A/N: it's been two years since i've last written for iris, but it's still going strong.


There was a breathless moment as Ichigo stared at his phone. "Fuck," Ichigo swore, "I don't have time for this." Ichigo forwarded the text to the others. They would keep an eye out for Chad, but Karin was his priority now.

"Ichigo?" Rukia asked.

"Karin is sick and left the house," Ichigo said.

He started pacing. Chad was in trouble, but so was his sister. It was Ichigo's job to look after his sisters. But- finding Chad, and dealing with the hollow, was important too. Especially with Yuichi in the line of fire too.

"Fuck it all. I can find both of them, and send Tatsuki after Karin while I go after Chad." Ichigo muttered. He stopped pacing and closed his eyes.

Ichigo focused and extended his spiritual sense out. He had the largest range of spiritual sense out of everyone he knew with the ability. Because Ichigo's spiritual energy leaked everywhere. He ignored it mostly out of habit, and sometimes self defense, because Ichigo could spread his awareness through that leaked energy. It was different than regular sight, because it added an extra dimension. Ichigo's brain interpreted the awareness as a 3D map in his head. He rarely used it because it required a lot of concentration and control. And the people that Ichigo felt the need to keep an eye on kept in touch through regular means.

That didn't mean that Mom, Uryu, and Uncle Ryuken didn't make sure that Ichigo could use it. No matter how tiresome it was to use.

And so, fueled by determination, Ichigo had more control than he'd normally have. And so, Ichigo sensed.

There.

Ichigo found Karin, easily, and her location as well. It was a matter of seconds to send her location to Tatsuki.

Now- Ichigo could feel Chad, distantly. He had made sure to memorize Chad's spiritual presence the moment Ichigo decided to keep him around. But it was Yuichi that Ichigo found first. The same spiritual energy that attracted hollows to wandering souls helped Ichigo find him now. And where Yuichi was, Chad would be.

Ichigo reached out and grabbed- Ichigo opened his eyes. Yes, there it was. His hand was clenched around the delicate white ribbon. Uryu could tease spiritual ribbons out of the air without trying. Ichigo had to try a little harder.

"Found you!" Ichigo grinned.

He tugged gently and the ribbon started waving in the wind. With the ribbon in his fist, he let the rest of his spiritual sense fade. Now he could focus only on getting to Chad. The ribbon started to float off into the distance.

"That was-" Rukia said, startled. Ichigo didn't have the time to pay attention to her.

"Let's go!" Ichigo said and started sprinting. Rukia cursed at him but he could hear her running after him. With the spirit ribbon, it didn't take Ichigo long to find Chad. There he was, jogging and carrying Yuichi's cage in one hand.

"Oi!" Ichigo yelled.

Chad turned to look at Ichigo and Rukia. And then he turned right back around and started sprinting.

"Oh, fuck you!" Ichigo shouted after him. He sprinted after Chad. Unfortunately, Chad was faster than Ichigo. It took everything Ichigo had just to keep in sight. Fuck it all, but Ichigo sometimes forgot how strong Chad was.

"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled from behind him.

"What?" Ichigo said irritably. He glanced behind him to see-

Karin.

Ichigo stopped immediately. Karin stood there wobbly. Her face was flushed and her eyes were half-lidded. It looked like it took all of her willpower just to stay standing. Rukia fretted next to her, worried.

How the hell did Karin even find him like this?

"Karin!" Ichigo said. He ran up to her and barely refrained from patting her down to see if she had any other injuries. "What are you doin-"

"Ichi-nii," Karin whispered. And then, horrifyingly, she burst into tears.

"Hey, hey," Ichigo said soothingly. He picked Karin up and held her to his chest. She was still small enough to do that. Karin curled into him and her hands clenched his shirt.

"Ichigo, take her back," Rukia ordered, "I'll go after Chad."

"You sure?" Ichigo asked. Rukia wasn't the fastest. He was amazed that she kept up as well as she did.

"Yes. If she stays, you won't focus on Yuichi or the hollow." Rukia said.

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed. His sisters were the most important people to him. Ichigo handed Rukia the first aid kid, careful to keep Karin steady. "Good luck," he said. Rukia would need it.

"You as well," Rukia said. She nodded at him and then took off after Chad.

"Okay. Let's get you home," Ichigo said. He pressed a kiss to Karin's forehead.

Karin was crying. She hadn't cried since Mom's funeral. Ichigo knew that was her way of trying to help her family, but it still broke his heart. Karin used to be an even worse crybaby than Ichigo. That said something, since Ichigo remembered how much he would cry when he was small.

Something terrible must have happened to make Karin cry. What, though, Ichigo didn't know. He didn't feel like asking at the moment. Not when keeping Karin comfortable was more important.

"Ichi-nii," Karin whispered. Her cheeks were wet from the tears. Her eyes were still wet, but at least she wasn't actively crying anymore.

"Hey," Ichigo said, smiling down at her. "How are you doing?"

"Ichi-nii, Yuichi, he needs to move on," Karin mumbled, "he can't be alone anymore. He needs to be with his mom."

"What?" Ichigo asked, startled. He almost stopped walking but kept going.

"Yuichi. He watched his mom get murdered in front of him," Karin said. She closed her eyes as a fresh wave of tears ran down her cheeks. It was starting to stain Ichigo's shirt now. "He's so lonely, Ichi-nii. He can't be here anymore. He needs his mom."

Well. That explained why Karin was crying. Ichigo didn't cry, but his chest was tight and his throat burned. So, maybe he was crying. It didn't explain how Karin knew, but that could come later.

"Okay," Ichigo said softly. He sent off a text to Yuzu. 'Found Karin. Bringing her home.' Yuzu would get home faster and would take care of Karin.

"Ichi-nii, you have to help him," Karin said. He looked up at him through her tears. "Please."

"Okay," Ichigo said. He smiled at Karin, though it probably looked awkward. "I promise, yeah? I'll help Yuichi move on."

"Okay," Karin agreed. She closed her eyes and curled in closer to Ichigo's chest.

"Onii-chan? Karin-chan?" Yuzu said when they reached the house. If she wasn't worried before, she was now. And surprised, too, considering that Karin currently looked terrible.

"Here," Ichigo said. He went inside and put Karin on the couch. He grabbed one of their throw blankets and wrapped Karin up. "Look after her, Yuzu. I have to go find an idiot."

"Be safe, Onii-chan," Yuzu said. She had already grabbed a clean washcloth and started wiping Karin's face.

"Ichi-nii," Karin whispered.

"I'm off. I'll see you guys later." Ichigo said. He rubbed Yuzu and Karin's hair. It was to comfort him as much as it was to comfort them. Then Ichigo turned on his heel and left. He still had Yuichi's and Chad's spirit ribbon in hand, so it was just a matter of getting there.

If Ichigo still felt like killing something after seeing his little sister cry? Then, well, it was his prerogative as Karin's older brother to do so. Ichigo made sure to send texts to the others that Karin as back home and safe.

He found Rukia first. A hollow was chasing her down, which explained why she was running away from Chad and Yuichi. Rukia stopped running when she saw him. He waved at her and turned his attention to the hollow.

Well. Ichigo did feel like killing something. A hollow was awfully handy to have around.

"Are you giving up?" the hollow asked. Ichigo smirked when he realized that the hollow had no idea that he was there.

"No," Rukia said. She mirrored Ichigo's smirk. "There's just no reason for me to run anymore."

Ichigo took that as his cue. He picked up a rock and threw it at the hollow's head. It bounced off. "Hey. Nice to meet you. You willing to trade opponents?"

"You!" the hollow shrieked. It sounded offended that he hit it with a rock. Well, tough luck, Ichigo was going to do more than that.

"Me," Ichigo agreed. Around his fury he was completely amused at its reaction.

Ichigo saw Rukia pull on the glove that allowed him to leave his body. He prepared to move out of the way if the hollow attacked suddenly. It was a flying hollow, so it was more agile than others. Well, at least there would be something like a challenge.

"Fine. If you want to be my opponent, then you can be my opponent! Prepare to be eaten!" the hollow shrieked.

"Ichigo," Rukia said. She ran at him with the glove.

It was all the warning Ichigo needed. He kneeled on the ground as Rukia smacked the glove against his forehead. Ichigo felt the disconnect between his spirit and his body. He felt his spirit being flung backwards with the force of Rukia's hit. It was those hours of practice over the week that Rukia put him through that made it instinct to do a backwards tumble to land on his feet.

The zanpakuto still felt awkward along his back, but its weight was comfortable to him now. Ichigo pulled it up and around, and settled into the most basic of stances. He was still hilariously bad at zanjutsu, but even a week's worth of practice was better than he had before.

Well, It was time to check whether or not Ichigo would fight more easily. He forgot his bow again, so the zanpakuto was all that he had.

"The hollow, Shrieker, has parasites. They can either explode upon contact, or release leeches that explode on command," Rukia told Ichigo. She moved his body to the side, where it was less likely to be hurt.

"Explosives, huh?" Ichigo asked. He grinned. "I'm used to explosives. This will be easy."

Ichigo leapt forward and brought the zanpakuto around in a large arc. It made the hollow move backwards, which was what he wanted. Ichigo could deal with explosives, but the further away they were from his body, the better. Rukia could dodge, his body could not.

The hollow tried to spit those lizard-explosives at Ichigo. The zanpakuto was large enough that it was simple to make them explode at a distance. He managed to knock some of them back towards the hollow before they blew up. Huh. Might be a useful trick to remember.

"Did you kill Yuichi's parents?" Ichigo asked. He dodged more explosives as he spoke, and parried others. It felt easier to speak like this even when doing insane physical maneuvers in his spirit form.

Besides, Ichigo was too used to his bows blowing up in his face for these paltry explosives to worry him. Ichigo tried to keep them away from the ground though. His body was there, but also hollows could affect the living world. Ichigo didn't want to fix bomb holes. There was already enough trouble without the authorities thinking they had terrorists around.

And then the hollow started to monologue. Before, Ichigo had been certain that villains monologuing was actually a trope of fiction. Didn't the hollow know that Ichigo talked at opponents to throw them off balance? But here the hollow was, talking at Ichigo like he gave a shit.

Well.

It turned out that the hollow didn't just kill Yuichi's parents. The hollow was a serial killer before he died- and Yuichi was the one that did him in. Ichigo frankly didn't care, other than that Yuichi was the one to do so. He'd died trying to save his mother.

The hollow then shoved Yuichi's soul into the cockatiel. The hollow promised that if Yuichi could run away from him for three months, then he would bring Yuichi's mother back to life.

'That explains why Yuichi said it was a game of tag,' Ichigo thought.

The hollow kept talking after that. Ichigo stopped listening. Actually, he didn't think much of anything. There was a roaring in his ears as Ichigo was lost to the sheer fury he felt towards the hollow. It was like Ichigo wasn't entirely in control of his body, but that wasn't quite right. Ichigo was completely aware of what he was doing, there was just a distance between him and his actions.

It was after Ichigo finished cutting the hollow into little pieces that he finally noticed Chad. Chad stood over Ichigo's body with the first aid kit in hand, and Yuichi's cage in the other. He was also… staring at Ichigo? Wait- no, that wasn't possible. Besides, Chad's gaze wasn't as focused as it would be if he were looking at Ichigo. Chad was looking in his general area, but not at him. Chad didn't have spiritual energy.

Before Ichigo could open his mouth to talk to Rukia, Ichigo was slammed by an overwhelming presence. Ichigo turned and saw a massive gate materialize in the air above him. Each door was adorned by large skeletons wrapped in gray cloth. There were chains everywhere, both holding the skeletons to the gate, and the gate itself shut.

"What-" Ichigo started. He swallowed, mouth dry.

"Those are the Gates of Hell," Rukia said grimly. She stared intently at them.

"What?" Ichigo and Chad said. Chad was sweating, and not just because of what happened. Chad stared at the Gates too.

"A zanpakuto can only purify hollows that commit sins after death," Rukia explained, "It can do nothing about the sins committed during life. And a soul that commits such disgusting acts in life are sent to Hell."

Ichigo could think about Hell existing in the first place later. The Gates opened and Ichigo couldn't help but shiver. The power rolling out of the Gates was intense.

The hollow appeared then, shrunken in on itself. Before Ichigo could figure that out- the hollow had dissolved in particles- the skeleton moved. The extended their bony arms, swords clenched in each hand. And then those same swords were stabbed through the hollow. They then threw the hollow inside the Gates before the doors slammed resolutely shut, the sound resonating through the sky. As the ringing faded, so did the Gates.

The overwhelming presence disappeared. Ichigo sighed in relief.

"Ichigo!" Uryu shouted. Tatsuki and Inoue were with him. Uryu must have felt Ichigo fighting to lead the others here more accurately. "I saw the Gates. What happened?"

"I killed a disgusting bastard is what I did," Ichigo snarled. He paused, aware that Uryu didn't need him snarling. He took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair. He placed the zanpakuto on his back, and paid close attention to the sensation of it settling as distraction. "The hollow was a serial killer before he died. Turns out, that means you go to Hell."

"Hell exists?" Tatsuki asked.

Ichigo, Uryu, and Rukia all turned to stare at her. Inoue just nodded.

"You can hear me?" Ichigo asked incredulously. He looked at Chad, who was still staring in his general direction. "I thought Chad was looking at me too."

"Um," Tatsuki said. She glanced between Uryu and Rukia. "Sorry?"

Ichigo sighed. Of all the times for Tatsuki to act meek. Not that he could blame her. "Tatsuki. Yes or no. Can you hear me?"

"Yes?" Tatsuki offered after a long moment. She tilted her head the way she did whenever she tried to hear something. "It's like hearing you through a really bad radio. That's out of sync. If this was a video game, I'd say that I have some serious lag."

"…That's new," Uryu managed.

"…Before we discuss these new revelations," Rukia said, "Can we please deal with our wayward spirit?"

"Me?" Yuichi asked. The poor kid had been silent during the hollow's rant.

"Yeah, you," Ichigo said. He was still furious on Yuichi's behalf, but he could deal with that later. Especially since the hollow was in Hell now. Which existed.

"The hollow is the one that placed you in the bird," Rukia said gently. She held out the hand with the glove. "I can take you back out."

Yuichi hesitated. He glanced at Chad and nodded. "That would be nice."

"Okay," Rukia said.

She placed her finger against the crest of the cockatiel's head. She poked firmly and then Yuichi was ejected from the bird's body, and landed on his backside. The cockatiel chirped in obvious confusion. It settled down when Chad put it back in the cage.

Yuichi picked himself up, and looked down at himself. "Oh," Yuichi said, "I remember. I died when I fell off the balcony."

There was a pause as everyone registered that. It was one thing to know that this kid was dead. It was another to realize exactly what that meant. Ichigo bit his lip and very determinedly did not react.

"Your Chain of Fate is severed," Rukia said simply, "and you should move on to Soul Society. It is a nice place, and a lot better than the World of the Living. You will never go hungry there."

That sounded vaguely like an advertisement. Rukia was using her sugary voice, too, which Ichigo still round creepy. Either she was lying through her teeth or was taught to say this to wayward souls. He wouldn't be surprised by the latter, especially if they really did have an Academy.

Ichigo sighed and knelt in front of Yuichi. "If your mother isn't here, then is't likely that she's over there," he said, "and if you move on, you'll have a much better chance at meeting her than if you stayed here."

Yuichi paused as he thought it over. "Okay. I don't mind going."

Ichigo pulled the zanpakuto off of his back. "Look here. The blade is what purifies hollows. But the hilt has a special seal that takes spirits to Soul Society," Ichigo told him, "I just have to press the hilt against your forehead and you're off."

"Cool," Yuichi said, eyes shiny as he stared at the sword. Then he glanced at Chad, almost shyly. "Um. Can I-?"

Ichigo smiled. The kid really was cute. "Yeah. Hold on, I can help with this too," he said. He placed his hand on Yuichi's shoulder. It was easy to make him visible to Chad. Ichigo had a lot of practice with Naomi. "Go ahead. You don't have to leave right now."

"Thanks, Ichigo-nee-chan!" Yuichi said and then ran to Chad. "Onii-chan!"

"…Yuichi," Chad said. He looked completely startled, and glanced between Ichigo and Yuichi. Then Chad knelt down so that he was closer to Yuichi's height.

"Thank you, Onii-chan," Yuichi said. He hesitated, and then threw himself onto Chad, hugging him tightly. Ichigo laughed at Ichigo's surprised expression before Chad wrapped Yuichi into a hug.

"Not a problem," Chad promised when they finally let go of each other. "The next time we meet, I can carry you around again."

Yuichi beamed. Yup, absolutely adorable. "Of course, Onii-chan!"

"Ready to go?" Ichigo asked when Yuichi walked back to him.

Yuichi nodded. "Yes, please."

"Okay, here we go," Ichigo said. He pressed the hilt of the zanpakuto against Yuichi's forehead.

Unlike the first Soul Burial that Ichigo had ever witnessed, this one was a lot more understated. The seal appeared briefly on Yuichi's forehead before his body faded and turned into a Hell Butterfly. The butterfly flapped its wings once, twice, and then it was gone.

"Goodbye," Chad said quietly.

Ichigo stood up and leveled Chad with a look. Although Ichigo was certain that Chad couldn't see him, Chad still looked up.

Ichigo sighed and glanced at Rukia and Uryu. "Make sure Chad doesn't fucking run away again. He's more injured than he was because of that stupid fucking hollow."

"Sado-san, Ichigo wishes us to tell you that you are returning to the clinic with us," Uryu said. Tactfully. Tatsuki snorted.

"I understand," Chad said. He looked aware that Uryu was giving him the very polite version of what Ichigo wanted.

"Good," Ichigo said. He walked to his body, which thankfully had remained out of the way during the fight. It didn't feel as odd to slip in and out of his body anymore. That was a positive thing, he supposed.

"Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked.

"I'm here," Ichigo said. He sat up and groaned as he stretched his arms. He was uninjured but he'd still feel sore in the morning. "And still pissed off, honestly."

"Understandable," Uryu said. Then he said, "So. Those were the Gates of Hell."

"Apparently," Ichigo said. He winced as he got to his feet. Yup, definitely sore tomorrow. "Ugh. They wanted nothing to do with me, but that spiritual energy was vicious."

"Yeah," Tatsuki agreed, "I couldn't see or hear anything, but. That heaviness in the air was intense."

Inoue nodded. She poked her pointer fingers together. "It didn't feel nice at all," she said.

"You all felt that?" Rukia asked. She frowned. "I have heard that spiritually strong beings affected humans enough that they started gaining their own spiritual awareness and abilities. It is why unseated officers like myself are sent to the World of the Living rather than our commanding officers…"

Ichigo shared a glance with Uryu and Tatsuki. Ichigo shook his head before Uryu started asking questions. Rukia tended to offer information absentmindedly but would clam up if asked directly about Soul Society. Ichigo was still trying to figure out what mood Rukia had to be in to answer questions.

"But why would everyone be getting their own abilities now?" Uryu asked instead. "Ichigo has always had terrible control over his spiritual energy."

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, "And Tatsuki has been around me since we were four. If she were going to gain her own spiritual power, she'd have gotten them a lot sooner than this."

"Maybe it is because Ichigo's power has changed," Rukia offered. She started walking back towards the clinic. They all followed her with nothing better to do. "Before, despite leaking spiritual energy constantly, it was a power that you were used to. Your bodies adapted, so to speak. But now that Ichigo's power has changed, the natural adaptation is not working as it did previously."

Uryu frowned. "That is a good working theory."

"It's the best we got," Ichigo said. He shrugged, aware of all of the holes that theory had. "I'm mostly interested in figuring out what kind of power you're all going to get, if it develops further. None of you are Quincy." Even if Tatsuki did have the training. Maybe she'd be able to use her bow like Ichigo did his?

"And you're the only shinigami, Kurosaki-kun," Inoue said. She smiled brightly. "I want to fly! With rockets! And throw missiles around!"

"I doubt you'll end up a giant robot, Orihime," Tatsuki pointed out. "It'd be cool if I ended up with giant boxing gloves, though," she mused.

"More like terrifying," Ichigo said, "though some sort of fighting aid seems likely."

"No," Rukia denied. She shook her head. "Spiritual power can be… surprising. My only basis of comparison are zanpakuto of other shinigami, but there are still a large amount of unique powers."

"Is that why you feel cold?" Ichigo asked. Snow and ice. That's what Rukia tended to feel like, even as weak as she currently was. Uryu nodded in agreement.

Rukia blinked at Ichigo in surprise. "Ah, yes. My zanpakuto is Sode no Shirayuki. She is an ice type zanpakuto. There are only two other ice types that I know of in Soul Society."

"You make zanpakuto sound like Pokemon," Inoue said cheerfully.

"…Your zanpakuto has a name?" Ichigo managed to ask.

Well, shit. Ichigo very carefully didn't think about the zanpakuto he was using as his own. Did that mean that Rukia's powers were coming back so slowly because of him? Did Ichigo having her zanpakuto mean that her spiritual energy wasn't coming back as quickly as it should?

"Of course," Rukia said proudly, "Not all shinigami learn their zanpakuto's name, though. So there is no need to worry about having to learn your own."

Ichigo let out a strangled sound. That was making it worse! He knew that people tended to name their weapons. Ichigo named his bow. Uryu named his bow. Named things gained an added boost both magically and spiritually. It just turned out that zanpakuto were actual people. At least, Ichigo figured- you generally didn't gender non-sentient things.

Sword-people. People in swords? Swords that become people? Because zanpakuto were previously called asauchi, if he remembered correctly. That implied they only gained sentience later. Zanpakuto held their wielder's power- maybe it was a loop effect?

"I believe that Ichigo is worried that, because you gave him your power, that his constant use of that zanpakuto is hindering the return of your spiritual energy," Uryu said.

Rukia frowned and shook her head. "No, that is not how it works. Sode no Shirayuki may be her own person, but we are the same being. Ichigo may be using the blade, but my zanpakuto remains with me. My spiritual energy and power will return as time passes."

Ichigo sighed in relief.

"Does this mean that Kurosaki-kun will get his own zanpakuto?" Inoue asked. "He currently has your power. Since he is a shinigami, that means he should get a zanpakuto too, right?"

"I don't know," Rukia admitted. She looked lost. Unseated officer, right. She did not know the entire workings of shinigami. "I do know that there have been substitute shinigami in the past. But it was a long time ago, before I became a shinigami. I do not know how it will work for you, Ichigo."

"Well, Ichigo has always flown by the seat of his pants. It's not entirely new," Tatsuki said. "It's not new to any of us, either. Cheer up, Rukia. We'll be fine."

Rukia smiled, amused. "I imagine so."

"Wait," Ichigo said, and stopped for a moment in the street. "Does this mean that we get to train you?" he asked at large. Ichigo grinned at the others vindictively. Uryu smiled as well when he realized where Ichigo was going with this.

Tatsuki smirked. "Duh. But don't think that we won't kick your asses."

"It'll be fine!" Inoue agreed cheerfully.

"I am looking forward to what may happen," Chad said.

"Oh, so am I," Uryu said, smirking. "So am I."


"Wow," Inoue said as she looked over the notebooks that were open on the kitchen table. "These are so cool!"

"Thank you," Uryu said as he placed a fresh copy of the ground plan of Ichigo's house on the table. It was already labeled, from areas that needed extra attention to the points that were cornerstones. Ichigo and Uryu knew exactly where to place the wards. "Since we have to redo everything from scratch, we may as well do it right."

It was another week since the revelation that Tatsuki, Inoue, and Chad were developing their own spiritual energy. Though surprising, it was something that they all took eagerly. None of them liked sitting out on the sidelines, regardless of how much they personally liked fighting.

"Why from scratch?" Inoue asked curiously, looking up from well-loved pages. And these were the newest ones, too. Their first notebooks had even worse handwriting and note-taking.

"Because, somehow, the wards were broken the night Rukia arrived. It's why the hollow was able to attack at all." Ichigo growled. He still didn't know how that happened, which terrified him. Uryu said that they anchors were shredded when he checked on them. They had even gone to see Uncle Ryuken about it, though he didn't tell them much.

Uryu said that Uncle Ryuken knew something about it. Not the how, maybe, but definitely the why. Uryu would have demanded answers, but said that he recognized the glint in Uncle Ryuken's eye- it was one that both Ishida got whenever they felt particularly vindictive about something. Uncle Ryuken probably wouldn't tell them anything, but he would take care of it.

"Oh," Inoue said, looking worried. "That's not good, is it?"

"No," Ichigo agreed, "Thankfully Uryu put up some temporary wards last week, and I added some extra ones after."

Uryu flipped through the notebooks he had, taking down notes as to which ones would be useful for their current goal. "They're not meant for long-term though, which is why we're doing this now. Not that I'd be happy without personalized ones." Uryu told them.

"Personalized?" Chad asked, looking up from his own notebook.

"There are ward bases for everything that can also work for anything, but having them designed specifically for a location makes them that much better." Tatsuki said, looking up from her own note-taking. This was the first time that she'd be involved in placing the wards. Before, she only helped with research. Ichigo was glad to have her.

"And it takes spiritual energy?" Inoue asked, finger tapping the edge of the table.

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed, "Which is why you're here."

"We have spiritual energy now, no matter that it's still developing," Tatsuki said, "Which means that hollows will be attracted to us now. We'll need our own wards."

"Well, you two will. Tatsuki's house is already covered with them," Ichigo said. He spent enough time at Tatsuki's house that it had been an incredibly smart idea.

"Like Rukia's kidō," Chad observed.

Uryu made a face that made Ichigo wish he had a camera, but Uryu noticeably didn't disagree. "I'm not entirely sure. Kidō seems to be focused on immediate physical responses. Wards are placed as long-term protection and concealment, and have the capability to evolve along with its inhabitants."

"Shinigami have been around long enough that they probably have an equivalent, but I have no idea what it'd be," Ichigo mused. "But Quincy and humans in general focus on anchors that hold the wards in place."

"Oh! Like ofuda!" Inoue said brightly.

"Exactly like," Uryu said, smiling at her. "That's actually where the basis for our own wards come from. Ichigo and I may be Quincy, but we do live in Japan. If done well, combinations of different paths work better in tandem."

"Cool," Chad said. "How do you personalize them?"

"Well, we start by deciding what we want in the first place," Uryu said, and twirled his pen, motioning with his free hand to the notes he had taken. "It's why we pulled our notebooks from the last time we did this. Starting from scratch doesn't mean that we start from nothing."

"What do we want?" Inoue asked. "I mean, I'm sure that you already know what you're doing. But what about Sado-kun and I?"

"That's why we're here," Uryu said. Ichigo nodded in agreement. "You don't have to do this alone. No one should ever need to."

"Mom taught Tatsuki and I, and Uryu had his parents teach him," Ichigo added. "We're the ones teaching Yuzu and Karin now that they're old enough."

In fact, they were currently putting together the ward for their room, which would be integrated into the whole. It was a test that Ichigo and Uryu were putting them through. They'd check it over before they placed everything to see how they understood it all.

"Families and Clans are a big thing," Tatsuki said, "You think you understand what that means, but when you have spiritual energy and traditions to uphold, it's much more intense."

"Ah," Chad said, sounding as if he realized something. "Does this mean that you shouldn't be teaching us?"

"Well, if we were being very traditional, no, we wouldn't," Uryu said. And the Ishida family was a bit more traditional than the Kurosaki. Uryu was more aware of what rules they were breaking than Ichigo.

"But we're us, so," Ichigo shrugged. Inoue and Chad thought it over and then nodded as if that answered all of their questions. To be fair, it did, especially with how well they knew Ichigo and what he considered trouble. Besides, Inoue and Chad were family. Ichigo would be more upset at leaving them ignorant than teaching them.

"Is that why Kuchiki-san isn't here today?" Inoue asked. It was a good question, since Rukia was slowly integrating herself into the group. She was never too far from Ichigo, especially with her glove on hand. In fact, it had been several days since they weren't in the same building.

"No," Ichigo denied. He paused. "Well, yes. But Rukia had some other errands to run today. We told her that we'll be discussing Clan stuff, so she said she'll come back around dinner time."

"Not that it's all Quincy stuff," Tatsuki said. "Yes, we'll be talking about it. But there's also the stuff that anyone can learn if they went looking."

"Like ofuda?" Inoue asked again.

"Yeah," Ichigo agreed.

"Getting back to the point," Uryu said amusedly. "We've all been to your apartments enough times that Ichigo and I have the general layout of where your own anchors should go, but we'll need to double check."

"We'll be the ones doing most of the work this time," Ichigo said. "At least the planning stuff."

"You're here to start understanding what goes into long term wards by watching what we do" Uryu said. "And to start, we need the base, which is the simple ward that everything else will be added to."


Ichigo woke up and blinked blearily up at the ceiling. His alarm beeped loudly. And it was his alarm, not the apartment's, because he could see his poster hanging up out of the corner of his eye. Ichigo would have gotten up to stop it if Tatsuki wasn't pressed against his side like the annoying heat leach that she was.

Thankfully Uryu was there. He threw an arm out and hit the alarm. Ichigo was prepared to just go back to sleep, but Uryu sat up and put his glasses on.

"No," Ichigo said. "Sleep." He tried to push Uryu back down onto the bed with his free arm. It ended up more of a gentle push.

"Ichigo, Tatsuki. Get up," Uryu said. Tatsuki grumbled and pressed her face closer into Ichigo's shoulder.

There was giggling from the floor. "I knew Tatsuki-chan was adorable in the morning, but I didn't know that Kurosaki-kun and Ishida-kun were!" Inoue said cheerfully. Way too cheerfully. But Ichigo liked Inoue, so his rude hand gesture in her general direction was less rude than if it were Tatsuki or Uryu.

There was humming. A deep bass- well. It seemed that Chad was up, too. The humming was amused. Ichigo didn't have the energy to wave a different rude hand gesture in his direction.

"Get up," Uryu repeated. There was rustling, and a couple seconds later, the lights were on.

"No," Ichigo groaned and threw his arm over his eyes. Though he noticed that it was Inoue that turned on the lights. The traitor. Who knew that she could be so cruel?

"Too bad," Uryu said. He pulled the duvet from over Ichigo and Tatsuki. It wasn't cold, but it definitely wasn't as comfortable. "We've got school today."

"No," Tatsuki said shortly and turned over.

"Okay then," Uryu said. And then because Uryu was pure evil, he set the alarm off again. But he also placed a silencing ward as not to disturb the rest of the house; there was that slight muffling feeling that Ichigo got. Uryu was helpful like that. "I'll go help Yuzu-chan with breakfast."

"Oh! I'll help too," Inoue said.

"I will as well," Chad said. Ichigo could hear the promise not to let Inoue poison them, even as he heard Chad climb to his feet.

"I hate you," Ichigo mumbled, and grabbed his pillow to shove his head under.

Ichigo managed an impressive couple of minutes with his head buried under his pillow before the alarm got to him. Tatsuki, lucky her, was an incredibly heavy sleeper. Having her head both shoved into Ichigo's shoulder and under her pillow gave her enough insulation that she wasn't moving.

Ichigo sighed and sat up, managing to reach over to turn the alarm off. Like he expected, there was a small glowing ward placed on the side table. It faded as soon as the alarm was turned off.

Ichigo was tempted to climb back into bed. But Uryu, damn him, was right. They had school. And they had extra guests today, even if Inoue and Chad both thought how he and Tatsuki acted in the morning was amusing.

"Ichigo," Tatsuki said, voice muffled from under her pillow. She did get up easily, even if she didn't like to. "Why?"

"Because it's a school day, like Uryu said," Ichigo said. He took the pillow from her. Tatsuki covered her face with her hands. "We can complain at Uryu later."

"Fine," Tatsuki groaned, and slowly rolled out of bed. Her feet and then her knees hit the floor. "Don't wanna though."

"Neither do I," Ichigo said, and went to his closet to pull out his uniform. Yuzu had done laundry Saturday evening, so it was freshly clean.

"Ugh," Tatsuki said.

"I know," Ichigo agreed and threw one of Tatsuki's spare uniforms at her.

Karin was already downstairs when both Ichigo and Tatsuki got there. She was sleeping on the couch, snoring lightly, but she was dressed and ready to go. Ichigo smiled at the sight; Karin was probably too excited that Tatsuki spent the night to stay in her room.

"That smells good," Tatsuki said when they reached the kitchen. "Do you guys need any help?"

"No thank you, Tatsuki-nee-chan!" Yuzu said, looking up from her spot at the stove. Chad was setting the table, and Inoue was at the toaster with a pile of bread next to her. Rukia was dutifully buttering toast. Ichigo smelled eggs. A Western style breakfast, then.

Tatsuki went to wake up Karin when Yuzu declared breakfast done. Karin grumbled, but she was still too happy that her favorite person was in the building to put up much of a fight.

"So, Karin, how goes getting your co-ed team going?" Ichigo asked. It had been a couple of weeks, which was definitely enough time to change something. He'd be disappointed if nothing had.

Karin grinned viciously. "I've got it going! They're being rude and giving me all of the paperwork, but Sensei is being nice and making sure that it sticks. I'll be able to accept club and team members in a week or so."

"That's good. You got any people ready to go?" Tatsuki asked.

"Yeah. Six, right now. I'm going to be Captain, but I think I have a good spread for the other positions." Karin said.

Breakfast went on as usual. It was louder with everyone there, especially Dad, but Ichigo wouldn't trade it for the world. He loved his family, he really did. Karin was definitely more energetic with Tatsuki there, which made the trip to the Elementary school more entertaining. Especially with how all of the local thugs nearly ran away from their combined group.

"Don't be too mean to your teachers today," Ichigo told Yuzu and Karin.

"We won't," Yuzu promised. Ichigo eyed her for a long second before nodding. Plausible deniability, or whatever.

"See you later!" Yuzu and Karin called before heading inside.

"They grow up so fast," Tatsuki said, smiling fondly. "Didn't really notice before."

"We spend too much time with them, really," Uryu said.

"You sound like a bunch of old people," Ichigo snorted. Tatsuki punched him in the arm while Uryu glared at him. Inoue giggled at something she imagined. Probably about them being old people.

It was looking to be a good day.


"You look well rested, Ichigo-san," Mizuiro commented during lunch.

"I am well rested," Ichigo said.

And he was. He really, truly was. And it was amazing. If he was tired right now, it was because they had spent the entire day yesterday setting up the wards. Ichigo had been stressed and knew he had been stressed, but he just didn't realize how much until they had good, solid wards protecting them. Half the reason that Ichigo didn't want to get up this morning was because he could honestly say that that was the best sleep he had in weeks.

"That's good," Keigo said, and pointed his chopsticks at Ichigo. "You get really mean when you're stressed for that long."

"Mean?" Ichigo asked amusedly. Keigo was used to his casual and affectionate violence, and had a different standard of 'mean' than most others did.

"Not to us, no," Mizuiro said, "But the thugs that follow you around have definitely noticed."

"They have been bothering me less, lately," Ichigo mused. He hadn't noticed acting any differently than he normally did.

"So you fixed your wards?" Mizuiro asked curiously.

"Yeah, finally," Ichigo said. "In fact-"

"Ichigo," Rukia called, walking intently towards them from the entrance to the roof. "I've got something for you."

"Where've you been?" Ichigo asked, even as he held out a hand for Rukia to drop whatever it was she held.

"I was double checking that Soul Society registered that it was me who killed the hollow Shrieker instead of you," Rukia told him. "Thankfully, they did. And I bought this with the extra funds the bounty gave me."

"What is this?" Ichigo asked as he held up the item. Bounty? There were questions there. Like the fact that Rukia had said previously that she was unable to send messages home. Was it automated or something?

It was a small sphere, iridescent blue in color, with swirls of lighter turquoise. It looked like a marble, but it was smooth, almost unnaturally so, softer than any glass that Ichigo had ever felt before. And-

"Ichigo, that thing has spiritual energy," Uryu said, startled. He peered closer at it.

It did. Ichigo had to focus a little to feel it, but the sphere in his hand was warm with spiritual energy. It was dense, but it seemed that the glass-like shell was what masked the energy. In fact- "Does my spiritual energy mask it?" Ichigo asked. "I mean, more than it normally would."

Uryu frowned and reached forward to hover his hand over the marble. "Yes," he said after a moment.

"That is how it was designed," Rukia said.

"Designed?" Ichigo asked.

"Yes, this is soul candy," Rukia said, "Soul candy was developed as a tool for shinigami to use on the field. There are some spirits that are stubbornly attached to their bodies. Soul candy puts an artificial soul in that body, ejecting the spirit and allowing the Soul Burial to take place. It has the added benefit of allowing shinigami to fight hollows freely without worrying about damaging their gigai."

"Sounds useful," Inoue said.

"They are, yes," Rukia said. "Ichigo is still alive, so I thought that acquiring one for him would be the best course of action."

Ichigo blinked at Rukia, then at the soul candy, then at his knees. They were covered by his pants, but his legs were mottled with bruises. Bruises were typical for Ichigo due to his active lifestyle, but normally that lifestyle didn't include dropping to the ground every day or so. He couldn't catch himself if himself wasn't in his body.

"Thank you," Ichigo said as sincerely as possible. Because dammit, not having to go through as much bruise cream would be amazing.

"Try it," Rukia ordered. "You swallow it."

Ichigo frowned at her to let her know what he thought about that, but popped the pill into his mouth. He grimaced as he felt it, that disconnect he normally got when Rukia shoved her glove into his forehead, but instead it came from inside.

"That was one of the weirdest things I've ever felt in my life," Ichigo groaned.

"But it worked," Rukia said.

"Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked, staring between his body, and Ichigo. His standing body.

"Holy shit it worked," Ichigo said. He was standing, which was a nice change of being pushed out of his body. And his body was there, too.

"Hello," his body said. "Nice to meet you!"

"It sounds nothing like you," Tatsuki said. Well, Ichigo had no idea, since he never really listened to recordings of his voice. Though Ichigo could tell that his body wasn't affecting the deeper tones Ichigo used most often. She glanced over at Ichigo. "Ichigo, you're there, right?" Tatsuki heard spirits the best, though she was starting to see faint images of them as well.

"That's where I feel him," Inoue confirmed. She did end up with the most accurate sensing abilities of the three, though her visualization was still shaky. According to her, they all smelled a certain way. Ichigo didn't quite get it, but he rarely understood Inoue anyway.

"And that is where I see him," Chad finished. He had the best visual sense out of all of them. Chad had started with hazy, heat-like images, but could now see clearly, if incredibly faded. Apparently, being around Karin for some reason helped the most.

Karin did the best empathetic abilities, so Ichigo supposed it was some sort of feedback loop. He really honestly had no idea.

"Hello, my name is Kurosaki Ichigo! It's nice to meet you!" the soul candy greeted cheerfully. "What would you like me to do, Master?"

Everyone stared at it, in a vague sense of horror and incredulity, both at the tone of voice and the term of address. For what reason would anyone ever call Ichigo 'Master'? There, was, of course, the fact that this was 'Ichigo' that said it. Later, he might even find this as funny as the others did, once they realized that.

Still! "Yeah, no," Ichigo told it. They? Him? Her? What pronouns did an artificial soul have? "I'm not Master or anything like that. Call me Ichigo," he said.

The soul candy blinked. "Yes, Ichigo!"

"Do they have personalities?" Tatsuki asked Rukia. "If they're just meant to eject spirits from their bodies and keep a gigai out of the way, I mean."

"They do. Their personalities were programmed with several criteria chosen in mind. The one here was decided as the most pleasurable to be around," Rukia said.

"Programmed?" Inoue asked curiously. "You can program souls?"

"Artificial ones," Rukia said, "They are, of course, not true souls. It is why we are able to use them, and not worry about their being consumed by hollows."

Ichigo frowned. If it sounded, looked, and felt like a thing, was it truly that thing? It was a common ethical puzzle. Ichigo tended to the yes, it is side if only because it was better to assume so. Especially when there were people involved.

"All right then," Ichigo said, and turned to the soul. "What do we call you? I'm not just calling you 'soul candy' all the damn time."

"Ah-" the soul candy started, and stared hard at Ichigo. "I'm not- are you sure?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I wasn't," Ichigo said. That was a pretty interesting reaction, now, wasn't it? "Come up with something, or I'm gonna have to."

"You really don't want him to," Uryu said dryly. Ichigo glared at him but didn't refute it. He really wasn't the best at naming things.

"A cute nickname would work," Rukia suggested, "After all, this soul candy came from the second most popular set in Soul Society, which is shaped like a duck."

"Cute?" Ichigo repeated.

"Cute?" the soul candy echoed. It kept the smile on its face, but Ichigo swore that he could see the shadows creeping up.

Rukia and Chad frowned at him. "Unless you would like to call it by its series name, which is Yuki." Rukia said.

"Eh, Yuki is fine I guess," Ichigo said. "If you don't think about it too hard, it barely sounds cute at all."

"Yes, Ichigo," the newly-dubbed Yuki said.

"Okay, now, we have some Hollows to purify," Rukia said, and started tugging Ichigo away.

"Have fun, Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue said cheerfully. "We'll keep an eye on Yuki-kun!"

"Thanks!" Ichigo replied before he was led past the roof door. "Hey, Rukia, did you notice that Yuki was acting off?"

"Perhaps, perhaps not," Rukia said. "The personality was different than what I was expecting, but I have never used soul candy before, so it's not something I could say was definitely wrong."

"I dunno, I just have a bad feeling," Ichigo said. "Not, like, bad-bad, but off."

"Well, we left Yuki with your friends. They will keep an eye on him." Rukia said.

That did make Ichigo feel loads better. If anything happened, the others could take care of it.


Needless to say, it did not go according to plan.

Ichigo and Rukia both stared. Tatsuki had Yuki pinned to the ground, with Uryu holding a glowing rope in his hand. Yuki had the rope tied around his ankles, and Uryu was slowly tying knots on the ropes around his wrists. Mizuiro and Keigo were standing a couple of meters away, only partially aware that Uryu was manipulating something they couldn't see. Inoue frowned at Yuki, and Chad loomed over them all.

"What the hell happened here?" Ichigo demanded as he strode towards his body.

"I was just having some fun!" Yuki whined. "Ichigo, help me!"

"Seriously, what the fuck?" Ichigo asked.

"What happened?" Rukia repeated, so that everyone other than Uryu and Tatsuki could hear.

"He's defective, is what he is," Tatsuki snarled and pressed a hand harder into his face. Ichigo frowned, because he was the one that would have to deal with that. "And if he weren't in your body, Ichigo, I would have killed him."

Ichigo spared a moment to saturate himself with spiritual energy. Not a viable solution long term, but it could work for what happened here. "What did he do?" Ichigo asked.

"He's a pervert, is what he is," Tatsuki said. "He tried to grope Orihime!"

"He what," Ichigo said. There had to be more than just that, but that was obviously the most pressing one.

"Then why is Ishida tying him up?" Rukia asked, aware that Tatsuki was enough to handle that on her own. Rukia eyed the glowing ropes with interest.

"Because he has incredibly strong legs," Uryu said. "I don't know how that works, but he can jump high and run fast."

Rukia stilled. "Truly?"

"You know something," Ichigo said as he eyed her.

Rukia ignored him and walked up to Yuki and kneeled in front of him. "Would you happen to be a mod soul?" she asked.

The way Yuki stopped struggling and stared at Rukia in fear was a resounding yes on his part. Even if that only raised more questions.

"What's a mod soul?" Inoue asked.

Rukia sighed and stood up. "Years ago, there was something called Project Spearhead. The motive of the project was to take artificial souls, and modify them with abilities that would even the playing ground between hollows and shinigami. Hence, mod soul, and the abilities that this one displayed."

"Then why is he so afraid?" Ichigo asked, and crossed his arms. Because that was naked fear in Yuki's eyes. Was he still Yuki if he wasn't part of that series?

"They were destroyed due to the ethical reasons before they were ever used in the field," Rukia said, "Since they were meant to be combat capable, they were designed to be more independent. They were also designed to reanimate human corpses to do so."

There was a lengthy pause as everyone stared between Rukia and the mod soul in horror. There was a lot to unpack in that statement, wasn't there?

Ichigo sighed and rubbed at his face, and let his gathered spiritual energy go. No need to be heard so badly anymore. "Uryu, you got him tied up?" he asked.

"Yes," Uryu replied, and stood. "He won't be going anywhere."

"Thanks," Ichigo said, "Tatsuki, you can let up now. We need to talk."

He waited for a couple of seconds before his voice registered with Tatsuki. She frowned in his general direction before standing up. She could be as angry as she wanted later. They all could. Right now they needed information.

The others realized what was going on and stepped back as well. They were keeping a stern eye on the mod soul, Rukia, and their surroundings. It really wouldn't do to have anyone showing up while this happened.

The mod soul managed to pull himself into a sitting position, though it didn't look too comfortable. "What do you want to know?" he asked. He eyed them all, clearly looking for exits. Too bad he wouldn't find any.

"What did Rukia mean, that all of the modified souls were ordered to be destroyed?" Ichigo asked. Uryu repeated the question quietly for Mizuiro and Keigo.

The mod soul sneered up at him. "The day after I was born, Soul Society ordered the mod souls to be destroyed. The day after I was born, I was already chosen to die! Every day in that pill, I was scared. I watched my friends all disappear each day. I was lucky and escaped the storage with other pills. But still, I was afraid! That I would be found, and killed!"

Well, wasn't that a heavy revelation. "Rukia?" Ichigo asked. "Do you know what he's talking about?"

"It is what it is," Rukia said. "Whether or not I care is irrelevant. Mod souls were to be destroyed, which is the rule of the Soul Society. And you have to remember, those same rules were designed to protect human spirits!"

Ichigo looked at Uryu to stop him from commenting. They could talk about how terrible Soul Society was later. Uryu settled for glaring at Rukia, though he thankfully didn't say anything. Though the others would also need an explanation, too, with the way they were frowning and looking at Rukia thoughtfully.

Later. That was something Ichigo could deal with later.

"Well, we can't let him be destroyed, can we?" Inoue asked them, rocking back on her heels.

Tatsuki scowled. "I wanna hit him for what he did, but yeah, he doesn't need to die for existing. Death to a pervert, sure, but not that."

Uryu shrugged when Ichigo looked at him. "Soul Society wants him dead, so I shall do exactly the opposite."

"That does sound rather cruel," Mizuiro said, a hand pressed to his cheek as he surveyed them all. Keigo nodded next to him.

"I guess it's majority vote, then," Ichigo sighed. He looked to the mod soul. "Well, we're not going to destroy you."

The mod soul let out a shuddering breath of relief.

Rukia tsk-ed and crossed her arms, "We will have problems by going against the rules, but I suppose I am used to getting into trouble already."

"Well, we aren't keeping him in my body, that's for sure," Ichigo said. By some grace of the gods, the mod soul hadn't quite realized that he had breasts. Ichigo would like him out before he figured that out.

"Yeah, no, definitely not," Tatsuki said. "Could we keep him as a pill?"

"We could, but that sounds cruel in its own way, too," Mizuiro pointed out.

"Well, we don't have a spare body lying around," Rukia said.

"Does it have to be a body?" Inoue asked.

Rukia paused. "I… don't know? Probably, considering what they were designed for."

"Well, if you don't know, then there's no harm in trying other things," Inoue said.

"Like what?" Tatsuki asked.

"What about a stuffed animal?" Chad suggested.

"Could that work?" Ichigo asked. Chad certainly had a lot of stuffed animals to spare. And if he asked Yuzu, she would be willing to lend him one of hers.

"Well, we won't know until we try," Rukia said.

"Yeah, let's do that," Ichigo said. He rolled his shoulders. "After school. And first, I need my body back."

0o0o0