Okay guys, I'm really sorry it took so long, I feel awful for lying to you wonderful people, I said the more reviews the faster I update, I get twenty reviews on the first day it was posted alone, and I repay you by waiting two months… I'm a terrible person. I had writer's block, then exams, then I went to New York, but I got it finished in New York and here it is for your reading enjoyment.

KURAI, AND ANYONE ELSE WITH THE SAME QUESTION: okay, I realize in the last chapter it may have sounded like the burn scar is all around his body, this is not the case. When a child is abused, they will have multiple markings on their body, not just one. So the bruising and scars are not just from one little burn. I hope that clears things up for you

Toshiro starred up at the older man in horror, this was not how it was supposed to happen! No one, especially Renji, was ever supposed to see him this way.

"What happened?" Renji asked, harsher this time. It wasn't the fact that Toshiro was not answering that angered the red-head, Renji's protective instinct was kicking in, and the fact that something, or someone, had hurt his friend that badly was what had him angry. Unfortunately, the poor boy knew only what he'd experienced and mistook the anger as being directed at him.

"Toshiro!" Renji wanted answers.

"It's nothing!" Toshiro yelled, "Nothing you need to worry about." Toshiro tried to get away, but it only caused the older boy to involuntarily tighten his grip.

"Nothing my ass! What's going on with you!"

"LET ME GO!" the child screamed.

"What's going on in there?" Ichigo's voice came from outside the door.

"Ichigo?" Toshiro's voice held almost a plea for help.

"Are you alright?" Ichigo asked while opening the door quickly. He saw Toshiro trying to get away from Renji, but the older male was gripping the child's wrist so tightly, it was guaranteed to leave a mark.

"Ichigo what's wrong with him?" Renji turned to the newcomer.

"Nothing!" Toshiro began struggling again, but Renji still would not let go. The boy was getting frantic and Ichigo could see that his captor wasn't going to release his hold. Thinking fast, Ichigo ran over and grabbed the pressure point in Renji's wrist. Immediately the man let go and Toshiro ran out. luckily, Chad could sleep through World War II and Uryu had gone downstairs.

"What do you think you were doing!" Ichigo screamed at his tattooed friend.

"I was mad. Look, Ichigo, someone hurt that kid, and I want to know who." Renji got defensive.

"So you're going to bruise him and shout at him until you get what you want?"

Renji opened his mouth to retaliate, but immediately closed it. "I didn't think about…"

"No you didn't, use your brain, Renji, or so help me."

"Alright! But seriously, what happened to him?"

"You'll have to apologize and ask him yourself." With that Ichigo left the room leaving Renji alone.

After Toshiro had gotten dressed he went downstairs to wait for everyone else. He sat on the couch and brought his knees up to his chest, in his mind, he kept replaying what just happened over and over. He was scarred, what if Ichigo broke his promise and told Renji? The latter was too much like Ikkaku for Toshiro to believe he'd be understanding and as accepting as Ichigo. Frustrated, he let out a groan.

"Hungry?" he heard Uryu's voice from the kitchen. The boy turned to him and slowly nodded his head. "Then come over here and I'll show you where everything is, when Yuzu's not here, we have to fend for ourselves."

"Yuzu is Ichigo's sister, correct?" Toshiro asked

"Correct, now come here and let me help you get your food." The child walked over and got a bagel and a bowl of cereal along with a glass of milk. He and Uryu both sat at the table, making light conversation, but Toshiro was too involved in his own mind to really talk to the other boy.

Ichigo came down the stairs followed by Renji and Chad. Renji made his way over to the table to where the others were and instead of getting breakfast walked right up to Toshiro.

"Hey, umm… could I talk to you?" the older asked awkwardly. Toshiro eyed him for a minute, then nodded his head.

"We can go up to Ichigo's room if you want to." Another nod. The two headed upstairs and immediately the younger plopped down on the bed. Renji went and sat next to him.

"I'm sorry." Renji began, "I didn't mean to loose control like that, did I hurt you?" Toshiro didn't say anything, but Renji could see the slight bruising on the boy's wrist from where he had grabbed him. "I'm really, really sorry, Toshiro."

"What did I do wrong?" the question caught the older male of guard.

"What did you do wrong!" Renji exclaimed. "You didn't' do anything wrong!"

"Then why…"

"Because I was stupid." He cut him off, "I saw some bruises, and scars, then I saw that nasty burn, I got angry because I didn't like the though of someone hurting my friend like that."

"Really?"

"Of course! I'm getting angry right now just thinking of whoever the son of a bitch it was who hurt you. You know you can always talk to me, or any of for that matter."

"You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." Toshiro looked up, those were the exact words Ichigo had used. "Who's been doing this to you, Toshiro?"

the boy hesitated, but figured that now Renji knew something was up, so what was the use in hiding it. "Ikari" he finally answered.

"Your father!" Renji was outraged.

"No, not my father, my mother's husband."

"Huh?" Renji was confused.

"My mother was married to Ikari when she was raped and…"

"She got pregnant with you, I'm guessing, and Ikari hates you because of your father."

"No, he hates me because I'm the reason for everything bad that has happened."

"He told you that, didn't he?"

"So what if he did! He didn't have to."

"You wouldn't have come up with that conclusion on your own otherwise!"

"It's true!"

"Like hell it is! Toshiro, you're not any kind of jinx, Ikari is the one who can't see the good out of your mom's situation, you're not the curse, you're the blessing."

"Some blessing," Toshiro snorted, "My mom can't even look at me without bursting into tears, and if you knew about the rest of my family, you'd think differently."

"Look at me." Renji ordered, and Toshiro complied. "No I wouldn't, you are my friend, and nothing bad has happened since you've become my friend, if anything, it's gotten better. Do you understand?"

The boy could only nod his head. Maybe he was wrong, maybe Renji could understand him to some extent, or at least he wasn't one to condemn him. Something was different about the group he'd befriended, and he was glad that there was.

"Thanks Renji." He whispered.

"So," Renji began, "Who else knows?"

"Out of our group, only you and Ichigo."

"I see…"

"Please don't tell anyone." The boy pleaded, "It wasn't something anyone was supposed to find out about.

Renji debated it for a while, if he made this promise, reporting it would be out of the question. But if he didn't promise, then he could shatter any bit of trust he had with the boy.

"What about the police?" Renji asked.

"No!" Toshiro exclaimed. "Ikari knows most of the police in the town, mainly because of my brothers, he can talk himself out of most anything with them. He's done well at keeping my existence a secret from them, plus, because he's had to be around them so much thanks to my brothers, he knows dirt on almost all of them. He could blackmail them in order to get himself out of trouble."

"That Ikari really is one big son of a bitch." Renji cursed. "Alright I understand, I won't tell anyone."

"Thank you."

Ichigo watched the two boys go upstairs. Please Renji, he thought, don't do anything stupid.

"What's up with them?" Uryu asked.

"Oh, there's just something… unresolved between those two." Ichigo answered.

"As in… relationshiply unresolved?" Uryu wondered.

"No!" Ichigo yelled, "As in, an issue between them, ummm, Renji did something to Toshiro, and well, they're trying to smooth everything out." Explaining their predicament while trying to keep Toshiro's secret proved harder than the teen originally thought.

Uryu, however, could see that there was something his friend wasn't telling him, but he trusted Ichigo's reasons and didn't push the matter. "So what are we going to do today?" he asked.

"I don't know," Ichigo answered, "we're boy's, we don't plan."

"Sometimes we do." Chad spoke up.

"Yeah for things we have to, like seeing a movies and stuff like that."

"Alright, alright." Uryu calmed him down, "You know I like to have some semblance of order, but it's fine if we don't."

"They've been up there for a while." Chad observed.

"Must have been some issue." Uryu glanced at Ichigo in time to see nervousness pass his face.

"Toshiro's much quieter and more reserved than Renji, I wonder what they're talking about." Chad wondered.

"Well whatever it is it's none of our business." Ichigo exclaimed.

Uryu looked at him incredulously. "Oh you who makes it your business to make everyone else's business your business, you're saying we shouldn't make this business our business?"

"Not this." Ichigo muttered.

At that moment, Toshiro and Renji came down the stairs. Ichigo was relieved to see no anger or tears between them, but rather a look of better understanding.

Once they reached the bottom of the stairs Toshiro went back to eating his breakfast, and Renji went and sat on the couch in the living room. After what he found out, he didn't feel much like eating.

As he sat there, Uryu went over and sat next to his friend. "So what's up?" he asked.

"Nothing much." The red head responded.

"I meant with you and Toshiro." The four eyed boy clarified.

"N-nothing." He stuttered. "We were just talking about….ummm, he's taken an interest in girls and wanted advice." He scratched the back of his head.

"You've always been a terrible liar." Uryu laughed.

Renji didn't laugh back. "If you're meant to know, then you'll know, but you won't find out through me." Here he went silent.

Whatever they were talking about must have really gotten to him. Uryu thought as he studied his friend. He decided to drop the matter, he knew when to stop unlike Ichigo. However, the raven-haired teen couldn't help but feel left out, he knew there was something going on, but he didn't know what. Ichigo knew, as did Renji, even Rukia was starting to act off when she was around Toshiro. Uryu wondered what was going on and how many people knew, but he wouldn't allow himself to pry.

"Earth to Uryu!" the teen was startled out of his thoughts by Ichigo, who was snapping his fingers in the teen's face. "You okay, buddy?" he asked, "You kind of spaced out there."

"I'm just fine." Uryu muttered.

"We're going to the park." Ichigo informed the group. "We can through the football or kick the soccer ball or whatever, I just need to do something active."

"Are the girls coming?" Renji asked a bit too hopefully.

"It's Saturday." Chad replied and all of the boys shared a knowing look.

"What happens on Saturday?" Toshiro asked, confused.

"Rangiku's special shopping day, Saturday's have lot's of sales." Uryu explained. Toshiro's head nodded in comprehension, well kind of, he would never fully understand females.

"Let's go!" Ichigo shouted as he headed out the door.

"He rushes into things so fast." Chad muttered.

"It wouldn't be Ichigo if he didn't." Renji laughed.

"That's true." Uryu agreed. "We should go before he leaves us." All of the boys went after Ichigo and headed to the park. When they arrived, they were surprised to find the girls, including Rangiku, already there with a picnic basket and a few park toys such as kites and Frisbees.

"Well what do ya know." Renji remarked, "No shopping after all."

Rangiku shrugged. "I felt like a change." Was her only explanation.

"So, what'd you guys pack?" the red-head asked.

"Renji! We just had breakfast." Ichigo stated.

"I didn't."

"Too bad!"

"Come on boys; let's throw the Frisbee a bit." Orihime suggested. They did and had fun making up weird rules to the once simple game.

After a while Rukia suggested that the eat their lunch and everyone agreed, but none as adamantly as Renji. In the basket, there was, for each person: a sandwich, pickles, chips, and a slice of watermelon each.

"How'd you know to pack for all of us?" Chad asked.

Rukia winked at Ichigo, "Just a hunch."

Toshiro ate his lunch happily, especially the watermelon, after taking a juicy bite he was instantly lost in his own memories.

A knock was heard at the door, and a young girl with brown hair put into two pigtails opened the door. "Shiro-chan!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

Toshiro just looked up at her, then looked away. "Can I stay here for a while, Momo?"

"Of, course!" she exclaimed. "You're always welcome here." He stepped inside.

"Thanks, Bed-wetter." He muttered.

"Oba-san! Shiro-chan's here!" she yelled pretending not to hear the bed-wetter comment. "Oba-san just cut up some watermelon slices, you want to go in the back and eat some?"

"Watermelon?" Toshiro asked.

"Oh, Shiro! You can't tell me you've never had watermelon before!" Toshiro shook his head.

"Stop calling me Shiro, or Shiro-chan! Call me Toshiro." The boy stated.

"Oh, you can forget about that until we get you some watermelon."

"Whatever." The brunette dragged him onto the back yard where big semi-circles of the red delicious fruit sat waiting on a table.

"Grab on and come sit next to me." She said after she had gotten her own and had sat on the steps of the back porch. Toshiro did as he was told, then he hesitantly took a bite of the fruit. It was delicious! The boy couldn't remember when he'd tasted something so good. He instantly dubbed it his favorite food.

He was brought out of his revelation by a strange spitting noise. He looked over to see Momo spitting something small and black, which he knew to be the seeds of the fruit, out of her mouth. And after she spat, she grumbled something about never being able to hit the target.

"What are you grumbling about?" Toshiro asked.

"I'm spitting the watermelon seeds at that can over there." He looked, and sure enough, there was a can sitting on top of the fence. "But no matter how many times I try, I can't hit it!"

Toshiro looked at the can. It didn't look that far away, so he decided to try his luck. He got a seed in his mouth and then in his mind judged the distance between himself and the can, and how much pressure it would take to knock it down. After that was done there was nothing left but to aim and shoot. The seed shot out of his mouth and hit the can dead on, knocking it over. Momo could only stare at him. "I've been trying to do that for ages!" she exclaimed. Toshiro merely shrugged his shoulders. "You really are something, Shiro-chan."

Lalulweeb914, I hope putting the watermelon scene in here will help with my apology of letting it go so long, plus it was an awesome idea and I think it worked well in here.

As always please review, and I will try this time not to get writer's block….