So… hey! Here's me, the putter-offer-of-stories. But I've decided I REALLY should update again. I never realized that when you actually start a story on fanfic, you need to stick with it. I can't be rude! There are people waiting! So here's my bizchiz. I'm pretty sure I've made it longer than previous chapter… I hope so anyway, I didn't count the words, you see.

I don't own Bleach… but… seriously, listen to Escape the Fate. ;D

~.:/*\:.~

Darkness.

He couldn't see anything. There was a rough cloth wrapped around his head, covering his eyes. He blinked once and felt his eyelashes brush against the thick material. Squinting, he tried to his best to see through it, but the only thing he got in return was bitter disappointment. He may as well have been blind.

The air around him was cold and damp, and his suspicion that he was in a tunnel or a tight space of the like was confirmed once he noticed the footsteps echoing. Based on these noises he could also tell that there were other people around him, aside from the two that were holding his arms. Three more. He sighed and felt air hit his dry throat.

Right. He had lost a lot of blood while he was fighting. While fighting his friends.

Because he'd killed Orihime.

The pain of that was too unbearable. Ichigo's eyes began to water and he desperately and successfully blinked the tears away. Those were thoughts he could not dwell on in a situation like this. Clearing his mind, he relaxed and allowed the shinigamis to guide him down the twisting corridors. With time, he came to realize their footsteps gradually getting louder. Were they bringing him all the way to the end of the tunnel?

Their pace slowed for a bit, and then they came to a halt. There was a brief moment where the sound of keys jingling and a lock clicking could be heard before Ichigo was shoved into a small room. He stumbled, but caught himself by slapping his hands against the wall. It was cold, rough… but… now it was burning. His hands were burning. He drew his hands away, quickly stifling a hiss.

"Come here." A familiar voice growled.

"Zaraki?" Ichigo mumbled.

"Come here." He repeated.

Blindly, Ichigo shuffled toward his voice.
"Closer."

And he took two more steps before a felt a hand slam against his forehead, grab the blindfold, and yank it over his head. Ichigo tensed and shut his eyes, but after a few seconds he relaxed and opened them again.

There he was, Kenpachi glaring at him, Renji holding a torch, though looking away, and three other unseated shinigamis whom he had never met before. He looked around briefly. He was on the other side of the bars, alone in a small cell with gray stone walls, no bed, and no furniture. Not even a bathroom.

"Turn around." Zaraki ordered, and Ichigo obeyed. The cuffs around his wrists were removed, and he heaved a short sigh of relief.

"Kurosaki." Ichigo turned back around and began rubbing his chafed, burned skin. He cocked a single eyebrow and waited for his next words. "I used to have respect for you." Now the gruff man smiled and chuckled. "Now you're just in for a shitload of trouble."

Ichigo paused and looked him in the eye, and the captains' smile melted away immediately. "Don't you look at me with those eyes, punk."

Confused, Ichigo looked at Renji, who reluctantly spoke up. "Your eyes… they're red, Ichigo." The five walked away then, leaving him alone in an oddly comforting darkness.

"Ah!" A small voice squeaked.

"Yes," A deeper voice huffed. "We all know, Celia."

"Oooh… it's been so long!" The little girl piped again. "How long, Tyler? How long?"

"How the heck should I know?"

"Uh… because you were the last one to come! Duh!" Celia giggled.

There was quiet for a few seconds before Tyler spoke again. "153."

Ichigo cleared his throat and wrapped his hands around the bars, but after a while that started to burn as well, so he backed up and sat in the middle of his confined space. "Hello?"

"Hi, stranger!" Celia chirped. Tyler did not respond.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and fidgeted awkwardly on the ground. "Where is this place?"

"Hell." A new voice, feminine, gentle and soft whispered.

"Ignore Nabrina," Tyler grumbled. "She's just a downer."

"But she had good reason to be!" Celia yelped. "578. What a depressing number…"

"You've been in here for over a year?" Ichigo asked sympathetically.

He heard someone snort, and before he knew it, everyone except Nabrina was laughing hysterically. "A year! A year!" Celia sang.

Tyler controlled his laughter and rubbed his cheeks. "Kid, you're funny. No, it's not 578 days. It's 578 years."

Celia was still laughing, but Ichigo was quiet. "I… don't understand." He muttered.

"I know. I've been in here for 153 years, and I still don't know what they're keeping us here for." Tyler responded angrily.

"Oh! Oh! Oh! What's your name, stranger?"

"That big guy and the dude with the pineapple head just said it, smart one." Tyler again.

"Ooooh! Did they?"

"It's Ichigo Kurosaki."

"Mine is Tyler Rentiet."

"And I'm Celia Rentiet!"

"So you're siblings?"

"No," Tyler harrumphed. "She forgot hers, so she took up my last name."

"Ha a nice ring to it, yes?" Celia clapped.

Ichigo nodded his head, but then remembered that no one could see him. Pethaps they had seen him as he passed by their cells. It was weird, all of the cells were on one side of the hall.

"Are we ever allowed to get out?" He asked.

"Hmph. If you ever do get out, it's never for a good reason. You're either leaving because that psycho, Mayuri, wants to test you, or you're being punished." Tylers voice deepened when he spoke those last words, and Ichigo could almost imagine him flinching.

"What could you possibly do wrong in a place like this?"

"Fight Mayuri, which isn't the wisest of decisions. Bite someone. Ignore orders."

"Or in Tyler's case, throw blood at a captain!" Celia rejoiced.

Tyler growled. "Yes… yes, that too. Anyway, just don't do any of that. Depending on what you did, you either won't be fed for a while, they cut themselves right in front of you, though that's torture for everyone, or you're tied up outside in the sun for a couple of hours. I'm sure there's more, but I've never been willing to see how far they'd go."

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and scratched his chin. "What's so ad about the sun?"

Nabrina spoke up once again. "I see. You've only just awakened. I guess you've already spazzed on someone, then. That's how we were all caught in our younger days. We went too wild and they found us. That's the only time any of us have tasted human blood, except for when—"

"Let him figure it out for himself, Nina." Tyler interrupted.

Nabrina sighed and did not speak again.

Ichigo scratched his head in irritation. It was clear that even if he pressed as hard as he could, there was no way a girl like her would continue. What a depressing person. Maybe Celia would tell him. She was one heck of a talker. "Hey, Celia—"

"Shut up." She snarled.

"He's coming. Two minutes away. Lay down and shut up." Tyler warned.

"Who?" Ichigo asked, but he received no response. The silence stretched on, and it was then that he heard the footsteps. One person. Reluctantly, he laid down on his side and tucked a hand under his face. Oddly enough, it was comfortable. He closed his eyes when his orange hair started to fall into his face. He hadn't noticed it before, but he was ridiculously tired. His breath became…

He realized something else now too. The whole time he'd been here, he hadn't breathed at all.

He wasn't breathing.

Ichigo suppressed a shudder. This was normal. Normal. Normal. After a few times chanting that word in his head, he calmed down. This was just the life he was living now and whether he liked it or not, he had to get used to it sometime.

The footsteps drew closer, but Ichigo was just trying to sleep then more than anything. A small light shone through his eyelids, but it wasn't bright enough to concern him. He just wanted it off again. A creepy voice killed the silence. "Ah… Nabrina, you always look so delightful when you pretend to sleep. Now I see those eyes! Show me a smile…"Several seconds ticked by. "Nabrina," Mayuri said more seriously. "I believe I told you to smile. Oh. Still sharp after all these years." He shuffled to the next cell. "Celia! Teeth. Good. Tyler. Depressing as always. Fangs. Sharp." Then there was a deep chuckle and the slide of his sandals against the stone floor, and he smiled down at Ichigo.

"Ichigo Kurosaki."