A/N: And here we find another update! :D Although I'd first like to thank SplitToInfinity and D R A G O N L I L I E S in advance for actually taking the lame ad in the previous chapter seriously and leaving feedback for my oneshot, Secundum Nex. Gosh, you guys don't how much I appreciated those reviews…thank you so very, very much. :) And now, to move on to this chapter…

Disclaimer: I…dude, I don't own Bleach!! Honestly, I don't! No, I swear, really…c'mon, you can trust my word on this one…seriously…yeah…so…if you could just lower that paintball gun from my nose, please…I'd appreciate it muchly…yeah…thanks… o.o'

"Raise your head, boy!"

And with this rather snappish remark, Kira Izuru is immediately jerked from his reverie with an abrupt start. Completely out of sorts, he nearly drops the cup of steaming tea he holds in his hands as he struggles to regain his composure, apologizing profusely all the while.

"O-Oh! I - I'm sorry, I just - I was just -"

"By the great heavens, you look like I just tried to bite your head off," the old man opposite of him grumbles from where he sits in a worn wooden rocker, a plume of smoke billowing from his mouth as he speaks. Raising a gnarled hand to adjust the position of his pipe, he regards the terrified Academy student before him with a frown. "Calm down, lad. I'm not going to eat you, if you'd get that in your head straight. Come now, ease those nerves before you go and spill something on the floor and make a fool out of yourself."

"Y-Yes sir, of course -"

"I'm not no sir, boy! I don't sit well with the fancy titles, so stop it or leave it."

"Ah, right - sorry."

Wabisuke snorts, grumbling something else indistinguishable around his pipe, but Kira finds that he can't hear it, and is grateful for that. Swallowing, he instead tightens his grip around the cup to assure it won't spill and settles back somewhat in his own chair, trying to get comfortable again. However, now that he has been returned to reality - of sorts - he finds that he just can't ignore the nervousness that holds his spine stiff and straight, the unease that made him unable to meet the eyes of his zanpakuto. Instead he finds himself forced to take more interest in the grimy floorboards beneath his feet, his shoulders sagging unconsciously under the weight of the stare the old man was now giving him. He didn't know why he was so…well, terrified…of this man, this person that was supposedly a part of his own heart. But the fear was there, all the same, leaving his heart fluttering wildly, like some trapped, caged beast seeking escape.

"For goodness's sakes, boy, how many times do I have to tell you?" And again the gravelly voice resounds, unsettling Kira anew. "Raise your head. Come now, you look despicable all humble like that. I'm the only person around here with the right to look that trodden, you hear?"

And Kira did try. He really, truly did. Mustering his courage he lifted his head from the floor with a strangely unbelievable effort, trying to look Wabisuke in the eye - and he had to drop his gaze. Again. Because somehow, for some reason, he just couldn't…

Wabisuke wouldn't have been all that imposing normally, perhaps. Merely three feet away was a simple old man with all the proper attributes; the shoulders hunched, the skin rough and gnarled and pulled into tight wrinkles around the eyes and mouth. His nose was crooked, his 

fingers were stark white and bony, and his eyebrows were thick and unruly, the hair that escaped from beneath his wide-brimmed, blackened fishing hat thin and silver and matted. He was clad all in dark colors - a heavily patched and rumpled brown trench coat, black woolen pants, and tall, scarred leather boots that had resounded with great heavy thunks against the floor as he had bustled about readying the tea upon Kira's arrival.

Similarly, the immediate surroundings would not have had anything to do with his uneasiness either, for they were warm and homely enough, not at all intimidating. Here was a simple small hut, the kind owned by fishermen and hunters of the mountains during the winter, filled with all the needed necessities - chairs hand-carved from scented pine, a couple of steady tables similarly crafted, and three or four windows ranging all around. Hanging from the ceiling and cluttered upon all available flat surfaces were other items, everywhere - nets, fishing lines, knives, a box of tools, a set of rough cutlery, an axe, and other various bits and baubles hiding in the dancing orange light and shadow of the fireplace that took up almost all of the wall to Kira's left. The hearth was supplemented with many logs and overhung by a kettle, which had been used to produce the tea and was now steaming and bubbling quietly to itself, emanating the scents of an upcoming herbal stew.

No, the thing that was riveting him to his seat, the thing that was rendering him unable to look up from the floor, was most probably the expression on Wabisuke's face, the air of heavy certainty that seemed to hang about him in a thick, pulsing shroud - the sheer intensity of his eye.

Kira could only see one of Wabisuke's eyes - the other was cast in shadow and further concealed by the tilted fishing hat, whose brim hid anything else displayed on the other half of the old man's face - but that one eye was quite enough to leave him breathless and terrified, in all honesty. It was an intense, electric blue - if Kira had paid any thought to it at all, he would have mused that they rather resembled his own. Yet the weight of that singular gaze on him and him alone…the expectation all but flaming in those penetrating depths…

He just didn't think he could possibly live up to it all…

Was this how it was like, to know your zanpakuto?

The silence ticks on and stretches, thick with Kira's nervousness. Wabisuke can easily see it, the way he clutches his cup of tea as though it were an anchor to keep him from being swept away by some great, terrifying tide that might mount at any given moment. He waits, puffing rather impatiently on his pipe and watching the fumes drift lazily to the ceiling, coiling there like tiny dragons awaiting a word of command.

After a length of waiting for Kira to speak, however, he decides to take it upon himself to break the ice. For the sake of conversation, if nothing else. Though, admittedly, he wasn't usually a very sociable sort of person.

"What were you thinking about, boy?"

The way Kira stiffens almost makes Wabisuke want to spit out his pipe in disgruntlement, but he resists the urge. For now, anyway. No use wasting perfectly good tobacco on a little bit of indignity.

"Ah? What…what was I…"

"Thinking about," Wabisuke prompts. To vent some of his frustration, he instead decides to take a good, long drought of tea himself, artfully grasping his pipe between his fingers and lifting his own cup to do so while awaiting an answer - which comes, fortunately.

"Oh. Well. I…I was just wondering about…all of…this…"

Kira feebly waves his hand, indicating the entire hut in general.

It was a tentative response, maybe, but it's a start, Wabisuke muses.

"All of…this?" he repeats gruffly, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes," Kira replies, lowering his head even more, if possible. A faint flush steals across his features briefly. "It's - well, it's probably foolish to wonder, but I can't help it all the same. I mean - if you're a zanpakuto - my zanpakuto - do you still…well…"

"Need all this?"

"Yes, you could say that…"

"A good question, actually, lad." Pretending to look thoughtful, Wabisuke sets his cup down in his lap and makes a show of stroking a nonexistent beard, amusement manifesting as a flinty glint in his eye. "Well, I don't know…maybe I actually get cold and hungry on occasion, hm?"

And for once Kira seems to momentarily forget his awkwardness, looking up from his tea, expression one of intense curiosity.

"Do you really?"

"Well, do I look like a man who doesn't work to eat to you, boy?"

"I - well, no, actually, not really…"

"There you have it."

"But…I mean, I always thought…since you're a…spirit…"

"Just because I'm the life in your blade doesn't mean I don't need to eat, boy." Wabisuke waves a hand dismissively, pipe bobbing. "For all I know, I might be the only one that needs food as far as zanpakuto go, but that still doesn't change the fact that I do. I ain't invincible, that's for sure. Beats me how it's supposed to work since I live in your soul and all, but eh, what can be said?" Again, another offhand wave. "It's a take it or leave it world out there…but I don't mind. I do like being able to enjoy a cup of tea in leisure, you know."

"So do I, for that matter. This one in particular is quite good, by the way."

"Why, I'm flattered. Thank you so very much."

Another silence arises, this one by far more comfortable than the last. The thick, exotic aroma of a herbal stew is now heavy in the air, and the hearth crackles softly, flames leaping and swirling brightly. And Wabisuke chuckles, creating a thick cloud of smoke over his features and catching Kira completely by surprise.

Jumping again slightly, he stares at the old man, who is now coughing and spluttering, waving a hand this time to clear the unintentional smog. However, the expression still adorning his ragged features can only be defined as outright amusement - which is quite alarming, in Kira's view.

"Ah…uhm…Wabisuke…?"

"Ahem…oh, don't mind me, boy." Clearing this throat and shaking his head, the old man merely chuckles some more afterwards, looking utterly satisfied. "I'm just laughing for the sake of it, you know." He paused. "There now, but that wasn't so hard in the end, was it?"

"…I'm sorry, but I don't quite…"

"You're raising your head, boy."

And the expression on Kira's face is truly priceless in Wabisuke's opinion as his eyes widen, surprise making itself imminent as the realization strikes. His speechlessness prevails for a while, but at length he speaks, something akin to amazement slowly dawning anew on his features in replacement.

"But…why…?" He drops his gaze briefly, but it's now in thought and not in humbleness. "It was…hard to do so before, to be honest. Except that now…it's so easy." Again he looks up, as though testing the theory, making sure. "Why is that? …What did you do?"

"Nothing," Wabisuke chortles in reply, taking a long draw from his pipe and puffing contentedly, closing his eyes. After a while he opens them again at Kira's pensive silence. "If you want it written out in paper and ink, I'll just tell you," he continues at length. "You're looking at me as an equal now."

"An equal…"

"Quite right, lad." A pause, another puff of ash. "When you first drifted along, you were viewing me as a superior, a power to be feared. Which is something I most certainly am not. There's no way I'd ever be more powerful than you in any aspect. Because I'm just not, due to who I am. You could say I'm at the bottom of the humbleness food chain. Yet you believed I was a force to be reckoned, and it weighted you down. You couldn't look me in the eye." He sighed heavily, his breath wrought with soot. "The effect works similarly the other way around. Should you have come here thinking yourself better than me, you wouldn't have been able to raise your head just the same. …Hmph." Another thoughtful pause. "I didn't know, at first. I didn't think you'd look at me any other way than a friend from the start, really. I've been watching you for a while, boy. Izuru. But you don't get people 'round here in these parts at all. I misjudged my own image, with no one else to tell me so." He laughed again, a series of short, breathy chuckles wrought with snorts and puffs as he breathes in through his pipe and out through his nose. It was an interesting sound, in Kira's opinion. "I guess this means we've both learned something about each other this day, have we?"

"Yes. It seems that way indeed."

"Wouldn't have it any other way, though." Wabisuke turns to the kettle over the flames. "But say, it looks like the stew's about ready for eating. Care to join me? I believe I've enough for two."

"…I think I'd like that very much." Kira allowed a small smile to pass over his features. "I've always wondered what food would taste like in my own inner world…"

"Oh, it's about as plain and simple as whatever you get when you're out and about, rest assured…"

"Well, you can't always be certain about that. You've never had anything from the outside world before."

"Doesn't mean I don't know, now, does it?"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that…"

Stepping out of the hut and into a pool of afternoon sunlight many hours later, Kira Izuru sighs deeply, savoring the fresh air. He pauses awhile on the porch, looking back towards the door and almost wishing he could go back, but he overrides the wish with a slight shake of his head, stepping off the wood planking and onto the moist earth of the path stretching out ahead of him. It's a plain dirt path, surrounded thickly by a close sentinel of dark pines shafted gold in the fading light, and as he sets off into the thick woodland forever sloping steeply to the right, moving always downhill, he can't help but smile to himself again, raising his head a little higher.

He was to graduate from Shinigami Academy at last the following morning, and a more filling sleep he could not have imagined. All in all, he could say to himself honestly that, for a first-time meeting with his zanpakuto, things could not have gone better.

And now there was merely the task of exiting his inner world in time, lest he oversleep and possibly miss the ceremony…

A/N: Well, there you have it. A chapter in the honor of Kira Izuru, for taking care of that Kifune/Kibune guy in the most recent episode of the anime! Seriously, I was so incredibly happy when he managed to take down that jerk single-handedly without having to be saved by Ichigo or something. Ya, okay, I know it was a filler episode and not something to be particularly ecstatic over, but I need some form of entertainment during the weekdays, you know, and rest besides, Bleach fillers aren't really too bad if you look at them in a positive light. :\ Really, they could always be so much worse… -shiver-

All in all, I'm not too sure how this chapter might have come out, but I hope it's okay overall. To me it feels rather…lackluster…but I'm submitting it anyway to see how it turns out. It was rather difficult trying to wrestle Wabisuke into a feasible light, and I still don't think it might be quite right for him, but oh wells. I'm happy with it overall.

Oh, and the 'equal' effect is a theory I've had for some time on Wabisuke's ability to make other zanpakuto heavy enough to drop. :) I decided to incorporate it into Kira's first meeting with him to see how it might have turned out, and I think I did a fairly good job, all in all.

On another note, I can promise that the next chapters are going to be more…interesting…than the last few. Or so I hope, anyways. All down to the reader in the end. So hang in there! ;)

And now let us proceed to the Thank You Section!!

In this area I now thank St. Kitsune, hu3long2, Moonrise31, and D R A G O N L I L I E S (your name is a fun one to type, I tells ya! XD) for your reviews, which are filled with much awesomeness. Again, thanks!

And here's to a soon update! :D