Makoto dashed back down the lamplit streets he had just walked with Rukia with a sole purpose burning in his heart. Get to Ichigo and hope that he could point him in the right direction before passing out due to the Hollows presence. It wasn't a great plan, heck it wasn't really even a plan at all but with all the events that had just transpired they didn't really have much of a choice.
He felt the fear and regret begin to bubble up in his chest as he finally arrived at the Kurosaki residence once more, his fist practically pounding on the door in an attempt to get someone to come to the door as he felt the eerie presence of the hollow grow slowly and stealthily closer.
"It won't win," Makoto thought to himself as the air grew heavier and heavier, the still air overwhelming his senses as his knees began to buckle and by sheer will he forced himself to stay upright, every aspect of his body fighting the poisonous feeling to collapse to the ground. "Failure is not an option. If I don't make it to Ichigo then that hollow could kill dozens of people. Rukia put her trust in me. I won't let that gift go to waste."
There was a slight creak as the door before Makoto opened to reveal Yuzu. "Oh, Makoto," she said, slightly shocked by his reappearance. "You know my dad said you didn't—"
"Where's Ichigo?" his voice came out in pants as he grasped the doorframe trying to steady himself.
"He's upstairs in his room. I can—" she was cut off once more.
"Thanks Yuzu," Makoto said, pushing by her and shakily making his way down the hall. "I need to talk to him about something."
"O–okay," she replied uneasily as she watched him stumble down the hall to the stairs. Using the walls and stair rail liberally to keep him upright, Makoto made his way up the stairs feeling the air grow heavier all around him, but he refused to quit now.
"Ichigo!" Makoto yelled out crashing into the wall opposite the stairs, before pushing himself off it and continuing down the hallway. "Ichigo!" his voice growing more and more urgent as he approached a door with a small wooden plaque engraved with the number 15.
"Ichigo!" Makoto yelled, shoving the door open to see the face of his orange haired compatriot. Standing just beyond a wall that held his closet.
"Makoto," he said, slightly stunned by his friend's sudden appearance. "What's going on? Is everything okay?"
"No…Ichigo," Makoto panted, as he leaned against the doorframe with sweat dripping down his face. "Everything…is not—" He never got to finish his sentence as he was overcome by the incredible urge to puke. It was here, the taste of death filled his mouth as he tried to speak but no words came out, every inch of his body screaming as it started to fail the only thing keeping him upright, being the doorframe and his iron will.
"No!" he thought, "Not now! I can't fail!" His vision began to darken, and he felt like he was about to hurl but he refused to quit now, he had to make it. He could collapse after, he could die without anyone caring but he had to do this. But now, right now, he was given a job, a purpose to continue, a reason to fight.
He didn't belong in this world, he knew that, it was abundantly clear in every step he took. But he still took those steps, he still struggled with himself every step of the way. Life wasn't measured in the grand things you did while everyone was watching, but the everyday small stoic actions you do when no one is. He learned that from his previous life, he wrestled with it everyday as he watched the world take off around him while he stood still. Aging yet never moving, breathing but never living.
His mind flashed back to those days once more, the days of sickness when even the simple act of standing was strength, the days when he had to teach himself to walk once more because he had been so dizzy that to stand meant fall. Those were the days he had learned true strength, not some cheesy cartoon strength where you can beat up the most bad guys, but the true form that people once deemed but had long forgot. To breathe was strength. To move was strength. To listen, to laugh, to cry these were strength. To LIVE was strength. Those days of suffering he once thought of as motionless had given him new life, even if it would be stripped away only a few years later. But now he had a second chance, and if he needed to be strong he would put every ounce of this life into it if it meant that someone else might be spared. So he summoned every last bit of strength he had left and shoved his gloved hand forward into Ichigo's head right as a giant red hand reached through the wall in an attempt to capture the orange haired boy.
Makoto fell to the floor atop Ichigo's body while Ichigo jumped into action, brandishing his giant sword above his head and slashing down on the hollow's arm which caused it to recoil, screaming in pain, shattering his wooden bedframe under its weight. "What the heck is going on?!" he yelled at the collapsed Makoto, who watched from the floor motionless with unfocused eyes.
"Head…remember…head," he mumbled out, barely conscious as he watched the blurry shapes of Ichigo and the hollow clash before him. "Destroy…Mask…" The hollow seemed to understand Makoto's words and lunged towards him only to be blocked by Ichigo once more as he slashed the hollow massive hands, once more causing it to recoil blood dripping from the wound now present there.
"This is not over," Ichigo replied before charging at the hollow once more, jumping into the and swinging his sword in a downward arc atop its head. However the hollow was ready for it and caught the blade before it could slash through forcing it back, but Ichigo would not be deterred so easily. He used the weight of his body and inched the blade closer to the hollow's head, nicking the mask in the process.
Then like a chain reaction everything began to fall apart. The right half of the mask fell to pieces revealing not a monstrous distortion but a human face! Even more unbelievable to Makoto the heavy air that had been plaguing him for the past few minutes seemed to release as the masked creature screamed out, the terrifying roar mixing with the distorted scream as what he once thought was a hollow flailed about.
"Hang on," Ichigo said in disbelief as he watched the Hollow retreat through the black dimensional portal it had come through leaving the two boys together in silence as they tried to piece together their broken minds from the encounter they had only barely survived.
"Was…that…a human face," Makoto said as he sat himself up against the wall, gasping for the now lighter air that surrounded him.
"It wasn't just any person," Ichigo said, turning around to reveal a thoroughly disturbed face. "That face of Orihime's dead brother!" Makoto's breath hitched as he remembered earlier that day when they met Orihime at the park and just like that everything seemed to fit together perfectly.
The reason he could feel the approach of the hollow despite never seeing it, why he could sense it hunting him despite not knowing where it even was. The Hollows thrive on darkness and shadows, attacking and devouring the helpless people that have no chance of defending themselves. Rukia said before that he had let his reiatsu spike at one point before and while that hollow was killed that didn't mean that anything different happened in the other attacks. Not only that there was an attack earlier that day! In that attack he had thought a soul reaper had come and slain the hollow but now he knew the truth, what he felt earlier was this exact same hollow after its mask had been shattered! And if in the process of trying to warn Ichigo and Rukia, Makoto had raised his reiatsu even just temporarily that Hollow could have picked up on it! It then knew not only a tasty soul existed but what its reiatsu felt like allowing it to lie waiting in the shadows for the perfect time to strike!
"It was after me…" Makoto said breathily, bringing a shaking hand to his head as his nervous system hadn't entirely recovered from the hollow's presence quite yet.
"What do you mean it was after you?!" Ichigo exclaimed, his eyes wide with horror as he stared at his exhausted friend, cut short by another voice calling to them.
"What is going on in there?!" Karin's voice said as they heard her quiet footsteps coming down the hallway.
"No time," Makoto said, jerking his head towards Ichigo's lifeless corpse. "Get in quick!"
Ichigo glared at Makoto, his eyes holding that 'you are not getting away from this' as he complied quickly returning to his body just as Karin rounded the corner and looked into the room. "Tsukiyo, why are you here? And what the heck are you two doing that's causing all that ruckus?!" Her eyes scanned the room, finally falling upon Ichigo's broken bedframe. "How did that happen?!"
"Do you want the real story or the fake one?" Makoto said jokingly which caused Ichigo to give a sideways glare to the back of his head and while he unfortunately didn't have eyes back there he could still feel the ferocity of his gaze.
Karin answered simply. "The fake one," Both Ichigo and Makoto turned to her with shock, causing her to scoff. "Whenever people tell you to give them the real story you always give them something made up, and I would rather skip the theatrics."
Makoto smirked at that. If only she knew. "The fake story is that Ichigo thought I was your dad when I came barging in yelling his name. Next thing I know I'm being knocked into next week and he ended up breaking the bed in the process," he said heavily emphasizing the word fake.
Ichigo stared at him, his mouth wide open face turning slightly red at the accusation. If Makoto could move he would have smacked the look off his face for breaking the alibi but Karin didn't seem to notice and surprisingly bought it with little to no explanation beyond that, however someone else showed up and Makoto couldn't help but sigh at his appearance.
"Makoto," Mr. Kurosaki said, appearing behind his daughter with a goofy smile on his face. "How are you doing? Is your girlfriend doing better?" This earned him an elbow to the gut courtesy of Karin.
"Let the guy rest," she said curtly before she disappeared from the doorway and down the hall. "He was just on the receiving end of one of Ichigo's attacks that was meant for you."
"Actually that's the reason I came back," Makoto said as he turned to face his friend. "I haven't had the time to set up Rukia's room yet and I was hoping that you could help me get it ready, Ichigo. It's not exactly easy moving a bed all by yourself and in her state I don't want to ask Rukia to do anything. I realize now though you are probably exhausted and since it past curfew your dad probably doesn't want you out now. I'm sorry for bothering you all again tonight, I should be able to manage on my own."
This story moved Mr. Kurosaki to tears. Throwing his arms around Makoto he bawled out, "Such an honorable man! Thinking of his bride's happiness and feelings. Ichigo, I order you to return with Makoto to his house and not come back until he is satisfied with the look of Rukia's room."
Ichigo's jaw dropped right to the floor. "He believed that?!" he screamed internally. Ichigo had no idea what Makoto was planning but he couldn't believe his father had fallen for such a trick as that! He turned to look at Makoto whose smirk told the whole story. "He knew he would believe it. That's why he said it!"
Ichigo sighed. "Fine. But only because I have nothing better to do."
"That's the spirit, Ichigo," Mr. Kurosaki said walking over and putting an arm around his son's shoulders before whispering a little bit louder than he probably intended to but at this point neither of them would be surprised if he was doing it on purpose. "Oh and make sure to bring the girl over sometime too."
"Shut up!" Ichigo yelled as he gave his father another hit to the gut, laying him out flat. "It's not like that and on top of it I'm only doing this because you told me to go."
"And if we don't hurry Rukia will notice I'm gone so we need to get going," Makoto said, finally able to stand up.
They suddenly heard a frantic knocking on the door downstairs followed by Yuzu's shocked gasp. Makoto chuckled nervously, "And that would be the Reaper coming for me. It appears my day's reckoning has arrived. Wish me luck." With that he gave Mr. Kurosaki a lazy salute before exiting the room with Ichigo following close behind.
Mr. Kurosaki watched the two boys walk down the stairs with Karin popping out of her room down the hall. "Where are they going?"
"To make mistakes," Karin scoffed, walking over to the stairs and making her way down.
"Somehow I severely doubt that is where they are going," she replied, "I'd sooner believe Makoto's crazy stories than anything that you think is going to happen to the two of them."
Meanwhile the boys had just made their way downstairs to meet a distressed Rukia asking Yuzu where Makoto was and if he was alright. "I promise Rukia-chan, I just saw him go upstairs. See, here he comes now."
"Hey stranger," Makoto said nonchalantly to which Rukia scowled back at him.
"Don't you hey m!" she yelled back, "You ran off leaving me scared to death about what had happened to you! Don't ever do that again!" Makoto chuckled nervously. He had really underestimated her acting ability earlier, she was acting perfectly and he hadn't even told her to follow him but she still did it anyways.
"I'm sorry," Makoto said, putting on his best gentle smile, "I know you don't like it when I leave you alone, especially when you were already in a fragile state but I was just coming to get Ichigo's help so that we could move the furniture into your room. Now come on, there are a few things that I need to ask you regarding that very subject."
He quickly slung his arm around Rukia pulling her back in the direction of his house talking about various things until they were finally out of earshot of the Kurosaki's house. When he judged that they were at an appropriate distance, Ichigo spoke up. "Alright you two you better start talking! Why was that thing chasing you Makoto? And why did it have the face of Orihime's dead brother?!"
"What do you mean it was chasing Makoto?!" Rukia said, turning from Ichigo to Makoto, her gaze full of worry.
"We can talk about that later," Makoto said sternly as he turned his own gaze to Rukia. It was calm and comforting yet ferocious at the same time. He had to ask, it was now or never. "What's more important is the fact that Hollow had the face of a human, and Orhime's brother nonetheless. What do you know about it? I know you know something."
Rukia stiffened. Makoto hated when he had to confront people but if Rukia knew something about these Hollows that could give them the edge then they needed to take it. He breathed deeply before continuing calmly. "Ichigo managed to crack the mask of the Hollow back there but it escaped and I'm willing to bet that won't stop it from regenerating and coming back to attack us, right? Earlier when I collapsed due to a hollow I thought that another soul reaper defeated it, but I was wrong, it was that hollow that just came when its mask was shattered."
"What?!" Rukia exclaimed, but Makoto silenced her before she could continue.
"Back in the park you asked us if Orihime had any family, and now a hollow shows up with the face of her brother," His eyes remained steeled as he spoke to her, but deep in his chocolate brown orbs there was not a look of betrayal but trust and he continued speaking to her. "If you know anything about why this is the case please do. If you don't tell us everything we can't do anything to help you."
Rukia turned her eyes downwards, her face covered with shame and sorrow. She took a deep breath before steeling herself and turning back to the boys. "Hollows were at one point the souls of humans who were either devoured by other hollows or transformed into them because of the lingering regrets they had in life."
"Wait but the way you talked about them earlier made them sound like they were monsters," Ichigo started, only to be cut off by Rukia.
"They are just monsters now," she replied angrily, her eyes turning towards him. "Once a soul undergoes hollowification it loses all sense of humanity and fights for the sole purpose of feasting on more and more souls."
"Meaning that it is no more than a mindless beast that delights in the hunt," Makoto replied somberly as he looked down, which Rukia confirmed with a slight nod. What followed was a short silence in which the weight of the situation finally began to set in. It was Rukia who finally broke the silence.
"Come on, we need to get going," she said, turning to walk down the street but Makoto stopped her by grabbing her hand.
"Go where? I still can't sense the hollow's presence, meaning its mask probably still hasn't regenerated fully yet, and we have no idea where it will reenter Karakura from. Running around like headless chickens is only going to make us worse off."
"That's where you are wrong," Rukia replied, her face sten but the tips of her mouth twisted up in a small smile. "It will most likely head for Orihime Inoue's house."
"What?!" the two boys screamed in unison.
"Hollows don't only attack those with strong souls," Rukia began to explain, "In fact the first ones they tend to go after are usually their own family."
The boys paled at this statement. "Why would they do that?!" Ichigo exclaimed.
"To reestablish some faint form of connection or as an ultimate form of vengeance," Makoto stated hollowly as he stared at the ground. "They go after close friends and family because of the bonds they shared. As a Hollow they want to reestablish some faint sense of familiarity or happiness in a cruel and dark world, however that love turns into a kind of poison to the point if they are going to feel so miserable that they only wish to make them suffer just as much as they do."
"We can't let that happen," Ichigo says as he too begins to walk off.
"Wait Ichigo," Makoto cries, stopping him in his tracks. "We can't rush into this with reckless abandon. If we charge over there before you become a soul reaper then we risk your body being injured in the fight."
"Are you saying we do nothing?!" Ichigo yells at him.
Makoto turned to Rukia and tossed her a set of keys and the glove. "Take Ichigo back to my place and transform him. His body will be safe there."
"Where are you going?" Rukia asked Makoto, with a skeptical gaze.
"I'm heading to Orihime's apartment to protect her until you get there," Makoto replied and would have continued had Rukia not interrupted him in outrage.
"Are you stupid?! If the Hollow comes you're as useful as a fish out of water!" She yelled back, shoving the glove and keys back into his hands. "I'll get Orihime out of there while you take Ichigo to your house."
"No!" Makoto yelled, shocking both Ichigo and Rukia as he lost his composure. "I am not going to be left behind, hoping and praying that the two of you are alright while I slowly succumb to the Hollow's reiatsu in my house babysitting Ichigo's corpse! I might not have Ichigo's powers or your knowledge but I'm not going to stand by and watch as you guys go running to your own deaths! And if I'm right in thinking that hollow was hunting me earlier then I'll be a better secondary target than you."
Rukia looked at the brunet boy, his face dead serious, but she did not back down. "The second that hollow enters this world you'll be paralyzed and unable to flee or fight back. You'll die if we aren't able to get there in time."
"Then it's a good thing I trust you guys with my life," he said softly as he pressed the items into Rukia's chest before taking a couple steps back. "Just think of this as extra training for when we return to school." He then turned to Ichigo and stated, "Take care of her."
Then he gave a small smile before dashing off down the street once more, leaving a silent Ichigo and a furious Rukia. "That idiot!" Rukia exclaimed as she grabbed Ichigo's hand and started dragging him in the opposite direction toward Makoto's house. "Come on Ichigo! We have to get going before he gets himself killed."
"Rukia," Ichigo said, "When did you and Makoto get so close?"
"What are you talking about?" Rukia replied, tartly as she continued running down the street.
"I'll admit I know next to nothing about him but the two of you seem unnaturally close for people who only just met each other two days ago." Ichigo said. "Hell! You were crying on his shoulder at my house! What more evidence do I need?!"
"What, are you jealous?" Rukia smirked at him.
"In your dreams!" he yelled back, "I'm just saying, of the little I know about Makoto, he isn't exactly the person who makes friends easily."
"Stop asking questions and keep running!" Rukia yelled back, but as they ran she was thinking about the words that Ichigo had just said.
Makoto raced through the streets towards Orihime's apartment. Thank God he chose to walk home with Tatsuki and Orihime one day, much to Tatsuki's dismay and annoyance at the time he might add, as it is the only reason why he even knew where she lived right now.
"I have to hurry," Makoto thought to himself. "I can feel the Hollow's presence slowly starting to resurface. Man that mask regenerates quickly. But I guess I was arguing with Rukia for a while so I shouldn't be surprised. I'm almost there. Please don't let me be late."
He turned a corner, then ran a little further before arriving at an apartment complex. He quickly found out which room was Orihime's and raced up the stairs to the door only stopping to breathe after he had knocked on the door, but the person who answered it was not the one he expected.
"Tsukiyo-san?!"
"Arisawa-san?!" Makoto gasped out, still trying to regain his breath from the long run to get here. "What are you…doing here?"
Tatsuki's face hardened in anger, "What am I doing here? What are you doing here?! I hang out with Orihime all the time! You are the one who is out of place!"
Makoto opened his mouth to retort only to realize she had a point. "Fair point," he panted as he straightened up.
"Oh it's Tsukiyo-san," the kind voice of Orihime said from behind her friend. "What brings you here at this hour?"
Makoto thought quickly of how to phrase this in a way that wouldn't result in his face being beaten in by the tomboy in front of him. "I heard that something really dangerous was going to happen in the neighborhood soon and came to get Inoue-san out of here."
Orihime's face shifted to one of worry as she looked at Tatsuki who still was not convinced. "Where's Rukia? If you were worried about Orihime then why wouldn't she be with you."
Makoto winced. What is she on about why does it matter where Rukia is? "There is no time to explain and you wouldn't believe me if I did anyways," he said, grabbing Tatsuki's hand trying to pull her out the door. "Now come on we have to get out of here quickly before—"
"We aren't going anywhere!" Tatsuki yelled as she snatched her hand back from Makoto. "Now you better start explaining yourself or I am going to knock you into next week because this looks an awful lot like you are trying to take advantage of us."
"What?!" Makoto exclaimed in utter shock, "What kind of person do you think I am, Tatsuki?! I have a girlfriend!"
"You tell me," she replied, crossing her arms in front of her.
"I'm not some—no, we don't have time for this let's—"
Suddenly Makoto was overcome by an overwhelming presence once more. It was too late, the hollow was coming!