Reckless Abandon-

Kay was still blushing from Ichigo's words when his friend arrived. And then things sort of got...weird. Like oh-my-god-there's-an-ten-foot-muscle-man-in-my-home kind of weird. Needless to say, that upon laying eyes on said person- she freaked.

She didn't scream. But she did however go back into her bedroom and promptly close the door as Ichigo made to move to stop her. And before he could so much as react she had the door locked and her dresser pushed in front of it and spent the next twenty minutes listening to her landlord pound his fist on her bedroom door and demand that she move 'her little ass' and come back out of her room.

Apparently she had hurt his friend's feelings or something. But in her defense, big guys like him usually snapped people like her in half like twigs.

So yeah. She didn't bother moving until she wasn't given any choice but to do so. And said 'choice' was taken from her when her baka landlord finally decided that enough was enough, and ripped her door off of it's hinges and set it aside and then leaned over her dresser and growled at her to get her shit together.

They were leaving, and she had no choice but to go with them.

She hissed at him to show her displeasure with the situation but he merely stared at her with those peculiar amber/gold eyes of his as he pushed her dresser aside and then yanked out by her wrist out of the room again, just like he had before when he and the elderly lady had first arrived.

Only this time, he wasn't that nice about it.

And while he didn't really hurt or injure her, she wasn't dumb enough to think that he wouldn't if she made him mad enough. After all, it wouldn't be the first time that she pissed someone off and wound up sporting a split lip, a black eye or bruises on her neck, shoulders, ribs and so on.

However once Ichigo had her out of her bedroom again, he may not have totally let her go, but he didn't squeeze her wrist as hard as he had been either. In fact, his giant friend snapped at him for yanking her around like he had and even told him to loosen his grip before he would have to break something important off of him.

Ichigo had been shocked at Chad's threat. But he understood what the big guy was trying to say.

He was being careless with Kay's person, and could easily injure or hurt her. Causing irreparable damage. He hadn't meant to squeeze her wrist so hard. He simply wanted to get this done and her freaking out upon seeing his childhood friend in her living room had sort of pissed him off.

Not at her.

He already knew that she was skittish around guys. And he could understand some of the reasons as to why she was so skittish around guys. No- he was pissed at himself for being so stupid as to not warn her about Chad's...er...appearance, since he knew that the man could be quite intimidating to those that didn't know him at all.

Or very well for that matter.

If anyone ever really took the time to get to know him they would know that his favorite food, was a mix of his Spanish heritage and sushi since he lived in japan. His weaknesses consisted of, girls and cute animals.

His favorite music was old rock, with a side of a little bit of rap. Maybe some J-pop from time to time, but only if he couldn't find anything else to listen to. His favorite color was red and sapphire blue. He had a hidden compartment in his bedroom closet where he kept pictures of puppies and kittens playing with bunnies, butterflies ect.

The list was nigh on endless, really.

But Ichigo's point remained the same.

Still...he couldn't entirely fault Kay for her reaction to him. He couldn't imagine what she must be thinking right now. But he could bet that it was something along the lines of, Please don't let them hurt me. And that made him feel pissed off even more.

Not because she might be thinking that, she had her reasons and he knew that. No- he was pissed because something or someone had made her believe something along the lines of all men would automatically harm her.

Said person better pray that he didn't take up stalking dark alleys in his hollow form or someone's ass would die for that shit.

Loosening his grip even more once all three of them were out the door of the apartment, Ichigo finally, released her and took a moment to look down at her wrist to make sure that it was alright, and felt the blood drain from his face when he made out the faint bruising he had left behind.

Making a strange sound, he pushed passed Chad and all but jumped over the railing of the stairs to escape what he had done. Leaving Chad and Kay alone as they made their way down to the car where Ichigo was already seated in the back, hiding his eyes behind one of his arms in a manner that Chad recognized from his soul reaper days.

The act of hiding his eyes was like he was trying to say that he had done something unforgiveable and was close to snapping. Glancing down at the waif-like young woman standing next to him, he found the source of Ichigo's upset and narrowed his dark eyes slightly as he reached out and startled the woman a little bit when he opened the car door for her.

She twisted her head around to look at him for a second, her expression was...oddly peculiar. A strange mix of anxiety and something else that he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Still it didn't deter him. He merely apologized politely for startling her and motioned for her to go ahead and seat herself in the front. He even told her that she could play with his radio if she wished. He didn't mind. Though if Ichigo dared to try touching it- he'd probably ram his side of the car into a telephone pole after pulling the woman over towards him so that she wouldn't get hurt.

Kay slowly nodded her head and then slid herself into the front seat of the car and gently closed the door while the giant walked around to the driver's side and got in and started the car while the woman buckled herself up and then placed her hands in her lap.

She didn't speak. She didn't move.

It was as if every action was carefully rehearsed to draw the least bit of attention to herself. Almost as if... The moment he realized why she was acting so oddly, he almost slammed on the brakes and parked the car right there in the middle of the damn street.

However because he couldn't do that, he decided to make the most of the time he had her in the car and asked her, "How often and how badly did the guy beat you?" It was an easy enough question, and he certainly knew that Ichigo had dropped his arm away from his eyes by now and was silently watching and listening.

Glancing in his mirror, he noted with some satisfaction that- yup- that had Ichigo's total and undivided attention right now. Good. Chad thought as he took note of his friend's more than slightly pained expression.

Knowing that she had been more than a little knocked around would keep his buddy in line from now on, while providing the woman with not just one guardian but two whom would be watching out for her from now on.

"Often enough." Was all that the woman said after a time. She didn't specify, but then she didn't really need to. Both he and Ichigo were excellent at reading between the lines.

"Did he ever do anything else to you?" Chad wasn't trying to be invasive. Truly he wasn't, he was merely asking so that everything was out in the open.

He doubted that the woman appreciated being interrogated. But in the long run, knowing what had happened to her would work in their favor.

She didn't bother answering his second question. Which was fine. He'd let it slide for now. However when Ichigo finally chimed in, he was more than a little bit startled at what he had just learned.

"The father of your baby...he did something really bad didn't he? Something so terrible that you refuse to even speak of it... D-did he rape you? Or did he let someone else?"

The woman's response was an automatic 'no'.

But it sounded wrong. Mechanical, well practiced. It was a lie and Ichigo and he knew it. But they didn't know exactly which she was saying no to. No to the father of her child hurting her, or no to the other.

By the time they reached the grocery store, and the car was parked. Chad's mind was alight with rage and curiosity and concern for the woman and her child. He wanted answers. But he would not demand them of her before she was ready to speak of those things to him.

That was more Ichigo's style anyways.

The man should have joined the military and interrogated people for a living. Lord knew that he was pretty damn good at prying answers from people who didn't want to answer shit.

Throwing a look back at Ichigo only to catch him watching the woman as she slowly climbed out of the vehicle with an odd sort of hunger and longing in his expression and gaze, Chad simply raised a brow at this shocking new information. It would appear that his childhood friend had at some point, been bitten by the love bug.

In-fucking-believable. And yet this was so very typical of Ichigo. Crushing on a woman that was damaged and hurting and needed a protector.

Shaking his head slightly, he opened his car door and got out knowing that whatever had been holding Ichigo spellbound, was over with now since the man had climbed out of the car faster than he could say, "Get out." And was now currently standing next to the vehicle, just waiting.

Neither of them moved an inch until the woman moved. And when she finally moved, it was slow, almost hesitant. As if she were worried about what would happen if she went too far from them. She got half way across the parking lot before pausing to look over her shoulder at them, as if checking to see that they were still there before she vanished into the store.