Ichigo was being followed. It was very subtle and he doubted that a normal human would have noticed, but Ichigo didn't go through a war and not learn a few things, like being able to tell when someone was tailing him. Ichigo used the reflections in the windows of the shops he was passing to study the guy. The reflection was faint, but it was hard not to notice the spiky bleach blond hair. He's been acting like he's been on his cell phone the whole time, but he was definitely following Ichigo. He stayed a exact ten steps behind him the whole time and no one was that perfect when they were absentmindidly texting on their phone.

Ichigo quickly ducked into a small alley and crouched behind a foul-smelling dumpster, waiting for the guy to follow him in. Ichigo could barely see him over the black trash bags as he cautiously enter the alley. The guy cursed at losing him, no longer playing being on his phone, and rushed towards the end of the tiny alley. He probably though Ichigo had made a run for it. Right when he was about to come across him in his hiding place, Ichigo struck. He grabbed the blond by his dark jacket and shoved him into the opposite concrete wall, almost tripping over an overturned silver trashcan in the process.

"Why are you following me?" demanded Ichigo. Wide green eyes looked at him through a few locks of blond fringe and for a second Ichigo was just a little bit worried that he'd maybe been wrong and an innocent bystander of his war-time paranoia wasn't following him. Then the guy smiled, showing off a mouth full of sharp teeth, and cackled.

"You're more interesting than I thought."

Ichigo glared down at the very pointy teenager and demanded again, "Why are you following me?"

"Because you're interesting."

"That doesn't answer my question very well."

"Maybe you'll get a better answer if you get something to eat with me."

Ichigo's eyebrows went up at that. "What?"

"Get something to eat with me."

Ichigo slowly let go of the spiky teen's black jacket after figuring out that he wasn't messing with him. "Sorry, I don't eat with strangers."

"Kurosaki Ichigo. Seventeen. Third year at Karakura High school. Two sister and a father. Karate lessons for two years. Always gets into fights." Hiruma listed off with ease, "I know plety about you. The only stranger here is you."

Ichigo stared hard at him. A lot of what he'd listed off could easily be found out with a bit of snooping, but some of that other stuff, like how he took karate lessons when he was young, only his friends and family knew. Oh, sure there were records, but the dojo he'd attended had been small and without computers at the time. Whoever wanted them would be hard pressed to dig them up.

"How do you know all that?"

"Eat with me and maybe you'll find out."

The two ended up in a small café on the same street their confrontation happened. Hiruma sat sprawled in the uncomfortable metal wire chair while Ichigo rested his elbows on the table, manners be damned. Ichigo could tell the guy in front of him was only acting nonchalent. There was subtle tension running through his entire body. Only his face looked completely relaxed.

"How did you know all that stuff back in the alley?" Ichigo asked.

"Personal sources." Hiruma smirked.

Ichigo ground his teeth together, "If you're not going to give me straight answers, I'm leaving."

Ichigo saw a tiny twitch of the head at that. He narrowed his eyes. For whatever reason, this guy didn't want him to leave.

"Who are you anyway?"

"Hiruma Yoichi."

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Ichigo stopped his fists from clenching, no need to give anything away, " but you already know that." He sat back and crossed his arms, trying to calm himself down. This guy couldn't do anything to him that hasn't been done before during the war. "How do you know me?"

Hiruma sat forward and laced his fingers together on the table, deciding to actually be serious. "Do you remember playing in an American football game a week ago?"

Ichigo gave him a look. "It was only a week ago. Of course I remember it."

"Well, I saw that match. I'm the captain of one of the other football teams and I managed to figure out who the mysterious number fifteen from Karakura was. You've impressed a lot of people. Other players are searching for you to either recruit you or go against you." Hiruma explained.

"And which one are you?"

"Neither. I found you for fun, but the more I found out about you the more interesting you got."

"And?" Ichigo prompted when Hiruma didn't say anything else. Ichigo remained nonchalant when the silence dragged on.

Here, Hiruma was stuck. It was one of the rare times in his life when he didn't want to blackmail someone. He didn't need a puppet. He wanted a… companion? Or the dreaded word, a boyfriend? Hiruma didn't know what the fuck he wanted. Only that he wanted to spend time around Kurosaki and really get to know him. He was a mystery and Hiruma loved a good mystery.

But, Hiruma didn't know how to ask Kurosaki out without sounding like a total freak. He's never asked anyone out, really. He's never needed or wanted to.

Hiruma opened and closed his mouth wordlessly as the waitress brought them their food, giving Ichigo an appreciative glance and Hiruma a slightly terrified one. Ichigo didn't notice or care and Hiruma was used to the looks.

"Well?" Ichigo asked as he dug into his food, "Why did you decide to follow me?"

Hiruma just stared at him as he ate and thought 'Fuck it. I'm already a fool and I'll be a fool any way I go about this.'

"Will you go out with me?"

"Will you go out with me?"

Ichigo choked on the food he was about to swallow and coughed harshly. He flailed for a few seconds and grabbed a glass of water, chugging it, forcing the food down. His airways cleared and he panted, relieved at being able to breathe again.

"What?" he exclaimed, slightly hoarse.

"Will you go out with me?" Hiruma repeated. Ichigo could see that despite him being seemingly composed, Hiruma was nervous. A drop of sweat slid down the side of his face and his fingers couldn't stop fidgeting. Hiruma couldn't meet his eyes.

"I don't even know you!"

"Isn't that what dates are for? To get to know each other?"

Well, that was true, but, "You stalked me!"

Hiruma crossed his arms, "I followed you for five minutes." He was silent for a minute and before Ichigo could say anything else, quietly admitted, "I didn't know how to ask you."

Ichigo could see it took a lot for Hiruma to admit that. He knew that it took a lot of courage to ask someone out, not that he ever has, but he was sure it was doubley more so to ask someone you didn't actually know.

The kid at least looked interesting with his spikey blond hair, pointy ears, and peircings. He'd seen stranger looking in Soul Society. Honestly, Ichigo had never thought of accepting someone's offer for a date.

Ichigo thought as he continued eating. Why shouldn't he go out with the guy? No had ever had the guts to actually follow him around to ask him out. Everyone at school except his friends were still kind of intimidated by him. He knew a few girls have tried, but they never managed to get it out and Ichigo just ignored notes in his shoes locker. Something like this, he believed, should be face to face, like this Hiruma guy was doing. Ichigo really didn't care who asked him out was a boy or a girl. What was important was that he liked them and he liked that Hiruma went after what he wanted and didn't let anything deter him.

Across from him, Hiruma was trying, and succeeding, to keep his shoulders from rising up past his ears. He was pretty good at hiding his reactions and emotions, but Ichigo had learned to read people in battle where a simple shift of the leg could change your opponent's whole attack. But Hiruma wasn't an opponent. Ichigo often forgot that his age mates were still just kids, not war veterans at seventeen like he and his friends were.

In the moment of watching Hiruma (subtly) fidget after just asking someone out, Ichigo thought 'what the hell'. There was nothing to lose. Maybe he'd actually gain something.

"Ok." Said Ichigo.

Hiruma stared at him, his eyes widening slightly. He leaned back in his chair again after a moment, feigning ease when Ichigo could see his pulse jumping in his neck. He didn't say anything, just smirked, which Ichigo ignored.

"So," Ichigo said, setting his plate aside,"What did you have in mind?"