Nel thought about Urahara's last question for a moment before answering. "They have always been rather aggressive by nature but now that you mention it they are tending to fight themselves a lot more than they used to. They normally leave the arrancar alone due to the strength difference but lately they have been picking fights on a much more frequent basis. It's almost like they are agitated or are being agitated by something."

"They haven't made any attempts to enter the real world have they?" Rukia asked with concern in her voice. "We haven't picked up any intrusions into the real world."

"No, they just seem to be testing the strength of the remaining Arrancar under my command. So far they have been beaten down at every attack but the last attack nearly killed Sun-Sun and Loli. I know that they aren't very strong but they are far stronger than an Adjuchas, or at least they were. Now…" She paused for a moment and looked somewhat shamed. "We have to fight as a group to push them back into the menos forrest, and that is against only a few of them. I fear the thought of them coming in mass."

"Then you haven't been killing them out right." Uryuu asked looking thoughtful.

"No." She answered.

Urahara took this moment to speak up. "Under Aizen the arrancar were given the roll of the top tier of hollow development. You came into your power as a Vasto Lorde before Aizen came on the scene didn't you Nel." Urahara's question was more statement as he spoke. She nodded and then he continued. "The Vasto Lorde menos of the past had very little to do with causing trouble for the rest of the worlds before Aizen. It wasn't a matter of strength or ability that caused this but more about the reawakening of their souls. Sure they would fight like demons when they came on a shinigami but from what I remember from my days in Soul Society there were very few mentions of a Vasto Lorde coming to Earth or Soul Society. As a matter of fact I can say that the one time that I encountered a Vasto Lorde he basically ignored me. At the time he could have destroyed me without even raising his reiatsu. Thankfully he had little interest in fighting me. He seemed more interested in observing my actions. He never even blinked as he watched me performing Konso and purifying hollows. I think that what you are experiencing is a new crop of Adjuchas coming into their own power. As I am to understand, most of the current Vasto Lorde are ones created by Aizen and they were either recent Adjuchas or weak to begin with. Vasto Lorde like yourself and Cirucci Thunderwitch evolved naturally and will be far superior to the current Adjuchas. The forced Arrancar will have a harder time but if they learn to cooperate with one another they should fair well. The reason is because the Hogyoku was destroyed. Some of them may even be devolving back to Adjuchas Menos. Are they firmly under your control?"

"Currently they are very loyal because between Cirucci, Gantenbainne, and myself, we are their best chance for survival it seems." She said quietly.

"Well that seems to answer your questions. At least for now." Urahara snapped his fan closed. "Are you ready for your gigai fitting?" A very mischievous glint in his eye. "I do custom fitting…"

"Ichigo, he's scaring me again." Nel grabbed hold of Ichigo's sleeve and cowered behind his shoulder.

No one noticed Yourichi approaching Urahara from behind with a shoe reared back to strike.

Kuchiki Mansion Garden:

"Captain Kuchiki, You sent for me?" Matsumoto asked as she stared at the back of the captain as he stood in the garden under the moon light.

"You asked for a tour of the gardens." He said simply. He turned half way towards her looking out of the corner of his eye.

Matsumoto blushed to find herself alone in the garden at night with Byakuya. She gathered up her reserves of resolve and stepped forward taking his arm. "Yes, I suppose I did. Thank you."

Byakuya's eyes momentarily widened before he regained control of himself due to her somewhat intimate action. A small and unseen in the dark smile crossed his lips momentarily as he started forward with the tour.

Ishida Residence:

"Mom! I need some help!" Mayuki cried out as she pulled Kusanagi through the front door.

Orihime came running because of the tone of her daughter's voice. "What happened? Never mind just lay him down on the couch."

Orihime called out her shun-shun rika and commenced healing Kusanagi. "Is this the result of that huge spirit pressure that I felt an hour ago?"

Mayuki nodded. "It was Nel coming to find Ichigo. We didn't know who she was. She didn't hurt me but Shiro attacked her as she stepped out of that thing in the sky and she hit him. She said that she was sorry about hurting him but I can't heal him completely yet."

"Don't worry. I'm sure that Nel-chan didn't mean it. She is almost as strong as Kurosaki-kun. If she was serious Shiro-kun wouldn't be here right now." Orihime just smiled as she concentrated on repairing Kusanagi's battered body.

Kusanagi felt the warm enveloping energies as they flowed through him and restored his body back to the way it was meant to be. He noticed that this felt different from when Mayuki was healing him. It was stronger but it didn't have that feeling that felt like it was for him and him alone. He had stopped Mayuki before she could finish fixing him up because he could see the toll that it was taking on the young girls spirit energy. Her mother on the other hand had far more reserves of spirit energy and she was far more skilled at what she was doing. He briefly wondered if she had studied under Captain Unohana.

Orihime looked him in the eye. "You know, this is almost like back during the war. Captain Unohana taught me a few tricks back then. Kurosaki-san was always coming back battered and he always went to Rukia for the minor stuff but she always called me when it was a bad injury."

"Mom, I want you to teach me all you can about healing. If I have to give up the Quincy to be as good as you then that's what I'll do. I just don't want Shiro to die because I wasn't up to healing him. If I have to, let me go to Soul Society and learn under this Captain Unohana."

Kusanagi's eyes got very wide as he listened to what Mayuki was saying. "Y you can't just go to Soul Society. There are rules against that sort of thing, rules that will get me in a lot of trouble, and place your life in danger. I can't let you do that."

There were tears in the young girl's eyes. "And you think that I'm going to let you die because I can't heal your wounds? You better think again Shiro Kusanagi. I'm not letting you off the hook that easily. You're my protector and that's what you're going to stay if I have to kill you myself! All I can do with the rika is heal so you better let me learn how to heal you the best that I can!"

Her tears fell onto his face and he sighed. "You know that the Captain is going to have my butt for asking this don't you." He grinned at her making her smile through the tears.

"See, May-chan, I knew that he was your boyfriend." Orihime was very pleased with herself.

"Mom/Ishida-sama" Mayuki and Shiro cried out in unison.

Kurosaki Residence:

"Ririn, did you feel that?" Kon asked mildly as he read the paper.

"Yeah, I think it was Ichigo coming to town. I felt that monster reiatsu show up followed by his showing up a few minutes later. Don't tell me you just noticed." Ririn asked from the kitchen.

"Oh, I noticed but what could I do? I just thought that it felt like Ichigo. I wonder if he and Rukia will be spending the night or going back right away." Kon paused for a moment. "I wonder why he hasn't dropped by lately. I haven't heard from him in at least a month. I think the last time I saw him was at our wedding. I wonder if there is anything wrong."

Ririn came into the living room wiping her hands with a dish towel. "You know that he can't spend a lot of time socializing any more. He has responsibilities in Soul Society. From what I heard around Urahara's shop the captains there have mountains of paperwork to do each day." She finished by pulling the paper out of his hands and sliding onto his lap. "Now why don't you tell me when we are going to go shopping for baby clothes. There are only three months remaining until you and I are going to be parents."

"Um… more like two months. Urahara had to start you out a month pregnant so that there was something to put Pyon in."

"Haruka!" Ririn swatted the back of his head gently. "Her name will be Haruka."

"You're right. Haruka. He still had to start with something and that made you about one month pregnant with Haruka at the time you entered your body." Kon rubbed her swelling belly. "You know, I love the glow that you have right now. A few years ago I wouldn't have known what it was from but now…." He kissed her gently.

After the kiss Ririn looked back at him. "A few years ago you would have panicked at the thought of sitting here with me like this let alone with me pregnant."

"Well that panic would have been because Ichigo and Rukia would have been coming back at any time and would have taken a dim view of us making out using their bodies. Now that we have their full permission, and are actually living as man and wife… or is that mod and mod? Well what ever. These are our bodies and we can do what we want as long as we don't stupid in the process."

"This must be very hard on you Kon." Ririn said dryly.

"Keep it up and I'll show you what's hard on me." He leered.

"Promise?"

"Um, where is Kusanagi?" Kon asked before going any further.

"Uhh, I think he and Mayuki went out to do a few soul burials. I saw him looking through the obits this morning." Ririn said after a moments thought. "They won't be back for at least another hour."

"Heh heh!"

Outside The Kurosaki Residence:

"Mayuki, I'm sorry you saw me get hurt tonight. I'm fine now, so you didn't have to walk me home." Shiro was blushing as he spoke. "I'm a big boy ya know. I can take care of myself."

"You could have fooled me. I heard the crunch you made when you hit that wall." Mayuki shuddered as she remembered the sound.

"Yeah? Well you should see the wall." He joked with a half smile on his lips.

"I did. I'm surprised it survived the impact with your hard head." She half smiled at him. "About you asking Ichigo if I can do some training with that Captain Unohana, if you think that you're going to get into too much trouble…"

"I already said I would ask. What's the worst that could happen? He says no? It's not like you aren't aware of what Soul Society is and what I am. Speaking of which, I better call him and make the request before he heads back to Soul Society." He pulled out his soul pager and punched in the number for the squad offices.

"Hello, Third seat Kotetsu? This is resident shinigami Kusanagi. Could you patch me through to the Captain? I have an important subject to discuss with him. (pause) No, I can't discuss it with you I need the Captain. (pause) Captain? Kusanagi here. Sir, I need to make a request on behalf of the daughter of the Quincy. (pause) No sir, I haven't asked her parents, she did. Wait a minute, how did you know what I was going to ask?"

"Because, I'm standing right behind you." Ichigo said into his ear.

Both young ones jumped half out of their skin. "Sensei/Captain" They both yelled.

"Scared ya didn't I. I'll ask if you can escort her to Soul Society to get some training from Unohana. Don't expect a yes though. We've had some reports of hollows that might like to take advantage of the sort of gate we would have to create for Mayuki to attend. But I do suspect that Unohana would enjoy the chance to come and visit and catch up with my dad seeing as they didn't have much of a chance at the wedding." Ichigo had a smirk on his face.

"You mean that Captain Unohana would come here?" Kusanagi asked incredulously

"Ah, she has some vacation time coming to her. Something like five years worth built up I think. Just don't tell my father that she may show up. He'll monopolize her time and you won't get any training time." Ichigo's smirk became broader. "Oh and next time you see an Arrancar or Vaste Lorde coming to the real world send word first. They are far more likely to not be here to attack than they were in the past. Nel apologized again for kicking you into the wall. She is staying at Urahara's until morning, so don't worry about her. As long as she is in town, no hollow will even think about showing up."