AN: Thank you for the reviews!

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"How adorable!"

"He's a darling!"

"Aww what a cutie!"

He was pretty sure dying right now would be an act of mercy. Woman were around him, dressed in bright colors and strong smelling perfume shrieking and cooing about how utterly irresistible he was.

It was torture.

Beside him Hinata joked with a random woman, not at all bothered by the fact that he was getting ambushed by make-up wearing harpies. He didn't even know why they were making such a fuss, sure he was slightly feminine looking but that didn't mean he was some sort of rare jewel. There were plenty of children out in the world much more pretty, cute, and adorable then he was.

In fact a child was just passing them now but no one was paying her any attention, she even had orange hair.

Wait orange hair?

Tatsuo tried to look around the horde of women to catch another glimpse of the girl, he was pretty sure that he had seen a Mini-Orihime but thanks to the crowd around him he wasn't sure.

"What beautiful eyes!"

"You're right, he must have some foreigner blood in him to have those pretty blue eyes."

This was it, he was going to die via excited women, so much for another chance.

Every part of his body was sore.

Breath coming out in harsh pants Tatsuo forced his body to say upright as sweat dripped down his fore-head. The white Karate uniform he had admired earlier felt like a thick coat draped over him, making his body even hotter than it was currently.

"Stop thinking so much," His father instructed, barely even ruffled. "Just allow your instincts to guide you."

So says the man with a body already used to hours of training, Tatsuo was pretty sure he hadn't felt so drained since bootcamp, and then he'd been partially in shape so it hadn't been so bad. Presently his young body was unused to the exercise Isamu was putting him through, or really any strenuous exercise really.

It had been about three months since he'd turned four, and three weeks since Isamu decided that it was time he started to train. When Tatsuo had accepted his father's offer he hadn't imagined his body to be so fragile. In the past his body had been sturdier and was able to take more damage while his current one was almost...delicate?

He supposed that his past body wouldn't come with him when he died, but it still was irritating to have such a different body type.

"Sorry." He replied and wiped off the sweat from his brow. Though his limbs screamed at him to sit down and rest, he forced himself to stay standing.

Isamu chuckled and ruffled his sweaty hair. "Besides overthinking, you have potential squirt, someday you might even be as strong as me."

Tatsuo allowed his lips to tilt upward slightly. "By then you'll be an old man."

"Hey!"

Though the memories of his past life made it hard for him to connect to his birth parents completely he still felt affection for them. To him they were like old family friends he had known since he was born. Despite that though he made sure to show enough affection to them that they weren't wondering why their son was acting so standoffish. But just as he made sure to do that Tatsuo was putting a small distance between himself and his birth parents.

He didn't take well to coddling since he was mentally an independent adult so their parenting was a little irking at times.

After his father calmed down they started training again. It wasn't anything too complicated, mostly his father sent him running around the Dojo or instructed him to preform squats and try a few push-ups. Later on when his body was more mature the training would intensify and he'd actually learn how to defend himself.

Which would be the exciting part for him since he'd always admired those who could take someone down with a few effortless movements.

Practice went on for about another hour before they finally stopped, by that time Hinata had made lunch for them and he ate it with an enthusiasm uncharacteristic of him. Within moments he had Isamu had finished the sandwiches placed in front of them as if they hadn't eaten in days much to her amusement.

Hinata laughed. "Did you two have a fun time today?"

Isamu grinned and Tatsuo felt a large hand pat his head roughly. "We had a blast! Anyone who tries to go against him is going to be immensely surprised, especially since he looks so girly."

His eyebrow twitched in response to his father's words, though he knew the older man was really just teasing him it never failed to get some sort of response out of him. Being girly wasn't terrible, but at the same time he was pretty sure he'd react negatively if someone besides his father or mother referred to him as feminine.

"What do you mean by that honey?" Suddenly Hinata's smile wasn't so warm, her dark eyes stared at her husband without blinking.

Instantly Isamu straightened out as if he were in the presence of a being far more dangerous then a woman who cooed at pictures of kittens. "Nothing at all!" He laughed nervously. "He just inherited your gorgeous face dear, and that isn't a bad thing at all!"

Hinata eyed him suspiciously. "Is that so? There isn't a problem if he looks slightly more feminine then most boys then?"

"No no! He can use it to his advantage in a fight!"

She stared at him with slightly narrowed eyes for a moment longer making Isamu squirm in his seat. "I see!" The aura of a gentle, caring mother was back once again. "He is rather handsome isn't he?"

The dark-haired man visibly relaxed in his seat. "Certainly!"

Tatsuo glanced back and forth between his two parents making sure to note the fact that his mother could be terrifying when she wanted.

Hinata smiled as she watched her son and husband practice. At first she had been worried that they were training Tatsuo too young, but her husband had been right, the young boy would be fine. Despite the fact that Tatsuo had inherited her face along with her body he was strong-willed and determined to learn everything his father had to teach him.

Defend those that cannot do it themselves. The Arisawa were a family who had fought to defend the small town of Karakura for generations. Each child was taught to fight no matter the gender at whatever age they thought they were ready.

The citizens saw them as guardians but were hesitant to go up and actually talk to them because they were wary of their power, not that the Arisawa used their power for evil. In fact each generation had lived up to their name and protected the city with a fierce loyalty. It was just sometimes people feared those stronger then them that made everyone avoid her husband's family.

Sadly that meant her son was going to have a hard time making friends, but she hoped he'd make at least one.

A booming laugh made her break out of her thoughts and look toward her son and husband spotting Tatsuo laying face-up on the floor.

Instantly she was up on her feet and walking toward the small boy. "What happened? Are you okay sweetie?"

Tatsuo blinked up at her and got up rubbing his head. "I think so."

"He'll be fine," Isamu chuckled as he crouched down to ruffle the small boy's head. "you're a tough one aren't you little dragon?"

Hinata smiled and shook her head, sometimes she couldn't understand how boys could be so resilient. Growing up she never rough-housed too much and had been confused when she saw boys messing around with each other carelessly and laughing when they got hurt. She had always been a little more delicate then a lot of girls so she tried to avoid anything too rough, which was why her mother found it so funny that she married such a active man.

She had thought that since Tatsuo looked so much like his father, with his dark blue eyes and dark hair, he'd be just like him. But instead it was the opposite, even though her son inherited Isamu's coloring his face was a near replica of hers. With slightly almond shaped eyes, a soft jawline and pale skin she knew that young kids were going to have a hard time telling his gender. When he got older he'd grow into himself and become a good looking man, but at the moment he really looked like a little girl.

Hinata personally thought it was adorable.

After a few more moments Tatsuo got up. "Let's try it again."

Isamu grinned proudly in response.

Her husband was right when he said their son had potential, though Isamu tended to overthink his movements and take to long to react he had good instincts.

Her son had always been more mature then normal children which had worried her at first but now she was completely fine with it. If anything it made her and Isamu's life easier since a normal baby who cried and ran around would make it harder for them to stay sane. She had heard some horror stories from her friends, ones of being woken up every three hours for weeks and having to deal with temper tantrums.

She nearly shuddered at the mere thought.

That was where her son's unusual maturity was appreciated, though some part of her wanted to have a child to coddle and snuggle another part was okay with having an independent son. Because when he got older and eventually moved out of the house she'd be able to not worry about how he would fair, he'd be fine.

Well maybe not perfectly fine since she was pretty sure kids would mistake Tatsuo for a female, but by then he'd know how to defend himself.

If he didn't, well she wasn't completely helpless.

Karakura park was rather packed this time, far too crowded for him to even feel comfortable trying to amuse himself with the play-set like a normal child.

Children laughed, screamed and ran around like maniacs everywhere while their parents chatted on benches further away. Instead of charging off to slide or swing Tatsuo settled with sitting beside his mother who was reading a book in a shady spot, she didn't try to talk him into going to play since she already was used to the way he acted.

He did try to act like a semi-normal child, but he could only do so much.

Crowds of children who were still naive and liked to play imaginary was a step too far for him, there was no one for him to intellectually connect with and too many people made him feel comfortable.

Tatsuo continued to survey the play ground in front of him, sometimes following a child do something particularly amusing before switching to another. As far as he could tell no one looked familiar to him, which wasn't too surprising. It'd be rather suspicious if he bumped into someone like Ichigo since Aizen was pretty good at deciding peoples fates for his own amusement.

As if cursing himself he noticed a shock of orange hair, making his heart skip a beat, and his gaze immediately focus on the small child.

A boy roughly around his age was standing with a woman who had the same odd color of hair, his brows furrowed as he looked at the playground in what looked like apprehension.

No way.

"Tatsuo, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He replied turning to look at his mother and forcing his body to relax.

There really wasn't anything he should be freaking out about since he was a character in the anime, in a way at least. Even though Tatsuki was a female he was basically a gender-bent version of her so there wasn't anything wrong with befriending the characters.

But at the same time he wasn't going to push anything, he and Tatsuki were different people so there was no promise that he'd become buddies with Ichigo like she did. Nor would he go out of his way to talk to the orange-haired boy especially since he really preferred to keep to himself.

Ichigo was making his body feel electrified, like the Reiatsu did when he happened to pass through it. Even at such a young age the small boy made his skin tingle which didn't bode well for him really. Because if Ichigo made him feel like this when he wasn't even a Shinigami he couldn't imagine how his body would react to Ichigo when he started using Reiatsu or heaven forbid when he turned into a hollow. In fact Tatsuo didn't want to know how he reacted to Shinigami period.

The rest of the time he silently watched Ichigo eventually wander away from Misaki and climb onto the play-set, the child didn't make any real effort to talk to anyone and seemed to be perfectly fine with amusing himself. There were times that Tatsuo swore the boy looked his direction but that could have been his imagination since there wasn't any real reason why that would happen.

Well Ichigo could have noticed his staring and be wondering why the hell some strange kid was watching him like a creeper.

Yeah, that was probably it.

School...he had to go through school again.

Like a good few students he hated going to school, waking up early to the blaring alarm clock was the bane of his existence. He hated alarm clocks. Or really anything that dared wake him up before he was ready.

But if he wanted to stay low and be seen as normal he couldn't suddenly decide to be a genius, not even if he tended to imagine himself skipping a few grades just for sanities sake. He'd have to force himself to deal with immature children and 'learning' how to count.

He supposed he would be a better student then he was before since he already knew most of the stuff the teachers would go over. But there was no way he'd remember everything so he supposed it wouldn't be too horrible to go over things again.

Unlike America schools in Japan started in April and lasted until mid July where they'd have a small break until September and then end that term around December 25.

He wasn't too bothered that school ended the day of christmas since he had long since chilled out about that particular holiday once he moved out of his parents house and started to live on his own.

The grades in Japan were pretty similar to America, Elementary school lasted for six years and then Middle School for three as well as High School for the same amount.

There were differences such as the requirement to wear the sailor uniforms, which looked ridiculous on him, but his mother loved it on him. She even took a picture which he was sure to hate for all eternity.

Isamu started to work more often at their Dojo once Tatsuo was signed up for Kindergarten and his mother even continued her little painting company she had put on hold once he was born. Though neither job gave them too much money, his family had enough to live in a comfy house with two rooms right next to the Dojo where his father taught Karate.

The rising feeling of doom rose up in him as the time to start school came closer until his first day of school finally came upon him like a death sentence.

He found himself standing at the gates to the Kindergarten school he was going to be attending, parents and their children murmured in the background as they said goodbye. A couple kids were even crying as their mother or father started to walk away which made him wince as the loud screams echoed across the courtyard.

Thankfully he'd only have to go to this school for a year and then he'd start first grade in a completely different building.

"Try not to terrify the children too much little dragon," Hinata said as she crouched down to look him in the eyes. "a smile wouldn't hurt."

Tatsuo rose a brow at her.

She smiled knowingly and wrapped him in a hug. "I know, just try okay?"

He nodded but didn't try to promise anything, despite being seen as 'pretty' people tended to be put off by the seriousness of his usual expression once they realized he wasn't as smiley as he looked. That and his families history would make it hard for him to make any friends, not that he minded.

Hinata let him go and wiped her eyes. "I'm so proud of you little dragon, make sure to have fun at school and make lots of friends."

Tatsuo nodded awkwardly not quite sure how he was supposed to comfort her. "I'll do my best."

His mother smiled and stood up with a sniff. "That's all I ask for."

He waved goodbye to her as she walked away and then headed toward the building passing all the children clinging to their parents and trying to mute out the crying.

He wandered into the building and down the hall as he searched for his classroom, the school was small as one would expect a Kindergarten to be with about four rooms he could spot and a min-playground.

Eventually he found the room, 1-B and walked inside silently. There were bright colors everywhere and posters of positive quotes covering the walls. A few small tables decorated the floor on top of a green carpet and a couple bookcases with children's books leaned against a wall in the back.

A few children were already inside and grouped up giggling to themselves loudly while a kind looking woman watched over them behind a desk.

She smiled at him when he walked in. "Hello, what's your name?"

"Arisawa Tatsuo." He replied eyeing her for a moment before turning to observe the room once again.

The teacher looked slightly taken aback but didn't say anything so he just headed further into the room.

He found a seat further in the back that gave him a view of all of the students and was close to the window in case he needed to make a quick getaway. Of course it was only a Kindergarten class and there was little chance something dangerous would happen, he could never be too sure that there was no chance.

After a few more moments children started to meander into his classroom, he watched them out of the corner of his eye to see if any characters in the Anime would happen to be in his class as well. It wouldn't be unsurprising since they were all his age and there were only a few rooms in the building.

He nearly fell out of his chair when a orange-haired boy came into his view but managed to balance himself before that happened.

Of course the universe hated him that much.

A few kids shot him odd looks as they noticed him but he paid no attention and forced himself to look away from the small boy to stare at the wall. Who would have known out of all the characters the main one would happen to be in his class?

But this didn't mean anything, it was a small school so it was probably only a coincidence.

More then a couple children looked like they wanted to sit next to him but when he turned his gaze toward their direction they actually went away. It wasn't that he was trying to seem dangerous or anything so he had no idea why they acted that way.

Maybe they were afraid of his family or something?

Electricity sparked across his skin when an orange-haired boy sat at the same table he had settled in making him nearly jump in surprise. Tatsuo couldn't help but stare for a moment, Ichigo was the first character he had actually seen up close and he couldn't help himself. He had hardly expected the boy to sit next to him.

Ichigo turned his head and rose a brow. "What?"

Tatsuo blinked and then nearly hit himself when he realized he had been staring at Ichigo for longer then he had intended. "Nothing." He looked to the side and stared at the wall again.

Well this was awkward.

Once everyone had settled and found a seat the teacher stood up. "Hello everyone, my name is Takashi-sensei and welcome to Kindergarten!"

He tuned the teacher out as she continued to talk very aware of the small boy beside him and started to go off into his own world as he usually did when in school.

"Hey."

Tatsuo broke out of his daydreaming and turned toward Ichigo who had a very serious expression on his face.

"You're the Dojo guy's kid, right?"

Partially surprised that the orange-haired boy didn't say anything about his looks, he nodded in reply.

"That's what I thought, you know that half of the town thinks you're a girl right?"

Tatsuo felt his eyebrow twitch. "No."

Ichigo squinted his eyes and gave him a searching look. "I don't know why everyone thinks you're a girl, you look like a guy to me."

He had a feeling that he and Ichigo would get along fantastically.

..

..

…

The school day was uneventful, between Ichigo making his skin electrify, learning to add and singing songs that got stuck in his head he had been very bored. Of course it was a lot easier then High School but at the same time he wished that he was in a more advanced class.

"Hey!"

Oh and for some reason Ichigo had decided to take a liking to him.

Tatsuo turned when he heard the familiar voice, spotting Ichigo running to catch up with him.

"Yes?"

"I never asked what your name." The small boy replied, brown eyes curious. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo, what's yours?"

Tatsuo eyed him for a moment trying not to wince when his skin started to tingle again. "Arisawa Tatsuo."

Ichigo scowled for a moment. "That's a mouthful, I think I'm just going to call you Tsu."

Completely taken aback he couldn't find anything to say about the decision, he knew that Ichigo was someone who didn't refer to someone formally unless he respected them so he wasn't too bothered.

As for the nickname…well he didn't really have a choice.

Tatsuo shrugged. "Okay."

He turned to face where the parents where meeting their children and started to scan them for any signs of his mother or father.

"You don't talk very much do you?"

"Not really." He replied looking at the young boy out of the corner of his eye. Ichigo wasn't known for being a social butterfly so he had to wonder why he was so insistent on talking to him.

Ichigo shrugged. "That's fine, people who talk too much are really annoying anyways."

Tatsuo nodded in agreement and they fell into a comfortable silence as they searched for their parents.

Hinata appeared a few minutes later and smiled proudly when she noticed him. "Did you have a good day Little Dragon?" She asked as she reached the place he was standing.

Tatsuo shrugged. "It was okay."

She laughed and turned to look at Ichigo with curiosity shining in her eyes. "You must be Isshin's kid Kurosaki Ichigo-kun."

Ichigo nodded. "How did you know?"

"My husband tends to get himself hurt a lot thanks to his hobby." Hinata replied. "Your father has fixed him up more than a few times."

Tatsuo noticed she was reaching down to pick him up and allowed her to do so, only for the older woman to yelp in shock and take her hands away. He stared at her in surprise feeling his skin tingle for a moment before it receded.

"Are you okay?" He asked staring at her with furrowed brows trying to figure out why the Reiastu sparking his skin had effected her as well.

She nodded and sent him a small smile. "Yes I was just shocked that's all."

Reassured he looked toward Ichigo who was staring at him with narrowed eyes as if trying to examine him. Tatsuo rose a brow at that and wondered if the other boy knew what had just happened.

He was just sensitive to Reiatsu, right? He couldn't see ghosts or anything like that so he didn't think that he had suddenly become like Ichigo. Why did that happen though?

We waved goodbye to Ichigo as he and Hinata headed home theories running through his head in a jumbled mess.

AN: I'm glad that so many people are liking this story and I hope you like this chapter as well. ^^ Sorry for any mistakes.