[DISCONTINUED] Strive | Bleach

Chapter Twenty: Sprang and Sprung.

Ichigo’s POV~

“I had no idea it was night already,” I looked around the cave. Zangetsu might’ve been gone, but the zanpakutōs he created earlier were still hanging around. “Man, this place is so disorienting; you never know what time it is.” I splashed the water of the hot spring up on my face to wash away the blood.

“Huh?” The cut on my cheek was starting to heal and close up. “What’s with this hot spring?” I looked over my arms and saw that the wounds that came from training were healed, too. “This is awesome! What’ll it do if I drink it?” Grinning, I scooped some up in my hands and slurped it up.

“Ichigo,” I froze, holding the water in my mouth. “How’s the water? Is everything alright?” I waved my hand back at her. “Nice, huh? I’m glad to hear it. In fact, it sounds so good I think I’ll join you!” I choked on the water, spitting it back out.

“Are you nuts?!” I cried, turning around, only to see that she was undressing.

“Why, what do you mean?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”

“Yeah, something’s wrong; you just took your pants off!”

“What’s the big deal? Come on; loosen up, Ichigo. Don’t be so old fashioned. You’re such a prude.”

“C-cut it out, will ya? Stop making fun of me! W-wait, no, don’t come in—no, no!!” I covered my eyes.

“I don’t know what you’re getting so worked up about…” Peeking through my fingers, I saw that Yoruichi had turned into a cat. What made the situation more awkward was that she sounded like a guy again. My face was still red, and my feeling of embarrassment wouldn’t go away. “What, are you a little disappointed? Come on, be honest. You are, aren’t you? You little pervert.”

“I am going to drown you.” I stared around the cave again, and thought of a way to get off of the subject. “Hey, this place looks familiar…”

“How’s that?”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while now, and I finally figured out what it reminds me of. It looks like the training room under Urahara’s Shop.”

“You picked up on that, huh? We tried to model that place after this one when we built it.”

“You built this place?” She nodded.

“When Kisuke and I were kids, we needed a place to play. So, we snuck off and built this place. It was our own little secret hideout.”

“A secret hideout?” I repeated. “But this place is huge! How’d you even keep it a secret?”

“It’s a very long story,” she said, her ears twitching. “Back when the two of us were kids, we used to play here almost every day. When we got older, he joined the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, and I joined the Stealth Force. But we’d still come here to hone our skills.”

“Wait a minute, Yoruichi, you mean you two used to--?” I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before. How could I be so stupid? What made me even more stupid was that I was staring at Yoruichi without even noticing that she transformed back into a woman. I fell back in the water, choking on it all over again. “You scared the hell out of me! Can’t you even cross your legs?!” She laughed.

“I always get the same reaction…”

“Yeah, just tell me more about Mr. Hat and Clogs,” I interrupted, not wanting to hear her make fun of me for a second time. My face was still red. “The truth, now—the guy’s really a Soul Reaper, isn’t he?”