Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

It was decided, after much arguing, that Ichigo would stay with Kuchiki-taichou until the war was over—much to the chagrin of the sixth squad captain. Ichigo hesitantly followed the stoic captain out of the door and towards his office. "I have work to do, so you will sit quietly and be as little of an annoyance as possible." Ichigo nodded his head in understanding when Byakuya looked over at him. "You are not to leave my sight," He added as he pointed toward a small couch in the corner where Ichigo assumed he was supposed to sit.

Ichigo nodded in understanding and walked quietly over to the soft green couch to lie down, pointedly ignoring the red headed lieutenant who was glaring daggers into the back of his head.

Ichigo stood in the center of the room, his tears had long dried up and now he was listening to the bickering around him. "Ichigo should stay with me," Shinji stated for the hundredth time, pulling the child into to his chest, "He needs a familiar face."

Kensei snorted, "He also needs someone who is stable enough to care for him. You can barely take care of yourself."

"He needs someone who will keep an eye on him," Soi Fon interjected, "Someone who has no feelings for him."

Mayuri raised a finger, "I believe the boy would do well under my watch. I'd love to dissect him."

Kensei was about to interject, his lips already curled into a snarl, when Yamamoto shouted out, "Enough!" Silence fell on the crowd as they waited for him to speak again. "The young enemy, Ichigo, will be put into the custody of Kuchiki Byakuya until this war is over. If the boy should display any attempt at escape or treason against the Seireitei, Kuchiki-taichou has permission to execute him should he feel the need arises." He turns to Byakuya, "I trust you will use your judgment wisely."

Byakuya nodded and walked over to the boy still standing awkwardly in Shinji's arms, nodding to the blonde in a rare display of reassurance.

Ichigo had been quiet for the last few hours—thankfully. Surprisingly, this wasn't the first child Byakuya had watched so he knew exactly how irritating they could be. Ichigo had spent the morning sitting quietly on the couch reading various books from Byakuya's vast collection. Soon, Byakuya noticed that Ichigo had retired to the far corner of the couch and was resting his head against a pillow. Byakuya smiled slightly, nothing more than an upturn of his lip, and returned to his work. Soon though, Ichigo raised his head and looked over to the tall captain for a moment before lying back down. Byakuya ignored this odd behavior at first but after ten minutes of this he began to get concerned. He stood up from his desk and walked over to the boy who sat up when he heard Byakuya's footsteps.

"What are you waiting for, child?"

Ichigo cocked his head to the right and stared up at him, "What are you talking about Kuchiki-taichou?" He asked.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes, "You have been staring at me. Is something supposed to happen?"

Ichigo's eyes widened, "I didn't mean to worry you, Kuchiki-taichou. I just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't disappear."

Byakuya's eyes softened, "Why would I disappear?"

Ichigo shrugs nonchalantly, "Everyone else does."

The captain sighed and sat down next to the orange haired child. "I'm not going to disappear, Ichigo. You can be sure of that."

The boy gave him a hesitant smile and nodded.

"Ichigo," Isshin said tiredly, "Come here please."

A nine year old Ichigo walked over to his father and stood in front of him, tears in his eyes, "Mommy's coming back, right Oto-san?" He asked, pulling at a loose piece of fabric on his shirt.

Isshin sighed sadly, "No son, she's not."

Ichigo nodded and slowly fell to his knees, "Why did she have to disappear?"

Isshin shook his head, "I don't know kiddo. I don't know."

Ichigo looks up suddenly, realization spread across his face, "What if you disappear too, Oto-san? What will happen then?"

He gave his son a sad look, "I'm not going anywhere. I promise you that." The little boy nodded hesitantly and allowed a small smile to spread across his face. "Ahh, that's the smile I needed to see. Thank you, Ichigo."

A loud explosion sounded outside of the sixth division barracks causing Byakuya's eyes to widen in shock. Byakuya stepped away from the boy and grabbed his sword from his desk. "Stay here," He commanded, pointing to a wide-eyed Ichigo as he half-ran out of the room. It took exactly three seconds for Ichigo to realize Byakuya had left and exactly two more to grab his sword from where it was resting by the door and run out after the sixth division captain.

The two flashstepped to the first division where Urahara stood with Tessai and the rest of his army stood. Most, Ichigo noted, looked worse for wear and were sporting some pretty serious injuries. He could see the braid lady captain watch them in worry and they all wearily raised their weapons.

Urahara raised his left arm and said something in another tongue that was unfamiliar to the Shinigami though Ichigo knew quite well. They had all learned Urahara's commands quickly when they first became his unwilling soldiers in his self-proclaimed war. It was the sign for attack and leave no survivors.

"You all will listen well to what I have to say," Urahara began as he paced back and forth across the large podium he was standing on. "It has come to my attention that some of you think these signals that I am teaching you are a waste of your time but when the day comes, knowing these signals will mean the difference between life and death for you. Understand?" There were nervous nods throughout the room as a grin grew on his face. "Ichigo," He barked.

He made a silent hand gesture and Ichigo flashstepped to his side. Urahara made a verbal command and Ichigo flashstepped to the right twenty yards. He made another command and Ichigo stepped up behind a sleeping boy. The shopkeeper made one final command and, with a pained look, Ichigo swung his sword down to meet the sleeping boy's neck in a quick fashion.

Urahara chuckled, "If you had been paying attention today you would've understood everything Ichigo has demonstrated."

"Getsuga Tensho!"

The wall of red and black reiatsu sprung up faster than any of the shinigami could react. A small orange blur sped around the captains and over the fading attack. The sound of clashing swords returned the crowd's focus as the tiny intruder attacked his mentor.

"Ichigo!" Kensei yelled, about to interfere on the fight only to be stopped by Tessai's blade.

The other children, though hesitant, began to attack the other captains and lieutenants that had responded to the explosion.

Shinji had just knocked a small blonde girl to the ground when he saw Urahara's Benihime rip through Ichigo's stomach, his cry resounding off of the walls causing more than a few of the children to pause in their attacks. Though Ichigo was the youngest of them all, he had easily become respected and admired by the other shinigami children. And now, it seemed, their hero had fallen for the last time.

A tall brunette boy strode between the panting youngsters to the tiny orange haired boy leaning quietly against the wall. The other children fell to a hush as the larger boy advanced.

"You kicked my ass."

Ichigo nodded. "Sorry."

The boy frowned, "No one has kicked my ass before."

Ichigo nodded again. "Sorry."

He grinned and stuck out his bruised hand, "Takahiro."

Ichigo gripped it lightly. "Ichigo."

Takahiro grinned and pulled the boy into to a soft, one-armed hug. "Welcome to hell, Ichigo."

Shinji leapt at the sandy blonde, his vision red, as his Sakanade collided with Benihime. Their power resonated with each other causing some of the weaker shinigami to fall to their knees.

Urahara laughed. "You didn't really think that kid could beat me did you, Hirako? He was weak."

Shinji let out a battle cry as he released one attack after another not giving Urahara any time to do anything more but defend himself. The tenshu's smile slowly slipped from his lips as he sensed another captain coming up from behind him knowing that he wouldn't be able to defend himself from both in this position.

"Sit upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru!"

"Shinji-san?"

Shinji looked up from the magazine he was reading. "Ichi-kun! You should be sleeping; you haven't recovered from your last spar with Hiyori yet."

Ichigo shook his head. "I can't sleep anymore."

The blonde smiled and motioned for the tiny vizard to join him on the couch. Ichigo sat hesitantly next to his mentor and peered over his arm to see the magazine. Shinji sighed and shifted so that his arm wrapped around the smaller boy and pulled him against his side, ignoring the flinch that crossed the boy's face. The elder vizard continued to read the magazine while absentmindedly running his fingers through Ichigo's spiky hair soothingly.

"Shinji-san?" Ichigo asked, his voice muffled by Shinji's shirt and thick with sleep. Shinji hummed in response, hoping not break Ichigo away from his almost asleep state. "Why do I feel so safe with you?"

Shinji stiffened slightly before he allowed his muscles to relax once again, not wanting to disturb the boy that had practically fallen back asleep on his lap. "Because you are safe, Ichigo-kun; you are always safe with me."

Urahara fell, his body slowly disintegrating into spirit particles. Shinji limped over to Ichigo's tiny body and collapsed to his knees, his shaking fingers brushed the boy's neck, looking for the pulse he prayed was still there. Hitsugaya Toushiro dropped out of shikai and walked over to Shinji who was trying to stand and lift Ichigo's body. He placed a hand on his fellow captain's shoulder and reached out to take the boy from his quivering arms.

"You are in no shape to take him to the fourth division, Hirako-taichou."

Shinji held on a moment longer before gazing at the pained face of his little vizard and handing him over to the less injured captain. "Take care of him."

Toushiro nodded and grabbed the tiny bundle, shocked at how light the child really was, considering he was only a few inches shorter than himself, and flashstepped away.

Ichigo allowed a hesitant smile as he accepted the hand up from the normally stoic Kensei. "Hiyori's got a mean right hook, doesn't she?" He asked, wrapping an arm around the boy's shoulders and leading him over to Hachi who was already preparing his healing kido.

Ichigo nodded. "She's a really good fighter."

Kensei snorted. "She's a dirty fighter."

"Not everyone is going to fight by the rules. Isn't it better that she fights me this way so I know to expect the unexpected?"

The white haired vizard chuckled, "You always say what is least expected don't you?"

He ruffled the boy's hair as Ichigo shrugged, "I only say what I'm thinking."

"You know, sometimes I think you are really the age you look and then you go and say something like that that makes you seem older than the Soutaichou."

Ichigo shrugged again, "I guess I'm somewhere in between."

Kensei laughed heartily, startling Hachi. "Never change kid. Never change."

Kensei sighed and looked up from the tiny frail hand he held in his own larger one to the blonde slumped across from him on the other side of the bed. "The kid'll wake up, Shin." He said, coughing to clear the thick swell of emotion that had accumulated in his throat. "Berry-boy is strong. He'll wake up."

Shinji smiled and nodded, wrapping his other hand on top of Ichigo's fingers. "Think he'd let me adopt him?"

Kensei chuckled, "Only if I don't ask him to be my son first."

There was a hesitant knock on the door frame and the two men turned to seen Hitsugaya standing there, shifting from one foot to another. "How is he?"

Shinji smiled and motioned towards the empty seat beside him. "Unohana says he could wake up any day now." He paused, tightening his hold around Ichigo's tiny fingers as the smile slipped from his face. "Or he could never wake up. She's not really sure."

Hitsugaya nodded. "I don't really know him but I can tell that he is strong. He'll make it through this."

Shinji nodded and Kensei reached across Ichigo's torso to clasp the blonde's shoulder. "Have some faith Shin."

Toushiro was running as fast as he could when he heard a choked cough come from the bundle in his arms. "Sh-Shinji-san." The tenth division captain paused in his steps before resuming his quick strides.

"He's alright—more worried about you."

"Ken—" He coughed, making his entire body shake. "K-Kensei-s-san?"

"Last I saw he was taking down Urahara's partner with Kuchiki-taichou."

Ichigo nodded, flinching as the movement caused a stab of pain in his neck.

"Rest, Ichigo-san," The captain stated as he saw the glow of the fourth division enter his line of sight. "They will be here soon."

"Muguruma-taichou, I insist you leave this room and get a good night's rest."

Kensei shrugged, unconsciously swiping at the circles under his eyes. "I can rest here."

Unohaha-taichou crossed her arms and gave him a smile. "But you can't shower here and I insist you go back to your own division to do at least that much."

Kensei growled but stood up in defeat. "What if he wakes up while I'm gone?"

"I'll sit with him until you return." The new voice caused the ninth division captain to jump and turn towards the door. Hitsugaya Toushiro stood, leaning against the frame casually with a stack of papers resting under one arm. "Get some rest, Muguruma-taichou," he said as he took a seat in Kensei's vacated chair. "You look like shit."

Kensei huffed but relented, and after a light kiss to Ichigo's forehead, he walked out of the room. Unohana nodded gratefully to the tiny captain and left to check on her other patients.

"You're leaving?"

Shinji nodded. "We've been welcomed back to the Soul Society."

Ichigo shook his head and turned to leave.

The blonde grabbed Ichigo's shoulders and turned him around. Bending down on one knee so he was looking directly into the younger's eyes, he grunted, "What's gotten into you?"

Ichigo looked at the floor, toeing it with his worn sneakers. "Everyone always leaves me. Why would you be any different?" He whispered, almost inaudibly.

Shinji sighed, his face crumpling in pain. "I wish you could come with, Ichigo-kun, but without the Soutaichou's permission you could face execution. I don't want that to happen, kiddo. As soon as I get there I will talk to the Soutaichou. I'll try to get you back."

Ichigo nodded, not looking very convinced.

He grabbed the boy's shoulders and forced him to look him in the eyes. "I promise."

AN: Sooooo…. It took a little longer to post this chapter than planned. Honestly—I have had this chapter done since I posted the first chapter. My computer decided to take another poop and refused to turn on. Being the genius that I am, I didn't save this anywhere else so I couldn't access it. My I.T. friend finally was able to fix it (kind of) so I could finally post this chapter. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long. I would expect a week at most (hopefully sooner) before the next chapter comes out.

I really want to thank my reviewers—you guys are so amazing and I love what you guys have to say about my story. And I really want to thank everyone for sticking with this story—I know that it is not a traditional format and can be hard to understand. But just remember: I am working on my BA in Writing and English with an emphasis on creative writing. In other words, I love writing and finding new and creative ways to tell a story. :)

Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter!