Bleach 7 > Information > Bleach Manga Guide > Anime Summaries > Bleach Episode 002
Episode 002
The second episode opens much more lightheartedly than the first as Ichigo's dad performs a flying drop kick to wake up his son. Ichigo counters the attack swiftly and pins his father to the ground with one hand and shaking his fist furiously with the other, enraged about how he thought his father was going to kill him. But, his mind gets to working logically and he immediately asks about the severity of Karin's and Yuzu's wounds. The dad, with a fazed expression, replies that there were no injuries and adds that it was a miracle that no one got hurt after the truck crashed into the house and sped off. Karin comments on how it was a miracle that no one woke up to catch him, but the father is convinced that the driver will one day turn himself in. Knowing that that hit and run accident never really occurred, but in fact the damage to the house was due to a hollow, Ichigo assumes that the mind alteration is a shinigami trick. He then wonders what happened to Kuchiki Rukia, the woman who helped him save his family, but just convinces himself that she has returned to Soul Society.
After Ichigo gets his breakfast and arrives at school, he is walking through the hall, turns a corner, and accidentally knocks over a girl known as Inoue Orihime. She is a cute, shy, and eccentric girl accompanied by her best friend, Arisawa Tatsuki. Tatsuki demands that Ichigo apologize, which he does without a fight, and offers to help Orihime off of the ground. Like a cat, she springs to her feet and and starts backing away, talking embarrassed gibberish before running like a lunatic down the hallway. Ichigo and Tatsuki shake off the weird behavior and go to class. Once there, Ichigo finds himself surrounded by his friends Keigo, Mizuiro, and Chad (Sado) and explaining to them about the "truck accident." Rukia walks into the classroom, decked out in a school uniform and an innocent smile, and introduces herself to Ichigo as if for the first time, telling him that she will be sitting next to him in class from now on. Bewildered, Ichigo jumps up and freaks out, but his friends calm him down and explain that she is the new transfer student. Rukia extends her hand for a seemingly harmless handshake, but written on her palm is "Make and scene and you're dead."
We find a sassy Rukia and a still dazed and confused Ichigo in the school courtyard. He inquires about why she hasn't returned to Soul Society and she informs him that only shinigami's can return there at will. For now, she says, she is stuck in the gigai, or physical representation of herself used when shinigami are earthbound and are regaining their powers. She goes on to explain that since she in incapacitated in her gigai and that he has full shinigami powers, he must now comply and fight hollows whenever they appear. Before she can even fight her case, Ichigo stubbornly denies on the grounds that he doesn't want to run around and risk his life for complete strangers. He turns and begins to walk back into the building, but before he can take more than a few steps, Rukia pulls on a fingerless black glove depicting a flaming skull and uses it to strike him under the chin and knock out his spirit. The pushy woman forces him to follow her while they leave his body in the courtyard. They're walking down the street seemingly aimlessly until Rukia pulls a cell phone from inside of her jacket and states that they have received orders from Soul Society about a hollow in the area. As soon as she's finished reading the display, a hollow in the form of a vicious arachnid crashes into the park and a little boy screams.
Ichigo's initial reaction is to lance forward with his soul cutter and dispose of the hollow, saving the plus ghost, but Rukia stops him in mid stride. She asks him why he is going to help a complete stranger, considering what he said back at the school yard, and Ichigo responds that he can't stand back while a poor boy's soul is devoured right in front of his eyes. The former shinigami demands that if he goes to save this plus, then he must save all others in need, for a shinigami must be fair to all spirits. He must be willing to go anywhere and even put his life on the line, she shouts, if he really wants to be a shinigami. With precious time wasted, Ichigo reacts to the situation and slices a leg off of the hollow to then send it sprawling backwards in a screen of dust. He spits back at Rukia that he doesn't buy all of the talk about commitment and that duty is a stupid thing to throw your life away for. He asks if it was duty that made her almost sacrifice her life for him last night and tells her that he saved the boy only because he wanted to. The tension builds between the two as hollow, not realizing when to cut his losses, lunges at Ichigo from behind. The latter twists his hips and raises his arm with almost lighting speed and the hollow's head is speared on the tip of his blade. It quickly disappears and Ichigo replaces his soul cutter on his back. Without a word to Rukia, he walks over to the cowering boy and performs an excellent and expedient Konsoh, forever releasing his spirit to Soul Society.
The sun has vanished and in it's place is a calm moon that seems to be watching over Orihime's house. But, the moon isn't the only thing watching the innocent, busty female. A male soul lingers outside of her window with heartbroken eyes and seems to almost be killed once more as she unknowingly closes the shades on him. While he wallows in his sorrow, he fails to notice two hollows approaching him until it is too late. They each wrap their tentacles around them and then they all dissolve into thin air only to emerge into a world of fog and stalagmites. A third, more massive hollow appears, who we learn to be Grand Fisher in later episodes, and orders his two minions to devour the man's soul. Almost instantly, the man is converted to a hollow and the mask that protects his instincts is born unto his face.
B PART
The second part of the episode begins with Rukia talking in a booming, echoing voice while reading a romance novel until Ichigo puts his face in front of hers and yells at the top of his lungs for her to shut up. She defends her actions under the pretense of learning the vernacular, but Ichigo isn't buying it. Instead, he asks her how long she is going to follow him only to learn that she will bother him until he accepts his duty as a shinigami. Before he could reply affirmatively or negatively, a car screeches nearby and speeds off. When they investigate, they see Orihime's body, a paper bag once full of groceries, and the fresh food sprawled haphazardly in the street. Instinctively, Ichigo runs to help her, but she swears that the car only scratched her. She greets Rukia, who reacts in a rude, annoyned manner until Ichigo whispers to her that Orihime is from class. The naturally bitter and defensive tone that Rukia expresses towards strangers is replaced by the innocent schoolgirl facade that prevents people from prying into her true nature. Orihime doesn't notice the sudden change and instead goes to collect her dinner ingredients from the street, which include butter, leek, bananas, and bean jam jelly (what is she planning on making?!). While Ichigo and Orihime are discussing her unique choice of items for dinner, Rukia spots an intriguing bruise pattern on the eccentric girl's leg. The bruise looked as if a huge hand had gripped her leg tight enough to break blood vessels underneath the skin, but Orihime writes it off as an injury to the hit and run. Ichigo offers to walk Orihime home and make sure she is alright, but she once again becomes nervous and hurries home.
On their way home, Rukia subtly interrogates Ichigo about his relations with Inoue Orihime and he tells her of an incident three years ago. Orihime's brother had been taken to Kurosaki Clinic after a grisly car accident which left him mortally wounded. He died soon after and, as he was Orihime's only family, he left her all alone. The former shinigami suspects foul play from a hollow, but does not reveal her thoughts to Ichigo. She tells Ichigo that she is going home and when he inquires about where she could possibly live, she coyly asks him if it interested him. He shoves his hands in his pockets, looks to his side and replies "Not really..." to which she lofts back "Then don't ask," and continues on her way.
Night has fallen on Karakura, Tokyo, and Ichigo is on his bed reading a manga when Yuzu walks in to ask if he has seen her recently missing pajamas and dress. Incredibly rudely, he dismisses her and goes back to reading until he hears an incessant beeping noise similar to a cell phone. At the very moment when he asks himself what the hell it could be, Rukia jumps out of his closet, fully dressed in Yuzu's pajamas, but Ichigo doesn't have time to be surprised that she has made a makeshift bed in his room without him even knowing it. She equips the glove once more and drags his body and soul off of the bed with speed amplified by necessity. By the time his physical form thumps on the floor, his shinigami soul is released and a hollow is inserting himself into the room through aid of a darkened portal. The rebellious youth springs into action with his large soul cutter, but is only able to slice an arm and land a shallow blow on the mask before the hollow catches his blade and puts an end to further onslaught. It seemed that the tortured spirit had the upper hand, but his mask cracked and crumbled under Ichigo's soul cutter. Instantly, the hollow reared back in agony as his face and instincts were exposed to the world and he vanished once more into the portal. Rukia sprints to catch up to him, but stops when she realizes that Ichigo is stationary. He turns to her and reveals that the hollow's face belonged to Orihime's brother (the soul that was hanging around Orihime's window earlier). Sternly and solemnly, Rukia discloses that attacking a hollow from behind and killing it with a single blow to the head is not solely to reduce injury but to prevent the shinigami from knowing the human identity of the monster. Ichigo only fully understands when Rukia tells him that all hollows were once human spirits and only became hollows due to their extreme grudges or sorrow, but that they are still monsters to be disposed of quickly.
They leave you to chew on this a little more as Tatsuki and Orihime are sitting in the latter's house and eating beef and potato stew brought over by the karate champion, Tatsuki. They are gossiping about Ichigo and Rukia and Tatsuki comments that she never knew he was quick with his hands. Orihime tries to tell Tatsuki that Ichigo offered to walk her home after the hit and run, but instead is overpowered by a peculiar day dream in which she shouts "Win me! Right, right, uppercut! Look out, someone is aiming a gun at you!" Her train of thought (or lack thereof) was interrupted by a banging sound followed by harsh whipping sounds at constant intervals. Tatsuki and Orihime alike question the source of this strange anomaly and together are frightened as a pink teddy bear falls from as shelf with a rip in its head. The last scene in this episode is an extremely distraught and agonized Orihime's brother in his hollow form, howling and clawing at his head.