A Black Heart

I've been gone for a while and for that I apologise. Work just kept me really busy these last few months and coupled with losing all my story outlines (Yes I did have a backup, but it wasn't nearly as detailed as the original), I just didn't feel up to it.

Anyway get to reading; I need to go rewrite a lot of stuff now anyway.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.

"Normal speech"

'Inner speech/thoughts'

"Kido/Zanpakuto Attacks/Quincy Techniques"

"Zanpakuto speech"

"Hollow speech"

XXX

Chapter 6:

Deep within a forested area of Karakura Town, a pale blue stream of lightning shot through a large clearing, the violently crackling energy going on to strike a boulder and explode with devastating effect, leaving nothing but a smoking hole in the ground.

"Again!" Rukia commanded her brows furrowed as she watched Ichigo in his spirit form take his stance once more and begin to utter the chant under his breath.

"Hado no.4, Byakurai," he muttered, grimacing as his arm was enveloped in the backlash of the spell, whilst yet another brilliant beam of light shot of into the distance. Staring at his uncooperative limb, he scowled intently at it, before taking his stance once again and repeating the chant.

Off to the side, clear of the firing line, Rukia pursed her lips as she watched him continue to try and master the spell, a feat he was close to achieving after only several hours of practice.
When he had approached her with his request to learn the Demon Arts that she knew, her initial instinct was to deny him, not trusting him with the ability to kill or restrain someone with a simple chant. That was until he offered her something in exchange.

In exchange for her expertise on the Demon Arts, he would willingly attend to any hollow that entered her patrol area and allow her to collect on any and all bounties that they had on their heads, in addition to returning the bounties they had already collected. What made the deal even sweeter was that he had also convinced Tatsuki to allow her to move in with the two of them, a bitter sweet pill since she now had to endure living with him completely. At least now she had the funds to purchase the items she needed for her recovery and with any luck, she could regain them and eliminate him, or at least wipe his memory of any trace of their meeting that fateful night several weeks ago.

'However…if he continues to grow at this rate, I may not be able to silence him in a fair fight,' she thought, watching as his arm barely twitched as he received his latest shock for his effort. Tearing her eyes away from his burned skin, she concentrated on the short sword sheathed at his back, a result of her training.

While it was true that he was absorbing the spells quickly enough, it had taken her the better part of two weeks of gruelling mental exercises to get him to understand how to control the copious amounts of reiatsu that he unconsciously leaked. When he was finally able to bottle his power within himself, she had watched bewildered as he frowned at his gargantuan blade, before it seemingly understood his annoyance and shortened considerably, now being slightly longer than the daggers she had seen in his room, hidden away from most prying eyes.

Despite knowing that he would be more than capable of learning the Advanced Class level spells taught to prodigal students, she started on the simplest and most pathetic of spells, Hado no.1 Sho. Needless to say he hadn't been impressed, knowing that she herself had used spells at least up to level 33. To her surprise though, he hadn't brought it up with her and merely continued to learn under her watchful eye. Hearing another small explosion and the absence of any grunt of pain from him, she sighed and noted that he had at least grown used to the spell well enough to use it without hurting himself.

"That's enough Ichigo, we'll call it for today," she called out to him, missing the look of annoyance he had on his face, before it disappeared almost as quickly as it appeared.

"Soon my King…soon you will not have to listen to the damn Witch and can show her the price of repaying your kindness with ignorance. But until then, please just bear with it for a little longer. Her knowledge is worth far more to you than any material wealth she can hope to provide," a feminine voice whispered in his ear, her sultry tone sending a shiver of pleasure down his spine. He didn't know exactly who she was, as she herself had said that she didn't know her name, but what he did know was that all those vague feelings he got from his zanpakuto prior to learning how to control his power, had all but disappeared after that training, replaced with this supportive and alluring tone. It certainly helped that she played to his ego, a fact that made him smirk slightly. Was he really so weak that he was going soft under a woman's voice.

'If that will bring me the power you promised me…then so be it,' he replied back, hearing her chuckle and recede once again, just as he merged back with his human body once more. 'These spells are beginning to bore me, but I guess I shouldn't expect much after the way I've been treating her. God knows that I can't wait to put her in her place, but as the saying goes…Rome wasn't built in a day, nor was it torn down in one either,' he thought with a smirk, watching the petite soul reaper skulk away.

XXX

To his surprise, he was proven wrong the following day as she presented him with a marble-sized green candy, a frown on her face as he stared at her incredulously. "What are you waiting for, take it already!" she growled at him.

Reaching out and plucking the candy from her hand, he twirled it between his fingers and held it up to the light. "It's not poisoned is it?" he asked with a hint of mirth, enjoying seeing her fume silently.

"NO! Now just eat the damn thing already!" she shouted, stamping her foot on the ground in frustration.

"Fine, fine," he muttered in a placating tone, popping the candy into his mouth and swallowing it. He gasped a moment later as he felt the familiar sensation of his soul being ejected from his body. Looking back at what should have been his prone body, he was surprised to see it rising from a crouch, a smile a mile-wide on his face.

"My name's Ichigo Kurosaki, a pleasure to meet you."

"Good, now let's get going," Rukia said with a sigh as she could see the Soul Candy operating normally.

"Hold on…what the hell, did you just do to my body?!" he shouted at her, pointing at his body in morbid fascination as it continued to move without him in it.

"It's called an artificial soul idiot," she said with a frown. "They're designed to inhabit your body and pretend to be you while you leave to dispatch a hollow. I figured that you were right and that it would draw to many suspicions to your duties if you kept disappearing without good reason."

"And this…thing's supposed to know how to act like me?" he muttered under his breath, watching as the fake soul in his body kept smiling at him. Hearing the bell ring, he scowled and glanced at the multitude of students milling about in the distance, heading to their respective classes. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get going already. My attendance is almost always perfect," he ordered it, before disappearing after Rukia, glancing over his shoulder with some apprehension.

"Will do," the soul waved after him, his smile transforming to a smirk as the two disappeared around a corner. "Well now…what's the best way to have fun now?"

XXX

High up on the upper levels of their school, Tatsuki stared unblinkingly at the blackboard in front of her, her thoughts on the recent change in her adopted brother's attitude these past few weeks. While it wasn't strange for him to hide his emotions from her, his decision to allow Rukia to continue to stay with them even after the week they had agreed upon puzzled her, as was the newfound closeness between the two.

As far as she could remember, Ichigo had actively avoided the transfer student from their very first meeting, but now it was a rare occurrence not to spot the two together after school. Glancing at Ryo out of the corner of her eye, she wondered whether Ichigo had dumped her to continue his activities with the new, but that line of thought was dashed as she still saw the two of them together on occasion.

Hearing a few shocked gasps and whispers, she turned her head to the window that had drawn everyone's attention and was surprised to see the subject of her thoughts perched on the window sill like it was nothing. Wait…weren't they on the top floor too? How the hell had he even gotten there in the first place?

The artificial soul was grinning like a loon as he found himself the centre of attention, his gaze zeroing in on the closest girl to him, in this case the ever shy and timid Michiru Ogawa. Taking her hand in his own, he raised it to his lips as he stared into her eyes, lavishing it with a soft kiss. "And what would your name be fair maiden," he asked in the most suave tone he could manage, only for said girl to faint in shock, her face the colour of a cherry tomato. 'Well that could have gone better,' it thought, just as it felt itself being dragged away by the collar of Ichigo's shirt.

"What the hell's up with you Ichigo? You know she's not someone you can pull that kind of shit on," Tatsuki grumbled as she stopped dragging her adoptive brother away and glared up at him. To her surprise though, he showed no reaction to her berating him, but was in fact slowly inching closer to her own face.

"It was barely a kiss," he whispered, his breath breezing over her. "Now this…" he said, just as he claimed her lips with his own, causing her to inhale sharply and their peers to freeze in shock, their jaws hanging agape as they took in the scene in front of them.

For Tatsuki though, her mind warred within her, her more logical side begging her to break the kiss, arguing that Ichigo was not in the right state of mind, while her more lustful and instinctual side argued that she shouldn't care whether he was in the right mind or not. As the seconds ticked by, her lustful side won out as the pleasurable feeling intensified and she wrapped her arms around him, drawing their bodies closer together as she began to respond whole-heartedly.

XXX

"Well at least that was quick," Ichigo said with a grunt as he stretched his arms above his head, sighing as he heard his joints pop.

"It does get easier the stronger you get," Rukia replied, her mind reeling after watching him eviscerate the hollow with a barrage of Byakurais. 'His growth rate is…troubling. His single-minded determination allows him to master spells in days rather than weeks, a feat that would mark him as a prodigy at the academy.'

"Don't sound so disappointed soul reaper. Isn't that supposed to be a good thing? The easier it is, the happier I'll be. And the happier I am about helping you, the more souls and hollows I deal with. It's a win-win for us both."

"I am pleased," she snapped back at him, as she pushed past him to block his way. "But your arrogance is going to cost us. You've fought nothing but average level hollows and believe me, there are hollows out there that even I wouldn't want to face, even at my full power."

"Okay I get it. Geez would it kill you to relax a bit," he huffed as he pushed past her and placed his hand on the door handle. "Now let's just get my body and get back to the thrill that I call education."

"Hold on, you wait out here and I'll go in and get your body. We can't have you spitting up pills and stumbling in the middle of the classroom," she said as she pushed him out of the way. As she stepped into the classroom though, she froze mid-step, her eyes widening in shock as she took in the scene in front of her.

"Eh? Something interesting happen…" he tried to say as he looked over her head into the classroom, the words dying in his throat as he mind ground to a halt. He clearly wasn't the only one as everyone continued to stare at his body and Tatsuki as they embraced one another intimately. As his hand moved to cup her rear though, a haze of indescribable rage settled on him and he pushed through the throng of students, not caring that they couldn't see him and would question it. As he reached the pair, he forcibly ripped the two apart, before grabbing his body by its collar and pouring his rage and hatred into his glare.

"What the hell do you think you're doing bastard?!" he growled menacingly, his hands trembling. Seeing the soul smirk back at him, he reared his fist back, about to pummel it to within an inch of its life, before a part of his mind remembered that it was in fact his body.

Seizing on his hesitation, the soul kneed him in his gut, winding him briefly, before landing a solid roundhouse kick to his temple, sending him flying into the blackboard with a thunderous crack.

Shaking his head to clear the daze, he could just see his body smirk at him once more as it perched on the window sill, before it leapt off into the distance. Staggering to his feet, he ignored Rukia's voice as he clambered over to the window, leaping after his body and the troublemaker within it.

"You idiot I can't follow after you like that!" Rukia shouted after him, watching as the two disappeared. Spinning on her heel, she sprinted for the door, only to find herself yanked back by her collar and pinned against the wall.

"You…ever since you showed up Ichigo's been changing," Tatsuki spat out through gritted teeth, her face red from anger and embarrassment. "And now…now there are two of them running around. So tell me…what the fuck did you do to him?!"

XXX

As the mod soul continued to sprint away, he glanced over his shoulder and breathed a sigh of relief at evading his pursuer. Taking a few laboured breaths, he began to stroll down the sidewalk while whistling a tune. 'I wonder what I should do now,' the soul thought. In a cruel twist of fate, he was passing by a primary school and heard the tell-tale howl of a hollow. Peering over the wall he watched as a snake-like hollow slithered out of a dimensional rift. Nearby a group of school kids huddled in fear as the ground cracked and splintered under the weight of the creature.

'I don't suppose I can just leave them there, can I?' the soul thought as he watched the kids run away at last. It was all in vain though, as the hollow wrapped its tail around the three of them and slowly lifted them towards its mouth. 'I guess not,' it thought as it leapt into the yard and rushed at creature. Leaping into the air he brought his heel down with thunderous crack onto the hollows mask, causing it to drop its prey and hiss in anger.

"What are you waiting around for!?" it screamed at them, "Get the hell out of here!" Hurrying to obey his command the kids ran for it, only to be trapped together with him as the hollow entrapped them within the coils of its body. 'Great… now what…'

XXX

Meanwhile Ichigo was cursing vehemently as he rounded a corner for the umpteenth time and found not a trace of his target. After seeing his body in such an embrace with his surrogate sister, his blood was boiling with rage. Even now he cursed the city and its winding alleys, for it did not help in his search. He cursed himself for letting it get in a lucky shot. But most of all he cursed Rukia for shoving that stupid substitute soul on him. Hearing a hollow shriek, accompanied by a pained yell, his feet ground to a halt and looked around, searching for the source of the disturbance.

As luck would have it, his answer literally barrelled into him, sending the pair of them to the ground in a crumpled heap.

"Ah great, not you too," his doppelganger groaned as he stood to up, dusting himself off. Rounding on his assailant, Ichigo grabbed his body and held him tightly, preventing him from escaping again.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," he spat out through gritted teeth, as he glared up at the artificial soul. "Do you have any idea of the hell you've put me through today? Off the hell I'm going to go through because of your actions?"

"Look, can we talk about this later. We're kinda in the middle of a life or death situation here!"

Looking past his shoulder, Ichigo could see the snake charging at them, its fangs poised to strike. Growling his annoyance, he shoved his body of the way and drove his blade up through the roof of the beast's maw, eliciting an ear splitting screech from it as it thrashed around in pain. Ripping his blade free the area was bathed in its black blood, while they watched on with a mixture of fear, or anger.

When the beast finally dissipated into reishi, the children found themselves alone amongst the rubble, questioning whether or not they had really been attacked, or if it was a figment of their imagination.

On a nearby rooftop Ichigo and his body, with the soul still inside it, looked on as a teacher came out and demanded answers from the group of kids. "Do I even want to know how you got mixed up with those kids down there? Ichigo queried, as he stared curiously at his body. "You don't seem like the type to risk your neck for others."

"I don't know, I just wanted to I guess," the soul muttered, shaking his head as he watched the kids get dragged inside, their protests about not knowing what happened falling on deaf ears.

"I believe I can explain why," a new voice spoke, alerting them to the fact that they were no longer alone on the rooftop. Turning to face the newcomer, Ichigo watched as a cane struck his body's forehead, causing it to spit out the artificial soul. The newcomer was a man who looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties, of average height and build. He was dressed in a pair of green pants and shirt, with a greenish-black jacket. Looking the man in the eye, he found himself staring at a pair of indifferent steel grey eyes, almost hidden away like his platinum blonde hair thanks to a green and white striped bucket hat. Looking past the man, he was unsurprised to find Rukia glaring at him, most likely for running off without her.

"As I was saying," Kisuke said as he cleared his throat to gain Ichigo's attention again. "This is a modified soul rather than your standard artificial soul. The idea was proposed to use them as a first line of defence against hollows by imbuing them certain special abilities and then planting them in the corpses of recently deceased humans. Of course the hysteria that was caused when the dead started to rise led the powers that be to abandon the project and to immediately destroy all the mod souls that had been created. How this little one escaped the purge is of little concern, but rest assured I will dispose of it now. Don't worry Ms Kuchiki; I will of course source a new artificial soul for the boy."

"Hold it," Ichigo spoke, causing Kisuke to pause in his departure and turn back to the substitute, his expression a mixture between boredom and annoyance. "You're going to destroy him right? Well that shit just doesn't sit right with me. He may be a product you were supposed to destroy, but he's made a mess of my life, so I think I get the final say in what happens to him." Striding forward, he held out his hand, waiting for Kisuke to hand the soul back to him. "After all, this is less work for you."

Staring the boy in his eyes, Kisuke thought through the possible ramifications of letting the boy keep the mod soul. He was technically under no obligation to destroy the thing and the boy clearly enjoyed killing people too much himself to allow someone else to do it for him. That begged the question of why. Shaking his head, he stared down at the little green pill with a frown, before returning his gaze to the teen's outstretched hand.

"Very well, it's not like I wanted to go through the effort of giving you a refund anyway," he mumbled, depositing the pill in his hand before turning on his heel and beginning to depart. "I'll assume that I will be seeing you again shortly Ms Kuchiki," he mumbled to her, getting a curt nod in response.

Left alone with Rukia and the mod soul, Ichigo sighed and stretched out his limbs, his body still aching slightly from the hit he had taken earlier. "Well I don't know about you, but I sure as hell could use a break after the day I've had. What do you say Rukia, you up for blowing off some steam?"

"W-What kind of question is that?!" she sputtered in outrage, knowing full well how the boy in front of her blew off steam.

"Oh please as if I would want to do anything of the sort with you," he scoffed. "I'm talking about something a little more…lasting than a simple fuck. If you really want to know, then I suggest you hurry back home and steal something nice from Tatsuki's closet." Giving the pill one last look, he walked over to the ledge of the roof and leapt off into the distance.

XXX

I wonder what he means by blowing off some steam. I certainly have some fun stuff planned for the next chapter, but who knows what'll happen. So, I've sort of confirmed a female inner hollow, but hey it'll be new at least…I think.

Till next time, bye-bye.