The next morning Mana opened her eyes, and got up, stretching.
Hichigo was still asleep, but Jay was standing out on the balcony looking out.
Mana walked over to Jay outting a hand on her shoulder. "Morning Jay." she said.
"Morning Mana!" Jay said cheerfully.
"How's that wound feeling?" Mana asked.
"It's gotten a lot better. Oh and look what I found out~!" Jay walked over to Hichigo and sat on him.
"...?" Mana looked confused but watched.
"He does absoultly nothing no matter how hard I try to wake him up~"
"Eh, Okay?" Mana said, trying to figure out why Jay was telling her this.
"I tried to ask him what he wanted for breakfast .wouldn'.up." She hit him a couple of times to no avail.
Mana deadpanned. "He's exausted, give 'im more time, he hasn't been fully insane that many time in a long time..." Mana said.
"Well alright."
Mana smiled. "So whaddya want to do today?" she asked.
"Dunno, maybe train?"
"Sound fun~" Mana said agreedingly.
Hichigo moved a bit and Jay got up. "You awake yet?"
"...Yeah I am from you sitting on me." Hichigo replied slightly not caring.
Mana sighed, and yawned. "Well, anyways, Good morn' Hichigo, hope ya got well rested." Mana said.
"Kinda hard with a little girl constantly asking me to take her around in my inner world."
Mana laughed, slightly amused. "Well, curiousitly gets the best of anyone." she replied.
Hichigo grabbed his head with one hand, looking slightly annoyed "I said I'll explore with you later, shut up."
Mana looked confused, and gave Hichigo a questional look.
Hichigo sighed. "There's been this little girl who's been annoying me ever since that run-in with Death."
"Hm...In a while yeh mind if I talk to her?" Mana asked.
"If you can shut her up, you can talk to her now."
"Alright then, I'll do that." Mana said as she sat infront of Hichigo, going into where the girl was.
"Hello?" Mana said.
Hichigo stood on one of the buildings with a little girl in a long black outfit on. She hid behind him when she saw Mana.
"No reason to hide." Mana said, when she saw where they were.
"Hichigo, who's that?" The little girl asked.
Hichigo bent down to her level and said nicely, "She's someone who will take better care of you than me."
The girl got really happy and ran to Mana.
Mana looked down at the girl, smiling. "What is your name?" she asked.
"Saire!"
"Well, it's nice to meet ya Saire~" Mana said cherefully.
"Can we go explore?" she asked nicely.
"Where at?" Mana asked.
"Anywhere!" She started to run circles around Mana.
Mana laughed. "Hm...How 'bout...dang...I dunno." Mana said truthfully.
Saire grabbed Mana's hand and ran off in a random direction. "This way!"
Mana folowed, sighing slightly, and smiled.
While running, Saire tripped on her cloak and rolled around.
Mana frowned slightly and grabbed Saire, helping her up.
Hichigo caught up to them and smiled. "I see she's enjoying this."
Mana chuckled. "If she didn't trip on her cloak, I'm sure she'd enjoy it more~" she said jokingly.
Saire smiled at them. "There's so many buildings Hichigo!"
"I know there are. I wish I had some cats around here though..."
Mana smiled. "Yeh want me to go get Grimmjow then?" Mana laughed.
Hichigo laughed, but not insanly so he didn't scare Saire.
Saire just looked questionly at them.
"Eh, It's just a lil' joke." Mana said, laughing even more at the girl's confusion.
Hichigo pated her head. "Maybe you'll see him one day."
"Hopefully he ain't gonna act like a punk by then." Mana said remebering the last time they met him in Hueco Mundo, and held back a shudder.
"I hope so too..." He looked off into the distance.
Mana sighed. "So when'd ya get here Saire?" Mana asked her.
"When my last owner died..."
Mana looked a bit saddened at the girl's tone, and shook it off. "Well then, shall we continue exploring?" she asked, wanting to change the subject.
Saire got happy again. "Yes please!" She started jumping up and down.
Mana laughed and started walking in a random direction.
"Ooooh let's go look at that building! It's different!"
Mana turned to see the direction the building was in. "Hm, that okay with you Hichigo?" Mana asked him.
"I don't think I've ever seen a building that shape before though. I'm not too sure it's safe."
"Then I'll go check, I got Tamashii with me, okay?" Mana said.
"I'd prefer to check it."
"Alright then." Mana said.
Hichigo smiled at Saire "I'll be right back. Stay with Mana, ok?"
She nodded and Hichigo went to go see what was up with the building.
Mana sighed and yawned, still a little sleepy.
Saire skipped around Mana out of boredom.
Mana giggled, "So wanna piggy-back ride?" she asked, trying to give herself something to do.
"Sure!" Saire stopped skipping around and walked up behind Mana.
Mana bent down to where she was able to get on her back.
Saire got on Mana's back and said "Let's go!"
Mana laughed and ran in a random direction, not getting too far from the spot she used to be at.
Saire laughed and really enjoyed someone who'd play with her.
Mana kept running, slightly worring about Hichigo.
Hichigo came out, and started walking to Mana.
Mana smiled and stopped.
"We should go. I'll finish looking around in it later."
"Alright." Mana agreed.
"Aaaw I don't get to explore it?" Saire said somewhat sadly.
"Not right now Saire." Mana said.
Hichigo walked up to Mana and whispered in her ear,"It must have been made while I was fully insane. I can't take Saire in there."
"Alright, Hichigo." Mana said, nodding.
"Hey Saire, I know where there's even more fun."
"Really?" She asked excitedly.
"Really. Follow me." Hichigo walked in the opposite direction of the strange building.
Mana followed, still carrying Saire on her back.
"In here" He said as he walked up to a broken window. "It's prefectly safe."
Mana put Saire down.
Hichigo jumped in, and stood in the direction of the window with his hands up. "Bring her down to me."
Mana nodded and picked Saire up gently and brought her to Hichigo.
Hichigo took her carefully and set her down on the inside, and did the same for Mana."Your turn"
Mana went in the building, smiling at them.
Hichigo smiled and said, "Saire, there are a lot of things you can do in here, see?" he pointed to a few things that he had found in there, some of them puzzles and some other random things found in a some-what messy play room.
"Have fun Saire~" Mana said.
"Okay!" Saire replied in glee.
Mana smiled happily on how the girl acted. She looked over at Hichigo.
"I'm gonna go look around that building some more. Is that alright with you?"
"Mhm, but if anything is wrong, yell for me." Mana said. "I'll hear ya."
Hichigo smiled. "I'm certain you would." He jumped back out and started to head to the odd building.
Mana sighed. "Wanna do a puzzle Saire?" she asked.
"Mhm!" Saire nodded happily.
Mana grabbed a puzzle, one of a black cat, and put it on a small table.
Saire happily sat down at the table and opened the box.
Mana got on her knees, since the chair was a bit small for her, and got the peices out, sorting the colors. "It makes it easier if you have the colors sorted out." Mana said.
"Okay!"
Mana got the peices sorted and started to put peices together. Saire tried to help, but really only got in the way. Mana smiled at her and handed her a piece, showing her where it went. Saire looked at it for a bit and then put it where Mana told her to put it. Mana smiled again and got both of them a peice to out on the puzzle.
Mana felt a little rumbling far off, but couldn't really tell what it was. Saire didn't notice it.
"...?" Mana looked out a window, seeing if anything was diffrent.
Mana didn't see anything at first, but then she saw Hichigo walking from the odd building. Mana looked at him, to see if he was okay, thinking a small part of the building colapsed.
As Hichigo got closer, Mana could see that he was in Bankai, which was odd since there was nothing to fight here.
"I'll be right back Saire, you stay here ,okay?" Mana said, standing up.
"Okay!" Saire kept working on the puzzle.
Mana jumped from the window and landed, heading for Hichigo.
He stopped infront of Mana.
"What happened Hichigo?" Mana asked.
"Making sure that none of my insanity came out of that building. It's safe now."
"Alright Hichigo." Mana said smiling at him.
Hichigo smiled back and put his arm around Mana. "Let's go back, shall we?"
Mana nodded, and Hichigo started to walk back to where Saire was. Mana followed behind him.
"We're back Saire~" Mana said.
"Yay! I finished the puzzle too!" She pointed to the puzzle, which was not finished.
Mana giggled. "Are you sure~?" she said kiddingly.
"I'm sure!"
Mana smiled at her.
Saire noticed that Hichigo was in Bankai, and asked about it. "Hichigo, you look different..."
He just smiled at her. "I felt like changing."
Mana smiled to herself.
Saire got up and started to mess with Hichigo's cloak. "It's so cool!"
Mana laughed and smiled at them. "Well, like I said earlier Hichigo, curiousity gets the best of some~"
He smiled at her. "I see that."
"Hm, think Jay is getting worried?" she asked him.
"Nah, she's probably just fine with sitting on me."
Mana laughed. "Probably poking me in the head too." she joked.
"But I don't see any one doing that~..." Saire said.
Mana smiled, not knowing how to explain it well.
Hichigo decided to change the subject. "I'm getting hungry though..."
Mana smiled. "Is it possible to bring food here? If so I can go get'cha some." she said.
"Nah, it's ok."
"Alright, if ya say so." Mana replied. "So what should we do?"
"Dunno, I think I heard that Jay wanted to train though."
Mana facepalmed. "I forgot all about that..." she said.
"Ooooooh can I come~?" Saire asked.
"It's up to Hichigo." Mana said.
"...Yeah I guess if you can stay out of the way."
"Alright then, com'on Saire~" Mana said.
"Yay!" she replied happily.
"See ya guys out there~" Mana said, and left.
"Bye-bye Mana!" Saire waved at her.
Mana waved back, and dissapeared.
Hichigo and Mana came back to the real world, and Jay was indeed, sitting on Hichigo again.
Mana bursted out laughing. "Is he your cushion now Jay?" she asked.
Jay jumped because she did not notice Mana and Hichigo comming back and quickly got off Hichigo. Mana was still laughing at this, and stood up.
"We scare ya Jay?" Mana asked, after she stopped laughing.
"Y-yeah, you did." Jay replied.
"Awww...I'm sorry~" Mana said, apologizingly.
Hichigo just layed where he was, looking as if all of his breath was knocked out in a manga.
"You okay dude?" Mana asked him.
"E-eventually." He replied slowly.
Mana still looked concerened, not knowing why or how he was like this so quickly.
"I didn't sit on you that hard..." Jay said.
"Hm...Maybe it's from going to that odd building?" Mana asked.
"Mostly Saire."
"She that hyper to do that to yeh?" Mana asked.
"I guess."
"Hm..."
Jay was completely lost when Hichigo mentioned Saire.
"Er...Saire is a little girl in Hichigo's inner world, she went there after he killed her previous master, Death." Mana explained.
"I see..." Jay replied.
Mana sighed. "So when do ya wanna train Jay?" Mana asked her.
"Anytime you guys are ready."
"Alright, so when Ichigo and Hichigo are ready." Mana said.
Ichigo walked from the bathroom, looking relived. Mana bursted out laughing randomly and Ichigo gave her a 'Da faq?" look.
Hichigo still layed where he was, same expression.
"Oi, what's wrong with Hichigo?" Ichigo asked Mana.
"It's from Saire, a little girl who is in his inner world from where he defeated her previous master, I guess her hyperness really tired him out or somethin'." Mana said.
"And that's why I was so hard to wake up, Jay."
Mana nodded.
"But still, it takes a lot to tire you Hichigo, I can't imagine how hyper that girl is." Jay said, sort of concerned.
"She's actually really a good kid, just acts like she's on a non-stop sugar high." Mana said truthfully.
Hichigo grabbed his head. "I told you, I'll do it soon. Be quiet."
Mana frowned, thinking Com'on Saire, Be paintent.
"Will training shut her up?" Jay asked.
"She did want to join us." Mana said.
"Well then, I think we should start."
"Hm. If it's alright with Hichigo." Mana said.
"I'm fine spiritually. I'm just physically exausted."
"Alright then." Mana said.
Jay sat down and closed her eyes to go to the joint world. Mana did the same, and so did Ichigo, guessing that they were gonna train. Hichigo already had his eyes shut from exaustion.
Mana looked around in the joint world, smiling for some reason. "Been a bit since we've been here, eh?" she said to no one in particular.
"Indeed so." Hichigo said from behind Mana, and Saire was walking with him.
Mana smiled, and Ichigo was not far from them.
"Ellos Ichigo~" Mana said, waving.
Ichigo waved back smiling.
Mana always loved to see him smile, so much happieness in one smile.
Saire started jumping up and down. "Hichigo! He looks just like you except he has color!"
Hichigo was inwardly annoyed by this.
Ichigo facepalmed. "Looks lie kid." he said.
Saire just looked at them in confusion.
Jay nodded and smiled.
"See I told you you'd see Mana again and I'd fight." Hichigo told Saire.
Saire just ran circles around Mana.
Mana laughed "And you'll see me fight aswell." She said, trying not to jump in excitment.
"Hichigo versus his look-alike!" Saire interjected, unknowing that Ichigo was the original.
Jay just snickered at this, and Hichigo laughed, almost insanely.
"Alright then." Ichigo had a serious face now. "Let's go" he said and attacked.
"Yes, let's!" Hichigo took off laughing and blocked Ichigo's attack, only to attack him quickly.
Saire just cheered for Hichigo.
Ichigo blocked his attack and slashed at him. Mana watched closely.
Hichigo blocked Ichigo's attack and shunpoed behind him to attack.
Ichigo turned around quickly, and kicked Hichigo in the stomach, repeatedly.
Hichigo quickly recovered, and kept attacking. Saire was still cheering, and Ichigo noticed something different about how Hichigo was fighting.
Ichigo blocked some of the attacks, and tried countering Hichigo, Mana noticed the strange new fighting style as well and continued watching them.
"Hit him from the left Hichigo!" Saire yelled. Hichigo did indeed hit Ichigo from the left, and he lost his smirk and it turned into emotionless.
"...?" Mana looked confused at Hichigo, he was listening to the kid that annoyed him shitless.
Ichigo couldn't block the attack quick enough, since he had gotten used to Hichigo's rapid attacks from the front.
Hichigo kept speeding up, almost uncontrollable as Saire kept yelling for him to go faster.
Ichigo was barely able to block the attacks, these were way to fast for him to handle, so he tried to counter using a Gestuga Tenshou.
"Use Bankai Hichigo!" Saire yelled. Hichgo stopped abbruptly and did as he was told.
"What are you doing Hichigo? This is training, not a kill-fest!" Mana yelled, worried for he orange-haired brother.
Hichigo did not answer, and his face looked as if he had no idea what he was doing, or why he was doing it.
Ichigo put his arm up. "Ban...kai. Tensa Zangetsu." He said monotonely.
Hichigo dashed at him, and their swords collided. Ichigo felt a feeling comming from Hichigo that told him he wasn't the one doing this.
"Hichigo, wake up!" Ichigo yelled.
"Saire, do you know why he's acting like this?" Mana asked.
"Because I'm cheering him on! Go Hichigo!"
Mana was still confused by the child.
Hichigo attacked at terribly fast speeds, uncontrollably.
Ichigo couldn't keep up, even in BanKai, he tried slashing at his oppenet.
"Win Hichigo, win!" Saire yelled, and as if on cue, Hichigo quickly turned to stab Ichigo.
Ichigo couldn't block the attack, let alone dodge the rapid attack.
Saire sqeeled in delight as the sword drew blood from Ichigo.
Ichigo grunted and tried slashing at his ex-Inner Hollow.
Hichigo nibly dodged and kept attacking Ichigo in all openings. Ichigo could still tell that Hichigo really didn't want to do what he was doing.
Ichigo tried jumping back, to get away from the painful blows.
Hichigo followed, and stabbed him square in the chest.
Blood came from Ichigo's mouth, eyes widened in fear. Mana looked horrified, she ran at them, as fast as she could.
Suddenly, Hichigo finally got back and surprise filled his face, but it soon melted into horror at what he'd done.
Ichigo backed up from the sword that had punchered his heart, and he lost his balance.
Mana dashed to get to him, and looked at him in horror, as more blood came from the wound and his face extremely pale-looking. "I-ichigo..." Mana said, softly.
Her brother looked up at her from his spot on the ground, and a small smile rose onto his tired looking face. "D-don't...l-l-look so...dow-" he was cut off as more blood came from his mouth, and his body became un-moving.
"Ichigo...Ichigo...Ichigo?" she said over and over again as hse fell to her knees, shaking his shoulder over and over, like a small child would if their mother was asleep.
Ichigo never responded as his smile was glued to his face, his eye dull and looked less pained.
He.
Was.
Dead.
Mana felt tears brim her eyes as she slowly stopped, and looked at the ground infront of her. She felt a quiet anger turn into a full out rage, as tears went down her face.
"...I have failed you...Ichigo..." Mana said quietly.
Saire kept cheering. It drove Hichigo mad. Suddenly he yelled at her, "SAIRE" with a huge ammount of anger and his voice was layered. It shut her up.
Mana stood shaking, eyes gleaming a angery yellow. She didn't know what to do, to just say 'Fuck it' and slay whatever she saw, or to try to be the little pus she's always been, trying to sort it out.
Hichigo sat on the other side of Ichigo's dead body, and he clentched his hakama at the knees. "I'm... sorry...King"
Mana said nothing, only staring at the little girl, the one who was the kin of Death, the one who controled him...to do the unthinkable.
Unfortunitally, now that Ichigo was dead, Hichigo was starting to loose his sanity much faster than normal. He didn't make any moves to kill anyone, though.
"Hichigo..." Mana said, she could feel his insanity coming on faster than normal.
He just looked at her with yellow eyes, still unmoving.
Mana stared back at him with her eyes shining a bright yellow from Hana.
Hichigo looked back down at Ichigo, and Mana felt genuine saddness from him.
"Saire..."
Saire walked timidly to them.
"Stop..."
Saire got close to Hichigo. Hichigo kicked her away and made a barrier around himself, Mana, and Ichigo.
Mana said nothing, all she did was fall to her knees once again, and closed Ichigo's unseeing eyes, feeling tears continue to go down her face, she repeated "...I have failed you..." and she clenched her fists tightly.
Mana could see that Saire was yelling something, but the barrier had blocked any sound from the outside.
She didn't move for a bit, just looking at Ichigo's face.
Mana suddenly remebered. "Jay." she said outloud.
This caught Hichigo's attention. "Where is she?" His voice was still layered, and it didn't seem like he had any control over that anymore.
"Lemme out of the barrier Hcihigo." she said monotonely.
Hichigo nodded and let her out.
Mana looked around. "Jay!" she yelled, not seeing the white haired girl.
Jay shunpoed to Mana, and she looked sad aswell. "Yes..?"
Mana said nothing, but looked slightly relived.
Jay stood there a bit and then said something. "I stayed out of it since he was your brother..."
Mana looked at Jay, eyes still yellow. "He was yours too, the moment you joined us, you became family." she said softly.
This seemed to make her a little happier.
Mana's anger hit her once again, she had forgoten about what had happened, the anger made her run, just to find something to destroy.
Jay walked over to Hichigo and sat beside Ichigo, since she was now involed in it.
Mana saw a random building, it was perfect. She imediantly took out Tamashii and just went all out on it, slashing and destroying it. Only to leave rubble and ruins.
Mana still felt Hichigo's insanity rising, and it didn't seem like it would stop anytime soon.
She shunpoed back to where they were, and walked over to Jay and Hichigo, sitting by Hichigo, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder.
Hichigo turned, and turned Mana, and he buried his head into Mana's shoulder. "I'm so sorry Mana."
Mana rubbed his shoulder, trying to comfort him but was having trouble from trying not to break down. "...I know you didn't mean to..."
Her voice wasn't normal, it was like it grew softer, more lighter, and quieter.
This comforted Hichigo a little, and it also weakened the sound barrier side of the shield he made.
Mana smiled at Jay, since she couldn't reach her from where she was.
And then they heard Saire. Again. "Hichigo why don't you just ea-"
"I will not consume him." Hichigo repiled.
"But all the Spirit pre-" Saire started.
"I WILL NOT CONSUME HIM!" Hichigo yelled at Saire, and brought the sound barrier back up.
Mana's smile faded at the girls words. "Comsumtion does not work Saire, it would make it worse." Mana said, unknowing if the girl could hear her or not.
Hichigo just brought himself closer to Mana, hoping he'd find more comfort.
Mana continued to stroke his back, quietly humming.
Saire kept trying. "Why are you fighting all of your hollow-ness?"
This just pissed Hichigo off. "Do you really want to know why I'm not killing anyone here?" He lifted his head up from Mana and stood up. He pointed to Mana aswell. "It's because she showed me that hollows can still have their own heart."
Mana was surprised, she didn't know that she affected him that much.
Saire couldn't fathom it. "But- hollows don't have a heart."
Mana couldn't take it anymore, Saire just crossed the fucking line.
"What did you just say..." she said.
She looked at Saire with murderous eyes.
"Listen. I was Ichigo. Except when his soul split, I was the part that had converted to hollow. Didn't mean I lost my heart."
Saire couldn't figure how to make any words she was so surprised.
Mana stood up. "Do you understand?"
Saire heastated, and then nodded slowly.
Mana's face looked emotionless, as she kept looking at Saire.
Eventhough Hichigo's insanity was dangerously high, he turned and sat beside Ichigo again.
"Hichigo...What do I do if you can't control your sanitly?" Mana asked, knowing that the time of him keeping sane was drawing to a end.
He waited a little. "I don't know." he admitted.
Mana let out a silent sigh, and said. "Then I might have to fight you if that happens..."
"I'll hold on as long as I can. Right now I don't want to fight. At all." After he said this, Hichigo fell onto Ichigo. "I never thought I'd miss him this much though..." He laughed.
"Hell, after that no one would..." Mana said, getting on her knees rubbing his back lightly.
Hichigo put one of his hands to his head and laughs. "che, now I don't have anyone to call an idiot other than that annoying girl."
Saire didn't hear this because the sound barrier was active again.
Mana shook her head slightly in amusement. "Mhm."
Hichigo's insanity was at its peak, yet on the outside he was just fine.
"So... what exactly are we going to do with Ichigo's body?" Hichigo asked.
Mana was silent for a moment. "I'm gonna put him by mom's grave. Since he was attached to her when he was younger." Mana said.
"Mom, huh..." Hichigo looked like he was thinking hard after Mana mentioned the word 'mom'.
Mana tilted her head slightly in confusion.
Hichigo sighed. "Ah, I seem to have forgotten who you-" He stopped for a second and thought. "...our mom was." Now he seemed to have seriously confused himself. "No, no... that's not it..." He kept thinking. "Why is it that I have trouble remembering my own memories before I was hollow? Wait, I can't remember if I was always a hollow or not..."
Mana was seriously confused, she looked at her living brother with slight worry.
Getting off of Ichigo, Hichigo sat up and rubbed his head. "Thinking too hard again... Then again there's a lot of insanity clouding my thoughts..." This seemed to frustrate the hollow a little bit.
Mana noticed that his insanity was going down a little.
Mana smiled slightly, and said "Then clear your thoughts Hichigo."
"I'll try." He started to concentrate, and his insanity went down steadily. It wasn't going down fast, but it was going down at a constant rate.
Mana went over to Jay to see how she was doing and sat down by her.
"I haven't know Ichigo nearly as long as you two have, but this still hurts pretty badly." Jay said solemnly.
Hichigo was still sitting by Ichigo trying to clear his thoughts and lower his insanity, which was working.
Mana wrapped a hand around Jay and hugged her.
Hichigo let go of his head and simply said "Ooooh that's how it is..." his insanity was down considerably from its peak, but not gone.
Mana's expression was still confused.
"Masaki was our mother's name, right?" Hichigo said unexpectedly.
"Yeah." Mana replied.
Hichigo fist pumped. "Got that one. So I can remember before I was a hollow..."
Jay was lost when Hichigo said 'before I was a hollow'.
Mana smiled lightly. "Every existance has had a past they can or cannot remember."
Hichigo realized something. "Hey Mana, what are Karin and Yuzu going to do when they find out Ichigo died?"
Mana froze up. "...they'd be crushed..." she said after a bit.
Hichigo rubbed his head again. "Great, another reason for them to not like me..." He paused. "...Unless you don't tell them that I did it."
"To tell the truth, I don't even know how I'm gonna explain it to them..." she said.
"Hmm..." Hichigo just pondered it, and sighed. "I guess I have to protect them for Ichigo now."
"Hey don't forget I get ta help ya too." Mana said seriously.
"mm..." Hichigo just looked off in the distance, thinking again.
Mana sighed, and brought her knees to her chest, putting her head on them.
"Ummm... Mana?" Jay asked.
Mana raised her head and looked at her. "Hm?"
"Isn't the Soul Society going to notice Ichigo's dead?"
"Yeah..." Mana said.
"They might be outside us right now." Hichigo said.
Mana nodded. "This is gonna be a long-ass day..." she muttered to herself.
Hichigo got up and walked to Mana. "Should we go then?"
Mana stood up, and nodded.
After that, they left.
Mana looked around, seeing that Ichigo's body was with them. Majoraty of the captains and a couple of other shinigami were around them. Mana looked at them, eyes slightly dull from saddness.
Unexpectedly, Shinji walked in. "So he finally killed Ichigo didn't he?"
Mana didn't respond, only looking downwards.
"I didn't want to." Hichigo said in response to Shinji.
Mana still looked downwards, thinking queitly and quickly.
"I don't believe you. Quit lying."
"I'm not lying." Hichigo replied, sadly.
Mana stood up. "He's telling the truth Shinji, a girl named Saire caised him to do this. It was as if she was controling his entire body." Mana said.
"How'd he ge- Oh I see. He beat Death in a battle didn't he?"
Mana nodded. "Yeah he did."
Hichigo sat there, just looking at Ichigo's dead body.
"Shinji...?" Mana said, looking at him.
"Yeah Mana?"
"Will anyone try to do anything to Hichigo?"
He didn't respond. "...Maybe."
Within seconds Mana had Tamashii out, holding it on her shoulder, with a serious look on her face. "Then I won't allow it if that happens." she said in a monotone voice.
Hichigo put his hand on Mana's sword. "It's ok, Mana."
Mana kept her sword where it was. "That's only if it happens."
"Since you're Ichigo's hollow, why didn't you go with him anyway?" Shinji asked.
Hichigo paused. "I don't know."
"Maybe it's from where you two seperated a long time ago?" Mana suggested, remebering what happened.
"Possibly, since I am still Ichigo in a way." Hichigo responeded thoughtfully.
Mana sighed.
"But now my question is, why haven't you killed anyone yet?"
Hichigo looked at him and pointed to Mana. "She changed me. That's all I want to say."
Mana smiled a quick and faint smile, one that couldn't be seen. "Hey, when will we be able to take Ichigo to Karakura town?" She asked.
"You want to bury him there?" Shinji asked Mana, and somewhat forgot about Hichigo.
"It'd make sense, wouldn't it?" she said.
"I guess it does. You can take him any time you want."
Mana nodded and went over to Ichigo's body, carefully picking him up, and Hichigo went to help her. A near-by shinigami opened a senkaimon to Karakura for them.
Mana walked over to the door, and opened it. She walked into the senkaimon. She exited it, and began to walk to their old house.
"...So I guess this is really happening, isn't it..." Hichigo said.
"Yeah..." Mana said sadly as she knocked on the door, knowing that Yuzu and Karin where at school, and their father home.
Isshin came to the door and opened it, and then he noticed Ichigo in their arms.
"Dad..." Mana wasn't sure if she could finish the sentence.
Isshin started to cry, and said "What happened to him?"
"We were training in a joint world we created using all our inner worlds, and this girl named 'Saire'," she said Saire's name a bit bitterly. "Controled Hichigo's body and..." she couldn't continue the sentence.
"...made me kill him..." Hichigo said sadly.
Mana stood there silently, waiting for their father's reaction.
Isshin kept crying and looked at Hichigo. "So... you were forced to kill a part of yourself...?"
"Two parts of myself..."
"When Ichigo died, so did Zangetsu-san." Mana said.
Isshin stopped crying as he realised something. "But you're still Ichigo, right?"
"Well... I guess you could say that." Hichigo said after giving it some thought.
"So we haven't lost Ichigo completly, Mana. Oh by the way, did he die with a smile on his face?"
Mana stiffened up at the memory of that smile. "Y-yes..."
Isshin looked calm. "Good. At least he did one of the things I told him to do."
Mana stood silently.
There was a long pause between all of them, and Isshin finally broke it. "So should we go bury him now?"
"Yes, beside Mom." Mana said.
"Alright." Isshin looked away. "Then off we go."
Mana walked in the direction of Masaki's grave, Isshin and Hichigo followed her.
Once they got there, there was already a open grave, with Ichigo's name on it. "Shinji..." she thought, knowing he did this while they made their way to Karakura town. She saw a casket near it, and opened it, placing Ichigo inside, with his Tensa Zangetsu beside him. She took one last look and closed the lid.
"I need help putting this in the ground..." she said.
"We'll do it, Mana." Hichigo told her and Isshin walked to the opposite end that Hichigo was standing on, and they picked up the casket with some trouble, and put it in the grave.
Mana took a near-by shovel and quickly put all the dirt on the casket, holding back tears.
She then walked over to the gravestone and took out a small knife. She carved something using a bit of spiritrual pressure. Once she was done it read;
- A brother, a fighter, and a friend of many.-
She stood up and backed up.
Hichigo walked over to the gravestone and started to write something in spirit pressure, and after he finished he backed up.
Mana read what he put.
-Also an idiot. Love Hichigo-
Mana slightly chuckled at this. Her brother did do some dumb-ass things.
It started to rain, the sky turning a dark gray and lightning and thunder wasin the area. Mana, Hichigo and Isshin could hear Ichigo's voice. It said;
Don't let the rain fall in your world, let the sun shine. Step forward and don't look back.
Mana stood there, in slight awe.
"Forever a memory in the rain..." Hichigo said softly.
The rain kept falling, and Mana walked away, and Isshin followed. Hichigo stood where he was, and said to himself, "Make sure you don't forget me, Ichigo."
Mana walked to the senkaimon, waving a quick good-bye to her father and went inside.
Hichigo caught up with her some time later, after getting talked to by Isshin.
Mana was sitting on the couch of the barracks, just looking at a wall, expression emotionless.
Hichigo walked in a little slow and sat beside Mana. "Isshin told me I had to be more like Ichigo was, but I don't think I can anymore. I've been a hollow for so long."
Mana looked him in the eye, and said "Be you...Just be you. I don't think it'd make sense for you to act like someone you aren't."
Hichigo acknowledged this, and leaned back on the couch.
Mana looked at the clock, it said 12:40 pm.
"..."
"It's gonna be a long day..." Hichigo said slowly.
"I know it is..."
Mana looked downward.
Hichigo leaned on Mana and closed his eyes. "I need to catch up on sleep... dang kid in my head..."
"Next time she dares to do that, I'll slaughter her." Mana said in a monotone. She liked the kid, but when someone does that, trust becomes broken.
"I wish I could..."
"..." Mana sat there silently.
Hichigo slipped into a much-needed sleep.
Mana's eyes felt a bit heavy as she let them close.
It was a long morning...