A/N: Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo and TV Tokyo, and I have nothing witty else to say.
Rain, like other things that happened in Ichigo's inner world, was controlled by his emotions. His anger brought a sense of control and discipline, meaning the world went entirely white, while happiness made the sun shine as bright as possible. Sadness then, concluded Shirosaki, who was trying to shield himself from the downpour, caused a storm. It had been raining day in and day out for about a month, and with nowhere to avoid the rain in the sideways world of Ichigo Kurosaki, Shirosaki was starting to get pissed. Ordinarily he would have taken care of the problem, but Ichigo tuned him out, thanks to the wonderful Vizards.
"Enjoying the rain Shirosaki?" Zangetsu asked, looking up at the dreary gray sky, "Ichigo seems to be brewing up a storm."
"Heh, funny you should mention Ichigo," Shirosaki replied, "I was thinking of showing him a thing or two."
"You should," Zangetsu said, watching Shirosaki's grin slowly fade away.
Zangetsu encouraging me? To harm Ichigo? That quack usually sides with the King. Shirosaki opened his mouth to reply, but Zangetsu had already disappeared. Stupid fucker leaves me talking to myself, Shirosaki grumbled, slowly getting up and looking at the cracked pavement underneath him. Knowing the king, he probably wasn't letting anyone talk to him. When would he get over his stupid failure? So he couldn't save one person. And it's not like I care or anything like that, Shirosaki told himself, I just want the fucking rain to stop. What kind of an idiot makes a sideways world with painted on windows on the buildings?
Summer vacation came and left, leaving dusty fall behind and unbearable humidity. Today marked the three month anniversary, but who was counting? Certainly not Ichigo, who wished time would stop and rewind so he could fix all the mistakes he carelessly caused. Three months holed up in his room, afraid to face anyone. His family only wanted him fed and clean, leaving him alone to cope with his own feelings and even Kon was smart enough to leave him alone. Soul Society claimed him to be 'mentally unstable' and confiscated his substitute Shinigami badge, treating him like a bad little boy. His Shinigami friends had to obey Yamamoto's orders and couldn't visit Ichigo; though they were dying to knock some sense into the stubborn strawberry.
Although Shirosaki couldn't take control over Ichigo, it didn't mean he couldn't see what was going on. He saw when Ichigo promised many people that he would bring Orihime back from Las Noches, and then with his friends, Chad and Uryu, journeyed to Hueco Mundo. More of his Shinigami friends joined him and together they weathered through garbage hollows, desert guardians, hollow forests, and privaron Espada. Even when each of them parted ways, they swore to come back alive and rescue the girl. Ichigo soon learned that one of the garbage hollows that followed him, a hyper little hollow named Nel, was actually an ex-Espada and was willing to help. While she stayed back to fight Nnoitra, Ichigo followed her directions to the prisoner's cells. He didn't bother to hide, he wanted those sick bastards to find him and avenge the seemingly dead Rukia and Chad. After running through a maze of corridors he heard Orihime's voice, choked with sobs and Ulquiorra Cifer's voice, quiet and soothing. Ichigo peeked inside, watching as Orihime clung to Cifer like a security blanket. Cifer was stroking her long hair and began to whisper, causing her to blush. What the heck was going on? Ichigo thought, mouth agape. Orihime finally caught sight of him and let go of Cifer, surprise on both their faces.
"Hi Ichigo," She finally said, after a long awkward silence, "I see you've come for me, ah ha ha. I didn't think you guys would come for me, the bimbo friend with big boobs."
"Well why wouldn't we?" Ichigo replied, "If it were me, or anyone else you would have done the same. But I see that rescuing wasn't what you wanted, was it?" Orihime nodded sadly, coming close to Ichigo. She hugged him tightly, her stiff white uniform against his battle-worn kimono.
"I love Ichigo," She said through tears, "but I love him more. I waited too long for you to notice me, and well…I moved on. I know you won't forgive me, and I know the others won't either, but I still want to apologize." Ichigo remained motionless, though Orihime's arms were still tight around him. He had noticed her, but not the way she wanted to. She was a good friend and he would do anything for her, but not that. So even though it hurt him, he wrapped his arms around her for the final farewell. After breaking the embrace he faced Cifer and said, "It's your job to protect her now, not that I need to tell you or anything like that. But we're still enemies, I'm sorry Inoue, but you've become my enemy as well." Ichigo turned and left, searching for the others reiatsu so they could leave.
The rest had been a blur, what followed was recovery from everyone who suffered battle wounds. Orihime was now with Aizen, Ichigo failed, and that was that. At least for Shirosaki, it was that simple. He began breaking the "wall" that separated him and Ichigo, finding it crumble down easily. Once it was down he slipped out of Ichigo's conscience and began to take a spirit form that only Ichigo could see or feel. He examined Ichigo, who began stirring from his nap, and took a step back. Ichigo's eyes shot open and he quickly jumped out of bed, still drowsy and dizzy.
"Don't strain yourself, King," Shirosaki said, sitting down on Ichigo's bed, "I'm not gonna harm you here." Ichigo blinked before looking away, avoiding Shirosaki's eyes.
"Go away, Shirosaki, unless you want me to kill you," Ichigo threatened, still looking away.
"I hate empty threats," Shirosaki grinned, handing Ichigo a t-shirt, "now get dressed, I'm starved to death." Ichigo looked at him and at the t-shirt but changed into it anyway.
"What? No white Zangetsu to chop me in half?" Ichigo retorted, putting his shoes on, "I thought you wanted to become the king and me the horse or whatever crap you said last time I fought you."
"I still want to chop you in half," Shirosaki replied, "but you're so fucking depressed it won't be fun. That and the fact that I'm starving, when's the last meal you ate whole-heartedly? You and I are still growing boys," Ichigo only shook his head and walked out of his room, Shirosaki following from behind. The two boys walked to the nearest supermarket, Ichigo getting strange looks from people because he was talking to Shirosaki who was invisible to them. At least he was talking, which was all Shirosaki wanted.
"So, what do want to eat?" Ichigo asked, walking into the supermarket. Shirosaki looked around, it was a dizzy sight. Color wrappers and Japanese characters scribbled on food items, teddy bears and koi fish designs, and color titles on the floor, it was too much to take in at once. He walked over to the first thing that popped out to him, white little confections that had a hole in the middle and a white butterfly design on the label.
"Donuts?" Ichigo picked them up, "I didn't know you had sweet tooth."
"You rarely eat any," Shirosaki defended, "now go buy them." Ichigo gave him a strange look before picking up a bag full of the butterfly brand powdered donuts. Once he paid and left the store, while Shirosaki eyed the donuts hungrily, he stopped and handed Shirosaki the bag.
"Well? Aren't you going to take them?" Ichigo said, but Shirosaki didn't grab the bag.
"Oh, you think I'm going to eat them alone?" Shirosaki asked, "I've eaten with that geezer Zangetsu and myself for too long. You've gotta eat some too so the nutrients go to your strength which, ironically, is me." He kept walking, grabbing Ichigo's unwilling hand. Ichigo chuckled, and squirmed out of Shirosaki's grip. Shirosaki led him to the park, which was empty, and sat on the nearest bench.
"Thanks," Ichigo said, turning to face Shirosaki, "even though you probably hate every second of this."
"Damn straight," Shirosaki grinned, "get stronger so I can take it all away from you. Don't let one failure take you down, that's my job."
"Sure it is," Ichigo told him as he opened the bag of donuts and together they devoured the bag of little white heaven.
A/N: Review for donuts? Oh wait, I ran out…oops.