Shinji was glad everyone had the foresight to request time off both for the evening of Ichigo's birthday party and for the morning after, despite the chances of having alcoholic drinks (and therefore hangovers) at Ichigo's party being next to nil, because it meant that when the latter half of the group got home, the others were still awake. Loudly awake, in the case of Love and Hiyori, who were fighting over the TV remote. Shinji rubbed his eyes tiredly before flash stepping over to the TV and unplugging it.

"Hell was that for, baldy?!" Hiyori barked, jumping up from the ratty but comfy couch situated in front of the TV. Shinji shook his head without saying a word before he flared his reiatsu – just enough to call attention – and whistled sharply.

In the beginning, there hadn't been a discussion or vote on who would lead their little band of misfits. They had needed a leader – someone who could put the strengths of each person to best use, someone to coordinate the group in the middle of a fight, someone to be a notch above the others because they'd all been leaders in their own rights as Shinigami officers, and they couldn't constantly be struggling against each other in decisions that affected the whole group. They'd found out early on that if they fractured, they'd be sunk, both physically and mentally.

Shinji had stepped into the leadership role without conflict. He was the strongest and most experienced of the Vizards, the longest-serving captain among them with the greatest quantity of reiryoku (though not by much, and this power translated to abilities that were more illusory and precise in nature rather than destructive). He was crafty and cunning, more than willing to fight dirty if it meant keeping the people under his protection safe. As clever as he was, he caught details others often missed – like Aizen's shady nature.

Lisa had somehow wound up as his unofficial second-in-command, despite the presence of three other ex-captains, possibly because she'd been Kyoraku's lieutenant and therefore, by necessity, could put up with a lot of bullshit (at least better than Love, who was the other unofficial candidate). An outsider's first impression would be that Hiyori was the second-in-command, probably because of her tendency to get into petty brawls with Shinji and to browbeat him into submission. But on closer observation, the decisions Hiyori overrode Shinji on were trivial matters – and if Hiyori overstepped, Shinji had no qualms reasserting himself.

Love straightened from where he'd been slouching on the couch, while Kensei, Rose, and Mashiro stopped on the way to their living quarters, faces serious. Hachi emerged from a corner where he'd been meditating, and Lisa flashed to stand near Shinji, asking, "Where's the fire?"

"No fires. We just need ta have a discussion," Shinji replied, leaning against the couch.

"About the Kurosaki children?" Rose guessed, gaze troubled.

"Yeah. We've all been havin' little one-on-one chats with each other, an' it's about time ta reach a consensus. Will we stick around? Can we stick around without fuckin' 'em up?"

"You're pushing the issue earlier than I was expecting," Lisa noted, eyes sharp. "Did something happen?"

Shinji ran a hand through his hair in agitation. "Yuzu-chan said that she wished we had adopted her an' her siblings instead o' Kisuke."

The other Vizards fell deathly still as the implications started sinking in. Shinji had been preoccupied with the significance of it, himself, during his return to the warehouse. The kids were far, far too attached to the Vizards for their own good, if they thought centuries-old, undead monsters condemned by a powerful government and dedicated to bringing down a madman could possibly be good caretakers. (Though, to be fair, it wasn't as though the children really knew any of that.)

And, damnit, the connection ran both ways. It should have been easy to permanently walk out of the Kurosakis' lives, but Shinji's heart ached just contemplating it. He'd caught himself musing, instead, of how the children could be kept safe and out of Aizen's or Soul Society's reach… and even of how the warehouse could be modified to suit their needs.

Mashiro was the first to break the silence. "Let's do it! Kagakusha*-san can take care of the Human stuff – I mean, he's got the kids now, and he can make the papers go through so we're not hounded by, like, tax collectors or something–"

"I don't think that's how tax collectors work," Hachi responded automatically, seeming a bit dazed.

"–and we could totally build some monkey bars here, because kids need monkey bars and Kensei's always told me no when I've asked him and we can play Karakura Superheroes all the time–"

"Wait, are we seriously considering adopting a few Human kids when we haven't even decided if we should continue interacting with them?!" Rose exclaimed in astonishment.

Well, Shinji hadn't exactly expected the conversation to go in this direction – he'd used Yuzu's comment to illustrate how the children had bonded to them, rather than a suggestion – but he didn't mind this, either. His vague ideas for a child-friendly warehouse that he'd cooked up earlier came to mind. Except…

"Yeah! I mean, I guess they're okay for Humans, but what happens if Aizen shows up and we lose our chance to gut him because we're too busy protecting them?" Hiyori added.

"If I had to choose between the children and killing Aizen… I don't know what I'd choose. That's dangerous," Kensei said, looking as though he hated the words coming from his mouth.

"We can't afford the split priorities," Love summed up defeatedly.

And wasn't that the crux of the matter? All of the previous discussions had skirted around the issue of Sousuke Aizen, because there was still that imagined distance – removed by Yuzu's adoption comment – between the Vizards and the Kurosakis that would keep the latter firmly separated from the conflict. Because no matter how much it absolutely sucked, destroying Aizen and his disastrous plans to upset the balance of life and death had to come first. All the billions of souls in the worlds weren't worth the three Kurosakis, no matter how nauseating it was to admit it.

"What about them? Would they be able to accept it if we just… vanished?" Hachi asked, his serene 'I'm really upset but I don't want to show it' mask firmly in place.

"They're humans, and they're young. They'll adapt. Or, better, forget about us," Lisa murmured.

"I don't wanna make Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan cry!" Mashiro burst out, looking as though she was close to crying, herself.

The warm images of the warehouse modified for the children faded from Shinji's mind. "Would we be okay if we cut contact?" Shinji asked quietly, already knowing the answer and hating himself for it.

"We have to consider what's best for them, first," Rose replied, eyes glassy. "We can endure."

"Urahara-san might be creepy, but his position is certainly more stable and secure than ours. He'll be able to protect them better," Love added, sounding as though he was trying to convince himself as much as everyone else.

Mashiro's voice wobbled. "But… I don't… they… we can't see them at all? We can't take them in?"

Hiyori laughed bitterly, her voice like broken glass. "Oh, come on! Even if we could just ignore the whole Aizen problem, and the whole 'standing execution orders from Soul Society' thing, what do you think would happen when they find out we're part Hollow? We couldn't hide it, not if they were living with us. We're monsters, just like the one that killed their parents!"

Mashiro flinched like she'd been physically struck, then buried her face in her hands and started to cry. Rose was biting his lip to avoid the same, while Hachi could have been a carved statue for all the life he was showing. The others looked varying degrees of nauseous and devastated, much like Shinji himself.

"So… we're in agreement then?" Shinji said heavily. "Ta cease contact with the Kurosaki children?"

One by one, each of the others nodded, even Mashiro, who was sobbing quietly. Shinji hadn't seen the others so dispirited since they'd woken after the Hollowfication and Urahara had solemnly explained what had happened to their souls and their lives.

It was for the best, Shinji told himself. They'd all agreed on it. But that didn't stop his heart from feeling like it was breaking.

"Urahara-san?" Yuzu was looking up at Kisuke with too-large eyes full of worry. "Do you know where Mashiro-san and Rose-san and them are? Where did they go? Are they okay?"

Kisuke sighed, tipping his head back and closing his eyes. As far as he knew, nothing had happened to the Vizards. They were completely hidden behind kido barriers at their warehouse, but when they were out running errands or working, they only had their own reiatsu-control skills to hide them – which, given that they'd been on the run for a century, were rather impressive, but not enough to hide everything. Usually, the Vizards tried to keep their signatures Human-strength to blend in with other Humans. Now, trying to locate a singular Human-level signature was beyond most Shinigami, but Kisuke was not most, and he had machines to help him out, too. He'd been able to locate all of the Vizards over the past few days, and they all seemed to be in good physical health.

"I'm not sure where they are, but I'm pretty sure they're okay. No need to worry, Yuzu-chan," Kisuke said before smiling down at her and ruffling her hair.

Yuzu was a little mollified by the affection, but was still frowning. "We didn't scare them off, did we? Did we do something wrong? Did I do something wrong? Have they forgotten us?" She began to wring her hands, nervous and distressed.

"Of course not!" Kisuke lied easily, keeping his guesses about the Vizards' mental states and decisions to himself. "They're probably just busy, and they definitely haven't forgotten you. I'm sure they'll be back soon."

Yuzu nodded, visibly subdued. She and her siblings had been growing quieter the longer the Vizards stayed away, though Ichigo's mood was more from irritation than Yuzu's worry or Karin's hurt. Ururu and Jinta did their best to cheer up the Kurosakis, but Ururu couldn't provide enough emotional support (tragic, but unsurprising, given her background), and Jinta would be aggressive and insulting, which would lead to Tessai breaking up a fight. The most successful was Tessai, who was teaching Yuzu about the tradition of tea-making and the tea ceremony, but that didn't help her siblings, who didn't have the patience to sit and learn the subtle complexities of the art. Kisuke hoped that the children didn't regress to the pitiful states they'd been in after their parents had died.

Normally, if Love was fooling around the kitchen, looking for a snack, he'd be humming an off-key tune, partially because it was fun but mostly to irritate Rose in case Love ran into him, because Rose would glower at him, grumble under his breath, or go on a very technical diatribe about how he was butchering music, depending on the day. But Love just didn't feel like it today as he rummaged through the fridge, grimacing when he came upon a small tub of what used to be curry. He finally found a single yoghurt and extracted it, tossing the tub of ex-curry in the sink for whoever had dish duty for the week to deal with and closing the refrigerator door.

Love stopped in place, staring at the one decoration on the fridge: the picture of all the Vizards and Kurosakis together, hand-drawn by Yuzu and Karin. Love remembered when Rose had first shown it to him and the others, feeling awed and grateful and so touched that there was a lump in his throat. There had been a small argument over where to put it, which Lisa solved by returning from work with a small packet of colorful magnets to hang the drawing on the fridge. The drawing had been a symbol of happiness. Now, it was another reminder of what they'd lost or had to give up due to their circumstances.

Other objects with emotional value had been affected, too. The TV hadn't been turned on once since Ichigo's party to avoid the shows they'd watched with the children, and Love could barely get through his serialized manga nowadays without becoming depressed by the lack of Karin's presence. He'd noticed it in others, too – Rose producing less tasty meals when it was his turn to cook; Kensei, for some reason, staring forlornly at a broom before yelling and snapping it in half…

Love turned his back on the picture and trudged back out to the main floor of the warehouse, where Kensei, Hiyori, and Lisa were sprawled over their scant furniture. Love didn't want to necessarily say their behavior was moping, per se, but… yeah, it was moping. Everyone was feeling the ache of their decision. Even Love.

He sat in an old, broken armchair without saying a word, quietly nodding in greeting to the others before peeling the yoghurt's cover back in one smooth motion. Instantly, he was hit with horrible, nauseating smell strong enough to make his eyes water. Belatedly, he realized that the carton he'd grabbed – the only one he'd found, shoved back behind the ex-curry, which should have been a giant warning sign right there – was over a year out of date.

The others gagged as the smell hit them, too. Lisa choked, "Fuck, get that outta here, Love!"

Love needed no more prompting, flash stepping beyond the barrier and depositing the carton into a trash can all the way down the block. He was back within the confines of the barrier the next blink.

Giving up on a snack, Love plopped back down in the armchair, groaning. "Sorry about that, guys." Man, if he was missing clues that obvious about a carton of yoghurt, how badly were his battle instincts and reflexes affected? Pathetic, his zanpakuto Tengumaru hissed in his head, and Love had to agree.

"You better be," Hiyori said, baring her elongated canines in a snarl, but her words were without heat and her body language was without heart, and she quickly resumed her previous activity, which seemed to be staring mindlessly at the ceiling. The circles under her eyes were more pronounced than usual.

"Damnit! This is too damn depressing!" Kensei suddenly snarled, slamming a fist on the small coffee table next to his chair and shattering it. "I can't take this-this gloomy nonsense anymore! I'm going to go see them."

Everyone knew who them was. "What's the point of cutting contact if you're just going to break it within days?" Hiyori snapped irritably.

"I'm not going to let them see or sense me, idiot," Kensei snarled. "I can look in on them without them ever knowing I'm there."

"Spying on children? How deviant of you," Lisa drawled, the picture of perfect disinterest, save for her hands clutching her swimsuit magazine hard enough to turn her knuckles white, like she desperately wanted to join Kensei but couldn't bring herself to.

"Can it, you perv! I'm heading out," Kensei declared, jerkily standing before flashing out of sight.

"You didn't go with him," Love said to Lisa, surprised. Normally, she would've jumped at the chance to see something hidden or forbidden.

"You didn't stop him," Lisa shot back. Love had to concede the point; normally, he was a stickler for rules and rule-following (though he'd had to curb the tendency a bit during his century in hiding).

"Stupid Humans," Hiyori mumbled. "I hate that they got us this messed up." But she didn't say that she hated the Kurosakis, either.

He was hiding himself well, Kisuke thought. Enough to thoroughly trick most Shinigami officers, and more than enough to stay undetected from most of the Shoten's residents. But Kisuke had been Onmitsukido, one of their best, and he was perfectly aware that Muguruma Kensei was ensconced in an empty apartment with a perfect view of the Shoten, cloaked with an impressive, if messy, array of concealing kido that Kisuke and Tessai had taught to Hachi (and only Hachi) to help aid the Vizards lay low. Obviously, he was trying to hide from more than just the Kurosakis. A pity he wasn't aware that Kisuke could spot said spells used in his vicinity and had developed a spell of his own that would allow Kisuke to completely bypass the stealth kido like it wasn't even there.

Kisuke pretended like he hadn't noticed anyone spying on the Shoten or discreetly cast a tricky counterspell, yawning widely. All three Kurosakis were sprawled on the shop floor, concentrating silently on their homework – a stark contrast to the louder, more engaging homework sessions with the Vizards. Tessai was in back with Jinta and Ururu, and Yoruichi had long since wandered off again and was probably back in Soul Society by now.

All Shinigami could sense what other spiritual beings were feeling, to varying degrees, via their reiatsu. This was another skill honed within the Onmitsukido, for to know an opponent's heart was to know exactly where to strike to make it hurt the most. Kisuke didn't even need to sense Kensei's intent to know that he was focused on the Kurosakis. Kisuke was more interested in the feeling of intense longing. It seemed that Kisuke's guesses about the Vizards' absence were correct: they'd made a choice of duty over heart, logic over emotion. To protect the Kurosakis from harm, to protect themselves from more shattering loss, they'd taken the easy way out. A guaranteed but comparatively minor loss, instead of the risk of a loss big enough to possibly destroy them.

Of course Kisuke had noticed the Vizards bonding with the Kurosaki children and the kids blooming exponentially more in their care. He'd witnessed more genuine smiles and even joy from the Vizards with the Kurosakis over the course of a month than in over a decade in Soul Society, even though they were still stuck in the wrong dimension after almost a century of exile, with monsters created from and permanently stuck in their souls by a madman hellbent on chaos. He'd thought that the Vizards would choose to remain close to the children for emotional stability and wellbeing, or that if they vanished, they would be able to handle the emotional hit and focus on what they needed to do to stay hidden and take down Aizen. …while Kisuke handled the fallout with the more emotionally fragile Kurosakis, probably by eventually doing something reckless and/or stupid, because while he was smart enough to admit that mental and emotional wellbeing were important – especially given the recent explosion of Human study into the subject – he was next to useless in actually maintaining or improving it. Kisuke's hints that the Vizards should choose the former course of action weren't just because of the emotional benefits for all parties.

Except, judging by Kensei's mere presence and emotional state, the comparatively minor loss was still enough to hurt them as badly as it was hurting the Kurosakis… which was a lot, enough to detrimentally affect their behavior for weeks, if not months or even years, judging by their behavior immediately after the Hollowfication. Which, given that Kisuke was predicting that Aizen would make his move within the next decade, could be a Major Problem.

"Fools," Kisuke murmured to himself, tipping his hat to further shadow his eyes.

The unfortunate group of officers had really rubbed off on Kisuke, enough that he would tentatively call them friends instead of mere allies or people he owed a debt to. He wanted to facilitate in the maintenance or improvement of their well-being. And, if said aid also fixed the behavioral issues that could be detrimental to bringing down Aizen… well, he'd be almost obligated to offer his support, wouldn't he?

He'd take matters into his own hands to fix this. He just needed a couple weeks to set everything up…

One week, five days later…

"Ya know, spyin' on the kids really ain't helpin' ya get over havin' ta leave 'em be," Shinji chided.

"You're here, right next to me, doing the exact same damn thing, dumbass," Kensei said, leveling Shinji with an unimpressed glower.

"Just keepin' ya company," Shinji said loftily.

"You're full of shit, Hirako."

"Are ya really sure this setup's hidden from Kisuke?" Shinji complained, instead of dignifying the last comment with a response.

"I'm fairly sure; he hasn't given any indication he's noticed it," Kensei said.

"Only fairly sure?"

"Shh, you guys! They'll hear us!" Mashiro whisper-yelled.

"This place is soundproofed, idiot," Kensei snapped back, not bothering to lower his voice.

"Meanie!" Mashiro pouted, but instead of sticking her tongue out childishly at Kensei like she normally would have, her eyes were glued to Karin kicking a ball around with Ichigo.

Yuzu, Jinta, and Ururu were inside, but Shinji could still sense them quite clearly. Tessai was out of the shop, and Kisuke seemed to be a distance from the children, maybe in one of his labs.

Shinji felt a bit irritated that Kisuke had left the shop front to a bunch of children – again – but then he squashed it. He was supposed to be letting go of these brats, damnit. Not that he'd been hugely successful at it over the past few weeks. He'd had less trouble shedding himself of his emotional ties to Soul Society, though that might have been helped by Soul Society's utter disregard and betrayal following the Hollowfication incident (and even decades later he still occasionally had bouts of homesickness). Still, he'd barely known these kids for a year; how was it harder to forget them than to forget home? Plus, it really didn't help that the children seemed to be moping, growing more listless by the day.

At least he wasn't the only one having problems. Every single one of the Vizards had visited the little hidey-hole that Kensei had made once they'd found out what he'd done, despite his usual distaste for kido. Even Hachi had staked out the Shoten one afternoon and beefed up the foundation Kensei had laid down.

Without warning, Kisuke's reiatsu spiked in alarm before a bunch of… somethings… suddenly appeared out of nowhere. They seemed weak, but Kisuke's reaction indicated that they were more dangerous than they appeared. Shinji's body thrummed with tension, and he saw Kensei and Mashiro tense from the corner of his eye. Karin and Ichigo seemed aware of the disturbance, too, as they rushed back inside, ball forgotten. Kisuke seemed to be preoccupied in his lab, cutting down a bunch of the things without hesitation, but a few escaped into the front of the house. Surely Kisuke had protections in place to keep the children safe? And they shouldn't interfere, anyway—

There were alarmed shouts, then a shrill scream filled with pain. Shinji jumped through the window and drew his zanpakuto before he even consciously decided to move, Kensei and Mashiro right on his heels.

Inside the Shoten were a number of… floating, gelatinous-looking blobs with no discernible features. One had wrapped around Karin, suspending her above the ground. Her reiatsu flickered like a dying candle, her energy draining. Ichigo looked frantic, having fended one of the blob monsters away from Yuzu with a broom, but with his attention divided, he would be easy pickings for another blob coming from behind. Ururu's reiatsu had sort of gone flat, her expression eerily blank as she effectively worked to annihilate the blobs attacking her and Jinta.

Shinji took in the scene in less than a blink of an eye. In the next moment, Kensei sliced the blob draining and suffocating Karin, while Mashiro lent Jinta and Ururu a hand and Shinji eviscerated the blobs surrounding Ichigo and Yuzu. The little pieces of gelatin wobbled uncertainly before steadying, grouping up and advancing towards them.

"You've got to be kidding me," Kensei mumbled, Karin cradled protectively in the crook of an arm.

Shinji raised his zanpakuto in readiness for the second round when a strange wave of pressure pulsed through the room, originating from further in the shop. All of the gelatinous bits shivered before falling to the floor and splashing into puddles. Kisuke stumbled in view a few moments later, looking worse for the wear with pale skin, soaked clothes, and hat askew. He looked a little dizzy, probably from getting some reiryoku eaten, but he was still able to survey the dead blobs – were they even alive in the first place? – with assessing eyes. "Crisis over," he pronounced, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that."

Shinji felt as if a chill had settled in his heart and soul. "Sorry?" he said softly. "Sorry?" he repeated a little louder as he surveyed the room. Ichigo and Yuzu had immediately plastered themselves at Kensei's side while Kensei softly calmed them and held Karin, a sickly white and almost unconscious, close to raise her core temperature. Ururu was still stuck in zombie-mode, eyes wide but completely lifeless as she stood in front of a cowering Jinta. It seemed Mashiro couldn't get close, and she hovered uncertainly nearby, torn between trying to get through to the two children and joining the protective huddle with the Kurosakis. "Sorry doesn't even get close ta cuttin' it!"

Kisuke blinked slowly, like he was having troubles getting his head around what Shinji said. "Well, what else do you want me to say?"

Shinji gritted his teeth and had to remind himself that Kisuke could be slow on these things, sometimes, and that doling out serious damage to his person would be counter-productive in the long run. "Why did that even happen in the first place? Ya should've had safeties ta keep the dangerous stuff away from the children, at least!"

Kisuke grimaced. "I do, and they work for most of the accidents that happen in the lab, but—"

"Most?" Shinji growled, so angry he could hear faint growling from his Hollow in the back of his mind. He was sure his eyes were flashing gold, by the faint alarm in Kisuke's eyes.

While Shinji had to take a deep breath to shove his Hollow back down again, Mashiro spoke up. "Okay, nope. No, no, no." She'd evidently given up on Ururu and Jinta and was crouching by the Kurosakis, one arm each around Ichigo and Yuzu. "We're stealing them and taking them home. You can't have them back."

"Wait, what?" Yuzu said, confused but not apprehensive. Ichigo was almost as pale as Karin and looked to be nonresponsive, seeming to be in shock from almost watching another family member get hurt and almost killed. (Because reiryoku depletion, while rare, could be fatal depending on how severe it was.)

"Hachi can heal you up in a jiffy," Kensei said soothingly to Karin before glaring daggers at Kisuke. "I'm heading home. I'll knock your teeth in later." He vanished in a flurry of shunpo.

Ichigo let out a cry as Karin vanished from sight just before Mashiro scooped up him and his sister. "You'll be with Karin-chan again soon," she cooed before glowering at Kisuke and saying, "Nope, bad Kagakusha-san," and disappearing to follow Kensei.

Before Shinji could say another word, Kisuke interjected, a little reluctantly, "Are you going to take them, too?" He gestured at Jinta, who seemed to have calmed a bit, and Ururu, who had a little life in her eyes.

"What? No, I'm staying here!" Jinta interrupted loudly, even though his hands were still shaking. "I ain't going with you weirdos, and I ain't leaving Ururu 'cause she needs to stay here for medicine, an' I can handle the s-scary stuff better than those three!"

Well, that was fine, because Shinji wasn't fond enough of these two to bring them home, and he was pretty sure the others wouldn't have been terribly happy to take them in, given a number of violent personality clashes. Still, he wouldn't just abandon them to Kisuke's idiocy without at least a little support. "Ya'd damn well better clean up this mess ya made, then," Shinji hissed, making it clear he was referring to the traumatized children rather than the physical mess with a pointed jerk of his head. "We can discuss housin' arrangements later, once ya've gotten your shit together." Then he, too, disappeared, returning as fast as he could back to the warehouse.

Unbeknownst to him, once Kisuke had comforted the remaining two children, cleaned up his visible mess, and reset the wards around his lab to their usual strength, he flipped open his fan to hide his inappropriate smirk. "Mission accomplished." Now, all he had to do was explain all this to Tessai…

Lisa carefully traced the lines of the model's body with her eyes, trying her best to focus on the curves of skin and the skimpy style of the swimsuit and not on how three of her friends were staking out the Shoten or how much she wanted to join them. She'd already caved and visited the little hideout a handful of times, just to ascertain their well-being.

The Kurosakis were fine. Sad, yes, but they'd get over it in time. The kids were fi—

"HACHI!" Kensei roared, materializing on the warehouse floor with all the subtlety of a rampaging Hollow and flaring his reiatsu as a wild signal. "GET YOUR ASS UP HERE NOW! KARIN'S IN TROUBLE!" Lisa belatedly noticed that Karin was nestled in Kensei's arms, unmoving and pale. Her reiatsu signature was worryingly weak, even for a Human.

Lisa dropped her magazine and hurried over to where Kensei had sat, curled around Karin. The Human child looked terribly small and fragile in Kensei's muscular arms. "Kensei, what in the world—"

"Get a blanket," Kensei ordered lowly as Hachi emerged from the basement, looking slightly frantic. Lisa had so many questions, but she knew well enough that now wasn't the time for answers. She flashed into her room, ripped all of the bedsheets from her mattress with shaking hands, and flashed back to Kensei in time to see Hachi running a quick diagnostic kido. Lisa wrapped Karin as tightly as she could in the sheets and scarcely withdrew her hands before one of Hachi's cubical healing fields slammed down around Karin. Mashiro joined the group a moment later and set down Karin's frantic siblings. Lisa had to hold them back from running face-first into the field and disrupting it.

Then, she leveled Kensei with her most fearsome glare. "What. Happened," Lisa bit out. Karin was injured to the point of unconsciousness, 'upset' didn't even begin to describe Ichigo and Yuzu, and all three of them had been unceremoniously hauled to the Vizards' home after they'd specifically decided never to interact with them again. Love, Rose, and Hiyori would be in for one hell of a surprise when they returned to the warehouse, she thought idly.

"I'm gonna murder Urahara-san," Kensei snarled at the same time as Shinji's voice cut in, "Kisuke's an imbecile." The leader of the Vizards sauntered up to the huddle, deceptively relaxed in the way he was when he really wanted to stab something. In a low voice, Shinji described how one of Urahara's experiments had run amok, nearly killing Karin in mere moments with the other children overwhelmed and not far behind. Lisa was beginning to sympathize with Kensei's murderous rage.

"Will Karin-nee be okay?" Yuzu asked tremulously, looking up at Hachi with teary eyes.

"Karin-chan will be fine," Hachi assured softly. "Her reiryoku, her spiritual energy, has been badly drained, but I am restoring her as we speak."

Yuzu started crying softly. "Thank goodness… thank you…" she whispered hoarsely. Ichigo sat perfectly still, staring at Karin as if he thought she'd vanish the moment he took his eyes off of her, but some of the tension in his shoulders vanished following Hachi's pronouncement.

"We're keeping them," Mashiro said firmly, her expression solemn, for once.

None of the others disagreed, and Lisa didn't think Rose, Love, or Hiyori would, either. There was a physical pain in Lisa's chest, like her heart was constricting, at the sight of the Kurosakis so upset and hurt and scared, and the thought of returning them to Urahara's care left her feeling angry and nauseous. In that moment, all of their earlier concerns about Aizen and properly raising Human children seemed small in the face of the fire in her gut. The Vizards had survived the Hollowfication and every single obstacle in their way since with cunning and determination, and they could damn well raise some children in the same way.

Karin stirred within Hachi's kido. Lisa wasn't normally one for poetic language, but at that moment, it felt as though she was truly warm for the first time in decades, with a promise of a hopeful future.

The strangling fear clogging Ichigo's throat and chest started dissipating as he saw his little sister shift. It was a little hard to tell through the yellow kido, but it looked like Karin's color was healthier, too. Hachi's healing kido was really amazing. Karin would be okay.

No thanks to Ichigo, though.

Ichigo swallowed hard, his muscles protesting every step of the way. His stomach churned as he remembered how he'd failed to stop Karin from getting hurt. In some ways, it was worse than waking up underneath his dead parents, because this time, he was completely aware of what happened – how goo monsters had emerged from Urahara-san's lab, how he'd been caught completely wrong-footed, how his techniques with the unwieldy broom he'd grabbed in a panic weren't fast enough to keep a monster from slipping through and grabbing Karin, how his heart had stopped when he'd heard her scream and thought she was dying.

It was his fault Karin was hurt, because he wasn't strong enough. He was supposed to protect them, the last of his small family; even his name spelled out his role. And he'd failed in his job. He'd failed to protect Karin. He was supposed to be getting stronger, and he'd been working hard, but it wasn't enough if he couldn't even protect his sisters from goo monsters.

What if it was never enough? If he struggled and strained and worked his ass off to become strong, and he still wasn't able to keep his sisters safe? If his sisters died becau—

A bony hand fisted in the back of Ichigo's shirt and hauled him onto an equally bony shoulder. The world flew by at a dizzying speed and all of a sudden, he was being set on a crumbling concrete platform, a couple stories above his sisters and in a distant corner of the building (warehouse? He hadn't exactly been paying attention when Mashiro had brought him inside).

Ichigo frantically looked for a way back down to his sisters without breaking his legs or his neck, and when he couldn't find one, he whirled around to throw an agitated glare at Shinji, who stared back with an unimpressed frown. "What are you doing?" Ichigo hissed. "I need to be there for when Karin wakes up! I can't—"

"Can't what? Step away from yer sisters for two seconds? Trust that we can care for them? Worry about yourself a little?" Shinji said, raising an eyebrow.

"They need me! Karin was hurt, and Yuzu's upset, and I need to be there and be strong for them!" Ichigo snarled, stealing a glance at the group huddled on the floor.

Shinji rolled his eyes. "Ya sure you're talkin' about them? 'Cause it sounds more like yer talkin' about yourself."

"I— what? I'm fine!" Ichigo snapped.

"Prove it, then. Hold out your hands and keep 'em steady," Shinji challenged.

Never one to back down, Ichigo thrust his hands out, palms up. They were visibly trembling. And no matter how Ichigo strained his muscles and focused, he couldn't get them to stop shaking, or for his legs to stop feeling wobbly or for his breath to stop feeling tight in his chest. Ichigo scowled fiercely and glared at his hands as if they'd personally offended him.

"Easy, kiddo," Shinji said, dropping a hand on Ichigo's head. "Sit down."

It was almost embarrassing how easily Ichigo's legs folded underneath him. And, to his mortification, his eyes started welling up with tears.

Shinji sat down next to him and slipped an arm around his shoulders, pulling him close. "Breathe, Ichigo. It's okay. They're alive. Let it go."

Ichigo crumbled into the man's side, shuddering. Despite Ichigo's desire to handle it all himself and the fact that Shinji and his friends had dropped off the face of the planet without warning for weeks, Ichigo found himself unable to keep his mouth shut. "I can't— I… I couldn't protect Karin. Just like Kaa-san and Tou-san. I'm supposed to be strong and protect them, but – but I couldn't do either! I was worthless… and I can't even keep it together for them now," Ichigo finished with a whisper, no longer able to ignore the mountain that had dropped onto his shoulders, the crushing weight of failure.

Shinji squeezed Ichigo comfortingly. "Listen closely, Ichigo. Karin got hurt. Maybe ya could've stopped it, maybe not. But ya know what? Yer not layin' down there next ta Karin, and neither is Yuzu. Ya hear me? Ya protected Yuzu. It was your first real combat situation, ya were ambushed by things that shouldn't have even gotten near ya, and ya had a crappy weapon. And ya were still able ta keep one o' your sisters safe. I'd hardly call that worthless, or weak. And knowin' ya, you'll get even stronger, so the next time somethin' happens, you'll be able ta kill all the monsters with your hands tied behind your back."

Ichigo shivered. "I still should've been strong enough now."

"Coulda, woulda, shoulda – it's all in the past now, and everythin' turned out okay in the end. Ya keep dwellin' on it, and you'll lose sight o' what ya will do," Shinji advised.

Ichigo let out a shaky breath. To his surprise, it didn't feel as strained as earlier. "I still should've been able to be strong for Yuzu."

"You're just a kid. If ya weren't outwardly affected by what just happened, I'd be worried," Shinji snorted. "It's a part o' growin' up – as your shoulders get stronger, so does your heart."

Ichigo harshly exhaled. "I – okay, I think I get it. I'll definitely get stronger in the future, as I grow up. So I just gotta grow up faster," he concluded.

Shinji rolled his eyes. "Not what I was gettin' at. It's okay ta not be as strong as ya want ta be right now, so long as ya grow stronger the right way. Cuttin' corners ta get there is dangerous, like buildin' a house on a weak foundation."

"I can handle it," Ichigo insisted stubbornly.

Shinji hummed. "That's up ta ya ta determine. Just make sure ya don't bite off more'n ya can chew, 'cause that's bad, too."

"I got it," Ichigo said, a little annoyed. "Can I go back to my sisters now?"

"Alright, ya impatient brat," Shinji grumbled before standing up and theatrically cracking his back. "C'mon."

Ichigo had already scrambled to his feet. Shinji picked him up – Ichigo was really tired of being hauled around all the time – and jumped down to ground level. Once Ichigo had been set down, still some distance from the huddle around Karin, he glanced away from Shinji. "…Thanks," he muttered.

"You're welcome, kid," Shinji replied as they walked back to the others.

"How'd you know what I was thinking anyway?" Ichigo asked, because Shinji seemed uncannily good at it.

"It was written all over your face," Shinji deadpanned.

Ichigo scowled, because that wasn't helpful. But then they made it back to the others, and he forgot all about complaining, because Yuzu was giving him a watery smile, and Karin weakly blinked at him from within Hachi's kido. He gave Yuzu a crushing hug, and he knew everything would be okay.

"As your shoulders get stronger, so does your heart / And let it not harden, lest it break apart." It was an old mantra of his mother's, one of many poetic scraps passed through the Hirako family. Shinji wasn't quite sure why it had slipped out after decades of being forgotten, though it may have had something to do with him thinking about his family, and family in general, much more often the past year.

Seeing everyone huddled around Hachi's healing barrier, Shinji had to admit that his subconscious was onto something with the repeated musings about family.

Shinji had absolute faith in Hachi's healing abilities, especially when it came to something simple like reiryoku depletion, but a knot of tension in his chest still released when he peered over Kensei's head and saw that Karin was awake, blinking blearily. "Wha… happen…?" she slurred. "Y'zu… 'chi-nii…?"

"We're here, Karin-nee," Yuzu sniffed, giving a watery smile. "We're okay. You'll be okay, too." She squeezed Ichigo's hand tightly.

"Don't worry, Karin-kun. You're in good hands," Kensei added, shifting in place. Shinji could tell that he was also relieved to see Karin awake.

"K'n… sei?" Karin blearily looked around. "Ha… chi? You guys… y're back?"

Lisa flinched minutely, and Mashiro confirmed, "We're back, Karin-chan. And we're staying for good." Unless something horrendous and drastic happened, Shinji had to agree with Mashiro whole-heartedly.

"Why'd you… leave?" Karin said, sounding stronger and unwittingly opening a can of worms that Shinji really didn't want to unpack while she wasn't fully cognizant.

"It's… complicated," Lisa hedged, bless her. "We can discuss it when you're better."

"'m already feeling better," Karin grumbled, but she didn't protest any further as she slipped into a natural sleep, instead of unconsciousness. She looked peaceful, a far cry from the haggard look on her features earlier.

"Is she okay?" Ichigo asked, frowning worriedly.

"Yes, she's just asleep. I've done all I can; now she just needs some rest. She'll feel fine when she wakes up," Hachi said, letting his healing barrier fade now that it was unneeded.

"That's good. I'm so glad Karin-nee will be okay…" Yuzu breathed, wiping her tears messily.

Ichigo looked relieved at the news, but then he scowled and said, "Karin's right, why did you guys vanish?"

Shinji grimaced. "Ah, let's discuss that once Karin-chan's woken up, shall we?" Because the upcoming conversation would absolutely be uncomfortable and emotionally charged and terribly important, and Shinji only wanted to do it once.

Ichigo grumbled something incomprehensible under his breath, but relented. "Fine. Is there anywhere in this place Karin could rest comfortably?"

"What the fuck," Hiyori said when she returned home from grocery shopping to find that the children she and the others had been ripping their hearts out to stay away from were sequestered in a corner of the main room in the warehouse, nestled in a pile of sheets, blankets, and pillows and hovered over by Hachi and Lisa. Shinji, Kensei, and Mashiro weren't too far away. "What the actual fuck."

"Language," Shinji chided, flashing toward the entrance to greet her. He was spared a kick to the face only because Hiyori was laden with groceries. "We've got young, impressionable guests."

"I'll say whatever the fuck I want! What the fuck are they doing here? I thought we had an agreement about this!" Hiyori hissed, furious that all the misery of the past few weeks suddenly meant not a goddamned thing.

"C'mon, let's go put that stuff away before it goes bad," Shinji said, gesturing towards the kitchen. "I'll fill ya in…"

"I-I have questions," Rose said when he and Love made it back home from their jobs to find the Kurosaki children conspicuously present in the warehouse.

"So many questions," Love added, staring perhaps a tad bit longer than necessary at the conglomeration in the corner.

"I got this!" Mashiro announced, abruptly appearing behind the two men, grabbing their arms, and dragging them off toward the steps to the underground training room. "It's all Kagakusha-san's fault, but we're gonna adopt them, and you're not allowed to say no."

"I'm so confused," Rose admitted as he and Love were towed away for their debriefing.

Wherever Karin was, it sure was nice and warm. Soft, too. She could feel Yuzu and Ichigo's reiatsu signatures close. And they weren't flaring or anything – they felt calm, actually – so they were safe. She vaguely remembered being attacked by blob monsters and seeing Kensei-san and Hachi-san, but the recollections were fuzzy.

Karin blinked open her eyes to a stunning view of an old concrete ceiling, broken and cracked in some places. When she tried to sit up, she found that she was wrapped tightly in blankets and sheets and couldn't budge more than a few inches in any direction. Swaddled like a – a baby! This was humiliating. She was just about to start yelling for someone to get her out of this when Yuzu popped into her field of vision, her expression brightening like the sun.

"Karin-nee! You're awake!" she cried, pouncing on top of Karin and wrapping her arms awkwardly around the bundle of blankets. "How are you feeling?"

Karin wheezed a little. "I'm fine, Yuzu! Help me out of this, will you?" But Yuzu was stuck on her like a barnacle. Karin resigned herself to going nowhere soon when Ichigo also appeared, hesitated out of some stupid manly allergy to showing affection or something, then flopped on top of Yuzu, further pinning Karin in place.

"Can't… breathe… you idiots…" Karin wheezed, squirming. Yuzu and Ichigo finally let go, and the roughhousing had loosened the sheets enough that Karin could at least extract her arms.

(And yeah, having her siblings piled on top of her, openly and happily affectionate for once, at least in Ichigo's case, was super nice, but she didn't like being so constricted. Plus, she didn't want to seem too clingy or upset about what happened; she could carry her burdens by herself, like Ichigo!)

"Hey, look who's awake," a familiar voice said fondly – it was Love! He was leaning over the three of them, his mouth quirked in a small grin. "Glad to see you're feeling better, kiddo."

"Uh, yeah," Karin said intelligently. She'd last seen Love at Ichigo's birthday party almost a month ago, which was forever ago! Where had he been? Where had his friends been? All the others were scattered nearby, watching the proceedings closely. Mashiro was visibly vibrating in excitement.

As Karin met their eyes, all other the adults greeted her, their voices overlapping to the point that while she couldn't make out what each said individually, but she knew that they were all happy to see her.

Karin hunched back a little, overwhelmed by the strangeness of the situation – waking up in an unfamiliar place, with no Urahara-san or Jinta or Tessai-san or Ururu-chan, with people who'd vanished without a trace for like forever.

At least Yuzu and Ichigo were with her.

"What's going on?" she hissed to them, clutching at the sheets. "Where are we?"

"Oh, you don't remember?" Yuzu asked, frowning worriedly.

"One of Urahara-san's experiments got loose and attacked you," Ichigo said, scowling while laying a wrist on her forehead, which Karin quickly shook off. "Kensei-san, Mashiro-san, and Shinji-san saved us and brought us here, and Hachi-san healed you. I think this is their home."

Karin looked down at her hands, fisted in the sheets, as she vaguely remembered more about being captured by a blob monster and later being encased in yellow kido. "Right." She shook her head, not wanting to think about the painful, disconcerting memory of leaking. She distracted herself by looking around, then wrinkled her nose as she more fully took in the bare concrete space, littered with debris from broken upper floors and old furniture. "It looks like a dump."

"Excuse you," Hiyori snapped, baring her teeth. "Who just insults someone else's house like that?"

"She does have a point, though," Rose sighed dejectedly, eyeing the space with a faint hint of distaste. Karin wondered why he hadn't done anything about it, then.

"Yeah? You wanna go, Rose?" Hiyori challenged, expression belligerent and mocking.

Shinji smiled widely, displaying all his teeth like usual, and clapped his hands loudly. "You're already much more lively," he remarked. Karin wondered what he meant; Hiyori was always ready to fight someone. "But discussin' our living space should be shelved for now, hmm?"

Hiyori grumbled wordlessly and looked away, while the other adults shifted uncomfortably. "What are they talking about?" Karin wondered, glancing at her siblings. Maybe they knew something.

Ichigo just shrugged uneasily. "They've been wandering in and out in groups while you were sleeping. I think they've been talking about something, but I don't know what."

"We'll get ta that," Shinji said, his tone slipping into something a little more solemn. "But there's somethin' else important ta talk about first."

"Why you left for so long?" Yuzu ventured hesitantly, biting her lip.

Shinji nodded seriously. The other adults looked uncomfortable and tense. Karin had never seen them looking like this before – they were always lighthearted and unconcerned. She unconsciously straightened, her whole focus on the adults. Forget the attack of the blobs and the house-dump; this was more important.

If Karin didn't know any better, Shinji looked almost nervous (but this was Shinji and that was impossible) as he took a deep breath and began, "It's a long story. Difficult ta explain. Shameful, too. But I guess a good place ta start would be that we used ta be Shinigami."

Yuzu's mouth fell open in a neat 'o'. "You – you used to be like that guy we saw one time, jumping around in those black robes and wielding a sword and killing Hollows?"

A small, sardonic smile touched Shinji's lips. "Not quite like him. We're stronger, so we had different duties. But yeah, we looked all spiffy an' sharp in uniform."

Ichigo's brow furrowed. "What happened, then? Did you retire?"

Several of the adults noticeably reacted. Lisa snorted, "If only."

Shinji continued. "Ya know that Shinigami ain't perfect. They don't get Hollows before they eat someone, or the Hollow eats them first. Some of 'em – some of 'em go bad. Or maybe they were already bad in the first place. There are systems in place ta prevent people from goin' nuts and disruptin' the balance o' life and death, and catchin' the people who have gone rogue. But… they don't always work."

Karin's immediate thought was that the eight adults before her had done something wrong or bad, but she viciously squashed it. Something had gone wrong, or maybe the system itself was broken, because there was no way that her adult friends – caring and fun and nice – had done something evil. "What happened?" she asked quietly.

Shinji's fists clenched. "One o' these evil people did somethin' terrible ta us and framed Kisuke for it. His powers let him control what people see, so he's gotten away with all kinds o' bulls- nonsense. But the people in charge o' the Shinigami thought we were a lost cause and that Kisuke's a criminal so…" Shinji shrugged. "We've been livin' here ever since."

Ichigo's eyes blazed as he said, "What did he do? Who is he? I'll kick his ass!"

Shinji shook his head sharply, and his reiatsu spiked just enough to be momentarily uncomfortable. "No way. He'd kill ya in an instant. It's not your fight or concern, anyway. The point is—"

All of a sudden, Hiyori rushed forward and knocked Shinji from his perch. "Roundabout idiot, quit stalling!" She glared at Karin and her siblings defiantly. "We're monsters," she snarled, her reiatsu flaring pink around her as white shards of something started appearing and gluing together on one side of her head. "Some fucked-up whackjob with who-knows-what lunacy in his skull decided we'd make good subjects for an experiment and fucked up our souls and the fucking government decided to terminate us without so much as a proper investigation—"

"Hiyori, that's too much!" Kensei protested. The other adults seemed shocked, too.

A white mass was taking shape on Hiyori's head with menacing, predatory features. Hiyori barreled forward, "—and we ran with our tails between our legs and hid so we wouldn't be killed and we're all waiting for the right time for some fucking payback!" she bellowed, her eyes flashing. The fully-defined mask perched on the side of her head was one of the scariest things Karin had ever seen, and her reiatsu took on a faintly sinister edge.

Yuzu cowered back against Karin, intimidated. Karin was trembling all over and breathing in short gasps. But it was Ichigo, white as a sheet, who breathed out, "Hollow."

"That's enough, Hiyori!" Shinji barked so sharply Karin jumped. "Put the damn mask away!"

Hiyori snorted bitterly and flicked her hand carelessly, and the mask dissolved into nothing, like it had never existed. "I didn't even put it on," she grouched. "Whatever. I'm out."

Before she could run off, Shinji grabbed her by the back of her jacket and roughly set her on a concrete slab near Kensei and Lisa. "Stay right here," he growled.

"Don't tell me what to do—!"

Hiyori and Shinji were bickering again, but Karin didn't hear a single word. Her mind felt fuzzy and blank, like static from the TV. She barely noticed Yuzu sniffling next to her, having been scared out of her wits. Karin was struggling to grasp all the information that had just been unceremoniously dumped on her. Experiments? Monsters? Evil people? It was the stuff of stories and seemed impossible in her small world – what little was left of it after Tou-chan and Kaa-chan died. Except that these adults had been living and breathing it for who knows how long.

It was scary. It was so scary. It would have been easier to grasp if Hiyori hadn't lost her temper and dumped everything at once and summoned her terrifying power – the same type of power that had ripped her family apart.

But Karin loved them anyway, monster or no monster. They were her friends and maybe even the closest thing she had to family, aside from Yuzu and Ichigo.

"I'm deeply sorry about Hiyori," Rose said softly. He'd approached the children while Karin was lost in thought, and she jumped because she hadn't noticed him. She noted that Shinji and Hiyori were still bickering, but it was an unfriendly fight, unlike what Karin had seen from them before. The other adults looked like they didn't know what to do. And Rose had a look on his face she couldn't really define. He almost seemed scared, except there was no way he could be, because he was a super-strong ex-Shinigami with a frightening power and they were just a bunch of kids. "We shouldn't— it shouldn't have been presented to you like that."

"Huh?" Yuzu said, still huddling against Karin.

"Our Hollow powers," Rose said delicately. "The fact that there are monsters living inside us. It's scary even for us, let alone Human children."

"That's why you vanished, isn't it?" Ichigo said. Karin blinked in surprise; she'd completely forgotten why they'd been discussing this topic in the first place.

Rose nodded slowly. "We felt… because of our inner Hollows and history… that our presence would do more harm than good," he said delicately.

"You were scared," Ichigo clarified confidently. "Because you thought you'd hurt us, or maybe this other guy would hurt us, and us hurting because of you would hurt you, too. Right?"

Rose tilted his head, staring at Ichigo with a little surprise. "…I suppose that could be accurate, though it's a little more complex than that." Karin's head hurt from trying to figure out her brother's convoluted logic, then she gave up. She could ask her brother what he meant later.

Ichigo scowled. "But you guys have always said that being scared doesn't help anything!"

"It doesn't," Lisa interjected. "But fears can grow large enough, for long enough, that ignoring or removing them can be very difficult… or even impossible."

"Well, we're not going anywhere, so there," Yuzu declared. "You can tell your fear to stuff it."

"You trust us? Even though we've got monsters in us?" Love asked.

"So? Everybody's got a monster under their skin," Ichigo replied. "People pick on me because of my hair, or they think I look like a weakling. I've seen older boys harass girls, strong people picking on weak. Tou-san and Kaa-san tried to keep me from seeing some of the people coming to the clinic after being beat up for money or status or whatever. Just because your monsters are more literal doesn't automatically make you bad. I mean, you have them under control, right?"

"Well, yeah, but how do you know we're not the type of people to let their monsters run free?" Kensei challenged.

Karin scowled. "That's a dumb question. You're nice to us. No, that's not the right word… you care about us, and we're just a bunch of weird, lame kids. If you let your monsters run free, we wouldn't even be here in your home."

The other adults seemed too choked up to really respond to that. Maybe it had finally gotten through their thick skulls that Karin, Yuzu, and Ichigo liked and trusted them, even though they were part-Hollow or whatever.

"Okay, first off, you're not weird or lame," Mashiro finally said. "Second, who's been picking on Berry-tan, because I can totally beat them up."

"We've discussed this, Mashiro. No beatin' up random Humans," Shinji said tiredly. Apparently, his conflict with Hiyori had reached a conclusion. Hiyori was standing a ways off, shoulders hunched and defensive.

Karin thought of how Hiyori had exploded earlier, dumping all of the bad things about them and their past in one rushed mess. "You're scared too, aren't you, Hiyori-san?" Karin said.

Hiyori looked like she wanted to start yelling, but she just settled on a sneer and a glare. "It's not a joke."

"Of course it's not!" Ichigo growled. "But we're not leaving, and if you run away again we'll chase you down for being stupid! So face it head on, and we'll overcome it together!"

Shinji shook his head, a ghost of a grin on his lips. "See, this is why we came back the first time," he murmured.

"What?" Yuzu asked, looking confused. She may not have heard; Karin had barely caught what Shinji said herself, and she didn't understand it, anyway. Why were adults so confusing and complicated?

"Never mind, it's not important. So, we got that taken care of. That… was just the first thing we wanted ta talk ta ya about," Shinji said, somewhat dryly.

"Is it going to be as hard as the first thing? Because feelings are tiring," Yuzu said, drooping against Karin's side. Karin could relate; she'd just woken up from a long nap not long ago and now all she wanted to do was go back to sleep again.

"Well, it's… maybe," Shinji admitted, glancing at the rest of his group. "But this one, we'll just say our piece, and ya can sleep on it and answer later."

"Okay. What is it?" Yuzu asked.

"So. We've seen what it's like for you to live with Urahara-san," Kensei began. "And given what happened earlier, we're all extremely unimpressed."

"Worried, too," Mashiro admitted.

"So we all talked it over and decided, well… given the circumstances and our resources, it would be feasible for us to take you in," Lisa said.

Karin stiffened, and she saw Ichigo straightening out of the corner of her eye. Was this group of adults saying what she thought they were saying?

"Basically, we're offering to adopt you," Rose confirmed, smiling warmly.

"But, y'know, it's a big decision, so take your time thinking about it," Love said. "We'll get some food for you and let you rest in the meantime."

Karin glanced at her siblings. By the looks on their faces, they were thinking the same thing she was. She couldn't help grinning broadly. Even Ichigo was smiling a little, and he hardly smiled anymore.

"You know, we don't need to think about it. Ever since Tou-san and Kaa-san died, you guys have been the ones to help us and care about us the most. Urahara-san is great, but you've been better. So… we'd love to come live with you," Ichigo said.

"Yeah!" Yuzu agreed, shaking from excitement. She was even tearing up happily. "You guys are the best!"

Karin was completely unsurprised when she and her siblings were swarmed with equally excited and touched adults and squashed in a giant embrace. She laughed happily and felt the most at peace ever since her parents had died. She felt like she'd finally found a home.

A/N:

*Kagakusha means 'scientist' in Japanese. Mashiro's nickname for Urahara is essentially Mr. Scientist, lol.

Chapter 3 is finally here! Hope you enjoyed! Also, Happy Holidays, and Merry Christmas to those of you who celebrate it!

The Vizards were NOT WANTING TO COOPERATE WITH THE PLOT DAMMIT so I had to take an angsty plot detour that took up most of the chapter to get everything back on track. They were supposed to just straight-up adopt the kids but nooooo… I had so much trouble figuring out how to get things back on track and I couldn't get less extreme options to work, so… Urahara! Put the little ones in mortal peril! …and it actually worked.

Also, I really wish I could internalize Shinji's wisdom as easily as Ichigo does. "Balance is the key," Pearl sings, sashaying over from Steven Universe, and everyone is confused. I have to stop writing late at night, especially the motivational speeches.

What is Shinji's accent. There are no rules. Why can't you just stick with 'you're' or 'yer' and not use them both in one sentence dammit why does your authentic voice sound so inconsistent

Note to self: figure out how to tell the Kurosakis that the Vizards are called Vizards, because calling them 'the adults' and 'the group' is getting damn awkward.