Some of the empty feeling Momo felt went away with the appearance of Renji and Kira. She found herself glad to know that both had come to support her during the funeral and were more then willing to help find her little brother. They stood by her while her grandmother's casket was burned and the smoke filtered up into the air.

The next morning the three headed back to the academy, their place slow as Momo's mood was still off as her mind focused on worrying about the small, missing child. Upon arriving at the academy Izuru took the lead. "I know which of the other students would be the best help. Since your little brother is likely injured we should find the students who specialize in the healing Kido."

Renji narrowed his eyes and placed his arms behind his head. "I forgot. You picked up the healing Kido classes."

"I took a few healing Kido classes as well." Momo blinked a couple of times. "What is the big deal Renji?"

"He wouldn't be able to take the healing courses if he wanted too. He's always been bad at Kido." Kira shook his head at the two and then knocked on the door for the class room used for healing courses.

One of the other students slid the door open. "Ah... Kira-san. We heard you were attending the funeral of a friends family member."

"Yeah... about that." Kira motioned the other two inside. "When Hinamori arrived home for her grandmother's funeral she found out that her small brother had gone missing. The villagers are having a problem finding him so we thought to see if we could get any of the other students to help us in looking for him we might be able to find him. Plus, he may be in need of healing."

Another student was sitting at one of the desk working on classwork and looked up. "Wait... this would be a male child?" The other student watched as the three looked at them in surprise. "What exactly does he look like?"

'Shiro-chan?" Momo blinked a couple of times. "My little brother is really cute and really small. He has white hair that is like the snow and these beautiful eyes which are like the sky before a storm." There came a pause. "Well... before a storm may not be the best description. They're kind of like a gem of sorts. They're a unique color."

The student stood up. "A couple of days ago... yeah, it was the day after the rain storm. Well, a child fitting that description was brought into the forth division. No one knows where he came from, but they have been caring for him. It is possible this child is your little brother."

Momo blinked a couple of times. "But how..." Her body trembled. "How can I be this lucky? I mean, after finding that our village turned on him for something he had no control over..." The girl shook her head. "Please! I'd like to see if this child is my little brother!"

The other student frowned. "I think you should speak to the head master first and arrange for you to see Unohana Taicho directly."

M

The taicho of the forth was in her office when the Hell Butterfly from the academy came and notified her that someone was in fact possibly looking for the child. She sent a message back to have the person brought to her office. Details in the message was lacking and that in herself worried her. What surprised her even more was when three students showed up from the academy rather then just one. "So... one of you is looking for your younger brother?"

The small female opened her mouth, her eyes wide but nothing came out. The blond haired student spoke then. "It would be Hinamori Momo whose looking for her brother."

Unohana listened as the small female let out a squeak. The woman stood up and popped her head outside the door. "Isane, could you go and get some tea while I get a couple more chairs for our guests."

She came back with the first chair to see that the small female had taken her seat. The male with the tattoos looked away. "I can easily stand mam."

"Are you trying to seem tough with your tattoos or are you simply trying to be polite."

"Renji's just being polite! He's actually very nice!" Momo's words finally came out but the small female clammed up and looked at her hands again.

"Well... Isane isn't yet back with the tea." The woman slipped outside of the room and came back to see that the tea was there. She set the chair in place and the second young man waited until she took a seat at her desk. "How is it you come to be looking for your younger brother?" The blond opened his mouth again only to have the woman hold up her hand. "Let her speak for herself."

After a few minutes the girl spoke up. "First... I need to be up front about the fact Shiro-chan isn't my brother by blood."

"You're from the Rukongai?"

"Yes. We were..." There came a pause and then the girl spoke again. "We were raised by our granny. Five years ago I went away to the academy leaving Shiro-chan with granny. A few days ago I received a message from our village about how our granny had passed away."

"So... did he run away because the death of your granny upset him?"

Momo suddenly flinched. "You aren't going to put my little brother to death are you?"

The girls eye's suddenly looked at the ground. Unohana frowned. "Why would we put him to death?"

"The villagers... they said... it is actually because." Another pause came. "The villagers said it is my brother's fault that our granny died. But he honestly didn't mean to. If anyone is to blame it should be me because I should have noticed something whenever I came to visit, but I hadn't a clue."

The forth division taicho folded her fingers together. "How? How did your brother cause her death?"

"He... his reiatsu..."

Unohana continued to frown. "Let me guess. That icy reiatsu of his ended up killing her because it was so out of control."

"That..." Momo looked up. "Please! Don't execute him! He's just a baby!"

"The boy in question is badly injured."

"That's because..." Tears suddenly began to trickle down the girls face and then she buried her hands into her face.

Izuru took a deep breath. "I know that you asked that she speak, but the reason her little brother ran off wasn't because their granny died. He ran off because some of the men in the village decided to beat on him when they found that she was dead. "

"You should have let me beat them up."

The blond let out a frustrated sound. "Abarai... I already told you, that would make us no better then them. Plus... there is no telling who did it." The young man spoke again. "There is more. Apparently Toshiro tried getting the old woman help a few days before she died but the entire village. Everyone who sought help ignored him."

Unohana's eyes widened. "Your brother... he was ostracized by your village? How could you have no known about this?"

"I don't know."

"Think. I can't just let you see him unless I get a good answer."

"They never did it in front of me, but now that I think back they never spoke directly to Shiro-chan. It was always directly to granny and me. I... what I don't understand is why. Shiro-chan is a sweet heart." Momo's hands tightened around her leggins. "If I had known, I would never have tried entering the academy."

"So... you want to see if this child is your brother?"

"I want to see that Shiro-chan is all right."

Unohana choose then to be blunt. "The child in question is not all right. While I have managed to take care of his injuries his body is still suffering from a major fever. He hasn't woken up a single time since Shiba Fukutaicho and his wife found him."

Izuru's eyes widened. "Shiba-dono and his wife?

The woman let out a sigh. "Something wrong about that."

"That..." Izuru glanced at the ground. "I'm guessing we're lucky that they found him."

"They're with them right now."

"If you'll follow me. Be forewarned that while his wife will be calm Shiba Fukutaicho is not happy with the fact the child received the beating he did. The Shiba clan... well..."

"They're the protectors of our district." Momo spoke up rather quickly. "Is that why they were able to find him?"

"Perhaps. I don't wish to go into detail about that. Right now we need to focus on seeing whether or not you can identify this child as your younger brother." The woman motioned for them to follow her. She stopped outside of a room and then told them to wait. Stepping inside she slid the door shut. "Kaien, Miyako... someone has come looking for the child."

Kaien flinched while Miyako simply gave the woman a weak smile. The other woman spoke first. "I'm guessing the family member is quite distraught."

"Distraught..." The fukutaicho of the thirteenth division felt his voice strain.

"Yes. She is distraught. Apparently his foster sister was away at the academy when the child's reiatsu killed their grandmother. The village reacted negatively, but it seems that they took notice of his reiatsu before then."

"How could she not have noticed where his reiatsu was?" Kaien shook his head.

"I didn't ask, but feeling her reiatsu... well... you'll understand that part when you meet her."