A/N: Here we go! Next chapter is up! But first, here are the Review Responses:
HiddenChaser: I'm so glad you like it. Well, here's the next update!
PartyPony2: About that second figure, you'll find out in this chapter. On to Isshin, like I said, you'll find out later on in the story. And Urahara is one of my top five favorite Bleach characters.
Disclaimer: I do not, in any way, own Bleach! All of it belongs to Tite Kubo.
And thank you all for the favs and the story alerts!
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Chapter 2: The Strawberry, the Winter Lion, and the Two Shinigami
Kurosaki Ichigo was pissed. Why was he pissed?
"Who the hell do you think you are? No one jumps one of my boys with no reason and lives to tell about it!" The leader of a gang yelled out.
"And what are you going to do about it?" Toushirou asked emotionlessly.
"I'll show you what I'm going to do!" The leader charged at the white-haired boy standing next to Ichigo. Before anyone could blink, Ichigo landed a kick to the guy's face and slammed his face into the ground.
"What're we gonna do? Our leader's down!"
"You there! In the middle! Answer this: What is that over there?" Ichigo shouted, pointing at a knocked-over vase.
"W-who, me? I guess they're some flowers for some kid who got killed here..."
"Cor-RECT!" Ichigo said, kicking the guy in the face.
"You know, you guys catch on fast for skateboarding punks," Toushirou commented, with a slightly amused smile on his face.
"You've never said truer words, Toushirou," Ichigo said, with a tight smile on his face. "Now answer this: That vase over there, why is it lying on its side?"
"I-I guess one of us knocked it over when we were skateboarding through here..."
"CORRECT!" Ichigo said, taking the last two out. "NOW GO AND APOLOGIZE OR NEXT TIME THE FLOWERS WILL BE FOR YOU!"
The remaining thugs screamed like little girls and ran away, never to be seen ever again.
"Sorry I had to yell like that," Ichigo said, both boys turning to the ghost girl standing, or rather, floating, behind the light pole, which she was using as a shield.
"Don't worry," Toushirou said, picking up the vase and setting it back the right way. "We'll bring you some new flowers tomorrow, okay?"
The girl nodded and said, "Thank you both for coming to my defense. Now I think I'll finally be able to rest in peace."
Toushirou nodded, with a gentle smile on his face, and then the two turned around and started walking back home.
Before the two walked away, Ichigo said, "Yep, if anyone deserves that, it's definitely you."
On top of a nearby light pole, a girl with a black shihakusho on and a single bun in her hair was watching them. She softly smiled.
"Shirou-chan..." She whispered.
At the Kurosaki Household, Ichigo opened the door to the front door. "We're home."
Ichigo was immediately met with a kick to the face.
"You're LATE!" Ichigo fell on his back and Isshin landed perfectly on his own two feet. "You let your guard down. Always be alert when you enter a room and you're late for dinner again." Isshin stressed the word again on purpose. "And Toushirou, you might want to take notes on this. It'll come in handy one day. Trust me."
Toushirou merely shrugged. "Whatever."
"Come on!" Ichigo retaliated just as Toushirou sat down at the dinner table. "Is that any way to greet your son after he just risked his life to help a spirit find peace?"
"Silence!" Isshin yelled back. "Oh, so it's the ghost's fault now, is it? I suppose it was ghosts that left yours and Toushirou's room a mess! When are you two going to show some discipline?"
"For your information," Toushirou cut in, "My side of the room is always clean. It's Ichigo who makes the mess."
"TRAITOR!" Ichigo suddenly yelled. "And I have the nerve to call you my little brother!"
"Don't worry, Shirou-chan. He doesn't mean it," Yuzu said.
"Don't call me that, Yuzu. You know I don't like it," Toushirou said, taking a bite of his rice. "This is really good."
"Thank you. I do my best," Yuzu said.
"Anyways," Toushirou went on, "I know he's just teasing. So was I. Hey, you guys! Stop fighting! It's getting a little annoying."
"Yeah, come on over here and eat your dinner!" Yuzu said.
"Who cares? Let 'em fight. More rice for us," Karin said.
"That's not very nice, Karin. Any homework, Shirou-chan?"
A tick mark visibly appeared on his forehead, but he kept his anger in. "Nope. Already finished it in class."
"I know you skipped a grade and are now in the same grade as Ichigo, but you should have some challenges in school," Yuzu said.
"Step pestering him, Yuzu. Toushirou's a prodigy. He can have homework or cannot have homework. It doesn't matter," Karin butted in, all three ignoring the fighting elders in the background.
"Stay out of it, Karin," Yuzu said. "But, how do you do it? How do you find the time?"
Toushirou took one sip of his soup before answering. "I have a lot of free time."
"I gotta tell you, Oto-san. A high school student with a seven o'clock curfew is totally uncool!" Ichigo said after punching his dad in the face.
"Ichigo, speaking of uncool, you have a new one," Karin said, not blinking an eye.
"What the hell?" Ichigo said, looking at the new ghost floating around him. "Where'd you come from? Take a hike, will you? You damn pest!"
Karin sighed. "Poor Ichigo. Oto-san or ghost, it's always something."
"Oh, I don't know. I think Onii-chan and Shirou-chan are kinda lucky to be able to see ghosts."
A slam on the table caused both Karin and Yuzu, and even Ichigo and Isshin, to look up.
Toushirou snatched the entire plate of rice balls and angrily said, "Do not call me Shirou!" With a swish of his school jacket and speed up the stairs. A couple second later, they all heard a door slam shut.
Karin spoke first. "Good job, Yuzu. You made him mad."
"That's really cold..." the ghost said.
"Just like my dinner," Ichigo sighed.
"You let your guard down again!" Isshin said, fixing Ichigo in an arm and leg lock. After throwing him the air and finally punching him, to the point where he fell, Ichigo rose up victorious.
"No charge for the lesson."
"Forget dinner. I'm going to bed."
In the darkness of the boys' bedroom, Ichigo called out to the other boy.
"Toushirou? You awake?"
Toushirou tiredly rolled over, to where his back was facing the wall, not Ichigo. "Hmm? What?"
"Can you remember anything yet? About your life before we found you?"
Toushirou said nothing, shook his head, and rolled back over with his back facing Ichigo.
'Even after all these years, he's never once showed any sign about wanting to get his memories back, much less actually getting them back. Every night I ask. And each time, it's the same answer: no.'
The next morning, Ichigo put his shirt as he told Toushirou, "You know...if anything's bothering you, you can talk to me...You can me anything. You know that."
Toushirou detected sadness, hurt, and betrayal in Ichigo's voice. Whenever Ichigo sounded hurt emotionally, he was exactly that. Ichigo had reminded Toushirou that he could always come to him, and that meant that Ichigo was trying desperately to ease Toushirou's pain, if not his own.
"I know, Ichigo, but trust me, nothing is bothering me," Toushirou said, and left it at that.
Ichigo could sense that something was wrong with Toushirou. He sounded distant, and that meant that something was on his mind. He denied it, and that was a sure sign that he was hiding it from Ichigo.
The two could read each other like an open book. That's how close they were.
When one of them hurt, the other hurt too.
The two walked on the way to school the next day, with a new vase of flowers in Ichigo's bag. Toushirou looked up suddenly.
"Ichigo. Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"That!" He sounded desperate.
Just then, a stomp sounded in the background. Ichigo froze. Was it an elephant? It couldn't be. No one was screaming or running.
"Ichigo, look out!" Toushirou suddenly yelled out. As soon as he finished his sentence, the building next to them exploded right above them. Ichigo shoved Toushirou out of the way just in time. Luckily, everyone near the blast came out unscathed. Out of the smoke came the ghost girl.
"Hey! What's wrong?" Ichigo asked her.
"You have to get out of here. Everyone does. You must!" The girl said, urgently.
"Toushirou, let's go!" Toushirou nodded. He started to run.
But somehow, Toushirou was slower than Ichigo and the ghost girl. He was usually the fastest. It was like something in his body was slowing him down.
Now that he thought about it, it was probably an illness. He was feeling a little nauseous yesterday and somewhat the day before, but nothing too serious, so he didn't say anything.
Toushirou heard another explosion and he looked back and saw a giant centipede chasing after him. He tried to run faster, but it still seemed like his world was only getting slower. He looked back up ahead of him and was alarmed at how far Ichigo and the girl were ahead of him.
It was no use. Every time he tried to speed up, it was them who sped up, while he merely slowed down. With no other choice, Toushirou yelled out the first name he could think of.
"ICHIGO!"
Ichigo snapped his head around and was also alarmed at how far behind Toushirou was. He also thought that now was the worst time to be a klutz, and that's what Toushirou usually was, especially in the worst of situations, for Toushirou had just tripped and he landed hard on his knee.
Even though he saw the monster now with his brown eyes very clearly, Ichigo didn't think. Without any better options, Ichigo turned around and ran back to Toushirou.
It was a while before he reached Toushirou, but he did. When he did, he dropped down on one knee next to Toushirou.
"Toushirou, you okay?"
Toushirou didn't respond. He couldn't. For some reason, he was in so much pain; he was trembling like a fragile leaf in a storm.
"Toushirou, answer me!"
Toushirou felt weird. His insides suddenly went hot, then cold, and where now churning at the thought of that monster. Nonetheless, he managed to croak out a weak, "Ichi...go..."
"Toushirou! Come on. We have to get out of here. That monster still's here," Ichigo said, with urgency obvious in his voice.
Actually, to be more precise, it was right behind them.
Ichigo immediately noticed this, but he also noticed a black and red butterfly flying across his face like nothing was wrong.
A girl with a bun and a black shihakusho and a sword jumped beside the two. Another girl, also in a black shihakusho, but with her hair down and a single bang going down her face, slashed the monster across its face with her sword and landed perfectly on the ground.
The ghost girl ran up to them, but was held back by the girl with the bun, who had her hand on her sword. The other girl with the bang jumped up and brought her sword down the monster's face and split the mask it had on in two. The monster disappeared before their eyes.
The girl with the bun, however, had her sword out and was facing the ghost girl. The girl had a questionable look her face and the girl with the bun nodded and touched the ghost's forehead with the hilt of her sword. The ghost girl disappeared in an aqua blue light and, when the light dimmed and disappeared, was replaced by another black butterfly, which flew up toward the sky.
The two girls nodded to each other and jumped away from the scene as if nothing had happened.
Life in the bustling city had returned to normal as if nothing had happened.
Both Ichigo and Toushirou, who surprisingly felt a whole lot better since the destruction of the monster, were left with a lot of questions.
That night, Toushirou was asleep, or trying to and finally succeeded, and Ichigo was lying on his back in his bed with a lot on his mind.
'Who were those two? And why was Toushirou in so much pain? The monster didn't even touch him.'
His train of thought was interrupted when he saw that same butterfly again. He sat up as the girl with the bun appeared on his open windowsill, while the girl with the bang had appeared on top of the dresser.
"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo demanded. "One of you answer!"
The banged girl grabbed her sword hilt, and Ichigo scooted closer to the wall.
"Put that thing away! You're not slicing me up!"
'It's getting closer...' "I feel it."
The banged girl's butt met Ichigo's foot that very same second.
"Who the hell are you!"
The banged girl had question marks dancing over her head as the light came on. The bunned girl merely looked on with a confused look, and Toushirou had woken up.
"What the hell are you doing, you idiot? I'm trying to sleep," Toushirou muttered.
"If you think you're a burglar, you're not a very good one! For starters, you shouldn't talk to yourself!" Ichigo ignored him.
"But...you kicked me. But we can't be seen by ordinary humans. Are you saying you can see us?" The banged girl asked.
Toushirou turned to the bunned girl. "Excuse me, but what's going on?"
The bunned girl mentally sighed in relief. 'Thank goodness. I thought that you wouldn't be able to see me at first.' "Well, my partner and I are here on a mission."
"Wait, you two are the ones we saw in town earlier. Interesting," the banged girl said, grabbing Ichigo's chin and turning his head side to side. "You're only human, yet you must be defective in some way."
Ichigo slapped her hand away and yelled, "I'll show you 'defective'!" He aimed a kick at her, but she merely jumped on top of his leg, then over onto his head, and then landed perfectly on the floor, knocking Ichigo down in the process, causing the other two to sweatdrop.
"Why you...!" Ichigo said. "Who are you?"
"Do you really want to know? Then I'll tell you. My partner and I...are Shinigami."
After a full explanation later, Ichigo said, "So, let me get this straight. You two come from a place called the Soul Society."
The two girls nodded.
"And you come here to exercise demons like the one in town earlier."
Both girls nodded again.
"Which after that girl's soul."
Both girls nodded again at Ichigo's statement.
Ichigo got a tick mark. "That's all believable to me...ALONG WITH FLYING PIGS AND THE TOOTH FAIRY!" Toushirou had to jump from his eat on the floor out of the way to avoid the flying table.
"How dare you? Why wouldn't believe in Shimigami when you've just admitted that you can see spirits?" The banged girl asked.
"We can see spirits," Ichigo went on, "but we've never heard of or seen Shinigami before, and you're story is just too incredible. I don't believe in anything I can't see." Ichigo stood up.
The banged girl stood up too. "Well, you see us, don't you?"
"She does have a point," Toushirou cut in.
Ichigo paused. "Well, I do agree with the fact that you two aren't human, but you'll need more than your story to make me believe in what you're saying," Ichigo said as he put his hand on the banged girl's head. "Why don't you go and play your little Shinigami game somewhere else, ok, little brat? Now, run along now."
The bunned girl tensed up. "Please don't call her that, sir."
"I'm a brat, am I?" The banged girl had a visible tick mark. "Bakudou no Ichi: Sai!"
Ichigo's arms were tied behind his back and he dropped face first onto the floor.
"W-What did you do to me?" Ichigo managed to get out, barely.
"It's called a kidou, a high-level incantation that only we Shinigami can cast. It's useless to try and break free. You're just wasting you're energy. You say I'm a brat, when in fact, both of us have living nearly ten of your lifetimes. I would kill you on the spot for your insults if it were not against my orders, so you, little brat, be grateful," the banged girl said.
"But kidou can also be used for healing. You bruised your knee earlier, right?" The bunned girl asked Toushirou, who nodded and rolled his pj pant leg up. The bunned girl took of the bandage that the school nurse had put on it, and hovered her hands over his knee and a green light glowed from her hands. Almost instantly, Toushirou felt the pain his knee fall numb and the cuts on his knee were fading, until they faded completely. When she had finished, Toushirou did not know what to say.
"T-Thank you..."
"You're welcome. Better, huh?"
Toushirou could only nod.
"Now," the banged girl said, "I'll tell you why we're here." She drew something out of her robe and pulled out a sketchbook and then turned to a page. "There are two kinds of souls. Wholes, or Pluses, like the ghost girl. These are the kind you usually see. The other kind are called hollows, like the monster in town earlier, which come and devour souls." The other three were looking at some pictures that looked like they were drawn by a five-year-old. "Any questions before I go on?"
"Yeah...why the hell does your drawing suck so bad?"
Ichigo's question was met with a mark to his face, which drew lines on Ichigo's face.
Toushirou giggled in amusement, as did the other girl.
"Shut up! It's not funny!" Ichigo wanted to hit them both, but his hands were bound.
"Let us continue with our lesson, Monsieur..." the banged girl said, bouncing her marker in her hand.
"There are two main jobs for Shinigami: guiding wholes to the Soul Society through konso, as I demonstrated earlier today, and to take care of hollows wherever we find them," the bunned girl finished.
"Wait," Toushirou said, "You said that hollows attack humans to eat their souls. But why do they do that?"
"We don't know. We have yet to figure out what drives the hollows to do the things they do," the banged girl said.
"I can smell it...no...them. There are two of them. Two tasty souls, along with the smell of two Shinigami...and one of the humans has it...that one thing I've been wanting...so tasty..." The hollow howled into the night.
Toushirou snapped his head up. He heard it again.
"One thing we do know is that there is still another hollow out there," the banged girl said.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go out there and kill it!" Ichigo said as Toushirou quietly slipped from the room.
"We would, but neither of us seem to be able to sense it anywhere," the bunned girl said. "Usually we have no problem detecting hollows, but here it's like our senses are being jammed by something powerful..."
"Hey! Where'd Toushirou go?" Ichigo asked. Both girls jumped up.
Toushirou crept downstairs and saw Yuzu trying to climb up the stairs.
"Yuzu?" He ran down to help her.
"Shirou-chan...Run...get away while you can..." Yuzu barely managed to get out before passing out.
Toushirou ran down the rest of the stairs anyway. He saw Karin against the wall. His five senses were growing numb again. His world was quickly going back. He closed his eyes just as he felt a wall forcefully meet his back. Then his arms suddenly felt like they were being ripped from his body. The hollow was pulling on Toushirou's arms and trying to rip them out of their sockets.
"L-let me go..." Toushirou muttered.
"Give it to me..."
"Give what to you? My soul? I don't think so..."
"That too...give it to me...I know you have it...give it to me..."
Toushirou's shoulders cracked and screamed out in pain. The hollow and the three upstairs felt the great and sudden surge in Toushirou's icy spiritual pressure.
The two Shinigami ran down the stairs, but immediately felt a great reiatsu.
"It's...so strong..." the bunned girl managed to utter. Ichigo stumbled down the stairs after them. He landed in a heap next to the bunned girl.
"Don't! You'll only waste your energy!" The bunned girl said.
"Shut up...that's Toushirou...my little brother...I've got to help him..." Despite the fact that his arms were tied behind his back, Ichigo stood up, ready to fight.
"How can he stand up when he's under my spell?" the banged girl asked as the two Shinigami looked upon Ichigo.
Toushirou screamed again, catching the Shinigamis' attention.
"Toushirou!"
"Ichigo! Do something!" Toushirou screamed out again.
Ichigo struggled against the kidou.
"Stop! The kidou is way too strong for a human to break!" The banged girl warned. "You'll only cause damage to your soul!"
However, the two looked awestruck as Ichigo's reiatsu rose in great height and he, a mere human, broke the kidou spell. Ichigo ran forward, grabbing a chair on the way.
"Fool! You'll only get in the way!"
Ichigo swung the chair at the hollow, but was smacked onto the asphalt outside instead.
Toushirou was about to scream because of his shoulders again, but the two Shinigami were on either side of the hollow and both cut each of the hollow's two arms, making the hollow release Toushirou. Toushirou was falling fast toward the asphalt, but Ichigo slide across the pavement and caught him in time.
"T-Toushirou! OI! Answer me!"
But the white-haired boy was out cold and, thus, could not answer.
"Don't worry," the banged girl said. "The hollow left without devouring neither your sisters nor your brother's souls."
The bunned girl rushed toward the two brothers and examined the unconscious boy in Ichigo's arms. "It seems that both his shoulders are dislocated. He's lucky they weren't literally ripped from his body." Ichigo shuddered at the image.
"C-Can you heal him?" Ichigo asked her.
The bunned girl nodded and got to work right away.
Ichigo turned to the other girl. "Are you sure about that?"
"Positive. The hollow was looking for a certain kind of soul to eat, one with a higher level of reiatsu," she explained, holding her sword out in front of her. "In fact, the hollow in town earlier was hungry for that soul too, not the girl's."
"Why's that?" Ichigo asked.
"For some reason, most of the reiatsu that you have was hidden deep inside you until now," she continued, "when you needed it to save Toushirou. That's why we didn't sense anything unusual about either of you when we got here."
"So you're saying that both Toushirou and I have high level reiatsu?"
"Yes. Your level reiatsu also explains why the hollows haven't come after you two. When you and your brother made contact with that spirit girl, reiatsu started to pour out. Your souls became exposed..."
Ichigo looked up. "You mean that the reason the hollow is attacking us is because of the reiatsu both of us have?"
Toushirou's turquoise eyes fluttered opened and he immediately shuddered in pain. His shoulders hurt so badly!
"Try not to move around too much," the bunned girl said, peering over at his face with a sympathetic and relieved look on hers.
They heard the hollow roar once again.
"It's coming!" Toushirou tried to get out.
"Hey!" Ichigo had run out to the street in front of the hollow. "If you want a soul to eat, then come at me. Fight me one-on-one, you ugly bastard!"
The hollow roared, taking it as an invitation to eat Ichigo's soul.
But a spit of blood shot up in the air. The bunned girl's eyes widened in shock.
The other Shinigami had taken the hit for Ichigo, but got a terrible shoulder wound in the process. She managed to push the hollow away before it retreated. She fell to the ground, blood pouring freely from her shoulder.
"Shinigami!" Ichigo yelled.
"Not good," Toushirou muttered. The other Shinigami said nothing.
"You...are a fool," the banged Shinigami said to Ichigo. "How could you have possibly thought that you were any match against a hollow? Did you really think that everything would be over if you just gave your soul to it? One soul isn't enough to satisfy that hollow forever. If you keep getting in the way, we'll all end up as that hollow's dinner."
The hollow continued to screech from the wound that the Shinigami gave to it.
The Shinigami managed to get up and crawl over to a telephone pole and lean against it.
"I'm too injured to keep fighting. My partner is too busy healing your brother," she gasped. "Do you want to save your family?"
"Of course I do!" Ichigo replied. "If there's a way, tell me!"
"It'll only be temporary, but you must become a Shinigami yourself..."
The bunned girl looked up at this.
Ichigo looked both confused and surprised.
"You must take my zanpaktou and run it through the center of your being so I may transfer my powers to you, I'm not sure if you'll live or not, but it doesn't work, it won't matter."
Toushirou heard the whole thing. 'Become...a Shinigami?'
The hollow roared again, getting ready to attack.
"I'll do it," Ichigo spoke up.
"Ichigo," Toushirou muttered.
"Don't worry, Toushirou...I'll be just fine. Now, give me that blade, Shinigami."
The hollow was walking toward them.
"You don't have to keep calling me that. My name is Kuchiki Rukia..." Rukia said, smiling.
The hollow was running now. Ichigo grabbed the blade of Rukia's sword.
"And my name is Kurosaki Ichigo."
Ichigo's torso was pierced and there was a bright and great rush and light of reiatsu.
The attacking hollow suddenly had its left arm cut off.
Toushirou's eyes widened. It wasn't the fact that the hollow was finally greatly injured; it was who had injured it. His brother was wearing a black hakama like Rukia's and the other girl's and he was holding a large sword.
Rukia was now wearing a white kimono and the blood she had was visible. 'How is this possible? I meant to give him only half of my powers, but he's taken nearly all of it.'
"This ends right now!" Ichigo yelled anger evident in his voice.
'What kind of being is he?' Rukia asked herself. 'I've never seen a human with this much reiatsu, and I've never seen a Shinigami wield such a large zanpaktou.'
Ichigo managed to cut off the hollow's leg before it could attack again. He watched as the hollow fell over. "You'll pay for hurting my family, you hollow scum. Feel the wrath of my blade!"
As Ichigo sliced the hollow across its mask as hard as he could, and it disappeared for good, Toushirou turned toward the bunned girl. "Kurosaki Toushirou..."
The bunned girl gently smiled before stating her name. "Hinamori Momo..."
Kurosaki Ichigo: 15 years old
Hair Color: Orange
Eyes: Brown
Occupation: High School Student and...
SHINIGAMI
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A/N: Review, please! I hope this chapter answers most, if not all, of your questions!