Chapter Text
'How cruelly sweet are the echoes that start, when memory plays an old tune on the heart.' -Eliza Cook
A chill runs down her spine.
Rukia awoke to the familiar storm of her inner world.
So cold, so empty.
'Why am I here...?' The weather wasn't any different than usual, just a little more harsh than she was used to seeing it. The perpetual blizzard always raged inside of her in all directions, there just seemed to be something more hostile to it at the moment she couldn't quite put her finger on. As much as it pained her to admit, even to herself, the sight of the blizzard had always slightly terrified her, but this feeling was something different entirely.
She'd never felt like this before, like there was something in her own inner world that didn't want her there.
And whatever it was, it felt angry.
'Kuchiki Rukia.'
She's pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a man calling her name from above, looking upward her gaze lands squarely on a raven-haired young man just slightly taller than her. He was wearing all black, with a long coat and big hood partially obscuring his face.
'I don't know who you are intruder, but don't you dare take another step before you explain your presence here!' Rukia instinctivelly reached for her zanpakutou at her waist, her face tensing when she managed to grab nothing but the air.
'Sorry, Rukia, Shirayuki's a little busy at the moment.' The man removed his hood and placed an arm across his stomach, offering a deep, respectful bow to the girl. 'We never did get to properly meet, did we, little one?'
She watched the man level his gaze with hers once again before casually approaching her with an outstretched hand. 'I'm Zangetsu, Ichigo's zanpakutou.' Her worried expression was instantly replaced by confusion.
Zangetsu's in my inner world? How is this even poss- wait, 'little one'?!
Once he was in front of her, she grabbed his hand in a snap and met his eyes harshly, the vein on her temple seeming red hot against the barren white backdrop of her inscape. 'I'd ask for proof, but only that jackass's sword would be able to piss me off so easily.' Whether he was perplexed or amused by her words, she wasn't sure.
'I beg your pardon?' He asked steadily, giving nothing away.
The Kuchiki heiress was almost impressed.
Almost.
When Ichigo came to he was running through a frozen tundra, a raging storm surrounding him in all directions, as far as the eye could see. It eerily reminded him of Hueco Mundo, just frigid snow in place of unforgiving sand. Both places seemed equally unrelenting and both gave off the feeling that you did not want to be there for long.
Would he eventually discover a castle here as well if he continued running long enough?
Any attempt to stop moving proved futile, he was seemingly just a passenger on whatever strange trip his body was taking him on. How he hadn't succumbed to the effects of hypothermia or frostbite was a mystery, as he was only wearing sweatpants and no shoes. It didn't take away from the sheer cold of the place, it just didn't appear to be slowing him down for whatever reason. He concluded he was most likely dreaming, or Urahara had kidnapped him in his sleep and this was some weird simulation he was putting him through.
Eventually, a woman's voice cut through the cacophonous howl of the storm. 'Ichigo, just a little bit further. I promise you'll arrive where you need to be shortly.'
He didn't immediately recognize the voice but it did ring a slight bell somewhere in the back of his mind, like someone he'd maybe met in a dream once. The voice was elegant and measured, yet alluring as well.
Luckily, he didn't have to ponder on it for long as the voice kept talking. 'We don't have a lot of time, so I'll need to explain the situation to you quickly. I'm Sode no Shirayuki, Rukia's zanpakutou. Zangetsu and I hid a portion of your reiryoku here in Rukia's inner world before you returned to Karakura Town to confront Aizen. He is currently with her as we speak, explaining everything to her.'
Well, that explains why it's so ungodly cold here.
Ichigo had a million different questions but decided to ask the most obvious one. 'So, why exactly am I running out of control through Rukia's inner world?'
'We forced your soul to manifest here, I am controlling your movements in order to guide you through the blizzard.'
He thought there was no way that was as simple as she made it sound. 'You say that like it's a regular occurence, how exactly are you doing this?'
'This isn't the first time we've travelled into each other's inner worlds, Ichigo. I involuntarily travelled to yours on the night that Rukia gave you her powers. There's no time to explain how at present, all that matters right now is that we can and we're going to use that fact to return your powers to you.'
Ichigo's eyes widened at that. 'We can really do that?!' His voice held a certain level of hope that wasn't present the entire time they'd been talking. It also held a desperation that Shirayuki immediately empathised with.
'Yes, and it needs to be done post-haste. We cannot house the piece of your power forever and it's imperative that it be returned to you so that we can begin preperations for what is coming.'
'And what is coming, Shirayuki?'
'That will have to wait, you're approaching the place you were meant to reach.'
He had honestly forgotten he'd still been running. He'd begun to ask what exactly it was they were looking for when his foot collided with something solid wedged into a particularly hard patch of snow. Luckily, his face broke most of his fall and Shirayuki was nice enough to not laugh at him, or at least not openly do so.
Ichigo cursed loudly as he got up and brushed the snow off his face as he turned around to see what all the commotion was about, his vision blurred from the snow melting in his eyes.
The zanpakutou spirit spoke once again, her tone noticably urgent. 'Ichigo, I know this is going to be hard for you but you need to take that so I can send you back to your body.'
'Yeah yeah, hold on. My vision's still clearing up.'
The object in front of him slowly came into focus as he blinked the water out of his eyes, closing them tightly and giving them a good rub with the back of his hand in order to get the last of it out. Opening his eyes to finally get a proper look at the thing, what Ichigo saw staring back at him sent a shiver down his spine stronger than even the ice queen herself could manage.
Staring back at him were the cold, empty eyes of his hollow mask.
'So that's what that feeling I had was, like eyes boaring into my back.' Rukia had thankfully never come face to face with Ichigo's hollow personally, but from everything she'd heard about the man, dealing with him was an absolute nightmare. The thought of him being in her inner world made her feel slightly uneasy, even if he was just a part of her friend's soul.
'He's certainly not the most agreeable person, but the hollow has been and remains tamed. It was actually his idea to have him be the piece of Ichigo's power we left here, I highly doubt he would be trying to make you feel uncomfortable.'
The awful feeling instantly returned. 'If it's not Ichigo's hollow giving me that feeling, what is?'
'The reason we forced you here tonight and why our conversation will unfortunately be coming to an end soon, time is of the essence and Shirayuki should be finishing up with Ichigo as we speak.'
She hoped that meant that Zangetsu was ready to cut to the chase, because an equally awful feeling of being kept purposefully ignorant of important information began to bug her the more she talked to the man. 'I don't know how to feel about this. Ichigo's finally able to live a normal life and at the first sign of danger, we expect him to throw that all away again and risk everything to fix another problem that isn't his?' Rukia professed, not entirely sure who she was trying to convince with her protest.
This caused the slightest chuckle to leave the man's lips, an action she'd been suspecting he was incapable of. 'You two really are so much alike.'
Rukia remained quiet as he looked at her with a crooked grin, the sight reminding her so much of his wielder she wanted to slap the zanpakutou spirit to wipe it off his smug face. 'Ichigo is shinigami by blood, Rukia. He was never going to live a normal life for long, regardless of you two meeting or not. Instead of blaming yourself for your choices, maybe you should try accepting him for his.'
It's what he did for you, even though it made him suffer. He thought privately to himself.
That right there was her exact problem, why did he have to choose at all? He wasn't like her, he had no obligation to the Gotei-13. His only obligations were to his family, friends and Karakura Town, all of which were doing fine. Now, his powers would return and yes, he'd be ecstatic about it, but she knew there was no way he'd be allowed to continue living in his world, the excessive amounts of reiatsu he unknowingly spilled out 24/7 had already affected enough people. They afforded him slight leniency before given the tremendous debt they owed him for helping to uncover Aizen's treachery, but debts would never supercede one of the main objectives of an organization like the Gotei-13, maintaining the balance of the worlds. Would he still be happy after being forced to leave his family? 'It's not that simple, Zangetsu, and it sure as hell isn't fair.'
His eyes softened considerably. 'I know, it's something you two will just have to work out yourselves.' Laying a hand on his chest, his eyes peered somewhere into the distance for a moment before turning back to her, once again with a serious expression. 'Our time is up, Rukia, Ichigo has his mask and has been sent back to his body by Shirayuki.' He placed both hands on her dainty shoulders and looked intently into her eyes. 'Now, listen carefully. It's very important that no one in Soul Society hears about any of this, not yet at least. We don't know who put this thing in Ichigo and unfortunately, we cannot rule out another traitorous shinigami being the perpetrator. You'll need to get out of your duties and meet Ichigo at Urahara Shoten early tomorrow, okay?'
Hesitantly, she nodded her head in understanding, but there were still questions she needed answered. 'How can we be sure this is even gonna work? Ichigo assumed his powers were gone forever, was he mistaken or did you lie to him?' She watched as a profound sadness washed over his face, then disappeared just as quickly as it came.
'Both.' He regrettably admitted, crossing his arms across his chest. 'Ichigo's power resonates from deep within his soul, as long as so much as a single echo of it remains, it can be brought back.'
'Why would you lie to him then? You knew he'd be miserable without his powers, why not offer him some hope of them returning one day?'
'Because, much like our wielders, Shirayuki and I are also capable of being selfish if it means protecting you two.' He admitted with clear fondness in his voice.
That brought a small smile of understanding to Rukia's face. 'And you're absolutely sure this has to happen now?'
He shot her a dire look. 'Yes, because unfortunately, what I said about Ichigo's powers don't only apply to him.'
Kilometers beneath the frozen ocean that acted as the foundation for Rukia's inner world, floating in a pocket of liquid water, a severed eye twitched slightly. It's fully-exposed sclera glowed dimly in the deep, dark ocean depths.
Now that the woman is involved, it's no longer safe to hide inside of him.
The eye then rolled backward, as if back into the socket of a skull that wasn't there, and blinked out of existence.