"AUUUGGH!"
All the neighbors of the Kurosaki Clinic were jolted awake by the loud shout.
"HAH-HAHHH MY SON! You've grown WEAK! Why, you probably couldn't get me grandchildren if sabot-CRACK-" Isshin's loud voice cut off as a painful sound echoed throughout the house. A short second later a thump could be heard outside Ichigo's room.
"Shut UP old man! I'm PERFECTLY CAPABLE of giving you grandkids! Stay the hell outta my room you old goat!" Ichigo could be heard yelling at his father, followed by a loud slam as he shut the door with a little too much force.
In the twin's room, the three girls looked at eachother. "D'you think we should check to see if goat-chin's dead yet?" Karin asked unworriedly. She was lounging on her side in bed, still under the warmth of her covers, and totally unwilling to make sure her father wasn't bleeding out in front of her brother's room. He deserved it anyways.
"Oh, no! Don't say things like that, Karin! How horrible..." Yuzu was wearing bunny pajamas (Rukia had plans to steal those) and had a concerned look on her small face. Rukia lay between them on a bed Isshin had spent many weeks trying to sneak into Ichigo's room. Ever since they'd come back he'd made it his personal mission to get them to sleep in the same room, to no avail. Ichigo had barely returned to normal the night before, and here his father was, pressuring him into doing drastic things. She sighed and pushed the covers off herself, savoring the last few instances of warmth before walking out the door to check on the older man. She walked up the stairs and, seeing Isshin unconscious, poked at him with her toe, which startled him awake.
"EEYOOOOWWWWWW!" he cried as he woke up, clutching his head. "MASAKI! Our oldest child, son Ichigo, has broken me! I merely went to wake him up ever-so-gently as I always do! Oh the pain of not being loved!" his tears ran rivers down his face. A harried looking Ichigo swung open the door and tossed a book at the man.
"Stop cryin' old man! Act your age!" he yelled before moving to close the door again. Rukia, seeing that Isshin wasn't dead or dying (because that's a soul burial no Shinigami should have to deal with) swept over to the door and caught it before it closed, squeezing her way into the room before Isshin could recover his wits. Ichigo had already jumped onto the bed when she heard the doctor's voice through the door.
"Oh Rukia-chan! My third-daughter is taking the initiative with Ichigo! Go, go, I-chi-goooo! I'll slide my special books under the door for you!" Isshin's voice faded as he walked back downstairs, his mission accomplished.
Rukia looked over to Ichigo and noticed his eyebrow twitching. He seemed pretty irked by the latest round of antics from his father, but at least he wasn't melancholy like before. She sat in his chair, facing him with a small smile. "Good morning Ichigo, how are you?" she asked.
Ichigo, meanwhile, was trying his best to suppress the blush that threatened to turn him into a literal strawberry. His dad had just been suggesting all sorts of... things... that weren't even true! But they had made his brain think anyways, and now he couldn't stop picturing Rukia and him... Goddamnit old man, I'm gonna kick your ass for this.
"I'm... um," he stopped when he looked over. There was Rukia, just sitting backwards on his chair and smiling at him. Smiling! Like nothing had ever gone wrong. Like he had never transformed into something straight out of hell. He had never trusted anyone with his feelings before Rukia, never shared the story of his mother's death before her, never been able to protect the people that he loved until she came along and gave him her power. He should have known Rukia would always have his back. That's just who she was, the pillar of strength for him when he needed her.
"I'm fine, midget," he answered. He really should thank her somehow. Maybe that concert Keigo had mentioned was still in town? He knew she'd wanted to go, but his own dumbass antics had stopped her. She could learn alot about the living world, and hopefully embarass him less in public. "Oi, Rukia, you wanna go out today? That concert might still be in town so we can go check it out. If you want to, that is."
Rukia smiled brightly, "Really? Wonderful! I can learn so many new things, and wear my new outfit!" Her eyes widened and she became lost in fantasies of her first concert. Having never been to one, her imagination would have looked absolutely insane had anyone been able to see it. "We can get tommytoes and throw them at the people we don't like! It'll be fun Ichigo!"
He groaned and lay back on his bed. On second thought, maybe taking Rukia to a concert is a bad idea.
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Ichigo and Rukia walked around Karakura Town, silently enjoying the peace they had been hacing since they got back. Butterflies flitted around, birds were chirping in the trees, they even saw a squirrel or two. Rukia, of course, had decided to chase the "mini-chappy" around the park, resulting in more than a few curious stares from passers-by, and more than few missing tufts of bright orange hair. Eventually she caught the poor thing, shaking in terror as it was, but dropped it when it bit her.
"Ouch! Ichigo, mini-chappy bit me!" she whined.
He just scowled, "Dumbass, it's a squirrel. A wild animal! Of course it's gonna bite ya!"
Seeing the pout on her face, he remembered why they were even out at the park, and his features softened. "Here, lemme see your hand, I need to make sure it won't get infected," he said as he took the wounded hand in his own. Giving the bite a quick once-over, he figured it would be best to play it safe. "Looks like we'll probably need to disinfect it, to be safe," he explained. "C'mon, I'll bet one of the stores down the road has a first aid kit or something."
He started walking towards the stores when he felt resistance on his arm. Looking back, he realized that he was still holding Rukia's hand in his, and she was staring at the coupled fingers with a mix of curiosity and embarassment. Ichigo quickly pulled his hand away, scratching his head and looking to the side. "Oh! Uhh... Heh, sorry bout that!"
Rukia was still staring at her hand, as if she was expecting something to happen. She looked up though, a smile on her face. "Hm? Oh, don't worry about it, it's nothing. I don't think my gigai can even get infected, if I remember correctly."
"Ah, well, that's good I guess. Alright, if you don't feel like getting anything for it that's fine. Less trouble for me anyways," remarked the tall boy, stretching his arms out as they walked together towards the shopping district. A low growl emanated from his stomach. It was almost two in the afternoon, Ichigo realized, and they hadn't even eaten lunch yet! "Hey, Rukia, whadya want to eat?" he asked, walking towards the Ramen-hut nearby, hoping she'd get the hint.
"Eat? Oh, you're hungry? Ehh..." Rukia spun around, pointing towards an Ice Cream cart they had passed earlier. "That! Icu... Creamu... Whatever that is, I want it!" she stated.
Ichigo sweatdropped. "That's not lunch food, dumbass! That's like dessert food! Gah! And you're acting like they don't have Ice Cream in Soul Society or something, what the hell's wrong with you?" he argued.
Rukia frowned. "No, actually, they don't have Icu Creamu in Soul Society. Baka, you were there! You should know these things," she finished, turning up her nose and walking towards the stand.
Ichigo growled but followed the brat anyways. When they got to the stand Rukia was peering through the glass at the flavors they had, standing on her tiptoes to see the ones closest to her. Her nose pressed against the viewing glass and left smudges, much to Ichigo's annoyance. He wouldn't ever admit it, but he hated dirty glass. Then again, he thought, she looks pretty cute like that. Bah. Whatever.
The stand owner, a young girl, addressed them kindly: "Ohaiyogozaimasu! What may I get for you today?" she asked with a bright smile. Ichigo saw her nametag. "Mandy" was written in big blue letters, and a heart sticker was placed over the "a" for a cute effect. She was wearing an old-fashioned candy-stripe outfit and a big paper hat. Ichigo thought she looked alot like an older Yuzu, albeit with Karin's hair. She smiled at him and asked which flavor he wanted. "We have Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip, Vanilla, Cookies and Cream, Strawberry, Coffee, and Bubblegum flavors today sir," she began. "And we offer single, double, and triple scoops. If you want two or three different flavors I can do that too!"
Ichigo thought about it for a moment, then chose, "Chocolate. In a waffle-cone too. Oi, Rukia, you figured it out yet?"
Rukia was practically drooling on the glass, but looked up and nodded. "Hai, Ichigo! I'd like... umm... Strawberry!" she said and pointed. Mandy laughed at the choice, the joke not lost on her. Ichigo just groaned.
Mandy carefully scooped out the ice cream and handed it to each of them, Rukia's in a sugar cone, Ichigo's in a chocolate dipped waffle-cone. "I hope you and your girlfriend enjoy the ice cream!" she said, handing Ichigo some napkins.
"Wha-? She-She's not my girlfriend! It's nothing like that!" he sputtered. Mandy just laughed.
"Hah, well, alright then. If you say so. Oh, by the way, would you mind helping me out?" she asked.
Rukia had just discovered that ice cream melts in the sun, and was frantically trying to lick the drips off her hand while getting strawberry ice cream all over herself, so Ichigo decided he'd rather deal with Mandy than the midget at that moment. "Yeah, sure, whadya need?"
She poked her fingers together and blushed. Quietly she explained her situation. "Well, um... I've always wanted to own an ice cream parlor since I was a littel child, and ever since I got this job I've wanted it even more. But..." she trailed off, embarassed.
"But...?" Ichigo prompted her.
"But... But I really need more money than I'm earning here now if I'm ever going to open my own shop!"
Ichigo waved his hands in front of him, saying, "Noooo, nooo, no. I'm not givin ya any extra money! How do I know what you'll spend it on?"
Mandy quickly explained: "No! It's nothing like that! I don't want extra money, though that would be nice, I just wanted to ask you to please tell other people about my stall! It would really help, especially since it's only springtime now, and people don't usually buy ice-cream until summer!"
She was obviously eager about her dreams, and Ichigo couldn't see any reason not to help her out. She seemed nice, after all. "Ah, yeah, I'll do that. My dad's a doctor, so I'll just put some flyers out in the waiting room. We'll probably be coming back here too, so don't worry." He smiled, and she laughed.
"Thank you so much, Strawberry!"
Rukia had managed to contain the dripping ice-cream with a nest of napkins, and pulled up alongside Ichigo as he departed the stand. "Hey, Ichigo, how do you eat this stuff?" she asked, making his eyes go wide.
"Idiot, you lick it like you were doing, but the goal is to keep it in your mouth, and off everything else!"
"Oh, you mean like this?" she asked, slowly extending her tongue and licking a bit of the dessert while keeping eye contact with him. Ichigo blushed, bad thoughts rushing through his brain, no doubt a result of his father's constant antics. He shook his head. After all, it was only Rukia.
"Yeah, um. Like that. Hey, let's head over to the concert area, see if they're still playing," he said, walking off. Rukia stumbled after him, her napkin nest failing to catch all the drips. How did Ichigo eat this stuff?
#####################################
"Huh. Well, I guess we missed it. Damn, I was kinda hopin to see a live show!"
Ichigo and Rukia stood at the edge of a large converted sports arena, set up with a stage at the center and seats where a field should have been. The band "Kagrra," had been playing there the past few nights. It was a fairly new band, not too many followers compared to others, but still popular enough to warrant a tidal wave of stickers and band paraphenalia around Karakura Town that week. Damned vandals.
Rukia frowned, her ice-cream finished on the walk over. She wasn't too upset, actually, it was just that she'd really wanted to experience the event. Looking over, she saw Ichigo with a guilty frown on his face. Sighing, she turned. "Ichigo? Don't tell me you feel guilty about us missing the concert? Baka. I don't mind that I had to take care of you yesterday. Just don't let it happen again, okay?"
Ichigo nodded. He could never understand how she read him so easily, it was uncanny!
"Besides, I don't care for rock music anyways. I like tekuno."
"Gahh... Techno, Rukia. Techno."
"That's what I said, baka!"
"No it isn't, YOU said te-"
A sudden beeping halted their argument. Rukia flipped open her Soul Pager and frowned. Three bright red dots were on the screen, all of them heading towards- "Ichigo, watch out!" she shouted. Three shadows swooped in and surrounded them, materializing into hollows. Two of them looked very plain, like large humanoids with evil masks. The third, though, looked more like like some sort of ancient dinosaur, with a large body and elongated neck. Its teeth extended forward from its mouth and rotated like drills. Ichigo had already swapped into his Soul form, and was swinging Zangetsu around to block an attack while Rukia popped in Chappy and told her to take Ichigo's body somewhere safe. She turned back to the fight and saw Ichigo badly outnumbered.
"Huuuuuuuuu-AHHHHHH!" he roared as he swung downwards, cleaving the first hollow's arm off at the shoulder. As he did so, the large hollow opened its mouth and shot a drill-like tooth at Ichigo, catching him in the shoulder. "Auuugh! What the hell? These things can shoot now?" he shouted as he turned to block another missile. Rukia unsheathed her sword and began covering his back against the two smaller hollows. They split up, attacking her from both sides, the one on the left missing its arm.
"Suge no mai! Hakuren!" she cried, unleashing a wave of ice towards the wounded hollow. The hollow tried to dodge but could escape in time. It froze everything below the waist, and the momentum carried the rest of the hollow forward, breaking off its legs with a loud crack. The one-armed torso and head disintegrated with a roar of pain. Rukia turned back to the remaining hollow, which had stopped upon seeing its partner so easily defeated. "Yes, that was your friend," she taunted. "And now you'll feel the same thing!"
Spinning Sode no Shirayuki in a wide circle, she called out, "Tsugi no Mai, Tsukishiro!"
The hollow looked down and saw a large white circle forming under it. Ice was slowly crawling up its legs, freezing them and anchoring the monster in place. It looked up with a snarl, "Bastard shinigami!" it cried, "I'll ki-"
A massive pillar of ice erupted from the circle on the ground, freezing the hollow instantly before it could finish its threat. The pillar crumbled after a moment, and all that remained was a beautiful cloud of ice crystals falling from the sky. Rukia sheathed her sword, then turned to see how Ichigo was faring. She could have laughed. He was toying with the thing!
"C'mon! That's the best you've got?" he taunted the massive hollow. "I've fought and killed Espada and you think you can fight me?"
The hollow's eyes widened behind its mask at that. This shinigami had fought and killed Espada? Perhaps the rich spirit energy of the area wasn't worth this...
Ichigo didn't have a scratch on him, and hadn't even entered bankai. He was enjoying this, his first big hollow in awhile, and the first one he'd fought without the guilt of Hueco Mundo riding on his shoulders. He flew up using shunpo and stopped, pointing Zangetsu at the beast. "You know who I am, hollow?"
He let go of his reiatsu, and the sky shook.
"I'm Ichigo. Kurosaki Ichigo. And you're dead," he said as he flew downwards with Zangetsu extended in front of him. He truck the hollow directly between the eyes, and cut down all the way through the neck and torso of the hapless enemy before landing on the other side of it. Sheathing Zangetsu, he whispered, "And I'm finally alive again."
He rejoined with Rukia and asked if she was okay.
"Of course I'm alright, baka, you don't always need to protect me," she replied. "Besides, as I recall it was you that needed protecting most recently, wasn't it? Hmmm?"
"Oh, whatever! You can be such a pain in the ass Rukia..."
They got back into their bodies and started walking home, a little happier now that they'd had a chance to practice their shinigami skills. They were weird like that. Out of nowhere a massive force pushed down on them both, forcing them to their knees. Rukia gasped for air as Ichigo struggled to get out of his body again. "Wh-what? What is this?" he asked in confusion.
"Hey, Ichigo, long time no see, eh? How ya been ma man?" a familiar voice asked as the pressure let up.
Ichigo and Rukia looked up and saw a pair of boots leading up to tight white pants, above which a floral shirt rested casually on the shoulders of none other than...
"SHINJI?" Ichigo gawked. It couldn't be! He thought the Vizards had gone into hiding after the battle, not to mention that he could have sworn he saw some of them get killed. Yet, sure enough, there they all were, floating in the sky around him as if it were totally normal. Love and Rose waved at him, smiling stupidly, while Kensei just nodded, and Mashiro did an interpretive dance. Hachi smiled warmly, while Lisa didn't even so much as look at him. Then where was... -THWACK- "DAMMIT ICHIGO, I told ya to keep you eyes open! Eyes open dammit!"
Rubbing the spot where he'd been hit, Ichigo replied, "Good to see ya too Hiyori, how's that whole being cut in half thing treatin ya?" -THWACK-THWACK-THWACK- "Ouch dammit, alright!"
"Stupid asshole! That's not funny! You hear me? I wanna freakin apology!" -THWACK- "Say you're sorry, bastard!"
Ichigo finally caved and apologized in the only way he knew how: "Oh, Hiyori, I'm SO sorry that you couldn't keep track of Gin in a fight and got cut cleanly in half by a slow moving sword. I am SO sorry for making fun of you for that."
Fortunately she didn't catch the sarcasm, despite the rest of the Vizards looking at Ichigo like he was some sort of sadist psychopath. Did he want to die? Hiyori turned to him and gave a threatening smile.
"Alright, then. I accept yer apology, asshole, but if it happens again I'll cut YOU in half, ya hear?" Ichigo gulped and nodded.
Ichigo finally got his sense and remembered something. "Hey, Shinji, why are you guys here? Aren't you supposed to be in hiding?" he asked the blonde haired leader.
"Eh... mebbe. But we got some other stuff ta take care of too, ya know. I mean, we gotta help ya get that hollow of yours under control again am I right?" Shinji asked, flashing his wide grin.
Ichigo paused. "How... How did you know about that?" he asked. Rukia hit him on the head.
"Baka! I told you! Urahara knows about it, and he's obviously in contact with these people! Honestly, don't say foolish things," she explained.
Shinji nodded, "Yep, and we can't be havin ya runnin all 'round town with a barely controlled beastuvahollow now can we? Nope! So lets get down to business, eh?"
With that he disappeared, reappearing in front of Ichigo faster than he could track. "You're gonna make this easy, ne, Ichigo?"
He unsheathed his sword. "Cuz the way we're gonna help ya," he began as Ichigo's eyes widened in confusion, "Is by killin ya!" he finished as he swung his blade.
Ichigo just managed to get out of his body and shunpo away before Shinji's strike landed, pulling Zangetsu free and holding in front of him. "What the hell, Shinji? I thought we were allies!"
He just shrugged, "Eh, we were. But now, Ichigo, ya've gone and made yerself too powerful! A shame, really, if ya think about it. We coulda been great friends!"
Shinji launched himself forward, pulling on his mask as he did so. His attack was barely fended off by a still-shocked Ichigo, who couldn't believe this was happening. Ichigo exploded with power as he activated his Bankai, pulling on his hollow mask as he did so. "Tensa Zangetsu," he said, his voice distorted through the mask. "Shinji, I'm gonna kill you for this."
Shinji grinned maniacally, "Is that a new mask, Ichigo? Do tell!"
Looking over, Ichigo saw Rukia being held down by Hiyori and Lisa, blank expressions on their faces as they watched the battle.
"Fine then. You want a fight, Shinji? You've got it!" and with that he unleashed a massive Getsuga Tenshou at the Vizard leader.
"Tsk... Not fast enough, Ichigo!" said a voice from behind him. Spinning, he raised Zangetsu in time to stop a blow from severing his head. Shinji was fighting seriously! Reversing the flow of his strike, he rammed forward and caught Shinji in the chin with his elbow, knocking him back and giving Ichigo some space. He noticed the other Vizards weren't attacking, but he thought nothing of it. They were probably waiting their turn.
A rush of wind brought him back to the battle, where Shinji was forming a cero with his fingers, and aiming directly at him. He knew what to do, he had seen the Espada use this trick many times. He formed a cero of his own in between his eyes, pouring as much power as he could into it. As Shinji fired his attack, so did Ichigo. The two massive ceros collided and blasted eachother apart, though they weren't the point anyways. Ichigo had followed close behind his own attack, hoping to catch Shinji off-guard. What he didn't expect was for Shinji to do the same. -CLANG- Their swords collided with a shower of sparks, reiatsu spiking as they each tried to overpower the other.
"Dammit, Shinji, don't make me fight you!" Ichigo yelled, holding back.
He was answered with a toothy grin and a kick to the gut. "OOPH!" He let out a grunt as he doubled over. Shinji pulled back his sword to strike, and as he swung Ichigo managed to parry the strike with his own blade. "Not... fast enough... Shinji!"
Suddenly Ichigo became a flurry of strikes, and Shinji was pushed back, barely able to keep up. Ichigo's eyes glowed blue through his mask, signaling a massive spike in power. "Shinji, what the hell do you think you're trying to do? Kill me? Why?" he asked as he lashed out with his sword.
"Because, Ichigo, we can't allow someone with your power to just run around. Didn't I already say that?"
They continued their exchange of attacks and blocks, occasionally hitting one another, but for the most part evenly matched. That's when Kensei stepped in. "Enough! Shinji, just kill him already!" he shouted, pulling on his own hollow mask. "OR I WILL."
"Ichigo... PREPARE TO DIE!" he lunged forward with his dagger, swiping crossways and leaving a shallow cut from Ichigo's shoulder to waist. Blood spurted from the wound and Ichigo turned to block a second attack by the Vizard.
"Dammit, no! I'm not gonna die, you bastards!"
Ichigo spun and swung Zangetsu wide, knocking Kensei's arm to the side, then kicked out and knocked his dagger out of his hand. Continuing to spin, he brought Zangetsu around and slashed Shinji across his gut, leaving a deep tear that oozed blood. To his astonishment, it healed instantly, Shinji's hollow mask doing its job. Before Ichigo could spin around again though, he felt cold steel run through his abdomen. Looking down, he saw a sword protruding from his chest, blood pouring out around it. He strained to turn and see who it was that had hit him. Hiyori stood, an annoyed expression on her face. Rukia screamed from below.
"ICHIGO! NO! NOOOO! You traitors!" she cried, tears running down her face. She had tried to help him, but Hiyori and Lisa had kept her down, and she had been forced to watch as he fought a losing battle, a battle that would only end in his death. She couldn't believe it, just minutes ago he had been finally feeling happy and normal again, now... now he was dying in front of her and she couldn't do anything! Just like Kaien!
Ichigo turned back to face Shinji, who had an interesting expression on his now maskless face. Was that... concern? It was odd, his vision kept fading from color to black and white and back again. He felt his eyelids droop, and watched as the world faded away. The only thing he knew was the sound of Shinji's voice, with Rukia sobbing in the background.
"Right, well, sorry Ichigo. We had to draw out the beast somehow, and since our normal hideouts are bein' watched, we figured we'd just do it out here y'know? Ichigo? Ichigo..? Oh shit-"
Ichigo's eyes opened. He was floating in darkness. He couldn't feel anything, hear anything, see anything. He tried to speak but his mouth wouldn't open. He tried to blink but his eyes wouldn't close. An eerie voice called out to him, familiar and foreign at the same time, it chilled his bones with dread.
Well hello there, King. Long time no see! HUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAA!
