Tamix-Finally I got the new chapter up! The writer's block was eating my brain! So her ya go! Beta'd bey TealEyedBeing.
Ch. 4
Steel met steel with a resounding clash as Kisuke and Ichigo sparred. Vibrations rebounded up Ichigo's arms, and he jumped away, panting. His arms and wrists were sore and numb from the countless heavy blows he and Kisuke were trading. Kisuke leapt at him, and Ichigo, not prepared, received a slash down his cheek. Kisuke saw a panicked, almost frightened look come to Ichigo's face, and then the orange head turned tail and ran. As he ran, Ichigo could feel his heart pounding rapidly, more from fear than exertion even.
He was scared.
Scared of Kisuke's strength. The blonde was monstrously strong. When Ichigo had told him that after their first clash, Kisuke had laughed.
"I've had a couple hundred years more experience than you Ichigo. It's amazing you can block my sword at all," He had said. Still, Ichigo was half frightened, half in awe of the other Shinigami's strength.
Leaning on a rock, his Zanpakuto, Zangetsu, dug into the ground for balance, Ichigo rested there, his senses alert should Kisuke come after him. He knew Kisuke could and would seriously injure him. Knowing this put him on edge, and Ichigo felt a funny, almost detached sensation creep over him. The feeling was questioning and Ichigo got a fuzzy sense of curiosity and raw, insatiable strength from it. Ichigo knew it could take over him if it wanted to and yet, it seemed content just to observe. The orange head chose to ignore it for now and just focused his senses on staying alert.
Meanwhile, Kisuke was looking for Ichigo, trying to find the teen's surprisingly large reiatsu signature. The blond sighed, reaching out trying to find it. He found Ichigo, but something was weird about his reiatsu.
It felt…..doubled, one overlaid with a heavier, darker reiatsu.
Kisuke's eyed widened a little, and he took off running.
'No,' He thought. 'No, not him…'
Ichigo was still leaning against the rock, when that weird sense, that part of his mind that wasn't really his, suddenly gave off a sense of danger and enemy. In two seconds flat, Ichigo had Zangetsu in his hands. When he whirled, the Zanpakuto had collided with Benihime. The blond owner of the blade was gaping at Ichigo over the curve of their crossed swords.
Ichigo's eyes had changed.
The white part was stained a midnight black, and his pupils were now an eerie gold in color. Kisuke felt a dark, suffocating reiatsu that was Ichigo's and yet not, sweep over him, and choked. That reiatsu was all too familiar and it awoke something in Kisuke.
Something that had been asleep for over a hundred years.
Kisuke jumped back, panting a bit, and his blond hair flutteringinto his face. Sometime in that strange moment, Ichigo had knocked Kisuke's hat off. It lay on the ground several feet away.
But Kisuke didn't even notice.
He was more aware of the fact that Ichigo's eyes had changed back to their normal amber color. He was also aware of a distinct curiosity from that dark part of his mind that he normally kept locked away.
'No,' He thought. 'Go away.' He heard soft snickering in his head and wondered why now of all times he had decided to wake up. Kisuke had been almost convinced that he was gone, tamed into submission.
It just went to show how wrong he was.
And still, this curiosity. It was almost overwhelming….
Kisuke got it.
He was curious about Ichigo.
About what Kisuke had made Ichigo.
After 100 years of silence, he had sprung up again out of mere curiosity about another of his own kind. Kisuke shoved that dark part of his mind back to where it belonged, and looked over at Ichigo. He knew he wouldn't stay subdued for long, and his perverse curiosity about Ichigo didn't help. He would pursue Ichigo until he knew what he wanted to know.
Ichigo wasn't safe.
But for now, Kisuke was too tired to think about such things. He had forgotten how tiring it was to keep him suppressed.
Ichigo looked tired as well. He had his Zanpakuto stabbed into the desert-like earth, and was clutching it to stay upright. Even as Kisuke watched this, the orange head lost this fight, and swayed dangerously. Kisuke, acting on instinct again, stepped up and caught Ichigo, pulling him close so he wouldn't fall. Ichigo leaned heavily on the shopkeeper, his eyes heavy-lidded and dark with fatigue. Kisuke sheathed Benihime and helped the teen slip back into his human body. The blond then picked him up, and carried him upstairs, only pausing to replace the floor tiling to cover the entrance to the secret room. He walked to a small bathroom, and reluctantly poked Ichigo awake. The orange head had drifted off to sleep, and Kisuke had been reluctant to pull him out of his peaceful-looking slumber. Ichigo started, and blinked up at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Kisuke chuckled lightly.
"Morning sleepy-head," Kisuke teased. "I know you're tired, but why don't you take a shower and come have some tea with me?"
Ichigo pulled himself upright, clinging to Kisuke as the blond set him on his feet.
"Alright," Ichigo said absently. Kisuke nodded.
"I'll meet you in the kitchen then," He said, and practically vanished down the long hallway, leaving Ichigo staring after him.
Tamix-So hope you liked. Wasn't my favorite chapter of this, but oh well........next chpater will be much, much better. -evil snicker- And read my Loveless oneshots please! They don't get any love. Thanks! Ja ne!
