Lone shopper (C)

"Particularly that kitten, it's like a mini-Ichigo," Aoide mentioned and grinned cheerfully. She then looked at the pricetag for the kittens. "Phew for 100,000 yen that would be a whole lot of love to your sisters. I doubt I even have that much love for my brother, not even on a high schooler allowance," Aoide let out a sigh, giving a longing look at the kittens.

"Oh really, then my dream of being a memorable idol is on the right track," Aoide spoke her hand reaching out for Ichigo's, her small fingers entwinging with his larger ones. Her cheeks held a hint of a blush as they walked out of the pet store and headed for the lights of the festival. Then Ichigo mentioned something about not having a lot of experience in the romance department. Aoide laughed, she couldn't help it. "Geez, Ichigo, you're only sixteen, how much experience do you think you should have? It's not like they right boys a book on how to be romantic, and I doubt you would be caught dead reading romance novels and Shoujin."

She reached up and cupped his cheek for a moment, her eyes looking soft and gentle, "You'll pick it up as you go, all guys do."

"100,000 yen is WAY outside my budget. I get enough allowance to get by, thats about it." he wasn't like one of those rich kids who just got everything handed to him. No, his father gave him some money, but not a lot, not at all. He laughed at her idol comment, "Well you're well on you're way." he told her, wrapping his fingers around hers. It felt nice to hold someones hand. Other then his sisters, his mother was the only person he had held hands with for extended periods of time. He used to hold her hand all the time, always attached to her.

"Yah, I would never get caught reading a book like that, but i'd read it. You women can be cryptic as hell sometimes." a huge blush rose in his cheeks as her hand came in contact with his face, his dark eyes looking into hers. "Yah... i guess so." he managed to stammer out, too flustered by their close contact to say anything else.

"Yeah but I have to finish high school," Aoide made a face, sticking out her tongue, "My parents are willing to help me on my idol dream, but only if I do a few years of med school, then they say they might think about it. They don't care about how well I can sing and dance, it's all, study this study that," she sighed, "It's so hard to do something that you don't want to do."

"Oh well, just wait Ichigo, someday you'll see me on television, singing and dancing," Aoide looked a little dreamy eyed. Of course this would never happen, she was a Shinigami, doing such things could get her convicted of wanting a second life. It was fun to pretend though and to hang out with someone to listen to such silly dreams. Which was what was odd about Ichigo, how intently he listened to her and didn't rag on her for having such outlandish thoughts. He really did act older then he was.

She stuck her tongue out playfully at Ichigo, "Maybe cause men aren't listening the right way!" she told him squeezing his hand playfully, "Geez, if you have any girl questions you can just ask me. I don't tend to come off as a mystery anyway. I really think that our youth shouldn't be filled with confusion and misunderstanding about how people feel about one another. Life is short you know?" With that Aoide removed her hand from Ichigo's cheek and they walked into the festival. The smell of grilled meat, rice, and sweets made Aoide's stomach growl loudly, to the point she blushed a little.

"Lunch was a long time ago," she said looking sheepish.

Ichigo couldn't really empathize with her on the whole controlling parents thing. His dad basically let him do whatever he wanted. he didn't even care that Ichigo was almost flunking out of school. Well, what was he going to do with a high school degree? Ever since becoming a shinigami, Ichigo knew that his life would never be normal, and stopped thinking about a conventional career, more or less just knowing that he was just going to continue his duties for as long as they needed him. "Can't you just tell them that you don't want to do it? Why waste your time and their money on something that you hate?" He was glad he had an understanding father.

He laughed a little at her glazed over expression. She had such passion in her eyes. "Well, I better get your autograph, it'll be worth a lot one day." it would be fun to brag to people about knowing a star before they made it big. He probably wouldn't know if she made it big or not if they lost contact, since he never kept up with the recent media trends.

"Alright, if I have any questions, i'll ask." He said, his face getting hot under her touch. He let out a small sigh of relief as she removed her hand, the tension releasing that had been building up in his chest. It was odd, he hated feeling awkward, but kind of liked it at the same time. It was weird how someone could make him feel so vulnerable just by touching him.

As they entered the festival, the smell of the delicious food filled his nose, his stomach clenching painfully. With good reason, he had skipped breakfast and lunch today. Having woken up too late for breakfast, he skipped lunch as well, figuring that he would just pick up something to eat while he was out shopping.

He laughed as he stomach growled, his own returning a similar, yet louder noise. He grinned, rubbing the back of his head. "Yahh.. I haven't eaten yet today. Want to go get some food, then?"

"Well, the problem is," Aoide sighed rolling her eyes, "I like doing medical things too, I'm really good at it. So, I'm torn between so many interests, I mean I good at performing, I'm good at helping people, I'm a good cook, I'll make a good wife and mother. I guess I'm just too young on knowing what I want to do when I grow up. Amazing isn't it, I'm living in a time where a girl can have a any choice of career, and I can't make up my mind. Kurosaki right, like the clinic, well you're lucky you can always help out your dad and change the name to Kurosaki and Son clinic or something," Aoide said thoughtfully completely changing the subject feeling a little uncomfortable at her building lies. Normally, this would have been easy, yet the longer she stayed by Ichigo and talked to him the more she felt bad for giving out these false details.

He then mentioned getting her autograph and she playfully punched his shoulder. "Baka, you'll be the first one to get tickets to my show, and you'd better show up, or else! That's girl taboo number one, always show up when your invited," she said holding up one finger before smiling and letting go of Ichigo's hand, "Kay, you grab some drinks and I'll grab the food!" she said before skipping off.

"Yah, i've always got that to fall back on, hopefully. I don't want to take over when he retires or anything, but I guess its always a good backup plan if I don't end up..." He trailed off, about to say something about his shinigami duties. Damn, he had to be more careful, he almost let it slip. He felt so comfortable around her, for some reason he just didn't put up the usual walls he would have put up with meeting someone new. He usually didn't open up to people like this until he got to know them. "Ummm... doing whatever it is ill be doing after high school...." Nice save, baka!!

"Don't worry, i'll be there. Front row." smiling, he pretended to take down a note, putting the invisible piece of paper in his pocket. "Kay, noted." nodding to her instructions, he walked over to the closest booth, putting his hands in his pockets as he approached the cashier. Looking up at the menu, he thought for a moment. "Umm.. I'll get... two..." he could feel the impatience of the server as Ichigo held up the line. There were so many choices, which one would she like? He had no idea, and didn't want to pick the wrong one. The pressure was beginning to build as the cashier started drumming his fingers on the counter. "One Lychee and one Mango..." he ordered, giving the impatient cashier his money in exchange for the two cups of juice. Making sure the lids were on, he turned around, walking back to the spot where he and Aoide had parted. He didn't see where she had gone, and just stood there, looking around for her, almost looking lost.

As soon as Ichigo was out of sight, Aoide went to her cellphone as it beeped. There was a Hollow nearby, obviously Ichigo wasn't very good at sensing it. In any case it didn't seem to be causing any trouble yet, probably because the town was a little light in souls due to the increase of attacks. That and there more Shinigami in the area to take care of it. If the Hollow came near the festival, then Aoide would be forced to take care of it, until then she could relax. She snapped her cellphone shut and headed over to the food section of the festival.

She purchased for chicken Yakitori, two bowls of rice and a Okonomiyaki with a little bit of everything to share. Aoide wasn't a picky eater and didn't mind stacking different type of food into one meal. Juggling the food in her arms, she headed back to where she had left Ichigo. She stopped a little ways away, noting with a note of affection on how lost her looked. She smiled and bounded up behind him.

"Here I am Ichigo, lets eat, ooo is that mango?" Aoide asked her arms stuffed with food as she beamed up at Ichigo.

He turned around as she approached him, smiling as he saw her carrying all the food. "Whoa, thats a lot of food." he laughed. Well he was hungry, none of it was going to go to waste at least. He was a growing teenage boy, and had the appetite to show for it. He shook the mango drink. "Good, you like mango. I wasn't sure what i should get..." he said, taking some of the food, lightening her load. "Wanna go sit down on the grass?" he asked, motioning towards some sakura trees that lined the space the festival occupied.

"Well, I'm a growing girl! I eat a lot too, someday I hope my breasts grow as large as Orihime-san or Matsumoto-san, so I eat a lot too, just like them," Aoide pointed with her now free hand that Ichigo had cleared of food to her chest. Not that she didn't have a nice medium rack already, but Aoide had always been evious of her Vice Captain back in the days of her time in Squad 10. Of course Aoide had never thought that due to her petite size that have a chest that big would knock her over with the slightest push.

"Tsh, Ichigo, I'm not a picky eater, you could have gotten water or sake," she said waving him off, which was true she enjoyed most juices, and sake, oh how she loved a little sake with dinner. Just the thought of it made her mouth water, then she realized that high school students were of age to drink. "I joke, about the sake," she laughed sitting on the grass and passing food back and forth. "My parents have only given me tastes on special occasions, they're big into parties," Aoide then happily munched on the chicken her legs sprawled out on the grass, her mind now occupied with the food.

"I should make you these for lunch, I have a better recipe," she mentioned after eating one stick and taking a sip of juice, "Would that be alright Ichigo, if I made you lunch one day?"

As she made the comment about her breasts, he couldn't help but look down for a second. What the hell was she talking about, her breasts were fine. He always heard girls complaining about their boobs.. if they were small they wanted larger ones, if they were big, they wanted them smaller. He never got the obsession for being so unhappy their looks.

He was glad to hear that she wasn't a picky eater. Took the pressure off for the future when he had to make a decision like the one he just made. Save himself the embarrassment of holding up the line and just get whatever he thought was good. "I drink sake." he stated casually. He had taken a shining to sake lately, drinking it casually with his friends like Ikkaku and Matsumoto.

Thinking about their drunken adventures made Ichigo realize something. How did Aoide know Matsumoto? Sure, she had been in their class at one point, but she was a new student, and wouldn't have known her. She may have heard about the one girl who used to be in their class with bigger boobs then Orihime, but he doubted that she would have referred to her in such a casual, friendly manner. Sitting down in the grass, he studied her, thinking about this new realization. He could be dense sometimes, but he wasn't dumb. Concentrating, he reached out, trying hard to sense any form of reiatsu, without giving away what he was doing.

There it was, he could feel it. She was definitely a shinigami. Dammit, how did he not notice! It kind of bugged him at how horrible he was with sensing and tracking reiatsu, it didn't come naturally like it did with most. He really had to consciously put effort every time he wanted to do it. As he studied the signature energy some more, he sensed another reiatsu, this one more distant. But it was that of a hollow. Fuck, not now, he didn't want to leave to go fight it. But at least he knew Aoide would understand...

Deciding not to press the topic, he sat down next to her and began eating, occasionally looking in the direction that he sensed the hollow. Great, now he wasn't going to be able to focus on anything other then that stupid monster, lurking in the background of his thoughts. When she asked him if he would like her to make him lunch one day, he didn't answer at his, his thoughts obviously somewhere else. After a few seconds he realized that she had been speaking to him, his attention snapping back to her. "Yah, that would be nice. My dad's not the best cook in the world, and my sisters are still learning.."

Aoide on the fringes of her conciousness could feel Ichigo's energy probing and prodding to find the energy she hid so well. She let it flare up slightly to let him sense it. He was REALLY bad and sensing Spiritual Energy, and she was too good at hiding it. She drew her knee to her chest, the stick to her chicken hanging from her mouth. She pouted a little as she looked at Ichigo.

"Awww, you finally figured it out," she said looking disappointed, "Least I don't have to make up lies now. But now whose gonna take me to the movies? All Ikkaku-san wants to watch is action," she let out a sigh and went back to gnawing on the stick. "So unfair, you were really nice and cute and fun to hang around," she cupped her hands to her cheeks. "I guess I can't hang out with your sisters now either."

"And don't worry, my squad is probably all over the place, they'll take care of the Hollow," Aoide said noting Ichigo's distraction. "Ichigo? Ichigo?" he was completely out of it, his head turned towards where the Hollow was. Wow he was really concentrating on it, "Ichigo," Aoide crawled over to him, the stick dropping out of her mouth as she got closer and closer, until she was practically ontop of him, her nose inches from his. "Ichigo, come back, there's more to life then Hollow hunting," she spoke to him before poking his cheek.

Ichigo tilted his head at her words, confuzed at first. How the hell did she know that he figured it out? Sighing mentally, he shook his head. "We can still go to the movies and shit..." Why would it matter if she was a shinigami or a human? It didn't to him, at least. Blushing a little at her comment about him being cute, he took a drink of his juice to hide his face. He thought that she was cute and was having a lot of fun as well, but was too shy to return the compliment to her.

Having still been on alert from the reiatsu of the hollow, he stared at the spot where it was, having sensed some movement. It was on the move, and going pretty fast. He had been putting so much focus on tracking the hollow that he didn't hear Aoide's voice calling his name. When his attention was finally snapped back to reality, his body jumped a little. When the hell did she get so close? He stared back at her, blinking a few times, but not moving back at all, "Yah.. sorry. It's hard to concentrate knowing it's out there.." he resisted the urge to look back in it's direction, keeping their gazes locked.

"Teh, human boys, interested in fighting monsters when there's a pretty girl in their lap. Downright insulting," Aoide sighed placing her hands on Ichigo's shoulders and looking away. She was literally in his lap, her body stretched out on all fours sliding up his chest. Not that she noticed that this might make Ichigo uncomfortable, she was in thought for a few moment before looking up at him through her thick eyelashes. She then grinned, her face leaning up and pecking Ichigo on the lips. She then got to her feet, bounding around.

"Well come on, I'm not going to get a decent conversation out of you with that Hollow around," Aoide said dancing around her energy beginning to spike. From in her pocket she plucked a little green bead and held it up to the light. "My gigai is such a prude without me," she sighed tossing the bead into the air and catching it with her mouth. Instantly a blur of black and white swirled around Ichigo before disappearing in a gust of wind.

"Eh, look at her running like some boy, how unlady-like," Aoide's gigai commented pulling out a fan and covering her face in the presence of a male. "Don't stare at me, it's impolite!"

Aoide was fast, she was interested if Ichigo could follow her, most couldn't, her speciality was speed. She skipped from the ground up onto the rooftops, jumping from one until the other before stopping and waiting for Ichigo and watching the Hollow. She dropped her Spiritual Energy again to keep it from sensing her as she watched it, her hands folded neatly in the sleeves of her Captain haori.

Ichigo's eyes widened with her response. He didn't mean to insult her. "No! Thats not what i meant!" he exclaimed, his face growing more and more red as her body slid up his. What was she doing!? Wait.. why was he complaining!? Sure it made his riddiculously uncomfortable, a tight knot forming in his stomach, but he had to get used to it eventually. Being around girls was something he couldn't, and didn't want to, avoid.

But what happened next, Ichigo was not prepared for. His eyes went wide as her lips kissed his, even if it was only for a split second. His heart beat wildly in his chest, the knot in his stomach tightening. How the hell was she able to reduce him down to this with just one peck on the lips?

Ichigo got to his feet after she jumped up, putting his hand into his pocket, wrapping his fingers around the small green candy, pulling it out. Before he knew it she was out of her gigai, running off in the direction of the hollow. Shit, she was fast. He looked down at her gigai, looking away quickly as she told him not to stare. Well, if he waited any longer she would kill the hollow without him.

Popping the round candy into his mouth, he didn't waste any time, dashing in her direction as soon as his soul left his body. He ignored Kon's cries and complaints about being cooped up for so long. Whatever, its not like ichigo was going to carry around a stuffed lion. Rukia could get away with it, but not him.

Using shunpo, Ichigo followed the trail of hollow reiatsu, taking Zangetsu off his back as he ran. He appeared next to Aoide, looking over at her. "So, you're a captain?" he said, leaning back a little to see the emblem on her back. 4th squad. Well, he had to say he was impressed. Casually placing the heavy blade on his shoulder, he looked down at the hollow.

Appearing near the hollow from a garganta, Yaguri looked at the frantic hollow who was on constant search for prey, Yaguri supressed his spiritual pressure all of it, he was good with it and with speed and agility unlike yammy, the hollow seemed to notice him, he pointed his hand towards the Hollow... He showed no emotion on his cold expressionless face, his words few in number reached the hollows ears... His zanpakto was resting against his lower left waist.

Don`t disturb the peace... he said quietly whispering it, his speech his attitude reminded a lot from Ulquiorra shiffer altrough his spiritual pressure was not that great he was still easily more than strong enough to wipe the hollow away not caring if it was a hollow like what he used to be, there was no point in bloodshed, in the human world... besides he despiced fighting his resolve was firm, he easily felt someone strong nearby not one but two, one stronger than the other, they where approaching him, soon they appeared above them on some roof top`s Yaguri did not care about them, they where none in his Intrest...

The Hollow let out a loud screech out of agony as it started its rampage, obviously it wanted to taste on Yaguri, since he seemed like an easy prey... a few more words where uttered out of Yaguri`s mouth "Shinra tensei" The hollow was sent flying along everything else that was loose within an area of 15m towards the opposite direction of Yaguri just as it had reached him and was about to bite him, the hollow was sent flying to the opposite concrete wall where it slammed pretty hard, in a second after that Yaguri was upon the hollow he had unsheathed his Zanpakto and sent a downward cut at the hollow cutting its mask/head in two... the hollow screamed in agony as it started die out, as Yaguri landed he sheathed his blade making a quick movement in an effort to get rid of the blood, and he started to leave... now the hollow was a part of the solution...

There had been a lot of dust blowing up, as he had sheathed his blade most of the dust had laid down, Yaguri brushed some dust off his shoulders while walking...

((OOC: This is a closed thread, Ichigo and I will skip your post))

"Yeah," Aoide nodded smirking a little as Ichigo checked to see what Squad she was in. She in particular loved her squad and was proud of it. She even managed to put together a group of combat medics for the Squad Four members who wanted more swordmanship skills. "I took my time, I totally took my time on missions in the human world for about three hundred years," she said putting her hands behind the back of her head, as if that long amount of time was nothing.

"Death Gods Ichigo," Aoide then said inspecting his Zanpakuto, "Are you really bad at controlling your Spiritual Energy or are you conpensating for something. And if it's the latter, you must be glad to be around me," she said waggling her eyebrows suggestively while looking Ichigo up and down. "Now for the business of this Hollow, humans first? Women first? I'd as age before beauty but I count for both of those. So...go get them tiger," she said giving Ichigo a playful slap to the butt.

He was suprised that she was a captain, actually. It was almost odd to see her in the white captain's robe, a robe that he had in his mind acociated with great power and authority. Though he didn't doubt that she was powerful, she didn't give off an air of authority at all. But the previous squad 4 captain was kind of similar though. But, it's always the nice ones you have to look out for. He was sure that when she got serious, it was proabably scary as hell.

He smirked at her comment about Zangetsu, looking at the blade then back at her. "Aww, you don't like him? You're gunna hurt his feelings." he said, letting out a small laugh, taking the heavy steel off his shoulder, resting the sword at his side. "Yah, I've alawys had troubles with that.." he said, referring to his spiritual energy control. He had tried to work on it on his own, but never yeiled any results, and was too embarassed to ask for help with it.

He laughed as she slapped his butt. For some reason it didn't make him that uncomfortable. Probably because he was excited to go fight the hollow. Smiling down at her, he gave her a wink, using shunpo to appear infront of the hollow, charging his blade with reiatsu. "Getsuga Tenshō" he bellowed, as the cresent attack sliced through the flesh of the hollow, it discinigrated, the dust of its reminants blowing away in the breeze.

He replaced Zangetsu on his back, appearing beside her again. "That was easy." he said with a smirk.

"Tsk, sloppy, sloppy, you fight like you've been trained in a rush," Aoide tsked shaking her head, the fact that he was a human and was able to defeat a Hollow was impressive. But when it came to fighting she was a bit of a perfectionist, well having fun while fighting perfectionist. "Sure, you were able to stab that Hollow and get rid of it, but your energy is all over the place, it's not even concentrated in you blade. Ichigo, your lack of control weakens you, if you're able to concentrate your energy you wouldn't even have to go shikai to kill a Hollow."

"That and your Reiatsu overflow is like a light to moths to Hollows," she said upon hearing a distant scream of one. Her eyes flickered in the direction the Hollow was coming towards them. "You also have trouble sensing Reiatsu as well, it took you ages to sense that Hollow. I didn't expect you to sense me, and you probably wouldn't have if I hadn't let a little energy well to the surface."

"Now watch, and compare," Aoide said reaching into her sleeve and pulling out her Zanpakutou, so small it could be confused with a letter opener. A glint and a smile came to Aoide's face as the Hollow appeared behind them. With her free hand she tugged off her Haori, it went flying into Ichigo's arms. Aoide didn't bother shunpoing her own running was fast enough as she appeared in front of the Hollow. She spun around as she let gravity pull her down, her blade making a small incision in a cross shape over the mask. Aoide landed on the ground, jumping back onto the building beside Ichigo. The Hollow lumbered forward, only to have the thin wounds suddenly grow with yellow energy before exploding and the Hollow disappearing.

"I want to train you Ichigo, you put lives in danger when your energy like it is. I can teach you to control it, hide it, and use it," she then looked up at him, blinking those innocent brown eyes that held so much power. Her hand reached out entwining with Ichigo's, her fingers squeezing his hand. "I'll bring snack too," she added with a grin.

He fought like he had been trained in a rush? Well, it was true in every sense. Anytime he mastered a new technique, it had always been done to save someone, so there was always a time limit. He never got formal training from anyone that was in depth and technical. The only type extensive training he had done with no rush was with the Vizard, training to control his powers. But she was right, he was sloppy. But it had worked for him up until this point. He looked down at his over sized blade, turning it slightly, the metal reflecting the sunlight. "Zangetsu's always in shikai..." he said, almost feeling like he had to defend his over sized sword.

He let out a sigh at her words. Why did it feel like he was getting bitched out slightly? He knew all of this, but what the hell was he supposed to do about it. Kenpachi had managed all this time with a similar condition, but he didn't want to have to revert to wearing an eye patch like he did, or something similar.

His dark eyes scanned her Zanpakutou, looking at the tiny.. could one even call that a sword? Over the years he had come to realize that the size of one's Zanpakutou does not determine their power. Sure, it was small, but she wasn't a captain for nothing. He watched her as she defeated the hollow, and gracefully at that.

He had never really thought of his lack of reiatsu control would ever endanger someone. He deffinately didn't want to put his loved ones in danger, especially his family. "You.. want to train me?" well, this should be interesting. He wondered what kind of teacher she would be. Well he was about to find out eventually. He smiled as she held his hand, his fingers closing around hers. "Well, when you put it that way, how could I say no." snacks were awesome.

"It wasn't a request or question really, it's really required at this point as your energy spirals out of control. Eventually it will out grow your body with disaterous results, or it will attracted those who would want to warn you," Aoide said staring ahead for a moment, a slight breeze pickinf up her pigtails and whipping them around. "Currently, anyone could sense your energy, find you, and remain hidden because of your lack of being able to sense other Spiritual Energy," she then blinked a few times and looked up at Ichigo.

"And if you had said no I would have followed you, harrass you until you said yes," Aoide said and grinned sweetly, "Nothing will get someone to say yes faster then hovering over them as they try to sleep. And us Shinigami can go through walls, so not like you could keep me out."

He had never really thought that his free flowing spiritual pressure was so dangerous, it was almost embarassing now that he thought about it. Sure he was able to defeat Aizen, but what good was that kind of power if he was constantly putting himself and those around him in danger. He had always wanted to learn to control it, he knew it would make him a better fighter. And being able to sense reiatsu had always been something he wanted to be able to do. There were few he knew that were like himself where they weren't able to sense reiatsu's either. He looked down at her as she looked up at him, his face serious. "I'll train hard."

He smiled as an image of her floating over his bed every night came into his head. He had to admit that he wouldn't mind it, not one bit. Rukia might though, but Kon wouldn't. Speaking of Kon, he was probably having fun right about now back where they had been left. "So when did you want to start this training?" he asked, a little bit anxious to get started.

Aoide reached up and patted Ichigo's cheek, "Of course you'll train hard, that's not the hard part, it's the understanding and looking inbetween. It's...difficult to understand, see," Aoide sighed, chewing on her bottom lip in thought, her arm snaking around Ichigo's waist lazily. "I see things differently, or I can, I see thing through color and sound working together, so the training it easier for me. For you, I'm not sure if it'll work, I haven't trained anyone before. So...I'll Train and teach hard too!" she said her free hand ballinh up into a fist in determination.

Aoide looked up at Ichigo, her eyebrow raising a little as he looked a little distracted, his cheeks flushed. Huh, she wondered what he was thinking about. "Baka," she said giving him a playful shove, "I hope you're this eager with everything, you will be fun to train then," she said a suggestive smile on her face before she brought her arm back to herself and put both hands behind her head. "We can't start any training until we find a safe place where our clashing energy won't harm any humans. And I really don't want to hurt them, I'm rather fond of humans," Aoide walked to the edge of the building to peer down at the humans. "Their lives are so short and they run so fast. I just wanna shout to them, 'hey, slow down, there's plenty of lifetimes to do everything, don't burn yourself out!'

Ichigo:

He was sure that with hard work, he'd be able to complete her training. He had only ever been formally trained by a few people, and even those times were horribly rushed. He was kind of looking forward to having some formal training. Take some time and learn how to do shit properly, instead of taking short cuts like he had been doing up until now.

He rubbed his arm where she hit it, smiling as she called him a baka. Raising his hand to rub the back of his head, he looked out at the city. "Yah, I'm actually kind of excited." So they needed somewhere to train, huh? He knew the perfect place, hopefully they would be able to use it. "Well, I've trained under Urahara's shop before, its huge down there."


Kon:

Kon had been sitting on the ground where Ichigo and that captain had left him, the captain's gigai standing behind him. He hadn't bothered talking to her up until now, but was beginning to get bored. Standing up, he walked over to the captain's gigai, his hands in his pockets casually. "So, what's your name?" he asked, trying not to stare at her chest. He knew Ichigo would give him hell if he didn't behave around her, so he wasn't going to be too in her face.

Aoide leaned over the side of the roof, half listening to Ichigo. He was eager, did he have any idea? Why wasn't he questioning a Captain in the human world who just happened to run into him? Was he that interested in training? Or maybe he did know, was he trying to prevent it? No, she doubted he did know, Aoide sighed her bangs fluttering from her breath. Maybe a Squad Twelve member should have been sent to investigate. No, Aoide still believed that Squad Four, particularly her, was still the right route to go. Besides, Squad Twelve would just capture Ichigo and experiment on him to get thier answers. There were better ways to preserve his soul.

Aoide had been sent to the human world to observe how these Special Humans functioned, hos using their Spiritual Energy affected their life span, and soul. She had taken the task for her ability to use her sound abilities to look past the physical being to see that light that everything had living. Her main target of research was Ichigo Kurosaki, but if the theory that everytime these abilities these special humans had was accessed and they were eating away at their years alive was true. How close was Ichigo Kurosaki to death? A shiver passed through Aoide, as she turned to look at Ichigo, the light she saw flickering slightly. She blinked several times returning her vision to normal, her face looking much older then before.

The lights flickered all the time, she was sure of it. Her lips drew into a thin line before she cracked a smile. "Boys all you care about is training and rough and tumble things!" she exclaimed skipping over to Ichigo. "So we have a place then? Good."

"One question though?" Aoide asked holding up a finger, "When I kissed you, was that your first kiss?"

~~~

Aoide's Gigai fanned herself with the outrageously colorful fan as she stared off into nothing. This was odd, being in a body after so long, or that she was actually concious of everything around her. The Gigai felt as if she had been sleeping for a long time, to the point the lights hurt her eyes.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as the other Gigai began talking to her. She glanced at him, looking irritated, "Baka," she hissed, "You think I have a name? And you speaking to me with no escort with me and without even an introduction. Where did you learn your manners? From a pig?" she snipped before looking away and continuing to fan herself.

The truth was, Ichigo never questioned the fact that there was a captain in his home town. Since becoming a shinigami, he had gotten so used to having members of the gotei 13 come into town, even try to stay in his room. Aoide being here was nothing out of the ordinary for this abnormal teenage boy. Ichigo tilted his head, looking at her as she seemed to be off in her own world for a little. He was about to say something when he saw a look in her eyes when she turned around. There was no way to describe it, it just looked... different. He wondered what she was thinking about. There was probably a thousand things running through her mind right now, he assumed. Any captain he had ever met always had many things to deal with at once. She was probably no different.

As her face lit up with a smile, Ichigo's lips curved up into a little grin. She was so serious there for a bit, he was glad to see her smiling again. It was almost contagious. "That's not true. I care about other stuff." he said defensively. His eyes followed as she skipped over to him, nodding at her question. "Yah, I'm sure old clogs and hat wouldn't mind us borrowing the space for a bit." he said, letting out a small laugh at Urahara's nickname.

He looked down at her as she asked if she could ask him a question. A blush rose up his neck as the question settled in his mind. He didn't know what to say. Should he lie and say no? Would she be able to tell if he was lying. But this was his pride on the line... He wasn't proud that he had never kissed a girl up until today. Ichigo looked away, the blush now rising into his cheeks. "I don't think thats any of your business."


++++++

Kon frowned as the girl was so rude to him. And she was calling him rude?! Putting his hands on his hips, he looked down at her. "My name's Kon. And no, I didn't lear my manners from a pig. Where did you learn yours from, a prude school?!" he laughed at his own joke loudly