Chapter 47: Hollow coexistence (Human affairs)

xxx

A stray ray of light coming from the morning sun passed through the window and fell upon the only bed in the room intent on tickling the skin of a sleepy resident, only to find none. The young man was already on his way to Naruki City with breakfast in his belly and energy flowing through his veins. He stopped only when he reached his destination; an inconspicuous structure lost in the myriad of similar buildings but also the headquarters of Xcution where people with an ability called Fullbring usually met. As per instructions he had received the day before, he reached into his pocket, took out the business card with a large letter 'X' on it and placed it in a fissure of a key-card lock stuck in the wall near the entrance. A quiet beep, followed with a click, announced the permission to enter.

"You're early, Kurosaki. What's the matter, couldn't sleep?"

He squinted to see past the dim light, so different to the brightness outside, and found the leader of Xcution seated in one of the couches. But instead of answering, he walked to the counter and waved at Giriko.

"Orange juice, please."

A moment later, he sipped from the glass. As he did so, he sat in a bar chair and turned towards Ginjō.

"Nah, I slept like a log. Guess I'm just that excited for the training."

With his back against the comfortable squishy surface of the couch Ginjō took a sip from his own glass, filled with whiskey, and then put it back on the table.

"Uh-huh. You sure sound like it."

In return, Ichigo cracked a tiny smile and placed the edge of the glass to his lips.

"What can I say, my voice isn't as awake as my body. It is early after all."

Even as he said that, his voice gained a faint layer of mirth, though it dissolved as soon as he put a few coins on the counter for the drink and looked at Ginjō with a more serious gaze.

"So, how do we do this? Cause I don't see a training area."

On cue, the entrance to the room opened and a light morning breeze, accompanied by a yawning Riruka made their way inside. With one eyebrow raised, he turned his attention at her. He ignored a set of increased heartbeats from seeing her face, flushed from the cool air outside, and focused on an odd large box she carried under her left armpit. At the closer inspection, he realized it was a realistic version of a dollhouse.

"Rejoice, this is your training area." She said while pointing at it.

If there was a hidden meaning, a joke, encoded in her words, he found none even after taking the time to blink twice. His elegant response was worthy of a socially inept gentleman.

"Huh? A dollhouse?"

Riruka's reaction was less than lukewarm. She tapped the roof of the dollhouse and rolled her eyes.

"You doofus, it's not just any dollhouse. It's my dollhouse."

"There's a difference?"

She gaped at him.

"There is! Just look at it! Isn't it cute?!"

Her answer offered no help and left him as perplexed as he was before.

'I'm missing something, aren't I?'

But as he thought about it, his raised eyebrow relaxed, then moved towards its neighbor on the other side of his face until his face formed a frown.

"It's your Fullbring, isn't it?"

In response, Riruka glanced at Ginjō, who gave no reaction, and then back at him.

"Hmph, so you aren't completely hopeless." She said and then, with another tap of her finger, forced his attention back to the dollhouse.

"I call my Fullbring 'Dollhouse'." She stated and raised her left hand. While squeezing her fingers together, she continued speaking.

"It allows me to freely move people and things into or out of anything I adore or think is cute."

With the explanation out in the open she snapped her fingers and caused a small amount of spiritual energy in the shape of a miniature heart to fly through the air, across the room and to him where it fastened itself onto his jacket. Giving it a cautious glance, he felt a foreign energy spreading across the surface of his body.

"That is your pass."

She clapped her hands and smiled

"Okay! You can go inside now! I permit you."

He was about to ask what the point of the show was when the foreign energy suddenly compressed itself and made him feel like something was trying to squeeze him. In a flash, he felt himself being transported through space until he crash-landed, his knees scraping against an unfamiliar hard surface. He grunted and shook his head to clear it.

'I still feel the weird energy on me. It's not hindering me but it's still there.' He noted as he got back on his feet. Then a loud rumbling noise caught his attention and made him look up. He blinked.

'I must be seeing things.'

There, in front of him, towering over him, stood a large stuffed toy with the appearance of a pig standing on its back legs, giving him an empty, yet nasty look. It growled. For a moment it didn't move though he swore he could see its paws twitching. Then he noticed the cutesy walls surrounding him from every side.

'Am I… inside the dollhouse?'

Almost like on a signal, something or somebody lifted the ceiling only for him to see Riruka's gigantic face looming over him with a smug smirk on her face which, under normal circumstances cute, was at the moment thoroughly terrifying.

"Well, isn't he cute?"

Because of the dis-balance between the size of her head and his head, he cringed at the sheer volume of her voice. But then he caught her words and looked between the stuffed pig and her face with a deadpan expression.

"Right."

A myriad of questions popped in his mind ranging from simple 'how did I get here' to 'is she kidding me'. But it was just another incomprehensible situation full of irrelevant details and so he disregarded everything in favor of focusing on the most important thing.

"What now?"

Her raised eyebrows showed surprise at the lack of his reaction but she masked it by nodding towards the stuffed animal.

"Defeat it! That's your training. Don't worry, he's not strong so it should be easy. If you can use Fullbring, that is!"

The unexpected trace of condescension in her voice threw him for a loop. It came from nowhere. But he didn't dwell on it for too long. Instead, he pulled his eyes away from her face and set his sights on the thing in front of him. And it was a good thing to do so too, since the stuffed animal seemed to be at the end of its patience and was raising its paws upwards, making it clear what its intentions were.

Ichigo jumped away at the same time as the paws hit his previous spot with enough power to scatter a thin layer of dust on the ground in every direction. And though the attack was several magnitudes weaker than those he was used to, it was still way more powerful than what a regular human could do. In accordance to this, he shifted his attitude and looked at his supposed opponent with a pair of analytical eyes.

'Okay, so it's not just a giant stuffed toy. Seems like it has enough physical strength to flatten a human which means they want me to defeat him without taking a hit. Begs the question why would they think it's a good idea to throw me in here without giving me any pointers in the first place but, eh, let's ignore that.'

But there was no more time to think. Curling into a ball, he rolled to the side and avoided a powerful punch by a hair's breadth. Immediately after that, he looked up to see the stuffed animal leaping at him with one of its paw's cocked back and he leaned to the left to dodge it. The attack missed but his hair swung back and forth from the light breeze swirling around him. His brow creased into a frown and his eyes narrowed. There was something oddly specific about his opponent's movements.

"This is pathetic! You're not doing anything! You're a man, aren't you? Stand and face him!"

He heard the words but paid them no mind. Whether she was trying to goad him into attacking or was simply being rude, Riruka's voice felt like nothing but a manageable annoyance.

'Still… if I'm right…'

When a paw flew at him again, instead of trying to dodge, he stood his ground and waited until the last moment, just before the punch could connect with the side of his head. In that instant, his neck muscles tensed and he titled his head out of the harm's way while, at the same time, grabbed a hold of the paw. Using his opponent's momentum, he flung him over his shoulder and into a nearby wall. The entire dollhouse shook.

"What?!"

Riruka's high-pitched exclamation was far too loud, and he cringed and rubbed his ears. Still, he kept his attention at his opponent's crumpled form as the stuffed animal tried to get back on its feet.

"Are you crazy? You can't just fight him with your bare hands! Do you want to get yourself killed?!"

His patience reached the first threshold. For just a second, he shifted his attention to the girl with every intention of making a snarky retort only to spot a surprising amount of worry written all over her face. He bit back his original response and looked back at his opponent.

"This thing, whatever it is, is not a fighter. I can tell by the way it throws its punches and the way it moves. It's like a confused beast, pushed in a corner with no way out but to try its luck and fight back. Me, I used to train in a dojo and lived through my share of fights. It doesn't matter how much strength this thing has if it can't focus it into a proper strike."

There was no answer, and since his opponent was almost back on its feet, he bent his knees and lowered his body into one of the basic battle stances and waited. As he did so, he swore he saw a certain emotion flicker across the toy's blank expression. It was almost like it understood his words and took an offense to them. The battle was far from over.

On cue, the toy leaped towards him. One of its paws flew at his head. A simple sidestep prevented any contact; instead, the punch collided with the ground and caused the dollhouse to tremble. Dust swirled, but he didn't need his eyes to follow the next punch. He avoided it with ease. Too much ease.

His eyes widened.

Though he sensed movement from below, he found out the harsh truth in a hard way - no matter how good his reflexes were, it was impossible to use them to their fullest while in a Gigai. The artificial body was simply not suited to his level of speed. Thus, the kick which shouldn't have given him any trouble grazed his side and spun his body around.

'Uh-oh.'

Using bending forward as a countermeasure, he got himself out of the spin but could not stop himself from swaying. As the dust cleared, he saw a kick flying to his stomach and knew he had no time to do anything else but to brace himself for the impact. Unhappy with his own incompetence, he clenched his jaw, put both hands in front of him as a shield, tightened his abdominal muscles and, at the moment the kick connected with his body, exhaled hard.

"Oof."

Unpleasant pressure dug into his belly and he sailed through the air, across the room.

As he was descending, he arched his back and forced his body to rotate until it allowed him to stick out his hand and touch the ground. At the moment of contact, he sent out his reiryoku into his palm and created a cushion of energy from which he pushed himself upwards. A flip later, he landed on the ground with his right knee touching the floor. Taking a short, quick breath, he looked up.

'Alright, time for a different approach. I must compensate for the lack of mobility with spiritual energy. I just need to be careful not to use too much of it right away. No need to raise suspicion. Go slow and steady.'

His mouth settled in a straight line, though one corner curved upwards ever so slightly, and his brows moved towards each other.

'I am supposed to be learning this as if I've never done it before, after all.'

"See?! I told you! You can't win like that! It doesn't matter how capable you are. If you can't adapt and learn how to use Fullbring, then you're done for!"

Even though his eyes were firmly set to watch his opponent's every step, one of his eyelids twitched and he pushed a small amount of air through his nostrils in one go.

'She's getting on my nerves.'

The stuffed toy charged him again and though he waited until the last moment as before, this time he also kept an eye on any underhanded tactic his fluffy opponent could have come up with. But an instant after it moved, the toy opened its mouth and released a loud shout of anger.

"Gaaarh!"

"?"

He twitched in surprise but kept his composure tight, and just as one of the toy's legs shot towards him, he took a wide but fast step to the side. At the same time, he twisted his body and matched the toy's movement to make sure it tried nothing else.

It didn't get the chance.

He had been standing too close to the wall and his successful dodge caused his opponent to ram straight into it. The toy whined in protest, staggered and fell on one knee. Seeing his chance, Ichigo acted in a flash.

'Now!'

Using its own body as a ladder, he hopped on the back of the toy's calf and from it bounced upwards until he reached its head. Like a pair of pincers, he snaked his arms around the toy's neck and enveloped it in a tight grip, causing it to fall down on its face with a choked cry of pain. He squeezed more and looked up.

"Is this good enough?!"

A sense of accomplishment and gratification spread across this torso as soon as he saw Riruka looking at him with eyes opened wide.

"Like I said, my b-"

"You idiot! Get away from him!"

The warm feeling of pride vanished in an instant. There was something wrong with the tone of the girl's voice and when she withdrew from her spot and he heard her yelling something incomprehensible at somebody else, he identified the culprit.

It was not that she was unhappy with the result of the fight, it was that she was afraid of it and for a second, the realization left him at a loss for words. He did what they expected of him and defeated his opponent, right?

The discrepancy between his train of thoughts and Riruka's intentions became clear in the following moment, when the stuffed animal beneath him shook and a wave of reiatsu washed over him. Looking down, he saw the toy's clothes tearing. Just as he was about to squeeze its neck an invisible force blasted him backwards and he crashed into a wall on the opposite side of the room. As he slid down to the floor, a groan found its way out of his mouth.

"Ugh."

While it didn't hurt, the impact rattled both his bones and his pride. Frustration took over him and he jumped back on his feet, feeling the right amount of anger flowing in his veins. But then his eyes fell on his opponent and felt like rolling his eyes.

"Oh, come on. That's just not fair."

What had been a cute though odd stuffed toy before was now an image cut straight out of children's nightmares. What had been sweet turned sour and what had been cute turned ugly. A grotesque monstrosity with warped features, the stuffed pig grew both in height and width, gained veiny muscles and a set of a terrifying beast-like teeth and three more eyes. A deep rumbling noise poured out of its mouth.

"… making something so gross!"

An echo of Riruka's voice came from afar, somewhat clearing up the situation for him.

'Look like this wasn't completely planned.'

He snorted when he realized he said it in Aizen's voice. It seemed the man's words were engraved so deeply in his mind, it was impossible to forget them. But a rude awakening in form of a flying piece of furniture shook him out of his stupor and forced him to stop dawdling and move. In a few steps, he reached a wall but didn't stop and with the use of a nearby cabinet hopped over it while throwing a random object he had grabbed on his way over his shoulder. After landing on the floor, he noticed the room seemed no other purpose than to be a temporary refuge and took a breather.

"Ichigo!"

Riruka's face popped in his vision once again and the girl stuck her head over the dollhouse. He glanced at her.

"You have to use your Fullbring or you really will die! I can't interrupt this fight anymore! Giriko's Fullbring is preventing me!"

The panic in her voice was so palpable, it made him pause. Was the situation that serious? But when he spoke, he focused on something else.

"An advice, or at least a hint on how to do that would be nice."

Riruka's face twisted into a distressed grimace.

"A hint?! We've been able to use Fullbring ever since we were born! There's no way I'd know any hints or tricks for it! I just focus on my love for cute things!"

He had a retort on the tip of his tongue but the sound of approaching footsteps made him stop. A second later, a large muscular paw broke through the wall above him. Without thinking twice, he vaulted over another wall to keep the pursuit going.

'They always knew how to do it, huh? Sounds a lot like instinct... which makes sense, considering it's a hollow-based ability. But then, Isn't it just a materialization of hollow reiryoku and not some weird soul manipulation mumbo jumbo? Because if it is, then I should be able to do that just fine.'

Once he overcame another wall, he came across a dead end; the wall of the dollhouse itself. From behind him, the sound of heavy stomps approached him like a premonition of doom. He glanced from side to side and concluded there was nowhere else he could run and even if there was, there was no stopping the toy. Not in its berserk state. But despite the situation he didn't cower nor froze in fear.

He smiled.

While waiting for his opponent to crash through its last obstacle, he dove deep into his own consciousness and navigated across the vast maze of his soul until he found what he sought - the place from which he could draw out his hollow energy; the core of his being. He raised his hand and touched it. At once, the intensity of his emotions grew, but he didn't fight it. Content with them, he accepted them with opened arms and withdrew to the real world.

Hollow energy, wild but tamed, boiled beneath him and crawled up his body from his ankles all the way to his shoulders. Shrouded in a blanket of animated power, he watched it shape itself, from what looked like his shinigami attire at first to an unstable form of armor with protrusions on the sides of his shoulders. It wasn't solid, but it also wasn't vaporous; like a liquid, it flowed around him in a never-ending cycle. At the same time, he felt something in his right hand and looked down, only to see a sword made of pure energy swirling within his grasp.

He raised it just when his opponent finally broke through. For a moment, he looked the toy in its eyes and formed a smile of apology.

"This is going to hurt a lot."

In one fell swoop, the fight was over.

…

As he stared at the still body of the stuffed animal to make sure it was down and defeated, he let his senses roam over the energy shroud surrounding him.

'This feels nice.'

'Of course it does. It is a part of you.'

His eyes widened.

'Zangetsu? You're back? That's... wait, that's not good, isn't it?'

Though he couldn't see the spirit, he could picture him rolling his eyes from the tone of his voice alone.

'And what did you expect, Ichigo? You can't just pull all this hollow energy and assume I won't show up. Don't worry though, I'm still hidden. These are only the echoes of my voice.'

Ichigo released a deep, grateful sigh. Then he paused.

'Don't tell me I'm speeding up the process by doing this.'

'Nah. The time frame remains as it was. You still have a few days until we can no longer remain suppressed.'

He nodded to himself.

'Good. That should be fine. How are things going though? I feel more and more energy trying to escape my grasp.'

'It's fine. Once we're done, you should be able to use everything without worrying about its composition. But, you must learn how to do this conversion by yourself, Ichigo. You know that, don't you?' Voice of his spirit wasn't accusatory, yet Ichigo felt like he was getting lectured. It was almost as if he was listening to his other spirit.

'I know and I will.'

'I'll hold you to that. Talk to you later, Ichigo. Until you return to your true form, I'll be able to speak to you only when you're simulating this Fullcrap or whatsits name.'

Like ending a phone conversation, his zanpakuto spirit cut off the mental link and left him alone with his thoughts. But he didn't continue in his train of thoughts and, after giving his defeated opponent one more glance, looked up at the hovering face of a wide-eyed Riruka and spoke to her.

"I won, right? Now get me out."

As soon as she got out of the shock, a look of disappointment crossed her face but she nodded, nevertheless. Then, with no warning, he reached into the dollhouse, only to stop when Giriko's voice caught up to her.

"Not yet. If Ichigo-san used a Fullbring, then it will fulfill the conditions of the timer and the fallen Mr. Pork will return to his original form. Taking Ichigo-san out of there should wait until after we make sure of that, am I right?"

A small part of Ichigo's left lower eyelid twitched, and he glanced back at the fallen stuffed toy. Ignoring the toy's name, he focused his attention on a different detail.

'I guess this will prove if my suspicions were right, and that Fullbring is just exerting Hollow-like spiritual energy while being a human. Well, theoretically a human.'

They all stared at the toy in anticipation but for a few seconds, nothing happened. When he was about to open his mouth and curse, it shook. Right after that, a deep rumbling noise, followed with a sudden loss of mass showed the truth of the matter. An inaudible sigh of relief poured through his parted lips. He heard Giriko speak.

"Oh! Well, I guess that's it."

He looked up and saw Giriko rubbing his chin. The man's expression was thoughtful, but it seemed he was pleased with himself. On the other hand, Riruka's face showed the same disappointment as it did mere moments before. When she caught Ichigo's intense stare, she straightened her back and looked away. When it looked like she was about to leave, he called out to her.

"Oi, get me out!"

Then he heard Riruka's odd, fast intakes of breath. Before he could try to understand what was going on, Riruka's face popped back in the dollhouse and she grabbed both him and the stuffed toy, took them out of the dollhouse and sneezed straight into their faces.

And just like that, he was back in the dimly lit room of the Xcution headquarters.

"Wasn't there a more… hygienic way of getting me out?"

However, his question was met with silence. Making a grimace, he wished for a towel to wipe the sticky saliva from both his face and body.

'At least there's no snot.'

Christmas came early in a form of a dry towel hitting him to the side of his head. Without uttering a word, he wiped his face clean and looked for Riruka, only to find her standing on the side, talking to somebody who looked like yakuza. He raised one eyebrow but when he took a step towards them and overheard their conversation, the scene explained itself in a second. It seemed the man had been the stuffed toy Mr. Porks and that was the extent of information Ichigo wanted to know, so he tuned out the rest of the conversation. It wasn't something he wanted to hear.

"Congratulations. You passed the first test." Ginjō's voice rang in his ears and he turned to look at him. The man was staring at him in a way that made him feel like he was a subject of a close examination.

"I guess, though I wonder about your methods. What if he smashed me into a gel?"

The man raised and shook his right hand.

"But you didn't, that's what's important."

He narrowed his eyes. The one sentence alone told him more about the man than any other had so far. Then he noticed the man's eyes moving all over him and realized the shroud of energy still surrounded him like an odd mixture between a shapeless cloak and armor.

"That's a Clad-Type Fullbring."

"Is that bad?"

The man shook his head.

"No. It's just rare because you need large reserves of reiryoku for it to work properly. Speaking of, don't you feel tired? Keeping your Fullbring active for a long period just after awakening it takes a large toll on your body."

Focusing, Ichigo forced the energy to withdraw from the surface of his body back into it. He took two sharp breaths.

"Now that you mentioned it, I am a bit winded. Thanks for warning me." He said and hoped the man would lose the intense look in his eyes.

"How did you activate it? I omitted giving you any hints on purpose to see how far you could go by yourself. Was it something Riruka said?"

Ichigo glanced at the girl. She seemed to be threatening the yakuza. He looked back at Ginjō, then nodded towards the couch. It looked like the man understood and snapped his fingers at Giriko to get them both a drink. When they were comfortably seated, Ichigo began.

"To be honest, it was kind of mix of what she said and what you said."

Raising an eyebrow, Ginjō hummed.

"Hm?"

He leaned into his seat and thought about how he wanted to compose his answer. It took him a few seconds to do so.

"Riruka said that to use her Fullbring, she focuses on things she loves. Therefore, her love. But you showed your Fullbring as well and you don't look like the guy who loves his pendant. So, love works only for Riruka. Then there is the fact that it is a Hollow-based ability and Hollows are creatures that have lost their hearts. Both of which are your words. Taking these things into account, I thought that the thing that can activate it is a powerful emotion. Like love." He explained while giving a short nod in Riruka's direction.

"Or… pride?" He continued, unsure of his deduction and gave a nod towards Ginjō. The man snorted.

"Good guess. And yes, emotions and feelings are the key to Fullbring. However, you still need an object, a catalyst behind this emotion if you want to awaken your own Fullbring. I don't think I saw any object in your hands."

Faced with the unasked question, Ichigo closed his eyes and formed a smile. Then he gave Ginjō an amused look.

"You never said it has to be an outside object."

In a rare display of surprise, Ginjō frowned.

"What do you mean?"

With one hand and an opened palm, Ichigo patted his chest.

"My heart."

Ginjō's eyebrows shot upwards until they disappeared in his forehead.

"You based your Fullbring on your heart?"

Seeing his reaction, Ichigo allowed himself a chuckle.

"Ironic, isn't it? Using a heart as a source of a hollow-like power."

For a full minute, Ginjō just stared at him in what appeared to be a look of utter disbelief. In the meantime, Giriko brought two glasses of whiskey. Before Ichigo could reach for one, Ginjō grabbed and gulped down both. Then he looked at the table and shook his head.

"Don't take this in a wrong way, Kurosaki, but anybody ever told you you are not normal?"

Irony of the statement caused Ichigo to laugh out loud.

"You have no idea."

…

Seeing that he succeeded and activated what Ginjō called a 'primordial version of his Fullbring', Ichigo was, despite his weak attempts at protesting, promptly sent home to rest. The reasoning was solid and followed the basic line of logic; Fullbring was a human ability and its wielder, no matter how durable, could only take so much punishment before breaking. Human body simply wasn't meant to take on the harsh training where blows, enhanced with spiritual energy, could turn limbs into a mush. And so, they allowed him to return only after at least a full day of recuperation and in case he didn't feel like crap.

However, he showed up at Xcution headquarters' doorsteps as soon as the light of the next day popped from behind the horizon with a grin which drove Ginjō mad. Before the man could even try and kick him out, he raised both his hands in defense.

"Relax. I didn't come for training."

His words had the desired effect and stopped the man in his tracks, giving him enough time to close the door, walk to the counter and order a drink.

"Orange juice please, Giriko-san."

While the bartender prepared it, Ichigo turned to Ginjō with a carefree expression.

"I just came to hang out, that's all."

Amused, he watched Ginjō blink multiple times in rapid succession.

'Didn't expect that, did you, huh?'

The man seemed at a loss for words and sat on the bar chair with a blank expression on his face. He regained his senses only when an empty glass hit the counter and the sound of a liquor with a familiar smell being poured into it reached his ears. Without uttering a single word, he grabbed the glass, placed it to his mouth, tilted it and let its contents fill his stomach.

"Hang out, you say, huh?" He stated and leaned against the counter, his eyes pointing at anything but Ichigo.

"Yeah. I mean, we are helping each other so it wouldn't hurt to know each other better, right?" Ichigo said with a grin. But when Ginjō still refused to look at him, he hurried to speak again.

"But if I'm being a bother…"

The man shook his head.

"No. No, it's fine. I was just surprised."

Ichigo glanced at the counter and reached for his own glass. He took a sip.

"Is it really that surprising?"

It wasn't Ginjō who answered him.

"For us? Most definitely. You may not realize but we are a bunch of misfits and loners who don't really get along with the rest of the society. Because we possess supernatural abilities, we are different than the others. And because we are different, we do not belong. After all, it is hard to forge relationships of any kind while keeping such a large secret."

Ichigo turned towards the deep but feminine voice coming from a dark spot in the room and raised his glass in its direction with a nod of acknowledgment.

"That is quite a bleak outlook on life, Jackie-san."

A small lamp came to life and allowed Ichigo to see the woman's face. Her eyes were closed. Interestingly enough, despite her disheartening words, she appeared to be smiling.

"What may seem bleak to you can be a blessing for another." She said.

"You prefer being an outcast, then?"

She shook her head. Then she opened her eyes and looked at him with a cool yet not cold gaze.

"No. I prefer being pleasantly surprised. It makes me feel like there is still hope for this world."

Meeting her gaze, the sentiment wasn't lost on him. To feel like somebody who didn't belong was a notion he knew well and it made him want to probe further into the meaning behind the woman's words. But he didn't do it. It may have been a fleeting detail but there was something in Jackie's voice that caused him to pause and rethink his next words. Questions continued to form but, with a mental slap, he pushed them away. For some reason, he didn't want to take a chance and trample on her feelings by asking questions she wouldn't want to answer or by listening to answers he didn't want to hear. It felt wrong. And so, he formed a bitter smile and let out a snort.

"Can't argue with that."

Ever so slightly, Jackie moved her head downwards in a barely noticeable nod and her facial expression settled on a pleasant smile. It was almost as if she was satisfied with his answer.

"You changed your opinion quite fast. Do you do that often?"

He turned his head towards yet another voice that too, appeared to be coming from a dimly lit area of the room, though on a different side. It was Yukio. The boy's head was lowered and he stared at the screen of a handheld console but one of his eyes kept glancing in Ichigo's direction.

"No, not really. Most of the time I'm the most stubborn person in the room." Ichigo replied. In return, Yukio said nothing and just kept glancing at him, as if trying to give him a room for a further clarification. However, Ichigo simply shrugged.

"Sometimes, memories of the past find their way out of the hole and make you remember things that you forgot."

It was an ambiguous retort, and by the look in Yukio's eye, it was obvious he was struggling to understand it. Ichigo wasn't surprised by that. Without a proper context or without living through difficult times, one's ability to comprehend the pain hidden deep within the other person was limited, no matter how much empathy was employed. And though he could have expanded on his answer, he chose not to. While he didn't mind them knowing, he did mind telling them about it. Nevertheless, the lack of explanation caused Yukio to shift his gaze to Ginjō. But the man was in the middle of drinking from his glass and disregarded the gaze with ease. Forced to admit defeat, Yukio put his console down and looked at Ichigo with both eyes.

"What do you mean by that?"

Ichigo wanted to congratulate himself for winning the battle of wills but the current topic didn't allow him to. Instead, he looked at Ginjō and, with a minor movement of his shoulders, expressed a mild indifference to the question.

"Ask Ginjō-san."

The man gulped down his drink and looked at him.

"Huh?"

He rolled his eyes.

"Come on. You know things about Urahara Kisuke, Soul Society and, most importantly, my father. I'm sure you dug up some information about me as well and so you should be aware of my past."

"It's not like I care or anything. Just don't pretend you don't know." He added when he noticed quick exchange of glances between Yukio and Jackie.

"Ginjō?"

Ginjō looked away from Ichigo to Yukio and sighed deeply.

"Are you sure you don't mind me telling them?" He asked while keeping his eyes at Yukio.

"I don't. It happened a long time ago. I'm over it." Ichigo said and looked into his glass of juice. It was empty. When Ginjō began explaining Ichigo's past and the death of his mother, Ichigo tuned him out and tapped the counter so that Giriko would refill it. Once it was full again, he took continuous small sips until he realized Ginjō's monologue ended. He turned towards them.

"That's a very personal thing to share, Ichigo." Jackie said in a quiet voice. In response, he moved his eyebrows up and down while also letting out a short snort; an obvious show of apathy towards the subject of the conversation.

"Like I said. It happened a long time ago. Besides, I still have the rest of my family." He replied and his voice turned just a tiny bit colder.

"Yeah… sorry I asked." Yukio muttered with an apologetic glance. In return, he smiled and waved at him.

"Don't worry about it."

With that said, he tried to get the boy into a longer conversation and used the handheld console as a clutch. Ever since he had first met him, the small device seemed to have been glued to the boy's hands, never leaving his grasp. But even though the choice of the topic worked and got Yukio to talk for a bit, Ichigo couldn't shake an uncomfortable sensation of being watched. And so, while listening to Yukio explaining some game called 'Invaders Must Die', he took several peeks at his surroundings.

He found the culprit right away.

It was Jackie. She was silent but her intense stare aimed at him spoke volumes. It confused him. Did she have a reason for doing it? But then, after looking at Yukio and back at her, he realized she wasn't staring at his face. Curious, he followed her line of sight and his eyes fell on his own left hand.

It was clenched in a fist so tight it turned his knuckles white. With wide eyes, he relaxed it at once but the damage had been done. Not to his hand, though. It showed when he caught Jackie's eyes moving up his body and to his face. At that point, she formed a warm but sad smile filled with something he hadn't seen for a long time.

Pity.

It made his insides grow cold. By sheer force of will, he brought himself back into his conversation with Yukio and tried to ignore the woman as hard as he could. The way she looked at him was dangerous, as it had the potential to reveal his true thoughts on the matter.

It was a blessing from the heavens when a strong kick flung the entrance open and a girlish voice reached the room.

"Is this a party? How come I wasn't invited?!"

"Riruka-san, please don't damage the room."

Giving Giriko a stink eye, the newcomer, Riruka, marched further into the room with a displeased grimace. But when she got to the counter, Ichigo saw her stop moving. In slow motion, she turned towards him. Her eyes widened. Then she marched to Ginjō with greater vigor and jabbed the man's shoulder with her index finger.

"You said he wouldn't be coming until tomorrow!"

Not sure what was going on, Ichigo gulped down the rest of the orange juice in his glass and gave Yukio and Jackie a regretful nod.

"Well, seems like I should be going then."

Before he could move a single inch, a pair of hands grabbed him by his wrist and held him in place.

"Oi, where do you think you're going!"

He quickly turned his head and saw that the person keeping him in place was none other than Riruka. Tilting his head to the side, he blinked.

"Huh? I thought you didn't want me here?"

It seemed impossible but her eyes widened even further until they almost bulged out of their sockets and she let him go so fast, he barely had the time to stop himself from toppling over.

"What?! No! Of course not! If I could I'd… I mean, you're welcome to stay! I just wish somebody told me you were here!" She exclaimed with flushed cheeks. Feeling a tiny quiver in his chest, he shrugged.

"Okay then."

Nodding to herself with a large smile, Riruka turned to the others and slammed her right hand against the counter.

"Listen up, people. It's party time!"

…

At the dawn of the next day, on his way for another dose of training, Ichigo thought back to the events of the previous evening. In all honesty, he had expected the atmosphere to be awkward and uncomfortable but to his surprise, it had been the exact opposite - fun. And there had been so much of it that even if it was for just a few hours, he forgot most of his worries. At first, his plan had been to get to know them better, to understand what made them tick so in case the situation turned on its head, he could prevent any unnecessary bloodshed but, in the end, he got something else. To be able to see them laugh made it easier to see that, true to Jackie's words, they were just a bunch of misfits, drawn to each other for the same reason which was the inability to belong. Because of it, it was hard to determine whether they had any ulterior motive for trying to get him to awaken a Fullbring. At the same time, it allowed him to see them as a group of troubles individuals, with at least Jackie truly ready to erase her past by giving up her power.

Which was a notion he had troubles recognizing.

On one hand, he thought it to be ridiculous. For somebody like him, who had been trying to get only stronger so that the events from his past wouldn't repeat, the idea of giving up all that power meant losing his own soul. In his eyes, such a thing was a sin.

But as with most things, even this one was a double-sided coin.

'Erase my past, huh? I'd give my life for it.'

He threw his thoughts overboard. The headquarters of Xcution appeared in his vision and wondering about pointless stuff was detrimental. It was time to sharpen his determination.

It was still quite early in the morning and so he slowed down his pace. Another quarter of an hour later, he reached the entrance, swiped the card, waited until the door clicked and walked inside.

"Good morning, Kurosaki-san."

He raised one hand in greetings.

"Orange juice?"

"Yeah. Thanks."

A glass landed in front him just as he took a seat. With each sip, he felt more and more ready for the day. Nothing could beat the taste of a sweet and pleasantly sour fruit. At least not in the morning.

As he drank, he squinted and tried to see through shadows in the room.

"Nobody's up, yet?"

"They should be here any minute."

"Alright. I'll wait."

Five minutes later, the front door opened and one person walked inside. It was Ginjō. When he noticed Ichigo at the counter, the man grinned.

"Eager, aren't we?"

Ichigo shrugged.

"It's kind of fun."

Ginjō joined him at the counter and, after asking for a drink, spoke again.

"By the way, what did you tell your family? About this?"

"Nothing."

He felt the man's eyes boring into his skull. Raising an eyebrow, he prompted the man to speak his thoughts.

"Nothing?"

"Yeah. It's not like I spend much time at home anyway, so it's fine."

Ginjō seemed to have no retort to that. For a while, the two of them sipped from their glasses and the only loud sound in the room was a squeaky noise caused by Giriko polishing all the cups, jars, mugs and other glassware he could find. Then Ginjō spoke again.

"How are they, by the way? Your family I mean."

"Fine. They are… as fine as they can be."

As he said that, Ichigo shut his eyes.

"Good to hear. Haven't seen your father around so I was wondering, you know."

He didn't miss the odd tone in the man's voice.

'Bait or a genuine question?'

Since he didn't want to leave it unanswered, he thought of a reply.

"He's not here. I'm the only one who returned to Karakura. I'm currently living with a relative."

Ever so slightly, he opened one of his eyes and took a peek at Ginjō. The man seemed surprised but masked it by taking a gulp from his glass. Before the conversation could change its direction, another member of the group walked through the entrance door.

"Good morning, Jackie-san."

His eye darted to the side to glance at the newcomer but avoided looking directly at her face. Ever since he had allowed her to see him weak, he couldn't bring himself to look her in the eye.

He sighed. All of a sudden, his orange juice felt bitter.

"Alright. Now that Jackie's here, we can talk about the next phase of your training, Ichigo."

The bitter taste on his tongue grew stronger. He prayed the man wasn't insinuating what he thought he was.

"I'm all ears."

Ginjō nodded towards Jackie.

"Originally, Riruka was supposed to help you awaken your Fullbring and then Jackie would force you to evolve it. However, it seems you did both of these during Riruka's training alone."

One of Ichigo's eyebrows moved upwards.

"So…?"

Ginjō shook his head.

"We'll continue as planned. Your Fullbring is still vague and has plenty of room to evolve. Jackie's ability is aimed purely on offense so it's worth a shot to try it. We're just waiting for Riruka to bring your next training area."

A memory of a shower of saliva triggered Ichigo's grimace.

"I should have brought a change of clothes."

Then he added.

"It's going to take a while before she's here, isn't it?"

As if on cue, the entrance door opened and Ichigo spun around, only to sigh when he realized it wasn't Riruka. The one who arrived, Yukio, raised one eyebrow and looked at Ichigo, unsure whether to look indifferent or offended. In the end, the boy decided to ignore his reaction in its entirety.

"Yeah, she's not exactly a morning bird. I'd say we have about at least twenty minutes."

As soon as the words passed through the man's mouth, a stray thought popped in his mind that made him take a quick glance at Ginjō's face. For a short moment, he debated with himself whether to go with the idea or not. It turned so intense, his brow creased and his eyes settled on a concentrated gaze that made the man look at him and blink.

"Then we have enough time."

"Time for what?"

Ichigo shifted in his seat, leaned against the counter and took a relaxing breath.

"To talk about a certain incident which happened just a few days ago."

End of Chapter 47.

Quick AN.

Interaction with the Xcution continues and it's an interesting experience for Ichigo. Will he continue taking slow, careful steps or will be fck it up?

The 'Hollow' in the title of the chapter has 2 meanings - Hollow as in Fullbring is a Hollow-based ability and Hollow as in adjective for the time Ichigo spends with the Xcution.

For reviews:

MugetsuIchigo - aw shucks.

Takei Daloui - the latter (though there won't be much focus on it, it's just to show he's close to being completely over his trauma)

D - those are some nice comparisons! I like them!

Lord Wolfe - exactly, though if shown enough evidence, the notion could be understood.

kaxipoptos - well, I noticed people don't really like Fullbring arc in manga. I do. It depicts Ichigo as what he was, still a teenager at heart, somebody who is afraid to lose his closest ones. And I can tell you there will be at least one moment (but most likely more )where this arc will be important - and it won't be like in manga, at the very end of the story.

That's it from me for now. As always, thank you for your support!

Next chapter will be posted on 4th October! (no title ATM, because I'm making some radical changes)