Chapter 35:

"A vampire?"

"Another one?" asked Akon. "As if one wasn't hard enough to handle."

Hitsugaya looked at Akon. "You will have enough to cure both of them, won't you?"

"What am I?" asked Akon, mildly offended. "For something experimental like this, you have multiple doses on hand just in case something happens to one or you run into things like this. I'm not making only one cure, you know. I'll have enough for both Ichigo and Byakuya. But if the numbers keep increasing, don't count on it. A little mercy on our resources."

Shinji followed Hitsugaya to Akon's lab to report what he learned, knowing this information couldn't wait.

"Does this mean Ichigo still answers to Byakuya or is he free of Byakuya's control?" asked Hitsugaya.

"How should I know?" asked Shinji. "He seemed to be different from the others, but…"

"Vampires tend to be solidary hunters, so I doubt Ichigo will serve Byakuya. He'll probably start creating a harem of his own," answered Akon. "Based on what I've researched so far. It's hard to separate fact from fiction with this."

"Great," said Hitsugaya, shaking his head. "Now we got two vampires to deal with."

"Why did none of the others..? I mean, why was Ichigo the one to turn? Did Byakuya intend for this to happen or is it because he's a human?"

"Who knows?" Hitsugaya frowned. "We can't allow Ichigo to return home until he's cured. We don't know if this happened because he's human or not. If he starts biting people, we could have a pandemic on our hands. We don't know how humans will respond to this. Even if we're stretching things, he'll cultivate a bunch of minions who will do his bidding in the World of the Living."

"He just turned, though," said Shinji. "Maybe we can work with this."

"You're saying we should recruit him? Seems dangerous to me."

"Hey, Kuchiki is too far gone, but this just happened to Ichigo. Maybe he can be reasoned with. If we get to him quickly, we can influence him. Vampire versus vampire. Sounds pretty sweet to me."

"Sounds dangerous," insisted Hitsugaya. "Byakuya was turned by a fossil. Ichigo was turned by an actual vampire. We have no idea how this will affect him. Plus, he's human. It's too risky."

"I think Shinji has a point," said Akon. "At any rate, we can't leave Ichigo out there in this state. He's just discovering his vampire powers and his nature is starting to awaken. It's best to have someone there to help him through it instead of self-discovery. Who knows how he'll develop without assistance? Either way, you're going to have to go after him. Now seems like the best time while he's still in the developmental stage of this transition."

"I'll do it," said Shinji. "I've recruited Ichigo before. I've helped him control his Hollow. If anyone stands a chance of getting through to him, it's me."

"You sure?" Hitsugaya asked skeptically.

"I've helped him through something similar. He'll listen to me."

Hitsugaya sighed. "Well, I guess we can't let him roam free like this. Alright. But be careful."

Shinji saluted him. "You got it, boss."

Hitsugaya rolled his eyes.

Ichigo was being driven mad by hunger. Once the sun began to set, he was able to travel a good distance from the 6th Division in search of a meal. Nothing appealed to him accept one thing but he couldn't understand why.

He ventured to a restaurant and broke into the meat locker to grab fistfuls of raw meat and sucked the blood out of the flesh until he heard someone coming and fled out the back door. It wasn't enough to keep him standing for long. There wasn't much blood in those slabs of meat and what he found was cold and thin. He needed more. He felt so empty.

"Ichigo."

"Stay away from me!" Ichigo shouted without looking to see who it was. He knew something was wrong with him and it frightened him. He felt like a monster.

It wasn't the first time. When his Hollow was out of control, he felt like a monster then, too. A monster from within that could take control at any moment. The difference between then and now was that he felt like the monster, not what was inside of him. These were things he wanted to do, not someone else trying to do it through him. He was losing himself and didn't understand why. It came on so suddenly and now…

"Ichigo, it's ok. I know what's going on and I can help you."

He shook his head, fearing he would lose control at any moment. He wouldn't be able to hold back for much longer. "Stay away from me, Shinji. I'm not…"

Something hit the ground by his feet and Ichigo looked down. It was a blood pack, but to Ichigo, it may as well have been a bar of chocolate. He dove upon it in an instant and tore it open with his teeth. He squeezed it in both hands, draining it in seconds. Mouthful after mouthful brought back his senses and calmed him. He felt whole again.

Shinji waved a second one in the air. "Want some more?"

Ichigo stood and started towards it with his hand outstretched. Shinji yanked it away.

"Ah-ah. You have to follow me first."

Ichigo followed him, eyes on the blood pack the whole time. It wasn't until he had it in his hands that he realized he had been lured into another building and locked inside. Ichigo sucked on the blood pack as Shinji spoke to him, but it was mostly white noise until he picked up on a few important words.

"Say what? I thought you said something about vampires."

"I did," said Shinji. "You are one. And so's Byakuya. He bit you and now you're a vampire, too."

Ichigo shook his head, thinking it was a joke. "No, I'm not."

"How's that blood pack treating you?"

Ichigo looked down, it suddenly dawning on him what he was doing and stopped drinking. "It's… It's not real blood… right?"

"You tell me. Or better yet, have a look at yourself in the mirror." Shinji held up a mirror but Ichigo didn't see anything expect for what was behind him. "You can't, can you?"

Ichigo dropped the empty blood pack in shock.

"I don't have a ton of time to explain this to you, so let's make this quick." Shinji put the mirror away. "I need you to help me and in return, I'll help you control this part of you just like we did your Hollow."

Ichigo was still in a state of shock.

"Ichigo, I need you to focus."

"V… v… vam… vamp…"

"Yes, yes, you're a vampire. Can we move this along?"

"Vamp… vamp… vampire…"

Shinji snapped his fingers in front of Ichigo's face. "Hello in there? Come in, Ichigo. I need to talk to you. Big important stuff for strawberry-boy to hear from the handsome Shinji."

Coming out of his shock, Ichigo glared at Shinji in anger and disbelief. "How are you so calm about this? Don't you get how freaked-out I am about this whole thing? Vampires are just movies. How can this..?"

"Short version is that it was Squad 12. Now that that's established…"

"Of course Mayuri would do something freakish like this… He better fix this."

"Working on it. Now focus, Ichigo." Shinji tried to explain the situation without telling Ichigo too much just in case he was going to report things to Byakuya. It didn't seem that way to Shinji and he prided himself on being able to read people pretty well.

As he explained things, Ichigo grew calmer, listening intently. Ichigo's face became a more familiar expression, letting Shinji know Ichigo was still Ichigo and not someone else. It seemed they had reached him before he could be corrupted by the vampire in him, as it had with Byakuya.

"Byakuya bit you and now you're a vampire. The problem is that Byakuya doesn't know when to stop. We have to keep him from feeding off others until we can cure him."

"You can make a cure?" Ichigo asked.

"We can look into one," Shinji lied. He didn't want Ichigo to know one was almost complete just in case he went rogue. "If Mayuri could do this, he must be able to undo it. By that logic…"

"So you don't have one." It wasn't a question.

"I'm saying we can look into one. In the meantime, let's focus on Byakuya, ok?"

Ichigo looked at the ground. "You knew Byakuya was a vampire and did nothing?"

"What could we do? If we made a move, we could have ended up like you or those Byakuya controls."

"How can he control them just by biting them?"

"Don't ask me how this works," moaned Shinji. "It's all folklore nonsense and gimmicks. Until the other day, I wouldn't believe such a thing would be possible but here we are."

"Why is it that I'm a vampire but the others are his slaves? I don't get it. Unless they're under hypnosis, they shouldn't be obeying him unless they're also vampires. That's how it is in all the movies."

"Again, we shouldn't be dealing with this anyway," Shinji told him. "My best guess is that you're a human, so you contracted it when he bit you. But I don't know… As for the others, the theory goes that they're obedient to him because they're addicted to his bite or whatever. I don't know. Somehow, he's able to control them as his slaves. How and why isn't the point. The point is he can and did and here we are. So… help us?"

Ichigo looked elsewhere in the room. "Byakuya knows he bit me. Won't he come after me? And once he sees that I'm not one of his slaves…"

"More reason to help us out. Byakuya likely won't want competition and will try to kill you or expose you. As long as you're with us, we can protect you. We'll keep you out of sight and help you control yourself. We'll give you all the blood you need."

"What if he finds me?" asked Ichigo, looking at Shinji. "Should I pretend to be one of his minions? How am I supposed to act? He'll see right through it if I don't do it right."

"We'll coach you. Basically, act like you're in love with him to an extreme degree."

Ichigo wrinkled his nose at him then glared. "Are you sure you're not just pulling my leg to see if I do it for a cheap laugh?"

"No, that's how they really act. I'm serious. Let's practice. Show me your best lovey-dovey face."

"Hell no."

"Come on."

"I'm really starting to think this is just to get a laugh at my expense."

"It's not."

"I'm not making faces."

Shinji smirked and batted his eyes at Ichigo. "Oh, haven't you ever been in love before? A hotblooded teenage boy, such as yourself? Never been chasing skirt? Ever fantasized? What about Orihime? She's hot."

Ichigo snarled and punched Shinji's arm. "Shuddap!"

Shinji was knocked off his chair and collapsed on the ground holding his shoulder with a whine. A very dog-like whine at that. Ichigo was a lot stronger now that he was a vampire. He nearly broke Shinji's arm.

Ichigo stared in horror at the power of his strike, realizing the same thing.

"Ok," said Shinji from the ground. "That's enough teasing."

Byakuya returned to his office to find only Kira in the room. His bed was empty and there was paperwork on his desk. "Where's Ichigo and Renji?"

"He left to escort Ichigo to the bathroom," answered Kira. "They never returned."

Byakuya knew dusk was approaching and Soul Reapers would be returning home for the evening. He didn't want to spend his evening searching for Ichigo even though he could.

He wondered what he should do. Renji would have come back by now unless there was a problem. Had Ichigo done something to him? No, it couldn't be. There must have been another reason. He didn't sense that Ichigo was any kind of threat. He bit him, after all. He should serve him. Ichigo wouldn't be able to do anything against him or his wishes.

He had to determine now whether or not he should bother giving this another thought. While he was curious, he didn't think it was cause for alarm. Even if Rukia discovered him, the memory lapses should take care of any incriminating circumstances. He doubted Ichigo could expose him.

So what if he did? These mere Soul Reapers weren't much of a threat to him. Their numbers may have been a problem, but his minions would take care of that. He had the Stealth Force and several high-ranking Soul Reapers at his command. With or without a word from him, they'd come to his defense. It would all be too easy.

"Did you hear? Renji confessed."

"No way."

Byakuya turned his head to listen at the conversation outside his office door.

"Why would Renji do such a thing? You think you know a guy…"

"I don't believe it. He confessed but it doesn't sound like him at all."

"You think he's protecting someone?"

"Could be… Or it could be a lookalike. Maybe he confessed because it would be easier."

"Easier how?"

"I don't know. I guess because it'd take more time to explain himself than to just say he did it, especially if he has no explanation."

"They wouldn't believe him anyway, so I guess you have a point."

Byakuya frowned. "Renji…" He must have taken the fall to protect Byakuya once new evidence was found. Either that or Soi Fon was no longer relying on her men and was doing things on her own. If the evidence came back to him, there was no doubt in Byakuya's mind that Renji would falsify his statement in order to protect his master.

Perhaps there was reason to get more involved.

"Really?" asked Momo. "You got Ichigo to listen?"

"He actually came over to our side?" asked Hisagi. "He agreed?"

"Yup," said Shinji. "Bribed him a bit with some blood packs."

"I don't want to know how you got those," said Hitsugaya with a frown.

Shinji smirked. "I may be a werewolf, but my Zanpakuto still works." He stole two packs from the blood drive using his Zanpakuto's power and stashed them away to use later. It was a huge risk, considering the detailed logs the sickbay kept but he had to take the chance, knowing he would be dealing with a vampire.

"Better he bite the blood packs than you," said Hisagi.

"Will we be able to handle him ourselves?" asked Momo. "I mean, we're already a handful, plus the work we have to do and the mission we're on. Will we have time?"

"We could just lock him in Akon's lab," suggested Hisagi.

"Ichigo would never agree to that. He's freaked out about the place, as are we all. Besides, he could break out of there if he wanted to."

"It makes more sense to lock him up," said Hitsugaya.

Shinji stretched nonchalantly. "What would be the point? He sleeps most of the day. And if we give him enough blood, he'll go into a food coma like Byakuya and be dead to the world. We can draw on his face and he won't know. Hey, that gives me an idea."

"Enough," said Hitsugaya. "If he's asleep, we can transport him to the lab where they can keep an eye on him."

"Do that while he's sleeping and he'll never trust us again," said Shinji. "We want a vampire on our side, remember? Do that and we make an enemy out of him."

Hitsugaya considered this and knew Shinji was right. "Good point. If he feels betrayed, it could bring out that vampire nature even more, and faster."

"It will take all of us to do this," said Momo, trying to cheer them on.

Hitsugaya looked at Shinji. "Where is Ichigo now?"

Shinji stared blankly at Hitsugaya. "Uh…"

"You don't know?"

"Of course, I do," he said. He looked away, avoiding his eyes. "You're just not going to like it."

Ichigo perched on a rooftop and looked out over the Seireitei nestled under the night sky. It looked so mysterious and beautiful. Ichigo couldn't help but smile. Night looked so different to him now. So much better than the day. He could see so many details clearly as if it were day and the feel of the night air on his skin was so stimulating.

How he wanted to explore. It smelled so good.

"Ichigo."

He looked down at the street. Shinji was waving at him, signaling that he needed to come down. Ichigo didn't want to but heeded the call nonetheless. He jumped down in his human body landing as easily as he would his Soul Reaper form.

Shinji urged Ichigo inside, narrowly avoiding Byakuya landing on the adjacent building, looking around like an owl on the hunt. His red eyes gleamed against the night sky behind him.