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III

"Yo Urahara! So rare of you to look for us," Isshin's cheerful voice sounded through the woods as he stepped across a log.

Ryuuken followed silently behind, mentally rolling his eyes at Isshin's childish greeting. One would never think that Isshin was at least a few hundred years old. Especially when a forty-something-year-old guy seemed more matured than said few-hundred-year-old guy.

Urahara didn't reply as he normally did. Instead, he merely waved at the two of them and motioned for them to sit themselves on the two rocks that were near him. Ryuuken personally felt that it was too much of a coincidence for the three rocks to position like this but he didn't think it was the appropriate time to question Urahara about his antics. Not when he had such a serious and somber expression on that face.

"So, what mistake did you make again?" Ryuuken asked, straight to the point.

"I made an Arrancar a gigai," He paused, "An Espada,"

"WHAT!" Isshin thundered.

Of all sort of mistakes, why this? Ryuuken sighed. Hang on…

"Why would an Espada want a gigai?"

Isshin seemed to have paused in mid-scolding.

"That's why I made him one. I want to know what he wanted it for,"

"So I take it that he's the type who wouldn't tell even if you asked?" Urahara nodded at Ryuuken's question, "Then again, an Arrancar probably wouldn't answer any question," Ryuuken mumbled the last part out.

"Exactly,"

"So, what are we here for?" Isshin asked, "There's something else that is bothering you isn't there. That's why Yoruichi isn't present here,"

Urahara lowered his head, "Correct. When I met the Espada, I realised that I have been sensing his reiatsu fairly often in Karakura,"

"Information gathering," Ryuuken provided an explanation.

Urahara shook his head, "He's not that type. Besides, his reiatsu only kept appearing in one area," He let out a frustrated growl, "The thing is, I couldn't pinpoint where his reiatsu always appear,"

"Well, what's done is done," Ryuuken said in an effort to comfort Urahara, "So now that you have handed him a gigai, you'll need us to help to keep track of him, don't you?"

Urahara nodded and reached into his sleeves, pulling out two photos, "These are the pictures of the gigai I gave to him. You guys can take one each,"

Ryuuken looked at it and frowned. He turned to Isshin who had gone strangely quiet halfway into their conversation. Isshin was staring at the photo with a closed, unreadable expression.

Ryuuken cleared his throat a little, "Actually, I bumped into him earlier. Couldn't even tell that he was an Arrancar, much less an Espada. You really outdid yourself this time, Urahara. Though it might not have been a good thing,"

"You saw him? What was he doing?"

"Actually," Ryuuken glanced at Isshin before continuing, "He was with Kurosaki…-san. Kurosaki Ichigo,"

Urahara almost gaped, "What? What are they doing? They aren't…killing each other?"

"Far from that. The Espada's arm was actually around Kurosaki-san's neck in a very…friendly way," Ryuuken pushed his glasses up his nose as he continued, "And Kurosaki-san seemed to be allowing him to do so,"

Noting that the photo in Isshin's hand was crinkling a little due to Isshin's grip, he asked the question that was also on Urahara's mind, "Maybe Isshin can fill us in?"

"The Espada, not sure his name - "

"Grimmjow JeagerJaques," Urahara provided helpfully.

"Grimmjow then. He has been coming over to our place for a while now,"

"What!" This time it was Ryuuken who verbally expressed his shock.

"You let him do so freely?" Urahara's eyes narrowed a little.

"Don't really have a choice, do I?" Isshin laughed bitterly, "Not as if I could suddenly reveal that I'm a Shinigami and just kicked his ass out of Ichigo's room,"

"Wait, did you just implied that he was always in Ichigo's room?" Ryuuken paused a little to think, "Did he entered by the front door or…?"

"Never. He used to appear straight in Ichigo's room but lately, especially after the other Shinigamis had taken to using Ichigo's room as a meeting place, he would appear from somewhere else and enter through Ichigo's window,"

"Seemed like he doesn't want to be caught at whatever business he have with Kurosaki-san," Urahara observed.

"That's not all, is it Isshin?" Ryuuken asked when he saw Isshin's slightly pained expression.

Isshin sighed heavily, "They're...involved with each other,"

There was a stunned silence as both Urahara and Ryuuken processed and absorbed this information. From Isshin's cryptic words, they could guess that it was as bad as they had imagined.

Ryuuken took his glasses off and rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly, "So what do we do now?" He broke the silence.

"There isn't anything much we can do. Just observe them more and try to avert any…disasters from happening. So - "

Urahara was cut off by the shrill ringing from Isshin's phone. Isshin at least looked apologetic.

"It's probably Yuzu," He told them when he saw the number on his phone, "Give me a minute,"

"Hello? Otou-san?" Yuzu's voice came clearly.

"Yuzu-chan! Did you miss Daddy so much!" Isshin said in his fake childish voice.

Ryuuken almost snorted aloud. Almost.

"Shut it, old man," Karin was on the phone now, "We have something important to tell you,"

From the background, Isshin could hear Yuzu's weak protest at Karin taking the phone away.

"What is it then? Has Yuzu-chan gotten a crush?"

"Otou-san!" Yuzu's voice sounded embarrassed.

"Worse, we - " Karin stopped in mid-sentence, "Okay, I think that Ichi-nii gotten a boyfriend. They're out on a date right now,"

Isshin visibly froze at that.

"And Yuzu invited him over for dinner," Karin growled, "Which he accepted,"

Isshin forced himself to speak, "My dear son has grown up! Oh! Daddy is so happy! Daddy shall personally cook dinner for our guest! Any suggestion from my two dear daughters?"

"Just cook whatever you like. And you might want to hurry back to start your preparations. Knowing you, you'll probably weep over okaa-san's portrait for a long time," Karin hung up the phone.

"Well, your daughter seemed to know you pretty well," Ryuuken said dryly.

"He's going to come over for dinner," Isshin repeated numbly.

"Yes, so we heard. Now, get your groceries, get home and start preparing for his arrival. Urahara and I will do the necessary…stalking," Ryuuken sniffed slightly at the last word.

Urahara nodded his agreement, "Well then gentlemen. We'll meet tomorrow back here to collate our observations," Urahara waved them off.

"Oi Ichi,"

"What?" Ichigo replied irritably.

"You're angry?"

"What do you think?" Without waiting for Grimmjow's reply, Ichigo launched into a fit, "YOU just appeared in my house, talked to my sisters, invited yourself over for dinner and just pulled ME out for no reason! Not to mention your gigai! Where the hell did you get it!"

"First of all, your sister invited me over for dinner. Secondly, I didn't pull you out for no reason. And thirdly, where else could I get a gigai? There's only one such distributor in Karakura, isn't there?"

The last sentence made Ichigo momentarily forgot his anger, "You got your gigai from Urahara?" He choked out.

Grimmjow shrugged noncommittally.

"Why would he give you a gigai? You were able to pay for it?"

"Nope, free of charge," Grimmjow laughed a little at Ichigo's expression, "Anyway, that's not important now. What is important is what you want to do now?"

Ichigo stared at Grimmjow, dumbfounded, "I thought you said you have a reason for dragging me out?" Ichigo said suspiciously.

"I do. So what do you want to do now?" Grimmjow repeated his question, blatantly avoiding Ichigo's question.

Ichigo growled at him. What the hell was he thinking when he pulled me out of the house! Scratch that. Was he even thinking?

"Let's go to the CDs shop," Ichigo said after a moment of hesitation.

"Lead the way,"

Bastard. Ichigo scowled.