A/N, WARNING: This Chapter contains Fluff to some degree, leave if you do not wish to be cuddled to death! *Laughs Evilly*.
Chapter Dos: Coming to Terms
The Trio of spiritual beings looked at the little girl sitting on Ichigos lap, eyes wide, her proclamation throwing them off.
'She is the Hogyoku?' Ichigo thought in slight panic, 'then why is she here?!'
"Jeez, no need to yell about it!" she yelled at them after their outburst, seemingly off-put by their reactions.
"But…" Ichigo trailed off, not being able to come up with which question to ask first, thankfully…
"Why are you here?" Tensa finished for him, directing their second question at her.
"Well…" She trailed off as she looked up to The black clad teen, "I like Ichi more than Aizen… plus I might have died if I didn't, so I latched onto the best possible person," she said and looked down to Ichigo again, "Ichigo, you're stronger than Aizen was, that is why I'm here… and you are a great person from what I've seen and heard while I was with Aizen… I'd rather fulfill the wish of someone pure. Someone like you," she finished with a gentle, yet hard look, her eyes shimmering with determination as a smile crossed her face.
Ichigo couldn't help but let a gentle smile cross his face as she looked down at him. His 'big brother' instincts kicking in, he held her close as he sat up, "So… what do we do now?" he asked as he looked over to Tensa and Shiro, "Any ideas?"
"Eh, I dunno Kingy" Shiro said as he sat down on the ledge of a sideways building, "maybe we should get out now, I think yer friends are coming around…" he continued as he glanced down at the two spirits.
"Alright" Ichigo began as he started standing up, but not before settling the little girl on the ground next to him, "I guess I'll see you in a little while" he finished as he stood up, "but before that… maybe we should give you a new name?" he went as he kneeled before the Hogyoku spirit.
"Hmm… I guess you're right Ichi, Hogyoku is a little long…" the young spirit trailed off.
"Well…" he trailed off as he reached up a hand to touch the hair pin in the young ones hair, "How about… Chohana?" he suggested in reference to her pin.
The little spirit smiled at the new name she'd been given, "Butterfly Flower… I like it!" she squealed and hugged her new friend around the neck, "thank you, Ichi," she said softly into Ichigos ear before letting him go and ran over to the other two spirits, both of whom actually looked happy for once, even Shiro adorned a soft smile and gentle look in his eyes as he saw the new addition to Ichigos soul run up to them.
"Bye guys, I'll see you later…" Ichigo said as he faded back into the soul society.
Ichigo opened his eyes to be greeted by the site of two clog clad feet walking towards him.
"Looks like you're up, Ichigo," stated the all-too familiar voice of Mr. Hat'n'Clogs, Kisuke Urahara.
"Oh, Shut up Hat'n'Clogs," Ichigo replied with no venom in his voice as he rolled over on his back, "I just destroyed the largest threat to Soul Society and-" he cut himself off as he noticed his appearance.
He was wearing a tattered white trench coat, open at the middle to show his White bandaged chest and proceeding to wrap around his right arm up his neck to hide the lower part of his face, with an open purple under shirt, both formfitting except for the very end of the sleeves which flared out in tatters (A/N, like his Bankai coat combined with The Final Getsuga Tensho Wrappings using different coloring and being open in the front), and the regular hakama pants being of similar coloring, but he was wearing nothing for his feet, being completely barefoot.
Around his neck hung a necklace with an uneven set of pearls that gradually got larger towards the middle where the Hogyoku resided, shining a royal purple.
His orange hair cascaded down his back (A/N, slightly rougher Vers. of his Final Hollow form, somewhat reminiscent of the last filler arcs (A/N, can't remember its name (A/N, Author-noteception... too soon?)) version when he faced Kageroza), randomly streaked with purple and black. Then he noticed something about his skin... there were barely visible red, black, yellow and purple veins pulsing and glowing under his skin, he couldn't see his face, but he felt the yellow glow radiating around his eyes.
'Chohana? Did you do this?' he mentally asked the little spirit, somewhat confused as he took in his new appearance.
"Well… yeah, had to add my own touch right?" She asked back from within his inner world.
'I suppose… well atleast you didn't turn me into a butterfly or anything,' Ichigo thought back to her and she giggled slightly and the faint echo of insane cackling of his hollow opposite could be heard in his mindscape.
"You might want to stop staring at yourself though," the young spirit said, "My creator might think you're weird…" she trailed off
'But considering the guy is slightly insane…' Ichigo thought back.
"Yeah, he has no room to talk," she shot right back.
"Well, well, Ichigo. Looks like you got yourself a new appearance," Kisuke said with an unusual seriousness in his voice, "What happened?" he questioned as he firmly held his sealed Benihime.
"Well, Urahara, seems the Hogyoku took up residence with me," Ichigo said without hesitation, Urahara looked at him with a comically deadpan expression, "Unbelievable, right?" Ichigo asked, quirking an eyebrow at the odd man.
"Yes, it is quite unbelievable… and to think I put all that work into making a seal for the guy," he said with a sad chuckle, as he took out his favorite hat from in under his reverse captains-haori and put it in its rightful place, covering his eyes in his trademark shadow.
"Wait… you were going to seal him?" Ichigo asked, a little bit stunned by the revelation.
"Of course you would do that," muttered the voice of Chohana, materializing with her little arms around Ichigos neck (A/N, Think Yachiru and Kenpachi), "part of the reason I jumped over to Ichi!" she squealed with joy as she buried her head in Ichigos neck. Urahara seemed greatly confused, yet highly amused by his former pupil's current position.
"Well, well, look who's popular," Urahara joked with a smug smirk, he was going to tease the crap out of Ichigo for this later… and he was going to enjoy every second of it, "So? Mind telling me who the kid is?" he asked going back to a slightly more serious demeanor, but still laughing his ass off on the inside and having a vague idea.
"Well as you might have guessed, Urahara, she is what would be known as the Hogyoku," he said as his hand gently stroked her purple locks, "Me, Shiro, the hollow; and Tensa like to call her Chohana though." He continued with a distant look clouding his eyes for a moment as he watched Chohana from the corner of his eye, before looking back to Urahara, "Well, now you have your proof, Mr. Hat'n'clogs..." He trailed off as Urahara knelt down next to him and looked at Chohana.
"I knew the Hogyoku had a will of its own..." He trailed off as his eyes took on a glazed look, as if thinking deeply, "But I never my experiments would result in an artificial symbiotic spirit," He continued as a small smile came upon his face, "and to think... I was just trying to break the borders between beings," He said as he turned his gaze to Ichigo, "but I see that I created a Perfect Hybrid in the process" he finished with a wide grin.
"Wait... what do you mean by 'Perfect Hybrid'?" Ichigo questioned with a raised eyebrow as the veins around his eyes burned red for a few moments before going back to yellow.
"Ah, yes, I'm guessing your father never told you about his past... or how he met your mother?" he said as he took on a solemn expression, Ichigo's eyes widened for a second before going back to a more controlled expression, "What do you mean?" the teen demanded.
Urahara sighed, feeling his mental age for one of the many times during this Aizen business, "I guess we should find him so he can explain it to you himself... God knows he should have told you a long time ago" Urahara spoke as he rose up to his full height and offered a hand to the extremely powerful youth.
Ichigo accepted the help up, making sure to keep Chohana steady on her hold. But before either of them could move from their location, they were enveloped in light and a sense of vertigo got them both before they simply appeared behind Ichigos group of friends.
Tatsuki instantly whirled around as she felt the spiritual pressure from the strange shop keeper and saw them appearing from a pocket of unfolding light.
She gasped at her friend's new appearance; she first noticed his new clothes, so much different from what he usually has, almost completely opposite from the regular black style he wore before in his spiritual form, with his lower-face and chest covered by bandages and a necklace of orbs hanging around his neck, with the largest one being eerily familiar. Then she saw his hair flowing in a large spiky mane, but the colors were off, there were streaks of different colors mixed in with his familiar orange hair, she pondered this until she saw his eyes.
His eyes, they were the same as she knew them, the chocolate brown orbs that she knew so well, still held the kindness and warmth she remembered, but there was a hint of complete control shining behind them that was unusual, but made her feel safe.
Then she saw a child hanging on his back, seemingly sleeping while somehow holding onto his neck to keep her from falling.
"Ichigo!" She called to her childhood friend and ran over to him, the rest of the group following her lead, calling their own forms of distress.
"Hey guys!" he called happily, with what could be interpreted as an eye-smile, to his friends. His voice had not changed, but it seemed happier than it had been in a long time.
As Tatsuki ran she raised her fist and was about to uppercut Ichigo in the jaw, but he suddenly vanished from sight causing her eyes to widen for a second, before she felt a pair of arms hold her in an embrace, lifting her slightly off the ground, and a mop of orange and color streaked hair appearing in front of her.
"Sorry for making you all worry... Suki-chan," said Ichigo in a sincerely happy, yet somewhat apologetic voice, the veins around his eyes flashing blue for just a moment.
"Idiot," the shorter black haired teen said playfully as she teasingly punched him in the gut, "Why would I be worried? You can take care of yourself" she commented with a smirk playing across her face as she looked up to see Ichigos kind smile.
Ichigo let her go and turned to his other friends, Keigo, Mizuiro, Chizuru... Kanonji and Imo- Kuramadani...
He gave a sigh of relief to see that they were all unharmed... well as unharmed you can be after an encounter with one of the strongest beings in all 4 realms (A/N, if you're wondering I'm talking about; Hell, the Human World, the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo). Ichigo looked around and saw his father lying in the rubble, some of it toppling over him, but much to his relief he was unhurt save for a few scrapes from chips of stone that flew with the wind of the battle.
He then noticed a still crying Matsumoto lying on top of an almost dead Gin. Ichigo slowly walked over to the fellow ginger blonde and kneeled beside her, a solemn look on his face. He stroked the purple locks of the childlike spirit hanging on his back, slowly waking her from her little nap on his shoulder. "Chohana... can you do anything?" the Strawberry blonde teen asked in a soft whisper to his young looking soul tenant, "I think so..." she mumbled drowsily, obviously still trying to wake from her dream addled mind.
The little spirit slid off his back and sleepily walked over to the distraught woman's side and putting a hand on her shoulder to let her get to the silver-lilac haired man. She put a hand on the dying man's chest and a pulse of energy blasted into him in a brilliant display of purplish white light, engulfing the four spiritual individuals. Inside the light, Gin's body was healing the cut in his chest and building a new arm to replace the one he lost, while the Hogyoku's power flowed into him.
The light started clearing with an eerie chime, revealing the four people, one of them now sitting up with wide eyes, revealing ice blue orbs peeking out from in under his constantly squinting eyes, a look of apparent shock grazing his features. The crying beauty's face split into a happily shocked expression as she carefully embraced her beloved snake, her features calming as she held onto him tighter as tears still flowed, but tears of elating happiness instead of consuming grief.
Ichigo just smiled and let his eye veins flash a comforting blue at the scene and picked up the now sleeping form of Chohana, holding her close to himself, a sleepy smile stretched across her face as she snuggled into his chest, sighing in content sleep. The teen chuckled at the action and let her connection to the world outside his soul fade, letting her flow back into his mind.
-Inside Ichigo's Mind-
Shiro was laying on the side of one of the many sideway skyscrapers inside the mind of one Ichigo Kurosaki; looking into the clear sky, save for the odd sideways cloud floating by. He was just lying there, calmly enjoying being in his own thoughts for once when he felt the returning presence of Chohana, whom he could consider a little sister figure due to his instincts which he built off of his hosts own over time.
Just as his luck would predict, the sleeping little spirit rematerialized laying on his chest, curled into a cute little ball. Shiro simply smiled at the younger spirit and calmly moved her a little so she was lying in his arms as he sat up. She subconsciously gripped onto the coat of Ichigo's hollow counter-part and snuggled into his bleach white chest. He chuckled lightly.
"Sleep well... Hana-chan"
-Outside Ichigo's Mind-
Everyone around Ichigo, except the crying woman and the man holding said woman, were looking at him with questioning awe, even Urahara was stunned, 'Did he just revive him?' was the collective thought of everyone else.
"Ichigo... how did you...?" Keigo started, but was too confused to finish.
"How did I bring him back to life?" Ichigo decided to ask the question on everyone's minds, raising an eyebrow and his lips quirking upward under the bandages at the sight of his loud friend being absolutely speechless. Everyone just nodded.
"I was able to draw his soul back into place, thankfully his spiritual force was large enough and held onto his body for just enough time for me to fix it, then recreate his body with the help of the Hogyoku," he said as he held up the orb on his necklace, it gleaming a soft purple shade, "and that little kid you saw was the embodiment of the Hogyoku's spirit, Chohana, which now resides in my soul, along with two other spirits, Shiro; my Hollow side, and Tensa Zangetsu; my Zanpakuto," he finished.
Tatsuki just walked to him and did what many would see as uncharacteristic of her. She embraced Ichigo in a hug and leant her head onto his chest. Ichigo was confused as to what brought on this action, but hesitantly returned the embrace.
In the background, Urahara and Keigo were smirking and shot each other conspiratorial glances, while Mizuiro just smiled somewhat happily. Chizuru meanwhile looked somewhat thoughtful, thinking they looked good together like that. Chizuru, while being openly lesbian, could still appreciate the feeling of warmth from the relationship between the opposite genders, and she was happy for her friend/enemy.
"I'm happy... Ichigo," Tatsuki whispered into his chest, but Ichigo picked it up due to his extremely trained senses, "I was worried when you went off to fight that guy..." she continued as she snuggled into his chest, gripping him tighter, she sounded on the verge of tears now. "Just don't leave again..." she softly sobbed into his chest, "I wouldn't know what to do if you were gone," she cried lightly as Ichigo tightened his embrace, letting a lone tear fall.
"Sorry, Tatsuki, I won't leave again, so please don't cry," he whispered to her as he leaned down to her ear. The bandages over his face started cracking and fading away into reishi particles, stopping at his neckline as he let his chin rest on her head, rocking her back and forth to soothe her. Unbeknownst to everyone, a sliver of Ichigo's power was being unconsciously absorbed by Tatsuki as her own power was flaring out slightly from her, replenishing itself with some of Ichigo's own, almost godly power.
A/N, Yes, I'm ending this on a cliffy, but I needed to get this out, as I had promised my friend, not to worry, I shall pick up the pace soon and have a chappy as soon as possible... prefferably withing two weeks. And I guess a 'thank you' is in order for those who reviewed as they gave me additional will to complete this, and Special Thanks to my friend (You know who you are) for kicking me into gear for this... I actually had a third of this chapter for an entire month before he came along and saw this. And now I've kinda decided to go for one of the less used pairings within FanFiction, IchiTats, and we might get a certain cute captainless Vice-captain on this later aswell... congrats if you can figure out who... I AM making this obvious here...