Just as Urahara had predicted, Shiro and Ichigo spend the day together.
The team of three slayers watched them the entire time, waiting for perfect moment.
When it turned dark, they chose to strike.
Shiro and his 'prey' had turned to head over to the orangettes home.
Urahara gave Ishida the sign to get into action.

The young slayer hid in a dark corner, so that Ichigo wouldn't notice him, but the Vampire would because of his increased senses.
Ishida saw the moment Shiro took notice of him, a slight tense in his shoulders and a quick glance into the shadows he hid in, but the Vampire didn't leave Ichigos side.
He simply passed by the slayer with the orange head.
'Fine. If the prophet doesn't come to the mountain, the mountain comes to the prophet:'
Ishida thought and produced one of his secondary weapons from the inside of his jacket.
He threw the dart, so it passed the Vampire on his left side and dug into the dirt of the nearby construction site.

Shiro stopped his walk, a little growl rumbling through his chest, which confused Ichigo.
"What's wrong?"
The albino looked at him, fishing for a quick lie in his head.
"Sorry Ichi. I forgot that there was something I need to take care of. Do you mind to go the rest of the way alone?"

The orangette felt a little disappointed, though he accepted the situation and agreed to Shiros request.
They had spend the entire day, so he wouldn't cry over a few minutes, that he couldn't be with Shiro.
He got a long passionate goodbye kiss, before they separated, Ichigo going on and Shiro turning back where they came from, stopping at the point where the slayer had been until now and taking in the trail he left.

After following it down some streets, it stopped at just another construction site.
"If you have the guts to attack me out of the blue you could as well come out of your hide now. Ishida Uryuu."
Shiro called over the empty place, already knowing the exact place the slayer hid in.
"You know my name. Honorable. Where did you learn it from?"
The albino smirked evilly, taking his stance.
"Oh, I think you already know that."
A row of darts flying at him was all the answer he needed.

Really, the slayers these days seemed to like answering through attacking, wait, they always had liked that.
They've been ordered to kill, and not talk things out, after all.

Ichigo had almost gotten home, just a few turns around a corner were left and he would see the lightened sign of the clinic.
He was a bit worried, about what Shiro had to do, so late at night, but he had the feeling that it had to do with his shady business.
Talking about feelings, he had one crawling up his spine, that he was getting followed since some streets now, but every time he would turn to take a look at his back, nothing was there.

The whole ordeal maybe had him getting paranoid, or -.
Not.

Ichigo ducked, the hair in his neck stood straight at the feel of an enclosing attack in his blind spot.
In a fluid motion he spun around, the sound of metal clashing with metal reverberating through the air.
He groaned a bit at the impact, the other blade caused on his small knife, glaring at the one who had so sneakily attacked him from the back.
"Who the fuck are you?"
His attacker steps back, putting his dagger into a holster at his back, without bothering to answer the question.

From behind the dark haired, a rather familiar face stepped into the light of a street lamp.
"So I was right."
Ichigo tensed, intensified the grip on his knife, that he ironically had gotten from the man he wouldn't hesitate to use it against now.
Shiro had warned him and even without the albino telling him, he mistrusted the blonde, the moment he'd seen him, but he was raised well enough to hide it behind a friendly facade.
"What do you want Urahara?"

The older male, took his hat from his head, a rare gesture, and looked with serious eyes at Ichigo.
"I want you to come with me. There's a lot to talk about."
The orange head rose from his crouching position, glaring coldly at the two in front of him.
"I have no intention to come with someone who attacks me from behind. Besides you're Shiros enemy."
Urahara shrugged, a little sly smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
"Fine, have it your way."
Suddenly he was gone from Ichigos field of vision, the next thing he knew was that he felt a hit land in his neck, and than all turned dark.

"Give me a hand here Shuuhei."
"Did we really need to go this far?"
"He has the same thick skull as his father. It's best if we take him with us now and try to talk with him.."
They took the unconscious orangette to their car and drove to their base.

On Shiros side, the albino had avoided many rounds of darts send his way, but couldn't get closer to his attacker than arms length.
He cursed inwardly and started contemplating, if taking one round of the weapons once he was close again, was worth it to get a hit on the slayer.
The albino decided against it, since he didn't know, if the little arrows hadn't any set up to inject holy water into his body.
He wouldn't break his promise for a little victory over the annoying pest in front of him.
Shiro saw when the slayer stilled for a moment, he chose to use the little opening that gave him, but as he was about to land a punch into Ishidas face, the young man dodged it, with leaning his face out of the way and afterward jumping back.

"Our little game ends here. Until next time Kizuki."
That said, the slayer disappeared, before Shiro got even a chance to stop him.
He cussed, not understanding what happened right now.
Why would the slayer retreat, when he obviously had the upper hand at the moment.
An unpleasant thought hit him.

It was a decoy.
He hadn't been the target, but someone else.

Ichigo.

It had been Ichigo they had been after, the whole time.

"FUCK!"
Shiro yelled, spun around and ran as fast as he could toward the others home.
He jumped over the fence, ran into the garden and up the tree that stood in front of Ichigos room.
It was dark and he couldn't find any trace that he had come home at all.

Did they want to use him as a lure, despite his warning?

The image of the little orphan Kaien, appeared before Shiros eyes.
Again he failed to protect someone from them, and got the person between the fronts.
Slayers used every means they found to weaken them.
They appeared where large groups of Vampires gathered, so that they could reduce their numbers faster, than it would be if they went after every single of them.
They could only sense Vampires in a close range around them, unlike their own kind.

When a Gabriel's child's soul awakened they felt it over the world, they could locate the country their brother or sister was in and often a precise location, once they were close, so much had they learned about their enemies over the time.

This Urahara and his group had come here for the archer, that was a given.
He was trained now and free from his shackles of social life, so why hadn't they left, the day the kid had held his diploma in his hands?

A feeling, that let his stomach turn into a hard knot, spread through his entire body now.
What if there was another one that they had been looking for?
It couldn't be Ichigo, he should have felt it, smelled it when the kids soul would have changed.
But what if it had already happened, when he first got a whiff of him.
No, the boy hadn't smelled like a slayer, the entire time.
Slayers smelled of the holy water they used to fight and ironically it was then who smelled like death.

Ichigos scent was full of life, spiced with cinnamon, chocolate and -.
The smell of fresh air after rainfall.

It didn't really match to the other scents, but he had never thought about that.
Neither had he remembered that there had been an other person with that kind of smell.

Would he have noticed the familiarity of it, when he had payed more attention?
When he hadn't forced his memories away, because he was to afraid to deal with them?

"Shit."

What should he do?

Chapter 9
End