I have some advice: Never ever work the toys department at Walmart in the middle of pool season and expect to have a brain when you get home. It just doesn't work. At least it's not as bad as Christmas...
This chapter is dedicated to my very own Ichigo. She turns 18 today, so to celebrate her entrance into the world of adulthood (and legal age for all sorts of... interesting... stuff), I have given her this chapter as a gift. And no, it's not smut. Yet...
(She is laughing maniacally in the background... plotting... things. I am too afraid to ask what.)
xx
"Liar!" Rukia yells, reaching back and grabbing his hand, forcing it off her neck and digging her thumbs into the tender flesh of his wrist. Surprised, he jerks his hand away, and she takes advantage of his distraction to aim her elbow at his solar plexus. This time, she succeeds; the hollow drops, gasping for breath, and she rips herself free from his other arm. Darting to the side, she grabs Shirayuki from the ground where the hollow had thrown it and takes her stance, holding her sword ready. I will save you, Ichigo.
I will save you.
xx
It's dark.
Ichigo awakens slowly, his mind fogged and movements slow. He sits up carefully, one hand supporting his body, the other holding his head as pain lances through it. Biting his lip, he searches his mind, trying to remember what happened. He remembers coming home from school, doing his history homework in his room, eating omuraisu with Karin and Yuzu and Rukia...
Rukia.
What happened with Rukia?
He closes his eyes, straining to remember, then jumps as he hears a voice behind him. Wincing in renewed pain, he stands carefully and turns to face the person who is speaking. His gaze travels up the long, tattered cloak, coming to rest on an all-too-familiar face, perceptive eyes hidden behind dark lenses.
"So, you've finally awakened, Ichigo."
His eyes narrow briefly in recognition. "Ossan," he says.
The old man standing before him nods in acknowledgment, then looks down, concern on his features. "Have you remembered yet, Ichigo?"
Ichigo stares at him, beginning to feel slightly afraid. "Remembered... what?" he asks, glancing around at his surroundings. The inside of his mind looks the same as always, the sideways buildings and the falling clouds. But as he looks around, he can't help the growing feeling that something is out of place.
And then he notices that the clouds are growing black, and red lightning is beginning to play around their edges. And he realizes what is missing.
"Where... is the hollow?" he asks, turning back to Zangetsu. But the old man is gone as if he had never been there.
Ichigo mutters something about "stupid, mysterious, vanishing old geezers" as he looks back at the sky. The clouds are darker now, the lightning stronger. As he gazes at them, a fleeting memory flashes across his senses.
Rukia raises her sword as the hollow roars in pain, and she smirks as it begins to charge. Her lips move as she begins to speak her command phrase.
"Mae, Sode no Shirayuki!"
The memory is gone as quickly as it came, leaving behind a sensation of something important that he has forgotten. He squints, searching his mind for something-anything-else that can help him figure out what has happened.
Rukia yells at him, but he doesn't catch the words as the Arrancar's arm catches him, and he sees the pavement spin past as he falls. His head hits the curb...
Ichigo clutches at his hair. The memory is close, so close he can almost see it, but it just won't come. He growls in frustration, dropping to his knees and pounding his fist on the window beneath him. And then he stops, an idea coming to him.
This is my mind. I just have to look for what I need.
Leaning forward, he peers in the window he was attacking. A picture forms: He is in the park with Karin and Yuzu, pushing the girls on the swings. He can't be more than twelve years old.
He turns away, excited at this success. All he has to do now is find the right window, and it should show him all he needs to see.
He jumps off the building, heading toward a building that looks familiar. He remembers the flagpole on this one; Zangetsu was standing on it the first time they met. Hopefully, it will be closer to the present, closer to the memory he needs.
He reaches the flagpole and looks into the closest window. Sure enough, the memory here is fairly recent: He is sitting in class, and Rukia is there as well, doodling in her sketchbook and ignoring Ochi-sensei. Grinning, he starts to head to a window several feet away, but a quiet sound behind him makes him stop in his tracks.
"-go!"
He turns, frowning in confusion as he heads toward the voice. It sounds like...
"Ichigo!"
Rukia's voice is growing louder as he reaches the edge of the building. He catches a glimpse of movement to the side, and looks over.
And he gasps in horror at what he sees.
On the vertical ground beside him is the mirrored pool that he remembers from his first sojurn into this world. Back then, as he had been falling toward it, the pool had only reflected the sky. Now, things have changed, presenting a view that makes his heart drop, as if he once again plummets to his destruction.
The picture on the water shows Rukia standing on a deserted street, and Ichigo with his arms around her. As he watches, the Ichigo in the picture slides his hand across Rukia's stomach, leaning in to gently bite her ear. And Rukia flinches away, fear in her eyes as the not-Ichigo begins to laugh.
His eyes are dark, with yellow irises, and Ichigo realizes why the hollow is no longer in his mind.
The hollow is in his body.
xx
The hollow can feel the King much more strongly now, testing the barriers that have been set in place against his return. But the hollow is determined that the King will not break free. At least not until it's too late.
Smiling in anticipation, he turns his attention back to the girl. Now that the King is awake, it is time for him to break her. Because once he has done that, the King will never be able to regain control.
He brings up his sword, and prepares his attack.
xx
Ichigo runs toward the pool, pictures playing across its surface like an enormous movie screen. Rukia, hissing words of defiance at the hollow. Rukia, gasping for air. Rukia, who is in danger, once again, because Ichigo was too weak to save her.
Just like before, when all he could do was lie in the rain and watch her walk calmly to her death for him.
But he is determined that this time, things will turn out different. This time, he'll be able to save her.
He has to save her.
Ichigo reaches the pool, the pictures within so close and so lifelike that he feels as if he can reach out and touch them. But when he tries, his hand meets a stinging, shimmering wall that blocks the way back to reality. Instinctively, Ichigo knows that this is the hollow's doing. He takes a deep breath, steeling himself, then pulls his sword and stabs it into the wall.
He turns her head to the side, leaning in and slowly, gently licking the blood from the cut on her cheek. Her body stiffens as he lets out a low moan...
Ichigo gasps and yanks Zangetsu out of the wall, breathing raggedly as his mind frantically attempts to process what he has just experienced. The feelings of her body pressed against his, her breath against his arm, her blood on his tongue, all crash across him like waves. For a moment, he sees the girl as the hollow does; not as a constant friend and companion, but as a tool, a toy to be used for his own amusement. To the hollow, she is just the means to an end, the key to finally defeating the King once and for all.
Ichigo drops to his knees, struggling to regain his sense of self as the alien thoughts and feelings fade, leaving behind only a faint, lingering hunger and the taste of blood.
Pulling himself back together, Ichigo stands and prepares himself to fight. The hollow's trap has only strengthened his resolve to save Rukia, just as he saved her from the Soukyoku. Gathering his energy, he lashes out against the barrier, screaming her name like a battle cry.
"Rukia!"
xx
I think the voices in my head have already written this story and are now dictating it to me, because none of this is turning out how I expected it to. I just wish I knew what they were planning next... I'm almost afraid to ask...
Well, here's hoping they'll let me update again sooner this time.
(Note: This fic is 99 Ichigo-approved.)