I do not own Bleach!

The Unknown Child -7-

After Yuki had arrived back safely at Karakura town, the news had spread and sometimes people would come to the Kurosaki Clinic, just to see how the young orphaned girl was doing and Yuki couldn't be more grateful for everyone's support. But she couldn't just tell them she went to Seiteirei can't she? So she just made up a story where she was in the mountains, supposedly to look for some herbs but had gotten herself lost in the darkness and struggled to survive. Everyone believed her, since they knew, ever since Yuki lost her parents, she had became a bit more distant to everyone and likes to walk alone. People kept telling her to stay strong and not to give up and Yuki couldn't be more than grateful.

And Tatsuki, when she knew from Orihime that Yuki had came back safely without harm she quickly went to the Kurosaki Clinic.

"Tatsuki nee-chan!" Yuki was more than happy to welcome the crushing embrace Tatsuki gave her.

"You're okay! What happened? I heard from everyone you got lost, why did you go to the mountains by yourself?" Tatsuki scolded.

"I'm sorry… I thought… I might be able to see something…" Tatsuki's eyes softened. Yuki might look as if she's telling the truth, but Tatsuki know Yuki more than that. About Yuki's constant crying of monsters and how she'd look as if there were something beside her, Tatsuki knew Yuki more than that. But she decided that Yuki knew if she had told the truth no one would've trusted her, since she's still a child, so she'd believe her for now.

"You should've at least told someone you're going somewhere…"

"I can't… I don't want anyone to look for me…"

"You're making everyone worried even more if you don't say anything…"

"I'm sorry Tatsuki nee… I'll be good, I promise…" Yuki said as Tatsuki patted the girl's head before saying goodbye to the girl and walk back to her home.

"Sorry Tatsuki nee-chan… I know you knew I'm lying, but I'm sure you know that I can't just say the truth… you'd be in danger…"

/

It was one morning with Ichigo inside his class. Like usual, he punched Keigo before the boy manage to touch him and greeted Asano. He nodded to Chad, Uryuu and Orihime and sat down on his desk before hearing Keigo asked how did Chad and Ichigo got to muscular all of a sudden.

The class was almost empty since everyone had gone outside to eat or to mingle with their friends. Suddenly they heard the window opened and Rukia jumped in.

"T-That's Kuchiki-san! But she went missing, right?" Few students said as Ichigo and the others were stunned. Then the door opened and Ichigo was sure that day couldn't be merrier when he saw Hitsugaya, Matsumoto, Ikakku and Yumichika standing in front.

"Y-All of you… what are you doing here!" Ichigo yelled. Keigo, mesmerized by Matsumoto, almost jumped on her only for the lady to hit him with no mercy and didn't even notice him.

"Mission." Hitsugaya said.

"So, Ichigo, how's Yuki-chan?" asked Matsumoto excitedly.

"She's been good, going to school like usual. She still needs to rest a bit more though, sometimes she could overwork herself, it's still a mystery as of why."

"Perhaps it's because her power hasn't been fully brought out, if she can control her power, perhaps her body will come back to normal. She might've used her powers without her knowing." Hitsugaya said.

"… You sure know a lot about her…" Ichigo said suspiciously.

"What's wrong with that? Unohana-taichou seemed to told everyone about her condition every time she had to bring back to the 4th division." Hitsugaya said.

"Don't tell such lies, taichou! I know you like her, ever since Hinamori-chan spend her time with Yuki-chan you started to spend more time with her too!" Matsumoto said as Hitsugaya glared at his vice-captain.

"You do know I'm going to keep my eyes on you, don't you?" Ichigo said as Hitsugaya just shrugged. Hitsugaya then sensed something and quickly moved his eyes towards the classroom door just as it slid open.

"Ichi nii, are you there?" a shy voice called as Ichigo quickly walked towards the door to see his cousin standing there.

"Yuki, what are you doing here? Don't you have school?"

"They ended the school early today… and I just wanted to give you your lunch box."

"But I brought it from home."

"That's mine… Yuzu-chan accidentally mixed it… I can't eat yours…" Yuki said as Ichigo smiled and patted Yuki's head and walked towards his desk. Yuki then felt something and saw Hitsugaya staring at her.

"Hitsugaya-taichou? Why are you here? And there's Matsumoto nee, Ikakku-san and Yumichika-san too…" Yuki said, spotting the female waving madly at her.

"Mission. So, how are you?"

"I'm okay, how about you? Is Hinamori-chan okay?"

"Hinamori's okay, still unconscious." Tatsuki saw Hitsugaya talking to Yuki as if they've known each other for quite a while and decided to approach Ichigo.

"Does that boy know Yuki? He's been talking with her…" Tatsuki said, watching as Hitsugaya and Yuki talking leisurely.

"Oh, him? Yeah, Yuki knows him. They're friends." Ichigo said, picking out a lunch box from his desk.

"Here, Yuki. Have you eaten yet? Or have you been waiting for this?"

"I'm okay, I'll eat it when I got back home. See you soon, Hitsugaya-taichou, everyone. Bye Tatsuki nee." Yuki said before Hitsugaya placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Be careful."

"Got it, you don't have to say it like Unohana-taichou. I'll do my best to take care of myself." Yuki said before leaving the class.

"That's what you always say…" Hitsugaya whispered to himself.

/

Back at the Kurosaki residence, Yuki was sitting on the dinner table, watching her lunch box while playing with her chopsticks.

"Yuki-chan, why aren't you eating? You're going to get sick if you don't…" Yuzu said.

"…! Sorry Yuzu-chan, I was just thinking about something…" Yuki said, lokking apologetically to Yuzu who watches Yuki eat with worried eyes.

"Yuki-chan, are you feeling okay?" Yuzu asked.

"I'm okay, Yuzu-chan! You don't have to worry! I'm done, thanks for the food Yuzu-chan!" Yuki said, placing the lunch box in the sink before walking up the stairs.

"That's strange… I don't remember Yuki-chan ever liking eating cucumbers…" Yuzu said, looking at Yuki's clean lunch box.

Yuki was ascending the stairs, her mind full of different thoughts. Thoughts about her powers she has yet to control freely. Yuki remembers than whenever anger and sadness took over her, her powers became uncontrollable. Is it possible that her powers needed so much concentration and with such little distractions it can be uncontrollable? Will she be of danger to anyone, her family? If her power is as dangerous as she thought, wouldn't it be better for her to stay away from everyone else? To stay away from her family that she wanted to protect so much, would they look for her again then? If she had told them what she thought, they might leave her alone…

Yuki stopped in front of Ichigo's room and was about to open the door before she heard something fell inside as she opened the door. She saw Ichigo under the pile of other shinigamis she saw at school and blinked her eyes before the room's inhabitants noticed her on the door.

"S-Sorry… I didn't know…" Yuki said as Ichigo stared at her worriedly.

"Are you okay Yuki? You couldn't sense them?"

"I-I sensed them… just now… I guess I was just daydreaming… sorry Ichi nii, everyone…" Yuki said, quickly closing the door. Unknown to her, the white haired captain perched at the window was looking at her worriedly.

"I'm feeling so strange today…" Yuki said, lying on her bed, looking towards the picture frames she hung on the wall. There were Ichigo's family as well as her with her parents, she was hugging her mother's neck while her father had his arms around her mother, they were laughing at what Isshin had said before their picture was taken. Yuki was looking towards the camera with her big blue eyes, curious of the black box thing. The next picture was of her with her parents outside her elementary school, her first day of elementary. And the next, was the last picture the three of them has ever taken, they day of her last birthday before the tragedy happened.

"I missed you so much…" Yuki said. Isshin had told her when he took her in to stay in the same room as Yuzu and Karin do, but she had wanted to stay alone, too afraid that the monster would attack the twins if it ever came for her. Ever since then, Ichigo had helped cleaning up the spare room so she could use it as her own, she hung those pictures on the wall and no one had ever dared to take it off. Next to the previous three pictures, was of her and the younger version Ichigo, the boy was carrying her in his arms, grinning widely at the camera while she gripped his shirt tightly.

"Say cheese, Yuki!" she remembered Ichigo told her then. Yuki loved her oldest cousin so much, since he had always been there for her, since he also knew the pain of losing someone dear to him or her. Yuzu and Karin had always been helping her cope as well; spending time with her even if she didn't talk at all. She wouldn't want to change them for anything, and she had promised to herself she wouldn't put them in danger if it were the last thing she does.

So much had happened in the past few days, her being brought to Seiteirei, forgotten everything until the end, realizing that her mother is a shinigami, discovering her powers. She wonders if those things were all just a dream she had imagined and then she'd wake up to see her parents' smile again. She'd want that, but then again, she'd never meet so much people she now held dear in her heart.

"You shouldn't take your family for granted…" Hitsugaya told her once. He and Hinamori were kind enough to explain everything to her when they were in Seiteirei. She was like a newborn, not knowing everything. But knowing how many years the others have lived, comparing to her, she's really a newborn. If Hitsugaya is still considered a child, then she's like a baby who had just opened her eyes to the world. When she saw Hinamori on the ground surrounded by her blood, she was frozen, too afraid to think and too afraid to talk. Blood had always given her nightmares, it was not a phobia, but the sight of pooling blood is never a good thing for her.

"You should try and have more confidence in yourself. You have people there behind you and in front of you." Yuki blinked and sat up, pulling her hairclip off her hair and observe it. A gift from Hinamori; given by Hitsugaya. Now that she thought of it, Hitsugaya seemed to give her good advices, has he ever experience the same feeling as the one she's having now? Yuki sighed and closed her eyes before falling into deep slumber while a tear escaped her eyes.

'I'm scared…' was the last thought she had before she went off to dreamland.

/

The next day, Ichigo walked down the stairs to find Yuzu and Karin bustling here and there. When he was about to ask what happened, Karin went ahead of him since she noticed him looking confusedly.

"Yuki-chan got a fever! Bad one!" Ichigo's eyes widened and quickly went back up to his cousin's room to find her curled up on her bed, face red and out of breath.

"Yuki-, are you alright?" Ichigo said as he placed his hand on Yuki's head before retracting it quickly.

"You're burning! What's wrong?" Ichigo said as Yuzu and Karin came with towels and packs of ice. Ichigo quickly grab the towels and wiped Yuki's face and placed the ice packs on Yuki's forehead.

"I-Ichi nii… Yuzu-chan… Karin-chan…"

"Don't talk Yuki-chan, you should rest more." Yuzu said.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't say that, now go to sleep, Yuki-chan." Karin said as Yuki closed her eyes and tried to drift off to slumber. Unknown to the inhabitants inside, Hitsugaya was actually sitting on top of the roof, he came after feeling Yuki's sudden sharp decrease and increase of reiatsu and was afraid there might be hollows attracted to it. Hitsugaya heard what the Kurosaki siblings were all worried about and couldn't help but sigh.

"So it's true, it's far more uncontrollable than I thought." Hitsugaya said before he thought of it.

"Cold it be… that her emotions are the one controlling her powers? On anger, sadness, her powers will be uncontrollable, but on desire to protect and justice… it can be controlled?" Hitsugaya said before shunpo-ing away from the Kurosaki residence.

/

That same afternoon, a yell erupted from the Kurosaki clininc that almost had the whole neighborhood shaking.

"What's wrong Ichi nii?"

"Yuki's gone! Did you see her out?"

"What! We didn't hear anything from the kitchen!" Karin yelled from downstairs. Ichigo searched Yuki's room and saw that the window was slightly open.

"Yuki, she…" Ichigo gritted her teeth and ran down the stairs.

"I'm going to look for her!"

"Be careful, Ichi nii!" Yuzu said as Ichigo ran out from the house.

Somewhere inside Karakura city, Yuki was walking slowly, sometimes limping. Yuki hugged her jacket tightly around her body to warm her and had her hood up so no one would recognize her. Yuki's breathing was ragged and her face is still red from the fever, but she was determined to keep going.

"I have to control my power, I have to…!" she said to herself.

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