"Come on neesan!" Shuhei yelled, running forward into the crowd.

"Shuhei get back here!" Hiyori yelled in annoyance. This week was her turn to go shopping for food. She never liked to shop to begin with, and she liked it even less when she had some excited brat who wanted to run off and explore. While it was usually only one person that would go shopping a week, a precaution to keep the residential shinigami from recognizing who they were, Shuhei had taken to going with the designated individual. The others knew they would eventually have to put a stop to it, but for now they didn't mind.

Hiyori looked around, trying to locate the boys wild hair. Sure enough she spotted him near an old man who sold books. She huffed in annoyance. Shuhei loved books and they couldn't keep enough around. A few weeks ago he was talking about looking for a new book, using the pocket money Kisuke gave him for helping around, and Hiyori told him he should just write his own. It was a snide remark meant to let the boy know he had annoyed her. She hadn't expected him to lite up and say he should try it.

"Neesan look, I bought some paper!" he said, holding up a thick stack that he must have bought from the old man. Hiyori nodded to show she saw.

"Yeah yeah, come on Shuhei." she said, pulling the boy away. After a few feet she let go of his arm, trusting him to follow her.

"Neesan, are you mad at me?" Shuhei asked, looking up at her. Hiyori sighed. She hated it when Shuhei misunderstood what she was thinking.

"No Shuhei I'm not, I just don't like the market." she said. Shuhei smiled again, as if that was the only thing he needed to hear. Hiyori looked the boy over. She had taken to doing that since she saw him talking to Kisuke. She didn't notice much different with the boy and considered that a good thing. She didn't miss his growing reiatsu though. He was growing up in many ways. He was still a long way to go before he would be seen as any real threat, but he was defiantly strong enough to start attracting some attention. She had been thinking about telling the others they should start taking precautions for a while now, but since the others didn't seem too worried she decided she shouldn't be either.

A hand grabbed her clothing at her side and she realized Shuhei had stopped. She followed Shuhei's line of sight to see the residential shinigami. He was staring directly at Shuhei and Shuhei was staring back. She felt a small tremor go through the child's body. Hiyori knew the shinigami had felt Shuhei's growing reiatsu and probably figured he was one of the rare humans who could see spiritual beings.

"Shuhei, what are you staring at, come on." she scolded loud enough for the shinigami to hear her before grabbing Shuhei's arm and pulling him away. Shuhei looked up at her in surprise, but silently followed her orders. A hollow scream ripped through the air and the shinigami finally stopped staring at Shuhei and left to dispatch the hollow.

"Sorry neesan." Shuhei said in a low voice.

"What the hell was that even about?" Hiyori asked. Shuhei looked down.

"He was scary." he said softly. Hiyori was about to demand what that meant but she looked at his scar and changed her mind. Shuhei's experience with shinigami had been limited. If he ever saw one until the day he met Kenei, he probably never interacted with them. If he did it may not have been pleasant. Despite the numbers that came from the rukongai, many of the shinigami seemed to have an extreme hatred of the rukonai citizens. It was as if they were trying to erase the past that they had, or in many others case they felt they were above them. Then Shuhei met Kensei and his team, which had obviously been a positive experience, only to have Tosen slaughter the others and chase him down. Ichimaru cut up his face for fun and even Aizen had probably taken in delight in his pain. They couldn't even really count her and the others as shinigami in Shuhei's mind because they were not shinigami anymore when Shuhei met them.

"Not all shinigami are bad people Shuhei. Hell even Akon and Nicorun weren't bad, just annoying." she huffed. Shuhei knew who they were from Kisuke and Mashiro's stories. Akon had been a promising young boy around Shuhei's age. He worked in the department Kisuke created with Nicorun, Mashiro's little sister. He knew there were good people. After all he heard about many interesting people from the others all the time. However he couldn't help but see Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tosen when he saw someone in the black robes.

"I know neesan. I'm sorry, I shouldn't freeze like that." he said. Hiyori sighed. She wasn't good with this kind of thing.

"Whatever. You're still a kid anyway. Come on, we got shopping to do." she said, pulling Shuhei down the street.

xxx

Shuhei sat watching the others train with their masks. He knew they thought it was strange, but no one commented on it. He watched as Kensei ans Shinji each put on their masks and went at each other. Shuhei began counting and at seven the two masks disintegrated. Neither man paid it any head and continued to fight. Shuhei turned his attention to Hiyori who was attacking Love. Her mask also lasted only a few seconds. Love didn't use his. Lisa was sparring with Rose, they're masks long gone. Lastly was Mashiro and Hachi. Mashiro was the only one to still have a mask and Hachi was struggling to block her powerful kicks.

Shuhei marveled at them. Not one of them showed a shred of fear. Shuhei wondered if it was because they trusted the others to step in if anything got out of control. He wished he could be like that too. He was still angry at himself for freezing when he saw the shinigami. He knew there were good ones like Hiyori had said. He heard all the stories of the many shinigami and in some cases, children of shinigami that were aspiring to be ones too. He doubted any of them were dangerous. Yet Ichimaru's face appeared in the back of his mind and he decided children were just as deadly.

Shuhei hated how much he lagged behind the children shinigami that the others had spoke of. He felt that if he began training as often as the others he could easily close the gap. Yet he was afraid to ask. He knew the others were purposely keeping him from training. It was as if in the years they had stayed in the human world the others had made the decision that Shuhei was not going to be a warrior, and that frustrated him. Yet after freezing today he knew they had been right. He couldn't fight if he froze at the sight of a single enemy.

Shuhei's attention was suddenly caught by a coin hitting his lap. He looked down to see a hundred yen piece. "Some en for your thoughts?" Kisuke teased from behind him. Shuhei knew he was a loud thinker. At least that was what Lisa had told him on many occasions.

"Not really, just watching them." he said. Kisuke didn't move and Shuhei wondered for a moment if he was going to call him out. However Kisuke shifted, clearly turning to leave.

"Just remember Shuhei, you're still a child and still young." he said. Shuhei turned to watch him leave. He wondered if he should tell someone. A 'thump' sounded beside him and he realized someone had come to sit next to him. He turned in the other direction to see Kensei, drenched in sweat and drinking a glass of water.

"Hey." he said when he finished. Shuhei looked away. Kensei was the last person he could think of going to if it dealt with being weak. Kensei was the one he looked up to the most, and that meant he couldn't do anything that he thought would make Kensei view him in a negative light. "What's going on with you?" Kensei asked. Shuhei wondered if he could get him to drop it like Kisuke had.

"Nothing is wrong nii..." he started.

"Bullshit, so spill it." Kensei said. Shuhei sighed, there was no way out of this one.

"I guess I'm just mad about freezing today." he admitted. Kensei nodded.

"Hiyori said you were afraid of the shinigami." he said. So he had already known? Shuhei briefly wondered why he bothered asking.

"You think I'm pathetic don't you?" Shuhei asked in a small voice. Kensei actually laughed.

"For a kid to get afraid of a shinigami when he was nearly killed by one isn't pathetic." he said. Shuhei sighed.

"You're not afraid of them." Shuhei said. Kensei's eyes hardened. He hated the people who did this to them, but he didn't hold anything against the men and women who served under him.

"I don't know what you want me to tell you kid? All I will say is yeah, we'll all try to help you and look out for you but there is going to be a time where we won't be there. You will have to decide in times like that on what you're going to do. You can either freeze up and let whatever it is that is scarring you win, or you can get over it and do whatever you need to do." he said. Shuhei looked up at him in surprise.

"That's harsh Kensei!" Mashiro whined from behind them. Shuhei hadn't even realize the others had stopped sparing.

"That's life Mashiro. He's a kid yes, but one day he won't be. I'm telling him exactly how it is. He's going to grow up and he might encounter a hollow or a shinigami. If we aren't there he can't just freeze up." Kensei yelled at her, then he turned to Shuhei. "Now you know though, what you're afraid of. In the future you can do something about it." he said.

Shuhei looked down. He had a lot to think about. However one thing was clear. Kensei was right that one day he would face them again. He would find a way to get over his fear. After all, he wasn't afraid of them anymore, even Shinji, when he saw their masks. He knew they were in control now, and he could be too. He looked up at Kensei and smiled. Kensei smiled back, seeing that the kid got his message.

It's alright to be afraid sometimes, but you can't let that fear take over. Sometimes there's just something more important then what is causing that fear.

So for anyone who is confused, it was confirmed in the manga that the girl with glasses in the twelveth division's family name is Kuna, just like Mashiro. In the novel 'Can't fear your own world' that focuses on Shuhei it is elaborated by the author that she is Mashiro's little sister Kuna 'Nico' Nicorun. That isn't cannon but I like it so I added it. Welcome to the story SuperBunnyDude and thank you for the review! I hope to hear from you again!