"AIRA!" Jacod screamed as he suddenly grabbed Angel and hugged her tightly, "Our inconsiderate son is trying to take our sweet Angel-chan to defile her during a family vacation! I have failed you!"
"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled at his father, his face beet-red as people started staring at them, "Will you just let go of Angel and just leave us alone?!"
Megan came over and pulled on Jacob's back collar, pulling him away from Ichigo and Angel. "Let's go you old goat, and leave the two alone. We've been ruining their private vacation since we got here so we should at least give them the night off."
Megumi came up and nodded. "I agree otousan. We should let oniichan take Angel-neesan out and enjoy the festival."
"Oh, my daughters are so sweet!" Jacob squealed, "Then let's leave your brother alone with our Angel-chan! And maybe they'll come back with my grandchild!"
"Get lost!" Ichigo kicked his father away from them. Jacob yelped as he fell forward and landed in the tub of cold water with tiny goldfishes. Ichigo huffed in anger as he grabbed Angel's hand. "Com'on, let's get out of here before he comes back and embarrasses us even more."
Before Angel could protest, she was being quickly dragged away from where Megumi was kneeling next to her father to wake him up. But Megan was looking back at them with a smirk. "Have fun Ichi-nii! We'll see you guys at the beach in an hour," she shouted earning her a hard glare from her brother before they turned a corner.
Angel pouted as Ichigo kept pulling her behind him, his grip on her hand really tight. "Ichigo," she groaned, "Can you let go of me now?"
"No," he answered, "Not until we're far enough from my old man."
Angel rolled her eyes. "Look, you knocked him unconscious so don't worry—"
"KNOCK HER UP IN ONE BANG ICHIGO! THEN SHE'LL NEVER LEAVE YOU!" Angel cringed as she heard Jacob's loud voice screaming from the other side of the festival.
"Never mind," she groaned with her face beet red.
"I thought so," Ichigo smirked at her as they hastened their steps.
As they continued to walk Angel noticed Ichigo was still in a dark mood. She sighed before coming to a sudden halt, yanking him to a stop as well, startling him.
"What the fuck Angel! You could have given me a warning or something," he snapped at her.
Angel rolled her eyes as she walked up to face him fully before pressing her pointer-finger against his chest. "First of all, nobody goes around and tell people they're going to stop. And second, what's bothering you so much that you're moodier than a typical girl PMS-ing? Is it because of your father?"
Ichigo looked at her before swapping her hand away to continue walking. "It's not that, and that PMSing thing was just gross."
"Then what is it?!" she asked in frustration.
Ichigo sighed as he scratched the back of his head. "It's just that, well…I really can't stop thinking about the papers at home."
"That's it?!" She gapped at him, "You're pissed off because you didn't get to finish grading? Something is seriously wrong with you!"
Ichigo glared at her. "That's not why! I just remembered that I left the papers out in the open and if one of my sisters or my father finds them, they might find your paper among them!"
"Oh," Angel paused before looking at him with a softer gaze. "Look Ichigo, your family is having fun and they want you to have fun too. Besides, weren't you the one who's been reassuring me that we're not going to get caught? So why don't you take your own advice and calm down."
Ichigo looked at her before letting out a sigh of defeat. "Fine, I'll try."
Angel smiled. "Good. It's not good for your health to be worrying about work so much. Look at me!" she pointed to herself, "I know how to have fun but still maintain my position as number one in my class!"
Ichigo rolled his eyes, "Yeah, by pure luck. I see you every night cramming for tests and not finishing your homework until the last second. Which reminds me, if you don't turn in that research paper to me you'll end up being SECOND and not first."
Angel gave him her evil glare before kicking him on the shin.
"AH! What the fuck was that for?!" he yelled at her.
"For trying to ruin my vacation! If you do anything to ruin my perfect scores then I will tell everyone at school how you still have that ugly lion-stuffed animal in your closet!" she yelled at him before running off.
"Angel!" Ichigo called after her, but he was still kneeling on one leg, trying to tend to the nth bruise of the month. By the time he looked up he noticed the midget was now no longer in sight. "Fuck," he grumbled as he stood straight back up.
Ichigo looked left and right as he made his way through the bright street. People in yukatas and regular clothes were walking around, talking, laughing and just having fun. But here he was, starting to panic with every second that passed. "Angel!" he called out several times but he never got a response. After a few minutes, just as he was about to go make an announcement through the intercom, something caught his eyes.
Bushū Angel is an extremely short person for her age (in Ichigo's perspective) but there was just something about her that made her distinguishable from a crowd of people. Her unique eyes? The sweet scent from her hair? The annoying antics she did when she was mad? Well, there were a lot of possible reasons but one thing was for sure: no matter how short she was or hidden among a huge crowd of people, Ichigo will ALWAYS be able to find her.
And this time was no different, except…
There were four punks hitting on her. Oh, they were literally asking for an early death.
"Look here sweetie, we just want you to join us for a little party we're going to have down by the beach."
"I said 'no,'" Angel said to him with her icy voice, her chin held up high as if she was staring down at a piece of insect. "Go before you get in trouble."
One of the punks, who had his hair in cornrows, smirked at her as he stepped closer to her. He then grabbed a lock of her dark hair between his fingers and started playing with it. "You sure are feisty. Just come along with us. You're obviously alone right now with nothing else to do so let's go have some fun."
Another dumbass with blonde bleached hair stepped next to Angel and snickered next to her ear. "You should feel honored that we're asking you to join us. Most girls would die to get this opportunity."
"Then go grab one of them," Angel glared at him, swapping away the hand that was still twirling her lock of her hair, "And I'm not alone."
"Oh, is your family here?" he asked, "Do you have a sister? If she's hot as you then you can bring her along too."
"No," she stepped away from him, "I'm here with my boyfriend. So leave before he sees you. I'm actually giving you dumbasses an opportunity to live so take it before it's too late."
The four men looked at each other before bursting into laughter. "What kind of boyfriend leaves his woman alone on this festively night? And how will he be able to go against the four of us? Why don't you just dump him and come party with us?"
The one with the cornrows bent down and whispered next to her ear, "I promise to give you the best night of your life."
"Not while I'm still alive."
Before Angel could turn around, an arm came around her waist and pulled her away from the man that was just whispering in her ear. She let out a startled gasped and looked up.
"I suggest you leave now before I decide to rip your heads off your shoulders, painfully," Ichigo threatened with a look that said he was ready to kill. Anyone would have been quickly scared by his look and dark tone of voice, but to Angel, he never looked more attractive.
One of the guys looked between Angel and Ichigo several times before smirking. "Him? He's your boyfriend?"
"Yeah, you got a problem with that?" Ichigo glared as he brought Angel behind him to hide her from their sneezy glances.
"Actually, I do," he said as his smirked disappeared and he walked straight up to Ichigo, "We're going to a party and we just wanted her to come along. So get out of our way."
This time Ichigo smirked. "Why should I? She doesn't want to go with you so just leave her alone."
"Sorry, but when I want something I always get it," he growled as he reached his arm out to push Ichigo away. But as he went to grab Angel, Ichigo's fist came up in a flash and went straight to his face.
"AH!" several people screamed around them as the guy fell backwards with a bloody nose.
The blonde guy looked down in shock. "Dude, you okay?"
But the idiot was too busy squirming in pain as he held onto his nose. "Fucking bastard! You broke my nose!"
"No shit," Ichigo said, "That was the whole point of punching you."
Angel tried to pretend like a damsel in distress but she just couldn't stop a grin from tugging on her lips at seeing the dumbass in pain. He deserved every bit of it.
The other three looked up and gritted their teeth at Ichigo. "You're going to pay for that!" they screamed at him.
Ichigo kept his smirk on his face as he looked at them with interest. "Then come at me with all you got. It's been awhile since I got to use my muscles so this'll be a good exercise." He shifted his body into a slight fighting stance. He wasn't going to make a move until one of these guys moved first.
"Fucking bastard," the fourth person cursed before going straight at Ichigo with a raised fist.
-Several seconds later-
Angel looked back in complete innocence to see the four guys that were hitting on her only a few minutes ago, piled on top of each other with their soul literally seeping out from their unconscious body. "I think you might have overdone it," she commented.
Ichigo shook his head as he dusted his hands. "I actually went easy on them. Besides, it's their fault for coming on to me with raised fists. I've been conditioned to fight back whenever fists are aimed at me since I was a kid."
Angel grinned as she stepped faster to walk next to him as they went further and further away from the pile of the 'dead.' "Are you sure that's the only reason? Or were you trying to protect me?"
Ichigo glanced at her before snorting. "Please, I know you too well to know you don't need anyone to protect you."
Angel laughed. "But you still did come and get me."
"Only because I can't move out all your shit back at my place," he teased, earning him a glare from Angel. He chuckled. "Just think of this as a way of retuning the favor for what you did for me several days ago at the beach."
Angel smirked as they continued walking aimlessly through the festival. "I wonder what might have happened if you didn't come in time."
Ichigo thought about this for a second before replying. "You most likely would have either beaten them up or followed them."
Angel frowned. "What makes you think I would have gone with them? If you didn't see it, I was obviously trying to get rid of them."
Ichigo sighed as they came out of the bright street and walked off towards a secluded area close to the beach. "You just don't know about those kinds of guys. They most likely would have tried and catch you off guard before dragging you off to a corner."
"Why are you always saying something like that? I'm not going to get jumped on," Angel scoffed.
Ichigo rolled his eyes. "You should still be careful. I heard way too many stories of young girls getting attacked even though their karate-masters."
"Psch, then you should go tell that to Jane," Angel crossed her arms. She looked around as they reached the top of a hill and looked out into the beach where several people were playing with fireworks. "Nothing is going to happen to me so don't worry so much."
Ichigo sighed. "Well if you insist. Just don't come crying to me when somebody jumps on you and starts kissing you."
This time Angel rolled her eyes. "Nobody is going to kiss me. I'd kill them if they come too close to me."