I don't own Bleach

White Strawberry

Ichigo expected a few things when his father had used his Shinigami badge. After all, he had been told that the badge could, and would be deadly if used by a normal human. Some of the things he had expected to happen included his father's soul to pop out of his body and have his chain of fate severed.

His father's soul did pop out of his body, but Ichigo's previous guesses as to what would happen were dead wrong. His father appeared in the black robes of a Shinigami. He had a Captains' haori tied around his shoulder, and a Zanpakuto tied at his waist.

"Yay! It worked!" Isshin declared as he threw his arms in the air.

Ichigo quickly closed the distance between him and his father and grabbed the front of his robes, "Worked! What the hell do you mean 'worked'? What the hell is going on!"

Ichigo suddenly found his Shinigami badge at his chest. "I think I owe you an explanation, just calm down and give me a minute." Any childishness had disappeared from his voice. Isshin then activated the badge, and Ichigo was separated from his body, landing on the ground. Isshin sat down on the ground next to where Ichigo had landed, "Where do you want me to start?"

Ichigo had calmed down a little by this point, asked, "Why are you dressed like a Shinigami?"

"Because I am one, just like you and Rukia-chan!" his voice went back to its usual childish-manor toward the end.

Ichigo was surprised, "You know about Rukia being a Shinigami?"

"Yep! I also know about all of the other Shinigami hanging around here right now! There's quite a few of them!" He paused, and his face went serious, "I also know about the Visard." He was quiet for a moment."I know that they have already contacted you, and wish for you to join them." Isshin sighed, "I do not wish for you to join them. I know that they are Shinigami/Hollow hybrids, and I know that you are one also."

Ichigo stiffened, and decided a change of topic was in order, "If you're a Shinigami, then why did you never know when a ghost was around, you can't be that good of an actor."

Isshin seemed to think before he said anything, "Because… when I left Soul Society, I had lost pretty much all of my power, and there was no guarantee that I would gain any of it back. But when Rukia turned you into a Shinigami, your reiatsu started affecting mine, and I started gaining my power back. I really couldn't see ghosts until about a month ago."

Isshin wasn't done talking, "But, back to what I was saying. I know that you have an inner hollow, and that you were planning on joining the Visard. Like I said, I'm not gonna let you join them."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, "Then what am I suppose to do? Let the Hollow take over whenever the hell it feels like it? Not gonna happen."

Isshin stood up and dusted himself off, "No Ichigo, I'm going to help you deal with it. Stand up."

"You're gonna help? How, you're not a Visard, you don't know how to suppress it." But he stood up anyway.

Isshin smiled and reached into his robes, "Simple, you're going to use this." From his robes, he brought out a box of strawberries. White strawberries.

Ichigo looked confused, "White strawberries? I didn't know they came in that color. But how are they going to help?"

Still smiling, Isshin explained, "Ichigo, strawberries aren't usually white. These are special strawberries, that will help you control your hollow."

Ichigo was quiet for a minute, "Why do they have to be strawberries? It couldn't be any other fruit? Do I really have to eat them?"

"Yep, you're gonna eat them, they'll help you with your hollow." He tossed the strawberries to Ichigo, "Eat up!"

Ichigo looked down at the box in his hands. Hesitantly, he took one of the white fruits out of its container. He looked at it for a minute, before taking a bite out of it. Surprisingly, it tasted like chocolate.

Not even a second after he had swallowed, he got a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, similar to when he used Kon. The feeling only lasted about a half of a second before he felt like he was being dragged out of his body, just like when he used Kon. One problem though, he wasn't in his body.

A very familiar voice spoke from behind Ichigo, "Oi, asshole, what the hell did ya do!"

"Ha ha! They really worked! I gotta thank Kisuke for that!" Isshin had reverted back to his childish voice once again.

Ichigo turned in shock, there was no way… His eyes widened, and he grabbed Zangetsu from his back. "How the hell are you here." He asked threateningly.

Across from him, the white replica of himself also grabbed his Zangetsu from his back, "How the hell should I know!" He smiled deviously, "But it looks to me like ya want a fight."

It was silent, each waiting for the other to make the first move…

"Ichigo! I forbid you to fight your new brother!" Isshin chose this moment to speak up.

That caught both Ichigo and the Hollow off guard. "Excuse me sir, but if you are addressing me, then you are clearly insane."

"M-my what? No, a better question would be HOW he is even here." Ichigo said, pointing at the Hollow.

"It's rude to point, ya know." The Hollow said.

"Shut up!"

"Make me!"

"I will!"

Isshin sighed, "Hey, you two, shut up and listen." He was back to being dead serious, and he had a threatening edge to his voice.

Maybe it was the way he said it, but both of them immediately fell silent and turned to face him. Although, that didn't stop them from glaring at each other, and neither of them put Zangetsu away.

Isshin stared at them for a moment before continuing, "I am going to explain what happened, and I expect that neither of you will interrupt."

When both Ichigo and the Hollow nodded, he continued, "Those are no ordinary strawberries. I assume you know Urahara Kisuke, right?"

They nodded again, and the Hollow smirked. It was thanks to Urahara that he was even alive.

"Good." He sighed, "It was Urahara who created these strawberries. I asked him to make them specifically for you two. What they do exactly, is very similar to what a Soul Candy does. Instead of having a soul inside of them though, they separate two souls if they are already together. But it only works on a soul that is both Shinigami and hollow. There are also some faults. Once the hollow is released from where it was, it can only touch other hollow, or the Visard. It cannot touch or harm-in any way- a regular soul, or another Shinigami."

Both Ichigo and the Hollow were quiet for a moment.

"So, I'm free? Like, forever?" The Hollow had an unrecognizable emotion in his voice.

"No, there is a time limit. Once the fruit is eaten, you are released for exactly 24 hours. But you can return to Ichigo's Inner World whenever you please." Isshin stated. "Oh, while I'm thinking about it, never eat more than one in a day."

It seemed like a stupid question to ask, but Ichigo asked anyway, "Why?"

"Because you will, without a doubt, die."

"Oh, I see…"

"So why am I here?" the Hollow asked suddenly, "If I can't blow stuff up, then I have no reason to be here. Wait, I take that back," he turned to Ichigo, "I can still touch you! Let's fight!"

Ichigo put Zangetsu up and smirked, "Yeah, let's-"

He was cut off as Isshin hit him in the head, "Idiot, is that all you two can think about? I thought I forbid you two to fight each other. He is your new brother, after all."

"Once again, I dearly hope you are not addressing me." Was the Hollow's response.

"That Hollow is defiantly not my brother."

Isshin looked surprised, "Wait, he doesn't have a name?" he hit Ichigo's head again, "Idiot, you didn't name your brother?"

"He's not my brother, and why would I name him? 'Hollow' is just fine, right?"

Isshin sighed, "No Ichigo, he needs a name. Now what should we name him…"

"Hey! Don't go deciding my name! What if I don't want a name? I-" but he was cut off by Isshin.

"I got it! You're name will be Hichigo! You just combine 'hollow' and 'Ichigo' and you get Hichigo! Bow down to my awesome naming skills!" looks like Isshin was back to being childish again.

"What a stupid name. I don't want to be called that." The newly named Hichigo said, "You couldn't think of anything better at least?"

"H-hey, that's mean!" Isshin pulled out the poster of Masaki, "Oh, my beloved wife, our second son is being mean to me! I wasn't the one who raised him, but I will be sure to teach him proper manors and-" he was cut off as Ichigo wacked him on the head.

"Oi, be serious and tell us why you made me bring that out here." He pointed his finger at Hichigo.

Isshin chuckled a little, "Oh, that's an easy one, you guys are gonna form an alliance."

I'm sorry for that shortness of this chapter, but I got sick, and really didn't feel like writing. I know! Horrible excuse!

But anyway, did you like the chapter? I tried making it kinda funny. Isshin's mood swings are so fun!

Please review!