Bleach Grand Prix

by UnitedOsprey1991

AU: It is 2070 the 50th year of the World Grand Prix. Join Ichigo and the rookie Kurosaki-Ishida team as the brave their rivals, the media, the drama and each other. They may find someone worth racing for as well. Ichihime OC/Tatsuki. Uryuu/cannon girl Chad/Isane. Chapters will be longish and may be a little complicated but don't let it discourage you. Review kindly.

14. Business Legal and Illicit

OSPREY…SWOOOSH

UO: Okay everyone here? Actor check

Ichigo: Here

Andrew: Here

Orihime: I'm here Tatsuki is getting coffee.

Uryuu: Present

UO: Good…wait where's Chad?

Phone rings and it's the director's. UO: Hello…Hey Chad…car is in the shop…well you should have called someone…whatever its alright we will send someone to get you…Already here?...where are you…Got into a fight with Elfman from 2nd Magnolia and it involved the rest of the guild, Great. I will be right over. (Click)

Ichigo: Well?

UO: Someone do the disclaimer I got to talk to Makarov. Something must have ticked Chad off we know he doesn't like to fight. And this is why they aren't being given the spotlight.

Tatsuki: UnitedOsprey1991 does not own Bleach or its characters, they belongs to Tite Kubo. The various tracks and teams belong to their respective owners, the same with the car companies and any real businesses. He also does not claim ownership of future drivers. He only ones he owns are Maria, Raoul, Rebecca and Andrew and this plot. Now let's start the show

Normal: Dialogue

"Italics and quotations": Radio, track announcer, phone conversation

Underlined and Italics: Lyrics

'Italics and apostrophe': Thoughts

Bold: Yelling

Bold and Italics: Yelling in head:

Name followed by a colon: In-race TV Announcer

Chapter 14: Business, Legal and Illicit.

When we last left our heroes, they had just finished their racing at the historic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They had mixed results especially considering that two of the drivers had wrecks. Andrew especially took a hard hit at over two hundred miles per hour. Though he was in worse wrecks those normally involved multiple cars. This one though he felt almost the full impact from the force of the collision. The doctor ordered he needed to be on bed rest for a couple of days but before he could get that rest he had to sit through a post-race meeting. The group was already packed and was ready to take off.

Isshin was video conferencing with the group. "Alright I know its late at least from your perspective so just this one last piece of business and it concerns the track that will start the two month stretch where will visit seven countries in Europe and in North America. This race is at the home track of the Red Bull team, aptly named the Red Bull Ring. It is about the same size as the Indianapolis circuit we just ran at 4.4 Kilometers or 2.6 miles. This track has some history on F1 but it has been sporadic in its usage though the second tier F2 circuit races on it. From the narrow pit road you head to turn one which is a right hander. A long stretch follows which sets up with a short kink then another hard right-hander. Another long stretch leads to turn three. This sets up for the twisty section which is the only parts of the track you turn left on. This is turns 4-7. It straightens out for two more right handers at 8 and 9 and you complete the circuit. The front stretch is narrow and so is pit road. This track because of how it is you need to compromise on the set up for the cars so there will be cars doing better at certain spots than others this also has some elevation changes so be prepared for that. Meeting adjourned I will see you soon.

The group dissipated as they prepared for takeoff. Andrew though was starting to feel the pain in his back and Tatsuki had to help him to his room.

"Just be glad your back isn't broken big guy." Tatsuki said as they reached his room.

"I'm glad I don't have a concussion." Andrew said as he laid on the bed. Tatsuki looked at the groaning man. "I know Dr. Unohana said to take some pills but I think I could provide some help. I know some massage techniques from training Orihime to fight and she would be sore after the session."

Andrew smiled and with some effort he removed his shirt got on his stomach. Tatsuki quickly straddled him after removing here shoes and started feeling around his back.

Andrew reached over to flip on the T.V. It showed the race highlights and after a couple of wrecks Andrew's wreck was shown.

"A scary wreck on Lap 30, coming out of the first turn on the oval, Andrew Michaels in the 91, thinks he has cleared the 002 of Soi Fong and he misjudged. They collide twice and Andrew gets sent into the barrier at over 190 . He would climb out and be taken to the care center. MRIs showed no damage he should be good to race at Austria but that was a nasty wreck.

Tatsuki broke out of her trance first. "That was scarier live you know. We were worried there were more injuries than this." She said feeling around his back.

Andrew sighed. "I've had a lot worse…oh definitely right there." Andrew hissed as Tatsuki found a tight spot near the middle of the spine. Tatsuki started massaging and he started relaxing.

"So you say you've had worse can you tell me?" Tatsuki said massaging the knot.

Andrew hummed. "Well this wreck was probably number four on worse wrecks but definitely the hardest impact. Let's see, I got flipped on my roof at Talladega as about ten cars crashed around me, ended up stopping on my roof in the grass in turn one… right there that's good." Andrew said as she found another spot. "Uh, a race at Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania I lost my brakes going into the first turn, and slammed rear end first. I am surprised I walked away from that one. Final one was the New Hampshire race I told you about. I didn't tell you I hurt my knee and impact caused it to bang my knee. I was in a brace for four weeks. But, I guess that was more emotional than physical."

Tatsuki nodded and hummed as she finished massaging him. Tatsuki leaned and placed her head on his shoulder. "Racing seems so dangerous. I mean I am a tough girl but to take that type of punishment daily is crazy."

Andrew sighed. "It's a risk we face every time we get behind the wheel. Most drivers who get to the Grand Prix don't race competitively past their fortieth birthday. Mcnish I am surprised is still competitive same with Kristensen at thirty-five and thirty-four. Most of the drivers this year are about our age twenty-three and they are rookies."

"But still the commitment needed, their families must be sacrificing as well?" Tatsuki pondered sitting up."

Andrew sighed again. "Yeah I know I always compare this lifestyle to the military. Long time spent away from their family, long hours, huge risks. Only thing is that we can take our families into the battlefield." Andrew said getting Tatsuki to chuckle.

Before she could respond they heard a squeak. Turning towards the door they saw Orihime covering her face in a full-blown blush.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you were having a moment! I just came to find Tatsuki! Sorry! I'll Leave You Alone!" Orihime said quickly, bowing multiple times and leaving.

The two sat up after Tatsuki got off him during this and watched their innocent friend run out. They looked at each other and laughed. Tatsuki recovered first. "Well I better go see what she wants."

Andrew looked up and smiled. "Yeah. Thanks for that. I don't like people touching me like that. But I figured my girlfriend would."

Tatsuki sputtered. "W…What?"

Andrew chuckled. "We have been acting like a couple since Malaysia. I figured I make it official and if true feelings develop…well I want to figure that out myself. So what do you say? Want to be my girlfriend?"

Tatsuki blushed like a schoolgirl and in a rare sight to Andrew she poked her fingers together like a certain girl from one of the animes Andrew liked.

"I've…never had a boyfriend before…they said I was too tomboyish to date."

Andrew hugged her. "I've never been in a relationship either but we can figure this out together alright?"

Tatsuki nodded and Andrew kissed her forehead. "Now if only our redheaded friends could make a move."

Tatsuki laughed and left but not before she threw out these parting words. "I think we can work on that…later boyfriend." Tatsuki said boyfriend as if it was a new word to her.

Andrew smiled and laid back to watch one of his shows about river monsters that have survived the last 100 years.

Tatsuki walked into her shared room with Orihime and she was working tirelessly on the video cameras trying to upload stuff from the cameras.

"Tatsuki we need to send this stuff in, the deadline for the next segment and episode are in two days. Grab your camera we need to separate and edit our stuff."

Tatsuki cursed and pulled out her camera and her memory cards and for the next three hours they had to pour through each of the memory cards. Considering they had about 14 hours total on the memory cards from the last time they sent stuff it was quite tedious to get the right parts cut out.

"God…why do we have to do this it seems like it takes forever." Tatsuki groaned as she rubbed her eyes.

"Mou…Tatsuki this is what we get for procrastinating. Of course the little blue could have deleted all our footage and then we would have been in real trouble." Orihime said as she started on one of her rants. This was cut off when Tatsuki's phone rang. She looked at the caller ID. It was from her boss, Maxwell Cheney. She answered and put it on speaker

"Mr. Cheney, how are you today?" Tatsuki said overly cheerfully.

"Tatsuki Arisawa it's been awhile since we talked and its Max Tatsuki, Mr. Cheney is more your friend's thing."

"Hi Mr. Cheney!" Orihime said bubbly

"Sorry about that, so what's up?" Tatsuki said nervously

"I just want to know the progress of your next segment because there is a deadline in three days. I already have it from all the other teams except yours and Souske."

"You actually have perfect timing we are on the plane heading back to Japan right now and we are working on splitting the footage up. I mean we have some of our personal stuff in here and we are trying to sort it out."

"I understand so how much have you sorted through?"

Tatsuki put a hand on her chin. "Let's see we have about 15 hours give or take but like I said we used it for some personal stuff we tried to use separate memory cards to avoid it but we need to make a run for new memory cards."

"That's fine your budget includes memory card replacements and basic camera maintenance. But I trust your judgment. So anything unique on your end?"

"Uh…yeah. The team is going attend a business meeting with the Kurosaki Board. I think the whole team is attending. Might be able to see the whole company we only did a few shots of the building. Then because of the stretch coming up we might start seeing the stress of the traveling then who knows.

"Very well. Just out of curiosity there was this incident at Road America where someone was throwing stuff into the track do you know anything about it?"

"Yeah, I was the one that caught him. I was walking around getting some shots when I saw it. I guess some people don't like the drivers racing." Tatsuki half-truthfully.

"Nice, always thinking ahead Tatsuki. Anyway I know you have been trying to videotape the whole team but I want you to focus on the two being most successful, Andrew Michaels and Ichigo Kurosaki.

At that Tatsuki flinched a little bit. Orihime heard that and also flinched. "Yeah…we can do that. I mean we have been forming great friendships with the Kurosaki family and the crew. Even Mr. Michaels has been a great help on the whole thing."

"You know some of the footage you sent me seemed a little…personal. I didn't think they would be so open, especially Andrew from what I've gathered."

Tatsuki sighed. "I guess they trust us a lot."

"Tatsuki…Orihime. I know I want you to be professional about this…but if you can keep personal feelings off camera…I don't care you if you pursue a relationship with them. Just make sure to keep it courteous. I really don't want to let you guys go."

Orihime giggled. "Don't worry. We will be extremely professional. Unless our minds our taken over by aliens."

"Yeah…" Tatsuki could hear the sweatdrop and sighed. "Is there anything else you want me to know?"

Tatsuki looked at the ceiling. "There might be something…though it may be nothing. There is…a rumor going around about the Souske team. I don't know why but I have a bad feeling about them."

"Your job is to make this documentary but your concerns are noted. Loly and Menoly are with them. I will see if they can focus a bit more on the business side.

"Sir, no offense, but Loly is a bit off her rocker and considering the position Aizen is in I am just concerned for mental stability."

"Again noted but I will keep tabs on them. Anyway I want those videos in two days."

"Roger, we will get them out as soon as possible." Tatsuki said as they hung up. Tatsuki groaned. "If I had known this was going to be so much work I would have gone freelance."

"Oh but Tatsuki, we would have not gone to all the places we have been and will be going to." Orihime said cheerfully.

Tatsuki was surprised at the amount of energy Orihime still had. "You're right let's finish this. I want my beauty sleep."

Orihime giggled and for most of the rest of the flight they worked on editing and filtering their videos. It was a long several hours later that there was a knock on the door. "Hey girls? You up?" Andrew called out. "Its two hours to touch down I think you need to start packing up." Andrew knocked again and then tried the handle. It was unlocked. He went inside and had to smile. Tatsuki was on the pillows and Orihime was embracing her like a teddy bear. He chuckled and looked around. Seeing their equipment out he took a look at what they were doing.

He noticed it was the videos and photos they took of their journey so far. Going through them he smiled and chuckled at some of the scenes they took. He knew they probably sent these off to their editor and they must have been exhausted from editing these together. He stopped when he saw two photos. The first was them in their swimsuits, meaning this was at Abu Dhabi after he won. Tatsuki had her hair down, her skin glistening from the water. Her face was lit up with mirth and having known her this long, she was happy in this. He noticed he was a little closer to her than he thought and had an arm around her shoulders.

The other picture he stopped had him in his Gi which meant this was before Korea. The picture was them standing next to each other, him holding his old belt. Looking a little closer, he saw they were inadvertently holding hands. Perhaps this was his body telling him she was special.

Looking back over to the sleeping duo he pulled out his phone and snapped a picture to send it to Ichigo. He texted. "The girls after a night of hard work on the cameras." He sent the message and then sent another to Orihime and Tatsuki's phones, writing "Rough night?

Firing that off he left the room quietly letting the girls sleep.

Two days later (Wednesday Japan time, Tuesday American time)

After landing and allowing themselves time for jet lag, the Kurosaki team put on a different sort of uniform. They were in business suits, Ichigo in a black suit, Uryuu in a white suit, Chad in a grey suit and Andrew in a tan suit. The reason is Isshin and Ryuken wanted them on hand for a board meeting to know how some of this company was run. Considering it was a very large company, it had several divisions. Of course the girls would be tagging along and the suits they were in, well let's just say Ichigo and Andrew were on the lookout for the men in office they were going to.

With Yuzu and Karin dropped off at school they made their way through the traffic to the Kurosaki-Ishida Enterprises Headquarters. The newcomers had been here before but they did not get a good look at the headquarters. It was an eight story office building that housed about two fifteen hundred workers near the edge of Yokohama. Going in the employee entrance and heading up to the top floor, Isshin was fixing up his notes to present to the board while the other were fixing up their appearance.

Opening up the elevator the group was greeted by cubicles and computer screens throughout the floor.

"This floor is all about our stock investments. People contact us, tell us what stocks to buy and we make a commission off the sales. This is the headquarters for our main firm as this is where one of the more influential stock markets in world is." Isshin explained walking by bowing workers.

"Ah yes the Tokyo stock exchange. I know the big one is New York I think the other major one is in London." Andrew said as they passed by some of the gawking employees after bowing to Isshin and Ryuken.

"That is correct. We have seven main divisions. Each floor on this building is dedicated to the operations of one of our divisions. In addition to the main heads there are also regional heads. Again Asia, Europe and the Americas are the primary regions. Every one of those department heads are here so it will be a long meeting. You are free to chime it as you wish but of course be respectful." Ryuken said looking at the drivers and then at the reporters.

"What…I can be respectful. I've been to some of these but not on this scale." Andrew said.

Ryuken said nothing and they walked into the board meeting with those Japanese raised bowing and the others clapping as Isshin and Ryuken walked into the room. The young adults were given pamphlets which were pretty thick. They all sighed at that and sat down off to the side to watch the proceedings.

After going through the medical division which was working on making their services more accessible they moved on to manufacturing.

"Thank you Dr. Ishimori. Our next item is our manufacturing division. Mr. Reinhardt, the floor is yours."

A middle-aged aristocratic looking man stood up. His slightly greying hair still had some of his old hair color, a blondish color. In the driver's eyes he looked like he was from Central Europe. When he started talking the voice confirmed it was more German then anything, and were thanking who ever came up with the translators they attached to their ears.

"As you know we had the debut of the Zangetsu and the Tensa cars two months ago. We were waiting to see how the Zangetsu would fair under real time conditions. The debut of the car was at the Spa 1000 Km two weeks ago. I must report that the car performed to expectations the two factory teams finished third and fifth overall. The privateer entry was unfortunately knocked out due to engine issues. We hope to have this resolved in time for the Le Mans race next month." Reinhardt said.

Before Reinhardt could continue someone interrupted him. This man was slightly older than Reinhardt but he looked more American with black hair.

"What I want to know is why are we still dumping money into the race program. It is a complete waste of time, manpower and resources." The man said.

Ryuken looked at the man. "Mr. Williams. I understand your concern about racing. We have sponsored race teams in four different tiers including the World Grand Prix. Our flag team is even with us. My son, Isshin's son, and their two friends have been in competition throughout the season."

Mr. Williams, first name Miguel indicating a Hispanic ancestry (I have heard stranger combinations of names) did not back down.

"I understand that but doesn't that represent a conflict of interest? I mean two principal owners of this company with 75% of the controlling shares should not be neglecting their duties to go to these…races. I mean racing isn't the type of business we should be running. If we have to why can't we hire other drivers and at least make your two sons race for other teams."

The expected rebuttal from the drivers came shortly but it was not the expected driver that started it as the normally calm Uryuu.

"Listen Mr. Williams, this team of ours has been together, well at least me, Ichigo and Chad for over five years. These so called conflicted drivers are currently well in contention with this year's Grand Prix. Andrew here was one of the best drivers in the America circuit and because of our continued friendship with him we offered him a ride." Uryuu said.

Mr. Williams scoffed. "I am aware of that but that's just it. Is it appropriate to use someone with Andrew's history as a representative of one of the largest companies in the world?"

Andrew stood up. "What do you mean…my history?" Those who knew him and were aware of some of his behaviors knew he was not happy. Ichigo had to put a hand on his shoulder to steady him."

Miguel continued. "I mean should someone with a mental disability should not be representing a company the size of Kurosaki-Ishida enterprises, much less a Japanese team. The American teams are all American drivers, why is Andrew the only outlier in that he is an American driver representing a Japanese team.

Andrew seem ready to blow but he maintained his cool façade. "You know this conversation should be more suited for Kuchiki they have two members of Chinese nationality. If anything I bring more to the table then you. I bring a country's attention to another driver, a rookie no less with two wins in his first year. If there was an issue with my mental disability then they would not have hired me. Which brings me to this point…that is confidential information that I don't think the media knows this other than the girls here and I told them to not post it unless I said so. How the heck did you that?"

Miguel gulped as he slipped up. "Uh…that is…I don't have to tell you that!"

Isshin stood up. "You don't have to because we already know how you know. Of all of the divisions yours is the only one that had income we could not account for and you still were one of three that lost money. So to make up for it, you entered our database and started selling information to our competitors and other scrupulous people. We were able to find the money trail on all but one of your buyers and have alerted the proper authorities to snuff them out. What I want to know is did you work alone?"

Miguel snarled. "You bastard this company has material that is worth its weight in gold, but you waste it on charity and these race teams. We could have ruled the world with what we have!"

Before he could continue Ichigo and Andrew had to be physically restrained by a couple of more sympathetic members.

"Andrew, Ichigo please step out and cool off. I know he was out of line." The two men did so and in act of solidarity the rest of team followed. Ryuken followed them to let Isshin handle to punishment.

"There is enough evidence to put you away if you make it to trial. We will bury you we will cut off your financials and will make sure that you are seen as a swindling bastard." Pressing a button two armed police men appeared and cuffed him. He was still yelling and screaming as he was led away to the elevators.

Isshin sighed as he looked at the board. "As far as we know, none of us had anything to do with this right?"

The other members nodded and looked at the clock. "Good let's take an early lunch and meet back at 12:30, I need to instruct people to delete all connections Miguel had with this company. I also need to issue a press release and find a new head for the North American division." Isshin said as he walked out. Glancing over he saw Ryuken and Ichigo calming Andrew down in a coffee room

Same Time

Andrew was having a bit of a panic attack in the coffee room and the others did not know what to do. Ryuken came it and jabbed him with a needle. When prompted Ryuken explained. "My apologies but your panicking was doing you no good."

Andrew relaxed possibly from the drug. "Yeah that's the morphine. Thanks Ryuken. I want to apologize for acting like that."

Ryuken waved it off. "He was over the line and I know you are entitled to your own secrets. These would fall under medical privilege that as a doctor only I and Isshin should know."

"Yeah if you didn't hit that guy I was going to nail him, who knows if he had information on our family."

They all agreed. Spying a T.V screen with the words breaking news on it they turned up the volume.

"Miguel Williams, former head of Kurosaki-Ishida Enterprises' North American Division was fired and arrested today for selling privileged information to the highest bidder. It is believed that among the information sold were personal information on the four Grand Prix drivers. Particularly of the son of Vice President Ryuken Ishida Uryuu Ishida, and the son of CEO Isshin Kurosaki, Ichigo. It is possible other information on the other two drivers, Sado Yasotora and Andrew Michaels was also sold. In a press release, Isshin Kurosaki confirmed the firing and had this to say. "This man violated our trust and nearly put our families in danger. We have cooperated with the authorities and are working on completely severing ties with him. Thank you."

Orihime was the first to snap out of the trance. "Wow you guys are fast. Almost like you knew this was coming up."

Ryuken nodded. "After qualifying for Road America we were alerted to the fact that someone had accessed confidential files. These were the files on the employees but they weren't after those they were after the Kurosaki and Ishida files which hid behind a massive encryption program that was hacked in a few hours. The only reason we were able to find it is because there were auditors working that night. That allowed to put a trace on him and we were able to find him. We flew back under the legitimate guise of posting our fiscal year. Thankfully, we were able to get an extension on filing and we were able to file our taxes with the extension working overtime. Unfortunately we could not trace all of the buyers. Whoever escaped was really good at what they did."

The group absorbed this. Ryuken smiled. "Come, Isshin called for a lunch break and I for one don't want to miss that."

The smiles returned and they headed towards the cafeteria to eat. After the group ate they returned to a more calm board room.

"Now that the fiasco with the manufacturing division is over let us move onto the next thing. Mr. Booth your report on the hydrogen fuel production."

Ichigo spoke up. "I didn't think you guys were into that. I mean you guys diversify well but being interested in the fuel itself."

Isshin chuckled. "Of course we don't own the rights out right. Rather we have investments in the fuel production companies. We gave five companies enough money to get off the ground after the Persian War and the return on the investments are massive. Through these legitimate practices we have money in about 25% of the entire production and of course the competition is massive which drops the prices but the consumption is up. They are always finding new cleaner sources of water to make this. The drawback is that there is more rain due to the mixtures of hydrogen and heat."

"Wouldn't heat caused Hydrogen to blow? I mean it's the same stuff that powers the sun? And sorry for interrupting on both our parts." Andrew asked.

Mr. Booth waived it off. He was younger than some of the board members and had the build of a wrestler. "It is no big deal. To know is to have power. Now then we are still reporting black numbers and there is a possibility that we might be able to tap a previously unattainable water source."

The whole room was intrigued. There were many areas still polluted from war and overconsumption of oil and garbage, to be able to tap a new source was vital.

"What is this source I am curious, the waters that aren't accessible are many for exploration."

Mr. Booth tapped a couple of buttons and pulled up a hologram and zoomed it on a particular area of the world.

"The Gulf of Mexico. Once one of the largest oil production regions in the world, now in recovery from the oil and the farming pesticides that were dumped into it with many species re-introduced in the last five years.. It has reached the point where surveyors are looking to find a way to bring the waters of the Gulf into the picture. The issue is that because two significant oil spills the waters haven't been clean enough to use it. One company out of New Orleans may have a found a way to filter the hydrocarbons out of the water and still separate the salt and hydrogen. If this works the Gulf of Mexico and other areas affected by oil damage might became usable."

The room was in awe at the possibilities this presented was enormous. Isshin rubbed his chin.

"This is a very good idea but I would like to see some results before we commit. I want a team to approach this company and see how far they are. Remember we do not want to buy them out we want to make sure it succeeds."

Mr. Booth nodded and sat back down. After a couple more presentations they were dismissed and Isshin lead the group back to the limo and pulled away.

"That was exhausting. Kurosaki-san must have a lot of stamina to run this company and the race team."

Isshin laughed. "Oh don't worry I always try to find time for my children's pursuits even though they might not want me around." Isshin said patting Ichigo on the back a little harshly.

Ichigo growled but kept his composure. Andrew though had a thought. "I am surprised that someone was able to find a way to get the fuel out of the Gulf of Mexico. The place is very volatile."

"I know Mr. booth brought this up but why is the Gulf of Mexico such a problem area?" Tatsuki asked.

Andrew looked at the roof of the car. "I know two…no three reasons why the Gulf is a big issue. Number one is the oil spills. There was a large one when my Grandfather was in school and another when my dad was in high school that dumped millions of gallons of oil into the gulf nearly killed the gulf. Reason two has to do with the rivers. The Mississippi Valley was and still is America's breadbasket. To get the crops to where they need to be, farmers used fertilizers and pesticides. All that rain washed them into the rivers and oxidized the Gulf nearly running the ecosystem. Reason number three is weather related. That part of the world is prone to hurricanes. There have been several devastating hurricanes and what worries me is the equipment might get ruined."

Orihime had a sad expression. "Why would people do that to the environment? It isn't right." Ichigo wrapped an arm around her getting her to blush. "Hime, you're a good soul. I guess the best reason is because of greed. We try not to do that but it sometime really hard. That's why we do stuff like what we are going to do on Saturday with the fishery and introducing the fish back into the ocean in Japan. Some people just refused to play fair. My dad may have his faults but he knows when to be honest."

Isshin chuckled sheepishly. "Yeah got that right. I won't try to hide secrets unless it's really important. That's why we didn't tell you we did not want the word going around and reaching the wrong ears. Though it didn't really matter we could not trace all of the leaks."

Andrew sighed. "I am surprised there are any honest businesses left. I think you and I, Ichigo have been lucky with parents who know how to be honest."

Everyone smiled at that and they were quiet the rest of the way home.

Three days later, Saturday May 7th Japan Time, May 6th US Time

The rest of the week went smoothly as the drivers went through their routines and kept in shape while the girls joining them often to help them out. Now they were dressed up in work suits and were with about thirty other Kurosaki employees including some of the crew members from the race teams. They were on hand to help move several of the fish into a transport truck to transport to ocean. Only thing they didn't tell them were the size of some of the fish.

"And up you go. God glad my back was healed but this is going to make it sore again." Andrew said handling another decent sized fish into the truck.

Ichigo was carrying one of the tuna to a waiting tanker truck which would take it to the sea five miles away. "Well I don't mind so much the labor." He grunted as he helped another man move a fish and locked it up with some help. "The smell not so much."

"That we can agree on. Where are the girls? I thought they were going to help us." Andrew asked.

"Something about being curious how they work at this fishery. How come they get to look inside and we do the heavy lifting." Ichigo complained.

Uryuu who was making sure the fish were still living with one of the supervisors provided the remark. "Perhaps because they are girls and they can't lift these fish up."

Ichigo scoffed. "Orihime probably not, Tatsuki might."

"Yeah why doesn't Tatsuki replace you lifting these and you go take care of making sure these fish are fed." Andrew said lifting up another net with a tuna fish

Uryuu rolled his eyes. "Because they don't have the number abilities like I do."

This got the other two boys to roll their eyes. They spotted their large friend helping move a container containing fish fry over to another pond.

"Ichigo, why did you guys get involved with this group?" Andrew said taking a small break. Tatsuki had given them a camera to shoot any scenes they really needed.

Ichigo sighed. "It was partly thanks to you. I went home after that scuffle at Dover and I had been thinking on what you said to me about the division of wealth and how you despised the fact I walk in with the money we had. So to clear my head one day I took a drive around. As luck would have it my driving took me to this fishing village. Japan as you know is a big fishing country. When the big food fish were banned from being fished or severely regulated many of the fisheries went out of business. There is currently a bit of a comeback in these fisheries but not enough to make the fish marketable. But anyway I saw what happened when the fisheries closed. They were... depressed almost broken. Their life was gone. What struck me was this…little boy could not have been more than seven walking up to his mother with two small fish he caught off the dock. There two other little kids both girls and I was…bombarded by an image of my mother and my twin sisters. I…just ran back to my car and for probably the first time since mom died…I cried my eyes out." Ichigo's breath hitched. His eyes were tearing up at the thought. "I cried because that could have easily been us. I cried because I knew you were right. I cried because of the cruelty of the world. That experience changed me completely. I talked to my dad and we had a serious discussion about this. What we decided was to launch a charity to help fisheries like this and set up a fuel processing plant near here. This has seen a rebound somewhat but until the fisheries are restored I don't think this city will ever return to normal."

Andrew sighed and chuckled. "I changed you huh. That's funny. But your goal is a noble one. But I don't see a fishery like this have a sustainable population for another twenty years at least."

Ichigo smiled. "One step at a time." He said as they went back to work. Two hours later they were finishing and the girls had come back from viewing the inside of the fishery. Orihime was watching the workers haul up the last of the fish when she got a little too close to the edge. Tatsuki's warning from earlier went un heard as she got too close to one of the railings and she slipped. Ichigo having watched her rushed over as she tried to get her balance and tried to save her only for both to end up in the water with a splash. Fortunately for them the water was not very deep enough to absorb the impact. Unfortunately for Orihime because she chose to wear a white shirt with her uniform. When they recovered and Ichigo looked he blushed and turned away. Orihime looked perplexed and looked down. She squeaked and covered herself with her hands.

"Please…don't stare." Orihime said with a blush.

"I'm sorry I looked. Though if you want an honest opinion… you look great." Ichigo said flustered.

Orihime turned the color of her hair but looked down and smiled "Thank you." She said shyly.

"Orihime where are you?" Tatsuki called out.

"Ichigo let's go I really don't want to smell like fish guts any longer than I have to!"

Their two friends were calling out to them. They arrived at the pool and had to laugh at their companion's predicament.

"Sorry we'll let you have your alone time you two." Andrew said getting Ichigo to scowl and for Orihime to squeak and bury herself into Ichigo's shoulders.

Tatsuki sighed. "Hime I have told you to be careful now look at you." She said while helping them out of the pond.

"Well that's one way for the lovebirds to get closer, I guess." Andrew said as they walked back to the cars where thankfully dry towels were provided.

Salzburg, Austria

Salzburg, Austria is an ancient city close to the German border. Once part of an electorate of the Holy Roman Empire, today it is known for being the birthplace of Mozart. The city also is remembered for the loved classic the Sound of Music. In one of the museums dedicated to the company Red Bull there are mementos to the past of the company. From flight suits, to cars, to a model of their first private space craft. The security was strong as some of company's oldest artifacts were housed here.

A security guard was making his rounds. He was turning down a corridor when he hit in the back of the head and taken into a closet. Three masked robbers looked around and headed towards the security laser controls. Hacking the controls the security lasers quickly dissipated. Walking over to a display case they see a flight suit. Not just any suit it was the suit that Felix Baumgartner wore when he made his famous jump from space. Approaching the glass case, one of the masked men used a laser cuter and cut the glass. This set off the alarms but the men were much faster and grabbed the suit. They were out of there in ten minutes and the getaway car was waiting in the back. Hoping in the drove away as the police showed up at the museum.

The lead robber dialed a number. After a couple of rings a voice answered.

"You have it?"

"Yes Aizen sir. Felix Baumgartner's suit is in our possession.

"Good, the rest of the payment is on its way to your accounts. Bring it to the Red Bull Ring and await further instructions.

"Yes sir." The robber said and he hung up. The other robbers cheered at the news as the made their way to the track.

Thousands of miles away in Japan Monday morning, Souske Aizen was in his office smiling. His plan for the next race was coming along nicely. That quickly faded when he remembered something vital. His contact in Kurosaki-Ishida was found out and arrested. Now Miguel was bailed out but the old saying goes loose lips sink ships. So he placed a call to one of his contractors to silence the man and make it look like an accident. He sighed, trying to juggle a business as illicit as his and a legal public face was tiring. 'Oh well' Aizen thought. 'At least this race is in the bag once I convince those Red Bull drivers to work for me.' Aizen said as he looked through other activities his company was doing.

That evening, Miguel was hoping mad. He had been bailed out of jail but was now forced to stay in the country to await trial. He got into his rental car that was being paid out of his own pocket after being summarily dismissed. He knew his contact Souske Aizen had cut him off and he agreed to testify against Aizen in exchange for leniency. Miguel started the car and headed down the road to a seedy bar to get drunk on what was left of his funds. As he drove he came up on a steep hill. Pumping the brakes, he widened his eyes when it didn't slow down. He could only watch as his car picked up speed going down the hill. He tried to turn but without the brakes even the emergency brake he was doomed. Coming up on a sharp curve he plowed through the guard rail and off the cliff. The car flipped down the hill and came to a rest on a tree near the bottom of the hill. Miguel groaned knowing he was in a lot of pain possibly with broken bones. Then he smelled the gas leaking. He struggled futilely to unclip himself before the gas caught fire. Then it happened, possibly from Miguel moving around, a spark caught the gas and ignited.

BOOOOOM

The car blew up and burned. Miguel was surely dead. As calls came in about the explosion a dark figure was viewing the explosion. It was Tousen Kaname who observed the wreckage.

"Justice for the world is Aizen's justice. You were going to cause the flames of rebellion and now you die in the flames of revenge." He said as he drove away.

Aizen is making his move. What does he have planned at the Austrian Grand Prix? Find out as the big stretch run begins in Austria. Next time on Bleach Grand Prix.

End of Chapter.

UO: Wow talk about a fast turnaround. At least for me. This is among my shortest chapters I've written but this isn't a race chapter so expect next chapter to be 9-10,000 words long.

New terms

Red Bull Ring: Site of the Austrian Grand Prix. Set in the mountains of southeastern Austria, you need to figure out a trade-off that works. The original track was much faster and much longer. Today it's about 2.8 miles a bit larger than Laguna Seca and Indianapolis. It has narrow pits and long fast straights.

Felix Baumgartner: An extreme stuntman. On October 14, 2012, he became the first man to jump from the edge of space and survive. He was sponsored by Red Bull.

Preview: As the Grand Prix enters the mountains, a sinister plot attacks one of the teams. Our reporter duo must clear their name or else they will be kicked out of the league. Meanwhile on track, Souske drivers kick up their efforts to wreck people. Who will emerge victorious? Find out next time.

Please review and check out my friends, Spartan719, Kage Bijuu, Vanishing Raptor, Code-Emperor07 and Lalapie203. Next update is Journeys of the Dreamer

Before I sign off I would like to say this. Last Sunday May 18th I took part in a charity event for Autism Speaks, called Walk for Autism at New York's MetLife Stadium. I was a part of my dad's company team and we rose over $11,000 of the $322,700 dollars raised. As I write this, I write this in part because I am a lucky one. I heard of a story of someone who can't even function correctly. This is why I write with an Autistic hero. Autism affects more and more people every year and people don't know what it is. Please at least give me the decency on here and be kind. If you would like to know more about this social disability please PM. We aren't contagious, we are just people given a bad hand at life. Thank you.

For all those who struggle with this disability and the families who are behind them.

OSPREY…SWOOOSH