A/N: Bad news and a good one! Bad news: I've caught a cold, and it gave me annoying sniffles and headaches. Good news: storywriting somehow helps drive the stress off, so there you go, another chapter :)
After lunch, Kladias had more or less ordered Ichigo back to the barrack and to his living quarters("Walk. Straight to the far end of the barrack, look for a detached housing with your name on the door."), told him to poke around and get used to the place and left him alone saying that she had work to clear up.
He did exactly that, seeing he didn't have much better of an option. All the people he knew were off to work at the moment, anyways. Besides, he was already somewhat worn out by the morning's happenings. Also, he needed time to try to figure out his new superior.
Walking up to door of the said detached housing, he groaned loudly; there was a note displaying a rather large black cursive '15', a surprisingly well-drawn sketch of a strawberry, and to his utter horror, a blaring bright red kiss-mark. What the hell? No way the last was Kladias's, unless she managed to hide that terrifying feminine side from him completely. Rangiku-san? She was the only one he could think of who would do that...
He hastily ripped the note off, embarrassed that someone might've seen it already.
His living quarters consisted of a quite large living room, off to the left a bedroom with a roomy closet followed by a spacious bathroom with separate tub and shower. There was a small, bare room to the right of the living room that he had no idea what it was for, but he decided determining its use could wait. Overall, he couldn't call it luxurious, but all the necessary furniture were there and they looked like they hadn't been used yet.
Out the living room window he could look down to part of the training grounds, various buildings and walkways crisscrossing all the way to the Gotei 13 barracks. It occurs to him then,
So this really is happening, I'm really in Soul Society, in Seireitei, with permission this time, assigned a position and even my own place to stay. Talk about turn of events.
Wariness crashed down on him, leaving him lightheaded and in need of a good nap.
He reached over his shoulder to grab Zangetsu and place it down, only to remember with a jolt that he had left it at the guest housing along with his traveling pack. He cursed out loud; he wasn't up for a walk halfway across Seireitei to get them.
Half a minute into debating whether to fight against the wariness and give into the separation anxiety or to do the other way around, there was a small knock at the door and followed by a "Vice-Captain Kurosaki?"
Hoping that whoever that was didn't see him flinch, Ichigo turned around and saw a man in standard shinigami uniform with crew-cut brown hair standing there - with a small knowing smirk on his face? Screw it, so someone had seen the damn note already. Hoping he wasn't blushing, he answered, voice slightly harsher than intended,
"That's me. What'd you want?"
Looking somewhat intimidated by the tone, the shinigami spoke, "Sir! This is Azutora Nakade of the 8th squad, assigned as your temporary assistant until an official one could be chosen. Is there anything you need?"
Ichigo inwardly grinned at himself, previous annoyance vanishing - seems like there actually was a way not to choose between his separation anxiety and nap.
Ichigo opened his eyes. He blinked twice, not sure if he really had opened his eyes yet or not. Pitch darkness pressed onto him from all sides so he couldn't see a single thing.
A light breeze blew by, ruffling through his hair. He closed his eyes and breathed in, enjoying the coolness the action brought to his entire body - until he remembered that he was in his bedroom, where there wasn't supposed to be any breeze. He opened his eyes again, ready to yell out loud-
Then a voice whispered,
'Do not worry Ichigo, you are still where you are supposed to be.'
It took a fraction of a second for Ichigo to recognize whose voice it was,
"Tensa Zangetsu?" he blurted out, incredulous. He wasn't in his bankai form, what was going on?
Loud whisper answered, 'Fool! Lower your voice, we must not be heard!'
With an almost silent snap of a finger, a tiny pinprick of light appeared about twenty feet in front of him. It waved around for a second and came to a stop, barely lighting up his bankai Zanpakutou spirit's solemn face.
'It has been a while, Ichigo. As you might have realized, you are in your spirit dimension, still asleep.' Tensa Zangetsu spoke, his lips barely moving, voice back to the quiet whisper before.
"Yeah... it's been 18 months. Where the hell have you been? Granted, I've been powerless for 17 months, but I've been trying to talk to you ever since I got my shinigami powers back! Almost everyday! An entire month! You fucking blocked me out!" getting angry, his voice started out as a low growl but ended with a full-on shout.
Shock, then annoyance crossed over Tensa Zangetsu's visage. He scoffed,
'Hmph,'
Ichigo took a big breath, ready to chew the uncaring spirit out again - only to find that he couldn't. Eyes wide, he choked, both hands flying to his neck. He could breath fine, but his vocal cords didn't seem to want to work.
He turned his eyes to Tensa Zangetsu, demanding an explanation for what just happened. The zanpakutou spirit had a single finger raised to his thin lips, and Ichigo now saw a strange light in his blue-gray eyes.
'Since you insist on calling for a ruckus, I am sorry that I will have to silence you for the reminder of this conversation.' the spirit whispered, sincere note of apology in his voice.
Ichigo listened, though vowing for revenge later.
'I am also sorry that I had not returned your callings this past month. Something I cannot fathom had been happening here for the past year,'
Sound of glass shattering in the distance. Ichigo's head whipped towards the direction of the sound, but the zanpakutou spirit waved him back,
'This world has been changing. About a year ago, sky rippled and then something foreign was just... there. It has been haunting here ever since. I have yet to see who, or rather what it is, since it seems to be adept at shielding its appearance. It attacks me from distance from time to time. No, it has no connection with the Fullbring power you had acquired for a short while.
One thing I am sure of is that that foreign entity is observing this world. Listening. Probing. Taking bites out of the structures, howling every once in a while to hear for echoes. Attacking me lightly, testing my capabilities. It has been sapping away at my strength, which as you should know, is your strength. It has been getting stronger, Ichigo, and as of late, I am not sure if I can make it submit should I ever cross path with it straight on.'
Ichigo, whose eyes had been widening more and more with each sentence, stared at the zanpakutou spirit in a mix of disbelief and frustration. Another resident in his spirit dimension? As if old man Zangetsu, his hollow self and Tensa Zangetsu three weren't enough. And apparently, this new one was scaring the last one little too much that he had to turn off all the light and speak in ridiculous whispers.
As if speaking up, something far off howled. It wasn't unlike other howls Ichigo had heard before - it might as well been a hippopotamus roaring in one of those free documentaries on television or even a domestic cat screeching at being tossed out of a multi-story building. Except that it had a chilling, resonating quality that rattled the core of his soul. Suddenly, being stuck in the same dimension as it and then being scared of it didn't seem all that stupid.
Was there panic in the zanpakutou spirit's eyes? It certainly was in his voice when he spoke again, louder this time, with even more urgency,
'It knows you are here, Ichigo. Maybe it has known from the start, I do not know. You need to leave before it does anything!'
A mouthful of questions rose up to Ichigo's throat, rendered useless by the charm place upon him earlier. Turning away, Tensa Zangetsu disappeared, the tiny pinprick of light next, pitching the world back into oppressive darkness and silence.
Ichigo's eyes flew open as he jolted the top half of his body up. Vertigo immediately stuck him full on, making him collapse back onto the couch with both hands rubbing his eyes.
'What the...' thousands of thoughts crisscrossed Ichigo's mind as he waited for his vision to clear.
When his eyes returned to, he raised himself up again and saw out the window the horizon soaked in deep scarlet, vibrant colors fading to black of the night sky. Sunset? He thought as he took a glance at the clock on the wall. 9 o'clock, sunset all right. He had been asleep for good 8 hours, yet he was just as tired as he was when he first lied down for a nap.
He turned his eyes to the closed door, eyes landing on Zangetsu propped up against the wall. He warily glared at it, and for a second he thought he saw it glint blue - through the red hues of the sunset.
Feeling exhaustion overcome his senses again, Ichigo fell back to the couch, all ready to go back to sleep.
His brain was capable of forming one last coherent question before Ichigo slid to oblivion,
What did you want me to do, Tensa Zangetsu?
When Ichigo came to again, this time in the soft light of Seireitei's dawn, all he would remember of the conversation and waking up after would be a random screech of a cat and a lone glimmer of blue amongst swirling colors of red.
Hmm. Thanks for reading! Thoughts?
