Chapter 2- The World of the Living
It was a bright and shining afternoon in Karakura Town. The town looked so beautiful in the middle of October. The weather had gotten much cooler and the cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom. The town was really bustling. The stores and shopping malls were getting busy with everyone gearing up for the upcoming holidays.
At Karakura High, classes had just let out and students were rushing to go home or to the malls. Ichigo Kurosaki was one of the students planning on going straight home. After his return home from Soul Society, Ichigo had missed out on a lot of work and was doing double time to catch up. Thankfully, his oldest friend Tatsuki Arisawa along with Orihime Inoue helped him out.
As Ichigo began walking home, Tatsuki and Chizuru approached him. Chizuru was a tall red-headed girl with fancy red-rimmed glasses and large breast. She also had a big mouth and constantly chased Orihime everywhere.
"Hey Ichigo, you want to hit up the mall with us?" Tatsuki asked walking to Ichigo's right. Chizuru followed next to Tatsuki. "Yeah come with us Ichigo, Tatsuki is going to try on some skimpy outfits!"
"How many times do I have to say it!? I'm not doing that!" Tatsuki yelled back, almost wanting to give Chizuru an uppercut to the jaw.
"Look guys, thanks but I've got more homework to do so I'll catch you later." It wasn't so much that he had homework, he really just didn't want to go hang out with Chizuru. A person could only take so much of her, and he didn't want to spend anymore time with her than he had to.
Once home, He could immediately smell dinner cooking. Yuzu was in the kitchen doing all the cooking as usual. Isshin was busy working all the time and Karin would probably burn the house down if she even touched the stove. And the most he could make was a bowl of cereal himself.
"Dinner will be ready in 30 minutes Ichigo." Yuzu chimed happily from the kitchen as he walked by. Upstairs, he got started on his homework. 30 minutes later he went down for dinner. Isshin came in from work during dinner and immediately sat down at the table.
"How was everyone's day!?" Isshin yelled as he grabbed a plate and began gulping down his dinner. For the next hour Isshin and his two daughters chatted about their day and various events going on in the world. Ichigo was pretty numb to it all until his dad called out his name.
"Ichigo, are you catching up in your work? I don't want you flunking out boy." Isshin said pointing at him. "Don't worry dad, my grades are great, as usual." Ichigo sighed.
"Good, I hope you've practiced your defense stance then!" Isshin shouted, jumping up to attack Ichigo, only to be caught by Ichigo's right fist. "Damn it dad! I told you to stop doing that!" He shouted back. Karin and Yuzu just shook their heads.
After dinner Ichigo went back to his room. Upon entering, he noticed a message on his cell phone. He felt a little better after reading the text message.
From- Kuchiki Rukia
To- Kurosaki Ichigo
Hey moron, haven't heard from you since you left. Hope all is well. I've finally been cleared to return to my post in Karakura Town. Isn't that wonderful? By the way, a team has been sent to take care of Aizen. So all this mess should be over soon. I'll meet you outside of school tomorrow. I've already told the others. See you then.
Putting his phone away, he walks to his window and stares into the night sky. His mind flashes back to the past two weeks. Since coming home from saving Rukia from her execution, life outside of his Shinigami duties hadn't changed much. Only his closest friends knew of his ability and he planned to keep it that way. He went over and sat on the edge of his bed and took out his combat pass. As he gripped the wooden object in his hand it suddenly went off.
A hollow? That's odd. There hasn't been a holllow sighting in Karakura for days now. Grabbing Kon he quickly switched to his soul reaper form and jumped from his window. Flash stepping from roof to roof Ichigo quickly found the hollow in the area. The huge snake-like creature was hovering over another helpless soul, cowering in a dark alleyway.
Thinking fast, Ichigo grasped Zangetsu and flash stepped behind the hollow. The hollow, sensing Ichigo's spiritual pressure, turned quickly to face him.
"Run! Get away from here!" Ichigo yelled to the soul in the alley.
Although scared out of his mind, the soul, a middle-aged man with glasses and brown hair, nodded and fled further down the alleyway to safety.
Shrieking, the hollow attacked, trying to bite Ichigo with its razor-sharp fangs. But he easily dodged the strikes one after the other. Leaping into the air, Ichigo brought his sword down right onto the hollows mask.
CRRRAAACK!
The hollows mask cracked and fell apart as Ichigo withdrew his Zanpaku-to. Letting out one last shriek, the hollow vanished into thin air. Sighing, Ichigo put his Zanpaku-to away and walked down the alley to find the lost soul.
After a couple of minutes he found him cowering behind some trash cans. Shaken, the soul spoke to him. "W-Who are you? Are you here to bring me to hell?" The soul asked. Flattered, Ichigo laughed slightly. "I'm substitute soul reaper Ichigo Kurosaki, and I'm here to pass you on to the Soul Society. It's a wonderful place where souls go after they die. You're not going to hell, you have my word." Ichigo said smiling warmly. This seemed to calm the man and he nodded. Ichigo then took the hilt of Zangetsu and performed the konso and the soul vanished.
"Hey Ichigo! Was there a hollow here just a minute ago?" A voice called from behind.
Ichigo turned to see his good friend Uryu Ishida approaching. The quincy was always quick to notice a hollow when one appeared, and he rarely missed his chance to slay one. Although the quincy and the soul reapers aren't allies, Uryu couldn't turn his back on a friend and fought alongside Ichigo and the others to save Rukia.
"Yeah but its alright Ishida, I took care of it." Ichigo explained as Uryu stood adjusting his glasses.
"Hmm. Very well Kurosaki. Guess I'm losing my edge." Ishida joked, giving Ichigo a sly grin and stare. "Did you hear that Kuchiki will be coming back tomorrow?"
Nodding slightly, Ichigo answered. "Yeah she told me. Hey maybe we'll all go do something after school tomorrow?" Ichigo offered to Ishida.
After thinking for a moment, Ishida answered. "Sure, I'll meet you there. I'll invite Sado and Orihime also."
With that the duo departed and headed to their homes. When Ichigo got home, everybody was in bed asleep. After switching back into his body, Ichigo jumped to the shower and then right to bed.