III. The Village Hidden In The Leaves

The third chapter.

 

Chapter III

The Village Hidden In The Leaves

 

Uryu opened his eyes slowly. A black robed figure stood in front of him. He was clearly wearing a Soul Reaper’s uniform, a Shihakshô. “Ichigo?” whispered Uryu, assuming Ichigo had broken free from his prison.

“You amateurs are so careless!” scolded a gruff, rugged voice. This man has red hair, tied back into a ponytail, but was far from tied neatly, like a woman’s would be. A white cloth was used to keep his hair in place. He has many weird formations and patterns painted in black on his forehead, neck, and arms. He too had a sword, and it was in locked combat with the other man who had attacked Uryu.

“Renji!” Uryu exclaimed, addressing the red haired man.

Renji’s face was glowering with the full intent to kill. “Back off!” he yelled, as he effortlessly threw the other man back.

The other two men who had attacked Ichigo and his party opened their eyes wide with surprise. “Wait,” began one of the men. “You can talk?”

“What?” Uryu replied, as he returned their glare. “What is that supposed to mean? Of course we can talk!”

“Oh, no,” said the man who had Rukia pinned. “We made a terrible mistake.”

Growling, Ichigo yelled, “Damn right you did!”

“I’m sorry,” continued the man. “You see, our village has been under siege from a terrible enemy. His army is that of mainly grunts, who can’t even talk. Shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Sound. Our forces could detect an insane amount of chakra coming from this area of the forest. We’ve never met any travelers with power like this, so we assumed foolishly that you were part of the enemy’s army.”

Renji pointed at Ichigo. “That must be this amateur. He can’t even control his flow of energy!”

“What did you say?” Ichigo snapped. “Come here and say that, you tattooed freak!”

Glowering, Renji replied, “These are markings! The reason for them is something I don’t feel like telling you, because you wouldn’t even understand! Besides, don’t act so tough when you’re tied to a tree, you moron!”

Coughing to gather everyone’s attention, the man who had pinned Rukia got up. “My name is Iruka. And this is my comrade, Asuma.” Iruka’s arm still dripped with blood from Orihime’s attack. Iruka had black hair, tied back much like Renji’s, but instead of a white cloth, it was that headband. He also had a large scar stretching across his nose.

Asuma had spiky black hair, and wore the same outfit as Iruka. Rukia brushed herself off, as she also got up.

Iruka quickly walked over to Ichigo. “I’ll cut you loose with my kunai.” He used the large knife to cut the wire holding Ichigo to the tree. Then he walked over to Orihime, and repeated the process. His arm still bled profusely.

“Here,” Orihime offered as soon as she was cut loose. “Sôten Kishun,” she paused briefly. “I reject.” Another beam of light appeared once she put her hands to her hairpins. Instead of a projectile, these lights formed a shield around Iruka’s bleeding arm.

Iruka’s eyes opened with shock, as his arm ceased bleeding. His skin began to regenerate rapidly, as his wound sealed up, in mere seconds. “What kind of jutsu is that?” he asked, moving his arm to test it.

“It’s my power,” Orihime replied. “I have the ability to heal people.”

“As hard as it is for me to say,” Asuma said. “That’s even more incredible than Lady Tsunade’s abilities.”

Orihime quickly ran over to Chad. She gasped as she looked at the full extent of his wound.

“I thought Chad should have seen that coming,” Ichigo said. “He isn’t the type to lose a fight.”

“To be honest,” Uryu replied. “I thought there was only one attacker. The second one surprised me when he took out Chad.” He glanced at Asuma, knowing he was the one to throw the spinning tool into Chad’s back. “He probably had no idea what hit him.”

The tool was easy to view, now that it was no longer spinning in the air. It was a shuriken, a ninja’s throwing star.

“Is he dead?” Orihime asked, worried.

“No way,” Ichigo replied. “Chad won’t die. He’s too strong to die on us like that.” He pointed to the shuriken. “But we might want to hurry up and heal him. He’s losing a lot of blood.” Ichigo ripped the shuriken out of Chad’s back. Blood immediately poured from the wound, forming a pool around his body.

Orihime repeated the healing process. “Sôten Kishun,” another pause. “I reject,” The light shield formed around Chad’s back, as it slowly healed.

After a few minutes, Iruka asked, “Should it take this long? You healed my arm in no time at all. Why is this wound any different?”

“Well,” Uryu answered. When Orihime used her attack, you were able to swiftly dodge it. She aimed for your chest, and if it made contact, you would have died instantly. But instead, it hit your arm. You weren’t hit with the full impact of her attack.”

“Besides,” said a squeaky voice. “This wound is much deeper.”

Asuma and Iruka looked around, trying to find the source to this mysterious voice.

“Down here,” it said again. It was a blonde haired fairy that was beside Chad, at one end of the shield. “My name is Shunô.”

Iruka gasped. “What the hell? A fairy is talking to me!”

Frowning, Shunô replied, “I’m not a fairy. I’m Orihime’s power.”

“Oh,” Iruka said. “That makes sense.” His voice was rich with sarcasm. He turned to Orihime. “What style of jutsu are you using?”

“I don’t know what jutsu is,” Orihime replied. “But these are my powers. I use these little guys. You can call them fairies if you want. I can make a shield to reject any attacks outside of it. I can also create a shield that rejects any damage within it, which heals things. My last ability is to use one of my fairies as a weapon. He slices into my enemy, and splits him in half.”

After a pause, Iruka said, grasping his arm, “Yeah, I know that personally. That’s some scary jutsu.”

“In fact,” Asuma began. “It might even be forbidden. Just like the type that he uses.”

“These guys aren’t followers of Orochimaru,” Iruka replied. “Look at them. They don’t even know what jutsu are, or even who Orochimaru is.”

Picking up the shuriken, Ichigo fumbled with it in his hands. “So you’re ninja?” he asked.

“Asuma nodded. “Yes, but who are you? Where are you traveling to?”

Ichigo and his company introduced themselves. “And that’s Chad,” Orihime said, pointing to Chad, who was still lying in the ground, unmoving.

“I see,” Asuma replied. “So where is your destination?”

Rukia spoke up, “We are headed to a town called Silent Hill.”

“Never heard of it.”

“That’s okay,” Ichigo replied. “After we’re all healed here, we’ll be on our way then.”

“If you’d like,” Iruka offered. “You can follow us to our village. You can rest up there, and replenish your supplies. It would also be a good place for your friend to heal.”

“That’s greatly appreciated,” Uryu began. “But we really must continue moving.”

“Iruka!” Asuma yelled. “You know that we cannot allow outsiders! Especially during this war with Orochimaru!”

“Oh, come on,” Iruka replied. “You know as well as I do that they need the rest. They are clearly not enemies, or else this guy here,” he pointed to Renji. “would have killed us for sure by now. Besides, Orochimaru cannot transfer bodies for at least another year and a half. He won’t be attacking the village anytime soon.”

“Uryu,” Rukia began. “The sun will be getting low soon. By the time we get to this village, the sun might be setting by then. It’s earlier than I would have liked to make camp too. I was hoping to make camp at the gates of Silent Hill, but that will have to wait. Chad is too wounded. Also, a good night’s rest will make us up to one hundred percent tomorrow.”

“I suppose we have no choice, with Chad so weakened.”

They began walking, with the two ninja leading them into the forest. Ichigo and Renji carried the unconscious Chad. After a few miles of petty conversation, Iruka finally asked, “So we didn’t actually get your name.”

Renji replied, “Oh, right. Sorry about that. My name is Renji Abarai. I’m the lieutenant to squad six of the thirteen court guard squads.”

Huffing, Ichigo replied, “Like they know what that means.”

Growling, Renji replied, “Hey why don’t you shut up, you runt!”

Ichigo got in Renji’s face. “Why don’t you make me! Besides, you’re the runt! You grew up in that crappy town, not me!”

“Ichigo!” Rukia snapped. “Shut up for once!”

Taken aback, Ichigo asked, “What’s her problem?”

Renji answered, “She grew up with me, you idiot! That’s her hometown too!”

Ichigo quieted down. Asuma leaned over to Uryu. “So are those three usually this obnoxious?”

“Actually,” Uryu replied. “It’s usually just Ichigo and Renji.”

Smiling, Asuma said, “kind of reminds me of what someone told me once. About his students. There are two out of his three that are real rivals. Kind of like those two. Hell, they even talk the same.” He took out a cigarette, and lit it.

“So,” Ichigo said. “Renji, I’ve been meaning to ask,” he paused. “Are you the entire second group that we were supposed to meet up with?”

“Of course not,” Renji snapped. “You guys were taking so long, that they sent me ahead to meet up with you, and take you back to them. And when I got to you, you were all getting beaten up, and I had to save all your asses!”

“Who else is in that group?” Rukia asked.

“It’s a relatively small one,” Renji replied. “But there’s Ikkaku Madarame, Rangiku Matsumoto, Captain Hitsugaya, lieutenant Yachiru, and Captain Zaraki.”

Gaping, Rukia replied, “They need two captains fro this mission? Not only that but two lieutenants?”

“Three, actually,” Renji replied. “I’m a lieutenant too.”

“Who’s the third?” Iruka asked. “I only heard you say two lieutenants.”

“Rangiku Matsumoto is a lieutenant as well,” Renji answered.

“But is Silent Hill really that dangerous?” Uryu asked.

“We don’t know,” Renji replied. “But that’s why it’s so dangerous.”

“Right,” Ichigo said. “And, hey, Iruka was it? I wanted to ask you something.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“What’s that thing on your forehead?”

“Ah, this,” Iruka replied, putting his hand up to the headband. “This is a symbol to show that you have graduated the Ninja Academy at the Hidden Leaf Village.” He paused. “But shouldn’t you know that?”

“Well, we’re not from here,” Orihime said. “We’re from Karakura town.”

“Never heard of that place either,” Asuma said.

“Can I try it on?” Ichigo asked Iruka.

“What, the headband?” Iruka asked, as Ichigo nodded. “Absolutely not. You’ll get one when you graduate the academy. You seem way too old to be still in the academy though. Why haven’t you graduated yet?”

“I don’t go to ninja school,” Ichigo answered. “I don’t even go to your village.”

“But,” Asuma replied. “Every hidden village has a set ninja academy. What’s wrong with your village?”

“We don’t live in a village,” Ichigo answered.

“Then you’ll have to go to ours once you get back to the village after your mission.,” Asuma smiled.

Snickering, Iruka replied, “Can you imagine, Asuma? A sixteen year old at the academy?”

Surprised, Ichigo asked, “How did you know I was sixteen? I never told you that.”

“It was a lucky guess,” Iruka replied. “It isn’t that hard to guess.” After a pause, he began again, “But what are you? You wear black robes. But you’re not part of the Akatsuki because you don’t have red clouds on your robes. What organization are you from? You, Rukia and Renji are all wearing the same thing.”

“We’re Soul Reapers,” Renji answered. “We are spiritual being that send departed souls either to heaven or hell. Sometimes in this world, you people call it ‘passing on’.”

“So you’re ghosts?” Asuma asked.

“If you want to look at it that way, I suppose that works.”

“Well,” Asuma smiled. “That’s an incredible story. Unfortunately, I don’t believe you.”

“That’s understandable,” Uryu said. “But what I don’t get is that Soul Reapers are spiritual beings. Normal humans can’t see them. Yet the two of you can see all three of the Soul Reapers that are here right now, right?” Both Asuma and Iruka nodded.

“However,” Rukia interrupted. Those with an unusual amount of spiritual energy can also see spirits. Like Ichigo.” She stared at the two ninja. “I get a weird sense from them. It isn’t quite spiritual pressure. It’s something else. Some other form of energy.”

“Same here,” Renji replied.

“I can’t sense anything,” Ichigo complained.

“That’s because you don’t know how,” Renji snapped. “You’re not a real Soul Reaper!”

“What was that?” Ichigo threatened.

“You heard me!”

“Shut up, the both of you!” Rukia said, shoving Ichigo at the same time.

Asuma and Iruka stopped moving. The others stopped as well.

“What’s wrong?” Ichigo asked.

“What do you mean?” Iruka asked. “We’re here.”

They all stared at two very large green doors, guarding a large gate that surrounded an entire city. They doors were opened, revealing the contents of the village.

“Hard to believe I missed that one,” Ichigo said, glumly.

“You really are oblivious,” Renji retorted. Ichigo ignored him.

All the houses were wooden, with many people hustling around inside. The roofs were all painted red, green, or were left the natural wooden color.

“This,” Iruka announced proudly. “Is the Village Hidden In The Leaves!”

They all walked in through the gates. “Kind of reminds me of walking through the gates to the Soul Society,” Ichigo smiled.

“Okay,” Asuma said. “Feel free to stay as long as you want. I assume we don’t need to hold your hands.” He finished the last drag of his cigarette, as he flicked it to the ground. After a pause, he rethought his decision. He picked it up and threw it into the garbage by the gate.

Such respect for their home, Rukia thought.

“Iruka needs to teach at the academy, and I need to gather my students for a survival exercise before they go off on their first missions alone.”

“Thanks,” Ichigo replied. “We’ll manage from here on out. We need to get this guy to a good place to heal. Know any?” He referred to Chad.

“Yeah,” Iruka replied. “There’s a good hotel if you go east from here. It’s by the Ichiraku Ramen shop.”

“Ramen!” Orihime exclaimed. “We need to go there Ichigo, I love ramen!”

Chuckling, Iruka said, “That’s funny. I know someone like that. If you see him, chances are he’ll be at Ichiraku.” He paused. “Except that he left the village almost two years ago to do some training. Anyway, as an apology, we’d like you to have this money. This should take care of the hotel bill, and your ramen dinner.” He smiled as Ichigo accepted the money.

“Thanks again,” Ichigo said, as they began to walk away from Iruka and Asuma.

They walked for only a short while before they found the Ichiraku Ramen shop. “Oh, here it is!” Orihime exclaimed. “I hope they have wasabi!”

Making a disgusted face, Ichigo said, “Wasabi? In ramen?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, whatever you want, Orihime. Let’s find the hotel first though.” Just like Iruka explained, the hotel was close to Ichiraku.

They quickly checked in, taking multiple rooms. Two on the third floor, and one on the second. The group was huddled in the third floor room, with Chad and Orihime on the bed. Shunô was with the other fairy, Ayame, as they healed Chad’s damaged back.

Ichigo grabbed his arms, as they dripped with blood. “Damn,” he said. “I reopened my wounds.

“Sorry, Ichigo,” Orihime said. “I haven’t had the chance to heal you yet. Or you, Uryu.”

“It’s okay,” Uryu said. “Chad’s wounds are much more serious. You need to focus on him right now.”

After a few moments, Shunô got up. “That’s all we could do,” she said, frowning. “He should just rest now.”

“Thank you very much,” Orihime said. Shunô and Ayame disappeared in a small, yellow light, back into Orihime’s hairpins.

“I guess we should let him rest for now,” Ichigo suggested. “I’m going to my room.” He got up and left, as Renji followed. They had the same room, next to Chad’s. Rukia and Orihime went to the second floor, where their room was. Uryu stayed, as he was sharing a room with Chad that night.

“This is going to be a lively night,” Uryu replied. “Not much for conversation tonight, Chad?” His only response was a quick snort as Chad slept. “Didn’t think so.”

Inside Ichigo’s room, Renji was staring at a large box in front of the two beds, against the wall. “What is this thing?”

“It’s a T.V.” Ichigo explained. “I’m going to go out for a while.”

“Huh? Where to? You don’t even know your way around this place.”

“So?” Ichigo asked. “There’s only one way to learn.”

“I guess you’re right,” Renji said, smirking. “All right, I suppose I’ll go too. I won’t follow you, but anything beats sitting in here. The sun isn’t even down yet.”

Once Ichigo and Renji entered the lobby, they noticed that Orihime and Rukia were there too. “Oh,” Orihime began. “You decided to have a look around too?”

“Yeah,” Ichigo replied. “Where’s Uryu?”

“I guess he didn’t want to come,” Rukia replied.

“I see. Okay, I’m going to go then.”

Orihime replied, “Wait, Ichigo. Can I come with you?”

“Huh?” Ichigo asked. “Well, sure, if you want.”

Ichigo and Orihime left the hotel. A red glow illuminated the village, as the sun set. “Where first?” Ichigo wondered. I suppose we could check out that river.” He pointed to a river in the distance, which was sparkling in the sun light.

“Okay,” Orihime answered gleefully. “let’s go!” They walked in a calm manner, exchanging small talk. They visited many different areas of the village as the sun got lower and lower. Until they wound up back at the river. Orihime was leaning over the edge, staring into the deep water.

“Hey, don’t do that!” Ichigo exclaimed. “You’ll fall!” But it was too late. She fell in, splashing. “D****t.”

But once Orihime resurfaced, she was laughing happily. Ichigo sighed, then smiled. “Man, you’re so clumsy, Orihime.”

“Come in, Ichigo,” Orihime requested, bobbing on the surface of the water.

“No thanks,” Ichigo replied.

“Hey,” Came a voice on the other side of the river. “You guys can’t be in there.” It was a young girl carrying a lot of books. The stack of books was taller than she was, but somehow she managed it. She had a cute face with pink hair that went down to her shoulders. “You need to get out of there, sorry. If you want a bath, you can go to the hot springs.”

“Oh,” Orihime replied, waving. “Sorry about that!.”

“What do you think?” Ichigo asked.

“About what?” Orihime asked.

“Those hot springs sound like a good idea to me right about now.”

“Oh, give me a break,” said another voice behind Ichigo. Turning around, he noticed that the voice belonged to Rukia. “You just want to see her naked.”

Blushing, Ichigo snapped, “Hell no!”

Smirking, Rukia said, “Oh so then you don’t find her attractive?”

“Would you shut up?” Ichigo yelled.

Ichigo noticed that Rukia was not wearing her Shihakshô. “Where’s your robe?”

“I’m not going to be a Soul Reaper right now. Not everyone has unusual spirit energy, so they wouldn’t be able to see me. So I’m in a gigai, or a temporary body that normal humans can see.”

“I know what a gigai is,” Ichigo replied.

“A warm bath sounds good to me right about now,” Orihime replied. Ichigo helped her out of the river.

A short walk later, they arrived at the hot springs. Rukia decided to come along as well.

“This must be it,” Rukia said, reading the sign. “Let’s go in.” Once they walked in, there were two doorways. One was labeled ‘Men’, the other ‘Women’.

Ichigo stared at the signs. Rukia stepped closer to him. “Disappointed?” Ichigo turned to her with a look of pure irritation on his face. “I guess you won’t get to see this,” Rukia lifted up her skirt slightly, to show most of her leg.

“Can’t you just shut up? I don’t care about that!”

Rukia laughed as she and Orihime went to the other room. Ichigo walked through the one labeled men.

They each quickly undressed and dipped into the boiling hot water, which was emitting a lot of steam. A tall wooden fence separated the two pools from each other. They relaxed, letting the water completely wash away their thoughts. By now, they sun had been completely swallowed up by the horizon, and darkness filled the air. The only light was from lamps in the hot springs building. Ichigo had a towel over his face.

“So,” Rukia began. “What do you think Kon’s doing in your body right now?”

“I don’t want to think about it,” Ichigo replied.

“Hey, Orihime,” Rukia said. “Doesn’t it feel good to be completely naked?”

Ichigo gulped. “Okay, what the hell?” She’s only doing this to piss me off. “Why are you acting like that?”

Giggling, Rukia replied, “Yoruichi told me about your baths with her while you were training to learn Bankai.”

“Damn her,” Ichigo scowled. “Nothing happened! She was in her cat form anyway!”

“You must have been disappointed,” Rukia replied.

“Who invited you along anyway?” Ichigo replied.

“I did,” Rukia answered.

“Whatever.”

They quickly finished up their baths, and got redressed. As they met back up at the entrance, Ichigo noticed Orihime was still wearing the clothes that she fell into the river with. “Hey, are those dry?”

“Yeah,” Orihime replied. “I found a dryer in there that must have been used for the towels, so I put my clothes in there.”

“All right,” Ichigo said. “Where to next?”

“Well, that was enough for me,” Rukia said. “I’m heading back to the hotel.”

“Are you sure?” Ichigo asked.

“Yeah, I need to get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Bye, Rukia,” Orihime smiled, waving as Rukia walked away.

“I guess there’s only one more stop before we should go home,” Ichigo said.

“Where’s that?”

“Don’t you remember? You wanted to go to that ramen store.”

“Oh yeah,” Orihime giggled. “Ichiraku! I’m so happy that you remembered!”

They began walking once again into the night. The streets were illuminated with lights on various stores and houses. Even though it was becoming later and later, many people still inhabited the streets.

As they passed a particular restaurant, Ichigo could hear a sharp yell from inside, “You idiot!” It was a harsh, female voice. “You’re going to choke if you don’t stop! Do you want to go to the hospital again?”

“It’s okay Ino,” another voice said. This one was a man’s, close to Ichigo’s age by the sound of it. “Let him learn his lesson.”

“But he didn’t the last time!”

Ichigo and Orihime tried not to eavesdrop, so they walked on by. They eventually reached the familiar glow of the Ichiraku Ramen Shop. “Here it is!” Orihime exclaimed.

They stepped inside. It was a very small shop, with a single bar dividing the kitchen from the seats. Each seat was a stool set up at the bar.

A kind faced old man greeted them gleefully. “What can I get you two?” He smiled as he flipped some noodles. The smell of spices and soup filled the air.

“What kind do you have?” Orihime asked sweetly.

“Well,” the old man replied. “we have a lot of different kinds. There’s shrimp, barbeque pork, miso, you name it!”

“I want some miso ramen, please!”

“And you?” he asked Ichigo.

“I’ll have some barbeque pork, I guess, thanks.”

Smiling, the old man replied, “you know, that was my best customer’s favorite. You remind me a lot of him. Same hair style and attitude.” He chuckled. “Not as enthusiastic about my ramen though.”

“Yeah, Iruka said that someone used to come here a lot.”

“Did he now?” the old man replied as he began mixing new broth. “I wonder how that kid’s doing. It’s been almost two years since he left. He’s probably going to come back with some new jutsu. Crazy kid.” His thoughts seemed to drift off and faded away.

The old man poured in some onions, and various other ingredients. Within a few minutes, a steaming bowl was put in front of Orihime. “Here you go, miss. This is my miso ramen!”

Smiling, Orihime replied, “Thank you very much!” She inhaled deeply. “It smells so good! And it looks delicious!” She pulled apart her wooden chopsticks, and dived into her dinner.

Shortly afterwards, another bowl was placed in front of Ichigo. “And here,” said the old man. “Is my specialty, barbeque pork ramen!”

They both ate and talked, enjoying themselves. After a few minutes, Orihime had finished her meal.

“How’d you like it?” the old man asked.

“It was very delicious, thank you,” Orihime replied, taking a deep breath.

“So what are you doing here? You two out on a date?” The old man grinned.

“No,” Ichigo replied. “We’re just friends.”

“Of course you are,” the old man said, his grin growing larger. “That’s what that kid said too.”

I wonder who this kid is. Ichigo wondered. “Well, thanks for the meal. It was really good.” He reached into his pocket in his chest, and took out a small roll of bills that Iruka had given him earlier that day. “This should cover it, right?”

The old man counted the money. “This is enough.” He smiled again. “You’re buying this pretty young lady dinner, and you’re not out on a date?”

“I don’t need this,” Ichigo said, walking out.

“Thanks again,” Orihime said, walking out after Ichigo.

“They’re a nice couple,” the old man grinned. “Even if they are just friends. But that Ichigo needs someone with a different personality to balance him out. Who’s that girl who used to beat on the crazy kid? This is going to bother me. Oh, well, I’ll remember one of these days.”

Ichigo and Orihime returned to their hotel rooms. In the lobby Orihime said, “Thanks for tonight, Ichigo.”

“It was nothing, Orihime,” Ichigo replied. “I’m going to go check on Chad.”

“I’d like to too.”

“Okay then.”

They ascended the stairs, and knocked on Chad’s door. After a short moment, Uryu opened the door.

“What do you want, Ichigo?” he asked.

“Nice greeting,” Ichigo replied. “We want to see how Chad’s doing.” Uryu stepped to the side, allowing them inside.

“He’s just resting now, but I’m sure you want to see for yourself,” Uryu replied.

They walked over to the bed which had Chad laying on top of it. He was breathing normally, his wound completely healed.

Ichigo took a deep breath. “See,” he began. “I knew he wouldn’t get killed so easily. His body’s made of freaking steel or something.”

“So are you going to bed now?” Uryu asked.

“I suppose,” Ichigo answered. “It is getting late, so I guess there’s no other choice.” He began to walk out of the room. Orihime followed.

“Good night, Orihime,” Uryu said. “I’ll see you in the morning, Ichigo.”

“He’s so friendly,” Orihime replied once Uryu closed the door behind them.

“Maybe to you,” Ichigo replied. “Anyway, I’ll talk to you later, Orihime. Have a good night.”

Smiling, Orihime nodded. “Good night, Ichigo.” She walked down the stairs, as Ichigo opened the door to his own room.

“You were gone for a while,” Renji remarked, sitting up in his bed, with the T.V. on.

“What were you doing?” Ichigo asked.

“I checked out that Ichiraku shop, and went to the hot springs.” Renji replied. “Did you know that they don’t allow mixed bathing?”

Grunting, Ichigo replied, “Trust me, I know.”

Renji flicked off the T.V. “Well, I’m off to bed.”

“I’m not far behind you,” Ichigo replied, as he climbed into bed and turned off the lamp next to his bed. They both fell asleep quickly.

Author's Note

Still looking for any kind of reviews.