A/N: Reviews are appreciated from everyone! Thank you! So basically, another development happens here and some interesting info and I can't think of any other way to describe this chapter. Oh! I know! It's really long! Yeah! I would have had this up yesterday, but my two older brothers decided to take me out for my birthday a week early. Yeah, I guess they do love me! They mostly did it because my birthday is on Mother's day this year. I know that really sucks. Damn. So, sorry for the delay.
Side Note! Okay, I'm naming this chapter after the song "What I've Done" by Linkin Park. Usually I wouldn't put the lyrics in the song unless it's being sung, but I really want to give you a feel for the chapter, so I might keep doing that. I want you to read it and think of Ichigo, mostly at the end of this chapter when Ichigo's dealing with his "new issues". You know what, listened to this song too, because it's sick. Lots of you are probably gonna skip the lyrics because you don't care, but please. I try to think of the perfect songs that will describe each chapter and then name it that, so there is some creativeness going on there! I don't want that to be totally ignored! Anyway, enough with me complaining or whining. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Damn disclaimer…
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Chapter 5: What I've Done
In this farewell,
There is no blood,
There is no alibi,
Cause I've drawn regret,
From the truth,
Of a thousands lies,
So let mercy come and wash away…
What I've Done,
I'll face myself,
To cross out what I've become,
Erase myself,
And let go of what I've done…
Put to rest,
What you thought of me
While, I clean this slate,
With the hands,
Of uncertainty,
So let mercy come,
And wash away…
What I've Done,
I'll face myself,
To cross out what I've become,
Erase myself,
And let go of what I've done…
For what I've done,
I start again,
And whatever pain may come,
Today this ends,
I'm forgiving what I've done…
I'll face myself,
To cross out what I've become,
Erase myself,
And let go of what I've done…
He woke up exhausted. He turned to the clock to find it was three o'clock in the afternoon. 'How the hell did I manage to sleep this late?! Why didn't anyone wake me up?!'
He stood up fast and immediately grabbed the desk near his bed side due to the sudden dizziness that came over him. He slowly made his way out the door and down the stairs, only to be welcomed by Yuzu cooking at the stove.
"Hey Ichigo! Sleep well? You should have, considering you slept so late," Yuzu said turning around from stirring a pot.
"Hey. Yeah, I actually don't feel as rested as I hoped. I'm kinda dizzy, and I feel exhausted," Ichigo said leaning against the kitchen wall.
Yuzu frowned, "Maybe you should have dad take a look at you. You could be coming down with something."
He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall, "Yeah, maybe I should."
Karin came walking in, "Yuzu. The woman with the broken arm needs a thorough check-up. I have to go out to get more supplies. You know how dad's too irresponsible to remember to do that sort of thing. Oh, hey Ichigo."
He gave her a nod. Yuzu just nodded as well in understanding. Karin walked over and picked up a carrot sitting on the counter from where Yuzu was cooking. She starting chewing and then suddenly remembered. "Oh Ichigo! Rukia came by earlier."
"What?! Why didn't you wake me?!" he shouted bouncing up from against the wall.
"Chill out! She came and when Yuzu told her you were still sleeping she said not to wake you. Something about a call she got on her way here, saying she had an urgent meeting. She said to wish you well," Karin said with no emotion.
"Oh. Alright," Ichigo said disappointedly.
Karin then gave her full attention to him. "By the way, I wanted to ask you something."
He raised an eyebrow, "Okay…?"
"Don't you notice that Rukia is-" she was cut off with Isshin delivering a drop kick to Ichigo's side.
"Morning, son! You're losing your focus!" Isshin said smiling, standing next to his son on the floor with his hands on his hips.
"God damn it, old man! Can't you just say good morning like a normal father? Now I remember why I moved out so fast," Ichigo said standing up, rubbing his side.
Yuzu spoke up, "Ichigo isn't feeling well today, dad."
"Oh really? Is that your excuse? Back in the day, I had a broken leg, a sprained wrist, and a concussion. The day after I got all that I was about to get mugged. But you know what your father did?" Isshin said proudly.
The three children replied in a monotone voice simultaneously, "You beat him with your crutch and threw him through a car windshield."
"See! That didn't stop me from kicking the living hell out of him!" Isshin said excitedly.
Karin rolled her eyes, "Yeah, but you managed to trip over your crutch after that and hit your head on a fire hydrant causing another concussion."
He frowned, "Who told you that! I never told you that!" He walked over to the kitchen table and sat down with tears in his eyes from humiliation.
Ichigo's phone beeped. "Oh shit! I forgot I had to work today! I'm three hours late!" He ran to get his shoes. As he was putting them on he looked up at Karin, "Oh, what were you saying before? Did I notice what about Rukia?"
"Oh, I was going to ask if you knew-"
"How beautiful she is!" Isshin said popping up from his chair, wrapping an arm around Karin's shoulders. She looked at him, raising her eyebrow in confusion.
Ichigo stood up, "Umm, yeah, well," he said rubbing the back of his neck in discomfort. "I have to go. I'll see you later." He walked out the door in a flash.
"Dad! What the hell was that about?" Karin said shoving his arm off her.
"He has to remember on his own," Isshin said looking her in the eyes with a serious tone.
Her eyes widened. "Dad, you know too?"
"I never forgot."
Ichigo flew into his apartment. "Shit! Ishida's gonna have my ass for being late." He flew into his bathroom and took a quick shower. He stood at the mirror with his towel wrapped around his waist. He started to do his hair when he felt dizzy again and fell to his knee, clutching the counter. He slid further and was then lying on his back. Then, darkness over came him.
"Alright, I'm here. What's the emergency?" Rukia said entering her apartment.
Renji was leaning against the living room wall with his arms crossed, "Just get in here and sit down."
She walked in and sat on the couch next to Momo, who was next to Toushirou, "What the hell is your problem? I got here as fast as I could!"
Shuuhei replied sitting in a chair with Rangiku sitting on the arm of it, "Don't pay attention to him. He's just have trouble winning over Tatsuki, so he's taking it out on everyone else."
Rukia raised her eyebrows and smirked, "Tatsuki? Isn't she the waiter from the other night?"
Toushirou replied leaning back on the couch, putting his hands behind his head, "Yep."
Renji snarled, "Shut the hell up!"
Byakuya and Unohana walked into the room then. "Oh, Rukia! God now we can get started," Unohana said, followed by Yoruichi and Urahara.
Urahara stood in the middle of the room, "Okay. My darling, Yoruichi, and I have been investigating this hollow case. We came across something quite interesting. We took into account where each hollow has appeared every night, and surprisingly enough, it's been making a pattern. Yoruichi, my dear?"
She walked over to him from leaning against the wall, rolling her eyes. She unrolled a map of the town and tacked it to the wall.
"Thank you, precious," he said pulling out a pointer. "This is obviously a map of Karakura Town. We have marked all the locations a hollow has been appearing for the past few weeks. As you can see, if you connect the lines between each appearance, it makes a sort of apple shape and then moves in a zigzag line and moves in another apple shape," he explained.
"Seems more like a peach shape to me," Momo replied.
"Really? I was thinking a plum," Toushirou said.
"A plum? No, no, no. It's definitely an orange," Rangiku interrupted.
"You're all wrong. It's a tomato," Renji intervened.
"You would say that, Tomato-head," Shuuhei teased him with a smirk.
Renji's fists clenched, but Byakuya was seen rolling his eyes as Unohana stroked his hand to calm him down from using bankai on them all, right then and there.
"Can we get back on track, please?" Yoruichi said in more of a threat than a request.
Urahara nodded as everyone quieted down again. "So, according to this pattern, it just finished its 'fruit-shape' and will go into a zigzag now. The only problem is we don't know if it will start going up on the zigzag or down. So we know it will either appear here or here tonight," he said pointing to the approximate places on the map.
Byakuya continued for him, "So tonight we will split into two groups and wait at these spots until the hollow appears. We will not kill it though. Our goal right now is to find out what's killing them. We will wait and watch to see what it is. That's the plan. Everyone understand?"
Everyone either said yes or nodded in reply. "For now, someone has to go pick up our dinner. We ordered out for everyone," Shuuhei said, with Rangiku nodded next to him.
Rangiku smiled, "And I only think it's fair that Rukia goes, considering she made us all wait here for her to return."
"Thanks a lot," Rukia said standing and huffing, knowing she wouldn't be able to get out of this one.
"Hey, I'll come with you," Renji said grabbing the keys to the rented car.
They were outside now near the car. Rukia smiled devilishly at him. "You would come, wouldn't you? I've never seen you try so hard to get a girl to fall for you."
"I did once, but that was after I realized she was too short and had the attitude of a stubborn mule," he replied smiling.
She opened her mouth and glared, knowing he was referring to the time before she let him down easy, saying she didn't love him like that. "Hey, there's no need to be mean about it! Maybe I think its cute how hard you're trying."
"Yeah, whatever. Let's just hope she starts to think that," he said starting the car, then driving away.
Orihime walked over to Ishida at the front counter after seeing him furiously run over there and slam his fists on the computer screen. He has been the manager of the place ever since Orihime has been the head chef.
"Ishida, honey. Something borrowing you?" she said softly hugging him from behind.
His face softened from her contact. He turned around in her grasp, so he was now holding her back. "I'm just really busy tonight. I'm trying to get these payroll spread sheets filled out, but the damn computer is freezing on me. This is my third time re-doing it in the past 20 minutes. Plus I have to keep running back and forth from here to the bar because Kurosaki is an ass and hasn't come to work yet!" he said, starting off soft, but ended up yelling and gritting his teeth by the time he ended.
"He's not here yet?" She looked at the clock on the wall, "He's six hours late."
"I know! He's gonna get his ass kicked when I see him!" Ishida said yelling again.
Orihime reached up and placed her hand on his cheek. "Hey, calm down. Maybe he's late because something serious happened," she said softly.
"He better hope he got in an accident, otherwise I'm gonna put him in the hospital!" he replied.
Her face widened with a look of distress, "You don't think he's hurt do you?!"
Ishida was snapped out of his rage from the sound of Orihime's voice being afraid. He then softened. "He's probably fine. He probably just forgot he was working tonight," he said pulling her close and kissing her forehead. He placed his chin on top of her head, holding her close.
"Hey, I have a question. Did you see who was here the other day? On Ichigo's birthday?"
"Yeah. There was girl hanging around him at the bar the whole night. Surprised me, considering he always manages to scare the other ones away due to the fact he's never interested. Why?"
She pulled away and looked into his eyes. "Please tell me you knew who that girl was."
He kept eye contact, "What do you mean?"
She smiled, "It was Rukia. Tell me you remember."
He smiled back. "I thought I was the only one. Tatsuki, Chad and Keigo didn't even blink when they all walked in the other day. I didn't know what I was supposed to do. It's apparent that they were surprised to see us all working here."
"Thank god! I didn't want to be the only one to remember. I didn't want to be alone. Once I saw Rukia, everything flashed before my eyes. I ended up hugging her, but she just looked at me confused," she said with relief.
"Don't worry. You're not. I'm glad I have someone to talk to about it, but right now I have to get back to the bar though. I can see an old man at the bar eyeing me from across the room. Well, it's either that or he's eyeing you up. Either way I'm gonna go back over there and either give him a drink or punch him in the face," he said smiling.
She giggled as he leaned down and captured her lips.
"Orihime! Hurry back! Keigo came in here and is starting to eat people's meals!" Chizuru yelled from across the restaurant, at the kitchen doors.
Orihime and Ishida broke apart, "Ah! I'm coming! We'll talk later, Ishida." She gave him a kiss on the cheek and ran off as Ishida made his way to the bar.
Rukia and Renji entered the restaurant. They approached the desk and were greeted by the exact reason why Renji tagged along.
"Hey. You must really like the food here to be coming back twice in one day, Renji," Tatsuki said smirking.
"Twice in one day, huh? Wow Renji! Is that why you set you're alarm clock this morning? You never wake up early, yet you said you were going out to get breakfast…" Rukia said smirking and glaring, knowing exactly why he set his alarm now.
"Uh, yeah. I figured why waste the day away sleeping? So I decided to get breakfast. It's not that big of a deal," he said trying to keep calm and not strangle the petite girl next to him that enjoyed making his life a living hell.
"Well I guess you enjoyed those eggs this morning to want to come back," Tatsuki said.
Rukia smiled even more, "Since when do you like eggs, Renji? I remember precisely the first time I saw you try them, and let's just say they ended up being all over floor in a matter of seconds."
"That was a long time ago! People's taste buds change, you know!" Renji yelled back at Rukia, who was now laughing freely.
Tatsuki too was laughing now, "Renji, its okay. How about you guys follow me, so we can get your order?"
They nodded as they followed her to a table just outside the kitchen. "Wait here so I can go get your food. You can have a seat if you want," Tatsuki said, smiling directly at Renji. He couldn't help but stare shocked at her, with a smirk growing on his face subconsciously.
Rukia bursted out laughing again when Tatsuki disappeared through the doors.
"What is so god damn funny to you?" Renji said sitting down at the table, looking at Rukia intently.
"The fact that this girl has you totally wrapped around her finger. She might not realize that, but it's funny either way," she said leaning against the wall. He rolled his eyes at her, causing her to laugh again.
Then, Tatsuki and Orihime came walking out of the kitchen. Orihime was holding a large bag.
"I'm sorry. One of our staff, who is very idiotic thought he could just help himself to some food," Tatsuki said, shooting daggers towards Keigo who was now walking around with a bloody lip.
Orihime smiled and stepped forward. "I hope you don't mind that we just gave you another order of the chicken cutlets instead of the pork chops. Here, this is all on the house for your inconvenience," she said handing the bag to Rukia.
"No, its no problem at all and there's no need for it to be on the house. Really, its fine," Rukia replied.
Just at that moment the front doors slammed open. In came walking the late bartender, who was wearing a red long sleeve, button down dress shirt, with black dress pants and sunglasses.
He walked over to the four, after smiling at two ladies who were checking him out.
"Ichigo! Where the hell have you been?!" Tatsuki shot at him.
"Are you okay? Were you in an accident?" Orihime questioned.
"You're six hours late! Ishida gonna kick your ass for making him do your job!" Tatsuki continued.
"Woa, woa, woa. Settle down now. I came in here to get some food. Not work," he said smiling.
"Wait, you weren't in an accident?" Orihime asked again.
He walked closer to her until it was definitely to close for comfort. He placed a hand under chin, forcing her to look at him. "No, I wasn't. But thanks for worrying, sexy. Wanna join me in a meal?"
Orihime was too stunned to move. Tatsuki shouted and grabbed the arm holding Orihime's chin, "Ichigo! Are you sure you didn't hit your head on something?!"
He turned and smiled at her, "Hey, there's plenty of me to go around. You can join me too," he said wrapping his arm around her waist bringing her closer.
"What the hell are you doing?" she said trying to get free of his arm.
He chuckled, and then turned to see the two gaping at the scene in front of him. He froze when his amber eyes met her violet. He immediately let go of the other two and walked over to her. Her tight low waist jeans giving him the slightest glimpse of her stomach and hips, and her tight spaghetti strap tank top gave him a perfect image in his mind of exactly what she would look like without any of that on.
He was straight in front of her now, and he leaned the palms of his hands straight against the wall, on both sides of Rukia. He was smirking more than ever. His lips were placed about an inch away from hers as he whispered, "I would gladly give up dinner and devote the entire night to feeling every inch of your body against mine."
Rukia stuttered trying to get words out. Renji was now standing next to him and grabbed one of his arms, "You got some damn nerve to prance up to someone and touch them, not to mention verbally sexually harass someone."
Ichigo's head snapped at him. "Better let go unless you want to lose that hand," he said still smirking.
"Not unless you plan on leaving. What kind of person thinks they are so damn hot to be this cocky? Plus, it's dark outside if you didn't notice. Who the hell wears sunglasses at night?" Renji said back.
Ichigo grabbed Renji's hand twisted it and pinned him against the wall with his hand now wrapped around his throat. "I told you to let go. You'll be lucky if you can ever use that hand again now. Might just be broken, but I can make it worse."
"Ichigo, please. Let him go," Rukia said softly in his ear, as she placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Are you dating this guy or something?" he asked in an irritated tone,
"Hell no!" Rukia responded fast, not even realizing her urgency, until the words were out.
Ichigo smiled. "Good. Now let's go back to my place." He let go of Renji causing him to fall to the floor gasping for air, and holding his throbbing hand.
"Umm, you got the wrong idea from that. Just because I'm not going out with him doesn't mean I'll sleep with you!" Rukia yelled back in surprise.
He laughed, "Oh come on now," he said grabbing her waist and pushing her body directly against his. He leaned down to her ear and whispered, "I can see how much you want me by the look in your eyes."
She shivered at his breath dancing along her neck and gulped. Then she felt his hands moving further down her waist. She pushed him away. "Get your hands off my ass!" she yelled, slapping him in the face, causing his glasses to fall off.
His face was turned to the side from the force of her slap. He was now looking at Renji. As Renji's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped slightly, a smirk grew on Ichigo's face as he realized the fear growing throughout the redhead.
Renji was now staring into two black eyes with yellow in place of his amber. He was completely stunned. 'How the hell is this possible? He- He's- He can't be- We took all of his powers away! Shit! How the hell are we supposed to deal with this?! He can't be allowed loose like this!' Renji was thinking rapidly.
Ichigo walked over to Renji and bent down grabbing his sunglasses, but was in Renji's face, "See something you like?"
Renji just frowned, not daring to cause more of a scene, also because he couldn't stand against him without his zanpaktou.
Ichigo just laughed and put his glasses back on. He turned to Rukia, "Your loss." He began to walk away and noticed Keigo was staring at him. He stopped and Keigo got down on his knees, grabbing Ichigo's shirt. "Teach me!"
Ichigo raised an eyebrow and pulled him up from his collar. Keigo smiled slightly with fear growing rapidly. "Please?"
Ichigo smiled, "You're in my way." And with that said, he threw Keigo into a table four feet away. A woman with purple hair was looking at Ichigo with amused and desiring eyes. Ichigo immediately saw her after averting his gaze from Keigo unable to move from his collision. He walked over to her, smirked, wrapped his arm around her waist and said, "Let's get out of here." She nodded in anticipation and off they marched out of the restaurant.
"What the hell happened to your hand?" Toushirou asked as Renji sat down and Rukia put the food on the table.
"He probably was starting to touch the waitress in a naughty way and got his hand broken for doing it," Shuuhei said as he started to eat his burger.
"No, you ass!" Renji shot back. "This guy-"
"I rather not talk about it. It has mostly to do with me and its making me very pissed just thinking about it," Rukia interjected.
Momo piped up, "Wait, that doesn't sound good. What happened, Rukia," she said softly with concern.
"Damn guy named Ichigo is a real jerk. Putting his hands all over-" Renji answered.
"I said I didn't want to talk about it! Damn it! I'm not hungry anymore!" She marched up the stairs, and you could hear a door slam.
"Renji, what the hell happened?" Rangiku asked in concern.
"Ichigo came in looking all badass, started flirting with Tatsuki and Orihime, then saw Rukia and went straight for her. He was saying how he was going to devote the whole night to feeling her body against his. Who says that anyway?" Renji explained.
They all raised their eyebrows in response to Ichigo's supposed pick-up line. "Anyway, I tried to get him to lay off her and he ended up breaking my hand and choking me against the wall. She told him to let go and he agreed saying something about going back to his place. Well because Rukia is Rukia, she started giving attitude but then he started to touch her and then she slapped him, knocking his sunglasses off."
"This sounds so dramatic! I wish I could have seen it!" Rangiku said in excitement.
"Oh yeah? Well here's the serious part. I saw his eyes after that. They were black and yellow," he said seriously.
Byakuya spoke up now, not wanting to voice his opinion in the whole sexually harassing his sister subject, because he already planned on beating the shit out of him. But now he had a reason to not kill him. "How is he able to be in hollow form? He's supposed to have no powers whatsoever."
Everyone turned to the now vocal Byakuya. Urahara spoke up now. "Well, if this is true, it's quite possible that we have found out our hollow slayer."
Yoruichi continued for him, "Maybe we should think things through if we are correct with our assumption. Urahara, Byakuya, Unohana, how about we go talk about this?"
"What the hell? Why are we being left out?" Shuuhei asked irritated,
"Because you guys could care less about this. This has to do with coordinates for making sure we get the locations precise. If we discuss anything important we'll inform you."
They exited the room. They sat there thinking about the event explained by Renji. "I just don't understand why she's so pissed. She usually would push it aside like it was nothing. This wouldn't get to her, but I don't get it," Renji stated.
"Idiot. It's because she's falling for him! God, guys are such idiots," Momo said.
"She's what?! I didn't even know she met him – again!" Renji said surprised.
"Oh yeah, I forgot that, heh," she said sheepishly. Rangiku elbowed her.
"Why the hell didn't anyone tell me?!" Renji asked.
"Because we figured you'd let it out to Byakuya by mistake," Shuuhei replied nonchalantly.
"We just wanted her to be happy. How cruel is it to keep her away from the person she loves?" Momo said sadly.
"This is insane. We won't be able to stay here. We can't get her attached and then yank her away again. That's gonna hurt even if she doesn't remember anything." Renji reasoned.
"Well, you don't exactly make sense of your own logic! Trying to get close to Tatsuki – you're gonna have to leave sooner or later too, ya know," Shuuhei replied.
Renji huffed, "You're right. Let her be happy. I promise. I won't let Byakuya find out."
"That's why she is taking this so hard," she explained. "Because the guy she was starting to have major feelings for turned into a total jerk. It's messing with her mind, not to mention her heart," Rangiku said sadly.
"We have to make sure she doesn't see if it's really Ichigo that is killing these hollows. She can't remember like that," Shuuhei stated. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, but not like it matters right now. She just saw him walk out of the restaurant with some other woman. And from the way he was acting towards everyone tonight, he plans on getting some action," Renji said informatively.
"Shit. I guess we just have to remember that if anything happens, it wasn't Ichigo. He doesn't have control. He probably has no idea what's going on and is freaking out," Toushirou inputted.
"Hah, yeah. Try explaining that one to Rukia," Momo said crossing her arms leaning against the wall.
'Why was Ichigo such a jerk today? Did I really misjudge him? Why is this getting to me so much? Hah, I know why. Because I'm falling for him. Or at least I was. God! I hate this feeling! Is this seriously what it feels like when your heart is breaking? I'm probably overreacting. I met him only a couple of days ago. I shouldn't be this surprised. I barely know him, I guess. God this is so infuriating! What's worse is, is that he went off tonight with that other woman. Okay, from now on, I'm done. He's an asshole that doesn't deserve my tears!' She drove her head into her pillow as she lay on her bed on her stomach.
Rukia's thoughts were broken by a knock on the door. "Rukia! It's Momo and Rangiku. Can we come in?"
Rukia sat up fast and hid her bar of Cadbury chocolate under her pillow. "Yeah, come in."
The two walked in with concerned and pitied faces. They sat down on the edge of her bed. "Want to talk about it?" Rangiku questioned.
Rukia continued to pretend nothing was wrong. "Huh? What are you talking about? Talk about what?"
Momo put her hand on Rukia's shoulder, "Come on. We know by now when there is something wrong with you. Spill."
Rukia sighed and looked down to her lap. "I can't believe I'm getting so worked up over a guy. I've never been this way, except well, since…. Kaien. But this seems different in some way. I don't know, this seems so stupid and childish," she said ending with a snicker of disgust.
"No it's not stupid or childish. It's what happens when, well," Rangiku hesitated but continued, "when you fall in love." She gave Rukia a sad smile.
"Well apparently I fell in love with the wrong guy because he's a total asshole! He shoved me aside like the snow I can create from my Sode no Shirayuki!" Rukia replied raising her voice.
"Maybe he wasn't exactly," Momo looked over at Rangiku, who was staring back at her and then continued, "himself."
Rukia frowned, "How can he not be himself? That couldn't have come out of nowhere, unless he's a schizophrenic."
The two friends did a fake laugh at the same time, "Heh, heh." They were then interrupted by Toushirou knocking on the door that was left open and saying, "Hey, it's time for patrol. Let's get going." The three nodded in response.
"Rukia, Unohana, Rangiku, Toushirou will come with me, the other group will consist of Urahara, Yoruichi, Renji, Momo and Shuuhei. You know your position, so all that's left is to wait. If this is what we believe to be, we will not proceed. We will return for further plans. Dismissed." Byakuya informed.
Rangiku was sitting on the edge of a building as she leaned into Toushirou and whispered, "I hope the hollow doesn't come to our position. If it is Ichigo, how the hell are we gonna keep it hidden from Rukia if she's right next to us?"
Toushirou continued to look forward off the building, "We can't. We just have to hope we don't have to try." She sighed as she turned to see Rukia sitting a few feet away with a stern face. 'It's just like her to hide what she feels,' Rangiku thought.
"The hollow has appeared at Urahara's position. We'll wait for further information," Byakuya stated. A sudden feeling of relief was felt through the few present.
"Thank god it's here and not where they are," Momo said with relief.
"Yeah, but what's taking so long for 'it' to show up?! I don't the other group coming if it doesn't show up fast enough. Rukia healed my hand earlier and somehow it was feeling more like pain than healing. She's one angry woman right now." Renji replied.
"Byakuya doesn't plan on coming here. He's waiting there until we give him the necessary information. So be patient 'free-loader'. 'He'll' come," Urahara said with confidence.
"Stop calling me that god damn it! And how do you know it really is 'him'?" Renji fought back.
Urahara just stared straight back at him and looked away, "Just because we got rid of his powers doesn't mean we came free him of his hollow capabilities. It's him. I'm sure of it."
And as if it was by queue, in came a man dressed in a red shirt and black pants, wearing sunglasses. "Quite stylish, if you ask me," Urahara said, as Yoruichi nodded in agreement.
Ichigo walked at his own pace as the hollow eyed him up. He smirked at it and slowly took off his glasses. Then, he pulled out a red glove with a blue flame and skull on it. He then used it to go into his shinigami form.
His body lay on the side of the road as he held his zangetsu tightly in his hand. He smiled even wider as he laughed devilishly and brutally shot towards the hollow, cutting it clean in two. And just like that, he moved back into his body and walked away putting his sunglasses back on and his hands in his pocket.
"Well, I guess that confirms that," Shuuhei said breaking the silence.
"So, you guys ended up seeing what it was?" Rukia asked as they lounged in the living room discussing the night's events.
"Well, not exactly," Yoruichi said not knowing how to answer.
"We saw it being killed. It has a lot of spiritual energy and we have a vague idea of what it looks like," Urahara said being elusive.
"And that is?" Rukia asked being in no mood for anything but a straight answer.
"Well, it's about this tall, this wide and is fast," Shuuhei said holding his hands out to show her the average height of Ichigo.
"That's it? That could be anything! Wow, we got nowhere tonight. I'm going to bed, then," she sighed and walked up the stairs.
Byakuya sat down where his sister was sitting, "So it's as we suspected then?"
Urahara nodded. Byakuya didn't look fazed, "Then we have to leave soon. His powers only awakened due to the spiritual energy that we put out by coming. When I had Renji come here those few weeks before we came to investigate the hollow that had randomly appeared, that must have triggered him. If we leave I believe it will retreat back to his normal state. Do you concur Urahara?"
"Yes. I believe so. There's no telling what will happen actually, but this is the best bet. The problem is we can't just leave if we know that hollows are appearing every night now," Urahara replied.
"True. We'll just have to hurry the investigation before things take a wrong turn with Kurosaki," Byakuya said standing and retreating to the stairs.
He awoke on his bed wearing sunglasses. "What the hell?" he said as he reached up and took off the sunglasses that were digging into the side of his head from the pressure against the pillow. He sat up and looked at the outfit he was wearing. It wasn't completely on, his shirt was unbuttoned in the front, exposing his chest and stomach, while his pants were unbuttoned and unzipped. "I don't remember putting this on. I don't even remember owning this." He rolled over to be on his back. Then he noticed someone lying next to him. "Holy shit! What the hell are you doing here?!" he flew up and fell off his bed landing on the floor in complete disbelief.
The woman who apparently had already been awake got up from the bed and put her shirt on over her still on bra and pulled on her jeans over her panties. "Wow, such a change in attitude! Last night you basically ordered me to come back here with you." She pulled her hair up into a ponytail. "Never seen that wild side of you before, Ichigo. I like it. You know where I live. Don't be afraid to drop by." She winked at him and walked out of his door as he continued to sit there dumbfounded until he heard his front door slam shut.
He threw his head into his hands, "Fuck!" He moved his hands from his face, into his hair, pulling at it. "What the hell happened yesterday?! What in the hell possessed me to see Senna?! Ahh Fuck!"
He looked around and saw the clock say two in the afternoon. Right next to that on his dresser was something he was surprised to see left out in the open like that. It was a gift that someone left for him a few years ago. He asked his father about it after finding it in his closet during senior year, but his father just told him it was from someone close to him. Ichigo stumbled over to the dresser and held the precious item. Every time he held it he thought of the words inscribed to him in a letter found beside it. Those words seemed so powerful. It was those words that made him start to write music and love it so much. He held this red glove as he thought over the letter that he made into a song some days after finding it. After somehow forgetting about the present, he let out a smile towards this sentimental object as he placed it inside its designated drawer. "I don't remember taking this out. I'm having trouble remembering anything from yesterday. Must have been that fall in the bathroom. Did I hit my head on something?"
Ichigo walked to the bathroom and proceeded to take a shower, trying to ease the aches and pains he had for an unknown reason. He put on some jeans and a black t-shirt saying, "I'm not here," on it, and completing his wardrobe with a pair of diesel sneakers.
"Didn't I think once about Rukia before I made that mistake last night?" he said after sitting up from tying his shoes. He looked into space thinking, 'It's not like we're seeing each other or anything, but…. I definitely…. feel something different towards her….' He yelled loudly to let out his frustration. "I can't deal with this now," he said standing up to leave.
He started to walk to his workplace, not to work because it was his day off, but for some food. He couldn't cook and he got food for free there, so why not?
Just then, he saw the one woman that was ever able to make his heart skip a beat. She was wearing a pair of tennis shoes with a flary white skirt that moved in the breeze and a button-down, short sleeve, violet shirt. A smile appeared across his entire face as he ran up next to her, walking along the sidewalk. "Hey there."
She jumped from the sound of his voice, and then frowned, "You have a lot of nerve, you know that?"
His eyebrows furrowed, "What do you mean?" He freaked out inside, 'Shit, did she find out what I did last night? I swear I didn't want that!'
"You've got to be kidding me," she said laughing with disgust. "You can't just come up to me after what you did yesterday! What got into you anyway? Did I really misjudge you that much?" Rukia said letting the words fly out of her mouth and having her hands on her hips as she glared at him.
"What I did? What did I do?!" he said with his eyes wide in confusion, even though guilt was flowing through him. He really didn't feel like he deserved her.
"You know what Ichigo, if you can't understand what you did was wrong then I can't understand what I ever saw in you," Rukia said turning around, slamming her eyelids shut to stop tears from appearing.
Ichigo reached over and grabbed her wrist, "Wait!"
She didn't turn her head until she got a grip of her flowing emotions. She looked at his hand on her wrist then into his eyes. They were pleading for her to stay.
"Please," he said in a soft, desperate voice. "I- I, don't know what's going on," he said solemnly.
"Then tell me when you do. I'll be looking forward to whatever explanation you can come up with." She softly pulled her arm out of his grasp and ran off, not helping the fact that he made her want to run and hide from the world. This weakness he brought out in her scared her.
Ichigo just watched her with a confused and sad feeling. "What's going on?" he said out loud to himself.
He opened the doors and gave a wave to everyone, giving a sigh as he walked farther in. Orihime just stared at him, not knowing how to approach the situation and Tatsuki frowned.
"Hey, what's wrong with you guys?" he said stopping, before he reached the table he planned to eat at.
"Ichigo! You're coming in here like nothing happened!" Tatsuki yelled at him.
His face went in shock from her outburst and he stepped back a little. "What are you talking about?" he said hesitantly.
Then out of nowhere, he was slammed against a wall and was staring into a pair of furious eyes behind a pair of glasses. "This is for not coming here for work yesterday!"
"Ishida what the-" Ichigo said holding the arm pushing him against the wall.
"And this is for making moves on Orihime!" Ishida then threw his fist into Ichigo's cheek bone. Ishida then dropped Ichigo, making him slide against the wall. He was now sitting down with his knees bent towards his chest.
Ichigo put his hand against his now badly bruised and even slightly cut cheek bone. He frowned, but his eyes held sadness. "What the fuck Ishida?! I didn't do anything! Especially to Orihime!"
Tatsuki and Orihime walked closer, "You started groping us and shit! Don't play dumb, Ichigo! You went way worse towards Rukia. I can't believe you had the nerve to be such a cocky bastard!" Tatsuki shot at him. Orihime looked at him sadly.
Ishida picked Ichigo off the ground to slam him against the wall again. "What the hell has gotten into you, Kurosaki?!"
Ichigo yelled back trying to convince them he didn't know what they were talking about, because he didn't. "Nothing!" He then looked towards the ground and said softer, "I can't remember anything. What happened yesterday to make me act so damn different? Why the hell was I with Senna last night? I just don't get it."
Ishida's eyes widened, "Senna?!"
Orihime put her hand on Ishida's shoulder to calm his temper, and without saying anything, he knew she wanted him to let go and so he did. Ichigo was now leaning against the wall still looking to the ground, now resting his face in his hands. His voice was muffled, "I don't understand."
"Understand what Ichigo?" Orihime asked softly.
He looked up after lifting his head from his hands. He looked straight into her eyes, his amber now filled with a water dam that was begging to break. "What is happening to me?"
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Well, well, well. Who wants to shoot me for putting Senna in there? A lot of you right? Well, just make it a water gun and I'll take the hit. It's drama people. Makes you want to read it more. You can't just constantly read fluff. Well, maybe you can, but hey! Give me a break. So reviews would be particularly preferred instead of just closing this window. Yeah…. So thank you for continuingly supporting me! Hope you continue too! later