A/N: This takes place at an indeterminate time. Even I, the author, do not know where it fits into the Bleach continuity. Before Soul Society? After Soul Society? Alternate Universe? Who knows! But I hope you can enjoy it anyway.

Also, in this story, Ishida's place of residence is described. I have only seen the anime and read parts of the first volume of the manga, so please disregard any inaccuracies in my portrayal of his residency and home life. And I apologize if Ichigo's a bit out of character – he's a little hard to write.

Absence

By Cradlerobber Speedo-kun

The air smelled coolly of spring. Buds hung heavy on plant stems, and a few solitary birds took wing with light chirps, but there was still a hint of chill to the air. The sun hung in a slowly sinking fashion – it was late afternoon. And Kurosaki Ichigo found himself outside of an unfamiliar apartment building, scowling up at it.

Ishida Uryuu hadn't shown up at school in over a week. And even though Ichigo still found himself slightly irritated with the Quincy's existence, he had volunteered to bring the stack of get-well cards and homework assignments that had been gathering on Ishida's desk in the intervening time. It was only afterwards that he realized he did not know where it was that Ishida lived. Somehow Rukia had realized this, and called him stupid for being too stubborn to ask, before telling him where he could find Ishida.

So here he was now, making sour faces at the smallish apartment complex in front of him. It bordered the river, and appeared to have been a Shinto temple in its younger days. Two extra floors had been added on, giving the building an odd countenance, and the gates had been transformed to function as a front hall of sorts for the building.

He passed easily enough through these gates, scrutinizing the crooked mailboxes that inhabited the ground just beyond it. Mailbox number five bore Ishida's name, and Ichigo set off towards the building itself. Apartments one through seven were to the left, while apartments eight through thirteen were to the right. Apartments above that number were on the second or third story of the building. Ichigo set off to the left.

By the time Ichigo found Ishida's apartment, he was slightly annoyed. For some unfathomable reason, apartment five was located not between numbers four and six, but off a little to the back and sticking out oddly in what must've been an addition to the building some fifty or so years prior. He pounded on the door irritatedly, frowning while he waited for someone to respond.

The door opened, but it was not Ishida there. It was a woman near the ends of her middle-aged years, and Ichigo suddenly flushed, figuring he must've somehow gotten the wrong apartment, "Uh, I'm sorry, I was looking for Ishida Uryuu… mailboxes must be wrong, said he was in apartment five." He began to turn away, but the woman spoke, "Oh, no, he does live here. I'm Hirabashi Ichigo (1), his aunt. Come in."

She took a step back into the interior of the apartment, and Ichigo stepped in, introducing himself as he did, "I'm a classmate of his, Kurosaki Ichigo. The teacher sent me with work he's missed." The woman cast him an odd look, "Ichigo? A coincidence, but I never thought of it as a male name…"

Ichigo scowled, "It isn't as in strawberry, it's 'Ichi' and then…" The woman merely waved her hand, cutting him off, "No, I figured as such anyway." Her facial expression changed, now looking more worried than anything, "I am glad that you have come though; I'm not sure what is wrong, but dear Uryuu's been acting odd. He hasn't come downstairs since last week… And he really hasn't been eating either."

She turned and began to walk towards the back of the apartment, and Ichigo followed, assuming that she was leading him to Ishida's room. She opened the door to what seemed to be a closet, however, and began to mount stairs the lay beyond the door. She turned back to Ichigo before reaching the top of the stairs, and smiled slightly at his confused facial expression, "Oh, I'm the land lady… so we get the two floor apartment. It certainly has its perks." (2) Ichigo merely nodded and followed her up the stairs.

"Uryuu, one of your classmates is here to see you. He said he was Kurosaki Ichigo." Ichigo could hear Hibarashi saying. He turned the corner at the top of the stairs and saw her standing with the door to a room slightly open. But he heard no reply from Ishida. Regardless, he moved towards the room. Hibarashi turned back to him, "I'll leave you with him." She sighed, "Maybe he'll talk to you…"

She was swiftly gone, and Ichigo opened the door further and uneasily entered the room. Ishida was sitting up in bed, rigid back resting against the headboard of his European-style wrought-iron frame bed. His sheets were white, as were his pajamas, save for the dark blue trimming on the edges of the pajamas. The room itself was a very pale blue, almost white. The window was open, and wispy white curtains fluttered slightly with the light breeze. Ishida didn't look up to acknowledge Ichigo's presence; instead, he remained looking straight ahead and with a blank sort of expression on his face.

A chair sat at a small desk next to the door, and Ichigo took this, pulled it closer to the bed, and sat down, "You gonna say something or not, Ishida?" Still no response, and Ichigo now scowled, "What, I come all the way here and you're now just gonna sit there looking like a Hollow's eaten your soul? Do you think looking for your apartment was top on my list of fun things to do?" Ishida cast his eyes in Ichigo's direction, but didn't give a verbal response, only shrugging in a barely perceptible manner.

Feeling frustrated, Ichigo opened his schoolbag, and proceeded to dump all of its contents onto the bed. "Well, good luck with the work, and don't expect me to help you with any of it. Nice seeing you too, ass." He began to stand to leave, but Ishida's voice suddenly made its presence known, "She's sensei's daughter-in-law." Ichigo sank back down into the chair, "Oh."

An uncomfortable silence fell, and Ichigo awkwardly picked at the button on his school uniform shirt. Ishida resumed his blank staring at the wall. Ichigo cleared his throat, "So, have you been sick or something?"

"No." Ishida said flatly.

"You haven't been to school in over a week." Ichigo reminded him helpfully.

"Haven't felt like it."

Ichigo stared. It didn't seem very Ishida-like to just not do something because he didn't feel inclined to. "So you haven't been in school just because you haven't felt like it?"

Ishida merely gave a vague nod, and lapsed back into his silence. Ichigo frowned, "That's bullshit." Ishida gave him a very slight look, and Ichigo frowned more deeply, "So care to explain why you haven't been downstairs in a while, and why you've seemingly gone on a diet?"

"Haven't felt like it."

"And you haven't eaten…?"

"Don't feel like it."

"That's ridiculous - you're such an ass. Not eating or leaving your room just because you don't feel like it? What do you think this is, some weird world in which everything revolves around what you feel like doing at the moment?" Ichigo raised his voice, anger tainting his remarks.

A slight sigh now from Ishida, "I'm not so arrogant as that, Kurosaki."

"Then what in the hell is wrong with you?"

"Just don't feel like moving."

"I already told you how stupid of a reason that is, you dipshit!" Ichigo stood up in his anger, raising his fist not in order to strike Ishida, but to emphasize his anger at Ishida's passive responses. But Ishida shut his eyes, as if expecting a fist to come his way. But he didn't cringe. No, Ishida would never be the one to cringe.

Ichigo collapsed back into the chair once again, and his fist uncurled and fell back by his side. Ishida opened his eyes after having not felt an impact of a fist. He looked at Ichigo, turning his head to do so in the first physical major physical movement since Ichigo had entered the room. His eyes reminded Ichigo of the pretty colored stones that Ichigo's mother had collected during her life – his eyes were an intense shade of dark blue, but they were far too cold. Ichigo heard himself saying something, but it sounded miles away and he couldn't even feel his lips moving to say it, "What's wrong…?"

"You just don't get it." Ishida said, monotony still present in his voice but with an edge of frustration to it. His left hand emerged from the folds of his sheets, and grasped Ichigo's chin. Ichigo's heart gave a bit of a nervous start, the further movement from Ishida taking him off guard.

And then he was being kissed. His eyes widened as his brain slowly comprehended the odd situation occurring. Ishida Uryuu, hater of shinigami and the last of the Quincy's, was kissing him. Ishida broke it off before Ichigo's brain could manage to think of a reaction to the occurrence, and Ishida looked at him. Ichigo stood up, face flushed, and almost upended the chair in his haste. He grabbed wildly at his schoolbag, "I… I have to go. My father's crazy… have to be home by seven…"

He was gone quickly. Ishida gazed at the empty chair, and then the clock that read 4:51. The door was yawning wide open, and he got up, quietly closing the door before returning to his bed. He lay down and rolled onto his side, letting his eyelids fall shut.

At least he could get some more sleep now.

- - -

(1) I just thought it'd be a bit funny if Ishida's guardian had the same first name as Ichigo (well, no, not exactly the same – phonetically the same, but not written the same – but we'll use the term same for lack of a better word).

(2) I figured that if she's the landlady she gets more space than those mere renters. : P