Ace went to their room, and took his over due nap, not knowing if Chad asked questions or demanded answers. He just needed his sleep. Yuzu came in to wake him up when his naptime was up. Twenty minute naps, multiple times a day. When he got up, Chad's presence was gone, and Rukia was in the room. Ichigo was out, it seemed.

"Rukia. What happened to the bad hollow. It didn't dissolve," Ace said. Rukia looked up from her makeshift bed in the closest, which shoved their clothes into one dresser, which wasn't enough space, so it was literally overflowing. She looked surprised.

"You couldn't see it?" she asked.

"No. There was a ripping noise, but I couldn't see or sense anything more. The hollow disappeared in a different way than I was used to," he explained, looking up at the ceiling.

"The gates of hell opened and took him in." Ace shouldn't be surprised there was a hell, but he was bothered he hadn't seen it. "It shouldn't be surprising you didn't see it. It should be surprising you can see or interact with any of the hollows or shinigami in the first place. Do you really have no memory of your past?"

"Nope. All I know is that it couldn't have been pretty based on the crazy amount of scars I have," Ace answered. "I wish I could see the ghosts clearly already. They're still just white blurs. The hollows are much more in focus, but still blurry a bit."

"Do you get headaches after doing things that have to do with the shinigami world?" Ace shook his head. "I don't know how you are the way you are. You're not a hollow or a shinigami. There's no logical or spiritual explanation for you being fire. That's completely out of soul society's jurisdiction."

"Hmm. I like it, and I haven't burnt anyone or anything I didn't want to, so there's nothing to dislike. Plus, I can't get injured. At least, so far." His stomach rumbled, and he assumed food was ready. "I'll bring you leftovers."

"Okay."

Ace was bothered still that he knew it had been there, but hadn't seen it. He tried to move on, but not seeing enemies he knew were there was quite worrisome. He still had his sixth sense, but it was still stressful thinking of being without sight. He was quiet at dinner, but didn't refuse to eat. Just didn't partake in conversation.

It wasn't too odd since there were some nights where he didn't talk but things were fine. They assumed it had to do with his narcolepsy and poorly timed EDS, which may be true. After food, he snuck a sandwich up to Rukia, and then went to the roof outside, and just laid on it, wondering if the parakeet soul was happy and safe. He hoped so, he deserved it after what he went through.

-x-

"You've really never ridden a bike?" Marco asked. Ace was out with his coworkers, but since he was underage they couldn't go to the bar, they were at a nice restaurant. It was a one year anniversary for two of the workers, and Ace was invited to the celebration. One of the guys was against drinking, so it was at a restaurant.

Ace huffed. "Not that I remember," he said.

"I rode my bike here, we can try."

"Oh, that's not necessary," Ace said quickly. But soon everyone was urging him to do it. He knew they'd never truly push him to be cruel, they were being joking. "Oh, fuck it, fine. I'll try. But you don't get to laugh if I fail," the seventeen year old said.

After finishing their food, Ace went to Lari's bike, which was unlocked from the bike rack. "Always wear a helmet," Marco said, and plopped the helmet on. Ace clicked it into place, and stood the bike upright. He wasn't short so it didn't need to be adjusted for the youngest worker. He narrowed his eyes and started to pedal, only to fall over.

"Whoa, you really can't. Even if you didn't remember doing it, it's muscle memory," Marco said, more in awe and surprise then entertainment. They spent the next hour trying to teach Ace to ride the bike. When he finally made it down the street on his own, the burly, muscled men, cheered at his small success.

Ace rode back, and then put the stopper down, and bowed dramatically, taking the helmet off. Who needed friends your own age? Ace got along with Ichigo's friends when they saw one another, but since Ace lived in Ichigo's home-life bubble, he didn't interact much with his highschool-life bubble.

After they went their separate ways, all glad to have gone out together, even if Ace was really only a few weeks there, Marco offered to walk Ace home. He accepted this time. Surprisingly, neither of them spoke the whole time, but it wasn't uncomfortable or awkward. The weather was great. Sunny out but not hot.

When they got to Ace's place, Marco asked, "Dose it ever get annoying? Living next to a hospital?"

"Not really. It's usually pretty quiet since it's a small clinic. And I can sleep just fine through a lot of noise most of the time. I need a nap, now," he said. He took the key out of his pocket, and Marco said goodbye, making the walk to his home. Based on the fact that they both walked to work meant Marco wasn't that far form there, since Ace's work place was not far from his home.

He went inside and took that nap he needed.

When he woke up, it was to an unwanted presence in the room. He looked beside his pillow, and saw a small hollow. I was smaller than a kitten. It looked so harmless, and non threatening, that he didn't really want to kill it. Then it started swearing up a storm at him and trying to bite. He sighed, covered his hand and smashed his fist on it, killing it instantly.

"What the actual fuck?" he grumbled to himself, his good nap ruined. When Ichigo got back, Ace grumbled to him about waking up to a tiny hollow.

"On the bed?"

"Yeah! By my head. I mean, it looked harmless but then it started shouting swear words at me. All it took was for me to bash it with a fist. What was even the point?!" Ichigo was laughing. "Sure, it's funny to you. Your nap wasn't ruined by a little gremlin." The high school student still laughed.

He took his shoes off and changed into more comfortable clothes. "How'd your lunch with your friends go?" he asked.

"Fun, I learned how to ride a bike. Don't make fun of me, I apparently never learned," Ace said. He expected to get laughed at, but he saw Ichigo's face was hard and seemed upset. Ace was confused. "What's wrong?" he wondered, sitting up fully.

He sat on the floor across from their bunks so he could look up at him. "Do you think your original family abused you? Your body is covered with scars, you lost everything. There had to be a reason, right?"

"I thought we were of the same mind that I was a lab experiment," Ace said. They hadn't speculated more outloud of that.

"I mean, not just anyone would react to your abilities with care and compassion, right? Being made of fire, covering your body with some weird metal, and being able to sense others around you. Its not normal even by supernatural standards. It just seems like something that could easily be turned into a big problem," he explained. He sounded genuinely upset.

Ace pointed out, "When I woke up with no memory, all of these scars had healed a long time ago."

"But how did you get them? Why wouldn't a parent or family protect their kid like that? And you also had never been put through any school. That's neglect or child abuse in and of its own!" He was getting angry about it, but Ace stayed calm, knowing this was all out of care and concern and understanding.

Ace replied, "I don't know how everything worked out this way. I don't really think about my missing memory much anymore. I do wish I had gone to school, but I can fix that issue eventually. Besides, I'm happy now. Don't worry about the past so much."

"What would you do if they came back for you?" Ichigo asked quietly, looking down. "I think of you more like a brother than a friend by now, just like Yuzu and Karin." Ace was touched.

"I guess I'd decide then. If they were abusive and cruel to me, why would I go back to them? I may have narcolepsy and am pretty weird, but I'm not masochistic and would plant myself somewhere I'd hate being," he said, trying to cool him down. "Don't worry so much about that, you have enough stuff as it is. School, Rukia, shinigami shenanigans. Try not to add more shit to your full plate."

"Just make sure you think about it all, if or when you remember," Ichigo said softly, and left the room. Now he was all mopey. Ace had thought he did well not to be tactless and tried to be reasonable. He thought of Ichigo more of a sibling, too. He didn't usually even think about the age difference, since it was only two years.

Ace rolled onto his back and looked at the ceiling. He got stuck someplace nice. He was lucky." He smiled to himself before going down to try and cheer him up. Since it was the weekend, Ichigo had no school in the morning. He forced him to sit on the couch and binge Death Note. Now with the context of knowing a real shinigami, he laughed at the depiction in the show.

It was generally just fun, and eventually Karin started watching. Yuzu didn't like the constant murders committed, so she didn't watch. It really did feel like siblings sitting and watching movies together. It had only been a couple months, but he really did feel like and was treated like family.

Once they were done at 2:30 in the morning, Ace had long since fallen asleep. But they had continued to watch, which made him cranky when he woke up with Ichigo saying they had to get to bed. "You're a traitor. You were supposed to watch it with me," he slurred. He was far into his sleep cycle and being woken forcibly in the middle always didn't end up good.

He was shoved up the stairs and managed to climb back up onto the bed and passed out instantly, over the covers. Rukia was sleeping in the closet, having never come down since she was not supposed to be there. Over all, it was a fun night even if Ace didn't remember a good four hours of it.

When he woke up, Ichigo assured him there was still plenty of the anime to watch. "It's 37 episodes, no way we could finish it in one night."

"Hmph, you better hope you didn't watch through my favorite parts."

"You were right, Rukia is nothing like Ryuk, heh." Rukia opened the closet door, and asked what they were talking about. "Nothing, you wouldn't be interested in something like that." Ace got out of the room and to take a shower before bickering started. It was nice Rukia was quiet and unobtrusive while staying there during the night.

Ace no longer bothered with towels, and would just dry himself off by raising the temperature of his skin, but not covered in flames. He went to work after a short breakfast, and had the usual satisfying day of work and jokes. He didn't want to quit this gig anytime soon, he enjoyed it if only for the people. If he had no coworkers, he would have quit out of boredom from the same thing every day.

-x-

"Ace! Have you seen my body?!" Ichigo screamed over the phone. "My body's been stolen!"

"What?! How?!" Ace demanded, having been woken from a nap. But he'd made through enough of it that he wasn't a mess. He stood up and ran downstairs to get his shoes, and then went running out to try and find Ichigo's body, as a modified soul, a fake being, was inside of his body, and stole it. He knew it wasn't a joke, but how on earth did he get into this situation? So he asked.

"It was Rukia's fault! Now my image is being ruined!" Ace didn't find it funny, since his friend was genuinely distressed and upset. Ace would be scared and worried if his body got hijacked and his spirit was left to try and find it. Ace ran around, trying to spread his range of his sexth sense by running around further from the house.

Ace brought he phone to his ear as he pumped his legs. "I feel a familiar presence that's moving too fast by Yuzu and Karin's school! I'll meet you there!"

"Got it, thanks!" and the call was over. He made it to the place first, and he saw Ichigo's stolen body jumping around like a complete moron. It really was making him look very bad to anyone and everyone who saw him. A fake person, a modified soul… why the hell would Ichigo ever put that in his body?

And why would the usually very responsible Rukia give it to him? There was no way he found that shit on his own. Ace maxed out his hidden parkour skills and jumped from wall to building to roof and then ran at the jumping idiot.

He had to be gentle this was Ichigo's body, which was super study and strong and all, but could still possibly get hurt. Fake Ichigo looked up at Ace as he booked it towards him. A hollow was targeting Fake Ichigo, and Ace jumped right in to save the day while shinigami version of Ichigo sliced apart the face of the hollow.

Both of them were panting, and Ace shoved Fake Ichigo's body to him. "Take your body back, he's making you look terrible."

"No! I get this body now! I'm finally free, damn it! I made it!"

"This is my body. You stole it! It's not yours to keep!" Ichigo shouted back.

"How would you feel if you were born only to have your world tell you you need to die!?" the Fake Ichigo shouted, emotion thick in his voice. Ace's ears were like listening through a tunnel. Born only to die. It was frightening that it sounded vaguely familiar. He knew it had to do with him when Rukia asked why he was crying. Ace was confused, and wiped his eyes. Ichigo's anger, which had been fading at hearing the Fake Ichgo's story, drained completely and turned into concern.

"What's wrong?" he asked in worry.

"I think I almost got a memory," Ace answered. The orange haired teen wore an uncharacteristic scowl. Ace assumed he thought this almost-memory was proof that he'd been abused in his past life before he remembered. And while that sentiment of not deserving to live flowed thickly through his emotions, he couldn't remember the context.

But knowing he had been told such a thing, or had internalized it somehow, was sort of painting the picture so far in Ichigo's thinking, that Ace really was abused. And it was completely possible, but he had no context. Only that he knew that feeling, the feeling of not being enough. He felt it, but it didn't take over him.

Startling out his thoughts, some people he didn't recognize appeared. Two children and two adults. "We finally found you and your all roughed up. This will make all the equipment we brought useless." Before they could proces it, a cane with the same emblem as Rukia's "torture glove" dubbed by Ichigo, pressed against the human Ichigo's forehead, knocking a small pill out.

Ace caught Ichigo before he fell, and just lid his now empty body down. He really looked dead. "Mission complete, let's go home guys," the man with the hat and long coat on said. His voice was easy going and the shadow of the brim of his hat covered most of his eyes. Ace had a feeling he was strong, though.

"Wait, what are you going to do with it?" Ichigo asked.

"Dispose of it," the man said. Ace wanted his name. Ichigo realized that this man could see him in his shinigami form, and asked who he was.

"Oh, how should I answer that?" But he never got the chance to before the attention was diverted from his identity to Rukia snatching the fake Ichigo in the pill in her hand. Apparently they would be keeping that one. Ace didn't agree. Having a reckless counterpart to be entrusted his physical form. To keep it safe? He didn't know how he felt about it, but it wasn't going in his body, so it wasn't his choice.

"This is mine. I paid for it, Urahara-san. Are you going to take merchandise you sold away from the paying customer?" Rukia asked. "I'm satisfied with this product. Plus, you guys are working under the law anyways. You don't have any responsibility to recover him," she added.

"We're not responsible, then? If trouble comes, then we'll play dumb," Urahara said, voice serious.

"I'm getting used to trouble lately." She turned away and handed Ichigo the mod-soul pill. "We're going, Ichigo." Ace smiled, impressed she knew him well. Though much of the time he was an open book. He nodded, and they left. Ichigo returned to his body, and the three ended up searching for any body to give to the pill.

It was kind of weird. Putting him in an animal would be morally dubious and they couldn't exactly find any dead bodies to use. "What if you put him in something inanimate?" Ace asked.

"I was thinking that, too," Ichigo said, and looked around before they found a beat up lion stuffed animal. They didn't actually think it would work, but when the stuffed animal came to life, they were shocked and amazed; it was a stupid idea yet it worked. Unfortunately, it became quite apparent that Ace abhorred this creature.

I hate Kon. So Ace hates him, too.