"What's wrong, Kurosaki?" Toushiro asked with a smirk. "Didn't enjoy your funeral?"

"There are tens of thousands of things I would've rather been doing," the taller replied. "I can't believe Dad talked me into it."

If the taichou was one to giggle, he would have. "Me either."

Toushiro shook his head, clearing his mind of the memory.

"Toushiro?" Hisana asked. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine. Let's get back to work."

"But, Toushiro! I wanna break!"

"It has been a few hours," Rangiku told him. "Let's get some lunch!"

"Yay!"

"Meh. I suppose."


"Woman! Stop summoning us when you don't need to!" Tsubaki yelled angrily, pulling at Orihime's cheek.

"Buh-buh-" the healer tried to protest.

"Tsubaki! You stop!" Shun'o scolded him just as angrily. "I'm sure Orihime has a perfectly logical reason for summoning us! Now let the poor girl go!"

The battle Rikka did let go, but continued to shout, "Look around! What possible reason could she have to summon us! There's nothing out of the ordinary here!"

"But I do need your help!" the human suddenly said. "I'm looking for someone."

"Tch," Tsubaki muttered, rolling his eyes.

"You don't have to angry just cus we're not battling!" Lily yelled at him.

"Who are we looking for, Orihime?" Shun'o asked.

"A woman," she replied. Long dark hair, gray eyes, scrawny build-"

"Wait! That sounds like Tsuzuki-chan! She's not missing, is she?"

"No, no, nothing like that- it's her mother we're looking for." Orihime proceeded to tell them about the previous day.

"Ah, I see!" Lily exclaimed.

"She must be so excited!" Ayame added.

"Well… Tsu-chan's kinda pessimistic," the healer reminded them. "She doesn't think we'll find her."

"Then why bother?" Tsubaki grumbled.

"Oh! You're worse than she is!" Orihime scolded him. "She wants to find her, but she doesn't want to get her hopes up!"

"Ah! So you want some extra pairs of eyes, so to speak," Shun'o stated.

"Exactly! And you guys can get to places I can't."

"Orihime! We can't go into people's houses!"

"Just peek inside! No one would see you!"

"Yes, I suppose… "

"Tsubaki-kun? Will you help too?"

The Rikka rolled his eyes again, but nodded once.

"Ah! Thank you Tsubaki-kun!"

"Let me go, woman!"

Orihime, now armed with six more pairs of eyes, continued her search of the area. It wasn't until nearly sunset, when the group was going to rejoin, that Shun'o and Ayame flew excitedly up to their wielder.

"Orihime! Orihime! We found her!"

"You did? Where?" The healing Rikka broiought the girl to where they had seen her, Lily still there as well. Sure enough, about 10 paces away, was a woman matching Tsuzuki's description perfectly. "Aw! You guys are great!" the healer proclaimed, hugging the Rikka trio.

After releasing them, she approached the woman. "Excuse me," she said with a small bow. "I'm sorry for disturbing you, but would you be Sophie Mizaki?"


"Bai! See you later, Toushiro, Rangiku!"

The woman waved to Hisana and her father as they left. Toushiro had given them both a nod; that was sufficient enough in his book.

"Matsumoto," he asked after the two had driven off. "There's something I need you to ask Ichigo at your earliest convenience."

"Sure, Taichou. What is it?"


Tsuzuki's dark gray eyes widened as her girlfriend rejoined her and Ichigo. "Mom?" she asked quietly, seemingly not quite believing it herself. She ran to the older version of herself, laughing and crying.

"Guess we should leave them alone, huh, Orihime?" the taichou asked quietly.

"Yes, I think you're right, Kurosaki-kun."


Ichigo entered Toushiro's quarters wearily. He hadn't been back to the taichou's home in Soul Society since the prodigy had left, but tonight, he just wanted pretend, even for a little bit, that his icy lover was still as close as he once was.

There was someone waiting for him.

There was a person with their back to him, in a navy yukata and short brown hair loose, sobbing into the sheets. 'Fuck,' Ichigo thought. 'How'd Hinamori get here?'

Suddenly, the girl turned, facing him with accusatory eyes. "You."

"Now, Hinamori, I don't know why you're here, but Unohana-taichou's going to be worried about you," the taichou tried reasoning with her.

"You took him too, didn't you?" she asked, standing. "You took my Shiro-chan away just like you took Aizen-taichou. Tell me where he is."

Ichigo really didn't like the look in her tear-stained eyes. "Now, Hinamori," he tried.

"TELL ME!" she yelled, holding both hands in front of her in a basic kido stance.

'Shitshitshitshit-'

'Aw, geez, king, just hit her with some reiatsu pressure. That'll paralyze her and you can just knock her unconscious.'

'Huh. For once, you have a good plan,' Ichigo thought back, immobilizing the girl.

'What do you plan to tell Toushiro?' his zanpakuto asked in his mind.

'Nothing, for as long as I can, anyway,' the taichou replied, heading back to 4th Squad. 'Toushiro probably remembers her, sure, but we don't know how much he remembers. I don't wanna shake him too far before he's ready.'

'Define ready, king.'

'When he tells me himself. Then I'll tell him whatever he wants to know.'

'I'm holding ya to that.'

'Yeah, I know.'

"Kurosaki-taichou?" a startled member of 4th Squad greeted him. "Is that…?"

"Get Unohana-taichou for rme, will ya? I have a delivery for her."

"Yes, Kurosaki-taichou!" he said, then ran off.

'And you said this taichou thing had no perks,' the hollow teased. Ichigo rolled his eyes, ignoring him.


Matsumoto hummed as she walked through the forest she knew her taichou frequented, looking for him at Ukitake's request. 'Now… I know his reiatsu is around here somewhere,' she thought. 'He's with Ichigo, they couldn't have gone too far…'

She noticed a white bundle of fabric sitting next to bush and picked it up. "Taichou's haori? He wouldn't go anywhere without this…" Walking a bit further, she heard Ichigo's muffled tones, and saw a much larger lump of black and white cloth. This was getting interesting.

Two more steps, and she found them.

And a bright blush crossed her cheeks.

Hitsugaya was straddled across Ichigo's lap, both as naked as the day they were born. "Tai..Taichou?"

The tensai's head whipped around . "Matsumoto?" he nearly squeaked, and even brighter crimson crossing his own cheeks.

It was like a mother had just walked in on her son. Ichigo started laughing.

Toushiro hit him.

"Ow, that hurt, ya bastard," the taller said, but still pulled the other closer, trying to cover them up the best he could with his own limbs.

"Was there something you needed, Matsumoto?" the taichou asked, willing himself to stay calm despite the awkwardness, also furious with himself that he hadn't noticed her reiatsu.

"Oh, yes, Taichou," she replied, doing her best not to laugh at her superior's situation. "Ukitake-taichou told me he would like to see you at your earliest convenience."

"Was that all?"

"Yes, Taichou. Although, I have to admit, I had no idea you and Ichigo-kun were so-"

"Beat it, Matsumoto!"

"Yes, Taichou."

Rangiku, now seated at her desk, giggled at the memory.

"Something funny about that paperwork?" Ichigo asked from his nearby desk. The two of them, plus Hisagi, often worked together to keep each other company. It helped keep things from getting boring as well.

"Of course not, Kurosaki-taichou," the woman replied with false indignity that made the other fukutaichou smirk. "I was simply recalling when I first found out about you and Taichou's relationship."

"Hitsugaya-taichou's probably still trying to forget," Hisagi added.

"Yeah, but what Matsumoto-fukutaichou here doesn't realize is we'd been together for almost a year before she saw us together," Ichgio informed them.

"What?" the woman yelled. "Almost a year? And I didn't know?"

"Yup," the other confirmed, signing off on another paper. "Now the two of ya get back to work."

Hisagi almost started laughing at Matsumoto's pout. "But Ichigo-kuuunn! We've been at it for hours!"

"Try one and a half!" he shot back.

"No way! Your clock's broken! It's been way longer!"

"It has not! You're just relying on those slacker instincts!"

Hisagi saighed. It was because of interludes like this that he usually got the most work done.

"Oh, Ichigo, before I forget-" the woman began.

"Probably again," the taichou muttered.

"No, Taichou just asked me last night," she defended herself.

Ichigo's interest was gained. "Toushiro wanted you to ask me something?"

"Yes," she replied, deciding not to play any of her games. Ichigo's hand went for his sword a lot faster than Hitsugaya's. "He asked me to ask you if you had been out for watermelons recently. Didn't mean anything to me, but by the look on your face, I'll say it does to you."

"Yeah," he replied sheepishly. "I does."

"And if possible, he'd like you to answer in person."

"Ok," he replied, standing. "I can do that."

"And Ichigo, I asked him how much he remembered about you."

"And he answered?"

"Yes, surprisingly. He told me he remembered holding you in very high regard, but I don't think he remembers your relationship just yet. And Ichigo-"

"What?"

"He hasn't been able to materialize Hyorinmaru again yet. We trained all day yesterday with no progress in that department. Be nice."

"Shit. Ok. You two can handle things here awhile, right?"

"Yes."

"Sure!"

"All right. I'll be back later then."

"Yes."

"Okay!"

Ichigo was uneasy seeing Toushiro five years old, this still remained true. But if the other was asking for him by name, he wasn't about to refuse, either.