Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo. He created this world, I'm just playing in it.

This story is one of three or four that I started working on shortly after I wrote the first chapter of Unlocked Hearts. I was thinking of doing a whole series of lemons, but that quickly lost its appeal. I can write them, it's just that I hate PWP and if there were to be lemons they were to be much more integral to the plot than that, not the central theme of it.

With that said don't expect lemons here. There might be something, but it won't be as explicit as that.

Now, normally I do not post stories that aren't complete already, even if they are multiple chapters. Posting as the story is still being written is often a reason why stuff never gets completed. Unless you go back and rewrite or re-edit those chapters you can write yourself into a corner you can't get out of. Case in point, I am currently working on an Evangelion story that is now up to 31 chapters and I often have to go back to earlier chapters to adjust something so that it all makes sense.

Also, write a chapter, post a chapter is a method that I find to be too much like writing on a deadline and I cannot do that. Also, I don't plan anything out at all before I write. I get an idea and I go with it, writing everything off the top of my head and I just generally find it easier to complete the fic first before posting.

So in this case I am actually going to try it the other way...mostly because I've been getting pretty itchy to put something out and the monster I have been working on for a long time now STILL isn't done.

I know, I should be working on A Chance Encounter but I haven't had a chance to really figure out yet exactly what I want to do with it going forward. Been too busy grinding through the Eva fic.

The continuation of this fic and A Chance Encounter will get my full attention once the Evangelion fic is finally done and being posted.

So for now here's the first chapter of this one. Please be so kind as to leave a review.

Lonely Exile

Chapter 1:

The sound of lethally sharp metal slicing through the air ended with the dying shriek of yet another marauding hollow. Lisa Yadomaru wasn't sure why so many were appearing today, it had been so quiet since the end of the war, but she wasn't going to argue with the chance to get a little exercise and get out of the warehouse for a while even if it meant killing hollows rather than nosing through the erotic manga section of her favourite bookstore. Of course someone had to kill them since that idiot Kuramadani was just about as useless as it gets and lazy to boot.

The Visored had been a little restless ever since the end of the war, ever since everyone had healed from their wounds and some of their number had decided to go back to the Soul Society and take up their old roles. She had considered it herself, but as enticing as it sounded to rejoin her Captain and the no longer quite so little Nanao, she just couldn't do it. She had been in exile too long and didn't feel that any version of Central 46, no matter how reformed it might be, could ever be trusted. Besides, Karakura felt too much like home now even if she had spent most of her time here in hiding. Since the war she had spent more time wandering the town than she ever had before, the fear of being hunted down now completely gone, if the possibility of it had ever really been there to begin with.

Truth be told she was bored and more than just a little lonely. Lonely for something a little more than just the simple companionship of her fellow Visored. Erotic manga and self service could only carry a girl so far and she had been riding that train for far too long. That didn't mean however that she was out trolling, far from it and she wasn't about to give it up to just anybody simply because the itch was getting more persistent than what she could scratch on her own. Although, there was a certain orange haired Strawberry walking down the street about a half block away that she admittedly wouldn't mind getting a taste of. She also knew that she wasn't the only one to have those thoughts either. She shook her head in amusement. That boy seemed to be completely oblivious when it came to the opposite sex, almost like he didn't even know they were there and he was as dense at sensing their interest as he had been at sensing reiatsu. Maybe worse.

She had found herself watching the heroic young man for a couple of weeks now. It hadn't really been a conscious decision, she had just happened to see him on the street one day and before she knew it she had started discreetly following him around. Even though she didn't know him well, she knew enough about him and had observed enough in the last couple of weeks to know that he was not the same person he had been before losing his powers. She had known others who had lost their powers, lost contact with the spirits of their zanpakuto, and they had never been the same. They always felt like part of them had been lost.

She sensed a bit of that in him, but mostly he seemed to have become distant from his friends and he hadn't been around Urahara's since shortly after he awoke from the loss of his powers. Nor had he come around the warehouse. She hadn't really expected that he would, but she oddly found that she was a touch disappointed that he hadn't shown up at least once to see how everyone was. On the other hand, she supposed that she couldn't really blame him either considering how much he had gone through in such a short time. He deserved a little peace and normalcy.

He looked much the same today as he had every other day as of late. He wasn't exactly moping, more along the lines of subdued, and that trademark scowl was about the same. But there was a certain amount of…something…a certain spark that was missing from him. Understandable she supposed. For a teenaged kid fighting a war and losing his powers to protect both the worlds of the living and the dead he was actually holding up well. It was a wonder he hadn't become a gibbering wreck after everything he'd gone through, and she suspected that he was hiding most of what he was feeling so he wouldn't alarm those closest to him. That wasn't healthy no matter who you were or how strong you were.

Any further thought was dropped as she felt another hollow arrive nearby. It was just down the street and her eyes widened as she realized that it was headed straight for Ichigo. It would be a hell of an end for someone who had done what he had, to be eaten by a hollow when he couldn't even see them anymore. She poured on the speed, hoping that she could get there before it got to him. It turned out to be a very close race.

She rocketed down on top of the draft horse sized hollow just as it closed to within a few feet of him. Slamming both feet into the top of its head, she drove it to the ground with enough force to shatter the sidewalk, sending dust and bits of concrete flying. To a very surprised Ichigo, who was now sitting on his butt on the sidewalk, she looked like she was standing in mid air a couple of feet off the ground. And he had a perfect view right up her short, schoolgirl skirt.

She smirked as she drew her zanpakuto. "Like the view Berry-tan?" she said borrowing one of Mashiro's nicknames for him. She drove her sword down through the stunned hollow's head, killing it and landing back on the ground as it disintegrated beneath her.

"L-Lisa?" he sputtered. Partly due to the sudden shock of what happened, and partly due to the inadvertent panty shot.

"So, you actually do remember me," she said as she sheathed her zanpakuto. "Been so long since you were last at the warehouse I was sure you had forgotten who I was."

"It's not like I have a reason to train now," he said as he got up. He received a sharp rap on the head with her sheathed sword. "Ow! What the hell was that for?!"

"Idiot," she muttered. "Might be no point in you training, but you could visit once in a while. You're as thick as ever, that hasn't changed I see."

"Hey!" he bristled.

"C'mon," she said cutting him off from any further protest. "I'll walk you home and make sure nothing else tries to eat you on the way." There was a certain amount of innuendo in her smirk which he totally missed of course.

He grumbled something that she didn't hear as he dusted himself off and they started off down the street. He clearly wasn't happy about the escort, and probably even less so that he had just gotten a rude reminder that he was pretty much helpless when it came to hollows. His frumpy mood just wouldn't do.

"You never did answer my question Ichigo," she said after they went a couple of blocks.

"What question?" he asked.

"Did you like the view?"

For a moment she was worried that he might choke to death on his tongue. And the vivid shade of red he turned…strawberry indeed.

By the time he finally made it through his front door he was ready to have a stroke. His face was beet red and he felt like his head was about to burst into flames. She had teased him mercilessly all the way home about seeing up her skirt, about seeing her panties, asking him what his favourite colour was and that she'd wear it next time instead of plain white. She asked him if he liked stripes or if he was more into sexy, lacy lingerie. He nearly brained himself against a lamp post to make it stop.

He was so distracted by all of it that he very nearly got clocked by his old man, his long honed reflexes being the only thing that saved him. As Goat Chin wailed away while tumbling down the walk, he shut and locked the door on him. Let the crazy loon find another way in.

"Onii-chan," Yuzu called out to him from the kitchen. As usual she was busy preparing the evening meal, a pale yellow apron covering her school uniform. She looked at him and her adoring gaze instantly turned to one of worry. "Are you alright Onii-chan, your face is really red. You're not sick are you?"

"Don't worry Yuzu, I'm fine," he assured her with a soft smile.

"He's just all red faced over the girl that walked him home," Karin chimed in as she sauntered in from the living room, hands shoved in the pockets of her shorts.

"You were with a girl?" Yuzu gasped.

"She was carrying a sword," Karin added seriously. Ever since his powers had gone and hers had begun to increase, she had become even more protective of her big brother, always suspicious of anything and anyone that was connected to the spirit world. Especially if they came anywhere near Ichigo.

Yuzu began to look alarmed. Ever since Ichigo had explained everything to them after Aizen's defeat she had feared that the spirit world would come intruding into his life again and take her brother away from her.

He sighed. He hated to see either of his sisters upset. "It's okay you two. You remember when I told you everything, and I told you about the Visored?"

They nodded. "So she's one of them?" Karin asked.

"Yeah," he confirmed. "That was Lisa. She was out hunting down some hollows and I met her on the way home."

The explanation seemed to satisfy Yuzu who relaxed. "You should have invited her in for dinner," she said as she went back to her work. "There's lots here."

"Maybe next time," he said. Now if only Karin was that easily to put off.

"How close Ichigo?" she asked, her voice low so Yuzu wouldn't hear and her tone indicating she meant business. She had felt the hollow but her power wasn't strong enough yet for her to be able to locate them by that feel. She had been worrying and waiting at the window for him to come home to make sure he was okay.

There was no point in lying to her, she'd just pester him until he told her anyway. "Right in front of me. Lisa killed it." He saw her giving him the once over. "I'm fine," he assured her. "Not a scratch on me."

She seemed to relax a little. "So how did your face get so red?" she asked him. "What was she teasing you about?" She knew her brother well.

"N-nothing important," he sputtered, the colour that had begun to recede now returning to his face.

"The window was open you know," she drawled. "Heard something about you looking at her panties. Spend your free time after school looking up skirts Ichi-nii?" The look on her face was positively evil.

"Wha…I do not! It was an accident."

"Oh Masaki…our wayward boy has become a pervert," Isshin wailed to the poster of his late wife.

"How the hell…when did you get back in here?" Ichigo questioned. "And I'm not a pervert!"

Father and son fought, Karin egged them on, and Yuzu tried to restore order and serve dinner. Just another average, normal evening in the Kurosaki household.

After dinner Ichigo trudged up the stairs to his room to take care of the little bit of homework that he had. At least with his extracurricular activities of the recent past no longer an issue, his homework load was considerably lighter. Upon entering his room however he was greeted by an unexpected sight. Lisa was laying on his bed, sound asleep.

Her shoes and zanpakuto were put aside neatly under his window and her glasses lay on his desk, so it wasn't like she had just laid back and nodded off, she had intentionally settled in for a nap. He considered throwing something at her, or tipping the bed and dumping her off onto the floor. But, with a sigh he decided to just leave her alone and let her sleep. She had saved him from being hollow chow after all and it's not like he wasn't used to having random females sneak into his room…he had to stop and ponder that thought for a moment and the various interpretations that could go with it…and she wasn't bothering him or doing any harm. Besides, and he had know way to know it, but he would be willing to bet that his bed was likely more comfortable than whatever she had back at the warehouse. A quieter atmosphere too.

He settled in at his desk and got to work, making as little noise as he could. Every once in a while he caught himself looking at her and would have to push his mind back to his homework. It wasn't that he never noticed a woman's looks, or that he never took note of their figure. He certainly did, but his hormones didn't get the better of him like others his own age and he had always had a lot of other things on his mind that were much more front and centre in his life. With that said, he had never really had time to take notice of Lisa before. When he was training with the Visored he had usually been too busy trying not to get killed by Hiyori to take notice of much of anything else no matter what it was.

Now that he had a chance to really look at her, he had to admit that she was really quite pretty. She was laying on her side and turned towards him so he had a good look at her face. It was the first time he had ever seen her without her glasses or the usual serious, if not bored look she usually wore. That in itself had him wondering. She normally was quite serious and her teasing and humour was usually dry and sarcastic and delivered with a deadpan expression. Yet today when she was teasing the hell out of him she had seemed a little less stiff, more outgoing somehow. She had obviously been enjoying herself

She began to stir, rolling off her side and to her back. She stretched her arms above her head causing her already short top to move up her body. In spite of himself he found his eyes glued to the pale skin of her flat abdomen. There was definitely no excess body fat there. And he couldn't help his attention being drawn to her chest when her back arched as she stretched, pushing her breasts more prominently into his view. He hadn't realized she was that well built before.

She pulled her left leg back up toward her, causing her short skirt to pool at her hip and allowing him to see a great deal of her long legs. He gave his head a shake and looked away, hoping that she hadn't caught him looking. He also hoped that he wasn't blushing. He'd never hear the end of it.

"Have a nice nap?" he asked dryly as he made it look like he was immersed in his homework.

"Very nice," she answered evenly. "Have a good look while I was laying here all defenceless?"

He almost choked. "I was not!"

"Then why is your face all red?" she asked him as she sat up and retrieved her glasses. "Or were you just day dreaming about all the different scenarios of coming into your room and finding a beautiful, hot woman in your bed?"

"Pervert," he growled.

"Prude," she countered flatly. "And I don't hear a denial."

"Why are you here anyway?" he asked, reigning in his frustration.

She shrugged. "I felt like sticking around and bugging you for a while."

"Lucky me," he drawled.

"Well you could be," she smirked. "But I doubt you could handle me, you still being a virgin and all."

His pencil snapped against the page he was writing on leaving a big black smear and he nearly choked on his tongue. "What the hell..." he croaked. "Why do you have to say stuff like that?"

"It's true isn't it?" she asked innocently. "Unless...Yoruichi didn't break you in did she?"

Steam was nearly blowing out of his ears. "What the hell...NO, the crazy cat woman didn't break me in!"

"I bet she wishes she had."

Despite his best efforts to form a response, he couldn't. His brain locked up and all he could see was him and Yoruichi in the hot spring in her and Kisuke's old training area in the Seireitei. And instead of sitting next to him in cat form, the sexy dark skinned beauty had straddled his lap and was...

"Ha...you're thinking about it aren't you?" Lisa's amused voice cut in. "And with a hot woman sitting on your bed right next to you too. Lech."

'Traitorous brain!' he roared to himself. "I am not a lech!" he ground out. "And that's pretty rich coming from someone who looks at porn all day."

She rolled her eyes. "It's not porn, it's erotic manga. There's a difference."

"Keep telling yourself that pervert, " he shot back.

"Keep this up Strawberry and you'll never get laid."

"..."

She turned and faced him, legs hanging over the side of the bed and leaning back on her hands. Which just coincidentally happened to push her breasts out towards him and make them central to his view. "All those women that have been around you all the time and you're still a virgin," she shook her head in mock sadness. "I worry about you Ichigo, I really do."

He quickly averted his eyes from her assets. "Is sex all you think about?"

She smirked. "If you had ever had it, you wouldn't need to ask me that question."

His head drooped forward and he groaned in defeat. 'Every girl I know either tries to beat the crap out of me, or teases me to no end.'

'Poor, clueless Strawberry,' she lamented. 'Though, it is kind of cute in a way, but only in small doses. Better ease up on him a little I suppose.'

"Your sisters are very protective of you," she began, momentarily catching him off guard with the change in subject. "You told them everything?"

Sighing, he leaned back in the chair, swivelling it to face her. "Yeah, I did. Karin already knew a little and would have kept prying into it, and not knowing anything was going to make a nervous wreck out of Yuzu. I felt like I owed it to them. I couldn't lie to them or keep them in the dark anymore. They're probably the biggest reasons why I ever wanted the power I had in the first place." He snorted. "I don't think it made them worry about me any less though. And Goat Chin didn't help much. Told them that he was a shinigami but didn't say much else. Started acting goofy so Karin punted him into the wall and that was the end of it."

"She takes after you by the sound of it," she smirked, alluding to his short temper.

"Not too much I hope," he said sombrely. "She doesn't need to get involved in the same kind of crap I was."

"That's a decision only she can make," she told him. "And if she is like you at all, she'll do it whether you or anyone else likes it or not."

He sighed heavily. "That's what I'm afraid of. I just hope that if she does get involved, she at least gets trained properly and is told how things really are and doesn't get kept in the dark like I seemed to be so often."

"I apologize for the role I and the other Visored played in that Ichigo." Her tone was serious and genuine. "There were things that you weren't told that we knew and we should have told you since no one else did. We consider you to be one of us, even now still, but we failed you in that regard."

He shrugged. "What's done is done, I'm not holding any grudges about it. Even if I knew I doubt I would have done anything differently."

"Hmmm, true," she mused. "You are stubborn and hard headed and don't think before you charge in blindly. Not to mention you were all power and no skill."

"Gee thanks," he deadpanned. He sighed. "But you're right. If my powers ever do come back I plan on doing things differently. I learned the hard, painful way that power and brute force can't always cover a lack of skill."

"Power should be the last resort, not the first," she agreed. "And it should only be used when it is truly needed. That's one of the first lessons you learn at the Academy." She gave him a serious look. "So how have you been coping with the loss of your power?"

"Stopped missing so much school for one thing," he joked. "That's a bonus."

"Well that was worth the sacrifice," she said dryly.

He sighed again. "I did what I had to and now I have a chance to live a normal life."

"And how good does that normal life feel when your friends are afraid to even mention the spirit world around you because they think you'll break, or when they go off to fight hollows?" she asked seriously.

He gave her a scathing look which, like usual, had no effect on her. "I'm fine," he countered testily.

She sighed. "Look Ichigo, I'm not trying to piss you off, but I have seen people before who lost their powers and it was never pretty and none of them were ever alright with it no matter how they lost them. I can tell by what you said earlier that you aren't just hoping your powers come back, you want them back otherwise you wouldn't already have plans in mind for training. I've watched you enough to know that you're miserable without them and the gulf that has developed between you and your friends is as much your doing as it is theirs. And until today you haven't seen or talked to anyone associated with the spirit world since you lost them."

"So what do you want from me?" he demanded. "You want me to say it sucks and that I hate it? Well it does. I can't protect the people I care about anymore, I can't protect my little sisters and it's killing me! I hate seeing my friends going off to fight and not being able to do it in their place or even be at their side. I feel like I've been abandoned by the people I gave up my powers to protect. Is that what you want to hear?!"

"Yes," she answered with such nonchalance that he nearly fell out of his chair. "Because it's the truth and you needed to say it rather than keep it locked up inside your head. It sucks and it hurts and you feel abandoned. You have every right to feel that way and you have every right to say so. Trying to convince yourself and everyone else that everything is just great in your world doesn't do you a bit of good."

"And what good will it do me to go around moping or being angry about it?" he asked tiredly.

She rolled her eyes. "None at all you idiot and I'm not saying you should. What I am saying is that you have to stop denying that it's not a problem because clearly it is. You really should talk to your Dad about it."

"He's an ass," he snorted.

"Yes he is," she agreed. "But he was also a Captain and he was without his powers for several years too. If anyone would know what you're feeling it would be him."

He laughed bitterly. "You know, I hadn't even thought of that."

"Of course not, we've already established that you're dense," she deadpanned, earning a look from him. "It might not even hurt if you talked to your sisters too. You want them kept in the loop and it might help ease their worries if you're open with them."

"I suppose you're right," he sighed. "They're too young to have to be worrying that much about their big brother."

"And you are too young to have gone through what you did," she said. "There isn't a single shinigami that shouldn't be bowing their head in shame for needing you to take care of problems that they should have taken care of themselves. Those of us in exile are little better."

"You and the rest of the Visored were victims yourself," he said. "You guys don't deserve any blame."

"I wouldn't go that far," she cautioned. "We could have and should have done more to help you. It's you that our allegiances lie with Ichigo, not the Soul Society even if Shinji and some of the others have gone back there."

"What?" he started.

"That's right, you don't know. Shinji, Rose, Kensei and Mashiro went back and resumed their positions. It's just me, Hiyori, Love and Hachi here now."

"How come you didn't go back?" he asked.

"Because no matter who sits on Central 46 I will never trust them," she answered darkly. "They blindly sentenced us to death with no thought of helping us at all. We served for decades and they just threw us away. We owe Kisuke, Tessai and Yoruichi more than we could ever repay for what they did for us."

"The more I hear about this Central 46 the less I like them," he said. "I'm glad I don't have to deal with them."

"Don't be naive," she warned. "If you still had your power they would be watching you like a hawk. You have a hollow and you are someone outside of their direct control. You reached a level of power that stopped Aizen, they would definitely see you as a potential threat. Though if they tried they'd be risking a civil war. You would have the support of most of the Captains and Lieutenants."

He blew out a long breath. "There is something seriously messed up with the afterlife."

"Can't argue with that," she agreed. "That's another reason why I'm in no hurry to go back there. Besides, I kind of like this town. At least it's not still stuck in the ancient past." She got up and went to the end of the bed and put her shoes back on. "Thanks for letting me have a nap here."

"Didn't have much choice did I?"

She just smirked at him and disappeared out the window.

He leaned back in the chair and looked at the ceiling. She was right, he should talk to Goat Chin. He had gone years without his powers and would definitely know what he was going through. He might even be able to help him with coping with the aftermath of fighting a war at fifteen. Luckily he had been able to keep the nightmares hidden from his family. At least, he hoped he had, he had woke up screaming more than once. He just hoped that the Goat's recipe for dealing with it all wasn't to act as goofy as he did. He'd almost rather be eaten by a hollow that act as nuts as the old man.

He heard a noise at the window and turned just in time to have something soft and white hit him in the face. Catching it before it fell to the floor he was dumbfounded to see that it was a pair of white, cotton panties.

"Since you enjoyed looking at them so much I thought I'd give them to you as a souvenir," Lisa called to him before disappearing again.

"Freaking pervert!"

Hope you liked it. Next chapter will come when it comes.

Please leave a review, I would appreciate it.