"How?" Rukia thought as she watched the scene unfold. "It happened so fast I thought my eyes were deceiving me but that wasn't the case. Right as the Hollow was about to gut him Makoto moved to the side and with only one hand cut off the Hollow's! But how is that possible?! Not more than a minute ago he was struggling to even form sentences and now, he is standing up with severe injuries and fighting off a Hollow while wielding Ichigo's sword with only one hand! How is that even possible?!"
The Hollow screamed and writhed in pain as it whipped its massive tail which Makoto quickly jumped back from landing right next to Ichigo. "Makoto, when the hell did you learn to fight?!" The brown haired boy turned to his friend, his face completely devoid of emotion as he examined Ichigo.
"Do I know you?" He asked simply in the most deadpan and emotionless way possible, which shocked Ichigo.
"What kind of joke is that?!" Ichigo yelled back, veins popping out of his head. "We see each other literally everyday at school! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
"I don't remember seeing your face before," Makoto replied as he looked at Ichigo with hollow eyes. "But then again I can't even remember what my name is so I suppose it is a possibility that we have met before and I just can't remember. It might explain why I feel like I've seen the look on that girl's face up there."
"You can't remember Rukia or Orhime either?" Ichigo asked as the blood started to drip down his forehead, to which Makoto gave him a slight sideways glance before facing the hollow once more.
"Should those names be ringing a bell?" He replied, his voice still lifeless and devoid of emotion.
Ichigo sat there stunned as he looked at his friend. This was not the same cheerful and happy friend he had come to know. He felt cold and distant, his once positive and hopeful demeanor replaced by lifeless emotion and what looked to be a sheer and unrelenting rage burned in his eyes so strong that all the waters in the oceans would not even be enough to extinguish the flames that burned within his soul right now. It was a terrifying thing to look upon as if the kind and caring friend that Ichigo once knew had transformed into nothing more than a terrible beast that even nature itself seemed to bow down before.
Makoto turned his eyes from the orange haired boy to the two girls watching from above. "Rukia and Orihime," he thought, "Why do those names sound familiar, especially when I can't even remember my own. What was that word these people kept repeating when they talked to me? Mukeino? Morleno?"
"Makoto," a voice inside his head echoed, causing him to freeze, dropping the giant zanpakuto in his hand. He felt his heart rate quicken as pain spasmed through his entire body once more. His arm burned with a new pain as he felt his bruised ribs ache worse than before. His head swam as he collapsed to his knees in a bout of extreme dizziness as memories flooded back into his head.
A calendar with the first day of school written upon it, the translucent figure of a young, pigtailed girl, rain and blood soaked hands under a cloudy sky, the face of a bloody and black haired Soul reaper in a white haori coat. An orange haired boy, a black haired girl with a strand of her bangs falling between her eyes, more and more faces flashed through his mind to the point where his stomach could barely take it. His hand came to his mouth as he began to cough up blood and bile.
"What's going on?!" Makoto thought to himself, his eyes shaking as he struggled to maintain consciousness. "What is happening to me?! What are these thoughts filling my head?!"
"Remember!" the deep voice echoed through his head once more, "Remember who you are! Do not forget now. Never forget again! Do not survive! Live!"
"Who are you?" He thought, his entire body shaking in pain and fear. "How can I hear you?! What are you doing to me?!"
"It matters not who we are but who you are," came a second voice in his mind, just as commanding as the first. "Tell me, who are you?!"
"I…I…I can't remember!" His thoughts raced as he worked to piece together whatever these fragments of times were, however he could tell they were not all his own.
"Search!" The first voice commanded his voice, calling to mind a dormant thought. A broken school, an overgrown city, rooms containing sleeping bags and desks. And not too far away a small room with a fire in the center, a shattered window along the wall with broken glass all beneath it and right next to the fire lay a great grey wolf, its deep brown eyes staring back at him. "Do you remember?" it asked.
"It's you," Makoto thought as he stared back and the wolf nodded solemnly as Makoto felt the ground begin to shake beneath his feet.
"You must remember," the wolf spoke firmly to him. "Remember! What is your name!"
"I—I don't know! I can't think! I'm afraid! Please make it stop!" Makoto thought, collapsing to the ground held up by his left hand as blood dripped from his lips. His head was spinning, his stomach in knots while his chest and arm ached. Pain was everywhere, it surrounded him and permeated through his entire soul as he felt his vision slowly darken.
"Only you can stop this," the second voice said. "Where was that courage from earlier? The unmatched strength and will that was willing to do and sacrifice anything if it meant protecting those you hold dear?!"
"What courage are you talking about?" Makoto thought, "I'm not brave! And what unparalleled strength could I have? Ichigo is the one who is special, not me!"
"So you remember his name?" Visions flashed through Makoto's head once more, all of them of the same orange haired boy in various stages of life from baby to teenager. Wait! This is the same boy from earlier that talked as if he knew him!
"Ichigo," Makoto mumbled out incoherently as memories flashed through his head once more, faces he had seen before that now escaped him. A wimpy brunet boy and a cheerful yet reserved black haired boy, a gentle giant and a fiery but passionate tomboy, an airheaded girl who deeply cared for the people around her.
Then there was her, a raven haired girl in all black clothes. Her eyes, as beautiful as the northern borealis as it crosses the dark blue sky shifting to a beautiful violet hue right in front of you, her face soft one second then stern the next, one second smiling the next sobbing. The sight made Makoto tear up himself as his memories slowed growing closer and more vivid in detail.
"Rukia," Makoto said, not knowing where the name came from as his vision grew darker.
The second voice spoke once more. "So you remember her name too. Tell me why do you wish to remember?" Makoto remained silent, his vision nothing but a black void as he floated there wondering how he came to this place. Just like that blue lightning split the sky, and he found himself staring into a pair of electric blue eyes that seemed to glow just like the lightning.
"I see," the voice said as the eyes seemed to react along. "So that is your wish?"
"What are you talking about? What wish?" Makoto thought, though it seemed to be voiced aloud despite his lips remaining still.
"The wish that lies deep in your heart," the voice returned as his eyes glowed brighter than before. "It is the unspoken truth that no matter how much you try you cannot escape it, the wish that your voice might hide but you secretly yearn for and are willing to sacrifice if it means you can still keep that dream alive, even if it is that dream itself that is sacrificed in the end."
"That's impossible! No being can read the hearts of another perfectly, that is a power only a god could have!"
"You will learn in time, but that time is not now," the words were thoughtful yet mysterious at the same time. Makoto knew the being that was speaking to him was not some divine entity but he knew it was certainly not natural. What kind of creature in Bleach, monster or otherwise, had the power to read minds?! Damn him for hating spoilers! Wait, Bleach? Spoilers?! What were these thoughts he was thinking now?!
"Remember! Who are you?! What is your name?!" It came like a bolt of lightning, a realization he had been holding back out of some kind of fear. A fear that if he said it his greatest nightmares would come true. A name that he now called his own despite not believing it to be his own. And that name was…
"Makoto Tsukiyo," the boy thought, his eyes filled with conviction as he stared back.
The blue eyes he stared at bobbed slightly as if the head attached to them was nodding as the voice of the creature gave a small hum of understanding. Lightning flashed across his vision illuminating the outline of the creature before him for an instant to be a great canine but before he could study it more it was gone as Makoto found himself standing outside of a house the rain pouring down all around him the door to the place wide open. This soon changed however as the door began to close on its own as the voice echoed through his mind once more.
"Time grows short as this chapter comes to a close. But where one door closes another must eventually open and with it new memories shall inevitably be made."
"Who are you?" Makoto asked, continuing to stare at the door. "Are you the beast from the void?"
The lightning flashed and thunder echoed as the voice once more spoke into his mind. "In time you will come to learn who I am and what my purpose is but for now return from this world, you have done your part."
"But what about Rukia, Orihime, and Ichigo," Makoto argued, "Aren't they about to die?! I can't go back yet!"
"Do not fear Makoto," said a familiar voice, as he slowly turned around, as to not aggravate the pain that had started to creep back into his body, to see the wolf he met in the abandoned school the day before. "You have done enough. Rest so that when they need your strength again you can give it to them."
Makoto and the wolf stood there staring at each other, neither saying anything. Finally Makoto broke the silence. "Before I go, can you tell me why I keep having visions?"
"All will be revealed in time, my friend," the beast replied calmly as Makoto's vision began to darken as he lost consciousness once more with the wolf's haunting words echoing in his mind.
"All will be revealed in time."
Makoto's eyes refocused once more and what he saw before him was a sight he hoped he would never have to see. The monstrous hollow was lunging forward and in his jaws was Orihime.
He tried to scream but all that came from his mouth was blood as he brought his hand to his mouth. What had happened?! The wolf said everything would be fine! So why did he see Orihime in the jaws of the hollow?!
However almost as suddenly as he had returned the hollow reared back, its distorted scream filling his ears and shortly after the mask on its head shattered revealing the face of Orihime's brother. Upon that happening the thick air that had been surrounding him seemed to part as he quickly started gasping for the air he didn't know he needed and immediately regretted it as his chest started hurting all the worse for it.
But he didn't care about his own condition as Orihime quickly collapsed to the ground causing him to worry even more and almost as if right on que Rukia raced down the stairs into his view. She stopped momentarily looking at him but a slight motion of his head was all it took to get her to move over to Orihime, though she did not hold back any of her surprise by the fact that he seemed to once again know her, but she quickly nodded before kneeling next Oihime began to heal her with some green magic that came from her hands.
He then turned to face the hollow once more, his eyes burning with determination as he prepared to yell but he was quickly stopped by the look of sorrow on his face as he looked down at Orihime.
"I thought she had thrown them away," Sora said as he looked down on his injured sister. He then turned back towards him. "Thank you, Soul Reapers for trying to protect her from what I had become. I only wish that I had had the strength to do it myself."
"I'm sorry, I didn't have the strength to finish it," said Ichigo as he came up from behind Makoto. Sora quietly nodded before turning to Makoto.
"Soul Reaper," he said to him, "If I stay like this I know I will come after Orihime again. So while I still hold some element of humanity I ask you please cut me down."
Makoto kneeled there in shock as he looked up at the face of Orihime's brother. "Kill you?" he muttered out. "Why?"
"He has become a hollow," Rukia answered, looking up from healing Orihime's wounds, "Once that has happened there is no returning him to his human form."
"But…" Ichigo started only for Rukia to interrupt him once more.
"Don't worry you two. Cutting a hollow is not the same as killing them," she said, "It washes away their sins that they committed after death to prepare them to enter the Soul Society. That's why Soul Reapers exist. To save those who became Hollows through no fault of their own."
Ichigo looked at Rukia before turning to Makoto. "Is what she said true?"
Makoto looked at Ichigo before letting out a weak chuckle that eventually morphed into a cough. "It's true," he wheezed before turning back to Orihime's older brother. "However I am not a Soul Reaper nor do I have the strength to. If you want to, do it yourself."
Sora smiled and bowed his head before slithering over and picking up the giant sword that lay by his and Ichigo's sides and pointing the tip at himself.
"Wait," Orihime said as she slowly sat up and looked at her brother. "There's something I wanted to tell you." Her voice was happy but it had a shake to it as tears filled her eyes, it was clear to Makoto she had been meaning to say this for quite some time now. "Goodbye, brother. Have a nice day."
He didn't know why but Makoto felt himself smiling as he watched Orihime's brother dissolve into a million pieces. He was watching someone die, and while he had no connection to them his friends did, and yet somehow they too smiled at this sight. It was a peaceful passing, not anything he had ever seen before on shows or movies, as they all sat there watching him as he disappeared.
Bit by bit they watched as Sora's hollow body flaked away until it left only the four of them on the street as Ichigo's zanpakuto fell to the ground with a clang. For a while no one made a sound or even moved before Ichigo finally spoke.
"He's gone…"
"Yup," Orihime replied with a pop. She then turned to the two boys. "How are your wounds?"
"I'm not the one you should worry about," Ichigo said before turning to his battered friend.
"If you ask me I still think I'm doing better than you," Makoto said with a mischievous smile as he looked up at his friend. "After all, your face is all covered in blood."
"You have way more blood on your face than I do!" Ichigo yelled back. "And that's not even considering the rest of your body!"
"I'm a-okAY–AYAYAY!" Makoto screamed as he tried to pump his right arm causing pain to shoot threw not only it but the rest of his body as well.
"Real convincing," Ichigo said as he rolled his eyes.
"At least I got to check 'defenestration' off my bucket list," Makoto said through a grimace as he gently returned his right arm to the position it was before.
"Don't forget to check off the 'almost die' one while you're at it," Ichigo retorted.
"I already did the day I met you." Makoto snarked back.
"Kurosaki-kun," Orihime said, "What's going on here? Where did that outfit come from? Not that the outfit is bad, because it's not, I was just wondering what you were doing here and with such a large sword on top of that? And Tsukiyo-kun is this what you were trying to…"
KA–CHINK. A little device that looked almost like a lighter went off in Rukia's hand leaving behind a puff of smoke which quickly rendered Orihime unconscious as she fell to the ground limply.
"What the heck did you just do?!" Ichigo yelled as Rukia turned around to face him, a small duck face attached to a spring from the object bouncing around due to the movement.
"This is a Memory replacer," she replied, "Now pick her up and carry her back through there so I can return her soul to her body, while I help Makoto get back up there."
Ichigo grunted but nevertheless complied as he picked up the limp Orihime and swiftly jumped back through the hole in the wall as Rukia made her way over to Makoto.
"I can walk on my own you know," Makoto said as he tried to stand up only to immediately collapse to his knees once more grimacing in pain.
"That's what I thought," Rukia said, with a triumphant smile as she came over to Makoto's left side placing his arm over her shoulders and lifted him up to his feet.
"Give me a break Rukia," Makoto ground out as he bit back the urge to scream. "I was thrown through a second story window onto concrete below and that isn't even considering the fact I probably shattered a few ribs from when I got whipped by the snake tail."
"I can help with most of your injuries but the broken bones are unfortunately out of my control," Rukia replied.
"You don't need to apologize," Makoto said as they made their way up the stairs to Orihime's apartment. "I know if you had the ability you would do it."
"But I do," Rukia said, refusing to meet his eyes. "Ever since I showed up I have only made your life harder. This is the third time you almost died in the past two days!"
"And I'm sorry for that," Makoto responded, which caused her to stop walking and look at him. Her eyes were confused and she looked like she was about to cry.
"Are you an idiot! It's my fault for that, not your's!"
"And how many of them could you have prevented?!" Makoto replied sternly. "Back at school you didn't know how I would end up. It was my fault I didn't try harder to not make you worry and when Orihime's older brother attacked earlier it was my choice to run back to help Ichigo, and the same could be said here as well."
The two looked at each other, neither one daring to break away from the other's gaze. Finally Makoto spoke once more. "Rukia, I'm sorry that I yelled at you earlier. I was upset with myself and I took my anger out on you. The truth is I really don't know how to react to your arrival, but if I found myself reliving these past few days again, I wouldn't change a thing."
"So you would still yell at me," Rukia snarked back.
"You know what I meant!" Makoto replied in a playful tone, though he took note of the smile that had appeared on her face. "I would do everything except for that."
This made Rukia chuckle. "Wow, Ichigo is right. You really do hate yourself."
"Don't listen to him. He doesn't have a clue what he is talking about."
"I don't know. Someone who is willing to almost die three isn't exactly what I would classify as a normal outlook on life," Rukia replied with a mischievous smile.
"Yeah. Well we already established I'm not exactly normal by human standards," Makoto smirked.
"Hey can you two hurry up! Tatsuki looks like she is about to come around any second!" Ichigo yelled from a few meters ahead.
"Relax, she can't see you remember," Makoto replied.
"Yeah, but she can see you!"
That sent a chill down Makoto's spine as he looked down at his blood covered and broken body. "That is a good point. I will have to find some way to explain all of this when they wake up."
"Don't worry the memory replacer will handle that," Rukia assured him as they finally arrived at the door to Orihime's apartment and just as Ichigo had said Tatsuki had begun to stir.
"You mind letting me borrow that then," Makoto said as he took the object from her and quickly stumbled his way over to Tatsuki before falling to his knees in front of her. This caused Tatsuki to wake and lift her head.
"M–M–Makoto," she stuttered out hoarsely, her eyes filled with fear at the horrid sight of her friend, completely forgoing formality.
"Don't worry Tatsuki," he replied with a smile as he raised the memory replacer up to her face. "This will all make sense soon." With that he activated the object and the girl fell to the floor limp and unconscious.
"Well done," Rukia said as she moved over to Makoto, her hands a glow with the same green light he had seen her using on Orihime earlier. It was warm and soothing as she slowly healed the many cuts and slices from the shattered glass he had landed on.
"That feels nice," he replied through gritted teeth.
"It doesn't sound like it," Ichigo remarked from where he stood, leaning against the wall.
"That's because I also have broken bones, numbskull," Makoto jeered back. "You try breathing with a couple broken ribs. It is not exactly the most comfortable thing."
"You can say it is an excuse to get closer to Rukia," Ichigo replied with a smirk.
"Can you not make me sound like Keigo," Makoto replied, heat rushing into his face.
"What, she is supposed to be your fiance so that shouldn't be a problem for either of you," he said which only made both Makoto and Rukia blush as they proceeded to avert their eyes from each other.
"I am grateful she is taking the time to heal my wounds," Makoto said, "However much she is able to do."
"You aren't denying what I said," Ichigo remarked.
"Shut up!" They both yelled at the same time, they're faces beet red from embarrassment, which Ichigo replied with just a simple raise of his hands signaling his surrender, however the grin he had on his face only grew wider.
"He always has to make things worse for me," Makoto thought to himself as he glared at his friend. "Now I have to just sit here in awkward silence while Rukia is no doubt just as uncomfortable as I am. I wish my bones weren't broken so I could punch him. That would get that smug smile off his face."
All three of them remained silent for a long time after that, neither Makoto or Rukia daring to speak to each other after what Ichigo said who just waited for his words to sink in. Unfortunately for them, both Makoto and Rukia couldn't help that Ichigo was right and that they did enjoy each other's company.