The explanation everyone's been waiting for! Why has Ichigo's spirit rejected Toushirou? Why has Ichigo blamed the ice captain for why the Hollow appeared? How did everything take a sudden 180 degree turn? Well, find out below!!! (but the story's not done yet!)

I didn't allow Inoue to walk with me to Urahara's; I didn't even allow for her to walk me to the door. Upon hearing her last words to me, I knew I had to leave now in order to right my wrongs, to change the bad to good. So I just left. Walked with clammy fists stuffed in my pockets, an intense, icy glare at anything that hindered me. I wouldn't be stopped.

I had to see him.

"Kisuke, I'm here. Open the door," I called as I came to a slow, regretful stop at the wooden sliding door. Instead of a tall man with sandy hair and striped green hat, I was looking eye-to-eye with a red haired kid, a defiant smirk on his annoying face.

"Oi, what're you doin' here, shorty?" Jinta asked. "If you're here for merchandise, we're closed. Beat it."

I sighed. "Look kid, I have no time to mess with you; move out of my way."

A red eyebrow raised and black eyes glared up at me. "What'dya say, punk?"

A vein twitched in my neck. "I said… move your ass."

When he didn't move, I closed my eyes and forced myself not to hit him across the face. Instead, I grabbed him roughly by his red hair and pushed him aside. I didn't look back when he loudly objected and threatened to punch me. His words were mere whispers in my head. The shop area was empty, as well as the meeting area where I sat with Urahara only the day before. I was beginning to get annoyed. "Kisuke, are you here or not?" I called into the emptiness.

"Oh, Toushirou-kun. I didn't expect you to be here so soon."

I turned at the voice to see him standing behind me, waving a fan before his face. "Baka, did you expect for me to wait around and do nothing?" I replied in return.

He shrugged. "Maybe. After that fight you two had last night, I couldn't tell what you were going to do next. Honestly, you're throwing me for a bit of a surprise."

My right brow furrowed as my eye twitched. "Where is he?"

The man sighed, folding his fan up and hiding it away in the folds of his sleeve. "Come this way," he said. "But be prepared for a bit of a shock."

I followed him past a couple of open doors into the living area of the shop. In some rooms were experiments he was working on; in others, mini-infirmaries. Upon reaching a closed door, Urahara stopped, looking back to me over his shoulder. "You do know that he tried to kill himself, right?" he asked suddenly.

"Yeah," I muttered, lowering my head. "Inoue told me this morning… what happened?"

"… you told him you hated him. Is that reason enough?"

I glared up at the man. "That's not what I meant, baka. I know what I said; don't say I'm stupid."

Urahara sighed. "If you still have the same feelings for him as you did last night, then I suggest you leave. He's not emotionally stable… not after what you did to him."

Guilt rose in my chest. "I… but…"

"Do you deny it?"

"No. It's just… I'm still confused… exactly what did I do to him?"

The ex-taichou tapped his chin lightly as he looked up in thought. "Well, it's kinda difficult to explain, so I'll try to put it in as small of words as I can. You remember what happened a month ago, right?"

A chill of slight pleasure at the memories ran down my spine. "How could I forget?" I asked.

"Ever since then, you've lowered your guard… your standard. Have you noticed any spirit energy leakage?"

"… no…"

At my response, Urahara grimaced. "That's it, then. Just as your reiatsu was killing your grandmother, now it was killing Kurosaki. You have allowed for some of you reiatsu to leak without you even realizing it. Apparently, the Hollow did, so it was reacting in a manner of self-defense."

I couldn't help but look up at him in disbelief. In shock. In horror. "I… I really did do that, then…" I gasped. "But how? Ichigo's reiatsu is just as powerful, if not more, than my own. How would his not have an effect on me?"

"You were the only one who let it leak out," Urahara responded. "On top of that, I believe that Kurosaki must have lowered his guard as well, making his spirit more susceptible to other powerful reiatsu."

"That must be why Chief-taichou Yamamoto wouldn't allow him into Seireitei… to protect his spirit?"

Urahara nodded. "I suspect so; the chief-taichou is more sensitive to these things than I. He must have known for some time now. As for your nightmares…"

I glanced away, feeling a pang of hurt hitting my chest at the very topic of my nightmares. "What about them? You know why I've been having them so frequently?"

"It's only a hypothesis, but it's the only sound one I can come up with for now. I believe that your nightmares are scenes that Hyourinmaru has been sending you, to warn you of what might happen. I'm not entirely sure if that's the case, but I it isn't, then I don't know what is," was his response.

No words could describe how I felt. Rejection? Not enough. Guilt? Too much of that filled my heart to even call it that. So what could I say? I was hurting the person closest to me for so long without me even knowing it. I had called him the ignorant one, not long ago.

Now… I was a hypocrite of my own words.

"Kisuke… you did say he was awake… right?"

I felt his eyes look down on me, saddened and pained. "Yes, he's awake. He said he wanted to see you."

"Did he say anything else?"

"No… he wouldn't tell me. I think that's for your ears to hear."

I took a timid step forward, gently placing my hand against the sliding door. "This isn't a dream, is it?"

"Iiya," came the reply. "This is reality."

"I have to face it, don't I?"

"Depends. Do you hate him?"

"… I could never…"