Third chapter up! My drawing tablet broke so while internally crying I decided to make the cover traditionally. Now, I was asked a question in the review section: "What happened to Ichiro? Is he an orphan?"

Sorry friend but I will not be answering your question, not in this chapter at least! Background, set ups, ect. Will all be explained in the story. Thank you for reviewing, it made me really motivated haha- plus your question was great and I'm glad there are readers that are thinking about things like that. I love questions though! Thank you for reading!

Don't forget to review, favorite, and follow

Link to the cover art: sta. sh/01h5q9 4m0psm (Get rid of the spaces

Ichiro's eyes watered and for the first time in an hour he felt his face once more. He gasped out a breath, feeling his lungs tingling back into his field of existence. His muscles ached quite a bit and he rasped out a small noise. He was in his room, where he was left and where he had been given the medicine. The medicine seemingly helped absolutely nothing, he always felt weaker, always. He peered slowly about his room, it was hard and a terrible pain began to crawl up his spine in retaliation. Many of the dead's voices were quieter, some couldn't be heard at all by Ichiro's own ears, he assumed this was what the medication was to do; Destroy his body but clear his mind- or something like that. He stared blankly at the digital clock within his room and for the first time in what seemed like forever, he was able to read and create thoughts according to the time. It would take an estimated half hour before his body was completely movable and his mind cleared, though the after effects were still painful and left him feeling like he was much older than he truly was.

Ichiro's consciousness wavered, he felt himself in and out, but not quite one or the other, but it was a knock on his door that forced him back to his reality. Time had been sapped away and before he knew it, he was sorely able to move more freely. It was Furukawa who made his way in slowly, smiling sheepishly and waving like he had just met the orange headed boy.

"Keh," Furukawa laughed out, earning an odd gaze from Ichiro. Furukawa grinned and placed a hand under his chin "it always shocks me, seeing your hair. One would think you bleached it!" Ichiro's face instantly went sour and his hands flew up to his head, attempting to cover up each and every hair.

"Wha-what did you bust in here for!?" Ichiro rasped out. Furukawa let his more mischievous grin settle into a kinder smile.

"The doctors aren't in today so your nurses are in charge... I guess your nurse must have really liked you. She's allowing you to go into the gazing yard." Furukawa explained. Ichiro's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and he felt his face flush with excitement. His feet swung off the bed and he fought a wince at moving his limbs once again, but he didn't quite mind it as much as he may have in the past. He was ecstatic. He breathed in a mighty breath of air and his head seemed to clear up' peering out the window he saw the sun he would soon have the luxury of basking under.

Ichiro gathered himself, placing on his slippers and heading out of his room down the hall. A line of children stood with three psych techs, one with a clipboard stating the freedoms of the different children.

"Am I on the list to go to the gazing yard?" Ichiro asked the tech with the clipboard. The psych tech, a man named Jirio, scanned through the papers quickly with hawk-like eyes.

"Kurosaki?" The man asked quickl. Ichiro nodded his head enthusiastically in assurance.

"Looks like its your lucky day. Huh. You must've been really good recently." The psych tech commented, approving Ichiro's going. Ichiro felt his face light up and he couldn't keep a bright smile off his face.

This was it.

This really was it.

Ichiro made his way out into the courtyard along with a select few other children who were lucky enough to actually leave the domain of the hospital. The 'Gazing Yard' as it was called was at one specific end of the hospital, and unlike the rough city streets and buildings that the hospital windows showed, the gazing yard was located right off a city park.

A large fence separated the children from the rest of the greenery. Ichiro loved the smell of the grass and the distanced voices of everyday average people. The park was like a vast haven to him, within the fence were trees, grass, and a few metal picnic tables. Beyond the fence though was the celestial place he wished to grasp. Dogs and children ran, people laughed, walked, birds flew by. A bus stop in the distance was picking up businessmen, a child to the left of his peripheral vision lost their balloon. The trees created a sort of circular barrier around the park it seemed, while the middle was a cleared plane of grass. Pavement curled in and out of the park like a big maze, and just through the trees could you see the rest of the city life moving about.

Without fear or even the slightest care in the world, Ichiro flung himself backwards, landing with a thud and a beating ache in the back of his head. He felt the back of his head pulse and instinctively closed his eyes with the contact of the sun. The blue sky speckled with puffs of cloud was laid out before him. Ichiro hadn't a care in the world of his physical pain. The feeling of his pulsing head, his burning eyes, the heat on his cheekbones, the slight movement of hair in the wind, the grass tickling his neck, the vaguest feeling of something small moving on him... These were the feelings he longed for, feelings and sensations he hadn't been able to have once upon a time.

"Ichi! Did you hurt yourself?" A child called, sprinting near Ichiro's prone body. Ichiro let out a long, hearty laugh.

"No! Isn't it nice out here?" He exclaimed, spreading out his arms and legs. It was easy for him just to sit by, most of the kids played off elsewhere or sat at tables to gossip about other wards, but he was still, merely watching the clouds drift.

It took a few moments before Ichiro finally sat himself up. His body felt over heated, the hospital was cold but outside had a kind of heat that Ichiro wasn't used to. With quick slumping of his posture, Ichiro glanced out of the fence only to notice a young woman stopped and staring at the children. Ichiro quickly stiffened and felt shameful, he was locked in a hospital and here this woman was openly staring at him and the others. Ichiro ducked his head down to hide his face. The woman was beautiful, she sported a jean skirt and white striped tank-top, her hair was a burnt orange colour. This made Ichiro even more self conscious though and he found himself slowly making his way to a psych tech and requesting to hide within the building once again. The psych tech sighed but understood. Kurosaki especially hated himself and situation. He loved normal people but he was far too ashamed of himself to ever present himself before them.

Orihime Inoue found herself gaping and probably even rudely staring at a crowd of children within the hospital. Her lips parted and she found it suddenly hard to breathe. All she could hear and feel was the deep beating of her heart.

"K-Kurosaki-kun..." She gasped out so quietly she was even unaware she had said the name. The boy within the fence looked like Ichigo. It was hard to make out his features but Orihime knew deep down in her heart that this had to have been the boy she and her friends have been searching for for so long. The boy seemed to have noticed her and she watched his frame straighten before hiding his face and running to one of the people there. Orihime felt a pang of guilt seeing him run, but it was his height that confused her. He wasn't short, but he was certainly shorter than Ichigo. Could it have truly been Ichigo? Closing her eyes she felt the spirit pressure around her. The boy had spiritual pressure, but it was broken up and weak. How many orange haired boys with spiritual pressure could there be in Karakura? Orihime clenched her fists and set her expression into one of determination.

As soon as the Kurosaki look-alike was out of sight, Orihime made a run for the Urahara Shoten. Her legs lifted her with grace but each movement was dire. Her chest burned and the muscles of her diaphragm twisted and seemed to shrivel up with every new step. Orihime puffed out a shaky breath, she wasn't about to let anything to stop her from getting this news to the soul society at the very least.

The door to the Urahara Shoten opened with a burst of power, startling Jinta and Ururu. Orihime's form shown through the door. Orihime hadn't even given the two smaller occupants a second glance as she rushed deeper into the store.

"Urahara-san!" Orihime screamed with an unsteady voice. Urahara glanced up in alert at the commotion, it wasn't often that someone came with cries for help to the old store.

"Inoue-san, what a pleasure!" He quipped quickly, placing his signature fan over his mouth.

"Urahara-san you have to contact everyone! I've found Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime cried out.

"Are you sure it's Kurosaki?" Urahara asked, his eyes narrowing and darkening.

"He has a spiritual pressure! It's messed up... Something has been messing it up... But I know it's him! I've never been wrong!" Orihime explained eagerly. Her face was flushed and full of sweat and her hair was in a state much crazier.

Yoruichi's small cat form slunk into the room and found her way to a spot beside Urahara.

"I'll contact the captains then." Urahara decided.