Author's Note: Right…So like I said, as an apology, I'm rushing through two chapters. I intended to make three, but I have something else in mind…hehe.
Disclaimer: Read previous chapters.
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Scroll Seven – Investigation; Onward to Zaraki
The wall of death silence self-constructed between the current ruler of Tamashii and the shinigami trainee. The only sounds that could be heard were the paper rustling and crumpling in Ichigo's hand, and the crackling of the tiny flame lit on the candle. Ukitake held his forehead with his trembling hand, staring at the wooden desk he was resting his elbow on. Paperwork and scrolls spread out wildly to the point whereby some even fell off the table. He stole a quick glance at Ichigo, but even if it was a quick one, the pained look evident on the other's face was hard to forget. The orange-haired trainee's brows furrowed and knitted together, his hazelnut eyes burning with an intensity that Ukitake could not identify.
With a hiss that shook the emperor out of his daze, Ichigo spun around sharply and made a loud stomp before the white-haired other stopped him. "Matte, Ichigo-kun! Don't act rashly!"
Yet one more pissed off grunt and Ichigo turned to protest, "We can't just leave Toushirou there to die, Ukitake-san! Didn't you see the blood?! Didn't you?!"
The white-haired emperor took in a deep intake of oxygen and went over, placing his hands on Ichigo's tense shoulders as if in an attempt to calm the other down. "Yes, I did. I am just as concerned as you are, Ichigo-kun, but we could try thinking this as calmly as we can."
"But Toushirou is-!"
"I know, I know," Ukitake sighed worriedly. "That's why I'm planning on sending someone there to save him before tomorrow comes."
Ichigo blinked twice in rapid motion, the intent to kill whoever the hell kidnapped his (favorite) white-haired koushi totally gone from the blazing eyes he had, but he was still pretty much pissed off on the inside. "…Eh?"
Ukitake would've had smiled at that kind of reaction but seeing as how things were…nah.
"See this letter, Ichigo-kun?" he asked, picking up the longest and most recent ransom letter he received. "It says here that whoever the kidnappers are, they don't have any watermelons in their possession."
"…So?"
"So, wherever they are, there are no watermelons nearby. Now," Ukitake paused to pull out his drawer of his personal working desk and fished out a large scroll, about five feet long and six or even seven feet across. As much as he was trying to be as calm as he could, his actions were somewhat contradicting his earlier statement. With a swish of his hand, he pushed the papers aside, letting them fly across the room, before he placed the largest scroll Ichigo had ever seen down on the table with a thud. "…Ok, come over here, Ichigo." The orange-haired other gave a light nod as he walked over and peeked. It looked like a map of some sort with lots of messy arrowheads marked with different dyes of ink and names of places in rather smudged kanji. "Take a look. We're here, in the heart of Tamashii," Ukitake directed, pointing a finger at the capital right smack in the middle of the country.
"Uh-huh…?"
Ukitake traced his finger across towards the west of the map. "This is Junrinan. I once brought my son here to let him experience how our people live. The watermelons are very fresh here; I can attest to that. It is particularly because of the watermelons found here that Toushirou-kun has developed a likeness for fresh, juicy fruits. That's the clue you and I are both searching for!"
Ichigo blinked. "…Uh…what?"
"You see, if they have no watermelons on their hands right now, it means that they have never stopped by Junrinan, so we can save time by not searching the whole of Junrinan for them. In fact, all the states here in the west and the south are well-known for their fresh fruits, whereas those in the east import their fruits from the west and the south." He looked up from the map, giving Ichigo a serious stare. The orange-haired shinigami-in-training did the exact same thing. "You know what this means, don't you, Ichigo-kun?"
"Ah," he replied, voice sharp and expressing his certainty about the matter. "Those stupid bastards must have taken Toushirou to the north."
"Yes. It would seem so."
Casting the wall a glare, Ichigo called after a slight pause, "Ukitake-san."
Ukitake blinked, but his seriousness remained. "What is it, Ichigo-kun?"
"Lemme ask you; do you have a carriage and some horses that can move damn bloody fast?"
＜ブリーチ＞
Dark looming clouds, booming with a voice of thunder, swirled about in the blackened heavens that stretched out across the plains void of anything in existence, not even a single blade of the fresh emerald grass. The tears from the cotton wool in the skies fell, both rapidly and in great numbers. The cold droplets of condensed vapor batted against the soil and mud, as well as the small lithe body of the young pre-adolescent lying in the middle of the lonely plains.
"Here," he heard a firm voice speak before something that resembled a human arm stretching out towards him came into his blurred view. "Take my hand."
The slightly conscious child blinked, but his vision did not clear up. And he had a gut feeling that the helping hand was not a trick of the fog unlike those seven other hallucinations before it. "…Who…?"
"Hey, look, I can't just let you die here. C'mon, get up."
It was like as if his word of 'who' had been spoken, yet had not at the same time. Had it been his own mind he was hearing, those suppressed cries of the other's identity ringing in his head that he thought that he had heard himself ask?
"I…"
"Oi, shut up. You'll only waste more of your energy, y'know."
Oh…So he did say something. Just that whoever it was didn't bother to answer…
"Ok, we're here."
Here? Here where?
He could've had sworn that he was in the lonely plains just now…
"Aw shoot, my dad's calling me. Be right back, m'kay?"
The near-fainting adolescent felt his hand moving up, trembling as he did, and words escaped his mouth as quickly as his breath did. "Wait…Tell me…Who…who are you…?"
"Like I said, I'll be back soon. I'll tell ya later!"
Before he said anything else, the stranger had taken off, not even giving the person he just saved a chance to speak further.
'…Who are you…?'
＜ブリーチ＞
The orange-haired teenager muttered a curse under his breath as he kicked the wooden wheel gone loose. Black kimono totally drenched with the rainwater that fell mercilessly upon his build, Kurosaki Ichigo shook his head like a dog as if in a poor attempt to get rid of whatever rain that had washed his hair for him before he knelt down and tried to get the wheel in tight just like what he did in the last thirty minutes. The horses standing at the front tilted their heads towards the grassy grounds, unable to resist their instinctive temptations to get a few munches every now and then. You had to admit; even for a horse, it was pretty boring to see your rider do the same thing for half an hour straight.
Finally the trainee sighed in defeat, getting up from his kneeling position and began stretching some of his lazy muscles. He rushed towards the front and (impatiently) tugged the ropes off the horses' necks. Giving the carriage one final kick that caused it to fall sideways, Ichigo leapt onto one of the horses' backs. He commanded for it to move, and it did without defiance.
It had been a few hours since he left his 'comfort zone' – like as if Ishida was going to miss him, but what the heck – and truth be said, Ichigo couldn't help but feel like crap. He wanted to set off to the north at once and Ukitake, being the ever so worried father of the missing koushi, gave him the required nod of the head, but his instructors were being hella bastards; they thought he was lying about the koutei appointing him as the person responsible for bringing the missing prince back in one piece and gave him extra physical training as punishment. It wasn't until Ukitake was informed of the matter did they cower and admit that they were at fault before they instantly asked of Ichigo to go straight away. The other thing was Ishida. For some reason he couldn't explain, the spectacled rival of his was unwilling to get off his back – when it should be the other way around – and was utterly annoying him with his maaaaarvelous speech of strategies and tactics and the what not.
Yeah right.
Like Ichigo needed to know some shit thing called strategy when it comes to rescuing a royalty from the hands of bloody bastards.
＜ブリーチ＞
"Meh, meh, he still ain't eatin'! Afte' six days too! Ain't that amazin'?"
The grinning figure's comment only made his companion smirk a little. "We'll only know if he is really worth kidnapping when he shows us what he has in store for us. The child needs to show us the high naiatsu everyone says he possesses before the master does anything else."
"Ah, ah, I know 'dat. I mean…" the albino glanced at the unconscious figure of the white-haired koushi lying before them, kept behind bars. "…for 'im ta' be able ta' still be alive afte' six days…wi'dout food and even a little sip o' water…'dat should be enough to keep 'da master happy, no?"
His comrade looked away before stealing a glance at the child. "Well, you always have a way when it comes to dealing with prisoners of high naiatsu…Gin."
"Ara…What a nice compliment from ya…Aizen-sama."
Aizen Sousuke grinned, showing his teeth. "And please, Gin, when were we so formal with each other? Just Aizen will do."
Ichimaru Gin's smile widened. "Wha'ever ya say, Aizen."
＜ブリーチ＞
Grunt. Grunt. Grunt.
Sigh.
Ichigo brushed the beads of sweat trickling down from his forehead with yet one more huff. The blazing heat from the sun was taking its toll on him; he was getting a headache he couldn't shrug off, he felt like he was burning up, and…since when every single citizen in Zaraki had an identical twin?
Being someone from the poor state that hadn't been governed at all, he should be used to this by now but…who would've had thought that spending only merely a week or so in Karakura Capital would cause such a big turnabout? Well, at least the sun wasn't as exposed there, with all the houses and trees and all. It was easy to adapt to the weather changes there, but he had no idea that his adapting skills were this good. So good that he totally forgot how damnably hot Zaraki (the state, not the person) could get.
"…Stupid heatstroke."
＜ブリーチ＞
"Hey, here."
The white-haired child blinked confusedly, but accepted the…bowl…of water anyway. Strange, how poorly the people lived here; from where he came from, they were using civilised items like cups, for example. "…Thanks."
"…So?"
"So…what?"
"So why aren't you drinking it? C'mon, it's not like you're saliva-conscious…are you?"
The somewhat disgusted boy stared at the ragged edges of the bowl (that was made from the husk of a coconut shell, but of course his 'savior' didn't tell him that), pondering about exactly how many people drank from this oddly-shaped bowl. Glancing his savior suspiciously, he looked back at the fibrous husk before sighing and gulping the liquid of life down. It was awfully refreshing. Awfully.
"You feeling better?" When the slightly lethargic child nodded, the other grinned from ear to ear like an idiot. "Oh good, I thought you were gonna die out there. Well, that's how Zaraki's like, anyway…a lot of my people fall sick here coz of the stupid heat."
"Sick?" Teal orbs rolled to the left as if in thought before rolling back. "Don't you have physicians here that help you control the number of people falling sick?"
The other shrugged. "Dunno. We have a small clinic; my dad's a doctor there. Anyway, you feeling any better?"
"…You just asked that."
"Did I? Oh, ok, just so you know, a lot of my people fall sick here coz of the stupid heat too."
"…You just said that too."
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A/N: I added in flashbacks in a lousy attempt to make it longer. For some reason I seriously can't explain, I can't find the inspiration to make chapters longer as they are now. I have the plot all ready; it's just the length and the content of the chapters I'm worried about. -sigh-
…The good news is…well…I have more inspiration for future stories! XDD (Ok, that is lame. You can just ignore that)
Next chapter: Ichigo turns to his last (and only) hope – his family. From them, there's a chance that he might be able to get some clues as to where his favorite little koushi might be, and if that's the case, it'll make things a whole lot easier and better too. Meanwhile, the thick naiatsu a subconscious Hitsugaya is emitting triggers weather complications in the entire state of Zaraki, and it seems the kidnappers want something more than just the throne after witnessing how devastating the weather manipulation can get…