The hollow passed out within the hour, leaving Kisuke practically holding his breath to see which personality would emerge next. Fortunately, the hollow had finally spent all of the espadas' reiatsu and was content to remain unconscious, leaving Ichigo in charge of his own body once again. It took him several long minutes to gather the courage to open his eyes after being forced back to the forefront of his consciousness, and when he did, he had to blink a few times to clear his vision.
"Ah, good, you're back," the shopkeeper greeted in a neutral tone.
Ichigo, though worn, felt panic shoot up his spine. "Uh, yeah, I guess I am," he muttered as he realized he was still bound.
"How do you feel?" the older man asked in a clinical voice.
The teen averted his eyes from the approaching figure. "Like shit," was his bitter reply.
"I mean physically," Kisuke corrected. "Is your episode over?"
He took a moment to stop and think about that before replying. "Yeah, it's over. Whatever this thing is," he moved his hips a little for emphasis, "it did the trick."
The shopkeeper gave a nod of approval and removed the device from the young man's groin. Then, he turned to leave, "I have a few phone calls to make. I'll return shortly to check on you."
"Wait! The hollow's gone! He's not coming back! You can untie me!" Ichigo began to rave.
"The hollow may be gone, but I'm not prepared to let you go just yet. Please, be patient with me," he requested before leaving and shutting the door behind him. What he had to do now had the potential to be far more difficult than dealing with the vizard's hollow personality.
Once alone, Ichigo tested his bindings, knowing in his heart that he wouldn't be able to break them. Then, he sagged limp against the soft bed wishing that he'd been cleaned up a little better and maybe redressed before being abandoned. But those thoughts didn't last long because his real trouble wasted no time in practically slapping him in the face. How was he ever going to face Shinji or Kon again? The answer was, he wasn't going to face them again. With any luck, he'd be able to leave them alone, let them heal without throwing salt on the wound by trying to apologize. Maybe someday, they would be able to forgive him. Though, he knew he'd never just be Ichigo to either of them again.
His stomach turned when he realized that Shinji, at least, wouldn't let him do that. The blonde vizard would no doubt want to hash things out, try to make him feel like everything was okay, when it clearly wasn't. He would have to break things off, not realizing that thought made him start to cry. When Shinji told him all those long months ago that their relationship wouldn't last forever, he didn't want to believe him. He'd finally found somebody who understood what he was going through, who could sympathize with him. Now that was ruined. Even if Shinji said he could forgive him, he would never be able to forgive himself.
Then there was Kon, the mod soul who had taken so much abuse from him in the past and now this. Sure, he'd been abusive to his roommate on occasion but anymore, it was more in good fun than out of genuine frustration. Actually, they had started to get along a lot better once Kon started staying at Urahara's a couple nights a week because it kept them from spending too much time together. Now Ichigo wouldn't be able to look at him without the painful and disjointed memory of the hurt he'd caused.
He tried to scold the hollow, berate him for behaving the way he did. Even if it'd wanted rough sex, both Shinji and Kon would have willingly obliged. But no, the demon had to make it real punishment, the kind that whited out a person's vision, caused genuine screams of and anguish, and made his victims hate themselves as well as him. However, his darker self was sufficiently and pleasantly unconscious, more than pleased with his exploits.
Ichigo had just decided that when Kisuke returned, he would thank him for the rescue. Being submissive to his hollow half had been unbearable and he was grateful that someone had been able to finally put an end to it. But the shopkeeper was on the phone when he returned, giving vague responses to the person on the other side before quickly agreeing to see them soon.
"You're still awake," the blond noted as he approached, slipping his phone into his pocket.
"Uh, yeah, I wanted to thank you for rescuing me. I can't believe I let that happen," the teen deprecated.
"It was an easy mistake to make. I can understand how you'd be worried about giving back any of the intense energy you were receiving from that arancar," he eased carefully but when Ichigo breathed a sigh of relief, he continued. "What I can't understand is why you didn't re-assume control when I gave you the opportunity to earlier."
The room grew very quite as Ichigo looked away. "I-I was scared, afraid to face anybody," he admitted after a long moment. "Kisuke, how am I ever going to face Shinji or Kon again?"
"I've already taken care of that for you," the older man chided as he inspected the vizard's restraints.
"How could you-?" Ichigo tried to fathom what could have been said or done in such a short time that things might be better.
"I was just on the phone with Kon. He and Shinji are on their way over right now, so you don't have to worry about avoiding them or anything like that," he elaborated.
"What?" the vizard suddenly panicked and started pulling on his restraints. "You had no right to do that! Let me go!"
"Perhaps after you speak with them, you will thank me again," the shopkeeper chided.
"You can't do this! Not just for me, but Shinji too! He's not supposed to be near me at all right now!" he continued to argue.
"I'm afraid that the damages you caused will only get worse if you put this off. I realize that seeing you like this will make him a little out of it, but you need to talk about this before it has a chance to fester," he assured.
Ichigo continued to fruitlessly argue until his two victims arrived and were escorted back to where he was being kept.
When they entered the strange extra room, Shinji immediately turned on heal and walked right back out.
"Damn you, Kisuke! Couldn't you have at least dressed him? Are you trying to make this even more difficult than it already is?" Ichigo heard his boyfriend rave as he watched Kon slowly approach the bed, his brows furrowed and a contemplative set in his jaw.
"I-I am so sorry-" the teen tried to apologize but was cut off.
"Shut up for a minute," Kon quietly requested as he took the liberty of trying to make the young man as decent as possible. "I didn't know it wasn't you," he said as he finished tying the white sash. "Only after Kisuke came did I realize that it was the hollow. I was so stupid to let him trick me like that," he muttered. "I know you'd never do anything like that."
Ichigo felt his stomach turn. "Don't say stuff like that. It was my fault."
Just as Kon was about to protest, Shinji, seeing that his boyfriend was now dressed even if he was still incapacitated on a luxuriously comfortable bed, intrupted. "Damn right it is! How could you do that with one of them?" he spat from across the room,
"I was stupid, okay? I waited too long and then Grimmjaw approached me. I tried to get away from him, at first, but he was so persistent...my hormones got the better of me. I couldn't resist," the teen shamefully replied. "Wait, that's why you're mad?"
"Everything after that was my fault," Shinji informed curtly. "I know you wanted revenge, but none of that would have happened if you hadn't screwed around with that arancar."
A deep frown set on Ichigo's mouth at those words. "None of that was your fault," he argued. "I should have been stronger...and smarter. Then it wouldn't have taken control, or if it did, I would have been able to push it back again."
The blonde vizard gave a placating smile in response. "You think you're so special and you are, but not as special as you think. We've all had our hollow side come out like that."
"Really?" Kon gasped lightly, finally pulling his eyes from the teen to look at the man still standing in the doorway.
"Some more than others and only within the first few years," Shinji replied clinically.
"So you knew this would happen?" Ichigo accused.
"Not at all. Actually, I happen to think you're pretty special too, so I was sort of hoping it wouldn't happen to you. I guess we're not so different after all," he mused, finally letting himself smile.
Ichigo's stomach sank again. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. He liked the idea that he had more in common with his boyfriend than he'd originally estimated, but he wished it was something else. Finally, he shook his head. "Okay, well, I guess I'm not a total failure then."
"Good. Now, can I go?" Shinji impatiently prompted. He was trying to fidget too much and was avoiding actually looking at his boyfriend.
There was a long awkward silence before Ichigo spoke. "Uh, yeah, one more thing, though, okay?"
Shinji winced a little and nodded. "Sure, what is it?"
"I don't think we should see each other anymore," the teen replied as resolutely as he could manage.
"Yeah, it's gunna be forever before we can even hang out again," the blonde vizard almost laughed.
"No, I mean..." Ichigo trailed off. He'd never had to do anything like this before.
Shinji's heart nearly stopped. "You mean...?" he prompted in a slightly strangled voice.
"Ichigo," Kisuke cautiously interrupted, giving a look that urged the teen to carefully consider what he said next.
"I mean at all," the young man reluctantly elaborated.
"You're breaking up with me?" Shinji asked skeptically.
"I-I guess so," Ichigo weakly confirmed.
The blonde vizard scoffed. "No, you're not. If someone should be doing the breaking up here, it should be me, and I'm not letting you off the hook that easily."
"Which is why I have to do it. You're not thinking straight right now," the teen argued a little more confidently than he expected.
Shinji's expression suddenly turned from tense amusement to outright anger. "We'll see," he turned on heal and stormed off.
Kisuke shook his head in exasperation while Kon stared on in shock.
"If I knew that's what you were going to do, I wouldn't have let you talk to him," the shopkeeper scolded.
"What were you thinking?" Kon questioned harshly when he turned back to the prone teen.
"It had to be done," Ichigo vowed. "And as for you, we need to find a better arrangement. You can't live like this forever. Kisuke," he turned to the shopkeeper. "You could make a faux body for Kon, right? So he doesn't have to rely on me to have a life?" he proposed.
"Then who would take care of your body and family?" Kon interjected.
"I'll worry about all that. It shouldn't be your responsibility," the teen argued. "Now, I'd really like it if you untied me. I should probably get home before someone notices how long I've been gone."
Kisuke wasn't quite ready to release his young friend, but at this point, he had little choice. "Fine. I just hope you can live with what you've just done."
"This is my way of making sure none of that happens again," Ichigo spat.
The shopkeeper gave up on arguing. It had been a long night and what was done was done. He only hoped that he'd successfully minimized the damages.
As he left, Ichigo was so caught up in his own thoughts that he'd just stepped onto the sidewalk when he realized that Kon was following him. With a sigh, he turned to face the mod soul but didn't quite manage eye contact.
"I should probably take my body back," the teen proposed in a quite voice.
Kon frowned. "Probably but I know what's going to happen to me after that and I don't wanna get shoved in your pocket right now," he replied a little more bitterly than he intended. "Get me my plushy and then I'll give your body back."
Ichigo tried not to grumble. Before last night, he would have just taken it back by force, now just the idea of that nearly made him sick. "Fine," he agreed.
The mod soul followed the young vizard until they were about a block away from his home, at which point he wanted while Ichigo snuck inside and got plush lion in order to properly make the exchange.
Then, to the teen's surprise, Kon hopped up onto his shoulder when he started to head back.
"Are you sure you don't want to go back to Kisuke's for the night?" Ichigo carefully proposed.
"I'm a guest at his house. Right now, I just want to go home," he resolutely replied.
"Oh..." the young man replied with a sigh before sneaking back inside. He was so tired that he only changed into a pair of pajama pants because his clothes were so dirty.