Cool winds rustled the dripping trees around the chaotic scene. Blood seeped through the open wounds on Ichigo Kurosaki's body and into the damp grass. Throbbing limbs made it difficult to struggle against the pressure pushing him down. A large clawed hand was crushing him, nearly causing his airway to snap.
The weight of the hollow's hand loosened for a split second to get Ichigo in its grasp. It moved him closer and closer. As Ichigo tried to pry open the hand he could feel his strength quickly leaving him, becoming left for dead to be consumed by the hollow.
The nightmare in front of him soon appeared to be a complete reality. His sight became blurry with his last attempt to break free. It was all over.
Suddenly, the grip of the hand began to let up. Warm blood from the monster's arm splashed against Ichigo's face. He looked down closely at the arm only to see that it had become separated from the shoulder. But from the way the injury was sustained made only a sword could have inflicted that kind of damage. From the corner of his eye, Ichigo caught a glimpse of Rukia Kuchiki.
Once the arm was about to hit the ground, Ichigo managed to stumble to his feet. But as soon he got to his feet he could also feel himself becoming dizzy. Ichigo fell to his knees. Rukia rushed over to his side immediately, for cleansing the hollow's soul was important but for now she had to help Ichigo.
She helped the weak and on the verge of passing out Ichigo back to Urahara's shop. His physical body was still there from training with Kisuke, so once they got there Kisuke could patch him up and Ichigo could easily recover in his regular body.
Kisuke bandaged up Ichigo's injuries and sent them back to Ichigo's house. Though fefore they left while Ichigo wasn't listening, Kisuke had told Rukia to keep a close eye on Ichigo and make sure he got enough rest. She nodded, shutting the door behind her and seeing Kisuke fixing his hat so it was partly shadowing his face for some strange reason.
Ichigo stared out the fog infested window beside the bed he was lying on. A whirl of pain filled him with every breath. His eyes were lost in a trance, not just about what had happened in the battle earlier but of also being lost in thought by a dark presence that rumbled beneath his skin.
An evil feeling that was becoming to overpowering even for Ichigo to handle. It would come around every time he would least expect it to and engorge him in fear. And every time its efforts had not failed. When Ichigo was able to almost fall asleep, the voice within him would haunt him into late hours of the night, making him almost go insane.
After a short while, it all stopped and Ichigo was able to slip into a deep sleep. But even with that he could allow himself to relax. Nightmares instead of night fulfilling dreams would encase his mind. Like the battle from before, he was fighting a hollow. The terrifying fight kept his mind rushing throughout the night as he fought to stay alive against hollows that seemed almost unbeatable.
His tries soon proved to be futile though. The hollow had him cornered, ready to devour his soul.
Then, as the monster came in for the kill, Ichigo jolted up from his sleep. The nightmare was over, but sleep ceased to come over him for the rest of the night. For a short moment after that, what only he could see was his skin fading to deadly white more and more as the days went by.
The agony encircled his entire being, constantly reminding him of the dark power that existed side at the core of soul, waiting to consume him. As the white spread it left behind a dreadful feeling of what felt like something stabbing into him.
Days went by, but the nightmares continued. They were so painful. The very thought of going back to sleep was completely dreading for Ichigo to go through. The lack of sleep was exhausting him. Every night the same dream would infest into his mind and allow his weak body to become even more broken and beaten than the night before. With every minute, even during the day the nigthmare was become worse.
Three weeks had finally gone by since Ichigo's failed battle against the hollow. Nothing had changed though, except how they only became worse. The wounds on his body had gotten far more painful than before. But most of all, the more he lost in the dreams, the more the monster within him would taunt him about how close into its grasp and how weak he was.
Finally, the agonizing torture started to die down one rainy night. Ichigo drifted off to sleep.
The fuzziness in his eyes faded as he opened them to the horrifying sight that stood no more than a few meters in front of him.
"Hey, long time no see, Ichigo." A silky, deadly voice spoke its way out from the being's mouth. There in front of him in the center of his inner world stood the hollowfied reflection of Ichigo, Shirosaki, with piercing black eyes and yellow irises, white shihakusho instead of Ichigo's black one. A blue tongue slithered over the reflection's lips in the malice of a killer instinct.
Ichigo tried to speak. He was about to shudder out words of fear, but then, his albino version jumped at him, the white Zangetsu it wielded gripped firmly in his hand. Ichigo reached for his black version of Zangetsu that should have been on his back. Then he realized it wasn't there. Ichigo looked behind him only to see the black Zangetsu several feet away from him.
His eyes widened, Ichigo turned and saw Shirosaki getting closer. There was no way he could dodge the hollow's attack in enough time to rushed over and grab Zangetsu while still having to counter the attack at the same time.
But it was his only option. Ichigo pivited and ran to the sword. Suddenly, something slashed his back just as he was about to reach for the hilt. He looked slightly behind himself. Shirosaki was almost right behind him, his white Zangetsu dripping with Ichigo's blood.
Ichigo couldn't move, he felt himself being frozen in helplessness. His inner self's sword became covered in vast amounts of reiatsu to rip through him once again.
Luckily, Ichigo managed to escape the attack by flash-stepping backwards with his Zangetsu and only a small opening in his shoulder the Getsuga had inflicted.
He extended the space between him and Shirosaki even farther before stopping, breathing heavily. In a weak attempt, Ichigo took the arm that was holding Zangetsu and stretched it out.
But as he looked up, Ichigo could see Shirosaki in the exact position as him. He knew it, too?
"Ban-"
"Kai!"
A burst of spiritual energy exploded throughout the inner world. In a few moments the smoke cleared away. Ichigo appeared from the cloud of dust, now in a tight fitting shihakusho with white edging and instead of the large black cleaver he would usually carry it was replaced with an average black sword. Though it was plain the reiatsu it gave off was amazing. This was Tensa Zangetsu.
At the same time, Shirosaki appeared in his own form of bankai. A white tight fitting shihakusho with black edging and instead of the large white cleaver he would carry it had now become a regular white katana.
The two opponents wasted no time and immediately flash-stepped at god-like speed at each other, their swords shrieking as they pushed harder onto the blades. Several shades of crimson sparks flew through the air as the grip on the swords loosened and the two took a leap back from each other.
Once back on the surface of the sideways building, Ichigo felt the weakness in his bones taking over. He took stance to attack again. Something seemed off for a second as he looked up, his vision starting fall.
When the fogginess cleared away, Ichigo realized that Shirosaki wasn't in front of him anymore. A large wave of spiritual pressure appeared behind him. Ichigo spun around to block the attack. Shirosaki broke his sword free from Ichigo's and slashed it at him. Ichigo's eyes widened and he jumped back, able to keep the other blade from slipping right through him.
But then, Shirosaki had flash-stepped through midair and above Ichigo, ready to strike. At that moment both the black and white Tensa Zangetsu clashed. Heavy force of black energy gathered on the white blade. "Getsuga Tenshou."
The crash of the attack hitting him caused Ichigo to be sent flying backwards into a nearby building. His blood splashed through the now open gashes shown through the tattered areas in his shihakusho on his chest. The smoke around him made it difficult to see anything that was nearby.
All of a sudden, a cold white hand grabbed his head and slammed into another building. The crumbling ruble hit his skin like a knife cutting through his back and had him bounce off and fall to the ground. Ichigo used whatever energy he could gather up to stop himself from dropping to the ground. A foot then struck him near his stomach, causing Ichigo to cough up blood and be tossed a few more meters away.
A cry of pain struggled to curdle its way up Ichigo's throat. When he glared up, he saw Shirosaki standing where he had just been a few moments ago, with the same mocking grin that rarely left his face. Shirosaki gradually made his way over to Ichigo, after all it wasn't like Ichigo could just run away with the wombs he had now.
Ichigo felt a crazed feeling yelling at him to move. He gripped his sword tigthtly. A trail of blood formed behind him as his footsteps raced franticly to attack Shirosaki. But before Ichigo could even swing his sword, Shirosaki grabbed the blade with his bare hand.
His grip on the blade increased roughly. "Just don't know when 'ta give up, do ya?" Shirosaki's foot once again stuck Ichigo's gut. Ichigo was whammed down to the floor, blood chunks being gagged up his throat. He could feel something crack as he smashed into the ground.
His sliding sight allowed the world around him to seem like it was spinning. But all Ichigo really knew at that moment was how painful this felt. The agony rumbling up in him hissed. He felt tired and weak and utterly exhausted. But he couldn't lose now. It was either do or die at this point. If he could at least grab Tensa Zangetsu, get up, and successfully attack Shirosaki, he might have a high chance of winning.
Ichigo used his arms to drag himself back to his sword, but then a familiar foot hit into him and prevented him from moving any further. As he looked up, Ichigo's brown eyes became trapped within the look of the frightening gold irises of Shirosaki, rendering him unable to move.
"Had enough…Ichigo?" The foot pressed harder into his abdomen. A feeling of sickness came over Ichigo as he felt something rise up his throat. Shirosaki knelt down beside Ichigo, still keeping his foot implanted in Ichigo's stomach. The blade of the white Tensa Zangetsu slid across Ichigo's neck.
"What if I slit yer throat right here and now, how would Zangetsu take that?" The sword nicked pieces of skin from the throat. Drops of crimson trickled their way down to the ground. "Well like I told you before, I am Zangetsu."
The sword became dangerously close to Ichigo's neck. Ichigo waited for the pain, to have his head cripplingly ripped from his shoulders. He was about to give up, then everything stopped. A slight chuckle came from Shirosaki's lips.
"So that's all it takes, huh? Just a little threat to slice yer throat and ya start sulkin' 'bout it? Pathetic." Ichigo grit his teeth as the tip of the blade was dragged across his neck and scratched at the veins that happened to be close to the top.
This was endless. Ichigo wished that everything around him would just shatter and disappeared. He wanted this to be done with. That never ending torture that was split between the pain spreading throughout him and the fact that he couldn't do anything about it put him through complete agony.
"Guess this is it for you now?"
His eyes rolled up one more time through the darkness entering them and shot a hateful scowl at Shirosaki. Brown eyes began to fade into a lifeless dun. Shirosaki's lips whispered something into Ichigo's ear in a vanishing voice that made him feel his last amount of rage.
"Are ya just gonna lie there like that? If you do what's gonna happen when I kill the them?"
He was right; there was nothing Ichigo could do. Ichigo was going to dying. Those he loved would be slathered seeing what he really was, a monster. Ichigo growled out in fury and yelled with this last breath of anger, "I… won't… let you!"
Shirosaki burst into a cringing laughter. His eyes widened in insanity. "What cha gonna do now? Stab me with that blade ya don't even have anymore? I'll let you watch though…as I tear her heart in two!" The blood stained blade brushed against Ichigo's skin tauntingly.
The blade was dug a little more than a centimeter into Ichigo's neck. Blackish white flames gathered on the top of the sword and slowly traveled down. The smirk on Shirosaki's face widened mockingly. "Catch ya later, horse."
With those final words, Shirosak'si blade ended Ichigo for all eternity. Blood exploded from the wombs that were delivered from the white blade as it moved down Ichigo's chest. The Getsuga tore through from Ichigo's throat all the way day down to the bottom of his ribcage.
Ichigo's lungs ripped open with blood spilling in vast amounts into them. He tried to gasp for air but his trachea had already become crushed from the Getsuga. Air was leaving him too rapidly for him to even be able to take his last breaths. There was one last thing he heard before having his life taken.
"The king falls. Heh, I knew you were useless, Ichigo, but I'd didn't think it'd be this easy to trample ya. But I guess they'll all find out sooner or later how pathetic you really are. It's my turn now."
Ichigo's eyes shot open from his sleep. Now as he stood up though, his physical form shattered and disappeared, revealing a new Ichigo. Shirosaki was now in complete control. What was once Ichigo now had white skin and shihakusho and hair. Yellow irises glanced in the direction of the window where he headed towards.
"Ichigo…" the voice of Rukia popped in from the other side of the room. Shirosaki turned around to her. Rukia's eyes filled with fear. But before she could do anything else, Shirosaki's hand slit right through the center of her chest. Her dying corpse fell to the ground as he pulled his hand from her.
Shirosaki left the motionless and blood flowing Rukia left to die and walked over to the closed window in Ichigo's room. His fist broke the glass into several pieces. Just before Shirosaki jumped out the window he looked back at Rukia for a slight moment. He smirked at the sight.
What would Ichigo do if he saw this? Well there was nothing he could possibly do now. That pathetic excuse for a Shinigami had failed. The softness in his heart is was dragged him down past the line of ever having the instinct to tear apart an opponent. His heart is what got the better of him, and there was no way for him to make up for it.
Like the moon in the sky that cloudy night, while hidden amongst the dark shadows of watery puffs that erased any source light, the moon would always find its way through the darkest cracks. But it has to disappear at some point or another.
Light fades and hope is lost. Everything ends when a cruel thing called fate tells it to. It was all over, not only for Ichigo, but for all of the people and things he held dear.
"Raise him well, Zangetsu. Make him strong. All that power is going to be mine, eventually." Those were the last words Shirosaki said before leaving after the first time Ichigo had seen him. That power was now all his. To crush, to destroy, anything he wanted to release that power at would no longer be interrupted by Ichigo's worthless attempts to regain control. Slaughtering of flesh and blood, wails of terror screaming for mercy, it would all begin soon. And no matter how much or hard they begged… Ichigo would never come back to save them.
Everything Falls.
End.
So, how was it? This is my first one shot and writing it was actually pretty exciting. Truth be told it was suppost to be released on Halloween but I never got to post it. So I just decided that it would make a great story celebrating my 1 year anniversary on FanFiction.
If you want to know I actually first got the idea to do this after I began watching the Fatal Frame 3 walkthrough (I do not have the game or a play station so I just watch the walkthroughs). For all IchiRuki fans and Ichigo fan girls, please don't hurt me, to tell you the truth this is the closest thing I will ever, ever get to doing pairings, and yes I intended to make Ichigo lose, the ideas of how Shirosaki would really kill him make me excited think about. Now I understand why my friends say I'm insane, but whatever I am who I am. Don't judge me!
Yes I have an over obsession with character torture but that's because in my eyes it's probably the best the world. I have nothing else to say. If you liked it, awesome, please post your comments. If you didn't just post your complaints- I mean suggestions over how I can make my stories better. Either way I just want reviews. Bye.