A/N: Welcome, lovely readers. Once more I am thanking Ms. Kinkylittlewolf for her help with this one, she is magnificent! Now, onward to what this is about. This is a hardcore bondage/fetish cannon divergent Bleach fanfiction. If you aren't into it, please click back. If you are, welcome. This fiction features a total power exchange. If you are unfamiliar with the term, you are not alone. (tpemaster .com is one of the research tools I used to find out more). I must point out that this is not a complete TPE (Master/Slave). The situation I'm crafting is a Master/Pet relationship with "safe" features usually not present in a TPE.
I need to make this clear: ALL SITUATIONS IN THE RELATIONSHIP ARE CONSENSUAL. TPE is, essentially, consensual slavery. In the story, there is a contract writing, and during this time, use of a lot of information informing the sub of what could happen, what will happen, and what is expected. Our sub does not go into the situation without foreknowledge of what he is doing. The Dom is very clear and makes certain this is what the sub desires before completely falling into role. In a TPE, the Dom/sub roles do not stop as in most regular D/s relationships, and the Dom in this case takes total control of the sub's life, as is explained. In this case, however, the sub has a "safe" person if he decides he needs to change something without breaking role as the Pet to his master. This story uses the concept of Risk Aware Consensual Kink, meaning all parties are aware of what is happening at all times, even if the characters are acting otherwise. They have agreed to these things during the contract negotiation period. Please keep this in mind. The sub may be "virginal" at the beginning, but he is certainly not unaware of what he has chosen to take part in.
There is talk of discipline, both public and private. This is not a humiliation story. Characters are not out to humiliate the others in any way. This is a story about control, and at the depths, love and unconditional caring for another person when they need it most.
You will also notice that there is a higher degree of acceleration than what is normal in real life situations. This is because the Dom in this case has a lot more experience due to advanced age, as well as extensive training as a sub beforehand. We are also not dealing with humans, and the situation calls for the Dom to take as much control as quickly as he can in order to keep our sub from self-destructing. If it seems somewhat rushed, this is the reason.
DO NOT attempt to mimic the training process I describe, it is NOT safe. This is fantasy BDSM set in Soul Society with Shinigami who have accelerated healing, more pain tolerance, and much different abilities than real life humans.
If you are interested in more details about BDSM and the BDSM lifestyle, I highly recommend the following pages that I used for research purposes:
Collar 'n Cuffs: collarncuffs. com
50 Shades to BDSM: 50shadestobdsm. com
A Submissive's Initiative: asibdsm. Com
So to summarize:
WARNINGS: Will not be repeated again, appear here in the first chapter only.
Graphic depictions of BDSM scenes
Graphic depictions of consensual actions that would be considered sexual torture if they were non-consensual
Master/Pet relations
Use of toys, flogging, spanking, rope binding, and all sorts of imporovised things.
Graphic Lemons
I don't own Bleach, and don't get money off this but I certainly hope you enjoy this version of the BDSM lifestyle I have created for Soul Society.
Chapter One
Strange Happening
Something incredible and strange happened and it happened so quickly that Ichigo wasn't quite sure exactly what was going on. Who would have guessed that something so strange would have come out of the whole situation? Ichigo certainly didn't. How would he know that in a matter of minutes, his entire world would be altered so drastically? How could he have imagined that his life would be, once again, turned completely around in a different direction? Ichigo had gotten used to the new world he'd been pulled into, but it hadn't been easy. He had been fighting and fighting and all the time something was building inside of him, something that he couldn't identify.
That tall freak and his fraccion had nearly been the end of him. He was relatively certain that he had every bone in his body broken and almost every organ punctured by the time he hit the dirt. He was very glad that his body was tougher in soul form. Kenpachi showed up and took him on and was really enjoying himself. He was glad that at least someone was getting some fun out of encountering the bastard. What was it with these things all trying to kill him, he wondered? Running into this one after that fight with Grimmjow was bad luck, but for him to try and finish Grimmjow off like that was just…unacceptable. Grimmjow had given him a good fight, a fair fight, and he wasn't going to allow this guy to just kill him for no reason at all. However, at least he had Orihime around now to heal him. He was very glad of that at least. While Orihime was healing him he realized he was positively exhausted, in a way he'd never experienced before. He'd been tired after fights, but when Orihime healed him with her powers, the exhaustion faded. He didn't know what was different this time. All he knew was that he wasn't able to comprehend the thoughts going through his own mind as he watched the battle. He was reminded of his own fight with Kenpachi and almost felt sorry for the fifth espada. Almost.
Ichigo didn't think much more of it for the moment. The fight continued, and then Kenpachi won, time seemingly skipping forward somehow when he was distracted. Kenpachi looked like hell, but he'd killed the multi-armed bastard. Still, the strange exhaustion was holding to him. Never before had he felt like this when Orihime healed him. His mind was spinning and reeling for some reason. It was almost more than Ichigo could stand as he looked up through the shield. Yachiru was happy; he could hear her clapping and cheering excitedly for Kenpachi. She came running over to where Ichigo was laying under Orihime's golden shield and smiled.
"Ichigo?" she asked as she came closer. "Are you feeling better?"
Ichigo nodded. "Thanks, Yachiru. Is Kenpachi okay?"
She gave a brilliant smile. "Keni-chan is very happy, Ichi-chan!"
Ichigo smiled and felt suddenly drained of energy even more than before, as if the very last reserves of his strength and energy were being drawn away rapidly and black began to tint the edges of his vision. His eyes rolled up into his head and the world wavered around him. He vaguely heard Orihime's frantic yelling. Something was wrong, really wrong, and he had no idea what it was as the world seemed to slip and fall around him.
Shh, King, came a familiar voice in his mind. Shh. Sleep. I'll take care of everything… Ichigo fought it, because he knew what that meant. The hollow was going to do something. But why? Shh, my king, my king, you sleep now. Sleep and when you wake, it will be done.
He wanted to scream at him. His voice wouldn't come and his world descended into black tinged with red, falling deeper and deeper until he felt his body covered in warm water.
Orhime screamed when his eyes rolled up and he fell backward into the sands. There was nothing wrong with him. She'd healed everything, he should have been better, not worse.
"Ichigo!" she cried, the shield shattering and she reached down and shook him.
Nel crawled over to him and began to lick him; her childlike mind supplying that hurt meant he needed healing. Yachiru frowned and looked at Orihime and back at Ichigo. Nel sat back suddenly and frowned. Orihime was still surprised at the odd transformation between Nel the child and Nel the ex-third espada.
"That's not Itsygo."
Orihime looked down at him and back at Nel. "What do you mean?"
She shook her head. "Not Itsygo," she said and began to back away from Ichigo until she was pressed up against someone behind her. "Not Itsygo, hollow."
"No, what…" Orihime began and looked down. Kenpachi had come back over and watched beside Yachiru.
Ichigo's body arched up impossibly and a piercing hollow howl rang from his body. Nel covered her ears but her eyes never left Ichigo. Then the black and red reiatsu began to whip outward around him. Orihime stepped back and watched as a hollow hole began to form in his chest and his eyes opened glowing bright red. The color began to leech from his skin and the foaming of a mask came from his mouth and nose and resolved into a horned mask. His body fell back for a moment then he picked up one black nailed hand and cracked the bones in it and began to laugh in a strange tone behind the mask.
"Sorry, King," it said and he leaped and stood, a completely different creature than the one that had lay there before.
If it hadn't been for the brilliant orange hair, now lying well past his waist, they wouldn't know it was their friend. It formed a wild corona around his head still, fluttering as he moved. The creature had cuffs of orange fur or hair or something around his wrists, and the skin was pure white. He lifted Zangetsu and sliced at the air. "Sorry, my king, but this horse has business with a certain Shinigami who tried to cut us in half."
"You're going after Aizen?" Orihime gasped. "Who are you? What are you?"
The hollow Ichigo turned and looked at her, glowing eyes boring into her very soul it seemed. "Yes, princess. I go to kill him. Actually, no. I'm going to consume the bastard's soul. Would you care to watch, princess? And since I doubt very much I'll get this chance again, I'll be taking the chance to consume as many arrancar souls along the way as I can."
"Who are you?" she asked again, holding her hand to her mouth.
"I'm Ichigo, who else?" he asked with a mad giggle.
"No, no you can't be Ichigo," Orihime whispered with a gasping breath.
He threw his head back and howled a noise that made the ground under them vibrate. "Oh, but I am, princess. I'm the part he doesn't want you to see. I'm the part he keeps locked away. See, there's a lot you don't know; all of you are so stupid."
Kenpachi stared at him and the hollow Ichigo was suddenly in front of him. Kenpachi didn't even blink, just grinned at him wondering if he was going to fight again so soon. The hollow Ichigo just grinned and winked one red eye, and then he was gone in a loud blast of sonido, leaving the group stunned, staring where he had been.
"Not Itsygo," Nel said, grabbing onto Orihime's leg.
"Definitely not Ichigo," she said, holding onto the woman-child.
It didn't take long before an enormous explosion rocked the building behind them. The whole area was shuddering in vibrations and before long they saw Byakuya and Rukia come flashing out toward them, followed by Uryu and Renji, all of which were avoiding whatever destruction was behind them. Hanataro wasn't far behind Rukia and Renji.
"Holy hells!" Renji said, dropping to his knees beside the group. Blood dripped down his arm from some sort of wound in his shoulder. "What is that? That pink haired freak…he just…like…exploded. I mean, I didn't even see what did it!" He stared at Uryuu to ask if he'd noticed what it was. The whole world had tipped and exploded and Renji wasn't even sure what had hit him.
Ichigo felt trapped, like he was locked away in a jail cell or a tiny box. He was in his inner world, but it wasn't right. There was something wrong with it. He was could feel something holding him in place, almost like there was a box around him. He could see outside to his inner world, and he could see the old man standing in the distance. His black cloak flapped behind him but he didn't look at Ichigo. Ichigo screamed and screamed to be released but it was no use. Water lapped at his ankles now as rain began to fall in the world around him.
"Please, stop!" he begged.
For the first time he realized how tenuous his hold on the hollow really was within him. If the injury he suffered from the quinta espada was enough to make him lose control, he sure wasn't keen on finding out what happened if he actually came closer than that to death.
"Death is not an option, King," came the hollow's voice in his mind. Ichigo cringed and crouched in the water at the loudness of it. Did his voice sound that loud when he directed it inward?
"You aren't strong enough to sound this loud, King, sorry," the voice said, even louder.
Ichigo whimpered this time, cradling his head. He wanted him to stop. He heard a tch and then there were no more words directed at him but he could see the outside world at the same time as the inner world. It was a head spinning effect, like double vision with two completely different scenes playing. First they came upon a lower ranking arrancar, one who announced himself as a fraccion of Lord Barragan, but the hollow proceeded to devour him moments later. Ichigo tried to close his eyes but the outward scenes kept playing behind his eyelids. The violence that the hollow attacked the things around him was like nothing Ichigo had ever seen.
He moved on, coming across several more fraccion, and then several others that he didn't even bother to acknowledge, he simply consumed them. Ichigo was wailing against the walls of the cage at him to stop, please stop.
"I can't stop, Ichigo, I'm…sorry…" came the reverberating reply and Ichigo dropped to his knees and began to weep because he couldn't do anything else. So much blood, bone…and the worst was the souls felt so good. It was like eating the best comforting food in the whole world but amplified. He felt warm and high at the same time. He wanted more of it. That, more than anything made him sick and want to curl into a ball and die. Each consumption sent shocks and thrills of power through every part of him, and then he saw Renji and Uryuu.
"Don't hurt my friends, whatever you do, please!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. "I won't fight you anymore in here, just don't hurt them!"
"You got it, King, but I'll hold you to your word," he said, and suddenly the pink haired arrancar was falling dead under his claws and his soul…oh his soul was so powerful…
The sheer reiatsu of that soul knocked Ichigo back into the wall of this strange, transparent box. This was an espada. He gasped and felt overwhelmed as the world spun sickly and there was Gin, wide eyed and fleeing. Ichigo knew that Tōsen would be near, and then he was on Tosen, ripping his limbs from his body. Ichigo tried to block it, he wanted to do anything but watch, but then he found that a shinigami soul was even greater than an espada…
Aizen stood his ground. Trying to use his sword, but it had no effect on Ichigo's hollow. He heard words, and felt the blast of kido, binding kidos slid off him like he was untouchable. Red ceros blasted the world around them and Ichigo was silent.
A blue light, it was blinding in the intensity and the power, and he wanted it. Aizen was using it somehow to try and heal the damage that the hollow was inflicting on him. Ichigo was on the verge of passing out inside the inner world as he began to ritualistically pull Aizen to pieces. He was injured though, even after Aizen's soul had been devoured, and he wasn't healing like he should be. The world hurt and everything was coming apart. The cage around him exploded in shattering shards, the hollow unable to continue to hold him as injured as he was. The hollow called out in pain and triumph, and Ichigo swore his vision was wavering at the edges even though he was technically not even conscious. Could someone pass out while they were unconscious?
"Ichigo, rest, you will rest for a while…"
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
A hollow scream resounded around them all. It was followed by the manic laughter that Orihime had heard not too long before. Nel sighed. "Not Itsygo."
Byakuya looked at her slowly. "What does she mean?"
"I…it…I don't…" Orihime stammered. "It wasn't him. It was…I don't know what it was. It said it was going to deal with Aizen. Now. And…then he was gone."
There was a louder explosion and something was streaking toward them with a loud sonido. The hollow Ichigo landed in the middle of the group, dropping to his knees and causing the sand to explode outward onto the others. He was covered in blood, so much that it was hard to tell that his flesh was pure white. He clutched something in one of his clawed hands. He held it up and examined it thoughtfully. Byakuya frowned as he realized it was the hogyuku.
"Bastard," he muttered. "Pulling this on me…" He smiled under his mask as it shattered revealing the white faced Ichigo with the eerie black and gold eyes underneath. "May as well. Gonna die if I don't…" he said, staring into the blue orb.
"What do you mean?" Orihime said, staring at the creature inside Ichigo's body.
"See, I'm going back, and King here is gonna die because he doesn't have my instant regeneration, but if I stay, he's gonna die because he'll burn himself out. So I got myself a problem. Either way, we die. I don't know if this will work, y'know. I really don't. But I'm gonna try because I don't go down without a fight, and neither does my King," he said with a sigh. Before anyone could even move, he pressed the glowing blue orb against the hollow hole in his chest.
The explosion of energy knocked everyone flat, even Kenpachi and Byakuya. Kenpachi stumbled to his feet first and helped Yachiru stand up. Byakuya managed to shake off the effects easily enough and helped the others get up. There was a depression left in the sand where the power had knocked out the earth inside it. Renji and Rukia, once they could stand, ran for the edge of the hole. Renji gasped and stared at what looked like Ichigo again. The others came up around them and watched as he stood there for a long moment wobbling. The color had returned to his flesh and his eyes were brown but wide. His mouth hung slack as ribbons of blue energy shot through his limbs from the dark circle that had formed in the center of his chest. Most of his shihakuso had been obliterated, leaving his chest and half of his legs exposed, and they could see how the bright blue seemed to light up his veins throughout his whole body.
He swallowed hard. "Fuckin'…hollow…bastard…what'd…you…do…" he gasped and collapsed backward into a heap.
Orihime threw her shield on him as she slid down into the hole he was in. She gasped because there was nothing to heal. She sat back on her heels and looked up as the others slid down into the area. and looked at those gathered. No one had any idea what had just happened around them. Renji knelt down beside Ichigo's now unconscious body and touched the strange black spot in his chest where the hollow hole had opened. It was cold, unnaturally so. He looked at the others. Byakuya leaned over where he lay and pulled up his eyelid to see if his eyes were indeed normal. He found them to be white and brown as they should be.
"What happened?" Rukia gasped, trying to understand this. "How…what…"
Byakuya shook his head. "That thing, I've seen it before, but nowhere near that powerful."
Orihime and Uryu had stepped back from him in utterly shocked silence. Nel still clung to Orihime's leg tightly and then she smiled.
"Itsygo back," she said with surety. "I like that Itsygo is back. He sleepin'."
Byakuya's head snapped up, his keen hearing catching the sound of a sonido. At the edge of the hole stood a pair of Arrancar. One was taller with wavy brown hair and a look of utter disinterest on his face. The shorter of the two had green hair and a very minimal looking outfit on. The female was standing with her hands on her hips and had a look of sheer annoyance on her face.
"Perdoname, please, you may return. This is over. Aizen's time here is done, Tōsen is dead, and Gin has disappeared. The traitors of your realm are gone, as are those of our realm that would do you revenge. We ask that you return and let us tend our wounded. Your savior has ensured that no harm will befall you. None of the espada will move against him, not after the souls he has consumed this day," he said as he yawned widely.
He shook his head and then the pair of them disappeared.
"Just what the hell happened?" Renji asked, staring at the unconscious form and back to the others.
Kenpachi shrugged and picked up the substitute shinigami and headed back to where the garganta would open to take them home. What else could they do?
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
Ichigo woke up with a scream and lay panting, hands clutched against his chest with his eyes squeezed shut. In his mind, he was reliving what the hollow had done with his body. And he knew that he would never get the blood off of him again. Images of ripping apart arrancar and consuming their souls amid manic laughter filled his mind. The sound of Zangetsu slicing into flesh and bone and ripping out pieces was too loud, and the feeling of blood spraying against his skin was too strong. The most horrible of all, however, was how incredibly good consuming the souls had felt. It felt like the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted and the warmth that he needed. The only thing that seemed to make his insides become less like ice.
Aizen's face, Tōsen's face, Gin as he flashed away, eyes wide and showing true fear… Then the pink haired espada as his life was let, and his souls became part of Ichigo's being…the other lesser arrancar that had been in between the hollow and Aizen and their surprise and fear as the overpowering reiatsu nearly crushed them to the ground. There were other fraccion of some of the espada, he knew, they'd called their masters' names as they died, but he didn't know which ones. Vaguely, he remembered flashes of color and looks of sheer terror at what he was, but that was all. It was all so clear sometimes when he thought about it but others it was like looking through mud.
"Ichigo?" a familiar voice, but he jumped anyway and looked over, realizing he wasn't where he had been before. He saw that Rukia was standing in the doorway, and he was in the fourth division.
"Rukia," he said hoarsely, coughing as his throat tried to lock up on him. He forced himself to sit up slowly and tried to control his lungs. A glass of water was pressed into his hand. He drank it like a man dying of thirst. He felt like he hadn't drunk in months…wait…how long had it been?
He reached up and felt his hair, which was now below his shoulders by quite a bit. "How long?" he croaked; his voice was still weak from disuse and it was then he realized he was exhausted, but a different kind of exhausted than he had been when the hollow was syphoning his energy to use for himself. Every bit of him felt weak; his muscles were jellylike and didn't really want to answer him when he sent signals to do something.
"Ichigo, please, you've been asleep for a while, and we…we weren't sure if you'd ever wake up," she said, and Ichigo saw the tears sparkling in her eyes. It had been a long while, he knew, if Rukia was this upset. "We didn't know what to do. We couldn't do anything, whatever we tried, your reiatsu would react and we just couldn't do anything. Even Unohana-taichou couldn't tell what was causing it. And Urahara is here and he and Kurotsuchi-taichou have been working nonstop to understand what happened when you took the hogyuku into you like that…"
He tipped his head upward and stared at the ceiling. His eyes focused on the plainness of it all. It wasn't red, and that was what mattered. "How long?"
"Fourteen months," she said softly. "It…it's been fourteen months."
"Wow. How do you like that?" he said softly, laying back on the bed and falling asleep again, mentally calculating and realizing that two of his birthdays had passed while he was asleep. That had to have been hard on Karin and Yuzu, he thought as consciousness faded.
Rukia let her tears fall then as she ran from the room and found the taichou and Urahara who were conferring on the latest readings they'd gotten. Over the last fourteen months, their routine had become so normal to them. Every morning, Urahara would come in and take the readings from the machines to compare them with the rest of them. Then someone, usually Rukia or Renji, would come and talk to him. They had no idea if he could hear them, or even if he would ever wake again. Still, even after over a year, they tried so hard just to bring him back. Others had given up, of course. It had been so long, how could they not? Rukia, though, she couldn't give up. She just wouldn't do that.
Before long, the room was filled with machines and people trying to figure out what had woken him up finally. Urahara leaned against the wall outside the room after he'd done his scans.
Renji and Rukia both stood and stared at him. He exhaled a long breath. "It seems I was right in a way when I hypothesized that the hogyuku had to mature. It seems to have taken a year to fully awaken and repair the damage to his soul that the hollow's attacks inflicted on him. I've never seen anyone recover from that kind of damage, and only the hogyuku could have done it. The hollow used his body to consume the souls of several arrancar and espada, as well as Aizen and Tōsen. That isn't something that shinigami can handle. It damaged the soul deeply, from what I can tell, but the hogyuku was able to heal it. And we still don't know what sort of attacks Aizen and the others launched against him while in that form. I'll contact Isshin; will you go get Uryu-san, Chado-san, and Inoue-san? I am certain they will want to know that Ichigo has come around finally."
Rukia and Renji nodded and were through the senkaimon at Kuchiki manor before the hour was up. They flashed onto the roof of the school and found Chad, Uryu and Orihime eating lunch with Tatsuki and their other human friends. Neither of them cared that some of them saw the shinigami. The look on Rukia and Renji's faces made the three stand up and Rukia nodded to them. There were only two reasons that Rukia and Renji would come to them this urgently. One of those reasons no one wanted to even think of. Thankfully, it was the second reason.
"He's awake."
Orhime burst into instant tears and Uryu closed his eyes. Tatsuki was frowning and knew that they were talking about Ichigo. There had been a lot of things that had gone on since she'd witnessed Ichigo leaving this world for the other, and she knew what had happened. She'd made Orihime tell her everything. It had taken a bit for her to understand what had happened, but she felt at least some relief that the person that currently ran around in Ichigo's body was not actually him. With the exception of those that sat on this roof, no one else realized that Ichigo was really gone. It had been odd, trying to act like Kon was her friend. She never could really act the same with him, though. Tatsuki held Orihime up and nodded to the others as they all went down the stairs.
Rukia and Renji led them on a quick walk to the shoten so they could leave through the Kuchiki senkaimon. No one spoke as they walked together. Of course, most people didn't see Rukia and Renji in their shinigami forms, and only saw the four others. Orihime was still weeping softly, tears falling down her cheeks in a steady stream.
"What happened? He just woke up?" Orihime said softly as Rukia used her zanpautou to open the senkaimon.
Rukia nodded. "Urahara-san thinks that it was the hogyuku, it took it a year to awaken and repair the damage the hollow caused and what Aizen and Tōsen had done to him in that fight. We may never know for sure," she stepped back so the humans could cross over. "But he woke up. That's what matters. The head captain said I can bring you all through with me, and his dad and sisters will come through with someone else. But we should go, everyone else is already there."
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
The next time he woke up he was screaming again. It was disconcerting, and he felt unsteady as his mind reeled with the images of blood and bone and screams. He sat straight up and panted with a hand to his chest for a long time until he looked down and realized that there were black streaks coming from the center of his chest where a black inky spot rested. At the center, there was a tiny speck of blue. He put his hand against the black circle and it felt cold, deathly cold. Ichigo reached up to his face and didn't feel the mask. He jumped up from the bed and moved toward the mirror. He had a hunch he needed to confirm. He was clutching the sheet around his waist as he moved, realizing he was half naked, but he guessed he'd find his kusodo and hakama soon enough. He supposed it made sense, if he'd been knocked out for the last fourteen months, they'd have to keep an eye on his chest where this strange spot rested.
As he got closer to the mirror he sighed. It was just as he had feared. His face was marked with the red streaks like his mask was when he used it. He'd obviously aged as well, but it wasn't as obvious. It wasn't like he'd been here fourteen years, and the soul forms didn't really age the same way human bodies did. His eyes had bags under them and he looked very tired to his thinking. He reached up and felt over his shoulders and saw that the black streaks that moved outward from the circle in his chest went over his back and down past his waist. He swallowed and sighed deeply.
Sorry King, but what I did, what we did, left a mark. Ya can't consume souls and not come closer to being a hollow. And well, I have ta say, King, that was a feast fit for a…well, a King.
"You're up," came a voice from the doorway, startling Ichigo out of his one-sided discussion with the hollow inside him.
Ichigo turned and saw Isane smiling at him. She looked the same, of course she did, and she wasn't human. Well, he supposed technically neither was he, especially not anymore. The hollow was right. He felt different, less human than ever before. His whole being seemed to be wracked with the desire to let the hollow resume control and consume more. It was as though a ravaging hunger had taken place in his soul. He felt like the urge was almost too much to bear. He hoped that he could handle it. He couldn't smile, even at someone as sweet as Isane. He nodded at her and she handed him his shihakuso.
"Thought you might want to get dressed before your friends come from the world of the living," she said and left.
Ichigo sighed deeply and stared at the black fabric. This was supposed to be spun from his own soul, and yet it felt foreign to him. He shook the feeling away and dressed slowly. His whole body felt slack or something but he supposed fourteen months would take a toll even on soul form in one way or another. She hadn't brought him tabi or sandals though, but he was tired out already. He sat back down on the bed and waited. It took a few minutes before there was a knock and the door opened to reveal Rukia leading his human friends. He smiled and was hugged immediately by Inoue. He smiled and patted her gently. Ishida stood back and nodded at him, and Tatsuki hugged him after Inoue finally extracted herself. Chad nodded to him as well. Renji came in then and shook his head.
"Man, you take a nap, you really take a nap," the red head commented.
"Yeah, seems so," he said, rubbing his chest thoughtfully. He'd pulled the kusodo over the black marks as much as he could but it wasn't enough, Tatsuki pulled his hands away and stared.
"What's this?" she said, touching the black streaks with her fingers and looking up at Ichigo's face, now streaked red. "And this?" she said touching his facial marks. She, of course, hadn't been to see Ichigo in the time he'd been gone. She'd heard from Orihime and Uryu that he had changed somehow, but she was still surprised.
Ichigo shook his head. "I don't know what's going on, just woke up, remember?" he said tiredly. How was he supposed to explain that his humanity was slowly being drained away by what he was becoming? He couldn't think about anything, though. Why was the energy draining out of his so quickly?
He fell forward into Tatsuki before he sat up and blinked. She frowned at him.
"Ichigo, you're going to be weaker than normal for a while. Most people who have been unconscious for over a year can't even stand for weeks. For you to be up and around, even if exhausted, is amazing," Inoue supplied from behind her.
Ichigo nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know about the markings. If they're permanent and if they transfer to my human body…if I can even go back to my human body even…"
"They do, and you can't, I fear," came Urahara's voice from the doorway as he leaned against it. Everyone gaped at Isshin who stood in a shihakuso and a captain's haori over his shoulder beside Urahara.
Urahara slowly escorted the others out of the room so Ichigo could speak to Isshin alone. They didn't want to leave, of course, but he explained that there was a lot for Ichigo to know about.
"Yo, goat face," Ichigo said. "I'd be surprised if I wasn't so damn tired…"
"It's okay son, but to explain, it seems that whatever the hogyuku did it unlocked whatever powers were hidden. I guess the hollow soul and the Quincy powers have somehow come to coexist along with your own shinigami powers… Your power has increased so much you can't go back to the world of the living at all, I'm afraid."
"Quincy?" Ichigo asked, brows scrunching.
"Your mother was a Quincy. And my name isn't really Kurosaki, it is Shiba. So, while you are here, I am sure Kukaku and Ganju will see to your needs. Once you are settled in whatever division you train with to get your strength back, I'll bring Karin and Yuzu to see you. There are a lot of things to discuss, my son, but now isn't the time. You need your rest right now."
Ichigo nodded but before he even realized it, he'd collapsed into Isshin's arms. Urahara came in and helped Isshin get him back on the bed and stared.
"Is he going to be okay?" Isshin asked softly.
"No idea, Isshin. No idea at all. The readings we're getting right now…I've got to be honest, they're frightening, even by our standards. We thought it would be bad, but this is worse than I imagined. The hollow energy he emits is nearly overtaking the shinigami energy. I don't know if he'll be able to handle it for long," Urahara said and ran a hand over Ichigo's brow.
"He dreams about it," Isshin said as he watched Ichigo's eyes flutter behind his eyelids. It was obvious he was dreaming, or perhaps remembering.
Urahara nodded. "Yeah, and I don't know if any soul, no matter how powerful, can last like that."