I walked along the dark cold streets as rain poured hard and steady. My stomach clenched and I doubled over in pain, how long had it been since I had eaten? Two or three days? I pulled my backpack from my back, unzipped the front pocket and counted the little money I had inside. The rain lightened and I looked around hoping to find a store but I was in the middle of a street where the only business I could see was a building with light spilling out the glass doors and a sign that advertised the "Kurosaki Clinic". I sighed and replaced my backpack shuffling along once again, but I stopped abruptly when I was directly in front of the clinic. The wonderful smell of curry wafted from clinic causing my stomach to protest again. I looked through the doors to see a black haired man sitting behind the front desk doing what looked like paperwork and off to the side was a steaming bowl of what I could only guess was the curry I was smelling.

Suddenly it felt like the air was pushed out of my lungs and a horrible shriek echoed through the night. I turned around to find an enormous black lizard like monster with a white mask and glowing green eyes at the end of the street. "Not again!" I screamed and ran as fast as my starving body would let me. Unfortunately, as I reached the other end of the street my strength ran out. I stumbled over nothing and fell forward to the ground, I kept telling myself to get up but my body refused. It was then that realized the shriek of the monster had stopped, but it was now replaced by the sound of someone running towards me. I passed out before I could see who it was.

When I opened my eyes again I was lying down on a bed with a bright light blinding me. "You're awake." A voice said to my right, I jumped up and felt a tugging at my arm, "be careful or you'll pull the I.V out of your arm" the voice scolded. I looked over to see the black haired man sitting on a stool with a clipboard and pen resting in his lap. We stared at each other for quite some time before he smiled broadly and said, "I'm Dr. Isshin Kurosaki, and may I ask what your name is for my records?"

"Kimiko" I said quietly

"And the last name?"

"I don't have one."

"What do you mean you have to have a last name, who are your parents?" I bowed my head feeling the tears sting my eyes, "I need to contact them and let them know your safe, you don't want them to worry do you?"

"I don't have any." I whispered.

"what?" He said disbelieving.

"I don't have any parents!" I said firmly. It was silent again, the only sound being the persistent ticking of a clock somewhere.

"Oh boy" he sighed laying his clip board aside, "why don't you tell old Isshin your story." I didn't say anything, I just kept looking down at the sheets, "or you can tell your story to the police, it's your choice." I thought over in my mind trying to decide the lesser of the two evils. "I don't even know where to begin."

"How about you start by answering this question, you could see that monster out there, couldn't you?" I looked at him with wide eyes and nodded my head, "I thought so, and how long have you been able to see them?"

"Forever"

"And what about your parents could they see them too?"

"I don't know, I've been shuffled from one home to another for as long as I can remember."

"Ah, so you're a problem child."

"No!" I protested, "more like I'm not the child parents want to expose their kids to."

"I don't underst-" at that exact moment my stomach growled loudly and I blushed while he laughed, "I think we can take the I.V out and start putting some real nutrients into your body and you can tell me everything." He gently removed the I.V and helped me down off the examination table. A bowl of rice and a glass of water was waiting for me at a small table that was jammed into the corner. Previous experience had taught me that no matter how hungry I was a needed to eat slowly after not eating for a long period of time. Dr. Kurosaki sat in the chair across from me and patiently waited for me to explain my story. I didn't know why but for some reason I had an urge to tell him everything, I usually tried to go with my guts and it had kept me alive so far so I took a deep breath and started explaining, "When I was about thirteen years old a woman found me lying in the streets of *Kagamino City*. At the time except for my name I had no memories of anything before she found me, so she took me in and raised me with the rest of her children for about two years. I was so happy I thought that I had a home for the rest of my life. But then the monsters showed up and it wasn't long before her children started getting hurt. She thought it was me hurting her children, and that they made up stories about monsters because they were afraid of me. She started isolating them from me, telling them that they were not allowed to be alone with me. Her kind heart stopped her form kicking me out but I felt responsible and I knew I couldn't guarantee their safety with monsters always chasing after me. So I ran away, in the beginning I only had a few yen so I learned quickly that I needed to ration out my savings, and there were people who took pity on me and gave me money but I still rationed. Nevertheless there were also people who were kind enough to take me in. But it wouldn't be long before the monsters would show up again, and once again I would be isolated from their children or kicked out. Up until about a month ago I was sticking to the familiar the streets of Kagamino City, then something in my heart started pulling me in the direction of Karakura Town. And here I am." He was silent as he absorbed my story.

"So how old are you?"

"Seventeen"

"Same age as my son, it's too bad he's off somewhere or I'd let you meet him." He stood up with a groan, "Now, if you want you a take a bath, I'll find a place for you to sleep."

"Wait…what do you mean?" I asked wide eyed.

"Come on did you really think I was going to treat you and then just kick you out the door. Sorry that's not how ol' Isshin works. Now follow me." I quickly stood up and followed in back outside, around the building and into another door. The door was obviously the main door of his house, for I was now standing in what could only be call and entry hall. Shoes were scattered in the corner where people had merely kicked them off and two little coats hung on the wall. We turned the corner and I found myself standing in a very long hallway.

"That hallway right there leads into the living area of the house." He stated pointing to a doorway on my right, I looked in and saw an extremely short hallway with a door at the end. I looked up in time to see Mr. Kurosaki's feet disappear on the stairs and rushed after him. "The first door is my son, Ichigo's bedroom, and the one at the end is my daughters', Yuzu and Karin's room. They'd be asleep right about now so let's go back down stairs." I followed silently trying to absorb and memorize every detail. Back on the first floor he lead me through the hallway that he had pointed out earlier, "the door on your right is the bathroom, it's small but it does its job well." He opened the door at the end and gestured me through. "The kitchen is on your right, feel free to grab a snack anytime. The dining room is just beyond that. To your left is the living room, and that door just behind the couch is my bedroom. So there you have it your new abode, I know it's not much but its home." I smiled, to someone who had been living on the streets for about two years this was a paradise. "Now you can go take a shower in the bathroom I just showed you while I figure out all the arrangements." It didn't feel so much like a suggestion as it did an order.

When I closed the door and was sure he was out of ear shot I broke down and cried in sheer happiness. Here was a man who knew nothing about me except the fact that I saw and attracted monsters yet he was still willing to take me in. I stood up and looked in the mirror, the girl I saw staring back at me looked pathetic. She was thin almost unhealthily so, her ice blue eyes were lifeless, her clothes were torn stain and just plain dirty, and the dark reddish-brown bun of hair on top of her head was falling apart. I reached up and released my hair from the two hair-ties that were holding it up and it fell in an oily mass down to my butt. Not once in the two years since I had left my last family had I ever had a haircut, my hair was board straight due to the weight. I pulled my back to look at the bottom layers, sure enough my hair was about two shades darker underneath, and my only guess was that the sun had naturally bleached the top layers of my hair. There was a knock on the door and I jumped. "Kimiko are you alright?" Mr. Kurosaki called through the door.

"I'm fine I called back." Hastily tying my hair back up ashamed before opening the door. He handed me a pair of blue sweat pants and a black t-shirt, "they're my son's," he explained, " I figured you would be too tall for my daughters' clothes, and I figured if you were skinnier than Ichigo you could always tighten the string in the waist band of the pants. "Thank-you…for everything." I felt tears come to my eyes again, and I quickly blinked them away. He was going out of his way to make sure I was comfortable and I felt so guilty on the inside, "I'm still working out the sleeping arrangements so why don't you hurry and take your shower so you can get a good night's rest." I nodded getting ready to shut the door, "Wait, one more thing I can see it in your face that you feel like your inconveniencing us but you're not. My late-wife and I always wanted to have more children but we didn't get the chance."

"I'm so sorry" I whispered. He simply shrugged, "now with that being said don't be afraid to ask for anything, and also be sure to take a nice hot shower it will help you to relax." I nodded closing the door as he walked away, how had he known that I was planning on taking a cold shower so as not to abuse his kindness? It was scary but I shrugged it off, once again releasing my hair and stepping into the shower.

He had been right, The hot water relaxed all of my sore muscles and had simply felt good on my rain chilled body. I once again looked at myself in the mirror before leaving the bathroom. There were subtle differences in my reflection but they seemed to make me a whole new person. I was still thin but it was hidden under the extremely baggy t-shirt, My eye's had regained a little bit of life, and my hair though still extremely long was clean and shiny after the thorough towel drying I had given it.

When I walked through the door that lead to the kitchen area I found the lights on and Mr. Kurosaki leaning against the kitchen counter with his arms folded and his head tilted down as if he was sleeping. I closed the door quietly, but the click it made seemed to pull him out of his trance. He looked me over once and nodded his head smiling, "I knew there was human in there somewhere." He chuckled and I blushed. "I've decided that you'll sleep in my son's bed tonight, he won't be back until tomorrow evening and that will give me some more time to figure out all of the sleeping arrangements."

"But won't he be mad?" I stammered

"Nonsense what he doesn't know won't hurt him. Besides if I raised him right, and I'm pretty sure I have, he's the kind of gentleman who would be more than happy to let you sleep in his bed. but before you do go to bed I have one thing I want to do," He picked up a digital camera from off the counter and pointed it at me, I smiled and was blinded by the flash. " I wanted a picture for my album, I like to document things like this so that when I'm old and can't even remember my own name I can look back and see all that happened in my life. Now it's one o'clock in the morning and we could both use some sleep after all the excitement tonight, off to bed with you." He turned me around and pushed me towards the door. As I was closing the door I heard him say, "Good-night Kimiko, sleep tight."

"Good night, Mr. Kurosaki," I replied closing the door behind me. When I finally got upstairs, I took a deep breath outside of Ichigo's bedroom then walked in and turned on the light. It was what I assumed would be a typical teenage boys bedroom. A simply patterned comforter on a twin bed that was shoved under the window on the wall across from the door, a desk shoved against the right hand wall, a TV on the opposite and shelves next to it. It was however on one of the shelves that I say something peculiar, a stuffed lion. I never imagined that a seventeen year old boy would have stuffed lion displayed so openly in his room. I walked over and picked it up, but immediately dropped it. I could have sworn I say one of his ears twitch, I picked it up gingerly by the arm and wiggled the ear I saw twitch looking to see if there was some sort of machinery inside of it. I shook my head and laughed at myself, before putting the lion back on its shelf. I then walked back to light switch and threw the room into darkness. When I got on the bed I didn't get under the covers, I didn't feel like it was right of me to. I felt more tears silently run down my face and I quickly wiped them away before they fell onto the bed.

I watched Kimiko close the door behind her and waited until I heard her footsteps upstairs before I went into my bedroom to my computer. I pulled the memory card from the camera and slid it into the computer, then waited while the computer loaded my pictures. I looked over at the picture of Masaki and picked it up, "It seems our family is growing, Masaki. First Rukia and now Kimiko, poor Ichigo and I aren't going to stand a chance with all of these girls living here." The computer chimed informing me that all of my pictures had been transferred, I quickly scrolled down to the last pictured and ordered the computer to print it. As I heard the printer come to life I grabbed my jacket off the back of my chair then went and snagged the picture off of the printer.

As I reached the main entry hall I made quick decision to go upstairs and check on the girls. I went to Yuzu and Karin first silently opening their door and poking my head in. Both were sound asleep, Yuzu was curled on her side as always and Karin was spread out as if she were making a snow angel. I smiled and closed the door quietly behind me. I stared at Ichigo's bedroom door for a second before opening it silently. Kimiko was laying on her stomach and was obviously dead asleep. She looked so helpless and cute; Ichigo's clothes were enormous on her. Her toes barely peeked out of the legs on the sweatpants, and the t-shirt could have been a dress on her. She shivered once and brought her arms in closer to her body, and that was when I truly noticed that she was sleeping on top of Ichigo's blankets instead of under them. I sighed and walked over to the bed and carefully pulled the blanket from under her and laid it back over her. A piece of hair fell over her face and I gently brushed it back. I was sure I knew who she really was but how had she ended up in our time? Why was she aging like a human? And the big question, what had frightened her father so badly that made him decide to leave the soul society? I grabbed a piece of paper from Ichigo's desk, wrote a quick note, taped it to the door and left the room as soundlessly as I had entered.

It was still lightly raining when I got outside, but I didn't care I was on a mission. I had questions and I was sure that only one man would be able to answer them. So holding the folded picture in my pocket I started to make my way to Kisuke Urahara's shop.