Bleach, Persona Series 1. Chapter 1: A Strange New City

__**Disclaimer: Bleach and Shin Megami Tensei are the property of Tite Kubo and Altus.**__

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_Chapter 1: A Strange New City_

_April 6th__ 2009_

"Attention passengers, the train bound for Iwatodai will be leaving in thirty minutes. Passengers heading for Iwatodai should make their way towards the platform. Passengers heading for Sumaru City and Ayanagi City should head towards…" Ichigo ignored the rest of the bulletin since it didn't really concern him that much. Having just got off the train from Karakura Town and now waiting around for another one wasn't the most exciting of experiences. Having nothing better to do right now, his mind wondered into his memories of the past few months.

It was April now and several months had passed since the end of Winter War, and several months since he lost his spiritual powers. At first it hadn't really bothered him much. For the first time in sixteen years he could finally say he had a normal life for once, and he would no longer be bothered by any of the Soul Society's problems or random sprits bothering him at every interval of the day.

Well I guess the old saying of be careful what you wish for existed for a reason, because right now, he completely hated his life. He hated the feeling of powerlessness, he hated the idea of his friends risking their life's fighting hollows while he stood on the side lines, and most of all, he hated the fact that he could no longer protect those close to him anymore.

No. It went far beyond even that. It felt like he lost more than just his powers, it was more like he lost any purpose in his life. The experiences he went through, everything he had seen and accomplished, all of that was gone and he detested it. He tried to fill the void by joining sports clubs at school. He joined every single one, became the star player on every team and it still wasn't enough. After a while certain clubs started paying him to be on their team. The money was nice and all, but it still wasn't enough. It could never replace that hole in his life.

It got to the point where he stopped going to school all together. He'd just lock himself in his room for hours on end, or wonder down to the arcade and waste away any money he happened to have on him at the time. Or on some days, he'd just spend them by his mother's grave, remembering that time in his life when she was still alive. His friends and sisters would occasionally try to get him to go back to school, but he would usually just brush them off and tell them to stop bothering him.

All in all, his life sucked at the moment.

So to get him out of his so called 'funk', his father, Isshin, in his infinite wisdom packed up all of his stuff and sent him to a private school on the other side of the country. Some city he'd never heard of before called Iwatodai. No…that was wrong, there was something about that name that just seemed familiar to him for some reason, but he couldn't quite put his mind on it… It didn't really mater right now anyway. What really mattered was what he was going to do to kill these thirty minutes before his train arrived. With nothing better to do, Ichigo decided to look around the area he was in.

There wasn't anything really interesting that grabbed his attention. It was no different than any other train station in Japan. Deciding to grab a snack before heading back towards the platform, Ichigo began to make his way towards a nearby store that was close by.

Grabbing some various snacks and paying the cashier, Ichigo headed back towards where his train would soon be arriving. _"It'll probably be night by the time I get there at this rate" _Ichigo thought to himself. It was already late in the afternoon at the moment so that was a real possibility.

Because he was lost in his own thoughts, he missed the oddly dressed man eyeing him up curiously.

"Care to have your fortune told?" a voice spoke to him. Ichigo looked to his left hand side, surprised that he had passed somebody without noticing them. It was a man sitting at a simple table covered by a blue cloth, lined up next to a wall, obviously tempting to gain people's attention as they passed by. Since the blue cloth on the table masked most of his lower body, Ichigo couldn't really get much of a good look at the man. But from what he could see, the man was wearing a black turtleneck shirt, a butterfly mask that covered most of his face and possessed brown hair tied up in sideways ponytail. The guy seemed completely surreal if he had to say.

Not to seem rude or anything to this complete stranger, Ichigo decided to replay to oddly dressed man. "I'll pass. I'm not much of a fortune telling kind of guy". It wasn't a lie or anything. He simply didn't believe in things like fortune telling. Rather an odd thing to say for someone who spent the better part of sixteen years conversing with the spirits of the dead.

"Are you sure? I'm surprised you of all people would say that, Ichigo Kurosaki" the masked man smirked, knowing full well that by using Ichigo's name he was sure to get his full attention.

"What! Just how do you know my name? We met before or something?" Ichigo openly wondered. It wasn't impossible that he couldn't have met this guy before. Given his tendency to forget people and his low opinion of fortune tellers that was a real possibility. But still, how did this man know his name?

"I know many things about everyone. I can tell whether they possess the capability for divine love, or the capability for demonic cruelty" The masked man spoke cryptically. "Are you sure I can't tempt you into a quick fortune telling?"

"That doesn't explain how you know me…but…fine whatever" Ichigo sat down at the table and put the bas he was curtly holding on the floor along with his luggage. "It's not like I've got anything better to do right now anyway."

"Good." The man smiled, delighted by the fact the boy had taken him up on his offer.

The masked man pulled a deck of cards from his pocket and placed them on the center of the table. "Are you familiar with how fortune telling works?" the fortune teller asked.

"You use tarot cards don't you?" While Ichigo didn't much care for the trade, he dis possess a basic understanding of how it all worked and what was involved with it.

"That's right. It's interesting you see, each reading is performed with the same cards each time, but the result is always different." The fortune teller placed his hand on top of the cards, and suddenly they each instantly moved across the table into position.

"How did you do that?" Ichigo questioned. This single act proved that the man wasn't normal by any shadow of a doubt. Ichigo had his suspicions of the man since he already knew his name. Maybe he was one of Hat and Clogs friends, or his old man or something. If he still had his spiritual powers he could know in a second by checking to see if this guy had any spiritual pressure.

"That was nothing really" the masked man spoke humbly. "Shall we begin" the man flicked his wrist over one of the cards, almost like he was gesturing to it to flip over. Low and behold it actual did. On the card that was flipped over was the image of a skull in front of a door. Strangely enough the card was upside down. It also posed the Roman numeral XIII at the top of the card.

"Interesting, Death, in the reversed position" the masked man smiled as he read out the card.

"What's that supposed to mean. Am I going to die or something" Ichigo joked. He found it rather hard to take this all seriously, but the fact that this man could move the cards without physically touching them was putting him on edge slightly.

There was also the fact, that even with him doing all these magic tricks, people were simply walking past the two of them, completely ignoring that they were even there! Did this guy do this kind of thing all the time or something? Or were people in this town really that ignorant.

"Contrary to the name of the card, the death Arcana does not in fact refer to the death of anybody. But in fact it refers to the physical and spiritual change that can occur in a person's life" the masked man explained. "At your destination, you will no doubt experience a great change that will affect the life's of you and those around you."

Ichigo didn't like the sound of that. While the card didn't necessarily mean he was going to die, in his experience, great change was usually accompanied by great pain, trouble and annoyances he didn't need nor care for. "Alright what's next then" Ichigo motioned for the fortune teller to carry on. "You do know I have a train to catch, right?"

"Of course" the man nodded politely. He motioned for the next card to flip other. This time the card was upright, with the roman numeral of XVI on the bottom. The card depicted a lightning bolt striking a crumbling tower with black figures falling off of the sides of the tower. "Hmm…the Tower in the upright position. Interesting"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ichigo asked annoyed, wondering just what was so damn interesting about the card.

"It seems that you'll no doubt encounter a great mystery at your destination" the masked man said cryptically. The masked man donned a smirk again and looked directly at Ichigo. "I wonder what actions you will take in the coming days."

"What are you talking about?" Ichigo asked. What the hell was that masked guy talking about, what mystery? Maybe this was just Hat and Clogs in a disguise, or did he hire a fortune teller to screw with him for old times sake. "Hey, you don't happen to know a guy called Kisuke Urahara do you?"

"I have never once encountered a man with that name" the masked man shook his head as he replied.

"Figured as much" Ichigo thought. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Maybe this was just your average fortune teller, who also possessed telekinesis, and you know, not someone who could actual predict the future. "So we done here?" Ichigo didn't wait for a replay as he stood up and grabbed his bags.

"Yes, but before you go, please listen to what I have to say."

"Alright, go on then" another minute so wouldn't hurt him he thought. He guessed it would also be kind of rude of him to just take off, as this guy had been nothing but polite to him since they first met.

The masked man stood up from behind to table and looked straight at Ichigo. "Time never waits, It delivers all equally to the same end. You, who wish to safeguard the future, however limited it may be…You will be given one year, so go forth without falter, with your heart as your guide."

The man's words seemed odd to Ichigo, like they weren't really addressing him. He had no idea what he was talking about either. What did he mean by all of it? "Err…Ok. I'm not really sure what you mean by all of that though."

The masked man slightly chuckled "Don't worry; in time you'll come to understand the meaning of those words."

"Ok, but you still haven't told me how you know my name? Also who are you anyway? You never did tell me" Ichigo pointed out. He hated having information kept from him. Kisuke and his old man had done it enough to him over the past year.

"I know your name because you have a grand role to play in this world's near future" the masked man answered honestly. "As to my identity… I am Philemon, the one who seeks man's enlightenment and guides them towards it."

"What do you mean grand role? And also…" Ichigo was cut off by a small high pitched voice he heard from behind him. He looked towards the direction of the voice and he saw a small girl with what appeared to be her mother walking by.

"Mommy who's that man talking to?" the young girl asked as she pointed towards Ichigo.

"Shush dear, he's probably just crazy, don't look" the mother grabbed her daughters hand and dragged her child along at a brisk pace as they walked quickly away from Ichigo. Probably trying to put as much distance between themselves and the crazy person as possible.

"Huh…déjà vu" Ichigo smiled as he remembered a time in his life fondly. He remembered years ago, people would think he was crazy when he talked to sprits in the middle of the day. From there point of view, it would have looked like he was talking to himself. What he wouldn't do for the old days.

Wait! They thought he was talking to himself!? But he was just talking to that fortune teller.

Ichigo immediately turned on the spot to face the masked man, but to his surprise, the man had disappeared. Not only had he disappeared, the tables and the two chairs they were just sitting on had disappeared as well.

"But he was just here! Where the hell could he have gone?" Ichigo tried racking his brain for an answer. The only solutions he could think of, is that the man could turn himself invisible and nearby objects as well. That wouldn't be completely out of the question as he had heard and seen much stranger things in his life.

The second possible answer is that he was an acquaintance of Kisuke's sent to annoy him. If that was the case, then he could have picked up the table and chairs when he wasn't looking and flash stepped away. The only other explanation is that he really was crazy.

That was always a strong possibility.

"Living with that nut job for sixteen years was bound to make me crazy. It was going to happen eventually I guess" Ichigo sighed to himself. He never could have an easy life could he? The only thing he could do was hope he never runs into the crazy fortune teller again.

"Shit, the train" Ichigo suddenly just remembered about the train he was waiting for.

He quickly began running towards the station, hoping he wouldn't miss the train. It was probably a bad idea to miss his first day at a new school. He's been told that kind of thing tends to leave a bad impression on some people. Not like he cared or anything. He just didn't want to miss the train and have to spend several hours waiting around for another one, that's all.

"We apologize for any delays to you might have encountered. There seemed to be an accident at the station up a head. We hope this hasn't inconvenienced you in anyway" an announcer's voice echoed over the speakers. It was pretty much almost midnight right now and Ichigo had almost made it to Iwatodai.

"About damn time" Ichigo grumbled as he stared out of the window out into the city. It was nothing spectacular or anything, just your average Japanese city. Usual houses, usual dull grey buildings. No different from what you would normally expect to see in any large town or city. From what he heard from Ishida, this school he was going to was built on an artificial island or something. Not that he really cared. A school was a school really.

The view of the city was soon obscured by the darkness of the underground as the train no doubt passed through a tunnel. Ichigo was just about to reach for his phone to check what time it currently was when he noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

A glowing blue butterfly!

"What" Ichigo said surprised. He quickly focused his full attention on what he just saw. But as just as soon as he'd saw it, it had already disappeared.

"_Just what the hell was that? I've never seen a blue butterfly before. Or even one that glows!" _Ichigo thought to himself. There was also the possible fact that he could just be tired and was seeing things that weren't really there.

With nothing better to do, Ichigo's mind drifted to just a few days ago to when his old man was telling him that he would be attending some private school here in Iwatodai.

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_One Week Ago_

_March 31__st__ 2009_

His first year of Highschool had just finished, and even with all the time he had taken off because of his job as a substitute soul reaper or the time after that when he just didn't feel like going in, he still managed to pass, and not only that, pass in the top twenty best students of the year. They couldn't really complain about him taken time of if he did all the work and passed with high grades.

After arriving home one day from spending time visiting his mother's grave, and preventing the usually assault from his father, he was stopped by him by before he even placed one foot on the stairs.

"Hang on a minute Ichigo, I need to have a word with you" Isshin said in a rather serous tone. It was rare for Isshin to act like this, most of the time he acted like an overgrown child who never seemed to have grown up. But when he did, it always got Ichigo's full attention.

"What do you want" Ichigo asked, curious as to why he was speaking to him in that tone of voice.

"We need to talk about something" Isshin said as he walked into the living room. Ichigo followed behind him. He noticed that there weren't alone. Karin and Yuzu were also here as well. Both of them were sat down on the couch. No doubt wanting to know just what had their father in such a serious mood.

"Hey goat chin what's this all about" Karin asked wondering why she and Yuzu were dragged into whatever trouble Ichigo had done to get there old man so serious.

"What this is all about is simple Karin…" Isshin paused for dramatic effect as he jumped up and pointed right at Ichigo. "…You're good for nothing brother is wasting his time moping around and feeling sorry for himself." and just like that it was over. Isshin's serious persona disappeared as quickly as it appeared and his goofy childlike nature returned once more.

"I'm not mopping around" Ichigo mumbled to himself.

He was lying of course. Everyone who knew him could tell that he wasn't being himself at the moment. Although his usually self wasn't energetic or anything to begin with, at least he still attended school and interacted with people he knew. Know though, it seemed like he'd simply given up on even that most of the time.

"Yes you are Ichigo" a concerned Yuzu cried out. "You've stopped going to school, you rarely come out of your room, you spend most of your time at an arcade or at mom's grave and you barley talk to us or any of your friends anymore."

Yuzu's words stung Ichigo. He dint want to admit it but everything she said was the truth, he just didn't want to accept that she was right. But really, how was he supposed to move on, from everything he had done. Did people really expect him to just move on and forget everything that had happened? How could he possibly do that? How could anyone do that?

"…what is this, an intervention or something?" He could see quite clearly what they were trying to do for him. He appreciated it, really. It was comforting and heartwarming to know that his entire family, even his father cared about his wellbeing, but personally, he'd prefer to be left alone if possible right now.

"Of course it is Ichi" Karin shouted. This surprised Ichigo as Karin was never one to get this emotional about something. The only time he remembered when she was like this was when she found out about that boys soul stuck in that parakeet. "Yuzu's not the only one that's worried, we all are. I, Yuzu, goat chin and all of your friends are worried about you. We want to help you, but you keep pushing us away"

Ichigo didn't think trying to distance himself from them would have this kind of effect on them. It made him feel like such as ass when he thought about it.

"…I…I'm sorry Karin, Yuzu…I'm sorry. But how do you expect me to just move on with my life after everything that's happened?" Ichigo didn't know what to think about right know. Just what was he supposed to do?

"Well, at least your man enough to admit your problems" Isshin said as he stood up from the couch and stood in front of everyone. "Attention, your amazing and handsomely beautiful father has an announcement to make" Ichigo face palmed himself after that declaration. Leave it to his old man to act like his usually annoying self during a serious moment like this.

"What the hell are you going on about now" Ichigo asked annoyed. Just when they were actually getting somewhere with his problems, his old man had to pull a stunt like this.

"What I'm talking about my ungrateful son, is that I have the solution to your problems" Isshin declared triumphantly liked he'd just won a war or something of equal importance. "As of this moment Ichigo is no longer enrolled in Karakura Highschool."

"What! How exactly does that help my situation?" Ichigo shouted angrily, he wanted to know what right his old man had to remove from his school without even consulting with him first.

"Simple really, this town holds too many memories for you. So I believe it would be best for you to leave for a while, while you sort out yourself out" Isshin said in a moment of logic that he rarely displays.

"Yeah, and just where do you think I should go then?" Ichigo asked still annoyed by his father's previous declaration.

Isshin smirked and reached into his coat pocket and removed a pamphlet of some kind. "To here" Isshin through the pamphlet into Ichigo's face.

Ichigo quickly grabbed the pamphlet so it didn't hit him in the face. While he no longer possessed any spiritual ability's what so ever, all those months of fighting had bolstered his reaction time to near superhuman levels. There was a reason just about every sports team at Karakura High had wanted a piece of him for their team at some point.

The pamphlet seemed to be advertising some private school he'd never heard of before. Some place in a city called Iwatodai. The name of the school was called…"Gekkoukan Highschool…huh"

"That's right. I had to call in a favor somebody owed me, but I have already…" Isshin was interrupted by the pamphlet, crumbled up into a ball, hitting him square in the face.

"I'll pass, I'm fine here you know" Ichigo was halfway getting up when a hand grabbed hold of his arm in an attempt to stop him from moving. It was Yuzu trying to stop him from leaving the room.

"Ichigo listen, never me or Karin want you to leave, but this is for your own good" Yuzu had an expression on her face that could only be described as a mixture of about to cry and annoyed, an expression she showed as much as Karin cried.

"Even you're all for this" He couldn't believe Yuzu was taking his old man's side. He thought she'd be the one most vocal about Ichigo staying. "What about you Karin. What do you think I should do?"

"I think you should go Ichigo. Like dad said, everything here is only going to remind you of everything you used to have. I think some time away in another city will do you some good" Her answer surprised Ichigo but it wasn't a shock. Karin was far more mature than her appearance suggested and he had a feeling that would be her answer.

It looks like everyone was dead set on him attending this school. "Hey, old man" Ichigo shouted towards his father who was standing of to the side of the room rubbing his face. "When exactly do I have to leave?"

"In three days, so you bet…" Isshin didn't get the chance to finish his sentence as he was punched right in the face by a very pissed of Ichigo.

"I have to leave in three days and you're only telling me now!" Ichigo shouted at a now crying Isshin as he rocked backwards and forwards on the floor while cradling his broken nose. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I-I wanted to surprise you" Isshin stuttered as he stood back up on two feat.

"Yeah well I'm surprised. You happy" Ichigo asked rhetorically as he headed upstairs to pack most of his stuff. It was just like his dad to just spring something on him like this at that.

A few days later, after his friends found out he was leaving; they decided to throw him a going away party. Chad, Orihime, Tatsuki, Keigo, Mizuiro and surprisingly Uryu had arrived as well. They understood Isshin's reasoning for sending Ichigo to another city for a while. What surprised them most, was that this was all Isshin's idea to begin with.

"You know, when you mentioned your father was…hyperactive, I thought you were exaggerating quite a bit" Ishida had to admit. He never expected Isshin would have acted this childish. "But actually meeting him…"

"Yeah, that's most people's reaction to meeting him for the first time" Ichigo shrugged, he wasn't going to make any excuses for his old man. "By the way, way did you show up anyway?"

"I wasn't planning on to" Ishida mentioned. "It's just that your father can be very… persuasive"

"He dragged you here didn't he" Ichigo guessed as he slipped on a drink. That would be the only reason as to why Ishida actually decided to show up. The two of them never really got along with each over. But he supposed that had to do with the fact he possessed the powers of a Soul Reaper back then.

"O-Of course not, like I'd allow myself to be manhandled by your father. I came here because the others asked me two" Ishida quickly tried to cover up the truth of what actual happened with the first thing he thought of.

"No we didn't" Keigo shouted from the other side of the room as he was talking to Mizuiro.

Ichigo smirked at Ishida after just hearing Keigo's outburst. "Shut up" he quickly tried to control and prevent Ichigo from making a joke at his expense. He decided to move the conversation into a much more serious topic. "By the way Ichigo, have you ever heard of something called Apathy Syndrome?"

"No I haven't. Is that some kind of new disease or something?" He wasn't lying. He hadn't heard of this disease before then. It was probably because he hadn't really be paying attention to anything lately.

"Technically yes, but no one knows quite sure how it's contracted. I'm only telling you this because as of now, the only city in the world that has this disease is Iwatodai" Ishida said ominously.

"Seriously, figures" Ichigo moaned. It was just like this to happen wherever he seemed to go.

"I have no doubt your father is aware of this, yet he still decided to send you to school in this city regardless of that." Ishida pointed out.

He had a feeling there had to be some reason as to why Isshin was sending Ichigo's to this city in particular. His _father,_ Ryūken, once mentioned something about Ichigo's father, and that was not to underestimate the man. It was clear there was some history between their parents. But what that history pertained to was a complete mystery.

When he first encountered Ichigo in High school and noticed his rather high level of Spirit Energy, he decided to do some research into his family's history. To his surprise, there was mention of a Quincy family with the name Kurosaki. Whether or not that Ichigo's family is what the text was referring to, it would certainly spread some like on the enigma that was Isshin Kurosaki of it was true.

"Doesn't really matter" Ichigo brushed of Ishida's concern for him. "It's not like I'll actually catch this disease or anything."

"But still, you should try to be more mindful of what's going on" Ishida cautioned. Ichigo would have responded to him, if he hadn't seen someone approaching him.

"Yo, what are you guy's talking about?" Tatsuki asked as she walked towards the two of them.

"Not much" Ichigo shrugged. "He's just crying about how much he's going to miss me, that's all."

"No I'm not" Ishida tried to defend himself.

"Hey what are you guys talking about, and why's Ishida shouting?" Mizuiro asked as he, Keigo, Chad and Orihime walked towards the group.

"I'm not shouting" Ishida was getting tired of this. He was only trying to make Ichigo aware of the dangers of where he was heading and know everyone was heckling him. "Forget this…" Ishida had enough and left the room, trying to get away from everyone else.

"What's his problem?" Keigo asked, wondering just what had pissed Ishida of so much that he decided to get away from all of them.

"No idea" Ichigo said innocently enough, trying to feign any accusation that might be thrown his way.

"Well were goanna miss you Ichigo. Nobody was able to keep Keigo inline like you" Mizuiro said, only for Keigo to get a pained look on his face.

"What! What's that supposed to mean?" Keigo shouted. Ichigo chuckled, he was going miss Keigo's usually antics. Even if he didn't admit, Keigo was still a friend of his.

Because of Keigo's complaining that nobody cared about him, he wasn't able to doge out of the way of Tatsuki as she punched Ichigo in the arm.

"Ow, dammit, what the hell was that for?" Ichigo asked, surprised that Tatsuki would punch him for no reason. He was sure he hadn't done anything to piss her of…yet.

"That was for changing schools without telling us" Tatsuki shouted.

Ichigo sighed. Why was everyone shouting at him tonight? "Hey I didn't even know about it until the other day. So if you want to have a go at somebody then take your anger out on the bastard in the corner over there" Ichigo pointed to his father who was currently in the corner of the room, tied to chair, gagged and blindfolded so he couldn't speak or move.

"I already did before. Remember" Tatsuki was referring to about half an hour ago when Isshin suggested she and Orihime should sleep with Ichigo as a going away gift. Surfeit to say, he wasn't exactly in the state of mind to say much after that. Or walk for that matter either.

"Yeah…I'm trying to forget that conversation ever happened" Ichigo said as he rubbed the sides of his head. Over the years, he'd gotten accustomed to his old man saying stupid and embarrassing shit, so he really should have seen something like this coming from miles away.

"So Ichigo, how long are you planning on staying at this school for?" Orihime asked curious. Like the other's she knew Ichigo wasn't really happy at the moment. They all agreed that Ichigo leaving Karakura Town for a while was the best solution for him.

"I don't know, a year probably" Ichigo shrugged. He really didn't know himself. He thought he'd just see how it goes for a while and make a decision at a later date.

"I think you should stay for as long as you feel is needed, Ichigo" Chad said.

"You think?" Ichigo asked. Chad had always been good at reading people and figuring out there emotions. He was probably the first person to realize how miserable he really was.

"That's right. You should stay as long as you want. After all, I've already taken care of everything. So you should be grateful towards me for everything I've done for you" Isshin said proudly with so much enthusiasm, it was almost suffering.

"…How'd you get out of the chair?" Ichigo asked the number one question that was on everyone's mind currently.

"Nonsense" Isshin shouted at the top of his lungs. "No amount of ropes can hold your amazing father now."

Ichigo kicked Isshin in his stomach sending him to the floor crying. "Will you be quiet. It's nine a clock at night and your goanna wake the neighbors again" Ichigo complained. "I'm goanna step outside a minute. I think I have a headache coming on again."

Ichigo ignored his father crying about how his own son didn't love him as left the house for a minute. Tonight was one annoyance after another, all thanks to his old man. The prospect of leaving Karakura Town was looking better every second, since he would be miles away from his old man.

"Well I see your father is as lively as ever" a voice came from just beside him. It was a man that most would probably assume to be a bum of some kind. It was a blond haired man wearing a striped bucket hat, a green robe and pants, a black haori, clogs on his feet and wielding a cane. These features all belong to Karakura's resident candy shop owner and all around annoyance, Kisuke Urahara.

"Huh, what are you doing here, Hat and Clogs?" he was surprised to see Kisuke here. It's not like he invited him or anything. Word probably got out he was having a going away party, and knowing Kisuke, he was probably going to show up even if no one invited him.

"What! Can't I come see you before you leave tomorrow?" Kisuke asked, looking hurt that Ichigo hadn't even invited him to the party.

"Sure I guess. It's just that I haven't heard from you in several months" Ichigo said. He hadn't seen Kisuke since he awoke from his coma after using the Saigo no Getsuga Tenshou. So why was he now?

"Well I've been busy helping the Soul Society mop up the rest of Aizen's Arrancar's. It was probably less time consuming dealing with Aizen himself than the amount of time it's taking to clean up after him" Kisuke complained. Although most of the time, Kisuke was occupied with other things he didn't wish Ichigo to know about, so he just lied to him.

"Is that so" Ichigo sighed. He didn't really want to know what Kisuke was up to. Because no doubt it would bring up memories he would rather not think about. Ever that or he was probably of doing something illegal. He'd put his money on the latter. "So why are you hear? And this time I want the truth."

"Well I came here to give you your going away present" Kisuke smirked as he pulled out a phone from one of the packets in his haori. He throw it towards Ichigo who caught it without any problem. It was a smartphone. Probably a better version of the same one he already had. Ichigo took one look at it and deduced Kisuke had probably modified it for some reason. It's the only reason why Kisuke would give him something like this. He was kind of annoying like that.

"So what did you do to it?" Ichigo asked.

"What makes you think I've done anything to it to begin with?" Kisuke questioned. Why did Ichigo always question him? Couldn't he ever do anything without people questioning his every motive?

"You never give away anything without making some sort of motive or modification to it. So I'm goanna ask again, what did you do to it?" Ichigo asked with his trademark scowl. Knowing Kisuke it was probably a gag gift. One that explodes in your face the moment you turn it on.

"Nothing I promise" Kisuke said while hiding his face behind his fan. Because of that, Ichigo couldn't determine what his facial expressions were really saying about him at that moment.

"Right" Ichigo said sarcastically while he pocketed the phone. Looking back, Kisuke never did anything without a reason behind it. And he doubted giving him a phone was part of some big master plan or something.

The rest of the night went by un-eventfully, besides the occasional embarrassing outburst from Isshin that was. The next day his family and friends gathered to see him off at the train station. From what his father told him, he would have to get another train at the next stop that would take him the rest of the way.

He had already put on his new uniform that was already waiting for him. It was pretty simple. A black blazer and pants and a white shirt. The only part of it that he wasn't wearing was the stupid string tie. No way was he wearing that thing, it looked ridicules in his opinion.

"Don't' worry Yuzu, Karin, I'll be fine. I'll make sure to stay in touch" Ichigo reassured his sisters that he was going to be okay and that he would try to keep in contact with him.

"I'm not worried" Karin reassured Ichigo. "I just wish you would take him with you" Karin gestured towards his father.

"I can't believe my own daughter wants to get rid of me" Isshin cried, looking betrayed at the thought of his own flesh and blood was trying to get rid of him.

"Can't say I'm going to miss him much" Ichigo said sarcastically at his father's expense.

"I'd tell you to be careful, but I'm sure you already know that" Ishida said in usual caring way.

"Didn't expect you to actually show up" Ichigo admitted. Ichigo looked at Keigo and Mizuiro. "No one dragged him here this time did they?"

"No. Actually he was here before any of us" Mizuiro pointed out. When he and Keigo showed up at the station, the only person they recognized there was Ishida.

"S-Shut up" Ishida quickly tried to cover up his outburst. "Besides, not showing up would have probably been considered rude."

"Hey Ichigo try not to put to many thugs in the hospital while you're there, your dad can't bail you out while you're in another part of the country" Tatsuki called out. "That kind of thing tends to give people the wrong impression about you." It was true, most people at Karakura High were wary of the orange haired teen because of his tendency to attract trouble from local delinquents. Because of that he had a reputation as a trouble maker and a delinquent. His natural orange hair didn't help matters either.

"Don't blame me if someone try's attacking me" Ichigo saw the need to defend himself. He had never once gone looking for a fight. Most of the fights he got into where either caused by idiots trying to bully him or idiots bullying others in his sights.

"She kind of has a point Ichigo" Keigo pointed out. He remembered his first day of highschool and how terrified he was when he learnt he was going to the same school as Ichigo and Chad. Later on he found out they were actually nothing like the rumors had mentioned them to be.

"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind." Ichigo said.

"Try to stay safe Ichigo" Orihime said in her usual bubbly voice. The orange haired healer never liked seeing her friends hurt. So it was natural for her to say something like this.

"Don't worry I will. Besides what could I possibly get up to anyway" Ichigo mentioned. He unfortunately no longer had any of his powers, which acted as a magnet for trouble to begin with, so there wasn't much he could get up to anyway.

"Please try to stay out of trouble Ichigo. I don't think your sisters would appreciate you going to a new city and falling back into your old ways" Chad said, worried that Ichigo might find himself in trouble somehow.

"Why is everyone worried I'm going to get into some kind of trouble" Ichigo questioned everybody present. Everyone there shared a look between themselves.

"That's because trouble always seems to follow you Kurosaki" Ishida said, pointing out something he thought was obvious.

"He does have a point Ichigo. Most of the time you were involved with whatever trouble was plaguing the town." Chad had to agree with Ishida on that one. Trouble always seemed to have a certain interest in one orange hared individual.

"Yeah well I don't think that's going to happen anymore" Ichigo would have continued on, but the sound of the train arriving made it almost impossible to think. "Well looks like this is it. I'll see you guys around."

Everyone said there goodbye's to Ichigo as he boarded the train. As the train departed from the station, he took one last look back at the people he was leaving behind. He wouldn't see them for a while, but like they said, that town had too many memories for him currently. Going to school in another city was probably for the best and they all agreed on that. Ichigo stowed his luggage in the overhead compartment and took a seat while flicking through the phone Kisuke gave him the other day.

Looking back, he hoped nothing actual happened to him. His friends were right about one thing; trouble always did have a way of finding him sooner or later. He just hoped it happened later that sooner in his opinion.

* * *

_April 6th__ 2009_

_Iwatodai Station_

The sound of the train slowing down broke Ichigo out of his thoughts, it looked like he was almost at his destination.

"Attention passengers…We sincerely apologize for any delays we might have caused you…if you have any complaints please…" Ichigo ignored the rest of the guys' massage as he noticed the train was coming to a complete stop.

"Well, looks like this is it" he thought to himself. Ichigo picked up his luggage from the floor and made his way towards the front of the train. Ichigo pulled out a piece of paper out of his pocket as he made his way off of the train. It was showing him the directions to the dorm he would be staying at.

From the glass hole in the ceiling of the station, Ichigo realized it must be the middle of the night. He pulled out his phone to check what time it was, it turned out it was almost midnight. Sighing at what time it was, Ichigo put his phone away and carried on walking out of the station. Then it happened. All the electricity in the station went out, and everything went silent. No sound of machines running and no sound of any panicked voices. Just absolute silence.

"A power outage! Seriously" he thought out loud. No, that wasn't it. It wasn't just the power, there were no emergency lights either, and they would usually switch on in the case of a blackout. But more importantly, there was none of the typical pancaking you would normally expect when the modern world was inevitably brought to a grinding halt.

Ichigo quickly looked around and came to the realization as to why he didn't hear anybody else. That was because he was the only one really there to begin with. The people that were walking behind him and to the side of him were replaced by black coffins standing upright.

"What the fuck is going on" Ichigo couldn't help but swear. Sure he'd seen some odd things in his life, but how was anyone meant to respond to something like…this? All he could do now was leave the station and head out into the city.

* * *

_April 6th 2009_

_Iwatodai_

The city was no different either. Actual it was far more disturbing out here than it was inside of the station. The entire city seemed to be bathed in a green glow. The white glow of the moon, now replaced with a sickly green hue, blanketed the city almost depressingly, and most disturbingly of all, a lot of the ground was covered in puddles of blood. A fountain that he had just passed by had a pool of blood in it. It was like somebody had converted the entire world's water supply into blood or something!

Ichigo couldn't help but think that this was all one elaborate joke somebody was playing on him. Not even five minutes had passed in this new city and already something was fucked up.

"I fucking swear the universe just hates me" Why was it always him and not somebody else, why not Ishida instead. He was born with spiritual energy, and he still possessed it. So why was it that the universe seemed to have designated him as its resident bitch? Ichigo decided to check what time it was again, mostly out of comfort really than any real obligation to check what time it was.

Thankfully his phone still worked when nothing else did. It was those small things in life that can brighten up any depressing situation. The clock on his phone said it was exactly midnight. He was sure several minutes had already passed in between when he last looked and now. With nothing better to do, Ichigo decided to head on to this dorm he would be staying in for the next year or so.

While following the directions laid out on the map he was given, he couldn't help but think back to what that fortune teller, Philemon was saying earlier. _"It seems that you'll no doubt encounter a great mystery at your destination"_ Philemon's voice echoed through his mind. Was this the mystery he was talking about?

As he was walking, he couldn't help but be reminded of Hueco Mundo. The eeriness of where he currently was remained him to much of that dimension. It was because of the absolute silence that they both had in common. Both of them lacked any human presence what so ever or the typical sounds of life in modern day Japan. Ichigo couldn't help but think, was he the only person not in a coffin right now? And why was it that he had never experienced this before? Was this strangeness limited to this specific city or anywhere else and why?

Right now Ichigo couldn't answer any of those questions that were plaguing his mind. All he could do was hope that whatever was going on ended soon.

After a while Ichigo made it to the dorm. At least he thought it was the dorm. It matched the picture and the address on the paper he had, so it must be it. Surprisingly, this was the only building that still had the lights on. Ichigo walked up to the door and entered the building.

* * *

_April 6th 2009_

_Dorms_

The place seemed to be deserted. It didn't look like anyone was here, just to be safe, Ichigo decided to call out and see if anyone was here. "Hey anyone here" he shouted.

"Welcome" a voice called out. Ichigo quickly looked in the direction of the voice. It belonged to a small boy, probably a year or two younger than Yuzu or Karin. The kid was dressed in a black and white striped shirt and pants and blue sandals on his feet. He also had black hair, blue eyes and a beauty mark under his left eye. The kid's outfit kind of reminded him of the uniform inmates used to wear in prison decades ago. "Your late you know. I've been waiting a long time"

The kid's word's made Ichigo feel like an asshole. Here he was complying about his problems when this ten year old kid was awake at midnight waiting for him to show up. "Sorry about that. There was a delay with the train" Ichigo sheepishly apologized to the kid. He didn't know whether or not to mention everything that was going on outside. For now, he thought it would probably be best to keep that information to himself.

"That's fine. But if you want to proceed you're going to have to sign a contract" the boy gestured to the counter just to the left of where Ichigo was currently standing. The boy walked over to it and opened it up, showing Ichigo the contents of the contract. "Don't worry about it, all it says it that you will accept full responsibility for your actions. You know, the usually stuff."

Ichigo walked over towards the counter where the contract laid. "I thought that my old man already took care of all the school related stuff?" Ichigo asked confused, he was never told he had to sign a contract himself. He never did at his old school anyway. Maybe it was different.

"This one has to be signed by you exactly. No else is allowed to sign their name" the kid spoke as Ichigo picked up a nearby pen and read through the contract.

It looked pretty standard and there was nothing odd written in it. The only thing that stood out about it was the line that said "I choose this fate of my own free will." Was it saying that no matter what he did, he couldn't blame anyone else except himself? That seemed fair enough. He didn't think he had ever blamed anyone else for his problems in his life before, and he certainly wasn't going to start now anyway. Ichigo quickly signed his name on the contract and handed it to the boy.

The small boy took hold of the contract and held it close to his chest. "No one can escape time. It delivers us all to the same end" the boy spoke ominously as the shadows of the room began to cover him. "You can't plug your ears and wish it will go away" the boy chuckled as he disappeared into the darkness. "And so it begins…"

Yet again he was alone in the room, and now confused as to what the hell just happened. "I can never have easy life, can I" Ichigo complained to himself. In hindsight, the fact that he even encountered somebody when everybody else seemed to be in those coffins should have made him suspicious. Maybe it was because he was just tired and not thinking straight. He was about to complain some more until he was interrupted by someone.

"…Who's there?" another voice rang out. This time it belonged to a girl. Probably around his age if he had to guess from her appearance. She had shoulder length brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing a pink cardigan over what he assumed was her school uniform. She had a very short skirt and knee high socks. But the most striking feature about her was the gun strapped to her right thigh. The gun she was about to reach for.

Admittedly Ichigo had very little to no experience dealing with people that had guns. Either because the thugs he occasionally ran into weren't connected enough to get their hands on weapons like that. Or the other type of people he used to deal with, who were simply too fast to be hit by a bullet, and too strong for a bullet to even be able to penetrate there skin. But that didn't mean he was helpless.

If it came down to it, he might have to somehow disarm her somehow. Given her current stance, Ichigo couldn't help but notice she was scared. It looked like she'd never used that weapon before. That evened the odds a bit in his favor. He was no expert in firearms obviously, but he knew quite well that any weapon in the wrong hand's in more likely to hurt the wielder than the one on the receiving end.

But before Ichigo could put any plan into action, another voice rang out. "Takeba wait!" the voice that called out seemed to have calmed the girl down. It seemed to have come from some redhead. As soon as she walked into the room, the electricity came back on. Did that mean all that weirdness outside was over? Too bad he couldn't go out and check right now.

"I didn't think you'd arrive so late" the redhead said to him. Getting a better look now the power was back on, the girl had long red hair that covered a portion of her face and obscured her left red eye. She wore a white school shirt with a red bow and was wearing a knee length skirt with high heels. Ichigo was starting to get the impression that this school was relatively lax with its dress code considering what these two girls were wearing.

"Sorry about that, the train was running a bit late" Ichigo explained to the redhead. He supposed he should be thankful for the fact that if she hadn't shown up just then, then he might have had to try to disarm that girl somehow.

"That's fine. These things tend to happen now and then" the redhead said understandingly. "My name is Mitsuru Kirijo. I'm one of the students who lives in this dorm" Mitsuru said, putting a name to a face.

"…Who's he?" the crazy gun girl asked Mitsuru, probably wanting to know just who the hell he was.

"His name's Ichigo Kurosaki. He's the transfer Student I told you about. It was…a last minute decision to assign him here. He'll eventually be moved to a room in the boy's dorm" Wait, boy's dorm. Then what the hell was this. Wait don't tell me it's…

"Wait a minute, don't tell me this is the girl's dorm or something" Ichigo blurted out. Damn you old man. He just knew something like this was going to happen. It was just like that perverted basted to pull something like this. Favors my ass….

"What! No it isn't, but I can understand your confusion. This is a coed dorm" Mitsuru cleared up that little understanding. Ichigo really needed to stop blaming these little misunderstandings on his father. But given his father's tract record, he was bound to be right one of these days.

Mitsuru gestured to the brown haired girl standing next to her "By the way, this is Yukari Takeba. She'll be a junior this spring, just like you"

"…Hey" Yukari said almost uncaringly. He was starting to get the feeling she didn't care much for his presence here. We'll if she wanted to play awkward so could he.

"Hey. Quick question, why do you have a gun? Just seems strange for a random teenage girl in this country to be walking around with a gun" Ichigo asked, just waiting to see what kind of answer he got.

"Um, well it's sort of a hobby" Yukari quickly thought up an answer. "We'll not a real hobby but…"

"Hey don't worry, it's cool. Some people have weird hobby's, it's you know, totally normal" Ichigo said in the most deadpanned voice he could muster.

"…Thanks, I think" Yukari couldn't help but notice that this guy was kind of messing with her. Probably because from his perspective, she almost shot him before. So she decided to let him of this time.

"It's getting late, so you should probably get some rest. Your room is on the second floor at the end of the hallway. Your things should already be there" Mitsuru said as she pointed toward the stairs.

"…Oh, I'll show you the way. So follow me" Yukari offered to show him the way to his room. It wasn't like he couldn't have found it himself; the redhead already told him where it was. But I guess he shouldn't turn down her hospitality right after meeting her.

"Sure lead the way" Ichigo said as he picked his back of the floor and followed Yukari up the stairs to the next floor. There seemed to be six rooms on the second floor and a small area with a table and vending machine near the stairs. Yukari took him to the door at the far end of the hallway. His room was the one at the fair end of the hallway on the right-hand side.

"So this is it. Pretty easy to remember right" She gestured to the door.

"I think I can remember where my own room is" Ichigo mentioned. Seriously, what did this girl take him for, an idiot? Just who in their right mind would forget where there room was. Well besides somebody who was drunk that was.

"Hey stranger things have happened" Yukari shrugged. "So do you have any questions you'd like to ask?"

Several actually, but he decided to stick with the one that was bothering him the most. "There was some weird kid back in the lobby, made me sign some sort of contract. Know anything about that" It was a long shot, but since she seemed to awake when everyone else was in a coffin, he thought she might have seen him before.

"What kid? What are you talking about? There aren't any kids that live here" Yukari answered almost visually scared for some reason. Did she know something, or was she just scared at the prospect of some mystery kid?

"You know what. Just forget I asked" Ichigo sighed as he took a hold of the doorknob. He was about to enter his room, but before he could, Yukari spoke to him.

"Hey, did anything strange happen to you on your way form the train station" Yukari asked, getting Ichigo's full attention.

"What do you know about that" Ichigo spoke in his most serious tone while glaring at her. He might as well see what she knows about what just happened outside before.

"No-nothing, it doesn't matter. I-I'll see you tomorrow then. Goodnight" Yukari panicked when Ichigo asked her that. She didn't know how to respond to his answer. So all she could do was walkway and see what Mitsuru thinks.

"Goodnight, I guess" Ichigo said as he watched Yukari walk away, no, better make that ran away. Maybe that wasn't the best idea he ever came up with. If she really did know something, then she'll now doubly tell that redhead friend of hers that he knew something was up.

"I'll deal with it tomorrow" Ichigo said as he entered his new room. It was pretty basic, a sink near the door, a desk near the window and a bed in the corner. After everything that happened today, Ichigo just wanted a goodnight's sleep for a change. He hadn't realized just how tired he really was up until now. He didn't bother even changing out of his uniform. He just fell right on the bed and fell blissfully asleep, unaware of the conversation that was currently going on right now.

* * *

"So, did you find anything out?" Mitsuru asked as she slipped on a cup of tea she made while Yukari was escorting Ichigo to his room.

"He defiantly knows about the dark hour" Yukari confirmed her suspicions about him. Mitsuru thought this was the case, but now she had actual proof, not just wild theories.

"I already had my suppositions about him, but the fact he arrived at the dorm during the dark hour proves he has the potential" Mitsuru said.

"How come you were already suspicious about him? We only just met him" Yukari wondered. Sure he appeared during the dark hour, which was one thing. But what else did she know about him.

"Remember when I said that it was a 'last minute decision' to place him here in this dorm" Mitsuru used air quotes to get here point across.

"Yeah" Yukari remembered back to there earlier discussion with Ichigo.

"I lied" Mitsuru said surprising Yukari in the process. "In actuality, it was my father's decision to place him here" she said uncomfortably.

"Why would he do that? Does he know he can see the dark hour?" Yukari asked confused.

"I don't know. There's quite a lot my father still hasn't told me regarding the dark hour" Mitsuru said in an unsure voice.

"_So there's stuff even she doesn't know"_ Yukari thought. She had her own suspicions regarding Mitsuru keeping secrets from her, but know it turns out her own father was keeping secrets from even her! Did her entire family not trust anyone or something?

"Hey, I'm back" a young man walked through the door looking tired. He was wearing some variation of the school uniform, with a red vest over a white shirt and black pants. Oddly enough he had silver hair of all things and a bandage over his left eye.

"Ah, Akihiko, your back" Mitsuru smiled as Akihiko closed the front door behind him and walked towards the two girls siting by the table. "I thought you would've been back sooner" she wondered.

"Sorry about that. I didn't run into any shadows while I was out, so I waited around until the dark hour ended to grab some ramen" Akihko apologized, as he rubbed the back of his neck. "So, anything happen while I was away?"

"Why yes. It seems our potential new member arrived while you were away" Mitsuru said, to Akihiko's astonishment.

"Seriously! At this hour" Akihiko said surprised.

"He said the train was running late" Mitsuru explained. "But more importantly, he arrived during the dark hour."

"Really? So your theory about him was right after all" Akihiko smirked at the prospect of recruiting a new member for the group. "So, do you plan on explaining everything to him?" Akihiko asked.

"Not right now" Mitsuru shook her head as she replied. "We'll continue to observe him some more to see if it wasn't a fluke. After that, then we'll see if he can actual summon a persona."

"Cool. I'm tired so I'll see you two tomorrow then" Akihiko waived behind him as he headed up stairs to his room.

"I'm going to go to bed as well Senpai" Yukari said as she headed of the bed as well.

"Of course, goodnight you two" Mitsuru said as she continued to drink her tea. And reflect on what happened today. Or more specifically she was thinking about their new transfer student in particular.

She was surprised to hear from her father the other day that he was sending somebody to their dorm. Somebody he believed could be of use to them. There really wasn't anything out of the ordinary about Kurosaki. The only odd thing about him, is that between the months of May and October last year, he had taken a substantial amount of time off from school. All though according to his records, that was mainly due to medical reasons with several doctor's backing up these claims.

Despite that though, he still seemed to do well academically, despite the amount of time he had seemed to have taken off. What seemed to stand out the most however, was his father. Isshin Kurosaki. The man, for all intents and purposes, was a complete enigma. It was like somebody had completely erased his entire background, either that or it never existed to begin with, but that was unlikely. She had asked her father to take a look into him, but he had refused to do so. She had no idea as to why her father would have refused, if it was about a new potential member of the group, but she knew he must have his reasons and trusted his judgment. Hopefully it was nothing, but she'd was going to have Takeba take him to school tomorrow. Maybe she could try to get some more information from him.

* * *

Well this came out of nowhere. This is mostly something I decided to write on a whim. Doesn't mean I won't put much effort into it, but don't expect to many updates since my life is quite busy at the moment. All though I will try to update this story as soon as I have any free time.


	2. Chapter 2: First Day of School

__**Disclaimer: Bleach and Shin Megami Tensei are the property of Tite Kubo and Altus.**__

* * *

_Chapter 2: First Day of School_

_7th__ April 2009_

_Iwatodai Dorm_

"Someone, kill me…"Ichigo moaned as he slowly dragged himself out of bed. It was early in the morning, god knows what time it was and the sun was peering through the windows. That probably meant it was almost time for his first day at a new school. Since he fell to sleep last night in his uniform, getting dressed was obviously not a problem.

What was a problem though, is that he had no idea where his school even was!

Nobody had told him where it was, and none of the school related papers and documents he was given gave him any directions. Ishida mentioned something about an artificial island, so if that was the case then it was probably located by the coast.

"Screw it; I'll just follow someone wearing the same uniform until I find the place" Ichigo said to himself. With a plan in mind Ichigo went to the sink to brush his teeth. Well he was going to until he remembered he never unpacked any of his stuff. All of his belongings were probably in some of the boxes stacked up on top of each over in the corner of the room.

Ichigo rummaged around in one of the boxes until he pulled out his truth brush. He passed on unpacking the rest of his stuff, as Kirijo had mentioned the other night that his room was only temporary and that he would have to move again duo to him being a last minute assignment or whatever. Didn't really bother him that much, but it made him wonder why he was assigned here to begin with.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door. "Hey it's Yukari, are you awake?" A voice said coming from behind his door. Ichigo quickly spat out the toothpaste that was in his mouth and opened up the door. "Good morning. You sleep well?" She asked from behind the doorway.

"Not really. Still feel tired a bit" Despite getting roughly seven hours of sleep last night, Ichigo couldn't help but just want to crawl back into bed and screw school for the day.

"Well that was probably from the train ride yesterday. I'm sure you'll feel better tomorrow or something" Yukari smiled. "By the way Mitsuru Senpei asked me to take you to school. She said that you might not know your way there. You ready to go?"

Ichigo was slightly thankful she had shown up just then. Not that he would admit it of course, but now he had a guaranteed method of actually finding the place. Well, at least one that didn't involve stalking someone. He didn't want to be known as a stalker, especially on his first day and all.

"Sure, lead the way" Ichigo gestured to Yukari as she led him out of the building.

* * *

_7th April 2009_

_Iwatodai_

Turns out just stalking someone to find the way probably wouldn't have worked out so well, given the fact that the school seemed to be quite a way away from where the dorm actually was, and from what Yukari had told him they had to take a monorail. Guess Ishida was right about it being on another Island. The damn Quincy usually was.

Iwatodai wasn't really anything special, the building and the people were something you would see in any large Japanese town or city. Students and adults mindlessly heading to either school or work. Although one thing did catch his eye as they walked past a collection of stores. It was a man that looked passed out by the side of the building. Scratch that, he looked awake, but completely dazed and non-responsive.

"Hey, what do you think's wrong with that guy" Ichigo asked as he pointed his thumb towards the guy they just passed.

"Probably Apathy Syndrome, have you heard of it?" Yukari asked with a grim look on her face as they continued to walk. From the look on her face, Ichigo could easily tell that it looked personal to her.

"_She probably knows someone who came down the disease I guess" _he guessed.

He had to be thankful to Kisuke for teaching him that ability. Despite what he thought of the man, the ability to read even the slightest of expressions and movements on a person's face or body had saved his life more times than he would like to admit. Not that he would ever actually admit that of course.

"Yeah, somebody I know mentioned it to me. Although he neglected to tell me what the symptoms where" Ichigo remembering back to the conversation he had with Ishida just other day before he left. From what he remembered, the cause of the disease was currently unknown and how it was contracted was as well. There was also the fact the disease seemed to originate from Iwatodai and hadn't migrated elsewhere yet, if what Ishida was telling him was true.

"And you still transferred here regardless!" Yukari said surprised and wide eyed. She had to admit that this guy had guts. If she was a transfer student like him, then she would never have agreed to transfer here. The chance of catching an as of yet unknown disease would drive anyone away

"It's not like I had a choice in the matter" Ichigo mumbled. Even if he hadn't agreed to come here, there wouldn't have been much he could have done about it. His father had already signed him up for this school before he even could have a say in the matter.

"Your parents not give you a choice, I guess" She guessed correctly. Although what she didn't say was that she already knew about the situation with his family, and the fact that his mother was deceased. She wasn't about to tell him that she had read up on his background. She didn't know how he would respond to the matter. _"It wasn't like Kirijo gave me much choice in the matter anyway" _She didn't like having to spy on someone like this. But she supposed Mitsuru had a point, they really did need all the help they could get and there was a possibility he could be a persona user.

"My old man had me signed up for the place before I even knew about it, not much I could do."

The two of them made their way to the monaural station and bordered the next one. The train was mostly filled up with students, and since they were wearing the same uniform they were probably heading in the same direction that he was. The only other people onboard the train were adults, probably heading to whatever job they possessed. Yukari started talking to him about the school he would be attending, he wasn't really paying much attention, mostly because it was the same crap Ishida was telling him about the other day.

"…So there it is. So what you think?" Yukari asked as she pointed towards a large school complex that was now visible to him. It was easily far larger and grander that his old school that was for sure.

"Impressive, I guess" Ichigo said uncaringly. Despite its appearance, at the end of the day all it really was to him was just another school. Nothing really that impressive

"Really? That's you opinion" She said suppressed at his answer. When she first saw the place, she thought it was really impressive.

"It's just a school. There's no reason to get so worked up about the place" Ichigo shrugged. Besides he had already seen more impressive things in his live that some fancy private school.

"I guess you have a point, but I thought you'd have a different opinion than that."

"Guess I've just seen more impressing things in my life" That was an understatement if there ever was one. Actually going to the afterlife while he was still alive, would probably be the most impressive thing he ever see's or accomplice's in his life.

The monaural soon ended and Yukari showed him the rest of the way towards the school. The path towards the school were flanked by rows of cheery trees that were blossoming. Indicating that spring had just begun. On the way, Ichigo could here several people whispering behind him.

"Wonder who that guy is. You think he's new?" Some random guy said.

"Why's he walking to school with Yukari?" said another random guy and his friends.

"He's kind of cute" said some giggling girl and her friends.

"He kind of looks like a delinquent don't you think" Ok that last comment kind of annoyed him a bit.

It hadn't even been five minutes yet and people were already thinking he was some sort of trouble maker. Why was it people always made him out to be some sort of delinquent even before they knew anything about him. Sure back in Karakura Town, getting into that big brawl on the first day of school last year probably didn't help, but he was new here. They couldn't possible know anything about him. If he had to guess it was probably because of his hair color no doubt. Still doesn't mean he was going to dye his hair though.

"So this is it" Yukari said as she turned on her heels to face Ichigo, with the school to her back" Welcome to Gekkoukan High School. Hope you enjoy it."

* * *

_7th April 2009_

_Gekkoukan High School _

"You'll be fine from here on out right" Yukari asked as the two of them walked into the school together. "You should find your homeroom teacher first. She's probably in the faculty office just down there" Yukari pointed to a hallway to the left of them.

"Thanks, but how am I supposed to know who my home room teacher is to begin with?" Ichigo pointed out the logic in what Yukari just said.

"Right" Yukari face palmed. How was he supposed to know which homeroom teacher he had? She didn't even know which class she was in yet herself. "You should be able to find out on that bullion board over there" she pointed over to the board that lined the wall to the side of the room, the same board where a large crowd of students were know currently gathering around.

"Guess I don't have much of a choice" Ichigo sighed and made his way towards the large crowd of people. Well he would have if Yukari hadn't have stopped him.

"Wait a minute" she quickly uttered before he left her sight and was absorbed by the large crowd of people. "Before you go, can you not tell anyone about what you saw last night."

"I'm still not sure what I saw last night, and honestly, I don't really care what it was either" That was Ichigo's honest opinion. While he may have been curious about it last night, there was the possibility it might just have been a onetime thing. And if it was, then he could just get on with his life and forget that it ever happened.

His response surprised Yukari. When she first saw the dark hour she was full of questions. So how could he just say he didn't care? "…We'll anyway, I'll see you back at the dorm, later ok" Before Ichigo had the chance to say anything in return, Yukari quickly headed down an adjacent hallway out of sight.

"Must be a really touchy subject for her" Ichigo thought out loud. That was the second time she'd brought up the events of last night. He wasn't able to get an answer out of her last night. "Well doesn't really matter what that was about. All I know is that it's got nothing to do with me."

Putting the events of last night behind him, Ichigo moved towards the board to see which class he was going to be in for the next year here. He was currently in his second year of highschool so it shouldn't be that hard to locate his name. There was a large group of people surrounding the board, no doubt wondering if they were going to be in the same class as their friends and acquaintances. Ichigo pushed passed several people so that he could get to the list of names for second year students.

After a minute or so of looking, Ichigo found his name on a note attached to the side of the board.

_Ichigo Kurosaki Class 2-F_

"Well that's one thing taken care of" Ichigo said to himself. Next was the faculty office. Ichigo made his way out of the crowd of people that had gotten much larger during the time it took for him to look for his name, and headed down the hallway Yukari had pointed out to him just before. On his way towards the office, Ichigo noticed something pretty odd. One of the teachers, talking to some blond kid with a strange accent, was wearing what looked like a samurai helmet of all things!

"_The background checks on teachers in this place are probably really relaxed" _Ichigo thought to himself before he entered the faculty office. The room was pretty much empty except for one teacher currently going through some files. Said teacher immediately noticed that somebody had entered the room.

"Hmmm…I don't seem to recognize you. Are you the new transfer student by any chance?" she asked. The woman in Ichigo's opinion was most likely a teacher, if her appearance was anything to go by. She was wearing a beige suit and pants with shoulder length brown hair. She was probably in her mid-thirty's if Ichigo had to guess.

"Yeah, that's right. I'm Ichigo Kurosaki. I was told to I had to come her first and find out who my homeroom teacher was" Ichigo responded while introducing himself to the suspected teacher.

The teacher began looking through several pieces of paper she was currently holding in her hands until she stopped at one specific piece and placed the rest on the desk beside her. "That's right. You're in Class 2-F, that's my class. I'm Ms. Toriumi, I'm going to be your homeroom teacher this year, and I also teach Composition by the way." Ms. Toriumi Introduced herself to Ichigo as she looked through the file currently in her hand. "I see you transferred here from Western Tokyo… in 2002, your mother…" Ms. Toriumi gasped is surprise as her focus kept shifting from the file to Ichigo constantly. "I'm sorry, I didn't get the chance to read through this before" she said apologetically.

Ichigo sighed. This wasn't the first time a teacher made a big deal that his mother had died when they found out. "It's fine, really. It happened so long ago I stopped caring" That was a lie obviously. Ichigo had never forgotten that night or stopped caring. It just seemed easier for him to make people think he didn't really care anymore. He couldn't stand people giving him sympathy.

"…Ok then" she spoke unsurely of what to say. "Anyway, we need to head to the auditorium. That's where the welcoming ceremony is taking place. It should be starting very soon, so if you would follow me" Ms. Toriumi gestured to the door as she made her way out.

"Welcoming ceremony huh…you mind if I skip that. It just sounds boring" Ichigo asked as he followed her out of the faculty office. He wasn't in much of a mood to sit through some teachers welcoming speech, so if there was a way out of it he would surely look for it.

"Sorry, but everyone has to go through it. Even us teachers" she muttered that last part under her breath. Ichigo assumed she didn't want to have to sit through it either. If it was anything like those welcoming ceremonies at his old school then the next hour or so was going to be a long one.

* * *

_7th April 2009_

_Gekkoukan High School Assembly Hall_

"Sometimes I hate being right" Ichigo muttered under his breath as he tried to remain awake. He hadn't gotten much sleep last night and know he was sitting through some old man's long winded speech he doubt anyone actually wanted or cared about hearing. It looked like several of the other students and teachers were trying there hardest just to remain awake. Hell, Ichigo was pretty sure he could see one or two people asleep.

"…I'd like each of you to remember the proverb, "if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well." When applied to a student's life, this means…" The old man droned on. Ichigo assumed the old man was probably the principle or something. Either that or he was just a senile old man who just wondered in here from someone. If that was the case then somebody better show this old man the way out so everyone could get on with their lives.

Strangely enough, Ichigo felt a tapping sensation on his left arm. Ichigo turned around and saw it was some random guy trying to get his attention. Ichigo wasn't in any mood to be dealing with someone trying to get his attention this early in the morning. So before he ripped his arm off, Ichigo scowled and spoke to the guy in a hushed tone "What the hell do you want?"

The guy looked visually shaken up, probably not expecting to be responded to in such a manner. "Err… well I saw you walking with Yukari this morning."

"So?" Ichigo asked wondering just why this guy cared about who he was walking to school with. "And your annoying me. See I can point out facts to you know. Now what do you want anyway?"

"I…I…I just wanted to know if she had a boyfriend" the guy answered almost looking like he was about to piss his pants in fear.

"Well I don't know, nor do I care either. Now go bother someone else" Ichigo answered as he turned back around ignoring anymore of the guys questions. What made him think he knew anything about her anyway? He'd only just met here. Although the guy wouldn't have known that or the fact that the two of them were currently living in the same dorm.

"I hear talking" a nearby teacher cried out. "I believe it's someone in Ms. Toriumi's class…" he guessed.

"Shhh! You two, be quite! You're going to get me in trouble" Ms. Toriumi called out to the general direction Ichigo was sitting in.

Only an hour had passed yet and he was already getting in trouble with the teachers. Ichigo thought that had to be a new record or something.

* * *

_7th April 2009_

_Class 2-F_

The rest of the day passed by pretty uneventfully. Oddly enough he was in the same class as Yukari. Other than that nothing noteworthy had really happened, at least until the end of school anyway. Ichigo was looking at the time and about to head on back to the dorm when he was stopped by one of his classmates. He had no idea what his name was and at this point he didn't really care either. This guy was wearing the same uniform as him, but instead of the typical white shirt everyone else was wearing, he had substituted it with a dark blue one and a baseball cap donned his head. He also had a bit of a goatee on his chin and the stupidest of grins.

"Sup new guy, how's it going" The goateed guy said as he walked up towards him.

"Do I know you?" Ichigo asked as he got up from his desk. He couldn't quite remember if he'd seen this guy from somewhere. He did look slightly familiar, but he couldn't quit put his mind on it.

"Dude, I sit right next to you" Junpei said surprised as he pointed to the desk that was just to the right of Ichigo. "Don't you remember before, when we were all introducing are self's to the class."

"Yea, but I wasn't really paying much attention. Besides, I've never been great at remembering names and faces. Nothing personal" Ichigo explained casually.

"Oh well, nice to meet you then. The names Junpei Iori" Junpei beamed as he introduced himself to Ichigo. "You know I transferred here back during the 8th grade. So I know what you must be going through, you know, new school, new people…so I thought I'd come and say "Hey."…See what a nice guy I am" Junpei smiled to himself looking pleased at helping the new transfer student out.

He knew how tough it was to get used to such a new place. It would have been helpful if somebody had helped him out all the way back when he first transferred here. So he decided it would be a good thing to help out the new guy.

"Well thanks, I guess" Ichigo wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't exactly expecting anyone to come and talk to him, especially on the first day anyway. Out of the corner of his left eye, Ichigo could see Yukari approaching the two of them, looking slightly annoyed at something.

"Hey, well look who it is, it's Yuka-tan!" Junpei smirked as Yukari walked towards them. "I didn't think we'd be in the same class again this year."

She sighed shaking her head as she stopped in front of the two of them "Are you at it again? I swear, you'll talk to anyone if they'll listen to you." Really did this guy talk to every different person he's see's like he was some kind of welcoming committee. "Did you ever stop to think you might be bothering someone?"

"its fine, he was just telling me his name" Ichigo reassured her that it wasn't the case." Besides, if he was bothering me I would have already left" he pointed out.

"Yeah me and him are getting along great" Junpei said as he put an arm around Ichigo's shoulder, making it look like they were the best of friends.

Ichigo on the other hand didn't take to kindly to this gesture of friendship. "Get your arm off of me" Ichigo growled. Junpei quickly removed his arm from Ichigo.

"Sorry."

"So anyway, what a coincidence that we'd be in the same homeroom together" Yukari said as she turned her attention towards Ichigo.

"Yeah, I guess. Not that it really matters anyway" Ichigo told her. He didn't care that much that they were in the same homeroom or not. It's not like he really knew the girl anyway. To him, all she was was just another random face. One that just so happened to be in the same dorm and class as him.

"Well I suppose, since we don't really know each other yet."

Junpei was moving his head rapidly from Ichigo to Yukari looking like he had just been shot in the back. "Hey, you do know I'm in this class as well. Why aren't you surprised to see me?"

Yukari looked at him in a deadpanned manner "Do you really want me to answer that?" she asked rhetorically.

"Well I can see there's no love lost between the two of you" Ichigo smiled, slightly amused at the ensuring spectacle forming in front of him. From the way the two of them were acting, he got the distinct impression that the two of them already knew each other. They were probably in the same class last year; either that or they went to the same junior high. It kind of reminded him of when he first met Keigo and Mizuiro. The only real difference between then and now is that Junpei wasn't pleading for his life from some random thug about to beat the life out of him.

"Oh it's nothing like that" Yukari cleared up Ichigo's misunderstanding. "He means well, it's well, he's just annoying sometimes."

Junpei looked both surprised and hurt because of Yukari comments about him. "What! Hey, how am I annoying?" Junpei asked trying to defend himself.

"Do you really want me to answer that?" Yukari asked rhetorically.

In an effort to change the topic away from him, Junpei remembered something he overhead somebody talking about just before. "Hey, I just remembered, I heard you two walked to school together today. What's up with that? C'mon, tell me everything that went on" he grinned wanting to know all the details that he thought was going on between the two of them.

Yukari was shocked and surprised at Junpei's sudden outburst. Several people that were still in the classroom were looking in their direction and whispering to themselves. "Wh-What are you talking about!?"

"Junpei, we live in the same dorm" Ichigo pointed out calmly. "Also since I'm new here and don't know my way around, is it that surprising that she would have offered to show me the way here."

"That's right" Yukari looked glad that Ichigo had cleared up that little misunderstanding. Also because of Ichigo's tone of voice, several other people heard what he said as well. So the truth would probably cancel out any rumors about the two of them. "It's because of people like you who just shout out whatever pops up into your head that rumors about people get started to begin with" she almost shouted at Junpei.

"Jeez calm down, it's not that big of a deal. There just rumors, it's not like they can hurt people or anything" Junpei said not really understanding what her deal was.

"He kind of has a point though. Your making this a bigger deal than it really needs to be" Ichigo said. There were a lot of rumors back home that he was some kind of Yakuza, a delinquent or any number of illicit things. But he'd never paid them much attention before. He guessed some people took them more seriously than he personally did.

"Of course it's a big deal" Yukari angrily tried to defend herself.

"Ok, how? Ichigo asked.

"Well they make me nervous" Yukari said looking uncomfortable at where the topic of discussion had led them. "Look I've had trouble with people starting rumors about me and my family before so I have my reasons."

"Whatever you say" Ichigo said uncaringly. He just wanted to end this conversation. He wasn't trying to be cold; he really just didn't care that much about her problems. He had enough to worry about himself.

Ichigo was just about to leave when Yukari leaned forward and tried to tell him something without being overheard by anyone else.

"Hey before you leave, I've got to ask. You didn't say anything about you know what to anyone did you" Yukari was obviously talking about what he saw the other night. He still didn't understand as to what it was he saw the other night. No harm in having a bit of fun though.

"Oh, about what exactly" Ichigo asked looking like he had no idea what Yukari was even talking about.

Yukari wasn't sure whatever or not he had generally forgotten what she was talking about, or the possibility that he was trying to rile her up again. Given her past interactions with the guy, her bet was on the latter. "Are you serious!" she shouted at him with a stern look on her face. "You know damn well what I'm talking about. Look, just don't say anything about last night ok."

Ichigo sighed. This girl really needed to lighten up a bit. For a girl who admittedly disliked rumors, she had an awful tendency to shout out the wrong thing in front of people. Case in point, being Junpei, now looking at the two of them with wide eyes and his mouth gaping open.

"What's with that look" she asked, wondering what was up with Junpei.

"L-Last night?' Junpei asked having a certain idea in his head. Before Ichigo could say anything in his defense, Junpei placed his left hand on Ichigo's shoulder and using his right hand, gave him a thumbs up. "You haven't been her for even a day yet and you're already making a move. You're an inspiration to us all Ichigo" Junpei declared proudly with the stupidest of grins on his face.

He'd seen a lot of guys make there move on Yukari over the years. But never had he seen someone work so fast in his life. It was truly an achievement to be proud of in his opinion.

"_Is it me or could this guy be related to Keigo somehow"_ Ichigo wondered to himself while he forcibly removed Junpei's hand from his shoulder. "Look it's not what you're thinking" Ichigo said calmly.

"Yeah, I only just met him yesterday. There's nothing going on between us!" Yukari said defensively while slightly blushing at what Junpei had implied.

"Alright then, jeez, no need to get all emotional" Junpei said. "So what actually happened last night then" Junpei asked.

"Ah, well you see…"Yukari started mumbling trying to come up with an excuse that would satisfy him. She couldn't quite tell him about the dark hour and all that. Mostly because it was a complete secret and the others would no doubt be angry with her. There was also the fact he probably wouldn't believe her anyway.

While she was racking her brain trying to come up with just about any excuse, Ichigo decided to say something that he thought would probably satisfy Junpei. "Oh, she was just talking about how she didn't want me telling anyone she almost shot me last night" Ichigo spoke calmly as he told Junpei what technically was true.

"What!?" Junpei shouted surprised. Yukari almost shot him! "Are you serious?" he asked as he looked in between the two.

"Yeah, took me by surprise if I have to say so" Ichigo said as he recalled the events of last night. The fact he was discussing this so causally disturbed Junpei slightly. He'd personally have a serious grudge against somebody who tried to shoot him.

"I didn't try to shoot you" Yukari argued. Technically her evoker couldn't actual fire bullets so she really had no intention of shooting him. But there was no way he could possibly know that. "Stop making things up Ichigo."

"Whatever you say" Ichigo dismissively said to her.

"…Whatever, I have something to take care off, so I'm going to leave now." She said as she left the room in a huff.

"Wonder what she had to take care off so suddenly" Ichigo openly wondered as he watched Yukari leave the classroom on her way to wherever it was she was going.

"Probably something for the archery team I guess" Junpei shrugged not really caring that much. "But seriously, did she really try to shoot you" he asked, curious as to whenever or not the brunette actual had a gun.

"First thing I see when I walk through the door is some girl yelling at me and reaching for a gun" Ichigo said. He decided to omit the parts surrounding the weird atmosphere the other night and his encounter with the small child. Still two things he had no clue about.

"Damn, that's one hell of greeting. Still hard to believe that girl is so popular. But hey, look on the bright side" Junpei smirked as he nudged Ichigo with his elbow.

"What bright side?" Ichigo asked. He had no idea as to what Junpei was even referring to.

"The fact that it's your first day here and people are already talking about you" Junpei said.

Ichigo sighed at Junpei's enthusiasm. "No offence, but in my experience, people talking about you on your first day of school isn't a good thing" he explained. After that incident on his first day of school last year, people already had a bad opinion of him.

"You worry too much. People start rumors about everyone. Besides, it's not like rumors could ever magically become true or anything" Junpei joked. People took rumors way to seriously in his opinion. People were always going to have something to say about someone. Your better just letting them say whatever they have on their mind and forgetting about it later on in his opinion. "I can already tell this is going to be on hell of a year with you around."

"Sure, whatever you say" Ichigo said sarcastically as the two of them headed out of the classroom.

* * *

_7th April 2009_

_Tatsumi Port Island_

"So you transferred here from Western Tokyo huh" Junpei asked absentmindedly. The two of them were mostly making small talk as they made their way to the train station that would take them back to the mainland.

"Yeah, my old man didn't even let me know until just a few days ago" Ichigo grumbled. While he did agree to come here, the fact that he only had a few days' notice still ticked him of quite a bit.

"You serious!?" Junpei asked surprised. He received a nod from Ichigo. "Damn that's rough man" he sighed. What kind of father transfers his son to a new school miles away from where they live, and only give him a few days' notice on top of that. Well he couldn't really say much. It wasn't like his own father was going to win best dad of the year award anytime soon. Junpei decided to switch up the conversation, not exactly in the mood to start talking about his own family problems anytime soon. "Say, you thinking about joining any of the clubs? They aren't excepting new members for a while yet so that probably gives you to time to think about it."

"I haven't really thought about it yet" Joining a school club was the last thing on Ichigo's mind right know. Actually, he hadn't even thought about joining a club until Junpei brought up the subject. "What about you?" he asked.

"Me? I haven't really given it much thought" Junpei said. Only to get a questioning look from Ichigo in return. "What?"

"If you don't know yourself, why bother asking me?" Ichigo asked annoyed.

"Just trying to make a conversation, you know" Junpei responded over the growing noise of the ever increasing crowds around them.

The streets were quickly becoming packed with people who were no doubt returning home after a busy day. Because of this, many of them missed the sight of an absent minded school girl walking right into the middle of the road and into oncoming traffic.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ichigo noticed the school girl was wearing the girl's uniform of his new school. "Hey hold this for a second" Ichigo shouted as he threw his school bag towards Junpei and ran towards the girl.

"What, why?" Junpei asked as he caught the bag and looked towards the direction Ichigo ran off to. "Wait is that…oh shit!" Junpei exclaimed as he ran towards them.

To the horror of the nearby pedestrians, an oncoming truck was speeding towards the school girl and would have no doubt kill here on impact if it wasn't for the orange haired teen who ran out towards here, grabbed her by the waist and tackled here to the ground out of the way of the speeding truck and the rest of the traffic.

"Hey you ok. You aren't injured are you" Ichigo quickly asked as he checked her body to make sure she wasn't injured. One of the benefits to living with his father for all those years was the fact he'd learnt quite a bit of medical knowledge over the years. At least the capability to check to see if a person was in one piece and all.

The girl didn't answer him. She simply continued to stare of into the distance, almost like a zombie.

"Hey you two ok" Junpei shouted as he ran over to the two carrying his and Ichigo's bag. "Err… just what are you doing?" he asked curiously as he saw Ichigo checking out the girl's body.

Ichigo ignored what Junpei's question as he finished up what he was doing. "I was checking to make sure she didn't have any broken bones from when I tackled her."

"Well is she ok?"

"She looks ok. Well physically I mean." Ichigo gestured to the vague look on the girls face.

Junpei recognized the look on the girls face as something he'd seen a lot of recently. "She looks like one of those people you see a lot of recently. You know those guys with Apathy Syndrome."

"Yeah, I saw someone with it this morning" Ichigo admitted. The look on the schoolgirl face and the general aura she gave of reminded him a lot of the guy he and Yukari ran into this morning. "Here pass me my bag" Ichigo gestured to Junpei to hand him his bag.

"Sure" he said as he handed Ichigo his bag back. "So what we going to do with her."

"Call an ambulance, obviously" Ichigo thought that was the most obvious thing to do in this situation.

Ichigo began routing through his bag for his phone but was stopped by Junpei. "Y-Yo dude, she's getting up" Junpei pointed out.

Ichigo was just about to call for an ambulance but suddenly found himself distracted by the fact that the schoolgirl was now back up on her own two feet. "So are you alright or not. I mean, I was just about to call you an ambulance you know."

"It's coming" the schoolgirl whispered quietly.

"What did you say?" Ichigo asked her trying to understand what she just said as he didn't quite here her.

"It's coming…its coming" the girl continued to whisper in a monotonous voice.

"What's coming? What are you talking about" Ichigo continued to ask her now slightly irritated.

"Dude maybe she's possessed or something" Junpei suggested, only to receive a questioning look from Ichigo. "What?"

"Are you being serious?" Ichigo growled. He'd never heard of anyone being actually possessed before. As far as he was concerned that was impossible. "Besides didn't we just agree she had Apathy Syndrome"

Junpei looked away sheepishly. "Well yeah, but you never know" he argued. "That whole "It's coming" thing creeped me out a bit."

Ichigo sighed. While he knew it wasn't possible for spirits to possess people, other people didn't have the liberty of knowing the things he did. "She was probably just hallucinating" Ichigo had no idea what the effects this Apathy Syndrome could actual have on someone, so anything was possible in his eyes. There was also the fact that people had the tendency to hallucinate when they were ill as well. Ichigo returned his attention towards the schoolgirl he had just saved. Maybe she was in a more talkative mood now. "Well anyway do you think you'll…be alright?" Ichigo was about to ask the schoolgirl if she needed to be taken to the hospital, but surprisingly she had disappeared.

"Dude…did she just disappear" Junpei asked surprised at the girls sudden departure. He was quickly looking around the area to spot here but couldn't make her out with all the nearby crowds.

"She probably walked away while we were talking" Ichigo said as he pocketed his phone and picked up his bag. "She's probably on her way home or something. Not much we can do now anyway."

"Wait so you're just going to leave? What if she gets run over or something" Junpei argued.

"If you want to go look for her be my guest. But remember we don't have any idea where she went. She probably headed home or something."

"I guess" Junpei wasn't sure if this was the right thing to do. Sure he didn't want this girl to get injured, but Ichigo did have a point. They had no idea where this girl went, and given how many people live in this city, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Especially considering it was basically rush hour right now anyway. "You're probably right man."

Both Ichigo and Junpei parted ways for the day and headed off to their residences.

* * *

_7th April 2009_

_Iwatodai Dorm_

Due to the crowded nature of the city and the fact that he was a relative newcomer as well, was making it quite difficult to find his way back to the dorm. It took Ichigo far longer than he would have liked to admit, but by the time he returned to the dorm the sun was already setting.

A few hours later Ichigo was back in his room at the dorm. When he got back, he ran into Mitsuru who informed him about one of the dorms rules. Specifically that he wasn't allowed out after Seven PM. Ironically that was also the curfew his father had set him just a few years ago as well.

Currently Ichigo was sat at the desk in his room, going through his laptop which he had taken out from one of the unopened boxes in the room. There was a few emails from his sisters and his friends asking to see if he had settled in yet. Other than that he didn't have that much to do.

Ichigo's mind wandered back to what happened just a few hours ago with that girl. "Here's hoping somebody found her. Wouldn't want her getting run over." He said to himself lost in his thoughts. He couldn't help but remember what that girl was mumbling. She said it was coming. What did she mean by that?

Then there was what happened just the other night when he first arrived here as well. The green sky, all the electricity going off, everyone turning into coffins and all the blood on the ground. Whatever it was was probably going to bother him at some point or another.

If Ichigo had learnt anything from his time as a Substitute Soul Reaper, it was that even the smallest, most oddest things have a tendency to end up screwing him over in some way, shape or form. "I'll have to try and figure out just what's going on." If there was one thing he was sure of, it's that this dorm was connected to it somehow. The way Yukari had been acting all day and questing him about last night was a sure giveaway. There was also the fact that last night, this place was the only building that had electricity he'd come across.

Having come to no conclusion or answers, Ichigo switched of his laptop and got ready for yet another day of school. Hopeful that tomorrow would be less of a stressful one than today had been.

* * *

_7th April 2009_

_Iwatodai Dorm_

_Later Than Night_

Currently, it was late at night and Mitsuru was still awake downstairs reading a book on the couch. She was so absorbed in the book she was reading, she failed to notice the grey haired man walking up to her with his jacket slung over his shoulder.

"I'm going out for a bit" Akihiko said as he walked up towards where Mitsuru was sitting.

"…Hmm, any reason why tonight" she said surprised at not having noticed Akihito until he was standing right next to her.

"Haven't you seen the newspapers recently" he pointed out. "There's a lot going on at the moment."

"I'm well aware off the current rise in Shadow related activity as of recently" she said as she closed her book and looked thoughtfully. "People who've had no problems before are suddenly developing acute cases of Apathy Syndrome. I's been on the news very frequently as of late. They say it's due to stress but…"

"Yeah, right" Akihiko scoffed. They would say it was stress. It was the only thing medical professionals not in the know could think of. They didn't have the benefit of knowing the things he and Mitsuru knew. "It's got to be the Shadows for sure. Otherwise it's not worth my time."

"You certainly have a one track mind you know…" Mitsuru pointed out. There was no stopping Akihiko when he set his mind on something. Well there was always the threat of an execution. But that was best left for the most extreme of circumstances. "Will you be okay on your own?" she asked. "The chairman will be staying here for the next few days so I won't be able to…"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine on my own" Akihiko reassured Mitsuru he would be fine. "Besides, I'm just getting in a little practice" Akihiko said with a grin as he left the dorm to go hunting.

Mitsuru sighed "I wish you wouldn't treat this as some sort of game." It was always best to have a certain mindset about this, but from the way he was treating all this, it was possible he was going to get himself injured one of these days. Or worse…

With the chairman here for the next few days she wouldn't be able to leave the dorm to combat shadows during the Dark Hour. She and Takeba needed to be here to monitor Kurosaki. Hopefully he would have the potential needed to summon a Persona. The fact that he was awake during the Dark Hour was a hopeful sign.

Takeba had the potential, but she had yet to actually summon her Persona. This was completely understandable, the mental strain using an Evoker puts on a person takes quite some time getting used to, so this was expected. Hopefully they would be able to find more people with the potential as well within the coming months.

* * *

Authors Note: Well this took me much longer to get done than I thought it would. Real life getting in the way has the tendency to do that now and then. Hopefully I can get the next chapter out much quicker than this one.


	3. Chapter 3: The Magician

_Chapter 3: The Magician_

_April 8th_

_Paulownia Mail: Game Panic Arcade_

"See, didn't I tell you I was good or what" Junpei smirked, his voice almost practically drowned out by the sounds of countless people and machines in the arcade. Once again he had gotten the high score at this game. After spending several years playing here, he liked to consider himself a pro at this game. Well, at least the best player who visits this specific arcade anyway. It was one of those light gun games, the one where you point a fake plastic gun at the screen and shoot the characters.

"When your right your right I guess" Ichigo said. He didn't really care that he lost or anything. Arcade games were never really his forte anyway, although, he did use to visit places like this with Keigo, Mizuiro and Chad not that long ago. That was back before Rukia came into his life and complicated things at least. He hadn't really had the time to hang out with his friends that much when she first arrived. Back then, it was all about taking care of whatever hollow decided to rear its ugly head around town, most of his free time was focused on dealing with them.

During the past few months, he'd been looking back on everything that had happened in the past year. His time hunting hollows with Rukia, breaking into the Soul Society and even his time in Hueco Mundo brought back a lot of memories, both exciting and terrifying ones. He couldn't help but wonder, but what would it be like if he still had his powers as a soul reaper. He knew quite well that the Soul Society viewed him as a loose cannon, and he suspected they were keeping an eye on him twenty four seven. It made sense really, I mean, here was this guy who just waltzed into what was technically a military facility and put several of their best people in the hospital. He'd sure as hell keep a close eye on someone like that. It's not like he considered many of the people there to be friends or anything. The only people that would fit into that category would have been Rukia and Renji. He didn't know any of the others well enough to consider them friends. The only others he had any prolong expose to were Byakuya, Kenpachi and the group Toshiro brought with him. Even then, they were acquaintances at best.

Maybe they were right to be cautious about him. All he ever did was put the people closest to him in danger. It was his fault his mother died. It was his fault Chad and Orihime got dragged into the spiritual side of the world. It was his fault that the two of them and Ishida got dragged into that whole mess with the Soul Society. It was his fault he almost killed Ishida during that whole fiasco in Hueco Mundo. It was always his fault, and no amount of saying otherwise on their part would every change that belief.

"_Maybe it was for the best that I came here" _Ichigo thought as he sighed. _"Maybe it'll give me the chance to sort out what exactly I'm doing with my life"._

He hadn't really given the past much thought in the last few days. At the moment he was mostly focused on settling in at this new place. With that thought, Ichigo's mind wandered back to the events of last night.

After waking up after about an hour or two of sleep, it was close to midnight. From what he remembered that strange _thing_ happened around that time as well. So deciding since it was only about twenty minutes as way, Ichigo decided to stay up and see if it actually happened again. So after wasting twenty minutes of mindlessly surfing the internet on his laptop, the power suddenly gave out and the atmosphere around him suddenly gained that strange greenish tint. It was just like the other night, although what struck him as odd was the fact that his laptop switched of as well. He already figured out that electricity didn't seem to work during this event, but he had assumed that was just anything connected to the mains and not battery powered. His phone seemed to be working fine; the clock was still stuck on midnight though. Then it hit him. Urahara had given him this phone. Did that have something to do with this? Did he have some clue of what was going on? Ichigo fully intended on finding out the answer to those questions.

On a whim, Ichigo decided to take a look around the dorm, see if anyone was still up. Maybe he'd run into that strange kid he saw when he first arrived at the dorm. The fact that the kid was up and walking, not to mention disappeared right in front of him, certainly set off some alarm bells in his head. But sadly to his dismay, Ichigo didn't run into anyone this time. Everyone else seemed to be a sleep or in those coffins things he'd seen when he first arrived. His memories of those coffins raised a few more questions. Ichigo planned to try and contact Kisuke later; maybe he'd give him some answers. There was always a first time for anything.

"You know Junpei's one of the better players at this game. Well, at least of that I know of any way" Kenji commented as his voice dragged Ichigo back to reality. Kenji Tomochika was a friend of Junpei's that he had introduced to Ichigo earlier today in class. In terms of appearance he was relatively average for your regular Japanese teenager. Short brown hair, dark brown eyes and no features that really made him stand out from a crowd like Ichigo's hair color did. Overall, he seemed like a nice enough guy. Although, Ichigo hadn't really spent enough time around him yet to truly be able to conform that just yet. "By the way, Junpei was telling me before that you and Yukari live in the same dorm together. That true?" he asked looking to confirm that rumor he heard.

"Oh, did he now" Ichigo scowled at Junpei who was looking of to his side whistling innocently. "To answer your question, yeah I am"

"You know a lot of guys would kill to be in your position right now" Kenji pointed out. In his eyes, being new in town, living in the same dorm with Yukari and being seen with her walking to school with her had the tendency to start some rumors about the two of them. Although, from the way Junpei had described this Ichigo guy, he seemed like a "not giving a shit about anything" kind of guy, so those rumors probably wouldn't bother him in the slightest like it would for some other people.

"So, are you one of them then?" Ichigo questioned.

"Not really" he shrugged. "She's attractive, but she's not really my type".

"The guy isn't interested in girls our age you know. To him, it's all about the older ladies" Junpei stated as he continued to play his game.

"Is that so" Ichigo commented with a slight smile. The more he got to know these two the more they reminded him of Keigo and Mizuiro back in Karakura Town. Maybe it was some sort of fundamental law of the universe that there had to be similar people in every high school in Japan or something.

"I just happen to have a far more refined taste in women than you two children seem to have" Kenji added s slight smirk as he tried to look superior to the other two.

"Sure…" Ichigo said uncaringly.

"So does anyone else live in that dorm of yours" Kenji asked. "I mean I doubt it's just you and Yukari."

"The only other person I know that lives there is some red head called Mitsuru Kirijo" Ichigo said to the surprise of the two students. Ichigo's comment made Junpei drop the control on the arcade machine and gape at Ichigo with his mouth wide open. Even Kenji seemed to be surprised by this revelation.

"Dude, you live in the same dorm with _her_ as well" Junpei shouted, unbelieving at what he just heard. His outburst had the undesired effect of receiving several glares from some of the other players that were clause by. No doubt his sudden outburst just then caused them to be distracted at whatever game they were playing on.

"Yeah. You're making it out like it's a big deal or something. I take it you've heard of her" Ichigo wondered. From the way Junpei reacted, Ichigo got the distinct impression that she was someone of some importance around these parts. Now that he thought about, her name did seem to be familiar.

"Of course I've heard of her! Her family own and run Kirijo Electronics and the school we go to. She's also the student council president as well" Junpei explained. "How didn't you know that?"

"I've had a lot of other things on my mind since I got here, so I never really stopped to think about every random person I met. Bedsides I've only really spoken to her about twice now anyway" Ichigo explained. He didn't care one bit if this girl was some sort of big shot around here. She seemed nice enough, and as long as she didn't overly bother him then that was that as far as he cared.

"Makes you wonder why you got assigned to the same dorm as those two though" Kenji openly thought.

"Who knows" Ichigo shrugged.

* * *

_April 8th_

_Iwatodai Dorm_

Ichigo spent just over another hour at the arcade with the two of them before he decided to head back to the dorm. He remembered Yukari telling him something before, something about being back before six o'clock or something. It was about ten minutes past that by the time he got back. It seemed Yukari was talking to somebody he didn't recognize on the ground floor. An older man by the looks of it.

"Ah, there you are" Yukari said as she got up. "I thought you'd be back before six."

Ichigo looked quickly at the time on his phone. It was only a few minutes past six. No big deal really. He guessed the reason she wanted him back here was to meet this guy or something. "I'm only a few minutes late" Ichigo pointed out.

"Still technically late" Yukari pointed out with a frown. "I suppose it doesn't really matter" she sighed as she made her way back to the couch.

"Ah, so this is are new guest" the man Yukari was speaking to before said. The man himself had swept back brown hair and eyes, with glasses adorning his face. He also wore a black turtleneck jumper with a brown blazer and matching pants. The look and air around him practically screamed academic. "My name is Shuji Ikutsuki" he introduced himself. "I'm the chairman for Gekkoukan Academy".

"Nice to meet you" Ichigo greeted. He saw no reason to be rude to the man. After all, he had only just met the guy. If he turned out to be an asshole later then that was that.

"_Ikutsuki…_hard to pronounce, isn't it?" the chairman laughed. "Even I get tongue tied sometimes just saying it. Because of that, I don't particularly like introducing myself that much" he explained.

"No, not really" Ichigo said. "Actually, the fact that a grown man has trouble pronouncing his own name is kind of sad in my opinion" Ichigo couldn't help but point out. He was sure Yukari thought the exact same thing if the look on her face was anything to go by.

"Well everyone has problems with a few things. Mine just happens to be pronouncing my name" Ikutsuki took Ichigo's comment in stride as he walked back towards where he was previously sitting. Ichigo sat down on the couch next to Yukari. "I'd like to formal apologize about the confusion regarding your accommodations. But it seems it might take a little bit longer to have your proper accommodations sorted out."

"One of those things I guess" Ichigo shrugged. He wasn't going to blame the guy just because some office worker or something made a mistake with some paperwork.

"Originally I simply stopped by to check in with Mitsuru, but I decided to see if these living arrangements were causing you any problems. I'm glad to see that isn't the case" Ikutsuki smiled. "By the way, is there any thing you'd like to know while I'm here?" he asked.

Ichigo thought for a moment, but there really wasn't much he could think of that this guy could possibly answer for him. While he sure had a few question on his mind, they were only thing someone like Kisuke could answer. "Nothing I can think of."

"I see…By the way Yukari, where exactly is Mitsuru?" Ikutsuki questioned as he turned his attention back towards Yukari.

"Oh, she's working on something up stares" she replayed.

"Diligent as ever I see" Ikutsuki said as he got up and made his way up to the fourth floor. "By the way, you should probably head on up to bed. No doubt you've had a few stressful days since first arriving here" he advised. "Like they say, the early bird catches the bookworm" he chuckled at his attempt at humor as he made his way up stares.

Ichigo turned to Yukari with a confused look on his face. "Does that guy honestly he's funny or something?" he questioned.

Yukari sighed "You'll get used to it."

Ichigo decided with that guy gone, he could go make that phone call he was planning on doing. Ichigo headed on back up to his room. While he might not have much of an idea of what actually happens at midnight, what he did know was the fact that no electricity of any kind seemed to work during that time. All except for that phone Kisuke gave to him. He should have known then and there that there was something fishy about the thing. After all, Hat and Clogs never gives out free gifts from the bottom of his heart. There was always an ulterior motive with just about everything that man seemed to do. There was also the fact that Kisuke's phone number was already on the phones memory, almost like he expected him to call him for something.

Reluctantly, Ichigo selected Kisuke's name from the list and pressed call. The usual dial tone lasted for about a few seconds before the call went through and Kisuke's could be heard from the other side.

"_Urahara shop, how may I be of service?"_ Kisuke usually cheery voice was heard from the other side of the phone.

"Sup Kisuke" Ichigo greeted.

"_Oh, is that you Ichigo, I never would have guessed_" Kisuke joked.

Ichigo wasn't in the mood for Kisuke's normal routine. "Whatever, look something weird is going on here and I have a slight feeling you probably know what it is."

"_Can you describe this problem_?" Kisuke asked. Over the next few minutes, Ichigo described in detail what he experienced the moment he first arrived in this city and the following night. "_Hmmm…Interesting_" Kisuke sounded like he was deep in thought about something. "_But what makes you think I have anything to do with it._"

"Not much. Other than the fact that this phone you gave me is the only thing that works at around midnight" Ichigo explained his reasoning. "From what I can tell, it lasts for about an hour or so. Hard to tell though without a working clock" he said.

"_Well you've certainly stumbled on something there haven't you, Ichigo_" Kisuke chuckled, amused at Ichigo odd luck. "_Tell you what, I'll look into a few things and get back to you in a few days. Just forget about it for now. From the sound of it, it isn't disrupting your live there so just ignore it for now_."

"So what's this all going to cost me then" Ichigo doubted Kisuke would give him any information for free. There was always a catch or a price involved with him.

"_Do you really think I'd charge you after everything you've done for me other the last year?_"

"Right. Well thanks anyway I guess" Ichigo hung up the phone. Maybe he'd get some answers to just what was going on around here. From what he could tell, Yukari certainly had an idea of what was going on, and if she did then Kirijo probably did to. But considering the fact they hadn't told him anything yet, there was the possibility that even if he did come right out and ask them about it, they would probably just fane ignorance and try to come up with some excuses. Kisuke was right though, at the moment whatever was going on didn't really affect him, and really, when he thought about it, it wasn't his problem anyway. He came to this city to get his mind of everything that had happened. He didn't need to be dragged into some one else's problems. With that thought, Ichigo decided to turn in for the night.

A few hours later, Yukari and Mitsuru were on the fourth floor sat watching a camera feed. The room was certainly out of place for a high school dorm that was for sure. The room was dominated by a large bank of computers, and above that, a large monitor easily over a hundred inches in width. There were also a few book cases in the room with a single door on the other side of the room. There was also a table, a couch and a few chairs taking up space in the center of the room.

"Working hard as ever I see" Ikutsuki stated as he walked into the room. Ikutsuki's comment got the attention of the two girls, who got out of their chairs to face him. "So how exactly is he doing?" he asked curiously as he stared at the sleeping form of Ichigo on the monitor that dominated most of the wall it was placed on.

Mitsuru was the one to answer him. "He went to bed just a little while ago. From what we can tell, he's fast asleep right now." Ikutsuki moved to sit down on one of the chairs opposite her while she spoke. "Mr. Chairmen, do you believe he has the potential?" she asked. While she knew from Yukari that he was able to experience the Dark Hour, it was still up in the air if whether or not he was capable of summoning a persona.

"Well, there's only one way to know for certain. The Dark Hour should be beginning soon." The three of them stayed silent for the next few seconds while the Dark Hour settled in. The world once again regained its greenish hue. To Ikutsuki pleasure, there newest guest had retained his human form.

"Well that proves it then" Yukari mumbled under her breath. She had her suspicions about Ichigo ever since she first laid eyes on him. Her words weren't lost on Mitsuru, who over heard what she said.

"He's still sleeping" Ikutsuki said as a smile creped onto his face. "As you are both aware, the Dark Hour occurs every night at approximately midnight and last's exactly one hour. During this time, any ordinary person should transmogrify into a coffin and is oblivious to goings on around them."

"We already know all of this" Yukari muttered again. Why was this guy repeating everything they already knew? Sure it would be fine if they were explaining it all to a new member and everything, but everyone currently present in the room already knew.

"As you can both see, Ichigo seems to have retained his human form" Ikutsuki explained. "He's asleep, but he is most obviously experiencing the Dark Hour. Now all that remains to know, is whether or not he possesses the potential to summon a Persona. Although he must have, otherwise the Shadows would have prayed on him by now."

"That's a scary thought" Yukari commented as she shivered slightly. In some way, she felt lucky to be able to experience the Dark Hour. Otherwise she would be at just as much risk of contracting Apathy Syndrome as anyone else.

"Indeed it is Takaba" Mitsuru added. She didn't exactly envy the people who fell prey to the shadows. Unfortunately, there just wasn't anything that could be done for them.

The chairman got up from where he was sitting and walked closer to the monitor. "In any case, we should continue to monitor him for the next few days."

"Understood sir" Mitsuru obeyed.

"I feel kind of bad though, spying on him like this." While she didn't know Ichigo all that well, he seemed like a friendly guy, if not a bit reserved and blunt.

"I understand Takaba, but it's imperative we find more people who possess the ability to summon a persona" Mitsuru explained. While she didn't particularly like spying on anyone just as much as the next person, she knew that keeping an eye on him was imperative. She wasn't really surprised that he was still awake during the Dark Hour; Takaba had already explained that much so far. Now all that was left to examine was his capability to summon and control a persona.

* * *

_April 9th_

_Unknown_

For centuries, philosophers and scientists have always wondered why people dream. Some believed that it was the unconscious mind bringing forward repressed feelings and emotions. Others believed that it was simply a biological process all specials seemed to possess. Well as far as Ichigo was concerned, it didn't matter one bit, because neither of those theories would probably be able to answer why he was having one of the most disorienting dreams in years. More specifically, Ichigo was dreaming he was flying towards a glowing blue door. He was worried he was going to crash head first into it, but the door slowly opened and the pitch blackness was suddenly replaced by a blinding white light. The dream was over as quickly as it stared. The feeling of flying was quickly replaced by a strange feeling of upwards motion. Ichigo's eyes were still trying to adjust to the sudden change of light, it took a moment, but his vision slowly returned.

From what he could tell he was in a massive elevator. Taking a moment to examine the elevator, both the floor and the walls were covered in a soothing blue texture, with several doors on both sides of the room, a majority of them covered by cloth. There were also several light fixtures on the celling illumination the room, which were helped by the sudden intrusion of light every several seconds coming from outside of the elevator. There was a massive clock on the back of the room which was currently spinning quickly. But what got Ichigo's attention the most was the blue table right in front of him, and the man sitting opposite of him.

He certainly was a strange looking man, small in stature from what he could tell. Wearing a black suit and tie. The man appeared slightly bold, with the only visible hair being the slightly long white hair on the back of his head. But his most discerning feature was his long and crooked noise that just screamed inhuman. The man's bloodshot eyes slowly opened and stared directly at Ichigo.

"Welcome…to the Velvet Room" the man slowly spoke. To say Ichigo was creped out was an understatement. He'd never experienced anything quite like this before. This wasn't like any dream he had before either, it was all too clear. When somebody realized they were dreaming they should wake right up normally, and since he capable of questioning if he was dreaming without waking right up in his bed, then that must mean this wasn't a dream and he really was having a conversion with a dwarf in a suit.

"Just who the hell are you, and what is this place?" Ichigo asked as he glared at the short man. If this was real, then that means he'd been practically kidnapped by this guy while he was sleeping.

"My name is Igor…and as I said, this is the Velvet Room" Igor introduced himself. "This place exits between dream and reality, mind and matter" he explained. Ichigo had no idea what he meant by that. Somewhere between reality and dreams! Just what kind of person was this guy? Wait, something like this has happened before. Ichigo remembered the times Zangetsu would pull him into his inner world during his dreams. Was this like that then.

"Is this like my inner world?" Ichigo questioned. It was the only similar experience he could think of. That is if the old man was telling the truth. He certainly didn't look threating, that was for sure. The main problem was he had no idea where he was. This elevator had been moving ever since he got hear and it still hadn't reached its destination.

"An interesting theory, but no. An inner world is nothing more than the human minds way of visualizing a person's consciousness and soul" Igor explained. "You could say that this velvet room is part of everyone's unconscious mind."

"I don't really understand" Ichigo said honestly. He certainly wasn't an idiot, but he had to admit this was a bit over other his head. But what he knew for certain was the fact that this guy must be pretty powerful to be able to do something like this. "But why did you bring me here. You must have some sort of reason or something?" he asked.

"I'll explain momentarily. But first" Igor gestured to his left. Ichigo hadn't even noticed the woman until now. She was certainly an odd looking woman. Wearing a blue dress with knee length boots. She had short white hair that ended just below her ears and yellow eyes. She was also wearing a blue cap as well. "This is my assistant, Elizabeth. Like myself, she is also a resident of this velvet room."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Ichigo Kurosaki" she bowed slightly as she introduced herself to him.

"Sure…likewise" Ichigo was still overwhelmed by most of this, so he didn't know quite how to react. Although suddenly he just realized something about what she said. Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the two of them accusingly "Wait a minute! Just how do you know my name?"

Igor chuckled as he waved his hand across the table in front of him. Just like the odd fortune tell from the other day, a folder appeared out of thin hair, and opened without any form of physical interaction. "I'm sure you are familiar with this."

What Igor was referring to was the document in front of him. Ichigo certainly did recognize this as the same document that strange boy from the other night made him sign. Supposedly it was something school related. But considering this man, or whatever he was, was now in possession of it, he wasn't so sure about that anymore. "Yeah, I remember that. Is that kid here as well?" Ichigo asked as he quickly scanned the room for any sight of that small boy.

"No he is not. But I'm sure you will encounter him again sometime in the future" Igor responded cryptically, only to receive a scowl from Ichigo. "This contract symbolizes the agreement you made with my master. Only those who have signed this contract may be permitted to enter the velvet room" he stated.

"Your master?" Ichigo had no idea who he was referring to. Was he talking about that kid? That was always a possibility.

"Look back, do you not remember meeting somebody unusual before you arrived in this city" Igor said, gesturing to Ichigo to search threw his memories. Deciding to humor the odd man, Ichigo tried recalling everything he witnessed from the time he left Karakura to the point he arrived in Iwatodai. Nothing out of the ordinary really came to mind. That was until several images flashed in his vision, of a fortune teller he met the previous day.

"_I am Philemon, the one who seeks man's enlightenment and guide's them towards it_" Philemon's words echoed through his head as If he was in the room with them all. The man was certainly an enigma alright, disappearing into thin air along with a table defiantly counts as that as far as he was concerned.

"You're talking about that Philemon guy, right?" Ichigo asked. He was sure that was who Igor was talking about. _"How the hell did I forget about that" _he thought_._ While he might occasionally forget a person's name now and then, he shouldn't have forgot about an event like that. So why was it he only just remembered that?

"That is correct. He is my master and the creator of this room" Igor explained.

"_So that guy created this place" _Ichigo thought. The guy was certainly strange, not only disappearing into thin air along with a table. But being comply unnoticed by everyone around this definitely categorize the guy as strange in his opinion. Especially since he wasn't able to see spirits anymore.

Just wanting to make sure of something Ichigo asked Igor a question. "You don't happen to know a guy called Kisuke Urahara do you. I mean this does seems like an elaborate prank he might do just to piss me off".

Igor chuckled slightly at the paranoid human. "I can assure you, the man you refer to as Kisuke Urahara is unaware of my existence" he explained to the surprise of Ichigo.

"Ok, so why exactly did you bring me here? I mean, you must have some sort of reason" Ichigo wondered. While it was interesting to know that Hat and Clogs didn't know about this guy, he really wanted to know why he was here. Usually when people kidnaped someone, they have some sort of purpose in mind or something.

"My reasoning for summoning you to the here, is to inaugurate you as our newest guest" Igor reached into his back pocket and placed a key in the middle of the table. The key itself looked rather old fashioned, but what stood out the most, was the fact that it was glowing blue. On one end of the key, was a make, one side black, the rest the same color as the rest of the key. "Please take this. This key is proof that you will be welcome here in this Velvet Room."

Ichigo cautiously reached out towards the table and picked up the key. "Why is it a key though" Ichigo wondered openly. "I mean, does this place have a door or something" he joked.

Igor chuckled to himself slightly "You will understand within time. Until then farewell." Ichigo was just about to ask him what he meant by that, but the world began to twist and distort in his vision. With a sudden jolt, he sprung straight up in his bed.

It was morning from the looks of it. His alarm that he set on his phone hadn't gone of yet, and the room was illuminated by the sun outside, so that was obvious.

"_Maybe that was all just some weird surreal dream_" Ichigo thought to himself. Yeah that was it. Just one of the most vivid and realistic dreams he had ever had. I mean, everyone has those sometimes in their life, so why should this be any different. Although, to Ichigo's dismay, that theory was suddenly debunked when he noticed something obstructive in his right hand. Ichigo unclenched his hand that he had unknowingly balled up to see a glowing blue key. The same key the large noised man had given to him just moments before in what he had assumed was just a dream.

"Nothing can ever just be simple with my life, can it" Ichigo sighed, as he openly complained to himself.

* * *

_April 9th_

_Iwatodai Dorm_

"So, how is he doing today?" Ikutsuki questioned, as he walked into the command room. This was the second night in a row where they were examining their newest guest, and he had yet to show any abnormalities that others who were exposed to the Dark Hour were known to exhibit. Hopeful, Ichigo would be able to summon a Person as they hadn't had much look in finding anyone else with the potential other than Yukari in the last few years.

Mitsuru sighed "He's the same as last night Mr. Chairmen." Nothing had changed since the other night. He was still sleeping in his bed and hadn't transmogrified into a coffin. "His vitals are all stable and from the looks of it he's fast asleep" she explained.

Ikutsuki moved towards the same spot he sat in the previous night. ""Hmm…Very interesting" he thought out loud. "Even those who have the potential tend to be rather unstable at first. Memory loss…disorientation, those are only just two of the symptoms a person tends to exhibit when confronted with the Dark Hour for the first time" Ikutsuki remained the two girls. "But, as far as we can tell, the subject has yet to show any signs of these symptoms."

The two girls were in deep thought other this. It was obvious he could experience the Dark Hour, and as the Chairman had explained, he wasn't exhibiting any of the common symptoms. As far as Mitsuru knew, there was only one possible explanation. "Mr. Chairmen, it might be possible that Kurosaki has been able to experience the Dark Hour for some time now" Mitsuru stated. "It would explain why he hasn't shown any sign of the symptoms you previously mentioned."

"An interesting theory, Mitsuru, one that might actually be correct." Ikutsuki said. "There's no real way of telling if that's the case though."

"Well couldn't we just ask him" Yukari stated the obvious. "I mean, we don't really have anything to lose."

"I'd have to agree with Takeba, Mr. Chairmen. Kurosaki hasn't shown any signs of changings since we first observed him yesterday. I don't believe there is much more we could possibly learn by monitoring him further" Mitsuru explained here reasoning.

"Hmm…" Ikutsuki was in deep though on how to respond. Mitsuru and Yukari both raised valid points. There wasn't really much more they could learn by observing Ichigo, the next step would be simply to talk to him and see if he was capable of summoning a Persona and explaining the Dark Hour to him. The only question that remained was how he would respond to this revelation. Certain people had the tendency to react violently to things that threaten their world view. Despite that, they had to move forward sooner or later. "Very well. Well stop are observations for tonight. Mitsuru, tomorrow bring Ichigo here so we can explain everything to him."

"Yes Mr. Chairmen" Mitsuru responded. Ikutsuki was about to leave the room but stopped as he heard a pinning noise coming from the console that was in front of the two students. "Command Room. Is that you Akihko?" she asked quickly. There really wasn't anyone else it could be. Akihiko was the only other member of SEES, and he was currently out on patrol right now.

"…Yeah it's me" Akihiko said of the radio, those present in the command room could hear his heavy breathing, indicating that he was out of breath. "Sorry but I don't have time to talk, something huge is chasing me. I'll be back at the dorm in just a few minutes."

This shocked the three present. He was bringing something dangerous right to them. "Wait! He's bringing that thing here!" Yukari said shocked. Why would he do that? He was only just going to put the rest of them in danger. Did he expect her and Mitsuru to be able to take care of it? Yukari was shook out of her thought as Mitsuru stood up from in front of the row of computers and took command of the situation.

"Mr. Chairmen, please remain here. Takeba and I will see to this problem" Mitsuru said with confidence as she walked out of the command room with Yukari following her lead.

Could this night get any worse? Akihiko had this thought constantly repeating through his head as he ran as fast as he was capable of back to the dorm. For him it was just an ordinary night. Well, as ordinary as killing monsters in a time period only he and a handful of others were capable of experiencing, that is. Everything was going so well, until that big bastard reared its ugly head. Despite its size, he still tried to take it head on with Polydeuces's help. Didn't really work out like he had hoped. The only thing he got out of that confrontation was his left arm practically spliced open by one of the things long knives.

It took about a minute or so more of running, but he was finely able to reach the dorm. Akihiko kicked open the front doors and quickly shut and locked them so the bastard couldn't get in. Exhausted, he slumped down on to the floor with his back against the door. He quickly tried to catch his breath, no doubt Mitsuru would want him to go back out there and fight the damn thing. He could hear footsteps of in the distance, the others were probably rushing towards him.

"Akihiko!" Mitsuru shouted, the sight of his current state no doubt worrying her. His shirt was covered in blood, and more of it started dripping onto the floor. She probably wasn't expecting him to be injured this badly.

Yukari ran over to him to try and help him. Akihko flinched as she got closer "Senpai!" she shouted worryingly.

Akihko gave her a reassuring smile "Don't worry, I'll be fine" however, the state of his body disagreed with him. "But get ready to be surprised, that things going to be here any second" he warned the two of them.

Mitsuru glared at him "This is no time for jokes Akihiko! What exactly are we up against?" she asked trying to assess the situation.

"It's a big one. Bigger than any we've encountered yet" Akihiko answered. Just then the entire building shuck as if an earthquake had suddenly appeared. Several of the lamps and plotted plants in the dorm fell over and shattered, spilling their contents onto the ground.

"Ahh!" Yukari screamed at the sudden shaking. "Y-You've gotta be kidding me" were shadows this powerful that they could shake an entire building. Just what the hell were they up against?

Mitsuru pulled out the gun that was strapped to a holder on a belt. "Takeba, go wake up Kurosaki! I want the two if you to escape out the back" Mitsuru commanded.

"But what about you two?" Yukari asked worriedly.

"Were going to stop it in its tracks" Mitsuru replayed. "I'm sorry Akihiko, but you led it to us, so you'll have to fight."

Akihko responded by glaring at her "It's not like I had much of a choice" he argued. He noticed Yukari was still standing there. "What are you waiting for Yukari?"

"R-Right, I'm going" Yukari said as she ran towards the second floor. The building shook once more as she ran to Ichigo's room. She almost tripped other the stares as she was running because of it.

"Just what the hell is going on?" Ichigo thought to himself as he got dressed into his school uniform, as it was the only thing that he had ready. Ichigo was awakened by the first shaking of the building. He could tell by the light peering into the room that it wasn't the middle of the night, but that strange green hue effect again. Whatever was going on he knew it had something to do with that. He was just about to leave his room to try to find out just what was occurring when he heard a sudden loud knock at his door.

"Ichigo, are you awake?" Yukari shouted from behind the door.

Ichigo moved quickly other to the door and opened it. He noticed Yukari looked panicked, something serious must have happened. No doubt it was the cause of the building shaking. "What's going on?" he asked in a serious tone.

"I'm sorry, but I don't have time to explain right now. We need to leave, now!" Yukari said as she motioned for Ichigo to follow her.

"Fine, but I want some answers" Ichigo demanded as he glared at her. The two of them were now in the hallway, seconds later the building was shaking again. Ichigo could swear he heard some glass shattering in the distance, probably from a window or some cutlery from a shelf.

"Once we get to somewhere safe, I'll explain everything. I promise" Yukari said as Ichigo followed her down stairs. The two of them ran to a door in the back of the ground floor. The room looked to be in a rather scattered and clustered mess, with furniture thrown everywhere and several windows smashed with the glass just scattered all other the floor.

"_There's no way this was just an earthquake" _Ichigo thought to himself. Sure the shaking and the fact the dorm looked like a wreck was typical scenery after an earthquake. But from the way Yukari had been acting, and this odd feeling he had right now that was telling him something else was going on. He couldn't quite describe this feeling he had; it was just an odd sensation, like a voice at the back of his mind telling him that something was wrong.

"Ok, I think we should be safe here" Yukari said as she led him to the back door of the ground floor.

"Safe from what?" Ichigo asked, increasingly agitated "What exactly is going on here?" he demanded to know. He hated being left in the dark about something. If he wasn't involved with it he wouldn't have cared. But considering what was currently going on, it was probably for the best to know as much as possible right now.

Yukari sighed. She didn't really know how to explain any of this to him. She had hoped it would have been Mitsuru or the Chairman that it explained it to him. She just didn't know how to put it all into words. "Alright, I said I would explain. You see…" Yukari was about to begin explaining everything to Ichigo, but she was interrupted by a ringing sound coming from inside her head. This had happened a few times before. This meant that Mitsuru was trying to contact her. "Just hang on a minute."

"_Takeba, do you read me"_ Mitsuru's voice rang inside her head.

"Yeah, I hear you" Yukari responded. She wasn't used to talking to someone like this. From Ichigo's prospective it probably looked like she was talking to herself or something equally crazy.

"Be careful! There's more than one enemy present!" Mitsuru warned. "The one were fighting, isn't the one Akihiko was chased by!"

"What!" Yukari said startled. Just then a large thumping noise came from the door just in front of her, like something was trying to break down the door. It kept repeating this over and over again trying to make its way into the building. "We should find another way out of her."

"Got any ideas?" Ichigo asked. Yukari looked like she knew what was going on, so he thought it was best to follow her lead for now. He could wait to find out just what was going on until they were safe from whatever was trying to bash its way in here.

"We should try the roof. Follow me, quickly" Yukari gestured to him as they made their way to the stairs. The building started shaking again, but unlike before, this was a continuous shake, unlike before where it was only for a few brief moments.

The sound of rumbling was suddenly replaced by the sound of glass shattering behind them. The two of them quickly turned around to see just what had broken into the dorm. What it was definitely surprised Ichigo. Two black blobs were currently clawing their way into the dorm towards them. These black blobs had claw like hands and arms. But the most distinctive thing about them was most definitely the blue mask they wore on their head. Or whatever passed as its head anyway. Ichigo couldn't help but be reminded of the countless hollows he fought just a few short months ago as he stared at the thing. It certainly had a slight resemblance to those monsters.

Ichigo quickly shook himself out of his surprise and hurriedly followed Yukari upstairs to the roof. It didn't matter what that thing was, there really wasn't much he could do against it anyway. Compared to some of the things he'd encountered during his few short months as a Substitute Soul Reaper, that black blob with the mask looked down right cuddly in comparison. Still, he wouldn't like to try to take those things head on in a fight though. Because if there was anything he learnt during those few months, it was that appearances could be deceiving.

He followed Yukari up to the top floor of the dorm, passing by what he assumed to be the girls floor and a floor that only possessed a large set of doors. The only thing on the top floor was a single door and some random odds and ends. The two of them quickly ran through the door and Yukari locked it behind her. The atmosphere outside was as depressing as Ichigo remembered. The only difference was that the moon was shining even brighter than it was just a few days ago. The sickly greenish light of this strange world illuminating the night sky made it quite brighter than it should have been for this hour of the night. The same blood like liquid was currently present on the roof itself, giving the place a certainly haunting appearance that wouldn't look out of place in a horror film.

"Ok…I think we should be safe up here" Yukari said, in between her heavy breathing.

"So, you going to explain what's going on now?" Ichigo questioned. He didn't like stumbling around in the dark. He could understand Yukari not wanting to explain anything while they were being chased. But they seemed relatively safe up here for the moment. So this was a better time than any in his opinion.

"Alright, I did promise after all" Yukari replied remembering her promise to explain everything to Ichigo once they were safe. "You see…" Yukari was cut off by the sound and vibration of the building shaking once more, but only this time did it feel more intense, and that it was originating from behind them.

The two of them quickly looked towards the source of the shaking where they sore a giant black hand grabbing the side of the building. Several more hands appeared only moments after that, just after that a blue mask, like the one on the black blob like creatures from before peaked over the side of the building, staring right at the two of them. The creature used all of its hands to pull itself onto the roof properly. The creature possessed a spider like appearance consisting almost entirely of hands and arms, with one if it's free hands that weren't t anchoring the being to the building being used to display its mask in front of its body. Out of nowhere, several of its hands reached into the center of the creature's body and pulled out several razor sharp swords.

"Ichigo" Yukari spoke without taking her eyes of the thing. "We call that thing, a Shadow." Yukari reached into her cardigans pocket at pulled out a knife which she handed to Ichigo. "Here, I know this isn't much but It'll have to do for now" she apologized. There wasn't much time before to grab anything more useful.

Ichigo took the knife and examined it momentarily as he didn't want to take his eyes off of the creature in front of him. It looked like a rather simple combat knife, nothing overly impressive about it, with a black handle and a greyish silver blade. A stab or cut in the right area on someone would easily kill them with this. on the other hand, he didn't particularly like his chances if he had to fight this thing head on with only a knife. "It's better than nothing I guess" he said to himself. Better to have it than nothing he thought.

While Ichigo was examining the weapon she had just handed him, Yukari was quickly trying to calm down her nerves. The only time she had seen an actual Shadow was with Mitsuru and Akihko once, and even then Akihiko was the one that had dealt the killing blow to it, not her. Hell she had never even summoned her persona before, the thought of actual using her evoker just frightened her too much to actual be able to go through with it. But know she had to put aside those fears and overcome them. Because if she wasn't able to, then both herself and Ichigo would undoubtedly die here tonight.

"_There's no way I'm going to let that happen. Not after I've come so close to finding out what happened to_ him" Yukari thought to herself. That's right. She had to make it through all of this to find out what happened to her father. She had to protect Ichigo from that thing. There was no one else that could, the others were too busy fighting the other shadows down on the street. It was all up to her.

Yukari quickly glanced towards Ichigo to see how he was coping. To her surprise his sight was focused solely on the shadow, but what surprised her was that it wasn't a look of fear that any normal person would have at the moment, but one of pure concentration. She'd seen that look before on Akihko when he was facing off against a shadow. But unlike Ichigo, he had a persona to back him up. So why wasn't he worried right about now. Yukari shook her head, she had more important things to worry about right now, as long as Ichigo was fine, that was ok with her.

The shadow started moving slowly towards them. Yukari focused her breathing and pulled out the gun that was strapped to the side of her right thigh. But to Ichigo's shock, she pointed it straight at her forehead. "Hey, wait a minute" Ichigo shouted as he was about to stop Yukari from doing what he thought she was going to do. What was he supposed to do when somebody was pointing a loaded gun at their head? Let them pull the trigger?

The moment Yukari pulled out the gun, the shadow charged at the two of them and using one of its free hands, smacked Yukari out of the way, sending her flying to the other side of the roof. The force of the throw, knocking her unconscious for the moment.

"Yukari" Ichigo shouted in an attempt to see if she was ok. Unfortunately he didn't get a response. He did on the other hand cause the shadow to refocus its attention from the downed girl to him. The shadow swiped one of its swords in the general direction of Ichigo's head. Luckily he was able to dodge the blow in time. If he hadn't then he would have surly been decapitated then and there.

"_And here I thought my monster fighting days were other" _Ichigo thought to himself. Several months of fighting Hollows, Soul Reapers and Arrancars had sharpened his reflexes to an almost superhuman degree. So because of that, he was confident he wouldn't be able to be skewered by one of the shadows swords. Hopefully anyway. Now killing it on the other hand was a completely different matter. He doubted a mere knife could do any real damage to this monstrosity. The only thing he could do right now was try to dodge any blows the shadow sent his way.

That was really all he could do. The shadow itself didn't seem like much compared to some of the other things he'd seen. But in his current state, he was just as week as an ordinary human. And right now, there wasn't a damn thing an ordinary human could do against a creature such as the one in front of him.

The shadow once again charged straight at him again. The shadow swiped several of its swords at Ichigo. He was able to dodge most of them, but one of them accidently nicked the side of his face causing a slight cut to appear. He ignored that for now, and out of desperation tried to parry the final strike the shadow sent his way. When the shadows sword collided with the knife, it caused Ichigo's right arm to vibrate. While he might have been in peek physical condition, he was still only a human. It was lucky that the bones in his arms didn't break then and there.

"Damn it" Ichigo grunted in pain. That last attack taught him that trying to parry one of its blows was a terrible idea. The thing was just too damn strong for him to be able to handle. Unfortunately, while Ichigo was momentarily distracted with his aching arm, he wasn't able to notice one of the shadows free hands heading straight for his stomach. The next thing Ichigo saw was a black fist colliding with his body and sending him several feet backwards. The momentum of the blow almost causing his back to collided with the side of the roof.

A sharp pain radiated from his ribs. More than likely one or two of them had been broken by the shadows attack. Any lesser man would have stayed on the ground clutching their three stomach, but Ichigo got right back up. Sure he was in quite a bit of pain, but he had endured far worse in the past.

Despite the brave face he put on, he had no idea right now on just what he was supposed to do. There was no way that he could kill that thing with just a knife. If only he had power. Power to destroy this bastard. Because if he died here right now, then Yukari would be next, and in her current state she'd be a sitting duck. There was no way he could let that happen. No. He refused to let that happen. There had to be something he could do.

"_The gun…_" To Ichigo's surprise, a voice echoed throughout his mind. It was like somebody had snuck up right behind him and started whispering in his ear. It felt like the entire world had slowed down all around him. The image of the kid from the night he arrived in the dorm flashed before his eyes. "_Go on…take it_" the boy said, gesturing to the immediate left of him. Ichigo glanced at the direction the kid was pointing at. It was where Yukari was lying on the ground unconscious, and next to her lay the gun she had dropped just before, laying there in a pool of blood.

Weighing up his options, Ichigo quickly rolled underneath one of the shadows sword strikes in an attempt to move himself closer to where Yukari was without being struck down by the shadow. Luckily, he was able to get much closer to her pretty much unscathed. Before grabbing the gun, Ichigo quickly spared a glance at Yukari. While she continued to seem unresponsive, she was still certainly breathing, indicating she was very much alive. Turing his attention back to his current plan, Ichigo quickly bent down and picked up the discarded silver gun. Despite admittedly not having any real expertise handling firearms, Ichigo noticed that the gun was pretty much very lightweight, there was also the fact that it was completely solid, whereas most guns had mechanisms for the safety and to switch out ammunition.

"Guess she wasn't kidding when she said the thing was fake" Ichigo remembered, as he recalled what Yukari explained to him the other day in class. By appearance alone it look real, although that was simply his opinion and someone who had actual experience with these type of weapons would probably disagree with him. The only thing that really stood out about the gun was that it had the English letters SEES engraved on the side of the barrel. Incidentally, Yukari was also wearing a red armband that had the same letters on.

"Wonder what that means" he thought out loud as he finished examining the two items. Just to prove himself right, Ichigo pointed the gun directly at the shadow and pulled the trigger. As he expected, he only heard a clicking sound caused by the trigger and nothing else. "Thought so" he commented. The fact the gun was fake raised one big question in his mind. Just what the hell was he supposed to do with a fake gun anyway?

"_Go on_" the image of the small boy reappearing in his vision. The boy made a gun shape with his hand and connected his index figure to his temple, mimicking the image of a person putting a gun to their head. "_This is what it's for_" the boy explained with a smile. "_Trust me._" Personally Ichigo thought the boy was insane. That was until he remembered the boy's voice and image was probably all just part of his imagination, then that probably meant he was insane. The only time he had experienced voices in his head was when his inner hollow was attempting to take over his body just after coming back from the Soul Society. Those weren't exactly pleasant memories for him.

Not thinking of any better action to take, Ichigo put the barrel of the gun to his temple and steadied his finger on the trigger. "This better not actual kill me" Ichigo grumbled. Even through the gun seemed fake, that wasn't exactly calming his nerves. The thought of actually putting a gun to his head and having his brains blown across the roof wasn't a very appealing idea to him. If he was going to die, then he'd prefer it be for something that actual mattered. Ichigo took a deep breath and steadied his breathing.

"_That's right"_ the image of the boy smirked in his head. _"Now, repeat after me…"_

Her body was aching. Just how long was she out of it for? Her vision was slowly coming back to her, as the world around her became less obscured every second. The strength in her collapsed body not having returned to her fully yet, the most she was capable of doing was tilting her head upwards to examine what was currently going on in front of her. She saw the same spider like shadow that had knocked her out, backing away slowly from someone in front of it. Since the only people that were up here the last time she checked was herself and Ichigo, she assumed it was him. But that raised the question. Why was it backing away?

"Per…so...na" Ichigo muttered out with his gaze focused on the now cowering shadow opposite to him. Ichigo steadied his finger and pulled the trigger. Blue glass flew out from the other side of his head accompanied by the sound of glass breaking. A blue torrent of light exploded around his body, enclosing him from the outside world. Ichigo couldn't begin to describe the sensation he was feeling right now. It reminded him of his dream he had the other night, the one about the Velvet Room. Either way, it felt like power, but not power as he remembered it, but at the same time it felt oddly relaxing and soothing. Inside the blue torrent of light, a figure began to take form above him.

"**I am thou…"** a voice called out. The voice sounded like a deeper, more distorted version of Ichigo's own voice. It appeared to be emanating from the forming figure that was taking shape above Ichigo. **"…thou art I…"** the figure was becoming clearer by the second. It was definitely humanoid in appearance. With most of its body obscured by a black clock with tattered ends, it was hard to define the gender of the figure, but it certainly looked male. **"…from the sea of thy soul, I cometh…"** The beings head was covered by the hood of the cloak, making it impossible to see what he looked like underneath. The only thing that was visible were strands of white hair. The figure was welding a long sword in its right hand. The sword resembled a silver Japanese Daitō, its sharpness appearing somewhere in between a regular Katana and a razor blade. All and all it had a rather haunting appearance to it. **"I am Charon. Guider of souls"**

The blue torrent of light disappeared leaving Charon floating above Ichigo with nothing but the green moonlight to illuminate them. The shadow, which just before was trying to slice Ichigo apart now stood there completely still. Whether it was out of confusion or fear, it was impossible to really tell. But right now, Ichigo felt like he was on top of the world. What he was feeling right now was almost impossible to describable; it felt like he was in two places at once, almost like he was looking out of the eyes of Charon.

"So, this is a persona" Ichigo muttered. That's what the boy had called it. He still wasn't sure whether or not that was just a hallucination. The fact remained he knew the name of the thing. Charon. From what he remembered, it was from Greek mythology, a sort of grim reaper that would ferry the souls of the dead across the river Styx to the afterlife. Ichigo thought it was kind of amusing, especially considering what his former occupation use to entail.

"I-Ichigo" Yukari mumbled as she slowly got back onto her feat. Her movement was slow and sloppy, a sign that she hadn't fully regained her sense of balance quite yet. He would have liked to have gone other there and helped her back onto her feet. But he didn't want to take his eyes of the shadow just yet. There was no telling what this thing would do. Would it go after the biggest threat to it, or would it go after the most vulnerable. He didn't have the luxury of being surrounded by people that could probably level a decent sized town on their own anymore. Both he and Yukari were ordinary humans, persona's aside. He had to be careful. He couldn't just rush into it and expect everything to work out like in the old days.

"Stay right there. There's no telling what this things going to do next" Ichigo cautioned. Ichigo was just about to take a step backwards, when a shooting pain suddenly erupted inside his head. It was as if someone had snuck up behind him and shoved a hot rod straight into his brain. Even though he had a high tolerance of pain, this was simply just too much for him to be able to endure.

"Argh" Ichigo fell to his knees in pain, no longer having the strength in his legs to stand. The excruciating pain was simply too much for him to bare. It felt like something was trying to claw its way right out of his head. Since he was looking straight down at the roof, he was unable to see that Charon was now convulsing in pain. His sudden erratic movements were put to an end only seconds after they began as a black arm shot out of his body. Moments later another arm followed in its wake. Both hands gripped the body of Charon and pulled itself up, ripping Charon to pieces in the process.

"**RRRRAAAAAAHHHH**" The being roared as it erupted out its way of Charon with such a force to practically obliterate any trace of him. The being had a certain terrifying appearance to it. Its entire body was masked by a long black clock with red outlines that parted close to thigh high white boots. Around its body were several coffins attached to it by a set of chains, and on its head was a jaw like white mask that was separated into two from where it covered its eyes to its jaw. In its right hand was a sword similar to the one Charon was wilding previously. The only difference was that it possessed a sheath for the sword attached to its belt on its left hand side.

"W-What is that thing?" Yukari asked, slightly shuck up at the sudden appearance of that persona. Or at least she thought it was a persona anyway. Yukari heard a grunting sound just to the left of her, probably coming from Ichigo. She quickly ran to his side to stabilise him as he tried to stand up again. "Just hang on" she said trying to comfort him.

"Thanks" Ichigo appreciated the gesture of help. While he was getting back on his feet, the newly summoned persona charged straight at the shadow. The shadow in turn launched several of its arms straight into the air in an attempt to keep the persona at bay. Its arms twisted and turned through the air, but all these attempts were futile as the persona sliced through all of its arms at once effortlessly. The blast caused by the downward force of the sword almost caused the roof underneath the shadow to cave in.

Before the shadow could respond to what had just happened, the persona quickly bisected the shadow from the mask downwards in two equal pieces, no longer rendering the shadow to be a threat to the occupants of the roof. The persona grabbed the remains of the shadow and using its immense strength, crushed it underneath its grip. All that remained was the recently summoned persona basking in the green moonlight. Suddenly a static sound like one encountered on an old TV filled the air and the persona reverted back Into Charon. Charon himself suddenly glowed with a blue light and vanished as well.

"Well at least that shadow's gone" Yukari said. She wasn't sure what just happened, but she wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Whatever that thing was it dealt with a shadow she knew even Akihko and Mitsuru would have had difficulty dealing with.

"Yeah" Ichigo agreed. That's all he really could say, as his mind was focused on something else. Why was it that the persona he just summoned transformed into that thing with the coffins? "Well were safe now, that's all that really matters at the moment." They could worry about all this later, there was no use to asking question they both knew there weren't really answers for right now.

The two of them were about to head back to the door but stopped when they heard several movement from behind them. Several of the blob like shadows from before were quickly making their way onto the roof from all directions. Their intention was most likely to surround them.

"Great more of those damn bastards" Ichigo scowled. At least it wasn't an even more powerful shadow showing up. Ichigo put the evoker to his head again ready to fight the shadows if need be.

"Wait, you're going to fight them" Yukari shouted suppressed. She didn't think he could have taken much more tonight after everything he had been through, and know he was ready to head on with several shadows by himself. She didn't know whatever or nor to call it bravery or stupidity.

"It's either that or die" Ichigo countered. "And frankly, I don't have any intention of dying here tonight." Ichigo was about to pull the trigger and summon Charon, but was stopped by a voice calling out from behind.

"That's a good attitude to have about this" a grey haired man said as he walked up behind the two of them. "Looks like we have our work cut out for us" he said as he observed the seen on front of him. There were quite a lot of shadows up here. "Nothing we can't deal with" he commented.

"And you are?" Ichigo asked having spared a sidewards glance at the guy, all the while not taking his full attention off of the ever increasing number of shadows in front of them.

"We can save a full introduction for later. The names Akihiko by the way" Akihko quickly introduced himself.

"Ichigo"

"So Ichigo, how about this. You take the right, and I'll take the left" Akihko explained his idea to Ichigo while he flexed his shoulder. "Yukari catch this" Akihiko threw what looked like an evoker to Yukari. She cached it without any effort. "Since you haven't properly used one yet just back the two of us up. Mitsuru will be here in a minute to help out."

"Right" Yukari replied. Despite her current confidence, she was worried that she might not actual be able to help the two of them. The two of them were placing their trust and lives with her, she couldn't let them down just because she was scared of putting a fake gun to her head. She had to overcome her fear of it, it was now or never for her.

"So you two ready or what?" Ichigo asked as he got ready to pull the trigger.

Akihiko chuckled "I should be the one asking you that. But yeah, let's do this" Akihiko griped his evoker with his left hand and pressed the barrel straight against his forehead. "Polydeuces" Akihko shouted as he pulled the trigger. In a blue torrent of energy, a large blue figure appeared directly above Akihiko. It was a large muscular blue clad figure with long blond hair and silver armour at various places around its body. On its right hand, it wielded a piercer style weapon, while it's left hand was rather tiny in comparison. "Alright, try this, _Zio_" Akihiko called out. A lightning bolt pierced through the night sky and struck the nearest shadow, obliterating it on impact. Maybe out of sense of comradery or revenge, the nearest shadow charged directly at Akihiko, but was struck down by a truly devastating haymaker curtsey of Akihiko's right fist.

"Alright, guess it's my turn" Ichigo smirked as he planned on what to do himself. With the sound of glass shattering, Ichigo summoned Charon into the world. Ever since first summoning the persona just a while ago, he began to remember words of a language he simply had no knowledge of. Whatever they were, he had a feeling they were connected to the persona in some manner. Following Akihiko's example he decided to give it a try. "_Mudo_" As he spoke those words, Charon raised its fist in the direction of the closest shadow and a purple magic circle formed directly in front of it. The shadow became in cased within purple light, and seconds later as the magic circle began to dissipate, it disintegrated into nothingness.

"_So it's some form of magic that destroys something instantly on contact_" Ichigo thought as he witnessed the shadow disappear. "_Well that could come in handy_" he figured there was probably some sort of downside to it he'd eventual figure out, but for now it was fine for what he needed it for. These shadows didn't seem any ware near as strong as the spider like one. The only problem was that there was a ton of them to deal with. Ichigo smirked to himself "Well then, let's try something different" Along with Mudo, another word popped into his head the moment he first summoned Charon, an English word to be precise, instead of whatever language the other one hailed from. "Cleave".

Charon charged towards the nearest shadow, and with its sword held high, slashed the shadow apart. Ichigo couldn't help but smile at this. Ever since he lost his Soul Reaper powers, he felt completely useless, unable to move on in the world. But now, now there was this.

"Io" he heard Yukari shout out. What he assumed was her persona hovered just slightly in front of her. In his opinion it was kind of strange looking. It was a woman with long blond braided hair in a pink dress sitting on what he assumed was a bull themed throne. Actual, sitting on it wasn't right, it was more like she was chained right to it. "Dia" she commanded. A green light washed over Ichigo, and to his surprise the pain that had been emanating from his ribs had all but disappeared.

"Healing magic!" Ichigo presumed. "Thanks, I kind of need that". Ichigo couldn't help but notice the sweat on Yukari's face.

"No problem" Yukari panted as beads of sweat rolled down her face. Summoning her persona had taken a lot out of her. But in the end, she had managed to summon it despite the fears she had previously.

"Hey Ichigo, look out" Akihko warned as a shadow got dangerously close to him. Ichigo quickly turned around to face the oncoming shadow, but was surprised as a rapier was suddenly thrust straight through the blue mask of the creature.

"You know I was just about to deal with that one" Ichigo mentioned. It's not like he wasn't grateful for her help or anything. For some reason he couldn't help but notice that his body was becoming more sluggish than usual. Ichigo ignored this for now.

"Well then, you should have been quicker about it" Mitsuru joked slightly as she flicked of the reaming pieces of the shadow off of her sword. "I'm sorry I'm late everyone. But I was held up dealing with a small matter" Mitsuru explained as she observed the current state of affairs. There was currently quite a few shadows present to be dealt with. But due to their relatively low threat level and the way Akihiko and Kurosaki held dealt with them so far, they didn't seem to be an overall dangerous threat. "But I see my absence hasn't affected any of your ability's to deal with the threat at hand."

"We were doing just fine by ourselves before you showed up" Ichigo of handily mentioned. "Ain't that right" he said as he looked towards Akihiko.

"Yeah" he smirked as he destroyed yet another shadow with his bare hands. "But we could certainly use the help now that your here". With Mitsuru here they could make short work of the remaining shadows far quicker than he assumed it would have taken with just the three of them.

"Let's quickly put an end to this quickly, shall we" Mitsuru said as she pulled out her evoker and summoned her persona. "Penthesilea" in a surge blue energy a rather regal figure appeared above her. Wearing a blue outfit adorned with the occasional steal armor over the chest, an iron mask and what looked like a rapier in its left hand and a long sword in its right. "Mabufa" she called out. Immediately, the reaming shadows began to slowly be incased in ice. The shadows had zero chance to escape as they suddenly shattered into shards of ice, removing the last trace of the over worldly beings from the dorm.

"With that taken care of, I'm glad to see the two of you are unharmed" Mitsuru addressed Ichigo and Yukari.

"Yeah, no…problem…" Ichigo said as his voice trailed off as he lost all feeling in his lower legs and collapsed into his knees. Dropping the evoker and knife he was holding previously. The discarded items casing a clanging sound as they impacted the roof of the dorm.

"Hey Ichigo, are you ok" Yukari shouted as she rushed over to him. "Say something".

"W-What…the!" he mumbled as his vision began to darken and his body collapsed to the ground unresponsive.

Mitsuru looked on at the scene with a frown appearing on her face. "I was afraid of something like this happening" she sighed as she observed Ichigo's collapsed form in front of her. "Summoning his persona and using it several times after must have completely exhausted him".

"But Yukari seems fine" Akihiko argued. "She only just summoned hers not to long after Ichigo did"

"True. It might be possible that his current condition is due to the emergence of that _thing_ earlier" Mitsuru explained her theory.

"Any idea what that was anyway?" Akihiko asked. Personally he had no damn clue what that thing was from earlier. From the way it appeared, to the way it casually destroyed the shadow just unnerved him a slight bit.

"I have no idea" Mitsuru confessed. The emergence of the strange being from earlier had shocked them all. "But I fully intend on finding out" she said as she was resolved to figuring this mystery out as they planned on what to do next.

Unknown to them, just off in the distance was a blue butterfly observing the scene before it. As the three teenagers carried Ichigo's body off of the roof to where ever it was they were taking him, the blue butterfly spread its wings and flew off into the green night sky.

* * *

Authors Notes: I apologize for how long it took for this chapter to come out. But real life tends to delay things now and then. But with it being summer now, I intend for these chapters to come out a bit quicker for a while.

One other thing I noticed while writing this chapter, I had accidentally muddled up the dates in the story. So I went back and fixed those mistakes.


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Bleach, Persona Series, Mystery, Supernatural