A/N: Holy Crap. Over 100 Follows. Thank you guys so much! I hope you guys enjoy the new Chapter, and I have an update on the direction this story is going at the end
Chapter 8: I Exist
"Like they say, what's done is done," Kisuke said. He was preparing his people to go out and retrieve the rouge Mod Soul, and was holding a large cylindrical object wrapped in bandages.
"Um, Mr. Kisuke, sir?" Ururu asked nervously, walking up behind him. "I, um, I am so sorry. I know this is all my fault. I hope that you're not mad at me." Kisuke simply chuckled at her words and moved his hand towards her. She instinctively flinched, expecting to be struck, but to her surprise, he placed his hand on top of her head affectionately.
"There's no need to be afraid, Ururu," Kisuke said, crouching down so he was at eye-level with the girl. "We're in this together. So, you made a big mistake." He pulled her into a warm embrace. "I mean, you didn't do it on purpose. Accidents happen. Don't you worry. I'll take care of everything." Ururu couldn't hold back anymore and began sobbing into Kisuke's shoulder. "There, there. It's OK."
"Excuse me, Mr. Kisuke," Tessai said, interrupting the moment. "Everything's ready, sir."
"Good," Kisuke said, letting go of his embrace of the girl in front of him. "Let's collect the merchandise."
"Yes, sir," Tessai responded, bowing politely.
"All right!" Jinta yelled excitedly. He was holding what could only be described as a giant spiked bat. Ururu picked up the large cylinder, and hefted it over her shoulder before the quartet walked out of the store.
The three boys were huddled in fear after seeing a high school kid try to attack them.
"Did you see that?" the kid with glasses asked his friends. "He just jumped from way up there."
The fake Ichigo was standing in the middle of the courtyard, his fists raised. Rukia was running up behind him, but stopped at the sight of seeing the Mod Soul fighting Ichigo.
The Mod Soul kicked at Ichigo's head twice. Ichigo tilted his head to dodge both of them. The Soul Reaper's opponent spun in place and attempted to backhand him, but Ichigo jumped over and behind him. The faker glared at him and growled. This fight was going much differently than their last one.
"If I stay calm," Ichigo said, "I'll be able to predict every move you've got."
The Mod Soul leaped into the air, and delivered a flying kick aimed at Ichigo's head. The Soul Reaper was effortlessly able to duck under it. The Mod Soul continued to kick at him, but Ichigo was able to keep blocking every attack. He was able to grab the faker by the leg, lift him up into the air, and throw him. The Mod Soul landed on his feet, and looked at him nervously. He knew what being caught by a Soul Reaper meant for him, and he couldn't let that happen. He made another incredible leap, and jumped onto an overpass near the school courtyard, making his escape.
"Wait, you!" Ichigo called after him.
"Ichigo, hold it!" Rukia yelled, stopping him in his tracks. She was holding her beeping Soul Pager and staring at the screen. "We have new orders."
"What?" he asked in disbelief. "You have got to be kidding me."
"We've got a Hollow alert here. We have to leave now." Ichigo couldn't believe it. Could this have possibly come at a worse time?
"Right now?" he asked, still looking at where the Mod Soul ran off to with his body.
"Let's move!" Rukia shouted at him. Ichigo grunted in frustration and ran after her.
"Alright you three," the P.E. teacher yelled at the three kids. She was fairly young, with shoulder-length brown hair pinned back. "Why aren't you playing soccer?" She spotted the handheld game console in one of the boy's hands. "Oh, so you were playing video games again?"
"This high school guy just flew down on us and wrecked my game," said the boy with glasses.
"Yeah," the chubby boy agreed. "His hair was bright orange."
"Lying's not going to help," the teacher said. She looked down and saw the broken game lying on the ground. She picked it up and examined it. "Well it is broken all right. I bet you three broke this fighting over it."
The Mod Soul was hopping from rooftop to rooftop, trying to put as much distance between himself and the Soul Reaper as possible.
That really stunk, he thought. Here I was, in a really great mood, having fun, and those three had to ruin everything. That Soul Reaper didn't help, either. A roar in the distance made him stop.
"I sense a Hollow," he said out loud. "It feels like it's going to the school I was just at. Who is it going to attack? It could be those three kids." He remembered the words the kids said. The callous way they suggested killing off their creations and making new ones. He narrowed his eyes and headed back to the school.
"She really pisses me off sometimes, you know that?" Yang said angrily. She and her two friends from Remnant had been searching the city all afternoon for the Mod Soul, but they found no sign of him. Their search had brought them right outside an elementary school. She was still fuming about the argument she had gotten into with Rukia earlier that day. "I can't believe she said that! How could she?"
"We just need to find him before she does," Pyrrha said.
"Easier said than done," Blake said. "We've had no luck so far."
"With his hair color, you'd think we'd have no trouble finding him," Yang said.
"Man, why didn't Miss Ito believe us about that orange-haired guy?" they heard a young-sounding voice say.
"Maybe because we lie all the time?" another voice said. The three girls just looked at each other in disbelief.
"There's no way," Blake said.
"Only one way to find out," Yang said. "Hey! Kids!" She called out, running over to them.
"What do you want?" the boy with glasses asked before he turned around and saw who was talking to them. He and his friends immediately blushed upon seeing the three beautiful older girls standing in front of them.
"You said something about a guy with orange hair, right?" Yang asked.
"Yeah," the boy said timidly.
"We're trying to find him. Can you tell us what you know?"
Rukia's Soul Pager started beeping again. They had been trying to find the Hollow for a while but had no luck so far. Rukia pulled her Pager out of her pocket. She looked at it with a confused expression.
"Hm?"
"What is it now?" Ichigo asked, getting aggravated.
"My Soul Pager," she said, pressing several buttons on it. "There's something wrong with it."
"What?"
"Is the battery dead?" she asked, putting it up to her ear.
"You didn't recharge it?" he asked in disbelief. "Next time, do that instead of ordering Chappy the Rabbit." Rukia put the Soul Pager away in frustration.
"Now I can't figure out where that Hollow is."
"That's just great."
"So he attacked you?" Blake asked the boys.
"Yeah," the boy with the glasses answered. "He just came out of nowhere and wrecked my game. And then he just ran off. And then our teacher caught us trying to skip out on gym class, so she's making us stay to clean the field. This sucks!"
"Well, in all honesty, you do deserve to be punished for skipping class like that," Pyrrha said.
"But I wonder what made him attack them like that," Yang said.
"We can ask him that when we find him," Blake said. "Do you know where he went?"
"He ran onto that overpass and disappeared," the boy with long hair said.
"So, we're right back to square one," Yang said. "Great."
"That's him!" The kid with the glasses yelled, pointing behind the girls. They turned around and saw the fake Ichigo running towards them.
"YOU!" Yang yelled at him. The girls got into fighting stances, not sure what to expect, when all of a sudden they heard a roar above them. They looked up, and saw a Hollow about to descend upon them. It was very large, and looked like a centipede, except it had tentacles instead of legs. The fake Ichigo leaped high into the air and kicked it in the face, knocking it to the ground.
"What's he doing back here?" the chubby boy asked.
"Just stay behind us!" Yang yelled to them. As much as she wanted to beat the Mod Soul to a pulp, she knew protecting the boys was her top priority now. She watched as the Mod Soul roared and charged at the Hollow. It tried to swipe him with one of its tentacles, but he kicked it out of the way before leaping. While in midair, he kicked away another attacking tentacle, but a third one dug into his shoulder, leaving a large bleeding gash. He fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding shoulder in pain.
"What happened?" The boy with long hair asked. "Why is he bleeding?"
The girls didn't answer. They just watched as the Mod Soul leaped out of the courtyard, prompting the Hollow to follow him.
"Are you OK?" Pyrrha asked the boys. They all nodded.
"We'd better get after him," Blake said.
"What's going on here?" they heard a voice say. They turned around and saw what was clearly a teacher running towards them.
"We don't have time for this," Blake said.
"Run!" Yang yelled, and the three girls ran after the Mod Soul and the Hollow.
"What's that?" Ichigo asked. He and Rukia were still looking for the Hollow when they finally saw it flying up to the roof of a nearby building.
"There it is!" Rukia shouted.
"Yeah, I see it." Ichigo took another look, and saw a boy with a head of orange hair getting chased up to the roof by the Hollow.
"He's there, too," Rukia observed.
"That idiot!" Ichigo exclaimed, taking off in a run after him.
"Hold it!" Rukia yelled after his retreating form, but he either didn't hear her or wasn't listening. "Wait, Ichigo! Don't go!"
The Mod Soul currently inhabiting Ichigo's body was standing near the edge of the roof, in front of the fence. He was staring down the Hollow, the blood from his shoulder wound dripping down his arm. The Hollow chuckled at him, the sound low and guttural.
"How rude," the Hollow said to the artificial soul. "You're disturbing my lunch, and we haven't even been introduced. I don't know who you think you are, but you're too weak to take me on." The Hollow lifted itself into the air, and raised a tentacle. The tentacle suddenly extended, headed for the Mod Soul at a speed that would likely impale the body the soul was currently residing in. The Mod Soul jumped over the tentacle, but it changed directions once it hit the ground, causing it to smack him in the back, knocking him down back onto the roof. The tentacle came back around for another pass at him, but it was cut off thanks to the timely intervention of Ichigo. The Hollow reared back, and Ichigo swung his sword hard to flick the blood off of it, a scowl plastered firmly on his face.
"Hey," the Mod Soul said to him. "Why are you helping me?" Ichigo grabbed him by the collar and pulled his face closer.
"Helping you?" he asked angrily. "Do you have any idea what you just did to my shoulder? That's my body that you're messing up. Listen, if you can't take on a Hollow without getting hurt, then don't do it."
"What is your problem?" the Mod Soul started arguing with him. "I only had to fight him cuz you were late! If I'd waited for you, those kids would've been dead meat!" The Hollow was thrashing around in pain.
"Shut up! Aren't you supposed to be some kind of badass Mod Soul?" The Hollow had recovered, and turned to face the two orange-haired teens.
"Time to eat!" the Hollow yelled, charging at them. He was met with the Mod Soul kicking him in the face at the same time that Ichigo slashed his mask in half. The Hollow screamed in pain, and fell backwards. At that moment, the door to roof was opened, allowing Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha to step outside. Ignoring them, the Mod Soul roared and ran after the Hollow, launching himself into the air to kick it the face one more time for good measure. However, his momentum caused him to overshoot the roof and go over the edge. Just before he fell too far, Ichigo reached out and caught his ankle. The girls just breathed a sign of relief at seeing Ichigo catch him.
"You dumbass," he grunted. "What were you thinking when you did that? Once you split a Hollow's head open, it's finished. There was no point in you going and kicking him."
"Now you're telling me that someone was bleeding here and there were girls asking you about him?" they heard the teacher's voice from below them. "You know what I see? Nothing." The three boys were being chewed out by their teacher again.
"But Ms. Ito," the bespectacled boy whined. "This time we're telling you the real truth! I mean it!"
"All right, then," she said. "Show me. Where is this bleeding student and those girls you saw? Let's see them."
"They really were here, honest," the chubby boy said.
"Since you haven't shown me anyone, you'll have to stay after school again tomorrow."
"You know, I almost feel bad for them," Pyrrha said.
"You gonna give me a hand here, or what?" Ichigo asked through gritted teeth. The girls reached down over the edge and helped him pull the Mod Soul back onto the roof. He looked up sheepishly at the four teenagers. And then Yang punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.
"Hey! What the hell?!" Ichigo exclaimed.
"What?" Yang asked. "I've been waiting to do that to him all day."
"Yeah, but I'm the one who's gonna feel that later!"
"Well then, consider us even for this morning," she said, looking at him with a small smile on her face.
"Wouldn't an apology have been enough?"
"Nope," Yang said playfully, putting extra emphasis on the "p".
I gotta make sure to avoid her pissing her off again, he thought.
The Mod Soul was crouched down on the roof, watching a line of ants walk by, absentmindedly rubbing his cheek where Yang punched him. Nobody had said anything for several minutes. Ichigo finally decided to break the silence.
"So why did you save those kids?" he asked the Mod Soul. "I thought you hated them."
"It's hard to explain," the artificial soul said. "If I hadn't helped those kids, they would have been killed. No one should have the right to kill anyone." The others were slightly taken aback by the surprisingly noble sentiment from someone they had previously considered a pervert and nothing else. "Right after I was created, the Soul Society gave out an order. They made an announcement that all Mod Souls should be destroyed immediately. So the very day after I was born, the Soul Society gave me a death sentence." He said that last sentence with pure malice in his voice, and the teens thought it was definitely for good reason. They all chose to stay quiet and let him continue. "I waited. I trembled with fear inside that pill, just waiting to die. Day after day, I watched helplessly as the others were disposed of. Then I got lucky. I got shipped out with a load of goods by mistake. But I always expected to be discovered and destroyed. I was alone for what seemed like years. I had quite a while to think about how things should be. And do you know what I feel? I decided that no one has the right to take someone's life away."
The girls looked down solemnly. While they agreed with what the Mod Soul was saying, they were well aware of the fact that their training as Huntresses also extended to learning how to fight and kill other humans. In fact, they had killed a few White Fang members during the attack at Beacon. They simply listened in silence as he continued.
"I exist, and I should have the right to live my life for as long as I want to. Like humans, I deserve that. So I refuse to take a life. That's the reason why I will never kill any living creature."
The four teenagers were silent, when a new voice rang out.
"Well, look who we have here." The five turned around and saw a blond-haired, middle-aged man in a bucket hat standing on the roof with them. He had three other people with him. A boy, a girl, and a large man. Ichigo had no idea who he was, but the girls recognized him.
"Kisuke?" Yang asked.
"You know him?" Ichigo asked.
"He's the one who gave us our gigais," Pyrrha answered. Kisuke started walking towards the Mod Soul, twirling a cane in his hand.
"So finally we find you," he said to the artificial soul. "And what a picture. You're all beat up and worn out. All that trouble for nothing." He pointed the end of the cane at the Mod Soul's forehead. The others looked at him in confusion as he suddenly thrust it forward. It passed right through the Mod Soul's forehead, and a little green pill popped out of the back of its head. The eyes of Ichigo's body suddenly became lifeless, as the body fell backwards onto the ground. It was quite the disturbing sight. It appeared almost as though they just watched someone die.
"Mission accomplished," Kisuke said as he reached down to pick up the pill. "We're done. Let's go home."
"What?" the boy with Kisuke whined. "Come on! I came here to have a real fight, and that's all I get?"
"Hey, hold it," Ichigo called. "What are you gonna do with that Mod Soul now?"
"No choice," Kisuke said. "I've got to destroy him."
"What?!" Yang yelled.
"You can't!" said Blake.
"That's not fair!" Pyrrha protested.
"Just who are you?" Ichigo asked angrily.
"I'm not sure how to answer that," Kisuke replied, absentmindedly tossing the pill in the air and catching it. However, a hand swiped it out of the air. The hand belonged to Rukia, who was now on the roof with them, without anybody noticing her presence.
"I believe that's mine, thanks," she said.
"Miss Kuchiki, you can't have that."
"And why can't I have it Kisuke?" she asked calmly. "Are you saying that it's your policy to seize goods that your customers have already paid for?"
"Hey, I'll give you a full refund," Kisuke tried to argue with her. "How does that sound to you?"
"That's OK. I'm completely satisfied with my purchase. Besides, we both know that you're operating outside the law. And I also know that it's not your job to recall this Mod Soul." She smirked at him confidently.
"I just hope you know what you're getting involved in," Kisuke said flatly. "Don't blame me if you get into trouble."
"I won't. I've already dealt with a lot of trouble since I've been here." She walked over to Ichigo and handed him the pill. "I think we're done here. You can leave now."
"Fine," Kisuke said. "Let's go." And with that, he and his small entourage left.
Rukia turned to look at the others, and saw that they were beaming at her. "What?" she asked. Suddenly she was swept up into a hug, courtesy of Yang.
"I knew you had a heart!" The blond girl exclaimed, almost crushing Rukia with the force of her hug. She looked at the others. "Come on! Everyone get in on this!"
"That really isn't necessary," Rukia wheezed. "Can't breathe."
"Nonsense," Pyrrha said, joining into the group hug.
"Come on, Blake," Yang prodded. Blake simply rolled her eyes and joined in.
"You too, Ichigo."
"Yeah, I'll pass," he said.
The five teenagers were heading home later that evening. Rukia had stopped back at the school to get her blazer and change Ichigo's classmates' memories. They were walking near a construction site when Ichigo stopped to clutch his injured shoulder in pain.
"You're really feeling it," Rukia observed.
"Sure am," he said. "That Mod Soul really took my body for a pretty rough test drive." He reached into his pocket and pulled out the pill, holding it in his palm. "You tried to wreck me," he said angrily to the pill. Obviously, the pill didn't answer. This only made Ichigo madder. "Hey, are you even listening to me?" The girls looked at him with blank expressions.
"I must say, you look awfully silly yelling at a pill in public like that," Rukia said.
"You don't seriously expect it to answer you, do you?" Blake asked. Ichigo grumbled.
"I still want to tell him how I feel," he said. "Help me out here. Is there a way I can give this damn Mod Soul what's coming to him?"
"You need to insert him into a body," Rukia said. "Either a dead one or one that doesn't have a soul."
"I get it," he said, looking around. "I'm looking hard for a dead body. And when I find it, BAM, is he gonna get it!"
"Oh yeah, I'm sure you'll be able to just find a corpse lying around," Yang said sarcastically.
"Oh, shut up," he said, aggravated. Then something caught his eye. "What do we have here?" Up against a wall next to them was a pile of garbage, and sitting atop it was a stuffed lion doll. He walked up to the doll. "So let me get this straight. You're saying a non-living object could work for this, right?"
"You want to put him in that stuffed animal?" Pyrrha asked.
"How did you get that from what she said?" Blake asked incredulously.
"Technically speaking," Rukia said, looking like she was deep in thought, "the four of us aren't in real human bodies, so I guess it could work."
"Alright," Ichigo said, "so what do I do?"
"I imagine you would put the pill in his mouth."
"You don't seriously think this will work, do you?" Blake asked in disbelief.
"You can't tell me you aren't at least a little curious," Yang said.
"I just know that this is really dumb."
"Like this?" Ichigo asked, putting the pill in the stuffed lion's mouth. He pushed the pill past its lips, but nothing happened. Ichigo picked it up by the arm and dangled it in front of his face.
"Told you," Blake said. Ichigo and the other girls huddled around the lion, staring at it thoughtfully.
"So you got any ideas that might work?" Ichigo asked.
"That should have worked," Rukia said.
"Or you could just admit that it was a stupid idea," Blake said. Ichigo started spinning the stuffed animal by the arm, when it suddenly looked up at him and grabbed his hand to stop him.
"That hurts, nimrod!" the stuffed lion yelled, stunning everyone, especially Blake.
"And you said it wouldn't work," Yang said playfully to Blake, who just grumbled in protest. The stuffed animal pushed off of Ichigo and landed a few feet away from him before striking what he must have thought was a tough-looking pose, pointing at the orange-haired teen.
"Ichigo Kurosaki," he yelled, "I hereby challenge to a no-holds-barred duel!"
"Count me in," Ichigo said, towering over the stuffed animal.
"Hey wait!" the lion said. "When did you grow big? Or did I somehow shrink?" He looked down to get a good look at his new body "What happened? I'm in a super cute plush toy with soft paw pads and no muscle. This isn't fair!"
"Hey Mod Soul, relax," Ichigo said, crouching down to his level. "Time for some payback for what you were doing in my body earlier." He grabbed the lion by the head aggressively. "Your little field trip could have taken me out completely. I need to make you understand."
"Guess I'm just gonna have to mop the floor with you just the way I am!" He started punching Ichigo's arm, only to cause ineffective squeaks.
"Oh, that's right!" Rukia yelled suddenly. "I completely forgot!"
"What?" Blake asked, being surprised by her sudden outburst.
"I got things for the three of you from Kisuke when I got the Mod Soul."
"Aw," Yang cooed playfully. "Presents for us? You shouldn't have."
"How thoughtful of you," Pyrrha said.
"They're not 'presents' exactly," Rukia said. "I got you some weapons."
"Really?" Yang asked, getting a little excited. Rukia reached into her blazer pocket and pulled out a set of brass knuckles.
"I meant to give these to you earlier, but I left them in my blazer and then forgot about them," she said, giving the brass knuckles to Yang.
"Awesome!" the blond exclaimed, sliding them onto her hands. Rukia pulled out two small black cylinders. She handed both of them to Blake.
"What are they?" the Faunus asked.
"Press the buttons on the sides," Rukia said. Blake did just that, and blades extended from the ends of them. She gave a few practice swings.
"Nice," she said. Rukia pulled another object out of her pocket, this time a very short silver cylinder. She handed this one to Pyrrha.
"Same with yours, press the button on the side." The redhead pressed the button, and the cylinder extended to form a long staff. Pyrrha looked at it in appreciation.
"Thank you very much," she said.
"I asked Kisuke to get weapons like that for you so you could easily conceal them," Rukia explained. "Since you seem to keep getting caught up in fights with the Hollows, I figured it would be helpful to get you three some new weapons so you can at least have an easier time defending yourselves if one shows up. Now this by no means gives you permission to go out looking for Hollows to fight. They are just for self-defense. Understand?"
"Yes, mom," Yang said, annoyed. She turned to Ichigo, who was still wailing on the stuffed lion. "Hey, Ichigo. Let me get a few swings in. I want to test out my new toys."
The lion gave a wail of pure despair.
"Hey Ichigo! It's morning! Get up!" The lion yelled. He was standing on top of Ichigo's desk, looking down at his sleeping form. He jumped off the desk and landed on Ichigo's chest. "Rise and shine!" He started throwing ineffectual punches at Ichigo's chin, but the teenager didn't budge. "Don't try to play dead with me, you lazy Soul Reaper wannabe! I know you!" Ichigo's eyes started to flutter open. "I'm warning you, if you don't get your butt out of bed, I'll hide in your backpack and go to school with you! And all the girls will say, 'poor Ichigo is a big baby because he brings his widdle baby teddy to school', and—" He was interrupted when Ichigo grabbed him by the head and lifted him up. Ichigo just glared at him and threw him at the closet door.
"I can't have you starting the day that wound up," he said. "Make like a real stuffed animal and shut up, Kon." The stuffed lion, now dubbed "Kon", rubbed the back of his head and stood up, pointing his paw at Ichigo indignantly.
"And just where did you come up with that name for me?" He demanded.
"We named you Kon because it's short for Mod Konpaku. That means 'Mod Soul'."
"You're not the boss of me! And I want a say in this! Please call me 'Mod' instead," he said, putting his hands together sweetly as he said this. "That sounds like a cooler name, doesn't it? Huh? Plush Bod Mod! Now that's a snappy name!"
"No way," Ichigo said flatly.
"Why not?" Kon asked angrily.
"Because you're right. 'Mod' does sound cool, but there's nothing cool about you."
"You think you can just tell me that I –"
"I will not stand for all this commotion!" Rukia said, throwing open the closet door. She and the other girls were already dressed in their uniforms, and Rukia knew enough to not wear the blazer this time. "I like getting dressed in peace." She jumped out of the closet, and the group heard a squeaking noise and an exclamation of "Ow!". They looked down and saw that she had stepped on Kon's head when she jumped out of the closet. What was worse, he had a clear view right up her skirt. He chose to treat it like it was no big deal and hope she didn't notice.
"I was just telling Ichigo my name should be 'Mod'. Don't you agree? It's better than Kon." Unfortunately for him, Rukia had noticed where his eyes were pointing. She instantly kicked him across the room so hard that he bounced off the opposite wall and went flying back in the direction of the closet, colliding with an unsuspecting Yang. Much to her shock, he immediately began nuzzling his body against her chest. Her eyes turned red, she grabbed him by the head, pulled him off of her, and punched him into the floor, where Rukia started stomping on his face. They were interrupted by a voice on the other side of his bedroom door.
"Knock knock," Yuzu's voice called. "Ichigo, I'm coming in." Ichigo panicked, grabbed Rukia and Kon, and stuffed them back in the closet, closing the door behind them. Yuzu opened the bedroom door and strode into the room.
"I thought you'd like to know that your friends are down—" She stopped when she saw him pressing his body up against his closet door. "What are you doing?"
"Me?" he asked, sweating bullets. "What am I doing? I-I'm doing yoga. You know, stretching myself in new ways. I saw this pose on a bus bench."
"I think the bus in your brain has been gone for a long time," Yuzu said. "By the way, Mizuiro and Keigo are downstairs waiting for you."
"They are?" He asked, grabbing his alarm clock. "Wow! Look at what time it is! I gotta get going quick!" He quickly started to get undressed, despite Yuzu still being present. She averted her gaze.
"Your breakfast is ready, so you'd better get downstairs," she said as she left the room. Once he had his uniform on, he walked up to the window and called down to his two friends who were waiting outside.
"Check it out guys, I just woke up!" he called. "Hang on! I'll be right there!"
"It's all good!" Keigo called back up to him. "We'll see you in a minute!"
"Yeah, take your time!" Mizuiro shouted. "But hurry up!" The boys walked down the street a ways to wait for him around the corner.
"Hey, Rukia," Ichigo said once they were gone, moving away from the window. The door to the closet opened, and Kon fell out, having been pressed up against the door when Ichigo shoved them in.
"What is it?" she asked.
"The memories of my classmates. You erased them again, didn't you?"
"Of course I did," she answered, jumping out of the closet.
"After what happened yesterday, I'd assume that was a given," Yang said. "You really don't want your classmates to remember you coming on to them, right?"
"Damn right I wouldn't want that." He started rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "That was a day I wish I could forget."
But I do feel like I'm forgetting something, the thought. He walked over to his alarm clock and took another look at the time, and paused when he saw the date displayed on it. June 16. The girls had walked over to the other window in his room, and Rukia was getting ready to jump out of it. They had to do this to leave to make sure his family didn't see them.
"We're leaving now, Ichigo," Rukia said.
"See you at school," Pyrrha said pleasantly. He gave no response. He simply stared out the window absentmindedly. "Ichigo?"
"Are you OK?" Blake asked.
"Oh yeah, it's tomorrow," he said quietly to himself. Yang looked at him for a few seconds.
"You guys go on ahead," she said to the other girls. "I'll catch up."
"Alright, just don't take too long," Rukia said. The three remaining girls jumped out the window, leaving Ichigo and Yang alone in the room. She walked up to him.
"Hey, Ichigo," she said. He just continued spacing out. She tried calling his name again. Still no response. She put her hand on his shoulder to get his attention.
"What?" he asked.
"Are you OK?" she asked him.
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"It's nothing."
"Look, Ichigo, I can tell that something's bothering you. Trust me, I know from personal experience that nothing good happens when you don't tell your friends what's bothering you." Her words conjured up memories of her old life in her. She remembered when Jaune refused to tell his friends when he was being bullied by Cardin, and the huge mess that turned into, especially for him and Pyrrha. She remembered when Blake refused to tell her friends about her status as a Faunus, and the blowout that turned into when the truth finally came out in the worst way. And finally, she remembered when Blake allowed her obsession with the White Fang to take over her life and almost ruin her health. She wasn't about to let it happen here. "Come on, you can tell me."
"Nothing is bothering me," he said, clearly growing impatient.
"Why are you lying to me?"
"Just shut up!" he yelled suddenly, taking her by surprise. "Why the hell can't you just mind your own damn business for once?"
Yang was taken aback by his sudden outburst. After a few seconds, she simply glared at him and stormed off, jumping out of the window and leaving Ichigo all alone.
"Excuse me, Tatsuki," a girl called. Her name was Michiru, and she had short brown hair, with her bangs held up with a red "X"-shaped hairpin. She was holding a large sketch pad in her hands. "You take art class, don't you?"
"Yeah," the girl in question responded. She was sitting at her desk, and Orihime had pulled up a chair to sit next to her.
"So did you do our assignment, the one that was on our future?"
"How we see ourselves in the future, you mean?" Tatsuki asked.
"Can I see yours?" Michiru asked. "I drew one, but it's not very good."
"Sure," Tatsuki said, reaching into her bag and grabbing her sketch pad. She flipped it open and revealed a very well-done drawing of herself as a boxing champion.
"Wow," Michiru said. "You did a great job."
"That's me," Tatsuki said proudly. "It shows how I'm going to be the first female Vale Tudo champion.
"This is awesome," the other girl said dejectedly. "My drawing looks so lame, I don't even want to show it to any of you." She looked to the strawberry-blond next to Tatsuki. "So Orihime, can you show me what you drew?"
"I'd love to," she said cheerfully. "I'm glad you asked to see it, because secretly, I'm very proud of what I did."
"Great! I can't wait to see it!" Her enthusiasm was greatly diminished upon actually seeing what Orihihime drew. For some strange reason, the girl drew herself as a giant robot with tank treads instead of legs, claw hands, and missile launchers in her chest. She was evidently in the middle of a rampage, as she was positioned in front of a burning city.
"Ta-da!" Orihime yelled happily. "I'll have a velocity of 240 miles per hour! A 20,000 degrees Celsius flame thrower will shoot from my mouth, and my eyes will project destruction beams!"
"Orihime, what have you done? You'll get detention for that!"
"Come on, it's not that bad," she argued. Just then, she saw Ichigo walk into the classroom, his scowl deeper than it usually was. Right behind him were Rukia, Yang, Blake, and Pyrrha. "Hey, good morning, Ichigo!" He stopped walking, and turned to look at her.
"Hi, Orihime," he said with a smile on his face. "How's it going?" Everyone was shocked, except for Yang, who just looked at him angrily.
"What's up with Ichigo?" Michiru asked. "He never says 'Hi' or acts friendly with anyone. It's really strange. It's almost like he's in a good mood." Orihime wasn't paying attention, and was just staring blankly at Ichigo.
"Trust me," Yang spoke up. "He is definitely not in a good mood."
"What do you mean?" Tatsuki asked.
"This morning, I noticed something was wrong with him, but I when I asked, he yelled at me to mind my own business." Tatsuki looked thoughtful for a few seconds.
"Hey, Michiru," she called, "What's the date today?" The girl checked her watch.
"It's June 16."
"I knew it." They could hear Ichigo laughing, and looked at him goofing around with Chad, Mizuiro, and Keigo. "Yang's right. He's definitely not in a good mood today."
"Tastsuki?" Orihime said.
"Don't worry about it. I know why he's acting like this. And I'll bet you tomorrow, Ichigo's going to skip school altogether." The bell rang, so the students got into their seats to start class.
"I put up a sign saying we'll be closed tomorrow," Isshin said to his three kids. They were having a family meeting to discuss their plans for tomorrow. "Time for our meeting. First order is to go over everyone's jobs for tomorrow. And as chairman, I have final say in all decisions!"
"As if," Karin protested, standing up from her seat. "What kind of a meeting is this, and who made you chairman?"
"Hey, hey," Isshin said sternly, pointing at her. "You must raise your hand if you wish to speak, Chief of Staff!"
"Hold on," Karin said, pointing to herself in disbelief, an uncharacteristic sparkle in her eyes. "I'm Chief of Staff?"
"Yuzu," their father said, pointing to his other daughter, "you have been appointed to be Secretary of Lunch."
"Aye Aye, Chairman!" Yuzu said, giving her father a salute.
"Karin, you will load our packs." She instantly snapped out of her stupor.
"I thought I was Chief of Staff," she said angrily.
"Did I say 'Chief of Staff'? I meant 'Chief of Stuff'."
"Oh, come on!" she protested.
"Now, off to bed! That's an order!"
"We need to talk about your behavior today," Rukia said to him. She was already in the pajamas she stole from Yuzu, and was standing in front of the closet with her arms folded in front of her sternly. The other girls were sitting in their bunks in the closet, also in their pajamas. Ichigo knew since he snapped at Yang earlier that he'd have to discuss this, so he had been avoiding them all day. Since they were staying in his room, he couldn't dodge it any longer. He kept his back turned to them as they spoke.
"You've been acting weird all day," Pyrrha said worriedly. "We can tell that something's up."
"And you've been flat out rude to me," said Yang, irritated. Blake said nothing.
"Just based off of what I heard at your meeting, I would normally think you were just skipping school to go on a family picnic or something, but your abnormal behavior tells me something is wrong," Rukia said. Ichigo sighed.
"Fine. I'll tell you. We're not going on a family picnic. We're going to the cemetery."
"Why?" Blake asked.
"Because tomorrow is the anniversary."
"Huh?" the girls were confused.
"It's the anniversary of my mom's death," he said. The girls were silent. He turned around to face them. "Actually, it's the day she was killed."
It had started to rain over Karakura. Orihime watched it fall from the window. The conversation from earlier that she had with Tatsuki kept playing over and over in her mind.
Why is it that the rain makes me want to cry? She thought. Sometimes I wish I were the rain so I could touch people and feel their feelings, and maybe connect with their hearts. Maybe then, I might be able to understand his pain.
Ichigo was dreaming. Dreaming about that day in the rain. Walking home with his mother near the river. Seeing that dark-haired girl by the river bank. He watched himself run towards her.
"No, don't go," he said out loud, clutching his head. He watched himself run down the embankment towards the river. He heard his mother try to stop him. And the next thing he saw was his mother's bloodied corpse on top of him.
"Why did I do it?" he asked in his sleep. "Why did I go?" The girls were listening from inside the closet, and they could only listen and guess at what his words could possibly mean.
Elsewhere, a Soul Reaper with short black hair was playing with spinning tops with a large group of kids. He was cheering for his own top, when it got launched out of the ring.
"I lost!" he lamented.
"Yeah! I did it!" the boy who defeated him exclaimed.
"Good job!" said a girl next to him.
"One more time, OK?" the Soul Reaper asked. "I bet I won't lose this time." The kids started to laugh, but then the Soul Reaper noticed someone approach him. Judging by his Shihakusho, he was another Soul Reaper, but this one was wearing a black cloth mask that only left his eyes revealed. He was staring at the masked man, when one of the kids got his attention.
"Is something the matter, mister?"
"Uh, I forgot about something I need to attend to," he said to the kids.
"So tell me, who is it today?" the Soul Reaper asked the masked man. They had taken their discussion to a nearby alleyway for some privacy.
"Rukia Kuchiki, from Squad 13," the masked man answered.
"Kuchiki," the Soul Reaper confirmed. "What offense has that young lady committed?"
"She has stayed for far too long in the human world." The Soul Reaper chuckled.
"Is that all?"
"I wouldn't be talking to you if that were all. There's something else going on out there. Find out what it is."
"So are you saying I can get rough if I have to?"
"Take care of it, quickly," the masked man said, walking away from him.
"I will. Rukia Kuchiki."
To be Continued…
A/N: I actually planned to have Rukia give the girls their weapons last chapter, and then remembered that I had her take off her blazer. So, in order to avoid a plot hole, I had to save the reveal of their new weapons until this chapter.
Before I get to the announcement, I just want to say to RinneItachi: Thanks for all the reviews! Glad you're enjoying the story!
So, here's the plan for the next few chapters. The next two will be Ichigo dealing with Grand Fisher. I'm planning on some character development snd possibly some relationship-building, too. The chapter after that will be focused on the RWBY characters. They will not be accompanying Ichigo and Rukia to the filming of Don Kanonji's show. Instead, they will be exploring Karakura, and might get into a little bit of trouble. So, I would like to ask you guys: What would you like to see out of the RWBY girls going out for a night on the town. I would prefer you to PM me with your recommendations, though, so other people can't see them. I'll look through any that I get and put something together. Hopefully It'll be something you guys really enjoy.
I really can;t thank you all enough for the support. It really means a lot to me. Thank you all. I'll see you guys next time. Thank you for reading.