A/N: A bit more than a month after In the Cat's Ear. Big brothers protect, yes - but little sisters have their own ways of looking after family.

Karin looked at the panoply of picnic items spread over the kitchen table with a sense of accomplishment. Ichigo should be home soon. Goat-Face was packed off to go complain to Dr. Ishida about kids wanting to avoid the ghosts for O-Bon. And Yuzu was in her element as supreme commander of the kitchen and chief planner of How to Meet Ichigo's New Friends Without Scaring Them Out Of Their Lives.

Yuzu had actually written it down that way. Karin would snicker, but, well...

"Bento!" Yuzu declared, pencil poised over her list.

"Check," Karin nodded.

"Cloth! Plates! Chopsticks!"

"Check, check, and check," Karin declared, physically touching each object. With some of the prank-items Sandal-Hat had lying around, you could never be too sure.

"Soccer ball!"

Karin blinked. "...Soccer ball?"

"We're going to have two boys there, you should bring it," Yuzu said decisively. "Let 'em roughhouse!"

Karin gave her sister a wry look. "Li's not a teenager."

"But he's not that old, either." Yuzu looked up from her list, serious. "You've seen him. He's good at hiding it. Like Onii-chan, on the anniversary. But sometimes Li just looks so sad."

"And Kirsi's shy," Karin muttered. "The bad kind."

"She keeps Li and Uncle Kuno between her and other people," Yuzu agreed. "And she looks at pictures, but they always read things to her if someone writes it down. I don't think she can see very well."

"Not physical stuff, anyway," Karin agreed, heading upstairs to round up a soccer ball.

Yuzu brightened. "You're sure?"

"Pretty sure," Karin called down, going through her gear for a ball that split the difference between worn out and school tournament shiny. There we go. "One of the local ghosts wandered into the market last time I got some milk. Mr. Kuno didn't twitch, but Kirsi looked that way." She scooped up the ball. "And Li... well. He kind of reminded me of me."

"De-nial," Yuzu giggled as her twin thumped back downstairs.

"Worked most of the time," Karin grumbled. "I think he just doesn't want people freaking out when he stares at thin air. You know, like Ichigo used to before he just gave up on normal?"

She gripped the ball tighter, seeing that echoing flash of worry in Yuzu's eyes. Normal could go hang. Ichigo'd been slammed into normal for months, knowing everyone around him was still in danger from Hollows, if not from Aizen. It'd almost strangled him.

I don't want to see Ichigo hurt, ever again. What Sandal-Hat's told us about Aizen, and the Arrancar... our brother could have died. Uryuu, Tatsuki, Orihime, Chad - they all could have died. Worse than died.

But if it came down to hurt, or Ichigo never seeing spirits again...

The Hollows won't go away, ever. They'll always be after me, and Yuzu, and all Ichigo's friends. And he couldn't even see them.

Karin never wanted to see her brother that hopeless again. Ever.

"Well." Yuzu twirled a measuring cup on her finger like a gunslinger's revolver, before shoving it back in the drawer with a deliberately dramatic clink. "We just need to let them know normal is different in Karakura."

Riverbank looks clear. Hei lowered the binoculars, careful not to move them through an angle that would catch a flash of sun. He'd confirmed the meeting place with Ichigo days ago, scouted it at various times and weather conditions, identified at least three potential escape routes including the river, pre-positioned and disguised rubber floats for the rest of the team in case they did need to take that route and he had to keep them at least partly insulated from any power release-

"You know this is just grabbing some food with friends." In cover behind a tree with him and the other two, Huang straightened his string tie, and gave Hei a wry look. "If Doc Ishida's right, you do get the whole friends idea."

"I'm out of practice." Hei looked aside. "Although I could be Li for the girls, Yuzu's used to the cover in the store anyway..."

"Maybe less than you think." Petting the black fur on her shoulder, Yin raised her head. "They're Ichigo's sisters. They'll know how to look beyond the surface, into the heart."

"And we're back to the manga tropes," Mao sighed. "Little one, you do know that in our world, defeat does not mean friendship? It means death. Quick if you're lucky. Slow, if you're really not."

Yin blinked at the serious cat. "Hei defeated Section Four."

"I knocked them out," Hei corrected her. "And ran. No one wins a fight, Yin. You survive it, or escape."

"...I know." Yin's lips twitched a little. "But I liked the faces Misaki made when she got your note."

What?

"You looked all the way into Tokyo?" Huang jumped on that before he could. "You can reach that far? Girl, you gotta be more careful. You could have gotten hurt!"

"The Astronomics Dolls helped me," Yin stated. "The ones who are... trying to wake up. I told them you'd tell Misaki about helping Dolls, and they know Misaki talks to Kanami, and she was there. They wanted to know what would help, so when Kanami tries they can try to reach back. So I told them."

Mao hissed softly, as close as the cat could get to a whistle. "Well. I can't blame anyone for cultivating useful connections. And given I like being alive and walking around as I please, it'd be hypocritical of me not to say those Dolls should get the chance. But Huang's right, Yin. Please be careful. If the Dolls are healing, they're more like people - and you know how nasty humans can be. Even when they're not trying. Not every Doll will be safe."

"...Oh." Yin blinked, and looked at Hei, violet eyes one drowning question.

"He's right," Hei agreed. "So far most of the Dolls we've dealt with needed our help. If they're learning to want things again... then they might be remembering again. Like you did. Before, the Syndicate didn't threaten Dolls' families because there wasn't any point. But if Dolls wake up, if they have people they care about again..."

"Oh." Yin started. "It's good that you're you, then." She tilted her head. "Do you think the Syndicate thinks you care about Chief Kirihara? You didn't kill her."

Where on earth had that come from? "I didn't kill any of Section Four," Hei said firmly.

Yin nodded. "But she's the only one who's pretty."

Mao was cackling, leaning against Yin's wig and bunching claws to stay on her shoulder. Huang gave Hei a long-suffering look, followed by a slowly raised eyebrow that somehow made Hei's ears burn.

"She's a cop," Hei protested. "I'm - retired. Just trying to get by, and stay alive. Not crazy."

"Sure you're not," Huang said dryly. "But even if she wants to strangle you more than kiss you, I'm kind of surprised she hasn't shown up in that noodle shop."

Hei blinked. Gave their handler a sideways glance.

"You're not surprised." Huang folded his arms. "Okay, give."

"I manipulated her," Hei said practically. "The first time she ever saw Li, she was questioning me as the neighbor who just moved in next to Shinoda Chiaki. She bought my story then; she believed my cover for months, no matter how many times I showed up where Contractors did. I dropped persona in a restaurant just before Hell's Gate, and all she did was laugh. She's the chief of Section Four, and she didn't believe I was BK-201 - she couldn't believe it - until I took Hourai down."

It hurt. He'd been doing what he had to; he'd actually been keeping her safe, the Syndicate would never have let Chief Kirihara live if she remembered who the Black Reaper was. But it hurt.

"Detective, and you stabbed her straight in the ego." Huang grunted, nodding once. "Yeah. That, I get."

"More than that." Hei took a breath. "If everything I told her as Li was a lie, then... she's going to assume anything else I tell her might be. She'll go over every character I wrote, trying to figure out how it could be a trap. And if she just thinks I'll lie to her - then why show up at all? If I'm telling the truth she can find me in Karakura anytime she wants. If I'm not, Astronomics will pick me up somewhere else. So unless something changes, she won't show. It wouldn't be rational."

"She is human," Mao observed, with a quick nudge against Yin's ear. "But a mostly rational one. It'd fit." He stretched, and settled again on his jacket shoulder perch. "So! I hear these twins are actually reasonable twelve-year-olds, who don't squash anything with fur in reach. Do you think they brought fish?"

"If they didn't, I did." Hei hefted his hamper as orange hair came into view. "There should be more than enough."

"Says the walking appetite," Mao muttered wryly, before deliberately closing his fangs.

I wish Mao had more people to talk to, Hei thought, walking out of concealment as Ichigo and his sisters started to look around the meeting point. Most of the time he seems fine with just us, but if Contractors need emotional connections to heal, then just having more people he doesn't have to hide from might help-

Oh.

When she'd shown up in the market, Karin had had her hair down and loose. Today - today she'd pulled it back into a tight dark tail of hair, and that slim, athletic stance...

Don't freeze. Don't react. It's not her. You know it's not her.

Thank the gods for Kurosaki Karin's black eyes. If she'd had blue, like Bai... he'd be lost.

What was that look? Karin wondered, as Ichigo's newest set of sketchy friends slunk out of hiding, with a casual saunter that made it look like they were just out for your average O-Bon riverbank picnic walk and meet-up with relatives, honest.

Though she had a bad feeling she knew exactly what Li's look was. It was the kind of cold shock Ichigo got sometimes, when someone reminded him of Rukia. Only sadder.

We'd better get this right. Karin traded a speaking glance with her twin. They really need help.

Ichigo let out a relieved breath he probably thought was subtle, and headed for the trio plus cat. "Guys, these are my sisters. Yuzu, Karin-"

Yuzu held up a hand. Waited a second for him to sputter to a stop.

Here we go.

Both twins bowed. "Thank you for looking after our idiot big brother," Yuzu said formally.

"He can be thick, sometimes," Karin added, "but he's the best guy we know, and we appreciate having him in one piece."

Ichigo choked.

"Um." Li swallowed, visibly nervous. "There's... no need to be that formal? We're just having a picnic..."

"Yes there is!" Yuzu straightened up, fierce. "Onii-chan's not telling us everything about Hideyo. We know that. But we know our brother. So we've got a pretty good idea."

"Someone was on the job." Karin snorted. "Yeah, right. If the people who are supposed to deal with those problems had been there, it wouldn't have been a problem in the first place." She looked them all over, including the cat. Since when did cats have purple eyes? "Besides. We can count. Ichigo started getting better right after he started hanging out with you guys."

And that was an urk from her brother. "Wait, how did you know I was-?"

Yuzu gave him a smile, touched with just a little mischief. "You twitched."

Ichigo's ears were red. "I did not!"

"When you saw me talking to Li-san? You did," Yuzu nodded firmly. "Almost as bad as the first time I gave you an extra onigiri for Rukia-chan's lunch!"

"Wait, you - what?"

"Really, Onii-chan," Yuzu hmphed. "If you were going to invite your girlfriend to live in your room, the least we could do was feed her!"

"She's not my girlfriend!"

Karin couldn't help it; she wrapped her arms around her middle and cackled. Oh, the look on his face.

This is good. This is our big brother. And he said isn't, not wasn't. He thinks he'll see Rukia again.

"Though I wish she'd asked before she borrowed my pajamas," Yuzu sighed. "But shinigami aren't supposed to tell people who don't see ghosts about Hollows and everything, so I guess she thought she was doing her job."

Ichigo facepalmed. "Yuzu."

"Li helped you kill a Hollow!" Yuzu gave him a serious glare. "If you haven't told him about shinigami, you'd better. Before he gets in more trouble than they already are!"

Uncle Kuno lifted gray brows at that. "An' what makes you think we're in trouble, little lady?"

"You found our brother," Karin said bluntly, unwrapping her arms. Oh, she was going to have sore sides tomorrow. But it was worth it. "Ichigo always finds people who are in trouble. Who need help. So." She took a breath. "You don't have to tell us anything. We know you're in trouble; we know you're helping our big brother, and he's helping you. That's enough. But if you want to talk... we know a lot about supernatural stuff, and we'd like to know more. So we can stay out of trouble, and help all our friends stay alive."

Oho. Li twitched at that last bit. Why was she not surprised?

Kirsi nodded once; almost the first time her face had moved since they came in view. "Hollows don't care that you're children. Do they."

"Kiddo," Uncle Kuno said under his breath.

"Oh no, they like kids," Karin said darkly, tempted to grab her soccer ball and start warm-up kicks just to show anything watching who was boss. "Enough power to eat, and not enough know-how to fight 'em. They just love kids."

Li was watching her and Yuzu both. Blinked once, some of that harmless look sliding away like rain as he glanced at Ichigo. "You're their brother. Is it safe for them?"

"What the he- heck is safe, anymore," Ichigo grumbled. "If they never let on that they were feeding a shinigami hiding out in my closet, they really can keep a secret." He chewed his lip. "And I know my sisters. If they ran into someone having... your kinds of problems... they'd try to help. If they don't know what to do, they could get killed."

"Good argument," said the cat.

The cat.

"Besides, they're cute. And fierce. And rational," the black cat went on. "Rare combination. We ought to up their survival chances just for the hell of it." He coughed; almost a cat-chuckle. "I'm Mao. And no, I'm not related to this Captain Yoruichi I keep hearing about. I'm firmly on this side of the living line. Well, mostly. Dr. Ishida is sure we're all still alive." Black ears perked; Karin caught a faint gleam of darkened metal on one. "So your brother had a shinigami hiding out in his closet? I have got to hear this one."

It felt good to talk about the closet-stealing shrimp, Ichigo realized, as they talked and ate. Painful, but good. Like getting a cast off, and taking the first few achy steps without that weight. He skimmed over some of the details, and a lot of the scary, but... Karin and Yuzu knew about Hollows. They deserved the straight story of how his idiotically large reiatsu had drawn in the fish-faced monster and how his and Rukia's mutual fumbles had ended up with her near-powerless and him facing down a monster with a zanpakutou he'd barely known how to use. Sharp edge goes at the other guy, at least he'd gotten that right.

From there he went over some of the other ghosts they'd saved and Hollows they'd purified, including that insane earthbound ghost at the old hospital that Don Kanoji had tried to exorcize. With less than benevolent results. "That's how I knew it was a jibakurei when we got inside Boss Yanase's house," Ichigo said soberly. "That feel to the place. Ugh." He shuddered. "Rukia says they're really hard for shinigami to find. Most ghosts manifest all the time, or on a schedule; a patrol can turn 'em up pretty easily. Earthbound ghosts only show up when someone messes with what they're chained to. When I was a substitute, I tried to patrol a different part of Karakura every night to stir them up. Otherwise... well, you were there, you saw what happened."

"Parts of it," Hei said soberly. Glanced at the rest of his team. "The ghost... blew up. And then there was screaming, and... I don't know, mist, coming together into something I could barely see. And it came after us."

Yuzu swallowed. "But you stopped it."

"Your brother knew its tactics," Hei told her. "If he hadn't been there - I probably would have made it out alive. But I'd have been hurt. And I don't think I'd have been able to save Hideyo, too."

Yuzu leaned against Ichigo, breath hitching a little. He patted her shoulder, then rested a hand on her hair. "It's okay. We made it out. We're all okay."

"How did you make it out?" Karin raised a black brow. "If you don't mind us asking. If you and my brother keep hanging out you probably will hit another Hollow sometime. I'd kind of like to know you've got more than just luck."

"Bright kid." Huang tipped his beret back a little, regarding her fondly. "Never go into a fight counting on luck."

"Unless you can make sure it's your enemy's, and all bad." Mao licked a bit of tuna off his whiskers, and settled down between Yin and the plate of fish and various cat-safe greens they'd put down for him. He slanted a violet glance at Hei. "If they are going to know about Contractors... my power's just a little more difficult to demonstrate."

Hei fished some spare coins out of his pocket, slipping them between his fingers. Held up his fist so the twins had a clear view of metal edges. And just... breathed.

The blue aura didn't show up in daylight, Ichigo realized. If he hadn't been watching Hei's eyes, he might not have seen the red glow at all.

The sparks arcing between bright aluminum, though - those were unmistakable.

Yuzu's jaw dropped. Karin whistled. "Nice."

Hei stared at her, glow dying.

"What?" Karin cocked her head, surprised. "Hollows are tough bastards. You can zap them? That looks really handy."

"That's... not the first thing people usually say," Hei managed. "It's dangerous. I mean, yes, I found ways to make it useful, sometimes even... fun... but-" He stopped. Looked away. "I can kill people. Just by touching them."

Which was proof right there the twins had softened him up already, Ichigo thought, because nobody who needed family that much would try to keep them at arm's length unless he already cared.

Well, enough of that. Ichigo folded his arms, and scowled. "Accidentally?"

Hei gave him a wary look. "No. I have to focus."

Which gave Ichigo a shiver of, some Contractors probably didn't. Oh joy.

"Then there's no problem." Karin gave Hei her best taking-down-opposing-team smirk. "Bet you've pulled off some awesome pranks." She leaned toward him over the picnic cloth, fingers wriggling like bait.

Oh no.

"So did you make Ichigo's hair go poof," Karin pounced, "and if you did - do you have pictures?"

I am so dead.

"Um." Hei looked like Karin was the most dangerous thing he'd seen all day. "Yes. And no?"

Yuzu heaved a sigh. "Aww..."

Traitors. His sisters were awful, blackmailing traitors. Both of them. "I've got a bigger allowance than you anyway," Ichigo hmphed. "I'd bribe him not to show you. Even if they existed."

Yuzu peeked up at him, smile as innocent and bright as sunlight. "I cook."

Hei blinked. Looked down at the picnic spread they'd put a dent in; he'd brought as big a bento as Yuzu's, which had made Ichigo wonder until he saw everyone eat. Hei was the worst, but Ichigo had found himself starving, and Yin and Karin had pretty much matched munch for munch.

Shinigami need to eat, when other spirits don't. Hollows, Arrancar... does everyone with spirit-powers get hungry?

Didn't hurt that Hei was a damn good cook. Maybe as good as Yuzu. And even a great cook sometimes wanted someone else to cook for them. Just for a change.

Yep. That was definitely a conflicted look on Hei's face.

Huang chuckled. "You get bribed, you stay bribed. Matter of honor."

"But she's really good," Hei said mournfully.

Thank god those pictures don't exist. Ichigo paused, as a truly frightening thought occurred. Yet.

"Hmm." Mao nudged up against Yin. "Which side has more salmon?"

Yin stroked black fur. "Mercenary."

"Hello? Cat." Mao arched under her hands. "Not to mention, Contractor."

The twins eyed the pair, then Ichigo. "So what are Contractors?" Karin asked. "Besides the latest spirit weirdness to hit Karakura."

"Spirit weirdness people in the Yakuza and governments know about," Ichigo said grimly.

"Oh no," Yuzu said faintly.

Yeah. His little sisters were smart. Because if anyone with bad intentions had a clue about one kind of spirit-sight, how long would it be before they figured out there were others out there?

"Breathe," Huang said gruffly. "Your brother managed to get Astronomics to look anywhere but here. You oughta be safe. 'Least for right now."

"And even in the government and Yakuza, most people have no idea what to look for." Hei leaned his chin on his fists, giving Yuzu a tentative smile. "I was working as a waiter in a Yakuza restaurant, a few months back, and someone from an opposing family tried to leave without paying..."

"Yakuza and Hollows and cops from Tokyo, and he still won't talk to me!"

Ryuuken leaned against the outside wall of his hospital well away from the Emergency entrance, blowing out a thin stream of smoke. Damned if he would handle this level of Kurosaki drama without nicotine. "And you're surprised? You made very sure he wouldn't. Trust is a two-way relationship. It can't exist without reciprocation." As he knew well with Uryuu. The trust between them was strained, at best. On both sides.

Although it had improved over the past month. At least to civility. Apparently knowing someone was looking after Ichigo's spirit-wounds had thawed his son's usual icy indifference. They'd even managed to have a short conversation about progress in school and which universities might be most amenable to Uryuu's interests. It'd felt like walking on eggshells, but... they'd talked.

Isshin flung himself away from the wall again, gesticulating as he paced. "Since when did I ever not trust my son?"

Ryuuken stared at the man. Very deliberately, tapped the ash off the end of his cigarette. "Isshin. If your son has recounted events accurately, you never told him you were a shinigami until you showed up in the very last battle against Aizen-"

"You know Soul Society laws-"

"-And even then you never told him," Ryuuken cut the ex-captain off. "Soul Society laws? My family has lived under their suspended sentence of execution for centuries. I told Uryuu the day he was able to ask me what ghosts and Hollows were. Some things need to be said."

Isshin snorted. "Oh yeah. You said it so well the kid went straight to his grandpa for training and never looked back."

That stung. "I never said I handled it well," Ryuuken said dryly. "But I told him. Because I am not his friend. I am his father. It is my duty, as his father, to give him the best moral code I can, and make sure he is alive to use it."

"Sounds more like Souken handled that."

An even lower blow. Ryuuken counted to five. "Oh yes. My father trained him so well, Uryuu burned out his own abilities to try - try - to take down a shinigami captain. Leaving him helpless once he returned to Earth, and still visible to Hollows."

Isshin started to say something... then apparently thought better of it.

"So I intervened. I'm sure you've heard the terms."

"Yeah, I did," Isshin agreed. "Not right, you keeping him away from his friends."

"What does right have to do with it?" Ryuuken eyed the man darkly. "You shinigami created this mess. Why should my son have been involved? Ever? Yes, I was willing to extract an oath I guessed he'd never hold to, in the hopes of keeping him out of it. But when he needed help, I helped."

Isshin side-eyed him right back. "And you think I didn't?"

Ryuuken arched a brow. "I think, if Urahara had truly decided Aizen needed to die, you and the others could have lured him here so I could shoot him."

"You kidding? Aizen Sousuke, Captain of the Fifth, with Old Man Yama's ear?" Isshin waved away the thought. "He was way too smug to fall for bait. Until he decided it was a great idea to kill everybody in Karakura!"

Fair argument. Except. "Urahara's Hougyoku," Ryuuken reminded him.

"We were trying to make sure he didn't get his hands on that," Isshin said dryly. "Plus, sentence of execution. If you took him down Soul Society would have destroyed you."

"If it saved my son's life," Ryuuken said, very quietly, "don't you think that was a price I would have been willing to pay?"

That was the past. Focus on the future.

"But Aizen is gone, hopefully for good, and we need to concentrate on cleaning up the mess," Ryuuken went on. "I wish my grandfather was alive. As it is I'm having to rely on what notes he left to treat Ichigo, and other wounded souls."

That won him a sharp look from Isshin. "What other wounded souls?"

Sometimes the man's tunnel vision made Ryuuken want to tear his own hair out. It made him a good general practitioner with the patients who came to him, but it'd be hell if Isshin had to do complex diagnoses in a larger hospital. "Soul Society pulled an entire town into the spirit realm, and then proceeded to unleash captain-level spiritual powers all through it. Several dozen people died. Hundreds more were injured. Ichigo's injuries are among the most severe of those still living, but he is far from the only one whose soul was burned."

How many citizens of Karakura might be injured, Ryuuken hadn't realized until he'd walked into the police department and asked after the ghost murders. Officer Nakano might have the strongest spirit-sight in that motley group, but at least a third of the detectives he'd encountered were sensitive enough to tell a ghost from a cold draft, and all of the four who kept the ghost murders files could see blurs.

They need help. The last thing we need is Hollows targeting our police officers.

At least the detectives were willing to take help. Even as their jaws had dropped at what he'd told them.

Yes, the monsters are real. Kurosaki Ichigo - and I, and some others - can see them. Try not to press Ichigo for too many details; he's skirting the edges of an execution order just by admitting Hollows exist.

As am I. My family has been under a suspended sentence of execution for centuries, for what we know. Which has not stopped my son from trying to do what he thinks is right... and if you know this much about Hollows already, eventually you will catch Uryuu on the scene.

Apparently the police already had; or close enough to certain scenes to be suspicious. Along with Ichigo, and Chad. Orihime and Tatsuki seemed to have escaped notice, for now.

Officer Nakano had been very glad to have Ryuuken's number for emergencies. And even more relieved to hear that quiet Li Tian was keeping a low profile, just as anyone else with spirit-sight would, but was a good and decent citizen who'd be more than willing to help out if officers were in danger.

A lie of omission. Ryuuken tried not to sigh. I hope it works.

Because once the cops knew he knew about the spirit-fires on the power lines, they'd been the ones to caution Dr. Ishida to be careful. The last thing an honest citizen of Karakura needed was for Section Four to mistake them for a cold-blooded, psychopathic Contractor.

Unraveling that is going to be very tricky.

On the one hand he wanted the cops to keep their guard up, because even those Contractors who weren't currently psychopathic likely had only a very, very small cohort of people they considered worth behaving for. On the other hand... whatever their powers and actions, Contractors and Dolls were the bleeding survivors of traumatic soul-injuries. They needed help, not executions.

Heavily armed help, Ryuuken thought dryly. Coming up with safe treatment protocols will be tricky.

But someone had to try. As they were currently, all those affected by the Gates were Hollow-snacks, and it was in no one's best interest for Hollows to grow more powerful. And if his theories were correct, and every Contractor had suffered damage that meant once they died they were Hollows waiting to happen...

Hollows that would have experience with their powers, and their hunger. He wondered how many had already attacked shinigami.

Currently, not my problem, Ryuuken told himself firmly. The best I can do at the moment is ensure the police know Li Tian, the part-timer who sees Hollows, first; then carefully introduce the idea that spiritual abilities are far more complex than Section Four knows. Li is just as much a target as any other spirit-sensitive citizen of Karakura. Of course he'd learn to violently defend himself. That, the officers can understand.

Does Isshin?

He was beginning to doubt the man ever would. From what hints Isshin had dropped of his life before earth, the reports Ichigo and his friends had brought back... life in Seireitei, even Rukongai, was relatively safe from Hollows. Walls of sekki-seki stone and frequent shinigami patrols ensured attacks on normal souls were rare. Strong Hollows could breach Soul Society, as they had with Aizen's help; but normally the Gotei 13 detected such invasions in minutes, and rallied to wipe out every last man-eating spirit.

Life in the living world wasn't safe. Not for anyone with a trace of spiritual power. Hollows could come and go as they pleased, rippling into the living world without a care for any merely physical walls. Most humans didn't have the knowledge or power to ward them out. To see Hollows was to live knowing you were a target; knowing that even if you did your best to hide, all it would take was one night of bad luck.

And Isshin apparently thinks Ichigo chose to fight the Hollow after Hideyo. Ryuuken sighed. As if Ichigo's soul weren't injured enough.

"The captains did what they had to, to stop Aizen." Isshin looked him straight in the eye. "You know he was going to murder the whole town. And that would just have been the warm-up."

"I'm well aware of that," Ryuuken bit out. "It doesn't change the fact that once again, Soul Society left a mess those of us in the living world will be working for years to clean up. And much of the damage wouldn't have been nearly as acute if you'd just warned your son."

Isshin sighed. "Look. Fighting Hollows, I know. Noble politics and double-triple-crosses are something else. Kisuke thought this was the plan with the best chance against Aizen."

Oh he did, did he? Ryuuken thought darkly. I have a mad scientist shopkeeper to visit, then. "Never mind Urahara's plans. This was a plan involving your son. The son of my friend, Isshin; you may be annoying and utterly clueless about the mortal world sometimes, but we are friends. I would have helped you, if you'd only told me what was going on!" He caught his breath; this was no time to make it personal-

It's Isshin. Maybe this is exactly the time.

"I'm your friend, and you didn't ask me for help," Ryuuken said, more quietly. "You didn't even let me know your family was in danger. That hurts, Isshin. I failed with Uryuu; I know that. I wanted to be there for all of you, if you needed me. And now all I can do is try to help Ichigo heal." He took another puff of what should have been calming smoke. It wasn't working. "But at least I can do that. Couldn't you have tried to be there for Ichigo before he was hurt? Teach him kendo, teach him tactics; get him to rein in his spirit pressure so the Hollows might have found him when he was a little older? Something. Anything." Fury bubbled, and he couldn't quite bite back the next words. "Or could your pride not bear the thought that the captain of the Tenth wasn't strong enough to bring down Aizen himself?"

"Power had nothing to do with it!" Isshin stalked away a few feet, fists bunching. "Don't you think I would have tackled the guy, if I could? I couldn't fight Aizen! That shikai, once you see it you can't trust anything."

I'm a doctor. Not a psychiatrist, Ryuuken thought crabbily. Which was sarcasm trying to hold back sudden dread, because he truly hoped the conclusion that'd just crashed in on him was wrong. "Are you telling me that anything that happened in the past two decades we've known each other - your medical training, your wife, your family - might be an illusion created by Aizen? Who is currently locked up and completely powerless, if not dead?"

Isshin wouldn't meet his gaze.

Ryuuken let out a long, smoke-free breath. A cigarette was not going to solve this.

I may not have been giving Ichigo enough credit. He's refused to talk to his father, as Uryuu once did to me... but the reasons are very, very different.

After all, there was no point in trying to use reason on a man who refused to take the world around him seriously.

He couldn't even get angry with Isshin for that, Ryuuken realized. What was it like to live almost two decades convinced that the world around you might not be real; that everything you loved and cared for might vanish like mist, the next time Aizen drew his blade?

No wonder Ichigo was mired in despair. This is not healthy. And there's nothing he can do to fix it.

Another tap of ash, falling away in the wind.

I'm not sure I can do anything to fix this. But I can try. "Isshin. I suggest - I strongly suggest - that you talk to Captain Unohana. I'm told she was able to see through Aizen's illusion with no outside help. And you need to talk to someone."

Hopefully the shinigami would have a better idea how to convince Isshin he was in a tangible reality, given one of their zanpakutou was the reason this mess had ever happened.

Are there Contractors who can weave such seamless illusions? I'll have to ask Hei. The last thing we need is another Aizen.

"In the meantime..." Ryuuken took another drag of smoke. "You avoided getting between Ichigo and danger for years. Now is a very bad time to change that habit. He's finally able to perceive spirits clearly again, he has every intention of avoiding Hollows, and after the training he's had, he's much better at assessing imminent threats to life, limb, and sanity."

Iiiiincoming!

Ichigo caught the blur of black and white out of the corner of his eye, and ducked like his life depended on it. Given Karin had kicked that whirling ball of death, it probably did.

That friendly hacking sound was way too familiar. Oh right. A cat, laughing. "Weren't you supposed to block that?"

Mini-Grimmjow. Well, if the Arrancar had been tiny, a little less bloodthirsty, and a lot more inclined to sit back and watch people make idiots out of themselves.

So, not much like Grimmjow at all. Which was good. His pride had already taken enough hits for the day. "Like to see you block that," Ichigo huffed, picking himself off the grass.

"Not unless I possess a gorilla." Mao didn't even bother to twitch, as the ball skimmed past the picnic to thunk into a bemused Hei's foot. "I'm eyes in the sky and distraction, Strawberry. You and Hei can do the physical work."

Karin caught up with the rest of them, barely breathing hard. "This would be more fun with more people."

"Yeah, well..." Ichigo scratched at the nape of his neck, trying not to shrug too awkwardly. "I kind of dropped I can see ghosts again on Uryuu and the rest while we were on our way out of school. Going to take them a few days to pick their jaws back up."

Karin snickered at that. Yuzu tried to smile, but it was sad.

Ichigo hunched his shoulders, sheepish. Maybe he was being a little vindictive, after almost seven months of being shut out of the spirit mess. Maybe.

Or maybe not. Given the last thing he'd tossed over his shoulder direct to Uryuu was, "By the way, that bunch of Hollows that were popping in on the north of town last month? Jibakurei. With an appetite. You're welcome."

Nope. They probably wouldn't be coming to talk to him for at least a few days, after that. Not during O-Bon.

Hei rocked the ball back and forth under his toes. "I think I know what the rules are now? Well, mostly."

Ichigo had to raise an eyebrow at that. Given the man's first reaction when Karin had plucked black and white out of her carry-bag had been, "What are we supposed to do with this?"

It'd stopped Karin in her tracks. "You don't know how to play soccer?"

"...I moved around a lot when I was younger."

Ichigo had really, really tried not to wince. It was one thing to look at the smooth confidence of Hei's moves in the middle of a life-or-death fight; quite another to think about just what Hei had spent his life doing, to react as fast and deadly as Yoruichi with a target in sight.

Playing soccer with someone as fast as humans could get. This could be fun. "Three-for-all?" Ichigo suggested.

"...Can I play too?" Yin lifted her head. "I can't run well. But soccer should have goalies."

"But," Yuzu started, "if you can't see the ball... I mean, it's hard to see sometimes even for me, it moves fast-"

Yin lifted her hand. "Partner?"

Hei frowned. Slipped his foot under the ball and tossed it up into his hands in a move he had to have cribbed from Karin, and walked over to crouch by Yin. "Can you tag it? It's not alive."

"...I think so?"

"Tag it?" Yuzu frowned, as Yin touched the ball; brightened, as silver-blue light limned some of the black pentagons. "You can put on a spirit-light!"

"Nifty Doll trick," Huang noted. "Saved our butts a time or two. What Yin can tag, she can track."

"Not just Yin." Hei was staring. "I can see it."

Ichigo gave him a quick look. "Wait, you couldn't before?"

"Most Contractors can't see energy the way a Doll can." Mao sat up, tilting his head one way, then the other, like any cat trying to gauge the best pouncing distance. "Dolls can see another Doll's tag, or the stored power a Contractor's left to fire off later. Of course, most of them can't tell you about it." He squinted at the ball. "It's a little fuzzy for me, but I do see a glow. Odd. Is it that close to ghosts?"

"It's spirit energy," Karin said firmly, reaching out to touch one of the glowing patches. "I guess that'd make sense. You said Dolls and Contractors are kind of the same, only Dolls get hit harder by the Gates. From what Sandal-Hat's said, the worse someone gets burned with spirit energy, the more likely they'll start seeing things."

Ichigo caught Hei's subtle swallow, and waved his hands. "Don't worry. We're not taking you guys anywhere near Urahara. Not unless you ask."

"We're not?" Yuzu frowned. Blinked. "I just want to know why. I go there for candy; I won't say anything."

"The people I used to work for had a lot of scientists," Hei said quietly. "Some of them were vicious. Most of them... just didn't care what they did to you."

"Oh." Yuzu nodded to herself, then reached out in a swift hug.

"Um." Hei's eyes were almost as wide as Li's, as he carefully patted her shoulder. "I... hi?"

Yuzu eyed that tentative touch, then slanted a tender scowl up at him. "Silly. Everybody I know is dangerous. And you already know how to be careful. It's okay."

Hei took a slow breath. "...You're really brave."

Yuzu's cheeks turned pink. "I just know my brother. And his friends. Some of them can be scary, but none of them would hurt us."

And Ichigo had to try not to wince again, because Hei was hiding it but that was an eye-slide Ichigo'd seen from Sandal-Hat when some of his past bad judgment calls came to bite him in the butt.

He's hurt someone like my sisters. What the hell.

Then again... Dr. Ishida hadn't told him anything personal about Hei, but he had been willing to go over exactly what a Quincy meant by empathic amputation. The ex-criminal hadn't been hit as hard as a Contractor, but his ability to reach out and connect with other people might as well have gone three rounds with Yoruichi.

"Between that and being possessed by a near-Arrancar..." Organizing his notes, the doctor had sighed. "If he ever does end up in a court of law, I'll be arguing for was not in his right mind."

"Don't do that to him," Ichigo'd said quickly. "Possessed or not, crook or not, Hei had choices. He made them. Even if they were bad choices. Don't take that away from him."

That had earned him a cold gleam of glasses. "Ichigo-"

"You're talking to the guy who had his own personal Hollow, remember?" Ichigo had cut him off. "And yeah, I made some really lousy choices because of that." Some of them insanely lousy, like jumping into Hueco Mundo with almost no backup and even less planning. "But they were still mine. It's the only way I can live with myself."

Dr. Ishida had let it drop, with only a quiet grumble about legalities not being the same as psychological realities and neither of them being his field, damn it, Isshin.

Well. Hadn't been like Ichigo could actually argue with that one.

And here and now Hei had turned that eye-slide into a credible look over the proposed field of play for possible goal spots. Ichigo frowned. One side of the riverbank was clear, and with her eyesight they'd have to give Yin that spot; the other had a cracked concrete base a couple yards square that stood a tripping inch above grass-level, where someone had apparently started building a bridge or something before the construction bust-

Hei was eyeing that pillar base. Considering. "Yin? How much water do you need?"

Yin walked over to the concrete, crouching to drift her fingers across gray edges. "A puddle? If I can touch it."

Hei nodded, and glanced at Karin. "A goalie can use her hands, right?"

"Right," Karin said doubtfully, as Hei picked up one of the empty bento boxes and headed for the river. "But you can't dodge around on wet concrete! You'll trip."

"She doesn't have to dodge." Mao's ears were perked, tail twitching as if he spied a particularly tasty bit of unwatched salmon. "Not if her specter does for her."

Huang brushed a stray bit of grass off his beret. "Does kind of make it three on two, though. And I'm not up for running around as goalie." He winked at Yuzu. "How about it, little lady? You interested in evening up the odds?"

Ichigo watched his quieter sister light up, and grinned.

Karin scooted close enough to whisper. "Um. Won't two of us on Li be kind of-?"

"Give him thirty seconds to get a feel for us tag-teaming him, and we'll need every edge we can get," Ichigo muttered back. "Li's fast as an unseated shinigami, in his body."

"You mean it's like going after Toushirou in a gigai?" Karin's eyes lit too; only hers had a fierceness Ichigo recognized from his mirror. "Ooo. This could be awesome."

Huang munched on a stray mochi somehow overlooked by the ravening hordes, watching the Kurosakis battle it out against Hei, Yin, and Yin's specter. At least he assumed the specter was in play, from the way the ball seemed to stop once in midair above the water-soaked goal, and hurl back the other way. Kind of annoying, being the only guy here who couldn't see half of what was going on-

Huang eyed that thought, mentally hung it up on a target, and sniped it from a half-mile away. Nope. He was not tempting the universe. Kind of luck Ichigo and Hei both attracted, the Gates would bite him and there would go the team's last link to sanity.

Better think about something else. Huang rested his hands on his knees, casting a sideways glance at the cat curled around a full stomach. "Mao. You as twitchy as I am that we ain't been found yet?"

"Hmm. Probably yes and no." The chipped ear flicked. "From what I can hack, Kirihara seems to have kept her word, which puts us officially off the grid for the first time since our stars appeared. As long as her friends in Astronomics conveniently forget to scan here, she's eliminated the primary way the Syndicate's always kept Contractors on a leash. And if we're very, very lucky, Kirihara arranged it quietly enough that the Syndicate doesn't even know no one's looking for us."

"Huh." Huang scowled. "But they can still read flares."

"And all that will tell them is that we used our Contracts somewhere Astronomics doesn't scan," Mao said happily. "They'll assume it has to be somewhere out in the hinterlands away from Tokyo. Oh, it's not a perfect camouflage; from the star locations they know we're still on Honshu somewhere. But there's an awful lot of somewheres for a man with Hei's skills. Not to mention a cat."

"Heh. Point." Huang took a breath, more relieved than he wanted to admit. If Mao thought he had to run like heck, he would. If the cat-Contractor was calm enough to enjoy himself, Mao believed the odds were pretty good in their favor.

"On top of that," Mao's claws kneaded the picnic cloth, "a surprising number of the Japanese branch of the Syndicate seem to be under lock and key. Section Four has been very efficient. And Kirihara's recording of how Hourai's scheme could have just as well wiped out all of Japan seems to have kicked various otherwise unhelpful government sorts in the ass. The Japanese government isn't just spring-cleaning, they're strip-searching every last department. From the sudden spike in official suicides, I'd say the Syndicate here is going down in flames." Violet glanced at Huang; a black-furred shrug. "I wish I could search more deeply, but I still have to sneak around the Web. The last thing I need is a DOS attack."

Wasn't that the truth. Huang frowned. He'd never thought he'd like the freaks and monsters, but... Mao wasn't bad, for a slightly sociopathic fuzzball. Sure, the cat might not be best-buddy material, but he was a team player. When the chips were down, Mao would always sneak in where they needed him most.

Chips. Huh. "You need a body that don't need a chip to keep your mind going."

Mao snorted. "Hello? Animal possession? I may like fish, but I refuse to take over a dolphin. All that water. Ugh."

Furball had a point. "If Ishida's right, though," Huang observed, "you're a living ghost. What if we could get our hands on one of those - what'd Ichigo call 'em, the false bodies that shinigami wear when they're poking around in the real world?"

"Gigai," Mao stated. "And... hmm. That's an intriguing idea, but he said they were made by Soul Society."

"And Urahara," Huang agreed. "Yeah. Problem." He might not be able to feel the bone-deep flinch Hei had when it came to scientists and experiments, but seeing the Black Reaper turn pale at anything was enough to make a sane guy pause and reflect. Scientists made Hei nervous. The thought of a scientist who was specialized in poking around in people's spirits - exactly where Contractors and Dolls had been hit hardest - made their team's heavy hitter want to pull his very best vanishing act.

Weren't for us needing help, an' Ichigo, he'd already be gone.

Huang wasn't sure if he should thank the kid or kick Hei to get going while the going was good. If the Japanese government had mad Doctor Schroeder and his anti-Gate plans, it might not just be the Syndicate who wanted their grubby hands on Hei. Just by existing, Hei was a potential bomb right in the middle of Japan.

Granted, only during an eclipse. The average politician wasn't going to care about the pesky little details. Hei plus Gate equaled potentially millions dead. Wasn't something any sane guy in power could ignore.

The rational thing for Hei to do would be leave Japan. If he wasn't near the Gate, he couldn't set it off, and people wouldn't die.

...Regular people wouldn't die. If someone decided the Syndicate had had a good idea after all, Contractors and Dolls would be toast.

And Hei was not going to let that happen, Huang knew. Mao and Yin were part of his team. Nobody killed them while he still had breath to stop it. Not to mention- Huang stiffened. "Mao. The Gates stabbed people right in the spirit, right?"

A black ear flicked. "So Ryuuken says. So far he seems to be right."

"An' people with ghost-sight - they've all got spirit-burns too. 'Cause exposure to energy's what pries the lid off, lets 'em see things?"

"Yes...?" Mao drew out.

"So." Huang took a breath. "What happens to everybody who sees ghosts, if the mad scientists take out Hell's Gate?"

Mao went very still, only the tip of his tail twitching. "That is an interesting question I'd rather not answer the hard way. It's possible Gate energies are sufficiently different that the Gate-touched would be the only ones affected. It's also possible they're sufficiently similar that we'd all go down together. Including any Hollows or shinigami in the range of effect. Which was supposed to be the whole planet."

Yeah, that's what he'd thought. "We need to tell Ishida."

"And Hei," Mao agreed. "Though you realize, this is only going to make him more attached to the people he's met here."

Huang gave him a look askance. "That a bad thing? Humans need other people to stay alive, cat. And Ishida says he's human. Mostly."

"Hmm, more just an observation," Mao mused. "It's honestly intriguing to see how much of Li isn't an act. If we hadn't covered for him the Syndicate would have realized he was dangerously irrational half a year ago, and then where would we be?" Whiskers flattened. "I'm no shrink, but if he is mostly human, he must have been in some kind of deep shock to pass for a Contractor so long. I wonder what brought him out of it? Time, a relatively long mission in Tokyo where he got to spend more time as his persona than killing people, being close to the Gate?"

"Three years in Heaven's War, kid sister missing, waking up with her powers, still stuck as an assassin?" Huang deadpanned. "Gee. Dunno what coulda shocked the guy."

Watching Karin put a particularly vicious spin on a kick headed Hei's way, Mao chuckled. "You like him."

Huang kept his eyes on Hei's block-and-counter, and off knowing violet. "Get out."

"You're emotionally attached. Admit it." Mao's head rubbed his knee. "It's even rational. You know he'll protect you if we're attacked. Just as he protects all of us. We're his team. We make him feel warm. Safe. Not alone. For a Contractor, that's a precious thing."

Pretty precious for a human, too. "We make you feel warm, fuzzball?"

A long minute passed. "...I think so," Mao said at last. "It doesn't feel like I remember feeling, when I was human. I don't remember thinking about feeling then; I just felt. Now - I can feel, and I can think, but sometimes I have to think about feeling to make it... come across the gap?" A soft hiss. "It's as if - when you become a Contractor, there's an endless chasm between yourself and feeling and people. But when you three were there, and you made sure I ate, and had backup, and... someone grew a vine bridge across the chasm? It's rickety and I wouldn't put too much weight on it, but it's there... it shouldn't be this hard to explain!"

"Easy." Huang stroked down raised hackles. "Feelings confuse anybody. An' it fits what Ishida said. You got missing pieces. Some of it's growing back, kind of. The rest, you need to figure out how to work around 'em." Time to distract an agitated kitty. "Might be easier if you had fingers again. Think we can figure a way to scam a gigai out of Soul Society?"

Mao leaned back, fur still ruffled. "We'd need a lot more information on access points, and what gigai actually are. No point in stealing something if it'd blow up too soon." He winced as Ichigo skidded on the grass; perked up as the teenager turned it into a recovery roll and charged right back into the fray. "Though I admit, I've missed the simple pleasure of flipping through a newspaper."

Huang grinned. "Or playing soccer?"

"Getting in on that would be a good way to get things broken," Mao said ruefully. "Look at them. Tell me that's human."

Huang watched the lightning reflexes battling it out on both sides, the way the Kurosakis just needed a glance to change strategies; how Hei leaned on Yin's specter defense to put everything into attack, keeping the score just about dead even. Yin was almost smiling. "I'm not gonna tell them if you don't."