AN: Finally an update! If you appreciate my work and effort, review! =)

Note: Yachiru is a monkey because of a curse. We'll go into it later.

Enjoy!

Three

Ichigo glanced behind himself one more time to make sure no one had followed him to the small waterfall. Taking a deep breath, he started removing the small bowls secured to his chest, putting them by his pile of pink clothes. Ichigo took one last glance over his shoulder before slowly wadding into the water.

The water felt cool against his skin and the prince wandered deeper in until he got to the downpour of water by the small cluster of bushes overhanging by the water. He hid his naked body behind the leaves and ducked his head under the flow, letting the wet orange locks swirl around him in the waist-deep water. It felt really good. He was finally getting a cleansing bath. Ichigo's nervousness began to fade slowly as he ran his fingers through the long orange locks, letting the water carry the small bits of bark and leaves from the strands. He had been snooping around the forest for hours until he had found the waterfall.

He had stayed wit the assassins that killed his family for over a week now. Ichigo was really tempted to just kill them in their sleep and steal a horse and rush off to find his brother. But unfortunately they were the only lead. To his surprise, the bad guys had been very friendly to him. He had to share a tent with Orihime because she was the only woman in their little group. They were both supposed to be women so she had no trouble getting used to his presence. She had undressed in front of Ichigo the first night, causing the prince to faint on sight. Other than that incident, Ichigo learned to over his eyes when the woman decided to suddenly fling off her clothes when they were alone.

The sound of rustling leaves drew Ichigo's attention to the bank, or more importantly to the small pure white monkey sitting by his clothes. Ichigo felt his heart lurch in dread as the monkey picked up the small redwood bowls in its paws and weighed them expertly. Ichigo blinked when he noticed what the monkey was wearing.

The pale albino monkey was in a small pink tutu. There was also a tiny ridiculous pink bonnet secured around its tiny head. Ichigo watched in mute horror as the tail, complete with a large bow tie swished around. The monkey looked like it was about to jump off.

"Pst…yes you, little monkey!" Ichigo grounded out between his clenched teeth and tried for a big stiff smile as he gave a small wave at the monkey. The tiny head turned in his direction and the monkey blinked at him before securing the bowls around its waist and started jumping up and down, screeching at the top of its small lungs. Ichigo nearly tore out his hair in frustration.

"Get over here, you devil monkey!" he hissed and grabbed a pebble from under the nearest plant and flung it at the tiny monkey's head. To Ichigo's immense displeasure, it landed a few feet away. The monkey poked its tongue out at him and started hopping around again. Ichigo groaned and felt frustration mount at he tried to coax the monkey closer.

It seemed to read his mind and jumped a bit farther away. Ichigo almost sobbed as he lobbed a fruit from the plant. He was pleasantly surprised by the results of the fruit. The monkey shot down from the tree it had been trying to climb and grabbed the fruit. The prince sighed and gave the monkey a big plastered fake smile.

"Please give those back to mommy, I can give you more fruits if you want." He said in false sweet voice. Inside, Ichigo was plotting how he was going to strangle the small thing and put it out of its misery as soon as he got his hands on those bowls. The monkey drew closer and Ichigo wandered out of his hiding place, holding out a couple of the bright orange fruits.

Ichigo almost cackled in glee and triumph as his fingers closed around the strap and pulled the bowls back to him. He tossed the fruits to the monkey and splashed his way to the bank, bending over to gather his clothes.

"So where's Yachiru? I thought she was supposed to be with you?"

The masculine voice made Ichigo freeze in the middle of pulling on the bothersome wooden bowls. He heard the sound of a gruff laugh coming closer. There was definitely no time to dress properly. He grabbed his clothes and jumped back into the water, scrambling to his hiding place and ducked down. He set his clothes by the plant and covered the bowls wit the pink garments, his heart racing in his chest.

The rustling grew closer as the tall man emerged from the trees. Ichigo had never seen anyone so tall. The man had his black hair pulled back in thick spikes ending with a small golden bell attached at the back. The man whistled and Ichigo's eyes widened as the small monkey jumped out of nowhere to land on his shoulder. The pink tutu bobbed as it scrambled over the man's broad shoulder. Something splashed behind him but Ichigo ignored it.

"There you are, Yachiru." The man scratched the monkey's small head and straightened the lopsided bonnet. Ichigo frowned. Where was the owner of the other voice? He shouldn't have thought it.

The prince back away from the clearing as quietly as he could, long flame colored hair trailing over his shoulders and down his back. Ichigo barely moved a few steps when a shower of water droplets landed on his back. He stopped when his cool skin pressed against something warm and solid. The prince froze and turned around slowly. The blue haired assassin flipped back a strand of hair, the beaded braid on the side rattling as he shook the water off his head. Grimmjow grinned as Ichigo's bare back pressed against his bare chest. Water drops glistened down the tan muscled skin, beading against the black tattoo on his chest. Ichigo felt heat rush to his face as the man leaned forward slowly, an amused grin on his deviously handsome face.

"Boo."

Ichigo opened his mouth, hands flying up to cover his exposed chest and let out a bloodcurdling scream.

Starrk tried to keep his face straight as the scream echoed through the silent forest. Birds exploded from the trees. Orihime turned to him with a small frown.

"Is Ichigo-chan alright?" she asked with concern.

"I'm sure she'll live." He grinned as he took the branches from Orihime's hands.

A few minutes after they arrived back at the campsite, Starrk looked up to see Grimmjow stumbling out of the trees, spitting out leaves and holding his cheek.

"I didn't see anything, damn it!" grimmjow hollered behind shot Starrk a vicious glare. The older man smiled to himself.

Yep it was the best idea of the day to dare Grimmjow to make Ichigo scream.

A few moments later the girl tumbled out of the trees after the man, Kenpachi at her side. Her cheeks were flushed pink in anger. Starrk couldn't hold back the laughter bubbling from inside his chest when Ichigo hurled a wet slipper at Grimmjow. The thing smacked Grimmjow in the back of the head and he growled as he approached Starrk.

"It's your fucking fault that the she-devil slapped me!" he threw the wet slipper at the black haired man and sat down next to him, his short hair dripping wet. Starrk grinned as Yachiru scrambled up his arm and settled herself on his shoulder.

"Welcome back Kenpachi. I take it that you've taken the prince and his sisters to our client?"

What do you think? . Review!