Disclaimer: not mine

Chapter 10

Kisuke stated at the twins, he really should have seen this coming. "You want training?"

"We can see ghost and I've been noticing more Hollows hanging around my soccer games," Karin answered. "We can't fight like you, but we need to know how to get away, to stay alive long enough to either get to safety or until rescue comes."

They had a point with that. "Have you spoken with your Father or Ichigo about this?

"Not yet," Yuzu admitted and Kisuke sighed.

"We do have some things in stock and now that Yuzu's powers have grown…speed and stamina will be the best to work on to allow you to escape. Yoruichi will be best at helping you with that." And hopefully neither Kurosaki male would attempt to kill him for agreeing. They couldn't afford to leave the girls vulnerable any longer though.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Ichigo dodged, bringing his blade up, Shinji grinning at him as he swung and Ichigo found himself grinning back at him. The feel of a blade in his hand, the thrill of combat…it all felt right. He'd been sparring mostly with Geta-boshi, but he'd started working with the Visored over the last few days without any problems. Fighting Shinji though, it felt different, and that had Zangetsu chuckling, the Old Man even felt amused and they wouldn't tell him why. So unfair. Oh well, it was fun, and Shinji was great at pushing him to get better, to regain the skill he'd had before and get even better.

,,,,,,,,,,,,

Sparring was a good way to get rid of excess energy and keep them from worrying. Aizen had been very quiet since Ichigo had been rescued and Byakuya had intercepted the tape. There had been nothing official from Soul Society either, although they'd had word that the team would be returning to protect the town since Kisuke had sent word that Ichigo wasn't able to patrol due to still recovering from captivity.

Whoever came, the same group or a different one, would be able to tell immediately that Ichigo wasn't physically injured. His changes in behaviour and personality would be just as obvious, all able to be attributed to his partial amnesia which Kisuke would be explaining as a result of torture. It was true enough and Unohana could confirm, she'd seen the scars. He'd have to stay in his body when there was any chance of them being at the shop or move to the Visored's warehouse.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Kisuke watched Ichigo, glad he had relaxed a lot. They were all on edge, waiting for someone to make the next move but at least Ichigo was no longer waiting for someone to purify him. He laughed and played with his sisters and they were helping him relearn to read and write among other skills he had forgotten. It was so easy to just treat Ichigo like normal, he hadn't once reacted with violence, even when startled and he had shown no signs of a Hollow's hunger.

Watching him interact with everyone was very interesting…seeing him around Shinji was becoming amusing. Ichigo didn't even seem aware of the shifts in his behaviour and honestly Kisuke hadn't noticed at first, it had been Yoruichi to point it out and she had noticed thanks to all the time she spent as a cat. He was taking notes, for sciences sake, after all the mating habits of Arrancar were not something anyone had ever researched. Ichigo being blind to his own behaviour wasn't actually all that surprising, he'd been totally oblivious to Orihime's crush on him after all. Apparently Isshin had seen it too and given Shinji his blessing, which Kisuke wouldn't have seen coming. Still, no one was going to say anything to Ichigo, he had enough to deal with at the moment, and it would be better if he worked out his feelings and instincts in that regard himself.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Orihime pushed her books away and stood up, going to the small shrine to her brother, staring at the photo of him smiling…so different to the last two times she had seen him. The last had been as a Hollow and the time before that had been after the accident as he was dying. She missed him so much but the knowledge he was somewhere in Soul Society offered some comfort, though not as much as it would have before they had gone there and seen what it was like firsthand.

She moved to a photo on the shelf, taken a few weeks after they'd come back from Soul Society. Tatsuki had taken it when Orihime had asked, Ishida looking like he'd rather be anywhere else, Kurosaki-kun with his ever present scowl, Chad in the background watching over them. They'd been a team then and now… she wished they could go back to then, to when Kurosaki-kun had been human, mostly.

No matter what anyone said, she just couldn't deal with what had happened….with what he had become. Maybe it was better that she stay away…Soul Society hadn't wanted them involved anyway and she wasn't a fighter.

So this is as far as I can get for now, the story just isn't cooperating. Consider it on hiatus for the foreseeable future. Hopefully the inspiration will return in a few months.