Shhhhh! It was continuous, falling over every sound, everything, everyone. Shhhhhh! The hiss muffled the sights and sounds of the street around him. Shhhhhh! A constant buzz in his ears and at the edge of his vision, the lines blurred together. He gripped tighter to his mother's hand as they walked along, her umbrella shielding the two of them from the cold water. His eyes roamed the street ahead of them, nothing seeming out-of-place, before his sight fell on a young woman standing at the river's edge. She looked like she was about to—

Ichigo ran as fast as his legs would carry him, grabbing at the woman's skirt before realizing that it was not a woman at all. He wasn't even sure that it was human. He could hear his mother's voice behind him, screaming, but…then it stopped. A tug pulled him into the dark waters at his feet, and he yelled in surprise before a sharp pain cut off his air supply, and he stopped swimming. Darkness surrounded him, and suddenly he could think no more.

The boy woke up in the morning, confused and feeling strangely detached. He sat up, and the accompanying tinkle made him look down in bewilderment. A short, broken chain hung from the middle of his chest, and he pulled at it uncertainly. It hurt. He let go of the chain, looking around him for his mother. She was nowhere to be seen. He stood unsteadily, and lurched forward as he remembered the pain from the previous night. A hand went to his throat, only to find it was unscarred.

He wanted to cry. But his mother hated it when he cried, told him that boys didn't cry. So he held it in and walked, back up to the street and in the direction of his home. He was surprised no one asked him where he was going. He was surprised that his family wasn't looking for him. He arrived home, pulling at the front door and opening it, walking inside.

"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" he yelled, looking around. He walked into the kitchen, where his family sat, still and silent. "What's wrong?" he put on his best smiled and tugged at his mother's chair. "I'm home!" She didn't budge. She didn't even look at him. He looked up at his father, more confused than ever, but was met only with a horrified stare. "Dad?" Isshin set his mouth firm and turned his eyes away, not looking at his son. He turned to Yuzu and Karin, his five-year old sisters, but only Karin was looking at him, and she looked as confused as Ichigo felt. He heard her ask "Is Ichigo coming back?" Back? He was here! Right here! "HEY!" he yelled, stomping his foot on the ground. But only Karin flinched, and suddenly it hit him.

They couldn't see him. They couldn't feel him. They couldn't hear him. At least, he was certain his mother and Yuzu couldn't, Karin only seemed to sense his presence, and his father was ignoring him. He pulled at the chain again, tears running down his face, not caring that boys didn't cry. He was dead.

Kurosaki Ichigo was dead.

Xxx

So I asked many of my followers/favorite-ers of Hollow if they would like to see a Bleach fic. And here we go! This is meant to be a Halloween special, only being written until October ends (or if not over, will continue for a short time til finished) so Hollow will be put on hold for now. As I have only seen up til the season of filler, aka season nine of Bleach, some things in future chapters might not make much sense, but I will try to hold off on them til I have watched more. I want to update almost every day, or every other day for this fic, so be watching for it. That being said, the chapters will be much shorter than my usual writings. Since this is technically published on Oct. 4th, I have 3 make-up chapters to write, as I want this story to be 31 chapters total. So some days might get double updates. Please bear with me, tell me what you think, and write reviews!