*Earlier that day*

The raindrops started to darken the light grey concrete of the sidewalk. Ichigo looked up at the iron-grey sky above him. Another cold raindrop hit him in the head and he shivered.

He was already several blocks away from the house. Where he was going he wasn't sure, he just knew he had to get away for a while. He was just letting his feet carry him anywhere, …as long as he didn't end up there.

The rain picked up slightly and it started to make a pattering noise as it hit the sidewalk.

This day was starting to remind him a lot of that day. A memory threatened to push it's way to the front of his mind. He shook his head to clear it away. He wouldn't think about if he could help it.

He kept walking.

*Kurosaki kitchen*

Both Isshin and Shiro looked up in surprise.

"What?" Isshin asked, shocked.

"I went up to his room and he wasn't there so I checked all the other rooms upstairs and he wasn't in any of them either!" Yuzu wailed.

Isshin stood up and left the kitchen, Yuzu close behind. After a moment Shiro followed them. They had started up the stairs when Karin came out of the living room.

"What's happening?" She asked.

"They can't find Ichigo." Shiro told her.

Her eyes widened. She moved past him to run up the stairs to join the others who had already reached the top. Shiro moved to the top of the stairs and saw everyone else standing in the doorway of Ichigo's room. Shiro walked over and looked into the room.

The room was empty like Yuzu had said. The window was wide open and rain was coming through the window. If the puddle on the floor was anything to go by, Ichigo had left hours ago.

He saw Isshin pull out his cell phone and dialed a number. He put the phone to his ear, an anxious look on his face. A few moments later a phone started to buzz on the desk next to Ichigo's computer. Isshin shut his phone and the buzzing stopped.

"Dad, what are we going to do?" Yuzu asked in a small voice. More tears threatened to spill from her eyes.

"I'll call his friends and ask if they've seen him." Isshin began dialing another number as he went down stairs again.

Yuzu started to cry again. Karin started to rub her back comfortingly though she looked like she was on the verge of tears too. Karin started to direct Yuzu towards the stairs.

"Come on Yuzu lets go down stairs for a bit." Karin said.

"What if he's hurt Karin?" Yuzu asked.

"Don't worry, Ichigo can take care of himself." Karin said reassuringly.

Yuzu stood there for a moment before asking quietly, "What if he doesn't come back?"

"He'll come back. He always comes back." Karin said without hesitation, though it sounded like she said it to comfort herself as much as her sister.

The two girls went down the stairs leaving Shiro standing in the doorway of Ichigo's room.

Shiro walked into the room and shut the window. He watched the rain fall for a moment before turning away. Carrot-top must be an idiot for going out in this. He was about to leave the room when he stopped. He walked over to the desk, grabbed Ichigo's phone and walked out. He wasn't sure about exactly what he was going to do and he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it either.

He walked down the stairs and past the kitchen; a quick glance into the kitchen told him that Isshin hadn't heard anything. Isshin was running a hand through his hair, a worried look on his face.

Shiro pulled on his shoes. Damn this was gonna suck, he had just gotten warmed up too. Maybe he could find an umbrella. He walked into the living room to ask Yuzu where one was.

Yuzu was sitting on the couch, still crying. Karin sat next to her and was staring into space.

"Where's the umbrella?"

Yuzu and Karin looked up at him.

"You're going to leave Shiro?" Yuzu asked in a small voice.

Shiro snorted. "Well, someone has to go look for that idiot."

Yuzu stood up and ran over to Shiro. She used her arm to wipe away the tears on her face before she looked up at him, a small smile on her face.

"Thank you." She said before she rapped her arms around his waste and gave him a hug.

Stunned, Shiro stood there stock-still even after Yuzu let go of him so she could find him an umbrella. The sound of Karin getting off the couch made him go on alert.

Shiro watched her warily as she moved towards him. He didn't think she was the type to hug but you could never be sure.

"Thanks." She said, genuine gratitude on her face.

Shiro cross his arms and looked away. "It's not a problem."

Shit, he had never realized how easy it was to make him feel awkward. Yuzu came back into the room carrying a black umbrella in her arms. Shiro took the umbrella as she handed it to him.

He left the room and went to the door. Before he opened the door he opened the umbrella.

"It's bad luck to open an umbrella in doors." Shiro turned to see Isshin watching him. Damn he was good at sneaking up on him.

"Here, take my phone with you so in case one of us finds him." Isshin held out his phone.

"Don't need it." Shiro held up Ichigo's phone as proof.

Isshin was silent for a moment. "Thank you, Shiro"

"Whatever." Shiro turned and opened the door and walked out into the rain. Was it really necessary for them to thank him?

*On the street*

Ichigo continued to aimlessly walk down the street. He had lost track of how long he had been out and he guessed it didn't matter anymore. The rain was pouring down now, just like it was that day. His hair was plastered to his head and his clothes were completely soaked through.

Looking up, he realized he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going. If he had he could have avoided this place. Damn.

The familiar street he had walked down for so many years to go to and from his dojo was in front of him. The sound of the river flowing by was a familiar sound to his ears. He could see the stop sign where he use to turn and continue to his house.

His feet continued forward against his will. The memory started to play. He quickly suppressed it again. His feet carried him closer to the stop sign. The memory was becoming harder to block. Finally he reached the sign. He couldn't hold the memory back anymore.

~Flashback~

-Ichigo: age 9-

Ichigo swung the hand that was holding his mother's hand back and forth happily as talked about his day. Rain fell down around them making splattering noises as it hit Ichigo's raincoat and Masaki's umbrella.

"I beat Akio today!" Ichigo said proudly but immediately pouted. "But Tatsuki beat me again."

"Don't worry about it Ichigo. You're getting better all the time." His mother smiled down at him. "I bet one of these days you'll beat Tatsuki too."

Ichigo looked up at his mother and gave her a big smile. She always new how to cheer him up. They continued down the street and stopped at the corner where they would turn and continue towards their home. Looked across the street grinned as he thought of an idea.

"Mom, lets see who can run across the street the fastest!" With out waiting for an answer, Ichigo let go of his mother's hand and ran across the street as fast as he could.

He reached the other side and realized he had reached the other side first. He turned around and smiled triumphantly. His mother was only third way across the street and he frowned when he saw she was only walking.

"How come you're only walking?" He asked.

"Dresses aren't the easiest thing to run in." She explained.

"I'm sorry mommy. I'll help you cross the street." Ichigo started to walk onto the street.

"Wait Ichigo, did you look both ways before you crossed the street?" Masaki asked.

Ichigo quickly stepped back onto the corner and looked down the street to the left. There were no cars but he could hear an engine going somewhere. He looked to the right and didn't see anything. Satisfied that it was okay to cross, he started to walk back to where his mother waited.

He was half way across the street when he heard a screeching sound to his right. Looking he saw truck speeding towards him.

"Ichigo move!" He heard his mother yell at him.

Ichigo's feet froze him in place and mind refused to work as the headlights continued to speed towards him.

"ICHIGO!" Masaki screamed as she ran towards her son.

Ichigo felt hands push him side ways as the truck speed past him, a loud crash sounded immediately afterwards.

Ichigo laid dazed on road, he heard the sound of the truck fade as it drove away. His senses came back to him and he immediately sat up to look for his mom. He saw her lying face down a few feet away. He crawled over to her and gently pushed her shoulder.

"Mom, come on. Get up."

She didn't move. Ichigo felt tears mix with the cold rain on his cheeks. He pushed her shoulder again with a little more force in an attempt to wake her up. She still didn't move and he felt the fear and panic build. He looked around for help but the streets were empty. He was alone.

~End flash back~

Ichigo leaned against the stop sign and slid down to sit on the ground. The pain and guilt of the memory made him feel colder then the rain ever could.

The rain continued to fall.

*An hour and a half later*

Shiro wanted to hit himself. Why the hell had he volunteered for this? Going out in the rain for an hour and a half, wonderful idea. He could have been stayed nice and warm inside and wait for Ichigo to come back but no, he had to be a sap and go out into the cold rain and look for him.

The phone in Shiro's hand beeped again as it tried to alert him to it's dangerously low battery. Didn't Ichigo ever charge his phone? The phone had gone off once and scared the shit out of him since he had forgotten that in was set to vibrate.

Isshin had called to tell him that none of Ichigo's friends knew where he was and hadn't seen him. Which meant he that he had to keep looking or face a crying Yuzu.

The only problem was Shiro had no idea where to look. His one and only idea was the cemetery and Ichigo hadn't been there. So Shiro had ended up just wondering the streets. He was currently walking along a street close to the river.

He looked ahead and saw someone sitting next to a stop sign. Someone with bright orange hair.

He walked towards the person and recognized him as Ichigo. Ichigo didn't look up as Shiro approached; he just continued to stare into the street.

"Your family is worried about you."

Ichigo shook his head. "They shouldn't and they wouldn't if they knew what happened."

Shiro frowned. "Okay then, what happened?"

Ichigo pulled his knees up to his chest. "It's my fault. If hadn't ran out onto the street or if I had moved out of the way she might-"

"What if!? What if kick your ass right now?" Shiro said angrily. He had spent all that time looking for him and he was just wallowing in self-pity?

"I'll leave you to your guilt trip." Shiro turned and began to walk back the way he came.

"Please, don't leave."

He almost hadn't heard Ichigo's words over the rain. Shiro stopped and looked at Ichigo from over his shoulder. Ichigo was staring blankly into the street again. Shiro sighed and pulled out Ichigo's phone, he better call Isshin and tell him where they were. He pressed several buttons but the screen stayed blank. Oh shit, it's battery died.

Now what was he gonna do? It didn't look like Ichigo was going to move anytime soon and he couldn't just leave him there. Looks like he was going to have to wait for Ichigo to decide to get up.

They stayed there for a while, the rain pouring down around them. The win started to pick up, making the rain fall side ways. When the thunder started Shiro decided it was time to get going.

"You ready to go?"

Ichigo gave a small nod before standing up, or at least trying to stand up. He stumbled and nearly fell. Shiro almost dropped the umbrella when he grabbed Ichigo's shoulders to keep him from falling down.

Shiro looked at Ichigo's face and he didn't look too good. His face was flushed and his eyes weren't focused. Shiro could feel him trembling from the cold. He just hoped Ichigo wasn't going to puke on him.

Suddenly Ichigo leaned up against Shiro and kissed him.

-AUTHOR'SNOTE-

…Plot twist! : D

Kamishii was gonna eat me if I didn't finish this as soon as possible. -_-"

writing that flash back made want to cry. T.T

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. Sorry for any grammar mistakes. -_-