Greetings from a Stuffed Lion

Greetings from a Stuffed Lion is the seventh episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: November 16, 2004
 * English Airdate: October 20, 2006
 * Opening Song: *~Asterisk~
 * Ending Song: Life is Like a Boat
 * Manga Chapters: Chapter 16, Chapter 17.
 * Kanji: ぬいぐるみからコンにちは
 * Romaji: "Nuigurumi kara KONnichiwa"
 * Arc: Agent of the Shinigami arc

Summary
The episode opens with Rukia summarizes project Spearhead, a plan to create soldiers to combat hollows using modified souls. We also see some scenes from the previous episode. It then cuts suddenly to Urahara's shop, where Ururu is apologizing for all the events that she believes were his fault in the first place. Urahara calms her, and the rest of his employees appear to begin hunting for their "merchandise." In a schoolyard however, Ichigo begins battle with a mod soul that has taken his body. His battle is cut short, however, when a hollow attacks and Ichigo is forced to flee. The mod soul, also in the business of running, stops to realize that the hollow Ichigo and Rukia seek will attack the children the mod soul had attack previously. The scene changes to the kids, who have been forced to clean for not participating in class, and a giant hollow above them. For a brief moment, we see Rukia and Ichigo, trying unsuccessfully to find the hollow, and Rukia notes that her phone may be dying. Suddenly, the mod soul appears from nowhere and attacks the hollow, saving the children. After the moment of shock and the kids wondering what's going on, he attacks again. They see the mod soul bleed and run in fear. Ichigo and Rukia finallyu catch up and see the mod soul fighting the hollow.

On the roof, the hollow laughs at the mod soul's weakness and attacks. Right when all hope seems lost, Ichigo appears to save the soul and scolds him for damaging Ichigo's body. The hollow attacks the two during their argument and they slay it together. After this, the mod soul runs to the edge of the building and kicks the body away so it won't damage anything before dying. Ichigo saves him from falling to his death. The two see the children get in trouble because of thier story about the mod soul.

After the excitement, Ichigo notes that the mod soul hates the kids. The mod soul declares that he doesn't kill people anyway. He then shares his story. Right after his creation, all mod souls were scheduled to be killed. He was lucky and escaped death, but was constantly afraid of getting caught. He expresses his insecuirites and why he can't decide when to die and why others have to decide for him. Ever since, he hasn't wanted to see anyone die. Finally, Urahara finds them and knocks the mod soul out of Ichigo's body. Urahara takes the pill and begins to leave (to Jinta's disapointment) and announces his plan to kill the mod soul. Ichigo objects and with some persuasion from Rukia, he aquires the mod soul.

On the way home, Ichigo notes how beat up his body is. Ichigo says he wants to complain to the mod soul, and looks for a body to put it in. He settles for an abandoned nearby stuffed animal. At first, the project appears to be a failurae, but it soon becomes obvious that it was a complete success. The mod soul insists on fighting Ichigo with no success. The next day, he tries to ambush Ichigo in his sleep,with similar results. Ichigo then decides to name the soul "Kon." Kon rejects the name for Kai, but Ichigo refuses on the ground that it sounds "cool." Rukia appears from Ichigo's closet and steps on Kon by accident, giving him a nice upskirt shot. After beating him up for a moment, Yuzu enters just after the guests hide and announces that Ichigo's friends are there to walk with him to school. He notes that their memories have been erased again. While puttin gon his watch, Ichigo seems bothered by the date.

At school some of the students compare projects. After Ichigo enters, the students notice that he's in an unusually good mood. Tatsuki notes that he's that way when he's tense. Apparently, Ichigo will be taking the next day off of school. At home, Ichigo's dad begins a family meeting to decide who gets what job fore the next day. Ichigo seems quite content with his family. Rukia later questions Ichigo about why he's skipping school. Ichigo instead asks if he can take the next day off from shinigami work. Ichigo then reveals that tomorrow is the anniversary of the day his mom died. Or rather, was killed?

All seems to be in a "calm before the storm" mood around the city. Orihime ponders Ichigo's mood while quoting something, apparently poetry. Ichigo, on the other hand, dreams of his childhood and seeing a girl fall into the river and running after her. The next moment, his mother is seen lying on the ground, dead apparently. The next day, people in an ancient japanese setting are playing. The oldest man, to the dismay of the children, leaves to meet with a mysterious figure. The figure announces that Rukia has been in our world too long, and asks the man to take care of it, then leaves just as mysteriously as he appeared.