Ichigo's house

Ichigo’s frown deepened as he watched his daughter flinch and then left the room, returning a moment later with one Advil and a glass of chocolate milk. “Here, my old man told me to keep the dose low until Kisuke or Tessai can take a look at you, but you would probably have some kind of headache.”

“Like one will do anything,” she growled. But she still got up again and took the cup, nearly draining it, before she tossed the pill back and finished the milk.

Ichigo smiled a bit. She definitely had her mother’s sweet tooth. He sat down again when Evita put the cup down on the bedside table and slumped against the headboard.

“If you’re thinking you were hurt again, you weren’t, alright? You slipped but you got out of the river on your own.”

Evita looked to him. “Stop dilly dallying, Strawberry. That’s not everything!”

Ichigo chuckled at his old nickname and kept his voice light.  “No, it wasn’t. But I had to make sure you didn’t dwell on the worst.”

“I know you’ve been working at pushing the limits of your mind-reading abilities,” Ichigo explained. He picked up his chair sat down right at her bedside. “Do you think you can pull a complete memory from my mind if I focus on it?”

Evita’s face scrunched up. “What part about a headache did you miss, Strawberry?”

“I know.” Ichigo stated. “But I think you need to see what happened — if you can. That’s another reason why I gave you the Advil. So it won’t get worse from one use.”

Her scowl deepened. “It’s easier to see details when it just happened, but if you’re thinking about it, the image is clearer.” She rolled her eyes. “And sometimes, that means it’s harder to block, too.”

Her scowl deepened a moment later. “Why?” she demanded.

“It’s your hollow side. When you fell into the river, it took control of you, but it was different than what I have experienced.”

“You mean I didn’t have a mask?”

“That’s a start, yes,” her dad murmured. He rubbed the back of his head. “I can describe what happened to you, but you know how far you’ve pushed your abilities better than I would. Especially when you prefer to train alone. So you’ll know if what happened is usually beyond your skills.”

Ichigo stayed still, watching Evita work. At first, it seemed like this could have been a bad idea. She’d paled after taking a breath, and there was a moment her smirk of confidence drooped. Then, he felt his own energy buffer another. His ears clogged up as the reiryoku swirled around him, but at least his head didn’t feel smashed in a vice of some kind.

This time.

He started as the thread around his arm tugged just enough to let a sliver of blood run down it. But not more.

Then Evita shook her head and the thread whipped back around her arm. She fell back into the bed, rolled over, and covered her head.

“Did it work?” he whispered.

Ichigo felt her eyes on him and turned, rubbing the back of his head. “I know there’s been a lot of changes recently, Kita moving. Kisuke moving. My dad looking for someone to take over the clinic. So I wanted to prove that some things stay the same.” He pointed to the papers. “I’m still going to be here - well as long as you want me around. And I just thought maybe we’d change your name. If you want to.”

Evita blinked at him.

Maybe this wasn’t the best time to do this. With her headache and all. But Ichigo didn’t want to delay it any longer. Who knows how long it would be before Aizen showed his face again.  No, this needed to be done NOW. 

“I would have married Orihime. And I’m always going to look after you. So I’d like you to take my name. If you want to.”  He smiled.

"Buttermilk":

Kon pressed his face against the window as he looked down at the black and white cat sitting at the corner of the street. He stuck his tongue out at the cat, even though the cat never looked up at him. "Stupid cat!" grunted Kon, pulling his face from the window. He turned and pressed his freshly laundered cheeks against the window and began to smear the window in small circles. "Haha! Take that! Look upon the reluctantly washed ass cakes of the great Konpaku!"

"What the hell are you doing, Kon?" asked Ichigo, rubbing the back of his head.

"I'm teasing the rodent cat across the street!" shouted Kon. "What's it look like I'm doing?!"

"Rubbing your butt on my window..."

Kon picked up and crayon his had carved into a katana and threw it at Ichigo. "Don't watch! pervert!" He snickered as Ichigo shook his head and left the room. Kon turned to face the window again. "Look at me cat." He pressed his face against the glass and whispered with wide eyes. "Look at me..." The cat lifted it's head and looked at Kon, causing Kon to pause in his teasing. "Wa..." The cat's eyes grew wide as it continued to stare at Kon. Lifting a paw, Kon gave a felt filled middle finger to the cat as a car passed by. As the car passed, the cat disappeared.

"Wa?!" Kon scratched the top of his head. "Whatever. Good riddance to ya cat!" Kon turned around and stopped, wide-eyed. "What the -!" he exclaimed turning to see the cat staring at him from the doorway of the room. "How did you get in here? Did that idiot leave the front door open again."

"No."

Kon grunted as he raised a hand. He opened his mouth to speak then said nothing. His hand dropped to his side. "You can talk."

The cat's wide eyed narrowed as it gave a toothy grin. "I've been watching you, Konpaku."

"No!" shouted Kon. "I've been watching YOU! You...You..."

"Buttermilk."

"Wa?"

"My name is Buttermilk, Konpaku. I now am going to eat you." The cat crouched down as it began to crawl toward Kon. "After I eat you, I will throw you up on the very window you tease me from."

Kon back away until he was pressed against the window. "Well, Buttermilk! You can try. But, Ichigo will be back."

"Who do you think let me in?" The cat's grin widened as he crept closer to Kon after hopping up on the windowsill. "He did ask that make you suffer. I am a feline of my word."

"No!" Kon began to squeal and swing wildly. "No!"

"Oh do have some dignity, Konpaku. Don't cry."

Kon fell to his knees and crawled toward the cat. "It's supposed to be reverse psychiatry or something like that! Isshin uses it on Ichigo all the time." Kon opened the cat's mouth and put his head inside. "Why isn't this working?"

"Because, you're not doing anything." mumbled the cat, Kon's head in his mouth. "You're..." The cat spit Kon out. "You're supposed to actually tell me that I'm incapable to eating you. That serves as a distraction while you try to get away."

"...Oh."

"You taste awful, by the way."

"Does that mean you won't eat -" The cat bit down on Kon's head and ripped it from his flailing puppet body.

The cat snickered maniacally as it turned to leave. It turned quickly, spitting up the chewed up head on the window. "Buttermilk always wins, Konpaku. Buttermilk. Always. Wins." He snickered as he hopped from the windowsill, Kon's body falling the ledge behind him.

To be continued...