Let Me Help You- 4

Ichigo had turned in Kon's arms sometime during the night and was pressed up against him. His head was tucked under the mod soul's chin and he was still deeply asleep. Kon was stroking a hand gently up and down his back, his cheek pressed to his hair. The alarm hadn't gone off yet and the dim morning light was gradually brightening the room. He was still worried and he still didn't know what to do about it. If Kon was honest with himself, last night had scared him.

While Ichigo had been struggling to get up, Kon had been able to hold him down easily. That wasn't right at all. He'd seen him take down dozens of hollows and even a Menos with less trouble than this. And while he'd been seriously injured before, he'd never seemed this run down while he was recovering. And the memory thing. There was something that wasn't right about that either.

Sighing heavily, Kon pressed his lips to Ichigo's forehead. There was only the briefest hesitation this time. It seemed to get easier to touch him, to show affection the more he held him. The quavering tickle was still there but something else was building inside him as well that he didn't quite recognize. Something that drove him to protect. He hadn't gotten much sleep that night. He'd spent the whole time holding Ichigo in his arms and trying to figure out what he was going to do.

He'd go to school today and make Ichigo promise to take it easy. And if he wasn't better by the time he got home this afternoon, he was taking him to Urahara. He'd know what to do. And Kon had to do something. He'd had a brief thought about asking Ichigo's dad but Isshin had asked him to keep an eye on his son. It made him feel like he might be letting him down if he couldn't manage to take care of him for more than a day by himself.

Ichigo stirred and made a small sound. Kon ran a hand through his hair as he watched him slowly wake. Brown eyes blinked open to look at him with a half awake expression.

"Mmnnm. Hmmm. Morning." Ichigo rolled onto his back and yawned as he stretched.

"Good morning." Kon lay relaxed and let Ichigo move without any restriction. But he was pleased that he didn't immediately pull away. Actually after a deep sigh, he moved back in and lay against him. That was a little surprising. He was almost afraid of doing something that would make him pull away so he tried to remain relatively still. "How are you feeling?"

"Tired." Ichigo's voice sounded tired and his eyes were already slipping closed again. Maybe Kon shouldn't wait until this afternoon.

"I think we need to go see that hat guy."

"No." Ichigo pushed himself up and looked down at him, his eyes clearing. His expression hardened but at the edge was something that looked like guilt. "I can't ask him for anything." They stared at each other but after a moment, Ichigo sagged a little. "I can't. . . I can't ask him for anything else. I'll be fine."

Kon opened his mouth to speak but Ichigo put a hand on his cheek. He held his gaze steadily and the mod soul found he couldn't look away.

"Please."

Looking into Ichigo's eyes, he saw a quiet desperation there. And it hurt him to see it. Kon didn't think that he could go against his wishes. At least not right now. This afternoon when he got home might be a different matter. He just hoped that he'd have the determination to do something about it. Something wasn't right with Ichigo and no matter how much he didn't want help, he might need it. But right now all he could do was sigh and nod.

"Alright."

Ichigo looked relieved as he lay back down and closed his eyes, his voice a quiet mumble. "Thank you."

By the time Kon showered and changed, Ichigo was a asleep again. He went over to the bed and pulled the blanket up to cover him. As he leaned over the bed, he couldn't quite keep himself from kissing his temple. God, what was wrong with him? Every time he looked at Ichigo, he kept wanting to do that. And now really wasn't the time. Shaking his head, he grabbed his bag and went to school. He realized almost too late that Ichigo had never looked over his homework. Kon just hoped it was right.

. . . . . . . .

"Is Ichigo alright?"

Kon blinked at Chad who was currently towering over him. He knew the larger boy probably didn't mean to corner him against the lockers like this but he was awfully damn close right now.

"H-he's okay. Just tired."

"That is highly unlikely." Ishida came forward pushed his glasses up his nose. Kon really didn't like him but he couldn't bring himself to get mad at the moment. Even past the general disdain, he seemed worried too. "Kurosaki hardly ever misses school this much unless it's for a reason. Has he gone chasing after Kuchiki again?"

"No. I told you. He's just tired." Worried or not, Kon couldn't help the surge of irritation. He was taking care of him as best he could. Why were these guys giving him such a hard time?

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Ordinarily, Kon's eyes would have been firmly plastered to Inoue's rather impressive chest as she ran up. But when she came to a stop and realized he was Kon and not Ichigo, there was a such a look of disappointment on her face. It was clouded with worry and Kon swallowed hard. He didn't like seeing her so sad.

"It's okay, he just needs a break."

Orihime bit her lip. "Do you think we could go see Ichigo after school?"

"After school? He's standing right in front of you." All four of them turned to look at Tatsuki who had come up from the other side. They tried their best not to look guilty.

"Uuuhhm. Of course." Orihime stuttered for a moment. "I just like using people's names Tatsuki-chan."

"Okaaay." Tatsuki didn't seem quite convinced. She turned to Kon. "Since when do you have people over after school?" Her eyes narrowed as she looked at him and Kon did his best to scowl back at her. But apparently she didn't seem quite convinced. "Are you okay, Ichigo? You look. . .different."

"I'm fine." Gripping his books he did his best to saunter off in a huff while trying to make it look like he wasn't running away. That was pretty damn close. He knew Tatsuki had known Ichigo since they were both really small. If anyone would be able to tell if he wasn't really Ichigo, it was her. Even if she didn't have any spiritual powers. He managed to avoid most everyone for the rest of the morning and tried his best to be evasive at lunch. What could he tell them? Ichigo was tired, he needed a break from all the stressful work. There wasn't much more to it that that. Kon didn't really want to bring up the hollow and the fact that Ichigo didn't remember fighting him but he wasn't sure why. Every time he thought about it, he'd find a reason not to.

After lunch, his own worry had grown. He was having trouble concentrating and nothing the teachers said was getting through to him. So he decided to skip the rest of his classes. Ichigo would be pissed but he couldn't help it. He needed to see how he was doing and calling home was out of the question. So when the bell rang, he slipped out the back and managed to duck out unnoticed.

As he walked down the streets, he kept struggling with himself over what he was going to do. If Ichigo wasn't better, would he have the determination to take him to Urahara anyway? Or would he fold like he had this morning? Would it only take one pitiful look from the exhausted redhead to make him back down again? He huffed a breath and didn't like the he didn't have a definitive answer for that.

His head snapped up as he felt a hollow tear its way into the human world. Hopefully that afro guy would get it. Warily, he kept walking home, his jaw clenched. He never liked the feeling a hollow gave him in the pit of his stomach. It was a quaver of such wrongness. Something steeped so deeply in death had no place in the human world and the contradiction made him a little ill.

Kon stopped in his tracks as he felt a familiar reiatsu moving to intercept the hollow. It wasn't the shinigami that was in charge of the town. It was the stupid redhead that didn't know when to take it easy. Kon took off, his legs carrying him almost faster than the eye could see. He didn't care if anyone saw him. Ichigo was in no shape to take on a hollow right now. He could barely get out of his own way.

When Kon got close enough, he could see the hollow towering over a grassy riverbank, it's sinuous body trailing down into the river. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the person it held in one of its disturbingly human looking arms. Ichigo hung limp in its grip, his head slumped forward onto his chest while the hollow stroked his hair in a gesture of mock affection. It looked up with a lazy smile on its masked face as Kon approached. There was a hint of surprise in its glowing, sunken eyes as the mod soul got closer.

"For a moment, I almost thought there were two of him." It's eyes narrowed. "But you're not him." He shifted his grip on Ichigo who looked like he was unconscious. His eyes were closed and his face was lax and Kon felt a surge of terrified anger that momentarily overrode his common sense.

"Let him go!"

"Hmnph. Why would I do that? He's the tastiest morsel I've come across in some time. Pity he didn't try to use his powers these last two days. I enjoy full meals rather than tiny snacks."

Kon wasn't sure what the hell it was talking about but he didn't care as he ran forward and attacked. It seemed amused by his actions which just pissed him off even more. He managed to land a hard kick to its midsection and there was a small grunt from the hollow.

"You pack more of a punch than I thought." Its huge tail swept out of the water and smacked Kon aside like he was hardly there. He hit the ground hard and felt the air whoosh out of his lungs. "But you're hardly worth my time." The hollow reared up with Ichigo still in its grip as the tail came down to crush him. Kon managed to roll to the side. Barely. He felt the ground shake with the impact.

Rolling up onto his feet, he leapt to attack it again. Maybe he could get it to drop Ichigo. If Kon could just get a big enough opening to grab him, he could take him and run to Urahara's. He could outrun this thing. He had to. With a twisting motion, the hollow ducked out of his way and Kon had to scramble when he hit the ground. His stumbling steps nearly took him to the water's edge.

"You're fun to play with."

"Screw you! You can't have him!" Kon was a little surprised at the possessiveness of his own words but he found that he meant them.

"Hmmm. Maybe you're the one that's been interfering. I can't have that. I might be able to salvage something of this after all." The hollow swung his tail around and caught Kon in the hip, sending him sprawling to the ground. The wind was knocked from his already taxed lungs as he tried to roll over. Something struck him across the face and everything went dark.

. . . . . . .

The first thing Kon noticed was pain. There was a horrible aching throb in his head that threatened to make it crack from the inside.

"I can't believe you did something so stupid." Ichigo's angry hiss sounded awfully close.

"Hnn-whaa?" Kon groaned and tried to pry his eyes open. Blinking painfully, he caught sight of an extremely pissed off redhead that was hovering above him. "What happened?"

"What happened? You nearly got killed is what happened. And in my body no less. What did you think you were doing?"

"Doing?" Kon levered himself up and found that he was lying on Ichigo's bed. But he didn't remember getting there. For that matter, he didn't remember anything at all after he left school. A quick glance outside showed that it was dark. He blinked at Ichigo. "What were you doing?"

"I-" Ichigo narrowed his eyes but the anger slowly faded from his face. He looked like he was confused as he sat on the edge of the bed. "I was fighting a hollow. I think." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Kon reached out and touched his cheek and Ichigo turned to him, his expression softening. He sighed softly. "Are you okay, Kon?"

"Yeah, I guess." Kon rubbed his thumb along Ichigo's cheekbone before letting his hand drop. "I don't really remember much actually."

"Well, I think I got the hollow. The next thing I know, I see you unconscious on the ground so I brought you home." Ichigo slumped on the bed. "Feels like it kicked the crap out of me."

Kon could see a few cuts and bruises but when he leaned forward, he hissed in a breath as pain bloomed along his side.

"Careful, you look like you got the crap kicked out of you too. I figured you jumped in to help and got in over your head." Ichigo frowned again, his lip curling. "I left you in there on purpose too, you jerk. Feel that for a while. Serves you right for being dumb."

"Sorry," Kon mumbled. He heard Ichigo sigh again and couldn't help but do the same. It was probably better that Ichigo didn't get back into his body right away. The combination of injuries might be pretty bad if they hit him all at once. Kon winced as something cold was pressed against his forehead. Ichigo had an ice pack in his hand and an irritated expression on his face.

"You've got a shiner growing here. Try to take better care of my body so it doesn't make me look like I'm a total sissy."

Kon smirked and reached up to hold the pack in place and was relieved to see Ichigo smile a little in return. It still didn't solve their problem, which he couldn't even remember at the moment, but they were okay. He pushed down the strange feeling of apprehension that had settled in his middle. If it was important, he'd remember it later.