IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!
All stories in this collection are up for adoption, just make sure that you credit me. PM or review to let me know that you are doing so; I would love to read!
Rukia slid to a halt in front of the door to the deepest cell of Las Noches. If Ichigo wasn't here, they would have to abort the mission retreat back to Seireitei. She froze the lock and broke it off the door.
(Music: Nothing can be explained)
The cell was very dark. As her eyes adjusted to the minimal lighting, a sorry figure appeared from the darkness. Ichigo hung limp from wrist chains attached to the walls on either side of him, knees barely toughing the ground. It looked like every bone in both of his hands was broken; he was unable to hold the zanpakuto lying a few feet from him. His shirt was completely gone, exposing a flurry of deep cuts, most still dripping blood into the ever-growing pool on the floor. His left arm had what looked like a large bite taken out of it. The skin was burned shut so he would not bleed to death, but about two inches of bone was showing. On closer inspection, the bone had teeth marks on it. His legs were also marred with cuts and his feet were badly burnt.
"Ichigo!" Rukia gasped, rushing over to him. "Are you alright?" The chains clinked slightly as he raised his head.
"Rukia? Is that you?"
"Thank goodness you're alright!" Rukia sobbed.
"I wouldn't quite call this alright but ghhk-" Ichigo's breath caught in his throat as Rukia hugged him tight. "Ano... Rukia?" His voice was strained.
"Oh!" She jumped back. "Did I hurt you?"
"Nowhere near as bad as what Aizen and the Espada did to me. How long have I been here anyways; it's kind of hard to keep track of time in perpetual darkness," Ichigo grunted, getting his feet underneath him to take some of the strain off his shoulders, chains clanking
"Ichigo... you've been here for a month. I wanted to come sooner, but the sotaicho took two weeks to convince and the rest of us needed time to rest and recover. I'm so sorry..." Rukia looked away.
"... It felt like so much longer than a month... I understand why you didn't come sooner, I just have one question: what did you say to my family?"
"I explained the situation to Kon and put him in your body. I could tell he was serious when he said that he wouldn't mess around"
Ichigo gave a small smile. "That's good. At least my family isn't worried." His eyes widened as he realized something. "Hey Rukia?"
"What is it?"
"How much did Ishida and Orihime tell you about my fights?" Ichigo asked tentatively.
"I know about the mask if that's what you mean."
Ichigo sighed in relief. "Good, that'll make this easier to explain." He concentrated on his hollow reiatsu and shunted a large amount of it into his hands and feet. The bones in his hands snapped back into their proper places and his feet healed.
"Fuck," Ichigo panted. "That hurt a lot more than I thought it would!"
"What was that?!" Rukia was stupefied.
"Instant regeneration. One of the perks of being half hollow. Another is cero. Check this out." Ichigo concentrated hollow reiatsu into a ball in his left hand and aimed it at the opposite cuff. With a whispered "Cero," the cuff was blown off. His right arm, now free, grabbed the remaining cuff and ripped it off.
"I hope you know the way out of here, Rukia, 'cause I don't," Ichigo said, rubbing his wrists.
"What the hell, Ichigo!" Rukia yelled. "If you could do that, why didn't you break yourself out sooner?!"
"Believe me, I tried," Ichigo said darkly. "I broke out and got dog-piled by every arrancar in Las Noches. I didn't even make it in sight of the wall. This," he pointed to the bite mark in his left arm, "was my punishment for trying to escape. They brought in Grimmjow and had him release. the bastard enjoyed taking a chunk out of my arm. I am glad that they sealed it off though; I would've bled to death if they didn't. Still hurt like a bitch though."
"How can you talk about this so easily?" Rukia muttered. "Just look at what they did to you!"
"Can we talk about this while we get out of here please? I'd rather not spend more time here than I already have."
"Oh! right," Rukia flushed, "let's get moving then."
Ichigo grabbed his zanpakuto and returned it to its familiar place on his back, the weight feeling comfortable even in his weakened state.
"Good to have you back, buddy." Ichigo murmured to himself.
"Did you say something?"
"Nothing. Nothing at all..."
... I'm just going to end it here before this gets out of hand. I will explain what I had in mind with the rest of the plot bunny. So Rukia gets Ichigo out of Huecco Mundo and back to Soul Society. The final battle occurs between Ichigo and Aizen. Ichigo manages to overpower Aizen without using the Final Getsuga Tensho and is sealed in the cross seal. Just before Aizen is completely sealed, he activates a kido that was placed within Ichigo during his time in Huecco Mundo. Ichigo's hollow reiatsu then overpowers his shinigami side, turning him into an arrancar. Aizen had planned for Shiro to take over, but... *flashback to Ichigo in Huecco Mundo* Ichigo talks with Shiro and comes to an agreement. As long as Ichigo lets him out during a good fight sometimes (he promised not to hurt Ichigo's friends and family) he would teach him how to use all of his hollow powers, including having control over the form that kicked Uluquiorra's ass. I mean, in the anime it couldn't reason; it was just driven by Ichigo's will to protect Orihime.
Anyways, Ichigo keeps control of the arrancar form. Here I couldn't decide wether to have Soul Society try to hunt him down and kill him because he's an arrancar, or just move on to the thousand year blood war arc.
Thanks for reading and reviews get cookies~ Those who do not review... I will send Hidan and Shiro to kill you... *evil laughter*
