Disrupted🪭

10 - Hollowpalooza

Byakuya walked over to where some of the destruction of the Hollow was and was surprised at its power. He looked over and finally saw the Hollow. It was something only seen in books and heard about from his grandfather, Ichigo, and Yoruichi. It had to have been thirteen feet fall, white all over with a hard shell, and looked almost like a snake with four pudgy legs. Well, more like a snake that had eight heads to it. It seemed not to be able to be cut all the way through because of the thickness of some sort of armor.

Byakuya watched as some Soul Reapers came and started to fight with it but it overcame them one by one, eating them or stabbing them with its many tongues. One of the Soul Reapers was finally able to cut off one of the heads of the Hollow and it yelled out in pain. A few seconds later though, where that head was, another grew and where the head lay, a body grew out of it and they both gave a unison roar of triumph. Byakuya gasped, backing up from the scene but was stopped by a tree behind him. The little head heard him and turned, running toward him.

Byakuya took off running in the opposite direction of the academy, the severed head's new form running after him. One of the Soul Reapers saw that the head was heading toward Byakuya and ran off to get the head. As Byakuya ran, he tripped and fell but turned over, crab-walking as the Hollow jumped into the air to descend on him. He threw his hand in the air and on instinct recited a kido.

"Sh-Shakkaho!" he yelled as a red force came from his hand,

The Hollow shattered into pieces and Byakuya breathed a sigh of relief. Just then, one of the Soul Reapers ran up to him and stopped.

"Kuchiki-san! What are you doing out here? You can get killed!"

"I defeated a Hollow! Did you see that?!"

"Yes, but we need to-"

The Soul Reaper stopped talking as something flew through his stomach. Byakuya watched as the man began to dissolve from the abdomen outward; flesh, muscles, then bone until he disintegrated. Byakuya saw that two more of the heads must have been cut off for now there were two more Hollows and the other Soul Reapers were dealing with the multiple headed one. The parts that Byakuya had blown up were beginning to move now and growing bodies. He gulped, realizing he should have left a long time ago. He got up and began to run as the little pieces became tiny versions of the Hollow before but seemed more like a million little ants, screaming in unison like all the others.

Byakuya could hear the sound of the men screaming from the acid hitting them and he was lucky that more Soul Reapers had come and the only things after him were the tiny ones. They were throwing their long tongues out, hitting Byakuya's legs with acid and beginning to jump. They finally got the same idea and a bunch of them jumped at the same time and brought Byakuya down, holding him down and scratching, biting, and sticking their tongues into his skin. Since they were so small, it didn't start corroding Byakuya but it hurt him to no end.

He screamed in agony, unable to get up when he felt them stop and leave his body. He opened an eye and saw someone in a strange version of the shihakusho and slightly long orange hair. The person looked behind him and Byakuya smiled.

"Nii-sama!"

Ichigo turned around fully and whacked him in the head.

"You dumbass! Look at you! What made you want to come out here?"

"I just wanted to see a Hollow up close."

"You dummy! You don't just 'want to see a Hollow'! They will definitely kill you! You're old enough to know these things!"

"I'm sorry! I just... I wanted to know what it felt like!"

"You'll learn later!" He held out his hand. "Now come on, let's get you home."

He took his hand and stood but swayed a little.

"Nii-sama..."

"What?"

"I'm not... not feeling very well... Those little Hollows have acid on their tongues." He almost fell over but Ichigo caught him. "The more you cut the more it grows... The tongue is dangerous on the big ones."

"We need to get you to a healer or something."

"Ichigo, they're dying. You have to save those guys. I'll be alright... Your job is to protect people, right? Then go protect them."

Ichigo was apprehensive but he nodded and stood up as he head one of the bigger ones coming toward them.

"I'll protect you."

"You can't just cut it-"

"Then I'll just have to destroy it completely, right?" He looked behind him and smiled. "Don't worry about me. Remember, I told you that you'd get to see my bankai some day."

Byakuya nodded as Ichigo turned to the Hollow. "Hey, Ugly! I think you picked the wrong time to attack here. You may not know me very well but I can tell you one thing: I know how you things work very well."

The Hollow threw its tongue at Ichigo but he dodged it just as the shattered pieces began to grow again. Byakuya watched as Ichigo threw his hand over his face and pulled, a Hollow mask forming around him and he took off in another direction, all the Hollows following him away. Byakuya was getting weaker as he felt the acid from the tiny Hollows begin to eat at his insides and he crawled over to a bush to be out of sight and to control the pain by using mind over matter. A darkness took over for a second and he shivered, coughing but remained totally still. He was in a bit of a daze but remembered his lessons on forgetting pain and concentrated on that.

******************

Ichigo finally defeated the Hollow with one last blast of Getsuga Tensho, blowing every facet of the Hollow to smithereens. He breathed hard, knowing it probably wouldn't do any good when he heard a voice behind him.

"Hado #54, Haien!"

All the parts of the Hollow went up in flames and then burst away. Ichigo looked behind him and saw Urahara looking at him calmly but with confusion.

"So this is what you have been hiding from us, isn't it?"

Ichigo released his mask and nodded. Urahara nodded and then pinched Ichigo's face and poked him for a second.

"What are you doing?"

"How do you activate it? Huh? You're what I've been trying to make! How do you work? Nevermind. You can't stay in the Soul Society any longer now that that power has been revealed. Not only will they not allow you to stay here but others who are out for badness will be attracted to you... I have finished the formula and was about to send you back home tonight but things seem to have gone awry. I will meet you at the Senkaimon. I will send Yoruichi to get you."

Ichigo nodded and turned in the same direction that Urahara was going in.

"Why are you following me?"

"I'm not. The Hollow attacked in this direction and Byakuya was waiting for me."

"The suspicious activity is in the same direction... I hope Byakuya-san didn't get involved with anything. We'll have to split up and you will take the back way as I go straight to the source."

Ichigo nodded and went in another direction to go the back way.

***************

Byakuya was losing the battle of forgetting his pain and wanted to just die rather than endure the burning inside of his veins. Besides, whatever was happening on the other side of the bush didn't sound good at all and he just hoped no one saw him. He recognized a lot of the voices but he kept hearing the screams of Hollows. He felt the reiatsu of people turn different, more Hollow-like and he was actually scared. I'm going to die here... what if something like that happens to me? I don't know what's going to happen...

"Oh?" a voice Byakuya knew said.

He opened his eyes as Gin looked at him from above. He turned his head and Byakuya blinked at him. Gin looked up at someone calling him.

"Nothing. Aizen-sama. I thought I sensed something..." He crouched down and reached over Byakuya. "You weren't supposed to be here. This wasn't meant for you."

He gripped the rock in his hand and hit Byakuya in the head, unconsciousness immediately taking over.