Welcome to chapter 8 of Now Full, Now Dark, also known as "What? You thought the pain was over? HAHAHA NOPE #TIME TO CRY"

Have fun reading! (evil laughs)

Also, I think that I finally have an uploading plan (yay). I'm unable to post as much as I used to, but I'm going to try and post every Sunday at 10 pm (that's in Australian time, but it should be sometime on Sunday for most of you). Hopefully I can stick to this :P

Recap: Last chapter, the Mews came to the aliens' dimension and Ichigo accidentally killed Lettuce.


Ichigo hadn't left her room in three days now.

Or or maybe it was four. Ichigo didn't know. She didn't particularly care, either.

The first day, her door had been knocked on every half-hour. Kisshu, Lucien, Taruto, all begging her to come out and talk. They'd stopped after about a day or so, when Ichigo didn't answer.

Since then, all that she had been interrupted from her thoughts by was Lettuce.

Lettuce was there constantly. It was curious how she had managed to stay there for so long without rotting. She was dead, after all. This Lettuce was just an illusion.

Or maybe Lettuce was never really dead, and this was real. Ichigo didn't know which story to believe. She knew which one she'd like to believe though.

"Ichigo," Lettuce - the illusion of Lettuce - said. Her voice wasn't the scratchy one she'd had when she was dying. It was sweet and playful, like it had been in life.

"Hello, Lettuce." Ichigo responded. She knew that she should probably ignore Lettuce, but that wouldn't do any good. Lettuce would just keep bugging Ichigo until she gave in. Ichigo knew this from experience. Funny what you can pick up in three days.

"First friend." Lettuce said. It was easier just to refer to her as Lettuce, even though Ichigo knew - or tried her best to believe - that she wasn't.

Much of what Lettuce said was like this, fragments of her last words. Of course this was only most of the time. Other times, she was a little more coherent.

"Why did you kill me, Ichigo?" Lettuce said. It appeared that this was one of those times. Ichigo chose not to respond.

"I thought we were friends." the Lettuce replica said, mimicking Lettuce's iconic confused expression. Ichigo closed her eyes, though she couldn't block her ears. In an attempt to keep Lettuce out, Ichigo covered her ears with her hands, though this was useless. Lettuce's voice was in her head, in her mind, running through her veins and seeping through her skin and it was all around her and it always had been.

"You hurt Pai." Lettuce stated, forcing Ichigo to remember what had had after Lettuce - the real Lettuce - had taken her final breath.


Lettuce's eyes didn't close at the last moment, like they do in movies. No, they stayed open, long after her ears had stopped hearing and her eyes had stopped seeing and her chest had stopped moving.

Pudding made a choked sound, but it was drowned out by a scream on the other side of the room. From what Ichigo could see through her tear-streaked eyes, everyone had stopped fighting. Kisshu , Taruto and Zakuro simply stared, with their guard down, but Pai was running hysterically towards Lettuce's body. He dropped down at her side, weeping. Mint didn't try to stop him or push him, like she had Ichigo. Ichigo couldn't care less.


Lettuce looked at Ichigo, whose mind was at the same time blank and filled with memories.

"Pai cared about me, and you hurt him." Lettuce said. "But you didn't care. You ran away." Lettuce tilted her head. She reminded Ichigo of Lettuce more than ever.

"I thought we were friends. Don't you care about me, Ichigo?" Lettuce repeated her earlier statement. "Mint cared about me. Zakuro cared about me. Pudding cared about me."


Maria, the young alien, went to Pai. He stood up, and went with her as she lead him to the door. As they left, Maria shot a poisonous look at Ichigo, a stark contrast to her sweet, youthful features.

Ichigo looked up again. Mint and Pudding were sobbing, not caring if the aliens saw. The Mews had been fractured when Ichigo had left, but they would have shakily recovered. With this new development, they had been shattered. There was no more going back.

Ichigo, though she hated to admit it to herself, was glad when they started to gather up the body. Horrible though it was, she wouldn't be able to stand seeing it another time. She wasn't even sure that she would be able to stand living with the knowledge that the world had lost one of the most precious souls it had, and it was all Ichigo's fault.

The door that the Mews had entered through a million years ago was still open, and it creaked as Zakuro widened it and the Mews carried Lettuce out. Pudding didn't look back. Zakuro did, but only for a second, briefly nodding at Ichigo before fixing her eyes away.

Mint's rage was dulled only by her despair as she said, "You are a monster, Ichigo. Lettuce didn't see that until it was too late. We won't make the same mistake." And she turned to leave, following Pudding, Zakuro and Lettuce.


"You remember. You didn't want to see me anymore. You didn't care about me anymore. You wanted me gone." Lettuce said. "Don't you care about me, Ichigo?"

Every word that she said was a dagger, sharpened by the bitter memories. The filled up every bit of her heart, until it was made from grief and hate. Ichigo couldn't breathe, and was helpless as Lettuce took her back through more memories that she didn't want to remember.


Ichigo looked up and saw that Kisshu had somehow moved across the room and was grasping her hand, concern in his eyes. Concern for her, even after everything that she'd done.

She couldn't deal with this right now. She couldn't deal with this ever. Ichigo pulled her hand from Kisshu's, shaking her head. He let her go, even though Ichigo could see how much it pained him to do so.

Ichigo walked backwards a few steps, then turned around when she couldn't stand to see Kisshu's face anymore.

She didn't deserve him. She wasn't worthy of him, not after what she'd done.

Kisshu didn't deserve a murderer.

Thaddeus and Taturo's eyes accused Ichigo with every movement she made. Ichigo cast her eyes down, though she could feel their gazes boring into her back.

Ichigo began to run, out of fear that her body would break down before she got to the door and got away from the pool of blood still left where Lettuce had been. No one moved to stop her. She didn't stop.


"You ran away. Don't you care about me, Ichigo?" Lettuce repeated, with her eyes still curious and youthful. Too young to be dead.

"I- I care." Ichigo said, unable to help herself. Lettuce's soft lips curved, knowing that she was getting through. She was hurting Ichigo.

"Why did you run away? Why don't you care about me, Ichigo?" Lettuce asked.

Ichigo started to reply, "Lettuce, I-", when she heard a knock on the door followed by a familiar voice.

"Ichigo? Who are you talking to?" Kisshu said. He must have been in the hallway, listening for a sound from her.

Ichigo didn't respond. Lettuce did. "You're hurting Kisshu." She said. "You hurt everyone. Don't you care about Kisshu, Ichigo? Don't you care about me, Ichigo?

"You shouldn't talk to him. You'll only hurt him. Like you hurt me. Don't you care about me, Ichigo?" Lettuce continued. And, as always, she was right.

"Ichigo? Can I come in?" Kisshu called. Both of them talking, it was too much. It was too much. It was too much.

"Don't let him in, Ichigo. You're a murderer. You hurt me. You hurt him. Don't you care about me, Ichigo?" Lettuce said, her gentle voice becoming grating.

"Ichigo! I know you can hear me!" Kisshu said, his voice desperate.

It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much. It was too much.

Ichigo's emotions grew, and grew. Despair and anger and fear mixed in with hopelessness. They burst out of her in the form of flames. The impact knocked Ichigo down onto her bed.

She saw smoke, and dancing red flames. Lettuce hissed and was thrown backwards.

"Ichigo! ICHIGO!" Her door burst open, but Ichigo was unconscious long before that


I was planning to upload what happens next in the same chapter... but why waste such a perfect cliffhanger? Don't worry, my lovely readers, there's still plenty of pain left for chapter 9 :)