As you walk around the strangely deserted alleyways of Seireitei, you're suddenly reminded of all those days in which you took shortcuts by running on the roof. You had half thought of shouting for your friends, but you remembered that there are still a bunch of thugs looking for you, so you kept quiet. "Geez," you hiss, after about 15 minutes straight of walking around, "Where are they? Ichigo and Ganju...?"
As if on cue, a distant shout reaches you. "Ganju!! Aki!! Where are you guys, damn it?! Answer meeeeee!!" It's Ichigo! If he can run around shouting for you, that means he's defeated Ikkaku! As he keeps shouting, his voice gets louder. "He's close-by!" you exclaim, running towards the sound and, in your excitement, jump up on a roof so you can see him better, completely forgetting about the people looking for you. "Hey, Ichigo!" you cry, waving when you spot a head of bright orange hair moving through the maze of blue roof-tiles. "Over here!"
"There she is!" a gruff voice hollers behind you, making you freeze abruptly. "Aw, DAMN!" you moan, daring to turn around and look. Sure enough, there's a bunch of big muscle-y guys in shihakusho coming from all directions to converge upon where you stand on the wall. "That's her, alright!" one with a ridiculously green Mohawk shrieks, "I recognize the little miscreant from her crash-course training half a year ago!" "Get her!!" someone else commands, as several people comply, jumping up the walls to do battle with you. "Leave me the crap alone!!" you yell, pulling out Rai-kumo and clashing swords with them. "And who the hell are you to call me a miscreant anyway? I don't recognize you at all!" A flash and a scream. Several black-robed bodies fall off of the wall, landing in various heaps on the ground. "Bunch of dumbasses..." you finish waspishly, pointing your released Zanpaku-to at them for good measure.
"Look! That light! It's one of the Ryoka (**outsiders)! Over there!" Cursing in annoyance, you leave that small pile of temporarily paralyzed shinigami behind as you jump down the wall and race forward, hoping to run into Ichigo. Abandoning all pretense of hiding (you're a shinigami, not a ninja, after all) when you hear the sound of even more thundering feet behind you, you gather as much breath as you can and scream at the top of your lungs, "Ichigoooooooooo!!" You nearly trip in surprise when a voice on the other side of the wall squawks, "Aki?!"
"Ichigo!" you cry, relieved when the wall ends and you see your bad-tempered buddy, waving and running at the same pace as you. "Ichigo, you..." You leave the wall further and further behind when you run into a single large street, but you scream, "You IDIOT!" when you see the massive group that's trailing him. "What the hell?!" you yelp, nearly tearing up as the collective crowd behind the two of you merges to swell in volume and number of shouted threats. "You've got even more people tailing you than I do!"
"It's OK, I've got an idea! Let's split up, fight them all off, and meet back here!" Ichigo calls. "No way!" you retort, "It took long enough to find you! How're we going to meet up with each other and then Ganju if we do that?!" Ichigo's jaw drops. "What? You lost Ganju?!" he yells, looking appalled. "You don't see him running around next to me, do you?" you shout, a vein visibly pulsing on your temple. Ichigo appears to think for a minute. "OK!" he suddenly declares. He stops and turns on his heel, pulling out his sword. "Plan B!! Come get some!" he challenges, facing the coming crowd. "Ichigo!" you cry, skidding to a stop and running back to join him. "What are you doing?!" "Kicking their asses, what do you think I'm doing?!" he shoots back. "If we just destroy them right here, then they can't come chasing after us, and there are so many of them that anyone who comes after will be too busy cleaning up to come after us!"
"Ichigo, how's this any better than what you said earlier?!" you moan, slapping a hand to your forehead... But as your hand slides down your face, it reveals a steely glint in your eyes and a dark grin unfolds. "Well, whatever. Looks like we're out of options and this might just be stupid enough to work..." There's got to be at least twenty of them (or even thirty, as Ichigo later described it to Ganju)... and you're surrounded on all sides. This won't be easy, but it could be fun... You pull out your Zanpaku-to and ready yourself. "C'mon, Rai-kumo, it's time for round two!" you whisper, as your sword glows golden again. "Lightning wave!"
As you and Ichigo release simultaneous attacks, the massive energy cracks the ground, sending your pursuers tumbling to their knees. Between the two of you, you make quick work of the unruly band, and as soon as the last one falls, you speed away. "Okay!" Ichigo pants, sweat running down his temple, "Now where do we go?" "We look for everyone else!" you reply, "I say we look for Ganju first since he's probably the closest." As soon as the words leave your mouth, a bright firework lights up the sky in the distance. "Ah, over there!" you exclaim, pointing at it. You sprint towards it, feeling relieved that Ganju's still alive (you'd hate to think what Kuukaku would do to you if he didn't make it back with the rest of you), but just as soon as you round the next corner, you come to a screeching halt. At the end of the alleyway are five more shinigami patrollers. "Aw, crap!" you hiss, doubling back, hoping they didn't see you. Following your cue, Ichigo also ducks behind the corner, but against his better judgment, peeps out at the last second. Unfortunately, while you with your black robes and black hair are not very noticeable, Ichigo's bright orange head DOES catch their attention.
"Hey! Who's there?!" someone shouts, coming forward to investigate. "Shoot! Over here!" you hiss, pulling Ichigo further along the wall where they can't see. You're in the middle of looking for an escape route when you hear a scream and thud. Turning around, you see Ichigo has felled his newest opponent. "Kurosaki!" you call as quietly as you can, "What're you doing?! Now they'll send even more jokers after us!" And sure enough, proving your prediction true, two more of the original five come around the corner to check, but are also almost instantly brought down. As the final two come out, and are defeated by Ichigo, you get ticked. "Kurosaki!" you half-shout, smacking him on the back of the head. "You FOOL! What if some other patrol walks past, sees no one there and comes here too?! You're not being careful enough! Do you want to fight all day?!"
"Well, if it's the quickest way to get to that white tower where they're keeping Rukia..." he replies nonchalantly. His lax attitude only adds fuel to the fire. You grab the front of his shirt and slam him against the wall as you snap, "Look, I don't know about you, but I think we're wasting more time than is necessary--" You trail off as your eyes widen. "Wait, did you say 'white tower?'" "Yeah, what about it?" Ichigo mumbles, thinking that the white tower is Soul Society's version of "jail." You instantly let go of him, your hand on your chin while you think. "That place is for capital offenders only..." you mumble to yourself, "Why would they be keeping her THERE? It's not like lending your powers to someone would cause you to be punished THAT severely... What are they up to?" And now that you think about it, all these patrol squads wandering around... "A small pack of Ryoka, even if we are just as powerful as they are and even if we are attempting a jail-break, is not enough trouble to amount to this much heightened security..." Something's not right in the Soul Society right now...
"Hey, Aki!" Ichigo barks, disturbed by your sudden change of attitude. "I don't get it, you're acting weird. And what's so special about the place where they're keeping her?" You turn around and point to the distance. "See those windows in the tower?" you ask. When he nods, you tell him, "The inside of that tower is utterly empty except for a single spiral staircase that winds all the way from the bottom to the top. There are no railings and no floors separating the spaces inside the tower, none at all. And those slitted windows? They're there so the prisoner can look out and reflect on their punishment, and see the outside world, know what it is that they're missing... Only people on Death Row are put into that tower..." You remember with a small pang of unease Renji threatening to throw you in should you miss training practice again, and you later running to Rukia only to find out what the tower was really for... Such a twist of irony...
As you remain lost in thought, Ichigo balks. "Are you serious?!" he exclaims, his hands jumping to his head, tufts of spiky orange hair poking up between the gaps in his fingers. "Wait, I've lost track of time! How much more do we have left?" You frown, biting your lip. "I'm not sure either," you admit, your eyes drifting back towards him.
Your frown grows deeper as you decide to take a closer look at Ichigo. His right forearm is covered in white cloth wrappings that look like the ones from his sword. Whatever old wound it covered up, it's starting to bleed again, although it's just a little bit... As your eyes travel over to the rest of his figure, you notice dried up or smeared bloodstains everywhere... There's even a little on his cheek... Slowly, you step forward. "You get all this from Ikkaku?" you ask, reaching up and touching one of the stains on his cheek. A little bit of white powder rubs off at the contact. The medicinal smell tells you that it's that stuff Ikkaku keeps in the hilt of his sword ("That guy is such a blood-thirsty moron," you think, sweat-dropping, "That he keeps this ready for a good fight, anytime, anywhere..."). "Ichigo must have been in a lot of pain..." you think sympathetically, "for there to be so much blood from this many cuts..." They must've all come from Ikkaku's sword; no one else would be good enough to deal this much damage. But you're glad that he won...
"Ah! A-A-Aki...?" Ichigo suddenly stammers, blushing noticeably. With a quick flick, your eyes meet his, but your fingers are still on his cheek. Silently, you withdraw your hand, turn, and walk away. "I'm glad you're okay," you respond quickly, as if the explanation were necessary to clear up your meaning. Watching you walk forwards, Ichigo nods. "Hey!" he suddenly cries, making you spin around and waving your arms wildly in a gesture for him to be quiet. "Shhh!! Quiet, idiot! We're trying to SNEAK around!" But you pause and look at him. "What is it?" you ask, "You look paler right now than you did a second ago."
"Look at yourself!" he retorts, angrily putting a hand on his hip, his other hand jutting an accusing finger at you. "What happened to you?! You're a bloody mess!" "Huh?" you dead-pan. You blink in remembrance and touch your cheek, where Yumichika had gotten you with his four-bladed Fuji Kujaku. "Oh, that," you acknowledge, when your hand comes away clean. "It stopped bleeding a long time ago. I wouldn't call it a 'bloody mess' exactly." "Don't give me that!" Ichigo argues, stomping towards you, "It's on your face, so you can't see how deep it is! There's blood all over your robes!" "I'm in spirit form, Kurosaki! It's fine!" you retort, annoyed with his attitude. "Quit babying me! If you want to worry about someone, worry about yourself! The one who's a bloody mess right now is YOU, not me!" The fact that you're literally in each others' faces doesn't register in your mind until Ichigo grabs you around the waist, his sword hilt poking out of his other hand. "Wha--?! Ichigo, what're you doing?" you yelp.
"Hold still," he orders sternly.
Deftly, he tears off a piece of cloth wrapping, stiff with half-dried medicine, and sticks it on your cut. Once he's sure it's in place, he immediately lets go of you and walks to the corner to check for more signs of patrollers, leaving you standing in the middle of the alley, pink in the face and extremely disoriented.
Staring at his back, you can't help but wonder, "What the hell was that?" You thought he was going to... er... try something weird... W-well, nothing to worry about, if that was all. You should thank him, but... You suck in a huff and cross your arms. You don't feel like thanking him. You're still annoyed at him for acting over-protective and before that, for being an idiot as far as the patrol squads were concerned. However, your conscience gets the better of you, and you sigh, walk up to him and pat him on the back. "Hey," you mumble, strangely unable to look him in the face. "I'm going to check over there for another route. You keep checking here, OK? And uh, by the way, thanks... for earlier. You know what I'm talking about..."
And with that, you leave to go do what you said you would. Ichigo waits until he hears the sound of your footsteps growing fainter to turn around, so you won't see his blushing. One, he's thankful to have been able to do that and stay alive (a few months ago, you would've punched him for touching you at all), two, he's very caught up in that look on your face when he pulled you towards him. You weren't resisting at all; in fact, you looked embarrassed. He watches as you reach the corner and steal a look around the edge. It's nice that you thanked him, but somehow, he feels that you could've shown more gratitude than just that cursory sentence. Shaking his head to clear it, he scowls purposefully and crosses his arms. "What am I expecting?" he wonders, frustrated. "It's not like I want her to turn back around and run into my arms." Without warning, you come dashing back in a bee-line towards him, from beyond the corner. "Aki?!" he exclaims, heartbeat accelerating. Stupidly, his arms start up, ready to catch you...
A sound like a record scratching whistles in his ears as you run right past him, yelling, "Shit! There's, like, 30 of them camped out in that plaza!! Runnnn!!" Frozen in humiliation, his face beet red, it takes the sight of a thundering herd of Division Three shinigami (which he gathers from their combined battle-cries) to shock him out of his trance to run after you.
As you race along, he sees a tiny crack in the wall, and as he gets closer, he realizes it's a tiny alleyway. REALLY tiny. And dark. Could be a good place to hide, if you manage to get far enough inside it to avoid being seen at all...! Before you can dash past it, Ichigo grabs your wrist and pulls you in. He clamps his hand over your mouth and makes a motion with his finger for you to be quiet and follow him further in. You nod, so he takes his hand off your mouth and keeps scuffling further into the shadows as quick as he can, you following as best you can. When you think you've run enough, the two of you flatten yourselves against the walls, opposite each other, as best you can and become so quiet that you're barely breathing, hoping your black clothes will help you blend in with the darkness. Soon, the horde passes. Neither of you moves a muscle until the last sandal scuffles past.
"Whew," Ichigo sighs, finally daring to breathe again. "A few seconds slower and they'd catch us for sure..." "Y-yeah," you mumble, "I bet if I so much as twitched, they'd stick their heads in to look!" "Haha, yeah," he chuckles. Just in case they hadn't all left yet, you and Ichigo stay quiet for a minute, trying to listen for any sounds of activity. But no, the only noise you hear is the sound of shouting a good distance away. "OK, they're gone," he whispers. "For sure, now..." You nod and try to shuffle out. "Good, now let me out," you say rather rudely, "All right, sheesh! I'm trying!" Ichigo snaps, trying to wiggle out of your way, "It's kinda tight in here!" "No kidding!" you puff, "Couldn't you have found a larger space for us to hide in?" "That was the point!" he states, exasperated, "They wouldn't think to look for us here—they wouldn't think that two people could squeeze into a space like this!" "Well, they were half right," you mutter, halfway down the narrow path, "Two sane people wouldn't have tried to pull a stunt like this." "Well then," Ichigo sneers, "Two sane people would've been caught because they hadn't tried this! Just admit it, Aki. It worked and now you owe me!" Scowling, you try harder than ever to force your way out and accidentally catch your right sandal on an uneven tile.
"Ack!" You feel yourself starting to fall, but before you can, Ichigo grabs your left arm and pulls hard. Too hard. You're yanked back up on both feet, but you accidentally knock into Ichigo, whom you hang on to for support as he catches you firmly. "Thanks," you mumble, looking up. Slowly, you notice the position you're in... The position you're BOTH in. A sudden memory of Aladdin pulling Jasmine onto the magic carpet crosses your mind. He's holding you in the exact same way... And you're so off balance that you're still clinging to him... You feel your cheeks flame as you absorb the fact that your noses are only a couple of inches apart---you're so close, you can count each one of his eyelashes. Heat rises in your face as you become aware of his arms around you (is it to keep you from falling over again?). You can't... pull away... even if you wanted to... His eyes... gazing at you with such intensity... seeing only you...
"Um, Ichigo...?" you squeak, vainly trying to stop staring into his eyes. "What?" he asks, sounding so indifferent that you wouldn't be surprised if he were playing dumb. "Doesn't he notice where he is?!" you think, embarrassed and irritated, the blush spreading across your entire face. "Okay, stay calm Aki," you mentally instruct yourself. "Just tell the imbecile what's wrong with this picture..." After a pause, you finally manage to peep out... "You're... too... close...!" Another pause ensues before... Ichigo feels his own face heat up as what you're talking about finally registers in his brain. He hadn't realized he was that close before. He got distracted just looking at you. But... He honestly can't move. Your hazel eyes hold him in place. Your cheeks are pink... And you're doing that cute lip-biting thing again... As if hypnotized, he feels as if he's being drawn forward...
Your cheeks grow even hotter as you notice he's not moving away. Actually, he seems to be getting even closer. The tip of his nose touches yours... And you can feel his breath on your lips. Don't close your eyes...
"Ahh! Ichigo...?!" The shaky tone of your voice breaks the trance, as he gasps and abruptly lets you go. Embarrassed, he backs up as far away as he can against the other wall (face redder than ever), giving you enough room to finally squeeze out of the alley (which you do, as fast as you can). "God, it's cramped in there," you gasp, finally shuffling out. "You took up too much room in there, fatso," you mock with a shaky laugh, stretching and walking forward (in an attempt to forget what just happened—and fast) as Ichigo tumbles out. "Fatso?" he retorts without thinking, "Look who's talking! I could barely get out because you—" But he stops talking as you shoot him a sharp look. "Because I what?" you ask quietly, eyes narrowed. "N-nothing..." he mutters, backing up a step. "I see," you huff, "Well, whatever. Come on! We should go and look for Ganju before he gets killed."
As you walk away, Ichigo clutches his heart and lets out the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Damn, that was close," he thinks, kicking a stone towards the alley. As he turns back to look at the space you were in, his thoughts stray to what had nearly happened in there. How did it get like that? His face, barely just cooled, begins get warm again as he thinks about the way you looked... That was definitely not your usual face. You were so surprised... that you were completely defenseless... In your eyes was a new and strange look. Like the whole world had suddenly stopped making sense... and in a way, it had...
For a minute there, it was like he had lost control of himself.
"Ichigo!"
"Huh?" he yelps, snapped out of yet another daze (...this seems to be happening to him a lot right now...). "Let's go!" you call. "Right!" he shouts back, running forward to join you.
"Hey, are you all right?" you ask him, noting how feverish he looks, but pretending that you're probably not feeling the same way. "Your face is starting to clash with your hair..." "I'm fine," he mumbles, refusing to look at you. You also look away. "Okay..." you reply quietly. Secretly, you're pretty glad he's not looking at you. You can't look at him right now either... It feels so awkward... Best if you just forgot about what just happened in there. Yeah. Just forget it.
