#!ichigo

Hiyori scowls and childishly flicks one of his pens from the table so that it rolls down the table and under the floor. “Not soft,” she warned him. As if he didn’t have more pens that would be sacrificed to prove her point.

She has only came… came to basically check on him. She had been filled with anger on his behalf. The fact that his self-esteem could be low enough to believe whatever Aizen said. Hiyori has known Aizen much longer than Ichigo has. The words he says are never by accident. To Aizen, everything he does is a weapon. Even his words.

He wanted to demolish all of Ichigo’s motivation before the poor boy had a chance to understand or encourage himself. She knows Ichigo has a lot of friends… but she also knows what it’s like to be a person who is kicking themselves for hurting a friend. Hueco Mundo also did a number on Ichigo. The details weren’t exactly known to her, but there was the haunted look of a young soldier who had just had his first kill. She really feels for him but doesn’t have the skills to tell him any of this. She isn’t sure she wants him to open his heart to her at any rate. She is too clumsy with something as precious as a heart.

She had never planned to get attached to this damn highschool boy. Green-eared with kneecaps shaking as he tried to suppress his bankai. Like her, he was trapped in his own terror from his inner hollow.

And then she’s staring at his dumb, heroic face and finds that she is attached. Because when he calls her his friend, it makes her happy.

“Yer a bleedin’ heart. Sap. No wonder Kisuke likes ya. Both of you are just dumbasses,” she mutters gruffly, rubbing the back of her neck. Her ears were turning red. “Stop smirking! Do yer work!”

She took another pen from his study table. “I’m keeping this!” Just to be obnoxious and so that he wouldn’t think she had gone soft.

Hiyori had just stuck one foot out of the window and popped her head back in. “I’m serious. Don’t think ya tell yerself how heroic you are, kid. If I had a nice home and a nice family, it’d be easy ‘ta stay with them. But ya did all those things and fought battles that others can’t even dream of. Ya even cared for people like us who Soul Society had brushed under the carpet for ages. So - SO - ! Don’t fuckin’ forget that yer a big damn hero! And I ain’t yer mother, but if I was, I’d be proud of ya.”

And because she had said something too nice, she had to say something horrible to balance it. She was turning about as red as her tracksuit.

“But yer new haircut is stupid!” She sticks her tongue out and rushes off, then realises she’s still going to face him at Unagiya tomorrow.

"Has she got a shiny Charizard?!" No nonsense pokemon card trader voice.

“He wishes Zangetsu could look like that! It ain’t bad for that baldy, gotta admit. It has the length, but no strength behind it,” she added smugly, glancing at the vision that Yoruichi painted for her.

Hiyori was not sure what this meant. Was she similar to Ichigo, like Rose had commented? Both hot-headed. Both incredibly fierce… and both always willing to pick up their sword over and over to protect their family.

Ichigo smiled tersely with a sharp breath through his nose. He knew she had a harder time being emotionally open than even his father.

He understood the appreciation she was afraid to convey.

“Yeah, yeah,” he crossed his arms, “After all you did for me, I figured *some* thanks was in order.”

...

All she did? Hiyori didn’t recall doing much for him. All of the work, he had put in himself. But hey, if Ichigo was going to be grateful, then she would lap it all up. Besides, he was a part of their family now.

“Yer inner world is pretty neat, huh. So many tall buildings!!” Hiyori grins.

She likes his inner world. It’s got a canopy of bright, blue skies and she’s happy to be here with Kubikiri Orochi. Thankfully, she’s left Hannya (her inner hollow) back in her own, inner world.

Even Kubikiri Orochi, the mighty dragon with it’s bloody sockets for eyes is enjoying this realm. The tail part of the dragon was a beautiful woman with a bloodied kimono and silky black hair. Both the serpentine dragon and woman share the same, saw-toothed teeth of her razor sharp blade, because they are both grinning with obvious relief at the moment.

“Mistresss… this world is a lot less gloomy than our own.”

Hiyori sighs, shaking her head. She knows why her own inner world is in a state of deep misery. It is usually in a maze format anyway, stairs going every which way… but right now it’s a horrible dark pit with only a pinprick of light at the top. Every day she has to use Kubikiri Orochi to build a step upwards and climb it towards the light. There are so many things to shed. She is nowhere near the surface.

So it is a bit of a refuge to be here in Ichigo’s soaring heights.

“… Yer world is always reaching upwards. It's such a youthful world."