The rest of the kids sat in silence. "Who else was in on this?" Ikkaku said again. No one had realized his voice could get even more serious.
Finally, Ameil and Nat raised their hands. "This way," Ikkaku said and led the boys out. "The rest of you, keep writing," he said sternly. Nat and Demi were not seen again until Wednesday.
It was a pretty dull week after that, mainly because the kids were too scared to cross Ikkaku again. Yuzu and Ururu noted that even Karin, one of the loudest ones, was unusually quiet. On Tuesday evening when Kugo came to get Ichigo for training, Karin was waiting for him on the porch.
"Hello Karin," Koga said, walking up the stairs.
"I know what you are and what you did!"
Koga froze dead in his tracks and turned slowly. "I was hoping to keep that information quiet for a bit longer," he said ruefully. "Let's go for a walk, I don't think this is a conversation we should have here."
They walked for a bit until Karin broke the silence.
"Why?" she asked. "Why did you take Jinta?"
"First off, Karin, I have no idea of the lives of the people I take. It would be too hard if I did. I am just given a name; believe me, I had no idea I took one of Ichigo's friends."
"What about Kisuke?" Karin asked.
"What does he have to do with anything?" Kuga said with a scowl.
"He adopted Jinta!"
Koga paused. "I may hate and distrust him, but I would never do something like that to him on purpose," he said in both defense and disbelief.
"Who else did you take from us?" Karin demanded. "I want to know!"
He paused for a minute, trying to decide what was proper to say. In all his time training Ichigo and the warnings he'd received, he'd never been told about the possibility of what was happening now. Since Karin confronted him that night, he knew she was not someone to take lightly. Though he would never admit it, he was scared of her, and for good reason. Karin never got her answer.
It was Friday when Ikkaku started to wonder what had happened to Ameil. He had sent him off to Izuru just like he did with the other boys, but Demi and Nat had come back. In the evening he called Hueco Mundo and when Gin said he didn't know about Ameil whereabouts, Ikkaku grew really concerned.
That night he went to Izuru's barracks. In response to Ikkaku's query, Izuru responded, "I sent him to a military school. With Gin being his uncle, you could never be too sure of what he would do next. I'm too busy to be bothered with his misbehavior."
It took everything he had for Ikkaku to stay calm. "Izuru, he was never any trouble! How could you send him away especially without talking to me or his uncle about it?"
"Ameil is 13 and that is when it starts. Furthermore, he is my responsibility, not yours or Gin's," Izuru replied.
"I know that, but raising a child is surely new to you and you could ask for advice," Ikkaku protested.
"I did what I thought was best and it was my place to do so."
Ikkaku walked back to Plumfield in silence after that; there was nothing he could do. On his way, Yumichika ran into him.
"Hey Ikkaku, I… what's wrong?" he asked upon seeing his face.
"Ameil was sent to a military school," he said sadly.
"WHAT!" Yumichika nearly shouted in disbelief. He walked back with Ikkaku, tumult swirling in his mind.
Around five in the morning, there was a knock on the door.
"Coming!" Tessai said, yawning and wrapping a blanket around himself. The evening was so nice for a February that they hadn't even left the fire going; now he regretted that. He opened the door to see Ameil with a black eye and a suit case.
"Ameil!" Ikkaku gasped from behind Tessai. "What happened?"
"Izuru sent me to military school, he said it would make me a better man. I said I didn't want to go but he made me anyways. So on the way I jumped off the train and came home, which is here. Ikkaku, I truly feel at home here, more so then I ever did with my uncle."