Chapter 58: Inner Hollow

The sight in front of Ichigo had locked him into place. Everything about it had chilled him to the bone. Kirara, his classmate and ally in saving Rukia, opposed him, and she wore a Hollow Mask over her face.

Her eyes, no longer blue, had become golden over black and were terrifying in their own right as she held his gaze easily. Too overwhelmed by what he was seeing, Ichigo couldn't even take note of the different styles of Hollow Masks, when comparing his own to hers.

"Fight back, Ichigo," Ichigo jolted at the warped voice that came from behind him. Her form hadn't even fully faded from his eyes, but Kirara was now behind him. He couldn't even turn in time before Kirara had kicked him across the room once more. There was even more force behind it, and he crashed headfirst into a block of concrete that shattered.

Coughing once more, Ichigo felt blood bubble past his lips and he spat it out. As expected, her power had increased massively, and just one kick had almost wiped him out. As he pushed himself up once more, Kirara appeared in front of him once again. The moment Ichigo tried to raise his Zanpakuto, she grabbed his arm and threw him.

"Kirara, don't go too far with this!" Ichigo barely heard the warning from one of the others watching. She didn't respond to him, lifting her Mask up to rest on the top of her head as Ichigo glared up at her.

"You're holding back because you're afraid that your Inner Hollow is going to surface," she accused, watching with eerie golden eyes. "Since when have you been so ruled by your fear, Ichigo? You were terrified when you fought that Kenpachi, but you still faced him and sent us on ahead," Kirara said, her voice almost casual. It angered him more.

"Shut up!" Ichigo snapped, desperately fighting the darkness that pulsed in response to the pain and fear he felt. "Don't talk about that!" he warned her, and Kirara tilted her head again.

"Why? Because you saw me as an ally?" Ichigo didn't respond to the innocent-sounding question, and Kirara pulled the Mask down over her face again. "I can still be your ally, Ichigo. Just fight back!" she demanded, rushing him head on.

"I told you…" Ichigo growled, not missing how his Zanpakuto was chipped from blocking a blow from her. "I am not here to join you," he pushed himself and swung down, only for Kirara to catch the blade in her hand. Instantly he froze, stunned by the action.

"And like I told you," she said, twisting suddenly. The Zanpakuto was ripped from Ichigo's hands and tossed aside, embedding itself in the stone ground. "You want us to teach you, but you aren't willing to put in the effort to make us. How stupid are you?" Ichigo choked when her fist sank into his stomach.

As Ichigo gasped for breath on his hands and knees, Kirara stood over him. At that moment, she was grateful that her Mask hid her face, because the more she looked at the battered young man, the angrier she got. It had taken him far too long to accept that he needed their help, yet still stubbornly denied them.

When he'd declared adamantly that he wasn't going to join them, believing in his convictions, Kirara had been happy. She'd seen how moody and depressed he'd been after the Arrancar had viciously defeated him, so it was good to see that the stubborn spirit was still there.

Yet despite his words, Ichigo was too afraid to put in any real effort to fight back. He was afraid his Inner-Hollow would surface, and he was right. Kirara could sense the darkness rising in him, fighting for control.

Ichigo breathed heavily as he lifted his head, meeting her gaze with anger and something else. Kirara tilted her head once more as she watched him slowly rising to his feet. "That won't work, you know," her words were soft, and she saw him jerk in surprise.

"What won't?" he demanded, growing defensive as he took a step back. Blood ran down his face, and Ichigo swiped a hand across it to stop it from running into his eyes.

"You won't learn how to control it by watching me use my Mask. There's a lot more to it than that," Kirara said, and judging by the shock that flashed across Ichigo's face, she'd hit the nail on the head. She didn't say anything else, and Ichigo raised his hands in defence as she punched him hard, throwing him backwards into the wall. "Fight back," Kirara repeated, almost pleading.

"I am fighting back!" Ichigo launched at her, but he was sluggish and weak in his movements. Kirara caught his fist easily.

"I've seen you in action plenty now, Ichigo. You're not fighting back," she said as he tried to pull free.

"It's like you want it to take over," Ichigo growled.

"No shit, genius," Kirara then swung him hard, and he flew across the room. "Put your whole effort into this, or you're going to die regardless," her warning was followed by her spinning, and Kirara's kick launched him back in the opposite direction.

"You…want me to let my Hollow out?" Ichigo finally realised. Kirara just rolled her eyes in response, and though he couldn't see her face, the exasperation came off her in waves. "No way in hell!" he vowed, knowing exactly what would happen.

"What, worried that you might hurt me?" Kirara taunted, and saw his jaw set in anger. Ichigo pulled himself back to his feet, ignoring how his body protested and ached at every movement. Kirara had beaten him senseless already, ruining the hard work that Orihime had done the night before. "You see, Ichigo," his eyes widened when she was once again behind him. "I'm the most annoying one for you to fight. Not just because of how I fight, but because I know you. You're either going to let your Hollow out for us to see, or you're going to leave here without help," she warned.

Ichigo reacted instinctively, turning fast enough to block her kick, but it still lifted him off his feet to launch him away. A little impressed by his reaction, Kirara followed him. She didn't miss how one of his eyes had started turning black and golden, matching her own, but it wasn't enough. He still couldn't defend against her attacks, and any that he managed to make of his own was useless. His Zanpakuto was still embedded in the ground nearby.

'Shit…what can I do?' Ichigo struggled to try and think of anything to stop Kirara's relentless assault. 'Am I really useless here?' he wondered, before he was once again sent flying. He collided with the wall, causing it to crack, and he fell forwards.

"Come on, Ichigo, I know you're better than this," Kirara hissed, only to feel the pulse of Reiatsu. Her eyes widened, and everyone jolted as they felt it, right as Ichigo lifted his head and shrieked. A Hollow Mask formed across part of his face, and his exposed mouth was twisted into a vicious, bloodthirsty smirk.

Kirara bent backwards, her hands touching the ground as she barely managed to dodge the Hollowfied version of Ichigo, who was lunging at her with deadly intent. The moment she pushed up to stop him, Ichigo spun in the air with much greater agility than she had expected, and his foot caught her across the face.

Pain exploded up Kirara's back as she crashed into the wall so hard that the entire warehouse shuddered, before she fell face-first to the ground and lay there motionlessly.

To Ichigo, it felt like he had blinked. One moment he was struggling to stay conscious from Kirara's last blow, and the next he was pinned under the combined power of the remaining Vizards and their Zanpakuto. The partially formed Mask shattered at the jab from Shinji's blade, and Ichigo didn't resist.

"That's enough," Shinji spoke, glancing over to where Kirara had rolled onto her side. Her Mask vanished, revealing a bruise across her eye. "Satisfied?" he called. Kirara didn't speak, and instead just raised a hand to give a thumbs-up in response.

Even as the other Vizards moved to stop restraining Ichigo, he lay on the ground as the darkness started to fade back inside. "You understand now, don't you Ichigo? Your Hollow can't be suppressed just by thinking about it with just your mind and body," Shinji told him as Ichigo's eyes returned to normal. "You pass! We're going to pound knowledge of how to suppress your Hollow all the way into the heart of your soul," he decided.

"About time," Kirara moaned, slumping onto her back.

Ichigo didn't know what he'd been expecting, when he'd shown up to demand they teach him how to control his Inner-Hollow. He hadn't expected to have the hell beaten out of him by Kirara, forcing the massive man who introduced himself as Hachigen to have to tend to his extensive injuries.

After they had fixed him up, the short blonde with a glare to rival his own had declared herself in charge of his training. Instantly she had forced him to start using what looked like an old ski machine, telling him to run until she decided he was done. He felt stupid, but after his Inner-Hollow had almost put Kirara through the wall, Ichigo knew he had to go along with what they said.

"Kirara, surely you should have this looked at," Ichigo tried to ignore the Vizards around him, who had decided that they were just going to take it easy around him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw as the man with long curly hair fussed over Kirara, whose face had a nasty purple bruise forming by her eye.

"I'm fine, really. No need to bother poor Hachi more than necessary," Kirara insisted with a smile. "It looks worse than it is," she said, before cursing and flinching away as Shinji poked the bruise. "Asshole!" she growled.

"Either let Hachi heal it, or do it yourself," he told her, not missing how much pain she was in. Kirara cursed again, and stomped over to Hachi.

"You should just leave her to deal with it," Kensei said from where he sat, arms crossed. He hadn't taken his eyes off Ichigo. "It's her own fault for messing with the kid," he scoffed. Ichigo scowled at being called a kid, but kept quiet and focused on what he was doing. Hearing him, Kirara turned and stuck her tongue out at him. Hachi carefully turned her back to him to heal her injuries as she sat in front of him.

"At least now you know what he's capable of," Kirara said simply. Kensei rolled his eyes, but didn't acknowledge her past that. Kirara sat in front of Hachi with her eyes closed, feeling the pain start to recede and take the haze that was clouding her mind with it.

Despite being almost taken out by Ichigo's Inner-Hollow, Kirara felt a faint sense of satisfaction and relief that he was there, and he was accepting their help. He would never accept that he was one of them, and she was fine with that. She was just relieved that he had finally come to them.

She just hoped he'd survive the training.

It was almost an impressive sight to see Ichigo still going the next morning. The Vizards were taking shifts to monitor Ichigo on the bizarre contraption that Hiyori had set up for him, but so far he just kept going. He looked irritated to be still on it, but Hiyori had snapped at him and told him to keep going.

"Leave me alone, Kirara," he warned, aware of Kirara's eyes on him as she sat nearby.

"Can't do that, Ichigo," Kirara replied cheerfully. "It's my turn to watch you," she said, and Ichigo complained and started to move even harder, as if he hoped it would distract him from Kirara's gaze. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, and didn't miss how her grin widened. The bruising was gone, and the sharpness had returned to her eyes as she watched him. There was a book on her lap, but it remained ignored in favour of annoying Ichigo.

"Stop looking at me," Ichigo growled through gritted teeth.

"What's the problem, Ichigo? Embarrassed?" Kirara teased, only annoying him further. "You didn't have a problem when the others watched you. Why me?" she asked. Ichigo didn't reply, forcing himself to keep going.

"It's too early to be tormenting the poor boy," to his relief, Rose walked over and passed Kirara a steaming cup. She happily accepted it, and raised it to inhale the citrus scents of the tea.

"It's never too early for that," she replied. "Thanks for the tea, Rose," Kirara thanked him, and took a sip. "Oh, have you got the new strings for your guitar yet?" she asked as he took a seat nearby, distracting Kirara from tormenting Ichigo, to his relief.

"I'm going to pick them up today," he answered, and the two started to chat idly as they drank their tea. Ichigo couldn't help but listen to the conversation taking place right beside him, aware that Kirara was still keeping an eye on him.

There was something surreal about listening to Kirara chat with the man. After the previous day, Ichigo had fully accepted that Kirara was part of the mysterious group, but part of him had still managed to keep separate the Kirara he knew in class, and the one who had shown up to help infiltrate the Soul Society. Hearing her now, chatting as animatedly as she did with their classmates, was bizarre.

Not stopping what he was doing, Ichigo glanced at the two out of the corner of his eye again. ' Kirara was a Lieutenant. That's what she told us back then,' he remembered her brief, hard words about being a member of the Gotei 13. ' Does that mean…the rest of them were there too?' he wondered, his attention on Rose more than Kirara now. The man had a sleepy face with his eyes hooded as he talked.

Ichigo thought of the others as well, who were all bizarre in their own right. But then he shoved his curiosity down, and continued to move on the ski machine. It wasn't his business - he was there to learn how to suppress his Hollow, and that was it. He wasn't one of them, and he never would be.

The day went by and night passed just as uneventfully, and Ichigo remained on the trainer as Hiyori demanded. The group continued to take turns watching him, but other than Kirara, they barely acknowledged him.

By the time lunchtime rolled around the next day, they were all gathered around. Lisa had taken over as his minder, but the others were still hanging around, relaxing as Ichigo felt that he wasn't even being watched anymore. He just kept going, ignoring their presence as much as they seemed to be ignoring him.

"Lunch is late," Shinji complained quietly, his chin resting on Kirara's shoulder as he sat on the worn sofa with her in his arms. She'd been reading more of the old book with him, barely looking up. "Kirara, make something to eat," he whined, jostling her enough to make her blink.

"Not a chance. Kirara's banned from the kitchen, remember?" Kensei barked over.

"Yeah, she can't cook for shit," Hiyori agreed when Kirara didn't so much as look up from her book.

"And the two of you are never allowed in there again after the mess you made," Lisa added. Shinji smirked without any trace of embarrassment, and the others didn't miss the faint, cheeky smile that graced Kirara's face as well, showing that she was listening.

"Just be patient. Mashiro and Hachi will be back soon," she finally spoke, and Shinji huffed as he moved to bury his face in her shoulder. His stomach growled, and Kirara's smile widened, but she didn't acknowledge him - to do so would only encourage him more.

"Love, did you hear Prince of Darkness's new song that just came out?" Rose asked as he tuned his guitar with the new strings he'd gotten. The man sitting nearby was laughing loudly, making the most noise of the lot.

"Forget that, did you read this week's manga?" Love asked through his laughter.

"No, you never let me read it anyway," Rose rolled his eyes at the response. He went back to his guitar, testing a note before resuming tuning it.

"Lisa, make sure you look after the Shinigami," Kensei reminded her as he taped his knuckles.

"I'm watching him, shut up!" Lisa said, but hadn't so much as looked away from the magazine in her hands. Kensei frowned at her.

"You're not watching him, you're just looking at swimsuit models!" he growled, well aware of where Lisa's attention really was.

"Shut up!" she repeated. She'd scowled, but still hadn't looked up even as she snapped at Kensei. "Go away, don't interrupt me!" Lisa scolded. Kirara finally tore her gaze from what she was reading to grin at the sight of Lisa sitting with the swimsuit magazine she'd picked up the previous day.

"You're on duty today, right?" Kensei didn't let up, and she let out a tired sigh.

"I just have to shout out, right?" still not looking at Ichigo, Lisa began to count in a flat, disinterested voice.

"Lunch sure is late," Shinji whined again, not moving his face. Hiyori turned an annoyed glare on him.

"Complaining about it isn't going to help," Kirara nudged him lightly as she continued to read.

"I can't… do this!" Ichigo finally snapped at the annoyances going on right beside him, and kicked the machine he was on at Hiyori in his fury. Before it could hit her, she had grabbed Shinji's shirt and yanked him in front of her as a shield, so it hit him in the face hard enough to draw blood. Kirara almost toppled off the sofa in the chaos, managing to catch herself as she turned.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Hiyori shrieked. "I'll slap you around if you act stupid, baldy!" she threatened Ichigo as she stood.

"That's…that's my line…" Shinji groaned as blood ran down his face.

"That's what I'd like to say!" Ichigo yelled back at Hiyori, both of them ignoring Shinji. "You bragged about how you were going to pound the knowledge of how to suppress the Hollow within me, so why do I have to row for more than a day on this clearly handmade, beat up, silly machine!" he roared, pointing at the damaged machine now lying on its side nearby. "Are you stupid?!" he demanded.

"Oh, there's two of them," Kirara murmured as she sprawled along the other side of the sofa to watch. Rose shushed her, hiding his own faint amusement.

"Rather, am I stupid for rowing on it like you told me to?!" Ichigo demanded, realising that he had gone along with what Hiyori had said without question. The others just sighed in exasperation.

"That's right! You're stupid!" Hiyori mocked him. She yelled just as loud as Ichigo. "You're the only stupid one!" she declared, which only wound him up more.

"We're back," the others looked around as Mashiro pushed the door open. Hachi ducked under the doorframe, and the two walked in as they heard Hiyori and Ichigo yelling at one another.

"Ah, thank you," Love grinned as he finally set his manga down.

"Finally, I'm starving," Kirara put her own book down too, her stomach growling.

"We're helping you train, so stop whining and listen to us, baldy!" Hiyori and Ichigo remained completely oblivious to their return.

"Shut up with the 'baldy', fangs!" Ichigo yelled back. "How can you consider this training?" he demanded.

"If you think I'm talking about your hair, you're wrong!" Hiyori roared. Disregarding their yelling, Mashiro turned to the others and held up the bag in her hand.

"I bought you lunch. Do you want to eat it now?" she offered.

"Ah, I will!" Love grinned, taking the food from her.

"I'll take Shinji's too, I don't think he'll be conscious for a while," Kirara smirked as she took her own. Rose shot her an exasperated look.

"What's with Berry?" Mashiro wondered, looking over at him. "He's fuming," she commented, not having seen him look so mad.

"He's usually mad about something," Kirara answered cheerfully with a mouth full of food as she watched Ichigo and Hiyori yelling at each other.

"It seems he doesn't like the Super Hiyori Trainer," Love elaborated. Mashiro's eyes went wide.

"What? He's complaining about that now?" she was surprised that it took him so long to snap over it.

"I think it's Hiyori's own fault for not explaining about the purpose of the Trainer," Hachi admitted as he passed Kensei and Lisa their lunch. Their fighting turned physical, and as Ichigo lunged for her, Hiyori began to batter him with her sandal.

"I agree with you," Kensei allowed as he watched too. "She always says one or two things too little," he said, and Lisa just huffed in annoyance.

"Picked that up from Kisuke, no doubt," Kirara commented.

"You could look less like you're enjoying this, you know," Rose chided her. Kirara glanced over at him.

"I could, but I think Hiyori's having fun in her own harpy way," she replied. Rose didn't argue, not having seen Hiyori so animated with someone new before.

They watched as Hiyori kicked Ichigo in the face, sending him tumbling down to the bottom level. He hit the ground and cursed, but as he got up, Hiyori grabbed her Trainer.

"Don't complain, row until you collapse!" she ordered, throwing it at him. It caught Ichigo in the chin, and he leaned back as a bruise instantly appeared, but he managed to stay standing.

"Why you…" Ichigo trailed off, clutching his chin as Shinji walked over. Hiyori scowled, but turned her back and stopped screaming at him.

"Wait, Ichigo. The Garbage Hiyori Trainer-"

"Super!" Hiyori corrected as she turned her angry glare on him instead.

"Is the foundation of your future training," Shinji ignored her and continued talking. The others walked over, forgetting their lunch as they kept an eye on Ichigo.

"Foundation?" Ichigo repeated, not understanding what he meant. His own anger had faded now that Hiyori had stopped screaming at him.

"The level of your training is determined by how long you can row on that machine," Shinji elaborated, knowing that Hiyori hadn't given much information when she had told Ichigo to get on.

"What do you mean by 'level'?" Ichigo asked, lowering his hand. The bruise was blotchy, but he didn't seem to notice it as he found himself with more questions.

"It's as Hiyori says. Don't complain. Keep rowing on the Garbage Hiyori Trainer," Shinji told him, and Hiyori's angry scowl deepened.

"I just said, it's 'super'!" she repeated. "I'll hurt you, baldy Shinji!" she threatened, but he just ignored her.

"We'll teach you how to control your Hollowfication, when you're able to row on that machine for at least three days straight," Shinji's words riled Ichigo up again, and his eyebrows furrowed into an angry scowl.

"Are you kidding me?! I can keep rowing on this thing for three days, even for a week!" Ichigo shouted, pointing at the Trainer lying in the corner. "I can tell after rowing on it all day. A person exhausts an incredible about of Reiryoku just by touching it. That's what it's made to do!" he roared up at Shinji, furious that he was stuck wasting time.

Everyone was silent, watching as Ichigo continued to shout. Even Kirara had lost her cheerful smile, resting a hand on her hip as she watched him, a little unimpressed by his tantrum. "Your plan is to see how many days it'll take for me to collapse, so you can measure my maximum spirit energy capacity, isn't it?!" he demanded.

"Hell, Kirara, where did you find this kid?" Lisa muttered.

"Not me, Kensei and Love found him," Kirara replied, keeping her voice down as well as they watched. Kensei glared at her.

"With my current Reiryoku, I'll definitely go for at least five days!" Ichigo's words were an angry brag. "There's no point in measuring, so teach me how to control my Hollowfication!" he demanded, frustrated and desperate to get the answers already. "I don't have time! I don't have time to be playing around with you Vizards!" Ichigo's frustration boiled.

"Shut up!" Shinji's raised voice was full of anger, and it was enough to stop Ichigo's angry tantrum. A heavy silence descended over the group gathered, as none of them dared to speak. "You don't have time?" Shinji repeated, not losing that anger. "That's surprising, coming from someone who doesn't know about the Hogyoku's awakening time."

The quiet, mocking words had Ichigo rooted to the spot. He didn't dare look away from Shinji.

"Wait, what did you just say?" he breathed.

"I said, stop blabbing when you don't know anything about the Hogyoku or about Hollowfication!" Shinji shouted at him, done listening to Ichigo's whining.

"Hold on, how do you know about the Hogyoku?" Ichigo breathed. Part of him felt compelled to look at Kirara, but he didn't dare look away from the man glaring down at him. ' She said it was a favour to Kisuke, I didn't think she actually knew anything about it,' Ichigo thought to himself, realising that he'd been very, very wrong.

"We know about the Hogyoku, the Arrancars, and Sosuke Aizen. We've known all about them for many, many years," Shinji's voice was softer now, but no less angry.

In less than a heartbeat, Shinji was suddenly in front of Ichigo, who jolted before looking down. As he did, he found Shinji's hand in his face, and was struck by a familiar feeling. Kirara had done similar to him in the past. "I'll tell you the details another day. I thought that I should take my time and get your Soul prepared our way, but when I think about it, you became a Shinigami, got your Shikai, and got your Bankai at an incredible speed," Shinji considered.

Frozen to the spot, Ichigo only stared at him. "As you say, it might be better for you if we just teach you about Hollowfication. Here goes, Ichigo. Hope you don't regret this," there was a flash of power, and Ichigo was swallowed by darkness.

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