Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
The second time, Rukia was awakened by a heavy weight settling on to her bed. She sat up, and a monster grinned at her from behind Ichigo's face; even as she scrabbled away from it, she remembered and kept silent. Reaching the head of the bed, she drew the covers up around her defensively, glaring at it. Ichigo was shirtless, as before; the hollow curved Ichigo's features into a wicked grin of delight.
"Hello again, Rukia-chan," it purred, its garbled voice a shock to her ears, even though she had been expecting it. "What's gotten into you tonight? Are you afraid of me?"
"Yes," Rukia hissed, "Now go away."
"Ohhh, you can't get rid of me that easily," it slid itself towards her, stopping just before it drew up beside her, resting Ichigo's hand lightly on top of her ankle. Rukia did not miss the deliberate action, but held still. "Don't you want to talk to me again?"
"No," she spat. "I don't want anything to do with you."
It leaned closer, and Rukia began to edge sideways, away from its burning, yellow stare, Ichigo's face so close to her own. "That won't work, Rukia." It closed its hand around her ankle and she hissed as its grip put pressure on the bruise, even through the covers. "Because I have everything to do with you."
Rukia's hand darted out to push it backwards: it caught her wrist and held her still.
"Now, Rukia, we're going to talk. Because I want to talk to you." It settled itself further on the bed, and Rukia felt exposed and vulnerable, despite the covers.
"About what?" She clenched her fists in the comforter as Ichigo's hand trailed its way up from her ankle, coming to rest on her shin, casually, familiarly.
"What do you mean to Ichigo?"
Rukia swung her eyes to meet its intense, black stare: it was serious, curious. "What kind of question is that?" She spluttered. "Especially from a hollow -"
"Answer me," it commanded her, eyes blazing, and her mouth snapped shut. After a few moments of squirming under its piercing gaze, she gave her careful answer.
"I don't know. We are very good friends. He owed me a debt, and he repaid it, and now I am here on a mission from Soul Society, and it is my job to keep him updated on the arrancar situation. We work together. Any more and you'd have to ask him. I don't know." She kept her eyes focused on her hands, toying with the sheets, the entire time she spoke.
"Huh." It seemed disappointed by her answer.
"What?" Rukia snapped defensively.
"You missed the mark by a bit." It shrugged Ichigo's shoulders, smirking slightly. "Want to know what -"
"No." She said, firmly and deliberately. "I don't."
"You're no fun. And what makes you think I even know those things, hm?"
"You're a -" Rukia found herself at a loss for words. "I guess I just assumed..."
"Everyone does," it rolled its eyes. "Even him. Shinigami have such narrow minds: I'm his double, but I'm not him."
"But you're his mirror opposite -" She was cut off as Ichigo's hand tightened painfully on her leg.
"No, I'm not!" Its voice was spiteful and angry. "I'm not Ichigo any more than you are. Just because I have to sit around in his mind doesn't mean I share his thoughts or feelings or anything!" Ichigo's hand flexed convulsively, and then let go.
"You're a hollow," Rukia pointed out cautiously, once she felt that its sudden rage had subsided. "You were born out of Ichigo's feelings and thoughts at the time...at least, that's what I assume. I really don't know how or why you exist."
It gave her a crafty look out of the corner of its eye. "Wouldn't you like to know." Its voice was sly, taunting, and Rukia found herself blushing slightly, although she had no idea why, and was glad of the darkness of the girls' bedroom. When it continued, its voice was the closest to serious she had heard it yet, dark and sending shivers down her spine. "I was born out of self-hatred and a pathetic sense of failure; out of hopelessness and a deep feeling of loss."
It sniggered then, destroying the solemnity of its own words. "Do you see any of that in me?" Its voice was derisive; the question rhetorical. Rukia shook her head wordlessly.
"I thought not. I'm not like those dumb animals you kill night after night. I have my own thoughts, I learn, I'm smarter than a hell of a lot of people, Ichigo included!" It boasted, dropping one of its eyelids in a cocky wink at Rukia, who felt like she was drowning: it switched emotions and methods quickly, threatening one minute and playful the next, and she was tongue-tied, unsure of what to make of it.
"I'm better than him," it said smugly. "Why shouldn't I get to use his body? Why shouldn't I be able to have free reign? The old man's on his side, but he's even more narrow-minded than Ichigo! Right this, wrong that. Makes me sick, sometimes."
"You're using his body right now," Rukia felt the need to say.
"Tch." The hollow made a sound of disgust. "This is about all I can do without him waking up and freaking out, and even then, I gotta give it back when he actually wakes up in the morning. I ain't even using the whole of my power; just a spark, really. This is just a shade of who I am, Rukia-chan." It gave her a smouldering glance. "If you saw me in my full power, you'd be speechless. Probably because you'd be dead."
Rukia didn't quite know what to say to that, and so sat there, not saying anything. It wasn't touching her at all, and she was beginning to relax, fraction by fraction; she unbent her knees, stretching her legs out under the covers, shifting slightly to better slide the pillow between her back and the wall. It sat still, watching her silently, and she wondered what it was thinking, a creature trapped in a human body, denied the souls it feasted on, hating its captor...The bed shifted, and she looked up to see that it had crossed Ichigo's legs under itself, and was studying Ichigo's hands with some fascination.
"What would you do, if you got control?" She asked it, and Ichigo's head snapped up, the hollow's eyes burning into hers, teeth bared in a smile.
"You don't wanna know," it said.
"Yes, I do," she said, irked. "Why do you think you should have control? Ichigo was there in the first place."
"So? Just 'cause he got here first doesn't mean he has a right to stay here. He might be lord of the castle now, but he'll eventually have to give way to a stronger fighter; that's the way of things. And I'm way stronger than he could ever imagine."
"Obviously," Rukia said sarcastically, irritated to no end by its constant boasting and consequent degrading of Ichigo. It slapped her.
"I told you yesterday," it said casually, as if nothing had happened, as if she wasn't holding her face in pain, heart pounding, "that once I'd taken over, I'd keep you around. What does it matter what else happens?" Its expression darkened considerably; it knelt on the bed, leaned forwards, took her chin roughly in Ichigo's hand, forced her to look into its black and yellow eyes. "Don't doubt me, Rukia-chan," it said softly, and its voice was a distorted growl, "I am better than he is. I am more deserving of freedom than he could ever be. Don't forget that."
Rukia stared icily up at it, burying her emotions under a wave of frozen indifference. "Let me go," she said, and hid her surprise when it did so, slowly, deliberately, watching her all the while. "Thank you," she told it, and then wondered why.
It dipped Ichigo's head in a mock-bow, eyes still fixed on hers all the while; when it was done, it remained leaning over her, one hand steadying itself on the wall beside her head. Rukia tried not to be intimidated, but the fact remained that she was very small, and Ichigo was very tall. Muscles moved under the skin of his chest as the hollow leaned closer, grinning, grinning.
"Get away," she said, but her voice was small, swallowed up in his smile, and suddenly it wasn't Ichigo's face that neared hers; it was not Ichigo's arm that supported the body... it was not Ichigo's body, the muscles were not Ichigo's muscles, the body heat that of a stranger, the reiatsu of a monster, the grin of insanity, all slowly closing in on her. Rukia's heart quailed; it brushed unfamiliar knuckles over her cheek, still warm from the slap, and she jerked away.
It chuckled wickedly and withdrew, settling back to sit on the edge of the bed; leaving Rukia gasping for air.
"Until next time, Rukia-chan," it said, giving her a pat on the ankle, causing her to flinch away as it stood up.
It walked to the door and disappeared. Rukia remained sitting at the head of the bed, heart pounding, resigned to another sleepless night, though whether from fear or something darker, she could not say.