It's been three days and nights now, since I haven't heard anything at all from Shiro.
After the second day I started calling him and when he ignored my calls I eventually send him texts, that also received no answer from his side.
I'm worried sick that something happened to him, so worried I barely slept at night.

Yeah, I know what you might want to say.
I barely know the dude, so why do I care.
Well I guess, I've really fallen in love with him on first sight, or something close to it.

Back to the sleeping part; when I slept, I had this strange dream again and it got stranger the more I dreamed about it.

The first night, I could only see two tiny things fight in the sky, until one fell.

The second night, I was so close to the two beings that I could see the pattern in their irises.
I discovered that the fighting beings were and Angel and a Dragon.
Again I woke when one of them fell.

In the third night I didn't wake after one lost the fight.
I watched as the dragon hit the ground of the earth, his body smashing to bits from the impact and his blood soaking the earth.
Than after a while, dark formless things rose from the soiled ground, they stared up to me with glowing red eyes, or maybe to the angel next to me.
The angel lifted one hand and bright rays of light burned the shadow figures.
When the light died again, one of the shadows still stood, he searched around him for his comrades, than his gaze wandered up and I caught something in the eyes, that I believe was deep sadness.
I blinked and when my eyes met the shadow's they suddenly had changed it's color.
That was when I woke with a gasp.

After I had calmed down and pushed the dream into the back of my mind I immediately started to worry about Shiro again.
So now, I'm sitting here at my desk, eyes glued to the dark display of my mobile and thinking if I should try to call again, but had the feeling that it would be as futile as the last times.

I remembered what Urahara had said about Shiro.
If he wasn't who he pretended to be, who was he?
And what exactly about him was real and what had been faked?
Great, some days without a word of the albino and one little sentence of 'Mr. Suspicious' has me doubting Shiro.

Ok, I really need to know more about what Urahara seems to know.
Right, I'll ask him asap.
I rose from my seat, sticking my mobile in my back pocket and walked down to ask my dad for a number or address of his old friend.
"Dad..."
Just the moment I called him and he turned his look from the newspaper to me, my phone went off.
I looked at the display, showing 'Shiro' in bright letters.
"Ah, never mind."
I quickly told my dad, before I answered the call.

"Hey, Ichi."

"Shiro! The gods be blessed. I already started to think I should search the river bank for your corpse. What was going on the last days? You didn't call me as promised and ignored me completely when I tried to reach you."

"I'm sorry about that, Ichi. I had some urgent business to run. Completely forgot about the world outside of my office."

"What kind of business wouldn't allow to answer even a text message? Shiro what's going on, on your side? That does seem so unlike the Shiro I got to know some days ago."

"Ichi, I...don't wanna talk about that on the phone. What about coming over so we can have a nice chat, ne?"

"Fine. I'll be there in thirty."

"Later, Ichi."

He hung up and my doubts had only grown after the call.
Maybe Urahara had been right.

Normal POV

When Ichigo arrived at the mansion he stared in awe at it.
It was his first time to be so close to it and it looked even greater than from afar.
The huge door was opened and Shiro welcomed him, he looked a bit paler than normal and had slight dark bags under his eyes.
The orangette came to the conclusion, that something really had bothered Shiro the past days.
The only question was what it had been.

"You're in a gang, right? I mean one of those with shady business, that you'd normally just see in movies."
Ichigo asks as he enters.
"What did bring this idea up?"
Shiro answered his question with another one, as they walk into the mansion.
"A friend of my dad told me that you aren't who you pretend to be."
The albino stops in his walk and Ichigo has to turn back around to see where he stood.

"Ichigo,...there are things that I'm not yet ready to tell you about,...but I want you to trust me ok?"
"I trust you. I mean, I'd put my life in your hands, even if we barely know each other, because I...really like you."
Shiro nodded and led him into a great hall, that obviously was some kind of living room.
In it were four other men.

Ichigo looked at each of them before he spoke.
"Ok, now I really start to think that Urahara was right with what he said."
He saw the reactions of them, mostly a slight tensing, except for the emo-looking guy with the tear stokes under his eyes.

Grimmjow was the first to find his voice and growled.
"Who is that kid?"
"Why, Ichigo of course."
"What? He's the kid you drove us insane about?"
Ichigo turned to the albino, who had taken seat in one of the armchairs, trying to hide his discomfort gesturing at the gathered group and ignoring the blue haired ones outburst.
"Really now, they don't look like they are earning their money with some virtual company, like you told me you did. I mean they are obviously in a well trained shape. I think you really are some kind of gang I already have an idea what your jobs are in it, just from watching ."
Shiro nodded.
"Fine, than let's hear."

"Ok, I start with Blondie. Information broker, mostly keeps out of the fights, but if needed uses either guns or short blades. Emo, over there. A gunner, using two, but can also use twin blades. Sleepy-one-eye. The sniper, for delicate assassinations. And blue. The hit man, looks like he loves to bath in his victims blood, so I think he uses short blades, if any weapons at all. You, Shiro, are the head, staying mostly in the shadows and caring for the flow of money. Hand-on-hand combat is your specialty, but you also can use blades or guns very well. Of course, every one else is also trained to fight bare handed."

They all stared shocked at him.
Shocked, because he had so exactly described how they operated, just with one look at them.
Shinji was the first to say anything.
"How did you guess that?"
Ichigo shrugged, a grin pulling at his lips.
"Patrick Jane was my teacher."
The orangette was addicted to the TV show, The Mentalist, and learned the one or other thing about observing peoples behavior.

That was why he noticed how Blondie had mustered him, since he entered the room as if he was looking for any information he could use on him. How the emo dude had crossed his arms, with his hands pressed flat against the sides of his ribcage, a sign that his weapons were put in this area when he had them with him.
The lazy guy had been overly attentive while Ichigo had held his monologue and the pointer finger on his right had twitched some times, like he itched to pull a trigger and his one eye was fixed on Ichigos forehead.
The blue top had been jumpy all the time, his muscles and the scars littering his upper arms giving Ichigo only one impression.
That he was a brawler, through and through.
And since everyone's tensing when Shiro entered with someone foreign to them, and their submissive behavior around the albino, the only option was that he was the head of the whole thing, also the mentioning of the amount of money he had steadied this assumption.

Ichigo heard the blonde man give a few short laughter, before he said, directed at their boss.
"I like him. Do you wanna keep him, Shiro?"
The young adult snapped back, before Shiro had a chance of answering the question.
"Who's keeping whom? I'm not a dog you know?"
This time a dark chuckling came from the blunette.
"You sure about that, kid? Because you've been tailing behind Shiro like one, since you came in here."
Shiro had an idea where the dialogue would lead eventually, if the blunette and blonde would be left to do as they pleased, so he stepped in.
"Shut it, both of you."

He than turned to his guest, which he had yet to give in to his suspicions.
Not that he would tell him the entire truth.
"Let's say we are a gang and also let's say that you are right with your guesses. Do you still trust me, Ichigo?"
The orangette nodded, finally taking a seat himself and now ignoring the others that were in the room.
"If you are a gang, and Urahara knows you, I'm right when I say that you are enemies of some kind."

"You're very good kid. The fucker and his group go on our nerves since eternity."
Grimmjow growled out.
"Grimmjow, would you and the others mind and leave us alone."
Shiro requested, sending an icy glare at the blue top.
He was sure, if he wouldn't get rid of the big mouths of them, they'd spill something that wasn't for Ichigos ears to hear, yet.
Slowly they all retreated to their own apartment wings and when the albino and Ichigo were alone, Shiro rose from his seat and knelt in front of the orangette.

"Ichigo, please listen well, because I want to tell this just once. Things around me will get really dangerous from now on. In the past days I planned a lot and still it could end badly for our side. I don't want to drag you into any fights. The last time I had liked someone a much as you, on a different level though, it ended bad for that person. So please, do as I tell you now. Stay away from that Urahara and don't mention anything about me to your friends and family. I don't want to lose someone to them again, in whatever way."

"I promise, Shiro."
Ichigo simply said and a second later he found a pair of cool lips on his own.
The feel of them send sparks of heat running through him and he leaned deeper into the kiss, until they had to break it to catch their breath again.
A light tint of pink had crawled onto Ichigos cheeks and they only sat there in silence, enjoying their shared moment.
In the end Ichigo was it who broke it.

"You sound as if it has been ages since you lost your dear person, but you're only three years older than me."
"Three years can feel like a life time when you suffer alone, Ichi."
"I promise to be there for you, Shiro, because I really like you. And I'll listen to everything you said. In exchange, just promise to come back and explain everything when you're ready."
Shiro got up from his kneeling position and hugged Ichigo, whispering his promise into the orangettes ear.
"Now, could you tell me a bit about the guys I've just seen?"

"Sure. Let's start with Blondie..."

When Shiro had been finished with introducing his comrades, making up the one or other lie, about their age, he showed Ichigo around in the mansion, so that they visited one of Shiros pals after the other, until they reached the albinos own part of the big manor.

"Ichi, now that you know my friends and uncovered their secrets, I'd like to play that game from before a little further. Do you mind?"
"Not at all. What is it?"
"You told me a bit about your own friends, ne? Imagine you would be some kind of gang like us. What would be their fighting styles?"

"I think, Keigo and Mizuiro would use guns. Tatsuki and me are more hand-on-hand combatants, since we learned karate since we were children. Inoue...I can't imagine her fighting at all, she's just to innocent. Chad, I guess would use his fists as well. Ishida, and that might sound a bit weird in our modern time, but I think he would use some kind of bow. You know, he's been in the sewing club the entire time, but suddenly he changed to Kyudo in the last year. When he started he was really good and at the end of the year he improved so much, none of his arrows would miss their target. I'm sure, if he would use arrows that are real weaponry, each one would be a killing hit."

Shiro nodded, saving the information on the young hunter, he sneakily had gotten from Ichigo.
He felt bad to deceive the young man like that, but if he wanted to see him again, he needed every information he could get and his heart really ached when he had to lie to him.
The albino took a quick look at his watch, seeing that it had gotten late he asked if he should bring Ichigo home.
The orangette accepted thankfully and they took Shiros car for a quick ride.

After loading Ichigo off at his house, Shiro took a detour back to his own.
He had seen, and smelled a slayer lurking around the clinic and now followed the trail the slayer left while retreating.
At the river he almost thought he had lost the track, but than he spotted the guy under a bridge at the river bank.

Shiro halted his car and got out of the vehicle, while walking over to the slayer he called.
"Why are you sneaking around the boys house?"
"I could ask you the same, Vampire."
The slayer replied.
Without a warning a gun shot rippled through the air and a bullet dug into the ground, where Shiro had stood just a second ago.
"So you're the gunner, Abarai, right?"
His answer was yet another bullet send his way, which also failed to miss him.

Shiro chose to end the game quickly and make an example of the slayer.
He used his abilities to make Abarai unable to even lift his pinky and beat him into a pulp.
When he deemed the man bloody enough, he gave the man his free will back.
He hissed something into his ear before he grabbed into the pocket of the mans jacket and got a phone out of it.
He looked for Uraharas number and dialed it. Throwing the device on the ground next to the beaten slayer, after he put it on speaker, than turning around and leaving.

The call was answered immediately.
"Renji, why do you call?"
"I...could need some help."
The red haired man answered barely audible.
"What happened? Where are you?"
"Under the Heimon-bridge, Shiro caught wind of me."
Silence spread on the other end, than the blonde told.
"Hang in there, Shuuhei and I are on the way."

Minutes later the two arrived and carefully loaded the beaten man into the car.
After they reached their base and treated the wounds Urahara requested.
"Renji, would you tell the message, the Vampire has left for us, again."
The red-head nodded than quoted what Shiro had said, word for word.

"Take that as a warning, the kid is mine so don't try to lay a finger on him. Also if you try to use him as a lure, I'll rip everyone of you apart, limp for limp."

Everyone thought about the words and all came to one conclusion, which Ishida spoke out.
"That means Kizuki has chosen Kurosaki as his prey."
Urahara nodded, something else in the message bothered him more.
"I fear that he is unaware of what Ichigo might be."
Neliel heard the mumble their leader had uttered and asked with a furrowed brow.
"What shall the kid be, Kisuke?"
The slayer was surprised by the question, but than he remembered why they didn't know.
Scratching the back of his head and smiling goofy he said.
"I think he might be the slayer that recently had his soul woken. I forgot to mention that, haven I?"
They didn't comment that, since they had gotten used to the blondes air head by time, but they inwardly sulked in a corner, whining 'Kiiiisukeee~e' .
All, but Ishida, who pushed his lenses up and asked sharply.
"What led you to this assumption?"

Urahara, made a 180 and got dead serious.
"The reactions I received from him, while we talked, as well as a rather good handling of the knife I gave him, though he never had a weapon in his hand, which of course I still can only assume from the information you and his father gave me, that he only is trained in karate. I'll test him, tomorrow evening."
"How?"
The, until than, silent Shuuhei asked.
"I'm sure Kizuki will spend the day with him again. We have to separate them, so that Ichigo is forced to go home alone and than we confront him. Ishida you distract Kizuki and Shuuhei and me will face Ichigo. If what I think is true, Ichigo might become out trump card against the Vampire."

Chapter 8
End