[RL with Ggio | Backdated to Night of June21st, to Morning of June 22nd]

[savior_n_black]

At first, when Ggio called him, Ichigo hadn't really been thinking. But since it had been a little while? Well, the worry had started to set in.
The simple fact of the matter was, this whole situation was getting harder to explain.
Kurosaki Ichigo had tenuous ties at best with Soul Society, and he wasn't one hundred percent sure that they would take his word that Ggio, being an arrancar, was not some sort of spy.

So, in the time since he had spoken to Ggio, Ichigo had done his level best to make this work; a small favor from Hachi, and the teen figured that if he moved fast enough, Ggio could slip in, and slip out, basically undetected.

Currently, though, the high vantage point of standing, midair, over Karakura town, let Ichigo see in all directions....though the view of a shinigami pacing back, and forth was probably giving a bit of pause to those few souls who could see him from the ground.

Absently, he glanced around, again, looking for any signs of a garganta opening.

Comments

[ridethetiger]

"But all the little one did was... stop the fighting..." It hit Ggio then, what exactly his words sounded like. Here he was with someone who was not only supposed to be the enemy but the one that Grimmjow wanted to kill more than anyone else. Was it a betrayal, then, that Ggio was talking to and feeling more connected in this moment to Ichigo, instead of the one whom he had sworn himself body and soul to?

Because Grimmjow hadn't really talked to Ggio, not since Ichigo came into both of their lives, and the little arrancar was feeling more and more lost and doubtful about everything... and Ichigo had been there.

Ggio blinked when that cloth was placed over him, not having paid any mind to Ichigo moving or the changing temperature. He didn't protest, just gently grasped the kosode. How many times now just tonight had Ichigo given him something without Ggio having to ask or beg? It was unusual, but not unwelcome.

And the revelation was just as enlightening as it was terrible. That accidental talk with Tyki and Shito came to mind, and the guilt was sinking. He wasn't supposed to be wanting anything more than he had been given, but he would be lying if he denied that there was something here. Something that he wasn't so ready to relinquish when he hardly knew what it was.

But Grimmjow was never far from his mind, and that's who Ggio thought of even as small fingers reached out to grasp a leg of black hakama as he turned to lay on his side, facing Ichigo. A root, perhaps, in contrast for what reached far and wide to ensure both of their survival.

I don't want them to fight...

"You... do you really think it's worth it, working together? If you couldn't survive on your own, it made you weak. That's all I - all we know. Can accepting another really mean something? It's not wrong or pathetic to admit when you need help, when you need someone else?"

[savior_n_black]

Ichigo was...rather relaxed, even after the tension a few minutes ago.
It was a warm night, and quiet, for once. Plus...well, Ichigo had gotten used to days, and days on end of training, going to his limits, then past them. He hardly registered fatigue, if he could help it....but he did have a tendency to push himself until he literally dropped from exhaustion.
But, he had really wanted to talk to Ggio in person...so the little arrancar didn't need to know all that.


Ichigo shrugged, and looked down at Ggio. He entertained the thought of moving away again, but then the little arrancar had hold of his hakama...and he just didn't have the heart to make Ggio let go.

"Yeah. I really think that. But it's more than just opinion, it's true."
He leaned against the tree, and gestured vaguely all around them.
"Look at nature. People say it's all about the strong weeding out the weak, but it's not. Everything in nature needs other stuff to survive. Even the really big predators. They wouldn't be able to live if they didn't have places to sleep, or other animals to hunt with, right?"



He stifled a yawn, then gave a lopsided smile to nothing in particular, since this wasn't a difficult subject...just stating the obvious, he felt.
"Sometimes, it's the same with us. People need other people to survive. Nothing wrong with it...just the way of things."

...But...after a pause, brandy eyes sought out amber.
"And the strong should protect the weak. That's what their job is supposed to be."

[ridethetiger]

"... They're not supposed to be devoured..."

Ggio blinked as he murmured, mostly to himself, before his eyes dropped. But he kept his hold on those hakama, as he wondered... if perhaps he had it wrong from the start. He wasn't meant to be a sacrifice to Grimmjow, but an equal; as blasphemous as the thought was for their kind of society.

At the same time, he didn't want to be so weak that he needed that kind of protection... that could be futile, anyway, if that skirmish with Eris a while ago proved anything.

"I don't want to be weak." Even if it was predetermined. His power would never be what it could have been, now that it was broken. "But I don't know how to change that, or if it should be changed. ...You really think it can get better, Ichigo?"

[savior_n_black]

Ichigo, of course, knew that nothing was predetermined. And even if it was? Things could be changed.

"Yeah. I know it can, Ggio." He answered quietly, though not looking into a pair of amber eyes...if only so that he wouldn't fall into them again.

[ridethetiger]

Silently, Ggio kept a hold of those hakama.

...But his grip started to loosen as he found himself actually falling asleep. He hadn't really rested since he left Las Noches a few days ago according to the time of the living world, and maybe it was more than exhaustion - he actually felt safe enough with Ichigo to let his guard down in this way.

And he was so warm. His reiatsu, his soul - whatever it was, Ggio was curling up closer to the shinigami to get more of it, feed off it even, as he was a bit 'hungry'.

So the little arrancar was curled under that black cloth and against Ichigo's head, mask just resting against the other, as he fell asleep to the lullaby of life around them.

[savior_n_black]

Ichigo wasn't even aware when Ggio fell asleep. The young shinigami only knew that for the first time, in a long time...he wasn't feeling keyed up with some unnameable tension.

...He never realized that the proximity of the little arrancar's reiatsu had made something inside him ease; feel like he could breathe easier.
All he registered in this moment, was warmth, and a peaceful sense of watching the lazy flickering of fireflies, and beyond them, the stars.

And so, the pair of them drifted off that way. Neither realizing that in drowsing, these two boys who so often disliked physical contact, were tangled up in one another.

Neither realizing that it was within the presence of a so-called 'enemy' that each felt so much ease.