Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or Digimon.

A/N: Oh, I am going to have so much fun with this story. I love putting Ken into difficult situations.

Chapter One

On the day that Ishida finally decided to seek out his biological parents, he discovered that his family name should have been Ichijouji. He still couldn't quite believe it, even as he gazed at the plaque that was fixed next to the wholly unremarkable door, which in turn stood on the fourth story landing of a wholly unremarkable apartment building.

In another world, he would have grown up in this very apartment, and his name would have been Ichijouji Uryu.

He rang the doorbell.

A wholly unremarkable woman dressed in dull, conservative clothing answered the door; she had a fairly pretty face, but not so pretty that it was particularly memorable. There was, however, a resemblance to Ryuken in that face - slight, but noticeable - and it drove home the realization that, yes, this unremarkable woman was his birth mother.

She was a Quincy by blood.

She smiled a pleasant, bland little smile. "May I help you?" she asked.

"I need to speak with you," he replied.

Her smile lessened slightly. "May I ask what about? My son is coming home from school very soon, and I need to have his dinner ready."

It took a moment for Ishida to process the implications of that statement.

"It would probably be better if we spoke about this before he comes." Ishida steeled himself, pushing his glasses up his nose. "It concerns your brother, Ishida Ryuken, and the son that you handed over to him in order to shirk your responsibilities."

Her eyes went very, very wide. "I see," she said, voice barely above a whisper, and opened the door to allow him entrance. "C-come inside."

Ishida stepped past the threshold, finding that the inside was just as unremarkable as the outside, and the woman lead him into the apartment's kitchen, gesturing towards the table. "Please, have a seat. Would you...would you like some tea?"

Ishida sat, noticing the half-cut vegetables on the counter. She really had been making dinner. "No, thank you - let's just get this over with."

She sat as well. "Are you...Uryu-san?" she asked, then bit her lip and began to wring her hands in her lap.

"I am."

Her eyes flickered to him, and then down to her fidgeting fingers. "How did you find out about me?"

"My grandfather sent me a letter." Then he added sharply, "A posthumous letter."

Her breath shuddered. "I...see. Then you also know that he made a promise to leave me alone."

"He made it clear that I was not bound by that promise."

"O-of course not. I guess that makes sense." She finally looked at him, eyes pleading. "Please don't do this - I just want my family to live a normal life. Osamu-chan is already gone because those monsters, but Ken-chan still has a chance." Her eyes went very wide all of a sudden, as if she only just realized what she had said, and she looked away again. "My husband thinks you were stillborn, Uryu-san. If he finds out that he was lied to..."

Ishida's own eyes widened at the woman's first nervous confession, but he decided to get back to it later. Then he said, matter-of-factly, "Ryuken was your obstetrician, wasn't he."

She nodded weakly.

"Your husband must not know that the two of you are related."

Her silence proved to be just as much a confirmation.

"This Osamu-san was another one of your sons, correct?" Now it was time to get back to the matter at hand, Ishida decided. "By 'those monsters', did you mean hollows or Shinigami?"

"...Hollows."

"Did one of them consume him?"

She shook her head. "He was being chased by one and...and he got into an accident. A Shinigami killed the hollow before it had a chance to consume his soul, and then performed the burial ritual."

"You saw it, then."

He saw a few tears slip down her cheeks, and he ignored the guilt that twisted in his stomach. It was his duty to do this, just as much as it was hers, and it wasn't going to be easy for either of them.

"So the Shinigami have another Quincy in Soul Society. What about your other son?"

"Ken-chan hasn't seen any hollows." There was the silent implications of 'not yet'.

Ishida sighed. "You realize that Osamu-san might have survived if he'd received the proper training, don't you?"

"And be hunted by Shinigami instead of hollows?" For the first time since their conversation had begun, the woman was starting to show some backbone. "If I didn't have my father train him, there was the chance that the hollows would leave him alone." More softly, she said, "I never had enough talent to be trained. Even though I can see them, they always left me alone, so it wasn't impossible." Her hands tightened over her lap. "I did what I thought was right."

"And, once grandfather was killed, you knew that Ryuken wouldn't train him."

Her mouth tightened as well. "My brother and I are not on speaking terms."

Ishida wished he was surprised.

He heard the floor creak just outside the kitchen door, and his eyes flickered to the side. "If your other son doesn't get training, there's a very real chance that he'll meet the same fate as Osamu-san. Are you willing to risk that?"

She took a shaky breath. "I don't know."

"I'll protect him from the Shinigami," Ishida said. "And he'll learn how to protect himself and others from the hollows. It's his duty, as well as yours."

If we allow the Quincy line to die out, the Shinigami win.

A few more tears slipped down from her eyes. "If he agrees to it, I won't stand in your way. But..." She reached up to wipe the moisture from her cheeks. "You're his cousin."

Ishida understood: she didn't want her family life to be destroyed by an inconvenient extra member. "What's your name?" he asked, because, if he was going to come to this place again, he couldn't just refer to her as 'that woman'.

"Ichijouji Rika," she said. Then she added, very softly, "Pleased to meet you." She reached out and put her hand over his, looking at him with sorrowful eyes. "I'm sorry."

Ishida pulled his hand away. This woman had given birth to him, but she wasn't his mother. What tied them together was a shared heritage and duty, and nothing more.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?" she asked, hesitantly drawing her own hand back into her lap.

Ishida stood. "That won't be necessary. I'll wait for Ken-san to return, but I won't overstay my welcome."

He walked briskly out of the kitchen before she could respond, eyes narrowing; he had a feeling that he wouldn't have to wait for the boy very long at all.

Ken's heart was beating very fast as he climbed the stairs of the fire escape, snippets of the overheard conversation playing over and over again in his head. Hollows? Shinigami? Had his mother gone completely insane? And just who was this person who she said was his cousin?

"He was being chased by one and...and he got into an accident. A Shinigami killed the hollow before it had a chance to consume his soul, and then performed the burial ritual."

Arriving on the roof of his apartment building, he walked over to the ledge and put his hands around the steel bars, gripping them very tightly.

He knew better than to let the ramblings of insects affect him this way, but he couldn't help but feel shaken. He'd never heard his mother speak so seriously about anything, and she hadn't talked about Osamu since his funeral.

His chest tightened painfully at the thought of his brother; he needed to go to the Digital World and blow off some steam. But he wasn't sure that he was willing to go back to his apartment just yet.

"How much of our conversation did you hear?" said a voice, and he recognized it as the same one that had been talking to his mother.

Forcing himself to keep his distress from showing on his face, he turned around. But then his breath caught in his throat when he caught sight of the stranger.

"Osamu...niisan," he whispered, eyes wide in disbelief. It couldn't be him, could it? No, he thought - it was impossible. And yet...

The teenager pushed his glasses up his nose, and they flashed white in the mid-afternoon sunlight. "I am not your brother," he said.

Ken realized that his mouth was hanging open, and he shut it abruptly. "No..." He blinked hard. "I knew that."

"You must be wondering about my resemblance to him." He took a few steps forward. "My father is your mother's brother; that should explain it sufficiently."

His eyes narrowed. "Then how come I've never met you before?"

The teenager smirked, and the expression was so Osamu-like that Ken had to force himself not to stare. "My father is not overly concerned with family."

Ken plastered one of his winning smiles on his face, walking forward himself. "That's unfortunate," he said, and gave his cousin a bow. "My name is Ichijouji Ken. Pleased to meet you."

His cousin gave him a small bow in return. "My name is Ishida Uryu."

When both of them had straightened, Ken said, "I only heard my mother mention that you're my cousin. And that I needed to agree to do something." His made his smile wider and let out an innocent laugh. "I can't imagine what it might be."

"You're lying," said Ishida flatly. "Do I look like the kind of person who would be deceived by such childish tactics?"

You look like an insect, thought Ken, resisting the desire to curl his hands into fists. His smile didn't waver. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Ishida-san."

Ishida sighed and pushed his glasses up his nose once more. "I'll give you a day to think about what you overheard, and I'll explain it in greater detail tomorrow. At the moment, I imagine you think that both myself and your mother are insane." He leveled Ken with a cold, commanding glare. "Come home straight after school tomorrow. I'll be waiting." And then he left.

Ken finally allowed his smile to fall away, glaring at the door of the fire escape. His mouth then curled into a smirk, and he walked back to his apartment with a rising feeling of anticipation. He had far more annoying insects to deal with in the Digital World, after all, and he was looking forward to squashing them.