I can't believe I managed to get this chapter done so quickly but all the explanations were so tedious to write, they still seem rushed to me -_- ah well!

Warnings: Blood, gore, insanity (curtsey of Shiro and Nea) and a boy x boy pairing

Disclaimer: Me no own Bleach or -Man

"Talking"

'Thinking/talking to inner spirits in thoughts'

"Hollow/Noah/Zanpakuto talking"

"Hollow/Noah/Zanpakuto talking in thoughts"


Chapter 2

Hollow or Akuma

Allen woke up in a small room painted a clinical blue and white that reminded him of a hospital. He lay in a soft bed with crisp white sheets, his wounds were tended to and bandaged while his clothes were on a small cabinet next to the bed washed and folded into a perfectly neat pile.

"I see that you're awake. Do any of your wounds hurt?" A kind, deep voice said from the far corner of the room where an orange-haired teen sat, a pair of chocolate-brown eyes staring at him over the top of a Shakespeare novel. Allen blushed at the unwavering gaze that was directed his way while considering if the unusual hair colour that the other teen exhibited was natural but remembering that he had white hair, the other teenager's hair colour seemed quite normal.

Allen was glad for the Japanese lessons that Nea had taught him before coming to Karakura, he would have been at a loss without them. "Umm... I'm fine now, thank you." He's voice sounded unsure, his wounds still hurt but he felt like he was imposing by being here and someone was bound to start asking questions which he didn't want to answer sooner or later if he stayed.

"Do you need anything?" The teen's voice was still kind but Allen could see how guarded his eyes and expression was. To Allen's embarrassment his stomach grumbled causing a light chuckle to erupt from the orange-haired teen.

"I'll get you food then, you're gonna love Yuzu's cooking." The teen shut his book with a low thump and placing it on the same cabinet where Allen's clothes lay before heading towards the door where he stopped and turned back towards Allen. "Don't get up, let your body rest. I'll get dad to check your wounds."

The teen promptly left the room but not before Allen caught a slightly annoyed and exasperated look on his face. From outside the door Allen could hear shouting followed by the sound of something smashing then silence. The white-haired teen considered following the other teen but the bed was comfy and his body refused to move.

About two minutes later the teen returned with a large plate filled with Japanese food and a dark-haired man in tow who looked at Allen and smiled a goofy smile. "I'm Dr. Isshin Kurosaki, that's my useless son Ichigo. What's your name?"

"Allen Walker, sir." Allen turned to Ichigo who was glaring at his father for the comment before turning to Allen and handed him the plate.

"If you want more I'll bring some later." Allen thanked Ichigo and devoured the food in record time leaving a wide-eyed Isshin and Ichigo staring at the now empty plate.

"I'll need you to stand up to check your injuries, then you can eat all you want." The dark-haired man said noticing the hungry look in Allen's eyes, Allen got up of the bed with Ichigo's help and let the doctor unwrap the bandages around his waist, chest and right arm. The wounds were healing well and Isshin proceeded to re-wrap them. When the doctor reached for Allen's left arm Allen flinched back and looked away.

"There's no need for you to see my left arm, it's fine." Allen pulled the disfigured arm behind his back and turned restricting any access to it.

"Don't worry Allen, it's fine. Just let me see it so I can check if the scratches aren't infected." Isshin gave Allen a stern look and Allen stuck out his left arm looking away and cringing at the reactions he was expecting. Isshin carefully unwrapped the bandages and gave a appreciative whistle at the dark, metallic skin underneath.

Ichigo's eyes widened in shock that quickly turned to understanding as he looked at the disfigured arm, his hand subconsciously drifted to the tattoos that using Saigo no Getsuga Tensho had left on him, remembering how instead of making him loose his powers the attack had left his in a coma for over ten months. It had changed him. Not only had he finally understood his hollow side and reached an agreement with him but after waking up from his coma he had felt his spirit form change.

He was now able to seal his sword, his Shikai had also changed - the blade had become more complex looking more like a trench knife with a black handle ending with a black chain – as had his Bankai – the once simple black daito had become longer and gained sharp ridges on one of it's sides, also his trench coat changed, the bottom part being torn into three separate sections but most noticeably, his right hand retained the black gauntlet while his left became black and clawed like during the Saigo no Getsuga Tensho. The last thing that had changed was that when he compressed his reiatsu – that included Bankai - his hair turned black, his eyes red like the colour of his reiatsu. Luckily those changes didn't affect his human body – accept for the tattoos that is – it would have been a nightmare to explain the changed appearance.

"I told you, there was no need to see it... it's horrible isn't it?" Allen's voice was soft and quiet, his eyes downcast.

"No, you're wrong Allen, it's just unexpected. That white cross, does it mean anything?" Isshin had his hand on the smooth metallic skin trying to figure out what had made the skin so dark and strong.

'Nea, help me here! Should I tell them about Exorcists?'

'You could, they saved you after all but then again, they may not believe you.' The simple and instant answer seemed to reassure Allen as he relaxed slightly.

'I'll give it a shot, if they don't believe me then then they won't be the first.'

Allen took a deep breath to calm his thoughts. "I used to be an exorcist, a person chosen by God to synchronise with one unique piece of God crystal or as we call it: Innocence, and defeat Akuma. Akuma are machines created by the Millennium Earl that trap a soul and force it to do the Earl's bidding, while Innocence is the only thing that can kill the machine and save the soul. Once synchronised with Innocence the exorcist chooses what weapon to make it into to help them fight the Akuma, those are the equipment type users. It's either that or the Innocence gets into your body and turns you into a parasitic type like me." Allen pointed to his arm and waited for Ichigo's and Dr. Kurosaki's reactions. What followed wasn't what he had expected.

"Akuma, ey? Is that what caused all those injuries?" This time it was Ichigo who spoke but he wasn't laughing or teasing, Ichigo's face was a mixture of anger and seriousness while his father had an impassive expression while his eyes were completely serious.

'They actually believed me!' Allen's shock must have shown on his face so he replaced it with his patented care-free smile, and rubbed his neck in feigned embarrassment. "Yeah, my Innocence wasn't strong enough because I hadn't eaten enough for a few days and a parasitic Innocence feeds of the user's energy, but my injuries were healing fine until these weird Akuma-like monsters with masks and holes in their chests appeared. It was unusual because while Akuma are visible to normal people, the people running from the monsters didn't seem to see the them, just the explosions they caused." Allen said thoughtfully, shivering slightly when he remembered the blood-thirsty soul that controlled the monster and sitting back down on the bed as Dr. Isshin finished wrapping his wounds.

Ichigo's stance turned almost predatory at the mention of the invisible masked monsters. "You can see hollows? Why am I even asking, your reiryoku is stronger than Uryu's and he can see hollows so I don't see why you shouldn't." Allen's face was a picture of complete confusion.

'Have you heard of that creature before Nea?'

'I'm sorry Allen but I haven't, maybe it's some natural Akuma or something similar.' Now that was a terrifying prospect - a natural Akuma – it would mean that even if the Black Order won the Holy War and the Earl was dead it wouldn't stop the destruction that the Akuma caused.

"What are Hollows?"

"I guess I should tell you considering that you can see those bastards." Ichigo went silent for a few moments as if considering what to tell Allen. "Let's start from the basics, and I'm going to say that you should be glad that Rukia isn't here. "

"Who's Rukia?"

"If I tell you about Hollows then you're bound to meet her sooner or later, just don't ask her to explain anything... ever." Ichigo shuddered at some unpleasant memory before continuing. "so, when someone dies their soul leaves their body and wonders around the living world until they either pass on by themselves which most souls do, a Shinigami performs Konso on them making them pass on or they turn into a Hollow. To turn into a Hollow, the spirit must have either been a sinner in life, have strong attachments to the living world after death that cause them to stay here until their Chain of Fate erodes completely, be overcome by negative emotions after death or be eaten by another Hollow."

At this point in the explanation Dr. Isshin had left the room with a nod to Ichigo who smiled slightly and continued. "Hollows are cannibalistic and while they tend to go after people and souls with high reiryoku they won't turn their nose of another strong Hollow. The more a Hollow feeds the stronger it becomes; Hollows are divided into nameless low-level Hollows and the Menos. Menos are Hollows that have devoured enough souls to start evolving, the weakest of those are Gillians then Adjuchas and Vasto Lorde. Also some Hollows succeed in tearing their own masks off resulting in the strongest of Hollows, an Arrancar." By the end of the explanation Allen's brain was racing to catch up with all the information resulting in a strange mixture of surprise and puzzlement in his expression.

"So they are natural Akuma." Allen's was shocked, this information would be devastating if found out about by the Earl. "I hope you don't mind me asking but how do you know all this and what are those Shinigami that you mentioned?"

Ichigo tensed at the question but after what seemed like a mental debate he sighed and gave Allen a dark look that he himself had seen each time he looked in the mirror. Ichigo had haunted eyes, ones darkened beyond their natural colour by death and loss. That's when Allen started to notice the other mostly hidden quirks that reminded Allen of himself, such as the constantly ready stance and the smiles that didn't quite reach his eyes.

"I'll explain about the Shinigami first; Shinigami or angels of death, death gods, soul reapers and so on regulate the flow of souls. Once souls pass on they go to a place called Soul Society where they live out their spirit lives until they are reincarnated, but some souls have higher reiryoku than others allowing them to materialise it and use it in the form of reiatsu - and pure reiatsu is very destructive. All souls can become Shinigami after learning how to control their powers at the Shino Academy, the souls with more reiatsu become the most powerful."

"Shinigami live to kill Hollows and other spiritual dangers to souls, help souls pass on and protect Soul Society. No living person can become a Shinigami... but like with every rule, there has to be an anomaly. I'm that anomaly; I'm a substitute shinigami, a living, breathing human with a soul that has shinigami powers." Ichigo finished with a guarded look in his chocolate eyes that almost screamed 'don't ask about my past'. "I'm sorry I couldn't get to you quicker. It's my fault you're injuries have re-opened."

Allen stared shocked at the downcast eyes of the Shinigami before smiling lightly. "There's no need to apologise, I've had worse during my time as an exorcist but thank you anyway; no-one has said anything half as nice to me since-" Allen cut himself off before he said too much. 'Since the Black Order found out I had Nea's soul inside me.'

'I'm sorry Allen, had I known that my actions would result in something like this I would have never let my soul join yours.'

'It's alright Nea, you were only trying to survive. No-one can blame you for that and what has already happened couldn't have been foreseen.'Allen's voice held a kind and comforting quality that had pulled the Noah towards his soul as shelter from death.

'Thank you Allen.'

The next few minutes were spent in comfortable silence, both teenagers lost in their own thoughts. That is until Isshin walked into the clinic with an over-excited look on his face and shouted. "Dinner is ready!"

"Shut up old man." Ichigo grumbled before leaving the room to help Yuzu set up the dinning table.

"Why don't you join us for dinner Allen? If you can't walk I'll bring you some here."

"I can walk now, it's really fine. Thank you Dr. Kurosaki." Allen stood up to prove the point.

"Just call me Isshin. Now, do you need help getting changed or can you manage?"

"Thank you Kurosaki-san, I can manage." Allen walked over to his clothes, a pair of black skinny jeans, a loose white dress shirt and a red ribbon; he left his knee-high black boots where they stood. The tattered hoodie he had worn instead of his exorcist coat must have been thrown away, but that was no loss, he had only brought it to hide his unusual appearance.

"I'll be waiting outside the door for you."

Once dressed Allen followed Dr. Isshin out of the clinic and into the living room where he was greeted by the wonderful smell of curry. A young girl with short blond hair tied in two ponytails a colourful apron stuck her head out of the kitchen and smiled a huge smile to which Allen couldn't help but smile back.

"Hello! I'm Yuzu, Ichigo's sister. Are you the boy who Ichigo brought in yesterday?" Her voice reflected her smile perfectly but was hinted with slight worry.

"Hi, and yes, that's me. I'm Allen Walker nice to meet you. Also, thank you very much for the food earlier, it was amazing." Yuzu nodded and smiled wider before returning to the kitchen.

A few moments later Yuzu's voice filled the living room as she carried the steaming rice and curry sauce onto the table. "Ichigo take an extra plate to the table and some cutlery, and Karin, don't be so anti-social and introduce yourself."

Ichigo went to get the plate and cutlery while another girl, this time with black hair got up from the couch and stalked over to Allen. "Hi, I'm Karin, Ichigo's other sister." She stuck her hand out and Allen shook it introducing himself again before following her to the table.

After finishing his errand Ichigo joined them and sat down next to Allen while Yuzu sat next to Karin and their dad sat at the end of the table. Dinner was quiet accept until Yuzu's inquisitiveness won over.

"So Allen, where are you from, is there anyone we should call to tell them that you're here?"

"I'm British but I've been travelling around for quite a while now." Allen paused thinking of the Black Order, Lenalee might want to know that he was still alright but she would end up telling Komui and that wouldn't end well. "I don't think there's anyone that needs to know I'm here."

"Ok then, well you're going to be staying with us, until your wounds heal at least. How old are you?" Isshin asked.

"I'm about sixteen Kurosaki-san."

"About?"

"I was abandoned when I was little so I don't know my birthday, when I was adopted by General Cross I was about five so I've been counting from there." Allen smiled slightly but he could feel that the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. Yuzu looked like she was about to cry, Ichigo's expression became blank just like his sister Karin's while their dad had that serious look again before breaking into a goofy smile.

"If you have no-where to stay you can stay with us!"

"That's very kind of you Kurosaki-san, I think I'll take you up on that offer."

"From now on you will be my second son Allen! You can stay in Ichigo's room." He stood up to hug Allen but received a foot to the face from Ichigo.

"Shut up old man!" Ichigo proceeded to kick his father into the nearby wall. Allen stared in shock as Isshin stood up and run to a huge poster of a beautiful woman before breaking down into over-exaggerated tears.

"Our son doesn't love me any more! How could this happen" The continued remarks earned him another kick but this time curtsey of a fuming Karin. "Dad I thought I told you to take that poster down!"

"Karin-chan, Ichi-nii-san please stop fighting, it's rude." Yuzu's voice sounded like a mother scolding her children and immediately both Karin and Ichigo stopped, Karin returning to the sofa while Ichigo started going upstairs.

"Come on Allen, you'll be sleeping in my room. You never know when the clinic will be needed again." He shouted back down and Allen obediently followed him to a room with a black fifteen in a diamond-shaped black frame. "We can go shopping to get you new clothes tomorrow, you should be fine with walking farther distances by then, seeing how you heal quicker than normal."

"Thank you Kurosaki-san." Allen smiled to the taller teen. Who opened the door and led Allen into his room, it was average size and everything was clean and ordered.

"I hate formalities, call me Ichigo." Ichigo smiled back at him opening the closet and pulling a futon out, it was already getting dark outside.

"Ok, Ichigo-san."


The explanations in this chapter sound really flat and boring to me but it'd be too much effort to change them now no there, end of chapter 2. Remember to follow if you liked it and review

All flames will be used to toast marshmallows :D