BLEACH –Again–

Chapter Eight: BIRTHDAYS ARE FUN

Ichigo sip onto his mocha as he walked down the streets of Harujuku, now in its April season. Walking next to stores, he went for a little window shopping, looking for gifts he could give to a certain same-hair-color girl for her birthday. Yesterday, Konoka told him about Asuna's birthday on the 21st, thinking that he will buy a gift for her, and she was right. Ichigo was the kind of guy who cares for his friends, enough to buy them gifts or visit them during the day to hang out.

Not knowing Asuna very well, Ichigo wouldn't ask to hang out with her, so he settled with buying a present, whether or not it used up his checking account depended on the present, he thought.

Walking further down Harujuku, he noticed Konoka and Negi walking down the street, talking to each other and pointing at random feminine and muscular objects. "Must be looking for a gift for Asuna…" He thought to himself when he noticed a presence slouched behind him. Making that "presences", Ichigo looked behind him to find the three cheerleaders from Class 3-A slouched behind him, "spying" on the two.

"What are you girls doing?" He asked as the three shocked, seeing their scowling teacher staring at them.

"I-i-ichigo-sensei?"

"Ohayō, Ichigo-sensei!"

"Ohayō," The orange head greeted back. "So what are you guys doing?" He asked, sipping on his mocha.

"Um… spying on Negi-kun and Konoka having their date?" Sakurako answered with a mild question. Misa slapped her on the head. "Baka! You just gave away a secret to an authority!"

"Ah crap!" Sakurako slapped her hands onto her mouth as Ichigo stared at them oddly. "Date? They're not on a date. They're-…"

"Look! Ichigo-sensei doesn't believe us! The two are safe for now!" Misa whispered to her fellow cheerleaders as they nodded.

"Oi."

"We have to play along so that he doesn't suspect anything." Madoka whispered back.

"Hey, I can hear you girls perfectly you know."

"Let's lead him somewhere else and then ditch him!" Sakurako whispered with slyness in her voice.

"Hey, I heard that!"

"Heard what, Ichigo-sensei?" Sakurako asked with an innocent tone. Ichigo felt his eyes twitch at the attempt to focus his attention away from Negi and Konoka, which, by the way, was failing horribly. "Ah, by the way, Ichigo-sensei! Did you know that there have been sightings of some mysterious invisible monsters?" Sakurako continued.

That peaked Ichigo interest as Madoka yelled, "Why would Sensei be interested in those kinds of superstitions? It's probably just some Otakus making up stories again!" Misa giggled. "Of course, unless Ichigo-sensei is one of those Otakus."

The three turned to Ichigo to admit it, the orange head in question sighing. "No, I am not one of those Otakus," He elaborated, "Although Keigo is one of those guys and Don-What's-His-Name-Again has his own Otaku fanclub, and the guy still refers to me as his first disciple or whatever…" What Ichigo doesn't know is that Kon always puts the card that says that Ichigo is Don Kanonji's #1 Disciple in his bag just to get back at him. Back to the story, Ichigo looked back to see the cheerleaders sigh in relief, continuing, "But I do believe in these 'superstition' stuff. So what's up with these mysterious invisible monsters?"

"Umm… well, I don't know the full story, but apparently there has been some kind of terrorist attacks back at Akahibara. But for some odd reason, there wasn't any attacker, and the craters looked similarly like footprints and claws…" Sakurako explained as Misa and Madoka recalled watching the news. "Of course, the mysterious invisible monster disappeared with Don Kanonji appeared!" She said with excitement in her voice.

"Of course, that guy had to be there…" Ichigo thought with a depressing tone as Madoka expressed her own disgust at the man as Misa laughed. Misa, still laughing, said, "A-anyway, Ichigo-sensei! W-we gotta… uh… go, go shopping for our trip to Kyōto, so~… see ya, Sensei!" She said, grabbing the other two and rushing off.

"Ah, hey wait!" The orange head grumbled a bit, staring off after his students. "What strange girls…" He muttered, before noticing something. "Ah! Dammit, I gotta go and shop for stuffs for Kyōto too!" With that, the orange head rushed off to who knows where, missing a TV news program about a group of Super Heroes.

"And here we have the leader of the Karakura-Raizer Team, the great Karakura-Raizer Spirit! Who is also known as the famous TV actor and exorcist, Don Kanonji!"

"Spirits are always with you! Bo-Hahahaha!"

A repeat of the sound was heard in the background as the figure continued, "Just you wait, in about a month, the very famous Super Hero team, the Karakura-Raizer Team will be off to visit the famous Mahora Festival! Be sure to come, because it will be a Bo-Hahahahaha-ntastic moment!"

A collection of roars and whistles were heard as the program continued on.

We find the orange head sighing as he finished shopping for clothing and other stuffs to go to Kyōto. He even had to buy a new suitcase, as Isshin practically blew it up into pieces using Kidō. What a bastard. Getting back to the story, Ichigo looked down the list to see if he missed anything, when he remembered about Asuna's birthday. Going back to window shopping, he found a plush toy that looked almost like Kon, but was a bit more childish yet more stylish than the lion pervert. Plus, it had orange main and brown eyes. Looking at the sign, he read, "Custom Making Available!"

Shrugging, he walked into the store.

An hour later, Ichigo overheard rumors of a cute couple who were being interrupted by another couple, preventing them from buying anything, while there was another girl with blonde hair and a tan who was also preventing the young couple from buying anything. "Three kids preventing two kids from buying stuffs? Why does that make me think of those three girls from 3-A?" He wondered.

Somewhere, the three cheerleaders sneezed on their lunch, before going back to spying on Konoka and Negi laugh on their burgers.

Walking around a bit, he heard a bit of shouting, looking down the road to see a speeding cloud heading towards him. Taking a closer look, he found a blonde and an orange head heading right for-

*BANG* Never mind…

Ichigo groaned. "Goddammit, hey, watch where you goi-…!" He stopped, seeing Asuna's face really close to his. His chocolate brown eyes stared into the heterochromic blue and green eyes, when suddenly; he felt a hand squeezing on the thing that makes him a man, which results him flinching and yelp out, "H-hey! W-watch where y-you're t-touching, dammit!"

Asuna squeaked and struggled to get off. Her footing got messed up and her bum landed on the hand that was over mini-Ichigo. Ichigo himself yelped once more in pain as the hand's owner yelled, "Gyah! G-get off my hand, you Monkey!"

"Uwah, sorry Īnchō- OW!"

"Itai!" Ayaka yelled as she and Asuna banged their heads together. The two held their heads as Ichigo grabbed his nuts, groaning in pain. Ayaka opened her teary eyes to see Ichigo hanging onto his manhood, making Ayaka remember her hand landing on something stiff. A blush covered her face as she stared at her hand. "N-no… I… I touched a person's… NO!"

Asuna got up, still holding her head, sweat-dropping at what Ayaka was doing. Turning to see Ichigo holding his nuts, she felt a bit pity for falling on his… she flushed thinking about it. After the crowd that gathered around them dispersed, Ichigo limply gathered his shopping bags, lightly glaring at the two girls. "So, where the hell were you two heading to not focus at where you were running at?" The orange head asked as Asuna and Ayaka still flushed at what happened a minute ago.

"Um, uh, Ku-kurosaki-sensei… Ēto, d-do you know where Negi-sensei and Konoka is!" Ayaka asked desperately. Ichigo raised a brow, his mind saying that she didn't really answer his question, yet answered it, as he answered, "No."

"That was pretty blunt," Asuna thought as Ayaka thanked the teacher. The blonde then asked if the orange head will help find Negi, to which Ichigo quickly responded, "No."

Getting irritated, Ayaka once more asked if Ichigo will help out when the same answer was given. The same question was asked again when Asuna quickly lost her patience. "Come on Īnchō! It's obvious he's not helping us, so let's go find Negi and Konoka!" She yelled, grabbing Iincho and dragging her away. Ichigo remembered Asuna's birthday and was about to call out for her but was surprised that Asuna and Ayaka was already 10 blocks away from him. "They're fast…" He thought to himself, looking at the plush toy he bought back before.

"Eh, I'll give it to her next time…"

That night, Negi was busy packing while Konoka washed the dishes. Asuna had just finished taking a shower, a toothbrush in her past-foamed mouth when the door was knocked. "I'll get it!" Asuna called out with a muffle.

Opening the door, she was surprised to see Ichigo, his eyebrows raised at Asuna's state of clothing. The orange head blushed a bit before holding up a finger to give her a minute. Ichigo nodded and Asuna closed the door, coming back a minute later, foam cleaned, asking, "Hey Ichigo-sensei. You need something?"

She blinked when a decorated bag was handed to her. "I heard it was going to be your birthday tomorrow. I decided to give you a present today since we're leaving for Kyōto tomorrow," Ichigo answered his fellow orange head's unanswered question. "So... Happy birthday, Asuna."

With that, the taller orange head left, waving his hand above him. Asuna gave him a confused look, looking back at the gift before walking inside.

"Who was it, Asuna?" Konoka asked, drying her hands on her apron. "That was Ichigo-sensei," She responded, Negi asking, "Why did Kurosaki-san come?"

"He gave me a birthday present," Asuna answered, opening the bag and reaching inside it. Taking out the gift, the three glanced at the plush toy. It was a lion with an orange mane and brown eyes. It appeared to be custom made because it wore a black Hakama with some kind of red band that loped around its body (somewhat like a Kon plush doll wearing Ichigo's Shinigami clothing).

"Waah, how cute!" Konoka exclaimed, cupping her face. "Wow, Kurosaki-san's really nice to buy this, huh, Asuna-san?"

"Huh? Y-yeah…" Asuna answered with a blush evident on her cheeks. The three decided to hit the hay and lied on their bed. Unconsciously, Asuna took the lion with her, squeezing for a few moments before drifting off to sleep.

Notes:

ALRIGHT! The next double-future is HEEEEEEEEEEERRRREEE, to celebrate the completion of my first official job! No matter how short it was! I'm so excited, are you guys? I AM!

So yeah, next chapter's the time when the party goes to Kyōto! The next Pactio set ups will be appearing as well in this Arc! It's gonna be awesome!

Anyway, this chapter was kind of boring cause the title says "birthdays are fun", but no birthday parties were shown. Yeah, sucks huh? On the bright side, this chapter was the pinpoint to many of the plot plans I've made! If you have NO idea what I'm talking about, then I suggest you read this chapter one more time!

The Kon Plushie idea was made from the actual Kon Plushie that actually exists in the real world. Try looking online, if you don't believe me. Although the custom-made I made doesn't exist, the Kon Plushie does sale (or used to, I think) garbed in Ichigo's Shinigami clothes.

The comment for the double Pactio thing will be further explained in the next chapter of the Double Feature.

Other than that, I am currently here at Incheon Airport, South Korea, where it is now 6:15 PM, Friday, June 29th. This will be the last update from me for several days, so don't expect any early updates from me, alright? See y'all later!