Chapter 2
Ichigo was sitting at his desk, thinking. This doesn't make sense. Orihime goes missing and then her house gets broken into? Ichigo tapped a pencil against the desk. There was a scowl spread across his face.
"What's the matter, Ichigo?" He turned around in his chair, there was Yuzu. Why was she here? She was supposed to be at the soccer fields with Dad, watching Karin's game. "You seem upset."
"I'm fine, why aren't you at Karin's soccer game?"
"I wanted to stay home and take care of our clinic patient, oh, and I wanted to make you breakfast."
"There's a patient in the clinic?"
"Yes, he says he knows you."
"Who is he?"
"I asked, but he wouldn't say. But he did say that he needs to talk to you about something. The rest he mumbled, but I think I heard him say Orihime's name."
"What!" Ichigo jumped out of his chair. Who's in the clinic? Ichigo thought, Does he know something about Orihime's disappearance? "I'm going to go talk to him."
"Don't Ichigo, he's resting! Besides, I want you to eat the breakfast I made for you!"
Ichigo ignored Yuzu. He slipped past her and sprinted down the stairs. He could hear her footsteps patter on the steps behind him. Yuzu grabbed Ichigo's arm and tried to pull him back, but he just kept going.
The patient was lying on the bed, sleeping. At least, it looked like he was sleeping. As Ichigo got closer, he realized he was just pretending. He sat up when he heard Ichigo coming.
"Hello again, Ichigo Kurosaki." He was staring into the eyes of Shinji Hirako.
"Shinji?" Why is he here?, thought Ichigo. I don't have time to deal with the vizards now, I need to find Orihime!
"I came here to talk to you, Ichigo."
"I thought it was because you were injured."
"I pretended to be injured so I could come here without you chasing me off. Your sister wouldn't let you hurt an injured man. We vizards could heal our injuries by ourselves anyway. We don't need clinics like this one."
Shinji glanced beyond Ichigo's shoulder and stopped talking. Yuzu was standing in the doorway, looking concerned. She took a small step forward, then stopped. The expression on her face showed that she was scared.
"Ichigo, who is this man? What does he want with you? And what's a vizard?" Her voice was trembling.
"Yuzu, go back upstairs. He and I need to talk alone." Ichigo watched Yuzu as she turned around and started back in the direction of the stairs.
She hesitated, then looked over her shoulder, "Ichigo, I'm part of your family. You can trust me." She sprinted up the stairs and towards her and Karin's room. After a few seconds the door slammed.
"Quite a caring girl, isn't she?" Shinji's face was spread wide with a smirk. "It's a shame she thinks you don't trust her."
"What do you want, Shinji?" Ichigo was becoming annoyed with Shinji's attitude. He hated seeing Yuzu the way she was and he was making it worse. Ichigo knew he needed to apologize to Yuzu.
"I came to tell you some information that I think you will find quite interesting." The tone in Shinji's voice sounded devious. "You may have noticed that your friend Orihime is missing."
Ichigo's eyes widened. Shinji did know something about Orihime's disappearance! "What did you do to her?"
"Oh, nothing...Yet."
"What's going on? Why are you after her?"
"We're not after her, we're after you. We want you to join us, Ichigo. Join us, and we'll let her go."
"But, how..."
"Yes, you're probably wondering about the complications with the door of her house and everything. Well, it's simple. We kidnapped her, then broke into her house to confuse your friends. We didn't want anyone to know the truth but you."
"What will you do to her if I don't join?"
"Let me explain everything. First, we are giving you a day to decide. If you say no, we kill the girl. If you say yes, we return the girl to her home and you come with us. You say goodbye to all of your friends and your family, and you never see them again."
"And they all remain perfectly safe?"
"Well, we don't harm them."
"What do you..."
"You've got one day, Ichigo Kurosaki, one day." And with that, Shinji Hirako was gone.