This chapter came about due to a few reviewers asking about Soul Society's reaction to Ichigo and Aizen crossed with my husband's queries of what the Visoreds would be thinking/doing since Ichigo had been training with them when he just up and vanished, "Like a fart in the wind." (I love that movie.) Later that night, he burst out laughing and, when I pressed him for details, said that he had been imagining what Isshin would do to those that lost "his precious darling baby boy." And since I felt that last chapter I posted felt like a natural stopping point for the info that I wanted to put out and I was now ready to time skip, it seemed to me that an interlude was appropriate.
I have no idea if this has been Beta'd. My proofer has been consistantly runing behind me on this story, unlike the others I've put out where he read them as soon as I said I was finished.
"Alright! Break time's over!" Shinji Hirako caroled loudly as he burst through the doors that lead into the common room where everyone went to relax. He was greeted by an assortment of looks ranging from irritation, Lisa really hated to be pulled away from her erotic manga, to calm acceptance, Hachi was the most even tempered person ever, to the twin glares of true anger Love and Rose shot at him from where they sat snuggled together in the far corner, they were always extremely...clingy...towards each other at this time of year. Kisuke Urahara had explained that it was a manifestation of their inner Hollows' instincts and just to stay away from anything that might be construed as a deliberate attempt to get between the two of them and everything would be just fine. The normal grin that Kisuke sported was even creepier than usual and so no more questions were asked at that point in time, but since then, everyone made sure to give Love and Rose plenty of alone time and never even hinted about trying to force them into having time apart when they were acting like this.
"Where's Kurosaki?"Shinji asked, looking around the room and seeing everyone but the one he was asking after.
"Eh," Hiyori waved a hand dismisively in the air from where she lay on the sofa, her head resting on Lisa's lap as she read along. "Strawberry said that he needed some space and hightailed it outta here. Said if we needed ta get him, that he would just be over at that broken-down, old amusement park the next block over. Apparently, we were getting on his last nerves or something and he said that he had to get out or he was gonna kill us."
"Fine, fine," Shinji grunted as he ran his hands over his face. "Kensei, go re-acquire the Strawberry for us, yah?"
Kensei gave an affirmative sounding grunt before dissapearing from sight in a burst of Shunpo.
It took Kensei an hour to return and when he did, the news he brought with him caused a massive commotion amoungst the small, tight-knit group.
Ichigo was missing. Not missing as in: scampered off somewhere for a break in training and Kensei was able to sense his spirtual pressure far off in the distance, but missing as in: Kensei couldn't sense any aspect of Ichigo's presence no matter how he concentrated and meditated on the massive reiatsu that the new Visored pumped out.
After much discussion, most of it of the shouted variety, a few cooler heads finally prevailed and it was decided that the most logical option was to go and see Kisuke Urahara and enlist his aid. The maddening genius would most likely have several methods already lined up to aid in tracking down whoever, or whatever, he felt like, whenever he felt like it. That was a man who did not mean to get played a second time after the fiasco that was the creation of the Visoreds.
Once their plan of attack was finalized, i.e.) begging Hat'n'Clogs for his assitance, the next item that they began to fight over was who would be the unlucky sod that had to go and deal with the mildly sadistic genius. It was finally decided which person would be the one to seek aid by a few quick rounds of Jan-ken, all of which Shinji lost.
Grumbling under his breath about cheaters, and making sure it stayed under his breath as he moved past Lisa who was already curled up with her latest erotic manga since he didn't wish to be on high alert later when he finally fell into bed if he had disturbed her twice in one day, Shinji only had two thoughts in his head as he exited the old warehouse that they headquarted in. The first was doing whatever he could to convince Urahara to help them find Kurosaki. The second was keeping all knowledge about Ichigo's missing status from Isshin.
The second was much more important for Shinji's immediate health and safety and he shivered in dread at the thought of the overprotective, ex-Taicho's reaction if he ever found out that Ichigo had been lost under his guardianship.
So lost in thoughts and feelings of dread that the trip to Urahara's shoten passed in a blur and, much sooner than he had expected, Shinji was able to fling aside the door and, seeing Urahara sitting at the table quietly sipping his tea, quickly babbled out his message.
"We lost Ichigo!"
Shinji was rewarded for his focused vision that only revealed Kisuke to him by the the sound a tea cup makes when it is dropped from a hand and shatters on the floor, as well as the noise of someone jumping to his or her feet from a seated position.
"WHAT!?"
Shinji turned his head slightly to the side and was greeted by the sight of Isshin as he rose in fury from his place at the table. Also seated with Isshin and Urahara were Yourichi and Tessai, who had been about to pour out more tea into the cup that Isshin had dropped.
"Um...that didn't come out quite right," Shinji nervously prattled out before visibly pulling himself together and continuing on in a more confident and assured manner. "I mean to say that Ichigo Kurosaki, during a break in training, went out to find a bit of space and fresh air and failed to return in a timely manner. When Kensei Muguruma was sent out to retrieve Ichigo, he was unable to do so since he was unable to locate the boy. After trying every method known to him that would allow him to track down Kurosaki-san's reiatsu, Muguruma-san conceeded defeat on the subject and returned instead to the remaining Visoreds in an effort to seek aid.
After much disscusion, it was decided that the best course of action would be to enlist further aid from someone with greater resources than are currently available to the Visoreds at this time," Shinji finished relaying the information in a confident manner that befitted the once Taicho and instinctively settled into the waiting stance that he would adopt after reporting on his missions to the Fuku-Taicho.
Urahara merely blinked mildly at him in response before cocking his head off to one side and snapping open his fan, promtly hiding his face behind it as he did so. Shinji, failing to get a verbal response from Urahara and determindly ignoring the fact that Isshin had smoothly glided into position directly behind him and was currently breathing down his neck, opened his mouth again.
"I am here to ask for your aid, Kisuke Urahara, in locating and, possibly retrieving, Ichigo Kurosaki."
He was rewarded this time with a neutral hum, then the fan was unceremoniously shut and placed carefully on the table.
"Just so we are clear on the matter," Urahara stated in a neutral tone of voice. "The only person that we know of and can get our hands on that has reiryoko levels close to those of Aizen, and has never seen his released zanpakuto, has come up missing after being placed in your hands for training in the very powers that would, hopefully, level the playing field between someone with massive, raw power and someone with both power and experience. Since you stated that you had to send someone out to retrieve said trainee, the logical conclusion is that you failed to provide at least a watcher to keep track of him. Am I correct?"
Shinji nodded nervously in affirmation. Between Urahara's neutral indifference and Isshin's crowding, with both his physical self and his subtly flaring reiatsu, Shinji was cursing his lack of luck with games of chance and vowed to make the other Visoreds regret sending him off to the Shoten. Shinji almost bit his own tongue when he was startled out of his thoughts of revenge when Tessai Tsukabishi, a person reknowned for being even more in control of his emotions than Hachi, dropped the tea pot he was still holding. All eyes immediately flashed their full attention onto the former Kido Corps Taicho.
"Boss, I was cleaning in the sensor room this afternoon when the sensor monitoring openings between the Living World and Hueco Mundo went off, signaling a Garganta had been registered by it. I inspected it to see if it could tell me more, since you upgraded it to reveal something about the power level of the one opening it and saw that it was the smallest amount ever registered. It turned itself off again very quickly again after the initial sounding."
The room was silent as everyone thought for a moment or two. The silence was broken by Isshin as he growled out the obvious conclusion.
"So. My precious baby, the one that I entrusted to others to finish the training of, the one that my darling Masaki bravely sacrificed herself for, the one that has died and given up his humanity, was obviously stolen, because I know that Kensei is a master at finding reiatsu. AND," Isshing thundered on. "He was taken away by someone extremely powerfull on the other side. Powerfull enough to hide his reiatsu levels and powerfull enough to mask the fight that the two of them must have had for Ichigo to come up missing."
Before Shinji could voice the fact that Kensei failed to mention any signs of a battle of any length, or size, Urahara spoke up.
"Not necessarily," Urahara cheerfully pointed out. "It could be a simple matter of Ichigo coming into his full Visored inheritance as an adult Hollow. If he simply failed to keep his inner Hollow at bay the way the rest of the Visoreds have been doing, Ichigo might have entered into his first mating cycle as an adult Hollow. I've always said that the boy is precocious, and even though I thought for sure that Love and Rose would have gotten there first, it isn't really too surprising to find out otherwise. If that's the case, Ichigo may have been snapped up to be the mate of some lower level Hollow, which would match up to the sensor's results."
Urahara rambled on, lost in his thoughts and completely ignoring the others in the room with him.
"Heh, if he won the fight they would have had, his mate could be expecting even now. Of course," Kisuke snickered, "he could have lost the fight, which is likely if it was someone powerfull enough to mask their spiritual pressure. If that's the case, he's probably the one expecting Isshin's first grandchild. Pregnant, round, waddling Ichigo would be a sight to see!"
"Grandbabies?" Isshin said in a tone of wonderment.
"WAIT!" Isshin suddenly bellowed out as he move out from behind Shinji, who gave a silent sigh of relief. "You knew that something like this could happen and didn't take precautions!"
Urahara gulped visibly at the sight of an angry Isshin looming over him.
"Um...well you see...," Urahara trailed off before squaring his shoulders. He then stood up, stepped away from the table, shook his fan at Isshin while opening his mouth to say something, and promptly shun-po'd out of sight.