9:15 PM

A bell rang faintly, signaling the entrance of a customer into Urahara's shop. Ichigo was delighted - here he was, just starting to get bored, and a new shopper came strolling in. With any luck, they'd be somewhat interesting.

Things had been going well lately - Grimmjow had been staying over more often, and business at the shop had been going well. Ishida was preoccupied with some kind of cyberhacking case, which had in turn granted Ichigo a two-week vacation.

"Welcome, how can I - " Ichigo's voice died in his throat, and he abruptly set down the trinket he'd been cleaning, barely even noticing as it cracked against the hard ceramic counter. The customer standing in front of him was someone he sincerely hoped he'd never see again in this lifetime.

"Really now, what kind of greeting is that? And after so many years too," Aizen said softly, with a quiet smile that for all the world looked completely harmless.

Ichigo shot a furtive glance quickly around him, looking for a suitable weapon, anything really. Fuck, I was so careless, he condemned himself. He'd kept a fully loaded automatic assault weapon stashed under the counter for years, years, gathering dust until Urahara had discovered it and overreacted as usual, insisting Ichigo take it home because he 'just wouldn't feel safe' with it here.

Ichigo had complied, reasoning that it'd been long enough, that he'd been careful enough, that people had stopped looking. For four years since the escape he had been vigilant, carried a gun with him everywhere, hands twitching towards it whenever he'd seen even a glimpse of brown hair, a flash of light off a pair of glasses. He knew that was ridiculous, of course; there was no way Aizen would come in person, probably preferring to just send in a horde of minions. He'd watched for tails, listened to police scanners, done everything to ensure that he'd be prepared when Aizen came for him.

He'd been convinced that someday Aizen would do just that - and he'd stayed convinced, for several years. But at some point during the influx of new and exciting cases, the stringent safety protocols, the successfully maintained anonymity, Ichigo had become complacent. He'd relaxed.

And now look where it'd gotten him. Unarmed and unguarded in front of the man he'd been hiding from for the past six years.

He took a deep breath. Slowly released it. The mask slid on easily, a skill he'd picked up from when he had still worked under Aizen. It was a persona, a psyche, a strength that he could summon simply through concentration and sheer force of will; he still employed it on cases that warranted the effort. "What are you doing here?" His voice was flat, cold, completely devoid of emotion despite the anxiety he'd felt only moments before.

Aizen's smile grew almost imperceptibly wider. "What else could I possibly be here for? I want you to come back, to work for me again. Our organization has missed you dearly. This is completely voluntary, of course - I only want you back if you're absolutely onboard."

The words caught Ichigo by surprise. He wants me to come back? Seriously? This wasn't what he'd been expecting - a bullet to the head, a forced dip in a pool of acid, maybe, but certainly not this...almost cordial visit. "Why? You're not…angry?" he asked guardedly.

The man on the other side of the counter put on a hurt expression. "Oh come now, I know we may not have parted on the most…amicable of terms, but I'm confident that we can make amends. After all, you would be a far greater asset to us alive and on our side than rotting in the ground. And I'm a very reasonable man."

Ichigo knew Aizen would not take it kindly if he laughed at that last statement, so he didn't. But he wasn't buying any of this - he and Ishida had painted a target on their own backs just by leaving. People who tried to escape were traitors, the enemy. This is a set-up, he decided. Still, better to play along and buy some time than to immediately refuse.

"I'm…honored that you view me with such high regard, but you must realize this is a very big decision for me to make. Surely you don't expect an answer right away?" he replied, hoping that his ploy would work.

Aizen answered immediately, breaking into a warm smile that somehow lowered the room temperature by several degrees. "Of course, of course, take your time! I'll give you three days - after that, call me with your decision." He pulled out a phone and tossed it to Ichigo, who easily plucked it from the air.

They stared wordlessly at each other for a moment before Aizen spoke again. "What, nothing else to say? You're curious, I'm sure - how did we track you down after all these years? What could you possibly have done wrong, that we were able to find you?" he prompted.

Ichigo just stood silently, waiting for the other man to continue. Aizen had always felt the need to talk, to explain just how genius his plans had been, how elegant his solutions, how inferior his enemies. He wouldn't be able to resist such a strong temptation to gloat, after such a long time. And he was curious - what was the fatal flaw, the mistake he and Ishida had somehow overlooked despite their meticulous efforts?

"Very well, if you insist," Aizen continued, breaking the silence. "Oh dear, this really is such a funny joke. You see, to be perfectly honest we ceased pursuit of you after a year and a half. It was quite a blow of course, the sudden loss of both members of our number one team, the executioner and his operator, but we simply needed to move on. To spend any more time would be futile, as well as a waste of valuable resources.

So we gave up. Moved the business in a new direction, actually. And who would've thought, four years later you come wandering in by total accident into the path of our CCTV cameras. At a fighting ring, of all places! I was absolutely overjoyed to see you." Aizen wrapped up his monologue with a dignified smirk (something Ichigo was sure only he could pull off), watching carefully for a reaction.

The younger man forced his face to remain impassive, even as his mind was racing. Funny joke? Try cruel. Of course he'd known that there would be security cameras - that was exactly why he'd disappeared into the crowd so early, why he'd avoided the ring until the fight was over. There had been no godly reason why anyone would want to examine security footage after a fight had ended, especially since nothing of interest had happened afterwards. And even if they had, the chance of seeing and recognizing him had been absolutely minuscule - he hadn't made a scene, hadn't stood out to the camera in any way.

After a long moment, he simply sighed. Shit happens, I guess. At least it hadn't been a lack of diligence on their part - though that was barely even worth calling a victory.

Although Aizen had been patiently waiting for a more outspoken reaction, he must have concluded that the drawn out sigh would be all he was getting. He took it as a cue to continue. "And tracking you down after that was perfectly simple, of course. Just a matter of time. By the way, who is your blue-haired friend? You two seemed to be awfully close." Aizen leaned in as he said this, face only about a foot away as he watched Ichigo intently.

Ichigo thought he might have involuntarily flinched at the mention of Grimmjow spilled so carelessly from Aizen's lips. He fervently hoped his mask hadn't broken, even for an instant - any sign of weakness would immediately be capitalized upon and used against him. A faint bell rang in the distance, as if in warning.

The words came easily, his facade holding strong even as he mentally distanced himself from the harsh words. He needed to separate himself, ensure that Grimmjow was never drawn into this, needed to establish beyond all doubt to Aizen that the blunette would not, could not, be a useful piece in this game. Because if he failed to do so…Ichigo didn't want to think about it.

He heard his own voice, twisted into an ugly rasp of laughter. "What are you talking about? He's nothing, just a fuckbuddy I see sometimes. Everyone gets those urges, don't they?" he lied. "Someone like him could never serve any other purpose," he finished. He's not just another tool you can use...

That was...pretty convincing, as lies went. At least, he hoped so. He'd almost believed his own words for a second after he'd said them. Aizen's eyes narrowed - a flicker of uncertainty passed across them for the first time - and the two stood in tense silence for another moment.

The brown-haired man finally replied. "My mistake, then. Please, do think this matter over carefully will you? I am so eagerly awaiting your reply." And with these words, Aizen spun on his heel and walked towards the exit.

Ichigo watched him round the corner before releasing the pent-up tension in his body. Leaning forward onto the counter, he buried his head in his arms. Closed his eyes. Exhaled slowly, carefully. He couldn't afford to simply sit around after such an encounter, he knew that, but…just one moment. That would be enough. He'd figure out what to do after that.

Aizen rounded the corner, only to come face to face with another man, completely out of view from the counter. Not out of hearing range, though. He flashed him a charming smile. "Good evening, Mr. Jaegerjaquez," he said cheerfully with a slight nod before sweeping around Grimmjow and out of the store.

9:29 PM

"Ishida, we need to talk. Now. At the park. Bring your stuff. Now." Ichigo hung up before he said too much on the phone. The old caution and vigilance was back now, full blown, just as strong as it'd been the first month after they'd run for it.

He tried to review the series of events, to make sense of what was going on. Aizen had waltzed into his place of work, during his shift - so they were watching the store. But he hadn't seen anybody following him back to the apartment. He was sure he'd have noticed if that happened. Still, they should check to be safe. If they hadn't discovered Ishida's presence yet, Ichigo wasn't going to be the one to expose him.

And what was Aizen hoping to accomplish, simply asking him to come back? He had to know Ichigo had absolutely no intention of doing so. That much had been made clear by the fact that he'd left in the first place.

So what kind of game was he playing at?

He really needed to talk to Ishida. Ichigo sprinted for the door, grateful he'd chosen to drive the car today. He'd relocated the assault weapon to a hidden compartment in his car - out of the store, but still relatively accessible when he needed it. He certainly felt like he needed it now.

9:37 PM

Ichigo met Ishida at the park less than ten minutes later. Ishida always kept his cellphone on him, even during cases, and for this Ichigo was intensely grateful. He made a mental note that he would have to do the same from now on.

It'd been almost half a year since they'd seen each other in person. Ishida for the most part looked completely unchanged, but his eyes held a new sense of urgency. "What's happened?" he demanded as soon as Ichigo was within earshot and they'd made sure the perimeter was clear.

"Aizen. He happened to see me on a surveillance camera, tracked me down at the store. Came in on my shift - no threats, just talked. Said he wanted me to work for him again. Gave me three days to decide." Ichigo's words burst out in a staccato, opting for clarity instead of eloquence.

Ishida processed the information immediately. "Shit!" he yelled.

Somehow, the outburst from such a normally refined and quiet man helped to calm Ichigo's nerves. "Yeah, something like that," he said, letting out a rush of breath he'd been half-holding the entire time. "I want you to check my place, see if it's safe. He knew where I worked, so they could be planning an ambush at the apartment. I've got some useful stuff stashed, and I'd prefer to talk there if possible."

Nodding, the operator flipped open his laptop and began typing quickly, pulling up both interior and exterior images of Ichigo's apartment, complete with full diagrams.

Thank god Grimmjow broke in that one time, Ichigo thought as he watched Ishida expertly scan through the feeds. He hadn't minded when Grimmjow had done it, he really hadn't, but the intrusion had triggered a slight shadow of the paranoia he'd had six years ago. Within a week, he'd scattered button-sized motion detectors throughout the flat. They were small enough to avoid discovery in all but the most careful of sweeps, but still managed to transmit useful information.

It wasn't as good as a camera, obviously, but Ichigo couldn't stand the thought of constantly being watched even in his own home. So the motion detectors would have to do. He'd rigged them up to broadcast information to an external encrypted website, accessible to anyone with the correct address and password. Not the most secure, but transmitting that kind of information to his home computer was useless if he wanted to know about unwanted intruders ahead of time.

"Clean. Nothing's moved in the past five hours," Ishida finally declared.

Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief. "Let's head there, then. Better than staying out in the open, and we'll have more privacy."

His phone buzzed once in his pocket, then ceased. Ichigo frowned; he thought he'd disabled all incoming calls. Unlocking it, he realized that Grimmjow had sent him a text. 'Meet me after your shift.' was all it said.

Wasn't he supposed to be at work? Ichigo thought. Grimmjow had told him yesterday he'd be away for a while, so this was unexpected…

He quickly fired back a text. 'Can't. Busy.'

10:10 PM

Back in Ichigo's apartment, the two quickly got to work. Ishida set up camp on the dining room table while Ichigo made a pass through the flat, lifting up several floor tiles as he went. Underneath the tiles he'd stashed massive piles of various foreign currencies and weapons, as well as extra ammunition. He'd had to raise the whole damn floor half a foot, but the lowered ceiling height was worth it.

Ishida was still typing away at his laptop when Ichigo returned after placing the floor pieces back in place. "I can't believe Aizen gave you three days! We can be out of the country in less than two hours," Ishida said with a note of disdain.

"Well since he gave us the time, we should make the most of it - take things slowly, make sure our tracks are covered, that we can't be followed," Ichigo warned. "Besides, we should have left years ago, it would've avoided all of…this," he gestured vaguely. But they hadn't. They'd gotten complacent.

He wouldn't be making that mistake again - there was still something off about Aizen's actions. Could they really trust that Aizen had simply given them a three day head start? Still…Aizen was a notorious liar and a master manipulator, but if there was one golden rule he never touched, it was a deadline. A strange quirk to rely on, but the man hadn't violated it once in the entire decade or so they'd known him.

Pausing as he looked absentmindedly at the computer screen, Ishida took a moment to think it over before agreeing. "Fine, we'll go with contingency B. Takes a little longer, but it's absolutely untraceable. I'll need twelve hours to confirm the logistics, pick up our new passports, IDs, all that stuff, and get us onto an international flight."

Ichigo smiled and relaxed slightly, glad that their careful planning had resulted in such an airtight option, still ready to go even years after the fact. "Fuck, I feel like teenagers again, planning our great escape," he half joked.

Ishida did not return the smile. "You'll never see him again, you know. We can't take him with us," he said.

The words didn't seem to quite sink in at first, floating around in the air as Ichigo struggled to make sense of them. Then he saw the massive, gaping hole in their plans. Grimmjow.

He was astounded, baffled, simply shocked he hadn't realized it earlier - he'd thought about the blunette multiple times during their planning, even texted him once at the park, but he just hadn't comprehended what this meant. The idea had simply never occurred to him. The planning, the crisis management, it was just a trick to get away from Aizen - but he'd be picking up his life right where he'd left off, after things had blown over. He'd settle down in another place, another country maybe, but he'd keep doing his jobs, keep calling Ishida, keep seeing Grimmjow. How could he have forgotten that these plans didn't include Grimmjow, had never included him? He'd just…assumed it, assumed that Grimmjow would be there with him when he left - it was a given, a granted, a constant in the variable.

When had that happened?

He fished for an answer but for once nothing came to mind.

Ishida took his silence as denial, and pressed on. "Ichigo, we've had these plans in formation for years - that's how long the initial preparation took, that's how long it takes to set things like this up. These ten hours, it's just - it's just making the final call for things that have been waiting for us, for more than half a decade. Passports in particular - it takes weeks to get a credible fake put together. Cultivating entirely new, untraceable identities in a foreign country? Just as hard. He doesn't have any of those things - if he comes with us, it'll leave a blazing trail for Aizen to follow. We simply cannot take him with us," he repeated.

And then after a pause, "I'm sorry." He rested a hand on Ichigo's shoulder.

Ichigo remained silent. He had to think, approach this rationally, just think and it would be okay. This was Aizen they were talking about. The tyrant they'd grown up under, slaved under during grueling training sessions, served under according to his every whim. They'd watched comrades, friends, executed mercilessly for the tiniest mistake. They'd seen him personally behead someone simply because she'd tripped and fallen down in front of him. Aizen did not deign to suffer incompetence.

They'd escaped once. They now had the chance to escape again, either because Aizen had underestimated them or simply miscalculated. They would probably never have this chance again.

He nodded slowly. "All right, I understand."

At his words, Ishida gave a quick murmur of approval before he began briskly and efficiently packing his things together, slinging it over a shoulder. "I'm going to get everything together. We'll meet in the park at ten in the morning tomorrow, bring everything you want to keep and we'll load it up there. Don't worry too much if anyone sees you, we've set this up so it won't matter either way."

Ichigo just nodded again. "Hey…" he called as Ishida was leaving. Ishida had already opened the door, was halfway out, but he turned around at the call. Ichigo didn't say anything else, just stepped forward a little.

"We'll make it through this together, okay? Just like we always do," Ishida said reassuringly. He pulled Ichigo into a brotherly hug as the orange head came closer. "Everything will be okay. I'll see you tomorrow, all right?" He released Ichigo, turned and headed out the door, shutting it softly behind him.

12:02 PM

Ichigo let out another long sigh after Ishida had left, slumping against the door. Everything will be okay, he repeated to himself. They'd be out of the country by this time tomorrow. He'd never have to deal with Aizen again, and honestly nothing else mattered, nobody but him and Ishida. Right? The people they were leaving behind forever, what did they matter, everything will be -

There was suddenly a hammering at the door, so loudly that Ichigo thought the wood might splinter.

A/N: Again, sorry for any confusion caused by the chapter 9/10 wonkiness.

Please read and review! Or follow! I update fairly quickly (~2 times a week, I think) so that function seems useful :P

Opinions on Ishida? He didn't really have much of a role when this started out, but it's kind of expanded. Mainly because he serves a decent function and helps to establish Ichigo's character/backstory a little better? Hopefully he's not too boring for you guys, I never really liked him much on the actual show. Review please!

Thanks to Terrynow, Foxluna, Soya Pie, Kandi-coated Mystery (who I got the ch 9 title from!), and Ninie-sanNote for the reviews! I KNOW more people are reading than just that, so please take LITERALLY 10 seconds and leave a comment!