One: Aunt Arisa

Although Ichigo was aware, as he paced through the familiar streets of Karakura, that there was something amiss in the Sereitei he knew he could no longer get himself involved. Already his power levels had dropped so much that he was almost unable to leave his body without a struggle and to be honest it was scaring him. This thought had been driving into his head since he'd departed from class and found his feet taking him to Urahara shop. At least he'd still remain in contact with them thanks to Youroichi and Kisuke, but he was having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that he could no longer do anything.

Buried in his thoughts as he entered and gave he customary bored greeting, Ichigo did not realise the level of panic within the face of Renji and Rukia who sat looking slightly repulsed. At first no one turned toward him, but when he asked one of his ignorant questions, Ichigo became unnerved. He'd never seen such a wretched look of disgust on Renji's face or such a look of terror on Rukia. Even Kisuke looked slightly unnerved. Whatever had happened it was strictly within the Soul Society and though they seemed unhappy about revealing anything, Youroichi soon sighed gently.

"There was something horrific this morning in the Sereitei… A few days ago a group of trainees were attacked by Hollows and some did not return. One of them returned today, but they were not alive. Some despicable creature had cut them almost completely in half but left them hanging from their throat from a tall wooden stake. Upon the body, which had apparently only died whilst hanging, there was a note simply saying 'You Chose the Lesser of Two Evils', and the Soul Society is quite freaked out. Whoever did this knew how to get in without being seen and managed to keep the poor kid out of sight until they wanted the Captains to find it on their way to the meeting."

"WHAT!" Ichigo's stomach turned and he felt as though the life had been drained from him. His mind was quick to translate the note – at least Aizen had not resorted to Vlad the Imapler tactics upon his enemies…. But whoever had done this really did not like the captains and was out to show off. They weren't building themselves up an army of hollows as there had been rarely any the past month…..

"The weird thing though is that the person to find it was not on their way to the scheduled captain's meeting…" Kisuke mused but with a distinctive uncertainty. "Kenpachi had apparently felt something very strange and been walking toward the main building when he found the kid. He was found frozen to the spot in terror!"

"IN TERROR? KENPACHI! Surely you're mistaken?" Ichigo coughed. The thought of Kenpachi being fearful of anything made him more afraid. If Kenpachi was scared then everyone needed to be, especially as he was usually more eager to kill things. Ichigo's mind could only imagine what kind of killing fields Kenpachi had stepped through, so for one dead body to shake him to the core it must have been a link to the past. Kisuke's own sounds of thought attracted Ichigo to this scenario and he cleared his throat gently to ask. "Does… Does Kenpachi know who did it?"

"Not exactly…." The voice was from Ikkaku, and Ichigo leapt in surprise. Ikkaku and Yumichika strode into the room, looking grim and apparently not noticing that they had interrupted Kisuke from hoping to speak. Ikkaku then slumped himself down and shook his bald head. "The captain used to know someone very well who was high ranking in soul society. He'd been asked to protect them in case of anything, but when the captain thought he was dealing with the good guy, there was an attempt on the life of Yamamoto's Lieutenant, and this person was the cause. At least, at the time this was what we thought, however they knew of Aizen's powers and were pinning the blame on him. But no one listened so they were imprisoned, and apparently something very bad happened and they lost it. Upon breaking out they got revenge on one of the captains who was an ally to Aizen and left them hanging in the same way. Captain tried to stop them, but was knocked out by Aizen. He had probably hoped to cause a distraction then."

"That's glossing over a lot of facts Ikakku. You might as well tell the truth, Ichigo's old enough to understand and so are Renji and Rukia!" Kisuke rolled his eyes as he looked at the utter confusion on the faces of the other reapers. But the squad eleven members buttoned their lips and looked uncomfortable. After a few goaded attempts by Urahara, Youroichi got annoyed and blurted it out.

"Kenpachi was looking after a woman! She was betrayed by Aizen so he could get rid of the only one who knew his sword's techniques, and was good enough with most of us to be an enemy to his plans! Kenpachi got too close and thought he'd been betrayed himself so when she ran he caught her. No one believed her and she was imprisoned. While there she was raped by two captains, one of which was Aizen! No one believed that either so she went mad and escaped, she killed the other captain and that's that. She also tried to kill Kenpachi when he went after her but he lived. That is why Kenpachi is freaked out. Everyone thought she was dead!"

It was a lot for Ichigo to take in, and all his mind could think of was the kind of woman Kenpachi had gone after. Typical Zaraki to chase after lunatics in disguise, but at the same time – the Soul Society had once more acted the fool. If this person had been so badly treated when she'd done nothing wrong, then maybe there was some strange justice in her want to deal with Sereitei…

But then why drag innocent Soul Reapers into it that were all too young to know what had happened?

Ichigo ended up leading Renji and Rukia back to the house with him, though he had hoped to just get back home and not think more into it. His uncertain mood had not been noticed by his companions, who were more on edge then ever. They remained in their Soul forms, not wanting to leap into a Gigai in case it made them noticeable and they'd ordered Ichigo to act like he didn't notice them. But how could you not notice two Soul Reapers pacing slowly behind you with Zanpaktou raised like baseball bats for the vain attempt to scare off any trouble before it bothered them. However, upon stepping into the house all thought was pushed aside by a delicious scent and a familiar face.

"Ichigo!" A brilliantly bouncy woman appeared with heaving bosom and a wide smile from behind the door and almost tackled Ichigo. Stunned, the kid had no time to react until he was gripped in a suffocating embrace that nearly killed him until Karin appeared and tapped the woman's hip. Ichigo was released and looked a little confused at first before being reintroduced. "Oh dear, sorry I forgot to make sure you all knew before I turned up! But I had a spur of the moment thing and decided to move back here from Austria…. Are you alright Ichigo?"

"Aunty Arisa?" Ichigo muttered nervously as he stepped into the house with her to see his dad and Uso tucking into some delicious looking pastries that Aunt Arisa had lovingly prepared for them. He then thought back to what she'd said, his uncle had died a few years ago but Arisa had been so enveloped in the situation that she'd not been heard from until someone rang from a mental hospital asking for them to look after her for a little while. It had been an odd request, but they had taken her in without a worry. "Have you had a funny turn or something?"

"What?" She questioned, itching her head before grinning suddenly and kissing his cheek. "Not at all, I just wanted to be closer to my family now and settle a few things over here that I need to…"

"Aunty Arisa, what's wrong?" Ichigo stated with fear rising in his eyes.

"I'm afraid I'm dying Ichigo."

"I had the dream of the past again, and it called me out to that place. I don't remember seeing the kid, I just saw that dead captain again. Can you repress this before it starts taking over my thoughts, please Unohana? I don't think I can focus on this as a threat if I'm thinking of the past." Kenpachi muttered with slight anxiety as he tried to drink a cup of tea but could not stop shaking to put it near his mouth.

Yachiru frowned from her seat alongside his bed, this was not like Kenpachi. Thinking did not normally play a role in his everyday life and he was certainly not the kind to care about duty. But the situation had been something too close to home for her beloved Kenny to stand. It was not every day a woman you fell in love with returned after being assumed dead. Not only that, but Yachiru had always wondered if Kenpachi had ever been able to stop loving the now obviously evil female – the answer was an obvious no, but still Yachiru could not understand how strange everything was going lately.

Did Kenny know something she didn't? Already she'd had the oddest feeling that he thought he was going to die a while back, but that had been proven half-right when the Soul Society had been bothered by clones! Yet now she felt like there was an even worse death approaching them both… Approaching the entire Sereitei and she didn't like the stench. It was the kind of fetid smell and creeping feeling that she remembered from her earliest days roaming Kusajishi in search of her missing mother…

"I can try, Captain Zaraki, but I believe that the memories of it returned when you were defeated by young Ichigo Kurosaki a long time ago. Since then you've not been you're reckless self – something's been odd about you. But I understand your concern and will do my very best. I also recommend that you go alone to the World of the Living and stay in a place where there's more to think about – and less memories of the past to bother you." Unohana stated wisely, but her low sigh and the concern etched on her face echoed Yachiru's fears. She didn't want Kenny to go anywhere without her, but maybe it was a good idea.

"Dying?" Ichigo spoke his confusion aloud again as he continued to eat his meal, occasionally disappearing to get a drink and scooping out an extra meal for his invisible friends. Renji was trying her to resist just stuffing his head into the pot where the stew was still warm, he was totally infatuated by Ichigo's godmother thanks to her cooking skills alone! As Ichigo spooned his bowl, ignoring some of the best meat in Karakura Town, he sighed deeply and looked with his pleading eyes toward the lady who sat at the end of the table with a meek smile on her face. "What are you dying of?"

"Ichigo…" Isshin coughed gently and shook his head to try and encourage his son not to say. He had known Arisa for almost fifty years now, surprised at the human who had always had the best complexion he'd seen and been so eager to help the family out. In fact, it had been just after Arisa's marriage to her now dead husband that she had brought Isshin his own building and equipment to have a doctor's surgery separate from Ishida's hospital.

"Don't worry Isshin… I understand why he worries…" Arisa raised a hand and patted her old friend's shoulder gently. She looked very sad in her eyes but knew that her dearest nephew would not ask again if she was just honest with him. "It's my ovarian cancer… It's back again and this time its gone a little further then just the ovary. They spotted signs of cancer in my blood as well, so I'm to settle my situations and then just await the end. I came here, because there's only one place I've wanted to be!"

"Oh my God! Can't they do anything? The Chemotherapy helped last time, surely it'll help this time?" Ichigo found himself crying already, he'd remembered seeing the agony of the first circumstance of the cancer. It had been two summers before he'd met Rukia and he'd been staying with her in Germany for a week. But his holiday had been cut short by his uncle believing that there would be a better time for it. Sadly, the car crash that had killed him had meant the time had not reoccurred.

Arisa breathed a deep sigh and looked around her. Though they were enjoying the food, the sudden topic of conversation had meant they had all stopped and were trying to think of something nicer to say. But Arisa knew that Ichigo was the kind not to give up hope and to encourage anything, so Arisa gripped the hair on her head and removed it to show how bald she was beneath. Ichigo dropped his spoon and without hesitation he galloped up the stairs and Arisa put her hair back on.