Author's Note: Feeling a little insecure about this chapter, but here we are. I went through a few ideas of how this chapter would pan out, and it ended up taking a dark turn somewhere along the way. Well, as dark a turn as a post-apocalyptic story can have anyway.


Ichigo wasn't sure how long he vacantly stared after where the strange man (zombie?) had disappeared, but at some point during that time, the sun had risen in the sky. Rukia came out onto the roof to relieve Ichigo from his shift.

"Go get some rest, you big idiot," she told him with a good smack to the back of his skull, "I still can't believe you let Renji talk you into that damn bet!"

"You heard about that?" Ichigo rubbed tenderly at the back of his head. Rukia was the smallest girl in the community (except Karin, of course), but she certainly was not the weakest.

"Do you honestly believe you can get anything by me? I'm no idiot," she jabbed Ichigo in the ribs for good measure, "now go get some sleep, before I have to put you in a bed myself."

Ichigo trudged toward the door, "Yes, sir…"

"What was that?!"

"Ma'am! I meant ma'am!"

"That's what I thought."


The very next day, Ichigo noticed something peculiar. The food had begun to taste a little off. It wasn't unpalatable, but it wasn't quite right either. At first, he assumed maybe it was nearing the expiration date, since foods could start to taste slightly odd to people with sensitive taste buds around that time.

Problem was that Ichigo had never been one of those kinds before.

Then he remembered Shiro's words yesterday. Could it be?

Ichigo shook his head violently. No! He was merely paranoid because the peculiar not-quite-zombie had planted bad thoughts in his mind.

It was nothing.

By tomorrow, he'd forget all about it.


Only he didn't. In the back of his mind, traitorous thoughts were multiplying. Thoughts of how he could have sworn it was getting worse. He'd already gotten to the point where meat was the only kind of food he could stomach, and not even well. It was only the second day.


By the the third day, all food tasted rotten, but Ichigo would inevitably try to eat it anyway.

That was when the scent hit him full force, as if his nose had been clogged up his entire life, but now it wasn't and he could smell the amazing mouthwatering scent surrounding him. His stomach growled and churned, and not a person in the room didn't hear the sound.

"Damn, man, if you're that hungry, why aren't you eating?" Renji asked with some obnoxious laughter.

Ichigo chuckled nervously, failing miserably at sounding at ease, "Yeah… silly me, huh?"

Forcing himself to ignore the terrible taste, Ichigo shoveled food in his mouth as fast as he could. He'd just eat it fast enough that he wouldn't have to taste it very long, and force it to stay down. Ignore the amazing scent that wasn't coming from his plate.

He kept it down for all but ten seconds. His stomach churned dangerously and he knew without a doubt he wouldn't be able to force himself to eat it after all.

He only barely made it to the toilet in time. The food tasted worse the second time around.

Soifon, believing he'd caught his sister's flu, sent him to his room. He was basically quarantined. She ordered him to stay in his room and 'rest'. At first, he'd attempted to do just that.

He couldn't sleep for long. Sleeping on an empty stomach was always hard.

He didn't feel sick, but he was hungry.

Ravenous, one might say.

Something outside his bedroom smelled delicious. He was hungry… so very hungry…

Just one bite. Just one…

Ichigo shook his head. He'd prove that Shiro guy wrong. He wouldn't eat his friends.

No way in hell.

He was broken from his inner turmoil by a piercing scream.

"They're attacking! They're coming in through the door! I-I can't stop them! Help!"

Rukia!

Ignoring Soifon's orders, Ichigo leapt from his bed and threw open the door. He rushed up the stairs where the rest of the community had gathered at the door. Rukia was safely inside, but there was furious banging outside the door to the roof.

Ichigo pushed his way to the front of the group, ignoring everyone else's protests at his actions. He didn't even know what he was doing.

His body was moving on its own.

The door was open, and vaguely Ichigo realized he'd been the one to wrench it right open. The hordes were crowding in the doorway, trying to get in. When they noticed Ichigo, there was a sort of instantaneous recognition. They tried to run.

His hand shot out, grabbing hold of the nearest one. The creature let out an inhuman, fearful shriek in a scratchy, high-pitched voice.

It didn't smell quite as good, but it wasn't a friend either. It would do nicely.


The survivors of the community were in shock. They watched in morbid fascination as Kurosaki Ichigo savagely attacked a zombie, ripping into its flesh with his teeth.

Never before had they seen anything eat a zombie. Not even zombies attacked other zombies.

Yet their orange haired comrade(?) was defying all that logic. What they witnessed was brutal. The undead creature continued to shriek and jerk spastically in hopes to escape, but it didn't stand a chance.

Some of the survivors, though they wouldn't admit it, felt sorry for the zombie. They didn't know whether it was crying out in fear or pain, but it was now clear that zombies were capable of experiencing one of the two.

Because of Ichigo.

The ghoulish slaughter they witnessed would haunt them for countless nights to come. Some of the members with weaker stomachs ended up losing their lunch.

When the deed was done, Ichigo sat there with the remnants of the corpse, motionless and sated. His back was to the others, so they couldn't see the blank expression on his visage.

They all watched him with bated breath, half expecting him to come for them next. When he stood and stretched, a few of them flinched or took a step back.

Ichigo turned around, and they all got a good look at his blank face, the bottom half thoroughly coated in dark, nearly black blood. The teen merely walked right by them, as if they weren't even there.

No one bothered him as he returned to his bedroom and closed the door.

They stood in mortified silence as the door slowly clicked shut. The remains of the zombie, mainly bones, a couple mangled body parts, and some bits of flesh still remained on the floor by the open doorway.

Creepiest of all was that the hordes didn't try to break in a second time, despite the open door.

Rukia was the first to speak, "What the hell just happened?"

It was safe to say, she accurately summed up the foggy confusion in most everyone's brains currently.

"Did Ichigo j-just…?" Orihime stuttered out.

"He just… he ate that… thing, right in front of us…" Renji trailed off with wide eyes. He looked haggard. If it weren't for the fact he was one of the people who'd already vomited while watching the violent display, perhaps he'd be sick all over again.

Then came the big question that all of them, save one person, were thinking.

"Can we actually trust him anymore?"

Soifon.

Surprisingly, it was Byakuya who spoke up, giving Soifon a stern look, "He has done nothing to harm us. In case you hadn't noticed, he had a perfectly good chance to attack any of us just now, but instead went after one of them. I, for one, am willing to trust Kurosaki Ichigo."

"You would turn traitor to your own kind?" she asked slyly. She had to hold back a smirk, as she believed she'd cleverly cornered the man.

"What makes you believe he isn't on our side?" Byakuya countered with ease.

"Regular humans don't eat people!"

"I'm disappointed, Soifon. You could hardly call those things that attacked us people. If he hadn't done that, we'd be the ones getting eaten right now. I'm not on the human side or their side. Think about it," he went on, "all of us humans here in the community, ripe for the taking, but he chose to attack that," Byakuya pointed at the remains on the floor, "and what's more, the hordes out there fear him. They avoid him. I've seen it with my own eyes. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm on the side that survives, and right now, Kurosaki's the best chance we've got."

Everyone was dumbfounded by Byakuya's long winded outburst. Never before had anyone seen him speak so much in one sitting. Soifon couldn't think of another point to argue. Some of the others were looking contemplative of Byakuya's words. There were mutterings of 'he's right', 'he's got a point' among the crowd.

Byakuya stood tall, gazing over all the unsure expressions, "I say we give Kurosaki a chance. Who's with me?"

The others grew deathly quiet. Rukia was first to speak up yet again.

"I'll side with you, brother. Ichigo has never done anything to hurt us. I think we can trust him.

"If Rukia trusts him, then I do too," Renji stepped forward. If one wasn't looking for it, they wouldn't have even noticed the slight paleness to his face, or how his eyes would occasionally dart around nervously.

"You're just going to go along with this madness?! Both of you?" Soifon demanded.

"Not just them," Yumichika stepped forward, "Ikkaku and I will too. That makes four of us."

Soifon frowned, "You'd rather side with that freak than your own kind?"

Orihime timidly came forward and stood next to Rukia. Rukia took her hand, reassuring her, and Orihime looked up at Soifon with defiance in her eyes, "Ichigo might be a little different, but I still believe he's one of us. Even if what he did was kind of scary. Byakuya and Rukia are right."

"I should have known you'd side with him," Soifon spat, making Orihime cringe, "anyone else want to side with that zombie freak?!" Soifon angrily questioned the remainder of the crowd.

Some hesitance, then Hanatarou stepped forward. That left Ganju, Nemu, and Mayuri siding with Soifon. As Unohana had her sprained ankle to deal with and was still looking after Karin, she wasn't available to give her opinion. Given that she'd taken a liking to Ichigo and was Hanatarou's companion, she'd probably side with Ichigo as well.

Soifon growled, "You filthy traitors."

The community had been divided. On one side was Byakuya, defending Ichigo. Then there was Soifon's side, opposing him. Her side was outnumbered. She spun on her heel and stomped down the stairs to the living room. Nemu and Mayuri were next to leave, returning to the basement where Mayuri's makeshift lab was. Ganju then followed after Soifon like a lost duckling.

The remainder of the community stood around awkwardly, no one really sure of what to do after that exchange. Someone had to speak up, and that person was Byakuya.

"No doubt, this fight isn't over," he said calmly to the others, "I wouldn't put it past Soifon to at least verbally attack Kurosaki. We must keep the peace and reassure him that he belongs here."

The others nodded in agreement.

Byakuya swept a few stray hairs out of his face, "Now then, everyone get some rest. You've earned it. It has been a long day. I will take over the night shift tonight."


Ichigo had only regained his motor functions back moments after he returned to his room. He lay in his bed, curled up and cowering as far into a corner as he could drag himself. Whatever had been doing those things out there, it couldn't have been him.

He refused to believe it. He wasn't some… some monster with such basest desires. He didn't need human flesh to survive.

"What was that then?" seemed to be whispered from deep within the confines of his mind.

Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up!

There was a knock at his door, "Ichigo, can I come in?"

"Go away, Rukia," he rasped out.

"Ichigo, please don't be that way!"

"Go away! Why would you want to spend your time with a monster anyway? You all saw it. I'm not human," Ichigo scowled. He rolled over so that he was facing the corner.

The door creaked open. He could hear Rukia's soft footsteps walking over the threshold. The door closed.

"I thought I told you to leave," Ichigo protested more weakly this time. His voice was muffled by the wall he was speaking into.

Still she came closer until she reached a hand out to gently brush over his shoulder. Ichigo stiffened.

"Don't touch me!" he snapped.

Rukia pulled away, but only briefly. She laid her hand more firmly on his shoulder, "No."

Ichigo balked. He rolled over to face her with wide eyes, "'No'?! What do you mean, 'no'?!"

"You're not a monster, and you're not dangerous," she replied, unyielding. Her eyes were daring him to even try arguing again.

Ichigo sat up with a sigh, settling his back into the corner with Rukia sitting a mere foot away from him, "You don't understand, Rukia. I don't know if I can control it."

The short, black-haired girl crossed her arms over her chest, "You did a good enough job 'controlling' it out there. This is the first time we've had a break-in from the hordes and no casualties. Granted, it was a little creepy, but you saved us."

"It wasn't to save you though," Ichigo glared, hands curling into fists, "like I said, you don't understand. It could have easily been you guys I attacked if that break-in hadn't happened. I could barely think through this… this hunger."

"Yes, but you were assuming that there was no other way. You assumed you were like the rest of them, but you're not," she pointed out, "you're obviously still able to reason. Otherwise, you wouldn't be beating yourself up so much about it.

"You don't give yourself enough credit. Sure, you could have attacked one of us, but you didn't. You took it out on one of them, and now you know that you can do it to them instead. We just keep you fed, and you'll keep your wits about you. No problem."

Ichigo groaned, slamming his face into his pillow, "You're insufferable… how many others have adopted your crazy mindset?"

"Well, actually it was big brother's idea to take your side. He gave a big— and I mean really big— speech to the rest of us, and now everyone except Soifon, Ganju, and Kurotsuchi and his daughter are in agreement that you're on our side," she said with a triumphant little smile, her chest swelling with pride when she mentioned it was her brother who was first to take Ichigo's side.

"You're all fools," he replied dully. He hesitated before adding, "but I guess that's why I like you guys."

Rukia giggled, "That's the spirit!"


Ichigo was having second thoughts. Despite Rukia's reassurance, Ichigo wasn't so sure he could breathe easy just yet. The others who trusted him did so under the assumption he had enough control over himself not to snap without so much as a moment's notice. They had too much faith in him.

They didn't understand the hell being around them was putting him through, and too many of them were letting their guards down.

It was a dangerous game they were playing.

For now, his hunger was sated, but that didn't mean the members of the community stopped smelling like some kind of delectable smorgasbord.

In his mind, he knew he wasn't hungry, as his stomach wasn't bothering him. However, he was still experiencing gluttonous cravings. Urges to gorge himself on that which he didn't truly need.

It was a constant struggle to remind himself that, no, he could not take just one bite. That one teensy little bite would indeed hurt someone. Never before would he have thought he'd need to remind himself such a thing.

Ichigo was beginning to wonder if it was really such a good idea for him to stick around. Maybe Rukia and Byakuya shouldn't have stuck up for him. He should have let Soifon chase him out of the community. It wasn't like the hordes would attack him out there.

But then, what would happen to Karin?

That was the one thing tying him to this place. Karin needed him, right? She had nearly recovered, and there was no guarantee that the community would treat her well without him there to keep a watchful eye on them.

He'd have to stick around. For Karin's sake.


Later that day, after he'd managed to reign his emotions in a bit more, Ichigo went downstairs to visit Karin. As he entered, he saw Unohana finishing up taking her temperature.

"How is she?" he asked as he cautiously approached.

"She's nearly made a full recovery, but you could just ask her yourself," Unohana smiled, gesturing a hand toward the girl.

"Brother!" Karin called out, holding out her arms, expectant of a hug.

He had to humor her. One did not simply see Karin requesting a hug and refuse her. It was not done.

"I've been worried about you, Ichigo," she said as he wrapped his arms around her, "people have been coming and saying bad things about you. They aren't true, right?"

Ichigo pulled away. He saw the worry, and the trust in her eyes. She never believed he would do anything to hurt her. She was his sister. The most important thing in the world to him, and the only remaining member of his family.

He shook his head, "No, they're not true. Everything's okay, Karin."

He smiled at her, his eyes closed, because he knew his eyes wouldn't lie.


The moment he closed the lab door behind himself, he was cornered by the last four people he wanted to see…

Soifon, Ganju, Mayuri, and Nemu.

"Why are you still here?" Soifon demanded, somehow managing to pull off a pose where she was staring down her nose at him despite the fact she was significantly shorter than he was.

"Don't we all have the right to be here as survivors?" he asked.

She crossed her arms, her nose wrinkling a little, "Don't try to sell me that crap. You know better than all of us that you're no Survivor. You may have the others fooled, but not us."

Ichigo wasn't even sure why he bothered defending himself. It wasn't as if she was telling him something new. However, there was still Karin, and besides that, he wanted to leave on his own terms.

"I've never even been bitten," he argued, "not once."

"Oh yeah? And I'm sure that eating the flesh of one of those fuckers will do wonders for you. No normal human being does that," she countered, a sneer setting on her face, "how dare you call yourself one of us?"

He was clearly not getting anywhere with Soifon. As such, he turned his attention on Mayuri, "I know we've had our differences, but I hardly expected you to want to get rid of me."

"Oh, I wouldn't have wanted to get rid of you, and truth be told, I still want to experiment on you," he said, grinning widely with his too flat fake looking teeth, "but you just had to bring in that doctor bitch, and she kicked me out of my own lab!"

"Have you ever considered that the reason you've been kicked out has nothing to do with her being a bitch and everything to do with you being a fucked up piece of work who gets his rocks off by carrying out inhumane experiments?" Ichigo asked pointedly.

Soifon and Ganju both grimaced at the openly mentioned topic of Mayuri's experiments. No one really liked talking about that mess. If there was anything the two of them and Ichigo could all agree on, it was how psychologically wrong Mayuri was. The only one who supported his habit was Nemu, and that was mostly due to obligation because of biological relations. He was her father, after all.

The smile dropped from Mayuri's face, "You dare insult my research?!"

"You can hardly call what you do 'research', clown face," Ichigo replied easily.

Mayuri took a threatening step forward, "I'll carve you into pieces!"

"I'd like to see you try," Ichigo laughed.

"You'll eat those words—" Mayuri was saying as he took another step forward, just as Soifon, Ganju, and Nemu all grabbed a hold of him and held him back. He struggled fiercely, his mad eyes set on Ichigo, "Unhand me! Unhand me this instant!"

"Mayuri, step off! We don't need a fight here!" Soifon ground out, jerking the man a step back.

"Yeah, man, don't you see the crazy glint in his eyes? That's exactly what he wants!" Ganju added.

Ichigo hadn't even realized he was making such an expression. He slowly blinked, dropping the manic smirk that had somehow found its way on his visage.

"I don't care," Mayuri snapped, driving an elbow at Ganju. The man took the hit to the gut, winced a little, but held strong. Mayuri tugged more wildly to no avail, "I'll show him his place!"

"Leave, Kurosaki!" Soifon ordered, nodding her head in the direction of a small space to their side. It was just wide enough for him to run past without touching any of them.

He briefly considered sticking around to see how long it would take before Mayuri broke free and attacked him, because he couldn't think of many better things than a good excuse to rip Mayuri apart—

—but that wasn't the way he was going to operate. He shook the thoughts out of his mind.

Before he could do something incredibly stupid, he darted through the opening and up the stairs. From the kitchen, he could still hear Mayuri shouting for him to come back and fight like a man.

Rukia raised a brow, a small smirk trying to tug at one side of her lips, "What crawled up his ass and died?"

Ichigo snorted, "Him? I insulted his research," he said, making air quotes with his fingers.


From that point henceforth, Mayuri seemed to be making it his life's goal to torment Ichigo. Every time he turned around, the creepy man was leering at him from around a corner like some kind of stalker. Ichigo wasn't particularly scared or anything (it wasn't like he couldn't handle Mayuri all on his own), but that didn't mean the guy didn't creep him out.

Time and time again, he wondered why they kept him around. Then again, a select few people wondered the very same thing about him lately, he was sure.

Granted, Ichigo was a monster by circumstance, and there was no way he could foresee, nor control that matter.

Mayuri was a monster of his own design.


Late afternoon, or perhaps early evening a day or so later, they had an unexpected arrival.

There was a commotion in the mud room. A few members of the community had rushed to the front door to greet him.

Ichigo heard a cheer of, "He's back! Kenpachi's back!"

That was Ikkaku. He and Yumichika had always looked up to the man. Until recently, Zaraki Kenpachi had been away, 'thinning out the hordes', as he called it. No one knew whether his ventures were ever successful, but the fact remained that he always returned unscathed.

The man was terrifying in his own right, and Ichigo was just thankful that Kenpachi hadn't been one of the ones to be turned. No doubt, he'd be ten times scarier as one of them.

The man himself came marching in the living room and plopped down on the one ratty couch they had. A peculiar little girl with pink hair slid off his shoulder and onto his lap. Ichigo had never seen her before.

"Who's that you got there?" he asked, gesturing vaguely toward the small girl.

Her eyes were bright, wide, and curious as she eagerly took in her surroundings. She seemed a little shy, but considering the fact they were in an apocalyptic situation, that was a given. She seemed to have warmed up to Kenpachi, as odd as that notion was.

"Huh?" Kenpachi had only just noticed Ichigo's presence. He pointed down at the girl, "Her? This here's Yachiru. Found her in a junkyard. Thought I'd keep her."

"Uh… like a pet…?" Ichigo asked, unsure. That was certainly what Kenpachi had made it sound like from the way he spoke.

"Yeah, why?" his expression and tone were both deadpan. He was serious.

Ichigo really didn't want to be the one to break it to him that small children weren't pets. So he didn't.

"N-no reason! She's pretty cute. Anyway, I gotta go," he said quickly, attempting to make his escape.

"Ichigo."

He nervously backpedaled, turning to look at Kenpachi. The man looked so serious all of a sudden. He'd been serious before, but this was a more grave kind of serious. Ichigo gulped. A sweat drop dripped down from his temple. Kenpachi was even scarier when he was like this.

"My men tell me something interesting happened during my absence… that it involved you. Would you happen to know about that?" he went on.

His expression was daring Ichigo to even think of lying. Ichigo swore up and down that he could see a dark, oppressive aura coming off the man in droves.

"It would appear that I'm… not quite… human," Ichigo replied.

He didn't lie. Kenpachi was no dog, but he could sniff out a bad lie in an instant. Besides, someone was bound to tell him sooner or later. Better to hear it from the horse's mouth.

"I see… then tell me, what are you now?" Kenpachi asked calmly.

Ichigo didn't know whether it was a blessing or a curse that Kenpachi was taking the news in stride. The man was like a sleeping dragon, waiting for the moment something exciting awoke him and piqued his interest. The orangette dreaded being that interesting something.

"I'm not entirely sure," he answered eventually, "I'm still mostly me, and I'm not a human, nor am I a zombie. Not completely, anyway."

"Oh?"

Ichigo did not like the glint in Kenpachi's one visible eye. He prayed the dragon would sleep another day.

"Yeah," he said, "you can get the specifics from one of the others, I'm sure," he then faked a yawn, "I'm beat. I'm gonna go to bed now."

Kenpachi's eyes narrowed. After a moment, he sighed softly through his nose, "... Okay. That's not a bad idea. I'm a little tired myself. We'll speak more tomorrow."

Ichigo nodded. He didn't have the option of saying no. They lived in the same house.

It was an agreement Ichigo wasn't eager to make, but one he'd end up keeping nonetheless.


In the morning, he avoided entering the kitchen for as long as physically possible. It wasn't as if he wasn't going to make good on his promise, but that didn't mean he wouldn't procrastinate until the last minute.

Eventually though, someone would come into his bedroom to rouse him and declare that he was 'burning daylight' by sleeping in bed all morning.

So it was with much reluctance and regret that he left the warm confines of his bed to wander downstairs to the kitchen. Kenpachi was already there, ripping into jerky that he'd found God knew where. Every so often, he'd tear off a piece and give it to Yachiru, who was sitting on the table rather than a chair. She thankfully didn't have nearly the voracious appetite as Kenpachi, it would seem.

As Ichigo sat uncomfortably in a chair across the table from Kenpachi, the man looked up.

"So you finally decided to show up. I was beginning to wonder."

"Shut it," Ichigo grumbled, "I fully intended to make an appearance. My bed was just particularly comfortable today."

"Sure it was," Zaraki grinned. His face went grim, "now then, Ikkaku says you devoured one of the undead."

Kenpachi's expression was an indiscernible mask of indifference. Ichigo couldn't tell what the man was thinking, how he may react. It wasn't a good position for him to be in.

"And if I said it was true?" he anxiously asked.

A slow grin crawled its way back across Kenpachi's face. From the looks of it, he'd learned what he wanted to know. "Nothing. Just curious."

Ichigo's eye twitched. All that dread for nothing.

"What?" the man laughed heartily. "You thought I'd try to fight you or kick you out of here or something? Nah."

Ichigo sighed, his shoulders drooping, "Well, I mean, you wouldn't be the first person. Soifon's been trying to get me kicked out of the community ever since I arrived, and she only got worse after… that."

Kenpachi shrugged, nonchalantly replying, "That's none of my business. I just like having a good fight. But I understand you're an asset," he took a chomp of his jerky.

He was about to say something to Kenpachi when there came a scream from the basement.

That could only mean one thing.

"Karin!" he shouted. He was halfway to the stairs before he knew he'd leaped out of his seat.

Running down the stairs as fast as he could, Ichigo made his way to the lab.

He threw open the door that had been slightly ajar.

There, standing in the center of the room was Mayuri, holding Karin against him with an arm wrapped around her neck. She clawed at his arm, but it was of no use.

Unohana lay on the floor, by the toppled over office chair she'd been using to navigate the room. She was motionless, and Ichigo prayed to any higher power out there that was still listening to this damned world that the woman wasn't dead.

However, this was not the time to be concerned about the doctor. His sister was being held hostage, and he was beginning to see red as he glared at the mad scientist.

"Let her go," he growled lowly.

"No."

He caught the glint of something in the man's hand before he fully registered what he was pulling out, and Ichigo was already instinctively pulling out a hidden blade from up his sleeve. It was a close call as Mayuri whipped out a syringe, but in a mere two seconds, he was dropping the tool as a blade bit into his hand.

Ichigo didn't give him time to think. He rushed forward, ripping the man away from his sister and throwing him to the floor. Karin collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath.

Ichigo only barely registered that she was still alive before he'd thrown himself upon the mad scientist and slammed a flurry of fists into his face.

That was when the scent hit him. It was sweet, aromatic, like fresh honey, but in the back of his mind he knew it to be blood.

He froze as his eyes went wide with the shock of it. His stomach gave a violent, unmistakable growl. The hunger was upon him in an instant. It had come out of nowhere.

His mouth was pooling with saliva as the hunger roared within him, clamoring to be sated. There was food right in front of him, it insisted.

Rip. Tear. Devour.

Devour him.

But he was human! Ichigo couldn't eat a human!

No one will miss him. He's a monster. You've said so yourself.

The hunger whispered darkly to him, rationalizing a beastly deed for the sake of its own fulfillment.

Maybe… maybe it would be fine…

Just one bite.

It wouldn't hurt anyone…

Ichigo was unconsciously leaning forward. Unbeknownst to him, his eyes had taken on an eerie, unnatural orange, nearly red glow.

Devour him.

Mayuri was unable to look away from the captivating stare of the apex predator that loomed above him. He did not believe in fear, but somehow, he could not move. His limbs refused to obey him.

Ichigo's tongue was then laving up the column of his throat. The teen nearly keened at the flavor. He'd always imagined that if he ever became a zombie, the mad scientist would be the last person he'd try to eat. He'd always imagined the man would taste stale, or off, or something. But he didn't. The taste was just as glorious as he could have imagined any of the other humans to be.

And Mayuri wasn't a friend.

Mayuri wasn't a friend.

Devour him.

He didn't want to eat his friends, but if Mayuri wasn't a friend, it was okay to eat him, right? He'd attacked his sister, after all.

It was only right. He'd be doing everyone a favor. His sister would be safe.

Devour.

There came a pitiful voice from right behind him, "I-Ichigo…?"

Karin.

"Wh-what are you d-doing, Ichigo?"

Like a whiplash, Ichigo came back to his senses. As the full ramifications of what he'd been about to do came to his mind, he cried out and threw himself as far away from Mayuri as possible.

He'd been about to…

… to…

He wiped furiously with the back of his hand at the saliva that had been dripping down his chin. He couldn't believe he'd nearly done something like that. He'd even convinced himself that he'd be justified.

Ichigo felt like he was going to be sick. He knew he wouldn't be, because his stomach was growling painfully to remind him that it was still quite empty.

He had been about to devour him, and Karin hadn't even been sitting two feet away.

He'd nearly given his only remaining family a front row seat to him eating Kurotsuchi Mayuri alive.

"... Ichigo…?"

He couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye. She'd been the one person he truly wanted to protect. The only person he never wanted to see him like this, and he'd been successful in doing so for all but two days. Hardly even that.

Ichigo stood in a hurry, still not making eye contact, "I need to go," he stated, rushing past the now gathering crowd of people in the lab.

The others were still trying to make sense of what happened, and so they hadn't made a move to stop him.

Karin called out after him, but he didn't come back. The remaining members of the community were left to puzzle together just what had transpired.

Byakuya stared down at Mayuri, who'd soiled himself at some point and was still sprawled out on the floor with a knife in his right hand. The mad scientist was still frozen, staring blindly forward, as if he didn't even realize Ichigo wasn't there anymore.

The others around him were rushing about to pick up the mess that had been made of the lab. Someone was helping up the now conscious Unohana, and another was helping Karin back onto the gurney. People were speaking among one another in hushed tones, looks of fear, confusion, and worry only a few of the emotions he saw among the crowd.

His fingers trembled gently at his side. He felt a chill run down the line of his spine, setting goosebumps across his skin.

Byakuya was beginning to wonder if he'd truly made the right decision, standing up for Ichigo the day before.


Author's Note: Love it? Hated it? Want to set in on fire and watch the thing burn? Whatever you think of it, please let me know in a review! Also, feel free to ask questions. They help fuel the next chapter and sometimes give me ideas when I'm running a little low on inspiration.

Until next time!