I'M BACK! YIPPEE!

ALSO HYPER!

YOU MAY HAVE GATHERED THAT!

ALLONS-Y!

Twenty-Six

'Hi, guys,' Nel greets Hollow and Dark at the door. 'How'd it go...?' She sees Hollow's stormy expression and trails off.

'Well, at least you didn't get strangled this time,' Tensa reasons, coming to stand at the door beside Nel. 'Grimmjow and Ulquiorra just came back. They said there's something important they have to tell everyone.'

'Where did they go?' Dark asks, looking puzzled.

'Not sure,' Tensa replies. 'I guess they're going to tell us now.'

The four of them make their way into the lounge, to find Grimmjow and Ulquiorra sitting on the sofa, both of them seeming rather distracted as they stare at the carpet, obviously deep in thought.

'What did you do?' Hollow asks.

Ulquiorra mumbles something under his breath.

'What?'

'We broke into Aizen's apartment,' the black-haired boy says, louder this time.

Nel gasps. 'Are you crazy?! What if he had come home while you were there?!'

'Well, uh... he kinda did...' Grimmjow mutters. 'We had to climb out the window.' The others stare at him and Ulquiorra.

'Although, I did unlock his safe and pull out a load of useful documents,' Ulquiorra points out, clutching the papers, photos and the little package with the diary in it.

'What was the password?' Dark asks.

'Masaki,' Ulquiorra replies, and Hollow chokes.

'My mom's name is his password?!' he says incredulously. 'Why the hell is that?!'

Ulquiorra reaches into the package and pulls out the diary. 'Perhaps this with tell you,' he suggests, handing the little notebook over to Hollow. The albino stares at the book, speechless. Never in a million years would he expect Aizen to have owned something like this.

'Hollow, Ichigo is going to visit Aizen in approximately...' Ulquiorra glances at the clock on the wall. '… an hour and a half from now. Grimmjow and I overheard him talking to one of his business partners. I think... I think he's going to kill Ichigo.'

Hollow, who is bending down to take the diary, shoots up in a flash, his black and yellow eyes widening in shock. 'Wh-what?!'

Tensa also jumps in astonishment, horrified. There is silence for a few seconds, then Nel says, 'We have to call the police. This is out of our hands.'

'Are you nuts?! They'll catch us in the process!' Grimmjow shouts.

'We can't just let Ichigo die!' Tensa yells. 'His life is way more important!'

'You're not running from the police!'

'We should stop Ichigo from going, maybe go to his house and tell him-'

'Where's the warehouse?' Hollow interrupts.

'The end of Second Street. Near your old dôjô,' Ulquiorra replies, repeating what he heard Aizen tell Ichigo on the phone.

'Right. It will take Ichigo about half-an-hour to get there, and it'll take over an hour to get to where Ichigo is right now. By the time we actually arrive at my old home to stop Ichigo, he would have already left,' Hollow says, his mind racing quickly. On the other hand, he could just go to the warehouse and confront Ichigo there. At the risk of being attacked by Aizen.

'No, no way,' Dark says, reading Hollow's expression.

'What if this was Rukia?' he retorts. 'Would you do it for her?'

'Of course I would!' Dark growls, angry that Hollow even had to ask.

'In an hour and a half, Ichigo might die,' the albino continues, his stomach jolting horribly at the thought. 'And if you think that I'm just going to waste my time arguing with you lot about whether we should save him or not-'

'Maybe we should all stop arguing, then. You're actually missing the obvious,' Tensa announces. They all stare at him and he holds up the phone. He quickly dials a number and Grimmjow curses under his breath, believing Tensa to be phoning the police. '… Hey, Karin. Your brother is about to do something incredibly stupid and we really need to stop him. Can you put him on, please?'

'Oh,' Nel says, surprised. 'Why didn't we think of that?'

Despite the severity of the situation, Tensa grins at them. '… Hello, Ichigo. Yes, I know what you're going to do... How? Aizen was overheard when he was talking to you. He's dangerous, Ichigo.'

'Who told you that?'

'I think you know.'

Ichigo swears. 'Is he there right now? Is that where he's been all this time?'

'No, he's not,' Tensa lies, fearing that Ichigo might call the police if he knows Hollow's whereabouts. 'But we've seen each other since he came back. And I am really angry that you never bothered to tell me that he was still alive, but now's not the time. Hichigo explained everything. Aizen's not to be trusted-'

'He's gone and poisoned your mind,' Ichigo says bitterly. 'Uncle Sôsuke grew up with my mother. He would never have hurt her. The real murderer is the one who went behind my back to contact you and then made even you turn against me.'

'Don't be stup-'

'You weren't there that day,' Ichigo says, his voice growing louder. 'You don't know what really happened-'

'Do you?' Tensa interrupts. 'After all, you were unconscious through the entire incident.'

'I remember what he was like!' Ichigo yells, his voice now audible for everyone else in the room with Tensa. 'I remember how angry he was that day!'

A few feet away from Tensa, Hollow kicks the sofa in frustration. He knows he has to remain silent because otherwise Ichigo may call the police, but it's becoming increasingly difficult.

'You can't go to Aizen,' Tensa says quietly.

'I think I'll make my own decisions,' Ichigo replies, his voice pained as the call ends.

Tensa turns to face the others, a look of despair on his face. 'I think he's still going to see Aizen.'

9th June

Hello, Masaki here. Apparently it's a good idea to keep a journal, and my best friend Sôsuke seemed really eager to see me using it, so here we go. He got it for me as a present for my birthday, which I think was really sweet of him. I think he's trying to make it up to me because I saw him hanging out with a gang again yesterday.

Everyone knows that people who hang out with the wrong crowd are usually mean themselves. And every time I see Sôsuke at school (when he's not with me) I see him with that group. I don't like that group at all. They beat up my cousin Ryuken a couple of weeks ago. I really hope Sôsuke had nothing to do with that.

I was alone again in the playground because Sôsuke was with them. I hate the idea that he might be getting drugs off them or something horrid like that. I guess I'll just have to wait until he's ready to talk about it.

There was a new boy in the class today. After he introduced himself, the class all sang happy birthday for me, and at break time the new boy said he'd get me a present. I told him he didn't need to, because we didn't even know each other, but he went to the cafeteria and bought me a huge chocolate chip cookie. Yummy!

He said his name was Isshin Shiba. Ryu-chan and Sôsuke don't generally have a lot in common, but they were both glaring at Isshin while he was talking to me. I wonder why.

Hollow stares at one of the pictures on the inside of the front cover of the diary. It shows his mother and what must be the young Sôsuke Aizen. The two look no older than five or six, and Masaki has a huge, cheerful grin on her face, while Aizen smiles in a calmer manner.

About five minutes ago, Grimmjow had to hold him back to stop him rushing out of the house. Tensa's home is about a ten minute walk from the warehouse where Aizen and Ichigo are planning to meet, so as far as Hollow's friends see it, they still have time to make a decision on what they're going to do. Nel suggested that maybe Hollow should calm down so they can think about this logically, but Ulquiorra handed Hollow Masaki's diary and gave Hollow a knowing look which clearly indicated that Hollow was free to find a quiet place to read it while the others decide what's going to happen. Hollow takes this to his advantage. He's very tempted to climb out the window in Tensa's bedroom (where he's currently sitting) and use the tree outside to get safely to the ground.

If the others aren't going to help Ichigo, then he is certainly going to.

But Hollow remembers what Ulquiorra said to him regarding the safe. About how Aizen's password was Masaki. Hollow gets the feeling that he should probably learn all he can about why Aizen killed someone who was supposedly dear to him so Hollow can use this information to convince Ichigo the truth. And the only way he's going to get any real answers is if he reads in what little time he has left. He opens up on a random page near the end and continues reading:

Isshin and I went to go and see Ryu-chan's baby boy today. Uryu really is very cute, just like the twins. Ichigo seemed quite pleased to meet another baby, but Hichigo managed to smack Uryu in the eye with his rattle. I wasn't exactly sure how to tell little Shiro-chan off. I mean, he's a baby- it's not like he can understand any of this.

Hollow stops reading the entry there. He's pretty sure that this 'Uryu' was one of the boys Ichigo was hanging out with at the party. Now that he thinks about it, he can vaguely remember his parents mentioning him during Hollow's childhood, but they probably didn't see Uryu after that.

Not relevant anyway. This has nothing to do with Aizen.

He flips to the first few pages again and carries on reading.

… and it's been so long since that terrible moment when we had that argument. I just hope Sôsuke has really changed. For the better.

That's enough, Hollow thinks. That's all I need to know. He... he...

Hollow has spent the last forty minutes skimming through the diary, reading anything of importance. And he certainly thinks that he's covered everything.

Every. Single. Damn. Thing.

He stares at the clock on the wall, knowing that there's still time. But he needs to get out, and he needs to get a weapon.

Hollow remembers what Karakura used to be like, and some things never change. Under a bridge, about quarter of an hour away, the druggies are probably having a fight right about now. They always have guns, but they only really use them for display to threaten others.

I'm getting a gun off them even if I have to take them out. Every single one of them, Hollow thinks, determined, and a familiar grin spreads across his pale face.

He wrenches open the window and crouches on the window sill, ready to leap into the tree. His head slowly turns around to face Tensa's bedroom door. His friends are probably still debating on what they can do to help, and Ulquiorra is likely to be coming up with an intelligent, logical plan right now. But Hollow can't wait for that. He can't even say goodbye to any of them. Tensa, Grimmjow, Nel, Ulquiorra, Dark... If his mission fails and Aizen wins, he'll never see them again. He's sure that Aizen has taken that gun out of his safe and is preparing it for when Ichigo arrives at the warehouse. And there's no way he's going to let Hollow live, either.

Both Ichigo and Hollow might die tonight.

Or maybe Aizen might, Hollow thinks nervously, wondering about even if he acquires a gun, how will he actually manage to kill someone? Everything may think he's a murderer, but he's not sure he'll be able to manage it.

But this is to save Ichigo... and it's for revenge.

'What stupid thing are you going to do?' Karin demands, leaning against Ichigo's door while she glares in at him.

'Nothing,' Ichigo replies, pulling a navy jacket on. There's no point spoiling the suit he was wearing for the party, as he should probably just dress casually.

'What's going to happen to Shiro-chan?'

Ichigo ignores her as he hangs up the suit in the cupboard, wondering whether Tensa was lying about whether Hichigo was there at his house or not. Perhaps he should phone the police just in case...

No, a part of him thinks. Ichigo doesn't know why. If Hichigo could be caught, then he'd want that, right?

'Why can't you just listen to Shiro-chan?' Karin cries. 'None of this was his fault!'

Ichigo fixes his eyes on his younger sister. 'It's... it's going to be okay, Karin. He'll get caught-'

'No!' Karin yells. 'Dad knows he's innocent! Why can't you see it?!'

Ichigo sighs. 'I'm going to go for a walk-'

'Where are you going?'

'It's just a walk, Karin.'

'No, it's not. You're meeting someone. Is it Aizen? You can't! He's dangerous!'

Karin, Tensa, Rukia... they all think that Hichigo's innocent. How has he managed to convince them? It makes Ichigo want to scream.

'I've got to go,' he mutters, striding past his little sister.

Karin stomps down the stairs after him and glares at his back as he walks through the door and into the night. Why would he meet anyone at this hour? It's really late.

Yuzu is not in her bed, which Karin finds odd. She comes back downstairs again and finds Isshin and Yuzu at the table in the kitchen, Isshin saying something very quietly to Yuzu while she has tears streaming down her face.

'Yuzu? What's wrong?' Karin says as she approaches them both.

Isshin gives Karin a sad smile. 'I'm just... telling her the truth about Shiro-chan.'

'He's- alive?' Yuzu chokes.

Karin reaches out to pat her twin on the back. 'It's okay. He's not guilty.'

'Of cc-course he's n-n-not,' Yuzu sobs. 'I j-just want him t-t-to come home.'

If only Ichigo could see it like this, Karin thinks sadly.

Dull, dilated pupils stare up at him vaguely, almost as if the eyeballs are seeing straight through him. 'Mmmmm... areyaghost?'

'What?' Hollow says, staring down at the complete wreck of a man slumped down against the brick wall of the bridge.

'Migointaheav'n?' the guy says, his words slurred together.

Are you a ghost? Am I going to heaven? Hollow translates in his mind.

'I'm not a ghost,' he replies, staring down at the homeless guy's sides to see if he might have a weapon under the newspapers and a grubby piece of cloth.

'White,' the man says stupidly.

Even from five feet away, Hollow can smell the cannabis and another sickly sweet smell he suspects is heroin. A few feet away from the guy, another man crouches down, rocking back and forth as he breathes deeply into his hands, inhaling something Hollow can't see.

'Dunwantdemonstakin'me,' the first guy continues in a mutter.

Biting his lip, trying not to feel pity or disgust because he's far too focused on the whole Ichigo-is-going-to-die situation, Hollow walks along, passing the other guy and heading towards what appears to be a small camp fire.

'Get the fuck away from me!' one of the screeches as he draws closer to a little group of four crouched around the fire

Hollow kind of wishes Grimmjow is here. This is the sort of crazy thing the two of them would do together, considering they're the two 'insane' ones in their group. Shit, Grimmjow's bigger and would probably be more intimidating in this situation. But Hollow's eyes might scare these guys. Hollow's hoping that will work.

'Da fuck d'ya want?' another one grows as he reaches them.

Hollow gives his psychotic grin, something that everyone at the mental institute always said could surpass even Grimmjow's and Nnoitora's. Looking scary is either going to scare them enough to give him a gun, or they'll attack him.

There's a flaw in every plan.

'I just need something from you,' he says calmly, his grin not vanishing.

'Fire's ours, fucktard,' a big guy who must be the leader snarls.

'That's not want I want,' Hollow continues, his black and yellow eyes fixed on the shaky hands of a very thin guy. The man is nervously fidgeting with a small black object that Hollow can easily see in the light of the fire is a gun. Perfect.

He holds his hand out. 'Just give it.'

'Fuck off.'

Hollow steps closer, reaching down for an iron bar at his feet. The guys around the fire tense, and Hollow suspects that shit is literally right on the verge of hitting the fan.

'I'm not planning to hurt you,' he says.

'Then why'd ya want da fuckin' gun?!' the leader roars.

'For someone else.'

The shaking man with the gun cradles his head in his hands, the gun resting just above his dirty, greying hair. The other three around the fire rise, ready to attack Hollow.

They're high and stupid. Advantage: me. I'm outnumbered. Big deal. This is nothing new for me, Hollow thinks, his grin becoming real. He lifts his iron bar, ready to attack.

The leader strikes first. His fist dives towards Hollow's stomach and the albino dodges, quickly ramming the bar against the guy's head. The man falls to the ground, unconscious. The second one doesn't need to hit. His steps are uncoordinated and he collapses, obviously feeling the effects of a terrible head rush from when he leapt to his feet. The third guy blinks in fear before retreating into the dark shadows, obviously too scared to fight. The forth man, the one with the gun, has stayed in that exact position, moaning under his breath. Hollow carefully takes the gun away from his shaking hands and turns around, ready to leave. He quickly opens it up and clarifies that it really is loaded.

Now to find the warehouse.