I felt myself slowly coming to, but not enough that I could move or open my eyes. I could hear voices though and that was a bit irritating. I wanted to wake up, but it was as if my eyes were glued shut and I could feel myself coming to but fading out again.
"It's been four days." Ichigo sounded worried. "When is she going to wake up?"
"You gotta calm down Ichigo, it's going to take her a while to recover from that." Urahara said.
"But four days?!" He growled.
I wanted to tell him I was fine and I was waking up, but I couldn't make my mouth open either. And I was fading out even more, their voices were getting more muted.
"Ichigo, he's right, that took a lot out of her. Who knows how much she was affected when we materialized her zanpakuto, then having to try to fight the hollow. Give her more time." Renji sounded a little agitated at Ichigo.
"Why don't you sleep? You look exhausted and you haven't slept since the fight." Rukia suggested.
"I'm fine." Ichigo growled, and that was the last thing I actually heard before I slipped back into oblivion again.
I was finally able to wake up fully who knows how much later, I didn't know if I was out for a few extra hours of several more days, but when I did wake up, nobody seemed to notice at first because they were all busy arguing with each other about who knows what. I didn't care to find out what it was, I just yawned and stretched my arms over my head, noticing I was back in my body, which didn't surprise me. I didn't know how long exactly I was out for, but I was bound to find out eventually.
After a few minutes, Ichigo finally noticed I was awake and left whatever argument he was participating in to come over to me. "How are you feeling?"
"Sore." I stretched again and most of my body ached that was stretched. "How long was I out?"
His face went blank. "About a week and a half."
I didn't know how to react to that. I had been partially awake after four days, then I was out that much longer….just how much damage was done? I didn't know. I didn't even know what happened after the hollow took over, she'd blinded me and I eventually just passed out after fighting for control back for a few seconds.
Ichigo's face stayed blank. "But you are feeling alright?"
"Yeah, like I said, sore and stiff." I sat up, stretching my legs out off the side of the couch. "And hungry." I tacked on after my stomach growled.
"I'll see if Urahara has something you can eat." Ichigo said this quietly and disappeared before I could say anything to him. He was acting weird and I didn't like it. I just stared in the direction he disappeared to with a frown.
Rukia noticed I was frowning and came and sat next to me. "What's wrong?"
"Ichigo's acting weird." I sighed.
"It scared him half to death when you wouldn't wake up." She said, patting my shoulder. "And he's running on no sleep. He wouldn't sleep unless we drugged him."
"You had to drug him?" I stared at her in alarm.
She dropped her hand into her lap. "Yes. He went four days without sleeping and nearly went a fifth but we decided it was best if we drugged him. We did that for several nights in a row until he'd actually sleep on his own. Which was a few nights ago."
"But I'm awake and I'm fine, why is he still upset?" I was so confused.
"You'll have to ask him that yourself. He won't tell any of us." Rukia looked a little agitated. "Although I'm guessing that it has to do with Ulquiorra."
Ichigo returned a few minutes later, scowling. He looked at me. "We will have to go back to my house, the stupid shopkeeper has no food." I didn't think I ever saw Ichigo like this…ever.
I just nodded and stood up, having to stretch my legs because of how stiff they were. Ichigo just stalked out the door without another word, followed by me and Rukia and Renji. They hung back a ways while I just walked next to him in silence. He said nothing, but he was radiating a mixture of emotions that was hitting me in waves it felt like. Pain, rage, despair. I didn't try to get him to talk and he didn't say anything for the majority of the walk. But before we reached his house, he suddenly stopped and stepped in front of me protectively. He was rigid from head to toe. He seemed to be expecting this.
"Do you have an answer for me, boy?" It was Ulquiorra.
An answer? For what? I looked up at Ichigo's face and he ignored me.
"Yeah, and the answer is no." He growled at Ulquiorra.
"A pity. But I am prepared." He didn't even move, but I felt like someone was choking me. I had to get out of my body. I was still choking. And I realized Ichigo was too. I fell forward, and my vision blurred, and then I lost consciousness.
When I woke up, I realized I was in a cell in Hueco Mundo. Crap. I had chains on my wrists and ankles and I realized it was open, just had the three walls around me but the front was open. And Ichigo and the other two were in cells facing me, but theirs were barred. I noticed out of the corner of my eye Ulquiorra approaching me with a syringe.
"What is that?" I asked.
"A simple concoction that will turn you into an Arrancar. Easily. Granted, it's ten times slower than the way Aizen did it, but it's just as effective." He said this loud enough so Ichigo could hear him.
Ichigo just glared at him and didn't answer, and I knew Ulquiorra had tried to goad him into answering, so he didn't succeed.
"This is not a bluff." Ulquiorra stuck the needle into my neck and pressed down on the plunger thing. All the thick liquid was injected into my system. "It will take several days before the transformation itself starts, and it is agonizing. You get to watch her suffer, Kurosaki."
Ulquiorra walked out of the room just then. I just sat there, and that's when I burning began in my chest and it slowly got worse. Not even an hour passed and I was lying on the ground, panting and sweating from pain.
"GAHHH!" I shouted when the pain spiked in my chest.
It then traveled into my stomach and exploded in there and I screamed, unable to curl up like I so desperately wanted to. This would take days?! The pain will kill me first! It flared up even worse in my chest and I screamed even louder. I couldn't take it. It was unbearable. It had reached this point in mere minutes and I didn't want to survive this. I'd rather die than become one of them. Maybe I would die. But maybe I wouldn't. I just didn't know what would happen. But I was sure my body couldn't tolerate this. It felt as if I was being consumed by flames. I could feel my hair sticking to my face from the sweat. The pain actually dulled for a short time, enough for me to move my head to look over at the others.
"I'm so sorry Saru. I'm so sorry." Ichigo's voice was so full of pain and guilt I wanted to cry.
"It's not your fault." I said, my throat raw and sore from screaming, it sounded hoarse. "It never was your fault." Then I dropped my head because the pain returned and this time I clenched my teeth and tensed my entire body up to stifle another scream; I knew Ichigo wouldn't be able to take it.
Then I passed out from pain.
A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems rushed too, I just kinda decided to pull this idea in sooner rather than later, as this story is coming to a close. I will probably write a sequel as this story feels incomplete but I might as well just put the rest in a sequel. Now the concoction thing is something that Ulquiorra actually makes up because I figured he would probably know how to do something like that. Anyways, just a few more chapters until the story is complete. Enjoy and sorry if it seems rushed. A sequel will more than likely be coming up once I have this finished. Reviews are welcome :)