Not for the first time he cursed his 'history' as a delinquent, and the stupidity of actually getting involved in something that most definitely not his actual problem.

The living handled the living, and matters of the dead should stay with the dead.

Thanks to the fact he had been naive enough to get involved with Rukia, his prospects for college were dead in the water. And the less said about the near miracle it had taken to get into high school the better.

With his reputation, he had been lucky to get a part time job. But the woman had to sell her business to handle her kid's medical expenses, and no one was willing to hire him after hearing about his history and the sheer number of ridiculous excuses to get out of class. Obviously he had been up to no good with that hair color.

And that left him with only the less than legal methods of earning a living.

Ichigo really hated his life sometimes. Worse, he was too proud to ask his friends for help. Not that he really could without accidentally dragging them down with him.

Better to break off clean and hope for the best. At least he had some skill with fighting, so maybe he'd have luck as a mercenary. People with some experience as battlefield medics (not that he really got much practice once Orihime got her powers, but it was still more than most had) generally tended to get picked up fairly quickly.

It had taken all of a week for him to get a one-way ticket to someplace where one could get jobs that were less than legal, and no one would give a damn about who you were or what you looked like.

It was called Mafia Land, and it was run by the Mafia families who didn't really delve into the 'worst' humanity had to offer, crime-wise.

First he would need some training, and hopefully he could make a name as a mercenary or something.

As the moving island came into view, Ichigo tossed aside any second thoughts. He had come this far so he wouldn't have to rely on the funds the damn Soul Society almost never remembered to send on time.

He got off the boat, and decided to explore a bit before he asked where he was supposed to go to find mercenary work.

Everyone felt it the second the absurdly powerful Sky Flame stepped foot on the island. They weren't even trying to HIDE it. It was so strong that you couldn't go anywhere on without being hit in the face with it's presence.

Needless to say Lal and Colonello were less than happy with being the poor bastards stuck tracking down whoever was letting off such Flames and not even bothering to try an reign it in.

Hopefully the could find them and preferably get rid of them before they caused a massive riot.

The only catch was that finding the owner of the Flames was almost impossible, because the presence was literally everywhere and that was making it very difficult to track.

Today was going to be a long day.

It took Ichigo three very long hours to find the office he was looking for. Considering the sheer number of times he had been jostled, bumped into, or flatly grabbed, he was not happy. And there seemed to be a problem with security as they were scrambling to find someone.

He kept an extra strong grip on his bag and wallet, thinking it was a thief.

"What do you want kid?" asked the man in accented English.

Ichigo grabbed onto his limited English skills and answered.

"Who do I talk to for an application into COMBUSIN?" he asked.

The guy eyed him up dubiously. The kid had a ridiculous hair color, but he had the right look for a fighter. He might be able to survive training.

"Ask for Lal Mirch. She handles the rookies this rotation, but she's out trying to find some idiot who came onto the island. You can wait over there and I'll let her know you're here," he said.

"Thank you," said Ichigo relieved. He was sick of being bumped into, not to mention those stupid crowds. He took a seat and pulled out a book to read on battlefield medicine.

He would have gone to get something to eat, but he really didn't want to go back out and risk having his stuff stolen. Several hours passed and he was almost through the book when a woman with dark blue (almost black) hair walked in with a harried expression along with a blond with blue eyes man who was evidently her partner.

"Any luck finding this mystery Sky?" asked the man sitting at his computer.

"Nothing. The damn idiot must be hiding or trying to snag some strong Flames if he's not even bothering to hide it," said the woman crossly.

"Kid over there asking about the application process. Looks green, but seems to have a spine."

"Just what I need, another damn rookie. Nationality?"

"Has something of a Japanese accent, but has some skills with English. Have fun."

The woman turned to see Ichigo, who had put his book away. But not enough that she couldn't read what the title was.

"My name is Lal Mirch. You here to apply for our unit?" she asked in Japanese. The look of relief on his face was pretty obvious.

"Yes ma'am."

The hair color was a bit odd, but he had the proper tone of respect towards her and acknowledged Colonello with a nod. She liked him a little bit already. He had a fighter's grace, like he had seen real battles and come out on top, and his eyes had the right look.

"How old are you?"

"Almost nineteen. Had to look for unusual employment because of an unfortunate misconception about my reputation."

"What sort of misconception?"

"This is my natural hair color, but because the average color is black or brown, teachers automatically assumed I was a delinquent and reacted appropriately. The same went for the local thugs and minor gang members. As a result it's almost impossible for me to find employment locally," he explained.

Well that explained why he was looking to become a mercenary. Especially with that aura he had of a real warrior.

"You'll have to undergo a trial basis, but if you can last three months you'll be hired," she said flatly.

"Thank you ma'am," said Ichigo respectfully. It took him a second for him to realize she was expecting him to shake her hand.

However once he did she really, really wanted to bang her head against the wall.

Colonello wasn't the only one who noticed the pressure dropping. It took him three seconds to figure out what happened.

The idiot Sky had snagged a Guardian, or someone had clued them into the fact they weren't holding it in properly.

He grinned at the kid with the weird hair color before holding out his hand.

"Look forward to whipping you into shape, kora!"

Ichigo shook his hand and his jaw dropped in disbelief.

Well that explained the pained look Lal had on her face.

"What?"

"You're the one we were looking for earlier," she said with a pained expression.

Ichigo looked very confused.

"Looks like the idiot Sky got told off," said the guy behind the counter.

Lal didn't feel like explaining the truth to him, instead she schooled her expression.

"Come on kid. It looks like we're going to have to give you a proper explanation."

There was no way this kid was attached to any of the Familigias if someone as strong as him had come to Mafia Land alone without Guardians or any idea of what was going on. If he were connected, he wouldn't have come applying to be a mercenary in the first place.

Generally speaking a Sky wouldn't be so hard up for employment that they went looking for work in Mafia Land.

In a discreet location...

Ichigo had the most amusing expression on his face. Lal was almost tempted to laugh except there was very little funny about this. Colonello was already tempting fate by snickering at her.

"So let me get this straight. There is an entire community of 'Dying Will Flames' that work in the underworld, and I happen to have one of the rarest types?"

"You should have attracted Guardians already, kora. The amount of Flames you were letting off before you found us was enough to coat the entire island and was sending everyone up in arms."

"...Just to be clear, the term 'dying will' isn't some sort of euphemism for something ridiculous and actual means soul fire, right?" he asked. He looked about ready to join Lal in banging his head against the nearest tree.

"Close enough," said Lal.

Ichigo face palmed.

"Why does this keep happening to me..."

First his spiritual energy wasn't strong enough, and now it was too strong and apparently of a rare enough type that the mafia would kill to get their hands on him.

"From what I can tell your Flame is trying to find the right people to Harmonize with. Once you get some more Guardians it should stabilize," said Lal, trying to make this less headache inducing than it already was.

She was not expecting to Harmonize with a random kid today, never mind the strongest Sky she had ever encountered. At least Colonello seemed to have done the same thing over a simple hand shake, and the kid wasn't a total loss.

"What exactly is a Guardian?"

"There are seven Flame types, but as I said before Sky is the rarest. The others are Rain, Mist, Cloud, Storm, Sun and Lightning. Each has a different ability but generally it's one of those seven. A Guardian is someone who has 'harmonized' with a Sky Flame, who acts a leader basically. The other six will always follow a Sky, and most Flame users almost never find a Sky they can Harmonize with in their lifetime. It's a Sky's job to bring the others together, mostly to protect itself."

"Again, really weird you haven't Harmonized with a few Guardians at this point considering how strong you are, kora," said Colonello helpfully.

"What are the characteristics of the other Flames?"

Because he had a sneaking suspicion he did have Guardians already.

"Rain, which is what we have, is Tranquility. Basically we calm people down. Mist is creation, and most are illusion users. Sun is Activation, and generally they're healers. Lightning is Hardening, and they tend to act like tanks who take the damage and dish it out. Storm is Disintegration, and is one of the more offensive and combat oriented Flames. Finally there's Cloud which is Propogation, and they can multiply things like bullets among others. Again, Sky is Harmony and their main use is to bring the other six together into a unit."

Okay, now he was almost certain he had at least two Guardians.

"Well it sounds like I might have a Sun and a Lightning, but I have no idea what Uryu is..." he muttered.

"You might have two other Guardians?" said Lal intently. Why was he wandering around here alone without them? No Guardian would leave their Sky alone, especially somewhere like Mafia Land!

"Not like I'm an expert, but my friend Orihime is a healer and Chad is built like a tank."

"Why are you walking alone in Mafia Land without your Guardians, kora?" said Colonello.

"Orihime works at a bakery and Chad is currently traveling around Mexico reconnecting with his grandfather's family. It's bad enough I'm having trouble finding a job. The last thing I wanted to do was drag my friends down with me."

Lal's pained expression grew worse.

"I don't know how things work in Japan, but in the underworld Guardians do not leave their Sky unattended, at least not without one of them to keep an eye on their Sky. It simply isn't done."

"Again, I was a civilian before now."

"Well now you're stuck with us, kora."

Ichigo looked more resigned than anything. From what they had told him, being a Sky was basically the "Flame" equivalent of being a Shinigami Captain, except the bond was permanent and there were a lot less people to deal with.

Lal had some hope that this mess wouldn't spiral completely out of control. Now if only they could find some way to reign in Ichigo's absurd level of Flames...

Viper was in a fairly good mood. Word had spread rather quickly about a possible unattached Sky, one that was definitely very strong if their Flame could cover an entire island to the point it was impossible to find them.

No one had been able to locate the Sky, but he had strong hopes he could find the kid and sell the information. Familigias would pay massive sums for information like a Sky this strong.

And Viper liked money. Money didn't lie or betray you, and it didn't care about who you were or what you did to acquire it.

He had very limited information, as it seemed this kid managed to acquire two very overprotective Rains in a short time. Both of whom knew exactly what they were doing and that they needed to avoid being attached to any families without a full set.

But what he did have was that he unknown Sky had orange hair and spoke with a Japanese accent.

Naturally he couldn't believe his luck when he stumbles on the kid out buying drinks. He didn't look very bright at all, but the one beside him was easily recognizable as Colonello of COMBUSIN.

Viper was able to brush past the youth and the blond, but the brief amount of contact caused the sheer level of presence around him to drop.

Colonello was quick to grab Viper's arm before he could bolt. He wasn't expecting that to happen.

The look he gave Viper said volumes. He knew exactly what happened and wasn't happy about it.

An hour later...

"What happened?" demanded Lal Mirch in Japanese. Ichigo's ability to speak Italian was good, but since there was only a limited number of people who spoke Japanese, they stuck to that.

His English was acceptable, at best.

Colonello dragged Viper into view.

"This idiot bumped into Ichigo deliberately and Harmonized. Feels like a Mist to me."

Lal took one look at him and cursed.

"What do you want Viper?" she demanded crossly. As if she wouldn't recognize the number one information broker in the underworld at the moment.

Viper winced.

"I wanted information on the strong Sky taking residence in Mafia Land."

To sell or hold the information over others, was the unspoken but acknowledged reason.

Lal scowled at the Mist. Viper hid a wince.

"Oi! Who said you could take a break, kora!" shouted Colonello, having left Viper to Lal.

In order to maintain a decent cover, Colonello and Lal were openly training Ichigo as a new member of their group. Most people would dismiss his presence on the island and by this point the visitors had learned to 'tune out' the feel of his Flames.

Apparently Ichigo did have some idea how to control his "spirit energy" but because of the purity and strength of them it was impossible to do so. He had given up the idea of trying as a bad job, as most of the 'exercises' he attempted to control them had a habit of blowing up in his face.

Then again, perhaps it was because he was using the limited amount of Kido practice he had gotten when he first became a substitute shinigami and applying it to Flames. While they were similar the simple fact of the matter was that they didn't mix that well.

Hence why Ichigo was sticking to the basic drills and exercises that the two Rains were giving him. Until he had some idea of what they were going to do from now on (apparently Guardians had a habit of following the lead of their Sky) he would stick to his original goal of being a mercenary.

Colonello certainly wasn't complaining.

At least not after he found out the hard way not to wake Ichigo up with a bull horn or other crazy methods in the mornings. He had never seen Lal laugh so hard in her life when the first time he did, Ichigo hit him so hard he literally went flying into the shark's feeding area.

Apparently Ichigo's dad was more than a little nuts and had a habit of kicking his son in the face when he woke him up in the mornings...so Ichigo developed a knee-jerk reaction of sending his father flying into the neighboring houses and shouting at him before getting ready.

Colonello eventually found the perfect way to wake up his new Sky by throwing water on him...from a very respectable distance and more often than not using a hose to do it. He was supposed to ruin Ichigo's mornings by waking him up early. He wasn't supposed to be hit so hard that he was the one who had a bad morning from an impromptu swim with the damn sharks!

"Was it a full harmonization or a partial one?"

"It happened so fast it's hard to tell," said Viper. "But it feels like a full."

Lal scowled. Ichigo was one headache after another without even trying.

"Well since you're stuck with us perhaps you can help me find some people."

Viper fell back into a familiar routine. This he could deal with.

"Who are we talking about?"

"Two civilians, who are possibly Ichigo's Guardians. Potentially Flame Latent or recently Active within the last three years."

The second Ichigo told her where his hometown was, the fact he had gone unnoticed until now made perfect sense.

Karakura was a nesting ground for Flames, and there was something about the place that made it hard to realize when one went Active. Not even the Vindice messed with that place if they could help it.

However there was some form of monster that thrived in the general area of the city, so most of those who were Flame Active tended to avoid the place because they were often targeted. There were a lot of rumors about masked monsters with holes.

Ichigo called them Hollows and said they were a known nuisance to anyone who had a decent amount of spiritual power. The best way to deal with them was to destroy the mask as quickly as possible.

"I'll need a description, and it's going to cost you."

The look Lal gave him could have melted steel, it was that acidic. Viper wondered what exactly he was going to be in for with his new Sky. That is, if he didn't sell this information to the highest bidder first.