Me: OK, so if you thought the LAST chapter was funny, you'll REALLY-

Ichigo: what makes you think the last chapter was funny?

Me: BECAUSE, shadowgouf said so!

Ichigo: and so he suddenly knows EVERYTHING about funny stories?

Me: Well, he said MINE was funny, so, in a word, YES.

Ichigo: (sigh and annoyed shake of the head)

Me: (eyeroll) ANYWAY! I OWN NOTHING BUT PEYTON AND HER FAMILY! AND MOST OF THE STORYLINE! Enjoy.

Peyton followed her inside, and she slammed the door shut before shaking her head. "In case you haven't noticed, my brother and dad are idiots."

"I'll keep that in mind."

The girl with the light brown hair winced as they heard another crash outside. "I hate it when they fight..."

"Why? They do it all the time," the other one replied with another shake of the head.

The other girl frowned before smiling at Peyton. "I'm Yuzu, and this is my sister Karin."

"Peyton," she replied, smiling back. Before much else could be said, Mr. Kurosaki suddenly flung the door open, rubbing the side of his face as Ichigo trudged in behind him. "You're improving, son! Soon, I'll have to up my efforts!" he informed him before practically prancing around Peyton. "SO! Why's this lovely young lady gracing our presence?"

Both teens sweatdropped, and Karin's temple throbbed. "Either way, I doubt she'll be back after that..."

Ichigo sighed exasperatedly. "Just common courtesy, dad, she was attacked around the corner over there."

Karin looked at the two skeptically. "...Attacked? By what?"

"Uh...gangsters."

"Yeah, the scary kind," Peyton added lamely, glancing at her leg. The other three did the same. "She could've drawn that or something. I wouldn't put it past her, everyone knows how determined Yankees are," Karin muttered to herself, making Ichigo sigh and shake his head while Peyton's temple throbbed at yet ANOTHER gangbanger joke.

"A normal sibling, that's all I want for Christmas..." Ichigo muttered.

Yuzu seemed to buy it. "Wow! Is it true then, that you're a former gangbanger?"

"No no no! They just don't like redheads, I guess," she said quickly with a nervous laugh.

Karin nodded. "Uh-huh." She seemed somewhat impressed, though.

"You don't mind if she sleeps in one of your rooms, do you?"

"She can sleep in mine!" Yuzu offered cheerfully.

"See? No problems."

"You look like you could use a hot shower," Yuzu informed her, making Peyton's temple throb since she'd just taken one no more than an hour ago. Ichgo snickered, and she shot him a glare. "Not a word."

Mr. Kurosaki drooped as everyone moved on to do separate things; Yuzu went to start the water for her shower, Karin went to finish her homework, and Peyton followed Ichigo upstairs despite his protests.

"...Yes, of course she can stay!"

Peyton took in his room, then sighed and shook her head. "Guys' rooms are so boring. Always the same colors."

Ichigo rolled his eyes, not even bothering to point out SHE was the one who brought it upon herself to follow him in there. "Well, I didn't know you had so much experience with guys' rooms."

She shot him a glare. "...I have an older brother."

"...Oh."

"Dumbass." Then she smirked. "Well, what about you? Your dad didn't seem to like the idea of me staying too much. Have much experience with girls being in your room, do you?"

"N-No! My dad's a bit of a...well, an idiot. And a pervert," he explained thoughtfully, flushing slightly.

"Oh, come on now. He seems alright," she replied, shuddering at his closet. Like her own, it was one of the usual Japanese closets with the sliding doors. Ever since seeing Ju-On, which was much scarier than the American Grudge movies, the sight of Japanese closets made her immediately assume there was a ghost waiting to grab her and seriously fuck up her day.

"That's 'cause you don't live with him."

Peyton shrugged. "Maybe. But I for one like your family," she informed him.

"Well, now I can breathe easy," he muttered sarcastically.

"Oh, in that case, you're so welcome!"

"Yeah, I fashioned them just for you."

"Aw, Ichigo, you shouldn't have! Honestly, I'm flattered."

She laughed as his temple started throbbing. "Oh, come on, do you ever play along when someone's being random?"

"You're not being random, you're being an annoying dumbass. There's a difference."

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"No there is not, Ichigo Kurosaki!"

"..."

"..."

"Yes there is," he stated simply.

"NO THERE ISN'T!" she shouted, making his spiky orange hair blow back and off his face. He threw a pencil at her in annoyance, to which she threw a pillow back.

"Ow! That was my eye!" She stuck her tongue out at him, and he threw the pillow back at her.

"Dumbass," he muttered, "throwing a pillow at people."

Choosing to ignore that, she simply smirked at him. "Oh, how kind. I was tired, thanks for asking," she said cheerfully, kicking her shoes off and tucking the pillow under her head.

"Hey, wait, you can't sleep in here!" he protested.

"Why not? You're not gonna try anything, are you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"What the- hell no!"

"Well then there's nothing to worry about, is there?" she replied, wiggling her toes at him mockingly.

He sighed in exasperation and attempted to pry her off the bed, but she held on to the edge defiantly. "Will you get off my-"

"Stop, that tickles!" she yelled between laughs.

He smirked to himself. "Heh. That's what she said." She promptly kicked him.

"Ow!"

"Serves you right!"

Ichigo sighed and went to open his door. "Is her freaking shower ready yet?"

As he opened the door, Mr. Kurosaki and Yuzu fell inside, glass cups in hand.

Peyton and Ichigo sweatdropped, while Karin sighed. "I told you. Idiots."

"Just testing your door for termites," Yuzu said innocently with a nervous chuckle, while his dad was too busy muttering things like:

"Oh, Masaki! What should I do? He's all grown up!" And, "I take it back, I don't want grandkids this Christmas!"

Ichigo turned bright red.

"Like a strawberry," she observed to herself with a chuckle as she skipped down the hall with Karin, who just watched and snickered as Ichigo yelled at his other sister and dad.

"This is gonna get interesting."

"GODDAMMIT, DAD, DO YOU HAVE TO DO THAT WITH EVERY GIRL THAT STOPS BY? YOU NEARLY MADE ORIHIME FAINT, SHE TURNED SO RED LAST TIME!"

"I'M SORRY THAT I WANT GRANDCHILDREN, SON, OKAY?"

When she was done and had borrowed Karin's pajamas (she was apparently the baggier-shirt-wearing girl out of the two), Yuzu was waiting eagerly at the foot of the stairs.

"Are you hungry, Peyton? I just finished dinner!"

Ichigo popped up out of nowhere. "Oh, whoops, we already a-"

Peyton cut him off by elbowing him in the gut, and he let out a groan. "OW!"

"Starving," Peyton replied with a nervous chuckle.

"But-"

"ICHIGO!"

FIVE MINUTES LATER...

Mr. Kurosaki practically had kittens as she plopped down into an empty seat beside Karin cheerfully. "Oh, Peyton's joining us!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes as he flopped down into his seat, defeated and sore.

Yuzu gave her a heaping plateful of onigiri and some fish. She soon noticed that almost everyone was watching her intently for her reaction. She swallowed and grinned. "Better than mine, Yuzu."

"Oh, I'm glad!" she practically squealed.

"Score," Ichigo muttered sarcastically to himself, making Peyton kick him under the table. "Ow!"

Thank God for Karin. Just before Yuzu or Mr. Kurosaki ("Please, call me Isshin!") could ask her some strange Ichigo Question, she interrupted by saying, "I learned something interesting today."

Everybody but Peyton nearly dropped their food. "She almost never says anything like that," Yuzu whispered.

Peyton shrugged. "So, what was it?" And off it went.

Thank thee for saving my ass!

After dinner was over, Yuzu proceeded to show her every single item in her room (which was actually an interesting tour), then Karin casually showed hers off while pretending not to enjoy Peyton's comments on its awesomeness.

"But not more awesome than mine, right?"

"They're the same amount of awesome: The Ultimate Level of Awesomeness," Peyton announced solemnly.

Ichigo, who "happened to be passing by" (Eavesdropping. Totally busted.), scoffed. "Please."

Peyton gave him a look. "Oh, here, I'll show you!"

THREE MINUTES LATER..

"Okay! Here, at the bottom, are the plastics - because no one likes people harder to bend and more flammable than your average human being, right? Then we have the wannabe plastics and rockers that only listen to Metallica. Then, there's the nerds and geeks, followed by the slightly higher dorks."

Ichigo raised his hand. "How come the dorks are slightly awesomer?"

"Well, wouldn't you rather be a dork than a nerd or geek?"

"Hmm...good point. Carry on."

"What next?" Yuzu asked, absorbed.

Peyton cleared her throat. "Okay, then there's that whistling kid, umm...yeah! Keigo! And then there's Ichigo. Then there's sushi. And then my brother and sister. And Rukia, Orihime, and Tatsuki. Followed by Chuck Norris. And, finally, Karin and Yuzu, names in no particular order! See? Right there in bold green marker!"

Ichigo sweatdropped. "I got beat by...sushi."

"Nooo, you got beat by sushi, my brother and sister, Rukia, Orihimi, Tatsuki, Chuck Norris, and your sisters. See?"

"Yeah, I got that. Why did I listen to this again? Rukia's pictures are bad enough as it is," he mumbled gloomily to himself.

Yuzu giggled, and Peyton closed the pointer importantly. "You should never hate pictures, Ichigo. They make the world a better place! Anyway. So, you see, you have achieved the Ultimate Level. You've even beat Chuck Norris! Nothing can stop you now!" They suddenly heard a noise of surprise, making them all turn to look.

There in the doorway stood Isshin, drooping rather comically. "Hey! How come my name's not up there?"

The three siblings sweatdropped, sighed, and shook their heads at Isshin's stupidity. Peyton quickly squeezed his name underneath Chuck Norris in bright red while he was distracted with Karin and Yuzu.

"No, look, see? Isshin Kurosaki, right there. You just couldn't see it before because Chuck Norris's name was distracting you, is all!"

Isshin grinned and nodded in approval. "Oh, that makes sense. Ha! I beat you, son! She even wrote mine in my favorite color!"

Ichigo's temple throbbed. "Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"Just go downstairs."

"Okay. But you don't control me, I just wanted to go downstairs!" He shouted over his shoulder. Karin and Ichigo exchanged a look.

"Idiot."

Soon, it was the youngers' bedtimes, so Peyton followed Yuzu after saying goodnight to Karin.

"Goodnight, Peyton," Yuzu called out from her bed.

"'Night Yuzu," she replied as she climbed into her pallet on the floor.

A few minutes passed.

"Night, Peyton."

"...Night..."

Without warning, Yuzu flipped over to look at her, making Peyton jump.

"Hey Peyton?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you really staying the night?" she asked, smiling giddily. "Are you and Ichigo sneaking out later?"

"Um...no...why would I sneak out with him?"

"Well, why else would you be here?"

"Because he told me I was coming here. And dragged me over here," Peyton said honestly.

Yuzu made a face. "And you listened?"

"No. I was dragged, remember? He wanted to make sure they didn't try and kill me again."

"That's even more romantic! You must be so grateful!"

Peyton sighed. "Yes, sure, that's it. That's exactly why I'm here, Yuzu."

"I knew it!"

"Yep, you caught me. Can you please go to sleep now?"

Yuzu sighed in disappointment, but it was interrupted with a yawn. "Fiiiinee..."

She was snoring peacefully in under five minutes.

Peyton desperately wanted to go to sleep, but she couldn't. That noise was making her head hurt. No, scratch that, it made her shiver, too. It was so haunting.

So she waited until everyone else seemed to be snoring too, then crept out through Yuzu's window. Peyton jumped down from the roof and quickly regained balance. She glanced around in all directions, but couldn't seem to find anything that could make such a noise. She checked all around the house and was about to cross the quiet street when a hand pulled her back from behind.

"What the FU-"

Ichigo covered her mouth. "Will you shut the hell up? You're gonna wake up the whole neighborhood! What the hell are you doing out here?"

"Phwell, phi phwas twryin ro-"

"Wait, what?"

Peyton sighed impatiently and yanked his hand off her mouth. "I SAID, I was trying to go to sleep, but that howling noise kept distracting me!"

"You idiot, those are the Hollows! You know, trying to hunt you?"

"Well, how was I supposed to know?"

"Common sense, maybe?" he suggested before mimicking her voice. "Ooooh, I hear some ominous howling in the distance! I think I should check it out, even though Ichigo saved me from being mauled to pieces by a Hollow today! Errrr, NO, wrong answer!" Ichigo hissed, switching back to his normal voice.

They had a stare-off. "...I do not sound like that, thank you very much!"

"Arrggh, you're impossible!"

A sudden thought occured to her, and she cocked her head as she stared at him. "Hey, wait a minute. How could you know I was out here? I was being all Charlie's Angels!"

Ichigo cleared his throat nervously. "I was, um, watching outside the window."

"Why?" Then it dawned on her, and a slow grin spread across Peyton's face. "You were waiting for someone, weren't you?"

"NO!"

"Oh, please. Why else does one stare out the window this late at night? You don't seem like the angsty type."

Ichigo hesitated, then sighed reluctantly. "Okay, fine! I was waiting for Rukia to get back, IF YOU MUST KNOW."

"Ahhh-HA! Wait, doesn't she live in your closet or something?"

"Occassionally, yeah, but not all the time. But earlier today, she said there were way too many ghosts around Karakura than the norm, so she went to Soul Society to figure it out. She said she would be back tonight, and if not, it was probably something HUGE," he recited grudgingly.

Her guess was that something huge would mean more work, which was a very bad thing considering Ichigo's occupation. Peyton glanced around and nodded. "Alright, then. We'll wait for her right...here," she stated as she sat on the front steps with a tired sigh.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "But then you're a sitting duck for the Hollows. Do you have short-term memory loss or something?"

"What makes you think they can't find me inside your house, you idiot? Besides, they're going to find me, it might as well be while you're around to go all ninja on them. Better stop them at the front steps than endanger your family again," she pointed out matter-of-factly.

He opened his mouth, closed it, then opened it again. "...I guess you're right," he admitted with a sigh as he sat down.

"I tend to be correct sometimes."

"Rarely, I'm sure."

"Will you just shut up?"

HOURS LATER...

"Peyton? Peyton...Yankee Kid? HELLO?"

Peyton jumped awake with a yelp. "What, what, I'm awake! Is Rukia back?"

Ichigo shook his head. "Nope. But it's about three in the morning. If she was coming back, she would've been here by now. Besides...your head was starting to really get heavy," he muttered as he stood up.

"So you better sneak back in before Yuzu realizes you left."

Peyton stood up and stretched, shivering in Karin's thin PJs. "Yeah, that's true. She was hell-bent on the fact that I was sneaking out with you or something. Karin was right. She does read way too many romance novels..."

Ichigo shuddered. "Yeah right. Like I'd sneak out with you."

Peyton scowled at him. "The same could be said about you, Strawberry." And with that, they stomped off in opposite directions, throwing another scowl over their shoulders for extra measure.

Though she thought she'd never go to sleep, Peyton was passed out within minutes of sliding back underneath her covers. Yuzu hadn't even budged. She was right in the middle of a strange and psychadelic dream when someone shook her gently. "Peyton, wake up! ...Peyton?"

She shot straight up. "PRESENT! ...Wait, what?"

Yuzu giggled. "It's ten in the morning!"

"So? It's Saturday, I usually sleep 'till about noon," Peyton whined.

She giggled again. "Yeah, but I'm making pancakes! And you and Karin get to attempt to wake Ichigo up so he can help me!" Peyton sighed and jumped out of the pallet, making it up out of courtesy before trudging over to Karin's room.

Karin was already out in the hall waiting for her. "Guess what? Since you're the guest, you get to try and wake him up. Though I should warn you, he sometimes thinks it's part of the dream, so if he swings his arm, watch out. He's got a nasty right hook. Good luck!" She finished cheerfully, making Peyton sweatdrop.

"...Thanks."

Then she sighed and shrugged. "Come on, Peyton. How hard could it be?" She muttered to herself. Pretty goddamn hard, actually.

First, she tried making his alarm clock go on and off. Then she tried pulling him out of the bed by his ankles, to which she got the best response: an extra snore. Finally, she had a genius moment and poked her head outside his door.

"Karin? Get me some shaving cream, would you?"

Karin watched from the safety of the door while Peyton stood on the edge of his windowsill precariously, applying the shaving cream to his open hand. "Okay, Karin. Now I want you to carefully toss me the fog horn!"

Karin tossed it, but it fell a little short and hit Ichigo in the head, while Peyton, who had tried to grab it, fell on top of him with an "Oof!"

He jolted awake at the same time Peyton grabbed the fog horn by the wrong end and blasted them both in the face, making them both flail around spastically and yell out, "MY EARS!"

"What the hell?" Ichigo demanded, temple throbbing majorly.

Peyton sighed exasperatedly. "I'm tangled up in the sheets! Would you please stop gawking and help me?"

"Okay, hold still-"

"No, not there, I'm EXTREMELY- hahahahaha!"

"Ow!"

"...Ticklish," she finished with a random giggle.

"That was my face you just kicked!"

"That was my side you just tickled!" Then she burst into laughter again. Karin watched on, more sweatdrops appearing by the second.

"Okay, how about this! You move left, and I move right!" she suddenly suggested, having abruptly stopped laughing.

Ichigo nodded. "Okay, on the count of three!"

"One!"

"Two!"

"Three!" they said at the same time before jerking their separate ways, but they just ended up bumping heads.

"Oww...Wait, I know what we did! Okay, Ichigo, you move left, and I'll move left!"

"Okay!"

"One, two, three! Hey, look, I can see my ankle now!" She waved it in the air for extra measure, grinning triumphantly.

Ichigo groaned. "This is getting us nowhere!"

Peyton fell back against the mattress in annoyance, blowing some stray hair out of her face. "You make me tired."

"Hey, what the hell are you doing?"

"Dozing."

"No!"

"Hey, you have to make pancakes, by the way."

"Oh, yeah, I'll just waltz right over there while we're both still tangled. On the way I'll say hi to Chuck Norris."

"You do that, and tell him hi for me too, would ya?" she replied with a yawn.

He groaned in frustration. "Hey, smartass, you're not helping!"

"YOU started the stream of smartassery, smartass!"

"...I'm going back to sleep."

"Ah, that's a good idea," she muttered, turning over on her side.

"OH NO YOU'RE NOT!" Isshin yelled out of nowhere, making them both jump and sit up. He and Yuzu looked like they didn't know what to make of them, while Karin couldn't breathe she was laughing so hard.

"Ichigo, what did you do?"

"Why do you automatically assume it was me?"

"Peyton, are you okay?" Isshin and Yuzu asked, dramatic tears of concern in their eyes.

Ichigo sweatdropped. "What the- I'M YOUR FLESH AND BLOOD!"

"HA! They like me more than you," Peyton teased in a sing-song voice, totally unbothered by their situation.

"That's not really an amazing feat," Karin muttered.

"Shut up Karin!"

"Hey, don't talk to her like that!"

"You tell him, Peyton!" Isshin and Yuzu yelled from the sidelines, which just made Karin roll her eyes.

Ichigo sighed and shook his head. "A normal family, is that too much to ask?"

"Ichigo, how could you say that!" Yuzu wailed, making Peyton give him a glare.

"Watch what you say, you big dope!"

Ichigo sighed and rubbed his temples. "This is so not cool." Then he seemed to have a lightbulb moment and yanked a corner of the sheets, making Peyton spiral out of them and fall on the floor with an "Oof!".

"Hey! That really hurt my ass, you jerk!"

"Well, problem solved. I'm going back to bed."

"Ohhhh no you're not! I did NOT do all that for nothing!" Peyton shouted before standing up, shoving up the sleeves of her borrowed shirt, and marching determinedly to his bed, yanking him up by the arm and dragging him out and down the stairs.

The others watched on with wide eyes. Finally, Isshin grinned happily. "I like her, son!" he called down the stairs.

"SHUT UP, DAD!"

THIRTY MINUTES LATER...

"These are delicious!"

Ichigo sighed tiredly, covered in flour, while Peyton beamed proudly. "Good!"

Karin smirked. "So who really made them?"

"Yuzu," they muttered in defeat.

"And you both took the credit? How devious!" Isshin exclaimed.

They pointed at Yuzu defiantly. "She told us to!" they exclaimed, a slight whine in their voices. The other two looked at Yuzu, who nodded.

"Neither of them can even measure correctly! If I'd really let them cook..." she trailed off with a shudder, and Peyton nodded solemnly.

"Yeah. I cause a kitchen fire and food poisoning the last time I cooked."

They all turned to look at her with huge sweatdrops, and she shrugged. "What? It's true."

Ichigo frowned to himself. "Somehow, I could see myself doing that if I cooked...Seriously, could they make cooking any more confusing? So many fractions..."

Karin made a face. "That would explain why Yuzu is so protective over the measuring cups."

"AND it would explain his math grade!" Yuzu chimed in cheerfully.

She stuck around for a few more hours before announcing that sadly, she had to go home. "Will you come back over again?" Yuzu asked eagerly.

Peyton shrugged. "Sure. That's up to Ichigo, I guess."

The other three looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "Ha! You think it's his decision? So cute!" Isshin wheezed.

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I'm gonna walk her home."

"Awwww!"

"Shut up Yuzu!" he yelled behind them, while Peyton sighed in annoyance.

"So, do you think they're still interested in me? I mean, couldn't they have found something better?" she asked suddenly, yawning and running a hand through her tangled and knotted bed-hair.

Ichigo shrugged. "I'm not a Hollow expert." He winced as he said it, making her cock her head at him. Hmm. I'll be sure to bring that up again later.

"Why is it so bad that there are more ghosts than usual around Karakura?"

"Because the last time something like this happened, it almost destroyed Karakura and some of the Soul Society."

Peyton nodded slowly. "...Oh. That does sound potentially problematic. How, though? What did the ghosts have to do with anything?"

Ichigo sighed. "You ask way too many questions, you know that?"

She shrugged. "You stall too much, and you're not very good at it," she remarked, making his temple throb.

"...Point taken. ...Basically, it was because it drew the two worlds closer, and they would've basically melded together, destroying a little part of both."

Peyton scratched her head in confusion. "How could they meld together?"

"The shininju," he muttered quietly.

"...Come again?"

"I'm not really sure what she was. But they called her the shininju, the Memory Rosary."

Peyton raised her eyebrows. "She?"

"Oh, look at that, we're here!" Ichigo practically yelled. "Well, see ya around." Peyton gave him a suspicious look. "...Right. Don't think I'm gonna drop this, Kurosaki."