Chapter three~

"Lieutenant Abarai reporting. My preliminary report along with all relevant data was dropped off the moment I returned." The loyal officer spoke, kneeling in front of the double rows of Captains and their Vice captains. While he had presented several reports of this nature on the observation of Ichigo Kurosaki, they all could feel a different sense of gravity by this urgent meeting.

"Yes Lieutenant Abarai, curiously the 12th division already have presented me with their findings, normally I have to wait nearly a week..Captain Kurotsuchi must be excited with this opportunity." The Captain Commander would note with a bit of humour, he seemed to be in good spirits for once.

They all noticed Captain Yamamoto gripping his cane much more tightly than usual, yet no one had the nerve to ask, the situation felt... Different. "Yes a good opportunity to finally bury an ancient menace to Soul Society and the Soul King...It was far before all of your time, but I remember it well...The friends I lost to them, the smell of ash after a long battle." The commander seemed to both be strangely delighted, and enraged in bloodlust now that one of his hated foes was in his sights.

"Captain Soi Fong! Your orders are to shadow this person of interest that has begun to cling to Kurosaki, all data will be available to you before you gather your team. For the moment this mission is of the highest secrecy. You are to capture this girl if you can without risk, or you can bring back her corpse if she raises her blade at you, take no chances." The commander would coldly order, sending a chill down Abarai's spine.

"What did I get them into... Ichigo forgive me, I didn't know it would turn into this!" the pineapple would think to himself as he stayed kneeling. "Soutaicho! I beg you to reconsider! From what I was able to observe the girl did not appear to be a threat, and even defended Ichigo from a hollow in his current state! And If i'm not mistaken they are rather... close, a couple even. In honor of Ichigo's service to Soul Society I beg you to please reconsider!" The Pineapple would carefully plead, he couldn't stand to be silent to another injustice by his inaction!

At these heartfelt words for mercy, the first response was a surge in the Soutaicho's reiatsu, crashing down on the weaker captains, and sending the vice captains mostly to their knees. "This is Not an enemy that we can afford mercy with welp! The Soul king himself has long since given out a standing order that these being are wiped from existence!" Against all that pressure on him, Abarai could not help but nearly pass out shamefully, his kneeling now not out of respect, but out of pressure and a helping of fear.

Once that reiatsu was reined back in Soi Fong would give a quick bow, taking that as her cue to leave, she felt a bit of... excitement at this mission, she would study the file that was surely in her office thoroughly.

With only some cares in the world, Ichigo would see a happy albino looking girl bounce in place a bit at the school gate, waiting for the tall strawberry to arrive. Yume drew a few looks as her face lit up and flushed in embarrassment at the same time, waving to Ichigo as he ignored some of the looks he himself was getting... mostly from jealous guys. He would pretend he didn't hear the muttering telling him to blow up and die...

They both would ignore those hurtful looks as they seemed to be in their own world. Yume would blush as she looked up at him "S-sorry for running like that yesterday... It was ah...yeah..." She would trail off shyly as they both seemed to just go with the flow. While they were not holding hands, the atmosphere around them made it feel like they may as well have been.

"It is alright, yesterday was... pretty hectic all things considered. Good news is my sisters seem to like you, they kept asking about you all morning." Ichigo would grin down at her, holding his bag over his shoulder. He felt it was interesting how different school felt after yesterday. He was a little bit worried about what she would reveal, but he couldn't help but be excited as well...What ever it was he was sure it wouldn't be a problem to him.

Yume looked up at him as they reached their classroom "Well, I'll see you up on the roof again?" The white haired Yume would ask, peering up at him with those perky pink lip- Ichigo shook himself! He can't be thinking like that at school!

"Yeah of course, I'll tell you.. most of my story anyway I guess, at least the cliff notes version...I think... we would need an entire day for me to tell everything..." Ichigo said as he gave her shoulder a small squeeze before heading to his own seat.

Ichigo would let out a deep sigh as the hollow encounter yesterday dredged up some unpleasant memories... And strangely a bit of excitement, maybe he was missing the adrenaline of fighting for his life? Impossible...Though he can't say he has been truly enjoying his peaceful 'human' life. Before Yume came into his life he was starting to get into a bad place mentally, something he didn't want to go back to.

"Ichigo, are you...feeling okay?" The gentle giant behind him, Chad, would ask as Ichigo noticed his other two friends in class were watching him as well.

The strawberry would shake off his mood for a moment and plaster on a smile. "Yeah, just got a lot to think about is all. How have you all been? Feels like I haven't hung out with you guys in ages. Sorry I've been kinda... distant." He would apologize, actually apologize as he saw Yume smile at him.

Orihime at least would smile at Ichigo. "I'm glad Ichigo, yeah you seemed like.. you were taking all that happened last year.. pretty personally, I didn't want to intrude too much...I.. don't know what it would be like." She admitted as Ichigo nodded.

"It is alright, it was just.. a lot to get used to, felt really... weak, I couldn't... protect anyone any more. But doesn't mean we shouldn't hang out like old time's sake. You all wanna hang out this weekend?" Ichigo would ask as he looked over at Yume from the corner of his eye.

Of course Ishida would catch that slight look. "Will she be there? Have you... told her anything?" He would ask as he still tried to figure Yume out from afar, but she seemed to be engrossed in finishing up some homework before homeroom.

Ichigo would nod and look at all of them. "I hope so. I want you all to get to know her also, she is a good person. No... I haven't yet." He would explain as he noticed the sad look on Orihime's face. He knew by now that Orihime had feeling for him, she all but admitted it in Hueco Mundo, but... He wouldn't bring that up first. He had realized a long time ago that she was more of another younger sister, he wanted to protect her but... that was it, but for the sake of her feelings he didn't bring up the fact he asked out Yume last night.

Uryu and Orihime looked like they wanted to make another comment, but soon the teacher would walk in and class began, and none of them, wanted detention. Class seemed to drag on, especially after home room

During history Ichigo got a small glimpse of Yume from the window as he was running the track for physical education. Mentally he was thanking his good eyesight, and was entranced by her running at the head of the pack, he wished he could see a bit.. closer...His face would slowly heat up before a slap on his desk snapped him out of his daze, before he was looking up at the face of the elderly teacher.

"What god is believed to have begun to be worshipped in 711 AD." The teacher would sternly ask, expecting the spaced out student to fumble further.

"Err... Inari-sama sensei." Ichigo would confidently answer, he was glad he had searched for information like that to compare it to some of Soul Society's history. By the look on his teacher's face he got it right and barely escaped having to stay after school. He would straighten up a bit and resist looking back at his own personal siren, only a few more hours...

The day was finally coming to an end, yet Ichigo felt like the excitement of the day was about to begin, he felt that things were about to change, and he hoped that Yume and him could make it official after he told her what she wanted to, Shinigami, Arrancar, he didn't care at that point, Yume's place in his heart was pretty well cemented.

As he headed towards the roof he felt an odd sensation over his body, something akin to chills. Shaking it off he headed up the stairwell to the roof, and stopped a moment when he heard some stern talking on the other side.

"...re you?" Was that... Uryu's voice? "...f cou... ot! ...eave!" Yume! She sounded rather pissed... and she was yelling at Uryu? Just as he reached out to the door to find out what the hell was going on, he head a few small explosions that lightly vibrated the building!

Throwing open the door Ichigo would look at the scene.

~Yume Pov~

Finally, the day had come where Yume could tell Ichigo fully how she felt, and she could remove that heavy albatross from around her neck that was her secret. She had gotten her father's blessing to reveal herself just to him! Despite having the weight of their race on his shoulders he was letting her have this act of selfishness!

The small bodied girl would step out onto the roof and go lean on the fence, eagerly awaiting the strawberry! For a moment when the door started to open she would smile, then would look a bit more concerned as she felt the reiatsu of the school's resident Quincy step out on the roof top... as well as that Orihime girl.

"C-can I help you two?" She would cautiously ask, feeling a bit cornered up on the roof... It wasn't that she didn't like those two, but they seemed to always barely able to contain their distrust or disdain for her.

"Yeah, you can tell us first what you plan to do with Kurosaki, and second, you can tell us What you are...So... What plots are you trying to wrap Kurosaki in? He has been through quite enough."

Yume's mood took a skydive as that Quincy seemed set on prying into her business "Well Quincy, I'm not a Shinigami so it shouldn't matter to you. Maybe one day I'll tell you, but not before Ichigo knows. I'm not trying to drag him into anything." She would fold her arms and deny, honestly she had wanted to get along with the Quincy in her time there, but this particular one seemed hell bent on being an asshole to her from the day she arrived.

"Not the answer I want." He would reply and push up his glasses, an ethereal blue bow forming on his arm, an arrow of pure reishi forming instantly, and being pointed right at Yume's heart.

"You do Not want to try that Ishida-san...Inoue-san are you going to let him threaten me? Or are you here to threaten me also?" She would ask while narrowing her eyes. She had also wanted to get along with Orihime, she had just promised to try and get to know her.

"Ishida-san... you don't need to attack her! Lets just all talk okay?" Orihime would try and calm Ishida down as she looked between the Quincy and... what ever Yume was. "This wasn't part of the plan..."

"So it was a plan was it...I've tried to be nothing but polite to all of you, I'm not out to hurt anyone, least of all Ichigo, I... I care for him a lot. Of course I want nothing but the best for Ichigo, he is supposed to meet me here, so please leave!" She would growl out as she unconsciously let a bit of reiatsu leak out.

Before she could rein it back in, Uryu let loose his arrow right at her, the fact he couldn't even tell what she was by her reiatsu disturbed him to no end. He would find out what she was.

Soon that roof was filled with dust as he fired four arrows at her, and felt her reiatsu surge further, not able to not defend herself. One of those arrows nearly reflected back and hit Orihime in the head, chipping off a corner of the stairwell building before flying off into the distance.

As the smoke began to clear, Yume's electric blue eyes would stare at the two of them, looking more like slitted like a cat's eyes. The gleam of steel reflected light as she pointed the tip of what appeared to be a zanpakuto at them. What struck them more was the six waving appendages behind her, each as white as her short cropped hair. On her head ending with grey were sharp and alert vulpine ears. Her clothes had changed into a white shihakusho

Yume seemed ready to go on the offensive against Ishida before her eyes opened wide, staring past them as the dust cleared. "I-Ichigo I-" She took a few steps back and lowered her sword a bit, hoping her recognize her.

"Y-yume? Is.. that you?" Ichigo would ask as he took in the destruction around him, and at Uryu with his bow still trained on Yume. "Ishida... What the FUCK do you think you are doing to her!" Ichigo would yell as a tiny bit of reiatsu would leak out, not that anyone was calm enough to notice that development. Ichigo would be stomping towards Uryu, before his fist slammed into the Quincy's jaw, sending him and his glasses sputtering to the ground.

"Ichigo! Uryu!" Orihime would cover her mouth as she felt torn about what to do! What was even going on any more? She nearly felt like crying as she met Ichigo's gaze, just as icy as when he had decked Uryu.

"Don't..." He said as he looked away from her, after all they had been through she pulls this? "Just... Don't..." He said as she walked over towards Yume.

"I-I-Ichigo I... I was about to tell you... he attacked me..." She said as her sword shook in her hand, her tails waving wildly. This wasn't how she wanted the day to go! She found she couldn't look him in the eyes, her nails cutting into her palms as she looked down.

She gave a flinch as she felt Ichigo place a hand on her cheek, lifting her face back up "Its okay, I still think you're beautiful, even more so." He said before blushing as he realized what he said was pretty embarrassing...

Away from the two oblivious lovebirds, Orihime would help Uryu up and lead him over to the side to heal his face, sighing as she tried to block out the words Yume and Ichigo were sharing.

Yume sniffled a little as she met Ichigo's eyes, all the emotions of the day wearing her out. "Ichigo...Thank you...I had wanted to tell you all about this here...Would you care to take to my apartment? I think... We have a lot to talk about." She said as she glowed for a moment before those tails disappeared, along with those large ears.

Sparing one last...disappointed look at his two 'friends' he would hold out his hand with a nod "Yes, I'd be happy to." He said, giving her hand a firm grip as she placed her palm on his.

Uryu and Orihime knew they fucked up, especially as they were not even given even a glance as the couple walked away hand in hand.

Neither Ichigo, or Yume noticed the suppressed reiatsu of several groups of Shinigami dressed in all black, along with one white cloak among them. "Kurosaki...I'm sorry we'll have to do this, nothing personal." Soi fong muttered to herself as they followed the couple.

Sorry for the wait everyone! Please review!