Sweet Submissive Sixteen

Chapter Five: Anonymous Voices

"I must say, Ichigo, my clothes look far better on you than they ever did on me."

In the few seconds since Ichigo had been introduced to Yoruichi's husband and mate he'd observed Kisuke Urahara was middle-aged with shaggy blonde hair and gray eyes and a little... odd.

After Grimmjow had brought him back to the townhouse, Ichigo had changed into the clothes Yoruichi had given to him. And he'd never looked more ridiculous in his life. They were several sizes to large and hung off of him like they would a small child dressing up in their father's clothes, but they were clean and therefore a better option than his own. Once he'd emerged from the bathroom fully dressed, Yoruichi had then led him to the parlour where his three captors were speaking with Kisuke.

As soon as they'd stepped into the room, Renji immediately fell silent, cutting whatever he'd been saying before short. Ichigo knew they had been talking about him, though he wondered what they could've possibly been discussing.

As he'd been introduced to Kisuke and taken a seat on the same sofa as the blonde vampire as far away as possible, Ichigo was sure to keep his gaze averted from the blunette in the room. He couldn't look at Grimmjow, remembering what had happened between the two of them earlier, the slow burn in those sapphire orbs, the shocked outrage he'd felt when the other had said those things to him, the sensation of-

Though he'd been sitting down, he'd felt dizzy when Kisuke commented on his borrowed clothes.

"Don' ya have anythin' smaller? He's practically swimmin' in those," Shiro said from his position reclining lazily on a chaise lounge, one leg thrown over the back as he was evidently at ease making himself comfortable in another's home. Ichigo could only imagine what the painfully proper Byakuya would've had to say.

"No, but tomorrow morning you can buy him some clothes on your way out," Yoruichi said, moving to sit between Ichigo and her husband, leaning into the latter in a way that clashed with society's image of a refined, well-mannered noblewoman. The submissive decided had it not been for the woman somewhat participating in his being held hostage, he would've rather liked her.

Ichigo realized how strange his current situation was, sitting peacefully in a parlour with the three vampires who'd kidnapped him and two of their friends who seemed to approve of the entire thing. He supposed it was better than being hog-tied and shackled in a dungeon or something along those lines.

"You'll have to get them for him, Shiro," Grimmjow said from where he was standing by the fireplace.

"Wha'! Why? I 'ave ta help Ren wit' tha horses," Shiro said, sounding upset at the other's insisting he be the one to buy the clothes.

"Because when the kid got out he had a little run-in with a few Watchmen," the blunette said, tone dripping in disapproval.

"How the hell did that happen?" Renji said, sitting straight up in his seat, tattooed brows furrowing underneath his black bandana. Shiro reacted similarly, swinging his legs off the chaise lounge to sit on the edge of it, and Ichigo could feel everyone's eyes turn to look at him.

"Ask him. I only got there right before seven of those bastards jumped him."

"Seven?" Renji cursed under his breath when Grimmjow nodded yes. Then the room was deathly silent as all of the others stared at Ichigo expectantly. Unable to look at any of them, the orangette kept his gaze on his lap, scowling as he remembered his earlier encounter.

"I wasn't doing anything wrong if that's what you're thinking. I was just walking down the street. Or, er, running actually. One of those... Watchmen yelled at me to stop, so I did and then he started telling me I was breaking the law by being out past curfew. I didn't even know there was a curfew! But he didn't believe that and was going to arrest me, and then more of them came. I think they just wanted to mess with me because I'm a vampire. They called me 'bloodsucker'..."

Ichigo's hands clenched onto the fabric of his britches. He'd only known he was a vampire for three days but he hated being called the name. It implied he, or any vampire, drank blood directly from humans like some kind of animal, which the Elders had banned centuries ago. To bite an unwilling human meant public execution.

"'a course tha's why," Shiro said through gritted teeth. "They're pathetic, gangin' up on a submissive like tha'."

"I'm not defending their actions, they've harassed our population here for far too long, but they probably have no idea what a male submissive is and to arrest a resisting dominant it usually takes six or more of them," Kisuke said. "You'd do well to keep any of them from finding out. Their hate for our kind is so strong they'd definitely see Ichigo as an easy target."

"Already figure' tha'. We almos' had Ichi cut 'is hair, but Ren-"

Shiro abruptly stopped talking as his mouth shut closed, teeth clicking together audibly. His gold and black eyes narrowed, but still he said nothing, lips pressed firmly together. Across the room, Renji cleared his throat before speaking.

"So how'd you get rid of them?" he said, addressing Grimmjow. Surprisingly, the blunette rubbed the back of his neck, looking up to the ceiling sheepishly.

"Grimmjow Jaegerjaques, did you blow up another building?" Yoruichi said, jumping up from the couch to place her hands on her hips. Her golden eyes were glittering dangerously as she glared scornfully at the vampire, whose uneasy demeanor rapidly changed to glare right back.

"What did you expect me to do? Let the kid get beaten half to death and taken to that hellhole they call a jail?" Grimmjow said defensively, throwing his hands up in the air. Ichigo heard Kisuke sigh heavily from beside him before turning his head the teenager's way.

"My wife gets rather upset when Grimm uses his ability recklessly since she was the one who taught him how to use it," Kisuke said. Ichigo muttered a soft "Oh," in response, grateful for the information.

He'd been right about Grimmjow then, the dominant's ability involved being able to cause things to explode with his mind alone. A pretty spectacular power to have, actually.

"You know you could have easily taken those weaklings!" Yoruichi strode over to the blunette, cuffing him upside the head while he stood there and took it, scowling at the ground as the woman continued to reprimand him. "If you keep blowing buildings up for fun one day you'll end up in prison or accidentally hurting someone you care about, or both. Do you want that to happen?"

Grimmjow didn't answer, only carried on glaring at the floor. After a moment, Kisuke broke the silence by asking the one question Ichigo had been dreading.

"Did anything else happen afterwards?"

The orangette's face burned a deep crimson and he looked down at his lap once more, refusing to answer and silently begging the blue-haired vampire not to say anything about their earlier... escapade.

"Just made sure he'd learned his lesson and then brought him back here," Grimmjow said and Ichigo wanted so very badly to kick the man right in his annoyingly handsome face, but figured that doing so would give him away. And for some reason while he didn't want either Yoruichi nor Kisuke to know, he would've chosen death over Shiro and Renji finding out. His stomach twisted and heart clenched just at the thought.

"I wish you'd given those bastards a good bashing instead. They need to be put in their place by someone since their Parliament doesn't do a damn thing," Renji said, mahogany eyes narrowed but not really seeing anything as it looked like he was remembering something from the past.

Ichigo's curiosity had definitely been piqued by everything he'd learned about city life only that evening. He wanted to know more, and reasoned that since his captors had treated him as pleasantly as one could expect of their kidnappers, they may be willing to tell him. There was a burning need inside of him to find out exactly how much Byakuya had kept a secret.

"Why won't they?" he said, causing all eyes to fall on him yet again. Uneasy, he squirmed in his seat not meeting anyone's gaze until Kisuke spoke.

"The humans' government, the Parliament, has been run behind the scenes for the last sixteen years by a man who despises our kind. He's poisoned all of the officials' minds and they've been spreading propaganda and passing laws so eventually all of the human population will grow to hate us as well. Surely you've heard this?" the blonde vampire said, losing most of his good-natured demeanor as he spoke.

Ichigo was shocked, to say the least. All of that had been going on and he'd never heard an inkling about it. He had grown up in Kuchiki Manor with the illusion that vampires and humans got along perfectly fine, that their respective governments, the Parliament and the Elders, worked together.

He didn't realize he'd been staring blankly into space until Yoruichi sighed, shaking her head.

"Byakuya really is a fool sometimes. I can't completely fault him; no doubt he thought he was protecting you, but to not even have told you after your Inheritance..." she said, trailing off.

"He wasn't doing it for me, he only took me in so his sister would have someone to play with and after that he tolerated me because I was the only friend she had, really. I lived with him for ten years and he still calls me by my last name. He didn't even care that I was about to be... never mind," Ichigo said, feeling stupid he was telling these people anything so personal.

"If he didn' care 'bout ya, why'd he go ta yer room righ' after Grimm blew tha stables up? An' trust me, he was not happy when he foun' out ya were gone," Shiro said and the submissive turned to him, eyes slightly wide in mild surprise. Was the man trying to comfort him? Or simply pointing out a fact?

"Not to mention I thought he was gonna kill me on the spot when I carried you back to the manor that one time," Renji said softly, grinning slightly at the memory. Ichigo was quiet for a few long moments, thinking that Byakuya must have only appeared to care for him, upset upon seeing he'd been taken because it ruined an important event he was hosting and angry with Renji for carrying the unconscious teenager merely because it was improper.

"Could I be excused? I'm really tired," he said, voice so quiet it was nearly inaudible.

"I'll take ya. Could use some shut eye too since I was up all nigh'," Shiro said, standing up from the chaise to walk over to where Ichigo was sitting. He held out one ghostly white hand but the orangette ignored it as he stood up as well, but the vampire wasn't fazed. "Wha' room shoul' I put 'im in, Yor?"

"Up the stairs, first door on the right. That one has the biggest bed," Yoruichi said and Shiro hummed in response before gesturing for Ichigo to go ahead of him, which the submissive did, heading out of the room.

"Goodnight, Ichigo," Kisuke said, calling after them, but the boy didn't return the favor. He didn't hate the man, but he wasn't about to waste his limited amount of gentility on someone participating in holding him hostage. Besides, he really was tired.

"Ha, saved tha' jackass' life an' he can' even say good nigh' ta me. Won' be doin' him any more favors then," Shiro said under his breath from where he followed Ichigo to the staircase. Despite his somber mood, the orangette found it funny that the hardened criminal would care about such a little thing and he lifted a hand to muffle his soft laughter, but the other heard it anyway.

"Think tha's funny, do ya?" Shiro stepped around Ichigo so that he stood on the first step of the staircase, towering over the smaller male with a wide grin. "Nice ta know ya can do somethin' other than scowl all tha time."

Proving the albino's point, Ichigo scowled defiantly up at Shiro and moved around the other to continue up the stairs.

"Ya know," Shiro's watery voice carried up the staircase as the male took the stairs after him. "Yer either pretty brave or just stupid ta keep provokin' tha ones who kidnapped ya."

Ichigo snarled at being called stupid the second time that night and on the last step turned on his heel to face the white-haired vampire a few steps down.

"Fine, you're right. I'm stupid," he said venomously, "But at least I have some principles and wouldn't resort to holding someone hostage in order to blackmail people into giving you every cent they had. Did you even try to make an honest living before taking the easy way out? You, Grimmjow, Renji, you're all pathetic."

Shiro moved so quickly Ichigo didn't realize the albino was closing in on him until that sinfully beautiful, white as snow face with eyes like rings of fire burning in the darkness was not an inch away from his. Ichigo's breath hitched and his mind went completely blank. When Shiro started to speak, his voice was almost a whisper but still sounded like thunder to Ichigo.

"Yer so quick ta assume ya know everythin' when frankly ya don' know a damn thing, 'bout any 'a us. So ya do yerself a favor and keep yer pretty mouth shut tha next time ya wanna give another uninformed opinion. Savvy?"

Shiro didn't give Ichigo a chance to reply before sidestepping the boy and opening the first door on the right. Not that the latter could have said anything when he'd only just remembered how to breathe.

Why in the world had Shiro reacted that way? Ichigo would've figured the vampire to be proud of his sinister, immoral ways not offended when another pointed them out.

Deciding he shouldn't even care about the reasons why, the orangette followed the other into the bedroom then and nearly cried tears of joy upon seeing the incredibly soft-looking, massive canopied bed in the middle of the space. He was so tired his whole body ached and it wasn't until the promise of rest was so close that he wholly felt it.

With Shiro's words pushed to the back of his mind, Ichigo made for the bed, collapsing face down onto the mattress and unthinkingly groaning as his tense muscles relaxed. He closed his eyes, too comfortable and exhausted to slide under the covers.

He forgot the other male was even there until he felt the mattress dip beside him, coffee brown orbs snapping open to see Shiro lying on his back not a foot away, hands behind his head of shoulder-length ivory hair and, to Ichigo's mortification, shirtless. The vampire truly looked like a marble statue of a god or some other immortal being come to life, his skin just as flawlessly white and body as perfectly chiseled.

Ichigo had long come to terms with life being unfair, but this was ridiculous. And it was a while before he could form an intelligible sentence.

"What are you doing?" he said, voice cracking to his embarrassment.

"Sleepin'," was Shiro's answer.

"You can't sleep here!" Ichigo said, sitting up and looking down at the albino who stayed where he was, expression smug.

"An' why can' I?"

"I can't sleep with you in the same... bed." The submissive's cheeks flushed, but in his defense the only time he'd been subjected to this kind of thing before was when Rangiku had rambled on shamelessly on every indecent subject in the book, and that night he'd already been in incredibly close contact with a wickedly beautiful man. He didn't think he could take much more, and yet a very small part of him longed for it.

"Don' be silly, Ichi, 's tha same as sleepin' any other time, jus' close yer eyes an' go ta sleep," Shiro said, back to his usual teasing self.

"I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you."

"All righ', then sleep on tha floor." Shiro's grin widened exponentially, sharp canines making him appear utterly predator. "But I'd much rather ya spend tha nigh' in bed wit' me."

"Not in a million years would that ever happen. Ever. I'm not that desperate," Ichigo said, overcoming his embarrassment to spit the words out banefully but to his chagrin, Shiro merely chuckled patronizingly.

"Ya jus' keep on believin' that, Ichi."

The orangette huffed indignantly before grabbing one of the pillows and sliding down from the bed onto the hardwood floor. Mentally cursing the albino to hell and back, and back again, he lay on his side facing the other way and forcing his body to relax despite his frustration and how uncomfortable the wooden floor was.

Luckily, he was so tired that it wasn't long at all before sleep claimed him.

The marketplace was loud, dirty, and crowded with its vampiric residents as merchants and customers alike bargained, haggled, and bartered. It was apparent the district in which it was located was one of the poorest, many people wearing tattered garments on their malnourished frames. Some of them had a haunted look in their eyes, weary of living the way they did. Others constantly pursed their lips and furrowed their brows to glare at everyone around them, completely embittered. A pleasant face was definitely rare in this destitute place.

There was a baker selling day old loaves of bread to the people desperate enough to buy them for their children that hadn't reached yet their Inheritance. The man, a human and clearly an outsider from his fine clothes and round gut, didn't seem bothered by the fact he was taking advantage of unfortunate parents trying to feed their children any way they could. In fact, he was counting the paper money he'd already collected when three small blurs passed by his stand that afterwards was missing that exact number of loaves of bread.

"Hey!" the baker said, running after the thieves who turned out to be three boys around seven or eight years old. "Get back here! Thieves!"

The human tried to catch up to the boys, but they were quite fast despite their age and he was out of shape, obviously having test-tasted his baked goods a few too many times. As the child thieves darted in between stands and people at a rapid pace that suggested they'd done this before, the baker had to stop and try to catch his wheezing breath, allowing the boys to only have to continue sprinting for a few more minutes.

They stopped once safely in an empty alleyway, panting from running so quickly and clutching their respective loaves to their small chests.

What immediately stood out about these boys was they each had a remarkably colorful head of hair. One turquoise blue, one snowy white, and one scarlet red. They were also practically wearing rags and appeared underweight. However, they also wore bright, triumphant smiles and didn't say a word before tearing into the bread. It was surprising they didn't choke with how hastily they devoured their stolen meal.

None of the boys said anything until the loaves were completely gone and they all simultaneously sat down to rest against the wall, evidently satiated though they wore matching scowls before speaking at the same time.

"I hate that baker."

As expected of boys their age, this immediately started an argument.

"I hate him more!"

"No, I do!"

"I hate 'im tha most, he called me a freak yesterday!" the boy with white hair said, jumping to his feet.

"So? You are one with those weird eyes." The blue-haired one said, both he and the redhead standing too.

"Hey, you're the one with blue hair!" The boy with red hair pointed a finger in the blunette's face.

"An' yer hair looks like a big, red pineapple." It was the one with white hair who'd spoken, and he was now snickering as the boy he'd insulted turned bright red before tackling him to the ground. They wrestled for a few seconds before the blue-haired boy dived into the fray with a war cry, not intending to stop the fight but rather get in on the action.

The children punched and kicked each other in their three-way fight for a minute or two before, as only children could, they all froze, each holding another in a kind of headlock, and started laughing. Any witness would've been baffled as to what was so amusing, but the boys had a good, long laugh over whatever it was.

Eventually they calmed and sat back down, drawing their legs up to rest their chins on their knees.

"You're not a freak, just saying," the blue-haired boy said, not looking at the one he was speaking to but at the ground.

"Yea' I am, e'eryone says it. My mom couldn' even look a' me. Tha's why she left me a' tha... orphanage."

All three boys shuddered at the mention of that wretched place.

"Don't be stupid, I wouldn't be friends with a freak."

"Yeah, me neither," the redhead said.

They were quiet for a long while, until the clouds overhead darkened and let rain pour down over the city. Cursing with words no child should know, the boys stood up and ran out into the street, getting soaked within seconds as they sought out a place to shelter them from the rain. They found one rather quickly, though it was taking a bit of risk as it was someone's covered porch, the house to which it was attached a small but with an inviting air about it.

Shivering as they stood there it was only a minute passed before the door behind them swung open, the boys too startled to make a run for it as they whirled around and stared wide-eyed at the man who'd discovered them.

"Now what are you strapping young lads doing on my porch?" he said in a boisterous, cheerful manner.

The man on the porch was tall and fairly muscular, perhaps in his late twenties, with short, spiky dark hair and scruffy five o'clock shadow. He was also grinning broadly, sharp incisors a dead give-away.

All three boys were so taken aback that someone was greeting them, bedraggled, thieving street rats, so warmly they just continued to stare up at the vampire with wide eyes of burgundy, ultramarine, and gold and black.

"Oh I see, you're all the strong but silent type. How manly!" the man said, puffing out his chest. "Well masculine gentlemen like yourselves shouldn't stand outside during this storm." When he turned sideways in the doorway to gesture for them to come in, the boys all looked to each other in disbelief. "You boys showed up at the perfect time, my beautiful wife just baked cookies but we didn't have anyone to eat them."

"Why would you bake them, then?" the red-haired boy said, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"She wants to practice baking them for when our precious baby is born, but if you don't want them then..."

The smell of cookies that undoubtedly tasted far better than day old bread wafted out to the three boys then and they didn't even think twice before rushing to go inside all at once, disappearing into the warm glow of the house before the door shut behind them.

The image of the quaint house warped and twisted than faded into blackness. Then there were only the sounds of a woman screaming and manic laughter. And then came a vision of fangs ripping into flesh, pulling away dripping in blood. More screams. A small graveyard with the statue of an angel. Rain. Two men with dark hair and blurred faces. Screaming. Blackness. Nothing.

Ichigo's eyes shot open with a gasp for air like that of a drowning man being pulled out of the water.

For about a minute, he was so disoriented he struggled with whoever's hands were holding his wrists, kicking and thrashing about to get away from the person restraining him. But they held fast and were saying something but Ichigo couldn't decipher what it was. Everything sounded faint and far away as he took fast, shallow breaths feeling like he couldn't get his lungs to function properly.

His dream had been fine up until the house had disappeared and those horrific images and sounds had taken its place. They hadn't made any sense, flickering through in an order with no rhyme or reason. And those visions had disturbed him deeply, much more than even the worst of nightmares should have.

Ichigo went limp, eyes still unseeing and breathing still uneven and panicked. He fell into the person who'd been restraining him, still not really understanding what was going on as the other wrapped one arm around him and cradled his face with a hand, the fingertips pressing gently onto his temple.

"Shh, you're all right," was all the orangette was able to hear before a feeling of calm serenity overtook his entire body, relief making his eyelids flutter closed and breathing slow and even out. He didn't remember ever being so at peace in his entire life.

Then he realized that he was currently in someone else's arms, head resting on their shoulder and dreading what he might see, opened his eyes yet again. When he immediately found himself staring up into the divine face of none other than the most pallid of his captors, Ichigo leapt away with a yelp.

"What are you doing!" he said, backing away from Shiro to the very edge of the bed. How did he get up to the bed when he'd been sleeping on the floor?

"Wha' does it look like I was doin'?" Shiro said. "Ya were havin' a panic attack so I used my power ta calm ya down. Yer welcome, by tha way."

"Power?" Ichigo couldn't help but pick that part out of the other's words.

"Yea', didn' ya realize I was an empath yesterday?" The white-haired male arched a pale eyebrow while the orangette thought back to when he'd thought Zangetsu dead and the anger he'd felt had suddenly been sucked out of him.

"Well stop using it on me," Ichigo said, though he didn't believe Shiro would listen to him.

"Yea' yea', now get up, I gotta get yer clothes and ya need ta go see Yor'."

"Why?"

"'cause wha'ever made ya scared like tha' wasn't jus' any ol' nightmare," Shiro said, getting up off the bed to where his shirt and overcoat were laying on the headboard. Feeling like he should for propriety's sake, Ichigo looked the other way while the man put them on.

"I wasn't scared, just so you know. I was... startled."

"'s so cute how ya deny everythin'."

Just when Ichigo was about to deny that he denied everything as they walked down the stairs, he paused mid-step, suddenly remembering the entirety of his dream.

Those little boys, they couldn't have been... could they?

At Shiro's questioning glance up to where he was still frozen, Ichigo pushed the image of those boys with blue, red, and white hair out of his mind. He hoped the past two night's strange dreams were only temporary, perhaps due to the stress of being held hostage.

Yoruichi was waiting for them in the parlour and Ichigo was surprised to see she was dressed in men's clothing, britches and everything. He didn't think he'd ever seen a woman wear anything other than a skirt or dress before, but couldn't see what the big deal was; they covered even more skin than a ballgown would.

Also in the parlour with her were Kisuke and Grimmjow, both standing. Noticeably, the former held a cane in his left hand, leaning on it heavily and Ichigo wondered what had happened to the man's leg, but figured he'd never know since he would never ask.

"Ah, good to see you made the night in one piece, Ichigo," Yoruichi said as they walked into the room. "One can never be sure with Shiro in the same room."

"'ey, I take offense ta tha'!" The white-haired vampire crossed his arms over his chest and came extremely close to pouting before nodding his head towards the orangette beside him. "Ya've gotta a new student, Yor'."

Yoruichi immediately smiled brightly, eagerness shining in her eyes.

"You don't know what your ability is yet?" she said, addressing Ichigo who shook his head, though he had an idea of what it could possibly be. "Do you want to?"

"Yes," he said. He'd thought that would be fairly obvious. Why wouldn't he want to know?

"Wait, we're heading out within the hour. Is that going to be enough time?" Renji said.

"I'll have to speed up the process a bit, but I should be able to at least get him to where he can access his power," Yoruichi said, to which Renji and Grimmjow looked to each other and nodded once.

"Now, how am I suppose' ta get clothes fer tha kid?" Shiro said to the two as they all walked out of the palour to complete their respective tasks. "Don' ya need measurements er somethin'? An' how er they gonna make 'em so fast? An' where tha hell do I go, anyway?"

"Idiot, they have stores that sell clothes already made now. Go to one of them," Grimmjow said before they disappeared around the corner.

It hit Ichigo then how odd it was that his kidnappers were buying him clothes. And why were they allowing him to learn about his ability when it could potentially be used against them? And why had Shiro apparently moved him from the floor to the bed while he was sleeping? And why-

"Come sit down, Ichigo," Yoruichi said, breaking through his racing thoughts. The submissive vampire obeyed, sitting down on the couch next to the woman and turning to face her. "Before we begin, I should tell you about my ability, since I use it in order to help you gain control over your own."

When Ichigo nodded, both excitement and nervousness rising up within him. He was eager to learn what mental ability he possessed but was just the slightest bit uneasy considering the content of the dreams he'd been having. From his peripheral vision he could see Kisuke stiffly walk to an armchair and sit down, clearly intending to stay and watch, which the orangette supposed was all right.

"Basically I'm a telepath, I can read minds. But I can only access the subconscious, the thoughts and information in your mind you don't know are there and I have the ability to bring them into the conscious part. Understand so far?"

"I think so." Ichigo was relieved to hear the woman couldn't read his every thought, that would've been mortifying.

"Good. Now, every vampire is born with an ability and they acquire use of it when they reach their Inheritance. Some know and can control them right away, they're usually the ones with less powerful abilities, but some of us have a hard time accessing it, like you. However, you already know what your power is and how to use it, you were born knowing, the knowledge is just locked away in your subconscious."

"And you can use your power to move it to the conscious part?"

"Exactly," Yoruichi said, grinning. "Though I will warn you, sometimes a person can't ever fully control their ability."

"Why not?" Ichigo frowned, hoping that wouldn't be the case with him.

"Different reasons, but for the most part they are too emotionally or mentally unstable to handle their power. So, are you ready to begin?" Yoruichi scooted forward on the couch so that their knees were touching.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Ichigo said softly.

"All right, now close your eyes," she said and the teenager did so. "If you can, try and think of absolutely nothing at all. It's going to feel a bit uncomfortable while I bring the information out of your subconscious but just try to bear with it."

A few silent moments passed before Ichigo started to feel a pressure inside of his head, almost like a headache but instead of being in one specific spot it was everywhere. It didn't feel good, but it wasn't exactly painful either.

Minutes passed by and he tried to keep his mind blank but he kept wondering if it was supposed to take this long and wishing it would end soon as the pressure in his head steadily increased to where it was now aching. He was just on the verge of asking how much longer it would take when he heard Yoruichi gasp and the pressure suddenly disappear. Blinking his eyes open, he saw the woman looking exhausted and parted his lips to ask what she'd found before he thought about what his ability could be and then automatically knew.

"So, what is it? Come on, tell me, I'm dying to know," Kisuke said, leaning forward in his seat eagerly.

"I'm a Seer," Ichigo said monotonously, still not believing it himself.

"Oh I see, precognition. Very nice," the blonde said, but Yoruichi was quick to correct him.

"He can see more than just the future, Kisuke," she said, unusually serious. "Ichigo can also have visions of the past and the present. I've never heard anything like it except for..."

"Yes, except for that one," Kisuke said cryptically, looking as if deep in thought.

"Someone else had the same ability?" Ichigo said, wondering why the other two were reacting so dramatically to his power. Surely it wasn't as impressive as one with say the ability to blow up entire buildings with just a thought? Or any of the other powers out there?

"Yes, someone else had the same ability, but she passed away almost sixteen years ago." Kisuke's gray eyes clouded over with some kind of lingering grief; obviously he'd personally known the one he spoke of. Ichigo didn't know what to say so he remained silent until Yoruichi said his name and he looked to her still sober expression.

"You need to know having this ability is more of a curse than a blessing," she said sadly. "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but if word gets out you have the power to see the past, present, and future, vampires and humans alike will stop at nothing to use you for their own selfish purposes. Think about it, you have the ability to see all, know all. What power or money-hungry bastard wouldn't want you to tell them what would happen if they invested in this or look into their enemies' pasts to dig up blackmail material?"

Ichigo visibly deflated, the reality of what his power meant hitting him hard. It hadn't been enough he'd been born a submissive male so dominant vampires everywhere wanted him to bear their children. Now he also had to have an ability that made him a target to the greedy and corrupt, which was basically almost the entire world.

"But that doesn't you shouldn't learn to control it. Your visions will only show up at random. Am I correct that the past three nights you've had strange, vivid dreams about things you've never seen before?" Kisuke said.

"Only the last two nights."

Ichigo concluded then that the dream he'd had the night before had indeed been a vision of the past, when Grimmjow, Shiro, and Renji had been children. They'd been orphans just like him, except no rich aristocrat had taken them in. Had they spent their entire childhood living on the streets, resorting to stealing whatever they could in order to survive?

Though the boy had never thought it possible, his heart ached for those three little boys huddling under a stranger's porch as it poured rain. How had they turned into hardened criminals who held people for ransom?

The dream in which he'd been in the cemetery Ichigo knew was a glimpse into the future and it frightened him. Who had been buried in that churchyard? Whose voice had called out to him? And the question that bothered him the most; exactly whose child had he been carrying?

But these were all questions he couldn't know the answers to. Or at least, not yet.

A/N: A quick update this time! And you found out Ichigo, Grimmjow, and Shiro's powers, so all that's left is Renji though I left you a clue in this chapter. I really just want this story to get going and I hope you guys like how the plot is developing. As you can see, it's a big one, but that just means the story will be nice and long. And yes, I promise there will be smut in the future and no one will feel left out if you know what I mean. :3

Hope you guys enjoyed. And thank you, thank you to those of you that reviewed, you guys give me so much motivation~