Author's Note: A rather short beginning but following chapters will be longer, I promise. This was inspired by For Whose Sake by Dark Immortal Faerie. Enjoy!

"By the darkness." The grey wizard sighed as he tightened his hood about himself. The rain was cold and constantly trying to get past the folds of the waxed cloth to run down his neck. "Why is Aizen wasting my powers on such a minor nuisance?"

His name was Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez. He was the Sexta in Aizen's forces, ranked sixth of his followers. By right of power, he should have been ranked much higher. But his motivation and loyalty were highly questionable, something Aizen was aware of. So instead, he was the Sexta. He didn't really mind. The metal collar around his neck was all that kept him to his place.

Unfortunately, the collar was quite unbreakable and Grimmjow knew the consequences of disobedience. So he obeyed, completing his missions swiftly and well. So it baffled him that Aizen would send out his most dependable if not loyal subordinate to capture a worthless earth wizard.

Earth wizards were far from uncommon. Also known as hedge wizards, earth witches and druids, they specialized in the slow magics of the seasons. Grimmjow had nothing but respect for them. His mother had been one, and his first training had been in those small magics. But the key word was 'small'. They kept pests away from crops, manipulated the rains to be just so, healed minor injuries and generally made themselves highly useful to the peasants and townsfolk. They were no kind of threat to a wizard king like Aizen.

Of course, Grimmjow himself was capable with those magics. So if you wanted to bend the truth into a pretzel, he could be described as an earth wizard. It followed that this young man might be an earth wizard, but not just an earth wizard. If that was the case he would be wringing Starrk's neck when he got back. Grimmjow hated being sent out blindfolded.

Resolving to approach his quarry with the utmost caution, he turned his attention back to the road. There were plenty of tracks, too many for just one person. So far he'd identified two extras and from the depth of the tracks in the mud, they were light. Children or possibly women. If they were children he felt bad for them. There were many ways children could survive without an adult, but most of them were grim.

Sighing to himself, Grimmjow dismounted and led his horse into the woods. He was pretty sure he was close, and he couldn't just ride up on them, not if he wanted to catch the earth wizard by surprise. So he hobbled his horse and gave him a bit of food and water before continuing on foot. If he'd known the man was nothing but an earth wizard he'd have ridden in confidently, but he wasn't willing to bet a copper groat on it.

Caution was rewarded. Huddled around a small campfire were a young man and two girls. Young teenagers, not exactly children but not grown either. Grimmjow ignored them in favour of the man. He reached out as delicately as he could and swore softly as he touched the aura.

"Earth wizard. Sure he is, and my balls can play the piano." Grimmjow snarled almost inaudibly. The aura stank of holy power, so strongly it was almost painful. He could tolerate it, though. A black wizard would have been writhing in pain. Gathering a wisp of power in his palm, Grimmjow cast a sleeping spell. A piece of earth witchery, it was usually only effective on those who wanted to sleep. But he had the power to make it a compulsion and the two girls both collapsed instantly. The White Wizard responded instantly, rising to his feet and pulling in his mantle of power. Although Grimmjow could feel him sparing a moment to check on the girls. Satisfied that they were alive and going to stay that way, he stepped away from them.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" He demanded and Grimmjow laughed harshly. That would be fighting fair, and the closest he came to fighting fair was leaving out the children. He concealed himself in the shadows, gathering dark power to himself like a lover. Then he threw a levinbolt. He deliberately left it rather crude and on the weaker side of what he could do. The white mage deflected it easily. "Coward!"

"Sticks and stones…" The grey wizard breathed. The white wizard cast a levinbolt into the darkness, missing him by quite a lot. "Hah." His next attack was more serious. Fire answered to his call and a dozen tiny fire sprites attacked the white wizard. He fended them off with ice.

They went back and forth a bit, Grimmjow getting a better idea of the white wizard's strengths and weaknesses. The biggest weakness he saw was that the man didn't have a weapon. That was rather common among wizards, but Grimmjow's father had been an exception. He'd started training his son when in both magic and swordwork when he was barely six years old. So he drew his sword and darted out from cover. The white wizard's eyes went wide as he saw the grey wizard and the glinting steel in his hand. He made a sawing gesture but Grimmjow didn't feel anything and assumed the spell misfired.

He was completely wrong. He just barely managed to leap back as a line of white power slashed through the air in front of him. The movement was so quick, so painfully different from his forward dash that he knew he'd pulled something, but that didn't matter. What mattered was the second slash. It happened too fast for him to avoid and went right down his chest. Blood flew away and Grimmjow stumbled back, stunned. There was a man in front of him now, pure white and looking like a ghost. But the fire in his hands was all too real.

Another slash, and this time Grimmjow got his sword up to parry it. Blue eyes went wide as his blade shattered under the impact. The shards of steel glittered in a moment of suspended time before the white fire landed on his shoulder.

The blow knocked him off his feet and Grimmjow fell to the ground, his mind cushioned with shock. Looking down at his right arm, he saw the stump of white bone and the fountain of blood, but disbelief kept him from fully registering the deadly damage he had taken. A foot landed on his chest and Grimmjow looked up into white. To his dazed and failing mind, the ball of white held in a white hand was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. Letting his head fall back he smiled as his eyelids began to feel heavy. But he kept his eyes open, gazing into that white. It was getting brighter and he could see the shifts and flows of power. They were… familiar…

"Papa." He whispered, remembering his father's aura. It had looked like that, when he was just a little boy. So long ago… but now, it seemed like yesterday. He couldn't keep his eyes open, but as he closed them he felt something else. Wetness on his face, the little drip drop of rain. The smell of green things and the scent of fresh, damp earth. "Mama." She had loved to garden and take walks in the rain. He'd held her hand and danced through the puddles…

The white figure above the grey wizard was about to finish him off when he heard the words of a dying man. It made him hesitate, for just a moment, and that moment was all it took for his partner to seize his arm.

"Shiro, stop! He's done for." The white mage said and there was a distorted chuckle from the white warrior. He stepped back from the prone body, letting the fire in his hand dissipate. "Now who… oh hell!" The white wizard blanched as he looked down at the injuries. "Shiro, I wanted to question him!"

"Then you'd better stop the bleeding right quick, aibou." The white warrior said mockingly. "'Cause he's about to croak, Ichigo." Ichigo scowled, turning away. "Hey! Whatcha doin'?"

"Leaving. He's one of Aizen's pawns, I couldn't care less." He said shortly then looked back wide eyed as the warrior suddenly called light into his hands again. "Shiro?" He watched, speechless, as his partner pressed the white fire against the grey wizard's stump of an arm. The bleeding slowed to a trickle before stopping entirely. Then he gave the wound on the man's chest the same treatment. "Shiro, what the hell?" The white wizard said when he found his voice. This was completely out of character for his partner. Until this moment, he hadn't even been aware the other could heal.

"Never thought I'd see you leave a man t' die, King." Shiro sounded serious now and Ichigo flushed, unaccustomed shame hitting him. "But truth is, I could go with that. We all have to grow up sometime… it's just… there's something about him." Shiro's voice lowered to a mutter as he stared at the man on the ground. "Something familiar. He feels kinda like a demon but he ain't. Seems like I should know this feelin' but I just can't remember." Shiro shook his head before looking at Ichigo. The white, flowing robes he was wearing hid his face but Ichigo knew it would be identical to his own.

"Shiro… I was thinking of the future." Ichigo said as calmly as he could, looking down at the battered man. He couldn't see a lot, between the dark, the grey cloak and all the blood, but the facial features he could make out were very handsome. "You've just healed him as much as his body will take." If they tried to force more healing on him there would be rejection and system shock. "He can't walk and he's likely to catch something." A weakened immune system was a common complication of that heavy a healing. "I'm alone with two young girls. What do you suggest I do with him?" Ichigo looked at his partner. Shiro looked back helplessly.

"I… dunno… see if he's got some money on him an'… leave Karin and Yuzu here t' look after him while you go buy a horse and cart?" He suggested and Ichigo sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Or you could stay here and send Karin t' buy the stuff."

"No." Ichigo growled. Karin was strong but still very young. It would be all too easy for someone to overpower her and take the money, or worse. "I'll go, but you have to stay here and look after them." Ichigo knew Shiro wouldn't like that and he was right.

"Damnit Ichi! I'm supposed t' live in your head! Y'know it hurts t' hang around like that." The white warrior complained before glancing down at the grey wizard. "But okay." Ichigo blinked, not expecting that quick capitulation. It made him suspicious and he favored his partner with a frown. "What? Don't look at me like that. Was my idea is all."

"Hmm, fine." Ichigo decided to let it go. "Can we move him?" The fallen wizard was still covered in blood. Shiro nodded.

"Yeah, he'll be fine. Let's get him bundled up and lay your sisters out right so they don't wake up with cramps." Shiro knelt down and easily picked the man up. It was very unnatural to watch. The grey mage was a tall, well-built man, a bit taller than the two of them. If Shiro had been a normal man he'd have been staggering under the weight. "Too bad we don't even have a tent. Life sucks, don't it?"

"Shut up." Ichigo muttered as he pulled out the tarps. Picking up Yuzu he set her down beside Karin, then spread the waterproofed fabric over them. The other one would do for himself and the grey wizard. He certainly wasn't going to put the man with his sisters, even if he was as helpless as a newborn kitten now. "You better come back to my inner world. You'll need your strength for tomorrow."

"Righty." Shiro agreed and vanished in a wisp of white smoke. Ichigo sighed as he felt the power return to him. Keeping Shiro outside himself was very hard on him, although his partner could do many things he couldn't. Specifically, he was a master swordsman and Ichigo just wasn't. Together they were very formidable. Glancing down at the maimed wizard, Ichigo pulled the tarp over them both.

If he was at all lucid, he would question the man in the morning.