Of Birthdays and Siblings

Patience

Sunlight came in through the window waking up the substitute shinigami. Ichigo found himself opening his eyes and looking out the window at the layer of snow that had formed on the windowsill. Sitting up he let out a deep sigh, The fact Hisagi was asleep in a sitting position against the wall reminded him of the situation when it came to Toshiro.

He could smell a breakfast cooking downstairs and he got up and quickly changed his clothes before heading towards the smells. When he got downstairs he blinked a couple of times upon seeing a blond haired female with freckles on her face. He felt his eye suddenly twitch at seeing her. "What are you doing here?"

"The apartment got crowded when baldy stopped by, baldy." Hiyori glowered at him, her tooth protruding slightly.

"How long has it been since you've seen him?"

"You're acting like I should be glad to see him dumb ass." The girl began to twiddle her finger in her ear.

Yuzu came over with plates of food for the two of them and setting them down. "It's not good for a young lady our age to use such language."

"Excuse me?" Hiyori snapped the words out.

"Ichi-nii... your guests tend to be a bit strange, but this one doesn't seem to have any manners. Is he another sibling of Toshiro's?"

"A sibling of that shortie?" The blood leaned back folding her arms behind her head. "Seriously..."

"I don't care what kind of language you use, but could you at least behave around my sisters?" Ichigo glared at the female while Yuzu headed off to prepare more plates.

"So... your sisters know that shortie captain kid?" The girl switched to leaning on her arm. "Where is he by the way. I usually see him a lot more then baldy. Then again, I haven't seen baldy since he decided to abandon us and head back to Soul Society."

"He didn't tell you?" The Substitute Shinigami shook his head. "A Quincy showed up in Soul Society who turned out to be Toshiro's sister."

"So that is what your sister was yammering about."

"He came here to the living world and they got their buts kidnapped by the Vandenriech.. They're apparently a group of renegade Quincy."

Hiyori remained silent and glared right at him. "Why aren't you going after him?"

"Going after who?"

"Ahh..." Ichigo glanced up, frowning as he did so. "Don't worry about it Karin."

"Doesn't she know the shortie captain though?"

"Another friend of yours?" Karin frowned at the intruder. "And what is going on with Toshiro."

The orange haired teen waved his hand at his sister. "Don't worry about it. Toshiro just had his family pick him up."

"Ichi-nii..."

"Yeah?"

"Your bad at lying," Karin watched as her brother gave he a rather confused look. "You have this look whenever you're trying to brush something off. You'll make sure that Toshiro doesn't get hurt, right?"

"One of the reasons I think we're not moving is because he doesn't seem to be in any danger. Apparently the place they live is a safe place for people who have Quincy and Shinigami blood."

"But Soul Society isn't coming after us, so there is no need for a safe place right?" The girl frowned at him.

"For once I've told you what I know." Ichigo began to scratch his head.

"The real reason you guys haven't gone after him is because you don't know where this Vandenreich place is, so you can't go after him dumb ass." Hiyori narrowed her eyes at him. "Because I'd figure you'd be someone to go after one of your own."

"I think I'll talk to Urahara to see if he knows how to get there." The teen stood up only to suddenly feel a set of eyes focused on his back.

"You will do no such thing." Rukia stood in a borrowed nightgown standing on the stairs glaring at them.

"Because of the stupid Shinigami protocol? That hasn't stopped you from helping him other times." Hiyori grinned at the girl, her eyes begging Rukia to get into a fight with her.

"Look snaggle tooth..."

Ichigo was quickly interrupted by Rukia. "It isn't an issue of protocol. The Vandenriech honestly feel that they've taken Hitsugaya Taicho under their protective wing and they have made it clear that they won't settle for us trying to take him away."

"That's a laugh. That kid can very well take care of himself. "

"I think we should go." Ichigo suddenly began to tap the table.

"Are you going to start a war you idiot!"

"I'm also what they call a child of darkness, so I would possibly be welcome. I can go and get answers a lot faster then from this forty-six people."

Hiyori suddenly bristled. "Wait... the forty-six is involved? Count me in on this one!"

"Excuse me?" Rukia shook her head.

"Everyone knows you can't trust forty-six! The only reason they said they pardoned us was because they wanted to execute us all at the same time."

"Ichigo... she's paranoid. I'd be better off going with you. Plus, we don't know how to get there. I don't think Urahara would know either. Something feels off about the whole situation. I mean, the fact Yamamoto and the forty-six seem to have known that Hitsugaya Toshiro was part Quincy for some time."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because the decision to pardon was way to quick."

"That's because they really want to execute the," Hiyori went off into a ramble. "I mean, the only reason the forty-six would overlook something like this is if..." The female paused, her frown suddenly deepening.

"If what?" Ichigo shook his head.

"Don't worry about it." Hiyori placed her hands in her pocket. "I'm still going with you."

"You're way to paranoid and we don't know how to get there!" Rukia shook her head at the female.

"I owe my former taicho on this one. And by former taicho I don't mean that pedo bear in a strip hat." The girl leaned back, frowning as she did so.