This War's Not Over: Chapter 19

Bloodlock

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As usual, I don't have much to say on these author's notes. ^^" So I'll just say what I have to say. Great reviews and hope you enjoy this next chappy! :D

When the world came flying back to Ichigo, all sense of peace had been thrown in a cage and locked up with a key. To his horror, he felt a syringe pricking in his arm, and his reflexes made him swing his free arm out, his fist slamming into his attacker's jaw. In doing so, the man dropped the syringe, and Ichigo was relieved that he hadn't pressed the liquid into his arm.

Ichigo sprang backwards, his eyes wild with fury. What were they going to do to him? After he hadn't touched the sedated food, they could be trying to do it manually while he was sleeping.

But Shiro's alarming words still rang in his ears. He placed a hand on his chest, feeling for the seal that had so miraculously reduced his powers to a mere seated officer. Was the seal…killing his hollow at the same time?

"Who are you?" he demanded at the man who was clutching his face.

The man didn't respond, seeming to signal to the people who were waiting outside. They flooded into the room, all equipped with daggers or knives, all dressed in the typical red uniform.

Ichigo didn't have time for this. He needed to help his hollow before there was nothing left of him. Ichigo's hand reached for his zanpakuto, but with a dull ache remembered that he no longer had it with him.

He dodged the first man's attack, shock plastering across Ichigo's features as another knife shot right past his ear and dug into the tapestry behind him. Ichigo's hand lifted up to his face to touch the few drops of liquid that had separated itself from the knife as it had hurtled past him. He stared at the green drops uncomprehendingly. Poison?

He rubbed whatever it was off his face, now clearly fearing for his life. He stared at the ten men, rooted to the ground. Without his zanpakuto, he was helpless. And if his suspicions were right, and the daggers and knives really had poison on them, they would kill him if it ever got into his body.

He continued to dodge the daggers, occasionally throwing one man to the ground. Then, when they all had enough, one of their feet slammed into Ichigo, sending him crashing into the wall. Ichigo's back pressed against the wall as they closed in on him, his eyes narrowed in anger at his helplessness. This seal made him even weaker than he already was without his zanpakuto.

But he had to escape—anything was better than being sedated again. He charged through the line of men, nimbly evading a dagger and ramming his head into his opponent's gut. Stumbling over the winded body, Ichigo raced towards the opened door.

One of the men behind him rang the alarm. It drilled into Ichigo's skull like nails. And then there was the seal. It seem to pulse, then give Ichigo an electric shock like it had given Shiro. Ichigo gasped, staggering and then leaning on one of the corridor walls. He barely noticed his surroundings, which were even more adorned and covered with red, gold and black.

Ichigo could hear the footsteps of men as they chased after him, catching up because of Ichigo's initial surprise. After that electric shock, his feet felt like blocks of stone that he couldn't lift.

A wave of nausea hit him, but he wasn't stupid. He knew that whatever the seal was doing to Shiro, it was affecting him as well. How stupid were the Royal Guard anyway? Couldn't they see that Shiro was a part of Ichigo, and if they got rid of him, it would surely affect Ichigo?

He cursed, dragging himself along the wall, but as the men stood barely a meter away from him, he swayed forwards, but to his surprise, he didn't hit the floor. He was greeted by waiting arms that immediately shifted Ichigo's weight so that whoever it was carried the teen under its arm. His first reaction was to snarl and tear at his capturer, but his blurring vision caught a glimpse of a glinting dagger held by painted red nails. His consciousness ebbing away, Ichigo's head went limp into darkness.

Rukia had landed on the hardest rock she had ever bashed her head on. It took her a few moments to realize that the rock she was now seething in pain on was Renji's head. But nonetheless, she continued to rub her head as if she hadn't noticed she was sitting on him, because she was still mad at him really. Grimmjow too. Ichigo was not her prince. That was simply some illusion they had created just because she was upset about Ichigo's capture. Of course she was upset. Weren't they all? Ichigo had been taken by the Royal Guard for crying out loud.

"You can get off my head now," Renji's muffled voice sounded beneath her.

Rukia tutted, reluctantly letting the redhead get up. The others were all rubbing sore spots on their bodies as well, but at the same time glancing at their surroundings. Rukia had never seen anything like it. Only dreamed about them in stories.

The land was covered by a thick layer of fog, the sky a murky pale blue. The land itself wasn't in good shape. It was torn up and…floating. Rukia gasped, running to the edge of their floating piece of land. It hovered above nothing but an endless pit of fog, surrounded by other little floating islands. It was almost like a fairytale.

But Chad's pointing finger brought her out of her musings, following everyone's gaze to stare at a huge palace that hovered above nothingness just like the rest of the torn up pieces of land.

"That must be where they've locked up Ichigo," Uryu said after a long moment of silence.

"I can't believe this place is real," Rukia mumbled. "How are we even going to get there? There's no road!"

"There must be some way that the Royal Guard go back and forth. It could be the same concept as the Garganta. We could use our reishi and make our own path," Uryu suggested, pushing up his glasses.

"Well I'm not the guinea pig," Grimmjow snorted behind them.

The espada looked up from where they had fallen down with regret stinging his glare. An unexpected stab of sympathy sparked in Rukia. Grimmjow must be worried about Nel. Ichigo and Nel were the only two people he really called comrades. It must be awkward to come with soul reapers—much less when one of them he almost killed by impaling his hand in her stomach.

"I'll do it then, if you're too scared," Uryu retorted, walking towards the edge and muttering some inaudible nonsense.

Everyone watched the quincy as he put one foot out into the void testingly, before placing both feet onto the nothingness. The quincy didn't fall down, so everyone relaxed, following Uryu as he began to float on his flying disk of reishi. Rukia led the way as they created their path of reishi, Uryu as the lookout and Grimmjow at the end to watch their backs for any sign of the Royal Guard.

"You do realize that these Royal Guard guys could be stronger than us, right?" Renji asked from somewhere behind Rukia.

Rukia glanced over her shoulder, and smiled for the first time in days at Renji.

"That hasn't stopped us before."

Ichigo let out another scream of pain as an electrical surge ran through his body. He was frantic, desperately trying to re-enter his inner world, but to no avail. He had no idea where he was or how long he had stayed there screaming. All he knew was that whoever it was who had captured him was no longer here.

He cursed at the Royal Guard, the Spirit King and that bastard Jun. He wouldn't be here if it wasn't for them. Now, the desire to kill them had been hard-drilled into the very core of his soul. How happy Aizen would be if he saw Ichigo now.

To his surprise, a presence had made its way to his side, holding a cup to his lips.

Ichigo opened his eyes, his body still heaving. He recognized the lady immediately. "Miko?"

He glared at her with misgiving, his feverish eyes not leaving her made up face.

"Why are you helping me?" Ichigo tried again.

"Orders are orders," Miko smiled.

Ichigo's brows knitted tightly together in confusion but kept his mouth shut. Instead, his gaze lowered down to the cup she held in front of him.

"Are you going to sedate me again?" Ichigo asked, his voice a millimeter away from turning into a growl.

Miko lent her head back into a laugh, but she refrained herself from doing so to avoid spilling the cup all over the teen. She didn't answer him once more; instead pushing the liquid to his lips just as Ichigo took in another ragged breath.

Whatever it was flooded his pallet, and he instantly choked on it, being caught off guard. He tried to spit it out, but some of it had already made its way down his throat due to his initial shock. He began to feel sleepy, his eyelids drooping, managing to throw all his hatred at Miko through his closing eyes.

She only smiled. "This is going to hurt. We're removing the seal."

Ichigo was finally thrown back into his inner world. He didn't hesitate as he pushed himself up onto his feet, breaking into a run as he raced aimlessly across his inner world. His stomach cramped up as his worries of being too late were being realized.

"Shiro!" he called vainly.

His eyes scoured his inner world, anger building up inside him. Why were they doing this?

He was in his usual black soul reaper uniform, yet Zangetsu still remained missing. He opened and unclenched his fist, slamming it down on the ground with frustration. "Zangetsu. Where are you when we need you?"

"Crying like a baby. You're pathetic as usual, Kingy."

Ichigo's head shot up, his head whipping from side to side.

"Shiro?" he asked hopefully.

What Ichigo saw made him gasp. On his left, about ten meters away, his hollow was lying down on the icy floor, his white body blending in with the concealing fog. The only thing that had made Ichigo able to distinguish Shiro from the ice and mist was the crimson blood around him.

Ichigo ran towards him, his eyes wide with alarm. As he neared his hollow, he could make out five chains that were attached onto the floor. A dagger that had been stabbed through his chest linked them all together. It appalled Ichigo how the seal was slowly killing the hollow.

He shook his counterpart, his eyes lit with worry.

"You okay?" it seemed like such a stupid thing to ask, but Ichigo asked anyway.

It was obvious that Shiro was doing his best not to scream out agony, instead keeping an arrogant smile on his face. "This is nothing."

But the hollow's act backfired when he coughed up some blood that dribbled down the side of his lip. Angered by his weak state, the hollow sharply turned his head away from Ichigo.

"It's not as bad as it looks. Really. So don't look at me as if you're watching me croak or something," the hollow's voice was beginning to crack.

Ichigo was surprised. Emotions hadn't really left Shiro after they had stopped merging together. Perhaps the hollow had had them all along, and just denied them, like Ichigo had denied his hollow. But they'd already settled that ages ago. Guilt crossed Ichigo's features. He had been so reckless, walking out of his house when he knew he was being hunted after.

"I'm. Not. Dying. Not until I take over your body and kill all your friends for putting us through crap all the time."

Ichigo knew it was a weak attempt at a joke. It only made him madder at the Royal Guard. Ichigo's expression hardened. This was his entire fault. He was always blaming the Royal Guard for doing this to them. But really, it was him. If he hadn't dropped his guard down when Jun came to capture him, Shiro wouldn't be pinned to the floor bleeding to death right now. And it was always his counterpart that got them out of this kind of mess. This time, Ichigo would do it himself.

Ichigo stood up from his crouching position, Miko's voice ringing through his mind. "We're removing the seal."

He hesitated as he clasped the dagger that was embedded in Shiro's chest, flashing a reluctant look at the hollow. His hollow closed his eyes, grinning.

"Wish I had a stick or something. This is gonna hurt like a bitch."

Ichigo gave a grunt of agreement. The orange-haired teen tugged at the dagger, heaving and pulling, hating to hear a strangled scream escape Shiro's mouth. It didn't budge. Ichigo gave up on that method. It obviously wasn't working. And if he continued to pull Shiro would die of over-screaming or something.

"Suggestions?" Ichigo asked, quietly as he stared at Shiro's heaving and bleeding chest.

Despite the pain, the hollow managed to open his yellow eyes again, but they were clouded with agony.

"Zangetsu," Shiro groaned.

Then the hollow peered around Ichigo, his eyes staring at Ichigo's silhouette searchingly. "King. Where is Zangetsu?"

Ichigo scratched his head uneasily as Shiro began to tap his fingers on the ice beneath him. The hollow continued to stare at Ichigo menacingly, waiting for his answer.

"You didn't go and get him stolen, did you Kingy?" the hollow asked acidly.

"Well…" Ichigo hesitated, hating where this was going. "Yeah."

"Holy mother of—" Shiro hissed, twisting and turning against the chains that restrained him. "How could you lose Zangetsu?"

Ichigo took a step back. "Calm down! You're making the stab wound bigger."

Shiro stopped struggling, glaring at Ichigo with his yellow eyes and black scleras. "If it weren't for these chains, I would have killed you three times by now."

Ichigo closed his eyes, concentrating. "I know. Don't get mad at me—you gave me an idea."

Shiro said nothing, continuing to give Ichigo a silent death glare. Ichigo's depleted reiatsu began to rise out of his body, beginning to form something in Ichigo's hand. "It's surprising that you've forgotten. Zangetsu lives within me remember?"

The hollow's anger vanished, replaced by a look of approval. "I was starting to think that there was nothing up there at all."

Ichigo ignored the insult, looking at his newly formed Zangetsu that he had created using his reiatsu. Without hesitation he began to hack at the five chains one by one. When all of them were severed from the ground, it was Shiro who took charge of pulling the knife out of his chest. He stifled another scream, trying to retain his pride as Ichigo's inner hollow. Immediately, Shiro's instant regeneration healed his wound. Ichigo suddenly felt as if a big weight had been lifted off of his reiatsu, and it was now spilling out all over again. Ichigo sighed. It felt good.

"You okay then?" Ichigo asked as he approached his counterpart, putting Zangetsu back on his back.

Shiro remained in a sitting position, turning his head away sharply. "Shut up. I'm tougher than nails. I could still kick your pony-loving ass with ten times this pain."

Ichigo smiled then, deciding to joke with him. "I do love ponies. Sure wish I could eat one though."

And as if to prove his point, Ichigo's stomach grumbled. Shiro ducked his head in between his knees to hide a smile, before looking up again, with a scathing look. "Was that a joke? Did Kingy the perma-frown actually say a joke?"

Ichigo shrugged, turning away. "I'm a funny guy."

He glanced back at his hollow, only to see Shiro stare at him mockingly.

"You better go back."

Ichigo woke to a boring ceiling. He realized he was in the same room as before, only this time he wasn't in such pain to ignore it. He sat up stiffly, wincing at the ache in his chest. His gaze travelled across the room, his eyes resting on a familiar zanpakuto.

Ichigo practically ran to Zangetsu. He clasped his hilt, giving it a testing swing without unwrapping the bandages, before placing it on his back contentedly.

"Good morning, reaper boy," Miko's voice sounded behind him. "Glad that I managed to retrieve your zanpakuto are you?"

He refrained from bringing his hand up to Zangetsu's hilt, keeping it firmly by his side.

"I do realize that you gave me that sedating dose earlier for me to enter my inner world," Ichigo said slowly.

"And I removed the seal from the outside while you worked on the inside. Well, I didn't remove it completely. We can't have that oozing reiatsu spilling out and signaling our location do we?" Miko smiled.

Seeing Ichigo's alarm, Miko waved her hand about in the air. "I modified it so it wouldn't touch your inner hollow. And it will automatically remove itself when you're in battle."

Ichigo relaxed again, allowing Miko a grateful smile. He made a step forwards, glancing around as he did so. "Where are we?"

Miko crossed her arms over her chest, for once looking serious. "A hideout of mine. It's underground and no one knows it even exists. They'll never find us."

Ichigo continued to stare at her searchingly. He could never really figure this woman out. Her intentions were still unknown to him.

"Why…why are you helping me?" Ichigo asked after awhile.

Miko stiffened at first, before reluctantly beckoning him to follow. The cave reminded Ichigo mildly of Yoruichi's hideout in Soul Society. They walked down a dimly lit hall, before Miko halted, showing with her hand the display in front of him. Ichigo stared. It was a huge lab. She walked along the rows of shelves, each row housing thousands of vials and bottles, flicking her finger at some of them as they went along.

She finally turned after a moment, still with the utter seriousness on her face. "The Royal Guard specializes in all kinds of poisons and sedatives. They're also very good at mental torture."

As Ichigo didn't react, Miko went on. "I was taken from Rukongai to be a test subject for one of their poisons."

Ichigo's eyes widened. They kept walking until they reached a table, where behind it stood yet another shelf. Miko tapped one of the bottles. "They called it 'bloodlock'. It slowly kills whoever gets infected by it."

She pulled out a chair from underneath the table, sitting heavily down on it. "They say if I keep working for them, they'll give me the cure before I have the chance to die."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed in sympathy, but he stopped himself from saying any comforting words—he didn't have any. But he had never imagined the Royal Guard to be so ruthless. The Winter War had been waged to protect them? Ichigo hated to say, but he was more on Aizen's side of the story now. Guilt immediately flushed through him at the thought.

"But I know they'll never give me the cure," Miko said bitterly. "Not some Rukongai scum like me. I'm just a test subject. They'll want to know how much I suffer so they can use it against their enemies."

Ichigo bit his lip. He really wanted to trust her, but how could he know that she was really infected by this 'bloodlock' of hers?

"That's why I want to help you Ichigo—because I know you'll end up like me. Of course, you're far more interesting, being the hogyoku and all."

Ichigo observed her from a distance for a while, rethinking what she was saying. He felt a sudden pang to consult Rukia and the others on this, but of course, they weren't here.

"They're coming to rescue me," he heard his hollow say, mimicking Ichigo's voice in his head mockingly.

"Shut up," Ichigo hissed back.

It was an old joke by now. Ichigo and Shiro knew very well that his friends were on their way. His attention flicked by to the lady sitting down in front of him. If he turned down her offer, how could he get out of the Royal Dimension without some sort of guide? He didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Okay. And if I 'grant' you wish of having revenge on the Royal Guard?" the corner of Ichigo mouth shot up humorously.

The playful smile returned to Miko's features as she leaned back on the two feet of her chair. "I won't be the one complaining, reaper boy."

She stood up, holding out her hand to Ichigo. The teen hesitantly shook it, lifting his gaze from their hands to her face. "Anything planned?"

"Don't you want to find your friends? I heard an intrusion alert earlier," Miko said as she turned away, pacing back into the dimly lighted hall and back to where Ichigo had been resting.

Ichigo followed anxiously. "Of course I do. Do you know where they are?"

They entered the dull room, Miko making her way to a ladder that led to the world above.

"Yes. They're fine for now. But first, I want to show you a friend of my own," she grinned.

Ichigo said nothing as he climbed up the ladder to be greeted by the sky above them. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this.

A man with a billowing espada uniform sat staring out into the nothingness below him. He was about to step into the emptiness when a voice halted him. He turned, mock surprise lighting his face. The arrancar approached him and bowed.

"A message from Aizen-sama, sir."

The man cocked his head to the side as he read message, nodding at times. When he finished, he looked up, his silver hair ruffling in the wind.

A sly smile split across his features as he turned back to look at the palace in front of him. "Ah, that Aizen. Worrying about that boy."

He glanced back at the bowing arrancar, his grin still on his face. "Tell Aizen not to worry. Ichigo-kun is already under my wing."

The arrancar stood up to take his leave. "Thank you. Ichimaru-sama."

Another chappy done! ^^

Hope you enjoyed and please review! :D