Okay! Hey all! This is a one-shot-y thing. Yay!
I had the idea for the first part, then wrote it a few days later, then RECENTLY just was like BAM BAM BAM Thank you man, and got the whole thing done in a couple hours. So here it is, all typed and ready fer readin'. :D
Uh warngings: There's a really random long guitar part (which APPARENTLY shows how inconsequential Shiro thought the list was, in contrast to Ichi's massive lapse of sanity over it), and uh, Ichi's bein a bit o an ass, but c'mon. He's stressed. *Huggles Ichi-plushie*
Oh and uh, I've looked, and I can't find a plot here.... Like, it's gone missing.
The Little List:
Yes, Ichigo was making a list.
That much was easy.
What kind of list was it?
Girls on one side, boys on the other?
Was he listing every one he knew?
That idea in itself was stupid. But the bigger fact was, that HE wasn't on there.
Sure, he didn't have a name, and sure, Zangetsu or Kon weren't on the list either, neither were a handful of other people, but it still pissed him off.
How could he have forgotten HIM?
HE REFUSED TO BE FORGOTTEN!
The hollow sulked momentarily, standing over Ichigo's desk. He could only refer to himself as a hollow or 'he'. He didn't have anything else to go by, but sure as HELL he wasn't going to go unnoticed.
He hunted through the cup holding pens, pencils and markers, along with a red pair of scissors, and took out the biggest marker he could.
A big fat blue one, which he promptly uncapped and took to the paper. He couldn't write his 'name' or 'me'. The big blue pen in contrast to the black pen of Ichigo's writing would stand out, but he needed something bigger. Something better.
He took the pen and drew his hollow mask as big as the paper itself, going back over the lines at least twice, making everything underneath it almost impossible to read.
He leaned back with a satisfied smirk. That ought to teach him to forget me!
Now that THAT was done with, what else was he to do? It was odd feeling. He was a little confused.
He wasn't tired, so he couldn't sleep. He couldn't fight anybody, but cause the only body who knew he EXISTED was sleeping 8 ft. away. He wasn't sure if he was subconsciously trying to be quiet to A, not wake up Ichigo, or B, because it was already quiet. He hoped very much it was B, but he could also see a downside to waking up Ichigo, but NOT because he was scared.
He looked around the room. Not very much was in it. A small bookcase, an odd object, the desk, bed, a 'TV' the weird thing next to the 'TV' etc. Though he did wonder about that weird black object, haphazardly leaning against the other desk.
He squinted at it for a second and tentatively poked it.
The white finger met cool black, and the object moved slightly.
He looked at it closer. The metal wires running from the long part to the big part looked like small coils. He noted the long part was wood, but could not place the other big part. There were 3 knobs on the big part, and a metal thing sticking out, but he could not for the life of him identify any purpose or function. He didn't know what the thing they were on was anyway. He'd never seen any one, Aibou or one of his stupid friends come close to touching it. It hadn't been moved in a while, as he could still clearly see the fingerprint of his against the fine layer of dust.
He slowly picked up the object. It was lighter that expected, but he hadn't expected anything really. One of his fingers slid off one of the metal strings, and he heard a strange sound.
He set the object flat on his lap, and looked at it. There were small metal lines and a few dots across the long part, and more knobs at the top of the long part, but his gold eyes returned to the wires.
He cautiously gave a small flick to one, and a different sound was made.
The sounds were quiet.
He slowly flicked each string one by one, listening to the sounds. They were odd, but not as odd as the object itself.
He studied the dots. He pressed his finger to one and flicked every string again. Nothing happened. He pressed a metal line. Again, nothing happened. He pressed a wire to the metal line, and a different sound was made.
He looked at the object, and towards the bed at Ichigo. Pressing the metal part had made a strange and quite a bit louder reverberating noise. (A/N: I DIDN'T CHOOSE THAT WORD. Andy did. That's why this story has weirder words. Blame him. And uh, sorry about this guitar part being too long. and pointless. and maybe boring.)
He pressed down another string a flicked. Another different sound! He then pressed all five of his fingers across the strings and flicked. MORE SOUNDS! This was fun!
He sat up, crossed the room to flick off the desk lamp, and sat down on the end of Ichigo's bed, object on his lap, and continued. He didn't really need the light. He could see perfectly fine in the dark, AND there was light coming from out side.
He tilted the object on his side, indents seeming to perfectly fit him diagonally, body resting in his lap across his leg, and long part up, making it easier to hold down strings with his fingertips.
He would alternate between hitting one string and all the strings and all combinations, playing his almost silent cacophony through the night. (A/N: Really? Would I really say cacophony? No. Andrew's pretentious. Yeah, TOTALLY googled that. Just had to make sure. And all the synonyms fit him too. Like Grandiose, and pompous, conceited, and MY GOD, the last one fits him like a GLOVE, bombastic. Google it. It's funny.)
Ichigo was not very coherent in the first part of the morning. When he did his feline-like stretch, he had merely thought he hit the end of his bed, not a certain hollow, passed out at the foot of the bed, curled up in a small ball under a small corner of blankets, face-down, warm, cozy, and smiling.(A/B: Everybody all at once now, AWWWWWWW) No, he stretched, got up and yawned. He remembered the list from yesterday, and shuffled over to it.
He picked it up and blinked.
"What the hell!?"
He repeated himself a little louder. "WHAT the HELL?"
He 'marched' straight into his inner world, seething.
"You ruin fucking everything!" He looked around wildly. "Where are you?"
"DAMNIT HOLLOW!" He hollered to the no one that was there.
He searched lamely a few more minutes and came across Zangetsu.
"Zangetsu! Where is that hollow?"
Zangetsu only looked at him and shrugged unconcerned. "Not here. What are you in an uproar about?"
"He ruined my LIST!" He stomped.
"What list?" Ichigo assumed Zangetsu was trying to calm him, but he would NOT be pacified.
"The list I was making of possible -" His voice quieted, and he blushed slightly. This was kind of stupid. He was pacified for a moment.
"?"
Ichigo sighed. "I was... making a list of possible, um,.... uh, romantic entanglements...."
Zangetsu raised an eyebrow.
"He uh, he ruined... it." He said quietly, feebly waving the paper covered in blue.
Zangetsu sighed. "Nope, can't help you. He's not here."
"Well where IS he?" Ichigo was starting to get a bit mad again.
"Outside. Did you not see him?" Ichigo bristled, and returned to his room.
He glanced around, and noticed the lump on the bed.
He marched for the second time that morning, and threw back the blankets. The hollow shifted his leg over his arm a bit more.
There he was. Sleeping all innocent like. WELL, Ichigo had something to say about that.
"Hollow!" No reaction. He jabbed him in the side.
The hollow twitched.
"Hollow!" He palmed the hollow's back. Nothing.
He reached up and pulled the curtains open, but the hollow on his bed only buried his head a little more.
"Hollow!" He was almost starting to whine now. "HEY. You!" He poked him again.
A quiet grumble was heard, but nothing else.
He poked once more. A grumble, louder, and a shrug.
Ichigo then poked three times, hard, in rapid succession.
"Stop." Came the sleepy reply.
Ichigo poked 5 times.
"Knock...FF" came with another shrug. The echoing made it hard to understand, and Ichigo was not deterred.
He this time poked 6 times, and shoved his shoulder.
The hollow now snapped open his eyes and yelled "I SAID KNOCK IT OFF!"
Ichigo took this as more of a snarl, and resumed shouting, missing the slight whimper, but catching the hollow rolling over once again.
"NO WAKE UP!"
"Turn off the light."
"WAKE UP DAMNIT!" He repeated, tugging the curtain closed violently.
The hollow slowly turned, lying on his back, and pulled the blankets over him, but still facing him.
"What?" He was surprisingly not annoyed at the horrible wake-up.
"Tell me, WHAT the FUCK this is about?" Ichigo waved the paper furiously.
"What?"
"THIS!" He shoved the paper in front of the hollows face. "WHAT is THAT?"
The hollow sighed, and yawned. "mmmmm-mask."
"I SEE THAT."
The hollow only looked back.
"What is it DOING, on my LIST?"
The hollow shrunk into the blankets, pulling them up higher. "You forgot."
"I forgot?" Ichigo crossed his arms."If forgot WHAT?"
"Me." He said simply.
"Do you KNOW what the list WAS?" He paused. He hoped this wasn't some bizarre admitting of love. That would be too strange.
"...A list?"
"Yes, it's a list. Do you know WHY I made it? You know why you're not on it? No, I didn't forget you, you would never even fly through my MIND on this list! There is no possible reason for you to be on this list! Why would you think you would possibly be on this list?" Ichigo continued while the hollow looked up at him somberly. This is the first verbal ass-whooping he's ever gotten, and by the mother of GOD, this was a verbal glocking. A verbal mow-down. A massacre. An Armageddon NUKE, and for once he actually felt somewhat afraid of the strawberry. This was very much different than a simple sword battle.
"You've gone ballistic! You're insane! There is NO CONCEIVABLE REASON for YOU to be on my FUCKING LIST!" Ichigo by this point had entered into 'no-turning-back' territory, and all his pent up anger was now being shot at the hollow with a barrage of snipers, tanks, and sawed off shot guns. "I don't like you! I would never like you! I hate you! You don't like me! You hate me! Why would you put your name (A/N: YIKES. 'Name'. Lethal blow right there.) on my list!? You do this shit just to fuck with me? Get a rise out of me? You fuck everything up! GOD I HATE YOU! TH-"
Meanwhile outside, Karin, Yuzu and Isshin were staring in horror at Ichigo's door. No one dared open it.
Ichigo was not slowing down. The hollow just lay there quietly, not ignoring him, but not taking it all in. He hadn't known of an ass whooping like this since, well, since two things. When some spike haired kid with a big gold monster assembled by cards beat some guy with three dragons named 'Kaiba', and some high school girl yell 'sit' to some idiot in red about 20 times who was holding up a rock. He collapsed and was subsequently crushed by said rock. Both on that 'TV' thing. (A/N: Yu-Gi-Oh and Inuyasha. Deal.)
The hollow was getting very tired of the loud yelling. He was getting tired, aside from just waking up. If he could just sleep, ignoring that this happened, he would be fine.
By now Ichigo had progressed from all the reasons he could never be loved plus infinity, to how he couldn't feel love, know what it was, or know anything pleasant at all, for as far as he was concerned the hollow was concentrated EVIL, a special Ichigo-centered kryptonite, and nothing in his life was worse than him.
He then went back to how the hollow made him feel, back to feelings, and the hollow didn't have any, didn't know what they were, etc, etc.
The hollow felt like melding with the mattress, just to be left alone, but was frankly tired of taking all this shit.
He raised his arm and pointed. "I like that thing..."
Ichigo, being as unstable condition as he was, shut right the fuck up.
There was at least a 3 minute silence.
"...What?" Was Ichigo's response.
"...I like that thing." He pointed again.
"...You... you what?"
"I like that thing. The black thing."
"You like the guitar?" The hollow could nearly hear the snap of his king's mind.
He only nodded his head.
Ichigo slumped to the floor.
He was out of steam. Lacking any energy at all. Not to mention he felt a little shitty. Well, okay, a lot of shitty. He might even feel worse than when Rukia went away, and that was pretty fucking bad.
"I'm..." Ichigo started. "I'm sorry."
"..." The hollow looked at him with a look Ichigo couldn't place. "Me too."
"..." Ichigo looked at him like he had just grown fairy wings, danced the macarena, and puked on his pillow. "What?"
"I'm sorry I'm the bane of you're existence, Aibou." Plain and simple. The hollow didn't look sad, just extremely, extremely distant. The exit to a black hole was closer, and that didn't even EXIST.
Great. Now Ichigo felt a lot better. So great he could go and shoot himself, though slitting his wrists would be easier, as he had no way to get a gun, but did not lack completely oversized sword, which NO, was not overcompensating for anything.
He did feel worse than when Rukia left. A lot worse.
The hollow stood up and his feet started to fade,
Ichigo barely managed a choked out "Please don't leave!" before nearly throwing himself at the relatively shocked looking hollow, throwing his arms around his neck, and beginning to cry giant grief-wracked sobs.
The hollow took him into the inner world, where he continued to try.
"I didn't mean a word I said!" He heard between wails. He should know with a weird voice like his own. He's got it down. He's good at deciphering what Ichigo was saying.
He slowly, slowly, slowly, raised his hand to Ichigo's back, who only held on tighter. The hollow rubbed small circles,
He waited patiently with his question. The sobs slowly subsided, both Ichigo and the hollow feeling slightly awkward about their position, but neither really moving.
"Ichigo..." He began. "What was the list for?"
Ichigo leaned up a bit and began to wipe his eyes. "You didn't know. I fucking knew it. I'm sorry."
"What was the list for?" The hollow repeated.
"It was stupid." He took a deep breath. "I just... I just wondered... what it would be like."
"What would be like?"
"What it would be like... to have someone, y'know... not like a friend... but more." He looked down. "Not that I could ever have time or anything, I guess somehow between school, friends, family, and being a shinigami, I got a little lonely..."
"That is stupid."
"..." Ichigo shot him a look, but kind of regretted it.
"I mean, getting lonely." He shrugged.
"..."
"So.... Ultimately...You DID forget about me."
"..." Ichigo's eyes widened dramatically. "What?"
"How can you get lonely with me around?" Ichigo found a small smile on his face. Not the bloodthirsty, I am going to kill you, or the 'aren't I hilarious and witty my stupid king, i'll kill you one day you know', but a shy, happy smile.
Ichigo didn't know how to respond.
"I'll always be here," He tapped the side of Ichigo's head with a black nailed finger, " the bane of your existence." He touched his temple once more, but with lips instead of his hand.
Ichigo blushed. "Should I name you Bane, then?"
"OH gods no. That's a horrible name." He wrinkled his nose.
"Well, what else?" Ichigo thought for a second. "Ogichi?"
The hollow laughed. "Real original."
"C'mon! Help me then! If you don't like Ogichi th-" Ichigo was cut off by a swift kiss. On his mouth.
"I like Ogichi." He smiled as Ichigo blushed again. "You've got school."
Ichigo landed in his body on the floor, cheeks warm, lips still tingling.
Make that landed in his body on the floor in front of his 2 sisters and father.
'Damnit. I hate you Ogichi.' He thought.
"I know, Aibou. I know."
Is this too fluffy? Tell me if there are any errors or there's a HUUUUUUUGE gap cuz I was writing it and wasn't planning on finishing it, and I was really supposed to be asleep, but there was no way in hell andy was going to do anything at all, because this is MY FIC, he just has nothing better to do. Like... Seriously. NOTHING.
I'm pretty sure this has NOOOOOOOOOO fuckin' plot. Seriously.
Q: What's pink and fluffy? A: Pink fluff.
Q: What's blue and fluffy? A: Pink fluff holding it's breath.
Okay! How's that? I got two new story ideas added on the the ones on HERE I have yet to update, and the ones I have yet to FINISH, and upload on here. YAY.
Give a 'thankie' to Andy, for lots of reasons that will go unmentioned. Also give yo'self a pat on the back for readin' through the HELLZA long Guitar part.
SOOOOOOOOO, hang in there. I'll write more on the other ones, I SWEAR. Just hang tight.
THIS IS A ONE SHOT FIC. NO MORE. If you ask for more, or if I were to do it, you'd end up with the shit you have now! Really fuckin' long stories with NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO end in sight.
Okay, so one kinda has an end, as I kinda wrote stuff for an aftermath-y or post my fic-Bleach world? But I dunno.
Comments and stuffs would be coooooooooooooooooooooooooool. Hope you enjoyed it.
