Welcome to Gaia! ::

((Just a little bit longer guys, almost ready! Few more people need to turn up. Thanks for all your patience, sorry about the build up 3nodding ))

A samurai, once known to many, stepped through the door of the Firebrand. There wasn't too much more to say about his appearance, being the typical japanese attire of that what a samurai would wear, in white silk none the less. The only real thing that was unique about his look was the silver strands of hair atop his head, nothing more than that though.

Kuroha Zemashitama, unheard from for some time apparently, would step into the Firebrand with no cruel or violent tensions in mind. He was here for a drink, and for a bit of socializing, thats all.

"Hmm. It has been awhile since I stepped out, hasn't it,"

The Silver Ronin would say to himself. If you count several months hidden away, with people assuming you're already dead, it was safe to guess that it had been long enough.

"I guess its time to requaint this world with who I am."

Kuroha stepped towards a table, placing his Dragon Fang along the side of his chair, and sat there. With a near aimless expression on his face, he would wait. Just simply wait...

Ichigo had listened intently to Sunstrike's explanation, with Kon sitting atop Ichigo's shoulder to listen for himself. Even throughout the tournament, Ichigo couldn't have expected things to turn out like this. He had almost expected something to happen after the tournament abruptly ended with regards to the sponsors, like many other tournaments in the past.

But this? This came completely out of left field. Ichigo hadn't expected this at all, and according to what Sun said, others hadn't expected it either. Now they were all being pulled into a battle that could mean the end of everything they knew, with many of them not even knowing who the hell they were fighting alongside of.

Ichigo figured he'd get around to introductions eventually, though. As would Yusuke, unless people around Leviathan knew him well enough already.

What was worse was the fact that Ichigo had gotten into this blindly. Even with Sunstrike giving all of the information he knew, he still had no idea what that demon Malachi or that skeleton Malice were. All he knew now is that they were connected to some man named Victor, and Victor was related to Vahn. He gathered as much by picking up on the name "Fah" in Sun's explanation.

In the end, none of that mattered. Right now, he was as confused as the next guy, but he had the basics down. Victor Fah was their enemy, and he had Teira, the woman he knew better as the leader of Team Frozen Flame. He knew something was up when he saw what he did back at the Crimson Hawk Hotel, and whatever he saw was probably connected to why Victor wanted Teira so badly.

But there were still questions to be answered, and Ichigo was done keeping quiet.

"What's this about her being a pet to some demoness? What kind of 'demoness' are you talking about? Who is she?"

Could it have been the woman who was nearby the group fighting Malice back at the stadium? The one he had seen just before Teira made her escape? It had to be...no doubt about it. It had only been for a moment since his attention had been grabbed by Malachi, but he could feel that something definately wasn't right with her.

She looked a hell of a lot like Teira, too...

"Not captured...." Ah, if all hell was crashing down might as well throw her little bit of fuel on the fire...she was in the mood for a fight and kinda’ expected to be ignored no matter what was said.

Hono continued to rest her chin on her knees but her eyes never left Sun as he spewed his little speech, most of it was news to her, except for that last little bit about the shadowling. She didn’t raise her voice, hell she didn’t need to since she was mostly talking to herself anyhow.

She shouldn't have been here, too many people and all of them grouchy to seriously ticked off.. not a good place for a slightly unstable empath. "She went on her own, that lost little soul made her choice...even if it was not really a good one for her, and unless my double was seeing things you already knew that Sunny!" That said Rave actually wondered if this “forgotten” would leave her alone if she stayed out of it’s way.

"HEY! I saw that!"

Kon suddenly jumped off of Ichigo's shoulder and onto the nearest platform closes to Sunstrike. To those looking on, it would be considerably odd for a stuffed animal to just jump up and talk.

"I was there when that happened! She got stabbed in the back! Wasn't even a fair fight at all! She probably woulda beaten her too! I call a foul on that!"

Without even waiting for a reply, Kon turned back around to Ichigo.

"You shoulda saw it, Ichigo! The two of them looked like sisters or something! But I really didn't like the spiritual pressure comin' off of that one she was fighting..."

And yet, still, without even caring for anyone's response, Kon scampered over to Raven, who had also spoke.

"Hey, big sis! What's this about her going on her own? If it's such a bad choice, aren't you guys gonna save her?"

Kon was obviously using "big sis" as an out-of-the-blue term of affection. Even though he was just asking a question, the little mod soul was really thinking...

"C'mon, c'mon! I'm a talking stuffed animal! One of these girls here has to find that cute! Somebody gimme the ticket to Marshmallow Land!"

Ichigo was well aware of Kon's game, but he was too focused on the situation at hand to waste his time beating up a stuffed animal for messing around. Rukia usually covered that for him, but she wasn't here for this adventure.



"'True soul of their leader'?" asked Ichigo aloud. He hadn't the foggiest what that meant, but obviously the way souls were dealt with in these parts were a lot different than what Ichigo had gone through. "Are you trying to say you lost her on purpose because she wasn't who they thought they were?"

If that was what Sunstrike was saying, Ichigo would be joining Kael in the "I'm pissed off" section of the group. Teira was their freind, wasn't she? Shouldn't he have protected her anyway? More importantly...

"What's this GUARDIAN thing anyway?"

It was better Ichigo understood who they were before he jumped to conclusions and got angry for no reason.

Actually Hono had expected exactly that, since she had never seen anything wrong with guardian... well beyond the fact that they were a bunch of elves with names no one could ever remember xp


Raven tilted her head to the side and blinked at the little stuffed loin a couple times, that was a new experience o.0

A slow and slightly sinister smile spread across her face, flashing dainty little fangs as she focused on Kon, her voice dropped low enough that most people further away than the mod soul wouldn't hear her "If you are just a stuffed animal then I am harmless...and I try not to get too attached to people who don't want to be saved! If Teira is not actually Seirra, then she has the right to play toy to the demon if she chooses to."
Hono was also slightly concerned at the thought that Sun had "lost" Teirra on purpose, and more than a little annoyed that he kept loosing body parts to people that he was apparently close to... it was a very bad habit that was definitely going to get him killed for good one of these days sweatdrop

So what did Yusuke think about this? Not much. The kid, after Ichigo leaped back into his body, walked over to the bar, reaching behind it and just grabbing himself one of those free bottles of water. Unscrewing the cap, he downs the container of liquid, a bit exhausted after fighting Ichigo and that strange thing a few minutes ago at the stadium. He had no clue what the hell was going on around here, but he could at least recognize that the good vs. evil feeling was lurking about.

"Aah," he says, releasing a sigh after getting a good drink of the water. Though he was looking like he wasn't paying attention, his ears were picking up on the conversation, starting from Sun, hearing Ichigo's and a few others input on it, piecing it all together in his head. He takes another gulp of the water, emptying its contents, then tosses it into the trash can, turning back around with his elbows resting on the counter top.

He would speak up and say something, but he had a feeling none of this had anything to do with him. Yeah, he fought the people a little involved in this, but he wasn't exactly sure how to place himself in this. Okay, the world once again on the verge of destruction. However, he had long ago realized that this world had more heroes than himself. Therefore, if this was Vahn's story, then Vahn will be the one to participate in it. He had no right himself to get into helping unless asked.

So, he just wiggles his right finger in his ear, putting on this expression of boredom. Eventually, if this situation became serious enough, he knew the higher ups in Spirit World would contact him right away. Until then, he was pretty much neutral in the manner.

When Sunstrike mentioned how Victor got access to Eden, Lucind half expected to feel his or Raven's eyes on him - as they had both been there when she, the Siren, unintentionally played the role Victor just had had in mind for her. But they probably considered her part to be one among many mistakes and failures being made on the long way leading to the current events.

But only did she look up when the tall, hooded stranger entered.

"Eternal nothingness...?" She mumbled, feeling how those two words stirred something in her.

Why...did it feel so familiar?