An hour later found the four at a Cafe having a late lunch and swapping information. Rukia had spent the interim asking Tsuzuki all sorts of things regarding his summons and spells. She had even gone as far as to ask for an autograph, which embarrassed Ichigo and Hisoka. When Chappy, still wearing Rukia's gigai had come running up asking for an autograph as well even Tsuzuki had the presence to look a little embarrassed, particularly when Rukia told Chappy about how jealous Renji was going to be, and promptly made Ichigo take a picture with her cell phone the moment she got back into her body of her shaking hands with Tsuzuki.

"Oh! So that was a Hollow!" Tsuzuki exclaimed, "And here I thought the Doctor had been up to his usual tricks. Good thing that wasn't the case, huh, Hisoka ?"

"I can't believe you didn't know what it was. You're such an idiot. You've been a Guardian of Death for how long, and you still don't know your left hand from your right." Hisoka glared over the table at his partner, ignoring the fact that he hadn't known what a Hollow was at all, "Don't tell me you're going to add this to our expenses for this trip?" he added, noticing Tsuzuki pocketing the receipt.

Tsuzuki just smiled.

"No."

"But Hisoka!" The purple eyes started to tear up as he did his best impression of a puppy.

"No."

Tsuzuki quickly changed tactics when he realized the puppy-dog look wasn't going to work. He jumped to his feet and slammed one hand on the table while gesturing elaborately to the expensive meals in front of Rukia, Ichigo, and Hisoka, "But I can't afford to cover this meal on my own!"

"Your meal is more expensive than any of ours. And you DON'T need cake. So stop trying to get the waitress's attention."

"but!"

"Hey, Rukia, do you get the feeling we're being ignored?" Ichigo was still a little shocked to find out that there were people other than Shinigami's policing the dead. Then again, Rukia had told him it was really something only the noble houses knew a lot about, as they provided most of the financial backing for the Guardians of Death. He was defiantly surprised that the idiot who had been hit by a car was actually a big-shot, even among soul reapers, who knew little of the Guardians. "So, why don't they have Zanpakuto again?"

Rukia reached into her bag for her sketchpad and pulled it out, "I told you already!" She flipped it open to a page that -vaguely- looked like it had 4 bunnies in cloths on it. She pointed to the drab bunny, "A regular person, when they die, becomes a spirit" Next she pointed at both the bunny with a sword and the bunny with a mask "A Shinigami is someone who's job is to collect souls of the recently departed, and defeat Hollows. A Guardian of Death's job is to collect Souls who have lingered, but haven't turned into Hollows. A Zanpakuto is the most effective way to defeat a Hollow, but you don't need one to cross someone over." She then pointed to the remaining bunny, "Guardians focus primarily on Kido techniques and Summons to defeat monsters, so they don't use a Zanpakuto. They do research, much like Uhara, on disturbances in the real world."

"What kind of Monsters?"

"Don't Interrupt!" Rukia drew on his face, "Not all Souls become Hollows if they don't cross over. Some stay in their bodies and become monsters. You've heard of Vampires and were-wolves right? Those monsters are souls that have become trapped in their bodies and, for lack of a better term, hollowfied."

Tsuzuki started to clap, "excellent explanation! I couldn't have put it better myself!"

"There's a shocker. Admit it, you didn't know what a Hollow was."

"I did too! I just never saw one before....."

"So, the Guardians are just like another squad then." Ichigo leaned forward, intently, "When I met you the first time, you were physical, the next time, you were in spirit form, and I know I wasn't looking when I got back into my body...but where the heck are you keeping your gigai when you aren't using them?!"

Hisoka looked away, and even Tsuzuki looked disturbed.

"Did I say something wrong?"

Rukia smacked him upside the head, "Guardians don't have gi-gai."

"But!"

"These are their real bodies."

"So they you guys are like me? Living people....but wait, Rukia said that you were born in the real world before she was, Tsuzuki, so that can't be right..."

Tsuzuki smiled wanly, "It's true, I was born a long, long time ago. And I died...." his voice petered out.

Hisoka sighed, "if we wait for him to explain we'll be here all day." He ignored Tsuzuki's relieved look, "We're dead. But unlike Shinigami, we're attached to our bodies, and they themselves become spirit bodies. We look exactly the way we did when we died, and we stay that way until we cease to exist." Hisoka looked down, playing with his drink. He didn't like talking about these things, since it reminded him about how he died, but at the same time, he knew that Tsuzuki, it was particularly painful. True, when they first had become partners, he had not understood the depth of the pain, particularly since Tsuzuki covered it so well, but after all the time they had spent together, he knew it was better if he fielded the question. "We don't go to the spirit world at all when we die. Guardians recruit the moment you die, and most of the training is on the job. The senior partner mentors the younger one. At least, that's how it's supposed to work" He glared at Tsuzuki.

Ichigo thought for a moment. True, he was used to seeing the souls of children and teens who had not passed on, but it was still painful to see someone his physical age doing a similarly dangerous job. at least I chose to become a shinigami. It's not really fair to be forced into this at any age, 'specially young. Come to think of it Tsuzuki can't be that old either, he acts like a big kid. "Ah! So then, you're the Senior partner, right Hisoka? Wow, you must have been at this a long time then! That explains why dad didn't recognize you, even though you're a Kurosaki too..." Tsuzuki started to sulk, "Wait, Your the senior partner? You're kidding, right?" Just then Ichigo's phone beeped. e she

Itchigo looked at his cell phone, checking the time, "Sorry, guys, I've got to go. Dad wanted me to pick up some stuff for Uzu at the store."

Tsuzuki immediately stopped acting like a petulant child and smiled politely, "Sorry to hear that. Hisoka and I really should try and find a place to spend the night,"

"It better be cheap, you used up all our budget."

Tsuzuki continued as if the interruption never happened, "AND we should be leaving tomorrow. I'd like to say 'I hope to see you again sometime,' but that's very unlikely."

Kitsune here. No excuses (none that you want to hear about anyway). I took too long to get this up, just no motivation. So I finished this up, and I wrote the next "Misery Loves Company" Chapter....So, this may or may not be the end. Depends on the response. Might have another chapter in me... Well I'm off to upload this. R&R people.