Vanity: So… We are back! With Chapter 4, nonetheless. I hope you enjoy this late chapter.

Greed: Yeah… we weren't for sure as to where we wanted this to go. We did have a plan… but that didn't seem to fit anymore. So, we revised a few things that we wanted to happen. The next chapter shouldn't even take a week to upload! So, yay!

Vanity: This chapter doesn't have that much going on, but it is important for later. Even if it is a little dry, bear in mind that all stories must have a calm point. This chapter and the next are basic calm points. Be relieved, though! Ichigo doesn't suffer much right now!

Both: Anyway, we don't own. And, if we did, everything would probably be topsy turby. Enjoy!

…

Recovery… Chapter 4

"What are we going to do with the kid? He's probably going to be scared of us when he wakes up," Kensei stated. Worry was on his usually toughened face. It was obvious that hurting the kid without knowing about him made the older man feel guilty.

"Oh, what's the big deal, Ken-chan!" Mashiro chimed. "He'll understand! It was mistaken identity! Mistaken identity!"

"You don't have to repeat it, you green haired freak," Shinji interrupted while pushing down on her head. "Kensei is right, though. He'll probably be scared and confused when he wakes up. He'll most likely think that we are the shinigami. Before he wakes up, Hachi, Lisa, and Love should watch over him."

"Why the hell can't I watch over him, baldy!" Hayori yelled at the blond. "Do you not think I can take care of him?"

"First of all, I think you would scare him more than we would. And secondly, if I had told you to take care of him, you would be bitching about that too, shorty." That earned the man a sandal in the face. "What the hell! I'm only telling the truth!" he yelled.

A shield pushed them both out the door, quieting them immediately. "I'm afraid that I cannot have such a ruckus in the room while the boy is still unconscious," Hachigen mutter politely. "I must try to figure out a way to remove these bands from the boy. Noise like that will not help me concentrate." Shinji and Hayori gulped. Hachi was scary when he was angered or in a rare bad mood. The two blonds left quickly, hoping to avoid any more trouble.

Everyone besides the large man eventually shuffled out of the room.

Hachi grabbed one of the boy's wrists and held it up to examine the band encircling the limb. It was a black circlet with blue at the edges. A curious design. It must have been the 12th division's technology. Possibly something Mayuri Kurotsuchi was testing out. And knowing the immoral scientist, it took his or his lieutenant's DNA to remove it. It would prove very difficult to remove the devise without Urahara Kisuke's help. The large man sighed. It was time to call for help.

…

"Kisuke!" the large ex-kido lieutenant hissed over the phone in a harsh whisper. "We have a slight problem."

"Oh! Did my message get to you? What's wrong, can't find him?" the shopkeeper sang over the line.

Hachi froze. "You know something about this?"

Urahara sank into a serious tone. "Oh dear. My message didn't make it? What's going on?" he asked, almost sounding panicked. What if something happened to his fiery student? He could never forgive himself for a mistaken he had made.

"Well, we have acquired a new redheaded Vizard—" he stopped as he heard a breath of relief from the ex-captain on the other side of the phone. "And he seems to have two very interesting bracelets on him. I was wondering if you knew how to get them off without having whoever created them here."

"Thank goodness. That's Ichigo. I sent him your way when my humble little Shoten was invaded. And those bracelets are Mayuri's doing. One is to suppress his hollow, and the other is to suppress his reiatsu. Knowing that man, there is a failsafe. The problem is finding it. One could be in the subject's death, but we can't possibly do that without me there to observe everything. It's far too risky. Another thing that may work is to poor a continuous stream of above captain level power into it. The sheer pressure should render the bracelet useless because it will overload itself trying to suppress it all. And the reason I say this, is because it didn't complete block Ichigo's reiatsu. He's probably only at about one fourth his stable power."

"One fourth of his stable power? Exactly what do you mean by that?"

"Simple. Ichigo's reiatsu is enormous. He cannot hold in his own reiatsu without the help of his hollow. Think about it. Captains can mask their pressure with no problem because they have trained for it since they were in the academy. Ichigo never held it in and it affected all of the people he was close to in Karakura Town. And that was when his power was at rest and at its most stable point. Just his subconscious output of reiatsu was impressive. Think if he focused that flow of reiatsu. It would be far above the average captain. And that bracelet cannot hold in all of his energy. Chances are, it'll end up overloading itself in time. However, if we poor energy into it, that will speed up the process," Urahara explained. "I'd suggest Shinji, Kensei, Love, and Rose give it a try. Put up the most powerful barriers you can and then proceed."

"That helps with one bracelet, but what about the hollow suppresser?" Hachi questioned quietly.

"I would rather not test that one out. Ichigo can handle things without his hollow for a while, so we can leave that one alone until absolutely necessary." Getaboshi paused long enough after speaking that Hachigen began to suspect the man was no longer there. "Also!" the man suddenly cried. "I think Kurosaki-kun's hollow will be very volatile whenever that bracelet comes off. Even if he has suppressed him once, things are a bit different than they used to be. I suggest you be extremely careful when it comes to the both of them."

Hachi agreed with the ex-captain and then hung up. He left the unconscious boy and started to look for the ex-captains that were named.

Love was standing outside the door with Lisa. "Hey, how's the kid?" the black man asked.

The pink haired man sighed. "I suppose he is fine. His wound from Shinji really wasn't that bad. Or his hollow healed it some. I cannot really tell. My healing kido aren't really doing much more than keeping him stable and asleep. Urahara has an idea on how to get rid of one of the bands. We'll just have to be careful with the other one," the healer told the two. "Have you seen the others?"

"Yeah," Lisa muttered without looking up from her magazine. "Hirako, Hayori, and Rose are in the training room and Kensei and Mashiro are watching television. We came to give them an update on the kid."

"Ah, well, please stay here. I'll be giving them the information they desire. I'll also need a few of you to get the spirit suppresser off of the poor lad." With that, Hachigen went to retrieve the other Vizards.

…

Shinji and the others watching in fascination as the bracelet crumbled into dust from around the skinny teenager's wrist. The information Urahara had given them worked like a charm.

And then the kid's eyes snapped open and a flood of reiatsu came from his body. It was as if a damn burst. Hachigen was having trouble holding the barriers because of the pressure. Hayori, Lisa, and Mashiro were pushed to their knees, while the four ex-captains lost a breath at the sudden wave of energy.

Ichigo screamed once, and then there was silence except for his ragged panting. His pressure calmed a bit and then stabilized. Hachi hurried over to him and quickly put a sleeping kido on him. There was no sense in shocking him with all of the people in the room. "Everyone, please leave. I'll have to wake him up soon so that he can eat and then rest properly. Also, do not be as loud as you normally are. You'll disturb the boy." Hachi's stare was almost withering as it met with everyone else in the room. He received nervous nods and mumbled affirmatives. Everyone left the room.

Hachi stared at the sleeping boy.

What raw power.

…

A pale hand was in front of his face. Warm, brown eyes were finally open within his inner world.

"King? Are ye finally awake?" asked a watery voice. The pale hand waved at him, his eyes followed.

His eyes looked behind the hand and dully noticed that it was cloudy but not raining. Ichigo blinked once to focus. "What the hell?" slipped out of his mouth as pain wracked his entire body when he tried to move.

"Ye almost died, king. And if ye die, I can't take o'er for ye this time. That other bracelet is still on us." Shiro sound pissed. If Ichigo died this time, there would be no coming back like he did after the fight with Ulquiorra. That damnable ring around his wrist was like a prison for the hollow. And it was most definitely not making him happy. The alabaster colored demon wished to break the bars that caged him, and when he did, the ones that forced him into the cage would pay. For now, Shiro would vent his frustrations upon his host. He pushed Ichigo back down, ignoring the pain within his own body. "How many times do I 'ave ta tell ya, I-chi-go? I will take over if ye show weakness. Just 'cause I am bound right now does not mean it will last forever." His face was only centimeters away from its mirror image.

"Get off of me, Shiro. Have you forgotten that we are in danger?"

"Course not! That doesn't mean I can't 'ave fun though!" Suddenly, A white Zangetsu materialized for the washed out male. It would have pierced Ichigo's hand if he hadn't kicked up and knocked the hollow away. Ichigo summoned his sword as well.

"We really do not have the time for this. I need to wake up! What if our captures are planning something to do with us right now?" the teen asked his inner self.

"Don't be so worried, king. Feel around ya. Our spirit pressure is back. Whoever 'as us can't be planning on killing us just yet." Shirosaki lunged at his counterpart. "Relax into the fight."

Each time they clashed, they both came away with welts and cuts littering their bodies. Shiro was grinning insanely at the prospect that his king was almost his equal. Ichigo was just pissed that the hollow was trying to get so close to him whenever he was weak.

Suddenly, Ichigo stopped. Pain was radiating from his stomach. He was roughly pushed into consciousness as the pain progressed. Brown eyes snapped open to see an unfamiliar room. Pounding reached his ears and he realized that it was his heart.

A hand came up to touch his stomach. It seemed to be intact, but it hurt.

Eyes searched the room. They rested on a man with long blond hair that was reading a book.

Beeping. The beeping sound in the room got faster. It was a heart monitor. He recognized that sound easily after hearing it so often in the clinic. And the beeping had gotten faster because he was scared. Scared of what was going to happen to him, scared of the unknown man in the room with him, scared that they were helping him.

As the sound increased, the man's head came up in shock. The he smiled at the boy. "Oh, good. You are awake! I'll have to get Hachi so he can perform a checkup on you. But, first, how are you feeling?" the blond asked as he stood.

Brown eyes once again swept the room, looking for his weapon. When he did not see Zangetsu his eyes fixed upon the other occupant of the room. "Where am I and who are you?" he asked. There was no fear in his voice, though his body was trembling. Surely they wouldn't put him in a hospital bed, bandage him up, and let him live this long just to kill him. Right? Maybe they wanted information. But what sort of information could he give them? He was just a teenager that didn't even fully understand what the hell was going on!

"You're in Okayama at our hideout," the tall man informed the boy. "And, I am Rōjūrō Otoribashi. You may call me Rose." Rose? What a strange name for a guy, Ichigo thought. Though, it wasn't much worse than strawberry. "Well, it looks like you're fine, so I'm going to get Hachi. Don't move too much. Your stomach wound still hasn't healed." Without waiting for any acknowledgement, Rose left the room.

Ichigo sat up in the bed he was in so that it was easier to see the room. It looked like exactly what it was. A makeshift hospital room. Then he looked down at himself. He was wearing sweatpants and no shirt. Bandages were on his stomach, making him look sickly. His usually tan skin was pale, and his ribs were more prominent than they should be. He looked like he had been sick for a long time. It wasn't surprising, though. He hadn't slept or eaten properly in almost two weeks.

Since his last encounter with the shinigami in the clothing store, he had not fought anymore. Any time he even felt a prickle of spirit pressure near him, he had run in the opposite direction. There had been close calls, but none had ended that badly. Sleep was almost nonexistent in that period of time. Fear of being caught kept his heart pumping wildly and eyes straining to stay open. Food, that was scarce. He took that from stores that wouldn't really miss the stolen items. Even though it made him feel guilty, he had to have food. And food from the trash wasn't going to cut it most of the time.

Ichigo was ripped from his memories as a large, round, pink haired man came into the room. It would have been comical in any situation but this one. Who the hell were these people?

"So Love wasn't lying to get out of babysitting, I see," the man said by way of greeting his patient. "I'm Hachigen Ushoda." Ichigo glared at the man. "Now, now, don't look at me like that. You're safe here. Soul Society cannot reach you here."

"How do I know I can trust you?" the teenager asked quietly. There was no way he was going to trust people he had never met before.

"Well, to put it simply, we are like you, Ichigo. We are running from Soul Society for the same reasons you are. And I must apolo—" There was a screeching sound that covered up the rest of the word and completely stopped the sentence. The small smile he had constantly been wearing never even left his face. Even as the door fell open.

A little monkey-like girl had her foot in a blond man's face. The foot came away to reveal the man who had given Ichigo his stomach wound. And almost killed him.

Ichigo's eyes went to Hachi, the man that had just been speaking. The redheaded teen's spiritual pressure rose, spilling from his body in a massive wave. "You're lying to me! You're trying to get something from me! Why can't you people just leave me the fuck alone already?" The only one not overly affected by the overwhelming reiatsu was Shinji. He stood in the doorway with an annoyed look.

Taking a few strides into the room, he was now at Ichigo's bed. "Listen, kid. Attacking you was an honest mistake. We thought you were a shinigami. Wouldn't you have done the same in our situation?"

A bead of sweat rolled down the kid's neck. "If I still had that collar on? I would have run. Without the collar, I would have incapacitated my opponent and then ran. Nowhere in my flight would I have killed someone. You were trying to kill me and weren't even sure if I was a real threat to you. If fact, if you hadn't showed yourselves to me, I would have never found you. Don't you dare call something like this an 'honest mistake.'" During his little speech, Ichigo had stood up. His full height was just slightly taller than that of the blond man. The teen even raised his energy so that Shinji was having trouble with his breathing.

A wheezing breath came from the floor. "Ichigo-san, please stop this! I cannot hold my barriers in place with this much pressure. The soul reapers will be on us in seconds if you do not stop this madness," Hachi said, choking on each word. The boy hesitantly lowered his reiatsu so that it wasn't pressing them to the floor. It was all he could do. After that band had been taken off, the thought of holding his energy was daunting. Living with only half of it for as long as he did had made it hard to hold all of his immense reiatsu in.

"If you are really not after me, then prove it. Show me that you are who you say you are."

"Shinji," the little blonde monkey whispered. "Should we show him that?" The skinny man nodded. "Then we should go to the training area. The barriers are stronger there."

…

Greed: Well. Sorry that took so long. I was having problems with where I wanted this to go. Also—and this is embarrassing—I realized I was spelling Hiyori wrong! How idiotic of me! But, I'm not going to fix it. It's simple enough to understand, even if it is spelled wrong.

Vanity: It still makes you an idiot.

Greed: Which makes you one, too. Because you never corrected me! So ha!

Vanity: Forgive our ranting. Please review. ^w^

Greed: Or we will never post again! Mwahahahaha!