Disclaimer- I do not own Bleach

A/N- A short little chapter about friendship and the lengths to which Shiro will go to protect the ones he cares about.

Chapter Fourteen -The Importance of Friends

School was over for the day and Shiro was on his way out to meet Kasumi at their usual spot, under a tree out in the courtyard. However as he approached he saw that Kasumi wasn't alone. Several older boys were standing in front of her and Shiro noticed that his friend looked on the verge of tears.

Sensing trouble Shiro picked up his pace and jogged over to the spot where his best friend stood. Completely ignoring the group of older boys Shiro called out, "Hey Kasumi, you ready to go?"

Kasumi turned toward the sound of her best friend's voice and Shiro saw that her blue eyes were filled with unshed tears.

"Back off shorty," one of the older boys snapped, glaring at Shiro with a menacing look in his cold eyes. "This ain't got nothing to do with you. You'd best make yourself scarce you little brat, before we decide not to let you go."

Ignoring the threat Shiro's gaze shifted from Kasumi to the boy, an icy look in his blue-green eyes. A chill wind began to blow however Shiro paid absolutely no attention to it. "Listen jerk, cause I'm only going to say this once. I'm giving you fair warning, if you make Kasumi cry then I'll make you bleed."

That statement caused the three boys to burst into uncontrolled laughter and the leader stared down at Shiro with a sneer on his face. "Scary."

"I don't care if you're scared or not," Shiro stated matter-of-factly, not the slightest bit concerned that there were three of them and only one of him, not to mention the fact that they were all at least twice his size. "In fact I actually prefer for you not to be scared because that way I won't have to chase you down before I beat the snot out of you."

"Why you. . ." The bully took a step toward Shiro however something about the boy gave him pause and he hesitated. He took a step toward Kasumi and shoved her forward roughly. "Fine, take your worthless little girlfriend and get out of here."

Shiro's gaze went instantly to Kasumi and he watched as a single tear slid down her face. She was fighting hard not to cry however she was unable to stop that single tear from falling and the fact that she was hurting made Shiro hurt inside as well. Clenching his hands into fists, Shiro turned back to the bully.

"You got somethin' you wanna say shorty?"

"I gave you a warning," Shiro growled in a low voice that almost sounded as though it belonged to someone else. The chill wind that had been blowing across the schoolyard increased in it's intensity. The bully opened his mouth to say something however his words were cut short as his head snapped around to the side. The other two boys gaped in surprise as the white haired boy leapt into the air and kicked their leader in the side of the head.

The leader fell to the ground on his hands and knees and his two buddies quickly knelt at his side. Shiro stood off to the side, gazing down at them in disgust.

"Get him you morons," the bully ordered, staggering to his feet and spitting blood from his mouth.

"Toushirou!" Kasumi cried out in alarm, as all three boys approached her friend. "What have I done?"

"You might want to step back Kasumi," Shiro said calmly as he assumed a defensive stance and watched as the bullies approached him. "I'd hate for you to get drawn into this."

Kasumi nodded and stepped back a few feet. She desperately wanted to do something about the situation however she knew that it had already gone to far. There could be no stopping it at this point and she should listen to Shiro's advice before she made things worse.

The first of the three boys rushed him and Shiro dodged lightly to the side, spun around and kicked the boy's legs out from under him. Without pausing Shiro caught a fist that had been aiming for his head, bent the boy's wrist and tossed him through the air. Then he turned back to the leader, a cold look in his eyes. The chill wind was still blowing and it ruffled the boy's snow white hair.

"You're going to pay for that you little freak," the bully growled, a second before he rushed toward the smaller boy.

"Terrifying," Shiro muttered to himself as he kicked the boy in the solar plexus. The bully once again dropped to his knees, this time gasping for breath, and Shiro calmly raised his fist, preparing to end the fight.

"KUROSAKI!"

Shiro froze as the voice of his teacher rang out, even through all of the noise. Turning, he watched as Hatori-sensei walked toward them, a stern expression on his face. The teacher stared down at the three older boys, all of whom were on the ground, and then his gaze returned to Shiro. "What is the meaning of this Kurosaki?"

Shiro shrugged, not willing to go into the details. The outcome would not change even if he told the teacher the circumstances surrounding the fight so there really was no point. He would admit to what he had done and it was none of the teacher's business why he had done it.

"Come with me," Hatori-sensei said in a stern voice.

Shiro nodded and turned to follow his teacher however he paused when he heard Kasumi's voice.

"Wait sensei, this isn't. . ."

"Go home Kasumi," Shiro said in a low voice, his intense gaze falling on her. "It's okay, really."

Hatori-sensei turned to face the young girl. "Is there something you wanted to say?"

Kasumi glanced toward Shiro and the look in his blue-green eyes made his wishes perfectly clear. Bowing her head Kasumi replied, "No sir."

Hatori-sensei was slightly confused however he chose not to pursue the matter. Instead he turned and led the way back over to the school building, with Shiro following along behind. A couple of other teachers who'd witnessed the tail end of the confrontation walked over to the three boys to see if they were alright.

Kasumi shook her head in disgust as she listened to the three boys whine about their injuries, which were extremely minor considering what Shiro could have done to them. Her friend hadn't even used any of his powers. "Babies."

"Come on," one of the teachers said, helping the boys to their feet. "You boys should probably visit the nurse just to be on the safe side."

The three bullies nodded and followed the teacher toward the school building. With a sigh Kasumi sat down under the tree to wait for her friend to return. Shiro had told her to go home however there was no way she was going to do that considering the fact that all of this had been caused by her.

Forty-five minutes later Shiro once again left the school building and his eyes widened as he saw that Kasumi was sitting under the tree, her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms wrapped around them protectively. Shaking his head he called out to her in an exasperated tone of voice, "I thought I told you to go home."

Kasumi glanced up as her friend came to a stop beside her. "Like I would do that when this was all my fault."

Shiro grinned, having known that she'd blame herself for what had transpired. "It wasn't your fault. You didn't make that guy stupid and besides I'm the bad influence remember?"

Kasumi couldn't help but smile as she heard these words. Her dad was constantly telling both Shiro and Ichigo that Shiro was a bad influence on her.

Shiro offered Kasumi his hand. "Come on. We're late and if we don't get home soon they'll probably send out the army."

Kasumi nodded as she accepted his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet. "You're right Shiro-chan. I'm surprised no one's come looking for us yet."

"You and me both."

Together the two friends started toward home however they'd traveled less than a tenth of a mile when they were joined by a woman dressed in black.

"Hey Kaiya," Shiro said as the Shinigami fell into step beside him. "Knew it was only a matter of time before someone showed up."

"What happened Shiro-chan?" Kaiya asked the boy. "You're late."

"Nothing serious," Shiro told her in a casual voice. "We were just hanging out and lost track of time."

Kaiya didn't look convinced however she knew the boy well enough not to press the matter. "I was worried."

"You don't have to worry about me," Shiro told her, shaking his head. "I can take care of a few measly Hollow."

"I know you can," Kaiya said, smiling down at the child. "But that would not make your dad happy."

Shiro shrugged. "He worries too much."

While Shiro and Kaiya were absorbed in their conversation Kasumi was gazing around and as she did so she noticed that they were attracting a lot of attention and getting weird looks from some passers by. "Ugh," she thought to herself as she realized what was going on. "They can't see Kaiya and it looks like Shiro-chan's talking to himself. They must all think that he's crazy or something." She quickly turned back to her best friend and spoke in a quiet voice. "Um Shiro-chan, you may want to consider postponing this conversation. People are staring at you like you're crazy."

Shiro glanced toward some of the people who were giving him weird looks and smirked. The couple that Shiro chose to fix with his gaze bowed their heads and quickly hurried past, looking anywhere but in the direction of the young white-haired boy.

"Hurry up honey," Shiro said in a mocking tone, his gaze shifting away from the couple who were quickly making their way down the street. "And don't stare at the little freak, it might rub off on you."

"Toushirou," both Kaiya and Kasumi said in a reproachful tone.

"What?" Shiro exclaimed, his blue-green eyes narrowed. "I can't stand people like that. Even if I were talking to myself that wouldn't automatically make me crazy."

"Behave," Kasumi said reproachfully.

Shiro let out an angry breath however he closed his mouth and continued on in silence, although Kasumi and Kaiya couldn't miss the fact that the temperature in their general area had dropped by a couple of dozen degrees and a chill wind had started to blow, which told them plainer than words that the young boy was mad.

When the group arrived at the Ishida residence Kasumi offered her best friend a tentative smile and was relieved when Shiro returned it. Apparently her friend had gotten over his anger at the incident earlier and was back to his usual self. "I guess I'll see you tomorrow Shiro-chan."

"If I survive," Shiro commented darkly.

"Toushirou that's not funny!" Kasumi exclaimed, a concerned expression in her eyes.

Shiro held up his hands in a placating manner. "Calm down. I was just joking around with you. I told you that I'd be fine and I will be. Trust me."

Kasumi still looked less than convinced however she nodded and gave him a quick hug. "Take care Shiro-chan and I'll see you tomorrow."

Shiro nodded and watched as she dashed down the walk way and entered her house. Once she'd disappeared inside Shiro turned away from the house and continued on his way toward his own, his pace slower this time.

"What was that about Shiro?" Kaiya asked, confused by the exchange that had just taken place between the two children.

"I'm not supposed to talk to you remember Kaiya?" Shiro said with a smirk. "It draws attention to us."

"I knew you'd use that against me," Kaiya said with a chuckle. "Alright fine, have it your way. I'll talk, you listen. If there's something going on with you, you know you can tell me right?"

Shiro thought about her words for the barest of moments and then he nodded ever so slightly.

Kaiya waited however Shiro chose not to confide in her. With a small smile, she continued on beside him. If the kid didn't want to talk about whatever had happened then she wouldn't force the issue. She knew from past experience that she'd find out sooner or later either from him or from his parents.

When the two of them arrived at the Kurosaki residence Shiro opened the door and stepped inside, followed closely behind by Kaiya. Walking in to the den Shiro gazed around, searching for any signs of his parents however he didn't find any. He turned around and gazed back at Kaiya. "Did they have a mission or something?"

"Something," Kaiya said, shrugging her shoulders. "They got a phone call and had to leave. They summoned my and told me to meet you and keep an eye on you until they returned but they didn't tell me what the phone call was about."

Shiro groaned under his breath. He knew EXACTLY what the phone call had been about and he was not looking forward to the confrontation that he would have with his parents when they returned. With a sigh the boy jogged upstairs to his room and deposited his messenger bag on the floor beside his desk.

"Shiro-chan," Kaiya called out from the doorway. "Do you wanna talk about it now?"

Shiro sighed again and sat down on the edge of his bed. Kaiya entered the room and sat down beside the young boy, gazing at him in expectance. "When I came out of school this afternoon I saw some guys messing with Kasumi and when I intervened they started in on me, which was fine. I can deal with it but Kasumi was about to cry and I warned them, I told them that if they made Kasumi cry then I'd make them bleed. They didn't listen."

"Oh Shiro-chan," Kaiya said, shaking her head.

"I can't help it," Shiro said. "I can't stand to watch someone being picked on I don't know why but it just infuriates me."

"It's alright Shiro-chan," Kaiya said, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I understand." "More than you'll ever know," she added silently to herself.

It was a couple of hours later when Ichigo and Rukia returned home. When they walked inside the house they gazed around, searching for any signs of their son. The boy was nowhere to be found and Ichigo called out, "Toushirou!"

A couple of minutes passed before they heard the sound of someone descending the stairs and then their son walked into the room, Kaiya following along behind him.

"Kaiya you can go now," Ichigo said.

Kaiya hesitated and then nodded once to her captain and quickly left the room.

Ichigo gestured toward the sofa. "Have a seat Toushirou, I think there are a few things that we need to talk about."

Shiro had been expecting this since the moment he'd heard his parents enter the house and he nodded and sat down on the sofa. Ichigo sat down beside his son and gazed down at the kid. "So, would you like to tell me what exactly happened at school today Toushirou?"

Shiro took a deep breath, hoping that his dad wouldn't flip out too badly when he found out that he'd actually started the fight. "This group of boys were picking on Kasumi and when I tried to stop them they started in on me. That didn't bother me but when they made Kasumi cry I kinda flipped out."

"Toushirou."

"I know," Shiro said, his gaze dropping to the clasped hands that he was holding in his lap. "I shouldn't have started a fight, especially with people who didn't stand a chance against me, but I couldn't stop myself. Seeing her tears just set something off inside of me. I don't know what caused it but it was out of my control."

"Shiro, look at me," Ichigo said.

Shiro lifted his gaze and stared up into his father's eyes.

"There is absolutely nothing more important than sticking up for your friends Shiro," Ichigo told his son, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I'm not disappointed or mad. You stood up for your friend and I think that I'd be angrier if you'd just let them pick on her."

Shiro grinned at his dad.

"Unfortunately you are going to be stuck with Kaiya for the next two days since your principal wasn't quite as understanding," Ichigo said with a chuckle. "You're suspended from school for the next two days."

"Ugh," Shiro groaned, rolling his eyes. He didn't know which was worse; having to spend his time in school, which was boring, or being stuck with a baby-sitter, even if it was Kaiya.

"I'm sorry kiddo," Ichigo said. "But there's nothing I can do about it. And at least I'm not sticking you with Tomori."

There was that, Shiro thought to himself.

"Cheer up kiddo," Ichigo said, placing his hand back on Shiro's shoulder and shaking him slightly. "Just remember, it could be worse. It could always be worse."

"You think?" Shiro said.

Ichigo chuckled and got to his feet. "Well I'd tell you to go and do your homework but I don't suppose there's really any point since you have the next two and a half days to get it done."

"I don't even have any homework Dad," Shiro said, rolling his eyes once again. "I never have homework."

"Of course not," Ichigo said as he walked away. "I forgot about that."

Shiro watched as his dad left the room and then he got to his feet and made his way back upstairs to his room. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He'd been sure that his dad would be majorly ticked about the fight so to have Ichigo tell him that he did the right thing had completely thrown him off.

"My dad is so not a normal parent," the young boy thought to himself as he sat down on the edge of his bed. "First he tells me not to go out looking for trouble and then he tells me that he would have been disappointed if I hadn't beat the snot out of a group of older boys. There's no way that's normal."

A/N- Hope you enjoyed this little chapter about friendship. If you want you can review and let me know what you think. Until the next time this is Hitsu-taichou signing out.