5

Eyes of Lies

…

Ichigo yawned and dropped backwards onto his bed. He was exhausted. Smiling at the prospect of finally getting some rest, Ichigo's eyes began to close…

"I-chi-go!"

The substitute Shinigami barely avoided a punch to the face. "Dad!" he whined.

"Up and at 'em!" the man cheered.

"It's still early, though," Ichigo moaned. "Let me sleep."

"Sorry, we've got plans today," Isshin reported. "Big plans. Now come on down and enjoy the wonderful breakfast our darling Yuzu has made for us."

Ichigo began to wonder if life in Soul Society was this troublesome. As he climbed down the stairs, he wondered what it would be like. Not that he'd ever give up his human life to live as a full-time Shinigami holed up in Seireitei. He just wished that sometimes his father wouldn't be so overbearing.

The teen slumped into his seat, eyes half-shut. He began to pick at the plate in front of him, too tired to even take note of what it was.

"Hello, Ichigo!" Yuzu greeted.

"Hey," he yawned in reply.

"What's with you?" Karin asked.

"Just tired."

"Why?" she interrogated. "Were you running around last night?"

"Nonsense, Karin!" Isshin defended. "Ichigo was in his bed the whole night, sleeping away. He's just a growing boy and lazy teenager."

Through this rant, Karin was shooting Ichigo looks that clearly screamed, "I know."

Ichigo slouched further into his seat.

"Dad, where are we going today?" Yuzu wondered.

"It's a surprise!" the man insisted.

Karin rolled her eyes. "I don't care as long as we're back by sunset."

"Eh, why?"

At this point, a flustered redness raced across her cheeks. "Because I have stuff to do. Besides, Yuzu and I still need to buy our summer reading books and…and…it's early, so I doubt whatever you're going to have us doing could take that long."

The glint in Isshin's eyes did not reassure them of anything.

…

It was the middle of the day now, but Toshiro's eyes were closed tight. Ukitake had forced him to go to sleep, insisting that he would never get any taller if he did not. The man himself had also needed to rest, as he found his illness returning. Luckily for him, it was only rising up as a fever, but he knew that if he did not take care of this now that it could easily get worse. The best solution was to put the boy to bed now so that he would not have to worry about the child while he was trying to catch a nap of his own.

Ukitake had not expected the boy to be tossing and turning. He could have never guessed at the cold sweat forming all around his body. Nor could he have known what was running through the small captain's mind.

…

"Katashi, stop acting so old," Toshiro pleaded. "You're no fun anymore."

The older boy-paler than he had been a year ago-shook his head. "Someone has to take care of you and mother."

"Mr. Ukitake helps take care of us," Toshiro pointed out.

"Mr. Ukitake is sick," Katashi replied.

"You don't even smile anymore."

At this, the elder tried a bad attempt at said expression. It looked more like a grimace. Toshiro couldn't help but giggle, shouting, "Your face looks funny!"

"Toshiro, that isn't very nice to say to your brother," Ukitake said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

"Sorry, Uncle Ukitake," Toshiro apologized.

The white-haired man smiled softly. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

Reluctantly, the young boy muttered, "Sorry, Katashi."

Ukitake strolled up and placed a hand on each of their heads. "Be thankful, Toshiro, that Katashi is such a good, responsible person."

Instead of looking prideful about this, Katashi only glanced toward the ground.

"And never," Ukitake concluded, "doubt that your brother loves you."

…

"No!"

The monster grinned.

"Stop it!"

Crack.

"Katashi!"

Falling. Falling. The ground began to turn red.

"Help!" Sobs. "Please, don't die."

A broken body. Teal eyes and tear streaks. Teal eyes and tear streaks. No…

…

"Toshiro, wake up!"

Toshiro gasped once he woke up, desperately trying to catch his breath. Wetness was running down his cheeks. That was wrong, he thought. He'd seen Katashi's death before and that was not it. That "memory" was static. Toshiro glanced around to see a thin layer of frost covering everything. He'd managed to leak it out even through the gigai.

A hand was pressed to his forehead. Toshiro's eyes widened at the sight of his older brother.

…

Ulquiorra had just been returning home after his shift. Orihime lied about needing to run an errand and him not needing to walk her home. He'd left it at that. On his travels back, he'd thought of all the possibilities concerning what to do with Toshiro. He guessed the best thing to do at the moment was to simply let the tensions settle.

A sudden spike of reiatsu caught his immediate attention. It was Toshiro's. Urgency slipped into his hastened steps. He began to run. The door to Ukitake's rented apartment swung open easily. Disturbingly easy. Surveying his surroundings (mostly looking for a sign of a struggle), he realized that everything was covered in frost.

And it was dead silent.

Ulquiorra focused and felt some sense of relief when he tracked Toshiro to still being in the house. He followed the source and soon came upon his younger brother. The boy was sleeping. He would have been glad if not for the fact that this "sleeping" looked more like Toshiro was fighting someone. Tears were running down his cheeks. Bad memories of his younger brother's nightmares as a child came back to him, but he could tell it wasn't the same. Whatever Toshiro was seeing now, it was most likely a memory.

A bad memory.

Ulquiorra began to shake the child, ordering him to wake up. At last, two blue-green eyes shot open. Toshiro's breathing was labored. He was almost as pale as Ulquiorra was in his Arrancar form. Out of habit, Katashi placed a hand on his brother's forehead.

It was like a switch went on. Toshiro finally realized who was there, his panicked eyes flying to the older. If possible, they widened even further. Unexpectedly, Toshiro pushed himself back away from Katashi.

"Toshiro…" Katashi called.

Instead of answering, the small boy stumbled to his feet and ran the other direction. Katashi tried to follow after him, but Toshiro had already dashed out the door and into the street. His reiatsu flickered out.

He didn't want to be found.

…

Karin's eye twitched. "A family martial arts class?"

Isshin grinned big. "It'll be fun! Besides, you two girls are at about the age that-"

"Don't even finish that sentence, goat face," Karin growled.

"But I don't want my little girls to be hurt by any big, bad teenage boys!" he protested.

"If that's the reason, then why am I here?" Ichigo asked.

"I wasn't going to leave you to get in trouble at home," Isshin said.

"Trouble?" The carrot-top narrowed his eyes at his father.

"Dad, I don't know about this," Yuzu squeaked. "It looks dangerous and I don't really like to fight…"

"Give it a try," he said.

…

Oh, Yuzu gave it a try. Karin was shocked at how vicious the girl could end up being: a natural born fighter. Of course, this was totally offset by her profuse apologies after hitting anyone.

Yuzu landed a perfect roundhouse kick into the side of their teacher's face. "Ah!" she cried. "I'm sorry!"

Karin meanwhile shook her head.

"Man, your sister is tough," the guy next to her commented. "Hey, what's your name?"

"Kurosaki," she huffed, glancing at him. The guy was at least half a foot taller and two years older than her. However, he was also lanky and hid his face behind thick glasses and messy brown hair.

"Don't you have a first name?" he asked.

"Yeah, but that's none of your business," she retorted.

Instead of being put off, he smiled sweetly and held out his hand. "My name is Natsume Ikeda."

She stared at his hand. Embarrassed, he pulled back and scratched the back of his head.

"Ikeda, stop flirting. It's your turn," the instructor called.

The boy's face turned bright red. "Y-Yes, sir," he answered. He strode fluently to center stage, which Karin found strange because she would have expected someone so timid to more-so shuffle. He looked nervous. Suddenly, the teacher swung his arm out. Natsume flew out of the way. Karin's attention was caught as the shy and awkward persona fell to that of calculating. His gray eyes were cool, calm, and collected. The man attacked again. Natsume appeared to have fallen to the ground, but Karin was shocked when he instead used his new position to swing at the instructor's legs. This didn't knock the older off balance, but it created an opening. Natsume slid behind the teacher and tapped his back.

"Very nice, Ikeda." The instructor smiled. "Get back in line. Next…hm…orange head."

Ichigo's irritation was immediately provoked. "Oi, I have a name.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, please stand center stage."

The teen trudged up to the spot in front of the teacher. In his head was the likes of the world's most repetitive rant. Once again, he was thinking about how stupid this was. He was already a Shinigami. It's not like he couldn't fight. In fact, the teacher's moves seemed so torturously slow. After mastering flash step, a person's time and speed perception were never the same again. So, when the punch came toward his head, Ichigo just lazily dodged to the side.

The teacher made a side-swipe at him. Ichigo caught his hand. This would be so much faster with Zangetsu. Feeling challenged, the man began to step it up a little. Personally, Ichigo thought that the teacher just found his bright orange hair aggravating. The two kept up an even spar. Finally, Ichigo decided to end it by punching the man lightly in the stomach.

"Good job, Kurosaki," the teacher mumbled. "Ikeda, I want you and Kurosaki to go at it over there." He indicated to a corner.

The lanky teen gulped and choked out, "A-Alright." He appeared intimidated by Ichigo's much taller and sterner form. The hard frown didn't help either. This time, Karin noticed, his stride was a little less swift.

"Karin Kurosaki."

The tomboy turned her head to see her teacher beckoning her forward. Still preoccupied with the start of the fight in the corner, she walked up to him. Both fell into battle stances. Then, it began.

Karin soon realized that her teacher was fast. She had a hard time getting out of the ways of the blows and soon became off balance. She fell flat on her butt ten seconds in. Grumbling, she stood again.

"You have to maintain your center of balance," the instructor ordered. "Try not to lean backward so much."

Another round began. Sweat began to form on her face. At least this time, she wasn't falling over. Yet, the man wasn't letting up any. She blamed Yuzu and Ichigo for this: just because both of them were so good, he expected her to be a professional as well. Finally, he got her right above the heart. Thirty seconds.

"If I'd been armed, you would be seriously injured if not dead."

Karin's gaze drifted over to her brother's fight. She caught them right as Ichigo managed to knock Natsume to the floor. Natsume was sweating much more than Ichigo was.

Ichigo…

The memory of his jumping out the window in his black Shinigami uniform came back to her. She heard his words: "What's with that? A Shinigami….What are you talking about, Karin?"

Karin's distraction allowed for her teacher to defeat her again. Ichigo looked at her from his spot with those copper eyes. Those lying copper eyes. Karin couldn't take it anymore. Her frustration suddenly exploded and she threw herself from the floor and sprinted straight out the door.

"Karin!" Ichigo screamed.

She vanished from sight, except Ichigo felt it this time. He felt…her reiatsu.

…

Know now that I do nothing without reason. I am fully aware that Toshiro is coming across a little weak and Karin is very easily aggravated. The former will be more clearly explained in chapter 8 and the latter is implied throughout.

Also as a reminder, I uphold my previous policy pertaining to pairings as noted in "Like Brothers." I will not write couples into this story any more than Tite Kubo has. I do not intend for this to be a romance fic, but take from it what you may.

All constructive criticism welcomed.

Thank you to: mikage-aya, Motif, and guy640, as well as all who added this story to their Favorites or Story Alert list. You are my will to continue this fic, as I had been considering its deletion earlier this week.