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Ichigo blinked at the scene on his front porch.
Right on top of his doormat was a cat. A fluffy long haired cat with pale blond fur and mischievous gray eyes. Seeing him open the door, the fluffy thing rolled over to show its belly and let out a sweet elongated meow.
Ichigo was new to this world, with his last memory of a crumbling world with Yhwach's still beating heart in his hand.
Yet he woke up in this world two years ago, without any shinigami and his family and human friends alive.
But even all that craziness doesn't top what looks like a cat Urahara Kisuke batting its paws at him innocently, like he didn't just wake him at 3pm with loud horrific meows outside his house like he was being murdered.
Of course, leave it to Kisuke to be a dramatic shit even in another world.
So the question is, is this really a cat version or somehow Kisuke can turn into a cat like Yoruichi? And what does the shopkeeper want with him?
In this world, the Kurosaki family grew up in Ebisu, in Tokyo.
Karin and Yuzu were already near the end of their highschool and Ichigo had graduated med school. Despite what his father liked to cry about, he didn't become a doctor to follow after him. He wanted it.
Ossan and Shiro were still with him. His powers were still with him. There was no way that Seireitei or whatever version this world had didn't exist.
So he went to the heart of everything. Karakura Town.
Now, Ichigo just moved into a small house that he managed to scrape to successfully buy, this happened.
He sighed and knew there was no fighting a curious Kisuke.
Ichigo opened the door widely and gestured for the cat to come in.
The fluffy thing puffed up before standing back on his legs and trotting inside as if taking his time.
It was just like Kisuke. The only thing missing was the damn bucket hat, geta, and Benihime disguised as a cane.
He laughed at the image of the fluffy long furred cat wearing four tiny geta with the bucket hat over his head covering most of his face and carrying Benihime in his mouth.
The cat then stopped and jumped onto his sofa with a loud mewl.
Ichigo cursed because it was going to be a pain getting fur out of the sofa.
"Shoo! Not on the sofa," he hissed and tried to pick up the cat. "Your fur is going everywhere."
But the cat was as slippery and cunning as his counterpart and he ended up getting a handful of shedded fur instead of a cat as the feline jumped down to the floor.
Kisuke—because there was now way that cat could be anyone but him—craned his neck and let out a smug meow before tottering over to his kitchen.
"You gotta be kidding me," Ichigo groaned and slapped a hand over his forehead.
He was going to mooch off Ichigo again, wasn't he?
Surprisingly, Kisuke didn't run to the pantry and start scratching the cabinet doors. But rather, made his way to the marble counters and continued meowing for him.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the loud cat and made his way over. Kisuke's demandingness grew in this form.
As a test, he placed a hand hovering near the cat's cheek and waited for a reply.
If Kisuke nudged it and started asking for pets then a green flag. If the fucker starts scratching then he'll have a hard time. Well—both of them. Ichigo wasn't going to let this Geta-bōshi in fur bully him.
So he was relieved when the cat nudged his pinkish gray nose on his hand before rubbing himself over his hand. A long furry tail circling over his wrist followed by a mewl.
Ichigo couldn't help but feel his chest squeeze at the cute sight. The pale blond fur felt soft to the touch and his hand itched to further rub it.
He rubbed the long soft fur and those flickering ears then raised one paw to see the same pinkish gray shade on his paw pads.
The cat mewled and shook his paw off from Ichigo's hold then continued to rub himself against his hand.
Then he almost wasn't able to stop a yelp when a sudden strange feeling coursed through him.
He blinked and looked questioningly back at the cat. Kisuke continued to bat his wide eyes innocently.
As if he wasn't slowly eating his reiatsu in small bites. What the hell.
Ichigo tried again—because that cannot be right—
And no. It was barely noticeable. But Ichigo was as sensitive to his own reiatsu as he was blind to others. And he had practically won some kind of record with how bad he was at reiatsu sensing.
The lying fluff ball was sucking on his reiatsu like a damn vampire.
It would be a problem if his reiatsu wasn't as deep as the ocean and unlikely to run out unless another world ending battle occured. But still—
"You little menace," he berated Kisuke while poking his forehead.
The cat blinked in surprise and moved away from him cautiously. The loss of fluffy warmth in his hand made Ichigo unconsciously reach out for it.
The hybrid shinigami sighed and held his hands out again. So this is a world of vampire like cats or maybe succubus like cats.
His face flushed at the imagery of succubus' replacing Kisuke and immediately shook it out of his head.
So they drain life energy too. That was it. Cats were different from whatever succubus was.
Seeing him distracted. The cat raised his paw and pounced.
Ichigo winched and cursed as he saw three red lines on his hands and blood starting to drip from the wound.
"What the hell Geta—"
He wasn't able to finish his words before cat Kisuke made a run for it, escaping through the open windows over the sink and into the twilight night.
Ichigo slapped a hand over his face again. Cryptic old man, honestly, just what did Kisuke want?
The next day, the doorbell rang loudly early in the morning.
Ichigo placed the plate of eggs down at the table and turned off the stove before walking towards the door.
He grumbled under his breath and opened the door with a scowl.
"What do you wa—" he was cut off when he saw Kisuke standing in front of his porch. Dressed in a suit and smiling before bringing a paper fan out of nowhere and flicking it open over his face.
"Greetings! I'm Urahara Kisuke from the Seireitei Corporation. We have heard of your arrival and doctorate degree. Our company is currently looking for workers and would like to invite you for the job!" He then gave Ichigo an expensive looking business card.
Ichigo glared at the thing then back at the smiling manipulative little shit.
"You know what? I preferred you as a cat," he snarled at the man and slammed the door closed in his face.
As for whatever resulted into that. He didn't care, it's fucking five in the morning.