-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Nnoitra put down the phone and smiled. His mom, of course, was willing to bring his things by tonight. It wasn't like he couldn't go one night without his CPAP but he really rather not push his luck. He was still settled into the recliner, which was surprisingly comfortable, even if his feet did hang over the foot rest. It wasn't like he was unused to that. Ichigo, however, hadn't moved, and Nnoitra was okay with that. He seemed the most comfortable with him like this. He worried, though, because he was steadily growing attached to him, and if this was just a reaction to his traumatic experiences… He sighed. He'd deal with it, if that was the case. The door rang about an hour later, and he looked up as his parents came into the room, his father bearing a large duffel and his mom carrying the smaller CPAP bag.
"Mijo," she said, leaning over and kissing his forehead. "No, stay there," she said, when Nnoitra reached down for the lever.
She sat down on the couch and smiled at him. Teresa thought the fact that Nnoitra was making a meaningful connection with someone was good. Santos, of course, felt the same. They'd actually discussed it at length on the way over to the place. It was coming on sunset, and Gin and Kisuke had set about making dinner for everyone.
"So, what did you bring me, Mamá?" he asked, one hand running over Ichigo's head as he watched them from under hooded eyes.
"Well, I brought your laptop, the CPAP, your medicines, I grabbed the extra PlayStation from the closet and a few games in case you or Chiquito want to use it, and I found a few books that might be good for him considering his lack of school. Easy enough to fix, though," she said smiling.
"Ah, Mamá, you are wonderful. Linda," Nnoitra said with a smile.
"Ah, mijo," she said. "Papi and I have been talking a lot about everything, and I'm happy to see you take a responsibility for something like this. It is very…becoming on you," she said, smirking.
Isshin came in and sat down on the loveseat, nodding to them. "Ah, hello," he said. "I'm Isshin Kurosaki, um, Ichigo's father, I want to thank you for your help with everything," he said nervously.
Santos nodded to him. "It is as it should be, people helping people. I spent a lot of my life trying to be a barrier between my own parents, but in the end, they weren't able to be helped," he said, smiling sadly.
Isshin nodded. "You had a tough time growing up, then?" he asked.
Santos nodded. "My parents were drunks. It took me a good long time to be able to say that. They would fight, get physical with each other, on both their parts, when I was younger. It was a difficult time growing up, seeming to go from one drunken encounter to another. There were police called now and then, but it never seemed to bother them for more than a short time. Because of this," he said, pointing to a long scar on his face. "This ended things. Old Man slashed me with a knife, and it wouldn't stop bleeding. I called the ambulance. They got called in, sent to counseling, but it fell through, it always did. So, I ended up living with my aunt and uncle then. It was better, having a family without the fighting and alcohol, so that's why I tried so hard with Nnoitra to ensure he had a safe and comfortable upbringing because of it. He made a good man, I think," he said, smiling at his son. Nnoitra rolled his eye. Well, eyes, but the other wasn't visible under the bandana he wore wrapped around his head.
"Ah, yes, mijo is very much someone to make me proud," she said, smiling. "Such a good boy coming from such a poor lot as me," she said, smirking.
"Ah, no, mamá, don't say such things," Nnoitra said, pointing at her. "You are not a poor lot."
Teresa looked up and saw Chad as he came out of the bedroom. She smiled. "Ah, Sado, estas aqui?"
Chad came over, leaning down to hug her. "Si, señora," he said, smiling.
"Teresa, none of this señora stuff," she said, patting Chad's arm.
Isshin looked at her. "So, you know Chad?"
"Sí, Chad's grandfather was the one who helped me after I left the nightmarish cult I was raised in," she said smirking at Chad.
Isshin frowned. "Cult?" he queried her.
"Ah, yes, it was a most unfortunate circumstance, as you can see, my son and I share a trait, a condition called Marfan Syndrome. It is what causes our unusually tall statures and the extreme flexibility of our joints…" she said smiling.
"Ah, I know of that, briefly, it was a when I went to school with Kisuke," he said, gesturing as the blond man came into the room, smiling and seating himself on the loveseat by Isshin.
"Hola, Teresa," he said, nodding. "Good to see you."
"Sí, and you as well," she said. "So, you and Señor Kurosaki know each other?"
"Yeah," Kisuke said smiling. "Long time ago, we both went to SoCal together, actually, Dr. Unohana went with us as well, and well, Ryūken Ishida…" he said, looking unhappy with that thought.
Teresa nodded. "Ah, so there is the link between the group of you," she said smiling. "And it must simply be fate to have drawn you all together again, like with mijo and Chiquito."
"Fate?" Isshin said, arching a brow.
"Yes, you see, I do believe in fate, be it by God's plan, or some other force, I do not know, but I believe it drives us. It led me to meet Santos here after I was away from those that raised me. My parents were of a cult that believed in the power of prayer over all else and were very insulated. It was a destructive force, and I watched many die, and the leaders would say it was because they did not believe enough. Even when a newborn babe would die from some simple infection, the babe had not enough faith to survive. It was disheartening, and it didn't take long for me to decide that I had to leave it behind. When I left, Sado's grandfather helped people who were victims of these fundamentalist groups. It was through him that I survived."
Isshin nodded. "That's intense," he said, shaking his head. "With Marfan, there are so many things that can go wrong…"
Teresa nodded. "Yes, and it was a miracle I survived. Mijo has had all the best medical care. Dr. Unohana has seen to him for years now. He still has to keep up with appointments, both for his eyes and his heart, but otherwise, mijo is very healthy. And apparently, strong enough to care for two," she said, winking at her son.
"Oi, Mamá," Nnoitra said.
Uryū came out of the bedroom, Teresa noted the same one that Chad had come from. She glanced at Chad. "Oi, estás compartiendo una habitación con el chico con el pelo negro," she said to him, eyes narrowing.
Chad looked at her and nodded once. "Él es el primo del Chiquito," he muttered, looking slightly embarrassed.
Teresa gave him a sideways grin. "Ah, I see," she said. "So, Kisuke, you will be staying here as well?"
Kisuke nodded. "Yes, we're a bit crowded, so I think I'll lose my room I have to myself soon," he said, smiling at her.
"Ah, I see, that's why Chad shares with Chiquito's cousin…" she said, nodding. She looked at Nnoitra. "Chiquito and you are staying together?"
"Sí, Mamá," Nnoitra said, turning his eye to her, daring her to say something. His mother had a very…unusual sense of humor, to say the least.
"Um, excuse me," Kisuke said. "You and Nnoitra keep calling Ichigo chiquito, might I ask what that means?" he said, glancing between them.
"Oh, I'm sorry, it is a word that means…a little one, I think, yes, Nnoi?" Teresa said. Nnoi nodded. "You see, Nnoitra grew up hearing it a lot, as well as other names, I tend to call him only by mijo now, but when he was small, he was mi chiquito," she said, smiling at him. Nnoi sighed. "He found the other names I called him equally embarrassing, so my child was the best I could do."
Isshin nodded, understanding. "I have heard that terms of endearment are common in Spanish speaking countries, whereas in Japanese culture, names and honorifics are used. I find it interesting the differences in the way different people express affection," he said thoughtfully.
"So," Teresa said with a smile as she stood. "I believe we will return home, don't hesitate to call, I will be home," she said smiling.
Isshin got up, and as he did, she caught the lingering look that Kisuke followed him with. She smirked again, snickering a bit. "Oi, Papi," she said, gesturing to Santos. "Let's go, I need to get sleep tonight, and so does Nnoitra and this group," she said.
Santos arched a brow. "I swear, keep calling me Papi, I'll show you a thing or two," he muttered, shaking his head and waving to his son.
She smirked at him as Isshin led them to the door. "Oh, Señor Kurosaki," she said, smiling. "I will make sure to call before I come over."
Isshin frowned, wondering what brought about that sort of comment. "Oh, okay, but it probably won't matter, it will be quite boring around here, I imagine," he said shrugging.
Teresa smirked at him. "Ah, well, I do like to make sure that everyone is dressed and not occupied in private endeavors," she said with a smirk and Isshin heard her giggling and talking to Santos in rapid Spanish, and as he shut the door, he heard Santos chuckle slightly.
Isshin shut the door and saw Nnoitra shaking his head. "Don't mind her, she has a bit of a perverse sense of humor," he muttered.
Isshin nodded. "Okay," he said hesitantly.
They all managed to get through dinner, Ichigo having to be encouraged repeatedly by Nnoitra to eat more than a little of the food that Kisuke and Gin had fixed. Nnoitra put Ichigo in the seat next to him, refusing to allow him to sit on his lap. He thought he was actually pouting about that fact though. Nnoitra rolled his eyes and wondered how this sleeping arrangement was going to go. The bed was much smaller than his own king-sized bed at home…
Everyone managed to get into their room, or for Gin, bedded down on the sofa bed. Nnoitra took Ichigo into the bedroom and starting to get his machine set up on the nightstand. Ichigo stood just inside the door, his hands folded together and staring at the floor. When Nnoitra finished, he glanced over at him.
"Oye, Chiquito, what are you doing? Come, it is time for us to sleep," he said, sighing.
He looked at Nnoitra and hesitated for a moment before he went around the bed, climbing into the side away from the breathing machine and crossed his legs. Nnoitra realized he was still wearing nothing but his t-shirt because he could see a lot more than he intended when he sat down.
"Oh, we have to find you clothes," he said, glancing away to situate his pillows.
Ichigo stared at him, wondering why he seemed so oddly. He was acting like there was something wrong, and Ichigo's mind immediately assumed he was the cause. He decided he should go somewhere else, because he didn't want to get hit again if Nnoitra was upset. He scrambled back off the bed and dashed around it, slipping into the bathroom, closing the door.
Nnoitra looked up, frowning, going over and finding he'd locked it. He sighed, going out and across the hall to knock on Uryū's room. Uryū opened it, frowning at him.
"Ah, so, Ichigo put himself in the bathroom, and I'd rather he not sleep in there," he said, sighing. "I don't know why, he was fine, then he just took off," Nnoitra said, worrying that he'd done something and hadn't realized it.
Uryū sighed. "He might think you're upset or something," he said quietly, going across to the door to the bathroom on Nnoitra's side and knocking.
"Ichi, open the door please," he said. There was no response. He had a thought, smiling at Nnoitra. "He may not realize the other side goes into there as well."
Nnoitra nodded and followed Uryū as he knocked on the door to Isshin's room. He opened it, dressed down in a t-shirt and a pair of sleep pants. "Uncle Isshin, can we see if the bathroom is locked on this side?"
Isshin nodded, letting them into the room. Uryū moved in and found that the door on this side was unlocked. He smirked, opening it quietly and going in, not seeing him, of course. He'd be inside the bathtub hiding behind the shower curtain.
"Ichi," he said, sighing. "I know you're in the bathtub."
There was a slight movement of the curtain. Uryū went over and sat down on the toilet lid, pushing the curtain open to find Ichigo had sat down in the end, curled up on himself like he usually did when he was upset. He looked up at Uryū. Nnoitra went it, unlocking the door on the other side. Isshin leaned against the doorframe, watching as well.
"Ichi, what are you doing?" Uryū said, sighing.
"It's safe in here," he said, looking at him. "It always is."
"Ichi, you don't have to hide anymore, Ryūken isn't here, and no one is going to hurt you again," Uryū said sadly, reaching over and running his hand over Ichigo's head.
"But he's upset," he said quietly. "He…he might…"
Nnoitra frowned, tilting his head to the side, moving forward now and leaning against the wall. Ichigo's face turned up to him and he looked frightened of him for the first time.
"Chiquito, why do you think I'm upset?" he asked.
Ichigo looked down at his hands. "You're different than before," he said quietly. "So…so you…must be angry at me…and I have to go away…so you don't hate me…"
Nnoitra sighed, seeing the look of exasperation on Uryū's face as well. "Ichi, he's not upset, people act different when they're sleepy or tired," he said, sighing. "Not everyone is like Ryūken. I know that anytime his mood changed he could be horrible to you, but not everyone does that, don't you see?"
Ichigo shook his head, putting his hands over his head, and for the first time Isshin saw the bruising on his arms for what it was, and turned away as a rage threatened to overtake him. Nnoitra, however was tired, and he was no in the mood for such things. He sighed at Uryū and gestured for him to move out of the way. Uryū frowned briefly but stood up and moved to where Isshin stood to watch.
"Chiquito, you are being a brat again," he muttered under his breath, leaning down and picking him up easily, careful to hold him under his knees and back.
Ichigo gasped, grabbing onto him as he picked him up. "No, no, let me stay here, I don't want to go…" he whined. Nnoitra sighed, pausing to lean over and kiss the tip of his nose, shocking him into complete silence.
"Hush, Chiquito, you are being silly, now, it is time to sleep for us, and we are not going to have these games every time. You'll come to bed when it is time, and you will get your rest as your body heals, understand me?" Ichigo just stared at him, eyes wide and nodded slowly.
Isshin and Uryū watched them disappear into the other room, shutting the door behind them. Nnoitra put Ichigo down on the bed where he'd turned down the covers. He slid in beside him, pulling the facemask down. Ichigo stared curiously at him when he started to put it on.
"I have a breathing problem, during the night, without this, I can stop breathing," he said smiling at him. "So, I have to keep this on. Tomorrow, we are going to get on my laptop, and we are going to start catching you up on things, okay?" Ichigo nodded, watching as he strapped the mask on and laid back, slightly building the pillow up so his head was elevated.
Ichigo moved and put himself underneath his arm, and felt Nnoitra tighten it around him, and he realized it felt nice and warm. He smiled, putting his head against his chest and listening for a long time to his heart beating. He sat up after a while, looking down in the dim light to see that he was asleep now. He smiled, reaching out to touch his face with one finger, then leaning over and kissing his nose, well where the facemask covered his nose.
"My Papi," he whispered, smiling and resuming his position snuggled down beside him. He sighed deeply. "My Papi won't hurt me," he whispered to himself, both in a way to convince himself as well as to say the words out loud. "He won't hurt me. He's not like Uncle. I can trust Papi. He'll take care of me. He won't be mad at me. He's a good Papi," he said, sighing out as he finally faded into sleep.
Above him, Nnoitra's eye opened, blinking for a moment, brows knitting together for a moment. He swallowed against a building knot in his chest. Something about the fact that Ichigo seemed to have decided that he was someone he could trust made him feel good, better, in fact, than he'd ever felt before in his life.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Hanataro Yamada was often given to bouts of serious insomnia. Tonight, was one of those nights, so he'd left his small apartment to head down to the beach and walk. It helped, sometimes, but even if it didn't, it was better than sitting in front of the TV all night. So, he just liked to walk and enjoy the ocean. As he walked down the beach tonight, nearing the Marine facility, he saw there was someone else sitting on the beach. As he got closer, the figure turned to him and smiled. He recognized Kūgo, vaguely, though he hadn't had a lot to do with the strange man.
"Hi," Hanataro said, waving at him.
"Oh, hi, nice night, huh?" he said, looking out over the ocean.
Hanataro nodded, sitting down beside him to be nice. Hanataro was often nice to a fault. Kūgo smiled at him as he sat down. "Yeah, I come down this way a lot," he said, looking out there. "The wind and the smell is nice."
Kūgo nodded, running a hand over his head. "Yeah, this is the best place to hear them."
Hanataro looked at him curiously. "Hear who?"
"The star men, of course," he said, looking up into the sky. "I'm waiting for the right moment, you know. The star child, he's here, and I have to figure out how to be with him when they come for us."
Hanataro arched a brow at him. "Oh?" he asked, thinking he was going to be going quickly back home.
"Um hum. He's so lovely," he said, sighing deeply. "I can't wait to leave with him, maybe they'll let us stay together on the ship, and we can be happy, the star child and me," he said, smirking, not noticing that Hanataro was getting up and leaving quietly. He just kept talking to the ocean. "We're both made from humans, after all, and they'll be hard to accept for him, of course, but I'll teach him. He won't like it, not at first, because he won't know about them yet. But they'll come, and they'll take us both away, and we'll never have to worry about anything ever again…" he said wistfully.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
It was only seven in the morning when Gin's phone rang obnoxiously by his head. He groaned picking it up with a groan.
"Gin, what is it?" he muttered, thinking it might be Rachel checking in or Kira.
"Hey, it's Iba, man," came the answer, and Gin was awake immediately. Iba was his FBI contact in San Diego.
"What's up?" he asked, worried that they'd already gotten wind of what had happened with Ryūken and would try and take the Kurosakis into witsec. He didn't think that Ichigo would do well if that happened, so he had been hesitant to contact anyone yet.
"So…you should come to the office, asap, we picked up this guy last week trying to run two pounds of pot across into Nevada, and he has one hell of story you might want to hear. That is, if you're still looking for anything on that cold case about the Kurosaki boy," Iba said.
"Um, yeah, of course, I can be there in a couple hours," he said, grabbing his keys and his wallet. No one else was up yet, so he tried to be quiet. "See you then," he said, ending the call as he closed the door. He pulled up Kira's number and texted him. Head to the safe house. Going to SD. Back by late.
He got in the car and took off as fast as he could dare. It didn't take a very long time to get back, but it was too long no matter how long it was. He got out at the San Diego FBI office and headed up to the office where Iba worked. The dark haired and mustached man looked up with he knocked.
"Good, you got here just in time for the interview. You can stand in the viewing room, but you can't go in with us, okay?" he said.
Gin nodded, wondering just what the hell was going on. He was led to the one-way mirror and stood considering the interview room. The room was recorded digitally, and the feed played on the monitor next to him. He saw a tall, thin man with glasses sitting there, and only a slight bit of dark hair on the top of his head. He looked spacey, if he guessed. He saw Iba and a woman he didn't recognize go into the room, sitting down opposite the man.
Iba spoke into the microphone on the table directly. "Official interview, Quilge Opie. Reference to case number 6859KIMK4-b. Now, Mr. Opie, would you care to explain what exactly was your relationship to the man named Ryūken Ishida?"
Gin's eyes widened in surprise, but he watched. "Well, when I was younger, I was a dealer. The major university scene, and there was this med student who found me. He said he needed some help with dealing with stress, and after he'd had surgery on his wrist earlier that year, he'd found that a few pills now and then went a long way to dealing with it. So, I provided. He'd buy whatever I sold, usually whatever I had on hand, if it was a narcotic, he'd take it. I thought he knew what he was getting into, being a med student and all," he said, shrugging. "There were times he didn't contact me, so I guess he got the pills somewhere else then. But then out of the blue, he calls me one day, saying he's gotten dismissed from his job for palming pills from his patients, and he needed to resume our previous relationship. I agreed, meeting him several times down near Las Noches on the coast. Guess that was where his vacation house was or something, but he went with his family. Well, by now it wasn't just me, of course. I was working for someone else, that's how things work in this business," he said, sighing, glancing at his fingers.
"I took him the drop and he paid me, but he didn't pay me the right amount. Like half of what I'd told him. I told him that he needed to pay up the rest; he refused, saying that he would only honor the priced we'd previously agreed on. I explained that I didn't care, but my supplier…he might be a little put off by it. He didn't care, saying he wasn't paying more than something was worth. So, I went back, and my supplier, like I thought, told me I had to teach him a lesson. I asked what, and he said, take out his wife," he said, sighing. "So, I headed out to do that. But when I got to beach where his wife was, there were two women. Well, being as fucking high as I was at the time, I figured killing them both would work just the same, because I didn't know which one his wife was. So, I shot them. I packed up the rifle, and went back, told my supplier, and he was a little mad I killed the other woman, but I didn't care then."
Gin couldn't believe what he was hearing. Opie continued. "So, after that, the bastard disappeared, and we didn't hear from him again. But, after I got clean, well, off the hard shit anyway, I felt bad about that hit. I mean, those two women had nothing to do with his stiffing us. And I guess, seeing those two boys there on the sand, that shoulda told me I should put down the gun, but nah, my head was all messed up then. I even wondered if I should shoot the kids for good measure…" he said, looking away. "I didn't, thank God, I don't think I could deal with the guilt from that. Those two women are bad enough. I never killed women or children, you know, I'd deal the drugs, take hits on guys. After that I didn't do hits at all, and went to dealing pot."
Iba nodded. "And why are you coming forward this information now?"
Opie shrugged. "Tired of keeping it to myself. I don't know, figure someone needs to be accountable, and those two women, they had families, and kids, and I guess they'd want to know why they died. And if that Ishida bastard is still out there, someone should probably see that he pays, too, or at least knows it was his fault they died, if he doesn't know already. But honestly, considering he stiffed me the day before, he should know why they got hit."
Iba nodded, asking a few other questions but Gin honestly didn't listen from then on. The pieces were drawing together, and now the picture of what had happened became clearer and clearer. A while passed and Iba came out, sighing at him.
"Well, that help with the case?" he asked, smiling at him.
Gin nodded. "Um, Iba, I need your help, actually, on this case," he said hesitantly.
"Oh yeah?" he asked.
"But…I have a request. You can't, no matter what, bring witsec in on this," he said.
Iba looked at him curiously, crossing his arms and looking at him. "Why?"
"I found Ichigo Kurosaki," he said, sighing. Iba stared at him for a long time.
"What, how?" he asked.
Gin shook his head. That's a long story, but look, Ryūken Ishida had him, this whole time, he had him captive," he said, looking up at him.
Iba's face looked more shocked than Gin had ever seen. "What?"
"He…he took that little boy himself, Iba, no one took him, he took that little boy and told him that he killed his mother, he told him it was his fault. And for twelve years, he held him captive, telling him that Isshin Kurosaki was going to send him to jail and beating him nearly to death again and again. He beat his own son, threating to do the same to him if he said anything. And then, when Ishida stepped it up, and started sexually abusing him, his own son broke, trying to get him and Ichigo away," he said, watching as Iba's face twisted in disgust. "Ryūken Ishida is in the wind, and I've got the two boys in a safe location, under a lot of eyes, and the boy's a mess. Well, both of them are a mess. But, if I try and take Ichigo away from the man who is currently his only source of comfort, the boy might just crack beyond repair," he said seriously. "Iba, you know I've been through this with Kira. When you tried to take him and put him in witsec. It was mere days before you called me after he tried to cut his wrists open. I can't let that happen again."
Iba looked at him, nodding, remembering vividly how bad that had gone. Kira had been freed by Gin from a fetish sex slavery ring. He'd attached to Gin in the short time he'd been with him until he was turned over to the FBI agents. He'd been distraught, but everyone, even their doctors, said he'd recover, he just needed time. Two days after going to the safe house, they'd found him in the bathroom, having pulled a safety razor apart with his teeth and had tried to slice open his arms from the inside of his elbow to his wrists. They'd gotten him to the hospital in time, but they'd brought Gin back in, and figured out how to deal with him without another life-threatening incident.
Iba sighed. "Alright, give me the address, I'll see what I can do about sending a team to be nearby, and maybe see if we can't find Ryūken Ishida before he tries anything."
Gin nodded, thankful that Iba was willing to work with him on it.