It hurt, why did it hurt so much? A painful scream ripped through the orangette as the blade of white was once again shoved through his stomach. This was the seventh time the ridiculously large sword had cut through him and it hurt like hell. Yet he was unable to escape the pain through death. His vision turn black as he lost conscious, maybe this time he wouldn't wake up. The watery laugh from the man standing above him told him that he wouldn't get that pleasure.
Gold swimming in black stared down at the ragged orangette as his eyes roll to the back of his head for the fifth time during their session. He couldn't help but chuckle at the weak king, but he had to admit he was getting strong, but not strong enough. Once he was sure Ichigo was passed out and wouldn't be waking up anytime soon he leaned down and brushed a few strands of orange from the young man's face. Despite being knocked out his brow was still creased into a scowl. Certainly it was going to get stuck like that one day.
Slowly and carefully the pale imitation of the orangette picked Ichigo up and flash stepped to another part of their inner world, a place that would allow the man to heal so that he might fight once again.
A month had passed already and yet he had gotten nowhere with the kid. The half breed had been unconscious the whole time, only waking up every once in a while and to make matters worse his power levels were constantly changing, making it hard to do his job. Sighing the slender man racked a hand through his shoulder length pink hair before adjusting the custom made glasses to their proper place on the bridge of his nose. Golden eyes looked over at a machine as something made a loud beeping noise. A curse flew from the pinkette as he rushed across the lab he was in to the machine and started to rapidly type in data. He didn't stop until the beeping stopped and once he did he looked over his shoulder at his test subject that was strapped into a medical med.
The orangette was shaking, breathing heavily and the small patches of white skin that had started to appear weeks ago were starting to become larger and nearly covered the man's whole body know. The pinkette wasn't sure what was going on with the subject, he had never come across such a thing in all his years of experimentation. He did know though that if he didn't figure it out soon not only would the boy die, but he would be killed too.
"Szayel!" Came a deep and dark voice, one that made the scantiest freeze as his lab door opened to reveal the very man that would take his life if he didn't work quickly.
"Y-yes lord Aizen?" the pinkette chippered as the taller brunette walked into his lab, going straight to the hybrid and looking down at his calmly. Szayel knew better though, Aizen was anything but calm right now and as the man looked up to him with that tight lipped smile Szayel knew his conclusion was correct.
"Why have you not fix this yet?" he asked calmly with a small wave of his hand towards the hybrid.
"Uh…w-well you see, I haven't found out what is causing this to happen, I'm close though, a couple more hours" Szayel tried not to shake when those brown eyes narrowed at him. Within seconds the brunette was in front of Szayel and the pinkette forgot how to breathe as fear spiked to a dangerous level.
"Really now, didn't you say that a month ago" Szayel slowly nodded his head, unable to speak anymore as he forced himself not to go and cower in a corner. As the vampire reached out Szayel steeled himself for harsh treatment, but when a large cold hand cupped his cheek gently he felt his entire being freeze. This wasn't good.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH"
Pain so much pain! He could feel it everywhere, restricting his movements as if he was tied down. His eyes flew up, only to be blinded by bright lights. He though didn't stop; he forced his body to move. He thrashed around, screaming as new levels of pain bombarded his body. He had to move. He didn't know why he had to, only that he had to, he had to get somewhere, and he had to get away from someone. As a pair of cold hand pressed harshly down on his chest that felling of needing to get away only strengthened.
Another scream ripped from his lips as sharp pain in his arm suddenly appeared. It was as if someone had just stabbed him. Before too long he found his body once again going limp and though his mind was racing darkness clouded his sight.
"Byakuya-sama!" Renji was to the raven's side in an instant as the vampire fell to his knees in pain. They had barely left the Seireitei after getting ready to invade Hueco Mondu before the raven had suddenly gotten worse. He didn't show it to the others, but Renji knew the other vampire all too well and he knew when the raven was trying to withhold his pain. Something though had caused the raven so much pain that he was left breathless and even made him collapse to his knees.
"I'm fine" the raven said with a shaky voice. No one believed him. "It's Ichigo" it was a soft statement, but one Renji herd and couldn't help but curse. Whatever was affecting Ichigo was hurting Byakuya, even with their diminished link he was able to feel enough pain to make him collapse. Whatever Ichigo was going through had to be much worse. Everyone else seemed to come to this conclusion and the determination to find the orangette only became stronger.
After a few moments Byakuya stood up once again as if he had never been affected. His grey eyes were a little weary, but something Renji hadn't seen in quite some time sparked in those normally cold eyes, hate.
"I know where he his" Without even waiting the raven was off, flash stepping quickly in the direction of the orangette. Renji looked around for a split second before quickly following behind the raven.
Ichigo woke with a jolt, his whole body protesting to the sudden movement, but not nearly as bad as it should have been. Brown eyes looked around before a tired sigh left his lips. He was here again. When would he be able to leave his inner world and get away from the manic white mimic of himself? Thinking of which, where was that manic man. Instantly Ichigo was on his feet, ignoring his protesting body as he got into a defensive stance.
"Oh, ya learnin' quickly king" Ichigo quickly dodged to the right at the large blade came towards him in another attack. Ichigo growled.
"You cheat" Ichigo accused the man once again. Of course he just laughed like he did every time Ichigo accused him of cheating.
"Ya really need to clean out yer ears King, I'm not cheatin' ya have one too" Ichigo growled, the same answer as before. The man was wrong though. He didn't have a weapon and there were no weapons in this strange world. He had already looked for one and got himself killed a few times while doing so.
As the manic charged him again Ichigo watched the blade and its direction so he could dodge it at the right time and thrown a punch directly into the pale man's face. He didn't think it would work, that the pale man would dodge, but as skin connected with skin Ichigo couldn't help the shocked expression crossing his face. He watched as the pale man felt across the world like Ichigo had so many times before. It was kind of satisfying to see someone else go flying.
Ichigo smirked as his confidence grew and he charged towards the direction the while man had went flying.
Aizen looked down at the orangette who had just been thrashing around on the table. This was the most movement the hybrid had made all month. He glanced at the pink scientist as he discarded the syringe that had a fluid it in that had calmed the hybrid. Chuckling a little he left the lab. Things were getting interesting.
As he exited the lab he spotted his loyal pet, Gin, who of course had the sly grin on his face. The man was more of a fox then a vampire, his eyes were even slanted like a fox and one hardly ever saw the pale blue eyes that he had.
"You seem to be in a good mood" Gin chuckled. Aizen just smirked at the silver haired man before heading down the while halls towards his office.
"Of course I am, everything is going as planned"
He wasn't going to let him win any more, He couldn't He had someone he had to find. He couldn't remember who, but someone needed him. Ichigo let out a roar of anger as he rushed forwards towards hi white mimic, ready to defeat his mirror image. As his fist once again collided with the white man he heard the sickening cracking sound of breaking bones and pushed farther until the man went flying through the sideways skyscrapers.
Ichigo was breathing heavily and his whole body felt like it was going to give in, but he wouldn't let it. He had to keep alert. Sure his hit had landed and had a lot of strength behind it, but that didn't mean that he was successful in defeating his mimic. As the dust of the destroyed building started to fade that there was no sign of the mimic hope rose inside Ichigo. He had finally done it. A manic laughter caused that hope to crush in on itself. Through the smoke and ruble the man burst out at such a speed Ichigo had no time to dodge. He simply put his hands up and looked to the side in a sad attempt to block the oncoming blade.
Metal clashing against metal jolted Ichigo out of his paralyzed state as he looked forward to see a blade much like his mimics clasped in his hands, blocking the others blade. Ichigo pushed forward as his mimic jumped back with surprise as well. Soon a wicked grin appeared on his lips as the mimic started to chuckle.
"Told ya" Ichigo had little time to register what was going on or look at the blade he now held.
His mimic was already attacking him and Ichigo found himself natural being able to use the blade to defend himself. It was almost as if he had always had the blade and it was a part of him. It wasn't long before Ichigo was on the offensive instead of the defensive. This was the first time he had seen his mimic actually concentrating to keep the upper hand. Before he had seemed to be playing with him, but now that Ichigo had this blade it was another story and Ichigo knew that he was going to win this time.
"I-ich…..go" The soft whisper in his mind distracted him for a second and it was all his mimic needed. Soon Ichigo found himself flying backwards. He didn't crash into any building; he simple stopped himself and pushed forward back towards his pale imitation. "Ichi..go!" The voice rang in his ears once again and the orangette once again was unable to concentrate correctly, this time though he was cut on his arm from the counter attack his imitation made.
"What's wrong king? You seem distracted" that playful cruel smirk once again bloomed on the pale man's lips as he eyed Ichigo after hopping a few feet away from Ichigo.
Ichigo groaned a little as he gripped his head as a soft pounding noise appeared in his ears alongside someone calling his name. He tried to shake the noise out, but it only got worse. Stabbing his blade into the ground he felt to one knee as he clutched his head with one hand.
"Kehehehe, Looks like our time is up King, It was fun, I look forward to our next meeting" The man chuckled as Ichigo's vision faded into darkness and his hearing slowly failed him.
Sirens blared throughout the building. Everyone stopped, unsure of what was going on.
"Intruders, Intruders in the west wing!" a loud voice echoed through the complex. Within seconds everyone was moving towards the left wing. As the group of shifters made it to the intrusion point they were greeted by the sight of three people, something that confused them a little. How could three people make it so far into Hueco Mondu without being detected until.
"Well what do we have here, a bunch of pups, where's the real fight or have the shifters really all become pussies" A large man with a manic grin said. All the shifters growled and some even started to shift. The large man simply chuckled, not even removing his blade from its sheath as he was rushed.
"See what you've done now Kenpachi, you've angered to poor kittens" said a much smaller man dressed in green with a white and green striped hat.
"Oh shut up Urahara, if you're scared of getting your clothing dirty just stand back and I'll take care of this" A dark skinned woman side with a playful smirk as she suddenly disappeared to appear in the middle of the rushing shifters and started the bloody battle.
Kenpatchi growled a little as the woman drew first blood, but it wasn't long before he was bashing head and breaking the bones of the shifters he came barreling towards him. Not long after that the three were fighting against the horde of shifters, seemingly have no problems. As more blood was spilled more shifters appeared, just like they had planned.
With a majority of the shifters now occupied with the three the other four people of their group snuck into the building through the east wing. Byakuya, Renji, Isshin and Rukia made their way through the white halls of the building that Ichigo was being held it. As they delved in deeper to the building the more Renji felt like something was wrong. They should have come across at least one shifter by now. Rukia thought the same thing as she called for everyone to stop.
"We can't stop, Ichigo somewhere in here" Isshin growled as he clutched his sword. Though he hadn't held it in a long while, he still held a powerful aura.
"Doesn't this seem too easy?" she asked and everyone looked at each other before chuckling filled the area. Everyone's attention was drawn to the end of the hall. Each one glared at the man before them, now blocking their way. It was a lean tall shifter. His black hair hang past his shoulders, concealing the left side of his face and a large white eye patch covered one eye and the exposed dark gray eye held delight as it looked over the four. He wore a sly grin and a wicked looking moon scythe, a very abnormal weapon for a shifter.
"Your right little bitch" He chuckled a little and Rukai bristled at the look the shifter gave her, like he was better than her.
"Dance, Sode no Shirayuki" Rukia held her hand out as a normal katana appeared in her hand. The katana has a rectangular tsuba with a vaguely flame-like pattern on the long sides and a curved line on the short sides, inward-curved corners with curved slits above and below the blade, and a series of curved lines embossed on either side of the blade. It has a reddish-brown hilt with a white ribbon attached to it, which gently wrapped around Rukia's arm.
"Go ahead, I'll take care of this one" Rukai said, Renji would have disagreed, but Rukai lunched forward to clash blades with the shifter, giving them the change to
slip by and delve deeper into the build. The shifter growled and cursed at her as he tried to go after the group and she got in the way. "You're not going anywhere" Rukai smirked at little as the shifter glared at her before attacking her once again.
Renji Looked behind them as he felt Rukai's energy spike. She kept it in check so not to give away their position, but still it worried him. If anything happened to the little vampire he was sure there would be hell to pay. Byakuya was already on the verge of losing it, the loss of his adoptive sister wouldn't help him. Sighing he looked forward as they continued on, Byakuya leading them through the maze towards where they hoped Ichigo was located.
Author's Note: Yeah I know it's short compared to my other chapters, and once again sorry for any errors, still haven't found a new beta yet -_-.
I'll probably have another update in a week or so. I'm working on the next chapter.