The second Viper heard who Ichigo's possible other Guardians were, he could already feel the headaches coming on.

"If you had said you were looking for information concerning the second strongest Sun and Lightning Flames currently alive you could have just asked."

Ichigo looked relieved. So he hadn't been wrong when guessing which Flames Orihime and Chad had.

"Wait, second strongest?"

"The current 'strongest' Sun and Lightning are known as Reborn and Verde. However Orihime Inoue and Yasutora Sado are acknowledged as the second strongest considering their civilian backgrounds and age. However they are apparently already bonded to a Sky, so no one is really aware which Family they are attached to."

The ONLY reason they weren't being visited by the agents of the Vindice or the various Mafia families was because both of them were clearly bonded to a Sky. It was somewhat pointless to try and force them to work for one family or another unless they could track down who their Sky was and hopefully any other Guardians they might have. Which meant the anonymity of their Sky was their greatest protection at the moment.

And now he was attached to their Sky. Which meant Viper couldn't sell the information to the other Families without it coming back to bite him in the ass in the most painful way imaginable.

This was simply not his day.

Or so he thought.

"So your job during middle school does pay well, but they were notoriously late in bothering to make payments and quite a few of them never bothered to file the paperwork correctly?"

"They literally have centuries of backlog, and it's been a total pain in the ass trying to get the back pay they owe me. And to be honest half this mess is their fault to begin with, so if you happened to make their lives hell to get the money I'm due I will happily look the other way. You can't kill them, but traumatizing them to pay more than I'm owed is allowed and you can invest the cash in whatever you like."

"...Exactly how much do they owe you in back pay?"

Ichigo took out a sheet of paper where he did a few calculations based on a pay-scale Renji had given him as a joke when he asked how much they got. Needless to say Ichigo was not happy finding out he should have been getting paid since they acknowledged him as a member of the Seireitei to the point they dragged him into their fights.

They didn't owe him from before he broke into their damn society, but they sure as hell owed him for a good portion of the crap he went through kicking Aizen off his damn throne when he came out in the open. Normal hollows didn't pay much, but he had been taking down arrancar and espada, high level ones at that. And let's not forget the other issues he helped resolve!

Viper was positively eager to help Ichigo get the money they owed him. Even if they did give him a fraction of what captains were normally paid, it was still enough to make even Viper salivate at getting his hands on it.

Especially since Ichigo was giving him carte blanche to convince them to give him a little "extra", and invest it however he saw fit.

"I can sense it will be a pleasure working with you."

"Keep my account well above the black and don't sell any information on my family. We'll get along fine."

"Acceptable."

And here Viper thought having a Sky was going to be a monumental headache he would have to live with. Ichigo was amazingly practical and perfectly willing to turn a blind eye if necessary.

"So when do you want me to track down your friends?"

"Right now they're on vacation, but I can meet up with them later. I've explained to them as much as I safely can on an unsecured source, so once I tell them where and when they'll come find me. Possibly with Uyru as well, though I have absolutely no idea which Flame he might be."

"Uryu Ishida?" asked Viper. Ichigo nodded. "He's a Cloud Flame."

That made three civilian Guardians who botched their jobs at protecting their Sky. Though it did beg the question why Ichigo's presence kept dropping every time he harmonized with someone who was Flame Active.

Viper had a theory that it was because Ichigo was such a naturally strong Flame from a young age that he couldn't harmonize with the few available Flames in Karakura properly, and that the Flames were reaching out trying to fill the missing spots in the set. This theory was mostly based on the fact that upon harmonizing with the two Rains and the Mist Flame he had, there was a noticeable drop in the sheer power of his presence.

Skies naturally sought out Guardians to create a perfect Harmony, even if multiple Flames were needed to fill the voids. And since Ichigo's Flame was particularly strong that limited his selection even further.

Lal wouldn't like it, but there really was only one sure fire way to get Ichigo's Flames to keep from choking everyone around him and settle the bonds properly.

He would have to fill out all the Guardians spots, and with his Flame purity that meant he would have to scout out the strongest Flames available first. Preferably with those he could stand to be around for prolonged periods and were unattached to any Familigia in particular.

Let it never be said Viper wasn't a manipulative asshole. If he was going to be stuck as a Guardian, then he intended to do the job properly.

Time to send out feelers. He already had a good idea of who to trick into coming to the island to see if they could locate the mystery Sky, if only to settle their idle curiosity. They might hate him for the duplicity, but he could care less.

And to be quite honest, he disliked the idea of relying on mere civilians, no matter how skilled, to have his back.

Ichigo was out getting supplies...mostly clothes and other essentials like chocolate to keep Lal from killing them during her period...when he came across a pair of idiots arguing and about to draw guns. At least one of them was.

The guy with the gun wore all black with a fedora that had an yellow brim and a small lizard calmly sitting on the hat. He had the most bizarre side burns he had ever seen in the living.

Compared to the nuts in the Soul Society, they wouldn't have rated in the top ten.

The one he was arguing with was wearing a Chinese outfit, likely a uniform with a monkey on his shoulder. He moved and looked like a martial artist, likely a master if he was any guess. He had deep black hair and was shouting something that sounded vaguely like Mandarin.

Ichigo did his best to ignore them, until the martial artist sent some random bystander into the store he was buying supplies from.

Eyebrow twitching, he stalked up to the two idiots and with the speed of someone who had fought beyond human levels for a long period of time...he would swear he was channeling his skills in Shun Po to make sure he hit the two...and promptly introduced his fists into their thick skulls.

"If you two morons are going to argue, do everyone a favor and take it out of populated areas where you can go nuts in. You're endangering everyone around you with those weapons and your skills," he said crossly.

The two were either stunned by the force with which he hit them, or because he had managed to hit them. Either way they quit their stupid fight and went separate ways...for now. Ichigo had the feeling they'd track him down to get on his nerves in short order, so he hurried up with his shopping before heading straight to Lal and telling her what happened.

Her eyebrow twitched rather impressively when he described the two "idiots" he had hit.

"Viper..." she hissed.

"The only way to get his Flames under control is to give him a full compliment of Guardians," said Viper without any remorse or regret. "I at least picked those who had the highest possibility of matching him and were unaffiliated with anyone."

"You could have warned me you were bringing them here!" snarled Lal.

"I have that chocolate you like," said Ichigo. That was the reason why he went into the main area of Mafia Land to begin with. Lal was about due for that time of the month, and all the boys kept careful track of it because she became very irritable and positively trigger happy if they didn't find ways to keep her off their ass.

"Who else did you 'invite' here?" she demanded.

"Verde. I have yet to locate a suitable Cloud that could handle Ichigo's Flame Purity," said Viper unrepentant.

"Who's Verde?" asked Ichigo.

"A Lightning who specializes in advanced science and robotics. He's considered the 'Da Vinci' of our time," said Viper immediately.

Ichigo suddenly winced.

"Not a mad scientist type is he?"

Urahara was bad enough.

"There is nothing 'mad' about him, though he is likely to consider anyone weaker than him test subjects if annoyed enough."

"So keep him away from that idiot shopkeeper back home, got it."

Urahara absolutely did not need more inspiration, which this Verde might very well give.

A few hours later the gun-user and the martial artist managed to track down Ichigo like he predicted. The guy with the lizard ("It's actually a chameleon.") gave him an odd look.

"You were actually able to hit us before we had a chance to react. How?" he demanded.

"I've hit things faster than you. Not my fault you two are slow, though the martial artist is definitely one of the better ones I've encountered. The last one I met only specialized in one art," said Ichigo bluntly.

Grimmjow was faster than these two.

The martial artist preened for a moment at the compliment, but only for a few seconds.

"You're the Sky that almost sent us into Discord. Why have you seeded the island?" asked the martial artist, slightly curious and a little annoyed.

Viper winced.

"He can't control his Flames. They're so strong it's been a total trial getting them under any semblance of control at this point. The only reason no one else has risked Discord is because of the unusual density of his Flame Purity and the fact he's not actively trying to pressure anyone into becoming Guardians."

Once people got used to the sudden shock of a Sky's aura, they generally tended to 'tune it out', so to speak because while it was dense and heavy, it wasn't actually doing anything.

The martial artist eyed Ichigo with a curious expression.

"You're a swordsman."

"I was. I had to give it up to focus on my education, not that it helped."

"May I ask for a spar? It's been some time since I have been able to practice the art with someone who won't take it seriously."

"I'll have to get a new katana, but I don't see why not. It would be nice to fight with someone who's not a battle nut driven by the need for strong opponents that will happily cave my head in," said Ichigo.

Zaraki was something of an...acquired...taste. Besides, he rarely got to use Tensa Zangetsu, even a fake copy of it.

The red martial artist looked pleased at the prospect, while the gun man looked merely curious.

The kid was fast, and clearly had some fighting skills. But the brief moment he hit him on the head had caused his Flames to react. It wasn't a proper harmonization, but it was the closed he had ever felt to one and he had the distinct feeling that if he let it, it would form into a true Guardian bond.

That is, if he trusted the kid enough to attach himself to a relative unknown. He could tell already there was a Sun Guardian in place, or at least a partial bond. And it was rare for a Sky to have multiple Guardians of the same type.

Then again he had two Rains.

Reborn eyed Viper with some annoyance, but it might worth the hit his wallet took for the basic information on this kid.

An hour later...

Fon looked at the odd Sky with curiosity. The boy was rather young, but held himself like an ancient samurai of old, the one who would lead his men into battle and fight until death to keep his vassals safe. And there was the distinct air about this man that said that not even death would keep him from protecting those he considered his comrades.

A potentially worthy Sky to serve, if his skills were as good as they appeared.

Fon had a Miao Dao that he had gotten as a gift some time ago. It was a two handed sword with a longer hilt than normal and was commonly called a 'sprout saber'. It suited his purposes well enough when mere fists and Flames were insufficient to deal with an enemy.

The sword Ichigo (for that was the young man's name) was more in line with a tachi than a katana. It seemed to be a bit too long for his tastes, but would serve his purpose well enough. Ichigo had an eye for good steel...this was a properly forged sword and not some cheaply marketed reproduction made from machines for decoration purposes.

It was very well made, but Fon had the feeling Ichigo could be much more devastating with his true sword than the blade he held in his hand now.

At an unspoken signal, Fon moved first.

For a split second Ichigo did not move. And then he was gone. It was only instinct that blocked the blow from behind.

This boy was fast. Faster than any other he had seen in some time. Fon grinned.

It had been far too long since he had a chance to shake off the rust on his title as the Eye of the Storm.

Lal and Colonello watched with dropped jaws as Ichigo fought Fon and was not only keeping up with him, but was actually holding the upper hand.

"Well damn. No wonder his ability to shoot is sub par at best. The kid's a beast with a blade," said Colonello impressed.

"This explains how he's able to keep up with his in the basic exercises but not the more modern ones," said Lal, watching in disbelief.

They only had to refine his hand-to-hand combat skills with a few new moves. Ichigo forgot to put in his application that he had previous training in martial arts outside of brawling. Colonello had found that part out entirely by accident when Ichigo executed a maneuver he could have only picked up from training.

There was a sudden crash, and everyone looked to where the two were fighting. The dust settled, revealing Ichigo with his sword to Fon's throat. Oddly enough, Fon looked rather pleased despite having clearly lost.

Then again he was used to his martial arts being his weapon and not a blade.

Ichigo helped the man up, and you could tell there was a strong harmonization between them now. Clearly Ichigo had impressed Fon to the point he allowed it to happen and they were well matched in Flame strength for a proper bond to form.

The density of the air lightened up a little more. Viper nodded to himself.

"I suspected as much."

"Suspected what exactly?" asked Lal crossly.

"The reason why his Flames are saturating the island isn't entirely because he lacks control. If you recall he lived in Karakura his entire life, and you know what that area does to Dying Will Flames. That plus the lack of proper Guardian candidates means that once he left the area, his Flames started reacting to the lack of interference and started sending out feelers to fill up the missing spots. Skies naturally seek out Harmony, after all."

"So once he fills out his Guardian spots...?" asked Reborn.

"The 'density' of Sky Flames should recede as his Flames reach a more balanced state. What we're feeling now is a strong imbalance in Harmony," said Viper.

Lal groaned. Well at least they had some idea on how to fix this mess. She was getting sick of having to fight off the various Familigias, and it was only because the saturation level filled the entire island and didn't focus on one area that they had avoided anyone finding out Ichigo was to blame.

He had become known at this point as their "cute new apprentice", which muddied things further.

Though at this rate they'd have to set up a base so they could try and set up shop and hopefully remain a neutral party. She really didn't want to get mixed up in Familigia politics if at all possible.

Reborn looked openly curious about Ichigo, but was still on the fence with whether or not he would form a proper bond with the boy. The one had now was so tenuous at best that it could be easily broken without sending him into Discord. It would hurt, but it wouldn't kill him.

Ichigo had just accepted a water bottle from an impressed Colonello when his cell phone went off. It had an odd skull design and he briefly made a face when he picked it up. But the expression changed once he saw who was calling.

"Moshi Moshi. Hey Orihime."

Reborn's interest was definitely perked now. Was Ichigo talking to Orihime Inoue, the only other person who could possibly match his Flames?

The more he talked on the phone, with Reborn discreetly listening in, the more he was sure that Ichigo knew the girl in question. It would explain why Ichigo already had a Sun Guardian bond in place, as half powered as it was.

Now he had to follow them if only to meet her in person.

"Well?" asked Viper.

"She said Chad and Uryu were planning to visit some carnival and that they would be happy to meet me there since it's a public place. Apparently they've been followed since leaving Karakura and it's been making them nervous to be away from crowds."

"Sounds like the Familigias are trying to find out who their Sky is, and see if they can exploit them. Civilian status isn't much protection when you have Flames that strong," said Reborn.

It might make a few watch from the shadows, but once they started using their Flames outside Karakura they'd be fair game to the Vindice. They would have to show a united front with their Sky to get the Families to back off.

Well he didn't have any assignments at the moment, and this was too interesting to pass up.