He stepped toward them, steeling his emotions and forcing down his hatred, it wouldn't do to reveal his hand now would it, it would leave him at a disadvantage, at Aizen's mercy.

No it just wouldn't do.

Stopping alongside them he turned on his heel and leaned back against the brushed steel of the roof railing "Orihime, Chad how's it going?" he questioned as he glanced at Rukia out of his peripheral vision " I'm fine, hey Kurosaki kun, you came late so you never saw my picture did you, it's for my art project" she rifled through her satchel bag in search of it for a few seconds before her face lit up in happiness "aha, here look at this!" she smiled and pulled out a picture of her in rendition of R2-D2.

"See it's me in the future, it has a 200 feet tall body, 20 rocket silos attached to the hips and shoots laser beams from its eyes!" she smiled while he sweat dropped only now remembering her exuberance "this is actually pretty well made Orihime" he crouched down and plastered a small smile on his lips "very detailed" he in fact wasn't looking at the painting, no, he didn't care for such things, no, in his adventures he had developed a keen eye for one single purpose.

The killing strike.

the fastest route to efficiently detaining the enemy, and right now he had identified her liver and kidneys as primary targets "prevent her from running" he thought, with the spine being the secondary target, the kill. It could all be over with in a second, the traitor would be lying dead on the floor, wouldn't be a problem in future, the only witness would be Chad, he bit his lip "Ichigo" Zangetsu warned, snapping him from his murderous thoughts "sorry" he mentally apologized as he stood back up and looked at Chad "and you, big guy?" he gave a small smile to the teen who had stood by his side until the betrayal in which he had been killed defending him from a 'Koten zanshun' that would have carved out his chest "I'm fine, I have been relaxing in preparation for the finals that are coming up in a week" Ichigo nodded in confirmation.

"Oh, by the way, this is Rukia Kuchiki" he introduced her, putting her on the spot as the girl with the haughty demeanour quickly introduced herself before they all laid against the roof to relax.

It was sudden then when Rukia's disguised hollow detector beeped much like the traditional ringtone of an old phone "Ichigo, we have to go, were already late and we said to your father that we would be at the meal by now" Ichigo played along, amused by the excuse, the other two bought it though and they left with now asked questions.

He wasn't , at all surprised, maybe a bit incredulous as when they were out of sight he hand came around, gloved and glowing with symbols disguised in a flame like pattern, hitting him in the face and knocking him out of his body "you could have broke my nose" he commented idly as she hid the body behind the roof compartment room "doesn't matter, there is a hollow on the loose, we don't have time to check for a broken nose" Rukia cast him a dangerous look that he silently laughed at "let's go" they made their way back through the building and out the front doors into the street where they turned left and began running "soo, this hollow, is it powerful?" he asked as she huffed in exertion and turned to him to see him leisurely jogging through people while she was twisting and contorting to efficiently dodge the crowd without losing speed "I really hate you right now" she gasped, ignoring his question, lungs burning as she forced on "just a half mile' she thought taking to the outer side of the road to dodge a large incoming crowd of tipsy teenagers.

Eventually and thankfully they reached the destination 5 minutes later "Ichigo, kill it, and Konso the soul!" she gasped falling jelly legged to her knees from exercise "you're really out of shape" he mocked lightly, turning to face her as she glared at him for apparently being overconfident "kill the damn hollow!" she ordered, slightly panicky as she saw the hollow had seized a child by his pant leg "fine, fine" turning Ichigo leisurely wandered up to the hollow, the wind dramatically blowing his hair as he stopped, a serious look upon his features "so, you gonna put that kid down or what?" he asked as Rukia face fell while the hollow laughed "nope, I'm gonna eat him!" the hollow screeched, one of its 8 legs coming up to offer the child to its mandibles "I don't think so" he said simply as he drew his sword and leapt at the hollow, avoiding a stalling leg and slicing though its mask diagonally.

Gripping the stiff child by his shirt he dropped to the ground and set the child on his feet "there you go kid, safe" he tapped the child on the head, leaving a glowing imprint that broke the child into spirit particles, leaving only a hell butterfly as evidence.

"YOU IDIOT!"

Rukia's tightly clenched fist hit his square in the jaw, turning his head at the force of the blow "if you hadn't got there in time that child could have died!" Ichigo looked back at her, ignoring the red blotch on his skin "but he didn't did he, if you weren't so slow we could have stopped it even earlier!" he secretly smirked at the guilty look that came over her features "yeah" she muttered, depressed "maybe we could have".

The trip back was travelled in silence because, Ichigo for one, wished for her guilt to fester, and Rukia berated herself for being so slow and unfit,

When they reached the school they entered through the back gate as, the school being a sixth form school closed at a latest of 2 but it was nearing 3 o'clock right now so precautionary measures had to be taken.

After ascending the fire escape to the roof he quietly made his way over to his body and sat his legs inside it before laying down to fully meld his spirit back into his body.

Blinking, he sat up, and instantly regretted it as his muscles protested their stiff positions being stretched.

"Let's go Rukia" he muttered, descending awkwardly down the fire escape and back out of the gate , turning left to walk home as to not arouse the shinigami's suspicions.

Dinner in the Kurosaki household was usually lively, but it was not to be, as today, Rukia was sat at the top of the table, a severely depressed aura about her.

"What is the problem my darling daughter, tell me, and Kurosaki Isshin shall endeavour to fix it!" he was kneeled at her side one hand clenched to his chest, and the other, held outward in an eccentric display.

"stupid dad" Karin being the less emotional of the sisters kicked him in the face with her sandal, sending him backward to land under the poster of Misaki, their deceased mother.

"oh Misaki, what should I do, they're growing up too fast, oh my darling wife, what should I do?" he pressed himself to her poster while Karin developed a dangerous tick to her right eyebrow "dad, put the poster away, now" the father quickly rolled up the poster cowering in the corner as she developed a demon like head behind her, flames spewing out of its eyes and saliva dripping from its curled lips "you, Idiot!" she yelled kicking him in the shin and huffing to which she then retreated to her room to calm down.

Dinner eventually ended with the sunset and Ichigo was sat with Rukia inside his room "Ichigo, we have another hollow" she steeled herself and gently nudged his disgruntled soul out of his body "where?" he asked as she pulled out the phone, entered the unlock code and showed him the address "that's Orihime's house" he said acting surprised while she cursed "lets go!" she ordered as he stood still "no" she turned "you stay here, while I go, I can't have you slowing me down" she bit her lip "I'll meet you there" Ichigo nodded "fine" he slid window open and hopped out, landing silently on the roof below. Looking back he raised an eyebrow "this time, dont moan at me for being late" just adding salt to the wound he inwardly smirked "all according to plan" he muttered, leaping through the night toward the now smoking house where he arrived to see the front side of her bedroom collapsed "oh?" he turned to his left and saw Inoue standing defiantly against her hollowfied brother "animals, just eat other animals, they don't care what it looks like, so, better run I-no-ue" he said to himself, watching as she dodged the swipe of a tail and the clenching of an open jaw "here's my part" he stood up and stretched, mostly for effect before disappearing in a shunpo.

He was just in time as he arrived to clench a hand down on the snake like tail of Inoues brother "Sora, are your really going to attack your sister?" he asked as the hollow laughed and began to retell Soras afterlife. (Sorry, I can't recall it really)

"Why, why did you stop praying Inoue WHY!" he roared, his voice oscillating between a high and low pitch while he shot towards Ichigo, giant arm outstretched in a killing thrust. that he dodged, anticipating the open jaw attack next that he would have dodged, had Orihime not rushed in and taken the hit "I'm sorry brother, I should have kept praying£ she muttered, hugging the mask as the hollow screamed and tore at its mask, chipping away at it until it revealed Soras face "Ichigo, give me your sword, so that I may purify myself" Ichigo nodded and tossed the sword to him "goodbye, Inoue" he stabbed himself in the throat, crying out as he dissolved into spirit particles "I'm sorry I couldn't do much, Kurosaki kun" Inoue cried and before he could react, hugged him "the fuck? what is this warm feeling, she betrayed me and yet, I'm enjoying this" in his quiet war he didn't notice Rukia arrive and explain the situation to the auburn girl. Eventually giving up he, slouched and stepped over to them, not realising that in his inner discussion, Inoue had moved across the room to a chair.

Eventually leaving the apartment they made their way back to the clinic "I-Ichigo, I'm sorry about, being hard on you earlier, your right, it was my fault, I shouldn't have yelled like that" Ichigo nodded "apology accepted" he gave a small smile.

"All according to plan"

Author notes

So how was it? Good? Bad? Does it need redoing?

For this chapter I really tried to convey Ichigo's state of being, his trained mind that is trained, to act like a war veteran, to get the objective, no matter what.

But enough of that, the next chapter might be tomorrow, most likely the day after, I have some xbox to catch up on! lol so yeah, look forward to that.

See ya!