After Ten Years - Epilogue, Part 2

-X-

Homura kicked the stray pebble at her feet as she walked home from school. Her mind was in a jumbled swarm. She was happy that Kentaro had come for her, but... There was something tugging at the back of her mind that didn't seem to sit right with her. Even she didn't know what it was.

She was jarred from her thoughts when her Soul-Page went off for like the fifth time this week. She had come to love her Soul Reaper duties like a job, but, it really wore her out after a few years.

Moments later, Homura had transformed and begun tracking the Hollow. By the size of the Spiritual Pressure displayed on her Soul-Page, she could tell it was a big one. Bigger than anything she had ever encountered alone, and much less, by herself.

She was easily looking at a Hollow three times the size of the average.

Regardless of the intimidating size she was predicting, she raced through town to find the Hollow before it attacked anyone or destroyed anything. Destruction in the World of the Living in her family's precinct meant trouble for them sooner or later.

As she rounded a corner, assuming the Hollow to be around the bend, she found an empty alley, with no sign of supernatural presences anywhere. Looking back to her Soul-Page, she discovered that the screen had gone blank, and with it, the tracking signal of the Hollow had disappeared as well.

'Oh geez...' Homura grunted. 'All of that running for nothing.'

No sooner than the words of complaint escaped her lips, the signal returned to her Soul-Page. This time however, it had pegged the location of the Hollow to be on the complete other side of town. Verifying the signals from the last Hollow, and the current, she confirmed that they were the same Hollow.

She didn't know how the Hollow could move so fast across town, but she knew she had to hurry, because who knew what else this particular Hollow was capable of?

Running across the rooftops and sprinting over telephone wires, Homura wished she had worked harder on her Flash Step. She could perform the move easily enough, but she had yet to master being able to cover long distances with ease, so she simply resorted to her legs, which fortunately for her, were easily twice, or even more powerful than her Human legs.

Her sandaled feet skidded to a stop when the signal on her Soul-Page disappeared again for a split second, then reappeared, showing that the Hollow had once again changed its position, this time, it was right in the middle of town.

Homura, although a Soul Reaper with superhuman powers, was starting to tire. Turning back around on her heels, she headed in the direction she was told, while simultaneously dialing the number to Shizuku's Soul-Page.

'What's the matter?' Shizuku answered.

'Shizuku, meet me in the middle of town.' Homura commanded urgently. 'It's a big one...'

'I'm on my way...' Shizuku responded. 'Do you know anything about it?'

'It's changed location three times in five minutes...' Homura panted, still running.

'I'll hurry...' Shizuku said before he hung up.

Homura urgently began to pick up her pace, only stopping when her Soul-Page went silent for the third time...

'DAMN IT!' She roared, getting more and more frustrated with every turn this particular Hollow was taking.

Quickly, she shut her mouth and steadied her breath. Calming herself and analyzing her situation. Suddenly, it dawned on her. This Hollow wasn't brainless and stupid. Most of the Hollows she had battled in the past where merely trifles to her. Without even fully confronting this Hollow, already she could tell that it had a strategy. Getting back onto her fatigued legs, Homura hoped she wouldn't have to run anymore.

'I finally have you...' A gravely voice hissed from behind.

The hair on Homura's neck stood up as she felt a surge of strong Spiritual Pressure. Turning around slowly, she swiveled to face her opponent.

As she and her Soul-Page had predicted, this Hollow was big, enormous, in fact. It towered easily a story and a half higher than her.

'Ohhh...' The Hollow groaned. 'You're a tiny one. You Soul Reapers are getting smaller and smaller.' He drooled with a cruel grin. 'Now this means I'm going to have to eat more than one...' He sneered, extending his gigantic hand down to grab at her.

Homura frantically drew Harukaze, and dodged the Hollow's grasp by jumping off to the side.

Homura was slightly nervous now. Few of the Hollow's she encountered were able to hold semi-intelligent conversations, much less taunt her.

'Ha!' The Hollow snorted, 'Like that puny little razor will be able to tickle me!' He hissed.

Homura gripped the hilt of Harukaze harder, whitening her knuckles. She was in trouble now. Shizuku was headed to the middle of town, and she was not. Even in his Soul Reaper form and with his Soul-Page, it might take Shizuku a little time to find her. She couldn't fight it by herself, but she couldn't run either. She wouldn't run, actually. Her only option was to stay and hold her ground for a while.

'Do you want to call it a razor again?' Homura taunted, holding her Zanpakuto high behind her head, ready to defend herself.

'Splendors of the Summer...' Homura chanted, releasing her Spirit Energy, and also her Shikai. 'Harukaze!'

In a tremendous rushing of wind, Homura disappeared behind a gale of swirling leaves. Using her powerful voice to lend her strength, she roared louder and louder. 'Hiyah!' She yelled, stabbing through the swirling mass of leaves with the tip of Harukaze. Instantly, the leaves subsided and floated away, leaving Homura menacingly bearing the Shikai form of her Zanpakuto.

'Haru no hizashi-!' Homura started to bark before the Hollow flung her to the side with the back of his massive hand, sending her tumbling and sprawling down the street and into a nearby playground.

'That's impressive power... Even for so small and young a person your Spirit Energy is incredible...' The Hollow growled, drooling from his long serpent-like tongue.

Homura groaned and rolled her neck, trying to shake away the pain that was coursing through every one of her body parts. Reaching for Harukaze, which was laying conveniently next to her, Homura looked back to her enemy, which was now coming closer and closer, emitting an eerie-colored Spiritual Pressure.

'Your Spirit Energy...' The Hollow hissed again. 'To hell with your Soul... All I need is your Energy.' The eerie glow around the Hollow seemed to intensify.

Inching backwards on her backside, Homura tried to evade her advancing and now, much more intimidating opponent. 'Hado 31!' She called, thrusting out her palm. 'Shakoho!'

Forcing a red attack from her hand, the Hollow disappeared behind a cloud of debris.

Lowering her guard for just a moment, Homura caught a glance of her reeling opponent, groaning and screeching in pain. Out of the Hollow's mouth seemed to flow a translucent worm-like being. As the Hollow clawed frantically at its skull-covered head, it began to howl in pain.

'Go away!' He roared desperately. 'You're not my master!'

Distracted from its task of devouring Homura, and in an attempt to relieve itself from the excruciating pain, the Hollow rammed its head into the nearest building, sending shards of glass and chunks of rubble flying in every direction.

Homura couldn't believe what was happening, only a minute ago had this Hollow been able completely withstand the power of her Shikai, and sent her flying down the street with a flick of his hand. Now, after a simple Kido, was he writhing in pain? Nevermind who he was talking to...

'You didn't have orders to attack this being!'

Homura tried to get a better look at the Hollow and the entity protruding grotesquely from his mouth. However, due to the Hollow's insane thrashing and struggling, a thick cloud of dust rose up around him.

'You're mine... You'll always be mine!' another voice hissed.

'No! No!' The Hollow called.

A flicker in his eyes and the other voice took control, speaking with the Hollow's mouth.

'You were nothing more than a slobbering fool when I came...' The other voice taunted cruelly. 'I saved you! You owe me!'

Another change of expression, and the Hollow's voice was back in control.

'Go awayyyy!' He cried.

Homura couldn't believe what she was watching. This Hollow was having a conversation with itself, was it possible for Hollows to have two personalities? Or was there something else beneath the surface? She wanted to run away, or kill it, but she seemed too intrigued in finding out what was going on, that she seemed to be glued in place unable to react.

The Hollow's anguished face changed to a malicious grin with bared teeth.

"'Go away!?'" It repeated scornfully. 'You won't get rid of me that easily... But if it's freedom you want...' The cruel voice trailed off.

The Hollow's normal side once again took control of his consciousness, looking somewhat triumphant. His triumph soon disappeared when his hands began to claw at his body.

'What is this?!' It screamed, as he claws began racking his body, fingers digging deep into his flesh and blood spurting everywhere. 'Stop! Please!' He begged miserably.

'You should have thought about that before you disobeyed me...' the other voice hissed.

The Hollow screeched in uncontrollable anguish as his hands, that were no longer under his control, continued to claw and mutilate his body, ripping his flesh from his flesh.

Thrashing around, desperately trying to save himself from his horrid fate, the Hollow caught sight of Homura.

'Soul Reaper!' He called mournfully. 'Kill me...' He groaned as he struggled against the iron will of his possessed hands.

Homura couldn't speak. She couldn't move. She couldn't think. She couldn't process what the Hollow was requesting of her.

'Pick up your sword!' The Hollow ordered, trying to fight against the pain of his own hands ripping him asunder. Struggling against the power that controlled him, the Hollow tried to crawl towards Homura. 'End my suffering...'

Homura numbly drew Harukaze in front of her, trembling at the gruesome sight in front of her. The Hollow's blood speckled the ground below, accompanied by large chunks of dark-colored flesh. She couldn't tell if she was crying or not. She was scared, more so than she had ever been in her life before.

'Soul Reaper!' The Hollow roared painfully as his one arm ripped off his other.

Homura raised her Zanpakuto and bounding into the air, bearing down on the flailing Hollow, split the Hollow's head clean in two.

With one final roar of pain, the anguished Hollow lay dead at Homura's feet. To Homura's horror, she watched as the being controlling the unfortunate Hollow extricated itself from the dead body.

Materializing itself as an almost Human-like being, except with a hole in its chest and a mask over its face, in front of Homura, the other being seemed furious.

'You'll pay for meddling with other people's affairs!' It growled, taking a step closer to her, producing a large sickle from the thin air around him.

Homura watched in horror, unable to move as he got closer and closer to her with his huge weapon. She couldn't move, paralyzed and rooted tightly in her fear.

She whimpered as he took his final step. Wielding his huge weapon, his blade passed right through Homura's neck with a single slash.

Homura's eyes rolled back into her head as she began to sway.

This sensation... Not knowing what happened, and what you're doing... it seemed all too familiar to her. What had just happened? What was she doing here at the moment? Why was she even here? Questions seemed to puddle and tangle in her mind as she slumped to the ground, her mind empty and eyes empty of emotion and thought.

The Hollow, about to go for the killing blow, decided to look into her empty mind, digging through her memories.

'She knows him...' The Human-like Hollow muttered to himself. 'I've finally found-'

He was drawn from his thoughts as he detected another Spiritual Pressure easily ten times more powerful than the girl kneeling before him.

'Getsuga...' The familiar voice deepened. 'Tensho!'

Watching the blinding flash of a crimson Getsuga approaching him, the Hollow had to think fast.

'I'll take care of both of them later...' He muttered to himself, as he disappeared away to Hueco Mundo.

'Homura!' Ichigo called urgently as he rushed to her side and helped her up. 'What happened?'

'I don't know...' Homura grunted, standing up slowly with the help of her Dad. 'But my head's killing me...'

In the scuffle and the incident with the unidentified Hollow-being, Homura had lost parts of her memory. Parts being, what just happened to her, what she was going to do, sadly even, a part of her personality was shattered.

Ichigo could tell there was something different about her, but he couldn't figure out what exactly. Her eyes seemed dim, and she looked a little lethargic.

'Are you sure you're okay?' Ichigo asked her again.

'Yeah...' Homura grunted as something dark flashed across her eyes. 'Why wouldn't I be? Now lemme go, I can walk just fine.'

Ichigo stepped back and let Homura go. 'Where are you going?' He asked when he noticed Homura walking off in the opposite direction.

'I'm looking for my body...' She growled, totally unlike herself. 'So you can stop worrying now...'

'Okay...' Ichigo agreed insecurely. 'I'll see you at home I guess...'

Once Ichigo had spirited away, Homura sighed with ease.

'It's about time he let me alone. I'm not some kid he has to babysit all the time.' She snorted disdainfully. 'He'll see me when he sees me...' She surrendered, not even realizing the sudden change in her mood and demeanor.

Ichigo however, had, and was beginning to worry all the more. It may not have been the best idea to leave his daughter alone out in town, when clearly she wasn't herself. However, he had faith that his daughter's ever-charming behavior would resurface... eventually. Hopefully.

-X-

AN: Okay, so I think I might have gone wayyy off with this chapter, but I think it would make for an interesting story. In short, if this chapter made no sense at all. The Human-like Hollow was controlling the ordinary Hollow, when Homura killed the ordinary Hollow, the Human-like Hollow was expelled. Furious at Homura for disrupting his plans, since he apparently hadn't a mind to kill her, he sliced through her with the same sickle from Fade to Black. Instead of erasing her memories completely, it has now altered her memories, thus changing her personality. If I just made this stupid, I'm sorry... But it'll get better, I promise.