Sunset in Heaven

Chapter 21

Byakuya couldn't help but furrow his eyebrows as he glanced behind him, at Ichigo, and saw that the orange-haired taichou was lagging behind them with a disturbed expression – as if he was thinking of some scary and also agonizing things.

'Master, I think you shouldn't ask him directly.' Senbonzakura voiced inside his mind. 'I don't think he's the kind to ever voice out his worries to others, especially not to worry the people around him. He might tell you if you ask about it in a roundabout way.'

Shunsui's voice beside the raven was teasing when the former spoke. "It's quite a surprise that Kuchiki-taichou has his eyes on someone so much." And Byakuya couldn't help but glare at the older male. Shunsui only chuckled before shrugging, not even pretending to be scared of the death glare that was sent in his direction.

They all walked quite silently for a while in the long suffocating hallways with nothing but thick brown walls and ceiling all around them. The place looked damp and oxygen was scarce. The only sources of light were the fire from the torches on each side of the walls.

"I think we're in some kind of tunnel underground." Shinji voiced just loud enough for all of them to hear. His voice echoed a bit when he spoke. "It'll be bad if we're to fight in a place like this."

"We'll all be buried alive." Toshirou muttered with a straight face and Kenpachi's grin only sharpened. Byakuya didn't look like he heard anything as he walked at his own pace.

"Please don't jinx us, Hirako-taichou, Hitsugaya-taichou." Shunsui said in his usual bubbly tone while still stealing a glance at both Byakuya and Ichigo. It seemed his best friend Juushirou would never know now how it was to see Byakuya interested in someone again – and Juushirou's beloved son at that.

Ichigo finally got out of his own world at that time and caught up to them. "How long are we going to find our way out?"

"It can be in minutes now, or hours, or forever." Shinji answered with a smile, though his eyes told everyone he was dead serious. "It's also the first time I've been here so I'm not really sure. But these long and winding passages with so many intersections might not even have any way out, you know."

"Hirako-taichou is right." Byakuya mused aloud, making almost all heads turn in his direction for it was the first time he spoke to them and agreed. "We might have to use other means in order to get out of here."

"And the fact is there are many intersections that we don't even know if we already passed the exit and just missed it." Toshirou nodded, wearing his usual scowl again. "How annoying."

"You mean we might not be able to get out of here? Ever?" Shunsui asked, still in his bubbly tone. "What if Kurotsuchi-taichou planned all of this? He said that he'd look for our corpses if we died, right? What if he actually planned this so all of us would die–"

"Kyouraku-taichou." Ichigo's scowl as well as his voice told everyone he wasn't happy with the older male's assumptions. Ichigo knew that it was nothing to Shunsui. He was just joking. But it still unsettled him that the older guy could talk about all of their deaths just like that. Or maybe that's the difference between 'kids' and 'adults.' Shunsui already saw so many things being a Shinigami but Ichigo had yet to see anything – except deaths of course. But who knew how many deaths the older male had seen in his life. Or rather, the afterlife. Maybe it was so usual for Shunsui now that he hardly ever expected any of them to return alive after this...

Shunsui saw the bitterness, the indecision, the confusion, and the pain in those young chocolate eyes and he immediately knew that Ichigo was upset with his words. He smiled kindly as he walked beside the teen. "I see that you have a lot in your mind right now. I'm sorry if I offended you, Ichigo."