Careless Wonder (Ichigo Kurosaki; Bleach Fan Fic)

Chapter One: Remembering

Careless Wonder

Chapter One: Remembering

A hand, curled into a fist, made direct contact to an orange-haired child's cheek. A bit of blood trickled from his lower left lip. The child looked up at his attackers, defiance gleaming in his eyes. He took the pains and beatings and not once had he tried to fight back. Even if he did find the strength, he was always outnumbered. They always attacked him in groups, anyway. It was easier to pick on a child when you had others to back you up.

"Aw," the leader began, his grip tightening on the hair of the child and he pulled to make him look up towards him. "Is the little kid going to cry?" He laughed, smiling wickedly at the defenseless kid and feeling triumphant over the power he had over the child.

"If ya didn't have this crazy orange hair here, then maybe we wouldn't be picking on ya, freak." His fist made contact with the child's face once more, a smile curling to his lips when he saw more blood trickle down his victim's chin.

"Hey…" A voice had called from behind the boys. A small and very bored sounding voice.

All four of the boys turned around and saw a little girl with light red hair, borderline pink, wearing a black sleeveless hoodie with the hood over her head and a pair of regular blue jeans adorning her legs. She looked at them with a rather annoyed expression.

"Stay out of this, kid," the boy who had the orange-haired child grasped in his gritty hands, warned. "You don't want any of this."

He turned his attention back to the little boy, but stopped when he felt a hand grab his wrist that gripped the little boy's hair. The girl appeared next to him, her bright light-blue eyes stared up at the middle schooler with disinterest. The eyes of the lackeys that held the kid down by his arms and legs widened, not even seeing her move in the first place.

The leader ignored the fact she'd appeared out of nowhere and growled at the girl, which only caused her to raise an eyebrow in return. "So you want in on this?" He turned to face her, ripping his wrist from her grasp. She took a step back and eyed him, looking him up and down, dissecting him with her eyes.

"This is going to be boring," the girl declared, sighing mostly to herself.

"That's it." He grabbed the girl by the collar, lifting her up ever-so-slightly off the ground. "You asked for it." He brought his fist back and swung forward. The carrot-top kid's eyes widened as the boy's fist came down toward the girl. His breath hitched when the boy's fist stopped, his attacker's face had started turning red with pain. He yelped and let go of the girl, falling backwards all while gripping his crotch area.

"What the hell! That was cheap!" a boy holding the little carrot-top kid's left arm, yelled out.

She brought her gaze back to the three other boys, her eyes looking at them hard. "And four against one little boy is fair?"

They let the carrot-top kid go, forgetting about him almost completely as all three took a step toward her. "Look at her hair, it's almost as weird as carrot's hair."

"She had to dye it, no way that's natural," another said.

"Doesn't matter," the third said, taking another step. "She's dead."

He ran toward her, his fist flying right at her. She closed her eyes and took a step to her side when he was only inches away from her. His eyes widened as he tripped forward, but before his body made contact with the ground, a knee stuck out and connected with his stomach.

The other two thug's eyes went wide as they saw their friend fall to the ground, holding his stomach in pain. She looked up at the two and yawned. "Letting a little girl beat you is pretty pathetic. Makes you look weak," she taunted.

Fire showed in their eyes. They both charged forward, fists flying. Both simultaneously tried to punch her, but she had jumped into the air, her feet making contact with their faces. They fell back, faces red from a small footprint and blood dripping from their noses. She landed next to the carrot-top kid and turned to watch the four boys yell in fear, stumbling to get up and not looking back. Probably too embarrassed to.

The carrot-top kid watched as they ran until a hand came into view, palm up. He looked up to see the eyes of the girl who was now looking down at him, her eyes showing a bit of curiosity. He looked back at her hand and allowed himself to reach out with his own tentatively and grasped hers in an attempt to help him stand up. As he stood up to his full height he realized he was a little bit taller than her. She was around the same age as him, maybe even younger.

"Are…" she hesitated, like she was trying to find the right words. Unsure of herself. "Are you okay?"

He nodded, not speaking as he stared into her blue eyes and then glancing at her strange red hair that hung loosely at the sides of her face, barely longer than her chin.

She slightly smiled. "My name's Aria Diederich, it's nice to meet you…?"

The carrot-top boy hesitated as he looked at the strange girl. He gulped, but decided it was okay to give his name to the strange girl since she'd saved him after all. "Ichigo… Ichigo Kurosaki."

She blinked a couple of times, taking in the new information. "Kurosaki?" He nodded and then she suddenly gave him a smile that seemed out of place considering how she'd beat up those boys without much emotion.

"I know your father." Her smile grew. "I didn't know someone else was like me. I thought I was the only one."

Ichigo's eyes blinked while he slowly began to wake up, his eyes finding the familiar room he slept in almost every night. He sat up, the blanket falling down to reveal his bare chest and pooling around his waist. His hand pressed to his face and he sighed.

He hadn't thought about that day in a long time. He almost forgot about her completely until that dream. It was out of character for him to even remember a face let alone a name of a person he had only met once. Looking back on it now he began to realize how strange that girl was, stranger than what he'd originally thought she was.

How fast she'd moved… how she'd appeared out of nowhere.

His eyes grew in shock, realizing now what she was doing.

She was using flash step.

It was obvious now with his new found (not really new), knowledge of what she'd been doing that day. He began to wonder why now, of all days, he was dreaming of that strange girl when so much time had passed. Maybe it was because he felt more relaxed, open to the world after defeating Aizen… no, that couldn't have been it.

"Ichigo! Ichigo! Breakfast is ready, Ichigo!" Yuzu, one of his younger sisters yelled while she knocked on his door.

He looked at his door and simply sighed. There was no use pondering over someone he'd probably never meet again. "Yeah, give me a second Yuzu, I'll be right down there."

He heard her footsteps retreat away from his door while he scratched his arms and brought his feet over and down to the ground. He was in his boxers. He didn't even bother getting dressed for bed; he simply took a shower and put some boxers on and then passed out on his bed for the night. In fact, last night was his first night he slept thoroughly in a very, very long time.

His hand grasped his mouth to catch the yawn escaping his lips and then brought it to his right eye to rub the sleep from it. He rummaged through his clothes and found his school uniform he wore the previous day. After taking a whiff and realizing that it had indeed smelled fine, he slipped into them and jogged down stairs to get him some grub.

"Ichigoooo!" A foot came flying at his face and he easily side stepped out of the way, making his father fly into the wall behind him and breaking it with his foot.

"GAHHH! Ichigo! Why didn't you stop me! Look at the wall!" His father wailed, gaping at the hole in the wall he'd made with his foot.

"It's not my fault you're an idiot. You should know by now that your stunts can't get to me anymore," he said with a deadpan tone and walked into the kitchen to sit down at the table with his sisters.

"Look Ichigo," Yuzu said chirpily and placed some pancakes on his plate. "I made blueberry pancakes. Don't they look yummy?"

Ichigo smiled at his younger, innocent sister. "They look delicious, Yuzu."

Her cheeks turned a slight pink tinge while she sat back in her seat and put two pancakes on her own plate. Ichigo reached for the syrup and watched from the corner of his eye as his father slinked to his seat. He wondered, "Hey dad, do you know anyone by the name of Aria Diederich?" Man, that last name sounded so strange coming from his lips. He was pretty sure it was of German origin.

His father stopped what he was doing, the pancake slipping off the spatula and falling onto the table. His eyes were wide with shock, almost like he'd just saw a ghost. He turned toward his son, his face becoming rather serious as he looked at Ichigo. "Why do you ask? Has this person contacted you recently?"

"Uh, no, I just remembered her from a long time ago and I remember her saying she knew you, that's all…"

His father smiled his goofy grin, eyes twinkled at his only son. "Why no, I don't, son. Is this some past girlfriend of yours that you remembered and you want to rekindle the love you guys used to share…?" He went on and on and on about the matter, obviously trying to avoid the subject. Ichigo just sighed, seeing that it was useless to ask something of his dad when he clearly didn't want to talk about it. He took a bite from his pancake and chewed slowly while he ignored the babbling of his father telling him he needed to find a woman to bear him grandkids.

Ichigo still pondered over his dream while walking to high school with his notebook bag slung over his shoulder. Even while in school as his classes started, he thought about his dream, trying to pick up on anything that would have told him more about that girl.

At lunch he sat on the roof with his food and ate it slowly, looking ahead of him at nothing in particular, still pondering over it. He still didn't get anywhere and the more he thought about his father's reaction when he mentioned the name, the more he got curious about her.

"Hey Ichigo," a familiar voice spoke to his left. He turned and saw Keigo Asano walking toward him, his arm raised into a wave (he was a little surprised that Keigo didn't try to tackle him to the ground like he usually tried to do every day, but he wasn't going to mention it to him).

"Oh, hey Keigo, what's up?"

Keigo shrugged his shoulders. "Oh nothing, just scoping out the girls, seeing who I want to ask to prom at the end of the year."

"Oh yeah, and did you find anyone that you would ask?"

Keigo's eyes began to water. "Nope, not one. They all glared at me."

Ichigo sighed, but smiled nonetheless. Keigo was a strange kid, but he was glad that he was his friend. He always seemed to bring Ichigo into a better mood when he was around making jokes, (of course, Keigo didn't realize that he'd been 'joking around', he was being completely serious.)

He sat down next to Ichigo and placed his lunch in his lap. "So," he began as he dug into his sandwich. "What were you thinking about? You seemed deep in thought about something." Then he gave him a sideways glance. "Are you in trouble again or something?"

Ichigo smiled sheepishly at his friend. "No, it's not that, I was just remembering an old friend of mine when I was younger." Then his eyes narrowed at his so called friend. "And why did you think I was in trouble? Do you think I always get into trouble all the time?"

Keigo shrugged. "Eh, yeah, most of the time." Then his eyes sparkled at his friend as a huge grin covered most of his face. "So who is she? Is she hot?"

Ichigo was taken back, his cheeks growing pink. "What? No! Nothing like that. I just remembered her suddenly from when I was like… I dunno - five or something."

Keigo pouted. "Well, that's no fun. So, what's her name?"

"Aria Diederich. Do you know her?"

Keigo pondered on it, running her name through the database of names he'd kept in his mind. "That's a strange name, but no, I don't know her."

Ichigo looked away, his eyes slightly casted by the shadows of his hair. "Oh."

"Hey there, Ichigo. Don't look so depressed, if it's someone important then I'm pretty sure you'll see her again." He took a large bite out of his sandwich and tried to speak again. "Besi' why du you 'are?" He swallowed down his bite and continued. "It's been years since you last seen her so why bother with knowing her now?"

Ichigo sighed for the 100th time that day. "You're right, I shouldn't care. It's just, she was so…weird. She had the weirdest hair color which was a light-red color, almost pink looking, and she was wearing this hoodie with the sleeves ripped off. She also had these light blue eyes, as blue as the sky actually."

Ichigo looked up at the sky as he thought of the girl's face again. He wondered what she looked like now-if she was even still alive. What a morbid thought. She was most likely alive, but somewhere far away from Karakura town.

"Hey, you said she had light-red hair and had a hoodie with the sleeves ripped off?"

Ichigo turned toward his friend again and nodded.

Keigo blinked a couple of times, then smiled. "Hey, yesterday I saw a girl that looked like that walking through town…well, not really walking, more like trailing after some street thugs and then disappearing down an alleyway with them."

Ichigo's eyes had grown wide with this new information. "Really?"

Keigo nodded. "Would I ever lie to you?"

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As Ichigo walked home he took the long way in hopes of seeing this girl Keigo was talking about. He had high hopes that it was the same girl from his past since the description almost fit perfectly. Who else had light-red hair and wore a hoodie with sleeves ripped off? Even though it would be strange that her style of clothing hadn't changed.

His walk home was one of disappointment when he hadn't come across the person he was looking for. He took his shoes off when he entered the house and put his bookbag on the ground, deciding he was going to do his homework later on that night and relax before his father got home from the clinic. His two sisters weren't home yet so he had the house to himself for about the next thirty minutes or so.

He walked into the kitchen, and then to the fridge where he began to chug some juice he found then placed it back in the fridge, not caring that he got his so-called "germs" all over it. His sisters would have to get over it. He walked into the living room and leaned against the back of the couch with the remote in hand and turned on the TV, flipping through the channels. Nothing was on as usual. Even the news had nothing interesting on besides the weather.

Maybe he should have done his homework now instead of later. He switched the TV off and turned around to walk to the stairs when suddenly, the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" he asked no one in particular while he walked over to the door and casually opened it.

He stopped and stared at the person in front of him, his chin practically hitting the ground in complete and utter surprise.

"I-I-I-I…I-I-I It's you!" He pointed his finger at the person as if he was accusing them of being a murder suspect.

The light-blue eyes looked at him with curiosity, a light, questionable smile graced her soft lips. Standing in front of Ichigo was the very girl he was dreaming about last night, but taller with more curves and… boobs. Her bust wasn't as big as Orihime's, (not like he looked…okay, he looked once but that was when his face was face to face with it), and Rangiku's, but had definitely fit the curve of her body perfectly. Her round hips and tiny waist would make… GAH! Why the hell was he even looking? Damn it! He was turning into a pervert like his dad!

She still looked the same besides the more... erm - womanly parts. He still couldn't see her face as much since it was covered by a shadow from her hoodie, which only made her light-blue eyes pop out more than it normally would. Her hoodie was purple with holes in the front for pockets and the sleeves ripped off from the sides showing off her lean, yet muscular arms, (not too muscular that it looked nasty). And her blue jeans hugged against her full hips and legs… Damn it!

"It's… me?" she asked him with a bit of confusion. Her voice was soft but held a little raspy ring to it like she had a cold.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo's facial expression didn't change, looking at the girl with surprise and wonder.

She tilted her head forward to look inside. "Is your dad home, Ichigo?"

He stopped with the ridiculous expression and looked at her with confusion. "You remember my name?"

Her light smile dropped and that was when Ichigo could see the dark circles that adorned her eyes as she looked at him with boredom. "Why wouldn't I? I did save you that one time when you were getting your ass kicked by a couple of middle schoolers." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm guessing he's not home yet since he would have greeted me by now. So… can I come in?" She looked back up at him, her expression not changing.

Ichigo gave her a hard look as he pondered over it. Should he let her in? He didn't know her and for all he knew she was some mass murderer that was looking to kill his father.

He mentally shook his head from the thought and turned to his side and gestured for her to come it. "Yeah, come on in."

She hesitated, almost like she wasn't expecting him to ask her in without questions. She took a step forward tentatively and walked in, her eyes searching around his house. He closed the door and turned around to watch her take off her sneakers. She walked farther into the house and into the kitchen. There, she'd finally reached up and slowly took off her hoodie. Her hair was the same color as he remembered, but much longer and in a ponytail with strands of hair falling loose here and there and around her face with bangs covering her forehead. She turned around to look at him, her sky blue eyes looking into his brown ones. He noticed that her features were relatively soft. Her cheekbones were softly curved and went well with her cheeks, her nose was small and her eyebrows were small and thin. But her eyes were sharp and calculating, and her chin seemed more firm and angular than the rest of her face which gave her a look of wisdom, or something along those lines. One feature that caught his eye that was new was a tattoo above her left eyebrow which only consisted of four letters: AWHD. In other words, she was pretty.

But for him, he didn't base characters off of looks. He watched her move around with a predatory gleam, waiting for her to make any type of mistake, indicating she was someone that wasn't there on friendly terms. He wasn't quick to trust, no matter what little the past told him.

"What do you want with my father?" he asked, straight to the point.

She stood there looking at him, her eyes debating on something. Finally, she looked away to nowhere in particular. "I was hoping he could tell me. He was the one who invited me."

That surprised Ichigo. So his father did know something about this girl. Maybe his dream wasn't a coincidence, but why did he dream about this girl the day she'd come to visit?

Suddenly, the door behind him slammed open and an all too familiar voice rang out.

"ICHIGOOOOO!" He side stepped from his father's tackle and watched him faceplant into the ground. Aria looked at him with confusion, her eyes wide and her irises and pupil constricted so small you couldn't hardly even see them. On the side of her face was a small sweat drop forming while she watched his father twitch on the ground.

When he rolled over to his back and looked up at his son, he'd finally noticed the other presence in the house. He shot up and narrowed his eyes down at the girl, making Ichigo tense from his intense stare he was giving her. Was it a mistake to invite her in?

"Aria Diederich," his father said, almost no emotion in his voice.

"Kaien Sibia." That made Ichigo tense even further.

"Kurosaki. Isshin Kurosaki," he fixed for her.

"I know."

They continued to stare at each other, not daring to move. Ichigo began to wonder if he should go get Cone from upstairs in case something broke out. Before he could even take a step forward, his father did so himself, casually walking over to Aria and standing directly in front of her.

Ichigo gritted his teeth, not liking how this was probably going to turn out. His sisters would be home soon and he didn't want them to get in the middle of it.

Suddenly out of nowhere, his father began to tear up and sniffle as he reached down and grabbed Aria in a bear hug.

"Look at how much you've grown!" He rubbed his face into her chest back and forth, Ichigo's face turned bright red wondering if his father knew what he was doing. "I'm so glad you're here!" he cried out.

Aria's legs wiggled back and forth, trying to get free from his grasp, not liking the feeling of his face on her boobs. "Let me go you perverted old man!" she yelled at him, her own face bright red and her eyes narrowed at the perverted, retired Shinigami. Finally, she kicked him in the stomach causing him to let her go and to fall backwards onto his back with a pained expression. She landed gracefully on her feet and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring down at the old man, her own face still red. "You've haven't changed a bit, you greedy bastard."

Ichigo's father laughed and sat up while rubbing his stomach. "I could say that same to you, but…" He became serious all of the sudden, the change in his mood was almost uncanny, as he stood up and put a hand onto her shoulder. He gazed into her eyes, searching for the words he wanted to say. His eyes laid heavily on the bags under her eyes. "How have you been since…?"

She looked away from him, glaring at the wall. "I'm fine. Nothing changed, you don't have to bring it up."

Isshin decided to change the subject, taking his hand back and had placed it back to his side. "You know Urahara's been looking for you. He's been worried."

Again, Ichigo tensed as he mentioned that name. Why was Urahara looking for this girl? "Anyone care to elaborate here?" Ichigo asked, his arms crossed in annoyance. "I hate being left out of the conversation."

Aria put her hands in her pockets and closed her eyes. Isshin smiled down at his son and winked