The Fourth chapter…story's unfolding and changing everyday. We'll see how it goes!
[Dream:Karakura City, Ichigo's Room, Ichigo
"Ichigo." A voice said. "You'd better get stronger, dumbass. Or I might decide to take over again."
Ichigo opened his eyes to see that his arms and ankles were shackled. It was dark all around, except for where he was. Next to him was a snow white sword, with a white ribbon blowing gently in the wind. On the other side, was Zangetsu, his soul slayer. It was pitch back, in its Bankai form, with a black Chain dangling from it.
"What the hell?" Ichigo shouted.
He struggled, trying to get free from the shackles. He violently resisted the bonds, and began to reach for the soul slayers on each side. Ichigo reached for his soul slayer, grabbing it. Forcefully trying to break it free from its place.
"It won't budge!" he shouted.
He quickly reached for the white soul slayer, to no avail. The white blade began to drift away. As it drifted, the light drifted from him. Zangetsu began to crack, and shattered within his grasp.
"What?! Zangetsu!" He shouted.
He looked back to the other side, where the white soul slayer emitted a glow from the distance.
"What's wrong Ichigo?" The voice taunted. "You're weak. You always were weak."
"Who's there?" Ichigo shouted in reply.
"You know, Ichigo…if you don't get stronger, I will kill your friends. Everyone closest to you. And I'll make sure they suffer." The voice laughed hysterically.
"You bastard!" Ichigo shouted, trying to break free from his imprisonment.
The laughing stopped, and it got dead quiet. The sounds of a sword, stabbing through someone echoed in the distance. Ichigo's eyes widened. Multiple stabbings continued to echo.
"Ichigo!" A voice that sounded like Chad's sounded.
"Ichigo!" Another echoed, sounded like Uryuu.
"Ichigo!" Another one, sounds like Orihime.
"Chad! Ishida! Inoue!" Ichigo shouted, screaming to break free from the shackles. But there was no hope. They seemed to never break. Out of breath, Ichigo panted from the exhaustion, and could only hear a dripping. His eyes desperately searched the area for the source, but there was only darkness. One more stabbing sound was heard. This one, followed by a heartbeat.
"Ichigo!" A voice said. It was Rukia's.
"No! Rukia!" He shouted, violently bursting with spiritual pressure. The blue aura lit the area, as he attempted to break loose once more. The heart's rhythm slowly began to weaken, before completely dissipating.
"Rukia?! Rukia!!" he screamed in pain.
"You lose." The voice whispered.
[Kurakara City, Ichigo's Room, Ichigo.
"No!" Ichigo shouted, sitting up. Gasping for air.
Rukia looked to him bewildered, while pulling the ear bud from her ear. Loud rock music sounded from the unveiled micro-speaker. Her cobalt eyes looked to Ichigo curiously as she lay on the floor, with a magazine in front of her.
"Ichigo? What's wrong?" She asked curiously.
Ichigo calmed his breathing and looked to the clock, which read '11:07am'. He looked back to Rukia, shook his head.
"Nothing." Ichigo replied. "Have I really been asleep for this long?"
Rukia closed the magazine, and sat on her knees. Still attentively looking to Ichigo.
"You've been asleep most of the day." She said to him, pulling the other ear bud from her ear, and shut the MP3 player off. "I woke up around 8 or so. I'm familiarizing myself with today's music and fashion."
All morning?...
"It's interesting. However I have yet to see anything involving Chappy so far…" Rukia continued. Ichigo had a strange expression on his face.
"Chappy?" Ichigo questioned.
"Of course!" Rukia said, pulling out her 'notebook', and turning through pages where she did illustrations of her studies in Soul Society. She turned to a page with the Plus and Hollow differences.
"All of my characters are Chappy!" Rukia explained.
Chappy…are those dumbass rabbits?
"That's Chappy? It's supposed to be a freaking' rabbit?" Ichigo questioned.
"Of course. What did you think it was? Doesn't it look like one?" Rukia asked, pointing to her drawings.
A loud chime came from outside of Ichigo's room, saving him from answering.
"Oh, those must be…be right back." Rukia said, sitting up and leaving the room. Ichigo blatantly stared out the window after she left.
What was that?...I feel as if I've heard that voice before…Once when I was fighting Byakuya…and I had that 'thing' on me…
Rukia walked back into the room, balancing two cups in her hands. She attentively made sure they didn't spill, as she made her way to Ichigo, sitting Indian-style on his bed. He carefully handed him one, making sure not to spill.
"Instant…Ramen?" Ichigo said, looking down into the steaming cup.
"I've also been looking into how to cook. The real world's food is so simple! All I had to do was filling with water, and put it into something called the 'microwave'. After a period of time, it was finished!" Rukia happily declared.
Too bad that's not really cooking…
Rukia revealed two sets of chopsticks, giving one to Ichigo. She quickly delved the chopsticks in, and began to eat; she lightly flinched as it burnt her tongue.
"Be careful!" Ichigo started. "You have to blow on it, Rukia."
Rukia looked curiously at the cup and lightly blew the steam away. Ichigo watched her as she did so. She looked back at him, and frowned.
"You're not eating…Did I cook it wrong?" Rukia asked. Ichigo shook his head nervously than blew on his. He took a strand of ramen and tasted it. Rukia anxiously awaited his response.
"It's actually cooked pretty well." Ichigo replied, smiling at her.
Even IF it was just Instant Ramen.
Rukia began to eat hers, as it cooled.
"Chicken Flavor, is it? I had never had chicken before." Rukia said.
"What? I'm sure I've brought it to you at least once when you stayed here, back in the old days." He replied."And Rukia. Why are you wearin' my sister's pajamas?" Ichigo bluntly asked.
The pajamas she wore had a yellow and orange scheme, in almost a checkerboard design. Rukia stopped eating and looked at him with a cynical expression.
"I haven't seen Urahara yet about that. So I borrowed some from Yuzu after they left earlier." Rukia replied.
She probably went with Karin to that baseball game…
A chime buzzed loudly from the floor. Rukia put down the ramen cup and flipped open the communicator.
"A Hollow!" Rukia gasped.
She quickly jumped in the closet, and disembodied her soul from her faux body, and closed the door behind her. Ichigo frantically searched for his pendant, but couldn't find it.
"I can't find my pendant!" Ichigo said. Only to be hit on the head by Rukia's hand, with the disembodiment glove.
"Y-You still carry that thing?" Ichigo asked.
"Of course. Equipment standard." Rukia replied. Smiling obnoxiously.
[Kurakara City, Downtown, Rukia
Ichigo and Rukia stopped at the metal-spiked fence, looking for the nearby Hollow.
"The beacon stops here." Rukia said, closing the communicator. Ichigo grabbed his soul slayer, and the bandages wrapped around it collapsed, revealing the gargantuan blade and its unrivaled edge. He took a few steps forward, looking for signs of the Hollow. To their left was a crowd of trees, packed tightly together, while to the right there lay a small pond.
A monstrous roar echoed through the streets, followed by a trampling.
"There!" Rukia pointed, toward the east of Ichigo's position.
The Hollow revealed itself, with a half formed mask.
"Where are you!?" the Hollow shouted.
Ichigo stepped forward, and slashed wide, missing the Hollow. He dispatched a fury of strikes as Ichigo ran after the hollow, all missing.
"Ichigo!" Rukia yelled. "It's not completely a hollow yet, it's resisting its effects!"
The Hollow stopped in the middle of the water, and appeared to be floating over it. The creature yelled, and threw the soul onto the land nearby. Ferociously swinging about, and tried to tear the mask off of its disfigured body. Screaming in pain as the white mask was cracking under its great pressure.
Ichigo stopped in his place, watching it fight itself. The Hollow tore its mask from its body, revealing a man with long, black hair.
"Lucrecia!" The soul shouted. "You cannot leave! Where are you?!"
The soul looked down to Rukia, and stared attentively. Rukia drew her soul slayer, and armed herself. A sound of whirling was heard nearby. Portals on the side began opening up, and Hollows stepped out.
"Ichigo! I have this one, get the others!" Rukia yelled, and Ichigo nodded in reply.
The soul stared at Rukia as to see resemblance to which he was looking for. Rukia waited with a focused stance, and awaited its leap.
"Lucrecia, why did you leave me?!" the soul announced. "I lived only for you!"
Rukia dashed forward, and placed the blade in front of her free hand.
"Ruler, mask of flesh and blood, all things in the universe fly! That which names all things in nature, gathering at heat and war, beyond the seas in reverse, take steps to the south! Destructive Spell No 33, Shakkahou, Red Flame Cannon!" Rukia yelled, shooting a projectile in the shape of a blade, striking the soul in its chest.
"No! Lucrecia!" The soul yelled.
Ichigo on the other side did battle with the Hollows, mowing through the stragglers. Slashing left, then right. Rukia leaped forward, and attempted to stab the Hollow with her Soul Slayer. The soul evaded her slash, striking down from the air. Rukia landed with a defensive maneuver, avoiding the fall damage.
"Dance, Sleeve of White Snow!" Rukia shouted, activating her Soul Slayer. It gleamed with a white glow, gaining a long white ribbon at the hilt, and crystallizing. She stood a battle stance, and readied herself for the soul's attack.
The Soul lunged forth, and Rukia stepped back, and stabbed her soul slayer into the ground.
"First Dance, White Moon!" Rukia shouted, and a pillar of ice came from beneath the soul, crushing its Torso and freezing everything but his head and arms. The soul struggled, and tried to escape its icy prison. She stepped forward, pulling the blade from it's pace, and prepared to seal the soul.
"Lucrecia! Why?! I am here to save you!" The soul shouted.
[Memory: Soul Society, Execution Tower, Rukia
Rukia stand on the bridge of her imprisonment tower, watching two of the rebel soul reapers be struck down by her brother. A bright flash of light, and a figure flew down from the sky, to the bridge. Rukia looked up, and behind the sun's glare, she seen her savior, Ichigo.
"Rukia, I'm here to save you!" Ichigo shouted.
[Kurakara City, Downtown, Rukia
Rukia stood frozen in place from her memory. The soul swung from the left, slashing her left arm and torso. She fell back, and began to bleed rapidly. As she screamed, Ichigo slay the last of the Hollows around him, and flash stepped to her location, blocking the next strike that the soul attempted.
"Rukia! What the hell are you doing?!" Ichigo shouted.
Rukia looked up to see Ichigo protecting her with his soul slayer as a shield.
"Get the hell up!" He shouted.
Rukia's soul reaper robe's top layer had been shredded, and blood began to soak the white layer. She picked up her soul slayer, and assumed the battle position with one hand.
"Next Dance, White Ripple!" Rukia shouted, releasing a wave of ice energy. It raced through the soul severing it in half. The ice prison before shattered around it, and the remains of the soul fell to the ground.
Ichigo looked to Rukia, concerned.
"Rukia, are you okay?" He asked.
"It's not finished yet!" She said.
Rukia walked forward, and reversed her blade so it faced downward, and aimed if for the soul's head.
"Lucrecia, why must you do this to me?" The soul shouted, screaming in pain.
Poor soul, I know not the volume of heart ache it's facing.
Her blade stabbed downward, piercing its head section. The soul disintegrated into the air, and the area grew quiet.
"Rest peacefully. " Rukia said, falling to her knees from the wound, bleeding rapidly.
"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, taking off his top layer of his soul reaper robe. He placed if over her shoulders, and lifted her up.
"Ichigo…" She said, before closing her eyes.
[Kurakara City, Ichigo's Room, Rukia
Rukia tended to the last of her wounds with her kido healing arts, and pulled up the sleeve of her top soul reaper garment. Ichigo was already back in his body, and sat on the edge of his bed.
"Everything okay, Rukia?" Ichigo asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine. The minor wounds should heal by morning. " Rukia replied.
Rukia stood and sat next to Ichigo on the side of his bed, and looked down to the floor. The top layer of her robe was still damaged from the attack and her skin where her wounds were visible. However it was as if the wounds were never there.
"That Hollow…no, that soul…" Rukia started.
"It called you 'Lucrecia'." Ichigo interrupted. "Maybe it mistook you for someone it knew?"
"Yes, but…" She replied.
Rukia held one hand to her mouth, as to think deeply.
"Why did you hesitate?" Ichigo asked.
Rukia looked down, and shook her head.
"Sorry. I don't know why…" She said to him.
"Fool! Don't say sorry. You did good out there." Ichigo complimented. "You've improved, too. I had never seen your Shikai-form of your Soul Slayer. It's pretty powerful."
Rukia looked up towards him, where his Tangerine eyes met with her midnight cobalt.
"I regained more of my spiritual energy before I left, and I made sure I'd be more use this time than a cheerleader." She replied.
Ichigo smiled, and placed his hand on her shoulder.
"There's no person I'd rather work with. Even when you didn't have all your power back." Ichigo said.
Rukia smiled back.
"Me either." Rukia replied.
That's it for Chapter 4. I think this one developed a little better. Anyway, looking forward to review, and such, as always.
Thanks for reading, and please review!