A little excerpt I wrote about Ichigo's thoughts on the Lust chapter when he "died".
I own nada.
To Protect
-X-
"Save us Kurosaki!"
I heard her.
I heard her calling out to me. Her voice was shrill, desperate even, as if all hope on her side of the world was gone. In my mind there was only blackness. There was only the darkness that I was residing in, where my mind and my body were floating aimlessly, at least until she called for me again.
"Ichigo!"
My heart started beating, heavy and hard. My fist was closed and I felt... anger, pain, worry... as her voice fell over my ears. Why? Why was I able to hear her? Wasn't she alive, and me dead? Yeah, that's right, Ulquiorra shot a black cero at me... a cero obscuro... and then I died. I died... I died... I died! How could I lose when I still have people to protect... when I have her to protect.
I fought myself to get up, but I couldn't, my body just wouldn't listen to the commands my mind was telling it. My body stood stiff, and I thought of the best possible way to get my body moving. I knew who I was, and I knew my heart knew the same: I was Ichigo Kurosaki, and I lived to save people. I could only think of one thing that would possibly make me move, and as long as I tried with all of my heart, all of my being, I knew that I could go and help her, go and protect her... protecting her was a job that I assigned myself, and I failed... I failed at it...
"Is that so?" said a voice that I hadn't heard since my defeat by Grimmjow.
"Yes," I replied.
"Didn't I tell you that I was going to take over if you showed any form of weakness?" I tried to stand, to retaliate to his accusations, but I couldn't, I didn't.
I heard her again, the incomprehensible sobs that her voice had been reduced to... the fresh wet tears that fell onto my face...
"And I will take over, Ichigo..." Yeah, he will take over, and I will finally be able to protect... finally be able to protect the girl... "I will protect her..." the man said.
No! I yelled inside as he finally took control. This isn't what I wanted! I wanted to protect her, to keep her from fear, but I couldn't... as the reishi flowed out of my unconscious body, I could only watch in horror through the eyes of my hollow-self as the woman I fought to save was reduced to nothing but fear...
"I am sorry Orihime..."
-X-
A/N: Usually I do not like writing short stories that are this short, but when this came to my mind, I me, I knew it had to be short and full of emotion... and I hope I captured that.