Fireball, careful with that there, see what you made me do [closed]

[flight_15]

Characters: Ichigo and Yuuko, and eventually Watanuki
Content: After getting shounen-speeched, Ichigo has found his resolve and is going to talk to Yuuko about some things that happened over fourteen years ago.
Setting: Yuuko's quarters
Time: B-b-b-backlogged to near the tail end of the ghost plot!
Warnings: Lethal amounts of cryptic. Also

Comments

[divinated]

Before his knuckles could connect with the wood of her door, it swung open just slightly, the light aroma of opium flooding out into the corridor. From inside, Yuuko spoke, her voice as smooth as silk. "Come in," she beckoned in a purr from her place by the window, standing over an unlit candle.

She knew that eventually, one of them would come. It was inevitable, because it was imperative to them to rid of the spirits aboard the ship -- but how? With her help, naturally. Neither could do it on their own, no matter the will power they might have possessed. There was a time for determination and a time for surrender, when one had to admit they couldn't do something on their own.

And that time was now.

[flight_15]

Ichigo swallowed hard, eyes widening. For a moment, just a moment, he felt like a spooked kid. How did she--?

...she probably heard me, he reproached himself, skepticism winning out once again. Kicking himself internally for being caught off-guard, he pushed the door the rest of the way open with the palm of his hand and stepped inside, moving to stand in the middle of the cabin, leaving the door open behind him. "There you are," he said, hoping his tone sounded lighter than he felt. "I've been looking for you."

[divinated]

Yuuko cast a glance over her shoulder, a small smile gracing her features. "Have you, now?" Out of Ichigo's line of sight, she clasped two items in her palm before facing him fully, the material of her dress sweeping the floor. She appeared as though she was about to say something prophetic, but instead the witch tossed both the candle and matchbook at him.

"Catch! Light the candle and set it inside the holder in the corner, please. We wouldn't want any..." Cue the look that prompted more questions than it could answer. "... uninvited guests, would we?"

[flight_15]

...he could guess what she meant. Spirits. He caught the candle and the match without any trouble, but paused a moment to look at Yuuko before turning his back to her to set the candle in its place and opening the matchbook.

He was willing to hear her out, yes, maybe even accept help. That didn't mean he was comfortable with her, or even trusted her.

Once the candle was burning brightly (of course she used things like candles, it was like Watanuki's wards and his seals and his other object-based spiritualism. Ichigo was used to a more down-to-earth approach, a way of doing things that suggested that souls and ghosts and energy could be quantified and experimented with by people like Urahara) Ichigo couldn't hold his questions back any longer.

"It's about what happened fourteen years ago," he said. "Watanuki told me...he told me you'd never take a life as a price for a wish. Is that true?"