I have the wonderful Anacoana to thank for giving me a muse to write a story - apparently I can't type the simplest thoughts out. I've been working this for a while but I'm no where near done - too many ideas in my head - but since she was kind enough to let me use her idea for Unwanted and Unexpected Gifts for my own fanfic for Bleach, I want to see how it goes.

New chap...Sorry it's late.

Zangetsu could not fucking believe his eyes.

He was busy watching Shiro from afar as the albino youth spoke to friends as if his world hadn't been turned upside down and inside out all thanks to a stupid moment of "wrong place at the wrong fucking time." The elder man had to give the kid some credit though on how well he was acting. He couldn't find a flaw in it anywhere and he was looking for them. His friends would be too considering he had probably explained his past to them. At least the reason he was so screwed up. Losing a mother and a mirror image twin did things to people – especially when it happened all at once.

Zangetsu shook his head at the audacity of the young man before him. His acting was a little too good for the circumstances too. The elder man had not seriously expected the boy to be able to drag up a perfect act in so little time. Hell, Shinji was the best damned actor Zangetsu had ever met and even he'd had a hard time making up excuses for his FBI boyfriend. Shiro however seemed able to simply…fall into an act. It was like watching a professional liar, well, lie.

He took a drag from his cigarette and watched as the boy caught a girl by the scruff of her collar and dragged her back to the group without dragging his gold-black eyes from the tall, lithe, dark haired boy he was speaking to. Zangetsu watched as the girl stumbled back to his side and then pouted at him. They shared a few words about something but due to where he was he couldn't hear them. He had a feeling that it was friendly banter going off what their expressions were set as.

Shiro's eyes managed to slide over to find Zangetsu across the street. The dark haired man could feel his eyes on him. His muscles twitched as he felt the look of pure annoyance and fear. It was an interesting feeling to have dancing over his skin. He hadn't felt that feeling since…He stopped thinking then. He waved a two finger salute with his cigarette fingers. Shiro's eyes snapped back to his friends and Zangetsu watched as he wriggled free of them.

"Just for reference's sake," Shiro muttered as he strode up to Zangetsu. "You're my boss for a job. You make up the fuckin' job because I'm not that damned creative." He was waving a hand back and forth as he spoke like that one female character from Dead Like Me. Zangetsu nodded and flicked the dying butt to the ground carelessly.

"Hiyori is helping me find the place she escaped from," he explained. "Do you have a video camera?"

"W-well yeah."

"Good," Zangetsu chuckled. "Consider yourself a freelance photographer and filmmaker then Shiro."

"Thanks," Shiro replied sarcastically. Zangetsu chuckled again as Shiro began to shift his feet uncomfortably. The elder man glanced over at the school yard to find the friends were still together but the lithe boy was watching Shiro carefully.

"Your friend seems a bit over protective," he stated.

"Who?" Shiro asked as he glanced back. A faint blush covered his cheeks and his head snapped back to look at Zangetsu. "That's Shuuhei. His Dad's in the FBI too. He's working with Shinji's boyfriend."

"That girl you stopped. Former sex slave or what?" Shiro nodded. "Thought so. Come on, we're getting to be late."

"Right," Shiro mumbled.

As they walked through the streets, Zangetsu paid close attention to how Shiro watched his back. He'd glance over his shoulders and was tensed and ready for anything that could come his way. Zangetsu smiled softly at the odd feeling of déjà vu as he watched the boy. Just like Ichigo huh?

"You're father," Zangetsu stated calmly. "He's a doctor isn't he?"

"Y-yeah, he is."

"You've told me plenty about yourself with just that alone."

"What are you talking about?"

"I'll explain," he stated. "With your looks you come off as a punk yet if someone were to actually watch you interact with people, they would know that you were extremely protective of people you manage to give a shit about. You're also careful about dragging people you really give a shit about into your fucking problems. Yet, despite it all you're a whiny little boy who wants his baby brother back and the first actual, tangible lead you ever get is not exactly the greatest one you could have gotten now is it?"

"Thanks for the fucking pep talk Zangetsu," Shiro snarled. "No it wasn't the greatest thing to hear my brother was kidnapped by fucking crazies who shoved him into a cage to act as a punching bag until he fought back and got thrown into a cage with you only to have to fight for his life every single fucking day!"

Zangetsu blinked. He knew Shiro couldn't really see the action considering the sunglasses perched on the bridge of his nose. He knew Shiro was probably only seeing his stoic expression as tears began to form in the corners of his eyes before dribbling down his pale cheeks. He also knew very damned well that the boy hadn't even noticed he'd started crying.

He wasn't about to point it out though.

"Point taken," he replied smoothly as he continued on his way. "The plan is simple; we tape the people for maybe a day or two and we anonymously send the tape to the FBI when I so see fit."

"Hoo-fuckin'-ray," Shiro said with a sneer.

"Please understand something," Zangetsu stated. "I need a damned contact that isn't Shinji's boyfriend. I swear to god if I have to hear him go on about his lover one more fucking time, I will personally kill him."

Shiro looked a tad taken aback by the comment but he didn't say so. Zangetsu couldn't really blame him on it. He didn't come off as the type who cussed people out. However, he tended to slip up when he thought of Shinji and his damnable love life. He didn't hate gays – hell, he admired them greatly considering how much shit they went through – he just disliked how Shinji went on and on about things like that. To tell the truth, he really didn't need to know when and where the two of them fucked.

"I don't think Shuu's dad likes me."

"He's an agent right? He has to make split decisions based on usual stereotypes and what he sees. I'll bet that you weren't exactly put in a position to get off on the right foot."

"How can you tell?"

"Shuuhei's the lithe one with dark hair? What's his story exactly?"

"Formerly abused slave too."

Zangetsu nearly blanched. "You really do seem to have a problem with all of this stuff. You seem to make friends with all the, so-called, broken people."

"Don't you fall into that category?"

"Yes," Zangetsu deadpanned. He turned a corner and Shiro found himself in the alley again. Zangetsu moved for the metal door, calmly unlocking it and yanking it open again. Shiro stumbled after him, his eyes trained on the floor.

"I can get my camera to you tomorrow morning if you want," he offered. Zangetsu nodded his appreciation.

"That will help greatly," the man stated before the phone rang. He sighed and yanked it up to his ear. "Yes? Hello Shinji."

Shiro glanced around, waving half heartedly to Hiyori when she poked her head out of a spare room. She waved back as she padded out of the room.

"You're coming with us?" she asked. He shrugged.

"He's not really telling me much." She snorted at him but her eyes sparked with understanding. He guessed the girl understood the feeling.

"Fucking dumbass," Zangetsu hissed into the phone. "Next time watch what you say around him will you?" A pause. "Oh for fuck's sake what are you saying? I can't understand a fucking word you're saying." Another pause followed. "Oh just come here will you?" He slammed the phone back onto the receiver and began to mutter curses as he stormed around his apartment.

"Uh…Dare I ask?" Shiro murmured to Hiyori. She shook her head, her eyes slightly wide in warning. Shiro simply nodded in understanding. He knew that look; Karin had always given it to him when she managed to get enough time to do so before he mouthed off to his father. Or when he was about to step in deep shit. He'd learned to recognize it quickly; even though he didn't always take the warning seriously.

"Shinji's coming over," Zangetsu announced with dangerous ease. "Do me a favor and wring his damned neck for me when he comes in."

"Good man," Shiro murmured as Zangetsu flopped into his seat and lit a new cigarette.

Shinji didn't take long to show up considering he looked like he'd sprinted all the way over there. He huffed almost painfully as he tried to catch his breath. Shiro didn't bother to try to understand what Shinji was saying. The blonde was speaking so quickly that it was difficult to follow but it didn't really matter considering Hiyori could follow him and was busy translating to Zangetsu as well as Shiro; not that the latter was really listening.

"So anyway," Shinji said slowly as his breath began to come back. "Nnoitra was saying something about Grimmjow again." Zangetsu rolled his eyes but motioned for Shinji to continue. "Grimmjow took in this kid remember? Well, I finally got to meet him. Holy shit he really does look like him!"

"Thanks for the notice," Zangetsu muttered. "Who does this kid look like again?"

"Shiro," Shinji stated.

Shiro twitched and felt himself sinking into his chair. He suddenly hoped to god he was going with Zangetsu. It was strange how quickly Shiro had come to think of him as a person he could talk to. Why not? The man had already read into his life in two weeks. He was more of a father to Shiro than Isshin was at the moment – even if Shiro was beginning to see that it really was his damned fault that his father couldn't stand to be near him. Either way, he didn't really want to talk about the boy he'd seen at the FBI who'd looked terrified of him at first glance.

It hadn't helped the kid really did look a lot like what Ichigo might have looked like if he were still around.

Zangetsu smiled a fake smile. It was more irritated than happy. "Wonderful. Make friends with the kid then!" he roared causing Shinji to flinch slightly. The blonde idiot chuckled nervously as he nodded in a jerking motion.

"Sure thing," he replied. "I'll see what I can do."

"Good! In the mean time, Shiro if you have any homework to do you'd better be able to go without sleep. You're coming with Hiyori and me."

"Alright," Shiro said easily. He'd done his homework already.

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