Chapter 32:

Soul Reapers nearby saw a building collapse a few streets down and a giant dust cloud formed in the sky. The roars of Hollows were silent. Whoever was over there had just killed the last Hollow, ending the battle. However, they couldn't feel relieved just yet. The building that had just went down was troubling. What if someone was trapped and needed help? A few Soul Reapers went over to check it out.

Ichigo pushed a large chunk of the wall off his back and picked shards of broken glass out of his arm and chest. He stood in the middle of a massive pile which was once a large building and looked from left to right. Veneno was no longer beside him. His hand was empty. He bent down, thinking he was buried, and started digging through the debris. He started calling his name, hoping to get a response. No one answered him.

He stood up and started searching. His leg throbbed with every step, but he wasn't concerned about it. He wandered in circles, calling for his friend. At last, he saw something that looked promising. An arm sticking out from under a large broad of wood which was most likely a desk at some point. He hurried over and lifted it up, tossing it aside. Underneath was Veneno. He was face down and didn't move.

"Veneno?" Ichigo rolled him over onto his back. "Veneno!" He stopped shouting and dropped to his knees when he saw Veneno's other side.

He was almost torn completely in half. The only thing keeping him connected was his spine and thin pieces of flesh. Ichigo could see the ground through the hole in his stomach. His chest was torn open as well and his leg was at an awkward angle. His arms were covered in scratches and chunks of flesh were hanging off his forearm and shoulder. He was missing his left sleeve and part of his right. His chin, neck and mouth were stained red with blood which he had been vomiting. The fabric of his clothes glistened with blood and the ground beneath him had turned red from the constant flow. Veneno was in a bad way. How could anyone survive this kind of injury. Ichigo could see his bones through the open wounds and even his organs.

"Veneno?" he called cautiously. He prayed the Arrancar was still alive. "Veneno?" Didn't he save him? Was there something else he could have done? "Veneno?"

Veneno's eyes opened and his pupils found Ichigo. "Ith... thee... do..." He was trying to say his name but the blood in his throat choked him and didn't flow out the way he wanted.

"It's ok. Don't talk." Ichigo looked him over, trying to think. What could he do? He had to get help, but he couldn't leave him.

"Ichigo..." Veneno swallowed the blood in his mouth, allowing him to speak more clearly. "Ichigo..."

"I said don't talk. We'll get you help, ok? Just hang in there."

Veneno was smiling.

Ichigo stopped in his tracks.

"Thank you... Ichigo." Veneno continued to smile. His voice was getting weaker. "Thank you... for coming back for me."

Ichigo never left him. He never abandoned him. Coming back for him didn't just refer to this moment, but for every moment. When the first Hollow attacked and Ichigo went back to save him. When Soi fon tried to end his life, thinking he was the enemy. When he was afraid and needed a friend to help him through it. All the times he never gave up on him. When Ichigo wanted him to live and gave him that chance. Ichigo never cast him aside. He made him feel like his life had meaning. That even he was worth something. That he mattered.

Veneno closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

"No." Ichigo moved closer. "Veneno? Veneno?" He grew frantic when he didn't answer. "Veneno, no!" He put his hand on Veneno's shoulder, trying to wake him. "Come on, Veneno! Open your eyes! I know you're stronger than this. Come on! Talk to me!"

He had to do something. He had to help him.

"Veneno! Come on!" He tried to lift him up. No one was around so he had to go find someone who could help. He had to get him help. The problem was, he could only use his left arm. Would that be enough? Would he tear him in half? He tried to get his other arm to move. His fingers twitched. "Come on! Come on!" He looked back at Veneno, knowing time was running out. "Hang on! Just hang on!"

Through sheer force of will, Ichigo forced his right arm to obey. It slipped under Veneno's shoulders and the left went under his knees and Ichigo lifted him off the ground. He carried Veneno into an open space and started calling for help. He held Veneno carefully, trying not to make his injuries worse. Ichigo's leg shook with every step, on the verge of giving out again. He pushed through the pain and marched into the next street.

"Someone! Anyone! Help me!"

Three Soul Reapers appeared from another street and spotted him. One of them was Kira. The group ran over to him, looking horrified.

"You're hurt," said the woman beside Kira. "We have to treat you right away."

Ichigo pulled away. "Never mind me. Help him!" He held up Veneno's mangled body.

Kira rolled up his sleeves. "Set him down. I'll have to treat him here. There's no time to take him anywhere else." He looked at the woman. "Go find Captain Unohana. Quickly!"

Ichigo set Veneno down and moved back as Kira started to perform kido on his injuries. For very long, anxious minutes, there was silence. Ichigo watched and waited. Kira was sweating, his face scrunched up in concentration.

Then Veneno's chest began to move up and down. He was breathing. This was a good sign.

"I have him stabilized for now but he needs better help than I can give," said Kira. "He's in a bad way."

Soon, the woman returned with Unohana and she took over for Kira. She worked frantically on him while the others watched. Every now and then, she would ask them to do something and they did it without question. Seeing Veneno's body start to heal, Ichigo started to relax.

Now that Ichigo wasn't as anxious, Kira turned his attention to the teenager. "You're hurt, too, Ichigo. We should treat you as well."

"This is nothing to worry about. I'm fine. He's a lot worse."

The beads of sweat on his forehead indicated that he was in quite a bit of pain. His leg was still throbbing and his arm stung before going numb again. He was stained with blood and had several cuts all over his body.

"At least let me stop the bleeding and heal your leg and arm." Kira moved behind him and started to perform kido on Ichigo's body. He didn't protest.

Veneno opened his eyes weakly. "Ichigo..?" he mumbled.

Ichigo moved forward so Veneno could see him from where he lay. "It's ok. I'm right here." He gave him a smile. "They're treating you right now. You'll be fine."

Veneno looked at Unohana. She smiled back at him. "You're going to be just fine. You're recovering nicely already. It's a good thing Arrancars heal fast, hm?"

Veneno grinned slightly. She wasn't the only one there concerned about him. He could have sworn that man working on Ichigo at the moment had helped him as well. He was surrounded by people who wanted to help him.

"I wonder how all those Hollow Reaper people are doing?" said the woman beside Unohana. "Should we check?"

"I can go," volunteered Ichigo. He was already feeling much better. He was pretty useless here. It was best if Veneno was surrounded by people who could actually help heal him. "Although..." Ichigo looked down at him, wondering if he should stay.

As if reading his mind, Veneno smiled. "I'm ok. They'll take care of me. I'm not worried."

He wasn't afraid anymore.

"You sure?"

He nodded slightly. "Go see how everyone's doing. I know you want to." He smiled. "Go check on your tiny girlfriend."

Ichigo knew he was talking about Rukia. "She's not my girlfriend!"

"So you say..."

Veneno must have been feeling better if he was able to tease him and crack jokes.

"Take care of him." Ichigo stood up and began his search.

This was the fifth street Ikkaku searched and still he couldn't find him. He searched the next one. Laying face-down at the end of the street was Yumichika. Ikkaku hurried over and lifted him up. Yumichika's body was limp and his eyes were closed. He shook him.

"Yumichika. Hey, Yumichika!"

"Nugh..." He opened his eyes, moaning as if Ikkaku had just woken him up from a long nap. "What? What is it?"

"Are you ok? Can you move?"

He shifted his limbs, testing them. "Yeah..." He looked at Ikkaku confused. "Why? What's going on?" He turned his head to one side. "Where..? How'd we get out here?"

"You don't remember?"

"Remember what? We were in the dojo and then we... we were..." Yumichika frowned. "Now we're here. Why are we here? What happened?"

He didn't remember. Just like before, no one remembered anything from their time as Hollow Reapers.

Ikkaku gave a sigh of relief and set Yumichika down. "Good to know you're ok." He stood up and started to walk away.

"Hey, hey! Where are you going?"

"Off to find the rest of the Squad. Now that I know you're ok, I have to check on the rest of them."

Yumichika struggled into a sitting position. "But wait a minute! I can't walk! My legs are weak. You can't just leave me here without an explanation!"

"I just came to find you to make sure you were ok. Now that I know that, I have to find the others and check on them." Ikkaku jogged down the next street, leaving Yumichika behind.

"Hey, wait a minute! Why am I here in the first place? Why do I feel like this? Check on who else and why? Get back here, Ikkaku! Some friend you are! Get back here and tell me what's going on! What happened to me? I know you know!"

Ukitake opened his eyes and found himself looking at Shunsui upside-down. His friend smiled at him and touched his shoulder. "Morning, sleepyhead. How you feeling?"

Ukitake looked around. He was on the ground with his head in Shunsui's lap. He couldn't remember how he got into this position, but everything was starting to come back to him. "I was a Hollow Reaper, wasn't I?"

"Yup."

It wasn't a dream. He knew it. He turned his head, giving Shunsui a worried look. "I didn't hurt anyone, did I?"

"Nah. You only attacked the giant Hollows, just as she ordered you to."

Ukitake fell back into Shunsui's lap with a sigh. "Thank goodness." He was so worried he would lose control and go after people. He didn't want to hurt his friends.

"So how do you feel?"

He gave it some thought. "My body's numb. My limbs feel heavy. It's hard to move them. So I'm pretty weak."

Shunsui laughed. "Well, what a change from how you were before."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, man, you were energetic. Jumping all over the place like crazy. I've never seen you so spry before."

Ukitake turned his head upward to look him in the face. "Really?" He was quite surprised. He couldn't do such things without having a fainting spell or hack up blood.

"Your illness didn't affect you at all. You seemed so much stronger than you normally are. Not once did you get lightheaded."

"Really? Ha. What do you know?" Maybe that was why he was feeling so weak now. He had spent all his energy in his transformed state as a Hollow Reaper.

"Maybe you should be like that all the time. You'd have more energy."

Ukitake shook his head. "I'm happy being who I am. Even if I am sick most of the time."

Shunsui patted his shoulder. "I feel the same. I'd miss you too much. And not just because then I'd have to keep up with you. It's easier to have a relaxing day with the normal you than the hyper one. Yup. You as yourself is just fine."

Ukitake switched to something else. "The battle. We won I take it?"

"Yup. It's all over." Shunsui looked over the horizon, his expression peaceful. "We'll have to thank that Arrancar guy, don't you think? He did well. We wouldn't have won without his help. Oh, and that girl, too. She kept you from losing it."

"And Ichigo."

He chuckled. "Yeah. Him, too."

Ukitake relaxed on Shunsui's lap and breathed calmly. Since he couldn't move, there was no point in trying to do anything else. He didn't want Shunsui to carry him either. No, they would just wait here for someone to come find them and figure it out from there.

Finally Ichigo came to rest on the same roof as Victor and Cedric. Linnette was with them, watching everyone hustle on the ground below. There was little else she could do here at the moment. Her job was done.

Victor turned to Ichigo and looked him up and down. "You look terrible."

Ichigo scoffed. "You should have seen the other guy."

He turned back to the scene in front of him. "Everyone seems to be recovering quite well."

"Put me down! I can walk! I'm not a child!"

They turned and saw Rangiku carrying her Captain in her arms like a child, something he was not too happy about. He kicked and fussed, but she would not let him down.

"You couldn't move when you changed back. I'm helping you."

"I don't need help, now put me down!"

"You should still rest. I don't mind."

"Put me down this second and I'll let you get out of doing the paper work tomorrow."

Thump!

"Gently!"

Ichigo smiled. It seemed everyone was back to their usual selves. The Hollow Reapers had all changed back to normal, the Hollows were gone, and Veneno survived. It was about time they had some good news for a change.

"Ah, yes." Victor turned to Cedric all of a sudden. "Cedric, do you have the time back home?"

Cedric looked at his watch. Then he smiled. "It's after midnight."

Victor's smile matched Cedric's. "Perfect. I thought so."

Ichigo was confused.

Victor bent down and put his arm around Linnette's shoulders. "Linnette, sweetie..." He gave her a kiss on the head. "Happy birthday."

O_O

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