"So the area of a triangle is base times height... and then what?"
"Divided by two, Ichigo. I've told you three times." Karin didn't look up from her phone.
"No, Yuzu said that. You just said 'Google it.'" Ichigo tapped the eraser against his math notebook. "This is useless. Why do I have to know this?"
"So you don't end up cleaning toilets," Karin muttered.
"Hey!"
"I think math is fun," Yuzu said quietly, pushing a strand of hair away from her own book. "I like how the pieces fit together."
"It's a headache." Ichigo stretched, making his back pop. "Dad's not home, right? We could order pizza."
"He left for an 'emergency internal medicine conference' at eight PM," Karin said, using air quotes. "He's probably at the bar."
"Good. Pizza." Ichigo reached for his phone.
Krrrr...
There was a low sound, a harsh noise of something dragging.
Ichigo stopped. "What was that?"
"What?" said Karin.
"That. The... sound."
"Probably the wind," Yuzu said, though she glanced at the window.
"There's no wind tonight," Ichigo said, standing up.
SKRRRR... CRUNCH.
This time it was louder and the whole house vibrated slightly, a dull vibration that was felt in the floor.
"Okay, that wasn't the wind." Karin finally lowered her phone and frowned.
"Ichigo..." Yuzu got up from her chair. "I... I have a bad feeling."
"Calm down. It's probably just... I don't know. A pipe?" Ichigo headed for the hallway.
CRACK.
The sound came from upstairs, a sharp crack, the unmistakable noise of wood splitting.
"Ichigo! Wake up!" Karin's voice wasn't bored anymore; it was sharp.
"I'm already awake, Karin! I'm trying to...!"
There was a second crack, this time much louder, followed by the unmistakable sound of a wooden window frame splitting in two.
"It's in the house! It's in the house!" Yuzu ran to Karin, grabbing her arm.
"Yuzu, calm down! Behind me! Close your eyes!" Karin pushed Yuzu behind her, though she was shaking herself.
"Stay there!" Ichigo yelled.
He took the stairs three at a time, noticing the air on the second floor was wrong, it just felt... incorrect.
"Hello?" he called out. He felt stupid instantly.
He reached his room, or what was left of it.
The wall where his window should have been was gone, leaving a jagged hole the size of a small car with splintered wooden edges, where the street light streamed in and lit up the dust floating in the air.
"Shit..."
Ichigo jumped to his feet and grabbed the first thing he found: a metal and plastic desk chair, lifting it to use as a weapon.
"Okay, what the hell are you?"
In front of him, through the hole, something was moving. It was dark, too big to be there.
And then, a giant, black thing with a bone white mask started trying to shove its head through the hole it had just made in the wall.
It was huge. Its eyes were hollow, empty, and a low growl rumbled in its chest.
"Ichigo!" Karin was at his bedroom door, with Yuzu hiding behind her. "What is that thing?!"
"I don't know! Go back downstairs! Call the police!"
"I can't leave you!"
"Do it, Karin!"
The creature sniffed the air and its dead eyes moved, ignoring Ichigo completely to focus on the doorway, where Yuzu was.
"Get out of here! Go!" Ichigo yelled, raising the chair higher.
The creature ignored him and shoved a massive claw through the hole, scratching the floor.
"You can... See us."
Ichigo froze.
The voice was female and came from the corner of his room, the one in shadows.
He turned.
"Another one? Great! Is it weird costume night?"
There, dressed in a strange black kimono, was a girl not much older than him. She was leaning against the wall, breathing hard, her hand pressed to her side and her fingers stained dark red.
"I'm a little busy, if you don't mind!" Ichigo yelled, turning back to the monster.
The creature roared, a sound that vibrated Ichigo's teeth, and slammed the wall again, sending debris flying and making the hole bigger.
"Idiot!" yelled the girl in the kimono. "You can't hit it with that! You won't touch it!"
"Oh yeah? Well it's better than yelling at it! Do something! You look like the expert!"
"I tried!" The girl coughed. "It wounded me before you could see it! It caught me by surprise!"
"Surprise? It's gigantic! How can it surprise you?"
"I wasn't talking to you!"
The creature, finally, tore a big enough hole and stood up in the room, or at least, the top half of its body did, taking up almost all the space from floor to ceiling.
It looked at Ichigo, then at Karin, and finally fixed its gaze on Yuzu.
"Hungry..." muttered a deep, surrounding voice.
"Don't you dare!" Ichigo didn't think and threw the chair with all his strength.
It bounced off the Hollow's white mask with a pathetic clack and fell to the floor, broken.
The monster didn't even blink. It raised a giant claw, its fingers curved and sharp, aiming straight for Yuzu.
"No!"
Ichigo lunged.
He knew it was useless and that he wouldn't make it, but he couldn't stand still, so he got between the claw and his sisters, shutting his eyes tight, bracing for the hit, for the pain.
It never came.
A sharp screech of metal against... something, filled the room.
Ichigo opened his eyes and saw the girl in the black kimono was there, between him and the claw.
She was holding the claw back with a simple katana, but she barely could, as her knees were visibly shaking and her arms trembled from the effort while the claw slowly pushed her back, inch by inch.
"You..." she said, looking at him over her shoulder, her voice a forced gasp. "You can see spirits. And that Hollow... it's ignoring you to go for your sisters."
"Thanks for the summary! Are you going to do something or...?"
"I can't!" she yelled, and the claw pushed her back another foot. "I'm too wounded! The hit it gave me earlier... it's taking everything I have to stay on my feet!"
"Let it go! Forget it! Get my sisters out of here!"
"If I let go, it will kill them all! And then you!" She stared at him, her purple eyes shining with desperation. "You... you have huge spiritual energy! That's why it's ignoring you! It wants to devour the weaker souls first, the easier ones! You're the main course, but it's saving you for last!"
"Spiritual what? Speak plain English!"
"There's no time to explain!" The girl was pushed back again, her feet slipping on the debris on the floor and the sword screeched painfully against the claw. "Listen. Do you want to save them? Really?"
"Of course I do! What do you think I'm doing?!" Ichigo dodged a piece of falling ceiling.
"Not like this. You can't, because you're just a human." She gritted her jaw. "But you can use my power."
Ichigo stared at her. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Take my sword." She strained and offered him the hilt, even as she kept blocking the Hollow with the blade. It was an awkward gesture. "Quick."
"What am I going to do with that?"
"Stab me through the chest with it!"
Ichigo stopped. All the noise seemed to fade for a second.
"..."
"What?"
"Do it!"
"Are you completely crazy? That will kill you!"
"I'm already dead if I don't! And so are you!" she yelled, spitting a bit of blood that ran down her chin. "It's the only way! A Shinigami power transfer! I'll give you half my power! Just enough so you can kill this thing!"
"I'm not going to stab you!"
"Idiot! You won't kill me! Or maybe you will! But it will kill all of us if you don't!" The Hollow roared, impatient, and gave a push that forced her to her knees. The sword was about to break.
"Decide, human!"
Ichigo looked at Yuzu, who was sobbing quietly, her face buried in Karin's back. He looked at Karin, who was pale but holding her ground, protecting her sister. He looked at the claw that was inches from them.
"Shit. Shit, shit, shit."
He grabbed the sword's hilt, which was cold.
"Okay, now what?"
"Just push! Aim for the center of my chest! And pray!"
"Pray? Great! Perfect!"
Ichigo gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and pushed the sword's blade straight into the girl's chest.
He felt resistance and then the blade sank in.
She screamed.
But it wasn't a scream of pain, it was a choked scream of surprise.
"Wait!"
"It's too late for that! You told me to!"
"No! You...! Your energy! It's...!"
Ichigo felt something break, not in her, but in him.
It was a sudden release, an abrupt connection.
Suddenly, he was starving, but it wasn't hunger for food, it was an emptiness, an internal need that demanded to be filled.
"Ichigo... let go!" The girl's voice was a sharp gasp. "Let go of the sword! You're... you're taking too much!"
"I don't know how! I can't stop!" he yelled, and it was true.
The energy wasn't flowing into him, as she had said. It was a vortex pulling from him, a whirlwind that was sucking everything she had, and the light in the room seemed to dim, drawn toward the point where the sword was buried in her.
The Hollow, which had been pushing, suddenly pulled back.
It stopped attacking and looked at Ichigo, and for the first time, that thing looked... scared.
It roared, not in anger, but in fear. A high pitched wail.
"Stop!" yelled the girl, who was now deathly pale. "This isn't how it works! It's supposed to be a controlled flow! You... you're... you're...!"
"I can't!"
Ichigo couldn't hear her clearly because he heard a deep hum filling everything, and beneath the hum, a laugh.
A dry, high pitched, manic laugh, coming from inside his own head.
...More. Yes. Give it to me. It's ours...
"Shut up!" Ichigo hissed, clutching his head.
"What?" the girl said, her voice barely a whisper.
"Not you!"
With a final pull that felt more like instinct than a decision, Ichigo ripped the sword from the girl's chest.
The instant the blade came free, a pulse of black and red energy burst from him.
Her black clothes, her Shinigami kimono, faded away rapidly, replaced by a simple white hospital gown, and she fell to the floor, pale and powerless.
And the black clothes appeared on him: a Shinigami kimono, heavy and real.
But it wasn't right, as it didn't look like the one she had worn, which was clean and neat.
This one was... wrong. The white edges of the collar and sleeves weren't smooth, but jagged and uneven. And the color wasn't pure white; it was stained, the edges dyed a dark, dry red.
The sword in his hand changed.
The katana disappeared and in its place he felt an enormous weight that grew and twisted, becoming a giant butcher knife, as tall as he was, with a wide, blunt tip, wrapped in ragged bandages near the hilt.
"Oh," Ichigo said.
The voice that came out wasn't entirely his. It was deeper and doubled, an overlap of his voice and someone else's.
The Hollow roared, one last show of defiance or panic, and lunged at him.
Ichigo didn't move or raise the sword to block.
He grabbed the Hollow's wrist, the one with the giant claw, with his free hand.
The monster stopped dead.
"My turn."
The Hollow tried to pull, to retreat, but it couldn't, because Ichigo's hand, the one now wearing a black glove, was burning it, causing smoke to rise from where he gripped it.
Ichigo raised the giant sword with his other hand. It took no effort.
"Are you hungry?" His voice was a taunt, a deep vibration. "So am I."
He didn't swing it to cut.
He swung it in a wide, flat arc, striking with the edge.
And the blade touched it and, instead of cutting it, absorbed it.
The creature screamed, a high pitched, terrible shriek that Ichigo would never forget and that cut off abruptly.
Its body didn't turn to dust or explode.
It dissolved.
It turned into thousands of threads of red light and black particles that were violently sucked into the blade of the giant sword.
In three seconds, the huge Hollow was gone.
The silence that remained was abrupt and heavy.
The room was a disaster, the west wall was gone and only a hole leading out into the night remained, while the floor was covered in wood, plaster, and broken glass. Sirens could be heard in the distance.
Ichigo stood there, in the center of the chaos, breathing hard. The kimono felt good, correct, and the starving sensation was gone.
He felt full and sated.
He turned.
The girl, the Shinigami, was on the floor, against the opposite wall.
She was shaking, not from cold or the wound, but from fear.
"Hey," Ichigo said. His voice was almost normal now, though a bit hoarse. "Are... are you okay?"
She stared at him with her purple eyes wide open, unable to stop looking at the sword, which Ichigo still held.
"You... what are you?" Her voice was a trembling whisper.
Ichigo blinked and the black kimono dissolved into particles of light, leaving him in his T shirt and jeans, while the giant sword vanished a second later.
"What? I'm the guy who just saved everyone. Thanks to your crazy plan!"
"That... that wasn't my plan." Rukia hugged herself. She was pale and looked almost translucent.
"It worked, didn't it? The thing is gone."
"No! It didn't work!" She hit the floor weakly. "I was supposed... I was supposed to give you half. Just half. Enough so you could beat it. So you could... purify it."
Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I guess I overdid it. Sorry."
"You don't understand, idiot!" She tried to stand, but her legs failed and she fell again. "You... you drank it! All of it! My powers... are gone!"
"Oh. Shit." Ichigo moved closer, his hands up. "Hey, okay. Calm down. I'm sorry. I'll give them back. How does it work? Do I have to stab you again? Or do you stab me?"
"No!" She yelled and scrambled backward, away from him, terrified. "Don't come near me!"
Ichigo stopped, confused. "I'm just trying to help. You're hurt. And you're shaking."
"I'm shaking because you drained me!" Her voice broke. "You... you sucked almost all my spiritual energy! You...!"
She paused, her expression of terror turning to confusion as she put a hand on her chest.
"What?" Ichigo said.
"I... it's not that they're 'gone,' idiot." Rukia leaned against a broken piece of wall. "Not completely."
"Are they somewhere? Should we look for them?"
"They're in you!" she yelled, frustrated. "You... you connected them. When you pulled the sword out... you didn't cut the flow. You... soldered it. You created a permanent connection from my soul to yours."
Ichigo stared at her. "Connected? What does 'soldered' mean?"
"Stop joking! This is serious!" She looked at him in genuine panic. "I... I can still feel them. My powers. They're in there. In you. I can... feel them moving. It's... disgusting."
"Okay, that does sound disgusting," Ichigo admitted.
"And you..." She swallowed, her eyes scanning him up and down. "You aren't normal, human. No human could... overpower a Shinigami's power like that. And that thing... your sword... what did you do to the Hollow?"
"Didn't you see? I cut it."
"You didn't cut it! You ate it!" She was almost hysterical. "Shinigami purify Hollows! We send them to the Soul Society or to hell! We... we don't eat them!"
"Well, this one did," Ichigo said, starting to lose his patience. "Look, I don't know what happened, but it worked. My sisters are safe. They're..."
He turned toward the door, where Karin and Yuzu were still standing, with wide eyes, staring at the disaster. They hadn't said a word.
"Are you two okay?" Ichigo said.
Karin nodded slowly, but Yuzu didn't move.
"And me?" Rukia said quietly, from the floor.
Ichigo turned back to her.
"What about me?" she whispered. "I can't go back to the Soul Society. Not like this. Without my powers... I'm trapped. I'm... I'm stranded here. With you."
Ichigo sighed. This was, officially, the worst day of his life. And that included the day he saw a guy get hit by a truck and then get up to complain about the driver.
"Okay. First things first." He walked over to Rukia.
"I said don't come near me!"
He ignored her, bent down, and lifted her into his arms.
"Let me go! What are you doing? Put me down, human!"
"For starters," Ichigo said, walking toward the door, "you weigh almost nothing. Is that a ghost thing or do you just not eat?"
"I'm a spirit body! I don't need...!"
"And to finish," he interrupted, "my sisters are going to snap out of shock any second. And my dad is going to go crazy about the hole in the house. They can't see you like this."
"Like what? I'm...!"
"Half naked, bleeding, and talking about Shinigami, Hollows, and Soul Societies. They'll have you committed. Or me. Probably me."
He walked past Karin and Yuzu. "You two, downstairs. Make... I don't know. Tea? Bandages? Find bandages."
Karin blinked, snapping out of her stupor. "Yeah. Bandages. Okay." She grabbed Yuzu and led her downstairs.
Ichigo carried the complaining girl to his closet, a deep, old style one built into the wall, and opened the door.
"What... what is this?" Rukia said, looking at the dark interior.
"It's a closet. You're staying in here."
"A closet?!" Her indignation seemed to give her some strength back. "I am Rukia Kuchiki! A member of the Seireitei nobility! You can't put me in a...!"
"I'm Ichigo Kurosaki," he said, cutting her off. He set her on the floor, on a pile of old blankets he used in winter. "And you're the Shinigami without powers who just turned my life into hell and destroyed my room. So you're staying in the closet."
"But... my wounds..."
"I'll bring you the bandages. And tomorrow, when I'm not about to pass out, you and I are going to talk about how to fix this... 'soldering'."
Rukia looked up at him from the closet floor. Her expression shifted from outrage to panic and then to a kind of resigned exhaustion.
"You... you didn't just take them, did you?" she murmured, so quietly he almost didn't hear her.
"What are you talking about now?" Ichigo crouched in the doorway.
"When you stabbed me with the sword. Something... something in you... latched on. It wasn't you. It was... something else. Something that was... hungry. That laugh you heard..."
Ichigo tensed. The image of the white mask and the manic laughter flashed in his mind.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Yes, you do." Rukia stared at him, her fear replaced by a chilling certainty. "You didn't just give me your power, Ichigo Kurosaki. You woke up something that was asleep inside you. And now... now I think it's connected to me."
Ichigo looked at her for a long second. He saw the blood on her clothes, the panic in her eyes, and the absolute insanity of the situation.
"Welcome to my house, I guess."
He closed the closet door.
He heard a faint "Hey!" from inside, but he ignored it.
He turned, leaning his back against the closet door, and looked at the hole in his wall, noticing the night was quiet and the sirens were closer.
...Good start...
Ichigo shivered. "What...?"
"ICHIGO!"
A roar from downstairs, louder than the Hollow's, shook the house.
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO THE HOUSE WALL?!"
Ichigo closed his eyes and let his head fall back, hitting the closet door.
"Great. Another disaster. Just what I needed."
******
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