The Fox's Cub

Just a quick note everyone, I know he's aging at an accelerated rate for a soul, but I do have a reason for this. Just not one I plan on sharing with you any time soon. Enjoy today's chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'Inner speech/thoughts'

"Kido/Zanpakuto Attacks/Quincy Techniques"

"Zanpakuto speech/Inner Power"

"Hollow speech"

XXX

Chapter 3:

"You did what?!" Mayu screeched as a slightly bruised and sheepish looking Ichigo stood in front of her, staring down at the ground.

"I just hit him once," he replied, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly.

"And what made you do something like that?" she asked in disbelief, pushing his hands away as she began to examine him for injuries.

"What didn't they do," he grumbled as she continued to poke and prod him. "First the old man cheats us out of what little money we have. Then they have the nerve to try and steal it from me, but…but that's not the worst of it," he mumbled, not wanting to tell her anymore.

"Worse? What did they do Ichigo?" Seeing him turn away from her, she cupped his cheeks and turned him back to face her, his eyes still not meeting hers. "What else did they say Ichigo-kun?"

"They…they spoke about…defiling you," he whispered, his anger returning slightly as his shoulders began to shake. "They talked about you like you were nothing more than a common whore to them!" Feeling her wrap her arms around him in a hug, he hesitantly returned the embrace, burying his face in her shoulder.

"I understand that they upset you and I'm grateful that you did it because you were trying to defend me, but you can't just use force to settle things like this Ichigo-kun," she said as she stroked his hair the way he liked it.

"It did this time," he murmured, feeling her withdraw and fix him with a pointed look.

"It's not settled Ichigo. Look at yourself and think back to what you did to him. No one's going to forget this and contrary to what you might think, this isn't over. What do you think his father is going to do to you because of this?"

"If he does try anything he'll get the same treatment his son did."

"Ichigo…I just told you that violence won't be the solution to all your problems," she said with a sigh. "How do you even know that your spirit energy will be there to help you? You've always known it was there, but it's always been erratic in the past. How can you be so sure it'll be there when you need it?"

"I don't know," he said as he shook her hands off him. "I just got so angry that eventually I couldn't feel any angrier and I just blew up! It'll happen again just like that I'm guessing."

"Anger is an emotion just like happiness and sadness Ichigo, but you can't let yourself rely on anger to make you strong, nor should you. A man fuelled by anger is not a man I would want to ever meet, nor could I call him a man," cupping his cheek, she turned him to face her again. "I'm not saying don't feel angry about what they've said, but please don't cling to your anger just because it made you stronger for a moment."

"I'll try Mayu-chan," he answered, blushing as she placed a chaste kiss on his cheek.

"That's all I ask. Now why don't you go relax and I'll get started on supper."

XXX

Back in the village, two men stood over the loud-mouthed bully that Ichigo had decked earlier that day. Seiji Usami, the father of the boy, was an obese man who wore a kimono that was a size too small for him, allowing his stomach to fold over his obi. The other was a healer whose face was hidden under the shadow of the cloak he wore, his hand glowed a cool green as he held it over the injured boy. Eventually he was done and gestured for the man to follow him so that he might explain the full extent of his son's injuries.

"He did what?!" Seiji shouted, spittle flying from his mouth to land on the healer's cheek, which he wiped away with a hint of disdain. "You're telling me that freak broke my son's jaw!"

"Yes, that…freak, as you put it, hit him hard enough to break his jaw and give him a concussion," the man explained, staring back at the man with a bored expression.

"The little shit, I'll have him drawn and quartered!"

"Yes well I'm sure you'd love to try, but you are far from the experienced fighter you used to be," the healer spoke, gesturing at the man's rotund gut. "And even if he's a kid, the fact that he has some modicum of reiatsu means that he'll thrash you and your pawns with ease."

"You…you're lying," the distressed father spoke, sweat beading his forehead as his mind warred with image of the scrawny kid he remembered and this demon his son had said he'd become.

"I'm afraid not," the man muttered as he pocketed the coin he had received for rushing out here to heal the child with kido. "Though I do happen to know a few…enterprising gentleman who wouldn't mind taking care of your little problem for you, for the right price of course," he said with a devilish grin, making the obese man sweat even more.

"Anything, just please promise me that, that boy will be gone."

"Of course, they'll be here in a few days. You'll need to guide them to where he stays. After all, they don't have time to waste." Getting a nod in answer, the healer left with a swirl of his cloak. 'So I'm the first to find you…how interesting Ichigo Kurosaki,' he thought with a grin, disappearing into the night.

XXX

It had been two days since Ichigo had gotten into a fight with the kid at the market district and so far, there had been no reprisals against them. In fact, as Mayu strode down the lane, she was greeted by several looks of fear from some people, while the younger children ran away the moment they caught sight of her. Sighing at their irrational fear of Ichigo, she approached one of the few vendors that would trade with her.

"Morning Takashi-san," she greeted the man, smiling back at him in her usual friendly demeanour.

"Mayu," he greeted her, a slight hesitance in his tone as he looked around them fearfully.

Ignoring his behaviour, she began to create a pile of goods she was interested in, mainly Ichigo's favourite meats since they had been going through a lean spell and he'd surely been missing the taste. Hearing him mumble something to her, she turned her attention back to him. "Sorry what was that Takashi-san?"

"You need to get out of here Mayu," he whispered, his eyes darting around to see if anyone was eavesdropping.

"Why? It's one thing to distance yourself from us, but it's an entirely different matter to tell me to leave," she said with a frown, wondering what had changed.

"It's not that Mayu, but the boy Ichigo attacked…his father hired some thugs to go after the two of you and they strolled through town today. They're soul reapers Mayu," he hissed, while a feeling of dread settled on her shoulders.

"W-What? But why would they do this?!"

"I don't know, but since they've arrived he's gone around saying how the two of you are going to get what's coming to you. You need to disappear Mayu, go to another district, another area, it doesn't matter! Just get out of here. You still have some time since no one's ever bothered to know where you stay, but it's only a matter of time before they find you. They might even be on their way to your home now!"

"B-But Ichigo…he's," she stuttered out, turning on her heel and dropping her basket and sprinting out of the town, unaware of the smirking face that watched her as she ran.

XXX

"Ichigo! Ichigo where are you?!" Mayu screamed frantically as she stormed into their small, two-room home.

"I'm here Mayu, what's up," he asked, poking his head out of the room they used as a bedroom. Seeing her expression though, he quickly moved to comfort her. "What happened? Was it someone from the market again?" he asked, his eyes narrowing in anger.

"No!" she told him, grabbing his yukata's sleeve to prevent him from running off. "We just need to leave for a while."

"Wait…what?" he asked perplexed, stumbling backwards. "Why would we need to leave now? This place is our home!" Thinking it over in his head for a second, he quickly came to a conclusion. "This is because of that fight isn't it? His father said something to scare you, didn't he?"

"That doesn't matter now." Taking a deep shuddering breath, she reached for his shoulder to steady herself. "Please, please tell me you've made progress on hiding your spirit energy."

"Well yeah, but I just got it right a few minutes ago. It's still difficult for me to handle when I'm not meditating."

"It'll do," she said in a hurried tone, running past him to gather a few blankets and some food that would fit into a small basket. "Now take these and go out into the forest. Once you're far away enough, I want you to sit down and concentrate on hiding your presence as hard as you can. Do you understand me? No matter what you hear, no matter how you feel, I need you to stay out there and hide your presence okay?"

"Mayu-chan you're scaring me," he replied, looking down at her with a hint of fear on his face.

"Do you understand me?!" she repeated, getting a nod this time in response. "Good now run, run as fast as you can! And don't worry about me, I'll find you okay. Trust me to find you again." Without so much as a last hug good-bye, she forced him out of the house, watching him run off at a full sprint, sparing her one last look, before the line of tree's hid him from view. "Be safe Ichigo…" she whispered one last time, before hurrying back into the house to gather what little else she could.

XXX

"Are you sure that's their home?" the Seiji asked his son, staring through the underbrush at the small wooden hovel, hidden a ways into the forest.

"Positive," his son replied with glee, his lackeys nodding in agreement. "I saw her run in there about twenty minutes ago and she hasn't left yet."

"Humph," he grunted, seeing a flash of cloth in one of the windows, confirming the boy's story. "I want you to head back home now."

"What?! But I want to be there when you break his jaw. And you still haven't told us what you plan to do with the bitch."

"Don't argue with me on this!" he bellowed at his son, red-faced and sweating profusely. "Now you'll head back home and stay there until I say otherwise!" Getting a shaky nod from all of them, they ran off, leaving him alone with the two soul reapers that had arrived earlier that day.

"Kids eh?" the tall, bald one chuckled, an evil smirk on his face, as he crossed his scarred arms over each other.

"Never could stand their whining, or their smell," his shorter, seedier companion replied with a sneer. "The Eleventh Division's Lieutenant is enough to put one off kids forever Looks like she's ready to leave."

Turning towards the house, the three men caught sight of her hurrying into the forest, a make-shift backpack over her shoulder. Chuckling to himself, the bald soul reaper snuck off, appearing in front of her in a flash and grabbing her. Startled, she cried out and dropped her bag, struggling in his iron-fisted grip.

"Leaving so soon Mayu," the Seiji spoke, striding over to her as the other soul reaper headed towards the house. "And where's that brat of yours today?"

"He's not here," she shot back, still struggling in her captor's grip.

"Tch, we'll see about that," he muttered, leading the three of them back to the house.

"He's not here," the other soul reaper muttered, the place tossed behind him.

"Fuck it! We'll need to search for him now. He can't be that far away."

"And what makes you think that?" the seedy soul reaper asked, sneering down at the man. "She was planning to run and judging by the fact that the brat wasn't with her, it'd be safe to assume that he's long gone by now."

"But you're soul reapers! Can't you can just track him by his spirit energy?!" Seiji sputtered in indignation.

"Well…we could if he was close by," the bald one replied, pinning Mayu's back to his chest and her arms to her sides to limit her struggling. "But you see, our boss told us that there would be change of plans. We're actually here to kill you and this bitch and leave the runt to run free."

"What?! But we had a deal! You took my money in exchange for killing the boy alone! No one else was supposed to die!"

"I love how you think you have a say here," the seedy one said again, drawing his blade and cutting the man along the small of his back, causing both him and Mayu to cry out, as he fell to his knees. "Sadly for you, your opinion doesn't mean shit to our boss, or us," he spat, before slitting the man's throat.

"Please, you don't have to do this," Mayu begged, tears pouring from her eyes as she stared at one of her captors imploringly. "I'll disappear; you'll never see me again. Just please don't kill me."

"And now she's begging. What a joke," the bald soul reaper joked, tightening his grip on her. "Hey, what should we do now?"

"We kill her and be done with it," his companion replied. "The boss is waiting to hear of our success. You remember what he did the last time we took our time don't you?"

"I still have nightmares about it," the bald one said with a shudder, before shoving Mayu onto her knees. "You do it; I'd rather kill someone that's at least fighting back.

"Tch whatever," he replied, walking up to Mayu and placing his blade under her chin. "Any last words bitch?"

'None that I would say to you,' she thought, shutting her eyes as he smirked down at her. 'Ichigo please…please don't ever return here. If you do…' she tried to say, only to get cut off as she felt the blade pierce her throat, sliding easily through her flesh. Yanking the blade free, the two soul reapers chuckled as she fell to the ground, her struggles coming out as nothing more than a few soft gurgles, before the light in her eyes faded away and she passed on.

"Come on. It's time we headed back."

XXX

Deep within the forest, Ichigo sat cross-legged in a hollowed out rock, his hands clasped in his lap as he tried his hardest to concentrate on the swirling maelstrom within him. He had no idea if this was what other soul reapers did to hide themselves, but he was busy redirecting all the streams of power that normally flowed out of his body, straight back into it. It proved a difficult task, as it continually struggled against him. It was almost as if it had a mind of its own, constantly seeking to escape from him to freedom. Feeling a disturbance at the edge of his senses though, he gasped and his eyes shot open as a presence that he had grown so used to feeling day and night, was suddenly snuffed out.

Tearing his gaze in the direction he'd run from, he took off at a dead sprint, forgetting all his possessions in the cave and caring little for the harm that came to him as he hurdled through the trees and bushes in his path. As he ran the heavens opened above him and rain began to pour down on him, obscuring his vision and chilling his bones. It didn't bother him though, as the sole thought that ran through his head was Mayu and her possible fate. When he finally skidded to a stop in the mud outside their home, he frantically scanned the area for any sign of her. Seeing nothing, he ran into the house, freezing as the smell of blood hit his nostrils. Shakily pushing the door open, he cried out and fell to his knees, tears pouring down his face as he took in her limp form, her eyes staring back at him lifelessly.

"No…oh please no Mayu-chan," he whispered, ignoring the body of the obese man as he crawled towards her body, uncaring of the blood as it stained his skin and clothing. Lifting her head as he reached her, he tenderly stroked a few stray hairs out of her face, before lifting her upper body up into his lap. "Please wake up Mayu-chan," he pleaded as he stroked her cheek, hoping against all hope that some life remained in her. "Mayu-chan please!" he screamed again, burying his head into her neck, covering his face in her lifeblood.

"Over here, there house is over here!" he dimly heard a voice say, but he was too wrapped up in the woman in his arms to care much at the moment. "Whew that storm came out of nowhere," a familiar voice chuckled, punctuated by several softer chuckles. Glancing over his shoulder, Ichigo was surprised to see the bully he'd knocked out staring at the scene with a gobsmacked expression, his friends mirroring him. "D-dad? What happened here?" he asked, prompting Ichigo to lay down her body with a sniffle and rise shakily to his feet.

"You tell me Pig…" he whispered out hoarsely, turning round to stare at the group of teens with a blood-spattered visage. "It's your dad there and I don't see anyone else here, so you should know what happened here."

"H-Hey I didn't know anything about this!" the boy tried in vain to defend himself, gesturing at the dead bodies before him. "I don't even know what he was doing here!"

"Liar…" Ichigo hissed, charging forward and grabbing the teen by his neck and dragging him to the ground. "Mayu was scared today. She ran home from the market and told me that we had to leave. So what did you do?!"

"I…I didn't…do anything!" the teen gasped as he felt Ichigo's grip tighten around his neck. "Dad…he called the soul reapers…I thought he was just…just going to teach you a lesson."

"Soul reapers? Your dad hired soul reapers to kill us?!" Ichigo growled through gritted teeth. "How did they know where we stayed? Who told them where to find us?"

"I…I did," the teen gasped out, pissing himself as Ichigo's face contorted in fury. "Please…I didn't know…I didn't know…that they'd do this! Please…mercy!" Ichigo though was far from content to just listen to his pleading. Feeling his spirit energy flooding his every pore, begging for release, he willing gave in, feeling as the teen's bones and cartilage began to snap under his grip. Knowing that his end was nigh, the teen frantically tried to break Ichigo's grip on his neck, clawing and scratching at his fingers, neck and eyes, before with a final spurt of blood and snap, his head flopped to the ground flimsily.

Letting out an explosive breath at what he'd done, Ichigo looked up at the teen's friends as they stared back at him in fear. "What are you guys still doing here?" he growled out, getting to his feet as he stalked towards them. Not bothering to answer him, they turned tail and fled back into the rain, heading towards the heart of the district. Watching their progress, Ichigo's thoughts took a darker turn. 'They're all responsible for this. They're the reason Mayu's dead…they'll all pay!' he thought, before treading into the rain after them, his steps slow and purposeful as he followed after them.

XXX

And I think this is what you were all expecting from me. I just don't know what part of me likes writing these scenes, as the ease with which they come to me is disturbingly easy. Till next time boys and girls.