Characters: Isshin, Ryuuken, mentions of others.
Pairings: implied IshiHime
Warnings/Spoilers: Spoilers for Fake Karakura Town arc.
Timeline: during Fake Karakura Town arc.
Author's Note: This can serve as a companion to Moments of Dysfunction.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

Ice frosted the naked, fragile twigs of the ash tree in beads, like translucent glazing on a cake. The browned grass twinkled with ice in the light of the unadorned light bulb for the back stoop, a reflection of the stars above.

"The city sure is quiet tonight," Isshin commented, staring upwards through the alley to the moon. His voice was slightly absent, his gaze just as slightly unfocused.

"The city sure is empty tonight," Ryuuken corrected meticulously, between two puffs on the cigarette that sent pale blue smoke spinning in circles towards the sky. His eyes were narrowed against the cold, as were Isshin's but other than that they showed no outward sign of feeling the bite of oncoming winter.

It was pretty apparent that Ryuuken hadn't been sleeping well lately; he hid the signs well, showing no outward irritability that was greater than his natural irritability, and the circles under his eyes were only slight, but his tense stance and slightly slowed reflexes told the story in full.

Well, he'll sleep better after tonight, now that his son's come home.

"So. Uryuu missed a birthday while he was over there."

"Yes."

"How old is he?"

Ryuuken didn't answer. Isshin wasn't sure what to make of that. Ryuuken had never been big on answering questions that the one who was asking already knew the answer to. Of course, Ryuuken could just be ignoring him, in which case it was going to be a long night.

"Well, this is a weight off of my shoulders." Isshin leaned back on the stoop, bracing himself on the palms of his hands. "I don't know what I would have done if Ichigo hadn't come back."

Again, there was no reply, though Ryuuken's shoulders stiffened considerably, and Isshin could almost be certain that his long-time friends shared that sentiment considering his own son. Ryuuken was not a block of ice, no matter how content he seemed to project that image.

Isshin gently elbowed Ryuuken in the ribs. "Come on, I know you're glad your kid's back. You don't have to emote and get all weepy on me (and please don't; that's just not like you), but at least talk to me. I hate one-sided conversations."

Ryuuken sighed softly, extinguished the cigarette, and drew the pack out of his pocket, gripping it in his hand. "I don't know what gives you that impression, Kurosaki." His voice was surprisingly soft and even, a step away from a whisper and as frigid and brittle as the beads of ice on the ash tree.

Isshin shot a sharp look at him, an "I'm not stupid" look. "When you showed up at the shop, you were breathing like you'd run all the way here."

Ryuuken had no sharp retort for that. This time, he was answering because he was at a loss for words. Isshin found he rather enjoyed the sensation.

And that was no place to stop. "You were worried about him," Isshin pointed out, lowering his voice, face contorting into a mask of uncertainty.

That gave Ryuuken pause, as he gazed at the building across from the back of Urahara's shop.

Yes, he had been worried.

Though Uryuu proclaimed to no longer regard Ryuuken as his father, Ryuuken still looked at Uryuu as his son. No one could ask him not to; nothing could ever change that, nothing could ever destroy that bond of blood that tied and connected one to another.

He had to wonder why Uryuu had bothered to leave a note, considering he was completely unconcerned about Ryuuken's feelings. It may have been a simple reason, to avoid catching hell once he got back to Karakura Town, though Ryuuken would not have really cared, except for the fact that he had skipped out on him in the middle of a training session.

The note had been the epitome of evasion.

Have to help a friend. I'll see you when I see you.

Ryuuken cursed that Uryuu had inherited his dislike of talking.

And then, Urahara had told him where Uryuu had gone.

Hueco Mundo. A land of the dead where the living do not return. A place that swallows souls whole.

My idiotic son… He had to know what he was walking into… Death at every turn.

Is there no common sense left in his head? Hueco Mundo is crawling with Hollows, Arrancar, and worse than that. No one comes back from Hueco Mundo, no one.

…I hope he's alright.

The shortening days of autumn were unbearably long, with the dancing shadows wreaking havoc on Ryuuken's eyes. And long days turned into restless nights, when Ryuuken lied awake at night, flat on his back without even pulling the sheets back from the bed, unwilling to contemplate why he couldn't catch his breath.

He had always been able to sense Uryuu's reiatsu. It was more a way to keep an eye on him without actually "keeping an eye on him" than anything else. Ryuuken had known when Uryuu had crossed the boundary into Soul Society. The whole reason he had known that Uryuu had lost his Quincy powers was that when he came back, his reiatsu was so weakened that Ryuuken could hardly sense it at all.

When he went to Hueco Mundo, Ryuuken could sense nothing. It was as if there was a sudden, terrible void where Uryuu's reiatsu had been. It was as if he was dead.

Ryuuken knew Isshin had wondered the same thing about Ichigo.

And now, Uryuu was back again, asleep inside with five others, in a back room of Urahara's shop with the blanket tangled around him, his face white and strained.

The worry had been like a patch of necrotic flesh, a lesion. As much good as Ryuuken knew it would have done him to just cut it out like any malignancy, he couldn't quite bring himself to pick up the knife.

"It was…" Ryuuken started up again, and was appalled to hear the beginning of heavy emotion in his slightly raspy voice. "…his decision to make. I could not have stopped him."

He could have, of course, if he had really wanted to. But he didn't.

Isshin frowned sharply, tipping his head forwards as he peered intently at Ryuuken's face. "You're denying you were worried?"

"Why do you ask that?"

"Because I know you were worried. About a week ago, I went up to the hospital; I wanted to talk to you. I asked around, and no one had seen you in three days. You took the time off? As far as I know, you haven't done that since your wife died. I can remember a time when you went to work with the flu.

"Also, every time I've seen you—"

"What, you've been following me, Kurosaki?" Ryuuken snorted. The bite of the air was not lost on him, but he ignored it. He could feel emotion rising, and prayed it didn't show on his face.

"—you've had this really weird blank-eyed look on your face. It was like Sayuri had died all over again; you were behaving the exact same way."

"Kurosaki…" His voice was tight now, and Ryuuken could feel his shoulders shaking with a suppressed anger. Why, why couldn't Isshin just shut his mouth for five minutes?

Isshin didn't stop. "So yes, you were worried. Got any questions, Ryuuken?"

The syllables crackled in the cold night air. "Yes." Ryuuken's tone was newly harsh, with rawness, not with cruelty. "Why Hueco Mundo?" His voice rose. "The little fool… Didn't he know what he was getting himself into? Why did he have to go to Hueco Mundo."

"Calm down, and stop shouting," Isshin tried to soothe him; Ryuuken realized in shock that he had been shouting. The words had become brutal and high-pitched, demanding with a catch in his voice that he did not know how to identify. "Everyone inside's gonna hear you, and you'll wake the kids."

"Why?" Ryuuken hissed, bitter, intense.

Isshin shrugged. "Well, they say love makes you crazy."

"What?" he asked dangerously, opening his mouth, shutting it and opening it again. Ryuuken rubbed his freezing, shaking hands compulsively, sparing no kindness for his body.

"That girl, Inoue Orihime, who got kidnapped? Apparently, Uryuu had been willing to go after her by himself until Urahara told him that Ichigo wasn't associated with Soul Society anymore; it was pretty cruel of you to make him make that promise, you know."

Ryuuken didn't answer Isshin's charge of cruelty; he had long since ceased to rise to such obvious bait, even if Isshin still fell for it.

So he lost his mind over a young woman? So he was willing to risk his life for her, when she clearly disregarded the life that she held in her hands?

How very stupid.

How very foolish.

How very…human.

There would be time for the accusations later. Ryuuken didn't quite have the heart to bring them up now, when he was still reeling at all the news, all the revelations.

And Ryuuken wasn't sure it mattered anymore why Uryuu had left. He was home again, and that was all that mattered.

The next morning was going to be tense. That was one encounter that Ryuuken had no intention of shying away from; with all that was going on, he had no intention of leaving the side of his only living child. Life was too short for that. Far too short. Especially with a war going on.

Ryuuken sighed wearily, rubbing his temples with the tips of his long fingers. His head, his back and his heart all ached, the latter causing the worst pain.

"Why did… everything have to happen the way it did?" he asked quietly, feeling tired as though he had aged forty years in the space of that one month and eight days. Ryuuken wouldn't have been surprised.

A cold winter wind blew through the alley. It wasn't snowing yet, but it would be soon.

"I'm not sure what it is you're asking me," Isshin replied, just as quiet, just as subdued. "But whatever it is you want to know, I have no answer to give. Quite honestly, I don't have a clue."

Ryuuken knew the feeling. "Neither do I," he muttered. "Neither do I."