Author's Notes:
Don't get too used to this update speed. The quick release of this chapter is only due to its nature as a shorter one - future chapters will take longer.

A week had passed, and Ichigo was still recovering. Shinigami healing magic was good, apparently- it had saved him a hospital bill- but he could still feel the ache in his limbs. He flexed his arm, grimacing as he looked round the empty classroom. It was lunchtime, and he'd taken the opportunity to just have a little peace and quiet.

This, of course had been lost entirely on Rukia, who had the strangest affinity for finding him at any given time. She claimed she couldn't sense him, but sometimes he wondered…

As it was, he tried his best to ignore her as he stared out the window.

"…are you even listening to me?" Rukia said, sounding annoyed.

"No." Ichigo said flatly.

"You jerk, aren't you even going to try to pretend you were?"

"No." He grunted. "I was trying to just relax- last night's chase took up a good bit of time, and I thought I'd nap for half an hour, but apparently that's no longer an option."

"Oh." Rukia said, taken aback. She hadn't even considered that herself; her gigai was good enough that sleep was more of a recommendation than a necessity. Ichigo had a human body, with all its limitations. "Well, I had something important to talk about. Sort of."

"Is it important or isn't it?"

Rukia sighed. "Maybe. You know how your reiatsu is exceptional for a human being's?"

"You said that before. What about it?"

"It's way more than I would expect, even in an area saturated with souls rich in reiatsu."

"So I am a special snowflake."

Rukia shook her head. "Don't joke. Humans aren't meant to have this much power. So-"

"You're not going to tell me I'm going to die or something, are you?"

"No, and stop interrupting me!" Rukia smacked him lightly over the head. "I'm not an expert, but… well, to use a simple analogy, you're like a… pitcher."

"A pitcher."

"Yes, a pitcher full to the brim with water, and everyone else around is a glass half full."

"I don't get it."

"I think you're spilling water. And the glasses around you are catching some of it. Maybe." She grunted with frustration. "I wish I had access to the science library back in soul society- there's detailed information on that sort of thing there."

"So wait, you mean the one that's making my friends more… more ensouled or something, that's me?"

"Reiatsu doesn't like to be floating around, so it attaches itself to whatever workable source it finds. If there's no spiritually attuned human around, it eventually dissolves. You constantly produce at least a small excess of reiatsu… so in short, yes. Maybe."

"That's... not good at all, isn't it?"

"No, not really. People with more spiritual power tend to be targeted by hollows more than normal persons are... and then there's of course the increased risk of them reaching a level of reiatsu where they can see both you in your shinigami form and hollows, which in turn would make things quite problematic for us."

Following a sudden whim, Ichigo applied the palm of his hand to his forehead. "How else could it be... so, is there anything we could do about it?"

"Hmm." Rukia said, cupping her chin. "Well, I could try to teach you how to contain your reiatsu, but... since right now, I myself have almost none, that could be a bit hard to do. To be quite frank, just doing this theoretically won't be enough... we'd need to find someone who can actually show you this."

"So essentially, we'd need a shinigami who hasn't lost powers." Ichigo grimaced. "Great. I guess we'll just ask one of the dozens of shinigami that we meet every day then, right?"

"You can keep the sarcasm for yourself." Rukia said, making a slightly triumphant face. "There actually is some like that that we could ask... the only problem is that he's a bit...eccentric, and might need some convincing before he'd help you."

"Huh. So how do we get him to help us?" Ichigo asked, slightly taken aback.

"We'll only need to convince him to help you, actually. This man has already been helping me all along. But whether he'd help you in particular... that's a different question. I suppose I'll pay him a visit this afternoon, and ask him if he will help you."

"Aaand what do I do in the meantime?"

"You stay at home, and go after your business. Y'know, homework and the like." Rukia stated in a matter-of-factly tone.

Ichigo blinked. "Eh?! And what am I supposed to when a hollow shows up in the meantime?!"

"Valid point... I will just leave the gear necessary for detecting hollows, and removing your soul from your body with you, then. Don't worry, my absence shouldn't present too big of a problem to you!"

For a moment, Ichigo considered calling Rukia out on just forgetting something as major as that... when he realized that were was something more worthy of being pointed out. "Wait. When I technically don't need you for hunting down hollows, why do you stay around with me, and always accompany me when I go and fight these things?"

"Because you are a nineteen year-old human being with little experience in fighting hollows, and even less in kendo? Any hollow that is only a bit stronger than most of the ones that you have faced so far would be enough to get you into trouble, just like Orihime's brother last week. Not to mention that I do quite enjoy this life around you."

Ichigo grunted. "Point taken."

oOo

Heading out, Rukia frowned, deep in thought. She'd be skipping school, but teacher scoldings were the least of her worries. That man, that enigmatic ex-shinigami, was an infuriating person to deal with. He might outright reject her request- or grant it immediately as if on a whim. The logical part of her mind knew that he probably was nowhere near as whimsical as he pretended to be, but he was a damn good actor at that. Whenever she made a deal with him, she got the distinct impression she was being used- and sure, the most basic part of a deal is that both parties get used, that both get what they need, but it always felt like... he had something more planned. Some bigger game, perhaps?
Or maybe she was just paranoid, and he wanted her to feel this uneasy. That was more than likely it- he was no big fish; he was a skilled petty smuggler with the kind of skills that made him more useful to the Gotei Thirteen alive than dead. It was all a mind game. Still, she needed his help...
Walking with determination, she headed towards the Urahara shoten.

oOo

The rest of today's lessons went by without any other incident, and to Ichigo's relief, also without Rukia. Once the final lesson was over, Ichigo headed home alone, for the first time in weeks.

As he walked, the unusual silence caused by Rukia's absence on his way back home got him thinking, and reflecting. Rukia had been living with him and his family for several weeks now, and as much as he hated to admit it: The entire hollow-hunting business with Rukia was... fun, in a way. Sure, fighting these evil spirits put his own life in danger almost every day, but on the other hand, it also was welcome distraction from the things going on in his life.
Before Rukia had shown up, Ichigo had been in a generally bad mood, due to Yuzu's constantly worsening condition. Now however... well, he was still in a generally bad mood, but it was a less serious bad mood. A more lighthearted one, one that he could actually laugh at. Almost fittingly, in the past few days, Yuzu's condition had improved at a rate that would allow her to come back home soon – which absolutely no one minded.
Yes, somehow... Ichigo had gotten used to Rukia and his "job" as substitute shinigami.

As the realization of this struck Ichigo, he immediately made a mental note to himself to never, under any circumstances tell any of the thoughts that he just had to Rukia. He was already giving her plenty of reasons to be smug as it was.

At home, nothing out of the ordinary happened: Ichigo had lunch, relaxed for a while, began doing his homework, already getting his hopes up that today would be hollow-free... when suddenly, a sound not unlike that of a ringing cell phone could be heard from his bag. A quick dig through his bag later, Ichigo found out that the source of the noise was the hollow-warning... thing that Rukia had given him before she left. Befitting of the noise it made, it looked just like a cellphone – a cellphone which was had the name of a nearby street on its display.

Sighing, Ichigo once more dug through his bag, until he found something resembling a portable candy dispenser, which contained several small pills: Gikongan, Artificial Soul Pills, as Rukia had explained to Ichigo earlier. Swallowing one of them would remove his soul from his body, replacing it with an artificial soul that would take care of his body while he was off fighting hollows... or so Rukia had claimed. Well, no time to stand around and ponder about whether these things worked or not.

Ichigo took one of the pills and swallowed them – and just as he was told, his soul was removed from his body, and that for once without his body collapsing. In fact, his body was still standing in front of him, seemingly awaiting orders.

"Uh... you just wait here, and... do my homework like I would. You got that?"

His body nodded. Good.

Now he just had to go after that hollow.

oOo

Dying had been the best thing that ever happened to Yuusuke. In life, he had been a serial killer, but regrettably limited by law enforcement, by his own weak human body. But in the new body he had found in death, with the new name of "Shrieker" as the shinigami had dubbed him, there was an almost absolute freedom to kill as many pitiful little people as he wanted, growing stronger each time he fed. Life after death was delightful- no shinigami had been able to catch him so far, and most of them didn't even seem to have the strength to fight him.

Yet here he was, bleeding from his side, facing a rookie shinigami with a stupid face of grim grit, wielding a sword too big to possibly be practical, and things were... well, things could be better. Snarling, he let fly a set of small bombs towards the shinigami.

oOo

The sound, when it came to her, was the vocal equivalent of that small little movement in the corner of your eye that, when you turn to look, is almost always nothing. Tatsuki was walking home, and hearing the distant roar, almost dismissed it as something else. Something unexplained that probably had a natural explanation, but wasn't really worth dwelling on. Almost.

Why she walked towards the sound, two streets down, she honestly didn't know. Perhaps it was just human curiosity, or perhaps it was to sate that grating feeling that there was something more going on, something she was missing. She had felt it all week, ever since that night at Orihime's, when… she remembered it clearly still, even though she had managed to mostly convince herself it was all a dream. There was no way a monster like that could have been real any more than it could be real that Kurosaki was a heroic monster slayer. She almost wished she had been on drugs; that would have explained it.

So when she heard the sound again, now less distant, it was with a mixture of determination and uncertainty that she peeked round the corner. She blinked, not sure that what she saw was really real. It was Ichigo, in that black getup, with that huge sword, fighting a monster…

And then the monster staggered back, its head turning for a moment towards her. It had no face, only a white, grinning mask, and eyes glowing a menacing yellow. Clasping her hand to her mouth, Tatsuki sunk to her knees in shock. It was really real. That time, a week ago, she and Orihime had actually almost died. Ichigo was… she didn't know what he was, but no human could jump through the air like he was doing right now, not with a sword that big. It was real- it hadn't been a dream, an illusion, or indigestion. There were monsters out there- and Ichigo was involved. Rukia had tried to erase her memory, even.

Collecting herself, Tatsuki turned around and ran, her heart pounding like a jackhammer.

"Don't you want to know what this is all about?" A voice suddenly came from behind her, before she could get too far. Still too worked up to think clearly, Tatsuki turned around slowly.

Standing not too far behind her was a tall and lean-built man, with gray eyes and pale blond hair. He was wearing a dark green shirt and pants, and, more notably, wooden sandals as well a bucket hat striped in white dark green. His facial impression was... hard to read. The only thing that Tatsuki really could make out was that this man was giving her a mysterious smile.

"Wha- what?" Was all that Tatsuki managed to get out, due to both her own fear of what she had just seen, and the vibe that this man was giving off.
"I was asking if you don't want to know what this all over there is about. There is no need for you to worry; I'm certain that Kurosaki Ichigo will be able to defeat this beast... so I recommend that you stay around a little longer. You will not be disappointed."

"Get away, you freak!" Tatsuki shouted, sprinting away, away from the scene and as far away from the realization that monsters were real as possible.

Quietly, he watched her run.

"Your people skills need work, Kisuke." Said the rough voice he was so used to, coming from behind him.

"I may be genius, but I'm not perfect. She's not yet ripe, I suppose." He said quietly. "Oh well- I can wait. There's plenty of time." He smiled cheerfully.

oOo

"DAMN YOU!" Shrieker roared. "You rotten shinigami scum! You dare challenge ME?"

"You talk too much." Ichigo said, letting out a burst of reiatsu, taking a stance. "Are you afraid?"

"Die!" The hollow screamed, letting fly another barrage of bomb leeches. Ichigo leapt to the side, charged, and brought his sword down. The hollow parried with his arm, but Ichigo was already following through on his momentum, slamming a foot in the hollow's gut. The hollow staggered back, and Ichigo raked his blade across the monster's chest. Dark red ichor splashed onto the street, and the hollow retreated back.

It had been like this all fight long. Dodging the bombs was not hard, and it seemed the hollow was too reliant on its special ability by far; up close it was nothing like the ferocity Sora had shown as a hollow. It seemed strange to him how easy it had gotten- he wasn't quite reading him like an open book, but he did manage to anticipate where he'd fire those bombs, when to attack and when not to. This latest set of moves had been repeated five times now, Ichigo having scored injury after injury without taking any in return. The juvenile part of him felt like it was a game, a game he was just learning to master.

The more rational part of him knew that treating it like a game was a good way to get overconfident and die to some unexpected attack. Real life had no checkpoints or quick saves; you got one life, and if you failed there, that was it.

Still, he was doing this. He felt strong. He felt his own reiatsu, and he felt the hollow's reiatsu. It was as if he knew on instinct that his own was stronger; he stepped forward with confidence in his stride. The hesitation he had felt with earlier hollows was gone. If this was what hollow slaying was, then he could do it.

Finally taking the offense, he swung his sword in a rapid series of attacks. The hollow parried with its arms just barely, taking nicks and scratches where the blade landed. Determinedly, he pushed it back. Not a moment's rest; he was not letting go of this advantage.

Then, the hollow- Shrieker- opened his mouth, his tongue coming forward. Point blank, there was no way he could dodge. Not even thinking, Ichigo's right arm shot forward, grabbing it by the tongue. Forcefully, he yanked it, feeling it give way. It ripped in half. The hollow screamed with pain as Ichigo threw the ruptured member to the ground, once again gripping his sword with both arms.

"Damn you, shinigami!" Shrieker swore. "I won't forget this, scum!" The hollow hopped back, and a black tear in the fabric of reality appeared. Ichigo blinked. That was the same kind of portal that he'd seen a week ago, the kind Rukia told him the hollows used to travel back to their homeworld.

"I don't think so!" He said, leaping forward. Quickly, he grabbed the hollow by the shoulder, pulling it back. Shrieker only half fell over, desperately clawing at Ichigo, who was now standing directly in the way of his only escape route. One of his arms found their mark, claws digging into Ichigo's shoulders.

Ichigo simply grabbed him by the wrist, and in one sweeping motion he severed Shrieker's head from his shoulders. This hollow was done for.

What however came next, Ichigo definitely did not see coming: Instead of the hollowing disintegrating and vanishing, out of nowhere, a featureless, large, gray stone gate floating in mid-air took shape behind the hollow.

Slowly, and seemingly all by itself, the doors of the gate opened itself.

Behind it lay nothing, but a deep, black and endless nothing.

All of a sudden, in the center of the gate, a huge lidless white eye formed itself, staring at the hollow.

Cold sweat ran down Ichigo's neck as he watched the scene unfold. Whatever this eye belonged to, it was not human, or belonging to any animal for that matter.

But whatever was going on, it wasn't over yet: The instant the eye fixated itself on the hollow, the darkness surrounding it extended itself outside of the gate, forming countless thin, black tentacles. Slowly but steadily, the darkness-tentacles moved towards Ichigo and the hollow. Despite the strong feeling that trying to do anything against whatever was happening would be futile, Ichigo still got into a position that would make it easy for him to attack the tentacles – or arms, as some of them seemed to end in something resembling hands – should it be necessary.

As Ichigo quickly saw, though, doing so was unnecessary. Neither the eye, nor the tentacles had any interest in him. Instead, one after another, the tentacles began to lay themselves down on the hollow, almost gently... only for all of them to suddenly pull the hollow fiercely back into the gate. The dead, defeated creature could do nothing about it, and was pulled into the darkness that resided within the gate. Once it was in, the doors closed themselves once more, and the gate vanished as suddenly as it appeared.

Ichigo blinked a few times. He was still trying to comprehend what had just happened, and to say that whatever it was had scared him would be an understatement.

"What the hell was that?" Ichigo asked out loud. Having thought out loud instead of outright asking, he did not expect an answer.

But he got one, anyway. "You just said it yourself: Hell. What you have just witnessed was a sinner being pulled through the gate of hell."

Standing behind Ichigo was Rukia, who had apparently sneaked up to him while he was busy being speechless. "Rukia? ...What do you mean by 'hell'?"

"It's just what you think it is. If Soul Society is 'heaven', then a hell must exist as well – and you have just seen the gates of it opening themselves to claim a sinner. A shinigami can only erase the sins that a hollow has committed while it actually was a hollow. The sins that a person has committed while they were still alive are another matter entirely. They cannot be forgiven that simply."

"Urgh... I don't think I want to know any more about that. How did your convincing of this eccentric shinigami go, by the way?"

"Splen-didly!" A voice cheered from behind Ichigo. Ichigo turned around. "Well, she half convinced me. You are mildly interesting for now." The man was thin, with blond hair, a green and white jacket, and a bucket hat obscuring the upper half of his face.

"Who the hell're you?" Ichigo grunted. He was in no mood for jokes.

"Just a handsome store owner." The man said happily. "You handled yourself well there, young man. Handling a vicious hollow like that, after only a few week's training… promising indeed."

"Will you help us or not?"

"I am a busy man, Kurosaki-san," the man said, his voice still chipper, "and I'm not yet convinced you're worth my time."

"Get lost, then. I gotta go home."

"Then lost I will get." The man said, bowing mockingly before turning around, walking away.

"Some help that was." Ichigo said, scowling.

"He's… very particular." Rukia said diplomatically.

"Unhelpful nutjob, you mean."

"Don't be so quick to give in. He might not have admitted it, but you're one of the strongest souls in this town- he's nosy, and he can't help himself. He'll find you again."

"You've dealt with him in the past, or what?"

"He's… mildly infamous among the divisions."

"In a good way or a bad way?"

"Both. He's a smuggler and black market trader, but he also has the best gear and all the right information. He's the kind of person that our intelligence unit appreciates. I only heard about him by reputation before I came here, but he fits his reputation to a tee. And since you are who you are, it's not unreasonable to think he'll keep an eye out."

"What, until I've proven myself?" Ichigo snorted. "What's he getting out of this?"

"Money, probably. If I had access to soul society currency, we'd be working on your reiatsu control right now."

Ichigo shrugged. "Whatever. We're done here, so I am going home."

Rukia nodded. "Yes, let's go home for now."

oOo

Shortly before they got back home, Ichigo and Rukia parted ways – Ichigo was in his soul form after all, and needed to return to his body, while Rukia would just enter the house normally. As it turned out, while Ichigo was gone, the artificial soul had managed to finish all of Ichigo's homework, though it remained to be seen if it had actually be done correctly. The concept of an artificial soul that'd just do homework for him sounded too good to be true.

Once more, Ichigo returned to his body, which immediately coughed up the gikongan after he regained senses. Using these things would take some getting used too...

Ichigo was already beginning to look through the homework that the artificial soul had made for him, when suddenly, he heard steps that quickly approached his room's door. Quickly, he moved the hollow-warning... thing and the gikongan out of sight, just as his door opened, and his mother burst into the room. She had a glow about her, one he hadn't seen in a long time.

"Ichigo, come downstairs." She said, smiling widely.

"What?" He said, perplexed.

"Just come on." His mother said, heading down the stairs. Ichigo followed her down, and…

There, on the couch, right next to a small wheelchair, sat Yuzu.

"Hi, Ichi-nii!" she said cheerfully.

"Yuzu…" he said, his chest filling with an overwhelming feeling of relief, happiness and a very unmanly urge to cry.

"The doctors said it's leukemia," his mother said behind him, "but it's not a really bad kind. It's treatable, and they caught it early, they say. She's going to be fine."

Ichigo, at a loss for words, simply dropped to his knees before Yuzu and hugged her gently.

"You had us all worried." He whispered quietly.

"It's fine." Yuzu said, sounding tired but happy. "I'm going back to the hospital soon, and then I'll be all better."

Yes… things were, as a whole, looking up. Saying nothing, Ichigo just held his sister for a while.