Chapter 4: The Meeting
After that long night, Ichigo headed upstairs to his bedroom to contemplate the unbelievable story his father had just unfolded before him.
Once he reached his room, he plopped down onto his comfy bed already deep in thought. I'm a vampire…. He kept thinking to himself over and over again until, finally that eerie voice reared its disturbing tone. Ichigo…. or should I say aibou? Ha ha ha ha!The thing snickered inside Ichigo's already confused enough mind.
Not tonight Voice. Ichigo thought at the annoyance. I'm not in the mood, okay? So just leave me the hell alone! He had practically screeched at the creature residing in his mind, and he could tell that it was taken aback by Ichigo's sudden outburst.
No aibou. This is important. It's about you. And me. And your true identity. The thing had a surprisingly serious tone. Ichigo decided that he would listen to it, even if he really didn't want to. What's the worst that could happen?
Just then, Ichigo felt his world darken before him; he was no longer staring up at his ceiling, but the blackness of a deep abyss and a sensation of falling was upon him.
What the hell? Ichigo had never been more scared in his life. What was happening? But his questions were about to be answered as he fell onto sideways building.
"Where the hell am I anyway? The hell is wrong with this place?" Ichigo was thoroughly confused. The world before him was sideways…. From the glass skyscrapers to the sky itself. "Where ever I am, this place is super fucked up."
"Hello, Ichigo. We finally meet face to face." Ichigo turned to meet an identical replica of himself, only something was… off. The clone had white hair instead of his bright orange, albino skin, and his eyes where black with golden orbs. And his clothes were exactly what he was wearing, skinny jeans and a T-shirt, only where Ichigo wore bright bold colors, the clone's clothes were black and white.
"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo baffled at the strange look-a-like.
"Don't you recognize me? I'm you Ichigo. Remember? I'm that 'voice' inside your head. I'm the darker side to your light. I'm your instinct, the thing that drives you to almost to the brink of insanity before I bring you back." The clone just smirked at him, an evil aura about him.
"My what now?" Ichigo asked, dumbfounded.
"Your even stupider than normal," his clone spat at him, venomously, "Your vampiric self you moron! Must I explain everything?!"
"Sorry, but I just found all this out not 10 minutes ago! I'm finding all of this to be too much ok!?" Ichigo shouted back.
"Alright aibou. I'm sorry, k? I forgot how new this is to you. But first things first. I obviously know your name but you don't know mine. Allow me to introduce myself, I have no real name being apart of you, but you may call me Akuma."
"Akuma? You want me to call you a demon?" Ichigo was very skeptical of the creature before him.
"Yes. I thought it was bad ass!" the newly dubbed 'Akuma' cackled to himself at his ridiculous name, "Now, you must know that just because I'm your vampire instinct does NOT make me evil, got that, aibou?"
"Yeah, but what's with all the 'aibou' business? I mean, we just met right, and just because you may not be evil doesn't mean I can fully trust you."
"You make a point. But you're going to have to trust me. I AM you after all. Are you saying you can't trust your own instincts Ichi?" Akuma tilted his head slightly as if to mock his rather ignorant half.
"DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Ichigo was furious with this, this vampire thingy! No one was allowed to call him that, not after his mom died. That was her nickname for her precious son. He wouldn't let anyone, not even another version of himself call him that.
"Oh? You mad? Ha! That's one thing about you I'll never understand. You're too conceded. You let no one in, not even yourself."
"…."
"Look, I won't call you that if it upsets you that much you big baby," Akuma offered to the red-faced teen, who was about to punch him in the face, "now on with business. I brought you here to this place to-"
Ichigo calmed himself enough to interrupt his new found 'partner,' "I was gonna ask you, where are we exactly? This place looks crazy."
"Baka! I was about to explain that if you'd let me," Ichigo shot him an apologetic glance, "Now, as I was saying, we're in your mindscape, this my dear aibou, is the inner workings of your mind. This is where I am, unless you were to let me take control of our body….."
"Our body? You mean my body!" Ichigo sneered at Akuma.
"No Ichigo, we were meant to share this body, now shut up and let me finish! Anyways, because we were originally one person, your body and my body are one. I'm not sure why we are no longer one being, but somehow our personalities were split up somehow. Who cares, the point is you and are should be one and this body belongs to me as much as it does you. Of course, because you are the dominate being, I can't take over our body unless you let me or more likely, if you are in a very weakened state such as near death. Now, you may ask your stupid questions."
"Ok, so we are the same person I get that. But that still doesn't mean I can trust you. If you're my vampire side, how will I know you won't go killing someone or harming my loved ones?"
Akuma looked pissed at Ichigo's last statement, and possibly hurt, "Tch, how could you think that? I want to help you and your friends and family. I'm no monster Ichigo…."
Ichigo saw the hurt in his eyes as he turned away. He didn't know that this, being could have such human emotions. Maybe he was a part of him after all….
"Look, I'm sorry, ummm, Akuma. I didn't know that we shared so much of the same interests. We still are separate beings after all, right?"
"Yeah, you're right. I guess you wouldn't know that…. I keep forgetting how new this is to you. Just so you know, I've been in here this whole time, unable to communicate with you. It gets lonely…."
And with that, Ichigo awoke from what seemed like a dream. But he knew in his heart it was real. Akuma was real. Maybe having him around won't be so bad, I mean he'll be able to teach me and stuff, right?
That's right aibou! He could practically see his vampire clapping with sarcasm mixed with actual excitement.
Right, I forgot you can hear me… I guess I timed out?
Something like that,… your brain has had enough for tonight. You need rest. Tomorrow, me and your idiot father will have to explain more to you, but for now, rest. If you think today was a big day, you're in for a rude awakening,…. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
After Akuma's creepy laugh subsided, Ichigo decided to agree with him. He did need rest.
What did he mean 'rude awakening'? Oh well, I'm too tired to think this shit out now… and he finally fell into a dreamless sleep.
Ha ha! Finally, a new chappy! Sorry for taking so long, consider it a combo of writer's block and starting school back up. Anywhoozles, hope this wasn't too short for ya!
A little bit of an Author's Note,
I did, (with a wonderful suggestion! ^.^) decide to name Ichigo's inner hollow Akuma, because Shiro is too obvious and Hichigo would make no sense since he is a vampire in this story, so I hope everyone likes the change in the name! If not, sorry, I like it, and It's staying!
Words that might be important: baka= idiot and aibou=partner (in the anime his hollow does actually refer to him as this at first, but later switches to 'king')
I was gonna do a character reference, but meh, maybe next chap. Too lazy now.
When will the next piece of awesomeness that is this story come out you are asking yourself wanting, no, CRAVING more! (ha ha, jk) but honestly, I hope that I can update fairly soon over the long weekend, but no promises, SORRY!
OH and although this isn't yaoi or anything, there is a little something going on between our beloved strawberry and his rather crazy half! SO there is that for you yaoi fans, but next chap, I PROMISE to incorporate the IchiRuki I originally said this story would be!
Untill next time…
Hugs and loves,
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