The reaction is so quick, so violent that it sends a jolt of alarm up his spine. The hollow jerked back a step, turning toward the woman who had, of course, whirled back around at Ichigo’s outburst. His hand came up, fingers wrapping around the handle of the sword strapped across his back. He got as far as easing the familiar weight of it from its place, yet to draw it, let alone swing it around, before a confused frown replaced the startled readiness that had come to his features.

He narrowed his eyes slightly, reappraised the woman paying him no heed. A human, as he’d first noted upon entering the room and so had dismissed her. The weight of his sword settled back into place as he dropped his hand, eyes edging from the human, to Ichigo, and back. 

“This is just a human...” He said, a little unsure, since it’d earned such a harsh and immediate response. He stepped closer to the woman, she didn’t seem like anything special, hardly even a trace of reiatsu. Certainly not dangerous. He waved a hand before her face. “She can’t even s-”

The words froze on his tongue.

She. Not it. Ichigo wouldn’t have referred to a human as–

Oh.

Pale brows arched slightly as it settled in that he was the source of Ichigo’s panic. Once, that would have brought him great amusement, but now... His features twisted into something of a heatless sneer that was equal parts disdain and confusion. “I wouldn’t- I don’t eat people, we’ve been over this.” And it had been a decidedly unpleasant conversation, the last time it had been brought up. Painful, even, in ways that weren’t physical but equally as damaging. Not an easily forgotten conversation.

It.

Friend: Krillin in the food business