Kurosaki Household, Karakura Town
Night reigned over Karakura Town as stars twinkled in the dark sky, the bright moonlight shining down to give a peaceful atmosphere surrounding the city. A 9-year-old Ichigo was put to bed by his mother, putting the sheets over him before kissing the small boy on his forehead. "Try to sleep well, after all, you can't be late for your karate practice." Masaki poked her son's nose in a teasing manner. "So then, is there any chance you'll beat Tatsuki someday? After all, you're not gonna lose to her forever now, will you?"
"Ah come on, I'll beat her eventually, you know that." the childish Ichigo pouted. "I just need to train harder than her."
Masaki was amused by the answer she was given. "I'm sure you will. Now it would be better for you if you just took a good night of rest. I'll wake you up early in the morning." she began to leave her son's room. "Good night."
"Uh, wait, before you leave, Mom, can I just ask you something?" Ichigo asked as he crouched on his bed.
"What is it?"
"You know how Dad told me what's the meaning of my name, right?" Ichigo asked for confirmation, and he saw his mother turn her head to look at him. "About how I'm supposed to be the Number One Guardian and protect those around me?"
Masaki curled her eyebrows, listening to what her small boy was saying. She wondered where he was going with this. "Well of course I do. After all, you said that you wanted to protect me."
"It's just... I've been thinking about that meaning..." the young Ichigo put his hands over the blanket. "And... well... do you think I should go and protect other people?"
Masaki was confused by this. What was he talking about? "What exactly do you mean? Can you explain it?"
"It's just, lately I've been seeing a lot of those Superheroes on TV, about how they save people that they don't know about. I've been wondering if maybe I could get to do that as well?" Ichigo tried to explain his words, to which his mother became surprised by this. "After all, I just want to protect you, and maybe even everyone around me."
"Uh..." Masaki was caught off guard by the suggestion, frankly, she wasn't expecting something like this at all. "Maybe it's better if you don't get to do that." she walked over to her son and put her hands on his shoulders. "Those things you saw on TV are just fantasy, nothing more, nothing else. If you were to do something like that, it wouldn't exactly be as easy as it looks. You're just a small boy. So, my advice to you, it's better if you just stick around with protecting others close to you. That should be much easier for you to do, wouldn't it?"
"Well... I guess so." Ichigo made a big smile as he scratched his head. "Thanks, I was just really curious about what you thought I should do."
"Maybe it would be better if you decide for yourself what you want to do when you become older," Masaki said, she didn't see the issue with this. After all, once her boy starts getting older, maybe he'll just forget about this and throw it off as some silly thought. "Now it would be better if you head to sleep."
"I will, good night." Ichigo turned over to his bed and began to sleep, letting his thoughts drift off to slumber.
Karakura High School - Karakura Town, West of Tokyo - Present Day
He blinked as he came back to his senses, Of course, he did. Stuff like getting flashbacks from years ago about his mother? Yeah, he ended up thinking about that an awful lot.
The day just started like any other day. Crazy father attacked him in the morning, greeting his sisters and getting his breakfast started, going to school as usual, all the while getting some greetings from his friends. There wasn't any Hollow activity going on. Well, that was good. After the entire situation from rescuing Rukia from the Soul Society and the recent battle that came from the Bounts, he would say it's about time he got some rest. Besides, he still needed to uphold an image of himself.
His new teacher, Dr. Connors, an exchange teacher from America, came in to carry some glassed boxes, where inside of them were some types of insects and small animals. Not much of an interest to care about. Though there was one spider that sported an odd coloration of red, black, and white. He heard of black widows who were black and red, and a lot of spiders that tended to be brown or yellow... But all three combinations?
He heard Tatsuki asking just what exactly was all of this for. He and the rest of the class had gotten an explanation. Apparently what all of this was about was an assignment for the rest of class, as some task to take care of the animals, as some responsibility, or whatever it was.
"—Are you paying attention to the assignment?" The brown-haired man with glasses spoke.
"Hm?" Ichigo barely glanced his head to look over at what his teacher was talking about. "Yeah, I am," He answered.
Connors closed his eyes and nodded to himself. "In any case... Students, I hope all of you complete your assignments, and preferably I hope that the subjects all come back alive, otherwise points will be taken off of your grade." He looked at the laptop where his notes were. "Hmm, yes. It seems I have forgotten to also inform all of you that our city will have another exchange group from the West."
Most of the class was whispering about the news. But Ichigo could care far less about it. He then heard his new Combat Pass ringing by for a Hollow alert. He made a quick excuse and started to leave, completely unaware that Tatsuki saw the Pass earlier despite it being a powerful barrier to humans.
Later…
A day already passed by, and so far things were going well. He was trying to take care of the spider that he was given. This is what happened throughout the day. It was nighttime from where he was at. His new Combat Pass took another ringing, which caught Ichigo off guard.
"I DON'T WANNA BE IN THIS BODY ANYMORE! I WANNA BE IN MY HEAVEN! I'M SUPPOSED TO BE A CHICK MAGNET HERE, DAMN IT." Kon wailed, not taking care of any more suspension of being stuck in this plushie body.
"I think you look better with a sock on your mouth! And be quiet, everyone in the whole house will hear you!" remarked Ichigo in annoyance, and gave some warning for the plushie to listen to.
"Oh yeah?! Well, you're just jealous that you're not as cuddly as I am! And to be perfectly honest, this lion ain't lying!" Kon exclaimed. ''And to be perfectly clear, you're a pain in the butt! I'm just being in your body, all that peeping in the windows and under skirts didn't ruin my reputation, it only ruined yours!"
Ichigo lost attention to the spider and brought his major annoyance at the mention of his career. "Damn it, Kon! That better be a joke! Don't tell me you were doing something illegal there!"
Kon then burst into overdramatic tears. "Being locked up was bearable when Rukia was around! OH, RUKIA, PLEASE COME BACK! COOOOOOOOME BAAAAAAAACK!" he screamed so loudly that you would have figured the entire house would have heard something.
"Why you—" Ichigo saw a fly right in front of him, and he quickly squashed it before opening the box and letting the fly fall, which made the spider eat its food. He was about to fully close the box, but he heard his sister calling him for dinner. Having no choice, he went down for dinner. Except for the fact he carelessly left the box open. And the spider was starting to be left out of its cage.
Dinner had been over relatively quickly. And once more his father tried to attack from different places where he was at. So in short, he hadn't eaten too much out of the sheer annoyance Ichigo felt. So with that said, Ichigo returned to his room, but when he had done so, he saw that the spider was chasing around Kon.
Damn, it looked as though he forgot to close the box. Now he would have to figure out how to get it back in
"Ichigo, didn't you tell me you were taking care of this thing?!" Kon asked, as his plushie fingers held the spider that struggled in his grasp.
Ichigo sighed. "Fuck." He looked back at the container and gestured it to Kon. "Just put the little guy there."
"Yeah yeah, I'm on it!" The Mod Soul plush toy went up to the cage and slowly set the spider inside, which seemed to be trying to make eye contact with Ichigo, he blinked as Kon put the lid on the cage. "Anyway, let's hit the bed now!"
The orange-haired youth shrugged as he slept on his bed, whereas the plush toy entered inside the closet, and within half an hour, deep sleep took over as the spider managed to crawl out of the cage before making its way over to the sleeping Substitute, going behind his neck the arachnid opened its maw as a pointy tongue pierced the skin in conjunction with the fangs.
With its job done, the spider quickly made its way back to its cage as it somehow knew what it was doing and closed the cage before sleeping as well.
Ichigo opened his eyes, blinking several times. He opened them again with his head tilting around, looking where he was at. 'What the — where am I? This isn't my room.' he thought to himself. He knew where he was, this was the hospital part of the house. But why was he here? Did his body somehow sleepwalk all the way here?
He then saw Yuzu walking in, holding a tray with medical supplies that looked like it could fall off right now with how her arms were shaking. The tray fell off, and Ichigo's body reacted on its own, as he got to pick up the medical supplies by taking the tray from Yuzu's hands. He lowered his back and in a matter of seconds managed to catch all the supplies and put them back on the table.
It took Yuzu's mind to register what just occurred, and so did Ichigo. But Yuzu was more cheerful than her brother who had woken himself up. "Ichigo! You're awake now!"
"Huh?" Ichigo looked over at his sister with a semi-confused look. "Well, of course, I am. Why wouldn't I be? Wait, what exactly am I doing here?" he asked her. 'What just happened? It felt like my body moved by reflex alone.'
Yuzu didn't answer him, but instead, she got out of the room so that she could inform her twin sister and her father about him waking up. He didn't get it. What was all the fuss about? She talked as if he had been in some coma or something. He didn't get to think long before the rest of his family got in the room.
"I'm surprised you're already up," Karin spoke with her arms folded. ''I would think you're still in bed."
"What are you even talking about? I feel perfectly fine" Ichigo answered in irritation. "If this is some prank you guys are pulling on me, then it's not funny at all."
"What prank? You don't remember what happened at all?" Karin said, in confusion. "Last night you were kinda yelling out. You looked really sick as well. So all of us kinda carried you here to figure out what was with you."
"Really?" Ichigo asked. "Weird. I barely remember anything that happened." though when he thought about it... He did feel a burning sting that was very uncomfortable, but other than that, that was about it.
It was then that Isshin decided to charge at Ichigo by jumping off the floor and raising his leg at Ichigo, but Ichigo reacted far faster by grabbing his dad's face and pinning him down on the floor. "What the hell, old man?! Are you nuts?!" Ichigo yelled out.
"How could I be?!" Isshin grumbled under his son's hand. "I had to check out the proper way if you were alright like you claimed to be!"
"You couldn't have done anything else that didn't involve attacking me?!" Ichigo grunted, his agitation increasing more. That was until he started to leave with his hands in his pockets. ''I'll just grab a quick bite to eat and head off to school. "
"Wait, but Ichigo—" Yuzu tried to convince her brother to take a day off and stay in here, but her attempts were futile.
"Forget it. You're not gonna change my mind at all."
Later on, after Ichigo got a quick snack and dressed up in his school uniform, he started heading off to the usual path of school he took. 'It's weird.' he thought back when he caught those supplies, and the way he stopped his dad's usual antics. But something was very odd about them. Something was ringing in his head when his dad attacked him. 'How did I do all that? That felt like it was pure reflex itself. And then there was that weird ring in my head. What was that about?' he thought to himself
He then felt it again, but it felt more clear. Ichigo only crossed the street halfway there when he looked at a truck coming at him. Moving on instinct, Ichigo leaped out of the way, where his hands and feet had stuck to a building.
"Holy shit! That was a close call...?" Ichigo realized what he did, and he looked carefully to see what he had done. "What is this?"
Ichigo accidentally let go, and he fell on the concrete ground, but the impact did hardly anything to him at all. He looked at his hands and stared in shock as he saw that his nails elongated themselves, becoming claws that dig through the building, keeping him stuck in it. "What is going on with me?!"
It had been 10 minutes since 'the incident', and by the incident, he meant crawling up an actual wall with freaking claws. Ichigo let his natural scowl deepen, staring blankly forward to the front of the room and not hearing a word of what his teacher was saying.
'Just what the hell is going on with me?' he thought as he leaned his elbow onto his desk, letting his chin rest at his palm. 'This whole day has been going really weird, and not the weird I usually go through, but unnatural. First, my body was capable of acting on its own by sheer reflex alone. Then when that car was heading straight at me, I somehow fucking managed to stick to a wall, with my bare hands that somehow had claws!' he had thought to himself.
'So how did I do all of what I had done today? It makes no sense. I couldn't stick to walls before, so how I could do it now? Alright, I need to think back on how this happened. I remember waking up in the hospital part of my house, and I think Karin did mention that I was yelling last night, but I do not remember all of that. Anything strange that happened? The only thing I could remember was taking care of some Hollows yesterday, so how? Maybe it might be the work of my Hollow?' Ichigo absentmindedly rubbed over a spot that was itching all day, maybe some mosquito bit him at night? 'So what the hell was with mine?!' He thought in frustration. This entire situation was confusing, and with almost no answers, he was getting more and more frustrated.
Lost deep in his thoughts, Ichigo didn't notice a blonde-haired guy taking residence in the seat next to him. The guy's brown eyes stared at Ichigo curiously, the grin he held revealed his upper teeth. He was in a regular high school uniform but fiddled with the blue bowtie slightly to try and draw Ichigo's attention. He realized the boy was lost in thought and let his hand drop, clearing his throat slightly. "Well, looks like you and I are gonna be neighbors, yeah? I hope we can be friends." Shinji remarked on his presence to be known next to the carrot top.
At the sound of an unfamiliar voice, Ichigo snapped back. "Huh?" he looked over and saw the grinning blonde. "Oh, sure, why not," Ichigo muttered with a frown. Something about this guy felt odd… 'If I also remember correctly, there was a strange vibration going on in my head. That one definitely never happened before.'
"Wait, are you… holy crap, it really is you! I mean, I should have still expected but holy crap!"
Ichigo turned his head upwards in irritation. "What the hell are you talking—" Ichigo's head perks up looking to see who was talking to him right now. When he saw who it was, it took a short time for him to recognize who it had been. Needless to say, he was surprised. "Uh…?"
"Oh, guess you don't really recognize me much correct? But I'm the new exchange student, Harry Osborn, I believe we have met once or twice in middle school." The boy politely extended his arm.
"Oh right, I think I did remember you. Yeah, I think we worked together on an English project?"
"Both of you can talk about your pasts on lunch break because let me remind you that your class is still in order," Ochi states with a stern tone in her voice before changing to her usual happy-go-lucky tone as she continued her lecture.
The usual group of guys was hanging out on the school rooftop for a lunch break. A new member had, to no one's surprise, joined their ranks, situating himself right next to Ichigo as though he sat there every day. Harry Osborn looked nothing but relaxed, while the rest of the guys were made awkwardly silent by the new addition.
"Alright, spill it, just what are you doing back here again?" Ichigo asked, being the first to break the silence as he was having juice in his hand, giving his former classmate a questionable look.
"Oh come on, don't be so cold like that." Harry semi-joked. "We haven't seen each other in a long time and this is how you treat me?"
"I've known you for like a couple of months at most."
"I hate to interrupt your reunion, but how do you two know each other?" Uryu asked as he was curious to know about this. Ichigo never really mentioned anything about old friends. Then again there probably wasn't a reason for him to do so.
"We aren't exactly friends, really, we just met in middle school. Chad met the guy too. We used to be classmates and mostly sat close in English Class." Ichigo then waved his hand over to each member. "So, Harry, these guys over here are Uryu, Mizuiro, and lastly, Keigo."
"HEY! Saying it like that, you're implying that there is something wrong with me, Ichigo!" Keigo whined.
Harry whispered to Ichigo. "Is he always like this?" he asked, looking genuinely concerned about Keigo's outbursting behavior.
"Unfortunately he is." Ichigo nonchalantly replied. "It's best not to deal with him."
"Right... I'll keep that in mind…"
"So, how's your life been?"
"It's been okay for the most part, honestly," Harry answered, shrugging his shoulders.
Later at the Harbor
At the end of the school day, Ichigo went to find a place where he could test out the strange new powers he'd found himself with. He knew he had to grasp some sort of understanding about the powers, and the place where he was going to was an area that consisted of multiple warehouses. The inside of the place looked rather dirty by itself as if it hadn't been cleaned in quite a long time. Scattered around were a set of boxes and pipes that lay around on the ground.
The high schooler was trying to grasp the current situation of his newfound abilities. During the time passing around for one hour, he managed to discover new things about these powers. He managed to discover that all of the physical enhancements in his human form have been enhanced tremendously unlike how they were before.
Despite all these physical abilities that Ichigo was impressed with, he didn't think they were much comparable to his Soul Reaper powers. Though wanting to do one last test, he went ahead to see just how far he could jump. He made a small sprint before going ahead to leap away from the ground, but the results weren't like what he expected them to be. Ichigo managed to easily rip through the metal rooftop as he leaped right through, causing a hole to be seen.
Ichigo kept falling in the air, but his body reacted by itself as he landed on the concrete ground without any sort of negative impact on his body. He barely felt anything when he landed. "Wow… talk about getting a new set of endurance," he told himself, as he checked out to see his clenched fist, only for it to feel perfectly fine. "Alright... I think that's about enough for today," he said, as he started to run back home.
A day already passed by. And Ichigo still wanted to have things figured out with his powers. So far there hadn't been much new, aside from his new abilities. Although he did manage to discover something else. The strange vibration that rang in his head the last time around rang once again when his father kept attacking him several times.
The sensation of it felt rather odd. It happened during the time of some attack that he faced. This sonar acted up every time he had been attacked in some shape or form, in addition: it was reacting whenever he was in danger. Ichigo didn't have any doubts anymore that it could either be his Hollow or something else has been the cause of these abilities. Though it made him realize that his teacher brought along a weird spider to the school.
Besides that, wanted to see if he could somehow go far enough to see how much he could take his new powers into. Which meant... he would have to go to Urahara's place.
Going to the store the teen knocked on the door, holding the box in his hands where his spider was, before the man in the bucket hat opened the door.
"Hello! And to what do I owe the visit of one of my favorite customers?" The blonde asked as he allowed the teen to enter the shop.
Ichigo just seemed to avoid his gaze as they entered a room where they sat. Urahara made an expression as if he was waiting for something before Ichigo sighed. Extending his hands, his nails took the form of claws again, surprising the scientist. "I see... I assume you would think this might be from your Hollow?" The man in the hat said as he held Ichigo's palm, examining the claws when he saw a strange spot on the wrists. "Ichigo, curl your hand into a fist..."
Nodding, Kurosaki closed his hand with his middle and ring finger pressing the edge, and with that a thread of spider webbing shot out of his wrist, surprising him again. "Either it's my Hollow, or that spider I was taking care of is somehow involved," Ichigo muttered as Urahara slowly nodded.
"May I see it?" The blonde asked, and Ichigo nodded as he opened his bag, showing the glass cage where the spider resided. The shopkeeper hums in thought. "I see... do you know how long your project lasts? I will plan on getting some tests on this little guy later." He said as he observed the unusual color scheme of the spider. "I believe you should try to test your newfound abilities at some point, see if they're safe to use. You wouldn't want to hug your sisters and suddenly claws come out and pierce their bodies, would you?" Urahara said with his hat and hair shadowing his face, he was serious.
Ichigo widened his eyes at the mere idea of his sisters being hurt by him, he never would let something like that happen. Understanding the situation he nodded, unlike his Soul Reaper powers, these abilities manifested on his human body and as such, they needed a much more careful handle than what his normal powers had. Sighing, he hid away the spider before thanking Urahara. He bid farewell to the former Captain as he left the shop.
The sun was starting to quickly settle down as he realized he needed to get home quickly or else Yuzu might get mad. He then heard the sound of sirens coming very close by. He checked to see what the commotion was about and he saw a thief driving a car across the street from where he was, along with a police car chasing after it.
"Huh… some crime is happening," Ichigo muttered, taking a step closer to the outside. "Maybe I could check out and—" he stopped his foot when he realized what he said. "... Man, Yuzu is so getting mad at me" He then sprinted in the direction of the sirens, surprising himself once again at how fast he could move, he was even faster than Kon.
Later…
Alright… these things were more complicated than he thought. Jumping over an entire house he kept a constant movement to not be noticed along with the momentum that carried his moves. He realized that he felt an almost unnatural affinity for some of these movements. Maybe he could get Yoruichi to help him with this. He was no master of free-running, nor hand-to-hand combat. Sure he could beat Tatsuki, but that's because he was already naturally much stronger and faster than her.
And speaking of speed, he overshot so much that he missed the chase... Man, now he felt embarrassed with himself, he wanted to try and help but he couldn't even do that. He was close to one of Orihime's friend's houses so he could try to go there and visit, maybe get Tatsuki to go home with him so that his family wouldn't chew him out. But just as he got close, he heard frantic screaming, it sounded like one of Orihime's friends speaking, as if she was trying to defuse a situation.
Knowing this could turn south, and worried about their safety, the orange-haired teen picked up the pace and jogged but just as he was about to turn the street, a blazing gunshot noise reached his ears, the sound that a common gun could make would be enough to make the people in the nearby house come to check what was happening, which he knew that meant he would need to get there quickly. As he arrived and saw what happened, all color drained from his face as he stood in shock at the sight in front of him. It was Orihime, leaning on a wall as she held her gut, her friends, especially Tatsuki, were frozen in shock at what they were seeing.
"Orihime!" Ichigo yelled out his friend's name in genuine worry. Close by was a guy that looked to be grinning and held a gun of his own, until that grin was replaced with terror as he saw Ichigo. He needed to reload his gun from that last shot, which he didn't have time for, so he threw away his gun in the direction of a sewer and started to run away. Ichigo ran to the side of Orihime, putting his arm around her back and holding her to his side as blood dangerously spread from the wound.
"I... Ichigo…" Orihime dropped down to her knees as she kept her hold on him.
"Orihime, don't speak, just concentrate on your breathing!" Ichigo frantically looked at the position where the thug left and saw his gun, he could still see the guy running in the distance. He would pay. Looking to Tatsuki he saw her overcome her shock before coming to aid her friend.
"Ichigo!" Both childhood friends perked up as they saw Sado arriving too, who felt their Spiritual Energies gathering, and once he heard the shot he came here quickly. "What happened here?!" The gentle giant spoke loudly, as usual, it was rare for Sado to be loud like this.
As Tatsuki explained the situation, Ichigo slowly let go of her as Sado picked her up. Ichigo looked at them with an intense stare and a growl left his throat. "Take her to the clinic, Dad should be able to help her."
Chad nodded before he started running home. Thankfully the clinic was the closest place she could get treated at. Walking over to the gun, Ichigo picked it up and looked at it as Tatsuki stared at him with worry, and with a nod, Ichigo put the handgun in his pocket as both of them ran off to the clinic quickly followed by Orihime's other friends. 'What the hell just happened?! How did — why did Orihime get shot?! What could they have been doing in the middle of the night?! Why did I stand around?!' Ichigo thought as he started to panic for the girl Chad held in his arms. 'I should have done it! Why didn't I?!'
It took a very short time for him to reach his home. When that happened, Ichigo burst into his house with a frantic look on his face. "DAD!" he yelled in panic as loud as he could.
Isshin came rushing down the halls, hearing his son's frantic cry. "Hey, what's going on—" he stopped in his tracks when he saw the condition that Orihime was in. "Holy shit — get her in the operating room! I'll get to work right away!"
Sado rushed into the exam room with Orihime as his father holds the door open for him. He gently places her down, seeing her face contorted in pain. Yuzu and Karin appeared at the door while their father started grabbing different things around. The two younger sisters had shocked looks on their faces when they saw the state of the patient in the operating room. Yuzu was rushing to help her father get the medical supplies needed. On the other hand, Karin pushed her brother away from the room. Ichigo couldn't know what was happening, for his body to be pushed back like this. The weight of it was starting to become heavier, with each second ticking by, all he could do was just watch.
He didn't know what he could do.
He didn't know what he should do.
He should just let his dad work, after all, he has been doing cases with his patients for years now, so he should technically know what he's doing. And yet there was this familiar quench of guilt that was eating at him. Ichigo headed to his living room, landing face-first on the couch. Soon enough Tatsuki came back and sat close to him. Both of them had similar thoughts racing through their heads.
'I wasn't even there when it happened, so why do I feel like I became a failure?' Ichigo thought, his face quenching to a frown. 'I wasn't there, yet I feel as though I should have been. I should have been the one to save her, to stop her from getting shot by the asshole who did this to her!'
He could technically go after the guy that did it, but what would be the point? He was probably long gone by now, and he didn't know how to track people... although... that jacket he wore looked very familiar to him...
Ichigo clenched his hand onto his sheets. 'I should have protected her somehow. She was a close friend to me. I do not fully understand this mutation… it could be used to help my friends… helping other people.' It was starting to get in his mind again. 'I could make it up to her. No. I should make it up for myself. Be better than what I was now. Use the powers to help others. To help…' Looking at his friend, he saw that she was sleeping with a frown on her face, right, he would have to inform her parents that Tatsuki would be staying in the night.
"So… how is she?" Ichigo asked his dad, who had been standing in the doorway in front of him as Ichigo was in his room. His heart was beating faster than it had been before. The anticipation of the news he would receive was killing him. But he was going to know, whether he liked it or not.
Isshin made a long sigh. It was already been about an hour or two since Orihime had gotten to the room, and he went to his son's room to inform him of the update. ''Well, the good news is that she'll live, and she's stabilized as well. That gunshot hadn't fully pierced through her body, so it made it easier to patch up her wounds. You can go see her if you want." he informed his son.
Ichigo nodded his head. "That's great to hear." he then started to walk past his old man. "Also, Tatsuki is staying the night here, she ended up sleeping and I don't really wanna wake her up."
Isshin just smiled a bit as he went to the dining where the phone was. "Sure thing, I'll call her parents and inform them."
Ichigo nodded as he thanked his dad before he left his room and went to the clinic so he could see how Orihime was doing. "Hey." he greeted her as he walked into the room.
"Oh, hi Ichigo!" Orihime cheerfully exclaimed.
"How are you feeling?" Ichigo asked as he sat down on a chair that was next to her bed.
"Never felt better now!" Orihime started to flap her arms as if to show she looked and felt fine. But she stopped when a sharp pain erupted in her stomach.
"Easy there, I don't think you've fully healed yet," Ichigo said. "Maybe you should use your powers to heal yourself."
"I really can't, since I may have overused my hairpins with the whole situation with the Bounts." Orihime made a small childish chuckle. ''It's fine. I can get back to health in no time!"
Ichigo had a small smile on him. "Right... I somehow don't doubt it." he was starting to consider telling her about his newfound powers. It would be nice to have someone to talk about it to. "Though… there is kinda something I wanted to talk to you about."
Orihime looked at him with curiosity. "Really? What would that be?"
"It's just… something I did discover, but promise that you won't get to freak out much."
"It's fine. Though what is it you wanted to show me?"
Ichigo looked at the window and then at the door before showing his hands to Orihime as his claws soon popped out surprising the young healer. Her eyes widened as she stared at the sharp tips of his fingers. They seemed like they were made to hurt others or climb walls...
"How did this happen, Ichigo?" The auburn-haired princess asked as a puzzled look took her features.
"Well, you know about those small animals that we had to take care of?" Orihime nodded her head. "Well, while I was taking care of my spider, the thing bit me when I was sleeping I guess. After a day of that, I discovered that I had gained these things...So far all that I know is that I'm stronger, I barely can control my speed, I have these claws to climb walls and recently I discovered I could shoot some type of webbing." he explained to her.
Orihime seemed rather impressed by all of this. "That sounds so cool! But wait, how come you didn't tell anyone about this?"
Ichigo scratched his hair. "I did tell Kisuke about this actually, and that's how I found out about the webs. Kisuke told me he would research this and figure out what it is and then I just decided to go home. But then I heard the sound of the gunshot that happened and well…" he then leaped back down and sat on the chair again. "That reminds me though… what exactly were you doing there in the middle of the night?"
This was where Orihime made an embarrassed smile. "Well, I kind of forgot to buy Red Bean Paste for what I was going to eat for dinner, and then there was this guy wearing that jacket who tried to mug us—"
Ichigo stopped her there. ''Alright... I think I do get everything for the most part."
"Yeah…" Orihime tapped her index fingers together a few times. "I kinda let my guard down as well. I didn't think I would need to raise it until the last second."
Ichigo merely sighed at this. ''You really shouldn't just do that. You got to be more careful next time."
"I will, I will!" Orihime exclaimed. "Although… what are you gonna do?"
"What do you mean?"
"These new… powers of yours. Do you know what you could do with them?" Orihime asked.
Ichigo went silent for a moment before he went ahead to answer her. "Actually, I kinda have. I'm not sure just how much I could be capable of doing stuff with these new abilities… but I do think it might just be enough to solve all this." he looked down at the palm of his right hand. "Who knows, maybe I'll end up being a Hero in a way."
Orihime raised her eyebrows in confusion at the answer she had been given. "A Hero?"
Ichigo nodded his head. "Yeah, I wanna be better than what I was today. I doubt these new powers would be that useful in the upcoming war since they only affect my human body, but maybe I could use these to help people and take out those bastards from the streets. It's the very least I could make up for the mistake I made."
"You… you don't really have to—"
"It's my choice. I wanna make up for what I've done. Besides…" Ichigo made a grin. "You did ask me what I could use these for. And I do think that this might be the best decision for that."
"Well… if you say so." Orihime still hadn't been fully sure of what he meant, but if this was what he wanted then she wouldn't stop him. "Anyway... I feel kinda tired. I think I'll just head to sleep."
"Sure, that sounds good," Ichigo said, seeing Orihime lying down fully to cover herself with a blanket she had. "So, good night."
"Good night."
Ichigo got up from his seat and started to leave the room. 'No matter what happens...Whatever these powers may I'll use them to the best of my ability, I won't let anyone else get hurt like you...Or Mom...'
Gonna have to rewrite the beginning chapters, mostly due to the different plot happening this time around to become relevant as to what's currently happening in the story. I wanna thank my Co-Author for taking the time to write this for me and letting me edit this, just so the grammar could have a more smooth polish to read through.