Chapter 4: Base

"Hey Urahara, we're pretty tired from today. Can we go to bed yet?" Ichigo asked through a yawn.

Kisuke didn't even glance up from his midnight tea as he replied, "I believe someone had something they wanted to ask you." He bent his head towards Kenpachi with a small, interested smile.

Ichigo gave the rough Soul Reaper Captain a curious look and Kenpachi nodded curtly. For some reason he felt like he wanted to keep their conversation private, so he led Ichigo into a dark side room with only a few soft chairs and one old lamp in the corner.

"Kenpachi..." Ichigo asked sleepily, "What's up?"

Kenpachi hesitated as he struggled to find the right words. He didn't like the idea of having to get help from someone else in order to understand his own weapon, but he was out of options, and the only thing left for him was the find out as much information as he could. Ichigo was the best possible subject because Kenpachi respected him, and their battle was the one battle when he had realized how much he needed to know more about his zanpakuto.

"Do you remember when we fought?" He finally asked, starting the conversation off broadly, making sure they were both on the same page.

Ichigo scratched his head thoughtfully. "What about it?"

"How you won. You remember that, right?"

Ichigo thought back, back to one of his first real battles, back when everything was only as simple as finding and rescuing Rukia. He had to think about it for a minute. As he tried to bring back the memories, he realized just how long ago it really was when he had beaten Kenpachi during his first trip to the Soul Society.

"Ah!" He exclaimed, finally recalling the exact event. "I do remember! Zangetsu, my zanpakuto, decided to test me, right in the middle of the fight! He kinda... froze time or something? I was sent to my weird inner world place and-"

"Stop." Kenpachi held up a hand as a look of concentration came over his face. "Inner world? What is that?"

"Oh yeah, you wouldn't know, would you?" Ichigo asked rhetorically. "It's this world that's controlled by my zanpakuto. He always said it was a representation of my own soul. It's got sideways skyscrapers and weird colored sky's. It's hard to describe. I've never really had a lot of time to look around anyway. Whenever I get sent there I'm always fighting. Time moves differently there, or it doesn't move at all. I don't really know. I think all soul reapers have a place like that, but it probably looks different depending on your zanpakuto."

"Another world...?" Kenpachi was enthralled. He had never been more interested in a story in his life. "So, if I ever learn the name of my zanpakuto, I would have a place like that too?"

"Oh yes."

Kenpachi and Ichigo turn towards the doorway where Urahara had just spoken. The scraggly man entered the room slowly and sat across from them, smiling as he continued,

"We all have a soul realm. All you have to do to unlock it is find your Zanpakuto's spirit." He then chuckled a bit towards Kenpachi and added, "Which you seem to be having a bit of trouble with."

"You probably made your sword mad or something." Ichigo joked.

This made Kenpachi worry a little. He hadn't though of it that way. His zanpakuto spirit was angry with him? He could certainly understand why, if that was the case. He hadn't been the best kind of person. What if his own sword's spirit didn't like him? What if it didn't think it deserved him? Just as he was beginning to really panic, Urahara spoke up lightly,

"No, no. I don't believe that's what it is."

"Do you have another idea?" Ichigo asked before Kenpachi could.

Urahara just smiled. "I think we should wait and see, when the time is right. Now, of course, it is time for bed. Yachiru fell asleep on Matsumoto, and I believe she needs a bit of help removing her."

Ichigo let out another yawn as Kenpachi took the hint and walked back into the common room to find that indeed, Yachiru had attached herself to Rangiku's chest, and was not going to easily let go. Matsumoto was struggling to get the tiny pink haired girl to let go when and was relieved when Kenpachi came to help her. Kenpachi just walked up and grabbed his vice captain by the back of her shirt. When she didn't budge he growled sleepily,

"It's time for bed, get off."

Without opening her eyes, Yachiru allowed herself to be carried lazily down the hall and into a room that Tessai had instructed was for them to sleep in. Inside the room were two sets of bunk beds. Hitsugaya was already asleep on the top bunk but it seemed that Matsumoto wasn't going to come to bed any time soon. As he placed Yachiru on the top bunk and covered her with a blanket he heard Ichigo and Uryu arguing on the other side of the wall. He swiftly hit the wall with his fist and they both shut up.

There was a soft knock on the door and Zaraki turned to see Tessai carrying some extra blankets. As he handed them to Kenpachi he said,

"I had originally had that little one bunking with Miss Inoue and Miss Matsumoto, but Kisuke told me something about her not being able to sleep unless she was in the same room with you. Is that right? It's awfully cute I must say."

Kenpachi snickered. "It's just a pain is what it is."

Tessai nodded then left. Before laying down on the lower bunk, Kenpachi Zaraki patted Yachiru lightly and adjusted her blankets. When she knew he wasn't looking she let out a sigh and a silent giggle.

As he lay in bed Kenpachi thought about what Ichigo and Kisuke had said, and mostly about the description they had given about the soul dimensions. He found it all very interesting. It made him want to find his swords name even more. He squeezed the hilt tightly in his hand as he rolled over. He was the only one who kept their zanpakuto with them while not in soul reaper form. Mostly it was for defense, but it was also because he was trying to grow closer to it.

As he closed his eyes he wondered about hat his soul dimension would look like.

Probably full of blood and monsters, since that's pretty much what my soul is bound to be by now. Ugly, cursed, evil... the soul of a demon... He thought as he drifted off.

When he dreamt that night, he saw a land of red skies and flat, deserted land that went on forever. There was nothing. It was a world of empty nothingness. It almost felt as if his soul were nothing...


Ending on a bit of a sad tone, but hey, at least I'm updating. Even if the chapter are short and pointless. lol, oh well.

Review for the image of Yachiru being attached to Rangiku's jugs! XD

KeikoPanda102