Dear Rukia,

I'm really happy that every single problem of yours was solved. It's good to know that Arrancars will be fine and that shinigami like them, that Cifer maintains contact with Inoue (his lifestyle is a totally different thing, though) and that Hisagi came to his senses and he and Rangiku-san are happier than ever.

You shouldn't worry if this beautiful state is going to last long – you should simply cherish it while you can. Be happy it's calm at all. Carpe diem, Rukia, carpe diem.

As for my life in Karakura, we (I mean me, Ichigo and Ikkaku) put our festival plan into action. I was an unwilling witness of Ichigo inviting Sado (yes, we found him) with a quick "don't forget your girl" and a meaningful wink, which seemed to surprise both me and the invited person. We also managed to find girls that would accompany us at the event. Ikkaku, as predicted, invited Mizuho, who might have interpreted it as a sign of interest, Ichigo decided to go with Arisawa and I tried my luck with Inoue. She seemed to still be super ultra happy for the Arrancars and actually agreed to my offer.

The six of us met and, luckily, it wasn't awkward at all. I, Ichigo and Ikkaku exchanged looks but didn't speak about Sado. We didn't tell the girls about the rumour – we had to check if it was true first. That's what divided us into two groups: they were excitedly discussing everything they were going to do, while we stared into space, definitely not in the mood to laugh.

We didn't have to wait long, though, and soon we heard Inoue's cheerful voice.

"Sado-kun!"

We turned in the right direction and saw him walking towards us effortlessly, as people stepped out of his way as soon as they noticed how big and tall he was. After a while I noticed he wasn't alone. On his back, he carried a girl. A little girl. A child.

Nel.

And our jaws dropped.

"Itsygo!" was the first thing the little Arrancar said and she immediately jumped off Sado and raced towards Ichigo, ignoring everybody else. She was being unfair and should have recognized at least me and Inoue, but Sado only smiled leniently at her, thing I didn't know he could do.

"Hi, everyone," he greeted us.

Everybody ignored him, though. Ichigo tried to get Nel off him, he and Inoue tried to find out what she was doing in Karakura. Ikkaku kept asking if she was who he thought she was, while Arisawa and Mizuho became a little too interested in the "little, cute child" that Nel was.

"Who is she?" Arisawa asked and I prayed Sado wouldn't say anything stupid.

"It's Nel, I found her," was his simple reply and I rolled my eyes.

Mizuho immediately turned to Nel and grabbed her cheeks, like people often do with little children.

"Poor baby, someone abandoned you," she said and smiled. "You're lucky Sado-kun has a big heart."

Nel blinked, not fully understanding what the other meant and just who she was. She then noticed that her cheeks were being abused.

"Do you want something from me?" she asked innocently, clearly misinterpreting everything Mizuho had done.

The other giggled.

"She's so cute!" Mizuho exclaimed and let go of Nel, instead turning to Ikkaku with a flash in her eye. "Maybe we should find one too?"

Ikkaku choked while everybody else tried to hold back their laughter.

"That… no…" he managed to stutter. "I mean, it's too soon," he added, his cheeks reddened with every word and he couldn't even look at his girlfriend. "We're not that serious, you know."

Mizuho looked at him in shock.

"Not that serious? It hurts me to hear that, I-"

She didn't get to finish her sentence, since at the word "hurt" Nel reacted right away and used her best cure for every injury.

And she spat at Mizuho.

Everybody ran to help her and stop Nel and in the chaos that followed, I and Ikkaku decided to just leave them. The day was crazy enough and we made idiots out of ourselves with whole this festival thing and looking for girlfriends desperately. I didn't even care what Nel was doing here anymore (though when I reflect on it now, after some time, I think I should talk to her about it. I forgot my mission here was to look for Arrancars).

On our way home (I mean, Urahara's place) we passed Ishida's house, and we would have passed it just like that if we hadn't noticed one thing. One window on the highest floor was open.

And there stood Ishida's father, holding his son's leg. And that was the only thing stopping Ishida from falling from said window.

"You keep doing things quincy shouldn't do, Uryu," Ishida's father said. "You need to be punished."

"They're fighting again!" I screamed in horror and ran to the house, soon followed by Ikkaku. When Ishida spotted us, he immediately started flailing his arms hysterically.

"Save me!" he shrieked. "This man is crazy!"

At that precise moment Ishida's father noticed us too and the shock made him lose his grip on his son.

So he fell.

You don't need to hold your breath or cry though, Rukia, because I managed to catch him, at the very last moment and in a very cool fashion as we rolled on the ground with clouds of dust. When we finally stood up and shook the dust off ourselves, Ishida looked as if he was conflicted between gratitude for saving him and general reluctance towards shinigami, while his father observed us emotionlessly from the window.

"Thank you," Ishida junior said finally, looking somewhere in the distance and pushing up his glasses.

"You owe me something," I replied without thinking. Ikkaku looked at me with a raised eyebrow, but Ishida senior, to my surprise, agreed.

"You do, Uryu."

We all looked up to the window. Ishida's father narrowed his eyes.

"Because this man saved your life," he spoke, "and because I still need to punish you somehow… you're going to do everything he tells you for a month."

Mine and Ikkaku's eyes widened. Ishida fell on his knees.

"But… he's a shinigami!"

Ishida senior only smirked.

"You're the source of all evil," Ishida almost whispered, still not able to believe in what had happened, while his father disappeared behind the curtains. "You're plain evil…"

He kept cursing his father while I grasped the situation and a big smile made its way to my face. Ishida looked at me, shaking his head and telling me "no".

"So," I said, not able to hide joy in my tone, "you're a servant and I'm a master?"

Next to me Ikkaku grinned. I outstretched my hand towards Ishida.

"Welcome aboard, Archer."

I'm now wondering what to do with him. It's a chance I'll never have again and I can't waste it, you know. I need to use it wisely, this month won't last forever.

All in all, my life isn't all that bad now. I'm on good terms with Ichigo, I haven't seen Yuzu in a while, Ishida does everything I want and although Nel's a strange child, it's nice to have her around. I hope you have fun in Soul Society too.

Take care,

Renji

Hello everyone, this time at the end of the chapter :) I wonder if you got my little reference in this chappie...

Fate/Stay Night, anyone?

About this punishment... I thought it made sense, after all. Ishida's father would be like... "You keep meeting shinigami, you like them too much! Now serve this one and we'll see if you still like them, Uryu! Hohoho!" Anyway, if you have any suggestions about what Uryu could do for Renji, don't hesitate and write! I believe you can be pretty craetive... :)

And I don't know, but I just love imagining how they talk with Ishida's father in a window high above them lol. PS. Chad's mystery solved :)