"Iiiiiiichiiiiiiigooooooo!" Ichigo turned around and sighed deeply, annoyed. Here we go again. His over exited best friend, Keigo, was running down the hallway, top speed. Probably with some 'exciting' news to tell him. Ichigo sighed again as he stuck his foot out to trip the young man charging at him. "Whaaaaa!" Keigo screamed as he fell, face first, to the floor. He sprang to his feet in anger. "Hey, Ichigo! What was that for?"
"When are you ever gonna calm down, Keigo," Ichigo asked, still annoyed.
"But Ichigo, that's all a part of my personality. Don't you looove my personality?"
"God, you're annoying." Keigo folded his arms and turned the other way.
"Fine then, I won't tell you the big news then. I will just keep it all to myself."
"News? What big news?"
"We just got a new transfer student!" Ichigo shrugged his shoulders and gave his friend a 'so-what' look.
"So what? We get new students here all the time." He began to walk away. "I thought you had something big to tell me." Keigo scurried in front of him and stepped in his path.
"It is big, Ichigo! But not because she's a transfer student. It's because she's a hot transfer student!" Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"Get out the way, Keigo." He pushed the brown haired boy to the side and continued walking down the hall. Keigo followed.
"How can you not care about this? What is wrong with you? It's not every day that we get another hot girl in our class. You should be happy about this!"
"Give it a rest. You're really getting on my nerves." Ichigo slid open the door to his classroom and stepped inside. He paused. Even though the class was almost full, he was able to see the new girl immediately. She was sitting quietly at a desk, reading a magazine. Long, black hair, dark brown skin, bluish colored eyes. She wasn't the hot girl that Keigo made her seem. She was more cute than sexy, in his opinion.
"Hiiiiii! How are youuuu?" Ichigo looked a little to the left of the girl to see that Keigo was now hovering over her desk with a big smile plastered over his face. The girl smiled back.
"I'm fine. How are you?" She looked down. "Oh. I'm not in your seat am I?"
"Oh noooo! You're fine. No one sits here anyway."
"Oh? Good."
"So how long have you been here? What is your name?"
"Keigo, leave the girl alone," Ichigo said as he walked over to where they were. He took a seat in his desk, which was diagonally behind her. She turned and gave Ichigo a smile.
"Oh, don't worry. He's not bothering me. I don't mind a friendly face." Keigo stuck his tongue out at Ichigo while she was turned away.
"Yeah, Ichigo. She doesn't mind a friendly face. Unlike you, who always looks like a sour puss."
"Whatever."
"Okay class, settle down, settle down," the teacher said as she walked into the room. The students obeyed and took their seats, gradually becoming quiet. Miss Ochi opened her roll book and began to read from it. After a few moments, she looked up at the new girl. "Ah! Everyone, I am pleased to say that we have a new transfer student with us today. Setsuna, why don't you come and introduce yourself." Setsuna smiled nervously as she held up a hand.
"Naaah, that's okay."
"Aw, come on. Please? I think everyone here would like to get to know you a little more. I know I do." Setsuna hesitated, but went up to the podium in the front of the class like she had been told. She hated to be the center of attention. She cleared her throat.
"Well . . . hi. My name is Setsuna Hoyama and I am from Sapporo. I am eighteen and my favorite color is red." She paused. She looked at the ceiling to gather her thoughts. "I think that's all."
"Well it's very nice to meet you, Setsuna," Miss Ochi said as she went back to her seat. As soon as she sat down, she turned to Ichigo.
"That was embarrassing," she said, smiling. Ichigo didn't respond.
"Yes it was. I am soooo sorry," Keigo said, rubbing her back from the seat behind her. Ichigo reached out and pinched the flirtatious boy hard on his right arm. "Ow ow ow ow!"Keigo squirmed in his seat. Setsuna giggled at the boys' antics. This looks like it's gonna be a fun year.
* * *
School went by faster than usual that day, or at least it seemed like it to Ichigo. Not that he was complaining. He was ready to head back home and catch up on a much needed nap. The day was quiet and peaceful, the perfect kind of atmosphere for sweet dreams. His father was going to be busy with clinical work all day, Karin and Yuzu were supposed to be visiting friends after school, and Rukia was in the soul society on business. Now all he had to do was find some way to shut Kon up and the house would be perfectly calm.
As he began to walk out of the school gates, he saw that Setsuna was already outside. She turned down the sideway, heading in the same direction that he was. "Oi, Setsuna! Wait up!" he called after her, jogging to catch up. Setsuna stopped and turned around. She smiled.
"Oh, hey Ichigo. What's up?"
"Nothing. I saw you were headed in my direction, so I thought I'd walk with you."
"Aw, that's nice. I could use some company, haha." Ichigo nodded as they continued walking.
"You know, I've never had a first day like the one I had here. There are a lot of very interesting people in your school." Setsuna giggled. "That boy, what's his name again . . . oh, Keigo, kept hitting on me all day in every class." Ichigo shook his head.
"Yeah, sorry about that. Keigo can get that way sometimes. He's an idiot."
"Oh I didn't mind. I thought it was kinda cute, actually. Nice."
"Did you get the chance to meet any sane people? I don't want you to get the wrong idea about the people in our school." She giggled again.
"Let's see . . . well, I met a guy, I think his name was Chad – "
"Yeah. Chad's cool."
"Yeah, he is. He showed me around and helped me out some. Then this girl named Orihime invited me to sit with her and her friends at lunch. She was really nice. She even offered me some of her lunch, but it didn't look too good, so I said no."
"Yeah, Orihime has terrible taste in food."
"I noticed."
"So did you have a lot of friends at your old school?"
"Yeah, I was a little popular at my old school."
"So why did you move?"
"Mmm, change of scenery. I don't know. It was just something about this place that drew me here. Hell, I was ready to get out of Sapporo anyway. The rent is too damn high over there, ha ha." Ichigo smirked. The two fell silent for a few moments. The sound of metal jingling caught his ear. He looked down to see a charm bracelet around her wrist. He let out a silent whistle as the diamond jewels incrusted in them reflected the sun. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the bracelet had three charms on it; the letter 'S', a bunny rabbit, and what looked to be some sort of crest or insignia. Setsuna looked up to see why he was so quiet, and noticed him looking at the charm. "Like it?" she asked, holding her wrist toward his face so he could get a better view.
"Looks expensive."
"I'm sure it was. I was told it was a gift my grandmother gave me before she died."
"Cool grandmother." Setsuna laughed. They both stopped at a stop sign.
"Well, I'm headed this direction," Setsuna said, pointing toward her right. "You know, I'd invite you to come over, but my place looks a mess."
"Don't worry about it. I need to be heading home anyway."
"Well it was nice meeting you and talking with you, Ichigo." She reached out and gave him a big hug, which surprised him a little. "Thank you for walking with me."
"No problem." He watched walk away, waving back as she briefly turned to say goodbye one more.
* * *
"Where have you been? I've been bored all damn day here by myself. I had no one to talk to since nee-san isn't here." Ichigo sighed deeply before shutting the door to his room. Here he goes.
"I was busy, Kon." The plush tiger stood on the bed and put his hands on his hips.
"Yeah, I'm sure. You were probably busy out having fun without me!"
"Give it a rest, Kon. And move over. I'm beat."
"Oh yeah, because school is soooo hard. Quit being lazy you bum!"
"I said move!" Ichigo grabbed Kon by the head and threw him against the closet door. Kon jumped to his feet and raised his fist in anger.
"You jerk! How dare you throw me like that! Oh, I need nee-san here to comfort me. Neeeeee-saaaan. Why did you have to go? Neeee-saaaan."
"Shut up Kon!"
"Oh neeee-saaan!"
"I said shut up!" Ichigo threw a book that was on the nightstand and hit Kon in the back of the head, silencing him. Ichigo sighed deeply, relieved that the mod soul had heeded his warnings. He laid down and began to relax. He was just nearing the edge of reality and dream world when his soul reaper badge began to sound. He sat up in bed, glaring at the item glowing on his nightstand. "Greeeaaat." He grabbed the badge and quickly transformed before jumping out the window.
Ichigo quickly followed the path that the badge took him, noticing that the closer he got to the hollows, the higher the spiritual pressure rose. Considering the amount of spiritual pressure must be a lot of them. Fifteen? Twenty? He quickly realized that he was wrong when he finally arrived at his destination. There were indeed more than one hollow, but they were not rank and file hollows. Ichigo stared at his six foes with wide eyes. "Menos grandes." What are they doing here?
Ichigo removed Zangetsu from his holster and sprung into action. He placed his hand over his face and summoned his hollow mask. He flew over to the lead Menos and cut off its head. The next one, he split down the middle. He continued to fight the high powered hollows for several minutes until all had disappeared. Just when he had turned to head back home, more Menos appeared from Hueco Mundo from the garganta. Ichigo turned and stared wide eyed. "What the hell is going on?" The orange haired shinigami dodged the ceros being blasted at him and sliced the three Menos that stood in front of him. He stared at the place where the garganta had been, waiting to see if more Menos would appear. After deciding that the coast was finally clear, he returned home.
* * *
"Hmmm, it is quite odd that Menos would be appearing here so frequently. Quite strange indeed, even for Karakura town," Urahara said as Ichigo sat across from him in his shop the following day after school. It had been the second consecutive day that Ichigo had to fight the Menos Grande that had appeared from Hueco Mundo. "I don't know what could be causing their appearance."
"You think Aizen has something to do with this?" Ichigo suggested.
"No." Ichigo looked down at Yoruichi, who was resting comfortably in his lap. "If this had been the work of Aizen, he would have sent Espada, not Menos. I'm sure he has figured out that Menos are pretty useless at this point.
"Then again, Aizen could be testing the waters for an all out attack," Urahara suggested. "Or he could be using them as a distraction of some sort. Who knows? But I wouldn't be so quick to rule out Aizen so quickly."
"Well whatever or whoever is doing this must have some sort of strategy," Ichigo said. "The Menos keep appearing in the same place." Urahara lifted the brim of his hat slightly.
"Oh?"
"Yeah. They keep showing up downtown, where the old warehouse used to be. Why would they be over there?"
"There's no telling. I will investigate the matter and see what's up."
"And I'll go to the Soul Society tomorrow to see if I can find out any information," Yoruichi said, yawning and stretching her feline frame.
"Good. Thanks." Ichigo stood up from the table and walked out of the room and the shop. As he walked back home, he still tried to figure out what the Menos were after and why were they there. Rukia would be back the next day. Hopefully she would have some answers.
A/N: Another chapter in the books! Hoped y'all liked it and sorry for any typos there may have been. So what information will Rukia have/not have? We'll have to wait and see . . .
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