Chapter 5

"He….just…left…." Hichigo was looking down at the spot his King was sitting in, just moments ago. "Maybe…it was too early…" Zangetsu sighed.

'If it was really too early, then he wouldn't like it. If he didn't like it, it would be raining. You know how emotional that boy is.' No response. 'What? No smart-ass comment or not thought out sarcasm?'

"Not in the mood." He sighed again.

'Think about it, genius. Who was the last person to say 'I Love you' to Ichigo? Without him flinching away from it.'

"His mom."

'And what happened to her?' The hollow was silent again. 'I'm trying to help you. Now, WHAT happened to her!?'

"She died."

'Good. Now, how did she die?' Hichigo thought about it a minute, then the realization dawned on him.

"She died protecting him. So all I'd have to do is—"

'WAIT! That's not a good idea. Let him figure it out on his own. The kid's smart, whether it shows or not. We'll just wait patiently, like always.' Hichigo groaned, but was in an all-together better mood, so he sat and waited.

Meanwhile…

Orihime walked along the road to Ichigo's house, a smile on her face and humming to herself.

I'm so glad Kurosaki-kun trusts me this much. I'm going to be the only one to know this much about him. That means I'm like…his Number One friend! Still humming, she turned the corner, and saw Ichigo's house a couple houses down.

This is my first time to Kurosaki-kun's house. I hope I'm not too early. I don't know how late he sleeps in on a weekend. Well, I'll go and check at least. She skipped up to his door, still humming, and knocked a couple times. When he didn't answer, she thought to come back later, but tried knocking again.

She heard a low groan and heavy footsteps.

"Coming." Ichigo opened the door, stifling a yawn and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Still in his pajamas. "Oh, hey Inoue." He looked down at his clothes. "Oh, jeez. Sorry, I'm not usually up this early."

"O-oh, no, I should be the one apologizing. I forgot to ask what time to come. I could come back later."

"Nah, you can come in. Family's gone, the kitchen and living room are all open. Might take a bit for me to get everything ready though." She nodded happily, and following Ichigo inside.

"Have you eaten yet, Kurosaki-kun? I could make something. I accidentally skipped breakfast myself." Ok, Ichigo was tired, but not tired enough to eat Orihime's cooking.

"Nah, my stomach's not awake yet. You can make yourself something. Maybe the Hollow will eat with you, if we can succeed in getting him out of my head." Orihime laughed. "I'll be back in a bit, then."

"Of course. Take your time, Kurosaki-kun." He turned and gave a half-wave while walking up the stairs. Orihime turned to make…something…out random ingredients in the kitchen.

Ichigo arrived at his room, trying to think of a way to talk to Hichigo. Sure, love wasn't a new thing to him, but it was something he really didn't want to stray toward again. He even knows that he does have feelings for the Hollow. They might not be full-out love yet, but they're close enough.

The only people who ever told him that they loved him, after his mom died, were his family. And even his goofy dad figured out that he didn't like it, and stopped.

Truth be told, he had no idea what to say. Especially after cowering in fear and running away like that. The Hollow probably hates him. But, he had to get it over with. He did promise the Hollow that he would be able to come out and get his name. Yup, a promise is a promise.

Yet 5 minutes later, he was sitting in the same position on his bed, trying to get up enough courage to even get into his mind…soul…thing.

That's when Zangetsu took pity on him and forced Hichigo to bring him in. He landed, un-prepared, right on his butt. It took all Hichigo had not to break out in laughter. That would really ruin the whole, serious point of this chapter.

Never the less, when his King made eye contact with him, he blushed and looked at the ground, ashamed. The only thoughts running through Hichigo's head were how cute he looked, and how proud of himself he was that he can make his King this flustered in the first place.

"Uh…hey…I guess…"

"Hey yerself, my King." Hichigo waited patiently as his King lost his courage yet again, only to regain enough of it a couple minutes later.

"Um…I wanted…no…I needed to tell you…that I'm sorry. For ditching you after you took the trouble to…confess…"

"I'm not mad about that, King." Ichigo looked shocked, still staring at the ground. But quickly went back to blushing when he realized that it just propelled him to get to the real point in their conversation.

"Well…I also wanted to say…that…alright; I have no idea what I want to say. But I do know that I have…feelings…for you…but I'm not…"

"Listen King, I'm not gonna be mean an' make ya say it yerself. I know why yer hesitatin'. Ya don' want me ta go an' get myself killed over meh feelin's, right?" Ichigo blushed more and nodded his head slowly. Hichigo's mind was now screaming CUTE as loud as it possibly can without killing the poor Hollow.

"Well, yer forgettin' one major detail, my King. I'm part a ya. I'm here because yer here. Now, where does this lead us ta?" His king looked at the ground, very thoughtful for a moment.

"I…"

"Need another hint?" Ichigo nodded. "Ya stabbed me through at least two 'r three vital organs." Ichigo flinched at the memory. "Yet I'm standin' before ya, obviously perfectly fine. Physically at least." The realization dawned on him. He finally made eye contact with the Hollow.

"You can't die if I'm still here."

"BINGO!" The hollow yelled, flailing his arms wildly and jumping in the air. "CONGRATS KING, YOU WIN THE PRIZE!" Ichigo was shocked, to say the least. One: because his Hollow couldn't die; and two: because of the fact that he now had no excuse to get out of the fact that he loved the guy.

"Wait, prize? What prize?" The Hollow smirked wider than he did the entire day.

"Well duh, King. Ya won me!" Before Ichigo could properly retort to that, the Hollow pounced on him. They both fell back, Ichigo hitting his head on the ground, and Hichigo tucking his head under his King's neck, practically purring despite the fact his King was yelling random curses at the top of his lungs.

A couple minutes after Ichigo stopped struggling, he decided to speak up.

"You know…Inoue's probably getting worried by now." He only got a muffled 'mmph' from his shoulder. "We should probably get going." Another 'mmph'. "HOLLOW!"

"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT!! Jeez! Humans are such impatient creatures." The Hollow decided to ignore the 'Like you aren't?' from his King, and just went on with the explanation. "All ya got ta do is pull me from some kinda reflective surface. Like a mirror or some water." Ichigo looked at him like he was crazy.

"That's all?"

"What were ya expectin'?"

"Something weirder, like Zangetsu with his cardboard thing. That actually sounds, somewhat normal. Compared to everything else that goes on in my head."

"Includin' the scenery."

"Don't remind me."

"Alright, alright. Ya should get goin'. Don' wanna be late fer our date with Hime-chan, now do we?" Before his King could retort, the Hollow pushed him out of their little sideways world.

Ichigo woke up, realizing immediately that he fell, face-first, off the bed he was sitting on. He groaned, sitting up and rubbing his sore neck. He heard laughter from inside his head.

'What the hell are you laughing about?!'

'Hehehe, sorry King. Guess that was my fault.'

'Yeah, yeah. Whatever. So…mirror, right?'

'Yup yup.' Ichigo looked around the room, then smacked himself for his stupidity and walked straight into the bathroom. When he turned toward the mirror, he saw his Hollow grinning back at him. Ichigo yelped in surprise.

'Jeez! Warn me before you go and do something like that!'

He watched Hichigo keel over in laughter. He blushed and reached up to hit the Hollow, but when his hand went straight through the mirror (which he forgot was here in the first place) a cooling feeling went through his whole body, accompanied by chills. His whole body shook a couple times, before Hichigo grabbed his hand. Ichigo was snapped out of it, and pulled back.

Hichigo came tumbling out of the mirror, landing on Ichigo and knocking them both back on the floor. Ichigo groaned as his head hit the wall, his eyes tightly closing. Hichigo wasn't hurt, landing on his King. He automatically jumped up, but then fell on his butt when his weak body couldn't hold him up.

Probably a side-effect of coming out here for the first time. Damn.

"Well, that was…graceful." Ichigo said when he got over the blinding-pain in his head.

"Ya, definitely somethin'." Ichigo got up, looking over at Hichigo.

"Can you walk?" The Hollow just groaned. "Alright then, come on." His King lifted Hichigo up and pulled his arm around his shoulder. "No use making her wait more then we already have."

"This is definitely embarrassin'. First time meetin' someone and I'm carried to her. Definitely a wounded pride at least."

"Oh, suck it up." Ichigo opened the door and continued down the stairs. "It's not the end of the world."

Just as Hichigo was about to retort, Orihime came running up to greet them.

"You're both done just in time. I just finished cooking. Is something the matter?" She gestured to Hichigo.

"Ah, no he's just-"

"Just restin', Milady. Glad yer so worried 'bout little ol' me." She blushed and he winked at her. Ichigo smacked him.

"His body's weak because it's his first time in the real world. Don't mind his nicknames; they have absolutely no significance besides being annoying."

"Aw that's no fair, King. Yer ruinin' my first impression all over again." Hichigo said, rubbing his head. Orihime laughed.

"I wouldn't think ill will of someone off of a first impression." The Hollow's eyes lit up. He flung his still-weak body at Orihime.

"YES! I have a chance yet!" He managed to somehow stand, while embracing Orihime in a bone-crushing hug. Ichigo smiled as he heard Orihime laugh.

"The food's going to get cold, if we don't hurry." Though Ichigo wasn't fool enough to eat, he knew his Hollow would stand there all day hugging her if he didn't interfere. He was weird like that.

And he wasn't cruel enough to let Hichigo miss his first…meal…in the real world. (Insert another Chibi-Devil-Ichi)

"Right! I made something really, really delicious this time!" Hichigo automatically got into the conversation.

"What is it, what is it?!" She smiled warmly as Ichigo helped Hichigo over to the table.

"It's bean-casserole with chopped pickles and onions, a little bit of the orange juice out of the fridge, with a dab of mustard and hot sauce. It's a treat for the eyes and for the taste-buds!" Ichigo inwardly cringed, wondering if he should really let Hichigo eat that. But of course, that lasted or only a second.

"Sounds great, Inoue. I'm just sad that I wouldn't get a chance to eat it. My stomach doesn't seem to be working with me today." She smiled.

"It's alright. I made a little extra. It's in the fridge when you get hungry." He cringed again, already making plans for it to meet the incinerator.

"Aw, meanie King. Missin' this wonderful lady's cooking. It's alright, Hime-chan. Ya have the full privilege of makin' my first meal here." She laughed again.

"You're really funny, uh…" Orihime paused, obviously looking for a name. Ichigo smirked, and looked at his Hollow.

"Hehehe. I dun get my name yet. King here has it fer later."

"Um…so, what do I call you?" Ichigo looked down at the meal he wasn't warning his Hollow about, then ran over his reasons for keeping the name, and thought wrong of it.

"Actually, I'm going to give the Hollow his name. He's earned it." Or will. He thought to himself.

"REALLY KING!? YES!! WHAT IS IT, WHAT IS IT!?" Ichigo smirked.

"Once I give it to you, there's no changing it. Are you sure you don't want to get your own name?"

"Course not. Yer my King, so yer namin' me. Simple as that."

"Alright then. From here on out, your name is…" He paused because he knew it would bug the Hollow. Just as he thought, Hichigo twitched and narrowed his eyed a little.

"Yes?" Ichigo let a small laugh out. This just made Hichigo twitch more.

"Shinzo."

"Shinzo?"

"Yes. Hibiki Shinzo. That's your name."

AN: Just 'cause I'm lazy and don't want to explain it in the story, Shinzo supposedly means heart (the point behind that is I'm going with the opinion that Hichigo doesn't have a hole in his chest where his heart's supposed to be,like a normal Hollow, and Ichigo's fascinated by that.) And Hibiki supposedly means sound (I love Hichigo's…uh…Shinzo's voice and he loves to talk. Ichigo just threw it in there. Hehehe)

I say supposedly because I'm going of a 10 dollar Japanese - English dictionary. Don't quote me.

Other then that, don't kill me for posting late. I have a life too! (A boring un-eventful one, but still!!) And this chapter's short…

I feel so ashamed!!