Rukia's POV
I rush to the place where they arrived and what I saw made me stop right where I was. I saw two espadas and Hichigo but Ichigo was a full on hollow now. A loud rawr filled the air and I was trying to figure out why he was so angry. I rushed to the unconscious Hichigo and then I see the slight bruising around his neck. They must have hurt Hichigo in some way. I heard a cry of pain and looked up at a blue haired man holding the place where his arm used to be. Then a garganta opened and the other male was dragging the blue haired male into it. Ichigo was still in a rage and fired a sero at them. I knew I had to find a way to strike the mask. And then there was a blue light and it took one of the horns off in one shot. Ichigo stopped and the hollow shell he seemed to be in crumbled. Then he fell and I looked at who fired that shot and saw a dark haired boy with glasses. I put Hichigo on my back and flash step to the boy. "May I ask who you are?""Me? I am one of Ichigo's friends, Uryuu Ishida. I noticed he had lost control of the power in him and I simply stepped in to help.""I see. Are you a Quincy by chance?" He nods. "Do you mind carrying Ichigo back to his house? I have my hands full at the moment." He nods once more and picks Ichigo up and then we are off to his home. Mr. Kurosaki is waiting outside the door for us and he follows us up to his room. "I take it he lost control? And that they have decided to make an appearance.""Yes, sir. I think that you should see Kisuke as soon as he returns.""I will take your advice, Ms. Kuchiki. You two can head out. I will take care of these two. Thank you for stopping him." We nod and head off.Ichigo's POV What I am thankful for when I wake up is that I am in my own room. I am not too happy about Shiro not being there though. I walk out to the table and dad is there. It is light outside which confuses me. "Oh, good morning, Ichigo.""Dad, where is Shiro?""He had to go to the hospital. He has a collapsed lung. They said after a week in there and some surgery he should be up and ready again. Kisuke said it would be best for him to stay out of fighting for a while. That means he has to go back, Ichigo. Into your mind.""What? You mean he won't be able to be here anymore? Are you fucking kidding me?! The only thing that makes me happy is leaving. That's just awesome. I got my hopes up thinking I could be happy again. That was a stupid mistake. Just- just leave me alone." I force back the tears that threaten to fall and go to my room, slamming the door. How stupid could I be? How could I allow myself to fall in love with someone from my mind? I clench my fist and grab my combat pass. I transform and take off. I knew they were here. I knew where they were. I went straight to them."Ah, hello. Ulquiorra, is he the one?" "If you mean Ichigo Kurosaki, here I am. I don't care what you need me for or whatever or if you want to kill me. Just do it. I surrender. My life is yours." I dropped to my knees and felt someone grab my arms from behind and strap something around my wrists. Then I was picked up and carried through one of those dark holes. Goodbye everyone. I hope this makes you happy...Shiro's POV I wake up to a sharp pain in my chest. It wasn't the lung. It was on the complete other side of my chest. I felt it then. The fear and sadness. Ichigo was crying. It felt as if a half of me was gone. I tried looking for his spiritual pressure but I couldn't find it. Realization struck me like a punch in the face. He was gone. They took him and he willingly went. My heart broke and I screamed as tears rolled down my face. "Ichigo!" I felt a hand on my shoulder. "My-my King...he's gone.""Do you wish to find him?" I look up and see Kisuke. I nod. "Then what are you doing just laying there?""I have to stay in the hospital. My lung is- I am not supposed to be moving.""Do you really believe Ichigo is the only one to have instant regeneration?" I look down at my hands. "I will take you out of here if you wish." I nod. "Okay. Lights out." Everything went black. I woke up in the training grounds. Kisuke was sitting on the ground close by. I stood but was suddenly in Ichigo's head. It was full of water. Zangetsu was only floating there. "Zangetsu...why aren't you saving him?""I no longer have that kind of power. I am using all of my energy just to keep him alive. Shirosaki, you must find him. He has lost all hope and he doesn't feel. That is what the dangerous part is. He has no feelings at all. He is being controlled like a doll. You must help him. I will tell you what the secret is to achieving the mask. I don't know if I have enough strength to do it anymore but I have to pour my power into you. You have to let me run you through the center of your being. Only then will you be able to obtain the mask. Come here, Hichigo." I do as told and close my eyes. I feel the blade pierce my chest, right where the bad lung is but there was no pain. A light appeared and strength overflowed my body and something materialized in my hand. I looked down to see the mask. "Put it on and you will be able to save him." I put it on and then I was back in the training grounds."I see you have obtained the mask. Can you remove it?" I reach up and pull the mask off. "You know, you do have a hole in your chest. I look down and see the hole where my bad lung used to be."As long as I can save Ichigo then I don't care if I have to become a monster like them." He nods."Then let us begin. I want you to practice for a day with me before you go in there. I want you to know exactly what you are, Shirosaki. You are a high ranked hollow known as a Vasto Lordes but you have capabilities far beyond any of theirs. And with a little bit of practice with Benehime, you should be ready to rock." Then he was gone like lightning. I dodged his attack from behind and blocked the one from the left. I attacked and ended up missing. "Do you see why we need to practice? There is still much to learn. You can fire a sero, use a hollow's version of flash step known as sonito. There are the resurrection which are very powerful and only the espadas have it. Ichigo is also able to use these but he will need to be trained. And in order to beat the espadas, you need to get a lot faster.""I don't know how though." "You better learn how if you want to beat these guys. Listen, the sonito may be as fast as the flash step for those who have mastered them but you don't know any of them. You are just fast and reflexive. Learning the sonito will give you great speed over them. Make sure you hide your hole when you go. And when you are in their, the atmosphere will pull you in. Try not to let it." I nod and he was gone again. I close my eyes and I am in that world again. This time, there was a Zangetsu there but he wore white and his face adorned a half hollow mask."Are you Zangetsu?" He only nods. "Why are you in white and how did you get a hollow mask?""So many questions. I will answer them. I am your version of Zangetsu and the mask is because you are a hollow.""I see. Hey, Zangetsu, can you help me learn sonito?""I can only tell you to make your enemy slower than you. Focus your mind on making them slower than you are. Yes your opponent knows flash step but you are already fast and it will be easy to achieve. Now, you need to get back." I was suddenly back in the training grounds. Kisuke was coming at me now and I quickly dodged his attack. I took a deep breath and tried to focus my mind like how Zangetsu told me. I closed my eyes and visualized Kisuke being slower than me and I could then see his spiritual pressure moving at me in what seemed like slow motion. I opened my eyes and dodged the attack and landed one of my own, leaving a cut on his arm."I didn't expect you to get it that fast and now that you do have it, you speed is incredible. Look at that. You got me. Well, I guess we have that taken care of. Let's move on to learning how to fire a sero. I am not going to let you fire at me but you will fire anywhere you want to. Focus all of you spirit energy to the point you want to release it at. Do it now." I pull my mask down and focus it firing from the mask itself. "There it is. Keep focusing that energy and it will get bigger but not in here. Go ahead and fire it." I do and the destructive power was shocking. "Now your resurrection. There are several things that trigger this. Feelings, hopeless situations, and calling out your zanpakto's name. Let's try feelings. I have this thought that when you see them, your blood will boil. Anger can set off this stage of your hollification. How much do you love Ichigo, Shirosaki?""I love him with my whole soul. There is nothing I wouldn't do for him.""Okay. Now focus that release on those feelings alone. We will see if this can trigger it." I focused alright. Nothing happened. "Shit. Shirosaki, you need to go now. If you plan on entering Waco Muendo you need to go now. They are here. They are looking for you. I will open the garganta. Use your spirit energy to make a path for walking and keep going straight. Ready? Tessai!" A black hole opened up and he told me to run. "Yoroichi will assist you in this rescue," he yells when I jump in. I see a dark skinned woman with cat like eyes jump in with me. I run as fast as I can when I get inside and that woman looks at me and smiles."You really love him, huh?""Yeah. I would gladly give up my life to save his but not today.""We will save him. Don't you worry.""I won't leave without him.""That is good to hear. Look, that is the exit up there. Bend your knees when you jump out, okay?" I nod and prepare to jump. I land in what appears to be sand. "You okay, Shirosaki?" I nod and look around before I see a gigantic kingdom looking thing in the distance."What is that?""That is where Ichigo is. It is called Los Noches. Aizen is said to be visiting here ever since he decided he wanted to take Ichigo. There are powerful hollows in there. I believe you aren't strong enough to beat them yet but if things work out the way I think they will, you will gradually get stronger as the battles go on. Kisuke sent you here earlier than intended because the two who took Ichigo had come back for you. Let's get moving." I nod and we start running towards the large thing.Ichigo's POV I know it hasn't even been twenty four hours yet but it feels like I have been in here for weeks. I am tied up in a dark room and the only light I see is when they open the door to do their usual routine. They'll rape me and then they'll beat me until I bleed. I can't take much more of it. If they keep this up I'm going to die. And about fifteen minutes ago, I felt the strong spiritual pressure enter Waco Muendo. My body won't stop shaking and I am completely naked. The door suddenly opens and in walks Grimmjow. He smirks at me. "Boss says it's time." For a moment, he looks away. "I know it must be hard going through that every two hours. It used to happen to me too," he says before leaving again. It must be night time by now. I don't even notice when the door opens again and I am taken from my shackles. It is the sadistic smirk across the dark haired man's face that strikes fear in me. I scream and he only laughs and ties me to the bed. My body shakes terribly as he removes his pants and crawls in between my legs. I let out another scream as he thrusts hard into me. Tears ran down my face. He continued to thrust and I felt so helpless. Then after he was done, he shackled me back up to the wall and smacked me hard across the face. Then he pulled out his whip and started to beat me with it. I cried out Shiro's name, knowing it was useless. He wasn't looking for me."Calling for him is doing nothing but wasting your breath, Kurosaki. My subordinates have probably killed him by now." I scream again. Then, with a satisfied smirk, he leaves. Not long after, Grimmjow comes back in. He looks behind him and then looks back at me. Then he pulls out a key."I know some things that he doesn't. I don't like what he is doing to you so I have a plan. Only if you help me in return. You have to hide me in the world of the living for a while. Then I will tell you what I know about Shirosaki." I look up at him and my breathing stops. I nod."I-I promise." He nods."He is here in Waco Muendo looking for you as we speak. I will get you out of here tonight when Aizen is asleep and we will go to him." I nod."How long?""Only a couple more hours, Ichigo. Then I will be back." I nodded before drifting off to an exhausted sleep.Shiro's POV I stopped dead in my tracks as soon as I heard it. Ichigo's screams. This only made me even more pissed than I already am. They were hurting my angel. Don't worry Ichigo, I will be there as soon as I can.
