Seems like the strawberry is in a tight spot! Three Hollows VS one polka dot wearing Ichigo, oh my!

Chapter 7

So, what should he do now? Ichigo honestly had no clue. He was standing all alone against three strong Hollows. Thousands of possibilities were running through his head. He could try to run, but that wouldn't work. He could apologize, but he would be damned if he did that, and he wouldn't survive another round of kisses. So many ideas, but none would actually help him. If he just could wake up…

To sum it all up, Ichigo really felt bad for the big guy, but the other two could screw themselves! So, with a sigh, he decided he would make it up to the innocent one, but not the other two! Damn, here he was, apologizing again. He should really stop trying to make promises to himself - his pride was already stomped on anyway. Locking his eyes on Ogichi, he extended his hand in his direction and stuttered, "Ehh… Ogichi." The Hollow that was spoken to rose his head in curiosity. His master was actually talking to him? What a delight! "C-could you come over for a second… please?" He added the please in an afterthought. Better to be safe than sorry!

The two more intelligent Hollows looked at each other, confused. What was the teen planning now? They both just saw how Ogichi happily trotted over to Ichigo only to stand right infront of him. With a deep breath the berry braced himself, he grabbed the slightly bigger one's hand and pulled him down to his height, whispering something in his ear, but it was too quiet for the other two to hear.

"The hell is he doin'?" Asked a confused Hichigo, but even Shiro had no answer to that as he just kept staring. My, his king surely had something planned.

They only heard a loud purr as the beast decided to rub his head against the teen seemingly very pleased. As Ichigo pulled slightly on the monster's hand to get it to move, he looked at the other two with a sharp glance. "Stay right where you are." Both of them looked dumbstruck as they just saw Ichigo walk to the end of the skyscraper with Ogichi right behind him.

Now they had some privacy and the king was sure no one heard them - like hell the others would hear him apologize - he looked the big hollow straight in the eyes. "Look, I'm sorry for being rude to you. You seem like a decent guy… eh Hollow, whatever. So then, big guy, why do you even listen to them? I bet you don't really want the same things they do?" After a minute of silence the teen could hear a deep humming noise, nothing else. "Do you even understand what I tell you?"

No reply.

The orange-head sighed. It seemed like the Hollow didn't understand him, but it was seemingly pleased that he had apologized since it started poking his head again with its own in a tender manner. The Substitute Shinigami sighed with a chuckle. 'Just like an animal.' While talking more or less to himself, he absently petted its head. "But you must have a face under there, all Hollows do. And you are so human-like… You have to be a higher-class Hollow, so why don't you talk, Ogichi?"

While he was thinking, he felt two arms snake around him again, this Hollow really loved hugs, it was a mystery! He was worse than Nel! But at least this time the embrace wasn't crushing him so he could wiggle out of it whenever he wanted, but now his curiosity got the better out of him. He really wanted to know what was under that mask. He needed to know!

Ichigo reached around the Hollow's mask and tugged gently to see if the mask would come loose. Of course, it didn't work, and Ichigo hadn't expected it to, but he was still disappointed. Ichigo huffed and reached under the mask, near Ogichi's chin, and as he tried to take the mask off he ended up scratching under the Hollow's chin. The Hollow purred and growled softly, almost like laughter.

Ichigo's eyebrows bunched together in confusion. Was the Hollow. . . ticklish? Ichigo found himself laughing too as he continued to tickle the creature (boy was this dream ever weird).

"Enjoyin' yerself?" Shiro questioned, his arms folded and the corner of his lip raised in an entertained smirk.

Ichigo gulped and blushed bright red from being caught. He shook his head in order to focus and quickly folded his arms. "It's not what it looks like! I was trying to see under his mask! Also, why are you following me!?"

Shiro left Hichigo behind as he hopped closer to Ichigo and Ogichi. Shiro slung his arm around Ichigo's shoulders before the orangette had a chance to run off again. "Yer such a fool, King. What, did ya think we were just gonna let ya wander off? This is the most entertainment that's been in yer boring Inner World for years. Also, if ya wanted the mask off, then ya should've just asked me." Shiro picked off a piece of dirt on his shoulder and flicked it away before returning his focus to Ichigo.

The King scowled and pushed Shiro's arm off of himself. He huffed and stood behind Ogichi, separating himself from the two cunning Hollows. "As if I need your help, baka! And I'm not here to entertain you! I'm still trying to leave!"

Hichigo rolled his eyes. Seriously, this was painful. "Yeah, Ichigo," he muttered, "it's not like we've saved your life more times than you can count or anything." But Hichigo couldn't really complain, after all, he'd gotten his apology for those times earlier with that delightful kiss from the berry. He smirked a little at the thought, even more so that Shiro didn't have this information and he would be more than happy to tell him about it. This gave Hichigo an idea. "You know, if you gave Ogichi another kiss, I betcha his mask would open up."

Ichigo frowned and put his arms up in the shape of an 'X'. Ogichi spun around, seemingly excited by the idea. Ichigo took a step back as the Hollow moved closer. "N-No!" Ichigo protested, "I'm not doing that again!"

"Again?" Shiro suddenly questioned, his interest increased. When Ichigo saw the large grin plastered on Shiro's face, he knew his life was officially over. Ichigo was about to die from embarrassment, and there was nothing he could do about it since he couldn't outrun Shiro, at least not in this form. Not in polka dot PJs.

"D-Don't even think about it!" Ichigo shouted in his Hollow's direction.

Shiro raised his hands 'innocently'. "Think about what, Kingy?" Shiro kept his eyes locked on Ichigo while he lowered himself down to the full Hollow's level. He hummed, his echoic voice making the song eerie as it spread through Ichigo's Inner World, making Ichigo shiver. Ichigo watched Shiro pet the Hollow, and slowly, its mask opened. Shiro smirked at Ichigo. "There, now ya wanna see what's underneath?" Ichigo would be lying if he said he wasn't curious.

The orangette took a tiny step forward. "What's the catch?" he asked, unwilling to fall for yet another trap. He narrowed his eyes on Shiro.

Shiro chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. My, his King was so cute when he was pouting! "Ain't no catch, Kingy. Except I think it's totally unfair that these two got kisses and I didn't!"

"And you won't in a thousand years!" Ichigo snapped before he pushed past Shiro and turned his attention back to the Hollow. He really wanted to know now what was underneath. Ichigo watched the Hollow slowly stand tall, and once again it was just as, if not taller, than Ichigo himself. Why must it be so gigantic in the first place?

It bowed down just enough for the smaller of the two to carefully grab the edges. And with a gentle lift the mask finally came off. Ichigo was so excited he held his breath. With a quiet noise, it finally came of and the king almost dropped the mask. That couldn't be true. It would be the biggest lie in history if he stated he didn't know that face. It was his own. But he looked a little weird? Its, or better, his eyes were Hollow like. Gold but with a hint of his own honey brown with the usual midnight black sclera. The facial expression was lacking any sort of emotions, frozen like an alabaster statue, and a perfectly pale white like one too. He was somewhat beautiful in a haunting way.

Ogichi looked down at his non-Hollow counterpart without moving his face. The only thing that gave away it wasn't the face of a dead man was the blinking of the lidded eyes. It was like looking in a mirror that showed you when you were dead.

The teen was stunned. Never ever did he expect his own face under this mask. He knew how his - Shiro's - mask looked, and Ichigo had never seen this mask before. But there was his face beneath this mask anyway.