Notes:
Following canon Ichigo's battle with his inner hollow, he doesn't really embrace those ideals and his hollow until Hueco Mundo, and it always felt like an Elsa Let it Go situation where he backtracks on his character moment. So what if that wasn't the case?
Ganbarimasu!
King
-xxx-
Kurosaki Ichigo
Grimmjow grabbed Ichigo's forearm in a steely grip, manhandling the shinigami into following after him.
"Don't," Ichigo growled, "touch me." He yanked on his arm, but damn him, Grimmjow's grip was strong, and his own reiatsu was too weak.
It felt and probably looked absolutely ridiculous to be dragged down a hallway like a child, and Ichigo had had just about enough of that. He reached for Zangetsu, overkill or not, and swung at Grimmjow's remaining arm. Fucker caught his sword in his bare hand, just like before.
Grimmjow's expression was frozen between a sneer and a smirk. "Pathetic, Kurosaki."
Grinding his teeth, Ichigo growled, "Let go."
Surprise, the Espada...ex-Espada didn't listen. Grimmjow pulled Ichigo closer. "Maybe I'll break I'll just break this, since you're not using it."
Ichigo only glared at him, feeling more and more like a child. The arrancar looked between his eyes, then shoved his sword back and kept walking, dragging him like a fucking caveman down the hall. Ichigo barked, "I know how to walk!"
Grimmjow tossed him forward, throwing Ichigo off balance. Catching himself on a foot before he fell on his face like a jackass, Ichigo whirled, leveling Zangetsu at him accusingly. "Asshole! What's your deal?!"
The arrancar shoved his hand in his pocket and shrugged like he couldn't help himself. "Just wondering how weak you were." His eyes burned with sudden rage. "Pretty sad, Kurosaki."
Grimmjow's tone dropped in challenge, teeth snapping like a chained dog. "What happened to all that fight?"
Ichigo deflected. "Were we going somewhere, or are we just going to chit chat?"
"What happened?" Grimmjow stressed.
"Why do you give a damn?" Ichigo asked.
"It would be easier to drown kittens the way you are now."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes and took an subconscious step back. His hollow started to rage at him. Fight, fight, fight, but then what? Then he lost everything. "Fuck off, Grimmjow."
"Spicy," Grimmjow snarled, "but where's the fight?" His teeth gnashed on that word, making it a near tangible thing. Ichigo just glared back, so Grimmjow kept going. "It happened then too. Why did you stop?"
Why? Fear, panic, everything he hated. Ichigo narrowed his eyes, teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached and replaced the sword on his back, uninterested in starting a fight.
"LIAR."
His lack of response infuriated Grimmjow, the arrancar getting a good grip around his injured arm, squeezing the deep slash Gin had left through his bicep. "What are you so scared of?" Grimmjow demanded.
Grimmjow's fingers dug into Ichigo's arm. Blood pooled on his sleeve and dripped from his fingertips. That fucking hurt. Ichigo took Grimmjow's wrist in his hand with a snarl of pain and rage, but he had just as much effect now as before.
The arrancar shoved him back into the wall and shouted, "FIGHT!"
Ichigo matched his volume. "I have no reason to fight you!"
"You don't need a reason!" Grimmjow tightened his grip, Ichigo's bones aching under the pressure of his fingers digging into his skin, grinding severed nerves against one another.
Ichigo's blood was hot on his skin, dripping in a steady stream to patter on the floor. He fixed Grimmjow with a glare, frustrated that he wouldn't back off. His hollow wouldn't shut up, he hadn't since they'd gotten to Hueco Mundo, and his control was slipping so much faster than before.
"The arrancar talks sense, you should fuckin' listen."
Grimmjow studied him, eyes narrowing as his gaze settled on his left eye, the eye he was slowly losing sight in. The arrancar finally leaned back, pulling his palm away bloody. "The fuck are you, Kurosaki?"
"A substitute shinigami." The answer was ritual, nearly automatic.
Grimmjow scoffed. "Substitute? That ain't shinigami reiatsu." He snarled the word like it was an insult, like every shinigami that lived had personally affronted him, and for all Ichigo knew, they had.
Ichigo wasn't sure what to say, just saying the word 'hollow' carried with it a connotation that made him feel sick. "I'm not like you." He wasn't sure if he said it to convince himself or Grimmjow.
The arrancar curled his lip in a derisive sneer. "Yeah, you're not."
Ichigo curled his hands into fists, wondering why those words bothered him so much. Grimmjow hesitated, waiting to see if he really would fight, but the moment passed, and the arrancar's expression fell into something like annoyance.
Grimmjow grimaced down at the blood on his hand, at the puddle of blood at Ichigo's feet, then started to walk away. Ichigo decided he could either stand there and be bait, or go after him, which was probably why Grimmjow didn't bother to say anything.
For some reason that pissed Ichigo off as much as his refusal to fight seemed to piss off Grimmjow. They walked in mutual silence for awhile, before Ichigo started to get restless. His arm was throbbing, and he wanted a distraction. Ichigo asked, "How fucking big is this place anyways?"
"Do I look like a tour guide to you?" Grimmjow grumbled.
Ichigo scowled at the back of his head, contemplating drawing Zangetsu again, but he wasn't sure he could lose much more blood, he was still leaving a nasty trail of it down the hallway. A moment or so passed, and to his shock, the arrancar actually answered his question. "A few days walk from one end to the other."
Ichigo's eyes widened. "Wait, days?!"
"Did I stutter?"
Ichigo looked up, and then back the way he came, the hallways stretching into the gloom with no end in sight, "What for?"
Grimmjow shot him a look like he was an idiot. "What do you mean, 'what for?' It's a fortress, dumbass."
Outside of his own personal hell, Ichigo had almost forgotten Aizen had an army. He didn't know what the hell he needed it for, but he knew he had some sort of beef with Soul Society. He couldn't sense much through the walls, it was hard to tell just who and what was in this place, or if it was just a bunch of walls and hallways, but he had a hard time pinpointing that shit in the first place. "Is he expecting an invasion? This seems excessive."
"The fuck do I care?"
Ichigo tore his eyes from the wall and frowned at the back of Grimmjow's head. It really sounded like he didn't give a shit, and if that was the case, he couldn't figure out why he would be in Aizen's little army at all. "So what are you doing here?"
"I want to fight," Grimmjow snorted. "It ain't complicated."
No, it didn't seem that it was. Ichigo's eyes wandered to a scar on his lower back, just barely visible below the hem of his jacket, and he looked away, wondering again what happened to his arm. There wasn't much to wonder about, there was literally nothing of interest on the walls, and he didn't want to think about himself, his failures, or the taunting voice in his head.
He was distracted enough that Grimmjow's voice scared the shit out of him when he finally spoke again. "Oy, jackass."
Ichigo flinched, looking into the room Grimmjow opened. He squeezed passed him, still very on edge around the arrancar. He had a thick, downright murderous aura that hung over him and reminded him a bit of Kenpachi.
The best way he could describe the room would have been a locker room. Uniforms of all shape and size were in there, with half of it seemingly dedicated to showering, if he was understanding what he was looking at.
When he made no move to do anything, Grimmjow growled, "You look like shit." The arrancar shoved him forward with a solid hand between his shoulder blades.
Ichigo caught himself with a swear, glaring at the arrancar as he moved around him to rinse off his hand. He watched him rinse off the blood, and when he still hadn't moved, Grimmjow growled, "Clean yourself up, I ain't gonna tell ya twice."
Ichigo shot Grimmjow an acid filled look, then shrugged out of his kosode, wincing when tacky blood pulled at an already aggravated injury. Outside of adrenaline and fear and rage, it really fucking hurt. While the arrancar shook the water off his hand, he ditched his kosode on the ground and figured out how the water worked. It was too minimalist, he barely understood the function of anything short of the doors in this place; it made it feel weird and alien, and he was pretty sure he hated it.
The water was cold, surprise, and ducking under the water, he shuddered at the shock of it and the sting of water in places water wasn't supposed to go.
"Grinning bastard got you good."
Ichigo twisted to glare back at where Grimmjow had perched on a ledge to watch. "Yeah? Why are you staring?"
Grimmjow looked just as annoyed as he had an hour ago. "What am I supposed to look at?"
From the look on Grimmjow's face, he wasn't going to stop. The arrancar wasn't leering so much as sizing him up and it was unsettling. It was like having a tiger at his back, and his guts seized up in protest of the idea, but it felt fucking weird to just keep eye contact.
Ichigo ignored him and focused on his task, which wasn't much more than toughing it out under the water and waiting until the water wasn't pink. From the sting and the severity of it, he figured Gin hadn't cut him deep enough to leave any lasting damage, but he hadn't been fucking around either. Without Orihime around, even with stitches, every one of those cuts were going to scar...if they even had time to.
That train of thought stopped dead on the tracks and Ichigo focused on the present.
Ichigo ducked his head under the water, finally grateful for the shock, and stepped back, shutting the water off. He scrubbed his hand through his hair using his less injured arm, and looked down at the bloom of bright red over his skin. He made an annoyed sound and said, "Do you have something for this, or am I just supposed to bleed out?"
Grimmjow made an annoyed sound and slipped from his ledge to stalk over to a chest near the opposite wall. Ichigo muttered under his breath. "Sorry I'm mortal."
The arrancar returned with a small white box, tossing it at him before he got there. Ichigo caught it and sat, getting to work with both routine and mundane.
Grimmjow broke the silence. "You're pretty good at that." A shit eating grin split his face. "Must be used to getting the shit kicked out of you."
"Cute," Ichigo growled. "My dad is a doctor, I learned stuff." Yuzu and Karin knew more, they were much better at fixing people. His redeeming skill was kicking the fuck out of people, and even that had been failing him.
"That was almost a real answer," Grimmjow said.
Ichigo tore some tape with his teeth and his eyes fell to the gap where Grimmjow's arm used to be. Not like he gave a damn...but he did. Grimmjow left in one piece, and he runs into him again and the strongest bastard who'd ever just about killed him is missing an arm and demoted to being a babysitter. If Aizen did that to his own army, then what the hell was he going to do to him?
"My eyes are up here," Grimmjow snarled. Sore subject, then, even when he was just looking. Ichigo couldn't say he felt guilty, not when his arm still throbbed in pain. He finished patching himself up, at least the parts of himself still bleeding, and went for a jacket closest to what he'd worn before. No thanks to Gin, but he wasn't into kinky ripped shirts.
Ichigo found the closest duplicate and shot Grimmjow a look. "Are you going to watch me strip too?"
Grimmjow wrinkled his nose in disgust and got up, leaving the room. Ichigo wasn't expecting a bought of privacy, but being alone, even for a moment, weighed on his shoulders like gravity. He lied to himself; not a prisoner, not kidnapped. He came here to fix his hollow, he would do that, then escape. Simple.
He had a plan, things weren't out of control. He kept telling himself that and maybe he'd believe it.
-xxx-
Ichimaru Gin
People called him a creep, but he didn't need to watch a teenage boy get dressed. He flicked the camera back to the hall, to the demoted Espada. Grimmjow paced, the look on his face absolutely murderous. Aizen always seemed to know what he was doing, but this seemed foolish. Frankly, he was shocked the arrancar hadn't killed the boy yet. It was inexplicable, yet there they stood, relatively untouched.
Leaning back, Gin sighed. He might not be there in person to hover like a mother hen, but this wasn't much better. He spun in his chair, dragging his fingers over the desk with a bored sigh. He absently lifted his fingers to his throat, prodding tender flesh. Kid had an arm on him, that was going to bruise, badly.
If the kid had been serious, and his reiatsu hadn't been in flux, Gin thought he might have suffered a crushed windpipe. As it was, he got off easy. The kid was dangerous, and Aizen was intent on raising him like a stray.
Why?
The question nagged at him. The boy was astronomically strong for a human. He'd already achieved bankai. An imperfect, unstable bankai, but bankai nonetheless. It was no wonder Soul Society had him under their thumb. Give it some time, and Kurosaki Ichigo might one day be a real monster.
-xxx-
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez
This was one distracted kid. Grimmjow had scared the shit out of him three times just by speaking. The first time he thought the shinigami was looking down on him, that he didn't see him as enough of a threat to fucking pay attention. The second time he thought it was a careless disregard for personal safety, but the third time...that was more interesting.
He'd only been walking for a few minutes before Kurosaki had stopped in his tracks. He thought it was a rebellious lack of obedience, but when he reached for his shoulder, the shinigami panicked, like he'd lost track of where he was entirely.
Kurosaki still had Grimmjow's wrist in his hand, stopping him short from touching him. Even without looking the shinigami had managed it; either he had good instincts, or he'd been on high alert for hours.
There was a confusing mix of fear and anger in those doey fucking brown eyes. It was the same as before, in that shithole little town, and then again earlier.
At first Grimmjow thought Kurosaki was scared of him, maybe even of Las Noches. A shinigami stuck in the big bad land of hollows, cry him a fucking river, but he was slowly realizing that wasn't the case.
He drew his hand back and repeated what Kurosaki had shouted at him. "Shut up?"
Kurosaki paled, which was strange. He hadn't been shy about insulting him before, and this particular insult hadn't been snarky or irritated, it was desperate. Grimmjow didn't even remember what he'd asked him, or what he'd wanted, this was far more interesting.
Kurosaki shoved his fear down, defaulting to anger. "Back off."
Grimmjow didn't feel inclined to do that. That fire he hated was back in his eyes, burning with such irritating confidence. "What's your fucking deal, Kurosaki?"
"You." Kurosaki's eyes narrowed, lifting a hand to his eye. Kurosaki shifted just a touch, in a way he didn't even think the other noticed. He dropped his chin, he protected his throat and squared his shoulders to fight. The shinigami growled, his threat finally backed by the weight of his reiatsu. "Back off."
There it was, that was what he wanted; Bloodlust and rage and unfiltered aggression.
Grimmjow reached for Pantera, then changed his mind. Curling his hand into a fist, he punched him in the face, or he tried to. Kurosaki flinched to the side, dodging and taking a step back, but that was as far as it went.
Grimmjow shouted, "Why won't you fight?!" Confusion spurred anger and he flickered into sonido, kicking Kurosaki in the side. The shinigami raised his arms to block at the last second, sliding a couple of feet to the side instead of into a wall. If he could stabilize himself with reishi on the fly, he wasn't a fucking pushover, so why wouldn't he fight?
Kurosaki glared at him, one eye pitch dark, hollow-like, but that didn't make any sense. Whipping into another brutal assault, Grimmjow saw red bleed into the white of Kurosaki's sleeve, but it was ignored as the shinigami deflected Grimmjow's punches.
Kurosaki blocked most, but like before, he was slipping. Grimmjow snarled, "You want to, I see it."
Grimmjow finally grasped Pantera's hilt, drawing his sword in a rush of steel. Grimmjow demanded, "What's stopping you?!" The arrancar swung Pantera, his blade angled directly for the shinigami's throat.
His sword was stopped short by Kurosaki's hand, the sudden weight of his reiatsu startling, and so very hollow-like.
"I am," Kurosaki snarled, a cackling laugh turning over in his chest. Grimmjow's eyes widened, realizing the yellow eyes that burned up at his weren't Kurosaki's eyes at all. Hollow.
That shouldn't be possible. Even as he stared, a mask began to form on the left side his face, confusing him even more. He was a shinigami, not a hollow, and why the fuck did his reiatsu feel so heavy?
He didn't get to wonder for long, Kurosaki moved, suddenly gone. Grimmjow whirled under the sharp teeth of instinct, throwing his sword up to block the slash Kurosaki intended for his spine. Their swords clashed, his Zanpakuto grinding along the edge of Pantera. The shinigami continued his downward slash, forcing Grimmjow back with a sadistic laugh that didn't sound like Kurosaki at all.
Grimmjow jumped back, putting some space between them to assess what the fuck was going on. "Who the hell are you?"
Kurosaki cackled to himself, dropping his sword to grip it by the cloth that comprised its hilt. He dragged it along the ground, the grating sound of steel scraping stone echoing in the hallway with his laughter. The shinigami had been almost silent the last time they fought, the sudden shift was a little disturbing, it was like he was an entirely different person.
Despite how insane he looked, the hollow actually answered him, flinging the sword at him with a gleeful shout. "Nobody!"
Grimmjow raised his sword to block, surprised by how hard it hit. The shock numbed his arm and rattled his teeth, glancing off Pantera's edge to slam into the reiatsu backing that attack destroyed the wall and a few behind it in nothing but a reckless surge of power.
Grimmjow took advantage of his weaponless opponent, slipping into sonido to attack his injured side. The hollow spun out of the way, reeling in his sword with a jerk of his arm. Grimmjow slashed again, and the hollow used the fucking cloth to wrap around his arm, keeping him close.
Without another fucking arm, he wasn't strong enough to break that hold without effort. Grimmjow twisted his wrist and twisted, stopping the returning blade from slicing him in half. It glanced off Pantera's edge but still cut a deep slash through his thigh. He jerked free, turning his attention back on the hollow in time for the hollow to get his sword back in hand, a crazed grin on his face.
Black reiatsu razed the edge and Grimmjow felt a surge of panic. He couldn't take an attack like that point blank in the face, not outside resurreccion, and one arm wasn't going to be enough to hold that back.
Grimmjow threw his arm up and charged a slapdash cero. It would have been too late if the hollow wasn't greedy in charging his power. Grimmjow fired his cero directly into his downwards slash. Their reiatsu clashed and was thrown straight up in a vortex, but it still hurt like a bitch to have a bomb blow up in his face. He'd been hit with a getsuga once before, but point blank wasn't a fucking joke.
He was hurled back, heels sliding on the ground as he struggled to regain his balance. A hand clamped down on his shoulder stopping him short from being thrown straight into the wall. Gin chuckled, stepping around him to stand between him and Kurosaki. He drew his Zanpakuto and said, "Tap out, it's my turn."
Catching himself before he fell, Grimmjow squinted past the blood that ran into his eye. He could feel the damage that attack had done, but his eyes were still plastered onto Kurosaki. A hollow hole was spreading in his chest, and the fragments of a mask were growing just as quickly as his grip on sanity slipped.
The hollow howled, he and Gin flickering through a rapid exchange of attacks, with Kurosaki's actions growing increasingly animalistic. Grimmjow had half a mind to ignore Gin's order to hang back. He was surprised, but this is the fight he'd wanted, the fight he'd earned.
Grimmjow froze under the sudden crawl of reiatsu over his skin, turning to see Aizen, of all people, at his right. What in the fuck was he doing there? Aizen never took an interest in anything, he delegated orders and kept the arrancar in line, but he was just a distant presence.
The bastard watched with casual interest, commenting idly. "That was quicker than I expected. You really do bring out the best in him, Jaegerjaquez."
The best... the motherfucker planned this? Grimmjow swallowed, uncertain if he was even allowed to speak, but surely the hallway counted as informal? He didn't understand all these fucking rules. "What is he?"
Aizen's face split into one of those irritatingly knowing smiles, his eyes never leaving Kurosaki. "Something new."
-xxx-
Aizen Sousuke
Gin certainly wasn't shy about putting the Kurosaki boy in his place. Granted, the boy wasn't feeling any pain, he wasn't feeling anything at all, and it was taking serious physical harm to slow him down. Gin was being careful, but it was going to take a toll.
Such a battle of attrition seemed fitting. A shinigami's Zanpakuto didn't demand such a high price for power, those negotiations were often an understanding of self, not the strength of the soul and its ability to dominate and fight. And that was what hollows did; consume, dominate and fight.
Hollows were pitiable things, but their power couldn't be ignored, and that made them a curious subject. Cannibalistic savages that they were, they were still fascinating.
The visored were a personal project, but Kurosaki was more than that. He was inherently different than the visored, his risks were different, and far more personal. He was born, a living soul with unheard of potential. With each half of his soul poison to the other, it was a miracle he'd lived at all, especially with his hollow side suffocated.
That was a happy accident, he hadn't expected Kurosaki taicho to abandon his post for love, that hollow was intended for Isshin, not the Quincy woman. Things worked out even better than he could have hoped.
Watching the boy fight now, if he survived to maturity, he might even be strong enough to one day match him. His growth rate was unheard of; Urahara should have guarded him more closely. His hold on the boy was tenuous, but the man had never had a way with people.
A good liar, but he was too distant, and Aizen could admit, too intelligent.
When Kurosaki was hollow enough for a cero, Aizen raised a hand, and with it, a Kido shield. The hole through his heart was almost complete, he was running out of time. Red energy split around him the the arrancar beside him, clearly unhappy being sidelined and protected.
Grimmjow served his purpose, but the arrancar would only pull his punches so long before he killed Kurosaki in his enthusiasm. Cats weren't known for leaving prey alive, even a playful cat could be deadly, and this one had a personal grudge against Kurosaki. The boy wouldn't be able to kill the arrancar, even weakened, not when he was going berserk. Aizen couldn't have Kurosaki dead so soon, not when he had only just come into his power.
Kurosaki's Quincy blood was too dominating. Here in Hueco Mundo, he could truly grow into his power.
Minutes had passed, but Aizen didn't believe Kurosaki would lose this battle. It wasn't a matter of faith, but of empirical data. The process by which this boy learned and excelled was quite usually the route of greatest risk.
-xxx-
Zangetsu
Hollow
Kicking his wielder out of his own mindscape was easy when he wanted to go. Zangetsu pulled the sword from his gut, painless, and spun it around, tossing it to catch the hilt into his other hand. "Now win, King, and keep winning." His life depended on it. Ichigo was in it deep, he needed the power Ossan kept from him, and Hueco Mundo made Zangetsu strong.
He felt the glimmer of Quincy dark pressuring his power. "He's still mine, Ossan." Accepting what he was would take more than one fight, but Ichigo was one step closer to embracing his instincts, to accepting him entirely. If he could still bleed Ichigo...Trust wasn't built in a day
Ossan might take control yet, but not now. Not yet.
-xxx-
Kurosaki Ichigo
His awareness came back to him in staggered waves, his knees striking the ground with a startling jolt. His hand tightened around Zangetsu, catching himself with the blade in the ground. He was still in bankai, and every bone in his body ached. He was exhausted, but the flood of power in his bones was familiar and strong. It was steady now, and a comfort he hadn't thought he would ever have to miss. Having it back made all of this less frightening.
"Well done, Ichigo."
Ichigo looked up at Aizen from beneath his mask, eyes narrowing at the expectant smile on the shinigami's face. Distantly, he recognized Grimmjow's reiatsu, Gin's, but Aizen was the one that had his attention.
Forcing himself to stand, Ichigo staggered, and pulled Zangetsu from the ground, lifting it and staring down into the blade. A king and his horse...Zangetsu. A lust for battle...he could deny it, but that didn't mean it wasn't there. Ichigo looked back at Aizen and accused, "You knew."
Aizen's smile widened, amused that his part to play had been acknowledged. "Of course, but does a personal victory not mean more when you acquire it on your own?"
Ichigo snarled, his own voice nearly unrecognizable under the echo of his hollow. "Don't lie and say you did this for me."
"It isn't a lie, Ichigo."
Swaying on his feet, Ichigo shook off his exhaustion, noticing just how much pain he was in. He couldn't afford to pass out, not with three enemies within shouting distance.
He couldn't help but notice the only one beat the fuck up was himself and Grimmjow, but the arrancar looked ready to walk it off, despite being a bloody mess. He didn't even remember doing that.
Aizen glanced to Grimmjow and said, "You've changed your mind?"
Grimmjow shot Aizen a look of surprise. "He can barely stand up straight."
Aizen prodded. "Is that a problem? Gin can continue if you've lost interest."
Grimmjow's eyes narrowed in disapproval and he didn't answer. Striding forward, the arrancar didn't even draw his sword. Ichigo tensed, taking a staggering step back to widen his stance, raising Zangetsu before him defensively.
Regardless of how this went down, it wasn't going to be pretty. Either he got beaten to shit, or treated like he was made of glass, but both were humiliating. The thought of that was infuriating. What was the point of this? To prove he was still weak?
Grimmjow moved, and he didn't even use sonido; fucker. Ichigo tracked the arrancar's deliberately slow attack, and there was very little grace in the way he dodged. He lurched to the side, but Grimmjow threw his arm out in a backhand, hitting him with a wave of blue reiatsu.
Ichigo raised Zangetsu crosswise to block, splitting Grimmjow's reiatsu with his own. He slid back in a crouch and forced his body to move. He stepped into shunpo that was backed by the power of his bankai and his hollow side, startling Grimmjow on his armless side. The tip of his sword rested against the underside of his jaw, and Grimmjow froze, staring down at him with wide eyes.
If Grimmjow thought he wouldn't capitalize on his weakness, he was sorely mistaken, but Ichigo wouldn't kill him for it. His pride simply couldn't take any more of this. Ichigo growled, "You're not taking me seriously." And that was a mistake. So what if Grimmjow could crush him at full strength? He was sick of being toyed with.
Ichigo slowly pulled the tip of his sword back, then skipped back into shunpo, putting distance between them. He wavered on his feet, catching himself, and watched as rage darkened Grimmjow's expression. He didn't think the arrancar would like being spared.
In a burst of sonido, Grimmjow stopped holding back. It was all he could do to block, and each hit rattled his bones and strained his muscles past the point of exhaustion. Was he fighting for his life? Potentially, and he was losing just as badly as he had in Karakura.
Grimmjow kicked him in the chest, sending him flying back into a wall. Choking out a cough as the air was forced from his lungs, he hit the ground, hacking up blood. Fuck, that hurt. That last punch had cracked his mask, he could feel his power wavering.
"I didn't step aside so you could lose, King."
Ichigo hadn't thought he'd hear from his hollow. At least not so soon. 'I thought I beat you.'
"Ya didn't killme, I'm not goin' anywhere, King."
Pushing himself up, Ichigo panted for air, catching his reflection along the blade of his sword. Pale yellow. His eyes looked like his hollow's, mocking and sharp. Ichigo's weren't like that. He was afraid, he didn't want to die, but beyond that...he wanted to fight. The smell of his blood was acrid, every breath burned his lungs, and his body protested even an action as simple as sitting up.
"You dead, Kurosaki?" Grimmjow drawled.
He clenched his jaw, tightening a trembling hand around Zangetsu's hilt. He wanted to fight, his blade howled to cut, and why had he been ignoring it? He wanted it too.
The arrancar was only a foot away, lifting his foot to kick him back down. Ichigo moved, his free hand shooting up to catch his foot, stopping him short. Ichigo felt a smile flicker over his face, recalling Zangetsu's words. He wouldn't be thrown down and crushed.
Shoving Grimmjow back, Ichigo lunged, flinging his sword out with a shout. "Getsuga tensho!"
A crescent of black reiatsu arched from the blade, but Grimmjow was already wary. The arrancar twisted, dodging his attack so it only grazed his side. Ichigo didn't let up, leaning into his speed with a flurry of desperate attacks. His balance was off and he didn't bother with any sort of stance, this was nothing but a need for violence.
Ichigo forgot about Aizen, all he saw was Grimmjow, and all he felt was the burning desire to cut him. He saw the smile on Grimmjow's face, a mad look of joy he'd only seen once before.
Grimmjow went at him with reckless abandon, finally drawing his sword. Despite the furious joy Ichigo felt in the shock of Grimmjow's blade clashing against his own, he was tired, and Grimmjow wasn't.
It was only a few moments before Ichigo found himself overwhelmed. Grimmjow's reiatsu sluiced from his blade, crashing against him like a wave. The force of it threw Ichigo to his back, sliding over the ground until he was stopped by rubble.
Trembling from head to toe, Ichigo struggled to stand, gasping for breath he couldn't catch. He looked up, realizing Gin stood before him. The traitorous captain stopped Grimmjow's sword short with his hand on his wrist. "That's enough of that."
Ichigo tried to stand, coughing up another mouthful of blood. "I can still fight."
Gin glanced down at him. "Kid, yer done."
Fragments of his mask chipped and fell to the ground, dissolving into reishi. His mask shattered, his power collapsing in on itself. Gin was right, he was done.
Ichigo caught sight of Aizen smiling, and without another word, the bastard turned and walked away.
Ichigo tried to stand and failed, blood dripping from his chin to the ground in a steady patter. His vision was blurry and his limbs wouldn't obey him, but his pride snapped at him to get up.
Grimmjow watched Gin with wild eyes, and Ichigo wondered if he might argue. The moment passed, and the arrancar jerked his arm from his grip. Grimmjow tossed his sword into its sheath and shot Ichigo a sharp smile. "Not bad. Maybe next time I'll actually have fun."
Ichigo felt a sickening combination of anticipation, disappointment, and pain, but in the end, pain won out, and darkness crept in on the edge of his sight. "Shit." He collapsed, his hand still tight around Zangetsu's hilt. He fought to stay conscious, but his body had other plans, and darkness pulled him under.
-xxx-
Ossan has pulled Ichigo into his inner world before, so I can only assume his hollow can too. In my opinion, Inemuri really just knocked him out so that could occur and he'd stop running, so there's my logic for that.
Rankings
Aizen Sousuke
Kaname Tōsen & Gin Ichimaru
Espada
0: Yammy Llargo
1: Coyote Starrk & Lilynette Gingerbuck
2: Baraggan Louisenbairn
3: Tier Harribel (former: Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck)
4: Ulquiorra Cifer
5: Nnoitra Gilga
6: Luppi Antenor (former: Grimmjow)
7: Zommari Rureaux
8: Szayelaporro Granz
9: Aaroniero Arruruerie