I don't own Bleach. Maybe next year.

Chapter 5: Normal

Waking up early has always been a constant in Kurosaki Ichigo's life. Before, this was mainly due to his duties as a Substitute Shinigami. Seventeen months after the battle against Aizen Sousuke, Ichigo no longer has his Reiatsu. He is now a normal human being, just like how he always wanted. But the "normal" part doesn't really suit him well.

"Good Morning, Ichigo!" His sister, Yuzu, greeted him as he descended the stairs.

"Oh, hey, Yuzu." Ichigo greeted but was disturbed too see her still staring at him, obviously expecting something. "What is it?"

"You didn't even notice I'm wearing my new junior high uniform?" Yuzu childishly complained.

"Oh right, it's your admittance ceremony today." Ichigo deadpanned. He sits down on the table and gets ready to eat breakfast. "Can you pass the soy sauce?"

"You're so mean! I'm not putting the burned rice you like so much in your bowl!" She complained, although she still passed him the soy sauce.

"Huh…" Ichigo started to eat his breakfast and finished it in a few minutes. He got ready for school after that, and got ready to leave.

"Ichigo."

"Nozomi, good morning." Ichigo greeted the green haired girl.

"Going to school?" She asked him.

"Yeah." Ichigo replied. "I've still got a lot to catch up to."

"I see. See you later then." Nozomi smiled at him.

"Okay." Ichigo then exited the house while Nozomi watched him leave.

"Yo, Nozomi-chan! Isshin leaped towards her.

"Oh, hey… dad." Nozomi was still weirded out by him, despite having lived in the same house for around seventeen months.

"Which tie do you think will suit me better?" He asked.

"Umm… I think they're the same." Nozomi replied nonchalantly, not even bothering to look at the ties. She headed directly to the dining table after that, leaving a depressed Isshin, debating on what tie to wear.

…

Ichigo walked in a steady pace towards school. It was still pretty early so he had no fear of being late. Not that it mattered to him before. He continued on his way until he spotted one of his classmates, Kojima Mizuiro.

"Oi, Mizuiro!" Ichigo greeted.

"Ichigo! Good morning." Mizuiro politely returned the greeting. "Shall we go to school together?"

"Sure."

"Ichigo!" A loud voice rang through. Ichigo turned around to see none other Asano Keigo, in his usual energetic demeanor nonetheless. Ichigo waited until he's close enough and subdues him with a clothes-line and grabs his head in a vice.

"Ow! You don't have to overdo it you know?" Keigo complained, but it fell into deaf ears.

"Hey, have you seen Tatsuki around?" Ichigo asked his companions.

"No, why ask?" Keigo countered with another question.

"Well, I was gonna return her this video game…" Ichigo said as he attempted to search for it in his bag, but came upon his Substitute Shinigami badge. "Huh… I guess I forgot to return it. Well it doesn't matter, it doesn't seem to be working anymore. It doesn't even react to spirits anymore.". Ichigo thought as he returned it in his bag. "Oh, here it is."

…

A few hours later during lunch, Ichigo and Keigo headed to the rooftops to hang out there.

"So how's it going for you?" Keigo asked him.

"Hm? Well, things are pretty… normal… ever since I lost my powers. " Ichigo answered. "Ishida seems to have taken over my job to exterminate Hollows, since the Shinigami assigned to this town has just proven his incompetence."

"Enough of that, you should really think about your future. Your grades have dropped since the ninth grade." Keigo reprimanded his friend. "Geez, I wonder what happened to Rukia-san…" He thought out loud, catching Ichigo's attention.

"It'd be nice if she visited once in a while…" He added.

"Well, since she's no longer the representative of Karakura, she doesn't have much of a reason to drop by." Ichigo reminded Keigo.

"Do you miss her?" Keigo curiously asked him.

"Hm?" Ichigo looked at him for a while. "Nah… This is the kind of normal life I've always wanted."

"I see." Keigo replied. "Well, with a cute girlfriend like Nozomi-san, naturally you won't think about other girls." He teased.

"What?" Ichigo lashed out at Keigo, who was laughing.

"Just kidding! No need to get so violent." Keigo apologized to him.

The bell rang signaling the end of lunch, and the two returned to their classroom.

…

It was dismissal time by now, and Ichigo, along with Keigo and Mizuiro, were preparing to leave school, as they were walking towards the gate, they spotted Nozomi waiting there.

"Nozomi? What are you doing here?" Ichigo asked her, causing her to look away.

"Well, I was bored so I thought I'd pick you up." She answered with a slight blush on her face.

"Ichigo, you're such a lucky guy!" Keigo teased once again, earning a chop to the forehead.

"Nozomi-san, is it?" Mizuiro asked her.

"Y-yeah."

"I'm Kojima Mizuiro, nice to meet you." He said as he introduced himself.

The four started to walk home but after a few minutes, a man's voice can be heard.

"Hey! My bag!" The man shouted while chasing another man dressed in black wearing a ski mask.

"A robbery!" Mizuiro said but before they can react, the robber passed them and snatched Nozomi's bag as well.

"Tsk." She attempted to chase down the robber herself but was stopped by Ichigo, who held her on the shoulder and gave her I'll-handle-this look. She nodded and said. "Go for it."

Ichigo ran at the speed surpassing that of a professional athlete's and effortlessly catched up to the robber. The robber was greatly surprised, but still retaliated. He pulled out a knife, but was immediately stopped by Ichigo and was knocked out in one hit.

"It seems even though I lost my powers, I still retained the results of all those training sessions." Ichigo thought as he picked up the bags of Nozomi and the man. He went to the man and returned him his bag.

"Hey thanks kid! You're pretty good! Say, why don't you let me treat you to some ramen?" The man offered happily as he received his bag.

"Thanks, but I decline." He refused the man's offer, which saddened him a bit. "Just don't mention this to other people okay? I don't want trouble in school." Ichigo requested.

"All right." The man said as Ichigo returned to his friends.

"Here." Ichigo said as he returned Nozomi's bag.

"Thanks." She blushed a bit while smiling as her bag was returned to her.

Ichigo turned around to see Mizuiro and Keigo smiling at them weirdly, causing Nozomi to turn away in embarrassment.

"What are you staring at!?" Ichigo lashed out at them both, causing them to laugh.

…

"You're very wary, Kurosaki Ichigo." The man from before said, who was watching Ichigo and his companions leave. The man was holding a Substitute Shinigami badge, and he took a glance at it before returning it in his bag.

Well, that officially starts the canon part. Once again, thanks for the time guys. Ja.