The hug that she gave him had to be one of the most wonderful hugs he'd ever had. It seriously ranked up there with getting hugs from small children after he saved them. It was just...awesome. And he was definitely kind of sad when Miss Kurosaki slowly released him and stepped back away from him before asking.
"Would you like to come inside and sit for a while?"
"I would like that very much. Thank you." He replied as she nodded her head and then opened the door and stood back so that he could enter the house first.
It was such a strange thing for her to do. But he didn't think on it overly much since he thought that she was just being polite.
He had to duck down a tad just to enter her home, but was able to straighten back to his full height once he cleared it. Which was great and all. Especially since even in his weakened form he still always needed to duck down and stuff just to enter rooms, doors, buildings ect. And it tended to get a little bit irking sometimes.
Wandering down the short hallway he came to a stop upon entering a living room like area and stood there waiting for Ichigo to catch up to him while he studied the room curiously.
The alpha's decorating style was by far the most interesting thing he'd seen in a long, long time. And that was really saying something since he'd seen what Hazashi did to his place when he redecorated.
To be honest, he liked what he was seeing.
Ichigo had a lot of pictures, small nick knacks, books, and an entire portion of her wall dedicated solely to little multi colored hand prints, children's drawings, and toys.
Finally hearing her move up behind him, he turned his head a little bit to see what she was doing and caught her studying her little 'children's' area.
"I babysit when I'm not working and stuff." She said, as if that explained everything. However when she didn't offer him more than that, he let it go since her babysitting on occasion technically did explain everything.
Why was he attempting to read more into it?
"You must really like kids." He said with a fond smile as she linked one of her fingers around one of his own and gently tugged him along after her.
"Yeah, I do. They're fun little people." She said with a small smile as she led him further into the room. Which also happened to be occupied by several other people. All of whom were watching him curiously.
Feeling slightly disturbed by the multiple pairs of eyes on him, he offered the others a small wave of his fingers and wasn't sure if they were messing with him or not when several of them smiled and waved back while a couple of others frowned.
Ichigo maneuvered him over to an unoccupied chair and had him sit down there while she shot her friends a funny look, and then growled at the others to 'behave'. And then politely asked him if he wanted something to eat or drink while he visited.
Toshinori listened to her list some options for him. Some of which was pretty typical for guests. Tea and cookies, or little sandwiches. Juice, beer- the tears of her enemies? He cocked his head and wondered if he'd heard her right as she fell silent and waited for him to respond.
Finally after a heartbeat or so he asked, "Do you keep the tears of your enemies on tap?"
Several of the others snickered and giggled at the question as Ichigo merely thinned her lips for a moment and then replied. "Yeah, because their tears of anguish sustain me."
Feeling his lips quirk up in amusement at her weird comment. He asked her for a glass of enemy tears. Which she eagerly went to get him. Along with some cookies or something else to eat to go with it. Toshinori would like to say that he missed the looks of vague relief that crossed the faces of the others. But well, he didn't like lying.
She left him alone with the others. All of whom waited until she was in the kitchen before speaking to him.
"How's it going man?" The dark skinned male asked as he propped his chin up in his hand.
"I'm well. You?" He replied politely.
The guy opened his mouth to reply when one of the dark haired girls sitting with him said, "She threw a dresser at him a few minutes ago."
Toshinori started to say the usual, 'Oh, that's nice'. But thankfully managed to stop himself upon registering the girl's words and instead asked, "Pardon?"
"Ichigo threw a dresser at Chad." Another girl, this one with pretty auburn hair, chimed in.
"Why on earth would she do that?" He asked curiously.
"Because he wouldn't let go of her." Another girl said with a smile before then reaching out to him and saying, "Hi, I'm Rukia. Ichigo and I are both childhood friends."
He took her hand in his and shook it as he introduced himself. Which set the others up to introduce themselves and start making small talk with him until their alpha returned.
For a pack of people linked to Ichigo, they were pretty laid back people. Most packs- well, okay that was wrong. Pretty much all packs that Toshinori had ever come into contact with or observed were very...suspicious, if not outright hostile to any strangers that came to visit them without any sort of an invitation from their alpha.
So this was incredibly nice for a change.
Another thing that he noticed was how relaxed they all were, even with him there. There wasn't even a little bit of tenseness in any of them. Not even the alpha, Chad.
Which was good also since it meant that they trusted their pack alpha immensely. And also had a lot of faith in her to be able lead, protect them, and to sort out any problem that they had. Both as individuals and as a pack.
That deep level of trust wasn't something that was easily earned. And Alpha had to jump through all kinds of hoops just to prove themselves as competent to everyone in the pack. It took months, even years for an alpha to prove themselves to the people that they make a part of their pack.
And it was also an absolutely beautiful thing to behold since that kind of deep trust was rare in the world nowadays.
"May I ask a question about your pack's hierarchy?" He suddenly asked, curious to know how exactly a pack with more than one alpha, and more than two omega's worked.
The male perked up a little bit but nodded his head. "Sure. Go ahead."
"I was wondering how a pack with more than one alpha and a few omega's work? I mean, how did you make Ichigo your alpha? Who's her second? Things like that."
Chad looked thoughtful for a moment before slowly saying, "Ichigo has always been our leader. Even when we were kids. She's the one who found us all, kept us out of trouble- and often times bailed us out of any trouble that we would occasionally find ourselves in. She protected us and kept us save."
"She saved me from being killed." The young lady that had introduced herself as Rukia said with a small smile. After which two other young ladies, Yuzu and Orihime? Both chimed in too.
"She saved the both of us when were kidnapped by some really bad people." Yuzu said with a small smile.
"She's so brave and fiercely loyal and protective that it borders on stupidity and suicidal sometimes. But once she sets her mind to something, especially if it has to do with the safety and well being of our pack, she doesn't stop for any reason."
"She's always been like that." Chad said softly. "And since we all know her so well, making a pack together just seemed like the thing to do. I don't mind following her lead since it's basically what I've done all my life. And when she needs a break, we have more than a few choices on who can take over for a little bit."
"Yeah, Chad is Ichigo's number two. And Rukia, despite being an omega, is also her number two since they both rank the same."
Toshinori cocked his head a little bit and then asked, just to clarify things a little bit. "But Chad is an alpha. Shouldn't he be of higher rank?"
"That's a common mistake from someone who doesn't know us very well," Rukia said, not the least bit offended by his question as she went on to explain. "We don't stick to the normal rules that have anything to do with our secondary genders. Chad and I are Ichigo's seconds because we both bring different strengths to the pack."
"Chad is...well, he's a lot like her. The two of them are so laid back sometimes that it's shocking to see. But he's also not as submissive in specific instances. And despite me being an omega, I can be pretty assertive and downright mean spirited sometimes."
"It's true." Orihime said sagely. "She's literally made some of the rougher guys in our pack and a few others cry."
The others all nodded their heads as Yuzu added, "One guy actually curled up in a fetal position and sucked his thumb."
Toshinori's eyebrows disappeared underneath his bangs, but he didn't comment. Instead he just sat there and mulled over what they had said since it was very, very interesting to him.
When Ichigo finally returned and set down a cup of matcha green tea and a plate with some small sandwiches and cookies.
"This is the tears of your enemies?" He asked teasingly as he picked up the cup to take a sip.
She gave him a small bemused smile and replied, "No. I sort of got distracted when I saw my reflection in the window." And then turned to the others and asked, "Why didn't anyone tell me that I looked like a gross swamp monster?"
Chad and the others sniggered a little bit at her words.
Even he had a little bit of a difficult time not chuckling himself. And was a moment or so away from telling her that she didn't look like a gross swamp monster. A little bit crazy maybe? But not a swamp monster.
Rukia replied, "Well that's what happens when you don't sleep for more than ten minutes here or there for weeks. You morph into a swamp monster."
"You haven't been sleeping?" He asked her in concern as he set his cup down so that he could study her face and started to mentally berate himself once he remembered that she looked sick. Crap. He'd forgotten that she looked a bit off before.
Reaching out with one hand, he lightly grasped her chin and tilted her head this way and that for a second. Trying to gauge just how badly she needed to rest as Karin said, "She hasn't been eating either."
Toshinori hummed thoughtfully.
"I-I've eaten some peanut butter." She said in an embarrassed tone once he stopped turning her head this way and that.
"Eating a spoonful of peanut butter isn't helping Ichigo. You're starving and need to eat some real food before you wind up in the hospital, on a feeding tube." Chad said in a slightly chastising tone as he leaned forward in his seat a little bit.
"Calling me out on the no sleep or food thing when I have a guest is a dick move guys."
"Maybe so, but he needs to be aware that your on the verge of collapse."
"Chad, take the girls and go to a frigging movie. I want to be alone with Angel for a bit." Ichigo growled. Her tone tinged with annoyance.
The other alpha took a moment to stare her down in a displeased manner. But eventually sighed and stood up and told the ladies to get their purses and wallets. Not long after that, the other alpha and the young ladies all left.
Leaving him alone with her.