Creeping Shadows

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Hueco Mundo

(time:unknown)

Kuroiyuki sits atop a boulder in Hueco Mundo, careful to keep her reiatsu emission to a minimum. The white scarf she's wearing flaps in the dry wind, clothes following in accordance.

She is the very portrait of danger – tall and imposing, her long, dark hair remains loose, whipping against the porcelain skin of her cheek. Her tattered clothes, barely able to cover her private parts, expose her toned stomach and the lean muscles hiding under her skin. Her tail, resembling a snake's, slides from side to side lazily, scratching against the rock.

Her eyes, however, draw the most attention. Glowing hazel irises atop black sclera are the feature she shares with her husband, but her gaze can be said to be more...intense. She's more focused than he is – the reason why the current issue is bothering her, while he's trying to argue with the Soul King. With the way things are, it seems that he's...failing.

A slight frown mars her features, a crinkle appearing between her brows.

"I don't like this," she states to no one in particular as she observes the empty surroundings. "Where are all my subjects?"

She stands and scowls. "King...what are you doing?"

A familiar presence appears in front of her.

In the blink of an eye, the Hollow King has appeared on the sandy ground below her, looking up at her with an annoyed expression on his face.

"It took you a while," she berates lightly, not moving from her spot and never releasing herself from his gaze. The look on his face tells her everything she needs to know before he can even say it. A small smile appears from her lips as she unsheathes the sword at her hip. "We're going to war, aren't we?"

"We have no choice," he answers gruffly, all while brushing ivory hair away from his eyes. "The pesky Soul Royalty refuses to allow us to have an allowance of our needs. We must fight for it. Hesitate...and we die."

She licks her lips in anticipation. "When will we attack?"

"Tonight," he replies, driving his gigantic, cleaver-like blade into the ground. His eyes flicker towards her and he sighs irritatedly. "What did I tell you about dressing appropriately?"

"I move better like this," she says, throwing her blade down with surprising accuracy, skewering itself into the ground near the King's sword so that their weapons form an 'x'. She jumps down gracefully so that they are only a few inches apart, and runs a sharp nail lightly on his exposed chest. Her tail curls around his own, the appendages entangling themselves upon each other and drawing both beings closer. "Besides...you like it, don't you?"

Abandoning any semblance of control, he roughly grabs her neck and kisses her slightly-open mouth, easily sliding his tongue inside. She doesn't hesitate when she kisses back with equal passion.

Their carefully-contained reiatsu begins to unravel once they fall roughly on the ground with her on top of him. The sand swirls around them, encasing them in a sphere. Fifty feet of sand clear away from the both of them, exposing his back to the cold ground hiding underneath that separated them from the Menos Forest.

Her fingers make angry red trails on his body, and in response, his hands tighten around her hips. They roam downwards and he slides them under her garments, easily finding her ass and squeezing it.

She jumps at the sensation and breaks away, breathless.

They look at each other for a moment, and in that small silence filled with heavy, exhausted intakes of air, something passes between them.

They might not survive this next battle.

xx

(present day)

Grunting, Rukia blocks the blade brought down above her. Its sharp edge winked at her, only a few centimetres from her face, enough so that she can practically feel it trembling against her skin, even though the tremors rocked up her arm. She doesn't know which one of them is shaking from the force they're applying against each other.

She grits her teeth and pushes her opponent back. Harribel lands a few metres away from her, blade outstretched, the sharp edge pointed towards Rukia. In response, Rukia takes the stance that Shinji taught her – blade held out, partially facing the enemy. It keeps her from taking her old stance, in which her muscles were always tense. Now, she's learnt how to breathe – to control.

Let me out. I can kill her!

Of course, control is so much more out of reach with her Hollow threatening to break out any second. Keeping the mask on in Hueco Mundo is dangerous for the both of them –

That's the point!

"Had you not insulted me," Rukia starts in an attempt to drown out Kuroiyuki, "we wouldn't've had this quarrel."

"Typical of a shinigami to be unnecessarily proud," Harribel bites back with almost as much contempt evident in her tone. "You must learn how to sacrifice that foolish pride...for humility."

A Kuchiki never backs down, right, Rukia?

They launch themselves at each other again, their swords clashing and echoing above and into the vast nothingness. A pure white blade grinds against glinting steel and it's so much more insulting that Harribel isn't even releasing her Resurrección.

As Rukia grits her teeth in annoyance, she manoeuvres her sword so that the blade is facing the Arrancar, intending to cut her. Just as she does so, however, Harribel's sword begins to resonate with yellow reiryoku, gathering from the hollow side of the blade.

She realises her mistake too late when Harribel's eyes meet hers.

The name of the attack comes as barely a whisper: "Ola Azul."

Gathering her own reiatsu, Rukia pushes herself away and uses the condensed reiatsu as a buffer – she pulled away too late, and it would be a waste of time and energy to try and shield herself from the attack at this short range.

The curved burst of destructive reiatsu comes hurtling towards her but, as she increases her own reiatsu, it comes in slow motion – enough for her to right herself and block it with her own sword before it hits.

"Do not underestimate me, taichō."

Shit, Rukia curses, skidding on air. It's a good thing they're not fighting on the ground; Rukia would have the distinct disadvantage then. Her short stature would be challenging amidst the sandy dunes of Hueco Mundo.

She won't allow years and years of training to be all for naught – that's what she decided upon coming here and that's what she'll stand for.

"Then face me as an equal!" she challenges angrily, all while trying to keep Kuroiyuki's barely-suppressed bloodlust in her own psyche. She snaps her fingers and the mask regains its form on her face, wrapping around her features. Her eyes burn and her vision blurs before everything gains a clearer quality.

She has not released her mask in this realm until now, and the power coursing through her veins is nothing like she can describe. Her cold, wound core seeps into her veins and out of her fingertips, coating her released blade with frost.

This...has certainly never happened before.

She cannot stop the mad grin on her lips behind the mask, but she immediately stifles the temptation to grab the power that's already at her core.

"As you wish," her opponent replies, holding her sword out in front of her. "Ute, Tiburon."

The ground quakes with power as Harribel is covered with water. It only lasts for a moment, because the woman is cutting her way out of this cocoon-like structure and appearing in what can be said as the most revealing Resurrección Rukia has ever seen.

But this is no longer a display. This is a battle of wills and power and pride.

Use me, Kuroiyuki whispers in her ear. Use our power. Use the bankai that you've worked so hard to achieve.

Rukia relents, but just barely. She avoids a stream of water infused with reiryoku, probably enough to have speared right through her if she hadn't moved.

She faces her opponent as she regains her footing. "Tsugi no mai, hakuren."

A blast of ice is released from her blade, but this one is bigger than anything she's done in the past, before she was exiled. She relishes the fact that, even as Harribel attempts to block it, the ice merely wraps around her. The woman has to jump upwards to avoid being swallowed by ice.

"I see...so you use ice as your weapon. However, I have battled with Histugaya-taichō...and it's safe to say that your attacks pale in comparison to his." Rukia growls at this. How dare she mock... "As I thought...you don't have the power it takes to truly become a commendable captain of the Gotei."

"You know nothing!" Rukia screams as she rises in the air so that she and Harribel are eye-to-eye, a few metres away from each other. Her voice is warped and twisted by the mask, but she can't bring herself to care anymore.

That's right, Kuroiyuki croons, taking control of her arms and legs without her even realising. Let me.

She launches herself at Harribel, sword swinging in precise arcs, an unearthly growl ripping from her throat with every attack.

"Die!" she yells at Harribel, whose face gets even more distraught with each attack she blocks. Rukia notes with grim satisfaction that this time, she is the one pushing her opponent back.

Harribel was one of the top three Espada, and once upon a time, Rukia would have died from here mere spiritual pressure. But this time...this time she was the one making the Espada sweat.

The Espada pushes her back again, and Rukia notices how much effort that seemed to take. She pauses when the woman draws her sword in front of her, huffing. "I will not be defeated by the likes of an uncultured monster like you –!"

The laugh coming from Rukia's covered mouth isn't hers.

Without her even noticing...without her consent...

Kuroiyuki has managed to take over.

A hand makes Rukia jump from her place in her inner world. She finds herself sprawled on the snow, and she stands up in a hurry, looking around wildly.

Only Shirayuki is there. Her own zanpakuto is looking at her with such sad eyes. She only says one word: "Listen."

"You piece of trash!" Kuroiyuki's words reverberate in her skull. She blinks confusedly before realising – she's not only hearing it in her head. It's absolutely everywhere, even though the origin of the sound is nowhere. "You think I'm the uncultured monster?! Ha!"

"What...?" Harribel answers – or at least, Rukia hears her answer.

"Close your eyes and concentrate, Rukia-sama," Shirayuki advises her. Wordlessly, she complies – and finds herself in the backseat of her own head. Shirayuki is gone – everything is silent, faded to black.

She can feel everything; can see and hear what Kuroiyuki can, but she can't really do anything.

Her arm raises and points the tip of her blade straight at Harribel's chest. To the woman's credit, the fear in her eyes isn't unfounded at all. Rukia knows how...devastating Kuroiyuki can be. After all, during the first time Rukia lost control, she managed to attack quite a few captains. The memory flashes through her mind, but she dismisses it in favour of paying attention to this battle.

Emotions will have to come later. Kuroiyuki seems as if she's in the verge of revealing something that even Rukia did not know – she can feel it in the way her own heart beats excitedly against her chest. Kuroiyuki is...having fun, and this is apparently just the beginning.

"This body," the Hollow says, motioning towards herself, "isn't mine. I hijacked it. Ever since it was created, ever since it entered its Soul Cycle..."

What are you saying? Rukia asks, but is completely ignored by her own Hollow.

"Let me tell you a story." Kuroiyuki lowers her arm, raises her reiatsu to levels that Rukia would have dubbed 'dangerous', and begins to saunter towards a frozen Harribel. "Once upon a time, there were two types of royalty in the world. To, you know, keep the balance; to keep the world from self-destructing. The Soul King had a Queen, and they were so damn good."

She rests the tip of the blade at Harribel's sternum. "But with that good comes evil. Hey, former Espada, I'm not sure if you've heard of me. What did you call me again...the Hollow Queen?"

Kuroiyuki? Rukia questions again, more out of shock than anything. What...?

I'm telling the truth, her counterpart answers with more authority than Rukia would have thought she had. Sit tight and listen, Queen.

"There was a big battle – which my King and I did for the likes of you, by the way, you ungrateful little skank – and...we lost." She slides the tip downwards slowly, grazing against Harribel's mocha skin, pressing enough to leave a long, shallow cut. "I took the Soul Queen down with me, but they destroyed my partner. Or at least...tried to. You see, we can't really die. We're bound to the world. Instead...we got chained. I can't even begin to explain how much of a bother that was! But here I am, bound to both the Soul Queen and Rukia-sama's soul. For all eternity, you know? And I've been waiting for so long! I've been a sleep for a good while, see..."

She raises her reiatsu to a point that Rukia would have expected both of them to explode. It sends Harribel toppling down, barely catching herself as she falls on her knees, her arms quivering in the attempt to hold herself up.

"He he, that's right. Kneel before your Queen, you stupid little shit."

She brings the blade down and an arc of liquid crimson sails through the air before her eyes.

xx

Ichigo barely arrives in time.

He can sense the evil reiatsu the moment he steps out of the Garganta, but he doesn't arrive where he wants to. He can see Rukia bring the blade down from where he's crouched on the ground, and he doesn't waste any time sulking about going back here again.

He doesn't have a moment to cover his hand with reiatsu when he arrives with shunpo right beside Harribel.

The sword cuts his hand – deep.

He doesn't yell or wince. He merely holds it there, his knuckles grazing against the nape of Harribel's neck.

"Give Rukia back," he grounds out, gathering his strength and using it to lift Rukia's blade, even as it cuts even deeper. She pulls away, and lands a few metres from him. He glances at Harribel momentarily, but the woman falls face-first into the sand, breathing lightly. She'll be fine. He turns to glare at the Hollow. "Give Rukia back to me!"

She shakes her head. The Hollow raises a hand and snaps her fingers – Rukia's way of getting rid of her mask.

But this...the face underneath it...isn't hers. His scowl worsens at the sight of the black sclera and bright purple irises.

"What's the matter, Ichigo?" it asks, voice distorted and sounding so painfully like Rukia. "Afraid you'll hurt me?"

"You're not Rukia!" he insists, drawing his blade. Without a command, it assumes its shikai form, and he silently thanks Zangetsu for that. He raises his own reiatsu to counteract hers. This much distance between them doesn't lessen the ball of disgust and hatred growing in his gut in response to its reiatsu.

"Oh," it says dejectedly, sheathing her own blade, not seeming to care that he has every intention to kill her. It doesn't even look affected by his spiritual pressure. "How can you be so sure?"

Its eyes soften drastically, all murderous intent disappearing from its features. Its lips form that adorable half-pout that Rukia makes whenever she's confused or bothered by something – the bottom lip sticking out slightly, that slight crinkling of her cute little nose.

Against his own volition, he lowers his arm.

The expression changes on its face so quickly that Ichigo barely has time to blink before her white blade is at his throat. It's smiling at him, its face so close to his.

"Too easy," it whispers against his lips. Alarmed, he raises his sword, but she's already jumped away, laughing maniacally. "For a tough guy, you ain't so tough. You're so...whipped."

"Shut up!" he retorts hotly.

"Is it the sex?" it presses on, a sly grin on its face as it hefts Rukia's sword on its shoulder, sharp side up. "It's the sex, isn't it? Hey...guess who taught her those moves?"

"I said," he growls, charging towards her. He brings his blade down, but she blocks it easily with one arm raised. "SHUT UP!"

"Ooh, temper, temper," she tells him, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth. His blade quivers against hers in the amount of power he exerts upon it, but she doesn't even budge. Instead, she grins at him. "So...is it because she's cute?"

"What the –?!"

She doesn't even turn – she just pulls her blade away, sliding it against his, and executes a perfect roundhouse kick at the same time. Her foot connects with the side of his head, and he's flying sideways before he even realises it.

He lands on the ground, and black spots start to dance around his blurry vision. He lifts a hand to feel the sticky liquid running down his cheek, and realises that his head is bleeding. He knows Rukia can kick...but hard enough to give him a concussion?

Before he can get up, however, he can feel cold steel pressing against the back of his neck. "I really don't want to have to do this to you –,"

She cuts herself off, screaming.

The blade comes away from his skin, and he stands up in alarm.

It seems that he doesn't need to, because the Hollow has dropped Rukia's sword and is screaming shrilly while holding its head in its hands.

"NO!" it yells. "NO, I WON'T LET YOU!"

He blinks. He knows that tone of voice. "Rukia!"

He skids on his knees in front of her and wraps his arms around her head. She shakes against him, shivers and convulses in his hold, whispering harshly to herself.

Had this been the situation between them when he was a teenager, he would have been scared out of his wits.

But this is his Rukia. No one can take her away, not even the parts of her soul that want to take over her body. He knows all too well how hard that is to deal with, and it took him more than a decade to get his Hollow completely placid in his mind.

"Rukia," he whispers, burying his face in her hair and saying her name like a prayer. "You can win, I know it. I trust you. I'm here."

She convulses one last time, before falling limp in his arms. Her hands fall slack beside her, and he fixes the position of his arms so that he's holding her properly, feeling her warm body against his once again.

"Let's go home," he says reassuringly – to both of them – as he stands and easily scoops her up in his arms.

He doesn't get one step forward when he feels a sharp pain against his neck – and suddenly he's falling...

He falls, but Rukia doesn't fall with him. There is never a second thud on the ground. His vision quickly darkens, but before his consciousness goes completely kaput, he hears three blurry words: "We've got her."

No...Rukia...

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A/N: I know, I know, I update so slowly, and for this measly chapter? Ugh. But it was unbelievably hard writing this chapter. I had a goal, and I had a beginning, but I didn't know what to do for the in-between. This chapter was totally pulled out of nowhere, written at random intervals and the last part finished at about 1 in the morning. If you spot a grammatical error or whatever, it's because I'm tired as all hell. I'm working on other fics and RP-ing and I'm practically ready to shoot myself because of the intense school work.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. :) I also hope you'll be patient for the next update...