The cat returns to the Night

Ren was already out of her release form. She had returned from the World of the Living after her battle with two Soul Reapers. The Arrancar was clutching her bleeding shoulder and her stomach which had started bleeding. "Darn it. I need to get this bleeding to stop." she fussed.

"Get in a scrap again?" asked the smaller of Ulquiorra's fraccion quietly, stepping out of the shadows and revealing her presence. "I wondered when you'd be back."

Ren merly smirked, "Heh. Does Ulquiorra-sama know that I was gone? how long did you know I was gone?" she asked Shizu. The arrancar lean against the wall for a little extra support.

"The entire time. It didn't take long for Ulquiorra-sama to realize you were gone as well."
Shizu stood there in silence, watching Ren for a few seconds or so, before she decided to comment on her smirk.
"So why're you so happy?"

"The fact that I'll get in trouble this time. Ulquiorra-sama will be upset with out even showing it or noticing it himself." Ren said as she slid slowly down the wall. "I think I'm more angry at myself though. After my battle with Grimmjow I've wanted to get stronger."

"Before you can become stronger you need to actually let your wounds heal first." replied Shizu, her emotionless tones seemed almost mocking, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world and Ren just didn't seem to grasp it. But underneath the mask of indifference, she was really just worried. Ren was the only person Shizu would think to call a friend. Other than her, Shizu had no one but herself and -only because she was part of his fraccion- Ulquiorra.

"Your right. I'm so used to doing things on my own from when I was alive. I'm still stuck in the past." Ren said with a sigh. I'm not alone anymore. But time is the only thing that can heal wounds; physicaly and emotionaly. she thought.

"Go and rest. If you want to, I'll spar with you once your wounds heal," she suggested, fiddling with the ragged black scarf that hid most of her face and neck.

"Alright. I just hope I don't run into Ulquiorra-sama." Ren said as she started to go to her room.

"I'm sure he'll probably be reading poetry again or something." she replied, shrugging the idea off and following Ren to make sure she did go back to her room.

Ren noticed that Shizu was following her but ignored her and continued to head to her room. After a while she grew tierd of the other arrancar following her, "How long do you plan on following me?" she asked.

"Until I know you're actually planning to get some decent rest," she replied bluntly.

Ren just growled as she went into her room to get some well earned sleep.

*Time Skip about 2 1/2 days later*

Ren woke up with a slight krick in her neck. She naturally popped her neck and got a small sense of pain. Iwaunder if Shizu was watching me sleep? she thought.

Elsewhere, Shizu was organizing her own room after finding that there was nothing to do that day. The arrancar's room was fairly small, but it suited her perfectly. In a small amount of time, she had managed to change it from just a simple room with a bed, a desk and some lighting, into a rather cozy place to spend free time. Shizu had managed to scavenge numerous books from various places and was now organizing them on a shelf. Some of the books were from the library in Las Noches, which she would have to remember to return at some point, but others she had found in the world of the living and was reluctant to give back at all.
Shizu's room also had an assortment of seemingly random items placed on shelves, or messily thrown onto the desk next to her bed. This list included things such as oddly coloured feathers, shells, scraps of paper, pencils and the odd fossil or two from who knows where.

After finishing organizing the books onto her new bookshelf, Shizu sat down onto her bed with the one remaining book in her hands. It was titled 'Famous Myths and Legends' and was one of the books from the world of the living. As she lay back to start reading it, she wondered how Ren was doing. It had been about two days since she had finally decided to catch some rest in her room.

Ren walked out into the hallway to look for Shizu or Ulquiorra. She had a strange dream last night, she was in the Soul Socioty and noone tried to fight her. There was something else as well; they were calling her "Sakura". "Who's Sakura?" she asked herself as she walked through the halls.

Shizu had read about a chapter of her book before she heard footsteps in the hallways nearby. She silently grabbed one of the feathers on her desk, a blue one, and used it as a temporary book mark. The arrancar then peered out of her room, listening as the footsteps grew louder.
They're Ren's. she thought suddenly, after analyzing the time and roughly estimating the distance between each step.
Shizu threw the book onto her bed before exiting her room in search of Ren.

Ren let out a small yawn and continued to walk. She had no idea of where she was going so she let her feet take her wherever they wanted. Before she knew it she was at the Library. I should try to find a book on Aura. she thought as she entered the room.

Following the footsteps, it wasn't long before Shizu realized she was heading towards the library. She almost sighed, thinking that she could have brought some of those books back while she was here.
She peered into the large room, scanning it for Ren's presence.

By this time Ren was looking through the shelve looking for a book on Aura. "Are there any books about Aura? she asked herself and she skimmed throught the books with her hand. Then a dark brown book caught her eyes, she pulled it off the shelf and looked theough it.

"You feeling better then?" asked Shizu, walking down that particular aisle of the library.
As she reached Ren, she took a few seconds to glance around to see what she was reading, as well as identify the titles of most of the surrounding books.

"I'm a little stiff but nothing a walk couldn't fix." Ren said looking up from her Book. She looked around trying to find Ulquiorra. "Have you seen Ulquiorra-sama anywhere?" she asked.

"No." she replied. "I ran a few errands for him yesterday but I haven't seen him since. Why?"
Shizu's head tilted slightly to the side as she asked the question.

Ren just shrugged, "I was waundering if he knew anything about aura. This book isn't helping." she said putting the book back on the shelf. "There has to be a book about Aura somewhere." she muttered looking through the books again.

"Have you ever considered that maybe no one knows enough about Aura to write a book?" she asked vaguely as she too scanned the shelves. A particular title caught her eye, but she left it, deciding to return later to read it if nothing else came up that day.

Maybe you're right." ren said looking at another shelf. She was now looking for an Edger Allon Poe book. She finaly found one and took it of the shelf.