The Evergreen Birdcage [Ichigo, Tier]

"I guess I haven't."

There was something fundamentally reassuring about Tier's chiding tone, the way she seemed to find his question amusing. For all of his focus on the matter, for all his drive toward this single goal, Ichigo appreciated even a brief moment that felt normal. Her question pierced through that hollow emptiness, and he once again stared out at the empty, moonlit desert that had become his home.

"I want what's best for the people close to me. Stepping in to help you, if things go wrong, puts you and everything you've built alongside me. If you'd want that, then I'll be there."

Ichigo understood what it meant to see everything you'd worked for crumble into nothing. He'd never escaped the defeat he suffered a century ago, and given what he'd become, he knew he probably never would, either. He didn't want to see those few friends he'd made since then suffer anything similar.

"Doubt? It's not doubt. I'm more sure than I have been in a long time."

Ichigo's expression grew a little bit less dour, assurance still in his mind from those who were behind him now. They weren't the same friends he'd had, no. A lot of those friends would probably never forgive him for the path he was on now, and turning back wasn't an option. It was tragic, yeah. But it would all be for nothing if he gave up now.

"Then I'll be around. I'm sure you'd get mad if I didn't come by to visit now and again, too."

Of course, he'd like to stop by, too. Ignacio and Lilynette were his traveling partners, and he certainly didn't like the thought of just leaving them by the wayside for too long. But Tier was on a different path, so he'd have to make time to see her. Not that he minded, it was time worth spending.

"I don't plan to. It didn't work out last time."

He'd learned, even if he might not have changed his course in the world. There was resolve in that decision, but at the same time, Ichigo knew that there was also a lack thereof. Most people might have abandoned this path after Orihime's response to it, but Ichigo was still committed. After all, he'd promised it back then, and it was the one thing that had brought him off the dusty sands at all.

It was the one thing that had led him here.

"Naturally. I don't know when I'll be back here, so I'll make sure it's something that keeps for a while."

Of course, he didn't really know what he even should get someone like Tier, but he had time to think about that when he was traveling.