Summary: The Winter War is over and life is returning to normal in the World of the Living. But a mysterious sickness is beginning to affect anyone with Spiritual Pressure, leaving them dangerously ill. And it's not just humans falling victim to the illness, but Hollows and Soul Reapers as well. What does the new transfer student have to do with it?
WARNING! SOME SPOILERS!
Do Hollows Get Sick?
"Hollow! Hollow!"
Ichigo Kurosaki jolted awake at the familiar sound of his Shinigami badge alerting him to the presence of a Hollow. Groaning, he glanced at the clock on his nightstand, the glowing red letters reading that it was 2:35am.
"Aw come off it, again?!" he complained to himself as he rubbed his eyes.
"Hollow! Hollow!"
Groaning again, he snatched up the annoying-sounding thing and pressed it to his chest, beating a hasty exit from his body and jumping out the window to Flash-step over the neighbouring rooftops. With any luck, he hoped, this would be a low-level Hollow that could be defeated quickly. He'd barely gone two blocks when he had to skid to a halt and duck to avoid a swipe from a massive set of claws belonging to a Hollow that looked like a dreadfully mutated hornet. The Hollow let out a terrible howl and took another swipe at him, but the young Substitute ducked again and leaped out of reach onto a neighbouring rooftop. The Hollow turned in his direction and let out a menacing growl.
"Get back here, Soul Reaper!" it snarled, its wings buzzing furiously. Its voice was so warped it was impossible to tell if it was a male or a female.
Ichigo took Zangetsu off his back. "Not on your life, Hollow!"
The Hollow leapt at him but before Ichigo could swing Zangetsu the Hollow seemed to change its mind in mid-air and hit the side of the building with a crash, causing part of the wall to collapse in a billow of dust. Ichigo instinctively leapt to another rooftop before the one he was standing on could fall out from under him, which it did, causing more dust to nearly block his view of the street below. He watched warily as the Hollow dragged itself out of the debris, sending bricks and bits of concrete flying everywhere.
"Damn you Soul Reaper! Where are you!?" it roared, looking around frantically. "Get back here!"
Ichigo took advantage of the Hollow's confusion and jumped down from the rooftop, aiming to land on its back and stab it in the head, but the Hollow turned at the last moment and walloped him in the chest with one of its massive front legs. Ichigo didn't even get the chance to cry out in pain before he slammed into the side of another building, causing his vision to blur as he slid down the wall to land on the sidewalk. He gasped and gave a huge cough as he tried to get air into his lungs, which felt as though they'd been squashed flat.
"D-damn it!" he wheezed, groaning in agony as he tried to regain his feet.
Hearing a growl he looked up to see the blurry outline of the Hollow as it loomed over him, raising a front leg getting ready to whack him again. Staggering back Ichigo raised his sword to block the blow, but before the Hollow could strike there was a sickening crunch and the monster went flying across the street and smashed into another building. Ichigo blinked a few times to try and clear his vision as something tall and brightly coloured swam into view, kneeling in front of him.
"You okay Ichigo?"
"Chad!" Ichigo's eyes widened as he recognised the garish Hawaiian shirt. "What're you doing here?"
"We sensed the Hollow and came to help," Chad answered, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the creature in question didn't sneak up on them. "Uryuu and Orihime are on their way. Can you stand?"
Ichigo's knees shook as he made another attempt to get to his feet but had to sit again as a bout of dizziness washed over him that made him feel like he was going to be sick. He leaned back against what was left of the wall and groaned as he tried to keep from losing last night's dinner.
"Ichigo!"
The injured redhead turned as a fuzzy orange blob came into view and his fogged mind slowly registered that it was Orihime. A fuzzy white blob appeared a second later telling him that Uryuu had arrived as well.
"Are you okay Ichigo? What happened?" Orihime asked worriedly as she knelt beside him.
"Getting his butt kicked, that's what," Uryuu groused before Ichigo could say anything. "Seriously Ichigo, this Hollow's pathetic. You should've killed it by now!"
"Shut up, the stupid Hollow just caught me off-guard," Ichigo bit back as Orihime summoned her Shun-Shun Rika and began to heal his injuries.
"Whatever," the Quincy sniffed. "Stay here so Orihime can heal you, Chad and I will deal with the Hollow."
The words were barely out of his mouth when the Hollow erupted out of the pile of rubble with a furious roar, sending more debris flying in their direction. Orihime summoned her Shun-Shun Rika again and the golden shield protected the four of them as bits of brick and cement showered down around them. The Hollow dragged itself out of the remains of the building and staggered to its feet, shaking its head.
"Damn it!" it screamed, glancing around. "Where are you Soul Reaper?! Come out where I can see you!"
Uryuu frowned, confused. The Hollow was acting very strangely. All four of them were clearly visible under a still-lit street lamp only a dozen or so feet away from the Hollow, how could it not see them? And why was it only after Ichigo? Surely the creature should've sensed that there was more than one person with a high amount of Spirit Energy close by? Uryuu was about to voice this when the Hollow suddenly turned in their direction and charged. Chad was the fastest to react and ran out from behind Orihime's shield to send the monster crashing onto its back with another well-placed punch. The Hollow gave a weak growl and kicked its legs pathetically, but stayed down.
"Nice one Chad!" Orihime cheered as she let the protecting shield fade away.
Uryuu summoned his bow. "Right, now to kill this thing before it gets up."
"Careful Uryuu," Chad warned, knowing the Hollow could easily spring back up and attack.
The Quincy approached the downed Hollow with his bow drawn, ready to release it should the Hollow recover and turn on him. But as he got closer he noticed that the Hollow's breathing was laboured and erratic. The blow from Chad had most likely punctured a lung or broken some ribs, probably both. As he approached the Hollow's head he saw that the Hollow was frothing at the mouth, actually foaming and not drooling, something he'd never seen a Hollow do before. He also noticed that there was some sort of slimy discharge dripping from the eye holes in its mask. He stopped in his tracks as the Hollow turned towards him, rolling onto its side and causing Uryuu to jump back to avoid being flattened by its legs.
"S-Soul Reaper, is that you?" it growled weakly, clearly not seeing him. "P-please... kill me... pain too much..."
Uryuu blinked and lowered his bow, astonished. "What?"
The Hollow made a pitiful noise and coughed, spewing blood onto the asphalt. "P-please... k-kill me..." it repeated. "It hurts... hurts so bad..."
It was only now that Uryuu noticed the Hollow had a strange marking on the side of its neck, a symbol that looked as though it had been burned onto the Hollow's flesh, like a firebrand. It pulsed red and Uryuu sensed a strange energy emanating from it that instantly put him on edge. Was this the source of the Hollow's pain?
"What's that?" Ichigo's voice piped up making Uryuu jump.
"Ichigo! Don't do that!" Uryuu snapped over his shoulder at him, noticing that Chad and Orihime had come over as well. "I could've killed you!"
"Alright, I'm sorry!" Ichigo took a step back from the angry Quincy.
"What's wrong with it?" Orihime asked hesitantly, looking at the Hollow. "The Hollow? Why is it frothing from its mouth? And what's that stuff leaking from its eyes?"
The Hollow gave a low moan. "K-kill me please," it begged. "I d-don't care who does it or how. Just kill me... please..."
"What should we do?" asked Chad.
Ichigo reached for Zangetsu. He'd never heard a Hollow beg for death before but this poor creature was clearly suffering badly and somehow he knew there was nothing they could do for it other than grant its wish.
"We should put it out of its misery," he decided as he took the bindings off Zangetsu's blade. "That's what you want, right Hollow?"
"Yes," the Hollow nodded, its voice now barely a whisper. "M-make it quick...this pain...I can't... bear it anymore..."
"Alright then..." Ichigo said as he approached the Hollow.
The creature lowered its head so that it rested on the asphalt. It looked so pitiful that Ichigo began to feel sorry for it. "T-thank you...Soul Reaper..."
With that, Ichigo drove his sword through the Hollow's head and was nearly blown over as there was a massive, powerful burst of glowing red Spirit Energy that made the others stagger back. After that the Hollow disappeared in a flurry of glowing particles and faded into nothingness.
Ichigo recovered first. "What the hell was that?" he asked no one in particular.
The sound of sirens in the distance put a halt to any further conversation. The four friends knew that if they didn't want to end up being interrogated by the cops about what had gone on here then they had to leave, and in a hurry.
"We'd better go, we can discuss this tomorrow," said Uryuu as he put his bow away. "And we might have to drop in on Urahara and tell him what happened with that Hollow."
"Right," Ichigo nodded. "We can stop in at his shop after school. See you guys tomorrow. And Orihime, thanks for fixing me up."
Orihime's cheeks went very pink. "Oh, it was nothing, Ichigo. See you tomorrow!"
"See you tomorrow," Chad added as Orihime hurried away.
Ichigo waved to him and Uryuu and made a beeline for home. Minutes later the street was swarming with police and fire-fighters, none of whom could figure out what had caused so much damage in the area or from whom, or what, so much blood had come from. Watching unseen from a rooftop far above the street a cloaked figure slowly stood, turned and walked away, disappearing like a ghostly shadow into the pre-dawn darkness.