TR: Holy cow! I know it's taken forever but chapter four is finally here! For those of you who also read my other stories I would just like to say that I'm very sorry and I haven't abandoned anything, I've just had major writes block and no time to push through it really. I still don't own anything but the idea, and for future reference, any time I have Ogichi speaking it will be in bold.
The mess of people gathered at the street courts regarded Ichigo and his companions silently for just a moment before picking back up right where they had left off. In one corner Ichigo could see Ikkaku picking a fight with four boys from Rikkai, while Yumichika was getting in a shouting match with a bunch of players from Hyoutei. Up in the stands, two boys in Fudomine jackets were valiantly trying to defend the girl with them from a red headed boy wearing a Yamabuki jacket. Deciding that the situation in the stands needed to be dealt with first, Ichigo turned in that direction.
Before he could take the more than two steps, Ichigo saw something that made his blood boil. The red headed boy was grabbing the girl's hand, trying to pull her away from her seat. As Ichigo picked up his pace to intervene, five blurs rushed past him. Watching in almost shock as he continued moving, he saw Tachibana and Yuuta tackle the red head while Kamio and Momo fussed over the girl and Shinji began to talk to the two boys. Not wanting to see his players cause bloodshed on his first official day as their coach, Ichigo pulled Yuuta and Tachibana off of the red head. As he pushed the Yamabuki student behind him, Ichigo had to throw his hands up to push Tachibana back so the Fudomine student couldn't get to the boy behind him.
"Sengoku you bastard! Keep your damn hands off of my sister." Tachibana growled as he felt someone grab him from behind. Hisagi had grabbed the teen in an effort to help Ichigo get a handle on things.
"Don't you understand the word no? An-chan obviously didn't want to go with you, so what the hell gives you the right to ignore that?" Kamio raged. Renji was doing his best to restrain the speedster and Momo while Rukia checked on An.
"Mou, I guess today isn't very lucky after all. Here I was hoping to have lunch with a pretty girl, but I guess I'll just have to look elsewhere for a cute date today."
Of course during this exchange, four individuals had been overlooked and were thus unguarded. Not caring one bit for Sengoku Kyosumi's attitude, Shinji and the other three boys tackled the red head as a team. Ichigo didn't notice until it was too late, so the best he could do was to pull the boys off one at a time. Once Sengoku was free of the Fudomine dog pile, the red head opted to use his brain and run for it while he still had the chance.
Ichigo ignored the two boys he didn't know temporarily to focus on the five that he did. Feeling his control over Ogichi slip, he gladly allowed his eyes to shift and his voice to distort. "What the hell were you thinking? Do you want to get kicked off the team? I have two sisters; I get the whole overprotective thing. But here's the deal, he isn't worth me having to kick you off the team. So I suggest you five take some chill pills and calm the hell down NOW!"
Relaxing in Hisagi's arms and leaning back into the Shinigami, Tachibana looked at the four second years that had charged at Sengoku with him. Yuuta, Shinji, Momo, Kamio, and Tachibana himself all shared a look that clearly said, "Let's not piss Sensei off. Ever." Feeling the arms that had been restraining him release, Tachibana was about to apologize to Ichigo for how he and his kohai had acted when he felt a palm connect rather sharply with the side of his head. Reaching a hand up to rub at the impact sight, Tachibana supposed he shouldn't have been too surprised to see his little sister shaking one hand with a grimace.
"Onii-chan, you are such and idiot sometimes. I love you, and it's sweet how protective you are of me, but I'm a big girl. Dad didn't pay for all those self defense lessons for me for nothing, you know that better than anyone." Tachibana winced, even the memory of being her practice dummy hurt. "We had the situation completely under control. Honestly Onii-chan, with how protective the whole team is of me, do you really think that Uchimura-kun and Mori-kun would have let Sengoku walk away without a scratch?"
"You're right An, I'm sorry. Would it help if I told you what the meeting I was at this morning was about?"
An narrowed her eyes in thought. Just because she adored her brother didn't mean she was incapable of being mad at him. "Don't think that distracting me will make me forget about this incident Onii-chan. However, I'll forgive all five of you if you tell me about the meeting."
"We're going to be on the national Junior Olympic tennis team, and we want you to come along as part of the support staff." Momo blurted out quickly. He had seen what happens when An gets mad, and the trickster of Seigaku had no desire to see such things again in the near future.
"Really? That's fantastic guys! Do I really get to be on the support staff? That would be so cool." An squealed with glee as she began to bounce up and down.
Scuffing the toe of his shoe against the pavement, Uchimura looked up at Tachibana from beneath the bill of his cap. "Ano, Tachibana-san, what about Mori and me? And what about Fudomine?"
Tachibana smiled at his two kohai. "Uchimura, Mori, I am trusting the two of you with a very important task. I'm counting on the two of you to take care of Fudomine and build a team that is strong enough to win nationals. The Junior Olympic games won't be for almost a year, but even if they weren't I would still be moving on to high school, so it is very important that you do this."
"We won't let you down, Tachibana-san." Mori said with a grin. He was happy that Tachibana thought so highly of them both.
"Well this is all great and very touching, but what the hell are you doing here Ichigo? Shouldn't you and Orihime-san be in school in Karakura? I mean at the very least you should be in Seireitei doing your paperwork and looking after your squad. It's not fair to unload all of your work on poor Kira-kun you lazy ass strawberry." Abarai Renji looked scornfully at the teen in front of him.
"Don't even start with me Renji, the third is two months ahead on paperwork, and I did most of it myself so I could learn how to fill out those damn forms. I'm here because I was asked to coach the Junior Olympic boy's tennis team in preparation for the games that are going to be held in Karakura next summer. Oh, and since I told you I would let you know how I know Kaoru, the fact is he is my cousin and Ryoma is my unofficial little brother. Is that everything I said I would tell you Shuuhei?" Ichigo had turned to face the dark haired man as he tried to figure out if he had forgotten anything.
"Let me get this right, you took one of the squads hit worst by the war and got it not only back into rotation in record time, but you're two months ahead on the paperwork? Not even Kuchiki-Taicho or Ise-san are that good, and they are damn good!" Hisagi exclaimed in shock.
"I've also been going to school and getting my tennis back up to par so I can coach well." Ichigo commented off-handedly.
Yuuta gaped at the orange haired boy in front of him. He was about to speak up and ask Ichigo a question, but An blurted it out before he had a chance. "Sensei, when do you sleep?"
Meanwhile, over with Ikkaku, the bald brawler was having a great time pissing off the four boys in front of him. The tall one in the black cap had a temper to rival Ichigo's, and the little one seemed to have some spunk to him as well. The only one that Ikkaku wasn't crazy about was the brunette with the closed eyes, that kid's expression reminded Ikkaku far too much of Ichimaru. Oh how he wished it were legal to kill mortals with high reiatsu to refill the ranks, Ikkaku knew the four around him would make great Shinigami. Admittedly, he had made sure not to piss off the blue haired boy too much. There was just something about that kid that reminded Ikkaku of Unohana-Taicho, and in a fairly scary way too.
"Aw come on, don't tell me you boys are too chicken to challenge me? I'll tell you what; we'll use bokken instead of live blades so you don't have to worry about getting cut. C'mon, what do you sa-ow!" Ikkaku reached up to rub the back of his head where Ichigo had hit him. Really, he could have sworn the team was over on the other side of the courts by the bleachers. Turning to glare at Ichigo, the third seat actually felt himself want to back down and not fight the teen. Ikkaku did not like that sensation one bit.
While Ikkaku fought an inner battle with the last few dredges of his sense of self-preservation, Sanada took the chance to speak up. "Konnichiwa, Kurosaki-senpai. When did you return to Tokyo?"
"Eh? You know him Fukubuchou?" Akaya asked as he looked up at the tall teen in confusion.
Before Sanada could answer his kohai, Ichigo opted to give his reply. "Yo, Genichirou, I see you've grown quite a bit. I'm actually only in town temporarily to pick up the Junior Olympic team." Turning to Yukimura and Yanagi, Ichigo greeted both boys genially. "How are you both doing? I heard about your illness Yukimura-kun, I'm glad your doing much better now."
Bowing lightly to the older boy, Yukimura smiled as he answered Ichigo. "Thank you very much Kurosaki-san, I appreciate your concern. Are you playing on the Junior Olympic team again this time?"
"No, I'm actually going to be the coach this time around." Ichigo shrugged his tennis bag a little farther up onto his shoulder before turning to introduce himself to Akaya. "Hey, I'm Kurosaki Ichigo. I know Genichirou from tennis, which is how I know Yukimura-kun and Yanagi-kun, but I also studied Kendo from Genichirou's grandfather."
Before Akaya could respond and introduce himself, Sanada cut in. "So who all is on the Junior Olympic team this time Senpai?"
Ichigo cringed inwardly; he knew Sanada wasn't going to like the answer. "Well, nine kids from Seigaku and six from Fudomine. And yes, I did pick them myself. You and the rest of Rikkai are really good, but I picked players that I can actually teach things to."
"I see. Well then, I suppose that we'll just have to wish you all luck then." Yukimura said with no small sense of disappointment. Turning around to leave, the blue haired teen bid farewell to Ichigo and Ikkaku, leaving his three teammates to hurry to catch up to him.
"Well then, now that I've pissed off Yukimura-kun and by extension the rest of his team, let's go save Hyoutei from Yumichika." Ichigo clapped Ikkaku on the shoulder with semi-false cheer in his voice as he turned.
"Hold on, Kurosaki-senpai. I was wondering if I could ask a favor of you." Sanada called out as he jogged back toward the two Shinigami.
"Genichirou? I thought you were following Yukimura-kun. What can I do for you?"
"Play a match with me. Seiichi will be fine; in fact he would have stayed if he didn't have a doctor's appointment to get to. Before you take your team away for training I want one match with you." Sanada had taken his trademark hat off to look Ichigo in the eye.
"Ok, but we do it as doubles. And I want you to play on a team with Atobe. I've seen the videos of you two from the invitational tournament." Ichigo looked Sanada in the eye, letting the younger boy know just how serious he was.
Huffing in irritation, Sanada tugged his hat back on harshly as he agreed to the condition before heading to get the diva for the match.