//------------------------------//
// Substitute: Mod-Soul Trouble 
// Story: Bleach: Heart of a Hero 
// by Blackdrag-rose 
//------------------------------//

After dealing with the Hollow that had killed two Shinigami before Rukia was tasked with protecting Karakura Town, and sending him to Hell for his crimes before he became a Hollow, the group spent the rest of the day in the one place that Sombra would rather stay away from, Ichigo's high school. Fortunately the teacher bought the excuse as to why Ichigo and Rukia were late, since they were both tending to Chad and his injuries, and Chad got off without any punishments, indicating that this seemed to happen a lot more than Sombra knew about. The teacher went on with the lesson and the three of them figured out what homework assignments they needed to do, for later anyway, while Sombra remained in the corner that he sat in when he followed Ichigo to school and simply returned to scouting for additional Hollows that might threaten someone at some point in time. Of course while all that happened he noticed, from time to time, that Sora was walking down the hallway and occasionally peeked into the room to be sure that his sister was alright, though that seemed to be all that he was doing at the moment, which Sombra was fine with and let him go about his business.

Once the school day was over the same thing happened, Ichigo went home, Sombra stuck around the clinic's exterior until he was sure that he wasn't needed for anything, and when Rukia arrived, to slip into the room so she could sleep in Ichigo's closet like usual, he simply went back to the Urahara Shop and spent some time with them before drifting off into his dreamless sleep like usual.

What was strange to Sombra was that the rest of the week, including both Saturday and Sunday as well, nothing happened to the town, nothing that would warrant Ichigo transforming into his Shinigami form or requiring Sombra to draw his blade and cut something down. Sure, there were plenty of spirits and souls wandering the town still, but Rukia seemed to ignore them and focus on the Hollows that they had been taking care of, and yet, at the same time, neither her phone or Sombra's senses could pick up another Hollow, despite the number of wandering souls around town. While some people would have called the situation boring, and may have given up, Sombra continued to keep his senses open so he could pinpoint any Hollows the moment they appeared on his radar, that way he could be ready to move the instant the creatures made a move against the town. Ichigo, on the other hand, was thankful for some time off, since he was doing his homework and didn't want to be bothered, and Rukia seemed to know most of what was on the assignments, which was why she did them the morning they were due and didn't seem to care if they seemed rushed.

While all of this was going on Sombra noticed that, despite her best efforts to hide what was happening, Rukia's gigai seemed to be slowing down from time to time and was becoming harder to move, as there were times where she had to shake her limbs and joints to continue moving. For the most part she seemed to be dealing with the situation quite well, and didn't want to ask for any assistance, though when Saturday arrived he noticed that she was getting increasingly tired over everything that was happening and seemed to know how to get around the situation. When Sunday came around he found that her problems had only gotten worse and that, sometimes, parts of her body would lock up on her until she jerked them around and forced them to move again, until eventually she went off and checked her supplies, the ones that she had bought from Kisuke when Sombra first showed her where the shop was located... but instead of heading to talk with the man, like he thought she would, Rukia said nothing and went her own direction that afternoon, leaving Sombra to sigh as he headed back to the shop.

Since he wasn't busy chasing around Hollows and helping souls, which meant that he had some free time, Yoruichi insisted that Sombra spend some of his time practicing with either her or Kisuke, when the shop wasn't busy and didn't need him anyway, but for the most part Sombra found that he enjoyed practicing with Yoruichi more than when he practiced with Kisuke. What was strange was that, at one time when he picked Yoruichi over Kisuke, the manager teased him by saying it was because Yoruichi was a 'very beautiful lady' and that was the reason he kept picking her, causing Yoruichi to kick Kisuke in the back and knock him forward, before they started their training. Sombra guessed that part of what Kisuke said, about Yoruichi being beautiful, had to be true, since he was sure that he saw the blush on her face again, but it was gone a few seconds later and he started his training with her once more, leaving Kisuke to head back up to the shop and left them to their business. He had no idea what Kisuke was trying to do with his comment, and Yoruichi didn't seem to want to talk about it at all, so he let it slide and focused on what he was doing as he flashed through the air and followed his mentor as they raced around the underground area and continued their training.

When the training session was over, maybe thirty minutes later, he and Yoruichi washed up and dried themselves off, so they didn't track anything in the shop, before they made their way upstairs and went through the rest of the evening like they always did... with Yoruichi being in her cat form and him sitting in a corner, before she went outside to scout the town out and both he and the others went to sleep like usual, though he had a feeling Monday morning was going to be different for a change.





When Monday morning arrived, and Sombra met it with his usual cup of tea, he found that Kisuke was a little more tired than he usually was and Jinta was already prepared for the day, as both he and Ururu were outside doing their chores while Tessai was moving some boxes, a shipment that had arrived yesterday, around the shop so they could be ready for any customers that came by today. Of course, like every single day that he was here, Sombra heard Jinta and Ururu talking before the young boy started terrorizing Ururu, though this time around his ears perked up as he heard the sound of Rukia asking if the boss was in, to which he slipped his empty cup into the sink and turned towards the door. Not a few seconds later Jinta moved the frame out of the way and Tessai stopped when he noticed what was going on, though as he opened his mouth to speak the door opened and he noticed that Rukia was with the youngsters, while at the same time Sombra stood nearby and realized what Rukia was doing here, before the store officially opened.

"Ms. Kuchiki!" Tessai said, to which he set the boxes down and made a bowing motion of sorts to Rukia, why Sombra still had no idea, but he wasn't about to say anything as he watched what was going on at the moment, "One moment please. I'll wake the manager up and..."

"Sorry, but I'm already up Tessai." Kisuke commented, though at the same time he slipped into the wooden sandals that he liked to wear as he yawned for a moment, showing that he was still a bit tired despite the fact that he knew he had to do some business today, before he turned and looked at Rukia, "Welcome, Ms. Kuchiki. I just received a shipment yesterday. What would you like today?"

As it turned out Rukia had a short list of items that she needed and patiently waited for Kisuke to sit down, and pull out some of the tools he used when he was conducting business, before she told him exactly what she needed to purchase during her visit.

"One spare of the Kikanshinki fuel..." Kisuke commented, writing something down as he tapped something else into the calculator that he was holding, before he recalled something and turned towards Rukia for a moment, "which rank did you say that you wanted?"

"The cheapest one." Rukia replied, though from what Sombra could tell she must have been assigned a strict limit of funds or something to want the cheapest rank of something, especially since she was spending most of her time in that gigai, something that he would have thought she'd want to have at it's maximum efficiency.

"So 'D' then," Kisuke said, to which he continued tapping on the calculator as he wrote something down, before going down to the next item on the list that Rukia had given him, "and sixty pieces of Somafixer... this may be none of my business, but too much of this can be toxic. If you over-synchronize with the gigai, it'll be quite painful when you leave it."

"I know that, but," Rukia stated, where she flexed her hand for a moment, like Sombra had seen her do earlier before she had run off, before she glanced at Kisuke once more, "lately, my connection with the gigai has been weak... and I've found that its difficult to move my body at times."

"Want me to check the gigai out?" Kisuke asked, once more appearing as the shop manager that he showed everyone, especially when he wanted to help someone out, exactly like Rukia needed some help with her gigai, "I'll even give you a discount as well."

"No, thank you." Rukia replied, surprising Sombra for a second, as he was sure that a normal Shinigami would have liked to have someone check their gigai if this sort of thing was happening, before she seemed to focus on something else entirely, "By the way, has that thing I ordered been delivered?"

"Oh, yes, it's here." Kisuke said, to which he turned his gaze towards the children for a moment, who were leaning near the shop's entrance at the moment, while at the same time Sombra wondered what Rukia could have ordered that was so special, "Ururu, get it from the storehouse. It says 'New Item' on the box."

Sombra stood there as Ururu dropped the broom that she had been holding onto and headed to the storehouse, to fetch the item that Kisuke had gotten for Rukia, likely ordered when she found out that her powers would take some time before they returned, and soon Ururu returned with the bundle that Kisuke had asked her to acquire, which was handed over to Rukia a few seconds later.

"Is this the only kind you could get?" Rukia asked, as she had opened the package a bit and noticed what was inside it, though the look that had crossed her face for a few seconds told Sombra that it was what she ordered, but at the same time it must have come in multiple types, which would meant the one she was holding wasn't the specific brand that she had ordered earlier.

"Don't say that." Kisuke said, telling Sombra that he had heard the tone and knew that Rukia was disappointed that he couldn't get his hands on the brand that she wanted, but he had gotten her the next best thing, "That's the second most popular brand, and it's almost as hard to get as the one you wanted... but, you can't fake it forever."

Once Rukia had the items in hand, and they happened to be paid for, she headed out of the shop and started heading back to Ichigo's place, though at the same time Sombra followed after her, keeping his eyes on her while watching out for any Hollows that might attack the town. They missed Ichigo, as when they arrived at the clinic he had already left for school, so Rukia stashed her stuff away and kept the special package on her, before she did some work on her gigai with a few of the items that she had purchased, though once she was ready to go they climbed out through the window, closed it, and headed towards the school. When they arrived at Ichigo's classroom Rukia said hello to everyone, who was happy to see her like usual while Ichigo stared at her for a moment, where Rukia asked Ichigo if she could have a moment or two of his time to discuss a private manner, before hinting at Sombra for a moment, using him as an excuse to get Ichigo out of the classroom without having to punch him or something. At the same time Sombra raised an eyebrow as he followed the duo outside to the back of the school, where they wouldn't be bothered by any of the other students that Ichigo spent time with or the teachers themselves.

When they reached the area that Rukia wanted them to be in, however, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the item that she had purchased from Kisuke, to which she tossed some sort of candy dispenser to Ichigo, who instantly stared at it once he caught it.

"What is this?" Ichigo asked, staring at the candy dispenser that had been tossed at him, where he noticed that the head of it looked like a duck, while at the same time he had to wonder what was so special about this that Rukia had missed the first couple of classes.

"Gikongan, or Artificial Soul Pills." Rukia said, staring at the dispenser that she had acquired, knowing that Ichigo needed an explanation as to what it was and knew that Sombra was staring at it with some interest, since this was an item he hadn't seen before, "It's a pill that will force the soul out of the body. When on ingests that pill, a substitute soul will enter the body so that the real soul can leave. If there's ever a time when I'm not nearby, to separate your soul from your body like I've done with my glove, use that to transform into a Shinigami."

"It says 'Soul Candy' on it." Ichigo commented, though at the same time Sombra stood nearby and noticed that it did, indeed, say that on the side of the container, but Sombra knew that there was a reason behind that while Ichigo was merely making an observation.

"T... That's because the Shinigami Women's Association complained that Gikongan didn't sound nice, so the name got changed." Rukia explained, though at the same time both Ichigo and Sombra stared at her, as they couldn't believe that the reason behind the name change was so simple.

"And, out of curiosity, why is it a duck?" Sombra inquired, because he assumed that the reason behind her earlier dislike was because of the shape of the container's head, though at the same time he remembered the drawings she had made earlier and had an idea as to which container she actually wanted.

"Well, I tired to order Chappie, the rabbit-shaped container." Rukia stated, confirming Sombra's thoughts on which constainer she really wanted, while at the same time Ichigo nodded his head, as he understood what was going on at the moment, "Besides, you won't understand my explanation until you take one."

Ichigo glanced at Sombra for a moment before he raised the container near his mouth and pressed down on the duck head, to which he let a green pill pop out from the container and swallowed it, though a few seconds later he swayed for a moment before his soul was separated from his body... though as Ichigo declared that it worked Rukia told him that a new soul was in his body, to which Ichigo's body moved on it's own until it was standing straight up once more.

"Nice to meet you." the soul inside Ichigo said, to which he raised Ichigo's right hand and saluted the three of them for a moment, though at the same time the fact that his body was moving on it's own surprised Ichigo while Rukia smiled at what was happening, and Sombra stared at it in fascination, "My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. My favorite phrase is 'Early to be, early to rise'."

Ichigo looked like he was going to blow a fuse, as he couldn't believe what he was hearing, though before he could complain about the situation Rukia's phone went off as Sombra's senses did as well, indicating that a Hollow had come to play at last and that they could leave the soul inside Ichigo's body... though at the same time Rukia asked Sombra to stay back and keep an eye on Ichigo's body, before she hauled Ichigo away from the school to deal with the Hollow.

"Leave it to me, Master!" the soul said, waving a hand at Ichigo as he was hauled off by Rukia, as if he was going to follow Ichigo's orders to attend the next class and make sure that nothing terrible happened, though at the same time Sombra glanced at him for a few seconds, "Take your time."

Sombra stared at the soul for a moment as Ichigo and Rukia headed away from the school, a little annoyed that he was being told to stay here and watch over the soul since he wanted to protect the town as well, though at the same time the soul stretched Ichigo's arms and legs for a few moments... before jumping up a little and kicked the fence that was between the area they were in and the walkway that was in the building, ruining the metal fence in the process.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing?" Sombra asked, as he couldn't believe that the soul, which he had reason to believe Soul Society created since it was the only place Kisuke could have gotten it from, was destroying school property, which was going to reflect poorly on Ichigo if anyone saw this.

"Relax dude, there's no one around." the soul replied, though at the same time it sounded like it was excited to be in a body again, making Sombra wonder what it was planning to do this time around, especially since it didn't sound at all concerned for the damage it had done, "Besides, this feels great."

That was when one of the instructors walked outside, carrying one of those practice swords that Sombra had seen around the school, to which the soul ignored Sombra and started walking towards the man, where he jumped over the swing that was coming his way and soared over to the roof of the walkway that rested between two of the school's buildings. Sombra was beginning to suspect that this soul had to be a defective artificial soul, as it was doing it's best to avoid doing everything that Rukia would have done, as it was revealing things to people that shouldn't know about it at the moment, before the soul jumped up onto the roof and headed to a different side of the school. Sombra moaned as he followed after the soul, finding that it was heading towards the side of the school that Ichigo's classroom was on, before it used Ichigo's body to jump up to the level of the classroom and surprise the students that were up there, before saying something about the girls that were in the room. Before Sombra could move, and follow after him, the soul headed into the room and he heard the sounds of the girls screaming over something... though when Sombra jumped up there, however, he found that the soul was kissing Orihime's hand until Tatsuki pulled him back, before telling her that she was cute as well and then kissed her cheek.

It was in that moment that Sombra discovered that the soul that Rukia had been given was what Jinta would called 'perverted', as he was going after the girls and was ignoring the guys, and Tatsuki blew a fuse, as she shoved Ichigo's body towards the windows, picked up one of the desks, and hurled it at Ichigo, breaking the window in the process before she picked up a second desk and tried to hit him again. This time around, while he was distracted, Sombra stepped into the room and advanced towards the soul, who noticed that he was coming, before he started punching and kicking at him in an attempt to get him to move out of the way, while Sombra blocked the attacks that were coming at him. He found that the soul was definitely powerful, as it's attacks were stronger than what he was expecting, though this was an instant where he was grateful for his Arrancar skin, otherwise he was sure that these attack would have left bruises, though at the same time he didn't attack back since he didn't want to hurt Ichigo's body in the process. Fortunately his attempt to stall the soul was well worth it, because not a few moments later Rukia opened the door and the soul stopped attacking, where it rushed towards the window and found Ichigo standing there... though at the same time Sombra discovered that Ichigo couldn't bring himself to fight his body, allowing the soul to beat him up for a few seconds before kicking him into the desks before making his grand escape.

Rukia, Ichigo, and Sombra ran to the windows and watched as the soul used Ichigo's body and landed on the ground without suffering any pain, before speeding off into the distance and disappeared before they could get down there and do anything with him... causing Rukia to say that the artificial soul was actually a Mod-Soul as the three of them headed outside to chase the soul down. As the three of them ran through the town, following the soul as it moved towards an unknown destination, Ichigo fumed over the riot that the soul made in class and the fact that his reputation was likely shattered at this point, though at the same time Rukia and Sombra paid it no mind, especially since Rukia had the memory device that would help them make the class forget what had happened. Eventually, when they reached an abandoned warehouse and came to a stop, Ichigo decided to ask the question that was on his mind, after he calmed down after the near collapse he had when he thought about the fact that the soul had used his body to grab and kiss two of his classmates, as well as destroying his reputation.

"You said that he was a Mod-Soul, right?" Ichigo asked, as that was something that was bothering him, especially since it was supposed to be an artificial soul that was supposed to be inside his body when he swallowed that pill that the dispenser had loosed into his mouth, "Just what is that exactly?"

"Once, a project called 'Spearhead' was started in Soul Society." Rukia said, recalling the specifics of the Mod-Souls and the project in question, though at the same time both Ichigo and Sombra turned to look at her while she prepared to tell them exactly what she knew, "They created souls that had been modified for combat, which could be inserted into the bodies of people who had died and had their souls leave their bodies behind. They used these souls to fight Hollows... though personally, if you ask me, it was a despicable plan to begin with. The souls that were transformed for this project, once placed into a body, could make one part of their new body super-human... all in the name of fighting Hollows. That is the Kaizo Konpaku, the Mod-Soul."

"And let me guess," Sombra commented, as he was prepared to take a wild stab in the dark at the moment, especially since his knowledge of Soul Society's laws wasn't the best in the world, as Kisuke's collection of information and books was incomplete, "the project was cancelled because it forced corpses to fight the Hollows."

"That's correct." Rukia replied, though she was pleased that someone was following along, as Ichigo took one look at the drawings she had created, to help him better visualize what she was talking about, and his face showed that he thought there was no tension anymore, since he didn't like her drawing skills, "Furthermore, all of the Mod-Souls that were in the development stage were ordered to be destroyed... but to think that some were still around."

"So that means that the soul that's inside my body was created by Soul Society," Ichigo said, thinking about what Rukia was saying at the moment, though at the same time he was more focused on one aspect of what she had said while putting the others at the back of his mind, "and then he, and the rest of his kind, were rejected by the whims of the same society that created them?"

"Exactly that." Rukia stated, though at the same time she was happy that the Mod-Souls had been destroyed in such a manner, as forcing corpses to fight was a terrible thing to do and she was positive that Ichigo would have agreed, but while she was sure that he did agree with that she noticed that he was focused on something else.

"How can you accept that?" Ichigo asked, because while it sounded wrong to force corpses to fight, something that all of them agreed on, he couldn't understand why Soul Society would willingly condone the destruction of the pills that contained all the Mod-Souls.

"It's not a matter of accepting it or not," Rukia replied, to which she turned and focused on Ichigo, as she needed to tell him what he needed to know before he formed some sort of attachment to the Mod-Soul, "I'm sorry Ichigo, but Mod-Souls must be destroyed. That's one of the orders that Soul Society passed, orders that we abide by... do not forget that. And these laws are made for the purpose of protecting human souls. Now, let's get going... we still have to get your body back, before that Mod-Soul does something to it."

Sombra headed outside and followed Rukia and Ichigo as they continued their search for the Mod-Soul that was currently inside Ichigo's body, though one thing was immediately clear to him as they made their way through the town, and that was that Ichigo was thinking about how thoughtless Soul Society was to create the Mod-Souls and then ordered their destruction in the same manner. He agreed on that, that it was thoughtless on their part, but at the same time he knew that they were dangerous, especially since the one that was inside Ichigo's body had used some intense speed to get away from the three of them, though even as he thought about that he still thought that Yoruichi was faster than what the Mod-Soul had been. As they raced through the town, looking for the Mod-Soul in Ichigo's body, Sombra found his thoughts drawn towards Yoruichi, all because he compared the Mod-Soul's speed to her own, to which he wondered why he was thinking about her from time to time. It was strange when he thought about it, because he knew next to nothing about her and Kisuke, but at the same time there were questions he needed to answer at some point in time, before he told them what was bothering him... and yet, while he ran through the town, he found his focus returning to the Mod-Soul, to which he silently promised himself that he'd thinking about the others at a later time, when he wasn't busy.

His thoughts were interrupted as he felt a slight change in the reiatsu in the town, as he felt a Hollow somewhere, but more importantly he picked up a trace of the Mod-Soul, to which the three of them headed towards what appeared to be the middle school... and the Mod-Soul happened to be in the middle of attacking three school children, where Ichigo rushed forward and stopped the kick from reaching their target, much to the Mod-Soul's surprise. Not a few seconds later the two of them disengaged from each other and the Mod-Soul went on the offensive immediately, causing Ichigo to dodge as Sombra and Rukia came to a stop nearby, as this was a personal matter for Ichigo since the Mod-Soul was 'ruining' his image. For a few moments the Mod-Soul attacked Ichigo, who actually remained calm given the situation and carefully dodged the attacks that were coming his way, which seemed to annoy the Mod-Soul more than it really should of, until Ichigo lifted his foe into the air and tossed him to Rukia and Sombra, only for the Mod-Soul to land on the ground and, in a moment of decision as he considered his options, he jumped over the nearby wall and ran again.

As Ichigo started to follow the Mod-Soul, however, Rukia heard her phone go off and revealed that the Hollow Sombra was feeling happened to be nearby, along with the fact that they had orders to take it out, to which Sombra told them that he would find the Hollow and purify it, allowing them to follow the Mod-Soul and stop it. The two of them ran off in the direction that the Mod-Soul had run off in, leaving Sombra behind for a moment, but he simply stood there and watched as the kids complained to their teacher about being attacked by an 'orange haired high school student', though the teacher sighed when she picked up a device of some kind and punished the three of them for playing too many 'video games', whatever those were. There was a very specific reason he was even staying in this area, watching the scene play out in front of him, and that was because the Hollow, which wasn't even trying to shroud it's reiatsu, was heading towards where he was standing, or more specifically, someone in this area. He was fairly sure that the Hollow was coming after him, since he was the one with the highest and most potent reiatsu in this area, or it was coming because of the scent of Ichigo's reiatsu, from his body and not his Shinigami form, though at the same time he carefully drew his blade and prepared himself for the Hollow's arrival.

Not a few moments later, when the three kids came outside to do the punishment they had been assigned by their teacher, Sombra felt his target arrive in the area and looked up for a moment, as the Hollow, which resembled a centipede this time around, was lifting itself so it could chow down on the kids while ignoring him at the same time... but, as he prepared to strike the Hollow down, the Mod-Soul returned and kicked the Hollow in the side of the head, scaring off the kids as the Hollow hit the ground. As Sombra prepared to do something, like attack the Hollow himself, the Mod-Soul charged forward and continued attacking the sharp tentacle like limbs that were lashing out at him, even cutting into his left shoulder in the process, before heading towards the top of the school building that was nearby. Sombra growled for a moment, because this wasn't what was expecting to happen when the Hollow came out of hiding, though as he jumped up, and headed to the roof as well, the Mod-Soul was already under attack... though this time, as the Hollow attacked, he slashed into the Hollow's back as Ichigo severed the limb that was heading towards the Mod-Soul.

As Sombra landed and continued to attack the Hollow, which seemed to be focusing on his at the moment, Ichigo started to talk with the Mod-Soul about how sorry it had to be because of the fact that it should have been a battle ready Mod-Soul and had gotten wounded in the process... though after a few minutes of that conversation happening, however, the Hollow surged towards the pair, where Ichigo and the Mod-Soul hit the Hollow, Ichigo using his sword and the Mod-Soul with his foot. The force of their attacks knocked the Hollow back towards Sombra, who jumped into the air and swung his sword, cleaving the Hollow in half and purifying the poor soul that had been twisted into this form, before landing in front of the pair and sheathed his blade, something that Ichigo did the moment he was sure that the creature was taken care of, while the Mod-Soul relaxed a little bit. While that happened Sombra heard the sound of the kids from earlier return and looked over the ledge of the roof that was near him, where he, Ichigo, and the Mod-Soul watched as the three kids were, once again, punished for wasting the teacher's time, much to their annoyance.

A few seconds later the Mod-Soul sat down on the roof and stared down at the floor, where a line of ants happened to be walking, to which Ichigo stood beside him, ready to stop him from leaving with his body at a moment's notice, as he was sure that the Mod-Soul would run again if the opportunity presented itself.

"Didn't you hate those kids?" Ichigo asked, knowing that, since they happened to be playing games before the Mod-Soul made made his appearance, the kids must have done something to piss off the soul that was currently in control of his body at the moment, "Why did you risk yourself, and my body, if you didn't like them? Especially when Sombra was standing nearby and could have taken care of it on his own."

"You call that being ready for the Hollow? He could have gotten killed as well." the Mod-Soul replied, though at the same time he stared at the ants and didn't look up at either Ichigo or Sombra, but Sombra was surprised that the Mod-Soul thought he wasn't battle ready, "Besides, if neither of us had acted that Hollow would have killed them... and, despite what you might think of me, I won't let anyone get killed. Soon after I was created, Soul Society ordered all the Mod-Souls to be destroyed... meaning that the date of my death was decided the day after I was created. I trembled in fear every day, trapped inside that pill, as I watched the others around me disappear, day after day... and I always feared that, even after managing to slip out by being among other pills, I would one day be discovered and destroyed. I always wondered why others could decide my fate, when that should be something that I should be able to decide for myself."

"And that's why you won't kill anyone or let anyone be killed." Sombra spoke up, understanding that, thanks to his experiences, the Mod-Soul had different views on life than what people, or Shinigami, even realized, so much so that he even risked his life to save a group of kids that had pissed him off earlier.

"Oh my," a familiar voice said, to which Sombra turned and found Kisuke standing nearby, who nodded his head towards him a tiny bit before focusing on the Mod-Soul that was inside Ichigo's body, or, more accurately, the wound that was on his shoulder, "Here I finally found you, only to discover that you're slightly wounded. Looks like all the equipment we prepared was for nothing."

Sombra watched as Kisuke, who was a stranger to Ichigo since this was the first time encountering him, raised the cane that he was holding and leveled it with the forehead of Ichigo's body, where he pushed it forward and it passed into Ichigo's head, knocking out the Mod-Soul pill in the process. Sombra, knowing what was going to happen, moved behind the body and caught it before it could hit the ground, while at the same time Kisuke walked over to the pill and picked it up, where Sombra noticed that Tessai, Jinta, and Ururu were standing nearby... and Yoruichi, in her cat form, was sitting on part of the roof, where she had a good view of what they were doing.

"Collection complete," Kisuke stated, to which he walked over to where the others were standing, knowing that it was only a matter of time until Rukia appeared and tried something else, while at the same time knowing that he needed to give her the actual item that she had purchased, "Let's go home, everyone."

"Wait just a minute." Ichigo said, causing Kisuke to stop as he headed towards the stairs, where he turned around and looked at Ichigo, who was already accepting that there were more people in this town that could see spirits and souls than he realized, "What are you going to do with him? And who the hell are you guys?"

"What am I going to do?" Kisuke repeated, though he wasn't surprised that he was asked such a question, as he suspected that the young man had formed a new opinion on the Mod-Soul, one that needed to be forgotten about before he tried something, "I'm going to destroy it."

"And, to answer your other question, he's a greedy merchant." Rukia answered, to which she snatched the Mod-Soul pill that Kisuke happened to be tossing into the air and catching with his spare hand, before looking at the man for a few moments as she ignored Ichigo and Sombra.

"Hey, you can't take that." Kisuke stated, because since he knew of Rukia's true nature, as a Shinigami, he knew that she knew that the proper course of action would be the pill's destruction, though at the same time he had to wonder if there was the possibility that she might have something else in mind for it.

"What's this, Urahara?" Rukia asked, to which she mimicked what the manager had been doing with the pill, though at the same time Sombra noticed that Kisuke wasn't even attempting to snatch the pill back, as if he thought that he could get it back by talking with her, "Do you take back goods that you've sold to people without giving them a refund?"

"Ms. Kuchiki, I was fully intending to give you a refund for what I sold you, along with the actual item that you were supposed to have received." Kisuke replied, though at the same time he kept his eyes on the pill for a moment, while at the same time Sombra watched what was going on with some interest.

"No, that's not necessary." Rukia said, catching the pill and taking a moment to stare at the green object that she had bought, even if it wasn't the one that she had been trying to buy the entire time, before turning her attention to Kisuke and the others, "I'm satisfied with this item. Besides, you guys work outside the laws of Soul Society... you're not really obligated to collect these things, are you?"

"Very well then," Kisuke stated, to which he stopped staring at the pill and turned his attention to Rukia, while at the same time being aware of the fact that Sombra and Ichigo were watching them with some interest in their eyes, "but don't blame me when you run into trouble."

Rukia turned around and made a slight comment to Kisuke, about her being used to that at the moment, before she walked over to where Ichigo was standing and slipped the Mod-Soul pill into his hand, though while that happened Kisuke nodded to the others and they started to pull out of the area... though as that happened, however, Sombra noticed that only Yoruichi remained behind, though he wasn't sure if she was staring at him or if she was staring at the Mod-Soul pill that Ichigo was holding at the moment. From there Ichigo returned to his body and bandaged his shoulder as best as they possibly could, since Rukia apparently didn't want to use her Kido to heal the wound the Mod-Soul allowed his body to take, before they headed out of the school and started to head back home, as Ichigo didn't want anyone there to know about his injury. As they moved out onto the streets, and the sun started to go down as evening was upon them, Ichigo occasionally moved his shoulder and tried to lessen the pain that he was in, though at the same time he made several remarks about how the Mod-Soul had abused his body, despite the fact that he clearly knew that it wasn't his body to begin with.

What got interesting about the whole situation was that Ichigo turned towards Rukia and asked him how he could complain to the Mod-Soul directly, apparently forgetting about the fact that he needed to put it into a body without a soul of it's own, though as he looked around for anything he could use he found a pile of trash nearby. Resting on top of the pile of trash rested a stuffed animal, of a lion if Sombra's guess was right, and Ichigo stared at it for a moment as he held the Mod-Soul pill, clearly wondering if he could insert the pill into the lion's mouth and put the Mod-Soul inside it.

"So, in other words, all I need is a receptacle." Ichigo commented, showing that he wasn't ignoring everything that he had been told and had figured something out, while at the same time he glanced down at the stuffed animal that was currently in front of him, "Hey Rukia, do you think it'll work if I use a stuffed animal?"

"I... I don't know." Rukia admitted, as while she knew that her gigai wasn't a real body, which was why she was able to fit into it, she had no idea if anyone could do the same with a stuffed animal, to which she glanced at Ichigo, "Go ahead and try it. Put the pill in the stuffed animal's mouth, like you would if you were swallowing the pill yourself."

Ichigo did as Rukia suggested and slipped the pill into the stuffed animal's mouth, though instead of waiting and seeing if it had any reaction, as it had taken a few seconds for the pill to work on Ichigo's body earlier, Ichigo lifted the stuffed animal up and spun it around by it's arm for a few seconds... which, in turn, caused the toy to come alive as it stopped itself, punched Ichigo in the face with it's right paw, and jumped to the ground.

"You! Ichigo Kurosaki! I challenge you again!" the Mod-Soul declared, pointing at Ichigo once more, though it clearly took him a few moments to realize that something was different from the last time he had been allowed into a body, "Huh, what? Y... You're huge! No, I'm small! What's going on?!"

"Hey, Mod-Soul." Ichigo said, causing the Mod-Soul to stop freaking out over how cute it's body was, in the bad way according to what Sombra heard, before he started talking again, which was followed by him grabbing the head of the stuffed animal for a few seconds, "You and I are going to finish that conversation we were having earlier... and I'm going to take real good care of you, so prepare yourself!"

It was in that instant that the Mod-Soul decided to try and take Ichigo as he was, only for Ichigo to soundly defeat him and continue on towards the clinic, though as they walked Rukia glanced back at Sombra and pulled out the memory device that she carried with her, in case something happened and someone needed to forget something. Fortunately, since they left early today, the class still had some time before they had to go home, meaning that there was still time for them to tend to the problem of Ichigo's image being shattered by the Mod-Soul, to which Sombra nodded and remained silent while they walked. When they arrived at the clinic, and found that everyone was gone at the moment, Ichigo tended to his wound, giving Rukia and Sombra time to head back out, though this time around Rukia told Ichigo that there was something she needed to do with Urahara, an item she needed to collect, and that she would be right back, to which Ichigo waved them off and Sombra carried Rukia on his back as he headed back towards the school. It seemed like Rukia knew that something was going to happen, as she purposely left something in her desk that she could return to the school and collect, in case something happened to Ichigo's class that warranted a memory wipe... and sure enough they returned to the school and found the rest of the class finishing up for the day, only for Rukia to pull out the device and wipe all their memories in a single instant.

There was no way of telling what sort of memory they were going to form, not until later anyway, but at the same time it was better than letting Ichigo's reputation and image be shattered, though as they left the school Sombra tracked down the teacher the Mod-Soul had spooked and had Rukia wipe his memory as well, leaving only the three kids as witnesses to what was going on, as the rest of the people that had seen Ichigo's body clearly didn't believe what they had seen either, meaning Ichigo was safe for another day.

When night finally came Sombra found himself sitting across the street from the clinic, since next to no one could see him, save for most of Ichigo's family, everyone at the Urahara Shop, Sora, and Rukia, though the reason he was down here was because he didn't want to sit on the roof all night again. He felt that a change of pace was necessary this time around, though despite that fact he could hear the Mod-Soul, who Ichigo was apparently going to call 'Kon' from now on, had a few remarks before Ichigo shut him up for the night, all so he could get some rest after what he had been through after Rukia gave him the Soul Candy container. Rukia, of course, had slipped into Ichigo's bedroom before he went in there and took her usual place in his closet, which was still strange when Sombra considered what she was doing, but he had said nothing and let her do it anyway, as it kept her close to Ichigo in case something happened. Yet despite everything that happened that day he still didn't feel all that tired, so he simply sat there and waited to see what happened next, in case a Hollow appeared and needed to be taken care of so Rukia and Ichigo could sleep the day away.

What he wasn't expecting, however, was for a certain someone to appear and pull him into one of the alleys that rested near the Kurosaki Clinic, though when he looked at who was pulling him into a more secluded area he found that it was Yoruichi, fully clothed in the clothing that Urahara had told him to bring to her that one night.

"You seem... distracted." Yoruichi commented, knowing the look in the Arrancar's eyes, when he was sitting outside the clinic, had meant that he was focused on something like Ichigo's various relationships, ones that he clearly though he didn't have any of, "Let me guess, still thinking that everyone you know is an acquaintance?"

"Well, I was thinking about that for a while," Sombra replied, knowing that there was no reason to lie to Yoruichi, but at the same time he had to wonder what they would say one they found out that he had lied about what happened to Orihime's brother, since he had transformed into an Arrancar, "I was also thinking about the Mod-Souls a tiny bit..."

"But your focus has been on the concept of friends?" Yoruichi inquired, to which Sombra stared at her for a moment, showing that he was definitely surprised that she had easily figured out what he was actually thinking about, before he nodded his head to confirm her suspicions, "Sombra, friends are people that you enjoy spending time with and like because of who they are, while acquaintances are usually people you barely know. How long have you known Jinta, Ururu, Tessai, Kisuke and I?"

"A little over a month," Sombra admitted, though at the same time he failed to understand where Yoruichi was going with this, because even though part of what she said was true there was another part that he hadn't overcome yet, which let him in the same position he had been in moments ago, "but I still know nothing about any of you, other th..."

"Sombra, do you like spending time with us?" Yoruichi asked, because while she knew that telling Sombra what a friend was, and what an acquaintance was, would be a little difficult, she also knew that she might be able to get him out of whatever thought process his mind was stuck in, "Or, if you need a better example, do you like spending time with me, regardless if it's because of training or when we go hunting for Hollows?"

Sombra paused for a moment, still amazed by the fact that Yoruichi was able to read him so well, because he did enjoy their training sessions together and the times that they went out, explored the town, and hunted down whatever Hollow was causing havoc. There were parts of Yoruichi that he liked as well, as there were times where she was friendly towards him, a complete stranger, while at the same time making sure that they didn't go overboard with their training and hurt themselves in the process, and he did like the times where she insisted on massaging his back to help him get rid of the stress he was feeling. He guessed that, when he considered Yoruichi's definition of a 'friend' and the definition of an 'acquaintance', it was easier to say that everyone in the Urahara Shop, at this point in time, was no longer an acquaintance and was actually a friend, though at the same time, if that was true, he needed to rearrange who was what in his mind before he said anything. To the best of his knowledge Jinta, Ururu, and Tessai would have to be his acquaintances, while Kisuke, Rukia, and Ichigo were definitely what he could consider friends, though he'd have to check with them to be absolutely sure in his suspicions... and, at the same time, he had the answer to the question that Yoruichi had asked him, as she was patiently waiting for his answer.

"Yoruichi... I'll be honest," Sombra said, deciding that he might as well give her the answer that he had come up with, while at the same time considering himself a fool for not seeing it the moment he saw Ichigo's interactions with his classmates, some of which were his friends, the first day he followed the Substitute Shinigami to school, "I love spending time with you, regardless if it's for training purposes or if we're hunting down Hollows."

"Now that's what I wanted to hear you say," Yoruichi said, to which she smiled as she rested her left hand on Sombra's right shoulder, because if Sombra was being serious, and it appeared that he was, she had just helped him take what was the first big step towards a better life, with the potential of his past coming back now that he had someone to call a friend at long last, though the moment was ruined when both of them felt something in the air, "Talk about a ruining the moment, there's another Hollow entering the town. Shall we take care of it?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Sombra replied in kind, to which he jumped into the air and headed off in the direction of the Hollow that had entered the town, knowing that Rukia was going to ignore the order call because she knew that he was going to take care of it.

Yoruichi chuckled as she took to the air and followed after Sombra, after her friend, and knew that it was only a matter of time until this moment taught him everything he needed to know about the people around him... and maybe, just maybe, he'd find his memories along the way, or at the very least understand Humans better, but she pushed her thoughts aside as they headed towards the Hollow, knowing that there would be time to discuss this later, once they weren't busy anyway.