Room 504, Monday Morning

[intraspective]

Ino, unlike most the rest of Fandom today, woke up and was perfectly a-okay with the world. She was chirpy, even.

And giggling whenever she looked over to the spare bed in her room, and saw Ichigo there. She’d be less amused if he woke up still all mentally ill-like, but Ino figured that, for now, she’d just take the hopeful route and assume it had worn off over the night.

Because she couldn’t wait to mock him mercilessly.

[For that boy she knocked unconscious, please. ETA: Any discussion relating to hollows is NFB, please.]

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[intraspective]

She stared up at him. "Then why'd you act like I'd shocked you when I asked?"

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"It's just weird," he said, hoping she'd take it and not dig any further. "I'm a shinigami, hollows are our enemies."

[intraspective]

"So why would you be one?"

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

If he would know that, things would be a lot easier. He plucked at the seam of her shirt that ran of her shoulder for a moment before he caught himself. "Everyone could be a hollow. The spirits that turn into one aren't necessarily evil, but they get tied to things on earth. If they're not helped across by a shinigami, they turn into a hollow."

[intraspective]

She rested her head against him absently. "So why are all hollows bad if the people they come from aren't?"

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"They can't help themselves," Ichigo explained, relaxing as she steered away from the touchy subjects. "They get hungry and only act on that emotion so they feed on other souls. A shinigami purifies them and clears away their actions as a hollow so they can move to Soul Society."

[intraspective]

...

Ooookay. "Now," Ino said, "so I'm going to take a wild guess and say that you can't be both a shinigami and a hollow?"

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"No!" he said instantly, with a lot more conviction than was needed. "I mean, I haven't heard of it, but that... It's like you can't be water and fire at the same time. They're different things."

[intraspective]

Ino wrinkled her nose at him.

"You're quite loud 'bout that," she noted.

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"Because it's true," he said instantly. "And there's a war coming as one of the shinigami is trying to lead the hollows against Soul Society. It's wrong."

[intraspective]

"It being wrong doesn't mean it can't happen though, right?" Ino asked.

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

He shrugged. "It's forbidden," he said. "One of the shinigami tried to experiment with it, but it turned out to be too dangerous so he tried to hide his work."

[intraspective]

She winced a bit at that. "Doesn't that just... lead to disaster? If he didn't destroy his work?"

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"It already has," he said simply.

[intraspective]

"Yeah?"

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

He shrugged. "It couldn't be destroyed so he hid, but Aizen found it and took it with him. It's a matter of time."

[intraspective]

"So it hasn't already done anything?"

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"I don't know. They're not always very forthcoming," Ichigo pointed out, as if she should know that. "I've only been a shinigami for a few months."

[intraspective]

She sighed.

"Your world is mental."

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"Like you can talk," he smirked and glanced down at her.

[intraspective]

"What's wrong with my world?"

She stuck her tongue out at him.

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"It's just as weird," he said. "Besides, ever afterlife is probably as weird."

[intraspective]

She shrugged.

"People are just dead in my world. I wouldn't know."

[first-guardian.livejournal.com]

"I..." He stopped, because really he'd never thought that. "Most people in my world think they're just dead."

[intraspective]

Ino contemplated that. "So there's no way of telling, really, is there?"