Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Yoshino Sōma

Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Yoshino Sōma is the first of the many battles that involve the phenomenon of living humans' souls being consumed by the beings known as the Bount. It is the first battle between Ichigo Kurosaki and a Bount as well as the only battle between Ichigo and Yoshino.

Prologue
After the events of Soul Society, unusually large amounts of human disappearances begin to occur in the living world. Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng are investigating to discover the culprit behind the alarming rate of the attacks on humans. As they are doing so, Yoruichi and Suì-Fēng reach a trainyard and hear a woman's voice singing, and a man walks towards her as if in a trance. He reaches the woman and she opens her mouth as if to bite him. Yoruichi orders Suì-Fēng to begin transmitting data and she moves to attack the unknown woman. Yoruichi changes to human form and slams the ground but the woman jumps back and escapes. Yoruichi then relays to Ichigo, Urahara and the others, that the intruder she encountered was a Bount. The group sits around the table in the Urahara Shop, and Urahara beings to explain about the Bounts. Urahara tells them that he first learned of the Bounts during his time as captain of the 12th Division. He says they are a small group of specialized humans such as the Quincies, and that they are able to eat and absorb human souls and, in doing so, they can live forever. They normally consume the souls of the dead, however, Yoruichi notes that in the recent case, the Bount was trying to consume a living soul, which would effectively render the human dead. Out of concern for powerful human souls such as those of Ichigo, Orihime, and Sado, Urahara assigns each of the three mod souls to each of them, as each mod soul essentially has a secondary function as a "Bount sensor." As the three groups go about finding stuffed animals for the mod souls to hide in to avoid suspicion, all three mod souls sense the presence of a Bount. All three pairs head out to intercept the Bount.

Battle
Ririn and Ichigo arrive in the alley and encounter Yoshino just before she can devour a woman's soul. He moves to attack her, but she throws the unconscious woman at him and escapes down another alley. He pursues her and succeeds in cornering her, but she is able summon a fire beast that she calls Goethe. Ichigo dodges the Doll's fire attacks and manages to cut off one of the Doll’s arms, but it easily reattaches itself to the doll.

Back at the fight, Ichigo continues to slash Goethe but it continues to regenerate whatever damage Ichigo does. He can’t find a way to stop the Doll and begins to lose patience until Ririn reminds him to stay calm and collected to find a weakness. Spotting a weakness in the Doll's heart, Ichigo hits it and the Doll seems to disintegrate. However, the victory is short-lived as the Doll re-forms and subsequently blasts them into a nearby building. Goethe powers up a pair of fireballs, but Ichigo is pinned in the rubble. Goethe releases the blasts but they never reach their destination as a lightning bolt comes crashing down from the sky. Ichigo is astonished as a familiar face lands in front of him: Rukia.

Aftermath
Rukia stands in the flames in front of Ichigo, the threat of the Bount’s Doll still looming ahead. But as Goethe charges up an even larger fireball, numerous snakes appear and entangle the Doll. The flaming doll disappears as the snakes fall and turn into metal pipes, and the male Bount that Orihime and Sado encountered appears nearby. Ichigo questions Ryō's appearance but Ryō uses his Doll, Fried, to bind Yoshino before she can reactivate her Doll. Ichigo speaks up again, but Fried turns a nearby metal rod into a snake to attack. With Yoshino as his captive, Ryō makes his escape.