Dust Settles On My Face [Ichigo, Tier]

The sands of Hueco Mundo were a place that Ichigo knew he would finally be saying a farewell to. That was something he quite liked, but at the same time, he'd be the first to admit that he wasn't quite ready to leave. It was a lot of work, to go anywhere, and his sheer apathy toward everything made it almost daunting to leave.

So, for now, he was just watching the sand. Thinking, waiting, not ready to do much of anything. Maybe he was just conserving his strength.

In the meantime, he could think. Watch the sky, contemplate what he was doing. He hadn't left in a long time, but now he wasn't planning on coming back any time soon. Why? Well, for Orihime, of course. For his friends. But he'd be lying if he said he hadn't been goaded into this with the almost taunting words Tier had said to him.

He ought to thank her, whenever he saw her.

"Hey."

Saying more than that as a greeting was tiresome for someone like Ichigo, but then again, he was almost surprised she hadn't said anything to him at all. Anything about the previous time, about whether he was once again just sulking around the desert. That alone told him that, perhaps, something was wrong. He couldn't read behind her mask, though, and he certainly didn't know enough to make much of a guess about her mannerisms.

"I'm heading to Earth. Not planning on hanging out here anymore. Nothing to be gained, and I've got something I'm looking for. Want to come?"

He didn't even know why he invited her. Maybe it just felt right. He wouldn't ever say that this group was like what he'd had long ago, but it was at least true that it made him feel...more whole. Less like the shade of someone who had once been, and more like the man he still might be.

"I've got a few other people already. It's a nice little team."

Not that he'd admit that to them.

"For now."

He didn't know her. He shouldn't have cared at all about the obvious sadness that she'd suddenly shown. But he'd related to her far more than most people, at the knowledge that she'd lost those dear to her. It was something he understood, and something that he hated to see in anyone else. Even if it was the woman that had antagonized him into action to begin with.

"Well, I can't force you."

Mm, no, that wasn't quite good enough. It was difficult to talk to her. He had to put effort forward, and that bordered on painful for him. It was already hard for Ichigo just to sit up, but he knew it would seem uncaring if he didn't.

"There's nothing on Earth for me, either. At least, not what I'm looking for. But I want more than just memories."

That wasn't enough, either. Well, she'd known him back then. And he was willing to be a bit more honest with her, if only because of her atmosphere.

"When I bring Orihime back, I don't want her to see me like this."

There it was. Something a little bit more clear in its meaning.

That question pierced Ichigo, though not as much as it perhaps might have. Yes, it was painful to hear it, and he didn't at all like that he had to answer it. But, at the same time, he at least knew the answer, and it was perhaps the one thing he could say with some degree of confidence in his voice.

"Then I'll still bring her back. What I'm looking for is supposed to have that power."

Supposed to. He knew that maybe it wasn't true. He knew that this might all be for nothing, that he'd be right back where he started. Was he really prepared for that? No, if he was being honest. He wasn't at all.

"I'll see her again. If it doesn't work... I don't know. But I'm not going to just accept that possibility."

"They wouldn't want that."

He would have just said it about Orihime, were it not for Tier's slip of the tongue. But that was enough to tell him beyond any shadow of a doubt exactly how she felt, and admittedly, what she'd said to him was a thought that had crossed his mind all too many times in his decades among the sands. And, in turn, it was enough for him to meet her slip of the tongue with the same inclusive "they." To lump Tier and himself together, at least in that.

"If that's what it ends up being, I live how she'd want me to. It'll probably be awful. But that would be a real kick to her memory if I didn't try. She'd want something better for me than just doing that."

Of course, he hated that thought. Ichigo knew that life would be agony for him. But that didn't mean he would deny it if that was what happened, either.