A/N: A thank you to rukia-neesan, Arikitten, realityfling18, JadeRent, wickedsistah1024, Kurosaki1332, None, fellow canadian, Mappadouji, Yong Yuan, Shortchannel4, Angel, SweetestChick, Le Rukia, Fathom-x, and AvaLuna for reviewing.

And of course, another big thanks to Fathom-x for taking the time to beta this :)

Chapter 8


Rukia's eyes widened slowly as the man chuckled. There was a knowing smirk upon his face, and his dishevled appearance seemed to exude confidence. The way he managed to tell her, without even the slightest pause or moment of unease...

This man...really is Ichigo's hollow.

She barely had time to digest this information before she felt his zanpakutō ram hard against hers with an incredible force. Her feet dug into the ground as Zangetsu battered against Sode No Shirayuki, the clink of metal against metal echoing throughout the empty baseball field.

"What's wrong, Shinigami? Surprised?" Hichigo jeered, swinging his zanpakutō towards her shoulder. "Are you still unable to admit who I am? Even when I'm right in front of you, holding the king's sword? What more do you need, a song and dance?"

Rukia parried the attack with the flat end of her sword. The attack was a bit stronger than she had expected, but it wasn't something that she couldn't overcome. Even if this was Ichigo's hollow that she was dealing with, he was still just that; a hollow. Surely, she could defeat him, couldn't she?

"You still haven't even bothered to attack me at your full power yet, shinigami. What's holding you back?" Hichigo remarked, applying more pressure to his attack. Rukia in return gripped her sword tightly, lowering her stance as she felt him begin to knock her off balance. "Are you simply weaker than I expected?"

He wrapped the ribbon of Zangetsu's hilt around his fingers, lifting the blade to lazily twirl it in circles. Hichigo suddenly let go of the ribbon, causing the blade to fly towards her chest. Rukia dodged, gasping as it just flew past her. "...Or is it fear?"

"Why would I be afraid of you, hollow?" She retorted with a glare before retaliating. "Tsugi no Mai! Hakur-"

Her words were cut off as Hichigo sent Zangetsu flying towards her once more, leaving her with no other option but to dodge.

"Are you sure about that, Shinigami? You sure that your power isn't being crippled by your fear that I'll simply take over the king's body?"

Rukia's hesitation only lasted for a fraction of a second, but Hichigo latched onto it like a blood deprived leech to a body, with a wicked smile engraved upon his face.

"That's it, isn't it?" He crowed delightedly, a laugh beginning to bubble in the depths of his throat, working its way up and out his mouth. "Does the big bad hollow scare you? Don't worry, I don't bite...much. No wonder this fight hasn't been as fun as I would have liked. How could it possibly be so, when you're not even giving it your all?"

His eyes narrowed, his expression growing grim. "What's the point of fighting someone who can't even fight me properly due to fear? Convince me, Shinigami. Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just kill you right now."

"Tsugi no Mai! Tsuki Shi-"

There was a flash as he shunpoed directly in front of her, clamping his hand over her mouth. "Shinigami like you look a lot better when they aren't talking, you know that? Saves them from potential embarrassment.' He commented breezily. "Besides, that wasn't a very good reason. I'll do you a favor and make this kill as painless as possible for you. What do you think? Should I start with the midsection? Or go for the throat...?"

Hichigo's voice died off as he suddenly turned to look up, his long blue tongue flicking slightly as a breeze passed by. He sighed. "Looks like it's your lucky day, Shinigami." He remarked with a sneer.

It took a few moments before Rukia was able to register two strong reiatsus coming towards her at a rapid rate. Renji and Nii-sama.

"Until we meet again, Shinigami. As for now..." Hichigo gave her a mock salute before shunpoing off.


The sound of their hushed whispers filled his ears in a steady buzz. Speaking in quick, anxious tones, the mangled array of syllables and inflections collided with one another, melding to form a wavering stream of noise.

If Ichigo concentrated hard enough, he found himself able to separate the voices. And if he chose to concentrate a little harder, he could make out snippets of their swift and curious banter.

"…lying there...."

"…poke with a stick...."

"…like a drug dealer to me, you can't trust orange hair...."

"…dressed too nice for that, we're standing too close...."

"…let's poke him with a sti...."

"…shut up, he'll be angry if we wake him...."

"…whatever, I'm going for it...."

Suddenly, Ichigo felt a blunt object insistently prod him in the shoulder.

"…not moving, maybe he's...."

" …dead body, don't touch it...."

"…gross, don't get near it...."

He felt the same blunt object proceed to prod him again, with a little more force. Ichigo lifted his arm, rubbing his weary eyes.

"Ghnnah..." he mumbled incoherently, as he stretched from his position on the ground.

"Ahh! It's alive!" A voice exclaimed. This was then followed by a number of other similar shrill screams, and the sound of sneakers scraping against pavement.

Ichigo opened his eyes.

"The hell?" He muttered, taking in the image of several children clad in elementary school uniforms. Their naive, youthful eyes registered a look of shock, while their cherubic lips were still stuck in the process of forming an "O". With a hint of distain, he also noticed the long wooden branch brandished in one child's arm. His eye twitched slightly.

The children edged back nervously, looks of fright etched upon their faces. "We're not afraid to use this!" Stammered the branch bearing child, waving the stick in an attempt to create distance between the two.

Ichigo sighed. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you." He said, turning his palms so that they faced the kids. "I'm not a drug dealer, I'm not a maniac, and I would appreciate it if you didn't try to poke me with a branch."

"If you're not a drug dealer, or a maniac, then why were you sleeping on the sidewalk?" The child replied with an accusatory tone. His eyes narrowed into slits. "You're not homeless, are you? My mom told me I shouldn't talk to homeless people when she isn't around."

"Sidewalk? What are you talk-"

It was then that it finally hit him that he had been sleeping on the sidewalk. But it was not so much as this fact that put him to unease, but the fact that he had no conscious memory of ever doing so.

Which meant....

It really did happen.

The hollow...hadn't been bluffing.

There were no other options left for him now. No other excuses. No other explanations. His hollow...really was taking over. And he had just been denied the luxury of being able to trust his own body. Ichigo's thoughts raced wildly as the truth began to sink in.

The hollow now has control of Zangetsu as well, which means he has access to my powers.

If he has access to my powers, and the capability to take over my body, that means he could leave my body at any time he wants.

With the power to take control of my body at any period of time, he would probably take over at night, when I'm the least aware...

...And since I couldn't tell what my hollow was doing when he took over my body just now, there's no guarantee that I'd wake up and stop him...

His eyes widened as he scrambled to his feet.

"Look, I told you he's a drug dealer or something." The child muttered with a shake of his cropped brown bangs. "His pupils are all huge and everything."

Ichigo chose to ignore this statement. "What street is this?" He demanded.

"What? I don't talk to homeless people, remember?" The child responded with a hint of arrogance.

Ichigo groaned. "Look, you're talking to me right now. And didn't you just say I was a drug dealer, not a homeless person? Just tell me what street we're on."

How long has this been happening? Did it start that day at Ishida's? Or has it been going on before that? How long have I allowed him to roam free?

The child tapped his chin in an attempt at a pensive manner. "You have a point, orange haired drug dealing man. We're on Kings Avenue right no-"

Ichigo took off before the boy had a chance to finish his sentence. If he was on Kings Avenue right now, that put him about two kilometres away from the school, and another kilometre away from the apartment. If he ran, he would be able to make it to both of those places before nightfall, hopefully. Ichigo quickened his pace, ignoring the fact that his outfit was pretty much ruined by now, or the fact that the soles of his heels would deteriorate if he continued to abuse them like he was now. He needed to figure out what happened to the transfer student after he blacked out, as well as warn the others. However, only two thoughts entered his mind.

What has he done?

What... have I done?


Courtesy once again of Byakuya's wallet, the trio was able to acquire a modestly sized hotel room for them to spend the night. Modest, of course, being in Byakuya's terms. To be frank, the room was really anything but modest. A large three room suite about the size of a person's apartment, the entire area was swathed in the rich tones of gold and chocolate brown. From the luxurious curtains which were tied back to reveal a breathtaking sunset, to the two four poster beds surrounded by multiple sheer veils of fabric, calling the room modest was surely an understatement.

Perched on the bed opposite to the one that Byakuya and Renji were currently laying their clothes out on, Rukia leaned forward as if to pretend she was immersed in their conversation, when in reality her thoughts were still focused on what had occurred mere hours before.

If it hadn't been for Renji and Byakuya, Rukia would have been dead at this exact moment. Although yes, she was already technically dead, if the hollow had really gotten a chance to kill her that time, she wouldn't have been anything more than spirit particles at this exact moment.

No, she corrected herself. Ichigo's hollow. If it hadn't been for Byakuya and Renji, Ichigo's hollow would have turned her into spirit particles at this exact moment.

Mere words could not describe just how...ashamed she felt. There was only one other time which she had ever felt so cowardly, so weak. And the same incident that she was trying to prevent from re-occurring was the same one that seemed to be repeating itself right before her eyes.

She was a coward then as well, not wanting to admit that there was something wrong with him when it was clear that the hollow had completely taken over his body. Wanting to hold on to those last strings of hope, she ran back to him, back like the disgusting disgrace of a shinigami she was. And then....

Kaien died, due to my stupidity, due to my fear.

She had vowed never to do something of that sort again. She wouldn't allow herself to be a hindrance and allow someone she loved to be killed before her eyes. Yet it seemed to be happening again, the one thing that she wanted to prevent. Rukia had deluded herself into thinking that Hichigo wasn't who she suspected he was. Then when she could no longer deny it, she couldn't even fight him properly—due to her fear.

Hichigo would consume Ichigo's humanity the same way Metastacia had consumed Kaien. And she had done absolutely nothing to stop him.

I...really am a disgrace. I was no hero when Kaien died, and I certainly didn't act like one now

A voice interrupted her thoughts. Rukia lifted her gaze to see Renji hovering above her, his lips moving in rapid conversation.

Right. They were still discussing the day's events.

"…It's not your fault it got away, Rukia. The hollow was strong. It's not your fault it escaped. We still have plenty of opportunities to catch it, don't worry. Right now though, we should just stay focused on trying to figure out where the reiatsu of our mission target is."

Rukia felt Renji's hand pat her twice on the back, his eyes filled with sympathetic concern. Rukia supposed that he must have noticed her turmoil. However, he didn't understand.

She didn't have much of a choice when it came down to explaining what happened on the field. Although they knew that she had been dealing with some form of powerful reiatsu, due to the reports given on their spirit phones, she didn't inform them about Hichigo. It was more like a gut feeling than anything else, but Rukia knew that she still couldn't tell them about it, in case the information was relayed back to Soul Society. Considering how they acted when it came to Ichigo's powers, Rukia was aware they would not take it lightly if they found out that his hollow still had powers. Rukia realized that she wouldn't be able to hide something like this from Soul Society forever, but at this moment, she preferred not to let them know.

They would attempt to destroy it. By any means necessary.

Even if it meant killing Ichigo.

No, it just wasn't an option at this moment. Like Renji had said, her main focus ought to be the mission target. The reiatsu of the thing they came for in the first place. Soul Society already had enough troubles right now, attempting to figure out why there was such a strong reiatsu influence in the area. Bringing news that there was another hollow for them to deal with that had powers on par, if not greater than Ichigo's, would only lead them to make rash decisions.

If there was to be anything done about Hichigo, she would have to do it on her own.

"Speaking on the topic of the mysterious reiatsu, have either of you managed to acquire any useful information?"

Rukia felt Byakuya's gaze land upon her as he asked this particular question. It was almost as if he knew, or at least had an idea that she had not told everything.

"No, Nii-sama." She replied, using as cool a tone as she could muster. "Other than the strong hollow I had to deal with earlier today, I had nothing else to report."

He simply nodded in response, not indicating whether he was suspicious in any form about her answer. However, she could feel his emotionless gray eyes pierce her own, as if to tell a different story. She averted her gaze, pretending to be engrossed with the patterns on the bedspread. After a few moments, Byakuya looked away, rounding towards Renji.

"Anything you'd care to report, Abarai?"

"There was some suspicious activity that I suspect may have been related to the reiatsu from this morning . There was an unusual number of Menos Grande by the harbor front. But I couldn't really interrogate them about it, so I killed them, Taicho." Renji replied swiftly.

"I see." Byakuya answered contemplatively. "I shall take care to further investigate that matter then. As for you, Rukia..."

Rukia found herself eye to eye with Byakuya once more.

"I trust you to take care of the hollow you encountered earlier. Do not disappoint me. I have faith in your abilities. However, I still expect you keep the mission as your main priority, which means continuous surveillance on Kurosaki Ichigo."

All Rukia could manage was a stiff nod in reply, as the image of Hichigo cackling popped up in her mind.

She knew she had to beat him, but how was she supposed to do it when he had almost turned her into spirit particles on their last encounter?

"Rukia."

She looked up.

"Mistakes are nothing more than accidents. They can be prevented. If there was a reason that you could not fight him before, do not dwell on it. Learn from your errors and improve. Improve and win." Byakuya stated simply.

Rukia fought the urge to frown. She was really that easy to read, wasn't she?

But he was still right.

Even if she had acted like a coward before, she wouldn't allow herself to brood in her despair, in her self-hate. That would mean that she had given up.

She wouldn't allow herself to lose to him again. She wouldn't allow her fear to stand in her way.

If she really resented her fear, she would crush it.

If she really was afraid he would be consumed, she would simply prevent it from happening.

If she wanted to become something more than a pawn and take control, she would do it herself.

She would overcome her weakness, so that the next time they met, she would be the one to defeat him.

"Yes, Nii-sama."


A/N: Do I really need to say this? Review and tell me what you think so my mind won't start making random nonsensical speculations. That includes you, you lurkers. Don't make me threaten you with sugar free cookies *laughs maniacally*