Hallo~ So i'm not re-writing (it'll probably make me lazier than i already am). sorry for the long wait, and this may not be an awesome chapter but the plots movin' now little by little ain't it?

saa~ on to the new chapter~

Chpt 7- Meet the Vizards

The four arrived in front of a seemingly abandoned storage building. Hanatarou cautiously looked at the large building with its broken windows and beer bottles that were lying about. The air surrounding the building seemed heavy, like a barrier. He jumped when Hiyori roughly pushed up the entrance to the building, the metal going 'clatter, clatter' as it slid up. With the entrance, the invisible barrier also seemed to dissipate. The three people in front of him began to enter the building. He followed Ichigo behind closely, the shinigami being the only person he knew and felt safer to be with. When they were in the building he was surprised to see more people.

"Shinji, Hiyori!" the six people cried out in unison and gathered around their injured comrade.

"What happened?" asked a well-built man with short, gray-hair and piercings.

Hiyori lowered Shinji onto a blanket that a large man wearing a tuxedo and pink hair set down, and plopped down beside him. "Those hollows that have been recently appearin' attacked us out of the blue," she replied. Two females, one with glasses, and the other with bright green hair and goggles, helped Hiyori peel off her bloody jacket.

"Who's that?" A man with long, wavy, blonde hair pointed to Hanatarou.

"A friend of Ichigo's," Hiyori grumbled.

"He is a shinigami," an afro-haired man with sunglasses pointed out with a frown.

"Ahaha…"Hanatarou laughed nervously and looked down, he could feel the air tense with distrust and wariness.

Ichigo sighed and put a reassuring hand on the shorter boy's shoulder, "Stop it you guys, you're scaring him."

"Che. I bet I can take them on!" Hanatarou shushed the voice in his head. True, he's been in more dangerous situations than this but taking on a group of people that could probably turn into part hollows like Hiyori was not a fun thought. He brought his eyes up to see wide, brown eyes blink back at him.

"Eep!" he yelped.

The lime-haired girl quirked an eyebrow, "What's your name?"

"Oh…um…Yamada Hanatarou…Nice to…meet you?" he greeted slowly.

"Hanatarou-kun, huh?" she smiled and pointed to herself, "I'm Kuna Mashiro." She pointed to the pink-haired man who was healing Hiyori, "That's Hachigen or just Hachi." The man with the afro, "Love." The serious man with gray-hair, "Kensei." The wavy haired man, "Rose." The female with glasses and braid, "and Lisa. I'm sure you know Hiyori and Shinji by now!"

Hanatarou gave a shy smile. 'She seems friendly,' he thought.

"Oi, Yamada!"

He looked at Hiyori who the blond next to her, "Didn't ya say your goin' to heal Shinji? Get on to it!"

"Ah! O-of course!" the young medic started forward but hesitated when he remembered that Ichigo was also injured. "But what about Ichigo-san?"

"I'll be fine," Ichigo grunted as he sat next to the man with gray hair and piercing. "It's just my arm along with some other small wounds; I've had worse. Go ahead with Shinji."

Satisfied with the consent, Hanatarou jogged over to Shinji's side. His jacket and shirt were taken off to reveal the bloody wound across his stomach. Hanatarou observed the wound and gingerly touched it here and there.

"Can you heal it?" Rose looked over Hanatarou's shoulder. "Usually it's Hachi who heals everyone but he's busy with Hiyori..."

"Ah, of course!" Hanatarou nodded. "Don't worry, he'll be fine."

The man gave a smile, "Thank you," and walked away to take a seat next to the man with the afro. They began to discuss different topics of animes.

Hanatarou expertly cleaned the wound then put his hands above the gash and inhaled. 'Using chakra one more time shouldn't hurt,' he thought. Ever since he healed Matsumoto-fukutaichou's wounds, he itched to use chakra again; it had been so long since he used it. Besides, using chakra just felt more natural to him then using reiatsu. A satisfied sigh escaped his lips as he felt the cells within Shinji's wound heal his hands. After minutes of healing, he took out the bandages and neatly wrapped the fabrics around the wound. He smiled at his finished work but stopped when he felt eyes on him. Wide eyes glanced up to meet pale brown eyes of the large man healing Hiyori. 'Can he sense the chakra?' he gulped but shook his head. "Nah…"

Hanatarou stood and walked to Ichigo's side. The girls had cleaned the wound on the orange-haired death god, wrapping up the smaller wounds while they were at it. Hanatarou brought the injured arm closer to inspection. Then he laid a green, glowing hand over the middle of the wound, where the cut was deepest. As he was healing the arm, the medic's mind began to wander over Ichigo's transformation and the white mask. He brought the bandages back out and wrapped them around over and under, over and under, over and under….

"Um…Hanatarou…I think that's enough…"

"Ara?" Hanatarou stopped and looked down. He had wrapped the arm so much that it bulged out! "Ah, I'm sorry!" He quickly unwrapped the excessive cloths.

"You okay?" Ichigo asked.

Hanatarou decided to seize the chance for answers.

"Ichigo-san?"

"Yeah?"

"Who…what…um…what are they?" Hanatarou whispered hesitantly. "That mask. I threw that mask down into the sewers."

Ichigo looked away, he couldn't face the medic's gaze. "Ah…yea…about that. How should I say this…"

"We are, what you would call, Vizards," Hachi gently said as if explaining to a small child.

"Hachi!" Hiyori snapped. "You're not supposed to reveal-"

"He's already seen us," Shinji interrupted.

"Vizards?" Hanatarou tilted his head.

"Shinigamis who acquired abilities of Hollows," Lisa stated bluntly.

"So Ichigo-san is also a vizard?" curious eyes were directed to Ichigo, who still didn't look at him.

"Yes."

'Shinigamis with powers of hollows…' Hanatarou thought in awe. 'Like Jinchuurikis.' However, there was one thing that confused him. "Um…I never heard of vizards when I was in Soul Society."

The people before him grimaced. "Soul Society isn't very fond of us," Rose said carefully. Everyone's faces turned grim.

"Hanatarou," Shinji groaned as he gingerly sat up, "don't speak of this to anyone. If Soul Society were to find out that Ichigo's a vizard…"

"Who knows how they'll react…" Ichigo ended with a frown. "So far, only you, Orihime, Nell, Yoruichi, and those from the Urahara shop knows."

"Orihime?" Lisa asked.

"Yea, it was when I fought with Grimmjow."

"How did she take it?"

Ichigo gave a faint smile, "Better than I thought…"

"Nell is that arrancar child, right? Yoruichi told us about her."

"Yea, she's a good kid," Ichigo said.

"So, anyways," Hiyori said, "don't you dare speak of this to anyone!"

"I-I won't," Hanatarou promised. "Oh, and speaking of Urahara-san, he told me to tell you to come back before dinner."

The group around him couldn't help but smile at the random input. Ichigo grinned, "Yeah, we should go."

"I'll go with you," Shinji grunted as he struggled up. "There's probably more of those hollows lurking about so-"

"Idiot!" a slipper hurtled through the air and slapped the blond in the face. Hiyori winced as a tinge of pain erupted from her arm. She growled, "We're not even fully healed yet you want to go back out there?!"

Shinji sighed with a pout, "But I want to see Orihime-chan..."

"Hiyori's right Shinji. It would be best if you rest."

Everyone turned to the new voice.

"Heeeehh?! Yoruichi, what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked.

"Kisuke sent me to look for you two," the black cat replied as she cleaned her face. "So, I take it that Hanatarou knows about vizards now?"

"Yeah."

"What do you think about this, Hanatarou?" golden eyes glanced at the boy.

Hanatarou felt everyone's scrutinizing stare but shrugged slightly with a smile, "They are good people and Ichigo's friends."

Yoruichi looked satisfied with the answer, "Good."

The vizards surrounded Ichigo, Hanatarou, and Yoruichi to say good-bye. There were laughters and smiles on everyone's face. Hanatarou was glomped by Mashiro while Ichigo promised to visit whenever he could.

"Yoruichi." black ears twitched as the cat's name was called.

She slinked through the tangles of legs to the gentle giant. "What is it, "Hachi?"

"Your suspicion with that boy," a thick finger pointed at Hanatarou, "was correct. But it's hard to picture him as one of 'them.'"

Yoruichi nodded, "Ah, me too. However, there are many who live hidden in Seireitei the nobles don't know about."

Hachi shook his head, "If only the nobles were more open-minded…" Yoruichi gave a look of understanding.

"Well, I'll be taking the two brats with me," Yoruichi said.

"Alright, be careful out there," Hachi warned.

"Ichigo, Hanatarou, we're leaving!" Yoruichi announced.

"Hai!"

"The streets are empty," Ichigo commented as the group of three shunpoed through the air. Well, Hanatarou couldn't shunpo so he had to settle with being carried on Ichigo's back. The shinigamis's face was still red as he held on to Ichigo's neck.

"But be on a look-out," Yoruichi cautioned. "These hollows specialize in surprise attacks. But I think we're safe for now."

"U-um Ichigo-san," Hanatarou stammered, "You're really okay with me on your back? I'm not burdening you am I?"

"Nah, you're really light," Ichigo replied.

There was an awkward silence until he asked, "So, you're really fine with me being a vizard?"

Yoruichi peeked behind her to hear the answer.

"Of course!" Hanatarou blurted. "Even if you're a vizard, you are still my friend." He lightly blushed out of embarrassment as he asked in a low voice, "We are friends, aren't we?"

"Yeah..." Ichigo smiled as he felt his spirit at ease. Yoruichi also smiled.

"We're friends."

"No."

"What!" the feline-masked hollow rose up from the small group of hollows. It's gold eyes glared at each of its comrades. "Why?"

"It is foolish to seek revenge over one death, Veneno Gato . Especially when you know you will be overpowered." one answered.

"He was my brother!"

"No, you two met each other on a whim. Sticking together because neither of you would have been able to survive without help from one another." another sneered.

"That hollow was always a strange one. Acted too much like a 'human' with his 'emotions.'"

Veneno Gato gave a screech, "Screw you, then! I will carry out the revenge myself. When I succeed, we'll see who's right and who's wrong!" It dashed away out of sight.

"His rage is fueling him."

"What a fool."

"It'll be the downfall of him."

Yeah. so how was it? a bit short? yea i thought so too. i'm halfway done with next chapter so please be patient~ aw, doesnt don't you feel a tiny bit sorry for Veneno Gato? eheheh. don't you not like the nobles sometimes? well, i don't know if it's the nobles but i mean those judge people..dudes...nobles...whoever that kicked the vizards out. OH! and noone else knows about Ichigo's hollow right?....i know Byakuya saw a tiny bit but....

please Comment!~