Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

Damn you to hell, you monster, you sick twisted-

"Shut up, King," the hollow said nastily, "and don't try and pull that shit on me again. I'm just telling her what I see in your mind every night. Too bad she doesn't seem to return the feeling."

I will make you pay, Ichigo bit out, for what you are doing to her.

"Give me a break, King. You want it. You want her. We both want her. Work with me here; we could really have something going."

Never.

"Suit yourself."

"Ohhh Rukia," the hollow grinned lustily at the shinigami in front of him. "What I wouldn't give to have you spread naked underneath me-aughhhhSHIT!"

It was panting now, Rukia could tell, and it looked unsteady on its feet; she had doubled the dosage of electricity on the last shot of kidou.

"I'm getting tired of this," She said, trying to keep the waver out of her voice; determined not to let it see that it was affecting her. "Give up, and bring Ichigo back." The hollow paid no attention as its eyes went momentarily blank, like it had been doing for the past couple minutes.

Inside, Ichigo wrestled to maintain the thin slice of control he had seized: when the electricity had shot through the hollow's body, a small sliver of space had opened up in its iron grip, and Ichigo had inserted his metaphorical hands and pulled. The hollow swatted him away.

"Watch yourself, King," it said, its tone less amused and more threatening. "Don't want any accidents, now."

And then it was back on the outside, back to taunting Rukia.

"Oh, I can keep it up," the not-Ichigo said, looking up at her through sweat-dampened bangs. "I can keep it up for as long as you need, sweet Rukia."

Ichigo, inside, cringed in embarrassment at the hollow's insinuation, made even more shameful by the fact that he was almost painfully hard; it truly did get off on physical pain, and Ichigo thanked Sereitei for teaching so many binding kidous to their shinigami. Ichigo really didn't want to think about what would happen if his hollow was freed before he regained control.

"Oh, Rukia-chan, with my power, I would slaughter dozens for you," it was saying. "The red would look so good on your white sword...on your white skin..."

As Rukia dosed the hollow with electricity once more, Ichigo saw an opening once again and dived for it; this time he managed to hang on for about a minute before the hollow pushed him away again. Pain. Pain was the key to his takeover, Ichigo saw: each time Rukia physically hurt the hollow, a crack appeared in its control. The key was to have Rukia...hurt him...more...

Ichigo nearly laughed at the predicament he found himself in. Of course Rukia would try to hurt him as little and as non-lethally as she could, not knowing whether or not he would be permanently damaged by it. The only way she would even use her sword against him was if he full-out attacked her...and Ichigo knew that if the hollow was loosed from its bonds, it would overwhelm his tiny friend. If only he could tell her in some way...to perhaps stab him in the leg, or punch him in the head; anything to cause a massive amount of pain and a minimum amount of damage.

"Face it King, you're never coming back," the hollow said, and sniggered. "I'll have your body, I'll have your woman, I'll have my way."

Rukia would kill me first.

"Are you so sure? I could let you out on weekends for her...if she knew you were alive, she wouldn't be able to kill us."

She'd kill us. Or herself.

"Whatever, King. I'm getting bored of this. Time for a reversal of positions."

Ichigo could feel the hollow gripping and twisting Zangetsu into a horizontal position, as much as the kidou bonds allowed.

"You. What are you doing?" Rukia asked, sensing that something was going on, but unable to see behind the not-Ichigo's back.

"Nothin'," it said innocently, but the glint in its eyes belied its tone, which then darkened considerably, hissing "Getsuga tenshou."

The black blade of energy surged upwards, slicing through two of the kidou bonds and drawing a papercut-thin line halfway up the hollow's spine. The not-Ichigo wrenched its hands apart, the bonds dissolving as its reiatsu - black with a red edge - surged.

Rukia took one look and ran. It caught up with her in a second, dancing in the air beside her, keeping pace easily.

"Ohhhh Rukia, why are you leaving me?" It mock-pouted, then cackled at her. "I thought you were going to save Ichigo; what happened to that? Turning your back on your friend, eh?"

Rukia brought Sode no Shirayuki up in a desperate, enraged slash, halting mid-step: blood sprayed as the tip of her zanpakutou dragged itself through the not-Ichigo's shoulder, staining the white cloth a deep cherry-red. The hollow's eyes went peculiarly blank once again, and she struck out blindly, fearing the worst: she blocked it easily, however, before leaping away again, confused and paranoid. Is it toying with me? What is it planning? Does it intend to make me slice Ichigo up irreparably?

She needed help with this. Much as she hated to admit it, she was no match for the thing which now controlled Ichigo's soul; its speed, its viciousness, its psychological battering; it was trapping her, asphyxiating her, leaving her with no place to go. Rukia turned her steps towards the Urahara Shoten, but was confronted by the not-Ichigo standing in front of her, bleeding and furious.

"Rukia," it snarled; its shoulder dripped blood, and the wound on its left hand had begun to bleed anew. She backed up, terrified, and began to call her sword.

"Tsugi no -" There was a blur, followed by blinding pain; Rukia's head snapped sideways as she was dealt a blow across the cheek with the flat of Zangetsu's blade.

"Shut the fuck up," it instructed, its voice tight with fury as Rukia slowly straightened again, her hand to her cheek, a welt slanting from her right temple to the corner of her mouth, tears stinging in her eyes from the pain. "You got lucky, bitch, in that I can't kill you," it sheathed the reverse Zangetsu, coming closer and grabbing her wrist, yanking her hand away from her face. "But I'm capable of doing just about everything but."

It backhanded her, driving her head to the side once again, and Rukia cried out as its knuckles drove into her already-bruised cheek: drawing her zanpakutou back, she thrust up towards its ribcage. It caught Sode no Shirayuki's blade in its hand once again; Rukia twisted, causing rivulets of its blood to run down her zanpakutou, and its grip suddenly loosened.

"Shit," it cursed, a note of panic in its garbled voice. Rukia looked up, into its eyes, and her breath caught in her throat: white was travelling across the black expanse of its left eye, and as she watched, a warm brown began to leak into the iris.

"Ichigo," she breathed. He was there! He was fighting! She stopped her sword's movement, unsure of what to do to help Ichigo's struggle; the moment of hesitation was all that the hollow, in control once more, needed, letting go of Sode no Shirayuki and bringing its foot down on the tip. The handle was torn out of Rukia's grip, and she found herself spun around, the hollow pressing into her back, its freely-bleeding hand clamped over her mouth to stop her from performing kidou.

"Don't you ever say his name," it hissed into her ear; she gripped its hand, fingers slipping in blood that began to run down her chin and neck, but suddenly the white Zangetsu was pressed up against her throat, hard enough to draw a thin line of her own blood. "That's right," it said, as she froze, "now, I'm gonna take my hand away from your mouth, and you're not gonna say a word, Rukia-chan, or I'll cut your tongue out."

It took its hand away, and Rukia tried not to hyperventilate, returning her hands to her sides. Ichigo was there, she knew; he was fighting, and the not-Ichigo's hand trembled on the hilt of Zangetsu. Rukia stood, silent and tense, and tried to believe in Ichigo's ability to stop the monster which held her in its grip; a large hand grabbed her waist, and she bit back a scream.