"I hate this body."
Ichigo didn't even look up from his math homework. They were in the living room, where he was at the coffee table and Rukia was sitting rigidly on the couch, wearing her school uniform.
"I heard you the first twenty times, Rukia. Shut up, I'm trying to figure out why the cosine of 'x' matters."
"I'm not kidding, Ichigo." Rukia shifted, and the couch cushion made a dull sound. "It's... heavy. Are human bodies supposed to feel like this? I feel like my whole body is heavy, like it's hard to move. And the back of my neck is itchy."
"That's called 'sweating,' princess, and people do it, especially when Urahara gives you a fake body."
Ichigo dropped his pencil and rubbed his stomach, where the dull cramp was still there, as always. It had been two days since Urahara showed up, and he'd had this constant ache for two days.
"And you stop complaining about your 'cramp'," she retorted. "At least yours is just a cramp. I have to feel this," she said, pointing to her own stomach. "It's a constant hunger, because this Gigai is a bottomless pit. Are Gigai supposed to make you this hungry?"
"Maybe it's because you're draining me," Ichigo said. "I'm hungry too. All the time. And this cramp won't go away. It's a tense pain that's always there. You're the most annoying girl in the world."
"And you're the whiniest power source."
The living room door opened and Karin walked in. She was wearing her street clothes and had a soccer ball under her arm.
"Stop flirting," she said bluntly. "You're making me sick."
"We're not flirting!" they both said at the same time.
Karin ignored them. "Yuzu wants to go to the park, where her friends Moe and Michiru are waiting for her, so you two are coming with me."
Ichigo stared at her. "What? Why? I have homework."
"Your homework can wait. I'm going to play soccer with the neighborhood kids. I can't watch you two and Yuzu at the same time, and after what happened, I'm not leaving Yuzu alone at the park."
Rukia stood up from the couch with a stiff movement. "To the park? Like... children? To sit on the grass?"
"Yeah," Karin said. "Yuzu needs something normal. Dad keeps talking about the 'gas' and the 'monster truck,' and she's still having nightmares. So today, we're all going to act fucking normal. Got it?"
Ichigo sighed, closing his book. "Act normal. Great. Just what we're best at."
"Put your shoes on, princess," Karin told Rukia. "And try not to walk so stiffly. You're creepy."
"This body is defective!"
"Shut up and walk!"
The walk to the park was ten minutes of torture.
"This uniform is ridiculous," Rukia muttered, smoothing the skirt of her uniform. "And everyone is staring at me. Why are they staring at me?"
"You're the 'mysterious cousin' Karin has been talking about," Ichigo said, walking with his hands in his pockets. "Obviously they're going to stare. Just walk straight. You're wobbling."
"I'm walking perfectly! It's the balance... it's all wrong."
She kicked a small rock, but she misjudged the Gigai's strength and the rock shot into the street, nearly hitting a cyclist.
"Hey!" the man yelled.
"Sorry!" Ichigo shouted, grabbing Rukia's arm. "Calm down!"
"I didn't get a good grip on it," Rukia whispered, furious with herself. "I can't... feel things properly. My whole body feels numb."
"Shh," said Karin, who was walking a few steps ahead of them. "There they are."
Yuzu was at the park entrance, waving her hand while smiling for the first time in days; she was wearing a bright summer dress and two of her friends, Moe and Michiru, were with her, holding a picnic basket.
"Ichigo! Karin! Rukia chan!" Yuzu shouted.
"Hey, Yuzu," Karin said, giving her a gentle tap on the head. "Let's go, we're going to kick the ball around. You guys," she pointed to Ichigo and Rukia, "watch the food. And don't fight."
"We don't fight," Ichigo muttered.
"You fight like an old married couple," Karin said. "It's gross. Watch Yuzu."
Karin jogged off toward the soccer field. Ichigo and Rukia stood awkwardly as Yuzu and her friends spread a blanket under a large tree.
"Rukia chan, do you want an onigiri?" Yuzu offered, smiling.
"Uh... yes. Thank you," Rukia said, taking the rice triangle.
Ichigo and Rukia sat on the edge of the blanket, in a quiet atmosphere... too quiet. The sun was shining, children were laughing, and a dog was barking.
"This is... normal," Ichigo said quietly.
"I hate it," Rukia replied, biting the onigiri. "It makes me nervous. I feel like I should be doing something."
"You are doing something. You're draining my life force," Ichigo said, rubbing the cramp in his stomach again.
"Ha. Ha. And you're my leash holder."
Ichigo looked at her. "The leash? Seriously?"
"Well, what is it?" she said. "Even in this body, I still feel it. The pull. It's not an emergency anymore, thanks to Urahara. But it's a thread. It's always there. It goes from my chest to yours. You don't feel it?"
"I just feel the damned cramp from being your battery," Ichigo said. "It's a tense pain in my stomach that never relaxes. It's a dull ache."
Rukia finished the onigiri in two more bites. "Seriously, Ichigo. I'm hungry."
"You just ate."
"I know. Hungry for real food. Urahara's Gigai... it's a bottomless pit. I ate three bowls of rice for breakfast and I'm still empty. It's this drain... I think it's affecting me too."
Ichigo looked at her. "What do you mean?"
"It's... similar to your stomach cramp," she said, frowning. "I feel the hunger for both: the Gigai's hunger, and the hunger for the energy it's taking from you."
"Great," Ichigo muttered. "Just perfect. So not only do you drain me, but you also get my hunger. Urahara totally scammed us."
"Urahara doesn't do anything for free," Rukia said bitterly. "He said he wanted to 'observe,' so this must be part of his experiment to see how long it takes for us to go crazy."
"Rukia chan! Ichigo nii!"
Yuzu's voice pulled them from their conversation. She was standing with her friends by the swings.
"We're going to get ice cream on the other side of the park! Want to come?"
"No!" Ichigo said too quickly. "I mean, no. We're good here. We'll watch things."
"Don't be long!" Ichigo yelled.
"We won't!" Yuzu replied.
The three girls ran off, laughing, toward a small ice cream stand visible on the other side of a grove of trees.
Ichigo let out a sigh. "Finally. A second of peace."
"Don't relax," Rukia said. "Do you feel it?"
Ichigo stiffened. "Feel what? I feel the cramp. I always..."
"No," Rukia said, jumping to her feet. Her face was pale. "Not the cramp..."
Ichigo concentrated. The afternoon air suddenly felt wrong, just like the air in his room that night.
"Oh, crap," he said, getting to his feet. "No."
And then they heard the scream. It was a sharp, terrified scream that came from the direction of the ice cream stand.
"YUZU!"
Ichigo ran. He ran faster than he had in a long time, but his human legs felt incredibly heavy.
"Crap, crap, crap!"
Rukia was running next to him, but her movements in the Gigai were clumsy and slow.
"I can't... run right!" she panted, stumbling. "This stupid body!"
They burst through the grove and saw the scene.
The ice cream stand was overturned and the vendor was gone, while Yuzu and her two friends were huddled against a stone bench.
In front of them, there was a thing.
It was huge, much bigger than the first one. Its body was fat and bulbous, with six insect legs and a white bone mask with a dozen small, black eyes. A drooling mouth opened and closed.
"YUZU!" Ichigo yelled.
The Hollow turned its massive body. Its multiple eyes fixed on Ichigo.
"ICHIGO! RUN!" Yuzu screamed.
"Karin!" Ichigo looked around frantically.
"Here!"
Karin shot out from the soccer field, the ball still in her hand, and she didn't even hesitate, instead running straight for Yuzu.
"Hey, ugly thing!" Karin shouted.
The Hollow ignored her, raising an insect leg to crush the girls.
"ICHIGO, DO SOMETHING!" Rukia screamed.
Ichigo grabbed a metal trash can from the path. "Hey! Over here, you bastard!"
He threw it with all his human strength, but the trash can flew and passed cleanly through the Hollow's head, hitting a tree behind it with no effect.
"Dammit! I'm in my body! I can't touch it!"
The Hollow brought its leg down.
"NO!"
Karin dove, tackling Yuzu and her two friends, pulling them out of the way a second before the leg crushed the stone bench, turning it to gravel.
"Karin!"
"I'm fine!" Karin yelled, pushing the girls. "Run! Run home! NOW!"
The girls, crying hysterically, obeyed. Yuzu stumbled, but Karin pulled her up. "Go, Yuzu!"
Yuzu fled.
The Hollow roared, annoyed, and turned its bulk toward Karin, who was now alone.
"Rukia, do something!" Ichigo yelled.
Rukia ran forward, jumped, and punched the Hollow's leg with the Gigai's fist.
There was a pathetic thwack!
"ARGH!" Rukia screamed, clutching her hand. "It hurts! This body is useless! I can't use my energy in it! It's just... flesh!"
"Crap!" Ichigo looked around, desperate. There was nothing.
The Hollow raised another leg, aiming for Karin.
"Ichigo... hide me," Rukia said suddenly, her voice cold and determined.
"What?! Now's not the time to...!"
"Now! Behind that tree! Trust me!"
Ichigo didn't question it. They ran to the nearest oak tree, out of the Hollow's line of sight, which was now looming over Karin.
"Rukia, what are you...!"
"I can't fight in this doll," Rukia said, her voice fast and breathless. "Urahara was right. It's a container. Not a weapon."
"But if you get out...!"
"I have to get out!"
"No! The leash!" Ichigo grabbed his head, anticipating the pain. "If you get out, it'll be just like that night. The pain... it'll cripple me! And you'll...!"
"It won't."
"How do you know?!"
"Because this time, I'm not going to fight it!"
"Fight what? The pain?!"
"No," Rukia said, looking at him with a terrifying intensity. "The transformation."
She put her hand on the Gigai's chest.
"Out!"
Her soul form, dressed in the black kimono, shot out of the fake body. The Gigai slumped lifelessly against the tree.
The effect was instantaneous.
"ARGH!" Ichigo screamed and doubled over, clutching his temples. The pain was sharp and blinding. The leash! It had snapped taut!
"Ichigo!" Rukia's voice was clear, not a shout.
"It hurts! Crap, Rukia, it hurts!"
"I know! I'm sorry!" She was beside him, in her soul form, trembling. "But this time it's different!"
"Different how?! It's going to kill me!"
"It won't!" She closed her eyes and spread her arms. "Because this time, I want it!"
"Rukia, what are you...!"
"You said it!" she yelled, her voice gaining strength. "You gave me something! You connected me to your monster! Now... use it!"
Ichigo watched, terrified, through the stabbing pain.
The smooth white bone erupted from Rukia's skin, but it wasn't slow this time; instead, it exploded outward, covering her left arm in a gnarled claw and climbing up her neck. The mask formed over half of her face, the red line glowing.
But something was different.
The pain in Ichigo's head... stopped.
Ichigo straightened up, gasping. The "hunger" and the background noise, which had been muffled, disappeared completely.
Rukia opened her visible eye, which was purple and glowing with a cold light.
"You look..." Ichigo whispered.
"I know," she replied. Her voice was layered, a mix of her own and a low, guttural growl. "It stopped... right? The pain."
"Yeah," Ichigo said. "It... it stopped."
"It's because I stopped pulling," she said, flexing her new clawed hand. "I stopped fighting the connection. I accepted it."
The Hollow roared again, having cornered Karin against the park fence.
"Now," said the Demon Lady, "move aside."
The Hollow raised its leg for the final blow. Karin gritted her teeth, bracing herself.
There was a white and black flash as Rukia moved. She appeared in the air, above the Hollow, and landed on its bulbous back, but the monster didn't even know she was there until she attacked.
"KARIN!" Ichigo yelled.
Karin didn't move. She was standing by the fence, wide eyed, watching Rukia.
"Ichigo..." Karin whispered, breathless. "What... what is she?"
"It's... Rukia," Ichigo said, unable to look away.
Rukia was savage, with no art or kido, just speed and strength.
The Hollow tried to shake her off, swatting its own back with its insect legs, but she was too fast, so she dodged and slashed.
She used her white claws, and every strike ripped chunks of the Hollow's spiritual flesh, which dissolved into black smoke.
The Hollow shrieked, a high pitched sound that made Ichigo's teeth vibrate.
Rukia latched onto its mask. "Mine!" her layered voice roared.
She grabbed one of the Hollow's front legs and pulled, causing a horrible tearing sound, and the limb ripped off, which made the Hollow partially collapse.
It tried to flee, crawling pathetically toward the park exit.
"No," Rukia growled. "You're not leaving."
She leaped in front of it, blocking its path.
The Hollow, desperate, opened its massive mouth and launched a stream of something that looked like acid.
Rukia didn't even move. She raised her clawed arm and the acid hit the white bone, sizzling harmlessly.
She tilted her head, her visible purple eye glowing with an emotion Ichigo didn't recognize.
"I'm..." she said, her voice a growl. "...hungry."
"Rukia!" Ichigo yelled, taking a step forward. "No! Finish it! Purify it!"
She looked at him. "I don't know how!"
The bone mask seemed to... smile.
"And I don't care!"
She pounced on the wounded Hollow. The monster struggled, but she was too strong.
She opened her own mask's mouth, revealing a black, empty hole.
There was no spell, just a sound: the sound of a void.
The Hollow screamed one last time and began to disintegrate, dissolving into thousands of threads of bright red light and black particles that flew, drawn directly toward the open mouth of Rukia's mask.
"Crap..." Ichigo said, paralyzed. "Rukia... she's eating it. She's eating it alive!"
Karin watched, motionless.
In three seconds, the massive Hollow was gone.
And the instant the last particle of red light was absorbed by Rukia, Ichigo choked.
The "leash" pain was already gone. But now... the other pain, the dull cramp in his stomach from the Gigai's drain... also disappeared.
It didn't just disappear; it was replaced.
A wave of heat flooded his stomach, giving him a feeling of satisfaction and pure energy that was the same one he had after she bit his neck.
"Damn..." Ichigo whispered, touching his stomach. The cramp was gone. "I feel... good."
In the center of the park, Rukia fell to her knees, gasping.
The white bone cracked and the mask shattered, dissolving into light that flew back into her and vanished, while her arm returned to normal.
She stayed there, in her black kimono, trembling.
"Rukia!" Ichigo ran to her. Karin followed, walking fast.
"Rukia! Are you okay?" Ichigo knelt in front of her.
She raised her head; she was pale and her eyes were filled with terror.
"What... what did I do?" she whispered, her voice normal again, but shaking. "Ichigo! I ate it!"
"I know. I saw."
"Just like you! It was... disgusting!" She looked at her hands, expecting them to still be claws. "It tasted... it tasted delicious! Ichigo, what's wrong with me!"
"Rukia!" Ichigo grabbed her by the shoulders. "Breathe! Calm down!"
"But I...!"
"Whatever you did," he said, his voice firm, "it worked! For both of us! The pain is gone! And the cramp... it's gone too!"
Rukia stared at him, her panic fading, replaced by confusion. "It's gone? The Gigai drain?"
"Yeah. I feel... full. Thanks to... whatever you ate."
They stayed silent for a moment, kneeling on the grass.
Karin stopped a few feet away from them, watching.
Ichigo looked up at his sister, whose expression was not fearful, but intense. Her eyes went from Rukia, who was trembling, to Ichigo, who was feeling strangely good.
Karin looked at the spot where the monster had been devoured, and then at the pair who had done it.
"...Power," she whispered to herself, so low Ichigo barely heard her. "That... that is real power."
Ichigo saw her expression and the fascination in her eyes. Then he looked at Rukia, who was terrified of herself, and touched his stomach, feeling the foreign energy settling inside him.
"Crap," Ichigo said aloud.
"I agree," Rukia whispered.
"This," Ichigo said, "is getting very complicated."
*****
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