A/n: I started another chapter for Only my King, then decided that I would finish it later because of this idea I got after watching Hell Verse last saturday… Ichigo is so freaking overpowered in that movie… ok, well he always is overpowered. And I'm listening to a ten minute continuation of hichigo's laugh… However, I'm not writing in his dialect because I'm tired and don't want to do the extra work… when he is talking I will though.
anyway, I own nothing all rights go to Tite Kubo
I'm dying. Came the orange-haired-teen's thoughts. Even after everything, I'm dying. Pathetic king. I told him not to die. And here he goes, just kicking the proverbial bucket, before I get a say in it. Stupid king.
I see his limp form, just laying there on the side of one of the infinite blue towers. The hole in his chest is a kind of bitter irony, one I laugh at darkly. I'm unable to contain the bubbling hysteria that explodes from my lips. And king echoes it with a half hearted chuckle, trying to make light of the situation in spite of his fear and depression.
"I told ya not ta die, baka!" I yelled at him through my crazed, euphoric agony. I knelt by his side. "An' now i 'ave ta be the one ta save ya! Yer pathetic, king. Get up." I nervously eyed the hole, right where king's heart used to be. I briefly wondered if I could use it too my own advantage in this situation. "King. Get. Up. NOW!" He opened his eyes. That was at least something, I guess. He looked at me calmly, yet with a hint of concealed fear. I caught it simply enough, and rolled my eyes at him. He propped himself up on an elbow, suppressing a grimace. "She's callin' yer name, king. Ya mus' have some o' that' resolve left. It's not like ya ta jus' die. Ya don' ever know when ta give up, why are ya doin' it now?" I reached my pale hand down to lift his tanned chin.
His eyes gazed up at me with new found determination. He clenched his fist the way he does when he makes up his mind to protect something.
"That's more like ya, king." I grinned at him.
"Do what you feel is necessary, I'm not in the mood to die either." The younger-looking "Zangetsu" said from atop his pole, cold steel eyes gazed down on us two.
"King…" I began-
"I know." He stated simply.
"I'm not gonna le' us die. Desert yer honor fer now, ya need me an' I'm not gonna take no fer an answer." I Reached my hand forward, resting it calmly on his chest, right next to the gaping hole that graced his flesh. He grimaced.
"What are you going to do to me?" He asked with barely restrained anger, and obvious fearful caution. I laughed, and traced the hole calmly with a white finger. I laughed more as king twitched, then convulsed beneath my touch. "Damn you! Stop it…. Stop… stop this…. please- I… I..." He stopped speaking as a wave of my reiatsu coursed through his entire being.
"She's callin' ya, king. Don' ignore 'er." I knew this was my trump card. Use his feelings against him. The instinct coursing through me to him was overtaking his clarity of thought.
"She's calling me... She's calling me ...Get Up!" He exclaimed as he got up. he leaned forward into the hand I'd placed on his chest. He convulsed, my cooing in his ear was pulling him closer to me. I could feel control shift till it was equal for us both. He had our body, but I had his mind in my hand. The absence of his heart made it so much simpler for me to control his every thought. He merely listened. Listened, and obeyed. Simultaneously we fought the green-eyed espada. I felt his emotions course through me, and mine through him. His conformed to what I wanted them to, and I felt absolute glee overtake me in this moment of control. Simultaneously we shot cero after cero. Our thoughts were one. He could only think what I wanted him to think. Kill. I am his instinct after all, and I had taken his mind for myself. I had him in my grasp.
Finally the winged pest was on the ground beneath us. As much fun as he was to fight, his reactions were lame; he stared at us calmly after I tore off his arm for Kami's sake. But his comment on becoming hollow like, oh if only he knew the full extent of what was going on; of my existence. It amused me to no end that no one realized king had a hollow within him. I cackled to myself in delighted amusement…
Kill him, Ichigo.I sent the mental command to my counter-part, and practically purred when he obediently fired a cero at the defeated figure.. Mangle him, aibou. He instantly began to bring down his sword. Yes, break every particle of his body. Ichigo was stopped mid-swing by something. I mentally cursed at the quincy boy who was blocking the strike, and told Ichigo to continue regardless of Ishida's presence. He attempted only to be blocked once more.
The other boy's comment to Ichigo about him losing his humanity made me chuckle. Until Ichigo froze for a millisecond. Kill. He went back to trying to mutilate the pale espada, but the damn quincy was still so insistent on getting in my way. Kill him, Ichigo. He's in our way. The orange haired boy growled and threw Tensa Zangetsu, and with unmatched precision the sword imbedded itself in the other teen's abdomen. The worthless quincy was thrown back, and a sudden eruption of blood from his wound eclipsed his pale form as it crashed to the ground. I could feel it, the complete control I had in that very moment. Ichigo was right under my thumb, and willingly killing his own friend. So when that Ulquiorra bastard cut off our horn, and caused my control to fade I was pissed. I tried to maintain my hold, but it faded. How the hell was that damn bat-fairy still alive anyway?! Ichigo came to his senses and his mind went into override; in his self disgust and horror, his mind erased memory of his involvement, and of my return to preserve its remaining sanity. I swore I'd get him. Eventually, Ichigo would be mine.
-—-—-
Next time I spoke with my worthless excuse for a king, he was staring forward with that determined glint in his eyes. Before our body hung a chain, blood falling off on drops of dark crimson. It was attatched to Yuzu. I could feel Ichigo's anger, and the effect of the stagnant air of hell was drawing me out to him. Ichigo cried out to me. It was the instinct reaching out to him, my same instinct that lead me forward to greet his anguished form as it lay in a heap amidst cyan towers. I responded to his cries, calling out in returned anger. As I approached, king clung to me desperately. I hated seeing him like this. He looked so weak. I wanted to tear that Kokuto bastard to shreds of reishi so small that even hell wouldn't be able to reform his body.
"King, wha' do ya wan'? Do ya wan' ta protec' her, er kill 'im?" I lifted his face to stare him in the eye, carefully searching his brown eyes, so full of uncharacteristic malice.
"Both. I want both." His voice was low and laced with rage. I allowed my hand to hover around his chest.
"Good, aibou. Ya thin' ya can deal with it this time?" I pressed, making certain it would be different this time. He nodded, determined. I shot the instinct through him, and we stood up as one. Again we fought simultaneously. I felt his every emotion, his every thought. I could feel him growing closer. He was so close, I almost had him. Almost. We fired ceros at Kokuto, and I goaded Ichigo on further, he attacked viciously. We continued the fight, on and on firing ceros while I slowly drew nearer to Ichigo. He subconsciously latched on to my powers, the instinct overriding his other thoughts. He was so close. Just a second more and I would no longer be suppressed. I would be able to reveal my true identity, that I was the true Zangetsu.
With a sudden flash it was gone. The air of Karakura town felt unnaturally light after all that time in hell, it felt almost wrong. My control faded once again. But I could sense what king was going to do. I knew I'd have my chance.
We were back in hell before the end of the week. Inoue was crying when king left. She seemed to be doing that a lot recently, or at least whenever I saw her. This time, Ichigo fought the rage building in him. I could feel it; this new fear of me. It wasn't like before, the fear of me driving him over the edge before he became a vizard. No, he was afraid of his own anger. And he was going to get us both killed over it. Rukia was rotting on the ground before us, and that Kokuto bastard was laughing. In our inner world, king was desperately trying to push me away as I shot my instinct through his body. I watched him squirm and struggle with some annoyance. I looked at him pointedly before he convulsed again, and I had him again. He transformed once more. Again I had him, but this time was different. He was the one that broke it. Broke the connection, I mean. He cut the horn clean off, and the mask and tattoos just faded to dust. A good call actually, because of the of the guardians desire to eat him as revenge for nearly destroying hell. I admit that maybe I had taken it to far with that, but I had to protect my king from that damn sinner with the half burnt face; and I didn't give a shit what the repercussions were. I wanted him safe and happy. Not the week mess of sobbing orangette that clung to my legs a few days ago. Not the dying, hopeless thing that sat in front of me ready to give up because some espada decimated his heart. I wanted my king. I wanted the stubborn, "I will protect you all from anything and not complain about my own problems," and the tightly gripped bankai with his vizard mask formed on his face. And now, he was calling that back out. That stubborn personality of his. It was a relief. I called out to hell, letting it know that king and I were going to protect it from some zealous sinner ready to destroy the whole place for his own freedom. I almost laughed when it granted king its powers. He would never know that it was me that caused it, and that was fine as long as I could talk to him later. He won the battle and went home, Orihime pulled him into a massive bear hug, and I smiled. Stupid king, when will you finally realize that you love her?
King had gotten his ass beat by Aizen. His persistence amused was my king, always the last one to be standing. Even if he lost, he didn't. He'd always get back up
That "old"(Not so old looking now though) man, Juha or whatever, had to find some excuse to get out of teaching king mugetsu. He couldn't do it without me, and he knew it. So he tried to get out of it. It made me laugh a bit, until he realized king wouldn't give up. So he just stabbed his hand through king, and ripped me out from where I'd been protecting his weakened heart since I'd rebuilt it after the fight with Ulquiorra. Ichigo looked in my direction, and flinched a little. He didn't recognize the mask, so I pulled it off and greeted him.
"Yo king. Didn' forget me already, did ya?" I grinned, his reactions never ceased to be amusing. I wasn't happy about this, teaching him mugetsu; but if it meant we'd live, so be it. I let the imposter use me. It only meant that I'd come back first should king regain his powers later. The whole battle was painful for me, I could see kings emotions throughout it all. At the end, I pulled him to the side before he left the world of inverted towers. Juha had already walked away to scheme; he didn't realize that I had stayed with king. I grabbed Ichigo's arm. "If ya don' wan' ta lose yer powers, ya could do it my way ya know. I don' wan' ta lose any more than ya do, an' I don' wan' ya ta be weakened at all, king. Though knowin' ya, ya'll defy logic and recover yer powers again. If ya do, hurry up about it. I don' wanna wait on ya." I smirked at him a little, and he nodded. His now longer hair stirred slightly. It was truly a good look on him; he looked stronger, if a bit depressed. His expression kind of reminded me of Kira, and it made me laugh a bit. "Don' ya dare lose king. I won' be happy with ya if ya do."
"Don't worry, I won't." He flashed a slight smile, confidence and determination evident shone in his murky brown eyes. I gave him a pat on the shoulder, to which he responded with one of his silent vows. He would win. It was a statement, not a hope. It was king, if he said he'd win he would. Even if he had to let me help, he'd win it, against all odds. Thats just what Ichigo always does anyway.
He'd won. Urahara's timing was perfect, but I could feel it. Ichigo had decided to use mugetsu, and my influence was disappearing. I was scared. if I couldn't supply him powers, we could likely get eaten by some small fry hollow. I lost it. I didn't want king to lose his powers. The desire to do whatever i could to stay and protect him overwhelmed all else, and suddenly, the forgotten hogyoku flew from Aizen's chest just as the sealing kido solidified. It hit king strait in his heart. I saw it dissolve into his body, and it came into his soul, aiming right for me. I caught it, and felt my power grow again. My connection with Ichigo strengthened, and his and my power nearly tripled. His sword changed, I had escaped suppression by Juha. King's body passed out from over exertion, but I knew the little princess would care for his body. For now, I had to heal his spirit.
He stumbled when his mental manifestation formed in his inner world. I caught him before he hit the side of the tower.
"I won." He simply smiled at me.
"Good job, king." I let go of the hogyoku. "We're alive. An' that was pretty freakin' badass, Ichigo. I didn' know ya had it in ya." I smirked, and helped him straighten up and stand. He woozed a bit so I kept an arm around his shoulder to support him.
"Urusaiyo, horse." It was his turn to smirk. "I actually did it with out your interference this time."
"Are ya certain of that king?" I held up his new shikai. The jagged edges of its unsuppressed form glinted in the sunlight. I grinned, there hadn't been a sun in here for a long time. The water was gone too.
"What?" He was still able to be shocked, even after everything else he'd seen and been through, by a minor change in style. I laughed at him. He was staring wide eyed at the sword.
"Remember when I told ya tha' I'm zangetsu? I wasn' lyin' king. The "old man" was yer quincy powers. An' he was suppressin' me all along, but ya've finally accepted me so he can't, tha' an' I had a bit o' help." I looked at the small round object at my feet, its blue-ish energy swirling and cloudy looked like the sky above us.
Ichigo flinched again, then nodded. He'd long since learned to expect anything. I smiled and placed an arm on his shoulder.
"So king, ya one tha war. What er ya gonna do now?" I questioned, still beaming lik a maniac.
"Go home and sleep."
"Loser. Ya got ta have somethin' more interestin' ta do."
"I don't know, I just one two minutes ago, let me find out as I go."
"As you wish kingy." I laughed at him, and gave his head a small pat. this were gonna get interesting from here.
A/N: Woo, I'm done. that was fun to write.