As usual, thanks for the reviewers.
Sorry for the late update though...

Disclaimer
I own Bleach.
Correction, I want to own Bleach.
Tite Kubo did.

Now, to the story...
Enjoy~

The Test

It was a fine afternoon, a day after Aizen, the captain of the 5th division, successfully took away the Hougyoku after easily overcame the orange haired one's futile resistance, though, at the same day, he lost his spiritual being and was thrown away into another dimension of time; being sealed away by The Watcher. Ichigo, however, was lying on his blue sheeted bed with his head on both his hands, staring at the ceiling. As usual, his mind was filled with events happened in these past two days. This time, though, he looked more serious.

"What's with those freakin' choices she gave, anyway?" grumbled he.

Flashback

The bell rang, indicated the start of the day's lessons. Every scholar returned to their respective seat, though, not with the orange haired one. As if he didn't hear a thing, the amber eyed teenager walked towards the desk beside his. There, a light-brown haired girl was preparing for the first lesson: history. Being ignorant, the orange haired one pulled the light-brown haired one towards the door and headed towards the rooftop, ignoring the now clumsy girl's "cry-for-help".

"Lover's quarrel, eh?" said the dark haired lean girl.

"Ishikawa-san..." followed the burnt orange haired one. Ever since the day when Ichigo called Hikari to the rooftop, the whole class had already assumed that the two were having a kind of relationship. Besides, whenever the orange haired teenager was around, the light-brown haired one always being so clumsy. Since no one know the incident at the rooftop, they, once again, assumed that Hikari was just being shy towards her 'beloved one'.

###

As the two teenagers arrived at the rooftop, the orange haired one turned his body and grabbed the other's shoulders using his hands. There was a short pause before finally he spoke, "I...I've been holding this feeling for a long time..."

'Th-this is...no! I won't make a same mistake,' thought she.

"I..."

'But come to think of it. He did say that he couldn't get me out of his mind, but that's normal right? I mean, I was a new student. Besides, after all happened the day before, it's impossible not to be curious, right? But this time, he even said that he couldn't hold his feeling when there was nothing happened recently,' she thought, unaware of the incident happened yesterday.

"Uhh...yes?" she finally replied. A hint of blush could be seen on her timid face.

"I...want to be stronger," said the orange haired one.

'…not again,' the girl sweat dropped. A second later, her eyes' color changed into a crimson one, though, Ichigo didn't really care about this.

"Ah…it looks like you have a great talent at making people misunderstood…" said the crimson eyed one, sweat dropped.

"Misunderstood?" inquired the other one.

"…nevermind," uttered her, "So, you want to be stronger, right?"

"Yes," replied the orange haired one, briefly.

"Then, the question is, what will you do with those powers?" inquired the other one.

"I…" mumbled Ichigo, followed by a short pause, "…I want to protect everyone. I want to protect my friends: Inoue, Ishida, Chad, Rukia. I want to protect the world. I want to protect…you"

"I think I don't need to be protected…" responded the light-brown haired one as she let out a faint smile.

"Uhh…guess you're right…" mumbled the other one, sweat dropped. There was, again, a short pause before finally the female spoke up.

"…are you sure?"

"Huh? About what? Retrieving my powers back?" inquired the confused teenager, "If that's the case, then, of course I am."

"You know, a great power comes with a great responsibility. Your power may endanger people around you. Even the innocent ones could be involved. Do you ─"

"My answer's still a yes," said the orange haired one with eyes full of determination.

"Hmph…very well then. There is only a way to restore your former powers," explained the crimson eyed one. There was another short pause before she continued, calmly, "The only way to retrieve your powers is to…"

"To what?" inquired the curious youngster.

"...to kill me, your watcher."

The amber eyes widened as their owner spoke, tremblingly, "W-what?"

"I think I was clear enough," she replied, "I will not be surprised if your grades are not good."

"S-shut up! My grades aren't bad you know?" exclaimed the other youngster.

"Well, that is surprising."

"Grrh, just shut up already," said him. Again, another pause occurred before he spoke, "What?"

"You told me to shut up, no?" replied the crimson eyed one casually.

"Well that's..."

"Hmph," responded the other teenager, laughing.

'She...laughed?' thought Ichigo. A second later, his mind went blank, the only thing he did was staring at the smiling face.

'What the hell am I thinking?'

"Well, I will repeat once more," she began speaking, "The only way to retrieve your powers is to kill me."

The amber eyes, again, widened, "W-what? But why?"

"Well, since I am your watcher, I am the one who keep your powers as the part of our agreement. To –"

"Then, why don't you just give them back?" interfered the orange haired one.

The light-brown haired one, then, sighed, "...It is not possible. To ensure that our clients do not break the agreement, we, the watchers, are taught to seal – in this case, your powers – within our soul. Once something fused with one's soul, it will be impossible to separate them," she explained, "...though, miraculously, That Man actually did it once."

"That Man?"

"Aizen."

"I see...wait. Why did he do that?" inquired Ichigo, "Don't tell me – "

"Yes, the Hougyoku," replied Hikari, briefly. The amber eyes, again, widened in disbelief, followed by a silence for a minute or two. None of them said a thing.

"Well, I guess that you cannot decide now," the crimson eyed one finally spoke, "I will give you a day to think about it. Come to me once you have the answer."

"..."

"Well, I am going to go back to the class, the first lesson must have been begun by now," uttered the girl as she opened the steel door. And there she went to the class, leaving the orange haired one alone with two choices: to regain his powers by killing her or to abandon them.

End of Flashback

"What are you thinking about, Kurosaki-kun?" inquired a voice from the direction of the window.

"Baka! It's obvious isn't it? It's – wait," uttered him as he turned his head towards the window. Two pairs of amber colored eyes met each other.

"Oh, hey Hikari. You scared me..."

There were three black dots in the air before the male one suddenly mumbled in astonishment, "You're...flying..."

His slow response successfully made the female one sweat dropped. "You sure are slow, huh?" she said.

"S-shut up!" exclaimed he, "What if somebody sees you like this?"

"No need to worry," she explained, "I've set a barrier..."

The orange haired youngster, then, got up and opened the window, "Here, come in."

"Y-yes..." the light-brown haired one replied as she did so. Ichigo then closed the window and told her to sit on the bed. He then sat on the blue chair near the desk.

"So, what are you doing here?" inquired the male one.

"I...uh...just wanna talk with you..."

"About what?"

"Uhh...nothing," she replied.

"No...thing?" mumbled the other one, again, sweat dropped.

"I-I'm sorry, I'll go now."

"W-wait," uttered the orange haired one, "If you don't mind, I want you to tell me something."

"Y-yes?" she replied briefly.

"...what are you?"

"Uhh...pardon?"

"What are you?"

"Me?"

"Yep."

"Uhh...a human of course," she answered.

"I see...then what about the other you?" inquired the amber eyed one.

"Of course she is a human. Why is it?"

"Well, she can use some unique skills. So, I assumed that she isn't a human. Though, her skills are indeed not Shinigami's," he explained.

"I see. Well, we're not normal human though."

"What do you mean?" asked him.

"We, the watcher, or you can say, wizards, had been taught to use elemental spells since we were small. Besides, our spiritual pressure is basically higher than those normal ones," explained the girl.

"Elemental...spells?" inquired the other teenager.

"Uhh...how can I put this?" mumbled the light-brown haired one, "You see, I can float right? Why do you think I can do that?"

"I see, the wind."

"Yep," she replied cheerfully, "And a barrier I set a while ago was just a bending of light."

"I see..." nodded the orange haired one.

"My other self, however, is a special one," she continued.

"Special?"

"Yes. Well, besides the elements, we could also use time spells. Time spells are the lost spell. They consumed their user's time in exchange of their tremendous power. Those who can use this kind of spell are very rare. You can even count their number by using your hands," she explained.

"So, she can use those spells?" inquired Ichigo

"Yep!" she replied, again, cheerfully, "You're not that slow after all..."

"Geez. Well, thanks anyway," uttered the strawberry.

"You're welcome," the light-brown haired one retorted, smiling, "Ah! It's already this late..."

"I'll walk you home," said the other one as he stood up.

"T-thank you..."

"No problem."

###

The day had changed. The school bell rung for the first time, indicating the start of the lesson. Hearing the bell, the students returned to their respective seats. The two amber eyed youngsters, however, were nowhere to be found. That time, the male one was lying on the nearby riverbank, looking up at the blue sky while the female one was right behind him, doing the same thing. Ichigo, though, didn't realize her presence.

"So, have you found your answer?" inquired the female one.

Nevertheless, the male one sighed, 'What a troublesome thing. I can't even get enough sleep. Moreover, maybe because I've been thinking about it for the whole time, I begin to hear things,' he then sighed again, 'I can even hear her voice...'

"Well, you are not hearing things..." said the crimson eyed midget.

"W-whoa!"

"As slow as usual..." she sighed, "Well, it looks like that you have not decided yet."

"Well, that's – "

"If I was you, I would have done anything to get my powers back. I would have done anything to protect my beloved one," interrupted the girl. There was a short pause of thinking.

"But – "

"You do not have to worry about me. It is my job to assist you though..." uttered the girl, "I was already prepared for this kind of thing."

Again, another short pause occurred. Ichigo had a very serious look on his face as he uttered, "...then, I know I'll regret this, but it's a no."

"A...no?"

"Yes."

"But why? I told you not to worry about me..."

"Well, I, too, will do anything to protect my friends," uttered the orange haired one.

"Then, why?" inquired her.

Ichigo then let out a faint smile as he said, "Do you think I'll kill my own friend? To kill you, whom I've swore to protect? Hell no..."

"...then, what about Aizen? With your current power, you will not even be able to scratch him, you know?" inquired the crimson eyed teenager.

"Well, all roads lead to Rome, right?" said the male teenager as he let out another faint smile, "I'll find a way, even if I'll regret this later, but I will be stronger."

"...hmph," mumbled the female one, smiling, "What an interesting answer. Well, you passed."

"Uhh...passed?"

"P-a-s-s-e-d."

"I know that," growled the orange haired one, "What I want to know is what you mean by 'passed'?"

The light-brown haired one giggled and then said, "Congratulation, you've passed the test."

"Test? What test?"

The Hikari named girl sighed, again, "As slow as usual..."

"S-shut up! Just tell me what test already!"

"Don't you realize that I've been testing you this whole time?" she began explaining, "The choices I gave you were just a test to see your intention. If you decided to kill me, I would have killed you first. Those who would do anything for powers will just put the other in danger – "

"What the hell? Do you know how worried I was? Don't play with people's feeling! Dammit..." exclaimed the orange haired one, successfully startled the light-brown haired one.

"...I think I've gone too far. I'm sorry..." said the crimson eyed one with an apologetic expression on her face.

"...I think I've gone too far too. I wasn't supposed to yell at you..." mumbled the amber eyed teenager.

"Well, enough for that. Now, I'll give you the real test; the test to retrieve your powers."

"I'm listenin'"

"You...must die," uttered Hikari. The amber eyes widened.

"I must...die?"

"Well, just kidding," said the midget, smiling, "Though, not all of it is a joke."

"Damn you," mumbled the teenager, "So, what's the test?"

"I will put you into an inactive state where you will not even breathe and sent you to your inner world. And during that time, you must retrieve your powers back," explained the crimson eyed one, "The time limit is a day."

"I see. By the way, what did you do to Aizen?" inquired the curious teenager.

"I...sealed him away using a time spell," uttered the female one.

Ichigo's heart pounded harder upon hearing those words, 'A time spell she said?'

A slight change of expression occurred on the crimson eyed teenager's face. "Well, no need to worry about him; the spell is strong enough to keep him sealed for at least three months," she said as she let out a fake smile, "Now, get ready."

"What? Here?"

"Don't worry; I will take care of your body. Now, good night," uttered the light-brown haired girl as she cast another time spell towards Ichigo, successfully knocked him out.

Translation
Baka: Idiot.

Well, another boring chapter I guess. ==a
By the way, an E***** is going to appear soon xD
Stay tuned~

Now, as usual, review please.

See ya.