When she had regrouped with the rest of the team, Hitsugaya was immediately up in her face about getting separated from the ex-prisoner who she was tasked to keep an eye on. Natsu only nodded slightly, eyes swiveled off to the side whilst he spat in her face, and gave a loud yawn during his lecture just about once in his lecture, which resulted in a very high velocity twitching in his eye. Rangiku was somewhat snickering in the back due to her looming height, immaturely masking her giggles with her hand with her eyes glistening with unshed tears. The only good information that she had received throughout the barrage of words was that Yuko was already back in Soul Society. Though the ex-convict hadn't directly disobeyed any commands since Natsu commandeered all the blame with her negligence of her own orders, Yuko's time had worn through.

Abarai had then told her about the rest of the battles that had taken place. He made a comment about how Yuko had been found near Ichigo's fight and there was a small altercation between them. Natsu nodded faintly to that, but she responded in kind with a small mock towards the orange haired boy that was nowhere to be seen to defend himself. Abarai had only rolled his eyes slightly at that and then left the group of four to head over towards the Urahara Shoten.

Natsu had then taken off towards the river. Although she had been offered to bunk with both Orihime and Rangiku, she had refused the offer with a short drone of 'no'. She only had to breath out a bit more smog for them to believe that she wasn't in a good enough condition to be staying in someone else's house without setting off the smoke alarm; a curious thing that Orihime had to describe to the group. This set off the explanation that she couldn't, in fact, set anything else on fire. However, the residual heat would have made everything very uncomfortable. Particularly for Hitsugaya who was already edging away from her once he noticed the tumbles of warmth she emitted.

There was no where more comfortable that night than a small patch of grass by the river side. The area was open enough and had a bit of slant that the air seemed to collect there and tunnel through much more easily than anywhere else. It also helped that the breeze coming off from the water made everything a bit colder around her.

She only woke up when her body gave a very sharp start, a rude awakening for her stiffened muscles and for her head, at a car blaring out a very obnoxious beep. When her eyes had fluttered open she came upon the sun high in the sky and the cars running past at their speed for the day. There was a rustle through the air, as everything was in constant motion with the mid-morning sun and the need to push through their work.

The sleep had done her well as had the healing during the fight, although it had been minimal because she could only stretch the limits of her zanpakuto's abilities so far. However, she still spent a good time in what was left of the early afternoon healing up the rest of the aches in her body, and getting rid of last remaining bits of the battle that were sunk into her skin. Then once she had put away her zanpakuto, she headed off into the streets.

It was an exceptionally slow day for her. She could feel the ache still down in her bones, and the exhaustion had wrapped her up tight in bandages that prevented more fluid movements. Her feet dragged slowly behind her as she led with her chest down the streets of Karakura Town. Her arms fell limp down only stopping from sliding out of her shoulder blades due to the seams of her pockets that she had stuffed her hands into. Her head pounded slightly with each tap of her toes as she tried to push off again to make another step, her knees buckling ever so slightly to more she went along.

Her stomach let out a loud roar that had her looking down at it with an increasing frown. She hadn't had a way of getting any sustenance while in the form which was the only down side to not getting gigai; particularly because the others on the team were either too lazy to get her food, too busy, or not overly concerned about her welfare. As Ikkaku would put it, if she couldn't take care of herself than why should he bother to. It had paid off to keep out of a gigai because then she wasn't forced to attend school or interact with humans, major nuisances to her heavy sleep schedule, but after the fight she needed both food and water more than anything. She had probably sweat out more than all of her water, and was running on the acid of built up muscular tension.

She scratched at her head slightly as she pondered on the idea of what to do. Even her thoughts were running at the pace that a sloth moves. It didn't help that those few thoughts she seemed to stumble upon were completely frayed and they moved about diagonally and criss-crossed along her brain. She couldn't pin point a solid process or a thought to help her formulate a sort of plan.

Her eyes caught onto the figure of a walking boy and she flew straight over to him without any single thought when she recognized the orange hair. Her arm fell down onto his shoulder and he dunked down under her weight as she dropped down next to him. There was a large grunt and then he was flinging himself up as he looked at the intruder to his personal space, as she slumped back into her original form.

"Yo, Ichi."

"Natsu?" He looked around slightly and then pushed her along in front of him until they ducked into a small alley way. "Renji mentioned that you were here but I didn't see you."

"I'mma stuck in this form fo' tha 'hole time… An' i's too much work ta explain everythin' ta ya so I left it ta tha res' o' em."

Ichigo only gave a grunt back and she took in the soggy brown that his eyes had become. Though he looked smart with his clothes on, it did nothing to hide the obvious thinness of his aura. His normal scowl seemed to have been dug extra deep today and there was an edge along his shoulders that permeated out a wall so that people wouldn't dare cross with him. It also didn't help that he was wearing a glare along his eyes, which lacked their usual bite. Instead those eyes were imbued with a form of 'snap over and bark' at whoever was intruding into his thinking space; a very large bubble from what Natsu could identify. His thoughts seemed to echo out from his head loudly, so much that it gave her a headache to look at him. The faint murmurs of the energy in the air seemed to be taunting him as much as it was giving her heart a horribly tight hug, and they fell into his thoughts and swirled with them. It grew louder and louder as they stood in the silence that was on the brink of being broken.

She narrowed her eyes and teetered right over the fine edge that had been built up. Plunging her fist straight into his gut, Ichigo let out a grunt as he bent over her forearm from the impact. He backed up instantly and ground out, "what the hell, Natsu?"

"Wha'?" She picked her arm up and picked at her ear as she stared down at his form from the corner of her eye. "Ya look pathetic."

"So you hit me?"

Natsu slapped at his incoming arm. "I'mma hungry. Get me some food."

"Wh-"

"I ain't askin' Ichigo."

He blinked several times and she saw the stunned slackness of his jaw. He slowly pulled up and fixed up his clothes. He kept his eyes on her the whole time. "I do have somewhere to be."

"Ya owe me a meal, an' I'mma tellin' ya ta dish out now." Natsu waved her hand slightly as she blew away at his excuse before hunkering back down into her slouch and raising a small eyebrow.

He scowled immediately but then thrust his head. She followed him around the bend and up the street. With him just up ahead she could see the invisible steam rolling off of him now, and the cold curses and groans that he was pilfering out as he said everything unthinkable about Shinigami. Normally she would have proudly risen her chest at such offerings, a snickering sneer along her lips, but today she was just too tired and hungry. He stopped momentarily into a store before coming back out with a bag, which she could see was filled up with food. Before he could shove the bag into her chest and walk away again, she was moving off with him now following her lead.

They settled down on a small bench in a park. The bag of food was settled between them as she rummaged through it whilst she faced the boy with her straddling the bench in his direction. Her eyes slowly flickered over to him and the lounge that he had gotten into with his two arms over the back of the bench and his legs out wide with that scowl which detracted from the overall cool look. Or perhaps it added to it, with his whole 'untouchable' appearance radiating off of him like it had for the past ten minutes as they moved around the town.

She pushed up a bottle to his cheek which instantly had he slinking off. She smirked slightly at his flabbergasted exclamation at the cold, and held the object out to him. "Open it."

"Do all Shinigami not know anything about the human world?" Ichigo jammed at as he snapped the lid off the bottle and handed it back over to her. "What do you-"

"Jus' a sec Ichi… I got inta a figh' yest'day an' I really need tha food."

Ichigo blinked a few times at her as if just taking in her appearance just then and then slouched back down again. She gulped down the entire bottle in no more than three swallows and then threw it back into the bag. Her hands grabbed a hold to the packaged items and she tore through them without chewing or really seeing what they tasted like at all. She only made a small scan of the package as she chewed to help imagine the flavor that she was eating, but she was swallowing too quick to really capture what any words meant for the flavors that were leaving her mouth. By the end of it all she knew was that the food had very strong flavoring, and that the packaging was really bright. That, and the aftertaste of said products wasn't horrible.

There was a huff of laughter in front of her and she stared at Ichigo who was watching with fascination at the moment. He scratched lightly at his head and then gave her something of a sad smile. "Tough fight?"

"They all were." Natsu pointed out and rested one arm onto the back of the bench so that she could then prop her head up with her hand. "Heard ya met tha crazy lady."

"Who the fuck was she?"

"No matta." Natsu waved off again and Ichigo didn't appear to be too upset by that as he turned back over to the park. "Also heard ya lost ya figh'."

There was a small pause on his breath before he whispered, "I did."

Natsu nodded slightly and shifted her head around so that she was also looking out into the park. It was just a clearing of grass, with a few trees planted around to give shade to some of the benches. Ichigo had chosen correctly and had gotten one of the ones that was in the sun. It wasn't directly in their line of vision, so there was no need to squint as they looked out, but it gave a brightness to the overall atmosphere that Natsu couldn't be bothered to bring about and Ichigo was too worn in his own soul to joke around anymore.

She let out another puff of air and moved back over to the narrowed eyes of the boy next to her. "Ya know, I was actually gonna ta go look fo' ya. So this works out."

"Yeah?" Ichigo's voice called as he refused to turn his head at the remembrance of his shame to the Shinigami name. "What for?"

"Ta talk ta ya 'bout ya hollow."

Ichigo flung himself forward and rested onto his thighs as he cradled his face into his hands. "Why does everyone seem to know about this? You, Rukia, Urahara-san… Even Renji seems to have an idea about it. - That crazy lady too. She seemed to know something."

Natsu raised an eyebrow at the proclamation, but more importantly at his acknowledgement to Yuko. Ichigo was pretty dense, so whatever she had said to him must have thrown him through a loop. From the bags under the boy's eyes she wondered if maybe he hadn't gotten any sleep at all because of the impact of everything going on, but more importantly because it sounded like Yuko had gone a bit beserk on him.

She scared 'im a'righ'.

Actually Natsu had only told the woman to do what she would do anyway. Natsu had a strong feeling that the ex-con would be curious about the boy seeing as it had sparked Aizen's last betrayal and because, undoubtedly, she had been told of his part in the upcoming war. It had surprised Natsu that the woman had simply let go of her accusation about the hollowfication process that the ex-con may have gone through, but perhaps Yuko had assumed that Natsu only knew about the other hollowfication cases. It was something that could be easily bypassed, especially because Yuko's own hollowfication was something that most weren't aware of at all. Minus an all too detail oriented Aizen who kept viciously calculated notes in his desk drawers.

"I's jus' 'cause ya a newbie, Ichi," Natsu called him back to the present. "There's plenty ya don't know goin' on."

"Like those other guys... The vizards."

Natsu hummed slightly and then smirked. "Now…. Who're they?"

"You're the one that mentioned other players coming into the mix."

"Ichigo," she paused with the weight of the name tripping over her tongue and found his brown eyes peering up at her. "Ya not as dumb as I though' ya were."

"I'm going to kill you." Natsu let out a small chuckle at Ichigo's inflamed body. He did his best to appear larger than her, and he hunched over her relaxed frame. His eyes had slanted down and she could see the pulse of his rage in the small twitch by his eyes, the maniacally waving fingers, and the throb in his forehead.

She wafted at the air as she moved clear air in as she spoke out slowly to herself, "ya jus make it too easy."

He settled down with a large sigh and tossed his head back up to the sky a few moments after her whisper. His frown settled back down on his face like the old friend that it was. "What was it you wanted to say?"

Natsu peered at him. There had been a small flame of resolution in that body, but it was very resigned. She could see that throughout his entire aura, and even in the small bursts of his reiatsu. It was better than having nothing at all, in truth. Resignation towards defeat, though, was a not a good way to enter into any stage at all. It caused more problems than anything, with a halfhearted promise to the self that was more easily broken than the ones that were planted and locked between the twist of two pinky fingers.

"I 'ate ma zanpakuto." Ichigo lurched up and sharply turned his head over towards her, as she let out a noisy sigh. She scratched slightly at her head and then dumped it more firmly against her fingers, so that they were digging into her scalp. "I suppose i's similar ta wha' ya goin' through now."

"Does your zanpakuto also make you turned into a crazed lunatic?"

"Well," she twittered out slowly and then snorted. "I guess not... but she does ge' pretty mean an' loud."

"Then wh—"

"I jus' mean tha' I went through somethin' similar." Natsu flickered her eyes up to him from the boards of the bench. "Let me ta ya wha' ended up happenin'."

Her desire to enter into the kido corps had been a quarter ruled by her hatred towards her zanpakuto and its abilities. She was fine with the healing ability because it could also work much better with her own natural inclination to kido and seals. She could appreciate the desire to save people, and then having the capability of making sure that someone returned how to their loved one. If she picked one of the two powers she had been born with, she would have easily taken the tanto over the kantana.

The katana was the most common depiction of a Shinigami and as such it is also the symbol of death that is most commonly thought of. Natsu couldn't think of anything worse to tote around with her. In fact, the reason she had sealed her zanpakuto to her wrist was not only because it was easier to carry around, but also because in its sealed form, it was an exact replica of how it looked in its shikai in terms of design. She didn't want the reminder that she was meant to be a Shinigami of all things swinging on her hip or her back. It was much better tucked away from her ire.

More purely, she supposed, it was also that she didn't actually want to damage anyone. It was the last tendril of innocence in her, like those large wide eyes that looked up at the sun and just couldn't get enough. She didn't want the constant reminder that she could impress three times the amount of damage on someone else at its worse, or make someone suffer from the same heat that she had struggled to control over herself.

"So when I transferred inta tha Gotei 13, I was asked by ma cap ta do special trainin' bein' one o' tha few shinigami ta eva 'ave a dual spirit." Natsu shrugged slightly as raked through her memories. "I refused 'course… 'Cause I was in a healin' squad an' there jus' ain't no reason ta go an' learn 'ow ta kill if I ain't gonna be doin' it."

"Something went wrong then?"

"Almost got maself killed… I was sent onta tha field an' there were a bunch o' hollows but I hadn't used ma zanpakuto in years by tha' point."

Ichigo's brows furrowed slightly and then he asked, "but hadn't you already mastered it?"

"Ain't ya been listenin'? I said I only liked tha' healin' part." Natsu offered her hand out as she plated the words and sent them back to his confused face. "I rejected everythin' 'bout learnin' tha fightin' part, an' then in tha Kido Corps ya jus' don't need a sword so I hadn't drawn it in years."

"So you almost got hurt and then trained to learn about your shikai." Ichigo assumed and Natsu only shook her head at his response. "No?"

"Yeah. - No," Natsu huffed out. "I almost died 'cause ma sword went an' almost consumed me… She gets blood thirsty an' I hadn't used 'er in years then there was so much ta kill she went berserk an' kept me down in ma inner world fo' 'bout three weeks."

Ichigo choked slightly and Natsu only smirked up at him as he tried to regain the ability to speak. It had been a long three weeks, and she had argued constantly with the lion. It had never shifted into the woman, who might have let her back out with a good bargain. Instead the lion kept its teeth glinted and bared, its claws out and ready to slice, and its red eyes placed firmly on her the whole time. Natsu had been backed into a corner with the predator, and it was only luck that the sun had scorched so bright until it fizzled out completely. In the darkness Natsu had slipped into a regular sleep and then had woken up to find out that Unohana had forcibly suppressed her reiryoku for a few seconds to allow her to escape.

"Afta' I had ma figh' wit' ma own zanpakuto, I trained a bit more in it 'til I could use tha firs' ability it taught me… But tha trust between us is 'orrible an' we still don't get 'long."

The wind danced between them for a long moment. It was just enough time for something to come along the boy's eyes. It didn't overlay the darkness of his attitude, but it cleared up the pathway for him to walk down it. It washed over him and she made out the power in his clenched fists as he gave a nod to himself.

With that small clearance, the rest of the atmosphere could go back around them. It started first with the sun starting it blaze. It ended with the reiatsus that had been hidden to the boy becoming ever stronger. They both hunkered under that leaking weight, and Natsu shuddered at the tickle that started at her back. She still hadn't been able to completely wash away the ghost fingers, and it was leaving nothing but a hollow hole in her own body, much like the one that had been on Giel's.

"Are," Ichigo breathed slightly at the sudden quake of nervousness in his voice. "Are you telling me to join them?"

Natsu quirked her brow at that. "Took ya fo' tha type tha' do whateva he wanted… Kinda like me." Ichigo only perused her answer and then threw it away as he pressured her to give something else as a gift. "Fine… I ain't tellin' ya ta do anythin'."

"But you think that I should join them?"

"Does it matta wha' ya call yaself tha' much? Shinigami, Vizard, hollow… Whateva. Be whateva ya wan'." Natsu wafted the words over to him as she waved her hand along. "Wha' I'mma actually sayin' is doin' trainin' when ya got tha opportunity ain't a bad thing."

Ichigo nodded slowly and he came to a stand, which she slowly followed. She grabbed at the trash and stowed it until she could throw it away, while she dragged after him. The food had given her energy, and the conversation had resolved the boy, but they were still lingering behind from a normally faster pace. More likely to do with Natsu's normal meanderings but Ichigo didn't look none disturbed at having to go at a slower walk.

There was air to breathe in and the birds chirped around them. There was a small cold brush along the wind that swept away whatever was lingering of the ash around them. They were both coming down from the remnants of the fight. Finally letting it casually drift from their shoulders as sometimes they spoke casually. Nastu would ask a few questions about things she saw in the windows, and Ichigo would subtly give back answers, so that he wouldn't completely weird talking to himself on the street. Natsu had even made a joke about it, but it only got her a near throttling and the spark in the boy's short fuse.

She trailed with him up until they started to enter the warehouse district. "Ain't gonna walk all tha way since i's jus' a waste o' time, but they're in there somewhere."

"Thanks." Ichigo nodded slightly as he looked over at the open lots before turning back to her. "Do you trust them at all?"

The question hit her like a lead bullet in the heart. She thrummed from the very vibrations of his words. Then she felt like she was leaking somewhere but she couldn't plaster down anything to prevent everything from coming undone. It was only when her eyes trailed down from his eyes as her head slowly cocked over to the side she could fully recognize it. The ground became a sort of glue to the soft beats and the wrecked breathing in her body. When she could kick at the ground she knew that the moment had passed over, although she had no sense of how much time she had given to the question.

"Well, I don't think they wanna kill ya…. Good 'nough yeah?" Natsu supplied slowly.

His eyes dulled slightly and his eye lids went flat over his eyes as he let out a sighed, "thanks."

Natsu smirked at the bland response from the boy. "Don't botha wit' tha' Ichi… Jus' use 'em 'til ya can drop 'em. If ya trust 'em afta tha' i's ya choice."

Natsu watched as the boy gave a swift nod with his normally perturbed face again and then trudged into the sparsely filled area with his hands stuffed into his pockets and that stern 'T' of his shoulders and his spine.

A/N: Another chapter done and dusted! Someone once before asked in a review about the zanpakuto and Natsu's reasons for hating (or at least extremely disliking) that part of her. Some of that has finally been revealed. Oh emotions are such wonderful things... Not.

Quick thank you to Golden-pharaohs-tomb for your review. Glad that you're keen on the story!

Can't wait to hear more from you guys so comment/review/question/say 'hi' or whatever. Let me know. Thanks!