Notes: "Adventure is out there!" requested by CottonballLOL. Title taken from the August 4, 2005 prompt for the community 31_days.


After Ichigo left, Karin wouldn't say anything. She drew into herself the same way she always did when something was bothering her. The same way Ichi-nii did, Yuzu thought. Yuzu just kept soldiering on like she always did, making too much of dinner because she had always been cooking for four. Karin accepted it silently like she always did, and Isshin cracked a bunch of jokes like he always did.

And Ichigo's friends kept coming around like they always did: Tatsuki, who in a surprising show of tact retreated from the family's raw feelings when she realized they knew even less than she did; Mizuiro, who tagged along with kicked-puppy Keigo a few times, just to be sure he was all right; and Keigo himself, who didn't expect to see Ichigo but didn't stop going anyway.

"My brother..." she trailed off, unsure of where to begin.

"Hey!" he suddenly exclaimed. "He thinks he can hog all the fun adventures for himself? That guy really pisses me off!"

She smiled faintly. "Ichi-nii really loves us...but I worry about him so much."

Keigo, seeing that this method of cheering her up wasn't exactly well received, switched tacks. "You know, Arisawa is training for something, and it's not one of her weird martial arts death matches! Something must be up, right?"

"With Tatsuki-chan?" Yuzu perked up a little.

"That's right!" And with that, the two began the super-secret Operation CAT (Yuzu had always liked cats) aka Coerce Arisawa Tatsuki...into training them. Yuzu giggled and started to reveal Tatsuki-chan's weakness for apple pie, whereas Keigo had the groveling and pleading parts down pat.

There wasn't much he could do for a little girl desperately missing her brother and trying to hold her family together in his absence. Not much, but it's a start, he thought.