8It was Kisuke. Luke's face became flushed red after he noticed who it was.
"I thought I told you not to follow us." Kisuke said in a nonchalant way staring at the boy who was still on the ground.
"Karakura Town?" Luke repeated as his eyes began to take in the full view of the place he had just landed in.
"Yeah, didn't your parents ever tell you about the world of the living?" Kisuke asked slyly.
The boy heard what the striped hat man had said and replied without thinking.
"Yeah, but mom and dad were always too afraid to go into detail-" He let it slip out, but as soon as he did, he realized it. Kisuke looked at the boy tauntingly and helped him up.
"Go back to your parents kid. I'm sure they're worried sick about you." He said in a serious tone. Luke looked away from the man and debated in his mind how he should reply to this ridiculous request.
"No." The black haired boy replied shortly.
"Ok." The striped hat man said as he shrugged his shoulders and walked away. "Good luck on your own out there and you might want a gigai..." He said as he walked away, his voice trailing off as he did.
"A gigai?" Luke asked. "W-wait Mr. Urahara! What's a gigai?" The helpless boy asked as he ran after the man in flip flops. Kisuke stopped and smirked.
"I'm glad you asked." He said as he pulled Luke into his small store. "A gigai is an artificial body for shinigami, like yourself. It allows us to remain in the human world without being traced by anyone and you can interact with the humans. So what do you say? You wanna buy one?" He asked while smirking at the boy.
"B-But I don't have any money…" Luke replied in a somber tone. Kisuke placed his fan near his mouth.
"Hmmm ran away without any money. What kind of a rebel are you? Anyway, we'll just have to make do with what we have." He stopped to think of another fair thing to exchange for a gigai. "Hmmm, how about you work for me for a couple of days and we'll call it even."
Luke's eyes glistened at the proposition. He was overjoyed and the man in the sandals could clearly tell.
"Great! Here's your gigai. Now go do whatever it is kids do and be back here tomorrow at 7am to start working." After Kisuke said that he threw what looked like a replica of Luke at him. Luke caught it and stared at it unsure of what to do. Kisuke sighed and showed him how it worked.
Back in the seireitei Momo and Izuru were just waking up. They still were not on good terms and Izuru had slept on the couch that night because of ruthless fighting. Momo walked out of her room and into the kitchen silently. Izuru gazed at her longing. He wanted all of the fighting to be over, but he knew some of the hurtful words he said to her last night would not be easily forgiven.
"Good morning my love." He said in a sweet tone as he got up from the couch. She didn't even acknowledge his presence. The blond man sighed heavily and got closer to his wife.
"Momo…" He tried again, but still the same outcome. "Momo come on! Are you going to be upset with me forever?" He asked dramatically. Momo continued to ignore him and walked out of the kitchen and to her son's door. She knocked lightly and waited for an answer. When she did not receive one she walked in slowly.
"Luke?" She tried to peer through his dark room. "Luke?" She asked with concern growing in her voice. "Luke honey where are you?" She put the plate of food down that she had brought for him and turned on the lights in the room.
He was gone...not anywhere in his room. When Momo finally came to that conclusion she wailed with sadness and turned to look for Izuru.
"Izuru! Where is Luke?!" She asked him almost sounding like she was accusing him. Izuru looked back at her confused.
"What do you mean? Isn't he in his room?" Izuru asked stupidly. These questions infuriated the scared mother and she got in his face very quickly (despite her small stature).
"Obviously he's not in his room if I had to ask you where he is!" She scowled at her husband and quickly stormed away from the confused man.
"Well maybe he went to school." He called after Momo as she began to walk away. She turned around and looked at the blond lieutenant with a blank expression.
"Why would he be at school Izuru." She said in a snake like manner. "HE WAS EXPELLED!" She screamed at her husband.
Izuru didn't take it lying down he came right back at her with a smart ass comment.
"WELL IT'S BETTER THAN RUNNING AROUND THE HOUSE THINKING YOUR SON JUST SUDDENLY DISAPPEARED!" He shouted back at her using his hands for dramatic impact.
Momo didn't have time for her husband's theatrics she had to find out where her son was so she walked into their room and shut the door.
"REAL MATURE!" Izuru yelled after her. He slammed the back of his head against the wall in frustration and then decided he should try calling to school.
He wasn't at the school and he wasn't anywhere in the seireitei. Momo had tried several times to track his spiritual pressure, but it was a wasted effort. After hours of searching she went home and began crying in her bed.
"He's gone!" She thought to herself. "And it's all my fault…"
Izuru came into the room cautiously and laid down next to her. He scooped the small woman into his arms and began kissing her forehead. She just gave into him and allowed him to keep kissing her, despite the anger she felt toward him.
"We will find him Momo. I had the Captain Commander put out a search party and squad 2 is on top of this." Izuru said in a warm reassuring tone while smiling down at his wife.
She sniffled and thanked him. The small woman just stared at her hands and began to think of all the horrible things that could have happened to her poor defenseless son. He didn't know anything yet and on top of that he didn't even have a zanpakuto!
Izuru noticed the look of panic on Momo's face and he lifted her chin. Their eyes met and he kissed her softly on the lips.
"I can't help but think something terrible has happened to him…" Momo said in a small voice.
Over in the human world Luke was discovering all kinds of interesting things! Like ice cream, funnel cake, traffic, not running into the traffic and (the most interesting) humans. Humans appeared to always look exhausted and in a rush to be somewhere. Half the time their faces were stuffed in what appeared to be a cell phone, but the shinigami boy was unsure.
Luke kept walking around town aimlessly until he felt a strange sensation in his gigai body.
"Oh I must be hungry." Luke thought to himself. "But I don't have any money...do they even use money in the human world...come to think of it what is the currency here." While the black haired boy was deep in thought he ran into a familiar face.
"Hey watch where you're going kid!" A rather tall muscular orange haired man said in tough voice. Luke immediately recognized this man...it was none other than Ichigo Kurosaki. The human/substitute shinigami that saved well...everything! The black haired boy was speechless, it was like being in the presence of royalty to him.
"I-Ichigo Kurosaki!" The boy blurted out as the orange haired man began to walk away, but stopped in his tracks when he heard his name being called.
Ichigo looked back at the boy. "Do I know you?" He asked in a curious tone.
"Now I've done it…" Luke thought to himself as he internally face palmed.
"Uh uh…" Luke stuttered racking his brain for a good enough lie.
Ichigo's brows pulled together as he squinted his eyes at him. "Hey I think I do know you...you look familiar. I'm just not sure where I know you from." The man with the orange hair said with a careful tone. Luke became more nervous than before and felt himself beginning to sweat.
"Wrestled you in high school?" Ichigo asked as if he'd figured it out. The black haired boy's eyebrows pulled together and he let out a 'huh', but he quickly recovered.
"Um yeah, it must've been that!" Luke said sheepishly while attempting to sound enthusiastic (but clearly failing). Ichigo gave him another hard look.
"Well it's nice seeing you again…" Ichigo began, but realized he didn't know the kid's name. "I'm so sorry man I don't really remember your name." Ichigo said sounding slightly ashamed.
"Oh it's ok no one really ever does. It's Luke!" The black haired boy exclaimed as a smile began spreading across his face. Ichigo returned the smile and said goodbye.
Later that night Ichigo was about to go to bed when he received a strange phone call.
"Izuru?" He asked before he picked up the phone to answer. "Hello?" He listened to the distressed lieutenant through the phone and answered him promptly.
"No, I haven't seen him I'll definitely keep my eye out though." Ichigo hung up the phone and began to go to sleep. It had been approximately two hours later while he was in deep sleep that he sprung up instantly.
"The guy on the street!" He shouted into the darkness of his bedroom. "The guy on the street's name was Luke and Luke is the name of Izuru's son. That guy also matches the description that Izuru gave me with the black hair and blue eyes. Oh, yeah, it's all comin' together." Ichigo said pleased with himself. After he finished congratulating himself he picked up the phone and called Izuru.
Izuru heard his phone ringing at the ungodly hour of 3am and saw that it was Ichigo. "H-hello?" The blond haired shinigami answered in a hoarse voice. His talking woke Momo up.
"Shhh" His sleepy wife hissed as she turned to her other side to continue sleeping.
"What's so important you had to call at 3am?" He asked more annoyed than anything. When the substitute shinigami revealed the information he had pieced together not too long ago this lit a fire under Izuru.
"Thank you Ichigo! We will be right over!" Izuru couldn't contain his excitement and shook his wife awake. "Momo, Momo, come on! Ichigo knows where Luke is!" Izuru shouted excitedly. Momo was instantly awake and ready to do whatever it took to bring her son home.