Ichigo knocked on the frame of the door to Kaito's room a second time, leaning close to see if he could hear movement in the room. "Is Kaito-san usually a heavy sleeper?" he asked Yoruichi when he continued to hear nothing through the door.

"No," Yoruichi said, before pacing forward and poking his paw at the edge of the door frame. The door wriggled, slid open a crack, the further as Yoruichi pried it open with his paw. "Wait here," Yoruichi told them, before squeezing through the small gap and into Kaito's room.

Ichigo exchanged uncomfortable looks with the other teens; they hadn't been given permission to enter, but Yoruichi had said Kaito wasn't a heavy sleeper. Had even seemed a bit concerned himself, as he went to investigate. What if something had happened while the rest of them had been asleep?

Orihime edged closer, shot him a challenging look, then peered through the gap—

Her shoulder slammed into Ichigo's shoulder, forcing him back and giving her room to shove open the door and bolt into Kaito's room. "Oh no!"

Chad caught him before he could fall and turned them both back towards the open door. His left hand clenched and rose, reiatsu gathering through his arm in case he needed to defend them. But he faltered at the sight inside, and Ichigo couldn't blame his friend; Kaito was huddled in a far corner, blades crossed over his lap and hands resting on the hilts. His eyes were closed and his chin was resting on his chest, giving the appearance of someone sleeping upright.

But Kaito's sleep kimono was stained with bloody patches that looked fresh and wet, and the room smelled of sweat and spilled blood.

(What had he been doing all night?)

There were dark bags beneath Kaito's eyes, and his shoulders were slumped in weariness; clearly being back in Soul Society was taking a heavier toll than Ichigo had expected. He wished he'd realized— wished he'd thought about the consequences before just allowing Kaito to follow them, but—

('Trying to dissuade him would have been the worse option.')

Orihime was on her knees in front of Kaito, wringing her hands and trying to get a response out of their friend by calling his name. But he remained unresponsive, still but for the even rise and fall of his chest.

"What in the wor—" Ishida's voice cut off abruptly, hand rising to cover his mouth and eyes wide in shock. "Kurosaki!" he hissed. "Is that—"

"It's blood," Chad confirmed grimly.

"He's bloody all over!" Ichigo pulled free of Chad's grip and darted into the room after Orihime. "Yoruichi, what the hell?!"

Yoruichi turned narrowed eyes upon them, ears back and tail lashing from side to side in irritation. "I thought I told you to remain outside?"

"You seriously think we'd stay out when you didn't give us a reason?" Ishida hissed in frustration, baring his teeth at Yoruichi and flexing his right hand as if to call up his bow.

"I thought you would respect his privacy and—"

"Kaito!" Orihime cried, sharp and afraid and louder than any of her previous attempts.

Kaito jerked back to awareness, head snapping up and eyes darting about, pupils blown wide. "Wha—"

"You're bleeding!" Orihime exclaimed as she edged a bit closer. Her hands rose and her healing shield flickered into existence around Kaito at last, Kaito's awakening snapping her out of her uncertainty and into her healer mode.

Except… Orihime's worry, her fear, seemed to confuse Kaito more than anything. The man's brows drew together and his lips pursed, and it was only when he looked down at himself that wounds finally seemed to register.

Chad shifted closer to Ichigo, and he glanced up at his friend in question.

"We need to be careful," Chad murmured. When Ishida looked over, expression edged with worry, Chad explained, "I've seen that look before. Those wounds… he doesn't care. They don't matter, or register as anything more than irritants."

Ishida drew in a sharp breath, jaw flexing, before he looked away from the two of them and back to Kaito. "I guess death isn't the only thing he's seen too much of, then," he whispered, voice only just carrying to Ichigo and Chad.

"It wouldn't be," Chad agreed darkly.

Ichigo grimaced. It made far too much sense, given what little he knew of Kaito's past, but… it wasn't something he really wanted to consider.

(But he had to. For all of their sakes.)

(How much did a person have to go through, to stop caring about injuries? To stop caring that he went to bed healthy and woke up wounded and bleeding?)

(How did that even work?)

Kaito cleared his throat, trying for a nonchalant tone as he said, "It's nothing to worry about—"

"Nothing to worry about?" Orihime glared, and Kaito raised his hands in a placating gesture that she ignored. "You're bleeding and you consider this nothing to worry about?"

Ichigo scanned Kaito carefully, trying to determine how badly the man was actually injured. Perhaps it looked worse than it was, or he had some way to heal himself that they didn't know of. Either way, he needed information, so he could begin to learn Kaito's actual limits.

"Something he does regularly, then?" Ishida murmured thoughtfully, glancing at Ichigo then back to Kaito. "Training?"

"To get wounds like that?" Ichigo asked. Not that he could see many of Kaito's injuries, only the bloody patches that were scattered across Kaito's sleep kimono. Kaito did seem to enjoy making shallow, bloody wounds on them when he trained them, though, so perhaps…

But the fact remained that Kaito had gotten them overnight, without any of them being alerted to combat. And Kaito's room was too small for the sort of darting, active combat that Kaito practiced, much less against some unknown opponent.

Kaito's smile came bright and cheerful, at odds with the blood and Orihime's worry.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at the sight. If Kaito was putting on a mask for them, he couldn't see through it. That… scared him.

(How many other smiles that Kaito gave were a mask? How much was he hiding from them?)

"Let me explain before you keep jumping to conclusions?" Kaito asked them, gaze shifting between them. "I was practicing jinzen, which is an advanced method of communicating with my zanpakutou. It brings the inner and outer worlds into a closer sync than usual, which means that injuries I sustained in combat in my inner world appeared on my physical body."

Ichigo suppressed a wince at the information. He was a Shinigami, technically. Did that mean..? "All Shinigami do this?"

"Yes," Kaito agreed with a fond pat of the white blade's hilt. "A soul with a zanpakutou needs to remain on good terms with their blade. A zanpakutou is more than just a weapon, after all. It's a part of me, an extension of myself that I rely upon to see me through combat. I'm not helpless without my blades, but I am certainly lesser."

Zanpakutou were that important to Shinigami? Ichigo took a mental step back and looked at Kaito and his posture. Took in the way Kaito's hands rested on the hilts of his blades, his fingers tracing absent patterns over the metal. The way he looked so comfortable with them. He had thought it was just a result of Kaito having the blades for so long, but… a part of his soul…

What did that mean, to a Shinigami born as one? Kaito spoke of communication, but Ichigo had never heard anything from his blade. Had he..?

(Except in the Shattered Shaft.)

(Was that what Kaito was talking about?)

(Could he… talk with that spirit he'd met? How did one do that?)

"There, all better!" Orihime sat back on her heels and let her shield fade away, her expression turning stern. "And if you ever do that again, I want you to tell me so that I can heal you."

Confusion flickered across Kaito's expression before he covered it with a smile. "I usually ask Tsukabishi-san, or relax in the healing spring in the training ground, but if you're around, of course I will." The look he gave Orihime as he said that… Ichigo couldn't quantify it.

At his side, Ishida took a sharp breath, shoulders rigid and body tense, his focus on Kaito.

"Ishida?" Ichigo murmured as Kaito gestured and all of them stepped back to give the man room to stand.

Ishida shook his head. "Just… confirmation," he told Ichigo. "He—"

Kaito swayed, nearly falling, and all of them jerked forward in response. Orihime, by dint of being closest, hovered with her hands poised to catch Kaito if he did fall, concern on her face as Kaito rubbed at his thigh.

"I'm fine," Kaito tried to reassure them with a grimace of discomfort. "My legs are just a bit numb."

Which… made sense. If Kaito had remained in that folded position all night, tucked away in the corner and unmoving, then it stood to reason that his legs would protest moving.

(That he had done that said even more.)

(How much did it hurt, being back here? Enough that Kaito would prefer this over sleep?)

Kaito's look sent them retreating again, and the man stepped out of the corner while stretching. His motions sent the fabric draped over his shoulders fluttering, and Ichigo stared at it as it moved. It seemed… familiar.

Very familiar.

"Are you… wearing Hat'n'Clog's coat?" Ichigo asked incredulously, watching the sway and flutter of the dark fabric with tell-tale white diamonds decorating the bottom edge. Why the hell was Kaito wearing that?

Kaito's mischievous smile gave Ichigo a bad feeling, as did the way he slipped his arms through the sleeves and settled the haori properly across his shoulders. Bloodstains aside, he looked… he looked…

Kaito stepped around Ichigo while he was still trying to process the sight, and bent to scoop up something else. At his side, Ishida gave a strangled whine as Kaito settled a familiar — if color-shifted — hat atop his head and briefly flicked open the — also color-shifted — fan.

He winked, playful and happy and clearly having fun. "Just a final bit of disguise is all!"

A quiet click noise caught Ichigo's attention, and he tore his gaze away from Hat'n'Clogs junior to see… Yoruichi with a camera? The cat looked smug as he pressed the button with a paw, triggering the camera again. His tail twitched happily, and when he met Ichigo's gaze there was an honest joy there.

Ichigo looked back at Kaito, at the way the man stood, the unfeigned mischief and cheer on his expression in clear mimicry of his father. A father he'd only just met a few months ago.

(What was it like, to love so deeply? To clearly enjoy a chance at mimicry and the dismayed reactions it prompted?)

(Ichigo could understand why Yoruichi was taking those pictures. This was )

"Disguise?!" Ishida exclaimed, horrified. "That's not a disguise! That's you looking like a copy of Urahara-san!"

"Ara, ara, no need to be so offended by that," Kaito said, pouting at them and fidgeting with his fan, amusement in his shadowed eyes.

"I thought you wanted to hide!" Ishida continued in frustration, before turning to Ichigo and nearly begging, "Kurosaki! Talk some damn sense into him!"

Ichigo arched an eyebrow at Ishida; what in the world did Ishida think Ichigo could do about this? Ishida sighed in resignation and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

Kaito's laughter drew their attention back to him; he had a hand on the brim of his hat, the fan tucked away out of sight, and for a moment Ichigo almost thought it was Hat'n'Clogs standing in front of them.

(This is what he would fight for. This laughter, this joy. For Kaito to smile so freely without Ichigo needing to wonder if it was a mask.)

(For all his friends to do the same.)

In the back of his mind, something shifted.

(Was that… a voice?)