Through It All

Urahara's Shop (training area)

"Argh!" Damn it! I'm almost out of energy. I can barely stand up.

It's been a few weeks since Karin officially agreed to train with Urahara. As the weeks went by Karin became stronger and stronger. She was able to control her reiatsu so that whenever a hollow or menos was around she could suppress her reiatsu and she wouldn't draw too much attention to them.

She looked around her trying to track Renji down. He suppressed his reiatsu so she wouldn't be able to feel him. Instead she tried to hear where he was since she couldn't see him. It was one of these days when Urahara would block at least one of her senses. Today was her eye sight. He had tied two layers of black clothe over her eyes so she could train without seeing anything.

Karin listened around her and finally felt a change in the wind's flow. She rapidly turned to her left and swung her bokken at Renji. Both their weapons connected to each other and caused a large explosion on the training grounds. Rocks and dirt flew everywhere as the explosion ended. Panting Karin took off the cloth from her eyes and collapsed on the ground.

"Okay. We're done for the day. Well, I'll give you a day off tomorrow. So rest up Karin-chan!" Urahara said as he walked up the stairs.

Karin rose from the ground as Renji took her left arm and draped it over his shoulder helping her to her feet.

"You're becoming stronger." Renji said to Karin then dragged her up the stairs.

Where is she getting all this reiatsu?

Renji stumbled for a second as he shifted Karin and realized that she was passed out. Renji grunted and muttered something that sounded like 'like brother like sister' and continued up the stairs quietly.

Abandoned Building

"Ahchoo!" Ichigo rubbed his nose as he continued swinging his Zanpakuto at Shinji. Ichigo's eyes bulged out of its socket as he almost got his arm ripped off his body. He and Shinji were fighting with each other so hard that even that small sneeze almost cost his life.

"Oi! You're getting slow! Pick up your pace!" Shinji yelled.

"Shut up!" Ichigo replied. Shinji slammed his foot on Ichigo's face as Ichigo smacked his Zanpakuto into Shinji's face causing him to fly across a million miles away.

"Eh? Neh Hiyori, Ichigo seems really into it today." Love said to Hiyori who just rolled her eyes and lied down to take a nap.

"So." Hiyori muttered. She continued to stare at Ichigo. Ichigo was getting better and better at handling his hollow. Pretty soon he wouldn't need them anymore and he'll just leave them. But until then she'll make sure his life was a living hell until he leaves. Hiyori closed her eyes and smirked.

Ishidas

"Where are you going?" Ryuken asked his son. "None of your concern." Uryu replied. "Are you going to see your 'friends'?"Ryuken asked, referring to Ichigo and Rukia.

Uryu didn't say anything but just stood up and left his father's home. Uryu decided that he would train himself for now on now that his powers returned. He no longer needed his father. Although he would admit that if he trained with his father, he would definitely become stronger. But he just didn't want to deal with him.

Uryu walked around Karakura searching for an empty area or some abandoned building to continue training. Suddenly he stopped and looked at one of the apartments. He was now standing before Inoue's apartment. Inoue wasn't a shinigami, so that meant that he could still talk to her. Thinking that his training could wait a while, he went straight to Inoue's apartment and checked to see if she was there.

As he was faced to face with Inoue's door he went to knock on it when it suddenly opened. Feeling that something was off, Uryu proceeded to go in. He felt two reiatsus and ran inside to see if anything happened to Inoue. Suddenly he heard two people talking.

"I don't get it Taichou, what could have happened to her. She wasn't home for these past few weeks and I definitely know that she couldn't have possibly stayed at Tatsuki's house for this long." Said a female.

"Matsumoto, do you remember the last time you saw Inoue?" Hitsugaya asked.

Inoue is missing?

Uryu thought as he revealed himself to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto.

"Where's Inoue-san?" Ishida asked as he walked up to Hitsugaya and Matsumoto. Ishida stared at the pair when he realized that they were both shinigami. He knew he wasn't allowed to associate with any shinigami so he tried to be fast. All he wanted to know was what happened to Inoue.

Hitsugaya stared at Ishida and then realized that he was the Quincy that was with Ichigo when he went to Soul Society to put a stop to Rukia's execution.

"That's what we are trying to figure out." He said to Ishida. Hitsugaya walked towards Ishida and asked, "When was the last time you talked to her?"

"It was about a month ago."

Matsumoto gasped a bit before saying, "A month ago? I thought you're good friends with her. You really haven't talked to her for that long?"

Ishida nodded but then turned to leave until Hitsugaya reached for him. "What's your purpose?"

"What do you mean?" Ishida asked.

"What are you going to do now that Inoue is missing?" Hitsugaya stared at the back of Ishida's head.

"I'm going to go look for her."

"Well in that case you can tell us everything you know. We were planning to go look for her as well."

Ishida stared at the floor thinking if he should help them or not. He was restricted to having anything to do with shinigami. But then again, he already has his powers back.

Should I help them or not?

Ishida turned around to face Hitsugaya and said, "Last time I saw her was a month ago. I wasn't intending to talk to her again. Especially you shinigami."

Hitsugaya stared at him with interest. "What do you mean?"

Ishida walked to Inoue's table and told Hitsugaya and Matsumoto his story.

"I see. So you're not supposed to have anything to do with us?" Matsumoto asked. Ishida nodded.

"But now that I have my powers back, I think I don't have to listen to my father anymore."

"What if he goes after you?" Matsumoto asked. "I'll deal with that when the time comes. For now what's important is to find Inoue-san."

"Ne, Taichou, what do you think happened to her?"

"I don't know. Well Ishida, if you find out anything just let us know. I owe her for letting Matsumoto and I stay here."

Ishida stood up and nodded as he headed to the door to leave.

Just what happened to everyone while I was gone? Where could Inoue-san be?

Ishida thought as he stepped out into the light and looked up at the sky.