[Active/closed]

[allthekeys]

Who: Ichigo, The Girl
Where: Red Bedroom
When: Night 003
What: Ichigo meets someone he probably wishes he hadn't.
Warnings: Creepy little kid.

Comments

[allthekeys]

"Don't I?" She smiled, stepping forward and extending her hand for him to take. "Kurosaki Ichigo, former substitute Shingami. You used to be connected. Didn't you, Ichigo? To things you didn't always want to see. To a world you loved and hated in equal measure."

She paused, head tilted to the side, alien and birdlike. Like someone only mimicking how they thought a human child should act. There was pressure behind his eyes, slowly building. Like a tension headache just starting. The room smelled of roses, cloying and overwhelmingly stronger than it had been a moment before.

As though someone had removed a plug from his nose.

"Won't you help me, Ichigo?"

/slides in here all timely like and stuff.

[deathbribes]

He was used to people knowing his name, knowing of him and his reputation before he knew of them. But this girl knew more than that - had a handful of precious details no one had recited or wanted to think about since that final battle. It was his mind playing tricks on him, he idled, some strange conjure of his mind in its desperation to have a connection to something he'd lost.

Any attempt to think or respond was lost, suddenly, with the strange pressure behind his eyes. It wasn't terrible or unbearable, but it was a strange reminder this girl - this thing - was a part of a world he'd thought he'd lost touch with. His lips curled in disapproval, one hand reaching to cover one eye, an almost subconscious gesture, as he shook his head. This whole situation was making him think to much, making his head hurt for a different reason that wasn't the overwhelming smell or pressure behind his eyes. But he disregarded it, dropped his hand sharply to his side in favor of pinning her with a cautious stare.

"Who are you?"

[allthekeys]

She paused, head still tiled at that alien angle, eyes focused on his face.

"I don't know yet, I'm still finding out." Her hand remained stretched between them, lips curved into a quiet smile. "But I know what you are. Please help me, Ichigo."

The door slowly swung shut behind him, absolutely silent until it clicked into place. Around him, the shadows seemed to be moving, almost-shapes rising from behind objects, though none made any effort to move closer.

Through it all, the smell of roses remained, as though he had just stepped on one and the bruised petals had infected the air with their stench. She watched him cover his eye, and made no effort to stop him.

"Let me help you." The words were a soft whisper, pressure behind his eyes an unrelenting reminder that something was happening, if he wished it to or not.

[deathbribes]

The words struck something inside of him, hit some part of him that he tried to keep buried from the people who weren't his closest companions. It was hard to say no to helping someone - the world a bitter taste on his tongue. She'd asked twice and the second time, he realized, was much harder than the first to disregard.

His hand lowered from his face, eyes shifting to the hand between them. His fingers twitched and the hand moved again, hoovering uncertainly in the air. For a second, he felt it moving, as if to take her hand, but he caught himself. Forced himself to remember that he didn't know what he was getting in to here, didn't have the means to fight back if something went wrong. But her words brought his attention back to the pressure behind his eyes and the smell and some part of him felt overwhelmed.

Suddenly, he felt torn. Torn between offering her the help she could have genuinely needed, tempted by the offer of being helped himself and possibly returned to a life he'd thought he'd lost forever. "What are you," he

[allthekeys]

"A better question." Her lips spread in a wider smile-and for a moment, it was another child in front of him, taller, somewhat older, but with the same red hair- and then she was back again, eyes staring into his.

"It's a secret. I can't tell just anyone. If I tell you, will you promise not to tell? Will you be my friend, Ichigo?" She smiled, still holding out her hand.

The smell of roses was so heavy in the air it was almost visible, drifting around her like power, eddies of her strength warping the air around him. The pressure never abated, a pulse just shy of Bankai. "I want you to help me, Ichigo. Won't you? Isn't that your job? To help lost things find their way home before they turn into monsters?"