Sorry for the late update but life is evil! As a warning, I will be busy in cattle country with a vet durning the summer as well as sailing. If i don't update please don't hate me! Thanks for the reviews! They're fun to read.
Chapter Six – Friendly Competition Turned into Accident
Normal POV
Ichigo awoke at four-thirty am the next morning. He sat up slowly and stretched. He looked around amazed. He'd gotten the best sleep he'd had in the longest time. He shifted and reached for his phone. He had a missed call from Annwyl. Ichigo smiled and listened to it.
"Hey Ichi!" her voice chimed. "How do you like Las Noches? Have you met my friend Grimm? He's great! Are you eating? Sleeping? Are you having fun? Made any friends? Call me! Please take care of yourself Ichi. Bye."
He let the nickname he'd heard sink in. Naturally, he thought. She wouldn't have sent me off somewhere if she didn't feel a friend of hers would make sure I was okay. He shook his head and went to get dressed. He pulled on his riding pants, socks, boots, red tee, and black hoodie. He combed his hair through with his fingers.
He met up Grimmjow outside. The tall, blue haired man was shifting his feet as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed across his chest. Ichigo walked up and said hello. Grimmjow glanced at him and smiled. Ichigo tried to ignore the slight bit of uneasiness in the smile.
"Good morning," Grimmjow said. "Come on. Everyone's waiting for you to cook."
"I guess I've become popular," Ichigo chuckled.
"Yeah you have." Grimmjow led the way downstairs. They snuck into the kitchen and were met by Lily and Nel. Nel was chopping vegetables while Lily was pulling eggs out of the fridge. Ichigo went to work on making omelets. Grimmjow helped get orders on what everyone wanted and then began to cut up the meat.
Breakfast was silent save for bits of conversation that flitted between everyone at the table. Luppi showed up as they began to clean up and stared in confusion. Ichigo shot him a questioning glare and he stayed silent. Ulquiorra then pulled everyone to the living room to discuss the day.
"Today, we are not riding the horses," he said. "Instead, we are going to time how long it takes you to catch your horse from the field, find everything you need to tack your horse, and get the tack on."
"There is a catch though," Starrk said. "The tack room has been rearranged by us. You have to find your tack from its new place. Your horses are in the field so have fun catching them."
"The idea is to catch your horse, find your tack, and get tacked in both kinds of tack as fast as you can and as correctly as you can," Grimmjow said as he tossed timers to the senior riders. "We'll be timing out our own hands. Harribel? I gave you three timers for that reason."
Harribel nodded and thanked him as she wrote names on each with a sharpie.
"One rule," Starrk said. "This is to see how good you are alone. No helping each other. You'll start on whichever tack you're told to start on. Have fun!"
He pressed his timer. The others did as well and the stable hands and Luppi stared in horror. Ichigo stood up and left hearing yet another click. He put on his helmet and strode off, halter in hand and determined to go as slowly as he could.
He quickly learned that he wouldn't be able to do that. In the field, Lobos, Tiburon, Teresa, Murciélago, Gamuza, and Buddy all stood near each other whereas Pantera was off on her own. Buddy tried to get closer and she reared and kicked at him. Ichigo found it funny that the larger gelding was scared off by the riled grey mare. Pantera then went after the other horses. The others joined him then and they all groaned.
"Well damn!" Lily moaned. "We'll never get them if she's like that."
Ichigo sighed and marched forward. He walked toward the indoor arena and whistled shrilly when he felt he was far enough away from the other horses. Pantera stopped what she was doing and pranced over to him. He slid the halter onto her and marched off.
In the arena the senior riders were sitting in the stands, timers ready and note pads on their laps. Ichigo decided to ignore the fact that they were doing something so in depth. They were going to write down how long it took them to do everything while timing the entire thing.
Ichigo led Pantera to the crossties, backed her in, clipped the ties to her halter and hooked the lead rope over the hook on the pole. He moved for the tack room as Grimmjow called the he was to start with Western. In the tack room he found leg wraps strewn all over the floor, tack bags on the incorrect hooks, bridles not with their bags, and saddles out of order. He let his brown eyes flit over everything and found what he wanted.
Ichigo got four leg wraps and looped them around his neck like a scarf. He pried his bag and bridles away from their new found hooks and pulled out the Western saddle. Balancing it on his hip, he long fingers hooked around the saddle horn – noting quickly and happily the imprinted designs that rounded the saddle skirt, seat, and fender – and he took one of the many Western saddle pads. There were so many because of the fact that it was a stable. Things got dirty.
He dumped his stuff on the wood bars and went to grooming. She went through everything quickly and efficiently. Grimmjow walked over to watch as Ichigo put everything together. He was good alright. Really damn good. Grimmjow was slightly jealous of how fast the boy was and yet accurate. He had never been that damn good up until about two or three years ago.
When Ichigo was done with Western, the others were throwing saddle pads on or throwing saddles on. Grimmjow looked it over and was happy to say it was done perfectly – as expected of Ichigo. He told Ichigo to do English tack next. Ichigo did so deftly. It was like he was in another world. Grimmjow watched him do English tack perfectly as well, including rerolling the wraps only to have to wrap them around Pantera's legs.
"Great job Ichigo! You can un-tack now. Make sure to put everything away where it belongs." The command was firm but not overly demanding. Grimmjow smiled as he wrote down Ichigo's times. He left to hand the note pad to Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra looked over the times, his green eyes widening ever so slightly.
"He really is too good to be just a mere stable hand," Ulquiorra murmured. Grimmjow paused before leaving. He gave a soft glare to Ulquiorra.
"What are you suggesting?" Grimmjow hissed. Nel heard his hiss and came closer. She gazed at the times and her eyes widened exponentially.
"Are those Ichigo's times?" she asked in something of a hushed tone. Ulquiorra nodded. She stared at Grimmjow in amazement. "Maybe we should ask about his past. His times are rival to Shiro Zangetsu's times."
"No," Grimmjow snarled under his breath. "We ain't askin' 'im anythin'!"
Nel shivered. When her cousin began to let his usual decorum leak through the polished facade he'd perfected over the years, she had always tried to stay out of the way. It was never pleasant to be around him when he was like this. Ulquiorra, who had never seen this side of Grimmjow, did nothing but fix the other man with a glare.
"We will ask him about it. Not only is he quite good but Annwyl knows him as well," Ulquiorra said firmly. Nel's eyes widened further in shock. She gawked at Grimmjow.
"Annwyl knows him?"
"She called only recently to know how he was doing," Ulquiorra said calmly, never taking his eyes off of Grimmjow.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"I was going to Nel. At the moment it wasn't prudent for you to know."
"Prudent eh?" Grimmjow growled. He was glaring daggers at Ulquiorra with his dazzling blue eyes. Ulquiorra managed to not flinch from the taller man's gaze despite how tempting it was to do so. "This comin' fr'm the li'l fuck who tol' us not ta ask 'bout the kid's past? Now I'm real fuckin' impressed!" Before they could reply, Grimmjow stormed off to the main complex.
As Grimmjow stormed out, Ichigo had un-tacked Pantera and put everything where it belonged before walking off with Pantera to put her in her pen. Luppi smiled at him but he continued on his way. He then went to make lunch.
Ichigo's POV/Lunch
As noon came closer, everyone else began to poor in tired and hungry. Grimmjow's somewhere around here but I'm not sure as to where. He and Nel separated from everyone early and automatically went into a shouting match. Ulquiorra pulled them aside and I lost interest in something I had no business in anyway.
Luppi lagged in after everyone else. He saw me then looked around. When he was satisfied that everyone was busy with whatever they were doing he came closer to me smiling. I felt my fist clench as he came closer to me. I hate it when people smile like that around me or at me. It wasn't just the uppity attitude that annoyed me but it was the smile people like him used.
The smile was their way of saying how they felt about you. I'm almost immune to those smiles because of Urahara and Kurotsuchi back at Seireitei. Urahara had enough tact to hide his smile behind a fan or a book. Kurotsuchi however, smiled one too many times around me saying with the smile that he felt he was better and that I deserved nothing but pity. I broke his jaw.
He never smiled around me ever again and I was automatically the hero of the stables.
"What do you want?" I snarl when Luppi's closer to me. His smile did not falter.
"I want you to tutor me," he declared. Starrk, who was the closest to us with Nnoitra and Harribel, stiffened. I guessed he didn't like the suggestion but I had no idea why.
"What do you mean by 'tutor'?" I ask suspicious of the teen. I have a right to be wary of this little fuck. He's out to get me or out to get my boss – who, I'm beginning to wish to touch in more than just a casual way. Especially after that dream I'd had last night.
I briefly remember that there was one other night when I could have sworn I'd felt long fingers, hardened by working with horses, brushed my hair away from my forehead, caressed my cheek, and the feel of lips against my skin. The nightmares took a while to break in that particular night.
"Horse stuff. Tack types, parts of a saddle, and parts of a bridle."
"Why not have one of the older ones teaching you this?"
"Well…you're better than their stable hands so I think it'd be practical to have you teach me. Maybe I'll even get better at tacking."
I mulled it over for a moment. Starrk gave me a look that said he didn't like the idea of me being alone with Luppi but that the idea was a good idea. Nnoitra and Harribel gave the same looks only they both seemed to dislike the idea of me alone with Luppi even less than Starrk. All three combined would still number lower than how much Grimmjow would like it.
"Eat first," I demanded firmly but not wholly severe. "I'll think it over while you do." I shoved a sandwich at him not caring if he didn't like what it was. As he skipped off, I walked over to Starrk who seemed to understand what I was about to ask.
"Look," he said calmly, raising his right hand and pointing at me with his pointer finger. "I don't really like you being alone with him. Ulquiorra's already warned us what's been going on and if he does it again, I'll let Lilynette have her fun with him. However, if this might improve him around horses, do it."
"Keep your phone on," Nnoitra said. Harribel nodded. I nodded and left to eat my food. Luppi gave me a look as I sat and I bobbed my head to say that I had decided yes. He smiled what looked like a genuine smile and ate at blinding speeds. I didn't bother trying to match his pace. I wanted to do this without hiccupping or belching.
When we finished, I had him get Buddy while I got Pantera. I hushed her down a bit and tied her in the crossties. I had Luppi get his Western tack while I got my English tack. We worked on Pantera first. She seemed to like Luppi less than anyone else here.
I taught him each bit of grooming kits. I started with the hoof pick. I explained that you started with this to tell the horse who will control their feet and to check if they had all four shoes. The curry comb – small comb made with rubber and in the shape of an oval, with short bristles – that was used to get caked dirt off of the horse's fur. I showed him how to use it – "Circles Luppi. Circles." – before moving on to the hard brush. The hard brush had stiffer bristles and actually was a brush. I showed him to follow the direction the fur fell and that the horse's body. The soft brush was used for the face.
I watched and taught him everything. Billet straps, which ones to use, stirrup leathers, how to adjust each kind of stirrup, the seat, the pommel, the saddle horn, etc. all made the list. I watched him eat everything up and could tell he was a bit faster now that he had a bit more training. I ended up un-tacking Pantera and putting the English tack out in the tack room.
I came back in time for Lily to enter to tell us that the senior riders were going to go on a hike. The stable hands were going to do a trail ride with the horses. I went back to the tack room for my Western tack. I tacked quickly after a fast grooming. I even checked the hooves for safety's sake and for my own sanity. Habits are hard to quit.
We rode out with the others. Luppi stayed back and everyone else flanked me. They gave me just enough room so that Pantera would be comfortable. I let myself get watch the woods around us all. They fascinated me. I watched all kinds of rodents scamper through the undergrowth.
I swear that I have no idea what happened then. Either I happened to stare too deeply at the forestry and forgot to watch the others as they went ahead, they accidentally went on without me thinking I was with them, or I waited for Luppi and didn't watch the others. Whatever happened, I ended up alone for a terrifying minute until Luppi caught up with me.
"I've managed to get lost," I muttered as I cursed myself mentally. A situation where I would end up depending on him was not what I was in the mood for. Despite this, I was going to give him some compensation for being respectful to me during the lessons. He smiled one of those smiles again and I tried to not glare. Not easy let me tell you.
"They'll probably head to the river," he said, pointing ahead of us to a fork in the road. He led me down the left fork to a clearing. There was a river there alright but it was deep in a crevice that was filled with jagged rocks and a few thorny branches poking out of the ground. The side we were on was not exactly impossible to get a horse down on but it was steep and would be hard with even the lethargic Buddy. Pantera might flip out on it. The opposite bank was flat dangerous to go down on foot let alone on horseback.
The river water raced past us. It was clear as crystal and I could see the smoothed rocks on the bottom. It also looked freezing. I also knew I would not want to drink from it if I valued my digestive organs. Annwyl had warned me about how gold miners who had used creeks in Colorado had not been wise with the placement of their latrines and all Colorado water was dangerous to drink.
"Are you sure they would have come here?" I called to Luppi after a few minutes of walking and not seeing any sign of the others. I was also hot. The sun beat down on us without mercy due to the lack of greenery in the clearing. I had a feeling that I would get one nasty sun-burn if I dared to take off my hoodie. I dared. A sun-burn was easier to treat than heat stroke.
"The other fork leads to denser forest," he called back. "Pantera hates that stuff. The others know that and wouldn't take her down that path."
I sighed thinking I would prefer to take my chances when Luppi crossed a bridge to the opposite bank. The bridge was an old wooden one that would only take one horse at a time and in single file. I stared warily at the wood that looked rotted and ready to crumble. I looked back and confirmed what worried me. If the bridge gave out, we'd have to jump over the crevice that was easily five feet wide at the top if not six. At the bottom it was probably around a foot or two wide. I wasn't daring enough to risk Pantera on the steep slopes let alone those rocks.
"Maybe we should head back!" I called not caring if he thought of me as a coward. I was not willing to do something stupid around someone I didn't fully trust. I was positive I should never give him my full trust knowing that at some point it would come back to bite me in the ass.
"They've already gained a lot of ground. If we want to catch up, we have to get moving!"
Damn my pride. I urged Pantera over the bridge trying very hard to not wince when I heard the wood creek under our weight. I followed him further up stream glancing back every so often to just keep an eye out. I was hoping one of the others would come through the trees and yell that we'd gotten our pathetic asses lost. I really wanted to get away from Luppi. I had avoided people when they showed up in my dreams before. Friends who'd known me all my life and I ran from them if they showed up in my nightmares.
I should have followed that rule no matter what. I should have taken someone with me when I'd been teaching Luppi and I should have kept my eyes on the group. I cursed under my breathe hoping he didn't hear me.
A few more minutes passed and I finally lost interest in the idea of staying with Luppi because he knew this place better than me. In fact, that was the reason I wanted to leave. I turned Pantera around calling out to him what I was planning. I was going to take my chances in the thicker woods. I didn't care anymore. I just wanted to get out. Hell! I would probably head back to the stables and try to find Grimmjow.
Since this morning, I've been positive that he's more than just 'another friend of Annwyl's'. I would recognize his grip anywhere because over the past two months he and I had gotten onto good enough terms that we were comfortable hugging each other in a brotherly side-hug or two. I was also somewhat comfortable with him gazing at me absently. I can't say I haven't had my own damn fantasies. If his fantasies match mine, I might let him try to make them real. Hell, I wanted mine to be real even if I did see myself playing the woman.
"You never did answer my question!" Luppi called. I halted Pantera and looked back at him a stern glare burning in my eyes. At least, I hoped it was a stern glare.
"What question?"
"Why you hate Shiro Zangetsu."
"I just don't like him alright? Leave it at that!"
"I don't want to," he replied. There was that smile again. "Especially now since Ulquiorra may be willing to ask more about you."
"What?" I asked, fear running through my blood. If my voice cracked, I didn't hear it do so.
"Your tacking skills are a bit too good to be a mere stable hand," Luppi chuckled. "At least, that's what Ulqui thinks."
I doubted that Ulquiorra knew that Luppi had a nickname for him. I wasn't about to give the gothic rider a nickname because I never saw one fitting him. Nicknames were for people who fit them. Ulquiorra was too emotionless to really fit one other than maybe 'Emo' and none of us were gutsy enough to call him that.
"There's nothing to know," I growled. I was about to urge Pantera on when Luppi spoke again.
"I bet you hate Shiro Zangetsu because you knew him personally and he did something. Maybe he made you look like a fool? Or maybe you're gay and he strung you along like nothing? Maybe he looked at your sisters a few too many times? Why do you hate him so much?"
"I hate him alright? Leave it at that." I nearly kicked Pantera forward when Luppi really pulled out all the stops.
"I bet I could ride Shiro better than you." He laughed then. "I bet I could do it blindfolded. Shiro's an easy horse to ride if you think about it. After all, only one person rode him. Maybe Shiro Zangetsu was not as good as he made himself look. Get an easy horse and you can win any event in the world."
I was done. I didn't care for my past life but since my recent life was sort of meant to keep it all hidden despite how horribly I was doing, I wasn't going to let the little fuck say I wasn't as good as I was and still am. I turned to him and flipped him off.
"You go ahead and prove that then," I hissed. "That's if Shiro doesn't break your neck once you get on him."
I kicked Pantera forward and left the little prick behind. At least, I thought I did. I got near the bridge when suddenly a cantering Buddy got far too close to Pantera. She reared and I held onto her neck for dear life. Big mistake that. After she reared, she spun quickly to kick Buddy with her back hooves. As Buddy – lethargic my ass – danced away, I was pitched forward easily due to my crappy positioning, not to mention timing.
I know how to sit rearing horses. You stand up in the stirrups and cling to their mane. Bucking horses, you lean back so your head is near their tail. It was like how you leaned forward when your horse went uphill and back when you went downhill only there was more movement involved overall.
I managed to let go of the reigns as I was flung forward. It was a good thing too. If I hadn't, my shoulder would have been dislocated and I would have received far more bruises then I received. Despite this, I was tossed over the edge of the ditch. One hard, sharp rock after another hit me as I tumbled jerkily down the steep slope. The steepness over here was more so than on the other side and it made the fall a lot faster. This meant, of course, that I gained velocity as I went down faster and that effect was not lost on me.
A brunch caught my hoodie's hood and I was nearly choked when it jerked me to a stop. My weight was a saving grace. My muscular form not only had enough mass to get me free but the jerk from being caught also helped dislodge the branch. The jerky stop was what made it easier to get free. The drawback: now I had to contend with a branch that had very sharp thorns.
The thorns cut into my neck, face, and arms. I saved most of my face when my arms shot up to protect my head again from the fall. I landed on the ground near the river with a thud and bounced haphazardly into the river. I had been right. It was freezing. The current was stronger than I expected though.
As it pulled me downstream, I struggled to stand and walked diagonally for the bank. I somehow got rid of the branch before reaching land. I didn't care how I did it. All I cared about was getting out of the crevice in one piece or at least most of one. I looked up to see a horrified Luppi looking down at me. He was on the ground on his knees and looked positively petrified. I nearly smiled but I was in too much pain to manage any real form of joy.
Served him right to worry about the poor bastard he'd just sent over a cliff no matter how small said cliff was.
"Gonna just stand there a gawk?" I yelled as loudly as I dared. My chest hurt like hell and I had a feeling that I had cracked or broken ribs. Breathing was getting harder too. "Go get help you god damn idiot! I'm injured so I'm stuck. Thanks so fucking much!" I winced from over doing it but didn't give two shits if he saw me in pain. It might teach him something.
He disappeared and I then saw him ride off on Buddy on the bridge. I looked back to see Pantera looking at me. She looked like she was about to join me. She took a step forward and my felt my heart clench. I didn't care if I got injured. Pantera was another matter. She wasn't my horse by paperwork but I worked her a lot when Grimmjow couldn't. I also knew that she was important to Grimmjow even if he never said so.
"No! Stay up there girl!" I yelped at her. She nearly backed away but inched toward the edge again. I picked up a stone and pitched it at her feet. It hit and I thanked god it had been smooth. She neighed and backed away. She stayed where she could see me though. That, I could deal with. I sat down painfully making sure to stay where she could see me. I noticed the crevice was cooler than the clearing. Shit. Hypothermia was a possibility now.
"Please get here soon," I whispered.
Grimmjow's POV/An hour later
I don't know how the hell I did it but I got to the clearing faster than I could have ever done before. We had all gotten back in time to find the stable hands arguing over something. I swore my blood froze when they mentioned Ichigo was missing. Lily was blaming herself for not staying with him while Sun-Sun, Mila Rose, and Apache all wanted to start a manhunt for him. Tesla was keeping his head somehow but he was beginning to fray around the edges when we got there.
Ulquiorra took action noting that Luppi was gone was the one who tried to quell the accusations that flew from everyone. Harribel, Nel, Starrk, Nnoitra, and I all did as Ulquiorra and kept our accusations to ourselves. Our faces didn't hide anything though. We all blamed a certain teen who pissed us all off far too often anyway and seemingly had it out for Ichigo.
About the time Ulquiorra had gotten everyone quite and talk about which trail they'd taken, Luppi came galloping up on Buddy. I was startled that he'd gotten his sluggish horse to trot let alone gallop but the look on his face made me hold my snide comments.
"Where's Ichigo?" Telsa yelled. Glares stabbed at Luppi's form almost tangibly and I almost pitied him.
"We were in the clearing and Pantera spooked…" he gasped out. "He fell…into the river bed."
"WHAT?" I erupted, yanking Luppi off Buddy by the collar of his shirt. His eyes got wider as I bellowed at him. "HE FELL IN AND YOU LEFT HIM THERE?"
"H-h-he t-told m-m-me to get h-help," Luppi stammered.
"Take my horse," Ulquiorra said as he pulled a rope out of a locker inside. "He's faster than the others. You'll need the time Grimmjow."
I blinked at him but did as I was told. Apache was already adjusting stirrups for me and tightened the girth once more. I leapt on and raced off. I knew which clearing Luppi was talking about. Only one clearing around here had a river. We rarely rode there because of the dangerous river bed. I crashed through the undergrowth not caring whatever wildlife I scared. Trees became passing obstacles as Murciélago flew over them with ease. I envied Ulquiorra for the amount of training his horse had compared to Pantera but my mind was focused more on Ichigo.
I reached the clearing with record speeds and few scratches from the tree branches I'd raced past and through blindly. I saw Pantera on the opposite bank and Ichigo lying in the river bed. I spurred Murciélago to the bridge and was glad to see how quickly he passed over the rotting wood. When I was close to Pantera, I halted Murciélago and leapt off him. I took the rope with me as I went to inspect how the hell I was going to get down there.
Ichigo was passed out. I yelled at him and he didn't budge. I tied the two horses' reigns together and tied one end of the rope to Murciélago's saddle. I took the other end and repelled as lightly as I could down the slope. Both horses held fast. I knelt next to Ichigo's prone body that was damp. Soaked actually. I cursed and checked hi pulse. It was fast and his skin was burning. He was also shivering. The ride would be cold.
I ripped of his hoodie and put my own black long sleeved sweater on him. I rubbed his legs with my hands to dry them faster. Fantasies thankfully avoided my mind at that time. I felt his torso and judged that no matter what, he would be in pain if I moved him but I had to get him out of here. The clearing was still warm. He needed warmth.
I tied the rope around my waist and legs like harness. I bent to my knees and felt the horses pull back. Good. I picked Ichigo up and cradled him as gently as I could with one arm. I then climbed. I made it out without jarring Ichigo too badly and also managed to get him onto Murciélago without incident. I let him lean on Murciélago's neck as I untied Pantera only to tie her to the back of the dark charger's saddle.
I mounted as gently as I could and pulled Ichigo up to lean on me. I urged the charger into a trot and rode home as quickly as I dared with an injured man in my arms and my insane horse tied to a charger that was just as likely to kick her as she was to kick him. I somehow got back to the stables before dark using the well worn dirt path. An ambulance was already waiting for me and I went with them so I could explain what I'd done to get Ichigo out.
At the hospital, I sat in the waiting area as the others filed in and out getting water and food after they'd arranged how to get everyone to and from here. Some of them got sleep (Nnoitra, Harribel, Apache, Mila Rose, and Sun-Sun) even if it was fitful. The rest of us didn't sleep. Luppi…he disappeared before I had returned to the stables. He was probably at home sleeping peacefully. I was willing to bet on it.
When the doctor came to us at two fucking am in the god damned morning, I was thoroughly aggravated. He put up with my yelling at him, a profanity in each and every sentence about how long could it possibly take to take care of a twenty-year-old boy who had fallen down a jagged rocked crevice, calmly before telling us Ichigo had multiple lacerations on his arms, face, and neck along with a few broken ribs and a cracked tibia. His right wrist was broken as well. A small case of hypothermia had been taken care of before anything else but it was taken care of.
We were allowed to see him then.
Sometimes, I wish I'd gone home then. What kept me from leaving was my worry and the fact that I didn't feel like letting these assholes know Ichigo suffered from traumatic nightmares as well as what injuries he'd received from his fall. When I entered Ichigo's room I was met with the sight of Ichigo asleep, a brace on his left leg, a half cast on his right arm, an IV in the crook of his left elbow, and bandages around his torso. They had given him a breathing mask that covered his nose and mouth with clear plastic that fogged up with each exhale.
The others tell me I looked fucking heart broken when I'd gone in. they tell me that I went right to Ichigo's side and looked like I was on the verge of tears. I don't remember what I did. I just know I wasn't going to leave him alone come hell or high water.
Not if he was going to have a nightmare and definitely not if Luppi dared to show his face.