Bleach: The Alternate Tale

by blackout2010

We all know that Ichigo Kurosaki was a human who became a Shinigami, but what would happen if he was always a Shinigami when the events of bleach happened, perhaps an altered story. Very minor crossover with Sakura Wars. A/U A/T. Contains incest in later parts.

27. Ground zero to the future

Once upon a time there was a fic…and it was filled with cheap clichés and catch phrases…

Blackout2010: This fic 400% more awesome then the next leading competitor AND is scientifically proven to break monotony! Ya get that? Means it's a fact, jack!

D. Mirokumaru: INSERT SEXUAL INNUENDO!

It had the oddest cast…

Masaki: Lovey~!

Isshin: Dovey~!

Yumichika: GAAAY!

Nanao: PDA reee-jected.

Strange heroes…

Soifon: W-who care if you think I'm Tsundere, stupid…

Senna: I'm not Yandere! Everyone's a little crazy on the inside right? RIGHT!?

Ichigo: My luck stat just hit negative something…better change my life status from S.O.L to F.M.L…

Contemptible villains…

Aizen: I AM YOUR NEW RELIGION! GET ON YOUR KNEES!

Tosen: I'M WHAT HAPPENS WHEN MORGAN FREEMAN GETS HIGH ON JUSTICE!

Gin:…ukitake likes little boys…

And…recurring satellite characters

Toshiro: What was that Gin!?

Ukitake: CANDYYYY!

Unohana: Strangely…enticing.

Zaraki: GAY AGAIN!

Yachiru: YAY!

All of these strange things came together into one documentary that would shatter a lifetime.

Shinjiro: That…isn't true…

Grimmjow: PLAY THE DAMN FOOTAGE WHITE BOY!

Ulquiorria:…ass… (hits play)

---

Chapter 27: ground zero towards the future

In the early morning hours, a figure was stirring in the bed. The person lazily opened one of her eyes revealing amber orbs inside of them, as she looked to the nightstand next to her. "Dang, still an hour early." She quietly read the alarm clock, mentally cursing to herself for still getting up as early as she did.

Moving an arm from underneath the warm blanket, she hit the alarm button of her clock into the off position, since it was useless at this point, and pushed herself off the bed, the woman's purple hair swaying against her movements.

"(Yawn)...it's hard to believe today's the first day of school." Senna said to herself as she raised her arms over her head to stretch her body. 'Hard to believe my summer adventure through Soul Society happened nearly two months ago…' she recounted as her eyes moved over to the dresser and saw the picture of her and her dad standing side by side with smiling faces, holding up some fish they caught from the Samgawa river.

The girl bit her lip reminded of her father. It had been three days after the incident at the Fon family estate when she, Ichigo, and Soifon were able to go visit Kukaku again; due to the time constraints of the reconstruction effort, and her own training regiment oversaw by her Sensei's Yoruichi and Shaolin.

When they arrived at the residence, they found the sobered up heiress barking orders at the cowering twins, who clutched each other as the firecracker pointed in the direction of Rukongai. When they asked her about the whereabouts of Ein, the woman's face fell; although she didn't want to give them more bad news, she told them that the man had left the house nearly two and half weeks ago.

Time seemed to stand still for Senna and her memory became hazy. She remembered fleeing the house as fast as she could before jumping unto her Shakujo and taking to the air. She flew from one end of the horizon to the other, searching from the rooftop of the illustrious mansions of the nobles to speeding through the most violent back alleyways. She looked frantically through the droves of souls, screaming out for him as she hovered in the air, looking for any small trace of her father.

Her cries seemed to fall on deaf ears on the populace, who were used to hearing such pleas separated families. The fact that she was a Shinigami only seemed to alienate her more; to some it was even a welcome change, to see a Shinigami know their misery.

Several hours later, Senna was located by Ichigo and Shaolin. While initially insistent in continuing the search, despite the approaching nightfall, the pair managed to pacify her, before telling her that it was unlikely her father was still around. As they walked back home, they told her the rest of Kukaku's account of what had happened.

How Ein learned that the infiltration team went on ahead of him, and how he set out to chase them, beating down Kukaku and her two servants, when they tried to stop him from going to the hornet's nest that the south gate would turn into. The hopeful teenager was about to suggest that they look inside for him, when Shaolin told her that it was impossible. She then recounted Omeada's and Kiyone's report on what occurred outside the gate where an unknown assailant decimated the Shinigami forces before entering inside the Seireitei and disappearing.

Ichigo then told her that according to the description and Kukaku's account, all fingers pointed at Senna's father from the human world, Ein, as the culprit. Before Senna could make a plea of amnesty, the captain assured her that she wouldn't share the information with the Gotei 13, but grimly told her that the spiritual pressure for the unknown entity was lost; which meant that more than likely, the man was dead.

Back in her room at the squad barrack, Senna would stare solemnly into the bathroom mirror, silently digging her nails into her fists, almost to the point where she'd draw blood. She would just stand and stare into it for hours before finally turning into bed, her body soaking in the cold truth revealed to her. Not even Mirokumaru, who delighted in tormenting and frustrating her, had the audacity to do her usual antics; instead, she was quietly giving her favorite servant space to move on.

When she woke up, her body felt cold and numb inside, but she couldn't bring herself to show it, so instead she simulated her usual peppy self, smiling and laughing with the people around her, but her eyes were cold and lifeless.

She kept this act up for a few days and it seemed to work, but she had a feeling that Ichigo and Shaolin noticed the lack of genuine gusto, but chose not to comment out of respect for her, and the belief that if she had some time she'd be able to come to terms.

That hope was easily shattered, when it became readily apparent to the two of them that the girl was just bottling up her pain by recklessly throwing herself into her training. Each day she worked herself harder and harder, pushing her body beyond what was safe. In act which worried her sensei Shaolin, who in turn looked to Ichigo, believing that the heart-broken girl would be more likely to listen to her brother, and the man she loved, than her friend.

As Senna was training in the field alone, Ichigo flash stepped in surprising her. She hadn't even managed to give a plastic smile, before he forcibly took away her Zanpaktou, and told her to stop. At first, she resisted verbally, defiant and sarcastic, before taking her blade back and angrily attacking him, stubbornly telling him that she was 'all right', and that he should mind his own business.

But, as Ichigo continued to talk to her in between attacks, he reminded her that he too knew what it was like to lose a family member and how much it had hurt him; his pain from losing his mother surfacing in his words. He then started telling her how much Shaolin was tearing her hair out, wondering how to help before admitting that she couldn't do it on her own and needed help. How much Kukaku wished that she had been strong enough to stop him from going to Seireitei in the first place. How her father entrusted her to him and wouldn't want her beating herself up over something she couldn't control.

He continued talking to her, slowly coaxing her to listen to his comforting words, while he closed the distance. Finally the young woman collapsed on her knees crying her eyes out; her loud sobs revealing just how she really felt inside, how much she really was hurting and pretending to deny of its existence.

Ichigo grimaced as he pulled her into his chest, quietly rubbing the small of her back as she wailed. After several minutes, Ichigo told her that doing what she was doing: denying how she felt, not taking care of herself, pushing people away; these weren't helping her. He begged her to stop, before she really hurt herself, once her delusion began to fall through to reality.

The young woman nodded her head silently, shaking hands clinging tightly to his shirt. After walking back with him to the barrack, where her worried sister-in-law tried valiantly to strike up a conversation, she didn't say another word the entire evening, opting to cling to her brother's arm demurely with the occasional hiccup. The most the captain got out of the red-eyed girl was an acknowledging stare before apologetic nod.

Ichigo later found her in his room later that night and allowed her to sleep in his arms the same way Shaolin had when her father died. Silently watching over the woman, like her own guardian angel.

And for the first time since finding out about her father's disappearance she felt at ease and slept peacefully.

When she awoke the following day, even she noticed that energetic, cheerful, true self returned back to her. So with hope in her heart she returned back to looking positively at the future and it's possibilities.

This brought her back to the one place where those possibilities could come to fruition, her home. The home her father owned in the human world, to return to school, the place where she could become more enlightened, and better herself, to be ready for the life that awaited her, after the war with Aizen was finally over.

"Done and done." Senna said to herself as she finished putting the finishing touches on her attire; which consisted of her ironed white shirt with brown knee length skirt, the fall version of her school clothing. She took in a breath of air and let it out as one of the two bands of hair that dangled in front of her face swayed slightly, a single red ribbon wrapped around it. She turned over to the frame of both her dad and herself, leaned in and gave it a small tender kiss.

"I love you daddy. I'll see ya later, promise." She said and then walked out the room grabbing her backpack along the way. As she exited the second floor apartment, she locked the door and proceeded down the stairs on the side to reach the street below and be on her way to school.

Senna had to admit to herself, that she was doing a fine job of readjusting back to the world of the living as quickly as she did, having really only returned three weeks ago. As she passed by the local grocery store, she saw the poster of Don Kannoji with his arms stretched out, detailing the new time for his wandering spirit's channel. She smiled bitterly at it conflicted over the memory of the abandoned hospital. Her linger uneasiness stemming from the fact that if she wasn't a Shinigami, she'd still have her father and would be enjoying a normal life.

She then shook her head, casting off those dark thoughts and replacing them with a better outlook, 'Then I never would have met Rukia-chan, Ichigo, or Shaolin-chan.' She corrected herself

"Help!" someone yelled breaking the girl from her musing, as she turned her head in the direction to see someone's hand disappearing behind a corner. The girl blinked and a wide smile broke across her face "Time to put her kung-fu training to work."

(Alley)

"What is it that you just don't understand Akashi?" a slimey looking student with greasy hair sneered in disgust as his burly friends restrained a smaller nerdy looking kid "You give us money, and we keep other kids from picking on you. It's the natural order of things," he then leaned in and punched the kid in the gut and kept doing so as he spoke "So I don't like it when you go duckin' me, when it's time to pay up." He said as he lifted the boy's head to look at him

"Don't you think that's enough?" a feminine voice called from down the alleyway, getting the attention of the ringleader

"Ha, if it isn't 'Miss unlucky' herself!" the man said with a smirk as he turned to his fellow student, smiling more at her bristling for the woman's nickname due to her position on the class roster.

"I'm surprised you'd know that name since you're always skipping class like a delinquent, Koji-san." Senna shot back trading insult for insult.

The man raised his hands towards his chest and spoke "Hey, I ain't ashamed of what I am." He then turned away from her to return to business "Now if you're done interrupting, why don't you be a good little schoolgirl and run along. A dark alley with delinquents is no place for a goody two shoes student." He heckled dismissively as he squeezed his victim's cheeks "Isn't that right Akashi-kun?"

"Oh?" Senna said as she loudly cracked her knuckles, ready for a rumble "Sounds like some wannabe badass is chickening out."

The insult had the desired effect, as the man turned back and stared at his cohorts with a look of disbelief, and then shook his head as he looked back at the purple haired girl, who he didn't expect to have a snappy side "I'm sorry." He took a couple of steps in her direction "I must of hehe, I musta heard you say something really stupid just now."

Senna placed a hand on her hips and shot a very confident smirk at him "Aww, is the big bad delinquent, getting his panties in a bunch over a 'school girl'." She then leaned forward and scowled "How pathetic."

"You little bitch!" the man yelled as he marched over, priming his arm back, to swat the insolent do-gooder that was royally pissing him off.

As the arm came to her, Senna lazily moved to the side, brought her hand around, and backhanded the man in the face. She slid next to him and thrusted her elbow into the man's rib cage. As the man cried out in pain, she then moved her right foot in between his legs and swept him off his feet. As he fell backwards, Senna released her hand off his arm and punched him in the face as he slowly fell to the ground, breaking his nose and slamming him against the mucky pool of water on the ground.

She wasn't done however, as she quickly flipped him over slammed her foot against his tendon, then brought his body in close while putting his arm behind his back. In his painfully pinned spot, the woman leaned close to his ear and whispered "And that's it for you." Then tugged slightly on his arm, making him yell out in pain

"Agghhhh!…sss mmm…hahha, fuck." He winced trying to save face, he tried to break out Senna quickly halted his effort by giving a sharp pull on his socket. In his desperation, Koji looked at his associates for help, "Stop gawking like dumbasses and get this crazy bitch off me!"

The two older boys shook slightly in fear at seeing their leader taken down so quickly and effortlessly, by a girl no less! The green haired one on the left, swallowed the lump in his throat and made a move forward beside his bald comrade, but stopped in his tracks when he felt something cold sweep over his body like a morning mist.

He was so unnerved he pulled at his collar finding it hard to even just breath. 'Is…this what they call 'true fear'?' he thought to himself, experiencing a level of terror he'd never know in his entire life. 'Am I…' the man's shaking grew even worse when Senna looked at him, her golden iris's promising misery. 'Am I gonna die…?'

"I suggest you walk away with your tail between your legs. If not…" she then yanked extremely hard on the leader's limb while a loud crack echoed throughout the hallway. When the scream of pain finally subsided the woman dropped the delinquent against the ground, who then began to push himself away from the crazy girl, free hand desperately nursing his broken arm "You'll be lucky to hobble out when I'm done with your legs."

"F-fuckin' bitch is psycho! C-come on…l-l-let's go man," the green haired guy said as he tapped his friend on the arm. The bald guy was eager in his agreement to the plan, and the two turned tail and ran for it; desperately wanting to get away from whatever demon possessed that chick.

"Can't say I'm surprised." Senna huffed to herself seeing the goons leave once their leader was beaten. "Still," she walked around to the side of the crawling man "I'd say it's because you're a wuss." She then kicked the guy in the side, launching his body against the side of the brick building, before gravity allowed him to fall into a pile of trash bins unconscious.

The woman dusted her hands off amicably "Now that the trash is taking care of," she joked to herself as she looked back to the teary-eyed boy "Hey! Are you ok?" she asked as she kneeled over to look at him

"D-d-d-on't hhhh…hurt me…m-m-miss…" the smaller kid stuttered out, as he started to scoot back from her to run away, his hand diving into his pocket to fish out some money to bribe the girl off "H-h-here take it" he pulled out a fist full of paper and coins "…t-take a-all of it! Just leave me alone." He yelled as he threw the money at her feat before running off in terror

"No, wait! Stop!" she called as she took a step forward, but stopped seeing he was long gone "Darn." She looked down at the money in front of her

'Hey, might as well take it, finders keepers.' Dark Mirokumaru stated not seeing a problem with taking what was earned

'I suggest if you have the opportunity to return it to him take it.' The good half suggested, trying to steer Senna from the path of mercenary hood

"Well…" she leaned down and put the money in her pocket "if I see him, I'll give it back otherwise it's mine." She stated finding the middle ground between the two opposites.

"Now I'm of consenting age, to be forgetting you in a cabera…" the ring tone of Senna's cell rang off in her other pocket. Absent mindedly reaching into her pocket, she opened the device and pressed the enter key to read the new text message she received

[Skool in 10, WAYN Sen? (-.-)?]

[Mov ur but or smell like a toilet!]

[BFF: M-chan (=v=)V ]

"Oh man, I'm gonna be late!" Senna yelled in a panic, as she flipped her cell phone close and ran out the alleyway, silently thanking Makoto for watching out for her.

(School gate)

A tall middle-aged man with glasses was standing in the middle of the entryway between the school gate and the school itself, a clipboard in hand. The man looked at his watch ready to close the gate exactly at seven, while the students still coming were making mad dashes to the other side of the gate, not wanting to get stuck on toilet detail.

"W-wait!" Senna yelled, as she ran down the street covered in sweat, moving as fast as her body allowed while maneuvering through the crowd of other stragglers, who either resigned themselves to their fate or were trying to force their way through like her.

The man looked up impassively at her, then glanced back down at his watch, tapping his foot quietly against the ground. When the little hand hit the seven he walked over and pressed the lever against the stone post, activating the closing mechanism of the gate.

"Oh heck no!" yelled Senna as she neared close to fifty yards away 'I refuse to be put on toilet scrubbing duty!'

The device cranked to life and started to close, as the students hurried to the other end, Senna continued running even harder. "Come on, make it, make it, make it!" she chanted as she started moving quicker than any normal eighteen year old girl should have.

Still with time against her, she saw no other choice than to leap onto the shoulder blade of the student in front of her. Using him as a kick off point to propel herself into the air. "Sorry, Asano-san, your sacrifice won't be in vain!" she yelled as she somersaulted in the air, throwing her hands out to land on top of the gate, tossing herself over, and landed on her feet in a three point stance.

The teacher blinked impassively at the sight at the girl, who just performed an incredible feat of athleticism. He didn't so much as raise an eyebrow when she turned and looked in his direction, cheesy smile and all, as she held out her school ID card.

"I'm not late right?" she asked with a wheeze as she tried to catch her breath.

"I've seen better, but you tried." The man looked down at his clipboard with the roster, and found her name "Senna Kurosaki of class E. Arriving at 7:00.59 am. Not tardy." He then marked it down and looked back at her "Move along." He ordered while waving her off with his pen.

The girl smiled brightly and thanked him before running to the building, not wanting to waste another second. The bespectacled teacher looked back across the gate at the stunned whispering crowd. "Everyone stop gawking and lineup with your ID cards out, so I can give you a pass and set you up for punishment detail." He then looked over at the downed kid that Senna brutally used as a springboard, "Except for you. You can walk on by, Asano-san." He said as he filled out a red hall pass.

"…thank-you teacheeeer…"

(Classroom: Class E)

"Moji Kaede?" the teacher read out, as she continued to call roll from her podium.

"Present, Sensei." The called girl said as she sat down in her desk

The woman scribbled something before continuing "Hiro Kageyama?"

"Here, ma'am." The boy behind her replied

"Senna Kurosaki?" silence "Senna Kurosaki?" the tall teacher called again as she looked back to the far side window. "Abse-"

The loud banging of noise, and swift clattering of the door opening, as it raced across the track, called the attention of everyone in the room, as they saw the girl in question leaning against the door frame breathing hard, her hair a mess. The girl lifted her sweat covered face and tried to smile but was finding it difficult "P…present, Mitsuki-sensei." She wheezed out

The teacher sighed to herself, "I will allow you to enter the class as it is the first day of the new semester, though I suggest that you wake up earlier to avoid this in the future." The woman said sternly, willing to let it slide since it was the first day, and she wasn't all that different when she was their age.

'Even though I was basically up two hours earlier than normal?' the girl thought with a sweat drop, as she pushed herself into the room "Of course ma'am." And went to go take her seat by the window

The teacher continued the roll call until all the students were called both the on-timers and late comers. Setting the clipboard down, the woman faced her senior students; she was going to start with introducing herself again, when someone knocked on the door. Removing herself from the podium, she walked over and opened the door to find the principal of all people standing there, his arms behind his back and ever-serious expression on his face.

Senna watched as the woman nervously stepped outside, closing the door behind her. In the classroom, the students who saw the principal started to talk amongst themselves, wondering what the strict Ada Mitsuki did to warrant the principal to come down.

"Pss, Sen." The green haired woman to the right of Senna's desk whispered, "Where were you?"

The purple haired girl stared back into the silver eyes of Makoto Yakumo. The female Kurosaki scratched the back of her neck searching for a good answer since saying 'I kicked the ass of a delinquent, and made his cronies piss themselves!' might not sit well back now that she was back in normal society. "Y-ya know, I got wrapped up at tennis practice and had to hurry to put the gear away." She lied, even though she was a member of the tennis club.

Makoto looked incredulously "What? They're making you start training already!? The school year just started!"

"Well, we didn't do too hot last season. Tokyo and our rivals Inaba really beat us down. We barely made it to the finals from what I heard." The girl leaned against her arm and let out a sigh "but it doesn't really matter I'm going to be quitting the team here soon."

"That's a bit drastic don't you think?" she asked concernedly "I mean just because you got sent to summer school for some lousy grades, and missed out on a couple of the tournaments, doesn't mean you should give it up. I mean you love to play Tennis!"

Senna nodded her head "Yeah, I do love to play it, but I have an important job to do nowadays."

"You work part time?" Makoto asked wondering when all this happened. "Why? Your dad owns a pretty successful morgue and cemetery service. He even owns the building you two live in, my mom and dad still worry about the mortgage being paid on time, so why do you need to get a job?" She was her friend she was supposed to be kept in the loop.

"It's pretty complicated." She said evasively

"Is everything ok?" Makoto asked cautiously

"Yeah, I just want to become a more responsible adult, but thanks for asking." Senna replied appreciatively, before she turned away, facing back to the front as the teacher walked back into the classroom, with a proud stride back to her podium in the front of the room.

"Alright Class settle down. And those of you who got out of their seat -and you know who you are- please return back to them." The instructor paused for minute, as some people silent got up from their chair and returned to their assigned position "Thank-you. Now today we are going to be having two new students join our numbers. From what I've been told, they're from our sister town just west of us, Inaba. I will expect you all to treat them with respect, as this seems to be their first time in a big city."

'New kids?' Senna asked herself, as new seniors were a very rare thing. She moved her eyes over to Uryu in the second row of people, and saw him glancing back at her with an equally confused expression.

"You may come in now." The teacher ordered. The individuals walked into the room passing by the first row of desks, they stopped in front of the podium, standing side by side, Senna and Uryu's jaws dropped.

The one on the student's left hand side was a tall brown-eyed guy with bright orange hair, peach colored skin, and a confident smile. He wore a short-sleeved white dress shirt that showed off his biceps and triceps, as well as school regulated Khaki pants. The only things that stood out aside from his hair, was his red and black tennis shoes.

On the right of the man was a smaller girl with dark navy blue hair, creamy white skin and a perpetual frown on her face, almost as if she hated to be where she was at the moment. Sticking out behind the girl was a single trail of hair that was wrapped up by some kind of white bandage. She was wearing a small white shirt and a brown skirt that went down to her kneecaps, and had a pair of leather gloves and running shoes.

The pair continued to stand there for a few seconds scanning the room, giving a mental nod towards Uryu and finally resting on their target: Senna.

When the pair made eye contact with Senna, the girl couldn't help, but sweat drop at the mental message they were sending with their eyes

S: You tell anyone on the other side about this, and you die Senna; sister-in-law or not.

I: We need to talk on the roof later.

The teacher coughed audibly to break the silent treatment between the incoming and current students. "Well, how about you two write your name on the blackboard, and then introduce yourselves before answer a few questions, so we can get to know you."

"Gotcha Sensei."

"Very well."

The two walked around the desk and picked up the small piece of chalk and brought it against the board, then started to write out their name in large Kanji. After a minute or so, the pair stepped back so that they could let the class see the names transcribed.

"As you can see my name is Ichigo Sanada, but Ichigo works fine for me." He said in a welcoming tone, which puzzled some since his face and general build reminded them of a thug.

"Shaolin Date, though I'd prefer Date-san, Sensei." She said coldly, which sent a shiver through a couple of people, practically daring them to call her otherwise.

"Hmm…those last names…are you by chance related to either Masamune Date or Yukimura Sanada?" the teacher asked enthusiastically, this being her first opportunity with having someone connected to her love of history

"Well, if you were to get down to it, we're all connected to one another eventually." Ichigo answered evasively, trying to avoid pressing the question further. Since the eighth and ninth seat of squad eleven would probably drop on down to have a word with them for using their name without permission, and then lying about it. "But Yukimura is an ancestor; though more along my cousin's side, then my own."

The crowd seemed to accept the answer, and it was then that the eyes shifted to the clearly racially different woman. Sensing the shift the woman opened her mouth to explain, "My grandmother ended up marrying into the Date clan, long before my mother was born, and my father seemed to believe that my grandfather was a direct descendant and took my mother's last name." Shaolin stated calmly, allowing it to also explain her clear difference in ethnicity.

"I see well it is good to have you. So tell us about yourselves, and answer just a few questions while I add you to the roster and give you a seat." She then turned back to her podium leaving the Shinigami to the mass of students

"Ok," Ichigo started jumping at the chance to give an introduction, this time without a cross-examination and grading of it. "I'm a senior in high school like everyone else here, and I previously attended one of the smaller school in the Inaba district, probably never even heard of, so I guess you could say I'm a country-bumpkin. As for my likes…Well, I like a lot of things such as going to festivals, hanging out with friends, being with my family, eating meat buns and practicing kendo. Any questions?" he asked as he looked over the classroom

"Who the heck named you? Isn't Ichigo a woman's name?" a thin smirking student in the back asked, as he leaned lazily against his desk while his buddies snickered beside him.

Ichigo twitched and had to fight the urge to go over and wallop him, "Not necessarily," He said restrainedly though the other three spiritual aware being heard him mutter 'you prick.' very quietly at the end

A brunette girl with red oval glasses raised her hand, and within a few seconds succeeded in getting his attention as indicated by him pointing at her "You said that you do kendo, are you any good? Have you been in any competitions?"

'If fighting an army of Shinigami counts as competition; then sure.' He said quietly in his head, and then spoke up to answer her "If you mean professional competitions against other people from other Dojos or majorly sponsored tournaments then no, haven't got around to it yet."

"But are you any good?" she asked since the Kendo team could use a semi-decent member

"I'm pretty good when it comes to working with my hands." He answered back,

"I see." commented Uryu, as he rose up from his desk and walked over to Ichigo, placing a hand on his shoulders while his glasses shined with a mischievous glare of light. "Would you consider joining the sewing club? We could use an extra pair of skilled hands." He proposed getting a bunch of laughs from the students at seeing the sewing specialist try a recruitment slogan on the newcomer.

"No, thanks." Ichigo declined politely, even though the both of them knew he meant 'Fuck you and go to hell Ishida.'

"Such a shame. You would have looked nice in my custom made apron." The Quincy said, with an audible smirk in his voice as he sat back down, enjoying the shot of frustration from the Shinigami.

"Your turn." Ichigo said to his wife, who looked no less pleased, since given her background wouldn't know what to say that seemed normal…or polite for modern society.

"Fine." She muttered as she took a step forward and spoke louder to address the crowd "If you must know something about me, I too went to school alongside Ichigo here back in Inaba. Before you ask, I don't feel like sharing what school was like. I am also some-what of a vegetarian, as I don't like most meat, though fish is acceptable. Some of the things I like are reading novels, practicing and training-in martial arts, peace and quiet, and my 'family'." She recited mostly grumpily, though softening up near the ending, before reverting back to Tsun mode "May I take my seat now Sensei or is there something you wish to ask?"

The students sweat dropped at her unfriendly attitude, which even the teacher had to wonder what made her so snippy in her way of speaking "In a moment you need to answer a question or two, then I'll give you your assigned seats."

The displeased woman looked back over the crowd, her dislike in being in front of such an assembly easy to tell, but the students complied, at least to get the frowning woman out of their sight.

"So you called Ichigo-san by his first name," a white haired teen declared from the back "Does that mean you guys are close or somethin'?" he asked since he didn't know if that was a respect issue or not

The woman's mounting irritation from being forced to do this was wearing on her thin level of patience "I don't wish to answer such a question." She said roughly, not wishing to divulge such information and move the process along quicker. "Next?" she asked as her silver eyes left the peeved guy, for the next insipid question.

A devious thought flipped through Senna's mind and she lazily raised her arm into the air, a large grin on her face. The cold captain stared in wonder for a second, tempted to ignore her for someone else, but when no one else raised their hand, like she might have hoped, she pointed to the grinning girl "Go."

"Come on, loosen up. We won't tell anyone!" she exclaimed to put the woman on the spot, having used minute amounts of her spiritual power to keep all the other student's hands down.

The older woman bristled under the heckling, but returned just as snarky deciding to humor her "Hah, Kurosaki-san. Last I heard you were attending cram school, before you paid a visit. Truly, I'm shocked and amazed that you were able to avoid being held back you slacker." She replied as electricity seemed to shoot between the two of them, both knowing they were gonna have fun later on.

"You two know each other?" Makoto couldn't help but ask, which caused Senna to break away from the staring contest and give a shy look at her friend, not sure how to explain it.

Thankfully, the teacher decided to cut in; before, anything happen between the frowning girl and the majority of the class. "Well since you seem to know each other so much, Ichigo-san, Date-san, please take the chairs directly behind Kurosaki-san. Kurosaki-san, could you please go get two books from the bookshelf, and let them borrow it until they can get one from the library later on?"

"Yes, ma'am." Senna said as she got up to grab the literary pieces, as the two Shinigami took their seats behind the woman. After being handed the books, the teacher opened her book, and asked the students to crack up to first chapter, then dived head long into the lesson.

The woman kept reciting and reading, as the students copied down whatever notes were written on the blackboard, until a loud low chiming of the school bell announced to the students and teachers it was time for lunch break. "Alright everyone, close your books-"

She didn't get to finish as Senna grabbed Ichigo and Shaolin's hand before zooming out the door unto the roof, kicking up a large cloud of dust as she retreated into the distance. The teacher blinked dumbly as her hair was thrown to one side "L-lunch time." She stuttered out

(Roof)

The door to the rooftop was violently kicked open, as the panicked tennis player threw her charges unto the roof; before, turning around and locking the door, a precaution to make sure no one eavesdropped. "What are you guys doing here? Has something happened!?" she asked quickly, as the two got up from their crouched positions, recovering from the sudden throw and previous whip-lash from being plucked from their seats.

"What are we doing here?" Shaolin repeated as she dusted herself off beside her partner, "We're on a mission of course. One that pertains to our war against Sosuke Aizen."

Senna's eyes widened, then she nodded her head in understanding "I haven't seen anything out of the ordinary over here, just small fry hollow." She reported hoping to give them any helpful information

"Yeah, we know." said Ichigo as he dug his hand into his pocket and pulled out a tablet-like device.

As Ichigo began to fiddle with it, Shaolin spoke up in his stead "The mission we're on is the safe evacuation of Karakura Town into Seireitei. As you know already we're going to fight Aizen, and we can't allow the other humans to be affected by it, lest more chance of human becoming more spiritual aware occur. Especially since he'll have legions of hollows at his side, the aware humans would just be open season for them."

"So how exactly are you going to be moving the entire town without anyone knowing?" Senna asked since, it would put a major hick up in the plan of stopping spiritual awareness if everyone was thrown into the spiritual rich world of Seireitei and then gained said awareness.

"It's not really our department, but it's been underway for a while, though you probably missed the memo being here in the human world. But I'll try to give you the gist of it. What was ultimately decided after the reconstruction efforts were completed was to send a couple of Shinigami to locate areas in the city with the highest concentration of spiritual power and prep them for us to use as anchor points to bring this area into our world. We're going to launch a pre-emptive strike against Aizen and his forces soon, and just in case he takes notice of us and tries something, we've got the guarantee for the next 48 hours we have the go ahead to use full force, at least until the limiter seals kick in again."

The man stopped for a second, as he glanced over some information that appeared on his device, before relaying forward with a few button presses. Once he was done, he continued his explanation. "By covering all our bases now, and making sure everything goes smoothly, when the time comes we'll be able to fight uninhibitedly either in Hueco Mundo, the world of the hollows, and in the material world."

"Ok, I think I understand, so last question then." Senna said patiently "If the reconstruction effort is done and Seireitei is back on its feet, then why don't you all simply mobilize most of your forces to attack Aizen while he's still in that Waco-something place, you know before he even gets the chance to reach the human world?"

"There are a lot of reasons but I'll keep it brief." He raised one finger "Reason 1, is that if we send all of our forces after Aizen, all Aizen needs to do to beat us is send maybe a single hollow into Seireitei; which would destroy our home and doom the afterlife, as all souls on that end will become that hollows meat snack. So by the time we get back, we might have a problem much bigger than Aizen ever was."

The man held up a second finger "Reason 2, is because we have an idea as to what Aizen wants. Urahara figured out what it is Aizen was looking for, which is a device called the O-ken or king's key. It pretty much will open the door between our world and the Shinigami king. Unfortunately, from what records can show, from both the library and restricted sections of the Central forty-six, the key can be made using a special process, which gets to the grisly part. In order to make this device, a lot of people from a spiritually enriched area are needed to be used as a sacrifice."

The girl frowned "How much is 'a lot of people' exactly?"

The man bit his cheek "Saaaay everyone inside the city limits of Karakura town and possibly a little ways outwards." He answered alarming the girl "Those sacrificed will be removed from the cycle of re-incarnation forever, allowing Aizen the chance to achieve his ambition by reaching the king and taking over his position, and all the power that comes with it. So by moving Karakura town into Soul Society we knock out reason one and two, because Aizen won't risk something happening to the city, at least not yet."

"Alright, I'm following now. So what can I do to help? I can only assume you're here at school because you wanted to speak to me about something else."

Shaolin nodded her head in agreement "Yes, not only were we selected for this mission because of our particular affinity for suppressing our power and catch enemies off guard, but because we know who you are and how to quickly locate you. That leaves the rendezvous portion of this mission completed." She then turned to Ichigo, "This next part of our task also concerns you too Ichigo," she said which made the man look at her "Urahara-baka wants to see the both of you for something. The Sou-taicho did not say for what when he gave me my orders, but it must be important, so we should get a move on."

"Ass-hat?" Senna piped in surprise, still not giving the guy any respect even if he was a genius "Why didn't he bring this up sooner, like in the last three weeks we've been back here?"

"He was working very closely with our various strategists, and helping to devise a sound battle plan to deal with Aizen. Though, I doubt you would have noticed him missing given the nature of your current livelihood."

Senna winced at his words "Yeah," she then looked back at her two escorts "So can we go now? I have my substitute badge you gave me."

Ichigo shook his head "We can go now, but Urahara requested that you come in your body. Probably because our cover might get blown if you flare up your energy."

"Your cover is going to get blown? I thought you had a plan in place?" Senna pointed out

The man nodded agreeably "We do, but we're not actively trying to get Aizen's attention here. We need to buy as much time as possible to maximize the success ratio of our future assault operation, and kept a back-up plan just in case. I'd certainly rather fight a few more hollows that Aizen may have recruited in the time being, over having to be careful of whether or not a Getsuga is gonna destroy a building full of civilians outside the expected combat zone barrier."

The girl scrunched her face up "Oh." She muttered seeing his point.

"That's why we're going to go down this way." Shaolin said as she walked to the edge of the building, an excited smirk on her face.

Senna walked over to the edge and peered at the roof top just a ways away after about a five foot gap. The woman backed up half a step in fear "A-are you guys sure? I mean, I know I can do a bunch of cool stuff outside of my body, and even a few things inside it like dia, but…that's going to hurt, a lot, if I fall from up here. And you two are in Gigais, which are supposed to limit your abilities, are you gonna be able to jump that?"

"Hah." The captain laughed as she turned around to face Senna only to back flip off the building and then land squarely on the other rooftop below. "Tell me you're not really scared of a little fall? Don't you want to live!?"

Senna's mouth dropped a bit before she hung her head, unable to hold back the smile that crept on her lips. "Yeah, I wanna live." She said as she picked herself back up and jumped off the roof after her mentor

Ichigo watched the action and mentally shook his head "If you really wanted to live, I don't think jumping off a roof is the best way to show it, but whatever." He deadpanned

After getting unto the next roof, the team went down the fire escape and hit the streets back to the Urahara Shoten. They arrived well within the hour to the eccentric genius humble abode, upon approaching within a couple of feet to the door, it slide open revealing the handsome blonde man as he leaned against the Shoji door, with a cool expression "Never thought I'd see you guys so soon."

"Didn't you want us to be here?" Ichigo asked

"Yeah, I did, but it could have waited till Senna was actually released from school." The owner said as he pushed himself off "Oh well, you're here now, come on in. We've got a lot to talk about." He said throwing his arm over his shoulder in a beckoning motion forward.

The team walked behind the man, ignoring the neon lights of the floor arrows, having gotten used to walking in and out of the shop as frequently as they did. Soifon however was a bit displeased with all this, "Not a single sentry or guard in position to intercept intruders, and you opt to broadcast your name at the top of the building. How in the word did no one in Soul Society find this place before Ichigo?"

"The reason is: I planted a device on the sign so the words written up above scramble themselves when it senses the spiritual power of a Shinigami and we also tend to wear a special device that prevents people from sensing us anyway, though i've already taken it down. However, in the interests in your question, one of the things I'm going to address will explain why Ichigo and Senna can read the sign as easily as Ururu." He said as he stopped and slid open the nearest door revealing the large table with a couple of chairs and a projector in the center.

Kisuke then asked everyone to take a seat while he prepped everything. After dimming the lights he turned the projector on which revealed a diagram with a silhouette of a male and female body side by side. "Alright, I'm glad you were able to come as quickly as you did. Now, I'm going to start things off by answering your question from back in the hallway." He said using the captain's question as a starting point for all of this "Now as I said, Shinigami who read the sign can't see my name because it get's scrambled up, like an anagram. So what that means for you two is that you aren't entirely Shinigami."

A resounding 'What?' was heard throughout the room, as they all looked incredulously at the scientist; who merely clicked to the next slide on the projector and pointed to the bodies, which had arrows and text beside it. "Believe it, you guys. You two aren't Shinigami, at least not fully. I wasn't able to figure it out until Ichigo had started training for Bankai when I saw his doppelganger. It was then that I pieced together that the creature was an inner hollow, which meant that the reason they could read it normally was because of the hollow parts inside them."

"Wait, wait, slow down for a second." Shaolin interrupted "So what you're trying to saying is that Ichigo and Senna are part Hollow AND Shinigami? Is that…even possible?"

"I'll do this one at a time. For the first part yeah. Ichigo and Senna have the ability to tap into hollow powers. I don't know how, since the only way I could logically think of someone able to tap into that power would need to use the Hogyoku, but they could very well do it. For the question of possibility, it's very possible. In fact, it's already been done before, which is why I called over a guest who should be here in a little bit."

"Hold up." requested Ichigo raising two fingers up to catch Kisuke's attention "If we're not entirely Shinigami then why is it that we didn't discover Senna until when we did. We should have felt something. Actually now that I think about why does Senna have a real body to begin with? I have to use a Gigai when I come here but she's always had her body."

"An excellent question Mr. Kurosaki, and to wit, I must admit it baffled me for a long time, that conundrum easily ranked right up there with my crossword puzzles. I simply could not create a single plausible theory to answer that question. That was until I looked over the notes Tessai handed me in regards to her body." He informed as he pointed to the female body and it enlarged it.

"What Senna's body was in was a Gigai." He declared confidently "But this thing was way and I mean waaaay more advanced then the shell I gave Rukia. A normal Gigai is only really suited to be used for several weeks, two or three months the latest, but from what I've found out after poking around, her Gigai has been in use for the past 15-16 years. Not only that, but, unlike most Gigai that just takes the shape of the user who put it on, this one is far more specific. This body becomes specifically geared towards that person, shedding all the rigidness of movement in Shinigami who inhabit it, making it feel like you're just wearing a thin layer of clothing. In addition, it also simulates the common bodily function of a normal person: a stomach that gurgles when you're hungry. Bladder urges when you drink too much liquid. Exhaustion sets in when the muscles gets used for extended lengths of time. The list goes on and on, but while it can mimic these human functions perfectly, what separates it from a normal body is simple: it won't ever die."

"It…won't die?" Shaolin asked confusedly

"Yeah, it's crazy. In the time that we were gone to Soul Society, Tessai had on multiple occasions tried to inject essential vitamins and minerals into the body, to keep you alive per normality; but instead, he found that not once did the body have an actual need for it while you were gone. It was like…it was in suspended animation, a death-like slumber if you would, but for untrained personnel it seemed like your bodily functions ceased their processes. In laymen terms you would appear to have died. As for the construction of the body itself I can only say I don't really know."

The man took his hat off and scratched his shaggy hair "I don't know what the ratio of materials used for was or what specific kinds of materials were used, never mind the melding process that needed to occur. That perfect Gigai is a ninety-five percent question mark to me, but on the bright side I have been able to deduce one important ingredient in the make-up of your body." The man exclaimed drawing his audience in as he prepared to announce his finding.

"Seki Seki rock. And it had to be in minute traces to prevent your body from breaking down in it's entirety, and do any of you what to guess where it is?" he asked rhetorically to them, as he touched the woman's head and the image of Senna filtered in "The irises of your eyes. The outer most area in between your sclera and pupil has a thin layer of Seki Seki encasing it, giving it that lovely amber hue we all see every day. I got to say it's pretty wild, whoever made this not only knew what the hell they were doing, but they needed to have a lot of time on his or her hands to be able to construct your Gigai body, like several centuries time. This is not something you pull off after thirty tries, kiddies."

"But my eyes are still amber even after I became a Shinigami."

"True, your eye color could just happen to be the same color but…" the man spoke in a more serious tone "Don't your eyes change colors when your inner hollow start to control your body?"

The question instantly floored both Ichigo and Senna, as both of them had been able to notice a changing in their eyes color whenever they were consciously or unconsciously using their hollows power alongside their own. Ichigo had merely assumed that it was just supposed to happen but recalled whenever he used it; he had relinquished temporary control to Hichigo. The orange haired man looked over and wondered what her situation was like.

Senna tilted her head "Urahara-san, I have a question."

"I'm sure you do, so shoot."

"Is it possible for our inner hollows to be connected with our Zanpaktou in anyway?" she asked, which Ichigo agreed with since both sides called themselves Zangetsu

The man brought a hand to cup his chin as he mulled it over "I suppose, but I might need more to go on."

"Well Mirokumaru has constantly said 'I am her and she is me', while that has been true and proving to be truer with each passing day, I still feel like me. But, I know I'm not the same person I was in the beginning of summer."

"In a way, I guess in your cases, you could akin your inner hollow to being like your inner ego; that's a direct opposite of your moral conscience. Now I'm just being hypothetical here, but given your and Ichigo's circumstances, let's say that these two inner hollows really are you. That would mean what you're fighting isn't only a self created monster and your dark side, but it's also a piece of your soul." The man then stroked his chin "But, for that to be true, they'd have needed to be inside you for a really long time."

"Like how long?"

"All these tough questions today." Kisuke huffed as glanced around the environment trying to come up with an answer for Ichigo "Ahhh, geez, I don't know a couple of years maybe. Hollowology isn't my field of expertise. You two would know better than me, their inside you."

"What's it matter?" another voice said from behind the crowd "They still need to be dealt with at the end of the day."

Turning to the source, they saw a blond man with a slack-jawed expression and brown cabbie cap on his head. He was wearing a rusted tan long sleeve shirt and black pants with a sword at his hip.

Shaolin looked curiously at the man while Kisuke spoke up "Ah, Shinji so glad you could make it. Things going well at the hideout?"

"Yeah, I guess things are great, or as good as it's gonna get." The man tilted his neck and scratched just below his chin leaving one eye to face back at them "So these are the two? The guy doesn't look like much…" he then walked up to Senna, ignoring the glare sent by Ichigo. The blond man clasped Senna's hand and dropped to one knee like a knight would. "Hello my lovely. I am Hirako Shinji." he then raised his head and stared into her amber eyes "Will you go out with me?"

Senna's face lit up at his word "H-huh?" the woman replied with a startle.

The gesture was short lived, as the man was promptly removed from Senna's grasp, courtesy of Ichigo kicking the man in the head knocking him clear over. "Stay away from her cabbie boy!" Ichigo yelled as he pointed at the fallen Vizard

Shinji picked his head up and looked to the guy and brought a finger underneath his chin observantly, then got up and dusted himself off, before turning around no longer facing them "(Sigh) my first love stolen away…Netorare (1) at it's worse." he whispered depressively as he started to make his way to the door.

'Good lord another Kisuke/Ass-hat/Urahara-baka…' the trio concluded with a sweat drop as Kisuke convinced the man to come back and not write them off just yet.

"So," the blond man said as he pointed to Ichigo and Senna "You must be the ones with the hollow problem, am I right?" The two nodded their head, as Hirako looked back to Kisuke "You didn't tell me that they worked for Soul Society."

Kisuke closed his eyes and turned away slightly "We both know you would have been reluctant in coming. In fact, let's be perfectly honest, the only reason you listened to my request was because you'll get back at Aizen, and these two could possibly lead to a cure to reverse the process."

"Wait, we're going to be used like Guinea pigs?" Senna yelled as she looked sharply at the blond genius

"Now don't blow things out of proportion." He chided, "First off, if any experimenting is going to be done on your body. I'll be the one to do it. I don't trust certain researchers to look out for your safety." He alluded to Mayuri Kurotsuchi "Secondly, we don't have a lot of options. We need all the strength we can muster, and you two are the only ones outside of their group who can gain their power."

"That's a bit assumptious of whether we actually decide to let them in. Remember, I might be the self-appointed leader but there are other members who have a good say on things too." Shinji reminded as he cleaned his ear out. The man faced back to the door "anyway come along so I can slam the door in your face or welcome you into the fold."

The two women looked at Ichigo who glanced back to Kisuke who made a motion with his head telling them to follow the man. The trio took a step forward when Hirako stopped and pulled his sword out and pointed in the direction of Soifon "You. Stay." He commanded in a harsh tone "The two kids can come, but no way am I just gonna let any old reaper into our base."

"It's alright, Shinji." Kisuke cut in "Yoruichi trust her to keep quiet about the whole thing should this go down south. Besides, you should think of this as a token gesture of good faith in our alliance with Soul Society."

"Your damn favors are starting to wear on my patience." The other blond man replied briskly "As for good faith in Soul Society. I could give a rat's ass. Only reason I considered this was because, I wanted revenge and thought if there was a way to reverse the process for any takers I should take it, it's the only reason I bother to keep in contact with you aside from owning you my life."

The scientist wiped out his fan in front of him "Well, glad to see I'm not making any more enemies." He said jovially which didn't help dispel the tenseness of the situation "Either way, just do what you said and as for them, try not to kill them." The man turned back around "They're no good to us dead."

The man narrowed his eyes, and then shook his head dismissively seemingly giving up…for now. "Yeah, yeah." He then opened an eye at the trio "Come on. Let's go before Hiyori starts to make another ruckus about something else."

As the sound of footsteps began to patter against the floor, Kisuke looked back to the retreating forms of his guests. The man's gaze remained on them as he continued to analyze everything that he could before turning back to the projector showing Ichigo and Senna's silhouetted bodies 'If those two aren't able to gain control of those hollows our game plan is gonna go down the drain real fast.'

(Outside the Shoten)

The three Shinigami followed the ex-Taicho of six outside, a little leery about him. The blonde man didn't particularly mind and beckoned them over to a small car. When all of them entered, they took off.

The car ride was silent as any chatter was effectively cut since the team didn't want to talk about Shinji within earshot at least just yet. As the two soul reapers in the back seat allowed their eyes to drift to the sights of Karakura, Senna kept her eyes on the street signs, trying to figure out where they were heading.

As Hirako made a left turn at the four-way, Senna got a glance at intersection 'Left at Oobi and Wabuku. That's in the direction of the marina.' The woman looked over her shoulder at the other passengers, and saw them to be a little unnerved 'Maybe Hollows don't show up on that side of town. Meaning their lost.' She leaned back into her chair "Clever." She whispered, while Hirako grinned at the declaration, as she figured out why the reason for why they lived near there.

Sure enough when the car came to a halt outside what seemed to be a shipping yard, the two in the back were keeping a sharp eye on the nearby rooftops. "Everyone out." Hirako ordered as he killed the engine and stepped out of the car. The man in took a breath of fresh air savoring the moment of peace and quiet which would soon be ruined once he hit plot number 117.

Sticking his hands in his pocket he slandered off at a leisurely pace, his ears picking up the sounds of the three individuals following behind him, unaware of what they were thinking about this situation involving the Kurosaki's and Hirako's group.

Turning the corner around a warehouse, they arrived in front of a large blue warehouse with a metal door. The blonde tour guide turned around to the three reapers "Alright, now remember you can't say jack squat about this place to anyone got that?" he reminded looking squarely at Soifon "You go back on your word and we'll drop you like a fly." He then forcibly changed his serious face into an unnerving smile "as for you two, welcome to your worst nightmare." He bent over and put his hand against the latch "let's get you acquainted with your tormenters." and lifted it up.

With a loud rumble the large door swung backward on it's tracks, letting the sunlight into the dark warehouse. The silence was short lived as a female voice spoke up from inside the building "About frickin time you got back. What did blonde want? Sell us more junk?"

"Nah." he replied in a irritable tone, as he cast his gaze up to the metal grates hanging overhead. "Anyway, get your butt over here Hiyori while I go get the rest of the gang."

On the word, a small woman with blond hair jumped down from the metal holding landing on all fours. The girl was about Soifon's height with freckles on her face and her hair done in pigtails. She was wearing a red windbreaker and white shorts, and brown sandals on her feet. Slung over her shoulder was a blade the trio recognized as a Zanpaktou due to the reiatsu emanating from it.

The new arrival looked to the three, her face turning into a sour snarl, "Uh, can you be helped?" she asked grumpily, her eyes narrowing "If not get lost."

"Don't chase them off just yet." Shinji replied as he moved on by. He only got about two feet around Hiyori when she took her sandal off and clocked him in the back of his head "And you! What the fuck!? At least explain to me why you brought some spiritually aware human's here while you're still handy!"

The man let out a groan as he nursed his head wound "Ugh, geez, I just said watch them till I get everyone else up and attem. Can't you do that before you flip out!?" he yelled back

"No, you didn't! You just volunteered me for something and didn't bother to ask me!"

"Oh? Like you volunteered me to go clean up the barrels of oil that spilled all over the place because someone decided to play 'kick the can' while everyone else was busy doing something!"

"Oh, you mean that social outing you forgot to mention? The one everyone would be going out to shortly after you sent me to that moron Kisuke's to get your latest cabbie hat; because, you can't take care of your own shit! Fucking ace leader! You're really on top of things!" She snapped back with a mocking clap for his achievements

Surprisingly, Senna broke up the argument "You don't really seem to like Kisuke do you, uh Hiyori-san was it?" she interjected

The woman looked back at Senna with distrust, but answered all the same "Hmph! That guy is just a stupid fidgety moron in need of good hair cut." She barked as she crossed her arms in front of her, still not liking the man even though she had worked alongside him at one point.

Unbeknownst to Ichigo, Shinji and Hiyori, the dark haired duo looked at each other, in silent agreement, before both women walked forward and placed a hand unto each of Hiyori's shoulder. Then in total dead seriousness spoke in unisonance "If you hate Kisuke as much as we do, you should definitely join our K.A.T club."

"Cat club?" She stumbled out wearily, while Ichigo let out an exasperated sigh as Shaolin launched into her introduction.

"K.A.T. stands for Kisuke Annihilation Team. It's a special club created by us, whose goal is to find women who have been wronged by that lazy bastard, and acquire their assistance in destroying that vulgar man."

"Really?" Hiyori asked with a very large grin on her face "Why don't you tell me about your personal experiences? Let's shoot the breeze a little."

"Gladly." Senna replied with an amicable smile "I was sexually molested by that man. He touched me in inappropriate places and made me wear risqué garments all under the disguise of 'training'.

"Yeah, I could totally seem him doing that." Hiyori replied, with an understanding nod

"Ahhh…Senna, why are you saying that in such a misleading way? You told me he told you to do that, and that the clothing, while fake, was to protect you." Ichigo said aloud, though it fell on deaf ears as they ignored his outburst.

Now it was Shaolin's turn "That despicable man shirked off his duties, and I was forced to follow him and ensure he was doing his job."

He pointed out "No, he didn't; you volunteered…" again ignored…

"He then took my oldest friend, and brainwashed her into then causing massive amounts of public damage to her name, and now currently holds her against her will."

"That's really skewing the truth you know." Ichigo responded with a sideways glance, and true to form he was ignored for a third time.

"That bastard!" Hiyori yelled feeling extremely angered at what had happened to them do that ignoramus. "Fine, I'm in!"

Unsurprisingly Ichigo let out a battered sigh "A sucker born every minute."

It was now that Shaolin chose to stop ignoring him "Hey, this is proof enough that Kisuke Urahara is the number one enemy of all female kind. He must face his judgment for all his wrongs doings" She answered full of self-righteousness, while Ichigo only deadpanned

"And what about that twisted perception about Yoruichi?" he begged the question "Please explain that."

The captain huffed and looked away grumpily "Mind control. That's the only answer as to why Yoruichi would ever hang around that man. No, he doesn't even deserve to be called a man! That brute, that ape!" she grumbled angrily

Before things could carry on any further, Shinji walked back to the group, apparently having left when the whole thing started. "Hey Hiyori, where the hell is everyone?"

The woman looked back over her shoulder "They all said they had things to do, so they all went out. Don't know when they'll be back." She answered rather uncaringly

"What the fuck!" He muttered as his hand covered his eyes, "I tell them we got important guests coming and they decide to have a night off. Jeez…" he then removed his hand and gave them all an even look "Alright look. I don't want to risk tempting your hollows out. So we'll have to do this another day."

"Can't we just wait for them to return?" Shaolin asked the first sensible question on her mind

"Can't risk it." Shinji replied, "Some amongst us are easily excited, and if they see someone they don't know, they'll kill 'em without a second thought which we can't have." He then placed a hand against his chin contemplatively "and this is of course, not even throwing in telling them you bunch are from Soul Society."

The trio had a puzzled look on their face, not understanding the man's animosity for their home country, though Soifon had a nagging feeling about the two blond haired individuals. Before another question could be thrown out, the guy continued "But there is a way to avoid that stigma, and get them on your side." He said leading them unto the proposition he wanted, for their own safety.

"And that is?" Ichigo responded

"Leave Soul Society, and become fugitives." He proposed flatly, while the trio looked at him like he'd lost his mind.

"Why should they do such a thing!?" Shaolin yelled against his plan

"Gives us a damn good reason why we should consider that!?" Senna yelled just as hotly

Ichigo shot the man an incredulous look "What do you hope to gain from us doing that?" he asked probing for something to get an understanding of what this guy was about.

The blond man gave a bored look to all of them, and spoke with an undertone of irritation "Reason being, if you guys do that, you'll have nowhere to run and can't afford to rat us out. And if you do rat us out to that place, we'll let those hollows of your eat you from the inside out, and if by some miracle you get it under your control, a process you know nothing about, we won't interfere with your fight against Aizen, because that was problem borne and created of Soul Society."

"What's your problem with Soul Society?"

"My problem is none of your concern. I'm just looking out for my group." The blond man then turned around and beckoned for Hiyori to come with him, apparently finished speaking with them. He took a few step, before he stopped and looking over his shoulder, staring at them square in the eye. "If you really must know my problem is that they don't accept people different from them. They don't accept people who are radical in their ideas. And they don't accept people who could possibly be stronger than their establishment."

"I don't get it…" Senna replied with a small frown

Putting an end to his round-about way of speaking he cut to the point "Soul Society won't accept you two because what you carry can only be described as a taint. Hollow powers are consider taboo, a blatant insult to the ancient pride of the race. Not only that but due to its unstable nature on individuals, you two will be looked at as walking powder kegs ready to go off and slaughter every man, woman and child in the Soul Society.

"That's not true!" Senna shot back, missing the guilty look from Soifon

"They can and they will kiddo. If you don't believe me, let's ask." Came Hirako's rebuttal. He then turned to the local official "Tell me Captain, in a hypothetical scenario not involving the individuals present: Would you voluntarily let a possible volatile situation or individual go unchecked, which could very easily destroy everyone and everything you're trying to protect?"

A small pained grunt escaped from the woman's throat, she knew that she, or any captain for that matter, wouldn't allow it without some kind of assurance or personal experience with said individual. Turning her eyes away, she gave a silent but solemn 'no'

"Didn't think so." He mocked "For Soul Society, you two are nothing more than attack dogs. Once Aizen is killed, and the aftermath is dealt with, who do you think they're going to turn to next? It's simple. The ones who spear-headed the war and killed Aizen, the abominations with Hollow and Shinigami powers." He then walked on to the back of the building "Come back another time and let me know what you've decided to do. You know where to find us." The two then disappeared in a flash step, leaving the trio alone in the warehouse.

A dark silence fell over them at the man's accusations, his statements not completely unfounded, due to the Quincy extermination operations done a number of years ago, all for the 'greater good' of the afterlife as Soul society said.

Unable to let herself think on it anymore, Senna spoke up trying to lighten the mood "Hey…why don't we go back to my place. I don't think we should argue about what he said right now. We should rest up, so we can tackle it in the morning when we're thinking clearly."

The couple nodded their head silently, letting the matter drop. As they started to head out from the docks, Ichigo asked the all-important question "So…how are we going to get back exactly?" he asked curiously of Senna, who was walking at the front of the group

The girl heard him though she kept her eyes firmly towards the hill that led up to the street. "Some parts of Japan have strict motor vehicle gas emission laws, while others would simply be too crowded for everyone to own a car and drive. So most of the big cities have a public transit; like bullet trains and trams." She then looked back with an easy look "The shipyard is a busy place because of all the things coming and going, so there's probably a bus stop nearby for the workers."

"Rather efficient." Shaolin commented as they made their way up the paved hill "But Ichigo and I have these Gigai, and no human world currency on us. I doubt this 'bus' is a free ride for just anybody."

"Nope. Not in the least, BUT!" she then reached into her pocket and pulled out a small wallet "I have a student bus pass, which lets me get three free-rides a day. So we'll be able to get on just fine."

As they reached the top of the inclination, they spotted a glass enclosure with a bench in the middle. Senna informed them that that was the spot they were looking for. Crossing the street, they sat down and waited, until the loud echo of the transit bus could be heard. Coming from around the corner the large elongated machine pulled up beside the bus stop and parked lowering down to let it's new guest come in.

"Here's our ride." Senna said as she reached up to clasp the guardrail. Her friendly expression changed to puzzlement when she saw a rather wary looking Shaolin giving the bus a hesitant once over "Are you ok?"

The woman moved her eyes away "I…uh..think I'll walk." She muttered

"Walk?" the Kurosaki's quoted skeptically

A small mumble of 'Yeah' was heard.

"Are you nuts!?" Senna asked incredulously "Even if Karakura is small compared to a big city like Tokyo, you can't just walk from one side of the city to the other on foot!"

"You wouldn't know that if you tried Senna…"

Senna glanced away since she was right in having never walked it "Well…maybe so. But there's no benefit to it!"

"Exercise is always necessary to maintaining good health." The captain replied matter-of factly

"Why do you need exercise!?" she practically screamed at the martial artist

"This wouldn't benefit you in the slightest Lin-chan." Ichigo cut-in between the pair

The bluenette shot an ugly look at Ichigo "Shut UP Ichigo." She muttered before looking back to the rumbling behemoth behind him "That thing…is growling at us."

"Wha?/huh?"

The Kurosaki pair glanced at each other confusedly before looking back at Soifon with a scrutinizing gaze. The woman blinked and took a step back unused to such treatment before she watched them burst out into a fit of laughter.

"I can't believe this you're scared! Ahaha." Ichigo yipped

"Am not!" the woman shot back defiantly "i-it's just I don't like being confined in small crowded areas, and walking really is good for you."

"Whaaaateeeevvvver!" Senna shot down playfully "You looked ready to run after seeing it pull up!"

"I'm a captain! I'm not afraid of anything!"

"Except a bus." She quickly reminded

The driver having stopped for the past minute and a half looked over and said, "Look if you're not getting on then step away. I have plenty more stops to do."

"Alright. Alright." Ichigo hollered, before he looked back at Shaolin "I know this is a new thing for you, but it's not all that different from a car. It's just bigger."

"F-fine." She answered unsuredily putting aside her hesitation to board the large roaring steel beast. After climbing up the stair she wrapped both arms around Ichigo's arm, clinging rather tightly as he led her to the back while Senna paid the ride. When Senna walked to the back, she snickered to herself as she watched the shaking captain continue to hug unto her brother desperately. 'I got an idea.' She thought deviously as she pulled her cell-phone and powered up her camera feature for this once in a life opportunity to see the cold captain of squad two absolutely terrified over a common thing.

After taking the photo and mentally reminding herself to show it to Unohana later on, she proceeded to take her seat beside two of her favorite people. The bus's engine let out another loud roar much to Shaolin's displeasure and lumbered on forward to the next stop.

The clunky shuffling of the vehicle created a nauseating sensation for Soifon. Her highly trained skills in reaction time was offset by the much slower pace of speed at which she was traveling. The constant blurring and objects passing outside the window did little to alleviate her.

Sitting beside her, Ichigo wasn't fairing much better himself. It seemed that riding on top of the bus didn't translate very well when it came to riding inside of it, which left him with the same nauseating distance-motion effect, although, he did his best not to show it, with the scared woman who was numbing his right arm from cutting the circulation.

After about a half hour ride, the bus driver announced the stop that they were supposed to get off at. Stepping off the bus Senna watched in amusement at the two Shinigami sway back and forth like drunkards unsure of their footing. With a helping hand to steady them, she beckoned them to the side of the building where the stairs were.

As they clamored up the metallic staircase, Ichigo looked over the evening skyline for any signs of movement of either allies or enemies while Senna fiddled with the lock on the door. Once she got it open, the trio entered into the studio.

Closing the door behind him, Ichigo saw not much had changed on the inside. The brown couch was still sitting in front of the mid-sized television, the kitchen and table were on the left side of the space, the T-shaped intersection at the far end still led to the two bedrooms, and the bathroom was still in the halfway point between both doors.

"Seems like your still getting along well." Ichigo commented while Shaolin looked around curiously at the humble abode.

"Of course, Ichigo." The spunky girl replied "Shaolin-chan please make yourself at home. I'll get started on dinner."

As the teen proceeded to the kitchen, Ichigo beckoned his fiancé over to the small table, as she had finished her initial sweep of the apartment. "So this is a 'normal' human world home?" she asked slightly awed at the different style from Soul Society

"Sure is."

The woman seemed pensive as she continued to examine her surroundings "Tell me Ichigo how has Senna been able to provide for herself exactly? I certainly hope she isn't using her new found abilities to steal." She asked quietly so the girl wouldn't hear, since she was under the impression that Senna wouldn't have the financial ability to provide food for herself.

"I requested my paycheck to come in the currency of yen and have been sending her my money every time I get paid. That's the reason I asked you about that raise a while back." The man then shrugged "It's not like I need the money, since my food and place to stay are paid for already. I was also lucky enough to get Urahara to supplement the money I've been sending."

The captain let out a low understanding hum, as she now understood. "I wish you had explained that to me. I have a veritable fortune that's just collecting dust."

"It's alright. I wanted to do it. I've got to take care of both of you." He waved off with a smile "So with that out of the way, what do you think of a 21st century house? Any different from 19th and 20th century homes?" he asked

"Verily, the average home in Russia couldn't compare. Judging by the proportions the home itself is certainly more spacious than my office and living quarters, but much more personal than the Fon family compound." A light smile graced her lips. "I'd say for a house in a city, it has a good mix of feeling both cozy and secluded."

Ichigo chuckled softly as he looked at Senna through the open airway in the wall "Ya hear that? Lin-chan might just move in with you."

"I would never be so rude!" The embarrassed woman quickly objected

"Ha-ha, that's fine by me. My house is your house!" The young miss replied, as she grabbed a skillet and began to pull out some ingredients from the cabinets, prepping them for the fire. "I hope you two are hungry! It's been forever since I've had guests over."

"Sure am. So what are you making?" Ichigo asked

The girl's smile grew a little more "Shrimp and Chicken Takoyaka." Senna answered happily, as she started to cook the food. Her smile then diminished when it finally occurred to her. "Oh, I'm so sorry Shaolin. I totally forgot you don't like meat. I'll fix it don't worry."

To her surprise, the Chinese woman held up her hand, "No, that's ok. In fact, I've recently started to find myself eating a bit more red meat and poultry, plus with this being the first time in nearly a century that I've been back in the human world, I'd kinda like to see what sort of you foods you make, and this 'Takoyaka' of yours sound absolutely delicious."

"Really? Great!" Senna beamed, which Ichigo mimicked, happy that the girl was willing to broaden her horizons. "I'll make this the best human world dinner ever! You definitively won't be forgetting it anytime soon!"

A warm atmosphere began to fill the small home as they continued to chat amongst themselves. Ichigo sitting back and answering all the curious questions Shaolin had of the modern world with Senna occasionally chiming in from the kitchen. When the young teen walked to the table with the food, she felt way more cheery, having wanted company instead of being in the house alone.

"And dinner is served." The chef chirped as she placed the food on the table. Once it was down, she put the plates down beside it and served her guests a portion. Once that was out of the way, she handed them their cups and gently poured some tea, before returning back to her seat. She then closed her eyes and with a kind smile said, "I hope you enjoy."

And with that Senna heard the desperate clanking of chopsticks, forks, bowls, and cups as the two individuals began to wolf down her food. In less than twenty seconds, the pair held their bowl towards Senna with a hearty cry of 'more please'. "ah umm…help…your…self?" came the amazed and horrified whisper which caused the Shinigami's to turn away and quickly grab some more food.

Senna's jaw continued to drop by the second as she saw the large bowl of food diminish faster and faster. Tearing her eyes away from the horror, she looked down to see her still untouched plate and full cup of tea. Trying to drown out the noise of the other two, Senna brought her chopsticks down and pulled up some food, only to set it back down, frowning at the sudden loss in appetite. This cruel cycle continued for several more minutes with the Shinigami pigging out on the food and Senna struggling to eat only to give up after several feeble attempts. Finally, with the large bowl of food gone, Ichigo and Soifon leaned back in their chairs contented while Senna miraculously managed to finish her first and very last bowl of food.

"Ahhhh! That was awesome Senna! Five star material there!" Ichigo said with a cheery smile wiping away any mess around his mouth with his wrist

Shaolin nodded in agreement, as she cleaned her mouth with a nearby napkin "Absolutely. That meal was simply divine."

'I think I'm gonna hurl…' The teen thought to herself as her stomach contracted inside of her with a queasy groan. "N-no prob…"

Getting as far away from the gorging zone, she collected the dishes, and headed towards the kitchen to ease herself. As she entered into the kitchen, she cast a small look back at her very dear friends. Seeing their relaxed faces felt like a euphoria to the young adult, since she knew that it was her food that helped made their day just a little less stressful.

With a proud smile on her face, the young adult started to slide each dish into the dishwasher, and once it was full started it up. Looking up at the nearby clock she saw that it was much later than she had anticipated, turning her gaze away, she decided to offer residency. "Hey guys, it's getting kind of late, why don't you stay here for the night."

"You sure Senna? We don't wanna intrude." Ichigo asked since they had intended to leave their gigai's here and camp out in a nearby building

"No. It's fine," she replied quickly, but after thinking it over for a moment she decided to amend "but Shaolin-chan has to sleep in my room. Ichigo you get dad's room same as last time."

Captain Soifon raised an eyebrow at the strange sleeping arrangements "Why are you making me sleep with you?" she took her glove off and showed her wedding band "We're practically married."

Senna stuck her head where the opening in the wall was, letting her see the table "BECAUSE I need my sleep, and I don't want to have it deprived because SOME PEOPLE feel like getting RELIEVING THEMSELVES in the middle of the night!" she replied all to happily

The obvious implication was clear as day to the commander "I'll kill you for that you little brat!" Shaolin exclaimed with visible redness as Ichigo chuckled heartily at the cheek of his sister.

As his laughter died down, he pushed himself out of his chair "Alright, settle down you two. Senna, why don't you get Shaolin settled in, Lin I'm gonna go up to the roof and confirm if we're all green." He informed as he dusted himself off to head out.

"All green?" Senna asked in obvious confusion as the man headed for the front door

"It's military code for 'everything is ok'" Lin replied as she got up "Alright Senna. Let's see where I'm staying."

Nodding her head, the teen made a motion with her hand, beckoning her to follow.

(Ichigo)

As he climbed the last of the fire escape stairs, the Shinigami pulled out a small radio from his pocket and began to tune it in to a specific frequency. Once he got it to the station, he pressed the talk button "Toshiro, come in, it's me Ichigo, providing a status update. Captain Soifon and I are currently at Senna's house and are going to spend the night here. We have noticed no enemy activity in our AO. Calling in to establish code green across the board do you copy my report, over?" he asked as he released the talk button

Not a moment later did the radio flare to life "FOR THE LAST TIME! IT IS HITSUGUAYA-TAICHO! TAI! CHO! DO YOU COPY, OVER!?" the voice of the young genius blared forcing the Shinigami to move it away from his head.

Once silence had returned, the man waited a moment with devious grin on his face, before finally hitting the talk button again. "No, I do not copy sir. Please repeat again, over." The smirking man radioed back

"I hate you, Fukutaicho Kurosaki." Toshiro replied his attitude alone painting a picture of how frustrated he must be "Forget it. I copy your code green. I've already talked with our towers and they too are reporting code green. No unusual activity thus far, over."

"Have the humans noticed the towers, over?" he asked getting serious again

"Negative. The spiritual field around it is holding up."

"What about our spiritual fields? Will we still be able to fight at full power?

"I doubled checked earlier, they are still holding up. Which is good news. Hopefully once more towers are at full operating capacity, they'll be able to maintain it for a longer period of time."

"Got it. How about Hollows? Any recent sightings?"

"That is an affirmative, but the encountered hollows are of expected strength for this area, so it's unlikely that they are with Aizen and were acting independently. They've already been dispatched. Believe me, I heard those squad eleven idiots complained about it for the last two hours on speaker, over."

Ichigo sweat dropped "U-understood. Alright I'm getting off the horn. Tell Rangiku I said hi. Later buddy, over and out."

"Gotcha Ichigo. Over and out."

As the radio crackled dead, the man placed it back into his pocket and walked over to the rail. He spied one of the white towers as it contrasted with the dark city skyline. The man let out a small wheeze as he looked over the place that was being fought over and would be the deciding ground between them and Aizen.

As he stared over the building, he took note of the nearly silent step beside him "Odd seeing you out and about. Something on your mind?" he said to his guest

Said 'guest' let out a snort before turning and throwing all of his weight against the guardrail, his normal black vicious eyes holding apathy and pensiveness. "Could say that king, but it'd be more accurate to say what's already on your mind, am I right?"

A smirk worked unto the carrot top's face "So now you know what I'm thinking? Did the old man teach you that or were you just so bored with killing things that you decided to try something else?

"Hahaha! You're the one cracking jokes now while I get to play the level headed one. If that ain't irony I don't know what is!"

Ichigo scoffed playfully "Tell me about it." he then turned back to the open peaceful city air "I was just remembering my first time here. My first battle defending the material world with Hanataro and Giant Devil, when we worked together to take down that serial Hollow: Screamer." His eyes drew colder "Those were peaceful days. Better days. Hard to believe that this same city is where they die at…this place has caused a lot of trouble."

The specter nodded "True, but then we both know that if you could have done it over again, you wouldn't change a thing."

"What could I do?" he asked with a questioning glance "The past is the past, even if I were to go back and warn myself about what exactly I was really going to be getting into when I became a reaper; I'd never believe myself." He let out a soft chuckle "I'd probably try and kick my own ass for going back on my Shinigami vows just because of the in between stuff."

The spirit beside him let out a hitched breath as if realizing something "Ah, right. Forgot about those things. To protect and serve right?"

"To protect and guide all innocent souls who are to cross the thresholds of both life and death, no matter what time, distance or status they once held or were regarded. To punish the wicked who would commit heinous crimes during and against the cycle of life. And to ensure a better future to the souls who remain ignorant of our works, by any and all means necessary." He quoted "That was the vow that I took when I became a Shinigami."

"Yeah, right…that protect and serve bullshit I pretty much just said." the monster said disinterestedly, when he sensed the disdainful glare of Ichigo he decided to change the subject "So what do you plan on doing?"

"Kill Aizen what else?"

"No, seriously, I'm all for fighting Aizen as much as the next blood thirsty individual, buuuut what happens after that exactly? We just gonna end up going back to the dull humdrum of life?"

"Were you expecting a medal or something?" Ichigo snarked

The man beside him scoffed loudly "Shiiit! It'd be nice! Considering all the things that have suddenly made it their life mission to kill you!" when Ichigo failed to respond the phantom shook it's head "You are a tough bastard to hold a conversation with you know?"

"It's because you don't really say too many things that are actually worth addressing." He replied with a self-satisfied smirk, while the hollow nodded his head in mock approval

"Alright, then smartass; what about your little love triangle? Is that noteworthy?"

The smile on Ichigo's face fell a bit "…what's your point?" he asked sardonically

"My point is you have a very happy ninja wife AND you've got a little sugar on the side, which I will take this moment to let you know how much I greatly approve of your reign as the rightful king! Really didn't think you had it in you without my help, so well done for proving me wrong, brother! Getting back on topic, the reason it's important is that I've come to the reasonable conclusion that you've already made a decision in keeping that sweet sweet girl at your side. Again which I approve of!"

"Oh my…how do you figure that!?" he asked in pure astonishment as to the mad logic required to reach such a conclusion.

"Simple." The hollow replied confidently "I am a pervert." With that, Ichigo rolled his eyes in exasperation, while Hichigo pointed at him with his finger, still undeterred "and since I am you, you are a pervert. Hence you would choose the pervert option." He explained, letting out a high laugh at his infallible logic.

The carrot top hung his head and whispered "Gods kill him…"

"Not gonna happen." The cheeky devil replied, "But if you really want to know how I figured it's that: A) you think she pretty damn cute. B) She finds you –well…ME- smoking hot, which I can't blame her for. I have that effect on women, just ask Queen Shaolin. C) You had sex with her: and since I sure as hell didn't feel an ounce of regret, you didn't either. Hence that means you enjoyed it, and hey last I checked she did too. A lot! D) That Ninja bride I mentioned earlier actually doesn't seem to mind her presence, which frankly is a hard task to pull off with women and these kinds of relationship, though to my credit, I quote the same reason for, I am irresistible to women. Lastly, to put the final nail in the coffin, you've had almost two WHOLE months to tell her off which you haven't. Trust me when I say: there ain't a guy ALIVE who'd keep a girl like that around for shits and giggles. So ixofacto you two are attracted to each other. But don't worry king; I wholeheartedly support you; especially, in the 'Night life' department."

From where Ichigo stood, he cradled his head trying to stave off the oncoming headache this idiot was providing. He would admit to some level of truth to what he said but certainly not in the way that he had presented it.

Straightening his back out to stand at full height, he was going to make a retort when he felt a spike in spiritual pressure in the apartment beneath him, and high pitch scream of Shaolin yelling out Senna's name, obviously in anger.

Seizing the moment Hichigo took the moment to add one last snark before returning to his master, "Talk about living la vida loca! Go on young gigolo. Your madam's await you."

Ichigo only narrowed his eyes in the direction of the fading creature before uttering a small string of curse words. Ensuring he had his gear on tight, he ran to the edge of the building, and jumped down to the metal walkway and proceeded through the door. With an unobstructed path, the young Shinigami quickly opened the door to Senna's room and saw a tense looking Senna smiling sheepishly at an irate Shaolin who was holding something in her shaking fist.

Sparing a small glance to his left, he saw that the young adult's closet was wide open and a small pile of books, clothing, and other trinkets had spewed out onto the floor nearby. Turning his eyes back to the scene, he asked the only question that came to mind "What happened?"

"N-nothing!" Senna lied with impressive zeal, which Ichigo would have believed…if he were an idiot.

"Yes." The Chinese captain sarcastically agreed, "It was only a nothing called 'Nayamashi Quartet' volumes 1, 2 AND 3!"

Senna's sheepish smile turned into an even more plastic one. "Wow, I didn't know you read that series too! I never would have figured you even liked that ummm genre. In fact I'm even more impressed you found the time, Miss super Taicho, ahaha."

The other woman's mood only soured "I can clearly read the Japanese printed across the breasts of the naked woman, you damnable pervert!" this declaration caused the other two to go flush in the face "Now I'll ask again, WHY. DO. YOU. HAVE IT!?"

"I…don't suppose you'd believe me if I said I was holding it for a friend?" she replied quickly as Mirokumaru silently applauded her for sticking to lying to the bitter end.

Going down in flames was the ONLY acceptable option at this point.

Seeing the need to intervene, and ignoring the hollow practically dying of laughing in his head, Ichigo took a step forward and began to defuse the situation. "Look Senna. I…ah…I'm sure you must be going through a…unique time, especially since you're going to be helping us defend the afterlife." Ichigo then shook his head disappointedly "But that doesn't mean that you should just leave your…'hobby books' in places where other people can easily find them. You can't blame Shaolin for blowing up on you about that especially since you're on a budget."

Senna's smile fell as she directed her gaze to the floor, her shame quite apparent. Soifon, who was feeling quite triumphant, was going to leave to dispose of the book when Ichigo called her name. "Shaolin." He said sternly, catching her smirk as she passed by "What have we talked about in being tolerant of others."

"Ugh…this discussion again?" She muttered distastefully already knowing where this was gonna go.

"Yeah, again." He said crushingly "From what I can tell you were the one who went through her stuff. So you can't be mad about what you find; because, she made the effort to be discrete about it and she's eighteen so she is legally allowed to have it. Remember Lin: Not everybody is gonna have your standards and-"

"-and wasn't raised the same way I was. Yeah, yeah. I know." The short woman finished

The carrot top nodded his head "That's right. And don't forget that this is Senna's house and her room. Despite our…relationship, were still her guests and must be respectful at all times."

As Ichigo finished speaking, Shaolin too found her gaze turned away from the other girl, her arm that was carrying the book falling down to her side. After a tense silence the bluenette gently set the book down on a nearby dresser "I hate to admit it, but you're right." She whispered quietly; righteous fury finally depleted "My life is mine and yours is yours, Senna." She then bowed to Senna "I apologize for going through your things like that and overreacting."

The young woman forced a smile as she twisted her foot embarrassed "Thanks. Umm…I'm sorry too. I'll be sure to do something about that later. And I'm also sorry for lying to you Shaolin."

Seeing that the two women were getting past the situation, the young man let out a mental sigh of relief, averting a catastrophe. Bending down he started to pick up the various objects on the floor and put it back into the closet, it wasn't long before the two girls joined him in putting everything back.

Once the floor was clear again, Ichigo spotted a pure white book lying nearby and picked it up. His eyes immediately jumped to the title of the book "Bleach?" he said aloud with obvious confusion, since he tended to associate the word with a cleaning product, not a book's title.

Placing the shirt in her hand on the hangar, the eighteen year old turned to her brother expecting an oddly placed bottle and instead saw a book. She stared at it for a moment before her brain fired up a response "Oh, that! It's actually the hot new series by the mangaka Tite Kubo-san."

"So what's it about?" Shaolin asked before her gaze hardened "Does it have more educational value than those other trashy novel?"

A small chuckle escaped the guilty girl "Probably not, but it's nothing anywhere near as explicit. It's actually a fantasy story about a hero called Strawberry Blackcape who has super powers and leads a team consisting of a healer called Onihime, a muscular foreigner called Takeda 'Juan' Tohru, and a super archer who moonlights as a doctor called Richtofen!" she said enthusiastically.

The young girl kept going on and on about the series, catching them up on everything that had occurred so far. When she finished her re-cap, she awaited for the two Shinigami to comment on the situation. Shaolin and Ichigo exchanged a wary glance before both shook their heads despondently.

"Truly humanity has fallen far…"

"Well at least it's creative…"

Senna let out a loud outcry as the two Shinigami chuckled to themselves at their similar opinions. The merry mood slowly returning back to the Kurosaki homestead.

They never even noticed the small spark of spiritual pressure that heralded a new threat.

---

End fic banter

D. Miroku: It's called euphemism!

Blackout2010 (raises eyebrow): euphemism?

D. Miroku: Yes. Like how a guy will say 'check out these guns' and then flex his arms. Lots of people do it.

Blackout2010: Well…[stops] hey do hear that?

D. Miroku: Let's check it out.

(Elsewhere)

Blackout2010: Shinjiro's yelling something at Subaru.

D. Miroku: Let's listen.

Shinjiro (distance): I just need to stick my sword in him and watch the liquids come out. It'll take like…two seconds! Tops!

Blackout2010: (Is he going to kill someone?)

D. Mirokumaru: (Is that a euphemism?...Sword means…penis doesn't it? Oh my god he's going to stick his penis in a guy! That's hot!)

Subaru (distance): I understand your frustration…

Blackout2010: (Situation's pacifier)

D. Miroku: (She allows it!? One new fetish discovered!)

Shinjiro (distance): I'm glad to hear it but…[sigh]…as a MAN I NEED to do this!

Blackout2010: (sounds like it's going downhill)

D. Miroku: (Shinjiro is coming out of the closet!? How will the wife react!?)

Subaru (distance): Oh…really? [colder] Are you saying that I can't do it? I assure you that I CAN.

Blackout2010: (Wrong words shin…)

D. Miroku: (SHE HAS A PENIS TOO!? PLOT TWIST! THE SAMURAI COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET AND THE SPY REVEALS HER FUTANARI STATUS! HE FOLLOWS THE GAY CLAUSE OF BUSHIDO AND SHE PROBES OTHER FOR INFORMATION!)

Shinjiro (distance): Not what I meant!...ahem…What I mean to say is…it could get…very mess. I think it would be best if I just go over to his place, and release this built up frustration.

Subaru (distance): [Sigh]…look if your reeaallly going to go through with it, then let me help too. At the very least do it at our place, I can help clean up the mess of the after effects.

Blackout2010: (Plotted murder of Co-workers is a no-no. Better stop them)

D. Miroku: (She wants to watch her husband ejaculate inside another man! in their apartment, with her nearby too! She'll even clean up. I wonder what she'll use…her mouth? Ohohoh dirty dirty goodness!)

Shinjiro turns and notices the others

Shinjiro: Oh…hey guys…you didn't just…

Blackout2010: I understand you and everyone else may have disagreements and frustration towards others…but what you're doing cannot be condone.

D. Miroku: WHAT!?

All stare at her silently

Blackout2010: Riiight…anyway, I think you two and whoever you have the problem, with should come together and work out your differences.

D. Miroku: Cum…[red face] together… (You're diabolical author-kun! I love it!)

Subaru/Shinjiro: I guess it wouldn't do to go with what I/Shin had in mind.

Blackout2010: Exactly.

D. Miroku: (All this euphemism)

Blackout2010: Now I want you to do what I asked. And do it where everyone can see you. A busy public area preferably with children nearby. We don't want to make the situation escalate too much and proximity of minors will reinforce a united civility on both sides.

D. Miroku: OH MY GOD THAT FUCKING AWESOME!

Shinjiro (off put):…

Subaru (off put):…

Blackout2010 (off put):…

Blackout2010/Shinjiro/Subaru:…what…?

D. Miroku (red faced): Nothing! NOTHING! Just…Euphemism…and er…TENTACLES! TENTACLE HAPPINESS! LIKE A CHEERY OCTUPUS IN THE SEA!

Blackout2010/Shinjiro/Subaru:…what…?

(Distance)

Ichigo: (turns to Senna) You need to do something…

Senna: Yes…brother

Soifon: Till next time? Wait. This isn't going to happen a 'next time' right?…right?

---

Blackout2010: As I was writing this, I just had to let loose some good old-fashioned comedy. The best way to describe my mood at having some light heartedness: I was like ━━━(゜∀゜)━━━!

Blackout2010: Anyway just wanted to wish you all a happy halloween, and if I don't update in time, a merry christmas!

D. Mirokumaru: HAVE A VERY SEXY WINTER!

---

Guide post explaination

1. Netorare:
Literally means 'cuckolding'. It is a sub-genre of hentai, in which the protagonist (male) get's his female love-interest (or wife or girlfriend), stolen away from him (usually through sexual acts), and is meant to generate feeling of jealousy and outrage for the audience. Naturally, it's just used as a joke here, with shiniji being the hero, Sen as the love interest and Ichigo as the stealer. The opposite of this would be called Netori, where a girl loses her guy to another girl.