Chapter 28: Shopkeeper Fishing with a Strawberry 1/2

Oh now here's a chapter im sure you'll all enjoy. Its a point in the story that all of you long time Bleach fans now of. While not nearly as significant as its cannon counterpart, it is still important, and I felt it was necessary to deal with it.

I do however want to thank each and every person who has left a review for us so far. We're almost at 400 review's and we cant express our thanks enough. Please continue to review though, as it helps us know whenever we are doing a good job or not.

Thank you once again Greatkingrat88.

Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo and Shounen jump. Fairy tail is owned by Hiro Mashima and weekly shounen magazine. I own NOTHING. This is all just for fun.

Life was funny. It was a line of thought, so overwhelmingly understated, that had often come to Ichigo as of late. While amazing at first, the extraordinary had started to become the expected. One week you were a normal teenager, and the next you were fighting evil-minded, soul-eating monsters whilst transformed into a black-robed spiritual knight. And that had only been page one. Then had come your family being knee-deep in the whole business, your aunt eating up all your free time with grueling training, the existence of not only an afterlife but hell itself. Magic, enchanted weapons, spirits and monsters…

'Funny' was completely inadequate. But at this point the extreme was starting to become mundane, and Ichigo was suspecting, as he pondered this during a lunch break at school, that at his young age he was becoming jaded. He was, he suspected, probably unique. By all he had heard, teenagers did not typically receive the powers of a shinigami, let alone develop this kind of strength.

But the thing about being unique was that he didn't really feel special. He just did his best, and apparently that was enough. He would have expected a bit more entitlement to go into this, but somehow, his life felt oddly normal. It helped that his mother, father and aunt were all there; it would have seemed far more dramatic without them.

It was not without some marked changes, of course. He felt tired and worn, all day, and each night he would fall into his bed like a tree cut down by a woodsman's axe. After school was training, and the same went for weekends. When he did not train, Erza guided him on hollow hunts, instructing him carefully each time, yet having him do all the heavy work. It was somewhat distressing to realize that he thought of the hunts as a relief; hollows were far less demanding, and far less dangerous, than his auntie on the war path. This was his life now, and he was lucky to get just the one day off on any given week.

It was yielding results, of course. Tired though he felt, he was feeling stronger. Not just physically, but mentally as well. He was sharper of mind, more focused, and he was learning to control his body. It was deeply surprising to realize, really realize, how much further it could go compared to how far he had thought it could. Your body lied to you, Erza had taught him; it wanted you to give up long before you were done. It was an instinct, and you had to be greater and stronger than your instincts. His human body was still weak, comparatively speaking, but his spiritual body could crush rocks, walk on air, and leap enormous distances in a single bound. It was an amazing feeling. That was the crux of it- as tired as he was, as much as his social life was suffering, as demanding as Erza was, he liked it. He liked the rush of power. He liked hunting the hollows. He liked being strong and using that strength for something. It was for the sake of others, Erza insisted, and it was true. But being honest with himself, Ichigo could not honestly say it was not for himself, too.

His mother had adapted surprisingly well. After a few days of quiet sulking, she had thrown herself into it fully. Shinigami in training he might be, but she absolutely refused for him to fall behind on school work, and tutored him after school to make sure his grades wouldn't take a dip. Not one to deny his mother, Ichigo obliged her. He had a life outside of this too… even if it did not feel like it right now.

"Heeeeey, Ichi-gooo!" It was the overly cheery, somewhat grating voice of his friend Keigo, ringing over the school yard like the cry of a mentally challenged duck. Annoying though he was sometimes- a lot of the time- they were still friends, and it made Ichigo feel guilty, because he knew what was coming.

"So-ooo," Keigo said casually, walking over to Ichigo with what he probably thought was a confident swagger, "Mizuiro and me are gonna hit up a real cool party this weekend. There's gonna be beer, lots of cute girls, and literally everyone who is cool is coming. So you know what that means- no blowing us off, or you're totally uncool!"

The "cool party" was probably going to be a bunch of awkward teenagers posturing like awkward teenagers did, for a full evening, while drinking small quantities of smuggled-in beer, but it was also likely to be what people would talk about for the next week or so, because chasing social status in school meant nothing if not low standards. He wouldn't have wanted to go even normally, but he'd already rejected Keigo over a dozen times since this whole… thing had begun. He'd have to do it again.

"Sorry, Keigo," He said dismissively, keeping his voice level. "I got studies to do. Parties are lame, anyhow."

Technically he wasn't lying. But then again, technically not lying was still deceit, and deceit left a bad taste in his mouth, even though he knew there was good reason for it.

"Traitor!" Keigo cried out dramatically. "Bookworm! Nerd! Four-eyed geeky trekkie! I bring you an invitation to like, the coolest party all year- nay, alldecade- and you turn me down? For school work? You are a traitor and a nerd! Neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrr-"

Here, Ichigo clamped his hand over Keigo's mouth. His antics were well familiar to him, but there was only so much he was willing to take.

"Okay, first," Ichigo said irritably, "if this party is actually run by cool people, then it wasn't you who got us invited. Mizuiro, right? He's popular with the girls. Secondly, you know I don't care about being 'cool', and those parties are stupid anyway. My mom's been coming down on me about my grades recently, so I gotta study. No choice in the matter. We clear?"

"Mmrffrrr…" Keigo growled, and pried Ichigo's hand off. "But like, we never see each other anymore! You just hang out with that Rukia girl! I mean, we all know that-"

"Imply that I'm involved with her romantically or sexually and I will break your pinky finger." Ichigo said bluntly.

"…I'd never imply that, of course," Keigo said reassuringly- too reassuringly. "But you still hang out with her, and Orihime, and Tatsuki… damn it, you get all these cute girls and you blow us off for that?"

"You're an idiot," Ichigo grumbled. "I told you, I got extra work. Remember how I was sick? I have catching up to do, that's all."

"But Ichigooooo…" Keigo whined.

"Go bother somebody else." Ichigo said heartlessly. There was a strong sense of guilt as he watched Keigo walk away defeated- although there was an exaggeration to his sloping posture that made Ichigo believe that he hoped for him to come after him, and apologize.

It sucked, it really did. Not that Keigo had been his best friend before this had happened or anything, but he was all right. Now… he was just one of many he couldn't share his life's biggest secret with. His life had now divided people into two categories- those in the know, and those not in the know, and there was an inevitable barrier between him and those in category two. One that required him to lie, to hide who he was…

It was perhaps this grating line of thought that inspired what came next. Walking across the school yard, he could see the bulky, muscular frame of Yasutora Sado, standing a head taller than even the tallest people there. If not for his boyish features, Ichigo- and anyone else for that matter- would have mistaken him for a grown man. With his brown hair and dark skin, he didn't look the least bit Japanese, although Ichigo knew he was.

He hadn't seen him for over a week, not since that attack Ichigo had saved him from, and he had half wondered when he would confront him about it. Part of him had wondered if he had not seen his face all right, but it had been broad daylight. Well, it would have been confusing- it had been for Ichigo.

"Hello," The boy said, towering over Ichigo. He was a quiet sort, the kind you had to drag the words out of, so if he came to speak first then he likely had thought about it.

"Yo, Chad," Ichigo said. The nickname seemed appropriate, and Sado didn't seem to mind.

"I was wondering what exactly is going on." The half-mexican said directly, his voice quite deep, but perfectly calm.

In a small way, something inside Ichigo snapped. He had seen it. He had the power inside him, and he might be attacked again. The truth was too absurd to believe for any normal person. So why not tell him?

"Well, Chad," Ichigo said casually, almost flippantly, "you know the question about an afterlife, the one that wise men have been pondering about for all human existence? Turns out to not be a matter of faith at all. It exists. Objectively and empirically measurable. Nobody seems sure if there's any kind of deity involved though, so the Dawkinses of the world might still be right, for all I know. There are ghosts, and they go there when they die. Except the ones with regret in their hearts, which turn into hollows- like that big, nasty monster I finished off for you before."

"I… couldn't see it." Chad said. "Only vaguely. Blurred, like a haze on a hot summer day. But since then, I have… begun to see these things. Monsters. Spirits."

"Well, welcome to a whole new world," Ichigo said bluntly. "There's ghosts, hollow monsters, and shinigami to take care of both. The shinigami slay the hollows and help ghosts pass on, and that's about it. They're not actual spirits though, not in a mystical way."

"Are you one of them?"

"Sorta," Ichigo admitted. "It's like a part time gig. My whole family is knee deep in this business. My aunt's training me to be one. Spirits, monsters, soul reapers, it's all real. As for you? You've got energy in you, and plenty of it, so you may well be attacked again. I'm still human, but I'm learning to use this whole new power from Rukia. Got all that?"

Chad nodded. "I see."

If he disbelieved it, he gave no sign of it.

Ichigo looked at Chad, who seemed completely unperturbed by this news. Ichigo didn't know him too well, on account of not having known him for very long, but in a strange way he supposed they were friends. He had first met him a couple of months ago, tied up with steel cable by a bunch of punks who were about to rearrange his face with a couple of steel pipes. Ichigo had caught the hoodlums off guard. There had been a dozen or so of them, but after he had effortlessly pummeled three of them in a matter of seconds, the rest of them had been too demoralized to really put up a fight. It had got him a few bruises, but in the end he had got Chad out after each and every punk was thoroughly beaten down. Chad had offered a simple thank you, and that had been it. They didn't talk much, because Chad was about as talkative as a rock, and they didn't hang out much, but they were still sort of friends. It was a guy thing, he guessed.

"You're taking this pretty well, you know," Ichigo said, feeling slightly disappointed that he hadn't induced more of a shock. This was a radical change of perspective, after all. Couldn't Chad at least have the decency to, well, raise an eyebrow or something?

The eyebrow remained in its utterly indecent, perfectly normal position, as Chad said,

"It explains a lot."

"Oh, of course you take it easy," Ichigo grumbled. "Me, I freak out and nearly die, and I'm this- this close to an identity crisis-" he made a gesture with his thumb and index finger, to indicate a very, very small amount, "but to you, it makes sense."

"I noticed things for a long time." Chad said stoically. "Even more after I moved to Karakura. Now that I can see them, they make sense. I am relieved."

"Good grief…" Ichigo said, and sighed.

"I assume Orihime and Tatsuki are well endowed as well?" Chad said innocently.

"Endowed? What?" Ichigo said.

"With power." Chad said. "I noticed that despite the distance you have put as of late, you still act familiar with them. Are they too shinigami?"

"Well, nothing escapes you…" Ichigo said. "Answer's no. They ain't. But they know all about it, and my aunt says they got power, too."

"I see." Chad said, and nodded. "Thank you. This has been an enlightening conversation."

"Not sure if you should be grateful for any of this, but suit yourself," Ichigo said. "Anyway, let's go back- I think lunch is ending soon."

Chad nodded, and together they headed back to class. Somewhere, Ichigo thought he could hear the distant howl of, Neeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrddd!

Later that day, after school had ended, Ichigo made his way to the candy shop, where his aunt would be waiting for another session. It would be a good time to bring up Chad, although he wasn't sure how she'd react to bringing in yet another human into the group. Still, he had to try.

However, when he opened the door, expecting nothing there except perhaps the shopkeeper or one of his weird assistants, he was met by Erza, who nearly ran him over on her way toward the door. Something urgent had to be happening; her face was steely, determined and grim, and she marched past him without even saying hello.

"Erza?" He said quizzically. "What- what is it? What about training?"

Erza turned to look at him, and practically barked the words out.

"Not today. Hollow infestation two miles outside Karakura. I need to get there now, and maybe I'll be able to contain it."

"Wow." Ichigo said sincerely, part of him wishing he could come along. "So…"

"You stay put." Erza said, as if having anticipated his question. "No training today. Take the night off. And if you try and follow me, I'll beat you senseless in the event that you survive. Is that clear?"

"Yes, ma'am," Ichigo said dejectedly. An infestation? He had no idea what that would look like, how many there would be, only that he very much wanted to see one. Still, if there was one thing he had learned, it was that rules were there to be broken unless it pissed off his aunt, in which case you obeyed the rules like your life depended on it.

As Erza headed out, Ichigo sighed, half with disappointment and half with relief. She was almost gone already, having taken off at breakneck speed. It was downright amazing, the things a full shinigami could do…

Well, a free evening was a free evening. He could go home, catch up on his homework, maybe watch some TV, read a bit of Jane Austen… all very relaxing things. But, as his tired body reminded him, zero-effort efforts would be far more preferable. The park wasn't far from here, maybe half an hour's walk, and a relaxing stroll among the trees with the sun shining down on him seemed quite all right. Said and done, Ichigo headed out, leisurely steering himself toward the park.

From the back of the store, with an interested look on his face, Urahara Kisuke watched him leave.

He hadn't gone very far before Rukia joined him, casually walking up alongside him.

"Are you stalking me now?" Ichigo said, although his tone was light hearted. He was in a fairly good mood, all things considered.

"Oh, please," Rukia said dismissively. "I make it my business to alwaysknow where you are. You are my responsibility, after all. What if you were caught all alone without a way of leaving your body?"

"Reassuring." Ichigo said dryly. "For your information, I have a perfectly good soul pill in my pocket. Always carry one."

"Well, you've adapted," Rukia said. "Even so, I think I'll follow you around for a bit."

"Suit yourself," Ichigo said, and shrugged. "Enjoy the earth scenery, or whatever."

"It's a beautiful park." Rukia admitted, looking around. The area was mostly deserted, commonly visited on weekends, a landscape full of lush, leafy trees, and grass, the chirping of birds running through the air. "We have areas like these in the soul society too, of course, but it's… nice."

"Uh huh," Ichigo said, and shrugged. He had a hard time figuring Rukia out. All he knew was that she had a problem with Erza, and apparently they had once been friends… other than that, she seemed a mystery.

"Is there any particular reason you come here, anyway?" Rukia said. "I've never seen you go here before. Then again, I've only known you for so long."

"I dunno," Ichigo said, and shrugged. "It's nice, I guess. That, and…" He said hesitantly.

"What?" Rukia said curiously.

"I have a memory from here," Ichigo said, realizing he very well could have more than one reason for having come here. "When I was a kid, maybe five years old or something, I remember… well, I don't remember a lot. It was raining, and I was scared. Crying. My mom was bleeding, and she was… she was fighting a monster. Not far from here, actually. I always thought it was just my imagination running wild, but now I'm not so sure. I know mom went to the hospital, but that's it."

He took a deep breath, forcing every bit of memory he could back into his mind. It had been so long ago, but it had always seemed so real… because it probably was.

"She was fighting." Ichigo said hesitantly, and their walk slowed, as they came up a hill. Just down it was an empty grass field, with a tree line not far behind it, and a few large rocks to the side. It was here. "She was fighting with… a bow, I think. Against a big, scary monster."

"A bow?" Rukia said curiously.

"Yeah." Ichigo said. "Damn. I mean, I know I already had that whole 'my-life-is-a-lie' epiphany already, but, this, this is… surprising, I guess. Or maybe I was right the first time, and I dreamed it all up."

"It could certainly be real." Rukia said affirmatively. "Karakura has one of the thickest concentrations of spiritual energy in the world, and you see a high frequency of hollow manifestations here."

"Well, I can't be sure, can I?" Ichigo said. "And here I was supposed to just take it easy, not run down memory lane and question my existence…" Ichigo grumbled.

"God is dead and we have killed him?" Rukia said snidely.

"You have a whole afterlife where you mainly work as a soldier, and you still know to quote Nietzsche?" Ichigo said with distaste. "I know I'm just fifteen, but I'm not quite ready to give up on life having meaning and all of us being insignificant in the face of the infinity of space."

"Where do you think Nietzsche went when he died?" Rukia said, and Ichigo couldn't be sure if she was joking or not.

"Whatever," Ichigo mumbled. "My head is screwy enough without adding shallow interpretations of mainstream philosophies to it. I'll sort out myself, then consider pondering the meaning of life and everything."

"Forty-two?" Rukia said innocently.

"…just how much pop culture do you people import?" Ichigo said.

"Oh, that is what you want to know?" Rukia said with a small, sarcastic smile. "Not how many famous historical figures are there, or how the deceased live in the afterlife…?"

"Forget it." Ichigo mumbled, and took a seat by a rock near the dirt road they had been walking on, leaning his back against it.

"Have you always been able to see it?" Rukia said, and joined him by the rock, sitting up straight and staring up at the sky. "The spirits?"

"Far as I can remember, yeah," Ichigo said.

"That's exceptional." Rukia said. "Few ever develop that skill."

"I'm a special snowflake, I know," Ichigo said dismissively. "They keep telling me that, and then my aunt makes me feel like I'm a special piece of dirt mashed into even smaller pieces of dirt."

Rukia laughed.

"It hurts, I know. She taught me too."

"Really?" Ichigo said curiously. "I think she mentioned being a teacher, but she didn't say anything about that."

"I think she's trying to respect my privacy," Rukia said. "That, or she feels guilty about something else. I… won't get into the problems I have with her, but she did teach me, along with an entire class. She was an academy instructor back then. She accepted no slack, gave no special treatment, and half of us were terrified of her."

"Sounds like her, all right." Ichigo said.

"She was hard, but fair." Rukia nodded, sounding almost appreciative. "Just like an instructor should be. She took dumb, ignorant rookies and made them into soldiers. She only stayed for two years, but… she did a great job back then. Many admired her, and she even formed close bonds with some of her students. They became her friends when they graduated."

"You really liked her, huh?" Ichigo said, looking at Rukia. She had a wistful expression, a far cry from the spite and anger she had always had otherwise.

"It was more than just having a good teacher." Rukia confessed solemnly. "There was a time in my life that was… dark. She helped me through it.Forced me through it. That meant something to me."

"…huh." Ichigo said. He had always figured there was history between them, but knowing about it in theory and hearing it were two different things. "So… I guess that makes sense, then. That you'd feel angry."

"I'd rather not, really." Rukia said quickly. "Talk about it. But yes. She was… a good person back then."

"Still is." Ichigo said firmly.

"…yes, probably." Rukia said quietly.

Their moment of peace and quiet was not to last, though. As one they felt a rumbling through the air, the disturbance of negative energy rippling through the air, followed by the distinctive signature of a hollow- and a strong one, at that.

"Portal!" Ichigo said out loud, quickly getting to his feet, and Rukia nodded in confirmation. "One of those things just popped- shit!"

"What can you feel?" Rukia said urgently, standing up and looking around. "I can't sense it properly- you have to do that."

"I…" Ichigo said, and reached into his pants, fumbling after the gikongan pill. After a few seconds- which felt like minutes, which felt like hours- he managed to get it out, and quickly swallowed it. Neatly, he popped out of his body, and stood tall as a shinigami, feeling the weight of his sword on his back.

"It's… strong." Ichigo mumbled, with a sense of dread. It was close by, he could feel, and it had a ripe, rich spiritual signature, like the stench of carrion. It was a foul, great mass of energy, far above any hollow he had exterminated before. Reiatsu didn't smell, it didn't have that kind of physical property- but if it could, it would have reeked of death and decay. Ichigo felt a sinking feeling, like he was standing in front of a steep drop, about to take a plunge while not really knowing if he dared. Fighting hollows was what he did. He was strong. But there were lots of things much stronger than he, Erza had beat that into him- and she was nowhere near here. If this went wrong, it could go very badly. He could die.

"Where is it?" Rukia asked.

"That way," Ichigo said, pointing toward the treeline. He could almost see it, the trees rustling as it moved. "It's strong. Very strong."

"We could go back to Urahara's shop," Rukia suggested. "We could run there, get help-"

"And let it have free reign over whoever happens to be in the area? Hell no," Ichigo said firmly, that sinking feeling dampening somewhat. Scary as it was, he knew what he had to do. There were people here. Not a lot, but there still were. Nothing stopped it from going out of the park, either. Erza was away, but if that thing went on a killing spree and he didn't even try to stop it- well, he couldn't have that.

It wasn't very smart, the voice of rationality insisted in his head as he took a step forward. You might be ashamed to face Erza if you do nothing, but if you're dead then you're dead, and how do you think she will feel then? She told you not to get in too deep. She'd tell you to run away. Dying heroically gets you dead, nothing more.

But some things you just had to do.

"I'm going." Ichigo said. "Keep your head down and don't get dragged into it."

"Be careful." Rukia said, and nodded.

Ichigo took another step forward, and another, steps that quickly turned into a run. It hadn't been a minute since the hollow had materialized, but he wasn't about to give it a chance to run away. He headed toward the tree line, and there it was, emerging from the woods.

It was big, all right. Nearly twice as tall as Ichigo, it was the size of a small bus. It looked like a grotesque, oversized and misshapen hamster, its bone white mask leering at Ichigo with the eyes of a predator eyeing its prey. As Ichigo pulled out his sword, it began creeping toward him slowly, nimble on its feet like a cat, surprisingly agile for a creature so fat and so huge.

"Shinigami…" It said, letting out a chuckle, a low rumble deep from its throat. "It's been a while since I had such a fine meal."

"Come eat, then," Ichigo said, with far more confidence than he actually felt.

"I've eaten three of your kind before," The creature said smugly, continuing to pace to the side. Knowing it was looking for an angle of attack, Ichigo carefully matched its steps, keeping his sword pointed directly at it. "Low rank trash like you do not impress me."

"You sure talk a lot," Ichigo shot back. "If you're so strong, why haven't you pounced on me yet?"

"No hurry," The hollow said lazily. There was some hope to this, Ichigo realized. It was clearly taking him seriously, which meant he probably had a decent shot. He just had to avoid running in headlong- Erza would have his head for doing something that stupid, even if he survived.

The hollow stopped, for just a second, and then on it came, leaping forward with a savage quickness far greater than Ichigo would have expected. But his training wasn't for nothing, and Ichigo took a step back, braced himself, and quickly parried its first strike. The hollow viciously struck again with its other front paw, not a moment later, but Ichigo had already jumped back. He tried to bring his sword up for a strike, but the hollow was too fast. All he could do at the moment was defend. Finally, after parrying another three strikes, the palm of the hollow's paw clashed with Ichigo's blade, and he could see blood seeping out. It was pushing down on him, hard, and it was a tribute to the fantastical workings of reiatsu physics that Ichigo was not overwhelmed by its sheer mass. Ichigo grunted and pushed back as hard as he could, aware of the hollow's other arm, knowing it could strike at any moment.

"Impressive," The hollow rumbled, with a malevolent glee in its voice.

"You're the one bleeding, so don't get cocky!" Ichigo snarled.