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-Use Bleach When Required-

San: First Encounter

If one was to think constantly of death, the business of life would stand still.

- Samuel Johnson

The park was completely empty, except for the fact that a young girl was being chased by a large, hulking monster. The little girl screamed as she tripped over the small wooden wall of the sandpit, she rolled over onto her back, holding her hands up in front of her face as she screamed loudly once more.

The monster towered over her; its large masked head in the shape of an insect, on it's back were two large wings that were flapping repeatedly. Four long, lanky limbs sprouted out of it as its jaws opened up wide as the Hollow loomed in on the girl.

"No! Someone help me!" The girl cried, sobbing. The Hollow was inches from the girl when suddenly she was whisked away, disappearing from underneath the Hollow. The young girl looked up into the face of her savior. It was a young woman, her face set in hard determination as her sapphire eyes narrowed at the Hollow in front of her. Sanae set the girl down on the ground, which was oddly weird for her seeing as the girl was a soul and wasn't actually alive or weighing anything in her arms.

Sanae looked down at the girl, "You need to run away."

"What about you?" The girl cried in uncertainty.

Sanae smiled at her reassuringly, "Don't worry about me. Now hurry up, before you get eaten!" Sanae motioned for her to go as the little girls wide eyes darted from Sanae to the Hollow and then back to Sanae. She didn't need to be told another time as she turned on her heel and sprinted out of the park.

Sanae faced the Hollow as it came cantering at her, as it approached her it opened its jaws and let out a loud wail that caused Sanae to flinch slightly. The Hollow's large hand was heading straight for her as Sanae dodged out of the way, leaping into the air; she heard the movement as she saw the wing heading straight for her. Sanae held her arms up to block the blow as she felt the wing slam into her body as she was sent sailing through the air.

Sanae hit the play equipment painfully as she cried out, her ribs bruising as she hissed and pushed herself up onto her elbows, damn, it's been a while since I fought a Hollow head on, she thought to herself regretfully. Her head snapped up to meet the glowing yellow eyes of the Hollow as it charged at her once more. Sanae clambered to her feet and rolled out of the way as the Hollow destroyed the equipment behind her, she turned her head, her eyes widening as she only had a split second to react as one of it's long arms swung out, intending to grab her. Sanae jumped out of the way, her heart pounding. She yelped when she felt sharp claws dig into the tender flesh of her skin, she looked down, seeing its hand wrapped around her ankle as it pulled her back down to the ground. Sanae cried out in agony when she was slammed against the hard ground. Her eyes rolled for a second and the wind was forced out of her lungs as she tried gasping for air.

She struggled when the Hollow grabbed her body. The Hollow lifted her into the air as Sanae wriggled around, trying to get loose from its tight grip. The Hollow screeched in her face as Sanae glared at the beast. Its wide jaws opened up; intent on eating her even though she wasn't a soul.

The sound of a sword slicing through rough flesh was heard as Sanae felt the hand gripping her body fall back to the ground roughly. The Hollow's hand slackened, allowing Sanae to pry the fingers off her body as she scanned the area trying to find the person responsible for saving her. She spotted a mop of messy orange hair, slashing wildly at the Hollow as Sanae easily recognized him as Ichigo. It wasn't long before Ichigo let out an almighty cry as he sliced the Hollow down the front of its face, effectively killing the beast. Sanae saw the hand she was still curled up in disappear under her as she was suddenly hitting the hard concrete; she winced in pain, still sore from being thrown around by the Hollow.

There were footsteps coming closer to her as Sanae raised her head and met Ichigo's stunned tawny gaze, "Kagawa…" he muttered.

Sanae pushed herself up onto her feet and brushed down her clothes, wincing from the tightness coming from her ribs and the pounding headache she had behind her eyes.

"You can see me, can't you." Ichigo stated. Sanae held his gaze but didn't make any movement to either confirm or deny it.

"Ichigo!" Rukia called from the side, running over to him, she was panting heavily as she hunched over, clutching her knees. "We need to find that soul and perform the Konsō."

"Oi, Rukia…" Ichigo hissed as he pointed to Sanae who was standing not three feet away from them. The chocolate haired girl was clutching her stomach, thinking that if she let go her ribs might fall out; Sanae didn't think they were broken; she was just going to have a hell of a bruise in the morning.

Rukia's violet gaze followed Ichigo's finger as her eyes settled on Sanae, "Who's that?"

Ichigo spluttered as he zipped to her side, leaning down and hissing in her ear, "Kagawa! She's the new transfer in our class!"

"Oh!" Rukia exclaimed in surprise, her demeanor changing, she suddenly grinned, her smile going from ear to ear, "Hello, Kagawa-san! What a pleasure to see you here! Are you just passing through?"

Ichigo smacked his forehead and groaned in frustration. Sanae in return quirked an eyebrow at Rukia. Ichigo patted Rukia on the shoulder to grab her attention, "She can see me, Rukia."

"Oh," said the raven-haired girl.

Something was bothering Ichigo as he stepped closer to Sanae, drawing her attention away from the tiny black haired woman, "That wasn't the first Hollow you've seen, was it." He stated, frowning down at her. It took her a moment, but Sanae finally shook her head, it didn't escape Ichigo's knowledge that she hadn't spoken a word since he had appeared in the park.

"Ichigo, we need to find that soul." Rukia reminded him as Ichigo tore his eyes away from the brown haired girl. There was something strange about Sanae, she wasn't reacting like a normal human would when confronted with a situation like this, and it was as if she had seen someone like him before.

"Oh—uh yeah," Ichigo replied, turning away from Sanae and hurrying after the short girl.

Sanae watched them go, after they were out of her sight she let out a sigh of relief, her ribs protesting at the movement of her diaphragm. She took a step forward and winced, hissing as a pain shot up her left leg. She glanced down and saw blood coating the back of her leg, a long gash running down the length of her shin.

"Damn," she whispered to herself. She remembered the Hollow had grabbed her leg before throwing her to the floor. Now that she was aware of the wound it began to sting more and more by the second, the adrenaline that had been coursing through her veins from the fight was slowly wearing off. Sanae hobbled over to the nearest bench, collapsing onto the wood as she angled her leg to get a better look at her gash. It was long, but didn't look that deep, it looked like the bleeding had already stopped, Sanae hoped that a little water and some bandages would fix it up nicely.

It was only a few minutes later when she heard footsteps approaching; she glanced up, her chocolate coloured hair falling into her eyes as she brushed it away.

"Hey." Ichigo said to her. Sanae noticed that he was back in his own body, his grey jacket wasn't done up, his shirt un-tucked and his shoulder bag placed across his chest. She watched as his tawny coloured eyes lowered until they settled on her shin. "That looks like it hurts." He stated. Sanae still didn't say anything to him. Ichigo tried not to let his frustration show at the silent girl, he knew she could talk obviously, but for some reason she was choosing not to right now. He sighed heavily and rubbed the back of his head, looking at her leg, he couldn't leave her like this.

"That soul said you saved her, so I guess it's only fair that I help you. Come on, my dad's a doctor, he'll help you."

"I'm fine," her voice was so quiet that Ichigo nearly missed it. If he hadn't been watching her face, he would've thought he'd imagined her speaking to him, and then what she actually said registered in his mind as he frowned down at her.

"You're obviously not, dummy. Why are you so against me helping you? You said the same thing the other day." He was referring to when they had first met; she had a cut on her leg then and had refused assistance then too. Sanae angled her face away from his glowering gaze, Ichigo let out another frustrated sigh as he turned, "Fine, whatever. Get an infection." He started to walk away, he resolved to himself that if she really didn't want his help them he wouldn't press her, she could do whatever the hell she wanted to.

"Wait."

Ichigo stopped; he turned his head and saw Sanae standing, one hand held tightly to her chest. Ichigo saw that she was leaning heavily on her right side; she wasn't putting any weight on her injured leg at all. "I would…like your help." Ichigo nodded with his head for her to follow, he saw her take a tentative step, then wince painfully as she tried to walk on her injured leg. Ichigo blew out hot air as he strolled over to her.

Sanae watched with wide eyes as Ichigo crouched in front of her, offering her his back. A pink blush danced across her cheeks, "I-I can walk."

"Just get on." Ichigo all but growled at her, he was getting annoyed with her constant deflections.

"Are you sure?" She asked, her voice kind.

"I wouldn't be doing it if I wasn't." He muttered grumpily. It took a few seconds, but Sanae finally approached him at a limp, her arms dropped over his shoulders as she hiked one leg up as Ichigo's arm hooked under knees and hoisted her up onto his back. He was careful to not move his arm too close to her injured leg, and with that Ichigo took off at a brisk walk, hoping that he wouldn't run into anyone he knew with the quiet girl hanging off his back.

Ichigo arrived at his home a short time later, Sanae was still clinging onto his back but hadn't said a word to him since they had left the park, he didn't mind, he wasn't really one for talking. He opened the front door and set Sanae down on the floor as she immediately leaned against the wall.

"Thank you," she said, her voice a little louder because of the enclosed space, but she still had the insecure and timid tone. He thought it was odd, the other night when he had run into her in the street; he hadn't been able to stop her from talking his ear off. Now it was a mission to get three words out of her. She's strange, he thought. Ichigo sat on the floor and slipped his shoes off, placing them on the rack neatly, knowing that if he didn't he'd get an earful from Yuzu. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Sanae bent down and managed to get her shoes off, albeit one had a decent amount of blood coating the brown leather, and her one sock was stained with blood also.

"Come on." Ichigo beckoned her to the door at the end of the hall; Sanae was able to use the wall as her crutch as she followed Ichigo. He opened up the door and was immediately greeted with a scene that didn't surprise him.

"Get lost, waste of space!" A young, high-pitched voice screamed.

Sanae ducked down and peered around Ichigo's body as she watched with wide eyes. A young girl, with black hair to her shoulders roundhouse kicked a man Sanae assumed to be Ichigo's father as he went sailing through the air and crashed face first into the wall by the door that Ichigo had just opened.

"Karin-chan!" Another voice said, this one a lot more feminine then the first girl. Sanae's eyes drifted over to the second girl, she was the same age as the girl she assumed to be Karin, but her hair was a light brown and even shorter then Karin's.

"Ichi-nii!" Karin exclaimed, finally seeing Ichigo in the doorway.

"I'm home, Yuzu, Karin."

So the other girls name was Yuzu, Sanae's sapphire eyes went from one girl to the other, and then up to Ichigo.

Yuzu?

Karin?

Ichigo?

Sanae stifled a giggle, covering her mouth with her hand. Someone in Ichigo's family really liked fruits. Sanae realized her mistake a second after Ichigo turned around to see what she had quietly giggled at, doing so had moved his body, letting her be seen by the three occupants in the room.

Yuzu gasped, "Onii-chan brought a girl home!"

"It's not like that." Ichigo said immediately, knowing that his family would react that way. "Oyaji." Ichigo spoke to his father, who had composed himself and was peering around his son to get a better look at the mysterious girl, "Can you help her, she's hurt."

Isshin gasped, "You can count on me!" He gave a big thumb up, grinning from ear to ear. Ichigo rolled his eyes at his old man and let Sanae passed and into the room. Sanae was immediately swept up off her feet as Isshin carried her into the medical clinic once he saw her injured leg.

"I hope you didn't let her walk with that injured leg, Onii-chan," Yuzu scolded her older brother gently as Ichigo gave her a silent look.

X

Sanae was told to sit in the armchair as Isshin brought over a small stool and his medical equipment. Her injured led was propped up on his thigh as he took a look at the wound. Sanae noticed the way his had gone serious, he was a much different man then before. He started to clean to wound with alcohol and wipes, Sanae tried hard not to flinch.

"So you're a friend of Ichigo's, huh?" Isshin murmured, trying to distract her from the pain.

"I wouldn't say we're friends," Sanae said. "I mean, I only just started at the high school last week." Sanae quickly corrected.

Once Isshin was done cleaning her leg he started to apply some gauze and bandages around her shin. "Well, I'm Kurosaki Isshin, Ichigo's father if you didn't already guess."

"Kagawa Sanae. Thank you for doing this, you didn't have to."

"Nonsense." Isshin said with another grin, "I'm glad my idiot son brought you here. I would've beaten him to a pulp if I found out that he didn't help you!" Isshin declared boisterously.

"You could try." Ichigo's voice said as he appeared in the room, tugging the curtain back a little more, "And I'm not that heartless to leave someone when they're injured. Even if they were being annoying about it." He said with a pointed glare at Sanae as she ducked her head, turning away from his intense stare.

"There we go!" Isshin said in delight, using the little butterfly clips to pin the bandage together. He muttered something about painkillers as the older man got up and started rummaging around the cabinets in the clinic.

"Yuzu wants to know if you'll stay for dinner?" Ichigo asked, obviously uncomfortable about asking such a question to a girl he hardly knew. What he really wanted to do was ask her about how long she had been able to see Souls and Hollows, but he couldn't do it around his dad and sisters.

Sanae jumped like she had been burned, "Oh! No that's ok!" She waved her hands in front of her face wildly. "I really should be getting home, my guardian will be wondering where I am." Sanae's voice lowered slightly as she lightly rubbed her neck. Ichigo stared at her in confusion; she was now acting like how he had met her the other night, bright and loud. She really is strange, he thought. Then another thought crossed his mind.

"Guardian?"

Sanae turned her face to look out the window, noticing the sky turning orange, "My parents died a long time ago." Sanae missed the sympathetic look Ichigo gave her. All of a sudden, Ichigo felt a painful kick to the side of his face as he was launched across the room, hitting the wall.

"What the hell?" Ichigo shouted, one hand holding his cheek as he glowered at his father who was crouched, ready for another attack.

"What kind of son have I raised if he won't even offer to walk a helpless girl home!"

"Shut up! You didn't even give me a chance too!" Ichigo bellowed back. Both Kurosaki's were chest to chest as they started shouting at each other backwards and forwards. That was until they both heard the unmistakable sound of the window shutting. Ichigo turned and peered into the room where Sanae had been sitting, only she wasn't there anymore.

"Kagawa?" Ichigo muttered her name. Something caught his eye on the chair, a small note, a pen left beside it as he picked it up; not surprised to see a small 'thank you' scribbled in neat handwriting on the paper.

"Look, you scared her off." Isshin exclaimed, crossing his arms and looking grumpy.

Ichigo furrowed his brow, spinning around, "If anyone it was you old man!"

A/N:

I am so sorry it's been over a month since I posted a chapter. Life got in the way for me and I literally had no spare time for a while there! I do promise to get more chapters out frequently! Thank you so much to Nixxon Mysterio and Guest for reviewing and thank you to the 15 people who followed and the 13 who favourited this story!