I went to bed early that night. I was staying in Urahara's shop for now, until they could figure out a new living arrangement for me. And we all figured I would be safe there. But I guess we hadn't thought about some way to keep my spiritual energy or whatever from being detected.
I was woken up at like midnight by a scratchy growling sound. I figured it wasn't really anything that could be problematic so I tried to go back to sleep. Then the sound repeated itself and it was a lot closer. I opened my eyes and something with red eyes was hanging over me. I opened my mouth to scream but it covered my mouth. I sank my nails into its hand and eventually made an attempt to bite, which forced it to pull its hand back for a minute which allowed me to get out a short scream.
It wraps its whole hand around my head. It picked me up and dragged me out the window but that's as far as it got before I spotted Ichigo standing there. The Hollow dropped me and hissed. Ichigo lunged at the Hollow as someone picked me up. I was frozen staring at the fight to care who it was who picked me up-until whoever was carrying me took me inside and wouldn't put me down.
I looked up and I realized it was Urahara. "Why won't you put me down?"
"I'm taking you downstairs where your spiritual pressure won't be easily detected. I'll have to grab you something to sleep on but it's safer. " He said, throwing open a trap door like thing and started down a ladder.
"What the heck is this?" I asked.
We were in a giant room that made me think of a desert. It had a sky pattern painted on the walls and ceiling and there was sparse, dead shrubbery and huge rocks.
"I'll explain later." He sat me down on my feet. "I'll go get you something to sleep on."
He went back up the ladder, leaving me standing there by myself. I stared at it. It made me wonder why on earth someone would need a giant room like this underneath a shop or whatever I was staying in. I didn't move from where I was standing though, I was stunned by the massive size of this thing.
"It's cool isn't it." It was Ichigo.
I jumped and spun around. "When did you get here?"
"Like two seconds ago." He was smiling at my reaction.
"This thing is massive. Like-wow." I turned back around and admired the sheer size of this underground desert thing.
"Yeah, I know." He said. "I don't really know how he built it."
"What's it for anyways?"
He didn't say anything. I turned around and I saw Urahara coming back down the ladder with a sleeping pad a pillow and some blankets. When he brought them over to me I laid them out and then sat down and looked up at him.
"Thanks by the way." I started to set things out.
"No problem." He said. "Ichigo are you planning on staying down here for a little while or going or what are you doing?"
I looked up at Ichigo. He was rubbing his forehead and let out a sigh.
"I'll probably stay here until she falls asleep." He said.
Urahara nodded and went back upstairs. I heard the trap door shut. Ichigo sat down next to me. I stared at him for a minute before admiring the room again.
"This must be overwhelming for you." He said and I turned to look at him. "I know it was for me. I flipped a table because I didn't believe it."
I snorted. "I wouldn't be able to do that."
"I'm not entirely sure why I did it." He smirked. "I was just probably overwhelmed."
I yawned involuntarily. And then blinked and I nearly couldn't open my eyes back open again.
"Sorry." I said. "I'm so tired."
He got to his feet. "It's fine. Just get rest. It's going to be a long day tomorrow."
He headed for the ladder and I frowned. "What do you mean?"
He went upstairs without explaining a word so I just sighed and laid down and stared at the ceiling until the room suddenly went pitch black. He must have turned the light off on his way up. I wanted to say thanks but I probably wouldn't have been able to even see where the ladder was.
I realized for someone I just met, he was being extremely kind and friendly to me. I could feel my eyes tearing up. I wasn't entirely sure why I was crying so I knew I needed to go to sleep. I closed my eyes and drifted off.