To Drown a Strawberry (Tier/Ichigo)

"I already lost her. It doesn't matter what happens if I can see her again. Weren't you the one that said I shouldn't wallow in despair?"

Ichigo stopped in his assault, simply watching Tier, waiting. Even if he was willing to cut down any opposition, he didn't have the drive to chase the fight. He only had one goal in mind that mattered, and it wasn't fighting Tier Harribel.

"So here I am. I'll chase her to the end, no matter how long it takes, no matter what I have to do."

There was only the bare minimum of conviction in Ichigo's voice, the faintest degree of drive. But it was something. It was more than he had ever shown to this point in his time since negativity had consumed the entirety of his being. The thought that he might see her again was enough. And the people that had come with him on this journey...

"I would rather you came with me."

He didn't want to leave them behind. Not if he could avoid it.

Tier's words were perhaps far more of an impact than any blow she might have thrown at him, and for all of his fury, Ichigo found that he couldn't bring himself to swing at her. He'd already pushed himself quite far, after all, and for everything he wanted, he knew he was still just a fraction of what he'd once been. His hands fell to his sides in a defeated, empty gesture, and he looked down toward the sands he'd idled in for decades.

"They weren't. But all of them could take care of themselves. They didn't fall like she did. Doesn't she deserve to be here just as much as anyone else?"

That was really the long and short of it, after all. He hadn't watched the rest of them die. They meant so much to him, it was true. His friends. But Orihime had been more than that, and she was the only one who hadn't made it out.

"They'd understand."

She was right.

Ichigo knew all too well that she was right.

Tier's eyes may have pierced through the rain, but Ichigo's own were downcast, unfocused and unable to face reality. That wasn't anything new. He may have had his drive to bring her back, but ultimately, he'd still been holding back. Still kept from sending them anywhere dangerous.

Because he was afraid to lose again.

"I wouldn't. I could have sent you to find a ring already. I could have used you as a distraction while I went to get it myself. I know where it is. But..."

His voice trailed off, hollow and empty as Ichigo himself. Even in this one goal, he couldn't push himself forward.

"I didn't want to. I don't want to lose anyone again. Not when you've put your trust in me."

He didn't have it in him to lie about it anymore, to try and pretend that this little ragtag band he'd put together was just some group working for a common goal. They were all he had. They trusted him.

"I can't go back to how things were. You're right, that they won't understand. That they'd hate what I'm doing. But I didn't betray them. What happened then wasn't my decision. I'd do anything to bring her back, Tier, but I'll never betray a friend."

Ichigo didn't have anything more to say, and he raised his blade to meet Tier's exactly as she'd expected. As she entered into her Resurreccion, so too did he, without so much as a word of warning. But even in doing that, he was pushed back, closer to the ground and with his sword still leveled toward her.

"So what if I did? Do you think I'd do it again? On purpose?"

He couldn't simply let it go. Tier was certainly more composed, more willing to handle the matter with severity, but Ichigo was simply a shell of who he once was. He'd never quite realized the sheer truth of the word Hollow, until having become one himself. He couldn't pull up the will he'd always carried himself with, couldn't put any force into his words. Even in this imposing state, he still spoke in a weak, quiet tone.

"I don't want to cut you down."

Most would surely say that Ichigo hadn't known Tier for all that long. It was true, he hadn't. But how long had he known Rukia before he'd risked his life to save her? Those bonds were never decided by simple time.

Ichigo's fingers tightened around the hilt of his zanpakuto, his energy rolling out from his fingertips and leaking into the desert sands like blood. If there wasn't any going back, then what would he do? How far was he willing to go in pursuit of this one goal?

If he had to be an enemy of the world, then so be it. He'd done that before, hadn't he? Challenged far greater than himself, just for a friend. Being the enemy of the world didn't mean you were leaving the people important to you behind. Right?

There was only one way to find out. And either way, he knew that he couldn't do it by simply hoping things worked out. Lowering Zangetsu as he readied to swing, his grip tightened, his stance straightened out. As he looked upward at Tier, even in his Resurreccion, where his face was nothing more than red and white bone, there was certainly a faint spark in his eyes.

"Getsuga..."

For the briefest of moments, it looked as if he were still that same young man he'd once been.

"Tenshou!"

Upward his blade scythed, and with it, the full force of that technique flew toward Tier. A wide arc, filled with all the energy that Ichigo could draw upon, cutting directly toward Tier. Few beings alive could stand up to something like that, and he knew that was true. He didn't want to cut Tier down. He wanted her to live.

But he had to cut her down if she wanted to stand in his way.