Right. I don't own anything. Has that not been established yet? I especially do not own either Bleach or Tenchi Muyo GXP in any sense of the word and/or meaning! This story is for entertainment purposes only!

With that said... To anyone who has read Soul Universe, you know I said that I at least toyed with the idea of a Bleach/GXP idea... and sadly I am apparently weak to my own ideas. This was only made worse when it seems that this particular territory is essentially unexplored... MEANING I'M THE FIRST TO WRITE IT! (At least in FF)THE GLORY IS MINE! HAHAHA—(Chokes on a fly, losing any sense of being cool.)

Anyway, on with the reading!

Spirit Police

Chapter One: Carpe diem

Sogo Apartments, Yonzo

When one thought of a college or a university student they would think that they would live in the big city. They would think of heavy traffic and an innumerable sea of people moving to and fro that one had to cross on a daily basis for anything. That was not the case for him. No, it was a little town. A moderately sized village really. One which the most luxurious feature about it was a little shopping district with an equally small family owned movie theater. Otherwise it was a place of homes and farmers, and a fairly secluded shrine off in the hills. It was a quiet place for sure with next to no worries for anyone. For Ichigo Kurosaki, whose apartment resided in the town rather than the city, the most stressful thing he could think of on short notice was completing any at all assignments for his classes by their deadline. That and catching the bus on time after accidentally sleeping in.

Ring-Ring-Ring! Ring-Ring-Ring!

Of course there was something else that would creep up now and then. It usually came in the form of a phone call... typically from his boss whom he suspected was going senile in his old age.

With a sigh he picked up the phone and held it away from his ear. "Hello?"

"ICHIGO!" And his suspicion paid off. "QUICK! IT'S AN EMERGENCY! THE REPUTATION OF THE RESTAURANT IS IN JEAPORDY!"

Ichigo's usual scowl deepened as he scratched his head and let loose an irritable sigh. "Did Tenzo skip work again?"

The older man was a blubbering mess. "PLEASE! IT WOULD DO IRREPARABLE HARM TO THE HOJIN NAME IF A CUSTOMER'S MEAL WAS DELIVERED TO THEM COLD!"

He groaned and scratched his head some more. He looked to his desk where a smattering of papers and books lay before sighing. "Which address?"

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" the man cried enthusiastically cried. "It's the Masaki Residence by the way."

"HEY WAIT—Click!" He stared at the phone in his hand for moments on end before planting it on its hook. "It's always me who does this," he grumbled before reaching for his uniform.

XVX

Streets

The uniform was basically a red shirt with black sleeves with a gold trim for a border for both the cuffs of the sleeves and the border of the two other colors. If anyone was working at the restaurant then they would be required to wear black pants and shoes. As for its deliverers, the standards were far more lax in that one only required to wear the shirt when on duty, even then they could roll up the sleeves if they wished. As such he didn't bother to change out of his jeans and rolled up his sleeves before hopping onto his bicycle, subsequently darting off into the streets with perhaps more thrust than he intended. Thankfully not a grand many roamed about the town this time of day.

In no time he navigated his way through the streets and skidded about a corner to the same street of his place of work, the restaurant named Traditional Delight. In plain view was the bald, white haired, heavyset owner standing outside with a carefully wrapped box held out in an outstretched hand. Without either wasting a beat or slowing down Ichigo easily snatched the box out of the man's hand in his passing as he darted off onto the road proper.

"YOU'RE THE PRIDE OF THE HOJIN, ICHIGO!"

Rolling his eyes Ichigo soldiered on. When he neared the forested tree line of a nearby hill he couldn't help but suspiciously glare at it, especially at the house beyond it that could only be glimpsed at if one looked carefully enough. It wasn't as if he didn't like the people there. In fact for the most part the most he probably suffered by the more well known inhabitants of the Masaki residence was a friendly greeting from Sasami and Noike when they were getting groceries from town.

Scratch that. He skidded the bike to a grinding halt just to take a good look at the bento-like box that was his cargo. More specifically he was looking for a name. While it was rare, any name other than Washu was guaranteed an uneventful trip. That or at least one that wasn't filled with booby traps. Unfortunately for him it read Washu... the demon inventor of Yonzo. That or Urahara's second cousin twice removed or something... from Hell. He wouldn't be too surprised if she was indeed related to that semi-insane shopkeeper back in Karakura even if it was only by adoption. It would only explain a great many things if that were the case, being a member of his family. At any rate it did explain why he was called into work on his day: Tenzo most likely fled to the next town over to avoid this particular delivery the moment he heard it was for the Masaki Residence. And unfortunately Ichigo was stubborn enough to do it despite knowing madwoman had something lying in wait for him... To make matters worse he was too far from either his apartment and the restaurant to at least equip a helmet and goggles; it wouldn't have helped much, but it was something at least.

With a groan and eyes squinted shut he reluctantly pushed on.

XVX

Dirt trail

Since he moved into the town years ago he had heard his fair share of oddball rumors and stories over the years. Some of them were the regular type of legends one hears in a small town, superstitions and stories grown out of control, but almost all of them were related to the Masaki residence in one way or another. Tales of mysterious explosions, of UFOs darting in and out in the distance, even a story of some kind of floating rock bathhouse somewhere behind the house just to name a few. But the one he hated most outside of Washu, which he and every other delivery agent in town could testify about being an unwilling guinea pig for one of her bizarre inventions lying in wait, was the 'Flying Woman'... Personally he wanted to call it a simple ghost story, the kind made up by someone to scare others rather than wish it true for what it implied. But he seen her as well, flying through the air in the woods, often carrying with a large saki jug over her shoulder when he saw her. It always got his hopes up that on some level his spiritual energy was returning to him once more; it made him think that there was a chance he got to see his old friends once more and return to a life he was beginning to miss. Whatever she was, she alone was reason enough to avoid this neck of the woods lest he would be reminded of the hard truth that he was only human now since the war.

Thankfully he didn't spot her. Even better yet he wasn't ambushed yet by a trap or some kind of mecha invented by that red-haired midget. In fact the entirety of the ride was incident free throughout the entirety of the forested trail. Now all that remained was the last leg of the journey, the notorious Gap. It was a tree-less stretch to the three story house on the lake. It was also where Washu liked to put her heavy hitters to 'test' the reaction times and overall capabilities of the poor saps that delivered anything to her. What was worse was that she often took the time to bury them weeks in advance to better hide any at all disturbances in the soil, hiding them like trapdoor spiders and other such predators. As such it certainly didn't allay his suspicions in the least that the devil-woman herself was sitting out in the open with a white flag planted right next to her when he arrived at the edge of the forest. It certainly wouldn't be the first time she tried to convince anyone to come closer, much less himself.

For better or worse however dawdling would only prolong the inevitable in this specific job.

Squinting at her bored expression, he moderately peddled toward her. A careful glance was spent on either side of him in hopes of spying some form of trap; to his left was the hillside where a lake sat at the foot of which; to his right was a small grass plain and carrot fields where most of the ambushes came from in the past. A quarter of the way through and so far nothing happen—

She suddenly turned her head towards the lake with her bored expression still fixed to her face yet it was obvious she was curious nevertheless. Tensing, he slowed his pace so as to look to the lake as well. Ripples were forming on the surface of the lake. To accompany it a low but pronounced, almost beeping wail was emitting in its direction. Immediately he stopped and turned to glare at her, and for a brief moment he could swear he saw some kind of... floating black laptop hovering midair before her that she was idly typing away at. By the time he blinked it was gone without a trace, her hand now on her lap and the sound dissipating in the meantime. He continued to blink as she lazily reached behind her and pulled out a bullhorn which she brought to her lips as she faced him. "Look! That wasn't me and I'm really hungry! Now can you bring that over before I starve to death?"

He suspiciously squinted at her once again. Reluctantly he began to peddle to her once more. The second he did so however the sound came back, and in force no less. Whatever it was, the beeping portion of it was gone only to be replaced with a low timbre howling that roared with such force that it made him want to instinctually cover his ears. But he didn't. If anything it was evidence enough for him to hightail it to the midget woman as she typed into the phantom laptop once more in a frenzy. And hightail it he did by powering each thrust of the peddle with as much annoyance, frustration and confusion as he could. But as fate would have it he wasn't even halfway to her from the safety of the trees when something crashed into the water with more than enough force to create a towering geyser that easily dwarfed the house... and judging from the sheer width of it, rivaled the house as well if not more so... by then he couldn't help but gawk as he came to a dwindling halt in sheer shock.

"I'm really starting to hate this place," he mumbled as the tower came down. It was a last ditch effort, a poor one at that thanks to his dawdling, that much he knew in the back of his head, but he drove the bicycle through the carrot field next to him to avoid what was bound to happen.

Crash!

Sure enough, though he dared not look back to confirm it, a wave rumbled into life from the lake and crashed into the hill with a heavy crash. But that wasn't the end of it. Just as he was sure a wave had sprang to life, so to was he sure there was a torrent of water rushing forth from the crest of the hill despite the receding waters behind it. He wasn't sure how much water managed to spill over the edge and onto the field in a rush to spread itself out but judging from the rumble it was a significant amount to say the least. It was only when the sound was lessening as a whole that he deigned to look back, slowing as he did so to compensate his lack of focus. The wave, what was left of it, was indeed degrading at an increasingly rapid pace. In fact what was left and nearing him was nothing more than a bit of a surge on the coast at this point that would rinse the bottom of his tires at best should it reach him.

"Thank you! And here's a little something for the trouble."

"Huh?" When he looked over at the speaker, who incidentally sounded like the demented inventor, bane of all delivery boys, only to find no one. Blinking, he looked to the small basket on his bike which he kept the package. It was gone. In its place were a few thousand yen bills. And no matter where he looked or how hard, there was simply no one as far as the eye could see in a carrot field. On the ridge of the now damp hill however was the only woman he met that was shorter than Rukia, her back turned towards him and the farming fields that surrounded him as she quietly munched on her meal from an overly familiar box... Not wanting to question how she moved so fast or even how she slipped past him altogether without even the slightest bit of notice on his part he turned the bike and began to gently peddle for the nearest path available lest he tracked and struggled through mud thanks to the now crawling, almost nonexistent surge that kept traveling into the field.

As he peddled though he couldn't help but notice that from the other side of the hill a bob of blond hair arose in a rush. Not even a second later the entirety of the person, a woman he guessed in some kind of uniform of grays, blues, reds and even a gold patch on the shoulder of the uniform, seemed to be talking to the madwoman of the Masaki Residence. She was scratching the back of her head and laughing about something as she handed the much shorter woman a manila envelope. Or at least it appeared to be one. Regardless, the shorter woman accepted it and nodded before saying something he couldn't even hope to hear. Whatever it was it was enough to frazzle the taller blond before her and look over to the house the moment Washu pointed to it: it seemed the house took the brunt of the wave. The inventor tilted her head with a smile, in the meantime the floating phantom laptop appeared once more in midair. With her smile still in place she lifted a hand with her index extended out like a bent hook and pressed a button. When the blond looked to her with a nervous smile, finger scratching her cheek, she gawked in utter horror as if she knew exactly what Washu had done.

GRMF!

Whatever it was, something erupted from the lake and took off like a jet despite being unseen to the naked eye. Whatever it was and deciding to err on the side of caution of caution, Ichigo stopped on the dirt path leading out to the carrot fields and waited for whatever was to come to pass.

The taller woman began to frantically yell at the inventor who was impassively eating her meal. After seemingly having enough of being yelled at she began to walk towards the house, the laptop following her all the while as the blond trailed behind her, berating the red-haired woman all the while still. Eventually Washu reached up to the laptop idly pressed a button before she began to descend the hill towards the house whereas her stalker contented herself with yelling at the madwoman from atop the hill.

Kr-Chck!

Narrowing his eyes, he almost mechanically turned his head to the source of the sound to find a metal plate now sticking out of the nearby ground. Underneath that plate was a red mono-lens staring up at him... "Don't you dare."

Broomf!

From the depths of the earth came the rest of the robot, a bipedal humanoid mecha with a series of four tentacles for each 'arm.' Likewise a similar mecha with six spider-like legs wormed its way out of the ground behind him. Off in the distance the woman was facing a similar situation with other 'unique' robots activating and emerging from their hiding places. "... You know, I knew something like this would happen if I came here," he drawled to no one but himself.

Immediately they lunged at them.

SMASH!

They didn't catch him however. Years of coming to this place gave him a good idea as to how to better dodge them without having to abandon his bike short of necessity through sheer timing alone. As such he easily drove himself out of the way from the mindless charge of the pair of mechas and sped past other such models of varying types and designs digging themselves out of their burrows all over the place. The blond by the house was handling herself well too despite being ambushed. Like himself she was running down the very same path he was heading for, the 'main road' of the Masaki Household as far as he was concerned. Unlike himself given his advantage with the bicycle, as she sped past the mechs she occasionally had to punch or kick one of the insufferable machines out of the way of her sprint. Yet not all of the machines were trying to stop and tackle either one of them, namely the ones farthest away who were, incidentally, along the path into the woods. Unfortunately they were often the smartest by relativity as far as Ichigo observed over the years. When they could they would gather in large numbers to form a pseudo wall of metal bodies and limbs. Sometimes they literally became one by combining bodies and parts together. Other times they formed a giant robot too, which was coincidentally the second chief complaint amongst everyone unfortunate enough to come here thanks to the madwoman; complaint number one was the sheer numbers which often lead to the non-lethal downfall of nearly poor sap that came here. At any rate though, seeing them gathering as a barely organized army was enough to have the woman come to a stop with scowl etched on her red-painted lips.

Rrrt!

With her scowl still in place she jerked her head and was for a brief moment surprised to see the only other human skid to a halt next to her to also scowl at the horde of robots awaiting them. Unlike herself however he turned to her with his usual scowl, if only a bit annoyed if nothing else. "You wouldn't by chance have a flash bang or something on you, do you?"

She only offered him a sad smirk before turning to glare at the mecha army. "Sorry. Only a standard issue blaster."

He raised a curious brow at her and took better notice of her uniform. She was definitely a woman who was physically fit yet took enough time to keep herself a beatific appearance between her short blond hair, perfectly trimmed eyebrows and painted lips. She was wearing gray pants over black dress shoes meant for work. Above it and seemingly patterned into the pants, of perhaps vice versa, was what seemed to be a almost corset-like red vest without buttons which dominated the region of her stomach. Whatever it was it was obscured by a dark blue jacket, or rather a coat, that was as form fitting as the rest of her clothes and was garnished by a thick horizontal red stripe above her left breast. The collar of the ensemble was white and buttoned but instead of a necktie of any sort a rounded rhombus of a light colored amethyst gem sat in the middle whereas on the shoulders of her coat sat triangular blue gems. The sleeves of her jacket however were divided in half by both red and white, the red claiming most of the outer arm and formed the cuffs of her jacket whilst the white took everything else. He didn't however see a gun of any sort on her which he could only assume was what she was eluding to. Even if there was a gun though, it would only do so much good against the army that awaited them.

"We may have to hoof it then," he surmised. She turned to him with a confused glance.

"Come again?" In response he pointed to the crowd.

"See those flat tops they have for heads?"

"Yeah...?"

"Either get a good jump in or knock one over and use it as a stepping stone. Either way if you get on top of those things and move fast enough they won't be able to knock you off before you clear the entire lot of them... usually."

"Well, it sounds like you got this planned out!" she offered with a giggle as she began to stretch with an eager, excited but small smile.

"Sort of," Ichigo half mumbled as he cracked his neck. He looked down at his bike and with a widened scowl he got off of it, kicked the stand on it and promptly left it behind in a slow march towards the line of mechs. Soon enough he was joined in by the blond woman.

"My name is Amane by the way," she offered nonchalantly.

"Ichigo," he returned as he stretched his arms. "Do you want to go first or should I take point here?"

She giggled a good natured chuckle. "How sweet of you to offer a lady to go first." She pleasantly sighed and looked to the horde that awaited them at the mouth of the forested road. She then looked to him with a smile. "Why don't you show me what you have in mind exactly?"

He perked a brow at her but shrugged. "Alright then." He drew a deep, meditative breath and sighed. "Just try to keep up. I never really done this with other people before so you might have to be more careful. For what it's worth though the worst they tend to do is either give you whiplash or just straight up pummel you if you do get caught."

"Good to know!" she chirped.

Without further ado he took to a running start towards the crowd with Amane hot on his heels, unperturbed in the slightest by the sudden movement. Together in a single file they rushed the first line that waddled, crawled or outright charged out to meet them in return. Upon meeting the first one Ichigo leapt up and kicked high to plant his foot in the robot's equivalent of a face, busting it without much effort, and used it as step to propel himself forward in another jump towards another mecha that was close by. He didn't look back but from the brief bang of shoe leather against metal he was confident Amane had a similar thought in mind just as he landed atop of the mech's flat head and leapt onto another like a stepping stone before it could try to retaliate. In short order he jumped onto another in a growing succession to reach the other side before they could try to counter him en masse. Unfortunately a few limbs already rose up as they caught onto what they were doing and tried to grab, pinch or entangle him as well as Amane in their passing, the woman laughing almost giddily all the while. "Is this really Washu's work?" she chortled as she easily caught up with him despite a slight detour. "She must be really getting old if this is the best she can do!"

"Come again?"

Ichigo almost slipped and fell in his sudden halt, Amane meeting a similar stop as well. Even if neither of them had stopped a wall of limbs suddenly jutted up in a near perfect wall to cut off their escape. On top of that the last line of mechas parted from the horde to form a second defensive line. Regardless, the both of them hesitantly turned to look over their shoulders in varying states of apprehension to find Washu serenely smiling at them, her eyes closed, from atop one of her mechs. Once more Amane was laughing nervously whereas Ichigo was solemnly awaited for the other shoe to drop, though nervous all the same; right next to the diminutive woman was the phantom laptop at the ready.

"Objectively I am quite old. In fact I stopped counting how many years I lived quite some time ago," she admitted with a smile. Unfortunately it only furthered the latent suspicion both Ichigo and Amane had that she was up to something. It was only made worse when she delicately held a finger up and hovered it over an unseen key. "I draw the line at insulting my intellect though. Especially if you don't have at least an Earth Bachelor's Degree to at least prove you know a thing or two for me to even consider letting it slide."

Bip!

A strange noise saturated the air causing the two to look up to see dark pockets of space appearing out of thing air above them. From each hole an orb lazily flew out and drifted through the air. In the middle of each one was the same type of red lens the mechs beneath them had.

"Please tell me they're not some kind of drones."

"Excellent deduction Ichigo!" Washu chimed. Whether she was being sarcastic or not was lost on him as each orb in perfect unison turned towards them. From their horizontal sides a trio of guns popped out from each side.

... Slowly Ichigo raised his hand.

"Yes?" Washu addressed him like a teacher would a student, a cat-like grin on her lips.

"Can we get a ten minute head start?"

The woman smirked and shook her head. "You're free to go. Sorry about my marionettes attacking you by the way. I forgot you were there till it was too late." He scowled a heavier scowl at her in response which she took in stride as she pointed at the blue-eyed blond next to him. "You however are not so lucky."

"Hey! It's illegal to kill a Galaxy Police Officer!" Amane growled out in her defense. In return Washu sighed and shook her head.

"They're set to stun, silly girl. Besides, isn't it also illegal to trespass onto private property and cause the destruction of which?" the smaller woman pointed out.

"I already apologized and said it was an accident! And besides! you sent my ship flying off who knows where!" she defended herself once more. In the meantime Ichigo palmed his face. Again he raised his hand to grab Washu's attention.

"Yes Ichigo?"

"If she apologizes for questioning your abilities..." he then waved the hand in the air in the direction of the drones as if it were a point on its own, "would you be willing to drop all this if she just apologizes?"

"But—!"

He pointedly held up a hand at Amane, silencing her and letting her fume while Washu hummed to herself. As she did so she eyed the taller woman as she pouted at Ichigo.

"Sure, why not?"

The blond haired woman bristled slightly before sighing in defeat. Promptly she turned to Washu and reluctantly bowed to her. "I'm sorry."

"Eh, good enough."

Neither had a chance to prepare themselves in the slightest before the horde of robots beneath their feet suddenly jerked toward the house in a unified march. The second 'wall' of mechs likewise followed the first wave yet parted for the two people now sprawled out as surprised heaps on the ground. The orbs in the meantime disarmed themselves and slid back into wherever they came from. When Ichigo looked up, mirrored by Amane with a groan, he scowled at the mad inventor as she cheekily waved at them as her robots filed one by one down the hill and out of sight. One however grabbed his bike and returned to them to plant it roughly a few feet away before returning to the descending army of mechas.

"Well... that was nice of her," he mumbled as he got up.

"I suppose it could've gone worse," Amane reluctantly admitted with a sigh as she too pushed herself onto her feet. "But damn it!" she growled, "she still could've at least not strand me on this planet!" She turned to him and chuckled softly. "No offense of course."

He only grunted in response as he got onto the bike and kicked back the kickstand. As much as he would've liked to ask what she meant by being stranded but there was only a certain amount of craziness he was willing to tolerate in a given day. Besides, knowing his luck there was something just waiting to add to it right around the proverbial corner. Even if there wasn't anything, he wasn't exactly in the mood at the moment to somehow be drawn into something he had no real knowledge in once again.

A slight huff drew his attention to the now turned backside of Amane as she seemingly fiddled with something out of his sight. Whatever it was it certainly warranted her to cant her head down to focus on it. Whatever it was it drew a pleased but soft "ah-ha!" from her which in turn had her turn about to face him with an all-too-obvious smile of someone wanting to ask a favor from him. "Do you mind if I ask you for a ride?"

He knew it. Still, it didn't hurt to indulge her a little. "Where to?"

She brilliantly smiled at him. "Do you happen to know where a Kiriko Masaki lives?"

XVX

Yonzo proper

Amane pleasantly sighed as she cuddled against his back, not that he minded too much. While it wasn't particularly designed nor modified to support two people, there was only so much room for two people to sit on the bike without toppling the other off. What he did mind though was something he couldn't quite call her out on... For the longest time since leaving the woods he could almost swear she was studying him with a hidden smile despite not watching her himself. It was as if she was sizing him up, remembering the encounter with the mechs, and making little calculations within her head much like Yoruichi had done on occasion some years ago when he was training under her amongst other things. But since he had no means of evidence rather than simple paranoia, he supposed he could count himself lucky that she hasn't deigned to tease him. At least not yet.

Upon spotting a familiar corner he listed the bicycle lazily to the right before making a moderate turn into the street. Thankfully even if he somehow wasn't familiar with this part of town there weren't many houses around. Even if that was an issue, even if he outright forgotten where her house was, the woman whom Amane knew and the very one who he came to know over the years by way of her younger brother was minding her own business by sweeping the front gate.

Wearing a white buttoned blouse with a blue collar while also wearing a blue ankle-length skirt, over the both of which was a plain white apron, the auburn haired woman looked up in curiosity and pleasantly smiled at Ichigo. She opened her mouth to greet him but an equally curious glance spent on his passenger had her gawking at the sheer sight of Amane cheekily smiling back at her, waving her hand in greeting all the while. "Hi Kiriko!"

"A-Amane?!"

Quietly Ichigo looked to one and the other at alternating times the moment Amane stepped off from his bicycle. Obviously they knew each other judging how familiar Amane was in approaching her and even hugging the frazzled woman as she seemingly tried to sort out the 'how' and the 'when' between how he and Amane met... in fact from the way she was sputtering it would seem like she was on the verge of the thought he may have unwittingly stumbled on some form of secret that she was trying to both deny and confirm at once. Whatever it was it would probably be better if he came back later; curious as he was, even he knew it was wrong to investigate without due cause. "I'm off then," he spoke up before slowly peddling away.

"Wait! Ichigo!" He jerked to a stop and turned his head to her with his usual but slightly perplexed scowl. She managed to slip out of Amane's grasp and stood a fair distance from him. As she was now she was fidgeting in place, her hands digging into her apron and fisting themselves as she struggled to find the right words to express herself. Every now and then she would steal a quick glance at Amane whom stayed back, arms crossed across her chest, with an unapologetic grin on her face as she drank in the scene.

"Kiriko?"

"Yes?" She snapped her head to him with a flustered blush on her face.

"One thing at a time," he offered. "If you ever want to talk to me, you know where to find me. I'm off tomorrow anyway."

"R-right." She turned her head and coughed into her hand. "Thank you," she all but mumbled.

"Oh relax!" Amane spoke up at last as she snuck up on the other woman and threw an arm around her to bring her into a jovial hug. "He and I haven't really talked much since coming down from Tenchi's place!" Amane explained with a light laugh. When she stopped it looked as if she remembered something. With a newfound grin she let go of Kiriko and stepped past her to the scowling man once more. Once she was close enough she leaned in too close to be comfortable with a semi-salacious smile on her lips. "By the way, I really enjoyed our time back there," she purred. "That was the most fun I had in a long time." She leaned in and gave him a quick peck on the cheek and quietly reveled at the blush that rushed to his cheeks. Seemingly out of nowhere she then handed him a transparent black pad. On it was a solid, dark green band near the top bordered with a dull gold trim. At the center of the band of green, encircled by an oval with its ends jutting out a small distance and further made pronounced by a field of white was the words Galaxy Police written in English. At the bottom right of the tablet was an almost cartoonish sticker bearing the letters GP in a red circle atop a rainbow decorated by a few stars. "You know, the GP could use someone like you, handsome."

And with that his burning cheeks grew hotter. "Right, well, I'm going now!" He uncomfortably cleared his throat and peddled away without realizing he was leaving behind the offered item. With a grin Amane was quick to correct that by placing it in the basket on his behalf before it was beyond her reach. When she turned back to Kiriko she gave her a cheeky grin to contrast the look of abject horror on the other woman's face.

"You didn't!" she softly gasped as she tried and failed to disprove what had happened.

"I did!" Amane laughed. Once more she crossed her arms underneath her bust, turned and contently watched Ichigo disappear around a corner with a smirk. It was only when Ichigo was completely out of sight and thus out of earshot that Kiriko, after taking a moment to collect herself, spoke up once more.

"I don't know what it is that you're thinking but you know full well that on the face of it his application would be rejected on the grounds of the technological level of his planet of origin! And that's even if he makes it as far as immigration!" Kiriko almost growled as she glared daggers at the GP officer. In return Amane turned her smirk back to her.

"Yes, well, I have a hunch," she answered as simply as she could while enjoying herself for as long as she could. A moment later she grinned as she turned to the woman and leaned in. "Or is it," she purred, "that the reason you're so upset by this is that you're afraid someone will up and snatch your boyfriend right from under your nose?" She was positively giddy to the point she had to contain herself from outright laughing in Kiriko's face in the split second it took for Kiriko to turn red in the face and sputter incoherently till the words "WE'RE NOT DATING" screeched out from her lips. Instead of laughing upon hearing those words, though a giggle did leave her, she grinned a tad predatorily at the other woman. "Oh? Does that mean I can date him then?" She turned to her side once more and brought a finger to her lips, a blush dusting her cheeks. "I mean he is kind of cute you know." Out of the corner of her eye she spied on Kirko's positively livid expression. It was more than enough to break her out into a laugh. "I'm just messing with you!"

"JUST WHAT ARE YOU HERE FOR THEN?!"

That only made her laugh harder.

XVX

Ichigo's apartment, Sogo Apartments

He stopped by the restaurant to not only inform the old proprietor that Washu's order had been delivered but to see if there was anything else in need of delivering. By then however Tenzo had been tracked down and brought back to the restaurant kicking and screaming up until it was made clear that Ichigo had done his job... again... for the umpteenth time in a row... not that he entirely blamed him. Hanzo can call them over exaggerative nuts till the day he keels over and dies but they knew the truth. Everyone who delivered anything meant for Washu knew the truth. Unlike most others though he was probably one of the few stubborn enough to keep coming back despite knowing what was lying in wait for him. Incidentally enough a number of businesses both in and out of town, including the postal service, tried to contract him on an almost weekly basis to make such deliveries over the years thanks to that. In retrospect that may also be the very reason Hanzo thinks that anyone other than Ichigo was either on something or else superstitious by rule of thumb when they, like Tenzo, ran off the second Washu's name was mentioned.

But that was neither here nor there at the moment.

As it stood now he was back in his apartment and for the life of him he couldn't concentrate on his schoolwork. To make matters worse he was struggling with it as of late in terms of focusing on it. In fact it was getting to the point that his latest excursion with Washu and by extension Amane was almost a welcomed distraction. More to the point it was taking some considerable willpower not to ogle that pad Amane left for him in his basket to take home. As it was right now it was resting peacefully on the corner of his desk, partially covered by the cover of his open book.

He groaned as he rubbed his temples. To further try to distract himself from distracting himself he plopped onto his back and stared at the ceiling for a time. When he grew bored of that he turned his head to the side and eyed a bokken laying against the wall, his last resort. Sighing, he got up, grabbed the wooden sword reminiscent of a katana and meandered his way to the middle of the room, though a bit further toward the back to avoid accidentally smacking the overheard light as he began to practice simple strikes.

Having never joined a kendo team or any other extracurricular club of any kind since his part-time job kept him from going absolutely stir crazy most days, he didn't have much of a social life. Not even the internet kind. Sure he went out for drinks every now and then, mostly when invited by classmates and coworkers alike, and occasionally had supper with Kiriko and her family, again by invitation, but he largely kept to himself and his studies. In fact the only people he regularly conversed with about anything was in fact Kiriko, his coworkers and boss, and to some extent the Yamada family who ran a nearby small grocery store out of their own home. Maybe even Washu if he was being generous; she did tend to literally pop up out of nowhere much like Kisuke in order to 'interview' him about the latest 'test' she put him through...

It wasn't by accident though... it was an unfortunate desire to avoid any chance of being unintentionally dragged into an activity that inadvertently reminded him of his time as a Soul Reaper on an overt level during group outings to avoid being ostracized: fantasy movies, fantasy games, cafes with some sort of magical theme, and the occasional role-playing group in parks when he was out for a stroll often had him scowling more so than usual whenever their opinion of an afterlife came into play. Even the bokken made him feel apprehensive at first when he first collected it on the advice from a fellow student in regards to focusing on his work. Thankfully with time what apprehensive power it had over him had faded, allowing him to indeed clear his mind at least a little.

But as time went by it also had the unfortunate propensity to let his mind wander on some occasions when they were prevalent in some manner. In this case it was what had happened at the Masaki Residence today.

Locals, delivery folk really, have taken to calling him a veteran of sorts in regards to Washu's antics. Four years ago when he first came to the household to deliver a meal for Washu he was beset by static turrets with beanbags for ammo, activated of course by motions sensors. It was a bit tricky and he was sure as hell bruised, his bike dented quite a bit, but he made the delivery. When he came again he had to contend with them again only their original positioning had been changed, some of which were camouflaged in the forest; he managed to avoid all of them by crawling on the ground after nearly being pelted by the first one. By the third time around she started to add low powered mines... It only got crazier from there. Up until now he never really questioned as to why she did what she does to be honest. If anything the most he came to suspect as to her reasoning behind it all was that, like Kisuke, while she meant no real harm in what she did, she was bored enough to get her kicks out of his and everyone else's expense in overcoming her devices. In fact he couldn't help but suspect she was holding back as a means to quietly let him get accustomed to her antics for later 'projects.' That said, and her robots aside, she certainly never pulled out anything as technologically advanced as those drones however, never mind the 'black holes' they came from. Even the 'laptop' floating next to her was something new to him. And those times she appeared out of nowhere, he had long since presumed she was lying in wait for mischief's sake. That or like Kisuke she was a Shinigami in hiding but that wasn't an avenue he wanted to pursue. Regardless, between her devices, whatever the hell happened in that lake, and Amane, this entire day was a curveball from what he came to perceive as the norm, sad as it was considering what he lived through.

He stopped in mid-chop and looked to the pad that was partially obscured by the textbook on his desk... Could it be that the world wasn't as defined as he thought it was? That Washu wasn't just some reclusive mad scientist who simply didn't share her inventions with the world at large? Or that Amane was indeed some kind of police officer if the pad's title was anything to go by? Could Kiriko be working in the same organization as her given not only her familiarity with but complete surprise at Amane's presence as well? It certainly wouldn't be the first time he was shown the world was more complex than he originally guessed.

With his mind filling with more questions than it did answers, he relented to his building curiosity at long last and made for the desk. He sat down and put the wooden sword down before slipping the tablet out from under the book to look at it in the light of his window. With a frown his thumb gingerly skimmed the side to see if there was a switch of some kind. What he found however was a crevice. He turned the object in his hands to look at the side where the nail of his thumb scratched at an apparent opening to the pad itself. To make sure it was what he thought it was he gave it a quick once over for each edge only to find the divide perfectly bisecting the entirety of the item. With his curiosity and precaution satisfied he thumbed it open and blinked at the two pages that awaited him. Immediately he closed the evident plastic pamphlet and held it to the light only to see the entirety of the folder was transparent. "Interesting..." He opened it once more and held it to showcase its back to him only to see the material wasn't darkened in the least by the paper on the other side. "Huh..." It was certainly not what he was expecting to say the least.

Since he had no means to explain how it was so or at least guess, he gave up and returned the pamphlet to its proper side to read it... or at least try to. There were a few images printed on the left page: What appeared to be a colossal space station roughly shaped like a D was one such image. A fleet of space ships was another. Lastly next to a colored stenciling of a woman in a similar uniform that Amane was wearing was an image of a coastal, tropical region. Unfortunately the promotion they were trying to convey was all he could gather since nothing else was written in a word he could remotely understand. To double check that it wasn't some kind of illusion or trick he turned to the front cover to ensure it was indeed written in English before trying to read the pages once more. But no. It was not English on the inside, never mind a language he at least heard of. Like the images he was able to discern only one other item though. At the bottom of the second page was obviously an application boiled down to what he could infer to be the bare essentials for applying: Name, date, town maybe? It was still written in the odd language but he was confident he had the gist of what they wanted. Next to the three lines was an blank box the size of his thumb, most likely another requirement if he were to guess.

His hand twitched and slowly reached for a pen only to be stilled. "What am I doing?" he mumbled as he withdrew his hand. Instead he began to tap it against his desk in a steady rhythm as he thought about what he could be very well doing:

On the face of it he could very well be doing police work... in outer space. Interplanetary work perhaps? Stationed, like being a part of an army? Or, accounting for his own ignorance, would he be some sort of undercover resident officer of Earth if this was indeed what he thought it was? There was only so much that could be discerned from pictures alone. Even if that weren't the case and by some miracle he could read the strange text before him, why should he join? He wasn't wanting in his life as of the moment. His grades were good. He didn't have any enemies to speak of that he was at least aware of. Most of all if all else failed he could find fulltime work within this quiet town that had little to no troubles and hopefully find a loving woman who may be willing to call herself his wife one day... But...

He palmed his face and quietly sighed as he dragged his hand down it.

As much as he wanted to think otherwise, he knew why he had trouble concentrating lately... Try as he might to distract himself within reason with his job, studies and whatever else to come up, his mind wandered back to his old adventures whenever half a chance presents itself, hence his avoidance of certain things. It was something he had hoped to quietly resolve on his own terms by putting some distance between himself and all that he knew. Moving out of Karakura and transferring schools, it was indeed an awkward decision that he had discussed with his family, but they understood. They weren't particularly enthused by it but they understood when each day was becoming more and more troubling for him whenever his friends ran off to fight Hollows whenever they appeared, his sister Karin looking out for him and solving spiritual matters when she could in his stead, and his other sister Yuzu trying to cheer him up whenever he was in a brooding mood... Up until now he would've liked to say he gotten over it, having sacrificed his powers for a world at peace. But no. In the end he was running from it and ignoring it when he could only for it to come back as a quiet desire that didn't want to be ignored.

He slowly rubbed his eyes and eyed the application once more. If he signed it, would he simply be pursuing a career solely to make himself feel better? To better ignore the quiet void that gnawed at him in the idle moments of his life? Trading one adventure for another to feel useful once more?

His hand clenched and he hung his head... If that was the case then that was nothing short of being selfish. It especially wasn't a trait a police officer should have, to be self serving. But...

He looked up and glanced to the phone. It was an old rotary one that came free with the apartment, namely because the last tenant left it behind by accident and didn't bother to come get it back. It wasn't anything fancy but it got the job done. Though for what he had in mind it may not be a particularly good idea though: Calling Kiriko to talk to Amane. On one hand perhaps speaking to the 'officer' would help him come to a decision one way or another. On the other hand if his theory was right and Kiriko was indeed a colleague, judging from her reaction then perhaps he wasn't meant to know anything at all.

Well, even if factoring life as a spirit, he had only one life to live.

He reached over, picked up the receiver and dialed in the number. It didn't even make it past the second ring when someone picked up. "Masaki Residence, Kai speaking."

He quietly released a sigh of relief. "Hey Kai, it's Ichigo."

"Oh! Hey man! If you're looking for my sister, she left already with this hot chick. I don't think she'll be back till tomorrow afternoon though."

"No, that's okay. Thanks though."

"Oh man! C'mon! How come when you call you only want to talk to Kiriko?"

He frowned ever so slightly as he considered his response. He looked to his book for ideas and grinned at the first thing his eye caught. "Okay, answer me this: How do you calculate the strength of a material?"

"... with a hammer?"

He rolled his eyes and switched topics on him. Was it mean? A little. But it was a fun nevertheless. "Ockham's Razor verses Schrödinger's Cat, go!"

"What?"

"Who were the opposing commanders in the Battle of Shiroyama?"

"I may have slept through that class..."

"How much wood can a wood chuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"

"Okay it's one thing that you're messing with me but at least be reasonable about it!"

"Alright then. What is the answer to life, the universe and everything?"

"Forty-two."

"Satisfied now?"

"Yep."

"Good. I'll see you later."

"Alright man. Have a good one!"

He sighed again as he hung up the phone. A part of him was relieved whereas another wanted to outright groan; he dodged a bullet but was no closer to coming to an informed decision. Once more he stared at the application and quietly drummed his fingers along the desk in thought.

Taking Kai at his word for it Amane was gone. Even if he were to sign this then would it simply be pointless now with her being unable to deliver it, assuming Kiriko was against it? Did he have what amounted to an overly fanciful paperweight now? Or was there a secretive recruiting office somewhere within the world he would have to deliver this to?

He groaned and rubbed at his face. Such thoughts and questions weren't going to do him any good for a final decision. It was either toss it out now or apply and figure out the details later. It was one choice or the other... either one would make all the difference in his life, that much he knew.

With a frown he caved in and written in his name, the date and his current address. He looked to the box for a thumbprint and immediately dug into the drawers of his desk for an inkpad. Specifically the one he received as a promotion down at the Yamada store the other week that he never bothered to throw out considering he hadn't much need for one. He mashed the pad of his thumb into the pad and quickly applied the freshly inked digit against the box in the paper in a firm press that resulted in an unblemished copy of his thumbprint.

With a sigh he closed the folder and looked at the cover, at the title deceptively written in plain English. He wasn't exactly proud of himself but he didn't feel especially guilty either for what it was worth. Even if he was utterly wrong and he just signed up to be with a bunch of mental cases, at least it would give him something to do. Preferably in his free time. If it came down between getting his degree or hanging out with nuts then he could simply and vigorously kick them in the head if they have an issue with it.

His thoughts abated for now, he returned to his studies with a clear and undistracted mind.

It wasn't till hours later when he was getting ready for bed that the pad began to glow a brilliant blue. It wasn't even half a minute later that someone began to politely knock on his door when he began to investigate it. Curious, he opened the door and found a dark skinned man standing before him with a smile whilst wearing a blue and white variation of Amane's uniform, only with a longer coat that went just past his waist, and wearing a fez-like hat. His expression, though smiling, seemed a bit sleepy as it was tranquil. Still he was more than alert enough to salute him upon the opening of the door.

"Good evening, how do you do?" He offered a hand, the same one he saluted with. "I am here to verify and collect the application if you would be so kind."

"... Sure... one second."

A/N: It didn't end on a strong note, I'll give you that, but I couldn't think of anything better. To be honest, and if you are aware, I wanted it to end on the spaceship but I honestly couldn't foresee that happening in a more realistic setting concerning Ichigo. The only path which would've led to that was just plain silly to me: his family coming in for a surprise visit, having him sign it without knowing better while he is distracted, and like Seina's family they ship him off whilst he is sleeping... Scratch that. It's just ridiculous considering it was Ichigo; he may not be an active fighter any more as far as this chapter is concerned but I'm sure he would've at least woken up and looked about in a groggy state if by some means he sensed the presence of another if absolutely nothing else. Another route involved Amane distracting Ichigo by not only staying with him but also occupying his attention whilst a bribed (or enamored) deliveryman had Ichigo filled out the application without looking...

Yeah... Anyway!

Monkeybandit2, making off with your attention! No refunds.