Disclaimer: not mine

Chapter 8

Kisuke was relieved to see some colour return to Ichigo's skin as he drank until he put the container aside, slumping in the water tiredly. Kisuke reached out and tugged him close again, wrapping his arm around slender shoulders. "You're exhausted, sleep. I won't let anything happen," he promised. There was something about Ichigo that made him want to protect him, look after him, and he didn't understand his own emotions. He felt Ichigo slowly relax against him, body still, and he felt for a pulse, finding a very slow one, skipping beats occasionally, though he wasn't breathing. Isshin must have been terrified if he ever came across his son asleep and not breathing.

Eventually he needed to get out, the water too hot to spend too long in and he wasn't sure how it would effect Ichigo so he carefully stood, holding the teen in his arms. He lay him down on the ground and went to the bag, finding clean clothing in it so he dressed Ichigo as carefully as he could before putting on his coat and tying it for modesty's sake.

He leapt for the trapdoor with Ichigo held securely in his arms, pushing it open to find Isshin waiting so he pressed a finger to his lips and Isshin nodded, following him to a guest room where they settled the sleeping teen, only for Isshin to have to try not to laugh when Kisuke found himself unable to leave, Ichigo's hand tangled in his coat. He could simply take it off and let the boy sleep with it but that would leave him rather exposed in front of Isshin…. He smiled as Tessai approached down the hall with clean clothing so he pulled on the pants before twisting out of his coat to pull on the rest, letting Ichigo keep the coat as he curled around it. He left the room, knowing Isshin would want to assure himself his son was alright. He spotted the twins asleep in another room and headed quietly for his lab, he had a lot of research to do.

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Rukia stumbled out of the room she'd woken in to see Urahara sitting and sipping tea.

"Ah! it is good to see you awake," he smiled at her.

"Ichigo?"

"Asleep still, his family is all well and here."

"Grand Fisher?"

"Purified," he smirked slightly.

She closed her eyes, slumping in relief, she hadn't failed them. She moved further into the room, accepted the offered cup of tea, sitting to drink it. "Thank you."

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Isshin stretched, sitting up. He was getting too old to sleep on the floor. He glanced over at the futon Ichigo was sleeping on to find his eyes half open, staring ahead vacantly and he sighed. He reached out and gently brushed loose hair back from his sons face. "Ichigo?" he called but there was no reaction. It wasn't all that surprising after the trauma of the day before. "It's alright, son, we're here," he promised before getting up to re-dress and let the others know.

He found Kuchiki sitting with Kisuke who looked up and nodded at seeing him, eyes suddenly narrowing.

"Ichigo?" he asked and Isshin shook his head. Kisuke put his cup down and stood. "I will examine him."

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Kisuke opened the door to see the figure laying unmoving on the futon. He knelt down to see Ichigo was staring blankly up at the ceiling. "Ichigo?" he called gently but there was no reaction. Now that he knew the truth of what had happened to Ichigo, seeing him like this, he wanted to introduce the other vampire to his Princess, pity Shiro had already killed him. then again if the Hollow hadn't…Ichigo would be long dead.

He place a hand on a pale, cool, cheek and carefully began using Kaidō, just making sure he was definitely healed and that his Reiatsu had fully restored itself since the fight. He paused, had he? He went back to feeding healing energy into his body, watching closely and yes! There, a finger twitched and yet according to everything he'd been told Ichigo didn't move in this state. He barely kept from starting as the Hollow appeared.

"Whatever you're doing, keep it up!" the white version of Ichigo demanded.

"His finger twitched here."

"His whole arm moved in there," it...he answered before vanishing.

Kisuke kept up the power flow into Ichigo's body. "Can you hear me Ichigo? You aren't alone, you're safe," he kept speaking softly for as long as he could but eventually he had to stop, it would do no good to use so much power that he passed out. The most he'd seen were slight finger twitches but if more was happening in his inner world then perhaps he could be brought around, at least in there.

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He frowned as he checked everything…something had destroyed the camera flies. He knew Grand Fisher had been purified, but how and by who? Had the girl finally transferred her power to Kurosaki? There was no way Kuchiki could have dealt with such a powerful Hollow. Or had someone else intervened? He knew Urahara was watching the boy as well.

He needed Urahara's Hōgyoku to complete his own but he hadn't been able to find where the man had hidden it. The man had seen his Shikai but he wouldn't put it passed him to have planned around that somehow to keep it safe. He needed him to bring it out into the open and the best way had seemed to be by offering up a way to potentially destroy it. if only Kuchiki would hurry up and need that special Gigai.

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Rukia stared at the human teenager where he lay in one of Urahara's guestrooms. "Ichigo?" she called hesitantly but there was no reaction. She slowly moved closer, kneeling beside the futon, seeing vacant amber eyes staring at nothing. She slowly reached out and took a lax hand in hers, his skin was cool to the touch. Rukia was relieved to see his chest rising and falling slowly, the only sign he was alive.

How hard must it be for his family to see him like that? Especially when his sisters had been so young. She wished there was something she could do for him but she was no healer, what little she knew to help her Captain wouldn't be able to help. Urahara would surely have helped Ichigo, she knew he had been Shinigami, though he now lived in Exile. Ukitake-Taichou seemed to think he was trustworthy enough.

Still…she concentrated what healing she knew into the too still body, hoping it would help in some way.

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Isshin looked up, utterly relieved as Ichigo slowly entered the room, looking a little disoriented but that was all. He stood up and walked over, gently taking his arm to steady him, leading him to sit and Kisuke quickly went to get him a cup of tea as well as a flask of blood. The two men got him settled and ensured he drank the blood first, before Rukia could show up. Thankfully with the blood he began becoming a lot more alert. "How do you feel?" he asked softly, checking his pulse and breathing.

"Okay," he surprised them both by leaning on Kisuke but he allowed it which was good of him. He wasn't sure why Kisuke was being so accommodating but he hoped he was genuine in his desire to help. Limited power or not, if he harmed his son, Isshin would kill him.

Thankfully, by the time others joined them, Ichigo was alert, happily hugging his sisters and then following a nervous Rukia from the room.

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"Rukia?" he asked, unsure why she'd wanted to see him alone. He was shocked when she bowed deeply to him. "What?"

"You saved my life, I owe you,"

"Nothing," he cut in and she looked up at him. He reached out and rested his hand on her shoulder. "No debt," he told her firmly. "You helped family for nothing. I help you."

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Rukia shocked them both by hugging him. They looked so much alike and while they seemed very different at first, their core values seemed much the same. Was it possible Ichigo was Kaien reincarnated? Or…there was something…it was silly. She smiled when she felt cautious arms wrap around her in return.

"Friends help," he whispered and her smile widened at being called friend.

"Alright," she agreed.

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Ichigo followed Kisuke into the maze of warehouses. Was he doing the right thing? Kisuke had explained that they had to keep their hollows supressed and that idea horrified him and Shiro. If they could help them find a way to work together…then shouldn't they? He couldn't imagine fighting his own soul for a century, he was amazed how strong they were to survive that with any kind of sanity.

He'd only agreed to come as long as Kisuke remained silent on what he was. He didn't want people to know. He'd only ever seen one of them, Kisuke had said it was Shinji, but they hadn't spoken. He had been told Shinji had come to his house, had seen him on a bad day. He wasn't sure how he felt about that since he didn't know him at all.

They stopped outside a building and he watched as a hole opened in the barrier, letting them through.

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Lisa watched from the back of the room as Urahara walked inside, a tall teenager beside him. So, this was Kurosaki Ichigo. She hid her shock at his appearance, due to their Captains closeness, she had known Shiba Kaien better than any of the other Visored. Hearing of his death had been a blow but now seeing this boy…he could be Kaien's brother, not cousin.

Physically, he appeared totally healthy. Likely his high power levels had helped his body heal without scaring, or at least not badly since it was possible there were some under his clothes. He was looking around at all of them, seemed a little unsure, but not scared of them. Urahara had said he'd tell the kid about them so surely he knew how risky his coming was?

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Shinji grinned at the teen who wouldn't meet his eyes but Kisuke had warned him about that. Curious, he offered his hand and the kid glanced up briefly before taking it, so he wasn't timid, that was good. Then again, there had been nothing timid about him that night he'd seen him fight. "Nice ta meet ya, Ichigo. I'm Shinji."

He saw lips twitch into a small smile. "Hi."

"Follow me," he led him to the stairs down to their training room. "So, Kisuke says you and your Hollow work together."

"He helps," Ichigo agreed, looking around as they all followed them down. He walked away from the and closed his eyes for a second.

Shinji nearly jumped when a white version of the kid appeared beside him, eyes black and gold.

"Don't look like much King," it sneered and Ichigo slapped the back of its head.

"Polite," he demanded and the Hollow grumbled.

"Fine. Hi."

"Hi?" Shinji parroted back, trying to absorb what they were seeing.

The Hollow smirked at them, draping itself over Ichigo's shoulder and the teen wrapped an arm around it in return. He didn't want to take his eyes off it…him? but he forced himself too, seeing how the others were reacting. Kisuke was totally calm, had he seen the hollow before? When it grinned at the ex-Captain and Kisuke nodded back, it seemed likely. Shinji looked back at the pair in confusion, was it…it was! It was purring or something so close that it might as well be called purring. Ichigo rolled his eyes but reached up to ruffle white hair.

"Lazy," the teen teased, playfully pushing at his Hollow who laughed and got him in a headlock, messing up orange hair before vanishing, leaving the teen to catch himself before he fell.

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Kisuke was rather having a lot of fun as he watched their expressions when Shiro appeared and then was so playful with Ichigo. He had told them his relationship with his inner Hollow was very different to their own but apparently it took seeing it to believe. Kensei and Hiyori had looked ready to attack but he had been careful to position himself so that he could shield Ichigo in a second if they moved. Thankfully, they didn't.

Not that he thought Shiro would attack, not when they had come to help the Visored. Especially not without Ichigo's permission. If he could ever call a hollow tame, it would be this one. Though he knew, at any sign of a threat to Ichigo….well, no one would like the consequences. He had seen the two spar against each other and he had even faced them both working together. He would not like to face either or both in a serious fight, power and instinct could compensate for experience against many foes.

It would be interesting to see him spar against the Visored, to see what they could teach him and vice versa.

TBC…