Chapter 1.
"Ah, that way. No wait!"
"Ririn..." Ichigo gave her an irritated look.
"Don't look at me like that Ichigo! How come I'm the one tracking the bountou here! Claude! Nova!"
"Haha Ririn! You shouldn't be bossing us around all of this time!" Claude gave her his most annoying laugh ever.
"Ahhhh! When I get out of this damn duck plush, I'll knock your mod-soul out you! Let me...at him!"
"Shut up all of you! Look there's that Utagawa guy."
Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Renji and Inoue were chasing the bountou and Friido who recently captured Ishida and were now trying to find their friend's whereabouts. They momentarily got Ishida back, but their ring leader captured Ishida again and was on the run as well. Their motive was unclear, but they needed Ishida only and the rest of them didn't matter. Ichigo jumped up on the roof of the house and stuck Ririn in the air.
"Can you sense him!" Ichigo wiggled her body in the air and shook her up and down.
"Stop it! Stop! I can't sense him anymore! Why did Urahara-san shove us back in these bodies? They're too small!"
"Damn it." He jumped down onto the street again and plopped Ririn on the floor. "There's gotta be a faster way to track down the stupid bountou. Oi, Renji, what are you doing?"
"Eh...I'm hungry."
"Renji, you can't eat now, baka. We're in the middle of a chase," Ichigo shouted.
"Kurosaki-kun, if Ririn, Nova and Claude can't find them right now, there's no use in aimlessly searching, right Claude?"
"Right, princess!"
Ichigo sighed and walked over to Renji.
"Okay Renji, where are we eating?"
"There." He pointed at a fast food restaurant around the corner.
"Wait Renji, I want to go there!" Rukia pointed to a takeout.
"There." Chad pointed to a local cafeteria.
"There...!"
"Uh Inoue, that's a supermarket."
"But there's food in it right? Right? I could make my famous tofu and wasabi dipping with crab egg bread! Hehe."
"Um...how about there." Uneasily, Ichigo pointed to a small cafe across the street. They all blinked at each other and nodded.
"This place isn't so bad," Rukia was the first to go inside. "Hey Ichigo, what's that!"
"A coffee bean."
"What's coffee?"
Ichigo sighed and took Renji and Rukia by the head. "The thing people drink here is coffee...ok, coffee. You must drink only about one cup cause it's your first time. If you drink more...well, they'll be dire consequences."
"Got it." Rukia stated. "Um you can order."
"Right, right, what do you guys want?"
"Mocha!" Inoue told him.
"Cappuccino...French Roast..."
"Right right and I'll give these two something uh, small. You guys find a table somewhere."
"Yea, yea Ichigo we..."
"Thank you for ordering, that'll be twenty-four dollars and eighty cents please."
"Here. Damn those guys better pay me back. Hey Renji, find a table yet? This cafe is pretty damn big."
"Nah, and we have to search the other side of the place."
"Sorry Kurosaki-kun. We tried our best."
They walked to the other side of the cafe with each holding a cup. Renji took a sip and spewed it out onto Rukia's face.
"Ah hot hot! Renji, you baka!"
"Ah sorry Rukia...Ichigo what the heck is this thing? It tastes like the backside of a hollow! In the crack of the backside!"
"It's coffee Renji, that's what we drink here."
"It's so bad...but I want more for some reason."
"Idiot Renji, if you are going to drink it all, then don't spit on me," Rukia scolded. She wiped her face and neck with a cloth and was about to put the handkerchief away, but another boiling hot sensation met with her face in the form of Renji's spitting horror.
"BAKA!" Rukia dumped her coffee on his head. "You are doing it on purpose!"
"Uh..."
"Don't stare dumbly at people. It's rude...what are you looking at?" Rukia turned around and almost fell. "What...what is he doing here?"
"I don't know...should we go to him?"
"I guess...uh Ichigo?"
"What? What are you looking at?"
Rukia pointed to a small table that was next to a window. In one of the two seats sat the person they knew well, Kuchiki Byakuya. He was sitting with one leg over the other and sipping coffee while reading the newspaper. Renji and Rukia could believe that the 6th division captain would be here and fully modernized with a suit.
"You go up to him," Renji nudged Rukia with his knuckle.
"You're his vice-captain. He's probably here to talk with his subordinate." Nudge.
"Or maybe with his sister." Nudge.
Nudge. Nudge. Nudge. Punch.
"Ow."
"If none of you are going to say anything then I guess that means that I will have to start the conversation," Byakuya told them without looking up.
"Ah, Captain Kuchiki!"
"What brings you here nii-sama?"
"Orders from Gotei 13 stated that I had to go to this world to assist in stopping the bountou."
"Ah, but we're doing...well aren't we?" Rukia asked.
"Don't make me laugh."
Rukia nudged Renji and buckled to the ground, holding her legs. "It's not my fault. I don't have my powers back anyways."
Byakuya sighed and continued speaking. "They concluded that you all have trouble capturing the bountou and at the rate you are going, they are going to achieve their goal without much resistance."
"Pssst, Ichigo."
"What is it Ririn?"
"Who's that guy? He's a real stiff," she whispered.
"Oh, that's Rukia's brother. He's yea stiff, but eh, he has his reasons."
"I heard that Ichigo...what is that?" Byakuya asked. He swiftly grabbed Ririn's plush form and shook it around.
"Ah stop stop!"
"Mod-soul?" Byakuya pinched the foot of Ririn while Claude laughed his cotton butt off. He grabbed Claude too and Nova who was trying to hide behind Chad's neck. "Mod-souls in dolls?"
"Ah, ah nii-sama, we can explain!"
"I don't want to know." He dropped the three dolls onto the floor and shook his head. "And here you are all eating while your friend is in danger and the bountou are running away."
Ichigo muttered what seemed like "Renji's fault."
"But Byakuya-san uh sir, we can't find them if the mod...souls...don't...detect them?" Inoue ran behind Rukia and covered her face from Byakuya's cold stare.
"Then we'll search." Byakuya walked outside and behind a tree. They all stared as he ate a soul candy. Rukia jumped in glee to see it was the Chappy version. Byakuya transformed into a shinigami and threw the soul candy at Rukia which she ate and followed by Renji.
"Let's go Ichigo," Chad stated and ran after the shinigamis alongside Inoue. Ichigo grabbed his crest and changed, jumping after them.