A/N: As I've said, this is a response gift fic for Hime-twin's 'A Twisted Fairytale'. As that fanfic was made with the request of basing it from a manga, I thought it only appropriate to give a similar response.

Twin, you've seen part of this chappy from my lj, I hope you enjoy the full chapter~! (P.S. I've already got 4 chapters finished, 3 or 4 more to go, but I'll only do a monthly post. Torture is so fun yes, Hime-twin?) 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, nor Concrete Garden. They belong to Tite Kubo and Kotobuki Tarako, respectively. (LOL. Notice that both their initials are the same having T and K in it? XD)

Warning: Shounen-ai

Angels Do Exist

Chapter 1: Leaving Home

'… I want to go home... Or not.'

Bored out of his mind with the travel, not really looking forward to what it was he had set out to do anymore, but deciding it to be better than the silence waiting for him back at home, the 18-year old quietly contemplated on how he had ended up in such a situation in the first place.

It was like any other normal day, with the pleasant weather and marshmallow clouds littering the sky when they had approached him.

It had been a month since his graduation from college, a month since the car accident which took the lives of his parents, leaving him all alone to fend for himself. Or so he thought.

He was walking back from his part-time job at the local hospital- the home clinic was not enough to support him anymore, with the prices increasing exponentially, and the economy going from bad to worse, so he took up a part-time job in the nearby hospital as a pediatric intern- when he spotted a tall blonde and a beautiful, willowy dark-skinned lady, standing in front of his house, as if waiting for someone. Calling out to the pair a few meters back, the faces looking back at him gave him a sense of nostalgia. Upon catching sight of him, the older male ran from his spot and leap-tackled him to the ground, with a shout of "Ichigoooooooo!", and a river of tears and snot trailing behind. The situation was uncannily similar to that of his father's usual greeting, that he was rooted on the spot, unable to immediately dodge the aggressive greeting, only realizing belatedly that he should probably evade the approaching tackle unless he was wanting for a sore butt. The resulting crash with the blonde had him limping for a week.

Upon re-introduction, he found out that the undeniably familiar person who had just successfully tackled him to the ground was none other than Urahara Kisuke, and the beautiful lady Yoruichi, his 'phone' uncle and aunt.

It had been 17 years since he last saw them, if you could even call that 'seeing', he had been but a year-old babe, still defenseless to the world, when he first 'met' his uncle and aunt. After that, his uncle was supposedly assigned a high-profile mission by the military, hence the need to move residences and the strict requirement for secrecy. At first, Urahara and Yoruichi regularly called to check up on them, but as time passed, they had become too preoccupied with their job, and the regularly became occasionally, changing to rarely, finally stopping altogether for almost 3 years until his parents'- Masaki and Isshin's deaths, where the calls returned with an annoying frequency- three times a day, every day without fail, for the whole of the past month. Whenever one was busy with work, the other would usually make the check-up call.

Annoying as it was, he did not have the heart to tell off the couple for being such an inconvenience. It helped serve as a distraction from the grief he was experiencing of losing both his only blood relatives at the same time. Somehow he knew and understood that they were all hurting, him for the loss of his parents, them for the loss of their good friends.

'Possibly their only friends, considering their eccentricities…' Ichigo couldn't help but think after two weeks of constantly receiving their 3x a day calls.

Then a month passed.

Somehow, Ichigo always felt that with the return of their communication, things would change. And things really did change.

Upon their visit and re-introduction, they revealed their purpose of coming over. To say that Ichigo was surprised to see them face-to-face would be an understatement. It was a well-known fact that those who signed up for the military and were assigned classified missions were not allowed to, or at least were unable to leave the base easily until after their contract ended, and even then, they were kept under close tabs to ensure their safety, as well as the country's. So to be able to interact with them like this, Ichigo couldn't help but feel suspicion silhouette his joy at meeting them again, after such a long time.

Welcoming them in his house, the trio were overcome with solemnity at the quiet which enveloped them. The once warm house seemed cold and spacey, although it still had the lived-in feel, the soft touch of femininity in the house decorations absent along with the ever-present clutters of his father, the house was clean, but one could feel that something was missing, that something was lost from it- it was like an awakening for the couple, that their two best friends really were gone. At that, Yoruichi was unable to keep a sob from escaping, consequently burying her face in Kisuke's chest. Kisuke just hugged her in a comforting gesture, offering up a sad smile to Ichigo asking him where their altar was so they might offer up their prayers.

After the emotional scene, to which Ichigo could do nothing but give a melancholic smile- he was still numb to what had happened, still not fully absorbing the permanent loss of his beloved parents, despite having gone through their burial- Ichigo proceeded on to prepare tea for the lengthy discussion he felt was imminent in its approach.

Once everyone had settled down, the living room was enveloped by the scent of freshly-baked scones and tea, as Ichigo returned with a tray-full of the scrumptious meal. Taking a moment to appreciate and savor the masterpiece, the trio got down to discussion.

Apparently, when the couple had heard of Masaki and Isshin's death, they had been overly-worried for the boy the couple left behind, knowing how tight-knit the family was. Despite Ichigo being of legal age to live by himself, they were still concerned about him, especially with the unstable economy and the looming wars which brought it about. As such, they had decided to take in Ichigo with them at the base, and would do so in a week's time, should he consent to it. Of course, such a living arrangement would not come for free, they were after all under the military's payroll, so Ichigo would have to work at the base as well, and those under medical profession were always of high demand, so there wouldn't be a problem with his employment.

Asking for some time to think on their offer, Ichigo expressed his acceptance two days after, and began preparing and packing up for the transfer. The last few days at Karakura were spent on farewell celebrations with his friends, and the promise of keeping contact with each other. To sum it all up, his 18 years of living in the town was all packed up in only a big luggage and two medium-sized boxes, the rest were either thrown away, or sold.

It was not that Ichigo did not treasure the memory with his family at the house, but because he desired to be able to finally move on, and not keep on feeling depressed whenever he woke up in the mornings expecting the scent of the delicious breakfast his mom always prepared, as his dad still sluggishly asleep, forcibly rising to the inviting aroma, trudging down like a zombie and eventually tripping down the stairs- only to wake up to the feeling of emptiness and seemingly eternal silence.

Of course, those times of joy would forever be a precious part of his memories, but he also knew that at some point, he had to move on, so why not now? And with the opportunity which presented itself, he had finally resolved himself to start living life anew. And so, he accepted their invitation.

Then the morning of the departure came.

At first he was somewhat excited to ride the aircraft transporting him- a Boeing CH-47 Chinook- to wherever it was he was assigned to work in, but ten minutes later, upon entering the sea area and not seeing any change in landscape- or rather, seascape-, he felt like the helicopter wasn't moving at all and remained hovering in the air with no destination whatsoever. After an hour, when he asked the professor in-charge of looking after him, he became even more annoyed.

"Urahara-san… How much longer until we reach the island? I thought it was quite close, why are we taking so long?" Scrunching his brows together, he addressed the slightly unkempt blonde professor with no attempt to hide his steadily growing irritation.

"Kisuke. It's for security purposes, Ichigo-kun. We have to go around various waypoints to ensure that we are not being followed by anyone, as the facility contains sensitive data which could be detrimental if anyone were to know where it is located and try to infiltrate it." The professor explained to him kindly, patiently, as if he should have known it already.

"Since when did we get into first-name basis? And by going around various waypoints… You're just making it sound nicer by not directly saying we're actually going around in circles, touring the whole of Japan, aren't you?! Tsk… It's not like the laboratory is top-secret, it's even advertised in the TV!" Ichigo huffed, frustration getting the better of him.

Using a hand to cover his smile, Kisuke's eyes showed his mirth, finding the situation somewhat amusing. "Why not, Ichigo-CHAN? That's what Yoru and I used to call you when you were still a cute, chubby, baby in Masaki's arms." Placing a huge emphasis on his 'cuteness', Kisuke took the time to grin widely upon receiving a withering glare from the orange-head before pouting and finally giving a more plausible reasoning "We'll be working together for a very long time, and after not seeing each other for quite some time, it would be better for us to re-acquaint with each other now and begin to cultivate the growth of our familial bonds."

Diverting his attention from the teen, to reviewing the documents on the clip folder, he continued on to explain, "Also, even though the lab is well known, the real location isn't revealed. All the waypoints we pass through are routine task areas, so no one will think it suspicious that a military aircraft flies over it. Besides, we can take this time to further strengthen our bond, ne?" Ending the reply with an infuriating grin, Ichigo was hard-pressed not to stand up, walk over to the professor/scientist and give him a knuckle-sandwich.

"Call me 'chan' one more time, KISUKE, and you're gonna get it. I don't even care if they drop me off this huge piece of noise for disobeying the seatbelt rule." Glaring holes into the head of his uncle, he promptly ignored the other guy in favor of closing his eyes, forcing himself to sleep away his distress. 'No wonder he's dad's best friend, they're both nuts…'

Knowing not to push the issue further, both fell into a companionable silence, with the younger one drifting off to sleep in less than a minute.

"We're gonna be together for a long time, Ichigo-kun, a very long time…"

Now having been stuck in the air for almost five hours, with the propeller's noise waking him up, seemingly increasing its volume loud enough just to make his ears hurt and give him a headache despite the protective headset gear he was given, he has become more than impatient. As he continued to sit in the chopper waiting to arrive at his destination, he couldn't help but wonder what in the world had he gotten himself into.

'Well, at the time it seemed godsend…'

He had just woken up a few minutes ago, and he found to his chagrin that they were still airborne. Thinking up various methods to kill the guy who convinced him to sign up for the job, he was interrupted by no other than the subject of his murderous intent.

"Well, well~! Just in time, I'd say! Look out your window, Ichigo. Welcome to Soul Society."