Orihime sat down at her table and buried her head in her arms as she rested them on the table's surface. "He'll be gone forever! I'll never see him again!" She started crying.
Nel leaned against a wall and looked out of the window. She sighed. It was true, Ichigo probably would be in Hueco Mundo for the rest of his life, now. He had given up his freedom for theirs. But…there had to be something that they could do. She bit her lower lip. Some way to make it so Ichigo could come back here and Aizen would forget about him in Hueco Mundo. But how? It would be impossible.
Orihime sat up and looked at Nel. "What are we going to do?"
"I don't know." Nel shook her head.
----
Ichigo took in a breath and let it out.
"Ichigo?" Ichigo opened his eyes. "Are you alright?" Aizen watched him from the front of the table.
"Yes. I'm fine." He smiled. Everyone stared at him. "I'm sorry."
The meeting ended and Ichigo walked out. Ulquiorra walked up to him. "You should at least pretend to pay attention when Aizen speaks…"
"Ulquiorra." Ichigo looked at him. This was the first time Ulquiorra had spoken to him since he had been brought back from the real world. "Oh, yeah." He looked at his hands. "I'm sorry."
"Yes." Ulquiorra looked away. "Just remember from now on."
"I will."
"Good." Ulquiorra stopped walking. "That's all."
"Do you hate me?" Ichigo asked.
"Hate?" Ulquiorra didn't understand the question.
"Dislike?" Ichigo tried to think of different ways to say it. "No longer think of me highly?" He looked at the ceiling. "You are angry at me…"
"I think I understand." Ulquiorra stopped him due to the fact that he was more annoyed than disliking him at the moment. "I do not dislike you. It is more of a…disappointed feeling."
"Oh, that's worse." Ichigo looked away.
"Just do not do something that reckless again." He walked away. "Ever. Or I'll have to kill you."
"Hey, listen." Ichigo walked up and stopped him, his hand on his shoulder. "You can't just go saying stuff like that."
"I can't?" Ulquiorra looked back.
"No. If it weren't for you I'd be back in the real world, happy, with my family."
"You, happy? I'd like to see that."
"Shut up."
"You don't belong with humans, you belong with hollows." Ulquiorra took Ichigo's hand off of his shoulder. "Living with them just asks for trouble. It wouldn't be too long before you ate one of them."
"I wouldn't eat one of my family members!" Ichigo took a step back.
"Then what would you do with them? Go on picnics? Play games? Sing songs?"
"People don't sing songs on a daily basis with their families." Ichigo shook his head. "You don't know anything about humans."
"Then what would you do?" Ulquiorra faced him directly.
"I don't know…hang out." Ichigo looked at the ground.
"And what else would you do? Go to 'school?' Spend time with your friends?"
"I don't know! I'd want to do something better than hang around here going to stupid meetings, plotting how to kill every last human to find a way to take over the Soul Society I know that!" Ichigo raised his voice. A few arrancar around them looked over. He looked to them. "That's what I would say…if I didn't believe in what Aizen-sama was doing." They walked away. "Listen, I'm tired of this place, I'm tired of Aizen and I'm tired of being a hollow. I want to just be normal for once. I want to not have to kill intruders I want to just…be!"
"How noble."
"I said 'shut up!'" Ichigo walked away.
----
Nel was leaning against the wall, thinking. What could they do? Finally, her eyes widened. "Orihime, I have it! I know what we can do!"
"Huh?" Orihime looked up at her, her eyes red. "We can do something?"
"We can save him." Nel smiled. "All we have to do is kill him."
"What?" Orihime looked at the table. "But…we have to what?" She turned to her. "That would be a bad thing, though. Right?"
"But you have to understand. We don't actually kill him, we just make it look like we kill him. So that they believe it. Then, when they believe he's dead we bring him back here." She clapped her hands together, once. "It's brilliant!"
Orihime smiled. "You really think it'll work?"
"I just said it was brilliant, that means it'll work, right?" Nel stood. "It's so simple. But not really. You see, we don't bury our dead in Las Noches. We just throw them out for the hollows to eat. So, I kill him, they throw him out, I go and get him, we come back here. We go into hiding for a month or so. Then, it's over. Actually…" She sat down. "Aizen's war will be starting pretty soon, so he'll just go into hiding while that's going on."
"Well, I like it. How will he know that he's going to be…'killed,' though?" Orihime asked.
"Well, I'll have to go there beforehand and tell him. I just hope no one is in his room or anything. I doubt there will be. He hated his fraccion and he never really had his friends in there. He wasn't really a sociable guy. I mean, we talked and everything, but since I'm not there." She gestured to herself, "Who is there to be there, right?" She smiled.
"So, when should we do it?" Orihime was eager for this to happen. She wanted Ichigo out of that place and to see him again.
"We have to set up a place to bring him to so he can hide. We definitely can't bring him here afterwards.
"That's easy, Urahara's."
"We have to go there and ask, then. Can we go now?" Nel smiled.
"Yes, let's go." Orihime stood and took Nel's hand. "Let's go!"
"Alright, alright." Nel stood. "Let's go."
-----
Urahara looked at Nel and Orihime. "So, you want to bring Kurosaki-san here after you save him…" Nel and Orihime nodded twice. "And you say that he may be injured or bleeding severely?" Nel and Orihime nodded again. "And there might be a risk of many people coming after him once he is here?" Nel and Orihime nodded. "And I might get brought into the situation causing injury and pain to myself…" Nel and Orihime nodded and shrugged. "So I'm really an idiot if I do this?" Nel and Orihime smiled. "Right, sounds good." Urahara brought his fan up to his face. "When will he be here?"
"As soon as we can get him, Urahara-san." Orihime nodded.
"Good. I'll just be here." He pointed to the inside of the shop.
"Thank you, Kisuke." Nel smiled and they started walking away.
"Wait." He put his hand out, stopping Nel. "You need to understand something before you go." He looked into her eyes. "It's about time."
When Orihime and Nel had walked away from Uraharas Nel turned to Orihime. "Orihime we're going to be changing our plans a little."
-----
Ichigo stood in his room, looking into his mirror. He was looking at the remains of his hollow mask, wondering what his family must have really been thinking when they saw it. What must they think of him right now? Did they still love him? Did they think he is a freak? That's what Ishida said. He said he was a freak when he saw his resurreccion form. What would his family think if they saw his resurreccion form?
Ichigo closed his eyes. Maybe he really was a freak.
He laughed. Why should he care anyways? He knew he wasn't a freak. He was ten times better than Ishida was and he didn't need to be in the real world. This was where he belonged. Humans, his family. He didn't need them. He wanted to live here, to kill, to eat souls. That's what he was made for. His hollow mask showed that. He should have killed Ishida.
"Ichigo?" Ichigo looked behind him. Nel was standing next to a portal that was closing. "Ichigo, I'm here to save you."
Ichigo's eyes were wide. "Nel…I…" After a moment he shook his head. "I don't need you to save me. I'm staying here. Go home."
"What? But don't you want to come home? Don't you want to be with your family?"
"No. I don't want to be with those people, I don't even know them. And I sure as hell don't want to be with Orihime. I don't even know her. She's whiny and needy and annoying as hell. I don't need someone like that around. I've realized that this is my home. So go away." Ichigo looked back at the mirror.
"You don't mean this, Ichigo. Stop telling yourself these lies!" Nel reached out for him.
"They aren't lies!" Ichigo looked back at her. "I hate humans! I hate the world of the living! I hate Orihime and my family! I hate everything that's tied to my past! So stop trying to remind me of it!"
"But…Ichigo." She walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder. "Don't do this. I know you don't really feel this way."
"Go away, Nel." He pushed her away from him.
"Stop being like this!" She got out of her gigai and unsheathed her katana. He took his katana off of his back and blocked her attack. "You're angering me, Ichigo!"
"Why are you attacking me?"
"Because, you're angering me!" She attacked him again. "Come back, dammit!"
"No!"
"Yes!" She attacked him, again. "If you don't come back on your own I'll have to knock you unconscious and take you back against your will!"
"Like you could do that! I'd kill you before you could!" He cut her arm.
"You wouldn't!" She cut his arm.
"You don't believe me! We're not even really friends anymore, Nel. It's been so long. I'd kill you, believe me I would."
"How could you!" She hit him over the head. He fell to the ground.
"Ow!" He looked up at her. "Did you really think that would knock me out?"
"I was hoping." She shrugged.
He knocked her feet out from under her and she fell to the ground. "Dammit!" She thrust her katana forward and pierced his left shoulder. "Ha!" She pointed to the wound.
"A little immature, are we?" He pierced her right shoulder.
"You're being difficult! All you have to do is listen to my plan and you could come back and have a normal life!" She stood and cut the side of his face. She laughed. "Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to ruin your image."
"Dammit!" He brought a hand up to his face and brushed it across, healing it. "Ha, high speed regeneration."
"Who's immature now?" Nel cut his face again. "I can keep 'um coming."
"You won't leave until I hear your plan, will you?" He stabbed her in the arm.
"No!" She stabbed him in the leg.
"You're not going to listen to what I have to say, are you?" Nel stood up and took a few steps back.
Ichigo looked away. "I already told you, I have no desire to be in the real world again. That's final."
Nel shook her head. "You idiot."
"Shut up, Nel."
Nel sheathed her katana. "I'm coming back tomorrow. Think it over. If by then you still don't want to come home, I won't bother you anymore." She created a portal and started to step through it. "Goodbye, Ichigo." He didn't say goodbye in return. She turned away and left.
Ichigo looked annoyed. He brought his hand up to his forehead and closed his eyes. "Why would she come? I don't want to be human, I don't want to go back." He looked forward. "Dammit."
----
Ichigo stood on the edge of Las Noches. He looked out into the stark world that was Hueco Mundo. Nothing existed. Nothing truly lived. There was only death.
He jumped down off of the edge and landed at the base of the wall. He walked out towards the trees. There wasn't anyone there. It was quiet. Finally he was in a place where it was quiet. No Aya, no Aizen. Even no Ulquiorra or Stark. It was nice to just be by himself.
He kept walking out, away from Las Noches. Away from Aizen. After a while he looked back. It seemed just the same as it ever had been. As it had been when he had first arrived in Hueco Mundo. That day. He turned back to the white sand and open black skies. The day when he first saw this place. The day when he first saw Urahara's expression at seeing his hollow form. He could remember it as though it had happened only a moment ago. Ichigo closed his eyes. Then he looked down at his hand. It looked like a human's hand.
In the distance he saw a group of hollows gathered around something. His eyebrows pulled together and he quickly moved toward them. "What are you doing?" He tried to move them apart.
"Get away." The pushed him back. Ichigo pulled his katana off of his back and killed the hollow closest to him. Then, they all turned to him. "What the hell have you done, boy?" The hollow that seemed to be the leader began walking up to him.
Ichigo ran to him and sliced him down the center of his body, then killed the rest of the hollows. He looked at what they were gathered around. It was a soul. He stared at him for a moment. "What are you doing here?"
The soul looked terrified. "I…don't know. I don't know where I am! They just took me." He stood up. "Thank you. But why are you here, too?"
He put his katana on his back and looked around himself. "I live here."
"W…what?" The soul took a step backward.
Ichigo appeared in front of him and grabbed his neck. "Unfortunately for you."
----
Ichigo stood in the sand, staring at the pitch black sky. He brought his clawed hand up to his mask, his hair flowing in the wind. He couldn't speak. No words came out. Where was he? He looked down at his body, again. What had happened? Wasn't he supposed to have become a Shinigami? Did something go wrong? Urahara had said something about him either becoming either a Shinigami…or a Hollow. He must have failed.
----
Ichigo looked back to Las Noches. He didn't want to return. Nel would be coming back tomorrow and he would have to make a choice. Also, Ulquiorra was there. If he were to go back to the real world Ulquiorra wouldn't stop searching for him. How would it possibly work for him to go back? It wouldn't.
He walked up to a white tree and broke off a small branch.
"Hey, idiot."
Ichigo turned to the right. Grimmjow was standing there, watching him. "What the hell are you doing?"
Ichigo looked down to the tree branch in his hand. He dropped it on the ground. "What are you doing here, Grimmjow?"
"I'm getting you. 'You shouldn't be all the way out here, you could get hurt.' Or at least that's what Aizen says. So get the hell back to Las Noches." He turned around. "Now."
"I'm an Espada, I think I can handle regular hollows."
"Yeah, but what about Vasto Lordes?" Grimmjow looked back at him. "I could have kicked your ass even when I was a Vasto Lorde." He started walking back to Las Noches. "So come back."
Ichigo started walking back as well. "Fine."
"Wait a while, so you aren't following me." Grimmjow held a hand up.
"No. I'm just walking now." Ichigo kept walking.
----
Ichigo moved through the Menos Forest, his large black form shuffling through with the rest of the Menos. He knew he had to continue to evolve, to move forward. He continued to take the lives of his fellow Hollows. He didn't care. He just wanted to become greater than he was. He wanted to change. He realized that he wasn't himself anymore. He thought of how he was when he was a human, that he wasn't really Ichigo anymore. He tried to think of what his family would think of him if they were to know what he was. But he didn't care. He tried to push his former life away from him. He tried to create a new life, a new self. Cold, cruel, hollow.
----
Ichigo stopped in the middle of the sands and watched as Grimmjow walked ahead of him. He was tired of seeing him. He wanted him to go away. Grimmjow stopped and turned around. "What's wrong?"
"I'm tired of seeing you, what else?"
"Shut the hell up." Grimmjow turned around and kept walking.
Ichigo turned around and looked at the sky. The moon was shining. "Just like it used to."
----
"Ichigo." An Adjuchas walked next to Ichigo, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Ichigo, where are you going?"
"To Las Noches." Ichigo started walking towards the large fortress in the distance.
"You'll never make it in there. You'll have to be a Vasto Lorde, and you have to be handpicked." The Adjuchas stopped him. "Don't go."
Ichigo stopped. "You have to be a Vasto Lorde."
"Yes."
Ichigo grabbed the Adjuchas. "Then I guess I'll have to eat more hollows."
----
When Ichigo got back to Las Noches, he went to his room and laid down on his couch, hoping Aya wouldn't come in.
"Ichigo-sama?"
"Dammit," Ichigo whispered.
"Ichigo-sama, where have you been?" Aya sat down next to his couch and held his hand.
"You know I don't like it when you touch me, Aya." He pulled his hand away from her.
"But you need to be touched." She held his hand again.
"I disagree." He pulled it away, again.
"I disagree with you disagreeing. " She held it again.
"Dammit." He brought his other hand up to his face.
"See. It's not that difficult." She leaned her face against their hands.
"I don't understand you." He closed his eyes.
"But, Ichigo, don't you know that you're important to me?" She looked up at him.
"I know."
"I want to be with you." She leaned her face against their hands again.
"Too bad." He sighed. She was getting annoying. He was going to have to have this conversation again.
"Why not?" She looked up at him, she wasn't expecting this answer.
"We're not suited to each other." He let his hand fall from his face.
"What? No…" She looked very sad.
"Unfortunately, yes."
He tried to sit up, but she held steadfast to his hand. "Just sit with me a little while longer."
He let out a breath. "Fine." She leaned against his hand again and got closer to the couch. He looked awkward. "Listen, I'm really not used to this kind of thing."
"Shh…" She shook her head. "It's really fine."
"Eh…" He sighed and closed his eyes. "This is not fine."
"Ichigo, will you ever say 'yes' to a girl?" Aya asked.
"Probably not, no."
"Why not?" She opened her eyes.
"No one good enough for me."
"Jerk." She closed her eyes, again, and smiled.
"What?" He looked over to her.
"Nothing." She sighed, content.
----
Ichigo stood in front of Aizen, his new Vasto Lorde form only days old. Aizen stood for a moment before taking out the Hogyoku and showing it to him. The Espada were in the room, watching. Ichigo waited as Aizen awakened the Hogyoku and he was changed, nearly instantaneously, into an Arrancar.
Aizen smiled. "What is your name?"
Ichigo looked up at him as Nel put a blanket around him. "Ichigo."
"It's good to meet you, Ichigo."
Ichigo looked up at Nel to thank her, then just looked displeased at her smile. Nel looked a little disappointed that he wouldn't be kind to her. She walked back to where she had been standing.
"These are my Espada, Ichigo." Aizen named them to him, and introduced him to them. "You will fight with them.
Nel watched Ichigo for a few moments. Ichigo looked up at her and scowled. "What the hell are you looking at?"
Nnoitra laughed. Nel looked up at Aizen. "Aizen-sama, I'd like to have Ichigo as one of my fraccion."
Aizen looked to her. "You already have two loyal fraccion."
"There are Espada with many more," she pointed out.
"Very well." Aizen walked out of the room. "Consider yourself lucky, Ichigo."
Nel walked up to Ichigo. "You'll fight under me." She held her hand out to help him up. He slapped it away. She smiled. "It's nice to meet you."
---
After about ten minutes Aya left and Ichigo sat up. He had to think about Nel's proposition, no matter how difficult it may be. Would he go back to the world of the living? If he stayed here he would just have to deal with Aya, he supposed. And Grimmjow. Damn, he hated Grimmjow. And life here was starting to get boring. Ulquiorra seemed to dislike him now that he saved Orihime.
Ichigo looked up at the ceiling. "Maybe…"
