A/N: Hello. I will save it all for the end, except one thing.
Disclaimer: If I owned Bleach, you'd all know it.
-"Hello there, king."-
Ichigo shot straight up. Not him. Anything but him. He'd face a thousand arrancar, heck, he'd face the Espada again, every one of them, if it would stop him.
The hollow.
Well, calling him the hollow was wrong. Not just any hollow. His own, personal inner hollow. The darkest part of him that, if he was correct, only Nell, Orihime, Byakuya, the Vizards, and, possibly, Urahara knew of. Luckily for him, they didn't tell anyone or judge him for it – he had no idea why, he was dangerous after all.
After the Winter War, the hollow had retreated, promising to gain strength and overthrow him. And now, two years later, he was back.
"Shit!" Ichigo cursed. He hit his chest with his badge and snagged Kon, putting him in the now empty body. He had to run. He had to leave. He couldn't hurt his family, who were sleeping only rooms away.
"Hey, jerk! Warn me ne…" Kon started to rant, but trailed off at the sight of Ichigo's panicked face. He'd seen worried, annoyed, angry, furious (yes, there was a difference between the two, the latter being much more frightening), sad, bored, and the occasional happy, but panic? That really worried the mod soul. "Kurosaki…"
Ichigo pelted out his window, using shunpo to get as far away from people as possible. He couldn't go to the Vizards – they'd moved and he didn't know where. He had to hope that he would be able to get far enough that he could fight the hollow without any casualties.
He ended up in the middle of nowhere, which suited his needs. He felt the hollow clawing at him, trying to tear his way to the surface. Ichigo willed him back, trying to fight his hollow and losing, badly. It seemed the hollow had made good on his promise, and Ichigo's final thoughts before being sucked into his inner world were, 'I hope that I change enough they won't recognize me. They have to be able to kill me.'
Rukia arrived to Ichigo's bedroom to a strange sight. Ichigo was sitting at his desk, his eyes wide in disbelief, staring unseeingly into the wood before him. A quick check of the reiatsu around her told her it was not Ichigo, but Kon. Why was the mod soul in Ichigo's body? There weren't any hollows. And normally Kon would have assaulted her by now. What was going on?
"Kon?" Rukia asked, her voice wavering slightly.
"Nii-san?" Kon asked quietly.
"What is going on?" Her voice trembled even more, betraying her anxiety.
"Ichigo left in a hurry. He bolted upright, cursed, then left, leaving me here," Kon said mechanically. "The weirdest, and scariest, thing though, was that he looked panicked."
That was enough to set her off. Panicked? Ichigo Kurosaki did not panic. Worried, obsessed, and angered, yes. Panic, no.
Rukia ran out the window, desperately searching for the substitute's reiatsu. She grew even more worried when she couldn't find him. He had the least control of any soul reaper, how could she not find him?
A beeping came from her pocket. Sighing, she took out her soul pager. This was no time for some hollow. She almost dismissed it for the local soul reaper to take care of, but then she saw its strength. It was off the charts – adjucas, maybe vasto lorde. She ran there, using shunpo. The local guy wasn't strong enough to handle it – neither was she, but at least she stood more of a chance than him.
As Rukia drew closer to the hollow on her radar, she noticed something – she could feel Ichigo's reiatsu. The hollow's was swamping it, but it was there.
'Dear God, Ichigo!' she thought as she pushed herself faster. A reiatsu strong enough to swamp Ichigo? That was impossible!
Rukia entered a clearing in the tree's she had entered after she left Karakura – not exactly a clearing, though, more like a section of blasted-down trees. What she saw shocked her.
The hollow was small, human-esque. It was almost pure white, except for red streaks up its arms, legs, and tail. The thing that shocked her most was that Ichigo wasn't there. She definitely felt his reiatsu, so where was he? That's when she saw the shock of long, orange hair coming out of the hollow's head and tattered soul reaper robes that still hung off him.
She let out a small gasp, and the hollow… Ichigo… she didn't know what to make of it. It turned to her, the glowing yellow eyes staring at her with bloodlust.
"Cero," a cold, strange voice said, oddly reminiscent of Ichigo's voice. Rukia jumped, just avoiding the killer ray of red light.
"Ichigo…" she choked. Suddenly, Ichigo's reiatsu flared, and the white body of the hollow started to crack. It crumbled, leaving a panting Ichigo in its wake.
"Ichigo!" she cried out in relief. She couldn't stand to see another person close to her consumed by a hollow.
"Get back!" Ichigo yelled, a frenzied tone to his voice.
"Wha…" Rukia's eyes widened.
"I only have him bound for a moment – damn lucky you forced me to learn a bit of kido," Ichigo panted raggedly. "I can't hold him off much longer – he's become too strong. Kill me how, while you have the chance!"
"Kill you!" Rukia yelled, shocked.
"Yes, kill me now! I can only hold him for a short while longer! If he gets out, I'll end up killing everyone! Kill me now!"
"Ichigo…" she warbled, her eyes welling up with tears.
"Kill me now or I'll do it myself! Only one of us is leaving here, and I don't want it to be me!" he screamed, his voice frenzied. One shaky hand grabbed the hilt of his sword. The hollow reiatsu climbed.
Rukia hadn't realized she'd moved. One moment she was staring at him like he was insane, the next her sword was pointing at his gut.
"Sorry," she whispered, tears dripping down her face. She plunged the sword through.
"Thank… you…" he whispered, smiling lightly. "Don't… blame… yourself…" He slumped forward, his weight pulling her sword out of her shocked hands, and fell to the ground.
Rukia wept as blood spread and covered the ground.
A/N: The inspiration came to me from the weirdest place for this angst oneshot – Franz Ferdinand's Take Me Out (hence the name). It is not a sad, depressing song, though. It's upbeat. I mostly took the inspiration from snippets of the lyrics. Tell me if it sucks, rocks, or is just so-so! Reviews make my sad and pathetic day! At least I'm honest…