Hello everybody! This is the second part of It Will Never Be The Same. Hope you like it!
Chapter 2
Before long, they were in the sky above Karakura town. It was a perfect cloudless day, the sun shining brightly.
Grimmjow growled. "Let's get this over with."
The garganta closed behind them as the trio floated down lower. Ichigo sensed many spiritual pressures, many of them seeming familiar.
"Let's split up." Kyo suddenly said. "We might find the hollow better that way."
"And make sure you don't kill it." Grimmjow said to the albino as they leaped away, leaving Ichigo alone.
Ichigo floated down even lower, landing on one of the rooftops. He was trying to feel out the hollow's spiritual pressure but he kept on getting distracted. One of the spiritual pressures he was feeling was too familiar that it was bothering him. He decided to go to it.
Leaping across the rooftops using sonido, Ichigo tracked down the spiritual pressure. A perk of becoming an arrancar also meant that he became much better at finding and tracking pressures.
Ichigo soon found himself at a place that brought back many memories. It was his old high school. His friends would be in their second year, and so would Ichigo if he didn't become an arrancar.
Flying up to one of the windows, Ichigo looked in. It was a first year class, which he wasn't looking for. He went up and window and peered inside.
There! He had found the spiritual pressure. It was Rukia.
Ichigo couldn't believe that it was her. He thought that she would've gone back to the Soul Society!
Then she started turning toward the window. Panicking, Ichigo quickly used sonido and landed on top of the school roof. That was close! It would have been bad if she had seen him!
"What are you doin'?" asked a voice. Ichigo whipped around, expecting to see Rukia, but it was only Kyo.
When Ichigo didn't answer, Kyo laughed. "Don't worry!" the albino said. "I won't tell anyone that you were here! If I did, you would get in trouble and probably killed. I wouldn't want that."
Voices made him stop talking.
"You're crazy, Rukia. He is gone and we know it."
"I know, but I swear I saw him floating outside the window!"
Ichigo and Kyo quickly hid behind the railing just as four people emerged from the stairwell. Ichigo almost gasped. It was Rukia, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime!
"It could have been your imagination." Uryu said, pushing up his glasses. "Besides, why would Ichigo come here anyway?"
Ichigo's hand gripped the bars on the railing, turning his knuckles white. It was so tempting to just leap over it!
Kyo tapped his shoulder and Ichigo looked at him. The albino was smiling as he pointed to the group on the roof. "Let's go." The albino whispered. Then he leaped over the railing.
Having no choice but to follow him, Ichigo also leaped over the railing and stood on top of the roof next to Kyo.
"I'm here to do a job." Ichigo said, responding to Uryu's question.
The group of four whipped around and their eyes widened as they recognized him.
"I-Ichigo?" Uryu stammered. "What are you doing here?"
"I already answered that." Ichigo replied. "To do a job."
Uryu shook his head. "No, I mean why are you here?"
Ichigo shrugged. "When I came through the garganta, I recognized a spiritual pressure." He looked at the petite black haired girl. "It was Rukia."
Rukia had her eyes narrowed as she looked at Kyo. "Who's that?" she asked. "He looks exactly like you."
Kyo grinned and place his arm on Ichigo's shoulder. "I used ta be Ichigo's hollow." He said. "You know, the one inside of 'im. But when Ichigo became an espada, I was separated from 'im. So now I am espada number -1, the strongest of the numbers."
"You're stronger than Ichigo?" Uryu said, surprised.
Kyo shook his head. "Nope. Sadly I'm not even close. Ichigo here is espada X." And with that, the albino spun the orange head around, pointing to the large black X on the back of Ichigo's neck. "Ichigo here is the strongest of all the espada."
Ichigo rolled his eyes and turned back around.
"So, Ichigo. What do you do now that you're an espada?" Rukia sneered. "Kill much?"
Ichigo ignored the second comment and answered the first. "I mostly go around with Kyo and Grimmjow to capture strong hollows. Nothing much."
"You don't kill the hollows?" Orihime said, speaking for the first time.
Kyo answered spoke before Ichigo could open his mouth. "Nope. We take 'em back ta Las Noches and Aizen does somethin' with 'em. We usually don't kill hollows 'cause we are half hollow ourselves. You probably wouldn't understand."
Ichigo saw Rukia's gaze grow murderous once Kyo said "You probably wouldn't understand."
"So," Ichigo said casually to Orihime, "How's my old man and sisters doing?"
"They're doing fine." She replied. "Karin and Yuzu think that you went over to America for school. But your dad…"
Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, he knows. I told him myself."
Then Ichigo looked at Kyo. "We should get going."
The albino nodded. "You're probably right. We won't want Grimmjow to miss us, ne?"
Ichigo and Kyo turned to leap into the air.
"Wait!" Orihime exclaimed.
Ichigo turned back around. "Yeah?"
Orihime wouldn't meet his eyes. "Are you still the same Ichigo?"
Ichigo didn't respond right away. He stood there, floating in midair.
"I don't know." He eventually said.
He then turned and followed Kyo as they leaped across the rooftops.