Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, obviously, nor do I own the fanart for the thumb, credit to Nightfrost. This story is for funsies, not for monetary gain.

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Kurosaki Ichigo

The things his hollow whispered to him, shouted at him, were increasingly difficult to smother. School was only so distracting before it stopped being a distraction and started to showcase his problems. People started to notice how his mind wandered, how he could barely focus in class. It wasn't so long before he couldn't even defeat a hollow without his inner hollow scratching at his mind for control.

His hollow howled for blood and death and violence, and Ichigo dug in his heels and refused.

His hollow dug in his teeth and insisted.

Inch by agonizing inch, his hollow was winning. Ichigo was afraid of what that meant for him, his life. His sisters knew something was wrong, but they didn't know what it was, or how to fix it. His family never was very good at facing their problems, they simply sunk deeper into their personally assigned roles and hoped it would go away.

He felt their eyes sear into his back when he turned in early, when he left in the middle of the night, without so much as a goodbye.

He was running out of time.

With every day that passed, he grew more and more distant with his friends, his family. When it started, it was only in his spirit form. Then the cackling and the taunts haunted his mind in his human body. It got worse, extending into a numbness in his fingers that he couldn't pretend didn't exist. Feeling his control leave him, even while he was in his human body, solidified his fear, and his resolve.

He threw loaded questions at Kisuke, subtly seeking help, and the man just didn't know.

So Ichigo ran. It was a half-assed, poorly planned attempt. He ended up in the warehouse district, the air thick and muggy with the promise of rain. A cold, clammy breeze rushed straight through his shirt, his jeans, and dragged a ragged shiver through his shoulders. He had no plan, no last hope, all he knew was that he couldn't put his family at risk.

Whispers. Taunts. Why wouldn't he just stop?

Ichigo let his back hit the wall with a metallic thrum. The corrugated ridges of the sheet metal dug into his shoulder blades, cold and piercing.

"You like the rush, I know you do."

Sliding to a crouch, Ichigo wrapped his head in his arms. He hissed, "Shut up."

"Can't smother yer own instincts."

He heard the quiet patter of raindrops, then the hiss of gently falling rain. He sucked in a sharp breath, his lungs filling with the acrid scent of wet concrete and rusty metal. He never liked the rain.

"You can't deny me. I am you."

"I don't understand what Aizen sees in you."

Ichigo's head jerked up, eyes wide. He was distracted by his own thoughts, his own heart, he hadn't even felt the arrancar approach. The arrancar was so quiet, physically and spiritually.

This was the same arrancar that tried to kill Tatsuki. Dangerous.

Ichigo fumbled for Kon's soul pill, but his fingers were clumsy with the cold, and he was far too slow in a human body. Ulquiorra slammed him flat against the wall by his throat. Ichigo hacked a cough, hand tightening around the arrancar's wrist. Blunt nails dug into his neck, in the sensitive flesh below his jaw.

His heart raced in fear, but he didn't let it show on his face. He squeezed his hand tighter, the simmer of rage coiling in his stomach. Ulquiorra's eyes flicked between his left, then his right eye, studying him like he might a particularly pretty bug before he crushed it. "Fascinating, although your reiatsu output is hardly reliable enough to be of much worth."

Ulquiorra slowly uncurled his hand from his throat, raising his arm to open a garganta. "You will come with me, Kurosaki. Should you fail to comply…" He paused, his hand twitching, and two smaller garganta's opened, one on Yuzu, and the other on Karin.

Yuzu was cleaning dishes, and Karin was doing homework, both blissfully unaware.

Ichigo's heart sank, his eyes wide in panic. "Leave them alone."

"That can be arranged," Ulquiorra said, "So long as you come with me without resistance."

If his family would be safe, he would do anything. He asked, "What do you want?"

Ulquiorra's eyes narrowed. "Aizen wishes to speak with you."

"About what?" Ichigo asked.

"To what end, I do not know." He turned toward the garganta, gesturing towards it. "After you."

Fear clenched his guts and send his heart into a frantic tempo. Aizen betrayed Soul Society. He sent his arrancar here to attack his town, hurt his friends…

Go to Aizen...could he do that?

Reaching into his pocket with trembling hands, Ichigo removed the mod soul from his jeans pocket slowly, like he was drawing a weapon. Ulquiorra watched impassively, but didn't stop him. Ichigo swallowed it.

Ichigo was kicked from his body, his hollow screeching at the sudden freedom. Ichigo doubled over, a hand fisted in his hair.

"Interesting," Ulquiorra said.

Ichigo reached for Zangetsu, but his muscles locked up as his hollow sank its control into him. He couldn't see out of his right eye, and his right arm was numb, trembling. That action was followed swiftly by the crushing weight of Ulquiorra's reiatsu.

Ulquiorra didn't even move, speaking softly. "What a short memory. Have you already forgotten?"

Yuzu...Karin. Slowly lowering his hand, his hollow railed against his thoughts and will in protest.

'Shut up!'

Ulquiorra let up on his reiatsu, letting Ichigo stand straight.

"Ichigo?" ventured Kon.

Ichigo's voice sounded rougher than he intended. "Go home, Kon."

"What do you-you can't mean for me to leave you here? Ichigo-"

"Kon, go! Aren't you supposed to keep my body safe?" He added weakly, "And you made me a promise." To protect his sisters, his friends. Kon talked a lot of shit, but he meant it when he made a promise.

"Ichi-"

"What did I say!?" he roared, "GO!" He shoved his body out into the rain, watching a ghost of himself stare back at him with wide, uncomprehending eyes. He looked so...tired, gaunt. Ichigo's voice collapsed in on itself, nearly a whisper. "Go…"

Kon glanced to Ulquiorra and back, steeled his jaw, then ran into the rain, straight towards home. No doubt to try to save him, to bed for help when Kon knew it was already too late. His father would understand...his sisters wouldn't.

He swallowed, then stepped into the garganta, the scar in reality drawing in the mist from the rain. The further inside he walked, the colder and calmer it became.

Ulquiorra followed behind him, studying him with a dark, unblinking stare. It was eerie, but the arrancar wouldn't let him follow from behind, and so Ichigo had to live with his eyes boring into his back.

They exited the garganta into a massive hallway of pure, unbroken white stone, built like it was intended for giants. It reminded him of Soul Society in a way, without all the fluff and golden rooftops. It was brutalist and cold, but also...elegant, in its own right. Ulquiorra looked pointedly down the hallway.

Ichigo compiled, hoping with all his heart that this wasn't a mistake. He could barely fight at all with his hollow clawing for control, and Ulquiorra suggested this was just a conversation. If it would save his sisters, he could do that much.

His hollow's voice had grown in volume, his whispers raking over his mind and stealing his attention.

'Back off.'

Ulquiorra led him through a massive doorway into a long, tall-ceilinged room. Ichigo's attention was immediately stolen by the man sitting confidently in the throne at the back of the room.

Aizen Sousuke.

Shinigami, ex-captain of the Gotei 13, traitor, genius, and rebel.

The shinigami's voice dripped like honey, sweetly saccharine and full of lies.

"I'm so pleased you could join us, Kurosaki-san."

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So what if SS was the bad guys, how would that go? Eh? Interested? Let me know if you wanna see more, guys, it's an idea I've been kicking about for awhile. I have Zenith where he's already grown into his powers, but what about an alt to canon with a focus on his hollow side? I'm biased, hollows are dope.