As Mana opened her eyes, she noticed that she was in Hichigo's inner world. Again.
"The fuck..." she said quietly, wondering why she was here.
She felt Hichigo fighting somewhere, and he was insane. Mana growled slightly, remembering the insanity, and went in the direction of it.
On her way to the battle, she noticed that she didn't see Saire anywhere. She kept walking, wondering where the girl was.
As she kept getting closer, the air kept getting heavier, and she saw white Getsugas off in the distance.
She went a bit faster, feeling slightly scared.
Something white shunpoed infront of her for a second, and went back to the battle.
Mana's eyes were a bit wide, and she continued to get faster.
Suddenly, there was a sword pointed at her throat and someone standing behind her, holding Mana fast.
Mana stiffened, eyes widened in fear.
"What'cha gonna do now!" Said the person behind her. He was answered with Tensa Zangetsu flying close to Mana's head.
Mana was silent for a moment, and she tried to get away.
"I don't care what you do, I'll kill you anyway!" Hichigo yelled from a distance. His Tensa Zangetsu flew back to him.
Mana moved again, getting away as she quickly drew Tamashii from it's sheath.
"So you don't mind if I kill this girl?"
"What girl? I only made you to fight!"
Mana frowned. "I dunno who the hell you are, but I ain't gonna go down that fuckin' easy." she said.
"You sure have a big mouth." said the guy was holding her before. He let out a huge wave of spirit pressure that was almost at the same level of Hichigo's.
Mana grinded her teeth, then her face went emotionless. She moved with such speed that it'd be hard for Hichigo to follow as she sliced the guy almost in half.
Predicting her moves, he quickly jumped back.
"Hey girl, get out of my fight. I didn't even make you, so why are you here?"
"I dunno why I'm here. I just followed the feeling of insanity and the next thing I know, you're holding me back with a sword to my throat."
Hichigo quickly shunpoed between them, and stared at Mana with his yellow eyes.
"...?" she looked back at him.
The guy who had held Mana back stopped, and Hichigo raised his sword, ready to attack. Hichigo slashed down with such a speed his sword was on the other side of him in a split second.
Suddenly, blood flew from both Mana and the guy who had held her.
Mana grunted, in slight pain, and the blood wouldn't stop flowing.
"S-shit..." She muttered.
The other guy was staggering because of the hit. Hichigo told Mana, "This is no place for you.", and he turned to face the other guy.
Mana didn't know what to do, or where she'd go.
Both of the combatants disappeared and were fighting again.
Mana's legs were weak from the bloodloss, and she fell forward, still bleeding out.
Why did he attack me... she wondered.
As her vision faded, she saw the two still fighting, and Hichigo was laughing more insane than she'd ever heard him laugh.
"...H-h-hichigo..." she said almost silently as her vision dissapeared.
The last thing she saw was Hichigo walking up to her, about to finish her off.
She couldn't move.
She didn't want to die.
Not without protecting...
Hichigo...
She felt the sword stab her, but there was no pain. She didn't move, she was still conscious, but she couldn't see.
She felt blood come from her mouth, it tasted metallic.
She felt Hichigo put his foot on her head, and he started to push down hard.
Mana screamed. "Hichigo! S-stop..." she yelled weakly.
He stopped putting pressure on her head, and asked, "Do I know you?"
Mana nodded. "It's me...M-m-mana..." she had a hard time saying her name.
"Why are you in my dream?"
"I dunno..."
"Hm." Hichigo didn't seem like he cared that much.
Mana tried to move away, but failed, only to have more blood come from her wound.
"Sh-shit..." she muttered as she felt light-headed.
"Anything else you want to tell me before I kill you?"
"..." Mana didn't say anything for a moment. "I wanted to protect you...but it seems I have failed you, just like I did Ichigo..." she said quietly.
"Che." This sound somehow chilled Mana thanks to it being layered.
"..."
Mana felt Hichigo lift his foot off her head, only for it to come right back down, even harder than before.
Mana screamed in pain, feeling a bit of her skull crack from impact.
Hichigo took his foot off of her, and took his sword out of her. He started to walk away and summoned another person to fight.
"...Wake up...Hichigo..." she whispered almost inaudible.
The two insane combatants fought, and this fight was over faster than the previous.
"..." Mana couldn't see the fight, or hear it very well.
"Damnit..." she thought.
Hichigo walked back over to her after killing the last enemy. "You still alive?"
"Yeah..." she said.
"Then let's change that." He smashed down on her head again and she was forced awake.
She screamed out in pain, it hurt like HELL.
Jay came running. "Mana, are you okay?"
"Jay..." she said, in slightly scared.
"Are you ok?" Jay repeated.
"I think so..." she replied.
Hichigo was still sleeping calmly on her shoulder.
Mana remembered what Hana had said a long time ago, if you fall asleep near another person, you may be in their dreams. She shook her head.
"What happened?" Jay asked, concerned.
"Well...somehow I got into Hichigo's dream, he was fighting a clone, both insane, and he defeated his clone, but he slashed both of us, so I was hit aswell...I remember alot of blood, and pain..." she said.
"I see..."
Mana sat there quietly, watching the sleeping Hichigo.
"mm.." Hichigo got off her shoulder and rubbed his eyes.
"..." She was still quiet.
Hichigo yawned. "So how long was I asleep?"
Mana looked at the clock, it said 4:40 pm.
"We slept for 3 hours." she said.
"No wonder my dream was so much fun..."
"Yeah, I saw it." Mana said.
Hichigo paused. "Wait... You saw my dream?"
"I was in it, remember the girl?"
He thought. "...No..."
Mana shook her head. "Then I guess I had a very fucked up dream..."
"But I do remember stepping on someone's head..."
"..." Mana cringed slightly at the memory.
"T-that couldn't have been you, was it?"
"I think it was...from where I was..." she replied.
"Oh..." Hichigo looked away before Mana could see him sad again.
Mana hugged him tightly.
"Sorry for killing you in my dream then."
"It's okay bro." Mana said.
She didn't let go of him, she kept hugging him.
After a little bit, Hichigo spoke again. "Just so you know, I let my insanity run free in my dreams..."
"Alright then, next time if I'm ever in one, I'll try to wake myself up." she said.
"I mean, you can watch the fight... just don't make any moves against me or the person I'm fighting..."
"Alright." Mana said.
Hichigo finally turned to Mana and hugged her back.
Mana smiled faintly, and Jay hugged them aswell.
Mana hugged Jay back. "Group hugs make it all better..."
Jay suddenly got an idea. "Hey how about we run a contest for who can dress up as another person better?"
Mana nodded. "Sounds fun."
Hichigo laughed. "Yeah, and who are you planning on dressing up as, Jay?"
Jay smiled. "I plan on dressing up as you, Hichigo~!"
Mana laughed. "I call dressing up as Jay~" she said.
"Well I guess you guys know who I can dress up as easily." Hichigo said cheerfully.
Mana nodded. "One problem, I dunno how to get my hair white..." she said.
"I heard that there was a hair salonist who used Kido to dye hair..." Jay said, thinking about it.
"I'll ask Hana if she'd want to join in this, i think she'd dress better as you." Mana said.
"Hey, Hana, you wanna join us?" Mana asked.
"Sure why not." Hana replied.
"Well, Hana's in~" Mana said as Hana manifested beside her.
"Alright, so I dress up as Jay?" she asked.
Mana nodded.
"I guess I'll go and get busy, I have a lot to change, color wise." Hichigo said as he got up and walked out of the room.
All Hana did was change her hair, and she was done.
Mana fixed her hair, to make it look like Death's, just for the hell of it.
Jay skipped off to go find something to wear that would look like Hichigo's long bankai outfit.
Mana went to find a cloak, and Hana went to find a normal shinigami outfit, simular to Jay's.
Mana found a cloak, it was just right, so she put it on and walked back to the living room.
"Hey Hichigo, can I use your mask for my outfit?" Jay asked him eagerly.
"Sure why no." Hichigo let her borrow his mask for a bit.
Hana finally found an oufit simular to Jay's and walked into the living room. "Jesus...Took forever to find one of these..." she mummbled.
Jay soon came out to the living room, somewhat proud of herself. "Do I look ok?"
"Hey Hichigo, you look great." Mana said, joking about calling her Hichigo.
"Hey, do I look enough like yeh Jay?" Hana asked.
Jay nodded happily.
"Woo!" Hana said happily.
Hichigo was the last one out, and he really did look like Ichigo. Skin color and everything.
Mana loooked at him. "Woah, dude...You look just like 'em." she said.
"Thanks, it took forever to figure out how to use the kido." His voice was just like Ichigo's aswell.
"Be careful dude, people might think you're a Ichigo zombie."
Hichigo just laughed.
"Couldn't think of anyone to dress as, so I dressed as Death."
"...Do I even wanna ask?" Hana asked.
"Nope~"
"It was a rather bad encounter..." Hichigo said.
Jay handed him a red sucker. "Your tounge's still blue."
Mana laughed.
Hichigo took the sucker and quickly ate it. "Not blue now is it?"
Jay laughed. "No, it's not~."
"It's red." Mana said.
"Did you get your eyes?" she asked him.
"No, I couldn't figure out how to change that..."
Mana went out of the room and came back with contacts that were the same color as Ichigo's eyes.
Hichigo put them in and stood triumpently. "I am Ichigo Kurosaki, vice-captain of the 1st division."
Mana laughed. "Yeah, yeah~"
Hichigo smiled. "You all did good on your outfits."
"Thanks." Hana said, Mana said it at the same time as her.
"Hey you know what, we should walk around and spook people with these~" Hichigo said happily.
"Alright~ Hopefully they don't attack." Mana said jokingly.
"I think if we do this, everyone else might join in on the fun."
"Yeah. I have an idea~ Let's go to Shinji's first, he'll join for sure." Mana said.
"Alright then, after you, Mana."
Mana opened the door, and shunpoed to where Shinji was, smiling.
Shinji was inside the 5th division barracks, Mana knocked on the door.
Shinji opened the door, and Mana glomped him. "The fuck?" He said surprised, not knowing it was Mana.
"Hello Shinji." Mana said in Death's voice, it was easy to copy.
"I thought Hichigo killed you!" Shinji said.
Mana burst out laughing. "Dude, it's me Mana!" she said in her normal voice, getting off of him.
Shinji facepalmed. "Well then what the hell ya doin' dressed like that?" he asked.
"Eh, we got bored and decided to dress up as someone. Death was the person I dressed up as."
Hana walked in. "Ello's Shinji." she said smirking.
"Hello...eh..." Shinji didn't know her name.
"It's Hana bro." Hana said.
"Hello Hana." he said, feeling slightly stupid.
"Oi, come on you two!" Hana yeleld.
Jay walked in, trying to act like Hichigo, but wasn't doing very well at it.
Hichigo walked in just like Ichigo would, and said, "Yo, Shinji."
"Yo, Jay, Hichigo." Shinji replied. He wasn't getting tricked twice in a row.
Mana facepalmed. "I trick you with this outfit but you see right through theirs...You surprise me Shinji." she said.
Hana laughed.
"I thought I did a pretty good job too." Hichigo said, smugly.
"Yeh did, I just wasn't going to get tricked twice~" Shinji said mokingly, just trying to make them laugh.
Hichigo did laugh, and simply replied, "I see then."
Shinji got up. "So why're ya three here?" he asked.
"We wanted to see if you'd join us in this little game, you have to dress up as someone else the best you can." Mana explained.
"Wh the hell would I look like?" Shinji asked.
"You could dress up like Aizen just to annoy everyone. I mean, he was your Vice-captain for a long time." Hichigo told him.
"Eh..." Shinji said.
"How 'bout Nnoritora?" Mana asked.
"Who...?"
"An old espada, he had a smile like yours, same additude, but he had black hair." Mana explained.
"I'll go with Aizen's outfit." Shinji said.
"Hmm... I just thought how much of a ruckus that would make... I mean he's still imprisoned."
"No he is not, remember?" she said.
"Oh yeah that's right... it was shortly after I met you." Hichigo said, remembering the fight.
"Yep."
"Alright then, I'll go as the espada dude." Shinji said.
Jay leaned on Hichigo. "Make up your mind..."
Mana laughed. "I'm guessing you know the Kido to change hair color?" she asked him.
"I know it~" he said happily.
"then make your hair black and change your ourfit into this." she said as she pulled out a picture of the espada.
"How'd you get this?" he asked.
"Took it when he was fighting Kenpachi." Mana said.
Shinji took the photo and went back into a room to change, 12 minutes later he came out looking just like the espada.
"Nice." Mana said smiling.
Shinji smiled back.
"They be flirting~" Hana said in a sing-song voice, trying not to laugh.
Mana facepalmed and Shinji deadpanned.
Hichigo couldn't hold back his laugh.
Mana yawned. "Shall we go confuse people now?" she asked.
"If you guys're ready, the sure." Shinji replied.
"I'm ready. I'm curious about what Rukia is gonna do when she sees me~" Hichigo said slyly.
"Then let's go find her~" Mana said happily, and walked out the door, with Shinji following her.
She saw Rukia not far away, and sneaked up behind her, tapping her shoulder.
Rukia jumped and turned around quickly to see who had done that. "Who are you?"
Mana used Death's voice. "Death." she said monotoned.
Rukia got into a fighting stance, ready for Mana to attack.
Mana couldn't hold back a laugh. "Oh god...you shoulda seen the look on your face!" she said in her voice.
"Mana, why are you dressing up?" Rukia relaxed from her fighting stance.
"We were bored so we dressed up as others." Shinji said, walking up to them.
Hichigo walked up beside him, and when Rukia saw him, she ran to him. "You idiot why did you fool me like that!"
Hichigo made a noise out of surprise and said in his own voice, "Rukia, I'm not Ichigo, I'm just dressing up as him."
This made Rukia a little madder, but she stopped running.
Mana felt a frown tug at her face at the sight.
Rukia sighed. "Why are you guys going out of your way to dress up as someone else?"
Hichigo replied in Ichigo's voice. "Because we were bored."
Rukia was amazed at what Hichigo did with his voice.
"What?"
"N-nothing."
Mana walked over to Rukia and said, "You wanna join us? We're just doing it for the shit's and giggles." Mana said.
Still amazed at how real Hichigo's outfit was, she finally answered, "Yes, I do think I will."
Shinji smiled, "Welcome aboard, find a person to dress up as and follow us~" he said.
Rukia nodded and quickly went back to her room in the 13th squad. She came back after 20 minutes, looking like Chappy.
Mana laughed, "Nice outfit Ruki- er, I mean Chappy." Mana said happily.
Rukia smiled proudly.
"I wonder if we can get Byakuya to run across the Soul Society screaming again." Mana said laughing.
Rukia frowned. "Nii-sama wasn't very happy about that last time."
"I know, it was still funny though." Mana said.
Hichigo laughed, and this infuriated Rukia.
"Ichigo, that's not funny!" She yelled at him. This just made him laugh even more.
"It's not Ichigo, it's Hichigo." Man said, trying not to laugh.
Hana was laughing along with Hichigo and Shinji was holding back his.
Jay laughed only because Hichigo was laughing, and she was dressed up as him.
"Alright, now who?" Mana asked.
Rukia thought of someone. "I know who will want to do this..." She shunpoed back to the 13th squad barracks.
"Aaand there she goes again." Hichigo was still laughing.
"Yeah." Mana said in Death's voice. "I wonder how come it was so easy to copy Death's voice." She said.
"I'm not sure..." Hichigo said, still enjoying sounding like Ichigo.
"Meh." Mana said shruging.
All of them started to hear two people yelling from the 13th division's barracks.
Mana sighed and walked over to the barracks, knocking on the door.
She heard two people running to the door, and still yelling when they got to it. Finally the door opened and Mana saw three Ukitakes.
"The fuc?" she said in Death's voice.
The shorter one yelled at the taller one. "I'm the better Ukitake!"
The taller one yelled back. "No I'm a better Ukitake!"
Mana sighed, rather annoyed. "All three of you get'cha asses front and center." Mana said in her voice, not liking the idea of an annoying Ukitake.
The Ukitake who wasn't yelling started to cough, and the two Ukitakes yelling stopped and ran to him. "Ukitake-taicho! Are you alright?"
Well, found the real one...Mana thought as she said. "What exactly is going on?"
The two fake Ukitakes said in unison, "We're dressing up as Ukitake to see who's better!" They annoyed themselves, and started to yell at each other again.
Mana sighed, annoyed. "Yeh know you both can be Ukitake, it makes it more fun..." she said plainly.
"Oh." They said after they finished yelling.
"Thank you for not yelling." Mana said, less annoyed.
Rukia walked in. "Hey Ukitake-taicho, could you tell as many people as you can about this game?"
The real one spoke up. "I can Rukia." He got up, and walked off. It took a bit for his look-a-likes to figure out what he was doing and they followed him.
"Well, that was amusing." Hana said from behind Mana.
"Yep."
Rukia walked to Mana. "So who are we gonna trick now?"
"Hm...how about...Mayuri? I think it'd be slightly fun~" she said.
"Are you fucking crazy?" Hana asked.
"Do you have any better ideas?" Rukia asked Hana.
"No, but I want to live damnit, Liiivvveeee..."
"But he won't do anything to someone who's normal." Rukia said, unknowing that Hana was just like Hichigo.
"Bro, I am a Hollow, he'd fucking DISECT me!"
Rukia blinked. "I didn't know that."
"It's okay." Hana said
"Oh I know! How about Renji?" Rukia asked.
"Oh God, YES!" Mana said, wanting to scare the shit outta the red-head.
"We should bring Ichigo with us too!" Rukia said, forgetting that it was just Hichigo.
"I'm not even gonna correct that." Mana said.
"Let's go." Hana said, and walked in the direction of Renji, Mana follwed.
"Hey, can I scare him?" she asked Rukia.
"Um, sure." Rukia replied and she went to go get Hichigo, Jay, and Shinji.
Mana smiled and creeped up behind the red-head, ghosting closer to him, as she placed a hand on his shoulder, whispering. "Hello, Abarai Renji." in Death's voice.
Renji jumped and looked behind him to see who did that.
Mana looked at him, holding back a smile. "Hello."
Renji stood still. "Mana?"
"Aw...You saw through it.." She said in her voice.
He looked past her and said in surprise, "Ichigo!"
Hichigo waved at him.
Mana could see why Renji was surprised, Hichigo had even managed to change how his spirit pressure was to match Ichigo's.
Mana frowned.
Renji thought for a moment. "Wait, you can't be Ichigo..."
Mana looked at him. "Nope, it's Hichigo."
Renji blinked. "He did a good job with that... You did too Mana, it took me a bit to figure out it was you..."
Mana smiled. "I know he surprised me,. and thank you Renji, would you like to join?"
"I would, but I have no idea who'd I be."
"Hm...I have no idea either, just say your a good dressed up Renji." Mana said, laughing slightly.
Renji laughed. "Very funny Mana."
Mana smiled. "I was being serious Renji."
"Yeah sure, I'm dressing up as someone who dresses up like me."
"Yup~"
"That's brilliant Mana." Renji said sarcasticly.
Mana stopped smiling. "Aw..Com'on don't be so sarcastic~"
Renji sighed.
"Oi, Renji, Chill dude." Said Hana, who was walking over to them.
"Hey who do you want to visit next?" Hichigo asked.
Mana and Hana shruged."Hey, how about... Izuru?" Mana asked.
"Why him?" Hichigo asked her.
"I dunno...Just came to mind." she shrugged.
"Alright then." Hichigo walked out, and started to head to where Izuru was.
Mana,Shinji, and Hana follwed him.
-Hours later-
"All right everyone! We're about to start judgeing!" Hichigo told everyone in the contest/game.
Hichigo, Byakuya (unwillingly), and Yachiru were the judges.
Mana smiled, and so did Hana. They were having fun but it seemed Shinji was bored.
"This has been fun, eh Mana?" Hana asked her.
"Yes it has." Mana replied.
Jay was extreamly excited. Everyone tried their best at this, and majoraty of the outfits looked convincing (minus Renji's).
Shinji looked around at the other people, boredly.
Some of the people who didn't join just sat to the side looking at all the coustumes.
Mana hummed softly, trying to pass a bit of time.
As the judges walked by, Yachiru kept messing with people's costumes, which annoyed them.
Mana watched the judges, excitedly.
Mana noticed Byakuya was annoyed at how Hichigo had printed the papers; they were sideways.
Mana held back a giggle, not wanting to annoy the Captain anymore.
As the Judges got to Mana and the rest of the group, it was getting somewhat dark.
And since Mana was dressed as Death, she put an emotionless face on, as she looked at the sky.
When Yachiru got to her, she was as happy as she always was. "So who are you dressed up as?"
Mana held back a smile. "Death, and nothing more." she quoted in Death's voice.
"Oh interesting~!"
Byakuya just wrote on his sideways paper and moved on.
Shinji got into character, and had this smile on his face.
Yachiru was the first person to talk again. "Oh you're dressed up as that Espada that Ken-chan fought!"
"Yep." He replied.
"Ken-chan enjoyed that fight~"
Byakuya and Hichigo had finished as Yachiru kept chatting.
Shinji sighed, bored again.
"You get bored way too easily." Mana said.
Shinji just shruged.
Yachiru skipped off, ignoreing the rest of the contestants.
Mana yawned, and looked at the sky again, as it slowly darkened.
The judges got together, and decided who'd get what.
"All right, the first award to be announced! The most original costume goes to Renji!"
Renji was surprised.
Hichigo continued. "He also gets the most un-convincing costume award!"
Renji caught this. "Hey!"
"Moving on~. The next award is the most Unknown and it goes to Mana!"
Mana smiled ,slightly proud.
"The most different award goes to Shinji!"
Shinji smiled a cocky smile, is to be exact.
"The most thurough award goes to..."
"You." Byakuya finished.
"Yes, thank you Byakuya."
Byakuya didn't care. Why was he here doing this anyway?
Mana brofisted Shinji, who happily brofisted her back.
"The most competitive award goes to Kiyone and Sentaro!"
They yelled in delight, and then yelled at each other about which of them really deserves it.
Mana facepalmed and laughed a little.
"And finally, the winner of this contest is..."
Hichigo paused only for suspense.
"...Everyone!"
Man smiled happily, Hichigo was creative on these things. Hana jumped up and down hyperly.
"That was fun~" Mana said happily.
Hana agreed.
"yep." Shinji said, no longer bored.
Hichigo walked over to Jay, yawning. He took his mask back from her, put it on and shunpoed back to the barracks to get some sleep.
Mana smiled to herself, and started walking back aswell, after Hana went back into her inner world.
"Bye everyone~!" Jay waved to everyone and followed Mana back.
Shinji smiled and waved back at them.
"That was fun, wasn't it Mana?"
Mana yawned. "Yeah it was. I think it was funny what they did to Renji though." she said laughing.
"Yeah that was great." Jay said, laughing aswell.
Mana opened the door and held it open for Jay, and walked in.
Jay giggled when she saw Hichigo crashed on the couch. He hadn't bothered to take any of the outfit off, including the mask that he took back.
Mana ditched the cloak on the back of the couch, and got into her corner, yawning.
Jay sat on the floor beside the couch, and put one of Hichigo's arms around her shoulders.
"G'night Jay, Hichigo, and Ichi-" she stopped herself from saying the last name, and got comfortable, closing her eyes.
Jay looked at her with sleepy eyes. "It's ok to say good night to Ichigo, he'll always be with us..."
"Good night...Ichigo..."she said and fell asleep.
Jay smiled and fell asleep with the rest of them.