Now I have a week's holiday, it's an excuse to get a few more chapters in. I have to admit though, this is just kinda going along with the flow. I know what's happening at the end, it's just filling the bit in between. XD I could carry this story on forever, but I plan on making it 30 chapters, tops. It sounds like a lot... actually o_O I don't know, it depends, I don't want to rush the story. XD What do you guys think? A lot less than 30 chapters? Hmmm....maybe I should lengthen the chapters... o; I'm rambling, huh? Well, I better stop now! Enjoy this chapter :]

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Chapter 11 - Nightmares

In the previous chapter...

It was almost as if I could feel a hellfire raging inside me, and I could feel myself trembling.

It was slight, but I was still trembling.

It was then I knew.

Hell had indeed, begun.

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Screams elicted from my lips as I wrangled on the cold stone floor. Laughs that were not mine, yet were my voice, came out at the same time as my screams.

"Looks like your time's run out, Kishiko!" a voice inside me cackled, and more screams came from me. Pain rippled through my body like I was being shot and stabbed and beaten to death by a gang of thugs. Except nobody was there, it was just me. Suddenly, another pain from my heart shot right through me, and then my body-

I woke up, still screaming, sweat trickling down my body, merging my skin to my clothing. Someone was holding me, but I couldn't figure out who at this point. My screams mingled with pants as more sweat built up on my skin. When I came to and my screams were disintegrating, I looked up and saw the bright orange hair of Ichigo. As my screams became sobs, I became aware of him rocking me gently, shushing me. After several minutes I'd completely calmed down, and Ichigo gently pushed me backwards, holding onto my shoulders, so he could look at me,

"Are you okay? That's the 16th time in 2 weeks you've been screaming and kicking about in your bed, and I'm guessing this makes it the 16th time you've had... the dream?" he asked, pulling me back to his chest. I was still unable to speak, so I simply nodded against his chest. He sighed,

"It's a good job I decided to sleep next to you. When you first had this nightmare, the amount of time it took me to reach you up here, I thought you were gonna die or something!" I managed to get out a chuckle and clung onto him tighter,

"It...f-felt...like I w....as gonna d-die," I struggled through my words as Ichigo continued to rock me, slowly lowering me down to the bed. As he began to unwrap his arms, I quickly clung onto them, locking his arms in a death grip,

"Noo~, stay with me, please," I mumbled pleadingly, dragging him closer. He pressed his head against the nape of my neck and I felt him smirk,

"Okay, put promise me you'll look at that list tomorrow?" I nodded, too tired to speak,

"Hmm."

~*~*~

I woke up to a warm but pleasant feeling, and a warm body behind me, its arm draped over me. I turned round, smiling as I remembered I'd asked Ichigo to sleep beside me. I turned round to face him, and the stir must have alerted him, as his eyes snapped open. Realising the disturbance was only me, he smiled,

"You okay now?" he asked. I nodded,

"Yeah, I'm alot better now, I think all the crying helped me sleep easier," I laughed, trying to shake the nightmare off. Ichigo placed his hand in mine,

"That's good. Oh!" He tilted his body and pointed towards my pair of jeans that had been lying on the floor since we'd returned from Urahara's two weeks ago, "You promised me you'd look at the list to day to see if 'recurring nightmares' was on there." I nodded and sat up in bed, stretching out before climbing out of bed, Ichigo getting out behind me. I picked up the list out of my jeans on the floor, reading through the list,

"Here it is, number 7, recurring nightmares." Ichigo looked over my shoulder as we read the small neat print on the paper. I sighed, folding it back up,

"Looks like another trip to Urahara, huh?" Ichigo nodded,

"Yeah. Before we get ready and go, don't you think you might as well look at the rest of the things on the list?" he asked. I sighed and began to unfold it again,

"I guess I should, huh?" the paper eventually folded out and my eyes scanned down the list.

Negative Events Linked To Hollowfication

1. Sudden loss of conciousness

2. Strange behaviour

3. Random panic attacks

4. Sleepwalking

5. Negative mood swings

5. Suicidal thoughts

6. Body Posession whilst sleeping

7. Recurring Nightmares

8. No awareness of surroundings

9. Snapping in and out of thoughts

10. Change in voice

I cocked my head to the side,

"Body posession whilst sleeping? What the hell's up with that? How are we supposed to know if my body's been posessed whilst I'm sleeping, eh?" Ichigo shrugged,

"Beats me, maybe you'll go beserk and try to kill me?" his tone was comic, but my forceful elbow made quick contact with his ribs. I turned round to face him,

"Don't say things like that! What if my hollow actually takes over me in my sleep and does kill you, huh?" Ichigo raised his hands in defence,

"Sorry, sorry. It was bad." He wrapped his arms around me in a hug, and I quickly melted. After a few seconds, I slipped out his grip and flung open my wardrobe,

"I suppose we should get changed and head over to the Shoten, then," I said, sifting through various clothing until I found something I wanted to wear. I quickly shoo-ed Ichigo out my room and got dressed, and headed downstairs to put my shoes on.

~*~*~

Ichigo slid open the door,

"Urahara, we're here!" he called out into the hallway. While we took our shoes off, Renji poked his head through one of the doors,

"Hey, Ichigo, Kishiko! Long time no see!" he grinned at us and stepped out the room, the ridiculous attire he was wearing the previous time we saw him no longer present. I smiled,

"Yeah, we came by a couple of weeks ago, but you weren't here." I said, looking around for any signs of Urahara.

"Yeah, I was out running a couple of errands. I came back and I'd only missed you by a couple of minutes." I simply "hmm"ed in response, still looking for Urahara. Renji tapped me on the shoulder,

"You looking for Urahara? He's through there." He pointed to the far room on the left. We said our thanks and made our way. I slid open the door, to find Urahara sitting at the low table in the center of the room, a hot cup of tea in his hand. He looked up when he heard the disturbance, and smiled,

"Welcome, you two. You seem to be making quite a few trips here lately!" He stood up, walking over to the cupboard behind him and taking out two more cups, bringing them over to the table and filling them with tea. Ichigo and I sat down as Urahara pushed the tea towards us,

"Yes, because we so enjoy taking regular visits here about my disease, it's just like a fun hospital!" I said sarcastically as I took a sip from the tea. Urahara sighed,

"Anyway, you're here because...?"

"Because something....on the list has been happening lately." I hated talking about this, but it was better to get it out in the open. Urahara nodded his head,

"I see, and I'm guessing these nightmares have been occuring quite regularly?" he asked. I nodded,

"Yeah, they're really starting to- hey! Wait a sec! I didn't even tell you what was going on... how did you know?" Urahara took a sip from his tea,

"I knew when you came here last time that it would be the first signs. It tends to be the most common starting point." Ichigo rolled his eyes,

"Of course, Urahara's a smartass." Ichigo mumbled under his breath. I snickered slightly before Urahara cleared his throat.

"Ichigo-kun, is it possible to speak to you in private?" I turned to look at Ichigo, who in turn looked at me. I smiled and stood up,

"You two talk. I'll go find Renji and bug him for a while." I walked out the room and down the corridors peeking in each of the rooms to see if I could find Renji.

"Hey, Kishiko-san!" I spun round to find Renji's head poking through the opposite door. I smiled,

"Hey, I was looking for you." I smiled and walked towards him,

"Cool, 'cause I wanted to talk to you about something." I raised an eyebrow,

"About what?" He gestured to the table in the middle of the room and I sat down on one of the pillows, and he sat next to me.

The next 3 minutes... were something I never expected to happen... ever.

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A VERY short chapter, but I wanted to leave this on a cliffhanger, because I felt it wouldn't be as good if I carried it on (:

There's no chapter preview for this one, since I can't think of anything interesting to put up without spoiling it x3

Oh well, domo arigatou to everyone who's been reading so far, new and regular alike. :3