And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forebodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon.
-Brain Damage, Pink Floyd
~1 month ago
Ichigo was busy tearing through the massive horde of hollows when he noticed a reiatsu spike on the other side of the soccer field that was currently serving as a battlefield. Ichigo was having the hardest time placing the familiar reiatsu. He finished off the hollows directly in front of him as quickly as possible. As soon as he turned around, Adrenaline pumped through him as he instantly recognized her short black hair. 'WHAT THE HELL IS SHE DOING HERE?'
One of the menos was charging a cero right towards her. If that wasn't bad enough, she still hadn't noticed the arrancar coming up behind her. There was no way he'd be able to get there in time, but that didn't stop him from attempting to break shunpo records in an effort to reach her. 3 flash steps later, he cleanly decapitated the arrancar before freezing at the sight before him.
Inoue's santen kesshun had stopped the cero and was crumbling away, but bathed in an orange glow, Orihime lay over his sister with a deep gash across her back.
Unwanted memories assaulted him as Karin began to stir and looked up at Ichigo from over Orihime's shoulder. "Ichi-nii?" she asked as her vision began to clear. Her brother was covered in blood and cuts, eyes unfocused as he stared at her. No… more like below her. She expected him to be mad, but he wasn't reacting at all. "Ichi- Orihime?" she screamed as she noticed the girl on top of her, not moving. Karin tried to shake Orihime for her to wake up but she remained still. Karin could faintly hear her breathing. "ICHI-NII! Snap out of it! Get a healer!" Ichigo finally looked up at his sister. Karin had never seen her brother look so completely… broken before. Not even after their mother had died. Sad, upset, crying- yes. He looked as if his soul had been completely shattered into pieces. That's when it hit her. Their mother had died protecting him, exactly like this.
"Ichi-nii…" Karin said sympathetically. "She's still breathing. Go get her a medic now." That seemed to snap him out of it enough for him to move. Karin carefully rolled out from underneath the healer, gently resting her on the ground. Karin ripped open the back of Orihime's shirt so she could get a better look at the wound. This was bad. Really, really bad.
A moment later her brother returned holding a small dark-haired boy by the back of his shirt who seemed completely bewildered by his current state. "Ichigo-san! What are you doing? I wasn't-"
Ichigo unceremoniously dropped him on the ground beside Orihime. Hanataro paused, suddenly realizing why Ichigo had been acting so strange as he flitted around the group of healers before tearing him away from his patient mid-kido.
"Heal her." Ichigo mumbled from behind Hanataro.
"Inoue-san…"
"NOW!" Ichigo screamed.
He jumped at his sudden behavior before replying with a stuttered, "H-hai!" Hanataro immediately started a healing kido before stopping the kido a moment later.
"What are you doing?"
"This will be better for this type of wound," Hanataro explained as he pulled out his zanpakutou.
Ichigo's eyes went wide as he saw Hanataro move to cut Inoue with his zanpakutou. Ichigo grabbed Hanataro by his arm. "Are you fucking crazy?"
"Ichigo-san…" Hanataro said calmly. "Let go of me and trust me." Ichigo looked at Hanataro for a moment before releasing his arm to let the healer proceed. Hanataro carefully lined up his zanpakutou and cut along the wound across Orihime's back. The wound disappeared as the gauge on the sword filled. Ichigo watched with a slack jaw as he realized the sword was absorbing her injuries. Of course Hanataro's zanpakutou would do something like this…
Hanataro set his sword aside, gauge full, and resumed his previous kido. Moments later Inoue started coughing as she regained consciousness. Ichigo let out the breath he didn't realize he had been holding. Orihime attempted to move but Karin laid a firm hand on her shoulder. Hanataro instructed her to lie down and keep still until he was done. Orihime looked over at Karin and smiled. "Karin-chan… I'm so glad you're okay," she murmured weakly.
Ichigo clenched his teeth as his face contorted with emotion… He wanted to scream at the girl for being so stupid, but deep down he knew that if she hadn't… His sister would have been killed. Unable to thank the girl for being so reckless, Ichigo ground out, "I'm glad you're okay, Inoue," before turning to return to the battle.
"Ichi-nii…"
"Go home Karin. Now." Ichigo ordered and was gone in a flash to go release his frustrations in the nearby battle.
Hanataro looked at the young dark haired girl, waiting to see what she would do. Karin met his gaze and informed him, "I'm not leaving until she is healed."
"Karin-chan… You don't… have to. You should do… what your brother said."
"I'll go home when you're healed. And I'm taking you with me." Karin informed her.
"But-" Orihime protested.
"No buts! You saved me. I'm not letting you spend the night by yourself. You can stay in the clinic tonight." Orihime smiled weakly at the girl's stubborn nature that reminded her of a certain someone. As thoughts of the orange headed shinigami invaded her brain, she closed her eyes and let herself drift off to sleep.
Hanataro could feel the battle begin to die down as the enemy started to retreat. He could feel the dark, angry nature of Ichigo's reiatsu from here. Hanataro turned to see Ichigo slicing through anything that dared to stand in his path. He was single-handedly tipping the scales of the battles so forcibly, he alone was causing the enemy to back off and retreat. Reiatsu vibrated through the air as he fired getsuga after getsuga and cero after cero. Even some of the shinigami had started to back off in awe of the boy's strength, afraid to get in his way.
When all was said and done and the remaining forces escaped through the last garganta, Ichigo stood staring at the spot where the last of the hollows had disappeared. Kenpachi was the only one brave enough to approach the teenager. "That was an amazing show you put on there, Ichigo. You've been holding back on me," he accused.
Ichigo looked over at Kenpachi for a moment before letting his mask slowly dissipate. "Sorry." Ichigo's eyes returned to the sky then glanced over to where Hanataro, Karin, and Orihime were.
"Your eyes are funny," Yachiru said with a giggle.
Ichigo cocked an eyebrow. "Really? Still?" he asked, bringing a hand to touch his face.
"Yep! One's different from the other now!"
Ichigo focused on lowering his reiatsu and pushing his hollow back down where he belonged. "How about now?"
"Awwww… But I liked it better before!" Yachiru pouted. "I wish I could have different colored eyes. Ken-chan! Can I get a mask like Ichi's?"
"No baka. It's not something you can buy like candy," Kenpachi grunted.
Ichigo was gone the next moment.
Deep within the palace of Los Noches, Aizen sat lazily in the darkness. His face was dimly lit by the images on the large monitor in front of him.
"I know you're there, Gin," Aizen called out in a tired tone.
"Mah… Hide and seek ain't no fun if yer gonna find me every time, Taicho," Gin whined, wide smile etched across his face as he stepped forward.
Aizen turned around to regard Gin. "Next time bring some tea. Go fetch the Octava for me," Aizen said, returning his eyes to the screen.
"Oooh. Tanoshii-sou," Gin commented as he left to carry out his master's orders.
"Mmm... Tanoshii." Aizen murmured to himself as he let a smile slowly creep onto his face. The prospect of a new game already had him feeling the rush of a new challenge.
Present
"Why hello there," Aizen greeted cordially as he exited the garganta. "It's so lovely to see you again, Kurosaki Ichigo."
The shinigami towards the rear of the group scrambled to reopen a senkaimon, but every attempt to open a senkaimon with their zanpakutou would only catch air. The group was surrounded in a second by the arrancar. Aizen-sama didn't leave Hueco Mundo without his own personal entourage and several espada were strategically placed amongst them. Ulquiorra was dutifully standing a few feet to the side of his master, looking completely indifferent to his surroundings.
Ichigo didn't want to think about his last fight with Ulquiorra. He was too much of a match for him without his hollow's help and although he was on good terms with the hollow, Ichigo was still hesitant to go all out before figuring out what the hell he had been injected with.
Several months ago, Ichigo had witnessed part of Zaraki's fight with Nnoitra. The fifth Espada was not to be taken lightly. Zaraki had enjoyed the battle immensely but it had ended in a draw when Soul Society had decided to retreat. Even Kenpachi had decided to retreat after he and Yachiru were surrounded by several hundred low ranking hollows. He'd take on multiple opponents any day but the captain had deemed it too much of a pain in the ass. Yelling a promise a rematch over his shoulder as he retreated, Kenpachi left while leaving a trail of corpses on his way out.
Starrk had taken up a spot near the back, opting to lean against a nearby tree. Lilynette was busy scolding Starrk in an attempt to get him to move up towards the front line so she could get a better view. Ichigo still found it hard to believe that the lanky brown haired man was not only the top espada, but that he'd ever joined Aizen in the first place. Nothing ever seemed to hold his interest. It was interesting to see him interact with that fracción of his, she seemed awfully annoying...
Ichigo knew they'd be fucked without reinforcements soon. Unfortunately, it looked like Aizen already had Urahara's group pre-occupied and any further reinforcements from soul society would take a while to get there. It was doubtful they'd even be able to open a senkaimon from soul society here at this point, considering no one was able to open a gate on this side. Not only out-numbered, but the enemy had superior firepower as well. Aizen himself had shown up with 3 of his top ranking espada and their fracción. Rage began to flow through his veins as he realized that he would have to let one of the others fight Ulquiorra and they'd be no match for him. Ichigo felt his hollow's reiatsu seeping into his own, but it was as if it was intertwining with his instead of dominating it.
"Hisashi buri desu ne? I hate to meet up with such an old companion and run, but you see… We already have a prior commitment." Kyouraku explained, smile on his face and a hand hovering over his two Zanpakutou. "Zannen. It's bad manners to drop in without calling ahead, you know."
"Now, now. No need to cut this little reunion short now is there? I won't be taking up much of your time. I do regret to inform you that Urahara-san will, unfortunately, be running a little late."
I wanna fight that fucker Aizen. I wanna tear that fucking curl right off his face.
Ichigo couldn't help but let out a small snort of laughter, ignoring the looks people around him were giving him; he didn't give a shit. Kyouraku seemed to match up to Starrk better than he would have and they were completely fucked anyways, so why not? Sounds good to me, Whitey.
His hollow snorted at the nickname. You almost seem more excited than I am.
"What are you doing here, Aizen? It's not like you to do your own dirty work," Kyouraku said, dropping his voice down to a serious tone.
"Now who's being rude? It hasn't even been a minute yet and you're already trying to get rid of me. I just wanted to meet up with some old acquaintances. Might as well get things started then," Aizen said. He gave a quick signal and the chaos began.
Before Kyouraku could charge Aizen, Starrk suddenly appeared before the captain leaving Ichigo to charge Aizen.
Sit back, relax, and hold on to your panties. It's going to be a bumpy ride. Ichigo announced internally, letting psychotic smile worthy of his hollow spread across his face.
HA! Whatever, just don't let us get killed too quickly or I'll kill ya myself, the hollow retorted.
Ichigo rolled his eyes and leapt up into the air as he charged towards Aizen. He wanted to wipe the smile off of that bastard's face if it was the last thing he did. Ichigo lunged at Aizen, flash stepping behind him at the last moment.
"Well, don't you look happy to see me," Aizen said, effortlessly blocking Ichigo's attack from behind. "I don't think I've ever seen you smile like that before."
Ichigo pushed off of Aizen's sword and propelled himself backwards before responding, "It's better to die with a smile on your face, ya know."
"Oh my. Have you given up already? That's no good…" Aizen cocked his head to the side to ponder something. "No matter, you seem to have plenty of fighting spirit anyways."
Ichigo's smile faded and his eyebrows furrowed. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I've only ever really met you the one time anyways. How would you know what I'm like?"
"Oh but I do know. I know much more about you than you could ever know about me."
Ichigo grit his teeth and fired off a getsuga. "What kind of bullshit are you spouting now?"
"Oh, but it's not. I've been watching you for a very long time," Aizen said calmly over Ichigo's shoulder as he appeared just behind him.
Ichigo immediately shunpo'd a safe distance away. He didn't even see the bastard move! Aizen could have killed him just then… Why… "You already told me that. You've been watching me since I gained my shinigami powers from Rukia."
Aizen smiled and calmly walked towards Ichigo slowly. "I've been watching you from the beginning."
"That's what I SAID!" Ichigo yelled.
"No. From the very beginning," Aizen clarified.
"The fuck are you talking about?"
"I've known about you since you were born."
It took Ichigo a moment to process what Aizen was trying to tell him. "You… You knew."
"About your father? Of course. It's not every day that a shinigami has a child with a human, you know. I sent Rukia your way because I thought you were ready for your powers and had the motivation to make them grow immensely. You've become a sort of project of mine," Aizen explained with a smile.
Ichigo cursed himself for ever letting himself listen to the man. Before Ichigo could move, Aizen had appeared in front of him, hand against his chest. As soon as Aizen's hand touched his chest, Ichigo found himself unable to move. Ichigo could feel his hollow seething from his inner world.
Aizen slowly opened his other hand to reveal an oddly glowing orb that appeared to have melded temporarily with the man's palm. He tried to pull away, swing his sword, do something, anything, but it was futile. It was almost as if there was some sort of strange gravity surrounding the orb. The hougyouku disconnected with Aizen's hand; it began to glow brighter and brighter as it began to float midair. There was an intense, bright light suddenly being emitted from it before an invisible blast emanated from the orb, blowing everyone back except for Ichigo, including Aizen.
"Omoshiroi…" Aizen murmured, quickly righting himself. He sat midair, transfixed as he watched the orb do its work.
Orihime struggled to move, but found it impossible under the weight of the hougyouku's influence. She still could not see anything past the obnoxiously bright light being emitted from the hougyouku. A strange humming started to come from the orb, followed by vibrations that kept growing larger and larger until there was a second flash of light, accompanied by a blood-curling scream. She shielded her eyes from the light, but could do nothing to make the god-awful screams stop.
After what seemed like an eternity, the light dimmed and the screams finally ceased. Orhime saw something black and white plummeting towards the ground from where the hougyouku was still floating. It was dead silent as the unidentifiable mass hit the ground with a loud thud.
Although they were able to move now, no one moved a muscle and just sat in shock of what had just happened. Orihime was the first to move as she stumbled up to her feet and sprinted towards what had fallen from the sky. Aizen followed shortly after, flash stepping over to gather his precious orb from the sky. He looked down at his creation on the ground and smiled, "Most intriguing."
Orihime paused a few feet away as she spotted a mess of spiky orange hair, noticing Zangetsu impaled upon the ground next to Ichigo. Her brows furrowed when she noticed that his head was resting upon something white. She took a few more cautious steps forward before her eyes grew to the size of saucers as she spotted an identically spiky head near Ichigo's feet. Instead of orange, it was white… with an identical but white bankai cloak? Was this one of Aizen's illusions? His face was against the ground but between the hair, cloak, and body- she knew the other body was as good as Ichigo's long lost twin.
Orihime didn't have too much time to process what had happened because before she knew it, she felt a piercing pain in her stomach. She looked down only to find a sword sticking out of her stomach. She slowly looked up and over her shoulder, face full of shock, to see Aizen smiling back at her as he withdrew his sword. Orihime fell to her knees then sank to the ground as she clutched her stomach. Aizen cast a quick kido at her to knock her out a moment before he was surrounded in a flash of shunpo, but all the shinigami that dared approach him were blown several feet away in an instant. By the time he turned his back towards his quarry, Aizen frowned when he noticed that they were now encased in some strange box of kido he had never seen before, glowing a bright white. It was quickly encased with several thick layers of orange. Aizen kept his irritation under wraps as he looked around only to find one Urahara Kisuke excitedly waving back at him from 30 yards away.
"If I didn't know any better, I would have thought you didn't want to see me!" Urahara shouted in a pouty tone.
"Urahara Kisuke… How… pleasant for you to join us," Aizen grit out. "You are a little late however, as the damage has already been done."
"Oh, this is where you and I will have agree to disagree," Urahara said playfully, pointing his fan towards Aizen and waving it up and down with a flop of his wrist.
Aizen sighed at the man's antics. "I was hoping that my distraction would have lasted a few more minutes, but it is of no consequence. I'm running late and have to return home." He said, signaling the negación. As the negación came down, a senkaimon opened, revealing the soutaichou and several others. Aizen smiled confidently at Urahara, who was smiling right back at him. Urahara stood there as if bidding a good friend an energetic farewell, as if he were happy as a clam about the situation. Aizen dismissed it as one of Urahara's eccentricities until he looked over at the two teens, only to notice that the strange white kido had somehow stopped the negación. Aizen's fury showed for the briefest of moments as he gazed upon the sight for several moments before returning his gaze back to Urahara. The bastard must have developed a kido to negate negación…
"Nice trick you have there," Aizen complimented. "It is of no consequence. I have achieved what I wanted today and I will be returning to claim what is already mine." Aizen turned to the soutaichou and other captains, smiling as he bowed faintly to acknowledging their presence before he was sucked up into the sky.
Urahara's happy demeanor fell into a frown. He quickly shunpo'd over to the two teenagers, only to notice that there were now three of them. "Interesting indeed," he conceded. Several hypotheses were already flooding his brain as the scientist turned to Hachi. "I told you it wasn't necessary for you to come."
"Better safe than sorry with Aizen," Hachi said quietly, dissipating his barriers.
"Very true. Can you please return to the others and watch that barrier I put around that espada for me until I can move him to the shop?" Urahara asked the large pink-haired man.
"Hai desu," Hachi said with a bow, turning to leave.
Even with the vizard's barriers gone, could barely sense either boy's reiatsu. While the other captain's went to congregate around Kyouraku and the vizards to find out what had happened, Soutaichou and Unohana-taichou came up next to Urahara.
"I would like to start healing Inoue-san's wounds as soon as possible. Is there some way to transfer them securely to a safe location?" Unohana asked.
"Hai. I will transport them shortly. Soutaichou?"
"What happened here?" the elderly captain grunted. "Am I seeing two of Kurosaki?"
"It appears so. I can't give you any more information until I get him back to my lab to do some testing. I will send you updates as soon as possible. For now, time is of the essence," Urahara explained. The captain simply nodded in reply before making his way towards the captains already heatedly debating.
"Isane-san, would you be so kind as to fetch Kuchiki-san, Abarai-fukutaicho, and Akon-sanseki so we can depart as soon as possible? I will leave you in charge here," Unohana said. Isane nodded before going off to gather the others. "This is the hougyouku's work, isn't it?" Unohana asked. Urahara simply nodded, eyes glued on the two boys. "That is Kurosaki-san's hollow, is it not?" She could briefly see pain in Urahara's eyes as he looked over at her.
As the three younger shinigami approached, Urahara tilted his head back down to let the shadows cover his eyes. "Most likely," Urahara conceded in somber tone as he opened part of the glowing white box of kido to allow entry for himself and the four others. Once inside the opening closed. Urahara approached the pale, white clad male bending down and rolling him over away from his brightly colored counterpart, noting their faces looked exactly alike. He slowly pulled back an eyelid to reveal unconscious black on white eyes. He slid the eyelid back down before standing back up, turning around and taking the cane of his zanpakutou to draw a circle in the air. The circle formed a passage to allow them to return to the shop quickly. Urahara bent down picked up the paler of the two. Akon hefted an unconscious Ichigo over his shoulder while Renji carefully picked up Inoue, taking special care not to jostle or hurt her any further. After they stepped through the passage, it sealed itself before the kido dissipated.
It took Orihime a moment before she recognized her surroundings as she woke up. 'This must be one of Urahara-san's spare rooms…' She sat herself up, wincing slightly from the pain that was coming from her stomach. Orihime lifted up her shirt slightly to inspect the bandages, as memories of the day before slowly came back to her. Unohana must have healed her, shuddering as she remembered Aizen's zanpakutou sticking out of her stomach. Orihime felt for Ichigo's reiatsu, noticing he was only in the room next door from her, but… his reiatsu seemed impossibly low for him. Orihime quickly sat up, intent on seeing him for herself.
Wincing at the pain as she stood, Orihime made her way over to the sliding door. After opening the door, she paused at the scene before her. Coloring aside, the two looked exactly alike. Similar pained expressions were etched upon their faces even in sleep. Orihime slowly approached them. The white haired boy's reiatsu felt almost identical to Ichigo's at the moment. It was as low as Ichigo's but had a slightly more hollow-like scent to it. As soon as she saw the two identical zanpakutou's propped up side by side against the wall, her heart sank as it all started to make sense. The hougyouku must have torn Ichigo's hollow from his soul… Remembering the blood curling screams she heard was making her sick to her stomach.
The door to the hallway slid open and Orihime looked up to see Urahara standing there, shadows from his hat masking his eyes. Stepping inside, Urahara slid the door shut behind him before taking a seat next to one of the futons. "I'm glad to see you're finally awake."
"Do you…"
"I don't know when they will wake up. The hougyouku is not usually used in such a quick manner. Usually it takes several days to prep the subject. I imagine… it was not a terribly pleasant process. I won't be able to know the full list of side effects until they awaken and I can do some more testing."
"Oh." A tear rolled down her face as she looked between the two boys. "The… white one is his inner hollow. Isn't it?"
"I cannot say for certain, but I think that within all likelihood it is the same personality that resided within him. Shinji seemed to agree with my hypothesis. The vizards were quite shocked when I showed them his eyes."
"Eyes?" Orihime asked, confused. Urahara leaned over towards the hollow and slid one eye open slightly to show her. "Black and white…" she mumbled.
"They don't enjoy talking about their inner hollows much, but from what I've gathered over the years, each of their hollows is vastly different from the others. The only common trait they all share is the black sclera." With a snap of his fan, Orihime looked back up at the shopkeeper. In a much more lively voice he continued, "Now then, I think that's enough for now. We should leave these two to rest and you should heal yourself before lunch." Urahara quickly rushed her back to her room. "Yoruichi-san went to your apartment for some clothes. They are in the dresser. Please feel free to stay here as long as you like," he said before closing the door with a snap.
The first thing he noticed when he started to fully regain consciousness for the first time in days, was the indescribable pain coming from his head. Everything else felt like a dull ache compared to the gut-retching pain in his head. He groaned and instinctively rolled towards the heat next to him, nearly moaning from the immense relief the small action gave him. This was so much more… tolerable. Resting his head on something firm with arm wrapped tightly around the object, Ichigo slowly opened his eyes. White? It took Ichigo's brain a moment to work through the sluggishness to figure out exactly what was soothing his pain. He didn't dare back away from… His hollow? Ichigo looked around slowly only to realize that he was very much awake and not in his inner world. It looked like the pervert's house.
"Ah, Kurosaki-san. You seem to have regained consciousness! How wonderful!" Urahara said cheerfully.
"It doesn't feel wonderful," Ichigo muttered. "What the hell happened? How is he here?"
"Well, from what I've been able to conclude while you were passed out, it seems Aizen used the Hougyouku to split your soul. Most notably resulting in what I assume was your inner hollow, now becoming your outer hollow."
"The fuck!" the hollow hissed. One hand shot up to his forehead; the other wrapped around Ichigo, pulling him closer. He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at the orange head currently resting against his chest with a half-pained, half-confused look on his face. "The hell are you doing on my chest?"
"Well… Uhhh…"
"I can't read your thoughts and I can barely feel your reiatsu." He stared down at Ichigo intensely as he concentrated but was still unable to hear anything from the teen. He started looking around wildly. "WHERE THE HELL AM I? What the FUCK is going on?" he yelled, bolting upright, effectively removing Ichigo as back pedaled towards the wall. "Fuckkkk…" he moaned as he clutched his head. Ichigo grit his teeth through the pain before crawling back towards the hollow.
"Don't fuckin' move, dumbass!" Ichigo yelled at the hollow, irritated. "You think I was cuddling on you for the hell of it? It fuckin' hurts…"
"What. The fuck. Is going on," the hollow repeated.
"As I was explaining to Kurosaki-san before you awoke, it seems Aizen used the hougyouku on Ichigo to split the two of you apart," Urahara explained, looking at the scene before him speculatively. "So I gather you are both in quite a bit of pain? You've both been unconscious almost 3 days. The hougyouku usually requires time to make changes within a soul… Using it for something as powerful as instantly splitting a soul was bound to have some nasty side effects," Urahara explained, pausing a moment to calculate something in his head. "If physical closeness helps alleviate the pain, then the pain may only be temporary. All the same, I can go whip up something to help ease your pain."
"Please," Ichigo begged, letting himself rest against his hollow.
Urahara just nodded and opened the door to exit. "It's nice to see that you two are getting along," he added, snapping the door shut, two pillows hitting the door a moment later.
After a minute, the hollow was leering down at Ichigo as he mused, "So… He's probably going to be a while…"
Ichigo kept his eyes closed as he nodded against the other's chest, warmth slowly starting to make Ichigo sleepy. "Come on, Ichi. You heard him; we've been sleepin' for two days. Don't go back to sleep and leave me alone with that freak," he whined.
Ichigo chuckled and cracked an eye open as he looked up towards the hollow. "Awww… Is the big bad hollow afraid of the perverted old man?" Ichigo teased.
"Nah, the big bad hollow wants some company and to do something to keep my mind off my throbbing head," he said, sliding his hand behind Ichigo's head.
"Pervert," Ichigo mumbled before allowing himself to be pulled up into a slow kiss. Rolling over, the hollow pinned Ichigo down. The hollow left his lips to nip at Ichigo's neck making Ichigo groan. A gasp interrupted them from their little make-out session; both looked over to find a completely shocked princess standing just outside the room.
Ichigo quickly pushed the hollow off of him, completely embarrassed and red in the face as the hollow lay there chuckling. "Inoue..." he started, walking over towards the door before cursing half way to the door and dropping to his knees.
Orihime moved over to Ichigo where he fell. "Kurosaki-kun!"
"Weren't you the one tellin' me not to move away, Aibou?" the hollow said, laughing as best as he could through the pain as he crawled over to Ichigo, pulling him up against his chest, between his legs as he sat on the futon in the middle of the floor.
"So… This really is your hollow, isn't it?" Orihime said quietly, getting back up to close the door before sitting back down in front of the two."
"I'm right here, Princess," the hollow growled over Ichigo's shoulder.
"Yea, he's my hollow." Ichigo muttered, keeping his eyes shadowed by his hair.
Orihime took a moment to meet the hollow's eyes before blushing. He looked so… different from Ichigo. Completely white in a white version of Ichigo's bankai cloak. White hair, white skin, even white irises surrounded by a sea of black. The hollow just let a grin take over his face as he noticed the girl's blush. "Like what ya see, Hime?" he asked in a low voice, licking his lips with his blue tongue. Orihime made a sound of surprise before she averted her eyes to stare at her lap as her face turned a deep red.
"About earlier…" Ichigo started.
"You never answered my question, Hime." The hollow interrupted.
"What question?" she asked.
"When I asked you if you liked me. I know you like the berry, but you never admitted that you liked me too."
Orihime's mouth dropped and eyes went wide as she tried to stutter out a response, "I-I…"
"You like him," the hollow indicated the orange head firmly being held against his chest by nuzzling against his neck.
"Quit it," Ichigo muttered.
"Shut up, you like it," the hollow whispered, turning back to the princess. "You like me, whether you admit it or not." Orihime tried to deny it but her voice had left her unable to answer. "We both like you. But… Would ya still like us if we liked each other?" the hollow asked softly, pulling Ichigo tighter against him.
Orihime let her eyes wander from the hollow's hold on Ichigo, to Ichigo's blush and averted eyes, then back up to the hollow's waiting face resting over Ichigo's shoulder. The hollow let his long blue tongue lick over the sensitive spot on Ichigo's neck causing the teen to moan before he slapped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment and elbowed the hollow harshly in the side.
"Bastard," Ichigo muttered. "I… don't know what to tell you," he said, looking up at Orihime tentatively. "It kinda just happened after we kissed. It's not like he's trying to kill me anymore." He said with a shrug. He waited a moment for Orihime to respond before continuing. "I know he kissed you when he took over."
"She enjoyed it and kissed me back too." The hollow boasted before receiving another elbow in the gut.
"Shut up for a minute. I guess what I'm trying to say is that… It's okay if you like him. He's a bastard and has that effect on people whether they want to or not." Ichigo said with a scowl deeply sketched on his face.
"I… was just a little surprised that's all. I was just so excited to find out that you had finally woken up and then… I thought he was attacking you…"
"Only in a manner of speakin'," The hollow chuckled.
Ichigo ignored the hollow and kept his eyes locked on Orihime, trying to figure out what was hidden deep inside those grey orbs of hers. She didn't look disgusted, that didn't mean that she wasn't trying to keep everything hidden to be nice. "Please tell me what you're thinking," Ichigo begged softly. Her eyes met his and she noticed the desperate look on his face.
Orihime had been giving the issue of there now being two separate Ichigo's quite a bit of thought since she woke up. She wasn't sure how much Ichigo really knew about what had gone on while his Hollow was in control. Orihime hadn't been able to come up with anything to say to him once they awoke. As much as she wanted to, Orihime couldn't deny that she had truly enjoyed herself when his hollow took over… Or the heat she felt when the hollow had made Ichigo moan a moment ago. Orihime stayed quiet for a minute as she let herself think. She looked between the both of them before she let her eyes settle on the hollow. "I… don't even know your name."
"I haven't had a name until now. Never really thought about it before. I suppose now that I got this new body I need a name, ne?" he mused, letting his head rest on Ichigo's shoulder, eyes darting around the room as he thought. "I guess you ain't really my king anymore either… Ichi."
"You can call yourself whatever you want, whitey," Ichigo said, rolling his eyes at the nickname. "Just don't steal mine."
"Fuck no. I gotta have my own name, don't I? You have any ideas, princess?"
Orihime looked between the both of them for a moment, trying to come up with an idea for a name. She had never named something so important before… Looking at the arm wrapped around Ichigo's waist, she was suddenly inspired. "Shiro…"
"Huh?" both of them said simultaneously before scowling at each other.
"Kurosaki-kun… Shirosaki-kun."
The hollow took a moment to mull it over. He wasn't a big fan of Shirosaki, but he liked Shiro. White was what made him unique. "Shiro… I like it," he agreed with a smile.
"That'll work for a family name, but you need a given name," Ichigo said.
"But I like Shiro…" the hollow whined.
"You don't have to go by your first name, but you'll need something to tell people. People usually have two names."
"So picky... I don't see why your so attached to first names when you were named after a fruit, I-chi-go." He froze as something began to click in his head and he started to smile.
"Shut up. You know what my damn name means…"
"Chi." Shiro said simply.
"What?"
"Chi… Ya know, blood. 'Chi'. I like that part. Hmmm…. How about… Hichigo?"
"Huh? Never heard of that before… sounds like an odd name. The go the same as mine?"
"Yea. Bloody protector- If anyone touches what's mine, I'd make 'em bleed. Good enough."
Ichigo furrowed his eyebrows. "The hell is the Hi supposed to be for?"
"Scarlet? I dunno, but Chigo sounds fucking retarded," Shiro scoffed.
"Names are usually two characters you know…" Ichigo explained.
"Like I give a fuck. You're the one who wanted the first name anyways."
"Whatever," Ichigo said with a sigh. "Shirosaki Hichigo it is."
"I like it. I think it fits you, Shiro-kun," Orihime agreed with a smile.
"Thanks, Hime," Shiro said, grinning back at her.
Hallelujah! He finally has a name! Ffffffffffffffffffffff… Thank god. Okay so, here it is.
白崎 緋血護 – Shirosaki Hichigo
白崎[Shiro saki] – Like Kurosaki except switch out white for black.
緋血護 [Hi chi go] - Scarlet bloody protector
I know these are both pretty standard names in fan fiction, but I had fun picking out some kanji for Hichigo.
黒崎 一護 – Kurosaki Ichigo [for comparison]
井上 織姫 – Inoue Orihime [for the hell of it/might as well do all 3/in case you didn't know]
*Note* It's not uncommon for Japanese to use one similar kanji from their own name when naming their kids. (e.g. Kurosaki's: 一心 [Isshin], 一護 [Ichigo] & Ishida's: 宗弦 [Souken], 竜弦 [Ryuuken], 雨竜 [Uryuu]) Not trying to say that Hichigo is supposed to be like Ichigo's kid or anything, but I do think that keeping 1 kanji from each part of the name makes sense. He changed one from his last name as well, so they keep that feeling of being related, but not of the same "nuclear" family. If that makes any sense… *shrug*
Chapter 440 really killed my opinion of Orihime in the manga. It took me a while to be able to write the battle scene without wanting to kill her off completely… At least she's not some weak ass bitch who can't use Tsubaki to save her life in this… *grumbles*
Anyways… I drew a picture from this chapter while I was cooling my head. It's the preview picture for the chapter on dA. My username is the same on there as it is on here. Ldzetc . deviantart . com
I really do hate to take so long with my updates, but shit happens. It seems like the last couple weeks, life has seen fit to shit all over my plans. I've had quite the impressive streak of bad luck. I'm also going to be moving in about a month and a half. _ On the bright side, I'm not going to be looking for jobs so I have the next month to focus on doing writing and art.
Japanese for the Chapter
白[shiro] - White
緋[Hi] – Scarlet, dark red, crimson
血[chi] – Blood
護[go] - protect
楽しいそう[tanoshii sou] – Sounds like fun
楽しい [たのしい/tanoshii] – Fun/entertaining
久し振りですね[ひさしぶり/ hisashiburi desu ne] - It's been a long time, hasn't it?
残念 [ざんねん/zannen] - Too bad/disappointing.
面白い [おもしろい/omoshiroi] - Interesting
kittykittytwotoes- ["I don't understand the IchiHichi part, is Ichigo really bisexual? Since the hollow is part of him wouldn't that mean he pleasured himself? does Ichigo and his hollow love each other as in you know love love? Sorry for so many questions I'm just really confused."]
Can't answer your reviews if you don't have an account~ So… I hope you're reading.
But… I hope this chapter kind of explained things a bit. The simple answer is yea, he's pretty much bi. It was similar to masturbation, except for not. I dunno. Hard to pin it down I guess. Let's say you cloned yourself, it grew up in a completely different environment and developed an almost completely different personality. Is it still really you? Sorta like that except instead of DNA, its fundamentally different soul structure. But at that point Shiro was still a part of Ichigo's soul… "I want you too, King. Does that make us bi? Or is it just some weird version of vizard masturbation?" [Ch. 4] Interesting question isn't it. Hehehe. Yea, it was pretty much like masturbation, wasn't it? Having sexual relations with another part of yourself. (Especially considering they just jerked the other off.)
If Zan represents Ichigo's Shinigami powers and the power for him to protect, then Hichi represented what Ichigo would be like if he turned into a hollow. He was more closely related to Ichigo than Zan but at the same time, he still had his own personality at the very least. If I had to describe their situation now, it would have to be that their souls are still linked together, but they are separate souls now thanks to the hougyouku. Things will be explained more later, but… You shouldn't consider anything that happens between them now as simply masturbation. Shiro has his own name, body, and soul now.
As far as Ichigo and Shiro loving each other? "as in you know love love?" I don't know. It's certainly unique, ne? It's completely different than what either of them feel towards Orihime. The only thing that feels like "love love" to me would be Orihime's feelings towards Ichigo. Ichigo just came to terms with the fact that he likes Orihime as more than a friend, he's nowhere near being able to admit (even to himself) that he loves her. His feelings do have that type of "love love" feel to them though. Shiro is different… He's a hollow so… it's complicated. (Not your typical type of hollow though, I think he deserves his own little category. He is almost similar to an arrancar now though.) He certainly cares for both of them in his own unique way and admitted that he liked Orihime before Ichigo did, but I wouldn't call him a fuzzy romantic type. More of a "touch my woman and I'll make ya bleed" type or "I'm the only one that's allowed to kill/cut Ichi" type. Possessiveness, jealousy, lust, pride… are all things he feels relatively easily. Other emotions are more difficult. He certainly does seem to care an awful lot about them though.
I hope this answered your question and maybe helped clarify things for anyone else. I really appreciate every review I get, but if you have questions and review without leaving me a way to contact you, it's hard to answer your questions... Maybe consider making an account here, leaving an e-mail or something, or contact me on deviantArt? I want to be able to answer all of your questions. ;p
Thank you all for reading and I really appreciate any feedback you give, even if it's negative, criticism, a question, or just a simple "I liked it/please continue". A lot changed in this chapter and I'm very, very interested to know what you thought. ^_^