Hey! Here is the next Chapter! And I know this has taken forever to get out and I'm sorry about that, but I did warn that I suck at posting regularly and these past weeks have been so busy for me its not funny. Not to mention I'm trying to help my mom and step dad get ready for my baby sister who is on the way.

But anyway here is the Chapter! Review please!

Chapter 2

It had been three weeks sense Ichigo's death. And while Ichigo's human friends choose to forget their memories of what really happened to their friend for it was to big and depressing of a secret for them to keep; the Soul Society, Ichigo's family, and Ichigo's friends were still waiting for Urahara to make a gigia of their friend to fake his death for the rest of the world so they could mourn in public.

And it was going slowly, mainly because Urahara who admitted to himself had gotten attached to the kid was have a very hard time remaking his body; only to not use it for him to use if he had became a full Soul Reaper, but to redo his death again. He kept seeing Ichigo's smirk, eyes, and hearing his finally words ringing his head-much like for everyone else.

"Bye. Se-." What had he bee trying to say before he disappeared? Maybe 'See you soon'? What did Ichigo mean? Did he mean in the next life then? But his soul… Isshin said it would be removed from the cycle of rebirth…

Nether the less, they were all grieving, though they hid it as well as they could.

Isshin was only being held up now by the desire to protect his daughters and not to lose them like he did his son and wife. But the whole family, especially him, couldn't even look at Ichigo's room and they had all caught Isshin outside staring up at his son's bedroom window with an utter broken expression. It occurred too many of them that Ichigo probably got his self-blaming problem from his father.

Rukia hadn't even come out of her room for the first week of Ichigo's death, and then only leaving the house to search the Rojuko (Sorry I have no clue how to spell the place were normal souls live and I am to lazy to look it up) in a vain search of finding Ichigo there or to visit her human friends. It didn't matter to her, or many of the Soul Reapers, that Isshin had said Ichigo's soul had basically disappeared forever.

Renji kept zoning out and every once in a while would randomly look around like he expected Ichigo to pop out of somewhere, laughing or scowling and calling him Pineapple Head. He missed his friend who had started out as an enemy, though he admitted it grudgingly as to remain looking strong for his other friend's sake.

Orihime cried at the slightest mention of Ichigo, and now clung to Taskuti like a life line. Uryuu stayed with Chad and they sometimes would talk about Ichigo, and wished often that he was laying on the floor between them, scowling, his eyes closed as they talked about Soul Reaper stuff or everyday things like school. They were probably doing the best out of everyone.

Yoruichi hadn't returned from the Sunday after Ichigo died, saying she had something she had to do. They all thought she just needed some alone time away from everyone to grieve over her friend and pupil in Flash Step and the determined boy she helped teach Banki. No body would say it to her face though if she had been there.

But… even in their worst moments of grief, like when Yuzu had been making dinner for four before remembering Ichigo was gone and had just collapsed in a pile on the floor sobbing her heart out, screaming for her brother to come back, begging and pleading him to walk through the door apologizing for being late because he was helping a little girl spirit down the block. They'd all would suddenly feel…warm…and relaxed. It was… nice?

Like someone they all trusted and loved in their own ways was sitting behind them with a hand on their shoulder or cradling their shaking bodies in strong arms and whispering sweet reassurances in their ear. Sometimes they would feel like someone was walking beside them to make sure they got to their destination safe or just to give them company. Everyone, even Byakuya and Head Captain Yamamoto, experienced these weird yet wonderful moments.

And they all welcomed the sensations with welcome, yet still cautious arms.

Like at the moment Karin was walking through the park were Ichigo used to take them when her and Yuzu were younger and where he would push them on the swings and race them around a tree or play tag. Ichigo had brought them here when they were older too. They would just walk, talking, or in peaceful silence. Or her and Ichigo would engage in a one-on-one soccer match with Yuzu cheering them both on.

Karin felt a familiar harsh pang in her heart and the tale-tell sting behind her eyes and ran toward the empty swing set in front of her. The park was empty today and as she sat on the rubber seat and she began to push herself with her legs, just wanting to feel like she was four again and having a play day in the park with her brother even as tears trickled down her cheeks. She'd cried more these past weeks than when her mother died.

"Mind if I join you?" She heard Toshiro ask as she flew into the sky, clinging to the chains of her seat as she tried to gather herself. "Sure." She croaked out.

Luckily Toshiro didn't notice, or decided it wasn't best, to mention her tears. They just sat there, swinging for minutes, maybe hours. Time seemed real screwy lately. And after a few quiet minutes of swinging Toshiro finally asked her what this place meant to her. She sobbed anew.

"Ichi would bring me and Yuzu here and push us on these swings." She glanced over at Toshiro. "Yuzu would always sit there, and I would always sit here and he would just push us and we would laugh and pretend we were flying.

Toshiro nodded, a small smile creasing his face for a moment. "He did that for me once. Though he scared me at the time." She glanced over back over and tilted an eyebrow upwards, ignoring her own tears that stung when the wind hit them.

"I was standing here, on this swing waiting to see if any hollows would pop up on my hollow detector. Suddenly I was swinging and I could hear him laughing even as I sat down and yelled at him to stop. I almost fell off at first. But ether way he didn't and after a while… I guess I just relaxed and we stayed here, him pushing me and me just forgetting my duties as a captain and relaxing."

Toshiro chuckled sadly. "I think if I hadn't relaxed that time because of him I would have gone slightly crazy. I had a lot of pressure on me because of the Arrancars and I was blaming myself for a little girl soul dying because I wasn't strong enough." Karin felt a trembling smile come to her lips. Her brother had always been good at that-helping people relax subconsciously or consciously and getting them to come to terms with what was bothering them.

"He was like a brother to me…" Toshiro whispered, not really meaning for anyone to hear though Karin still did.

And that's when they felt it.

Their swings had slowed down during the time they had been talking and suddenly they felt like someone was standing behind them and their swings swung forward slightly, only to come back and to go forward again, higher this time.

They felt warmth, a gentle warmth that spoke and encouraged calmness and relaxation pressing against their backs for a moment to go higher. But as suddenly as the presence was there, it was gone. And they were alone once again.

Their swings stopped and they could only gap at each other as Toshiro did a quick spirit ribbon search. There was no one within a mile of them and none of those people were Soul Reapers or the special humans.

They stood as one, glanced once more at the swings, before darting off toward Urahara's. Half way their Toshiro felt the spirit pressure of several of their friends also heading there along with Ichigo's family and simply scoped up Karin into his arms bridal style and Flash Stepped there. There was no time to waste, and Karin must have felt the same because she wrapped her arms around his neck and held on tight.

They arrived at Urahara's soon after, untangled themselves from each other, and burst into the room as Karin screamed, "Ichigo was just at the park pushing us on the swings!" Everyone there turned and stared at them in shock.

"You guys too?" Renji breathed and Toshiro blinked. "What do you mean 'you guys too'?" he asked and they all turned to look at each other.

"I swear on my Quincy honor that Ichigo was in Chad's house with us. Chad was getting us something to eat and suddenly we smelled homemade pizza, which Ichigo would make and bring over whenever we had a meeting at Chad's house. Then we felt like someone patted our shoulders and then it was gone." Uryuu said, eyes huge. "It all happened in a time frame of maybe… ten to twenty seconds?" Chad was sitting beside him, nodding slowly-like he was still dazed. "We were talking about Ichigo too." Chad added.

Renji nodded. "Me and Rukia were also. We were on patrol and were talking about how if Ichigo was with us he would be complaining and probably bored out of his mind. Then we felt like someone had hit us over the head and I swear that I heard 'Pineapple' and Rukia says she heard 'Midget'. It all happened in maybe the same time frame."

Everyone could only gawk at each other. Those were Ichigo's nicknames for them. Urahara grinned, though it held the same sad edge that was on all their smiles lately, and flipped his fan open to hide his face.

"I'll tell my experience in a moment. I need to here the rest of you lots information before I say mine." He said when they all looked at him expectantly. Isshin looked like he wanted to cry and Yuzu was already sniffling.

"I-I was at the grocery store with Dad and I saw a bouquet of roses that were orange and I commented how they were nothing to Ichigo's hair. Dad agree an-and Dad said he felt as someone had punched him in the face and his nose started bleeding and I felt someone ruffle my hair like Brother used to do." Yuzu was sniffling at a contestant rate and Karin moved from the doorway and Toshiro's side to hug her and act as a shield for her to bury her nose in and sobs from any peering eyes.

Byakuya, surprisingly, was next to relay his experience. He actually looked a little freaked and sad. It was one of the very rare times when you could see any thing on his face. (Sorry Byakuya is a little OCC but I really don't think of him as an emotionless piece of flesh all the time.)

"I was doing paperwork in my office, and I felt like someone was in the office with me. I looked around but there was no one there and I suddenly felt annoyed and sat back down at my desk just when an eraser hit me. I remember quite clearly that Kurosaki would throw erasers at me when he was bored and waiting for Rukia or Renji to come." Byakuya's eye twitch like he was remembering all the times he'd wanted to shred Ichigo to pieces with his Banki.

Orihime collapsed to the floor, tears streaming out of her eyes. "Oh thank God. I thought I was going crazy." She breathed with relief and closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again they were full of determination, love, happiness, and a touch of sadness that seemed to have taken permit residence in all their eyes.

"I was walking home from Taskuti's house and a man grabbed me and pulled me into an alleyway. I started screaming, and suddenly he wasn't holding me anymore. I turned and he was running away, screaming. I didn't even realize I was crying."

Orihime's eyes were far off, not seeing the present, but the past.

"I felt like someone was kneeing in front of me and…and someone wiped away my tears. It felt like…" Orihime paused, took a deep breath, and let it out slowly. "…Ichigo."

It went silent in the room. They were all glancing at each other slightly nervously. Like they were all waiting for one of them to shout they were all crazy, Ichigo was gone, and they needed to accept the fact. But no one did.

Chad signed. "Am I going to be the one who says it?" He asked and everyone tensed.

"I will admit that I've felt this before. Like…like Ichigo was there beside me. Like a strange but nice warmness that felt like it cared, no matter what. Kind of like how he was when he was…alive."

Rukia bit her bottom lip, and slowly nodded.

"But it wasn't on this scale. I just felt like he standing there in the room with me, watching over me. This… this was different. I actually… felt it… and heard it…"

None of them had mentioned their own small little encounters with the Warmth before. Finally, Urahara stood, and signed. "Come on, follow me." He said as he opened the trap door to his underground training room and Flash Stepped inside. He was closely followed by many curious Soul Reapers and humans alike.

All they could do was blink.

What the flip is this?!

Sorry for all the miss spells, I'm tired (long day of school) even though it is only like 6:30 here. Plus it just spent the past hour or so doing so reediting anyways so…I'm done. Review please and I hoped you liked it!