Chapter 2

All was dark, and all was sore, Ichigo could feel nothing but a dull throbbing that permeated her entire being, every nerve ending felt bruised and Ichigo just wanted to fall back into unconsciousness.

"Ichigo…"

That sounded like Zangetsu,

"Ichigo, I must speak with you…"

Did she have to open her eyes? Everything hurt too much..

"Ichigo!"

Moaning in pain Ichigo opened her eyes to see her sideways inner world, the clouds moving towards her as she lay down upon a building. Blinking, Ichigo could feel the slight weight of her hollow mask fragment on her face, and the familiar, but slightly changed presence of old man Zangetsu beside her. Slowly turning her head she saw the still hollowfied spirit of her sword crouching next to her, his face blank as he finally got her attention.

"Ichigo, there are some things you must know about yourself now that we have merged with Shirosaki."

Groaning again Ichigo got up into a sitting position, turning to face her zanpakuto spirit she noticed that she now wore the same outfit as Shiro had, the white material warm but not too much and it also fit her figure well.

"Alright, I'm up and I'm sore, so what do I have to know so I can go back to being unconscious?"

Ichigo thought Zangetsu had rolled his eyes at her but it was hard to tell with the sunglasses, "Ichigo, this is serious, I know you still need to recover but do you remember what Aizen did to us before he died?"

Ichigo thought back, she remembered seeing her friends and family, and smiling to try and reassure them she would be alright as she was falling into a gar-

"That Fucker! He sent a Garantura under me! Damnit! Yamamoto-ji sealed Hueco Mundo! Crap, so I'm stuck in that desert." Ichigo idly noted that she was ranting but she thought she had a very good reason, it was then that she was struck with another idea:

"Wait, if I'm going to be in Hueco Mundo for who knows how long then what the hell am I going to eat?" Ichigo nearly shrieked the question, before looking back to Zangetsu's impatient expression and deciding she should just let him talk.

"Thank you for stopping Ichigo, and to answer your questions yes Aizen is dead, no I do not know how long we will be stuck in Hueco Mundo but I think there is also a time difference between here and elsewhere, and finally I come to the issue that I originally wished to talk to you about." He paused at the end.

"Ichigo, now that we have merged with Shiro we are now a perfect fusion of Hollow and Shinigami we are in-between Vizard and Arrancar, you have a mask, but no hollow hole. This means that you can and most likely will have to consume hollows to maintain yourself.

Ichigo stared at Zangetsu, "So I'm a fifty-fifty mix of hollow and shinigami, no clue what I am now exactly classified as, and have to eat hollows to survive and thus condemn myself in the eyes of Soul Society since they will want to 'purify' me to free the souls I eat when I finally get out of here?"

"Not the last part, since you are part shinigami— and this works for Arrancars as well— when you consume another hollow that hollow then appears in your inner world and becomes a part of you, remember how Gillians work?" Zangetsu ignored Ichigo's intergected "Crap!" before continuing, "But instead of becoming a mass consciousness you have a zanpakuto, and once I consume the hollow it becomes purified and the souls sent to Soul Society while the energy of the hollow remains with you."

Ichigo blinked as she processed the information, "Well that's convenient, I just hope they taste better than they look."

Zangetsu then continued, "And that is all I have found out about yourself so far but just to let you know, you have been found by several other Arrancars. Their signatures are familiar and I have identified them as Nel and her Fraccion, Grimmjow, and… Ulquiorra."

Ichigo's head shot up despite her still present headache, "Ulquiorra? How the hell is he still alive? Not complaining as he obviously isn't trying to kill me or anything cause if he was I doubt we would be having this conversation, but how?"

"He was not killed the conventional way, was not consumed or purified and he died in the spiritually rich lands of this place, he did tell you that things would not end if you did not kill him."

Ichigo's mouth formed a small "o" as what Zangetsu said made sense. "Well, I guess I better wake up, and meet my new friends for the next who knows how long. Thanks Zangetsu, talk to ya soon."

Ichigo shakily got up into a sitting position before looking around and frowning, quickly her face scrunched up in concentration before a few windows opened up on the building where she and Zangetsu stood and several large trees sprang up from within, she then faded from her inner world with a quick smile at Zangetsu's hanging jaw.

With her return to the real world Ichigo noticed that she was lying down on sand, the small coarse grains hard against her scalp as they were stuck in her hair. Ichigo kept her eyes closed and her breathing even, wanting not to alert the nearby arrancar to her conscious presence, and interestingly enough they seemed to be talking about her.

"Why the fuck are we keeping her anyway? She'll just try and kill us like all the other shinigami!" That was Grimmjow.

"She isn't like the other Shinigami Grimm! She was nice to me!" That sounded like Nel, adult Nel.

"It's true don'tcha know!" Dondochakka, another easy one to identify,

"She is curious, last time we met she did not have that mask fragment. I think she may be one of us now but I don't see a hole, and we can't exactly just look for one." The tone was flat, 'Ulquiorra?'

"But she is one of them! We should just leave her be!" Grimmjow sounded pissed, as usual.

Deciding not to eavesdrop any longer Ichigo opened her eyes and began trying to sit up, holding her head as the headache still remained.

"Itsygo!" And she was promptly pulled into a bone crushing hug, courtesy of Nel. "I didn't know if you would make it! You were so still and quiet!"

Ichigo managed to choke out her assailant's name, "Nel! Can't— Bre-athe!"

Soon Ichigo could hear the cacophonous laughter of the former sexta espada ringing out amongst the empty dunes in response to Ichigo's plight, but thankfully Nel released her hold on the battered teen. "Good to see you too Nel, and I'm glad to see your back to your normal self."

Nel simply smiled, beaming at Ichigo with a grin that was reminiscent of her child form while her fraccion each displayed similar grins as they began to crowd around Ichigo. "So Itsygo, what are you doing here? And why do you have a mask fragment?"

Nel's question recaptured the attention of the other two former espada, and caused Ichigo to scratch her head somewhat nervously under their gaze, "Eh, long story, kinda umm… well,"

"Spit it out already strawberry,"

Ichigo glared hard at Grimmjow, "It's 'One who protects' damnit! Not 'strawberry'!" She huffed, "Anyway, I and my zampakuto had to merge with my inner hollow so that I could access the Final Getsuga Tensho so that I could kill Aizen before that bastard could kill my family and friends, happy? Sheesh, that is also why I am stuck here as that sore loser threw me into a Garantura before my Mugetsu hit him. At least the twisted butterfly is dead."

Stunned silence was her response, before Ulquiorra broke in, "So you are now an arrancar?"

Ichigo shook her head, "Zangetsu –my zanpakuto-" she broke in at Pesche, and Dondochakka's confused looks "told me that I'm more of a fifty-fifty mix between hollow and shinigami, whereas arrancars are more sixty-forty with the sixty being the hollow and vice-versa for vizards."

"So you are in between arrancar and vizard? And are one being with your inner hollow rather than two consciousnesses, one hollow and one shinigami?" Ulquiorra summed up in his flat tone.

Humming agreement Ichigo then heard a harsh injection from Grimmjow, "So wait, if you had an inner hollow, and were part hollow and what not before defeating Aizen –good job on that by the way— but if that is true, then why the fuck were you working with Soul Society? They hate us!"

Ichigo gave Grimmjow a flat look, "I didn't, and don't exactly like Soul Society as a whole, they just happened to also be against Aizen, 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend' ring any bells? Had it been Soul Society threatening to destroy my home and friends then I would have been helping Aizen."

The arrancar were floored, while Ulquiorra's eyes widened, "Why don't you like Soul Society? I recall that you had friends amongst them."

Ichigo ran a hand through her hair, "My friends were my friends, I don't condemn the few because of the many, and I suppose that it did seem like I sided with them, but you probably don't know my story with them prior to Aizen's reveal." One stoic gaze and five shaking heads responded, "I only got my shinigami powers because a hollow was attacking my family while Rukia was in my house looking for it but sensed my reiatsu instead. So long story short she got her midget butt helping me, and lent me some of her shinigami powers but I took them all instead. After that I became her substitute shinigami and took over her duties till her so called brother-" Ichigo spat out the word, "Came along with Renji to return her to Soul Society to be executed for helping me save my family."

Grimmjow then broke in, "Well that's fucked up,"

Nodding in agreement Ichigo then continued, "That and Byakuya tried to kill me for punishment of 'taking' Rukia's powers. After I recovered I had no shinigami powers but Hat n' Clogs fixed that,"

Here Ulquiorra broke in by asking how, causing Ichigo to snort at the memory of the crazy shopkeeper,

"He did it by severing my chain of fate, binding my arms, and throwing me into a pit that hastened the hollowfication process with a shout of 'Good luck! Find your power and don't turn into a hollow or we'll have to kill ya!' and then sat there and waited, did I also mention that he gave me no warning?"

Nel and her fraccion had horrified looks, Ulquiorra had raised an eyebrow and Grimmjow, was laughing his ass off. "He did that? Ha ha ha! I wish I could have seen the look on your face!"

Sighing, Ichigo continued, "So that is how Shiro was formed, and after that my other friends and I invaded Soul Society, Aizen faked his death and blamed it on us, I saved Rukia and got gutted by Aizen before he left, Soul Society sent me back with my friends, and we then got roped into the whole Winter War thing and you know the rest. Any questions?"

Ulquiorra was the first to speak, "You said 'Shiro was formed' who is, or what is Shiro?"

"My former psychopathic and violent but protective and caring inner hollow,"

Her audience blinked at the information before Ulquiorra continued, "You gave her a name? Or did she name herself? And by the use of past tense I'm guessing she is the same inner hollow you mentioned merging with earlier."

Now it was Ichigo's turn to blink at the, to her, absurdity of the question, "Well, of course I gave her a name, once I found out she was there anyway, what did you think I would do, call her 'Hollow' all the time? She may have been crazy, violent, and bloodthirsty, but she was a part of me, parts I may not have wanted to acknowledge but still."

"Actually yes, most shinigami do not bother with our names, killing us like animals to be put down, and that is how your vizards refer to their inner hollows."

Ichigo stared in shock, before her typical scowl fell into place, "Bastards, hollows were once human just like they were! So what they eat other souls and what not and I get the whole purification thing but that? That is just wrong! Hollows were human and can still get back their humanity! It just, it just takes a while, like Sora-san!"

While none of the hollow showed it they were beyond shocked at what Ichigo had said, even Ulquiorra, though he did not show it. It was then that Grimmjow noticed something, "Wait, who's Sora?"

Breaking off her inner rant Ichigo looked up, "Sora-san? He was Orihime's older brother, he became a hollow and tried to kill her but once we broke through his loneliness and sorrow at thinking he was forgotten he was still Orihime's brother, and he still cared for her, enough to take my zanpakuto and purify himself so he wouldn't hurt his sister again."

Grimmjow's jaw hung, "So you are telling me that you hold no grudges against hollows for being hollows? What about Grand Fisher? I heard him saying that you were the most anti-hollow shinigami he had ever met! That you went after him with a fury he had rarely ever seen!"

Ichigo leveled a scalding glare with deepened scowl at Grimmjow, "Of course the fucker would say that! That bastard is the one who killed my mother in front of me and then turned his lure into her and attacked on the anniversary of her death at the graveyard! That wasn't Sinigami against Hollow, that was personal."

Nel's eyes widened, while Grimmjow gave out a weak, "Oh,"

It was at this point Pesche seemed to have had enough of the depressing topic and passed Ichigo a soccer ball sized lump of gray-ish black, something. "Well, we know you don't mean us any harm so why not join our group? Safety in numbers after all and friends should stick together! Have something to eat, you have been unconscious for about two days living world time."

At hearing how long she had gone without food Ichigo's stomach let out a loud rumble, causing several sweatdrops, "Heh, thanks Pesche," And without hesitation grabbed the now assumed to be chunk of a hollow and shmooshed it into a log before taking a bite.

Nel then spoke up, "Itsygo, you do realize you just ate a hollow, right?"

"Why complain when it won't do anything? Zangetsu broke the news to me, half-hollow means I can eat other hollows with no side effects and that is a good thing as that seems to be my only other food source. That and I don't have to worry about the souls because as I eat I keep the energy but the souls get sent to Soul Society because of Zangetsu, process works the same for you since you are arrancars so technically Soul Society's cause for attacking you is null and void as the only souls within yourself is…well yourself."

Grimmjow seemed stunned, "So Soul Society won't be after our asses anymore? Just because we have zanpakutos now? HELL YEA!"

Ichigo's scowl softened a bit before she took another bite of the hollow and grimacing, "Needs salt."

Nel and her fraccion let out chuckles at Ichigo's frank statement, "Ichigo, I am curious, but weren't you a substitute shinigami? As in you were alive and still could enter your human body? If that is the case then you shouldn't be able to survive solely off of hollows."

Turning to Ulquiorra Ichigo frowned, "Yea, but using Final Getsuga Tensho has a price. But I willingly paid it to ensure my family and friends were safe from Aizen."

Ulquiorra stared at Ichigo with a knowing gaze, "You gave up your human life."

It wasn't a question, and as Ichigo bowed her head and confirmed Ulquiorra's theory Pesche, Dondochakka and Nel let out shocked gasps. "Hai, and as that is the price I can't access it any more nor can I re-enter my human body, in short, I died. But as I said, at least my family and friends are safe."

Nel then choose to speak up, "Well, as we are the last of the Arrancars and you are my friend I say you can join us! I vote she stays!"

It was needless to say that Nel's fraccion were with her in the votes, and Grimmjow saw that even if he voted no he would be outnumbered, "Eh, why not? She's not like the other shinigami for sure, and hey! I can get a rematch whenever I want!"

All that was left was Ulquiorra, turning to look at him Nel clasped her hands together and plastered a pouting face, silently begging the still silent member of the rag-tag group, "Very well, we shall stick together."

"Yay!"

Ulquiorra then turned to Ichigo as she quickly finished up her hollow roll, "What do you know of Hueco Mundo? It would be beneficial for us to know where your knowledge stands."

chigo just sighed, and ignored the celebrations of Nel to answer Ulquiorra, "Let's just say I know nothing, cause no doubt all I know is mostly filled with bias, and propaganda.

Nodding to himself Ulquiorra thought that her answer made sense, "True, how about we make a deal? I teach you about Hollows and Hueco Mundo, and you teach me more of the heart and emotions."

Ichigo blinked, "I'm no teacher, and I'm sure Orihime taught you more than I ever could, but I'll try my best."

"The woman was too fanciful, and her heart to full of ideals and innocence for me to understand. She was full of blind faith, yet you I understand more and less of. Your heart is what brought you back as you were devoted to your…friend and your family that you gave selflessly to protect them. It is curious that one such as yourself could defend those whom you care for with such, tenacity. And you do not see in black and white, you understand the gray in between, and even when faced with hardship you do not back down if it means danger for those who you …care for."

Ichigo felt a slight, but barely noticeable blush rise, "I'm not that special, I just think of myself as practical. As for facing the hardship, well everyone does whether it is big or small, why stand around and complain about the lemons life throws you when complaining wastes hot air and time which you could be using to make lemonade."

Unknown to Ichigo, Nel had seen the slight blush. Causing her eyes to narrow in thought before an absolutely evil grin spread across her face. "Oi, Nel, what the hell are you thinking about to get a face like that?"

The grin got wider as Ichigo and Ulquiorra kept talking, "Nothing Grimmjow, absolutely nothing."

Ichigo thought several weeks had passed, but she could never be sure as the eternal night which hung over the white sands showed no passage of time, no ebbing of the temporal flow, it was ethereal and hauntingly beautiful to see the landscape as the group traveled on, each member taking turns to go hunting when they got hungry.

"One of the first things you should know is that time flows differently in Hueco Mundo than in the living world and Soul Society," Spoke Ulquiorra as he sat behind Ichigo upon the eel like hollow that was their transportation, "For every year out there, five pass in here, Aizen used it to his advantage to try and break the woman's faith in her friends and to plot and train the numeros."

Ichigo blinked, "So time really is different, that explains how some hollows can seemingly change so rapidly, they have plenty of time."

Ulquiorra nodded, and Grimmjow shouted out from near the head that they should make camp in a nearby cave. As they arrived everyone got off except for Nel and Ulquiorra as the last two, and as Ichigo was walking past Ulquiorra, Nel inconspicuously poked Bawabawa in a spot she knew would make him twitch. Normally a twitch wasn't a problem but as Ulquiorra was still sitting in the spot that shuddered the most he was thrown off and landed on the floor, or rather the floor where Ichigo was standing. As she opened her eyes Ichigo noticed Ulquiorra had fallen on top of her. Quickly realizing the situation both unknowing participants of Nel's manipulations quickly separated, Ichigo with a deep blush, and Ulquiorra with a vacant expression as he pondered the oddly warm feeling he got from being so close, and in such a position with Ichigo. Nel just gave a slight pout before she shouted that she was going to hunt for the next meal.

Turning to Ulquiorra Ichigo snapped him out of his trance with a harsh whisper, "This never happened, deal?"

Ulquiorra knew the implications of their positions and didn't want to deal with Grimmjow's harassments, "Agreed."

Some more time had passed, Ichigo no longer bothered to try and guess how much time had passed but judging by her progress she had guessed a year or two. Ulquiorra was a great mentor, and Ichigo soon excelled with her hollow abilities such as her hierro which was nearly on par with Ulquiorra's own, and her cero was just as good as his own. In return Ichigo taught her new friends what little kido she knew, and though the amount she knew was abysmal she worked with the arrancar and on her own to master what little kido they knew. Another pastime of the group was the near constant spars, after lots of effort on hers and Zangetsu's part Ichigo had managed to learn how to seal her zanpakuto into a regular looking katana, and finally get out of permanent shikai much to Dondochakka's relief as he feared her reitsu emissions could draw unwanted attention. Along with managing to seal her zanpakuto, Ichigo could finally manage to suppress her reitsu and with the absence of her clouding fog of energy that she constantly leaked, Ichigo soon became an excellent tracker, of course Ulquiorra's lessons on using pesquisa helped as well.

Another change was how close the group became; Ichigo had taken on the role of overprotective and mothering big sister she was so used too despite Grimmjow's protests as he considered himself a brother on equal standing to her, the annoying ever-fighting brother. Nel was the little sister and glue of the group and her fraccion easily were the little siblings, and though it would not look like it due to all the infighting and arguments, some eerily reminiscent to Ichigo's own interactions with her father, they would all fight to the death should another be threatened. Though the others had thought of Ulquiorra as their older, and slightly emotionally stunted brother, Ichigo was unsure of where he stood for her. As she shared to the best she could the 'why's of her emotions and feelings he had begun to open up more, he would occasionally smile –a slight twitch at the corners of his mouth— and once he had even made a sarcastic remark, to Grimmjow's horror who then proceeded to fear that the end of the world was upon them. It was also confusing as Ichigo kept finding herself either in compromising positions or always being close to him, she didn't know how she felt, oblivious as the two were to the devilish Nel grinning in the background. Little did she know that Ulquiorra felt the same, and Grimmjow noticed Nel after she had 'accidentally' pushed Ichigo to sit next to Ulquiorra as they ate a breakfast.

"Alright, what the fuck are you planning?"

Nel stared innocently at Grimmjow, as he had dragged her away from the group to get out of earshot, "What do you mean?"

Grimmjow glared at her, "You know what I mean, now what the hell are you planning with Ichigo and Ulquiorra?"

Realizing she was caught red handed Nel confessed her plot, "I'm trying to get them together, they would make such a cute couple and Itsygo is teaching Ulquiorra about the heart! It's so romantic!"

Grimmjow had a blank look, and his mouth hung open, "You are trying to get emospada* and the overprotective spitfire from hell together?" he asked incredulously.

"Yea,"

Grimmjow soon let a shit-eating grin spread across his face, "I'm in! It would be so fun to harass Ulquiorra about a girlfriend! And if they get married, HAH! Revenge is fucking sweet!"

Nel held out a hand, "Team up for operation 'Fruit Bat'?"

Grimmjow barely suppressed the snicker that escaped him, "Fruit Bat? Hell yea I'm in!"

Back at the camp both Ichigo and Ulquiorra felt a chill run down their spine, "Ichigo, do you have a feeling that something unpleasant is going to happen?"

"You too? This is not good."

Ichigo guessed that several more years had passed, though she was judging by the growth of her hair since she would cut it with Zangetsu every time it started to reach her butt, she preferred to have it at just a few inches below the shoulders though the growth helped her acknowledge the passage of time. Over that time Ichigo and Ulquiorra had gotten closer, to the point that they unconsciously began to always sit together or sleep near each other as they roamed the vast desert of Hueco Mundo. Currently they were staying in the ruins of Las Noches, and Ichigo had changed out her now thoroughly worn outfit for another, Nel said it used to belong to Luppi but Ichigo didn't care, so long as it was comfortable and covered her up enough for protection against the impromptu sandstorms and didn't interfere with her movements.

Grimmjow walked in on Ichigo as she was hemming up one of her new outfit's sleeves, he leaned against the door frame, watching her sew for a bit before he spoke up, "So, the strawberry really can do something girly!"

His reply was the now almost habitual sounding "My name isn't Strawberry!" along with a sewing needle being chucked in his direction.

"Wow, a fucking needle hurts so much," Grimmjow taunted, he was bored and wanted to fight. That and he had begun trying to help her access it as a resurrección.

"You want to fight? Cause if you do I'm gonna pound you into the sand, as usual."

Grimmjow narrowed his eyes, reluctant to admit that yes, Ichigo did continuously pound him into the sand every time they fought, even when he released his resurrección. "Oh really? Well maybe we can get your resurrección active this time? Hmm? Or if you would rather hang with Ulquiorra…"

He needn't continue, at the mention of spending time with the other member of their group Ichigo immediately gained a slight blush, mostly hidden under the mask that went over her cheekbones much to her relief and stood up, "I'm in, going outside?"

Grimmjow was grinning ear to ear, she was really too easy to taunt and manipulate.

Both Ichigo and Grimmjow stood facing each other, with their respective zanpakutos sheathed at their waists as they were going hand to hand first. Ulquiorra stood up and walked over till he stood between the two opponents, "Spar number nine-thousand onehundred-twentyfive shall now commence."

With those words all that could be heard was the hum of sonido as the two leapt against each other, the onlookers watched in excitement as the fight began and their daily entertainment began once more.

Ichigo felt the thrill of adrenalin rush through her, the blood pounding in her ears as she blocked a punch aimed for her head, retaliating with a feint to the left and a quick sweep of the legs she promptly knocked Grimmjow to his back. She rushed in to press her advantage but the self-named panther king quickly flipped himself back up to a standing position, launching a flurry of blows each of which Ichigo blocked or dodged. With each blow Ichigo felt a grin stretch across her face, absorbing her inner hollow had changed her though most of those changes were seen only in battle. Pesche once told her that he thought it was like instinctual psychological attacks in addition to the physical, Nel just said it was slightly creepy and Grimmjow silently agreed though he would never admit it.

As Grimmjow launched another attack Ichigo caught it with her hand, full maniacal grin in place she quickly launched him up into the air, with herself quickly following as she solidified the air beneath her feet with little effort as she could now do it without thinking. Catching up with her quarry she proceeded to send her knee digging into his gut, knocking the air out of him before following up with a hard punch back to the desert below.

"I am glad that hollows can't have kids, don'tcha know? Imagine if she was pms-ing?" Dondochakka whispered to Pesche, who quickly nodded affirmative.

"Imagine what? Exactly?" Both of two hollows froze up before seeing Nel staring them down with both her hands on her hips and a falsely sweet look on her face, "No-no-nothing Nel!"

Her eyes narrowing Nel's voice took on a frightening cast, "I don't think it was nothing,"

Without further ado the two quickly began to run for their afterlives, with Nel hot on their heels with a righteous womanly fury at the typical male idiocy. Ulquiorra merely watched with a raised eyebrow and a slight upturn to the corner of his lips before turning back to the fight between Grimmjow and Ichigo.

The two combatants had already released their zanpakutos, Grimmjow in resurrección already with Ichigo in bankai. The two blades crossed again and again, the clamor of metal ringing out as both combatants engaged in a test of strength.

"C'mon strawberry! Reach into your hollow energies deeper than what you do for cero and hear the command of your primal attack!"

Ichigo gritted her teeth, she could feel the flow of her hollow energies but it was like trying to listen to Zangetsu's name before she could hear it all over again. Zangetsu had drawn up clueless and Ulquiorra said it was because she thought too much about it, hollows used instincts to fight and while she had accomplished such trust in her instincts in a fight she still had yet to find the command.

'Ulquiorra says I'm over thinking it,' Ichigo thought, 'There has to be something I'm missing,' Ichigo continued to block and counter, managing to get a cut on Grimmjow's arm.

As she pushed Grimmjow away from her with a great display of strength she then realized something, 'That's it! I am over thinking it, because I am thinking about it! It is instinct, it comes as it comes!"

Ichigo then threw her mind wholly into the fight, reveling in the feel of her abilities and the comforting weight of Zangetsu in her hand. Block, parry, retaliate, all was a blur as Ichigo allowed herself to bend with the fight, her nimble body easily flowing around Grimmjow's more sturdy, and stationary stance. As Grimmjow pushed her back with a grunt she then felt it, a feeling of representation rather than coherent thought, a feeling of encroaching darkness, of the plunging shadows as the words dropped unbidden from her lips,

"Engulf in shadows, Zangetsu!"

The effect was immediate; the swirling darkness that normally accompanied her entry to bankai now surrounded her once more but with a darker, more vengeful feeling. Nel and her two brothers stopped their chase as they looked back to see what happened, Ulquiorra sat back up from the rock he was previously leaning on with an interested look on his face. Grimmjow who was closest to the epicenter began to feel some misgivings about pushing the already strong hybrid to obtain her final form before he steeled himself. 'I'm doing this because she accepted us, she wouldn't turn on us and we are now –I still can't believe it— but we're a fucking family! With her form we can give her an honorary Aspect of Death given to an espada, and really welcome her as one of us.'

As the darkness cleared all were shocked by what they saw. Ichigo stood with her eyes darkened, the sclera black with only a ring of amber to identify where the iris was, her horns upon her mask had elongated, sweeping upwards and past the back of her head like the backwards horns of a bull. Her outfit was similar to her bankai coat but the hem was shorter, reaching just past her knees to allow for her new sickle tipped tail to swing lazily back and forth, the smooth movement belaying the hard muscles and sinew that lay beneath the white and black striped skin. Another change was her hands, her fingernails had elongated into black claws, sharply contrasting with her new pale complexion, but the most shocking of all was the obsidian wings she had, the dark feathers seemingly made from the shadows of darkness itself. As she looked to Ulquiorra with a fanged smirk the others couldn't help but think that she appeared to be a fallen angel, demonic and dark.

"Well, it seems that you were right Ulquiorra, I was thinking about it too much." Ichigo's voice had taken on the echoing quality that Shiro once had, "Now Grimmjow, let's see what I can do!"

With that she launched herself at Grimmjow, her wings giving her momentum as the dust sprayed out from around her. Seeing her approach Grimmjow readied himself for her slashing claws only to be caught off guard when Ichigo seemingly materialized the cleaver form of Zangetsu from the surrounding darkness. 'Fuck' was his only thought before he was beat into unconsciousness.

After their duel and Ichigo's first resurrección the others had agreed to keep it as a trump card, only to be revealed in dire need. Ichigo had readily agreed as she thought her bankai was more than enough for most fights,

"So, anybody have any ideas for her Apsect?" Grimmjow mumbled out from the layer of saliva Nel had coated him in, they had all stayed up after Ichigo had fallen asleep to come up with her Aspect as a surprise. While they were no longer Aizen's Espada, they were still Espada and wanted to include Ichigo in the group.

Nel shook her head, "Not sure, you have ferocity and feral, Ulquiorra has emptiness and despair, I have cunning and trickery, each reflective of our personality and fighting styles."

Dondochakka and Pesche then jumped in, "How about Scary!" "Maniacal?"

Nel shook her head, "No, she isn't a berserker, and we are all scary in our own way."

Ulquiorra then spoke up from the shadows as he watched Ichigo sleep, she hadn't seemed all that scary to him, in fact he thought of her as…beautiful. The word had popped into his head and he still did not know why though he kept it to himself rather than try and work it out with Ichigo. "Darkness and wrath."

Nel turned to him, "Why those two?"

Never taking his eyes off Ichigo's prone form he answered, "Her sword, its shikai release is to 'cleave the heavens' her reitsu is black, her primary attack is a crescent moon fang and while she is very caring towards her friends it is unwise to invoke her wrath as she would defend with tenacity and ferocity till her last breath."

Grimmjow was shocked, "Wow, who the hell would have thought that the emospada could come up with something so insightful and deep."

Nel just blinked, before a wide grin stretched across her face, "Darkness and wrath it is! And Ulquiorra, is there something you want to share? Like how you didn't look the least bit intimidated and how you haven't taken your eyes off Itsygo yet?"

Ulquiorra turned with a shocked look on his face, it still slightly unnerved Grimmjow how Ulquiorra was beginning to show some more emotions but it was a positive change. "What do you mean?"

With a shit-eating grin Grimmjow spoke up, "What she means batsy, is that you are starting to like Ichigo."

An eyebrow was raised, "Of course I like her, she is a good companion and friend."

Grimmjow's grin got wider, "No, we mean like as in love ya lucky bastard!"

Ulquiorra said nothing, 'Do I…love her?' He wasn't sure, he knew that whenever he would get close to her he could feel a slight heat rise in his face, and even simply being near her made him feel happy. Even when she entered a new form that the others thought was frightening he thought as ethereally beautiful. 'I, think I do.'

Nel thought, 'Yes! operation fruit bat was a success! Now to get Ichigo to start thinking about it.'

Grimmjow was planning future blackmail.

(AN: Emospada- emo-espada)