I looked out over the railing towards Karakura High School directly across from where I sat on Tōō Academy's rooftop, just four blocks away. The Karakura students would be having lunch too, though from this distance I had no hopes of catching sight of my friends who went there.

"Oi (F/n)." A deep voice interrupted my thoughts, and I turned my head to its owner: Aomine Daiki. "What are you looking at?" He asked, looking up from his bento.

I just shook my head and returned my attention to my own lunch. "It's nothing," I said. "I was just thinking about that school over there." I gestured to the direction of Karakura.

Aomine glanced over at the school. "That's Karakura High isn't it?" He frowned. "Their basketball team is trash."

"I heard they accept applications from a lot of delinquents," I said, then smirking mischievously. "I think that would've been perfect for you."

"Hey!" He scowled at me before chuckling, a light blush on his cheeks. "I guess so," he admitted. Then he looked directly at me. "But if I went there then I wouldn't have met you."

This time it was my turn to blush and I looked away shyly, pouting. Aomine laughed at me and we continued to eat our lunch together in the flustered silence. We weren't exactly dating yet; close friends would be a better term though we had gone on dates several times before. Aomine was definitely interested in me and I liked him a lot too, so I was really hoping this friendship would turn into something more.

My phone buzzed with a notification and I pulled it out to see what it was. It was a picture from one of my friends at Karakura, Ichigo Kurosaki. I opened up the image and tried to hide my smile. Rukia Kuchiki, another friend of mine, was in front of the camera, obviously having stolen Ichigo's phone. Orihime Inoue was smiling nervously and flashing a peace sign while Yasutora Sado—who we just called by his nickname Chad—and Ichigo seemed to be having a very aggressive duel of Rock-Paper-Scissors.

We're having fun here!!! Rukia had typed under it along with a bunch of smiley faces, pink hearts and rabbit emojis.

These friends of mine weren't exactly normal friends though. At least definitely not Rukia and Ichigo. Rukia was a Soul Reaper; a Shinigami from the Soul Society in the spirit world. She found Ichigo and I through a tangle of events and we accidentally took nearly all of Rukia's powers. She was only supposed to share a quarter of her power to the both of us and while I ended up with the initial twenty-five percent she intended to give me, Ichigo took her remaining power. Now the two of us had to fight these spirit monsters called Hollows in place for her to keep them from terrorizing innocent people.

The bell rang throughout the school, loud enough for those of us on the roof to hear the lunch period had ended. Aomine and I threw our trash away and grabbed our bags. Two keychains dangled down from mine, one a plush keychain of my favourite animal and the other a brown and black Soul Reaper combat pass, but it was charmed to look like a funky key fob to normal people.

Ichigo had been issued one too. The badge-like passes were only given to Substitute Soul Reapers and we needed them to exit our human bodies and into our Shinigami forms to fight the Hollows. Mine was a bit different though. Rukia's acquaintance Kisuke Urahara tinkered with it to alert me of Hollow activity, and track Ichigo's spiritual pressure so I knew if he needed help or not.

Aomine and I hurried to class, making it just in time before our teacher arrived to start our first afternoon lesson. It was well into the summer, meaning we were hard at work being grilled for exams before summer break. I let out a loud sigh once the final bell rang and arched my back in a long stretch.

"(F/n), ready to go?" Aomine asked next to me, an amused smile on his face. He had invited me to hang out at the park today, and I was looking forward to our 'date.'

"Yup!" I threw my bag over my shoulder and we started walking together to the park, making small talk along the way. We were almost there when my combat pass suddenly let out a piercing shriek and I froze. I didn't even need it to pick up Ichigo's spiritual pressure; it was so overwhelming it was making me nauseous. He must be close by, and was probably fighting a powerful Hollow if his spiritual pressure had grown so much.

"(F/n)?" Aomine turned to me, realizing that I had stopped. "Is something wrong?"

I took in a gulp of air and slid my phone out slowly, my entire body rigid. I had to make a convincing lie to leave. I pretended to check a notification on my phone and jammed it back into my pocket.

"I-I'm sorry Aomine," I said. "I need to go."

"What? Why?" He looked at me with such a heartbroken face I looked away, unable to meet his eye. Guilt wormed in my stomach and I shuffled my feet self-consciously.

"Some-something just came up. Family emergency."

"Oh. Is everything okay? Do you want me to take you home?"

"No, it's fine." I shook my head quickly. "I really need to go now. Sorry."

Without even waiting for him to answer, I turned and started running towards where I could sense Ichigo's spiritual pressure. I had only crossed a few blocks when I heard the gurgling and distorted voice of the Hollow, and the sounds of a sword making impact with something. Sure enough, as soon as I turned the next corner Ichigo was there in his Shinigami form, locked in tight combat with a massive Hollow.

"(F/n)!" He exclaimed, his angered expression fading for just a moment as his eyes landed on me. The Hollow took this instant to attack him again.

"Watch out you idiot!" I yelled at him. He whipped his head to the Hollow and blocked the attack with his Zanpakuto, just inches from his face. I quickly exited my soul out of my body and my Mod Soul—a substitute soul—jumped out of her resting place and into my body.

"Go hide there." I ordered her, pointing to the dark alleyway where I saw a tuft of vibrant orange hair peeking out. It was Ichigo's own Mod Soul inhibiting his body. My Mod Soul nodded dutifully and ran off to hide. Hopefully Ichigo's perverted one wouldn't try to make a move on her.

Now in my Soul Reaper robes as well, I gripped the hilt of my Zanpakuto on my back and unsheathed it before charging at the Hollow which continued to attack Ichigo mercilessly.

Despite the current situation, Ichigo now had a grin on his face as we began to fight the Hollow together. "I'm glad you're here!"

"It's good to see you too!" I replied, unable to help the smile on my face. I jabbed my sword at the Hollow's mask but missed. The tip of my blade chipped the edge of the mask instead of piercing the center. I grunted in frustration and stepped back to assess the Hollow better. Ichigo had backed off too, now facing the Hollow's back. The Hollow swung its head and then after seeming to consider who to attack for a moment, it lashed out at me. I dodged and slashed its side while Ichigo swung at its mask again.

The Hollow was relentless and it was a struggle to fight it. We couldn't give it fatal wounds so our attacks had to be very defensive. But finally after a few quick well-timed attacks, Ichigo sliced the mask neatly in half and we were able to perform the purification ritual to send the soul to the Soul Society. I panted as I lowered my Zanpakuto. Ichigo's own chest was heaving too. He had a shallow cut on his cheek and his robes were torn in some areas. We put our swords away and went to our Mod Souls hiding safely in the alley. The two were sitting next to each other, my Mod Soul, Kora, effectively ignoring Ichigo's Mod Soul Kon as she was reading the book in my bag. They looked up as we walked over to them.

"Kora," I called to her, holding up the plush keychain her spirit was normally kept in when she didn't need to take over my body.

"Kon, gimme my body back," Ichigo said gruffly. He pointed to the stuffed lion that was propped against the wall.

Kora obediently transferred herself into the keychain and I returned back into my body. Kon tried to make a run for it in Ichigo's body but was quickly pulled back and forced into his holding place in the stuffed animal.

"Jeez that was more annoying than it should've been," Ichigo complained as we both started walking out of the alleyway together.

"What's a Hollow doing in broad daylight anyway?" I wondered, shouldering my bag. "I thought those things only came out at night."

"I have no idea." He shrugged. "I'll ask Rukia when I get home."

"Tell her I said—" I began to say when I realized a figure was standing at the end of the street we were walking towards.

"(F/n)?"

"Aomine?!" I exclaimed, my eyes wide. What was he doing here? Did he follow me after I left him?

His arms were crossed over his chest and voice was cold as he spoke, glaring at both Ichigo and I. "So this was your 'family emergency' huh?"

"Is that your boyfriend you've been telling Inoue about?" Ichigo whispered in my ear, surprised at Aomine's arrival.

"He's not my boyfriend!" I hissed back angrily.

Aomine started speaking again, pointing at Ichigo accusingly. "Every time you bailed out on me, it was so you could hang out with whoever the hell this guy is?"

I quickly turned back to him, shaking my head as I pleaded, "Aomine, I can explain. This is just a misunderstanding."

"No, I don't need any more of your half assed excuses." He shook his head in disgust and began walking away. My face fell and I stared at his back until he was gone.

"Why do Hollows have to ruin my love life?!" I groaned, burying my head in my arms. After the rejection from Aomine, Ichigo had taken me to the nearby park to talk about it—the same park I was supposed to go to with Aomine. He had also bought us both drinks from the vending machine, though mine was still unopened next to me on the bench.

"So you admit you're in love with him." Ichigo chuckled teasingly, but then his voice turned serious. "Look (F/n), I'm sorry that this Soul Reaper stuff is messing with your life."

"No, it's not your fault." I sighed, picking up my drink to pop it open. "Neither of us asked for this."

Ichigo and I had only been Soul Reapers for a short time, but it had still changed so much of our lives already. We were both quiet for a while, sipping our drinks as we watched kids and couples go past in the park until he spoke up again. "Why don't you just leave it to me then?"

My head snapped in his direction. "What do you mean?"

"Just let me deal with all of the Hollows," he explained.

"Are you crazy?! We're both Soul Reapers. It's my job too."

"But I've been given the bigger responsibility."

I frowned, not wanting to admit that he was right. Because of Ichigo's massive spiritual power and talent, he was by far a much better Soul Reaper than I was, even though we were just Substitutes. I wasn't jealous of him but I didn't want him to be burdened with these powers. "That doesn't mean you should do it alone. That last Hollow could've killed you!"

"I think that's a bit of an exaggeration," Ichigo put in. "But seriously, I deal with most of them anyway and I'm not planning to lose anytime soon. I'll be fine. It's bad enough that we both have to deal with this crap."

He gave me such a charming smile I believed him. "Alright. Thanks Ichigo."

"Of course! You can count on me!"

Oh how I wish I said no, but how could I when he gave me that smile?

During lunch the next day at school, I sought out Aomine. I wanted to make things right between us, considering the growing feelings I've been having for him. He was on the rooftop again, this time with his friend Momoi Satsuki. I had become close to her as well due to my friendship with the navy haired boy.

"Aomine, can we talk?" I asked as I walked up to the two eating their bentos together. Or more like Aomine was stealing bits of food from Momoi's bento when he felt like it.

He didn't even look at me. "I'm busy right now," he said, plucking another piece of shrimp from Momoi's lunch.

"Don't be rude!" She scolded him, packing her things up quickly to leave. She put a hand on my shoulder as she passed me and whispered, "Good luck (L/n)-chan."

I gave her an appreciative smile at that as a silent thank you. Once she was gone, Aomine glared at me.

"What do you want now?"

I sat down across from him and set my bag down. "I wanted to say sorry about yesterday," I told him. "And to tell you the truth about what's happening." I couldn't tell him the whole truth about being a Soul Reaper and everything, but I wasn't going to lie to him again.

"Fine." He grunted. "I'm listening but make it quick."

Taking a deep breath, I looked down at my hands as I started to explain what I could to him. "Uhm. . . that guy yesterday. He's my friend Ichigo. We used to go to junior high together. But he's picked on a lot 'cause of his hair and his name. So he gets involved in a lot of dangerous stuff with bullies who want to fight him, and I learned how to fight to protect him. And yesterday he was in a tough spot and his friends texted me asking to help him. He's like a brother to me and I promised that I'd always be there for him."

I smiled slightly, remembering Ichigo's personality back when we were students of Mashiba Junior High School. And then how Urahara and Rukia helped to train us along with Chad just under a month ago. Aomine was quiet for longer than I anticipated, and I fiddled my fingers nervously. Would he believe me?

"Why didn't you tell me then?" He finally asked. "I could've beat up a guy or two if I was there."

"Well, I didn't think you'd take it well if I told you I was gonna fight someone almost twice my size." I chuckled awkwardly. Aomine had a really protective personality, especially when it came to me. "And because of your basketball tournaments I thought if word got out that you were beating people up then you'd get suspended from playing or something."

"Huh. . ." Aomine hummed thoughtfully. He seemed to consider it for a few moments. "Just promise me you'll be careful, okay? I don't want you getting hurt."

"I will. Thank you Aomine." I smiled, relieved that he had forgiven me.

He just nodded in acknowledgement. "So does this mean. . . you'll be willing to make up yesterday's date?" He asked hopefully.

I blushed and nodded shyly. "Yeah."

"This Friday?"

"Works for me."

That Friday afternoon was a beautiful day outside. It was warm but a breeze was blowing, and colourful flowers were blooming everywhere I could see in various shops, gardens and homes. Aomine's hand was intertwined with mine as we made our way to the new café that had opened just last week, bright smiles on our faces. It was going to be a perfect date.

That was until I heard the screeching blare of sirens nearby and caught sight of grey smoke curling over the tops of the buildings just a few blocks away.

"What's happening there?" I asked, a sudden wave of fear settling in my bones. I clutched Aomine's hand a little tighter as I stared at the swirling smoke.

He looked up and frowned. "I'm not sure."

I dropped his hand, unable to ignore the persistent feeling that something was wrong and took off.

"(F/n) stop! It could be dangerous!" Aomine shouted behind me. His footsteps pounded after me but I didn't listen because deep down in my gut, I felt like this had something to do with Ichigo. I just hoped I was wrong.

I finally reached the street where the smoke and sirens were coming from. My eyes widened at the scene and I covered my mouth to keep myself from gasping. A jagged crater-like hole caved in the road, and rubble crumbled from the buildings onto the sidewalks. A lamp post had been torn off and was sticking out haphazardly through a shop window, glittering glass pieces smashed all over the place. And in the middle of the chaos with medics running to help him, was Ichigo's fallen body.

"ICHIGO!" I screamed, and I tried to run to him but a hand held my shoulder firmly, keeping me back.

I ripped myself away from the offender before realizing it was Aomine, his own face shocked as he looked down the street. "(F/n). . ." he said quietly, but I was already running again.

Please don't be dead, please don't be dead. You can't be dead Ichigo! I thought desperately, tears welling in my eyes. I pushed past the medics and straight to where Ichigo lay on the ground. Plenty of them shouted at me and a few of them even physically restrained me but I wiggled out of their grasp.

"Ichigo!" I howled again, and the medics eventually let me through. I dropped to my knees, sobbing. There was so much blood. Wounds littered his body, a pool of already drying blood around him. One of his hands was clenched tightly and it took me a moment to realize he was holding something. It was his combat pass. Whatever happened to him, whoever did this to him, he hadn't been able to react in time to even enter his Shinigami form.

One of the medics and Aomine steered me away from Ichigo as the rest of them put him inside the ambulance. The combat pass had been dislodged from his hand as his body was moved, and I quickly snatched it up from the ground and cradled it close to my chest. Aomine hugged me tight, my body trembling against his as the ambulance's sirens began to fade.

"This is all my fault," I whimpered, my voice cracking.

"Don't be stupid, it was a freak accident," Aomine scolded gently.

"I could've saved him," I insisted. How could I let this happen? Being a Soul Reaper was just as much my job as it was his. So why did I foolishly let him take this on by himself and leave my own combat pass at home like he convinced me to? I broke my promise to protect him and now his life was in danger.

"What if he dies?!" I pulled away to look Aomine in the eye. "He could die and it'll be my fault!"

"He'll be okay (F/n)," Aomine tried to reassure me, but I shook my head stubbornly. That was the last time I would believe in such a cruel sugarcoated lie.