Ten

Slowly, over the years, Ichigo begins to heal.

Now that his twin his gone, he takes over the role as the protector and fighter in the family. If Karin or Yuzu get bullied, he'll be there to stop the bullies, and after a while his happy and carefree nature is replaced by a strong and stubborn personality. He hardly ever smiles any more, and he always has a frown on his face, but apart from that he appears to be fine.

A few years later, he meets Chad, and the two of them become good friends. The of course, there is still Tensa, Tatsuki, and her friend Orihime. Soon, Ichigo is starting High School, already fifteen years old, and there he meets Keigo and Mizuiro. He forgets about the terrible things that happened in his past, and can spend a good three hundred and sixty-four days of each year living an ordinary teen life.

The three hundred and sixty-fifth day is always on June the seventeenth.

That is the one day he allows himself to think about him. He lets himself think about his mother any time of the year, and he's come to terms with her death. He can remember her with loving fondness, and not feel too sad.

But with him it's a different matter.

Why should he bother to remember the murderer of his mother?

The murderer who just happens to be his younger twin.

Ichigo hopes that he never has to see Hichigo again. If he did catch even one glimpse of the albino, he's not sure what he's do. He can just be certain it wouldn't be pretty.

Whenever he thinks of Hichigo, a cold, icy feeling spreads through his chest and his eyes dim in anger. He fists clench and he bites his lip when thoughts of his brother appear in his mind.

Is this hatred, what he feels?

Hatred for the child so evil they killed their own mother.

.

'Hurry up Shiro-chan! Or we're gonna be late!'

Ichigo stares in amusement as his younger twin stumbles out of the dôjô, trying to reach Ichigo as fast as he can. The orange-haired child smiles and says, 'Come on! I thought. You told me you were faster than me!'

That's odd. Usually Hichigo would have replied with, 'That's 'cause I am!'. But instead, the young albino continues running, and Ichigo doesn't miss the upset look on his face.

Hichigo reaches his brother and immediately launches at him, wrapping his arms around him and beginning to sob. Ichigo is stunned. His little twin brother never, ever cries. What on earth could have happened?

'Shiro-chan? Tell me what's wrong? What happened?' The two four-year-olds continue to stand in an embrace, and still the younger one won't say anything. That's when Ichigo notices the blood on his twin's cheek.

'Did someone hurt you, Shiro-chan?'

'… There were loads of them...' the albino whimpers. 'They got me when I came out the changing rooms!'

'… Did you start fighting them?'

Hichigo pushes his brother away, an angry look on his face. 'No! They just attacked me! I didn't do anything! You and Mommy and Daddy always think it's my fault when bad stuff happens, but it never is! I wish you'd all stop blaming me!'

'Ichigo? Shiro-chan? What happened?' Masaki asks, as she approaches the two boys, only to find one of them trembling with tears running down his cheeks and blood on his clothes.

'… Shiro-chan got hurt,' Ichigo says finally.

'Were you fighting again, Shiro-chan? Because I've told you to stop, honey. You'll only get into more trouble if you go around starting fights-'

'I didn't do it! It's not my fault!' Hichigo shouts, his eyes filling with furious tears. 'Stop blaming me for stuff I never do!' With that, he races past his mother and off into the distance.

.

'Hey guys,' Grimmjow calls as he enters the chill out room. He, Nel, Ulquiorra and Hollow are the only ones in there because everyone else felt like spending the last few days of the heat wave outside in the institute grounds.

'What happened to your eye?' Hollow asks, staring up at his blue-haired friend.

Grimmjow winces and raise his hand to touch his new bruise around his eye. 'Got into a fight with that new kid, Yammy. He knocked me into a wall earlier. Don't worry, I beat the crap out of him. And he's huge, too.'

'And yet you still managed to get a black eye,' Hollow smirks.

Grimmjow stops boasting and glares at the albino. 'You try fighting him. He's like double your size!'

'More like triple,' Hollow mutters.

'You should probably go to the medical room about that,' Nel says in a concerned voice. 'And you've got a cut on your lip.'

'Nnoitora gave me that one,' Grimmjow says darkly. 'The asshole was walking by and thought he'd join in. Still, it'll take more than Yammy and Nnoitora to beat me! I'm an-'

'Imbecile,' Ulquiorra finishes calmly, turning the page of the newspaper he's reading without seeming to care about the conversation Nel giggles.

'Come on, Grimm-chan, you need to go to the medical room,' she says, laughing more at the outraged look on his face.

'Don't call me that!'

'Why not? You're Grimm-chan, and Hollow's Hollow-chan, and Ulquiorra's Ulqui-chan...' her voice fades away as she steers Grimmjow out of the room.

Hollow laughs, then looks over at Ulquiorra, who hasn't even bothered to look up as the two noisy ones left.

'What're you reading?'

'Nothing much. But you're kind of shut away from the outside world whilst you're here, so sometimes I just like to find out what's going on,' Ulquiorra says, turning another page.

'Yeah... so, anything significant happening?'

'Nothing much, but there's this bit on the front page about a young offender not far away... maybe she'll be brought here...'

'What did she do?'

'Shot someone, by the sound of it... whoa, she shot her brother in law! Here, listen to this: Dark Kuchiki, 15, has been found guilty of the gun crime on May the sixteenth, earlier this year. Neighbours have stated that Kuchiki was an 'unstable child' and 'likely to lash out at any time'. Her brother in law, Byakuya Kuchiki, is in critical condition at the hospital.

'Despite having been found guilty, the offender's twin Rukia Kuchiki is in denial. 'Dark wouldn't do something like that,' she protests. 'She never had a great relationship with Byakuya but she would never, ever shoot him.'

'Byakuya Kuchiki is still in a coma and so is unable to provide anyone with the information they need, but as Rukia Kuchiki was in the vicinity at the time, she has described the attacker as best she can:

''It was someone wearing a hood, so I couldn't see their face. I swear it wasn't Dark.'

'However, a gun carrying bullets that match the one found in Byakuya Kuchiki's chest was found near the crime scene with the finger prints of Dark Kuchiki on it.'

'Yeah, you're right,' Hollow says, after a pause. 'Maybe she will come here.'