"If I cannot protect them from the wheel, then give me a strong blade, and enough strength...
"To shatter fate..."
"Ichigo-san..."
"Urahara?" The boy pauses in the doorway, about to take off in a flash step, but hesitates. He turns back to the young scientist. "What is it?"
Kisuke presses his lips into a line. Something's strange about this night. The pieces are laid out before him, but he can't find any answer. People disappearing, mysterious deaths, souls unable to maintain their original form... he's missing something and it's staring him right in the face.
Ichigo shifts on his feet. "I should get back to Kensei-san and the squad." His eyes narrow, scanning Kisuke's face closely. "Unless something's up?"
Ichigo would believe Kisuke if he told him. But he also wouldn't stay. He'd want to warn Kensei and the others.
Kisuke sighs and shakes his head. Maybe he needs a reality check. He's been working for a long time without any sleep, after all. No wonder he's out of sorts.
"It's nothing," he says. "Be careful. And tell Muguruma-taichou to be careful too."
Ichigo shrugs. "He probably knows that better than me, but if you say so." He turns away, raising a hand. "See ya."
And maybe Kisuke's going crazy, but he almost runs after him.
"Captain!"
Ichigo barrels through the forest, twigs snapping and bushes rattling in his way. He hardly notices the branches that scratch at his skin and clothing. The trees block out whatever light might come from the moon, and he's barely able to avoid crashing into their trunks in the dark.
"Captain!" he shouts between gasps. "Kensei! Mashiro!"
He hears a scream up ahead which might be from Kensei. But it sounds changed, wrong.
Dread roils in his gut. Something's wrong tonight, he just knows, and he has a sickening feeling that he should know what it is. It's an uncanny feeling, like seeing the events in a nightmare he doesn't consciously remember come true.
The trees thin up ahead. He swings his sword off his back, bursting out from the cover of the forest into a small clearing. He's at their campsite, but…
It's too quiet, and the smell of blood hangs in the air. Those dark lumps lying on the ground—they couldn't be—
Ichigo flashes to one, turns it over. He recognizes the sixth seat, Toudou. His eyes are glassed over and staring, blood spilling sluggishly from a slash across his chest. The campsite is choked with hollow reiatsu, but this is the work of a blade.
Suddenly, Ichigo stiffens, leaping to his feet and whirling around. He brings up an arm to block just as a gauntleted fist slams into it. The sound of snapping bone is unmistakable in the silence.
The blow sends Ichigo tumbling across the ground, jarring his injured arm. He clenches his teeth against the pain, coming to a stop and lying there gasping. He blinks several times to focus his eyes. A hulking figure stands watching him in the dark, red eyes glowing through its mask, white armor covering its fists and feet.
Ichigo stands, hefting his sword in one hand. His eyes wander over its silver hair, the torn captain's haori it wears, the tattoo on its chest. "Kensei-san?"
The figure throws back its head with a roar, and it sounds just like the howl of a hollow. It charges. Ichigo raises his blade, bracing himself against the impact, but Kensei's fist knocks it aside and sending him staggering back. His other fist smashes into Ichigo's ribs.
The breath is driven from him. He's sent flying, crashing into and through a tree before tumbling to a stop on the forest floor. He huddles on the ground, shaking, clutching at his ribs and fighting for breath. He pulls himself up, leaning against the tree behind him. There's blood in his mouth. He hopes it's from biting his cheek instead of life-threatening internal injuries.
A stir in the leaves behind him, and a sound like a high-pitched giggle. Ichigo throws himself forward just before the tree explodes into splinters. He glimpses green hair, a white mask.
The tree tumbles slowly over, its trunk reduced to so many wood chips. Mashiro appears above it and slams a spinning kick into it, and Ichigo flattens himself to the ground as the top of the tree sails over his head and goes crashing into the forest.
Ichigo struggles to stand, a rush of dizziness hitting him and nearly taking his feet out from under him. He sticks his sword into the ground, leaning over its hilt and gasping for breath, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Mashiro," he whispers. A rustle in foliage and an echoing hiss answer him. He follows the sounds and sees her standing above him on a low branch, stock-still and staring at him. Her normally bright eyes are hidden behind the mask.
"Kensei. Mashiro. What happened to you guys?"
Mashiro cocks her head and gives no response. Ichigo straightens up, raising his sword and stepping backward with his eyes on her. His arms shake. Pain racks his entire body, a dull ache that contrasts with the fire of his broken arm and ribs. His head feels like it's full of mud.
Mashiro crouches, then she kicks off the branch and is gone in a blur. When Ichigo next glimpses her, she's right in front of him, kick aimed for his head. He has just a second to think I'm going to die, but her kick hits his sword instead of him with a metallic clang. He doesn't remember bringing his sword up.
The impact jars his arm, pushing him a step back. He shoves Mashiro away with the blade. She vanishes.
He shunpos out of the forest, looking around wildly for her. A foot thuds into the ground behind him. He turns and jerks back as a fist swings through the air in front of him, just missing him. The wind from it blows his hair to one side.
Kensei growls, his head lowered, fists dangling at his side. Ichigo backs away, fingers white-knuckled on his sword.
"Kensei, snap out of it. What are you doing?"
Kensei's fist glows with energy. Ichigo leaps aside and it plows into the ground next to him, blasting a deep meter-wide gouge all the way to the edge of the forest. Kensei's eyes glare at him through a cloud of swirling dust.
He rushes at Ichigo in a blur. Once again, Ichigo feels as if something else is driving his sword. He jams its tip into the ground and braces the flat of it with his right arm and knee. The impact of Kensei's fist nearly rips the hilt out of his hand, a blast of wind tearing at his robes and cracks running through the ground at his feet, but he stands his ground.
Kensei swings another fist and Ichigo catches it on the edge of his blade, pushing him back. Out of nowhere, Mashiro flies at him from the left, one foot extended. His head snaps up in a panic. He has no way to block—
The shock of her kick runs through his arm and his entire left side. He looks up to see her foot caught by his hand. But— no way, his left arm was broken. Now it feels like nothing ever happened. And his hand—
He lets Mashiro go and she hops back with a high-pitched growl, but he's staring down at his hand, its chalk-white skin, the claws tipping his fingers. Grey fur surrounds his wrist, red stripes twining across the back of his arm. He flexes it, feeling no pain. The pain of his ribs and the scratches and scrapes across his body are gone too. He feels great. He feels like he's never been alive until now.
He shakes his head. No, no. What's happening? He reaches a hand to his face and feels more than hears the grate of claws against a mask he finds there.
His breath freezes in his throat. This isn't really happening, is it? This night feels more surreal than ever. It's a dream, a nightmare, but if he falls to it, he'll never wake up again.
Kensei roars and takes another swing at him. Ichigo leaps back. He swings his sword underhanded at Kensei in a short arc. "Getsuga Tenshou," he growls in a voice that doesn't sound like his. A wave of black energy crashes into Kensei and takes him off his feet, engulfing and obscuring him.
Ichigo turns, blade spinning in a horizontal slash at Mashiro, who's leaping at him in midair. She narrowly avoids getting bisected by blocking with the white armor across her forearm. It shatters, his blade biting deep into her arm.
Mashiro screeches. She whirls in midair and kicks Ichigo's sword aside, leaping back and landing on the ground in a crouch several feet away. She holds her arm close to her side. Blood drips from it onto the ground.
Ichigo blinks. Wait, what is he doing? He had struck to kill just then, hadn't he? He hadn't even been thinking about it, but suddenly he's acting like Kensei and Mashiro are just two more enemies to take down.
A low growl from behind him—the sound of a beast. Before he can move, a fist slams into his back and sends him flying.
He smashes through several branches, tumbling across the ground, before skidding to a stop on the damp floor of the forest. He collapses there, gasping weakly. He can barely breathe. Maybe he's just panicked, but he can't feel his legs.
No, get up, get up! He's not gonna die here!
His fingers curl into the ground. Kill them. Kill his enemies, so he can survive. It's so simple… isn't it?
He shakes his head. No. Kensei and Mashiro are his friends. They're important to him, but he can't remember why. All his reasonings are lost in the fog that consumes his thoughts.
His head hurts and he's so tired. It would be easier to give in. Why does he care so much anyway?
He pushes himself off the ground. His wounds are already healing, their pain already a memory. Power floods him, rising to his call and urging him on. It feels so natural, like something he should have always known.
Accept this power and you'll be unstoppable. You'll never have to fear again.
Haven't you always been seeking strength?
Remember why. You swore to kill that man.
You'll have the strength you desire. All you need to do is sacrifice everything you ever were.
"No!" Hiyori shouts, turning around. She immediately has to jump back to avoid a strike from Kensei, which pulverizes the ground at her feet.
She raises her sword, breathing hard, scrapes stinging across her face and body. She knows her last gesture of defiance is pointless. This isn't a hollow before her, despite every impression. This is Kensei. He's someone she knows. How can she live with striking him down? It seems a bit inadequate now, what they teach you at the shinigami academy.
Kensei charges in a burst of speed that takes her breath away, drawing back one fist to swing at her. Her hands clamp onto the hilt of her sword but it seems like such a paltry defense. She can't look—
Kensei's fist clangs off a blade that's not her's. A captain's haori flaps in the air in front of her, a blond-haired man standing between them with his sword raised in a block.
Hiyori gapes. "Shinji?"
Shinji glances back at her. "What's going on? That's... Kensei?"
Kensei stumbles backwards, glowing eyes staring at them. Behind Shinji, Rose, Lisa, and Love drop out of a flash step, running up.
"Shinji!" Love shouts.
"No way!" Rose says. "Is that Kensei?"
Shinji looks past Kensei, at a dark shape crumpled on the ground. In the moonlight, he just glimpses a flash of orange hair. As Kensei charges toward the new arrivals, Shinji flashes to the figure's side.
"Ichigo?"
The figure stirs. It lifts its head and yellow eyes glow out of the darkness, locking onto Shinji. Moonlight gleams off a bone mask.
Shinji stumbles back. "Shit—"
He freezes. He hadn't seen Ichigo get up but he's standing now, one arm raised and claws gleaming at Shinji's throat.
"Ichigo!" Hiyori shouts from the crook of Shinji's arm.
Ichigo's gaze shift to her. His eyes narrow at Shinji, two razor-sharp shards of light gleaming out from his mask. Finally, he lowers his hand and turns away.
"I can't believe it," Hiyori mutters. "He's up like nothing happened. After that hit he took!"
Shinji can get a better look at Ichigo now. He's wearing a skull mask, white with red stripes. His hair hangs past his shoulders, messier than ever. His shihakushou is scuffed and torn, showing white skin and red stripes sprawling over his arms and chest. His feet scuff in the dirt as he walks toward a metallic shape gleaming on the ground. He bends and picks it up—his cleaver zanpakutou. His movements are painfully slow as he straightens up and, when he turns to Shinji, a fragile and lost look in his eyes, he looks like he might actually recognize him.
Ichigo vanishes in a flash step. Halfway across the clearing, his blade crashes against Kensei's fist, blocking his swing at Love. Ichigo growls, feet sliding back in the dust an inch as he pushes against Kensei. Love pivots on the spot, like he's not sure who to point his sword at.
Ichigo's fighting Kensei, his superior officer. He just... defended Love?
"Well?" Hiyori says. Shinji looks down at her in surprise.
"Aren't you gonna back him up?"
Shinji stares at the two masked figures, snarling as they exchange punches and sword blows. "You expect me to get in the middle of that? Without getting torn apart?"
"You gotta do something!" Hiyori snaps. "Ichigo's up against a captain!"
He actually seems to be holding his own quite well, surprisingly enough to Shinji.
Ichigo manages to shove Kensei back with his blade. He flashes aside just as Kensei's fist plows into the ground where he was standing. He's about to charge again when Lisa shouts "Ichigo! Wait!"
Ichigo stares at her. He looks around and his eyes widen, like he's just realized who the people surrounding him are. "No," he says shakily. "You shouldn't be—"
Kensei's fist slams into Ichigo's chest with the snapping sound of ribs. Ichigo lets out a strangled cry, thrown back and skidding along the dusty ground. He collapses, then tries to pick himself up, gasping harshly and clutching at his chest.
"Ichigo!" Lisa cries.
Kensei charges with a roar like an angered bull. Ichigo drags himself up from the ground with his claws, staggering on his feet. He raises his sword and meets him with a wild, echoing scream. Blood flies.
"Throughout all of my research, I have found only one way to surpass a shinigami's natural boundaries. That is hollowfication. But the method is imperfect. I had sought out more and more powerful specimens in the hope that one would survive, but it seems that was pointless as well."
"What? It's working, ain't it?"
"A reasonless beast was not my aim. And the soul stabilization problem still remains. Though it was unexpectedly generous of the Captain-Commander to provide us with so many test subjects all at once."
"I thought your aim was the Ichigo kid."
"That it was. No one sees his importance, least of all himself. Though his hollowfication as well disappoints me."
"Aw, don't say that, Aizen-sama. Give him a bit o' time, maybe a grudge to hold."
"Exactly. Well, shall we? It seems the excitement is just about over."
"Bakudou #99: Kin!"
Black bandages wind around Kensei's arms and flatten him to the ground. For the first time that night, something like silence reigns in the clearing.
Hachigen lets down his arms, huffing for breath. "What's happened here? Why are Kensei and Mashiro…"
"I dunno," Shinji says defeatedly. "I'd hoped you'd know. Isn't there anything you can do with your kidou?"
"I'll see," Hacchi says. "But I've never encountered anything like this. Shinigami turning into hollows—it all just mystifies me."
"Oi, Ichigo," Shinji calls out, turning to him. The boy's slumped on his knees on the forest floor, propped against his sword and breathing shakily. He doesn't respond.
Shinji frowns and steps closer. Ichigo had spoken. He'd almost managed to tell them something. Shinji doesn't know what state his mind might be in, but…
"Ichigo!" he says louder. "Say something. If there's anythin' you know about what happened to you guys, you gotta tell us."
"Shinji," Hiyori groans from the crook of his arm. "Let go of me."
Shinji blinks down at her—he'd forgotten she was there. He flashes up to Ichigo, one arm reaching out to shake his shoulder. "Ichigo, listen!"
Ichigo lunges to his feet faster than Shinji could've imagined, a wild look in his eyes. He lashes out at Shinji's extended hand, claws tearing through his palm and fingers. Shinji jerks back with a hiss, clenching his hand into a weak fist and feeling blood drip down it.
Ichigo stumbles several steps back. "Get away from me." He blinks, and the look in his eyes is replaced by vague puzzlement. "Shinji? What are—"
"Shinji," Hiyori groans, and shit, she sounds bad. She breaks off into a coughing fit that racks her whole body.
Shinji turns back to Hacchi. "Hey, d'ya suppose you could heal Hiyori first?"
In that second of distraction, Hiyori twists out of his arms. Before he can turn around or speak, a sword slashes across his chest. He staggers, his brain jittering to a stop at the sight in front of him. Blood spraying through the air—his own. Hiyori standing in front of him, eyes vacant, a mask forming across her face. She throws back her head and howls.
"No!" Ichigo chokes out, rushing forward from somewhere in Shinji's peripheral vision, one hand reaching out. Hiyori turns to him. Ichigo doesn't even try to defend until the sword impales him through the ribs.
He coughs, staring at Hiyori. His hand grabs Hiyori's arm and rips her sword out of his body, tossing her to the ground. She instantly leaps to her feet with a roar.
Ichigo staggers back, eyes wide and breathing raggedly, one hand over the wound that must've punctured his lung. "No," he croaks. He looks up. "Why are you all still here? You shouldn't be here! It's too dangerous! You have to get far away—"
That's all he manages to get out before the world goes dark.
Shinji can't see. He can't hear anything but his companions screaming in pain around him. "Hey!" he shouts out. "What's going—"
A sword plunges through his back. The cold steel within his body vanishes just as quickly. He falls.
The darkness draws away like a curtain and the man standing in front of him, removing a face mask, sword stained with the blood of his friends, is Tousen Kaname of Ninth Squad.
"Why?" Shinji cries. "Why would you betray your comrades?"
When Aizen steps out of the woods, all the pieces come together.
It might the the least surprising thing that's happened tonight.
Here's a fic I've been planning for a long time. It's going to be quite long. Let's see how far I can get with it.
Please review. Reviews are the best ^^
