Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach

Caged

By annyenil

Prologue


Kurosaki Ichigo was quite expressionless about his life on a general basis. Today was one of those days where he could just return home and study to his heart's content. It wasn't that he was particularly nerdy, like that Uryuu Ishida, or that he needed the good grades. He was simply bored out of his mind. Still recovering from the torn tendon in his left leg, he had been banned from training with his zanpakutou for the rest of the week.

Being banned from fighting really left him with nothing to do. It had been his sole interest for ever since……he was born. He felt like a fish out of water, and studying somewhat ameliorated the cold turkey. I'm starting to sound like Zaraki Taichou, he thought to himself with a tinge of ignominy. I'm born to protect, not fight……

"Ichi-nii……" A gentle voice tugged at his sleeve. Ichigo unplugged the earphones and glanced up from his textbook.

"When did you come in, Yuzu?" He asked, his expression still callous, albeit carrying an overtone of concern.

"Just now. Your door was open, Ichi-nii." Yuzu looked down at her feet and rubbed her slippers against the floor hesitantly, as though dangling her words off her tongue and yet not being able to verbalize them. Ichigo put an arm around her and patted her back, subconsciously wondering if he could pat the words out of his sister.

"I don't want to die, Ichi-nii!" With that, she buried her tiny face into Ichigo's well-built, muscular chest. It was warm and yet hard like steel. "Ichi-nii……" Ichigo scratched his head and wondered what to do with himself. Death was a subject particularly hard to broach, and it wasn't like he played father or mother or even sister very often. Yuzu hardly ever behaved like this as far as he could remember. It must be something very urgent.

"What is it, Yuzu?"

"You are not Ichi-nii." Yuzu looked up, her eyes suddenly cold and stern, without any glimpse of girly clemency. "Where is Ichi-nii?"

"What are you talking about? I am right here, Yuzu."

"No, you are not Ichi-nii. Where is Ichi-nii?" Yuzu began to panick. Her father was away in Osaka for work, and Karin had stayed back at school for soccer practice. She had found her way into her brother's arms for comfort after that disturbing news at school……

Only to find out it wasn't him.

The Kurosaki Ichigo let go of Yuzu quickly, unable to find any response that would remotely satisfy Yuzu's frightening glare. Blushing from the gaucheness, he promptly hopped out of the window and pranced his way to the broken down idyll of a grocery store.

"URAHARA-SAN! I GOT FOUND OUT!" A pat on the back answered the faux Ichigo's question and a pill popped out of the body, flying straight into the mouth of an ochre lion soft toy. "The Great Fantastic Kon-sama is back!" Kon did a pirouette on the Urahara shop tatami and turned to face a slightly disgruntled Urahara Kisuke.

"Kon-san, you were found out so quickly?" Urahara fanned himself in a rather relaxed manner even though his heart and mind were already racing at a speed beyond imagination. It often gave people the false impression that he was a duplicitous man, but in fact he was simply too intelligent to deal with the masses, and thus gave himself a mask on the outside. "What are we going to do then?" He gave the soft toy a little castigating glance that would have otherwise escaped everybody else.

"Hmm…I promised Yoruichi to keep the family ignorant for a month. It's only been three days. Now, this could be a problem……"

Kon lay flat on the ground, tearing and swearing, "I am terribly sorry, Urahara-san……I am sorry……"

"Can we go to Soul Society then?" Suddenly, Kon bolted up.

"No, I will send Nova and Cloud."

"But……" My Goddess of the Great Valleys……Farewell……

Kon felt terrible.