Universe: Bleach
Parings: ShiroXIchigo, RenjiXRukia, One-Sided AizenXIchigo
Spoilers: Soul Society, Hueco Mundo and Fake Karakura
Genre: Adventure, Action, Humour
Disclaimer: Bleach is owned by Tite Kubo
Warnings: Swearing, Violence, Swords, Blood and also mild Romance.
Author's Note:
Adopted from Little White Comet! Enjoy my version of Double Hearted.
Damn am I lucky! It wasn't until I realized that I saved my documents on another flashdrive that I was so pissed off to miss my two week deadline. I was freaking out and trying to re-type chapter 2, and I found it on a different flashdrive than I usually use! So, read on and thank the heavens I still had it!
Double Hearted
Chapter 2:
Separation: Living Gets Harder
"That wasn't supposed to happen." Shiro murmured, looking down at himself. "I knew you would absorb more than necessary, Aibou, but it wasn't supposed to separate us." Ichigo hummed in agreement, sheathing his sword on his back. He looked back over to where Rukia was sitting, having been blown back by the sudden release of spiritual power. His eyes widened in alarm, and he rushed over to her.
"Rukia! You shouldn't be up! Lay down, lay down! You'll make your wounds worse!" Ichigo ushered the girl into a laying position, holding his hands above her wounds.
"Who is that? The man who looks like you. Where did he come from?" she asked, pushing the teen's hands away. "And what are you doing?" Ichigo scowled and slapped the girl's hands away.
"Stop it. I'm trying to fix you up! Swatting me away like that will only make this harder." Rukia stopped and blinked at him, making his eyes narrow in annoyance. He reached up and pressed a point on her neck, forcing her body to go limp. "There! Now I can work without interruption!" He placed his hands back over her wounds and focused his reiatsu to his hands, causing them to glow a light blue.
Rukia looked on from an awkward angle, amazed a human could do healing Kidō. 'I thought it was strange that a mere human with no spiritual power could see me. I guess he was just hiding his presence.' She glanced over at Shiro, as he was standing right behind her one-time healer. Her eyes narrowed in thought. 'Considering how much they look alike and how their Zanpakutō are so close in appearance, I'd say he was originally part of Ichigo's soul. The question now is how did he get out?'
Lost in thought, she almost missed Ichigo saying, "All done!" The teen stood up and brushed his hands against the fabric of his hakama. "You've used up a lot of your natural reiatsu reserves. I suggest getting a Gigai for the remainder of the time you'll be here. You should be just… f-fine." It was about that time Ichigo's eyelids fluttered and his legs gave out from under him. Shiro caught him before he hit the ground, worry and annoyance clear in his eyes.
Gaining feeling in her limbs once more, Rukia pushed herself up to gaze at the orange-haired teen worriedly. "Is he–?" she started to ask before being interrupted by the white being.
"Baka! Ya used up a lot of reiatsu, too." Shiro growled, slowly settling the two of them on the ground. Ichigo carefully brought a trembling hand up to cover his eyes, trying to stop the spinning world around him.
"That may also be because this is the first time out of his human body, right? This happens to all recently dead souls." Rukia explained. Ichigo groaned his agreement, having known about such a symptom since he first started training under the perverted shopkeeper. And speaking of, he could feel the blond's reiatsu only a few feet away, even though it was hidden.
"You can come out now, Kisuke-san. How long have you been there in the shadows?" Ichigo sighed, and the shopkeeper stepped out into the street.
"What ever could you mean, Ichigo-san? I haven't been standing there since that Hollow showed up waiting to offer Kuchiki-san a glitched Gigai. What ever do you mean?" the blond denied, faking a laugh. Shiro growled at the irritating shopkeeper.
"You're pushing it, Geta-bōshi." the pale Hollow warned darkly, tightening his hold on the orange-haired Shinigami. Urahara tilted his hat down to shade his eyes and smiled at the group.
"Always a pleasure, 'Shiro-chan." the pale-haired shopkeeper teased.
"Urusai, Oji-Baka*" Shiro growled, releasing his Aibou as the orange-haired twin struggled to get up. (*Shut up, stupid old man.)
Rukia blinked in confusion, glancing between the Hollow and the exiled Shinigami. Belatedly, she realized the only way that Urahara could have talked to the Hollow was if he had taken over Ichigo's soul previously.
"Now then, Kuchiki-san, how about that Gigai?" the blond shopkeeper asked. The nearly-powerless Shinigami noble glanced at the man warily before standing up slowly. Nodding, she soundlessly moved to stand behind the shopkeeper.
"What about the white Ichigo?" the noble questioned, glancing at the two twins. Urahara put on his 'thinking face' and grinned at the two Deathberries.
"Yes, now what to do about our little Shiro-chan." the Hollow growled loudly at the scrutiny he was put under, and Ichigo sighed. This is going to be a pain to explain later on.
Saturday, May 24th, 10 a.m.
Ichigo sighed softly as he snuggled closer to his pillow. It was harder than usual, and moved in rhythm with his own even breathing. Something ran through his hair, and he sighed in sleepy pleasure. There was a pounding rhythm in the background, and he cracked his eye open in annoyance as his pillow rolled off his bed and his father burst into the room.
"GOOD MORNING, ICHIGO!" his boisterous father howled as he tackled the oldest Kurosaki child out of bed. Ichigo growled before kicking his father where it counts and pinning him to the floor. His brown eyes were still hazed in a foggy wakefulness.
"You bastard… You've got some nerve to attack your only son as he sleeps! What kind of parent are you?" Ichigo huffed as he released his father. He blinked the rest of his sleepy mind awake as he gazed at the old goat he called his father. Last night's events flooded his mind instantly. "How are the girls?"
Suddenly serious with a lack of pain from the demoralizing blow, Isshin glanced at his only son and shrugged. "What are you talking about?" the dark haired man asked. "If you mean to ask if they were hurt from the truck that crashed into the house, then they are fine. No one got hurt, and surprisingly, no one woke up!" Ichigo frowned at his father, wondering when the old man would tell him he was a Shinigami. He sighed, something he's been doing a lot in the recent past.
"Whatever Oyaji. Now get out of my room so I can get changed." He kicked the old man out of his room, closing his door on his father and flipping the lock. 'My Tō-san is such an idiot.' he sighed, briefly pondering about whether or not his mental connection with Shiro was still in place. Said albino stood up from where he had rolled off the bed, startling the crap out of Ichigo.
"You can say that again, Aibou." the albino growled, rubbing at the back of his head tenderly. Ichigo gasped and fell back against his closet, pointing at the carbon copy.
"S-Shiro! What the hell?" he asked (Read: shrieked) as he clutched at his black long-sleeved shirt he didn't remember putting on.
"No time for questions. Get dressed, Aibou. We're already late for class*." Conveniently, Ichigo completely missed Shiro's use of the word 'we'. (*Will explain at end of chapter.)
10:45 a.m.
"He might not come today." Ichigo heard as he strolled up to the classroom. "Ichigo, that is." That was Mizuiro, one of Ichigo's friends he had made at the beginning of the school year.
"Kojima-kun!" That was Orihime, a busty, auburn-haired beauty (from other students point-of-view. Personally, Ichigo didn't care for looks, or gender, to be brutally honest.) that shared a mutual friend with the orange-haired teenager.
"What're you talking about?" Speaking of, that was Tatsuki, a childhood friend of Ichigo's and Orihime's best friend. "Wait, you walk to school with Ichigo everyday. What happened?" Ichigo slid the door open, roaming the classroom with his eyes until he spotted the group of friends talking about him.
"I went by this morning and found a huge gaping hole in the side of his house. Kurosaki-sensei* said that a truck had crashed into it during the night." Ichigo scoffed, walking towards the group. (*Kurosaki-sensei is the same thing as saying Dr. Kurosaki.)
"WHAT? Is he okay?" Tatsuki asked, worried for her childhood friend. "Was he hurt? Or worse, is he dea-?" Having enough of it, Ichigo swung his bag up and into the dark-haired girl's head, interrupting her worrying.
"Sorry to disappoint, but I'm still in one piece, and so is everyone else." The relief on the two girls' faces was very noticeable. Turning to Mizuiro, he asked, "What's 3rd period?" Mizuiro was about to answer, before Ichigo was suddenly tackled out of his seat by a white blur.
"Ichi! You left without me!" His once-inner-now-outer Hollow wailed falsely, squeezing his orange-haired twin.
"S-S-Shiro! What are you doing here?" he asked the albino twin.
"What do you think?" the pale Hollow scoffed, glancing over at his twin. "Our stupid uncle is forcing me to come to school with you while we're in town." he lied, mentally telling Ichigo they'd talk with the midget later. Confused, Ichigo looked up to see Rukia standing there, a sweet smile on her face.
"So you must be Kurosaki-kun, right?" She held out her hand, her smile sickeningly sweet. "It is a pleasure to meet you." On her palm was written, Say something, and I'll kill you slowly. Wisely, Ichigo decided to say nothing besides,
"Yeah, a pleasure."
Saturday, June 7th, 7:37 p.m.
"This is so boring!" Shiro whined as he brought his reverse Zanpakutō down on the head of the Hollow he was fighting. Ichigo landed next to him, sheathing his Zanpakutō with a 'click' as the Hollow disappeared.
"We've gotta deal with it, Shi. You know what will happen if they find out Rukia isn't doing her job." The two teens frowned at the thought.
"This has Geta-bōshi written all over it." Shiro grumbled as he followed suit and sheathed his Zanpakutō.
"Just be glad that he's not making you work at the shop in payment for that Gigai you've been using." Speaking of, Shiro slipped into said faux body just as Ichigo slid into his. Shiro was wearing Ichigo's 'Nice Vibe' T-shirt, a pair of dark skinny jeans, and a pair of black high-top converse. Ichigo was wearing a long-sleeved shirt with 'Speaking is NOT communication' written across the front, a pair of white-washed jeans, and a pair of Nike sneakers.
Both had promised the crazy shopkeeper they'd make it look like the midget Shinigami was doing her job while she recovered the little amount of reiatsu she lost.
"Why can't Kuchiki help us out? She still has the majority of her Shinigami powers, doesn't she?" the albino asked. Ichigo yawned and leaned up against his counterpart. He was so tired after chasing after Hollows day and night. Keeping his human life in balance with his Shinigami life was getting very hard even though he had only be at it for a week. Neither teen had been getting any sleep, and it was starting to show with their short tempers.
"You know the answer to that, Shiro." Ichigo yawned again, rubbing at his eyes. "Let's get home, I'm in major need of a nap."
Shiro sighed and wrapped an arm around the other, guiding him towards the park exit. What a perfect place for Hollows to appear.
"Kurosaki-kun! Shirosaki-kun!" The two boys had to stop and turn at the sound of their names being called. Inoue Orihime was running towards them, a yellow floral skirt around her waist and a purple button-down blouse stretched over her impressive bust.
Ichigo pulled away from the pale teen, a cute almost-pout on his face. "Ah, hey Inoue." he muttered awkwardly. Shiro sighed at his ex-host and nodded at the auburn haired girl before looking away. The trio started to walk once more, talking all the while.
"Fancy meeting you here, in the park of all places." the girl giggled, twisting her hands around the plastic shopping bag she held. "So, what were you guys doing?" Ichigo faltered in his steps before rubbing at his left shoulder with his right hand.
"We were just out for a walk. What about you?" he asked, ignoring how Shiro sighed.
The pale Hollow had never like the female to begin with. Something about her didn't sit right with him, and he considered the other a threat to his 'King'. He ignored the unsettling feeling, however, as he stepped closer to the orange-haired teen.
"I was just doing some dinner shopping. Sweet bread with wasabi and bean paste, a side of buttery onion-tossed bananas, and gelatin on chocolate ice cream for dessert!" Both boys went green at the thought of eating that. It was then that Ichigo noticed the bandage around the upper part of the girl's arm.
"What happened to your arm?" he asked, pointing at the girl's left arm. Shiro growled under his breath.
"Oh this? I was run over." the ditzy girl chirped. Shiro snickered, bursting into laughter at the glare Ichigo sent him for doing so.
"Run over? You mean by a car?"
"What else could she be run over by? A bike?" Shiro snickered over their mental link. Orihime began to retell last night's events, Shiro laughing quietly in the background. When he calmed down enough, he glanced down, seeing the bruise that marked up the girl's left leg as well.
"–be angrier!" he heard Ichigo shout. He ignored the conversation, looking at the bruise. It didn't feel right…
"That's a nasty bruise you got there." he said, startling the two redheads. Orihime jolted back, looking down at her leg as well.
"This? I had it last night, so it must've been from when that car hit me." Brown eyes narrowed.
"Can I take a look?" Ichigo asked. Orihime blushed as he got down on one knee to look at the mark. He scowled at the chilling feel he got from it now that he was closer. "It looks painful." he commented after a while. Orihime gasped.
"Now that you mention it, it hurts worse than my arm."
"Has someone taken a look at that yet? You need to go see a doctor!" Orihime stuttered at his show of concern, blushing soon after. "Why does that make you blush?" the orange-haired teen asked confused. Shiro snorted from behind him, shaking his head at the other teen's naivety.
"Oh my! Look at the time!" Orihime cried out as she looked down at her watch. Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest, blinking at the girl.
"In a hurry?" he asked as the girl ran ahead of them.
"Yes! Laugh Hour is almost on, and I need to prepare some tea for when Tatsuki-chan comes over later."
"Okay then. Be careful, Inoue." The girl waved the affirmative, and rushed away. When she turned the corner, Ichigo turned back and laid his head against his partner's shoulder with a weary sigh. "Did'ya feel tha'?" the teen slurred sleepily. Shiro nodded as he guided the other home.
"Her wounds reeked of Hollow."
Ichigo groaned as he stepped into his house. "Rukia!" he called as he kicked off his shoes by the door. The twins had both gone with his father to a business meeting and wouldn't be back for a couple of days. Until then, Rukia was sleeping in his sister's room.
Shiro sighed as he closed the door behind him and followed Ichigo up the stairs. "That midget better not be in our closet again."
Pushing open the door with the number '15' on it, the two boys stopped short when they saw Rukia sitting on their bed. A black marker was in her hand, and Ichigo's second favorite T-shirt was on her lap. It wasn't hard to tell what the girl had been doing while they were gone.
"Damn it! I told you to stop drawing on my clothes!" Ichigo screamed, tearing the fabric away from her.
"It's not my fault your clothes are so bland!" She kicked Ichigo in the knee, causing him to tumble back into his albino partner. Shiro growled as he sat Ichigo down on the bed, advancing on the black haired Shinigami.
"Don't. Do. That. Ever. Again." he snarled, flicking the girl in the head. Rukia shivered at the malicious feel of the other's reiatsu. She cleared her throat, and the pale teen backed away.
"Anyway, what is it that you wanted to tell me?" she asked, watching the albino as he poked the area she had kicked. She winced as Ichigo yelped and bit his lip. She hadn't meant to kick him that hard. Okay, maybe she had.
"Inoue Orihime is being targeted by a Hollow." Shiro scowled, pouring his reiatsu into the abused spot to heal it. Ichigo smiled up at him shortly, before turning back to the other person in the room.
"What?" Rukia gasped, looking at the two. Ichigo extended his leg testily, and told the older girl about the incident earlier at the park.
"She said she was hit by a car, but the bruise on her leg was covered in Hollow reiatsu." he finished. Rukia narrowed her eyes as she placed her hand on her chin.
"Does Inoue have any dead relatives?" she asked, glancing back over at the two. Ichigo nodded slowly, and Shiro kept silent.
"Yeah, one. Her older brother, Sora." Rukia blinked, urging Ichigo to continue on. "Three years ago, she came to the clinic with her older brother on her back. I remember it so clearly, since I was the one who opened the door. There had been a car accident down on the corner street. He died before the ambulance came to bring him to the hospital."
"Three years? That should be… You said she was being targeted by a Hollow, right?" Both boys froze, and looked at her with wide eyes. Shiro began to growl as what she was implying registered in his mind.
"You can't mean…" Ichigo started to say, swallowing thickly. Rukia looked at the two with a serious look in her blue-violet eyes.
"Inoue Sora has turned into a Hollow and is going after the soul of Inoue Orihime."
Inoue Orihime found herself confused and afraid.
At first, she was having dinner with her best friend Tatsuki-chan. They were chatting and laughing while watching tv. Then, her favorite stuffed bear tore, and everything went black.
When she woke up again, there were two 'Tatsuki-chan's. One Tatsuki-chan was slumped over in the corner, blood dripping down the side of her face, while the other was staring at herself halfway across the room.
Just like Tatsuki-chan, she was also staring at another 'her' across the room. There was a chain connecting the two 'Tatsuki-chan's and the two 'her's together, and a giant snake-like monster hovered over her.
And then, the giant monster is claiming to know her. When it was about to attack her, it was stopped by two opposite swords, which brings her to the next, and final, point.
Both her Prince Charming, Kurosaki Ichigo, and the new transfer student, Shirosaki Hishiro, stood in front of her, two identical, yet completely different colored swords in their hands. Both were wearing black samurai outfits.
Even with her wild imagination, Orihime had to admit to herself that this was a bit too far.
Ichigo was knocked out of her apartment, and then the monster spat something at him that made him scream in pain and drop his sword. Hishiro-kun got angry, and sliced the monster down in one swing.
"I'll take care of clean-up, as usual." Kuchiki Rukia-san sighed from the door.
Yeah, Kuchiki-san was there too, in yellow pajamas. She held out a small candy dispenser-looking thing, and pressed a button. There was a flash of light and a little 'boing' sound of a tightly coiled spring.
Orihime blinked a couple of times before her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and she fainted.
Tuesday, June 10th, 10:23 a.m.
Chad couldn't see what was going on. All he knew was that Ichigo was passed out on the ground, unmoving. The two transfer students were standing next to him, staring at something. They seemed to know what was going on, despite standing next to an unconscious teen.
When asked what happened to the orange-haired teen, the albino transfer student cradled the unconscious teen in his arms before telling the giant to take the bird and Ichigo and hide in a safe place. The other transfer student said Ichigo was in the middle of a battle, but that made no sense. The teen was right there in his arms, clearly not fighting.
There was an explosion, and Chad stood off to the side after setting Ichigo down in a safe place under the watchful eyes of the pale student. It made him wonder what the connection between the two was.
Then everything was quiet. The transfer students were talking with the parakeet, Shibata Yūichi, about some place called 'Soul Society'. He didn't understand any of this, so he stayed quiet, like always. Yūichi agreed to something, Chad didn't know what, before turning his head to look at him.
The 'cursed' parakeet thanked him for everything, and for a second, he could have swore he saw the after image of a little curly haired boy smiling at him. He made a request, one he hoped he could keep, before the intelligence that was once in the bird's eyes disappeared with the 'cursed soul'.
"Bye, Yūichi." he rumbled quietly.
Tuesday, June 17th
"You insufferable, cowardly, regret-less bastard!" Ichigo snarled as he swung his Zanpakutō down on the Hollow's flank, the purifying metal sinking deep into fur-covered skin. The Grand Fisher gave of a pained scream, clawing at the orange-haired Shinigami.
Ichigo growled again, his teeth gritted as he reveled in the pain he was causing the soulless murderer.
"Do you feel that? Take that pain and multiply that by one hundred, and you don't even have half of what my family felt as you tore apart my mother! Remember that pain, I'll give it to you tri-fold!" Ichigo screamed, rain pouring from the sky and mixing with his tears. "I'll kill you… I'll kill you! You don't deserve mercy for what you have done!"
The pure white blade sliced across clumps of fur, tearing off chunks of the connected skin. Dark blood smeared across the orange-haired teen's face.
Shiro kept both himself and Rukia silent and still as his orange-haired twin tore apart the Hollow currently trying to run away. Despite the fact he had promised Ichigo they'd take on the Hollow together, Ichigo's pride was on the line, and the pale twin had no right to interfere.
If he hadn't been expecting for Ichigo to fight with so much anger and hate clouding his usually sensible mind, he, too, would have been shocked at the amount of gore the teenager was creating. It didn't help that the Grand Fisher was stupid enough to try and defeat the enraged teen with the image of the boy's mother. Surely, if, at this point in time, Ichigo had not been as severely injured as he was, the Grand Fisher would be dead.
"You can't kill me, boy! You can't hurt your precious 'Kaa-chan'!" With those parting words, the Masaki-look alike launched into the air and disappeared, drawing out outrageous screams from the orange-haired Shinigami below.
"You bastard! Get back here! This fight isn't over…!" Shiro ran over to his counterpart, holding the weakening teen back from going after the Hollow.
"It is over, Ichi. He's gone, the fight has ended." Ichigo still struggled, but only barely, to weak for anything stronger.
"Not yet!" Ichigo cried out, clutching at his partner's clothes. "He's not dead yet! I haven't avenged her!" His knees gave out as his voice broke off into sobs, and Shiro lowered the two of them gently to the ground. The wounds were bleeding out horribly, causing the orange-haired teen to look paler then normal. Tears streamed down his cheeks, washing away with the rain.
"I-I haven't avenged her!" Shiro held tight to his twin, smoothing out his hair. "W-why? Why was I so weak that I couldn't save her memory? Save her on that day? Why?"
Ichigo buried his face into Shiro's black kimono and screamed out in pure agony, half in mental pain, half in physical. Shiro wrapped his arms around the boy in his lap, shushing him and humming to him like his mother would.
It was the only thing he could do at a time like this.
Like I promised, I'll explain to you the whole 'School-on-a-Saturday' thing. In Japan, schools have the choice of five-days-a-week or five-and-a-half-days-a-week education systems. Monday-Friday, and then a half of Saturday. Also, the Japanese school years starts differently from ours here in America. In Japan, school starts in April, and ends in March. Along with a 'longer school year', the Japanese also have longer breaks. They usually have the last two weeks of July off and all of August off for Summer break. They get the same two-weeks-off Winter break, and a month long Spring break in March, signaling the end of the schools' trimester terms.