Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, and I make no money from writing fanfiction… Duh!

Renji hadn't quite realised just how little free time he had until he wanted to spend every minute of it in Rukongai beating some sense into a certain soul. He had plenty of time in the evenings, but to get all the way out to the 42nd district and back, without causing massive amounts of disturbance by flash-stepping the entire way, you needed an entire afternoon, not an evening. He started spending his evenings in the library of the Academy, ignoring the curious glances from students who were wondering what on earth the Lieutenant of the Sixth Division was doing wandering around, when he clearly wasn't going to be teaching a class.

Renji found the library oddly soothing, if overly dusty. It was connected by underground passages to several larger records rooms, and seemed to be the sort of place where Ukitake-taicho would spend a lot of time. Light streamed through from windows so high above his head that everything on ground level was shrouded in a sort of dim twilight. By his third visit he had even managed to properly master the light kido that was necessary when studying there. When he had been a student, Kira had always made his for him, and Renji was quite pleased with himself when he finally cracked it, several decades after he was supposed to. He almost turned around right then and there to tell Kira about it, and perhaps go for a quiet drink and see if he could wipe some of the sadness from the blond man's eyes, but the thought of Ichigo sitting there in Rukongai not knowing who he was stopped him.

As it turned out, there were quite a few books on amnesia, and all of them were very dusty. Renji was making some headway into separating the useful books from the ones that didn't seem that they would be at all helpful, when he was interrupted.

"Abarai-kun, what are you doing down here?"

The unexpected voice coming from behind him made Renji nearly jump out of his skin, and loose his concentration completely. The light Kido went out with a splutter, but there was now a second light in the room, coming from behind him. Renji spun in his seat to look into the amused eyes of Ukitake-taicho.

"Uh... good evening, Taicho," Renji spluttered, trying hard to come up with an answer. "I'm doing some research."

Smiling, Ukitake leaned over the desk, his eyes flicking from side to side as he scanned over the text Renji had been ploughing through. "Research on memory loss?" he questioned. "That's an unusual topic."

Renji scratched the back of his head, and reckoned that telling at least part of the truth was probably his best bet at getting out of this. "I was thinking of Ichigo," he admitted. "When we find him, he might not remember anything. Not many souls do, after all."

"You show more forethought than many give you credit for," Ukitake said warmly.

Renji immediately felt guilty, and tried not to let it show on his face. "Thank you, Ukitake-taicho."

"Well, I shall leave you to your studying," Ukitake said. "I'm sure that Ichigo will be located soon, and the knowledge that you are gaining now might be needed."

He turned to leave, and Renji watched out of the corner of his eye as the powerful captain moved gracefully behind the bookcases. Twp seconds later, the light that followed behind him also moved out of view, and Renji realised that he was now sitting in the dark. Biting back a curse – Ukitake might still be in earshot – he concentrated hard and muttered out the short incantation for the light kido. He had a lot more reading to do before he was at a point where he could help Ichigo.

Two days later he found himself cashing in all the favours he could and sneaking into the human world in the middle of the night for a raid on Ichigo's house, all the while hoping that Kira and Shuuhei between them would manage to cover for him, and that they'd bought the story that he'd made up. He'd told them that he was planning on asking Ishida to see if he could perhaps sense which part of Rukongai Ichigo had landed in using his superior reiatsu sensing skills. Kira had looked rather suspicious at first, but he suspected that Shuuhei might have quietly convinced him that 'poor old Renji' was grasping at straws and it would be best to humour him.

As quietly as he could, he slid Ichigo's bedroom window open. Perched on the windowsill, he carefully surveyed the empty room. It was neat and tidy, Ichigo's substitute badge left carefully on the middle of the desk. Renji stepped down onto the bed, realising at the last moment that he was about to tread on the small yellow lion plushie curled up asleep in the middle of the cover. He leapt over the mod soul as quietly as he could, and began to search the room. He found a picture of Ichigo, Chad and Tatsuki on the desk. Sneaking quietly downstairs, he stole some rock buns that had obviously been made by Yuzu. Praying that Isshin wouldn't notice, he took a picture of Ichigo standing with Yuzu and Karin, and another of Isshin and a woman who had to be Ichigo's mother standing together from the mantlepiece. Tucking the pictures into his shihakushou, he tip-toed to the door, never noticing the shadowy figure at the top of the stairs.

Isshin watched Renji sneak out of his house, and felt a slight glimmer of hope. If the loud-mouthed red-head had snuck in to steal pictures, there must have been a good reason. If he had just wanted a keepsake he would have come to the front door and asked. Renji was up to something, something to do with Ichigo, and he didn't want anyone to know. Isshin sighed quietly, and turned to return to his room. He could look forward to seeing his son again.

The appearance of a small figure in a white nightgown stopped him in his tracks. "Dad? What was Renji-san doing here?" Karin asked, rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"I… uh… he… uh… Daddy loves you very much!" Isshin proclaimed, even though he could tell from the look on his daughter's face that his evasions weren't going to work this time.

"Dad, I'm not a distractible child anymore," Karin said coldly. "What was Renji-san doing here?"

"You grow up too fast," Isshin told her. "Abarai was here to take some pictures and rock buns from the look of it."

Karin's eyes widened. "What? Why would he sneak in and take those?"

Isshin shrugged. "I can only think of one theory that fits."

"So tell me!" Karin insisted.

Isshin scratched his beard thoughtfully. "It disturbs me that you cannot figure it out for yourself. Oh, Masaki! We have created a lazy child!"

A slight fluctuation in his reiatsu cushioned the blow to his chin effectively, but he still threw himself backwards for effect. Practically growling, Karin stood over him with clenched fists. "I want to know if you've figured out the same thing that I have, baka-oyaji!" she spat.

The former captain sighed and climbed to his feet, satisfied that Karin was merely looking for reassurance, not depending on him to draw conclusions for her. "I think that it means that Renji has found Ichigo, and that Ichigo doesn't remember anything. He must have decided that it will be safer for Ichigo to remain lost until he remembers."

"And he needs the pictures to help Ichi-nii remember?" Karin asked.

Isshin nodded. "That's what I think. I might be wrong."

Karin snorted in a most unladylike fashion. "You might be crazy, but you're not wrong very often," she pointed out. "Let's go to bed. It's late."

"Um… I think I should be the one telling you that?" Isshin said in surprise.

"I'm tired," Karin informed him, turning on her heel and walking back into the room she shared with Yuzu. "Try not to snore too loudly tonight."

"I do not snore!" Isshin protested, but he found himself talking to the closed door. Unable to stop himself from smiling, he checked that Ichigo's window was closed before he climbed into his own bed. He stared at the picture of Masaki on his bedside table, her beloved face frozen eternally into a smile. Some night's he didn't feel like he could smile back at her, but tonight he did.

"I'm sure that Renji has found him, Masaki," he whispered to the photo. "One day soon I will be able to hold our son in my arms again. I miss you, my love."

TBC