Title: Hollow against hollow

Rating: G

Pairing / Characters: Kurosaki Ichigo, Ishida Uryuu, Kyouraku Shunsui, Ise Nanao, Kuchiki Byakuya, Kuchiki Rukia, Ukitake Jyuushirou, Urahara Kisuke

Word Count: 974 words

Warnings: Nothing much, I don't think

Summary: Ichigo takes down the merging AKA the puppeteer

A/N: I kept the fight scenes short for this one, because I've just finished a twelve chapter fight for Naruto, and to be perfectly honest, I think I've damaged myself with it and tragically have run out of fight ideas…

Ichigo ignored the captains completely, his attention focused on the thing standing back, watching calmly as Sereitei's finest fought for Karakura.

'Ishida – who – or what is that thing?'

'He calls himself the puppeteer – and he's half hollow, Kurosaki.'

Ichigo tilted his head, regarding the creature curiously. 'Really? Sounds interesting.'

Hefting Zangetsu, Ichigo strode towards the merging, eyes bright. 'Oi! You there! Puppeteer, or whatever your name is! Yeah, I'm talking to you!'

The puppeteer glanced at Ichigo scathingly. 'What do you want, brat?'

'To take you down,' Ichigo replied equally scathingly. 'I don't really like people who try to destroy my town.'

'Your town?'

Ichigo didn't answer that, preferring to hold Zangetsu out in front of him, waiting for the merging to attack.

The merging didn't move. 'You're a thousand years too early, boy,' he told Ichigo. 'Someone like you doesn't have a hope of defeating me.'

A slow, menacing grin spread across Ichigo's face. 'Really.'

The merging took a step backward as Ichigo released the constraints he had on his reiatsu – and spirit power howled out across Karakura.

One by one, captains and hollows alike stopped and stared in shock as Ichigo bent his head, closing his eyes. His reiatsu had already increased substantially, and was rising still further, clearly under control.

When Ichigo raised his head, a broad grin crossed Kisuke's face at what he was seeing.

A white and red mask was beginning to form, concealing Ichigo's features. Bright yellow eyes leered out at the merging, and Ichigo chuckled at the expression on the creature's face.

Shunsui swallowed, heartily glad that Isshin's son was not against them. The sight of a hollow spirit emerging from the boy's body was not only disquieting, it was disconcerting.

He felt Nanao shift herself until she was standing behind him, her fingers unconsciously clutching at his haori. She seemed terrified, and it was confirmed by her panicked whisper.

'Kyouraku-taichou… what on earth is happening to him?'

Shunsui didn't move. 'He's doing what none of us could, Nanao-chan. To take on a merging, you can only use a merging. His integration is absolutely perfect – he's totally in control of his hollow self.'

'A – a hollow…' despite the tremor in Nanao's voice, there was a dry note. 'I assume that Urahara Kisuke had something to do with this, sir.'

Shunsui chuckled. 'You'd be right, Nanao-chan. Kisuke had everything to do with this.'

For a moment, he felt Jyuushirou's reiatsu behind him, and the white haired captain stepped up beside him.

'You're wounded, Shun.'

Shunsui moved his shoulder experimentally. 'No, no, it seems to be fine.'

'Nevertheless, get Unohana to heal you,' Jyuushirou ordered. 'The last thing we need is an injured captain.'

Shunsui looked wounded. 'Are you suggesting that I'm not capable of fulfilling my duties, Jyuushirou?'

Nanao's eyes widened.

Jyuushirou chuckled. 'Hardly.'

Ichigo noticed none of their banter, and none of the shocked expressions that most of the shinigami wore.

Instead, he felt laughter welling up in his throat, and didn't bother suppressing it, throwing his head back and letting it break free. The high, hysterical sound made Rukia flinch visibly, retreating behind her brother, and Byakuya put his arm around her shoulder reassuringly.

The laughter went on and on and on, but when it stopped, Ichigo's voice was surprisingly level.

'We're different, you and I,' he told the merging. 'You use brute strength, and whatever it is that allows you to summon hollows. You can't do anything else, you've forgotten how. That's why I'm going to beat you into the ground and then send you to the hell you came from.'

The puppeteer lunged forward, bringing up his hand and shouting a kidou attack that sent the captains and their lieutenants fleeing for cover.

Ichigo stood his ground, countering the attack easily. 'Getsuga Tenshou!'

Blue arc met red fire in a horrific explosion, creating a large crater in the ground around the two fighters.

Kisuke sighed. 'I think I'm going to have trouble explaining this one,' he mumbled.

Ichigo blocked a blow from the merging, using the flat side of his zanpakutou to knock away the merging's massive arm. Still moving, he twisted the blade and sliced into the puppeteer's arm, a line of blue blood appearing almost instantaneously. The merging howled in rage, and brought his hands up, clasping them together and slamming them down ontop of Ichigo – who was no longer standing there, but balanced lightly, almost delicately, on the edge of the crater. Zangetsu rested on his shoulder, and as Ichigo rose gracefully, he released bankai.

Afterwards, even Kisuke had trouble explaining how the quality of Ichigo's reiatsu had changed so abruptly. It wasn't the usual massive eruption of spirit power, nor was it Ichigo's own. It seemed darker, somehow, blacker, as though something else had taken it over. Kisuke could see that the colour of his reiatsu had changed from pale blue to a thick, bloody red. It was reassuring to see that despite the changes, Zangetsu's appearance had not changed.

With the speed granted to him by his bankai, Ichigo used shunpo, slicing diagonally across the merging's chest before moving backward a step and dragging his blade through the fine tendons in the merging's wrist.

Thick, blue droplets spattered the ground, and the puppeteer opened his mouth to cry out – but the scream never came.

Ichigo had moved behind him, swift enough that even Yoruichi couldn't trace his movement, and simply plunged his zanpakutou into the puppeteer's heart.

As he fell to his knees, Ichigo jerked the blade free, and slashed through the mask.

For a moment, it was as if all the air was sucked into a vacuum and then spat out. The ground shook with the force of the purification, and when the smoke eventually cleared, the merging known as the puppeteer was gone, as was Kurosaki Ichigo.