Incredibly long AN: Hey guys. SORRY! I am sorry for the long wait, but things have been busy lately, so I hope you forgive me. Anyways, Here is the new chapter, and don't forget that this chapter is going to have memories in it, from two people this time.

Thanks everybody for the reviews and favorites, and to all of those who are following this story :)

FinalReason: you'll find out how Ichigo dies soon enough ;)

metsfan101: thanks so much! it really makes me happy when I see reviews like that!

HopingFate: you have no idea how happy your review made me when I read it. thanks!

lilyrosa143: Yes, the last scene from the previous chapter was my own little creation. and to be honest, I think I just pulled Amaterasu's name out of my head, but I think it means shining heaven as a name. And I never thought about it, but you're right, that does make her global warming, haha

IchigoMoonCutter: that last bit was kinda sad, wasn't it, and thanks for your continued support and reviews, it means a lot to me :)

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, sadly, or maybe that's a good thing…

NEWS: Don't forget to check out my new fiction: Full Circle. It's an IchixRuki, and I'm posting the prologue to see what kind of reviews I get. If I don't get many, I'll stop writing it, so don't forget to go check it out and review!

Chapter 11: Fallen Sun

Kohaku woke with a start, gasping for the air that seemed to have vanished from his lungs. Rukia. He rubbed his forehead, attempting to rid himself of the images and words that had just run through his head. What did I do? I must have hurt her for her to run away crying like that. Kohaku stood, his legs stiff after passing out on the floor.

As he walked into the dimly lit kitchen, he noticed that Amaterasu was sitting by the window in a chair she had pulled over from the table. She was leaning her head against the wall, gazing out of the window at the moonlit sky outside. The moonlight that streamed in made her skin seem to glow, and her silky brown hair shimmered as it cascaded over her shoulder. The firelight sent shadows dancing across her back, making it look as if she had two sides warring against each other for control, the innocent and pure moon and the intense and active flames.

Just like me, he thought, hearing the sarcastic voice of the thing that had taken over his body and gotten him into this whole mess.

'What's wrong king? Don't you love me anymore?

Kohaku nearly jumped out of his skin as the very voice he had been thinking of echoed through his mind.

Go away, you freak!

'Come now, is that any way to treat a friend?'

You are not my friend! Now get. Out!

'Tsk, tsk, king. I was just released. Do you really think I would just go away?'

Released? What are you talking about?

'That Tsuyoshi bastard locked me up in some place deep in this empty place you call a mind. Like he could me locked up if didn't want to be! But I figured I would sit back and see what would happen when you didn't have me to help you.'

So you were captured and put in a cell somewhere. And since when do you help?

Kohaku was starting to get irritated with the voices sarcasm, and decided it was time that he returned the favor.

'No! I wanted to see if you could survive without me!'

Whatever. Now leave me alone.

'I'm not done yet, king. Tsuyoshi wanted me to give you a message. He said that he wants the shinigami A.S.A.P.'

Kohaku froze. He had almost forgotten about Tsuyoshi and his supposed control over Kohaku's life, and he had definitely forgotten about the shinigami he wanted kidnapped.

Would you just get out of my head?

'For now, but I'll be back, and next time you won't be able to keep me from taking control, king!' Kohaku heard him laugh and then the voice was silent. He sighed in relief and turned to see Amaterasu looking at him with concern.

"Um…hi," Kohaku said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah…"

An awkward silence formed between them, neither one knowing what to say. They stayed looking at one other for what felt like hours before Amaterasu looked away, fiddling with the cloth of her kimono.

"Kohaku…"

"Hmm?"

"I think we need to talk. I think you have a right to know everything."

Kohaku looked over at her for a moment before pulling a chair over so he could sit in front of her. She looked up and he nodded at her to continue.

"I guess I should start at the beginning," she sighed, leaning back against the wall and looking up at the silvery moon.

"When I came to Soul Society, I was very young, almost too young to remember my name. I was alone, living in the middle of Rukongai, having to steal and beg for enough food just to survive. I lived like that for years, never finding a home or friends."

"I was about to give up on surviving. I was just going to stop trying and wither away, disappearing forever, until I was found by a shinigami. He had long black hair pulled back so it wouldn't fall across his face and eyes, which were as cold and grey as steel. He held himself proudly and wore a teal scarf around his neck. He said that he was looking for a woman with shoulder-length black hair and violet eyes who was very ill and needed to be cared for. Now that I think about it, the description sounds almost like Kuchiki-sama." She paused, looking back at Kohaku.

"The shinigami told me that I had strong reiatsu, and that I should attend the Shinigami Academy. Just by saying this, the shinigami had given me a reason to live, a new goal in life. So I went to the Academy so that I could join the Gotei 13. While there, I met a girl named Suzuki Mieko and we quickly became friends."

"She had short black hair that was always pulled into a ponytail and she had two long strands of bangs that framed wither side of her face. Her most startling feature was the color of her eyes. They were a shining copper color, and they just seemed to draw people in."

"When we graduated, Mieko and I were assigned to the same division, and we stayed there for few years. After Mieko achieved her shikai, she was given a seat in the division, and I began to realize just how skilled she was. Then, about seventeen or eighteen years ago, we were sent on patrol to the world of the living to discover the source of a massive concentration of reiatsu in a town called Karakura." She continued one, not noticing the strange look that passed over Kohaku's face.

"We were told that the source of the reiatsu had been dormant, and that it couldn't have been a hollow. We were also aware that the shinigami assigned to the area had been near the source of the reiatsu and that their own reiatsu had dropped dangerously low. We were sent to investigate, and they opened a Senkaimon to let us pass through the Dangai."

"On the way through the Dangai, something change, and the passage started collapsing. We began running back, trying to avoid being swallowed by the restrictive currents. I managed to escape, but the rest of the patrol, and Mieko, weren't as lucky."

"When I got back, I realized that the only ones that could close the Senkaimon when shinigami went through on official orders were the captains and Central 46. So I left the Seireitei and erased all traces of my existence as a shinigami, just in case whoever stopped us that day came after me. I had finally just decided to disappear like I had been planning before I became a shinigami. The only thing left of my existence was Tengoku No Hikari. She deserved the proper respect, so I left the records of her," Amaterasu finished. She looked at Kohaku as if she wanted his approval.

"Thank you for telling me, but you could have told me this all along," Kohaku said, smiling at her. Relief passed over her face, and she blushed, looking off to the side, suddenly taking interest in the pot sitting by the fire.

"Kohaku…there is…something I have to tell you."

Pain shot through Kohaku's mind and he fell to the side, blacking out even before he hit the floor.

/

"Shouldn't Kuchiki-san be back by now?" Ichigo looked up slightly when he heard Orihime's whispered conversation. "She normally lets us know if she's going to be gone for a long time."

Chad nodded, glancing over at Ichigo, who was slumped in his seat, bangs covering his eyes so it wouldn't look like he was listening.

"I hope nothing's wrong in Soul Society," Orihime said.

"I don't think so. Have you noticed how Kurosaki's been acting lately? He seems depressed about something. I think there is more to this than Kuchiki-san just running into trouble in Soul Society," Uryuu mused, pushing up his glasses.

"He has seemed kind of sad. His face is even more mopey than usual!" Orihime said, frowning and pointing at the corners of her mouth, indicating the expression.

"Uhh, Inoue-san…is 'mopey' even a word?" Chad asked.

"I think so," she replied, frowning and tapping her chin.

"I wonder…" Uryuu looked over at Ichigo, "Hey Kurosaki! What happened to Kuchiki-san?"

Ichigo stiffened, then looked up at Uryuu with a glare that made the other two squirm and even made the Quincy uncomfortable. Ichigo simply glared at him for a few seconds before standing and walking out of the room. As he left, he caught the last part of their conversation.

"…something definitely happened."

Ichigo walked through the town, not really going anywhere, but not wanting to go back to school or his home. He just walked forward, looking down at the ground. He barely even noticed the rise reiatsu nearby, and almost didn't catch the scream of the hollow, but he definitely felt the claws that raked his back, causing warm blood to trickledown his uniform.

Ichigo spun around, pressing his substitute badge to his chest. He pulled out his zanpakuto, facing the hollow head on. It was a massive hollow, towering over Ichigo and the people running away from what they thought was an explosion.

"You smell…delicious. I heard about shinigami, but I never imagined one would smell this good," the hollow purred out, hunger in his voice. "I can't wait to devour you!"

The hollow lunged at Ichigo, the short white horns protruding from its mask glinting in the sunlight.

"Yeah right," Ichigo growled through clenched teeth. This hollow had chosen the wrong time to attack him. He raised his zanpakuto, blocking the bite that would have cleaved his body in two.

"Get. Back!" Ichigo yelled, shoving the hollow back several feet and scratching its mask.

"Hmm, you've got power. This makes things more interesting," the hollow stated, jumping towards Ichigo. He side-stepped, slashing up at the hollows arms, putting a deep gash in its wrist.

'What? That should have cut all the way though.' Before he could dwell on this further, the hollow's hand shot up with surprising speed, smashing into Ichigo and sending him across the street and to slam into a wall.

"You disappoint me, shinigami. I expected you to be faster." The hollow suddenly appear in front of Ichigo, grabbing him around the middle with bone crushing force, causing him yell in pain.

"Now die!" The hollow threw Ichigo across the street and into a glass store-front. Ichigo felt the sharp shards of broken glass rip through his clothing and cut into his flesh, sending burning pain through his body. He crashed into the back wall of the shop, cracking the cinderblocks. He heard a crunching as his head struck the wall. His vision began to blur as he toppled to the floor. He could barely think, and the pain of his broken bones and many cuts and bruises sent sharp pains through his body, making him want to scream.

'How am I losing? This hollow shouldn't be this strong, it's reiatsu is too low,'

Ichigo looked back up at the blurred outline of the approaching hollow. As his vision moved in and out of focus, he noticed a black flash behind the hollow, but he couldn't comprehend what it could possibly be.

"It's time for me to devour your soul, shinigami," the hollow chuckled.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren."

Ichigo watched as the hollow was swallowed by a wave of ice, and recognition registered in his mind. He watched as Rukia ran toward him, concern written clearly on her face.

"Ichigo!"

"Ru-Rukia," he managed to gasp out, the simple act of talking sending new jets of pain through his chest.

"Ichigo, you need to lay still. I need to try to heal you," tears were welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill over.

"I-its n-no use, R-Rukia," he said, struggling to get the words out.

"No! I can save you!" she said, kneeling next to him and holding her hands out. Before she could healing him, he managed to lift his hand just enough to place it on her wrist.

"No."

"But you're in your soul form. You'll be gone forever if I don't heal you!"

"I'm n-not co—" He was cut off by a bout of coughing which produced blood. "I'm not c-completely sh-shinigami. I w-will go to Soul S-Society."

"But what if you don't, Ichigo! What will happen to your family? What will happen to me?"

"I w-will meet y-you there," he coughed out, his vision beginning to fade.

"Ichigo…" The tears now feel freely down his pale skin, glistening with light like diamonds. Ichigo could feel the warm drops falling on his hand.

"R-Rukia, I'm s-so—" she cut off his apology by running a hand down his jaw-line.

"Ichigo…there is something I need to tell. You need to hear it before you…you…" she chocked on the words, and Ichigo gripped her wrist a little tighter, wincing at the effort.

"Ichigo…I…I—" he never heard the rest of her statement, as his world faded slowly to black.

AN: What do you think? It wasn't the best chapter ever, but I hope you liked it. As always, please read and review to let me know what you think or what I should improve on.

And don't forget to check out my new fic, Full Circle, and review!

Arigatou!