Hoho, Ichigo sure is in a tight spot... Who might the newcomer be?

Chapter 4

Ichigo squeezed his eyes shut and released an annoyed groan. 'What now?' he thought. He couldn't see, the Hollow's hand covering his eyes and half his face, but Ichigo could still recognize that voice anyway.

A little chuckle echoed through the inner world. "Quite the cuddling party here, nee? And I was not invited? I am hurt." The voice clearly held some form of mocking sarcasm that sounded only too familiar to the orange-head. This echoed voice, sounding like two people speaking the same time, kind of like a spooky Halloween effect which was added to his own voice - there was only one person he knew that could sound that way.

He maybe couldn't see at the moment and was basically defenseless but that didn't stop him from cursing rather loudly: "Why the hell are you in here fucking Hollow? Get your white ass out of my dream!"

The person crocked his head to the side and crackled quietly. "White? I know you and I aren't the most tanned people in the world, but I wouldn't consider myself white. Pale at most, really now I-chi-go, how rude."

Now Ichigo was really confused, which only made him irritated. He wrapped both hands around the Hollow's arm and yanked as hard as he could - freeing his face once and for all of the monster's hold. Brown eyes blinked open, taking a moment to adjust once more the bright sun of his Inner World. When Ichigo's gaze landed on the third party which had joined his dream, Ichigo's jaw fell open.

That certainly wasn't the person - or better hollow - he had expected. No, it wasn't the white as snow hollow with the face-splitting grin, even though this person matched the shit-eating grin rather well. You could say it was basically the same. The person was… himself? But with half of his face covered by his hollow mask. How… strange to say at least. This dream couldn't get any worse now, could it?

"What the. . ?" Ichigo questioned, more to himself. He recognized those orange spikes from every morning he glanced in the mirror, and that Shihakusho billowing in the wind too, although he'd never seen it on himself before. (The Soul Society didn't have mirrors, did they? Ichigo would have to check next time he visited.) Either way, the only time he'd ever really seen himself was in his mirror, so this 3D version of himself was creating all kinds of new anxieties for the strawberry.

This couldn't be real, but here he was. "What the hell are you, why is there a copy of myself and why do you have a Hollow mask?! Argh, why am I even asking? This dream sucks. I hope I wake up soon. I'd rather do my blasted homework than deal with this mess."

"Dream?" The other questioned, then a slight chuckle escaped his lips. Aww, how cute, the owner of this Inner World thought he was dreaming! 'This gives me an idea,' the Hollow thought. 'I can toy with him and he'll be less-likely to protest this way!'

"Really now you are so cruel to me," the partial Hollow huffed, folding his arms. "First, you tear of half of my mask and threw it away, and now you are so rude to me. Do you even have any idea how much that hurt?! This mask is basically one with my skin and you decide to just rip it off. You are such a cruel bastard." To be more dramatic the hollowed version of himself decided to touch half of his unmasked face and posed with a hurtful face.

Ichigo blinked, a mixture of guilt and still some annoyance filling his chest. The Full Hollow behind him felt his discomfort and wrapped both arms around Ichigo again. It hummed and poured some soothing Spiritual Pressure out into the air in order to help its master. Ichigo found himself relaxing slightly against it, but as soon as he noticed, Ichigo tried to get away from the monster once again.

"E-Enough of this!" Ichigo protested, wiggling in the Hollow's arms and shooting a soft glare at his masked self. "I just want to find Zangetsu so I can get out of this weird dream! So, hands off!"

The Full Hollow currently hugging Ichigo began to whimper. It released Ichigo and crawled away from him on all-fours. About halfway to masked Ichigo, it turned back to look at Ichigo, with watery eyes. Ichigo gulped - could Hollows even cry? He watched it curl up behind the half masked Ichigo and hug his right leg. 'This is perfect,' Half masked Ichigo thought as he began to pet the Hollow. He turned to Ichigo with a fake glare, "Now look what you've done!"

The berry was glad he finally had control over his movements again, finally! But that joy was short lived. Maybe he felt a little guilty, but only a little! He knew he wasn't the friendliest person in the world, but he still felt rather bad for making the bigger hollow whimper. After all, it hadn't really done anything to him, right? It just… showered him with its affection? He folded his arms and looked to the side. Out of instinct he felt like saying 'I am sorry.' However, that was against the Substitute Shinigami's pride! He wouldn't say that to a blasted Hollow, nonono and ten million times no! And saying sorry in his own dream? No way in hell! If he couldn't control himself waking up then at the very least he was going to keep control over his own actions and refuse to apologize!

"He just wanted to hug you, Ichigo!" his half masked self continued, making Ichigo's guilt worsen. Little did Ichigo know, both Hollows had caught onto each other's intentions and had concocted this plan together. Even though the beast wasn't completely intelligent (it was pure instinct, after all) it was still better at reading emotions that Ichigo clearly was!

Slowly, the beast nodded, as if to prove its innocence. As innocent as a hollow with two devil-like horns and skull hollow mask could look.

Masked Ichigo spoke again, "Did it hurt you? No! So clearly it didn't deserve your verbal abuse. And you should apologize and let it hug you all it wants! Annnnnd, you should also apologize to me, since you hurt my feelings so many times." His tone playing the song of a wounded animal, he was such a good actor. Though he had to admit, it was hard hiding his grin. He knew if the beast behind him wanted to laugh he could do whatever he wanted. How nice it would be to have a mask that covered his entire face in such situations.

You could see how the orange-head's determination was melting away. He looked again to the side. He couldn't meet the other two's eyes. "I-I mean…uhm…" Now what should he do? Should he really apologize to the two hollows? Was he even allowed to do that? He bit on his lip and started to chew on it in a thinking manner. Ichigo supposed he could do anything and get away with it, since this was his dream.

Looking at the troubled teen made the half masked hollow laugh on the inside. Oh he knew he had won this fight of minds. He knew this fool was way too nice to let a "poor and hurt" person alone. He knew that, even if both of them were hollows, this guy's heart was wayyyy too big for his own good.

Ichigo muttered something in his shoulder, looking terribly uncomfortable.

A orange eyebrow was lifted (maybe even two, but you couldn't tell what the fully masked Hollow was doing under it anyways). "What did ya say there Ichi, I couldn't quite hear ya?" He pointed to his fellow Hollow. "I don't think it did either."

Chewing on his lips like gum, the berry muttered again. "I said… I am sorry?" Well it was more a question than an apology, really.

Crocking his half-masked face to the side, the hollows version of himself didn't really seem pleased, not at all. "Oh my, what a wonderful and heartwarming apology. I am moved to tears, really! You're the worst, Kurosaki Ichigo! What a half-assed apology is that?!" With that he petted the beast's head in a soothing manner. The Vasto Lorde seemed to catch up with the plan and started hanging its head.

The half-masked teen wanted to giggle like mad, he got him!

Now, now, we all know what a big-hearted fool Ichigo was as he signed in defeat. He felt terrible. He inhaled sharply and looked up again. "L-look I am really sorry, okay? I didn't mean to hurt your feelings." A pleased rumble could be heard from the beast, that was so sweet to hear from his owner. Ichigo looked at his half masked self and hoped that he would be fine with his apology this time. But he wouldn't say anything. Ichigo gulped as he thought, 'What else does he want, geeez?' So the teen did the last thing he could think of. He carefully tiptoed to the beast and kneeled down to his height. With a heavy sigh he decided to hug the bigger hollow lightly. "I am sorry I hurt your feelings. You didn't do anything, so, I am sorry."

It took the Vasto Lorde two seconds to turn Ichigo's world upside down as it returned the hug in a crushing manner. It threw itself on the surprised teen; rolling on him and purring in a satisfied tone. Being somewhat sandwiched between the ground and the beast, Ichigo tried to pat his shoulder, saying "It's alright" while sweat dropping. 'I bet if it was a dog the tail would wiggle now.' Looking conflicted he spoke this time very carefully: "Uhmm, hey eh you how about you get off? You are crushing my lungs here."

Well the hollow certainly had other plans and the half-masked hollow couldn't hold his insane giggles as the bigger one decided to just roll on the side so the excuse 'You crush my lungs' wouldn't count. Now that it made sure the orange-head could properly breath it laid on his back with the strawberry on his chest. Said strawberry made a sour face. 'Awesome, now I am back to the beginning and even had to humiliate myself.' The hollowed version held his stomach, this was too hilarious to him.

Ichigo shot a scowl at his half-masked self. 'Gee, someone seems to be enjoying himself. . .' the berry thought sourly. He would have folded his arms if he were able to move that much.

With a grin, Ichigo's other self leaned in close to the two 'cuddling'. "Ne, Ichi, ya think he would like a kiss?" The half Hollow nodded to himself. "Yeah, a kiss would make it real happy! That's a true way to prove that you're sorry!"