Conflicted Emotions and the Confused Ichigo

"You say you loveUryū? Don't you think that's a bit sudden?"

"To you, maybe, but not to me," Ichigo pointed his thumb to his heart. "Ishida found a special place in my heart and I found one in his, that's why we're perfect for each other."

Ryūken ran these words over in his head one more time as he took a generous sip of his tea. After Ichigo left the doctor alone to his own devices he found himself contemplate the conversation he had with the redhead, and the kiss that came out of nowhere. There really wasn't a reason or any hidden desire to do so; he just wanted to show that love doesn't exist. Nothing more than a word filled with false emotions and false hope. For someone as strong as Ichigo, he expected him to at least know that nothing well ever comes from love.

Placing his cup down, Ryūken closed his eyes for a second and slowly licked his lips. A quick flash of something tingly and soft against his lips made him shiver for a moment until he re-opened his eyes and banished the thoughts quickly. A kiss is merely a kiss. Not some declaration of love or even affection. But that one kiss seemed to have made more of an impact on him than any other lip to lip contact. Possibly not even sex could compare to that single kiss. Strange that a younger man could entice these strange urges from the doctor. Ryūken has never been with anyone younger than him which made him slightly curious. If only for a second.

He though back to his wife, when life seemed a bit simpler. Even then he could remember showing his young born son some affection, but his wife, his wife never entice him in any way possible. To him she was too plain, dull. It was a miracle that he was even able to have any intercourse with her, and it only took one time for her greatest desire to appear, though, for him it was something unexpected, very unexpected. The idea of even being a father never came up. Perhaps back then he was a bit rebellious with his decisions that he never stopped to think of the consequences of his actions. Soon, being a doctor seemed the way to go. He could finally begin a normal life and give up being a Quincy. The thought of his son acquiring these powers came up on his mind but he just placed it in the darkest corners of his mind until later. Yes, life did seem simpler back then. Too bad throughout his whole marriage he could never give his wife what she wanted. Love.

Even to his son he neglected that emotion from him, too. Being emotionless was just easier than giving and giving and never being able to take. He gave his son life, he ran away. He gave his son his Quincy powers back, he ran away. What was the point in giving if you never get anything in return? Love never got him to where he was today; a successful director of his own hospital which was widely known.

Yet, even after going through all this in his mind, Ryūken could not simply forget of that one kiss from the redhead. Ichigo. The word itself coming from his lips should disgust him, but it doesn't. Isshin, the father of the young, reckless man could not even bring out something like what his son could from him. He has had his fair share of lovers in the past but all expendable. Kurosaki Ichigo may have only given him a mere second of lip to lip contact with everything held back, but it was enough. Enough for Ryūken to finally decide it was time to take.

And take he will.

What could Uryū possible know about love if he was never shown this from anyone except his deceased father? That wasn't love; that was an old man trying to find a place in his son's life. Kurosaki Ichigo also claims to love Uryū, but that was something to be seen.

If this redhead could not stop plaguing his mind with his presence then he would have to see if Ichigo will use the little number behind the paper he gave him and give him a call. Ryūken could wait; a small lift of his lips as he thought about Ichigo, and placed his tips of his fingers on his lips, but his patience was limited.

Ichigo walked around an unfamiliar neighborhood as he followed the directions of the piece of paper. It had taken him a good half hour to finally see where he was heading but yet he knew he was still a couple of minutes away to reach his destination.

He took this time to rerun the scene back at the hospital with a certain white-haired Quincy. Ichigo shivered, but he placed it off as the wind just picking up. But even after rinsing his mouth off with water and rubbing the back of his hand over his lips continuously, the taste of the older Quincy just wouldn't come off.

It made him feel weird knowing that those lips kissed his father. Sick to his stomach that he quickly wanted to get through with this and return home so that he could ravish Uryū's lips and try to get the bitter taste off from his mouth. He then stopped mid-step and wondered what would happen if Uryū ever found out that he kissed his father.

Wait, I didn't kiss Ishida's dad, I was the kissed. That's a whole different situation. It was practically against my will! Ishida's dad must really be messed up in the head if he would even dare to do something like that. I mean isn't he with… my dad?

"Tch, figures. That old man is just using my old man." Ichigo continued walking but with a deeper scowl than before. But does my old man know that Ishida-san is using him? Ishida-san doesn't seem like the type to keep a relationship for a long period of time, but he also doesn't seem like the type to jump from one guy to the next. Right? And what's up with that kiss?

"Agh! Why the hell did he do that?" Ichigo shoved his hands into his pockets and felt the small piece of paper inside. "Now because of that stupid… kiss… I don't know what to tell Ishida." Could it be considered cheating? He quickly shook his head from that thought. Nah, Ishida-san was just messing with me. He just hates the fact that his son is loved and he's… alone, maybe. But if I hide something like this from Ishida, then it should be considered cheating. I can't keep something like this from him, but then what would he do? Would he blame me for it? Demand that I don't get to see my kid's… What?

The Shinigami muttered under his breath, "Damn you Ishida-san." His hands balling up into fist inside his pockets, crushing the paper in his fist. If something happens because of that stupid kiss, then I will personally see to the hell on earth for Ishida-san. I can't lose Ishida… I can't lose my kids. But I also can't lie. I'll explain everything to Ishida carefully and just wait and see what his reaction will be. All I really can do is hope.

Stupid Ishida-san.

Kenshin sat on his favorite chair with his legs crossed and turned another page from his book, a light small on his lips as he continued to read. After going through all the information his three men gave him from Soul Society, he knew that he needed to plan a bit more carefully. A Quincy is one thing, but a Shinigami is whole other thing.

"Those who embody the cross live by their cross… that is God's rein. Pure and all salvation…" He closed his eyes and breathed in a clean, breath of air, deeply, slowly releasing from his nose with utter calmness that he has gain throughout the years that God has bestowed upon him. "Glad to see you, Kenji." He opened his eyes and before him was the brown-haired man with a scar over his left brown eye.

Kenji placed a hand on his hip as he looked at his leader. "Not like you didn't know I was coming, Kenshin-sama."

Kenshin let a small smirk appear in his face. "Indeed. But let us skip all the formalities and get to the reason you are here, shall we?" Kenji just shrugged and Kenshin took this as a confirmation to continue. "I am in need of your… abilities, Kenji. We both heard the reports from all of our fellow members."

Crossing his arms over his chest, Kenji eyed Kenshin. "You trust me enough to lend you my assistance?"

"Of course, I know you're not the traitor, Kenji, and I also know who the traitor is, but that's an issue for me to resolve at a later time." He waved his hand to show it's unimportance at the moment. "I need you to go to the Material World and… pay Kurosaki Ichigo a visit. I tire of waiting from those other two and I need some results," he narrowed his eyes at Kenji and the room seemed to have gone down a couple of degrees, "now."

Cracking his neck to the left, Kenji nodded. "Sure." As he turned to leave, he quickly stopped and turned his head back over to Kenshin. "Do I get to play with him or just let him be for awhile?"

Kenshin once again lifted his book up to his face and without looking at Kenji he said, "I believe he's in a… relationship with that Quincy. Let him be. I rather wonder myself what a broken man would do with no one to trust."

Kenji looked to the side and felt a grin begin to form on his face. He gave one last nod and continued on his way. Now this is going to be interesting.

Ichigo finally made it to his destination and looked at the mansion-like house and gave a low whistle. Not bad, I guess. He walked to the front door and as he was about to raise his fist to knock, the door opened with Isshin holding it open for his son.

"Ichigo, I see you came to pay your old man a visit!"

The redhead scowled at his dad. "I'm not here to play games, old man. I came to talk seriously with you."

Isshin let out a low chuckle and moved out of the way to let Ichigo in. "Yeah, Urahara said something like that." He led his son to the living room area where all of Ryūken's books were stored neatly in shelves. Taking a seat in a chair Isshin said, "So, what do you want to talk about?"

Everything. Ichigo shook his head for a bit and took a seat. Okay, now I have my old man's attention, now what? Do I just come out and tell him… or do I start with something more relationship related. Making a decision Ichigo took the first plunge into a conversation. "I was just wondering…"

The dark-haired man raised his eyebrows a bit.

"Are you and Ishida-san still in a relationship?"

Isshin frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, defensive. "And what does that have to do with anything? I thought you had something important to tell me, but if this is about Ryūken─"

"Can you trust him!" cut in Ichigo in a rush as he saw his dad get up. He also stood up and looked at his dad with piercing eyes.

Baffled a bit by Ichigo's outburst, Isshin opened his mouth to speak, but no words could come out. He felt stuck and wondered himself if he really truly trusted the Quincy. There were moments, but that was all they were, moments. Isshin tended to feel a bit… uncertain with Ryūken. The man was a complete enigma to him at times. When he thought he had the man figured out, he comes out with something different.

Ichigo could see the uncertainty from his dad and soften his scowl. "You don't, do you?"

"What does this have to do with anything, Ichigo? I have a right to do what I want with my life!" he began shouting since he felt something was wrong from the get go. Why did Ichigo care if he trusted Ryūken? He was his problem, no one else's. Isshin then ran a hand through his hair and saw his son get closer.

"I know it's none of my business, but Ishida-san isn't trust worthy, at least not in relationships." Ichigo licked his lips and ran his own hand through his spiky hair, but by licking his lips he caught his dad's attention as he set his eyes on the lips.

His son's lips looked a bit red for some reason and Isshin felt a million questions going through his mind. He narrowed his eyes at Ichigo and got a bit closer, to see if he could confirm something while distracting Ichigo with his questions. "And how would you know that? And how did you even get here?"

Ichigo narrowed his own eyes at Isshin and wondered why his dad was getting so close. "I went by Ishida-san's hospital─hey!"

Isshin reached out for Ichigo's shirt collar and pulled him nearer, sniffing his shirt. Then after smelling a familiar musky aroma that could only be described as Ryūken's cologne, Isshin quickly came to a startling conclusion. "Your red lips… the scent… Ichigo… you didn't…"

"Ah! Didn't what, old man, now let me go!" Ichigo fought to pull Isshin's fist loose but his dad kept holding to him tightly. His face was turning red from some rage and sense of betrayal from his son.

He shook Ichigo, now placing both his hands on his collar. "Tell me you didn't kiss Ryūken! Tell me, Ichigo!" shouted Isshin from the top of his lungs. Hoping that the conclusion that he came up with was a lie and waiting for his son to confirm this, hoping he confirmed this.

Ichigo furrowed his brow and was exerting his breath as he breathed in and out. He looked at how his dad resembled a wild beast and wondered if this was the way he was always going to get when Ryūken betrayed him, then if that was true, he would sacrifice himself to try and break their messed up relationship, for his dad. "You deserve better, dad," whispered Ichigo as he looked directly into Isshin's eyes, knowing perfectly well that he could decipher his encrypted message behind his words.

Releasing a breath Isshin didn't even know he was holding; he released his son and took a step back, betrayal shining in his eyes. "No. I deserved a better son." That being said, Isshin turned on his heel and quickly left the premises, no longer being able to stay in the same room with the man that went behind his back just to get to Ryūken.

Ichigo closed his eyes and wondered how something so insignificant could turn so catastrophic. He never thought that his dad held Ryūken in such height. If this was the way his dad reacted to that news, he didn't even want to think how he would react to the news of Uryū being pregnant.

Uryū… He ran a hand through his hair and closed his eyes in frustration. How would Uryū react to the fact that his lips were kissed by his father. It was mindboggling. The whole situation was unbelievable. Ichigo soon found himself wishing that he could just forget the whole damn thing, everything, if possible. Seeing as he had nothing else to do in Ryūken's house, he quickly made his way out. Escaping the cold nothingness of the so called home.

What Ichigo didn't realize was that he should have been careful what he wished for. It might just come true.

As Kenji stood on top of a building overlooking the town of Karakura, he tipped his head back to stare up at the sky. "Well, time to search for Kurosaki Ichigo."

Releasing a sigh, he closed his eyes and whispered, "Wolf van heugenis."

Out of nowhere a quick lightning strike slammed the pavement and smoke began to form where it struck. Out of the smoke a paw with sharp claws could be seen coming out, its bronze dark hair showing in the light with feral sharp teeth in the jaw. The beast growled for a second until he saw his master with his arms across his chest.

Kenji smirked at his pet. "Hm. Come on, we have a new prey to catch."

Both took off at the direction of a certain redhead at high speed.

Walking down the same direction he came from, Ichigo looked miserable as his eyes were glued to the floor. Everything that occurred has finally taken its toll on him. His hands were lazily hanging from his pockets; his eyes were showing a hint of confusion and sadness. Ichigo didn't once look up to see that across from him stood a man with a savage looking beast at his side.

Kenji had a smirk going across his face as his pet stood at his side, ready to pounce with his sharp claws out. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. You should really see where you're going, Shinigami."

Ichigo's eyes widen as he looked up and saw a man dressed in black with a ravaging beast right next to him. "Wha─who the hell are you? And how do you know I'm a Shinigami?"

Waggling his finger from side to side, Kenji said, "Asking the wrong questions at the wrong time, Shinigami. Oh well." He shrugged his shoulders in a nonchalant way. "You'll soon be asking the right ones soon enough." Kenji uncrossed his arms and Ichigo quickly reached for his badge.

Realizing that he didn't have his badge on his person, Ichigo cursed and brought his gaze back at the smirking man. He balled his hands into tight fists and barred his teeth.

"Aw, not going to fight back," he quickly arched a brow, "too bad, this could have been fun." Kenji pointed his forefinger at Ichigo and said, "Fetch me his memory."

The beast barred its teeth and quickly took off at sonic speed. Ichigo had no time to see how to defend himself as he realized the wolf was about to attack him, claws and all. It was a strange feeling as Ichigo felt the beast go right through his body. He swore he could feel intense pain going through him, but as he looked down at his abdomen where the wolf struck, he could see no blood or any signs of damage.

M-my body… Wha-what happ─

Kenji watched as the boy had a stricken look on his face of confusion and watched as he pitifully fell to his knees and then backwards. Sprawled out like a man who has just been pulled the trigger. Shaking his head from side to side with disappointment, Kenji made his way over to the unconscious body of Ichigo. "Told you this could have been fun…" He squat down by his face and began to smirk. "Soon you will be asking the right questions, Shinigami."

Standing back up, Kenji began walking away, wolf at tow, and that smirk firmly in place.

You'll soon feel the loss of so much as you walk a broken path of no return.

Ryūken was organizing a couple of files until he heard the ring of his cell phone. Raising a brow in question, he slowly took it out and saw that the number was unrecognizable. Narrowing his eyes, he contemplated whether he should waste his time and answer some idiot or just go back to his job. The phone then stopped ringing and he placed it back in his pocket.

Not a second later the phone began to ring again and Ryūken was beginning to get annoyed. If this is a wrong number… He reached for his phone with an insult in mind and flipped his cell open.

"Do you have any idea who you are calling?" demanded Ryūken in his most stern and coldest tone ever. He waited patiently for the other person to respond, but when he didn't get one in return he simply concluded that whoever called him must have hanged up on him. Scowling, he was about to remove the phone from his ear before he heard a familiar voice from the other side of the phone. A very unsure voice.

"Um… do you know who I am…"

Kurosaki Ichigo!

Being the first thought in Ryūken's head as he held the phone close to his ear with a look of shock on his face.

Back at the Kurosaki residence, a Quincy held a hand up to his chest and clenched it in his fist. He looked out from the window of Ichigo's room and had a bad feeling going up and down his spine.

Ichigo…