A bleak townscape, the suburbs of Jim's hometown filled him with a sense of familiarity and relaxation as he walked through them, his eyes forward and focused on the beach, where a familiar figure was sitting, grinning at the gigantic tidal wave that engulfed the both of them.
"Ahh! Holy Shit!" Jim shouted out, as he suddenly sat up in bed, his breath heavy and uneven, the fresh memories of the nightmare, being crushed by the weight of the ocean, the breath smashed from his lungs to be replaced by the salty sting of the sea still burned into his mind's eye and memory
Jim got control of his breathing, calming down and observing his surroundings
"That was one hell of a nightmare"
Now that I think about it though, where am I?
Jim looked around in confusion, sliding forwards out of what appeared to be a bed in a closet onto a floor of sleek light brown wooden slats, which felt cool under his bare feet, there was a bed and a window directly in front of him
Bedroom? I think I saw this in my nightmare…
The door swung open as Jim moved to the desk, still gaining his bearings, and Ichigo strode through confidently, with a glass of water in hand, shocking Jim who proceeded to yelp, it wasn't manly.
Not a nightmare then…
"Hey Jim" Ichigo greeted "I brought you some water, are you feeling better?"
Jim accepted the glass and sipped at it
"I guess… where's Layne?"
"Who's Layne?"
"My cousin…?"
"Back in Australia I'd guess, you're the only Australian here that I know of"
"Wait… what happened to me?" Jim asked incredulously, shaking his head
"Pretty bad fall at School, slipped down the stairs while helping carry some files for the teacher, so we got you here, the Kurosaki clinic, my dad's a doctor"
Yeah that's right, the Kurosaki Clinic… That was one messy dream; I guess it makes sense if I hit my head though, mash up a bunch of details together
Ichigo started speaking again, shaking Jim from his reverie
"Anyway, you should get some more rest, Head injuries are nothing to joke about, and I'll be back later"
"Yeah… thanks"
Making sure Jim hadn't left the room behind him; Kon headed downstairs in Ichigo's body and exited the house, where Ichigo was waiting outside
"He's fine" Kon said quickly, as Ichigo opened his mouth to say something "Go do your thing, I'll keep an eye on him here"
Under Urahara's store was an incredibly large rocky area, seemingly perfectly lit, in sync with the sky above the store, and home to many odd features, one of them being Layne's house, a pretty ugly feature made of brown brick and red tiles, and looking marvelously out of place when compared to a landscape that would have been at home at the top of an arid mesa, but Ichigo had been a Shinigami long enough that the odd juxtaposition didn't even phase him anymore and he entered the house, walking through into the front room where Renji, Rukia and Moll were, spread out across Layne's old crappy tan couches
As he entered, Moll and Renji stood up and started heading towards the door
"Now that pressing issue is sorted, we need to get this to Soul Society to help Joel" Moll announced, thrusting forward a cloth wrapped package which Ichigo recognized as the sword left behind during Layne's abduction
Ichigo nodded and Moll and Renji were out the door, while Rukia remained on the couch, leading Ichigo to question
"You aren't going with them?"
Rukia shook her head slowly, then reached a hand up to brush a stray strand of her black hair out of the way of her sight
"No, to be completely honest, I'm worried about you, you just watched an ally… a good friend abducted before your very eyes…you can't possibly be perfectly fine"
"I'm not, okay?" Ichigo replied quietly, balling his hands into fists and sinking into the couch opposite her "But I'm not what you need to worry about, we need to get Layne back!"
Rukia gave a tight smile "That's another reason why I'm staying… what are you going to tell the Sado-kun and the others?"
"Nothing… because we're going to find him before they have any idea he's gone!" Ichigo declared
After a week and a half at Karakura High, Jim was beginning to fall into routine, though he found the Japanese school system a little stuffier compared to what he was used to, so to change things up a little, he had decided to go join a club… and the one he settled on was the Karate club.
Walking through the door briskly, he noticed a girl who he recognized as being in his class, dressed in a karate gi, with short dark hair and blue eyes
Making his way over to her he smiled and introduced himself
"Jim Kent"
"Yeah, the transfer student, I know who you are… what are you doing here?"
Jim was taken aback a little, in his experience everyone had been happy to help him, though he hadn't made any real friends.
"I.. I was hoping to join your club" Jim stammered a little on delivery "But if that's a problem… I can go"
"That's not a problem" The girl grinned, grabbing Jim by the arm and marching him towards the changing rooms "But you'll need to get changed, and you'll have to have a match against me, Tatsuki Arisawa"
After changing into a spare karate gi, Jim stood in the middle of the mat, wrapping his bandages around his hands in preparation for his upcoming fight
He motioned to one of the guys standing around, waiting to see Jim get his ass handed to him
"Yo, is she any good?" he whispered
The guy smirked "She's the second ranked in Japan for the age-bracket"
The color drained from Jim's face at the news as he turned back to see her approaching
"Well hell man"
