A/N currently working on edits and updates
"what happened to you?" he groaned.
He closed his eyes as he thought back to what happened " I went to find Ichigo, I needed to see if you were okay….he said you left months ago. He had Zaraki with him and we got in a fight." she jumped up " is ichi ok? Did he get hurt?" Sosuke hid the hurt from his face at her concern for the boy. He shrugged "I have no idea" she darted out of the room to find a phone. She dialed Ichigo's number, not caring that it was past 10pm and held her breath as she waited for him to answer. "hello?" she sighed happily as she heard his half asleep, gravelly voice "I'm so glad you're okay! You're okay right? Did you get hurt?" she heard him chuckle "I'm alright Shiro. Wait…how did you know I got in a fight?" Shiro said nothing which caused Ichigo to get worried "what's going on?" she took a deep breath and spoke quickly, her words jumbling together "Sosuke is here and he was hurt. He said there was a fight!". "slow down and say it again please" she groaned " Sosuke is here and he was hurt. He said there was a fight." Ichigo nearly shouted into the phone "he's with you!? Where are you!" she held the phone a few inches away from her ear because of his loud voice. " I'm in Okayama at a small hotel" he nodded as she told him the address " I'll be there soon. Stay away from him!" with that he hung up. She groaned and put the phone down.
Shiro went to her boss's office, figuring she was awake since she stayed up late most nights " I still have the week off right?" the old woman smiled and nodded. "yay!" Shiro jumped up happily "I have a friend that's gunna visit!" she happily skipped out as the old woman smiled fondly at the young woman.
Shiro went back to Sosuke's room but saw that he fell asleep again, she then went to her room to wait for Ichigo. She yawned and crawled under a blanket, quickly falling asleep.
Hours later Ichigo made it into Okayama, he found a small hotel near the road that matched Shiro's description and pulled into the parking lot. He got out, locked the car behind him and walked down a rock path to the front door of the hotel and admired how it was lit up 'nice place' he thought. As he walked inside he took off his jacket and looked for the front desk. The young woman that worked at the front desk smiled at him "hello sir, how may I help you?" his trademark scowl never left his face as he approached the girl "I'm looking for Shiro" the girl furrowed her brows "she doesn't have any family so who might you be?" he sighed " just tell me where she is. It's important" the girl pouted but pointed down the hall " last door to the right". He nodded and went down the hall. Once he reached the door he knocked quietly "Shiro?" after a minute of no response he knocked harder. Still not getting an answer he opened the door "Shiro are you here? you shouldn't leave the door unlocked, it's dangerous". He smiled softly to himself as he saw the white haired woman asleep on the bed. He closed the door and sat next to her, he rubbed her back " it's time to wake up, we need to talk.". She groaned and sat up, eyes still closed "I'm up, I'm up.". Ichigo ruffled her hair and chuckled " it's nice to see you again" she peaked open an eye and pounced on him " ichi!" he smiled " yeah it's me, so what's going on?" she groaned and flopped back " ill take you to Sosuke but be nice" he nods and gets up then watches as Shiro gets up. He noticed that she got a slight tan. She grabbed his hand and led him out of her room and down the hall into Sosuke's room.
Sosuke was sitting up in his room, extremely bored. He perked up bit as he heard the door open but sighed under his breath as he saw the orange headed man with the woman he wants. Ichigo scowled at him " how did you find her" the man shrugged. Ichigo looked at Shiro " wait outside please" she nodded and skipped out. Ichigo stormed over to the man and lifted him by the collar of his shirt " I thought I told you to stay away from her. If you don't leave ill call the head captain" Sosuke smirked "I will do whatever I want. If she says I can stay then I will stay. She was mine first and I will have her again." Ichigo threw him against the wall. Shiro heard a loud thud and peaked her head in the room, she saw Ichigo standing over Sosuke "stop it!" Ichigo glared at the other man then walked over to Shiro "he's dangerous he ca-". Sosuke cut him off mid-sentence " I will stay if She lets me!" she groaned.
Shiro's boss heard two male voices arguing and decided to be nosy, she followed the voices and recognized they were coming from Sosuke's room. Out of concern for Shiro she opened the door dramatically and stood there like a woman on a mission. She stood next to Shiro, elbowed her lightly and whispered "two handsome men. Nice job!" Shiro giggled and blushed. The old woman leered at the young men and grinned "whatever is going on with you guys needs to be figured out" she nodded and started to walk out of the room " follow me!" Shiro skipped after her boss while the two men groaned and followed.
The boss led them into a traditional tea house, they all sat down except for Shiro "I'll get the tea ready" before she left the room she bowed out of habit. The old woman looked between the two men with a serious face "if either of you hurt my sweet Shiro, I will hurt you in ways that you can't even imagine" she then smiled sweetly as Shiro walked back into the room with the steaming teapot. She let it steep and sat down between Ichigo and Sosuke " so what's up boss?" the old woman smiled warmly at Shiro " we are here to settle whatever issue is causing these two fine men to fight" Shiro nodded and poured everyone a cup of tea, she grinned at Sosuke like a child that figured something out "I can drink tea!" he let out a fond smile as he remembered how Shiro scalded her tongue on hot tea before.
Shiro happily sipped her tea as the boss began to speak "so my dears, why are you fighting?" Ichigo scowled but no one said anything. the woman started to stand up " if you won't answer then I expect both of you to leave my hotel." Ichigo sighed " fine. He is a horrible man. He lies, manipulates and he doesn't treat her right. He never has." the woman sat back down and nodded then looked to Sosuke. He stared at his tea "I will admit, I have messed up but all I'm asking for is a chance to show that I've changed" the woman looked to Shiro and noticed how uncharacteristically silent she was as she was thinking " Shiro honey, what do you want?" she shrugged. The woman reached over and placed her hand on Shiro's " no one decides what you do, you must choose for yourself. This is your life and no one else's" Shiro nodded but still remained silent. Sosuke looked at Shiro "please give me a chance, all I'm asking for is friendship." she looked at Ichigo in hopes of him giving her an answer but all he did was smile at her. She then looked at Sosuke " I suppose a friendship is okay "she smiled at Sosuke shyly then sipped her tea. The old woman smiled at the choice the young woman made "is everything settled then?" Shiro nodded and everyone stood up. Ichigo grabbed her hand " can I speak to you?" she nodded and led him down a path to a small koi pond "what's up ichi?" he pulled her into a tight hug "I missed you…" she nuzzled into his chest and giggled "I missed you too strawberry" he pretended to be mad at the nickname but couldn't and laughed as she stuck her tongue out at him. He sat down by the edge of the pond and Shiro did the same. Ichigo tore up a sakura petal "I don't like him here with you, I don't trust him…can I stay here as well…to keep an eye on him?" she smiled and nodded "of course ichi…but what about your life in Karakura?" he shrugged "it's boring, my old man keeps pestering me about you" she giggled "I like your dad, he's funny" Ichigo nodded and stood up " its late, let's go inside" she grabbed his hand as he pulled her up. They quietly walked back to the hotel. Once inside Ichigo went to the front desk and rented a room to stay in, it was across the hall from Shiro's room. Shiro was laying down in bed wondering how the next week would go with Ichigo and Sosuke in the same hotel, she hoped everything would go well and soon fell asleep.
The next day she woke up early and got ready for the day, deciding to see how Sosuke was. Once she arrived at his door she knocked lightly in case he was asleep, she heard a quiet "come in". she slid the door open and smiled brightly at Sosuke, he winced as he tried to stand up. She rushed over to him to help him stand up, once he was up she backed up to give him space. He smiled at seeing her "good morning my dear", "good morning! I wanted to see how you were doing and make sure you were okay" he chuckled as he went to grab the shirt and jeans Ichigo left for him to wear "I'm a little sore but ill be okay, I've been through worse. She nodded and turned around as he changed "did you want breakfast? I can make something" He walked over to her once he was all changed and lightly grabbed her arm and smiled as she turned to face him "breakfast with you sounds wonderful". She smiled and jumped up and down "lets go!" she grabbed his hand and gently pulled him to the kitchen "what should we have?" Sosuke let her pull him along "I'm not too sure, what sounds good to you?" she pushed the door open to the kitchen "hmm how does steamed rice and grilled fish with veggies sound?" Sosuke smiled as he leaned against the counter "that sounds wonderful, how can I help?" she tapped her fingers against her chin as she thought "do you want to cut the veggies?" he nodded as she got the vegetables, fish and rice. She placed the washed vegetables and a knife with a cutting board on the counter near him. The kitchen was silent other than the sounds of food cooking.
Ichigo woke up and yawned as he stretched, he then got up and got his clothes for the day then got in the shower. Once he was out of the shower and dressed he stepped out of his room and smelled something that made his mouth water, he followed the smell and arrived at the kitchen. He was surprised to see Shiro and Sosuke cooking, she didn't know how to cook when they were together in Karakura. He snuck in the kitchen without her noticing so he could watch her with a smile on his face, she was concentrating on cooking the fish properly. Sosuke saw Ichigo watching her with a smile but said nothing and went back to thinking about how to be better for the woman he fell for. Shiro grabbed some plates as the fish was about done cooking and placed some food on three plates, she then picked up the plates and turned around "ichi! Good morning!". He grabbed two of the plates to help and kissed her forehead "good morning, it smells fantastic. I didn't know you could cook." She led them to a small eating area and the three of them sat down " I learned to cook from my boss, I really like her! She's so nice." Sosuke took a bite then smiled proudly at Shiro "this is delicious, thank you for breakfast". Once they finished breakfast Sosuke took the dishes to the sink and started washing them, Shiro followed him and grabbed a towel to dry the ones he washed "teamwork!". He chuckled and nodded in agreement "would you like to go into town once we're done?". She looked at him and smiled brightly "I would love to! Theres so much to see here, I love it!". He was relieved she agreed, Ichigo heard them make the plan and wasn't happy about it but decided to let her make her choices as long as it didn't get her hurt. Ichigo stood up and stretched then walked over to Shiro and placed his arm around her shoulders "I'm going to head to my room and try to get some stuff done with work but you guys have fun and call me if you need anything. And I mean anything.". She looked up at him "are you sure you don't want to come with us? it will be fun!". He kissed the side of Shiro's head "im sure, you guys have fun" Sosuke looked at him curiously, unsure why he wasn't joining but also glad it would be just him and the woman he was trying to get close to. He watched as Ichigo left then looked to Shiro and smiled "ready to go?". She nodded and jumped up and down excitedly "lets go!". She slid her hand into his and gently pulled him all the way to the bus stop, within a few minutes they were seated on the empty bus headed into town. Sosuke noticed she was still holding his hand, he lightly squeezed her hand "thank you for giving me another chance, I want to be a better person because of you.". She leaned her head on his shoulder "to be honest I wasn't sure if I should but some part of me wanted you in my life still." He understood why she wouldn't be sure, he felt vulnerable sharing his feelings and looked out the window. He couldn't met her curious eyes as she stared up at him "I know I haven't been the best person but these past few months have left me thinking about everything and I realized, I hate who I am. I know im not a good man but im trying to be better and do better, for you." she didn't know what to say so she pulled his arm around her shoulders and snuggled into his side, sighing comfortably. He was surprised but didn't question her as he pulled her closer. They spent the next thirty minutes without moving as the bus drove to the center of town.