AN: I say it almost every chapter, but being ahead is a surreal feeling. I might just put this story on hold and completely rewrite Goku the Gamer. The praise and tons of fun I've had with this story really make me want to work on that one again.

I didn't describe the pain well from Ichigo's perspective. It's like all of the pain a woman endures during childbirth, but within the span of a minute and ten times worse.

For you Game of Thrones fans out there: Remember Craster?

Uhm… I don't really know what to say.

~GB~

Chapter 9 Summary: Ichigo and Tatsuki clear out the fortress and kill the boss. Tatsuki does most of the killing and Ichigo has to fight the boss on half health… this story doesn't have a lot of tension huh?

~GB~

Chapter 10: GoT Flashbacks

"Where is the fucking bathroom?"

Tatsuki had been walking around the throne room for a few minutes which had allowed the purple blood that covered her from head to toe to dry. She desperately needed to get clean. Finally, along the back wall Tatsuki found three unassuming, wooden doors.

She opened the first one, "A study?"

The room had a very cozy atmosphere. A large and ornate rug covered most of the stone floor and the wall were lined with several, very full bookshelves. Against the furthest wall was a large desk and chair clearly made to accommodate Krulp's size. If she weren't on a mission to find a bath to soak in Tatsuki would have gladly spent some time rifling through the desk drawers and bookshelves just in case there were any hidden goodies.

The next door refused to open.

The third door answered all of Tatsuki's prayers. The bathroom was set up to be like a ritzy bath house with floors and walls covered with beautiful red cedar wood and a huge bath dominating the center. There were two shower heads to the immediate let and right of the entrance and just a little beyond them, several racks of fluffy white towels could be seen. The wall were also engraved with magnificent depictions of nature that attributed to the zen-like atmosphere.

Sighing with relief Tatsuki discarded her soiled "armor" and began rinsing herself off with one of the shower heads. In a glorious turn of events she discovered that she did not have to wait for the water to warm up because it came out that way! There was also a bar of soap on a small pedestal that she could use which smelled divine. Once she had scrubbed away all of the disgusting purple blood that had crusted on her skin Tatsuki slipped into the steaming tub. The feeling of the warm water, that had clearly been treated with numerous minerals and oils, washing over her slightly raw skin was orgasmic. Never before had Tatsuki experienced such luxury while bathing.

At absolute peace, and seated comfortably on an outcropping within the pool, Tatsuki gently drifted off into dreamland.

~GB~

Done with the loot Ichigo went off in search of Tatsuki, and maybe a place to use the key he had found. A good distance behind the throne Krulp had been seated upon Ichigo found three wooden doors. The one on the far left was open and steam was wafting out of it in droves making Ichigo assume that Tatsuki had successfully found the bathroom and was enjoying it as much as possible. Not wanting another awkward encounter Ichigo decided to enter the door on the right, surprised to find a rather cozy study.

"Didn't think Krulp would be the kind of guy who needed this kind of room. But I guess he was pretty old and old people love their… reading? What do old people like? Whatever, I bet there's some good stuff here."

Wanting to save the desk for last Ichigo began rifling through the shelves. He quickly discovered that the only books that would truly interest him were glowing with a faint light.

Skill Book: Iron Fists

Use to learn the ability [Iron Fists]

[Active Combat] Iron Fists Lvl. 1

The user coats their hand in a metallic substance maximizing hand to hand damage.

Cost: 1,000 RK

Duration: 1 minute

Damage Increase: 1%

Effect: Strength gains are easier

Learning Requirements: 20 Str

"Ugh… this sucks, but it's probably great at higher levels. I've already got reinforcement so I'm sure Tatsuki will be able to put this to good use." Tossing the book into his inventory Ichigo got back to work.

After thirty minutes of scouring the extensive bookshelves Ichigo ended up finding four more skill books and something unexpected.

Skill Book: Traditional Ogre Combat

Skill Book: Basic First Aid

Skill Book: Fireball

Skill Book: Sharpening

Language Book: Ogre

"Well… it was a bit less than what I was hoping for, but maybe the desk will have something interesting."

The desk didn't have anything interesting, but while giving the room a final once over Ichigo found a couple of history books that looked interesting.

Felmere Fortress and the Surrounding Lands

A History Alderia

The Rise and Fall of the Myrkuxian Empire

The Founding of New Unjella City

A Short History of High Elves and Their Customs

The Great Human-Merfolk Trade Agreement

"I'll hold onto these in case I come back here." Done with the study Ichigo left and almost ran right into Tatsuki who was, disappointingly, wearing her normal clothes.

"All done with the bath?"

Tatsuki closed her eyes and reminisced on her glorious bath for a moment before answering. "Oh Kami, Ichigo. That bathroom in amazing, you need to use it."

"Really now? I'll be sure to do that, but first I want to see what's in the middle door."

"Oh ok," she answered before remembering that she couldn't open the door in question before her bath, "but that one's locked."

"That's fine, the boss dropped a key that, quote, "opens each and every door in Felmere Fortress," so we'll be able to get in."

"Huh? That's convenient. Well open that bad boy up, I wanna head home and fall asleep in my bed. Today has been exhausting."

Following her instruction Ichigo unlocked the door and opened it revealing a hallway.

Ichigo was perturbed by the lack of a treasure room, "Really? Another hallway? Ugh. C'mon Tatsuki, I doubt there will be any more enemies."

She was also disappointed but didn't bother saying anything as she followed him down the dark hallway.

A few meters in the hallway became pitch black as the light shining from the throne room failed to reach that far in. The hallway didn't change in any manner for another twenty meters until Ichigo suddenly stopped.

"I think we're at some stairs. Be careful."

The stairs turned out be a spiral staircase, but the steps were even and the teens had no trouble walking down them. They were unnerved by the lack of light, but since they were confident that they wouldn't have to fight anymore they pressed on. The duo had to walk for almost twenty minutes before finally coming to a top on a landing that, thankfully, was lit with a few torches. Unfortunately what they found was anything but pleasant.

The torches didn't cast enough light to see the entire room clearly, but Ichigo guessed that it was around thirty by thirty in feet. Along the left and right walls were bars indicating cells, and within those cells…

"Oh Ichigo that's horrible!" Cried Tatsuki and she hugged his arm and tried to hide away from the sight.

Within the cells were what seemed to be female orcs. They were all completely naked and attached to the walls by thick iron chains. Some of them were asleep, some of them were softly crying, and a few of them seemed dead. A quick count revealed that there were around forty women ranging from extremely old to newly born, some of the ogres were even pregnant.

"Oh Kami… uhm. Do any of you understand me?"

Ichigo was desperately trying to figure out what to do about all these women. They were clearly the answer to his earlier question about where all the ogres had come from, now he wished he didn't know. Several minutes passed and none of the women said anything.

"Let's go Tatsuki."

"Wha-what do you mean "let's go?" We've got to free them!"

"I-I can't do that if we don't understand each other. Who knows what they'll do once we set them free. If they don't like how I killed their… jailor we could end up having to kill them. And even if they're thankful we have no way of helping them beyond that. I didn't see a kitchen anywhere so I have to assume those guys hunted for all their food and cooked it immediately. These women would die if left alone and guess what Tatsuki? This is a game. These ogre women aren't real. So let's just- wait. Another door. Let's see what's in there."

As Ichigo tried to walk he found that Tatsuki's grip on his arm had tightened to the point of becoming painful.

"What did you say?" her voice was low and dangerous.

Ichigo sighed knowing that Tatsuki probably hated what he had said. "Stop, stop, stop. Relax, there's a door over here and if I know anything about this game it's that there'll be some magical mcguffin behind it. And who knows, maybe it'll solve this problem for us. So please relax Tatsuki."

She didn't respond and refused to look at him, Sighing in defeat Ichigo went towards the door and out the key into the keyhole, but instead of simply opening a familiar blue screen appeared.

Alert!

In order to open this door sacrifices must be made.

-5,000 HP

-100 Str

"What the hell! For real?" His exclamation got nothing out of Tatsuki. "Fine."

Ichigo could practically feel his strength fade and the hit to his health points was once again agonizing. His screams got a reaction out of Tatsuki, just not one he wanted.

"Feh, that's what you get for being a dick."

Once the pain faded Ichigo rounded on his female companion anger clear in his features, "What the fuck did you say?"

Undaunted by his rage Tatsuki answered, "I said-"

Ichigo punched one of the pillars in the room crumbling it to dust in the process. "I know what you said Tatsuki! This world isn't real! This women aren't real! My pain, that was real! That was agonizing and I've felt it twice now! Get the FUCK out of my face before I do something I might regret!"

Normally Tatsuki would have scoffed at such a threat, but she knew that she had never seen her friend this angry and that at the moment a single punch from Ichigo could kill her. So she made the safe choice and left.

It took Ichigo several minutes to fine calm down enough to the point that he no longer wanted to choke Tatsuki to death using her intestines. At that moment he noticed a large amount of wetness on his cheeks. Embarrassed that he had been so angry that he cried Ichigo quickly wiped at his cheeks on for his hands to come back extremely. In the low light Ichigo hadn't realized that his sight was rather non-existent as a result of popping a shit ton of blood vessels in his eyes.

"Shit." Taking deep breaths in order to further calm himself down Ichigo felt the guilt of what he'd done wash over him. "Shit." Walking over to the entrance to the staircase Ichigo yelled, "Tatsuki? Can you come back? I'm, I'm sorry for yelling at you… I-I need you help." Blinking rapidly had done nothing to clear his sight making him nearly blind.

Silence reigned for nearly ten minutes before Ichigo could hear Tatsuki's footsteps as she descended the staircase.

Compelled to further apologize he said, "I know you were just mad at me for not free the women, but you've got to understand that I think whatever is in that room can help them! I promise not to do something like that again, so please forgive me."

He couldn't see her, but he definitely her her cry out in shock when she saw him.

"Ichigo! Oh Kami, what on earth happened!" she said as she rushed to his side.

"Heh, I guess my blood pressure got a little too high. I actually thought I was crying until I realized my hands were sticky. But uhm, I can't see what's in the door anymore so could you help me?"

Tatsuki sniffled as she fought back tears. 'For Ichi to have been that angry? How much pain had he been in? I was so cruel…' "Of course Ichi, c'mon." For whatever reason the price that the door had asked of him left Ichigo completely and utterly exhausted, forcing him lean on Tatsuki for support.

When they got to the door Tatsuki felt even worse. In a tiny room an astonishingly beautiful creature was chained to the wall. But that beauty was tarnished by the absurd amount of scars that littered her body, none were too gruesome, indicating that whoever had done the job had used knives. It took a lot of self control for her not to break down crying, but she didn't want to scare Ichigo.

Shuffling forward Tatsuki tried to get the naked beauty's attention by poking her with her foot. It took a couple of nudges but eventually she opened her eyes, except they weren't there. Tatsuki couldn't hold back the gasp of absolute horror that came out of her mouth.

"What's wrong Tatsuki?" Ichigo had closed his eyes in an effort to relieve the stinging pain he felt in them, he hadn't realized he had been drifting off to sleep.

"N-nothing Ichigo, d-don't worry about it. Uhm, excuse me miss? D-do you understand me?"

The elf, if her pointy ears were anything go by, said nothing for as if considering the two people in front of her. Her empty stare deeply disturbed Tatsuki, especially when the elf's eye sockets were locked with hers.

"I do youngling. Have you come to set me free?" Her voice was smooth and rich like fresh honey, once again surprising Tatsuki who had expected a raspy, pain filled one.

"I mean… kinda? We didn't come here looking for you, but after killing everyone-"

That statement shocked the chained woman who suddenly tried to stand up only to fail terribly. A certain desperation seemed to fill her voice, "Truly! You've slain Krulp?"

"Well, not me exactly. I mean I landed the killing blow, but if it weren't for this guy-"

"Oh praise be to Kori!" Tear spilled from her eye sockets. "Thank you, thank you so much strangers. Anything, anything you wish of me I will do. I am forever in your servitude."

"Oh, well…" Tatsuki stood up straight and rested Ichigo against the wall. She then grabbed the key from the keyhole and proceeded to unshackle the elf woman. "There's a bunch of female ogres in cells just outside of this room. We were wondering if you knew their language?"

"Females! That monster!" Without skipping a beat she attempted to stand only to crumple to the ground uselessly. "Ahh, it seems the years have worn my bones."

Tatsuki wanted to help her, but the woman was easily a foot taller than she was, so she nudged Ichigo, who had fallen asleep against the wall. "Hey Ichi, you've got to pick up this lady, uhm, what's your name?"

"Soliania Dorralei, Queen of the Elves of Felmere Forest."

"Oh? Ichi, pick up Sol-i-an-nia please."

Yawning into wakefulness Ichigo tried to open his eyes, only to discover the process was quite painful thanks to the crusty blood that acted like super glue.

"Sure, no problem. Where is she?"

Tatsuki wanted to slap her forehead in exasperation. 'Of course he still can't see!' Going for his arm she said, "I'll-"

"Just follow my voice young one." Interrupted Soliania.

For some reason Tatsuki did not like the way Soliania had said that. There was an edge to the queen's voice that had not been there before and it grated her nerves. Her biggest issue with it was that the woman didn't even have eyes! How could she possibly see how cute Ichigo was?

"Ok." Unaware of his friend's thoughts Ichigo immediately went towards the voice.

"Over here."

"Alright."

"Stop!"

"Whoops. Now what?"

"Alright now bend over. Good. Feel my hand?"

"C'mon lady, I can't open my eyes. I'm not stupid."

"My apologies." She guided it towards the back of her neck. "Your hand is on my neck, please be careful."

"I've got you." Ichigo tried to find a balance between firmness and gentleness as he gripped her neck.

Soliania then grabbed his other hand and brought it towards her butt. Tatsuki almost said something, but then she thought, 'What the heck could I say? It's not like Ichi's my boyfriend or anything. He can feel up this eyeless elf all he wants.' She hated thinking that.

Feeling his hand on some surprisingly soft and fatty tissue Ichigo immediately attempted to wrap his arm around what he assumed to be her legs. Unfortunately, he had not anticipated that fact that Soliania had raised her right leg to make it easier for him to find it. So when he moved his hand forward he was surprised to feel squishy skin that felt distinctly like lips. Confused by what he felt he groped around a bit only to be further confused by the rough hair he felt. It took the sulty moan of the woman almost in his arms to make the boy realize exactly what it was that he had been molesting. He almost jumped away in horrified shame, if it weren't for the grip he had on the woman's neck that's exactly what he would have done.

"I-I am so, so sorry." Blood quickly turned Ichigo's face bright red. 'I-I-I didn't mean to-"

"Oh relax child. It's not like I didn't enjoy it."

If Ichigo's face turned any redder he would start bleeding from his pores. Tatsuki on the other hand was confident that Soliania had purposely made it so that Ichigo would touch her there, she just didn't know what to do or say.

The half shinigami, half hollow, hollow harboring boy was frozen before remembering he was trying to pick the woman up. It took little to no effort for him to find her other leg and successfully cradle her in a princess carry.

"What? Done so soon? Was the feeling not to your liking? I haven't been able to groom down there in so long…" The elven queen's voice sounded almost sad at the possibility.

"N-No! It felt great! It was all soft and squishy and-" Ichigo didn't want her to feel bad over something she couldn't possibly have controlled. Which was why he was so confused when she laughed.

"Haha! You are absolutely adorable. I could eat you up. Anyway, your female companion over here said that there are female ogres out there locked up. Is that true?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Ma'am? What am I your grandmother? Call me Soli."

"Just. Stop." Tatsuki got behind Ichigo and led him out the small room and into the larger one. She then brought them towards one of the cell doors that had an awake ogre behind them. "One of them's awake right here, she's even looking at us."

"Hmph. Fine. Ruin my first bit of fun in years. It's not like I was trying to steal your boyfriend away from you."

Tatsuki wanted to protest that fact, but Soliania immediately began speaking in a harsh and all around ugly language to the woman behind the bars.

Several minutes passed as Tatsuki watched the women converse in the hideous foreign language. The ogre woman, who seemed on the younger side in comparison to her fellow prisoners and was pregnant, went through a myriad of emotions as they talked, but she ended on happiness.

"Okay, I've explained what you've done and she's obviously grateful. Turns out that all these girls, besides having been Krulp's baby making machines, are his daughters, granddaughters, great-granddaughters and so on and and so forth. Disgusting isn't it?"

The teens almost threw up at the revelations, but ultimately it just made them happier to have slain such a monster.

"She says that you just have to free her and she'll tell the others about what has happened. A few of them are loyal to Krulp so she'll have to calm them down before we release them."

Ichigo said, "That's so sad. But I guess it makes sense, Stockholm syndrome and all that."

"Stockholm syndrome?" asked Soliania.

"Oh yeah… we're not from around here so you might have a different word for it. It's when hostages begin feeling sympathy, love, care, whatever for their kidnappers."

"Ahh, we have no word for it, but I know of what you speak. It's a sad, sad situation. I imagine several of these girls will have this Stockholm syndrome."

"I just hope none of them try to kill us." interjected Tatsuki.

"Oh I very much doubt that. They're weak and starved and they knew Krulp was a ogre of monumental strength. For you to have defeated him…" Soliania trailed off to stare at Ichigo's face.

The silence quickly made Tatsuki uncomfortable, "Yeah, yeah, we get it. Ichigo's super strong."

Ichigo couldn't help but be a bit bashful for the praise. "Hehe, thanks. While we wait, why don't you tell us about yourself Soli." He couldn't help but be curious about the extremely light woman he held in his arms.

"Oh, your so thoughtful Ichigo. Well what can I say? I'm the queen of the Felmere Elves… or at least I was. They've probably replaced me with my bitch of a sister by now. Seven centuries ago I married a wonderful human named Erik, we built this fortress in order to give his merchant group a safe place to operate from, these lands were rather dangerous in those times." She sighed wistfully. "Anyway, some far away king made Erik a lord in order to force some troops onto us. It wasn't a big issue until we began to constantly war with the neighboring orcs. Years passed, Erik died. My eldest, Arun, became lord of the castle, he ruled for 200 years before passing. It was so sad to see my children die of old age before me." Her sigh was noticeably sadder this time. "One day a few centuries later while I was returning from a visit to my people, running a small civilization is difficult you know, I saw the fortress aflame. I tried… I tried-."

At this point Soliania was crying so hard she couldn't speak. Having some experience with sad females Ichigo simply held her closer, trying to comfort her with his presence and care. It took several minutes for the queen to cry herself dry, but she did and continued with her story.

"I tried to help fight off the ogres, but there were too many. My magic could only do so much and to be honest I was never one for fighting. Krulp had already slain my great-grandson Richard and most of our army before I could get to the throne room. Even in my rage I was far too tired to possibly defeat him. Instead of killing me he kept me down here. He never… used me, but he took great joy in maring my body with slice after slice of his sword, never allowing the cuts to heal properly. He took my eyes one day after I laughed at him, I wanted to show him he hadn't broken me, but that hurt me deep in my soul. And now here we are."

After the queen's painfully tragic story a thick silence fell over the trio. Neither teen knew what to say to try and comfort her. Ichigo did all he could be holding her close so that she knew that she was no longer alone, that she was no longer a prisoner. Tatsuki could only look on in slight jealousy, but she knew if anyone needed a hug from Ichigo it was Soliania, not her. Finally Ichigo broke the relative silence, the murmur of talking ogre women was beginning to rise as more of them woke up, by asking the question that had been on his mine since the beginning of Soliania's story.

"You're over 700 years old?" he blurted out.

Soliania's beautiful laugh rang clear through the dungeon, bouncing off the wall and filling all the inhabitants with inexplicable joy. "Oh sweet child, if my estimation is correct I'll be closing in on 750 soon. Even then I still have another millenia in me. What's the matter, am I too old for you now? That by touching me down there you've contracted some sort of ancient disease?"

"No! I just, you know. We humans don't live nearly that long so your age is very impressive to me. Yeah."

"Impressive eh? I didn't think you'd be interested in older women what with your little girlfriend over there. I'm flattered."

"What? Me and (Tatsuki/Ichigo) nooooooo." Both teens answered simultaneously.

"Really now. Then maybe I do have a shot." Soliania said as she through her arms around Ichigo's neck.

"Wait right there you old hag. Ichigo's way too young for you. And besides-"

"Are you sure you two aren't dating because you're acting quite defensive little miss thing. Or maybe you do want to date him?" Accused Soliania.

Tatsuki blushed, "What? No! It's just that… that… that all the ogre women are up and that first one is coming back and you need to talk to her. Yeah." She was eternally grateful for the ogre's timing because she knew that that discussion was going to bad places.

If empty eye sockets could twinkle Soliania's did at Tatsuki's deflection. Nonetheless she turned to the ogre woman and began talking to her in that hideous language. It was only a few minutes later that Soliania turned back to Tatsuki and told her to free all the shackled women.

"Are you sure?" she couldn't help but ask. She knew that the women posed no threat to her, but the idea that she would have to defend herself from them made her feel sick to her stomach.

"Yes, I am child. Now please free these poor girls."

Still hesitant Tatsuki got to work. It took her a little while to free all the ogres from each cell but thankfully the process wasn't lengthened by an angry female lashing out at her. When she finished her job Tatsuki walked back to Ichigo and Soliania and waited to hear what the queen had to say. For the most part it seemed that the ogres were happy with their freedom and that above all filled Tatsuki's heart with joy.

"Well, now that their all freed I'm going to tell them to follow us. Unless Krulp did something absurd to the castle I should still know the layout, more or less. We'll be leading them to the servants quarters which is right next to the kitchen, after all, I doubt any of these girls want to be away from each other right now."

Soliania then turned to the pregnant woman they had first talked to and barked in that strange language what the teens had to assume what she had just told them. With a nod at Ichigo after she finished talking, they were off.

~GB~

Situating the woman into the servants quarters was easy as pie and showing them the kitchen was equally simple. A new, pressing issue reared its head as they looked through the kitchen, there was no food. As Tatsuki and Ichigo had inferred earlier there was no food that was being preserved. Sure there was a kitchen which they were wrong about, but it didn't matter much if said kitchen couldn't feed anyone.

Ichigo was the one who posed the obvious solution. "I guess I'll go out and hunt. That's so weird to say."

"Why are you saying that as if I weren't here Ichigo?"

"Well, to be honest I'm still a bit worried about all these ogres. On one hand they really can't defend themselves so if something happens one of us needs to be there to help. On the other there no way I can bring Soli here," she was still in his arms looking awfully comfortable form Tatsuki's perspective, "so I'll have to leave her behind, but these women might get up to some bad ideas if we aren't here. So again, I'd appreciate it if you stayed behind. The last thing is that you could go, but let's be real, I'm much faster than you and my use of swords would make killing prey much cleaner than you pummeling them to death with your fists. So, are we in agreement?"

Tatsuki wanted to argue, but she knew Ichigo's logic was sound. "Fine… let's put Soli on one of the free bunks and then you can go wash your face."

Just as they laid her down Soli spoke up, "The bathrooms are to the right Tatsuki. And I can tell you're still tired champion, allow me to heal you with what little power has returned to me."

Before he could protest Ichigo felt a warm glow fill his entire body, if he could open his eyes he'd notice the little health bar in the upper left corner of his peripheral vision. He'd also have seen his exhausted status removed, something Tatsuki did see wondering how she had missed it the first time around.

"Thank you." The redhead said. "But you shouldn't have done that. I would have been just fine and you need your rest." He reached out his hand to grasp Soliania's. "But thank you." He was in awe that this woman would exert herself to help him despite all she had gone through. As it were she should be dead asleep for the next week as she tried to heal.

Soliania smiled, a soft smile that Tatsuki had not seen on the queen before, and moved her hand from Ichigo's grasp to his gently stroke his face. Unlike all their interactions before Tatsuki knew there was absolutely nothing seductive or playful about the touch. If anything it reminded how her mother used to comfort her whenever she had nightmares when she was young. The entire interaction was amazingly serene in the face of everything that they had just gone through and learned.

"You're welcome child." Soliania then shifted from the caring tone to a more playful tone breaking the spell that held the trio, "Now go out there and get some food, I'm starving!"

Ichigo chuckled and reached for Tatsuki, "Alright, alright, let's go clean me up and I'll be on my way."

It was a simple process to clean of Ichigo's face, and once he was able to open his eyes again he was relieved to find his sclera untainted. "Thank Kami, I was worried I'd have red sclera for the rest of my life." He then turned to Tatsuki who was still standing by him. They were finally alone after the little adventure they found themselves in after slaying the boss. "You know, I'm sorry for what I did. I swear on my life I'll never, ever do something like that again no matter the situation. I lost control of my emotions, surprising considering the Gamer's Mind perk. But anyway-"

"Stop Ichi, I shouldn't have said what I did. I'm sure you were going through a lot of pain and just like you promised there was an answer to out problems. I should have trusted you more. But I accept your apology, as long as you can forgive me as well."

"Of course." Both teens felt a weight they had been carrying since their little fight lift, shooting relief throughout their bodies. They were finally friends again after so many years, neither wanted to lose that over an argument.

"Well get out of here, I'm pretty hungry myself after all that time we spent killing ogres and then this whole mess. Kami! What time is it?"

"Uhh," Ichigo quickly opened up the menu, "I'm actually getting two clocks right now. One says 3:15 and the other says 5:30. So, I think the 5:30 is the real world because that was around the time we left and when we were walking here the sun was still bright in the sky so it makes sense for it to 3:15 in this world. So maybe time is stopped while we're here or something? Either way we can go back to the gym after this if you'd like? Or better yet, we can cook… second dinner? Eat it, sleep, and then leave."

"That honestly sounds great… Krulp and his goons on the lower levels showed me that if I want to keep up I have to be stronger, so being able to use the gym as we please sounds great. Besides, we might be here for a little while longer, I really want to be sure that these women are taken care of."

"I understand. Well, I'm off, please be careful while I'm gone."

Tatsuki snorted, "Idiot, What's going to happen? Get out of here."

"Fine, See you soon I hope. Kami I hope hunting isn't too hard."

~GB~

AN: Once again I write too much and exactly as anticipated two entire chapters have been dedicated to this place with maybe a third.

I hope you guys are liking this little aside. To be honest I really don't know what to do with the plot because I want canon to happen to some degree, but I also want to write a whole bunch of crazy stuff. Actually, I have an idea. I don't know if you readers will like it though.

Anyway, please leave a thoughtful review.

Thx ;)