The Coronation of Green and Gold
(An IchiNel one-shot… I have received a lot of interest from you guys for continuing with this story, but I really have no intention of writing any more of it. But, I give anyone full permission to write more. No need to ask. Have at it!)
"Nooooo!"
Ulquiorra turned around to see the source of the blood-curdling scream from behind him. In front of him on the ground, lay a near-corpse Ichigo with the signature hole punched through his sternum, and Inoue Orihime, charging after the fallen teenage boy. But, the scream didn't come from her. It was from the little arrancar girl everyone was calling "Nel," who had undergone some kind of transformation as she stood nearby, shrouded in smoke and mist.
"What is the meaning of this?" demanded Ulquiorra of the new Nel he saw unveiling before him. As the smoke cleared, his eyes popped open in immediate recognition of her face and figure.
"Neliel Tu Oderschvank," he stated, answering his own question as his eyes narrowed back down again. "I see you have returned to Las Noches after all these years."
"I will not let you hurt Ichigo!" she shouted as she drew her sealed zanpakuto and charged at him. Ulquiorra was quick to draw his own sword to block her blow, sensing the possible need to use it as he was unsure of her current strength. She had been the number three Espada at one point in time, and he felt the need to secure his own safety before ascertaining his abilities over hers.
"It appears you are too late for that," he said, pushing his weight against her. After a good nudge in her direction, she went flying backwards several feet away, still standing, but miffed.
"You are much stronger than you used to be, Ulquiorra," she realized, blowing a stray lock of hair out of her face with her breath.
"And, you seem much weaker than you used to be, Neliel," he cooly retorted. Seeing no need to keep his sword drawn, he sheathed it promptly.
"Very well, then," started Nel, "I will not fight you. I can see that you are stronger than me, and if I get hurt, then I cannot give aid to Ichigo. So, I cannot stop you from taking Inoue. But, I ask that you leave Ichigo alone."
"I have no need to deliver the finishing blow to an already dying man," he said as he forcefully grabbed Orihime by the arm and yanked her to his side. "Now that Inoue is unable to heal him, he will surely die within the next hour."
"Kurosaki-kun! No! Kurosaki-kun!" shouted Orihime, as she lunged toward Ichigo on the ground, her legs collapsing beneath her. Ulquiorra's grip on her arm tightened as he yanked her again to his side like a father trying to make his little daughter stand upon her feet.
"Come with me, woman," he commanded as sternly as he could. "You are going back to your quarters now, and you will be obedient to Aizen-sama for as long as he needs you. Do not require that I discipline you for your insolence."
She began to sob as he dragged her from behind, away from the scene. Her eyes were solely fixed on Ichigo laying on the ground motionless, his image shrinking in her view every second she moved away from him.
Nel sheathed her own sword and immediately knelt down to Ichigo's side, cracking a small grin on her face.
"I'm so glad he didn't finish you off, Ichigo," she said to him as he lay, eyes shut, completely unaware of her words. She looked around at the emptiness of the scene, everyone else having already departed.
"I wonder where that shinigami with the spiky hair went off to after he defeated Nnoitra?" she asked herself. "The little pink-haired girl just waved good-bye to me after hopping on his shoulder, and then they left."
She placed her hand gently under Ichigo's head as he lay on his back, pushing up his neck so as to support it. She placed her other hand over the hole in his sternum that Ulquiorra punched into it as they fought each other. She recalled that he would do that to his favorite prey, but she never knew why and it still baffled her.
"I've got to find the other shinigami who have invaded Las Noches," she determined, her brow furrowing. "Only Ichigo's friends can save him now."
Placing her free hand under Ichigo's legs, she began to scoop up his limp body, cradling him in her arms like a baby. Struggling a little to her feet at first, she stood up and glanced down at his blank face which was hanging nearly upside down over her right arm.
"Don't worry," she said to him, smiling with her eyes glistening, "I'm going to take care of you now."
Using her sonido, she sped away from the scene of so much carnage, down every corridor she could find in the immediate area, desperately searching for any beings in black robes. After stopping to rest a few times, she finally located a camp of black-robed people huddled together trying to heal their wounded. She flew as fast as she could directly towards them without even being able to see their faces from her position.
"Is that Ichigo?" remarked Renji as he watched some orange hair flying towards him from afar.
"Ichigo?" said Rukia, very confused, too, as she also watched the bright orange hair flashing towards them.
"Who is that woman carrying him?" asked Renji as he squinted in a vain attempt to focus his vision.
"I've never seen her before," Rukia said, as she sat on her legs on the concrete floor. Nel arrived right in front of them, much to their surprise at not only seeing Ichigo passed out, but at seeing her as well.
"Ichigo!" shouted Rukia, as she ran to his side, "Ichigo! Is Ichigo alright?"
"He is not dead," answered Nel, as she knelt to the ground to lay him down, "but, he needs immediate treatment, or he will die."
"Who are you?" asked Renji as he peered amazed at Nel's voluptuous form. He blushed when he got an eye-full of her large round bosom and her shiny bare skin, which was barely covered up by the tattered green rags she wore.
"We've already met before," answered Nel, giggling and grinning at him. "I'm Nel Tu, the little arrancar girl you met when you caught up with Ichigo out in the desert."
"Whaaahhh?" said both Renji and Rukia in complete unison, Renji nearly fainting.
"You—you're that little weird girl that was hanging onto Ichigo like you were sewn into his robes?" Renji's eyes bugged out of his head.
"Yes," replied Nel very calmly, still grinning slightly at their surprised looks. "It's me, alright."
"Oh, well that explains why Dondo-Chakka and Pessche were able to get that power-up when they did," said Renji. "But, I had no idea you had changed into this!"
"Where are Dondo-Chakka and Pessche, by the way?" asked Nel. "Do you know?"
"Well, they were following right behind me and Ishida on the way here, but they got lost somehow. I gave up on trying to understand them hours ago."
Nel chuckled to herself to hear such a thing of her fraccion.
"Well, I suppose I'll find them later on, then," she said calmly.
"Ichigo needs treatment, but Kotetsu-fukutaichou is the only one here who can completely heal him," said Rukia, interjecting. "At the moment, she is still administering life-saving treatment to Hanatarou, and then she will have to treat Nii-sama of his severe wounds, as well. I'll use my kidou to heal Ichigo a little for now, but someone else needs to help him the rest of the way."
"Unohana-taichou is healing Sado-kun and a downed arrancar," said Kotetsu.
"I'll go get her over here," said Renji as he tugged on his own kimono. In an instant he disappeared, and in only moments, he reappeared again with Unohana in tow.
"Is it this boy?" asked Unohana, pointing to Ichigo, as Rukia lifted her lighted hands from his chest wound.
"Yes," affirmed Renji. She pulled out her zanpakuto and began to administer to him in her unique way, as Rukia and Nel backed away from Ichigo to give her enough space.
"Thank you for saving Ichigo," said Rukia as she looked up at Nel with nearly tear-filled eyes.
"That kid always needs someone to look after him," stated Renji a bit gruffly. "He's completely helpless!"
"It is strange for someone like me, a hollow, to be asking help from my natural enemies—the shinigami," started Nel to the group. "But, my feelings about shinigami have changed since I found myself in love with one of them."
Both Rukia and Renji's eyes popped open at this declaration, but they returned to normal when it dawned on them that it explained Nel's former behavior from when she had appeared to be a small child, clinging desperately to Ichigo's side.
"Uh...You must be cold, what with your clothes being shorn, and all," said Rukia, trying to change the uncomfortable subject for everyone. "Here—let me lend you my desert cloak. I don't need it right now, anyway, since were not outside anymore."
She lifted the fabric from off the ground and handed it to the barely-clothed woman, covered largely by her own long, green, wild hair, who took it freely and gratefully. She draped it over her head and shoulders, stroking the fine material.
"It's such a beautiful garment," remarked Nel. "Thank you so much, Rukia."
"You should thank Nii-sama for it," she said. "He was generous enough to buy it for me."
Nel glanced over at Byakuya, whose back was turned towards them, standing several feet away. She nodded in his direction, his head turned to the side, as he peered back at her from that distance with his only visible eye.
Several minutes passed, and Ichigo began to stir, which caught Nel's and everyone else's attention. Rushing to his side, Nel shoved her face into Ichigo's to see his progress.
"Ichigo!" she exclaimed, "Ichigo, you're alright! I'm so happy..."
"N-Nel," said Ichigo, struggling to speak as he lifted his head off the ground.
"Don't talk, Ichigo," demanded Rukia who was by his side as well. "You're not fully healed yet."
"Rukia?" said Ichigo, perplexed.
"Yes," she responded, "I'm here and I'm just fine, so don't worry about me. Renji and Ishida are here and all healed. Sado has been healed by Unohana-taichou elsewhere, so he's fine, too."
He let out a soft sigh of relief and laid his head back down, finally discovering that his nakama were all alive and well. Unohana sheathed her sword and began to move away.
"You're whole again," she declared to him. "I must go and find others to heal now."
"Yes, ma'am," said Ichigo, nodding. "Thank you."
"We're all heading out," said Renji to Ichigo. "Everyone's healed and we came here to fight until we've defeated Aizen and his arrancars. You just do whatever it is that you need to do, Ichigo."
He glanced over at the group of all healthy and revived people, packing up and readying to continue on with the fight to stop the evil regime that threatened to destroy the harmony of all their lives in the living world and that of Soul Society.
"Ichigo," began Nel, as she placed her hands on his chest, "will you go on with your friends?"
"Nel," said he, propping himself up onto his elbows, "I'm going to do exactly what I came here to do, and that is to take Inoue back home and defeat Aizen and all of his Espada."
"I see," she said, turning her head to look away.
"But," he continued, "I realize that I can't do it alone."
She turned to look back at his face.
"Nel," he said, staring deeply into her large, soft brown eyes, "will you help me, even if it means fighting your own kind?"
She gently clasped his face in between her two hands, moving slowly towards it.
"I'll do anything for you, Ichigo."
She closed her eyes and he began to close his, as she inched closer and closer to his face, lightly planting a soft kiss onto his lips. He blushed as she pulled her breasts off his chest and sat back onto her legs a moment later. After blinking a few times to get his bearings, he rose to his feet, feeling invigorated like never before, and bent over to grab Zangetsu in its usual released, crescent moon-shaped form by the hilt.
"Then, let's go, Nel," he determined, as she looped her arm through his. "We've got a lot of butt to kick, and with you by my side, I know we can do this..."
Standing side-by-side, turning their heads towards each other in sync, they glanced at each other's bright faces, their eyes meeting like a burst of fireworks. And, then, in a split-second flash, they disappeared...
...The End.