Bleach Fan Fiction ❯ Bleached ❯ Dead Man Walking ( Chapter 3 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Disclaimer: Bleach and everything in it is the property of Kubo Tite.

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Bleached

Chapter 3

Dead Man Walking

---

Ukitake Juushirou scratched his head, trying to make sense of what had just happened. He noted absently that Kiyone was still staring blankly at the spot where the young intruder had been standing, and that Sentarou was out cold on the floor. That ruled out hallucination.

He took a mental step back, distancing himself and evaluating the chaos that had just taken place in his office. It was a useful trick he'd picked up during his academy days, when he'd been forced to find ways to clean up after Shunsui's drunken antics, often while hung over himself.

Start from the beginning, he thought, and walked out of his office to the place where the 13th Division's transportation records were kept. He took a sharp breath as the words confirmed what he'd already known - the most recent summoning request had been the butterfly assigned to his empty second seat. Shiba Kaien, the characters said to him, and he shook his head, not sure what to think of the impossibility that had just taken place.

The orange-haired youth Ukitake had met in his office certainly hadn't been Shiba Kaien, that much was for certain. Granted, there was a strong resemblance, but he was far too young to be Ukitake's deceased vice captain, even disregarding his strawberry blond hair. Kaien had had the appearance of a young man in his early twenties. The boy had been sixteen at best.

Still... Ukitake frowned as he strode back into his office, closing the door behind him. Even if the mystery shinigami wasn't his vice captain back from the dead, there were too many similarities between him and Kaien to ignore. He thought back to their brief conversation, going over it again in his head. The boy had had his zanpakuto drawn, held to his side-

Ukitake's eyes widened as he suddenly recalled how the boy had gripped the blade perpendicular to his body, realizing why it had seemed so familiar. Kaien had always held it like that before he'd released Nejibana.

Ukitake Juushirou hadn't lived for over two thousand years by believing in coincidences. The overly harsh nature of Rukia's punishment had been suspicious enough by itself. Now the summoning of his dead vice captain's hell butterfly, and it's subsequent transportation of a young shinigami who bore countless subtle similarities to that same dead man had his instincts screaming at him that something was amiss.

"Captain?"

He was so absorbed in his own thoughts that he actually jumped in surprise as Kiyone spoke.

"Do you think..." She trailed off, looking hesitant. Her insecure expression looked out of place on the normally loud and confident girl.

Shiba Kaien had been both an older brother and a best friend to his then-forth seats, close to them in ways that Ukitake himself could never be. They might have given their lives for their captain, but they would never confide in him as they had to Kaien. In fact, Ukitake strongly suspected that Kaien's presence was the only thing that had kept Kiyone from accepting a transfer proposal from her older sister's division.

Ukitake just shook his head, his tone holding the same confusion that his subordinate's expression showed. "I don't know, Kiyone. He disappeared before I could make sure of anything." In the brief instant before he disappeared, the young man had seemed as surprised as Ukitake himself was as something - or someone - grabbed him and vanished.

"Should I notify the Commander?"

After thinking about it for a moment, Ukitake replied. "You don't have to. I don't think that something like this requires a full report." It was a flimsy excuse at best, an outright lie at worst and they both knew it, but Kiyone made no move to disagree. Ukitake replayed the last few moments before the young man had vanished in his head, trying to catch something he missed. It had been shunpo, but the white-haired man had never seen such blinding speed.

He blinked. He had been witness to speed like that, once. But the Goddess of Flash had long since abandoned Soul Society, vanishing with the exile Urahara Kisuke for reasons known only to herself. It had been decades since Ukitake had had cause to think of Shihouin Yoruichi. He highly doubted that she'd died in the century since she'd left, but there was no reason for her to be in Seireitei with an unknown shinigami after all this time, right?

Just another coincidence, Ukitake thought darkly.

---

Ichigo blinked. One moment he'd been facing the white-haired man, ready to fight if the need arose. He wasn't quite sure how he'd ended up in what his mind subconsciously knew was Soul Society, but he was prepared to plow through all of it if he could find Rukia. A small part of him knew that he was acting illogically, but he couldn't find it in himself to care.

The next moment, he felt a tremendous tug at the back of his neck. Before he could even begin to react, he was abruptly treated to the uncomfortable experience of being dragged via shunpo. Not only were the flash steps faster than he'd ever managed - he frowned suddenly, his train of thought coming to a stop as he thought it over again. He'd never used shunpo before, had he? What was shunpo?

He was still going over the thought in his head when he came to an abrupt stop, jarring him severely. The air slammed into him like a brick wall, driving his breath away and forcing him to his knees. He hadn't even gotten hold of his breathing before two brown feet attached to a pair of brown legs stepped into his field of vision and he looked up.

Being a normal, if slightly bashful male teenager, Ichigo reacted as well as could be expected - considering just what part of the human body his line of sight was level with. He stared for a moment, felt his cheeks redden, and made an eloquent speech.

"Gah!"

"Enjoying the view?" the woman asked, making no effort to cover her nudity. Her irritation was clear in her voice as she crossed her arms and glared at Ichigo.

"Buh," Ichigo replied, his eyes crossing and his brain short-circuiting. A strong sense of deja-vu washed over him, as if he'd been through this before, but it was ignored in favor of wildly trying to avert his eyes. The surrounding landscape was barren except for a few dead trees and a copious amount of boulders - in other words, nothing interesting - so Ichigo settled for simply turning his back, mentally willing his blush to come under control. Since his back was turned, he had no way of avoiding the not-so-gentle slap upside the back of his head.

"Ow! What the hell was that-" Ichigo started to say as he turned around. Then his eyes widened as his blush returned with a vengeance and he wrenched his body around again. "Get some clothes on!"

The woman snorted. "I could do this all day, but I'm afraid if I got started I'd have to kick your ass five ways to Rukongai for that idiotic stunt you pulled, Ichigo," she said, her expression souring. She grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to turn, glaring balefully into his eyes.

"Look at me," she said, deliberately enunciating every syllable.

Ichigo looked.

Yoruichi watched as an array of emotions flashed past Ichigo's face, from faint recognition to anger before finally settling on embarrassment.

"Who are you, anyway?" he asked, doing his best to sound stoic. "And what did you just do?"

"I'm Yoruichi," the woman replied matter-of-factly. "And I just kept you from committing suicide."

"Huh?"

"Ukitake Juushirou - the white-haired man you were so eager to fight just a few moments ago - has been captain of the 13th Division for over two thousand years, and is one of the strongest warriors in all of Soul Society. Had he been inclined to do so, he could have reduced you to a fine mist before you even knew you were dead." Yoruichi shook him to make sure he was getting it. "You're nowhere near the level of a senior captain of his caliber."

Ichigo deflated visibly at the disparaging review of his abilities, but his temper kept him from backing down. Blindly grabbing at anything to make a retort, he said, "I thought you were a cat?"

Yoruichi, being slow to anger and quick to forgive, immediately smirked as an idea occurred to her. Shifting her grip from Ichigo's shoulders to his head, she forcibly directed his gaze downwards. "Do I look like a cat to you?"

"Gah!"

She released the terminally blushing youth and scrounged around the training ground for the spare clothing Urahara had put there. Despite being over a century old, the clothes were still wearable, if a bit musty. While Ichigo salvaged what remained of his dignity, Yoruichi resisted the urge to sigh and instead put her mind to cycling through her options.

She hadn't really had anything in mind when she'd followed Ichigo through the gate to Soul Society; she hadn't had enough time. All that had flashed through her mind as she entered shunpo was a brief pulse of irritation. She bit her lip as she pulled a black shirt over her head, silently cursing Urahara, Ichigo, and any other person who came to mind. She knew Urahara would probably make sure Ichigo's friends made it through safely; all she had to do until then was keep him from getting himself killed.

An idea suddenly came to her, enticing in its simplicity.

When Ichigo had first released his zanpakuto, he'd said things he should have had no way of knowing. Based on that and the peculiar properties of his zanpakuto, Urahara had come up with a theory that would explain just who the strawberry blond was.

Yoruichi had never heard of 'spirit reincarnation', as Urahara had termed it. Reincarnation in the physical world was rare, but there were cases of it happening from time to time. However, a spirit retaining the appearance or memories of a past lifetime was unheard of. It was reflected in the fact that no shinigami in recorded history had ever had the same zanpakuto as another.

Kurosaki Ichigo was the sole exception to that ironclad rule, the first and only case of spirit reincarnation that Urahara knew of - at least, he bore too many similarities to the late Shiba Kaien, and had recalled things that no teenager could have known. If Ichigo was, in fact, Kaien reborn, then Yoruichi knew just the thing to keep him occupied.

Shiba Kaien's specialty had been zanjutsu, his mastery of his zanpakuto ensuring that he was almost never disarmed. As a result, his skills in hakuda had suffered. Although Yoruichi didn't know it, it was the same deficiency in unarmed fighting that had spelled his demise decades ago, when the hollow that would kill him succeeded in destroying his zanpakuto. Though she didn't have the time needed to train him formally, forcing Ichigo through a crash-course in hakuda would suffice to keep him occupied, at least until Urahara finally completed his gateway.

She felt a smirk forming on her lips. She was feeling better already.

"Ichigo."

The teenager looked up, carefully noting that Yoruichi was finally clothed. "Yeah?"

"As I was saying, you're too weak to storm Soul Society like you are now. What do you say I train you?"

Narrowing his eyes, Ichigo said, "Train me in what? You don't have a zanpakuto."

Yoruichi assumed a loose ready stance, bouncing lightly on the balls of her feet. "There may come a time when you're disarmed. Do you know how to fight?"

Ichigo grinned confidently, balling his hands into fists. She wouldn't know what hit her. "Yeah, I know some karate."

Yoruichi grinned back.

"Show me."

---

Ichigo's breath left him in a wordless gasp as a fist found its way past his guard and into his stomach, making him lower his arms. Not missing a beat, Yoruichi swiveled on her right foot and delivered a vicious hook to the side of his head, sending the youth crashing to the ground.

"Hakuda," Yoruichi lectured, as Ichigo struggled to get to his feet, "is the pinnacle of martial arts. Techniques from every single martial art known to mankind have been flawlessly integrated into one ultimate style, and the shinigami have had over two thousand years to perfect it. I can only teach you the basics in the time we've got. Come on, get up, Ichigo." She grinned. "I'm not even using my legs yet."

Ichigo managed to get to one knee before his body betrayed him and he collapsed bonelessly to the ground. "How..." He stopped, panting harshly. "How the hell can you be so fast and strong at the same time?" He was no stranger to martial arts, but Yoruichi made him look like a child, effortlessly weaving in and out of his attacks before delivering her own strikes with enough force to make his vision swim. She made Tatsuki, the best martial artist Ichigo knew, look like a rank amateur.

Rolling her eyes at his naivety, Yoruichi replied, "You're made up of reishi here, Ichigo. You know how living world martial artists talk of ki?" He nodded. "In Soul Society, think of your whole body as being made of ki. Your willpower, not your muscles, are the sole determining factor in how fast and strong your body is."

Yoruichi suddenly smirked as something occurred to her and she padded lightly to stand over Ichigo. She bent over the youth, amusement glinting in her tawny eyes. "You think that's air you're breathing?" She laughed as Ichigo gave a groan and rolled over.

Yoruichi waited until Ichigo had gotten his breathing under control before gesturing towards a rock formation a fair distance away. "There's a hot spring over behind those boulders that will heal your injuries. You'll need it if we're to continue training tomorrow." She paused and grinned again before adding, "If you're a good boy and behave, then maybe I'll join you."

Another groan.

---

"Better," Yoruichi said, raising an arm to block a kick aimed at her head. Grabbing hold of Ichigo's leg, she planted a kick squarely in his abdomen and watched with approval as the teenager rolled with the impact. He was learning at a phenomenal rate, absorbing her own fighting style almost as soon as he got hit by it. "But I could have broken your leg just now, or kept hold of it while I beat you unconscious. Don't overextend."

Ichigo replied with a wordless growl, leaping forward with a flashing combination of knee and elbow strikes. Yoruichi took a quick step back, lulling him into a false sense of security before swaying in and rising to deliver a resounding uppercut to his chin. "I said don't overextend..." She followed up with a lightning-fast spinning kick to his midsection. "And now you're using knee techniques when you're not even in close quarters. You've still got a long way to go." She turned away as Ichigo fell to the dirt like a puppet with its strings cut, sitting down and waiting for him to regain consciousness.

---

Ichigo's face split in a triumphant grin as he managed to sweep Yoruichi's feet out from under her, forcing her to roll. It was the first clean hit he'd landed since he'd started training days ago. He raised his leg, preparing to bring it down in a devastating ax kick, but blinked as Yoruichi suddenly vanished from his field of vision. She reappeared a moment later inside his guard, with one fist held lightly against his chest. He frowned; had she pulled her punch at the last minute?

"You're letting your mind wander, Ichigo," she said, before expelling her breath in an explosive whoosh as her entire body tensed, pivoting her waist and sending a wave of shock through Ichigo's chest where she'd held her fist. He found himself lying flat on his back, feeling as though someone had taken a sledgehammer to his ribs.

"I thought you wouldn't use kidou," he said weakly, leveling an accusing glare at his teacher. She just smirked and snubbed her nose with her thumb.

"That wasn't kidou. It's all hakuda. You just have to know how to use it."

---

On the third day of his training, Ichigo had had enough.

"Damn it!" Ichigo stripped off the top of his kimono and threw it to the ground, the stifling confines of the black cloth suddenly more irritating than he could bear. He sat down hard, panting from a combination of both frustration and exhaustion. He set his back against a nearby boulder, tilting his head back and glaring at the ceiling.

Yoruichi stepped over to Ichigo, looking down at him with an unreadable expression on her face. "What's the matter?"

Ichigo laughed out loud, though the anger was clear in his voice. "What's the matter?" He made a sharp cutting motion with his hand. "Rukia's going to be executed in less than two weeks and you're asking me what's the matter?" A part of him noted that he was being unreasonable; that charging in with all guns blazing to save Rukia would result in little save his untimely demise. He ignored it in favor of the anger inside him, his irritation and fear coming to a point. "I thought you were the one who said we didn't have any time to spare!"

Yoruichi surprised him by snarling right back, her eyes like chips of electric topaz. "You wouldn't stand a chance out there right now and you know it," she snapped, unknowingly echoing what the small voice inside of him had whispered. "Perhaps if you'd waited for Kisuke to finish making the gate and came here with your friends you just might have been able to spirit Rukia out before anyone managed to find you in the confusion. But you went and came here by yourself, and Ukitake already knows you're here. I'm surprised he hasn't tried to find you yet."

"You wouldn't understand," Ichigo spat, feeling the familiar swirl of memories rising inside him again. This time he made no effort to stop them, letting them wash over him. "You weren't there when they brought her body back."

Confusion entered Yoruichi's eyes. Whose body? "Ichigo?"

Ichigo was far beyond reason. "You don't know what it's like to see your wife's half-eaten body covered by a sheet." His voice started darkening, the pitch and tone lowering until Yoruichi could hardly recognize it.

"Ichigo-"

"No! I won't lose her again."

"Ichigo!" Yoruichi took a step forward, concerned. "What are you talking about?"

Ichigo answered her with a growl, looking her full in the face. "You've cost me enough time, Lady Shihouin."

A number of factors came into play in the next moment. Yoruichi, talented though she was, hadn't been in a real combat situation for over a century - her recent spars with Ichigo had been her first in decades. She was already slightly surprised by Ichigo's recollection of her family name, and the drawn look on Ichigo's face had shaken her deeply. As blue-white energy burst into being around Ichigo's hand, it took her brain a single moment to realize that he was using bakudo, which he shouldn't have known. It slowed her reaction by just a fraction of a second, but it was enough.

"Bakudou four: Hainawa!" Strands of incandescent energy formed around Yoruichi's arms and legs, effectively binding her into place. Her eyes widened in shock; the Hainawa bakudou was originally intended to seal only the target's arms. Ichigo's version had enough reiatsu behind it to form bindings around her legs as well, shutting off her access to shunpo.

It only took her a few seconds to break free of the light ropes, but by then Ichigo had already vanished, gaining enough of a lead that catching up to him before he reached Seireitei's center would be impossible. A brief curse passed her lips as she realized he'd already passed beyond the reiatsu dampeners installed in the cave, and in his unfocused state his power was burning like a signal beacon to any who had the eyes to see it.

If he's still alive when I find him, Yoruichi thought grimly, slipping into shunpo, I'm going to kill him.

---

Ukitake's head jerked around as he sensed the sudden explosion of reiatsu, garnering surprised looks from the young shinigami he was instructing. A moment later they felt it as well, a huge blanket of presence that washed over and encompassed them. The rookies started sweating heavily, unaccustomed to being affected by such overwhelming pressure. Ukitake frowned; it was like being next to a captain who'd released his zanpakuto, yet the nature of the reiatsu was unlike that of any of the Gotei 13's captains. He had a sudden, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he realized who the vaguely familiar energy belonged to.

Him.

He gave the rookies a quick, forced smile and an excuse before shifting into shunpo, letting the flash steps carry him to the 13th Division's communications center. The regulations of the Gotei 13 allowed any captain to investigate an unidentified disturbance, but only the first submission was sanctioned. Ukitake had to get to the young, eerily familiar shinigami before any of his peers got it in their head to do so. He was halfway through the application when he saw that someone else had beaten him to it.

Ukitake read the message in silence, noting the division number. He didn't know why he felt so interested in the young man he'd only known for a few seconds - who'd all but admitted to being a hostile invader - but something in him wouldn't let him rest until he'd found out just what was going on. That same something started shrieking in alarm as he realized just who had filed the first investigation request.

In a very uncharacteristic moment, Ukitake spat a string of curses before entering shunpo again, hoping he'd be able to get there in time, rules be damned.

He wouldn't leave anybody to Kurotsuchi Mayuri's tender care if he could help it.

---

His mind still whirling with disjointed recollections, Ichigo was leaning against a wall, trying to catch his breath before slipping back into shunpo. He'd barely stopped panting before a hand fell on his shoulder, abruptly quenching the flow of energy he was unwittingly releasing into the air. He turned and found himself staring straight into what was probably the scariest face he'd ever had the questionable pleasure of seeing in his entire life.

It had a weird hat. No discernible facial hair, no lips. Yellow eyes, and skin that was colored in stark shades of black and white. It was wearing a captain's haori.

The last fact kicked Ichigo's mind into red alert, and he began subtly scanning his surroundings for any possible escape routes. Unaware of his discomfort, the captain started to circle him.

"My, my," the man said to himself, tapping a single abnormally long fingernail against his chin. "What have we here? I thought I had finished my research on shinigami, but then you show up. Fascinating."

Noting that the man showed no sign of hostile intent, Ichigo thought that perhaps he'd be able to talk his way out. "Uh... Captain..." He floundered for a while, realizing he knew nothing of the seemingly insane man standing before him. Fortunately, the captain took care of his dilemma for him.

"Kurotsuchi Mayuri, 12th Division," the man said as an afterthought, before stooping to get a good look at Ichigo's zanpakuto. "Zanpakuto shows no signs of abnormality, but..." He stopped for a moment before nodding to himself, having reached a satisfactory conclusion. "It is tightly woven into your own reiatsu, although the uniformity of spirit typical of bankai is absent. How unique." Ichigo noted uneasily that Kurotsuchi sounded almost eager, like a child presented with a toy he just couldn't wait to play with.

Mayuri continued walking in a circle around him, seemingly lost in his own little world. "Interesting, yes. Your reiatsu is actually divided into two equal parts. One side is noticeably older than the other, as if you'd retained your power from a previous life. It should be impossible." He stepped closer and stared directly into Ichigo's face. The captain's right pupil dilated before disappearing completely, the white of that eye becoming a sickly greenish yellow.

"Even more peculiar," Mayuri said as he scanned Ichigo, making no effort to suppress the disturbing giggle that escaped his mouth. "Your reiatsu even holds vestigal traces of hollow. Much to my chagrin, I must admit I've never seen anything like this in my studies before."

Ichigo frowned; he'd had quite enough of being talked about like a specimen to be dissected. "Hey-"

"Could you be a vizard?" Mayuri interrupted, his eyes narrowing. From somewhere beneath his robes he produced a small handheld device that he waved over Ichigo's head, unmindful of the younger man's unease. He made a slight tsk of disappointment as he read the results, shaking his head absently. "No, nowhere near the hypothetical level of reiatsu meshing that would be required to compose one of their kind. And even then, it wouldn't explain the most distinct division of reiatsu that's taken place in your soul.

"Would you care to accompany me to my laboratory?" Mayuri asked suddenly, presenting what he thought was a disarming smile. In reality, his distinct lack of lips made him look like some sort of horribly angry mime. "I assure you, you'll receive a cell all to yourself. You'll be allowed to eat food instead of having nutrients injected into your bloodstream." The captain stopped at Ichigo's nonplussed expression, rubbing his chin again. At length he heaved a heavy sigh, his tone much like that of a merchant who insisted he was being robbed blind. "Very well. If you feel the need to do so, you may use Nemu to satisfy your baser urges." It was obvious that Mayuri thought it was an irresistable offer.

Before Ichigo could reply, or ask just what a Nemu was, a man rounded the corner and called him. His eyes widened in recognition as the sight of the man's face brought back countless memories, ones that he'd subconsciously repressed the last time they'd met. Before they could overwhelm him, he could feel Nejibana's soothing touch like a balm, keeping the sudden rush from driving him to his knees and banishing the haze of anger that had blanketed him minutes before.

"Hirose! I was looking all over the place for you!" the white-haired man said, brushing past Mayuri and grabbing Ichigo by the shoulders. "I knew you'd probably get lost on the way to the barracks."

"Ukitake." Mayuri's voice was dripping with insincere courtesy. "One of yours, I take it?"

Ukitake nodded, giving Ichigo a none-too-subtle poke in the ribs. "Hirose here just completed an early course at the academy, but I was afraid he wouldn't be able to find his way to my division's barracks, so I came out here to look for him. Right?"

"Ca... Captain Ukitake," Ichigo managed to say, swaying slightly from the near-overload of recollection. Neither captain noticed.

Mayuri's eyes narrowed until they were just slits. "I'm sure I would also have been notified of such a prodigy," he said softly, his voice becoming dangerously cold. Ukitake noted that the other captain's hand strayed dangerously close to Ashisogi Jizo, despite the standing order forbidding captains to draw their zanpakuto.

"Well," the white-haired man said, keeping up a facade of cheer despite his alarm, "that's just the way things happen now and again, Kurotsuchi-san. So sorry, perhaps you'll get lucky next time." With his left hand, he unobstrusively began steering Ichigo away, noticing with no small measure of relief that Mayuri made no move to follow.

"I will be filing a full report on this, Ukitake," Mayuri spat, reluctantly deferring to the older, more influential captain. He knew something was wrong, but he was no idiot. The 12th Division's captain had no doubts about how an argument between one of the Gotei 13's most respected captains and one of the most reviled would go. With a scowl on his face, he slipped silently into shunpo and vanished.

Ichigo had no idea what had just happened, but he knew enough that the man beside him - his mind automatically labeled him as Captain Ukitake, accompanied by a strong rush of trust - had just taken a serious risk that would probably have serious repercussions later on. "Uh... thanks."

"Hmm?" Ukitake said absently, guiding Ichigo towards the 13th Division barracks. "Oh, think nothing of it. I would have done the same for anybody in Kurotsuchi-san's clutches. He seemed to like you." The way he frowned at that made it clear that being liked by Kurotsuchi Mayuri was not a good thing.

They walked in silence for a moment, Ichigo struggling to get a grip on himself while Ukitake stared expressionlessly at the sky. Before long they were walking into the main compound, where Ukitake led them to a modest lake surrounded sparsely by trees.

"It's a nice lake, isn't it?" Ukitake said suddenly, gesturing to the perfectly round body of water. Several koi swam inside, glowing gold and red in the light of the setting sun.

"Yeah," replied Ichigo. He knew he should be more suspicious, but somehow he couldn't find it in himself to not trust his own captain. My own captain?

Ukitake took a deep breath and made his move. "You made it when you first discovered your shikai, you know." He saw Ichigo go rigid, but continued. He had to know. "As punishment, I made sure you lined the border with boulders-"

Ichigo's head snapped around and Ukitake found himself staring into a pair of blazing eyes. "That wasn't me."

"Wasn't it?" Ukitake replied mildly, unruffled. "I recall that Kiyone complained for weeks about how she kept falling into the 'new' lake."

"It was her own fault-" Ichigo paled, the color draining from his face. His voice fell until it was just a whisper. "That wasn't me," he repeated, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself of the fact. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo."

Inside, Ukitake was shaken more than he would admit. It was a gamble that only half of him had wanted to make; the other half would have preferred to let the past remain the past. The haunted look on Ichigo's face did nothing to help him believe he'd done the right thing.

"Ichigo?" he asked cautiously, noting with relief that the youth didn't simply ignore his voice. Carefully, he set a hand on the younger man's shoulder.

Ichigo was in no real danger of losing himself, not like he had been just after learning Nejibana's name. What had shocked him was that Ukitake actually seemed to know him - not himself, but the Other, the one who seeped into his dreams and his memories whenever he let down his guard. Up until that moment, he'd tried to convince himself that the Other wasn't real; just a figure of his imagination. Ukitake's words had changed all that.

He struggled with the fact for a moment, more or less ignoring Ukitake's words as he tried to get a grip on himself. Ichigo made an effort to calm his nerves, and was well on his way to succeeding when he heard someone approaching.

He looked up to see a girl with blonde hair and amber eyes, staring at him as though she'd seen a ghost. The words came from his lips without any conscious thought.

"Kiyone?"

To be fair, Kiyone herself was still recovering from the shock she'd received when Kaien's butterfly had abruptly summoned a boy who bore a distinct resemblance to one of her closest friends. It didn't help that her captain had a hand on the youth's shoulder, bringing to mind familiar memories she'd thought would remain memories forever. And it certainly didn't help at all that he'd called her name. So could be forgiven when she said the one word that shattered Ichigo's fragile calm, the name of the Other.

"Kaien?"

Ichigo bolted; he managed to take three steps before Kiyone tackled him, burying her face into his chest and sobbing like a child.