Sure enough, exactly as Ichigo had predicted, despite the two men's confusion over being hit by her- once they were both standing again, they raced off after her.

Ichigo had never really known what to make of this specific behavior of theirs. After all, chasing people like they were chasing her was kind of creepy.

Especially since they made such a weird picture consisting of a couple of older men running after a frazzled and upset young woman.

She had often wondered if chasing people/things was a weird sort of deeply buried sense or instinct of theirs. Maybe something that had to do with the fact that they were Soul Reapers and as such they were a type of hunter or predator on par with the Hollows that they were always getting rid of.

Either way, she knew that she had never really liked being chased.

She tended to acquaint being chased to still being a kid or teenager. Or to things like being, hunted, lured into traps, ambushes, arrested and thrown into cells. All of which were something that she always tended to avoid to the best of her ability now that she was older and wiser.

"Ichigo stop running!" She heard Jushiro call out from behind her. Her first instinct was to call back a 'fuck no' that she could barely bite back since she already knew that it would antagonize them two men further.

She glanced back at he and Shunsui like the two of them were deranged as she put on an extra burst of speed because she could tell that they were closing in on her and would soon be on either side of her, boxing her in and trapping her.

"Yeah, we aren't mad that you hit us!" Shunsui called out this time in an effort to get her to stop running away from them.

Besides, she didn't exactly believe him about not being mad at her.

Shunsui's normally laid-back personality aside, he had taken on a freakishly scary quality right then because she could see that his reiki was seeping out of him like a battle aura despite the smile on his face. Which was a sure indication that while he may not actually be mad at her, he was definitely annoyed.

And if she were foolish enough to stop running before he calmed down, then she'd likely wind up with a terrible headache from getting a noogie from the brunette.

Which she didn't want any part of since he tended to dig his knuckles into one's skull just to make sure that his point was really felt and understood.

She took a flying leap up to one of the rooftops, ignoring the protests that spilled forth from both men's mouths before they too joined her on running along the rooftops in an effort to catch her.

She wasn't sure how long they tried to catch her- but they eventually managed to catch up to her and as predicted, the two of them wound up on either side of her, boxing her in. Eliciting an annoyed growl from her before she decided to abruptly stop running and then stood there and waited for them to stop moving too.

It took them a minute or so, after all, chasing someone at high speeds across tiled rooftops wasn't easy. Especially when someone was wearing getas or sandals. The only reason that it was easy for her was because she had had far more practice at doing it without falling flat on her face.

Whereas it was sheer dumb luck and some ridiculous looking flailing of their arms that kept the two men from doing so. That aside, it was another minute or so before either of them could even speak since they were a bit winded from the run.

Jushiro was less winded than Shunsui, but that was likely only because he wasn't a functioning alcoholic.

She was finally jolted out of her thoughts when she heard Jushiro ask, "Why did you run away from us like that?" He sounded...upset to her. Not just annoyed like Shunsui but actually, honest to god, upset.

He sounded like a father chastising his child for running through the house.

It set Ichigo's teeth on edge.

"Yeah, did we do something wrong?" Shunsui finally managed to catch his breath enough to ask.

She thought for a moment while trying to reign in her temper before responding with, "Aside from giving whoever is spreading those rumors about me more ammunition, no. Not exactly." And it was true, that they hadn't done anything wrong per se. At least nothing beyond being overly handsy, affectionate, and treating her like a little kid anyways.

To be fair to them, she usually didn't pay any mind to such things.

After all, she knew that it was simply how some of her Soul Reaper friends tended to behave. Especially since she technically really was nothing but a child to many of them.

It was much just like how she knew that living amongst a race of ancient beings that lived for hundreds or even thousands of years often had its own set of drawbacks. They were constantly misunderstanding various things about her, her needs, desires and her way of life.

So, she knew it wasn't exactly something that some of them could necessarily help.

As the saying went, habits were hard to break. This was especially true when one had had said habit for nearly several hundred years or more.

However, today, their behavior just seemed to be rubbing her the wrong way.

"If we didn't do anything wrong then why did you run away?" Jushiro asked, his expression concerned though she caught the hurt conveyed in his words and tone easily enough.

It didn't stop her from flinching a little though.

Next to him, Shunsui gave her a strangely calculating look that she had only seen on his face a few times here and there over the years during various battles. It was the look of a man appraising his opponent so that he could figure out the best way to take them down.

She wasn't very sure that she liked that look, especially when it was aimed at her right then. But even so, she didn't think that the guy would be able to figure out what her problem was. Even if he was starting to make her feel overly nervous about being caught up in that stare of his.

And she certainly wasn't about to blurt out that while they had been apologizing to her and crying back at the restaurant that she had gotten a bit...aroused as well as annoyed with them both. She doubted that either of them would understand much less be able to accept the fact that she even thought about them that way.

Poor Jushiro would likely die of a brain aneurism when he found out and Shunsui would just laugh at her and then go out and drink thirty or more bottles of booze and forget everything.

Both outcomes were...not really ideal to her. Which was simply part of the reason why she flat out refused to speak of her feelings for them even now. She'd rather live her life alone than feel as if she were a fool for caring about them in that way.

Suddenly, she saw Shunsui's calculating look morph into one of understanding and she went ram rod stiff and her face became a sickly pale color.

Jushiro frowned at her, still waiting for a reply to his question but realized that she and his friend were having a stare down for some reason. So, she was understandably distracted at the moment.

At least until Shunsui made a thoughtful humming sound as he reached up to pull the brim of his hat down over his eyes a bit and then reached up and put a hand on one of Jushiro's shoulders and forced him down into a bow.

The white-haired man sputtered a bit, wondering what the hell was going on but upon glancing over to Shunsui he realized that they were both bowing to her as his friend said politely, "Forgive us for upsetting you, Ichigo. That was not our intention."

"I know that." She said quickly, then slapped her hands to her mouth and flushed with embarrassment as Shunsui lifted his head just a tad to look at her while she slowly began to remove her hands from her mouth and then mumbled awkwardly, "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to hit you both so hard."

Shunsui finally raised back to his full height, dragging Jushiro back up with him by the back of his shirt.

The brunette could practically feel his best friend's confusion right then. But that was understandable to the man since he too had been rather oblivious up until a few moments ago.

Now that he was aware of the fact that Ichigo had been hiding the fact that she had secret feelings for he and Jushiro though...he had to say, he had never thought felt such a heady feeling before.

It was a thrilling thing to have such knowledge. He almost lost his breathe from just thinking about it. That think that a being of power on par with the Soul King himself in power and ability would desire both he and his friend in such a capacity.

He licked his dry lips and noted the way that her eyes locked onto the action, her face flushing ever so slightly and she turned her head to look at anything but him. It was a subtle reaction, but it made him grin wickedly anyways before saying, "We'll leave you be now so that we can go back to our outing."

Jushiro sputtered, still oblivious to what was happening as Ichigo frowned at them for a second and then nodded her head curtly before quickly disappearing from their sight.

"Shunsui, what the devil-" Jushiro started to ask him when his friend cut him off with a slightly ominous sounding.

"We need to have a talk."

"A talk about what?"

"What I just figured out about our little Ichigo."

Shunsui knew that Jushiro's curiosity was killing him as they began their trek back to the office after a nice meal and some sake. It was hard not to know such a thing after being friends with the man for so many years. However, despite that fact, he was reluctant to say anything about his recent discovery due to how many others were milling about.

One wrong word from them could cause all kinds of trouble for Ichigo and he knew that very well since such things had happened before. It was always accidentally, of course.

But his point still stood.

They were walking down a newly deserted street when Shunsui felt himself get grabbed and shoved into the nearest wall and pinned there by Jushiro's forearm pressing against his collarbone.

He took a second to blink at his friend and absently noted that Jushiro had his 'Captain-Commander' face on. Which meant that he was serious about getting Shunsui to tell him what he had meant earlier about figuring something out about Ichigo.

"You're not going to wait until we're back at your office for this?" He asked in a slightly chastising tone. Jushiro's expression darkened a little bit more, his green eyes hardening to chips of mossy colored ice as he stared him down with the threat of thinly veiled violence stretching between them, unspoken.

But then again, Jushiro's threats were never spoken. Not aloud anyway. It had always impressed Shunsui just how the white-haired man's own inner darkness seemed to match the depths and ferocity of his own.

Back when they had been in the academy together- Jushiro had more inclined to show his viciousness a bit easier than he did now. Yet despite that fact, Shunsui always found it startling that the other man was willing to show it the most when one of those under his command was in 'trouble' of some kind.

And right now, Shunsui's secret keeping was being equated to Ichigo being in some sort of trouble in Jushiro's mind right then and there. And the fact that he was preventing the other man from helping her was what had led him to be shoved against a wall and pinned there.

"Settle down, Ju. Ichigo isn't in any trouble." He said easily, refusing to say what he was thinking about her definitely being in trouble, just not the kind of trouble that Jushiro was obviously thinking as he brought his hands up to gently shackle his friend's wrist with his fingers.

"If she isn't in some sort of trouble, then what aren't you telling me?" Jushiro demanded, obviously out of patience.

Shunsui sighed but knew that since they were alone now then it really shouldn't matter as long as no one was around to hear him. "Alright, alright, I'll tell ya already. Just don't freak out on me."

"Why would I freak out?" Jushiro asked with a puzzled frown.

"Because, what I'm about to say is shocking." Shunsui replied in a deadpan tone and then paused for a second before going on to say, "Ichigo is attracted to us."

Jushiro went ram rod stiff for several seconds, his face flushing though Shunsui didn't know why as he then sputtered. "W-What?!"