Ch. 13
Sunk in blood

The wind was blowing madly as he ran in the through the darkness, a lot of strong lightning were crushing the dark sky into pieces. He finally escaped the room he was imprisoned for a long time by Soul Society. He didn't do it alone, though.

"Faster, partner" a hoarse voice started to scream in his head. "We hafta go faster!" he continued being excited.

Ichigo didn't argue. He knew he had to go faster for the sake of the others. So he hurried up. Skipping through trees, the wood seemed interminable. Where was everyone? Why couldn't he feel their reiatsu? He couldn't feel it since he was imprisoned in that house but he thought that it was because of the barrier. Wait…did they just hid his reiatsu? It seemed that way. That gave him more reasons to go hurry up.

He went faster and his hollow started to laugh hysterically in his head. He was delighted; of course, he was going to fight, to slaughter. Ichigo knew all that and he thought that if he could he wouldn't let Hichigo fight. He hoped it wasn't anything serious.

The orangette didn't know how much time passed until he got out of the wood nor did his Hollow. But when they reached out the terror began.

In the front of the Pure Soul's Gate was a pile of corpses, shinigami's corpses, ryoka's corpses. Blood was everywhere, sinking Ichigo's white socks, intoxicating the air. Some of the corpses were already rotten. Why didn't their bodies vanish as normal? Ichigo was petrified. Was everyone dead?

But in his inner world, Hichigo, the hollow was licking his lips, grinning devilishly. So what if they were dead? If they died it meant that they were weak. That's how he thought. He couldn't care less, but he liked the view. The trash was dead. And he would have burst into laughter, but something stopped him. Even though he had released himself in his heart there was an iron stake and he couldn't pull it out. His wrists were still shackled but the chain link was broken. He wasn't free. He had a heart, a bleeding one, but he had one so that meant that he still had feelings. Not like before, but he had. He still liked Ichigo and he couldn't let him fall apart.

"King, let's go!" the hollow said with a impetuous voice.

But Ichigo didn't move. What of everyone was dead? Did Rukia also…? No. That was impossible, still. He couldn't even think anymore as if his brain were frozen.

"Let's go, for God's sake! Do ya want ta stay here forever? Maybe they ain't dead. Come on!" Shirosaki started to shout seeing that Ichigo wouldn't move.

"They…they…are dead." He said with a low voice, ignoring his hollow's desperate voice. "Blood…everywhere. Corpses…I-I couldn't protect them." He continued staring blank in the darkness.

He stood like that for a long time, ignoring his hollow, trying to understand what happened. But then it hit him, he realized the gravity of the situation and he fell in his knees, drenching his hakama in blood.

"I'm useless! Why does everyone try to protect me instead of letting me protect them? Am I that useless in their eyes?" he started to shout putting one hand on his chest pressing his aching heart while with the other he was supporting himself by putting it in the sunk in blood ground. "I can't feel their presence…they must be dead. They knew! They knew what was going to happen that's why they locked me up." He continued, burning tears falling his cheeks, while his heart twitched painfully in his chest.

"King, oi, King!" his hollow shouted his head to get his attention but in vain. "Get up, partner!" he continued but no one bothered to listen. His hollow was desperate since he couldn't get his attention. What were they going to do if Ichigo never recovered? What if he killed himself? Normally his hollow would take action but it seemed that he couldn't make himself heard. Nothing changed in the end. He couldn't make himself heard, that meant that his king didn't accept him. The only thing that released Hichigo was his own insanity, his own power. His hollow powers. His time was running. Sooner or later he would have lost all his sane side to his insane side, becoming what he truly was. A hollow. His desperate voice wasn't reaching the suffering orangette. Just like that time. He panicked when he realized.

"ICHIGO!" he shouted with tears bluffing his eyesight, with a voice full of despair and anger, his voice echoing in his own black world and his master's voice. "LISTEN TO ME, GODDAMIT!" he continued with an even more desperate voice.

The teen froze, hearing his hollow's desperate voice.

"DON'T FUCKING PANIC OVER NOTHIN'. THEY AIN'T DEAD. CAN'T YA FEEL IT? THEIR PRESENCE?" he said desperately without noticing that Ichigo could actually hear his voice. "They are injured, very injured, but alive. Rukia, Renji, Toshiro, the bald one, the old man. They are still alive. Now stop crying like a sissy girl and move yer ass from here. MOVE! And stop crying already…." He said the last sentence with a pained voice, bursting into tears, and as soon as he understood that Ichigo heard him he vanished, hiding in his soul, in darkness, where Ichigo couldn't hear nor see him crying.

"Oi, Shirosaki!" Ichigo started to shout after the hollow, but no one responded. "Just what was that right now?" he said confused.

"Were you…were you crying, Shiro?" Ichigo thought confused.

"Arigatou!" he said smiling faintly and shunpoed to Soul Society.

The streets were filled with corpses, but he ignored them and hurried up to Yamamoto's desk. He was there, lying on the floor, but breathing.

"O-san." Ichigo said running to the old shinigami who was lying on the floor. He tried to lift him up, but the shinigami opened his eyes, startling the young substitute shinigami.

"Kurosaki Ichigo" the old man whispered. "How did you get out?" he said.

"Forcing it. But that doesn't matter. What happened? Everyone's dead. Why did you lock me up?" Ichigo bombarded the old shinigami with his question.

"You shouldn't have done that. Go to the Technology Bureau and beg people there to transport you to the Real World. Now!" the other said.

"I won't! I can't do that!" the orangette said.

"You shouldn't worry about us. They are still alive, your friends. If you go everything will be alright!" the old man said.

"No!" the teen shouted. He wasn't going to leave his friends.

"It came after you. It was a shadow who did it. We knew before it entered Soul Society that it will come for you. I don't know what you have awaken, boy, but that thing came after your reiatsu. And you can't fight that. Neither could we. We don't know what that is, but it came after you. Go to the real world. I heard that it can't release itself there. Too much pressure. Go, now! the old man said and closed his eyes.

Before Ichigo could say anything a man from the technical bureau came in, leaning on the wall.

"Go, Kurosaki, go the gate and leave this world." He said.

And Ichigo left the room and went to the gate. He had no choice. The shadow followed him in Soul Society and almost killed everyone. It was his fault in the end. His strong reiatsu caused problems again. When was it going to end? He was tired of creating problems to the others…

The gate opened and he made a step and looked back. Another lightning broke the darkness and he left…