Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach as much as I wish I did. It belongs to the brilliant Tite Kubo-sama.
Pairings: Shinji Hirako/ Ichigo Kurosaki
Chapter Summary: Ichigo meets the vizards as they take care of him and his cold, finds out hes one of them, and realizes that Urahara has been keeping secrets. (For full story summary, go to first chapter)
'thoughts'
/Zangetsu/
/hollow/
/Ichigo to Zangetgtsu or Shiro/
Chapter 2: Taking care of Ichigo at the vizards
"My name is Hirako, Shinji Hirako" hand held out, "nice to meet you" insert blinding grin.
Ichigo stared into this Shinjis eye, unsure of what to do. On one hand, he had just helped him out (he would not say save, it was supposed to be the other way around), but on the other hand, he kind of felt like a hollow and the look in his eyes made him wary.
Shinji couldn't help but feel some amusement the boy's actions. He had this adorably confused expression on his face as his eyes went from his hand to his eyes. 'Then again', he thought sulkily, 'I don't exactly look trusting according to Love'
He seemed to come to a decision as he gently grabbed his offered hand. Shinji smiled, and pulled him up. However, he did so too fast, and found a strawberry tumbling into him.
"You ok?" the blonde asked looking down.
Ichigo nodded, "I'm fine". He looked nervously at Shinji, "do you think you can turn around?"
"why?"
"I would like to get dressed" Shinji felt pity as the boy said that quietly. This was probably the first experience the boy ever had in this kind of situation, and was most likely in shock.
"Sure", he started to turn around when he felt his hand tug and a body pressed against his back. Momentarily confused, he looked to see the boy flush even more. 'Maybe tomato fits him better then strawberry'
"Can you let go of my hand to?"
Shinji looked down and noticed that their hands were still joined. He didn't flush or anything, just slowly let go, hand going cold at the sensation and loss of heat. 'He must not use his sword in this form' he mused silently, 'his hands have absolutely no calluses'. Ichi's hands were very soft.
With Shinji turned around, Ichigo began to pull up his pants. His cold came back full force, and he staggered into the blondes arms.
Shinji had turned around just in time to catch him, having felt his reitsu nearly give out. 'What a pain' rolling his eyes. Gently picking him up, he jumped to the roof, heading towards the warehouse his long time nakama were at.
Shinji arrived at the hideout, flaring a bit of his reitsu to alert the others that it was him and that he was back. The door opened and the barrier dropped, and he quickly jumped to the side, annoyed. Where he was standing previously, a sandal had been thrown.
"Why are you here so early dumbass, you're supposed to be recruiting Ichigo Kurosaki, not lazing around!" Hiyori screeched as she raced out the door. She stopped when she saw Ichigo. "Is that the brat?"
Love wandered out, and put his hand on her head, leaning a bit and ignoring her warning glare and growl. "Now Shinji'" he started, "What have we told you about bringing back strays?" he said jokingly.
Rolling his eyes, Shinji replied, "Idiot, this is Kurosaki Ichigo". He walked right past them, and in through the door. He tried not to wince when Hiyori smacked Love for leaning on her. 'Better him then me'. In the warehouse the rest of them were relaxing, Lisa reading her porn, Kensei fighting against his reitsu infected bag, Hachi meditating, Mashiro pacing and Rojuro reading manga.
"Oi Hachi!" he yelled, snapping the kido master out of his trance.
"Yes?"
"Come over here and see if you can help the kid"
Hachi got up and wandered over to Shinji, who had laid Ichigo on one of the couches that littered the area.
The jumping and running that Shinji had done to get there hadn't done any good for Ichigo's cold. It had just made it worse.
The cold air from the running and jumping and the summer suns unforgiving rays had taken its toll on him. Sweat dampened his forehead as his normally spiky hair plastered itself there, his breath coming out in panting gasps.
Lisa looked up from her porn and walked over to them. "So this is the newest member of our family". She glanced down, "and while he is cute, I didn't think you would bring him here in this condition. Does he even know why you are here?"
Shinji shook his head, "No, he fainted on me"
"Then why did you bring him here?"There was an underlining threatening tone that said he would pay if there wasent a good reason, but Shinji paid it no heed.
"Circumstances forced my hand"
While they talked, Hachi focused on healing the boys' cold.
Kensei stopped beating up his punching bag for a moment before resuming. "And what circumstances forced your hand?"
Shinji glanced down, suddenly not wanting to talk. For some reason he did not was to tell the others the reason, but that was absurd. These were his long time nakama, and besides, who would they tell. He shooed off the voice telling him not to do it. Maybe he felt a bit protective because the boy was so young. "He was nearly raped"
Tensions rose slightly as the rest of them digested what he had said. Hachi continued working, but brought his glowing hands down from his chest and towards Ichigo's pelvic region to heal any damage that might be there.
"His name means Strawberry right?" Mashiro asked. Shinji nodded, having a feeling as to where this was going. "Then we'll call hem Berry-tan" she said cheerfully.
Everyone sweat dropped.
"I don't thing Kurosaki-kun will like that"
Everyone turned to the entrance. Standing there, shadows covering part of his body from the sunlight, was Urahara Kisuke.
"Kisuke" Shinji muttered
Urahara just smiled, taking out his paper fan and blowing wind on his face. "Well hello everyone"
Everything just stopped.
"Tell the soutachio that I accept" Hitsugaya told the messenger.
The messenger nodded and left.
Hitsugaya looked up, "I wonder if you'll survive this"
"Make me forget Kisuke-jisan"
Kisuke looked at his nephew in all but blood, who was staring at his shoes
"Make you forget what?"
"Everything. Seal my powers and my memories. Their dangerous"
KIsuke sighed. "I thought we went over this little one. As long as you meditate, and don't lose control, you'll be alright"
Some mumbling. "I had a dream again"
Kisuke stopped tinkering with his gadget and looked at his godson. "Oh, is that why you are scared?"
His godson sighed this time, a sigh that felt like the weight of the world was on his shoulder. "This power of mine can destroy things. I'll regain it back at a later date, but if it remains as it is, I will want to change things, and these things that I change will destroy this world and others. I can't protect you, Yoruichi-bachan, and my family if I keep it"
Kisuke chuckled, "it is we who are supposed to protect you, not the other way around"
Crying amber eyes looked up at him. "But I don't want you to die. I'd rather forget and protect rather than remember and regret. Please seal my powers away, as well as my memories. I'll remember you, I promise"
Kisuke looked down, 'so young, yet so mature.' However, he thought with a chucke, 'he still is naive though'. "I'll do it" he watched as his godson smiled. "Only on the condition that you remember. I want my favorite nephew to remember me"
He got a grin. "I'm your only nephew"
"You're still my favorite"
"Dont worry uncle, I'll begin to remember. When I do, I'll meet them and you'll break the seal"
"Meet who?"
"You'll know when the time is right"
"I hope you're right"
The vizards stared at Urahara.
Urahara stared back.
Tessai stared at the fallen Ichigo.
He was greeted by his former lieutenant.
"Welcome Urahara" Shinji said smiling insanely. "Why are you here?"
"Well it was such a nice day that I decided to go for a walk" the light tone belayed the mocking wat that it was spoken in.
Hiyori developed a tick.
"Then lol and behold, I'm covered from the sun by a giant bird" False eagerness entered, and a tone of wonderment followed. It would havw fooled them, had they not been used to Kisuke and his ability to make flase sounds.
The tick got bigger…
"So I looked up to thank the kind bird, but instead of a bird, I saw something else"
Hiyori snapped. "Get on with it!"
Urahara smiled behind his fan. "Alright, alright, ruin my fun! Who else could I have seen but Shinji carrying an unconscious Ichigo. So I had to follow to make sure my dear little strawberry was not going to be molested"
'Did he here about Ichigo's near rape?' Shinji thought...'No, he couldnt, even Kisuke wouldn't joke about something like that if he knew' he decided
"Don't call me strawberry"
Everyone looked to the couch, and there, sitting up, was Ichigo, who was looking a bit better than earlier.
Shinji looked at Ichigo, "about time you woke up", and froze, and looked at Hiyory who spoke.
Ichigo looked at her, before turning back to Shinji. "Your Shinji…right?"
Hiyori developed another tick. 'Who does this guy think he is'. She looked up when Rojuro put his hand on her shoulder. He shook his head, finger in a shooshing position. She remembered what Shinji had said earlier.
Shinji gave Rojuro a grateful look. Turning his attention back to Ichigo, he gave, what he hoped, was a friendly smile. "Yeah, I'm Shinji, Shinji Hirako" he reintroduced.
Ichigo nodded and looked at all the strange people in the room.
/What do you think Zangetsu?/ he asked, /what do you make of them?/. Like Shinji, their energy reeked of hollow and shinigami mixtures, but leaned more towards shinigami then hollow. In fact, now that he was awake, the entire building reeked of their mixed energy.
No one beside Zangetsu knew that Ichigo was able to fully sense a person's spiritual energy. It was something that he had learned when he was trying to find the bounts. Very little could escape his senses now. He never told anyone, believing that the element of surprise was something that everyone should have. Beside, everyone underestimated him, and by doing that, he had the upper hand. He was not as naive to battle as many suspected. When it came down to it, the only person that had an inkling to his ability was Urahara, and that was because Urahara was the one that verbally taught him how to sense. But just because he could sense did not mean that he had control over his own energy.
/They might be like you Ichigo. Their energy is very similar to your own/ was Zangetsu's response after a moment.
His eyes widened a bit and his heart sped up. 'Like me' he thought. 'Does that mean that they have an inner hollow as well?' He glanced up at the entrance.
"Urahara-san, Tessai-san" he said in surprise, "why are you here?"
Urahara pouted, "didn't you hear my explanation earlier Kurosaki-kun. I had to make sure these strangers didn't molest you"
Ichigo flinched a bit at the word molest, but only Shinji and Urahara caught it. Everyone els4e just rolled their eyes. "Don't lie to the kid Kisuke" Shinji muttered. "I too am also curious as for the real reason that you are here"
"What makes you think that I was lying?"
"Cause we know you" Hiyori muttered.
"If you must know" the scientists started, "I am here to make sure that Ichigo actually listens to you. He's a bit of a hot head when it comes to making decisions" Inwardly though, he was thinking along the lines of something else. 'I wonder if these are the people that you spoke of'
Ichigo glanced at the people that he was now going to be listening too. Inwardly he himself was rebelling at the thought of having to listen to them, or rather being forced to. There was Shinji, a green haired girl, a girl in a school uniform, the blonde midget, a blonde in frilly clothes, a guy with a star shaped afro, a fat but kind looking old man with graying pink hair, and a cold looking dude with silver hair.
Shinji snapped his fingers. "Where are our manners, we haven't even introduced ourselves yet. I am, as you know-" he was cut off by the midget who slapped him on the face with her sandal.
"Dumbass" she growled, "he knows you already!" she glared at Ichigo and pointed to herself. "Sarugaki Hiyori"
The school girl sighed, "my name is Lisa". She seemed to lose interest in him as she pulled out a…yuri manga.
Ichigo sweatdropped.
The afro man spoke up next, also pulling out a comic. "Aikawa Love "
The frilly man came up next. "Otroboshi Rojuro, but call me Rose ", he grabbed Ichigo's hand and brushed his lips over it. "Nice to meet you, my fair lady"
In the back, Urahara snorted as he tried to hide his laughter. 'Bad move Rose'
Ichigo developed a tick in his eye and pulled his hand back. He punched Rose under his chin, forcing the blonde to fly to the other side of the warehouse.
Urahara clapped, "and it's a one-hit KO. The victory goes to Ichigo!"
Everyone else clapped along with him.
Hiyori smirked maliciously. "I think we're going to get along just fine"
Ichigo just nodded.
Rose just twitched 20 feet away.
The green haired one spoke up next. "My names Kino Mashiro Berry-tan" she said excitedly. She was hopping a bit in her place.
Ichigo sweatdropped. 'Wait!' "Not a strawberry!"
Mashiro just giggled.
The obese one spoke next. He had a gentle smile on his face as he introduced himself, "You may call me Hachi", he bowed, "nice to meet you".
Ichigo blushed and bowed as well. "the pleasure is all mine"
Finally the last one introduced himself. "the names Kensei brat"
Ichigo nodded. He didn't feel sick anymore, but still had flushed cheeks, something that Urahara noticed.
"Kurosaki-kun" he said, grabbing the carrot tops attention, "are you sick?"
Frowning, Ichigo thought. He didn't feel sick anymore, the room want spinning and he felt pretty cool. "I don't think so. Well, not anymore anyway" he didn't notice Urahara come up and place glowing hands on his chest.
He flinched, "what are you doing?"
Urahara ignored him as he continued whatever he was doing
/I think he's analyzing your soul/
"Ah ha" Urahra muttered as he stopped touching Ichigo
"Whats wrong? What'd you find?" Shinji asked
"Just the reason Kurosaki-kun is sick" the scientist said in a sing song voice.
Ichigo just stared, 'there's a reason that I'm sick?'
"So what is it then?"
Urahara stopped joking around, and stared seriously into the berry's eyes, "you're dying"
Complete silence…
"Are you serious?!" Ichigo stammered out. /ZANGETSU!/
/I don't think that all that's going on here/
Urahar just grinned, "Just kidding" he sighed again
Before Ichigo could hit him, Hiyori beat him to it. "You dumbass! You don't tell someone something like that jokingly!" she screeched. The warehouse echoed from the slap she delivered on her former captain's head.
Ichigo glared at the sulking shop keeper.
"Alright, you're not dying…yet" he muttered
"Yet" Ichigo growled out
Urahara looked at him seriously again, but this time with an intensify that showed that he wasn't joking around this time. "Regardless of you power, you physical body is still alive. The constant stress of your soul leaving your body, along with the long time you were out of it in the seireitei has weakened the bond between body and soul"
"In Japanese please"
"Your body is rejecting your soul. Its began to reaccept it, but I don't think you should leave it for long periods of time for a while"
Ichigo just stared at Urahara again, waiting for him to break again and tell him that it was a joke. The truth of the matter was that he had suspected something like this could happen when he first started being a soul reaper, but figured that it would stop with Kon inhabiting his body.
The tension in the room that had gathered went away when something unexpected happened.
Mashiro jumped Ichigo.
It's alright Berry-tan" she murmered in his hair, nuzzling him, "we'll protect you". The sight of a full rown women nuzzling the teens hair was some what comical to the others who started laughing, or snorting in Kenseis case.
'Protect me? Why would they protect me? And why would they do it? We just met' Ichigo wondered, confused. No one, beside his mother, had ever really tried to protect him.
Rukia didn't try to protect him, she merely ran away. He was the physical manifestation of her crime, and further more was the fact that hanging out with him was causing her to become more human like. She had furthered the idea that he had stolen her powers. As far as he knew, and remembered, she had offered him her powers in order to save his family, and stolen meant taking forcefully that which has not been given. So how could he have stolen it? She had instead fueled the powers the fire for him to be killed with her silence, never admitting the truth. Orohime merely hates seeing people hurt. She doesn't do it because she cares, but out of fear from seeing her dying brother with all those injuries, and a simple promise of always helping those that are in need. Chad fights for him and is probably the closest person who fights to protect him. Actually, now that he thinks about it, it was very likely that ever since his mothers death, Chad was the only protector that he had. Hell, even his hollow, who Zangetsu said was apart of him, protect him just because he wanted to, but merely out of fear of death.
So why did these people want to protect him?
"Why do you say you going to protect me, when we just met?"
Shinji sighed, then smiled, "because you are one of us Ichigo"
Ichi blinked, "one of you" he said slowly
"Yes one of us. A vizard, a member of the masked army. Or to put it into simple terms, a shinigami who has crossed over into the realm of the hollow and gained their powers"
Silence
Ichigo tried to understand. Ever since his fight with Byakuya, he had felt his inner hollow, that bleached white version of himself. 'Are their really more like me?' he wondered, 'more people that have inner hollows?'. For the first time since he found out about his hollw, he wondered where it came from. When he gained his powers from Rukia? When he faced grand fisher? When he regained his powers?.........When he regained his powers? Now that he thought about it, he did have to destroy a hollow mask. Is that when it formed inside him?
Looking at Shinji, he felt for his spiritual pressure
Tendrils of Ichigos spiritual enery touched Shinjis own, causing the mention to shudder. Their was something strangely alluring about having the strawberrys spiritual pressure touching his own. He released part of his energy, allowing Ichigo to feel it freely.
And boy did the berry feel it. Shinjis spiritual pressure washed over him, encasing him, hiding his own from the outside world. It was a strange feeling, one that had him shuddering for the duration that it was on him.
By this time, the rest of the vizards had lost interest in the conversation, beside Hiyori, and were doing their own thing. None of them, beside Hiyori and Urahara, noticed their shuddering.
Hiyori glanced at her former captain, a question present in her eyes.
Urahara nodded, a calculating look in his eyes as he took in the teen and his long time friend. He and Shinji would need to talk…
"So what are you going to do about my hollow?" he asked one be was finished feeling Shinjis reitsu. He had a reason to be skeptical. His hollow for one was strong, a part of himself, never gave a moments break, and always repeated himself, saying that the king (Ichigo) was weak and that he would kill him eventually. 'He repeats himself so much that he sounds stupid'
/I heard that King!!/
Wincing, Ichigo tried to ignore the hollow once more. That scream had been particularly loud and quite unexpected. So the hollow didn't like being called dumb…
"The process of taming your hollow is broken down into 3 steps. First, we see how strong your hollow is", while he was talking, Shinji was counting off with his fingers. "Second, we test how much reitsu you have. Third, we have you fight your hollow for supremecy. If you win, your hollow will allow you to use its powers, and we'll teach you how to use them. If you lose, on the other hand, and your hollow takes over, we'll kill you" the last part was said in utter seriousness.
Now Ichigo was curious. It sounded as if they had killed other vizards before, ones that lost to their inner hollow.
"Has anyone ever completely hollowfied before?"
"Yes, and we've killed them" Hiyori said, butting in. Shinji and Ichigo blinked, having once again forgot that they weren't the only ones that were there.
"Oh" was all the carrot top could muster.
"In fact", Hiyori continued, "the chances of you surviving are very slim".
"Why is that/ Hiyori!" Ichigo and Shinji said/yelled respectively at the blonde.
Hiyori glared at Shinji, anger alight in her eyes. "I'm not going to sugar-coat things like you do Shinji". She turned back to Ichigo, "when it comes down to our history, the eight of us" she gestured to the other vizards, "are the original". She stared hard and cold into Ichigos eyes, "Since us, their have been about 4 more vizards, not including you. Out of those 4, not a single one of them survived defeating their hollow"
She smirked when she saw Ichigos shocked face. The boy was finally beginning to understand his situation. "that's reight. We've killed the other 4 vizards that have failed to beat their hollow"
Gulping, Ichigo nodded, and looked down. 'Only 8 out of 12 defeated their hollows. What separated these 8 from the rest of them?'
Shinji glared at Hiyori for causing Ichigo to worry. They wanted him to join, not be frightened off. "Don't worry Ichigo, you'll beat your hollow. All of were vice captain and above when we gained our hollow, and from what Urahara told me, you're on the same level as a captain. You'll be able to beat your hollow, so don't worry" he tried to reassure the teen.
Ichigo really didn't do anything, but a somewhat grateful look entered his eyes. He was still worried though, and he didn't know why. Sure he could die, but that was the same thing in soul society. So why was he so fearful right now? It just wasn't like him. 'I need to think this through'
Shinji continued to speak, "I know your most likely wanting some time to think things over, but the choice is obvious. If you don't tame your hollow, it will consume you and you will lose your sanittuy. The best thing is for you to join us and let us help you"
'He sounds like a recruiter', Ichi thought. However, he had already made his choice. "Can I have a few days?"
"Idiot" Hiyori muttered, rolling her eyes, "if you want to live then you have to join us. Your only prolonging the inevitable"
The berry frowned at her remark, his trademark scowl starting to form. "I know that. I'll be coming back, its just that this is a lot of information to be taking in. I just want some time to think, and sort out some stuff"
Hiyori opened her mouth, prepared to make another smartass remark, but Shinji wisely covered it with his hand. He gave a little yelp as she bit him, but he didn't remove it.
Ichigo and Tessai just stared, bemused by the two and their strange habits. Urahara just chuckled; he was used to things like this happening since he had been a captain.
Urahara cleared his throat, "I think that its time for Kurosaki-kun to go home", he smiled, and it was that smile that Ichigo hated. The one that spelled out "I know something you don't and I won't tell". "Your father expected you to be home an hour ago. The school called, and I don't think Isshin wants to be kept waiting"
A panicked expression filtered on to Ichigo's face, before being replaced with his scowl, though it was still noticeably panicked looking. He even ignored the fact that Urahara knew his fathers name, something that he had never told him. His father was a big idiot most of the time. A father who expected his son to be home at certain times was a freak (hence the kicks when he gets home), but a father expecting a sick son to be home at a certain time was completely overbearing.
Last time he was sick and not at home, his father had tied him to his bed so that he couldn't go anywhere and get worse. It was rather strange. Tie him up and lock him in his room was a rather strange way to make a child well. Wouldn't it be rather stressful? Still, to be locked up in his room with only medicine, was the way he was used to it being.
He jumped up, only to stagger as his fever came back. He thought he was ok, he felt ok, but he was still sick.
Shinji caught him, but Urahara was quick to snatch him away. He gave the befuddled teen to Tessai, eyes not leaving Shinjis as the unofficial leader of the vizards stared at him in confusion. Kisuke knew that Shinji had no idea why he did that, having not known what Hiyori knows.
"Tessai, can you please bring Kurosaki-kun home. He's in no condition to go by himself, and someone needs to explain to Isshin what's going on"
Tessai nodded, taking hold of the boy like a newborn kitten, Having seen the gentle light in which his master had looked at the boy with. After all, they went way back. Ignoring Ichigo's protest that he could go on his own and that he didn't need an escort, he jumped to the warehouses top oncwe he was outside.
Urahara stood at the door, waving bye at the fadibng figures. His back was turned to the vizards, so that they could not see the gentlness in which he smiled or the overbearing longing that was present in his gaze.
When they had completely faded out of sight, he turned to the other vizards, who by now had stopped what they were previously doing, having seen that Urahara was staying.
"We need to talk"
End Chapter
AN: Yay, the next chapter is done! Not as good as i would have liked, but still...
I would like to thank the people who reviewed my story, it was very appreciated.
Can anyone beta this story for me, i dont have one at the moment. PM me if your interested.
Next chapter wont be up till around March
Please review