A/N: Here's the second chapter! Now, I have to tell you guys that updates ARE going to be irregular, but I will try to make it so that you will not have to wait more than three weeks. Keyword: TRY. Oh, and try to keep me motivated! I have a meager goal of about five to ten reviews per chapter, so if you like the story then PLEASE leave a review. Even if you don't, tell me where to improve. I know that I definitely need some of the latter since this my first attempt at any sort of fictional writing. Okay then, enough ranting! Time for chapter two!

Our orange-haired substitute was having a difficult time sleeping that night. No, no…. that would be an understatement. Sleeping peacefully after such a day is a feat no one could pull off. Ichigo was staring blankly at the television while some guy named Vince was telling him how amazing ShamWow was. After toying with the idea of a zanpakutou-ShamWow hybrid (Shampakutou anyone?) he decided it would be best to get some fresh air to clear his head.

He walked up the stairs and quietly snuck into his room. Luckily, Rukia was still asleep in his bed. Ichigo went over to his desk and grabbed the jacket he had draped over the chair. He took one last glance at the sleeping Soul Reaper before leaving.

"What the hell ever happened to normal days?" he murmured to himself as he walked out the front door.

True, nothing has been normal for him since that fateful mid-May night, but he had grown accustomed to his new lifestyle.

As he wandered aimlessly around the streets of Karakura, he attempted to make sense of what had transpired that day, and organize a to-do list for the weekend.

Let's see…first I need to go see Urahara about the arrancar that showed up. Maybe I should also check why it came with such a puny hollow…ah, whatever. That part was probably just a coincidence anyway.

He walked past Inoue's apartment and vaguely wondered what she had been up to lately since things had settled down and no one was currently being kidnapped.

Alright, second thing…who do I ask about my hollow? While it has been a bit more active since my fight with Ulquiorra, it hasn't really interfered with my fighting…I guess I'll just tell Urahara and see if he sends me back to the Vizards…

Ichigo looked up when he heard a convenience store's door open and saw none other than the perverted shopkeeper himself and his trademark striped hat walking out with a black cat in tow.

"Hey! Urahara!" Ichigo shouted as he ran up to the man.

"Why hello there, Kurosaki-san! What are you doing out at such an early hour?" Urahara replied as he turned and opened his fan in front of his face.

"I could ask you the same thing. Mind telling me why you're shopping at a competitor's store so late?"

The cat sitting next to Urahara's feet answered. "Kisuke and I were just purchasing some much needed items that his shop doesn't carry."

Ichigo looked down at the plastic bag in his hand and could make out a can of whipped cream, some candles, and two little orange boxes.

"Why the hell would you need all that so early?" he asked, slightly confused.

"My, my, a little thick in the head now, are we, Kurosaki-san?" Urahara said with his fan in front of his face again to hide his mischievous grin.

"Why you--"

"Stop teasing him Kisuke! Now then, Ichigo. What is it that you needed?" Yoruichi asked with her deep, male voice she possessed in cat form.

"Right…do either of you have any info about the arrancar that attacked earlier?"

The shopkeeper put on a serious face and closed his fan.

"About that…Captain Hitsugaya came by earlier and filled us in," he started. "He told me that it was probably a low-ranking numeros, but why it attacked is still unclear. It may have been a scout sent by Aizen, or it simply could have been an isolated attack. As of now, however, we can't tell. I was also told that you were having some trouble with your hollow, correct?"

Ichigo stared at the ground a few moments before answering.

"…Yeah."

They all stood in silence as Urahara thought about the situation.

"Well, Ichigo, all I can tell you is that you need to communicate with it in your inner world. You should tell it--"

"What the hell!?" Ichigo interjected. "There is no fucking way that I'm gonna have a civil conversation with that bastard!"

Suddenly, Yoruichi jumped up and took a swipe at the rude teen's face. Four red lines appeared on the left side of his face.

"Ow! Dammit Yoruichi! What the hell!?…jesus that hurts…as if I haven't been attacked enough today!"

"Listen to the idea completely before you reject it, you imbecile! You wanted help so shut your mouth and pay attention!" the cat yelled.

Ichigo grumbled something spiteful as he rubbed his cheek to help alleviate the pain.

Urahara cleared his throat before continuing with his suggestion.

"As I was saying, Kurosaki-san, you need to come to an agreement with your hollow so it stops interfering with your fighting. Since you have already subjugated it, Zangetsu will be there to help enforce whatever decision you two come up with."

Ichigo let the information sink in before asking, "What if he attacks me?"

"Like I said, Zangetsu will be there to back you up. Now then, if that's all, Yoruichi and I have some business to attend to." the perverted man said with a strange glint in his eye.

"Alright, thanks for the help." Ichigo sighed as he looked off to the side and scratched the back of his head.

When he looked back the two were already gone and had dropped one of the orange boxes. As he bent down to pick it up he shouted, "Hey! You dropped one of…your…boxes…….."

His face went completely red as he read what the box's contents were. Let's just say that they were lubricated.

His walk back home was less eventful. He had gone into the convenience store that Urahara was in to get a bottle of water. When he entered, he noticed the clerk was putting something to his face but dismissed it and went to the fridges in the back.

Only when Ichigo was checking out did he realize that the clerk had been applying bandages to his left cheek. The two stared at each other for a moment before the man muttered something about a perverted blond man and his demon cat, and passed some of his bandages across the counter.

So now Ichigo was halfway home. He had taken care of the arrancar incident, his questions about his hollow, the scratch on his face, and this thirst. All that was left was….

…..Rukia.

There were few things that he needed to sort out about the raven-haired girl. First, he had to take care of her while she was sick, which shouldn't be hard since his house doubled as a clinic. The other problem was a little more…complicated. Ever since they had returned from rescuing Inoue, Ichigo's feelings for Rukia had been way more confusing than before. He felt a lot closer to her, but the stubborn teen refused outright the possibility of love.

Then what the hell do I call this feeling? Sorta-love? Ah, screw it. I've got bigger problems right now to deal with than some stupid hormonal crap. How on earth do I convince my hollow to butt out? Do I bribe the bastard? If so, what would I give him? A ShamWow?

Ichigo chuckled to himself at the thought of his hollow trying to figure out how to use one of those things.

I don't particularly enjoy the thought of being given one of those. How about letting me out a little more, eh, King?

His inner hollow's sudden interjection startled Ichigo, but he quickly regained his wits.

How about you shut the hell up until we meet face-to-face tonight?

Works for me.

And with that, his hollow silenced itself. But that didn't ease the Soul Reaper's worries.

He wanted to be let out more….does he mean control of my body periodically?

The thought of his hollow self being let loose made him cringe, especially since his transformation atop the dome of Las Noches.

Ichigo arrived back at his house few minutes later. He went up to his room to put his *cough* checkonrukia *cough* jacket back and then retreated back to the couch in the living room. He glanced at the clock before laying down.

4:30 A.M.

"Well," he said aloud while closing his eyes, "Here it goes…"

"Hello, Ichigo," Zangetsu said in his deep voice. "I'm glad you have come. Your hollow self has been becoming increasingly intolerable."

"Right…" Ichigo responded. "That's actually why I'm here. Where is the annoying bastard anyway?"

"Over here, you idiot!" a familiar voice rang out.

Ichigo looked to his right and saw his inner hollow, and was immediately taken aback. Every thing about him was the same, except for his hair, which made its way down most of his back, but was still spiky at the top.

Ichigo couldn't help but laugh as he greeted the entity. "You look like a punk version of Ukitake!" he exclaimed between laughter.

"Shut the hell up, you asshole!" the angry hollow exclaimed. "It's your fault anyway!"

Ichigo looked dumbfounded. Was he required to give his inner hollow haircuts? Didn't he have a sword, too?

"Clearly, I'm going to have to spell it out for your stupid brain to understand!" his hollow roared.

"Hey! You can--" Ichigo was about to interject.

"Quiet! It's rude to interrupt!"

"I see what you mean 'intolerable'," Ichigo mumbled to Zangetsu, who nodded in agreement.

His inner hollow was now fuming. "Just. Shut. The. Fuck. Up."

"Fine. Now get on with it."

"With less cursing," Zangetsu added.

"As I was saying, King, this is your fault," the hollow restated. "Do you know why that is?"

The orange-haired teen shook his head. "No, I don't."

"Then let me explain why. When you got your ass handed to you by that espada on top of Las Noches, I had to help you out yet again. In doing so, I went through another transformation. This transformation, while giving me more power, caused my hair to grow out and look like this. Why the transformation had such a retarded side effect is beyond me or the old man."

"So, let me get this straight," Ichigo began. "You went through a transformation that made you powerful enough to kill Ulquiorra without even breaking a sweat, and you're pissed off that it caused your hair to grow?! No wonder I'm the one in charge!"

"I wouldn't be sounding so smug, King. Or have you forgotten about this afternoon?"

The atmosphere suddenly turned tense.

"Why did you interfere?" Ichigo asked icily.

"Because I want to be let out. Do you know how frustrating it is to have all of this power, but I can't do a fucking thing with it?"

"When Ichigo pulls out his mask, does that not satisfy your needs?" Zangetsu inquired.

"Nowhere near satisfaction," he replied. "Before the transformation, when Kingy over there used his mask, he only drew upon about twenty percent of my power. Now, his mask only uses about five percent of my strength."

Both Ichigo and Zangetsu looked surprised

"…Five?" Ichigo croaked out

"Exactly," his inner hollow replied. "And if you want me to stop interfering then you should consider what I am about to offer you."

"I am not letting you take control of my body, you bastard!" Ichigo shouted defiantly.

"Perhaps you misunderstood what I said earlier, King. I said that I wanted to be let out a little more. What I meant was I want you to draw upon my power more. To do so, you and I are going to train some in the next few weeks. That way more of my strength is used, and therefore you gain even greater power when masked. I might even teach you a few new tricks as well. So how about it, eh, Ichigo?"

Said person was absolutely stunned because not only did the offer benefit both of them, but it also acted as a sort of peace treaty between the two. Something didn't seem right…

"What's the catch?" Ichigo asked once he'd recovered from the shock of such civility coming from his inner hollow. His answer surprised Ichigo even more.

"That you use this power I'm offering to its fullest. I know you have a penchant for protecting people, and I know that if you fail you get depressed. And when you get depressed, it rains in here. While I may not hate rain as much as the old geezer I'm still not very fond of it."

Ichigo was still slightly wary. "Why are you all of a sudden in the mood to help me?"

"Because, maybe I've realized something. Maybe I've realized that I can never truly take over. If I did, then my death is almost guaranteed due to your connections with Soul Society. Maybe I've also realized that I can get the same satisfaction of being in control simply from you drawing on my full power. Maybe I've just had a change of heart. So, what is your answer?"

Ichigo looked over to Zangetsu, who had the hint of a smile on his face and simply nodded his head.

"Alright then. I'll accept your offer. But before I go, should I call you something other than 'hollow'?"

His inner hollow pondered the question for a moment before answering. "I don't have a name, remember? I simply exist as a part of you. Call me whatever you want. By the way, I may be on your side now, but after this I'm gonna go back to being a cocky asshole, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah. See you around….me,"

His hollow snickered. "That was so corny, King."

And with that, Ichigo drifted off into his dreams with a content smile on his face.

9:00 A.M.

"ICHIGOOOO!!!"

"What…what the…hell?" Ichigo mumbled groggily as he opened his eyes.

He was expecting to see the living room ceiling once his eyes were open. Too bad nothing that happens in his life is ever expected. Instead of a white ceiling welcoming Ichigo's vision, he got a facefull of Kon.

This woke the teen up.

"Get the hell off of me you retarded stuffed animal!" he yelled as he tossed the lion plushie across the room and into the sink. "Why did you wake me up!?"

"Because, Ichigo, nee-san doesn't love me anymore! And apparently now you don't either!" Kon wailed.

"Maybe you aren't as stupid as you look," Ichigo mumbled as he laid back onto the couch.

The annoying mod soul continued to complain. "And now you insult me! No one appreciates me waking them up!"

This got Ichigo's attention.

"You didn't wake up Rukia, did you?" he asked angrily.

"Well I tried but the moment I said good morning she puked on me and fell right back asleep!"

"What the fuck, Kon!? Rukia's sick you moron and your ugly mug at this hour is what probably made her vomit!" Ichigo screamed at Kon.

"Ichigo! Don't be so mean! I'm very sensitive right now!"

"Why don't you shut the hell up and clean yourself off since you're in the sink!" Ichigo exclaimed as he stomped up the staircase and headed to the bathroom.

He grabbed an old towel and some cleaning solution from under the cabinet before heading to his room. Luckily, there wasn't a whole lot of cleaning that needed to be done and what little there was was on the wooden floor. He quickly cleaned it up, walked back to the bathroom, and threw the old towel away.

God, I am going to kill Kon one of these days…

He returned to his room and looked out the window. What he witnessed amazed him. All of Karakura Town was glistening from the sheet of ice that covered it. Sure, there were a few patches of ice here and there when he went for his walk earlier that morning, but this was incredible.

"I hope we have everything we need, because I sure as hell am not going out there," he muttered to himself as he changed his clothes.

"Hmmm…what…?" A half-asleep Rukia murmured as she began to sit up.

"Oh, hey Rukia. Are you feeling any better?" A concerned Ichigo asked.

"Mhm…I feel a lot better since I…threw…up. I'm so sorry about that, Ichigo. I would've help clean but I didn't have the strength to stay awake."

"Don't sweat it, midget. Cleaning that up was worth it considering Kon absorbed most of the puke." he chuckled. "Let me feel your head to see if you still have a fever."

He walked over to his bed and gently placed his hand onto her forehead.

"Hmm…you're still a bit warm, I'll go get some soup ready for us. Can you make it downstairs?"

"Worried Kurosaki-kun?" Rukia questioned mockingly. "I do believe my legs still work."

"Shut up, midget, I'm just trying to be nice. Now go get cleaned up, your breath smells terrible." Ichigo teased as he left his room.

"Hmph!" Rukia pouted.

She would have thrown a pillow at the stupid Strawberry if she wasn't so tired. She then proceeded to get dressed, fix her hair, brush her teeth, and check her soul pager. She had to admit that she still didn't feel one hundred percent, but it was a lot better than the previous night.

"What's that smell?" she thought to herself as she walked carefully down the staircase.

"Oi, Rukia! Didn't tumble down the stairs I see."

"Shut up, you fool! I told you I'm fine! Now, what smells so good?" Rukia demanded.

"It's called chicken noodle soup. Ever tried it?"

"Chicken….noodle? You string pieces of chicken into noodles?"

Ichigo let out a long, drawn-out sigh.

"No, Rukia, it has pieces of chicken with noodles along with some other vegetables."

"Oh," she responded simply as he handed Rukia her bowl.

They both ate in silence, not counting the occasional slurping of a noodle, until they were both finished.

"Well? How was it?" Ichigo asked.

Rukia pretended to seriously consider her answer.

"Hmm…rather simple, but tasty nonetheless. I guess it's worth recommending to nii-sama."

"Whatever you say….midget."

A few kicks to the shin later….

"Well, since we aren't going outside unless there's a hollow, what do you want to do?" Ichigo inquired as he sat on the couch.

"How are you going to talk to Urahara if we can't leave the house? And why can't we leave?" Rukia asked, genuinely confused.

"I already took care of it, and look out the window."

Rukia plopped down onto the couch next to Ichigo after seeing the frozen state of Karakura.

"Well someone's efficient today." she muttered

"Aren't I always?" Ichigo countered.

"Whatever…let's watch some of that TV crap. I'm too tired to move much today."

Ichigo knew exactly how she felt. "Sure, just no Chappy the Nightmare."

"Pleeeaassse?" Rukia pleaded with puppy-dog eyes as she curled up next to him.

That alone made the four hour marathon worth it. Well, almost anyway.

A/N (part 2): Sorry that this was all dialogue! The real story picks up next chapter. Anyways, reviews are loved!