Moon Princess

by romeoraiden

Ichigo Kurosaki was born destined for greatness but has had to suffer as he grows to embrace his destiny. Naturally, he will not endure this burden alone as he will have many allies to help him along the way. But only one of them can help him go beyond as his ever-faithful sword of the moon. (M for Violence and bad language)

1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: When I started making Fanfictions I began with Fire Emblem but by the time I was finishing my first story I regained my interest in Bleach so I took a break from everything Fire Emblem. I meant to make this story much sooner but real life happened so I couldn't do much fanfic writing, but now I'm back and I will give it a go with Bleach.

I make no promises that I will finish this one properly either but I will give it my best shot, and just to point it out there, I didn't start to actually like Bleach until the Arrancar Arc and I wanted to start from there but I felt that the changes I've made wouldn't have been consistent so I had to take things further back, and here we are. I truly hope you enjoy yourselves, and please don't take this the wrong way but it's been a while since I've read any Bleach stories that aren't romantic one-shots and the like, when I would've preferred more action pack and complex tales, so here I am again.

As such I give you the Moon Princess.

---

Chapter 1: A Life Beyond the One I Knew

It was raining…

Rain has always been a symbol of bad omen, sadness and tragedy, some people consider it beautiful, as a connection between heaven and earth. They may be right, but for one, a child born of three worlds, the rain was the worst thing that could exist, after all the rain had fallen with the drops of sadness the day when his whole world changed, the day he first felt death's cold embrace and his despair nearly ripped apart the hope that held his family together. Since then the rain comes in the most desperate moments in the life of the poor soul. This natural phenomenon affected his life significantly when he was listless, sad, or hopeless, and little did he know, it was the reason why it rained even in the world that dwells in his soul.

"My beautiful boy… wake up!" Cried out a woman filled with desperation and anguish. The agony of her words is so thick that even the most strict and callous of men would feel pity or even a twinge of sadness.

"Love…" The voice of another, more confused spoke up but none could hear her.

"Your mommy loves you so, so much. Your daddy l-loves you… Your sisters love you too… we would be all so, so sad if you were to leave us." The woman's despair grows with each passing second.

"Love…"

"You wouldn't leave us, would you? No, mommy's special boy is a very good boy. You'd never leave us." Again she becomes hysterical and loses sight of the reality that's before her.

"Love…"

"So please. Open your eyes. The sun hasn't set yet, you shouldn't be sleeping, you silly boy. Please… open your eyes, son. Open your eyes, Ichi… OPEN YOUR EYES!"

"Love…" Again the other voice repeats, unable to process what is happening, nor what she is even saying.

"Who are you…?" A third voice, one of a child spoke up next.

"Who am I?" Replied the second, who is but a tiny spherical object, confusion plainly evident in its feminine voice as the boy in front of it picks it up with both his hands. He lies down on his knees, staring intently at the object that has all his attention.

"I thought there was a person next to me, but you don't look like what I expected you would be." He said with a cheerful tone.

"No, I'm not what you would consider normal." She replied, sounding somber but is actually just as confused as she was previously.

"Are you a ghost?" He asked curiously.

"A ghost?" She replied. "No, I don't think so. I don't think I count as a Plus, though I don't think I'm alive either, let alone an actual person."

"You don't know what you are?" He said next, now looking worried for what he believes to be a young girl. The voice he's hearing sounds like one of a girl older than him by a few years but he feels like he's actually talking to someone younger or as young as him.

"I think I have an idea as to what I am but like I said, I'm not what you would consider normal. I've been… I don't know, around for a very long time and through most of my existence I'd never considered much of anything. All I ever do is wait." She explained.

"Wait for what, or who?" He asked.

"My creator."

"Your Creator? You mean your mother, or father?" He said more curious.

"Mother… Father… what are those?" She asked again confused.

"You don't know?" The boy said now really incredulous and not sure himself how to explain this. "Well… how do I put this, a mom and dad are basically creators, two people who love each other and… with their love… a new person is born." He explained now feeling really awkward about talking about a subject like this. He never once thought on where babies come from, he just assumed that parents are the ones who make them, or perhaps find them…? Birds and the Bees don't make sense.

"I see. The latter sounds more masculine so… I guess I'm waiting for my father. I think I'm getting it right." She said, trying to process this new information.

"Are you lost? Are you waiting for him to take you back home?"

"No, I'm not lost and he's nearby. When I say I'm waiting, I mean that I wait for what he's about to do next."

"What next?"

"How to get rid of me."

"Huh?"

"He doesn't like me very much. He's really smart, maybe the smartest person ever, at least that's what I once thought and he created me to help with his work, unfortunately, I ended up causing him so much trouble and then a lot of bad things kept happening around him. I don't really think I'm responsible but if I am, I'm sorry but I don't think he'd ever believe me, and if people find out he made me, he'd be in bigger trouble so he hid me away where he plotted to erase me in secrecy so that I would no longer be a bother. But he can't destroy me. Nothing can." After her explanation, the boy began to shed tears after hearing this sad tale. "Why is there liquid coming out of your eyes?"

"It's not right. Fathers are… fa-fathers… aren't supposed to… suppose to… hate their children. They're supposed to love them and protect them always. Like how my mom and dad always do." He moves his right hand to try and wipe away the tears from his eyes, too sad to calm down.

"Are you upset about what I just told you? If so, I apologize." She said nonechalantly, everything this boy says and does is completely new to her, she's not sure what to make of it.

"You're not the one who should be sorry. It's your stupid dad." He replied now feeling angry with the tears gone.

"Why? I'm the one who's made his life hard."

"If things are really bad, then you should be working together to make things better. He shouldn't be trying to make you disappear." He said with determination.

"I don't think that's how things work out." She said, not really seeing the logic in his point of view.

"Why didn't you ever tell him to stop being mean?" He demanded.

"We'd never talked before, in fact, this is the first time I've ever talked to anyone. I didn't even know I could talk until your soul's desire reached me. No one's ever tried to commune with me the way you have." She revealed, now sounding sad herself but the confusion is more noticeable. Nothing that's occurring right now has ever happened to her, it, before.

"That doesn't make any sense." The boy said now really confused. "You're really hard to understand."

"Yes, apparently I do have a negative effect on those around me." She lamented.

"No, don't say that. I'm not hurt right now and you're here with me. In fact, I'm doing alright." He quickly answered in order to help her feel better.

"I see." She responded, now sounding a little relaxed. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, ask away." He replied with a wide smile, wanting to keep themselves from getting sad again.

"What does love mean?" She asked, once again confusing the boy.

"Love?"

"I've heard someone say it over and over again earlier, she was being hysterical, pleading for you to wake up while you were slipping into the mortal coil. She too had water coming out of her eyes, her hair is almost like yours." She explained.

"I… think you're talking about my mama." He said looking conflicted, he wraps his right hand on his head, trying to recall something but he can't remember, it's a blur when he thinks of his mother and how she's doing recently. "I don't know but I think something really bad happened to me and she's really sad about it but I think she's okay now and is happy again." He tried to assure himself that everything is fine with his mother and focuses back on his new friend.

"So, back to what you said earlier, love is… well, happiness. When you're around someone that makes you feel really happy, that means that they're someone you love. Look at it this way, I have two sisters, they always put a smile on my face whenever I see them. My dad is a bit of a goofball and he's always spewing on and on how he wants to teach me martial arts by one day sucker punching me on a daily basis to make me stronger. He's weird but I'm happy to be with him. And most of all, the one person I love the most is my mother. She's the center of my world." He gave the biggest grin he could muster that speaks volumes of his happiness.

"Is that so?" She said understanding him a little better.

"And it's not just with my family, you can also find happiness with friends too." He continued.

"Friends? I don't know that word either but if it involves love then I would like to know more."

"Sure, if you want, you can be my friend too." He grinned.

"Really?" She asked caught off again.

"Yeah! I barely know you but I'm already really happy to have met you. I don't know why but I think you saved me from whatever bad thing happened to me so for that, I want to be your friend." He said now more warmly.

"I see, if I'm your friend then I make you happy, if I make you happy that means you… love me?" She concluded, and this startled the boy that he unintentionally tosses her in the air. Immediately regretting what he'd done, he desperately rushes to catch her and thankfully succeeds, though he ends up falling to the floor but at least the "girl" ended up back in his hands.

"You were startled by my question." She said too casually, as if she didn't care if he threw her away so abruptly.

"Sorry, I was just surprised, you see, there's more to love than friends and family, there's sort of a middle ground between them and you shouldn't tell a friend that you straight off love them out of the blue." He explained more awkward than he's ever felt before. He learned the full concept of love sooner than he would've liked and not in a good way.

"Middle ground?" She repeated.

"I'll tell you some other time." He shrugged. 'Which hopefully will never come.' He secretly thought and hopes for.

"Okay, so we are friends now?" She asked, now sounding a tiny bit enthusiastic, a breath of fresh air for the boy from how she was being previously.

"Of course. Everyone should have a friend." He smiled again. "By the way, another important note, friends should know each other's names, so what's yours?"

"My name. Yes, I see the necessity of that. My name is…"

---

With a heavy breath, a young man around seventeen years of age awakens after being knocked down in an empty street, the road completely desolated with the darkness of the night sky greeting him but worst of all, it's raining.

"Dammit…" He cursed his fortune before he begins to cough a bit too much that it seemed as though he would spew off blood but thankfully that didn't happen and he musters all his strength to get back up.

His most distinguishing feature is his spiky orange hair, a trait he has been ridiculed about for years on end. He is a fairly tall, lean-built young man with peach skin and brown eyes.

To his confusion he is wearing a simple white kimono that makes him feel incomplete and hollow. Oh, the bitter irony.

Right now the entirety of his body is soaked by the rain and normally he would protest but his thoughts are preoccupied by a whirlpool of emotions going through him, especially when he turns around and sees not far from him a bespectacled teenager of average height, slender build and straight, chin-length black hair and is fair-skinned also lying on the rainy ground but he is worse off than him, with the gash on his chest that he knows was caused by a sword and he's already lost too much blood.

"Uryū!" He cried, rushing to him and as gently as he can, picks him up bridal style. He can already hear the injured boy bashing him verbally for lifting him in a shameful manner. "Hang on, cuzo, you're going to be alright. My dad is going to patch you up in…"

His thoughts are interrupted when he looks to his front and notices a familiar figure with an umbrella walking towards him.

Tall and lean with light skin and gray eyes. His hair is messy and light-blond (almost pale), with strands framing the sides of the face and hanging between his eyes, and he has chin stubble. He wears a dark green garment without an undershirt. Over this, he wears a black haori, which sports a white diamond pattern along its bottom half. He also wears traditional Japanese wooden sandals and a striped dark green and white bucket hat that shadows his eyes practically all the time.

"Hat and Clogs…" He muttered, surprise to see the mysterious candy shop owner that he has seen around for the past two months be here of all places where all hell broke loose.

"Wow… I must say, there are a thousand things that I have witnessed in my life that has left me speechless and on the verge of shaking my faith in logic and understanding on how the world works, and right now, this is the third time you've left me riddled beyond belief." He said ominously that if it wasn't for all the other horrific things he's experienced within the last several weeks, he'd be terrified right about now. "You're more terrifying than your ludicrous friends make you out to be, Ichigo Kurosaki."

"What are you doing here?" The orange-haired boy demanded, apprehensive now that he has someone in his arms that he must protect.

"Here to help save your cousin, apparently." The so called Hat-and-Clogs man said casually. "You won't make it to your house in time, the young Ishida needs immediate medical care right this instant and while we both know your father is one of the finest doctors in this city, he rarely has the right medical equipment to deal with these kinds of problems since he runs a neighborhood clinic rather than working in the hospital with his cousin in law."

"You can save him then?" Ichigo questioned.

"You don't really have a choice unless you think you have what it takes to break the terrible news to his family. I'd hate to imagine poor Kairi's expression." He warned.

"Damn… fine. Fine, dammit." Ichigo gave up and gently placed Uryū back on the ground with the man walking towards them, covering them both with his umbrella. "Now what?"

The man says nothing as he gets on his knees and holds his right hand above his patient and his palms glow in a green light of energy that wraps itself around him.

"You can use Kidō (Demon Way)?" Ichigo asked surprised by this.

"It seems Miss Kuchiki left out a few details about me. That's fine, I prefer it this way, and you can rest well since my use of Kaidō (Turn Way) will hit the spot for your cousin." The man said with a smile sincere enough that Ichigo has difficulty disbelieving him and his nerves quickly settle down, content that his cousin will be alright and he can focus on other matters.

"Rukia…" Ichigo muttered with unrivaled sadness taking whole over him now, along with a guilt so great it's palpable. "I… I couldn't save her. Lately I haven't been able to protect anyone."

"You should be more grateful about still being alive, young man. Honestly, I expected to find the both of you lying on the ground in defeat and near death but yet here you are, alive and well. Powerless, sure but as healthy as a newborn. Most impressive considering that without your power, wondering around as a spirit is not good for you" He said.

"Does that really matter now?" Ichigo questioned, not at all concern for himself.

"Predictably, you have no answers. Don't worry about it yet. Kisuke Urahara always gets his answers eventually." He declared while addressing his name, which is convenient for Ichigo since he never learned it until now.

Ichigo shrugs off this mystery for now as he asks a far more important question. "What's going to happen to her? Rukia, I mean. Is she really going to be executed over what she did… for saving my life, the lives of my family?"

"You're looking at things from your perspective only, Ichigo, though I would argue that your anger is more justified, but the Laws of the other side are more absolute than anything else in this world and giving powers that don't belong here to humans is taboo for many reasons I can scarcely disagree with at times." Kisuke said while never looking away from Uryū.

"But her own brother, he's going to let it happen! I could see it in his heartless eyes!" Ichigo cried.

"There's heartlessness and then there's lifelessness. It's difficult to tell them apart. What you should be asking yourself now is if you're sure you've read his emotions right." Kisuke lectured sternly which is disturbing given that the man is so lighthearted. "Killing a person in cold blood takes real courage when you live by morals, killing a relative, even when you've hated them for so long, it's like an entirely different world born of torture."

That left Ichigo silent again, taking the time to contemplate on what he means and the encounter he just survived.

"When your head has cooled down, come over to my shop. Whatever you want to do, I'll help you." Kisuke offered. "But if you want my honest opinion, I suggest you do what you may believe to be the hardest decision and let this go. Without your powers, they have no reason to come after you so you can go back to your normal life. Even if you are a criminal in their eyes, you're still human, their laws forbid any extreme actions be taken against the residents of this world without being provoked first."

Again, Ichigo remains silent, being unable to give a clear answer as he's not sure on what to do just yet, nor if there is really anything he can accomplish.

"Ichigo…"

He then makes a weak gasps that went unnoticed, instantly reaching for his chest as he is caught by a familiar sensation.

'That voice… the same one from that odd dream I just had. Or was it a dream?' He wondered with so much confusion. He forces himself to ignore it as to not further torment himself since his thoughts are already clouded enough as is.

Once he's been assured that Uryū will be okay, Ichigo reluctantly heads back to his family, ignoring the heavy rain as he walks while soaking, upon arriving at his neighborhood he takes the time to look at the place he calls home. One that is slightly bigger than all the other houses in the area, having a big neon sign reading Kurosaki Clinic because this is also his father's workplace as a doctor.

There is also a small parking area for customers. The glass door under the neon leads inside the medical area of the house. That's where the differences end, still looking precisely like any other house. A green roof, outside elevation made of wood with a small balcony.

Ichigo decides against going through the front door even though he knows where the spare key is hidden to enter, opting to climb up to the window of his room which is the upper front window. It may be raining but he's not worried since he's done this before without incident.

Luckily, it was left unlocked before he left for his failed rescue and once inside he enters without stepping on his bed that is right next to the window and once inside he sees a person lying down unconscious on the bed who looks exactly like him but this means little to him as he picks him up and with a flash of light, the two Ichigos become one, now all dried up and wearing a slim fitting clothe, like a shirt patterned with the number 15 because his name is a homonym for the number.

He goes to his bed and due to exhaustion quickly goes to sleep but not before whispering in anguish.

"Rukia…"

---

"That's your name?" The boy asked, having never once heard such a name.

"You don't like it?" His new friend asked.

"No, that's not it. It's just that I never heard of such a name, is all." He tried to specify.

"It's okay if you don't like it. I don't like it either." She said very displeased.

"Oh, then how about I give you a nickname. It's common for people who are in good terms to give each other different names as a way to show affection. Like a form of endearment and amusement. Or in your case, a new one all together and keep permanently." He said.

"I'd like that very much." She replied, now very happy. "What is your name?"

"Right, how rude of me. My name is Ichigo, Ichigo Kurosaki, but my mother and sisters nickname me Ichi. What do you think?" He smiled at her.

"Ichigo… Kurosaki. That's a very good name. Beautiful, even." She praised happily.

"Aww, thanks." Ichigo now has a blush on his face by the sweet compliment. No one besides his mother ever said anything positive about his name.

"Ichigo. I will remember you always. When next we meet, I think I will leave my father somehow and live with you." She confessed out of the blue. "Yes, I think I would like that very much, and perhaps then you can show me the full concept of this love your mother spoke of. One day."

---

Groaning, Ichigo awakens from a more gentle slumber when compared to last night, this time in his bed, and already morning. He hasn't required much sleep for a while now and it has done him wonders, though he pays no attention to the sun as that's not what woke him up despite his curtains not blocking the light.

"The same dream in one night? No doubt about it now, it is definitely a memory." He muttered before sighing exasperatedly and getting off his bed.

If he was any sleepier, he might've not quickly noticed that there is someone sitting on a share beside his bed and would've been startled but just sighs exasperatedly again, this time with annoyance at the woman sitting patiently while using her phone to probably text of anything else that Ichigo can't discern at the moment.

She is a woman in her late thirties and of average height. She has fair skin and light, chin-length brown hair, wearing a plain dress. She also has brown eyes. Even for her age, she is a remarkably beautiful woman, often mistaken for being younger.

"What are you doing in my room?" He asked, sounding composed but underneath he is livid.

"What's the magic word?" She responded gently and with a hint of playfulness with a question of her own, annoying Ichigo further but knows better than to be unrelenting.

"Good morning, mom." He properly greeted his mother, Masaki Kurosaki.

"That's the spirit, deary." She joked.

"Hilarious, now answer my question." Ichigo was close to making a proper demand, at least to one that his mother would consider it as such instead of him acting defensively to his place of privacy being invaded. Again…

"Oh, nothing much, just wanted to make sure you aren't going off on your own in the middle of the night and eloping." Masaki responded innocently.

"I did not go out last night." He protested.

"Really, then why was your window unlocked when I got here. you'd never leave it open unless you were at least waiting for someone to come, and who's this Rukia you whispered in your sleep?" She interrogated with playfulness but also hidden malice. Instead of blushing madly like she expected, her son just gives her his signature scowl, not one to give in to nervousness.

"I don't have to answ-Wait! Were you watching me as I slept yesterday night the whole time?!" He gasped nervously.

"Not the whole night, obviously. Just for an hour before having my beauty sleep, and since I'm a morning person I took the time to make sure that you're sound asleep and not doing practically everything behind our backs." Masaki confessed, while also giving him the impression that she's done this before and quite frankly, he's surprised that he hasn't considered this possibility before, given what his parents are like.

"MOTHER! You can't do stuff like this! It's disgusting." Ichigo screamed with indignity at what he's heard.

"You don't have to shout, you know, I'm just looking out for you." Masaki defended herself, and honestly quite poorly.

"Would you just leave!" Ichigo demanded.

"You'll wake the neighbors with that tone of yours, young man, don't make your dad come and scold you like last time." Masaki scolded. "I don't need to remind you that Ms. Hosaka threatened to leave after your last outburst."

"That was all your stupid husband's fault, and you know it." Ichigo cursed.

"Sure, sure, whatever you say dear." Masaki joked. Further irritated, Ichigo gets off his bed, while at the same time grateful that he wore pajama pants last night.

"I can't deal with you right now." Ichigo hissed as he opens his door. "Now would you pl-" He is unable to finish his sentence as someone flies in to deliver him a kick to the face but thankfully, Ichigo saw it coming and caught it with his bare hands. "I… hate… this house…"

"ICHIGO! How dare you raise your tone at your own mother! As Kurosaki Men, we must always treat all the women of the world as queens!" Scolded condescending the Patriarch of this house.

Isshin Kurosaki. A tall, muscular man, also in his forties with spiky black hair and brown eyes, facial hair around his mouth and on his cheeks. He wears a white lab coat over his otherwise more casual red shirt and trousers.

"I be more concern with you finally acting like well-respected parents for once in your lives because I have finally reached my limit with this house!" Ichigo screamed as he pushes his father off his room, followed by the two tackling and beating each other to the ground and kept at it until they even ram one another downstairs.

"Be sure not to dirty the walls, I need not remind you two that we just repainted them last week as a family." Masaki requested casually to the ruckus her husband and only son's violent yet questionably playful bickering do on a daily basis.

"Whatever you say, dear!/I don't care right now!" Said Husband and Son replied simultaneously, the latter more disrespectful and this earned him a sucker punch to the face.

"Not again, why can't we have more normal mornings like we all promised." Cried a thirteen year old girl with light brown shoulder length hair usually styled in two pigtails tied with pink cherry bobbles behind her ears, the hair also clipped on the right pigtail, and dressed in a school uniform who is in the kitchen serving breakfast for the family.

"As usual, you ask the impossible Yuzu." Said a malcontent girl of the same age with dark grey eyes and black hair in a short ponytail also dressed in a similar school uniform, playing with a game console while waiting for breakfast.

"Karin, put that PS away while you're having breakfast." Ichigo lectured her as he and his father pull themselves up the floor and thankfully drop the fighting.

"Breakfast isn't served yet so no, and you shouldn't be downstairs when you haven't gotten yourself cleaned." Karin replied nonchalantly.

"Yeah, be right back." Ichigo said as he rushes back upstairs, while his mother walks back down to the kitchen.

"You'll finish a lot sooner if you let me help you, Yuzu." She insisted.

"Aww, but I'm the one who always serves breakfast on my own." Yuzu pouted, not liking to be asked to stop cooking.

"Not today, I'm afraid. Your brother has been acting strangely these past few weeks. More energetic than usual and tiredly, so I think we should all do more for him as we convince him to relax some more and then some." Masaki insisted.

"I know that already, and that's exactly why I want to do this alone for him." Yuzu argued.

"With you two always patronizing him on a day to day basis, I'm surprised he hasn't run away from home already." Karin said rudely.

"Karin, sweety! How could you speak so ill of your own parents." Isshin whined childishly.

"You have to ask." Karin sneered.

As Ichigo gets prepared to go to school his thoughts return to everything else in his life and how quickly things returned to normal once the sun rose as if she was never here. That's how he wants to keep it for his family but for him, what began two months ago has permanently shaken his desire to be normal.

(Flashback)

"WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRY!" Cried out two thug looking teenagers, briefly bowing their heads to an extremely agitated Ichigo before running away from him, while carrying their unconscious friend who Ichigo punched so hard he blacked out.

"Morons, every last one of them." Ichigo scoffed in disgust before calming down to a more gentle and brotherly look and turns to someone behind him. "There, they shouldn't be a hassle anymore. I hope you'll be alright from now on."

The one in question is a small, slim young girl with long brown hair worn in high bunches that are held in place with cherry hair bobbles. She has a long side fringe which hangs over the left side of her face and wears a collared dress that reaches her knee.

She is not an ordinary girl due to the fact that her left eye cannot be seen because it is covered by a large splatter of blood, which is also dribbling from the left side of her mouth but this does not seem to be bothering her, much less Ichigo.

"Thank you mister. Now I can spend my time more quietly." The girl said with gratitude though her smile betrayed the look in her right eye that held a great sadness and longing.

"You're welcome, though you should hurry up and get to Heaven already. It wouldn't be right for you to spend so much time here with how lonely it can get." Ichigo replied to her with great concern.

"I will, eventually. Thanks again." She replied with more enthusiasm before completely vanishing from his sight. Satisfied, he continues on his walk back home.

In truth, that little girl was actually a ghost. Not long ago she died on this street in Karakura Town, and flowers in a glass of water were left by a street lamp as a mark of mourning for her death by her grieving mother.

A skateboarding gang made up of three knocked over the flowers very recently with their antics and did not bother to fix the memorial. Distraught by their actions, the dead girl turned to Ichigo for help to scare the gang away from her resting place, proceeding to beat the gang up one by one, ensuring they are aware of their mistake.

For as long as Ichigo can remember, he's had the ability of clairvoyance, able to see the souls of the dead who wonder around the city he lives and since no one else can see or even hear them, they are drawn to Ichigo, or anyone else they are lucky enough to commune with, mostly to escape the anguish that comes with the solitude of going ignored by the living.

Ichigo must've spoken with hundreds of ghosts in his short life and not all of them are around anymore, presumably because they've finally moved on into the afterlife so while it's more a bother than it's worth, Ichigo took it upon himself to comfort the dearly departed until they can finally move on.

Sure, the idea of a boy talking to dead people can cause all manner of ridicule so Ichigo often denied any claims whenever he is caught presumably talking to himself. When he was young, he laughed it off whenever the subject was brought, now a days he really doesn't care about any rumors spreading about him since he secretly enjoys unnerving people with his superstitious activities.

"I'm home." Ichigo called casually as he enters his home which is a two story house that also functions as a clinic, his father Isshin Kurosaki is a neighborhood doctor, and admittedly a pretty damn good one who many would claim that his skills are wasted here when he is better off as a surgent in the Karakura Hospital but the neighborhood can't deny the good fortune of having him here and with the right supplies, people are in good hands. There's just one problem…

"YOU'RE LATE!" Isshin yelled as he sucker kicks his own son in the face, knocking him violently to the floor. "What is your damage, you delinquent son?! You know dinner is at 7 in this house!"

"You bastard! Is that how you greet your son who just came back from an exorcism!" Ichigo growled getting back up as fast as he went down to confront his lunatic of a father.

Ever since he was twelve years old, Isshin decided to teach his son his own version of martial arts that is peculiar from the real deal and not with his approval, frequently attacking him without warning, sometimes waking him up from his sleep this way.

His reasoning being that if Ichigo keeps getting too much negative attention from other delinquents he should have the skills and reflexes to always be prepared.

Secretly, Ichigo is grateful since this skillset really helped him out of bad situations and he gave up on real martial arts when he was younger but he would never give his father the satisfaction of being praised for having any good ideas.

"Silence! No matter the reason, he who disrupts this household's iron harmony only a punishment of blood can be rendered." Isshin scolded as a father vs son brawl ensues.

Ichigo's family knows about his ''gift'' and for whatever reason believed him instantaneously and support his activities and on occasions help cover for him when talking to ghosts in public.

"Please stop it, you two, the food will get cold if you continue." Yuzu pleaded for them to knock it off.

"Ignore them, Yuzu and pass me another bowl." Karin insisted to her sister, indifferent to her father and brother's antics.

"Mom, do something." Yuzu pleaded to her mother who only just began to eat dinner.

"Boys, whoever stops first, gets to have my special sauce to eat." Masaki bribed them as she was going to skip putting any sauce in the food today but drastic measures are in order, and this seems to do the trick as Isshin instantly ignores his son and takes his seat in the blink of an eye. "That's a good boy." She cheered, patting her husband in the head, who just giggles like a little boy and gives him her sauce.

"He's your husband, not the family dog." Karin whined.

"Of course he's a dog! A stupid, stupid dog!" Ichigo yelled as he walks to his family and slams his hands on the table. "And another thing! The rules of this house are too strict! In what world do parents set a curfew for a healthy male high school student at 7 P.M."

"You brought it on yourself, dear, after all, how else are we supposed to make sure you're not out there wreaking havoc in the slums or so forth." Masaki said sagely.

"I don't fight because I want to, dammit! I'm the victim." He argued.

"All the time?" She asked, feinting skepticism when she really believes him.

"YES!" He cried.

"Regardless, it's for your own good that you don't wonder out at night by yourself anymore." She decreed.

"You're being ridiculous." He argued.

"I know but we're going with this anyway." She winked at her son. "But if it's for a sleepover with your friends, I wouldn't mind, Yasutora is such a good kid, and Keigo is just so funny. Although I'm not sure how I feel about Mizuiro, that playboy. Can't fool me with his crocodile tears, no sir."

"You have met his mother, have you?" Ichigo questioned her.

"I can't remember her face." She shrugged.

Ichigo sighs, giving up on this whole thing,

"Aw, cheer up, son. If you promise to be more well-behaved in the future, we'll let you invite your friends over for a sleepover here." Isshin insisted. "It'll be just like back in the day when you invited Tatsuki over, except there's the big guy now, and of course, the lovely Orihime."

"Tatsuki invited herself over, I never once wanted her here. Chad I get, but don't drag Orihime into any of your schemes," Ichigo warned. "It's bad enough she's been invited over for dinner a couple of times only for her to be practically harassed by all four of you."

"Oh, son. As if we can help but want her around more, and you know why?" Isshin grinned at him this time with mischievous thoughts concerning his son alone with a beauty who also has orange hair, upsetting Ichigo a lot more but now has a nervous blush, and even Karin shows a small grin of her own, while Yuzu smiles innocently.

His mother on the other hand, Masaki's kind exterior takes a really dark turn, glaring at her husband and even sucker punches him, knocking him straight into the floor.

"NO GIRLFRIENDS!" She threatened, leaving all three of her children deadpanned.

"Forget this! Degenerates! Both of you." Ichigo hissed as he leaves for his room, his appetite completely gone.

"Wait, Ichigo! Your food." Yuzu cried for her brother to come back but he ignores her.

"You two are just the worst." Karin sighed at the crisis that just occurred.

"What?! What did we do?" Isshin asked innocently as if his wife didn't just beat him mercilessly.

"Mom! Dad! You two really need to be more supportive. Ichigo's been having it hard lately. He's been in a pinch since ghosts have been coming around him way too often lately." Yuzu lectured his parents as if she's the true maternal figure of the house, and she has to be since her brother confines in her with his problems.

"WHAT! Why would he talk to you about his problems instead of his own parents? That doesn't make any sense." Isshin protested.

"Sure it does. Even I wouldn't ever talk about my problems with parents who have the communication skills of kids younger than me." Karin said coldly as she leaves for her room, also losing her appetite, leaving a mortified father behind, as if the entire world just froze.

"Aww, that's just great. Oh well, I'll just leave food in his room later then." Yuzu pouted again at another family dinner tarnished by childishness.

"Ohhhh… my beautiful wife, our children are being so mean to us lately. What do we do? What do we do?!" Isshin cried in childish anguish, placing his head on Masaki's lap.

"There, there, dear, they're just going through the phases of adolescence. They'll go back to being our children again in no time." She patted his head to reassure him that everything will be okay.

---

"Why is everyone in this house so insane?" Ichigo groaned, locking himself in his room, all the while ignoring the growling in his stomach, really hungry but he couldn't bring himself to stay downstairs any longer.

He loves his family, he really does, and he'll crack the bones of anyone who questions that but God almighty, they are so insufferable that they belong in an asylum.

The question is, which one is the lesser evil, the respectable doctor or the housewife? He may never know.

He'll just sleep it off, hunger's never stopped him from having a goodnight sleep before. Unfortunately for him, the crazy of this day may have only just begun right now, right when he was about to remove his jacket he spares a brief glance at his bed, paralyzing him from surprise as there is someone else in his room.

A short and petite young girl, with light skin and purple eyes. Her hair is black, with several strands of hair hanging between her eyes. Her attire is a black kimono with a white undergarment underneath. What really has him nervous is that she is carrying a katana tied to her obi sash.

She doesn't seem to acknowledge him, the look in her eyes has this deathly stare to it, as if she is ready to kill someone with her blade but somehow Ichigo has the feeling that he's not her intended prey.

"It's close." She said to no one with a deathly tone, a minor monologue to be sure. She begins walking by one of Ichigo's windows, the one with a view on the right side of the house to look outside, which Ichigo is close to and again, she completely ignores him, causing him to become less nervous.

"What's close exactly?" He asked approaching her, getting a reaction as she turns to face him, staring at him rather surprise. "Well?"

"You can see me?" She asked next now curious and intrigued.

"Thought so." Ichigo said more relaxed, knowing that she isn't a living person. "I don't know what century you died in but you really need to get lost already, I have no energy to put up with your kind right now."

His words must've rubbed her the wrong way, because the girl unsheathes her katana and points it straight at the tip of his nose, only a mere inch away from piercing him, leaving him frozen again.

Ghost or not, he'd rather not take any chances because this blade somehow looks sharper than any blade made by man reasonably should be.

She then pulls her blade away from him, spinning it then swiftly moves the pommel of her hilt forward to his right. He turns around to see that she next aimed her blade at another ghost that snuck into his room.

A bespectacled man with brown hair and eyes and glasses who dresses in business clothes and has a noose around his neck, indicating that his cause of death was suicide as practically all ghosts maintain the appearance of the state they were in when they died.

"No… no, please… I don't want to go… not to Hell. Please!" He begged her, clearly knowing what she intends to do once she placed the pommel of her hilt on his forehead.

"Hell, eh? Well, that all depends on the life you've led up until your end." She replied with a mixture of the compassion one gives a child who can't find his way home and the sternness of one with grave disappointment.

As soon as she removes her pommel from his forehead a bright blue light shines on him as the rest of his body turns into blue mist that is absorbed into the light, and in the process, all his fears dash away as all he can feel is tremendous bliss that he has not felt in a long time before vanishing.

"Nothing to fear, after all, silly Plus." She replied with triumph on her face.

"What just happened? What did you do?!" Ichigo gasped, awestruck by what he just witnessed and coming close from shouting loud enough that everyone in the house could hear him.

She ignores him once they both hear a ringing tone coming from her kimono and quickly, she picks up a white flip phone and from the screen, it shows her a GPS.

"It's closer than I thought." She said as the GPS is showing her a red dot heading towards their immediate location and this spurns her to attempt to leave by jumping through the front window of his room.

"What's closer?! You're really starting to get on my nerves, you know that." Ichigo protested to her as he follows. "This house isn't a hotel for ghosts, you hear?"

"You're the one who's getting on my nerves, kid." She said to him, sounding just as irritated as she turns back to him. "Bakudō #1. Sai (Restrain)!" She points her index and middle fingers at Ichigo, causing his arms to lock behind his back against his will and he helplessly falls into his bed.

"Hey, c'mon Ghost, let me go!" He demanded.

"I am not a ghost, foolish boy. I am a Shinigami (Death God)." She corrected him while giving him the scariest glare he's ever seen.

"A what?" He asked hopelessly confused.

"Although, admittedly it's a little cruel to call you naïve since your kind is not supposed to know about us at all." She said now calm. "This is the first time I've ever encountered a human with enough Reiryoku (Spiritual Power) to see me, so this is news to me too."

"Glad to know one of us is having an intriguing time." Ichigo hissed.

"MOM! DAD!" A loud cried from downstairs catches them both off-guard.

"Yuzu…" Ichigo muttered, not used to hearing his youngest sister's voice have so much fear in her.

"Things may worsen more than you realize." The Shinigami said actually the most alarmed.

"What do you mean?!" He growled as a thousand bad thoughts run through him, fearing for his family. Mustering all his strength, Ichigo forces himself back up and to the shock of the Shinigami, he frees himself of the strange binding she put him on and without thinking, ran out of his room to his sister.

"A human… broke free from a Bakudō (Way of Binding) with willpower alone?" She muttered.

Ichigo rushed as quick as he could downstairs towards his sister who is standing in the kitchen by herself, looking pale, something definitely spooked her.

"Yuzu?" Ichigo called her but she momentarily doesn't respond, and just then, the rest of the family arrives at the scene.

"Yuzu, sweety, what's wrong?" Masaki asked with panic, rushing to her daughter.

"I… I think there's someone outside. I heard a scary voice." Yuzu muttered looking so spooked that they're almost convince that there might be a burglar or someone outside, not that they really doubt her but for as long as they've lived in the Minamikawase district of Karakura, nothing like theft has occurred but just because it hasn't happened yet, doesn't mean it never will.

"What, like the sound of one of the punks that's always bothering Ichigo?" Karin asked, wanting more confirmation.

"Worse. So much worse." Yuzu said, now more nervous.

"Masaki, stay with the girls. Ichigo, let's check it out." Isshin gave instructions to the family with a display of maturity that they only see him show when helping a patient.

"Right." Ichigo replied with fierce determination. He hopes it's really nothing like whatever the girl upstairs made it out to be but better safe than sorry.

"Whoa, whoa! Let's not jump to any conclusions here. It's not that I think Yuzu is making things up. No, we all know she isn't like that but for all we know it could be something else, like, like, Orihime coming to visit again." Masaki said, trying to maintain the peace.

"Orihime? Seriously mom, I know she can be quite the goofball with her ludicrous daydreams but never to the point where she could actually scare someone." Ichigo protested, annoyed and even offended. "Besides, why would she even-"

No chance for further discussion was allowed for what came next. Nothing could ever prepare this family for it as something impacts the wall of the kitchen, leaving a hole in its wake like a truck crashing into the house, knocking everyone to the ground, except miraculously for Ichigo and Yuzu who are left paralyzed with shock.

The horrors only continue as the siblings stare at the hole and see a large hand come in, reaching for Yuzu and pulls the screaming girl away into the street, causing more shock for Ichigo who turns to see both his parents and other sister still on the ground and knocked out for the count, debris hit them hard as there's blood coming out of Karin's forehead but nothing life threatening that their father can't patch up later when he wakes up.

"This isn't happening," Ichigo uttered before running with more haste and adrenaline than he's ever felt in his life to chase after his sister. Just then, the Shinigami girl arrives downstairs to witness the damage thrown down upon the Kurosakis.

"Pluses are one thing but to be able to see Shinigami and Hollows as well." She muttered, further perplexed by Ichigo's Spiritual Awareness.

"YUZU!" Ichigo yelled out for her sister with only a bat for a weapon, seeing her floating in the air and judging by her hands around her neck, it looks like she is being held from there by something that at first looked like a dark green blur before whatever it is becomes more visible, something that would give even grown men fear. A monster. A large humanoid with a fish-like white mask that looks made of bones and a dorsal fin on his back. His shoulders and arms are plated with what appears to be part of his mask, and his body is covered with dark gray stripes, resembling the scales of a fish.

"Oh my god…" Ichigo uttered in disbelief before he's overwhelmed with valor once he sees his sister being held by the monster, the fear in her face plainly visible thanks to the light of the full moon.

"Yuzu! Drop my sister right now, you bastard!" He yelled, boldly charging at it but the monster puts him in his place by using his left hand to slap him to the wall of the Kurosaki's front neighbor with enough force that he got blown threw it, creating another hole.

"Ichi… Ichigo…" Yuzu barely whispered with horror as her big brother tries in vain to save her.

He groans with so much pain but despite receiving wounds that would leave anyone unable to move for a long time, or never again, Ichigo persist, getting back up and this seems to amuse the monster as the Kurosaki siblings hear it chuckle with sinister glee, watching Ichigo doing his best to remain standing.

"This is your last warning." Ichigo threatened, refusing to relent.

"Your soul smells delicious." The beast proved capable of speak, his frightening voice the same one Yuzu previously heard. "And it will taste even better."

"Not on my watch, Hollow!" Yelled the Shinigami, rushing to the scene and with speed that should not be displayed by a human she leaps towards the monster before he even notices and cuts a deep gash on his right arm with her katana, the strike hurt him, forcing it to drop Yuzu, allowing Ichigo to charge in and catch his sister.

Furious, the monster she called Hollow turns his attention upon the Shinigami while the wound on his arm emits a dark blue smoke not so similar from the smoke that became of the ghost in Ichigo's room as he faded away, before the wound closes up, instantly healed.

"Was that High-Speed Regeneration?" The Shinigami wondered out loud. "No, I must've not cut him too deep."

"What the fuck is this thing?!" Ichigo shouted out while holding Yuzu bridal style who seemingly passed out from shock.

"A Hollow, a Human Spirit that has fallen to darkness and now hungers for other souls." She quickly explained.

"This thing used to be a person?" He gasped in disbelief and horror.

"Yes and because of your high amount of Reiryoku, he wants you next." She explained, leading Ichigo to feel a sense of guilt because of the implication.

"I want your soul." The Hollow spoke turning back to Ichigo. "Let me devour you, and I will let your family live." It offered.

"What?" Ichigo muttered at the sudden offer but even if he were to consider such a thing, he could easily see through the deception in the monster's voice. "I'm not as stupid as I look, pal."

"Good. I prefer to play with my meal." The Hollow smirked, or at least Ichigo thinks it did while raising his hand to slam at him but Ichigo quickly avoids and at the same time, the Shinigami swipes in the blink of an eye to block the punch with her sword before pushing the arm away and by extension the Hollow who bumps into a car of one of the neighbors and picks it up with his right hand, easily lifting it to use as a weapon to slam at the Shinigami who avoids it by vanishing in the blink of an eye as the car is smashed to bits.

She then reappears above the Hollow from above near his left shoulder, aiming for his head, however, the Hollow takes notice of this and easily catches her with his left hand.

"Dammit!" She cursed before being tossed aside, crashing near the Kurosaki Household.

The Hollow then returns to his chosen target, Ichigo as he gently leaves Yuzu lying next to a car while he decides to see the fight going on with the hopes that he might be able to do something about this but all he did was leave himself wide open as the Hollow rushes after him and before he could do anything, the Shinigami arrives even faster than before, getting between them and takes the hit as the Hollow bites on her instead while she quickly tries to push it back before he can go any deeper on to her shoulder.

"You Hollows just don't learn. As long as we Shinigami draw the line, your kind won't harm the Living!" She shouted pushing him off her before attempting a vertical slash within his mouth, but the Hollow manages to back away and the best she could do was leave a small cut on his right cheek that only aggravated him further and again grabs her to bring her closer to his face. He opens his mouth while it growls and a light-teal energy begins to shine on it, as if he's gathering power to fire.

'A Cero? From a low-class Hollow.' She thought in disbelief before launching a quick counterattack with blue flames discharging from her left hand aimed directly at the Hollow, the clash of both attacks cancel each other out as well as create a shockwave that knock both foes away from each other, the Hollow crashing a few feet away from them while the Shinigami crashes into the car where Yuzu is before ending up on the street.

"Hey! ghost girl, you alright?" Ichigo shouted as he rushes to her side.

"It's Rukia Kuchiki, not ghost girl. And no, he got my good arm." She groaned trying to get up but doesn't seem to have the same endurance as Ichigo, only able to properly lie down her back into the car.

"So you can't keep fighting, then?" He asked with dread.

"No, and if I can't kill it, then we're all lost."

"What can I do to help?" He asked in desperation.

Rukia remains silent contemplating something that has her looking extremely reluctant but after a quick glance from the Hollow that hasn't rose up yet, she makes up her mind and stares sternly at Ichigo. "By becoming like me."

"Can you repeat that."

"A Hollow is invulnerable to all earthly weapons, only the power of a Shinigami can stop them but I can't use mine with my arm like this but luckily for us, you possess impressive Reiryoku. Most Watchers are only capable of seeing the souls of the dearly departed who have not moved on yet but rarely is there one who can see the visage of Shinigami and Hollows alike. If so then that must mean that your soul was meant for something greater. Untapped potential that can only be reached in the Afterlife. But we must unlock it now." Rukia explained.

"How?" An overwhelming mixture of confusion and anxiety began to take Ichigo, not sure how to handle any of this but deep down inside, there is also something more he's feeling, he can't make it up right now but if he had to guess, could this be excitement? The way she described it made it sound like he's supposed to be a big deal.

"Don't panic." She said raising her sword and pointing at his heart. "My blade. A Zanpakutō (Soul-Cutter Sword). If I plunge it into you, I will be able to transfer enough of my power to transform your soul into that of a Shinigami's."

"Stab me?! Whoa there, you sure that's our best option?" He uttered with reluctance to have a sword pierced into his heart. Sadly, he isn't given a chance to think it over when he hears the growling of the Hollow getting back up.

"I hunger for SOULS!" He roared, making the most intimidating whaling-like sound he's ever heard. "I shall devour you all!"

"Ichigo…" Yuzu weakly called to her brother, still conscious but barely, the pain too much for her. "I'm scared… Ichigo…"

"You must decide now!" Rukia yelled at him and that seemed to have snapped him but really it was the danger his family was in as he roars grabbing her sword.

"Go ahead! DO IT!" He demanded in desperation, just as the Hollow rushes at them to attack again and Rukia plunges her sword into him but none could see the katana actually pierce his chest as a blinding blue-white light shines that consumes Ichigo, not that this will stop the Hollow who proceeds forward.

As a consequence, another black kimono figure swoops out of the light and cuts his arm off with ease, stopping it in his tracks who can only stare at his severed limb with confusion, the pain not being registered yet.

He turns around to see who'd done this and is shocked to realize it's really Ichigo, now wearing the same attire as Rukia but fit for his size, carrying a sword on his left hand that is very similar in appearance to Rukia's but oversized, with an equally-oversized brown sheath hung by a strap and a thick brown belt across his back and over his left shoulder. It has a rectangular bronze tsuba with gently inward-curved edges, a stylized flame pattern on the long sides, and a simple decorative slit on the short sides.

The hilt's handle has a red wrapping and two light blue tassels attached to the handle's base, which was decorated with a flame design on its short side.

"Something's wrong…" Rukia muttered to herself in confusion while her own black kimono is gone, leaving her with just the white undergarment. "I ended up giving him all my power…"

Ichigo gets into a fighting stance, the look in his eyes telling Rukia that she might've done more than give him her powers because there is this glint in his eyes that tells her that a great warrior has awakened inside of him and wants to kill.

It all happened in the blink of an eye, Ichigo and the Hollow charged at each other, only for the human now Shinigami to show up behind the beast again and this time he doesn't severe his arm but actually splits the Hollow in two, and like the ghost from before, it dissolves into smoke that is absorbed by light before vanishing altogether.

"You… are you sure you're really a human?" Rukia questioned left nearly speechless by what she just saw.

"I was. But now that doesn't seem to be the case anymore, does it?" He questioned almost emotionlessly as if what he had just accomplished meant nothing before he collapses on to the ground, as out cold as his whole family.

(End of Flashback)

"Time for school, kids. Always remember that those who are late are not winners." Masaki declared once the family finishes their breakfast.

Karakura Town is a relatively safe city that it was normally okay to just allow Yuzu and Karin to walk to their school by themselves since it's not far from their neighborhood but after the terrible ordeal with the Hollow, of which Rukia was able to cover up since she could manipulate the memories of others and made everyone believe that the hole in the house was caused by a drunk driver who crashed and left as quick as he could while they were all sleeping, their mother has become a bit paranoid and insisting on walking the girls to school and back home just to feel safe.

Though on occasions like today, it is Isshin who walks their daughters all the way to school, while with Ichigo she and Isshin are confident would always be able to take care of himself.

Now that Ichigo is recalling the events of that night, how did Rukia manage to cover up the human-sized hole in the neighbor's wall or the fact that a car was used as a weapon to smash a person, his memories weren't tampered with so he is puzzled.

"Are you planning on going hooky, young man?" Masaki questioned, noticing that her son hasn't stood up from his usual seat at the table.

"If hooky was my intention, why bother to dress up for school?" He shrugged off her question.

"Oh, I don't know, I supposed it would be safer to not do or say anything to tip us off and have a better chance to run off and elope with whatever girl you might've met up with last night." Masaki pointed out her own thoughts, which reach explosive conclusions that make Ichigo want to cringe at the things that come out of his mother's mouth.

"You would've just called Ms. Ochi to check up on me like you always do anyway." He chose his words carefully.

"True, Misato is a very good friend of mine, I can always count on her to give you an excellent education and I sure hope she does the same for your sisters when they reach High School." Masaki mused.

"Yes. You're very good friends with my homeroom teacher. And recently, you've patched things up with my physics teacher, and the principal too." Ichigo replied annoyingly and accusingly. "You were also good friends with my previous teacher from middle school, Ms. Enju. And how could I forget my favorite teacher from Kindergarten Ms. Tendo! Of course, you two stopped talking after that incident in the park."

"You're never going to let that go, are you." Masaki sighed, now embarrassed.

"How could I! You're the one who started it." Ichigo hissed.

"You're dodging the subject, son. Now spill all the beans. Who's the broad." Masaki demanded, not relenting.

"Mother, for God's sake, you can't call a high-schoolgirl that. Don't go doing anything that will force the city to file a restraining order on you from the school again." Ichigo pleaded with her to stop. "Besides, you know I'm not at all popular with the girls in my school. Largely because of you. Michiru is afraid of me, Ryō is in love with anything that has a page, Chizuru is a full blown lesbo, and possibly a sociopath. Mohana and I don't talk to each other much anymore BECAUSE OF YOU! And Tatsuki? Tatsuki!" Ichigo repeated that name with venom.

"Okay, okay, enough said about her." Masaki urged him to skip Tatsuki.

"Orihime and I get along pretty great but she's way more caring of her so it's only a matter of time before she too avoids me like a plague. Trust me, there is no girl involved, therefore, you have no business knowing what I do in the middle of the night." Ichigo insisted.

"How rude, I have every right to know everything you do when I'm not around to witness, I'm your mother." She argued.

"I know that. But seriously, mom. Just trust me. This is something I want to handle on my own." He now pleaded with her. To his relief, Masaki gives him a sympathetic look.

He's sure she has no idea what is wrong with him, he also knows it kills her inside when there's something going on that she's unaware of regarding her family but rather he admits it or not, Ichigo is a lot like his father, so whatever he decides to do, she must have faith it'll be a good one. She rises up from her seat to walk over to her son and gives him a loving kiss on his head.

"Alright, but just this once. You know mama always wants to be up to date." She half joke from her sweet smile and half threatened from the fire in her eyes that always sends chills on anyone she stares at.

"Yeah… mom, whatever you say." Ichigo replied calmly, used to her violent tendencies as he heads for school, and enjoys another relatively normal day as per usual.

Ever since he met Rukia, going about his normal days feels surreal with what he did in his spare time, sometimes he wonders which of the two things he's been doing since he's met her is his real life and which one is a farce? He really doesn't have the valor to know the answer.

'What really disturbs me right now is how nobody seems to remember her.' Ichigo thought bemused, briefly staring at the seat on his left that a tiny girl used to be and now sits a young man around his age that he only knows by name; Tetsuo Momohara. 'Everyone looks as though she never existed. Is this what it means when one who originates from this Soul Society returns there? Those with no understanding of the spiritual lose all memories of them. As though they never existed. Like the wind. How awful. I don't think I can stomach it but that's just me. You'd probably done it a bunch of times so what does it matter when you have your real friends back home. Right? Rukia…'

The moment he said that the image of two men who make his blood boil come to mind. Both of them are wearing the standard Shinigami uniform that Rukia calls Shihakushō (Garment of Dead Souls).

One of them a little taller than Ichigo, with brown eyes and long crimson hair, kept in a high ponytail. His forehead is covered in tribal tattoos and likely also on his upper body as well. He also has expensive-looking glasses that are not currently covering his eyes.

The other one is much taller than both of them, slate gray eyes and long black hair that he keeps up in intricate white headpieces that is a dead giveaway that he is of some upper echelon, wearing three on top of his head and another two on the right side. He has other accessories over his shihakushō like a white haori and a white scarf. He wears fingerless white tekkō which only cover the back of his hands.

They both stare at Ichigo as he lies bleeding on the ground, nearing death, both with condescension, the redhead with an added smug while the other is as silent as a stone but his eyes show even deeper malice, not evil per say but he is definitely suppressing a lot of rage that he seems incapable of letting out and to tell the truth, Ichigo's grateful that he didn't otherwise he might've died last night for sure.

Is that what Kisuke meant when he told him to think about the difference between heartlessness and lifelessness? Will he be able to truly understand if he faces them again and save Rukia?

"You have to calm down," Ichigo hears the feminine voice from last night, this time more vividly that he's sure it isn't his imagination. "Don't speak and calm down. Your Reiatsu (Spiritual Pressure) is leaking. If the Hollows that will soon be attracted to you again don't kill your classmates, you will."

Ichigo remains silent as he looks at his surroundings and notices that his classmates are getting tense, some of them are looking dizzy while one or two look like they're about to faint.

"What… but I thought I lost my Shinigami abilities…" Ichigo whispered with confusion.

"Don't think about that right now. All that matters is staying alive and safe until you make your decision." She instructed him.

"Who are you?" He whispered, though he wanted to sound demanding but he is too caught off trying to stay calm as to not harm anyone, grateful that he took Rukia's small lessons about controlling his spiritual energy from leaking, in doing so his classmates start to relax.

He is so never going to live this down. At least no one will know it was him.

"The only one who can truly help you survive the fool's errand you wish to undertake." She responded, making Ichigo more tense but it does not affect his concentration.

(Flashback: The day after meeting Rukia)

Among the students chilling together before class starts, one girl who stands out above the rest is sitting beside the window of the 3rd floor of Karakura Highschool daydreaming.

She is a teenager of average height with brown eyes and long, waist-length, burnt orange hair that is often compared with Ichigo's. Her most noticeable physical trait is her slender yet curvaceous figure for a teenager, especially in terms of her large breasts. She wears her hair in bangs tucked behind her ears with hairpins, which she only removes to sleep.

"Girls our age should not be zoning out, Orihime." The girl is woken up from her stupor by another girl who calls to her, who has black hair and brown eyes.

She has a contrasting appearance to her orange friend, Orihime Inoue. A tomboy and has a very lean frame compared to Orihime's curvier figure. Her hair is short and dark, kept spiked out at the sides, in tune with her less than feminine appearance.

"Tatsuki." Orihime said a little startled by her approach.

"Were you thinking of Ichigo again?" She asked her accusingly, making Orihime blush nervously.

"W-What? No I wasn't!" Orihime became in denial but her friend does not believe her.

"I really don't get what you see in him. We both know what he's like, if he's not cold he's distant, he has a short temper and can be so childish." Tatsuki insulted the man in question. "Besides, he's technically a mama's boy, you've seen how clingy his mother is with him, more so than with her daughters."

"Don't say that, the Kurosakis are so much fun. You've known them longer than I have." Orihime cheered. "And they're very welcoming when I stop by to visit."

"Yeah, because Doctor Kurosaki wants his loser son to have a good wife to take him out of their lives. Plus, I can say from experience that they all belong in a circus. Karin may seem normal but she's more like her brother than she lets on." Tatsuki mocked. "Though I can't decide which of the parents belongs in an asylum, Mr. or Mrs. Kurosaki."

At the mention of a circus, Orihime immediately imagines Ichigo and his family dressed like clowns and quickly has to suppress her laughter.

"Even when he's like that, his scowls are so cute." She giggled.

"And I've lost her." Tatsuki sighed while shaking her head. "I am so not looking forward to calling you the next Mrs. Kurosaki."

"Hey girls! Did you hear the news." Cried out a young man, around the same age as them with medium-long brown hair, which flips outward. He has brown eyes and a slim figure, he has a very exasperated expression on his face, of which no one is surprised by since he's known for being the class clown, he's so hyperactively annoying.

"What is it now, Keigo? Did your imaginary girlfriend finally had the sense to ditch your sorry ass?" Tatsuki sneered, never in the mood for his antics.

"For the last time, Sakura is real!" He cried in anguish. "And this is way more important than my love life." He said now more seriously.

"The valor you just displayed in saying that deserves a trophy." Tatsuki joked.

"A truck crashed into Ichigo's house." Keigo managed to say while struggling not to cry because of Tatsuki's brutality.

"WHAT!" Tatsuki and Orihime gasped in shock, the latter more so in horror.

"Is Ichigo alright?!" Orihime cried in a panic, which only worsen when Keigo showed a bitter expression not of his usual self-pity but actual grief.

But before he could say anymore, someone snuck up behind him and karate chumps his head.

"OWWW!" He cried in pain.

"Don't say anymore if you're going to lie just to be the center of attention." Ichigo hissed in annoyance of Keigo's antics.

"Hey, buddy… I was just about to tell our lovelies how you and your family are alright and never even noticed the car crash." Keigo muttered innocently while rubbing his head from the pain.

"Ichigo!" Orihime cheered with a faint blush on her face. "Are you alright?! What about your family? I meant to visit yesterday because I left my favorite pen there last time I visit for our study group but Tatsuki wouldn't let me."

"We're all fine. The only casualty was the kitchen but is still usable." He replied casually as he sits on his usual seat, while also inwardly glad that Orihime wasn't present at all for last night. "We were all upstairs when it happened so nothing worth considering a tragedy occurred."

"Thank God…" Orihime sighed in relief while getting on her knees.

"Don't be so melodramatic." Ichigo said but is motivated by pity that he pets her head to ease her nerves.

"You're only adding fuel to the fire if you do that." Tatsuki warned while Orihime's blush deepens but he doesn't notice this.

"Leave it up to you to bring something new to the table." Mused another one of their friends who walks in, shorter than most of them with short black hair and green eyes, parted down the middle with a stray bang in his face and the tips fanning out. His school uniform has the jacket zipped up.

Accompanying him is a behemoth of a teenager of Mexican and Japanese descent. He is dark-skinned with pronounced cheekbones and has wavy brown hair with bangs that generally hangs over his brown eyes. He is a muscular and extremely tall man and appears to be much older than he actually is, you would not believe that he's the same age as most of them at a first glance.

"Chad, Mizuiro." Ichigo greeted the two.

"We stopped by your house on the way here and saw the large hole. Your parents were already working on repairs, calling some friends to help." Said the tall man named Chad. His name is actually Yasutora Sado but Ichigo decided to nickname him Chad and it stuck with the rest of the school, even with the teachers.

"Yeah, you wouldn't believe it by looking at him but my dad has a lot of connections that will help us barely pay for the damages. It should take a while but I wouldn't be surprised if the place was rebuilt in no time." Ichigo explained.

"You're so lucky, Ichigo." Orihime smiled.

"By the way, Ichigo, you forgot to pack your lunch that Yuzu made for you so your mother's going to stop by to deliver it by lunch time," Mizuiro informed him, getting Ichigo to cringe.

"What?! Why didn't you guys offer to bring it to me instead?" He mumbled agitated.

"We did but you know how your mother is, she's always looking for an excuse to stop by," Chad said looking stoic but his eyes show pity for Ichigo who now deadpans.

"But her restraining order hasn't expired yet, if she sets foot on school grounds again she'll be in big trouble with the principle and become the laughing stock of the town. Again." Tatsuki pointed out.

"You tell her that. You're the only one brave enough to talk down on Mrs. Kurosaki." Keigo half-joked and would've laughed but Ichigo's new foul mood would've resulted in him getting beaten to the ground without mercy.

"Restraining Order? But why, did Mrs. Kurosaki do something bad?" Orihime asked confused.

"That's right, you were absent that day and the day after because of sickness when it all went down. I'll tell you at lunch break, that is assuming I have enough time before she causes another scene." Tatsuki snickered at Ichigo's misfortune.

"Can this day get any worse." Ichigo whined, wanting to slam his head repeatedly at his seat and next the nearest concrete wall he can find.

"Good morning, my new classmates." Ichigo is greeted by a cheerful girl that's unfamiliar to him at first before turning around as they see her and at the sight of her, he wanted to do more than just suppress a huge gasp. The consequences of tempting fate are always lost on young minds.

It's the Shinigami girl from yesterday, wearing a school uniform.

"Ah, you must be Rukia Kuchiki, the new transfer student." Mizuiro greeted her as everyone minus Ichigo look like they were expecting her and began greeting her while he remained semi-frozen.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, is it? I like your hair. I hope we can all be good friends." She kept her cheerful farce while extending her hand to him.

'She mentions my hair color but not Orihime who's also orange.' Ichigo thought before accepting her hand. 'Just play it cool. Just play it cool. Just play it cool. You'll sort this out before your mother comes and ruins your life for the 1000th time in a row.'

When lunchtime finally came, Ichigo was standing at the rooftop with Rukia, the two alone for now and to his relief, she has dropped the ridiculous happy persona, now all serious while staring at the city with her arms folded.

"What's the deal, Kuchiki, I thought you'd ran back to your home by now." Ichigo questioned.

"Even if I wanted to, I can't for two reasons, one of them is that I've been assigned as the Guardian Shinigami of this crummy town to protect humans, both living and the dead from Hollows." Rukia said with a little apprehension in her tone.

"Crummy town?" Ichigo replied offended, having nothing but compassion and love for Karakura.

"I started my guardianship three days ago and yesterday I've fought two other Hollows before we even met. Crummy is a kindness compared to what this place deserves to be called." She lectured.

"Is facing three of those things in one day really that awful?" Ichigo asked confused.

"On average, a Shinigami assigned to guard a city only has to put up with a hollow once or twice a week. Seven to eight in total in just one month. But three of them in just one day? I don't want to start a panic but I'd consider moving your family to Tokyo, the only place in Japan where Hollow sightings are next to none existent. Don't ask why, it's one of Soul Society's most unsolved mysteries." Rukia stated. "Then again, the third Hollow was definitely after you so maybe the town is not the problem."

"Way to be serene." Ichigo grumbled. "It's bad enough demons exist but if you guys are what passes for Angels then I might as well had let the thing eat us both."

"Hollows are not Demons. Trust me, the difference between them and Hell's residence are the stuff of true nightmares." Rukia said which should've sounded intimidating but she made it silly instead. "Also, how dare you. Angels don't exist and even if they did, Shinigami are so much better anyway."

"I don't believe you." Ichigo hissed.

"Then the next few moments will be unpleasant." Rukia came close to growling but remained composed. "The other reason is that only a Shinigami can return to Soul Society and I've lost all my powers."

"Sorry to hear that. Where they go then… wait a minute." Ichigo muttered as realization comes to him.

"Good, I was worried that I scrambled your memory by mistake along with your family. I only meant to give you half of my power, enough that the changes to your soul would be temporary and quickly return back to me when it was all set and done but you're stronger than the average Watcher, your Reiryoku took advantage of my weakened state and took all of it instead. Even my precious Sode no Shirayuki (Sleeved White Snow)." Rukia glared.

"Hey now, you're making it sound way worse than this actually is." Ichigo muttered disturbed by her glare.

"I know it was unintentional on your part, which is why I'm going to make it easy for both of us and get my powers back." Rukia said as she puts on a tight, red wrist-length glove with fingers that only reach the first knuckle of the hand and a large insignia of a skull shrouded in blue flames on the back on her right hand and charges towards Ichigo faster than he can react, slamming her hand into his chest, knocking him flat on the ground and he was now back in his black shihakushō and his large blade on his back.

But what really caught him off is the sight of another Ichigo in front of him, standing right where he previously was before collapsing lifelessly on the ground.

"W-What? What did you do to me? Who is that when I'm right here?" Ichigo uttered in shock.

This didn't happened the last time Rukia thrusted herself at him. Okay… that sounded way worse than he meant it to.

Rukia ignores his panic and picks up his sword from its sheathe. "Annoyingly heavy but that's to be expected of an amateur." She grumbled as she forces the sword into both his hands while pointing the tip of the blade at her heart.

"Have you lost your sanity!" Ichigo gasped.

"Just like before but in reverse. Stab me straight at my heart with your blade and that should put us both back to normal. Make sure to hold both your hands straight when this happens." Rukia instructed.

"Wait!" He pleaded but it felt on deaf ears as she forces the blade upon herself while Ichigo closes his eyes to look away, expecting the worse, failing to notice the really dim light-blue glow that his sword produces to her chest that makes her widen her eyes in horror before pulling the sword away from her.

"Is that it?" Ichigo asked cautiously before opening his eyes to look at her and notice her confuse look. "Is that a no?"

"This can't work. If we do it now you'll…" Rukia stopped herself and turns away, in deep contemplation.

"Okay… so what now?" He asked while getting back up.

"The only thing we can do. You! Ichigo Kurosaki, must become my Substitute Shinigami for the time being." She declared staring at him sternly.

"Substitute?" Ichigo repeated confuse.

"The proper term is actually Shinigami Agent but calling you a Substitute is more appropriate." Rukia corrected. "Listen up! There are two kinds of Souls of the dearly departed. The ones you normally see with chains on their chests are called Pluses, they still retain their humanity despite no longer being among the living."

"So being dead automatically makes them not human anymore?" Ichigo asked, troubled by the implication.

"Not really, no but the term human is given to those who reside among in this World unlike those of the Afterlife who are simply known as Souls or Spirits. In hindsight, there's really not much of a difference but I digress." Rukia continued. "The next type you will contend with are the Hollows. Former human spirits who while dead, have been consumed with negative emotions, that revolve around an unfinished business, wanting to settle grudges or revenge, the typical kind of things that makes a human bad but not necessarily evil. Mostly. These emotions are poisonous to spirits outside of Soul Society, which results in them mutating into beings of darkness like the one you fought yesterday."

Ichigo heard this before already but remains disturbed by it.

"Hollows typically reside in their own dimension that lies very close to the Human World and Soul Society known as Hueco Mundo (Hollow World) but they can cross over to both worlds for the purpose of attacking other souls to devour. They are like those ridiculous undead creatures you humans are so obsessed with called zombies, endlessly hungry for anything else that's Spiritual instead of flesh. It's rare for them to attack living humans but it's happened enough times in history to put the Soul Society on high alert." Rukia explained.

"Yesterday was the first time I've ever seen a Hollow before, though." Ichigo pointed out.

"That's because most humans who can see the departed only have enough Reiryoku to see Pluses. Shinigami and Hollows are tougher to see or even hear and we like to keep it that way for safety measures. Whenever Shinigami and Hollows fight near the living, the consequences will lead to disasters that humans brush off as freak accidents or acts of nature like minor earthquakes, spontaneous sinkholes, and sudden tornados, to name a few. We Shinigami are tasked with the responsibility to guide Pluses into the Soul Society to protect them from succumbing to darkness by means of a ritual we call a Konsō (Soul Burial), you saw me perform it last night before the fight broke out on that man who clearly died of suicide. And of course, we also fight Hollows and slay them as only we have the means and the weapons to stop them. This is the duty you will help me fulfill." Upon her explanation, she awaits an answer from Ichigo who remains dumbfounded.

"Nope! No way, forget it." He adamantly refused.

"I figured you'd say that but you really don't have a choice, if you don't more innocent souls and possibly humans like you will be attacked by Hollows." Rukia scolded.

"I only accepted these powers to protect my family. I'm not some comic book hero who runs around helping strangers because he wants to. I'm not as foolish as I look." Ichigo said rather coldly.

"So you say, but the actions of yesterday were not of a man so detached from the world that he cares only for what and who makes him happy. You underestimate yourself severely, and the fire in your eyes tells me you're no coward." Rukia continued to lecture him.

"Why can't you just take back your powers already?" Ichigo whined.

"I can't because your Reiatsu is a mess right now," Rukia explained. "The transformation from a Human Soul to a Shinigami Soul has left you spiritually exhausted. You can't feel it now, of which you're very lucky. If we make the transfer while you're like this you won't be able to survive the next abrupt change." She explained.

"Great! So now what am I supposed to do?!" Ichigo cried.

"Simple. You let me train you in the ways of the Shinigami. Fighting Hollows will be a great way to gain experience and become stronger. The more powerful you are spiritually, the safer it'll be to be human again and with my training in Reiatsu control, Hollows will never bother you again." She said.

"That easy, huh?" Ichigo sighed.

"Yep, and remember, that Hollow attacked your family to get to you and as you are now, stronger but unfocused and undisciplined, more and more Hollows will swarm this town looking for you only to end up attacking other people who can see Pluses." Rukia forces an ultimatum. "What will it be, Ichigo Kurosaki? Will you have the souls of the innocence lying on your conscious just because you don't want to be bothered with more than just your ordinary life to deal with?"

That's quite low on her part, playing a card like that on him, Ichigo wants to protest and then some but he couldn't bring himself to do it, he really can't see a way around this and while his family believe him to be a medium of a sort, this ongoing secret war between spiritual black samurais and fallen human souls will be too much for them.

His dad might try to be supportive and help with whatever he decides, his mom and sisters are the problem, his mother especially. The only girl she tolerates him hanging out with these days is Orihime and only sparingly, she'll lose it if she finds out he's fighting monsters with this one.

"Damn… I'm a dead man walking, literally, anyway." Ichigo sighed. "Fine but not for too damn long."

"Good," Rukia smirked in triumph. Just then, her phone rings again. "Speak of the devil and he will show. Another Hollow."

"Seriously! NOW!" Ichigo yelled frustrated. "Don't tell me this is my fault too."

"Don't be THAT kind of guy, Ichigo. Sometimes the world just loves being bad, it's one of the things of life that you gotta accept if you want to get on with your own life." Rukia insisted before abruptly jumping on Ichigo and hitching a ride on him.

"What's the big idea?"

"Now that you're a Shinigami, you can move at places faster than no human ever could and a fall from the top of this school won't even scratch you. So go ahead, jump and I'll lead the way with the GPS of my Denreishinki (Divine Messenger Machine)." She instructed.

"You can't seriously expect me to take a leap of faith at face value alone," Ichigo muttered.

"I'm not giving you a choice, now MOVE!" Rukia commanded before jumping off him only to kick him so hard he is knocked off the edge of the roof.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" He cried in horror as he was going to fall but to his surprise, he never even fell an inch below as he is quite literally standing in the air. "What…"

"There, that wasn't so hard, was it?" Rukia smirked as she makes an impressive leap for a powerless girl of her stature and landed on Ichigo's back who helps her sit straight this time.

"I'm flying?" He mumbled.

"Actually you're standing on air. I'll fill you in on the way but just focus your thoughts on reaching the destination as fast as you can and your soul will do the rest." She explained.

"Okay, here goes." He muttered as he begins to sprint, only to make a very high leap that takes him further upwards, and with pure instinct alone, he makes no reaction and moves forward faster than he's ever gone before.

'This is incredible! Is this actually real?!' He gasped, unable to completely process this. 'This feeling… something else is happening to me but I can't put my finger on it, nor am I sure if it's really a bad thing.'

"You really are amazing, Ichigo…" A very faint voice not belonging to Rukia whispered in his ears but he can't hear her and never even reacted.

---

"He should be here right now, Mrs. Kurosaki." Orihime said as she leads Masaki who just arrived with Ichigo's lunch and the younger orange girl volunteered to take her to her son.

"Thank you, Orihime, I can always count on you to make it easier to find my boy." Masaki smiled.

"No problem, but why was it that you had to sneak your way around campus like some burglar again? Tatsuki said the principal has a restraining order against you but she never got around to tell me why before we saw you hiding in those bushes." Orihime said as she is having the strangest day right now, stranger than she normally does because of her odd fantasies.

"Oh, don't you worry your pretty little head about it, the old man, and I just have a bit of a disagreement concerning my son's education after a scuffle with your previous physical education teacher." Masaki mused.

"You mean Mr. Kagine? He's been absent since last semester because of a leg injury caused by a mother after an-" Orihime stopped herself as realization dawned on her and gasped dumbfounded. "That was…"

"Now, now. Remember what I just told you, dear, I'm just looking after- MY BOY!" Masaki cried in terror upon seeing her son's soulless body on the floor that was completely forgotten about by its host because of a bossy midget. Immediately, she drops Ichigo's lunch and she and Orihime rush to him. "Ichigo! Ichigo, wake up!"

"Ichigo, are you alright?" Orihime cried out, already in tears over what could've possibly happened to leave Ichigo so unresponsive when he's someone so strong and stubborn.

She's seen him fight the thugs who pick on him because of his hair, he even defended her from some mean girls who picked on her for the same reason, and even when he's covered in bruises he still managed to look so… dashing.

Masaki then proceeds to slap her son so hard that not only should that have woken him up but caused a sound so loud that the entire school should've heard it.

"Mrs. Kurosaki!" The school girl cried.

When he made no response to this, she slapped him again seven times and would've proceeded if not for Orihime grabbing a hold of her hands.

"PLEASE STOP! You're hurting him!"

"Why won't he wake up!" Masaki became more frantic by the second. "Quick, call the medic! Call my husband! Anyone! Just tell me what has HAPPENED TO MY BABY!"

Needless to say, Rukia had to do a lot of memory replacing after the scene Ichigo's mother caused, and… Masaki had to go to jail for violating the restraining order against her and instead of calling her husband to bail her out, she chose to ask her rich cousin, Ryūken Ishida, who owns the Karakura Hospital for that.

Again. But he turned her down, having enough of her antics.

Ichigo and Rukia had to be careful with leaving his body lying around from now on.

(End of Flashback)

Upon the day's end, everyone becomes cheerful with the school over and onwards into their summer vacation, a lot of the students seem to be having big plans on how to start the summer, none more than the school clown, Keigo Asano who proposes that Ichigo and the rest of their friends start things off with a ten day trip to the beach, claims that he has it all planned out for them.

Fireworks, the test of courage and a hot spring bath. He was being a loudmouth as always but they all tolerated him this time because everyone was in a good mood, well, except for Ichigo but that surprises no one.

Of course, they all turned him down, due to everyone having plans of their own, making Keigo blow a tantrum, mainly at Ichigo and Mizuiro since he was counting on them to be his bros.

Mizuiro chose to add fuel to the fire by telling him that he's going snorkeling tomorrow with his current girlfriend and nine of her friends who are all girls, so starting tomorrow it'll be him and ten other girls to himself.

"Your friends seem nice." The Voice said to Ichigo, curiosity plainly noticeable for him.

"Yeah, they're great." Ichigo whispered before being the first to depart from the group without saying goodbye and thankfully no one seemed to notice, his thoughts completely elsewhere.

"Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do." He muttered. "Let alone how am I supposed to do this. Should I do this? What about my family? Will it even be worth it in the end?"

"Ichigo?" His thoughts are completely put to a halt when he hears the familiar voice of Orihime behind him and to his surprise, she lacks her typical cheery demeanor.

She looks a little serious mix with concern, he's never seen her this way, and he's seen her in her most vulnerable and miserable state before.

"Orihime? Is something the matter?" He asked.

"Where's Rukia?" She asked him, widening his eyes in shock. "Something strange is happening to everyone in school. Nobody seems to remember her and you've been tense since the day started, almost like how you are whenever it's June 17th. Does that mean you know something?"

"Let's go somewhere more private." He insisted somberly as they walk together to somewhere less likely that they'll run into anyone that would eavesdrop.

They both take a seat on a few stairs and he begins to tell her everything, about his occupation as a Shinigami Agent, while leaving out the fact that he was specifically Rukia's Substitute, which annoys him immensely to be called and treated as just that.

"I see. So she's returned to where she came from." Orihime surmised contemplating every word he gave.

"I know this all sounds crazy." Ichigo muttered.

"It's okay, I believe you. I've seen you dressed like a black samurai, after all." Orihime assured him.

"So, how long have you known then?" He asked.

"When we went to see Don Kanonji's show. Somehow I could feel you, Don Kanonji was fighting something that the rest of us couldn't see and you were helping him but I couldn't see you either, I just knew you were there. After that night, I started to see things that I couldn't before. I also remember the night when you and Rukia came to save me and Tatsuki from the thing my brother became." Orihime explained and at that both went silent with their thoughts now on the same man.

Sora Inoue. Such a wonderful man, Orihime's devoted older brother. Both of them came from a broken home which was worlds apart from Ichigo's family.

They both had deplorable parents who to this day Ichigo knows little about but enough to abhor them and wish them the worst of life.

Sora was more Orihime's father than her brother and gave up so much so that she could live happy but if Fate exists, she is truly the most cruel and vile thing out there as Sora tragically died in a car accident.

That night was also the first time the two orange heads met, as Orihime dragged her dying brother on her shoulders all the way to the Kurosaki Clinic for help, Ichigo was the one who let them in.

Isshin lacked the right equipment to handle a car accident and Sora died before the paramedics could arrive. Orihime has been mostly on her own since then but out of pity Masaki helped her out as best she could.

She even offered to adopt her at one point but that brought a whole lot of complications that to this day Ichigo can't wrap his head around, either way, Orihime is doing alright for herself ever since she entered Highschool with both Ichigo's family and Tatsuki's helping her whenever she needs it and she also has an aunt living outside of Karakura offering to pay for her apartment so long as she keeps up her grades.

Why doesn't she just go to live with her is beyond him. Her parents never made any attempt to get her back and as far as anyone is concerned they're hopefully far away where they can't hurt her.

Ichigo never wanted Orihime nor any of his friends to be involved in his new life, the knowledge that the Afterlife is real and that it's in fact terrifying with no paradise in sight but Fate seems to enjoy tormenting Orihime Inoue because shortly after he became a Shinigami, Sora returned but as a Hollow.

Rukia was right on much of what she told him about Hollows, they truly are monsters, they all have black holes typically located in their chests that represent the hearts they lost when they became corrupted spirits and now there is a great void within them that hunger for souls under the delusion that eating innocence will fulfill them and what better souls to feast on then loved ones who still live. Sora was not the man Orihime once called her true family. At first.

"I see. Sorry, I would've preferred that you would remember nothing that would stain Sora's good name." Ichigo said sadly.

"Don't be. I knew that my brother was still there, deep down and you helped snap him back to his senses long enough for him to send himself to the Other Side properly finally. I'm grateful. As always, when I need you the most, you're there for me." She smiled so warmly and with such passion but she did not stare at him for some reason, and this Ichigo is grateful for because her words make him cringe, looking away with immense guilt as there is a falsehood to her claim that aches at him.

"Orihime, listen…"

"So what do you think you're doing?" She unexpectedly takes on a somewhat demanding tone that he's definitely never heard her use, like ever. "Rukia's originally from that world of Shinigami. Her family and friends, aren't they all there?"

"But her brother…" He tried to argue.

"When you rescue her, what are you going to do when it happens again, are you going to take her away from her friends and family, and drag her here yet again?" She persisted now with ice to her voice that really unnerved Ichigo. "Do you think that is the right thing to do?"

Ichigo became paralyze after this, all the doubts he's been feeling before she arrived resurfacing tenfold, more than certain that he is about to make a great mistake.

"I… that's…" In the end, he couldn't bring himself to even defend his desired course of action.

"Surprise?" Orihime said next, assuming the cheerfulness she is so well known for, and this stuns Ichigo again but now dumbfounded.

"What?!" He uttered.

"I already know! Even if I scold you like this, I know you already have your mind set." She declared with her arms spread and later changes her pose to resemble the haughty one Ichigo is so known for having, a pucker up chin, scrunch chin, arms cross, she even tries to mimic his voice, which she does so terribly but it's the thought that counts. "As long as you're alive, you'll always have a chance to meet your family! It's when you're dead that you can't!"

"The Ichigo I know would answer like that." She said once she was done mimicking him. "So go save her if you think that's the right thing to do. I'll cheer you on. Neither of us wants our friend to get hurt."

Just like that, a fire lights up in Ichigo's eyes, standing back up on his feet with the determination that he's always had and can now let loose at last.

"Thank you, Orihime, I know what I have to do," Ichigo said with fierce determination while still able to put up a smile for her before taking up the stairs, running towards his destination.

"Now that's a true smile." Orihime smiled at him with joy before getting concerned. "Be careful, Ichigo, for all of us… come back safely."

---

Ichigo arrives where all his answers lie. A candy shop in the city center is known as Urahara's Shop. Surrounded on all sides by ten-story tall apartment buildings but had some free space around it to be used as parking.

The building itself was stylized to look like an XVII Century Japanese house. It was made of wood, paper, and bamboo. A small porch in front, also served as the corridor to the front door.

"I wish you wouldn't need to come here." The Voice said to him with complete reluctance and perhaps apprehension. Difficult to tell since she sounds so serene underneath the somberness of everything she says.

"So do I but considering what I plan to do, this seems like the perfect place to start doing something astronomically stupid. And considering the guy who runs this place, I can't be any more accurate." Ichigo mused to himself.

"You don't even know him. For all you know, he has a hand to play in your recent misfortunes." She argued, more persistent now.

"Maybe, but then again the same could be said of you, I mean you are just a voice in my head. So either I'm going crazy or you're something, maybe an exceptionally unique Hollow that made its way inside me with sinister intentions." Ichigo shrugged sarcastically, while dead set on this and not wanting to hear any complaints, though he is now curious as to what has gotten into her so close to Kisuke Urahara.

"I would never deceive you!" She argued with more emotion this time that definitely caught Ichigo off for a bit, especially the desperation.

"Wow, that got a reaction out of you, huh. Forget it, I'll deal with you later." Ichigo shrugged as he goes to meet with the shop owner, while inwardly deciding not to tell him about the voice in his head. He's not sure yet if he can really trust him and for all he knows, he might get some nefarious plot if he knows about ''her''.

As if he was waiting for him, Kisuke was right outside of his shop, his fan hiding his expression with only one of his eyes visible because of his hat. Alongside him are three others he only sparingly saw before.

A tall, muscular, lightly tan-skinned man. His hair is cornrowed and he has a large handlebar mustache, which is connected to his long sideburns. He wears a pair of rectangular-shaped glasses. His attire consists of a white muscle shirt with regular pants and a blue apron.

A young-looking girl with a perpetual blush on her cheeks who wears a white t-shirt with the Urahara Shop logo in pink print and a knee-length, pink skirt with white dots. She has round purple eyes and long, black hair with a purple tint. It is parted down the middle, with two strands of her bangs in the middle of her face, opposing each other. The rest of her hair is in pigtails with pink ties.

Lastly, a small boy, smaller than the girl with red hair. He wears a white t-shirt with the Urahara Shop logo printed on the front and blue three-quarter length trousers, the bottoms of which are noticeably turned up.

Additionally, there is also this black cat with ominous golden eyes lying next to Kisuke's right leg that seems familiar to Ichigo but he quickly brushes it off.

"Look what we have here. You've come a lot sooner than I thought. Are you sure you've thought this through thoroughly?" Kisuke asked the big question while hiding a knowing grin that Ichigo can easily tell is there.

"Even if I gave myself more time to think it over, I would've reached the same conclusion. Whatever it takes, I'm going to save Rukia, and you're going to help me." He declared with conviction no boy so young should have.

"Congratulations, my boy. You've come to the right man." Kisuke smirked, closing his fan for Ichigo to see his face. "Now we got to get you all trained up to go save the day."

"That does raise a big question. You got no reason at all to help me, if anything it's the opposite. Rukia never said much about you, except that you are a Shinigami, an exiled one at that." Ichigo questioned him, and this got Kisuke to frown.

"Oh, I don't know, Ichigo. Maybe there's a sinister plot going on. Maybe I'm behind everything, Ichigo." He presumably confessed to the orange head, creating a very tense atmosphere before Kisuke becomes all cheerful again. "Or maybe I'm not! Who knows?"

"Ha! You don't want to risk her ratting you out?" Ichigo accused.

"Not particularly no. Then again I doubt she's that type of person but better safe than sorry. On to a more serious matter, you give me ten days, you're back to being a Shinigami, a new Zanpakutō, a gate to Soul Society, and even get you some backup, all free of charge." Kisuke got right down to it. "Guaranteed or earn your money back."

"Do I even have ten days to pull this off?" He questioned.

"Time is something younglings really shouldn't take for granted and concerning how long Ms. Kuchiki has to live, Soul Society has a one-month period before an execution is carried out. Usually, they're disturbingly obsessed with following their own rules. Let's hope Rukia is no exception. So that gives me ten days to torture you, then seven days to open the gate to the Soul Society, then we'll have thirteen days to get there and get the job done." Kisuke explained.

"And what are the odds of dying if we rush it a bit?" Ichigo felt the need to ask.

"Kid, you can deny it as much as you like but the truth is you've inherited your father's stubbornness and your mother's illness to patience." Kisuke shook his head. "There are so many easier and faster ways for me to kill you, and what you're asking will be the slowest, most brutal, and unforgivable kind of death."

"Had to at least bring it up. Let's do it." He demanded.

"Awesome. But first, you'll have to sign a liability waiver at the door. Tessai will help you with that." Kisuke half-joked with a hint of seriousness.

"Really?" He muttered.

"I know your mother, kid. Everyone in Karakura knows your mother, I'm not taking any chances in the worst-case scenario you get yourself killed and she comes at me with her shotgun, Groß Mutter (Big Mama). I value my life very much, thank you." Kisuke said with his jokester behavior had a familiar edge of fear, shared by the bigger man known as Tessai Tsukabishi.

"Bitch please, she'll kill you no matter what you try." Ichigo hissed.

He's certainly done it now, he can already tell that there's no turning back, nor does he want to. He will see this threw to the end, even if it kills him.

But first.

"Excuse me for a moment while I call someone." He said as he calls his best friend.

"Ichigo?" The Mexican giant answered quickly.

"Hey, Chad, listen, I need you to do me a favor, I have some business to take care of but I don't want my folks to know about it so if anyone asks, I'll be staying with you for a while."

"You want me to lie to your parents?" He clarified.

"It isn't your first time doing it and my mom trusts you the most so she won't question it." Ichigo assured him. "Besides, she'll be very busy at her job during the summer. So she won't even bother checking up on you, and it'll only be for ten days."

"If she finds out she's going to kill me." He pointed out, not sounding reluctant but Ichigo is certain he is.

"I know Chad." Ichigo sighed with regret over what he is asking his best friend to do for him which is basically suicide.

"She scares me."

"I know Chad. So can I count on you for this?" He asked, still wanting to push for this.

"Sure, leave it to me. Knowing her she'll quickly call once you decline to answer her." Chad agreed despite the risk because unbeknownst to Ichigo, his Half-Mexican friend knows what his motives are, he required no explanation and actually wants to help him.

"Awesome! You're the best, Chad. Talk to you later." Ichigo smiled before hanging up.

"Ichigo! How could you? Using your own friend as a meat shield to hide from your monster of a mother. For shame." Kisuke frowned deeply at Ichigo over what he just did but somehow the orange head has difficulty taking it seriously, considering the kind of man he is. "We haven't even started training and already I'm so very disappointed in you."

"Shut up and train me!"

---

"Oh… my poor aching heart. My daughters truly are terrible to me." Isshin sobbed as he walks back into his house depressed.

He went to pick up his daughters from school, afterwards, he planned to take the whole family on a ride across town to celebrate the first day of summer, preferably without his delinquent son but sadly, Karin and Yuzu made plans to hang out with their friends on the first day even though they knew of their father's own plans and completely stood him up.

"Why, why… why does my worthless son get more love from my daughters whiles I only receive their scorn. Where did we go wrong, Masaki?" He continued to sob but is silenced when he sees his wife raise a finger at him to do so while she talks on the phone.

"I see, I see, I think I heard Keigo's mom mention something about him making beach plans for all of you. Ichigo really can't stand the beach after that shellfish incident Orihime got herself into but I knew it was only a matter of time before all of you got him to give the sea a second chance." Masaki said as she tried to call Ichigo earlier when he didn't return home and when he didn't answer, Chad was her first guess to find out where her son might be and the giant went and lied about him staying with him and plan to go with Keigo to the beach.

"Well, as long as it's with you, I'll allow him to stay away from home, for now, just make sure to tell him that he better visit soon, or else he won't go at all. I hate to break poor Keigo's heart but a boy's mama comes first. I knew you would understand. Till next time, Chad." She said before hanging up.

"Ichigo's going to the beach? I don't buy it." Isshin said doubtfully that his no-good son would ever want to go there. He has no appreciation for the marvel that is the ocean. His wife seems to think so too because in a fit of rage, she throws her phone into a wall so hard that it broke. "So… he isn't going at all?"

Masaki then buries her head on a couch and begins to angrily scream while suppressed, to Isshin her screams would've been heard across the whole neighborhood.

"That stupid midget! The scantling hobbit! She destroyed my baby!" She cried with both fury and anguish.

"Okay… not like I didn't prepare for this," Isshin said taking on a more gentle but stern approach and takes a seat next to his wife. "Masaki, you know I understand how you feel, we both dreaded this path for him but we also have always known that it was only a matter of time before it would happen and that he would have to decide for himself rather he wants to take this course or not."

"I can't pretend like nothing has happened anymore, Isshin. I know he's been doing well for himself but it's just too much. In this life, there is only pain and regret, and no good will come of it. I just know it." Masaki sobbed, showing her face that has started to cry.

Ichigo thought he was so careful but his parents knew all along that he had become a Shinigami, and Rukia's Kiokuchikan (Memory Replacement) didn't work on them as well as they thought because while they did develop fake memories of the night Ichigo met her, they still retained their true memories and were able to tell the difference.

They're not as gullible of the Spiritual as their son thinks they are.

"I know better than anyone. Which is why I gotta do what I gotta do." Isshin sighed even louder, his mind already made up on what he must do, not just to give his beloved peace but to make damn sure that his son makes it out of this alive as he heads upstairs.

"Isshin, where are you going?" She asked him but makes no response and is gone for a bit before returning carrying a small stuffed lion with a light tan body with seams running up and down the entire thing.

The arms and legs each have four white, flat claws which serve as his fingers and toes. A button is placed in the center of the body where his belly button would be. He has two beady black eyes and small ears with pink inside of them. His head is surprisingly flat when viewed from the side and he has a brown, spiky mane atop his head. Hanging from his lower back is a small tail.

"Bostov?" Masaki said, recognizing that as Yuzu's stuffed animal. She doesn't really play with toys anymore but like Orihime, she likes to collect anything that's cute, and unbeknownst to many, so does Chad.

Keeps disappearing from her room and reappearing in Ichigo's, though, and only Ichigo, Isshin, and Masaki know why.

"Wait, you're telling me you're…"

"Yeah, it started coming back to me when Ichigo fought the Menos Grande (Great Hollow), so he will most definitely be alright with me tagging along," Isshin said with a more stern look. "Also, his name is not Bostov, though that is a much cooler name. Ichigo has chosen to give this Mod Soul the name Kon."

That got a reaction out from the stuffed lion as it suddenly came to life. "WHAT?! You mean you know about me and what I really am?" The one called Kon cried in shock.

"Yep, right from the beginning. I know I act like a clown most of the time, and I'm proud of who I am no matter what anyone says but that doesn't mean I'm stupid. You never realized that all those times you inhabited our son's body we never once addressed you as Ichigo." He smirked at him.

"But Ichigo said that you guys aren't Watchers even though you know the spiritual exists," Kon muttered.

"Well, Ichigo's Spiritual Awareness had to come from somewhere. People aren't born like that unless they are the descendants of one or have made contact with a Shinigami or Hollow, and he was born this way." Masaki said, getting up and wiping her tears.

"But then why the secrecy?" Kon wondered.

"There are a lot of things we aren't ready to talk about, even with our own children and unfortunately we can't wait anymore," Isshin said somberly. "You'll be inhabiting our Underdog of a son's body for probably the entire summer but for now you'll be inhabiting my Gigai (Faux Body)."

"What… w-w-what are you talking about?" Kon uttered, not believing what he was hearing.