Chapter 02

Thrive to Live

Now—

Something smelt good for some reason; it was what had awoken him from his nightmarish slumber in the guest bedroom. The bed had been partially soft on the surface and mildly firm beneath it, making his long night of tossing and turning more comforting. The room was spacious despite the few additions to the room; an empty dresser, a desk with a radio that seemed to be an alarm as well, and a beautiful scenery if one looked out the window. Last night, Toushirou woke up dozens of times and wondered around the room before jumping back into bed, that was when he looked outside. Snow was falling in this world now, coating everything in a thin visible layer of snow as a sign of it truly becoming winter.

He stretched his sore tired bones before getting off the bed to put it back together since it turned out that he had kicked the covers off. After the room looked nice and tidy again, he changed into some other clothes for the day before heading out of the room. The scent became even stronger once he opened his door, sadly though, he had to go use the bathroom before investigating the kitchen. A few minutes later, he poked his head in the kitchen to see Ichigo in a baggy pair of pants with no shirt and a towel draped over his shoulders. This idiot was talking to himself about something or so the captain thought until he saw a headset in his ear—though, it was a little too small to be one.

"Yes, that's correct. The file should be under my name in the back office, right?" This man's hair was still slightly damped, was he not afraid of the communicator short-circuiting. "Yes, that's right, thank you, have it sent to be by fax right now so I can go over your opinion. There was a beep in the other room a couple of seconds later. "Yes, I received it, one second, please hold." With a press of a button against his ear, he lowered the heat on the stove so he could pass by Toushirou to enter the other room to grab the file. "Ah, morning Toushirou, give me a second and I'll have breakfast ready." He then came back to the stove after passing Toushirou again to undo everything he just did. "Alright, thank you for holding, and everything is accurate other than some grammatical errors—oh, your opening could use a little work." His attention went to the male that stood in the doorway while grabbing a kettle and talking on the Bluetooth with the paper in the other hand. "Your body paragraphs seem very professional, but there's a lack in the clause too." He poured hot water into the cup and stirred it some before motioning Toushirou to come sit at the table to have the tea he just made. "Yes, I understand that, I had to do the exact same thing, that's why I'm telling you right now what needs to be improved for your own benefit…"

Toushirou just stared as the man kept talking and talking to the earpiece while cooking dinner and holding a piece of paper in his hand. Occasionally, while sipping his surprisingly tasteful tea, he caught sight of the carrot top putting the piece of paper down as he set tamagoyaki on the table. Give or take another five minutes of his chatting, Ichigo set up a nice meal: steamed rice, miso soup, the tamagoyaki from earlier, and then there were some natto and tsukemono. Despite that Ichigo literally prepared his guest's plates of food—and tea, the man still did not sit down to enjoy the meal that he set for himself too… making the guest disappointed at how busy the man was. Ichigo sensed the unfamiliar aura in the other, causing him to look at him to see that he was being stared at unintentionally, so he did what he had to.

"Listen, how about I make a few adjustments on my end here and fax it back to you in twenty or thirty minutes?" The man watched as Toushirou seemed a little surprised at him for saying this. "I wouldn't say it's an emergency, but it's a top priority on my side at the moment. I'll be sure that everything will be fine." With that, he removed the earpiece and stuffed it in his pocket before joining him. "I'm sorry about that."

"Is it alright for you to end your call the way you did?" If this person got in trouble…
"No worries," he parted his chopsticks, "I didn't lie. Eating a meal with you tops helping him."
"Are you implying that you would rather eat a meal with me than tend to someone who needs your help?"
"This guy has a week before his assignment is due, he likes it when I overlook his things because I'm his senpai." Ichigo took a bite of the tamagoyaki. "I hope I made enough, if not, I can always cook a bit more."
Turquoise hues observed the large meal for the two. "It's possible that you may have cooked too much."
"If that's the case, I'll put the leftovers in a bento and take it for lunch. Yours is prepared."
A pickle was halfway in his mouth before Toushirou looked up at him. "What?"

"Well," he scratched his head as he wondered where to start. "I'm not going to be here until sunset, and you don't have any money for this world, so I had yours fixed." This earned him a slight scowl for ignoring the question. "After I woke up and took a shower, I cut up half of the watermelon into some slices for you when you're hungry. They're not easy to find this late since it's winter now, so try not to eat all five at once okay?" Ichigo smirked as he ate a tamagoyaki again. " I'll go to the store later and get you some snacks."

"I'm not a child, Kurosaki, I don't need snacks." The captain paused. "Thank you for preparing my meal."
"No problem, you're my guest after all. Whether you like it or not, you are a top priority." His phone rang.
He watched him, waiting for him to answer it, but did not budge. "Kurosaki, it could be an important call."
"If it's important, they'll leave a message." Nibbling on a piece, he glanced at him. "How did you sleep?"
"The call could be an emergency, and you're ignoring it just so you can ask me how I slept last night?"

"I suppose I am." Ichigo smiled at him, not even fazed by the phone. "How did you sleep, Toushirou?"
"It's Hitsugaya-taichou." He still received that look from him, and answered. "Good, I suppose…"
'Liar,' he thought to himself. "Ah, I was wondering why you were tossing and turning. You pervert."
Instantly choking, the captain did his best to breathe and glare at the man. "W-What did you say?"
"I barely slept last night, you moved so loudly, even moaned and talked in your sleep." Ichigo mused.
"I-I—whatever it is you are thinking is completely wrong Kurosaki! I don't do such vulgar actions!"
"It's okay, don't be shy!" He ate the rest of his breakfast. 'At least he's lively instead of worrying—'

His phone rang again, this time it was a different ring-tone than earlier, causing him to growl lowly.

Ichigo pulled out his cell phone to look at it, unhappy to see who was calling as he pressed a button to ignore the call, then turned it off to set aside. He stood up with his plates in hand before going to the sink to wash them as he felt eyes lingering on him due to the reaction of the phone call. His watch suddenly beeped, causing him to growl even more annoyance since the pestering would not stop until answered.

"I'm sorry Toushirou, I'll eat dinner with you appropriately tonight." The man took the phone from the table. "Please excuse me, there's a transmission waiting for me." With that, he turned and left the kitchen.

A little concern about the host entered Toushirou due to the aggression that he other suddenly possessed at the moment. He finished his meal as quickly as possible while still showing manners, washed the dishes to the best of his abilities for never having to do such a thing before, and hurried to the room. It felt as if things were tense in here since Ichigo's reiatsu was growing with anger, but looking at the man in the room was a little hard to determine his feelings. The person on the communicator surprised the captain, he had thought it was going to be the Commanding-General, but it only turned out to be Abarai Renji.

"You know I could have easily been your filler, why'd you go and ask for Hitsugaya-taichou?" The tattooed Shinigami questioned through the transmission. "Making Hitsugaya-taichou leave his post like that, tch."
"I requested for a taichou level Shinigami, not a fukutaichou level. Jii-san offered the job to Toushirou, no need to be jealous." Ichigo smirked despite his anger at the lieutenant. "Besides, you have issues now."
"I-I don't have issues! It's all your fault! If you had just heard me out, we wouldn't be having all of these problems right now!" He fumed at the carrot top that rolled his eyes. "That's why… you asked for him?"
"I didn't ask for anyone Renji, that's a part of my deal with Jii-san and you know it." His hands went to his pockets. "I request, he returns, I accept. That is the nature of our agreements, and base of our ideas."

"Abarai," Toushirou called from off-scene of the communicator, causing Renji on the screen to jump in surprise, especially as he made his appearance on the transmission. "What is the emergency for this?"
"A-Ah, no, it's not exactly an emergency… I…" The redhead turned to Ichigo, fuming with tinted cheeks. "You bastard, you completely set me up didn't you! You knew that he was listening to our conversation!"
Ichigo turned his head away. "No, I didn't. If you don't have anything important to say, then you better get back to your work." He walked over to his dresser and placed on a shirt, finally. "I have class to go to."

"Ichigo…" Renji called out—sounding as it hurt by the words.
Said male paused for the moment, "take care of Momo for us."
"…sure." His head turned. "Oh… um… she's here right now."
Off the screen they could hear her voice. "Is that Kurosaki-kun?"
"Uh… y-yeah… and Hitsugaya-taichou." He swallowed nervously.

"Great," Ichigo mumbled to himself as he grabbed something from his dresser, which Toushirou instantly recognized to be called a handgun in this world, and it was tucked in the back of his pants. "Alright then."
Momo then appeared as if on cue, holding two little plush toys, one that looked like the carrot top while the other looked like the small captain. "Kurosaki-kun, Shirou-chan, good morning! Did you sleep well?"
"H-Hinamori?" Toushirou seemed taken aback by her enthusiasm since last night she seemed very glum. "Yes, we slept decently." Without thinking of his words had a dire consequence towards him and the man.
"What! You two slept together?" Renji roared as he threw his face in front of the screen. "I didn't know—"
"Renji," the carrot top called sternly, causing the three to nearly shutter and look at him. "Back off, we did not sleep together, not even in the same room. I told you that there's no need to be jealous of Toushirou."
"Stop saying that! I'm not jealous of Hitsugaya-taichou!" This caused the redhead to go into a frenzy as he also added. "There is no way that I would think about being jealous of a—!" He cut short, pausing.

Toushirou glared while crossing his arms. "Of a, what, Abarai?"
"We're waiting, Renji." Ichigo smirked, also crossing his arms.
"I-I… taichou is calling for me!" Renji fled the scene. "Bye!"
Momo giggled, hugging the two toys. "I'm a little jealous."

"Why's that?" Both asked at the same time, only to look at one another with a glare. They then ignore each other and asked—again, in unison by accident. "Just ignore him." The two glared at one another.

Momo smiled happily. "It's good to see you two get along so well, I was worried Shirou-chan would give you a hard time." She then showed off the two plush toys towards them. "They were in the box still when I found them, I was able to sleep through the entire night! But it's still a little lonely without either of you."

The two looked at each other, hoping the other would not interfere when talking, however, Ichigo gave him a gentle nod for him to speak first. This made the captain slightly nod in return to the generous offer that he received from the other whom he was supposed to obey during his stay. There was an interesting silence though as he was about to speak—only to watch as the man walked away again to do to his dresser to find some socks. Though he was confused as to his dressing and communicating at the same time at some point, his head shook at this and turned to the young woman again.

"Hinamori…" Toushirou started quietly, "I'm sorry for not telling you face to face that I would be here in the real world for a while." He paused, trying to think about this. "You must have been worried that I did not want to tell you, but that wasn't the case. Soutaichou wanted me to respond to the mission as quickly as possible—" he paused when hearing her almost laugh at him despite trying to cover it with a small hand.

"Kurosaki-kun told you to say that, didn't he?" Momo could not resist laughing anymore. "Kurosaki-kun!"
Ichigo walked over curiously. "I didn't tell him to do anything, I only suggested it. There's a big difference."
"Oh… Rangiku-san wanted me to remind you about tomorrow since it's your day off." She reminded him.
Causing him to twitch as he remembered. "It can't be helped, we'll return to Seireitei tomorrow afternoon."
"AFTERNOON? NO!" Matsumoto Rangiku appeared on the screen. "IT HAS TO BE IN THE MORNING!"

"Rangiku-san, I promised to help since you're too afraid to ask Toushirou. So unless you're willing to be here tomorrow morning after my shower, we'll be arriving tomorrow at noon at the earliest." Ichigo sighed as he rustled his hair for trying to bargain with the woman as he also added to his defense. "Besides, you know that you're not the only ones that are trying my free time tomorrow, the guys are asking for it too."

As they rambled and argued, Toushirou watched confusedly when seeing how everyone was having a good time despite fighting over something. The fact that the captain was brought into the subject did annoy him, but did not mind when it was something he did not probably want to get involved in. However, how the three were bickering—well, the carrot tops were bickering while Momo was trying her best to be the referee. Just as the two were down to gritting teeth, Ichigo's attention completely snapped to the side as if he sensed something, and then bolted out of the apartment while slamming the entrance door. Of course this made Toushirou curious as to wonder what the emergency was, so he stopped the transmitter and hurried out the door after seeing that he took his shoes with him. He opened the door and pressed himself against the railing to find him due to being on the second floor, but he watched the man jump!

Ichigo leaped onto the railing twenty feet away and jumped down on top of a metal garbage container before hopping down to the ground towards a group. Once that group saw them while he brought out his gun, they scattered like insects to reveal a fallen male on the ground that did not move an inch. He tucked the gun away before carefully lifting up the male that looked to be a child from Toushirou's view, and the carrot stop brought him to an apartment room on the first floor. While was in there, the captain watched as the thugs had began to surround the area by bushes and cars in order to ambush him

The door began to open, and Toushirou called out. "Kurosaki, there's an ambush!"

This caused the group to look up at the white-haired male, which was a big mistake as they were all then knocked unconscious from behind. If the captain did not know better once Ichigo threw them all in the garbage, he could have sworn that this man was glaring at him! Brown hues looked at the time to see that he was running late, so he had to hurry up and get out of there while he could, but had to be careful about his guest. In truth, now that Toushirou had made himself known to those men, it meant that he was going to be their new target soon since he was fresh meat to them.

"Either stay and lock the doors, or tag a long for a while, it's your choice." With that, he began walking.
Toushirou blinked before hurrying to place shoes on, locking the door, and caught up to him. "What is it?"
"You just placed yourself in danger by yelling out like that." He looked at him. "What were you thinking?"
"I was thinking that you were going to get beat." The captain glared at him in turn to this. "What danger?"

"They are the ones that I want you to avoid at all costs. They are sick twisted creatures that don't even deserve to breathe." Ichigo stated firmly as his fists tightened up at the thought of them. "If you have to encounter them, make sure that I'm with you. Only then will they not attempt to do anything towards you."

"Do you honestly think I will listen to you?"

"Seeing how I'm in command and you are temporarily under my lead, yes, I honestly believe you will listen to me because then you would be disobeying an order otherwise." With a small smirk towards the captain, they arrived on campus, so Ichigo stopped and brought out his wallet. "Here's some money in case you want to buy something, the stores are across the street." He brought something else out, it was a key. "And in case you want to go back, here's my spare key that I forget to give you earlier, okay?"

"Sure."

"Ichigo-senpai!" "Ichigo-kun!" "Ichigo-san!" "Ichigo!" "Kurosaki-sama!" Voices of girls all called out to him, making him irk as he turned to look, waving to let the group of ten girls know he acknowledged them all.
"Toushirou… escape while you can… their worse that Rangiku-san when they want to cling—" before Ichigo could say another word, they all clung to his arms, looking at his little friend. "Hello everyone…"
"Kurosaki-sama, you were making us worry about you when you were a few minutes late." One of the girls sounded as if they were trying to flirt with him. "Where did you get such a cute little sidekick, huh?"
"It's not like that, he's…" he did not want to lie to the girls, and did not want to irritate his friend either. "Don't tell me you're interested in him, are you? I would be hurt if that was the case." He frowned at her.

"Not at all!" The girls gasped before trying to comfort him. "No one could ever replace you!"
Just then, the bell rang. "How about you ladies go to class, okay? I'll be there shortly."
"Okay, don't make us wait!" Some then waved to Toushirou. "See you later cutie!"
"…Kurosaki…" Toushirou seethed at the man for the women's tempts on him.

"They are colleague's that I work with. During this time I have to work with a lot of them since they would be working under me in the field." Ichigo smiled lightly at him, apologetically even. "Their very important colleagues of mine as well, so please bear with them if they approach you like they did a moment ago."

As much as he wanted to decline the thought of letting more women squish him between their 'Valleys of Death,' from how the man put his words, he had to. Toushirou sighed as if to say he agreed before he turned to walk away from the campus so that the host could hurry up and go to his classes like a good student. A thought occurred to the little captain; what exactly did Kurosaki Ichigo go to this 'college' thing anyway, though he seemed dedicated to it. He would have to ask sometime later on tonight in order to receive the answer that he required from this question in his mind. An enormous sign in front of him said 'Welcome to Tokyo,' what a weird thing to call a store in Karakura Town, but he continued for. His cell phone began beeping like crazy to signal the appearance of a Hollow—but it was snatched as he brought it out. All of a sudden, he saw an Adjuchas level Menos staring straight at him with a cell phone in its mouth before crushing it in half with its powerful jaws.

"By law, you are not permitted to leave Karakura Town, Shinigami trash." It growled at the captain, only to look above the opponent, snorting when returning his gaze to him. "That will be your only warning, do not let us catch you doing it again." Once the threat was established, the Adjuchas turned and left the scene.

'Something got his attention…' Eyes widened when he felt the carrot top's reiatsu, causing him to turn around to search for the man… but no one was there that looked like him. '…was it really Kurosaki?'

"Damn it," Ichigo grumbled quietly to himself as his stomach growled. "I forgot to make the leftovers from breakfast for dinner." He kicked back against a tree as everyone was enjoying their lunches. "Now that I think about it, I should have just gone to the cafeteria…" His eyes caught sight of a pair of feet in front of him, making him smirk a little in curiosity. "What brings you all the way back here at noon, Toushirou?"

Yes, there standing before him was a somewhat cranky little captain who extended a hand, revealing a package of food from the store. Ichigo took it since it was being offered to him, but he glanced at the other to see that the captain did not have one in hand for himself. This confused him at first, but had a feeling that the captain did not want to eat in front of him—or in front of others for that matter. Seeing how they had eaten dinner and breakfast together, Ichigo was somewhat hoping that it was because of the latter.

"What about yourself?" Ichigo ripped the cover off and parted his chopsticks. "Aren't you going to eat?"
"I'll eat when I go to the apartment, I bought you a meal since you had forgotten the bento." He answered.
"That's not going to work," his hand patted the grass. "Sit down." He offered a sushi roll. "Here, take one."
Toushirou glared, but knowing he would say, an order. "You're abusing your power." His mouth opened.
After placing the roll in his mouth, he replied. "Maybe… but I'm not the one neglecting my hunger needs."
"What are you talking about, I'm n—" his stomach growled, loudly, Ichigo snickered. "…shut up Kurosaki."
"My, my, a least your body doesn't lie." He gave him the chopsticks. "Here, have your share first, alright?"
The captain scowled as he received the package. "You haven't taken a bite." He offered him some sushi.
"Fair is fair." Ichigo took a bite without complain and ate it. "So… what are you here to complain about?"

"Eh?"

"You've been sniffing around for an hour, Toushirou, you're reiatsu was flaring off and on." He leaned back against the tree in a bit more of a comfortable position. "I almost began to worry that you couldn't handle yourself while I was in class." His attention went to him. "What did you want to talk about then?"

"There was a Menos earlier after I left, and it was an Adjuchas level." He paused. "It was strange, it said that I was not permitted to leave this town." The captain looked to him. "Do you know anything about it?"
There was a long pause as Ichigo thought about it. "You're assigned to take my place, my place it to this town. You probably were heading towards the next city, which is Tokyo." He shrugged carelessly to this.
"Why would they care about—" Toushirou watched as the other turned his back on him, lying fully on the grass. "Then I felt your reiatsu," he paused, scrutinizing him. "What were you doing there, Kurosaki?"
"I felt the reiatsu and came over since I didn't think you brought your soul candy," he was not lying, he felt the reiatsu of the opponent and assume Toushirou did not bring his soul candy. "Didn't want you hurt."

Despite knowing that he was hiding something, he decided to let it go for now as he ate half the meal, and then realizing that the chopsticks touched Ichigo's lips. First they had touched the captain's lips when Ichigo offered the first dibs, and then Toushirou offered the carrot top the second one. If his memory had served him right, as it almost always did, his lieutenant would call this sort of thing an indirect kiss…

"There's a Hollow." Ichigo muttered under his breath.
"What are you talking about—" he suddenly felt it.
His got up slowly. "It can't be helped, I'll go do it—"
"Ichigo-sama!" A woman clung to him. "I missed you!"
"I… have to go somewhere, please excuse me."

"If you don't spend time with me like you promised, I'll tell everyone that you're a pedophile for indirectly kissing with this little boy." She felt him stiffen, knowing that he was going to be obedient. "I need help with tonight's assignment, so I was hoping you can sneak into the dorms and tutor me, or I can come over… either way works for me." Her hands went to his muscled chest. "You're not meant to be a—"

"Please excuse me—" As he tried to move around her, she clung tightly to shirt. "Please… let… go…"
"Is that Hinamori-chan that precious to you?" This woman suddenly hissed at him as if he rejected her.
He twitched at the question. "We have been through this before, don't have me repeat myself again."
"Why won't you tell me the truth?" Her hands clenched as she shook him. "You're so cold! Like ice!"

Ichigo chuckled at her when hearing this, finding it as a cruel irony once a large Hollow appeared behind the woman. This worried the captain and was about to attempt removing himself from his gigai until he saw the carrot top raise a hand into the air. Brown hues hardened as he snapped his fingers once, which turned everything quiet suddenly right before the Hollow was instantly ripped to shred. There was nothing but complete shock within the captain as he stared in disbelief as to what he did not see happen…

How did he—

"Toushirou," the other male called, "erase her memories of today, please."