine. I usually train Yuzu and Karin, but Dad can take over. I'll have to let my fiancé know I'm training so he knows why I'm so busy though."

Rukia couldn't help gaping, while Gin's eyes actually opened slightly in shock.

"Fiancé?" Rukia stared at her.

Ichigo shrugged, already moving to get dinner ready. "Oh, yes –it's a long story, but it was an arranged marriage. He works at the hospital."

Rukia obviously wasn't unfamiliar with the concept of arranged marriages, but still! And this was Ichigo. On the other hand, Gin was tilting his head at the situation and wasn't sure how he felt.

"Wait, did you say he's working already?" Rukia caught that. How old was this guy?

Ichigo gave her an uncertain look. "Yeah? He's the Director of Karakura Hospital." Which made Rukia sputter and Gin nearly stumbled since he'd been walking towards Ichigo to find out what she was cooking.

"How old is he?" Gin asked what Rukia had been thinking just earlier.

Ichigo hmmed. "I think he's 40."

They were pretty sure that wasn't a normal age gap concerning humans.

"Just don't let him know about Soul Reapers and stuff," Rukia mumbled.

Gin was watching Ichigo and she was for some reason looking oddly hesitant. Did it have something to do with her father being the former Captain Shiba and her already knowing of them?

"Yeah, sure," Ichigo muttered.

Hm, this was something to keep thinking about.

Ichigo yawned, getting ready for bed. She slipped into bed and had just closed her eyes when she heard a suspicious thud. Keeping herself normal, she lay in bed and tried to keep listening and figure out who and where the intruder was. She had to force herself to continue acting normal when she felt her bed dip and a warm body slip under the covers next to her.

"Eh, Ichigo, you're still awake?"

What the?!

Ichigo's eyes completely snapped open and she shot up in bed, scrambling away from Gin.

"What're you doing in my bed?!" she screeched. She was amazed she hadn't woken up anyone at this point.

Gin just grinned. "Sleepin' or about. What else?"

"But why in my bed?" A tick developed by her temple.

"'Cause I'm really warm and comfy here," he answered like that made it okay. "Besides, Rukia's sleepin' in your closet."

Ichigo's eyes snapped towards her closet, just as it slid open and an angry female leaned out of it.

"Well, you already have a bed!"

"Wait, since when?" Ichigo was practically gaping.

Rukia glared at the unrepentant man. "Since your father offered it to him while he's working at the clinic 'part-time.'"

Ichigo shook her head before glaring at both Soul Reapers.

"Okay, you know what? I don't care. Whatever. You two, this is not right or correct. Out!"

"But I need to be close by if you need to transform!" Rukia said in a panic. "And I don't have anywhere to go or stay!"

"What she said," Gin said quickly. At Rukia's glare, he amended that. "Except my room…"

Ichigo sighed loudly. "Fine, you can stay!"

Gin poke her side. "Me too?"

Ichigo honestly didn't have any energy for this and wanted to sleep already. "Ugh, whatever."

She decided she didn't care. She just wanted to sleep.

So if she had to deal with Gin snuggling up to her and knowing Rukia was in her closet…

Fine.

(She'd find a way to kill them both later on –or get her revenge when they least expect it.)

As soon as she stepped out of her tea ceremony class, she was assaulted by Gin and Rukia (who had attended class with her again, and was forced to deal with Mizuho for a second time). The two of them dragged her off somewhere, and she didn't have time to process anything before she found herself in front of a small, out of the way shop.

"Why are we here?" Ichigo asked suspiciously.

"For that training we told you about," Rukia told her matter of fact.

Ichigo gave them skeptical looks, but they continued to just smile at her.

"You'll see~" Gin sing-songed and dragged her inside.

Inside looked to be some sort of candy shop, complete with rows and rows of assorted candy. There was a sweet scent to the air and Ichigo was able to briefly look around, before she found her observation interrupted.

"Welcome to Urahara Shouten! I'm Kisuke Urahara. You must be Ichigo."

Ichigo saw the blond man appear suddenly, wearing a strange green and white-striped hat, wooden sandals, and a green hakama.

"Who's Sandal-Hat?" she asked, though she blushed at her rudeness. If her mother had heard her…

"He's our contact," Rukia explained. "He has somewhere you can train."

Gin used a hand to shade his 'eyes.' "Where is it though, Urahara-san?"

"Right this way," Urahara pointed in a direction with a fan Ichigo just noticed.

He started walking and they followed, up until he stopped in the back and knelt down, opening a well-hidden opening on the floor.

"Down we go!" Urahara shouted and surprised Ichigo when he scooped her up and jumped down the opening.

She screamed at the long way down, but they somehow managed to land softly. Urahara moved away and soon enough Gin and Rukia joined them. Ichigo hit the stranger on the arm and pushed away from him, managing to surprise him enough to let go of her. She easily landed in a crouch and then she quickly darted away, still gazing suspiciously at the hat-wearing man. But then her attention was caught by her surroundings.

"Oh," she said softly, looking around in awe.

"This is where you'll be training in Kido, Hado, Hakudo, and Zanjutsu," Gin bounced on his feet. "Rukia-san will take care of the first three, with help. Urahara-san will be in charge of your sword work."

"What about you, Fox-face?" Ichigo asked.

"Ichi!" Gin whined and then glomped her tightly. "Gin, Gin, Gin! Call me Gin!"

Ichigo turned red, but rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay. I'll call you Gin. Just get off." She shoved at him, but his hold was tight. He reluctantly let go of her after a moment.

Rukia stepped forward. "Ichigo, we'll start with the basics of Kido, okay?"

Ichigo nodded and Rukia began lecturing her. Afterwards, Rukia decided on a simple Kido spell to start with and had Ichigo repeat it several times, not knowing Ichigo had at least learned and memorized the spells from her father. Rukia then demonstrated it and had Ichigo observe and feel how it was done.

"Now you try," Rukia beamed at her.

"Aim that way," Urahara tacked on, pointing away from them with his fan.

Ichigo scowled at him before taking a deep breath. Preparing herself, she then chanted the spell and channeled her spirit energy.

A moment later, a large boom sounded.

Started – Completed
Edited/Typed 10/2/16 – 10/2/16

A/n: Hey! How's it going? Did ya guys like this chapter? What a doozy, huh? XD I don't actually know Ryuken's age, so I guessed (like Ichigo guessed!), bu if anyone has a clue or suggestion, speak up! Anyway, please remember to review! I am hugely motivated by them, and without them I get very antsy and get into a funk. So please review!

Anon reviews:

1. kagome higurashi: Yeah, I know, update XD I'll do my best.

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