Even though I was turned into a bloodthirsty monster, I couldn't help but miss the family I once had. My bright green eyes stared into the dust storm that was surrounding Hueco Mundo and I coughed as it infiltrated my throat. Why was I lucky enough to escape his clutches and be found when they weren't? My mother's screams and my brother's voice pleading for my life. I sat down in the sand and put my face in my hands as the memories came rushing back.
"Dad, please take me instead! She's not worth it she's too young!" my brother pleaded on his knees while shoving me into the kitchen and out of sight.
"Don't worry, I'll kill you first so you don't have to watch me kill her!" my father yelled while driving his sword through my brother's heart. I turned my head away and sprinted to the opposite side of the kitchen while trying to find a hiding place. I leapt over my mother's bleeding corpse and hid in the cupboard. I heard the heavy footsteps from his boots coming closer and closer to the point where I stopped breathing.
"Where are you, Anika darling? Daddy isn't going to hurt you, I needed to save you from them, they were going to hurt you!" he said as he whipped the cabinet door open and dragged me out by the hair.
"Daddy, what are you doing?" I screamed as he brought the sword up to cut my throat.
"Ending you, you waste of life." He said coldly while swinging it down to meet my throat. I squeezed my eyes closed as tight as I could and when I felt the impact I flew to the floor and heard a yell. I brought my hand to my throat to stop the bleeding but I couldn't. What was frightening me the most was the fact that I couldn't tell if that yell belonged to me or not. It sounded more masculine and husky than mine; but I couldn't open my eyes wide enough to look around. I was bleeding out, and I knew this was my time. I just wished it would end already. I lay on my back while trying not to choke on all the spewing blood and remembered my memories with the family I used to have.
"Oh brother, how I'll miss you in the after life." I said while closing my eyes. I heard footsteps around me and I wondered if the police had heard our ordeal and would attempt to save me…oh well it was too late for me anyway.
I stood up, I didn't feel like remembering anymore- it hurt too much. Did this happen to everyone who was killed? I became a monster as soon as the world turned dark. All I could remember was my blood curdling screams when I thought I was dead.
Why was I here, anyway? The minute I got here I flew right to Las Noches because my mind knew exactly where I was going. The minute Aizen saw me he accepted me immediately because he sensed something within me.
"Shit, I have to get back." Those were the first words I actually said in weeks. I used my Sonido to get back to his throne room where he was to give me my mission. This would be my second one since being here. I had only just recently lost my family and I really wasn't used to being here yet.
I flew into the throne room and nodded in Aizen's direction as I took my seat at the end of the table. He returned the nod and then proceeded with the meeting.
"Thank you for joining us, Anika. I've decided to give you a solo mission since the others will be doing a separate one in bulk. You will be assigned to Karakura Town to keep watch over a certain 'substitute Soul Reaper'. We have no details on him aside from the fact that he has orange colored hair." Aizen said while staring me down. He was strangely obsessed with my past and how I became a hollow. Apparently it wasn't common to immediately turn into one after being brutally murdered…
"Anika, are you listening?" he said while I was daydreaming.
"Hm? Yes I heard exactly what I need to do. When do I leave and how long should I be there?" I asked while leaning back in my chair and crossing my arms.
"You should enroll in the school so you can get closer to him. Befriend him if you must, it would probably be wise. You can leave tonight when you're ready. Stay however long you need, but keep in touch on a daily basis, we don't want to lose you." that last part he said with a slight grin and it sent invisible shivers down my spine. I excused myself and flew from the throne room once more.
"HEY, ANIKA WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU GOING?" Grimmjow yelled from down the hall.
"None of your business, you would know if you actually went to the meeting, stupid." I said while brushing past him.
"Who goes to those things, anyway? They're just plain stupid he never says anything worth hearing." He said while putting his hands behind his head.
"Then go tell him that yourself, I have somewhere to be." I said while using Sonido to get to my room faster. Grimmjow was one of my really good friends, but I'm never okay after thinking about my past.
I packed a bag as quick as possible and walked out to the sand to take my leave.
(KURAKURA TOWN)
It was much warmer here, better than Hueco Mundo that's for sure. What, was it summer here or something? Was my body just so used to the cold? Oh well, time to find my target. As I crawled out of the crater my body made in the middle of the crowd of people that gathered that no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn't see me; I felt the largest spiritual pressure next to Aizen's.
"Woah, what the hell was that?" I asked myself. "Whatever it was, it's probably going to lead me where I need to be." I ran for it. I used sonido to get around because it was much more effective than walking at human pace. I found the school and the reiatsu was just streaming from the second floor window.
"I need a body…where could I get a body?" I walked around the town desperately looking for a hidden soul shop or something that could give me a break. My eye caught a small shop on the left behind a wooden fence; it was titled "Urahara Shop". I walked through the door and was met by a small girl with an awkward hair style.
"Hello, can we help you?" she asked while staring sadly at the floor.
"Um, yes- my name is…" Crap. I forgot I can't use my real name here, they'll know who I am. "My name is…Anika Sanchez." I said with a confident smile. I could keep my first name at least. "I really need a body so I can connect with the humans here, do you happen to have anything like that, young one?" I asked while putting a hand to her head. She cringed from the touch but nodded her head once.
"I'll be right back." She said while running off to the back of the store. I looked around and understood that the only reason I noticed the shop was because there was a soul shield around it so only certain souls could see it. Humans would never be able to notice this place. The little girl returned holding a pill.
"This is new in our wares. As soon as you are in possession of this tablet you become 'human', and as soon as you swallow it you immediately separate from your body as simple as that." She said while handing it to me. I wanted to try it to make sure it wasn't a faulty produce. I popped the small, round tablet into my mouth and felt as if I was being torn away from something. I looked down at the ground and saw myself wearing a school uniform…it was my gigai. I looked at the young child and smiled.
"Thanks a bunch! Can I ask your name in case I come back here?" I asked as she twittled her thumbs nervously.
"Um, yes my name is Ururu. Come again." She said while opening the door for me to leave. I nodded at her as I walked out the door and wondered if she was the owner. I rejoined with my body and spit the pill back into my hand.
"Time for school." I said to myself with a grin. I was actually pretty excited I was chosen for this job, I still remember school and what it felt like to be there when I was alive. My brother and I would have matching school bags and as much as we hated it, I really missed it now.
I walked through the doors and followed the reiatsu to the second floor classroom. Jesus, there were around 5 different reiatsu's coming from this room! They would definitely be able to detect me; one of them was a Soul Reaper from Soul Society. I'll use my best innocent act and hopefully it would work. I knocked on the door and was accepted into the room. Everyone's eyes darted to me and I immediately sensed the amount of spiritual pressure they all had. The only one that was really concerning was the one coming from the young boy in the back of the room. He had…orange colored hair! That was him, the guy I was looking for!
My eyes darted to the front of the room where a woman with long red hair and glasses was snapping to get my attention.
"Excuse me, but who are you?" she asked.
"Oh my name is Anika Sanchez, I'm new here. I was sent to this room by that heavy woman in the main lobby." I said with my head cocked so a strand of hair fell into my face. The woman I presumed to be the teacher just gave me a blank look for a minute and told me to go sit in the back of the room next to some guy named Chad. When I sat down he extended a hand to me.
"Hey, I can tell you have a lot of spiritual pressure…my name's Sado, but for some reason everyone calls me Chad." He said in a soft voice I could barely hear.
"Yeah, you're right about the pressure and I sense a good amount in you too. My name's Anika Wi-Sanchez. Sorry, I stuttered. How'd you get the nickname Chad anyway?" I asked with my eyebrow raised. He just pointed to the orange haired boy that luckily was sitting in front of me…wow how did I manage to miss that one? I tapped him on the shoulder and he didn't move.
"Hey, what's your name?" I asked when he didn't budge. He still didn't move and I started to get annoyed. "Yo, Carrot top what the hell's your name?" I asked with my voice raising a few decibels. He whirled around and smacked his palms down on my desk.
"What the hell do you want with me? Leave me alone!" he yelled with his eyebrow twitching. I just smirked and waved in his face.
"All I wanted to know was your name, silly. Mine's Anika, and I couldn't help but wonder what possessed you to call this big guy over here by the name of Chad." I said while jerking my thumb in Sado's direction. The orange haired guy calmed down a bit when he saw my relaxed composure and warming smile and he just blew out a puff of air and pointed to himself.
"Name's Ichigo Kurosaki." He said and I put my hand across my mouth to hold back a laugh but it ended up coming out like a cough. "Yo, you okay?" he asked while getting in my face. I shut my eyes and waved him away while I attempted to choke back laughter. He started drumming on my desk impatiently and I just couldn't hold it in anymore!
"BAHAHAHAHAHAHA ICHIGO, HUH! DOESN'T THAT MEAN STRAWBERRY? THAT'S ADORABLE!" I hooted with laughter while he stood up and started punching me in the arm over and over.
"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME THAT'S WHAT YOUR PROBLEM IS? WHY I OUGHT KNOCK YOU SENSELESS YOU LITTLE PIECE A…" he was cut short by the tapping of a foot. We both stopped and looked to the front of the room where the teacher just pointed out the door. Ichigo picked me up by the collar of my uniform and dragged me out. He sighed and put his hands in his pockets when we were out of vision. He walked on ahead as I composed myself and I ran to catch up with him.
"Hey, what was that about?" I asked.
"She sent us to detention, dumby." He said while his eyebrow slightly twitched.
"Oh…well are we actually going to detention?" I asked with a devious grin. He turned to me with wide eyes.
"What are you implying? Are you saying we should just leave or something?" he asked while removing his hands from his pockets.
"What are you, some kind of teachers pet? I swear Kurosaki you're one of a kind. We should just blow this scene and then take the consequences together later on. I wanna ask you some questions, anyways. Let's grab a smoothie." I said before darting out of the window to our right.
"Wha—wait a minute! You can't leave me up here!" he yelled out the window to me as I slowly skated down using the spirit particles around me.
"Show me what you can do." I lightly called over my shoulder to him. I saw his eyes widen and he turned away from me. "Alright, suit yourself." I said coldly and I landed in a tree top. I slid down, but on the way my foot got caught in a branch and turned me upside down. I was about to hit my head on the ground when I felt someone below me.
"Jeeze, I leave you alone for five seconds and you're already turned upside down." Ichigo said with smugness to his voice. I looked up at him with a shocked expression and noted that he was wearing a soul reaper's outfit. "Don't look so shocked, you knew all along." He said while setting me down right.
"Yeah, you're right. Can we just sit here for a bit, I'm feeling a little dizzy after that fall." I said as I slid to the ground by the tree. But I wasn't feeling dizzy, I was completely fine- or so I thought. It wasn't the fall from the tree that had made my head spin…but the fall into Ichigo's arms. Me, being a hollow, I never thought I'd feel anything like that in my life. Before I knew it, I was being swept up into Ichigo's arms again.
"We can pick a different spot, if we sit here we're too close to the school and we might get caught. This was your idea; don't screw me over so easily, Cherry tips." He said while jumping off with me in his arms.
"Cherry tips? What's that all about?" I asked him as we flew through the air.
"Well, people always make stupid nicknames for me like Strawberry, and I knew you were going to say it eventually, so I called you Cherry tips. Your hair's all black with those red highlights and they look like Cherry tips." He said while turning away from me. Was he blushing? I put my head down; hollows couldn't be seen with emotion.
"I like it." I said after a few minutes of silence.
"What was that?" he asked when I didn't continue.
"I like the nickname, Ichigo. It suits me when you think about it. For just being a meaningless soul…I still have a spirit." I said to him while glaring at my hands. He didn't respond, he just kept going.
We landed by a small lake with a few trees and benches and I chose to sit down under another tree. He sat beside me and put his sword to his right where it was completely out of my reach. We sat in silence for a good while before I turned to him and smiled.
"They're natural yanno." I said while moving my head side to side.
"Who's natural?" he asked with a puzzled look.
"My cherry highlights, you idiot. I didn't do them like that or anything; when I woke up after being killed I looked into the nearest puddle and I was shocked at myself. When I was alive, I would always beg to be pretty because I always felt I was ugly. I was so young and naïve, I never really appreciated the real things in life…like family." I stopped there, it was too hard to go on anymore. I would have told him about my brother and my mother and I would have gone on to tell him how my father had always called me beautiful no matter what…but it didn't matter now since he was the one who killed us all.
"Hey, come back to me." Ichigo said while snapping his fingers in front of my face.
"Sorry, I got to thinking is all." I said while pulling my knees to my chest.
"Tell me, Anika- where do you come from? You're pretty powerful, I can tell." He said while moving to sit on the same side of the tree as me.
"I can't really tell you yet, Strawberry. You'll have to know me a bit longer first is all." I said while twirling a piece of my hair between my fingers. "Though it's not really fair that I know all about you and you know nothing about me." I said in a soft tone.
"Yeah? What is it exactly that you know about me?" he asked.
"I know your name is Ichigo and that you're a substitute shinigami. You enjoy going to school even though you don't really act like it, and overall you're a really sweet guy. That's all I really need to know about you." I said while stretching and getting to my feet.
"That's only part of me, you don't know all about me- believe me." He said while standing up also.
"Maybe so, but I have time to learn." I said while smiling at him. He nodded in response. "Hey Ichigo, do you have any idea where I could stay for now?" I asked him with my head down. "I'm ashamed to say I don't have anywhere to go."
"What do you mean? Don't you have living family or somethin'?" he asked.
"Not all of us are fortunate enough to really be loved by family." I said through my hair as it fell on my face. He took that as a sign and ushered me to follow him.
"God, you're taking too long to walk!" he yelled as he picked me up again, though I was keeping up perfect pace with him the whole time.
We landed in front of a medical building with his last name on it.
"You want me to stay at your house?" I asked as he put me down.
"As long as you don't mind having another Soul Reaper as a roommate." He said while sweat dropping as he stepped into his real body.
"You mean you're renting this house out to another?" I asked.
"Not really, there's another soul reaper keeping an eye on me and helping me out and such. She's helping me protect my family against Aizen's plans. You know about Aizen right?" he asked suddenly.
"…yeah. I know about Aizen." That's how I left it as I walked through his front door. He shrugged it off behind me and followed suit. He ran me upstairs before anyone else could see and knocked on his closet door. It opened to reveal that black haired girl from our class earlier on.
"AH Ichigo! You had me worried, I couldn't focus your spiritual pressure anywhere and there was high Arrancar activity earlier! Right over by that lake, I felt a pressure really similar to Ulquiorra's." she said as her eyes fell on me. "Oh you're that girl that's new to our class, right?" she asked while acting like nothing happened.
"Yeah, I'm Anika. What's your name again?" I asked.
"Rukia Kuchiki, where are you from?" she asked while stepping out of the closet and slamming the door.
"Um I don't know anymore. Well, I mean I know where I'm from but…something's come up that just might make me choose a different location." I said while letting my eyes wander over to Ichigo as he threw his stuff on his bed and flopped down.
"Whatever, Rukia she's gonna be sharing the closet with you so make room." He said before sitting up again.
"Wha—Ichigo that's my turf where I take care of hollow business!" she yelled while throwing her foot down.
"If you need help with hollows, I could take care of that in a flash." I said in a dark tone. They both looked over at me with question and somewhat alarm in their eyes.
"What do you mean?" Rukia asked. I pulled out Ichigo's desk chair and I sat down, never lifting my head to look at either of them.
"Let me tell you guys a little story. I never had a say in my fate, ever since I was a little kid. I loved my family with all my heart, until one day some guy enters my house saying I was the one he needed and then he just up and left. Things returned to normal after that until one night my dad came home and he just wanted to destroy everything, it was as if he was possessed. To make a long story short, he killed my mother and then brutally killed my beloved brother who was trying to protect me. I crawled away out of desperation and he found me and that's how I died. I bled out from the throat and you'll never guess where I woke up. That's right, my damned fate led me straight to Hueco Mundo where I realized it was Aizen who had entered my house that day and had manipulated my father. No biggie right? He used me to do terrible things and I can never forgive him. You want to catch a hollow? That's easy, because I am one and I can always track them down. I can lead you right to Aizen because I'm the only one who's ever become hollified right after death. I am your enemy, but not for long." I stood up to make an emphasis on the last part. "Ichigo Kurosaki, you've shown me something I never thought I would ever be able to find in a life time…something that my fate might not be able to control anymore. I'm never lifting a finger for Aizen again, and I can break away…though I'll need your help." I said with shame and pride in the same sentence.
"You want us to help you, a hollow?" Rukia said with rising anger in her tone.
"Well, if you want to take down Aizen, then yes." I said simply.
"We won't do it." Rukia said in a final tone. I looked to Ichigo for comfort but he just kept his head down so his hair fell over his eyes…I couldn't read his face.
"Ichigo, what say you?" I asked him with hope lingering.
"How…how could you have hid this from me for this entire time we were together?" he asked with hurt on every word. I couldn't bear to know that I was the cause of his pain.
"I see." I said as I ran and leapt out of his open bedroom window. This time, Ichigo stayed behind with the saddest look a man could ever hold.
I ran as far from there as my legs would take me without using Sonido and the only place I knew to run was back to the lake and to sit by the familiar tree and weep. My fate had won; I would be doomed to be Aizen's slave of evil for the rest of my life. Why bother living? I could proudly admit now that I was out of the ear shot of anyone that something had changed within me that day.
"I didn't think it was possible for one soul to hurt so much. Just in one stupid day I discovered something outside of the cold hearts of hollows! I found love in one god-dammed day! I can fondly admit that Ichigo Kurosaki, I'm in love with you…and I'm sorry for everything I've put you through today." I put my head between my knees and wept in my own pity.
"What do you even think you've done wrong? You act like you put me through hell today, but it was one of the most eye-opening days of my life. I mean, look at you- the minute you walked into the room I promised I would never know you because I was overcome with your beauty. Cherry tips, you have no idea what the hell you're talking about! Hollow or not, you're still the same person that I've fallen in love with. I will help you break free from Aizen and I'll save you along with everyone else! Once this is over, Anika Sanchez…" I cut him off there.
"Anika Williams, I felt it was safer to keep my last name incognito since you didn't know I was a hollow." I said with acid burning off of every word.
"DON'T CUT ME OFF WHEN I'M TRYING TO BE NICE!" He yelled while jabbing his index finger into my chest. "What I'm trying to say here is that I know how you're feeling because during the small amount of time today, I've fallen in love with you too…and I'll do anything to protect you." he said while bending down in front of my spot on the tree. I looked right into his eyes.
"You promise?" I asked.
"With every edge of my spirit, because none of us are just souls." He said with a grin and I laughed hysterically at him again. Before I knew it was happening, he lifted me off of the ground and brought me into the deepest, most romantic kiss of my life. No matter where my fate took me in the past, it was no longer in control. The only thing that compelled me now was Ichigo Kurosaki and the newly found love we shared.