Sosuke Aizen is the principal of the school, but it seems like he has great control. Greater than most principals have over the schools they run. Ichigo and his friends are already aware not to trust him, but they don't have the power to oppose him at the moment. On top of that, he wants to find the witches for some reason. What could he be after?
"Excuse me, sir." Kyoka said as she came in. "I have brought the Supernatural Club as you asked."
"Thank you, Kyoka." Aizen said as his daughter allowed them all to come in, but all of them kept their guard up.
"You wanted to see us, sir?" Uryu said.
"Yes. I wanted to acknowledge all your work into finding the witches." Aizen said as he stared down at photos of the identified witches. "Orihime Inoue, Neliel To Odelschwank, Ashi Kaenatsu, Kori Kusanaji, and Rachel Tamika... Five witches have been discovered already. Excellent work."
"Thanks." Ichigo said, but he knew not to trust Aizen. "Seeing as how we did do your work in finding them for you, don't you think maybe it's time you told us what this is about. Why do you want to find the witches?"
"I thought I told you before. It's my responsibility as principal to know these things." Aizen said. "These young ladies are student of my school, but they hold special powers that others do not. They'll need to be watched more carefully to avoid trouble. Apologies if that offends you, Miss Inoue." He said, but Orihime just remained quiet.
"Sir, it is rather suspicious that you pointed us directly to who they were. I must ask." Uryu said. "Did you know the whole time or did you really need confirmation as to who was a witch?"
"I had my suspicions, but I needed to be certain since I have know way of knowing who is a witch and who isn't. I thought I explained all of this to Mr. Kurosaki." Aizen claimed. "What's wrong? You all do trust me, don't you?" He said as he gave them all an icy glare that made it difficult for them to say they really didn't. It's not just from being the principal. It's like Aizen exerts this pressure on them that makes it difficult for them oppose him. "Well, you've all done well and you are almost done. Only the seventh witch remains."
"Hold on. Did you say the seventh witch remains?" Rukia questioned as they were all a little baffled. "That can't be. There are two witches left."
"Sir, there are total of seven witches. We've only identified five of them. Other than the seventh witch, there's still one witch we haven't found yet." Uryu said.
"That's right. I suppose you should know about that." Aizen said as he looked over to his daughter and gave her a look that told her to do it. Kyoka understood and walked right over to the group with her grabbing Uryu's face.
"What are you..." Uryu didn't finished as Kyoka just kissed him without warning. None of them expected that. When she pulled away, Uryu lost sight of her. There was no sign of her anywhere. "Wait a minute. Where did Kyoka go? She was right here a minute ago." He said as he looked around for her, but saw no sign of her. The weird thing was that Kyoka was standing right in front of him.
"Uryu, what are you talking about? She's right in front of you." Ichigo said.
"It's no use. He can't see or even hear me anymore." Kyoka claimed.
"Wait. I get it now." Rukia said.
"That's right. I'm one of the witches myself." Kyoka admitted with them all surprised that the principal's own daughter was one. That meant Aizen had one with him the whole time. "My power is that of invisibility. Anyone I kiss can no longer see or hear me, at least until I kiss them again. With that, I could shadow a person for days and they would never know a thing...as long as I was careful of course."
"That would explain how it seems like you know everything." Rukia said. "With Kyoka's power, you have eyes and ears everywhere."
"I have other ways. After all, my daughter can't stay in high school forever." Aizen claimed. "That means you now have only one witch left to find. With that, I think this is a good opportunity to test your own investigations skills. I'll allow you to find the seventh witch without my help." That offer sounded rather strange to them. Something about this didn't seem right. It also didn't help with how he smirked. His words say one thing, but his face says something else. "One last thing. Some of the students are holding a bonfire on school grounds for the upcoming cultural festival, a way to boost morale after so much hard work. Perhaps you all should attend after working so hard. That is all. You are all dismissed." They all just went along with it as they all left his office.
"You all saw his face, right? He's got "hidden agenda" written all over his face." Renji said.
"Cocky bastard." Ichigo said. "He's confident we can't do anything to stop him."
"And we probably can't since we still don't know what he really wants with the witches." Uryu said. "However, I do fear that he is close. If he learns the identity of the last witch, he could put his plans to action."
"But doesn't he already suspect who the last witch is? He already knew about three of them." Rukia said.
"But he needed us to confirm them." Chad said. "What if there's the possibility he really doesn't know who the last witch is?"
"I have my doubts about that." Uryu said. Orihime seemed nervous about that. Ichigo spotted that and felt like he had to do something.
"He's planning something and we've got to find out what it is." Ichigo said as he just went on ahead and ran off.
"Ichigo! Where are you going?!" Renji called, but Ichigo kept going. It seems like no matter what, he wants to protect Orihime.
...
Ichigo
"You need to use my powers?" Ashi questioned. Ichigo was able to find Ashi and Kori outside. Ever since he helped them be friends again, those two are always together. He gave them a rundown of what was going on and needed Ashi's power to help him.
"Aizen is up to something. I've got to figure out what is going on." Ichigo said.
"But I've told you before, Ichigo... I can't control what kind of visions I have, and there's no guarantee that they will come true." Ashi said. "They aren't exactly reliable. They vision you get will be completely random."
"I know that, but I've got to try something." Ichigo said.
"Ashi, I think you should let Ichigo do it." Kori said. "If what he's saying is true, Aizen is going to come after the both of us. Even if Ichigo doesn't get something now, he'll copy your powers and might get something with someone else." Ashi could see the value in that.
"Kori's right. I need to do this." Ichigo said as he went for it and kissed Ashi to copy her powers. At that moment, he got a vision of the future and saw something he didn't like.
...
The Vision
"I'm sorry if you don't like this, Mr. Kurosaki, but a deal is a deal." Aizen said as he and the rest of the Supernatural Club were outside. "You failed to identify the seventh witch and now you have to honor our agreement. Let's go, my new student assistant."
"Yes, sir." That new assistant was actually Orihime. Everyone in the club was upset about this, but none of the others bothered to say anything as she was leaving with Aizen.
"Orihime!" Ichigo called as he didn't want to see her go.
"Don't worry, Ichigo. It will be okay." Orihime said, but the way she looked greatly upset Ichigo. This vision didn't reveal what Ichigo wanted, but it did reveal something just as important to him.
...
The Supernatural Club
"How are we going to find the seventh witch when we don't know anything about her?" Renji said as the rest of them were trying to figure out what they were going to do in finding the last witch. "What kind of power does she have again?"
"Wouldn't that be the power of memory? What does that mean?" Chad said.
"I'm looking into it. Looks like she can manipulate memories." Rukia said as she read over the notebook. "It looks like there's a warning with this witch power. It says here that the witch with this power is considered the most powerful...and the most dangerous."
"The most dangerous?" Uryu said as he thought it over, but it looks like he's struggling.
"Uryu? What is it?" Orihime questioned.
"I'm thinking maybe we should just relax and enjoy the bonfire." Uryu said, but none of them understood why he would think that. "I'm just not sure what to do. If we find the seventh witch, we could be helping Aizen and gives him what he wants while putting ourselves at risk, given what Rukia just said. If we don't, Aizen could find other ways to find the seventh witch. Aizen just seems to be one step ahead. That's what I'm trying to figure out. Is it safer for us not to find the seventh witch?" All of them were wondering the same thing. Seems like no matter what they do, Aizen has them trapped. That was when Ichigo came barging in and he looked a little frantic.
"Ichigo? What's wrong?" Orihime said.
"Guys, we need to find the seventh witch!" Ichigo said like it has to be done.
...
The Bonfire
Ichigo was insistent on finding the seventh witch. The others were surprised by his urgency, but they went along with it. Still, they haven't found anything and they're a little hesitant considering this one might be considered the most dangerous. Despite that, Ichigo wants to find that witch as soon as possible. Coming up with nothing and found themselves stressed, the bonfire sounded like what they needed.
"Wouldn't a bonfire make more sense after the cultural festival?" Ichigo said as he just sat off to the side while others were enjoying themselves.
"Aizen says it would help us unwind, lift our spirits, and help us feel reenergized for work." Uryu said as he stuck with Ichigo. "Of course, I'm not sure to trust anything he says anymore." Ichigo certainly agreed with that. "Can I ask you something? Why are you so insistent on finding the last witch? We're playing right into Aizen's hands with this?" He asked, but Ichigo was hesitant to answer. "You might as well tell me, or do I need to get Tamika? I'm sure I could say a few things she can do to you that will make you talk."
"What the hell?!" Ichigo said as he couldn't believe Uryu would say that. "Fine. I... I went to talk to Ashi and tried to copy her powers. I thought I could figure out what Aizen is planning if I did that."
"And what did you see?" Uryu questioned.
"Apparently, we made some sort of deal with Aizen for some reason. We fail to find the last witch, and that means Orihime takes Kyoka's job and becomes his student assistant." Ichigo said.
"That does sound rather strange, but that does mean Orihime is right in his hands." Uryu said. "I am getting the feeling there's something more to this than what you're saying."
"Yeah..." Ichigo said as he stared at Orihime and saw how happy she was. "These feelings... I've been denying them, but seeing how she looked in that vision had me realized the truth."
"Wait! Don't tell me..." Uryu said as he could see what was going on.
"Yeah. I've fallen in love with her." Ichigo admitted with his face turning red. Uryu was surprised that Ichigo admitted it, but he now sees how important this is to Ichigo.
"In that case, let's get to work." Uryu said.
...
The Next Day
"Here are the list of all the female students." Uryu said as he brought down some papers with names on them for the Supernatural Club to look over. "The seventh witch could be any of them, but we do know that each witch suffers from some sort of problem of their own or they use their powers to cause trouble. Of course, since we don't have any idea how that relates to memory, it's going to be difficult."
"We'll have to investigate each one of them." Ichigo said. "I've also alerted the other witches about Aizen and keep their guard up around him. They're also going to help in anyway they can."
"Wait. We actually are searching for the last one?" Rukia said. "Uryu, I thought you said it might not be safe."
"That might be, but I came to the conclusion that Aizen is guaranteed to get what he wants if we do nothing." Uryu said. "Even if our chances of stopping him are small, we've got to try and do something." When he puts it like that, all of them are on board.
"There's still a lot of names. How do we investigate each one?" Renji said.
"We can only work with what we got." Uryu said. "Remember to be careful. The notebook says the witch with this power is the most powerful, but also the most dangerous."
"Right." All of them said.
"Ichigo and Orihime, you two go on ahead. I need to speak with the others about something." Uryu said.
"Is everything okay?" Orihime asked.
"It is. Just go on ahead." Uryu insisted.
"Come on, Orihime. Every minute counts." Ichigo said. Orihime agreed and went on ahead, but both of them missed something once they left the room.
"What's up, Uryu?" Renji said.
"There's something going on, isn't there?" Chad questioned as all three of them knew something was off. "What made you consider to find the last witch?"
"Ichigo used Ashi's powers. He saw a vision of the future he doesn't like." Uryu said. "He's hoping to change it, but the only way to do that is for us to learn the identity of the last witch. Besides that, all I can say is that this is important to Ichigo." None of them got the full picture, but they understood all that they needed.
"Let's get going." Rukia said as all four of them got to searching, but none of them knew that the walls have ears.
...
Ichigo
Ichigo and the others got to hunting for the seventh witch, but they haven't come up with much. They even asked for help from the others that knew about the witch powers. Despite the shortcomings, they're still going to try.
"Any luck?" Ichigo asked when he met up with Orihime.
"Not yet." Orihime said.
"Same here. Well, on to the next one." Ichigo said as he was on his way out.
"Wait." Orihime said as she stopped him from leaving. "Why are you so eager to go witch hunting?" She asked, but Ichigo wasn't sure how to answer as he couldn't quite say his new feelings to her. "If there's some sort of problem, you can talk to me."
"I know..." Ichigo said as he was wondering if he should say something.
"I see you two are keeping yourselves busy." Both of them looked and saw Kyoka was there, but they knew not to trust her being Aizen's daughter. "How's the hunt for the seventh witch going?"
"None of your business." Ichigo said.
"So be it." Kyoka said as she just kept walking. "My father's going to find out eventually. He always has a way of knowing." She said, but the way she said that is what really got to Ichigo.
...
The Clubroom
"And that's what happened." Ichigo said as they all regrouped after a failed attempt to find that last witch. He did inform them of what happened when he came across Kyoka. "It was weird. The way she said it was like her really saying that she and Aizen are going to find out one way or another."
"Of course he would. We already knew that." Renji said. "When you have a daughter that can become invisible, you can learn a lot." When he said that, all the pieces came together to Ichigo.
"What is it?" Uryu said. Suddenly, Ichigo tried kissing everyone except Orihime in the clubroom despite how resistant they were being.
"Just as I thought." Ichigo said as he got to all of them. "I don't know how or when she did it, but all of you have been kissed by Kyoka!" When he said that, all of them were shocked for none of them knew a thing.
"Are you sure?" Rukia said.
"Positive." Ichigo said. "The last witch I kissed was Ashi, but I didn't have any visions just now. That means that all four of you must be under Kyoka's power. Since Kyoka's ability prevents her from being seen or heard until she kisses you guys again, she could be walking around and eavesdropping on all of you without you even knowing."
"Makes sense, but she's being careful about it since the only ones who wouldn't be affected by that are you and Orihime." Uryu said. "If Aizen is resorting to a method like this now, he must want to know the identity of the last witch the moment we find it. That means that whatever he's planning is going to happen soon."
"Damn!" Ichigo said as he was getting frustrated. "What do we do now?! We've got to try something to pull ahead of Aizen."
"There might be one thing we can try." Uryu said as he had an idea. "Is Kyoka anywhere near here?" Ichigo took a quick look around and saw no sign of her anywhere near the room.
"No." Ichigo said.
"Good. Take the opportunity to switch bodies with Orihime." Uryu said as he wants his plan to be put into action.
...
The Roof
"This should be good." Ichigo said as he and Orihime were up on the roof. "I don't see Aizen or Kyoka anywhere, we've got eyes on all spots, and it's less suspicious if we do this here."
"Fine, but couldn't we have done this back in the clubroom?" Orihime questioned.
"Uh... It's awkward." Ichigo said, mostly because he now realizes his feelings for her and doesn't want an audience.
"Well, we better do this fast." Orihime said as she was ready to kiss him and switch bodies once again.
"Wait a minute!" Ichigo said as he stopped her. "Are you sure about this? If we do this, we might be able to return to our normal selves for a while. We've got to try and pretend to be each other for a long time."
"I know, but I'll be okay." Orihime said.
"Well, you need to know about my life outside of school." Ichigo said. "You know my family, so my dad will try to attack you. Just try to avoid him. As for Yuzu, just try to ignore her unless she needs your help. Also, Chad can help you if..." Orihime didn't let him finished as she just kissed him out of nowhere. Once he was in Orihime's body, he was stunned. "You kissed me out of the blue! What the hell?! I wasn't ready!"
"Sorry, but we had to do this quickly." Orihime said. "I wish you would just tell me what's bothering you, but we should go before it's too late." She started walking in Ichigo's body, but Ichigo couldn't let it go. Orihime is worried about him and he's doing what he's doing to protect her.
"Wait, Orihime." Ichigo said. "I did have one vision of the future. Aizen makes a deal with us. If we fail to find the seventh witch, you end up becoming his new student assistant."
"Is that what you're worried about?" Orihime asked. "It will be okay. Uryu can help me multi-task so I can still be part of the club, and I know what kind of man he is. I'll be careful."
"That's not what I'm worried about!" Ichigo said. "In my vision, I saw you were sad about the situation, but you tried to mask it by looking happy! It was the same as you were when we switched bodies for the first time!" Orihime remembered that. There were times she was sad, but didn't want others to worry. That's why she tried to look happy when she wasn't. "Do you get it now, Orihime?! I hate seeing you like that! Seeing you sad is bad enough, but seeing you act like you're happy when you're not makes it worse! I don't want to see you like that that ever again!"
"I see... Thank you, Ichigo." Orihime said as she turned to him and felt really happy that he cares so much. "I don't want to go back to that either. I feel genuinely happy with you and the others, almost like my problems are fading away. So let's find that witch and make sure that vision doesn't happen." That's what Ichigo wants as well. They want to find the last witch in hopes of stopping whatever Aizen has planned. For Ichigo, it's all for the girl he loves.