Tamix-This was sch a hard chap to write~ But it's finally up so I should be able to get on to good stuff now! So please deal with my bleh-ness and I hope ou enjoy anyway. R&R please! Love y'all *mwah* Thanks to TealEyedBeing for betaing as usual!

Ch.5

Ichigo watched until Kisuke was gone before walking into the small, but cozy bathroom. It was pleasantly warm, so Ichigo pulled his shirt off before starting the shower. While the teen waited for the water to warm, he thought about what had happened while he and Kisuke had been training. After he had knocked Kisuke's hat off, he had seen the blonde's eyes do something strange.

They had changed.

Changed from their normal mercurial grey to an eerie gold color, with the sclera stained black. It had made Ichigo afraid of the blonde. Kisuke's reiatsu had changed as well; gotten darker, more smothering.

And yet, from that weird new darkness in Ichigo's mind, he had felt curiosity and a strange kinship.

Ichigo planned to ask Kisuke about all this as soon as he could because to tell the truth, it was kind of scaring him.

As soon as he admitted this to himself, a feeling of concern came from that dark part of his mind. Ichigo blinked, realizing whatever that thing was, it didn't want him to be afraid of it.

Ichigo shuddered; again pushing that…thing to the dark corners of his mind where he felt it belonged for now. He pulled the rest of his clothes off, and slipped into the shower. The hot spray pounding down on him felt wonderfully soothing on his aching muscles. The orange head absently picked up a bar of soap, aiming to wash the sweat of their training off. He had rubbed a little on his hands, when the scent caught him.

It was Kisuke's recognizable, slightly rainy scent. Ichigo flushed faintly, feeling that odd fluttery feeling in his stomach again. Ignoring it (or trying to), he finished showering and dried off, dressing in the kimono Kisuke had lent him. It was a dark blue, and was a little too big, but Ichigo could manage. It felt a little funny borrowing and wearing Kisuke's clothes, but he quickly brushing the thought aside before that fluttery feeling could make a reappearance. He stepped out into the hallway, wincing at the cold wood floor against his bare feet, and then stopped. Turning this way and that, he realized something…

He didn't know how to get to the kitchen from here.

Scolding himself mentally, Ichigo took a left turn and found himself walking down a semi-dark hallway. A little creeped out, he cursed when the hallway ended with a door. Curious despite himself, he walked closer to said door. When he got closer up, he saw the door was ornately decorated and had odd symbols on it.

"Huh, never seen this door before," Ichigo murmured. Then again, he had never seen most of Kisuke's home, and wasn't sure he wanted to, judging from the appearance of this hallway. Nonetheless, something about this particular door intrigued him. He reached out to try the doorknob and flinched.

The doorknob was icy cold, but as he turned it, he found it wasn't locked.

The orange head cautiously opened the door, and peered in. His first impression of the room inside was black and shadowy.

He couldn't see anything, and when he stuck his hand inside, it just…vanished. And even after a while, his vision didn't accustom itself to the darkness like normal. It remained as black as ever.

But as he watched, something did appear in the darkness.

A pair of eyes.

But they weren't regular eyes. They were the eyes that Kisuke's had changed into earlier; black sclera with golden irises. They seemed to pull Ichigo to them. He desperately wanted to run, but those eyes seemed to pin him to the spot.

And they were growing larger, moving closer.

As they did, a dim form appeared as well. Ichigo squinted, the silhouette looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't place where he had seen it before. The figure got ever closer, and Ichigo panicked, went to run.

And found he couldn't move.

Whether from something the figure was doing, or from plain fear, he was paralyzed.

"Uh…" Ichigo started to shake almost uncontrollably.

He was really wishing he hadn't opened that door. Soft, cold laughter tickled his ears, and he swore he felt icy cold hands caress his hair.

And then Kisuke was suddenly there. Ichigo was never quite sure how Kisuke knew he was in trouble, but the blonde was suddenly there. Ichigo found himself staring at the now closed door, cradled in Kisuke's arms. The orange head buried himself in Kisuke's embrace, trying to get as far away from that dark room as he possible could. He felt Kisuke's fingers card through his hair, and sighed, the blonde's rainy scent calming him.

"I'm sorry Ichigo. I should've told you how to get to the kitchen. I wasn't thinking." Kisuke said softly, apologetically.

"Wh-what was that?" Ichigo asked softly, into Kisuke's shoulder. The orange head was still shaking slightly, and had his fingers clenched in Kisuke's coat. The shopkeeper sighed.

"Come on. Let's get away from here and I'll tell you."

Ichigo let himself be led away from the door, and into the kitchen. Only once there with a warm mug of tea cupped in his hands, did he speak.

"S-So Kisuke, what was that door anyways?" Ichigo asked, not really sure if he wanted to hear the answer or not. Kisuke sighed, staring into his mug as if the answer would appear there. It's not that he himself didn't know; he did. But he didn't know if Ichigo would like the answer, or understand it.

"Kisuke?" Kisuke finally looked up, grey eyes meeting brown.

"That was the door where a Hollow is kept locked up. My Hollow. You also have one Ichigo."