Ichigo was sleeping under the sand when he felt the vibrations of people walking above him. They smelled like hollows, yet they walked and talked like humans. These were probably the new hybrids he had seen walking around. He had to be cautious, seeing how ruthless and lethal they were. He had come this far and the smaller hollow wanted to continue his existence, no matter how bloody and chaotic it was. He enjoyed fighting, enjoyed consuming, and enjoyed the thrill. Ichigo felt the spiritual pressure they were giving off and instinctively wanted to set his off in an intimidation move, but forced himself to remain down. That is, until he felt the hunger again. He had eaten a rather large and powerful earlier, but as usual, his meal didn't satisfy for long. He curled up, and shot out of the sand upwards, latching onto the arm of one of the arrancars. He got the element of the surprise, and buried his teeth into the flesh before he got flung away, taking the bit of meat with him and gulping it down greedily.
He got on all fours as he studied his opponents. There were five of them, coming in all sorts of shapes. There was a lanky man with long black hair, a green haired woman with a skull mask on top of her head, a giant of a man that Ichigo took a bite out of, a blue haired man with a terrifying grin and skull jaw on the right side of his face, and an incredibly pale man with green tear streaks and a half of a skeletal helmet.
"Is that him?" The green haired woman said. Ichigo's gaze turned to her. She seemed kind, and she reminded him of his mother in a way.
The pale man nodded, and she came at him. She shot an arm out and struck Ichigo's arm. Ichigo's child-like mind identified this as a really hard game of tag. After all, she didn't have any claws, so how would she be attacking him? Ichigo pranced back and shot his own arm out to one of the others, scratching them and his mind making them "it". This process went on for awhile, Ichigo avoiding whoever he thought was it and scratching whoever was closest to him in an attempt to tag them as it. The entire time, he was laughing.
"Does he think this is a fucking game?" the lanky man asked, the constant laughing getting on his nerves.
"Actually Nnoitra, I think he might." The green haired woman said. Nnoitra turned to her, glaring slightly.
"Nel, what does that mean?" Nnoitra said to her.
"He could be spirit that died young. There's a chance he thinks we're playing tag, with us darting at him and attempting to land a hit on him. His mind probably sees this as a brutal game, with us using swords and him using claws." Nel said.
Ichigo waited for the person that was "it" to go at someone. His tail was going side to side like a happy dog's.
"Who did he scratch last?" Nel asked them all, wanting to know who Ichigo considered it.
"This is foolish." Ulquiorra said, bringing his own sword out. Nel turned to him, confused.
"We won't get anywhere with us indulging in his childish antics." He said emotionlessly. He charged at Ichigo, who jumped above him. He swiped his sword where he predicted the hollow would land, and managed to create a large gash on the hollow's chest. Ichigo grabbed at in. He glared at the arrancar and realized that this was not a simple game. He let his reiatsu flare out and gave a cackle when Ulquiorra stumbled slightly from the pressure. Ulquiorra steeled himself and let his own reiatsu clash against Ichigo's. Ichigo began to charge at Ulquiorra, slashing out with his claws.
Ulquiorra blocked the attack, much to the anger of the hollow. Ichigo's tail quickly shot out and knocked Ulquiorra off his feet. Ulquiorra was surprised by this, which allowed Ichigo to land a hit on him much to the hollow's delight. The espada kicked Ichigo in the chest, sending him flying into the sand. The raven stood up and looked at the hollow with vacant eyes.
"Impressive. But that will be last hit you'll get." He said while Ichigo pulled himself up. He charged at Ulquiorra, his head low, hoping to get him with one of his horns. Ulquiorra waited until Ichigo was close, then grabbed one of the horns and tossed him harshly into the sand. The arrancar sonidoed next to Ichigo and stomped a foot down on the back of his head. The hollow gave a weak cry, trying to give Ulquiorra a weak scratch. The raven stomped his foot down once more which knocked out his opponent. He looked at the others, who had been watching with wide eyes.
"We did what Aizen told us to do." Ulquiorra said. He slung Ichigo over his shoulder and began to walk back to Las Noches. The other followed him.
"Why don't we just Sonido back?" Grimmjow asked impatiently, keeping his hands in his pockets and a sneer on his face.
"Chances are if we do that, we'll most likely wake him up. If he wakes up, he'll be incredibly enraged and attack us. We would have to fight him once more and Aizen made it clear he wanted him with minimal injuries." Ulquiorra said. They continued to walk at the same pace for the most part. Nnoitra picked up his speed and purposely bumped his shoulder harshly into Nel's. She almost fell and gave Nnoitra a dirty look.
"What? I'm just walking here." Nnoitra said, looking over his shoulder at her with a cocky smirk. She grit her teeth, her reiatsu rising slowly unintentionally. Nnoitra let his flare out in retaliation, an attempt to intimidate his rival. Ichigo's eyes fluttered open beneath his mask, hidden by the orange hair that had fallen in his face. He was awoken by the spiritual pressure coming off of the two arrancars. The hollow remembered what had happened, and guessed the one holding him was the pale one that knocked his out. He silently opened his mouth and rolled his arms slightly. No one noticed his body's movements, thankfully. He forced the spikes on his elbows out, embedding them in Ulquiorra's shoulder and took a large bite out of his back. Ulquiorra gave a cry of pain, instinctively throwing the hollow away from him. As he did so, Ichigo's spike tore away a bit of flesh from the arm. Ichigo landed in the sand on all fours. He began to bug a hole in the sand, hoping to get under the sands and burrow away from these people until he had the strength to face them. He almost got away with it until he felt a hand on his tail and pull him out of his hole by it. Ulquiorra slammed him into the ground before stamping on his stomach.
Ichigo roared, and began to fire his Cero. Ulquiorra quickly moved out of the way, giving Ichigo a chance to get up and he began to run away. Ulquiorra put a hand on his sword and looked back at his companions.
"Keep back." He commanded. He put a hand on his sword and it.
"Enclose, Murcielago." Ulquiorra said. His release form came out, and he stretched out the large black wings protruding from his back. He flew up, quickly spotting Ichigo. Ulquiorra flew towards him, swiping his claws down at him. Ichigo pressed his body close down to the sand, the sharp talons just barely missing him. He crouched and jumped at Ulquiorra, who dodged out of the way. As he came down from the air Ichigo attempted to embed one of his spikes into Ulquiorra's side, only for his opponent to grab the spike and slam him into one of the hard bone white trees. Ulquiorra pressed a hand against Ichigo's throat and began to squeeze harshly.
"You will submit, you will follow me without incident, and you will not attack me. If you do not do this, I will kill you here and now. Do you understand?" he said monotonously. Ichigo panted, his mind racing with thoughts of how to defeat Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra squeezed harder and said "Make your decision now. I'm getting impatient."
Ichigo let his arms fall to his side, the sharp spikes going back into his arms. Ulquiorra let him go. "I see you've made your choice. Know that if you break the deal and attack me or my companions, I will not hesitate to execute you." He said. He let Ichigo go and sealed his powers back into his sword, turning back into his normal form. Ichigo followed after him when he began to walk back to his group. The others eyed him warily, slightly afraid he would attack one of them.
"He knows not to attack us now. If he does, do not hesitate to release and kill him." Ulquiorra said as they began to walk back to Las Noches. Ichigo followed behind, keeping his eyes down. He spotted a large hollow in the background and was tempted to run after it for a meal but held back. Soon, they found themselves walking through the front gate of the incredibly large building. Ichigo looked around. There was a large blue sky above them, giving the illusion of sunlight.
The arrancars all fell to their knees suddenly, bowing to the person in front of them. "Is that him?" the person said. "Yes, Aizen-sama." Ulquiorra said.
"Good. Ulquiorra, I trust you know where to bring him?" Aizen said. Ulquiorra gave a nod. He turned back to Ichigo who began to follow him. He was brought to a large dark room and told to stay in place. The others gathered behind Aizen, who was holding a small black ball.
Ichigo fell to his knees, a pain overwhelming his body. He roared loudly, his voice changing along with his body. He shrunk as his white armor began to recede. The most painful part for him was his mask being removed, a small portion of it remaining on his face. He clutched desperately at what remained of his white body, only for it to crumble or tear away. When the process was over, everyone was surprised to find that where an intimidating and deadly hollow was once was now a crying child that couldn't be older than seven. He looked up at them with confused teary brown eyes.
"Why?" he said, his voice filled with sadness. He didn't want to be back into this form, the weak and helpless one.
Aizen gave a fatherly smile. "We changed you so you could get stronger. Can you tell me your name?" he asked kindly, while Gin put an oversized jacket on the child so he could have some modesty.
"I-Ichigo Kurosaki." He stuttered out. "Well Ichigo, you're an arrancar now." Aizen said. He proceeded to explain what that meant, explaining to the child. When he was done he turned back to his espadas.
"I need someone to watch over Ichigo. Which one of you convinced him to come here?" He asked to them. Ulquiorra raised his hand keeping his eyes on the small orangette. "Good. Ulquiorra, you'll be in charge of him. You'll train him. When we have all the preparations to properly take on the Soul Society finished, we'll give him his rank."
"I understand, my lord." Ulquiorra said.
"You're putting Mister Bat in charge of me?" Ichigo said innocently.
"Why did you call me that?" The espada said while walking over to the child.
"Well, when you flew after me, you grew wings. They looked like bat wings and since you flew like a bat, that means you're part bat. So I'm calling you Mr. Bat!" Ichigo said. Ulquiorra gave a small sigh, barely noticeable and guided the child out of the large dark room. Aizen smiled as they left. Ichigo, while having died as a child, would most likely continue to grow and his strength along with it. The boy may even grow up to be the new Zero espada.
