Two hours later...

"So, what's the problem with you friends? I'm not trying to say it in a harsh way or anything," Danny asked as he looked up at the tranquil, azure sky.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked as he turned to face him. Both of the boys were sat down on the grass near the park. The day had been warm and silent. Well, mostly silent – about an hour ago another hollow had attacked, but it wasn't long before they had destroyed the disastrous demon and returned to their daily activities.

"It's just that whenever they're around me... I feel like if I drop my guard, I will end up being captured."

At Danny's statement, Ichigo's expression became more concerned. His brow was furrowed and his amber eyes glared into the other's. He glared as if to find the answer, though it was obvious the halfa had no idea why. Danny barely knew about the Soul Society and what they plan to do. "I wouldn't be surprised," Ichigo commented. "The whole Soul Society found out about your strange spiritual pressure. So, they sent Rukia and Renji to find it. Once they have their orders, they have to follow them."

The other hero looked around for answers. His azure eyes danced around the vast sky, then fell on the boy once more. He raised his arms in protest before yelling, "can't you stop them or something!"

"Afraid not."

"Why?!"

"Because I'm not even a part of the Soul Society; I guess you can say that I'm loosely associated. As a matter of fact, being a Soul Reaper wasn't exactly my life's dream."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned earlier. Although... aren't you their friends? They should listen to y-"

"Look, I can't order them around. They're Lieutenants – Renji under a strict one who would watch his own sister get executed. Took him a good beating from me and Zangetsu, but he got it eventually..." Ichigo said as he trailed off on the last sentence.

"Zangetsu? What's that?"

"Oh, it's my zanpakuto."

"You... you seriously name your zan-what's it?"

"Zanpakuto," the substitute corrected, running a hand through his hair whilst holding back a snicker.

Danny looked over towards him, bewildered eyes falling on the orange-haired teenager. "What?" He questioned, obviously confused at the peculiar behaviour of the boy. "I know I can't exactly say the word but come on..."

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just that we don't name our zanpakuto. They give us their names and we stand by it – unless you're Yumichika, calling your zanpakuto something else. But that's another story."

"They tell you it?"

"Yeah, our zanpakutos tell us their name. You do realise that each one of them have a spirit living inside of it."

"I'm not even going to ask why," Danny said as he rolled his eyes, trying to brush off the fact that swords have spirits. He was so glad he wasn't a Soul Reaper; it was much easier just sticking to being a plain half-ghost half-human hybrid. Even though that wasn't exactly plain.

Time passed quickly as the two had wandered around aimlessly, Danny with his guard up just in case he tried to do anything suspicious. The sun was setting. Beautiful colours had filled the sky with its gracious presence as the calming tranquillity of the said sky washed away their troubles. Today went quite well. Hopefully they could hang out again – it was fun!

"Well, I have to go now," Danny said as he looked up to the sky. "My parents are probably overreacting that a ghost or something had captured me," he continued as he chuckled awkwardly.

"Yeah... my dad usually overreacts too. Looks like ours are similar – hell, I'd even bet they'd get along well," Ichigo commented as he ended his speech with a careless sigh.

"So, bye I guess?" Danny said as he stopped for a moment. Both of the teen's hair flowing in the soft breeze as a chill passed down their spines. Some bad seemed as if it were going to happen – not now, but later on. They brushed the thought off as they decided to part ways without even consulting the other about the abnormal feeling. Maybe it was their imagination? Or maybe not...

Later outside of Danny Fenton's 'temporary' house...

The Fenton boy had arrived outside of his house. The sun had already set, leaving only small traces of its once pulchritude light behind. The rest of the sky was dark, the hour of twilight slowly approaching with each passing second, the pasty moon – making no haste – sluggishly rising. He sighed. Glad to be home, though he couldn't help but seem to think that something weird is going to happen. It was... peculiar. He had never really felt this cautious about anything.

Just as he was about to push the door open, he heard a sword behind him unsheathe. There it came. His ghost sense. Blue-ish mist emitted from his mouth as it rose, he turned around slowly and lifted up his hands above his head. The mentioned limbs straight up without any bends. Yeah, his arms were going to ache soon. He had to make sure he got away, he wasn't going to like this.

As he turned around to face the unwanted presence, he was met with two spirits in black shihakushos. Their eyes were piercing; their expressions were serious. They meant business. "H-Hello?" Danny asked, recognising the faces. 'Rukia and Renji?' He thought to himself. 'Where's Ichigo?' His head twisted slightly in order to see all around him. There was no sign of the orange-haired, tall teen. "Where's the other one?" Danny asked.

"Be quiet," Rukia said as she and the other Lieutenant pointed their swords towards the American.

Wide-eyed and shocked, the other boy took a step back. He was bewildered. If the raven-haired boy went ghost, he could escape! He could get away safely! However, if he tried, they would strike him down; they were ready and expecting everything. Had Danny resisted, he would die. A direct slash to the body was all it would take – let's just hope that it doesn't have to come to that.

"You're going to come with us," Renji said as his sharp, amber eyes were locked onto Danny. "If you resist," he continued as he grinned and slashed the air in front of him quickly, "you'll die."