I have something quite wicked in mind. :3

And for some reason, I had "Say Something" by A Great Big World playing when I wrote this.

Getting his powers back meant an obvious thing for Ichigo. He was back on keeping Karakura safe from any Hollow attacks, able to protect his friends and family from anything that'd harm them. Orihime, Chad, and Uryu were always there to help him, of course; even if he'd told them he'd handle it, they'd come and help him anyway. So far, it almost felt like old times.

Almost.

After everything that happened over the weekend, Minako had been more withdrawn than ever. Ichigo had taken her home and they hadn't talked since she bolted from home and he chased after her along with Orihime. He, of course, had called Orihime to tell her not to worry, that he found Minako, that she was going back home, safe and sound. Well, not exactly sound.

Lately, Minako hadn't talked to Orihime, Uryu, Chad or Ichigo. Hell, she wouldn't even talk to Mizuiro or Keigo. When they would come up to her to see if she was all right, she started, face paling in what looked like panic. It made him worry even more when Orihime said during P.E, she saw that Minako had bruises on her upper arm, her back, her neck. When Orihime asked her about them, Minako had shut down, not responding, leaning against the lockers with her shirt pressed to her chest before sinking onto the floor in what seemed like pain. When the P.E teacher tried to coax Minako out of the locker room, she lashed out, screaming that no one was allowed to touch her.

Those words sounded very familiar to Ichigo. He had given Minako her space the past few days, but these strange behavioral patterns weren't how she usually was. The bell rang to end the school day and not even taking a second too long, Ichigo went over to Minako as she put her books into her bag. He placed a hand on her shoulder and she started, turning her head.

"You okay?" he asked her softly. "You've been acting weird lately."

"I'm fine," she whispered, closing her bag. She pushed her hair absently behind her ear as she stood. "I'm fine, just a little…a little tired, is all." She tried to smile, was trying to reassure him that she was okay.

He wasn't buying it. He could see clear as day that Minako wasn't okay. She looked as though she hadn't had a good night's sleep in days. He could see the bruise on the back of her neck, hidden beneath her dark hair. "Don't bullshit me, Minako," he told her. "You're not acting like yourself."

His fingers went to the back of her neck, on the bruised skin. He had kept his touch light, but Minako flinched. "Is he doing this to you?" he bit out. Minako pushed Ichigo's hand away from her neck, her eyes on her desk. "Please don't," she mumbled. "He was really angry when you touched me before."

Ichigo frowned darkly. There was something more going on. "What did your mom tell you?" he asked.

"I can't tell you."

"Why not? You were able to tell me things before."

"This is different, Ichigo." Minako stood up. "Things have changed and it's…it's best if you stay away from me."

He recoiled, his blood running cold. When Minako raised her eyes to his, Ichigo could see that it had hurt her to say what she just said, but then she averted her eyes, moved around him and walked away.

Something's going to happen…Minako could feel it, had felt it ever since she parted ways with Ichigo. Her mother was still in the living room and Minako had asked her mother to tell her everything.

She couldn't believe the information her mother had kept from her, couldn't believe everything she had heard. It was then she understood. She understood everything now. It was the reason why her mother said that she, her father, and Minako weren't involved in Soul Reaper affairs—even though Ichigo's mother wasn't a Soul Reaper.

Yes, she understood everything. And she knew White could hear in the recesses of her primordial consciousness and either didn't give a damn or considered the possibility—the former sounding more like him.

"You're getting scared, princess." White's voice was soft as she walked home. "Not worried about the King, are you?"

"He doesn't know the truth, does he?" Minako asked him and she heard him give a dark laugh.

"Can't say he does. It's like him, the idiot."

"Never a kind word when it comes to Ichigo, you know that?"

Another laugh answered her comment. Typical Hollow.

When Minako pushed the door to her house open, she walked in quietly. "I'm home," she called after a minute, wearily, before going upstairs to her room. With a soft, exhausted moan, she collapsed on her bed, her bag dropping noisily on her floor. She wanted to sleep, she needed sleep; but she could feel it. Her power was more alive than ever, and it was stirring and not giving her peace. She closed her eyes, feeling herself plunging into her head, in the same position she collapsed into on her bed. She felt a hand caress her face, fingers tangling in her hair. It was White, she knew; it always was him.

She felt him nip at her shoulder almost affectionately and he kept his hand in her hair. "You're exhausted, aren't you, princess? Losing your grip?" he asked.

"I haven't had proper sleep in days," Minako mumbled, not stirring. "Please, I just want to sleep, White."

"Relax, princess. I'll let you sleep." He nuzzled her neck, and she felt his arms around her, spooning her against his body protectively. At the same time, she could feel them drifting elsewhere, somewhere familiar…

Ichigo hadn't been inside his own soul since he lost his powers. There was a comforting sense of familiarity in it, as well as keeping his guard up. So far no surprise attacks—

"Long time no see." Spoke too soon.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes at his Hollow, as his counterpart sat a few ways away from him—and in his lap, unconscious, was Minako with his right arm tight around her. Ichigo felt his hands curl into unconscious fists. "Why do you have her here, White?" he asked his Hollow darkly.

"I always have my princess with me, Ichigo." White smirked at him as his hand traced a path from Minako's cheek down her neck. Ichigo wondered how she couldn't awaken when they weren't even bothering to keep their voices down. As though reading his mind—well, for all he knew, White could, since they were one in the same—White spoke. "Part of her that'd react in any way is still in her own head. This is just a show of her exhaustion."

"What in the hell are you doing to her?" growled Ichigo. "If you're hurting her-"

"Despite what you think, idiot, it's not me who gave her the bruises," replied White calmly, although there was some amusement in his voice. The prick was enjoying this. "Don't get me wrong, I'd enjoy leaving my mark on her."

"Is that all she is to you? A goddamn plaything?"

A wild laugh was the response he got to his question. "You think that's the only reason? There's a lot more to it than that, Ichigo!"

"And what's that?" Ichigo was positively snarling.

White's lips curled into a malicious smirk before his eyes darted to Minako's face. "You want her too."

Ichigo knew enough about himself to know when he was going to deny something. Of course, his silence proved White's point, whatever the hell it was. He saw his Hollow's hold on Minako's body tighten and his other hand went to caress her face. "You can't have her," he stated. "Do you know why?"

"Because you're a possessive bastard?" Ichigo replied coldly. White's smirk deepened.

"Because her heart is mine, Ichigo," he said. "Her soul is mine. Soon, her body will be too."

Ichigo unsheathed his zanpakuto, his anger flaring sky high. He wanted to cut his Hollow down, to destroy him once and for all, before his brain began to work logically. If he struck, he risked the part of Minako White held so close to him. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to sheath Zangetsu. "I'm not giving her up to you," he told White. White's expression melted into seriousness, his eyes narrowed. Ichigo continued. "I'm going to fight for her with everything I've got. I'll never let you have her."

White's expression turned haughty. "Guess the princess is gonna be a prize after all." His fingers tugged on a lock of Minako's hair. "But for now, we need to let the princess sleep."

"Do you know what's wrong with her?"

"If I did, I wouldn't tell you."

Typical.

It's so dark...and it burns…Minako felt as if her flesh was going to melt off of her bones. Her lungs tightened as though she couldn't get any air. She felt she was dying…

Voices were meshing together inside her mind, louder and louder until her ears bled. She wanted to scream out, but there was no air to scream with. The burning grew intense, white-hot pain searing into her bones like an unrelenting fever. Could she close her mind forever to escape this hellish pain?

There was something else. A smell. A wrong smell the air before she looked at her hands. They were smeared in red and a cold numbness went straight to her core before she saw a body—

She screamed.

Something was wrong. Ichigo's eyes flew to Minako's empty seat, wondering why she hadn't shown up for school. She was always absurdly early, sometimes arriving at school before he did. Her not arriving at all was unusual because if there were an award for never being absent, she'd win. So, in spite of Minako's mother's wish, he was going to see her after school.

The end of the day couldn't come fast enough. Orihime and Chad had expressed concern about Minako's absence, and when Ichigo mentioned to them about seeing what was wrong, they agreed to join him. Ichigo would have made a beeline straight for Minako's house if he was going alone, but he didn't want to express how worried he was about her—especially after his midnight conversation with his Hollow. When he, Orihime, and Chad rounded the corner to Minako's house, they stopped cold.

There was an ambulance outside of her house and paramedics were loading her into it. Her mother was hysterical, being supported by her father. The moment the ambulance began to drive away, Ichigo, Orihime, and Chad walked closer to her parents. Her mother caught sight of Ichigo and nearly flew at him in a frenzy. "You! Why are you here?!" she shrieked as Minako's father tried to restrain her.

"Kato, calm down," he said, his grip tight on his wife, but she seemed beyond reason.

"Calm down! It's because of him that Minako is like that!" she shrieked.

"What do you mean? What happened to Minako-chan?" asked Orihime, tears loading into her eyes.

"She stopped breathing," her father answered in a low voice.

That shocked them to their core. Ichigo found his voice when Orihime's tears began to fall. "How? She was…she said she was fine…"

"She didn't tell you." Her father sighed heavily. "My daughter's power had returned. Her mother and I knew it had. It was the only thing that could weaken her like this—or so we thought."

"What do you mean?"

"Haven't you wondered why the Soul Society executed those with her power aside from the reasons they gave?"

The question hung in the air and the three realized that they never really knew why the Soul Society had been keen on executing Minako except that she could be a "threat".

Her father answered. "The Soul Society knew that Soul Reapers were particularly toxic to those with the Tamashī no Tankyū-Sha, especially during the moment when they lose their minds."

Ichigo felt his insides shudder. He remembered when Minako started acting differently. It was soon after he regained his Soul Reaper powers…

"You're the reason my daughter is possibly dying," her mother whispered brokenly. "You and her have gotten closer and yet…we thought it was okay, that she was finally going to live a normal life…"

He couldn't hear anymore. He had to be there with her. Before he could run in the direction of the hospital, Chad grabbed his shoulder and Ichigo glanced back. "Let me go, Chad."

Silently, Chad released Ichigo. Orihime looked at him with watery eyes. "See if she's okay, Ichigo…" she whispered. "You know her better than any of us."

Ichigo looked to Minako's parents, knowing what they'd want him to do, but he wasn't going to do it. "I'm sorry," he muttered before he ran for the hospital.

Minako was hooked to a respirator, and IV in her arm, her eyes closed. Ichigo didn't realize he was shaking until he reached her hospital room, hoping that she'd be better, that he wasn't the reason she was in this place. He walked forward tentatively, holding his breath, until he reached her bedside. She had fever spots on her cheeks and she looked almost blissfully unaware. He sat on the only chair in the room. "Minako," he whispered. "I'm right here."

Ichigo reached for her hand, his fingers interlacing with hers. The feeling of holding her hand like this was familiar. He had done it after defeating Aizen, and many times since. He squeezed her hand gently, trying to convey that he was there for her. Every time he'd taken her hand, she'd always squeeze it back. This time, she didn't. Her eyes didn't even flutter.

Biting his lip, he raised her hand carefully, and rested his forehead against it. Her skin was cold. "Look at me," he breathed. "Minako, open your eyes and look at me. Let me know you're okay."

She didn't respond. Only the respirator made sounds, pumping air into her lungs. Ichigo's grip on her hand tightened as he squeezed his eyes shut. He was powerless again, and no one knew what was wrong so he could at least try and do something. Opening his eyes, Ichigo's eyes narrowed grimly. He wasn't giving her up. Not to White, not to this mysterious affliction, not to anything. He let go of her hand and made a move to stand up and leave; but before he did, he pressed his lips against Minako's forehead. He wouldn't give her up, but he had to say goodbye for now. He turned to go.

Elsewhere, a wicked scheme was underway, after years of wait.