Well, I thank those who have reviewed and read the first chapter so far, and I hope I meet everyone's expectations in the long run. ^-^
Anyway, now this chapter is with Ichigo in the present time. I hope you all enjoy, because it is a slow chapter. Not much happens. ^^'
"Normal speech"
'Thinking'
'Ichigo talking inwardly'
"Shiro talking while in inner world"
'Kikoo talking while in inner world'
"Kikoo talking while outside"
"Zangetsu talking while in innerworld"
{Telepathy}
2
The school bell rang, signaling lunch time for all the students in Karakura High. Ichigo let out a relieved sigh and leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed.
'I tried asking dad to give me an allowance so I can save up to go to collage, but even when I offered to help around the clinic he said no,' Ichigo sighed again. 'I guess I could do odd jobs around school until I find a real job.'
Ichigo almost jumped out of his skin when his Substitute Shinigami badge blared to life screaming, "HOLLOW, HOLLOW!" It was a good thing that it was lunch time, or else Ichigo would have to think of another excuse. 'Seriously, how does the teacher fall for that all the time?'
"It does help that your friends don't need the bathroom at the same time as you now. It makes the lie much more believable," said old man Zangetsu.
'I guess you have a point,' said Ichigo as he made his way out the door.
Ichigo made it to the bathroom and into one of the stalls. He pressed the combat pass over his chest and hopped out of his body. He would have used Kon to get out of his body, but he hasn't seen him at all for the past month now. He was starting to worry, so he may pay Urahara a visit sometime to see if he knew where the modsoul was. After removing his soul from his body he left the bathroom and jumped out the nearest window.
By the time Ichigo got to the hollow, it was already too late. He was just pulling out the smaller blade of Zangetsu when a white blur cleaved the hollow in half. Ichigo dug his heels in the reishi in the air to stop his charge and looked around to see what killed his prey.
"Ya too slow, King." Ichigo sighed. He should have known it was him.
"I could have gotten that hollow just fine on my own, Shiro," he said in annoyance.
"And miss the look of your face? I don' think so," Shiro said with his trademark grin on his face.
"What look?" Ichigo asked.
"The look of a lost puppy."
Ichigo glared at his inner hollow, but it looked more like a pout to Shiro, which made him cackle. Ichigo's glare grew more intense, but it only made Shiro laugh harder. With a sigh of defeat, Ichigo sheathed his smaller Zanpakuto.
"Well, that was a good laugh. See ya, King!" Shiro called out before taking his leave. Ichigo watched him go and was about to head back to school, but a "NOW HIRING" sign caught his attention. He turned to look to see what kind of job it was.
The name on the sign said, "Unagiya Shop". Ichigo thought it was some kind of pizza place so he decided to ignore it and leave. He wasn't planning on becoming a pizza boy.
'I'll just go back to school and see what after-school club needs my help,' thought Ichigo as he jumped through the air to go back to Karakura High before the bell rings again.
It's the end of the school day, and Ichigo had spoken to multiple different clubs that were willing to hire him. The one that caught his interest the most was the job for the kendo team. He would get 100 yen a day for two weeks, which would mark the end of the kendo tournament that was coming up. They wanted him to train them and help them win.
So now here Ichigo was, at the kendo training room with the rest of the team, and helping them train. Luckily he didn't have to do much for them, because it would seem that they had been trained hard by someone else last year. He mostly had to show them how to wield a sword, how to block, and how to dodge. He may or may not have trained them similarly to how Tenebris and Shiro did it, just without all the blood.
"Alright, I'm going to throw these balls at you while you all run laps around the room 80 times. If the ball touches you, you have to freeze for 2 seconds as if stunned. Within that time, I'll attack you again with a wooden sword. You are to either block my attack or dodge it, and then keep running. Is that understood?" asked Ichigo.
The kendo team looked at him in the mix of understanding, and horror due to the knowledge of having to do 80 laps and having to freeze and not move for 2 seconds while they were being charged at by the fastest guy in their school. They weren't looking forward to being hit by the ball.
Some team members were hit with the ball, and froze like they were supposed to. Ichigo bolted for them and just as the 2 seconds were up, the teammates would either duck under the swing or block it if they were quick enough. They were also not allowed to get back up for one minute if they were to fall over after being hit by Ichigo. It was to show that they were "injured" and needed time to recover.
It took about half and hour to an hour for everyone to finish all 80 laps.
"Good job, team," Ichigo said. "Now what have we learned today?"
"Not to get hit unless we want to die," someone said between gasps of breath while the others nodded in agreement.
"Great, you understand then," Ichigo said with a prideful smile. He's glad that the first day went so well. "Well, that's enough for today. I'll see you all on Monday." With that said, Ichigo and the rest of the kendo team left to go home for the weekend.
Ichigo went to his room, and there, lying on his bed was Shiro, who looked to be sleeping, but there was blood all over him. Ichigo sighed, and looked over to the giant, purple-ish-red crystal in he middle of his room. 'Only a month left until we should be able to unseal Tenebris from her slumber,' thought Ichigo.
He walked over to his inner hollow and said something about candy. Shiro woke up, looking for the candy, only to find out that Ichigo was lying about there being any sweets.
"You ruined my blanket. It is not easy to get rid of blood," Ichigo said. "Now get off and wash up, so I can get this blanket in the wash and then grab a new one for tonight."
Shiro whined, "Aw, you're no fun, King. What's a little blood on your covers while you sleep at night?" He got up from the bed, following Ichigo's order to do so, and then he disappeared into Ichigo's inner world where there was a working shower for them in one of the buildings. After he was gone, Ichigo saw that very little of the blood had made it onto the blue, cross-marked blanket.
"Well that will make it easier to clean up," muttered Ichigo as he took the blanket downstairs to scrub and then stuff in the washing machine. He then went into the upstairs closet and grabbed another blue blanket, but this one had white stripes going down it.
He covered his bed with the new blanket before he went to get a shower. After his shower he ate dinner, did his homework for the weekend, and then went to bed after saying goodnight to everyone.
Ichigo was looking on his laptop for any jobs that may be hiring. There were just two problems; one, none of the jobs grab his interest, and two, they are delivery jobs that Ichigo would need a car for. He has yet to learn how to drive a car. He really should, though. That way his options would be more open. With a sigh, Ichigo shut his computer off and left the house to take a walk.
Ichigo walked around a few blocks to clear his head, and to see if he spotted any 'now hiring' signs. So far he hadn't seen any, but Shiro saw him.
"Hey King, what cha doin'?" Shiro asked after he landed in front of the shinigami - or what Urahara liked to call him: chuku shi no monku.
"I'm just taking a walk to clear my head and find a job," Ichigo said.
"What, you're still lookin' for one?"
"Yes, all of the jobs might ruin my reputation, or just wouldn't hire me because of my hair color. I found places that need a new teacher for little kids. Do you see anyone hiring me to teach kids when a lot of the teachers think I'm a delinquent? I sure don't."
"Well...I guess you got a poi-"
"Hey kid! Are you looking for a job?" A female voice cut Shiro off somewhere to Ichigo's right. The orange-haired shinigami turned to face the owner of the voice and realized that he was standing in the same place with Shiro as yesterday after the vasto lorde killed that hollow. They were standing in front of Unagiya Shop. "If you are, I'm hiring. I could use a strong, young man like you," the woman said.
"Um... That fine. I'm not looking to be a pizza boy," Ichigo said.
"Pizza...boy...? You think my place is a pizza place?" Unagiya - Ichigo guessed that was who this woman was - questioned slowly. "I'll have you know that my job is not for delivering PIZZA! Here we preform a variety of odd jobs for anyone who is willing to hire us! Like help clean someone's house, to taking their dog on a walk," Unagiya explained. "Now let's go." She reached out with both her hands and grabbed hold of Ichigo in a surprisingly strong grip. Ichigo tried to break out of her hold, but she was not moved. "I need someone that can help me with these kinds of jobs, and you're perfect for it. I don't see anyone else around that is going to hire a boy with hair like that."
"Hey, let go of me! This is kidnapping, you know?" Ichigo called out while still struggling to break free. 'Just how strong is this woman?!'
"I'm not kidnapping you, I'm hiring you. Now stop complaining and get in here. I already have some job requests that need to be done today and I can't do them all by myself."
Ichigo and Unagiya disappeared beyond the door of the Unagiya Shop. The last sentence that was said was the last one Shiro heard before the door closed. He could have helped Ichigo, but he was far too busy laughing at his king to really care about doing so.
'I SO have to tell Tenebris' about this when she wakes up!'
TBC
Like I said, the timeline is a little off, so Ichigo was job hunting. Also, I gave him one of my problems when it comes to job hunting. I can't drive, and that is the only kind I can get right now. With everything going on right now... yeah...no. That is not happening.
Ichi: You just made my boss kidnap me. :(
Shiro: Well, I did wonder how you were hired by that woman. Now I know! :3
Enj/Dark: I had fun writing her. :)
Ichi: Of course you did. -_-
Enj/Dark: Anyway Ichigo, it is your turn.
Ichi: Please review!
