Yes I am alive…. I'm just busy. First it was summer school (Yes I know this was a long time ago) now it's regular school. I tried to write in between them, but I got distracted and well just finally started to pick up both my stories again…. I am such a procrastinator.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters. I'm just borrowing them for my own evil deeds.
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"Since you're very much out of place in this world as a hybrid, I wanted to know if you would like to come join me in Hecdo Mundo, and become part of my army." He said extending his arm out towards Ichigo.
Ichigo's grip on Zangetsu loosened as he stared wide eyed at Azien's outstretched hand.
"What?" The teen asked confused, he had been expecting Aizen to attack him, torture him anything that would cause him some sort of misery. Being offered a position in Soul Society's number one enemy's army was not something he had been expecting.
The ex-captain smirked stepping closer to Ichigo. Instinctively the teen tensed waiting for Aizen to make the first strike, but it never came.
"Please listen carefully this time as I would rather not have to repeat myself again." Ichigo scowled as Aizen gripped his hands behind his back.
"I would like you to come join me and my army in Hecdo Mundo and I would also like it if you were to come by your own free will."
"And why the hell would you think I would do something like that?" Ichigo spat angrily, his free hand gripping into a fist. Aizen turned around, his hands still gripped behind his back.
"Who knows, maybe I just thought you would like to be in a place where you were treated as an equal," Aizen turned his head to look at Ichigo, "instead of a monster."
"H-how?" Ichigo's head was spinning, how had he known, did he read minds or something?
"It wasn't very hard to figure out" Turning back around Aizen began examining his right hand. "All I had to do was follow you around for a few days and it became completely obvious"
Taking a step back the orange haired hybrid almost dropped Zangetsu as the world around him began to spin.
"I see it is finally sinking in, Soul Society may not be as clever as I, but if they were to follow you for a few days as I did," Aizen looked up at Ichigo with a smirk "It would become as obvious to them as it did to me about your status as a hybrid."
There was a loud clanking as Ichigo fell to his knees letting go of Zangetsu. How could this have happened? Aizen, the enemy of the soul society, was standing in front of him practically offering him protection from people that he had once considered as friends. He wasn't sure of anything anymore. After what Renji had said and now Aizen, what should he do? If had been asked earlier today he wouldn't have even thought about it, but now he wasn't so sure.
"I see you are confused, maybe I should give you a day to consider" The ex-captain brought his hand to his face as if thinking. "Yes, that is what I'll do. You have until this time tomorrow to decide" Turning around a large hole appeared out of nowhere, stepping though the opening he called back to the hybrid who as still on his knees staring at the ground. "Think about it, Ichigo Kurosaki."
Once Aizen and the hole had disappeared, Ichigo began to bring himself to his feet, head still looking at the ground. Sighing he bent down and picked up Zangetsu who was still lying on the ground by his feet.
How quickly the whole world could turn against you. One day, it took one day to ruin his whole life, his bond with his friends and family, and his trust in everyone he knew.
One fucking day.
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Back at his house, Ichigo laid face first on his bed the second he jumped back through the window not even bothering to get back in his body. His head was in utter turmoil as he thought over the choices he had.
Choice one - He could tell Aizen no, get his ass kicked, then, if he was still alive, eventually be condemned by the soul society for being a hybrid.
Choice two - He could except Aizen's offer and join his army in Hecdo Mundo and well, he didn't know much of what would happen after that.
'Oi king, if I were ya I'd pick th' second one'
For once, even though he hated to admit it, his hollow was right. Though, if he choose the second one that would mean he would become an enemy of the soul society and eventually he'd have to fight those people he once called friends.
'Uh king? Wha' are ya thinkin'? Righ' now ya have th' chance ta save yer sorry ass from yer so called friends, an' yer worried 'bout hurtin' there feelings?'
'You don't know they'll even betray me in the first place,' Ichigo replied turning onto his side staring out his window. Who was he, a hollow, to judge his friends loyalty.
'Ha! Ya jus' keep tellin' yerself tha' king, jus' remember I'll be here for ya if ya ever need someone ta put ya out of yer misery.'
That same insane laugher that he would never get used to echoed throughout his head. Closing his eyes the laughter began to subside. Opening his eyes again he sat up and jumped off his bed. Slowly he began circling around his room worriedly.
'What if he is right, what if they all betrayed me?' Gripping his head he attempted to clear his mind. He couldn't let his hollow's words get to him.
"Because they could just as easily stand by my side," he whispered to himself quietly, hoping to convince himself that these words were the truth.
He continued to debate with himself on the pros and cons of each choice. It wasn't looking good as the cons began piling up on the first choices side.
He heard a knock at his door. Looking up from the crouch he had eventually settled into he let his hands fall to his side.
"Ichi-nii," a voice called from the other side of the door. "Yuzu told me to come up here and tell you that breakfast is ready. So you better hurry up"
"A-alright Karin, I'm coming" Ichigo called shakily at first.
"Ichigo are you ok?" Karin called worriedly. Taking a few deep breathes Ichigo tried to calm himself down.
"Yeah I'm ok, I'll be down in a minute." It was quite for a few seconds before Karin responded with a suspicious ok and walked away.
Hearing her footsteps disappear down the hallway, Ichigo let his body slide the rest of the way down the wall to the floor. How in the hell was he going to choose who he would become loyal to by the end of the day, and to make things worse, he had school.
He groaned pressing the palm of his hand to his forehead trying to get rid of his headache that he most likely gained from the lack of sleep in his system.
'So king, did ya decide yet?
Or maybe not.
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Distant. That's how Ichigo felt when he arrived at school that day. He didn't want his friends to know that he was housing a hollow inside of him. He tried not to think of how they would react, but what would happen if they found out? Would they accept him and treat him no different from how they did now or would they reject him and fear him as a monster. He already knew how Soul Society would react. Renji had said enough to him on the subject.
'It would have been better if none of this ever happened in the first place' just as he finished repeating this statement to himself a figure flung itself at him screaming.
"Ichigo!'
"Keigo, get the hell off me," Ichigo said calmly his scowl in place as he attempted to pry the now crying Keigo off of him.
"But Ichigo! You always are always ignoring me, especially in public! You act as if I don't even exist!"
"Maybe if you stopped acting like such a kid, people would stop treating you like an idiot!" Ichigo snarled back loudly. Keigo slowly let go of him and taking a few steps back surprised. Sure Ichigo got pissed at him every once in a while, but he had never yelled like that before.
"Oh hey Kurosaki-kun," Orihime said as she walked over to where he was standing. She slowly came to a halt as she saw Keigo standing a few feet away from Ichigo looking shocked.
"Kurosaki-kun?" She asked in confusion. Ichigo in response glared at Orihime before turning around and angrily opening the door to their classroom. Orihime still confused followed him into the classroom. She walked over to his desk where he had sat down and was now resting his chin on his arms.
"Kurosaki-kun, are you alright?" She asked looking down at him with a concerned voice.
"Yeah I'm ok, tell Keigo I'm sorry I snapped at him though," Ichigo said sighing not bothering to look up at her. Orihime watched him worriedly until the bell rang and she left to head for her seat.
'I've not been getting enough sleep,' Ichigo thought reasoning to himself.
As class continued on the orange haired vizard couldn't seem to focus and his mind kept straying back to what he was going to tell Aizen. So far he really didn't have any reason to join him. The soul society had yet to even try anything suspicious involving him, so why should he join Aizen when his current allies had yet to betray him.
Even so, Ichigo couldn't keep that nagging voice in the back of his mind that whispered words of betrayal and mistrust to him.
Rubbing his tired eyes in an effort to stay awake, Ichigo turned his attention to the window. It was a beautiful day, no clouds to be seen. Out of the corner of his eye Ichigo thought he saw something move. When he turned to look he saw nothing. Shaking his head the orange haired teen turned his head back to the front of the classroom attempting to listen to what the teacher was saying.
Dismissing the blur as his tired mind playing tricks on him, but even so the little voice in the back of his mind began to grow a little louder.
The second the bell had rang for school to end, Ichigo grabbed his bag and rushed out of the classroom not wanting to get stopped. He only had a few hours until Aizen showed up and he needed to get his head in order.
Once Ichigo felt he was far enough away from the school he began to slow down and let his mind wander.
'Damnit!' Ichigo swore to himself 'How does that bastard expect me to choose in only a day!'
'Oh, good king! Tha' means yer consederin' it!
"What the hell is that supposed to mean!" Ichigo yelled out loud receiving a few odd stares from the people standing around him. Noticing this, the hybrid quickly made his to a less crowded area.
'Of course I'm considering it!' Ichigo go said in his mind this 'I was given a choice, wasn't I?'
'I never said ya weren't given a choice, king. I was jus' pointin' out th' fact tha' ya were actually considerin' it.'
'I don't understand' Ichigo thought slightly confused. He could hear his hollow sighing.
'Wha' I mean king, is tha' before ya wouldn' have even considered it, ya would jus' stared at th' guy an' been like 'Hell no bastard!'
Ichigo didn't respond he just blankly stared at the ground.
'Hmm ya sure are slow sometimes king'
"Just shut up." Ichigo whispered closing his eyes.
'Anything for ya my slightly confused king,' he said snickering quietly.
Ichigo stood there for awhile with his closed tightly, his hands clenched into tight fists. Had he really changed in such a short time? It wasn't his fault that he was beginning to question everything, it was that bastard Aizen's fault. He's the one to blame for planting the thought in his head in the first place.
'Damn I'm just thinking in circles. I just need to calm down and think about this rationally.'
Deciding it would be best to head home. He turned around and started to walk. The bright cloudless day began to darken as the sun started to set. As Ichigo walked along the sidewalk past a small shopping center he looked towards one of the shop windows.
In the window he could perfectly see his reflection. From what he could tell the only thing that had changed about him was his eyes which looked tired and confused. Sighing he realized the only thing that had really changed was the way he thought about things.
Looking closely Ichigo saw something that he hadn't noticed before. What he saw had nothing to do with what he looked like, but was something he saw behind him. Eyes widening Ichigo turned quickly not wanting to believe what he had seen. Glancing again he saw that it was still there confirming every doubt that the voice had whispered to him.
Ichigo began running as fast as his tired body would go to his house trying to escape the watching eyes of the Shinigami that sat on the roof behind him.
Breathing hard Ichigo arrived at his house out of breath and scared out of his mind. Throwing open the door Ichigo climbed up the stairs and ran into his room as fast as he could.
'He was right!' Ichigo screamed in his mind as he began to pace around the room in circles. "That bastard was right!" He screamed out loud slamming his fists into his desk before sliding to the ground and gripping his head.
'Why, why the fuck is this happening?' He thought to himself desperately. There was a lot of questions he wanted answered. Why him, why was he made into a hybrid, why won't the soul society trust him, he was still Ichigo.
Apparently the soul society didn't see it that way though. What other reason would they have to send a Shinigami to watch him? They didn't trust him, they thought something was odd about him and they were going to find out.
Ichigo remained on the floor thoughts running trough his mind until finally he reached a conclusion. Standing up he grabbed the badge off his desk and left his body lying on the floor of his room.
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Ichigo stood by the rivers edge staring into the water. It was the exact spot where his mother died. The sky had clouded over and was hiding the moon from sight.
"Mother," Ichigo whispered to himself "Am I making the right choice?"
It had only been a few months since he had became a Shinigami, but even in that short period of time so much had happened. He had learned to fight hollows and send souls to the other side. When Rukia was taken and sentenced to death he underwent training to become strong enough to infiltrate the soul society and save her.
Once there he met many people. Some friends that he believed he could trust, worthy rivals and a few irritating but fun captains.
He had even gone out of his way to try and protect the soul society, even though they were his enemy back then. Ichigo clenched his fist in anger.
'Even though all of that had happened they still betrayed me' Ichigo thought to himself bitterly.
"Have you made your decision?" A voice from behind Ichigo asked.
Looking up at the sky Ichigo stared with slightly hooded eyes for a few minutes before turning around and facing the ruler of Hecdo Mundo. Nodding he turned his head away for a moment squeezing his eyes shut. Then quickly lifting his head back up, he opened his eyes and stared at Aizen with a determined look.
"I have made my decision." Taking a few steps forward Ichigo extended his hand towards Aizen.
"I will accept your offer."
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Wow, I actually finished. I bet you all didn't think I'd ever update again. Well I hope you're not expecting a quick update after this but I'll try and get it out as fast as I can.
Oh yeah the chapter titles if you wish to know are here, they're latin (Cause I get bored in that class all the time)
1st chapter- The dead do not grieve
2nd- They condemn what they do not understand
I feel weird about certain parts of this chapter, but if I don't post this now it may never make it up. So if it sucks at points I'm really sorry. Oh well, if you liked it I'll be glad if you review.