Revised 1/9/2019

Ichigo arrived at his house around 10:30, the candy shop being relatively close to said house. Time was of the essence, Ichigo decided he could sleep later… The first matter of business was equipment.

Ichigo padded quietly down his hallway with a practiced ease, heading to the room furthest back in the small house. He opened the door to what looked like a storage closet, but upon closer expectation there was a switch behind a false panel which was hidden behind some bottles of half full Windex. Flicking the switch, the whole closet started to rumble and panels flipped over on the sides revealing more switches and buttons. The back wall opened up like two double doors, exposing a room with weapons on all four walls, ranging from a katana to a modern day gun and more. In the center of the room was a small table. The room was only big enough to fit about two or three people at the most. Before weapons though, Ichigo decided he needed to make sure that his attire was still in good shape from the last job. He pressed one of the many blue buttons and a buzzing and whizzing like noise could be heard coming from the table. Within a few seconds a silver rectangular box like object was rising out of the middle of the table. Walking over, Ichigo opened the door on the metal box and pulled out a long thin black box and set it on top of the table. He flipped open the box and let his hand run over the contents. Inside was his most basic equipment; a tight black bodysuit, or a 'ninja clothes' as most people liked to call it, black flat slipper like shoes, and a mask. Ichigo picked up the mask gently. It a sight for sore eyes. Ichgio hadn't been on a job where he needed it in a very long time. He felt though, with the circumstances, it might become necessary to have it at hand. It was made of a lightweight wood that because of the white paint looked disturbingly like bone… as you can imagine that started all sorts of rumors… Ichigo ran his fingers over the smooth front, feeling the grooves under the left eye socket where red streaks were painted in, following the streak to the edge of the mask to the black satin ribbon. Whenever he would put this mask on, Ichigo felt like a different person entirely… It was frightening at first, but he'd come to accept that other half, even anticipate the next time he'll be wearing it. It looks like that time is nearer than the assassin would have ever thought.

Setting the mask down, Ichgio checked over his clothes and shoes to make sure there were no holes. Seeing that all the gear was in good condition, he shut the lid to the black box and set it back gently into the silver box, closing the little door before tapping the top of the box and watched as it disappeared back down into the table. He felt a tug in his chest as he watched the box containing his beloved mask lower back into the table, he always felt like a part of him was missing when he didn't have the mask with him- that is to say he felt that a part of him was missing most the time. Pushing the feeling down, Ichigo refocused. He could not afford to be distracted. It was time to pick weapons.

After about an hour or two down in the weapons room, Ichigo had all his tools selected and was walking back down the hallway to his room. As soon as his feet crossed the threshold of the doorway it was as if all the energy had evaporated from his body and left him feeling dead tired. Ichigo didn't even bother putting on pajamas; he just collapsed in his bed. He was asleep before his head even hit the pillow.

"Mom! Mom!" Ichigo was on his knees, the rain pelting heavily on his bright yellow raincoat, orange hair plastered to his face, tears intermingling with the rain, rolling down the small boy's face in thick streams. His mom was on the ground, a large stain of red on her back and a pool of it underneath her. The air smelled of copper… it smelled like blood. "Mom!" Ichigo kept shaking her, but she wouldn't respond. Desperation was kicking in, making him frantic. "Mom! Please Mom-"

Ichigo sat up quickly in his bed, panting and drenched with sweat. He ran a hand through his short and spiky orange hair, and took a deep breath… He hadn't had that dream in a while. Ichigo sighed before swinging his legs over the side of the bed, digging his toes into the plush teal carpet. Ichigo looked over to the nightstand and grabbed his most precious item in the world… a picture of himself, his mom, and his dad. They all had giant smiles on their faces and were huddled close together… It was a truly happy memory. As Ichigo looked at it, he couldn't help but remember the dream, and he was unable to restrain a shudder. To be more accurate though, it was a memory, one he had tried to lock away, not a dream…

It happened June 17th, 2017, two days after his sixth birthday. It had started out to be a good day, sunny, but not too hot, birds chirping, and Ichigo had finally beat Tatsuki, his best friend and top student at the dojo they both attended. His mom had come to pick him up like she always did, and when they started walking home, the sky had turned an ugly grey and a downpour of rain came crashing upon the two in seconds, like someone up in the sky had suddenly flipped the 'on' switch for the rain. Luckily, Ichgio's mom had known about this storm, and had put his yellow raincoat on him before they had left the dojo. Ichigo had asked his mom if they could take a small detour to the river so Ichigo could put a paper crane in the river-it was something done commonly in an older Japan to send a prayer to the dead- for his dog Tensa who had just recently passed. As Ichigo was setting the crane in the water, a thunderous pop rang out behind him. For a few precious seconds, he did mistake it for thunder. He turned around quickly, despite his confusion, and saw his mother lying face down in the grass, a pool of red beneath her. Ichigo hadn't seen who had done it, too absorbed with his mom's dying form to even bother looking around. Ichigo didn't know how long he had sat there, soaked to the bone because his hood had fallen off when he had ran to his mom, letting all the rain in, before someone noticed and called the cops… but it was too late, she was dead within seconds of being shot, the bullet having punctured a vital organ. Ichigo later learned her death was meant to be a warning, a warning to his dad. Ichigo's dad, being a world-class doctor, had made a major breakthrough in some medical case-Ichigo never found out what- and for some reason, the Yakuza wanted his research. Being the man that his father was, strong-willed and brilliantly stupid, he had refused them. Of course they didn't take that too well and had sent someone after his wife, Ichigo's mother. After her death, his dad was bombarded with threats and close-calls, until one day, Ichigo assumed the Yakuza just got fed up with him not complying and decided if they couldn't have his research, then no one could… When both his parents were dead, Ichigo was moved from his home town of Karakura, Japan to Washington, D.C to live with his Uncle, and only living relative, Kisuke Urahara, now known under the codename Rod. When Ichigo moved, his uncle had thought it best that he change his name, something more American. That was the moment Ichigo Kurosaki became Alex Rider.

Soon after being dropped off with Kisuke and gaining the name Alex, Ichigo had quickly been brought into his uncle's 'work' as his trainee. Apparently Ichigo had a real knack for it… He had risen in the ranks quickly, and was one of the best by the time he was 14. In his line of work, Ichigo's slender frame and natural flexibility was his greatest advantage… He still hated it sometimes because of how often he was mistaken for a girl, but consoled himself in the fact he could kill a man in the middle of a busy street and no one would be the wiser. .

Within one year Ichigo had become the best assassin out there, and gained the code-name 15. It was soon after that that Kisuke got word to relocate to Tokyo, Japan because the branch there had been compromised and they needed a new group to fill in. They've now been in Japan for six years, and Ichigo has been on so many missions he'd lost count a long time ago. You'd think he'd hate his job, seeing as it was most likely an assassin hired by the Yakuza who killed his parents, but this was the only job that would get him close to any form of revenge. That was if that Yakuza was even still out there…

Ichigo sighed, grabbing an energy bar and a box of apple juice for breakfast before heading to his in-home office while munching on the energy bar. Reaching the office, Ichigo sat down at a computer and finished his 'breakfast' bar before sipping on the apple juice. It was time to confirm the whereabouts of the Hogyoku. Ichigo turned on the computer and logged onto his non-traceable account… it was time to hack.

It had taken him a while, but Ichigo had finally got into the company's security system and was able to view all the security cameras past and present footage. He was searching for a sign that the Hogyoku was indeed there, and that this mission wasn't all a big elaborate trap… While he was at it, Ichigo drew up a map of the place to help better navigate on the mission, then sent it to Kisuke. A mere few seconds after finishing sending the email, a beeping noise went off from the middle computer, there was a total of seven of them. Ichigo rolled over to the monitor, checking out what it had found.

"Talk to me Vis, did you find it?" Vis was the computer system Ichigo had invented, it stood for Virtual Intelligence System, and she has proven to be very helpful in her relatively short life span.

"Yes, I've found an image in one of the video tapes that appears to be what you're looking for." Ichigo nodded.

"Okay, pull it up for me on my 3-D hands." Ichigo slipped on a pair of black gloves; tiny wires could be seen woven into the fabric. Within seconds a glowing cube popped up in his right hand. Ichigo examined it curiously, it was so small. Could this tiny thing really cause so much trouble?

"Vis, is this made to actual size?

"Yes sir." It was rather odd that a device of such destruction was so small… Then again, the floating image could be a fake, just another Hollowgram, much like the one resting in the palm of his hand.

"Are you sure this is the real thing Vis?"

"Yes, it is the real thing. For some reason it's giving off this odd energy pulse… it almost resembles the human heart…" This Hogyoku just keeps raising more and more questions! Not to mention it had a rather odd appearance… It was a small iridescent blue cube with a purplish sphere inside. Deciding it would be best to just give the information to someone who might understand it, Ichigo once again emailed Kisuke the information and notified him that important data would be heading his way.

"Vis, send a clip of the video with the cube… Also make sure he gets the Hollowgraphic version of it too. Send it over the encrypted email, he'll know how to decrypt it."

"Yes sir, sending it right away." Ichigo took another sip of his apple juice, looking over all seven screens to see if there was anything else important. Not seeing anything, he decided to shut down the computers before they noticed someone had hacked into their system. After the computers were all completely shut down, Ichigo felt a wave of relief. It wasn't that he was bad at hacking, he was actually better than most government and illegal hackers, but Ichigo was worried that his skills had gotten rusty as he hadn't had a job in which he needed this particular skill set in quite a long time. Almost as long as he had been without his mask. Shaking his head to once again dispel the thoughts of his mask, Ichigo finished off his apple juice and decided it was time to get a proper start to the day.

It had been five days since Ichigo had sent the information to Kisuke, and he hadn't heard back from the eccentric man yet. Ichigo figured that Kisuke was just so absorbed with his work he probably hadn't eaten in days, much less thought about communicating with the living… Ichigo sighed, groaning internally. 'I guess I'll have to go check on him and make sure he doesn't die before our new mission…'.

When Ichigo arrived at the candy shop he wasn't at all surprised to see the lights off and the front porch looking rather dusty. He suspected that the inside wasn't much better, in fact, it was probably worse… Walking inside, Ichigo confirmed his suspicions. He didn't even bother taking it all in, just headed back to Kisuke's personal lab and ignored it all.

"Yo! Kisuke, you still alive back there?" Hearing a crashing noise coming from the back, Ichigo shook head in fondness and smiled, letting out a sigh. This was going to be a long visit…

Ichigo was reaching for the door knob when said door was pulled open form the other side revealing a slouching man with dirty and greasy blonde hair, stubble on this chin, and heavy bags under his eyes… if you looked close enough you could actually make out a man named Kisuke under all that filth.

"Why hello Ichi, what brings you here?" Ichigo's eye twitched at his oblivious attitude.

"What do you think I'm here for you idiot! You've bee-" He was cut off suddenly by an alarm coming from Kisuke's lab. Before Ichigo could ask if he should be worried Kisuke had already turned it off and was handing him a knife. Kisuke only had to say one word and Ichigo's body was in autopilot.

"Intruder."

Ichigo's eyes dulled, shutting off his emotions, and he pushed Kisuke into his lab and locked the door before heading out to the main entrance where he nimbly climbed up onto the support beams so that he had a perfect view for when the unwelcome guest arrived… Ichigo wasn't disappointed, he only had to wait a few minutes before the intruder entered the shop. The man didn't even know what was happening, Ichigo had jumped from the beam he was on and had him pinned to the ground in less than a second, the knife Kisuke had given him pressed snuggly against his throat, a light glow appeared under his chin due to the light glinting off the blade.

"Who are you? Why are you here? Who sent you? Speak now, you have exactly one minute." The man was dripping sweat, obviously nervous as was expected.

"Pl-p-please d-d-don't kill m-me!" Ichigo leaned further over him, giving him a better look at his face which seemed to cause a spark of recognition to flash in the intruder's eyes.

"W-wait! Wait! You're the Kurosaki child aren't you?" Ichigo pressed the knife harder into his throat, drawing a bead of blood.

"So what if I am?"

"Wouldn't you like to know what it was your parents were killed for?"