Hey.

Chapter 4:

Ash's eyes opened slowly. A bright light above his head made him wince. He tried to stand up but felt a gentle cat's tail rub on his forehead.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." The cat said in its mysteriously deep voice. The feline fully expected for the boy to be extremely shocked at the idea of a talking cat, but was disappointed when all the boy did was sigh heavily.

"Where is Tōshirō?" He asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm right here Ash." The calm, cool Tōshirō spoke for in the corner. Ash turned his head slightly to the right to see his brother propped up on a series of pillows. "How do you feel?"

"I'm fine but my body aches badly. What happened?" Ash asked as he once again tried to sit up. This was a bad idea. He felt as though his whole body got hit by a bus twice and then the bus parked on top of his ribs. He wanted to scream but bit down on my lower jaw as hard as he could to suppress the loud noise.

After Tōshirō explained what happened to them with very notable pain in his voice. "That's what happened. We've been out for about three days now." He added at the end with his voice void of emotion. Ash's eyes widen heavily to the news but accepted it nonetheless.

"You two are unbelievable. First you beat all those bullies at school, then you somehow noticed that we were watching you. But the most impressive thing is that you hurt a hollow with that much power." The cat stated with a proud and interested tone. Both brothers were extremely shocked to discover that this cat had been the one watching them, but that one answer brought up many more questions.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions but we need two more people to be here." The feline smirk. Right on cue, Ichigo Kurosaki barged in the room. The very second all three locked eyes, an understanding was reached.

"Don't tell Karin and Yuzu." They all said in unison. At that very moment, Ichigo agreed that Ash and Tōshirō are good people. Ash turned to the cat for an explanation of some kind but then another man came in.

"Hat n' clogs!" Ichigo exclaimed immediately.

"Yes, yes it's me. Now enough with the formalities. We have business to discuss."

-Several Hours Later-

As the boys somehow found the strength to walk home, they both constantly kept repeating the message Kisuke Urahara had relaid to them. 'You three have an incredible amount of power for humans. So much so that you'll be a target for hollows. While you two can probably kill a lower level hollow pretty easily, they won't always be weak.'

They remembered his greedy grin. 'But I can help you with that. It's your choice. Do you want to keep your abnormal power or get rid of it?' His grin all but disappeared as soon as this question was asked. This got the boys thinking.

Should we endanger our friends or lose our very rare gift?

Tōshirō had to admit that they latter was very selfish but…..but…..

He honestly couldn't find a reason why he should be. And with a quick glance at Ash, he could see that he came to the same conclusion. But before he could voice his question, they arrived at home.

"Home sweet home." Ash said with a heavy sigh. It had been a very long, painful few days for e and Tōshirō. All he wanted to do was roll over and die. But apparently it took a lot to kill him, so that option was gone. With a quick look at the clock, they quickly realized how late it was and decided to lock up and head to bed for school tomorrow. "Damn. How do we explain these bandages to Karin and Yuzu?" He said with another deep sigh and a look at his taped up left arm.

Tōshirō groaned in annoyance, him completely forgetting about his female friends. "We'll just wing it." He said in a completely exhausted tone. "If they ask, just change the subject. That's what I'll do."

"Good idea."

-The Next Day-

Arriving to school later than usual, the boys; well Ash chose to make a dramatic entrance. He ensured that the Kurosaki twins were in class and quickly thought of an excuse. But sadly Tōshirō ruined his plans and just walked it. But Ash managed to look at calm as normal.

"Hey everyone." Tōshirō said like he hadn't just miss the last four days of school. Karin's eyes widen tremendously, as did Yuzu's but for different reasons. Ash walked in shortly afterward with his usual lazy look and messy hair, looking as calm as ever.

No one said anything as everyone just stared at the boys as well as their multiple bandages for a brief moment to gain everyone's attention. But this failed as everyone just continued to stare blankly at the brothers.

"Welcome back boys. Take your seats, class is about to begin." She said sternly. Ignoring the young woman's tone, the boys went to their seats rather hastily to avoid being the center of attention.

Whilst he was walking past Karin, Tōshirō slipped her a small blue paper. She took it silently and waited for the teacher to turn her back to read its contents. The very instant she felt she was clear, she flipped it over.

'Both of you meet us on the roof at lunch.' Was all the note said in Tōshirō's impeccably perfect handwriting. She thought about passing in to Yuzu but the girl kept staring at the door in shock. She hadn't expect to see that boys today, nor in the state the currently were in. Karin watched as her twin slowly became more alert of her surroundings and slowly resumed class.

This whole day just got a whole lot more interesting.

-On the roof-

"Why'd you call them? I thought you didn't want them to know." Ash asked with mild curiosity.

"I thought about and it would be much quicker if we tell them now. Otherwise they'll keep bothering us." Tōshirō said with a small smirk. Ash began to chuckle a bit at that and began staring off in the distance.

"That wouldn't be so bad would it?" He asked somewhat seriously. Out the corner of his eye he saw Tōshirō blush very slightly before regaining his indifference.

"No it wouldn't. So what's your choice? Keep the power or give it up?" Tōshirō quickly said to change the subject.

"Keep it." His younger brother said without hesitation. The white haired teen gave a rare smile before nodding in agreement.

"You and me both."

Their small banter continued for a few minutes before the Kurosaki twins arrived. The brothers honestly expected the girls to be rather upset at them for suddenly vanishing and returning with injuries but they weren't. They were more concerned than anything.

Karin saw the confusion on the battered boys faces and got annoyed. "Don't tell me you expected us to be mad?" She said in a low, warning tone. Both boys looked at the floor rather intently and said nothing. "Tōshirō get over here." She commanded.

While Tōshirō was approaching his inevitable doom, Yuzu walked up to Ash. Before Ash could think, Yuzu had gave him a warm embrace. His eyes widen slightly and he gasped from the pain. Despite the physical pain he was going through right now, he decided to let the shy girl hug him for a few moments longer. After they broke their hug, Yuzu looked him dead in the eye.

"What happened to you guys?" She said quietly. "I hate seeing my friends so hurt."

Ash was about to answer before he glanced at Tōshirō, whom appeared to be being hugged by the other Kurosaki. 'Hmm. It's almost like they planned this.' He thought. But the second Karin released Tōshirō, she glared furiously at them both.

"Now that that's over. Talk." Karin commanded once more. "And we only did that because you are our friends and, believe it or not, we care about your well being." She said in an unfamiliar tone. Both boys chose to ignore the sudden shift and got back to the main reason they were there.

"We kind of got into an accident. On the walk home, a drunk driver swerved and hit us. The doctors said it's a miracle that we're alive now." Tōshirō lied smoothly. Karin's eyes widen and Yuzu gasped. "We're sorry if we concerned you." He finished honestly.

"No need to apologize. Just be glad you're both ok. Did you ever find out who was it that hit you two?" Yuzu asked in her all to innocent voice. Ash didn't say anything, just shook his head. The bell rang shortly after that and Tōshirō beckoned for everyone to follow him to class, which they did but not after Ash narrowed his eyes on a black cat watching them from a nearby roof.

'Seriously?' He mouthed. The cat simply nodded and continued to stare directly into Ash's ruby eyes. He felt himself cringe a bit from the gaze but quickly rushed to class. Well not rush, but walk slightly faster than he usually did.

-After School-

"Well we have to go. Lots of work to catch up on." Ash said with a yawn. The Kurosaki twins were just done saying their goodbyes before one Isshin Kurosaki suddenly appeared. He looked as joyous as ever but also a bit edgy.

'Wow. Ichigo wasn't kidding. They have to power of a Fifth seat as humans." Isshin thought deeply. But he was so deep in thought however that he forgot he was smiling and just stood there smiling for the floor for about two minutes before be caught himself. 'They look so cute together.'

But almost as though Karin could read his mind, she kicked him in the chest. "Let's go!" She bellowed. Wasting little time, he quickly snapped out of his daze and hopped in the car.

"Bye sons!" He shouted out the departing brothers causing them to blush slightly in unison. Yuzu's face became bright red as did Karin's cheeks as Isshin laughed heartily.

"So, what is your choice?" The cat said once it appeared in front of the apathetic boys. Studying both eyes intently, the cat noticed the complete calm deep within the red and teal orbs. It gave her memories of a certain emotionless captain, with the worlds best poker face.

"We choose to keep our powers." Ash said casually. He brushed off the cat's chuckle and amused grin and patiently awaited a response.

"I like you two. Now if you want to keep your power, you must know how to control it. Tomorrow is Friday, meet me at the shop at 10:00 sharp. We'll begin your training." Without even waiting for the boys to process the new information, the cat vanished.

Tōshirō and Ash suddenly got a very bad feeling about this.