Title: The King's Horse
Pairing: Ichigo & Uryuu & Shirosaki
Warnings: current arc spoilers, mild violence, strong language, explicit sex, reiatsu kink
Summary: One unfortunate night, a battle with an Arrancar temporarily splits Ichigo into his Shinigami and Hollow selves. Ichigo needs help keeping his Hollow in line until the spell wears off, and only Uryuu has what it takes whether he likes it or not. And it seems the Hollow has a particular goal in mind for the reluctant Quincy.
AN: Inspired by a doujinshi called "Baby I Love You" where Uryuu is the owner of two pet 'cats', characterized by Ichigo and his Hollow counterpart. Very cute read, if you haven't stumbled upon it yet. There are no cats in this story, though.
Theme songs: "Hear Me" by Imagine Dragons and "On My Way to Heaven" by Above & Beyond.
1
Boom, boom, boom.
Textbooks blast from the library's shelves to pelt scrambling students. The computer in Uryuu's lap grows fangs and tries to chomp down on his wrists but he snatches them out of the way just in time. An empty chair beside him spawns arms and legs that grasp at him, threatening to strangle and crush. Two end tables dissolve into a pile of snakes that slither and hiss a malicious warning. He tries to quickly flee the dangerous scene but his powers won't work. Glancing at his arm, Uryuu gapes to see the pentagram talisman that has accompanied him through most of high school and his first couple of years at university is missing. He is completely helpless.
Boom, boom, boom.
Hollow screech across the cavernous building, closing in on him from all sides. Seven altogether. At full strength, he could take them out with no problem but as he is, Uryuu doesn't even have any reishi capsules on hand. The people who were quietly studying around him vanish. Left totally alone, he faces down the snarling Hollow steadily closing in. Death is calling. He doesn't want to believe it but he is out of tricks. They will claim his life, it is only a matter of time. Uryuu closes his eyes and breathes in, then out in an attempt to calm himself and regroup. The ground beneath him cracks and separates into a great chasm with a reverberant roar.
He falls.
Boom, boom, boom.
Uryuu jolts awake with frantic gasps and a sheen of cold sweat dotting his skin. His racing heart begins to slow within seconds but the psychological damage is already done. Tonight's nightmare is far from surprising, considering he has been suffering from them for weeks now. He gets stress dreams like these every once in a while, always has. At first he blamed the most recent resurgence on looming college exams for this latest bout but those have since passed and the dreams have not. Gripping the sheets tightly in his fists, Uryuu wills the residual terror to recede as he focuses on evening his respiration.
Then he notices part of the dream was real after all. A renewed succession of insistent knocks on his apartment door rouse him from bed. He pads into the living room and cautiously approaches the door, only to sigh in relief as he senses only Kurosaki on the other side of it. Flipping the lock and twisting the handle, Uryuu stumbles backward when the man rushes inside without preamble.
"Ishida, finally! I thought you'd never answer the damn door! I was about to break it down."
"What's going on, Kurosaki? It's the middle of the night..."
"It's my Hollow. I need your help, come on!"
Preparing to ask for clarification on that baffling statement, Uryuu's shoulder is nearly yanked from its socket as Kurosaki attempts to drag him from his home. He fights back, brow furrowing in confusion and ready anger. While they aren't quite on as poor terms as they once were, he and Kurosaki are still a far cry from bosom buddies these days.
"Have you lost your mind? You can't just come to my place at this hour and rouse me from bed to attend some vague errand at your behest!"
"I don't have time for your usual stubborn attitude. This is important, damn it!" Grabbing him by the shoulders, Kurosaki leans close with an intense gaze to show he means every word. "I'll explain later, okay? You're the only one who can help. Just come with me right now, please!"
Faced with such sincerity and urgency, he can't decline in good conscience. Kurosaki wouldn't act this way for anything frivolous. Uryuu breaks free of his hold to snatch a jacket and slip on his shoes. He offers Kurosaki a firm nod of acquiescence before they step out into the night. They start out at a dead run that instantly dissolves any lingering fatigue from his body. They dart here and there, down a block and across an alley. It soon becomes clear, however, that Kurosaki has no idea where they need to go and he is growing more panicked by the minute.
"Will you tell me what this is about?"
"I told you, it's my Hollow. I need to track it down. Can you sense it yet?"
"Your Hollow? You mean the one that hasn't reared its head since Hueco Mundo? I thought that struggle was over with."
"So did I," grumbles Kurosaki, eyes agitatedly skimming the skyline in vain. "It's a long story. For now, we just need to find him fast and you're the strongest at sensing reiatsu of anyone here. I can't seem to track him at all. Will you try?"
Swallowing hard at the implications of such a disastrous turn of events, Uryuu closes his eyes and widens his focus. He can feel Kurosaki's energy blazing distractingly right beside him, but familiarity allows him to tune it out with relative ease. Aside from a modest burn from each of the rest of their empowered friends, the town is quiet. Expanding the field once more, Uryuu finally locates a quartet of Hollow signatures on the outskirts of Karakura. One of them contains just a hint of something familiar, something of the Shinigami restlessly waiting before him. It's also immensely powerful.
Blue eyes snap open to meet Kurosaki's. "I've got it. Follow me."
Hirenkyaku speeds his steps slightly faster than Kurosaki can follow. In these fleeting moments of waiting, Uryuu worries. Memories of the orange-maned monster he briefly battled with above the palace of Los Noches strobe through the forefront of his mind. The one that stabbed him through the stomach without an ounce of hesitation or remorse. Call him a coward, but Uryuu really isn't looking forward to facing that beast again. Once was more than enough.
The harried trip across town is too short for his liking. Presented with the prospect of fighting Kurosaki's Hollow again, Uryuu would prefer to have a better strategy than showing up and duking it out. The whole situation makes no sense in the first pace, though. Here Kurosaki is next to him, and there his Hollow waits, entirely independent of the vessel to which he should be irrevocably tethered. Not to mention Kurosaki's physical body must still be lying somewhere without its evidently split soul.
"I see him," grunts Kurosaki with a glare aimed between the trees. "He's fighting those other three Hollow."
One glance at the scene and Uryuu has to correct him, "He's playing with them, like a cat with frightened rodents."
"You should stay here. I'll take care of this."
"Kurosaki, wait!" he cries, grasping the sleeve of his shihakusho. "Tell me what I'm witnessing. If that really is your Hollow, how did he get detached from your spirit? Will he attack once he sees you? Do you have the ability to stop him?"
"There's no time for all these questions, Ishida, I have to stop him before he hurts anyone. Just stay here."
Frustrated and cranky, Uryuu scowls when his grip is shaken loose and Kurosaki flash steps toward the occupied clearing. Uryuu relocates to a high branch overlooking the battlefield below. The entity sharing a similarity with Kurosaki is nothing like the horned demon he recalls in that dark scenario. This one closely resembles Kurosaki himself, only in shades of white where there would be black, silver instead of orange, and glowing yellow in place of warm brown. He wields one of the twin blades of a Zangetsu updated since the Quincy Blood War.
Instinctively summoning his bow, Uryuu aims at the snickering Hollow taunting his three bedraggled brethren. Those fierce yellow irises swivel to lock with his as azure light flares at his wrist. A chilling leer curls across the inverted Kurosaki's face. Not one to fold under fear, Uryuu prepares to draw the ethereal string and takes aim in case the real Kurosaki needs backup to bring him down. He sees his friend stride into view just as the Hollow does.
"Long time no see, King."
"Not long enough."
"Ah, don't be like that...You'll hurt my feelings."
One of the other Hollow perceives an opening and lunges. Kurosaki's alter ego dodges with a giggle and jabs the thing in its side to elicit a grating wail of pain. A second takes a turn and winds up with a ghastly slash down its back. The third gets a crushing smack to its mask that doesn't quite fracture. Uryuu cringes to see what is clearly some twisted form of torture being enacted right in front of him. Despite years of calling Hollow like these 'enemy', even he understands deep down that they aren't to be blamed for their voracious actions, much less deserving of gleeful punishment. He raises his weapon and fires.
"No, Ishida!"
Kurosaki's shout comes too late. All three wounded Hollow disintegrate instantaneously. Only then does he realize the call was not made out of concern for his wilder half, but for what might happen to Uryuu for stealing his playthings. Before he can blink, Uryuu is snatched from the branch and tossed to the ground. He coughs against the loss of breath on impact but doesn't have time to recover as the negative to Kurosaki's positive is slamming him against a wide trunk. A fist closing tightly around Uryuu's bracelet dispels his bow and fingers at his throat keep him locked against the tree.
"Whadda we got here?" he murmurs mere centimeters from Uryuu's face. "Well, if it ain't Ishida Uryuu in the flesh."
"Get off!"
"Let him go!" demands Kurosaki at the same time, rushing over but halting at a threatening gesture from his Hollow. "It's me you want. Leave him out of it."
"That's where you're wrong," the creature bearing down on Uryuu says without breaking eye contact with him. "The one I want is already in my reach."
"What?"
He gets whacked into the bark for his question, the blow momentarily dazing him. That's when the Hollow closes the distance between them to initiate a rough kiss. Uryuu freezes in utterly disabling shock. Not-Kurosaki growls in annoyance at his lack of participation and tugs sharply at his hair to cause a gasp, an opening so he can push a tongue inside. And while Uryuu is literally being kissed into a stupor, a wide-eyed glance confirms that Kurosaki is just as stunned and speechless. He recovers much swifter than Uryuu, though, and proceeds to haul the assailant off him with a snarl.
"What the fuck are you doing!?"
"Making out with Uryuu, obviously. Who asked you to barge in the middle? I didn't hear him complaining."
Tossing a questioning look at the supposed victim, Kurosaki raises an eyebrow at the fact that Uryuu isn't exactly flying into a righteous rage.
"H-he took me by surprise!" declares Uryuu as he feels his cheeks heating. "I wasn't expecting that kind of attack!"
"That's 'cause it wasn't an attack, Lovely, but an invitation."
"Well, I decline!"
"Never mind all that! Ishida, are you hurt?"
"No."
"If I wanted to hurt the pretty lil' thing, he'd be bleedin' by now."
"You shut the hell up," Kurosaki yells with a fist clenching in white robes. "If you take off like that again, I'll—"
"You'll what? Slice me in half? Cut my heart out? You know as well as I do that you can't end me without killin' yourself, too. That's what the shopkeeper said, ain't it? So, don't go bossin' me around like ya own me, Deathberry."
"What is he talking about, Kurosaki?"
Gritting his teeth in agitation, he gazes at Uryuu over his shoulder without releasing his hold on the Hollow.
"Urahara. He's talking about something Urahara-san told us earlier tonight, right before this asshole took off and jumped straight into a nest of trouble."
"Ah, what's wrong with a bit of nighttime hunting?"
"You know we're supposed to stick together, that's what's wrong!" The Hollow turns away with a petulant frown and Kurosaki addresses Uryuu with legitimate explanation at last, "I was making the rounds, as usual, when I came across a funny-looking Arrancar. It didn't seem to know who I was, so I figured it'd be an easy fight but I didn't bank on it having special abilities."
"I find it hard to believe there is a Hollow in existence that could take you at this point," Uryuu dryly comments with arms folded over his chest.
"Yeah, that's what I thought until it nicked me with a mace that felt like a high-voltage shock. It knocked me on my ass and the next thing I know, one of my swords is missing and this jerk is standing beside me."
"Don't act like ya weren't happy to see me," teases said jerk.
"So he takes a swing at our foe and finishes him off despite me insisting we should capture him instead and figure out how his power works."
"Such unprecedented foresight."
"Yeah, whatever," he snaps at Uryuu due to a long night's mounting irritation. "At any rate, I'm sure you can guess the rest. Urahara-san hadn't heard of any other cases like it but he seemed fairly confident it's temporary."
"That degree of magic would require mass amounts of reiatsu to force any kind of permanence," Uryuu agrees. Granted access to some of Seireitei's logs, he has become a mortal forerunner in terms of their historical and theoretical knowledge reservoir. "Even someone with your considerable assets would have trouble managing it."
"That's what Urahara said. According to his theory, there are rare types of attacks that can divide a person into opposites like weak and strong, good and evil, or smart and stupid. That way the more vulnerable of the pair can be nabbed and the other one will automatically succumb without its counterpart. He thinks as long as the two of us stay close it'll wear off within a few days."
"Small mercies."
"That's not very nice, Uryuu. 'Specially after we hit it off so well. You don't want me to disappear so soon, do ya?"
"Don't call me Uryuu! Listen, you caught me off guard once but it won't be happening again," he berates the Hollow. Then his eyes uncertainly bounce between Yin and Yang with the beginnings of a horrifying question. "Kurosaki, why did he ki—why would he do something like that to me in the first place? I seem to remember your Hollow being bent on violence much more than amorous endeavors; I have the scars to prove it."
Kurosaki opens his mouth to offer some manner of response but his doppelganger breaks free of the loosened hold to push past him and invade Uryuu's space once more.
"Sorry about that, by the way," he smooth-talks with half-lidded eyes and a full-on smirk. "We were in the middle of a war and things got sorta crazy. Y'know what it's like. How's about you forgive 'n forget, yeah? 'Cause I'm lookin' to get on your good side."
Since he doesn't know how to react to that, Uryuu keeps his mouth shut and pretends it didn't happen. But it seems Kurosaki isn't willing to provide an answer for him, either. Noticing himself under scrutiny, he shrugs and avoids Uryuu's gaze.
"How should I know what this freak is thinking? I can't even sense his stupid spirit pressure well enough to track him. Ask him why he kissed you."
Uryuu makes the mistake of allowing himself to be swallowed up in that golden gaze again. It inspires a brand new kind of apprehension that he never imagined before. One which is accompanied by a subtle series of whispers suggesting the inevitable assault might be something he should anticipate rather than dread. He subconsciously takes a step back, only to discover that he is still right up against the tree.
"Forget it. Now that the crisis is over, I'm going home. I have a lecture to attend in four hours."
"Wait, Ishida, I have one more favor to ask you."
"What is it?" he sighs, feeling bone-weary from the night's events. Uryuu really isn't looking forward to going back to sleep only to have more Hollow-fueled nightmares. Kurosaki licks his lips and almost fidgets. "Spit it out, would you? I'm tired."
"Can we stay at your place tonight?"
He and the Hollow both fall motionless in light of Kurosaki's absurd request, but for very different reasons. Uryuu can feel his blood pressure rising in tandem with the Hollow's delight.
"Absolutely not! Why would you even ask such a thing? I won't be subjected to another second of this madness!"
On that note, he zips away before Kurosaki voices the childish whining Uryuu can see etched on his features. He reaches his doorstep in record time and throws open the door he didn't bother locking earlier. It slams as he is walking into his bedroom and he collapses face-first to the rumpled sheets. Allowing himself a single cathartic groan of relief, he draws the covers up and resolves not to move again until his phone's alarm goes off.
About twenty minutes later, he is on the verge of drifting into blissful oblivion when he hears a barrage of banging on his front door. Kurosaki plus minion can be sensed lurking on the other side. Uryuu curses under his breath and pulls the pillow over his head to muffle the loud calls that follow.
"Come on, Ishida, let us stay for a few days? There's nowhere else we can go. I can't let this heathen anywhere near my family!"
"I resent that, Ichigo."
"I don't give a fuck. It's your fault he won't let us in! Why'd you have to grab him like that?"
"Oh, I think you know."
"Be quiet, both of you!" he throws the pillow aside to bellow. "If you wake my neighbors and get me fined, I'll send you straight to Soul Society!"
"He sounds serious, King. Maybe we should shack up with the big guy instead."
"No way. Chad has the wrong kind of power to keep you in check and you know it. I'm not subjecting Inoue to your wily antics, either. At least Ishida's fast enough to dodge your misguided advances...in theory."
Leaping out of bed to stomp angrily into the living room, he says, "I heard that, Kurosaki! Get off my porch and find someone else to bother. How many times do I have to say 'no'? The next word out of either of you and I'm skipping the warning shot to aim straight for the heart."
Uryuu is about to turn around and crawl beneath his comforter when he watches the Hollow effortlessly phase through the wall and flash him a crooked smile. While Kurosaki observes the absence and reacts noisily outside, his Hollow readies another of those 'misguided advances'. It occurs to him that he should really summon his bow and use it—by the gods, he has every right—but the way the Hollow flicks his tongue along a sharp canine and lifts an arm to herd him against the wall has Uryuu hesitating.
"You strike me as the type who likes to be chased, Uryuu. Lucky for you, I'm the type who enjoys a nice, rousing hunt."
Lips seek his for the second time tonight. True to his word, Uryuu will not be captured so easily again. He tilts his head to deflect the kiss that lands on his cheek instead. Strong fingers dig into his jaw to hold him still for a third attempt. So, Uryuu throws a solid strike laced with reiatsu in a mild imitation of Yoruichi's signature style. It lands with a dull thud that echoes the front door hitting the wall as Kurosaki—back in his mortal body with an overnight bag on his shoulder—kicks it down. The Hollow reels back with a wince.
"Damn it, what did he do this time?"
"Nothing I couldn't handle. What did you do to my door?"
"Nothing I can't fix," he sheepishly mumbles. "I thought he was attacking you again."
"I was," claims the Hollow as he wipes a thin trickle of blood from the corner of his perpetually smirking mouth. "Apparently, the Quincy can hold his own. Helluva a turn-on!"
Taken aback at such inappropriate praise, Uryuu really does materialize his spirit weapon and aims it at Kurosaki's scowling face.
"Both of you get out of my apartment. Now."
"We can't do that, Ishida. You're our only option. What will it take for you to put up with us for a little while?"
"Hmm, I don't know. What could you possibly offer that would make arguing with you and fending off sexual harassment from him for the better part of a week worth the hassle?"
"Damn, when you put it like that..."
"Exactly. If you understand, then go."
"Even so, we have to stay. I need to know someone else is around to help protect bystanders if this lunatic gets wayward notions of grandeur. You're the only one with the perfect abilities to combat a Hollow. You're the only one strong enough, the only one I trust to back me up."
Further protests fall by the wayside at Kurosaki's earnest words. Uryuu finds himself returning the serious gaze and wavering on his reply. Then the Hollow ruins it.
"How heart-warming. But ya know, even though I wanna tap that ass, it won't stop me from spanking it hard if he gets in my way."
Kurosaki's jaw drops and Uryuu blushes with his entire being.
"Will you give it a fucking rest, already? Ishida's not into it, man. Are you saying this shit just to piss him off, or what? If you're going to be like this all the time, maybe we're better off begging Urahara for a room..."
"One of us has to be man enough to say what we're both thinkin'. If you won't do it, I'll hafta pick up the slack and do all the flirtin'. Besides, Uryuu hasn't actually said he ain't into it. All this complainin', that's just a front." Kurosaki looks at Uryuu, who glares at the Hollow, who smiles and waggles his eyebrows as if any of this proves his point. "All right, I'll quit for the night if that makes you feel better. I'll be good so Uryuu won't shut us out in the cold."
To emphasize this, he gives a fake shiver and goes to collapse on the sofa. The Hollow props his feet up and shuts his eyes as though getting ready for a nap. Uryuu doesn't buy it for a second. This leaves him with a reticent Kurosaki, refusing to look directly at Uryuu for some reason.
"To say I'll owe you one doesn't really cover it, huh?"
"Not really, no." Staring at Kurosaki's defeated posture for a long moment, he takes pity and relents. "Shut the door. I'll bring out a couple of spare blankets."
"Eh, seriously?"
"Just for tonight, only because I'm too tired to keep arguing. And if your Hollow tries anything—"
"He won't, I'll make sure of it. Thanks, Ishida."
The shy smile Kurosaki shows him looks nothing like his feral double's confident leer.
