It had been two days since the attack and while Rick was glad to have seen with his own eyes, Hershel and Michonne's return to the rest of the group barely an hour in a half after the girl had taken them off into the woods, the happiness of having them returned was somewhat short lived due to the damages to the fence, among other things.

Everyone had been spending most of their time alternating duties. They had also lost some people who had joined them in previous months due to the fact that they had felt that the prison wasn't safe anymore.

But that was to be expected since they were afraid and felt as if it were the right thing to do.

Rick and Carl had just come in from outside. They had been spending an almost painful amount of time out in the near blistering heat just trying to clean up the mess that the Governor and their new friend had made. Though Rick had to be honest, the kid had done far more damage than the Governor had ever done, despite the obviousness of her good intent.

He'd never seen so much mindless destruction before in his life. And that was really saying something considering the fact that he was a father to a pre-teen boy whom absolutely loathed picking up after himself.

Quickly grabbing a bottled water, Rick had given his son instructions to hydrate himself and grab something to eat before he wandered off to grab some sleep. Earning a small grin from the boy before he nodded his head and then made a beeline straight for the cafeteria as Rick, himself walked off to head to the cell where the girl was currently resting so that he could check up on how she was doing and have a few words with Hershel and Daryl about their new friend.

He'd already talked to Michonne and Carl about making the kid a part of their group. Not just because she had saved them and their home, though he would admit that that had sort of swayed his thoughts on the matter in her favor. No- he wanted her to be a part of the group because he also wanted to know more about her.

She was dangerous.

It didn't take a genius to see that much after what had happened two days ago. But there was more to it than that and he was trying to keep an open mind about everything.

Also, there was the fact that she obviously had combat experience. Though where a kid her age would have gained such knowledge, he had no clue. But the fact that she could fight made her more of an asset. Especially since she could do that shimmer/mirage thing.

Being able to use that in specific situations could cut back on his group's fatality rate. Allowing himself and the others to protect them even better.

Pausing outside of the cell, he noticed Daryl looking at the girl oddly and frowned a little bit as Hershel's voice suddenly cut through his thoughts.

"You like her don't you?"

Daryl didn't say nothing for several moments before finally saying, "Can't like her. I don't know her."

"And yet you keep staring at her as if she were an ice cool drink of water dangled before a thirsty man." Hershel said with a slight hint of amusement in his voice as Daryl growled at the old man and snapped.

"I said, I don't like her!"

"Sure, sure, son. Has no one ever told you about love at first sight?"

"I don't like her," Daryl said a little more forcefully, his tone belying his agitation as he then muttered with a scowl, "I can't like her."

Rick's lips twitched ever so slightly in amusement as Hershel finally seemed to sense his presence hanging around, loitering outside of the cell, and called him in and asked, "What can we do for you today Rick?" As soon as he entered the small room.

Rick looked at the two before then looking at the girl.

She had remained unconscious these past two days, either from what Hershel figured was exhaustion or blood loss or perhaps even a little bit of both. The moment that the elder had returned to the prison with Michonne and seen that his daughters were fine, he started firing questions about the kid. And upon finding out that she was wounded and unconscious- he'd got this determined look on his face and marched off after grabbing someone and demanding that they show him where she was being kept.

Rick knew that the man was likely to take a shine to the girl, so he wasn't all that shocked by his behavior.

Michonne...was a little bit more difficult to read. On one hand, she had asked about the girl. She had even swung by the cell once Hershel had stabilized her condition to see how she was doing.

But after that, she started keeping her distance from the kid. Which Rick chalked up to her being wary of her for things like not knowing her or how she did the shimmer thingy. But then, her wariness towards the girl was neither a positive nor a negative thing.

Not really anyways.

It was merely Michonne being Michonne. She was a cautious person by nature. And Rick figured that if he made the girl a part of the group- if given a little bit of time to get to know the girl, Michonne would probably warm up to her considerably.

"I wanted to talk to the two of you about the possibility of having the kid join our group once she's healed up."

"Ya want to make her one of us?" Daryl asked curiously, a small frown marring his features.

"After what she did for us- do you really think it's right to just patch her up and make her leave?"

"No."

"Nah. But there's more to your reasoning, isn't there?"

"There is. The first reason, is that she's dangerous. Whether to us or others, she needs watching. The second reason, is I want to know more about her. Where did she come from? Who is she? How does she do that weird 'shimmer' thing that enables her to pass among people without detection? Why does she use it? Is it a form of technology? And if so- does she have more than she can give to us?"

"And then there is her sword- the damned thing is massive so much so that I can't help but wonder how someone so...uh, petite manages to wield it. How does she manage to carry it on her back when it must weigh hundreds of pounds? How is she strong enough to use it so easily? She has combat experience that could be to our advantage... It could help us protect ourselves much better. Ya know, cut down on the fatality rate among our group."

"All of those are good points, however I think I may be able to shed some light on a few of those questions that you want answered," Hershel said as he reached over to the small table next to the sink and picked up what looked like an old and worn, brown leather wallet and tossed it to Rick, who absently caught the wallet in his hands as the elder then said, "From what I saw in the wallet- she has two ID's. One in, I think is Japanese. And the other is in English. I used the English one to learn her name, though I still can't really pronounce it. It also tells her birthdate and blood type. Among the other items in the wallet was a old picture of what I think may have been her family."

Rick nodded his head slowly and flipped the wallet open and quickly began to dig through it as Daryl leaned over his shoulder to see what he could of the contents.

The tiny image on the ID in Rick's hand was a younger version of the girl. Her strawberry blond-orange hair looked similar to how it did now, just shorter in the back. She was dressed in a school uniform with a white button up shirt underneath a slate grey jacket, with a red ribbon tied in a bow around the collar of her shirt.

It took Rick several tries to pronounce her name as he read the ID aloud.

"Ichigo Kur-o-sa-ki. Oh I see now. Okay, her name is Ichigo Kurosaki. She's fifteen in a half at present and will turn sixteen sometime around the end of the year. Blood type, AB positive. Height, five foot nine. Weight, one hundred and twelve pounds. Thanks Hershel, this is really helpful." Rick said with a grin.

At least now they had a name to go call her aside from 'kid' and 'girl'. It tended to get confusing for them to be asked about...Ichigo and accidentally mistake who was being asked about.

"I have one or two things to share with you that may also answer several of your questions. The first that I'm going to address is how she manages to carry and wield her sword. There are specific medical conditions that enhance muscle strength in those born with the condition. In fact many of those people are said to have herculean like strength. The sword, at first glance, if you really look hard enough- is incredibly heavy. The metal itself must weigh close to four or five hundred pounds. Yet when she saved me and Michonne, I noticed that she was using one hand to swing it. Not only that, but I also noticed that there was no wasted movement when she did so."

"So you think that she could have a medical condition that enables her to carry/wield her sword?" Rick asked with a small frown.

"I believe so- yes. The only other answer is years of intense muscle training. But as you can see from just looking at her, she practically has no muscle on her." Hershel said waving his hand towards the girl.

Daryl snorted as if amused before looking at Rick and saying, "He's right. She ain't got no muscle on her."

"The only thing that I can't really explain aside from her 'shimmer' is her speed," Hershel said, drawing Rick and Daryl's attention back to him. "I mean think about it, she not only proved that she could carry/wield that big ass sword of hers. But she carried two grown adults off at a speed that is positively unheard of. She ran even faster than a cheetah. And their supposedly the fasted animals that have ever lived."

"So...she's a freak then?" Daryl said, sounding more than a little bit confused. Hershel gave the man a pointed glare, not liking that he had called the girl a freak. Especially since it wasn't a good way to start speaking about someone that they didn't know anything about.

And even if it was true that she was somewhat of a freak- well it was just plain rude to label her as such when she might do her shimmer thing and disappear again if they made her uncomfortable.

"You watch your language Daryl Dixon or I'll get up out of this chair and box your ears," The elder snapped, causing both Daryl and Rick to look at him in surprise before he carefully tacked on, "The last thing you should do is begin labelling the gal as a freak. Especially if you want her to join our group. If you go around calling her a freak, you'll make her feel like she's one- and if that happens..."

"She'll avoid us or flat out disappear and never come back," Rick finished for him as he cast a glance towards the huntsman and then sighed and said, "Okay. Okay, we get it."

"Good. Was there anything else that you needed while you were here?"

"Nah, just...wanted to run things by the two of you is all. I'll go now. Take care Hershel, and Daryl- try not to make him box your ears." Rick said half teasingly as Daryl sputtered for a moment before growling at him and re seating himself in the same seat that he'd had before as Rick walked out of the cell.

All of them had been so absorbed in the conversation that they hadn't even realized that the girl's eerie honey gold eyes had been watching them from underneath her dark lashes as she listened in on their talk.