So I had planned to have a little something going on while writing. I usually giving a theme songs to my fics. I was thinking of having Skillet's song "Hero" in Russian as the theme, but I'm going to let you guys suggest the theme song.

Minako couldn't sleep. Long after she did her homework and took her long, scalding bath, she lay in her bed, not sure if she was wanted to sleep just yet. After all, sleeping meant…

But she had to see him. She had to know if he was the one who saved her.

Turning onto her side, Minako curled into a slight ball, her hair falling into her face, shutting her eyes to block out reality. She could feel it; her soul was being pulled to where he was, like he was calling her...

Drowsiness assailed her before she was completely, blissfully unaware…

He didn't greet her right away when she arrived. It was strange. Minako looked around as she wandered, brushing away rogue strands of her hair. She found the way gravity worked in this place disorienting. How can anyone live with this much complication?

"Yo," came the gruff greeting from above her, "took you long enough, princess."

Minako looked up to see White sitting atop on of the vertical building, looking down at her. She was more highly aware of the large sword he held in his left hand, the blade pointed down. "Why are you all the way up there?" she asked.

"I can be wherever I want."

"Did you always have that sword?"

"Are you dense or what? 'Course I always had it."

Minako exhaled. Of course, he had a smartass response for everything.

"Hey."

She looked up and nearly recoiled. The expression on his face was cold, his eyes narrowed. She could see his hand tightening on the hilt of his sword. "Don't put yourself in a dangerous situation next time," he growled. "It'd ruin the fun if my new toy is gone."

"So you did save me," said Minako. "Why wouldn't you let me see you? And what was that thing you saved me from?" The last line of what he said suddenly registered. "And I'm no one's toy!"

Instantaneously, White was in front of her, his hand gripping her face tight. "As long as you keep coming here, you're my toy."

"Answer my questions before you get upset over your warped technicalities," Minako murmured darkly, glaring into his eyes. She wasn't going to get intimidated by him, no matter how ruthless he gets.

"Tch." White released her and sheathed the sword onto his back. "Figures the King didn't tell you a damn thing," he muttered.

"If you feel that way, then why do you keep telling Ichigo to not be near me? It defeats the purpose of whatever you're thinking," she said.

"Listen, smartass, I already told you why. I don't like repeating myself."

"You having your own reasons of being near me and Ichigo's reasons aren't the same thing."

"I'm not trusting that idiot with anything that's mine."

"You realize Ichigo's the dominant personality, White. You're going to have to trust him with something."

White glared at her. "I hate your psychobabble. It's annoying."

"You still need to answer my question. What was that thing that attacked me, White? It had the same eyes as you," whispered Minako as she cast her eyes to the ground, her right hand rubbing the sore spot on her left arm that was blooming into an impressive bruise. Its twin bloomed on her right arm, aching when she moved it.

"That "thing" was a Hollow." His voice had taken on a less cool tone. When she raised her eyes to his, she could see the golden irises fixated on her bruises. "Just like I am."

"A Hollow…?" Minako asked softly. "But…why is it that it looked monstrous and you-"

"And me what?" he asked in a challenging tone. Minako bit on her tongue, averting her eyes. She couldn't, wouldn't admit that while he and the monster were the same thing…No, she won't say it.

"You look human, is all," she said instead.

"Tch. That was a crappy lie, and you know it," he spat.

"Are you going to answer my question or not? Why did it attack me?"

"Probably because you have a decent amount of spiritual pressure and also because Hollows devour souls. Which leads us to our next problem." White's hand shot out to her wrist, gripping it tight, as he spun her around and pressed her against him. Minako gasped at the grip he had on her arm, at how he twisted it enough to hurt her, trying not to cry out as he pressed her against him. His voice was dark as he spoke. "I don't want other Hollows trying to devour your soul," he hissed, "because it's mine. If anyone's gonna devour you, princess, it's gonna be me."

"You're hurting me," Minako growled, trying to free her arm, but White gave a rough twist of it, causing her to cry out in pain. "White, please, that hurts!"

He let out a wickedly sadistic laugh as he pulled her arm impossibly farther and Minako crumpled in pain, whimpers leaving her. "Stop it, please," she begged softly.

"Keep that pain in mind, princess," White murmured in her ear, "because I can do worse, way worse." He threw her onto the ground. Minako curled into a ball, feeling pain lancing through her abused arms. Oh, she was aware of how vicious he could be—this wasn't any indication of otherwise.

That's when she felt it: a gentle caress on her arm, soothing her bruises. Minako raised her eyes to see brown eyes looking down at her. "Are you okay?" he whispered, helping her rise to a sitting position.

"Look who finally came to the party," White sneered. Ichigo glared at his malicious counterpart, keeping his hands rested over Minako's bruises. "Took you long enough," White added. "It'd be highly out of character for you not to save the day."

"Minako," Ichigo murmured to her, feeling her to flinch. "Can you get out of here? I really don't want you to see this."

"See what…?" she asked softly.

"Hey now," White said coolly, his hand reaching for the hilt of his sword, "I don't like you telling my princess what she can or can't see, King."

It happened in a flash. White had drawn the sword and advanced with such speed, Minako hadn't even realized he moved. Nor did she notice Ichigo had blocked White's blade with one of his own until she saw that both swords were identical.

Ichigo had one arm around Minako protectively, putting most of his strength into keeping White at bay. With a cruel smirk, White disappeared suddenly and before Minako could even comprehend anything, Ichigo moved her out of the way as White's attack came from above, the clashing of blade piercing the air.

She didn't want to see them kill each other. She wanted to scream for them to stop, to do something besides standing there. But this wasn't the inside of her soul, this wasn't her world; she was powerless here.

There was rage in Ichigo's expression, a sadistic excitement in White's; their blades were clashing together powerfully, loudly, the force behind each blow unrelenting. Each time the blades had hit each other, Minako's body jerked, her hands reaching to cover her ears, covering them to keep the noise from piercing her ears.

She was scared. She was terrified. But she didn't know whom she was scared for.

She could feel herself fading away, the noise becoming dulled, drifting farther away…

"Minako-chan?" The voice calling her name was familiar…

Minako opened her eyes, disoriented, before she jerked at feeling a hand on her arm and jolted up. Her mother looked at her, concern written across her face, as she surveyed the bruises on her arm.

Minako felt something cold slipping down her face before her mind registered that they were tears. Her mother sat on her bed and touched her face. "My dear, what is it? Where did your power take you that caused you to be afraid like this?" she asked.

It was such a complicated question that she didn't even know where to begin. Instead, her heart lurched painfully at the fact that where she had gone during the night was slowly wearing away the iron shell that shielded her soul, and more tears fell at the thought that no matter how brutal he was; she was going to keep returning for reasons that were still foreign to her.

"Minako-chan?" Her mother whispered, wiping her tears away, before Minako threw herself at her mother, holding her tightly, sobs wracking her body. She was terrified of him, and of the hold he seemed to manage to have over her. It was settling deep into her bones, burning under her skin. She heard her mother hum soothingly, felt her fingers thread through her hair in an attempt to calm her. Minako knew she hadn't cried since her childhood, and unleashing these tears was like water bursting through a dam.

"Minako?" She heard her father call and she and her mother parted. Her father's eyes were full of worry, but he continued as if she hadn't burst into emotionally confusing tears. "There is a young man at the door to see you."

There was only one person who could be at her door.

Ichigo was already nervous about this to begin with.

He wanted to put this off, given the fact that he felt Minako needed the weekend to recover, but he knew that Minako deserved to know the truth. When he saw Minako's father, with the eyes his daughter obviously inherited, it unnerved him. The rumors were that Minako was the real "psychic", but Ichigo had a feeling when he introduced himself and asked to see Minako that her father could read into his soul.

Then Minako appeared at the door, her skin completely paled, wearing an oversized sweater and a pair of jeans. She didn't look surprised to see him. "Ichigo," she murmured softly. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see if you were free," Ichigo replied, jamming his hands into the pocket of his pants. "So we could talk."

"Talk about what?" she whispered, her voice sounding a bit harsher than it usually was. Ichigo tried not to wince. "You know what."

She was silent before she turned back to tell her parents she was going out before putting her shoes on and shutting the door. Ichigo proceeded to walk ahead and he heard Minako following behind at first before she came to be in stride with him. He glanced at her and noticed that, aside from her pale face, her eyes were rimmed with red. Had she been crying?

"Why did you come to my house, Ichigo?" Minako asked softly, not meeting his eyes. "Surely it wasn't for some idle wandering around Karakura."

"No, it isn't," replied Ichigo. "I wanted to talk to you about last night when you were in my soul and-"

"—And you saw White almost pulling my arm off?"

He winced. "I tried to tell you that whatever you saw in him wasn't how he really is."

"I don't care how he usually is with you, Ichigo," Minako said shortly, rubbing her arm. "The minute you both starting fighting, I forced myself to get out."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about," he told her. "How are you able to enter my soul like that?"

"I…" She stopped walking, her bangs hiding her face as she looked at the ground, her finger pressing against her lip in a precariously close-to-nail-biting manner. "It wasn't always like that."

"How was it usually like?"

"Do you really want to know?"

"Of course I want to know."

She took in a shaky breath. "I used to be able to only see snippets of memories by physical contact. That was the extent of my…ability."

"So when you told me to give you my hand…?" Ichigo prompted and Minako looked at him.

"I wanted to see if you were really as kind as you were showing to me. I wanted to just get a glimpse of kindness you've shown in your memories and…I felt White," she whispered.

"Felt him?"

"That burning feeling that pushed us apart, the same energy that I felt and recognized as his. It pushed us apart so I could only sense him and nothing else."

Ichigo contemplated on this. "That explains the faint spiritual pressure I felt when you were on the roof with us."

"White said that when the…Hollow attacked me," Minako said. "And that he was one too. Does that mean that deep inside you, you're truly malicious?"

He turned, wide-eyed. "N-No! That's not how I am!" he exclaimed.

Minako gave him a look that showed she was highly dubious. "Did you sense me inside your soul last night?" she asked.

Ichigo rubbed the back of his head. "Well, I…this is gonna be so damn hard to explain…"

"Explain what?"

"Follow me and I'll tell you everything."

Ichigo had taken her by the river. Minako watched the crystalline water flow before she sat down. "You said you were going to tell me, Ichigo. So talk."

He let out a breath. "It started when I met Rukia."

"Kuchiki-san? The transfer student?"

"Yeah. See, she's a Soul Reaper."

"Soul…? Like a grim reaper, leading the souls to wherever it is they go?"

"Yeah. They guide spirits to the Soul Society."

"What does that have to do with you?"

"My family was attacked by a Hollow. Rukia tried to help us, but got hurt and the only way for the Hollow to be taken down was that I become a Soul Reaper. So, she gave me her powers," Ichigo explained. "I'm a substitute Soul Reaper."

"So," Minako whispered softly, pushing the question out before she could have a chance to choke it down her throat. "How did you get White inside of you?"

"I lost my powers for a bit. Well, not mine, but Rukia's powers." Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck. "And Urahara was helping me tap into my own Soul Reaper powers. One of the sessions was to find my powers before I become a Hollow. I found my powers, but when I was in the Soul Society battling everyone who stood in my way-" He struggled to say the name Minako gave his Hollow, but forged ahead, "—White reared his head."

"So that's how he was born in you," she whispered, bringing her knees up to her chest and resting her head against them. Even as she sat here with Ichigo by her side, she could feel White's energy calling to her soul—as she figured, it was already too late to untangle the coils binding them.

"Another thing," Ichigo said and Minako looked up at him. "I had saved you when that Hollow attacked you. Him taking over was the last thing I remember when I managed to get to you before the Hollow could eat you. But to probably keep it from happening again, you should come with me to Urahara's."

"You want me to visit some person I've never met? What for?" Minako asked.

Ichigo met her eyes. "To see if we can help you use your ability."

Minako blinked at him before she pushed herself to her feet. "If it works," she began shakily, "will it mean I won't get to see White anymore?"

"After what he did to you, you still want to see him?" Ichigo asked incredulously. Even as he said those words, he felt his Hollow writhing inside him, impatient, lusting. "Don't even think of keeping my princess from me, King," he hissed. "I refuse to have you take something from me. I'll make you watch as I take her from your hands."

Minako didn't answer, but winced as if she heard the words that rang in Ichigo's head. "I…" she breathed. "I'll go with you, to see if I can control it…so I can use it on my terms."

Pushing the disturbing reaction from his Hollow into the recesses of his mind, Ichigo placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry. You won't be alone in this."

"I'm not doing it for you," she told him. "I have my own reasons for agreeing to do this."

"I understand." He gave a curt nod of his head. "Ready to go?"

Minako took in a deep breath, and nodded. "Let's go."