I apologise for not updating for so long, the fault mostly goes to the constantly multiplying plot bunnies in my head that are making it impossible to concentrate on what I'm writing. But here it is finally done, a fluffy moment between Ichigo and Allen. I'll have to make Allen and Ichigo not as dense emotion wise as the anime/manga may show them to be. I'm simply too impatient.

Warnings: Blood, gore, insanity (curtsey of Shiro and Nea but mostly Shiro) and a boy x boy pairing

Disclaimer: Me no own Bleach or -Man

"Talking"

'Thinking/talking to inner spirits in thoughts'

"Hollow/Noah/Zanpakuto talking"

'Hollow/Noah/Zanpakuto talking in thoughts'

Chapter 3

Understanding

Ichigo had finished making a place for himself to sleep while Allen sat on Ichigo's bed after asking if he could help and receiving a glare from Ichigo that said 'hell no, you're injured'. Ichigo looked up from his work and went to sit at his desk facing Allen, it was already dark outside and the moonlight made Allen's hair look like silver. 'He looks like an angel.' Was Ichigo's first thought, then he let his eyes meet Allen's. The silver orbs were a clouded grey, a distant look in them as he stared at the floor making them look lifeless.

At dinner Allen remembered feeling something that he hadn't truly felt in a very long time - he felt like he finally came home. Ichigo's family were so accepting and easygoing that they made Allen feel like part of the family, he hadn't felt like that since Mana's death and, after finding out about Nea he understood that Mana most likely only wanted him because he had Nea's soul inside him, he felt like the time he had spent with the kind clown was just a cruel dream devised to show him what he could never have.

Even General Cross had only wanted him because he had the 14th's license and his Innocence. 'And to pay his depths off.' Allen narrowed his eyes at the memories of his time with the elusive general - at least he learnt how to 'win' at poker. Then his mental debate moved to the Black Order... they were most like family to him - after Mana - but they too only wanted to associate with him because of his Innocence, then after finding out that he had a Noah's soul in his body they had imprisoned and abandoned him; and now there was the Kurosaki family, they had taken him in as a wounded stranger, then offered to let him stay until his wounds healed before extending the invitation to 'you can live with us'. Allen felt a lump form in his throat, his thoughts coming to a halt.

Ichigo's eyes widened a fraction as he saw tears gathering in the white-haired teen's eyes, Allen hung his head and clenched his fists to stop them from shaking as his tears fell uncontrollably. "Allen? Allen, what's wrong? Is it your wounds? Allen?" Ichigo's kind, soft voice reached Allen who opened his mouth to speak before closing it again, after another attempt and a choking sob Allen managed, "I- I don't deserve any of this- I don't deserve your family's kindness. I'm a- an exorcist, a monster- I'm just a weapon, I have done n- nothing to deserve being treated t- this well."

Allen's stuttered speech left Ichigo shocked. 'A monster'? 'Just a weapon'? What had happened to the teen to have caused him to think so lowly of himself? Had the Black Order been the cause of this? Why was he all the way in Japan anyway? Was he running? If so, who was he running from? Ichigo remembered the sad, detached look that had flooded Allen's eyes when he spoke of the Order and it clicked. Allen must have been running from the Order. But why? What had he done to have to run away? If the Order was anything like the old Soul Society then Ichigo had some vague ideas about the answer to that question, and none of them did anything to quell the anger that had started to bubbled to the surface. His eyes were bound to be turning gold and black by now. He forcefully squashed the anger and left it for later, he pitied any hollow that would choose to show up in Karakura tonight.

Distraught sobs caused Ichigo to stop his sinner rant. He reached towards the crying angel and pulled him closer to himself giving him a well practised hug that he had used to comfort his sisters many times before. His strong but lean arms wrapped around Allen's shaking form.

"Everyone deserves kindness Allen. Dad really wants you to stay with us, as do Karin and Yuzu and me. You deserve to have a family and even if we are all weird and different we can be that family for you. Also, Yuzu would be distraught if you just left." Allen's shaking shoulders had steadied slightly but the tears kept pouring, so Ichigo let them, the boy needed to let go of all the emotions that he had kept on such a tight leash. They were only breaking him apart. Not that Ichigo could give advice about that, he was probably worse that Allen when it came to showing his weaker side.

'Aibo, when d'ya turn into such a sap? If ya're gonna continue I'm gonna puke."

'Zangetsu, make sure that Shiro behaves himself.' Ichigo growled mentally ignoring Shiro.

'It'll be my pleasure Ichigo.' Ichigo shivered slightly at the malice directed towards his hollow side by his Zanpakuto. This had been another unexpected change that had occurred because of the Saigo no Getsuga Tensho; the personalities of the three souls that inhabited Ichigo's body had mixed with each other.

Ichigo had become colder and more calculative while also being easier to anger and more vicious in battle, Shiro had calmed down slightly too and gained an odd fascination in Shakespeare which amused Zangetsu to no end. Then there was Zangetsu... the once cold and calm older man had started to show a darker personality that was the cause of Shiro's distress at any time when Zangetsu was bored, while when in his younger form, Tensa Zangetsu became hotheaded, impulsive and bloodthirsty on top of his usually stoic personality. The changes were still strange to Ichigo but he was starting to get used to them.

"Ichigo?" Allen's small and slightly shaky voice broke the brooding Shinigami out of his thoughts. Ichigo loosened his hold on the white-haired boy and let him slide off his lap before replying. "Yes, Allen?"

"Thank you." Allen looked up at Ichigo and gave him a small but genuine smile. It looked beautiful on the teen's face and Ichigo vowed to make it appear more often.

"No need to thank me. Now how about you go take a shower, I'll just get you something you can sleep in." Ichigo proceeded to get up and walk over to his closet and rummage through the clothes he used to wear before his coma, Allen looked about the same height as he did back then and luckily he hadn't gotten around to throwing the now too small clothes out. After a short while Ichigo picked out some loose jogging bottoms and a baggy shirt that he threw over his shoulder at Allen.

The orange-haired teen heard a small 'meep' as Allen caught the flying clothes and got up to go to the bathroom. "Umm... where's the bathroom?"

"Go right down the hallway, it's the last door, there should be an extra toothbrush in the cupboard above the sink. Oh, and here's an extra towel." Ichigo handed the other teen a white and red striped towel receiving a nod and "thank you." in return before Allen left the room.

Allen found the bathroom without any problems. It was average sized and completely white, with a large bathtub that looked very inviting but Allen being tired by now settled for a shower instead. Placing his clothes to the side Allen stripped then set to work undoing his bandages, luckily the only ones left were the ones on his chest and the waist. He looked down at his scared torso with a frown, a nasty purple and green bruise along his ribs standing out against his ivory skin. He got in the shower and turned it on letting the hot water run down his tired body.

The water relaxed his muscles and it wasn't long before his mind began to wander. He finally had a place where he felt at home. The Kurosaki family may be beyond strange, with a hyperactive dad, twins - one a tomboy, the other a motherly figure - and Ichigo, a Soul Reaper, but they fully accepted him.

Now that Allen thought about it, he had never expected there to be such beings as Soul Reapers, much less for there to be one who was... well, alive. Ichigo may have said he was an anomaly and that was something that Allen could understand but he strangely felt that they were more alike that he could see at first glance. He idly wondered if Ichigo knew what it was like to have another occupant in his body, something along the lines of the Noah soul inside him... a friendly and protective if a tad bit insane Noah.

Allen's thoughts shifted to what being a living Soul Reaper must be like. Living with a foot in each world, with living beings, the other a world of deceased souls. Seeing people who were living and having to be the one to send them on to the next life when they died. Living for the dead. It was a morbid thought but Allen was the same. He lived for the Akuma – to save them – just like he lived for living people. It must be hard have to send people to the afterlife, knowing that someone was grieving for them, for the loss of a parent, friend, neighbour or acquaintance knowing that they would never see them again.

A lone tear fell from Allen's eyes at those thoughts. Being a Soul Reaper must be much harder than being an exorcist yet Ichigo can still be so kind and welcoming to a complete stranger.

Allen finished showering and turned off the water. He quickly dried himself off and put on the clothes that Ichigo had given him, slightly surprised when they fit him almost perfectly, only a bit too wide at the shoulders. Allen looked at himself in the small mirror above the sink, he was still pale as always, his scar painfully contrasting the light tone. Overall he looked better than before the fight with Kanda and Alma – no more dark bags under his eyes, his eyes themselves weren't bloodshot only slightly dulled from exhaustion.

Allen reached up to the cupboard and opened it searching for the toothbrush which he found quickly, ripping off the packaging and binning it, then brushing his teeth quickly. Once done he rinsed his mouth and the toothbrush before putting it away and collecting all his clothes.

Back in his room Ichigo lay back on the futon spread over the floor and let his mind drift over the very peculiar events that had lead up to this situation - an exorcist living with the Kurosakis. Ichigo hadn't expected much when he had gone out to hunt the hollows that had disturbed his sleep, he remembered his confusion when the first hollow had disappeared but it could have just gone back to Hueco Mundo when it felt the adjuchas coming into the living world. The appearance of the second, stronger hollow had worried him but that also could have been explained that the adjuchas had been hunting the nameless hollow or it had been drawn by Allen's strangely high spiritual pressure.

While on the subject of Allen's spirit pressure Ichigo remembered the odd spirit thread that belonged to the boy, the white one – explained by him being human – tangled with a green thread that emitted a protective and powerful feeling. 'Must be Allen's Innocence.' Then there was the gold thread that seemed to thrum with contained power, it had felt... dark, for lack of a better word, almost like Shiro's reiatsu but still more calm and human than his bloodthirsty hollow.

Allen hadn't mentioned anything about having a power other than Innocence. Was that power something not related to being an exorcist or was it part of this 'Innocence'? Exorcists sounded much like the human version of Shinigami to Ichigo. Innocence instead of a Zanpakuto... it sounded right. Then the hollow like reiatsu of that spirit thread... it must have been the exorcist version of a hollow. What had Allen called it...Akuma! But that would have meant that Allen was likely a mix between what the exorcists seemed to consider the 'good' and 'evil'. This posed another question, was Allen more like a Vizored or an Arrancar... or was he like Ichigo – a perfect combination of the two. The spirit threads that belonged to Allen had been too faint to detect the proportion between the two powers so that question would have to be left unanswered for now.

Ichigo's thoughts wandered back to when Allen had broken down. Ichigo's assumptions were starting to slide into place. If Allen had been or was still being chased by the Black Order then the reason would have most likely have been that dark soul attached to his own. This reminded Ichigo of the Visored and how they had been sentenced for execution by the Central 64, that fact alone almost made him glad that Aizen had put them back in their place during his warmongering. The thought of a similar case angered Ichigo; how could such a powerful organisation assume that something remotely dark was evil, it was like saying that Shinji or Nel were evil, it just wasn't right. He could feel Shiro's personality bubbling to the surface but he squashed it down again not wanting any collateral damage, or to scare Allen if he came into the room.

Moments later Ichigo was glad he was in control of his Hollow side as the door to his room opened and Allen stuck his head in as if apprehensive about entering the room. In a bid to ease Allen's apparent worries Ichigo offered him a small, reassuring smile.

"The bathroom's free now." Allen muttered shuffling into the room.

Ichigo raised a mental eyebrow at Allen's odd behaviour but then again however you look at his situation, the teen was in a house full of strangers, very odd strangers. "That's good, the bed's yours by the way, until we can find a more suitable place for you to sleep."

"Thank you." Allen replied quietly as he walked over to the large bed and sat down on it with a sigh.

"Remember that we need to take you shopping tomorrow so get some rest. I'll make sure to not wake you up when I come back." Allen nodded with a smile and Ichigo proceeded to pick up the shirt and bottoms he had chosen to sleep in and went to take a shower leaving Allen by himself.

The exorcist sat motionless for a short while before getting up and turning the light off. His eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness of the room and he walked back to the bed without tripping over anything. He pulled back the soft covers and lay down to sleep. The bed was much softer than what he remembered the beds at the Order to have been but he had been sleeping in cold alleyways - not wanting to draw attention to himself through gambling or doing clown tricks for the public – for the past few months.

Allen didn't fight the sleep and was soon in the - for now - dreamless darkness of his subconscious. He could feel Nea's appreciative and content smile as he drifted off. 'Looks like you've finally got a proper chance at happiness nephew. Make sure not to waste it.'

The next morning the bundle of duvet that hid Allen shifted as he woke up, he sat up and opened his eyes blearily. At first he was confused about his surroundings but when he looked around the small room he now occupied he remembered what had happened yesterday and let a true smile grace his lips. He was home.

The noise of shifting fabric made the exorcist aware of the other teen in the room. Ichigo was still asleep, encased near completely in his duvet to the point that only a few strands of orange hair stuck out of the top of the cocoon. Allen had to hold back laughter at the sight, he didn't want to wake the other teen up. He lay back on his bed and tried to get back to sleep with no success, he looked at the digital clock on the bedside table reading 6:59 and decided to wait until the other teen woke up. Just as the time changed to 7:00 the door to Ichigo's room was flung open and Isshin came sailing in through the open door with a drop-kick headed at Ichigo. "Rise and shine Ichigo!"

Allen, still slightly groggy from sleep, watched the events unfold as if it was no more than a film. Just as Isshin was about to hit where Allen guessed Ichigo's head was a hand shot out from under the duvet and grabbed hold of Isshin's ankle. A growl of "Shut up goat chin!"was slightly muffled by the cocoon encasing Ichigo. Then in one fluid movement Ichigo sat up and propelled his dad through the open window. Outside the sound of Isshin's body colliding with trash bins was heard clearly and Allen could hear the neighbours shouting. The exorcist scooted over to the window and peered out at the unmoving form of Ichigo's dad with morbid curiosity.

Allen turned to Ichigo "Is he going to be alright?"

"Yeah, he's like a cockroach, it's impossible to injure him in any conventional way." Outside a groan followed by "You did well son, there's nothing more I can teach you." could be heard.

"Does this happen often?" Allen inquired.

"Every chance he gets which is far too often for my liking." Ichigo grumbled out.

Allen nodded and turned back to the window to see if Ichigo's dad had gotten up yet, and true to Ichigo's word the doctor was missing from the place he landed, the trash cans back in place. Allen's stomach chose that moment to loudly announce that he was hungry. Ichigo chuckled at the loud grumble and the blush that stained Allen's face.

"We might just as well go get breakfast now that we're up." He said walking to the door.

Allen followed still blushing and cursing the consequences of having a parasitic type Innocence. Downstairs both of Ichigo's sisters were up already, Karin engrossed in the anime she was watching, her back to the rest of the room, Yuzu in the kitchen humming as she made food.

"Morning Karin, Yuzu." Ichigo said offhandedly as he walked to the kitchen.

"Good morning Yuzu-san, Karin-san." Allen smiled timidly.

"Mornin'." Was Karin's muffled reply.

"Oh, Ichi-nii, Allen-san you're up. I was about to call you down for breakfast." She turned smiling at the two teens with a spatula in her hand.

"Do you need any help?" Ichigo offered.

"Umm... you can take the plates and cutlery to the table Ichi-nii. Oh, and where's dad?"

Ichigo grabbed the plates and cutlery before setting the table for breakfast. "He's outside again, and before you ask, it was entirely his fault." Precisely at that moment there was a knock at the door. Allen noticed with curiosity that no-one bothered to answer, Yuzu set about bringing food to the table, which Ichigo was setting and Karin continued to watch TV.

Feeling out of place Allen shuffled over to the table and took a seat beside Ichigo. The knocking came again followed by some undistinguishable words that sounded like pleading. When the knocking and pleading got louder Karin took pity on their dad, she opened the door and a blur passed by her before tripping over her stuck out foot. Isshin lay sprawled over the floor, looking dishevelled with dirty smudges on his clothes. He quickly got up and run over to a huge poster of a beautiful smiling woman with long, light brown, wavy hair proceeding to fall to his knees and cry. "Masaki! What have I done wrong? Our children are being so mean to me!"

"Dad breakfast's ready." Yuzu said sternly managing to gain her dad's attention.

Breakfast was a quick affair and soon enough everyone was dressed and ready to go shopping, Isshin, Yuzu and Karin having decided to tag along with Allen and Ichigo. Allen was dressed in his only pair of clothes – a loose white dress shirt with a red ribbon under a black jacket he had borrowed from Ichigo, black skinny jeans and black knee high boots – while Ichigo was wearing a pair of beige slacks with a black belt, black, high-top converses and a dark purple shirt under a black hoodie.

The shopping trip itself was mostly uneventful, Yuzu had dragged away a disgruntled Karin, Isshin following them. Allen and Ichigo having been left by themselves got through the shopping quickly with almost dismissive efficiency then decied to go back home by foot after dropping off Allen's newly brought clothes with Ichigo's sisters and dad.

The day was warm even though it was already mid October, the leaves on the trees dotting the pavement and in various parks they passed were a beautiful range of reds, oranges and greens while the slightly chilly wind made being outside refreshing. Allen hadn't complained about his injuries and after seeing how quickly they healed in he few days that Allen was out, Ichigo had guessed that they had finished healing by now, knowing that the previously wounded area would still be tender and weak for a while.

The white-haired teen had peeked Ichigo's curiosity since he had first seen him and his spirit threads. Knowing what he did Ichigo deduced that the quick regeneration must have been either something to do with Innocence or that dark power that was in Allen's soul but considering that exorcists seemed much like shinigami the second option was more likely – humans and soul reapers didn't heal this quickly without aid.

The exorcist was mostly silent since they left the house, only asking idle questions and talking about nothing when he felt the need to fill the silence, but the silence between bursts of conversation wasn't strange or awkward but comfortable, both teenagers enjoying each other's company. Allen had noticed how Ichigo seemed reserved and distant when he wasn't talking, his eyes clouded over in thought. His actions were always cautious, his movements silent. He didn't walk, he prowled, he didn't look, he calculated and observed and when he talked he weighed what he said as if each word was precious. Ichigo had become slightly more open around Allen, letting some emotions show in his eyes – something that the exorcist hadn't seen him do even around his family.

Ichigo in turn had noticed how Allen masked his feelings with a disarming smile and constant politeness, how the white-haired exorcist hid his appearance behind a hood and effortlessly blended in with the other pedestrians. But the teen looked tense, jumping at each unusual movement or loud sound as if he was expecting an attack, a notion that Ichigo was familiar with. Ichigo had also noticed that more and more of Allen's smiles were true and not masks and started smiling more himself.

Allen paused when he saw that Ichigo had stopped walking. Allen looked up at Ichigo to try to discern what was wrong, he saw the older teen tense and look up at the slightly cloudy sky with open annoyance. Allen followed his gaze and froze. Something was tearing the sky in two in various places just like when Allen had been attacked by those natural Akuma or as Ichigo had called them, 'hollows'.

"Just like with Uryu." Ichigo commented with increasing annoyance.

Ha! A cliffy, I feel evil but I didn't want to write more in this chapter, that is reserved for the next. Finally Ichigo and Allen will get a chance to fight together ^^

Please review otherwise it seems like I'm the only one who's actually reading this fanfiction T_T

All flames will be used to toast marshmallows :D