It was about 8AM when Ichigo opened up his father's clinic the next morning; there were customers upon customers but otherwise business was agonizingly slow. His father was nowhere to be found for one thing, he would disappear once in a while then reappear again out of the blue, possibly to check on things but it just irritated Ichigo beyond anything.
Ichigo was going over his textbook as there was no one around the clinic when he heard the door open and the chiming of the bell tied to the top of the door.
"Ichigooooo~!"
Ichigo ducked to avoid his Father's harmonious attacks and glomps upon him, barely looking up from his book but that didn't cease his Father's useless hugs that tightened around him.
"Will you calm down," Ichigo said, pushing his father off of and behind him, which his father reacted dramatically and left the room. Ichigo sighed as he was finally alone...well technically not. He looked up and saw a hue of purple walk around the clinic. He watched and saw a man stand in front of an aisle looking at the jars of over the counter medicines. There were only a fair share of aisles in the clinic and they were fairly small and organized by category.
The man had spiked purple hair and a rat-tail hairstyle that reached his waist. He was dressed in a black cardigan with a white t-shirt underneath and dark jeans. Ichigo couldn't help but notice how the purple color matched Kurohime's. When the man picked up two jars of medicine and walked over to the cashier counter, Ichigo also noticed the same eye color as well.
"This is all," The man said, placing the medicine on the table.
"R-Right," Ichigo stuttered, scanning the jars of medicine. The man looked at him with an eye brow raised as he pulled out a credit card. When Ichigo read the name on the card that said Nao, "Takana..."
"What was that?"
"Oh, n-nothing." Ichigo proceeded to bag the medicine and give it to Nao. "Uh, I have to ask, you wouldn't happen to be Takana's brother would you?"
"Kurohime? That's right. You're the kid in her class aren't you; Ichigo, right?"
"Y-Yeah, how did...h-how is she? I heard she was sick yesterday."
"She's fine, I just came out to get a few things for the apartment."
"Ichigo!" Isshin yelled out, appearing in the clinic once again, calmly this time. Not seeing Nao standing at the counter, Isshin walked over to Ichigo's side and patted him on the shoulder. "I need you to do something for me."
"Dad," Ichigo growled, veins of anger throbbing through his skin. "I'm with a customer."
Isshin turned to greet Nao, but he froze once his eyes fell on him.
"Dad?"
"Well I should go Kurosaki," Nao said, taking the bag in his hands. "Maybe we'll meet again."
He turned to Isshin and bowed before he finally left the clinic.
"Ichigo," Isshin said, his hand dropping to his side. "That kid...do you know him?"
"Well, his sister's in one of my classes."
"Did you catch the last name?"
"Takana. What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Isshin said, turning around and proceeding to walk out of the clinic.
"Dad-"
"Get back to work Ichigo."
And with that he was gone, leaving Ichigo with these confused and concern thoughts. When Isshin walked back in the house, he began to think to himself.
"*Oujou-Sama...could it be..."
When the sun started to set, a shaggy blond man with a green and white stripped hat sat on his store porch as he lightly fanned himself. To his side a large fellow with glasses was sweeping the floor of the porch. The blond man watched the sky as he heard the other two employees talking within the shop.
"Another slow and easy day," The capped man said, continuing to slowly fan himself. "Right Tessai?"
"Indeed Mr. Urahara," Tessai said, wiping his brow.
"Hey hat and clogs!"
Urahara stopped fanning himself for a moment and looked away from the sky and to the front of the shop. There he saw maybe his favorite orange haired substitute Shinigami.
"So what brings you here Ichigo?" Urahara asked as he, Ichigo and the other two young employees Jinta and Ururu were sitting around the round table while Tessai brought out some hot tea.
"I need some information," Ichigo said, looking down at his tea. "What can you tell me about the name 'Takana?"
The room fell quiet, everyone stood or sat still in their place as Ichigo's hardening state fell upon Urahara.
"Takana," Urahara repeated, bringing up his fan in front of his face and lightly fanning it. "I haven't heard that name in a long time."
"So you know them?"
"Of course Urahara knows them dumbass," Jinta exclaimed, crossing his arms. But before he could speak any further, Tessai brought a firm hand and collided the side of it to Jinta's head.
"I'm not sure if it's the same people," Urahara continued. "But back in my Soul Reaper days, there was a man named Hiro Takana. When he was alive, he and his wife were officers for the first division."
"When he was alive?"
"At some point the both of them disappeared, then I found out that the both of them had been exiled."
"Exiled!"
"Are you going to keep repeating me or are you going to listen! Anyway, the reason they were exiled was because Aizen got to them; the both of them became Visoreds. And to my knowledge, Hiro was K.I.A protecting his wife and his children but that was about fifteen years ago."
"What about his kids? How many were there?"
"Three; two boys and a girl. The last time I saw them was before Hiro died. And I believe their names were Takeshi, Nao and the young girl was named Kurohime."
Ichigo's eyes grew wide at the names, Nao he had just met earlier in the day and Kurohime...he just couldn't believe it.
"I'm guessing you know them?"
"Well..."
"In any case that's all the information I have of them. If you want more information why don't you talk to those Visored friends you have?"
"Why?"
"Didn't you hear what I just said before, the both of them became Visoreds and was exiled."
"...right,"
Ichigo thought to himself for a moment, thinking back to the hooded figure two nights ago.
"Say," Ichigo said aloud. "Is it possible that-"
Ichigo was suddenly cut off as a pulse of spiritual pressure vibrated the room. Everyone ran outside to see another hollow in the street. Ichigo split apart from his human body and the body ran inside the shop.
Ichigo gripped Zangetsu by the handle firmly, his fighting stance in tack while everyone watched knowing Ichigo could take care of it. Before Ichigo could even take a step, a heavy foot jumped on his back of his head and jumped into the air above him.
'That's the one from before,'
Everyone watched in awe as the same hooded person seem to float in the air like a bird. The person flipped and raised their leg and their heel collided with the head of the hollow. The earth shook as the hollow fell to the ground after the person kicked it. When the hollow met the ground, the person jumped off and landed in front of it.
They brought out their zanpakutou, but they didn't move. They raised their zanpakutou up above their heads and after a moment they wiped it down in front of them. A heavy slash of reiatsu spliced from the zanpakutou, hues of purple and blue and the hollow was sliced in half. It was quiet for a moment while the hollow disappeared and the person sheathed their zanpakutou, the person turned around and faced Ichigo, the hood still over their eyes but Ichigo could see a faint smile on their face.
Suddenly the person shunpod and disappeared, then reappeared ontop of the rooftop of the shop. Ichigo followed, and started to chase the person by shunpo. Roof by roof, they jumped until they reached the park of the city.
"Wait!" Ichigo hollered as they continued the chase in the forest. "Kaede!"
The person stopped in their tracks, hearing the name Ichigo spoke. Ichigo stopped as well, walking towards the person slowly.
"So," A familiar female voice spoke as the person turned around. "You figured it out?"
'I know that voice,' Ichigo thought to himself. The person reached up and grabbed the hood, pulling it off of their head to reveal themselves. Ichigo gulped as he saw his purple long haired classmate standing in front of him. "T-Takana.."
Ichigo stopped himself short asu another person appeared in front of him. Something hard collided with the top of Ichigo's forehead, he winced in pain and crouched a bit as he could feel the heated pain throbbing on his skull.
"What the hell!" Ichigo said looking up, though he gasped as he saw another familiar face. The face of Kurohime's brother standing in between them, a sai in his hands.
"W-What the hell is going on?" Ichigo asked, standing back up straight.
"You didn't have to hit him," Kurohime said to her brother as she crossed her arms over her chest.
"Why not?" Nao asked, turning to his sister. "It didn't do that much damage to him."
"Hey!" Ichigo scolded. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here!"
Next thing Ichigo knew, Nao had pointed the tip of the sai up against Ichigo's throat.
"What do you think," Nao said, eyes cold as ice and a smirk on his face. "Shall I slice him open?"
"H-Hold on a second!" Ichigo stuttered.
"Knock it off," Kurohime said, lightly tapping the back of Nao's head with her fist then crossing her arms again. "He's no threat to us."
"What? What does that mean!"
"Let's go then?" Nao asked, lowering his sai and turning to his sister. "We should get back before they worry."
"Wait a minute!"
Nao almost turned all the way, but before he could Ichigo placed his hand on his shoulder stopping him. With reflex, Nao whipped around and grabbed Ichigo's wrist tightly. He pulled Ichigo forward only to shove a long leg into Ichigo's chest, the force strongly pushing Ichigo to the tree behind him.
'What the hell,' Ichigo though. 'He's so strong.'
"So you wanna fight eh Kurosaki?" Nao rhetorically asked. Without turning away from Ichigo, he tucked away his sai and smirked. "Let's do it."
"There's no need to," Ichigo growled. "I just want to know what the hell is going on!"
Nao turned and looked at Kurohime, a questioning look on his face. Kurohime closed her eyes and shook her head a no. From behind them there was a light, and in a flash there were double sided doors.
"Some other time maybe," Nao said as the doors opened. The two siblings turned around and started walking towards the door.
"Wait!" Ichigo exclaimed as Nao was the first to disappear into the light. "Kurohime!"
Kurohime stopped and turned around, she focuse her thoughts on Ichigo's collar and with her mind she pulled on it, making Ichigo stumble back and hit the tree once again. Ichigo shut his eyes in pain from the rough contact, and as he opened his eyes he could see Kurohime disappearing into the light.
"Kurohime..." Ichigo yelled after her, and the double doors were gone.
*Oujou - Sama = Honorifics, Miss, Princess.
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