Hey people, chapter two here! I know it's short, but I'm just not that great at being Ichigo! I tried my hardest, so please read and tell me what I can do better. I'll be back soon-ish with more from Kisuke, but I may not be able to post this week, so please be patient. Also, if you are waiting for plot and other pairings, they will be appearing soon as well. Chad, Uryu, Yoruichi, Renji, Byakuya and Ukitake among others will come in and possibly be paired, so look forward to their arrival. Also, what is going on with Isshin? We will find out in one week's time! (for them, not us).

Thanks for reading, The Hatter Maddox

Chapter Two:

Ichigo

Kisuke Urahara: friend, mentor, serious pervert and probably the sexiest man alive. I don't know how long I've loved him, just that I didn't really realize it until Yoruichi pointed it out to me with some unwitting joke about what our relationship must be, since we spent so much time together sometime the summer before last. Being completely drunk at the time, I admitted to it readily. Luckily Yoruichi was so drunk she didn't seem to remember a thing. A year and a half later, I found myself stuck at his shop while my dad and sisters went on vacation, and got myself confessed to.

I never, ever expected it to turn out like this when I came here for help treating my broken foot (I kicked the door a little too hard while trying to break it down). He confessed, I kissed him, he kissed me, then he disappeared. What the hell did that make us now? What did I want it to make us? And what did he want it to make us? And most importantly of all, why had he disappeared on me, leaving me to face all these crazy thoughts and feelings alone? The only reasonable answer was that it was a practical joke after all, but just the thought made my stomach churn, so I abandoned the idea immediately.

I served a few customers who wanted easily identifiable merchandise, or had clearly labeled packages waiting for them behind the counter and in the nearest store room. I told the ones with complicate orders that they needed to come back when Urahara was around, telling off the more persistent ones (a great way to vent my frustrations). I spent a long time wondering why Tessai wasn't there to take care of everything, got mad, punched up a practice dummy made by the brand Rukia so loved, then thought about Urahara and his kiss again. He had called me cute, which I did not like. I was in love with a man, but that didn't make me a fucking girl. Though it did mean he thought I was attractive. It was still way too feminine.

Once we had dealt with the night's outbreak of Hollows we had all gathered at Orihime's house, where Orohime said there was enough food for all of us to have breakfast. The toxic waste was a different color on each person's plate. Mine was mostly orange and green, but I was able to eat the accompanying piece of toast and picked out two slices of bacon before going home to discover I was locked out, but had never eaten any lunch. The sun was already half-way down the horizon and I was starving. My stomach gurgled loudly in complaint, so I locked up the shop, scrawled a quick note about the shop, and went off in search of Urahara. I wasn't able to find him anywhere in the maze of paper-screened hallways and storage closets, so I retreated to the basement-cavern-cave-thing. There, to my surprise, I found Ururu being bullied tearfully into more than her fair share of chores by Jinta. I had been wary of her since seeing her attack, but I still felt a pinch of sympathy- just not enough to interfere on her behalf.

Tessai was nowhere to be seen, and a cocky Jinta told me he was taking a vacation to the beach. I felt sorry for the beach goers- especially any that happened to splash him or get sand on his towel. Ururu also produced a sandwich for me, from where I couldn't say. Upon closer inspection, I discovered that it was a slightly squished turkey and cheese sandwich with some slightly wilted lettuce.

"Owner-taichou will find more for you later" She promised as I decided that the sandwich was safe enough to eat, and took a huge bite. My mouth was too full for me to reply right away, and by the time I had freed it she was half-way up the ladder, hot on the heels of Jinta (already gone) so I just gaped. She slammed the door shut after herself so I just finished the sandwich, wondering how I was supposed to get food out of Urahara if he was avoiding my like the damned plague.

My bandaged foot had begun to ache again so I stripped down to my white and blue striped boxers and got into the pool Urahara had created and filled with healing water imported illegally from the hot springs in Soul Society. I sank gratefully into the hot water, feeling the cloud of steam swirl around me. My eyes drifted closed and I could instantly feel the healing energy sinking into my skin; easing then erasing the pain in my foot as well as a bruise on my neck and some stiffness in my back.

My mind wandered, quickly settling on Urahara's last kiss on my cheek. He had stood just inches from my body (if that), and pressed his lips to my cheek. His lips were rough and chapped but amazingly gentle and I could feel the fine stubble on his chin brushing my jaw. He had pressed his body closer then, making time stop, and leaned so close I could feel his heart beat, winked, and pulled away, almost reluctantly and I still wasn't sure what he meant by it.

I know that men can, well, you know, have at. I've seen them getting "friendly" before, but I didn't know exactly how it was supposed to work. For the most part, I didn't want to know. I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about the subject. It was fine for other people (that's their choice) but I'd tried not to think about it in terms of myself. Yes, Urahara was very, very sexy. Yes, I was attracted to him, but did I want him like that, right now? If at all? I had been pretty sure I didn't, at least not any time soon, but after finally kissing him, I wasn't so sure anymore. I didn't even know if we were together or not. All I did know was that there was no way in hell I'd let him treat me like a girl. I've seen girls calling their boyfriends cute, so I guess that's okay and he's just being affectionate or whatever. Or joking- it fits his awkward sense of humor perfectly. Still, he could at least try. When I found him we'd have a nice long talk (possibly with my fists), then we had to get everyone together. Everything else could wait until after them.

Urahara said he wouldn't let them hurt Dad, and he would never even think of backing down from his word. Honestly, I would rather if he didn't get in any more trouble with Soul Society, but remembering the intense, serious look on his face was reassuring. If I wasn't good enough, if I failed, at least Dad would be okay and I wouldn't take him away from Yuzu and Karin. I already took Mom away from them, I don't know what they'd do without Dad. Yuzu would definitely cry, and even Karin might- that's worse than anything. I hate it when Karin cries, especially when it's my fault. So we'd save Dad, and that's that. Having decided on a plan of action I settled down to wait, relaxing in the comfort of the water.

Sometimes, I wonder how differently things might have gone if I didn't fall asleep.