A/N Hey guess what? Hehehehehe ohhhhhh Chp 3. Let's get it.
July 17th, Hueco Mundo
Nelliel held her weapon in her right hand, gazing steadily at Ichigo, waiting for him to make his move. Ichigo was happy to oblige to their silent agreement, he would strike first. He grabbed the cloth of his sword and threw it at Nelliel, who in return blocked the heavy cleaver with relative ease, but Ichigo wasn't trying to beat her yet, he just wanted to get a read on her power and get into the flow of the fight. He launched Zangetsu at her in a flurry of attacks from his stationary position. Everytime he made contact with her lance, he ripped Zangetsu back quickly, only to immediately chuck it back using more force. When Ichigo was giving it his full strength he noticed that his opponent blocked it with the same ease as his first attack. "So she's that strong huh? Let's see how she thinks."
Nelliel wouldn't let it show, but she was very impressed with the brute strength of the boy. She could keep blocking all day, but the gap in their physical strength was small. She was also impressed with Ichigo's craftyness with his sword. "The hilt of his sword is made of cloth, by gripping the cloth he can flail his sword around, using it for mid-range use. Very impressive." Another clash of swords. Then another. Ichigo pulled Zangetsu back to swipe at her again, and just as she thought he was going to try and hit her with his sword again, she heard Ichigo yell:
"Getsuga Tensho!" She saw the sword, only a few feet away from her, envelope itself in a bright blue light, just as she saw earlier. She had no time to react. All she could do was brace herself, for she knew it would take much more than that. The force of his attack seemingly passed through her, leaving her unscathed. "Trying to test my durability as well." She mumbled to herself instead of thinking it in her head. The smoke hadn't even began to clear yet when she felt a hand gently, yet firmly clutch her shoulder.
"I wasn't trying to test your durability, I was trying to get a read on your agility. I thought you were relying heavily on your strength during our exchanges, so I wanted to see if you could dodge." He readied Zangetsu to her back and thrust forward, yet before his blade reached her, she completely disappeared. His eye's were stricken with shock. Not even a nano-second followed after her disappearance, she reappeared above Ichigo and brought her sword down upon him. Ichigo had one course of action. "Ban-" Before he could finish, she halted her advance from above and reappeared in front of him, with her back turned.
"This fight is over." She said calmly. Ichigo's face contorted in both confusion and anger.
"What? Fight's over?! You didn't even beat me! I still have like, two more forms left!" He lifted up his two fingers and shook them violently in comedic fashion. Nelliel turned to look at Ichigo.
"Why do you feel so much like a Hollow?" She asked, truly interested.
"Because I kinda am one." Ichigo clutched the back of his head and shrugged. Nelliel was confused. "Wanna hear my explanation?" She just nodded.
"Ok so," he cleared his throat and did several throat exercises. "I was born a Quincy/Soul Reaper/Hollow combination. I was killed when I was 9, my mother got killed right in front of me. The trauma of seeing that and being killed turned me into a hollow. Being turned into a hollow awakened my Soul Reaper/Hollow powers and my Zanpakuto came and saved me." He stated perfectly, never even pausing.
"That seemed rehearsed." Nelliel accused.
"It was." Ichigo replied grumpily. "Do you know how many times a year I get asked the same question?" Nelliel nodded.
"Fair enough." She said. "So do you want to keep fighting?" She asked expectantly.
Ichigo closed his eyes. "No, I think I've had my fill. I didn't think I would come all this way just to fight for 30 seconds and leave, but you seem nice enough." Ichigo's eyes shot open when he felt a warmth wrapping around him. Nelliel had wrapped her arms around his neck. Just as soon as she did, she let go and turned around.
"Well then. Goodbye and Farewell." With that, she turned around, and walked away. Ichigo just stood there with his eye twitching. Soon enough he couldn't see or sense her. "All that traveling for nothing." Zangetsu said in Ichigo's inner world.
"Don't start with me."
Evening, July 18th, World of the Living
Ichigo's headache had been steadily growing ever since he left to go to Earth. Zangetsu's antics have irritated Ichigo non-stop. One plus is that Ichigo had created a new insult to hurl at his Hollow counterpart because of all his blabbing. Ichigo had started to refer to Zangetsu as a clown. This drove the manifestation absolutely insane. More so than he already was.
"For the love of God, could you be quiet?"
"Not until you take back that clown-thing you said earlier!"
"It's not my fault you look and act like a clown!" Ichigo thought as he stepped through the Garganta. The site that followed had an immediate effect on the intensity of his headache. He stepped through the Garganta that was high above the air. He was high enough to get a good look at the town. Everywhere he looked, he saw dozens of Hollows all over the place. Before he could voice his complaints to Zangetsu, a giant Garganta opened, and a Gillian stepped through.
Ichigo stood in the air, just stumped as to how things could get so bad in a short 2 months. Then it hit him; were his sisters ok? His anger soon got the best of him as he flew through the air toward the Gillian. The Hollow sensed Ichigo and began to charge a Cero, but Ichigo flash stepped up to the Hollow and fired a point blank Getsuga Tensho, effectively disrupting the Cero, and tearing the Gillian in two parts entirely.
In an explosion of a disrupted Cero and an anger-powered Getsuga Tensho, all Hollows in the entire city looked at the display of a giant Hollow completely disintegrating. Upon seeing this site, even the least intelligent of the Hollow's thought best to take their leave. In a matter of minutes, all the Hollow in the city retreated.
Ichigo looked down on a park and saw multiple people with high spirit energy, and decided to ask them what was going on. He dropped down, and all eyes were on him immediately. He looked around and saw two children, a big tanned man, a white guy dressed in all green, a dark haired boy with glasses, the girl that he saw with Rukia that one day wearing Soul Reaper clothes, and finally Rukia herself.
"Anyone wanna tell me what the hell was going on here?"
A/N For anyone interested in how Orihime became a Soul Reaper, tell me in a review to make a side story about it. Otherwise read the Author's Notes at the end.
Night time, July 18, World of the Living
"So let me get this straight, Orihime got turned into a Soul Reaper after Rukia gave her powers at the cost of her own, now you two go to school together and fight Hollows, Uryuu senses this and challenges Orihime to a contest to see who could kill more Hollows, and he uses Hollow Bait to attract a horde of Hollows to the town, it got out of hand and that's when I showed up. Am I right?" Everyone at the round table of Kisuke Urahara's meeting room nodded their heads.
"That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard of anyone doing." Ichigo growled, looking at Uryuu. Uryuu just bowed his head in shame at how badly he screwed up. Eventually, Ichigo got done with his temper tantrum and everyone started to leave. Before Ichigo walked out the door, Kisuke wanted to have a word, so Ichigo sat down once again.
"So," he began. "You're Isshin's son. Pleased to meet your acquaintance." He bowed his head slightly.
"Yeah so what did you wanna talk about?" Ichigo asked. Kisuke chuckled at this.
"Straight to the point I see." Then Kisuke got a bit more serious. "You're a Hollow with Soul Reaper powers. Am I right?" Ichigo nodded. "Have you by any chance, been contacted, or at least heard of Sosuke Aizen?" Ichigo raised his eyebrows while looking to the side and scratching his chin.
"I've never been contacted by him, but I've heard of him. Why?"
"Sosuke Aizen isn't who everyone thinks he is. He's a criminal, obsessed with creating and army of Hollow/Soul Reaper-hybrids, called Arrancar, to serve him." Ichigo slumped back, awaiting to hear where he was going with this. "He can't make that army yet though. He needs something called the Hogyoku to create his army of Arrancar."
"So where is this Hogyoku?"
"It's in Rukia."
"Does she know?"
"No, and she can't know either."
"Well why not?! It's her body!"
"Easy, easy. It's not like I could tell her after all these years anyway." Ichigo was confused.
"After all these years? What do you mean?"
"Before I was exiled out of the Soul Society, I planted the Hogyoku in Rukia. To be honest, I had no idea at the time that she would become a Soul Reaper. It's unfortunate to say the least, but that's just the way things worked out. So imagine my surprise when I heard that she had given up her Soul Reaper powers to Orihime Inoue. I figured it was the perfect opportunity to keep her in the World of the Living, safe from Aizen's clutches." This was a lot to take in, even for Ichigo, but he couldn't help but agree.
"Yeah, if this Aizen guy is as bad as you say, then we need to keep Rukia as far away from him as possible." Ichigo concluded.
"Agreed. However, we also need to keep Aizen away from you."
"And why is that?" Ichigo wondered.
"Because you are exactly what he is trying to create, Ichigo. If Aizen gets his hands on you, there's no telling what he'd be able to do." Kisuke knew that Aizen must already know of Ichigo's existence. There's no telling what he might be planning. "That's why revealing yourself to your family was the worst thing you could have done for them." Ichigo's ears perked up about this. "Aizen is ruthless, and will use anything to get what he wants. Blackmail, kidnapping, you name it and he'll do it to get what he wants." Ichigo remembered his reason for keeping his presence unknown. He already knew he had blown it, now he knew how badly.
"What can I do?" Ichigo asked.
"Not much we can do now. All we can do is keep Rukia off the radar, for now. Anyway, I won't keep you any longer. You can go back home now."
"Ok, let me know if there's something I can do." Ichigo said as he was leaving. The revelation of the Captain of Squad 5 being such a villain certainly was exhausting. Though Ichigo would be sure to keep him from reaching his goals. Even if it meant protecting a Soul Reaper. Ichigo opened a Garganta and then stepped through. He was as tired as he could possibly be without acting sluggish. He looked into the cave and moved to put down his sword when he heard Zangetsu.
"Not so fast, partner."
"Ugh. What now?"
"Someone's coming." Ichigo concentrated and felt the presence of someone clearly. He walked outside to be greeted by a man he'd never seen before.
"Why hello, you must be Ichigo Kurosaki, am I right?" The man said with a smile almost as creepy as Zangetsu's.
"Who exactly are you? And what do you want with me?" Ichigo asked the man.
"My name is Gin Ichimaru. It's nice to finally see you, after hearing so much about you." He said with the same smile. Ichigo didn't recognize him, or his name, but he did recognize the captain's uniform he was wearing. "As for what I want from you, I just want to spar a bit."
"A captain, coming all this way just to spar with me? Somethings up, and I bet it has something to do with Aizen." Ichigo thought. He decided not to play along. There was no point in playing his game. He would rather be blunt anyway.
"Did Aizen send you?" Ichigo spat. Gin smiled his usual one.
"Oh dear, it looks like you're on to me. How unfortunate." Ichigo scowled and drew his sword.
"Threatening me?" Ichigo scowled. Gin raised his hands in front of his face and shook them.
"No no, I was talking for myself. It makes my job harder is all." Gin smiled.
"Your job?"
"Yes, my job. Now if I may ask a question?" Ichigo debated on hearing him out, but decided against it.
"Save it! I don't wanna hear any of your nonsense." Ichigo stood firm.
"Oh darn. Well could we at least have our little fight?" Ichigo wondered how strong he had to be.
"Such confidence. He openly mocks me with a condescending smile and tone, and comes here looking for a fight."
"Should I take your silence as a yes?" Ichigo was brought back to reality.
"Sure, let's fight." Ichigo said while readying himself.
"Wait not yet." Ichigo looked puzzled. "Let's not use a Shikai, after all, we are just sparring." Gin said with a grin.
"So does that mean I don't get to kill you?" Ichigo scoffed. Gin just snickered at him.
"My my, I'd rather you not kill me, after all, I do have things to live for." Gin said sadisticly.
"Oh yeah? Like what?"
"That's a secret." Ichigo had enough. He rested Zangetsu, banishing his Shikai, and instead of his long cleaver, he sported a regular Japanese sword with a white hilt, but black cloth delicately wrapped around, with a trim of red.
"Is this what you had in mind?" Ichigo asked. Not that his Zanpakuto was that impressive in its resting state, but no Zanpakuto was.
"Yes but I'm a bit confused. The reports state that your resting Zanpakuto is a large sword. Not a slender, normal one."
"Your reports are outdated. I used to not be able to control my spirit energy all that well, so my resting Zanpakuto took the form of an oversized katana. To be honest, the reason why my Zanpakuto is always in it's Shikai is because I still can't control all of my Spirit Energy. Since it's always so unfocused, it doesn't leave my body with any strain at all."
"I see. So when did you learn you could make a regular Zanpakuto?" Gin asked. Ichigo smirked with his eyes shadowed by his hair.
"Just now." Gin was about to give a quip back, but Ichigo beat him to it by Flash Stepping in front of him and slashing horizontally at his target. Gin caught the sword by pinching it between his index finger and thumb with his left hand. Ichigo couldn't believe what he just saw. "He caught it, with his bare hands?"
"Aren't we the hasty one? I didn't even say go yet, and you just rushed in. Tsk tsk." Gin chuckled to himself. Ichigo didn't linger on the situation for too long, he kicked Gin in the side, which didn't hurt him all that badly, but it got him to loosen the grip on Ichigo's sword. When he got his sword back, he flash stepped to the other side of Gin, and plunged his sword forward, only to have Gin easily dodge it. Ichigo wasn't finished though, as he was falling forward, he did a front flip. While he was in the air and his legs weren't being used, he spun sideways to deliver a kick to Gin's face. Gin was surprised by this once more. The kick connected with a hard thump, and Gin was sent only a couple feet back. Ichigo landed on his feet, and began to charge at him again. Gin was able to dodge, or parry, all attacks that Ichigo sent his way. Ichigo flash stepped away to regain his footing, after having lost it in one of his failed attempts to attack.
As soon as Ichigo landed, a pair of feet that weren't his own, landed with him. He sensed the danger and whirled his sword around diagonally to cut down Gin, but he dodged again. Ichigo attempted to kick Gin using his back foot, but Gin caught his foot and threw him to the side.
"I'm sensing a pattern here," Gin said. "Every so often you use an unarmed attack to confuse your opponents. Usually after a failed attempt to hit something. That's very interesting, after all, only crude fighters fight with their entire body." Gin concluded. Ichigo had run into powerful Soul Reapers, but this guy was on a much different level. Ichigo gritted his teeth.
"What exactly do you want?" Ichigo demanded to know the reason for him coming by.
"Didn't I already tell you? I want to spar with you to test your strength." Gin had only changed his expression twice in the last couple of minutes, and he was getting kicked both of those times. Ichigo resolved that to be as arrogant as he is, he has to be that strong.
"So when are you gonna be finished with you little test?" Ichigo was getting impatient.
"Well, am I to assume that you dislike our time together?" Gin asked, while trying to sound innocent. Ichigo just scowled. "Fine fine, I'll take my leave, if you answer a question of mine." Ichigo wouldn't tell him anything sensitive to anybody he knew. Nor would he give out locations, but Ichigo could guess what Gin wanted to know. He wants to know how Ichigo learned of Aizen and his true nature, and he didn't see harm in answering if the enemy had no idea where his shop was.
"I bet you wanna ask me about how I knew about Aizen." Ichigo surmised.
"Why would I want to know that?" Ichigo was surprised that wasn't the question he wanted answered. "I presume you got to talking with Urahara at his shop in Karakura Town. Why would I want to know the exact scenario? It makes no difference to me." Gin said with his normal grin. Ichigo was stunned. Preparing to ask a flurry of questions, Ichigo drew a big breath, but was beaten to it by Gin. "You can relax, I have no plans of visiting them."
"Then what's your question?" Ichigo asked through gritted teeth. Gin's smile grew further.
"I'd like to pick your brain about philosophy." Ichigo's face turned with uninterest. Gin's face got deadly serious and he opened his eyes to reveal beautiful baby blue orbs. "If you could save the lives of your family, would you sell your spine?"
Immediately after he finished speaking, Gin's face turned to his normal expression. He closed his eyes and smiled. Ichigo thought for a moment that he was threatening him, but realized that it must of been more of a metaphorical question.
"Yeah, I would." He said coldly. Gin smiled back at him.
"That's good to hear." He then turned around, and began to walk away. "I'll be seeing you, Ichigo Kurosaki." What an odd fellow. If everyone in Aizen's squad is like this then he was in trouble. He decided it was best not to follow him or try to ask him about what he meant. He instead, decided it would be best to take this opportunity to sleep. He walked over to his cave and sat down on his bed. He had nothing but odd encounters lately. All he needed now was to sleep.
July 19, Evening, Hueco Mundo
Ichigo's eyes fluttered open. He looked over to the table that Zangetsu was laying on, in it's Shikai form. He hadn't released it, but he figured Zangetsu decided to release itself. He looked over at the clock on the wall of the cave opposite of his bed. It would be evening in the Living World. He figured that he should get back to Earth, just to make sure everything was ok. He had slept in his clothes, and so he didn't need to get dressed. He grabbed his partner and stepped outside of his cave. Ichigo opened the Garganta and stepped through.
Meanwhile, World of the Living.
Orihime was searching frantically around for her friend that had ran off. "What does she think she's doing? Does she expect me to just let her walk away? After all the adventures we've had, she should know that I could never turn my back on her." Orihime was trying to sense Rukia but wasn't having any luck picking up on her spiritual pressure. Just when she was about to start searching in a different part of the town, she sensed a battle going on faintly in the distance. "Oh no, Rukia!" Orihime bolted to the place of the rise in Spiritual Pressure. She didn't know what was going on, but Rukia's letter to her wasn't going to keep her away, and she would fight to protect her from whatever it was she was so afraid of. She rounded a corner and spotted Rukia along with Uryuu. Rukia looked as if she was a bit worn, and Uryuu was standing in front of her protectively. Orihime looked on to see a red haired male, in a Soul Reaper's garb. His sword was drawn and pointed at Uryuu. Orihime rushed to his side, and drew her own sword.
"Oh man, another one? Piss off, both of you! This matter doesn't concern you." The red-head said. Orihime turned to Rukia.
"What's going on Rukia?" She asked.
"What are you doing here, Orihime?" Rukia panicked.
"I'm here for you. I knew something was off when I read your letter."
"You shouldn't be here!" Rukia exclaimed. Orihime and Rukia's conversation was interrupted by the red-headed attacker.
"Hey you, with the orange hair. Why do you have Soul Reaper clothes on? Are you the human that Rukia gave her powers to?" The man asked with anger. Orihime stood her ground however.
"So what if I am? Is that a crime?" She asked rhetorically, not expecting an answer.
"As a matter of fact, it is. Soul Reapers are forbidden from lending their power to humans. In edition to giving away her powers, she also hasn't reported to the Soul Society in months." Orihime was shocked at the knowledge of this law, but she wouldn't let the Soul Society take her.
"And just you are you to take her away from where she wants to be? That law is stupid!"
"Know your place human! I am the lieutenant of the 6th division under Byakuya Kuchiki, Renji Abarai." Renji stated with pride. Orihime blinked a couple of times at his speech.
"Woah really? That sounds cool!" She stated with wonder. Rukia, Renji, and Uryuu just sweat dropped at Orihime. Then, out of the cover of darkness, stepped out a figure.
"Captain Kuchiki!" Renji greeted.
"Get on with it." He said solemnly while looking down, with his eyes closed. Renji bit his lip.
"Yes sir." He said defeatedly, turning toward the quincy and the un-official substitute of Rukia. "Time to die."
"Renji don't do this! I'll go peacefully!" Rukia pleaded from behind Orihime.
"It's too late for that!" Renji said while charging at the group. Uryuu summoned his bow, and fired an arrow, but Renji jumped out of the way into the air.
"Roar, Zabimaru!" He shouted, and his sword transformed into a cleaver with 6 spikes of silver protruding out of is sharp side. The sword then extended itself, like a chain whip. Renji, while still in the air, launched his blade toward Uryuu, who was unable to dodge. The blade slashed at Uryuu diagonally, incapacitating him. Orihime watched with horror, as the man who had beaten her just yesterday, was taken out in one strike.
"Now for you! Zabimaru, tear her to shreds!" Renji shouted. Before the long blade could hit the stationary figure of Orihime, Rukia pushed her out of the way.
"Run away Orihime!" Rukia shouted as a plea. Orihime could see the fear and panic in her eyes. She stood up, and looked at her with a ferocity that Rukia had not ever seen her with.
"No, I cannot leave you." She said with determination. She looked on at Renji and pointed her sword at him. "Let's go." She challenged. Renji got angered by this.
"Oh challenging me now, are you? Well guess what, you won't even be able to lay a scratch on me. You know why? Because you're nothing but a worthless human who can't even comprehend how weak she is. I'm surprised you can even control your spirit energy enough to make your Zanpakuto an average length. An-" He was cut off by Orihime charging at him. "Fine, if you're in such a hurry to die." Renji pulled Zabimaru back and swung it at Orihime vertically, who barely managed to block it. The force of the attack however, was enough to make a crater in the ground and make Orihime fall down on her back. Before she could get up Renji managed to close in on her. "It's over he thought."
Orihime saw the blade coming down on her. She knew the blade was aimed at her heart, and she couldn't do anything about it. Time seemed to move in slow motion. She was helpless, so she decided she didn't want to see the end coming, and closed her eyes and waited for the blow to come to her chest. Then, her world went black.
A/N, so Orihime low-key took Ichigo's place lol. I thought it'd be fun for a little bit. Anyway, if you want a side - story about how she got her powers or if you want any other adventures that she had before this event then let me know. I'd gladly write about it but if you don't want a full segment of a chapter devoted to that then the general idea is: her hollow brother attacked her and Rukia had to save her but she got cut up because of it so she decided to give her power to Orihime so she could fight her brother. For the record, all of the adventures that Ichigo went through before ep. 16, Orihime went through them in my story. Again if you want me to talk about it than let me know in a review. If not then wait a day or so for the next chapter. XD Byeee