17 months later: The Lost Ones

by Raizen Yusuke

The Privaron Espada had been defeated. Ichigo, Orihime, and their loved ones have been enjoying long and well deserved peace. That peace is shattered by a new unknown threat that shakes up everything. Alliances are called into question, friends keep secrets, and bonds are tested. Ichigo goes on a quest to reclaim his power. Sequel to 1 year and 5 months. My version of LSS arc

10. The Growing Shadows

This chapter will also be a long one. I covered as much as I wanted. I was even able to work in some more characters that haven't been used in a while, Yuzu, Keigo, and Mizuiro. They do have more meat in their roles for this chapter, which I am happy about.

GT to answer your question the two Orihime quotes at the end of last chapter. They are from the very last chapter in 1 year and 5 months.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach in any shape or form. There is one original character in here that I do own.

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Sometimes Yuzu felt like she was the older sibling instead of the younger sibling. Where would Ichigo be without her? She seemed to always be watching out for her big brother, whether it was making him a meal or making sure he came home at all. Lord knew that her dad and Karin were perfectly fine with Ichigo staying out all night without so much as thinking to search for him. To them Ichigo being gone for a whole month was no cause for concern. Honestly, where would her whole family be without her? The house would be a in a state of perpetual mess and she didn't even want to think of what type of disaster the kitchen would be. Everyone would probably eat whenever they felt like it, not even bothering to sit down for family meals. The sink would be stacked with dishes thanks to everyone making their own meals and neglecting to make one meal for the entire family. They took her for granted as well.

Ichigo doesn't come home and stays out all night, a trend that had appeared more times than Yuzu liked during the last two years, but he calls her up and asks her to save some breakfast for him and Orihime. It wouldn't kill him to show some common courtesy more often and give her a heads up. Last night he was kind enough to remind her that he and Orihime had a dinner date. Having that knowledge meant less work for her. She knew to make less and had more spare time on her hands to catch up on her favorite shows with her dad and Karin. It was lovely. This morning she assumed he wouldn't be eating breakfast since dad told her and Karin that Ichigo would be staying at Keigo's place after his date, which wasn't fooling anyone. Yuzu wasn't as naïve as her dad and brother thought she was.

Was she really supposed to believe that after his date with Orihime that her brother would leave and go to his friend Keigo's place in Naruki City unannounced to stay the night there? She was thirteen, not seven. A person didn't need to be a rocket scientist to know that Ichigo stayed at Orihime's apartment last night. They were totally doing it. Dad knew, Karin knew, and she knew, that their favorite orange haired pair was doing it. If it was supposed to be a secret they did a dreadful job at concealing it. She could count the number of times she caught her brother and future sister caught in an impassionate lip lock on the couch when they thought no one was home. Yuzu was grateful they never let their passion overwhelm them to the point of doing more than kissing on the couch.

As Karin would say, they were way too handsy to not be sexually active. Yuzu was in full agreement with her twin. That was fine with her, but it would make less work for her if Orihime stayed over at their house when they felt the need to be intimate. At least then she would know they were going to have breakfast with them and make it right away instead of having to guess, like she did this morning. If the adults were going to tell her and Karin ridiculous lies they could just say Orihime stayed in Ichigo's room, but nothing happened. She could pretend to believe that if it meant less work for her.

The maternal Kurosaki could take solace that Ichigo's overnight stays at Orihime's were rare. Say what you would about them, but they had more self-control than most for a couple that had access to an apartment without adult supervision. They spent more time here than they did at Orihime's place. Her brother had the decency to call her and let her know he and Orihime were planning to eat breakfast over there early on. It shouldn't be too much trouble for Yuzu to make a larger breakfast. Still, it would have been nice to know a little earlier when she was in the middle of making the meal. Knowing Ichigo, he probably wouldn't even realize how much trouble she went through, just like he didn't even notice her new uniform or care about her first exam. At least Orihime would show her appreciation of her. As thoughtless as her brother could be her future sister was just as thoughtful. Orihime would thank her ten times over. Seeing her beloved Onee-chan smile was reward enough for Yuzu. She balanced out her ungrateful boyfriend that was for sure.

"I better get started on making them some breakfast," she told herself. It was a good thing it was nothing elaborate or time consuming. She simply made omelets along with the bread Orihime had given them. It was easy enough to make. She would probably need to get some more eggs for later in the week, but that wasn't much of a problem. She could go shopping today.

"Was that Ichigo on the phone just a minute ago?" Karin questioned, as she entered the kitchen. She had gotten out of the bathroom when she heard Yuzu talking on the phone. The conversation ended before she could go down the stairs.

"Hmm, yeah it was him," Yuzu answered without turning around. She turned the stove back on. "He and Onee-chan wanted to eat breakfast here, so he called me to ask me to save them some breakfast." Yuzu went to the refrigerator to retrieve the eggs. Without even sparing her dark haired counterpart so much as a glance, she could hear the ruffling of hair and Karin putting a hand on her hip. Those were two clear signs that Karin was irritated.

"Geez, he spends the night at Orihime-chan's place then expects to eat breakfast here? Man, that guy is becoming such a louse," Karin huffed. If he was going to stay at Orihime's apartment overnight the least he could do was let her make him breakfast. Karin knew for fact that Orihime really wanted to make them breakfast for once and not always rely on Yuzu. That goal was unobtainable as long as Ichigo was still unsold on Orihime's cooking, which was ridiculous. Orihime had weird tastes, but she proved she could make conventional food when she started making bento lunches for Ichigo to enjoy. How bad could she screw up breakfast? If he was afraid of her cooking he could offer to cook for them. "If he is going to have sex at his girlfriend's house he should at least go through with the whole experience and eat breakfast over there."

"I would keep it down about the sex talk. We don't want dad to know that we know Ichigo is staying at Onee-chan's place when he tells us Ichigo is staying at one of his friends' places." Yuzu cracked the eggs open over the pan. She could hear Karin cross her eyes at this point.

"I can't believe he actually believes we buy his bogus stories," the middle Kurosaki sibling said.

"In dad's eyes we're always going to be his little girls," Yuzu both mused and contemplated. Their dad made it fairly obvious that Karin and she were his pure and innocent little angels. The image he had of the twins in his mind was the same six year old girls who followed their big brother around and adored their daddy. "It is kind of sweet he still wants to protect our innocence like that."

Karin couldn't believe her ears. Did Yuzu actually believe that is what their father was doing? She needed to stop having these idealistic images of her family members and see them as they really were. As much as she loved their father, Ichigo, and Orihime, they were very flawed people. "Please, dad just insists on keeping us in the dark so that when we start dating we don't use the fact that he let Ichigo stay over at Orihime-chan's apartment against him in the future." It was a fruitless endeavor. Even if they were ignorant enough to buy their dad's stories now in the future when they got older they would look back on this and realize what Ichigo and Orihime were really doing. Their father was fighting a losing battle.

She watched as Yuzu finished making omelets and put them with the rest. The twins worked together to set the table and prepare for breakfast. "For your sake, Yuzu, I hope they get here before everything gets cold." Dark haired girl took her seat.

"If they are late they are going to have to eat cold food," Yuzu stated decisively.

Karin narrowed her eyes with skepticism. Yuzu was not a hard ass. She talked big, but she wasn't going to back it up. "Oh please. You say that now, but you know when they get here you are just going to warm it up for them."

Predictably the youngest Kurosaki sibling shook her head vehemently. "No! I'm not going to warm their food up this time!" She wasn't going to be taken for granted by her older brother anymore. "Onii-chan, is going to learn to stop taking me for granted. If that means I have to be sterner than I will be sterner."

Skepticism stayed with Karin. The words sounded good, but without actions to back them up they were empty. "All it is going to take is for Hime-nee to give her big doe eyes and say she is sorry and you are going to end up warming their food back up."

Yuzu wasn't giving up without a fight. "Not this time. If Onee-chan says sorry I will just warm up her food, not Onii-chan's."

Good grief, did she not even see the contradiction in her new words now? Before she said she would not warm up either of their meals. Now she faltered and said she would warm up Orihime's. It wouldn't take her too long to give in and do the same for their grouchy brother, especially for Orihime's sake, if nothing else. Yuzu was always soft on Ichigo. The poor kid still worshipped the ground he walked on. "Sure you won't, Yuzu."

Not amused by her sister's mockery, Yuzu huffed. Karin could be just as annoying as Ichigo. Just because she was older by a few lousy minutes didn't entitle her to tease Yuzu mercilessly like she did. She wasn't even going to give her sister the satisfaction of seeing her upset. Yuzu ignored her and ate her breakfast. Karin shrugged her shoulders and started eating her breakfast. Before they even got a quarter into the meal they heard the door open. Ichigo entered with kitchen with Orihime close behind him. The argument was moot with their sudden appearance. The food was plenty warm.

"Good morning," Orihime happily greeted the twins.

"Good morning," they said in unison.

"Where's dad?" Ichigo asked instead of wishing them a good morning. Yuzu and Karin traded looks. Mentally they communicated how rude their brother was being. Normally he would at least wish them a good morning even if he acted dismissive toward them.

"So you aren't even going to say good morning first," Karin scolded almost motherly. It drew Ichigo's attention to her. "You go to the trouble of asking Yuzu to save you breakfast and you don't even thank her for it. That is rude even for you, Ichi-nii." Yuzu nodded along, highlighting Karin's point. Their brother had enough manners to look ashamed.

"Sorry," he muttered. "Good morning." To his credit he meant it rather than just going through the motions.

"That's better," Karin stated, giving her approval. "Dad's not here. He ate an early breakfast and left before we got up."

"Isshin-san left before you even woke up." Orihime's lips fell into a small frown. The fact that there was even a small amount of time where Yuzu and Karin were home alone terrified her. If someone really was spying on Karin then a moment like that would have been the perfect opportunity to harm or abduct the girls. If they hadn't decided to eat breakfast here the girls would have been here all alone and exposed. She had to shake her head to get rid of such awful thoughts.

"He left us a note," Yuzu mentioned. Was Orihime upset that dad left them alone? It wasn't like this was something new. She and Karin were old enough to stay out of trouble.

"What does it say?" The words rushed out of Ichigo's mouth. The sisters exchanged half glances with each other. Why were Ichigo and Orihime acting so strange?

The mystery might be unraveled if they talked more. "Nothing much. He said he was going to be running errands all day and he probably won't be home until this evening," Yuzu answered again.

Errands? What kind of errands could the old man be doing that would take all day? "Did he say what he was doing?" His sisters looked at him as if to ask why he wanted to know. He was just making them suspicious. He needed to downplay this fast. "I just thought if he had a lot of errands to do I might be able to do some before I got to work. You know, lighten his load so he can get done faster." Both girls threw odd looks at him. Neither looked convinced by his claim.

This time Karin answered. "No. He didn't say what he needs to do."

The old man didn't write down what he was doing either. He didn't want them to know where he was. The note was probably written in haste before he could even think of a good excuse. That meant he was out doing god knows what. He was working under the radar again. Ichigo disliked when he did the cloak and dagger stuff. It was impossible to know what to do. At times like this he wished he could track his father's reiatsu. That road was still closed off to him. There was no use in wishing for the impossible. If he did anything rash it would alarm his sisters, let them know that something was up. With nothing left to do he sat down and ate breakfast with his sisters. Orihime did the same. Yuzu and Karin were still unnerved by the older teens' abnormal behavior. After a short while they shook it off and went about eating breakfast.

Despite the strange start to it breakfast managed to be somewhat enjoyable. Whatever suspicions the girls had seemed to have vanished. Vanish wasn't the right word. Their suspicions had been put aside for the moment to enjoy a fun conversation. While they were out on their date the remaining Kurosaki clan had a family night. The three of them watched their favorite T.V. shows together and even watched a movie on their own. According to Karin, their father had been on his best behavior and only acted a little foolish.

Orihime was happy to hear that they all had a good time. She suspected that in the past when Ichigo was out all night that they hadn't participated in such fun family activities. Ichigo being out on a date instead of fighting some monstrous beast or evil mastermind no doubt put Isshin and Karin's minds at ease. Of course they poked fun at her and Ichigo. They made snarky comments on how much fun she and Ichigo had and if the long wait had been worth it. At the end of it Orihime had blushed so hard she was sure her complexion was going to be crimson permanently. It took a considerable effort on Ichigo's part to ensure her that her normal complexion had returned.

After Yuzu had given them all yet another outstanding meal Orihime offered to do the dishes. The caretaker objected, citing that Orihime was a guest, but at this point they had all but said Orihime was living there. She spent more time there than she did at her own apartment. Orihime refused to let Yuzu have her way. She worked so hard making all their meals. It wasn't right for her to have to worry about the dishes as well. It took a considerable effort, but she succeeded in letting Yuzu allow her to wash their dishes. During the war of words Ichigo ducked out to take his shower. The girls went to watch television or rather Karin had dragged Yuzu away from the kitchen to give her some much needed down time while Orihime did the dishes.

She silently thanked Karin for getting Yuzu to leave. Karin accepted no thanks. It was no secret that little Yuzu took her duties as caretaker of the family deadly serious. The poor girl overworked herself. They all did their part to lighten Yuzu's load whenever they could. Little moments like these were perfect. Orihime didn't mind doing the dishes. Actually doing the dishes at the Kurosaki household was more enjoyable than her apartment. There was laughter in the background, everything felt lived in and warm, and it felt like a home. Her apartment hadn't felt much like a home since Sora had passed away. It was these little moments Orihime craved the most. Washing dishes while the rest of her family went off to play or get ready for work felt so natural. It made her chest warm and her spirits soar. Little moments like these are when she felt at home the most.

The Kurosaki home had become her home. The Kurosaki family had become her family. She had fallen in love with them the very first time Ichigo had invited her to have dinner with them. She secretly envied him. He often complained about them, but she could see underneath the mask and see just how much Ichigo loved his family. He would accompany them to watch the filming of a show he disliked just to make them happy. Karin and Yuzu were a large part of why Ichigo fought so hard. He wanted nothing, but the best for his little sisters. He was their big brother and fully believed he was born first to protect them. Seeing Ichigo go so far for his sisters reminded her of how far her older brother went to protect her.

While she had no younger siblings, she had grown close enough to Karin and Yuzu to love them as if they were her sisters. It wasn't exactly like what Ichigo had with them she was sure, but the healer had developed a powerful urge to protect them from harm just as she had for their brother. Seeing them in pain could bring tears to her eyes. The thought of them hurt or worse was unthinkable and unacceptable. She wouldn't let anything bad happen to those girls while she was around. She was determined to keep them safe no matter the personal cost. The way events were shaping up, Karin and Yuzu could be in real danger. The danger could be represented by the scar man or the unknown Ginjo or yet another unknown party.

The unknown was frightening. They had no way of protecting them. They had no way to even identify the danger. Protecting them, protecting her family without knowing what she was protecting them from was all but impossible. She couldn't be around them every second of every day to make sure they were safe. Unsettling enough, Orihime was finding that prospect less ridiculous with each passing minute. It was hilarious that she once lectured Ichigo on how impractical it would be for him to be around her all day long just to make sure she was safe after he lost his ability to sense her reiatsu. The idea was sounding quite appealing to her now.

'Why does Isshin-san have to be away at a time like this?' She had tried calling his cellphone, but he didn't answer. It was vexing how everyone was simply ignoring their phones. It defeated the purpose of having them if the owners didn't answer them! First Sado-kun and now Isshin-san wasn't answering. The whole reason Isshin had even gotten a phone was so he could be reached in case of emergencies. This was an emergency! Karin could be watched by this Ginjo man or the clinic could be found by this scar man. She couldn't believe how fast she allowed her mood to sour. She wasn't supposed to do that. If she became frantic the girls would sense it. The healer would be powerless to convince them that nothing was wrong. She would fumble over simple words or play with hair and give away that everything was wrong. Karin would obliterate any feeble story Orihime could think of and bear down on her until she got the truth out of her. The truth was something Orihime couldn't tell her. She promised Ichigo that she wouldn't tell Karin about Ginjo or the scar man.

She objected to the idea. She argued that they needed to tell Karin what they discovered. If someone might be watching her then she should be on guard. Preparing her for what could happen was the best thing they could to protect her. Ichigo disagreed with her assessment. He wanted to keep Karin in the dark most of all to her confusion. She couldn't understand why he would want to keep his sister in the dark about someone who might wish to cause her harm or use her against him. Ichigo reasoned that telling Karin would alert her watcher, if she was indeed being watched. He reasoned Karin might do something different than her normal routine, which would be a dead giveaway that she was on to him or her. If the watcher thought she was wise to him they might do something rash. She wanted his reasoning to sound absurd so she could tear it apart, but when forced to think about it Orihime understood what he meant.

She knew that it made sense, but she still disliked it. However, Ichigo was just as stubborn as she was. He made her promise not to tell Karin just yet. He pleaded with her to keep this from Karin and Yuzu. Against her better judgement, Orihime promised. Her role as the secret keeper of the Kurosaki family was becoming loathsome. The downside of being a confidant had never been more apparent.

"Are you not done yet, Onee-chan?" How long had she been at the sink? It couldn't have been more than a minute. One glance at the clock on the microwave told her it had been ten minutes. Orihime kicked herself for letting her thoughts run away from her like that. Yuzu was probably worried it had taken her so long. Here she was supposed to not make her and Karin worry. So far she was doing a poor job.

She took a deep breath and let all her fears float away. The auburn princess faced the younger girl with a kind smile. "I washed them all quickly enough, but I decided to put some of them away. It is taking longer than I thought it would. It would probably go faster if I wasn't sitting here daydreaming. Wouldn't it be great if the dishes could put themselves up or if we got robotic arms that would wash and put dishes away. We would never have to wash a dish again and as an added bonus you could arm wrestle the arms when they weren't doing anything. Oh, that would a lot of fun."

"You don't have to put all the dishes away," Yuzu said. "I was planning on doing that later today. Don't burden yourself any more than you have to."

"It is no trouble at all," Orihime insisted. "Today is Sunday. You should get to enjoy it without any worries before school starts again tomorrow."

"You have still have to get to your job though," Yuzu reminded the older girl. "Your shift starts at 10."

Work had slipped her mind. Funny how a few days ago something as mundane her work preoccupied much of her attention, yet now it was hardly the biggest obligation she had. It wasn't right to leave the girls alone knowing that their father would be away for the whole day. How could it be right to leave them when there was even a slight chance that they could be attacked? Could she just stay there with them though? Yesterday was her day off, but she had to get back to work today. She had a responsibility to Choshi-san. He had been nothing but kind and encouraging to her since she came into his employment. Flaking out on him was just as wrong as leaving Karin and Yuzu home alone. She wanted to be a good employee. Choshi-san deserved nothing less from her. At the same time she couldn't abandon the twins when she thought they could be in danger.

Choshi-san wasn't in any danger. The worse that would happen if Orihime didn't show up was that the bakery would be short-handed for a day. If she left Karin and Yuzu who knew what could happen to them. If it came down to choosing between the twins and Choshi-san, the former would win out over the latter. The girls were always there to offer support up to her. She would in turn support them. She would have to call Choshi-san and tell him that she couldn't come in today. If he couldn't accept that then she would respect his decision and forfeit her job to someone else who could do it. "I was thinking about playing hooky today."

"You play hooky?" The amazement radiated from Yuzu's words. "Are you feeling alright, Onee-chan?"

"O-of course!" the healer fussed. Was it that unthinkable that she would play hooky? Generally Orihime did her best to obey the rules and do the right thing, but she wasn't a saint. She had done less than respectful things, some things that were deemed naughty even. "It is just such a nice day that it seems like such a shame to waste it standing behind a counter."

"That doesn't sound like you," Yuzu half stated and half challenged her.

"I am not some goodie two shoes who always has to follow the rules you know," she protested. "Every once in a while I can be bad too." Hearing those words come from her mouth sounded alien. Orihime couldn't blame Yuzu for having misgivings. "Can't I be a little adventurous?"

A playful twinkle danced in Yuzu's eye. Orihime pondered what she could have entered her head. "Don't you think you were adventurous enough last night?" An intense heat consumed Orihime's face. She could only stand there and gawk helplessly at Yuzu. She couldn't believe it. Little sweet and loving Yuzu of all people made such an innuendo laced remark! She was giggling!

"Yu-Yuzu-chan!"

She stuck her tongue out at Orihime and continued to giggle away. The healer pouted at her friend's insensitivity. It was bad enough they knew what she and Ichigo were really doing, but did they have to tell so many double meaning jokes at their expense? Well, two could play that game. "Here I thought I would take you and Karin-chan out for ice cream with me and Tatsuki-chan." Silence sprung up so fast that she thought Yuzu might have gotten whiplash from sudden the stop. "I wanted to spend time with you two, have a girls' day out with just the three of us and maybe bring Tatsuki-chan along with us. If you are so opposed to the idea of me playing hooky, I could just take Karin-chan with me. I'm sure we will have lots of fun."

"I-I want to go!" cried Yuzu.

"I wouldn't want to make you do anything you are uncomfortable with." Inner Orihime was throwing a parade at successfully fighting back against Yuzu. "You can stay here."

"No! I want to go with you guys. I don't want to be the only one to stay here!" she whined.

Giggling began again, except it came from Orihime. Yuzu realized that she had been tricked. Orihime had played such a mean trick on her. Yuzu stuck out her bottom lip. "That was mean," she stated.

"It is a big sister's job to tease a little sister," Orihime remarked impishly. Yuzu refused to look her way, but she caught the little amused smile working its way to the surface. "Do you think Karin-chan would be interested? The three of us spending the day together could be fun. When was the last time we did something like that?"

"I think as long as it doesn't turn too girly, Karin will join in." Her sister was a tomboy at heart, but that didn't mean she hated everything girls did. As they got older, Yuzu saw that Karin was taking more of an interest in things she once scoffed at Yuzu for liking. "If Tatsuki-chan comes with us she will be comfortable that we won't get too girly on her."

"Tatsuki-chan will be our safety net," Orihime jested. "Why don't you ask your sister about it, while I call in a sick day at work?" Yuzu followed her suggestion and went off to her sister. Orihime exhaled and built up her courage. There was no need to put this off. She dialed her phone. When ringing bouncing in her ear she had reached the point of no return.

"This is the Choshi Bakery. How may I help you today?" To her relief and dread her boss had answered the phone.

"Hi, Choshi-san, this is Orihime." She sounded so stiff and awkward. It was awful.

"Ah, Orihime-chan, is everything alright?" The concern was evident. He was such a good boss and an even better man. She was about to repay that kindness by wiggling out of coming in to work today.

"Choshi-san, I um know I am supposed to come into work today, but something came up and I was hoping I could take today off as well."

"This isn't like you, Orihime-chan." His tone was hard to discern. He didn't sound disappointed or angry. "Is everything alright?" he repeated his original question.

How she wished she could be honest with him, but the secret world of spirits and shinigami had to remain a secret from the world at large. "I'm not sure. I feel like I have to stay home and watch over my friends." She made sure that Karin and Yuzu were not within earshot. To play it safe her feet lead her outside. "Recently something weird has been going on. Their father is away running errands all day and I just don't feel comfortable leaving them here alone," she explained. "I can't explain in detail, but these people are the closest thing I have to family. I know this sounds irresponsible and I understand if you want to fire me."

"That might be a bit extreme," the bakery owner said. "I will be a bit short handed today, but Sundays aren't usually busy. I think I can arrange a day off for you."

"R-really? I don't want you to have to put up with a fickle employee." A series of laughs rang into her ear.

"I would hardly call you a fickle employee," he said inbetween laughs. "In all the time you have worked here, you have been nothing except a hard worker. On the rare times you come in late you offer to make up the time by working later. I have no reason to distrust you. Take the day off."

"Thank you! I will make it up to you by working extra hard on Monday!" she promised.

"I have no doubt about that. Don't be so hard on yourself. You are still a kid. You are allowed to be a little fickle every now and again. I will see you tomorrow. Goodbye."

"Thank you again. Bye, Choshi-san." That was huge load off her shoulders. She could spend the day with Karin and Yuzu without any problem. Hopefully Karin would agree to spend the day out with her. It might be better for them to be out and about anyway. It couldn't hurt. She went back inside. Ichigo had gotten out of the shower and joined his sisters in the family room. He was the first one to notice her return.

"You're actually playing hooky?" he asked her in utter disbelief.

"Why does everyone think I can't be a little bad?" she huffed indignity. Realizing the question was a loaded gun between Karin and Ichigo she hastily sought to correct herself. "Please don't answer that!"

"Can you get off?" Yuzu asked.

"Choshi-san agreed to give me the day off. The funny part is because I don't really call in sick he was happy to let me have another day off," she said sheepishly. Three sets of eyes stared blankly at her. It wasn't the best example of her being able to break the rules every once and a while. "Karin-chan, you will come with us won't you? It won't be a girls' day out without you there."

The usual mask of disinterest was plastered on Karin face. She looked from Yuzu and Orihime. "Is it going to be really girly?"

"It won't be too girly," the healer promised. "In fact we're going to bring in Tatsuki-chan with us to balance it out," she sang. Disinterest still masked her face, but she hadn't rejected the idea yet. She was at least considering the offer. "Please hang out with us Karin-chan. It will be fun. We can even play soccer in the park if you want. It is going to be a day where everyone can get to do something they love."

"If Tatsuki-chan is going to be there I guess it won't be too girly."

"That is right it won't be too girly at all," Yuzu chimed in.

"It can be fun hanging out just the four of us," Karin went over.

"It will be so much fun with all of us together. The best part will be that there will be no boys. That's the best part of a girls' day out!" cheered Orihime.

The dark haired girl crossed her arms. "Alright, I will go out with you guys." She and Ichigo covered their ears to protect from the excited squeals of Orihime and Yuzu. "I may end up regretting this."

"It is too late now," Ichigo told her.

"When does this whole thing start?" Karin inquired.

"We won't get started until after your brother leaves for work. Once he is gone it will just be us girls. That is when we will strike!"

"Sounds like fun," Karin said nervously. It wasn't like this couldn't be fun. Whenever they went out with Orihime they usually ended up having fun. Orihime was up for anything. It wasn't like Karin hated everything deemed girly. She had a healthy interest in boys for example. She hadn't told Yuzu or Orihime about this yet. She didn't want them to make a big deal out of it. There was a tiny interest in makeup, just a tiny, almost non-existent interest. This could be fun for her. She would get to spend time with her sister and a girl who was nearly a sister to her already.

Karin's energy changed. Her outward appearance remained the same disinterested look as before, but he could feel a difference from just a little while ago. She was tentative at the thought of Orihime's girls' day out. When he looked at her now he could sense an optimism that just wasn't there before. Was this new change the result of the strong relationship that Orihime and Karin had forged? He never really gave too much thought at how strong Orihime's bonds were with his sisters. He knew they were close, but he never knew they were this close. She really had taken up a big part in Yuzu and Karin's lives now. Love had grown among the three girls. It was a love that drove his Hime to be protective of Yuzu and Karin. It was that same love that made her take time off from her job to watch over and protect them if she needed to. She did all that without asking him if he wanted her to. She wasn't doing this for him, but because she cared for them and wanted them to be safe.

"Thanks for doing this," he whispered to her.

Orihime curved her lips upward. "Don't thank me. I want to make sure that nothing bad happens to them. I will protect Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan with my life."

She would. He could see the fire in her eyes when she vowed to not just him, but to herself. Orihime would do everything within her power to make sure his sisters were safe. Ichigo couldn't have asked for them to be in better hands. When this was all over they would be safe. He just needed to know what they had to be protected from.

Outside of the Kurosaki Clinic there were few people passing by. Their attentions were as far away from the old clinic as their minds were. However, there was a pair of eyes that rested right on the aged building. Onlookers were blind to his interest just as its occupants were blind to his presence. The clinic eventually lost its interest. The eyes returned to the book in his hands. He disappeared into thin air leaving no trace of his existence.

---

The morning had dragged on much longer than it normally did, or rather his perception made it appear as if the morning had lasted longer than it had the previous day, and that accounted for Uryu's custom of waking up early. Well it was his custom, but ever since he had officially taken on hollow exterminating in Kurosaki's place the weekends had been the time he allotted himself to catch up on his sleep. Uncharacteristically, the raven haired man loafed around in his bed. He had no desire to abandon his bed, but he never went back to sleep either. His mind was teeming with thoughts, so many thoughts that sleeping was impossible. That was the curse of possessing an overactive mind.

Uryu would put his curse to good use though. He contemplated all of the events that had transpired over the past week in hopes of trying to make sense of it all. First of all, Inoue-san had said she felt a strange presence surround Kurosaki briefly. Kurosaki's father had sensed the same thing and reacted strangely, even for him. At the same time a man with a scar on his face came to Kurosaki's job while he was away to hire his boss to investigate Kurosaki's father. The scar man, as Inoue-san called him, may or may not have intentionally set the investigation up to leave a message to Kurosaki. The man hadn't been seen since that day and no one except for Kurosaki's boss had seen him at all. Kurosaki's father had insisted that the scar man was nothing to worry about, despite the fact that he had a picture of the senior Kurosaki and appeared at his son's work place.

The obvious answer to that question was that he was trying to keep Kurosaki and the rest of them in the dark about this man. It was possible the scar man was someone from the elder shinigami's past, but without much more information it was mere speculation on Uryu's part. It would explain why he kept his past so guarded from Kurosaki. According to Inoue-san he hadn't revealed anything at all about his past, except for the fact that he knew Ryuken. Uryu's knowledge on their fathers' shared past was just as insignificant as Kurosaki's. He toyed with the idea of questioning his father about a scarred man, but getting any answers out of him would be like pulling teeth. There was no guarantee Ryuken even knew the man. Uryu had no intentions on talking to his father more than he had to. It was bad enough he agreed to train under him.

The man was nothing like his grandfather when it came to training. He was met with harsh criticisms on his inability or ineptitude. He always focused on everything Uryu did wrong, never offering praise for anything he got right. Their latest training sessions involved Ryuken trying to teach him a technique known as Blut. It was harder than he anticipated and Ryuken was even harder on him for failing to make meaningful progress. No, talking to his father about this wasn't ideal. He would if there was no other choice, but for now he would put that idea on the back burner. He had been shadowing Kurosaki for the better part of a week, yet he never saw anything out of place. That was until two days ago when he sensed the eerie presence that Inoue-san and Kurosaki's father no doubt sensed. It was just as fleeting as he was told. He didn't even have time to analyze if it was reiatsu as Inoue-san thought.

Sado-kun's whereabouts was a mystery itself. It was a minor development that wasn't worth mentioning at first, but it was hardly minor anymore. No one had seen or heard from him at all the past week. Whenever someone visited him he never answered the door. Whenever someone called his phone he never answered it. Last night when Uryu had visited him, there was no trace of his rough and dark reiatsu around his neighborhood. His apartment still had residue reiatsu swirling around, but it was obvious it was old and fleeting. Sado-kun hadn't been there for some time, a week's worth of time to be exact.

His discussion with Urahara had made that abundantly clear. Sado-kun's disappearance was related to all of this. The pieces to the puzzle were there. The trick was trying to arrange them all in order to see the picture. It was easier said than done though, especially when there were pieces missing. Staying in bed all day was not going to yield any more pieces. The only way to solve these questions was for him to get out of bed and start his new mission. Uryu forced his body to move. He went through the motions without paying attention to what he was doing. One moment he was showering then the next moment he was eating breakfast before he was finally out the door.

His feet led him around town, while his mind continued to work the puzzle. He knew they fit together. It was only a matter of figuring out where they all went. The unknown presence surrounding Kurosaki, the scar man's investigation into Kurosaki's father, the man's reaction to the scar man, and Sado-kun's disappearance, they all fit together somehow. Was this all in response to Kurosaki or was he merely one of the dominos knocked over? Urahara had said his theory of an unknown party being the cause of Kurosaki's reiatsu returning wasn't likely, but he still thought it had something to do with this. Sado-kun's disappearance happened before any of them sensed anything odd with Kurosaki. Sado-kun was the recent piece he discovered thanks to Urahara. The longer he thought about it the more things lined up with what Urahara told him.

~Flashback~

"Hello, hello, Ishida-san," the eccentric shop owner said merrily. He waved his fan lazily as he sat in his favorite spot in the back of his shop. He appeared to have been waiting on Uryu, just as Sarugaki had informed him. However, the vizard girl left long before Uryu did. There was ample time to have contacted Urahara to fill him in on what she had said.

Sarugaki was shaken up when he asked her why she was at Sado-kun's apartment. If she expected him to be there, why would she be so taken aback by his question? It was only natural that he would ask her if she was looking for him. "Oh, you seem to be troubled. Is there something on your mind?" Kisuke asked in his roundabout way.

"Sado-kun wasn't home," Uryu supplied.

"Ah, so you have noticed that as well." The fan was snapped closed, signaling that the colorful and wacky mask had come off.

The games had ended quicker than usual, perhaps he could obtain answers out of him faster than usual as well. The subject he proposed was one he wanted answers for immediately, not something he had to fish for. "What do you mean by that?"

"Sado-san's reiatsu hasn't been here in Karakura Town for days now. There has been no sign of him at all," the shinigami revealed.

The news shocked the quincy. He suspected that Sado-kun had been away from his apartment, but he hadn't even theorized that he was nowhere to be found in Karakura Town. If he wasn't there, where was he? When did he leave? Did he leave the previous Sunday? Was that the reason he hadn't been at school for the week? How did Urahara know about this? Was that why Hiyori was at Sado-kun's apartment? Was she there to confirm it for Urahara? There was so much they didn't know. Urahara, like always, knew more than he was willing to share. He hadn't even told Inoue-san this when she visited him earlier that very same day. What was he playing at?

"You want to know why I didn't tell Inoue-san." Uryu was thrown out of his head. He couldn't stop the shock he felt from surfacing. Was he that transparent or was Urahara's deduction and analysis ability so great that he could easily discern even Uryu's stoic expression? "I can see it in your eyes," he addressed the unasked question. "You want to know why I didn't tell Inoue-san about Sado-san when she visited me today."

"Why would you keep that from her?" The quincy served to validate the ex-captain's findings. "After all you were the one who told her that we all needed to keep an eye out in case someone was following Kurosaki."

"At the time I had no evidence that Sado-san was not here in Karakura Town. I saw no reason to alarm her without any concrete evidence, especially since she was already filled with worry over Kurosaki-san."

The reasoning was sound. They had noticed Sado-kun's absence, but they dismissed it because while it was unusual for Sado-kun to miss school, it was not unheard of. No one had sensed anything wrong with his reiatsu. It was easy to dismiss. Worrying about him for simply missing a few days of school would have been silly. Kurosaki had said he thought it wasn't anything to worry about and even Inoue-san thought her initial fears were mere overreactions. It wasn't until tonight that Uryu began to consider that there might be more to it than that. Urahara was brilliant. His intellect far outstripped Uryu's own, but even he had his limits. Even he needed evidence that something was wrong before he raised the alarm. In his shoes Uryu would have done the exact same thing.

At least that was what he told himself. Would it really take Urahara a week to confirm this? Why was he so sure that Sado-kun wasn't in Karakura Town, unless he had a suspicion before? "When did you begin to suspect that Sado-kun was gone?" Uryu's sky blue eyes bore into the man before him. He did his best to keep his gaze impersonal, but it was scrutinizing, just searching for any clenching jaw, wondering eyes, a crinkled up nose, anything that could give him away if he was dressing the truth in any way.

"Three days ago is when I first suspected." Kisuke was unbothered by the question. His being exuded a serene aura that induced a surprising easiness to Uryu. "He was supposed to see me that day."

A new question materialized. Why was Sado-kun seeing Urahara? "He wanted to talk you about something?"

"Yes," Kisuke replied easily. "He wanted to talk to me about something he had discovered."

"He discovered something?" Uryu repeated plainly. Did he discover a strange presence around Kurosaki like he and Inoue-san had?

"He never came by. I asked Hiyori-san to do me a favor and see if he was home. It took some time to convince her, but she eventually did it. When she got to his apartment she told me that he wasn't there and didn't sense his reiatsu. At the time I thought it was possible that he was staying somewhere else, but he wasn't at any of your places."

Uryu wasn't even going to step into how the man had come to that conclusion. For his sanity's sake he never asked if Urahara spied on all of them or not. It was bad enough learning that Kurotsuchi bugged him for lord knew how long. As soon as the business with Aizen had ended, Karakura had returned to its normal place in the Human World, and Kurosaki was settled back into his home, he went to Urahara and demanded he remove all Kurotsuchi's bugs. The thought of that bastard watching him made his skin crawl. He'd much rather believe Urahara's method of finding information was different.

"I've been keeping an eye on Sado-san's apartment, while I searched Karakura Town for him, but I found nothing. I suspected he wasn't staying in town. He hasn't been back to his apartment in the time I have been watching it."

"Is that why Sarugaki was at his apartment tonight?" he asked.

A devious smirk took shape. Uryu recognized it instantly. The man always had it when he was impressed or marveling at his own cleverness. "Partially, yes she was there to see if Sado-san was there."

"What was the other reason?" the raven haired man questioned. Only having part of the answer was unsatisfying.

"I gave her the task to see if anything unusual happened there. Her running into you was dumb luck, but beneficial. I wanted to talk to you about all of this once I confirmed it."

"Why me?" The surprise escaped into his words.

"With everything Inoue-san has said, it has become obvious that there is at least one man out there interested in Kurosaki-san and Isshin-san. It is too early to tell if the man with the scar is an enemy, but we have to at least consider it a possibility," he explained. The reasoning was again sound. Inoue-san and he had already considered that a possibility when they were brainstorming. "If there is a new enemy out there then the disappearance of Sado-san may not be unrelated. It is possible that the enemy has somehow abducted him."

Abducted! Sado-kun could have been abducted! No, he couldn't have just been abducted by a new enemy. Sado-kun was powerful. If he was abducted they surely would have sensed it. There would have been a battle. Even if he was defeated, they should have been able to detect it. That hadn't been the case with Inoue-san. She was abducted by the Espada in the Dangai, but that was in the Dangai, a dimension between worlds. It made sense why they hadn't sensed it, but it had escaped Soul Society's notice despite the fact that they monitored it regularly. It wasn't unfathomable to think that someone might have been able to do the same with Sado-kun. Their group did have a bad track record with members getting captured or abducted by the enemy.

"Keep in mind that this is only a theory of mine, but at the same time we should not consider it out of the realm of possibility," Kisuke reminded.

"That still doesn't explain why you wanted to see me?"

"Ishida-san, I have a request I want to ask of you, but if you agree to it you must know that you cannot say anything to the others."

He wanted to keep this a secret? He told Inoue-san that there was no need to keep secrets. Why was he, Uryu, to do the opposite? Proving his uncanny ability to read people Urahara set out to answer his unasked question.

"This needs to be kept quiet. If a new enemy has appeared and abducted Sado-san they most likely did it because they knew we would not notice it right away. If you tell Inoue-san or Kurosaki-san they will cause too much of a commotion and alert them that we know of their existence. We know almost nothing about this enemy, if it exists. It could prove unwise to show our hand before we know anything substantial about them. You are the only one who could investigate without making it too obvious. I need you to search for Sado-san without telling the others about it. Will you accept?"

~End of Flashback~

Uryu had agreed to it. He agreed to keep Inoue-san and Kurosaki in the dark about Sado-kun. Urahara had been correct when he said the best way to go about this investigation was to do so as quietly as they could. His friends weren't exactly subtle. Kurosaki and Inoue-san's orange hair made them stand out and both were very distinct. They could be loud, especially together. Three bodies looking around were bound to draw a lot of attention. Uryu's raven hair and unassuming appearance would cause many to overlook him. He had confidence in his ability to keep a low profile. If someone besides Urahara was watching Sado-kun's apartment it would be risky to go back. However, he needed to get a grasp of his reiatsu so he could begin to track it.

In addition to sensing reiatsu, as a quincy he could read the reishi in the air and use it to get a better idea at what direction the giant of a man went when he left. It was a risk, but it was a calculated risk that had the potential to yield some positive results. Learning what part Sado-kun played in the puzzle could be what gave them a real edge.

"Ishida!" cried an overbearing and ear shrieking voice. Uryu winced. Of all the people to run into it had to be Asano. "Yo, Ishida! See, Mizuiro, it is him!" Kojima-kun was with him as well. Uryu slowly turned around. His friends strolled right over to him. Asano was grinning from ear to ear, while Kojima-kun had his face buried in his phone as usual. "Oh wow, I can't believe we ran into you," Keigo said.

"Asano, Kojima-kun," he greeted dispassionately.

Keigo was unhappy with his response, while Mizuiro returned Uryu's greeting. "Why do you have to sound put off by us?" complained Keigo.

"Well you are annoying," Mizuiro shot back.

Keigo puckered his lips unamusingly at his shorter friend. "Why do always have to insult me? Do you hate me or something?"

"On the contrary," Mizuiro replied. "I find you very amusing, which is why I hang around you. However, most people do not share my opinion and find you annoying."

"See! You always say or do things like that to put me down! We're supposed to be best friends and you always find a way to screw with me!" the brunet whined.

Reading the writing on the wall, Uryu decided to step in before the duo's routine went further. "What are you two doing?"

The situation defused itself to his joy. Mizuiro removed his eyes from the screen and placed them on Uryu. "I assume we were doing the same thing as you and going to visit Chad."

"He's been out for a week," Keigo chimed in. "We wanted to check in and make sure he was alright. Looks like you had the same idea. That is where you're going right? This is the direction of Chad's place."

It was too much to hope for that they didn't notice he was walking in the direction of Sado-kun's place. Uryu could deny it, but he would need a convincing cover story. He had been caught off guard by them, so he didn't have time to think of one, not when his brain power was devoted to solving a more crucial problem. Damn. He had no choice, but to admit it. "Yes, that is right. I was growing concerned because no one has seen or heard from him in a week."

A teeth revealing grin planted itself on Keigo's face. It was reminiscent of a child's. "Ha, see Mizuiro! We weren't the only ones who were going to check on him. Hmm, and you said that I was jumping the gun by wanting to go and visit him instead of waiting to see if showed up at school tomorrow." An arm wrapped itself around Uryu's shoulder. The quincy cringed at Keigo's invasion of his personal space. "Ishida is worried too. If even someone as smart as him is checking up on Chad, that means I wasn't being a pest, just a concerned friend."

Uryu wasted no time in untangling himself from his loud mouth friend. Mizuiro rolled his eyes at Keigo. "Alright, I take it back. You were being a concerned friend." The sarcasm was so heavily laced in his words that it was impossible for anyone, least of all Keigo, to believe he was being sincere. It showed. The pride that was evident on his face had been pushed off just as fast by distaste and annoyance.

"You never give me credit," he mumbled under his breath.

Mizuiro unleashed an evasive smile to irritate his friend further. Keigo was too easy sometimes. He was surprised that Ishida was actually checking up on Chad. He was hoping that Chad was just out for the week over a cold or something else mundane, but seeing Ishida had the same idea as Keigo did raise a few warnings. Inoue might have been right to be worried a week ago when she first discovered Chad's absence. He put his cellphone away and turned to Uryu. "Have you heard anything from Chad?"

"I am afraid not. That is why I wanted to check on him."

"We're all worried about the big guy," Keigo added. "We should all go together! I'm sure he will be ecstatic to see all of us there after being cooped up in his apartment all week! Poor bastard has probably been laid out on his bed barely clinging to life."

Uryu forced his body to keep from flinching. Asano's words had struck a nerve. Sado-kun clinging to life was an image that he didn't want in his head. If Urahara's theory was correct and he was in the hands of a new enemy, Asano's words could be more accurate than he realized. "So let's get going," Keigo said. He marched off and left Uryu and Mizuiro behind. The phone obsessed man followed after him at leisurely pace. Uryu's plans came undone before they were even realized.

He was stuck. If he rejected their offer he was sure they wouldn't make too much out of it, or at least Kojima-kun wouldn't. If he took that course of action and waited for them to leave, it would make it obvious that he suspected something was up. If Sado-kun's apartment was under watch by an enemy he would broadcast his intentions to them. Traveling with Kojima-kun and Asano would look less suspicious than if he traveled there with Inoue-san or Kurosaki. From an outside perspective it would seem a group of friends were checking up on a friend, not investigating to find out where Sado-kun was. This turn of events could work out in his favor. The raven haired man went after his friends.

On the walk to Sado-kun's the glaring weakness to his plan had shown up. Asano's constant need to chatter deprived him of the quiet he sought to think. If it was simply Asano talking he could tune him out, but he forced you to engage him. Ignoring him was not an option. Uryu found that out the hard way. If left to his own devices Asano would merely continue to chatter on without rest. He was fairly sure Asano was doing it on purpose. He was trying to annoy Uryu as punishment for trying to ignore him. When he snapped and told him to shut up he could have sworn he saw a twinkle in Asano's eye.

Uryu was forced into mindless conversation. He learned facts he neither needed to know or wished to know. Asano was flirting with Kurosaki's former co-worker at Nakamura Electronics yesterday, according to him, she flirted back with him. Kojima-kun confirmed this to be true. Apparently everyone had a type. Kurosaki's former co-worker for whatever reason responded to Asano's advances. Who would have thought? The pair worked on their homework as well, to his surprise. Asano's determination to do better in school really was strong. Afterward, they went to the arcade together and tried to call Sado-kun to see if he wanted to join them, but they never reached him. Even they couldn't reach Sado-kun. This was becoming troublesome.

The conversation wasn't as meaningless as Uryu had first thought it would be. When they reached the gentle giant's apartment, he discovered that nothing had changed at all from last night. Sado-kun's reiatsu was absent. Unlike his friends, there was no surprise when the door wasn't opened when Asano knocked on the door. Asano's unwavering persistence worked out in his favor. He continued to beat on the door while Uryu took in the stray reiatsu and reishi in the wake of Sado-kun's disappearance. He had gotten a fix on Sado-kun's unique reiatsu. It was possible for him to track his wayward friend. A spared a glance and saw that Asano was still hopelessly knocking on the door, while Kojima-kun retrieved his phone. Perfect, neither of them was focusing on him.

He concentrated on visualizing spiritual energy around them. Slowly the white formless energy began to materialize and become solid. The quincy was encircled by white ribbons. It had been ages since he used this technique. It had been made obsolete when his ability to sense reiatsu had heightened to its peak when they went to the Soul Society for the first time. Too much time had passed for his sixth sense to track down Sado-kun's reiatsu, but he could visualize the traces of it into spiritual ribbon form and use it to track him down. He instantly picked out his friend's ribbon out of the countless others. Discretely he grabbed on to it and repelled all the other ribbons. His sights followed the direction the ribbon went off to. He memorized where the ribbon traveled.

Good. All he had to do was follow the direction of the spiritual ribbon when he parted from Kojima-kun and Asano. To be on the safe side, he would wait a few hours to throw any unwanted observers off his trail. A disgruntled sigh flooded his ears. Asano had given in. "Is he still so under the weather that he can't get out of bed to answer the door?" Keigo's question wasn't for anyone particular.

"He could just be out," Mizuiro suggested.

"You think he is out?" he asked his shorter friend. Mizuiro gave an unsure nod. "That ingrate, I mean we were trying to call him yesterday. If he is out and about now without returning our calls he has got some nerve."

"If he has been sick he might want to take a nice walk and enjoy the fresh air before getting back to us," Mizuiro suggested reasonably. Keigo sulked.

"In any case, there doesn't seem to be much else we can do," Uryu spoke up. "We might as well leave. If Sado-kun is ill we should stay away for the rest of the day and hope that he shows up to school tomorrow." He pinned his hopes on them approving of his idea. They couldn't stay on Sado-kun's porch all day long. Asano was bullheaded, but even he couldn't keep at this all day long. He heard a groan of defeat come from the brunet.

"Looks like you are right. It would be boring waiting here for Chad all day anyway."

"If he is sick he won't be answering the door any time soon," Mizuiro said.

"I don't want to waste our day off," Keigo continued. "We'll go with your plan, Ishida. It is getting late. Is anyone getting hungry?" Hunger had gripped on to Mizuiro. He gave Asano a straight forward answer instead of a witty one liner or barb. "What about you?" he asked their quincy friend.

"I had a late breakfast."

"You don't have to get anything eat," Mizuiro said. "We can just hang out for a bit."

"Come on! Don't be a spoil sport, Ishida." Keigo pleaded and gave his best effort in being welcoming.

"You aren't going to give up if I say no, are you?" Keigo shook his head. Uryu lacked the strength or endurance for this battle right now. He admitted defeat. "I will go to lunch with you two, but I do have things I need to do today. I can't spend the entire day with you," he warned.

"Are you helping your father at the hospital today?" Keigo probed.

"No."

"What else do you need to do?"

Asano never quit. He could be quite exhausting. "It is none of your concern," his sharp reply came.

Frowning, the hyperactive man growled. "You and Ichigo are such buzzkills! You keep too many secrets from your supposed friends."

"I am under no obligation to tell you everything I do." Keigo's moans increased in volume. He gave in and walked away without another word. Mizuiro shared a laugh at their friend's expense. The trio went off to find a place to eat lunch.

"A complication has arisen. The quincy joined them."

"Well, that is a complication."

"Do you want me to stop my pursuit?"

"No, continue to shadow them. In fact, I believe it is time for us to make some waves."

"What do you mean by that?"

---

They ended up at a burger joint not too far away from Sado's apartment. They had gotten lucky and managed to appear just before the lunch rush, literally. After they were seated a crowd of people came right after them. Uryu was full from his late breakfast and decided to eat lightly. Keigo had no such problem. He ordered a heavy meal. Mizuiro's order was in the middle between theirs. It was a decent sized meal, but it wasn't excessive as Keigo's order had been. Uryu asked Keigo how he could eat that much food. The hyperactive man retorted that the food wasn't just for him, but also for Uryu. He ordered more food than he usually did just in case the raven haired man's appetite returned by the time their food came. Stunned by his friend's thoughtfulness, Uryu freely offered his thanks.

Keigo's precautions turned out to be unneeded. By the time their food got there Uryu's appetite was not ready to return. Out of gratitude for his thoughtfulness Uryu did eat some of the extra food that Keigo had ordered with him in mind once he finished his own meal. Uryu had to confess that Keigo could be annoying, but he did always have his friends in mind when he did things. His idea to go over to Sado's apartment was to see if their friend was doing well. The archer paid close attention not to overstuff his stomach with food. There was a lingering guilt that the extra food Keigo had gotten for him would go to waste. That receded once he saw Keigo had somehow managed to put the rest of it away.

"You certainly put all of that away," Mizuiro stated. It was an understatement in Uryu's opinion. He was amazed at how much food Keigo managed to consume.

"If I don't eat everything it would be like a waste of money." Unlike most of his friends he didn't have a part time job. He had a strict allowance from his parents. They weren't exactly generous to begin with. If he ran out of money he couldn't just beg them for more. He had to wait for his next allowance day. "I save up my money for the weekend, so I can enjoy the finer things."

"I can help you pay for some of that. You got extra food for my sake I don't mind lending you some money for it." He should at least offer to help Asano pay it.

"Nah, it is fine. I ended up eating what you didn't anyway. I might as well pay for it."

"That is oddly mature of you," Uryu noted.

"I am not totally immature you know," Keigo cried. He folded his arms together, clearly taking offense to Uryu's last statement. "You guys just never give me enough credit."

"We don't," Mizuiro acknowledged. Not expecting to have anyone agree with him, Keigo's mouth fell open. He sobbed happily at finally having one person acknowledge his worth.

Once Mizuiro finished the last of his fries they called the waiter over and pulled their money together and paid the bill. Uryu was curious as to just how Asano was walking and talking with no ill effects from the large meal he devoured. He felt sluggish after that meal and hadn't consumed nearly as much food. He wouldn't be hungry again until dinner time thankfully.

"I'm glad Chad turned us on to this place," Keigo yawned. He did suffer some ill effects from the large meal. "I guess it is not too surprising since this place is so close to where he lives."

"I wonder if we should have asked one of the employees if they had seen him at all this week," Mizuiro pondered.

Keigo brushed the suggestion off. "I'm sure he has just been holed up in his apartment all week. It is not like it is anything serious. Ishida would have said something if it was."

Again he struck a nerve. Uryu's control over his body remained strong. He betrayed nothing. Asano and Kojima-kun hadn't picked up anything wrong with him. Guilt wormed its way into his chest. They were relying on him to tell them if anything was wrong with Sado-kun. It couldn't be helped. Until they knew more about Sado-kun's situation they just couldn't afford to be careless. The wrong move could spell trouble for him.

Uryu took a step, only to notice a pressure fighting his body, almost holding it back. Something was weighing his body down or attempting to, but the weight was minor. It wasn't as if he was fighting a great force like an ocean, but more of a breeze of wind. There was no breeze to speak of on this hot afternoon day. This wasn't a natural force that was disturbed, but rather a disturbance in the spiritual particles in the air. 'This is reiatsu,' he thought.

It wasn't like any reiatsu he had ever felt before. It was definitely greater than the average person's. His eyes darted back and forth, scouring for the owner of the reiatsu. Whoever he or she was they had to be close. For him to have felt that amount of pressure like he did could only mean the person was close by. Where was the person? Out of nowhere a man appeared on his side. He was looking right at Uryu. The man stared at him unblinkingly. The first thing he noticed was that his eyes were stormy gray. He was tall and thin, lanky was the best word to describe him. His hair was short and neat, no strand was out of place. His skin was paler than it should have been. The natural color of his skin had been so dulled that it flirted with white. The eyes were what held Uryu's attention. The gray spheres contained no emotion, they were lifeless, barren.

The man was the one emitting the reiatsu. He was starring right at Uryu. He was being targeted by this man. He was being targeted while he was with Kojima-kun and Asano! They were in harm's way. If the man was targeting him then they would be caught in the crossfire. If he stayed with them he would be putting them in danger. He had to leave now. His foot pushed off the concrete and he broke into a mad dash nearly bulldozing his friends away.

"Ishida!" exclaimed Mizuiro.

"What's wrong with you!?" Keigo shouted.

"I need to get going now," he called back to them. They were both riddled with confusion, but he couldn't afford to explain to them what was going on. He had to lead the man away from them. He needed to put as much distance between him and them as possible. The new reiatsu wasn't far from him. 'He is chasing after me. That leaves Kojima-kun and Asano safe. I just have to keep moving until I can find a less populated area. I can face him then. I am confident I can fight him if I am in the clear.'

"What the hell is his problem!?" Keigo angrily exclaimed. Ishida was such a fucking head case. One minute he was talking to them and having fun like a normal person, and then later he is pushing them over trying to get away from them. He would never understand him as long as he lived.

Something was wrong. Mizuiro could feel it. Before Ishida left he caught a glimpse in his eyes. Panic glazed his baby blues. Ishida wouldn't panic over something trivial or pointless. He looked around to see what had set the quincy off, but nothing stood out to him. Whatever it was he couldn't find it. It couldn't have been a normal threat. It had to have been a supernatural one. "Something is happening."

"You think it was a hollow?"

"Maybe, or something else."

---

After a long day at work the clinic was a sight for sore eyes. The sight did nothing for Ichigo's spirits tonight. It was hard to find peace in a place that could be watched by someone. He still had trouble believing that there could be someone out there watching the clinic. He realized that the scar man searching for his father could have found the Kurosaki home, but he always assumed that if that happened that somehow they would have stopped him or found out he was doing it and prepare themselves for it. The reality they faced was drastically different from what he imagined. His lack of foresight could cost his sisters. How could the old man be away at a time like this?

He had to be back by now though. He needed to be back now. Karin and Yuzu needed him to be home. Ichigo doubled back at least once before he came back to his home. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched since he left Ikumi's. He couldn't tell if he was being stupid for thinking he was being watched or if his instincts were right on the money and he was being watched. He circled back until he shook the feeling. He wasn't going to bring whatever that was back to the house. He stood outside the clinic and felt so ridiculous. He was looking over his shoulder even right now when the feeling of being watched had disappeared. Was his life going to be this from now on? Would he just be watching his back in case someone was watching him? Screw that. Ichigo refused to let that be his life. He was going to have to do something about this.

It was late. It was too late for him to be trying to do something now. He didn't want to make either Yuzu or Karin worry by being away tonight. He examined the area one more time before opening the door and going in. Laughter bombarded him. The knot in his belly loosened. That was music to his ears. "I'm home!" he called out.

"We're in here," he heard Orihime summon. The girls were together watching T.V. Karin was lying on the couch. Orihime and Yuzu sat on the floor. The healer was brushing his youngest sister's hair. It was rare for him to see Yuzu with her hair down and not have pigtails in it. The length had extended so much since she decided to let it grow out. It reminded him of their mother actually. It made his heart lighter to see no trace of his turmoil in their faces. Orihime's face was consumed by unbridled joy. Her fears weren't plaguing her at the moment. That was a good sign that the girls' day out had been successful.

"It is not too late for me to do your hair, Karin-chan." Orihime bestowed a charming smile on Karin.

Karin scowled, not her normal mean scowl, but a more elated one. "I'll pass on that. I had my fill on that when I let you put makeup on me."

"It looked great on you," Orihime argued. "I only did that because Tatsuki-chan bet me that I couldn't get you to. It was only a little eyeliner and a bit of blush, nothing major and easy to get off."

"I am not letting you fix my hair." Karin shook her head playfully.

"I promise it won't be anything major. I could fix your ponytail a little bit," the healer continued to plead.

"Try your luck next time," Karin said.

Orihime gave in and accepted defeat. It was a miracle that she had even gotten Karin to agree to try eyeliner and blush for her. There was wisdom in quitting while you were ahead. Secretly she thought that Karin had an interest in makeup anyway. It had been easier than she expected to get Karin to try it on.

"You actually got Karin to wear makeup." Astonishment marred Ichigo's face. If he hadn't heard it from Karin's own mouth he never would have believed Orihime when she told him that. Hell, he still wasn't ready to embrace that truth. Karin being Karin shrugged her shoulders like it was no big deal.

"Tatsuki-chan did bet me that I couldn't get her to wear some. Thanks to Karin-chan I won the bet," Orihime said merrily.

"How much did you win?" Ichigo asked. He never expected Orihime would take a bet. She had proven to him a few times that she wasn't as innocent as she appeared to be.

An impish smile materialized on Orihime's lips. Ichigo's interest had been sparked. "I didn't exactly win anything. It is more like Tatsuki-chan has to do something." Tatsuki had to ask Ishida-kun out to dinner. No matter how hard she protested there was no way for Tatsuki to dodge the issue this time. Orihime knew she had a crush on Ishida-kun, but refused to tell her about it. Tatsuki rarely gave up on anything without a fight, so she expected trying to get the truth out of her was going to be difficult. Now she had created the perfect opportunity for her best friend to confront her feelings. It wasn't mean. Tatsuki had done the same thing to her when she was trying to get Orihime to confront her feelings for Ichigo. It was friendship.

"What is it?" With the way she was smiling it had to be something humiliating, but would Orihime make her best friend go through something humiliating? That was too mean for her tastes.

"I promised I wouldn't tell anyone until after she did it, but let's just say it will be payback for all the teasing she gives us."

She made yet another promise to someone else to keep a secret from him. He was still trying to get over the last one with Karin. He understood why she kept the fact that Karin was seeing Urahara from him, but he was still trying to accept that she did. She could have nudged him in the right direction or given him a hint. Now wasn't the time for this. She had been in a bad position and he wasn't going to harass her about it. Ichigo let it go, but not fast enough. Orihime saw it. Sadness flashed within her. Great, now she knew he was still bothered by the Karin incident. They were no doubt going to talk about it later. She would want to settle it now. He would rather drop it.

"You guys all had fun then," Ichigo said, changing the subject.

"We had a great time," Yuzu replied. "Even Karin had nothing to complain about."

"Hey!" her twin cried. "It actually was pretty fun," Karin admitted, ignoring Yuzu for now.

Orihime moaned. "You don't have to make it sound like it is so surprising. We always have a good time when we do things together," she argued. "You do have fun when we do things together, don't you Karin-chan?" Fear oozed on out. The healer had always thought Karin had fun when they went out, but what if she was only being polite?

"No need to worry, Hime-nee. I always have fun when we go out together," Karin reassured the older girl. Orihime's fear evaporated. "You're certainly more fun than Ichi-nii." Seeing her brother's insulted face brought her satisfaction. She heard Ichigo mutter he wasn't going to take her out anywhere anytime soon. It was fun to use Orihime against him. He tried to play it off, but sometimes he was jealous at how easily she and Yuzu got along with her.

"Was dad back when you guys got home?"

"No," Orihime replied. "He still isn't home."

The old man was still out. What the hell was he doing? The sun had already gone down. It was almost time for dinner. Their father never missed dinner without telling them beforehand if he was going to miss it. He left before any of them woke up, or returned home in his case, and he had been gone all day taking care of errands. 'Bastard, what the hell are you doing?' he asked himself.

Orihime wasn't any happier than he was. She conveyed her misgivings to him with a single glance. If the old man wasn't back before it was time for Ichigo to walk her home he wasn't sure what he was going to do. He didn't want Orihime to walk home by herself, but he didn't want to leave the girls home alone either. The reason Orihime spent the day with them was so she could protect them in case anyone was watching Karin.

"He better hurry up or he'll miss dinner," Karin said.

"I'm sure he will be back by then, but just in case he is not I'll put a meal aside for him. Don't go eating it, Onii-chan." If Orihime wasn't brushing her hair she would have given Ichigo a stern look to get her point across.

"I won't eat it, but you think he would call us and let us know. That is irresponsible for him."

'You are not one to talk,' Karin and Yuzu thought.

"We can eat as soon as Onee-chan finishes my hair," Yuzu announced.

"I am almost done. If you are hungry, Kurosaki-kun, you won't have to wait too long."

"Don't hurry on my account. I am not starving or anything. I wanted to take a quick shower anyway. I stink. If I don't want to hear any wise cracks from this one," he pointed to Karin, "I better go wash up."

Landscaping worked up a good sweat. Damn. Ikumi had him showering twice a day with all the landscaping jobs they took. Oh well. He only needed a quick rinse and soap. The whole thing took less than ten minutes. Orihime had finished brushing Yuzu's hair when he got back. Their father hadn't returned yet. They decided to have dinner without him. The girls discussed their day out with Orihime, but Ichigo was only half paying attention. His thoughts were wondering where their father was. What was he doing that took him all day?

---

He lost him. He actually lost him. Of all the amateurish mistakes he could have made Uryu lost track of the man who was hunting him. He was so livid that it was all he could do not let his reiatsu explode with rage. He led the man away from Asano and Kojima-kun on a wild goose chase. His objective had been to travel as far away from his friends as possible, but still keep a pace that allowed his pursuer to keep up with him. He planned to lead them to the outskirts of the east side of town to confront him, but the reiatsu had disappeared before he realized it. No matter how hard he concentrated he could not detect the man's reiatsu. Part of him feared the man had given up on him and gone back to Asano and Kojima-kun, but when he doubled back and found them he saw no trace of the man.

Uryu spent the rest of the afternoon trying to find where the man had gone, but it appeared as if the man had disappeared into thin air. Not only did he fail to discover who the man was, but in his search for him he had wasted time. That was time that could have been spent searching for Sado-kun. Night was rapidly approaching. That man had been looking right at him. Uryu was certain that he had been targeted by him. Was he their new enemy? His reiatsu didn't feel strong, but he sensed that the man was holding the full extent of his power back from him. If anything the man had kept his reiatsu at the lowest level he could. Most likely he was trying to spy on him by keeping it so low that he wouldn't sense it. It was a sloppy effort on his part. While the reiatsu was low, it was still heavy enough for him to notice.

His ability to conceal his reiatsu was better than that though. He couldn't feel the reiatsu now. That could have been his ability or he used his ability to get close to them in the first place and as he powered it down Uryu got lucky and detected it before he could lower it. He spent too much time on this as it was. The search for Sado-kun was a bust right now. Trying to find him at night was a bad idea. There would be less people out. He would stand out more. The darker it got the harder it would be to search for him. The best thing to do now was to go to Urahara and tell him about the new man. There was a new piece to the puzzle at least. The day wasn't a total waste.

He thought about stopping at Inoue-san's place and at least let her know about the new man. Urahara had told him to keep Sado-kun's absence from Karakura a secret, but should he keep this man a secret as well? Uryu debated with himself. If he told Inoue-san she would be worried about him. She would want to stick by him to make sure nothing happened. He couldn't afford to have the healer sticking to him when he still needed to search for Sado-kun. In the end he decided against it. His decision was validated when he sensed Inoue-san's reiatsu was coming from the Kurosaki Clinic. She was with Kurosaki, which meant had he gone over to her apartment she would have been out anyway. The only one he would tell tonight was Urahara. The scientist might have some suggestions on who the latest mystery man might be.

The crisp night air was cut through by a thick ominous pressure that engulfed him like a thin layer blanket. There was barely any weight on him, but Uryu could feel the emptiness poured over him. The emptiness sucked all of his emotions up swiftly. He had to summon his reiatsu to create a barrier between him and the emptiness trying to swallow him whole. He spun around tracking the pressure to a rooftop. Standing on the rooftop was a lone man. The man's back was to Uryu. There wasn't a great distance between them, but there was enough that Uryu couldn't make out too many of his features. He could make out the black hair. In his hands it looked like he was carrying a book.

He wasn't the same man he had seen this afternoon. His reiatsu was different from that man's. The way he stood there just barley exuded spiritual pressure at all, yet the fact that it felt so empty alarmed him. He wasn't exuding a great force, not because he was unable, but because he chose not to. He was taunting him. Perhaps he was even trying to bait him. This man was dangerous. One question came to mind. 'Who is that?'

The man vanished from the human eye, leaving nothing except for air where he once stood. To the human eye he faded into the night sky, but Uryu's eyes were much sharper than the average human's. He could see the man's high speed movements. Did he believe he would escape Uryu with that level of speed? "You are not getting away." The quincy collected reishi into the soles of his feet and accelerated to a speed equal to the man's.

He was racing the unknown man over the rooftops, traveling at speeds that the naked eye could never hope to capture. Uryu had been unimpressed by his speed when he saw it, but he quickly realized that he had underestimated the man. Every time he increased his speed the man would do the same. When Uryu got within arm's length, the distance between them would grow instantly. The man was toying around with him. This was just a game to him. To be more specific this was a game of cat and mouse. Was he the cat or the mouse? He had a dreadful hunch that he was the mouse in this game.

He hadn't seen the extent of this man's abilities. There was no question about that. He couldn't even discern what his abilities were. The man could move at high speeds, but he couldn't tell how he was doing it. The reishi around him was undisturbed. He wasn't using it to increase his speed like the shinigami and quincy did. This speed was too great to be natural for a human. Without manipulation of reiatsu or reishi there was no conceivable way for a human to move at such speeds. Did that mean he wasn't human? His reiatsu certainly felt different from a normal human's. He had to be using some type of power. He noticed it. When the man landed on a light post he saw a bright light flicker from his feet. After the flicker of light the man accelerated.

That was his trick. The light was the reason he could go so fast. What was the light though? Just what type of power was this man using? 'What is that light?' Unfortunately that problem would have to wait. Instantaneously the man appeared right in front of his face. Terror spread throughout the quincy's body. The man had exceeded his speed and escaped his sights. There was no way he could move out of his way in time. The game was over. The man was getting ready to attack. If he couldn't dodge it then he would just have to strike first. He took hold of his cross, but it was too late. He been caught completely unaware by his next move and now it was too late. 'Oh, no!'

Everything was going black. He failed. He was too confident in his abilities and he had paid the price. The enemy had made himself known at long last. Darkness was erasing the man before him, but he could make out one thing before consciousness abandoned him, a small smirk.

---

Well that was a long one. I will try to keep the next batch of chapters shorter than this one. I hope you readers enjoyed it. I did try to cover more material here and bring back characters, introduce some of my own bits, make nods to the current manga (Blut technique Ryuken was trying to teach Uryu), and move the story along. I will tell you right now the man Uryu chased is the same one who was watching Keigo and Mizuiro. He is an original character. You will see more of him in this story. He is just one of the new elements that will hopefully make this story different enough that you manga and anime watchers will deem the story worthy of following. The ending is familiar to Bleach fans, but that was unavoidable. Keep in mind that the attack might not have happened exactly the same it did in the manga/anime.

The circumstance leading up to Uryu's attack were certainly different. The million dollar question if where is Sado and what role will he play in the puzzle. It is so mysterious (sarcasm). Ten chapters in the where is Chad questions the characters keep asking is starting to sound repetitive, but bear with me and please remember that it keeps coming up because the characters have no idea what is going on and are starting to get worried about him. Now that the new enemy has made a real first wave he will be coming in the story real soon. His absence will serve a purpose or at least I hope it will. Thank you for reading this chapter and please review.