Lost in Thought

Aien and Taiji would be standing about a meter from each other. Taiji is garbed in her usual garments and has her arms crossed over her chest while Aien is actually in his Shinigami uniform. Both of them actually have similar hair colors of a warm black except that Taiji has a long braid while Aien simply has short hair. In truth Aien actually looks a bit tired as he doesn't appear to possess any signs of injuries. However Aien doesn't possess the sword and neither does Taiji.

The young Substitute Shinigami sensed something entering the inner world, or rather detected a void of sorts that disrupted the flow of the reiatsu flowing around here. His amber eyes quickly looked up and saw a figure falling down from the dome of fog as Aien just realized this ring of fog is also a dome. Aien just didn't notice it until now apparently. Both Aien's and Taiji's watchful eyes followed the figure as it flipped over and land on its feet while crouching down. Neither Aien nor Taiji could see the figure's face, but the body structure actually looked a bit familiar to Aien. When the figure finally looked up as Taiji was about to Shunpo with a very aggressive expression on her face, and luckily Aien quickly lashed out to grab the back of Taiji's collar just before she attempted to Flash Step. Only to actually be able to keep her in place without really budging and Aien actually had to apply majority of his strength in order to basically keep Taiji on a leash.

"Aien... What's going on Aien?" The familiar 'face' asked in that robotic like voice as Taiji quickly looked over her shoulder to glare at Aien. However she understood Aien's actions and relaxed enough to not be so tensed. So Aien let's go of her collar before explaining. "Well, you see what happened was, I kind of just got out of that hospital I'm guessing you dropped me off at. Maybe not even a few hours passed before the Soul Society decided to knock on my door." Aien explained with a bit of humor in his tone. It's not like Aien is unaware of his situation, the kid honestly lacks the point to start panicking despite his circumstances. That doesn't mean there wasn't a sense of urgency in his eyes however. "Basically he got his ass kicked by a girl that stole his poor heart and is now being taken away. Well, me included it seems, but separated from this poor loser." Taiji commented while having a faint grin on her lips as Aien frowned a bit.

"You're never going to let that go are you? For the record my heart wasn't stolen, part of my stomach was when she punched a hole in me." Aien replied as his spirit rolled her eyes in response. Honestly these two act like close friends even though technically they've been communicating for about five days now. That's including the amount of days he's spent resting up in the hospital, though the term 'resting' was spent meditating and just exchanging conversations with his Zanpakutou. Some of them were pleasant, others were hilarious to observe, but there already has been a couple of times when things get tensed between them. Only when it actually comes down to Aien trying to figure out what he is deep down by asking his spirit. However her only response was that Aien wasn't ready, and still is technically not ready.

"What is your condition?" Gage asked as Aien unconsciously reached up to place a hand on his own right side of the abdomen. Where even though in this world Aien hasn't sustained injuries, but the feeling is still fresh and lingering. "I..." Aien started to say, but honestly that entire event felt like one big blur to him. So Taiji stepped in for him. "He was attacked and suffered some nasty injuries. Almost getting himself killed to say the least. He should be stabilized for now since that medic team came and immediately started the healing process. However I'm honestly not so sure about his wrist..." Aien looked a bit confused at first until it dawned on him that he did refrained from using his left hand after that punch landed.

"There were... three Hollows as well from what I can remember." Aien stated as he was trying to remember, but it was only bits and pieces. However Taiji nodded her head in agreement. "Indeed, Aien rushed towards a pair of lost souls' aid even when he almost got a clean cut on that girl. Honestly I would've continued the blow to at least get an edge on your chances." The woman said the last sentence towards Aien as she turned her attention to him. Aien of course shrugged a bit as he stretched his arms and part of his upper back. "Well I wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing that I was blinded by my own desires and ignored those soul's plead. Especially when those Hollows show up too."

"I'm sorry to intrude. It was not intentional. I was asleep... I believe that since I used some of my own energy to forge the bond between you two that when you are in distress you are able to pull me from my dreams and force me to enter the world. This was not an effect I was expecting. I am not even fully convinced that this is not in itself still a dream." Taiji listened to his speech, and while she doesn't really give signs of lessen her expression of disapprove of Gage even being here Taiji can't rule out that theory herself. Eventually she lets out a soft sigh before responding. "Well, that's alright I suppose. At this point we're rather stuck in a bind of sorts. Aien was just talking about how to use his own body to serve as a catalyst to utilize his powers like you would with a Zanpakutou. Or rather proposed the idea would be more likely."

Aien pondered about that idea some more before speaking up on that note. "However it needs a Sealed state just like a Zanpakutou, so perhaps..." His eyes wonder down to the necklace hanging around his neck where the talisman is still there. Then something clicked in his mind. "Would it even be possible that like the function of myself where I need this talisman in order to be in this form. I can use a similar function to instead act like a seal to my Zanpakutou?" The very idea of using his own body for his Zanpakutou powers was simply ludicrous because it was such an insane idea. However in Aien's current circumstances such a mindset probably would fit in place of thinking outside the box. Plus he's still learning about reiatsu and such as well as his own Zanpakutou. Additionally Aien is trying to prevent anyone else from even attempting to use Taiji, and that might be a bit selfish, but she is a part of his soul and he won't give it to anyone else but himself.

Taiji cracked a soft smile as she was reading his intentions from a telepathy link. "Alright, I have a friend that owes me a favor. I am going to send him in after you and get you out, do you understand? I just need you to be in a condition where you are able to stand on your own so that when you run you can make it out without stopping. At the gate someone will meet you to make sure that you make it out alright. Any questions?" Aien was about to ask until through a telepathy Taiji answered for him that his powers are going to be very limited due to his sword being taken away. Additionally there's a possibility that the Soul Society is going to put some kind of seal on him to prevent any other powers from being used. Luckily Aien hasn't developed that much in reiatsu related techniques, but still this actually would have it's advantage and disadvantage. The disadvantage would be that Aien couldn't put up much of a fight unless it was a one on one match of someone equally as weak as he is with the powers being removed. Aien wouldn't even stand a chance of even surviving, but the upside is that if his spiritual pressure is so low that he practically blends in with the surrounding area Aien would be harder to detect so to speak. Other theories were running through his head, but this one seemed most likely in his mind.

"If I'm going for a gate what does it look like specifically? I'm not sure what to expect in this Soul Society, but I'd like to know the key major factors in place of this plan." Aien asked as it honestly was very reasonable since this would be the very first time that he's been into the Soul Society. It could be a very big place or even a tiny hut like space. He doesn't know, so having an idea of what to look for specifically would help a lot of where he needs to go once Aien attempts his escape. Especially when he's trying to escape from the enemy lines so to speak.