City of Emptiness Chapter 3

[madimpossibledreamer]

Main Points:
Bleach AU
Chapter Summary: Ichigo and his Hollow meet.
Word Count: 1,233
Rating: K

He'd easily finished the peach long ago and was now wandering the markets, looking for some sign of...well, what exactly this place was.  Of course, he'd already gotten the signs showing that its appearance was deceiving.  The feel of the place and its inhabitants contradicted what it looked like.  Like a set, a mock up, after they'd actually finished filming everything.  And they'd never bothered to tear it down.

He smiled at a giggling couple walking the other direction.  Why, he wasn't exactly sure, but he was feeling a lot happier than he had been.  Well, more at peace, anyway.  Which was weird, because you wouldn't think that would happen after he recovered his memories and remembered exactly what had happened that he'd tried to forget...

And on that corner was another restaurant.  Well, he wouldn't classify it as a corner, exactly.  More like...someone had widened the street here, just to be able to fit something like this.  Still, it looked interesting.  An adventure.  Not one he was ready for.  He was feeling pretty satisfied.  Just...maybe later.

His instincts saved him from the sword hurtling at his head.  He went into a roll before he'd even fully processed what was going on.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he yelled, and then turned.

Oh.

King.

What now?

"H-hey, what's...?" he began, before Ichigo began to charge again, this time going to slash every which way until he connected.  He recognized the look in those eyes.  No mercy, no compassion, no conversation.  Just a quick and simple fight to the death.

What was it with people here?  Yeah, sure, okay, so maybe King had some legitimate complaints, but not everything needed to be fixed by beating each other into bloody pulps!

And no way he was just dodging his way out of this one.  It might work.  He might get lucky.  But given how many people had found him that just really wanted him dead, he wasn't going to count on his luck today.  Besides, even if he didn’t always know how to use his power, Kurosaki was a lot stronger than Rukia.  "Zanjii, you know what to do."

The sword leapt into his hand without complaint.  That was still just a little wrong.  He wasn't even glowering or being overly mysterious.  Just overly-not-there.

He parried the first few attacks and realized exactly how much power Ichi was putting into his blows.  He was really, really ticked off about something.  His eyes widened as his strength barely kept up.  Something was really, really wrong.

Overly fond of the somersaults, maybe, but he enjoyed them and if he could even get a little away, he might have a few seconds to think about this mess and what, exactly, had gone so wrong.  If King was this angry, not even bothering to taunt him or anything, then likely whatever he was so mad about Shiro should be too.  Unless, of course, the only issue here was the whole 'you're my Hollow' thing again, in which case it was utterly stupid.

And then suddenly something disappeared to his senses, and he knew exactly what was wrong.  How hadn't he noticed before?  His eyes widened and he let out a scream of anguish, so distracted he only managed to deflect, not parry, Ichi's Zangetsu.  It scraped a patch of skin off his shoulder, which hurt, but it didn't hurt more than...

He began to swear, feeling the anger rising to match King's own.  No, they weren't his friends, they were King's, but no one hurt any of King's friends.  "Stupid, I'm getting as idiotic as you now."  He shook his head at himself, angry for such a trivial mistake that could cost so much...to people who didn't even deserve it.  "Stupid, selfish, too busy worrying about myself that I miss the important things..."

Confusion entered King's eyes, and the righteous feeling behind his blows left, just a little.  Enough that he could block as easy as Ichigo struck.  That expression was something Shiro was used to seeing in that reflected face.

He quickly made the decision, struck back.  "Okay, whatever's between us, we finish it here and now.  We don't really have the time, not with people disappearing like that, but I'll make the time, since you won't give up until you've bashed my face in and if we try searching like that, you'll be doing something else entirely and I'll be too distracted to be any use.  So come on, King.  Show me what you got."

Ichigo didn't fully understand what he was saying, but took that as an invitation to release his spiritual pressure.  Despite himself, he was smiling.  A bit grimly, but he was enjoying himself.  Shiro grinned back, showing a touch of his fangs, releasing his own.  King wasn't great at sensing spiritual pressures, but this time he did notice that Shiro didn't feel like just a Hollow.  They felt fairly similar, really.

They traded blows, matching strike for strike, flash step for flash step.  Ichigo got a cut on his arm; Shiro on his cheek.

And then Shiro was stabbing behind Ichigo, and Ichigo pulled Zangetsu down in a swipe, barely missing his Hollow double.  They quickly moved back to back as weird humanoid outlines with no face, no identifiable features of any kind, circled them.  "Friends of yours?" King asked snidely.

"I guess you don't get the meaning of 'friend', King.  Friends don't try to kill you."  This was more fun since...he'd had in a long while.

Ichigo snorted, amused.  "I guess you haven't seen my friends, have you?"

Shiro thought about that.  Rukia.  Urahara (though he probably didn't count, did he?).  In which case, Yoruichi didn't either.  Ishida.  Renji.  Tatsuki.  In some way, maybe even King's father and Karin.  "Good point."

They simultaneously released their spiritual pressure, leading the creatures to stumble.  "So..." Ichigo began quietly, just an average conversation, "Who are these guys?"

Shiro shook his head, watching them get up carefully.  "No idea.  I might have some clues, but I haven't been able to piece them together yet.  They're wimps, though, huh?"

Ichigo shook his head.  "It's kind of weird saying this, but...I wouldn't be too sure just yet.  They are standing back up, after all."

Yeahh, it was kind of weird having King be the sensible one.  That didn't mean that he wasn't happy about it.  If the guy had some more sense, then maybe he wouldn't end up dead.  "Well, why don't we make sure they don't get the chance to do too much?"

"As much as I'd like to figure out their weaknesses so we know what to do when we fight them again...we don't have time to spare.  Let's waste 'em."  They exchanged glances.  Being able to work together like this, even if King didn't fully trust him...to have a fighting partner who could communicate with just a single look...that was cool.  "Getsuga..."

"Tensho!" Shiro finished.  An area around them lit up, black, navy, and crimson.

When the literal dust settled, Shiro noticed sheepishly that they'd blasted holes in the walls to either side.  Several walls to either side.  Alarmed shouts came from inside the restaurant, and people had started to come out to look.

"Let's go somewhere else.  I think we drew a bit much attention," he remarked.

"Yeah."  King leant on his sword for a moment, and then they both darted away to somewhere far away.