City of Emptiness Chapter 4

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Bleach AU
Chapter Summary: Ichigo and his Hollow make a temporary truce.
Word Count: 1,280
Rating: K

 

Eventually, they found an open courtyard, complete with a small spring and garden, and stopped simultaneously, Ichigo panting a little.

Shiro glanced at him, hiding his concern. "You okay?"

"Shut up," King replied. After a moment, he added, "You're different. Why?"

He shrugged. "You know, I ask myself the same question."

King didn't want to take that as an answer, and he wasn't wrong.

"I guess it's just...I'm free. That can change anybody, right?" So much he didn't really want to say, but if nothing else he knew King could be relentless. So he decided to ask a question of his own. "Why'd you decide to trust me, King?"

Ichi jumped, completely startled. "I didn't decide to trust you!" He looked away.

So he's ashamed of the fact he trusted me. A Hollow. That'd be amusing, if it wasn't kind of depressing. "Temporary truce, then. Or are we going to just keep circling around each other's questions?"

His King startled, staring off into the distance, refusing to answer because...well, the truth was kind of obvious, wasn't it? Ichigo was amused, but you'd never know it to look at the scowl on his face. Then again, Kurosaki-kun could communicate a wide variety of emotions through his scowls and frowns. "You might be lying or at least not saying everything, but your emotions are real."

People had accused Kurosaki-kun of being an idiot. Now, Shiro didn't necessarily disagree-but he felt that was only true when examining certain criteria, and under certain conditions. King could be more oblivious than he'd even thought was possible from a particularly unlively rock. His personality just wasn't suited for it, which is why he was so terrible at sensing spiritual pressure. He was the type of guy who would just throw a ton of power at any problem. If it didn't work, he'd throw even more power at it, never mind the fact that the easiest way might have been just a touch more subtle. Subtlety just wasn't the way he worked. He was honest, straightforward, hated fuss and hassle. So the fact that he'd just take the straightforward strength approach shouldn't have been a surprise.

Some people took that to mean his brain was pretty much just keeping his heart beating, lungs working, and fists flying. Anything more complicated was out of the picture.

While that might have been true to some extent, they simplified it a whole ton. To the point an assessment like that...well, that was pretty stupid itself.

Kurosaki-kun would never excel in science. He'd make a decent doctor, because that's what he'd been learning from his father all this time. (He definitely hadn't been learning how to be a pervert. The passing on of skills in beating people up was a more arguable point). His interpretations of literature were often original-in the vein that they were uncomplicated, straightforward, and somehow breathtakingly beautiful in their simplicity. Unlike the number of overly complicated interpretations others used-beautiful in their own way, but out of control at times. Occasionally blunt, of course, if not worse. And he tended to be too literal. Languages would never be his strong suit, either.

But that didn't mean he was dull, or that he never had complicated thoughts, or even really that he was completely incapable of thinking beyond simple sentences or multiple syllables. Sometimes, he had very profound thoughts, but he didn't really feel like sharing with anyone, and in any case the real world was complicated enough. Why should he add to that? Preference, rather than utter lack of ability.

He was really good at understanding emotion-when he was actually paying attention. Legacy of having two younger sisters he was very close to and a social nature (despite what others said). The fact that he liked being around people didn't mean he had to interact with them too much. Just being around them was enough. His friends understood, Chad probably most of all.

He was decent at strategizing, particularly if he'd bashed his head into a rock a few times and found that approach really kind of did nothing for him. When he wasn’t being all single-minded about the whole thing.

And his sheer stubbornness led to some real inventiveness sometimes. Especially if his friends or family were in danger. In which case, it didn't matter what was in the way, he'd find some way through it.

"I learned from...well, maybe not the best," he amended, allowing King to notice the sly glance, "...but a pretty good teacher anyway."

Ichigo snorted. "You might have been better off looking for emotion from someone else."

"Who?" Shiro asked quietly, this one a genuine question. "Mr. Ice Ishida? Chad? Not that they don't have feelings, but they're about as expressive as you are. Well..." he rethought that statement. "Ishida's pretty good at telling us when he disapproves. Which is pretty much all the time."

The side of Ichigo's lip twitched. Amused then, cool. "Pretty much," he agreed. "Why are you different?"

Roundabout answers deserved roundabout answers. Not that either wasn't a satisfactory answer. Details just weren't needed (especially not at the moment). "Life outside your head is a lot more difficult than I thought it would be."

King nodded. That was enough for now, like Shiro had predicted. "What do I call you?"

This time, he threw his head back and laughed, just the slightest echo to the laugh. "All that time in your head, and you never really figured out what to call me, didja?" He sobered, staring out across the courtyard as if it was endless as their inner world. "Shiro'll do. That's what everyone called me, back..." He swallowed the words before they could leave. He wasn't ready to talk about that just yet. "Besides, Hichigo just doesn't work too well. The 'h' is as good as silent, so no one has any idea of whether you're talking to me or yourself."

"To be fair, not too long ago, you were in my head, so I might as well have been talking to myself." Ichi was still amused. "Okay, Shiro, you noticed it too, then?"

"Yeah." The frown Shiro had on his face was worthy of King, himself. "I'd been keeping half an eye out for Rukia for...reasons."

Ichigo punched Shiro in the shoulder. "You have a crush on her or something?"

The scowl deepened. "W-wha? Don't be a jerk, of course not." He sighed. "She'd just attacked me before."

The suspicion returned, and the 'Hollow' hadn't missed it one bit. "Oh?"

He threw up his hands. "I didn't hurt her! Made sure of that, actually." A questioning look remained, and he sighed. "You know that thing you did to Urahara in Lesson 3? Basically, that. Warned her to put up a shield and everything. She's fine." He thought about her missing spiritual pressure. "Well, no, maybe not. But I didn't hurt her. Maybe made her more of a target, since she's now missing, but they got Ishida, too, so it's not a matter of 'conscious or not'."

Ichigo still looked a bit angry, but then, he always did that when one of his friends was in danger. No matter how much Shiro might tease about 'strawberry', Protector actually fit King like a glove. "We'll get her back." A promise, no hint of uncertainty. Only the instinct and will to keep moving forward.

He grinned, an amused, warning grin, full of sharp canines and everything. This was perfect. And whatever was behind all of it hadn’t factored in two ticked off hybrids willing to gift another hole for ventilation. "Yeah, we will. We'll get all of them back. And anything unfortunate enough to be involved will regret it."