He felt Jushiro watch him as he paced restlessly in his best friend's office. His hat lay discarded on the couch and his haori billowed around him with each sharp turn. He was quite literally walking at the edges of the room. Another sigh left the white-haired man and Shunsui looked at him just in time to see him discard his paperwork.

"You going to tell me what's on your mind?" His friend spoke with a hint of amusement, but Shunsui had known Juu for far too long to be fooled. The underlying hint of wariness wasn't something that the captain of the thirteenth could hide from him.

Shunsui let out his own sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose and trying to will away the feeling of dread seeping into him.

"It's just a feeling, like something bad is going to happen." Shunsui looked towards his friend and knew Juu understood. Dark brows creased on his forehead and white hair shifted in a curtain as his friend nodded to him in understanding. They were both far too old to doubt their instincts.

"Then why are you still here?"

Shunsui gave him a large smile before shaking his head and grabbing his hat.

"You always know just what to say." He called over his shoulder even as he left the division behind.

Shunsui hated being right, hated the way his gut only ever told him about terrible news. When he arrived at the Kurosaki clinic, having followed his instincts, he wished he had gotten there sooner. Isshin, his cousin, lay in a pool of blood. His would was so deep that Shunsui didn't even know how the man wasn't split in two. Or maybe he was and just couldn't tell under all the shredded fabric and dark stains.

"Isshin!" His voice was sturdy, but Shunsui felt a lump form in his throat. To his surprise, his cousin responded, his dark eyes, almost black, pleading at him through the haze of pain.

"I-Ichig-o"

Shunsui followed Isshin's gaze and froze. His hands were outstretched and covering a bundle of cloth, bright colors of an infant's clothes dyed red. Shunsui felt his body go cold and he shakily reached out towards the bundle, dreading the feel of the lifeless corpse.

"F-further." Isshin hacked out a cough and now Shunsui could see that his cousin wasn't looking at the mangled corpse of his son, but at something slightly further ahead.

A shock of orange hair dyed red caught his eye and he sprang into action, eyes widening at the sight of the now spiritual baby that lay still on the kitchen floor. He reached out and was so thankful when he felt the reiatsu inside his little body.

"T-take him. Please." Shunsui swallowed hard, not sure how to tell his friend that he could only send him off with a konso. That his boy would be no more. Isshin must have felt his hesitation because he spoke again.

"No….chain. Save him."

Shunsui jolted and looked back at the baby. At his perfectly smooth chest. He wasn't sure how, but the baby was already one step ahead. Shunsui realized then that he could save Ichigo, take him back with him and raise him as his own. As Isshin's son without the need to worry about the boy losing his mortal ties.

His brown eyes hardened and his hands glowed green as he picked Ichigo up, being careful not to jostle the too still baby as he tried to heal him from his extensive wounds.

Shunsui looked back at his cousin's fast darkening eyes, his eyes sorrowful but determined. "I will."

Isshin smiled at him and closed his eyes, his breathing ragged. "Go."

And Shunsui did, regretful that he couldn't be with his cousin until his last breaths, but determined to save the bundle of innocence in his arms.

Before he knew it, he was out of the senkaimon and rushing towards the fourth division. His reiatsu unfurled around him as he pushed more of it into his speed. Most of the people he passed were crushed under his power, but he couldn't bring it in himself to feel bad when he had to get Ichigo healed. The green light of the kaido had never left his palms, and as he arrived at the fourth covered in blood, Shinigami sprung into action around him.

Unohana was on him in an instant, having felt his frantic reiatsu, something that had not happened for hundreds of years. She took one look at what he was carrying and he saw her eyes harden in determination, her zanpakuto out and in shikai before he could blink. Her glowing green hands took Ichigo from him and the glow didn't go away until the baby was safely in Minazuki. She didn't even look at him as she rushed down the hall.

Shunsui was frozen for just a moment before he forced himself to follow after, not caring at the way the blood was beginning to dry and flake against his skin. Absently, he could feel Jushiro coming his way, no doubt having felt the distress in his reiatsu. With a thought, he reeled it in and forced it to calm, noticing how it was affecting those around him as he sprinted down the hall. He heard Unohana barking orders to her lieutenant, Ichigo was now free of her zanpakuto and laying on a bed that made him look so, so small. He stood just inside of the room next to the door but out of the way. A breeze and a gasp made him look to the left, his gaze catching Jushiro's. Whatever he looked like must have been grim because his friend pulled him into a hug without question. He returned it, letting out a shaky breath before steeling his nerves and nodding into his shoulder.

"Thanks, Juu."

They pulled away and stayed silent as they watched Unohana stabilize Ichigo, his breathing coming in smoother and his body less tense. After a while, the glowing of her hands faded and she wiped her brow before looking back at them, waving them over. Shunsui was at her side in an instant, eyeing the now blemish free skin of the baby.

"He will be fine. He is stronger than I anticipated and has the will to live." She smiled at him as she tucked Ichigo into the blankets, wrapping him in a little bundle to make sure he stayed warm.

Shunsui let out a sigh of relief, reaching for his hat in an old habit. "Thank you." He murmured, eyes never leaving Ichigo.

"Would you like to tell me where you got this baby from, Kyoraku-taichou?" Unohana's sweet voice was understanding but held an edge. He looked at her and found Jushiro was also curious. He pursed his lips, knowing Ichigo's situation was special, but he also knew he could trust his old friends with his life.

"This is Isshin Shiba's son."

A gasp left Jushiro as he looked at the baby sharply, his eyes crinkled in pain as he took in his late lieutenant's nephew. While his friend was frozen at the revelation, Unohana had looked at him with furrowed brows and a worried frown.

"How did this happen?"

Shunsui put up a barrier around the room with a thought, the action causing raised eyebrows from the two. "Isshin-san didn't die, he lost his powers and Urahara-san helped him by giving him a gigai. He found a woman there, they married and lived as humans." His smile turned bitter. "They were happy while it lasted."

Silence reigned once again and a fierce protectiveness was cast onto Jushiro's face. "I won't let anything happen to him."

Shunsui heard the promise, but he somehow knew it wasn't to him, it was to Kaien. He nodded at his friend, accepting his words.

"He will need it Juu, his mother, Masaki, was a quincy."

Unohana's hands were over Ichigo once more, her brows furrowed in concentration. Surprise colored her face as she felt the pieces of his soul, something Shunsui had never thought to have done.

She looked at him with a heavy gaze, her mouth turned down in a frown. "Shunsui, while I feel his Shinigami and quincy power, there is something else." She searched his gaze and he raised his brows in surprise. Seemingly satisfied that he hadn't known she continued. "He is also part hollow."

His breath was stolen from his lungs, it was like a punch to the gut. His concern for the boy grew exponentially, and not because of what he was. "Will he be okay?"

She hesitated to answer him, turning her eyes back to the baby. Shunsui felt Jushiro's warm hand squeeze his shoulder in support as they both waited with baited breaths.

"I do not know. But, his soul seems to be balancing itself, we will have to see as he grows."

He nodded at her, happy now that he knew Ichigo wasn't in any immediate danger.

"Ichigo wasn't too terribly hurt, but his energy was drained trying to hold himself together. If you'd like, you can stay with him here tonight. If all goes well he will be ready to go home with you tomorrow." She moved from Ichigo's besides and walked towards the door, her hands folded into her kimono. Shunsui absently dropped the barrier and she glanced back over her shoulder. "Sleep, you'll need the energy. A baby might be more work than you realize" her tone was teasing as she looked at the two one final time and left.

Shunsui and Jushiro shared a look, wondering what the future held in store for them.