Cleaning out my hard drive
Dec. 17th, 2008 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
platedlizardOkay, so I got a bunch of stories just sitting around, doing nothing. I'm not working on them, but I feel bad about never showing my stuff to anyone either. So I'm going to start posting the stories that have stalled and see what other people think.
A/N. This was originally written to be part of a crossover with Y-The Last Man, wherein almost all of the world’s population of male mammals (including human males) DIES OUT ALL AT ONCE. I read that and immediately wondered just how this would effect the Soul Society. I mean, over three billion men suddenly need to be konsoed, and I’m not even counting the male animals who pass over as well. The die-off is so sudden that all the living men go from healthy to DEAD in a matter of minutes. In the story I had Ichigo suddenly going Hollow and Renji just as quickly putting him down, thus sending him to the SS. Shirosaki is, needless to say, Less Than Pleased.
This story stalled, basically, because after the first few graphic novels I stopped reading Y, mostly because those things cost, like $20 each and I don't feel like spending the money.
Now.
Renji stared at the disintegrating from of what used to be his friend, his unsealed zanpakuto dripping Ichigo’s blood into the dirt. “Ichigo, fuck,” he swore, starting to shake. It had all happened so damn fast…
A soft sound behind him made him turn, and he watched a human male vomit blood and convulse, and then slip free of his body with a severed Chain of Fate. A scream across the street snapped his head around as a woman watched her husband bleed, convulse, and die. A couple little boys collapsed in the park, their souls popping free of their bodies at death. Cars crashed into each other or telephone poles or buildings, and cries, female cries, filled the night air.
It took him moment to figure out what was going on.
All the men were dying.
---
It was the middle of the night in the Kuchiki mansion, but there were always servants about. Normally Ichigo wouldn’t bother asking, but this was Rukia’s house, and Byakuya’s too. Moreover, what he was about to do might destroy a few things, even if he did it in one of the non-descript Large Empty Rooms ™.
If being rich meant that he had a house full of huge empty rooms, then Ichigo decided that he would be better off poor. At least then he could have some interesting stuff in his tiny shack.
He asked politely, and the servant nodded as if it was perfectly natural for a guest to want to practice with their zanpaku-to in the middle of the night. Maybe it was, it wasn’t like he was overly familiar with how the Soul Society, especially the upper echelons of the noble houses, worked. Not that he cared, really, but it wasn’t like he was raised by wolves, whatever Byakuya might think.
The servant led him to another Empty Room ™, and returned briefly to deliver what was apparently an Obligatory Pot of Tea, not macha thank god, he didn’t feel like doing an entire Tea Ceremony by himself. Or at all, come to think of it.
There was a sword stand in the middle of the room with a floor pillow in front of it. He unwrapped Zangetsu and placed him on the stand, then knelt before him and let his eyes drift close, trying to feel that place inside his head where the world went sideway without entering it. He needed to lure the old man out into his world, not fall back into that other one.
For a long time nothing happened, but Ichigo was patient. He had all the time in the world, after all, and every reason to do this right. Dying, and being purified by Renji’s zanpaku-to had thrown a boulder into the wellspring of his power and the ripples were still being felt. Renji… He hoped that Rukia had sent that guy a message that Ichigo was fine, he’d hate to think what his friend might be going through right now. He’d made the best decision he could in the instant Ichigo had died, given the circumstances.
“If I see that guy again I’m going to fucking rip his fucking head off.”
Ichigo opened his eyes. “I had a feeling you would be the one to come out.”
The hollow stood in front of Zangetsu looking as he did in the side-ways world. Ichigo didn’t know if he should be surprised or not, out here in what passed for the real world the hollow had always appeared as, well, a hollow. But then he was also using my body. I wonder if that makes a difference?
“Yeah, so? What the fuck do you want us for, anyways?”
Ichigo snorted, and poured himself a cup of tea. Whenever they interacted before the hollow had had sounded like he was laughing at with a strong undertone of contempt. The contempt was still there, but the laughter was gone. Totally.
“I just wanted to say hi, and to find out where the hell the old man went to. Have you seen him lately?” he asked, only half-joking. If the hollow was going to be off-center and a touch emo then he was just going to have to take advantage of it. Still, he needed to proceed with caution, the hollow had apparently survived purification by zanpaku-to intact. It was entirely possible he still had a few more tricks up his white sleeve. “I’m curious how you survived having our head sliced in two by Zabumario.”
“Fuck you,” the hollow said petulantly. Exactly like a small child who didn’t get his way. The hollow snatched the teacup out of Ichigo’s hands, downed the remainder of the liquid, and poured himself another cup, spilling hot tea all over Ichigo, the pillow, and Byakuya’s expensive floor. Ichigo mopped hastily with his sleeve at his leg, just his luck to get scalded during a materialization by hot tea, off all things. “Fuck you. Fuck Zabumario. Fuck Zangetsu. I save your sorry fucking ass more times than I care to think about, and how do you repay me? By fucking dying without giving me any fucking notice. And then that other fucker just had to kill me just when I was finally able to take over. Good thing me and Zangetsu know Zabumario, otherwise I would have fucking turned back into you. Had to hide in the old man, down deep.”
“Sorry about the no notice thing,” Ichigo said, half-grinning. “Wasn’t just me, about three billion other people bought it too, you know.”
“Fuck them too.” The hollow gloomily gulped down another cup. Ichigo wondered just where the hell he was putting it, materialization wasn’t supposed to effect the real world, right?
He decided he didn’t want to know.
“So you hid in Zangetsu, then what? The sword’s here, so he’s not gone but I still haven’t seen him for a while.”
The hollow said nothing, just stared at his teacup gloomily. Ichigo was wondering if he should buy him some eyeliner or something if he was going to go all emo on him.
“Well?”
Shirosaki shrugged. “We switched places. I think he got hurt. Don’t know if he’s going to be back or not.”
Ichigo glared, but before he could say anything the door behind him slid open and he felt two very familiar reiatsu appear in the entrance.
“So that’s what he looks like.”
“Hey Rukia,” Ichigo said without turning. “Byakuya.”
The hollow grinned. “Ichigo, your girlfriend’s cute.”
“You shut up.” He glanced over his shoulder briefly at the two, but just as quickly turned back. Something told him that he should keep an eye on the hollow, even if he seemed to be weakened. He still couldn’t trust him. “What do you two want?”
“I sensed a hollow presence in my house.” Byakuya said dryly. “I thought, perhaps, I should check that out.”
Ichigo scratched the back of his neck and stood, stretching. “Yeah, sorry about that.” He scowled at the hollow. “I was trying for Zangetsu and got this guy instead.”
“Hey, don’t I know you?” The mocking tone was back. “You’re the guy with the flower petals Dumbass here nearly lost to! You want me to finish him off, Ich-i-go? Since you didn’t have the guts to do it?” The mocking tone was definitely back, yes. It was almost a relief. Ichigo didn’t know how much more Emo!Hollow he could take.
“Yeah, I figured this would happen.” Ichigo dusted off his legs and picked up the teapot. “So you switched places with Zangetsu and he got hurt? You fucking bastard.” He felt a grin spread itself across his face. “Looks like I’m going to have to beat him out of you. Again.” He glanced over his shoulder at the two shinigami. It was hard to say for sure, but Byakuya seemed to watching the scene before him with mild interest. Rukia actually looked slightly concerned, but then she hadn’t seen the last time he’d fought the hollow for control. “Sorry guys, looks like I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’ll try to keep the damage to one room.” He turned back to the hollow, and heard the door slide shut. “Well?”
The hollow grinned, reached behind himself and grasped Zangetsu’s hilt. “You’re gunna fight me with a teapot. This ought to be good.”
Ichigo took the lid off and flung the hot tea at the hollow’s face, then dove past him when he ducked. “A teapot’s all I need to defeat you,” he said, summoning his reiatsu to him.
___
Rukia stood just outside the door, back to the hallway wall, her hand resting lightly on her hilt. Her brother stood with her, shoulder to shoulder (well, shoulder to waist, really), ready to rush in if, well, there were any issues.
She had full confidence in Ichigo, of course. He seemed fairly confident that he could handle the hollow. He’d told her once about how he gained full control, battling the hollow into submission, and if he did it once without knowing what he was doing he should be able to do it now.
She was just out here to provide morale support. Yes. That was it.
There was a crash inside, and the sound of someone cursing.
“Girlfriend?” Nii-sama asked.
Of all the things for him to pick up on.
“I lived in his closet for two months. I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt an attraction to me.”
There was another crash, a body slammed into a wall, and the hollow’s triumphant laugh was cut off with a yelp of pain.
“You lived in his closet?” There was a dangerous tone to Nii-sama’s voice.
Oops, I guess never mentioned that before, did I?
Someone broke something, the floorboards from the sound of it, and there was a moment of silence. The reiatsu was incredible, but, true to his word, Ichigo seemed to be confining it to the practice room.
“Well, yes. I was hiding from his family, too, at the time.” That didn’t seem to reassure her brother. “Later I shared a room with his sisters.”
“Ah. Good.”
There was a clash of metal against ceramic, did he actually parry the zanpaku-to with the teapot?, and another muffled yelp of pain, and suddenly the reiatsu peaked, then faded away. She waited a moment, but when there wasn’t any more sounds of battle she slid the door open.
The hollow was sitting on the floor scowling. Ichigo stood over him, holding his zanpaku-to. Neither appeared to be injured.
She blinked, and the hollow began to fade out, and in his place, fading into view, was a middle aged man dressed in the shihakusho of a shinigami that strongly resembled Ichigo’s bankai.
“Old man!”
While the hollow and Ichigo were uninjured, this man wasn’t. Old, dry blood mixed with fresh from reopened wounds. Ichigo knelt and grabbed him by the shoulders before he fell over.
This must be his zanpaku-to.
“His wounds are symbolic. You need to feed your reiatsu in through the blade and….” Rukia let Nii-sama’s words flow over her, she was too astonished.
A/N. This was originally written to be part of a crossover with Y-The Last Man, wherein almost all of the world’s population of male mammals (including human males) DIES OUT ALL AT ONCE. I read that and immediately wondered just how this would effect the Soul Society. I mean, over three billion men suddenly need to be konsoed, and I’m not even counting the male animals who pass over as well. The die-off is so sudden that all the living men go from healthy to DEAD in a matter of minutes. In the story I had Ichigo suddenly going Hollow and Renji just as quickly putting him down, thus sending him to the SS. Shirosaki is, needless to say, Less Than Pleased.
This story stalled, basically, because after the first few graphic novels I stopped reading Y, mostly because those things cost, like $20 each and I don't feel like spending the money.
Now.
Renji stared at the disintegrating from of what used to be his friend, his unsealed zanpakuto dripping Ichigo’s blood into the dirt. “Ichigo, fuck,” he swore, starting to shake. It had all happened so damn fast…
A soft sound behind him made him turn, and he watched a human male vomit blood and convulse, and then slip free of his body with a severed Chain of Fate. A scream across the street snapped his head around as a woman watched her husband bleed, convulse, and die. A couple little boys collapsed in the park, their souls popping free of their bodies at death. Cars crashed into each other or telephone poles or buildings, and cries, female cries, filled the night air.
It took him moment to figure out what was going on.
All the men were dying.
---
It was the middle of the night in the Kuchiki mansion, but there were always servants about. Normally Ichigo wouldn’t bother asking, but this was Rukia’s house, and Byakuya’s too. Moreover, what he was about to do might destroy a few things, even if he did it in one of the non-descript Large Empty Rooms ™.
If being rich meant that he had a house full of huge empty rooms, then Ichigo decided that he would be better off poor. At least then he could have some interesting stuff in his tiny shack.
He asked politely, and the servant nodded as if it was perfectly natural for a guest to want to practice with their zanpaku-to in the middle of the night. Maybe it was, it wasn’t like he was overly familiar with how the Soul Society, especially the upper echelons of the noble houses, worked. Not that he cared, really, but it wasn’t like he was raised by wolves, whatever Byakuya might think.
The servant led him to another Empty Room ™, and returned briefly to deliver what was apparently an Obligatory Pot of Tea, not macha thank god, he didn’t feel like doing an entire Tea Ceremony by himself. Or at all, come to think of it.
There was a sword stand in the middle of the room with a floor pillow in front of it. He unwrapped Zangetsu and placed him on the stand, then knelt before him and let his eyes drift close, trying to feel that place inside his head where the world went sideway without entering it. He needed to lure the old man out into his world, not fall back into that other one.
For a long time nothing happened, but Ichigo was patient. He had all the time in the world, after all, and every reason to do this right. Dying, and being purified by Renji’s zanpaku-to had thrown a boulder into the wellspring of his power and the ripples were still being felt. Renji… He hoped that Rukia had sent that guy a message that Ichigo was fine, he’d hate to think what his friend might be going through right now. He’d made the best decision he could in the instant Ichigo had died, given the circumstances.
“If I see that guy again I’m going to fucking rip his fucking head off.”
Ichigo opened his eyes. “I had a feeling you would be the one to come out.”
The hollow stood in front of Zangetsu looking as he did in the side-ways world. Ichigo didn’t know if he should be surprised or not, out here in what passed for the real world the hollow had always appeared as, well, a hollow. But then he was also using my body. I wonder if that makes a difference?
“Yeah, so? What the fuck do you want us for, anyways?”
Ichigo snorted, and poured himself a cup of tea. Whenever they interacted before the hollow had had sounded like he was laughing at with a strong undertone of contempt. The contempt was still there, but the laughter was gone. Totally.
“I just wanted to say hi, and to find out where the hell the old man went to. Have you seen him lately?” he asked, only half-joking. If the hollow was going to be off-center and a touch emo then he was just going to have to take advantage of it. Still, he needed to proceed with caution, the hollow had apparently survived purification by zanpaku-to intact. It was entirely possible he still had a few more tricks up his white sleeve. “I’m curious how you survived having our head sliced in two by Zabumario.”
“Fuck you,” the hollow said petulantly. Exactly like a small child who didn’t get his way. The hollow snatched the teacup out of Ichigo’s hands, downed the remainder of the liquid, and poured himself another cup, spilling hot tea all over Ichigo, the pillow, and Byakuya’s expensive floor. Ichigo mopped hastily with his sleeve at his leg, just his luck to get scalded during a materialization by hot tea, off all things. “Fuck you. Fuck Zabumario. Fuck Zangetsu. I save your sorry fucking ass more times than I care to think about, and how do you repay me? By fucking dying without giving me any fucking notice. And then that other fucker just had to kill me just when I was finally able to take over. Good thing me and Zangetsu know Zabumario, otherwise I would have fucking turned back into you. Had to hide in the old man, down deep.”
“Sorry about the no notice thing,” Ichigo said, half-grinning. “Wasn’t just me, about three billion other people bought it too, you know.”
“Fuck them too.” The hollow gloomily gulped down another cup. Ichigo wondered just where the hell he was putting it, materialization wasn’t supposed to effect the real world, right?
He decided he didn’t want to know.
“So you hid in Zangetsu, then what? The sword’s here, so he’s not gone but I still haven’t seen him for a while.”
The hollow said nothing, just stared at his teacup gloomily. Ichigo was wondering if he should buy him some eyeliner or something if he was going to go all emo on him.
“Well?”
Shirosaki shrugged. “We switched places. I think he got hurt. Don’t know if he’s going to be back or not.”
Ichigo glared, but before he could say anything the door behind him slid open and he felt two very familiar reiatsu appear in the entrance.
“So that’s what he looks like.”
“Hey Rukia,” Ichigo said without turning. “Byakuya.”
The hollow grinned. “Ichigo, your girlfriend’s cute.”
“You shut up.” He glanced over his shoulder briefly at the two, but just as quickly turned back. Something told him that he should keep an eye on the hollow, even if he seemed to be weakened. He still couldn’t trust him. “What do you two want?”
“I sensed a hollow presence in my house.” Byakuya said dryly. “I thought, perhaps, I should check that out.”
Ichigo scratched the back of his neck and stood, stretching. “Yeah, sorry about that.” He scowled at the hollow. “I was trying for Zangetsu and got this guy instead.”
“Hey, don’t I know you?” The mocking tone was back. “You’re the guy with the flower petals Dumbass here nearly lost to! You want me to finish him off, Ich-i-go? Since you didn’t have the guts to do it?” The mocking tone was definitely back, yes. It was almost a relief. Ichigo didn’t know how much more Emo!Hollow he could take.
“Yeah, I figured this would happen.” Ichigo dusted off his legs and picked up the teapot. “So you switched places with Zangetsu and he got hurt? You fucking bastard.” He felt a grin spread itself across his face. “Looks like I’m going to have to beat him out of you. Again.” He glanced over his shoulder at the two shinigami. It was hard to say for sure, but Byakuya seemed to watching the scene before him with mild interest. Rukia actually looked slightly concerned, but then she hadn’t seen the last time he’d fought the hollow for control. “Sorry guys, looks like I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’ll try to keep the damage to one room.” He turned back to the hollow, and heard the door slide shut. “Well?”
The hollow grinned, reached behind himself and grasped Zangetsu’s hilt. “You’re gunna fight me with a teapot. This ought to be good.”
Ichigo took the lid off and flung the hot tea at the hollow’s face, then dove past him when he ducked. “A teapot’s all I need to defeat you,” he said, summoning his reiatsu to him.
___
Rukia stood just outside the door, back to the hallway wall, her hand resting lightly on her hilt. Her brother stood with her, shoulder to shoulder (well, shoulder to waist, really), ready to rush in if, well, there were any issues.
She had full confidence in Ichigo, of course. He seemed fairly confident that he could handle the hollow. He’d told her once about how he gained full control, battling the hollow into submission, and if he did it once without knowing what he was doing he should be able to do it now.
She was just out here to provide morale support. Yes. That was it.
There was a crash inside, and the sound of someone cursing.
“Girlfriend?” Nii-sama asked.
Of all the things for him to pick up on.
“I lived in his closet for two months. I wouldn’t be surprised if he felt an attraction to me.”
There was another crash, a body slammed into a wall, and the hollow’s triumphant laugh was cut off with a yelp of pain.
“You lived in his closet?” There was a dangerous tone to Nii-sama’s voice.
Oops, I guess never mentioned that before, did I?
Someone broke something, the floorboards from the sound of it, and there was a moment of silence. The reiatsu was incredible, but, true to his word, Ichigo seemed to be confining it to the practice room.
“Well, yes. I was hiding from his family, too, at the time.” That didn’t seem to reassure her brother. “Later I shared a room with his sisters.”
“Ah. Good.”
There was a clash of metal against ceramic, did he actually parry the zanpaku-to with the teapot?, and another muffled yelp of pain, and suddenly the reiatsu peaked, then faded away. She waited a moment, but when there wasn’t any more sounds of battle she slid the door open.
The hollow was sitting on the floor scowling. Ichigo stood over him, holding his zanpaku-to. Neither appeared to be injured.
She blinked, and the hollow began to fade out, and in his place, fading into view, was a middle aged man dressed in the shihakusho of a shinigami that strongly resembled Ichigo’s bankai.
“Old man!”
While the hollow and Ichigo were uninjured, this man wasn’t. Old, dry blood mixed with fresh from reopened wounds. Ichigo knelt and grabbed him by the shoulders before he fell over.
This must be his zanpaku-to.
“His wounds are symbolic. You need to feed your reiatsu in through the blade and….” Rukia let Nii-sama’s words flow over her, she was too astonished.