Ace bought headphones to deal with his annoying voice. The room was feeling uncomfortably crowded now. That night, he couldn't sleep because Kon was making noise, muttering to himself. Ace finally left the room when he wouldn't shut up, and moved back to the couch. He sunk into it, not being too bad, and fell asleep.

He was woken by a surprised Yuzu. "Ace, what are you doing down here?"

"Ichigo was sleep talking a lot," Ace lied. Yuzu looked awkward for a moment. "What's wrong?"

"I want to warn you. Tomorrow is the anniversary of our mom's death." Ace frowned, and nodded. He'd keep that in mind and not complain about anything. When he went to start breakfast, Ichigo came down, seeming surprised that Ace was up already. He looked at the blanket and pillow on the couch, and asked why he'd slept on the couch. After all, he hadn't done that since they started sharing a room.

Ace went up cloer and said, "Kon wouldn't shut the fuck up and I couldn't sleep." His voice was sour and annoyed. "The bedroom is getting way too crowded," Ace sighed. Ichigo frowned, but didn't argue.

"It is getting kind of crowded, but we don't really have anything to do about it. Rukia has no place to stay and Kon has to be kept in the doll to 'live'."

Honestly, Ace wished they'd just gotten a normal one and not Kon. Maybe it was mean to think that, but he was obnoxious and terrible. Though Ace wouldn't say that to his face if he stopped being so damn annoying. Ace returned to help with the cooking, and Ichigo went to the table to wait.

It was blueberry pancakes today, and they were fixed quickly and put on the table for the household to eat. Isshin asked if Ace would be working late. "Nope. I'll be back pretty early. Why?"

"I thought we could all go to dinner," he said. Probably for the anniversary of their mother and wife's death. Ace didn't really feel like he'd be welcome, not sharing their sadness or memory of their mother. It would be reinforcement that he was an outsider, and only just met them in the grand scheme of things.

"It's okay if I stay and you guys go on your own, I won't mind." They looked surprised, and Yuzu looked down.

"Yuzu told you about the anniversary?" Karin asked. He nodded.

"You're like part of the family now. Of course you'll come, too," Ichigo said in annoyance. Ace mumbled that he wouldn't understand what they felt like. "Didn't you lose your whole family, too?"

"It's different… I don't remember them, so I can't mourn."

"You're coming anyway," Ichigo insisted and Ace didn't argue further, just nodded. After breakfast, they went back to the room to get dressed, Ace in his normal clothes and Ichigo in his uniform. Rukia seemed to have already left without hearing about the anniversary. Ichigo walked to Kon and stepped on him. "What the hell?!" The stuffed animal shouted.

"You need to shut the fuck up when anyone is asleep in here or you're going into the clinic every night for the whole night," the orange head said sourly, eyes narrowed. "You were so annoying Ace went to sleep on the couch." Kon wasn't happy with this, but said he'd keep it down. "Good. I'm holding you to that."

Ace left, going to the right of the street, and waving goodbye as Ichigo headed to the left to go to school. Ace passed a hollow, but didn't let it go. He crushed its head, and continued on his way. There was a ghost there, but Ace couldn't do anything to send it anywhere. It'd have to wait for Ichigo to send it off to the next life.

When he got to work, Marco was acting kind of strange. He kept smiling at Ace with this wide and affectionate smile. At their break, Ace sitting in front of a fan in the indoor area, he asked Marco if everything was okay. The looks didn't make him uncomfortable, but it felt like something changed from the last time Ace saw him. He seemed somehow more upbeat but also sad. It was hard to explain his expression and demeanor.

"Just having a good day. Sorry if it's annoying, I'll try to stop smiling at you," Marco apologized.

"I'm not bothered, just wondered why you are so happy and smiley. Lucky you have a good day today. It's my surrogate family's anniversary of their mom's death. I'm not blood family or anything, and never met her, so I feel like dinner tonight might be kind of awkward," Ace said honestly, the sweat drying under the nice cool fan.

"And you don't remember your old family, right?" Ace nodded. "Do you want to know?" Ace shrugged, truly unsure. He looked at his scarred body. It looked bad, he was only 17 and covered in these pink and shiny lines. Something was wrong, he knew it.

So he said, "I never went to school. Kids are supposed to get an education, and I got none. Then there's all the scars. If I was their kid or something, wouldn't they protect me from injuries like these? I'm only seventeen, why didn't they protect me?" Ace wondered, voice still light, no sadness in it.

Marco looked sad at his words. "I'm sorry. That must be terrible."

"Yeah, but at least I found nice people who want to keep me. I don't know what I'd do if I got my memories back. I mean, it definitely depends on what they are, what my old life used to be," Ace explained. Their break was over, and Ace guzzled a bottle of water before getting back out. He saw Marco's mood had plummeted, and he wasn't smiling anymore. Ace felt bad he'd ruined his good day.

The teen offered to walk him home this time, and he accepted. It was still early, and not near dinner time at all. The two teens were told to get back to the house before 4:30. It was only 2:50. Marco's home was an apartment, but seemed pretty nice. "Do you live with someone?" Ace asked.

"No, I live alone. I'd rather live with more people, as I'm used to living in a big house with a lot of people," he explained.

"So you get lonely?" Ace asked sadly. Marco shrugged one shoulder.

"It's fine, I'm okay." Marco shrugged one shoulder, and Ace nodded, and said he'd see him tomorrow. Marco smiled and returned the goodbye.

"Text me when you get home," he said from the stairs. Ace smiled and agreed, and walked home in a good mood. He was glad to have his own friend and was friendly with his much older coworkers. When he got home, he texted Marco, who thanked him for updating him. When Ace entered the house, using his house key, he found Ichigo sitting on the bed sadly.

"I asked Rukia to give me today off. Even if she said no I'd still not do it."

"That's not wrong. Just cause you're her temporary replacement doesn't mean you have to throw the rest of your life away. You already miss school, you can afford to have one day off," Ace said, sitting on the floor against the closet door to face him. Kon wasn't in there, thank god. Ace didn't care where he was.

Ichigo looked up at him. "We didn't talk about it afterwards, but why were you crying after hearing what Kon said? Before he was a stuffed animal, back on the roof."

Ace answered honestly. "The words 'born to die' sounded familiar. I felt like I'd once felt the world hated me, and I deserved to die. I don't know what kind of situation or context that had to do with. I just understood the feeling of being completely unwanted." The other's hands fisted and he scowled. "I don't know if I want my memories back, really. Though I don't think things would really change if they did. It feels like I'm a different person than I was before. Not a bad change, though," Ace mused. "I feel like there's something big that happened. Before I showed up on your roof, without any memories."

"I'll beat up your family if they abused you," Ichigo swore.

Ace laughed, and didn't tell him not to even if it seemed it would be more trouble than its worth. Isshin knocked on the door.

"You should both get ready for dinner." They had a changing screen since Ace wasn't that fond of showing all the scars all over. He changed into nicer clothes, not a tank top and shorts.

He wore a black regular t-shirt and jeans. Not the more formal but better than shorts and a tank top. They left and got into the car. Since there were five of them now, each seat in the car was full. Ace sat on the left back seat, even if it would make more sense for the slightly smaller Ichigo to cram into the back. At least Yuzu was short. The car was silent for a bit before Isshin asked Ace how work had been to break the silence.

"Fine. I walked a coworker home since he usually walks me home. He's a good friend," Ace said.

"How old is he?" Isshin asked, since all of Ace's fellow workers were older than him. "22. The second youngest worker. I assume he has some secret second job since he has his own apartment."

When they arrived at the restaurant, seats had been reserved for them, and they sat down. It was a fancy place, but looking at the menu, that shit looked delicious. Ace ordered a steak with roasted potatoes on the side. He got a lemonade. Breadsticks were brought to the table, and Ace didn't wait to take one. The bread had garlic in it and it melted in his mouth, the inside so soft and fluffy and the outside perfectly crunchy.

The table was fairly quiet, and Ace wasn't sure what to talk about. Or if he should talk at all. Food came fairly quickly, and Ace was the only one to eat his. When he started, he eventually stopped, feeling he was messing up.

"Ah, this is kind of awkward for you, huh?" Isshin said, finally noticing Ace's complete discomfort and untouched food. "You don't need to hold back, we are here to eat."

"I-it's okay. You must be sad. Or wistful," Ace said, but was so happy he was given explicit permission to eat. He ate the still thankfully warm food, but didn't smile at how it tasted. But he was glad when the others started to eat. Talk turned to Ace, and he assumed it was because he was someone who wasn't hurting and would be easier to talk to.

"Ace, do you think you'll ever go back to your original home?" Yuzu asked, bumming Ace that it would be a difficult subject like that.

"Probably not. Deep down, I feel I had a family, but things feel more… complicated. Inside, I feel like something big happened to me, and I can't go back." He's only told these things to Ichigo. Yuzu and Karin looked surprised at the answer. "Besides, I like my life right now. I just have no idea about my past, and that's fine for now, really," he said between bites of the wonderful food. He wished the portions were bigger.

"What kind of career do you want, Ace? I want to be a professional baseball player," Karin stated.

"No idea," he said after a moment of thought. He really had no idea. No idea at all.

"I don't know either," Yuzu said, even if Ace was old enough that in a few years he would start college and need a goal to choose classes from. But that was then and this was now and he was in no rush, still becoming acquainted with the ways of the world. Man, he was a huge hermit or extremely sheltered in his past.

For the dinner, Ace found himself being the distraction for their silent grieving. He was fine with this, he had plenty of things to talk about, even if they were not about his past or future. The dinner was delicious, and he left satisfied, even if he felt kind of sad for the others when they got back in the car, silent.

Since the restaurant was not that close to home, Ace ended up sleeping on the car ride in the front seat, Ichigo in the back with the girls. He wasn't a heavy snorer luckily, so he wasn't annoying. He wasn't sure if they said anything when he was asleep, and was awoken gently by Isshin, to not risk triggering any unfortunate situation by waking him in a hard, surprising way.

He went inside, and took his pills before going straight to bed.

In the morning, Ace got up earlier than usual and was the one to cook breakfast, a feast. All of their favorite foods. But in small portions each. Good food by not too much that they felt pressured to eat a lot when they most likely had little appetite. It was all laid out perfectly on time, Yuzu coming down late.

With her not cooking, it was assumed they would plan on toast or cereal. So when they all came down to the smells of a feast, it was a surprise, but a clearly appreciated one. None of the food was cold, and they ate all of it, which was a relief. Ace cleaned up all the dishes, and offered to go shopping for the things they didn't have after he got off work.

"Nope! We're all going on a picnic today!" Yuzu said brightly.

"Picnic? Like a party outside?" Ace wondered.

"Kind of. It's going to the park and sitting on a blanket, eating good food," Yuzu explained after the dishwasher was all loaded, dishes and pans rinsed first. Ace asked what time. Looking at his watch, he remembered his time off was at 3:30 that day.

Isshin said, "That's a perfect time. We can all meet there." Ace had a map always in his pocket, and Isshin took it and put a sticker on the space they were meant to go. It was a cemetary first. So Ace nodded, and went to work, hoping today would be less awkward. Maybe he'd be told about their mom.

They never talked about her. Though there was a huge poster of her face on the wall, and the father worshipped it. But usually it seemed more silly than sincere, though Ace didn't see it much. He was usually the most weird around the girls. Not that Ace had a problem with people being weird or silly.

Her photo was of long orange hair, where Ichigo got it, and a kind face. Only her hair and nose resembled Ichigo. Ace wondered what his parents looked like. Who did he get his freckles from? He had his hands behind his back humming, and curious about it for once. When he got to work, he was a bit distracted, but did his job.

It was pretty hot today, so a handful of the working men went shirtless, with the orange vests over their bare chests. Ace was fine, not able to get hot very easily. Being made of fire was a plus. He also never got cold, even though he liked sleeping with blankets on him. It was more for coziness than warmth.

Popsicles were broken out and cooled them down. Once it was time to clock out, Ace was happy his body was getting very used to the labor, and he didn't sweat so much because of it anymore. He often smelled bad every day from the sweat, and needed a sometimes second shower after work. He followed the map to the grave site, sure he didn't stink today. He'd brought deodorant there anyways, just in case.

He made it there first, and knew her name. Kurosaki Masaki. He looked at the grave, and sat in front of it. "Um, my name it Portgas D. Ace, but I go by Ace. I live with your family now. They're really nice. They sort of accepted me as a sibling, even if I they had no idea about me. To be fair, I have no idea about me either. I have severe memory loss of my previous life.

"I'll do my best to make sure they don't get hurt, in any way I can. Ichigo will probably be better about it, though. Sometimes I don't feel like one of them at all, but other times, I feel I've been there all along. Maybe it's because all I can remember of my life is my time with them.

"Well, anyways, they should be here soon. I thought it would be awkward to talk to you in front of them. Maybe you have no idea about your family since you're most likely up in soul society. Hope it's nice there," he said, and bowed. He touched the grave, but suddenly he got a terrible headache.

He swayed a bit, but it disappeared fast. He didn't pass out. Instead, he said something he hadn't known before. He saw no faces, no memory, but the words he knew were the truth flitted through his mind. His father was executed before he was born, his mother dying in childbirth. Maybe it was nothing, just something stupid that went in his head from the headache.

But he knew, he knew, that wasn't it. They were facts. Words describing memories he didn't have. It… it was a start. He'd never met either of them. So why did he feel he had family? Was he adopted? That was the only thing he could come up with.

Don't remember, it will hurt. It sounded like his own voice was in his mind. Part of him knew those memories! Were they being blocked out personally? By his own self? He didn't even notice the family showing up noisily. They didn't sound too sad at all. Ace was just in shock, his hands balled.

But when they came into view, Ace relaxed his face. This time was not about it, it was about remembering their mother. He hid any of that shocked and confused emotion. "Ah, you're here first?" Karin asked in interest.

"I'd rather have talked to her alone. Introduce myself and all," Ace replied lightly. They smiled at him, and all went to her grave. Ace sat a bit away, giving them privacy. He was lost in thought, he couldn't help it. So he knew nothing of his biological parents. Maybe it was a relief, but he was also bummed.

Did anyone miss him? While he hoped not so things were easier, it would feel better than thinking he was tossed away. When Ace noticed someone coming over, he sensed a person and a hollow. Great. He stood up and walked a bit away to see Rukia on a wall. Kon was in her backpack.

"Rukia, what are you doing here?" Ace asked. "Ichigo won't be very happy."

"I need to be here in case there's a hollow." Ace sighed.

"Can't you give him one day off? I'll go get the hollows in his stead," he offered. Ichigo was walking over and heard this, and then saw Rukia, and got very annoyed that she followed. "See?"

The shinigami on leave told the part time one what she'd said to Ace. Ichigo wasn't happy with this. "Everything is about hollows! Can't you give me a damn day off?! I do that shit every day!"

Rukia gave him a look, and suddenly asked, "Was it a hollow that killed your mother?" Seened a pretty insensitive thing to say at the moment. Ace hadn't been told how she died, only that she was dead. He watched out of the corner of his eye, not wanting to distract Ichigo from saying what he needed to say. But he grew angrier and angrier with Rukia. The three looked up when there was a presence from further up the trail, where the trees stopped framing the path. Ace was the only one to tell it was a hollow. But Ichigo looked disturbed by it, and turned away and hurried back.

When he looked back himself, Ace saw it was gone. He didn't want to ruin this situation even more, so he didn't tell them it had been a hollow, and not a person. Ace didn't spare Rukia another glance, and went back to the family. Karin was comforting Yuzu, who was crying. Ace left them alone, again feeling like an outsider.

Isshin was abnormally quiet and serious right now, sitting in front of his late wife's grave. Ace felt bad for them all. They had real memories of her, though he assumed Yuzu and Karin's weren't as detailed as Ichigo's must be. Even knowing his parents were dead, he could never have memories of them since he wasn't alive when they were.

So he had no way to understand, really. He didn't know what to say, so he walked back to the distressed Ichigo. "Did Rukia bother you that much? I understand constantly hunting for hollows isn't that fun-"

"I don't want others to take the blame for my mom's death. That's it," and he closed off.

"Okay," Ace said, even though he was curious. Ichigo clearly didn't really want to talk about it. But then ther hollow presence came back much bigger. He picked off from against the wall. Looking around, he saw Karin and Yuzu weren't in sight anymore. He extended his sixth sense, and felt they were by the hollow, where it showed up out of literally nowhere. "Hollow by the girls," Ace said, and ran ahead. The path wound too much, so he punched through trees in his way and came across the hollow hurting Karin.

Ace covered his foot in haki and jumping kicking it in the face, throwing it a bit away. "Karin, are you okay?" Ace asked.

"M-My arm is hurt," she said. He sensed Ichigo coming over, and Ace landed a punch that crackled its face before he grabbed Karin and the terrified Yuzu and carried them away. He set them behind two trees to stay safe. Ace ran back to the scene. Ichigo was frozen. Why wasn't he attacking? Ace didn't think stopping to talk to an enemy was the best. It felt like an ideal burnt into him, and it surprised him with how much such a thing bothered him.

"Why are you hesitating?" Ace demanded, and ran forward to kill it. He did a flip midair, and slammed his booted foot into its head. It didn't crack. This thing was tough. The mask was the hardest place to punch through, so he got on its back, the girl from before turing into some sort of lure, a doll, looking disturbing and hanging from a thick rope on its head.

Ace wrapped his legs around its neck, and grabbed the lure, twisting it until it ripped off. "How dare you?!" the hollow raged. Ichigo asked Ace to stop, but Ace didn't. This hollow had already hurt Karin. Then some hair fiber came out of its body and smothered Ace. But he lit on fire, and burnt the hairs away.

He thrust his arm through its head and through the mask. His arm got stuck inside, the mask not fully breaking. Was this a very strong hollow, unlike the ones he'd fought before? His arm was stuck inside, the head substance seeming to start sucking him inside. "Fuck! Kill it, Ichigo!"

Attempting to bring his fire out again, it burnt a hole but he still wasn't released. Even with Ace being sucked in, Ichigo was fighting recklessly, angrily. Over Ace? No, it seemed something else was going on. Why was he so furious, and reckless? Ace slowly got sucked in more and more until he allowed his body to enter the darkness.

He was fully surrounded by this disturbing darkness all around. If felt oddly familiar. He erupted in flames, and covered his whole body haki as he forced his way through it like swimming until he popped out the back again, and used fire to shoot himself out. Ace finally kicked off its back, did a backflip over its head, and kicked a leg up, cracking apart his face, finally. Only he fled instead of dying, though he was severely damaged, an instant after Ichigo thrust forward, his sword going straight through Ace's body.

"ACE!" Ichigo said in horror, injured himself.

"I'm fine! Remember, sharp things don't hurt me," Ace assured him, showing he was just fine. Shirt undamaged, and pulling it up to show smooth skin. "You're injured. What the hell happened while I was in that nasty black shit?"

Ichigo sat down and dropped his sword, putting his head between his legs. Ace sat across from him. "That was what killed my mother. I wanted to kill it. I guess I wasn't strong enough."

"I got sucked inside of it, you're not the only one who wasn't good enough. I guess there are varying strength in hollows," Ace mused, and looked at his arms and legs. He looked fine. But why had the literal crushing darkness felt so familiar? It was kind of disturbing. But then Ace saw the extent of Ichigo's injuries, and saw blood was seeping from his gut and dripping out his mouth. "Jeez. Where's Rukia? We're so reckless."

"I'm fine…" Ichigo said before he just passed out. Ace felt he'd stolen something away from him. It felt… bad. He'd just been wanting to get rid of it as fast as possible. That one wasn't too fun to fight, more like irritating and frustrating. At least he hadn't been the one to kill it. Though it would be better with it not in this world. He didn't hurt his friend's pride too bad. Before Ace had to pick up Ichigo's inner body… or something, Rukia came over.

Ace demanded, "Where the hell were you?" Even though she would have probably been useless with most of her power gone.

"He asked not to interfere." And Ace totally had. He was such a jerk. Kon came over in Ichigo's body, significantly less annoying as a human than stuffed animal, and the shinigami reentered his body.

Rukai worked to heal his major wound with her dwindling powers, but much of the other wounds remained. So when he woke up, he was in pain. Ace held his hand to his stomach, a familiar feeling coming from that too, even if he hadn't felt anything when he was stabbed. Lifting up his shirt, he saw there were many small stab wounds. But none too big. And there were no scars on his back, so he'd never been runthrough before.

"Karin and Yuzu saw both of us, Rukia," Ace told her.

"I'll work on it as soon as possible," she said. Ace helped Ichigo up, but he could walk on his own, his debilitating wounds gone. As they walked, the younger teen looked over at Ace.

"Are you alright?" he asked quietly, Rukia walking ahead of them with the stuffed animal Kon annoying her.

Ace looked up at the rainy sky. The rain dried on his body, light steam coming as the cold water landed on his bare skin. "I remembered some stuff." Ichigo stiffened. "My dad was executed before I was born, and my mom died during child birth. Even if I get all my memories back, I won't have any from them. I never knew them regardless," he explained. "Something in my mind told me I shouldn't remember. That it will hurt."

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't know them, I can't miss them. I worry about getting my memories back, though, if they'd hurt. Maybe I'll feel all the pain of my scars. That would suck ass."

"Then try not to remember," Ichigo insisted.

"I didn't try to. I touched your mom's grave, and they were less like memories more like facts about my previous life," Ace replied. "Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself first. We both weren't good enough to kill that hollow; we have to get stronger. Though I don't know how to get better.

"Unlike you, I can't go practice my abilities without people seeing me up in flames. You're mostly invisible in shinigami form," Ace complained. "I don't even know how I'd improve, to be honest."

"Could work on hand to hand. I kind of want to learn that, too."

"But you use a sword all the time. Hand to hand would be impossible if both hands are busy, you know," Ace pointed out.

"If I need to fight in my human body, it's not like I'll have a sword on hand then." Ace knew that was true, and agreed to teach him how he knew how to fight. Ichigo was able to do a lot of push ups with Ace on his back now, getting stronger in his human body and not just his shinigami one.

When they got back, Isshin was in front of the grave, and Ichigo went to it. Ace felt this would be a heartfelt moment, so Ace went to the girls. Rukia came up to him when he was out of sight from the men and girls. "I can't erase their memories of today. Karin was awake. She probably saw you. I've run out of energy used to erase memories." Ace rubbed his hands up his face and through his hair.

"Fine, fine," Ace said, and walked away from her, annoyed. He went to the girls, and asked how they were. Karin was looking at him with wide eyes, and Yuzu didn't remember how Karin got hurt.

"I told you, I was stupid and climbed a tree. I'm just lucky it didn't break," she huffed, lying completely. Maybe she didn't see, but the way she was looking at him was pretty obvious she saw fully. Ace just wasn't sure if she saw Ichigo as well. It would be nicer for only one of them to be weird and hard to explain than both.

Ace was lucky to be given an umbrella so he wasn't seen being rain-proof. They headed back to the car, and Ace knew it had been a very long day, and was ready to eat and then take a nap. He needed one.

-x-

Karin didn't speak to Ace about what she saw, but he wasn't dumb enough to think she hadn't seen. It was after work and after school, and after hunting hollows for three hours that Ichigo asked Ace to teach him to fight, hand to hand. While Ace had no idea who had taught him or why he needed it before, he felt he could teach okay.

"Okay, punch. Yeah, but punch hard."

"That's your instruction? Shouldn't you be going into more detail?" Ichigo asked in exasperation. Ace put his hand to his chin, trying to think. So he tried a different approach, and said he'd hit him, and then he'd hit back.

"No pain, no gain!" Ace said brightly. "Don't worry, I won't use haki."

"What the hell is haki?" Ichigo asked.

"What? What are you talking about?" Ace wondered, not knowing what he was talking about. Ichigo said it wasn't important, and agreed to being punched to learn. Ace did a combo, a punch in the gut and then a small spin, slamming the back of his fist into his side from the momentum. Ichigo grunted and held his side. "How was that?"

"Lemme try," Ichgo said, not seeming too bothered by the punches, though Ace tried not to go too hard. Ichigo punched him and then backhanded him with his fist. But Ichigo's hands went right through him in the attack. "Ugh, that will be a problem."

Karin came out, and sat on the porch. "Just get padding equipment. I already saw before. I won't tell anyone else." Ichigo and Ace shared a glance, and asked what she'd seen. "Ace caught on fire when fighting a monster." The eldest grew a bit worried, but he wasn't going to tell her she was crazy. Plus, she'd just seen it for a second time. "Boxing mitts should do."

So they went out and brought boxing mitts from the nearest department store. When they walked back through the house, Isshin asked where they'd gone. "Store so I can help Ichigo learn to fight better."

"There's no way he'll be stronger than me!"

"Sure, old man, keep telling yourself that fantasy." Isshin kicked at him, and Ichigo went down, but kicked back up. "Go to work, you idiot!"

"My son is so horrible! Yuzu, tell him he's mean!" Ace knew he only acted this way for the girls. Mainly Yuzu since Karin seemed to be annoyed by it often. Better than having a boring ass parent with no personality, though. So they went back to the small back yard, and closed the curtains.

They were able to practice this way. Ichigo wasn't hurt and Ace didn't turn intangible. Karin watched, and after Ichigo was taking a break, his hands and arms as well as his shins a bright pink, she asked if she could try. After all, she'd been watching, and learning how to fight could be useful. More than just plain kicks. Ace agreed, and she did well. Clearly not with as much force as her older brother, but she wasn't weak either.

After she was red, skin stinging, Ichigo came back. They did it for over two hours before the regular kids admitted they couldn't handle anymore. Karin kept rubbing her red areas, as they hurt. Ace put the boxing mitts in the tiny shed connected to the porch, and headed inside for a nap.

When dinner passed, and Ace was sketching in his sketchbook on the couch, Ichigo came from the room upstairs, and asked to speak in private. Ace closed the book and walked upstairs, wondering if there was any trouble. "What's wrong?"

"I think your memories are coming back." Ace was surprised. "You suddenly knew what the black metal on your hands were. Then you forgot you'd even said it." He sounded troubled.

"I did?"

"You called it 'haki'. Never heard of it before. Have you?"

"Not since I got here…" He didn't know how to feel. Apprehensive mostly, but also slightly excited to fill in the blanks. But what if it changed him as a person? He really did have mixed feelings. "Well, if it has a name, I guess that's good to know, right?" Ace said, trying to sound light hearted.

"I guess. It is more convenient," Ichigo agreed a bit reluctantly. Rukia came through the window, and her stomach growled. Ace wondered what she did when she wasn't with Ichigo. The orange haired went downstairs and got some food automatically. Ace laid on his bed and stared at the ceiling. Haki, huh? It was interesting, but at least this time it was something small and helpful.