-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
"What?" Isshin exclaimed where he stood in the kitchen on his phone. "You're kidding me!"
Ichigo, who was in the middle of a lesson on interpretation of themes in literature, looked up with a frown. Nnoitra also glanced over at him, wondering what was going on now. Things had been too quiet lately, he thought.
"Alright, yeah, I'll tell them. Thanks, Gin," Isshin said, clicking off the phone and looking into the living room. "They caught him. They picked up Ryūken."
Nnoitra looked at Ichigo, watching him carefully. Ichigo just stared at Isshin for a minute. "They caught him? They really did?" he asked finally.
"They did," Isshin said, starting to smile. "They did. He went to the hospital, probably to try and steal some drugs from the pharmacy, but he was caught instead. Gin says they're taking him back to San Diego."
Ichigo blinked and then stared at his hands. They were shaking a little. He felt the pricking of the tears before they started and Nnoitra put is arm around him immediately.
"Shh, Chiquito," he said softly. "It's alright. It's over now."
"But is it? The police will want me to talk, and tell them what happened, won't they? I've seen it on the internet! It isn't over until they put him away for good." Ichigo gasped a little.
Nnoitra shushed him again and pulled him close. "It's going to be fine. They got him, that's what matters. We don't have to hide out anymore."
Ichigo couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe that he was actually caught. The tears hit him finally and he covered his face as they fell. Nnoitra patted his back gently as he cried, letting him get it out of his system. Karin and Yuzu stood to the side, worried, but not sure if they should do anything. They hadn't ever really seen Ichigo break down like this before; Nnoitra was the only one who had.
"He's going to jail," Ichigo gasped out finally. "Not me; he's going to jail."
"That's right, Chiquito. That's right. He was wrong, not you," Nnoitra assured him. Isshin had come and sat down on the other sofa and was watching carefully.
"Gin said that he claimed the reason he blamed Ichigo for the whole thing was because it was Ichigo who had wanted to go to the beach that day," Isshin said quietly. "I'd forgotten that. I had to work suddenly, and we were going to cancel our plans to go to the beach. Ichigo was distraught because he wanted to play with Uryū."
"So, it was my fault!" Ichigo said, staring at Isshin with wide eyes.
"Nonsense!" Nnoitra said with a frown, pulling him tight against him again. "That hit man was going to find a way to kill one way or another. It wasn't your fault for being there. It was his fault for doing something that brought it down upon you."
"B-but if I hadn't been there, maybe he wouldn't have killed both of them," he said after thinking about it a minute. "Maybe he wouldn't have killed mom, too."
Isshin shook his head. "Don't think that way, Ichigo. This isn't your fault. Not at all. The only person at fault is Ryūken, and that's it."
Uryū came into the room just then with Chad trailing behind him. "What's happened?" he asked, seeing the way everyone was sitting around.
Isshin looked up at him. "They caught Ryūken."
Uryū's eyes widened and he glanced at Ichigo. "They caught him. They really did," he said, shakily sitting down in the recliner, almost falling into it.
Chad put a hand on Uryū's shoulder and Uryū placed his hand on it, still staring blankly ahead. "Then it's over. We can leave here safely again," he said softly.
"But we'll have to talk to a court!" Ichigo said, turning to him. "We'll have to tell people what happened!"
"I know." Uryū nodded. "But we can do it, Ichigo. I know we can. We just have to be strong. I know you can do it. I know I can do it."
Ichigo stared at him for a minute. "I don't know if I can," he whispered.
"We don't have to worry about it now," Isshin said, standing up. "That won't be for a little while. We'll have time to prepare."
"So, Ichi-nii can leave the cabin now? We should take him to the beach!" Yuzu exclaimed, clapping her hands in front of her.
Ichigo looked at her and frowned. The beach? He wasn't so sure about that. "I guess," he said.
"We should invite everyone and have a beach party!" Yuzu said excitedly. "I'll call Wonderweiss!"
She was off already. Nnoitra looked at Ichigo. "It's okay. You can get out of the cabin for a while and get some sunshine and some air. It'll be good for you."
"If you say so, Papi," Ichigo said and gave him a weak smile.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Ichigo was still not sure about the whole thing. He was nervous because the last time he'd been at a beach had been when his mother was killed. It was no wonder that he was feeling a little odd about the whole thing. But Nnoitra would be there, so he would be okay. He was sure of that, at least.
Ichigo held his breath as he stepped out the door of the building. Of course, nothing happened but the sun shined down on him. He looked around, hesitating until Nnoitra put his hand on his shoulder.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, just a little nervous," he said and stepped outside a little further. "Are you sure this is okay?"
"I'm sure. You need to get out and having a little bit of a get together on the beach is a wonderful way to get outside and get used to meeting some new people. There won't be too many people, remember?"
As they walked out, they saw the next building. Ichigo stopped and pointed at it. "What's that place?" he asked.
"Oh, that? That's Harribel's marine lab. Here, look, I'll show you something," he said and led him over toward the building. "Come on, just step in the entry," he said, gesturing to him to go into it.
Ichigo was hesitant but walked into the room. It was a big lobby with decorations in an ocean theme around the room, but very tastefully done. Nnoitra pointed to of the walls that was covered with framed photographs. Ichigo took a deep breath and smiled. "It's so beautiful!" he said as he looked around.
"Yeah, they're all pictures of the area around here, the ocean and the beaches. And look here," he said, pointing to the one of a great humpback whale breeching the surface of the water.
"What's that?" Ichigo breathed out, having never seen something like that.
"A Humpback whale," Nnoitra told him with a smile. "Isn't it nice? The part of this marine lab that most people like the most is the ocean-fed pool," he said as he led him to look out the window on it. It was a large round shaped pool where they could see water flowing from the outside.
"I've never seen anything like it," Ichigo said, then thought how dumb that statement really was. Of course, he'd never seen anything like it. He'd hardly seen anything over the last twelve years but the inside of whatever place he was living in.
"See, pools normally have chlorinated water or some sort of salt-filtering system, but with this one, water flows into it directly from the ocean. It's not something you find just anywhere," he said and smiled at him.
After a few more minutes of looking around, they went back out of the lab and Nnoitra pointed to a nearby house and told him that's where Harribel lived. It wasn't a huge house, but it was nice sized and right on the beach.
"Well, hello there," came a woman's voice near Ichigo's elbow. He turned quickly to see a woman with dark skin and long, curly hair. She smiled at them. "Are you the ones who have been staying in the cabin?"
Nnoitra nodded. "Yeah, this is Ichigo. Ichigo, this is Mila Rose, one of Harribel's sisters."
Ichigo smiled at her the best he could despite still being a bit nervous. "Hi," he said and felt his face flush a little bit.
"Tier said we're all getting together this afternoon down on the beach in front of the cabins. Sounds like a lot of fun. I hope to see you there!" she said and waved to them as she walked into the Marine center.
"She's pretty," Ichigo said as he watched her go. "She looks so much different from Ms. Harribel," he said with a frown.
"Well, that's because Harribel's sisters were all adopted from different places," Nnoitra told him.
"Really? That can happen?" Ichigo asked as they walked toward the beach where they could already see a couple people were gathered. Ichigo recognized Szayel's head of pink hair, but he couldn't tell who else was there.
"Of course, it can happen. There are lots of kinds of families, you know," Nnoitra said as he led him onward, walking at a slower pace, though.
"I don't know much about families," Ichigo said quietly.
"Nnoitra, there you are!" yelled someone and Ichigo recognized the guy with the black hair and facial tattoos.
"Shūhei," Nnoitra said as they came closer. "How's it going?"
"Great, first time I've been down to the beach this fall. Hey, how's your cutie?" he said, grinning at Ichigo.
Ichigo felt his cheeks heat up and he ducked a little. Nnoitra saved him, though. "He's getting used to being around so many people. So, don't crowd him."
"Hey, that blond still here or did he leave?" Shūhei asked as he looked back toward the cabin.
Nnoitra grinned. "He hasn't left yet, if you're still interested. I think he's up at the cabin packing to leave, though. Maybe—"
"Thanks!" Shūhei cut him off and took off running toward the cabin. Nnoitra snickered and shook his head.
"Look, Chad and Uryū are sitting down there together," Ichigo noticed, seeing them sitting with their feet just in the surf.
"They seem to have got along with each other pretty well," Nnoitra said as they continued walking down to the beach together.
Ichigo nodded, squeezing Nnoitra's hand. "Chad's good for Uryū. I think they should be together."
"Oh, are you playing matchmaker?" Nnoitra asked with a soft grin.
"Matchmaker?" Ichigo asked, looking up at him. "What's that mean?"
"Trying to put people together you think ought to be dating," he said as they got to one of the benches built along the beach and sat down with him.
Ichigo thought about it for a minute. "Is that okay?"
"Of course, it's okay," Nnoitra said as he put an arm around Ichigo's shoulder.
They sat there a few minutes and watched as Szayel played ball with Wonderweiss and another blond-haired guy that Ichigo didn't know. They were soon joined by Shūhei who came back to the beach with Kira following him. Ichigo smiled as he watched them.
"Who's the blond that's with Szayel?" Ichigo asked finally.
"Oh, that's their other brother Illfordt," Nnoitra told him.
"Nnoitra, Ichigo," came a voice behind them. They turned to see it was Isshin and the two girls. "Here you are. I was wondering where you went," he said as he came up.
"We just came down to the beach while we were waiting for everyone to get here," Nnoitra said with a grin. "Showed Ichigo the marine lab and the pool over there, and now we're watching the brothers play ball for a little while."
Isshin looked down the beach and nodded. "They look to be having fun. Would you like to go play with them too, Ichigo?" he asked, looking over at him.
Ichigo froze for a second, not sure about that. "I-I like watching right now," he said finally.
"Itsygo!" Ichigo heard and turned to see the little girl with tiny pigtails in green come running down the beach with the blue-haired guy that had come in the cabin before running after her. She had the stuffed caterpillar clutched to her chest as she came up in front of Ichigo. "You don't have no owie anymore!"
Ichigo reached up and touched his face where the bruising had faded. "Yeah, I'm fine now," he said with a smile at her.
"Nel, I swear!" Grimmjow said as he caught up with her. "I've never seen a brat run so fast."
"It's okay," Ichigo said as Nel hopped up on the bench beside him.
"Where Tier?" she asked, looking at Grimmjow.
"She's coming," Grimmjow said. "Did you want to play in the water before it gets too cool?" he asked.
"Yeah!" she said and jumped up. She turned and looked at Ichigo. "Can Itsygo watch Bawabawa?"
Ichigo nodded and was immediately handed the stuffed creature. She then proceeded to strip off her shorts and t-shirt. Luckily, she had a swimsuit on under it. Grimmjow groaned and pulled his own shirt off because she was already off and running to the surf. As he ran off, Ichigo saw he had a big number six tattooed on his back. He wondered what that was for.
"I'm going to go down to the beach with the girls, are you coming down there, too?" Isshin asked.
"In a while. I think I want to sit here and watch Bawabawa for a little while," Ichigo said, smiling at the stuffed animal.
Isshin nodded and took the girls down to the beach. Ichigo sat quietly for a few minutes then looked up at Nnoitra. "Does it really mean we're a family even if we've never been together?"
"Of course, it does. Family can come from anywhere, and sometimes it can be people you don't expect. I certainly didn't expect to find you, Chiquito." Nnoitra squeezed his shoulders and smiled as they watched Karin and Yuzu start tossing the ball back and forth with the others. "Are you sure you wouldn't like to go play? They look like they're having fun."
"I know, but I like sitting here with you," Ichigo said, hugging the caterpillar to his chest.
Nnoitra smiled and relaxed against him as they watched. After a few minutes, Harribel came walking up in a bathing suit wrap. With her were her three sisters, two of which Ichigo hadn't met. Nnoitra waved as they came up.
"Ichigo, this is Harribel's other sisters, Sung-Sun and Apacci," he said.
Ichigo frowned as he looked at them. "You all look different from each other." Then he covered his mouth; he probably shouldn't have said that.
Harribel smiled, though. "It's okay. My parents couldn't have any children after me, so they adopted kids from foreign countries. Mila Rose is from the Dominican Republic, Sung-Sun is from China, and Apacci is from Albania. So, that's why we all look so different," she said gently. "They were all infants and toddlers when they were adopted, so we've been sisters pretty much their whole lives."
"Oh," Ichigo said and nodded. "I see."
Harribel untied the wrap she was wearing and draped it on the back of the bench. When she did, Ichigo could see she had a three tattooed on her right breast. Ichigo stared for a minute, trying to understand why someone would tattoo a three on them. Harribel looked at him for a second before he looked up at her face.
"I'm sorry. I just saw that Grimmjow had a number six on his back, and you have a number three on you, and I was wondering what they meant," Ichigo said, his face going a shade darker. He hadn't meant to look like he was staring at her breasts.
She just smiled. "Well, you see, when Grimmjow and I were younger, when we were dating at first, we went to this fortune-teller at a festival. She specialized in numerology, and she told us that three was my lucky number and his was six. That was our first date, so when we started to become serious with each other, we decided to get the numbers tattooed on us, as a memory of our first date together."
Ichigo hadn't realized that Grimmjow and Harribel were together, but it made sense. That was why Nel had been around to run into the cabin. They lived together over at the house together, probably.
"Chiquito, let's go down with the others, okay?" Nnoitra said and stood up.
Ichigo nodded, standing up, still clutching the caterpillar. "Okay, I'm ready I think."
They walked down to the water and Grimmjow came up in a few minutes to retrieve Bawabawa from Ichigo since Nel didn't want to take her feet out of the water. Ichigo noticed that Harribel's sister, Apacci was sitting on the beach near her. Nnoitra introduced him to Illfordt. He saw that Wonderweiss was talking to Yuzu about the little donkey he had. Karin was tossing a ball back and forth with Shūhei while Kira watched from the side. Somehow, Ichigo thought he was showing off for him. He looked around, but he didn't see Kisuke. He was a little sad that he and Gin were there.
After a while, everyone started to get tired of playing or doing their various activities, and everyone came up and settled down in a circle on beach towels in the sand. They were talking about random things. Ichigo was still a little nervous despite everyone being so warm and welcoming to him here. Then the little donkey came up to him and nuzzled his hand. He smiled at petted it but then looked up where Wonderweiss was watching them.
"How'd you get a donkey anyway?" he asked.
Everyone glanced at him and Wonderweiss smiled. "When I lived in New Mexico, I used to go to this farm to do horse therapy. I liked riding a lot, and they had nice horses. They also raised these miniature donkeys. I used to visit with them after I was done riding the horses." He paused and his face turned down a bit. "But then, one night, a pack of wild dogs got into the farm and attacked a bunch of the animals. My favorite horse was killed, as were some others, and a few were hurt badly. One of the donkeys that was killed was Fuwa's mother. I wanted to adopt her so I could protect her from anything that wanted to hurt her." As he talked, Fuwa came over to him and laid down by his knee. "After that, though, I couldn't go back to the farm without being sad."
"That's when our mom called me," Szayel said with a smile. "She thought a change of scenery would do Wonderweiss good and keep his mind off the farm that got attacked. She asked if he could come stay with us, and I said yeah. So now, Fuwa gets to play with my living lawnmowers."
"Living lawnmowers?" Ichigo said, tilting his head to the side.
"Yeah, I have a pair of miniature goats named Lumina and Verona that I keep. Even have a shed outside for them to live in. Wonderweiss keeps a sleeping bag out there in case he hears them braying in the middle of the night." Szayel reached over and scratched the little donkey's head.
"I never got to have pets," Ichigo said sadly, looking down at his hands.
Nnoitra put his arm around him and hugged him. "Well, that changes. We have Molly and Ratchet at mom and dad's place."
"How'd you get them?" Ichigo asked, looking up at him. "Did you just get them at a pet store or something?"
"Nah, nothing like that. My papa started feeding this scrawny stray that started coming around. She was pregnant, we soon found out. She got attached really quick, and he had thought about getting a dog for the yard. We think she's got some coyote in her. She's a good pup, though. When she had puppies, we decided to keep one of them, so now we have Ratchet." Nnoitra smiled as he talked about the dogs. It was an infectious sort of smile, and Ichigo found himself smiling with him.
"It must be nice to have such amazing families," Ichigo said a little sadly. "I missed on all that."
Isshin looked pained himself as he looked over at him. "We'll make up for it. Time may have been lost, but from now on, you have a family."
"But what's going to happen to me now?" Ichigo asked, looking over where Isshin sat behind Karin and Yuzu.
"What do you mean, Ichi-nii?" Yuzu asked, frowning at him.
"You're in our family now, so you'll be with us, right, Pop?" Karin said, turning to look at Isshin.
Isshin saw the look that immediately crossed Ichigo's face. He didn't want to leave Nnoitra and he knew it. The question was, would he tell them that? "Well, if he wants, I was planning to move to Las Noches to be closer to you girls."
"You what?" Karin said, looking at him surprised.
"Yeah, it was going to be something I kept hidden until it happened. But I think that it would be easier to be a family if we were all together," Isshin gave Ichigo a smile, again, wondering what he was going to say to that.
"I'd like to be near," Ichigo said. "But I want to stay with Papi if I can. Can I?" he said, turning his face to look at him.
Nnoitra regretted the fact they were out in public because that face and voice was dangerously close to Ichigo's little space, and he really wanted to kiss him and stroke his hair right then. "Eh, are you sure about that, Chiquito?" he asked.
Ichigo nodded strongly. "Yes. If I can, I want to stay with you."
Nnoitra smiled, reaching out and ruffling his hair. "Well, you get to decide what happens to you, Chiquito. You're a grown up and can choose to stay with whoever you want. My mama will be happy if you stay with us, but it won't be good for a long time, living with them."
"Why not?" Ichigo asked, frowning deeply.
"If we're going to live together, don't you want to have our own home?" Nnoitra said with a gentle smile.
Ichigo's eyes went wide and he leaped up and wrapped his arms around Nnoitra's neck. "You mean that, Papi?"
Nnoitra patted his back. "If that's what you want."
Ichigo let go and looked at Isshin where he sat watching them. "I'm sorry, I'll still spend time with you, too," he said and walked over to him. He gave him a tentative hug.
"You're able to decide, Ichigo," Isshin said as he stepped back. "I'll support you. That's what families do, you know. Support each other no matter what."
Ichigo returned to Nnoitra and sat down between his long, lanky legs. Nnoitra move a little to accommodate him and wrapped his arms around him from behind. "Good," Ichigo said with a little nod of his head.
"So, you never told me, Szayel, what's your mom like?" Nnoitra asked as he glanced over at him. "You mention her now and then, but you never really talk about her or you dad."
Illfordt looked up then and glanced at Szayel to see if he wanted to talk about it or not. When Szayel paused for a minute, he took the chance to speak.
"Well, you see, our mom is great. She's what you'd call a free spirit, an artist. She met our dad and he was really charismatic and had this good job, but you know what they say about appearances. After they got married and had the two of us, they started disagreeing about everything. He wanted her to settle down and just be a happy housewife. Mom wanted no part of it. She did her own thing, and that didn't include spending her life stuck in some 1960s ideal that he had." Illfordt sighed. "She also didn't want to raise us like we were from that era either, what he called traditional upbringing."
Szayel nodded. "But she knew that he'd never appreciate her for who she was, so they ended up getting a divorce. After that, she met with her old high school boyfriend, and started seeing him. The ended up getting married and having Wonderweiss. After he was diagnosed with autism, Mom knew Dad wouldn't have been happy with a kid that was autistic. That just wouldn't be perfect like he wanted things."
"They're still married, though," Wonderweiss chimed in. "She's happy with him."
"How'd you end up in Las Noches anyway, if you're from New Mexico?" Ichigo asked, clutching Nnoitra's hands where they were folded over his stomach.
"Oh, that's Illfordt's fault," Szayel said, glancing at him.
Illfordt chuckled. "Yeah, yeah, that was my doing. I wanted to come here and start a business because I heard it was a good place for creative types. Plus, a little wanderlust to get away from home, I guess. But then not long afterward, Szayel decided he wanted to come live here with me. We ended up buying the property we have that had plenty of room on it for the little livestock shed and the goats that Szayel wanted to have. Then, it was what, four months later that Mom called to ask if Wonderweiss could come here?"
Szayel nodded. "I think so, something like that. But Wonderweiss has been happy here, especially at the Free School."
"Yeah, they let me take Fuwa with me to school sometimes. I'm working on a donkey cart out of spare parts in the junkyard, too. They're really good about letting you pursue things you're interested in there," Wonderweiss told them.
They spent the rest of the evening chatting amongst themselves about various things. Ichigo had a good time, even if he did spend most of it tucked tightly into Nnoitra's lap. He was happy, and every time Nnoitra's hand brushed him, he felt reassured that he was there, and he would always be there for him.
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Down the beach, Kūgo watched them playing under the sun with a careful eye. He could easily keep track of the star child. He was so unique in his hair color. He tapped the side of his head. He was sure that the aliens were going to come soon, so he had to get his hands on the star child. He had to get him to the meeting place at the end of the pier. They were smart, though, the aliens were. They had cloaking devices, but the only place they could hide their ship was in the water. So, they would come and wait at the end of the east pier at the appointed time, right as the moon was at its highest in just a couple nights.
He sat down on one of the beachside benches and smiled. It was really coming. This time it was really going to happen. He would finally be with the aliens, and nothing was going to stop him.
He watched the star child until it grew dark and everyone left to go back in the cabin he was staying in. Kūgo got closer and watched as everyone slept there. But not everyone stayed, he noticed. The one with the silver hair was gone, and so was the one with the blond hair. The tall boy that he'd seen around town left and did not come back either. There were less people there. He wondered if he could get in and out without being noticed.
It was around midnight when he crept forward to the door and tried it. It was locked, of course. He frowned, wondering how to get in without making a bunch of noise and waking those inside the building. He reached in his pocket and pulled out the pocket knife he carried. He spent a few minutes prying at the doorknob. He didn't imagine that this place used very strong locks since it was a hotel. He struggled with it for almost an hour before he finally popped the lock. He smiled, opening the door and slipping into the cabin. He looked around and saw there were four doors. Four rooms he might be in…
He went to the left side first. He opened the door gently and saw one figure in the bed, but in the dim light from the window, the hair was black, not orange. Not the star child. He closed the door again and went to the next room. This time the room was illuminated by some sort of nightlight, so he could easily see the star child draped over the tall Nnoitra from the garage. He smiled, clutching the knife and knew he wouldn't be able to make him leave without it. He wouldn't hurt him; never would he hurt the star child. But he had to get him out of this cabin to his house.
He noticed the breathing machine, and the noise it made was enough to cover any small noises he made as he came into the room. He walked over to the other side of the bed and reached out to grasp one hand over his mouth. Immediately, he came awake and stared at him. Kūgo smiled and held up the knife.
"Quiet, or I'll hurt your friend," he said, holding the knife over Nnoitra's sleeping form.
He moved his hand and the star child looked frightened. "What do you want?"
"You are going to come with me," he said softly. "I promise I won't hurt you, if you listen to me. We'll both be free if you do. So please, come with me quietly so I don't have to hurt someone. You wouldn't want that, would you?"
The star child shook his head, afraid to even move it looked like. Kūgo gestured to him to get out of the bed. He did, slowly moving.
"C-can I leave a note? They'll be worried about me," the star child asked in a shaking voice.
Kūgo frowned, thinking about it. If they left a note, maybe it would keep them from looking for him. If they knew he'd been taken by someone who wanted to see him go home instead of be stuck on this dreadful planet. So, he grinned then.
"Yes, let's leave a note," he said. "Write down what I say."
The star child reached over and pulled a pad of paper out of a bag and a pencil. Kūgo held the knife closer to Nnoitra's throat. He looked at him. "Okay."
"Write down this. Say I've come to take the star child home. You don't have to worry about him, I will keep him safe until time for his return to the east at the end of the line."
The star child wrote quickly and then stood up. Kūgo waved the knife at him and he came around the bed. He walked in front of him as he grabbed him by the arm and steered him out of the room and then through the cabin to the door. The door wouldn't shut anymore, but it wouldn't matter, not really. He kept the knife on him, though, because the star child might try to escape, and he couldn't let that happen. He had precious little time until the moon was at it's highest and the aliens came to pick him up