We stood between the Hollow that used to be Inoue's older brother and Inoue. The Hollow was just staring down at us, which was unusual. I glanced down at Tatsuki and moved myself between the Hollow and the defensless girl. There was another body a short distance away and I risked a glance behind me to see Inoue. But she's... I looked again and sure enough...
"Oh...! I thought so. It's Ichigo! And Ayame!" Inoue said happily.
"Why do you hide yourself while walking?" Rukia asked Ichigo while the three of us were walking in town. Ichigo and I were in our Soul Reaper outfits, but Ichigo was hiding behind things while I was walking next to Rukia.
"Wh... why... Isn't it obvious!? Ichigo asked her. "What if someone saw me looking like this? They'd send me back to movie village! Ayame, why aren't you worried about this?!"
"I've never been seen like this before," I pointed out to him while really thinking about it.
"You think an average person can see a Soul Reaper?" Rukia asked him. "A soul Reaper is a spiritual body! It can only be seen by other spirits!"
Then how..?
"... You... Why can you see us...?" Ichigo asked her. That's when I noticed the chain connecting her to the body behind me.
"Eh...? Um...? Why...?" She of course didn't understand the question Ichigo asked her.
"Isn't it obvious?" The Hollow asked and I stood on guard again. "It's because that's her soul!" Ichigo quickly turned around in surprise. "Too bad for you. Inoue is ALREADY DEAD!" But if that were the case... why was the chain on her chest still connected to her body? The Hollow used its tail to attack and Ichigo used his sword to block him, but the tail has scales on it, blocking it and pushing Ichigo out of the window. I covered Tatsuki the best I could from the debri. The Hollow seemed exclusivly focused on Ichigo and Inoue. I understood Inoue, it was her brother, but why Ichigo.
"What's wrong? For a guy spouting off big words your movements sure are slow..." I turned to see the Hollow completly ignoring me and standing at the window staring at my brother. "Is it that much of a shock that Inoue's soul has been removed from her body? HUH?! ICHIGO KUROSAKI!" Its front teeth parted and it shot something out of its mouth at Ichigo. The Hollow's spit landed on Ichigo's hand and it worked like acid making him drop his sword. Suddenly, the Hollow's tail wrapped around me and I was flung at Ichigo who caught me before we were swatted out of the sky like insects. We crashed to the ground and I heard Rukia running towards us.
"Ichigo! Ayame!" I heared Inoue call out. I struggled to get up as Rukia shook Ichigo.
"Ichigo! Wake up! Ichigo!"
"Rukia?"
"Ayame! Are you alright?!" She asked me worriedly as Ichigo groaned.
"Yeah, I'm okay," I told Rukia as Ichigo sat up.
"Shut up," he told her
"How dare you say that as you wake up!?" Rukia shouted. "Getting slapped around like this! What happened?!"
"Nothing..." Ichigo told her.
"It's cause it's Inoue's brother..." I told her looking down. "That makes this different than before."
"It affected me," Ichigo told her.
"I see. Well then, that's fine, but... don't forget. If you lose he will eat Inoue's soul!" Ichigo quickly got up and jumped to the broken wall.
"Ichigo! Be careful!" I called up to him. I watched as he was swatted away by the tail again before jumping up and drawing my own sword and blocked the tail from swatting me away again.
"Ichigo! Ayame!" Inoue called out.
"Now... let's go, Orihime," the Hollow told her. I looked to see her in the Hollow's hand. "Together with me. Let's live together. Like we used to."
"...Why?" Inoue asked him. "If you were sad, you should have said so... Why did you... Hurt Tatsuki and Ichigo and Ayame like this... Why... My brother wasn't a person who did things like this!" That only seeme to anger the Hollow as his gril on her titghtened.
"I'll kill you!" It shouted at her. "Who do you think turned me into this!? I'll kill you... I'll kill you, I'll kill you, I'll kill you!" He was distracted from us as he gripped Inoue tighter and tighter, making her cry out. From around me Ichigo cut up the Hollow's tail around us and glared at the Hollow.
"Do you know why the big brother is born first?" Ichigo growled. "It's to protect the little brothers and sisters that come after him! A brother telling his sister "I'll kill you"... YOU NEVER EVER SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" Ichigo had always been extremily protective of all of us, even when we were in primary school.
"Ichigo..."
"Uh... OOOHHHHHH...!" The Hollow screamed. "WHY!? WHY DO YOU INTERFERE, KUROSAKI ICHIGO!?" I stared up in shock as the Hollow cried tears of blood.
