Yuzu's POV

He thinks I'm weak. He doesn't think I'm strong enough to handle anything. That's why he didn't want to tell me what Rukia-chan wanted me to know.

I remember all those years when he would be so aloof, so distant from us. I knew he was fighting his own battle, but I wanted to help him. I wasn't like Karin, I couldn't see ghosts. I didn't know what to do, what to say to him. Dad just says that that's his age, but I knew better. I was different from the rest of the family.

The only thing I could do was try to act normal. Like how I would if we were a normal family. But we weren't; we were far from it.

I felt as if I was getting swallowed up by darkness and sadness and weakness. I got up and slipped out of my house. I began to run. To feel the wind slapping my face, the exhilaration, as if running for my life, to feel alive so that I can feel strong again.

I ran for a good half hour, without feeling tired, I was stopped, by a still figure, looking as if he were waiting for me.

Ichigo's POV

"It's okay. You don't have to tell me anything. I know you don't want to," she whispered to me, her soft hand on my arm. She ran out of my room and I ran after her. I heard my front door click.

"Yuzu!" I yelled, throwing my door open. But she was a fast runner, already out of my sight.

Third Person POV

"What?! Really?" Karin asked, laughing way too hard. "I can't believe you did that. You're such a screw up!"

"Was. Was such a screw up," Kaito corrected. He had been telling a story of something that had happened to him some time ago. He smiled at her. She was such an interesting person. He liked the she could transition so quickly from happy and giddy to dead serious.

"Hey Karin," a voice said.

"Toshi-chan! Hey," Karin said.

He made a face. "Ew, don't call me Toshi-chan."

"Aw, but it's so kawaii," she teased.

"What's he doing here?" Toshiro asked, indicating Kaito with his eyes.

"He's training me," she stated, fingering her katana.

"How far has he even trained you?" Toshiro asked, his tone indicating that he thought Kaito's training was useless.

"Just for the record, I helped her obtain her shikai and master it," Kaito said, standing up.

Toshiro remembered something. "She has a fire-based zanpakuto."

"Yeah."

"Like Hinamori," Toshiro noted.

"Hinamori?" Karin asked. "My zanpakuto is much more powerful than her puny one. Ours shouldn't even be compared." She made a disgusted face.

"Excuse me?" Toshiro asked.

Karin must've realized she shouldn't have said that because she looked apologetic. "Sorry, I didn't mean that."

"Sure you didn't," Toshiro muttered. "Anyway, Urahara wanted you to come up."

"What... why?" Karin asked.

"Time to eat," he said promptly. "... And Urahara-san wants to tell you something. It's about my case I told you about."

Karin and Toshiro walked into the main room and Urahara's and sat down at the small table in the center of the room. Yoruichi was seated there, along with Urahara himself, and Ishida, Jinta, and Ururu.

At seeing Karin, Ishida looked immensely surprised. "Karin?!"

"Ishida." The said person turned towards Urahara. "I have already talked to you about this before you came in." Urahara had spoke this in a way that sounded both threatening and terrifying.

Ishida, hesitated, before sighing. "I apologize, Karin. It's just that your brother has been worrying about you more than anything."

"I know," she stated, looking down.

"Okay, anyway, I think everybody should chill and have some sake," Yoruichi announced.

"I don't think that's needed, thank you very much," Toshiro bristled.

"Aw, why ever not?" Urahara whined.

"Guys, you all need to stop acting so childish. We need to get down to business," Ishida said calmly.

"Thank you, Uryu-san," Toshiro said.

Yoruichi and Urahara looked ready to protest. "Ugh, can you just state your point, instead of wasting my time. I need to go down and practice!" Karin exclaimed.

Yoruichi seemed to be put down by this statement. "Hm, well I guess since you guys are not in the mood to be fun, we'll tell you everything we've found."

"Before we start, Karin-san, I have to tell you something that Orihime has informed me of. Seems as if earlier today, Ichigo had a fight with both Yuzu and Rukia-san."

Karin furrowed her eyebrows, "Yuzu...?"

"Yuzu ran off. Don't know where. Possibly her friend's house. She's not at the Kurosaki Clinic."

"But... Yuzu... she's not home?"

"No, she's not."

"In other news, not sure if it has anything to do with you guys, but my father has been missing at the hospital since this morning around the time of Ichigo and Rukia's fight. He's not home either. And I'm only saying this, because this has never happened before."

"Do you think it has to do with anything that happened today?" Karin asked, not rudely, but with curiosity.

"Karin, you know of the recent reportings of your mother being seen?"

"... How did you know that I saw her?"

Ishida pushed his glasses up. "I didn't. But your sister and brother both saw her."

"W-what?"

He put his hand up to try to tell me to wait. "Now, I'm not sure what had happened in their encounters with Masaki Kurosaki, but I believe that most people connected to her has encountered her."

"Now hearing that, I'll tell you now, something that was told to me yesterday. Masaki Kurosaki is my father's adopted sister and ex-fiancée."

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