Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

Chapter Three: The Clone

Rooftop

The six friends all stared at the orangette before them in sheer disbelief. Ichigo thought that his eyes had to be deceiving him. There, standing right in front of him, was a female version of himself. "You…what…I…" he stammered, unable to comprehend what this person was. Uryu, Chad and Renji kept looking from Ichigo to his clone, just as confused at how they were so identical. This person looked exactly like Ichigo if he'd been born a girl. Orihime and Rukia were in similar states of disbelief.

Shaking off the shock, Ichigo took a step back and looked the girl over. Outside of her face being similar to his, she wore a loose-fitting Shihakusho with a hood, standing just a little shorter than the original Ichigo. Ichigo saw the Zangetsu blade in her hand and realized that the bundled item on her back must have been a copy of his longsword Zangetsu. "What…what are you?" he demanded.

"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," Project Fifteen said, her eyes looking over her original up and down.

Ichigo took a step back and tried to get his bearings straight. "No, you aren't. I am Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Yes you are. But I am Ichigo Kurosaki too," the female clone insisted.

Uryu stepped in between the two, trying to make sense of this situation. He'd seen a lot since meeting Ichigo but this one boggled the mind. "Okay, we've established that you believe you are Ichigo." He pointed at the Zangetsu shortsword in her hand. "But what exactly are you? How do you have Ichigo's Zangetsu blades? Are you a Reigai? A Mod Soul?" Even though he knew Kageroza couldn't create a copy of Ichigo for his invading army, Kisuke did manage to create a Mod Soul with Ichigo's spirit energy so it wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

Looking down at her blade, the clone started to remember things about the blade, about an old man dressed in black standing on a pole. Feelings that weren't hers flowed into her mind. Feelings of jubilation, to trust, to fear and then to betrayal. "Zan…getsu?" she murmured, everything so foreign and confusing to her. "I…I don't understand." She looked up at Uryu with eyes pleading for comprehension. "What…is this?"

"You don't know?" Uryu asked, more confused than ever by her reaction.

"The white…it told me things…but I don't understand them. I came out of the white…and I didn't know where I was…"

"The White?" Renji cocked his head in confusion. "What the hell is the White? You aren't making sense!"

Rukia stopped everyone's questioning and walked forward, convinced that the girl was not a threat. "If you really are Ichigo," she started, ignoring the real Ichigo's protests, "how did we meet?"

"You came into my room one night," Project Fifteen answered, unsure of herself even as the answers came to her. "I made fun of your drawings and you doodled on my face."

Blinking in surprise, Rukia had to take a step back. "That's…" she looked over at the real Ichigo. "I never told anyone about that. How could she possibly know that? You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

"No," Ichigo shook his head. "How do you know that? Why do you have my memories?"

"Because I am Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo wanted to facepalm. This was getting them nowhere. "That's it. We need answers." He grabbed the shortsword out of the clone's hand and examined it. It was indeed an exact copy of his Zangetsu. He handed it back to the female copy before taking her wrist. "Come with me."

"Where are we going?" the clone asked as Ichigo dragged her away.

"To someone who can tell me what the hell is going on!" Ichigo said.

The others, still completely lost at this baffling turn of events, followed Ichigo and the clone. Orihime noticed the hint of jealousy in Rukia's eyes. "Rukia, what's the matter?"

"It's just…" Rukia sighed as she tried to put her finger on it. "How come as a woman Ichigo has bigger breasts than me?"

"That's what you're wondering?!" yelled Ichigo, overhearing her.

Later…
Urahara Shop

Sitting in his living room, Kisuke sipped his hot cup of tea. "How're things going in the shop, Ururu?"

The girl walked out of the hallway and nodded. "Everything is clean, sir," she said.

"Thank you. Why don't you and Jinta go see a movie? Tessai can watch the-"

"KISUKE!" came a shout from outside, startling the ex-Soul Reaper and almost making him spill his tea. "Kisuke, we need you!"

"Or!" Kisuke put his cup down. "We can go and see what all the hubbub is." Getting up, Kisuke put his hat on and walked out the room, Ururu following him. Reaching the front door, he opened it to find a crowd of people in front of him. "And what brings you all here, Mr. Kuro…saki…" Kisuke's eyes were immediately drawn to the orange-haired beauty standing next to him. He looked down at Ururu, who was just as perplexed. "What did you put in my tea?"

Several minutes later…

"-and then I looked up and found myself in a lab," the clone explained, sitting in between Ichigo and Orihime as they sat around the table. Kisuke, Ururu and Tessai all sat together on the other side, Yoruichi in her black cat form lounging in the middle of the table, her eyes glued to the clone out of sheer disbelief. Rukia, Renji, Chad and Uryu sat nearby, listening to the clone's tale. "And then…I just…I don't know…" she looked over at Ichigo. "I was just hit by a sudden urge to find him."

"I see…" Kisuke took off his hat and sighed. "Well, I think Mayuri will be pleased that Project Fifteen didn't die after all."

"Project Fifteen?" Rukia repeated.

"Mayuri's attempt to clone Ichigo."

"What?" yelled an irate Ichigo. 'That freak tried to clone me?!"

"Well, looks like we can say he did more than try," Kisuke retorted, gesturing to the clone. "But I had thought it'd died and Mayuri seemed to give up on making a second attempt. That's why I didn't tell you."

Renji spoke next. "Kisuke, this is serious. Trying to clone Ichigo…" the lieutenant shook his head at the possible implications. "How'd he even get Ichigo's DNA?"

"Well he does bleed a lot. But I think Mayuri tried to clone Ichigo to see if he could replicate his powers. But we watched the clone he made of you dissolve into nothing and spill all over the floor as a clump of white matter."

"That must be the White she was talking about," Rukia speculated. "But…you said that the clone of Ichigo died. So how is she here? And…why is Ichigo's clone a woman now?" she finished, asking the golden question.

Looking the clone up and down, Kisuke thought about it for a long minute before he finally just shrugged. "I dunno."

"What?"

"Hey, I don't have enough information to make a solid guess," the shopkeeper said in his defense. "My closest guess is that Mayuri's incubation material couldn't fully recreate Ichigo's body, so it broke it down to create a brand new body from your DNA, Ichigo." He scratched his chin when he saw the clone looking at Ichigo oddly. "She must have been compelled subconsciously to seek out her originator, hence why she snuck out of the Soul Society to find you."

"Okay but…now what?" Ichigo asked, looking at his clone. The doe-eyed girl staring blankly at him made him feel uncomfortable. "What should we do with her?"

"Well, I wouldn't think it a good idea to inform Mayuri that his experiment survived. He'd drag her back to his lab to do who knows what to her. Tell us," he turned his attention to the clone, "what do you want?"

Looking down at her lap, the long-haired female Ichigo felt lost, like she was surrounded by fog and didn't know which direction to go. "I…I don't know. I wanted to seek out Ichigo Kurosaki, to understand what I am but…" she looked over at her original and felt even more lost. "I don't know what to do."

Still sitting on the table, Yoruichi sat up. "I think this is enough craziness for one day. It's getting late. Ichigo, why don't you take her home with you and we'll meet back here tomorrow once we've all processed this weirdness and think about what to do with her. Hmm…" the black cat turned to the clone, her tail swishing curiously.

"What is it, Yoruichi?" Orihime asked.

"I just realized, we should come up with a name for Ichigo's clone. Calling you both Ichigo would just be confusing. And we can't just call her Ichigo2, now can we?"

The orangette Ichigo blinked in confusion. "A new name? But…I am Ichigo," she insisted.

"Yes you are." The cat trotted over to the girl and put a paw on her hand in support. "You are Ichigo Kurosaki, just as much as he is." She looked over at the real Ichigo and nodded. "But you can't share the same identity. So let's give you a name so you can carve out a new identity. Hmm…" Yoruichi thought about it. "Why not Ichika? It's close to the original, but still different. Much like you."

"Ichika…" the newly christened clone murmured, tasting the name on her tongue. "I…I like that. I can be Ichika…"

Kisuke clapped his hands, bringing everyone's focus back on him. "Well now, it looks like it's settled then. Let's meet back here tomorrow morning so we can discuss things further."

"Kisuke…" Rukia interrupted. "You know we're going to have to inform the captains about this. The whole point of us being here was to find the one who escaped the Soul Society."

"I know," Kisuke sighed. "But I think Kyoraku won't demand that you take the clone back. He'll have his hands full dealing with Mayuri's bad conduct. So for the moment we won't have to worry about him trying to get his mitts on her."

"Alright." Ichigo stood up and looked down at the newly named Ichika. "Man, this is going to be hard to explain to Dad…"

Everyone watched as Ichigo left with his clone, their destination home. Renji noticed Rukia in deep contemplation and nudged her elbow. "Hey, what's up? You thinking about how the clone still has Ichigo's memories?"

"No, I was just thinking about that name. Ichika…I like it. I like it a lot…"

Later…
Ichigo's House

Isshin was in the middle of helping Yuzu cooking dinner. "Those potatoes done, dear?"

Yuzu happily smiled. "Good and mashed, Dad!" the chipper girl said. She smiled when the oven dinged. "Oh! The ham's done!"

Just as Isshin was putting on the oven mitts, he heard the front door open. "Oh, that must be Ichigo. Wonder where he's been all day?" he wondered.

"Dad?" came Ichigo's voice from the living room. "Can you come here? I've someone you need to meet."

Isshin and Yuzu looked at each other confused. "Here," he gave the oven mitts to Yuzu. "Be careful pulling the ham out." He headed out of the kitchen and into the living room to find Ichigo. And with him, sitting on the couch, was an orange-haired young woman who looked very similar to his son.

"I…That's…" Isshin stammered, his face turning white. "Oh my god! Ichigo, I'm…I'm so sorry!" he got down on his knees and started to bow his head in apology. "I'm sorry I never told you! Your mother and I got into an argument! We separated for a few weeks but…but I…I was lonely! I'd never heard of wearing a rubber and-"

"DAD!" Ichigo interrupted. "This isn't your daughter. She's my clone."

"Oh?" Isshin looked up and stared at the clone, realizing that she almost looked like a carbon copy of him. "You…have a clone? How'd that happen?"

Ichigo just stared blankly at his father. "What was all that stuff you just said?"

"Uhhhhh…."

To be continued