okay, change of plan, instead making 2 chapter, i'll slap this into one instead. the thing is, this story still supposed to go on, but well, i got other stories the i need to complete as well so... yeah...
after all, i must finish what i had started *sigh*
Disclaimer: if i were to own bleach, there will be no three weeks break . damn! i cant believe i manage to live without bleach for three weeks, i thought i was gonna die!
Chapter 1: Is it You?
The senior class 3-3 was full of students chatting with each other before the class begin, and so does an auburn haired girl with her sweet smile. She was holding her scetchbook proudly, showing off her ingenious... Art work. What is drawn there is... a Miso man.. it has the head of a bowl of miso and a human body, holding a bowl of miso on its hand.
"ta da! The miso man! Delivers miso, wherever, whenever!" she said exitedly.
The rest who were looking at the picture was stoned by her randomness. The randomness of the picture to be exact.
"inoue-San, that was..." ishida started, he has no idea what to say about this one.. So he stoped on the middle of his sentence.
Tatsuki sighed. "orihime, I know you got delivery job as your topic on art project but... I don't think it supposed to be this way..."
"eh... I tought it was good, and Im sure I have impoved as well..."pouted inoue.
Chizuru who had a bad cause of homosexuality was drooling as she noticed that inoue was doing her cute hime pout. She can't hold her feral instinct any longer and she lunged at orihime.
"Hiiiimeeee! Come to-"she screamed before a foot meet her face in courtesy of tatsuki. She was blown back with a gasp and a nose bleed.
"sheesh, she never change does she" tatsuki stated as she shakes her head. The rest of the group sweat dropped.
Inoue giggled. "old times huh..." But this however pierced her heart like an impaler as it reminds her of the old times... The times when he was there... When she still could see his determined scowl, telling her that everything will be alright. When he was here, yes, was... Past tense... It break her heart down as she thought about it with past tense, it tells her that he was no longer around... It has been 2 years already since he sacrificed himself in order to kill aizen and put an end to his deceptive plans.
"i cant belive it has been 2 years since then" inoue said as she gives her friend a grim smile.
The group was silent, it's what happened when anybody mention it. As if they were mourning in a cemetery, but yes, they are mourning for a dear friend, for a protector, the one that protects them all even on the cost of his life. They almost felt bad to be alive in peace like this, but then again, if he's here he'd told them to keep on living and enjoy their lives, it is the life that he gave to them in exchange for his own.
"yeah..." ishida said darkly.
Eversince then, the shinigami has cut their connection with karakura town. Yes, the only shinigami around is Afro-San, kurumadani zenosuke, a half assed shinigami that isn't really good with his work that ishida, Chad and inoue has to help him exterminating the hollows. Rukia, renji and the rest of the shinigami never set their foot here even once for the last two year. They figured it would be to hard for them, those two take ichigo's death pretty badly as well. They won't be surprised if they will never come to this town again... It is to be expected, it might opened up their wounds.
But never the less, all of them moved on. But of course, they will never forget him no matter what. their bond has gone too deep to be severed by something as simple as death.
"alright class! Back to your seat" ochi-sensei exclaimed.
The teacher snapped the group off their gloom and they relucantly went back to their seats.
"so, today, I'll introduce you to a new student from America" she said and this has create wishpers through out the class. The reason is simple, it's a foreigner, they are pretty exited to see this new student.
"but before I call him, please hold yourself alright, cause it will be quite shocking..." she said and this has piqued even more interest from the student. Some of them even thinks that a famous star has come from America to study here, that of course, is over exaggerated.
"so... Please come in" she called and the door slid open revealing a teenager with a very bright orange hair along with a shining blue eyes.
"my name is yagari ichiru, nice to meet you" he said with what it looked like a busnises smile.
the class has become awkward for the orangetee, mainly because of the student's gasp and how they stare at him wide eyed. Inwardly, he sighed, he knew that the damned hair of his is going to get lots of attention.
The reaction was understandable, seeing that most of the school he attends has the same reaction towards him... but what he didn't understand is the look of some of the student, the one who has auburn hair seems to holding back her tears which was useless and it flows down a second after with her hands clasped on her mouth. The four eyes with black hair looked extremely shocked one moment and he gives him a deathglare afterwards... Weird.. And there is also the brunete that opened his mouth as wide as it can.. Speaking of weird, there is a big student that he concluded is a mexican due his tan, which has an amazingly big body, looking at him wide eyed one sec and looked like a puppy dog afterwards.
Now this is even weirder than the other school that he has been... Japan is such a weird place... He wondered if he can go through... This... He was kicked out of his last school because of the fight he did to defend himself... He guessed that it has to be the requirement of having an orange hair... Why the hell did he was born with such a ridiculus hair anyway... Whatever the case is, he will never knew, it's not like he ever knew his parents, he grows on an orphanage since he was young... Sometime he wondered about how his parents looked like, did they has the same orange hair as he is or what job they take and why did they left him on the orphanage... It's all mystery for him... but now he's on japan, he won't be searching for them any soon...
He lifted his eyebrows in confusion as the class become amazingly silent, like every single one of them was too overwhelmed to say a thing... What is wrong with them... Seriously, it's becoming a bit uncomfortable.
Ochi-sensei sighed. "well, I suppose you could seat behind yamazaki"
Ichiru quietly obeyed. He walked trough the students and sat to the seat beside the window, ignoring the stares from other students on the class. He sighed. This is going to be one tough year for him...
the group, which consist of keigo, mizuiro, tatsuki, Chad, inoue and ishida was stunned. The arrival of the new student has shaken them, he has opened up a deep wound buried within them. The memories of kurosaki ichigo, how he had disappeared in front of them, how he died right before their eyes... Their felling was on a jumble, they were either sad and glad, sad to be reminded of him and glad that they were able to see him again. Most of all, they were confused, is it really ichigo? His sound was so nostalgic, it's a wonderful sound to be heard again. From whatever angle they looked, he is definitly ichigo. They never knew ichigo has a fraternal twin... Ichiru looked so much like ichigo that it hurts them. The tought of having ichigo with them on their life is painful, knowing that it would never comes true.. He is dead for their sake, for the sake of the entire world... And ichiru badly reminded them of him. inoue can't hold her tears...
"inoue, are you okay?" asked ochi-sensei as she looked at the sobbing girl.
"I...I'm...im fine, I just.. I'm going to the toilet" she stuttered as she stood up, slammed the classroom door and ran to the bathroom.
The rest of the student looked at her until she disappeared through the corridors. The group, however, could understand how she fells... She has kept her sadness bottled up for a while now and it burst as she saw ichiru...
Ichiru though, can't help but to think that this class is weird, what's up with them... Seriously, why did she cried? Did he scare her or something.. This is beyond ridiculous. It's only the first day and things like this has happened... Lots of people has looked at him with distaste, but someone who cried is the first for him.. What the hell is going on anyway...
Ichiru scowled, looking like ichigo more than ever, which is not helping the group who has their eyes on him the entire time. When he scowl, it was like looking at ichigo which gives them a serious case of déjà-vu.
inoue get back to class a few minutes after her outbreak. The lesson goes on and its recess time. The group has been itching to talk to ichiru for a while now. Inoue though, decided to calm herself first before she engaged any conversation with him, she would break into tears.
As ichiru closed his text book, ishida comes first.
"kurosaki!" he called unknowingly using ichigo's last name. "i mean.. Yagari"
Then ichiru realized he was called. He looked at ishida with his brilliant blue eyes which dazed ishida for a sec there. "yeah?" he answered.
"you are..." ishida clenched his fist as the words fade from his mind. What was he thinking, it's true that yagari is ichigo's look alike but that doesn't meant he is ichigo. Saying something like, you're supposed to be dead and what the hell is going on would look weird, really weird on his eyes.
Ishida sighed "never mind" he said.
Ichiru was confused, a second ago he looked like he was ready to pick a fight with him and the next second he looked like someone who has given up, dare he say it, he was desperate. His eyes were dulled and shrink. And worse of all it's bothering him. What he has done to them that earned him such desperate look... Not only him, but the others, namely the group was doing it as well. he scowled on confusion and that is really bothering the group.
Tatsuki sighed. She really need to get over this, she figured that their action has perplexed the new student. So she muster up every self control and self restrain to introduce herself to the new student.
She smiled as she greet ichiru, "sorry about that, I am arisawa tatsuki, yoroshiku nee" and she offered her hand.
Ichiru did one of his business smile again as he shakes her hand. "nice to meet you too"
"then I should introduce you to others as well" she said as she gestured towards her friends.
"the one with his hand phone and texting almost all the time is mizuiro" mizuiro noticed this and diverted his eyes from the phone to look at ichiru. "kojima mizuiro, yoroshiku" he said.
Ichiru nods and mizuiro get back on texting message.
"the idiot looking guy beside him is asano keigo" when he felt his name was called, he got into one of his fit.
"I'm not an idiot!" he exclaimed as he ran to mizuiro who was busy texting. "mizuiro she called me an idiot" he said with comical tears flowing.
"sure you do, asano-San" mizuiro said indifferently without looking at him and pouring every ounce of his attention to the phone which made keigo goes to a corner and pouts.
Ichiru was amazed, there is lot's of kind of people in this world but this is... Unique...
"well, anyways. This big guy here is chad" she said as she points to the huge guy beside her.
Ichiru flinched on surprise, he just realized that Chad is in front of him, he figured that Chad must have walked there when he was busy looking at the idiot.
"'yo" ichiru greeted. The giant just replied with a grunt and a nod. That's all, no words coming out of his mouth. Although, he has some of understanding towards him.
"ah.. Well..." she said reluctantly "he didn't talk that much... Moving on, the gla-"
"I can introduce my self, thank you" ishida cutted before tatsuki throw an insult to him. He straightened his glases using his index finger prepare him self for the introduction." i am uryuu ishida, a quincy" he said in his usual serious tone.
Ichiru scowled and raise his eyebrow in confusion. Upon hearing the last word, something clicked on his mind. The name sounds familiar... he wondered why... Its not like he know what it meant or anything, its just... Where did he ever heard that before, although he was sure that this is the first time he ever heard of it...
The others looked at him like he's mental. He is crazy alright, telling ichiro that he is a quincy... no matter how look a like he is, he is not him. What ishida did was unreasonable to them.
"... Okay... The girl on the back is inoue orihime, my best friend" tatsuki said hoping to change the topic.
In the moment of her call, inoue stood up and walk to ichiru's table. Mustering every self restraint she has, she smiled and introduce herself like she always did to everyone else "my name is inoue orihime, nice to meet you yagari-kun"
ichiru smiled back "yeah, nice to meet you too"
Before he knew it, a brunette nudged him. "hey, want to come and eat lunch with us"
"uh... Sure" he answered.
"ichiru, you don't have to be so tense, lighten up" tatsuki scolded as she noticed the slight waver on his voice.
He shrugged "no actually, Japanese... I'm not good at it" he said reluctantly. He is right, his Japanese is... Sloppy... Or so to speak, the sentence were divided to several parts instead of a full sentence.
Tatsuki smirked "looks like it, but don't worry, you'll get the hang of it" she said and ichiru returns her smirk.
"ichigo!" exclaimed a brunette loudly as he appeared beside him so suddenly that ichiru jumped. "come on! Let's eat lunch together" he said excitedly as he dragged ichiru with him.
"wh...wha?" ichiru stuttered, dazed by what happened next, he was dragged with the brunette to the roof.
"we usually ate on the roof!" keigo explained "how about it, isn't the view Is grand!"
"uh... I guess..."
"you guess, is that all? 'aw... Yer no fun..." keigo pouted.
Soon Chad and ishida joined in, both inoue and tatsuki are having lunch with them as well.
There is something that was bugging him though... Did that idiot just called him ichigo? It might be a slight misspelling on his name but... That name sounds really familiar... Why was it, he didn't know... And it bothers him to no end, there is also the weird lingering felling, this town... It felt like home, It felt so nostalgic... So does his new friends...
He sighed. This is stupid... He never set foot on japan even once before, so how come he thought this place as home...
"ichiru? Ichiru, oy, I'm calling you ichiru!" exclaimed keigo which snapped ichiru out of his trance, a string of thoughts to be exact.
"yes?"
"ive been calling you and you didn't answer" pouted keigo.
"oh... Sorry... I'm... Thinking about something"
"he... So what are you thinking about?" asked keigo, then he showed his comical sly smile. "is it girls? It is isnt it?" He said as he nudged ichiru with his elbow.
"no... Not that..." he answered awkwardly while scratching the back of his head
"ichigo, eto... I mean ichiru..." called tatsuki but before he had any chance to respond, a big slam could be heard from the roof's metallic door. A yellow haired delinquent stood there cockily.
"heh, so you're new" he said obviously pointing at ichiru.
"so what?" he asked, there's a dangerous edge to his tone, his eyebrows started to form a scowl.
"what do ya know, you really do look like kurosaki, fine, I'll teach you the proper procedure in this school" he said as he put on a brass knuckle. "the only one who is allowed to dye the hair is me!"
"for your information, this is natural, unlike you, chicken head" he said, the words dipped on full sarcasm. He always hated this kind of thing... Those damned delinquent who was trying to beat him up due to his orange hair.
The chicken head realized that the last word was said in English. This ticked him off even more. Even though he didn't understand what it means, he was sure its an insult.
"you!" he exclaimed, but before he speak any more, ichiru cut him off.
"what?, what are you going to do? Tickle me to death? You're ten years early to beat me asshole" he said using English all the way. Ishida who understand English, smirked out of amusement. The rest them was staring at him, confused with his language.
Ichiru managed to blow the delinquents fuse. "im going to!-" he exclaimed but was stoped when a hand pat his shoulder. Slowly he looked back, and the next thing he knows, he was thrown away.
Ichiru watched the whole scene with shock. The big guy... Chad.. If he's not mistaken... Has an amazingly brutal strength. He thrown him like a feather.
The delinquent whimpers and ran screaming something like "this isn't over yet!" or something...
Chad looked at ichiru, worry are certain on the giant's face "are you okay? Ichigo"
Ichiru who was in state of shock could only give out a weak yes.
Silence follows after them, and keigo screamed comically. The silence was unbearable to him. "whats with this silence! It's so depressing!" he exclaimed. That instant the tension started to deteriorate.
"'jezz, let's just get back to the food shall we" tatsuki suggested and all of them complies. They started to continue to eat their lunch.
Ichiru though, he has something else in mind, that giant called him ichigo. That name... That name is bothering him to no end. Why is it, he didn't know, it was so nerve wrecking that it irritates him. What is it with that name.. And more importantly, why did they call him that? Is his name really that easy to misspelled? At this point he is not too sure that it was a misspelling... This is the third time already.
Keigo nudged ichiru again "oi ichigo.. I mean, ichiru, spacing out again?" he asked
"no.. It's just.. My name... Is it that easy? To be misspelled" ichiru said with a smirk "it's the fourth already... You called me ichigo"
At that moment, they froze. The air was heavy with gloom, as if ichiru has just said some kind of taboo word. Well, he is, he just open up a forbidden topic.
"did I... Said something wrong?" he asked in the middle of his confusion. The pained faces of his new friends told the story
Tatsuki smiled sheepishly "no, nothing, it's just, we had a friend that looked like you, so we have the decency to call you with his name"
"had? Past tense?" he asked
Tatsuki looked down. She let his bangs cover her eyes casting an eerie shade. "he died... Two years ago"
Ichiru's eyes widened. It seems he did said something wrong. "I'm sorry" he said as his eyes softened with sympathy. He knows now why the class has been on uproar the moment he stepped in. That would explain why the girl, inoue... Cried as soon as she saw him.. Is he really look like this ichigo?
"it happened a long time ago, all of us has moved forward" tatsuki said with a small smile and ichiro relied with another smile.
"so ichiru, are you japanese? Your name sounds like one" asked mizuiro.
Ichiru scratched his orange locks, trying to find the words. he wondered how he should explain this one, especially in japanese.
"well... My guardian is Japanese so... He gives me... A Japanese name.." he said trying to piece the word together.
"guardian?" asked tatsuki.
"yes I'm an orphan... When I was 4, yagari-San took me... He treat me like his own son..." he explained.
The rest of the group stopped asking afterwards, they thought that it's a sensitive topic, to sensitive to be talked about casually so they let the topic drop.
After the class, the student's merrily pack their things, either to get home or went on their respective extra culliculars. And so did ichiru. He went packing and about to leave the class.
"hey! Ichiru, want us to show you around the town?" asked tatsuki as she finished packing herself. She was now somehow able to hold her own as she talk to ichiru. Although, she has to constantly remind her self that its not ichigo that she is talking to. She has to accept that ichigo is no longer around. Somehow it made talking to him become a lot smoother, and also painful, for he reminds her of the fact that ichigo is gone forever...
"well... I had to finish first... unpacking my things... before that" ichiru said as he throw her with a polite smile
"un packing?"
"yeah" ichiru closed his bag and he stand as he sling his bag to his back much like ichigo does. Ready to go back to his new home. "i just arrived... Here last night"
"last night?" tatsuki said with a raised eyebrow. "Did you even sleep"
"a... I got plenty of sleep after all... On the plane"
"nee... Yagari-kun, do you need some help?" asked inoue with her cheery tone. Her sudden question does shocked both ichiru and tatsuki who was unaware of her presence beside them. "and sado-kun kan carry the heavy thing for you" she said as she pointed at Chad. The said carrier give them a firm nod and a thumbs up "no problem" he said.
Ichiru sweat dropped as he looked at Chad. He didn't know why, but it seemed just wrong... "ie... It's just a few things... I'm fine by myself" he replied with an uncertain smile.
For some unknown reason, the three was so desperately need to know more about him and also be with him longer. They got this weird attachment to him. It probably because of how he looks like and who he remind them of... They just, didn't want to take their eyes of him for a second, as if he will be gone again once they did so... Even though it's not ichigo...
Tatsuki make the first move. "oh, come on, just show us where your house is and we'll have you unpacked in no time, then we could go show you around"
"look I'm-" before he even managed to finish his sentence, he was dragged out of the class by tatsuki. Chad and inoue followed afterwards. Keigo and mizuiro who find this situation rather interesting, decided to but in. Ishida though, he was looking at ichiru with suspicious eyes all along. He had spent his whole day making speculation about the new student. He had tried to trace if he got any reiatsu for a while now but he didn't get any... Except, on the last moment as ichiru bumped into him when tatsuki was dragging ichiru trough the class... He felt it... It's so small that it could be said as non-existent... However, that small reiatsu reading... Ishida looked at ichiru with wide eyes. "could it be?" he whispered to no one.
Tatsuki managed to convince ichiru to take them to his home... More like, he has given up with his stalker who just keep insisting to help him un packed. He sighed. Well, might as well get this over with... He thought.
The stalkers, as ichiru put it, was felling a bit edgy with the directions they take. They know the way, this route... Its the route to his house...
Soon, they realize that he didn't just live somewhere nearby ichigo's neighborhood... The group was standing with mouth gaping and eyes wide with surprise. in front of them stood two storey ex-clinic. its the place they know all to well. Its his house... Well, it used to be...
"this... Is your house?" tatsuki asked.
Ichiru shrugged "well... its my new house... I came here this morning" he said as he walk towards the door and clicked it open
the group had no idea what to say. They look at each other uncomfortably. The thought of someone that look very much like ichigo and living in his house is... Well... This situation has become so much like an impossible coincidences.
Ichiru stepped into his new house. It was then that he realized that his stalkers aren't following him into the house... It probably had something to do with their shocked faces just now. He sighed. Really what is their problem! He turned around and partly, open the front door, just enough space for him to look oustside. "ano... Do you want to come in?" he asked rather politely.
The group snapped out of their thoughts and decided to think about that later. For now, helping him unpacked his things sounds like a plan. As the group enter the house, they saw what has become of the former home of their protector. the furnishing were covered in white covers, the hardware, such as tv, clock, radio, were missing... They figured that, the kurosaki's must have taken it with them. The floor and the wall was covered in lots and lots of dust, they could even see their own footsteps as they trod down the layer of dust beneath their feet. The ceiling also got spider webs on it. It is to be expected as the house were abandoned for two whole year. Beside the dining table, lies brown boxes. That, they suppose, is the things that needed to be unpacked. Bur before that happen, they need to clean this whole mess up first.
"and you said that it just a few things..." tatsuki sighed "this could take all night!"
Before ichiru could reply, orihime beat him to it. "sa... Everyone! Let's start cleaning now" she exclaimed quite cheerfully. Inoue was exited, there's so many things to clean. It might not look like it but inoue had quite a fun on doing house jobs like cleaning and washing, especially cooking, which of course scares the light out of her friends with her weird taste.
"cleaning huh! This sounds like fun" mizuiro said as he closed his hand phone and followed orihime to take some cleaning tools.
"alright" tatsuki followed. While Chad nod in agreement
"wait... We had to clean all of this" shouted keigo in desperation
Ichiru who was about to join as well, stopped in his tracks and turns. He looked at keigo with indifference. "you don't have to... If you don't want..." and continued right after
"eh..." keigo stuttered who was really didn't want to do it. But when he saw all of his friends working together like that, he just can't not to join. "wait! Im coming to" he said as he followed ichiru.
After so much coughing from the dust, several cleaning races which was unbelievably won by orihime, and get their own school uniform dirty with sweat and dust, they finally managed to get everything clean. It turns out that the group spends their time to clean the whole afternoon. by the time they finished it was noon already. And everyone was beat with all of their work.
"finally" keigo said with relieve. As he sat on the couch.
"huh... we had actually managed to get everything clean in a day" tatsuki said in satisfaction. She had to admit. Cleaning what it used to be a very dirty two storey clinic in a spam of 4 hours or so seems to be a good record.
"hey, good job... and thanks for the hard work" ichiru said as he handed them each a can of sprite. One thing different about this can though.. It was written in English.
"did you brought this from America?" asked tatsuki
"yeah... Kind of" he replied as he opened his can.
"you do realize that you can buy this on vending machines on the whole nation right?"
"well... I can't just leave it on my refridge... On america... I don't like it... Wasting food"
"hee..." inoue said as she found this interesting. "but i thought you cant bring any type of liquid to the plane..."
"the things were shipped by cargo... And even, if I use airplanes... Just put it on the baggage, they'll let it trough"
"ahh!" she exclaimed which startled pretty much every one on the room. "that's right, aren't we supposed to help unpacking those things"
The group realized that they had actually forgot about the unpacking stuff, the original plan that they made.
"don't worry about it" ichiru said as he took a sip of his sprite "I could do it tomorrow after school"
"well, i suppose we will be back here tomorrow then" mizuiro stated
"eh... Again" keigo complained
"look, you guys dont have to... Um... Help me... I could do it on my own" he said as he didn't really want to give more burden to his friends. He just met them today and they had even took the liberty on helping him clean the house. He was great full, too grateful in fact, in his last school, he didn't have many friends, then again, there is only one person that he thought as friends. And yet, now he had a bunch of friends. He didn't know if his friends were with him just because of he apparently a twin of this ichigo person, but still, they are his friends now. Though, it's probably because he is a loner that he just didn't feel comfortable with 'hanging out with friends' he need some time alone as well.
"don't worry about us, we will gladly help you, isn't that right?" tatsuki asked to the group.
The first one to respond is Chad. Again he nods and grunted in acknowledge along with a thumb up. "no problem" he said.
"of course" inoue answered happily with a bright smile "we are friends after all"
"yes, friends help each other out, after all, its what friends for" mizuiro said.
Ichiru's eyes soften "everyone..." he said softly. There is this weird flowery felling... Or so to speak. This is the first for him. Most of the time, he was loathed and bullied because of his orange hair so, many people just go against him on sentimental reason. Having many friends like this made him... Happy, or something like that.
"well, i gotta go, its night already and my mom is gonna kill me if i stayed out to long" tatsuki said as she looked at her watch. Ichiru decided to show her of on the front gate. "bye" she said as she ran through the neighborhood.
"i think we have to him some space as well" mizuiro said. "then see ya later ichiru"
"see ya tomorrow okay yagari-kun"
"aa..." he replied as he saw them of on the front gate "see you guys later"
Ichiru couldn't help but to think that this is rather interesting as he entered his new home.
the end :D
for now ... but i got no idea when i'm able to put up the next chapter with all that UN and all...
i cant believe that my live is depending on one stupid test T.T stupid government (oops, no offense there)
so, anyone care enough to review? :/