Rukia did not trust Urahara Kisuke one bit.

He was shady, secretive, fickle, two-faced, and perverted. Already she had knocked the man in the face after he made an upsetting remark about there being "so many beautiful young ladies in my store, oh my~", and now after explaining their situation she, Renji, and Inoue sat in the back room with a low tea table, waiting for Urahara to speak.

The man waved his fan and smiled, "You're all welcome to stay here while the senkaimon is being built. Miss Inoue I'm afraid your old home was shut down while you were gone, so you'll have to find somewhere else to live."

Inoue looked upset until she remembered, "Oh! I should go see Tatsuki and the others! She's going to be so worried about me!" and bolted out of the shoten, leaving only Rukia and Renji. Urahara smiled and waved goodbye after the girl, Yoruichi on his lap and watching Rukia.

"Ah, to be young again~. Now Miss Rukia, you and your man-servant are free to stay here while the senkaimon is being built."

"How long will it take?" she asked.

"Who knows~. Maybe a day, maybe a week, perhaps even a whole month."

"Excuse me? We do not have a month! We should be in the Seireitei right warning our captains on Aizen's betrayal! My brother and sister are prisoners, they could be hurt or dead and you want me to sit around and wait for you to build an imitation senkaimon!?"

"Tell me Miss Rukia, what do you know about Aizen Sosuke?"

"... Pardon?"

"You two were in Las Noches for about three days, correct? Well in that time did you ever actually have a conversation with Aizen?"

"What are you getting at?" asked Renji, a look of suspicion on his face.

Urahara set down his fan, "I've had dealings with both of Hueco Mundo and Soul Society's leaders over the years, I pride myself on having knowledge that very few others possess. Believe me when I tell you that your brother and sister are fine."

"How can you be so sure?"

"What reason would Mr. Aizen have for harming Lord and Lady Kuchiki? Do they have any information he could use? What does he want?"

Rukia was lost for words. Until this point she had only been driven by the need to report the broken treaty and demand the release of her brother and sister. Renji didn't say why they had been taken prisoner, he only knew what Byakuya had told him. They hadn't stopped to think, there was no time.

"You see?" Urahara continued, "Aizen is a tricky and dangerous man, Miss Rukia. It's more than likely that your sister and brother are part of a much bigger plan, but if you're still serious about going back to the Seireitei-"

She snapped, "Tell me what you know about Aizen."

Orihime was in a mix of emotions as she sat in Tatsuki's room, a bruise on her head and both the girl's eyes red from tears. Orihime had found Tatsuki's home easily, her feet taking her back to the place automatically. As if the years had washed away and she was still just a student visiting her friend after class, like she hadn't spent the last two years locked away in a desert kingdom against her will. Tatsuki had yelled at her, punched her on the head and called her terrible, and she had cried. From there it was mostly crying between both young women until they had settled enough for Orihime to explain in full what had happened to her between those two years and now.

Tatsuki held her teacup in her hands and sniffed, "That sounds terrible."

Orihime, holding her own cup much closer, nodded, "Not all of it was so bad. There are some good people there, and I still had a lot of freedom."

"You were being held against your will! You had to pose as a princess and was forced to lie to everyone!"

"Y-Yes, but that's all over now! I don't ever have to go back and I can stay here forever."

"Why didn't you try to leave sooner? How come no one tried to save you if they knew where you were?!"

"Ichigo tried! He went to Las Noches to save me."

"Well then why didn't he?!"

"Because-!" her words caught in her throat and she stopped. She looked away from Tatsuki, not wanting her best friend to see her face and stared at the wall, biting her lip.

Tatsuki took a deep breath, "Something happened, right? Something that's between just you and Ichigo. Well fine, you don't have to tell me what it is. Just promise me that you won't leave again without telling me."

A small smile appeared on Orihime's lips, "I promise."

"Good. Also I want to meet these shinigami you told me about. I need to make sure that you're safe with them."

"Yeah. Okay."

"Why are you smiling like that? What's so funny about me wanting to protect you!?"

"N-Nothing!" she sniffed and wiped away a tear. Across from her Tatsuki smiled, scooted closer to her friend, and wrapped her arms around Orihime tightly. She tried to hide the water in her eyes, but for once Tatsuki's angry, tough expression broke.

"I really missed you," she whispered, pulling Orihime closer to her.

Orihime, crying once again, returned the hug and squeezed herself against Tatsuki, "I missed you too."

Being back in Karakura brought back memories; good and bad.

After waking Kisuke up from an afternoon nap via his foot to the man's chest, Ichigo had explained his sudden reappearance and the situation he, Inoue, and the shinigami currently faced. Like clockwork, Kisuke reacted by smiling and saying something slightly perverted before jokingly asking Ichigo what his "vacation" in Hueco Mundo had been like. Ichigo in return gave the man a bloody nose and told him he was leaving.

He had wanted to speak with both ex-shinigami, but Kisuke was obviously unwilling to drop the harmless shopkeeper act and Yoruichi refused to revert from her feline form. Which left Ichigo with only one other option.

An option he would definitely have preferred to avoid at all costs. Mostly because the conversation was either going to end with him going through a wall, or someone else.

So he wandered and took his time, steaming off from his half-assed conversation with Urahara, until he came to the very familiar wreck of a barn house. It looked exactly as it did two years ago, which he shouldn't have been surprised by, the only new addition being a large metal door in place of the old double doors that had previously been there. He supposed it had something to do with Hiyori, the crazy little woman had always been throwing things and people through walls and doors whenever she got pissed off. Ichigo shuddered at the thought of once again having to face the wrath of Hiyori, memories of her sandal and snarling face as unpleasant as the real thing.

For a moment he wondered if leaving the shinigami alone with Urahara had been a bad idea.

He shook his head and pushed the worry away to stare at the metal wall in front of him. Might as well get it over with, he thought.

Slowly, almost resentfully, he moved to knock on the metal before a sharp voice caused him to twitch and stop. "KUROSAKI!" Ichigo flinched and turned around, seeing the red haired shinigami, Renji something, running towards him with a frown on his face.

"H-Hey," he stuttered, nervously. Ichigo wondered for a split second why the shinigami had followed him, then flipped to another problem. A shinigami in Karakura was one problem, a shinigami finding out about Hirako and the others, a lieutenant nonetheless, was another, much larger, problem.

"What the hell are you doing out here?" Renji asked him.

"What are you doing? Weren't you at Urahara's with the other shinigami?"

"I was, but we finished our conversation. Rukia went looking for Inoue, and I figured it was best we know exactly where you are too. So why are you running around by yourself in the outskirts of town?"

"None of your business. Look I'll be back at Urahara's in a few hours so just wait for me there."

"Hell no. If you think for a second I'm going to leave you alone then you're a bigger moron than I thought. I don't know enough about you, for all I know you're just a spy for Aizen and are about to rat us out."

"I'm not a spy, and I'm not ratting anyone out. I just need to do something out here and it's none of your business, so leave."

Renji wasn't convinced, "What's so important that you need to visit an old barn?"

"Nothing! Just go away!"

"Make me!"

"Jackass, I told you it's nothing!"

"Then show me what it is!"

"There's nothing to show you!"

"Well I wouldn't know about that."

Both Ichigo and Renji ceased fighting and looked to the barn entrance. For Renji, the man standing before him looked unimpressive and bored, his mouth hung half-open and his eyes were drooped. Blond hair was cut cleanly around his head and above his eyes and his clothes clutched tightly around his lanky frame. A loose tie hung from his neck and an old hat rested on top his head. All in all, the man looked like every other human Renji had seen wandering around town.

To Ichigo, seeing the man set a fire in his chest. The urge to put his fist through Hirako's stupid face was tantalizing, but the awkwardness of seeing Hirako again after nearly two years did little more than let him gawk like an idiot.

Renji, not knowing why the hollow boy had gone statue, spoke first, "Hey, do you live here?"

Hirako shrugged, "Maybe, why?"

"Kurosaki said he has some business here."

Ichigo sneered at the shinigami for ratting him out, and turned his head when Hirako looked at him.

"Did he now? Well it's always a pleasure ta see Ichi," Hirako stepped toward Ichigo. "Who's yer friend?"

"He's not my friend," Ichigo answered with a glare.

Shrugging again, Hirako invited both Ichigo and Renji inside the barn, "Make sure ta wipe yer feet."

Renji followed the stranger willingly, Ichigo begrudgingly followed in suit still scowling, into the barn. The inside was much different than from what Renji had pictured. There were three levels, the first ground floor was somewhat furnished with pieces of old furniture scattered around, and other men and women were lounging around in random and dispersed parts of the barn.

"Oi," the blond man turned to Ichigo, "Yer gonna have ta explain yerself ta everyone. Especially-."

"YOU STUPID JACKASS!" someone screamed and Renji watched as suddenly Ichigo hit in the face and thrown to the ground, a young girl landing ontop of him with her foot on his face. He watched in horror as the girl continued to yell profanities at Kurosaki, who yelled back just as rudely, and stomped on his face while he tried to throw her off. The blond man next to Renji simply watched with a small smile on his face until Kurosaki was finally able to toss the girl off of him.

"What the hell, Hiyori!?"

"Shut up, stupid brat! Why are you here!?"

"Why are you attacking people from the ceiling!?"

"Why are you such a little bitch?"

At this point the other occupants of the home had gathered around the trio. Renji counted six people, not including the blond man and Hiyori, who had gathered around to watch Ichigo struggle as Hiyori tried again to stick her foot in his face. A large man, Renji didn't believe it but this guy might be bigger than Captain Zaraki, with a moustache and thin pink hair, sighed and said, "This is no way to welcome him."

Another blond man, this one with hair longer than Renji's and curled, shook his head and put his hand over his eyes dramatically, "Such a state for the prodigal child to return from. Too long a journey it must have been."

"What are you talking about?" the glasses wearing woman (Renji quickly diverted his eyes away from her (very) short skirt) snapped. "I say he deserves this."

With a yell, Kurosaki threw Hiyori away from him and the girl landed in front of Renji. For the first time she seemed to realize that Renji was actually there, and pointed at him.

"Who the fuck are you?"

"Excuse me?" Renji said.

"You! Who are you!? Why the hell are you here, baldy?!"

Renji, a nasty tick appearing on his head, glared at the short blonde, "What did you just call me?"

Hiyori matched his glare, "Are you hard of hearing, dumb baldy? Do I need to scream it to you? Who the hell are you and why are you here!?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, short stack."

Hiyori fumed and before Renji could react she had sent her foot flying upwards, and Renji hit the ground clutching his crotch. Ichigo watched, slightly thankful that Hiyori had found someone else to beat on for the time being, before turning to Shinji.

"Can we talk for a minute? In private."

The man studied Ichigo's face for a second before agreeing, and the two left Renji alone with the strangers for another room. Ichigo made sure the door was shut tight before facing Hirako, his permanent scowl slightly deeper than normal.

"Alright," the Visored man crossed his arms, "What did ya want ta talk about?"

"How come you never told me about my parents?"

Hirako stood still for a second, the shock on his face easing off before he sighed and rubbed his neck, "Right, that... Found out did ya?"

"Yeah, I did. Now answer my question. Why didn't you tell me?"

"What can I say, kid? Just never found a good time ta mention it."

"Bull shit!" Ichigo snapped. "You could have told me anytime you wanted but you didn't, neither did Urahara or Yoruichi or Tessai. I had to find out from Aizen! Now tell me the truth!"

Hirako tried to look unfazed as he held his hands up in defence, "Fine, fine, ya don't have ta yell at me. We didn't tell ya because ya didn't need ta know. Not yet, anyway. Ya were busy with trainin' and dealin' with yer hollow power, ya didn't need more ta stress over. Kisuke, Yoruichi, and I figured it best ta wait a while till we came clean but then ya went AWOL tryin' ta save Orihime and we never got the chance."

Taking in the older visoreds words, Ichigo asked, "How long have you known?"

"Me? Not very long. Kisuke told me just after ya started trainin' here. I almost didn't believe him."

Ichigo faked a laugh and slumped to the floor, "Yeah, me neither."

"When did ya find out?" Hirako asked the boy and sat down across from him. He hadn't seen Ichigo in over a year, not since he was fourteen, and in his personal opion the time had not done the kid any good. Ichigo looked tired.

"About a month now. One day Aizen found me and we talked. Sort of."

"Ya believed him?"

"Why wouldn't I? At leat he told me," Ichigo said bitterly.

"Uh huh. What exactly did he tell ya?"

"Dad was a shinigami, mom was a Quincy who ended up being hollowfied, and then I got the best of both of their abilities. It explains my hollow half, I suppose."

"Yeah, that's about it. He tell ya anything else?"

Ichigo seemed to shrink a little.

"Hey," Shinji said, sterner. "What else did he say?"

"...He said he knows where my dad is."

Shinji sighed and rubbed his eyes, of course he said that, "And ya think he's tellin' the truth."

"No, I think he's baiting me and I'm not stupid enough to bite."

Hirako looked at him, not convinced one bit, "But?"

This time Ichigo sighed and closed his eyes, "But what if he does? Aizen has eyes everywhere, so if anyone would know it would be him. Why else would he tell me?"

"Kid I'd thought ya'd learn by now that ya can't trust that freak. Even if he "tell" ya where ta look, could ya trust that that's where he'd be? Ya'd take the word of Aizen and go off ta some random place on the slight chance that yer dad might be there? Are ya really that stupid?"

"Of course not!"

"Then stay outta trouble, and keep away from Hueco Mundo from now on. Yer lucky ta have gotten outta there in the first place."

Ichigo almost laughed, "Hardly. Aizen let us go."

"What makes ya say that?"

"It was too easy to get out of Las Noches. There are hundreds of guards posted around the city, even more in the palace. The shinigami I'm helping shouldn't have been able to escape there, much less make it all the way to me without being spotted. Even if Inoue was guiding them. The Espada could track them easily and arrest them in a second, or Aizen could have had them killed before they knew what hit them. We used the underground pipes to get out and I know a fact that there isn't a secret passage in Las Noches that Aizen doesn't know about."

"What makes ya so certain?"

"I just know, okay? Let it go."

"Alright, alright. No need ta get all grouchy at me. So why would the would-be-king let ya go?"

"That's what I don't get. If he wanted a war then it would be easiest to just have killed the shinigami, but instead he just arrested Rukia's brother and sister and let her and Renji get away."

"Renji the shinigami you brought with ya?"

"I told you he followed me, but yeah. Rukia's still at Urahara's, he building the senkaimon that will get us to Soul Society."

Raising a brow, Shinji asked the boy, "Yer goin' ta Soul Society?"

"Well where else am I supposed to go? Inoue and I can't stay here, it'll just bring Aizen to Karakura."

"Not necessarily. How would ya be any safer bein' with the shinigami than bein' here? At least here no one's gonna attack ya for being different."

"I can control it."

"Barely."

Ichigo glared at him but didn't say anything before standing up, "Whatever. We're here until Geta-boshi gets the senkaimon working."

Shinji followed his honorary adopted brother out the room and back to the great hall, where the shinigami (Renji, was it?) was being attacked both verbally by Lisa, Love, and Kensei, and physically by Hiyori and Mashiro. Hirako had to admit, watching as the red haired man threw off an aerial attack from Mashiro while barking an answer back at Kensei (who was yelling just as angrily).

"Gonna go see yer friends?" Shinji asked the carrot top.

Ichigo shrugged, "Probably. I need to apologise to Chad for disappearing, and Ishida will most likely just chew me out for failing to bring Inoue back sooner. Not to mention Tatsuki will want to kill me."

"Definitely," Shinji smiled.

"See ya, Shinji," Ichigo turned to the screaming group and walked calmly past the yelling Visoreds and grabbed the shinigami's collar.

"Come on, we're going."

The shinigami looked at Ichigo in surprise, "Wait a second! Where the hell did you go?"

"Just shut up," Ichigo turned back to the Visoreds, "Nice seeing you guys again," then flashed off with the shinigami in tow.

This chapter hurt to write a little. I needed to get Orihime her reunion with Tatsuki because I live for that shit. Next time we will get a short reunion between the boys, as well as some more plot development. It may take a while since this coming week is my reading week and after that I have midterms. I will update as soon as possible!

Thank you for reading and please leave a review!

Byebye~