Grimmjow and Renji had no patience while they planned what they would do. They needed to get in and get Ichigo out. They were impatient to have something to do.
"We can't just walk into a house owned by a Yakuza man," Isshin said as they sat in the tearoom at Urahara's shop.
"We can't just sit here and do nothing," Renji growled. "We have to get him out of that place!"
"We don't even know where he is, Abarai-san," Urahara said softly.
"We can follow his reiatsu and go in after him!" Grimmjow pointed out.
"Then what?" Isshin said. "We're talking about Yakuza and they probably know about Ichigo's family. Including his sisters. If we go in there, who is going to protect them from Yakuza guys?"
Grimmjow and Renji both growled but then were quiet. This was more complicated than either of them liked to believe, but they also knew how Ichigo felt about his family. He would do anything to avoid putting them in danger. While Ichigo could escape to Soul Society, his sisters could not, and neither of them were Shinigami. There had to be some way to get him out and protect the girls.
"What about the kikanshinki?" Renji said. "We could alter their memories and get Ichigo out."
"Renji-san," Urahara said. "You cannot interfere in the lives of humans so flagrantly…"
"Fuck that!" Grimmjow said. "You have a way that we can rescue him, and you don't want to use it?"
"There are rules, Grimmjow-san," Urahara tried. "Renji cannot just simply break those rules because he wants to help someone. Ichigo is in the middle of a human conundrum right now, and there is no way to determine what memory will replace their memories when the kikanshinki is used."
"I can request permission. Surely, they'll see the necessity," he said after thinking about it a moment. "I will go find out," he said, standing up. "I'll be back."
Renji walked out of the shop, leaving an impatient Grimmjow behind with Isshin and Urahara. Isshin decided to take the opportunity to figure out exactly what Grimmjow's intentions were with his son. He cleared his throat and set his eyes upon the Arrancar.
"So, Grimmjow. What brought you along on this little venture to help Ichigo?" he asked.
Grimmjow blinked and looked at him. "Yer his father, right?"
"I am," Isshin confirmed, face revealing no sign of its usual jovial nature.
"Well, I didn't mean to get involved at first. I mean, I didn't pick a fight with that fuckin' hollow knowing it was going to bring me here, after all. Just so happened I picked the wrong hollow to fight. Then I got transformed into a damn cat, and Ichigo found me and Red. And then I just couldn't stand the way that Tadasu guy treated him, and it made me mad. I wanted to do something about it, so I decided I was gonna stay with him and make sure he was alright," Grimmjow sighed, not sure what else to say. He certainly wasn't going to tell him about jerking him off in the baths.
"I see. What are your plans now?" Isshin asked him, narrowing his eyes at him.
"Saving his stupid ass, that's what," Grimmjow growled.
Isshin smirked a little and looked up as Renji came back into the room. "Well?" he asked. "What did they say?"
"It took some convincing," Renji grumbled, but held up the kikanshinki. "But I managed to get the head captain to agree that having Ichigo in the hands of people like that when his powers are so newly returned to him was a gamble. Of course, I had to spin it to the benefit of Soul Society," he added the last with a sour look.
"Whatever ya did, it works in our favor," Grimmjow said, standing up. "Does this mean if I beat the shit out of one of them, that thing will make them forget I was there?"
"If they can even see us," Renji pointed out. "Remember, not all humans are spiritually aware enough to see you and me."
Grimmjow snorted. "I almost want to go in there in one of those Gigai that you wear just so I can beat them."
"Ah, I recognize the desire to bring about revenge, but this is just about getting Ichigo out of there," Urahara said with a sigh. "Now, we need some sort of plan—"
"No fucking planning, not anymore, time to act," Grimmjow growled. "You comin', Red?"
Renji nodded. "I can follow his reiatsu to wherever they have him."
Just then, the door opened and Kon came running into the shoten. "You have to help him!" he said, leaping up on the table.
"Kon! You got away!" Isshin said, glad to see that the mod soul had been able to escape the place.
"Yeah, but Ichigo is still there, and that man is going to do something to him!" Kon looked around the table.
"Don't worry, Renji and Grimmjow are going after him now," Isshin said. "They'll get him out."
"But not before that guy comes back!"
"What guy?" Renji frowned.
"The guy! He wanted me to get undressed and I didn't know what to do!" Kon would probably have been crying if he had the ability in the stuffed animal body.
"We have to get there, as soon as we can," Renji said, looking at Grimmjow. "Let's go get him."
Renji and Grimmjow both took off, Renji leading the way as he followed his sensation of Ichigo's reiatsu. He was glad that he wasn't able to hide it very well, because before long they came to a very nice estate style house.
"There," Renji said, pointing to one of the windows. "That's where it's the strongest."
"Then let's go," Grimmjow growled out.
They entered the house without a problem, coming to a door where there stood a man outside it. Renji could feel that Ichigo must have been inside the room. They had to alter the memory of the guy that Kon had been talking about, though. Otherwise, Ichigo being missing wouldn't do much good. They got into the room and found it was a bedroom. Immediately, they heard breathing and saw Ichigo was piled in the center of the bed, his clothes strewn about the floor beside the bed.
"Ichigo!" Renji said as he came over to the bed.
"What?" Ichigo said, sitting up. "Renji! Grimmjow! What are you doing here?"
"What happened?" Renji noticed immediately that one of his arms was wrapped up and he was cradling it against his body.
"Uesato was angry, I just couldn't be still. I didn't want it!" Ichigo said, tears springing to his eyes. "I usually pretend to want to be here so he doesn't get violent, but this time I just couldn't. I was thinking of you two, and I just…" he trailed off and wiped his eyes with his other hand. "I'm fuzzy. He drugs me when I'm here, so it doesn't hurt too much."
"We're gonna get you out of here." Grimmjow was sure of that.
"Alright, I guess having a plan might have helped," Renji muttered. "In any case, come on. I'll use the kikanshinki on the guy at the door. Then we need to find this Uesato."
"Wait, the guy on the door can't see you anyway, I can get Uesato to come here," Ichigo said, sitting up and wincing at the pain in his arm.
"Here," Renji said, reaching down and grabbing his clothes off the floor.
Ichigo scooted to the side of the bed carefully, taking the clothes from Renji as he did so. Renji helped him get back in his clothes since he was having trouble with his arm being useless as it was. Once they got him dressed, he got up and went to the door. He rapped on it with his good hand and it opened slightly.
"What do you want?" the gruff voice answered.
"I want to see Uesato-sama. Can you ask him here?" he asked, wobbling a little since he was unsteady. Renji stood beside him and held him up, though.
The man at the door snorted. "Go back. I'll call him."
Ichigo turned, nearly falling again. He managed to get back to the bed without falling over, but only because of Renji's help. He sighed as he sat down, arm cradled against his chest still.
"You've been here before with this guy?" Grimmjow asked.
"A few times. He's the Yakuza guy for Karakura Town. Tadasu would borrow money from him when he gambled too much. I guess he got in trouble again, so they came to get me. I'm surprised after I left that he would tell them to come get me. I think he assumed I'd be gone, so they'd go after my family. If I leave, though, what's going to happen?" Ichigo was more worried about his sisters than himself, of course.
"Honestly, I don't know what memory will replace their memories," Renji sighed. "It could be something incredibly simple like he decided to let you go, or it could be complicated and him remember someone came and got you. All I know is that it will erase what he knows about us coming to get you."
Ichigo sighed deeply. "Then this may still affect my family."
"It could. But we'll deal with that when it happens. I hear someone coming," Renji stood up and looked as the door opened.
Uesato came in, narrowing his eyes at Ichigo. "Why have you dressed? I didn't tell you to dress."
Uesato shut the door and came over to the bed, not seeing either Grimmjow or Renji standing there. As he got there, Renji used the kikanshinki on him, making him pass out, falling to the floor in a heap.
"There, now we just have to get you out of here," Renji reached over to help him step over Uesato's body.
Ichigo stumbled a bit, but Grimmjow came up on the other side of him and helped keep him steady as they got to the door. He knocked again, and when the door opened, Renji used the kikanshinki on the guy. He fell to the floor rather noisily, so they all hoped no one had heard that. They navigated the place and made it out the door.
"This is going to take a while," Grimmjow said, looking around as they walked down the side of the road leaving the house behind them.
Renji sighed. "We'll flash step back with him," he said, scooping Ichigo up suddenly.
"What if we're seen?" Ichigo gasped, not expecting to be picked up.
"It'll be fine; it's too fast for humans to see anyway," Renji said, taking off and letting Grimmjow catch up to him.
Moments later, they arrived at the Shoten, finding Urahara and Isshin waiting for them outside. Renji dropped down and nodded to them. Isshin came up and frowned at Ichigo.
"Do you need Orihime?" he asked, noting the rising bruises on his face.
Ichigo was wondering when Renji was planning on putting him down. His arm was broke, not his legs. Then again, he kind of liked being so close to him, so he didn't say anything.
"Yeah, probably," Renji answered for him. "He's got a broken arm."
"I'll summon her," Urahara said, turning to go back inside again.
Renji followed him into the shoten, with Grimmjow and Isshin right behind him. He finally sat Ichigo down at the tea table in the back. Immediately, Kon came running up to him.
"Ichigo! You alright? Did that guy hurt you? Look at your face!" he said.
Ichigo sighed, patting Kon on the head with his good arm, still cradling the one against his body. "I'm fine. I've had worse."
"Well, I know that; remember, I was in your body!" Kon exclaimed.
"Yeah, I know, Kon, I know."
"Why did you come there anyway? Why didn't you just wait until they figured out what to do?" Kon demanded, stamping one fuzzy foot.
"Because I couldn't let you endure what I knew was coming. You would have gotten hurt worse when you pissed Uesato off more for acting wrong," Ichigo sighed.
Kon grabbed Ichigo and continued to berate him for coming when he did until Orihime got to the shoten.
"Kurosaki-kun! What happened?" she said as she came into the tearoom.
Ichigo looked up, pushing Kon away. "Nothing important. I just…" he sighed.
"Nothing important?" Renji said, just coming into the room. "What the hell, Ichigo?"
"She doesn't need to know what happened," he said, shifting uncomfortably.
Orihime turned to Renji. "I don't understand what's going on."
"You remember that guy that Ichigo was involved with? Tadasu?" Renji said, staring at Ichigo while he spoke.
"Yeah, you took him away, and Kon was here the last I knew," she looked at Ichigo, too.
"Well, the bastard owed money to a Yakuza bastard. And he came after Ichigo to get his 'payment' out of him instead of Tadasu. We came back when we heard that Kon had been kidnapped. Ichigo, because he's an idiot, went off and took Kon's place before we could decide what to do, and the guy ended up hurting him." Renji crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him.
Ichigo looked away, embarrassed that they were telling Orihime as much as they were. "Well, we still have no idea what memory he's gonna have when he wakes up," he said, trying to change the subject a little bit.
"Memory?" Orihime said, frowning at him.
"We used the kikanshinki on a couple people. We won't know the consequences until they make another move," Renji explained.
Orihime went over and examined Ichigo's arm. She threw her shield over him, and he was glad because it hurt more as the drugs were beginning to wear off. He was worried though, even as she healed his arm. What was going to happen when Uesato woke up?
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
"Uesato-sama? Sir?"
Uesato sat up and found himself on the floor in the bedroom he'd put his chained dragon in. But he was gone, and he was trying to remember why he was gone. He seemed to remember someone coming and walking out with him. The figure was vague in his memory, but he allowed it because he was hurt and needed medical attention. Why would he do that, though? He got to his feet and looked at his man standing there.
"What do you remember?" he asked, brushing himself off.
"You sent the Kurosaki boy away," his man answered.
Uesato wasn't sure what was going on, because he didn't really remember the details of what happened. He did remember doing just that. The why was bothering him, though. He'd obviously made the decision to send him away, but the reasoning just was not there. He had been calling in Tadasu's latest debt. Perhaps using Tadasu's boyfriend wasn't the best way to get his money back. After all, what did it get him? Nothing but a few moments of pleasure.
"I think Tadusu needs to pay his own debts from now on," he said. "But the chained dragon is mine, either way. Send someone to his father's house. Bring him, or someone else, back. And bring Tadasu in."
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Yuzu and Karin were both home when the knocking came on the door. Their father and Ichigo hadn't returned yet. Karin glanced at Yuzu and got up.
"Are you sure you should answer it?" Yuzu asked, nervously.
"What else am I supposed to do? It might be important," Karin went to the living room and opened the door to find two men in suits standing there.
"Is Ichigo Kurosaki here?" one of them asked.
"No, he's not back yet. Who are you, and what do you want with my brother?" Karin asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
"You'll need to come with us, then," he said.
"Why would I do that?" she said, breath kicking up a notch. Were these the men that took her brother away earlier?
"Uesato-sama wants someone from Kurosaki's family to come to him. Now," he had a threatening air about him.
Karin was going to figure out what was happening, and if it took going with these guys, she'd do that. She couldn't let Yuzu get involved with this, so she'd go. She turned and shouted. "Tell pop that I've gone with these guys. I'm not sure when he'll be back."
She followed them to a car and got in. She saw Yuzu at the door as she got in the back. She waved at her but could read the concern on her face easily. Karin wasn't one to walk away from trouble, and if this had to do with her brother, she was going to figure it out. These men wanted Ichigo for some reason, and they were willing to come looking for him. She was sure this was something serious.
After a few minutes, they arrived at a nice house. She got out and followed the two men into the house. They led her to a sitting room. One left, and the other stayed standing inside the door. She looked around and paced a bit. She wasn't scared so much as nervous. Whatever this was, it involved Ichigo. She didn't have long to wait before the door opened to reveal another man in a suit. This one, though, looked like he was in charge.
"Well, well. So you are the chained dragon's sister."
"If you're talking about Ichigo, than yes," she narrowed her eyes and stared at him.
"I'm Uesato. Your brother has been my guest many times now. I'm sure he'll return once he's informed that you've been brought to me." He walked over to a shelf and rummaged through some bottles until he settled on one of them.
"Why? What do you want with my brother?" she demanded.
Uesato turned around and smiled. "It's less to do with him. He's collateral promised to me by dear Tadasu."
"Tadasu?" she echoed. "His boyfriend?"
There was the sound of a door opening and closing outside the room. "Ah, that will be him. They'll show him into this room."
A second later, the door opened and Tadasu was shoved into the room roughly by a man. Karin glared at him because he looked different. She could see tattoos on him already that hadn't been there before, and he was wearing jeans and a t-shirt.
"Fuck you!" he growled as he got his balance again, then he looked around the room, spotting Uesato and then Karin. "Uesato-sama, I thought our usual arrangement was enough for you. I didn't expect them to come get me like this," he said, eyes lingering on Karin.
"I've decided that I want money more than your boyfriend. I'm tired of you taking advantage of the situation to get more money in exchanged for Kurosaki's time. I believe you borrow with no conscious thought of how to pay the money back, and I've decided that it should not continue," Uesato sighed, turning around.
"What? You said that the arrangement was fine the way it was!" Tadasu was obviously put off by what he was hearing.
"Fucking your boyfriend is nice, but like I said, you have no consequences in this scenario," Uesato said.
Karin's eyes went wide. "What did you do?" she glared at Tadasu. "What's he talking about?"
"None of your business!" Tadasu snapped.
"It is my business, because I'm here!" she returned.
"Ah, the chained dragon's sister is feisty. I'm impressed since he's so subservient." Uesato poured himself a drink from one of the bottles on the wall.
"My brother isn't 'subservient' to anyone!" she exclaimed.
Uesato turned to Karin and grinned. "You don't know him very well."
"What did you do to Ichigo?" Karin nearly yelled as she turned on Tadasu. "What happened to you? You were so nice when you started dating Ichigo! Then you took him away, and we never saw him anymore, and he never called. You're the reason he did that, aren't you?"
"I was never nice." Tadasu crossed his arms and rolled his eyes. "Everything I did had one purpose, and that purpose was to make sure Ichigo never left me."
"So, it was all fake?" Karin couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Everything at the beginning when you came to our house and met us, it was nothing but an act." It wasn't a question, so much as a statement of what she knew was true now. "Why?"
"Because he was mine!" he snapped at her. "Ichigo was mine and no one else was going to come between us!"
"But he left you," Uesato said. "He'd gone back home again. What did you do to finally force him to leave you?"
Tadasu snorted. "It wasn't something I did. These assholes from his past came back into his life."
"Ah, so he realized that he deserved to be treated better, did he?" Uesato smirked.
"Who came back?" Karin frowned, not knowing what had happened.
"I don't know, some bitch with black hair," he growled.
"Rukia?" Karin muttered to herself. "I wonder if the others came back too…"
Karin hadn't seen Rukia or Renji in so long that she had wondered if they had completely abandoned Ichigo. Of course, she hadn't seen Ichigo much in the last couple years either since Tadasu came into his life. Now, though, the pieces were starting to fit together about why things have been the way they were. She crossed her arms angrily.
"Anyone is better than you!" she said, glaring at Tadasu.
"It doesn't matter," Uesato said, setting down a glass of something. "Tell me, how are you going to repay me your debts now that the currency of your boyfriend's ass is off the table?" He looked at Tadasu.
"Look, I can get you some, but I don't have it all," Tadasu seemed to have realized that he was in a tight spot now.
"Well, maybe we can work out something," Uesato said, glancing over at Karin.
"Then let me go if you're going to get your money from him," Karin spat.
"Oh, I can't do that. You're going to be my guest until Tadasu pays his debt off, no matter how long it takes," he said, gesturing to the bodyguard at the door. "Take her to a room. Make sure she's comfortable. She'll be here a while, I feel."
The bodyguard came forward and grabbed her by the arm and pulled her out of the room. Behind her, she could hear Tadasu pleading with Uesato to let him go so he could try and earn back the money. Karin growled as she was tossed into a bedroom. She sighed, looking around. It was at least a nice bedroom, she supposed. She sat down on the bed and wondered what was going to happen once Ichigo and his friends found out she'd been kidnapped by Uesato.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
"What?" Isshin said into the phone. "She what?"
Ichigo looked up as his father's voice grew in volume. Orihime had arrived and was healing his arm as he sat there. Kon was sitting by his arm and both Renji and Grimmjow stood to the side, their faces still twisted in anger.
"Alright, call me here if you hear from her," Isshin said, sighing and hanging up the phone. He glanced around. "They've taken Karin."
Ichigo gasped. "Karin! We have to go back and get her!"
"Well, you're not sacrificing yourself, no matter what you're thinking," Renji growled at him.
"It seems that the memory replacement was only semi-successful. Tadasu still has debts to be called in, and Ichigo is still connected to that." Urahara stood up and disappeared into the back.
"What are you going to do, Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime asked, frowning as she called back her fairies, Ichigo's arm healed.
"I have to go back," he said, rubbing his arm where it had been broken. "I can't leave Karin there."
"How are you planning on getting her back?" Renji narrowed his eyes at him.
"I don't know! But we have to do something!" Ichigo said. "She's my sister, and if they make her go through the same thing…I'd never forgive myself."
"We're dealing with the Yakuza, so going to the police is out of the question. That will lead to backlash from the larger group in Tokyo if we're not careful," Isshin said thoughtfully. "So, we have to deal with ourselves."
"We go in and bring her out, beating the shit out of everyone in there to teach them to leave Ichigo and his family alone," Grimmjow said, looking at Renji.
"I've gotta agree with Grimmjow on this one. People like this only listen to one thing," Renji nodded in agreement.
Isshin was silent for a few moments, then he looked around as if realizing that Urahara was gone. "Where did Kisuke go?" he said, frowning.
"I'm here!" they heard from the back. "I was working already on a Gigai for Grimmjow-san, so I just had a few finishing touches to place on it," he said, coming out with a Gigai. "It should be good enough for a short time since it was quickly put together."
"So, I just lay down in this?" he said, merging his spirit form with the Gigai.
Renji went to the back and got his own Gigai and came out. "We just have to make a point."
Grimmjow was standing, putting a hand over the place where his hollow hole should have been. "Weird," he said, reaching up and rubbing his face without the bone fragment on it.
"I have to do this," Ichigo said, standing up and looking between Grimmjow and Renji. "I have to save Karin."
"Then let's do this!" Grimmjow said as he swung his arms around, getting used to the feeling of having a Gigai.