Who doesn't own Bleach? Me.

Chapter 8: Ramen

"Alright, Itadakimasu." The man said and started to eat his ramen.

"Hey." Ichigo called out but there was no response.

"I said "Hey"!" He was still ignored.

"Hey dammit! Why're you eating your ramen here!?" Ichigo yelled at the man, finally getting his attention.

"Well you're not eating it. Itll get stale if I don't." The man replied.

"Then eat it at your place! Why did you come here!? This isn't your personal rest stop! It's mine!"

"Have you been coming here with the mindset that this is a rest stop?" Ikumi asked Ichigo but was paid no attention. "Still, Ichigo has a point. What do you want? Are you a client?" She asked the man.

"Of course I am." The man now had a serious look on his face. "So, bring me some Oolong tea, please,"

"Is Suntory all right?" Ikumi inquired.

"You're actually gonna give it to him?" Ichigo commented.

The man finished his drink after Ikumi brought it, and was immediately questioned by Ichigo.

"So, what do you want with me?"

The man looked him in the eye before answering. "What a strange thing to say. I don't want anything with you. It's a coincidence that I entered this office and met you here." The man paused before continuing. "There I was, looking for a business that would take on a real pain of a job, and this store's sign just happened to catch my eye. And then when I came in, there you were. Just a coincidence." The man finished.

"Oh, really?" Ichigo questioned, still not fully trusting him. "So it's a coincidence that you had some ramen with you?"

"Give it a rest. I just like ramen." The man replied.

"If you're gonna carry it around with you just because you like it, then I'm gonna carry chocolate around with me." Ichigo supplied a witty comeback.

"You like chocolate? How cute." The man teased.

"Don't try and change the subject." Ichigo countered with a look of hostility.

"Well, I can see this isn't going anywhere. I didn't come here to argue with you. Is that chick the boss?" The man asked.

"Chi- yes, yes I am!" Ikumi answered while blushing, earning a look of disdain from Ichigo.

"Mind if I tell you about my request?"

…

Nozomi walked home after the encounter with Ishida and Inoue and failing to meet Ichigo at his school. She entered the house and was met by Isshin.

"Nozomi-chan, my future daughter-in-law! How's it going?" Isshin greeted but was immediately silenced by a stomp on the foot, courtesy of Nozomi.

"Ichigo still isn't home?" Nozomi asked after looking around.

"Hm? Now that you mention it, I haven't seen him. Anyway, I've got to go somewhere so kindly tell that to Ichigo later okay? Bye!" Isshin said before leaving the house.

Nozomi went upstairs and entered Ichigo's room, only to find Kon alone there.

"Nozomi? You're back already? Where's Ichigo?" Kon asked her, who looked down in disappointment.

"I didn't see him."

"Eh? Why don't you try looking around Urahara shop?" Kon suggested.

"Alright. I'll go there now." Nozomi said as she exited the house.

"Wait Nozomi! Take me with… you." Kon attempted to follow but Nozomi was already gone. "Geez, this is so boring."

Nozomi went outside the house but spotted Karin looking around before walking away. Nozomi managed to stay out of sight long enough for Karin to assume she's not being followed.

"Karin? Where is she going?" Nozomi followed her for a while before realizing that the route she took leads to Urahara shop. "Maybe Ichigo really is there."

…

"I'd like you to do a personal investigation." The man said as he put a picture on the table. Ichigo looked at the picture and was greatly shocked upon seeing who was in it. "His name is Kurosaki Isshin." The man said, but instantly noticed Ichigo's reaction.

"What? You know him?" The man asked.

"…are you trying to mess with me?" Ichigo asked, even more hostile than before. "That's my dad! If there's something you wanna know about him then just ask me! I'll tell you whatever you want to know!" Ichigo stood up.

"He's your dad? Now THAT'S a coincidence." The man said, further angering Ichigo.

"What…?" Ichigo attempted to talk, but was beaten by the man.

"But… you'll tell me whatever I want to know?" Do you really know enough to answer my questions?" The man provoked Ichigo once more, albeit in a non-threatening way. "You probably still don't know a thing about your family."

"What the hell… do you mean?"

"I don't think I said anything hard to follow." The man stated. "I asked you… just how much you know about your own family. Don't you wanna know? About that-" He was interrupted by Ikumi slamming her hands on the table.

"All right. I'll hold on to the picture for now. We're closing up for the day. Time for you to go." Ikumi said to the man.

"Hey now, that's pretty sudden. So can I assume you'll take the job then?

"I'll contact you about that after I've thought it over."

"In that case, I'll leave my contact information." The man said as he stood up and headed for the exit but not before giving Ichigo a cryptic message. "Kurosaki. Try heading over to the Urahara shop. You should be able to see something interesting." And with that, the man finally left the office.

…

"Aww… did you fail?" Said a girl on top of a house. "You bought a gift and still got rejected. How embarrassing. That's what you get for being mean and not even showing us that Ichigo guy's face!"

"Indeed" Said a companion of the girl.

"What're you guys doing here…?" The man asked the two. "Riruka, Kutsuzuwa."

"I told you not to follow me." The man told Riruka and Kutsuzuwa.

"What's with ordering us around? I hope you haven't forgotten that we're your partners, not underlings." Riruka complained. "Anyway, you suck at persuasion. Maybe you should've let me talk to him. I'll have him eating from our hands in no time."

"He did persuade us to follow him." Kutsuzuwa commented.

"Put a sock in it, Giriko." Riruka said as she glared at him.

"Shut up you two. They can hear you inside." The man said before walking past his two companions. "Let's go."

…

Nozomi followed Karin, and she indeed went to Urahara shop. "All right, what's going on?" She thought as she watched her enter the shop.

"Well if it isn't… Kurosaki-san." Urahara greeted.

Nozomi went closer to see a better view, while also avoiding attention. She was able to see Urahara handing Karin some things which appear to be for driving away spirits, noticeable from the small amount of Reiatsu emanating from them. She can see Karin talking to Urahara for a while, but couldn't hear them clearly, but she did hear the words "Ichi-Nii", "fighting", and "protect".

Karin exited the shop and looked around before rushing home.

Nozomi attempted to follow her, but immediately stopped after spotting Ichigo nearby, also watching Karin. "Ichigo, so he was here, after all. She started to walk towards him but stopped after seeing the man Ichigo helped the other day approach him.

"Karin, what are you doing at Urahara-san's place…?" Ichigo thought out loud and was approached by the man again.

"Concerned? Well that's understandable, your little sister keeps visiting a shady character." The man said.

"He's not a shady character!" Ichigo immediately defended Urahara. "Urahara-san-"

" "…rescued us" ?" The man finished Ichigo's statement. "Just how much have you learned to make you feel like you have this Urahara guy all figured out?"

This shocked Ichigo even further but it was only the tip of the iceberg.

"I'm warning you. Act now while you still can., if you want to protect your family." The man said before starting to walk away.

"…give me your name." Ichigo called out to the man.

"Ginjou… Ginjou Kuugo." The man introduced himself.

"… don't get the wrong idea. This doesn't mean that I trust you yet."

"Of course not." Ginjou stated. "All right, then I'll just give you this." He said and gave Ichigo a black card before leaving.

Ichigo watched him walk away, failing to notice Nozomi approach him.

"Ichigo!" She called out, slightly startling Ichigo.

"Wha- Nozomi? Why are you here?" He immediately asked.

"Nothing, I just passed by."

"Really now?"

"Okay, I lied. I was following Karin." Nozomi admitted after looking away. "Sorry."

"Hey, it's no big deal. I can understand that. She's been acting pretty suspicious lately. I even saw her talking to thin air one time." Ichigo said, unaware that her sister developed her spiritual powers just like he did.

"Oh." Nozomi said before looking back at him. "Anyway, who was that? Isn't he the guy who got robbed the other day?"

"Oh yeah. He said his name was Ginjou Kuugo." Ichigo explained to her. "I've met him a lot today, he says it's just coincidence but I think he's following me."

"Ichigo, don't worry." Nozomi said as she came closer to Ichigo. "I'll protect you. And your family too."

Ichigo smiled at her words. "Heh, you've been stealing my lines a lot."

Nozomi returned his smile while a slight blush formed on her face.

"Hey want to eat something before we go home?" Ichigo invited.

"Okay. How about… ramen?" Nozomi suggested , causing Ichigo to laugh because of the irony, leaving Nozomi dumbstruck.

"Alright."

Third update today! Thank you really much for the support. It's what drives me to do this much. All right, Ja mata ne.