A/N: Okay so its like 4:51 am and I can't get this story out of my head so I might as well right it down. I have not actually been updated on Bleach lately. I stopped watching after the Ichigo-Aizen fight. So no spoilers please. Remember this is a fanfiction so it will not go straight on the anime. Please leave comments. Also remember that if you're a guest I will not keep the comment, no matter if it is good or bad. I will thank all comments in the next chapter if I should chose there be one. Thank you guys.
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, sadly.
Blood dripped from his mouth, the poor innocent victim still hung in his mouth. He had lost all since of control. He had become the beast he so feared. The energy he gave off was crushing others who could not withstand it. So many were dying, but at the moment he didn't care. He couldn't care. He wasn't there. At this moment he had lost his mind. Ichigo Kurosaki was no longer there, what was in front of them all was a beast.
"Ichigo! Please!" Rukia shrieked, she was horrified. She looked around the sand dooms at all the victims. So many bodies laid cold on the ground. Her elder brother being one of them. Her heart broke when she watched Renji's body fall from Ichigo's mouth. This beast…this hallow, it had taken over once more. Death and decay were all that laid in wake. The beast turned to Rukia and saw her pleading eyes. Ichigo began to awake and tried to control the beast, but it was too powerful. He watched as it approtched her. He screamed for her to run, but all that came out was the awful rawer. Faster than lighting he grabbed her and pulled her body into pieces. 'No!' He cried. In his mind he cried painful tears. Why had this happened? What had this trigger been?
'Fun, isn't it King.' The black and white version of himself said somewhere in the depths of his mind. All Ichigo could do was hit the wall of his mind with his fist and cried in deep sorrow. Byakuya, Rukia , Renji, and Ishida he could see clearly. Their bodies dismembered beyond all recognition. He had done that, but what had been the start of it all? He turned to find Orihime's open throat in the hands of a man with a most distasteful grin on his face. Ichigo's rage flew in different directions and the beast charged him again. Orihime! It had been that…it was her being…gone. His, friend. She was so innocent. Why her? He charged at him, the man. He had never seen this man before. Not once. He remembered all the men and women he had fought and never once did he encounter this man. But his face was burned in Ichigo's memory now. The beast attacked and….
Ichgio woke up, sweat falling off him. His eyes opened wide in fear. He looked around the room to make sure it had all been a dream. He got up and opened his closet door to see if Rukia was still there. She, as usual, was curled up asleep there. For once he was thankful. These dreams about the beast inside of him were getting worse. He didn't want to be alone, and there wasn't enough room in the closet. He was thankful Rukia was a heavy sleeper. He picked her up and put her in his bed and climbed in beside her, making sure she was on the outside. So if she asked, in the morning, he would pretend to freak out and say that she must have been sleep walking or something. The truth was, Rukia was always right there to calm his fears. In the middle of battle, at night with a nightmare, in school, it didn't matter she was always right there and she had always been that person for him. He watched her chest rise and fall. He was glad to find air going in and out of her lungs. He was thankful to feel her skin moving. To feel her heart beating, kind of. The Souls, of the Soul Society were kind of different when it came to being "alive". Ichigo sometimes wondered if he was a freak for falling for someone who was for, all intensive purposes, dead. Then again half the time he was too. He decide not to worry about that right now. His mind went back to that dream and he was afraid to close his eyes because the beast was always there. He knew that now that beast was a part of him and would always be. That did not mean he had to like it. Everyone had their demons, he just had not quite learned how to control them yet. He had gained better control of them lately, but it didn't really matter if it had gotten better. That one slip up could mean the end to everything as he knew it. He was dangerous. He knew that. Which is why he kept himself at bay with his feelings, he wanted to protect those around them not hurt them. God help someone if he actually became exclusive with Rukia and then someone took her away from him. It would be bad now, but then it would just be worse. It was like that for anyone he cared about but Rukia was different, and the fact that he had split her into pieces in his dream scared him. He didn't want to be capable of that kind of thing. When he had told Rukia about these reoccurring dreams she had looked at him in serious thought.
"Everyone had their demons Ichgio. Look at the human raise as a whole. Murders, child molesters, rapist, they are all demons inside of people. Most people try to keep them at bay others can't. We should always try to fight those things, but everyone has something. Hollowfication is just one of yours. You have a demon you must control."
Why was she so understanding? Why did she know what to say? Sure a lot of times his not thinking got him smacked by her but usually he could understand why after.
He wrapped his arms around her for a small second. "I love you." He said in a hushed whisper in her ear. Sometimes he truly wished that she would wake up and hear that, but she never did, as far as he knew. He could never tell that to her, with her looking at him. He still had too many demons. He couldn't protect her from himself yet, but the day he could…he hoped to have her to himself.
She was in fact awake sometimes. She always woke up when he picked her up and took her to his bed. In the morning she knew they would fight about if she had slept walked or not, and would let him win. For some reason he didn't want her to know how he felt. She wanted him to tell her face to face, and then she could accept his feelings. She couldn't until that day. She begged for it to come. He was her hero. He was her protector. He was kind, and sweet, and loyal, and honorable. He was really everything that she had ever wanted. She didn't understand why her brother had such a problem with him, they were exactly the same.
She listened as he said I love you and felt the warmth of his arms around her. She smiled. 'I wish he would say it out loud.' He had, had another nightmare she knew. She didn't mind being there to comfort him even if she wasn't really saying anything. She would wait until he was ready to come clean but sometimes she just couldn't understand why. Was it because at some point Orihime had, had feelings for him and then left when he realized it was ready to give it a go? Sure they had to staid friends, but it had not been easy. The group had not been easy. When Ichigo had seen Ishida and Orihime together she watched the fire light up in his eyes. As time went a long the fire died, but still…she wondered if he was afraid. It was understandable. She wanted to know though.
She turned on her left side. He took it as her moving in her sleep. He turned to his right. His back to hers. They would sleep like this until morning. Neither of them realizing how the other felt.
'I have to protect her from myself.'
'Why won't he tell me how he feels?'