Here's my second fanfic for Bleach series. This is a little dramatic and tragic. Enjoy reading.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
She was looking at the monster. Orihime couldn't tell if it was also staring at her because it only had glowing red eyes. She preferred the gold iris than the scary red eyes. The hollow growled but it seemed like it had been saying something. She tried to listen.
"I… protect… I will… protect… her…"
Orihime shed another batch of rich tears as she heard the hollow's words. She had done it again. She became a burden again to Ichigo. She tried so hard to train in Soul Society so she could fight with her friends; so she wouldn't be a burden for them. But now, here's Ichigo. He became a ferocious monster/hollow after she called out for him.
"It was my fault…" she murmured.
The auburn-haired teen stared at Ichigo's new hollow form. No one could even recognize him anymore. He still had his bright orange hair but it was long, as long as hers. His tanned skin was now pale, as pale as Ulquiorra's, but he had those tribal marks. Ichigo was still wearing half of his shinigami uniform. His handsome face was now covered by a hollow mask, very scary hollow mask with the same tribal marks as his shoulders. The mouth had fangs and the distinctive long horns which he used to blast his destructive cero. He possessed the most distinctive attribute of a hollow; the hole. Hollow Ichigo. He had a hole in his chest.
Orihime couldn't do anything but cry. She was scared and desperate. She regretted that her desperation caused something as horrible as this. Her hard days of training were wasted and she was abducted by much stronger Ulquiorra, making her a hostage. She didn't want to be a burden anymore, instead, she wanted to be as helpful as her other comrades. She wanted to fight with them, to win with them and to die with them. But now, here she was, kneeling in front of a monster, trying to recognize the man she loved. She called out for him out of desperation.
Orihime remembered how she cried over his lifeless body, how she called for him and how he turned into this monster who couldn't understand any words. All instinct. The hollow Ichigo used hollow instinct to destroy, to kill and to protect her.
The growls gave her chills. She was now trembling and couldn't speak as big lump in her throat blocked her voice. No. She was just too scared to speak. She was not sure if Ichigo could still recognize her. He already stabbed Uryuu, their comrade. He was stabbed as the quincy tried to stop the monster to finish Ulquiorra. Uryuu was now helplessly sitting while Ichigo's zanpakutou was embedded in his torso.
The healer looked helplessly as Uryuu struggled to move. He was bruised all over from previous fights. The most destructive was his fight with the fourth espada. He managed to stale the espada for a while, for her to heal Ichigo which was impossible because he was dead and he had a different, dark reiatsu.
Orihime was blaming herself to what happened to Ichigo, to everyone. She just shed her tears. Her thoughts were interrupted by the hollow's growl. After listening carefully, she blamed herself more. He was trying to protect her. He came back to life and became a hollow to protect her.
The hollow faced the injured Uryuu and growled his mantra again. "I… will… protect her."
Orihime saw a bright light appearing from Ichigo's horns. Cero. She then realized that the hollow was aiming for the quincy. Since the Hollow Ichigo was fighting using his instinct, it considered Uryuu as a threat. A threat needed to be destroyed as well.
"Kurosaki-kun?"
The cero became bigger and the helpless Uryuu just sat in his place as he couldn't do anything because of his condition. The first attack from the hollow indicated that it didn't recognize anyone, just pure instinct to protect her.
"Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime pleaded but it seemed like the hollow couldn't hear or understand. She had to do something to save Uryuu. She had to. She's the reason why Ichigo became a hollow and the reason why he attacked even Uryuu.
Orihime knew her protective shield wouldn't help much or couldn't compare to Ichigo's powerful cero. She ran towards Uryuu's location. She was planning to 'talk' to the hollow for it to realize that he was still Ichigo. Maybe he could still recognize them, especially her as she was the one he wanted to protect and became like that just to protect her.
"Kurosaki-kun! Stop this now, please!" she once again pleaded. "You don't have to do this! Let's just go home, please!" Orihime cried again. "I'm sorry if I made you like this. I don't want you to be a monster, Kurosaki-kun!"
Orihime was shielding Uryuu with her body. She knew it wasn't enough but maybe, maybe her words reached him and go back to his old self. She couldn't fight him with powers because he's strong no doubt but she still hoped.
"Kurosa-," Orihime was lost in her words as she saw Ichigo fired his cero towards her. But she saw how the monster flinched when it released the condensed power of his cero.
"Inoue-san! Run! Inoue-san!" Uryuu shouted as loud as he could. The cero was meant for him and she wasn't fast enough to dodge it. If he's in good state he could even get Orihime and ran, but his whole body was numb. He couldn't feel his legs but the arm which Ulquiorra broke and the zanpakutou in his torso, he could feel the pain. He tried to get up to reach Orihime and push her or to get her away from the cero's path. The quincy managed to move a little. To make the situation worse, Ichigo's zanpakutou was not only stabbed him, it was also nailed in the rock he was leaning on. "Shit!" he hissed.
"Santen Kesshun, I reject!" Orihime summoned her shield.
Uryuu's effort was futile. The bright light of power already reached Orihime before he even raised his leg. He had enough energy to shout again. "Kurosaki! Stop it! That's Inoue!"
The hollow stepped his leg forward then stopped. Uryuu saw how Orihime used her shield to protect herself and him. Her protection shattered in an instant as it collided with Ichigo's cero. The force threw the healer meters away from her first position and roughly landed and rolled few meters more before a rock halted her body.
"Inoue-san! Inoue-san!" Uryuu called out. He tried to stand up again but stopped as another bright appeared between Ichigo's horns, aiming him again. He's breathing stopped as he felt hopeless. The monster was able to hit Orihime even though he growled to protect her but the hollow's instinct drove him not to recognize anyone, even the person he vowed to protect.
Before Ichigo released the cero, Ulquiorra appeared from his back and slashed the horns making the cero blast in his own face. A big explosion followed and Uryuu couldn't see anything but a cloud of dust and crumbling rocks. After few seconds, he saw Ichigo's silhouette from the cloud of dust; he still had his long hair but he seemed to possess a single horn, maybe because of the blast. As the location cleared, Uryuu was able to see half of Ichigo's face, real face, as half of the hollow mask was destroyed from the blast.
Uryuu looked at Orihime's direction. She was lying meters away from her and he had to adjust his lenses to confirm her state. No one will survive that attack but he was hopeful since she was able to summon her shield before it totally hit her, though it was still not enough. He feared for her dear life. She was motionless and her white gown was ripped off but had enough to cover her. He couldn't tell if she was still breathing because of the distance.
A loud thud made Uryuu looked at Ichigo's location. The substitute shinigami was now in the ground, prone position. He could see that the half-mask was no longer in his face and his long orange lock was blown away by the strong wind. In an instant, he was Ichigo Kurosaki again; the traces of the ferocious monster/hollow that ripped Ulquiorra apart, stabbed him, and harmed Orihime were no longer visible. He noticed that the there was still a hole in his chest.
'Is he dead? What now?'Uryuu thought.
He was interrupted when the fourth espada appeared beside him and pulled the zanpakotou from his torso. The quincy created a groan sound as he felt the sword passed his body. Ulquiorra walked towards Ichigo's laying form. Uryuu forved himself to move slowly to go to Orihime. He needed to check on her.
The several meters journey to Orihime was painful but he was determined to attend her. He turned her head and looked at the direction of the two powerful beings; Ulquiorra was looking intently at motionless body of Ichigo. He continued his way to the healer.
As Uryuu reached Orihime, he could tell that her skin was still hot, because of the blast. He leaned on a rock to rest himself for a bit because he was losing blood. He huffed heavily and his breathing was painful. He managed to get the medicine in his pocket to at least lessen the pain and stopped the bleeding. He had enough for him and for Orihime. He checked again the two but he was surprised to see something coming out from Ichigo's back, specifically from the hole. It was dark reiatsu, he could feel it and even Ulquiorra made few steps backwards.
After a while, Ichigo was now kneeling and checking his chest. Uryuu couldn't hear what he had said or what Ulqiiourra said as he saw the shinigami ran to him and Orihime's location.
"How is she?" he asked as he reached them. "W-What happened?"
Ichigo's question made Uryuu noticed that he had no memories or idea what caused Orihime to be on her current state. "S-She's fine. I gave her medicine. She was just exhausted," he assured the orange-hair punk but he lied. Uryuu knew well that Orihime was already dead. He checked it twice, or thrice, but she no longer had pulse, no heartbeat, not breathing anymore. "You n-need to settle it now with Ulquiorra. I-I'll take care of her."
"How about you? W-What happened to you? Are you okay?"
"I-I'm quite okay. I'll tell you everything laterl. Just settle your fight," Uryuu dismissed the confused Ichigo.
The substitute was hesitant to leave his two comrades especially when he saw Orihime laying there motionless. But Uryuu was right, he had to settle this. "I'll be back."
Uryuu just looked at the back of his comrade then looked at his dead friend. She was pale, had a lot bruises and dead. Who could've survived that blast? Even the strong fourth espada's body was shattered as it received a cero point blank. The quincy clenched his fist. They were bound to protect her but they failed. He felt bad for Ichigo. The shinigami didn't only fail to protect Orihime again, but he was the one who harmed her. He had to lie to Ichigo. He would find out soon but he still had to settle the fight with Ulquiorra.
Uryuu now needed to face Ichigo in few minutes as he saw Ulquiorra's body turned into ashes. Their fight reached its conclusion.
To be continued...