Another update! See, I'm good when I'm not moving house or cosplaying! As always, thank you so much to the reviewers : ) As a thank you, I am respecting various wishes. People have asked for more Ryuken so here he is... Someone a while ago also asked to see the Shinigami so I will see what I can do in that area for you in a later chapter. We're not far from the end of this story though...

Who's up to date with the manga? Because since some of the past of Ryuken and Isshin (and the deaths of their wives) is now canon, I've included it here. Sorry... I realise there may be spoilers for those who haven't read it yet... sorry...

You're home.

Isshin let out the slow breath he'd been holding as the silhouette appeared at Ichigo's bedroom window, blocking the moonlight that had been falling across Isshin's knees as he sat waiting at Ichigo's writing desk. "I was about to come looking for you," said Isshin. "Don't look in the closet downstairs. I've hid my gigai in there."

Ichigo jumped down onto the laminate flooring. Uryu was draped over his shoulder. Isshin thought he was unconscious at first until he saw Uryu press his fist into Ichigo's back. "You can unhand me now, Kurosaki. This is embarrassing."

Ichigo did as he was told and Uryu, dressed in his rumpled school uniform, tottered on trembling legs for a moment. Seemingly not wanting to even look at Isshin, he retreated into the shadows at the far end of the room, slumping against the wall. Ichigo stared after him with a look that Isshin hadn't seen on his face since Masaki had died.

Isshin cleared his throat. "I'm glad you're both home. Karin and Yuzu were worried when you took off like that, Ichigo. Worried about Uryu too since I think they were looking forward to seeing the both of you together. Yuzu left your dinner in the fridge. You should eat before you go to bed."

"Thanks dad."

Uryu slowly slid to the floor, balancing his head in right hand. A finger of moonlight brushed against the silver bracelet hanging from his wrist casting a tiny star-shaped shadow across the room. Ichigo pulled the duvet from his bed. Dropping to the floor beside Uryu, he wrapped the duvet around him. Uryu pulled it over his head. He was so still that it was almost as if he wasn't there at all. Ichigo hugged him.

"Dad, if Ishida's dad comes here, you'll tell him to leave, won't you?"

Ah... that explained Uryu's behaviour. It had only been a matter of time before that man found out.

"I promised I'd protect you both. Whatever it takes. Are you hurt?"

"No."

"Good."

Isshin left them to it. Sometimes fathers had a job to do. And sometimes they could do nothing at all because there were times when you had to stand on the sidelines, whether you wanted to or not. Sitting in his Shinigami form downstairs pretending to read the morning's newspaper, he didn't say a word when Ichigo appeared a few minutes later to take the dinner plates from the fridge up to his room. Eating was good. It would help to make them feel better. And reassure Isshin somewhat that maybe all of this was still salvageable.

For a long time Isshin was still. He'd guessed Ryuken might be involved. When Uryu hadn't arrived home, he'd called Kisuke, with Ichigo breathing over his shoulder. Kisuke hadn't known anything. And of course Ichigo had panicked and left the house. As soon as Isshin had called the hospital and been told Ryuken was unavailable, he'd buried his head in his hands.

You choose to get involved at the worst possible moments.

This was delicate. Ichigo and Uryu were already jumpy. And anything could send the pair of them over the edge. With Soul Society's help, Isshin could possibly track them down if they fled, but it was a situation he'd rather avoid. In case he couldn't find them.

But if things carried on like this, they would flee. Uryu didn't seem like the kind of boy to hide under a duvet. But Ichigo was the kind of man to protect him no matter what it took.

After some time had passed, Isshin tiptoed up the stairs and paused outside of Ichigo's bedroom. He didn't really want to listen too closely (because he knew what vampires were like and what teenagers were like and he didn't need to know what these two were really like) but the room seemed quiet. No clatter of plates or chopsticks or voices. So with any luck the two of them were asleep.

Treading back downstairs, he passed through the living room and into the clinic beyond. No patients had needed to stay the night so the building was empty. He chose to sit in the room at the furthest point away from the house before drawing the mobile phone from his pocket. He dialled the number and waited.

"So, I hear you've found about the good news," he said, as the call connected. Even in Shinigami form, this person would hear his voice. "Soon, our families will be one and-"

Ryuken hung up.

"Ah… I knew you'd do that."

Isshin had never been sure exactly what their relationship was. Friends? Comrades? Or simply two men thrown together by mutual pain? Isshin didn't dislike many people. Ryuken was possible the most unlikeable human he'd ever encountered and Isshin still didn't dislike him. On the contrary, there was something oddly likeable about sitting with him. Sometimes talking. Mostly trying to annoy him (because it had always been fun to annoy people and Ryuken was the holy grail in that respect).

When they'd first met all those years ago, they'd spoken briefly during the whole Masaki/Hollow incident, but they hadn't gotten to know each other. Isshin had learnt a lot from Masaki though, and at times she'd blabbered on about Ryuken so much that Isshin had had to ask if she was marrying the right man.

But Ryuken had never contacted either of them. And it had been fine. Masaki had cried a little (when she thought Isshin couldn't hear her) but Isshin was certain she knew why Ryuken had cut ties. He'd liked her a lot. And she'd liked him, but not perhaps as much as Ryuken would have liked. So it was easier for him to remove her from his life rather than have to watch her with someone else.

"And it's much better this way anyway," Masaki had always said, "arranged marriages are never for the best. It would have been OK, I suppose, but never completely right for either of us. And there was a girl who adored him so much. And I know he adored her, and he would have done anything for her just like he had done for me. She was a maid, but I hope the family accept it."

It was only after Masaki died that Isshin had tried to get in touch, but it had been impossible because every time Isshin had showed up at the hospital or called, Ryuken wasn't there. And the staff had seemed antsy about something. He'd left messages but Ryuken hadn't showed up at the funeral.

Isshin had been angry enough to kill him at first because even if you cut all ties, there were times you had to show respect. But he'd had Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu, and far more important things to deal with than Ryuken, particularly as Ichigo had started distancing himself more and more from the family.

But eventually Ryuken had shown up. Completely unannounced during clinic hours one rain-filled Tuesday, with water dripping from his suit and his hair all over the place as he struggled to catch his breath. "Masaki. Is she all right?" he'd roared across the busy waiting room as Isshin saw a patient out.

He'd taken him aside quietly. "I left you a message. She was killed by a Hollow three weeks ago."

It had never seemed right. Masaki could defend herself from Hollows and from what Ichigo said it seemed that there hadn't been any kind of battle. She couldn't have been taken out so easily. Shouldn't have. Isshin had spent a lot of time with Kisuke, but they'd been unable to come up with any other explanation and Isshin had had to accept that.

Ryuken had come to the clinic that day because he'd found out there was more to the situation than that. His wife, Katagiri, had fallen unconscious the same day. And other Quincies had died too. It couldn't be a coincidence.

For the next several weeks, they'd worked together with Kisuke to uncover as much of the truth as they could and, painfully, that there was nothing they could do about it. But there would come a day when they would be able to reach the ones responsible. Isshin could cope with that.

At first, Isshin had envied Ryuken because Katagiri was still alive, but he'd soon realised that was wrong. Masaki was gone and Isshin was learning to accept that. It was difficult but life went on and she'd kill him if he brooded too much and neglected their children. Katagiri was in a coma, neither alive nor dead. The more Isshin, Kisuke and Ryuken had researched, the more they discovered that she was unlikely to ever wake up, particularly as illnesses had always hit her hard. And Ryuken was unable to grieve. And unable to accept anything.

There had been many late nights for all three around that time. Isshin had always made sure he was at home as frequently as he could, but he knew Ryuken travelled around the country a lot, searching specific areas where there was a weak bond between the world of the living and the dead as he searched for a way to reach the ones responsible.

Isshin had stopped by the hospital as frequently as he could (which wasn't often when you had three young, grieving children) to ask politely how Katagiri was doing and to see Ryuken, if he was around. They hadn't always spoken as Isshin had sat on the couch in Ryuken's office while the other man scribbled away at whatever he was doing. But even in the silence there had been some comfort.

Hours spent together. In silence. Or sometimes talking about Masaki and Katagiri. And planning revenge for when the day came.

Isshin would never forget the day that Katagiri had died. Ryuken had seemed all right while she'd been in a coma. Calm and collected as he bided his time for when he could have revenge. Isshin had seen nothing wrong with that.

He'd been sitting quietly with a book in Ryuken's office when the pager alert came for Ryuken to tell him that his wife had succumbed. Ryuken had told Isshin he could leave, but silently Isshin had walked beside him anyway to the private room on the third floor of the hospital.

Nurses clustered outside the room. Two in tears, which Isshin had noted at the time seemed odd for nurses who were exposed to this sort of scene all the time. He only realised a few seconds later what had probably led to them being upset. A dark-haired boy running through the doors with tears on his face.

"What's wrong with you? You couldn't even be here when mother died! Why were you never here? I hate you! You ignore her and everything else! You won't look at Hollows. You won't look at people being killed. You wouldn't look at her and you won't look at me!"

An eight year old boy screaming and sobbing in the middle of the hospital corridor.

Hollows...?

"Uryu! Don't!" An old man staggered from the room, but the boy had already thrown himself at Ryuken's legs, kicking, screaming, sobbing and punching. "I hate you. I hate you!"

And Ryuken; pressing his hand against the boy's head to shove him backwards onto before turning his back and walking away down the corridor.

"Ryuken!" the old man gasped as he caught Uryu, bundling him tightly in his arms as he screamed even harder. "Ryuken! You're not the only one who's hurting! What's more important? The truth you can't reach or something that's right in front of your eyes!"

"R-Ryuken...?" Isshin could only stare, his dry mouth gaping.

That boy... small, skinny. And a face exactly like Katagiri's. And somehow also exactly like Ryuken's.

"I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!" the boy screamed.

Isshin sprinted after Ryuken down the corridor. "Ryuken! That's your son?! You have a son?"

You never mentioned him!

Not once in all the hours Isshin had spent sitting in the hospital with Ryuken during the past two months or that they'd spent investigating the truth behind Masaki's death and Katagiri's illness. And during those times Isshin had still spent as much time as he could with his kids, but he knew there were times when Ryuken hadn't gone home at all. Sometimes for days on end.

Isshin had suddenly seen a completely different side to him as he saw behind that calm nature. This man had fallen apart completely the moment Katagiri had collapsed.

"Ryuken...!" Isshin grabbed his arm, but Ryuken punched him in the face.

"If you go anywhere near Uryu I'll kill you! I don't want him to have anything to do with Quincy, Shinigami, Hollows! Any of that! He's bad enough as it is already! I will deal with all of this so he doesn't have to."

He'd left Isshin dazed in the corridor with a bleeding nose. And further behind, Uryu and his tears.

Too overwhelmed by your own grief to attend to others.

And Isshin knew Ryuken had cried somewhere for a very, very long time that day.

Isshin had gone home and finally he'd had the guts to confront Ichigo. He'd hugged him hard, along with Karin and Yuzu. And they'd all cried.

He'd been just as bad as Ryuken. He had seen his children but he'd also spent a lot of time away. Too much of a coward to admit that Ichigo wasn't coping.

And as much as he'd felt for poor Uryu screaming in the hospital, there was nothing he could do. Because he had his own family to keep together. And besides that, Uryu could see Hollows and he was a Quincy.

Quincy absorbed reishi rather than emit them, but there was definitely an odd feeling of reiatsu around ones that had not mastered their abilities. Isshin had felt it from Masaki when he'd first met her. And it was the same from this boy.

Ichigo could see ghosts, but he hadn't mentioned Hollows. And there had been no signs of any Quincy abilities or odd reiatsu. Isshin had wanted to keep it that way. Introducing him to Uryu would have introduced him to Hollows and Quincy, and it would have awakened something in Ichigo. Those with spiritual powers are affected by others around them with similar abilities and they will amplify one another.

And it's better if neither of you develop those abilities.

He'd stopped visiting Ryuken. And he'd tried to blank Uryu from his mind because it was too horrible to think about, especially when he heard that his grandfather died a few months later. Isshin had always admitted he was a coward. And he was too much of a coward to get involved with that family.

He'd been happy when Ichigo brought Uryu home from school with him that day. The joy at seeing that Uryu had survived everything somehow.

It had been too late to worry about his effect on Ichigo since he'd already become a Shinigami. Uryu's appearance only solidified the fact that things would never be the same again for Isshin's family. So Isshin had welcomed him. And tried to look after him to make up for the guilt that he'd felt at being able to do nothing as that boy's life, and the life of one of Masaki's dear friends, had fallen apart.

Arriving at the hospital (because even though it was late, Ryuken would be here since Isshin knew he spent as little time as possible in that big empty house of his), Isshin leapt through the air to Ryuken's office. Through the glass, he saw the glow of the table lamp. Ryuken's white head bent low as he peered at the laptop in front of him.

Isshin banged on the window.

Ryuken ignored him.

So Isshin smashed it with his zanpaktou. He cleared his throat as he awkwardly stepped through the frame, trying to look cool and collected even as his robes caught on the remaining shards of glass, tripping him over and causing him to fall flat on his face on the carpet.

"I'll send the bill to your house," said Ryuken, not even glancing up as his fingers danced across the keyboard.

Isshin stood, trying to smile as he brushed the glass from his robes. he hadn't really thought about what he was going to say when he got here and that was a mistake because you always needed to prepare yourself to deal with this man. Should he shout at him for getting involved because what he'd done was completely idiotic? But Ryuken would just walk away. And then secretly quiver inside at the thought of losing Uryu forever.

This man was a wreck. The cold exterior was a method of hiding that. One little push would no doubt be enough to have him reaching for a noose to hang himself with.

That was why Isshin liked to wind him up. It was better than actually making Ryuken face his true self, because Isshin was pretty sure Ryuken wouldn't be able to cope with that. And neither would Uryu. Ryuken either made the boy hate him or he fell apart. Nobody should have to see their parent fall apart.

"Sooooooo..." Isshin thought of the best way to proceed. "Have you picked out your suit for the wedding?"

Ryuken shot him. Isshin didn't even see him move, let alone get his bow out. And God only knows how he managed to duck. Sweat rolled from his armpits. "That's frickin' dangerous!"

Ryuken was staring at the laptop again, his fingers clattering across the keys. he had that tight look on his face. the look that said threatened to kill anyone who bothered him.

"It's not that bad you know!" said Isshin. "Some boys like boys and it's not the end of the world. And it's Ichigo! My son is an amazing catch! Girls and boys alike right now will be weeping because-"

Ryuken was suddenly standing directly in front of him with the blue reishi blade of a seele schneider only an inch from Isshin's Adam's apple, which had started to bob up and down frantically.

"Vampires," said Ryuken. "Research on the supernatural is available if you know where to look. Those boys have been diseased and their deluded and sickening infatuation with one another is merely a symptom. What..." Ryuken paused for a moment as if he had an unpalatable taste in his mouth as he tried to find the right word, "… interests me most though, Isshin, is that the first one to be bitten will have had a choice in his partner. He could have chosen from anyone in the world. But once the choice was made, the other party would have no say in the matter because the bond will have been made. And I know damn well this will have been started by your son!"

It had always been a bit of dangerous fun in recent years when Isshin had started to visit Ryuken again (mainly to update him on what Ichigo and Uryu were up to because Isshin had needed someone else who was a parent to talk at about these things). And he felt that Ryuken needed someone to elicit some kind of life in him.

Uryu was and wasn't Ryuken's favourite subject. It was the only subject that ever provoked a reaction from him or introduced a glimmer of emotion to his grey eyes. Whenever Isshin slipped alcohol into his coffee, the reaction was a total sobbing breakdown that resulted in manly hugs. But Isshin always forgot how quick the man was and how much the reishi vibrations hurt as the proximity of the blade buzzed across his skin.

Of course, Isshin knew he wouldn't…

Thought he wouldn't…

You really wouldn't would you?

Because he still had that 'Ryu-chan' image in his head that Masaki had always painted.

And good god had she got it wrong.

Isshin tried to grin. Grins were good at diffusing tension after all. "Why are you blaming Ichigo?"

"Because it's his fault!"

The blue blade humming closer until Isshin swore it was going to draw blood. He's pissed. He's seriously pissed!

"They've always been friends! Always arguing like man and wife! And Uryu's always around our house…" Sewing Yuzu's dress for her. Nagging Ichigo like he was his wife. And Uryu did have that kind of pretty look (and Ryuken, I know damn well he's had long girly hair since he was eight and at eight years old, kids don't pick their own hair so you or Katagiri picked it for him!). And he liked cooking and cleaning. You seriously telling you didn't think at some point that he might not be straight?

Saying any of that would have resulted in blood. And Isshin was a coward. "They get along well! So why is it Ichigo's fault?"

"Because it just is!"

"All right, all right! Maybe it is his fault! I apologise on his behalf!"

Sorry Ichigo, my son. But if I don't say this then I'm going to lose my head. Not that I'm blaming you...

Even though Ichigo had been the one to do the biting, apparently...

The seele schneider was suddenly withdrawn from his neck. Isshin tried not to let his breath of relief sound as loud as it felt as Ryuken twirled the silver hilt around his fingers and slid it into his belt beneath his doctor's coat (Isshin wondered if he walked around the hospital with them). Straightening his tie, Ryuken sat again at his desk. The glow of his laptop screen was reflected in his glasses.

Isshin stretched his arms as he walked over to the couch in front of Ryuken's desk.

"Don't," said Ryuken. "I didn't invite you to sit. I'm very busy. Leave. I don't have the patience for you today."

Isshin paused, his legs bent and his backside poised ready to rest smack bang in the middle of the red leather sofa. He stared at Ryuken, who had lifted his eyes from the screen to meet this stare, daring him to defy him.

Isshin straightened. "I assumed you'd be in a good mood. I mean, you had your beloved son all to yourself for a good few hours. You must have injected him with something..."

"Nothing I tried worked. I took some blood samples and I know that no medicine in the world of the living is going to fix this. Although there could be a potential opportunity to exploit a protein string..." Ryuken was staring at the screen again.

"Soul Society have agreed to help," said Isshin.

"Because it is in their own interest to restore your son since he is their guard dog. I don't trust them." He practically spat every word.

You hate them because you think they could have done something to prevent Masaki and Katagiri's deaths all those years ago. You think they didn't care because it was just a bunch of Quincy that died.

He was probably right.

"Kisuke is with them. He'll make sure that both Ichigo and Uryu are cured. In fact, Kisuke wanted me to ask you something. I didn't just come here to see your beautiful face, you know. Kisuke says you managed to hide Uryu's presence from Ichigo. How?"

"You wouldn't understand if I told you."

"Can you write it down so I can give it to Kisuke?"

"No. It's a Quincy technique. I'm not giving it to him. He's always been curious about the Quincy. Always trying to drag techniques out of me to add to his own repertoire of bastardised science."

Isshin planted his hands on Ryuken's desk. "We need to know how to do it. Kisuke wants to use it to hide his reiatsu from Ichigo and Uryu. Otherwise he'll never get close enough to them."

"Close enough to do what?"

"What do you think? Or would you rather your son remained a vampire?"

Ryuken leaned back in his chair. "You have a cure?"

"It's not ready yet. Kisuke just wants to be ready."

"What an evil father. Sheltering them and pretending to be on their side when you are secretly plotting against them."

"You knew they were staying with me? Have you got Uryu bugged or something? I offered them protection and I keep my word. No one will be allowed to set foot in that house, including you. Somebody had to be sympathetic. You said research on vampires is available if you know where to look. Look again and you'll see that they have a habit of disappearing. We're lucky that Ichigo and Uryu haven't already eloped. I didn't think they'd come home today after what you pulled. You have spoken to me, you know, to get the situation. You pretend you haven't got it but you do have my phone number!"

"I simply past them in the car. Flaunting themselves in the middle of the street."

"They're happy. Did you see the look on Uryu's face?"

It's the first time I've seen him smile. How about you? Do you even remember what it feels like to be happy?

"It's not real. Uryu's body is completely overrun with a substance that shouldn't be there and it is affecting how he thinks. Something like that can never be good. he's lost his reason. And it won't be long before it gets him killed."

Isshin had wanted to believe that it might be all right to leave them, though of course he'd never been able to do that. Because they were different to how they'd been before. And they would be prone to doing stupid things.

"I had to give them a place to stay, whether it was backhanded or not," said Isshin. "Sometimes we fathers are cruel to be kind and kind to be cruel. But we always have their best interests at heart. I'm thinking of both of them. I'd appreciate it if you thought of Ichigo, Masaki's son, too. We can't separate them. And we can't cure one and not the other. They have to be cured at the same time. Don't kidnap Uryu again."

"You're saying I should snatch both of them next time?"

"Good luck. They're a formidable duo. You know that. You can't work alone. I can't work alone. So let's team up. With Kisuke too. And Ichigo and Uryu's friends. No others from Soul Society."

Ryuken picked up a pen and began writing on a notepad. Filling one page, he turned to the next. Several pages later, he ripped them out and handed them to Isshin. "That is how I did it."

"Cheers." Isshin glanced at briefly. Your handwriting is terrible. He tucked it inside his Shinigami robes and then leaned slightly so that his back was to Ryuken. "Say, Ryuken, what happens after they are cured?"

"Back to reality."

"I always knew my son looked at the waiters rather than the waitresses." He'd tried to ignore it. And he'd sat in front of Masaki's grave debating the issue. She'd have accepted it. She accepted everything weird. And she'd want Isshin to accept it. And maybe it could be fun to have a gay son.

"How about you, Ryuken?"

Did you even pay enough attention to notice?

No answer. Maybe it was OK for Isshin to think like this. Having one gay child was fine when you had two others that could be potentially straight enough to provide grandchildren (though surrendering his girls... he wanted to cry inside). Ryuken only had Uryu.

"We can raise them how we want, but we can't choose how they turn out. Some things are programmed so deeply that we can't change them."

Despite the sewing and the cooking, Issin had no clue about Uryu. He'd noted that Ichigo looked at him. Looked at him more than he'd ever looked at Inoue Orihime (and how could he not look?) or Kuchiki Rukia. Only from time to time, mind, and there had been nothing definitive in the look. But Uryu... he'd never noted him staring at boys. He'd actually seen him glance at Orihime once or twice. But even once or twice still wasn't normal. Most boys looked at her all the time because she was a stunning girl.

"Uryu will turn out in a way that spitefully defies everything I ever intended for him," said Ryuken. "I have no doubt."

"And you'll be proud of him no matter what, even though you'll never admit it. How can you not be proud. He's a good boy. They both are."

The office was quiet. Ryuken's fingers not even tapping on the laptop keys anymore. Isshin didn't dare turn to face him. Ryuken didn't like people looking at him. But sometimes if you spoke to him in this way, you'd get closer to his true thoughts. And sometimes Isshin could use it to give him office without fear of getting killed.

"Ryuken… I have never told you how to be a parent. I don't have a clue myself and I've been such a coward never telling Ichigo anything. Even when he got his Shinigami powers I buried my head in the sand. I can't do that this time. When Kisuke finds that cure, we have to be ready for the consequences. neither of us can be bothered by them. And neither of us will really know what to do. And somehow we'll have to muddle through."

"They'll have their common sense back. What little they had to begin with anyway. if they have sense then that is all they need."

Of course that was how Ryuken would reply. Because he didn't really have emotions anymore.

"Ryuken, do you have any idea how much it will hurt?"

"It won't hurt. they'll go back to how they were. They won't feel anything for one another anymore."

"It's not going to be that simple."

Ryuken was typing at the laptop again. Perhaps it was the scientific vampire research he'd spoken off. Or more likely it was administrative work for the hospital. Or maybe he was just tapping across the keyboard to give himself an excuse to avoid looking at Isshin.

And to avoid thinking about Uryu.

And Isshin had let him get away with it on so many occasions. Mention Uryu, and Ryuken would get angry. And then he'd retreat into nothingness; tapping at his laptop or flicking through the pages of a book. Something. Anything.

Isshin knew it was difficult for him because Uryu was a male replica of his mother. Every time Ryuken looked at him he was reminded of the wife he had lost. Isshin was reminded of Masaki every time he looked at his kids because they all had something about her in their appearance. But how would it feel if one of them looked exactly like her? And if all Isshin could see was Masaki rather than their child? He liked to think he wouldn't just focus on that...

But we're never as idealistic as we want to be.

People grieved. And some could never forget. It wasn't Uryu's fault, and resenting him was wrong.

But we're only human.

"Ryuken, we're both going to have a job to do when this is over. I don't know what they're going to feel like when they're no longer vampires, but they'll still have to cope with the memory of what it felt like to be utterly besotted with one another. And it's going to hurt. The emotions are going to hurt. The confusion is going to hurt. And I don't want to deal with it. I really don't. And since neither do you, maybe we should leave them be. They'll never be happier."

Ryuken looked up from the screen. "Don't be ridiculous. If you won't cure them then I will. There is no cure in the world of the living. But I will find something."

"Uryu will cry."

"He's always cried. Once more won't kill him."

"You're so cold."

"It's better than pretending nothing is wrong, Kurosaki Isshin."

He was right. Ryuken was always right, even if his methods could be a little more delicate. Isshin sighed. "Then it's decided. When this is over, I'm going to hug Ichigo. And punch him in the arm. And take him to the cinema. And then give him a bit of pocket money to take Uryu to the cinema perhaps. What will you do?"

No reply.

Because you don't have a clue.

Isshin wouldn't have a clue either but when you don't have a clue you laugh and you grin and you grab someone in a bear hug. Because you are reminding someone of what it's like to be happy, even if it feels as if they will never be happy again themselves.

Isshin had left Uryu in that hospital crying. And he'd let Ryuken walk away from it. He should have shouted. Shaken the man. Demanded that he hug his son and stop being so selfish. It wasn't his place to do that and he was pretty certain it would have made no difference since the damage to that father/son relationship had probably been done years ago.

And he was a coward. Fearing Ryuken's reaction. Because Isshin needed Ryuken in his life because he was one of the few connections he had left with Masaki.

So he'd never told him off about Uryu or made him feel guilty.

But he couldn't let him just walk away this time.

"If you want to cure Uryu then make sure you're brave enough to take the consequences." Isshin took a deep breath, telling himself to be a man for once and to say what needed saying. And to trust Ryuken to be man enough to take it. "Don't leave that poor boy crying alone again like you did before when his mother died."

A long silence. Isshin couldn't even hear Ryuken breathing, as if the man's heart had stopped there and then.

And then the laptop being thrown across the room and three haggard words trembling from Ryuken's lips.

"Get... out... Now!"

I actually think it's likely that Solken, Uryu's grandfather, was killed the same day as Masaki. But that would put the death in June. And for this story, I've already written that he died in Autumn so I'll have to leave it at that...