What did she want to talk about, I wonder?
Outside the school, I sat on a bench, waiting. The students were filing out of the school, chatting, laughing, and flirting. I sighed heavily.
"Ichigo?" A quiet voice said from behind me. I turned around to find Orhime smiling at me.
"Hey," I couldn't help but smile back. "What's up?" She blushed. "Um… I was wondering if you'd—"
"Oi, Ichigo. You coming or not?" Rukia's loud voice carried from the shade of a tree. She hadn't been there before…
"Oh, yeah! I'll be there in a second." I turned to Orhime. "Hey, I'll catch up with you later. I've got something to do. Call me sometime, ok?" I wrote my name and number on a piece of paper and handed it to her. Her face turned beet red.
"See you tomorrow!" I called, waving at Orhime. She waved shyly back. I jogged up to Rukia. But before I could say anything, Rukia gestured at me to follow her. "Come." She said, walking past the school gate.
I followed her to near the outskirts of town, in the slums of Karakura Town. Why was I following a mysterious girl to the slums, probably a dark alley, where no one can find my body? Wait, what's with these pessimistic thoughts?! She's probably harmless! I could take her any day!
We stopped in front of a dingy candy store, Urahara Shoten. Two kids were sweeping out front. They were yelling and playing baseball with the broomsticks. They stopped to look at us approaching, the red head boy squinting at me. "Who's this?" he asked rudely.
"Jinta! Don't be rude." said the girl. The boy, Jinta, whacked her with his broomstick. "Shuddap, Ururu! I can do what I want!"
Rukia got impatient. "Is Urahara in?" Ururu nodded and pointed to the shop, then promptly fell as Jinta pushed her over. "Take that, Cockroach Hair!"
Ururu started crying. "I-I'm gonna tell Tessai!" Jinta looked scared. "N-no! I'm not scared of him anyway!"
Suddenly, a huge shadow loomed over Jinta. He turned around to see a tall, muscular man with glasses standing behind him.
"Tessai! I was just—"
"Get back to work!" Tessai yelled at Jinta. Jinta nodded nervously and started sweeping quickly while Ururu giggled shyly.
I watched this scene develop with amusement. That annoying boy got his just desserts.
"Come on, Ichigo." Rukia said, walking into the candy store. I followed her reluctantly. What if this was the Mob or something? The only reason I didn't turn tail and run right then and there was because of the kids. They wouldn't murder someone right in front of kids. Or would they…?
The bell on the shop door jingled quietly. "Urahara?" Rukia called. I looked around the shop. In the dim lighting, I could make out rows of candy bars; some flavors I'd never even heard of!
"Hey, Rukia. Who's this?" A man came out of the shadows of the store, yawning. He wore a green and white striped hat that covered his eyes. White/blonde tufts of hair stuck out at wild angles from under his hat. I immediately didn't trust this man. Something about him seemed very shifty.
"This is Ichigo Kurosaki. He can see the hollows." Rukia said, not bothering to make small talk. Urahara nodded. "I could feel that boy's soul pressure from a mile away. He's strong. Have you also noticed," The man I assumed to be Urahara continued. "that since he arrived to Karakura Town, hollows have been coming more than usual?"
Rukia thought on this for a moment. Her eyes grew wide. "Now that you mention it, they have!" She studied me. "And his soul pressure is practically bursting out of his body! This is amazing!" She looked quite happy.
"I don't understand any of this." I told them, feeling foolish and ignorant. Urahara chuckled. "I'd be surprised if you did! Follow me."
And so I followed the mysterious girl and the even more puzzling man into the dark, dingy candy store backroom.
Ohmygosh it's been so long… I've been writing my other fanfic and nearly forgot about this one… I mentally slap myself in the head. Well, this is hopefully getting more interesting; it's kinda slow in the beginning. Like Twilight… But oh well. I'll be updating this one more from now on.