Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: So You’ve Chosen Death with Strawberries on the Side

“This shit blows ,” Katie huffs as she walks out of a high rise office building.

Katie ripped her hair out of the tight ponytail she’d forced herself to wear for the interview she’d just left. Dark brown waves blowing in the breeze as she walked down the busy city street in search of a well deserved lunch and possibly a stiff drink. 

She’s been job hunting for months now, and can’t seem to catch a break. Ever since the incident her credibility had been in question, but it hasn’t stopped her from doing her best and applying for as many writing jobs as she could get her hands on. She didn’t want to work a job in some random clothing store or convenience store while looking for work, but between student loan payments, rent, credit card bills, and multiple streaming service, her funds were running dangerously low. 

Katie removed her gray pinstripe blazer allowing the sun's rays to be absorbed into her brown skin. She then slung her purse back over her shoulder. She furrowed her brows as her frown deepened.

“ These heels are killing me. It’s hot as hell, and  I’m just so annoyed, she thought as she entered a bar.

Katie slammed her purse on the bar causing the bartender to almost jump out of his skin.

“A double shot of your best tequila,” she laughed and paused for a sec, “actually, make that like three doubles.”

 Katie stumbled up to her apartment a few hours later. The tequila effectively loosened her up from the stress she’d been bottling up and now she just wanted to sleep for days. She fished her keys out of her purse unlocking the door. Once inside she flipped on the lights to her two bedroom studio apartment. She dropped her keys and wallet on the marble kitchen counter while she kicked her heels off and to the side. Katie padded over to the fridge and snatched out the orange juice not even bothering to grab a glass as she downed it. She walked to her room to flop on her comfy bed but decided to change into a sleepshirt and to sober up just a little bit more before going to sleep.

She striped down and grabbed her favorite night shirt that had “I need my beauty sleep” written across it. Katie walked over to her body mirror and sighed. All the stress was causing her already permanent dark circle just a shade darker. She noticed a couple of small whiteheads near her chin. As she grabbed her brush she sighed deeply as she ran it through a few snags. A small smile graced her face as she watched her thick, layered waves stop just below her bra strap. She was actually proud that she managed to get her hair to look like it had been done professionally for the interview she had earlier, but it was a pain detangling her tight curls. And don’t even get her started on how long it took to blowdry and straighten... black hair was always an adventure.

“What am I in the mood to watch,” she hummed to herself as she skipped into her home office/woman cave.

As flicked on the light and breathed in the smell of books, pencil shavings, and cinnamon. The room was pretty big, three large bookshelves side-by-side filled with countless manga series from some of the best actions like  Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z , dark, gritty series such as Berserk and Hellsing , the sweetest shogo Kamisama Kiss and Ouran , and the epic shonens Yu Yu Hakusho , Naruto , Shaman King etc. But it wasn’t just manga she had because Karie was just an avid reader and had classics, a shitload of YA, and mythology books. On the opposite side resided her desk and computer, her large dry erase board positioned over it. Adjacent to the desk was her art supplies scattered about, some unfinished projects here and there. Anime wall scroll hanging on all the walls, and a shelf full of funko pop and other figurines. She flopped into her chair swirling a couple times.

She faced her bookshelf, “What haven't I seen in awhile? Something with some good fights.”

Katie skipped over to her bookshelf with her hands tucked behind her head. She ran her fingers along the spines of her many books.

“Hmm, not Tokyo Ghoul ...not really feeling Fairy Tail right now. Oh, haven’t seen Code:Breaker in a while…,” she muttered thoughtfully.

Her fingers stopped at Bleach .

She grinned, “Oh it’s definitely been a while since I’ve seen Ichigo getting his ass whooped. Alright, it’s decided Bleach for the night!”

Katie flopped back into her chair, and started up her Mac monitor going to Hulu. She didn’t really want to start from the very beginning, so she started at the Ichigo vs. Kenpachi fight. Kenpachi was one of her favorite captains, but then again she just had a thing for battle-crazed characters in any anime. They were always for excitable to watch, and there were so many characters like that in this series. Katie grinned as the oranged haired teen and the crazed, bell wearing man powered up their final attacks. After the episode was done she skipped to the actual rescue of Rukia, dramatics and all. She rested her chin on her as Byakuya and Ichigo started having their “who has the biggest dick” contest aka exchanging blows via Bankai. Byakuya was a favorite of hers too. Okay, she had like a dozen favorites in the series. Don’t judge!

After watching the end of the Aizen’s betrayal, she skipped over the Bount Arc completely landing on Grimmjow’s first arrival. Okay, so if there was a stable ranking in Katie’s mind on her favorite character within the series, he would be number 1. Not because he’s hot. Not because of his brutal fighting style. And not even for his personality (though they do play a huge role in the ranking). He would be number one because of the way Ichigo got his ass handed to him by the blue haired arrancar. Just think about it for a sec. Ichigo was hot shit, and always managed to turn a battle around, you know that protagonist halo is really a thing, but Grimmjow destroyed him and damaged his pride. Something, in Katie’s opinion, needed to happen to push him further as a character, but damn was it stunning to watch the first time around as a thirteen year old.

Katie’s eyes began to get tired as she yawned into her fist. She shut down her computer and turned off the light as she exited. She quickly took out her contacts and flopped into her bed. Hugging one of her many pillows she let out a long sigh. She turned over with the pillow tight to her chest.

“Being an adult is such trash…I miss the days of no real responsibilities other than getting good grades. If I were a genius or a mad scientist I would’ve built an interdimensional watch or something by now,” she grumbled as she kicked her cover to one side of the bed, “then I’d hope from my favorite anime series whenever I needed to escape from this shitty reality…”

She rolled to her right side to get comfortable and mumbled, “As if that’ll ever happen.”

Katie finally drifted off to sleep.

 “ It’s hot...why is it so hot,” she kicked her blanket off of her onto the floor.

She groaned grabbing her phone, squinting as the brightness assaulted her eyes as 10:47 am flashed back to her. It was Sunday, her “lazy day”. Usually she would still be sleeping the day away, but between the heat in the room and her sweat, she was just too uncomfortable to stay in bed. Katie slowly placed her feet on the floor. She reached for her glasses that sat on the nightstand on the right to her, pushing the frames onto her face. Once she managed to get on her feet she dragged herself to the bathroom. Something felt different. She couldn’t process everything, but something was just off . Sleep still clouding her mind, she didn’t notice some of the minor changes to her environment. 

“Am I catching a summer cold or something,” she grumbled as she scratched her head, “my head feels kinda...heavy?”

Stumbling into the bathroom she flicked on the lights. Blinking dark circles from her vision until she could stare at her reflection in the mirror. She froze. Then suddenly rushed to the mirror.

“What. The. Actual . Fuck,” she whispered as she gripped the sides of the sink so tight her knuckles started to quiver from the strain.

She looked younger! A spitting image from when she was in highschool only her dark circles were non-existent, her brown skin almost glowing and baby smooth, her hair grew quite a few inches touching her lower back (explaining the sudden heaviness), and her brown eyes seemed just a little brighter. She pulled at her nightshirt examining the rest of her body. Any childhood scars or moles that were scattered all across her body were unchanged. Even the ones she gained in adulthood. Her chest slightly fuller and her stomach spotting some definition that she’d lost as she got older from stopping her workouts. Her piercings and earrings were still the same. Everything was relatively the same, just youthful. 

She ran back into her room and noticed some changes. For one it was slightly smaller and the furniture was different. For one she her dresser and television were missing, replaced by a small table and cushions. Her wall wasn’t covered by the beautiful paintings she’d gotten for her birthday last year, and instead was covered by photographs. She stepped closer to the photographs of her and two people that looked similar to her parents but with some variations. They looked like pictures of her over the years. Seemed like vacations, birthdays, outings, off guard photos of her or her mom, dance recitals, and martial arts classes? But then she noticed a person was missing in these pictures.

She frowned, “Why aren’t there any pictures of Quinn? Why are there so many pictures of my parents together?”

Quinn was Katie’s sister who was six years older than herself, and her parents had been divorced since she was about two years old, so Katie didn’t understand why there were so many family pictures of them all together. She grabbed snatched her phone off the bed and went straight to her gallery.

“ I should have pictures of Quinn in here ,” she frowned as she scrolled through the photos.

Her sister and her were very close, so she didn’t understand why she was missing in any pictures on the wall. There were nothing of Quinn just pictures of landscapes, flowers, and some other overly girly shit. Katie felt like she should have been panicking, but really she was just confused.

She turned to her closet and sorted through the hanging clothes. Everything looked like stuff she’d bought not too long ago. A school uniform caught her eye. She picked it up and held it at arm's length. It had a long sleeved gray blazer with red lining, a red bowtie with a gold clip in the middle, and a gray skirt.

Eyebrows furrowed together, “This looks creepily familiar...it sort of looks like Orihime’s uniform in... Bleach ,” something finally clicked, “Holy shit!”

She whipped her head around looking for her purse. She remembered she’d left it in her kitchen. She ran out of her room down the hall to the kitchen. Her purse was still on the counter exactly where she left it. She rummaged around until she felt her wallet. She snatched it out and stared at the student id within. It had her smiling face next to the words Karakura High, but the name was different.

She was in the Bleach Universe, but she wasn’t Katie Nightwood. She was now Shigeru Kuroi and she was sixteen again .

A few hours had passed as Katie—no―Shigeru started to explore her apartment for anything to explain her life in this universe after a much needed shower of course. 

Shigeru now sat in the middle of her living room, hair pulled into a high ponytail dressed in  some black leggings and a gray muscle shirt. She was surrounded by paperwork, awards, photo albums, and certificates. After some digging she had an idea of what her life was like the Bleach-verse, as she now calls it. For one, her sister didn’t exist in this world, and two, her parents died a year ago. She was apparently a black belt in several martial arts, and currently in MMA fighting classes (probably to vent her emotions from her parent’s death). She was also a dancer focusing mainly on hip-hop, ballet, and contemporary, something she never even dreamed of doing in her original universe. 

She was financially supported by one of her aunts, who Shigeru didn’t want to bother too much, so one day she suddenly decided to move to the next town over with her aunt’s permission of course explaining why she was in Karakura Town. Only in anime, right? She couldn’t quite remember what led to the sudden decision to up and leave her aunt’s place, but she got the feeling that whatever the reason it wasn’t good.  

If she concentrated hard enough she could get flashes of memories and feelings from this universe. For some reason unlike most isekai manga that she read, Shigeru’s memories from her original universe were dominant, and she could only gauge what this younger version of herself felt or remembered but nothing was concrete. But she could tell that her aunt was an extremely nice woman who cared for her deeply, and based on her call log she checked on her often. 

“All of this is so unreal...but it is happening...just wow,” she muttered as she flipped through transfer papers for Karakura High.

She was supposed to be starting tomorrow, and she was not thrilled about being a highschooler again. She’d done her time in that particular prison system and was supposed to be a free woman, but from the look of her transcript and her knowledge from prior experiences she knew she’d be fine. She picked up one of the photo albums and flipping through the pages. She ran her hand across the picture of her parent’s wedding.

“ This is so surreal. Ma and Daddy are alive and healthy back at home...I can’t even imagine them being gone this early in my life ,” she thought as she smirked at a picture and her and her father with cake frosting all over their faces as they cheesed into the camera.     

Her stomach growled and she hopped up, “Well time for food!”

She skipped over to her fridge. Her smile faltered as she looked in the almost empty fridge. She guessed she didn’t go grocery shopping that week. Shigeru grabbed her purse, wallet, and keys.

“Time to explore Karakura Town,” she mused happily.

Shigeru managed to navigate the town through muscle memory and gauging through her memories. She found the grocery store easily. She checked her banking account quickly as she grabbed a cart. She made more than enough to do shopping for a month or two, but since she’d have to walk all the food back by herself she opted to get enough for a couple weeks. 

She looked at the label of some snacks and she mused, “Well I did just get to this town a couple weeks ago, so I guess it makes sense not to have food in the fridge. Most have been ordering out.”

She tossed some boxes of cookies and bags of chips into the cart as she headed for the fruits and vegetables. She grabbed a couple of things there before heading for meat. After about forty to forty-five more mins, Shigeru was satisfied with the amount of food and snacks she’d gotten. She headed toward the check out only to bump into a small girl with light blonde hair, a red strawberry clip in her hair, and a pink dress. Shigeru managed to grab her before she fell.

She grinned, “I’m sorry about that! Are you okay?”

The girl beamed back at her, “I’m fine! I was in a rush and wasn’t paying attention. Thank you for helping me.”

Shigeru blinked as she realized who the young girl was. It was Yuzu Kurosaki. She began to scream internally. 

“ Whoa, I didn’t think I’d run into any of the characters yet! I must live in the same neighborhood as Ichigo’s family. That’s both awesome and terrifying ,” Shigeru gave Yuzu a toothy grin.

“Oh, don’t mention it. I practically ran you over just now. We both should be careful,” she laughed as they both walked to the register.

Yuzu had less than her, so she left the young girl in front of her in line. She was just as bubbly in person as in the show. Shigeru thought that the girl was just too adorable. 

“ Just how did this angel get stuck with grumpy Ichigo and Karin ,” she giggled.

They chatted a bit as they stood in line about how Shigeru was new to town and was looking forward to living in Karakura. Yuzu tried to extend an offer to meet her family over dinner, but was declined. Shigeru wasn’t up to meeting Ichigo until she at least knew where in the story she was currently in. Plus, she’ll probably run into the orange hellraiser at school tomorrow. She just told Yuzu “maybe next time” much the girl displeasure. Yuzu pouted but agreed nonetheless. The two part ways going in opposite directions at the entrance.

Yuzu waved, “It was great meeting you, Shigeru! Remember you just have to have dinner with my family next time.”

“You got it, little one,” Shigeru grinned as she waved her good-bye.

Just steps away from her apartment building Shigeru felt a strange presence. It was like a light pressure weighing down on her. Her eyes widened as she felt a sense of despair and sadness. A soul piercing howl echoed throughout the town.

“A Hollow,” she gasped.

She gripped her bags and ran up to her apartment. She dropped her bags on her counter and ran to her room. She rummaged through her nightstand and found what she was looking for, a red glove with a skull in blue flames. She slipped it on her hand before slamming it against her chest. Shigeru’s physical body fell forward onto her bed, but her spiritual body stayed upright.   

Now dressed in a black, sleeveless shihakusho with a purple obi tied around her waist. Her hair once again down, flowing to her lower back. Her hands and arms covered by fingerless gloves that extended to her elbows. A wakizashi place on either of her hips. Her dual bladed zanpakuto! Both with contrasting hilt wrappings, one black and the other white. Both with a gold cloud shaped guard and purple sheaths.

The howling grew louder. 

“That thing is close by,” she huffed as she ran to jump out her window flying in the direction of the constant howling.

She remembered! She remembered the reason she was so adamant about getting away from her aunt. It was to protect her! She went through the same damn thing Ichigo went through in the pilot! Shigeru had unusually high spiritual pressure, and because of it she and her aunt were attacked by some Hollow’s on their way home from dinner one night. The shinigami of the area was mortally wounded defending them, but offered Shigeru the opportunity to finish the job for him. Not only granting her his shinigami abilities, but the power she needed to protect herself and her aunt. After Shigeru finished off the rest of the hollows, the shinigami handed her the glove and wished her the best before dying. The smile on his dying face was so serene as he vanished from existence. She never even got his name…

Shigeru was just like Ichigo: a substitute shinigami!

She drew her swords from their sheaths as the Hollow became visible in the middle of the park near the apartment complex. The sword with the white hilt was completely black, so black that light seemed to get absorbed by it, with a white dragon carved into the blade itself. The sword with the black hilt was completely white, as white as fresh, undisturbed snow, with a black tiger carved into the blade. She positioned her body stealthily above the beast, lowering her spiritual pressure to an undetectable state, ready to strike the mask of the giant lizard-like monster. She quickly nose-dived, swiftly embedding her blades into it’s skull. It froze before disintegrating. 

“Is...is it gone now,” a small quiet voice called from behind Shigeru.

She whipped around to see a small boy no older than ten. He had wavy, short black hair, a red shirt, and torn blue jeans. His soul chain had quite a few links, meaning the boy must have recently passed. He looked a little shaken up as tears gathered in his eyes.

Shigeru sighed before giving the boy a warm, kind smile, “Yeah, I took care of ‘em. He won’t be back. Ever.”

The boy wiped his eyes and ran into Shigeru, wrapping his small arms around her waist trying to hold back his sobs, “Thank you! I was so scared!”

She patted the boy on his head and back gently. She dropped to a knee, placed her sword on the ground, to be eye level with the boy, “What’s your name, lil’ buddy?”

“Sota,” he sniffed.

“Okay, Sota. You can’t stay here. If you do then more monsters like the one before will come after you,” Shigeru calmly said as she gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

He frowned as tears started to gather in his eyes again, “But where should I go? I don’t know where Mommy and Daddy went. They don’t live in our apartment anymore.”

She wiped the tears from his eyes, “I can send you to a place like heaven. It’s called the Soul Society. There you’ll be happy and safe from the monsters.”

“Really?”

She smiled and nodded, “Yep, and one day you’ll see your mommy and daddy again, but right now you’ll have to go alone. Don’t worry you’ll make plenty of friends before you know it!”

Sota sniffed and nodded his head, “Okay. I’ll go there.”

“You’re a brave little boy, Sota,” Shigeru smiled placing a kiss on his forehead.

She grabbed her white blade gently stamping the hilt to his forehead performing konsho. She stood up as Sota faded away turning into a butterfly. She watched on sadly as it fluttered into the sky.

“ Poor kid ,” she frowned.

She turned to walk away, but froze when she heard a familiar voice in the distance. Her eyes widened as she jumped high into the thick branches of one of the trees. She peeked down from her hiding space to see an orange haired teen in a black shihakusho like herself, and a petite black haired girl.

She frowned, “ Took those two long enough .” 

“What the hell, Rukia? Are you sure that damned thing isn’t broken,” Ichigo yelled at the girl who pressed the buttons on her phone.

Rukia snapped the phone shut, “Oh, shut up! It seems like someone handled the hollow before we could.”

“What?! So there’s like another shinigami around her or something,” Ichigo asked as he placed his hands over his chest.   

Shigeru smirked, “ Something like that… ”

Rukia placed her chin in her hand deep in thought. The girl’s phone began to beep again.

She turned to the teen, “We’ll figure that out later! Another hollow has appeared, so let’s take care of it.”

She took off running in the direction of the newly appeared hollow. Ichigo stayed back for a second. He looked around and then up to the trees. Shigeru backed up further into the shadows when it looked like they locked eyes. 

“ Fuck! ”

“Ichigo! Get a move on! This hollow isn’t going to kill itself,” Rukia hollered from a distance.

He sighed before running in her direction, “I’m coming, I’m coming!”

Shigeru placed a hand to her chest and let out the breath she didn’t realise she was holding, “That was a close one…”

*****

The next day

Shigeru pulled at the uniform skirt for the fifth time that morning. Her shapely legs made the skirt shorter than it really was, and it annoyed her greatly. She was a firm believer that “thick thighs save lives”, but this was slightly uncomfortable. 

“Luckily, I always wear shorts under skirts and dresses,” she mused.

After dealing with the hollow last night, she went home to put away her groceries. She finished unpacking officially, and cleaned up her mess from her little investigation. She knew Ichigo and Rukia would be able to handle any hollow that appeared for the rest of the night, so she decided to keep a low profile. As she prepared dinner she thought about the order of events for this universe seeing as Ichigo already took Rukia’s abilities. She could be anywhere in the beginning of the series before Ichigo and Uryuu had that hollow hunting contest... she didn’t have a choice but to wait until the next day to pinpoint the exact moment in the timeline she was in. 

She stood outside the gateway for the school, and she had butterflies in her stomach for some reason. Maybe it’s because she’s never been a new student before (she went to a K-12 Charter School, so she basically grew up with the same people from kindergarten up until 12th grade). Students flooded into the building. 

Shigeru took a deep breath, “ Here we go! The start of an awesome emotional rollercoaster! ”

She headed to the office to grab her schedule. She blinked at the classroom assignment: 1-3. 

“ Well, well, well, the universe is obviously pushing me to interact with the main gang ,” she cackled inside.

Ms. Misato Ochi patted Shigeru on the shoulder grabbing her attention, “Are you the new student for Class 1-3?”

“Yes, ma’am. I’m Shigeru Kuroi,” she smiles before bowing her head slightly.

Ochi-sensei smirked as she placed her clipboard on her shoulder, “Shigeru, huh? I thought I was getting a boy.”

“Yes, yes, I get that a lot! My father was bent on having a boy, but he got me. Mom, let him name me,” she chuckled.

“I see, I see! Well come with me. I’m your new homeroom teacher. I’m Ochi-sensei,” Ochi-sensei beamed.

She followed the woman to the classroom. Shigeru was not thrilled about the stairs. They were her old nemesis. Maybe it’s because her old school had the most evil stairs, even her department building at her college tried to kill her multiple times. Once they were at the entrance, Ochi-sensei told her to wait in the hall until she called for her.

She giggled as she heard the overly excited voice of Keigo declaring he hoped the new transfer was a hot girl. 

“Come on in,” Ochi-sensei’s muffled voice called.

Shigeru slid open the door and stepped into the classroom with all the grace she could muster. She faced the stunned class and gave them a toothy grin.

“Hi, I’m Shigeru Kuroi. I’m a black belt in multiple forms of martial arts, and a trained dancer. I look forward to the rest of the year with everyone,” her grin widened as she flicked her hair over her shoulder and took in the wowed looks from the class.

She locked eyes with a stunned Ichigo for a few seconds before looking around the class. Looking at a starstruck Keigo, smirking Mizuiro, a grinning Tatsuki, a happy Orihime, an unexpressive Chad, an uninterested Uryuu, but no Rukia yet... 

Ochi-sensei smiled and turned to the class, “Alright settle down everyone. Now I want you guys to help Shigeru to get settled in. You can sit in the empty seat next to Tatsuki! Tatsuki, raise your hand!”

“I’m right here,” the black haired girl grinned kindly at Shigeru.

She made her way toward the seat and nodded at Tatsuki. Shigeru wouldn’t mind if they became friends. She always felt like Tatsuki deserved a lot more spotlight than she was given. Tatsuki was an awesome character that kept her friends in line. She was also a powerful fighter by human standards. 

“So, you're a black belt, huh,” Tatsuki asked happily.

Shigeru grinned, “Sure am! How about you, Tatsuki?”

“You betcha, I’ve been in karate since I was a kid,” she pointed at Ichigo, “I was in the same classes as the orange hair menace over there.”

“Hey! I heard that Tatsuki,” Ichigo yelled as he slammed his hand on his desk, “I’m not a menace!”

Shigeru chuckled at his reaction, “ Aw, he’s almost cute… I can’t wait to fuck with him. It’s going to be a riot .”

She looked over to him as he was still brooding. He locked eyes with her and blushed slightly before facing the window next to him. 

“ This’ll be fun ,” she sighed facing the front board.

Third period rolled around. A free period. Something Shigeru wasn’t used to. She was used to lunch being the only real free period in the school day. Many of her classmates surrounded her, asking her questions about herself. She answered them as kindly as she could, finding all the attention to be fun. Everyone in the class was pretty nice and chill. Keigo bounced, literally bounced , over to her. She blinked as he grabbed her hands.

“Shigeru, my love, your beauty knows no bounds! Please be my girlfri-,” he was cut off by Tatsuki and Ichigo kicking him straight out the back door.

“Get lost creep,” they shouted in unison.

Shigeru couldn’t hold back her laughter. It was basically music to Keigo’s ears as he laid twitching on the ground.

Ichigo faced her as he placed a hand on the back of his neck, “Sorry about that idiot. He’s a complete pervert,” he shoved his hand toward her, “I’m Ichigo Kurosaki.”

She took his hand giving it a firm shake, “I’ve heard! You’re pretty popular, Ichigo.”

“Ha, I wouldn’t know about that,” he scratched his cheek. 

She pretended to have a shocked expression for a sec, “Do you by chance have a little sister named Yuzu?”

“Yeah, how’d you know that,” he practically got in her personal space.

She chuckled, “I met her while grocery shopping. I almost ran her over with my cart. She invited me over for dinner since I’m new to town and live alone.”

Ichigo ran an exasperated hand down his face, “I’ve told her to stop doing that!”

“I thought it was sweet. I didn’t mind. I gave her a rain check though, so who knows you might have me over sooner or later,” she smirked.

He laughed nervously, but Keigo tackled him in a blind fury as he yelled, “No fair, Ichigo! How is it you get all the cute girls!”

“Get off me you idiot,” Ichigo yelled as he tried to swing the girl-crazed maniac off of him.

Tatsuki shook her head as Shigeru continued to laugh.

“ Please , don’t encourage him, Shigeru,” the black haired teen sighed.

Chad calmly walked over, plucking Keigo off of Ichigo’s back. In his deep voice he calmly declared, “Enough, Keigo. You’re bothering the girls.”

He walked back to the windows with Keigo at arms length where Mizuiro just frowned at his antics.

“Dude, she’s so not interested,” Mizuiro sighed as he texted on his phone.

That’s when Rukia popped up in the class.

“Good morning everyone,” she beamed in an over cheery voice.

Rukia glanced over to Shigeru and tilted her head, “Hello there! Who might you be?”

“I’m Shigeri Kuroi. I just transferred here today. Nice to meet you,” she reached her hand out for a handshake.

The shorter girl took her hand with a firm grip, “Rukia Kuchiki. Can I borrow Ichigo for a sec?”

“Oh, he’s all yours,” Shigeru grinned with a playful gleam in her eyes, “ so this is when Kon appears, huh .” 

Ichigo scowled at the short girl, “What is it? Why can’t we just talk her-”

Rukia falcon punched him in the stomach. He collapsed on the ground.

“Oh my, Ichigo! Are you alright? I’ll help you to the nurse,” she yelled in mock concern as she dragged out the classroom.

“Is this class always this exciting,” Shigeru laughed.

Orihime smiled, “Yes it is!”

The next teacher came in requesting everyone to take their seats. She quickly glanced out the window to see Ichigo and Rukia running off to fight some hollows.

She hummed to herself, a small grin on her face, “ Next period will be entertaining. ”

As the bell rang everyone started to scatter for lunch.

“Yay! It’s lunch time,” Orihime yelled happily.

Tatsuki was unamused, “Not this again! It’s only lunch, Orihime.”

“What do you mean, Tatsuki?! All normal high school girls come to school for lunch,” Orihime said as she did some weird dance.

Shigeru just couldn’t hold back her laughter today, “ These kids have way too much energy. ”

Orihime invited her to eat lunch with the rest of the girls. She accepted, but as Chizuru and Tatsuki started to argue over Chizuru’s unhealthy obsession with Orihime, she pulled out her lunch from her bag. Just then everyone started to cause a commotion. 

Ichigo, or rather, Kon jumped through the window.

“Is this class 1-3,” he asked.

Everyone murmured in a panic, questioning how Ichigo managed to jump up to the third floor. Kon looked around the classroom, his eyes landed on Orihime, Tatsuki, and herself. She already knew that he zeroed in on Orihime’s humungous boobs. He jumped over to the desk in front of Orihime and he grabbed her hand.

“Pleasure to meet you, pretty lady. Would you mind telling me your name,” he asked as he kissed her on the back of her hand.

Chizuru and Tatsuki lost their shit, but while Chizuru was being restrained Tatsuki had free reign.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Ichigo,” she yelled putting him in a headlock.

He leaned his head all the way back glazing at the confused girl, “Hm, you’re kinda cute too now that I look at you.”

He leaned up to kiss her on the cheek. 

3

2

1

Tatsuki lost her shit! 

Shigeru couldn’t stop laughing as desks went flying around the room. She had to hug her sides because they were starting to ache. A desk came flying her way, but she kicked it out the way. Tatsuki was a demon on a rampage.

“DIE,” she threw yet another desk at Kon.

Kon dodged it and sighed, “All I did was kiss you on the cheek. It’s not like you’re in grade-school anymore. Chill out!”

“I’ll kill you, Ichigo,” she bellowed.

Kon dodged yet another desk before noticing Shigeru who was the only one laughing. He bounced over to her, and pulled her close by wrapping his arm around her waist. He cupped her chin and titled her face toward his.

His smirk grew as he looked over her face and ogled her body, “Hey, you’re a beauty too. Will you try to hit me like the other one?”

Flustered at how close he was, “What are you-”

She was cut off as Kon quickly placed his― wait Ichigo’s―lips against her own. Everyone froze. Tatsuki dropped the desk she was preparing to launch, Orihime squealed covering her blushing face, Chizuru covered Orihime’s eyes, Keigo passed out, Uryuu turned away modestly, Chad’s eyes widened, and Mizuiro stopped his insistent texting. 

Shigeru’s eyes widened and flushed spread across her face, “ What? Why?! Ichigo, no, Kon! Kissing ?!”  

“Stop right there,” Rukia called out.

Ichigo jumped through the window and his eyes almost bulged out of his face, “What the hell are you doing?!”

Kon finally released Shigeru and jumped out of Ichigo’s reach and they started their little scuffle. Shigeru’s brain was currently rebooting.

5%

18%

64%

100%

Something in her mind snapped.

“I’ll destroy you, Kon! You little perv,” she hissed as a fiery aura covered her like it had Tatsuki moments earlier.

While Kon was busy kicking Ichigo across the room, she in turn kicked the mod-soul clear out of the open window. He landed on his feet unfortunately, and winked up at Shigeru before dashing off. She grabbed her glove from her pocket as a tick mark appeared on her head.

Rukia gasped as she looked at the glove, “That’s…!”

“Chad, carry me to the infirmary,” she slammed her gloved hand against her chest.

An angry, shihakusho wearing Shigeru emerged from her body as the tall Mexican teen caught her falling form in a panic. She grabbed a stunned Ichigo by the back of his own shihakusho, “Let’s go get your damn body back from that little pervert!”

Shigeru dragged him with her as she jumped from the window. She turned and yelled, “Move your ass, Rukia!”

As she flew in the air trying to pinpoint the idiot mod-soul, Ichigo struggled against the girls strong hold. He mentally questioned why the hell she was so strong.

“Whoa, whoa, wait! Slow down a minute! Shigeru, are you a shinigami,” he asked frantically. 

She frowned, “No, I’m like you Ichigo.”

“Like me?”

“A spiritually sensitive human that gained a shinigami’s power. A substitute shinigami,” she shot him a toothy grin.

His eyes widened and he stuttered, “But how?!”

“Same as you, but now isn’t the time! We need to find that soul candy that’s running rampant in your body. I promise I’ll explain as much as I can about myself later,” she smirked as she came to a stop leaving them suspended in air, “Deal?”

He took a moment to think before sighing, “Okay, deal!”

“Hey, you two! Get down here,” Rukia yelled from the ground.

After trying and failing to find Kon, the group settled in an abandoned warehouse. Ichigo was trying to catch his breath, as Shigeru squatted down to rest. Rukia was thinking about what the soul candy pill really was.

“We need to find me...I mean him… I mean that guy! What even is he?! He’s ruining my image and he k-k-ki-,” Ichigo was freaking out.

Rukia sighed bluntly, “Kissed your classmates.”

“Don’t say it! It’s embarrassing,” Ichigo complained.

Shigeru huffed as she crossed her arms, “Hey! I’m the victim here!”

“Honestly, I don’t see the big deal. It’s just a mere greeting,” Rukia shrugged her shoulders.

Ichigo squatted down next to Shigeru, “How am I supposed to show my face at school tomorrow?!”

“Oh, man up! I'm sure I’m going to get the worse of it,” Shigeru sighed before taking a breath and in a high pitch voice said, “Oh my, Shigeru! Are you and Ichigo dating? Is he a good kisser? Oh my god! You two will be so perfect together!”

Ichigo flushed and stuttered, “I...I’m… it was! He did-”

“Shhhh,” she placed a finger to his lips, “You aren’t my type, and I’ve been kissed plenty times before, so chill.”

He finally managed to calm down, nodding hesitantly. He gulped before facing Rukia suddenly serious.

“What exactly was that thing, Rukia?”

Rukia crossed her arms over her chest, “My guess is that it was a Mod-Soul”

“Or commonly referred to as Kaizo Konpaku,” Shigeru supplied grinning.

The smaller girl blinked down at the brown skinned teen and slowly agreed, “How do you know these things, Shigeru?”

Shigeru stood to her full height while stretching her neck. After hearing a satisfying pop and smiled at Rukia, “That can wait until after we stop the little menace.”

“But―”

“Drop it, Rukia. Aren’t we running out of time?”

 Rukia went into the details of “Project Spearhead”. She explained the purpose of the Mod-Soul’s and their destruction. Noting the one that was currently running rampant in Ichigo’s body must have gotten mixed up with some other products which was how it survived. 

“So you guys created him, but the Soul Society will kill him? For convenience,” Ichigo asked in disbelief.

Rukia coldly replied, “That’s how it must be.”

“Are you really satisfied with that though? He’s just doing what you people made him for,” Shigeru frowned crossing her arms around her chest. 

The black haired shinigami turned away from the two, “ That...is irrelevant. They must be destroyed. That is the rule of the Soul Society.”

“I get that but-”

“Remember, these rules are to protect human souls like the both of you,” she faced the two eyes gleaming with cold determination.

Shigeru bit down on the inside of her cheek, “ But...the rules of Soul Society do just as much harm than good .”

She and Ichigo shared a look before facing Rukia again.

She was already moving out of the warehouse, “Come on! You want your body back, right?”

As they ran through the city, Shigeru was wondering if she should pretend to sense Kon’s presence and point them in the direction of Yuzu and Karin’s school. She still wasn’t sure about how much she could do in the Bleach-verse without completely altering the timeline. From what she could tell so far this universe wasn’t regretting her existence, in fact, it seemed to be making sure that she was actively involved with the plot. Shigeru wasn’t sure if it was going by the manga, anime, or a combination of both. That won’t be answered until after the group rescues Rukia from her execution.         

“ That’s if I’m even still involved by then ,” she frowned.

A part of her hoped it was heavily following the manga, because she skipped over every single filler arc, except for the Zanpakuto arc, and even then she didn’t really watch that completely.

Rukia’s phone began beeping, “A hollow is in that direction.”

Ichigo flinched as he realized what was in that direction. He sped off with Shigeru close to his side.

“Hey! Wait for me,” Rukia complained.

The two teens sped over to the girl’s school. A huge centipede like hollow came into view. It was trying to attack Kon on the school roof. Shigeru could see the blood on the shoulder of Ichigo’s body.  Ichigo jumped ahead launching up toward the rooftop. He sliced the tentacle ready to impale his body.

“You...you saved me,” Kon whispered.

Ichigo grabbed Kon by the front of his shirt and shouted, “You’re injured! Just whose body do you think this is?!”

Shigeru stabbed the hollow with her black blade, “If you’re going to get hurt by trash then don’t jump in to try to stop it, idiot!”

“Ow! That hurts,” the hollow bellowed.

Kon stared at her, “Beauty, you came to help me too?”

She glared at the Mod-Soul and huffed, “Yes, but I’m still a little annoyed.”

“Haha, sorry ‘bout that…”

“You know you aren’t!”

“You’re right,” he smiled.

She grabbed him by the collar, “You have no shame!”

“But seriously if I didn’t fight those kids...they would have been killed,” Kon said grimly as he gently pried her fingers from his collar.

The hollow that had grown tired of being ignored launched an attack at the three, “That’s it! I’ll eat you all!”

Ichigo, Kon, and Shigeru attacked it’s mask in unison.

“Shut up!”

Between the mask crushing kicking force of the Mod-Soul and the slashes from the two zanpakuto, it didn’t stand a chance.

As the monster flew back, Kon rushed forward kicking it up into the air, but all the momentum caused the menace to fall over the balcony. Ichigo and Shigeru rushed forward pulling him back to the roof.

“You idiot,” Ichigo yelled.

Shigeru grunted, “Ichigo, why’re you so heavy?!”

Ichigo went on to lecture the Mod, while Kon went on about how he didn’t wish to kill, his past, and his idealisms.

Shigeru was examining her nails flicking the dirt from underneath them.

“My, my…,” a low voice announced.

Shigeru almost jumped out of her skin as none other than Kisuke Urahara slowly walked over to them.

He stared down the Mod-Soul, “We finally find you, and you’re all roughed up…”

He raised his cane, slamming it through Ichigo’s forehead. A little pill clattered to the ground along with Ichigo’s soulless body. Shigeru looked back to see Tessai, Ginta, and Ururu with all their weapons in toe. Kisuke snatched the green pill off of the ground.

“Well, mission accomplished. Let’s go home,” he beamed.

Ichigo ran toward the shopkeeper before he could step away, “Wait!”

Kisuke glanced down at the teen, “Mmm?”

“What are you going to do with him,” Ichigo asked standing in front of the green clad man.

Kisuke looked Ichigo over boredly before he glanced over to Shigeru who froze. His stare calculating yet curious.

He glanced back at the orange haired teen again, “What do you mean? We’re going to dispose of him.”

“You can see me? Who are you,” Ichigo eyes widened.

Shigeru rolled her eyes, “He can obviously see both, idiot. Do you see anyone else up here?” 

Kisuke grabbed the top of his hat a smirk ghosting his lips at Shigeru’s response, “Hmm how should I answer that?”

Rukia snatched Kon out of Kisuke’s hand, “Hand it over you greedy salesman!”

“Ms. Kuchiki! Give that back,” he whined.

Rukia gently tossed the Mod-Soul up and down, “Oh relax, Urahara! Plus, I wasn’t aware that your store took back items without compensating the customer.” 

The man frowned, “Then I’ll give you a refund…”

Shigeru giggled. She couldn’t tell if the man was just lazy or acting nonchalant most of the time. He was always just so hard to describe, but she knew he could be terrifying. He’s not a former Captain of the 13 Court Guard Squads for no reason.

“No, I’m satisfied with my product,” Rukia smiled and before Kisuke could complain she cut him off, “Plus, we both know your group is working illegally. Recovering him is out of your jurisdiction.”

Kisuke grimly said, “I hope you know what you’re doing, Ms. Kuchiki. If trouble comes, we’ll play dumb.” 

“I’m used to trouble lately,” Rukia sighed.

Shigeru leaned on Ichigo’s shoulder and sighed, “Now that this is done can we go. I’m pretty sure my body is still in the school infirmary. What if they figure out that it’s kinda...dead?”

“Oh crap! That’s right we need to get there before they lock up,” Ichigo shouted.

Rukia handed Kon over to Ichigo.

“Thanks for not throwing him away,” he said as he stared at the little green candy.

Shigeru sighed, turning from the group, “I’m going to get a head start before I’m sent to a morgue or something!”   

She jumped off the roof running through the air toward the school. She could sense that someone’s reitsu was following her. Once she landed on the roof of Karakura High School she sighed deeply. There were only a few students left for club activities and so on. She made her way toward the door but paused before forcing it open.

“Are you going to reveal yourself or just watch from afar like a creep,” she called over her shoulder.

A voice chuckled far too close to her ear, “So you can sense me. Interesting!”

“What can I help you with Mr. Urahara,” she looked over her shoulder into the man's gray eyes.

The amused smile vanishing from his face, “Answer a question or two.”

“Can I at least get my body first,” she asked nervously as she resisted the urge to shiver from the man’s cold gaze.

His smile returned as he pulled out his white fan, “Why of course!”

Shigeru tried her best to not sweatdrop, but failed, “ This man is bipolar… ”

*****

Shigeru managed to find the infirmary after finding a school map. She really didn’t know how to navigate through the building yet. What, she just transferred! Once in the small infirmary she slipped back into her body, as Kisuke pulled a stoll up to her bed side. Opening her eyes, she sat up groaning as she kicked the sheet away from her form. She squinted as she looked for her glasses. Kisuke placed them on her face.

“So…,” she said trying to break the ice.

“So?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Who are you?”

“Shigeru Kuroi”

“Where are you from?”

“Originally, the next town over, but I moved here a couple weeks ago.”

“How long have you been seeing spirits?”

“Mmmm, I’d say since I was a little kid. Like kindergarten?”

“How long have you been a substitute shinigami, and where’s the one that gave you their abilities?”

“I’d say roughly a month. I never got the guys name before he died. He just wished me the best and gave me this glove,” she said gloomily as she lifted her gloved hand.

Kisuke rubbed his stubble as he took the information in. He gave the girl a once over. He could tell that she had just as much spiritual energy as the orange haired teen from earlier, maybe even a little more in fact, but has taught herself how to hide it. She could also sense the spiritual pressure of others. Despite having her abilities for roughly the same amount of time as Ichigo, her skills were advancing at a quicker rate. He could tell that despite her honesty it seemed like she was still hiding something. However, from what he could tell she was an unexpected ally. She stared back at him waiting for another question. 

“ She shows great potential ,” he mused standing up.

She got to her feet as well, “That’s it?”

“Hmm, for now, Little Miss Shigeru,” he grinned at the girl.

She groaned, “Please don’t call me that.”

“Why not? I think it sounds cute,” he teased patting the girl on her head.

She blushed slightly before swapping his hand away, “Whatever, I’ve got places to be. See you around, Mr. Hat-and-Clogs.” 

She grabbed her blazer and bag before running out of the room. Kisuke walked over to the window watching as the girl ran to the entrance where Rukia and Ichigo were waiting. His eyes shimmered with amusement.

“Be seeing you,” he smirked.

*****

As the trio walked toward Ichigo’s house, the boy tossed and kicked the stuffed lion Kon was now inhabiting as they walked, but the boy also kept pestering the brown haired girl.

“Now spill! How did you become a substitute shinigami?!”

Shigeru rubbed her throbbing temple, “I’ve been seeing spirits since I was a kid. My aunt and I were attacked by a group of hollows. The shinigami assigned for the region got mortally wounded, and offered me his abilities. One soul stab later, boom, substitute shinigami. That about sums it up.”

“How’d you know about what Kon really was,” Rukia interjected.

Shigeru paused, “That...I can’t explain. The words just appeared in my head.”

“What like a psychic,” Ichigo frowned.

Shigeru laughed, “Sure let’s go with that! How much longer to your house? I’m starving!”

“Just around the corner,” Ichigo said as he kicked Kon to the corner.

Shigeru tried not to laugh at the plushies suffering, but he had it coming. Rukia stared at Shigeru from the corner of her eye. She could tell she knew way more than she was letting on, but seeing as she was a pretty nice person, and she did help get Ichigo’s body back, she couldn’t be that bad. Rukia decided she was going to talk to Urahara about a few things after all.

“I just remembered that there’s something I need to do. I’ll be back later,” Rukia announced before running off.

Ichigo and Shigeru blinked at the trail of dust the smaller girl left. 

Just outside the front door to Ichigo’s house, he stopped her, “I just want to warn you...my family can be a little much.”

“I’m sure they aren’t that bad,” she smiled, “ My original family were so comical we deserved a damn reality show! ”

Ichigo sighed as he unlocked the door. His dad suddenly flew through the door a kick aimed at the boy’s face. Ichigo dodged before punching his dad in the nose pinning the man to the floor with his fist.

“What the hell, old man,” he shouted.

Isshin mumbled through his son’s fist, “Ichigo, my son! How was your day?”

“Why can’t you ask that without trying to kick in my face in,” the boy yelled as he removed his fist from his father’s now caved in face.

Shigeru cackled, “I stand corrected! Your family is hilarious!”

At the sound of her voice, Isshin popped back to his feet. He pushed Ichigo face first into a wall before gently grabbing Shigeru’s hands.

“Why didn’t tell us you were bringing over such a beautiful girl,” Isshin shouted and faced her, “I think you’re too good for my useless son, but I’d be honored if you became my new daughter.”

Shigeru laughed heartily as Karin appeared out of nowhere kicking her dad into the space next to Ichigo.

“Dad, you can’t just say stuff like that,” the younger Kurosaki yelled.

Yuzu appeared around the corner, “What’s all the ruckus about?”

Shigeru waved to the small girl, “Hi there!”

“Dad, being an idiot again!”

“Please become my daughter-in-law!”

“She’s not interested, old man!”

“Shigeru, would you like to stay for dinner?”

Shigeru watched the Kurosaki’s with amused awe. They were so energetic and eccentric. She loved it, compared to the empty apartment waiting for her. A warm smile spread across her face as she turned to Yuzu.

“I’d love to!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: This is Why I Hate Cemeteries

“Ichigo, wait up,” Shigeru yelled as she caught up with the boy.

Ichigo slowed down to a stop waiting for the girl as she bounced over to him.

“Good Morning,” she huffed.

He beamed at her, “Hey, Shigeru!”

“ ...That’s odd of him, ” she thought as they walked. 

The two had grown close over the last couple weeks. Shigeru frequently had dinner with the Kurosaki’s, which was always great...even if Isshin was insistent on making her his newest daughter. The twin enjoyed her company as well. She’d help Yuzu with the cooking and cleaning, and would help Karin with some of her drills. Ichigo seemed to still be a little awkward around her because of the whole kissing fiasco, but she assured him multiple times that it was fine. They’d hunt hollows together during the night with Rukia, who she could tell was getting weaker.

As the two entered the classroom Keigo jumped toward Shigeru for a hug, “Shi~ge~ru!”

Her foot planted in his face on reflex. She blinked as he crumbled to the floor, “Oh, good morning Keigo. I didn’t see you there.”

“Why’re you so cruel,” the hyperactive teen groaned.

She shrugged her shoulders before greeting everyone else as she prepared her things for class. After the incident with Kon, as she predicted, the girls in the class had a field day. Both she and Ichigo were bombarded with questions. She assured them all that she was not interested in Ichigo like that. They were just friends. Shigure even pulled Orihime to the side to personally tell her that she would never see the other teen in a romantic light, if anything they were siblings at this point. Orihime was so flustered as she tried and failed to deny her attraction to the other orange haired teen.

Tatsuki took her seat and faced Shigeru, “Have you considered joining the Karate club?”

“Not really because I have a part-time job after school and I’m taking mixed-martial-arts classes,” Shigure shrugged.

 Tatsuki sighed, “Bummer! I’d love to spar with you. Those chumps in the club could use the practice.”

The brown haired girl considered it. It would be fun to have actual sparring partners to keep her skills from getting rusty. Ichigo would never spar with her because he thought he’d be able to actually harm her, which earned him a bruising punch to the gut. He didn’t know that she had unnatural strength and taught herself how to use her reiatsu to amplify it even further.   

She smiled, “How about this, whenever you need someone as a stand-in or for demonstrations I’ll clear up my schedule. Does that sound good to you?”

“That would be great! I’ll tell the instructor. He’s been trying to use me to recruit you for weeks now,” Tatsuki grinned as she placed her hands behind her head.

Classes were going surprisingly quick. Shigeru barely took notes in most classes with math being an exception. It wasn’t that she was bad at it; she just hated it and got easily frustrated. Everyone was shocked, even the instructor, when she read a passage perfectly in English. It was her native language in her original universe so that made sense. She tapped her pencil gently on her desk. She glanced out the windows, staring at the clear blue skies. 

She hummed, “ Not even a cloud in sight… ”

She glanced over to Ichigo who seemed to be doing the same thing. Just gazing out the window, but he seemed more melancholy than usual even though he appeared cheerier than usual to his classmates. She pulled her phone out of her desk and looked at the date.

“ Oh...it’s that time, ” she glanced back at the boy sadly.

Michiru ran into the class during break, “Tatsuki, you have art right? Did you do your “Future Self” project?”

“Yeah, why,” she shrugged.

“Let me see! I’m not confident in mine,” Michiru asked shyly.

Tatsuki pulled out a sketch of her holding a championship belt in a ring  surrounded by lights, cameras, and her opponent defeated at her feet.

“Wow...How about you, Orihime,” Michiru asked.

Orihime rummaged through her bag, “Wait a minute, I’m actually secretly proud of it!”

She unrolled her drawing revealing her as a robot? Shigeru giggled at the girls imagination.

Orihime went on an excited rant about all of the modifications and destructive power of future robot Orihime would have.

“Do you want detention again,” Tatsuki yelled at the excited girl.

Michiru yelled, “Orihime! This wasn’t how the assignment was supposed to go!”

The group turned to Shigeru unexpectedly. She laughed nervously.

“Um, mine isn’t any better…”

Shigeru unrolled her drawing and laughed nervously.

Tatsuki’s mouth dropped.

Michiru sweatdropped.

Orihime’s eyes sparkled.

On the paper was an almost photo accurate drawing of Shigeru sitting on a throne made of skulls. A black bone encrusted crown on her head. She was dressed in a white and gold low cut long sleeve dress with her signature toothy grin across her face. 

“Shigeru, this is amazing,” Orihime gushed.

Tatsuki ran a hand down her face, “They’re both getting detention…”

“I don’t think I'm going to show my drawing,” Michiru grumbled.

Tatsuki jumped up, giving Shigeru a noggy, “What is this supposed to be?!”

“Ow! Ow! You’re messing up my hair,” Shigeru whined at the girl’s assault.

Orihime chimed in, “I think Shigeru wants to rule the world in the future as a beautiful queen!”

“That’s right!”

“Idiot! Pick something realistic!”

“But we’re all queens, Tatsuki. Owwww! Tatsuki, stop!”

Tatsuki finally removed her fist from a disheveled Shigeru, who reached into her bag to grab her brush. As she worked through the tangles, Ichigo silently walked into the class.

Orihime bounced over to him, “Good morning, Ichigo!”

“Oh, hey! Good Morning, Orihime,” he beamed back at the girl.

She paused. Worry taking over her features as she watched Ichigo head offer to the guys.

“Wow, he’s in a good mood today,” Michiru inquired as her gaze followed the normal scowling boy.

Orihime frowned, “He seems tense…”

“What do you mean? That’s the first time I’ve ever seen Ichigo smile like that,” Michiru asked.

Shigeru silently continued to brush her hair as she glanced at Ichigo and back at Tatsuki as she stood up from her seat.

“What’s today’s date,” the girl asked.

Michiru looked down to her digital watch, “It’s the 16th. Why?”

Tatsuki turned away from the girl, “Orihime, you’re amazing. It took me three years to realize “that.” If you have any urgent business with Ichigo you’d better settle it today.”

“Huh, why,” Orihime asked.

Shigeru caught the sadden expression that graced Tatsuki’s face. Her eyes held so much pain for her friend.

“Because he won’t be coming to school tomorrow,” she said in a faraway voice.

Shigeru glanced over to Rukia, who was eavesdropping on the conversation. They made eye contact before Rukia looked back down to the book she was studying from. 

Shigeru just continued to brush her long brown hair despite the fact that all of the snags were already gone.

Later that day, Tatsuki asked Shigeru to stop by the dojo to introduce herself to the karate club. She agreed. When the final bell rang she pulled Ichigo to the side.

“I’ll be coming over for dinner as soon as I’m done with the karate club. Tell Yuzu to wait for me. I’m helping with dinner,” she told him.

Ichigo smiled back at her, “Sure thing!”

Before he could walk away she grabbed his wrist. He turned to face the shorter teen, confused about the serious look in her eyes.

“W-What is it, Shigeru,” he asked, trying to keep a bright smile on his face.

Shigeru stared into his eyes that didn’t reflect the smile on his face, “It wasn’t your fault.”

He froze.

She released his wrist and continued, “You’re far too young to be blaming yourself for something completely out of your control.”

She turned away from him, “You have to learn how to move forward, Ichigo.”

Shigeru went to grab her bag before hopping over to the waiting Tatsuki. As they left the room she glanced back at the still frozen Ichigo before facing forward. As the two made their way to the dojo Tatsuki warned her that the guys might not take her seriously.

“Is that so? Well I’ll have to make sure they never do that again,” she smiled maliciously as she cracked her knuckles. 

Tatsuki seemed a little nervous seeing the mad gleam in her eyes, “ I feel sorry for the guys already. ”

When they got to the dojo the first thing that Shigeru noticed was how beefy the karate club members were. She assumed the beefier the older they were. One of the boys walked up to the two girls. He was decent looking, tall with slightly tanned skin. His dark shaggy hair was pulled in a low ponytail. His large pecks peeked out of his robes. 

“Hey, Tatsuki who’s your friend,” he asked as he stopped a couple feet away from them.

He looked Shigeru up as the boy basically undressed her with his eyes. She ignored that.

Tatsuki however didn’t like it one bit and glared at the boy, “Miki, this is Shigeru. She’s going to be helping with practices.”

Miki and a few of the other guys scoffed and laughed at that. Shigeru smirked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“ Oh, I’m going to enjoy destroying them ,” her eyes shimmered with mischief.  

“How is this pipsqueak here supposed to help us with practice,” Miki laughed.

“I’m average height for a girl,” Shigeru pouted.

Tatsuki snapped, “If I remember correctly I handed your ass to you just yesterday, and I’m smaller than her!  Seriously, get over yourself! You’re not even that talented!”

“Watch it, Arisawa! We all know you’re a freak of nature, that's the only reason you can even keep up with us,” Miki snapped back.

Before Shigeru could interject the room was silenced by the claps of the instructor. She couldn’t remember which subject he taught.

“That’s enough Tatsuki and Miki,” he frowned, standing between the bickering students.

“Sorry, Sir,” they both bowed.

He sighed, “Tatsuki go get changed, and Miki head toward the mat. You’ll be sparring first.”

“With who, sir,” the teen furrowed his brows.

The instruction cocked his head in Shigeru’s direction, “With her. You wanted to prove yourself right?”

The teen tried to speak but was cut off by the man who turned toward the other members, “That goes for all of you. Each one of you will be sparring against Ms. Kuroi today. I’ve warned you all about that sexist crap when Tatsuki joined the club, and she’s our golden star.”

Shigeru raised a brow, “ This guy is cool . I like him .” 

The instructor turned to her, “Would you mind putting them idiot students of mine in their place, Ms. Kuroi.”

The boys in the dojo looked at Shigeru nervously as she returned their looks of anxiousness with a demonic grin. 

“It would be my pleasure,” her eyes gleamed with animalistic glee.

“ She’s a demon! ” they all screamed internally regretting their behavior moments earlier.

An hour and a half later…

“I’m finished,” Shigeru smiled as she clapped dust off her hands.

Tatsuki whistled as she placed her hands on her hips.

The instructor nodded his head pleased.

The bodies of the Karate Club members were sprawled out across the floor, a couple dangling through the open windows, embedded in the wall, and so forth. 

Shigeru ran a hand through her hair, “Well I’d say that this was a successful lesson. So what did we learn today?”

“Sex has nothing to do with talent,” the boys groaned in pain.

Shigeru grinned, “Good, good. The lesson was properly received.”

She looked at the clock on the wall. If she left right then, she’d make it in time to help Yuzu cook dinner. She stepped on the bodies of the fallen as she went to grab her things.

“I’ll see you around, Tatsuki. I gotta run,” Shigeru called over her shoulder as she ran off.

As she approached the front gate she heard someone call her name. She turned to see Tatsuki running her way.

“Are you going to Ichigo’s,” she huffed.

Shigeru nodded, “I’m helping Yuzu with dinner tonight. Why?”

“Has...has Ichigo talked to you about his mom,” Tatsuki asked quietly.

Shigeru frowned, now fully facing the girl, “No, but the twins have talked to me about her. Tomorrow’s the anniversary of her death, right?”

Tatsuki refused to look up from her feet, “I know it’s wrong to ask you this because you’re new here…”

Shigeru placed a hand on the shorter girl’s shoulder. Tatsuki finally looked into Shigeru’s brown eyes, “What do you want me to do?”

“Can you keep an eye on him for a couple days,” she asked.

Shigeru nodded, “Sure, I can do that.”

“Thank you”

“Why me?”

“Huh,” Tatsuki blinked.

“Why’d you ask me? Why not Chad or Keigo,” Shigeru asked, genuinely curious.

A small smile appeared on the girl’s face, “You make him smile, I mean, really smile. He seems more comfortable around you than the rest of us lately.”

As Shigeru walked to the Kurosaki residence she thought over what Tatsuki told her. She didn’t think that Ichigo seemed that much different from when she first arrived. Ichigo was easy-going around her, but they did argue over a lot as well, mainly about Ichigo’s hero complex. She would also tell him to actually listen to Rukia. He’d just straight up ignore her and fly head first into fights without even analyzing the situation. Then again they did laugh over things like Rukia’s crappy drawings. He’d help her with math homework, and she’d help him with things she didn’t get either. She was starting to consider the teen the little brother she never wanted. 

She stopped herself from knocking on the front door, “ I’ll help Ichigo as much as I can. I’ll help everyone here when the time comes.”

Isshin swung the door open and suddenly pulled the girl into a hug.

“Gyah!”

Isshin rubbed his stubble chin against her cheek, “I was getting worried about my eldest daughter! What took you so long to get home?”

“Helping Karate Club,” she laughed as his stubble tickled her.

Yuzu ran to the entrance and smiled, “Shigeru! I just finished prepping the ingredients. I’m ready when you are.”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” she laughed, “sorry about this Mr. Kurosaki!”

She thrust her palm against his chin, sending the father falling away from her. He grabbed his chin, tears streaming down his eyes.

“You got me good, Shigeru dear,” he launched a kick toward the teen as she slipped out of her school shoes.

She grabbed his attacking leg, spinning in a circle before tossing him into the living room couch.

Karin punched him in the face, “Settle down!”

Isshin ran to the giant photo of the kid's mother and cried, “Masaki!!! Our daughters are bullying me again!”

Shigeru stared at the photo of Masaki Kurosaki. She was beautiful. Flowing orange curls and a bright smile. By the way the Kurosaki’s acted, she must have been a great mother while she was alive. Thinking about mothers started to cause a tightness in her chest. She shook away the feeling.

She beamed at Yuzu, “Let’s get started.”

Yuzu and Shigeru finished making dinner in no time. Yuzu called for Ichigo to come down to eat, while Karin and Shigeru set the table. Isshin, Karin, and Shigeru took their seats. Yuzu started serving when Ichigo finally dragged himself downstairs. 

As they ate, the girl told the adults about their day. Shigeru went on about whipping the Karate Club into shape. Isshin mentioned some funny patients that stopped by the clinic. One being a hilarious tale of a man who got his hands super glued to a vase and a hammer. Ichigo stayed relatively quiet the whole time.

Yuzu turned to Shigeru and asked, “Shigeru, what do your parents do?”

Shigeru paused and smiled, “They...they were teachers.”

“Were,” Karin questioned quietly.

Ichigo turned to face the girl next to him staring at her intently.

“They died in a car accident last year. My aunt took me in, but I didn’t want to be a bother,” she shrugged with a small smile.

Yuzu started to tear up, “I’m sorry for asking, Shigeru. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories.”

The teen patted the sweet girl on the head and chuckled, “It’s fine! I’m not as sad as I used to be. They wouldn’t have wanted me to stay sad forever.”

Isshin leaned over the table to pat Shigeru on the head, “Well said…”

“Plus, I’ve got you guys now. Family can come from anywhere,” she beamed at the Kurosaki family, “if that’s alright?”

Karin smiled, “Of course it is. You’ve been practically adopted by Dad anyway.” 

At that Isshin jumped over to Shigeru pulling her into a bear hug, “Precisely, my beautiful eldest daughter!”

“Not again,” she groaned.

Once they were finished eating, Shigeru took care of cleaning up. When she finished cleaning she announced that she should head out, but Isshin insisted that she stay for their family meeting. They were planning to visit Masaki’s grave tomorrow, and Isshin extended an invitation to her.

She was slightly thrown off by this, “Are you sure it’s okay for me to go? I mean this seems, like, pretty personal… I don’t want to intrude.”

“Nonsense, it’ll be fine,” Isshin waved her off, “I’m sure Masaki would be glad to see that her grumpy son has a new kind friend.”

“I don’t know about this…”

“It’s fine.”

She turned to see Ichigo smiling. Not that fake smile he’s been wearing all day. An actual smile.

Ichigo stood up, “It’s alright for you to tag along, Shigeru. Now go grab some clothes from your place and come back. We usually go early.”

He left to go to his room.

“But where will I sleep,” she blinked.

Yuzu smiled, “Our room has plenty of space!”

Shigeru sighed, “Okay…”

The next day

“Too much sun,” the brown skinned girl groaned.

Shigeru was not one for extreme heat. 

She lifted her black dad cap from over her ponytail to wipe the sweat from her brow. She wore a white, form fitting, sleeveless shirt, purple leggings, and black running shoes. A fanny pack secured around her waist that had her phone and soul candy she got from Kisuke just encase, and it was better than leaving her soulless body lying around every time a hollow appeared.

Yuzu and Karin were leading the group, Isshin in the middle, and she walked alongside Ichigo in the back a few seconds away from making the boy carry her.

“This hill is so tough,” Yuzu frowned.

Isshin started cheering for his daughter. Running up the hill on his hands suddenly. All of the man's shenanigans ended with Karin kicking him straight down the hill.

Shigeru was too hot to be amused. She whined, “They have way too much energy and it’s too hot for all that!”

“You’re more whiny than usual,” Ichigo smirked at the girl.

“I don’t whine!”

“Doing a hell of a lot of it right now!”

“Carry me and I’ll stop.”

“Not a chance,” he grinned.

She pouted, “You angsty cheeto!”

“Was that joke about my hair,” he put the girl into a headlock.

She whined, “Take it how you want to!” 

He looked up toward the sky and solemnly muttered, “It is pretty hot today. Even though it's the same 17th...it’s so different.”

Shigeru was going to say something when she heard Karin, “There’s someone up there…”

Ichigo and Shigeru went pale when they saw Rukia waving in their direction.

“Why is she waving at us,” Yuzu asked.

The two teens started to panic. Ichigo frantically made up an excuse, “She’s a girl I went to middle school with. I’m going to go catch up with her! Let me introduce her to you Shigeru!”

“Wha―”

Ichigo tossed Shigeru over his shoulder, ran to Rukia, snatched her up by the arm, and ran off.

“Heh,” Karin laughed.

“What do you mean by “heh”, Karin,” Yuzu turned to her twin.

Karin smiled, “Mean’s our Ichigo is growing up!”

With the Idiot-Shinigami-Trio  

“Why did you follow us here,” Ichigo yelled.

Rukia crossed her arms, “You fool. What would you have done if a hollow appeared and I’m not nearby?”

“I keep my glove on me at all times,” Shigeru said as she lifted her chin off of Ichigo’s shoulder. She’d managed to adjust her body for big piggy-backed.

Rukia paused, “Oh yeah, you do have one of the gloves too.”

Ichigo yelled, “All that for hollows. Can’t you be more covert about it?” 

“Sorry about that,” Rukia blinked.

Ichigo blinked, “Are you angry?”

“No. I’m not angry. Killed…,” Rukia crossed her arms.

“What?”

“That’s what you told me. That your mother was killed,” she continued.

Shigeru jumped off of Ichigo’s shoulders, “ Oh boy… ”

Ichigo placed his hands in his pockets, “I didn’t say that, so drop it.”

“Who killed her,” the shinigami pressed.

Ichigo frowned, “Just drop it, Rukia.”

“You said that you’ve been seeing spirits for as long as you could remember. If that’s so, then answer this question for me,” she continued.

Shigeru stepped forward and warningly said, “Rukia…”

“Wasn’t the thing that killed your mother a hollow,” she finished.

Ichigo froze. 

“Dammit, Rukia,” Shigeru shook her head.

Rukia quickly tried to reason, “Just think about it! You’ve been seeing spirits for as long as you can remember, so if your reiatsu was that high a hollow could have targeted you…”

Ichigo’s frown deepened.

“And mistaken your mother for―”

“Shut the hell up,” he bellowed.

Rukia flinched back.

“Everything to you is “hollow this”, “hollow that”, that’s not what happened! She wasn’t killed by some stupid hollow!,” he yelled, taking a step toward the shorter teen.

Shigeru grabbed him by the elbow in case he really lost his temper.

“I was only trying to help,” Rukia argued.

Ichigo glared at the shinigami, “You don’t even know the pain I’ve had to deal with every day of my life.”

He shook off Shigeru’s hand and walked off, “Next time, keep your theories to yourself. I killed her.”

He ran off leaving the two girls alone.

Rukia couldn’t look Shigeru in the eyes, “I...I was really trying to help.”

“It was still insensitive, Rukia. We’re human. Sometimes we can’t process traumatic emotions,” Shigeru sighed, walking off in the direction the boy ran off to.

She turned to face Rukia, “You’re lucky, Rukia. If I were him I would have punched you.”

Shigeru left the woman to think about her actions.

She closed her eyes to sense where the teen went. Ichigo was standing stationary, she assumed by his mother’s grave. Isshin was further down hill by someone with almost non-existent spiritual pressure. The twins were together, but Karin was heading off toward...a hollow.

“Shit, it’s Grand Fisher,” she hissed.

She fished the soul candy out of her bag before popping one in her mouth. She emerged from her body. She turned to the gikon in her body.

“Keep my body safe and out of sight,” she ordered.

It nodded before jumping into the trees to hide.

Shigeru launched herself in the air flying toward the twins. She heard a scream and picked up the pace. She followed Karin’s panicked reiatsu. Her eyes widened as she saw Yuzu suspended in the air by the furry hollow elongated tongue. Karin was being crushed by his webbed foot. Shigeru could no longer bottle up her rage.

“Get your furry ass away from them,” she yelled.

She used her reiatsu to enhance her legs as she dove down. Just before her foot connected with the giant hollow, Ichigo swooped in to slice the tongue strangling the younger twin. Catching her in the air before landing to the ground. Shigeru continued her assault, kicking the large body off of Karin. Grand Fisher went flying with its child-like lure before skidding to a stop.

“Shinigami’s,” it hissed.

Shigeru lifted the black haired girl, “Karin! Are you okay?!”

Karin had already passed out. She patted the small girl on her head as she pulled her close, lifting her into her arms.

Ichigo glared at the child-like lure, still believing that it was an actual spirit of a young girl.

“What’s going on here?! You’re the one from six years ago by the river! Why’re you hanging out with a damn hollow,” the boy yelled as he placed Yuzu down against a grave. 

The girl, or rather, Grand Fisher replied, “Six years ago...I don’t remember that far back.”

Shigeru placed Karin with her sister. She pulled her blades from their sheaths.

“Oh, I see...you’ve seen me before,” the hollow mused.

Ichigo yelled, “That’s right! Now what is this? Are you this hollow’s crony? Or being controlled”

It looked up and Ichigo coldly said, “Both are wrong, boy.”

“Ichigo, get back,” Shigeru shouted as she appeared above the hollow’s head.

It dashed off at the last moment narrowly avoiding her blades. She grit her teeth in frustration. She jumped back over to Ichigo’s side.

She glanced at the boy, “I’m sorry to break this to you, but that is a hollow.” 

“What? That can’t be,” Ichigo glared back at the creature, “What the hell are you?!”

Grand Fisher chuckled darkly, “You saw me and survived...you’re a lucky man.”

The lure turned inside out, reattaching itself to the main body of the gorilla-like hollow.

“But that luck has run out,” it declared, “Now that you’ve seen me. I’ll have to eat you.”

Ichigo trembled slightly, “That kid was a part of it…?”

“Grand Fisher,” Rukia called as she and Kon appeared.

Ichigo faced the girl as she explained what the hollow was capable of. Shigeru motioned for Kon to take the twins and hide. As the hollow mocked the group, she noticed that Ichigo was losing it. The boy lunged straight for the creature, slashing away. The hollow jumped away from his attack. 

Rukia ran forward and yelled, “Ichigo, You’re being careless! Calm down!”

Shigeru stayed behind. She knew that no one would end up dying from this fight, but questioned if it was really okay to watch from the sidelines. This was a fight for revenge. It was a matter of pride, but...

Grand Fisher’s arm extended as the monster tried to crush Ichigo’s skull. The orange haired shinigami managed to block the arm with his sword. He kicked the limb, slicing it away from his body. As Ichigo landed on his feet, the hollow was right above him, fur extending in all directions, preparing to smother the boy.

“Ichigo,” Rukia screamed before chanting the incantation for a spell.

Ichigo yelled, “Stop, Rukia!”

He sliced the offended fur away from this body, tossing it to the side before he created some distance between Grand and himself.

Rukia and Shigeru ran over to him.

“Stay out of this, both of you. Just go and protect Yuzu and Karin with Kon,” Ichigo ordered, still in a crouch.

Rukia shook her head in disbelief, “Are you kidding me? That thing has evaded shinigami for decades! You can’t―”

“Shut up,” he yelled, silencing the woman, “Just let me do this…This is my fight.”

Shigeru placed a hand on Rukia’s shoulder. She gave the girl a small reassuring smile, “Let him do this, Rukia.”

Rukia turned to face Ichigo again before nodding at the taller girl. She ran back to where Kon was with the girl. Shigeru stayed with the teen out for revenge.

“Why aren’t you going with her,” Ichigo asked, not facing her.

 Shigeru smirked, “You'll need someone to help carry away your beat up body when this is over.”

He nodded before going back to battle.

The two ran around the place trying to kill each other. Grand Fisher continued to use his fur to try to cocoon the boy. Ichigo slashed at the hair currently surrounding his hand, but he was losing speed as the hollow appeared behind him shooting his hair at him at a quicker rate. Shigeru was starting to memorize the hollow’s attack patterns. Not quite predictable, but still very little variation in his approach. The two kept circling each other. Ichigo kept running and dodging attacks. 

“What’s wrong, boy? Running can’t stop me! Just swinging that sword can’t stop me,” Fisher laughed as he sent multiple attacks the boy's way.

Ichigo grit his teeth.

“Don’t interfere, you said. But at this level you think you can defeat me, boy?,” it cackled.

Ichigo ran at the monster head on, “Aaaah!”

“Didn’t I say that that was careless,” Grand Fisher mocked inches away from the teens face, “Driving at an enemies chest without a plan.”

Fisher went to strike the boy's face, but Ichigo blocked it with his sword.

Shigeru’s grip on her sword tightened, “ Don’t hesitate, idiot. ” 

Fisher’s claws extended, impaling Ichigo in the chest. Ichigo fell to the ground as the hollow retreated his claws. 

“Careless, careless, with such carelessness you discarded your companions.”

Ichigo struggled to get his footing. 

“With such carelessness you dive at an enemy's chest.”

The grip on his sword tightens as blood streams from the hole in his chest. 

“It is because of that carelessness you will be controlled by me, and die landing a single blow with your sword,” the hollow teased. 

He slashed at the hollow, “Shut up! Even if I’m torn limb from limb, I will defeat you!”

Grand Fisher squinted at the boy, “That’s why you’ll die.”

The lure began to take the appearance of the small girl again, “You’re young. Young people are easily angered.”

Shigeru frowned, “ Here it comes. How will you handle this, Ichigo ?”

Grand Fisher encased its head with its giant red hand.

“Through anger your heart will be shaken, with your shaken your blade will dull,” the lure began to glow under the monster's hand.

He released the lure . Ichigo’s eyes widened with rage and disbelief. The lure now looked like his mother, Masaki.

“It’s over, boy. You’re far too young to fight me,” Grand Fisher declared gleefully.

He then went on to explain to the shocked Ichigo how he’s managed to kill so many shinigami over the years.

As Shigeru watched from the sidelines her blood began to boil, “ This creature is vile… ”

Out of all the hollows and arrancars, she hated this one the most. Even more than the hollow that was a former serial killer. Grand Fisher distorted and disgraced the memories of loved ones. It was infuriating. He didn’t do it for his petty amusement. She gripped her swords. Oh, how she wanted to cut the thing down, but that honor would go to someone else in due time. Someone who truly deserved vengeance. Shigeru took a deep breath and loosened the death grip she had on her blades.

“ Someone has to be calm here ,” she huffed. 

The fake Masaki said, “Ichigo…”

Ichigo was starting to hyperventilate, “This isn’t the place to bring my mother’s form into!”

He charged forward only for the fake Masaki to cut him off. He froze as it spoke, “Don’t Ichigo. Sheath the sword. Don’t hurt Momma.”

Because of his hesitation, Ichigo was impaled in the shoulder along with the lure. Blood splattered everywhere. Grand Fisher pulled his claw from the boy distancing himself from the teen.

Ichigo stabbed his sword in the ground in order to keep his balance. He grit his teeth to fight against the pain.

“ That’s it! I can’t watch this anymore! ”     

Shigeru sighed as she re-sheathed her swords. She stomped over to the boy, punching him in the head.

Ichigo fell to the ground with a thump. He shot off the ground to glare down at the girl trying to intimidate her with his height, but she couldn’t take him seriously with his battered and bloodied body. He could barely even stand.

“What the hell was that for?” he asked in a deadly calm voice.

She glared back and punched him in the gut. He gasped and crumbled to the ground coughing up some blood, “Stop acting like a child and focus! You need to calm down. That thing is not your mother. Now, either kill that monster or be killed by it.” 

The teen slowly got back on his feet to face the hollow.

“Now decide what you’re going to do: live or die,” Shigeru frowned, facing the hollow.

The hollow chuckled, “See? Your comrade had to jump in to save you. Out of all the shinigami I’ve killed you are the weakest of th-”

Ichigo’s blade impaled the beast in its shoulder.

“Wha?”

A smile spread across Shigeru’s face, “ Atta boy! ”

Ichigo glared at the monster, ““Anger dulls the blade”, that’s what you said, right? But you made one mistake…”

He drove the sword further into its shoulder earning a yelp from the beast.

“A dull sword is enough to defeat a bastard like you! It’s over Grand Fisher,” Ichigo yelled as he sliced away half his body and arm.

The monster screeched as it crawled over the ground. It’s blood splattering across the landscape.

Ichigo labored breath echoed through the woods. Rain began to gently fall over them. The hollow glared up at the shinigami as it squirmed on the ground.

“Ichigo! Shigeru,” Rukia yelled as she arrived.

Ichigo grinned at her as he huffed, “You’re late...I’ve already handled it.”

“You fool. You told me not to interfere,” she smiled gently.

Ichigo laughed, “Yeah…”

Rukia’s eyes widened, “Ichigo! Behind you!”

Grand Fisher tried to attack the boy from behind. Shigeru intercepted the claws with her blades.

“ Seriously, Ichigo… the first rule of battle is literally don’t turn your back on the enemy,” she grunted as she sliced the claws from the hollow’s body.

It screeched as the furry body entered the fake Masaki preparing to escape. Shigeru flashed behind the hollow. She buried her blades into its back and through its chest.

“You might escape, but I want you to know it was because I allowed it,” she whispered into the hollows ear, “I would kill you, but this isn’t my fight to finish.”

She withdrew her blades allowing it to jump away. She turned to see Rukia struggling to hold the bleeding teen back. Shigeru sheathed her swords, and walked over to the two.

“How could you let him go,” Ichigo yelled, trying to push the smaller girl away to follow the beast.

Rukia struggled to stop the bleeding from his wounds, “Enough! Stop already! This fight is over!”

“No! Not yet! He’s still not dead! I can still fight,” the boy argued.

Shigeru wrapped her arms gently around the teen from behind. Calmly she said, “It’s over, Ichigo. Let it go... just let it go.”

The boy finally passed out. Shigeru gently placed him on the ground. She cradled his head on her lap.

“Rukia, can you heal him,” she asked quietly.

Rukia nodded her head, “Yes, with his strength...our idiot won’t die.”

The girls chuckled to each other.

“Shigeru, thank you,” Rukia said quietly as she began healing the boy's wounds with kido.

The substitute shinigami just hummed as she ran her fingers through the boy's hair.

Shigeru plugged her ears as Ichigo complained about the pain he was in after Rukia healed up his wounds.

“I lost...didn’t I,” the boy asked quietly. 

Rukia sighed, “What are you talking about? He fled. No one died. You won.”

“But he’s still alive,” he frowned, “I…”

The boy got to his feet and started to walk off.

“Ichigo,” the small woman questioned.

He waved her off, “Sorry...I’ll be a while.”

Shigeru eyed the boy as he left. She turned to Rukia, “Just give him time alone.”

Shigeru went in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going?”

“To go get my body, duh!”

“Sorry, I forget that you’re human too.”

“Honestly, don’t know how to take that,” she laughed.

Rukia faced the girl, “I meant that despite being in a situation similar to Ichigo your skills are better than his. You seem more shinigami than human sometimes.” 

Shigeru hummed as she gazed down at her zanpakuto, “ More shinigami than human? ”

“Have you learned its name yet,” Rukia asked, looking at the swords on the girl's waist.

Shigeru shrugged her shoulders, “Not yet. I haven’t tried asking yet. We’ve still got time for that…”

“I see…”

Rukia stared at Shigeru's retreating form. She thought about some of Shigeru’s abilities, but mainly her swords.

“ Shigeru’s reiatsu is about the same as Ichigo’s. Actually she has a little bit more, but...I wonder why her zanpakuto are so small compared to his. It’s not rare, I don’t think, but something about her having dual zanpakuto that size seems special. Not to mention she knows it should have a name. I haven’t even told Ichigo that. Is Kisuke giving her lessons ,” she inquired as she stuffed Kon back in her bag. 

Shigeru found her body in the exact same spot that she’d left it. The rain flattened her hair and she was soaked to the bone. Once she entered her body she felt the chill from the rain. 

She sneezed, “Ugh, I’d rather be hot than cold!”

*****

Isshin was frantic when he saw how soaked Shigeru was from the rain and insisted she stay over to warm up. She was glad to see that the girls were safe. Karin seemed to think that everything that happened was just a dream and convinced herself that they had passed out from the heat. 

Shigeru was currently sitting on the couch with Karin. The smaller girl’s head was laying on Shigeru’s lap. She was fighting her sleep as Shigeru gently raked her fingers through her short black hair. Shigeru flipped through the channels with her free hand. 

“The bathroom is free! Shigeru, you can jump in,” Yuzu called down.

Karin hugged the teen around her waist and whined, “But I was just getting comfortable!”

“C’mon! I’ll come back to reclaim my new job as your pillow when I’m done, “ she laughed.

Karin reluctantly rolled off of the girl and grumbled, “You’d better!”

“Bossy lil’ thing aren’t you,” she grinned.

She made her way to the bathroom and stopped when she heard Ichigo and Rukia arguing. Shigeru grinned with an evil twinkle in her eye as she snuck over to his door. Without warning she burst in. Ichigo screamed and Rukia tried and failed to drive into his closet, slipping on Kon, falling face first.

“You should really lock the door or keep it down. I can hear you two arguing from the stairs,” she grinned.

Ichigo pulled her further in the room and slammed his door behind her. He turned to her, “ Why would you do that?” 

“I thought it would be fun to scare you,” she laughed.

Rukia, who now sported a growing knot on her forehead, whispered harshly, “Well it wasn’t!”

Shigeru giggled as she looked around Ichigo’s room. It was a lot roomier than it appeared when watching the anime. 

“ No wonder all the shinigami came to his room for meetings ,” she mused.

She went to sit on his bed. She ran her hand across the blue blanket with the white cross stretching over its entirety. 

“ Foreshadowing! ”

Ichigo frowned, crossing his arms, “Seriously, Shigeru...you’re one of the strangest girls I’ve met.”

“Why, thank you!”

“That's not a compliment,” he yelled, putting her in a headlock messing up her hair.

“Not the hair!”

He grinned evilly, “It’s the only thing you care about! I’ll tangle it up nice and good for you!”

“Nooooooo,” she whined before flipping the boy away from her.

He went crashing into his closet.

The damage was already done. She pouted as she tried to run a hand through her brown locks.

She sighed, “I’m taking over the bath for a while, plus I promised Karin I’d be her pillow.”

Shigeru walked over to exit the room as she reached for the knob Ichigo got off the floor.

“Hey, Shigeru…”

She looked over her shoulder, “Hmm, Ichigo?”

“Thank you,” he said, scratching his cheek meekly.

She smiled brightly, “Aw! Don’t get soft on me, Strawberry!”

“Strawberry?!”

She ran out of the room before he could tackle her. He chased after her, leaving Rukia and Kon to themselves. Rukia smiled as she listened to the thumps and bickering.

“Get back here Shigeru!”

“Papa Isshin, Ichigo’s bullying me!”

“Am not!”

“Papa Isshin to the rescue!”

“Gah! Get away, old man!”

“Dad, Ichigo, stop! Shigeru is trying to take a bath!”

“Yeah! You Strawberry perv!”

“What did you call me?!”

Rukia smiled to herself as she heard another series of crashes and thumps, “ Those two are something else.” 

Kon groaned, “This house is too noisy.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Where’d They Find This Guy?!

The people of the small town of Karakura were gathering in the dead of night. They were coming from far and wide to bear witness to the great event that was going to take place. The people fell into lines as they walked up to the abandoned hospital. Road blockers were present to keep the great people of the sleepy town from getting too close to the ominous building. Camera crews scattered about to record the event, broadcasting to those who couldn’t make the event.

A ghostly scream mixed with a howl echoed around the area.

Only those who could sense the otherworldly could hear, but for the ignorant it was alright for them to have no fear. 

Heroes stood amongst them in the crowd. Heroes that have dedicated their lives to save the public―

“This is so stupid,” Ichigo groaned.

Shigeru crossed her arms examining her nails, “ Why’re we even here again?”

“Is this what humans find entertaining,” Rukia asked the teen.

The taller girl sighed, “Humans are stupid, Rukia. Even humans know that.”

“Yep,” Ichigo nodded.

….Okay, so our heroes can be cynical, but trust me they will save the day. Somehow? Maybe?

Yesterday Night

Shigeru was painting her nails black at the dinner table as the two excitable members of the Kurosaki family watched tv. Isshin and Yuzu were watching Don Kanonji’s television show. It was just like the paranormal investigation shows from her world, where the audience sees nothing as the crew freaks out. It made Shigeru miss Buzzfeed: Unsolved actually.

“ Ah, I miss the boys and their ghouls ,” she giggled.

The man psychic on the screen crossed his arms across his chest giving his signature laugh. Isshin and Yuzu mimicked him.

“Bahahaha!”

Ichigo’s, who was sitting across from her, eye twitched, “What are you two doing?”

Yuzu beamed, “Don’t you know? It’s Ghost Bust starring the charismatic medium Don Kanonji!” 

“He meant that ridiculous pose, Yuzu,” Shigeru said plainly as she blew on the paint.

She ignored them as Don was doing his famed laugh again.

Ichigo turned to Shigeru, “I hate that guy. I don’t understand why they love that show so much.”

Shigeru turned her head to the TV and then back to the boy, “It’s because he’s an idiot.”

“He’s so cool,” Yuzu cheered, “I want to be able to see ghosts!”

Shigeru started to paint her other hand, “It’s an overrated experience.”

“I second that,” Karin said, taking a seat next to her.

Ichigo hummed, taking a sip of his water.

Yuzu squealed, “Oh my gosh! They’re coming to Karakura town for the new episode!”

Shigeru, Karin, and Ichigo blinked.

“What?!”

The next morning

Shigeru, Rukia, and Ichigo entered the classroom. Orihime appeared doing the signature Don laughs and pose. 

“Bahahaha,” the busty girl laughed, arms crossed over her chest in an x.

Shigeru groaned, “Is this our life now?”

Orihime blinked at the lack of reaction from the group, “Do you guys not know what that’s from?”

Ichigo sighed, “ Ghost Bust , right?”

“That’s right,” she beamed, “let’s do it together, Bahaha-”

Tatsuki cut the girl off, dragging her, “Come with me.”

“Tatsuki?! Why?”

She was dragged away from the other teens. Keigo and Mizuiro walked over.

“Good morning guys,” she smiled.

The boys exchanged a look and then crossed their arms over their chest.

“Bahahaha!”

Shigeru slapped Keigo with her bag and glared at Mizuiro .

“Why just me,” he groaned.

Ichigo turned to see Chad silently in the pose as well. Shigeru sighed at that. She couldn’t possibly be angry with Chad.

Ichigo and Keigo were talking in the hallway.

“What do you mean? How can you not go to the live recording,” Keigo yelled.

Ichigo shrugged, “I’m not interested.”

“The entire town is going to be there! If you don’t go you’ll be as good as dead to this town,” Keigo whined.

Ichigo stared at the boy, “Well, guess I’m dead.”

“I even went through the trouble of inviting Rukia,” Keigo whined as he motioned the short girl.

She curtsied with a fake smile, “How’s it going, Ichigo?”

“ How’s it going, faker, ” he deadpanned. 

Keigo turned back to the boy, “See now you have to come!”

“Pass,” Ichigo walked away.

Keigo ran after him, “Please, Ichigo! I’ll invite Shigeru too!”

“Hard pass,” Shigeru called out from inside the classroom.

“You both are such killjoys,” Keigo whined.

Back to where we started

Our heroes were dragged along by the overly excited Yuzu and Isshin, plus an uncaring Karin. Shigeru tried to cover her face with sunglasses and the hood of an oversized hoodie. But Isshin kept pulling down the hood from her head, saying she’s too adorable to cover her face. Ichigo was just hunched over exasperated by everything. They saw Orihime, Tatsuki, Rukia, Chad, Mizuiro, and Keigo.

Keigo and Mizurio spotted the two and pointed, “You came!”

“Shut up or I’ll kill you,” Ichigo growled while Shigeru hid behind Isshin.

The two ran away to hide behind Chad. 

They peeked around the tall teen and laughed.

Shigeru sighed, “I swear they’re doing that on purpose…”

“They know I hate this show and do it to annoy me,” he grumbled.

Orihime walked up to Ichigo, “So... you came.”

“Yeah, Yuzu and the old man are huge fans of the show,” Ichigo pointed to the two who were doing the signature laugh.

Orihime mused, “You’re little sister and father…What about you, Shigeru?”

“That is not my name tonight. I’ll go by the alias Chi,” the other teen groaned, pulling her hair in a tight bun hoping no one else recognized her.

Ichigo slapped the back of her head, “Would you take those stupid sunglasses off! It’s night!”

“No, this is embarrassing!,” she ran to stand by Karin who was trying to fade into the background.

Orihime laughed, “Shigeru sure is energetic!”

“Karin and Yuzu begged her to tag along. She just can’t say no to them,” Ichigo explained.

Orihime smiled, “Even though you guys hate this stuff you came for them. That’s so nice of you.”

“Hm, it's just normal,” Ichigo looked at the girl, slightly confused.

Orihime smiled to herself, “Yes, you’re right it’s normal…”

Tatsuki called Orihime back over to her as the show looked like it was about to start. The girl waved a good-bye to Ichigo before leaving to join the other teen.

Shigeru rejoined her fellow substitute shinigami as he grumbled, “Everyone gathering around like idiots, it'll make the tv networks think we’ll watch anything.”

“People will watch anything,” she sighed.

“What’s wrong with you two? You seem so down.”

They turned around to see Rukia now doing the signature laugh.

“ This bitch ,” they both thought.

Shigeru was getting a headache from hearing that obnoxious laugh, “The next person to impersonate that man I’m punching!”

Rukia laughed, “Seriously, what’s wrong with you two?”

Ichigo crossed his arms, “Oh, shut up! You just wanted to have fun tonight.”

“Can I go home,” Shigeru pouted.

Ichigo blinked, “But Dad and Yuzu are having fun. We can’t go home yet, and it hasn't even started.”

“I meant my actual apartment. I’m part-time in this family,” she smiled at the boy.

Rukia patted Shigeru on the back, “Come on! You must be tired from balancing school and fighting hollows. You should take the time to relax!”

Ichigo’s face lit up with wonder. Shigeru already knew what he was thinking. She turned to the petite woman.

“Do you even know what all of this is for?”

Rukia smiled, “Not at all!”

Ichigo’s face fell and he stomped up to the woman, “Are you serious?”

He quickly explained about the tv show, but they both doubted that she actually got what was going on. 

Ichigo looked up at the abandoned hospital. Skepticism written all over his face, “Is there even a spirit haunting this place?”

“How is it you’ve been able to see spirits since, like, ever, and you find it hard to believe that a hospital, where people die, is haunted,” Shigeru asked the boy as she finally took off her shades.

Ichigo frowned, “Cause the guy’s probably a fraud, and doing this to boost ratings.”

“Well what makes you so sure? I mean, we see spirits,” she smirked before pointing to Rukia, “Hell, she is a spirit.”

Rukia pouted, “Hey, leave me out of this! And to answer your question, this place could have an Earth-bound spirit.”

Ichigo turned to her, “Earth-bound spirit?”

Rukia pulled out her handy-dandy sketchbook. Ichigo groaned as she started her drawing explanations.

“They are naturally assimilated to the land they reside, so it’s hard for the Soul Society to pinpoint them. They only really show themselves…”

A crew member ran through with a light, brushing past Ichigo. When he got within a certain radius of the hospital an echoing howl mixed with a human scream echoed around them.

“Is when a human trepasses in its territory…,” she finished.

Ichigo scowled, “What’s that voice?”

“Sounds hollowish but at the same time it doesn’t,” Shigeru stepped closer to Ichigo.

Rukia smirked, “That’s pretty spot on. It’s a demi-hollow. A plus that’s slowly turning into a hollow. His heart has been caught by the hospital..”

Shigeru rolled up the sleeves of her hoodie and jammed her hands into her back pockets, cocking her hip to the side. She sighed, “Do we really not get days off from being shinigami? I’m starting a union!”

The spirit emerged from the ground. He had short spiky light hair. He was in a pink bodysuit, covered in chains. The chains extended to the hospital. A hole forming on his chest, a chain peeling the hole open. It took a breath and wailed.

“Ooooooooooaaaaa,” it bellowed.

Karin frowned, “I knew I shouldn’t have come.”

Tatsuki and Orihime looked at each other anxiously.

Chad looked on nervously.

Shigeru put a hand to her ear, “Jesus fucking Christ! The lungs on that thing!”

Rukia went on to explain to Ichigo what a hollow’s mask is actually for and so on in comparison to the demi-hollow in front of them. Shigeru examined her manicured nails.

“ Hmm, I did a good job on these ,” she mused.

The spirit began to shout his regrets, well, more like demands, “This hospital is mine! I won’t hand it over to anyone ! You guys can’t come in! If you get any closer I’ll kill ya!”

Ichigo couldn’t help but stare blankly at the demi-hollow, “So this guy’s an idiot…”

“If you come in you have to pay,” the spirit shouted at the crew members setting up the.

Shigeru frowned and cracked her knuckles, “Is this ghost seriously trying to haggle us for money?!”

The ghost went on about how he was supposed to inherit the hospital and all of the expensive things he was going to buy with the money he would have had. Then he went on about how his brother was one to inherit the hospital instead. 

“That’s one greedy ass grudge,” Ichigo said astonished.

“...” Rukia had no comment.

“When the hell is this show going to start,” Shigeru ran a hand down her face.

She groaned, “ I pray that I don’t have stupid ass regrets! ”

An announcement was made for everyone to settle down and a countdown began for the filming of the show.

Shigeru was ignoring most of what the announcer was saying as he hyped the crowd up for the medium’s arrival. She just wanted to go home. This was actually one of the funnier moments of the series that she truly enjoyed, but she was just tired from all the schoolwork and hollow hunting. The wind started to pick up as a helicopter descended from the skies. Everyone looked on excitedly as Don Kanonji jumped from the helicopter. 

“Hello babies! Spirits are always with you,” the psychic yelled as he landed.

The audience cheered on as he decided to strike an X pose.

Ichigo and Shigeru’s mouths dropped from the sheer stupidity.

“This is the most outlandish shit I’ve ever seen...and I fight monsters for a living,” the shorter of the two tried not to laugh.

Rukia clapped excitedly with the rest of the crowd, much to Ichigo’s horror.

Ichigo shouted, “Hey! Don’t get swept away!”

“Ichigo, let her have this,” Shigeru sighed.

Ichigo frowned and pointed to the demi-hollow, “But shouldn’t we perform konsho on the guy? I mean he’s turning into a hollow, right?”

Shigeru turned her attention to the spirit that was currently shouting in the psychic’s face. Don Kanonji placed a hand to his chin as he observed the spirit up close. 

“We should be fine,” she said quickly knowing that they were in fact not fine. 

Rukia turned to Ichigo and pointed to the demi-hollows forming hole, “Don’t worry! It takes months, even years, to turn into a hollow. He won’t turn in an hour…”

Don stared at the forming hole and gripped his staff.

“Unless something messes with its forming hole!”

The staff was impaled in the forming hole. The demi-hollow screeched in pain.

Rukia and Ichigo’s head snapped toward the two.

“Don’t worry! I’ll send you to heaven,” Kanonji yelled as he drove the staff further into the demi-hollow’s chest.

Ichigo growled, “What the hell is he doing?”

“Shigeru, Ichigo, this is not good!”

They turned the shinigami, “He’s spreading the spirit’s wound! If he keeps that up he’ll speed up the hollowfication process!”

The idiot medium began to chant as the spirit wailed even louder.

Ichigo dashed off and jumped over the barricade line and shouted, “Stop, you idiot!”

As Ichigo continued to run toward the medium, a dozen security guards tackled him.

“Agh!”

Shigeru cackled, “I’ve been waiting for this!”

“Let go! Something bad is about to happen,” Ichigo yelled as he struggled to get out of the men’s grip.

Rukia slipped on her glove as she jumped over the line, “Ichigo, come here! I’ll change you into a shinigami!”

Ichigo turned toward her preparing to meet her half way when―

“Seize her!”

Rukia was tackled by another squadron of security guards.

Shigeru stepped a foot over the line to get closer so that she could point and laugh!

“You guy’s are so stupid,” she cackled.

Ichigo yelled, “Stop laughing and do something, Shigeru!”

“I am,” she pulled out her phone to snap pictures of him and Rukia struggling against the men restraining them.

She moved a little closer. Just a couple steps ahead of the line.

A security guard noticed her.

“Another one!”

Before the men could tackle her she smashed the palm of her hand against the man’s nose. He flew back into the group of men behind him.

“I’m barely over the line,” she shouted in the direction of the men.

She didn’t notice the new group of security guards that tackled her while she was distracted. 

“Why is there so much security,” she shouted, fighting her way out of the men’s grip.

A yelled, “This one’s strong!”

“Agh,” she yelled as she sent a couple men flying.

“Let go,” Rukia yelled to the men.

Ichigo shouted at Rukia, “Break free and get over here! What’re you doing?”

“Break free?! You’re the guy! You should be able to get to me,” she yelled back.

Shigeru tossed another man off of her. Hair out of her bun looking wild and clothes disheveled. She looked down at her nails that were now chipped. 

“Dammit! Look what you did! I didn’t even want to be here!” 

Another security guard tackled her.

“Seriously! How much security does a paranormal investigation show need,” she shouted.

The chains surrounding the demi-hollow began to break all around. The greedy spirit hollowed loudly.

Rukia yelled, “Oh no! Ichigo! Shigeru!” 

“I’m trying,” the teens yelled in unison.

A cane went through Ichigo’s skull sending his spirit tumbling forward. The guards panicked over his slack form they were currently holding. Before Shigeru could question what just happened she too was launched from her body, but unlike Ichigo she gracefully landed on her feet.

“Ow, dammit Kisuke,” she whined rubbing the back of her head, “warn a girl first!”

Kisuke waved his fan with his goofy grin spread across his face, “But where’s the fun in that, Little Miss Shigeru?”

Tessai collected Ichigo and Shigeru’s bodies from the security guards, bowing as an apology for their behavior. 

“Mr. Hat and Clogs,” Ichigo questioned.

Urahara waved his fan at the boy, “No spacing out, Ichigo. Now get in there.”

“That’s right!”

The boy turned and stormed up to the idiot psychic. Kisuke gazed at the pouting Shigeru.

“Aren’t you going with him?”

She folded her hands behind her head as she smirked at the man, “Nah, he’s got this.”

“Why’re you here, Urahara? Are you scheming something,” Rukia scrutinized the man.

Urahara smiled, “Nope!”

Shigeru turned away just in time to see Ichigo all but tackle Don Kanonji. She hopped over to the men. Ichigo was in the middle of yelling at the man when Shigeru interjected.

“ Who is your stylist? They don’t love you,” she asked the psychic.

Don struck a pose, “I’m my own stylist, little lady!”

“So you don’t love yourself,” she gasped, placing a hand over her heart.

Ichigo punched the girl in the shoulder, “Now is not the time!”

“How is it not ? He looks ridiculous,” she yelled.

Ichigo yelled, “You’re acting ridiculous!”

“Says the boy that just jumped onto a live shooting of the television show that’s being broadcasted around the city,” she yelled back, shoving a finger into his chest.

Ichigo pointed to her, “You did the same thing!”

“No, Rukia , did the same thing! I was basically on the side lines minding my business,” Shigeru glared as she rubbed her sore shoulder.

Ichigo grabbed his hair, “You were laughing while taking pictures!”

“Exactly, minding my business!”

Don cleared his throat, “Excuse me, little boy, little girl,why did you interfere?”

The spirit that was previously being assaulted began his transformation into a hollow. The hole on his chest ripped open completely before he exploded into a blinding white light. Shigeru shielded her eyes from the light. When the light died down the spirit had vanished. 

“ Yeah, I’m over this. I’m sitting out this fight , “ she grumbled.

Ichigo was puzzled as he stared at the spot the spirit was, “It..it disappeared!”

“Mission complete,” Don yelled in victory.

The crowd cheered loudly for the man as the announcer hyped him up even further.

Ichigo looked around for the spirit, “Did he really get rid of it?”

“No he did not ,” Shigeru sighed, crossing her arms. She turned to the boy, “I’m not helping you with this fight by the way.”

Ichigo spun around to face her, “What? Why?”

“Again, I’m not the one that rushed into this,” she said plainly, taking a few steps back.

Don laughed, “You two young people are wandering spirits too, right? Don’t worry I’ll send you off as well. No fee involved.”

Shigeru frowned before jumping away to create more distance, “Nah, I’m good on all that man.”

“Shigeru! Get back here and help!”

She turned around and stuck her tongue out at the boy, “If it looks like you’re struggling I’ll jump in!”

“Some little sister you are,” he yelled, gripping his sword.

Shigeru laughed, “I’m older than you, and I’d pay attention to that if I were you.”

She pointed to the sky as a blob of white formed into a newly formed hollow. The blob landed on the roof of the hospital. Its headless body clawed at the edge of the building. The head of the spirit from before sprung up from the neck. It bellowed as a white substance erupted from his mouth and nose, covering his face. It solidified into a mask. It stared down at the people on the ground and howled.

“What is that monster,” Don asked.

Ichigo sputtered, “What do you mean?! Have you never seen a hollow before?!”

“Of course, I have! I’m the greatest spirit medium of the century,” he boasted nervously.

Ichigo sighed as he pulled out his oversized zanpakuto, “Yeah, whatever man. Just stay out of the way while I handle this.”

Don cupped his ears and yelled, “What’s this! Sensing! Sensing! I’m sensing a dangerous spirit!”

The crowd cheered as he continued his performance.

“You must be the evil boss of the spirit from before! You’ve come for vengeance, but I’ll be the one to stop you,” Don faced the crowd and posed with his staff.

Shigeru placed her hands behind her head as she stared at the ravenous creature.

“ Didn’t this thing have some kind of ability, ” she thought hard as her brows furrowed. 

The hollow jumped off the roof and yelled, “I’ll devour your soul!”

Ichigo turned to the medium to tell him to run only for the man to toss Ichigo behind him.

“Leave, young man! I’ve got this handled,” he declared.

The man charged toward the monster, “Come, evil spirit! I shall be your opponent!”

Ichigo followed after the man unsheathing his sword, “This idiot!”

Before the hollow could bite the medium’s head off the young shinigami deflected the beast sending it flying in the opposite direction. The two began to bicker the hollow snuck up behind Ichigo. Ichigo swung his sword but the creature blocked it with its enormous hand. Shigeru was annoyed as she muttered, “How many times do I have to tell him not to turn his back in battle?” 

“So fascinating and yet terrible,” she heard from a voice behind her.

Her eyes met Kisuke’s as he continued, “What should we do about that?”

Shigeru turned back to the bickering idiots and Ichigo tackled the medium out of the way once again. The hollow went crashing into the hospital wall. While it was stuck, Shigeru sighed, jumping into action.

“ Let's get this over with so we can all go home ,” she groaned.

When she got close to the other two the hollow emerged from the wall pouncing at the group. Ichigo grabbed Kanonji by the back of his trench coat and tossed Shigeru over his shoulder with his other hand. He crashed through the entrance of the hospital.

Shigeru spit out wood chips as she struggled against his hold, “Would you put me down! Hey!”

The boy ignored her as he continued to run through the halls.

“Why are you running away, young man? Let me go,” Don yelled as he struggled against the boys' hold.

Ichigo kept running, “You’re the one that told me to run!”

“Why did I get dragged along,” Shigeru yelled in his ear.

He flinched, “Sorry! It was a reflex!”

Don yelled at the two teens, “I told you to run! Not me! I can’t run away!”

Ichigo’s eye twitched as he flung the man ahead of him. Don crashed into one of the walls. He then dropped Shigeru unceremoniously.

“What the hell, Strawberry! That hurt ,” she kicked him behind his knees making him buckle to the floor.

He turned the yell in her face, “Don’t call me that!”

“Or what? Strawberry! Strawberry! Shitty Strawberry,” she chanted.

Ichigo tackled her to the ground and pulled her hair.

She gasped, “Oh no you did not just pull my hair!”

Shigeru was pulled in a headlock as the boy mushed up her hair. She whined trying to get the boy off of her. 

Then Ichigo turned on the medium, who flinched, and yelled, “And you! Give me a break! Since earlier you’ve been saying “I can’t run away.” Now explain yourself because I just don’t understand!”

Don hesitated before pointing to the boy, “That’s the same thing I was going to ask you!”

“I’m the one asking questions! Now answer!,” Ichigo roared as he released Shigeru.

Don was a little lost for words, “...Okay.”

The two teens leaned in waiting for his answer. Shigeru tried to straighten herself out as she asked, “Yeah, why won’t you run away, idiot?”

Don pushed his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose, “It is because...I’m a hero.”

He went on a rant on how he’s a pacifist who does like battles and being an awesome medium and what not.

Ichigo stared at the man stupefied while Shigeru pinched the bridge of her nose.

“Can’t we let the hollow eat him,” she whispered to Ichigo.

“Of course not! Why would you even suggest it,” he whispered back harshly.

“Cause he’s a goddamn moron,” she hissed, pulling her hair into a tight bun, “and I want to go home! Now I have to get serious for no reason!”

Ichigo huffed as he crossed his arms, “ Yeah right. You never take hollow hunting seriously!”

“Cause they’re weak and unimportant annoyances,” she muttered.

She marched up to the medium poking his in the chest, “ I get that you’re doing this to give hope to the small children who watch this stupid show, but if you encounter a damn monster that you have no chance of winning against just run!”

Kanonji patted the girl on her head. His gaze gently yet firm, “If you know I’m doing it for the children then you must understand that I simply can’t run away. They enjoy what I do, and when they see me stand up to evil spirits they know what courage is..”

Shigeru pouted and crossed her arms. Begrudgingly she agreed, “I suppose you’re right…”

“Now let's go back outside to fight the monster,” he declared, trying to run past Ichigo.

Shigeru pulled him back by his collar, “No! You idiot! Just when I thought you had sense!”

Ichigo yelled at the man, “What would you do if you went out there and the audience got mixed up in the fight! You’re the hero! You have to protect your fans too!”

“That’s right! That thing is called a hollow. It goes after people with high spiritual pressure to eat,” Shigeru explained, releasing the man.

Ichigo continued, “That’s right. People with high spiritual pressure are people like me and Shigeru, and guys with souls like you, Kanonji.”

“So if we fight in the hospital away from the crowd, that could have others like us, no one gets hurt,” Shigeru sighed as she sensed the hollow getting closer by the second.

Don was astonished, “Little boy, little girl, outstanding...you’re fighting while thinking about the people…”

The howl of the hollow echoed through the building.

“It’s close by,” Ichigo yelled.

The hollow emerged through the floor to block the way they came from. Ichigo swung his hulking sword in the narrow hallway. It got stuck in the ceiling midswing.

“Ichigo…”

The hollow roared charging for them. Shigeru used her reiatsu to enhance her body. She pounced over the charging hollow bringing her legs down on its back. It went tumbling back through the floor descending a couple floors. She turned back to the boy as he struggled to get his sword out of the ceiling. She kicked the flat side of the sword, sending it and Ichigo with it down the end of the hall toward the stairway.

She glared at the medium and cocked her head in the direction of the fallen shinigami, “Let’s head to the roof. We can’t fight in this cramped space.” 

Don nodded his head, “Yes, little lady!”

They ran to the stairs and she snatched up the other teen, “Let’s go, dumbass! That thing should be back in a few minutes!”

As they approached the rooftop the hollow crashed through the stairway a couple floors below them. It charged toward the group. Once they reached the landing Shigeru and Ichigo kicked down the door, sending it flying clear off the roof. They ran to the edge of the roof. Shigeru quickly glanced over the edge to see the excited crowd.  The hollow emerged from the door destroying it in the process. She slapped the rumble away before it could hit her face. Ichigo readied to charge it when the hollow opened its mouth, spitting a green slime over the boy sticking him to the roof's edge.

Shigeru jumped out of the way of the splatter, “Oh,  gross ! That’s what it does!”

“Get this stuff off of me, Shigeru,” Ichigo struggled against the slime.

Shigeru’s face scrunched up in disgust, “I’m not touching the shit!”

“Then cut it off! It’s hardening,” Ichigo shouted.

Shigeru backed away from the boy, “I’m not letting my babies touch that stuff either!”

The hollow jumped its mouth wide open to snap at the arguing teen. Don stopped it with his staff jammed into its mouth.

The teens blinked in surprise, “Wow…”

“Are you okay little ones,” Don turned to face the shinigamis.

Shigeru blinked, “ He’s almost cool. Almost .”

Ichigo yelled, “Quit it, Kanonji! You can’t win against that thing!”

The staff began to crack as Don kept his cool, “I have abilities. I can understand the difference between me and the enemy.”

Ichigo's eyes widened with wonder.

“However, you two children have made an impression on me…”

Shigeru rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest, “ Oh god, a hero monologue… ”

“The way of fighting where one thinks of people’s safety indiscriminately...your way of fighting is befitting of heroes!,” Don declared.

Ichigo looked touched until―

“Allow me to call you two my Battle Buddies,” he declared with sparkles surrounding him.

Ichigo was stunned, “No...no thank you.”

“Hard pass,” Shigeru snorted.

Don turned back to the hollow and yelled, “Allow me to die protecting you!”

Ichigo yelled, “Now, you wait a minute!”

The medium's spiritual pressure began to rise. His hand began to cackle, “Kanonji-Style’s Ultimate Technique!”

A tiny sphere appeared in his palm, “Kanon Ball!”

Ichigo stopped his struggle against the hardened slime, “What...what’s that? Are you going to do something to the hollow with that?”

Shigeru leaned closer to Ichigo, “Um, is that really going to be effective? It’s so tiny .” 

Ichigo tried not to laugh, “Hey, Kan―”

Don pointed his hand at the two teens. The small sphere slowly floated over to the teens as he yelled, “Strike!”

Once it made contact with the slime it exploded. Ichigo screamed in shock and Shigeru jumped out of her skin.

“ I forgot about that, ” she yelled internally.

She tripped over her feet falling over the railing of the roof.

“Oh shit!”

“Shigeru!” Ichigo shouted as he failed to reach the girl in time.

She went plummeting down toward the crowd. Shigeru squeezed her eyes shut readying for impact. She figured it would hurt but she wouldn’t be hurt too bad if she used her reiatsu to soften the fall. Much to her shock she landed on something firm... yet soft?

“Wha?”

“Hmm, I didn’t expect you to be so bold…”

Shigeru looked down at the grinning face of Kisuke. His hat knocked off to the side and arms spread out eagle style. He stared at her with twinkling eyes. She was currently sitting on his stomach. 

“Not that I’m complaining, Little Miss Shigeru,” he winked.

Shigeru’s face lit up in a blush as she quickly removed herself from the man. She was not prepared for that! He laughed as he got to his feet, and extended a hand toward her. She brushed it away.

“Sorry about that,” she coughed standing on her feet on her own as she willed her face to cool down.

Kisuke pouted as he picked up his hat, “How cold of you! And here I thought we were getting close.” 

“Oh shut it! It was an accident,” she crossed her arms.

Kisuke grinned as he pointed to the roof, “How’s it going up there?”

“Stupid. I’m ready to go home. They should be done soon,” she sighed as she took her hair out of the tight bun that was causing her a headache.

She heard the medium shout his obnoxious laugh over the roof to the crowd. She groaned loudly as the crowd loudly joined in.

“Where the hell is Tessai with my body,” her eye twitched.

Kisuke covered his face with his white fan as he glanced at the form of the retreating girl, “ Our Little Shigeru sure does know how to predict things… ” 

As predicted the young heroes saved the night and gained another unexpected ally. They would cherish this today and the bond forged through battle. Everyone was happy―

“Ichigo, stop playing around with that dumbass so we can go! Now ,” Shigeru yelled up to the roof, extremely annoyed.

On second thought, not everyone was happy...

The next day at school 

“I can't even believe this! Do you guys have any idea what you’ve done,” yelled the P.E. teacher, Kagine-sensei.

The teens who were present at the live show the night before stood in the office being stared down by their teachers and principal.

“Take a look at this,” he yelled.

A huge projection started to play behind the principal’s back. It showed Ichigo jumping over the boundary only to be tackled, Rukia following after him only to also be tackled, and Shigeru pointing and laughing before sending a man flying and then tackled.

“This,” he pointed to the projection, “was aired on a nationwide live broadcast tv show that was filmed in our hometown yesterday!”

“Nationwide,” Ochi-sensei gasped.

Kagine-sensei marched up to Ichigo as the clip played in a loop, “Well, Kurosaki. What do you have to say when you look at that?”

“Looks a lot like me, doesn’t he,” he said trying to keep a straight face.

Kagine-sensei yelled, “Every inch of him is you, moron!”

Shigeru snorted.

Kagine-sensei turned to Shigeru, “What do you have to say for yourself, Kuroi?”

She examined her freshly painted nails before looking the man in the eyes, “To be honest with you, sir. I’d like to start by saying that that was way too much security for a tv production.”

“That’s all you have to say,” he yelled exasperated, “with that image going around, do you know how much shame you’ve brought this school?!”

Tatsuki raised her hand, “Excuse me! I understand why Ichigo, Rukia, and Shigeru are here. They were actually on TV being idiots, but why are Orihime and I here?”

Kagine-sensei turned to the girl, “But you were with him…”

“Unintentionally, we just happened to run into them, but we had nothing to do with it,” she claimed, putting her hands on her hips.

Keigo jumped in, “That’s a lie! I invited them both!”

“He’s obviously delusional. Don’t believe him,” she declared plainly.

Ichigo looked over to his childhood friend/traitor and mumbled, “...So you’re just going to save yourself.”

Tatsuki stuck her tongue out of the boy before grabbing Orihime’s hand, “We’re going back to class. Let’s go, Orihime!”

“I’m leaving too,” Shigeru declared walking toward the door.

Kagine-sensei pulled her back by her collar, “Not so fast, Little Miss One Person Army! We have proof you were with Ichigo!”

“Lies and slander!”

The teacher pointed to her clip on the projection, “That’s you! Right there! Tossing grown men like trash in the wind!”

“I was barely over the line,” she declared.

Kagine-sensei turned to the group, “And instead of stopping Kuchiki and Kurosaki you just pointed and laughed!”

“I’m still not seeing the problem here,” the brown skinned girl declared as she crossed her hands across her chest.

The man's face dropped into his hands as he screamed. 

“I’m so sorry,” Rukia sniffled.

Kagine-sensei faced the petite girl as she played him with her fake water works. Ichigo grabbed Shigeru by the wrist. She looked up at him as he motioned his head toward the window that the others were eyeing.

“All of this is because I couldn’t stop Ichigo...I was the closest to Ichigo at the time. When he jumped in, I had to stop him…”

The group of boys and one girl quietly made their way to the open window.

“I even raised my voice, which isn’t like me…”

Mizuiro and Keigo were successfully out the window. Chad was working on getting out along with Ichigo who was stepping on a stool to assist himself. Ochi-sensei silently watched on. She knew she wouldn’t be able to stop her wild students.

Rukia cried into her handkerchief, “But Ichigo just wouldn’t listen!”

Kagine ran over to Rukia to comfort her, “It’s alright! You didn’t do anything wrong! It was all Kurosaki’s fault, okay?”

“Yes… I don’t care what happens to him, just me,” she sniffled.

Shigeru’s mouth dropped, “Everyone is so shady today!”

Kagine turned around but the group had successfully escaped the room and ran for dear life.

“Hey, get back here you guys. If you run I’ll suspend you,” the P.E.  teacher yelled from the window.

Shigeru cackled, “Not on your life! Freedom!”

“Shut up! You’ll make things worse,” Keigo whined.

Kagine-sensei sighed as he turned back into the room and yelled, “And Kuchiki disappeared as well!”

He ran over to the other teacher, “Ochi-sensei!!! You saw didn’t you? Why didn’t you stop them?!” 

Ochi-sensei raised her hands in defeat and she laughed, “I didn’t think such a fuss was necessary. It’s just a television broadcast after all.”

“Principal!”

The principal happily pointed to the projection “Kagine, can you make a copy of this? I want to brag to my grandchildren that my students were on tv!”

“Are you serious,” the teacher yelled in defeat.

Everyone marched down the stairwell outside the building.

“We were able to clear an escape all thanks to the great Rukia,” Keigo declared happily.

Ichigo frowned, “Oh please she was going to sell us out! Don’t praise her!”

“It was because of Rukia’s acting that you were able to escape,” Tatsuki declared.

Shigeru slung an arm over her shoulder, “What’s that I hear Ms. Traitor?”

Tatsuki laughed nervously, “You’ll never let me live it down will you?”

“I’m not helping with the tournaments,” Shigeru declared, giving Tatsuki a noggy.

Tatsuki whined, “Come one!”

Orihime giggled at their antics.

Rukia interjected, “I was only acting. I would never sell out my friends, Ichigo.”

He squinted his eyes at her, “Lair…”

They all laughed and continued on their way. Shigeru noticed Chad stop for a second as he stared up to a window on the third floor of the building. She followed his gaze but only saw a retreating form.

She patted him on the elbow as she stretched her neck to look at the taller boy’s face, “Something wrong, Chad?”

He blinked and looked down at the darker girl. He patted her on the head, “No...I guess it was nothing.”

She grinned and wrapped her arm around his, “Let’s go then!”

His eyes widened as he was dragged away by the girl. He smiled softly as he was dragged away.

She glanced back at the window and smirked, “ So you're finally making your move, huh. Uryuu..”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: It’s Hollow Season!

Shigeru was sitting in the middle of her apartment for a change (she actually slept at home, unless it was the weekend when she’d sleep over at the Kurosaki residence). She decided to give the Kurosaki’s a break from her for a few days, not wanting to be a complete moocher, and decided to study for the upcoming exams they had to take soon at school. Shigeru was never one for studying, not even in her previous universe. Honestly, she didn’t even start to actually study for things until college. She just had an easier time remembering content, so never found the need. If she didn’t know something she’d just leave it up to luck and bullshit. 

She flipped through her math notes and sighed, “This is something I didn’t miss one bit…”

As she stared at her practice problems she thought back on recent events. Don Kanonji somehow found out where Ichigo lived (Rukia) and wanted to hang out with the both of them, much to her embarrassment. She was not going to be seen anywhere in public with that medium, especially with how he dressed. They could only ditch the man when a hollow appeared on Rukia’s radar. The other two didn’t notice the Quincy as they passed by him, while Shigeru pretended to not notice the boy. It was a matter of time before she would have to witness Ichigo and Uryuu’s stupid rivalry, but she’s looking forward to hunting down some hollows.

“ I wonder if this is the excitement Elmer Fudd felt when it was rabbit season, ” she mused to herself giggling as she tapped her pencil on the table. 

A knock from her front door grabbed her attention. She called, “Who is it?”

“It’s Tatsuki and Orihime,” the voice of her friend called.

She ran to the door, opening it up for the two girls, “I wasn’t expecting you guys. What brings you to my humble abode?”

“We need help studying,” Orihime beamed, “and I brought snacks!”

“...They aren’t, um, homemade are they,” the brown haired girl asked nervously.

Shigeru, out of curiosity, tried some of Orihime’s cooking. Let’s just say it didn’t settle well with her, and she basically has a stomach made of steel. Orihime felt bad, but at the same time was happy to see someone try her cooking. Shigeru unwillingly became a taste tester.

Tatsuki laughed, “Trust me, they aren’t.”

Shigeru laughed as she let the other girls into her apartment. They all settled as they began studying, chatting about classes, and what they plan on doing during summer break. Shiegeru lied telling them she’d be visiting her aunt, but she knew where she’d really be during that time… After a couple of hours the girls decided to take a break.

“You’re really smart, Shigeru! I think I’ll do well on the exams thanks to you,” Orihime chimed leaning on the brown girl’s shoulders.

Shigeru petted the busty girl’s head, “Orihime you’ll do great because of you. Not me. You’re wayyy smart. I don’t know why you don’t show it!”

Tatsuki leaned her chin against the table and sighed, “I keep telling her that!”

Orihime fiddled with her fingers, “It’s just...I don’t know…”

“Have more confidence in yourself. It’s a hard thing to do, but when the time you’ll feel like nothing can stop you,” Shigeru smiled, hugging the girl by the shoulder.

Orihime smiled gently, “You’re so kind, Shigeru. Thank you!”

Right then the orange haired girl's stomach gave off a whale-like sound. Orihime’s face grew red with embarrassment. Shigeru and Tatsuki blinked before they erupted into laughter.

Shigeru stood from the table and rolled up her sleeves, “I’ll make us something to eat!”

After eating and studying a little bit more the other girls decided to go back to their respective homes. She decided to walk the girls halfway to their destination, not wanting the girls to run into any hollows. Shigeru noticed the increase in her friend's spiritual capabilities a while ago.

“ Soon they’ll be able to protect themselves ,” she thought as she walked beside the girls.

“You know...you didn’t have to walk with us,” Tatsuki said, breaking the taller girls' thoughts.

She shrugged her shoulders, “I’ve been stuck in the house all day. I needed the fresh air anyway.”

“It is a very peaceful night... so quiet,” Orihime hummed as she gazed at the night sky.

Shigeru looked up at the starry sky as well. She wasn’t used to seeing such stars so clearly. In her original universe she lived on the southside of Chicago. The only constellation she could see clearly right above her childhood home was the Little Dipper, and in college Orion was as clear as ever. Here in Karakura it was different. Everything was so bright and beautiful. She loved it.

Tatsuki stopped her strides and smiled at Shigeru, “Alright, we’ve got it from here! See you tomorrow!”

Shigeru waved at the girl before making her way back to her place. She sensed a hollow as she closed in on her building, but before she could even pull out her soul candy, it’s presence vanished. 

“ Uryuu, you’re making my life easier. I’m sleeping tonight ,” she breathed through her nose. 

The next day the kids spent all day taking exams, and Shigeru was over the whole thing. It was time for lunch. Shigeru was looking through her things for her lunch as she waited for Ichigo.

Keigo threw his pencil in the air, “We’re done! And I’m dying!” 

“Quit worrying! Exams don’t hold a lot of meaning in one's life,” the orange haired boy shrugged his shoulders.

Keigo jumped the boy with a hug, “Well said, Ichigo! Let’s share the pain of being morons!”

Shigeru laughed at Keigo, “You might be alone in that category, buddy.”

“What do you mean,” Keigo asked as he released the other boy.

Mizuiro pulled out a paper, “Look these are Ichigo’s mid-term standings.”

Keigo snatched the paper from the blue haired boy, “C’mon only the top 50 are on this. No way Ichigo is…”

His eyes popped out of his head as he saw where Ichigo was placed. He turned to the boy almost mortified. 

“Eighteen! You’re ranked eighteen,” he stuttered.

Shigeru laughed, “Why is that so shocking? There has to be some form of knowledge in that big head of his!”

“What was that about my head,” Ichigo growled, pulling Shigeru in a headlock. 

She just laughed louder.

“Out of 323 students! You ranked 18, but...but how?,” Keigo continued his shocked rant.

The orange-haired teen looked up, “I don’t do clubs, so I study at home.”

Shigeru, still in a headlock, nodded her head, “Yep! He helps me with math!”

Keigo animatedly cried, “These...These fiends! Damn Nerds!”

Shigeru got out of Ichigo’s hold so she could punch the frantic boy in the head, “For your information I study when I need to, and my test scores have always been high my whole life!”

“But all you do is sleep in class, and doodle on your notebook. How would I know that you’re actually smart,” Keigo whined.

She gasped, “I’m a little offended by that!”

Keigo tried to dodge another punch to the head, “Okay! I’m sorry, Shigeru! But you,” he pointed to Ichigo, “I still can’t believe!”

Ichigo placed a hand on his neck, “Give me a break! I get enough problems because of my hair, even though I’ve proven to the instructors that it’s natural. I’m short-tempered, and upper-classmen pick fights with me, I can’t help but fight back. Instructors falsely accuse me, I rebel, and that only gives them a reason to say I have a bad attitude, so they keep their eyes peeled to me. I’m weary of that stuff, so I raised my grade.”

Shigeru hummed as she thought that over. She was kind of the opposite when she was in school. She only really went against a teacher when they were disrespectful to the students while expecting the students to give them the utmost respect just because they ruled over their grades. Shigeru only gave respect when respect was due. She didn’t care about age, race, or any of that. Respect was earned not given.

She understood Ichigo’s wariness. She’d had quite a few incidents in her past where she was kicked out of classes for outsmarting snobby teachers, much to their embarrassment. One particular incident a teacher claimed she didn’t turn in a mid-term paper just so she could fail her, but Shigeru kept all her receipts! That teacher only further made a fool of herself. Her aversion to math had to do with her Calculus teacher making her a victim of colorism, which left a sour taste in her mouth. She hated teachers that picked on students for such petty reasons.

“Seems like a lot of trouble...even for you,” Mizuiro said sympathetically. 

Ichigo looked out the window, “I’m used to it…”

Shigeru hopped on the boy's back, “Enough of this! It’s bringing down the mood!”

“Get off! People might see your underwear or something!”

“I’ve got short on. We’re fineee.”

“So unlady-like!”

“I strive to be that!”

Mizuiro stepped up to the two, “By the way have you seen Rukia today?”

“Why are you asking me,” Ichigo asked as he tucked his arms under Shigeru’s legs.

The boy smiled, “Well, you guys are always together.”

“How would I know! Ever since the tv incident people keep giving me weird looks, so I’ve been avoiding her,” Ichigo complained.

Shigeru laughed, “I like the attention! I always wonder when someone will have the balls to approach me!”

Mizuiro smiled nervously, “Shigeru, you can be a little scary.”

“What? I’m a sweetheart,” she gasped.

“Who told you that,” Ichigo asked plainly.

Shigeru tightly wrapped her legs around his body before assaulting him with a double-noggy.

Rukia came rushing down the hall and swooped both substitute shinigami up as she sprinted down the hall.

“Shigeru, Ichigo, come with me for a sec!”

“Hey let go! Rumors about us are already spreading, ya know!”

“Ignore them then!”

“Hollow! Complain later!”

“Is it really here this time?!”

“Why do I have to come?”

“Cause we’re in this together,” the irate boy barked.

They passed by Uryuu in the hall. Ichigo bumped into his shoulder.

“Sorry,” he shot an apology toward the boy.

Shigeru turned to meet the Quincy's eyes as he brushed off his shoulder. He turned to continue down the hall.

“I really won’t forgive you if there isn’t one this time,” he yelled.

Rukia finally had enough, “Oh shut up! I get it!”

The hollow’s presence disappeared and Shigeru stopped running, “It’s gone…”

The other two stopped and looked at Shigeru as she stuck her head out of the window. She closed her eyes to concentrate to pinpoint where the hollow was about a few minutes ago. It was completely gone. She then concentrated on Uryuu’s reiatsu. He was on the roof facing the direction the hollow should have been in. 

She opened her eyes, “ He works fast… ”

“Shigeru?”

She turned to the other two and sighed, “Like I said, it’s gone. I’m going to go back to eat my lunch.”

After school 

The Idiot-Shinigami-Trio made their way to Ichigo’s.

“ Why? Why did I have to get dragged along on three more false alarms, ” she grumbled. 

Ichigo slung his arm over her shoulder, “So what has this adopted little sister of mine been up to?”

“I’m older than you,” she grumbled for the un-tempted time.

Ichigo grinned, “But I’m taller.”

“That’s not how that works,” she slapped the boy upside the head.

Ichigo flinched before flicking the girl on the forehead, “That hurt!”

“Why're you being so annoying right now,” she frowned, shrugging his arm off her shoulder.

Rukia gave Shigeru a sly smile, “He missed you. How cute!”

Ichigo blushed and huffed, “Stop making things up, Rukia! I’m just checking on her!”

“Aw, so you did miss me,” Shigeru mirrored the same expression as Rukia.

Ichigo shouted, “I see you everyday! Why would I miss you?”

Shigeru patted the boy on his head, “There’s no need to deny it! I’ve been neglecting my favorite orange haired idiot! Don’t worry since exams are over I’ll be over again!”

“I didn’t miss you,” Ichigo stomped ahead of the group.

Shigeru and Rukia laughed.

“Why is he in denial,” Shigeru laughed.

Rukia smiled, “He has a so-called image he tries to keep at all times.”

“You mean he’s wannabe cool-angsty-boy routine? Doesn’t he know, we know he’s nothing but a big softy,” Shigeru laughed.

Rukia crossed her arms, “Boys are weird.”

“More like hormonal idiots,” the taller girl smirked.

“I hear ya!”

Later that night Rukia got another alert. The three headed to the location, but again there was not a hollow in sight. Ichigo was beyond frustrated.

“No hollow! Again!,” he yelled at the shorter woman.

Rukia dragged his body from a corner, “Shut up, and get in your body!”

“Why didn’t you bring Kon? People might think you’re a dead body one day,” Shigeru sighed as she re-entered her body.

“Shut up, Shigeru! This is not the time,” Ichigo yelled, grabbing his limp body.

Shigeru scoffed as she played with her hair, “It’ll be a problem when you’re being cut up in a morgue.”

He just frowned at that before turning to Rukia as he entered his body, “You better do something about this?”

“Are you saying this is my fault? I just pass on orders as I receive them,” Rukia shouted.

Shigeru sensed someone approaching them, “Hey, guys…”

“So hurry up and fix it,” Ichigo yelled back.

“Fighting amongst friends? What a disgrace,” a voice called from behind them.

Rukia and Ichigo flinched at the sound of Uryuu’s appearance. He stood at the corner in his white Quincy uniform. He stepped closer to the group.

“Good evening. Kurosaki, Kuchiki, and...Kuroi. I didn’t expect to see you,” the glasses-wearing boy greeted but his eyes lingered on Shigeru’s form.

She smiled and waved at him, “Hi!”

Ichigo stepped in front of Shigeru and frowned at the white clad teen, “Who are you? What’s with the get-up? How do you know our nam-”

“Kurosaki, you can see spirits correct,” Uryuu cut him off.

Ichigo’s eyes widened and he tried to lie, “What are you talking about? Such things can’t be seen-”

Shigeru sensed a hollow.

“A new hollow has appeared,” Uryuu cut the boy off yet again.

Rukia’s phone started beeping, much to her shock, “It’s..It’s really here!”

“Which way,” Ichigo asked frantically.

Shigeru turned her head in the direction of the hollow and crossed her arms. She could see it flickering in and out of sight.

Uryuu turned his back on the group as he pointed in the direction she was looking, “That way.”

The two others turned to the Quincy as he glared over his shoulder at them, “You’re not at that level of understanding, and yet you call yourself a shinigami?”

He noticed that Shigeru had already noticed the hollow before he directed Ichigo, “ At least she has a reasonable amount of skill.”

Uryuu’s cross charm on his bracelet jingled as a reiatsu bow was generated from it. Shigeru’s eyes sparkled as she looked at the formation. 

“That’s so cool,” she beamed.

He generated an arrow as he dropped to a knee firing it at the hollow destroying it completely from existence.

Shigeru clapped her hand, “Whoa! Awesome!”

Rukia stared at her phone as the signal stopped, “It’s...the signal disappeared!”

Ichigo’s eyes widened as he looked back to the other boy, “What the hell are you?”

Uryuu lowered his bow as he stood up straight.

“Uryuu Ishida, a Quincy…”

He turned to face the group once again.

“And I hate shinigami.”

“What,” Ichigo asked in shock.

Uryuu glared at the other boy, “Don’t you get it? I’m saying that I hate you…”

Shigeru pointed to herself and asked, “What about me?”

Uryuu considered it for a second and asked, “Are you a shinigami, Kuroi?”

“Hmm, sort of but I consider myself to be human of course,” she mused as she put a finger to her lower lip.

He adjusted his glasses, “Then I’m sorry to say I hate you as well if you associate with the shinigami.”

“Bummer,” she pouted.

The day the final exam test scores were posted was interesting, to say the least. Shigeru wasn’t used to seeing everyone’s scores, things like that would have made her nervous if she was an actual student like them. She wouldn’t like the pressure, but luckily she didn’t care for this kind of stuff now. Everyone gathered in the hallway trying to see where they were placed. 

Tatsuki and Shigeru patted Orihime on the head.

“Third place! As usual you did great,” Tatsuki praised.

Orihime giggled happily with the praises.

“Wow, Orihime is that smart,” Michiru beamed.

Shigeru whistled, “See! I told you you’re so smart! You should be tutoring me!”

Tatsuki huffed and pointed to Shigeru’s name, “Oh please! You don’t even need tutoring! You’re fourth place!”

“Math, I tell you! It just won’t cooperate with me,” Shigeru crossed her arms.

Chizuru hugged Orihime from behind patting her on the head, “Looks like Ryo got 2nd! She’s entering the nationals for her track team too. I wonder how she does it”

Michiru beamed, “Impressive!”

Tatsuki smirked, “I’m entering nationals too!”

The girls turned to Tatsuki, “What?”

Tatsuki shrugged, “Didn’t I tell you guys? I won the competition in May. The team is great this year. The boys are going too. After all, I, the “girl who will win 3 consecutive championships” has joined.”

She threw her arm over Shigeru and pulled her close, “Not to mention, we’ve got Miss One-Person-Army helping us with conditioning!”

“I told you guys to stop calling me that. It was one time,” Shigeru whined.

The boys walked up to the rankings. Keigo and Mizuiro examined the rankings. 

Keigo looked the rankings up and down, “Once again, it seems like no traitors who ranked in the top 50 are among us!”

“It’s as you say, captain,” Mizurio smiled.

They stopped Ichigo’s rank: 23.

Keigo covered Mizuiro’s eyes, “Don’t look, Comrade Kojima!”

Ichigo’s eyebrow twitched at the stupidity of the two.

“We can’t be seen with a nerd like you, Ichigo! We’re not inviting you to playtime anymore,” Keigo stuck his tongue out at the boy.

Chad looked at the rankings in silence as Keigo bounced over to him.

“Right, Chad? Let’s hang out,” the brown haired girl beamed.

“Hmm,” the taller boy pointed to his ranking.

They stared at the number 11.

Keigo and Mizuiro yelled in terror. Shigeru took off her slippers and tossed them at their faces.

“Shut up, dumb-asses,” she growled.

The two ran away in tears. The others stayed ,too stunned to move, as Shigeru gathered her slippers.

Ichigo crossed his arms deep in thought. He was reflecting on the things Uryuu said to him the night before. Shigeru walked over to him.

“What’s with the scowl? It’s more scowl-ly than usual,” she asked.

Ichigo frowned, “What was his name again? Ishida...uh Willy, no that’s not it…”

“This idiot,” she shook her head.

He continues, “Wally...Not that’s not it. I’ll never come up with it at this point.”

Shigeru slapped the boy over the head as Orihime appeared “What about Uryuu Ishida?”

“Ouch! Shigeru, if you keep hitting me like that I’ll lose brain cells or something,” he yelled.

Shigeru crossed her arms, “It’s not like you use the ones you have.”

Ichigo was going to yell at the brown haired girl, but suddenly turned to Orihime.

“You know Ishida,” he asked.

Orihime smiled, “I know about him...he’s in our class after all.”

Ichigo's eyes popped open, “What?”

Orihime pointed to the rankings, “See look! Uryuu Ishida!”

Ichigo’s face darkened, “First place…”

Shigeru ran a hand down her face, “Ichigo, how the hell don’t you know your classmates names? I’ve just got here and I learned his name, like, day two!”

Tatsuki laughed, “It’s no use, guys. This guy can’t recall people’s names or faces at all. He probably still doesn’t know half the class.”

“Shut up,” Ichigo grumbled.

Shigeru pointed at the boy, “No! You, shut up! That’s just pitiful!”

“That’s not my fault! I’m just not good with names!”

“Pay attention during attendance then!”

“Who does that?”

Orihime laughed shyly, “Well, Uryuu is pretty quiet and doesn’t stand out like your group, so he might be hard to remember…”

“You guys seem close, Orihime,” Ichigo inquired.

Orihime shook her head, “Oh no, we’re just in the same sewing club.”

“Sewing club,” he yelled in shock.

Shigeru smirked, “Yes, some men can sew, Ichigo. It comes in handy.”

“I gotta see this,” Ichigo smirked at Orihime and Shigeru. 

The three peeked around the corner of their classroom. They spotted Uryuu.

“You’re right...he’s in our class,” he mumbled.

“See,” Orihime whispered excitedly.

“You need to be more observant, Ichigo,” Shigeru whispered harshly.

Uryuu stood up from his seat, but Michiru walked up to him with a torn stuffed bear.

“Excuse me, Uryuu? Do you mind fixing this for me,” the girl asked shyly.

Orihime hopped on her toes in anticipation, “Oh! Oh! Look! We get to see his skills at work!”

Uryuu pulled out a small sewing kit and majestically fixed the arm of the stuffed animal. Shigeru sweat-dropped at the dramatics. 

“ He’s so extra, ” she tried not to laugh.

Michiru thanked the bespectacled boy.

He adjusted his glasses while he coldly said, “No need to thank me. Actually, don’t talk to me again.”

Michiru dejectedly apologized for the trouble before walking away. Shigeru blinked at how the boy treated their sweet classmate.

Orihime sighed, “I wonder why he’d say something so mean after doing something so nice.”

Shigeru smirked, “ Tsundere! ”

The two looked at her and blinked.

“Oh, sorry did I say that out loud,” she giggled sheepishly.

Orihime turned to face Ichigo, “Did something happen between you and Uryuu?”

“Nothing big...it’s no big deal,” he said as his gaze stayed focused on the Quincy.

Orihime smiled gently, “Okay…”

Shigeru and Ichigo decided to tail Uryuu as they left school. Shigeru was careful to make her reiatsu as non-existent as possible. She wanted to see if she could make her presence vanish to the point that even skilled individuals like Uryuu couldn’t find her. She thought that it would come in handy when they had to enter the Soul Society to save Rukia, and that was going to be sooner than later. Shigeru closed her eyes and took long deep breaths. She focused on her large amount of reiatsu, imagining it as a giant circle around her. She imagined it getting smaller and smaller until it was nothing more than a speck. 

She opened her eyes, “I hope that does the treat. I’m not really sure if that’s how to mask one’s reiatsu but it should work…” 

As they followed the boy up some stairs Uryuu stopped his stride, “How long do you intend to follow me, Ichigo Kurosaki?”

Ichigo stepped around the corner, “Damn, you found me out. When did you notice?”

“When you were spying on me in the classroom with Inoue and Kuroi,” Uryuu watched the boy from over his shoulder.

Ichigo clapped as he added as much sarcasm as he could possibly muster, “Ohh, that’s really something!”

“It’s due to your inability to restrain your reiatsu. Even a monkey would be able to sense you,” Uryuu coldly replied.

Shigeru had to cover her mouth so she wouldn’t alert the boy of her presence, but she was struggling not to laugh.

“ Burn! ”

Ichigo’s eyebrow twitched with irritation as he stopped clapping.

“What did you say,” he gritted.

Uryuu seemed unbothered by the orange-haired teens' growing annoyance.

“You seem to lack the capability to sense those with high levels of spiritual pressure. The evidence is...that you didn’t notice my existence until today,” Uryuu mocked as he turned to finally face the boy head on.  

Shigeru giggled out loud. Uryuu flinched as she turned the corner, leaning an arm against Ichigo’s shoulder.

“It’s not his fault that he’s a slower learner, Uryuu. And a shitty classmate,” she grinned at the boy.

Uryuu sharpened his gaze, “How long have you been here, Shigeru Kuroi?”

Shigeru grinned, “I’ve been walking with Ichigo the entire time we were following you.”

“How is it that I couldn’t sense you’re reiatsu? I still can’t,” Uryuu asked the girl curiously.

She smirked as she took a couple of steps toward the Quincy as she pointed a thumb in Ichigo’s direction, “Well, unlike this idiot. I’ve been aware of you since I got here. I remember faces―”

“Well, my bad for not being good with faces,” Ichigo yelled.

She continued, “And I’m just more talented!”

“I disagree with that,” Ichigo yelled.

Uryuu quietly replied, “That’s not it…”

He looked at Ichigo as he continued, “Since I entered this school I noticed that your reiatsu was unusually high, how in mid-May when you acquired the powers of a shinigami, and Rukia Kuchiki’s true identity…”

Ichigo was at a loss for words. Uryuu turned his attention back to Shigeru, who was giving him a knowing smile.

“But you, Shigeru Kuroi, are somewhat of a mystery,” he said as he adjusted his glasses.

Her grin grew, “Then I’m doing something right.”

Uryuu placed a hand in his pocket as white ribbons sprang from the ground surrounding the three. 

“What the hell..,” Ichigo gasped.

Uryuu stepped closer to the other two as he explained, “Yes, it’s Reiraku. Something that compresses and visualizes the reiatsu in the area. Only upper-level shinigami can visualize and touch them, but you should know that as a shinigami…”

Shigeru gazed at the ribbons in front of her, all of them white except for two. Ichigo’s red ribbon, yet to be revealed to him, and hers. Hers was strange. It was purple with a black outline. She reached for it as Uryuu snatched Ichigo’s.

“However, did you know that shinigami’s reiraku is a different color? It’s red,” he said as he ripped a piece of Ichigo’s reiraku, letting it flutter to the ground.

He then turned his attention to Shigeru’s and squinted his eyes as he gently grabbed her reiraku, “Strange...I’ve never seen a reiraku colored like this.”

“Well it’s my first time seeing it myself, so I don’t know what to tell you,” she said as she met his suspicious eyes.

Uryuu released her spirit ribbon before scrutinizing her, “Just what are you, Shigeru Kuroi?”

She gave him her toothy grin, “That’s the million dollar question!”

Shigeru winked at the boy as she bopped his nose with her index finger.

He took a step back and glared at the two, more so Ichigo than Shigeru, and declared, “I am a Quincy, one with the power to kill hollows.”

He turned to face Ichigo.

“Won’t you fight me, Ichigo Kurosaki? Between a shinigami such as you, and a Quincy such a I, which one would surpass the other. I’ll show you that shinigami are unnecessary in this world,” Uryuu declared. 

Ichigo glared at the boy, “Look here―”

“Wait, I want to join in on this wager,” Shigeru beamed, hopping up and down.

Uryuu trampled on the idea, “No. I don’t want you involved.”

“You’re a rude ass kid, you know that,” Shigeru pouted.

Uryuu adjusted his glasses and stuttered, “I wanted the odds to be even against men―”

“Ohhh, so now it’s because I’m a girl that I can’t join in,” she teased the boy.

Ichigo jumped in, “Let this be a battle between men! So stay out of it, Shigeru!”

“Oh hell no! I’ve been itching for some action, so I. WANT. IN,” she stomped.

The boys flinched away from her as the girl had her mini tantrum.

Ichigo turned to Uryuu and whispered harshly, “You might want to let her in on this otherwise we might be the next victims!” 

“The odds would be rather unbalanced. It’s 2-against-1 as is,” Uryuu tried to reason with the girl.

She frowned, crossing her arms, “Then I won’t fight for the shinigami team.”

“What? But you’re a shinigami,” Ichigo shouted at the girl.

Uryuu took a moment to consider and asked, “Then what team do you plan on fighting for?”

A grin spread across her face, “I’m repping team Girls-Are-Better!”

Ichigo pulled the girl into a headlock, “You’re an idiot!”

“And I’m tired of all the guys around here either not letting me join in on fights, or trying to protect me just because I’m a girl! You do it the most, Ichigo,” Shigeru yelled as she flipped the boy off of her.

“Gah!”

Shigeru pointed at Uryuu, “I’m joining in whether you agree or not, so let’s get this show on the road!”

“This is ridiculous,” Ichigo yelled at the two. He pointed to Shigeru, “You’re just always ridiculous―”

“Am not!”

He pointed to Uryuu, “But you! Why do I have to compete against you? I don’t know what grudge you have against shinigami, but it has nothing to do with me!”

Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest before he turned away from the other two.

“How surprising, so you’re running away,” Uryuu asked.

Ichigo scoffed, “I won’t be provoked. I’m just saying that you’re no match for me!”

“Sounds like running away to me,” Shigeru poked the boy in the arm.

He swatted her hand away much to her amusement.

Uryuu shrugged his shoulders, “ Oh I see...I remember now.”

That grabbed Ichigo’s attention as he turned to face the glasses-wearing boy.

“You’re a shinigami whose abilities were granted to you by Rukia Kuchiki. In other words, you’re just a substitute shinigami. Without her permission...you can’t even lift a finger,” Uryuu mocked as he adjusted his glasses.

The vein on Ichigo’s temple throbbed angrily, “What’d you just say…?”

Shigeru gasped and slapped a hand over her mouth to stop her laughter, “ Damn, Uryuu! You ain’t have to do him like that! But this might be just the right motivation...”

She continued to grin with her hand coyly placed over her face. She faced Ichigo. It was time to play the instigator.

“ Wow , you’re just going to let him talk to you like that? Are you Rukia’s bitch,” she smirked at the ticking time bomb. 

Ichigo grinned, “Okay...let’s give this competition thing a shot.”

He fished Kon out of his shirt pocket. Shigeru fist pumped in the air as she grabbed her soul candy out of her pocket. Ichigo swallowed Kon, and emerged from his body. Shigeru popped the gikon into her mouth. She emerged from her body. Shigeru pulled her sleeveless gloves up her shoulder a little before pulling her hair into a ponytail on top of her head. She was going to be getting serious about this hollow hunt.

“Kon, watch the match from here,” Ichigo ordered before he rolled up the sleeve to his robe, “Watch as I wipe the floor with this guy!”

Shigeru turned to her gikon and pointed at it, “Stay with Kon, and make sure he doesn’t do anything weird to my body.”

“Don’t you trust me, Shigeru,” Kon whined.

“Not at all!”

Ichigo turned to face the bespectacled teen, “Now hurry up and explain the rules!”

Uryuu pulled out something about the size of a quarter, maybe a little bigger, just thicker, “We’ll begin the battle with this.”

“What is it,” Ichigo stared at the little trinket dumbfounded.

Shigeru hummed, “It’s hollow bait, right?”

“Wait, wrong,” Ichigo turned to the girl before turning back to the other boy.

Uryuu smirked at Shigeru, “Correct, Kuroi. If I crush and scatter this, hollows will gather in this town. The one who kills the most of the gathered hollow within 24 hr wins...easy enough right?”

“Easy-peasy,” Shigeru nodded in agreement.

Ichigo, however, wasn’t on board. He growled, “What’s your problem? You’re going to endanger the people in this town for the sake of this fight!? Who do you think you are?”

“Keep your morality to yourself,” Uryuu glared as he destroyed the bait.

It scattered in the wind much to Ichigo’s shock.

Uryuu with determination in his eyes yelled, “Worrying about others is unnecessary! I will kill the gathered hollows without a single survivor!” he glared at Ichigo, “as for you, if you have the confidence to protect people from hollows then you should be able to take on this challenge!”

Shigeru clapped her hands gathering the boys’ attention, “ I couldn’t agree better myself! Let’s start! They’re already gathering…”

She turned to glare at the hollows already breaking their way into their world. Uryuu dashed off into a random direction and the bow materialized. Right when she was about to take off Ichigo pulled her back.

“Wait! Shigeru, you seriously can’t be going along with this,” he yelled.

She shrugged, “It’s hunting season.”

“This isn’t a joke! People could get hurt,” Ichigo yelled as he yanked the girl closer to him.

She sighed as she pulled her arm from his grip. As she placed a hand on his shoulder she smiled.

“Listen Ichigo, everything will be fine. Do you really think I would agree to something if I didn’t think the three of us could handle it,” she asked looking him in the eyes, “just think of it as some much needed training!”

Ichigo sighed as he released the girl, “Are you sure about this?”

“Aren’t I always!”

“That’s what makes me nervous.”

“What’s that supposed to mean, you Strawberry head!”

Ichigo punched her in the shoulder, “Don’t start!”

She rubbed her arm as she laughed. He stared at the girl deep in thought.

“What,” she asked.

He frowned, “Why was your reiraku a different color than a shinigami’s? It was black and purple…”

Shigeru hummed, “I don’t know…”

“Shigeru…”

She hopped into the air, “None of that is important right now! I’m sure Uryuu has raked up several points by now.”

She heard the boy call out to her as a hollow appeared before her. Shigeru enhanced her body, before punching the hollow. Her fist went through its mask as anger cracks spread through its face. She grinned at the orange hair teen on the ground.

“Oh and just because the hollow is huge doesn’t mean it’s worth more points,” she called before flying off.

She sensed that Ichigo was chasing after Uryuu, probably to tell him to drive the hollows back. Shigeru understood the boys' worries and she too was a little nervous for Karin and Yuzu’s sake… However, the girls were in good hands. A group of hollows surrounded her.

She grinned, “Why hello there beasties!”

They attacked her from all sides. Shigeru’s grin widened as she dodged and evaded their attacks. She kicked one of the monsters out of the way as she pulled her white blade from its sheath, slashing away at the hollows as they attacked her. A hollow appeared above her mouth wide ready to engulf her. She dropped to her back as her leg striking swiftly cracked its mask before it vanished.

“This is so much fun. I guess I’m taking the ones in the sky,” she huffed.

She took her black blade from its sheath. She raised both her blades as she got into a fighting stance. More hollows converged to her, snapping their teeth at her as they growled and snarled.

Her grin manic and her eyes gleamed with joy, “Come on, you bastards!”

The hollows attacked.

24...25...26...27…

Another hollow vanished as Shigeru cut it down. She paused for a moment looking over her surroundings. There were no more in this particular area. She landed on the ground to catch her breath. 

“Luckily, I don’t have asthma in this universe,” she huffed.

She was finding it easier to keep up the strength enhancing with her reiatsu. She usually didn’t keep it up for prolonged times because she didn’t know her limitations just yet. She decided that today was going to be the test run and hollow hunting provided her some great practice. She gazed up to the sky as she sensed the increasing number of hollows. While she was fighting Orihime and Chad had their awakening. Kisuke should be gathering them up soon. She was glad that they were alright.

“Good...everything is coming together,” she mumbled.

Three hollows appeared above her. She backflipped out of the way, landing in a handstand. She spun on her hand as she kicked the hollows away from her with enough force to send them flying. She managed to crack the mask of one of them. Hopping back to her feet she stabbed the other two simultaneously.

“And that makes 30,” she grinned.

She pinpointed where Uryuu and Ichigo were. Ichigo was on his way to where Uryuu was. 

“ Oh, Rukia’s there too..she’s getting weaker ,” she thought as she sped in the direction of the others.

She spotted Uryuu talking to Rukia and Kon. She crash landed to the ground as Ichigo stomped over to the glasses wearing youth.

“Finally found you, Uryuu…!”

“Kurosaki…”

“Shigeru,” she chimed.

Rukia shook her head at the girls' antics. Ichigo ignored his surrogate sister and kept his attention set on the Quincy before him. 

“To be honest, I really want to skip to the part where I bring you to tears but before that…” he stomped over to Kon.

He started choking the Mod-Soul and yelling at him. Shigeru and Uryuu blinked at the sight before them as Rukia joined in on the argument.

“Give it a rest! I’m an enemy! This isn’t the time to be fighting amongst yourself,” Uryuu shouted.

They ignored him and kept bantering. 

He tried again, “Umm..”

Shigeru smirked at the fools until Uryuu finally snapped, pulling out his bow with an arrow aimed at the group.

“Shut up, Ichigo Kurosaki! I’m your opponent―”

He accidentally released the arrow, “Oh no―”

The arrows shot toward the substitute shinigami. Ichigo turned, swiftly blocking the arrow with his blade.

Shigeru punched Uryuu in the back of his head. His bow vanished.

He cradled the back of his head and stuttered, “Shi-Shigeru! Why did you hit me?!”

“Because you’re just as reckless as that idiot over there,” she pointed to her fellow substitute shinigami.

Ichigo yelled, “I’m not reckless!”

“Ichigo, sensible people are talking,” she frowned at the boy.

The boy frowned before pointing to Uryuu, “So tell me how many hollows you defeated with all this crap! We’re going to settle this! You and me!”

Uryuu was a little shunned by the boy's outburst. Shigeru flinched as she sensed something large coming. The hairs on the back of her neck started to stand. It was far, but slowly approaching the World of the Living.

Shigeru sighed as she gripped her swords, “I know I’m the last person to say this ,but can we please focus !”

The group turned to face her as she pointed to the sky, “Something isn’t right! That little bit of bait that Uryuu had should not be attracting this many hollows. Something is coming. Something big!”

They watched as the cracks in the sky started to gather into one spot. Uryuu’s head snapped to the side.

“Wait. I’m afraid that’s not all,” he said grimly, “Look! The hollows are heading right for that point.”

Everyone’s eyes widened as they witnessed the hollows from throughout the city heading their way. They were heading into the giant garganta forming in the sky. Uryuu pulled out his bow and started shooting at the approaching hollows.

“Quit it, Uryuu! There are too many! After we think of a strategy―,” Ichigo yelled.

“What are you afraid of, Kurosaki,” Quincy questioned calmly as he shot down another hollow.

Shigeru took to the skies again and started slashing away, “Ichigo, we don't have the time for that! Just start killing these things!”

She spun about like a tornado slicing down as many hollows as she could. 

Uryuu ran forth, “I will win this fight. Over here, you hollows! The Last Quincy, Uryuu Ishida is your opponent!”

Uryuu and Shigeru headed toward the nearby park taking down hollows. Uryuu’s fingers were bleeding from the amount of arrows he was shooting, while Shigeru’s body was beginning to feel some soreness. Her muscles were beginning to scream from the strain, but she pushed through it. She ran on top of the head of the hollows striking through them as she jumped from one to another. Uryuu was surrounded by a large number of hollows.  As she made her way to help she heard an oh too familiar yell.

“Uryuu! Shigeru!”

She giggled as the bodies of hollows went flying about as the boy swatted them like flies. He stood on a mountain of corpses as he yelled down, “Uryuu! I heard your “reason for fighting.””

Uryuu stared up to the boy expressionless as Ichigo went on a rant about right or wrong of ancient history. Shigeru bounced over the bodies of slowly disintegrating hollows to get closer to the two.

“Old, new.”

Ichigo stopped his rant and blinked.

“I don’t care about some ancient feud. I only ever heard about it from my teacher. To me that’s just an old tale,” he said as he pushed his glasses up.

Shigeru giggled, “Uryuu we need to get you some new glasses! They shouldn’t be slipping so much. Have you considered contacts?”

“No I haven’t…,” he replied to the girl as he shot down a hollow they tried to attack him from behind.

He turned to face Ichigo, “Who would use that as a reason to hate you shinigami. When I first heard about it, I actually agreed with the shinigami...until…my teacher died before my eyes.”

Shigeru frowned as he went on to explain why he hated the shinigami. Uryuu had a valid reason to hate the shinigami. Not only were they not doing their jobs properly, but his grandfather’s life was lost because of it. Because of the prejudice that shinigami have toward anyone that isn’t like them. He was only a small boy who had to witness the death of his beloved family member. She could see that he was getting emotional as he recalled the events. Shigeru could understand his anger.

It was when Uryuu declared that he didn’t want their help in this fight so that he could prove his strength something in her snapped. Ichigo and Shigeru charged the boy, kicking him in the back of his head.

“Your story is too long!”

“Of course we’re going to help you!”

Uryuu went head first into an upcoming hollow’s mask, “W-What are you doing?!”

“Shut up,” Ichigo yelled as he kicked him again, “Your story was so long that I forgot the first half! Your teacher’s greatest wish wasn’t to prove to the shinigami that Quincy’s were better, but in fact, for Quincy’s to work alongside the shinigami!”

Shigeru grabbed Uryuu by the front of his shirt as she interjected, “Exactly, so if you aren’t going to cooperate with us now then when ?”

She pushed the boy away as she went to stand next to her fellow shinigami as he smiled, “So why not try it out against a large group of enemies?”

The three stood back to back as they faced off against the group of hollows that surrounded them. Shigeru rolled her eyes as the boys started to argue yet again. Uryu turned his back on the hollows behind him. Ichigo used Quincy's shoulder to lift himself in the air to slice the hollow.

“You shouldn’t turn your back on the enemy,” Ichigo smirked.

 Shigeru laughed as she cut down another hollow, “Oh, you’re one to talk! You do that literally every battle!”

“Can’t you just let me have a cool moment,” he complained.

She smirked, “Sure! When you actually become cool!”

“You two sure do argue a lot,” Uryuu said as he shot down another hollow.

Shigeru smiled at the boy, “Awww, teamwork makes the dream work!”

Ichigo explained to Uryuu that he’s fighting to prevent more people from being sad by the loss of loved ones like his family and like Uryuu. Uryuu listened to the teen earnestly. Shigeru just kept slicing and slashing at the oncoming monsters.

Ichigo declared, “I want to protect the people in front of me!”

“ ...Only it’s not always that easy, Ichigo. You’ll learn that soon, ” she thought solemnly as she kicked her foot through a hollow’s mask.

“Can you two stop talking and start killing some of these hollows! Damn! I’m doing all the work here!”

The two got the message and started cutting down the hollows, but there was no end in sight. Shigeru paused as she sensed the giant presence she felt earlier, stronger than ever. She glanced at the hollows that stopped attacking. She looked up at the cracking sky, as a pair of giant white hands slowly tore open the sky revealing a humongous hollow mask with a pointed nose. It stared down into the town. 

Shigeru glared at the enormous hollow, “ Menos Grande…”

“What is that thing? It’s enormous! Is it a hollow,” Ichigo gasped.

Uryuu lowered his bow for a moment, “How would I know? What do we do now? We can’t fight that thing while fighting the surrounding hollows!”

“Shut up! In any case, that’s all we can do,” Ichigo yelled back.

The boys began to yell at each other again. Shigeru sighed. She was tired and their constant arguing was giving her a headache.

“Where’s that damn shopkeeper,” she grumbled.

A hand landed on her head. She jumped away, swords raised ready to strike, but she lowered them and smirked.

“You called,” Kisuke smirked.

Little Jinta, Ururu, and Tessai behind him, weapons in tow. Ururu lifted up her gun...canon? She let off round after round at the hollows in front of the boys. They turned to face them.

Ururu meekly bowed her head, “Hel...Hello.”

“Ichigo! We’ve come to the rescue,” Kisuke waved his fan.

Ichigo blinked, “Mr. Hat-and-Clogs?!”

Shigeru walked over to lean against the teen, “I’m ready to go home. I lost count of the hollows I’ve destroyed!”

Jinta, Ururu, and Tessai went to work dispatching the hollows, quite brutally she might add. The two boys looked on with wonder.

“They’re so strong,” Uryuu said, stunned.

Ichigo turned to Kisuke, “Mr. Hat-and-Clogs, why’re you here? You always seem to appear wherever I go…”

Kisuke held his white fan away from his face as he smiled cryptically, “I just told you...We’ve come to the rescue!”

The teens stood at attention as he continued, “We’ll take care of the small fry, so that you, Ichigo, can concentrate on fighting that…”

He pointed to the Menos as she glanced at the girl before him, “That includes you too, Little Shigeru, so now isn’t the time for idle chit-chat!”

They turned to see the Menos forcing his way through the expanding Garganta. It stepped a foot out, revealing its billowing black body. The other smaller hollows seemed to be cheering for it.

Ichigo and Uryuu’s eyes widened, “It’s coming out!”

“Do I have to help,” Shigeru whined. 

The soreness of her body was starting to get to her.

Kisuke stepped forth to whisper in the girl's ear, “I know you’re holding back. Just help your friends out, okay?”

The girl huffed in defeat as she stared up at the giant monster. It looked down at the cheering hollows. Its tongue shot out impaling a group of hollows causing the girl to jump back. 

“What the fuck,” she screamed.

It swallowed the smaller hollows much to the shock of most of the group. Shigeru looked on in disgust.

She stretched her arms to get rid of some of the sore that was setting in, “ I’m so used to thinking of the anime when I think of certain moments, I forgot things that happened in the manga can be so brutal. Censorship, whew!” 

“It’s eating it’s fellow hollows,” Uryuu stared on in horror.

Ichigo grumbled something to himself before charging at the giant hollow as he yelled, “Let’s go, Shigeru! Uryuu!”

Shigeru groaned before following after her favorite idiot without question, “Please, don’t do something stupid!”

“Hey! Wait up! You can’t take that thing alone,” Uryuu called, chasing after the other two.

Ichigo continued to run toward the thing with his sword held high with the excitement of a madman. The Menos took another step out of the rip between dimensions. Ichigo charged at its foot as he brought his sword down, cutting the monster's ankle, but he didn’t have the strength to cut it through. The hollow glanced down at the boy before kicking him away from its body. He went flying into Shigeru. They both crumbled to the ground.

“Get the hell off me you, dumb-ass,” she yelled trying to untangle her limbs from his.

Ichigo might have been knocked out as he bled over the girl much to her disgust.

Uryuu pulled out his bow, “I told you so!”

He let the arrow loose. It barely made a nick on its mask.

He growled, “ Shit, I figured as much! I can’t do much  damage at this rate… ”

Shigeru finally managed to push Ichigo’s dead weight off of her. Uryuu ran over to the two.

“Are you two okay,” he asked frantically.

Ichigo lifted his bleeding head and shakily grinned, “Yeah...I’m not so bad.”

“What the hell were you trying to do? Slice it bit by bit,” Shigeru yelled, punching him.

Ichigo laughed, “Well, I did consider cutting him bit by bit until I got to the head…”

“ Like Jenga ,” Uryuu couldn’t believe the boy.

Shigeru yelled, “What was all that talk earlier about not damaging your brain cells? You don’t even have functioning ones!”

Uryuu placed his hand on the top of Ichigo’s zanpakuto, “Geez, how does his brain work! Stand up, so we can come up with a plan―”

His bow grew up to ten-times its original size. Shigeru blinked at the bow then to the bespectacled boy. Ichigo wasn’t paying attention to what was happening with the bow. Shigeru and Uryuu locked eyes.

She grinned, “This could work!”

Uryu released Ichigo’s sword, but his bow didn’t return to normal. Ichigo looked up and did a double-take.

“What the hell happened to your bow? Why the hell is it so big,” he stumbled back a little.

Shigeru covered Ichigo mouth with her hand, “Shut up, for a second”

Uryuu leaned over to the two excitedly, “This may sound like a weird idea, but I think I know a way to beat it!”

A few minutes later

“Ok! Preparation complete! Now we can fight,” Uryuu declared.

Uryuu was on one knee as he aimed his giant bow and arrow at the Menos. On top of his head, Ichigo’s zanpakuto was tied by the hilt with a piece of fabric. Ichigo gripped his sword from behind, looking so done with the whole thing. Shigeru grabbed her side as she laughed at how ridiculous they looked.

“ It’s even funnier in person ,” she laughed.

Ichigo let go of his sword, the bow shrinking as a result, and yelled, “Stop laughing!”

“I can’t help it,” she tried to stop.

Ichigo pointed at Uryuu, “See this is ridiculous!”

Uryuu turned, sword still attached to his head, “Stop complaining! If I constantly hold your sword and use your reiatsu I can shoot an unbelievably large arrow! Now hurry up and max out your power!”

“But I never control my reiatsu,” Ichigo deadpanned.

 Uryuu turned, Shigeru narrowly dodged the blade, and yelled, “What?!”

“Watch it, Uryuu!”

Uryuu stood up, “Don’t be ridiculous! How have you been fighting hollows this whole time!”

“I don’t know…,” he admitted.

Uryuu was at a loss for words, “But…”

“Well if people say my power is great isn’t it because I’m always maxing it out,” Ichigo asked.

Uryuu stared at the boy trying to piece the information he received together, “ Maxing out constantly? Now his reiatsu makes sense, but he is constantly maxing it out without any fatigue. He really is a monster…” 

Shigeru huffed as he ripped Ichigo’s zanpakuto off of Uryuu’s head and threw it back to the orange haired boy. She placed her hand on Uryuu’s back. 

“It’s pointless trying to explain this stuff to him. It just doesn’t click with him, so here,” she closed her eyes and let out a deep breath as she let loose.

Uryuu’s bow increased in size again much to Ichigo and his shock. She opened her eyes and grinned.

“See easy!”

Uryuu glanced at Shigeru from over his shoulder, “ She’s not showing signs of fatigue while releasing this much reiatsu. She’s producing as much as Kurosaki does daily, no I think she’s always done that, but she’s just better at hiding her reiatsu than him. Has she been hiding her true potential this whole time? Shigeru, just what are you?”  

The Menos seemed to have gotten impatient waiting for the teens to make their move. It opened its mouth to charge a cero, a red ball charged. 

“This is it, I’m ready to take the shot, Shigeru,” Uryuu yelled, readying to fire.

Ichigo ran toward the giant hollow as it discharged the red death beam.

“Ichigo!”

He blocked the beam with his zanpakuto, using his arm to brace the blade. Uryuu and Shigeru shielded their eyes from the blinding light of the death beam. Shigeru could sense him bottling up his spiritual energy as the beam forced him down to his knees. He slowly stood to his feet as he continued the bottle up his reiatsu. He forced his blade up, repelling the energy back to the monster as well as his own reiatsu, slicing up its body.

Shigeru gasped, “Whoa…”

The backlash from the force of the swing almost sent her and Uryuu flying. She covered her face from dust and debris. The Menos let out a deafening howl. It grabbed the sky, pulling it over itself like a curtain. 

“It’s leaving…,” Uryuu said, astonished.

Once the hollow was completely gone, Ichigo thrust the victory sign in the air.

“I win,” he bellowed.

The sweat that was collecting on Uryuu’s temple fell as he stared at the orange haired teen, “He...he scared that monster away…”

Shigeru punched her friend in the shoulder, “I told you earlier; just because it's big doesn’t mean it's worth more points!” 

“Shigeru...that...hurt,” he huffed.

He turned to face Uryuu, who was staring at him, “What, you’re not going to thank me?”

“What,” Uryuu snapped out of his stupor.

Ichigo closed his eyes as he huffed, “I help you out so you should thank me…”

The teen suddenly dropped to the ground. 

“I can’t move…,” he was confused.

Shigeru just glanced at his fallen form before her eyes widened. His zanpakuto was becoming warped. A blinding light erupted from his sword.

Ichigo panicked, “What’s happening?!”

“Tch,” Shigeru smacked her lips.

She wasn’t sure what to do. She didn’t know any move that would release energy, but she had to figure something out and fast. Uryuu ran over to the two.

“Ichigo,” he yelled as he got closer.

Uryuu thought fast. He stomped on Ichigo’s sword, and his bow erupted in size. 

He grit his teeth, “Shigeru, I think I can stabilize him if I shoot off the rampant reiatsu!”

As he shot off arrow after arrow his arms and hands started to tear apart. Ichigo noticed the injuries that Uryuu was giving himself.

“Uryu, stop! If you don’t you’ll lose your hands,” he shouted.

Shigeru finally came to a realization, “ If I can’t help releasing the reiatsu, I’ll just have to absorb as much as I can!”

She dropped to her knees and grabbed Ichigo’s vacant hand, “Shut up, Ichigo we know what we’re doing!”

She allowed his reiatsu to flow through her. She flinched as her arms started springing cuts. Ichigo’s reiatsu was sharp and trying to tear her apart almost as if it was rejecting her. She bit her lip and forced herself to concentrate. The more she took in, the easier it became, but her body still couldn’t keep up with the sudden intake of energy resulting in more cuts. Her gloves were in shreds.

“Shigeru, no! Stop,” he yelled, trying to take his hand away.

She gripped his hand harder as she yelled, “Shut up! We’re trying to help you!”

He glanced at the other boy, “Uryuu! Stop her! I didn’t ask you two to do this!”

“I already told you..” Uryuu grunted as he shot off another arrow, “I hate shinigami! You said so yourself, if we don’t live we can’t fight each other!”

He fired off another arrow.

“Want me to thank you? Don’t even think about it…!”

Blood leaked down onto the pavement as he shot another arrow.

“You better live, so I can beat your ass, Ichigo Kurosaki!”

He fired another arrow and Shigeru absorbed more of his reiatsu.

“That’s right! You better live so that I can pummel you after this, you idiot,” she grunted.

Ichigo turned his gaze back to the brown haired girl as a cut appeared on her right cheek. Her brows furrowed together in concentration.

“I hate that about you, you know? You’re always so worried about saving everyone that you sacrifice your body!”

His reiatsu was leveling out.

She yelled, “Then you have the nerve to not let others try to save you! It’s so freaking annoying!”

She squeezed his hand as she opened her eyes and frowned at the boy, as Uryuu fell to his knees. She heard him mutter something about his grandfather. She released Ichigo’s hand and shakily lifted her hands up. She frowned at the damage done to her arms.

Ichigo muttered, “Ugh, how am I supposed to beat him if he’s looking so pathetic…”

Shigeru flicked his forehead, “He just saved your ungrateful ass, you Strawberry prick.”

The boy was too tired to protest as he smirked at the girl, “Thank you too, sis.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she waved the boy off.

She stumbled onto her feet as she huffed. Her body felt heavy and tired. She took a step forward but her knees almost buckled under her own weight.

“ Why is it so hot all of a sudden ,” she frowned as her version started to blur.

Ichigo noticed something wasn’t right with the usually vocal girl as he called out to her, “Shigeru, are you okay?”

Uryuu glanced at the girl. She was sweating and had the faintest tremble. She began to sway. He tried to get up to catch the girl, but his body was too weak to stand.

She tried to blink the blurriness away from her eyes, “I think...I’m going to faint..”

The girl fell forward but stopped a foot from the ground.

“I got you, Little Shigeru,” Kisuke said quietly as he lifted the girl up in his arms.

“She’s burning up, ” he noted as he placed a hand to her forehead. He looked down at the other two teens.

He smirked, “Good job!”

Later that night

Kisuke observed the sleeping brown skinned girl. Ururu placed her long hair in a braid, so as not to make her uncomfortable as she slept, and placed a cold cloth on her forehead to help with the fever. He’d returned her to her original body after the encounter with the Menos, and she’s been unconscious ever since. He had Tessai treat the wounds that both Ichigo and Uryu had sustained, and sent them both home. The orange haired teen didn’t seem comfortable leaving Shigeru with the man, but Rukia assured him that she would be fine. 

She groaned in her sleep as her brows furrowed. He gently patted the girl on her head to calm her.    

Kisuke came to realize that Shigeru did in fact absorb Ichigo’s reiatsu and her own reiatsu was forcing it to assimilate to her to further increasing her own abilities, but her physical body couldn’t handle the sudden increase of reiatsu, resulting in the fever she currently had. Her body was forcing itself to adapt.

“You just keep getting more and more interesting, Little Shigeru,” he mused as he brushed a few strands of hair from her face.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Howling Monkey, Fluttering Cherry Blossoms

Shigeru tossed and turned on the futon. She kicked off the heavy blanket off of her as she buried her face into the pillow. Her hair had fallen out of the braid Ururu was kind enough to do. It was now wild and tangled, some of it curled from her sweat. Her arms were bandaged up and a large band aid covered the cut on her cheek. Shigeru slowly lifted her head off the pillow. She was still extremely groggy.

“Where...where am I,” she groaned.

Kisuke entered the room with a tray of food. He held back a snicker at the sight of her hair. She just stared at the man unamused. She flopped back into the pillow face first.

Kisuke moved to kneel down on the mat next to the futon, “You’ve been out for quite awhile, Little Shigeru. We were beginning to wonder if you’d wake up tonight.”

The girl turned over to face the ex-captain, “What happened?”

“Are you hungry? I’ll explain while you eat,” he smiled offering the tray to the teen.

She did feel famished for some reason. She sat up straight and gladly took the tray from the man, “Thank you…” 

Shigeru grabbed the spoon next to her and engulfed the rice porridge. Kisuke smiled at the girls' poor manners.

“You have quite the unique ability, Little Shigeru,” he started.

Shigeru frowned at the man, “I’m stuck with that nickname, aren’t I?”

“I shortened it if that makes you feel better,” he grinned before he continued, “looks like you absorbed a large amount of Ichigo’s reiryoku when it was going rampant. Did you do that intentionally?”

She lowered her spoon, “Well, yeah… I didn’t have a way to shoot it off like Uryuu, so I opted for the next best thing.”

“Hmm, interesting…,” the man mused as he rubbed his stubble.

She looked at the man, “What makes what I did unique?”

The man crossed his arms as he looked at the girl intently, “I’m sure you understand how shinigami and even Quincies utilize their abilities.”

“Yeah, for shinigami it’s basically ‘the power within’, and for Quincy’s they use the surrounding reishi for their attacks,” she explained as she tried to comb her fingers through her hair.

Kisuke took the tray away from her, “Indeed, that’s essentially how it works, but you did something a little different. Shinigami aren’t really known for absorbing reishi or the reiatsu of others, but what you did was absorb the reiryoku, the spiritual energy, that was being released by Kurosaki. Your body forced that energy to assimilate with your own energy causing it to become your own.”

“So… with time his energy will vanish from me,” she asked, tilting her head slightly confused.

Kisuke shook his head, “No, I’m saying that whatever reiryoku that you siphoned from Ichigo has been essentially eaten by your own reiryoku. It’s now a part of your energy, almost as if it never belonged to him in the first place.”

“What? Wait, so what’s the difference between reiatsu, reiryoku, and reishi because I thought that one person’s reiatsu always returns to them, so wouldn’t that be the same with reiryoku,” Shigeru crossed her arms even more confused than before.

Kisuke pulled out a sketchbook, and started drawing.

Shigeru sweat-dropped, “ So Rukia isn’t the only one that does this… ”

Kisuke finished his drawings and smirked at the girl, “Alright, look here!”

He held up the sketch pad to his chest. Shigeru leaned a little closer to see three circles. In one it read Reiryoku : the amount of energy being stored within one's body and soul, meaning actual spiritual energy. The middle circle,  Reiatsu: the pressure/physical force that a persons’ reiryoku exerts, i.e. spiritual pressure. The third circle, Reishi : spiritual particles, the main component material of Souls and all spiritual matter. This whole time Shigeru thought that reiatsu and reiryoku were one in the same. She took the sketch pad away from Kisuke and read the information over a couple more times.

“Oh, okay... I did get some things mixed up,” she mumbled as she furrowed her brows.

Kisuke pulled out his fan and covered his face, “Essentially, you’ve absorbed the spiritual energy of another, which has increased your own spiritual energy and in turn increased your spiritual pressure. It’s not something that’s really heard of, but you did it instinctively…”

She looked up to the man as she crossed her legs, “So why did I pass out?”

“Your body was forcing itself to adapt to the sudden massive increase of energy, which resulted in that fever you experienced,” he explained.

Shigeru sighed, “ So I’m like a goddamn leech or something… ”

He observed the girl's lack of real reaction, “You don’t seem surprised by all this.”

“Trust me, at this point in life nothing can surprise me,” she smiled as she waved the man off. 

Kisuke hummed at her response. Shigeru looked around for her things to gather up.

She turned to the man as she rubbed her arms and asked, “Do you think this was a fluke?”

“I’m not sure about that. Only time can tell, but I wouldn’t go around doing that again if I were you. You could tear your body apart,” Kisuke noted seriously. 

Shigeru considered it before she grinned, “We’ll just have to see, won’t we.”

She stood up and headed to the door with her things in hand. Shigeru noticed that her body still felt a little heavy, but just assumed it to be fatigue. After all, she did overexert herself and then pushed her own body to its limits while trying to save Ichigo.

“It’s late so I’m going home! Thanks for taking care of me,” she waved back at the man as she exited the place.

At school

Shigeru decided to travel to school on her own today. She needed time to think, and she knew that Ichigo would probably apologize to her nonstop about her wounds. She looked down at her bandaged arms. The cuts weren’t deep and at most were just scratches. The first aid made her injuries look worse than they actually were. After leaving Kisuke's, she tried to think of other people in the Bleach-verse, if any, who could do what she’d done the day before. The only ones she could think of were the Quincy’s, but even then it wasn’t quite the same. The Quincy manipulated reishi to increase their own reiryoku as they create their weapons and attacks temporarily. She’d taken the actual spiritual energy from someone and made it her own, which increased her own individual power permanently… She decided to suppress her reiatsu a little for the time being.

Shigeru yawned as she approached the school.

“ I can’t shake this sleepiness for some reason, ” she thought.

It seemed that her body was still adjusting to her newly found reiryoku and reiatsu. She entered the classroom.

“Morning, guys,” she yawned.

The group stared at the girl before panicking.

“What happened to my beautiful goddess,” Keigo yelled as he attached himself to her hip.

She was too tired to even attack the boy today, “I got hit by a car, but it looks worse than it actually is.”

Tatsuki kicked the brown hair teen off of her and grabbed her hands, “This looks like it hurt! Are you sure you’re alright?”

“Perfectly fine. They’re really just scratches,” she grinned sheepishly.

 Orihime gazed at her wounds with a serious expression, “It looks painful…”

Shigeru patted the shorter girl on the head, “It wasn’t I promise!”

Ichigo walked into the classroom and spotted Shigeru. He glanced at her arms and guilt instantly took over his features.

“ Good grief ,” she rolled her eyes.

She bounced over to the teen and flicked his forehead, “Stop that.”

“Ow, Shigeru,” he frowned at her bandaged cheek.

She pouted and flicked him again, “I said stop that. I didn’t hurt...much. So don’t go getting all gloomy and shit on me!” 

He smiled as he shook his head, “Alright, if  you say so.”

She smirked before she yawned again before she turned to Rukia, who looked down. She flicked her in the head as well.

The black haired girl flinched and covered her forehead, “What was that for?”

“Stop moping around. Everything will be fine,” she declared as she smiled at the shorter shinigami.

The bell rang and everyone waddled to their seats. Shigeru placed her head down on the desk as Ochi-sensei started to take attendance. Shigeru was fighting her sleep most of the morning. Suddenly, during third period, the door slammed open revealing Uryuu, who much like herself, was covered in bandages. 

“Uryuu! What happened to you? Were you in an accident,” their teacher asked.

He adjusted his glasses, “I...fell down some stairs.”

While their teacher nodded, the rest of the class didn’t buy it one bit. Shigeru started to doze off during class. She slipped into a dreamless slumber, but she felt something calling to her. It was like a pull from within, but before she could make her way to it she was shaken awake by Tatsuki.

“It’s lunch time! Have you not been sleeping at night or something,” the girl asked.

Shigeru rubbed the sleep from her eyes, “Something like that…”

She was hungrier than usual for some reason too. I knew that shinigami were different from other spirits because of the need to eat, but with her being human, it didn’t make sense why her appetite increased so much. She made a huge breakfast, and packed double for lunch. Orihime asked her to join them for lunch, and she agreed. The girls usually ate outside on really nice days. As they wandered outside Shigeru leaned on Tatsuki.

“Tatsuki, carry me,” she whined as she leaned all her weight onto the shorter girl.

Tatsuki sighed before lifting the girl onto her back. Shigeru held both of their lunches in front of them.

“Yayyy,” she said softly.

Chizuru asked the group, “Has anyone seen Rukia? We should invite her to eat with us.”

“That sounds like a great idea,” Michiru smiled as she hopped up and down.

After a few minutes they found Rukia sitting in the branches of one of the trees facing the school building. 

“Rukia, you want to eat with us,” the girls called.

Rukia blinked and she glanced at the group of girls. She mustered a smile, “Sure!”

She climbed back down to the girls who settled under the tree. Shigeru slipped off of Tatsuki’s back.

“Shigeru, you’re heavier than you look,” Tatsuki complained as she stretched out her muscles.

Shigeru rolled on the grass, “Think of it as weight training!”

They got comfy as they ate. Shigeru noticed that Rukia had this sad aura about her. This was the night that she’d run away, and there would be no stopping her. She basically inhaled her lunch before rolling over to Rukia.

Ryo sighed, “Shigeru, you’ll get your uniform dirty.”

“Let her be an idiot,” Tatsuki grumbled as she bit into her sandwich.

Orihime beamed at the girl, “You’re like a caterpillar! Oh, do you want to try my lunch?”

The orange-haired girl pulled out something that looked like a giant piece of cake. Shigeru wasn’t really listening to what it actually was as she took a bite. She chewed it slowly as the other girls grimaced.

She swallowed, “Not bad, Orihime.”

Shigeru patted the giggling girl on her head. 

“ What’s her stomach made of ,” the other girls thought in unison hoping she didn’t get sick later.

Shigeru flopped her head into Rukia’s lap and dozed off. She was hoping that it would comfort the woman a little bit. Rukia smiled softly as she patted the girl’s head. 

“ I’m going to miss this little one’s antics, but at least I know I can leave Ichigo in her hands. She makes more rational decisions, and she can punch some sense into him when he’s being an idiot ,” Rukia thought as she smiled sadly.

Shigeru slept the day away at school, and even after school she was still groggy. Ichigo walked her to her apartment after she explained that she wasn’t feeling up to hanging out at his place tonight. Now, she was sitting in the middle of her bed in a black, long sleeve crop top, and black shorts. She was currently braiding her low ponytail. Shigeru flopped back on to her pillow after tying the end of the braid.

“How long is my body going to feel so damn sluggish,” she grumbled.

She pulled out her phone and began looking through some news articles on local and worldwide events. Her eyes began to feel heavier with each passing minute. She pulled her glasses off and placed them on the nightstand. She tried to shake away the fatigue as she focused on the weather forecast for the week. She blinked rapidly as she fought her sleep, but her tired body won in the end.

She felt like she was swimming in the darkness of her mind. She felt that force pulling her again. She tried to open her eyes to see where she was going, but her eyes remained sealed. Shigeru kept heading toward the thing that was calling to her anyway. The ground beneath her feet felt rocky and there was so much warmth around her. She could hear the rumble of thunder, and could smell the electricity in the air.

“ Just where am I, ” she questioned as she tried to pry her eyes open again.

She jumped at the sudden booming thunder that echoed around her.

“ It’s too early… ,” a deep, velvety voice called out barely a whisper. 

Shigeru stood at attention, “What?!”

A strong feminine voice whispered, “ You must leave ...”

She turned her body to face the direction of the new voice. Shigeru could barely hear their voices but they were close, so close, yet so far.

“Where do I have to go,” she asked in a panic.

The deeper voice, male, she assumed, spoke, “ To save… ”

His voice was getting weaker. She suddenly felt something pushing her away from the warmth.

“Wait! Who are you,” Shigeru yelled.

“ Soon...you’ll hear...our.. ,” the woman’s voice was going in and out, weaker than before.

The force pushing her sent her flying.

Shigeru flailed around for something, anything, to hang onto.

“Wait! No!,” Shigeru yelled, trying with all her might to peel her eyes open.

“ Go! ” the voices roared in unison, louder than they were before.

Shigeru’s eyes shot open as she jumped up in her bed,  breathing ragged as she tried to catch her breath. She turned around frantically grabbing her phone: 10:30 P.M. She was wide awake for the first time all day.

“I’m back in my room,” she huffed.

A sudden burst of reiatsu grabbed her attention. She jumped off her bed as her eyes widened. 

“Oh no…”

Shigeru snatched her glasses off of the nightstand and rushed to put on her combat boots. She jumped out of her window. She was in such a rush that she didn’t even bother to exit her body as a shinigami. She concentrated her reiatsu around her body, effectively creating an air platform to run on. The girl could feel multiple reiatsu signatures in one area. She sped in the direction.

“Ichigo! Please don’t be dead,” she huffed.

She descended to the ground as she closed in on the group of people. When she was close enough she could see flashes of red and orange.

She heard a man shout, “In the end, you will lose to me, Renji Abarai! You will die here!”

Shigeru enhanced her body and launched herself toward the group.

“ Renji, you’re actually a really great guy, and I’ll apologize profusely for this in the future! But right now I have to kick you in the face, ” she thought as she flew through the clearing as her foot connected with the redheaded shinigami’s cheek.

Renji went flying into a lampost, shattering it in the process, as Shigeru landed in a crouch.

“Shigeru,” Rukia yelled.

She glanced over to her and winked, “‘Sup!”

Rukia pleaded with the girl, “Please, run away! I don’t want to see you get hurt!”

Shigeru quickly glanced around the area. Rukia stood by an unconscious and bleeding Uryuu, Ichigo was behind her collapsed but awake, and the stoic Byakuya Kuchiki stared at the girl coldly.

“And just who the hell are you,” Renji yelled from behind her as he rose from the debris, cheek bleeding as he spit a wad of bloodied saliva to the side.

She glanced over to acknowledge the man but before she could respond Byakuya spoke.

He looked the girl up and down, “Shigeru Kuroi. A shinigami from a surrounding district granted her his abilities before he perished. We were assigned to deal with her as well as Ichigo Kurosaki.”

“It’s nice to know that I’m well known,” she smirked.

Rukia yelled, “Shigeru, this isn’t a laughing matter they’ll―”

“Another human associate of yours, Rukia? Seriously, how far have you fallen,” Renji yelled as he swung his Zabimaru at the seemingly disarmed teen.

Shigeru dodged the extending blade before punching it to the side much to Renji’s shock. She readied herself to attack the man again, when Ichigo stood to his feet. His reiatsu climbing. The tassel on the hilt of his zanpakuto exploded into shreds.

“Shigeru, stay back,” he demanded as he charged at the redheaded shinigami slicing his shoulder.

She frowned, “Ichigo, stop!”

He didn’t listen. He was high on his sudden energy boost as he attacked the man. He flung the opposing shinigami away with a swing of his sword. She thought he looked just like his inner hollow with the manic grin he had on his face as he continued his assault. Renji managed to grab the hand rail on the sidewalk to catch his balance. He glared at the boy as his goggles shattered, blood leaking down his forehead.

“What’s wrong? Your movements became really slow all of a sudden,” the teen laughed hysterically.

Renji grit his teeth, “ What’s this guy talking about? He’s the one that’s suddenly gotten faster!”

“I don’t really know what’s happening but I feel great! I can’t even feel my wounds now,” Ichigo shouted as he went to attack him again, “I don’t think I’ll lose to you!”

Shigeru prepared to knock out the boy, “He’s hysterical! I have to stop him!”

She noticed Byakuya flicker out of her line of sight.

“Shit! Ichigo watch out―”

It was too late Byakuya shunpo-ed over to the teen and snapped his zanpakuto in half before flashing back to his previous spot. Her eyes widened. She couldn’t even follow the man's movements. Renji and Ichigo both stared at the broken blade in shock.

“W-What,” Ichigo muttered.

He glanced over to the captain. His eyes widened as he looked at the blade in his hand. Byakuya dropped the blade like it was a piece of trash. Byakuya reached for the hilt of his blade.

Rukia and Shigeru yelled, “Ichigo!”

Byakuya flashed over to the teen again.

She couldn’t even see his first attack, but she knew he had just destroyed his Saketsu as blood erupted from his chest. Ichigo began to fall forward.

“You’re slow. Even when you’re falling,” the man observed coldly.

Rukia yelled, “Brother! No!”

He spared his sister a glance before stabbing the boy again, destroying his Hakusui. Shigeru ran forward to catch the boy before distancing them from the man quickly. She looked down to her dying friend.

“Dammit, Ichigo,” she muttered.

Renji shakily stood to his feet, “I...I didn’t need your assistance, Captain. I could have finished him myself.”

“Nonsense, Renji. Even my skill would begin to wane if I played spectator all the time,” the captain replied smoothly as he glanced at Shigeru.

Byakuya appeared before her. Her eyes widened as she saw the glint of his blade. She narrowly managed to dodge the blow aimed for her own Saketsu. Renji and Rukia’s eyes widened.

Rukia trembled, “She managed to dodge my brother…”

“That’s not possible,” Renji whispered.

Shigeru frowned, “ No, that was fucking luck! ”

The man watched her with cold determination. He tried to sneak up behind her again, but Shigeru flipped forward.

“ I can’t be powerless! I’ve got to protect myself! Protect my core, ” she thought desperately.

Shigeru’s first mistake was panicking. She knew that Ichigo would survive this ordeal, but she was a different story. Her life was not guaranteed in this universe, one mistake and who knew what would happen. Would she end up back in her original universe, or just cease to exist completely? Her second mistake was losing control over her reiatsu. It  slammed down, bringing Rukia to her knees and stunning the captain and lieutenant.

Byakuya’s eyes widened, “ Impossible…she didn’t have this reiatsu moments ago. ”

Shigeru froze as she witnessed the effect her reiatsu had on her friends. Rukia’s collapsed form, Uryuu seemed to be in even more pain in his unconscious state, and Ichigo was struggling to hang onto what little consciousness he had left. She ran over to the fallen substitute shinigami. That was her third and final mistake. The captain appeared before her again, only this time he gave her no room to react.

“Damn,” she squeezed her eyes shut, “ Protect my core! ”

The blade pierced her flesh at two points. She didn’t even scream out due to the shock. She glared at the blade embedded in her flesh before glaring at the stoic captain before her. She grit her teeth as she coughed up some blood. Byakuya pulled the blade from her body, but she refused to crumble to the ground. The man glared at the girls’ refusal to die as her blood pooled around them.

Rukia jumped over the railing and ran to the boy and girl, “Shigeru! Ichigo!”

Renji charged Rukia and slammed her to the lamppost next to them by her throat. 

“Let go, Renji! Ichigo and Shigeru are..,” she screamed at the man.

Renji shouted right back at the distressed woman, “What the hell is wrong with you?! Look, that rookie has died! The girl is barely clinging to life!”

He pointed to the two fallen teens, “There’s no point in getting into more trouble over a couple of corpses! You get it now? If you touch them, you’ll get 20 years added to your sentence―”

“So what?! I’m the one that dragged them into this...it’s my fault they’ll die! So is it so wrong for me to go to them,” Rukia cried out.

Renji loosened his grip on her. Byakuya took a step toward his sister. Shigeru had passed out from the blood loss on her knees, her eyes glazed over.

“...So even if your punishment worsens, you’d still want to be by the side of these children,” he looked his sister in the eyes searching for the answer.

“Brother…,” Rukia didn’t know how to reply.

Byakuya glanced back to the teens beside him, “I see…”

He regarded Ichigo before turning and looking back at the woman, “He does bear a striking resemblance to him …”

Rukia frowned. Ichigo reached out to grab the leg of Byakuya’s shihakusho.

“What do you mean “already dead”, and resembling someone...stop talking about me like I’m not even here,” Ichigo huffed as he raised his head.

Relief took over Rukia’s face, “Ichi―”

“Let go,” Byakuya said without sparing the boy a glance.

Her eyes widened with fear.

“Sorry did you say something? How about you look at me if you wanna say something,” Ichigo huffed cockily.

Byakuya slowly turned to face the teen. He commented smoothly, “I see, you no longer want your arm.”

Rukia ran over and kicked Ichigo’s hand away from her brother much to the orange-haired boys’ shock. 

“How dare you grab my brother’s robe like that, you human. Know your place,” she declared angrily to the boy. 

Ichigo’s eyes widened, “What?”

Rukia turned to Byakuya, “Let’s go, brother. After seeing such crude behavior, I’ve come to my senses. Please take me back to the Soul Society, I humbly accept my punishment.”

“What the hell are you talking about?! Rukia...you,” he tried to force himself up.

Renji slammed his foot into the injured boy's back, “You’re just making things worse. Just stay here and die.”

The three shinigami walked away from the two fallen teens.

Ichigo yelled, “Stop right there, Rukia! Is this some kind of joke? Look at me!”

Rukia continued to walk away.

“Hey! Don’t move!”

Rukia paused in her stride, “Don’t even try to move one step from there. If you try to follow me…”

She turned to the boy with watering eyes, “I’ll never forgive you!”

Ichigo’s eyes widened. Rukia glanced over to the silent Shigeru, who had not moved from her position as she bled out onto the concrete. She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears away, before regarding the boy once more.

“You are going to die! Conserve what little energy you have to linger a moment longer,” she bit out as coldly as she could.

Byakuya released his zanpakuto, “I suppose I’ll leave them be. I’ve severed their Saketsu and Hakusui. They should die within the hour, and even if they did manage to survive, not even a speck of their shinigami abilities will be left. They’ll be ordinary humans.”

Renji opened up a Senkaimon and the three disappeared as it closed. Ichigo glanced over to Shigeru.

“ Shigeru...you helped me again,and now you might die because of it...dammit. I couldn’t protect Rukia, and I couldn’t protect you,” he grit his teeth. 

He yelled one final time as he finally started to slip. Kisuke and a black cat went unnoticed by him as they stood over the fallen forms of the teens shielding them from the rain with their umbrella.

Shigeru felt cold. Something inside her was finally cracking. It was covering something. Something important. Protecting it like a shield, but now it wasn’t needed. The threat was gone. Warmth seethed through the cracks. The shield was gone. She no longer needed it. It completely shattered. She relaxed. The warmth comforted her.

She slowly opened her eyes to see a familiar ceiling. Shigeru tried to sit up but flinched as pain spiked throughout her body. She looked down to see her chest covered in bandages along with fresh bandages on her arms. As she laid back down Kisuke walked into the room, Yoruichi draped over his shoulders.

“We sure are patching you up quite often,” he grinned.

She tried to smile but grimaced, “Seems like it… Has he woken up yet?”

“Not yet,” he said plainly as the black cat hopped off his shoulder pawing her way over the the healing girl.

Her golden eyes shimmered with curiosity. The cat asked in her deep masculine voice, “How do you feel?”

Shigeru sighed, “Like I’ve been stabbed.”

“You don’t seem surprised by the talking cat,” Kisuke pouted disappointingly.

Shigeru looked off to the side. Yoruichi stepped closer to her face and looked deep into her eyes, “I meant spiritually. How do you feel?”

“I…,” Shigeru’s eyes furrowed together before they widened. She shot off the futon and instantly regretted it, hand clenching at her chest.

“I...I feel fine, but...but how? I’m sure he stabbed me in my Saketsu and Hakusui. I felt it,” the girl stammered.

Yoruichi hopped into the girls’ lap, “Something inside you protected them. What you felt was whatever protected you being struck instead. You, Shigeru, are very special.”

“And very lucky,” Kisuke added grimly, “Now, I think there are things that you’ve been keeping from us…”

Shigeru looked down as she clenched her hand in the blanket. She took a deep breath before she turned to the man and were-cat.

“ I guess I can’t keep it a secret anymore… ” 

“There are things that I need to tell you. I don’t know if you all will believe me, but I will explain as much as I possibly can. Ichigo has to hear this as well, so we should wait for when he wakes―”

A very unmanly scream echoed through the store. 

“Boss! Ichigo has regained consciousness! Boss!”

Shigeru pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, “Well that was quicker than I expected…”

Kisuke helped the girl to her feet and they made their way to the room the frantic boy was currently in. He motioned for her to stay outside the room. She nodded.

“ How do I even begin to explain this? Hey, I’ve known about your life since I was in middle school. Oh, and I’m from a different universe. And let’s not mention I know the future ,” she panicked internally. 

These last couple of months have been nothing but fun and games, but from this point on things were serious. Kill or be killed. 

A large thump snapped her out of his thoughts. She entered the room to see Ichigo flat on his back with Kisuke hovering over him menacingly. The end of his cane a couple inches away from his throat.

Kisuke glared down at the boy, “You are weak. A weakling barging into enemy territory...is suicide . “To rescue Rukia?” Stop being so childish. Don’t use other people as an excuse to go kill yourself. ”

Ichigo remained silent as Kisuke stood to his full height. He sent her a look to remain silent for a few moments more. She nodded.

“We will take ten days to annoy you, I mean, train you. It’ll take seven days to open the doors to the Soul Society. So after you arrive at the Soul Society, you will have thirteen days. That’s plenty of time,” Kisuke explained.

Ichigo looked off to the side silently, “Will I become stronger in ten days?”

“Of course, if you truly desire to save Rukia,” the ex-captain smiled.

Ichigo gazed up with determination clear on his face.

Kisuke turned to Shigeru, “Now, our Little Shigeru has something to discuss with us…”

Ichigo gazed up at the brown haired girl, who smiled nervously, “Yeah, there’s that…”

They switched rooms as they sat around a table. Shigeru sat across from Ichigo and Tessai, Kisuke to her left, and Yoruichi lazed on the table itself.

She took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts.

“I’m not originally from here, and I don’t mean this town or plane of existence. I’m not from this universe…,” she stated as their eyes widened.

She continued, “Where I’m originally from this world is fictional. Shinigami, hollows, Soul Society, none of it exist. It’s all just apart of manga and anime that I followed from middle school until my first year of college―”

“College? But you’re only sixteen,” Ichigo frowned, obviously confused.

Shigeru placed a hand on her chest, “Yes, here I’m physically sixteen, but,” she pointed to her head, “mentally I’m twenty-four years old.”

His eyes widened but he said nothing.

“One night I fell asleep, when I woke up I was sixteen again. Here in this town, in this world. But I have no clue how this happened, and I remember everything that this alternate version of me has experienced as well as my original life from where I’m from… whatever force that’s at work here wants me to be a part of your story, Ichigo,” she looked the boy in his eyes.

Her eyes clear as she glanced at all the people present, so they knew she had no intent on lying.

Ichigo was the first to speak, “Answer me one question: Did you know that Rukia would leave, that she would be executed?”

Shigeru looked the boy straight in the eyes and without hesitation answered.

“Yes.” 

Ichigo, enraged, grabbed the girl by the front of her shirt and yelled, “And you were just going to allow it to happen?!”

“Ichigo, let her go,” Kisuke hopped up.

The boy ignored him and continued to yell, “Why didn’t you just tell me?!”

Shigeru wrapped her hands around the boy's wrist as she watched the boy coolly, “It’s not that simple, Ichigo.”

“Don’t give me that shit! You know the future! It could have easily been prevented! I could have―”

Shigeru squeezed the boy's wrist with bone breaking strength causing him to flinch, “You could have what ? Did you honestly think that you would have been able to stop a Captain and Lieutenant level shinigami from the Gotei 13? Look what happened to me! With all my foresight I damn near died the same as you!”

Ichigo flinched as she applied more pressure to his wrist. The boy fell to his knees. Tessai stood up ready to separate the two, but Kisuke shook his head. The larger man lowered his hands back to his sides.

“Like Kisuke said, you are weak ! Even if I’d warned you the results would have been the same, so stop acting like a child,” she yelled down at the boy.

He stared at her silently and she continued, “Yes! I know the future, but for the sake of this world and its natural order I cannot reveal that information, for all I know it would cause the very fabric of your universe to unravel! I consider Rukia my friend, but there’s an order to things!”

The boy glared at the girl with so much spite in his eyes, “You’re no friend to Rukia or mine. You’re just some outsider that involved yourself in our lives.”

Shigeru flinched away as if she’d been slapped. She released the boy. Ichigo crumbled to the floor. She looked down at the boy, hurt evident in her eyes.

“See... you are nothing more than a child with a hero complex,” she reiterated callously.

The boy stood and ran out of the room. Shigeru sat back down at the table. 

Kisuke ran a hand down his face sighing deeply, “I can have Tessai bring him back…”

“No, let him go. It’s not my job to stroke his ego,” she fumed, frowning deeply.

Tessai placed a hand on the girl's shoulder as he spoke up, “I’m sure if we give him time to himself he’ll understand what you’ve told us. He didn’t mean what he said.”

“Yes...yes he did,” Shigeru conceded firmly.

She stood up and again to face the shop owner, “Can I stay here to rest for a bit longer? I’m not up for going to school today.”

“Take all the time you need,” Kisuke answered quietly.

Shigeru forced a smile onto her face, “Thank you!”

She left the room and went back to the room where she was resting before. Once she closed the door she allowed the tears she was holding back to rain down her face freely. She refused to let some of the strongest people in this universe see her at her weakest. The entire time she had been in the Bleach-verse , she’d focused on everything but the one real problem.

She was an outsider .

Ichigo was right. She wasn’t meant to be here. Her family and friends didn’t exist, her abilities were given to her, she missed her parents, her sister, her cousins, the family dog, almost everything she left behind and...she didn’t know if she’d ever go back to her original universe.

She wiped her tears away with vigor.

“ No! Tears solve nothing! I have to move forward. I have to keep moving forward. If I start to wallow and think of my past, then I’ll never succeed here! I’m here for a reason...even if I don’t know what it is yet.”   

Shigeru dragged herself over to the futon. She needed more rest. She had her own personal training to attend to soon.

A couple hours later Kisuke entered the room. Shigeru was still sleeping. He gently nudged her awake. She mumbled something incoherent as she opened her eyes. She blinked and rubbed the sleep from her slightly swollen eyes.

“Yes,” she croaked groggily.

Kisuke presented her with a pill bottle, “I want you to take one of these pills by the hour. They’ll heal you faster, think you can do that for me?”

She nodded her head taking the pill bottle. She popped it open and swallowed a pill before snuggling back into the blanket.

He patted her on the head, “You’re not a morning person, are you?”

She groaned and mumbled but the man couldn’t make out anything she said. 

Kisuke laughed, “I’ll take that as a no, but you should head back to your place. Get things in order. You’ll be gone for a while.”

The girl drifted back to sleep, however. He leaned closer to the girl's ear.

“If you get up I’ll let you help with the first portion of Ichigo’s training,” he purred.

She perked up a little after hearing that. She opened an eye to squint at the man as she mumbled, “Really…?”

“Really!”

“Can I hit him?”

“If he doesn’t dodge that’s his fault,” he smiled deviously.

Shigeru sat up and returned the smile, “Alright, I’m awake!”

She managed to pack enough clothes for the time she would spend at Kisuke’s shop, and took a shower while she was at it. When she was changing in front of the mirror she stared at the new ugly scars she was sporting. The jagged scars on her chest and stomach made her frown, but she didn’t really mind that much. With time they would fade. Shigeru pulled on a deep purple cropped hoodie, some cargo pants, and some comfortable running shoes.

“Alright, I think I’m all set,” she declared as she pulled her hair in a high ponytail.

The alarm on her phone went off. It was time to take another pill. She pulled out the pill bottle that had a skull and crossbones smack dead in the middle of the label. After she took the horse pill, a text came in from her aunt.

“What should I tell her ,” she thought as she read over the text.

Shigeru settled for telling her aunt that she would be at a camp with her new friends for most of the summer, but when she got back she’d come to visit. One lecture about short notices, and apologies later, she made her way back to the shop.

Outside the shop was Kisuke and his crew and a bowing Ichigo. 

“So nice of you to rejoin us, Little Shigeru,” he called the girl over.

Ichigo slowly turned to face the girl he considered a sister. He deeply regretted the things he said when he yelled at her. He placed a hand to the back of his neck as he looked off to the side guilty. When he opened his mouth to say something, she quickly avoided him. 

“ I don’t blame her…, ” he thought.

Shigeru didn’t spare the boy even a glance as she passed him, she had nothing to say to him at the moment. She wasn’t angry, but she was still just a little hurt.

As they entered the building Ichigo placed his hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at him coolly.

He gulped, “Listen, Shigeru...I―”

“Don’t bother. It’s whatever,” she shrugged his hand off of her.

He clenched his fist and conceded. They climbed down into the underground training facility. Shigeru looked around with childlike wonder. 

“ Just how the hell does this place have artificial sunlight? How did he create this place so fast ,” she gazed as they continued their descent.

Once everyone was grounded Kisuke started to happily yell like an idiot.

“Whoaaa! What is this place,” his yell echoed throughout the hideout.

Shigeru covered her ear as she grinned at the man as Ichigo told the man to stop trying to impress him. Ururu pulled on her hoodie to grab her attention. She smiled down at the meek girl. 

“Please come with me,” the little girl said meekly.

Shigeru patted the adorable girl on her head and nodded. Ururu led her to some fighting gear, and gently handed Shigeru a set of headgear and some gloves. She quickly placed them on.

As she flexed her hands she grinned, “ Oh yeah, I’m going to enjoy this! ”

Ururu grabbed some gear for Ichigo as they made their way back to the group.

“Hey! Are you two ready,” Kisuke called out happily.

Ichigo, who was now just an ordinary soul, turned to face the two girls. Ururu did a courtesy with the gear in her skirt.

“Pleased...pleased to meet you,” she mumbled.

Shigeru patted the girl on her head and smiled, “Such good manners! You’re so adorable, Ururu!”

“Um, hello,” Ichigo blinked.

Kisuke crossed his arms and happily announced, “This is your first lesson! Try fighting them!”

Ururu tossed the gear over to the boy. Shigeru helped her put on her own gear.

“Excuse me,” Ichigo blinked at the man.

Kisuke smiled at the boy and placed a finger in the air, “The rules are simple! Try to knock them out before they knock you out!” 

Ichigo turned back to Kisuke and shouted, “You can’t be serious! I’m not hitting a little kid!”

“Oh yeah, and what about me,” Shigeru smirked evilly at the boy.

He shuttered, “I can’t fight you either!”

“Listen, Ichigo. Considering the state you're in you’ll find this to be pretty difficult,” Kisuke grinned.

Shigeru started to stretch while Ururu threw a couple of practice punches. 

Ururu grabbed his gear and tossed them closer to the boy, “Please, be sure to put these on or you’ll die .” 

The small girl ran over the teen, her arm cocked back. Once she was inches from him she went for the hit. The ground exploded in a cloud of smoke and rubble as the crater created from the sheer force of her punch formed.

Shigeru whistled as Kisuke pulled out his fan.

“See, I told you,” he called.

The others looked onward.

“He’s not getting up,” Jinta commented.

Tessai crossed his arms, “I wonder if he’s dead.”

“I wonder…,” Kisuke hummed.

Ichigo emerged from the dust and took off running toward the small girl, but passed her as he panicked. He grabbed the gear on the ground. Shigeru allowed him to pass her as he tried to force the gear on. 

Ichigo cried out, “How the hell do you put this thing on?!”

Shigeru jumped into the air above the boy. She swung her leg above her head before bringing it just inches from the boy. Ichigo screamed as he was knocked to the side by the shock wave of the blow. He blinked at the crater that Shigeru created before gazing up to see the girl's face. His body began to convulse from fear.

“You’d better figure it out quickly! Otherwise we’ll kill you,” she grinned at the boy manically. 

Ichigo paled as he got back on his feet and ran for dear life while Shigeru followed after him aiming more punches and kicks at him while laughing like a madwoman. Ururu was close behind doing the same.

After Ichigo figured out how to strap the headgear on, he turned to face the girls. 

“Alright, come on,” he punched his fist together.

Shigeru and Ururu glanced at each other. They aimed a punch at him together. He barely dodges. Ichigo runs away again, as he yelled at Kisuke with plenty of complaints. 

“You’d better start attacking,” Shigeru called as she gained up on him.

Ichigo stopped abruptly and faced the girls. 

She cackled, “Good! I was getting tired of chasing you!”

Shigeru continued her pursuit as he put his arms up to guard himself. She aimed a punch to his face. He dodged the blow and went for one of his own. Shigeru smirked as she ducked, letting Ururu use her as a step, so she could attack the boy. Ichigo dodged her blow as well much to the little girl's shock. Ichigo charged the girls as they dodged his blows easily. 

“ He’s getting better, ” Shigeru declared happily.

He aimed another punch at Ururu. His fist cut the girl's cheek. Ururu’s eyes dilated as she entered Slaughter Mode. Ichigo’s eyes widened at the sudden killing intent. 

“You hesitated, dumbass,” Shigeru grinned with killing intent.

She appeared at his side, readying a kick. Ururu jumped onto the boy's outstretched arm, leg pulled back for a powerful kick. They both went to strike the boy at the same time, but before her foot could completely connect with Ichigo’s ribs, Kisuke appeared grabbing both her and Ururu by the ankles.

“Safe~,” the man sang.

They looked over to where Ichigo was tossed by the force of the girl's powerful strikes. Ichigo lay in a crater against one of the many boulders scattered around the training ground. Blood was dripping down the side of his face from Ururu’s kick. Tessai was behind the boy, providing him cushion from the rocks. 

Shigeru pouted at the shopkeeper, “I thought you said I could hit him!”

“Little Shigeru, you could have actually killed him,” Kisuke grinned down at the girl.

She crossed her arms over her chest, “...I wasn’t. I was just venting.”

Kisuke hummed. Shigeru wiggled her ankle, “So are you going to let go anytime soon?”

Ichigo came to. He looked around himself, “I see...I lost..”

Kisuke released Shigeru and wandered over to the boy. Ichigo yelled in frustration.

He bowed to Kisuke, “Please, let me try again!”

Kisuke waved his fan in the boy's face, “You passed! Lesson one complete!”

“Huh?”

Kisuke laughed as he explained the lesson. Shigeru tossed the gear off of her body as he explained how powerful Ururu really was. She noticed Tessai sneaking up on the boy with an ax. The larger man placed a finger to his lip when he noticed her staring at him. She shrugged her shoulders. She took a seat on a nearby rock to watch it all unfold. She heard Kisuke suggest something in celebration of Ichigo clearing the first lesson.

“ Oh boy ,” she winced as Tessai appeared, slicing the boy's Saketsu from his physical body.

Ichigo froze from shock as he watched what little amount of the chain he had left dangle from his chest.

Kisuke smirked, “Let’s continue to lesson two!”

Kisuke went on to explain to Ichigo about his next lesson, and how he must resurface as a shinigami or they will kill him as a hollow. Shigeru pulled out the soul candy from one of her pockets. She swallowed it down and entrusted her body to the gikon for the time being. She stretched her arms over her head until she felt a satisfying pop. While Ichigo was in the Shattered Shaft with Tessai, she had her own personal journey to overcome.

She peered over as she heard Ichigo shout and then a loud crash. She hopped back over to stand by Kisuke. 

“Oh my. You’re not in the position to question whether this is possible or not. Look,” he instructed.

Shigeru peered down the shaft to see mouths grow out of Ichigo’s Saketsu. The boy screamed in terror as the chain began to eat itself.

Kisuke smirked, “The corrosion has already begun!”

“That’s so gross,” Shigeru gagged.

The chain bit Ichigo as he slammed his body against the wall of the shaft to prevent the thing from eating itself. 

Shigeru pulled away from the edge of the shaft, “Yesh, that’s scary…”

Kisuke went on to say, “You have 3 days, Ichigo. Either transform into a shinigami and climb this shaft, or turn into a hollow and be killed by us.”

Shigeru wandered off from the group to a more secluded area as they observed the teens' progress. Jinta was teasing him and coerced Ururu into trying to spit on the Ichigo. She smiled and shook her head at the children’s antics. She always wondered if these kids were adopted by the shinigami because they were always at his shop, and there was never any mention of their families. She looked down at her zanpakutos. She placed her hands on their hilts.

“ That feeling I’ve been feeling lately, and that dream...I’m sure that was you guys ,” she rubbed her hand along the hilts.

“Little Shigeru~”

Kisuke wrapped his arms loosely around the girl's shoulders and placed his chin on top of her head.

“What will you do while Ichigo overcomes the Shattered Shaft,” he inquired.

Shigeru fought the urge to roll her eyes, “Why are you so touchy-feely?”

“Does it bother you,” he whispered in her ear.

She blushed a little as she tried to shrug the man off of her, “A little bit. It’s almost like you    like to get me embarrassed.”

Kisuke’s smirk widened. He could tell that the girl―no―woman was easily flustered by him. Almost like she may have had a little crush on him, or she just didn’t know how to deal with him. He’d admit that he did like to see her flustered.

“ Cute… ,” he mused.

He released the girl, who quickly put a little space between them. She ran a hand through her hair as she huffed.

“I’m going to communicate with these guys,” she pointed to her swords.

Kisuke pulled out his fan to shield the lower half of his face, “ You can already talk to your zanpakuto, impressive!”

“Not exactly,” she frowned as she pulled her sheathed swords from her obi.

Kisuke blinked, “You still don’t know its name?”

Shigeru dropped to the ground and crossed her legs. She placed the blades horizontally across her lap. 

“I tried after the Menos incident. It wasn’t intentionally though, but they sent me away. They said it was too early for me to know,” she explained as she relaxed her body.

Kisuke looked down at the girl, “ She’s steps ahead of Ichigo in regards to skill and control. It’s truly amazing.”

Shigeru took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“I’ll leave you to it then, Little Shigeru,” he closed his fan before heading back to the one that actually needed training.

Shigeru concentrated on her breathing. Slow breath in. Slow breath out. She could feel that pull from within her. It was stronger than it was before. She felt the darkness surrounding her again. She opened her eyes. The space around her was covered by a thick black fog. There was a coldness in this place. A light flashes a ways ahead of her. 

“ That way ,” she thought with determination.

She walked through the nothingness to where the flashes were flickering. In the darkness it felt like she was walking on air. As she got closer to the light, she started to feel warmer, and the ground became rocky. A couple of steps closer and the nothingness vanishes as if she was transported. Her eyes widened.

“Whoa…”

She stood at the bottom of an active volcano. Lava slowly flowed freely around the surrounding jungle that surrounded the area, only nothing was bursting into flames. She looked down to her feet and noticed she was ankle deep in the molten rock. She screamed and hopped onto the solid ground next to the flow. She blinked as she noticed that it didn’t hurt and her feet were still intact. Shigeru bent down on one knee and slipped her hand into the lava.

Her eyes widened with wonder, “ It’s not hot...it’s just warm. It feels nice! ”

Thunder loudly boomed, grabbing her attention. She looked up to the skies and noted the lightning that danced within it. The electric phenomena striking the surrounding jungle, but again nothing combust into flames. There was a pleasant scent of electricity that the lightning left. The lightning then struck the erupting lava, encircling it with a net of blue electricity, before dissipating. It was beautiful!  

Something pulled her. A force was calling to her. She turned toward the volcano and walked onward. The jungle seemed to open up a path for her as she approached it, vines and trees shifting out of her way as she walked. She could feel something watching her, something big... but she wasn’t nervous. She heard something rustle in the trees, but she kept moving forward. Whenever she had the urge to look back, thunder and lightning would echo throughout her inner world.

“ No looking back ,” she mused.

A growl echoed at her side. She whipped her head in the direction of the sound. Two glowing blue eyes stared back at her. She froze before she smirked.

“You're going to reveal yourself or just stay in the shadows,” she called out cockily.

She didn’t expect a reply, but a deep voice echoed, “ Wouldn’t you like to know… ”

Shigeru knew that voice. When she opened her mouth to say something the volcano caused the area to quake. She almost lost her balance, but stayed upright. She looked back to where the eyes were only for them to be long gone. Once the ground stopped shaking, she practically ran towards the volcano, something just told her the owner of those eyes would be there.

Once she got to the bottom of the volcano that force that was calling to her was stronger than ever. Shigeru craned her neck to try to see the top of the ever flowing fissure in the earth. 

“A little closer,” she mumbled.

Shigeru quickly climbed up the side of the volcano. She wasn’t even sweating the closer she got to the mouth of the volcano, but the warmth was comforting. She stopped on a large landing just a few miles from the top. The volcano suddenly started to quake.

“ You’ve finally arrived ,” bellowed a woman’s voice.

Shigeru shielded her eyes as lava erupted from the mouth of the volcano. It sprayed everywhere as something emerged from within the volcano. Her eyes widened.

“A..a dragon,” she stuttered.

A giant, black eastern dragon stared down at the young girl. Its scales shimmered against the light that touched it. Its golden eyes gentle as it took in the girl's appearance. It’s enormous body wrapped around the top of the volcano. She noticed a large chain that wrapped around the base of its tail. It led into the jungle below.

The dragon looked down at the jungle and spoke, “ How long do you plan to laze around? Get up here!”

A roar echoed throughout Shigeru’s inner world. The sky lit up in lightning as something approached her on the landing. She ducked down as something pounced over her and landed across from her. Staring her down was a giant albino tiger. It’s fur white as snow, making its black stripes standout even more. The end of the chain attached to its left hind leg. Its blue eyes were playful as it basically smiled at the girl.

“ You just always have to ruin all the fun ,” it glanced at the dragon.

Shigeru’s eyes twinkled as she took in her zanpakutos’ spirits. She was basically jumping with excitement. 

“You two are so amazing,” she yelled.

The tiger’s tail flicked about happily as the dragon slowly descended to the landing, hovering from the ground.

The dragon faced the girl, “ We’ve allowed you to see us, Shigeru .”

“ Why are you here ,” the tiger circled the girl slowly.

Shigeru frowned at the question, “Obviously, to ask for your name. You know that.”

The tiger’s deep laugh was like thunder, “ No, there’s more that you want! ”

Something felt off. She heard the sound of the chain quickly approaching her. Shigeru narrowly dodged the tiger’s claw, his claws still managed to slice into her arms. Electricity coursed through her body.

Shigeru painfully gasps. She glared at the tiger, “What the hell , dude?!” 

It bared its fangs as it laughed, “ You know to never turn your back on an enemy! ”

“Yeah, but you aren’t an enemy! You’re a part of my soul,” she shouted back.

The dragon sighed as it flicked its tail, dragging the tiger over to its side. The tiger crashed behind the dragon.

“ What the hell, woman ,” it growled at the dragon.

The dragon eyed the tiger, “ Did you say something ?”

Shigeru tried not to laugh, “ Yeah, they’re part of me alright .”

The dragon eyed the girl, “ Make no mistake, Shigeru. You will have to earn our name. Now tell us the real reason you’re here .”

Shigeru thought about the events over the past couple of days. Rukia leaving and Byakuya almost killing her. She was angry. Angry that she was barely able to do anything. She was strong, but she was still weak. Shigeru knew what she wanted.

She eyed the creatures before her. Her eyes were clear and determined.

“I want to become stronger! I want to defeat my enemies,” she declared.

The dragon closed its eyes and nodded, “ In that case… ”

It began to glow and shrank. The light morphing into a human shaped silhouette. As its foot touched the landing, Shigeru noticed the angry red lava slowly turned blue ,a small ring of blue flames circled the growing form of the dragon as the light died down.

“ We will be your opponents! ”

Shigeru’s jaw dropped. Now stood a gorgeous, lithe woman with rich, dark, earthy skin, her hair was black as night, flowing down to her ankles, her ears pointed. Over her ample breast was an armored long-lined, strapless bra. A m-slit skirt hung from her waist, the slits ending a couple inches from her hips, exposing her firm thighs. A sheer shawl draped over her elbows. She wore no shoes, toes and fingernails like claws. A set of horns on her head. Blue flames encircled her wrist and ankles. Black scales scattered around her earthy skin. Her golden eyes twinkled in amusement at the girl's reaction to her new appearance, her thick serpentine tail flicking about. The chain was still connecting her to the large beast behind her.  

The tiger chuckled manically, “ Get ready, little girl. You’re in for a world of hurt !” 

The tiger also burst into light. Standing on its hind legs as it transformed into its humanoid form. The light vanished to reveal a tall, muscular man. He wore no shirt, showcasing his rippling muscles. His trousers were black and loose. His skin tanned, his face had chiseled features, his shoulder length hair was snow white, and his ears pointed. His fingernails were claws. He too was barefoot like his counterpart. White fur acted as cuffs around his wrist, neck, and ankles. The chain was still connected to his left ankle. Black stripes covering his body. Shigeru looked into his piercing blue eyes that leaked plasma as purple lightning crackled around his body. He grinned, revealing his fangs, his thick tail flicked about.

Shigeru placed a hand to her chest, “Is it weird to be attracted to your zanpakuto? It’s weird! Yeah, it’s weird! This is weird !”

The spirits laughed at the girl.

“It’s not funny! I’m having a crisis here! Why are you both so hot,” she whined.

Were-tiger, as Shigeru dubbed him, pounced over to his counterpart. He slapped a hand to her back, almost knocking her over, as they continued to laugh. 

“ We are a part of you, you know ,” he laughed, wiping tears away.

Shigeru thought about it as she grinned, nodding happily.

The dragon-woman was the first to regain her composure, “ You will have to fight us. Show us how strong you currently are.”

“ If you're good enough, we’ll tell you our name! So don’t disappoint us ,” the were-tiger yelled as he charged the girl.

Shigeru dodged the man. A crater left where she once stood, but the lightning surrounding him expanded, shocking the girl. She screamed as the electricity coursed through her body, stunning her. The man appeared above her, leg above his head, he brought his leg down, slamming it against her back.

“Agh,” she screamed as she slammed against the ground.

He circled her and grinned, “ Where’s that strength you always use in battle? ”

“I don’t even get a weapon,” Shigeru gasped, glaring at the man.

The man glared back, “ Why? You barely utilize us in battle! What’s the need for a weapon now?”

Shigeru struggled to get back on her feet. She glanced over to the dragon-woman who had yet to join in the battle. The woman just observed with her clear golden eyes. Shigeru faced the man again.

“ Those attacks hurt like a son-of-a-bitch! But he does have a point… ,” she dodged another one of his punches.

He pounced, aiming his claws for her shoulder. She blocked his claws, but that did nothing against the electricity surrounding him. She grit her teeth and punched the man in his ribs. It felt like punching a brick wall, but she managed to push him back.

She clenched her fist, “ I haven’t been relying on them. I just enhanced my body to deal out damage but…” 

Shigeru channeled her strength as she charged the were-tiger. His eyes gleamed with excitement. She went to hammer kick the man, but he flickered out of the way. Her foot connected with the ground caving it in. He went to grab the girl, but she swatted his hands away before uppercutting him. He grabbed his chin as he stumbled back.

Shigeru huffed as she yelled, “I want to rely on you! You are my partner, so teach me how to do that!”

Her eyes widened as she felt someone leaning against her back. She glanced over her shoulder to see the back of the dragon-woman’s head.

“ So fast. I didn’t even hear the chain! ,” Shigeru panicked.

She tried to distance herself from the woman, but was caught by her wrist. She flinched from the burning sensation that encircled it. The dragon-woman, flung the girl to the side of the volcano. Shigeru curled into a ball to brace herself. She crashed into the volcano and rolled back down to the landing where the spirits stood.

She glared up to the spirits, “ I’m getting really tired of being thrown around like a rag doll! ” 

The woman looked down at the girl, “ You want to rely on us now? What stopped you from doing that from the beginning? Nothing! You chose to rely on yourself and not us! ”

A blue ball of fire appeared in each of the woman’s hands. They’re form changed into two pitch black dadao blades, but they had handles instead of a hilts. A white dragon carved into the blades. Blue flames surrounded the blades, licking at the oxygen in the air. She twirled the blades around in circles by the handles as she glared at the girl.

Shigeru’s eyes twinkled as they widened, “ Are those bladed tonfas? That’s so freaking cool! ” 

“ We will show you a small portion of our capabilities, the power you so wish to wield… ,” the woman explained as she pointed a blade in her left hand at Shigeru, flames charging at its tip.

The were-tiger smiled wildly. He jumped over the woman standing to the left of her. He held out his hands as purple lightning cackled, form his own set of snow white dadao bladed tonfas. A black tiger carved into the blades. He mirrored the dragon’s position. He raised the blade in his right hand. Lightning charging at the tip of his blade.

“ Don’t die, now! We have such high expectations for you ,” the man cackled.

The two spirits got closer, pressing their backs against each other. The charges were growing by the sec. They released enormous rays of flame and lightning. The beams merged together into one as it quickly approached the girl.

Shigeru was almost too stunned to move. She prepared herself to jump out of the way, but it was too late. The attack was just too fast.

“Oh fuck…”

Shigeru’s scream echoed throughout her innerworld. The two spirits looked at the damage they had dealt. The volcano now spotted a giant hole, the jungle behind it split in two, flames and lightning sparked throughout the new crevice. Shigeru was heavily injured. She had managed to take the attack only by some miracle. She had dropped to her knee, her burned arms formed a protective X around her face. Her shihakusho was in tatters, luckily she was wrapped by bandages under it otherwise she would be flashing her zanpakuto. She huffed as she lowered her arms, blood leaking from the side of her head. She forced herself to stand as she glared at her zanpakuto spirits.

“That.. .really fucking...hurt,” she uttered.

The spirits however paled after they realized what they actually destroyed. The rest of the volcano crumbled.  

The dragon ran a hand down her face as she whined, “ My room! ”

“ Damn, your room! My jungle ,” the tiger yelled in her ear pointing to the fissure they put in the earth.

Shigeru was almost amused as she huffed, “You two really didn’t think that through…” 

“ Oh good, you’re alive! I would have been very disappointed if you couldn't take a hit ,” the were-tiger said nonchalantly.

The dragon-woman pointed her blade at Shigeru and smiled gently, “ You passed the first phase!”

“First phase!,” Shigeru hissed. 

“ Duh, it was all a test. You didn’t think we’d actually try to kill you ,” the tiger laughed.

Shigeru motioned her hands wildly at herself and the devastation behind her.

“Well yeah! A little,” she hollered at the man.

The dragon-woman grinned revealing her fangs, “ It was all a test to see if you can withstand our power. There could be moments in the future where you might find it hard to control our energy output. That's why this idiot kept striking you with his lightning. ”

Shigeru crossed her arms and sort of regretted it as she touched the raw skin.

“What the next lesson, then,” she groaned.

They both grinned in unison, “ Try to take our shikai away from us! ”

“You’re not going to make this easy for me,” Shigeru eyed the two warily.

They grinned manically, “ Of course not! ”

“Why are we like this,” Shigeru whined, “ They’re just as bad as Kisuke! ”

Shigeru was so done with her zanpakuto spirits. She had been trying to grab their weapons but the two would dance around her. Literally danced around her. Shigeru thought that it looked like swing dance moves. The dragon-woman and were-tiger would pretzel around each other gracefully evading the girl as she reached for their weapons. Not only did they evade her, but they would be sure to attack her as well.

Whenever she thought they would just dodge her, the woman would swing her powerful legs out to kick her away. There was a moment where the woman gave Shigeru the Black Widow treatment. Swinging her body around the teens, before using the momentum to slam Shigeru to the ground. Shigeru was too stunned to be impressed, but she’d ask the she-dragon to teach her that eventually. They would strike and evade her with their bladed tonfas, littering her already bruised and beat up body.

She grabbed the chain that connected the two and pulled, hoping to knock the spirits balance off. The were-tiger grinned, using his ankle to lasso the chain over Shigeru's body. The two spirits pulled the chain taunt. 

Shigeru grunted, “You guys are kind of annoying.”

“ No, you just suck at thinking of what your true shikai should be ,” the were-tiger pulled the chain tighter.

Shigeru grunted again as she shimmied her way out of the chains. She distanced herself from the two.

“ Okay, think! True shikai, true shikai! Ugh, what do they mean! Wait..., ” her eyes flickering behind the two spirits.

They jumped forward for another attack. The tiger went for another attack, his blades cackling with purple lightning. Shigeru grabbed the man's wrist, stopping the attack. The woman swung out her leg, but Shigeru brought up her own leg to block. The dragon grinned as she went for a stab at their master. Shigeru cocked her head to the side as the blade sliced her cheek. She grabbed the dragon's wrist. 

Shigeru smirked at the spirits, “I think I get it now!”

She quickly slid her hands down the blades and ripped them from the spirits’ hands. Shigeru took hold of the handles and twirled the bladed tonfas. She distanced herself from the two as she proudly got into the kosei stance. 

The spirits looked at each other before smiling at the girl.

“ About time ,” the were-tiger huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

They both quickly walked over to the girl. Shigeru stiffened, readying to attack. The spirits encircled their arms around her. They were  hugging her.

“Um...too much affection,” Shigeru mumbled awkwardly.

The were-tiger purred as he rubbed his cheek against hers, and the dragon-woman patted her on the head affectionately. They were acting almost paternal.  

“ We’re just proud of our little one. Even if you’re a little slow ,” the dragon-woman cheered.

 Shigeru was thoroughly confused, “Uh…”

“ We’ll tell you our name, but we’ll slowly let you unlock our abilities ,” the were-tiger announced as he nuzzled the girl.

“ Right! There's no way she’d be able to handle all of our power at once ,” the woman agreed with her other half. 

They released the girl. Shigeru was feeling so much emotional whiplash. Her zanpakuto was making her downright dizzy with their ever changing moods. One moment they were trying to kill her, then they’d act downright silly, and now they were acting like...doting parents?

She blinked as they each placed a hand on her shoulder. She gazed up into their now gentle eyes.

“ We are… ”

Shigeru’s eyes shot open. She looked down at her tattered and injured form. The injuries she sustained in her inner world littered her body. Shigeru collapsed onto her back. She lifted the blades off of her lap and grinned.

“Hiryu Raitora,” she marveled.

Yoruichi, now in human form, bent over the girl. The beautiful woman smiled, her golden eyes almost shining with glee.

“So what’s your zanpakuto like,” the purple haired woman asked.

Shigeru huffed, “They’re so damn weird! I don’t know how to deal with them!”

The woman’s hearty laugh echoed around them. Shigeru felt so tired, her eyes suddenly feeling heavy.

“Rest, Shigeru. When you wake, we’re doing some training,” Yoruichi grinned.

Shigeru closed her eyes, “Oh joy…”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: We’re Off to Save a Rukia

Shigeru was currently having an amazing dream. She was lazing on a beach of a tropical island, sipping on a cup of tequila. She was soaking in the rays of the sun in her black swimsuit. 

“Ah, this right here. This is the life,” she grinned as she watched the clouds.

The waves splashed against the shore. She put on some black shades.

“I could stay like this forever,” Shigeru hummed.

Suddenly, a large explosion rang throughout her dreamscape.

Shigeru woke in a fright, back in the underground training facility.

“Holy hell,” she screamed, hopping off the ground only to fall flat on her ass.

She squinted her eyes and wiped the drool from her mouth as she looked at the column of light that touched the roof of the room. The girl made her way over to the Shattered Shaft, her body still sore, but she must have been patched up by Yoruichi, as she sported fresh bandages on her burns and cuts.  

She whined, “I just wanted to sleep…”

Shigeru came to an abrupt stop when she got close to Kisuke and the kids. The smoke cleared to reveal Ichigo in a shihakusho and his iconic hollow mask placed on his face. 

Jinta stared at the teen in shock, “A shinigami uniform plus a mask...Is he a hollow or a shinigami? Which one?”

Ichigo slowly moved to grab the hilt of his sword. The kids instantly dropped into defensive stances. Shigeru smiled and placed a hand on either of their shoulders. They turned to face the girl. She shook her head.

“It’s alright. Look,” she pointed back to the hollowfied teen.

He pulled his sword out of his sheath, revealing that the sword was still broken, and slammed the hilt into the mask. Pieces of the mask crumbled to the ground as he used his free hand to pull the mask to the side of his head. Ichigo opened his eyes, scowling at the group.

“Yo,” he greeted the group.

Shigeru gave the boy a small smile. She was glad that he had his abilities back. They would be good for a while. She was sure that Orihime, Chad, and Uryuu’s training was coming along. She looked around for Yoruichi, but didn’t see the woman in sight. Shigeru frowned a little because she could have sworn that Yourichi said they would be doing some training before she passed out. Soon they would be going to the Soul Society, but she wondered what the training would be.

Kisuke clapped his hands, “Congratulations!”

She looked up to see Ichigo march over to the ex-captain and slam the hilt of his blade into Kisuke’s eyes.

“My eyes!”

Shigeru stifled a laugh as the man crouched down to cover his abused eyes. Ichigo stood over the man menacingly. He crossed his arms over his chest as he stared down at the man.

“Since I came back alive, that means you’re dead…”

Kisuke glanced up at the teen curiously.

Ichigo pointed at the man as he ranted, “I made a promise to myself! If I leave that hole alive, then I’d kill you! I will and must kill you!”

“Uh, Ichigo I wouldn’t if I were you,” Shigeru advised somewhat nervously.

She looked over to the green clad man as an excited spark flashed in his eyes. 

“Oh, that’s fine. Let’s move on to the third lesson! If you can knock down my hat with your zanpakuto you get a point! No time limit―” Kisuke cheered before being cut off as Ichigo suddenly appeared under him.

He slashed his sword at the man nicking the brim of his hat. 

Kisuke gave Ichigo empty praises, “Good! Even a broken zanpakuto can have such power behind it…”

Ichigo laughed cockily, “Of course if I’m serious! You don’t have to say there’s no limit! I’ll only need five minutes!”

“ Literally, Ichigo! Your mouth is what almost gets you killed all the time ,” Shigeru slid a hand down her face. 

Kisuke smiled as he pulled his cane out, “Is that so…?”

Shigeru gulped and she felt the man’s killing intent slowly seeped around them. 

“ Yeah, I’m not part of this ,” she took a couple of steps back as she glanced at Ichigo.

Shigeru called, “Hey, Ichigo!”

“Yeah?,” he glanced at her.

She smirked, “Been nice knowing you!”

“Wha―”

Kisuke pulled his sword from his cane as he took a step toward the boy, “As you wish, Ichigo. I’ll give you five minutes to finish me off.”

Kisuke dove at their resident idiot. He swung his sword at the teen, who easily dodged, slicing through a small boulder between them. Shigeru crossed her arms as Kisuke chased after the retreating boy. Ichigo seemed to be deep in thought as he turned to face the man. Kisuke, however, had no intent on going easy on the orange-haired menace. He slashed the mask of his head, a shallow cut appeared on his shoulder. 

“You seem too relaxed. ‘He’s not a shinigami, so it shouldn’t be a zanpakuto’, ‘Even if I’m hit nothing will happen,’ right? You really are too naive,” Kisuke lectured as he came to a stop.

He pointed his sword away from him, “Awaken...Benihime!”

The cane transformed into its shikai form. Ichigo’s eyes widened. Kisuke lifted the sword closer to himself, letting the boy observe its new look.

“This is, without a doubt, a true zanpakuto,” he explained.

Shigeru took in the appearance of Benihime. It was pretty cool looking, “ But my Hiryu Raitora looks way cooler!”

“ Damn straight we do ,” a deep voice laughed.

A woman's voice yelled, “ Shut up! You’re distracting her! ”

“ Ow! Stop hitting me, woman ,” the man whined.

Shigeru’s shoulder’s stiffened as she blinked. She smiled as she shook her head, “ God, I love you guys!”

She looked back to the battle taking place. Ichigo was on the defensive, running away from the ruthless assault of Kisuke. 

“Shigeru! Please, hurry,” Tessai yelled from behind a rock he and the kids were hiding.

She saluted the man as she smiled, “Don’t worry, Tessai. I’ll be fine!”

Kisuke unleashes another powerful blow causing Ichigo to go flying through some rocks. Shigeru took to higher ground to observe. Kisuke easily hacked off pieces of what little blade was left on Ichigo’s sword. Ichigo kept trying to distance himself from the man, but Kisuke would close in seconds later. Kisuke sliced at the tsuba of Ichigo’s blade leaving nothing but the hilt in the boy's hand.

“So much for ‘I’ll finish you off in five minutes’,” Shigeru mocked from above.

Kisuke suddenly let out some intense killing intent as he released a fraction of his immense reiatsu. Ichigo darted away from the man in fear. Kisuke appeared behind the boy yet again and slashed his sword at him. Ichigo ducked out of the way, but Kisuke grabbed him by the back of his robes slamming him to the ground. The teen rolled out of the way for the blade as it slammed into the ground. He managed to get to his feet to run again, before coming to an abrupt stop. Kisuke stopped as well to observe the boy. 

“Mmm,” Shigeru hummed as she leaned forward taking in every detail.

Ichigo grabbed to hilt with his other hand as his reiatsu started to skyrocket. He glared at Kisuke from over his shoulder.

“Zangetsu,” the teen yelled.

Ichigo swung his newly forming cleaver-like blade as his reiatsu lit up the training ground. Shigeru was almost knocked over by the force of the blow. A tornado of dust swirled around the grounds. The dust cleared revealing Ichigo crouching down on one knee, his Zangetsu in hand.

Shigeru chuckled, “ He’s so overdramatic! ”

Ichigo stood face to Kisuke with newfound determination. He quickly took in the new appearance of his zanpakuto.

“Your zanpakuto has appeared, now we can truly start lesson three,” Kisuke cheered.

Ichigo frowned, “Sorry, Urahara..”

“What,” the man blinked.

Ichigo’s scowled deepened, “I don’t think I can hold back…”

His arm raised into the air. What little bindings from the seal placed on him while he was in the Shattered Shaft burst off of his shoulder in shreds. Ichigo’s eyes began to glow a frosty-blue as his reiatsu climbed.

Kisuke’s eyes widened, “Scream, Benihime!”

Ichigo slashed his Zangetsu downward, and Getsuga Tensho lit the grounds. Shigeru’s eyes widened with excitement. She was Kisuke’s hat flying through the air. When the dust cleared, she could see the crumbling red shield that protected the man. Once the shield completely vanished, Kisuke grabbed his fallen hat dusting it off. Shigeru jumped down from her little observation deck. She hopped over to the large fissure that Ichigo put in the ground.

“You’re a scary kid, Ichigo,” the man noted as he observed the knocked out teen.

Shigeru folded her hands behind her head, “He’s almost cute when he’s sleeping so peacefully.”

Kisuke glanced over to her as he placed his hat back on his head. She raised a brow at the man. 

“What,” she asked.

A grin slowly stretched over his face. Shigeru took a step back.

“ I don’t like that look in his eye ,” a chill went up her spine.

Kisuke raised his sword, “Oh, Little Shigeru~”

“Uh, yes,” Shigeru grinned nervously.

She did not like where this was going. Shigeru took another step back as Kisuke used a finger to beckon the girl over. She shook her head in refusal.

“It’s time for us to spar! You don’t plan on playing bystander all the time, do you,” the man cheered.

Shigeru readied herself for a quick retreat. She did not want to fight Kisuke for two reasons. 1. She was too tired from the whole ordeal from her inner world, and 2. Kisuke was actually kind of scary when fighting. She was always up for a good fight, but just not right this moment.

“Of course I’m not, but..,” she argued, sliding a foot back.

Kisuke slowly stalked over to her as he sneered, “I don’t mind chasing you, Little Shigeru.”

Shigeru paled before taking off in the opposite direction of the man. The man laughed.

“Hey, Tessai! Take Ichigo somewhere to rest. Don’t want to get you all caught up in the crossfire,” Kisuke called over his shoulder before chasing after Shigeru.

Jinta crossed his arm, “He wasn’t that concerned about crossfires when he was fighting the orange-haired kid!”

“Let’s do what the boss asked,” Tessai sighed as he lifted Ichigo over his shoulder.

“Come now, Little Shigeru! Are you just going to keep running,” Kisuke grinned as he slashed at the girl.

Shigeru glared at the man, “Why do I even have to fight you?!”

She went to kick the man, but he grabbed her ankle. Spinning in a circle before sending her flying into a rock. She grunted before jumping to her feet.

“I’m curious.”

She glared at the man, “What?!”

“I’m curious as to what you can do now that you’ve achieved shikai,” he said as he studied the girl.

Shigeru's scowl deepened, “Fine…”

She crossed her arms as she gripped the hilts of her swords. Her left hand grabbing the black blade on her right hip, her right hand grabbing the white blade to her left. She drew her blades. She pointed the white blade at the man.

“Don’t complain when this place gets destroyed,” she smirked as she pounced on the man.

Kisuke’s eyes widened at the sudden burst of speed the girl exhibited. He guarded himself from her strike, but she used her black blade to quickly slash at the man. Kisuke dodged before advancing on the girl again. Shigeru grinned wildly as the two continued to spar.

“Scream, Benihime,” he yelled.

A red energy blast came huddling toward the girl. She jumped over the blast, as Kisuke appeared next to her kicking her, but Shigeru managed to block the blow. Shiegeru pushed off the man and slid to a stop. 

Kisuke gripped his sword and grinned, “Aren’t you going to release your zanpakuto?”

“If you insist, but just know I might lose control,” she sighed.

Shigeru stood up straight. She pointed the tip of her blades to the ground parallel to each other.

“Twirl…”

She slowly twirled the blades upright as they transformed into their bladed tonfa forms, a black chain dangling from each of the handles of the tonfas.

“Hiryu Raitora!”

Shigeru brought the blades up to guard her face as she watched the man for any sudden movement as she tucked in her chin. Kisuke smirked at her as he took in the new appearance of her zanpakuto. He flashed over to her sword held up high. She blocked the blade with the black dragon blade. She grinned as she twirled the white tiger blade, purple lightning crackling around it. Kisuke’s eyes widened as she sliced the man’s shoulder, lightning running throughout his body. He grunted as Shigeru went for another blow with her dragon blade. Kisuke distanced himself.

Shigeru’s eyes were wild with delight, “Don’t run!”

Her dragon blade engulfed in blue flames as she sent a beam of blue flames hurtling toward the shopkeeper. Kisuke dodged the flames.

“I guess I should get a little serious,” he declared.

Kisuke rushed the brown girl with attacks. He jumped around the girl at top speed as he continued his assault. Shigeru managed to keep up with the man’s speed, blocking and evading his blows. She used the chain on her dragon blade to encircle his incoming leg, spinning him around and sending him flying away from her. Shigeru huffed, she was feeling the fatigue from her previous wounds. She still wasn’t at her full capabilities, and she didn’t feel like dragging this sparring session any longer. 

Kisuke quickly got to his feet. Shigeru pointed both her blades at the man. The flames and electricity charging at the tip of her blades. Kisuke’s eyes widened as the two elements grew in size by the second.

She grinned madly, “Sorry, Kisuke! I didn't spend all that time in my inner world getting my ass whooped not to try this out!”

The two beams shot forward, combining into a blast of pure destruction. Kisuke managed to put up a Blood Mist Shield, but quickly found that one wouldn’t be enough as it quickly began to crack. He scowled as he placed up two more shields as the first shattered. He grit his teeth as he waited for the massive attack to die down. The beam of flames coated in lightning faded. Kisuke’s second shield shattered, leaving the third one intact. He glanced around the area to assess the damage. Both the area in front and behind the man were scorched by the blue flames. He could still see and hear the purple lightning crackle around the second fissure to destroy his training grounds that night. 

He whistled, “To think that I needed triple my Shields for that blow…”

Shigeru blinked rapidly as she swayed from side to side. She has used up a lot more reiatsu than she had intended.  

“I guess that’s what they meant when they said they’d be a little difficult to control,” she muttered, head rolling from the dizziness.

She couldn’t stop herself from tipping over as she laughed, “Going down!”

Kisuke wrapped an arm around her waist stopping her fall, “I got you, Little Shigeru.”

She grinned up at the man before passing out. As she went slack in his arms, her Hiryu Raitora returned to its base form. Her grip on her blades didn’t loosen.

Kisuke chuckled, “You two truly are little monsters.”

Shigeru felt nice, comfortable, and wet? She opened her eyes. Steam surrounded the area before her. She looked down to see that she was in a hot spring.

“ Like that one in the Soul Society ,” she sighed blissfully.

She relaxed back into the waters. Her wounds no longer ached and were healing. Shigeru noticed the clothes she had worn to the shop folded at the edge of the spring with her zanpakutos placed on top of them.

“I’m back in my body,” she mumbled. 

She heard a splash, and craned her neck in its direction. 

Yoruichi appeared from the steam and grinned, “You’re awake! Great!”

“Chad and Orihime are done with their training I assume,” Shigeru leaned up.

Yoruichi submerged her body across from the other woman, “Yes, and as for you, I have a special lesson planned.”

“Can’t I just rest for a while,” Shigeru whined as she lowered herself further into the soothing waters.

Yoruichi chuckled, “You only have tonight to learn this technique, so not a chance.”

Shigeru looked at the purple haired woman suspiciously, “What technique?”

“Shunpo, of course,” the Goddess of Shunpo grinned widely.

Shigeru’s eyes almost bulged out of her skull, “Really?! Why?”

“I noticed that you were able to keep up with Byakuya―”

“No, that was a fluke. I just knew where he’d try to strike,” the brunette interjected.

Yoruichi smiled and swam over to the girl. She placed a hand on her shoulder, “For someone so confident, you lack faith in yourself! It was no fluke, Shigeru! The fact you could even dodge in the first place is a testament to your speed. I believe you can go further and learn shunpo!”

Shigeru thought it over. She didn’t think she was all that fast unless she decided to enhance her body, but it would be useful to be able to shunpo. She grinned at the woman and nodded.

“Okay! I’m ready when you are, Yoruichi!”

Yoruichi grinned, “Relax and heal a bit more! Then training begins!”

Ichigo stood close to Shigeru as they stood by the railings waiting for the fireworks to start. They’d gone to the next town over to view the Fireworks Festival with their friends. The last thing they would do before basically declaring war against the Soul Society.

“Ichigo! Shigeru!,” the twins and Isshin hollered as they tackled the two down the hill.

Everyone else paled as they watched the bodies of the wacky family tumble down the hill. 

Yuzu pushed a chocolate covered banana into Ichigo’s face, “Here! Try this! It tastes good!”

“Yeah! Come on, try it,” Karin grinned as she forced Shigeru to eat the treat.

Ichigo protested, “But I don’t want it! Why’re you guys here anyway?!”

“What? Are you saying my banana doesn’t taste good,” Yuzu yelled into the boy's ears.

Ichigo held his little sister back, “Why’re you so loud, are you drunk?!”

“Yeah, she’s drunk,” Isshin shrugged.

Shigeru swallowed the banana she was chewing and yelled at the man, “Why?!”

“You’re the adult! Stop being irresponsible,” Ichigo yelled at his father.

Shigeru snickered at the boy, “It must run in the family.”

Isshin rallied the rest of the group to go to the spot he and the girls found to watch the fireworks, leaving Ichigo, Shigeru, Tatuski, and Orihime behind.

“Maybe I will go too...can’t really be helped,” Ichigo sighed.

Shigeru bumped her shoulder into his, “Like you have a choice!”

Ichigo turned to Tatsuki and Orihime, “You guys coming?”

“Go on, we’ll catch up,” Tatsuki waved the two off with her good hand.

Ichigo and Shigeru walked after the excited group a ways ahead of them. He glanced at the girl to his right. After training with Kisuke, she had stopped avoiding the boy. Ichigo never did get to properly apologize for his behavior, when she revealed her circumstances. 

He turned to the girl, “Shigeru, um, I’m sorry for what I said a few days ago.”

“I told you it was whatever, Ichigo! You don’t have to apologize,” she smiled.

Ichigo frowned at the girl. Shigeru blinked.

“What?”

“Don’t you miss them… your real family and friends,” he asked Shigeru.

There was an uncomfortable silence as Shigeru slowly stopped walking. Her smile didn’t reflect in her eyes.

She looked up at the darkening sky, “Of course I miss them, Ichigo. I miss them everyday, but getting depressed about it won’t help anyone. Plus, I have you guys now! I’m happy here, and that’s all that matters. I’m happy and I want to help you to protect everyone. I have no hard feelings about what you said to me. I mean...you weren’t  exactly wrong.”

She turned to Ichigo and smiled brightly, punching him in the shoulder, “So stop apologizing! It’s fine!”

Ichigo slung his arm around her shoulder and ruffled her hair. 

“Hey!”

“You’re not an outsider, Shigeru. You’re the crazy  little sister I never knew I needed,” Ichigo grinned down at his fellow substitute shinigami.

Shigeru pouted, “For the last time, I’m  older than you! Much older!”

“Details, details,” he chuckled.

She laughed herself as she wrapped her arm around his shoulder, “Ichigo, I’ve had three things in mind since getting here: 1. Stopping you from being a complete idiot, 2. Being an awesome bad-ass, and 3. Making sure my hair looks fabulous while doing it!”

She flipped her hair in his face.

“You failed at that last goal. You always wind up looking like a troll doll after a fight,” he teased the girl.

She gasped, “Lies!”

They all watched the fireworks light up the nighttime sky. Shigeru smiled as she glanced at the friends and surrogate family that surrounded her.

“ Yeah, I’m happy here !” 

Shigeru carried the tuckered out Karin on her back, and Ichigo carried the snoozing Yuzu. 

“Why do we have to carry them,” Ichigo grumbled.

Shigeru laughed, “Because that’s what older siblings do when their parents aren’t sober enough to!”

Isshin walked alongside them carrying a bottle of sake, “That’s true!”

“That’s not something to be proud of, old man,” Ichigo hissed.

They walked in comfortable silence for a while.

“Dad, I’ll be gone for another week again. I don’t know if I’ll be back before the end of summer vacation,” Ichigo said quietly.

Isshin smiled as he glanced at Shigeru, “Will you be going with him, Shigeru?”

“I can’t leave our idiot alone,” she smiled at the man.

Isshin grinned, “Well as long as you two are together, there’s nothing to worry about!”

Ichigo stared at his father uncertainty.

“Don’t worry! I’ll take care of everything at the house! While I’m around, no one will hurt my family,” the man grinned as he pointed to himself.

Shigeru smiled softly at the family. 

Seven Days Later  

Ichigo opened his window, “This...this should be okay, right?”

“Yeah, it’s alright,” Shigeru snickered knowingly as she twirled in his desk chair.

Kisuke had told them to leave their windows open at 11 p.m., but Shigeru made it clear that she would be at the Kurosaki’s with Ichigo waiting for the message.

Ichigo eyed the girl, “...But I have a bad feeling about this.”

“You should,” she grinned.

He turned to look out the window, “The breeze is nice!”

Shigeru caught sight of something twinkling in the distance. A balloon with Kisuke’s smiling face rocketed toward the room. It splattered against the boy’s closet. Shigeru dove behind the boy to shield him from the splatter as she laughed.

“Ahhhhh,” he yelled as he grabbed the girl by her collar, “You knew this would happen?!”

The substance that looked like blood left the message: Please meet at Urahara’s immediately!

Ichigo panicked, “Can this wash off?!”

Shigeru couldn’t hold back her laugh as Ichigo continued to fret over his messed up wall. 

She pulled out her soul candy, “C’mon let’s hurry up and head out!”

“Alright,” Ichigo sighed.

They grabbed their bags and headed out. As they stepped out the door. Isshin leaped off the roof.

“Good Morning, Ichigo, Shigeru,” the man plummeted to the ground.

The two dodged the insane father.

Shigeru whispered harshly, “Papa-Isshin, you’ll wake the damn neighborhood!”

“Just what are you doing,” Ichigo whispered, trying not to yell.

Isshin was a bloody mess on the ground, “You evaded my attack. You’re truly my children…”

Shigeru’s eyebrow twitched, “Why are you like this?”

“You’ve only been dealing with him for a couple months. I’ve had 16 years,” Ichigo groaned.

Isshin held up a couple of talismans, “I wanted to give you these before you left…”

“How sweet,” Shigeru took the newer looking one of the talisman from his hand.

Ichigo picked up the older looking charm squinting at it in confusion.

“What is this dirty little thing,” he asked.

Isshin got to his feet, “How rude! Your mom gave me that safety charm! It’ll bring you luck!”

Ichigo froze and yelled at the man, “Why the hell are you giving this to me then?!”

“The neighbors,” Shigeru whispered harshly as she tried to separate the two.

Isshin turned to his son to argue, “I’m not giving it to you!”

The crazed man regarded his son calmly as he patted Shigeru on the head, “I’m letting you borrow it while you’re traveling. You make sure to give it back when you’re back.”

Shigeru looked down at the charm she’d been given. She looked at the man, “What about this one?”

Isshin smiled down softly at the girl. He ruffled her hair, “Oh, I made that for you. You keep it!”

She was going to say something, but reluctantly stopped. A light blush dusted her brown cheeks. Shigeru didn’t think that she deserved any gifts, but it was a really sweet gesture. She closed her hand tightly around the charm.

She grinned at him, “I’ll never be without it!”

Isshin crossed his arms as he looked at his son. Shigeru hopped over to her best friend. She saluted Isshin.

“Well we’re off!”

The two sprinted through the streets of Karakura as they headed toward the shop. As they came up to an intersection, Orihime shot through. 

Shigeru waved at the girl, “Orihime!”

“Shigeru! Ichigo,” she beamed.

Shigeru ran a little ahead of the two as they talked. She had butterflies going wild in her stomach and she couldn’t tell if it was from nervousness or excitement. All the people she would meet, and the fights, oh, yes the fights! A part of her secretly hoped that she would get separated from everyone, so she could fight some shinigami on her own. Maybe have a run in or two with some seated officers or maybe a lieutenant, god forbid a captain. She noticed Chad up ahead seating in front of the shop. She skid to a stop.

“Hi, Chad!,” she smiled at the boy.

He stood up as the other two came to a stop to greet him as well. Shigeru pulled her hair into a high ponytail.

“We’ll be getting down to business soon,” she thought absently.

Uryu joined the group in his white mantle, like the proud Quincy he is. Kisuke appeared behind them.

“Everyone’s here! Great,” he smiled goofily.

He walked through the group of teenagers and opened the door to his shop. He turned to the group.

“Come in and I’ll explain how to get to Soul Society, but listen carefully or you’ll die before you even get there,” he explained to the kids.

Shigeru rolled her eyes, “ Everyone is so overdramatic !”

They quickly made their way to the underground training facility. Orihime marveled over the secret base. Kisuke clapped his hands to grab everyone’s attention.

“Okay, everyone! Please look over her,” the man ordered as he snapped his fingers.

The Senkaimon popped into place. Kisuke quickly separated Ichigo from his body with his cane. Shigeru popped a soul candy into her mouth. The other three were fascinated by the body-soul separation. Chad held up Ichigo’s soulless body.

Uryuu poked his body in the cheek, “He’s completely separated!” 

“Wow! Ichigo can you still go back into this Ichigo,” Orihime asked.

Ichigo just stared at the group, “Why’re so all touching my body? How come Shigeru isn’t getting felt up?”

Shigeru leaned against his shoulder, “Cause I’d hit ‘em if they dared.”

“Good luck finding a boyfriend with that attitude,” Ichigo mumbled.

Shigeru slapped him in the back of the head, “Don’t want one anyways.”

Kon popped out of nowhere. He yelled over Ichigo’s shoulder, “Hey! That body will be mine soon, so stop touching it!”

Uryuu and Orihime froze after seeing the stuffed animal talk. Chad calmly took the animated plush toy much to Kon’s displeasure. Kisuke grabbed everyone's attention. 

“Time for an explanation,” he cheered.

Shigeru tuned the man out as she cleaned under her nails.

She frowned, “ I should have trimmed my nails! Maybe I should bite them off now. They’ll just get broken with all the fighting anyway… ”

Shigeru looked down to see Yoruichi trot past her in her cat form.

“ How does she become a cat? I wanna turn into a cool animal too! Oh, like a puppy, wait no! A bat! That’ll freak people out, ” she laughed to herself.

She looked up to the Senkaimon as she stepped closer to the group. 

“It should open any minute now,” Kisuke informed the group.

The portal opened and they all sprinted through. Shigeru didn’t spend time taking in the dimensional rift like the others, but she did notice that the ground felt squishy.

“Ew, it feels like I’m stepping on a tongue,” she grimaced.

Yoruichi turned to shout at the other, “Stop zoning out! Hurry and run!”

The group of misfits sprang forward, running through the exit. The walls began to close in on them. Shigeru looked back for a second to see Uryuu being snagged by the wall.

“It’s because you’re wearing that weird ass outfit,” Ichigo complained as he went to save the Quincy.

He was about to pull out his sword, but Yoruichi yelled, “Don’t use your zanpakuto!”

Chad rushed forward and ripped Uryuu’s cape away from the wall.

“Thanks, Chad,” the bespectacled boy stammered.

Chad said nothing as he slung Uryuu over his shoulder to continue running.

“Wait! Can I get carried too? Why does Uryuu get special treatment,” Shigeru complained as she continued her run.

Ichigo yelled, “Nothing’s wrong with you, so keep it moving!”

“Shut up and carry me,” Shigeru punched the boy in the shoulder.

Ichigo pulled the girl's ponytail, “No!”

Uryuu yelled, “Put me down, Chad! I can run by myself! Put me―”

His eyes widened as he noticed a light behind them.

“Guys! Something’s coming!”

Yoruichi and Shigeru’s eyes widened. The girl whipped her head around.

“ The cleaner !”

They haul assed as the giant vacuum quickly gained up on them. The exit was coming up, but the thing was on their tails. Orihime turned to glare at the thing. She grabbed her pin to summon her trusty shield, to stop the thing. However, the impact caused an explosion in the corridor. They all went rocketing toward the exit and the ground of the Rukon District. Luckily, Orihime managed to cushion their fall with her shield. Shigeru rubbed the back of her head as she sat up.

She grinned at the girl, “Nice job, Orihime!”

Orihime giggled.

Uryuu mumbled, “I didn’t think we would be this pathetic…”

He calmly pulled an extra cape out of his coat.

“I didn’t think I’d have to use a back-up so soon,” he said to himself calmly.

Ichigo and Chad stared at the boy, “ ...He brought a back-up… ”

Orihime smiled brightly, “It’s all good! No one got hurt!”

The black cat headbutted the girl in the eye. Shigeru covered her own eye in sympathy.

“Did you even listen to what I said! If the cleaner had touched you and not the shield, you would have died,” the cat yelled.

Shigeru tried to diffuse the situation, “Calm down, Yoruichi! All is fine!”

The cat glared at her and extended its claws, “Did you say something, Little Shigeru?”

“Nope,” the girl gulped.

Orihime apologized to the cat, “Sorry…”

The smoke began to clear to reveal the shabby looking housing and dirt roads. Shigeru turned around to take in the environment. She noticed cleaner looking roads and better looking houses, but so did Ichigo.

“Hey those streets look like the ones at home,” he commented.

Yoruichi blinked, “Yeah, that’s the one.”

Ichigo didn’t listen to anything that Yoruichi just said, in his own world.

“Oh, I know! That’s where the shinigami live, right,” he smiled.

He jetted toward the clean streets. Shigeru chased to grab him.

She was within arms reach, “Stop you idiot!”

Yoruichi hollered, “Don’t! You’ll die if you get too close!”

Shigeru grabbed the boy’s collar as he got distracted by what the cat said. As she pulled the boy close to her as the gates around the Seireitei slammed down, cutting the group off from the shinigamis.

Shigeru pulled the boy by his ear so she could yell directly into it, “What the hell did I tell you about running into shit without thinking?! Huh, you damn idiot!”    

“Ow, I’m sorry,” he whined as he tried to get away from Shigeru’s iron grip.

She yelled, “No, you’re not! Otherwise you’d stop doing it all the time!”

“I was excited, okay?!”

When she opened her mouth to continue her lecture a huge shadow loomed over them.

“Chad,” she questioned as she turned around.

“It’s been a long time since someone has tried to pass the gate without permission…” called an unfamiliar voice.

They looked up to see a giant of a man. Shigeru blinked.

“ Jesus, how does one get this big !,” she quickly stood to her feet.

She grabbed Ichigo’s wrist to stop him from jumping into danger for the second time today.

Jidanbo gazed down at the two teens, “I finally have something to do. I’ll treat you guys well.”

Shigeru raised a friendly hand and smiled, “So...you’ll let us in then?”

He blinked at the girl, “No…”

“Not even if I ask nicely,” she grinned, pushing Ichigo behind her.

Jidanbo tilted his head, “I’m afraid not, girl.”

“Trash,” Shigeru pouted.

Ichigo pushed the girl out of the way, “Be serious for once!”

The giant didn’t waste anymore time and slammed one of his axes down beside the two. Shigeru covered her eyes from the debris as the man laughed heartily.

“Attack from any angle, kid,” the man demanded.

Shigeru and Ichigo glanced at each other.

“Wanna double-game him,” Shigeru grinned as she nudged the boy in his sides.

Ichigo scowled at her, “What happened to ‘stop running into danger’?”

“I asked nicely first...now anything goes,” she shrugged.

Ichigo thought it over for a second and grinned, “Ah, what the hell? Let’s double-team him!”

“Yes!”

She hopped around before pulling out her swords. She smiled up at the giant.

“Sorry if this hurts,” she smiled mischievously at the friendly giant.

Jiranbo shook his head, “No, battles should be one-on-one. I will fight you both separately!”

“That’s not fun though,” Shigeru whined at the giant.

He scratched his cheek and looked away nervously, “Honestly, I’d prefer not to fight you at all, young girl. I’ll just battle the boy.”

“What,” her eyebrow twitched a fiery aura surrounding the girl.

Ichigo snorted.

“Ichigo, Shigeru, retreat! We’ll come up with a plan,” she heard Yoruichi yell.

Shigeru was going to yell a refusal, but stopped when Jidanbo lifted his ax in the air and struck the ground behind them. She glanced over her shoulder at the wall that formed as a result. Jiranbo went on a rant about the rules of the city as Ichigo yelled at the others not to interfere, but Shigeru was stuck on the fact that the shinigami Heracles didn’t want to fight her.

She pouted up at the man, “You’re really not going to fight me…”

Ichigo stepped forward, “I’m ready when you are!”

“You’re an uncivilized one,” the giant commented as he swung down his ax.

Ichigo blocked it with his Zangetsu much to the giants surprise. The giant laughed at the boy. He was happy that the boy could block his blow.

Shigeru sheathed her swords and crossed her arms dejectedly, “He won’t fight me…”

Jiranbo started a barrage of full powered attacks. Ichigo didn’t budge from his spot as the man continued his assault.

“Why won’t he fight me? I’m strong too…”

Ichigo parried the incoming ax, resulting in the wall behind them to split. Orihime, Chad, and Uryuu could finally view the fight.

“It’s because I’m a girl. That sexist shit again,” Shigeru gasped.

Ichigo looked up to the giant and asked, “Are you done?”

Jiranbo pulled out a second ax and went to attack the orange haired shinigami. Ichigo used the hilt of his sword to destroy the axes and send the giant flying backward. Shigeru unconsciously dodged the ax fragments and debris.

“If he had fought me, I wouldn’t have broken his axes,” she crossed her arms pouting angrily.

Ichigo yelled, “Get over it already!”

“But it’s not fair,” she whined.

The giant hopped on to his feet and praised the boy, “That’s the second time I’ve been knocked off my feet!”

Ichigo and Shigeru stared at the man. 

“What’s with that look? Did you really think you defeated me,” Jiranbo mocked the boy.

Shigeru pulled out her blades as her brow twitched, “ I can defeat you, if you want!” 

“Stop that,” Ichigo chopped the girl on the head.

Jiranbo laughed at the two, “How uncivilized you are! I’ll just use my axes…”

The giant finally noticed the lack of actual axes on his zanpakuto’s hilt.

“My...my axes!”

The giant man began to cry. Ichigo jumped at the sudden display of emotion from the man. Shigeru frowned at the giant.

“Oh no, I’m not moved by your tears! I wouldn’t have broken your axes if you’d fought me,” she ranted, “But noooo! You had to choose Captain Destruction over there!”

The giant slammed the hilts on the ground as he continued to cry over his broken axes. Shigeru just crossed her arms unmoved. 

Ichigo leaned forward, “Oh..um, I’m sorry for breaking your axes?”

The man looked up, tears and snot running down his face. Ichigo looked like he just didn’t know how to deal with the crying shinigami.

“Uh…”

Jiranbo cried, “You’re such a good guy. I’m an enemy and you still care for me! Such a nice guy!”

Shigeru jumped on Ichigo’s back, “Trust me, he ain’t all that nice!”

“I’m plenty nice,” Ichigo argued.

Shigeru huffed.

The giant stood on his feet, “I lost! I’ve guarded the West Gate for 300 years, and you’re the first I’ve ever lost too..”

The man wiped away his tears as he looked down to the two, “Go inside! I, Jiranbo, grant you access through the gate.”

Shigeru and Ichigo’s eyes widened, “Really? Just like that?”

The gentle giant smiled down to the two, “Yes, of course!”

The other gathered by the gate. Shigeru was feeling a little nervous.

“ I’m not looking forward to who's going to be behind that gate, ” she frowned.

Jiranbo lifted the massive gate open. Shigeru looked onward impressed. The gigantic body wasn’t just for show. She stepped closer to the opening with Ichigo and the others. Once the gate was  completely open the giant stopped. 

“Oh, such strength,” the others cheered.

Shigeru’s smile disappeared as she noticed the man hyperventilating. 

“ Not good ,” she thought as she stepped forward.

Ichigo followed suit, “What’s wrong Jiranbo? Why aren’t you going in?”

She patted the man on his side before stepping around him to look in the entrance. Shigeru’s eyes widened as she came face to face with Gin Ichimaru. The fox-like captain grinned at the group.

“ Was he just camping out here or something ,” she paled as she took a step back, “ And why is he so damn close?! ”

Ichigo perked up as he saw the silver haired captain, “Who is this guy?”

“The Captain of Squad 3, Gin Ichimaru,” Jiranbo introduced the man as he trembled with fear.

Shigeru didn’t take her eyes off the man. Extremely secret ally or not he was dangerous. She had a hard time not shivering from the man’s presence. Gin’s grin never faltered.

“Oh, this is not allowed,” he said teasingly.

Shigeru gripped her zanpakutos and she glared at the captain.

“ ....Here we go .”

Suddenly, Jiranbo’s arm splattered blood. Shigeru’s eyes widened as she glanced back at the injured giant, who was now missing his left arm.

“ Shit! It really is the fastest zanpakuto! I didn’t see a thing ,” she gasped.

Gin smiled, “Ah, that’s too bad.”

Shigeru turned back to the man, eyes blazing.

“You’re a gatekeeper. It’s not your job to open the door,” he concluded.

Jiranbo’s screams echoed throughout the area, as a waterfall of blood leaked from his armless shoulder. Shigeru really didn’t like how cruel the captain was to one of his own. It’s something she never understood from the series. Why were all the shinigami so shitty in the beginning, and they were supposed to be the good guys. They always had the nerve to talk shit about the humans they protect and yet, they were no better than them. All they had were supernatural abilities that made them stronger.  

“What.. the...did he do that,” Ichigo asked in shock.

Gin regarded Jiranbo as he continued to hold the entrance up with one arm. 

The silver haired fox titled his head, “ Oh my! You can still hold that up with only one arm. No wonder you’re one of the elites!”

He gazed up at the West Gate’s guardian, “But you fail as the guardian.”

Shigeru stepped a foot into the Seireitei. She didn’t like the fact that Gin was rubbing salt in Jiranbo’s wounds.

“ Oh yeah...I’m fighting him!, ” she pulled out her blades.