"Aki?"
Hmm... That's odd...
Why are you hearing Ichigo's voice?
"Aki?"
Your eyes snap open. "Ichigo!" you exclaim, "You're awake?!" "Yeah," he replies, "Hey..." At once, both of you turn red and sit up immediately, realizing how close your faces had been (almost nose to nose?!). You shuffle around a little and try not to look at him. It's really difficult. You've probably only realized it just now, but you've definitely started looking at him in a different way than you had before coming to Soul Society... An awkward silence ensues.
"Hey, um..." Ichigo starts, breaking it. "I'm sorry." You blink and snap to attention. "Wha...? Why are you apologizing?" "I'm sorry that... I couldn't do more earlier," he tells you. "You got hurt pretty badly. I should've fought Renji to begin with." "No!" you exclaim. "I told you! It was my fight! Er, well, you finished it, but I mean... There's no need to apologize! That was my choice, and I should be thanking you, for... for..." You blush again. Why are you thanking him? For giving you permission to fight? It's not like you're married or something... Oh God, what are you thinking?!
Ichigo stares as you blush harder. He moves forward, examining you. "Hey, you okay?" he asks directly, "Does it hurt somewhere?" "Um, yeah," you respond, still not looking at him. "I mean, no! Not at all, I'm fine." Why are you looking away from him? "Hey," he says again, looking distinctly irked this time. "Look at me." He puts his palms on both sides of your face and turns you towards him so you have to look at him. "Look at me and tell me you're fine. Then I'll believe you," he insists stubbornly.
Oh God... his eyes...
You close your eyes and reopen them, take a deep breath and mumble, "Yes, I'm fine. Okay?" At the look you're giving him, and at the look he sees on his own face reflected in your eyes, Ichigo abruptly lets go of your face; this time, HE looks away. But now that you're turned toward him, all his bandages and covered up wounds are quite visible to you and you remember what you'd been wanting to talk to him about once he woke up.
"Ah, that's right!" you exclaim, "Ichigo, why did you get hurt like this?" "Oh, I uh," Ichigo starts, but you cut him off before he gets the chance to finish. "I overheard Hanatarou and Ganju talking. They said that... you didn't block any attacks... What's the matter with you? Don't tell me... you LET yourself get hurt like this?" He scowls stubbornly and you feel nostalgia tug softly at your heart with his return to his old standby of covering up his feelings. But it soon fades. He sighs. "I was being reckless, was all," he tells you, still looking away. In a way, he wasn't really lying. He really was mad enough to disregard what happened to him, completely. But on the other hand, he's glad it turned out like this. Let it serve as atonement, kind of like a punishment for letting you go into a battle and letting you get hurt so badly. It's his own fault you could have died...
"Idiot!!" you snap, and give him a good whack upside the head. "Ouch..." he groans. His eyes narrow comically and an angry mark appears on his spiky head. "Hey, what the hell?!" he roars. "Idiot!" you repeat angrily, "Stop being reckless in battle! Didn't Urahara tell you? You'll get killed if you keep going like this, idiot!!" "Stop calling me an idiot!" he yells back. For a minute there, you just sit there, glaring at each other, fuming. But after you calm down, you mumble, "Just... make me a promise, okay?" Ichigo nods, although somewhat hesitantly. "Promise me... you'll start taking care of yourself. You always act like I'm the one who needs to be protected, but... there's no way you can save anybody unless you can save yourself first." Ichigo sighs and mumbles, "Alright. I get it." "Good," you respond. Then, your eyebrows knit together. "Do you hear something?" Ichigo pauses. "Yeah..." In fact, it sounds like... snoring...? "Who is that?" It gets louder. "It's coming from outside...?" Suddenly, you hear a sudden outburst from Ganju in the corridor.
"Why the heck are you sleeping on my leg! You...!" At the sound of Ganju's shout, you and Ichigo, forgetting your squabble rush outside to see Ganju stand up suddenly, and rudely shove Hanatarou off of his leg. "Agh!!" he cries, "you drooled all over my only set of clothes!" "He's too tired," Ichigo snorts, "A little drooling isn't a big deal...!" Ganju looks up and spots the two of you, Ichigo leaning against the wall with his sword on his back (wow that boy is quick; you didn't even see him grab it while you left) and you with Rai-kumo clutched in your left hand. "Aki! Ichigo! Are you... okay?" "Yeah, thanks to Hanatarou," Ichigo says, glancing at the fourth-division healer and figuring out his own condition. "You should be healed too," you point out, "Hanatarou tended to you after he was done with this idiot." You gesture towards a scowling Ichigo.
"Wake up Hantarou!" Ichigo says, prodding Hanatarou. "We're going," he mumbles, more to himself than to anyone else, "...to the Senzaikyuu." "This time, we have to make it," you think, watching Hanatarou get up. "Ahh? Wha...? Who...?" he mumbles sleepily. "Hanatarou, we're going," Ichigo tells him. "Can you guide us back up?" Hanatarou rubs his eyes and nods. "Sure, but first..." He sits up in a kneeling position (Japanese sitting) and pulls out a small bottle, dumps a pill from it into his palm and is about to swallow it when Ichigo stops him. "Woah, woah, woah!" he squawks. "What the heck is that?!" You and Ganju turn around and join Ichigo in gaping at the weird pill, clustering around Hanatarou like first-graders around their first class project. It's a teeny pill, white with a black skull (with hearts for eyes?!) neatly printed on it.
As you gawk, jaw agape, Hanatarou blithely explains, "This is the special energy pill designed to keep members of the Fourth Division working, even when they're tired." "Really?" Ichigo exclaims, as Ganju adds, "But it has a skull mark... Is this a joke?!" He looks at you. "What?!" you exclaim, "I thought I told you, I never had anything to do with this while I lived here!" "If I swallow one," Hanatarou continues, as if without hearing you two bicker, "My stamina will be miraculously restored!" And before Ichigo can stop him, the sleepy-looking boy pops the pill in his mouth and swallows. As he sits there, the three of you just watch him. Suddenly, he twitches, and, looking as slack-eyed as usual, lethargically stands up and begins to walk off. "Come..." he says, already walking towards the exit, "Let's go."
"W-wait a minute!" you, Ichigo, and Ganju holler. "What?" Hanatarou asks, turning just enough to give you a dull gaze. "What do you think?" Ganju asks. "Are you sure that thing worked?" you persist. "It doesn't look like it to me!" Ichigo tells him. "What are you talking about?" Hanatarou asks, "Don't I look completely re-energized?" He offers you what he hopes is a convincing grin, pointing at his "refreshed" features. "Not at all," Ichigo deadpans. "I think you got ripped off," Ganju says point-blank.
Hanatarou never manages to fully convince you of his renewed energy, but because you decided time was more important right now than anything else, you buckled and let Hanatarou lead you out of the sewers once more. "Good," he whispers, lifting the lid of the cover tile just a crack. "There's nobody there. A fight took place here yesterday and they didn’t assign anyone to guard this area..." Ganju mutters, "Weird..." "Maybe they think that the enemy won't appear in the same place twice?" you offer, climbing out after him. You both shrug. "Maybe..." Ichigo sighs, also leaving the sewers behind. He turns and helps Hanatarou replace the lid.
"What do you think the others are doing?" you ask Ichigo, suddenly wondering. "Yeah, the glasses guy in the white robe and that cutie with brown hair," Ganju elaborates. "Cutie," Ichigo ponders, eyes narrowing, "Haven't heard that one in a while... Are you talking about Ishida and Inoue?" More importantly, is he hitting on your classmate? He'd better not... You and many others would probably have a fit. "Both... of them... are a hundred times smarter than me," Ichigo admits. "They will avoid any fight that they aren't confident in winning. There is no need to worry... they'll be fine." You nod and smile. "You're right. Eeeeverything you said was 100% right." Ichigo scowls at your smile that has turned into a smirk. "What does that smirk mean?" he growls. "Wipe it off your face. I know what you're thinking."
"What about that other guy, Chad?" Ganju asks. "Even less to worry about," Ichigo returns dismissively. "What?" Ganju cries, surprised at Ichigo's seeming callousness. "We don't even know if he's alive--" "Of course he is," Ichigo cuts him off. "I can feel it. His spiritual pressure... I've felt it ever since we landed in the city. Plus..." You look at Ichigo. His eyes look different, as if he's completely confident as he says, "It is completely unimaginable that Chad would ever lose to anyone." He turns and locks eyes with you. You nod. "Yeah." You turn to Ganju and Hanatarou. "C'mon, let's go. I bet everyone's already up there waiting for us at the tower." As the two of you race ahead, Ganju and Hanatarou chase after you.
You speed across the tiled ground, ceramic pieces torn from the earth littering the pristine white, the deep scratches, gorges, and occasional uncleaned bloodstains catching your eye as you run. You pass the lower barrier walls in thirty seconds, running through the gate and already sprinting up the steps. They're high, as the hill is steep; your feet pound against the steps. You're about halfway up when Ganju pants, "D...Damn it! These stairs are waaaaaaay too long! How high is this thing, anyway?!" "Stop whining, we're almost there!" Ichigo snaps. And it's true. There's just one short flight of stairs left between you and the fortress in which Rukia is being held prisoner.
"Yeah, we made it!" Hanatarou cheers. You and the other two exchange surprised glances. Somehow, Hanatarou had put on a burst of speed and passed you. "See? I told you it worked!" Hanatarou chirps, referencing the pill he'd taken earlier. You sweatdrop and frown. That's surprising. You could've sworn it was another gag by other random shinigami. "Nobody here, too!" Ganju exclaims, looking around as he runs. By now, you're all past the stairs and on level ground. "Good!" Ichigio says. "Now, we'll charge straight in there..." But his voice dies suddenly in his throat as a wave of mass panic hits him full on. Gasps from you and the others behind him alert him to the fact that you all feel it too.
It's as if a tsunami of blackness is swallowing you up, engulfing you in its sheer enormity... you can almost feel yourself drowning in fear. It's oppressive... Massive. The sky has suddenly gained the weight of the ocean and threatens to crush you under its pale blue heaviness. "This is killing intent," you realize, unable to keep going forward as unexplained terror completely washes over you. You fight to take in a breath, and see that Ichigo and the others have stopped too. Hanatarou's face is pale and sweaty. "Where the hell is this spiritual pressure coming from!?" Ganju gasps, eyes wide, teeth gritted to keep himself from crying out. "What... What the hell is this?!" Ichigo hisses. As you feel the ground shake under your feet (or is that just the extremity of your trembling?), threatening to tear the space beneath you open, you realize what this is. Or, to better state it, WHO this is...
"SHIT."
Far away, a man in a torn shihakusho bares his teeth in a malicious grin. The shredded white captain's robe flaps in the ethereal breeze. The sound of bells floats down to you on the breeze. Zaraki Kenpachi can feel his blood boiling with the thrill of anticipated battle. "He's here," he breathes raspily. "And... so is she. Welcome back... Watanabe."
