Hi everybody! I decided to write this as a little celebration for archiving 150,000 words! Also I love Ichigo whump/ his friends protecting him.

The Four Times Soul Reapers could protect Ichigo and The One Time They Couldn't

1. Science Experiment

Ichigo looked around at the swirling spiritual pressure around him. Even Unohana had balked at its sheer strength. He was heavily injured from battle, confined to bed-rest, only half-concious, knocked out of any real sense, completely exhausted and still radiating more spiritual pressure than the average captain.

They had to move him into his own room because he was causing other patients discomfort just being in his vicinity. Renji once again had to think that this man (or boy, really, he was barely a tenth of his age) was insane.

They'd just gotten over the disaster that was the Zanpakuto Rebellion and thankfully, everyone's Zanpakutos were restored to their original spots by their master's sides. Ichigo was still recovering from being in the center of that whole fiasco, even if most everyone else was well on the road to recovery.

Rukia and surprisingly, Toshiro were also in the room, the latter looking bored, sifting through paperwork. He'd entered the nearly empty room saying that Rangiku was drinking in his office and he "needed a quiet place to look through the damages reports." While the nearly empty section of the Squad Four's barracks was relatively quiet, it was also very tense and not well lit—really not a good place to get paperwork done. It was a see-through excuse to say the least.

If Toshiro was honest with himself (which he wasn't, at the moment) he would acknowledge that since the disaster with fighting against the other Hyourinmaru, Ichigo and Toshiro had become friends and understood each other on a tacit level.

Ichigo looked over at Renji and Rukia. He'd been the process of waking up for a few minutes now and only seemed to realize it just that moment.

"Yo." He said, hoarsely.

"Welcome to the world of the living," Rukia smirked, "well, in a manner of speaking."

Ichigo chuckled gently, his eyes a little dull with exhaustion. He hadn't healed as quickly as he usually did. "I take it we won?"

"Yeah we won." Renji said.

"Good." He said.

"How are you feeling?" Rukia asked, touching his hand gently.

"Better than after the fight." He frowned. "Worse than before the fight."

Renji laughed this time. "Oh boy, you're really out of it, aren't you?"

"Out of what?" He blinked. The healing had left him kind of hazy.

Toshiro looked up at that one, with a vaguely annoyed look that screamed, 'you idiot.'

"Hm, that's interesting…" A croaky voice put in. Everyone but Ichigo, whose eyes were lazily following a hell butterfly passing by the window, looked over in surprise at the 12th Squad Captain at the doorway.

"What brings you here, Captain Kurotsuchi?" Toshiro asked, his eyes guarded as he looked up, pointedly closing the file he'd been looking at. Renji and Rukia tensed at their superior.

"I thought it was interesting that you had so much spiritual pressure when Nemu specifically reported that you were still rather indisposed. Originally, I thought Nemu had made a careless miscalculation but I decided to check it out. Quite interesting, considering your current state, Kurosaki."

Ichigo moved his eyes over to meet the captain. "Is that make-up or were you Michael Jackson in the Living World?"

Rukia, the only one who understood the reference, instantly covered her mouth to hold in a snort of laughter at his comment.

Toshiro's lazy turquoise eyes looked at his colleague carefully. "I'm afraid he's won't make a very stimulating conversation at the moment, sorry you came all this way."

Mayuri took another step into room, ignoring Toshiro's words. "Conversation wasn't my reason for coming. I'm officially borrowing Kurosaki Ichigo on behalf of the Twelfth Division. I'll of course return him within a week or so."

Rukia stood up, hand at her sword. Renji was up too.

"Sorry, that's not an option, Captain Kurotsuchi," Renji ground out. Ichigo looked at them with a blank look on his face. He felt kind of feverish, he realized belatedly, bringing a hand to his forehead in puzzlement. He wasn't quite following the conversation either.

"I doubt the Head Captain or Captain Unohana gave you permission to even try this." Rukia said warningly.

"I don't need Yamamoto's permission to conduct my research! It's my job!" The scientist declared.

"I'm going to get the Head Captain," Rukia said, flash-stepping away. She didn't have an political influence in this situation. A captain and lieutenant, however could pull their weight against the senior captain.

Ichigo sat up a bit, rubbing his bandaged head from where he'd nearly been brained. "Wasn't Rukia here too?" He asked in a tentative tone. His reiatsu flared in confusion, exacerbating the situation—Captain Kurotsuchi's ever-present grin widened in excitement. He was probably planning to vivisect Ichigo, Renji realized with a shiver.

And Ichigo was completely unaware of the danger he was in, concussed, exhausted, feverish and injured on top of his natural cluelessness.

Toshiro walked up to meet the much taller Twelfth Squad Captain in the middle of the room. Nemu walked into the room, joining her captain's side. Her expression was blank but her presence meant a threat.

"Kurosaki isn't on your list of allowed test subjects, as you're well aware. You'll face the Head Captain's punishment if you so much as try."

"I believe my findings will be more than worth it. Don't worry, I'll put him back together when I'm done." He tried to persuade the younger captain.

"Egg." Ichigo said giggling to himself under his breath.

Neither Kurotsuchi's nor Kurosaki's comments made Toshiro or Renji feel better in the least. Renji drew his sword, ignoring the warning look from Toshiro not to elevate the conflict. Their only hope was for someone of equal or higher standing to intercede. The twelfth captain was knowledge hungry, but neither stupid nor suicidal.

He moved toward the bed, pushing past Renji and binding Ichigo's wrists together with kido. Ichigo didn't respond at all, sending another shiver of concern through Renji's spine. This last battle really had rendered Ichigo senseless.

"Howl, Zabimaru."

The time to try appeasing to the captain had passed. The tenth captain seemed to agree, drawing his own zanpakuto. Those who Kurotsuchi managed to experiment on didn't come back. And if they did by some miracle, they certainly didn't come back anything like they were before—physically or mentally.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, if you would please step back from the substitute soul reaper," a voice thick with confidence and self-assurance rung out across the room. Rukia panted by the side of her unfazed older brother. "I was in the middle of some important plans when Rukia came to me. It's best if you leave now, before this foolishness is allowed to go on any longer."

His voice continued, rich and practiced. "Or I will petition for suspension of the twelfth division for causing my sister to worry."

"Nii-sama," Rukia blushed, looking up at the noble. Kurotsuchi hesitated before backing off. Byakuya snapped his fingers and the kido around Ichigo's wrists disappeared.

Throughly outnumbered, Kurotsuchi grumbled out of the room, Nemu trailing behind.

"What a pest," Byakuya said, looking at Ichigo, who hadn't called him by his first name yet.

"Thank you for coming, Captain." Renji said, sheathing Zabimaru.

"Kurosaki's still recovering, it seems." Byakuya said.

"Stick it to the man, Byakuya. You really told Urahara 2.0 off." He said, leaning back into his pillow, his eyes fluttering shut.

Rukia's blush got fiercer at the look of indignant confusion on her brother's face. "He's got a fever, Nii-sama. I'll be a few days until he's back on his feet." Rukia explained, returning to Ichigo.

Byakuya decided to let the matter go. "I see. Make sure not to leave him without having a seated officer stationed. Captain Kurotsuchi is sure to try again." With that, Byakuya flash stepped away to see if he couldn't find the head captain to prevent this situation from happening a second time.

The three soul reapers still in the room with Ichigo sighed and sat back down, wanting Ichigo to improve now more than ever. Rukia and Renji decided to always have someone with Ichigo when he was in the Fourth Division barracks and unable to defend himself. It was a small price to pay to keep the savior of the Soul Society safe.

Please review! I'll update soon! Also, feel free to add suggestions for other ideas-I'm not opposed to writing extra chapters!