A/N: Hiya, back as I said! Thought I should try and update each friday til four chapters are posted, then we'll see.

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, but Hjouru's mine.


- Chapter II: The Eight Day -

"Onii-chan, Hjouru-chan… Breakfast's ready!" Yuzu calls while knocking on Ichigo's bedroom door.

"Huh..? Okay…" she hear her brother's drowsy answer. When she's half way down the stairs, she hears a loud thud, followed by a surprised scream. Her brother probably fell out of his bed and straight on Hjouru, who lay next to him on a portable bed. "What the hell was that for!" she hears the small boy shout, shortly followed by her brother's apologising words. She shrugged and left them to take care of those matters on their own.

"What did I do?" Hjouru asked while rubbing his stomach, where Ichigo's elbow had hit him and it had token him all of his willpower to not puke. "Sorry, I got stuck in my bed sheets and fell…" come the apologising voice from the floor next to him.

It was first now Ichigo got a good look on Hjouru's neck. It had dark bruises forming a hand, where the hollow nearly strangled him, exact the same type of bruises that Orihime had when her brother had grabbed her on her leg. "Your neck…" he began, "Mmmm… what about it?" Hjouru asked while getting dressed "Does it hurt?" Hjouru froze where he stood and lowered his arms, which still held in the T-shirt he was just about to put on. "Yeah… how come you ask?" came the slowly answer, Ichigo looked at him like he was insane.

"Your neck is covered in bruises, similar to those a friend of mine had. She said they hurt more than the cut on her arm did at that moment."

"Say what?" and he took of to the bathroom next to the room. When he looked into the mirror, he saw that there was indeed a large bruise around his throat. "…You don't happen to have a scarf or something, do you Ichi?"

XXX XXX XXX

"Iiiichiiigooo!" Isshin screams while flying towards the boys, when they entered the kitchen. Ichigo evades his flying father easily, who unfortunately crashes into Hjouru, who isn't used to these surprise attacks and was behind the real target. The red eyed boy is knocked over at the floor and stays there.

"Ups..." was the only thing Isshin had time to say before he got a roundhouse kick from his orange haired son. But luckily Hjouru is unharmed and just stands up, so that he could walk to the dinning table for some breakfast. Soon the "warriors" joins them at the table, after their fight as well (which Ichigo won easily), to eat their breakfast too.

"Why're you wearing a scarf? It isn't cold outside." Karin asks a bit annoyed because of her father's behaviour.

"Well… I thought it would look good, but… maybe I'm wrong…" he said excusingly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Aww, don't listen to her, you look great! The girls won't be able to stand away from you!" Isshin shouts with his usually hyper voice, fake tears running down his cheeks rapidly (the tears was apparently from happiness or proudness for Hjouru) and gives a thumb up, which makes an angry vein pop up on Ichigo's forehead and a sweet-drop on Hjouru's.

XXX XXX XXX

"Dad we're going for a walk… and we'll be gone for a while!" Ichigo calls while both he and their guest got dressed (he added the last part after an elbow in the ribs from Hjouru), then they headed out. At the same time the phone starts to ring and Yuzu picks it up, a few seconds pass before she calls on her dad, it was something very important.

"So Ichigo, where're we going?" Hjouru asks curiously, when the left the house.

"We're going to Urahara's Shoten," said teen replies "and the others will be there too."

"Really! This might be fun!" Hjouru says in a happy, but yet very curiously tone. He had never meet Ichigo's friends, only seen them from the window or from the roof, when they came to pick up Ichigo on the mornings.

XXX XXX XXX

Back at the Kurosaki Clinic Isshin gets disturbing news…

"… Are you sure… but it can't be right..! But someone must be missing him… I understand… thanks anyway." He puts the phone back on its place, he is in a slight chock and his eyes had a hint of confusion. 'How can this be? Someone must be searching for him. If not…'

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw Yuzu's worried face; it was clearly that she cared a lot about their guest. "How did it go?" she asks.

"Not as well as I had hoped… the police informed me that no one that match Hjouru's features were missing… and they don't even know if he exist, since they couldn't find any data about him, no birth certificate or any thing." He shakes his head in confusion, not rally sure what to do.

"So what will happen to Hjouru now?" her dad looks at her with big smile and a small glint in the eye "That means…" he start to say with a serious voice and finish the last sentence with his usually goofy, hyper active one. Whatever he said made Yuzu's eyes shine with joy and a big happy smile take place on her young face.

XXX XXX XXX

"Umm… H-hi my name is Zenro Hjouru and it's nice to meet you all." He says and gives the people in the room a small bow. Needless to say that he's nervous, with so many people watching him.

"Hello, Hjouru-san." A man wearing a hat with white and green stripes, a green coat and clogged sandals said. It also seemed like he had a white fan and a small brown cane. "My name is Urahara Kisuke and welcome to my shop."

Next to speak was a girl with big gray eyes, long brown/orange hair and very big breasts. "Hi, my name is Inoue Orihime and it's nice to meet you too." She says with a happy voice and gave him a sweet smile, plus a small polite bow. 'She's very nice, even if it's our first meeting.' He thought happily, somehow he felt safe around her, like she could make even the saddest person smile only by talking to them.

Next up was a big Mexican boy with wavy middle long brown hair and because of the way the hair was in, only one brown eye was visible. "I'm Sado Yasutora…" Hjouru noticed that this man preferred to not talk very much, besides he recognised the man as one of Ichigo's friends from school, who came and picked him up with two other persons on the mornings. "But you can call him Chad, he's used to be called that by now." Ichigo puts in after his friend's short introduction was done. "Umm… 'kay." Hjouru said uncertain and looked over at the big man, who only shrugged.

Then it was the thin, tall, blue haired and eyed, glass wearing boy's turn. He gave Hjouru a suspicious look, which made the boy feel uncomfortable where he sat. "My name is Ishida Uryuu and I'm a Quincy." The last part had a hint of proud, like he was a superior and Hjouru could only sweat-drop in lack of knowledge.

"What's a Quincy?" he asked.

Uryuu was completely off guard for that statement. "What do you mean with 'what's a Quincy?' You live in the same house as a freaking Shinigami!" he points at Ichigo, who gets pissed-off, "and yet you have no idea what a Quincy is!" he shout, not believing his ears.

"Umm… pretty much" He says shrugging and rubs the back of his head, "no one ever mentioned anything about Quincies, but I believe I heard your name once or twice." But that was only when the Mod-soul Kon needed his body fixed, and Hjouru had no intension on saying that.

Uryuu was still pretty pissed-off, but started to explain what a Quincy was and Hjouru nearly fell asleep around… five times, before the Quincy's history were done. Unnecessary to say that he didn't give damn about their history, but he thought they were stupid for not listening to reasons.

After that it was the manager's assistants' turn. Hanakari Yinta; a small red haired kid, with a rude behaviour. Tsumugiya Ururu; a small black haired girl, who seemed shy and unsure on her self. And last but not smallest, Tsukabishi Tessai; a big muscular man with glasses and short brown hair in a weird hairstyle… plus a big moustache that covered his over lip completely.

"Well I guess that's all of you…" Hjouru begins but is interrupted by someone he didn't see.

"You know I'm still here and I haven't got the chance to introduce myself yet." The voice came from the cat, which currently lay on the table, but Hjouru didn't think it was the cat and asked "Could you please show yourself?"

"Are you blind child?"

"You're not my child! Only a replacement of one of the Devil's children!" 'A woman's voice? Who's she yelling at?'

"I'm one the table." When he looked back at the cat, he couldn't believe his eyes, it had spoken again! "My name is Shihouin Yoruichi…"

"Don't call me child," he said darkly and had an unreadable look in his eyes. His tone had chocked everyone except from Ichigo. "And how can the cat talk?" he shouted one the verge on panic.

"Calm down Hjouru, I can change back to my original form, if that makes you more comfortable." The cat said.

"So you're not a real cat, mister." He stated and started to calm down.

"NO DON'T!" Came a high scream from the strawberry, "If you're gonna do that, do it in the other room!" His cheeks had got a slight red colour, which didn't pass by Yoruichi undetected. "Hahaha, always so innocent, but I love to see how people react. Besides, yours were very funny the last time."

"Don't drag me into your talking!" he screamed and merely seconds after that Yoruichi transformed.

Hjouru didn't expect Yoruichi to be a woman, but when he realised that she was naked he blushed furiously and looked up at Ichigo, who had covered his eyes but was still able to peak through his fingers. Hjouru started to smirk and covered his eyes and Ichigo's with his hands, earning a "What the…" from the teen.

When Yoruichi finally had put on some clothes (much to everyone's relief… well, Urahara didn't seem to mind that much though), everything became pretty normal once again.

"You're no fun child, now I couldn't see his face." Yoruichi complained…

"You are a child of the Devil! Stay away from the others!" It was the same woman and she slapped a small boy no older than 5 years hard on his cheek…

The line had been crossed… He didn't know why, but he was seeing red.

"STOP CALLING ME CHILD!" everyone froze where they sat, no one, not even Ichigo, had heard Hjouru yelling like that, he was furious. Despite the high tone, it was dark and cold, it even sent chills down the spines on them and his eyes shone with an insane red colour. Yoruichi was speech less, just like everyone else in the room. No one knew what to say.

"DON'T CALL ME CHILD! I don't wanna hear her crazy voice in my head!" He clutched his head and tears ran down his cheeks. The Dark feeling didn't disappear, it even felt like the temperature dropped drastic and the sensation of dread grew stronger.

"Yoruichi-san! You should do something… now!" Ichigo shouted, to be honest he felt a little scared, this kid's reiatsu feels pretty nasty and he still had the feeling fresh in mind. "Does humans as well as Shinigamis never learn? Man, you guys sure are stupid." 'Shut it Hichi! This time it wasn't my fault!'

Flash back…

"Phew… well, now they're safe." Ichigo says after the konsou were done successfully.

"Ichigo… what exactly are you? I mean you suddenly show up in strange clothes, like what's the idea with the black outfit?" He walked around his saviour in circles and poked the clothes where ever he could reach. "And what a huge sword! It looks just like a … butcherknife…" His eyes grew big with those two words and the flashes came again.

"Come son, let's play tag. I'm 'it'…" It was like it was a jump in events, then... "Mum! Please STOP!" a small boy's shriek rang out in what looked like to be a forest… Flashes of something sharp and red blood flying entered his mind.

Hjouru stopped poking and paled, he felt sick and confused of what he saw 'Is this part of my lost memory?' Ichigo failed to notice that Hjouru had no intentions (or stopped for that matter) to continue with his poking and called out in annoyance. "Grraahh! Knock it of already! How old are you? Five? Honestly, you act just like a child!"

"Child of the Devil…" That sadistic voice made it feel like someone was stabbing him in the heart… And the terrified shrieks from the young kid made themselves reminded.

Hjouru had stumbled back by surprise but regained his footing quickly. He looked down so that his bangs covered his eyes. "For your first question; how the hell should I know? I still don't remember my life! And second; don't ever call me that again… I hate it." He spoke in a low dark and slightly cruel voice, striped from emotions. They locked eyes and Ichigo was greeted with a pair of red glowing ones, they shone of danger, heck, they even held glint of malice and cruelty that he didn't even know the boy could possess! His voice was also so much different from the usually cheery one, it made his hair stand on edge and chills run down his spine.

Ichigo didn't know what to say and it was like the temperature was falling, he almost jumped out of his skin when it felt like something was crawling on him! He looked down but saw nothing… then he understood, this was the effect of the kid's reiatsu and somehow had a familiar touch to it too, but he couldn't remember from where. 'This is Hjouru's reiatsu..? It's so cold and dark, it feels like it's drowning me…'

"Hjouru… I'm really sorry for calling you a child!" he managed to say while trying to build up a defence with his own reiatsu, but failed miserably… he couldn't concentrate on anything, especially not with this drowning feeling on his chest and mind… then it lessened. The cold became warmer, the pressure shrunk till it was nonexistent and he felt like he could breath normally again. It was like nothing had happened and he found himself sigh with relief.

'Why was his reiatsu so familiar...?' his thoughts were abruptly interrupted by another voice in his head… his hollow. 'Tch, this is quite amusing… you really don't recognise it?' Ichigo's eyes widened, his body tensed, 'What do you mean?' 'Hahahahaaa… You can't, can ya!' he waited for more taunting, that surprisingly never came… the hollow was silent once again.

He was brought back to reality by the impact of a hug, which made him to look down, only to see Hjouru's teary face. 'Great, now he's crying again.' He placed a comforting hand on top of the kid's head, "Come let's go home." The response he received was a weak nod, but it was enough… it had been a hard day for the kid, both physically and emotionally…

End flash back…

"Yoruichi-san… I think you should follow Ichigo's suggestion." Urahara says with a slight worried voice and held his cane tightly. "What should I say then? It's not like I did anything!" The lights suddenly broke and glass pieces fly in every direction, thanks to Orihime's Santen Ketsuhun (Three-God shield) no one was hurt. A reddish glow shone from the boy and the sinister feeling grew stronger, it appeared as he couldn't hear anyone in his state of despair. He still clutched his head like his life depended on it and the tears kept coming.

Then Yoruichi did something no one expected, she appeared in front of the boy and hugged him tightly. At first he struggled to escape her arms, but managed to calm down and hugged her back while sobbing heavily. The nasty pressure slowly decreased until it was non-existing, still Yoruichi didn't let go of the boy and caressed the boy's head… just like a mother would do, to calm her crying child.

XXX XXX XXX

Several hours later…

"Just remember that you can't tell my sisters about this." Ichigo reminded Hjouru while they walked home and the house came into view. "Yeah, yeah, I know already… personally I don't see the point in keeping it hidden. I mean, they get so worried when you don't come home at night sometimes or when you just take off like you do…"

"I think we should hurry, before your dad gets crazy and tries something weird, as he usually does when you're late Ichigo." Rukia put in, walking next to them. She and Renji had joined the "party" at Urahara's earlier and she was now walking back with them to the house, while Renji took off back to Soul Society again or was freeloading at Urahara's.

When they opened the door, it was like a bomb had gone off! Both Isshin and Yuzu were hyperactive for some unknown reason and Karin only sat at the table and looked at her family with annoyance – as usually -,while her face spoke clearly 'Why is my family so God damn weird?'

"My boys! Daddy has some bad and good news!" The crazy parent yelled like a mad man, Hjouru quickly took cover behind Ichigo, who looked extremely pissed by his father's behaviour. "Well what's the news then?" his son asked, while Hjouru carefully watched Isshin, just in case he would try something… like learning how to fly again.

He turned his attention on the covering boy. "Well the bad one is that I've spoken with the police… but they didn't find anything about you, no one has been reported missing or so… Buuut the good news is that I will adopt you as a second son, just like I adopted Rukia-chan as a third daughter!" he pointed at Rukia - who stood next to Ichigo and Hjouru -, with that said he started to drag the both teens to the dinning table, while Rukia followed them casually.

"Say what!" both screamed in surprise and confusion, while being dragged by the mad-man.

XXX XXX XXX

Two figures were sitting on the roof of the Kurosaki Clinic under a star filled sky, one was rather short with black hair and the other was tall, with fiery orange hair. "It's nice of your father to invite me to the family… especially since I don't seem to have my own." He looked up at the moon and hugged his legs, Ichigo saw that the boy's eyes were a bit watery when he looked at him. They had sneaked out to the roof when the dinner was eaten, mostly to escape the noise his father and sister made.

"I wanna ask you something." The orange head said

"About today, or am I wrong?" the other one replied in an empty tone. This made Ichigo's hart sting, 'He tries to hide the fact that he's utterly sad… it can't be fun to learn that you're on your own and that no one's missing you…'

"Yeah… wanna tell me about it or should I just leave it?" He asked, knowing if he got the same question, he wouldn't tell… so to his big surprise, the boy just nods. "I'm not sure myself why I react like that… it's just… it feels like something bad happened to me when I was smaller and that this word was related to it… Then we have these nightmares of mine. I keep dreaming about a crazy woman who chases or rather hunts me through the woods and she's holding…" he stopped in the middle of the sentence and became very pale and he looked away from his friend. "… She's holding in something thin and sharp, I think it's a knife. Then she chases me to a river where I fall in… I can't breath and everything turns black… then it feels like I'm being torn into pieces… the pain is unbearable and then I always wake up."

"That was a creepy dream, hopefully it's just that and not reality…" Ichigo rises to his feet's and reached out one of his hands towards Hjouru, who took it and got hauled back onto his feet.

"Ichi… I'm scared… what if I won't wake up one day and the pain will just continue until I can't take it anymore?"

"Then I'll make sure you wake up, so don't worry. Come, let's go back to the others, I heard Yuzu has made a dessert to celebrate." Hjouru looked Ichigo into the eyes and gave a small smile, then they went back in.

XXX XXX XXX

The rest of the evening passed on peacefully, Yuzu had made a delicious cake and everyone ate as much as they could.

Despite this, Hjouru had really hard to sleep, it was past midnight and the others slept as heavy as stones, when he finally fell into an uneasy slumber… dreaming about a desert, stripped from any signs of life…


Sorry if this was wierd and so, but I didn't know how to put it and this is what I could come up with. And if you find any of the Bleach Chars OOC, please tell me. I tried to have them in char, so let me know if I did it good or bad. Please R & R.

Next chapter will be called "Caught my Prey"...