Ichigo stared up at the pitch black sky, wondering how he got here. One minute he was struggling to stay above the water, despite him jumping in himself to rescue another. And the next he was on top of a building.

By the looks of it, it had been bombed into oblivion. He had heard some horror stories from the second world war, but he hadn't seen pictures.

So even if he was dreaming, how did his mind know what to show him. Well he had to be dreaming or else there wouldn't be monsters with white masks lumbering around right?

They didn't seem to have spotted him yet and he wasn't about to risk it either. Instead he just curled up on top of the four story building and watched.

He was a impulsive kid, but he wasn't foolish enough to pick a fight when he didn't have to, with monsters.

He didn't know how long he stayed there, but after a while he saw another person walking up the street. The person seemed scared and was glancing around like he expected an attack or something.

Ichigo was just about to call out to him when he bumped into a monster. Ichigo swallowed his words and just watched with morbid curiosity as the monster grabbed him and devoured him.

He shuddered and felt disgusted. Disgusted with the monster, but more with himself. He had just sat there, and watched a innocent person die because he was too cowardly.

But he was still a little kid, he wanted his mommy. Heck he'd even take his moronic father, if he could get him out of here.

But no matter how long he waited, no one else showed up. Well that is if you ignored the new monster that suddenly appeared. Ichigo had counted them while he was bored and there were dozens of them.

He wouldn't have been able to keep track of them all, but somehow that new one felt familiar. But Ichigo couldn't dwell on it, he was hungry.

It didn't surprise him, he had been sitting here for days. If anything, he should have been starving before. He looked around, but there was nothing edible in sight or even a convenience store.

" What the hell am I going to eat?" grumbled Ichigo out loud

' Why don't you take a nice big bite out off that hollow over there.'

"Who was that!" screamed Ichigo in fright.

His scream was immediately answered by the roar of several monsters who were now lumbering towards him.

Ichigo's eyes widened and started looking for a way off the roof, and a new hiding spot.

Ichigo could hear laughing in his head ' I love this game! But I prefer being the cat rather than the little mouse.'

Ichigo ignored it and just climbed down a drain pipe, and then ran through the alleys in a attempt to lose them. The monsters were too big to walk through them and just demolished the walls on both sides, slowing them down.

Ichigo kept running hoping he'd lost them.

'What ya doing Ichigo! Go back and take a bite out of their masks before they get up!'

" What?" He murmured as he kept on running.

' Tch your pathetic Ichigo, you haven't even realized you've been eaten by a hollow yet!'

" A hollow." repeated Ichigo in confusion, wondering if the voice meant the monsters.

' Yeah those ugly brutes with the white masks. You got eaten by one and your spirit got transferred to it's inner world. If you die here, then your spiritual power gets permanently absorbed into the hollow and you cease to exist.'

"Wait what, but aren't I being chased by one?"

'God you're stupid, those are just a representation of the spirits it's already eaten. They're basically food inside it's stomach waiting to get digested. It can come inside here and do It himself or just let his reiatsu slowly digest them.'

" I'm being eaten." mumbled Ichigo to himself.

' Yeah it's just taking longer because you got a shit load of reiatsu. Though it'll go quicker, if you get eaten by one of those hollow representations.'

Ichigo's eyes widened " What do I do?" He asked the voice despite knowing how insane that sounded.

He could somehow feel it grinning ' Simple, give it a stomach ulcer. Devour every hollow you come across and grow stronger until you can escape or better yet let me do it.'

"Huh what do you mean?"

'Give me control and I'll get us out of here king' the voice said

Ichigo was now seriously wondering if he had a split personality. He had heard some formed during traumatic experiences, so maybe. But why did it call him king?

Nothing made sense, but it seemed his alter ego knew what to do.

"Alright fine, what do i do?"

The raw excitement seemed to burst from deep within him as the voice seemed to take control. He let him, but made sure he could see what he was doing.

It was a weird experience, looking through his own eyes but unable to move his own muscles. It was like he was watching television or dreaming.

He could feel a wicked smirk emerge on his own face without him moving a muscle.

'Ichigo have fun being the horse!'

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Author notes

Just something I whipped up after reading a protector's pride and some other bleach fics. I won't be continuing this because bleach is constant battles and that isn't really my forte. If someone wants to help me write the battle scenes I might reconsider.