Aizen and Gin walked down the long staircase. "Taichooou, where are we going?" Gin asked in his playful voice.
"We have a comrade to awaken", Aizen said simply.
"Oooh?" Gin said with surprise.
They continued down the dark staircase and came upon a door. With one smooth motion Aizen unlocked the heavy door. The metal door creaked open slowly. Gin's eyebrows arched in mock concern.
"Uh, Taichou? Are you sure we're in the right place?"
Aizen walked forward into the sliver of light. A black smoky figure solidified itself in front of Aizen.
"What do you want?" the figure snarled.
"Your master has some orders to carry out." Aizen said coolly.
The figure snorted, "My master isn't doing jack shit for your little army."
Aizen casually smacked the figure even though his hand went through his face. Gin peeked around Aizen's shoulder and saw dull orange hair trailing into the darkness. Aizen walked past the protesting figure and planted himself in front of the orange hair.
"Who's that Aizen-taichou?" Gin asked curiously.
"My secret weapon." Aizen answered with a smile.
The orange hair moved and lifted up as the owner of the orange hair stood up. A single foot stepped into the light, bare and pale. A leg followed, torn white Shihakusho clothed the leg. A rather large chest came after, large breasts constricted against the high collar of the Shihakusho, only a small starfish shaped hole on the chest showed any cleavage. Her thin arms were shaky as she hugged herself. Her haggard face, devoid of any emotion other that being frightened, scared and afraid. Her jaw lines stood out on her haggard face as her brown eyes stared blankly.
"Y-yes, Aizen-sama?" she said softly.
The smoky man watched her carefully, as if afraid that she was going to fall. Her dirty orange hair touched the ground as her knees buckled. The man rushed and caught her.
"This is your secret weapon?" Gin asked incredously, "A small frail girl who can barely stand on her own two feet?"
Aizen stepped forward and stared at the girl.
"Yes, she is the weapon that will win us a sure victory over the Soul Society."
Aizen led the way out of the cell and the girl with her companion followed. Gin lead up the back and looked behind him, the cell was covered in scratch marks. Raising an eyebrow he closed the door with a boom.
Ichigo stepped into the winter sun, squinting. He put his hand over his eyes and turned to walk down the street.
"Kurosaki-kuuun!" Orihime yelled down the street with Chad and Ishida in tow.
Ichigo waved and sped up to meet up with his friends. Together they walked the rest of the way to Karakura High School.
"IIIICHIGOOOO!" Keigo hollered down the hall, running towards Ichigo.
"Yo." Ichigo said simply, putting his arm up as Keigo ran into his buff arm.
Landing with a loud thud, Keigo didn't miss a beat as he stood up and walked with Ichigo to his class. As the group said their goodbyes, Ichigo noticed a girl sitting outside his classroom.
"Are you lost?" Ichigo asked.
The girl jumped and looked up, her eyes widened.
"Um, uh. N-no, I'm not lost, thank you", she said timidly.
Her eyes were the same warm brown as his, except her's were more, lost. Ichigo shook his head as he sat down, worrying wouldn't help him with his studies, and he had an image to uphold. He hung his book bag on the side of his desk and opened his book for math. The bell rang and his homeroom teacher, Ochi-san walked in with her book on her shoulder.
"Alright people, we've got a new student so I expect you to be nice to her."
The class started talking of the aspect of getting more females in the room.
"Come in!" Ochi-san yelled. The door slid open and Ichigo watched all the boys lean forward.
The girl walked in, her long orange hair put up in a messy ponytail. She seemed uncomfortable in her gray skirt and white dress shirt.
She pulled at the sleeves of her uniform jacket and introduced herself, "Um, my name is...uh, Kurosaki Ichima." She said quickly and put her hands up to her mouth to silence herself.
Ochi-san raised an eyebrow, "Oooh? What's your relation to Kurosaki?"
Ichima wrung her hands, "Um, I'm his cousin from...uh...Tokyo," she said slowly, "I…uh...just moved here with my older brother."
Ochi-san nodded her head and pointed to a desk in the back next to Ichigo, "You can sit back there next to Kurosaki then."
Ichima nodded and walked quickly to her new desk. She quickly pulled out the math work book and started punching out answers, leaving no time for her to talk.
It took forever for lunch break to come and when the bell rang, everyone sprung up and immediately left, chattering and talking. Ichima stood up as well, but didn't get far until Ichigo addressed her,
"Hey," she stopped and turned to look at him, only looking in his eyes for a few seconds.
"Y-yes?" she asked quietly.
"I don't remember you at all, which side of my family are you on?" Ichigo asked flatly.
"Your mother's. Masaki, she's my a-aunt." Ichima responded quickly.
Ichigo hardened his glare and walked out of the classroom.
Out on the roof he greeted his friends. "Ne, ne, Ichigo, is it true that you got a new girl in your class?" Keigo asked excitedly. Ichigo started eating his bento and around a mouthful of rice he said, "Yea, so?"
"Is she hot?"
"I guess so."
"You guess so?"
"Yea, is there a problem with that?"
"Yes, of course there is Ichigo! I asked, was she hot or
?"
Ichigo shrugged and Keigo groaned.
"Fine, I'll look for myself." Keigo said as he stood up and looked through the fence that surrounded the rooftop. He walked over to the side of the roof looking over the school entrance. Ichigo stood up and walked over to Keigo looking over, his face showing disinterest. He watched his fellow classmates' mill around, talking and eating.
"Is that her?" Keigo whispered, pointing to the orange haired girl, walking to meet someone. He had black hair and wore almost all black. His tight fitting black v-neck shirt hug snugly around his dark-jean clad hips. He wore a leather jacket despite the heat of the near summer. His shaggy black hair seemed almost, wispy. Ichigo had learned to become suspicious of anyone new in Karakura Town, especially after the two Arrancar that had invaded. He still felt sore from the battle, but not as much as before. After his "secret" training with Shinji and the Vaizards, he felt more in control of his every dangerous Hollow powers.
"What's she doing?" Keigo whispered to Ichigo, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ichigo asked.
"Look. That guy is handing her something, looks like, a bottle or something."
Ichigo leaned over and looked at Ichima, wondering what she was up to.
Ishida walked around the school, his nose buried in a book. He hadn't felt hungry, so he decided to catch up on his reading. He heard the rattle of pills in a bottle and perked his ears up. He raised his eyes ever so slightly, and saw the new student in his class, Kurosaki Ichima.
"You forgot to take your medicine this morning, Ichima. You know what'll happen if you..." The man wearing black started.
"Yes yes, I know. You don't have to remind me..." Ichima said with a sad yet annoyed voice. The man rubbed her head and walked away. Ichima tripped and the glass bottle flew. It landed and smashed into a million pieces in front of Ishida, who stopped moving. Ichima ran up saying, "Sorry, I am so sorry." She knelt down and started picking up the pieces and pills. Ishida leaned down and started helping her. He noticed a strange aura around both Ichima and the pills and swiped a pill to examine later. "Thank you." Ichima said, standing up.
"No problem." Ishida said simply. And watched Ichima walk away quickly. Ishida bowed his head and examined the pill. It was small and white, looking like an aspirin of sorts. The small white pill gave off a stifling aura, almost as if his Reiastu was being suppressed. Ishida shook his head and pocketed the pill; he would show it to Urahara later. The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch break and Ishida filed into the school with everyone else.
Urahara looked at the pill quizzically, "Where on Earth did you find this?" he asked.
"A transfer student in my class dropped a bottle filled with these" Ishida answered simply.
Urahara stroked his chin, "Hmmmm..."
"Well, do you know what it is?" Ishida asked sternly, he was getting tired of waiting around.
Urahara eyes gleamed out from under his green and white striped bucket hat, "This pill is no laughing matter," Urahara said seriously.
"What is it? And what does it do?" Ishida said calmly.
"This," Urahara said holding the pill up, "is a Soul Suppression pill. And you can guess what it does by the name; it suppresses a person's Reiatsu. For example, say a captain-like Reiatsu like Ichigo-kun wanted to remain in his Shinigami form, but didn't want his outstanding Reiastu to stand out. He would take one of these and his Reiastu would appear and be that of a simple soul. However, if the said person used these continuously, the Reiastu would build up like water behind a dam. Eventually, the dam would burst and the Reiastu pouring out would most likely kill them. The blast would be equivalent to that of a bomb, maybe bigger."
Ishida sat quietly, "Is there a way to siphon off the built up Reiastu?"
"Do you remember when Ichigo-kun first fought that Menos Grande?" Urahara asked Ishida.
"What?" Ishida said incredulously. He scratched his head, "Yea, I do. I used my Quincy bow to get rid of Kurosaki's out of control Reiatsu. But from you said about all of the built up Reiastu, there would be too much to siphon off."
"But what if we were to accelerate that process?" Urahara said behind his fan.
Ishida pondered this, "I suppose that could work. But how would we be able to accelerate it?"
Urahara stood up and walked out of the room, "C'mon, I want to show you something," he said, waving to Ishida. Ishida stood up and followed Urahara. He led Ishida through the long hallway to the training "room". Urahara stood before a cloth that was draped over a long object. In a flurry of motion Urahara flung off the cloth to reveal a machine gun.
Urahara stuck his chest out proudly, "This is the Quincy Machine Gun 2000! It fires at 3x the speed of your Quincy bow! With maximum efficiency and precision."
Ishida struck a defensive pose against the machine pointed at him, "It's not loaded is it?" He asked, eyeing the machine suspiciously.
Urahara laughed, "Of course not, why would I do such a stupid thing?"
Ishida stood back up and pushed a finger against his glasses, "So, back to the Soul Suppression pill I picked up, what should I do with the student?"
Urahara scratched his chin and eyed Ishida with a serious gaze, "Keep an eye on her for sudden Reiastu bursts, they'll probably attract Hollows, and so be careful. We don't know whether she is friend or foe, stay on your toes."
Ishida nodded and headed towards the ladder.
Ichima's eyes flew open as she lay in her bed drenched in cold sweat. She rubbed her arm and stood up. She gazed at the floor as she stood in only a t-shirt. Her hair cascaded down her back and tickled her feet. How was she supposed to cry again? He had showed her a way but she forgot again. Ichima liked to cry. It made her feel human and not so different. She remembered the first and last time she ran away, how the tears had ran down the boy's face in the rain. He had cried until she could no longer tell what were tears or rain. Warm arms hugged her and she stood still. Warm breath whispered in her ear as she turned around and hugged him back.
The man stroked her head and hummed to her. Warm tears splashed against her gray shirt as he held her. She no longer had to draw upon her own powers to summon him; he just came whenever his master needed something. Ichima took a deep breath and broke him out of his thoughts.
Ichima looked up at his broad face and gave him a small smile and laughed sadly, "I'm pathetic aren't I, Kuro."
Kuro shook his head, "No you're not, and you've just been through more than your average human."
Ichima laughed some more, "Hey, do you remember when we first met?"
"Of course I do. How could I forget that small face and bright hair."
"I'm going to do some recon." Ichima suddenly blurted.
Kuro nodded and turned into smoke and formed a black katana. Ichima grabbed it and took a Soul Candy that she had stolen from a local Shinigami. She flew out of her body and carefully laid it on the bed. She straightened her Shihakusho and jumped out of the window. She leaped from rooftop to rooftop and settled on a rooftop across from her target. He was comically arguing with his father and kicking at him. Ichima looked stoically and gauged her target's soul. He seemed to have a rather powerful Reiastu but only recently awakened. Ichima cocked her head; it was very strange that his Reiastu had grown exponentially in such a short amount of time. It was just unheard of, unless he had….
Ichima touched her chest and took a deep breath. She didn't have to worry, she was in control. Her target moved and her attention snapped back to the boy. She followed his Reiastu to room that seemed to be his bedroom. A Shinigami was waiting for him and Ichima noted the Shinigami's signature and continued observing her target who was avidly talking with the Shinigami.
The target grabbed a stuffed toy and dug out a Soul Candy. He popped it in his mouth and jumped through the open window to go on a patrol with the Shinigami. Ichima discretely followed and fell back. She always liked getting out into the Human World, so she relished the fresh air.
Kuro warned in her head, "Don't get distracted."
Ichima jumped and said sheepishly, "Don't scare me like that, jeez."
Kuro laughed in her head and Ichima sighed. Her target was still moving fast along the telephone wires using Shunpo. After a little while her target reached his destination and drew his Zanpaktuo. The huge blade gleamed under the moonlight as he slashed at the vicious Hollows. One Hollow escaped from the massacre and leaped at Ichima. She sidestepped and slashed at the small Hollow. Its cries echoed as it disintegrated into nothingness. Ichima smiled and went to sheathe Kuro when she froze. She put her hand up to her face to cover it. It was starting again.
Her breath came in heavy pants as her chest tightened. The loud buzzing began in her ears until it felt like she was being swarmed with insects. She dropped Kuro and he landed with a clang of metal. Her body felt like it was on fire and her Reiatsu spiked and dropped dramatically. She tried to force her Reiatsu to stop flowing and vomited.
Ichima felt the presence of two Shinigami coming closer and jumped down to grab Kuro. She fell, rolled to her knees and staggered. She leaned her head back and took a couple deep breaths. She was in control. She was in control.
She sighed and decided to try and use her Shunpo to the empty warehouse where Kuro and she were staying. She felt the presence of the Shinigami right as she started her Shunpo and was glad that she was able to get away safely.
She took a deep breath and collapsed on her bed, exhausted from the nearly changing. She felt Kuro's weight on the bed next to her and she looked up. His eyes were full of concern for her and her safety, that's all he ever worried about. Sometimes it was nice to have a friend but she also wanted to have her personal space. She laid down in her body and her mind started to wander as Kuro laid down next to her and immediately changed into his Zanpaktuo form to rest. As her mind wandered she began to remember Alaia. She had always been so cheerful and happy, it always had made her forget the reason why she was kept prisoner in that dreary place. She still missed her terribly even though it had been 10 years now. Ichima remembered her brown, sun-kissed skin and her wonderfully red hair that Ichima always liked to braid. Her always white Shihakusho had little starfish that Ichima counted every day. She always had exactly 17 starfish on her uniform.
"Ichima?" asked Kuro tentatively, "Did you take your medicine today?"
Ichima groaned as she remembered, "No, I didn't take it today. That's why I'm like this right now, I'll be fine in a few minutes."
Ichima jumped as Kuro slammed his fist on the wall. He breathed heavily and stared at her, his eyes full of pain. He knew what these transformations did to Ichima's psyche, it completely destroyed her for months. "You know what Aizen said if you had another one of these. You can't do this, you have to stay in control of this. Please." Kuro pleaded.
Ichima sat up and looked Kuro in the eyes and said calmly, "It's getting stronger and it wants out. It's going to come out eventually," Ichima smiled sadly, "and when it does it's going to kill me."
The words hung in the air like a dark cloud. Kuro looked down in disgust at his own weakness and transformed into his Zanpaktuo form, signaling that the conversation was over.