Chapter 21:

Cedric peered out the small window, pulling back the stained curtains with two fingers. They had found a small building and managed to escape into it while hiding from the Hollow Reapers. The structure was cement though the floors were wooden and uncarpeted. There was little inside, the room itself being only about the size of Ichigo's living room at home without all the furniture. The building seemed to be a storage space for blankets and other supplies. Sadly, it held no food. However, there was a barrel of fresh water in the corner which the group used to drink and clean themselves up. Kira used some of the water to clean Ichigo's wounds.

It was a miracle that he didn't get any infection. By the time Kira had managed to treat his injuries, Ichigo had lost several pints of blood, leaving a long trail behind them in the street. Cedric had managed to help close Ichigo's wounds with his hand to keep the trail from leading to their hiding place, but the damage was already done. Ichigo was weak and having trouble breathing. His left lung had been severed and was hanging like a popped balloon in his chest. Veneno's blade just missed his heart. The muscles in his shoulder were torn and his clothes were in tatters. Kira just barely managed to heal him in time. His life was hanging in the balance.

"That was so reckless, Ichigo."

He inflicted it on himself in order to reach Veneno.

"I… had to… get away… from him… somehow…" Ichigo panted. He couldn't breathe and talk at the same time. It was hard for him to breathe at all.

"Don't try to talk. It's fine. We know." Kira was working hard to heal him. It was going well, all they needed was time. Something they didn't have much of. "I should have healed him then and there… I should have, but we couldn't with all of them chasing us. Damn it…" Kira had to mend his insides before he could treat the outsides, meaning that Ichigo's chest had to remain open for a few more minutes until he was finished. In the meantime, his blood kept pouring out. Kira tried his best to clot it using all the medical training he had, but it was hard. This was something Unohana was perfect at. If only they had her here with them. He had to do his best. Medical kido could only go so far. They needed medicine and bandages and disinfectant.

Luckily, the building they were in had a supply of cloth which they could use for bandages. Sadly it didn't have much else to offer in terms of medical supplies. They had to make due with what little they had.

Linnette remained in the corner with Rukia, hoping for the best. Though Kira told her that Ichigo was going to be ok, the look of panic and worry on his face sent mixed messages. He looked stressed while working on Ichigo's torn body. She thought that if she sang in the street she could stop the Hollow Reapers from attacking and Kira could perform the surgery there like he wanted. But if she sang with Ichigo there, he would change into his Hollow again. If that happened, he would start thrashing around and open his wounds further. His Hollow wasn't the type to settle easily. He tended to ignore injuries and keep going no matter what. He didn't know the meaning of restraint. Unleashing him then wouldn't be wise. Besides, she was nervous about doing it again after the last time he came out. It took him a long time to return to normal. What if she sang again and this time he didn't come back at all? She was worried that her song had become so powerful that Ichigo's inner Hollow was now able to last longer with each song she sang. She didn't want to risk it.

Kira wiped his forehead on the back of his hand and returned to his work. Ichigo was moaning, shutting his eyes tightly. "I know, I know. This is going to hurt a lot. But just for a minute. Bear with me…" Kira stuck his hand inside Ichigo's chest.

"Augh!" Ichigo cried out and tensed up.

"Shh, shh! Quiet, quiet…" Kira shut one eye as he moved his hand in deeper, tensing up as well. "It's ok. Don't move, don't move. Keep still as much as you can, Ichigo."

He bit down on his lip to keep from screaming as Kira's hand moved inside his chest. With nothing to numb the pain, Ichigo was forced to feel everything that was being done to him. Kira slowly pulled his hand back out with a relieved exhale. Ichigo whimpered as the last stings of pain left his body.

"Good. Almost done. You're going great, Ichigo. Just hang in there a little longer."

Victor moved to the window on the other side of the room. It was boarded up, but he could see through the planks of wood into the street. There was no sign of life, but the sun was setting. Twilight had set in. It was too late to go back to the sewer now and there was no way Ichigo would be able to move any time soon in order to do just that. They had to wait.

He looked back and saw Linnette holding onto Rukia tightly, watching Ichigo over Rukia's arm. She was worried he wouldn't pull through. She was scared. Victor looked around the room for something to distract her with. There was a small staircase behind her leading upstairs to a place unexplored. There were crates of supplies lining the back wall, framing the stairs. Victor went over and opened them up. They held blankets. All of these crates held blankets. He looked back at the one Ichigo was laying on slowing turning pink from his blood. There really wasn't much in here.

Ichigo exhaled sharply and panted. Kira sat above him, sweating. He was muttering to himself and then…

"Ha…" He sat back with a sigh. "Done."

The others looked up.

Kira looked at them with a weak smile. "I did it. I'm done."

Linnette jumped to her feet. "Is he ok? Will he be ok now?"

He nodded, smiling. "Yes. He's going to be just fine now. Don't worry."

She bent down beside him. "Ichigo..?"

He opened his eyes weakly and looked at her. "Hi…"

"Are you ok?"

He nodded his head up and down. "Yeah… I'm fine." His body ached but the pain had stopped. He could breath again. His side was all patched up and healed. Everything was working as it should be. "Don't worry. I've had this happen to me before. It's nothing."

She still looked worried.

"I'm ok. I promise."

Kira flopped backwards onto the floor with another sigh. "That was scary… If it was just a straight-down stab of the blade, it would have been easier to heal. But you pulled the sword sideways across your body, tearing it open as well as your insides. That was stupid."

"I told you. I had to get away from him somehow. It was the only way. It worked, didn't it? And I killed him."

"True, but don't be so reckless in the future, ok? There's only so much I can do, remember. I'm not Unohana."

"No," said Rukia. "But you were on her Squad before, weren't you?"

Linnette looked surprised. "You were on Squad 4, Kira?"

He nodded. "For a little while, yes. I'm not anymore. But at least I took something away from it."

"I'm glad. You can heal people."

He chuckled weakly. "Yeah. I'm pretty good, but I'm not the best… If Ichigo had done more to himself… I don't know. But I managed to heal him up just fine. He'll be ok. Just needs some rest."

Ichigo looked at the ceiling, realizing there weren't any lights. Kira was only working by the sunlight and the glowing on his hands when performing kido. He turned his head to the side and saw Victor taking blankets out of one of the crates. Rukia was smiling at him, happy to see that he was alive. When she saw him looking at her, her smile went away and she turned away, angrily.

"You could have killed yourself, Ichigo. Stop trying to get attention."

He was too weak to fight back. He was tired. Victor tossed a blanket over Ichigo's body and handed him something that looked like a ladle. He told him to drink. Ichigo accepted the water given to him and drank it all down. Victor then placed a thinner blanket behind his head, making a pillow for him.

"Thanks."

Victor nodded and took Linnette's hand. "See? He'll be fine."

She nodded but didn't leave his side.

Kira sat up, slowly getting to his feet. "Looks like we'll be staying here for the night."

"Here?" asked Linnette.

"Yes. Ichigo can't move just yet. He needs to rest. Though I've healed him, his injuries remain which only time can heal. I managed to save his life, but he needs to stay put for a while. And we can't move him either or his wounds will open again. He needs rest. And I have a feeling that he'll do better up here and away from the sewer. In any case, it's too dark to travel at night. I think we should all rest here for the night."

They all agreed. It was cleaner and they could breathe fresh air for a while longer.

"We'll keep watch," said Victor. Cedric nodded, agreeing with him.

Linnette looked excited. "What can I do?" She wanted to feel important, too.

"We need beds," said Rukia, encouraging her. "Here, I'll show you what we can do."

The girls gathered up blankets from the crates and spread them out in different areas on the floor, making beds for themselves and Kira. Kira was tired from the emergency healing and needed to rest. The moment his bed was ready, he collapsed on top of it, laying face-down. He turned his head to talk to Ichigo.

"Listen to me, ok? You can't move just yet. I want you to stay in that bed and not leave it for the rest of the night. You'll do more damage to yourself if you do. Just rest."

"I got it." Ichigo had no intention of moving either. He didn't want to get up and leave to go searching for anyone or anything. He just wanted to rest. His body ached and felt heavy. He was weak from hunger and the injury and the operation that followed it. He laid in bed staring up at the ceiling.

Linnette jumped onto the blanket bed and told Rukia to sleep beside her. Rukia threw a blanket over her slender body and took a blanket for herself and went to the space beside Linnette. The girls were giggling quietly among themselves and talking. Kira was already asleep in the bed horizontal to them. There were only three windows, one of which was boarded up. Cedric took the one on the left by Ichigo's feet, looking out while Victor took the one on the right. They made sure that the door was locked up tight and that they all remained as quiet as they could. So far, nothing came their way. Soon the girls were quiet. Ichigo guessed that they were asleep.

He returned his gaze to the ceiling. He started thinking. This whole thing was a puzzle he needed to solve. Tonight he was thinking about something else. Veneno was supposed to be an Arrancar. If that were the case, then where was his sword? Arrancars had a sort of Zanpakuto, right? Why didn't he? If he did have one, he never drew it. He never used a weapon before today. During their fight, several of the clones carried kitchen knives for defense. One took a Hollow Reaper's Zanpakuto. Ichigo wondered if they had a Zanpakuto or not. Maybe it needed time to develop. One thing he noticed was that Veneno was getting stronger. With each passing day, he was getting more and more powerful. He also noticed his attack strategy. He attacked in numbers, sending several clones in at a time. Today, when those clones were gone, more came in. He was trying to weaken them. Once they were tired from their previous battles, he would send in new clones that had energy to spare while they were struggling to stand. He was trying to wear them down. It was annoying but effective.

Ichigo noticed something else. Veneno was trying to attack Linnette a lot today. He saw her as the weakest one and targeted her, knowing that everyone would rush to her defense. He also didn't attack with Hollow Reapers this time, just clones. He also engaged in individual fights with the group. He took them on in stages, in numbers and individually. Ichigo thought he understood what he was doing. Veneno was testing them. He was trying to see which form of attack was more effective. He was pretty clever. And knowing that they were all clones meant that they could be as reckless as they wanted. Nothing mattered. If they died, they died. They didn't care. It was what they were created for. They were expendable. This made them very dangerous.

Ichigo let his eyes drift shut, though he didn't sleep for a while longer. He was just thinking. He opened his eyes to see what was happening around him one last time. Cedric remained where he was, as unmoving as a statue. He didn't bother turning his head to look at anyone else. With them keeping watch, he could relax and sleep. It would be nice to sleep on the surface rather than a sewer floor for one night. He closed his eyes again, this time, not opening them again.

He left this world far behind.

Tall buildings were everywhere he looked. They stretched on for what seemed like miles. The tilted sky held multiple light grey clouds all pointing to the horizon behind Ichigo. This was his inner world. He knew it at once. He started walking. He wasn't walking long when he found someone sitting crouched on one of the buildings looking out over the sideways clouds.

"Hey."

He turned moments after Ichigo's call, taking his sweet time in answering. The white face of his other self blinked then turned back around. Was he ignoring him?

"What's with you?"

He didn't answer.

"Hello?"

This time he turned, annoyed. "What do you want, King?"

Ichigo was taken aback by this. His Hollow was being strangely… quiet. And angry. "Are you ok?"

"Oh, I'm just dandy. How about you?" He sat back, stretching his legs out in front of him in a 'v' shape.

"You seem different."

"Different how?"

"I don't know, just different."

His Hollow snorted. "Sorry I'm not better company for you, your majesty. Might I suggest a jester for your court? Your beloved horse doesn't tell jokes."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

His other self turned around looking very upset. "I'm in no mood right now!"

Ichigo wasn't sure how to respond to that.

"I just want to be alone so I can sort things out for myself. Is that too much to ask?"

This time, Ichigo took his time in answering. "What crawled up your ass?"

He spun around, balling his hands into fists, standing toe to toe with Ichigo. "None of your damn business!" He raised his fists. "You wanna fight? Let's go! Right now!"

"What?"

"You heard me! Let's do this!" His Hollow took a fighting stance.

Ichigo had no idea what his Hollow self was doing. He was prone to violence, but not like this. This was something he had never seen before. This wasn't his usual crazy rage, this was just short-fuse rage. He had never seen this before. "What's gotten into you? Why are you acting like this?"

"Like what?"

"This!" Ichigo gestured to him with his hands. "This."

His Hollow scoffed and got out of his stance. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're acting different than normal."

"How's normal?"

"Crazy, psychotic… freaky."

"Ha! I'll show you crazy!" His Hollow leapt at him with a fist, but it never landed.

Ichigo grabbed his extended fist and held it down. "See? This is what I mean. You're acting totally different than you usually do."

"Well, maybe that wouldn't happen if I didn't feel different than normal! Ever think of that?" He wrenched his fist free from Ichigo's.

Taken aback by the outburst, Ichigo took a while to speak. "What's that mean? What are you talking about?"

The white version of himself looked torn. It was almost as if he was at war with himself. No, more like he was confused and not sure why. "I'm not used to this," he said after a while.

"Not used to what?"

"Whatever the hell this is!" he barked. "I've never felt like this before! I don't know what to do! What any of this means or what it is. I don't know! I'm all mixed up!"

"Felt like..?"

His Hollow stomped away only to turn around and come back moments later, fuming. "Look, this is weird enough as it is and I have no idea how to deal with it so just leave me alone, ok?" He started to storm off again. Then he turned and came back a second time. "It's just too confusing!"

"What is?"

"Just forget it!" He started away again. Ichigo waited for him to come back, which he did, and started up again, yelling in his face. "I don't know what to do! It's weird!"

"What is?"

His Hollow was fuming. His eye twitched and his jaw went stiff. At last, he blurted out the words. "How would you feel if suddenly someone told you that they liked you?"

Ichigo blinked. "What..?"

His Hollow stomped his foot on the ground. "See? Weird, isn't it?"

"No, I just don't know what you mean."

He started digging his black nails into his cheeks, stretching out his skin in frustration. "Out there, when you were out of it, I took over and she… She said… She…"

"She? You mean Linnette?"

"Who else?" he snapped. "She said that she wanted you back. But then she told me that she liked me, too. That she… that she… she…"

"She..?" Ichigo tried to get his Hollow to finish.

"She…" He lowered his voice, sounding strangely clam. "She… cared about me…"

Ichigo didn't see the big deal when he said it. But after the words left his lips and were played over again in Ichigo's mind, he began to understand his confusion. "Oh. I see."

His Hollow didn't look up.

This was his first time ever hearing those words from anyone. No one ever told him such a thing. To hear it was strange. And the feeling he got from hearing it was even more confusing. He didn't have a clue how to respond. This body and mind and emotions were at war with each other. Those words inspired a feeling inside of him which he had never felt before and wasn't sure it it even had a name. He was beyond confused.

"That's why you're like this?"

He spoke quietly, forcing Ichigo to come closer to hear him. "No one's ever said that to me before. I don't know what it's like to have someone care and I don't know how to react to hearing it. I've never had much practice. And… it's just weird."

"Do you… have a crush on her?"

His head snapped up at Ichigo's words. "No! No way! How could you think that? She's a freaking kid for crying out loud! Perv."

Ichigo's eyebrows lowered. "I'm just saying… You sure seem to be acting like…"

"No, you idiot! I'm just not used to hearing from someone, anyone, that they care about me! That I'm actually important to them and matter in some way. She also said that she liked me and wouldn't like it if I were to disappear forever."

Ichigo watched his Hollow breathe unsteadily for another few moments before speaking again. "And now you feel weird because she said it to you. Is that it?"

"I just freaking said that. You deaf?"

Ichigo knew his Hollow self fairly well. He wasn't the type to think things out or come up with a plan or explore things on an unfamiliar level. In the time that he's known him, Ichigo noticed that he only displayed two emotions amidst the insanity that was his nature: rage and joy. He didn't have a wide range of emotions like other people. He never really showed anything other than those two unless confusion counted among them or surprise. Being told that he mattered to someone and that his existence held significance brought him new emotions which he had never felt before, making him confused and turning him into this. He had no idea how to deal with strange new emotions which he had never ever felt before. It was overwhelming.

Resulting in this confused state of bewilderment and fear. Not knowing how to deal with these emotions, his Hollow responded with fits of rage and bursts of hot-temperness. When he didn't know how to deal with something so foreign to him, he fought his way out of it. When that didn't work, he tried fighting someone else in an attempt to vent. It must have been hard for him. Ichigo almost pitied him.

No words of comfort came to him to console his Hollow, so he tried to comfort him using a truth he had noticed overtime. "Well, that's alright. Soon it will all be over and you won't have to deal with it anymore."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because it was Linnette who told you this. Once everything is over and done with, we'll go our separate ways and you'll forget all about her."

Rather than look comforted, his Hollow looked shocked. "What are you saying? What are you talking about, forget?"

"This has happened before. As long as she's around you and uses her powers, it influences you. You're probably only feeling this way because of her. It might be a side-effect of her song."

It was unclear whether he felt these things because they were real or created by Linnette's song. Were these feelings genuine or a side-effect which would go away after a while? These things were still unclear. Maybe he wasn't feeling this way on purpose. He could have been forced to feel this way and it wasn't really his emotions. There was no indication of where her song's effect ended or began. The extent of her power was still unclear and seemed to fluctuate.

"Once all this is over, she'll be gone and you'll forget all about her and everything will be back to normal, the way it was before."

His Hollow came closer looking concerned and confused. "What's that mean? What do you mean I'll forget?"

"It's happened before. Once Linnette was gone and her powers were no longer around, you forgot about Linnette and everything." He noticed that the first time they encountered each other. The next time he entered his inner world when Linnette was gone, he asked his Hollow if he missed her at all. He responded by saying that he had no idea what he was talking about. When Ichigo spoke her name, his Hollow couldn't recognize it. She was wiped clean from his memory. He couldn't remember her at all.

He would forget again, just like all the other times before. His Hollow wouldn't remember Linnette at all after this. She would be gone from him. Completely erased.

Please review! ^-^