Chapter 28

"It was a disaster." Isane complained to Rukia who had come in that morning to check in on the Kurosaki sister after the meeting. She had recounted to her the happening of the meeting in great detail and Rukia listened diligently before shaking her head.

"I can't believe they let Kurotsuchi-taichō near her in the first place." Rukia huffed

"Maybe it's because the fourth doesn't have the manpower to contain her. We're not a combat division." Isane sighed

"Then he couldn't have sent the ninth or the fifth as reinforcements or even just let Mashiro work." Rukia sighed. "This is all a mess."

"But... we made some break through. Karin remembers what happened at the twelfth division." She said

Rukia sighed. "Really?"

"Yeah. She's not saying much though. She fell right back to sleep." Isane sighed. "I'm just glad that she's here... safe. The things she said though... That was.. pretty hard core. Even the things she said to her own brother."

"... Karin has a deep dislike for her brother. Or rather, disdain to be more exact." Rukia admitted. "Karin had to grow up pretty quickly with a hundred things happening around her with no one offering her a good explanation to it. She's fed up with everyone and everything and I can't blame her."

Isane hummed in agreement. "I need to get her a psychiatric evaluation because this is definitely not good for her,"

"True. If your morality is getting questioned by a child, it does look bad." Rukia said. "Soul Society isn't perfect. It doesn't make the most sense but... we're trying."

Isane sighed. "Sometimes, I wish even that were true. I feel like we were conditioned to believe that. The system will never be perfect but something went very wrong in Soul Society."

"I think everyone knows that." They turned to the new voice in the room and it was Mashiro hopping over as if she was not in a coma a few minutes ago.

"Mashiro!" Isane scolded

"Ya-ho!" She grinned, putting up peace sign with her fingers by her eye.

"I... we thought you were still..." Rukia stared at the older woman who simply shimmied around and stretched in circles like the duracell bunny.

"I just woke up! My arms and my legs hurt but I'm hungry and I'm over energised and I don't know what to do with this energy." She giggled.

"I'm glad you're awake but get back to bed!" Isane reprimanded like she was speaking to a child.

"Hmm... no!" She grinned and Isane frowned at her.

"She really is like a child." Rukia commented as she watched the two bicker with Isane ultimately trying to drag her back.

"Come here!"

"Noooo!"

"I need to examine you!"

"But I'm hungry!"

"I'll give you food!"

"Mashiro." The green haired woman stopped at Rukia's mention of her name. "Karin has been experiencing nose bleeds and coughing out blood. Do you have any idea if that is related to her zanpakutō?"

"Ah. I used to cough blood when I was younger when I would overwork myself." Mashiro said

"What about nose bleeds?" Rukia asked and Mashiro shrugged.

"Wait... what exactly happened while I was asleep?" Mashiro asked and Isane and Rukia looked at each other then back at the crazy lady.

Orihime didn't know why she had come. She was at Ichigo's aunt's house just waiting for them to come back. Kūkaku complained that they were turning her house into a motel for free. Orihime saw her point because she was doing absolutely nothing. Chad was with Rukia and Ichigo and Tatsuki was locked away in a room looking through those samples. She wished she could be of much help... she really wanted to be helpful at the very least. She tried talking to Ichigo's little cousin — she didn't understand why she was there though — but she retreated to her room silently.

Orihime stood up after she heard the door open and it was Sado "What happened?" She asked. "Where's Ichigo and Rukia?"

"Karin had an epileptic attack and the trial had to stop... especially considering that one of the captains lied apparently about a crime he claimed she committed." Chad said

"Oh no! Is Karin okay?" Orihime asked.

"It's hard to tell. She's... alive though." Chad said, as if that was any consolation. "Kuchiki-san is at the fourth with Yuzu and her cousin. Ichigo is... somewhere." Sado sighed.

Orihime was confused. "But her cousin is here."

"The other one." Sado clarified before knocking on the door to the where the girls slept and the small girl opened the door. "Mayaka-chan, are you okay?" She nodded. "Do you want to be with your sister?" She nodded again. "They're at the fourth." She slipped past and zoomed out the door

"Does she... know where she's going?" Orihime asked as she watched the girl leave.

"Yeah..." Sado shrugged. "She's smart."

"You know her?" Orihime asked.

"I've met them a couple of times." Sado explained. "They used to come and stay with the twins over the summer."

"Oh." Orihime sighed. "I guess I knew nothing about him, huh?"

"It was barely important." Sado said before sitting down. "Are you holding up okay?"

"Useless as usual." Orihime smiled and Sado raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't look at me like that." Sado frowned. "Neh! Neh! Say something." He sucked his teeth. "Sado-kun."

"I'm not saying anything." He said and Orihime pouted.

"Stingy." She muttered, pulling her legs to her chest.

"I'm glad you came." He said. "I'm sure Ichigo appreciates it too."

She smiled. "I hope so. All of you are my friends and I care about you. So if you guys suffer then it makes me sad."

"It's very thoughtful." He said. "You're doing a lot better now." Orihime frowned and Sado caught this. "No?"

"... I'm trying." She said with a small smile. "It's hard but I'm getting there. I want to be able to be more... assertive."

"But so far, it looks like you're doing pretty well." She smiled. "Tatsuki told me you took up boxing."

"It's a fun pastime." He shrugged

"I can't imagine you willingly beating the snot out of someone." She said

"It's nice when people know what they've signed up for." He said. "I wouldn't willingly hurt others."

"I know that." She said. "I'm just surprised is all... When do you find time to do all that stuff between your job and playing bass with friends?"

"I just... do what I enjoy." He shrugged

"Nice." She nodded. "I'm also glad you're doing great. You've been really great to talk to sometimes when things get overwhelming so I appreciate what you do for me a lot and I can only hope you're taking good care of yourself as well."

"I am. Don't worry." He nodded. "You don't call very often anymore so I'm assuming things are fine."

"I just don't want to bother you too much." She said

"My line is always open." He offered

"I know that." She giggled. "I can never forget. I was actually going to send you a potted plant for Christmas to say thanks."

Sado looked confused. "A potted plant?" She nodded enthusiastically. "Why?"

"Because potted plants are cute and you like cute things." Orihime smiled. "I have a bunch of plants growing in my place so I can spare one."

"I don't think I can rear a plant." He shook his head

"You're very delicate with things so I think you'd actually nurture it." She giggled. "I have a mango sapling that's growing really well and I even named it Makoto because of how cute it is."

Sado looked amused. "You sound like a proud mom."

"I have such high hopes for it." She giggled. "He's going to become a lawyer someday." Sado laughed before shaking his head. "You're laughing."

"You're not very funny. Just strange." He claimed

"It's part of my charm." She shrugged.

"Well, Ishida must be very charmed then." Orihime frowned at him. He always had a way of slipping him in somewhere whenever they talked..

"I see..." She huffed before putting her knees to the side. Sado noticed her hesitance and sighed.

"Inoue-san—"

"Sado-kun, we're friends." She said

"... I'm just concerned about how you always try to dodge the question about you and Ishida as if you're not engaged." He said and Orihime sighed.

"There's nothing to say. He's good. I'm good." She said

"... I'm asking from a 'I'd like to catch up perspective'." Chad clarified

"... Ichigo was right." Orihime said. "Marriage isn't something you stuff rush into or a commitment you make blindly. I'm glad we ended things when we did... I don't know how I would want that."

"... Ended things with who?" Chad asked. Orihime knew she was confusing him. She was confusing herself. "Sorry for prying. I'm being inconsiderate."

Orihime glowered. "I know you're only concerned but... I'm working on things. I promise." Considering she could never tell what he was emoting, when he nodded, Orihime sighed with relief at it. They turned as the door opened again and Ichigo entered. "Hey! Sado-kun told me what happened. Are you okay?"

"... I don't even know what to say." Ichigo sighed.

"If you don't want to talk about it, that's fine." She said. "Just take your time."

He nodded. "Tatsuki isn't out with you guys?"

"She's been barred in her room since morning." Orihime said. "I think she's working."

"I'll go check on her." Ichigo said before disappearing down the hall.

Ichigo had no idea what to expect when she walked into the room his aunt assigned to Orihime and Tatsuki. He was surprised to see her with a makeshft detective's board with the names of all the victims and information on their age and when they were first reported missing. "You should've become a detective." Ichigo commented and Tatsuki looked up and scoffed. "You would have been great at it."

"I wouldn't have lasted. I'm too hot headed." Tatsuki claimed, running a hand through her hair.

"At least you're self aware." Ichigo mocked her but the solemn look on her face didn't go away. He frowned. "That doesn't change the fact that you would have been great that the job."

"The police unit is one of the most useless and corrupt. My dad was one, remember?" Ichigo winced at the realisation that he brought up a very touchy subject. He had known since they were children... he felt guilty about forgetting.

"I'm sorry." Ichigo said

"Don't be." Tatsuki huffed. "We're up to 63 and there are still hundreds of markers. I don't know if we will can even track everyone considering that this is just from the bucket alone."

"Was Karin's markers in there?" Tatsuki shook her head. Ichigo sighed, trying to make sense of this.

"The youngest ones were 13 and 11... they're the ones that I identified first. Lived with their abusive mother who didn't care that they disappeared. The earliest one missing was February this year. It's December now." She said. Ichigo crouched over behind her to looked over her shoulder. "He suffered from depression and was a hikimori. In fact... it was possible he went missing much earlier."

"So whoever was helping Aizen has been doing this for a while." He said.

"And all their cases were shelved due to lack of evidence. Then they'll be tossed once the statute of limitation passes... or once they believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are dead." She sighed. "And no one even bothered to look. I was in that police station since April, Ichigo and nothing happened. There were children and no one bothered to look."

"It's not your fault, okay?" Ichigo sighed. "You said it yourself, you're only job is to do things people tell you to. This isn't on you. No one put any effort to finding them." Tatsuki turned around to face him.

"I couldn't have even gotten this far without Kakeru." Tatsuki admitted and Ichigo frowned at that. It's not that he didn't like Kakeru... he just didn't trust Kakeru with valid reason. It was suspicious that a senior cop was going against protocol to help an intern who had just arrived with very little reason. Why was he not doing anything about missing person's cases in the first place? "Anything wrong?" Tatsuki noticed the scowl on his face.

"Nothing." He shook his head.

"How's Karin?" Tatsuki asked. "Did you..."

"Yeah, they didn't touch her." Ichigo said.

"Good." Tatsuki nodded. "They're dumb. You should have hurt them."

"Are you condoning violence?" Ichigo joked.

"When did I give you the impression I don't?" Tatsuki mocked him and he chuckled but he sighed. "You don't look so good."

"She... said somethings and... they really got to me." Ichigo cleared his throat.

"What did she say?" She asked

"Those aren't... things you can repeat, dude." He huffed. "I have to find him, Tatsuki. I can't let him get away this time."

Tatsuki gave him that look. It was the half skeptical half concerned look. All because she knew him and knew that whatever was said to him bothered him to his core. It hurt to hear Karin say every word. But then it made sense. Karin spoke less to him as she got older. Yuzu claimed that it was normal and that she didn't really talk much to people but he should have noticed that it wasn't normal because he wasn't people. He was her older brother. Despite the age gap, he should be someone she comes to when something is bothering her. She only confided in Yuzu and to some extent, Hitsugaya.

It pissed him off that he weasled his way into his family but it also felt like a punch to the gut that Karin was willing to depend on him long before her older brother came to mind.

"Ichigo... what did she say?" She asked again and he refused to speak. Tatsuki exhaled before picking up a file from the box. "One of the victims who went missing... her name was—is—" Tatsuki stopped herself. "Her name is Yokohama Chihiro."

"What about her?"

"Before she went missing, she worked as an escort." She mentioned. "She worked somewhere in Kabuki-chō."

"Girls go missing all the time if they're escorts." Ichigo brought up. It was sad but true. It was an extremely dangerous business to be involved in.

"I know..." She huffed. "But in a list of shut ins and unemployed people, she's the only one who is traceable. Pimps and recruiters keep tabs on their workers all the time and if they aren't the ones who made her go missing then possibly, they're looking for her too. Can we look into that when we get back?"

"We?" He asked

"Would you prefer I go alone?" She asked.

"Of course not, the fuck?" He asked incredulously.

"It was just a question, Deathberry-san." She teased him. "Or would you rather I take Kakeru?" Ichigo sucked his teeth at her and Tatsuki laughed. "I know you don't like him."

"I don't trust him." He corrected. "Why is he helping you on a whim?"

"Because he's a good guy." Ichigo raised an eyebrow at her.

"Even good men need reasons to believe something." Ichigo said. "Him blindly helping you bothers me because now I'm thinking he is helping you unconditionally because he would want something in return."

"And what would that be?" Tatsuki asked.

Ichigo shook his head. "I'm minding my business."

"Okay then Deathberry-san." She smacked his cheek playfully before standing up and offering him her hand. "I'm not an idiot, Ichigo. Trust me."

Ichigo took it and stood up. "Of course I trust you, I just don't trust him."

The door opened and a head poked inside. "Ichigo!" He was instantly tackled by the person to the floor. "My son! I'm so happy you're here!" Isshin cried and aside from being annoyed about how his father was embracing him, he was more so angry about his father being in Soul Society this entire time and doing absolutely nothing. "Neh... oyaji..." Ichigo's eye twitched in anger and the older man felt the anger radiating off of him in waves.

"Hmm?" Isshin pulled away and Ichigo glared at him

"Where the fuck have you been!" He threw the old man off of him and out the door, landing with a splat on the wall like a bug against the windshield.

Isshin quickly peeled himself off the wall as his son stood up. "Oi! Oi! I didn't know any of this was happening! I was off getting answers and next I hear-"

"That isn't an excuse, you old fart!" Ichigo chased after him angrily and Isshin cried, screaming for help as he ran out of the house with Ichigo hot on his tail, holding Zangetsu over his head to attack him. Tatsuki walked over with Chad and Orihime in tow to watch them from the door.

"Should we... help him?" Sado sweatdropped.

"I'm not getting involved." Tatsuki huffed before heading back to inside. "Orihime!"

"Tatsuki-chan?"

"Help me cut some pretty pictures." Tatsuki instructed

"Wah! I'm on it!" She excitedly followed her best friend back inside as Chad watched Ichigo finally tackle Isshin and pull at his hair.