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A Shadow of What Was	By : katami Category: Bleach > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 49594 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Author's Notes: As if I need to announce it, but the threesome AJS won for is indeed Shunsui,Jyuushiro, and Grimmjow. And yes, I am truly that twisted. But as most of you noticed, poking the kitty was fun and Shunsui is so good at it (and just wait until Jyuushiro starts playing - those quiet types are dangerous).

This is another of what I am terming 'breather' chapters. I know they seem a little dull but they set us up for the big climb to the end of Shadow and important things are being prepared in them. Bear with them and we will be back to angst and action soon.

I'd like to take a moment and thank everyone who has read this story and all the people who have taken the time to review, your comments always make me smile. Thank you all and happy Friday!

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Deciding it was better to beard the dragon in his den rather than wait for the dragon to find him, Ichigo found himself knocking on Hitsugaya's door. Karin stayed with him on the nights she slept over - so about four times a week. It was early but not unreasonably so. He had escaped Uyruu and Renji's before they could find him in come smeared robes. He was fairly sure Ishida considered coming on his couch a justifiable reason for murder. And really, how embarrassing was it to be nearly forty and still having wet dreams like a teenager?

Despite the somewhat mortifying start to his morning. he felt better than he had in days. Kisuke was alright and safely under Uryuu and Renji's watchful eyes. He would have preferred having the other man under his own care, but he could be patient. He had reason to be. Kisuke's reiatsu had been a subtle presence at the edge of his own power all morning, gently caressing him. The touches were teasingly light but achingly familiar; they were Kisuke. His Kisuke. He knew there was a stupid little smile on his lips, but he couldn't help it.

The door flew open under his hand and Karin glared darkly at him for a moment before recognizing it was him and relaxing. "If it's more bad news I'm going to kick your ass myself," she warned him. Definitely his little sister, thought Ichigo with a grin.

"Everything's fine. I promise. Although, if Ishida comes looking for me about a couch, you haven't seen me," he told her, kissing her brow and following her into Toushirou's quarters. Her hair was brushed sleek and shiny, but she was still in her robe - a beautiful creation of purple silk that Hitsugaya had given her - a cup of coffee in her hand.

"Where's Toushirou?" he asked, glancing around as he didn't spot the captain of the Tenth anywhere in the living room or dining room. It was early but Hitsugaya could usually be counted upon to be up by now. Hell, before Karin he would have been in the office before now.

"Still asleep. The last few days haven't been good for him - he's barely slept and he pushed himself way too hard. The dummy shouldn't have been up at all, but someone had to coordinate the search. He never listens," sighed Karin, leading him into the dining room and pouring him a cup of coffee. Ichigo recognized the grumbling tone and the emotions behind it, she was worried for her lover and angry that he had pushed himself so hard.

�How is he?� he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

�Better. Hanatarou says he should be back on his feet in another three or four days if he actually listens this time and rests. Matsumoto and I are handling most of the paperwork until then.� Nothing new about that. Karin had been an unofficial part of the Tenth since the first night she had stayed over. Most of the Tenth viewed her rank as somewhere between Matsumoto and Hitsugaya.

�Not going in to work today?� he asked. He knew she had been calling in sick since the whole business with Kisuke started; but he had assumed that she would be heading back to her human life soon.

Karin shook her head. �I told them my fiancé had been injured and I wanted to look after him. Although sometimes I think I should just do what you did and become a Shinigami. Hisagi-san and Ukitake-san have both mentioned openings in their divisions.� Ukitake and Hisagi had been courting her since Toushirou had begun seeing her, both men eager to find themselves a vice captain.

For a horrible moment Ichigo could see her down at the bottom of a shaft, her arms pinned as she screamed. His baby sister. She would survive the change of course. He knew Karin and she was a fighter. She would emerge just as he had.

He didn�t want her to though.

He didn�t want to have to watch as his baby sister suffered or see her come to terms with the darkness she could be capable of. Suddenly the nightmare Kisuke had occasionally woken from, tears on his cheeks and a desperately apology on his lips, made a lot more sense. �You don�t want to do that, Karin. Not what I did.�

�Why not? You turned out okay.�

�Yeah, but�,� How to explain? To find the words to make her understand that Shattered Shaft wasn�t hard on the person at the bottom of the shaft, it was hardest on the people at the top. The people who stood waiting while someone they cared about suffered. He wasn�t strong enough to do that to her. Kisuke had done it and he had hated himself for it. �The way I was changed�it�s too dangerous. We can talk to Tessai, maybe check Urahara�s notes,� he murmured. He could take down the wards around Urahara�s workshop easily enough, but he wasn�t sure even Tessai would be able to make head or heels of Kisuke�s notes.

After the blonde had died, he and Tessai had sealed the workshop. They hadn�t even bothered trying to inventory it. Very few things were labeled and Urahara�s notes were a jumble of information. There were math problems suddenly appearing in the middle of the page, random bits of what Ichigo thought might be poetry, and sometimes the notes were nothing more than a word or two meant to jog Kisuke�s memory. There had been a very good reason no one but Kisuke had touched anything in the workshop.

"You know, one of the these days we're going to have to have a long discussion about your choice in boyfriends," she growled at him.

"Like you're one to talk. Kisuke was a pushover compared to your ice dragon. You should talk to Toushirou though, before you decide anything...be sure about it," he murmured softly, taking her hand in his and giving it a gentle squeeze.

"I know. I just hate not being able to be with him all the time, which is stupid because we couldn't be together all the time even if I was a Shinigami," she said in a sigh. He could understand though. Toushirou was hers and she couldn't protect him. And Karin handled that about as well as he would have.

"It'll be alright," he told her, leaning forward and kissing her forehead.

"You know, I tried to talk to you last night. You weren't in your room," she told him, sitting back and once more his strong, confident, younger sister.

"Yeah, I crashed on Uryuu and Renji's couch last night and in my office before that. My rooms are still a mess from before," he muttered, frowning irritably at the reminder of his outburst. It would take him ages to get his rooms back together. It could have been worse however, he could have killed someone. He wondered about the Shinigami sometimes, how much brainpower did it take to figure out that drugging someone as insanely power and emotionally fucked up as him was a bad idea.

Karin sighed softly. "Do I even want to ask or can I just assume that you and Ishida had a few words with Kurotshuchi?"

"Renji and I, actually. But officially we were drinking all night. Uryuu will vouch for us," he told her with a grin, making Karin laugh.

"I'll be sure and note that," she told him wryly. "So when were you planning on mentioning the latest development with Urahara?" Karin asked glancing at a portion of empty air around his feet, obviously noticing the hints of the other man's reiatsu mixed in with his own.

"No development to report. I haven't seen him since yesterday in the hall. Uryuu suspects the reiatsu thing is instinct. We reach out for each other, like you and Toushirou, or him and Renji. It's nice, smoothing," he whispered softly, savoring the soft touch of the blonde's reiatsu.

"My brother the sap," murmured Karin, getting him more coffee and kissing his forehead. They drank in comfortable silence for a few minutes.

"So what did Dad want?" Ichigo finally asked.

"Him? It was weird, even for him. He just yammered at me and left, didn't really say anything at all," muttered Karin. "I was just about ready to kick him. Everyone was running around and he was talking about the goddamn weather."

Ichigo shook his head, wondering if too long in a gigai led to mental problems or something. It was far more comforting than thinking their father was just batshit insane. "Any truth to the rumor that Ishida senior was with him? Having his dad around makes Uryuu twitchy," he explained when Karin frowned at him.

"Never saw him, but there is something weird going on with those two."

"I'm beginning to think normal and Urahara are unable to exist in any sort of proximity to one another. One kills the other almost instantly," murmured Toushirou around a yawn. "Good morning, Kurosaki," he nodded to Ichigo, his hand ghosted over Karin's for the briefest instant, but Ichigo could sense the spike in both their energies. The frown melted from Karin's lips, replaced by a sweet smile, as Toushirou fixed himself a cup of black coffee before joining them at the table.

"I'm going to get going. I need to get into my office or Rukia's gonna skin me. See ya, Hitsugaya. Bye, Karain," he murmured, beating a hasty retreat.
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A Shadow of What Was