Chapter Nine: Suspicions

Shinji wondered if Ichigo and his inner hollow had managed to just kill each other off. It was the only explanation he could think of for the inaction of Ichigo's body, but that would mean that the body had become an empty shell, and Shinji could still sense two sets of non-warring reiatsu. So maybe not dead, both knocked unconscious? Could that happen to a person within their own mind without letting the other take control? If the hollow was knocked out as well . . . it was the only explanation that made sense, but Ichigo had lain still like this since he'd been thrown into his inner world nearly an hour ago. What could have knocked them both out in such a short period of time?

Then a sudden surge of reiatsu filled Shinji's senses, almost as if to answer his pondering, and all the visored grabbed for their swords, ready for this moment even after an hour of inactivity. The figure within Hachi's box rose, clutching his sword, and Shinji could clearly see black in his eyes. The hollow.

Shinji tossed a look over at Hachi, the only one able to keep the hollow from getting loose. Sweat shone on his face, and he was beginning to slump from holding the barriers at full strength and remaining on guard for so long. In the corner of his eye, Shinji could have sworn he saw the barrier that was holding the hollow waver.

Kuso, this is bad, Shinji thought, watching a wide smile spread across Ichigo's face. Shinji readied his reiatsu, then used shunpo to shoot himself toward the barrier and through the opening Hachi created for him. The hollow's smile spread, and though it showed no intention as of yet of going through a full hollowfication, Shinji predicted that it had all the time it wanted. Taking control and maintaining a human form . . . it was clear that the hollow had not only beaten Ichigo, but it was using him before killing him to increase its power.

It's intelligent, more than just a beast . . . this could be very bad for us.

The hollow regarded him lazily, its sword slung casually over one shoulder. Shinji, suspecting a trick, didn't take the bait and rush in. He wasn't going to underestimate this thing, knowing that he might have to put his full strength into this battle and couldn't afford to make stupid slip ups. Its reiatsu was steadily rising, and the hand gripping the sword flexed. . . .

Then, just as Shinji was preparing to pull out his mask, the hollow turned its attention away from him. It frowned, as if in annoyance, and directed its gaze upward. "Aww, c'mon. He's askin' for it."

It wasn't talking to Shinji or any of the rest of the visored, that much was clear, but it seemed to receive a response anyway, for it sighed and let its sword arm fall to its side.

"And I was hopin' we'd get to have some fun," it said, this time clearly speaking to Shinji with that wicked smile back in place. Then it closed its eyes, its face fell blank, and the reiatsu permeating the air shifted smoothly into a more familiar, far less sinister sort.

Ichigo opened his eyes and regarded Shinji with a level expression.

"Yo," he said, putting his sword on his back, out of the way.

Shinji couldn't help but stare. "You . . . you won? Then what was that just now?"

Ichigo raised his eyebrows. "Huh? Oh, it wanted me to prove my side of the bargain," he said nonchalantly.

"W-what? Bargain?"

"Yeah. We made a deal that it wouldn't take control unless I let it."

"Wha- do you mean, all this time, you just talked!" Shinji sputtered.

Ichigo kept the same casual manner despite Shinji's reaction, regarding him as one might a mildly interesting television show. "Well, yeah. We'd already fought it out before, and I won, so he accepted my conditions."

Shinji continued to stare. He'd never heard of someone making a deal with their inner hollow before. None of the visored's inner hollows had even been capable of basic reasoning, and certainly didn't have enough intelligence to hold a conversation like he'd witnessed the hollow having with Ichigo when it was briefly in control.

He had, of course, seen hollows with intelligence before-from the adjuchas and vasto lordes to the arrancar, and even some of the lesser hollows that invaded the real world-but everything he'd ever encountered that was created through the hollowfication process had been focused on one thing only: the instinct to kill and consume.

Could it be that his is different, an entirely new sort of hollow? Shinji wondered, briefly interested just for interest's sake before he discarded the notion. It was something Aizen would care about, or Urahara . . . Kisuke would be hearing about this, that was for certain.

Shinji regarded Ichigo with a serious look, and made sure his tone reflected the same. "I don't pretend to know what you and your hollow did while you were in there. But if you think a mere deal will be enough to keep it back, you'd better be right, because if it betrays you and takes control, we'll have to stop it, at any cost."

Ichigo nodded, clearly understanding the grave meaning behind Shinji's words. "It won't. I won't give it the chance," he replied in an equally serious tone. He then changed his manner to at least a mask of something closer to his usual one, saying, "Now then, I'd best be getting home. Curfew, and all that."

Shinji nodded at Hachi, who gratefully dropped the barrier from around them.

"A curfew? At your age?" Shinji asked, mirroring Ichigo in the pretense of his usual self while remaining on guard for any sudden movements, any shift in reiatsu. If the hollow truly was as intelligent as he thought, it wasn't an unrealistic idea that it might be pretending to be Ichigo, using Ichigo's body to cover itself up. Putting this entire show on for their benefit, then as soon as it was out of range. . . .

"Urusei," Ichigo muttered, scowling. Shinji smirked, keeping his focus on Ichigo while leading him to the stairs that would take them from the training area to the upper warehouse, casually letting Ichigo get ahead of him as he headed toward the outer door.

Just to test it, Shinji thought, carefully raising his sword, then bringing it down in a sudden, smooth strike at Ichigo's back.

Ichigo flipped around and blocked it with his own, his expression shocked. Shinji had locked his eyes with Ichigo's as soon as they'd become visible, and closely monitored his reiatsu during the attack. No black had appeared in them; nothing of the hollow had surfaced. He would have expected that, in a dire situation which required split second thinking like the one he'd put Ichigo into, the hollow would have slipped up and let something of itself show, if it was indeed the hollow in control.

"Wha-" Ichigo stuttered out, his eyes wide.

"Tripped," Shinji said casually, putting his sword away. Ichigo's expression grew serious, and Shinji knew he'd realized what his true goal had been.

"Right," Ichigo said, putting his sword away as well and heading out without another backward glance. Shinji watched him pensively, considering the possibilities he'd raised with his little experiment.

Either that's actually Ichigo, or it's a hollow strong enough to give us a serious problem.

He turned to rejoin the rest of the visored in cleaning up the training room, hoping for all of their sakes that it was the former.


Translation Notes:

Kuso - crap (or shit, if you're going to take it that way)

Urusei - shut up; a rude form of "urusai" which means "you're annoying"