"Hello?" The small voice asked from behind them. A long shadow trailed down the alleyway, the boy's shadow passing the two teenagers as they stared down before snapping around to meet the boy. He was short, young and his eyes glimmered like diamonds. His hands were trembling slightly and it felt as if butterflies were fluttering in his stomach. He shakily spoke, "do you need somewhere t-to stay?"

Rapidly turning around, the two teens faced the boy, though they were a short distance away. He was a short boy, even though his shadow made him look sinister, relentless and looming. The boy had short, black hair that glowed due to him being a soul. It was perfectly flattened, not one spike appeared, nor were there a hair out of place. Sparkling eyes stared up at them, pearly white teeth seemed to tremble along with the small speaker's fingertips. Ichigo grinned. "Of course I would," he commented as he placed his seemingly large (in comparison) hand down onto the boy's frail shoulder.

"I think you might be scaring him," Daniel said as he stood behind the Soul Reaper. Ichigo wanted to make a comment about that – not a pleasant one either – though he noticed that the boy was actually quite terrified of the two. His eyes were a waterfall, ready to release and unload. Though, arguably, they were like a volcano with the way it looks to suddenly erupt at any moment.

"You're right, I'm sorry, kid," Ichigo continued as he took a step back. The boy shuffled his feet, awaiting the reply from the two in front. "What's your name?"

"S-Soichiro," the boy spoke out silently. Then he went back to being deafeningly silent.

"My name is Ichigo, that's Danny. To answer your question, we do need somewhere to stay. If you have anywhere, then please allow us."

The boy gesticulated 'yes' with his head and took a pace back leading them out of the shadowed hell they would have had to sleep in if not for this young boy. The two trailed behind him. As they sauntered along, they came across a row of buildings, most of them had been abandoned and destroyed – or so it looked from its dishevelled appearance. The sky seemed to frown down at the whole scenery before the three as they came to a stop at an ancient, one-story, half-demolished building. Behind the building was a miniature farm which looked to be almost empty – used, but it looked like it had been completely forgotten. The whole area around them looked irrecoverable.

"This where you live?" Danny asked, contemptuously, gasping as he felt a sharp pain in the side of his stomach. He gazed up to find an irritated Ichigo who just shook his head and looked at the American in cynicism. "Oh, sorry," he then maundered.

Without a word, the boy ambled up to the door; the others followed. Turning the handle, he then pushed to open the rusty door which revealed its contents. Truth be told, its appearance wasn't as bad on the inside. However, both outside and inside contrast slightly. As the group walked in, the boy half-yelled, "I'm home, mother. I have guests too that can help us!"

A short gasp of relief was heard from one of the rooms, Ichigo, Soichiro and Danny walked in to find Soichiro's mother reading a crumpled, outdated newspaper. The woman grinned at the group and said, "I'm Soichiro's mother, it's nice to meet you all."

"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki, that's Danny Fenton, nice to meet you too Ms...?"

"Ms Nagase, please," she insisted as she continued with her beam which shone as bright as the sun, illuminating the dimly lit house with her sweet smile. The woman gently pushed her delicate hazel-hair behind her ears in order to read the mentioned newspaper better. "The guest room is round the back," she gestured. "Please stay as long as you like."

"Thank you." Ichigo and Danny thanked as they bowed slightly, smiling back at the old woman. Leaving the area, the two boys ventured on where Ms. Nagase had indicated. As they reached the back of the house, Ichigo (with Daniel behind) opened the door cautiously – just in case of traps. Opening the door, the two braced themselves, they were weary. Completely exhausted. Continuing on through the room, their eyes were slowly adjusting to the ominous room around them. The ghost-boy and Soul Reaper wandered to what seemed to be the middle of the room, the darkness suddenly vanished as a dim light flickered on, one of them pulling on a rope to trigger the cause of the sudden luminous light.

"So I guess this is where we'll be staying tonight," Ichigo said as he scanned the area. Two small bed-like structures laid on the floor. There were two torn mattresses which were half-filled. Wool had flown out and had scattered all over the floor, it looked like it had been completely mauled by a malevolent monster.

"Yeah..."

The duo trudged over to their 'beds' and unhurriedly climbed onto them. They were careful not to destroy them even more.

Morning had arrived. The shining sun smiling and radiating its intense rays upon the tiny house as movement in the guest room could be heard, two figures leisurely moving towards the door, ready to leave the area and move on to the Senkaimon. Ichigo and Danny will most likely end up in a confrontation with the Captain's, however if things get worse, the orange-haired substitute will have to end things quickly.

As they exited the house, the two saw the mother of the boy working in the minuscule field. It looked as if the woman was struggling as the boiling rays of heat pounded against her skin.

"You need any help?" Ichigo asked as he walked over towards her.

She turned around, giving a fake smile towards them, trying to assure that she was fine. "Oh no, it's fine. You two can hurry on to your destination."

"No, we can farm too, so we'll help – it's the least we can do after your kind act."

Ms. Nagase stood in bewilderment for a moment. She considered the offer for a moment before agreeing. Allowing the boys to help her out with her crops. "One of you can harvest, the other one can plant. The seeds are just in this small container." The speaker pulled out a small container of which had contained a few small seeds which were pointed at the top and circular at the bottom.

"Alright."

Quickly, Ichigo took the sharp sickle from the lady's hands and sliced down all wheat, whereas Danny rapidly planted the seeds. Due to the small size in the field, the duo had managed to finish within a few minutes, finally giving the remaining tools to the perplexed mother who just stood there in shock. A few hours work was done in only a few minutes. "That was surprising," she just commented, watching the two walk away into the distance.

"Well, now our strength has returned and we're not as tired any more, we can finally return to the Soul Society and get you home," Ichigo said as he sighed. They turned to face each other then glanced at each other.

"This place gets stranger and stranger."

"Yeah – but I didn't expect that; I rarely even go to those places. Although I have to say saving people is what I do, so yeah. It's going to get weirder."

Please vote on my poll if you read my other crossover story :D