The Double Edged Sword

29

Recap:

After her banishment, and the regrettable situations from her arrival, Izumi had fallen into a deep depressive state where she was almost completely dead to the world. She shut off her emotions, her feelings, her mind, and basically had just wandered around like a lost puppet without a puppeteer; he hoped she wasn't returning to that state again. The one to save her from herself back then had been none other than Ichigo Kurosaki, but with the way he had tunnel vision on Rukia, Urahara doubted the boy was in the right mindset to save her this time.

Kisuke sighed heavily while thinking over the possibilities of what she was facing. He hoped to send her along on the mission into the Soul Society with the boy; he thought it would be the safest route possible since she seemed so devoted to what he wanted, he hoped that she wouldn't get lost in memory lane if Ichigo was there to guide her. But now he wasn't sure what to do. He wasn't sure what he could do. This was Izumi's chance to return, he finally was willing to put her through the back door, but now she was in no shape to even think about leaving her bed. Kisuke's emotions were all over the place while he rubbed his forehead from under his hat.

"Did the boy survive?" a hoarse voice questioned catching his attention and making him pause while looking down at his lap. Glancing up he was met with the still vacant eyes of Izumi, but now she was staring right at him. Stunned, the man didn't respond fast enough to keep her attention and the girl looked towards the other man in the room.

"Tessai, did the boy survive?" she asked again only this time there was a slight edge in her voice. Kisuke glanced between the two of them before he spoke up, neither man was prepared to see such a cold, and lifeless expression on her face.

"Yes, he's attending school as we speak. It's actually your last day till break." he said trying to sound like his normal easy-going self, but it was cut short when there was no response from his niece.

"What of the enemy? Who were they?" she changed the subject after pausing for a moment. Kisuke looked from his niece to his employee; he was lost one what to do exactly, he didn't know whether to sugar coat it, or to tell her outright. "Spit it out, I don't feel like dealing with your pathetic fathering job right now." she said coldly making Kisuke look down sadly. She had reverted back into herself. The state he had hoped she would never revert back to again, has surfaced. All emotions were cut off, and all that remained was a cold, unforgiving persona.

....

On Ichigo's end he was currently walking home with a few of his and Izumi's friends, talk of going to the beach was in the air, but many of them declined. Ichigo in particular knew he had good reason to; if he was going to save Rukia, then there was no time for him to waste playing around in sea water. 

Inwardly he felt odd, the fact that nothing seemed too out of place and the world just kept on moving without Rukia baffled him. On the other hand, the fact that no one asked about Izumi completely went over the young boy's head. He was too engrossed in his own thoughts of Rukia to even remember that his dear friend wasn't talking and laughing with the rest of the group like normal. 

Thinking deeply about why not a single person had even asked about the raven haired girl, and the fact that some random student that he hardly remembered now took her seat in class. He guessed that since Rukia was from another world, then it's only natural that she didn't exist in his own world to begin with. Ichigo clenched his fist at his side as he thought about whether or not he should even pursue his friend. If this was how it was supposed to be, then why should he be bothered?

Continuing on his way, he almost didn't realized that all of this friends but one had gone off ahead of him. Orihime stood in his path while holding her bag right in front of her thighs, she clenched it with both hands as she prepared herself to question her childhood crush. When the orange haired boy finally noticed her he called her name in a questioning tone before concluding that something must've been wrong.