Insanity of Betrayal

why did you forget?

Ichigo's head shot up. "It does?"

Shirogo nodded. "Be warned, everyone present will see them."

"I'd like to see my memories, Shirogo." Ichigo said on a deadly voice. Everyone shuddered at his dark tone.

Shirogo nodded, then they were swept up in a stream of memories.

Rukia had been captured, and Ichigo trained everyday for a month, from dawn until dusk, trying to master his power.

He fought against anyone and everyone who got in his way.

His heart filled with warmth, setting Rukia safe and sound.

Then he discovered his Hollow powers. He spent most of his time in his room, barely finding a will to live.

The Vizards came. They helped him find a reason to fight for. He trained to conquer his Hollow, so he would never hurt any of his friends.

He practiced and trained, but he still felt uneasy- like the hollow was simply biding its time until he was weak and vulnerable.

He made the decision.

"...I'm a danger to everyone around me. At least in Hueco Mundo, the only thing I'll be able to hurt is myself and the Hollows. So I'm going to stay there until I have mastered my abilities." He told Urahara.

He planned to stage his death once they got Orihime back. Convince his friends that he was gone so they would leave without him.

Then he would train. And he wouldn't return until he had no doubt that he was in complete control.

But things never go the way you plan.

He used his hollow mask to convince Nel and her friends to help them, but in doing so, his comrades caught on.

He tried to stay optimistic, but it was hard with the glaring judgmental eyes that watched his every moves.

He thought he could endure the hateful gazes, and the constant guarded expressions on their faces.

But he was wrong.

"I'm sure we'd all like to know what we're getting into-" Uryu said, his eyes filled with disgust.

It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

In a second of fury, he snapped, refusing to listen any more to what they had to say.

He turned and ran to the front, where he wouldn't be judged for being a monster.

But he could still hear what his so called 'friends' had to say.

"We don't know what side effects this could include! He could turn into a hollow in the middle of the night and eat us in our sleep." came the voices. Even when he prepared himself for rejection, it stabbed through him like a dull knife, leaving a torn and bruised heart behind.

Others agreeing with Uryu crushed him, beyond repair.

But he couldn't help but pray that it was just the shock of the reveal that had them acting that way.

When they fell down into the Menos Forest, it only shattered him more.

"Whatever 'ability' he has will help him blend in with the rest of the hollows... He's probably already started searching for an exit without us, anyways... we'll run into him eventually... he can take care of himself... we need to focus on getting out of here first... if we go off to find him, we'll just get lost, and then we'll never escape!"

The echo of their words rang in his mind, his entire being drained of all emotion, leaving just the dull ache of a broken friendship.

Surely, nothing would be worse than this.

Again, fate and karma laughed in his face when Nel woke up.

"Where...are we...? Where's ... Nel's friends...?" she asked, causing his heart to shatter into unfixable pieces.

He couldn't bring himself to tell her that their friends had abandoned them.

"We fell down the hole, and got seperated," Ichigo said, flinching guiltily at the white lie. "Don't worry, we'll find them... eventually. Until then, let's focus on getting stronger so we can get out of here."

The child swallowed the lie, falling asleep in Ichigo's arms.

I swear, he vowed. Nel will never have to know the feeling of being abandoned by the ones she trusted. I will never betray her.

Unlike them.

They left, Ichigo's resolve to defeat his inner hollow stronger than ever before. His anger filled him, fueling him through weeks of no rest.

Until finally, at long last, his Hollow submitted.

"I will serve you, King." Shirogo said. "You have earned my respect."

Ichigo nodded. "I need you to do a task for me. Open a Garganta to Urahara Kisuke's shop. I need to get something from him."

After a few tries, they were back in the real world.

"Yo, Kisuke," Ichigo called to the Shinigami.

"I need something from you. Can you make me a memory wiper?"

Urahara looked at him curiously. "Of course, I gave a great selection of models-"

"No, I need it to have some... Special features."

"Oh?"

"First, I want to be able to choose what the rewrite memory will be. And second, I want it to be able to show the erased memories."

Kisuke thought. "An interesting request, Ichigo. Very well, I will create this device for you. Now don't come back until you get Inoue."

Ichigo agreed. He and Nel trained for weeks, destroying hollow after hollow after hollow, until they became known throughout the realm as the Hollow Hunters, or, more simply, the Hunters.

When they were ready, they stormed Las Noches, killing everything in sight without basing an eye. Countless arrancar fell to their bloodied blades, and they even felled an Espada.

The two hasn't realised how much they had strayed from their morals until Nel pointed out the presence of their ex comrades in the cells below them.

When he heard, he as gleeful.

He wanted them to suffer, as the had made him suffer. He wanted them to die in pain and agony- something sure to happen in Aizen's dungeons.

"Should I get them?" Nel asked. "I'll be quick."

"No." Ichigo said sharply. It was than when he realized his low he had sunk. To wish pain and death on an old friend?

Guilt filled him.

"I'll send Shirogo, it'll be faster." he said, summoning his clone and sending him to get them.

When he saw them at the rondevu point, his blood boiled. It took all his self control not to attack them, whether with words or his sword.

Ichigo sent than through the portal, back to their home.

Their home.

His heart sunk at the thought. He didn't even consider the human world home any more.

He waited for Shirogo to return.

When the clone returned, and with the memory stick no less, he wiped his memories, choosing to leave his mind blank like a slate, leaving only the desire to wipe out the hollows, and Aizen.

After, Nel followed Ichigo, wiping her own memories as well.