I don't own Bleach :D

So this is the fourth chapter guys. I hope you like it. As always constructive criticisms is highly appreciated and forgive my grammatical mistakes.

I am really enjoying this story I hope you guys are too

Thoughts in Italic.

Alright moving on. Read, review & enjoy.

Chapter 4

Rukia walked out from hall and saw Renji waiting for her in front of the door. Renji was a tall tan boy with tattoos all over his body. His dark maroon hair were tied in a ponytail behind his head. She gave a quick smile and walked towards him.

"Rukia what's going on? You were summoned in between the Captains meeting. I got worried about you," Renji said. And Rukia could understand his worry. Captains meeting was big issue in Heaven and being summoned in between it was even bigger issue.

"I'll tell you everything but not here," Rukia said pulling Renji's away from the hall.

"Where are you taking me?" Renji allowed himself to be dragged. But Rukia didn't answer him and continued to pull him towards the thirteenth squad.

Finally Rukia stopped in what seemed like a training ground. But the place was too deserted to be called one. Wild grass was growing everywhere on the ground, the trees were over-grown. It seemed to be forgotten by everyone; everyone but Rukia.

"What is this place?" Renji asked looking around.

"This was originally the training ground meant for the 13th squad, but now it is abandoned due to some unknown reason," Rukia explained.

"Alright so what is going on with you? Why were you summoned in Captains meeting?" Renji asked again.

Rukia took a deep breath and expanded her senses around. When she was convinced that there was no one else except her and Renji, Rukia started telling everything that happened with Shiro and what all she said in the captains meeting, also their mission to go to Karakura town.

After her explanation was done Renji gave a low whistle and sighed. He didn't understand he should be angry or proud or relived. Try as he may, Renji could never lie to his captain or any captain at that. And here Rukia was who out-witted all 13 captains, not even individually but all at once. Renji decided he was more proud of Rukia now than ever.

"You dummy do you have any idea what sort of risk you just took!" Renji said.

"What?" Rukia gave annoyed expression.

"It was plain luck on our part that Head Captain choose us to go to human realm. If he had chosen someone else what do you think would have happened? You and Shiro would be charged as traitors and executed!" Renji said seriously a bit angrily.

Hair on Rukia's back of neck stood as she took in the worst case scenario, which could have happened if the Head Captain had chosen someone else. She took a small breath and shook her head, because that wasn't the case. Everything was alright and she was gonna make damn sure that everything stayed that way.

x—x—x

"What were those things that night?"

"Demons."

"What are you?"

"Half Angel."

"So you are half-human?"

"Yes."

"Why did those things attack me?"

"For fun."

"Why did you save me?"

"No reason."

"And you expect me to believe all this?"

"Yes," came a deadpan reply from Shiro.

Ichigo huffed at that and stood up angrily. He couldn't believe a single thing Shiro said but he did see the events of the night unfold in front of him.

When Shiro had finally come down after his bath Ichigo couldn't contain his curiosity anymore. He wanted some answers. Shiro agreed to answer all his questions but Ichigo didn't expect them to be one word. He wanted a full explanation with details but all the angel, or whatever Shiro was, offered him single word answer which was said so deadpanned that it had left Ichigo wondering what to do next.

So he angrily walked away, pouting the whole time; not that he would ever admit it. He was irritated with the angel, but he couldn't say much since the angel was giving answers. And when Shiro agreed to answer all his questions he never once said that they won't be one word.

Ichigo walked inside the kitchen to make lunch but decided against it. He was too tired to make lunch anyways. He thought it was such a tiring and monotonous work and wondered how Yuzu did it every day without fail. He decided to order pizza instead.

Shiro had been thoroughly amused by the reactions the human gave. When Shiro agreed to answer all the questions Ichigo had, he had mentally made a note to himself to answer as little as possible. The less Ichigo knew more better it would be for him and Ichigo would be much safer that way. Although he was doing this for Ichigo, Shiro couldn't deny that he had enjoyed irritating the human.

Enjoyment was such a foreign emotion for Shiro, he never thought he would feel anything like this ever in his entire life. His entire time in Heaven he was always very serious, never once did he smile. The human must be special, Shiro thought. He couldn't ignore the fondness he felt at that.

Shiro saw Ichigo walk into the kitchen and he himself headed out. He needed to contact either Rukia or Renji. Shiro sat on the porch and concentrated his spirit energy at one point. He expanded his senses and searched for Rukia's energy but he couldn't find any. She must have returned back to Heaven, Shiro thought.

So he focused his energy towards the Heaven and tried to contact her, but he couldn't. Something was blocking his senses. He felt this way when he woke up, like his senses were very limited, but he didn't have much thought to it then. Now that he thought about it, he wondered what was going on.

Shiro shook his head and sat in position for meditation instead. He would think about all this when his body was aching a bit less and he was a bit more relaxed. With that thought Shiro started meditating.

x—x—x

Lunch was entertaining, at least for Ichigo. Shiro didn't know what pizza was, and at first he had spent time poking it. He asked for chop sticks to eat pizza and Ichigo laughed at that. When Ichigo told Shiro that he had to use his hands Shiro made a face but reluctantly tried.

Eventually Shiro liked pizza so much that he ended up eating most of it. Ichigo didn't mind since he thought Shiro would be hungry, after all Shiro hadn't eaten anything since five days, as he was unconscious.

Which made Ichigo wonder what did angels eat, or for the matter did they need to eat. But judging from Shiro's one word answers Ichigo decided to ask all this later.

After lunch Shiro walked up to Ichigo's room without turning back and closed the door behind him. Ichigo felt his eye twitching. This guy is starting to get too comfortable here, Ichigo thought. But he was too nice to kick out an injured guy. So Ichigo simply sighed and flopped down on the sofa surfing through various television channels.

x—x—x

Sometime between afternoon and evening, Ichigo heard a knock on his door. Expecting it to be Rukia, Ichigo got up and opened the door. Outside the door stood his friends Uryu, Orihime and Chad.

Ichigo suddenly felt the alarmed, he didn't know what he should be doing. Should he invite his friends in or make an excuse and send them off. He knew they would undoubtedly ask questions about Shiro, and he didn't know how to explain all this to his friends.

"Hi Kurosaki-kun. How are you feeling?" Orihime asked.

"You skipped school even today so we decided to check on you," Uryu said his glasses glinting. Chad silently agreed to it.

Still deciding what to do Ichigo was standing in the doorway not answering any of his friend's questions. They gave him a look like they were waiting for Ichigo to invite them in.

Reluctantly Ichigo moved and opened the door a bit wider and invited them in. Ichigo closed the door behind him and praying Shiro wouldn't come down. It would be very difficult for him to explain the situation.

His friends silence told Ichigo that Shiro was present there in the living room. He sighed, to hell with it I will think of something anyway.

"Is he a friend of your Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked sweetly.

Ichigo turned and saw all his friends eyeing Shiro curiously. Shiro in turn was staring at Orihime intently. Ichigo noticed that Shiro had worn a shirt thankfully.

"Ya he is a very old friend of mine," Ichigo said. He sighed and introduced the group to each other.

"So we can see Ichigo, with him wearing your clothes and all," Uryu said.

Ichigo gave a mental smile, he couldn't hide anything from Uryu anyways. Uryu was too sharp and observant, and had always been that way.

"Yes well his clothes were destroyed," Ichigo said.

"How? What happened?" Orihime asked curiously looking at Shiro, who was still staring at her. He never once looked at Ichigo's other two friends.

Ichigo said, "Well he met with an accident while he was coming here to meet me."

"So why didn't you to take him to hospital instead?" Uryu asked as he pushed his glasses with his finger. He was staring at Shiro very sharply, who still wouldn't glance at anyone but Orihime.

"Shiro hates hospitals so," Ichigo said.

Everyone was silent for a while each in their own thoughts. While Chad and Uryu shared a look. Ichigo saw the look and wondered if his friends knew what was going on. But that wasn't possible Uryu and Chad couldn't know Shiro was half-angel or anything supernatural for that matter.

To break the awkward silence Orihime said, "I will make some tea for everyone."

All the boys in the room sat straight at that except for Shiro, knowing Orihime's cooking very well.

"Orihime you must tired after PE so let me make tea," Uryu said quickly.

Orihime nodded and said, "Alright but let me help you."

Ichigo and Chad gave a relived sigh. Chad shifted closer to Ichigo and asked in a very low voice, "Are you alright Ichigo?"

Ichigo gave a small nod to reassure his friend. "I am fine Chado what would ever happen to me."

But that didn't seem reassure his friend at all. Chad still seemed worried.

The rest of the evening Orihime asked various question to Shiro, and he gave one word answers to all of it. But not once did Shiro's eyes left Orihime and Ichigo couldn't help but feel disappointment all the time.

x—x—x

Ichigo woke up to the sound of window breaking. He quickly got up and threw his covers away ready to fight if he had he. He looked towards the window which was broken and saw a red headed boy standing over there.

He had tattoos over his face and was wearing traditional clothing. His red hair were tied in a ponytail and he had a bored expression on his face.

"So this is the strawberry you were talking about?" he asked.

Ichigo saw Rukia enter the room from the newly broken window and nodded her hair. So he is Rukia's friend, Ichigo thought. But Ichigo couldn't forgive him for the strawberry comment. He had suffered enough in his childhood about the strawberry comment to face it even know.

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo snarled and gave a glare to the boy.

"Not very friendly is his?" red head asked to his companion.

Rukia slapped Renji on his head and said, "Of course he would be hostile. You just broke his window and entered his house."

Ichigo heard and felt tiny bit satisfaction, at least one person knew how he felt. He didn't understand why everything happened at night when he was sleeping. Why couldn't anything happen during day time when he was freaking awake.

"Well we tried knocking the door in your way Rukia but he didn't answer so only option left was my way," Renji said.

"He didn't open the door because he was sleeping Renji. Didn't you hear his breathing?" Rukia explained.

Before Ichigo could retort to that, Shiro came downstairs. "What are you two idiots doing here?" he asked but without any bite to his words.

"Shiro you are awake," Rukia said.

"Shiro," Renji said.

Ichigo could see pure happiness on both of their faces upon seeing their friend. Rukia was smiling happily and the boy now identified as Renji had a small smile on his face too.

Ichigo tried to get up but he could feel ache in his body catch up to him. He had been sleeping on sofa for few days so his body had started aching. And all the times when he stayed awake at night and slept during day finally started effecting him. His head started pounding heavily. All Ichigo wanted now was sleep.

"Do you mind talking outside," he said irritably. "And use a freaking door while you go."

He gave Renji a sharp glare as he flopped down on the sofa again and started thinking all that happened during the day.

He was disappointed that Shiro would not even look at him properly but had stared at Orihime the entire time she was here. Of course he would look at Orihime, she is beautiful, Ichigo thought. Half the male population in school had hots for Orihime. And why did I think otherwise, I mean what made me think that he would be interested in guys, Ichigo thought and then gave himself a mental slap. What are you thinking Ichigo! You aren't interested in guys either, he scolded himself.

But Ichigo couldn't shake off the sadness he felt. He couldn't understand any of his feelings. Up until now Ichigo had never felt attraction towards anyone. He never could understand why it was this way, all his guy friends were chasing after girls always but Ichigo didn't feel a thing.

He shook his head, he didn't want to think about all this anymore and what good it would do. It wouldn't change the fact that Shiro seemed interested in Orihime. Ichigo cleared his mind slowly and when his troubled thoughts finally subdued he drifted off to sleep.

x—x—x

Shiro led Rukia and Renji outside the house and used a door as Ichigo had said. He too gave Renji a small glare but couldn't stay angry with his energetic friend.

Rukia noticed the glare and pondered on Shiro's reaction. Shiro was protective of human it seemed and he didn't like anyone hurting him. She had noticed similar reaction from Ichigo when she first met him. They are really protective of each other, Rukia thought and wondered what sort of bond was there between the two.

"You should be more discrete Renji," Rukia said trying to lighten the situation a bit.

"Does this idiot even know what discrete is?" Shiro said smirking.

Renji huffed and said, "Hey quit picking on me you two and talk about the real reason why we are here."

That sentence killed all the playful mood that was around the group and everyone became somber.

"Are you here for him?" Shiro asked and Rukia knew he meant Ichigo.

"No of course not! Will you let me explain?" Rukia said.

And then Rukia started telling everything that happened to her after she was send on the mission to retrieve Shiro.

Shiro felt immense warmth in his heart. He didn't know what he should be saying, Rukia not only saved him but also saved Ichigo. Shiro knew that very soon Heaven would send someone for Ichigo and he didn't want that to happen. He didn't want Ichigo to pay the price for things that he didn't even do, in fact if anything Ichigo had saved his life. But Shiro knew Heaven wouldn't listen to any of it.

"Hey I can at least expect a thank you," Rukia said humorously.

That snapped Shiro from his trance and he looked at Rukia gratefully, his golden eyes took a shade of warm amber as if reflecting the warmth that he felt. He knew Rukia would do anything for him but he didn't expect the dedication to run this far.

"Rukia I…" Shiro stopped because he knew any words wouldn't express how truly grateful he was.

"Hey it's alright buddy, let us protect you once," Renji said.

Shiro nodded and didn't say anything as he was too over-whelmed to say anything.

"But you know what you have to do now right?" Renji asked.

Rukia and Shiro both knew what he was implying. It was something all angels did to keep their identity a secret. To erase memories, angels were born with that gift. It made sense, or else almost every human would know existence of the angels and demons.

"Yeah I know and I will do it tomorrow," Shiro said.

Rukia gave a doubtful look towards Shiro. She knew Shiro was fond of Ichigo no matter how much he tried to hide or deny it. Would Shiro really want Ichigo to forget all about him? Rukia thought.

"I know what you are thinking and don't. I will do whatever it takes to keep him safe," Shiro said to Rukia.

To protect someone was one emotion Shiro knew very well. He usually kept everyone around him safe so Rukia didn't doubt that Shiro would do same for Ichigo too. But to erase Ichigo's memory was a difficult step, Rukia doubted Shiro would take. She knew her friend very well and she also knew that Shiro wouldn't do it.

But Rukia nodded her head anyway. "Alright you do what you have to," she said. "We should be going. If anyone should know that we were here it would cause even more trouble for you guys than you already are in."

With that Rukia and Renji walked away.

Shiro walked in and looked at the form of sleeping Ichigo on the sofa. He couldn't understand why he felt so protective towards Ichigo.

He shook his head, all this wouldn't matter after tomorrow. As Rukia said he would do what he had to do.

x—x—x

So chap 4 over. Hoped you guys liked it, let me know through all your wonderful reviews.

Now everyone knows what Shiro is the fun starts from here *winks* I mean the intro of the story is over and the main story starts now. Thank you guys for sticking with me

Also the chapters would be longer, and there are other pairings too.

So thank you for reading this far and stick with me after this too.

I didn't thank all of you for making me favorite and following me. Thank you so much guys