Of Birthdays and Siblings

Game Plan

A clicking sound could be heard as Urahara snapped his fan shut as Ichigo, Rukia and Shinji came through the door to his shop. The man stood up and headed over to the door. "Follow me to the back room. Tessai already has a pot of tea on the stove. The others should be arriving shortly."

"That will give me time to figure out whether or not I need to arrest Ichigo here for helping an escaped fugitive." Shinji commented, his eyes narrowed from boredom.

"Hey! I did nothing wrong." Ichigo began to move away from Shinji as he gave the man a rather leery look.

"Relax. I'm not serious Ichigo. I'm not interested in arresting two little kids either. I don't care if Hitsugaya Taicho happens to be a captain, he is first and foremost a child and prone to making childish decisions." The man slid into the room and sat at the small floor table. Ichigo sat down and leaned on an arm propped on his knee.

Tessai brought in the tea for them and Ichigo sipped away, glaring at the blond haired man. Eventually the other Shinigami filtered in the room. Hisagi spoke up. "Since we're here, we should start discussing what we plan on doing, not to mention we should be informing the head taicho about this development."

"Actually, not everyone is here. We need to wait for two more." Urahara snapped his fan again, opening so it would hide his face. "He's going to want to get involved in this, so he'll be here."

"Whose he?" Renji began to scratch his head.

"Just wait and see." The man stated. After a few minutes Uryu came into the room followed by another man. The man was dressed in a Shinigami uniform with a cloth coming from the one side. The entrance was met with a wide range of expressions.

Ikaku placed his blade behind his head as a large smile spread across his face. A smirk spread across Yumichika's face. Renji's mouth dropped open as he pointed a finger at the man while Hisagi blinked a couple of times and glanced around to see if the other people knew who this person was. Shinji's eyes reflected a level of amusement. Rukia turned to look at the substitute. "Ichigo..."

The red headed shinigami then spluttered out a comment. "I thought Chad was going to show up."

"Yeah... well, from what I hear he and Inoue haven't been informed of the situation as of yet, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to inform them. The man sat down."

Hisagi let out a deep breath. "Who is he?"

"He's..." Rukia paused, first looking at Ichigo and then back at the man. "He's Ichigo's father."

The room was met with a silence that was broken by laughter from Ikaku. "This is just great. You do realize that when Matsumoto finds out you're alive she is going to kill you. Hell, Histugaya Taicho is going to be pissed off when he finds out that you're alive."

"Oh... Toshiro already knows. He told me to tell dad to stop hiding from him whenever he's around my place." Ichigo piped up.

"Wait... I am seriously missing something." Hisagi frowned at the men.

"You and me both. I thought Ichigo's father was just one major goofball."

"I'm assuming you're of the Shiba clan." Shinji piped up. "You look like your father."

"Wait... what!" Rukia frowned, shaking her head as she did so. "You're related to Kaien-dono?"

"He was my kid brother." Isshin looked at Ichigo as he said this. "I am surprised that you aren't taken off guard."

"Toshiro mentioned something about you being a Shiba. I can see myself being related to Kukaku-san, Karin is rather like her. Ganju though..."

Isshin waved his hand. "Yeah... he was always an idiot."

"But he always referred to his brother being a shinigami and not both of his brothers." Rukia shook her head in disbelief.

"As I said, the youngest Shiba family member is an idiot."

Hisagi let out a deep sigh. "All right... I am still lost."

"This is Shiba Isshin. He was the captain of the tenth division before Hitsugaya Taicho. Hitsugaya was actually his fukutaicho before he disappeared and was thought to be dead." Ikkaku continued to smirk at the situation.

"Well, I'd better call in the development to Yamamoto. Everyone agree to leave out the fact that Ichigo's father showed up?" Shinji stated. He reached up to pick his nose. "Seriously... that isn't our mission so we don't have to bother reporting it." The other shinigami nodded their heads and Shinji made a call. He spoke up, only to hold the phone away from his ear. Hanging up, he let out a deep sigh.

"First, he says to tell Kurosaki's father that he is welcome back in Soul Society and that the forty-six has already cleared him and the Kurosaki family is cleared to come to Soul Society any time they want under the typical regulations as forty-six has cleared them."

Isshin waved him off. "He's already passed that message onto me. My girls take priority."

"Second, forty-six decided to push through their decision about the charges Hitsugaya Toshiro's sister is facing. She's been cleared of all charges."

"But what about Toshiro?" Ichigo frowned.

"As far as the forty-six is concerned she was never a prisoner, simply a ward of the state like Hitsugaya Taicho is."

"What are we to do?"

"Forty-six is still deciding what to declassify about the situation. Yamamoto says it will possibly take a few days or more. They're also trying to figure out how to best handle this situation as it is a political mess."

"How can it be a political mess?" Renji shook his head. "Hitsugaya is one of ours and she is one of theirs."

"I am not sure." Shinji scratched his head.

Uryu sat down. "The person who took Hitsugaya Taicho and Baba-chan said that coming after either one of them was a declaration of war. Ichigo's father says though them taking them is an act of war but didn't bother to explain it. My father acted like he knew what he was talking about as well."

"Well... the information is still classified. Yamamoto's only allowed to tell a select few people in extreme emergencies. That is one of the things they are going to try and figure out. The who gets to know."