Day 3 since Ulquoirra's proposal.
A new Hollow arises in Karakura town, and the target is, apparently, Orihime. But there's something familiar about the monster behind the mask…
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Chapter 12
Ishida laid on his futon, his arms crossed behind is head, deep in thought. There's something going on here. Sado knows something about who killed Keigo and why. Somehow, he and Inoue have ties to this disaster. And for some reason, Sado blames himself for what happened. Just what secrets are my friends keeping from me?
The next day had passed just like any other Saturday: uneventful. Uryuu usually spent his Saturdays sewing and perfecting his Quincy arrows, but today made the latter task much more troublesome. Outside Ishida's small room where he spent his days alone, it was raining. Flashes of lightning could be seen in the distance as Uryuu observed the skyline out of his bedroom window. Yesterday there wasn't even a cloud in the sky.
His thoughts were interrupted no sooner than they were thought by a sensation Uryuu had become quite accustomed to since Ichigo's Shinigami powers were awakened some time ago. A Hollow.
Kurosaki Ichigo was downstairs enjoying dinner with his family. Karin and Yuzu had been lecturing their brother about always locking himself up in his room for hours at a time and behaving quite strangely since his return home. This could all, of course, be explained by Rukia's inhabitance of his closet, though that was something Ichigo found significantly more difficult to explain than just letting them assume he was being ailed by teenage hormones.
"Stop thinking so perverted, Dad!" Ichigo fumed, irate with his father's interpretations of his strange conduct. As he launched forward, prepared to attack Isshin with his dignity on the line, Ichigo was alarmed midway through by his Hollow detector going off. "AHHH!"
His family gave him a worried glance as he fidgeted nervously after his sudden leap in the air, trying to think of something to explain leaving the dinner table. Beads of sweat surfaced as he patted the back of his head, laughing nervously.
"Well, look at the time! It's 7:36 already and I promised Kei… Mizuiro that I'd meet up and study with him for the 'big exam' tomorrow! See ya!" Ichigo ran out the front door, slamming it behind him and dumping his body behind a bush as he reverted to his Shinigami form.
Isshin scratched his head, disturbed by much of his son's lie, as well as his nearly untouched plate of food. "Ichigo started to say Keigo…" he mumbled to himself, perplexed at this altered detail in the fib his son had told. Ichi wouldn't tell me this, but all the parents were alerted of Asano's apparent murder almost as soon as it happened. He's barely eating, he's barely talking… he's barely even living anymore.
Rukia climbed out of Ichigo's window and, having left her gigai behind in the closet, took off after Ichigo. She fingered her zanpakutu's hilt, making her way down the dark, empty street. She could hear the Hollow's cry in the distance and feel his approximate location.
"Ichigo, the Hollow! He's… at Inoue's!" Rukia cried to her comrade's back, picking up pace as her fear grew.
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Inoue kneeled on the floor of her room, wiping at the tears that streamed her face. She looked up at the framed picture on her dresser of the one man she could trust in life, confiding in him. "Onee-san…" she started between sobs. "Was life this hard for you before we ran away? Was life… this… unbearable?"
"Or-iii-hime-chaaan," a voice crooned behind her, startling the crying girl.
Inoue stood, turning around to face the voice that mocked her. Where…? Glass and plaster smashed and shattered ahead of her, sending debris flying and a cloud of smoke cloaking the monster in front of her.
"Orihime-chaaan, did you really think it would be that easy," the beast sang, stepping closer, his voice growing angrier, "TO GET RID OF ME!"
The Hollow's fist came rushing forward and his face rose from the ashes. Orihime gasped, recognizing the familiar voice and face, despite the mask that concealed it. Brown chin-length hair blew in the smoky swirls surrounding him. His mask was porcelain white; his mouth and eyes large, vacant black holes. A large, malicious grin was permanently plastered on the mask that loomed overhead. The body resembled that of a centipede, hideously elongated and brown with numerous insect-like legs protruding from the sides. Despite all these vast distortions to his original form, Inoue could recognize the monster within.
"Keigo."
"I've been watching you ever since you killed me, Orihime. Playing helpless—you little bitch. Ever since that day, I've prayed for some way to enact my revenge. That's when 'they' came. The others, like me; some more humanoid than others.
"I'm really grateful to them for helping me to gain this form so quickly, though. I just couldn't stand to see you happy, and I especially couldn't stand to see you cry and tell your little sob stories any longer. Your onee-san isn't going to save you now."
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Sado sat up in bed. I can feel a Hollow. And he's after Inoue! He grimaced, rising to his feet with determination. I will protect you this time… because I couldn't then. Even though I know it means nothing to you now.
Ichigo and Rukia joined Ishida just outside of Inoue's apartment. A big gaping hole had been blasted through the wall to her bedroom, and a long, multiple-legged body stretched alongside the outside of the building from that hole. Ichigo leapt on top of the brute's body, making his way up to the room with his zanpakutu unsheathed.
"Ichigo! Attack from behind! Quickly!" Rukia shouted in warning, gritting her teeth in anxiety. Before you see his face.
Ichigo had made it into the room, seeing Inoue being suffocated by the monster's tight hold on her. The Hollow pressed harder against the floor, pinning the girl so that she couldn't even manage a whisper. Her lungs felt like they were about to burst from the weight. And then she saw the blur of golden hair and a black kimono approaching from behind the monster.
Kurosaki-kun, look out! she wanted to scream. Not because he was in harm's way, but because he needed to act quickly before he determined the monster's identity. But before she could do that, the wildly excited Hollow, continuing to press against Orihime's chest, turned to look at his sword-wielding former friend.
"Ichigo, huh? When did you get so kick-ass?" the Hollow taunted the boy just as he was about to strike. "Oh, were you about to save her? I'm sorry, I didn't realize you were so eager to protect…
"Your best friend's MURDERER!"
Ichigo froze from the shock, unable to finish his intended attack. He didn't want to believe it was true; didn't understand how it was possible. But the proof was staring him in the face: Keigo had been turned into a Hollow. Somehow the process of the spirit chain eating away at itself was dramatically accelerated for the boy, much like it had been for him when Urahara intended to revive his Shinigami powers.
"What's wrong, Ichigo? Can't kill me now? That's too bad; Orihime-chan was kind of hoping you would. Isn't that right, Orihime-chan?" he grinned as he looked down at the girl beneath his claws struggling to retain consciousness. "Oh, that's right. You can't even breathe, much less speak."
Rukia and Ishida burst through the door. "ICHIGO! Hurry up and kill him!" Rukia hollered.
Ichigo looked entranced by the monster, unable to process anything other than the fact that his dead friend was staring back at him. "K… Keigo?"
"Hmm, this looks so familiar, doesn't it, Orihime-chan? You, pinned underneath me. Should we have just a little more fun before I return the favor and kill you?" Keigo let up a little on his hold, allowing her to breathe as he traced her clothing with his claw, tearing at the fabric coating her chest and torso.
"Fuck you, Ichigo, I'll do it myself! Keigo, you fucking bastard!" Rukia unsheathed her zanpakutu, running forward.
Undetected by any of the others, a mop of wavy black hair slipped past Rukia, pushing her out of the way as he heaved forward with his right arm. Sado scowled at the monster ahead, seething with hatred.
"Heh. You again?" Keigo scoffed.
The tall, powerful bronze boy pushed forward with his right arm—which had turned into some mass of black and maroon, with a forked tip at the shoulder. His fist made contact with the monster's chest, using all the strength he could (though unnecessary) in the attack.
"What the f—" Keigo began as he dispersed and turned to ash.
"Sorry, Rukia. I wanted to shut him up myself," Sado apologized with a slight grin toward the Shinigami who'd been thrust aside.
She smiled, accepting the apology and getting back on her feet. "It's okay, I understand."
Both Ichigo and Ishida remained frozen still from the shock of everything that had just happened. Within seconds, the group's attention was averted to the huge, unwelcoming gate that emerged from the floor. Two skeletons, comprised of everything just above the pelvic bone, gripped the edge of each door as they parted. The skulls were wrapped in bandages, covering even the left eye of each. The half-skeletons and the doors themselves were restrained by metal chains. Those between the doors busted as the doors opened. Keigo reemerged in his human form, squirming around in a frightened fashion on the floor.
"Orihime, what kind of people live in the floor beneath you?!" he asked jokingly with apprehension. "…Fuck," was all he could conclude as Hell's Gate opened up for him, and a large, tattooed hand gripping a sword thrust into Keigo's pelvis and moved up, continuing to slice through his skull in a backwards fashion of the way he'd been killed in life.
As the sword was in mid-slice, the hand began to pull Keigo's soul toward the doors, sucking him into Hell's gates. By the time the job was finished, Keigo's soul had already been consumed by the gates, the two halves disappearing into a black abyss as the doors closed behind.
Ichigo, Ishida, Sado, and Rukia looked on in awe as the gates retreated into the floor. Orihime panted heavily before falling into unconsciousness.
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What d'ya think? I love these little twists in the story that come to me : )
Please Read and Review! No promises on when to expect Chapter 13—I have to work tomorrow through Monday but maybe I can squeeze time in between there. I'm not entirely sure where I'm going with this but there are only a few days left until Ulqy returns! Woot!
