A/N: Special thanks go out to Jazzybella (I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long on that cliff!) LadyGinoza (Whom I always love to hear from!) Isame Kuroda (For not only being there with me from the start of the story, but stick with it! And FYI, yes, you can use the Ishida Cuddling Technique for your stories, lol) and to Baerbelhaddrell (Your lengthy reviews always give me hope and help me get through all kinds of writers block.) I couldn't do this without any of you!
(Also, Gleca, Axelkin, Adiella, Anna, zfrine, where have you gone? I miss you!)
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Hollow Ichigo (Shiro) 's POV)
He cursed inwardly, hating with a passion whatever Hat-and-Clogs had given Ichigo; the pressure on him was becoming steadily worse with each passing second, though it didn't quite give him the satisfaction he'd once felt that Ichigo was suffering its effects as well. He knew his alter self was squaring himself up, preparing to launch another attack despite the crushing weight that was bogging him down, and Shiro shifted himself accordingly, his grip tightening on his Zanpakto. This was it. If he couldn't think of something to delay further, to give Ichigo means to falter and leave himself open...
Shiro's mind flew at an increased speed when Ichigo finally charged, hefting his sword into the suffocating air. Despite himself, his grin wavered, and the action of bringing his own sword up to greet the lowering metal was almost too late. It felt like his strength was being sapped from him as the clang of metal rang out around them once, twice, and several times over. Each time, Shiro felt his movements getting increasingly slower, and each time, despite his careful footwork and timed defenses, he noticed each attack was coming closer and closer to actually causing him damage.
Damn it all! He couldn't let himself be bested, not when he was so fucking close!
'THINK,' he urged himself.
It had never been his strong suit; he was far more used to just acting upon his impulses, but that obviously wasn't an option now. Swinging his body to the side, he just barely missed a crushing blow from one of Ichigo's back swings, and brought his Zanpakto down in a fruitless effort to exploit a semi-opening, only to have Ichigo mirror his dodge. They both jumped back a few feet, their swords somewhat lowered, their breathing heavy and bodies covered in sweat, a perfect mirror image of each other.
He needed something that would grab Ichigo's attention, and pull his focus away from the battle. Something that could give him the opening he gravely needed... His muscles were growing weak, and he wasn't going to be able to lift his sword next time. The cold sweat on his back sent a shiver up his spine at the knowledge; he was out of time. So as Ichigo slowly lifted his sword and started forward on obviously trembling legs, Shiro panicked.
"You should've seen the look on his face!"
Ichigo paused, his eyes widening slightly, and Shiro forced another manic grin to his lips, desperately hanging on to the line of thought.
"When I showed up instead of that bitch, that is. So my thanks to ya, King. If ya hadn't found that phone, I might've never gotten to have such fun with the little Quincy!"
"You son of a bitch!"
Ichigo's pace quickened, and his swing went just a little too wide in his anger, and Shiro couldn't help the sudden cackle that bubbled its way past his lips. This time, he didn't bother to try and block the swing that sliced into his left arm, ripping his sleeve and scattering blood everywhere as he struggled with the crushing weight of his own Zanpakto, heaving it into as quick of a jab as he could. With a sadistic glee, he watched as his sword cut sunk deep into Ichigo's shoulder, savoring the cry of pain from his counter-part, watching him stagger backward out of his reach again.
Without bothering to nurse his own wound, Shiro balanced himself heavily on his Zanpakto, giddy with the idea his plan had worked, and relishing his chance, he couldn't help but to rub salt in the wounds he'd just given Ichigo.
"Oh yes, what fun we had! I'm sure I must have fucked his pretty white ass about twenty different times, and he cried and begged through it all! 'Ichigo, stop, don't hurt me!' The best part about it all was?"
Grinning, he watched as Ichigo shook his head, his eyes screwed shut as his hand pressed heavily on his wound, trying to stop the blood that was seeping out, into his clothes.
"He kept thinking I'd listen!"
On his final cry, Shiro heard a loud crunching sound from above him, his gaze flying upward to find that a startling crack had appeared in the lining of the sky, as if it were a glass dome that someone had just hit. Shiro's eyes widened slightly at the crack, wondering if it was a sign he'd done damage to Ichigo's psyche, or if it was a cause of the amulet that seemed to be trying to force them both onto their knees. Quickly returning his gaze to Ichigo, he found the man just as startled as he by the strange occurrence, only for the both of them to jump when another crunch echoed out around them as the building shifted underneath their feet, buckling and dipping.
What in the hell was going on here? Was Ichigo's mind collapsing in on itself or something? Biting back a sudden cry of pain when the pressure on his entire body became increasingly worse, Shiro's legs wavered and all of his weight was distributed to his Zanpakto, barely able to keep him from falling to his knees. Ichigo, on the other hand, let out a sharp cry of agony as he jolted forward, the pressure sending him forward toward his knees even as the building cracked further around him, dipping inward and jutting outward, like a sudden earthquake was rupturing everything in sight. The entire ground shook, and on the next crack from the sky, it felt like the entire building managed to split in two, the motion pitching Shiro off his sword and toward the ground.
Hissing as he landed on the shoulder he'd let Ichigo hit, he fumbled with his sword, trying to at least manage to get to his own knees, but found the pressure was weighing him down too much now. Feeling the first pangs of panic himself, his eyes shot back to Ichigo, whose wild eyes were skyward, watching the cracks continue above them. It had to be the amulet that was doing this; there was no other explanation. Shiro pitched himself forward as a loud, metallic groaning sound from beneath them wailed its protest, and most of the building beneath him collapsed in on itself. It was all he could do to hold on to what little surface area he could, especially when the ground beneath his feet started to crumble away, the weight of the amulet trying to drag his lower half into the abyss below.
This was bad; this was worse than bad, Ichigo's mind was really breaking down before them. Scrambling forward as best as he could, trying to get himself fully back on the building, he felt his body starting to slip downward, and his breath hitched as he lost some ground, leaving him only hanging from his arms and his chest, with his torso and legs dangling. Hearing a startled cry from where Ichigo was, Shiro's lips twisted into a scowl as he yelled out,
"Take that fuckin' thing off! It's destroyin' us!"
"No!"
The response caught him off guard, and for a single second, he wondered if the King was really going to kill the both of them just to get back at him. Moving on quickly from that thought, he listened as the Ichigo continued.
"I won't let you hurt my friends again! I can't let you run free knowing-"
Whatever he was going to say was cut off with a sharp cry of pain in the same instant the sky cracked with its loudest crack ever, the split reaching as far as the eye could see and giving the rest of it a spider web-looking effect. With no idea if it was just startling or if something else had happened, Shiro took his moment to ground out,
"The only reason why I let myself out is because ya wouldn't act upon your fuckin' instincts, king! If you'd at least make some kind of move instead'a layin' on your bed and mopin' around all the time, I wouldn't hafta do nothing!"
He tried to grip onto the building tighter, to counter act the weight that seemed to try its hardest to pull him down into the abyss below, straining his ears for the King's reply. So yeah, he'd lied; if it got him out of this mess, and kept him in the running for his overall goals, then who cares? But the King wouldn't answer, and for another second, he tried as hard as possible not to entertain the thought that he'd gone unconscious, for that would mean it was game over. Just as he heard a rustling of clothes and a quiet but pained grunt from where Ichigo had been, he let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding.
Then he screamed. With another groan and crack from the building below them, Shiro felt the weight suddenly turn inward on him, the same shoulder that Ichigo had struck before suddenly bending inward and twisting, the bone snapping like a thin branch. His entire arm went slack, and he slipped backward, barely able to catch himself with the one good arm left. Panicked, he shrieked,
"TAKE IT OFF!"
There was no answer.
~.X.~ ~.X.~ ~.X.~ (Chad's POV)
Every step he took toward the Ishida's household was filled with trepidation, and the weight of knowing it had happened again was worse than Ichigo's dead weight over his shoulders. It didn't take much to see there was a fight to be had between Uryuu's father and Ichigo, and he wasn't sure if there was anything he could do to alleviate the situation. In fact, everything right now seemed to have spiraled out of control to quick for any of them to avoid consequences.
His mouth twisted into a grim line as he came closer to the home, watching Rukia disappear inside the open door. She had already been greatly effected by the situation, trying to defend both parties while still being on the outside of things. In fact, everything she'd been keeping from them made partial sense, now. He still felt if he had known the situation sooner he'd have been able to make a difference, but he didn't blame her for keeping silent. Especially with Orihime; it wasn't even that she needed sheltering from the world around her, but knowing how she took the weight of the world on her shoulders even when it wasn't hers to bare, knowing what had happened under her nose would have destroyed her.
He was close enough to hear Uryuu's father's booming voice through the shattered window, and he inwardly cringed at what would most likely be a bad confrontation. So he turned his thoughts toward how to possibly diffuse the situation, stepping cautiously through the door, only to find Rukia and Orihime standing over Ichigo's Shinigami form, lying prostrate on the floor. He appeared to be unconscious, and from the look on Uryuu's dad's flushed face, he might have had something to do with it.
On the other hand, if he did have something to do with it, Ichigo probably wouldn't be breathing right now. On a second glance, his chest was slowly rising and falling, and there were no burn marks or rips in his clothing that would indicate a Reishi arrow, so there had to be something else at work here. Stepping behind the girls, who were arguing rather loudly with the white haired man about Ichigo having a right to be worried about Uryuu. Unfortunately, the argument didn't seem to be getting through, and Chad had to sigh inwardly. It looked like pretty much all parties involved were going to be stubborn as hell with this one.
However... looking down at Ichigo's sleeping Shinigami form made him a little less anxious as he gently laid the true body directly to the side of him. At least unconscious he could do little more damage than what had to have already been done. Still, that didn't stop his eyes from wandering around the room, seeking out Uryuu and finding him curled in the corner of the couch, behind his father, watching the scene with widened, panicked eyes. Seeing Uryuu like that curved Chad's lips into a frown, feeling like they should have taken their argument away from Uryuu, but his thoughts were quickly drowned out by what else he noticed.
Uryuu's skin seemed just a little too pale, pulled taut over bones that poked out a little further than healthy. Yes, Orihime may have healed him as she said, but he still looked malnourished, possibly even starving. His eyes, round and frantic, seemed to glisten with a hint of tears behind them, and the redness around his eyes seemed to say he'd been crying before they'd arrived. Not to mention the defensive way he pushed himself into the back of the couch, his entire body curling in on itself to protect him... it told everything Chad had feared.
Tearing his eyes away from Uryuu, he listened to the argument behind him with only half a heart as he tried to steady his hands, picking up Ichigo's Shinigami form and gently placing him back into his body. Tearing his mind away from old memories, however, just wasn't that easy, it seemed. He shuddered as the thought that Uryuu really was the second victim surged through his mind, and he started to berate himself for not noticing the signs, but managed to stop himself a moment later. Now he was doing what Orihime would have done when there was nothing he could do to change the past. There would be a time and place for the truth of it all; right now, they had to worry about Uryuu's recovery.
So lost in his own thought of how to do so, he was startled by Ichigo's eyes suddenly popping open, almost as frightened as Uryuu's gaze had been. His entire body twitched before Ichigo's gaze flew toward him, almost pleading. Lips parted, but no sound came out, and it only seemed to drive Ichigo further into the throes of panic. Leaning down a little further, Chad focused on Ichigo's lips and mouthed to him,
'Try again.'
It took a few tries with how bad his lips were quivering, but he thought he saw 'Take it off.' What was it? Taking a deep breath, he gave Ichigo's body a glance over, the only thing seeming out of place of his usual outfit being the strange necklace that hung around his neck. Without a second thought to ask if he was right, he lifted the back of Ichigo's head with one hand, and gently slipped the chain over his head. The instant he did, Ichigo's chest heaved and his inhale was more of a loud gasp that quickly turned into a coughing fit.
The voices behind him had stopped, and with a resigned sigh, he chanced a glance behind him. Orihime and Rukia were staring with some amount of relief in their gaze, thankful that Ichigo was okay; Uryuu's father, on the other hand, was openly glaring at them, as if Chad had woken a demon previously laid to rest. He didn't blame him, but it didn't feel too great to be under that gaze. Then... there was Uryuu. Chad tried to at least catch his eyes, but they seemed to have glazed over, staring through him at Ichigo, and he could see the scream building in his throat. Just the sight of Ichigo tormented him beyond belief, and Chad couldn't stand to see him like that.
Ignoring everyone's protests, Ichigo included, Chad wrapped Ichigo's arm around his shoulder and lifted him up onto his feet, trying to shuffle him out the door. Ichigo gave a little struggle, but in his weakened state, Chad easily overpowered him. He wanted to be there for Uryuu, and he wanted to at least say a few things to try and ease his pain, but with his reaction to Ichigo, he had to be the one to take him home. There was nothing for it; he would just have to text Rukia as soon as he got Ichigo home and see how things were.