A light chilly breeze floated through the streets of Karakura Town when the moon was at its high. A tall orange-haired boy, probably nearing his twenties, was wandering along, with his gaze locked firmly on the ground and his hands shoved in his pockets.
My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, if you hadn't already guessed, it's been almost two years since the rise and fall of Sosuke Aizen, and I spent most of that time unable to see spirits.
Why's that? Oh, maybe because none of my so called Shinigami friends came to my aid when I had lost my reiatsu! They all just left me, without even a goodbye, disappearing faster than Keigo when a hollow's nearby.
How'd I get my reiatsu back then? My hollow, Shiro (that's what he likes to be called now) was forced into a deep comatose sleep somewhere in the back of my mind, completely out of my reach. He only woke up sometime last year and grew stronger and stronger when he realised I couldn't hear him.
Turns out he had some tricks up his sleeve; he spent the whole year evolving the both of us until my reiatsu was fully restored. We're not even technically human anymore, I guess we're... More hollow? No that's not right. We're completely in between. Not Arrancar, and not Visored. So what the hell are we?
Visorancar? That just sounds stupid. So we'll stick with Substitute Shinigami for now.
Shiro decided that we'd be more powerful if we took a feline's form, instead of the lizard-dragon thing we had going on before. And boy was he right. I'm faster, stronger, more agile, and my senses have sharpened, along with my blade.
Also, if I have to eject my soul from my body to jump into battle at a moment's notice, I can force Shiro to take control of my body, but not change its form in any way. He's a right pain in the ass though, he learnt how to materialise outside of my inner world into his own body, sometimes human form, other times spirit form. You can never guess what that asshole is going to do next... Which reminds me, he never shuts up if I give him the chance!
Eventually, I learnt to shut him out to go along with my business, he gets annoyed with me after I do it though. But sometimes I need time to think, like now.
I couldn't help but think, wonder even, if it was possible for any Arrancar to be alive. I could almost guarantee that Kurosutchi Mayuri and the Twelfth Division had combed the barren white desert for any possible test subjects, with the Espada right at the top of the list.
Did I even kill Grimmjow? Or Ulquiorra? Come to think of it, Grimmjow disappeared after my fight with Nnoitra... But what about Nel? And Pesche? And Dondochakka? Did they survive? Are they still out there? I guess I could always open a Gargantra to Los Noches and check on them, but if there was Shinigami stationed there I'd be either on a metal slab with knives and needles in me, or back on Shinigami duties before I could say 'snap'.
Oi! Ichigo! Stop worryin', yer makin' it rain in here! Shiro complained loudly, I must have let my guard down for a second.
Sorry, Shiro. It's just hard you know? No one has showed up in two years! Not even Rukia... I sighed heavily, I wasn't sure what my feeling for her were, love or friendship? I try not to think about it too much, it makes my head hurt. Correction, Shiro makes my head hurt because he doesn't like her at all.
Ya always got me ta keep ya company Ichi-chan! He crooned, just to piss me off.
Shut up asshole! I scowled and shut him out again for my peace and quiet back.
I snapped back into reality when something hit my leg. A soccer ball?
I picked it up and looked around. I'd arrived at the park without even noticing that my legs were moving. The wind picked up and the park instantly sprung into motion.
The swing-sets rocked back and forth slowly, the merry-go-round spun around several times and leaves flew up into the air and straight into me.
The ball was tossed uselessly onto the ground as my arms jumped out to shield my eyes from the dust, even though they were tightly closed. I opened them again and the leaves floated away to reveal a dark figure staggering from within the darkest part of the trees.
I ran closer letting the barriers in my mind fall down and stayed alert in case the person attacked.
But when I was only five meters away I realised this girl couldn't attack me even if she wanted to.
Yeah I said girl, teenage to be exact. She had short wavy hazel hair that was sticking up and matted because of a heap of dried blood, almost completely shut green eyes because of the same blood pouring down her face from a head wound. She was small, probably no bigger than Hiyori or Soi Fon, and pale, most likely from all the blood loss.
I didn't care about that, she was going to survive. You know why? There was an unmistakable bone mask covering her left jaw and part of her neck and shoulder. She was an Arrancar. The uniform gave it away too. Severely ripped, dirty and falling off of her in places but definitely an Arrancar uniform.
There were two sheathed swords resting on her hips, they had peculiar ribbons on them, a different colour for each sword, one a deep emerald green, and the other a bright bubblegum pink. They must mean something, but now wasn't the right time to figure out what it was.
She leaned against a tree, panting heavily and looked up with what must have been a whole lot of effort. She spotted me and a small smile formed on her lips and she tried to push herself towards me but ended up landing harshly on the cold hard forest floor.
"Don't!" I called out running towards her, "I'll help you!"
"Thanks..." She breathed out softly as I got close enough to haul her onto my shoulder. Just after I did so her body went limp, her eyes rolled into the back of her head and her legs gave out. Just before she fell out of my grasp two pale hands caught her and swept her in a bridal style position.
"Too slow, Ichigo." Shiro grinned and tossed her swords and me skilfully, and with equal skill I neatly caught them.
"I didn't need your help. I could've handled that by myself, I'm not a toddler, you know!" I punched him in the arm and laughed playfully.
What's this? Playfully? Yeah, Shiro and I actually kinda get along now. Almost like me and Renji... Except, Shiro's in my head most of the time and has tried to kill me and everyone I love more than once... Let's just pretend I never said that okay?
"Ya look like a toddler ta me! Yer hair's all soft like a child's." He ruffled my orange locks to prove his point.
"At least mine doesn't make me look like a girl!"
"But, Ichi, it does! Just put ya in a dress an' heels then you'll look like the real deal!" He cackled, making the girl's head loll to the side, exposing the back of her neck.
Our eyes both widened and a small flare of purple reiatsu shot up from a small thistle tattooed onto there, the Twelfth Division insignia.
"How dare they? Do they know wha they're doin'?" Shiro growled.
"What are they doing?" I asked with a dumbfounded expression.
"They're brandin' us! Like cows! Pathetic cows that they'll eventually slaughter fer meat!" He was shaking with rage and his grip on the girl tightened.
"But for what reason? Shiro... You're going to hurt her, calm down..." I said calmly, placing a hand on his shoulder.
He took a deep breath and loosened his grip, "Where should we take her? Ta get healed I mean?"
I hadn't thought about that. Uh... Orihime? No, her house was all the way on the other side of town. Urahara? He'd tell Soul Society about my regained reiatsu... I couldn't take her to Goat-face either, Yuzu and Karin wouldn't be able to stomach seeing someone this torn up.
"How about the Visoreds? They'd be able to heal her, and they're not affiliated with Soul Society." I said, "Plus the warehouse is close by."
"Sounds good ta me." He grinned and sped off.
Oh so he wanted a race huh? He's gonna get one! I jumped forward after him, bounced off roof after roof and almost caught up and overtook him when we reached the warehouse.
"I win, Ichigo." He smirked and I childishly poked my tongue out at him, to which he did the same.
We both made out way to the doors of the warehouse where Shinji was standing there waiting for us.
"You got your reiatsu back I see." He grinned, showing off his piano teeth which reminded me all too much of Nnoitra's.
"You thought I wouldn't?" I questioned, eyebrows raised.
"We can talk later!" Shiro snapped, "Hurry and heal this Arrancar!"
His eyes widened at the sight of Shiro but he said nothing, he simply turned and beckoned us to follow.
As we walked down the stairs I felt a sudden sense of dread, what would they all think of me now that I've got my abilities back?
Shiro must've sensed my inner turmoil because this time he placed a hand on my shoulder. It was our way of telling each other it's going to be okay.
We came out in the large underground cavern at last and it seemed as if nothing had changed. Kensei was still arguing with Love about cards while Rose sighed and began to read what little of his manga that he could. Mashiro peeked at Love's cards and laughed when he feel off his chair, she turned around to see me and squealed happily.
"Berry-tan!" She got up and ran to hug me but was intercepted by Hiyori and her thong.
"Dickhead! Why didn't you come back sooner?" She yelled as she repeatedly slapped me in the face.
"This is why!" I yelled back and went to kick her when Shinji stepped in.
"Hiyori, we have an injured person that urgently needs to be healed-" He started before he was hit and sent flying halfway across the room.
"Injured you say?" Hachi came up behind us, "Give her to me right away!"
"Woah, yer a big fella, aint cha?" Shiro said with a grin looking up at him, but handed her over anyway.
In a matter of seconds Lisa had set up a healing area where the girl was placed and stripped of all her clothing.
Turns out she was more banged up than we thought.
Hacchi sat next to her and began to heal her many wounds. And I mean many.
She had one really bad head wound, a broken and bleeding nose, cuts and gashes made their way down her small form, gathering mostly on her back were a series of severe burns, poison had entered her system at her left leg and a large deep gash ran through her stomach, indicating that she had been impaled on a zanpakutou at some point.
"This looks very serious..." Hachi commented worriedly.
"Hey, Ichigo, where'd you pick her up anyway?" Hiyori asked with her arms crossed.
"At the park, she must have been attacked by Kurosutchi or something." I replied, my eyes never leaving the Arrancar girl.
"Probably tryin' ta escape from their labs or somethin'." Shiro snorted irritably.
I glared at him when Kensei spoke up, "So, Ichigo, are you joining us now or what? You obviously don't trust Soul Society."
Was I joining them? No... I don't belong to any team but my own. It was about time I started doing things for myself instead of relying on Shinigami or Visored.
"No, I only need help this one time. I'll go my own way afterwards, there's a few things I need to check out." I replied, glancing at them all in turn, trying to read their emotions.
"Understandable," Shinji commented sitting down in a fold up chair, "Ichi wants to go his own way for now. But you will join us one day. That, you can be sure of." He grinned and opened a bottle of water chugging down almost the entire thing in one go.
"I DON'T GET IT!" Mashiro whined, flashing around the room, "Why doesn't Berry-tan want to join us? I don't get it! I don't get it! I don't get it!" She pouted and began to roll around on the ground, her whining becoming more and more indistinguishable as she went on.
"Shut up! God you're annoying..." Kensei muttered, throwing his cards down, annoyed and twitching.
I opened my mouth to say something when a loud tearing sound, echoed through the large cavern. Everyone immediately jumped to their feet, with their hands resting upon their swords, ready to defend themselves.
The noise got louder and Shiro and I moved to shield the Arrancar girl, we exchanged looks and nodded. In an instant Zangetsu materialised in my hands, which I held steadily in front of me.
A large black hole was forcing its way open in front of my eyes and I had to shield my eyes from the reiatsu that poured from it.
I couldn't see very well, but I could make out eight figures standing in the blinding light. The flash of reiatsu cleared after a small while and I couldn't help but gape at what, or rather who, stood there.
"Grimmjow?"