Two Halves of a Whole

Chapter 1: Capturing the King!

A.N~ Hi! Black Hearts here! Okay so yes I am starting another chapter story, but I am setting up a due date system I will try my best to follow. This takes place before the Winter War and before Orihime gets kidnapped by Aizen. However in this semi A.U Ichigo didn't go to the Visoreds, because him and his hollow made a pact to work together the first time they met, also his hollow shall go by the name Shiro.

Disclaimer ~ I do not own bleach. All rights go to Tite Kubo

'Strawberry' ~ Thoughts

"Strawberry" ~ Talking

"Strawberry" ~ Shiro Talking

'Strawberry' ~ Shiro Thinking

Ichigo sat up in bed, while stretching the sleep from his tired bones. Yawning he looked at the time, 7:3 a.m. 'Perfect, I woke up just in time to get a shower before school." As he rose out of bed he noticed that Kon had fallen asleep on his desk. Deciding to be nice this one instant. The substitute shinigami picked up the sleeping lion gently and set Kon in his bed. After he made sure Kon wouldn't wake up Ichigo went and took a shower. After he had finished getting cleaned up and dressed, Ichigo grabbed his badge and backpack and headed downstairs to grab some breakfast. His youngest sister Yuzu was there to greet him with a plate of toast with butter and jam on it. " Have a good day at school Ichigo."

Ichigo smiled at his sister and took the plate, " Thanks Yuzu, have a good day as well." After he finished his breakfast Ichigo headed to school. He wouldn't admit it , but the substitute shinigami was actually pretty happy about the peaceful morning he was having. The past couple weeks had been quite busy and Shiro wasn't being talkative, but that could be that the hollow was probably sleeping. As Ichigo reached his school and saw his friends, waving to all, he couldn't help the slight smile that replaced his usual scowl. Today just seemed to be going perfect for him. As the first bell rang for class and everyone headed to their classroom, Ichigo couldn't help but to notice that his friends seemed to be just in a good of a mood as Ichigo was. Despite the threat of the upcoming battle with Aizen looming over their heads, it was nice to have a day to just relax and just try to be normal.

That's how most of the day went. Ichigo had answered all the questions asked to him right, and there hadn't been a single hollow attack so far. His day was going great! He was on his way home when a certain hollow deciding to become chatty, "Hey..King..Aren't ya a bit suspicious that everything is so peaceful?"

Ichigo stopped walking as he contemplated what Shiro said. It had been a really nice relaxed day… Could that mean that something big was to come? Ichigo shook his head and as a playful smirk appeared on his face, "Well look who is being all paranoid. Relax Shiro. We're allowed to have a day to just pretend to be normal at least."

Shiro sighed, "Alright king… I'm just warning ya. Don't let yer guard down. Something is bound ta happen."

Ichigo just shook his head and continued his way home. Though he did listen to Shiro and kept his guard up. The hollow may be at times sinister and playful, but the seriousness in Shiro's voice is what had Ichigo double check that he had his badge. When he got home he accepted the yogurt cup from Yuzu and thanked her for it. He then went up to his room to get his homework done and over with. Kon was awake on his bed and looked at Ichigo with a weird look. Ichigo opted to ignore the stuffed lion and sat at his desk. The lion continued to stare at Ichigo, until the hybrid had enough and snapped at him, "What is it?!"

Kon continued to stare at Ichigo with a confused look, "Did you move me from the desk to your bed?"

Ichigo was expecting Kon to say a variety of things, but that was not one of them. He leaned back in his chair, " Yea it was. The desk didn't look very comfortable so I moved you to the bed."

Kon looked on at Ichigo in shock and horror. The lion pointed an accusing finger at him, " Who are you and what have you done with Ichigo!? The Ichigo I know would never be that kind to me! I mean Rukia would be… But you! No way!"

Ichigo threw his notebook at Kon, "Would you shut up already!" The notebook had hit Kon square in the forehead and knocked the lion unconscious. Ichigo returned to his homework. Within an hour he was able to finish his homework up, because it was only a 25 problem math worksheet. He then spent until dinner time reading a manga he had recently purchased, but had yet been able to read. After dinner he finished it. There were no unexpected visitors coming in through his window, and no random attacks from his father. Shiro had stayed silent since his warning from earlier, but Ichigo had decided that since everything was going so peaceful he'd just worry about it tomorrow. It was a peaceful day and Ichigo went to bed with no late night hollow alerts for once, which he was very glad for. The continous hollow alerts at all times, was really affecting his sleeping schedule. Ichigo was glad that tomorrow he didn't have school so he could sleep in for once.

The Next Day

Ichigo woke up for the first time in what felt like forever fully rested. He got up at out of bed and stretched out. He wasn't sure what he was going to do today. Hopefully it would just be as peaceful as yesterday was. Ichigo looked at the time, 10:46 a.m. His eyes widened. He hadn't slept in that much, since well never. He was surprised his father hadn't tried to wake him up with a foot to the face. Ichigo looked at the manga he read last night. It was a very good series about an organization that went and tried to eliminate monsters, the main character was a teenage boy named Akito Aliato, who was trying to stop werewolves from taking over the world. The next volume had already come out last week and Ichigo decided he would go up to the bookstore to buy it. As he got ready for the day, Shiro's words from yesterday rang in his head and he decided that he would bring his badge just in case hollow's decided to show up.

After he finished getting ready he went downstairs, Yuzu had made a breakfast consisting of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and hashbrowns. So Ichigo sat down and enjoyed breakfast with his family. After he finished his breakfast, and dodged an attack from his father. Ichigo set off towards the bookstore. When he was almost there however, his badge started to go off. Ichigo sighed, ' Really?! The day I actually try to make plans to!' The teen had to stop and think about what he would have to do with his body first, since he didn't have Kon with him. The only option was to hurry home, and hoped he made it there on time. So Ichigo raced home as fast as he could. Luckily, he wasn't the only one who had plans for today. Karin had soccer practice, Yuzu had a cooking class to attend to, and their father was leaving for another one of his conferences. When Ichigo made it home finally he pressed the badge to his chest and as soon as he was in full soul form* he jumped out of the window and headed towards where he felt the hollow's spiritual pressure. He just hoped he wasn't to late. He could feel his friends spiritual energies already where the hollows were.

When Ichigo finally arrived to where the he felt all the spirit energy he froze. These weren't normal hollows. Grimmjow smirked at him from his spot where he held a terrified Rukia by the throat. She was injured pretty bad, and his claws were looming over her neck threatening to slice it open at any wrong move. Ulquiorra was standing above an unconscious Renji with his usual expression. Ichigo couldn't see the rest of his friends, but due to their lower then normal spirit energy he knew they were in similar situations. Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu from his back and held it out in front of him, " Why are you here?"

The two espada just continued to stare at him, Grimmjow's smile widened, as Ichigo felt a heavy spirit pressure show up behind him. He whirled around, and came face to face with none other than Sosuke Aizen. Ichigo glared at the traitor, " What are you doing here?"

Aizen smiled at Ichigo, " I've come here to retrieve a certain someone that intrigues me. However, I thought it'd be best if I showed up in person since this person will be quite difficult for my espada to capture."

Ichigo continued to glare at Aizen as he ran over a mental list of who Aizen might mean. Had he found out about Orihime's healing powers, and come to try and take her? Or was Aizen still after Rukia?

Aizen chuckled as he smiled at Ichigo, " The person I'm talking about is you, Ichigo Kurosaki. Not only are you a human with the power of a shinigami, but you are also a hollow… but perhaps you're even more than just that… You're a very curious being Ichigo Kurosaki."

Ichigo looked at the traitor in shock, 'How'd he know about Shiro?! The only ones who knew about him were Rukia, Byakuya, and Kisuke.'

"It;s because he's probably been watching ya King."

Ichigo jumped, he hadn't expected Shiro to answer him. But the hollow had a point. Aizen could have been watching him. However, Ichigo wasn't about to go with his greatest enemy. He wasn't about to betray his comrades for a person who attempted to kill one of his greatest friends. Ichigo glared at Aizen as he prepared to call forth his bankai, "Good luck with that. Ban-"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Grimmjow called from behind Ichigo. Ichigo turned to face Grimmjow, as the sixth espada continued, "If you summon your bankai, I'll make sure to paint the ground red with your friend's blood." As if to prove a point he slide a claw against her skin causing a small trail of red to appear as Rukia whimpered in fear.

Ichigo stood there in shock. He couldn't fight Aizen and rescue his friends without his bankai, but if he activated it, Grimmjow would kill Rukia. Ichigo felt trapped. He had no idea what he was suppose to do in this situation. His heart began to race as his throat tightened, what was he going to do?

"King! Ya need to get a hold of yerself! Don't let these weaklings get the best of ya!"

Ichigo took a deep breath in and tried to steady his speeding heart. 'You're right. I need to get ahold of myself. I can't let Aizen see his tactics are getting to me.' He turned back towards Aizen and continued to glare at him as he held up his sword.

Aizen continued to smile at Ichigo, "Remember what Grimmjow said. One wrong move and your friends die. Why not just come with me easily Ichigo? We won't hurt your friends. In fact, we'll let them live another day. However..." Aizen's face became dark as the smile disappeared from his face. His spiritual energy became heavy, bordering on suffocating even, "If you choose to refuse this generous offer given to you. I won't hesitate to order my espada to kill all your friends in front of you." The smile returned to his face, but this time it was much more sinister, "Or do I need to use more of your precious people as encouragements for you to accept my offer?"

Ichigo felt his throat tighten up. He knew exactly what Aizen meant by that. Either join him, and his friends and family will live until December, or refuse Aizen and get everyone he loves killed. There had to be a third option! Who knows what would happen to him if he were to join Aizen. Ichigo bit the inside of his cheek to the point he could taste blood. He could always try to surprise attack Grimmjow and hopefully be able to wing it from there. 'Shiro? Any help?'

"Sorry there King, I'm just as lost for what we should do as ya are."

Ichigo cursed under his breath. So attacking Grimmjow was the plan. Ichigo took a deep breath and shoved his fear of how this could turn out to the back of his mind. With practiced ease Ichigo turned around and attempted to flash step behind Grimmjow. However he was stopped when he felt a sharp pain in the side of his abdomen. Ichigo looked down to see the end of a sword through his stomach. He coughed up blood as the sword was ripped out of him, making the wound even worse than it was.

"Did you really think that I wouldn't have predicted that you would have tried something like that Ichigo? You should know I based this encounter completely off how I've observed you've handled other situations like this one. I know what your decision was the second you made it."

Ichigo tried to stop the bleeding by pressing his hand against it as he glared at Aizen. His vision was starting to go blurry from the blood loss, or so Ichigo thought. He tried to shake his head to get rid of the fuzziness. Though he didn't understand, the hybrid had gotten worse wounds than this, bled more than this, and had not felt the effects of blood loss to this extent.

Aizen chuckled, "I knew that you wouldn't come easily from the beginning. Which is how I foresaw me having to use my blade on you. So, I had Szayelaporro make me a drug to put on my sword that will make you lose consciousness."

Ichigo scowled at Aizen as black started to seep into his vision, "You...better leave...my family and friends...alone." With that said, darkness swallowed him up.

Aizen's smiled widened as he watched Ichigo fall, "Well of course. I am a man of my word."

A.N~ I am positive that this is the longest chapter I have ever wrote O.O.

*Okay so I really don't know any other way to describe the process. Soo…

Anyway, please review and tell me your opinions on it please!

Ta Ta for now~