Ichigo ascended the steps to the old fashioned home and knocked on the door, hoping that he’d followed Unohana-sensei’s directions correctly and that she was right about where Rerugen had taken everyone. For such a large being, Rerugen had thoroughly vanished from sight; perhaps he was a shapeshifter like Yoruichi, because he certainly wasn’t lingering anywhere around the house that Ichigo could see.

The door slid open and one of the Soutaicho’s students — the dark-haired one — smiled at them. “Yo. Fancy seeing you lot here,” he said with amusement, looking from Ichigo to Inoue and then Chad. “This the rest of you ryoka?”

“Ishida’s here, then?” Ichigo asked, unable to conceal his relief.

The man chuckled and stepped aside, gesturing down the hallway. “Right through there, second door on your left. There’s also food if you’re hungry.”

“Thanks.” Ichigo nodded to the man as he passed, intent on finding the last of his group and assuring himself that everyone was fine. Behind him, he heard Inoue introducing herself and apologizing for him which… yeah, Tatsuki would probably box his ears for how he was acting.

(Worry gnawed at his mind.)

(Ishida was supposedly here but… he had a feeling the teen wasn’t.)

(Was he being lied to or was there something else going on?)

He stepped through the door indicated, hoping the Captain was right, hoping his senses were just lying to him, and…

Ishida looked up, a cup of tea in one hand and a plate of food on the table in front of him. He relaxed at the sight of Ichigo, a tiny smile pulling up one corner of his mouth. “I see you survived your recklessness.”

“Byakuya wasn’t that bad. We worked it out between us,” Ichigo said with pride as he moved to sit at Ishida’s side, Chad and Inoue trailing into the room after him. He poked Ishida’s arm as soon as he was seated, trying to untangle what his senses were telling him. Ishida was in front of him, he knew he was, but something wasn’t right.

“Kurosaki..?” Ishida frowned, catching Ichigo’s hand and giving him a concerned look. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I just… I don’t know. Sorry, I’m being silly.”

“I blocked his reiryoku, and thus his reiatsu, for the time being, which is why your senses are giving you conflicting information,” another voice, deep and resonant and strangely familiar broke in.

Ichigo started and looked over, eyes going wide at the sight of a humanoid dragon the same deep blue as the gigantic dragon of earlier. Rerugen — it had to be Rerugen, how many other blue dragons could there be anyway? — tipped his head in greeting and then turned back to Rukia. He seemed to be examining the collar still clamped around her neck, the tip of his muzzle bare inches from her throat.

“Er… why?” Ichigo asked, looking between Ishida and Rerugen in confusion. Waking without his powers had been horrible enough; he couldn’t imagine accepting the loss willingly without a good reason, no matter how temporary it was. “And why would that confuse my senses?”

Rerugen drew back from Rukia and gave him an inscrutable look. “Reiatsu-sensing is a sense just like sight or sound. Blocking or suppressing a person’s signature is like making that person invisible or soundless and can cause disorientation if someone doesn’t expect it.”

Ichigo scowled. It made sense, but why had no one ever mentioned it before? Or had that been another thing left behind in the scramble to prepare?

“It’s only for a week or two,” Ishida murmured, poking Ichigo in the side and giving him a look.

“What did you do?” Ichigo hissed back. “Powerless for a week or two and you’re fine with that?!”

Ishida shook his head and glanced pointedly at the Captains across the table. “I’ll tell you later.”

Ichigo nodded and dropped the subject, not at all surprised that Ishida didn’t want to talk about it in front of Shinigami. Instead, he leaned forward and helped himself to some of the food, nodding his thanks at the white-haired Captain as he did.

“I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” the Captain said with a warm smile. “I’m Ukitake Jyuushiro, and yourself?”

“Kurosaki Ichigo,” he said with a sheepish glance at Ukitake and a nod at the Captain who’d opened the door. “Sorry about that. Thanks for your help earlier, and for all of this, too.”

“It’s the least I could do for Kuchiki-san’s rescuers,” Ukitake said, his gesture encompassing all of them. “It’s a relief to know that she has such good friends behind her.”

“Maa, don’t worry about it, I know what it’s like to worry,” the other Captain added. “I’m Kyoraku Shunsui. Nice to meet you, Kurosaki-kun.”

Ichigo looked between the two Captains in amusement, remembering the way Ukitake had been the one to throw the golden rope around the phoenix’s neck and the way he’d been the first to approach the Soutaicho. “I feel for you,” he told Kyoraku dryly. “Nothing quite like it, is there?”

Ishida narrowed his eyes at Ichigo and opened his mouth to say something, then froze and warily leaned around Ichigo instead. “Er, Rerugen-san..?”

“I know what I’m doing,” Rerugen said absently, right before the scent of burning filled the room.

“How is this not overkill?!” Ishida yelped, setting aside his tea and scrambling to Rerugen’s side. He hesitated there, hands fidgeting with the hem of his shirt and expression conflicted. “Surely there’s another way to remove that collar, right?”

Ichigo rose to his feet and inhaled sharply at the sight. Rukia’s head was tipped back to expose her throat and her eyes were so wide he could see the whites. She had a white-knuckled grip on Rerugen’s left arm and sweat trickled down her pale face, but she wasn’t struggling or trying to get away.

“It’s an abomination,” Rerugen declared, lifting his right hand away from Rukia’s neck and giving Ichigo a clearer look at what he was doing. The man’s left hand was wedged between Rukia’s neck and the collar, which had a score-mark partway through the metal already. He stuck his index finger into his mouth towards the back and breathed, tiny flickers of flame escaping around his finger.

Rerugen’s claw was glowing when he took it from his mouth, curls of smoke wafting off of it as he brought his claw back to Rukia’s throat and pressed it into the collar again. He cocked his head and leaned in a bit more, tail-tip twitching against the floor as his focus narrowed.

Ichigo didn’t dare interrupt, not with Rerugen’s claw right there, the man’s other hand the only thing between Rukia’s neck and the burning metal. Rerugen’s hand remained steady as he slowly cut through the collar, carving it away centimeter by centimeter.

“You can all stop trying to drill a hole through my head with your stares,” Rerugen said as he lifted his claw away and inspected his work. “I’m not going to hurt the girl.”

“Forgive our worry, Rerugen-san,” Ukitake said as he sat back down, clearly forcing himself to relax. “But to see you breathing dragon fire so close to my subordinate…”

Rerugen hummed, lifting his head enough to meet Ukitake’s gaze. “I understand, but I will not tolerate this collar existing any longer, much less around her neck the way it is.”

“What’s wrong with it?” Inoue asked as she shuffled closer on Rukia’s free side and leaned in a bit to offer Rukia her support. “Besides being a collar, I mean.”

“It’s twisting her reiatsu around and feeding it back into her body. Leaving it on her long enough will result in her body fighting back, which will damage her ability to use reiatsu in the future,” Rerugen answered her before sticking his finger back in his mouth to reheat it. “And I just don’t like collars,” he grumbled around the digit, flames glittering between his teeth.

Ichigo blinked, curious at the antipathy he could hear in Rerugen’s voice and the way Ishida winced at the words. He held his tongue though, unwilling to poke at such a sore subject while Rerugen was busy.

“Oh!” Inoue pursed her lips and gave Rukia a sharp, assessing look, one hand drifting up to brush against her hair-clip. “Should I see if I can heal her once you’ve gotten it off, then?” she asked, sharpness fading away to be replaced by a cheerful smile. “I don’t know if I can do anything, but… I can try?”

Rerugen gave her a sidelong look, glowing claw poised over the collar once more. “A healer, hm? I suppose it wouldn’t hurt for you to look.” And with that, he dug his claw back into the collar and cut, motion smooth and strong. He straightened up moments later with a pleased noise, blowing on the metal to cool it off before slowly pulling his hand away. “And that’s the first cut. Are you doing alright, Kuchiki-chan?”

“I’m fine,” she forced out, giving Rerugen a tremulous smile. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Rerugen said as he shooed Inoue to the side and changed where he was sitting, slipping his hand between the collar and Rukia’s neck opposite of his first cut. “As before, hold still and I’ll have this off you shortly.”

Rukia remained frozen in place as Rerugen worked, her attention darting around the room in an effort to distract herself. She gave Ichigo a wan smile when she met his gaze and… it hurt. It hurt to see her so low, so helpless, in a position he couldn’t fix, but… but it was okay. Ishida’s surprise companion would free her and then everything would be okay.

The collar gave way with a snap, tumbling from Rukia’s neck and clattering against the wooden floor.

“There,” Rerugen announced with pleasure, snatching up the broken halves and climbing to his feet. “Now, I am going to melt this into slag and you are going to relax and reunite with your friends,” he told Rukia with a faint smile before turning away. He nodded at Ukitake and Kyoraku as he stepped past them and out the door, leaving the two Captains exchanging thoughtful looks behind his back.

“I reject!” Inoue declared as soon as he left, her fairies darting out and a golden barrier forming around Rukia’s body. She frowned in concentration, then nodded to herself and let the barrier drop away. “I think you’re okay!” she said with a cheerful smile, and followed it up with a tight hug.

“Don’t do that again,” Ichigo told Rukia with a huff, crossing his arms over his chest and scowling down at her. “Your life is worth more than just giving up like that.”

“You..! Argh! Do you realize how foolish that was?!” Rukia shouted at him, pulling free of Inoue’s hug and moving to stand in front of Ichigo, glaring up at him. “You could have died!”

“You would have died if I’d done nothing!”

“Better me than you wasting your life! You… you foolish human!”

Ichigo scoffed and ground his knuckles into Rukia’s head, ignoring her half-hearted struggles. “Then you’re a foolish Shinigami, thinking I’d just leave a friend in trouble like that!”

“Maa, maa, how about we all calm down and enjoy our meal?” Kyoraku interrupted, tone stern but expression amused. “You can continue convincing each other you’re both fools after you’ve had some food.”

“She’s still the bigger fool,” Ichigo muttered as he released Rukia and slunk back to sit at the table. He helped himself to a bit more food, nudging the dishes he knew Rukia liked closer to her and ignoring the looks that earned him from the two Captains.

Everything had worked out and Rukia was fine. They even had a new ally out of the whole mess.

Maybe he should invite Rerugen back to Karakura, given what Ishida had said about having his powers temporarily blocked.

He wondered if the man would accept…

(Only one way to find out.)