Hello everyone :)

What better way to celebrate the End of the Year and the fresh beginning of a New one, but with a chapter? I present Chapter XII.

Happy New Year everyone and to all! May it be the best one yet! xD xD xD

Disclaimer, reminder and warnings as per usual.

Friendly reminder: this story will be slightly AU and some characters might be OOC. For anyone who is not into YAOI, please do not go or read any further, this is not going to be your cup of tea :)

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, they all belong to Tite Kubo-Sensei etc., etc.

WARNINGS: Spoiler alert for anyone who is not up to date with the manga and only watched the anime! Somewhere along the way might contain but is not limited to include dark themes, suicidal thoughts, heavy sexual contest, yaoi (again xD) and some other themes not suitable for under-age reader. Read at your own risk and discretion! And if you don't like, please don't hate too much :3

Hehe, missing barriers… truth serums… what could possibly go wrong x3 x3 x3

Not to mention, poor, poor Shirosaki, still under the influence of a truth potion, who knows what kind of 'evil' infested my brain and mind x3

Chapter XII

"Tenchou, the barrier is gone."

Soken could not remember a time he was this glad to see the entrance door to his home. Coming out from the shadows was not an experience he had undergone before. Not that he had used shadows as a method of transportation prior to this episode. He certainly hoped it would not reoccur anytime soon.

His faithful butler Cord was already waiting for them at the door and assisted in escorting his master and guests to an empty spare room. Having been in servitude his whole life, he had been aware of his master's intentions and easily concluded possible outcomes. Being a perfectionist, he always strived to anticipate his masters needs and attempted to predict at the minimum three different scenarios. Thus, he had requested for two guest rooms to be prepared and on stand-by as a precaution.

Soken was proud of Cord. He had been a lost child in a huge world. Cord's father had been a Quincy, married to a common human girl. Once born, for some reason the mother could not stand to see her own child and left him behind, fortunately, to his father. A gentle man who tried hard to provide for the both of them as well as give his son the love expected to be felt from two parents instead of just one. Regrettably, Cord's father died in an accident, leaving the poor soul to wonder alone. Being a Gemischt did not facilitate the young ones' situation.

Soken encountered the boy just moments before he was eaten by a Hollow. Since then, Cord swore to serve and protect the Ishida's until the day he either died or repaid his debt. Had Soken arrived even seconds later, nothing would have been left of the child. Not only that, but Cord had been offered a new home and family. It was Cords' decision to become a butler, that way he could always be on the ready for Soken-sama.

Cord easily guided his master and the guests through the complex house. They reached the first spare room and he politely opened the door for the two males behind him. Soken entered, followed by the Heika. The room was painted in a pleasant cream color with light brown furniture and a large beg. White silk covers and feather pillows decorated with striped of silver at the edges. Ossan gave a quick glance at Soken, seeming to ask permission. Receiving a nod, he moved toward the bed and gently laid Masaki, who had snuggled in his arms. He was given a warm velvet cover cream with white and red dots, by the ever-perceptive Cord. When did the guy enter the room? He had been so preoccupied with Masaki, he paid no attention to small details which normally would not be overlooked.

He sent Soken a pointed look toward the exit. Nothing needed to be said between the three, they moved in unison one after the other and closed the door behind them. Once in the hallway, Cord was about to escort the Heika to the nearby room, also prepared and ready to be occupied. He was stopped once Heika spoke up.

"Now that Masaki is here we can move to our next task."

Soken knew their plan was to go to the Hollow's location and dreaded the mere idea of using that unusual technique. He met eyes with Cord.

"Cord, may I ask you to make sure our guest is safe? Should she awake, please reassure her everything is fine and care for any need she may have. Heika and I should be back before she wakes-up. However, in the event we should be late, please treat her as any member of this family. Especially since she will be moving in soon. Kindly inform the rest of the household accordingly."

The young man, bowed down in respect with an affirmative "Yes, Soken-sama. Will Heika-sama stay as well? We have prepared the room to the left of Masaki-sama for your convenience Heika."

The Heika had not expected to hear a room was ready for him. Especially considering they had literally popped out of nowhere.

"I appreciate your kind efforts and offer. Nonetheless, I am afraid I have to borrow your Master for a little while longer. Please do keep an eye on Masaki. At the moment she is not able to conceal her reiatsu very well. She will improve in time, thought, considering her current situation, please do everything you can to conceal it."

Cord nodded and bowed. Heika used the nearest shadow, enlarged it and entered. Soken, reluctantly followed the other. The two were gone. Not a single trace of reiatsu was left behind to indicate they had ever been there in the first place. Cord was left speechless. Never had he seen such an ability. He had heard about it, but never had the pleasure to witness. He felt honored. Taking a chair from the nearby room, he placed the object near the door leading to Masaki-sama's room. He sat down, preferring to fulfil the important duty himself. Using the servitors' phone, he sent the message to the rest of the staff, informing them of the little Lady's presence.

Meanwhile, the two Quincy made it out of yet another shadow. A light chill went down Soken's spine. He really hoped the return would be more pleasant with less shadows and more Hirenkyaku. Looking around them, they found themselves in a remote part of town.

The Heika was the first to move with sure steps to the location where he sensed his missing partner. It took no time at all to find the wall that was hindering their search. Behind the annoyance was a worn-down little store. Heika raised his hand and softly placed it on the top layer of the barricade. Whoever created this barrier was good. Too good. Judging by the feel, it must have been created by either an extremely skilled Shinigami Captain or Kido specialist.

He scoffed, as thought something of this level would be enough to keep him out. He had no need to destroy it, he would simply absorb the bothersome obstacle.

"Soken-san, please be at the ready. I can sense two significant presences behind the barrier. Most likely Shinigami, although, I am not fully certain."

The other nodded and prepared his reishi bow. Soken could sense the obstruction, but was unable to see or touch it. Watching the Heika move his hand in the air, he was sure the other was more than capable to remove the unwanted barricade. He was looking forward to meeting the Hollow, two Shinigami or other being will not dissuade him.

Ossan did move his hands in a circular manner. He was attempting to undetectably infuse a small part of his own reiatsu into the barrier's reishi. Once that was done, he simply absorbed the combined energies. Child's play. If the creator of this nuisance was as good as what he just absorbed, then he or she must be already aware of it's disappearance.

Motioning for Soken to follow, he moved cautiously toward the entrance to the shop, now guided by Shirosaki's reiatsu. He had learned a long time ago to sense Shirosaki even when he was keeping his reiatsu at the lowest. Something felt wrong with Shirosaki. He was calm, way to calm knowing Shirosaki's temper. It was unnatural. They entered the shop and continued toward the register. There was a door that lead further inside the establishment.

They were just about to reach the door's handle, when it opened on its own. A tall 6'7'' muscular tan-skinned guy with square glasses, white shirt, blue apron, gray trousers and black shoes was the one who opened it. The expression on the face of the unknown man was stoic and motionless. Yet, Ossan, who had worn such masks himself for the longest of times, was able to tell the subtle signs of frustration, mild fright and surprise. Obviously, this man was the one to set-up the barrier and most likely did not expect to see two individuals. No, this guy must have been able to feel Soken, but could not feel Ossan. Being the 'Father of the Quincy' had its benefits. One of those is the talent to make his reiatsu completely invisible to all around him. If one was not to see Ossan with their eyes wide open, one could not even tell he was there at all.

All signals of distress were smoothly re-covered up by the stranger, who addressed them with a deep voice.

"Tenchou is expecting you, please follow me. But please do leave your arms behind, as you can see, this is a tiny store and we carry no weapons."

Both Quincies looked at each other. Ossan had never even materialized his bow, he had not seen any need as it was a nanosecond away. He did nod his head at Soken, assuring the other everything would be fine and to dispel his weapon.

"Very well, we will be glad to meet with your 'Tenchou'. I believe he has a companion of mine whom I would like to retrieve. If you would be so kind to lead the way, we will follow right behind you. I can give you my word we will not attack unless assaulted."

At those words, Soken released the hold on his bow and the reishi forming it dissipated. The tall man was once again shocked at the display, but made no further comments. He gestured to the door he came from in a way that said 'Please follow me' without the use of words.

'Tenchou, the barrier is gone.'

Urahara re-heard those words over and over in his head. He was beside himself, bursting with excitement and worry. Something out there right in front of his little shop was able to destroy one of Tessai's barriers. Such a bothersome situation. He only hoped it was no one form Seireitei. That wouldn't do, especially considering Shirosaki-san who was still under the influence of his concoction.

Tessai remained standing. There were no words strong enough to express his astonishment. The barrier was dissipated in a most peculiar fashion. It did not feel as though someone destroyed or disrupted it, merely made it vanish. He could tell it had not been a Shinigami's work. But then who or what? The big guy was brought out of his musing by his bosses questioning.

"What do you mean with 'gone' Tessai-san? Was it altered or destroyed?"

The answer he received unsettled Urahara even further. "Neither Tenchou. Just vanished."

Urahara lowered his hat enough to cover his eyes from sight. There was only one remaining option. To be sure, he quickly asked the still vulnerable Hollow. "Shirosaki-san, your companion would not happen to be a Quincy?"

Shirosaki answered as calmly as before. "Yes."

If ever Urahara thought his brain may explode, now was as good a time as ever. He could buy the hybrid part. He was smart enough to believe a Hollow and Shinigami might for one reason or the other unite or work together. But a Quincy and a Hollow? That was unimaginable.

'Ma, no other option, may as well invite the intruder in.'

They both heard the front of the shop being opened. "Tessai-san, why don't you bring our unexpected visitor in? Oh, could you also bring in more tea while you're at it?"

The taller male simply responded with his usual. "Hai, Tenchou." And left to fetch the trespasser, turned guest.

Urahara had not been deemed a genius for no reason and was known as a man ready for anything. He normally planned for everything and any probabilities. This was definitely not one of the scenarios he could have ever taken into consideration. Still, he'll make do with what he has and at the moment that is not much.

The 'intruder' resulted to be not a single person, but two. Another detail that skipped him.

'Dear Reiou, I'm really getting out of shape.'

On the other hand, it was no wonder. The man with brown hair was untraceable. Not one slip of reiatsu, nothing to show he was here. And yet, he was looking at him. The other individual was definitely a Quincy. His reiatsu gave it out perfectly. So, now he had another mystery at hand.

Trying to be a proper host, Urahara stood from his seat, fan back in hand and a large smile on his face. He did what was only expected and welcomed his unexpected 'customers'.

"A very good evening, gentlemen. Welcome to the Urahara Shoten. I am Urahara Kisuke, the handsome and humble owner of this fine place. Although, we are currently closed, you did go through some trouble to be here. For this occasion, I will work over hours. How may I be of assistance?"

Judging by the posture of the two, Urahara believed for the undetectable one to be the ring leader. Soon proven right, when mentioned male approached and spoke.

"Good evening Urahara-san. By now, I am sure you must have figured out we are not your everyday customers. We are here to check on my young ward who is by all appearances sitting down in this room. If you don't mind, we will retrieve my protégé and we will be on our way. No harm will befall you, your kind partner or your modest store."

Urahara was certainly excited. They did not even begin the conversation and the big words were already spoken. He covered his face with the face, feigning ignorance.

"Oh, you mean Shirosaki-san here? We were just having a nice conversation over some tea. Since you are here for him, would you mind joining us? Tessai-san should be back soon with some fresh leaves."

Ossan was oh so tempted to simply take Shirosaki and leave. The only reason he did not was Shirosaki's odd behavior. He had not moved an inch from his spot, nor spoken which was so not his style. He figured something must have been added in his drink. He did sit to Shirosaki's right, trying to gauge the reaction of this Urahara person. The reiatsu, although concealed, was indeed Captain level. The gestures and subtle moves indicated a brilliant mind complimented by decades of dedicated trainings. This person was deadly efficient, no doubts. They would have to tread carefully. Soken, whose mind was trying to process all the new data, sat to his Heika's right side as well. He did not wish to risk for the Hollow to abruptly pull out from whatever trance he must have fallen.

"A cup of tea will certainly not hurt." Looking at the still unmoving Shirosaki, Ossan addressed him directly. "How are you Shirosaki? Have you been treated alright? Is everything under control? And did you know there was something in the tea before you drank it?"

Both Soken and Urahara were surprised at the sudden barrage of questions toward the Hollow. Soken was under the impression the Heika was forewarning him about the poisoned tea. While Urahara's mind was running a mile per millisecond. His thoughts were going around the lines of: 'This guy is good. He deduced so much with so little information. Amazing!'

Shirosaki did answer those questions in the same docile manner. "I'm doing alright. So far, I've been treated well. Yes, everything is mostly under control. Yes, I knew there was a truth serum or something in the tea before I drank it."

Now, these answers were unexpected. At least the last two. And once again, it was Ossan who made the first move.

Ossan had quickly put two and two together and continued with the questions. "You said you were aware your drink had been tempered with, yet you still drank it? Why in the world would you do something like that?"

The answers came as expected. "Yes, I was even told after I became suspicious about the tea. I drank it knowingly because there was no other way I would have been trusted."

"Why did you have the need to be trusted by these people? Are they enemies? Do you want me to get you out of here?" continued Ossan.

"They have information. I wanted them to trust me so we could share intel. No, I don't think them to be enemies. No, there won't be any need to get me out of here… for now."

Ossan did not miss the slight difference in the manner the questions were being answered. Shirosaki was already fighting whatever was coursing through his body. Knowing the Hollow for as long as he did, it would be a matter of minutes before the serum runs completely out. He did glance at their 'host' and spoke.

"It would seem you have been rather hospitable with Shirosaki and for that you have my gratitude. I would like to know why you went to all the trouble of getting Shirosaki and having him take a spiked drink?"

Urahara was baffled. This day was getting better and better. He was positive the elderly looking guy who had yet to speak, was a Quincy. Concluding that the other must be the same and having already heard from Shirosaki-san his partner was a Quincy… There were no mistakes, he was sitting in a room with a Hollow-Shinigami hybrid and two Quincies. The shocking thing was no one was trying to kill each other. They were all seated and would be soon having tea. A most fruitful night indeed. He had hoped of getting more information out of the still drugged Hollow but it seemed he would have to change tactics. They may all be open and truthful, since he had the underlying feeling they would be seeing more of each other.

"In all honesty, I stumbled upon Shirosaki-san while investigating an unusual remnant of a Hollow attack which occurred not too long ago. The Shinigami assigned to the city of Narukishi was killed near the borders of Karakura and the one belonging to this town was called back to Soul Society for a full-scale investigation. Now that the investigation has been concluded, the Shinigami in Soul Society believe this was an accident where both sides perished."

Ossan only nodded his head in understanding. Shirosaki had mentioned something early this morning. He was supposed to figure out what happened. Seems he was cornered while doing this particular task. That left him with high hopes the mansion had been done prior to this mess.

"Shirosaki did mention something similar to me early this morning. If you need to know, I was the one to ask him to investigate the occurrence. You see, we both like to avoid unnecessary confrontations, when possible."

He said that, but it was only half truths which did not pass by the perceptive Urahara. The shopkeeper could see so much more to this than what appeared on the surface. However, he himself was trying not to give too many details, thus, he would have to minimize his curiosity.

"I see. At first, I believed Shirosaki-san might have had something to do with the attack. Logically, I wanted to interrogate him about the reason behind the attack. We ended up having some minor, ahem, trust issues. Shirosaki-san took the truth potion of his own volition and we managed to confirm his side of the story to be true. Now, I am a scientist first and foremost, so you can only imagine my desire to know more about Shirosaki-san. A perfect hybrid, if I may say so. Naturally, I was about to request for further details from him when we got interrupted by your arrival. I did want to ask Shirosaki-san here more about his purpose for being here and a partner who chose to come here for a family visit. Can I correctly presume you are his so called 'partner' and Shirosaki-san followed you to visit your Quincy relatives?"

Ossan saw no reason to deny and simply confirmed. "That would be correct. The gentleman to my right is one of the mentioned family members I came to visit. I did ask Shirosaki to look into a few matters in my stead as he is not fond of Quincies. One of the tasks was the Shinigami incident. Should we plan to stay longer in this town, we need to be aware of what is happening and what we can do to prevent needless lost lives."

Urahara could see no faults with those answers, so he decided to push forward. "And his purpose? He gave me a most unusual purpose. That is for a person who is partially Hollow, of course. He said his purpose was to 'protect those he cared about and those in need' or at least when he had the time. Could you possibly enlighten me on that…oh, uh mm…? Quincy-san?"

Ossan closed his eyes, contemplating his next words carefully. He had the feeling this Shinigami wanted to remain as invisible to Soul Society as Shirosaki and himself. There had been no sneak attacks and Shirosaki was still in one piece. He realized what Shirosaki had done, give to received. He would have to remember to praise him once he was not drugged.

The huge man from before came back with fresh tea. Ossan could immediately tell this time the tea had not been altered. He could sense it from the glasses wearing male. He took a sip to ready himself and to give Soken the green light in regards to their drinks.

"Kurosaki… Kurosaki, Juhabach and to my right is Ishida Soken. As to Shirosaki's statement, I am afraid it is a rather personal question. I would recommend to ask him yourself on another occasion. Know this though, Shirosaki and I have spent a long time together. He is not your average Hollow and even though he is partly Shinigami, he is so much more. He had a troublesome past, a past which connects the two of us in an unusual way. That same past is the reason we have been traveling together and is the cause behind Shirosaki's words. I am sorry, but I won't be able to give you any further details."

Urahara looked at the now named Kurosaki-san straight in the eyes as though he was searching for something. He must have found whatever he was looking for as he took a sip of his own already cold tea. Kurosaki-san was right. He should ask Shirosaki-san his past another time. Which meant they would probably stay in touch. He was ready to let things be for the time being.

"Thank you for confiding this much Kurosaki-san. I shall aspire to make Shirosaki-san more comfortable in the future. I see none of you are enemies and in fact I believe we may have better chances and results if we work together. Shirosaki-san did give me some bad news. The Shinigami believe that during the confrontation, both sides perished, remember? However, Shirosaki-san strongly believes the Hollow escaped. This is not the first time I've felt an unusual Hollow around the city of Narukishi and frankly, I'm afraid it may just be the beginning. Another reason I had difficulties in trusting Shirosaki-san is precisely because he is a hybrid. There is a Shinigami who is trying to create the perfect hybrid of Hollow-Shinigami or Shinigami-Hollow. This person is highly dangerous and a master manipulator. I do hope Shirosaki-san will be able to forgive the way he had been mistrusted. I would still love to hear the story behind his creation someday. But it is getting pretty late and I am sure you are all tired. We could try and prepare some dwellings for the night."

Ossan would have answered, but was stopped by a faster Shirosaki.

"Hah! Who would want to stay in this dingy little shop? You wanna know more about me, ask away, but not tonight. Oh, and did you say it would take me hours to sober myself from that drug? Heh, what took me two minutes? Make it three for all I care. But next time you try any tricks, you won't have to worry about Ossan here."

Yes, Shirosaki was back in action and ready to kick some sense back into the Getabōshi that managed to get under his skin.

A New Year a new chapter ^.^

As usual, I'll be looking forward to any and all criticism, just please don't hate :3

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews. My Muse continues to haunt me even in my sleep when I get reviews. Special thanks once again to Strawberry (Guest). You leave me speechless, full of energy and one huge motivation and will to finish chapters faster.

I'll continue to do my best especially with this new beginning.

Quick recap: English is not my mother language so if I made any mistakes or any errors, please let me know. I am the writer and the spellcheck person all in one. I know this is getting old. But better safe than sorry xD

Wishing everyone a great day/night ahead :)