((Brand new chapter, now Ichigo-centric to clear up some things that made no sense in chapter four. Many, many thanks to AlleluiaElizabeth for helping me with seeing a few problems.))


Ah, this was the life. The life!

Ichigo ran along the white corridors of Las Noches, Nel at his heels. Ugh, the damn kid was annoying! He just wanted to punt it down one of these hallways. But he couldn't do that…no…he had to at least pretend to be Ichigo. Oh, how his friends would lament if they found out that the real Ichigo had been lost a long, long time ago.

Funny. Very funny how a soul works when it's going under the stress of constantly leaving and reentering the living body, containing explosive and frankly unstable reiatsu and having a hollow inside of it, all at the same time. Not to mention that Ichigo had been young when all of this fell on him. Fifteen. A band of ex-shinigami centuries older than Ichigo had had enough trouble with their hollows, and they had years of experience and control!

That's what gave him the opportunity.

It had been the reason Ichigo left. Ichigo left in the first place without attempting a rescue back then because of his own hollow troubles; he could feel that his soul was in danger, and so he distanced himself from his friends to protect them. Poor, poor Ichigo Kurosaki. He was engulfed in his own black fire, and reborn anew.

'That's why the hollow's the king now, baby!' Hichigo thought with a slight smile. He was good enough at putting on the act for Ichigo, and his dear Rukia-chan was good enough at hiding bruises so that a rain of fluttery pink sword petals didn't mince her precious boyfriend. Besides, he knew not to hit her face or anything. That's just stupid; only wife beaters hit their women in the face. The hollow usually just left bruises in places where Rukia-chan's blue-blooded brother wouldn't be looking.

Wouldn't be looking if he wasn't a freak, anyway.

Hichigo wasn't a wife beater. Rukia wasn't his wife, she was his…what was she? Girlfriend? No, that sounded too high school-ish. Lover sounded too romantic.

Cumdumpster!! That was the word he was looking for. Yes, Hichigo considered Rukia his cute little cumdumpster. But she was getting smarter, which was a shame. Too singular, too outspoken a girl for him. He needed someone that would just fawn over him, someone that would do anything he wanted.

And that was his Orihime-chan.

Hichigo had been living the life, out there in Kyoto. Booze, bimbos, and all the parties he could handle in Ichigo's human body. But he was tired of bimbos. They were there one night and then they were gone, sometimes with his wallet. He wanted someone that would get his stuff out for him, clean the apartment and do the laundry and make dinner and other stuff Hichigo didn't feel like doing…ever, tend to him when he was hung over, and most of all, not steal his fucking wallet while he was passed out on a billiards table or something.

From what he remembered of Orihime, she was exactly the girl to do that for him. He just had to keep up the image of her Ichigo enough so that she wouldn't leave. All he'd have to do was throw her a bone every now and then, maybe sitting with her somewhere and telling her how pretty she was. Or some kind of shit like that, Hichigo didn't particularly know much about being romantic. Maybe he could watch Lifetime or something, get a feel for how…wait, Lifetime was the channel with all the movies about husbands beating their wives. Ironic.

Oh yeah, now and then Ichigo would act up. Poor kid was still barely conscious somewhere deep inside his own soul, attempting to break free and stop Hichigo from abusing Rukia or carrying out any of his plans with Orihime. They could talk to each other like they did back when Ichigo was in control, and Hichigo narrated all of his plans to Ichigo and told him (in painful detail) about what he was going to do to Orihime when he got a hold of her.

It was funny!

Hichigo liked most of Ichigo's friends, in that 'You'd be fun to kill' kind of way. That Tatsuki sure had a mouth on her. He would've appreciated it, if he hadn't have found her insufferable. Hichigo was the dominant one; he made sure that he was. Tatsuki was too outspoken for his tastes, and maybe it was Rukia that was making her like that. Or Ishida. It could be Ishida doing it instead. Whenever Hichigo needed to blame someone for what was usually his own screw up, he'd just blame it on Ishida influencing the universe to make his life shit. It worked real well. Damn Ishida.

Now, once he got his Orihime-chan, he'd need to get rid of his Rukia-chan. And just dumping her wasn't an option; she'd blab to her 'honorable older brother' and Byakuya Kuchiki would personally come and turn him into a smear on the ground. Ichigo kicked his ass once, but Hichigo wasn't too sure that he wanted to mess with lots of little fluttery deadly objects spinning around his face. Seemed like too much trouble. And then there would be the problem of Abarai to deal with.

Well, he would just have to kill both Renji and Rukia while they were here.

Kill off Rukia so she didn't tell their dirty little secret, and kill Renji because Hichigo just didn't like Renji moving in on what was currently still his territory. Didn't appreciate it one little bit. Wouldn't be a stretch to say that they were killed in combat with an Arrancar or Espada or some shit, and all Hichigo had to do was kill them and leave. That was it. So easy. He had come to Hueco Mundo for those two objectives; kill Rukia and get Orihime. Damn Soul Society made it hard enough to carry out though.

Hichigo took control not long after Orihime was kidnapped. But when he got good at playing the part of Ichigo, Seireitei banned all forms of travel to Hueco Mundo and Kisuke Urahara was put under twenty-four seven surveillance, rendering him unable to set up a Gargantua. Unable to carry out a rescue mission, the various members of the old gang went on with their lives and waited for the time when they could get Orihime back.

They may have missed their friend, but life wouldn't stop just for Orihime Inoue.

They went about their lives, planning for their futures. Over time, it was easier and easier to put the thought of Hueco Mundo and Orihime Inoue entirely out of their minds. When they finally got the time, when Aizen began making more attacks on Japan with his hollows and all available shinigami were called out (including Urahara's guards), Hichigo went back to Karakura and set up with Urahara, getting a Gargantua whipped up while Hichigo called back all their friends. Ishida was honoring some sort of agreement with his father or some shit and gone to medical school, but he got a break and made it back. Tatsuki put her job on hold and was the very first back. Keigo got the call and skipped law school to come back, telling them it was bereavement. Renji and Rukia didn't ask for leave at all and just showed up at the Shoten, stating that they were going too. Hichigo was waiting for them all, waiting with Ichigo's smile and a dark purpose in his heart.

Ichigo didn't take the chance to get her back five years ago, and he paid for it. Dearly.

'Well, that's what happens when you're selfish.' Hichigo thought to himself, not giving a second thought of the hypocrisy in that mental statement coming from someone like him. That, or the fact that he himself was the cause of Ichigo's departure. He heard Ichigo in the back of his head as they turned a corner, shouting at him.

'Don't you do it, you bastard!' Ichigo shouted from where he was chained down in his inner world, trapped there for so long. The sharp, insane and terrifying laughter echoed through his inner world, as Hichigo laughed at the former King.

'Aw, Pony boy, don't be like that. You should be happy! I'm going to make Orihime think you're as much of a Romeo as she used to think you were. It'll be just. Like. Rukia.'

Ichigo screamed obscenities towards the sky, and only heard phantom chuckles before he tired out again and went silent. Hichigo continued on his way, set on grabbing Orihime, castrating Abarai and then slitting Rukia open as he shrieked in laughter like the hollow he was, watching her bleed out and all her organs fall out. Maybe he'd get to rip them out by hand, watch her stare on in terror.

Fuck, maybe they'd share a lovely bloody kiss before she went.

((Short chapter, but I'm working hard on set-up before the big meeting happens. Thanks again for reading, you guys.))