This chapter contains material that I do not own, they are the property of one of the following: Akira Toriyama, Yoshihiro Togashi, Rumiko Takahashi, Tite Kubo, Masashi Kishimoto, Eiichiro Oda, and Yuji Naka. Please support these excellent artists.
Akane
“Hey, Ichigo. I just heard about Urahara.” I said, knocking on his door. It had been a few hours since the report on our last mission out was released. My chest hurt when I read those words, even though I had already guessed at it. I had talked to Yoruichi about it, and while distant, she did ask me to check on Ichigo. “I know he was your teacher, and I just want to say, I'm sorry.” The door opened suddenly, and he was towering over me. His face was practically a mask, but I could see a little red under his eyes.
“Don't blame yourself. He died protecting others. He wouldn't want us to be upset. None of the people who have died here would.” I could feel tears starting as he talked. He sounded so cold, almost hollow.
“I-I know. But if I had been stronger than maybe...”
“Don't start that. You were the reason the rest of your team got away.” I nodded slowly; choking a bit as I did. Suddenly I felt his arms around me, and I let go. He just silently stood there, taking my tears.
As I calmed down I began to realize my hair was suddenly wet, noticing I was almost done Ichigo let me go quickly and began sweeping at his own eyes.
“You should go, I've got... work to do.” He said, obviously not looking directly at me. I nodded and left.
The day had seemed like a haze and evening found me wandering back towards my own room. I lightly undid the sash holding my gi closed and laid down in bed.
I couldn't seem to get comfortable, maybe it was still too early, or maybe it was just the events of the past few hours; but I was upset, and wishing for the comforts of my old life; a proper house, pajamas, a good bath.
Slipping back on my gi, I decided a bath did sound nice, even if it was a public one. As I slipped out I came face to face with Ranma; who froze mid-step like a child caught with his hand in the jar.
“A-Akane. I uh... I heard about the mission.” I looked away, I don't know why I didn't want him to see me cry, but I couldn't help it. “H-Hey, you want to um... I dunno go grab something to eat? I heard the kitchen just made a batch of chocolate.” I considered for a moment, and nodded. He let a small grin escape across his face. “Alright, I'll be right back. Oh and if you see Shampoo, tell her I'm headed to the labs. That should get rid of her.” With that he slipped down the hall towards his room. Soon enough Shampoo scampered past, wearing close to nothing and asking around about him. I passed the message along and watched her run off.
I slipped back into my room and looked in the small poorly made closet for some clothing. All I really had was my gi, I managed to scavenge a few decent dresses from a few of my missions out, but it was fairly dangerous to dress nicely around here since at any given time there was at least one fight breaking out in the hallways. Sadly Ranma contributed quite a bit to said fights. I contemplated just wearing my gi, which was made to take abuse, but decided to take a nicer dress. It was a light blue in color, which offset my hair well and had a modest skirt that billowed down around my ankles. It looked similar to a previous dress I had owned which, in retrospect, was probably why I had grabbed it.
No sooner had I dressed than there was a knock on the door. Ranma was huddled along one of the walls.
“I think she went to the labs looking for you about ten minutes ago.” I said plainly, he let out a heavy sigh.
“You ready for some grub!” He said, smiling broadly. I managed to return the smile and let him lead me off to the dining halls.
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