Of Angels and Demons

Who Said Chivalry Is Dead?

...Chapter One: Who Said Chivalry Is Dead?...

Ichigo felt more than a little guilty for looking through the flash drive. At least there wasn't anything dirty on it. The majority of the content stored on it was pictures of flowers, landscapes, and people with feathered wings. The rest of it was videos of the woman he had met ( whose name he hadn't asked for) and a group of people her age goofing off, debating world issues, and playing various instruments or dancing. There was about twenty college-age kids who came and went depending on the video, and all were pretty good at some instrument or style of dance. The woman, who Ichigo had dubbed Aka-chan*, excelled at some style of hip-hop and played dubstep on a violin, of all things.

In the middle of watching a video of Aka-chan talking to a tall blonde man while playing with a silver kitten, Ichigo yawned hard enough to make his jaw pop. He looked over to the digital clock next to his bed and cringed slightly when he saw it read 11:23 pm. Rukia and his sisters had no doubt gone to bed almost two hours ago and his dad would be finishing up the paperwork from the day, and he was making a racket, keeping them from sleep. Aw, just great. Aren't I the best big brother ever? he thought sarcastically. At least it's Saturday tomorrow.

He was about to close down the laptop when he paused, then pulled a stack of blank CD's over to him. Placing one into the empty disk tray and pushing the tray back into the computer, he went through the process of copying everything off the flash drive, then burning them to the CD. The computer gave him an estimated time for the process, and he groaned internally at it. Four hours.

Screw it. He left the computer open, turned off his desk lamp, and crawled under the sheets, the soft whirring of the laptop fan quickly lulling him to sleep.

Ichigo woke the next morning to the sound of... birds chirping? And sunlight? He sat up, pillow falling off his face as he did. He looked around his room, even getting out of bed to check under it, trying to find if his dad was hiding under something. For once, he wasn't, and had let his son sleep in on a weekend. Ichigo knew something wasn't right. Quirking an eyebrow, he stood to see the computer was on a screensaver, which was a slideshow of old family photos, some with his mother and some without. Some were those creepy professional photos, and some were genuine snapshots into the families life.

Ichigo moved the mouse to check on the disk-burning, and seeing it was done, ejected both the new DVD and flash drive. He quickly dressed for the day in his favorite Nice Vibe tee-shirt, a flannel over-shirt, and well-loved jeans. He slipped the DVD into a clear case, pocketed the flash drive, and put his dad's laptop into a messenger bag. He grabbed an older pair of sneakers from his closet, since the ones he'd put on the stoop were no doubt still wet. And there's nothing worse than wet sneakers. He carried them in his left hand and slung the bag over his shoulder before firmly shutting his bedroom door. He thundered down the stairs, knowing everyone else was already awake. He met Yuzu in the kitchen reheating a plate of food. "Hey, where's Dad?"

"He had to go in for work early today, some minor car accident from one of the older side streets flooding. He said to wake you, but I decided to let you sleep in, you were up pretty late."

"Yeah, sorry 'bout that." he said bashfully. "Did I keep you three up?"

"No, I saw your light on when I got up to use the restroom." Yuzu said as she set the now steaming food on the table with chopsticks and a spoon. Rice, nori, natto and miso soup, his favorite breakfast. "Karin and Rukia were out by 9:30."

Ichigo paused with a bite of natto halfway to his mouth, "Oh, yeah, where are those two?"

"They left just before you got up, said they were going to Urahara's."