The recurring dreams
"What is it?" Ichigo stood up from the bed and grabbed his shinigami badge.
"!" Rukia looked at the pager. Her fist clenched and her body shook.
"Hollows, and…A MENOS GRANDE!" Rukia was quivering so much, she could barely stand.
Ichigo ran behind her to support her, "You, Renji, Rangiku and Ikkaku take care of the hollows…" Ichigo pressed his badge into his chest, "I'll take care of the menos grande!" Ichigo jumped out of the room from the window. "Come on! I'll be alright."
Rukia changed to shinigami and followed Ichigo. They were met up with Renji, Rangiku and Ikkaku.
When Ichigo went towards the menos, Rukia and the other shinigami's found Chad and Orihime there.
Ichigo arrived at the menos grande.
He saw a flash of blue light skim across the edge of the huge hollow.
"Uryu! What are you doing here?" Ichigo ran towards him and drew out his zanpakuto.
"Chad and Orihime are taking care of the hollows." Uryu readied another arrow to strike.
"Yeah, Rukia, Rangiku, Renji and Ikkaku are helping" He took his stance and readied to strike. "Ready?" Uryu nodded, in affirmation.
"HAAAAGHH!" Uryu and Ichigo yelled their battle cries.
They both struck the Menos in the exact same spot. The two contacts caused an explosion, dust and debris flew everywhere. The menos screeched.
"Did we get it?" Ichigo managed to speak after panting heavily.
They couldn't see the menos, for all the dust. When it dispersed, they saw it, standing tall.
"What!" Uryu stepped back.
"We didn't even penetrate it…" Ichigo narrowed his eyes, "Stand back, Uryu. BAN-KAI!" Ichigo gripped his zanpakuto in both hands, and held it tightly. Uryu stepped back and watched Ichigo transform.
Black cape. Black sword.
"Getsuga-TENSHO!"
Ichigo's sword lashed out a black wave of energy, that struck the menos. It screamed and fell back, causing the ground to rumble.
Uryu took the advantage to aim at the large hollow mask. The arrow struck it with immense force, making the menos scream and disperse.
Ichigo turned to his normal shinigami form and followed Uryu to where the others were.
When they arrived, the team were just finishing off the hollows.
"Ichigo! Uryu!" Rukia saw them and ran towards them.
"Did you get it?" Orihime spoke whilst healing Rangiku's minor wounds.
"Yeah. It wasn't that tough. Are you sure it was a menos, Rukia?" Ichigo looked at a worried Rukia.
"I…I'm positive…It was a menos grande…But…" She looked at Ichigo. Blood began to run down his face. His chest was slashed. His eyes widened.
Rukia began to shake. She looked at her hand to find herself gripping Sode no Shirayuki, and blood spread right across the blade.
Ichigo fell with a thud on the ground. "Why? Rukia…" His eyes closed. He stopped breathing…
"AAarrgghh!" Both Rukia and Ichigo wailed. They must have dosed off whilst they were doing their homework.
"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked a scared looking Rukia. Her eyes were wide, and she was panting heavily.
"I…I killed you…"Rukia looked towards Ichigo, who was leaning back with a shocked expression.
"You mean, after I defeated the Menos?"
"Yeah, when you and Uryu came to meet me, Renji, Rangiku…"
Ichigo carried on where she had left off. "…Ikkaku, Chad and Orihime?"
They both fell back and gave out a yell. How much of that was a dream…
They both wanted to find out. They both leaped towards Rukia's homework to find it was finished, they went to her pager and…
"Nothing…" Rukia let out a big sigh.
"We should go tell Urahara about this…" Ichigo stepped out of his bedroom, then looked back at Rukia.
"Have you had any dreams like that before?" Ichigo cast a concerned look at her.
She nodded her head. "A few times, yes. But they all seem to happen in different places. And sometimes, it's you who's killing me…" Ichigo was hoping that she hadn't been having those…
"Same here…What's going on?..." Ichigo waited for Rukia, then they left towards Urahara's.
When they arrived, Ururu and Jinta were outside, sweeping.
"Hey, it's Rukia and carrot-top!" Jinta pointed the sweeping brush handle at the couple, racing into the building.
"Huh? Wonder what's going on?" Jinta scratched his neck and looked at Ururu, who just shrugged.
Ichigo slid open the screen doors to find Yoruichi and Urahara having some green tea.
"Kisuke! Yoruichi!" Ichigo yelled and ran towards them with Rukia, behind him.
"Aahh! It's young Kurosaki and Kuchiki! How are you two?" Urahara asked calmly.
"We…We've been having some dreams, recently..." Rukia sat between Yoruichi and Ichigo, who was beside Urahara.
"What were these dreams about exactly?" Yoruichi asked.
"It's different every time, but they all have the same plot…" Ichigo looked at the short table in front of him.
"For some reason, we end up getting killed by the other…" Rukia looked at Ichigo, who was refusing to speak any more.
"How so?" Urahara looked at Rukia from under his hat.
"I don't know… The last one we had… I killed Ichigo." Rukia saw Ichigo lift his head.
"The one before that, I killed Rukia…" They both looked at each other, worriedly.
Urahara frowned and stood up.
"I see… So it's just you two in the dream?"
He saw them both shake their heads. "Who else was there?"
"It's different, depending where each of us are…" Rukia closed her eyes.
"Tell us exactly what happened.." Yoruichi leaned forward.
Rukia and Ichigo explained the dream to Urahara and Yoruichi.
"…So you fell asleep in Ichigo's room, and you hadn't realised?" Urahara looked at Yoruichi menacingly.
"Yes, but when Ichigo was in Tokyo for the month, we've been having the dreams in our point of view…" Rukia said quickly, before the two adults began to drift away from what really mattered.
"Oh? How so?" Yoruichi looked at Urahara confused.
"Well, one was when I woke up and we were ready to leave to Karakura, and Yuzu and Karin encountered a hollow. I went down to save them and all of a sudden, Rukia appeared and turned on me…" He looked at Rukia and she nodded.
Urahara opened his fan and thought.
"Hmmm… Have you been having these for a while?"
Rukia and Ichigo nodded.
"Since we both encountered the spawn of hollows…" Ichigo watched Yoruichi and Urahara look worried.
"Do you think it has something to do with the large amount of hollows appearing?" Yoruichi asked Urahara.
"Could be. We better report it to the soul society, see if they have an idea…"
Urahara stood up and laid a hand on Ichigo and Rukia's head. "Don't worry. If anything else seems to be bothering you, don't be afraid to ask." Urahara spoke in a creepily happy voice. Ichigo and Rukia's eyes widened and realised what he was getting at.
Ichigo shut his eyes and let out a huge sigh. "Thanks, Urahara, but I think it will be just fine." He threw a fist at Urahara's chest and stood up. "Thanks, Yoruichi."
"I'll inform you if the soul society find anything suspicious happening." Yoruichi stood up and dragged Urahara out of the room. Rukia stood up and looked around.
"Wait, where's Renji, Rangiku and Ikkaku?" She looked at Yoruichi, who was just leaving.
"They went out, somewhere I think…" She shrugged and closed the door behind her.
Ichigo and Rukia looked at each other.
Where could they have gone off to...?