Shatter His Spirit

The night of waiting was perhaps harder than most of them expected. Rukia invited Isshin, Kon and his two lovers, Orihime, Uryū and Chad to Kuchiki manor where they could stay until the next morning. They had to do something and they all knew it. Isshin wandered the halls until he found Byakuya standing and staring out over the pond from one of the open doorways.

"Shiba-san," Byakuya said as he came into the room with him. "Are you unwell?" he asked without turning around.

"I should ask you the same, Kuchiki-san."

Byakuya turned and stared at the ex-captain. "What do you mean? Your son is the one that has been victimized, no doubt because of his becoming involved in Soul Society as he did."

Isshin smiled softly. "Ah, were it ever that simple," he said with a sigh. "You suffered at Sōsuke's hands as well."

"Nothing was done to me."

"But there was, Byakuya," Isshin said as he stepped up to lean back against the wall and looked at the noble. "Always so tightly in control these days, huh?" he asked with a smirk. "I think it's a façade. That hot-headed boy is still in there somewhere," he said with a sigh.

Byakuya nodded slowly. "To…know that my likeness was used to rape and torture someone I have such respect for…"

"And care about?" Isshin said softly.

Byakuya turned a narrowed glance on him. "What do you mean by that, Shiba?" he asked.

"You know, I'm not going to say what I mean, because you know already. Look…Byakuya, just…don't leave things alone. You mean a lot to him, and the fact that Sōsuke used you to do this…he knew that. I don't mean you have to do anything at all, Byakuya. Just don't walk away from him."

Isshin turned and headed out of the room to leave Byakuya to his thoughts. He found his way to Kon's room where he was lying with his head in Aiko's lap while Seras fixed tea for him. Kon looked at him as he leaned against the doorway.

"How are you, Kon?" he asked with a smile.

"Well enough," he said with a sigh.

"Oh, could you find out from Rukia what time we're leaving? I forgot to ask...she also said she had something to give you," Isshin said with a smile.

Kon nodded, standing and heading out. Isshin watched him go and turned to the couple in the room.

"Why is it that two humans are so unbothered by learning of the existence of Shinigami and crossing worlds to visit the realm of spirits?" he asked with a hard look at them both. "And two humans that find out their lover isn't actually human but a modified soul meant to kill hollow spirits? How is it two humans view a full Espada level Arrancar and barely flinch?"

Aiko and Seras exchanged a glance across the room with wide eyes. "Um," Aiko began but Isshin waved a hand at him.

"Kon may only inhabit my son's body, but he has also become like a son to me over the last seven years. I have watched as he became his own person as he changed from pretending to be my son to learning to be himself. Now. I want to know what this all means. Kon is far too upset by things to even consider this," Isshin said with a narrowed glance at them.

Aiko sighed and looked at Seras who nodded. "We…we're like the tall one, Yasutora. We're Fullbringers. I…we…knew that Kon wasn't like normal humans when we met him, and he was so sad. We ran into him accidently the first time, when he had a small fight with a minor hollow. Our…our powers are hidden, that is one of my abilities, masking. I…I can mask spiritual energy. We…I hide Kon's too. At least until we came to see you since we figured you might find it odd if you couldn't sense him."

Isshin nodded slowly. "Take care of him. He's impulsive, and he's been through more than you can imagine after what was done to his soul to make him what he is."

Isshin turned and walked past Kon as he came out carrying a box of candy. Isshin smirked, pausing at the next room. He glanced it to see Chad, Uryū and Orihime had all chose places for the mats they were sleeping on.

"Everyone settled?" he asked as he looked around.

"I'm so nervous, Kurosaki-san! What if Kurosaki-kun doesn't live through what we're going to do?" she asked, looking at him with desperate eyes.

"We move on, Orihime, just like we did before," Isshin said with a gentle smile at her. He glanced to see Uryū seemed pensive. "You okay, Uryū?"

"I'm just…the fact he's still alive, I don't…we could have kept looking. Five years. How…how could we have stopped looking?" he asked and chewed his lip thoughtfully.

Isshin sighed. "There's something you should know, Uryū, just because I think tonight it is important. Ichigo's mother was a Quincy, Masaki Kurosaki. And we honestly have no idea what that means for him now that this has happened. Aizen would have known about it. Aizen was the one that had her killed, I believe."

Uryū stared at him. "How can he be…he doesn't have Quincy powers, does he?"

"Not that we're aware of, but he does have Quincy blood," Isshin said. He glanced at the ever stoic Chad and just nodded. "Rest, all of you. Tomorrow will be a test of our strength, no matter the result."

Isshin turned and went to the room he'd been given. He sat down and stared otside at the moon and hoped that he would be able to save his son.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

The morning came far too soon for everyone involved. Unohana went to retrieve Ichigo as the warded area was erected in a small out building near the fourth. Kurotsuchi and Urahara had spent much of the night working on it with some help from the rest of the twelfth division. Most of the dealings between Urahara and Kurosuchi were amenable, but there were a few clashes of power. Unohana found Wonderweiss was sitting on the bed trying to comb the mess that Ichigo's hair was in. Ichigo was staring into the wall blankly. Wonderweiss looked up and smiled at her.

"We're taking him to take the cuffs off," she explained. She looked over to see that Shūhei and Kira had come as she had asked. Komamura had taken last night's watch over Ichigo. "Can you get him up, Wonderweiss?" she asked with a smile.

Wonderweiss nodded and manhandled Ichigo off the bed easily enough. He didn't seem bothered by it, though, letting Wonderweiss drag him by the arm as they went out of the fourth to the out building. Kira and Shūhei exchanged a glance but followed Unohana and the Arrancar as they led Ichigo. He didn't look up, just stared at the ground. They got him into the building and into the bed. Ichigo's eyes widened as he stared at the unfamiliar area.

"Pet, still," Wonderweiss said and knelt beside him.

Ichigo nodded and looked around as Urahara came into the area around the bed that was marked with a wide circle around the bed. He attached monitors to Ichigo with Wonderweiss helping him. He sighed and looked around. Around the outside of the circle, it seemed everyone had come. Kon and his lovers, Uryū, Chad, Isshin, Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya all stood watching. Of course Orihime stood beside Kurotsuchi near the edge of the bed. Urahara looked around.

"Okay, no one, and I mean no one, enter the shielded area, no matter what. The monitors will flat line, and he'll technically be dead for a few moments. And he's going to bleed a lot until Inoue-san can heal the wounds. I'm hoping that she can reject it, but I'm not entirely certain that she will be able to do something because of the way this is tied into his very soul essence. I have to make sure that those cuffs are deactivated, and contained before I remove the dampening field around them," Urahara explained.

Everyone around him looked nervous, but then, killing someone on purpose like this was never a happy prospect. He took a breath and injected a greenish liquid into Ichigo's arm. Ichigo looked at his arm in surprise. Wonderweiss was holding his hand though, so he didn't try and get away. Urahara waited and picked up a tool to cut the metal with. After a few moments, Ichigo's eyes widened and his breath started to quicken. He looked around him in an apparent panic for a second. Then his eyes rolled up and his body jerked violently for a few moments. The line on the monitor went flat. Urahara counted to ten, and then began to cut the metal from his wrists. He winced to see how deeply embedded the metal had become, knowing he was about to pull out muscle tissue with the cuffs. He cut through both of them, rivulets of blood flowing down to make a wide pool on the floor.

Once the metal was cut through, he had to rip them out of his flesh. He didn't have time to be careful or to try and surgically remove them. He had to be quick. He grimaced and ripped the first one off, blood spraying all over him as he did so. His stomach lurched to feel it splatter on his face. He groaned, tossing the cursed object to the floor and did the same with the other side, a similar gush of red meeting him. He bit his lip as he picked both cuffs up and deposited them in a sealing container, ignoring the bits of tissue that had clung to them.

"Inoue-san, now," he gasped, dropping the barrier as she let her sun sun riki go, covering him with the golden shield. Wonderweiss had moved to stand away from Ichigo when Urahara began working and now stared with his purple eyes wide.

They all watched the monitors for signs of life returning. Urahara picked up another syringe and plunged the pinkish liquid into his neck. There was a blip on the monitor. Then another. And another. Soon, a slow and steady rhythm beat on the monitor, and his breathing became regular. After nearly an hour, Orihime sank to her knees, the shield shattering. The wounds weren't healed completely, but the blood had quit gushing. Unohana did what she could and wrapped Ichigo's wrists with thick bandages.

After everything was stabilized, Unohana took Ichigo back to his room. Wonderweiss went with him, taking up a constant vigil by his side to wait. Unohana insisted on a regular twenty-four-hour watch. Now, they could only wait.

Uryū and Chad left the next day to return to school, and a few days later Isshin left with Kon, Aiko, and Sera. They had asked to be informed of any changes, and Urahara promised to let them all know the moment anything changed. Isshin had also asked Kon's friends to come stay with them. He had a lot of things to talk to both his girls, Kon, and his lovers about.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

When they came into the house, Yuzu and Karin both came to them. Yuzu still looked a little shocked. Kon sat down across from her and Aiko and Seras on either side of him. They both grabbed his hands as he looked at her.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you I wasn't him," he said and looked at her.

Yuzu nodded. "So…you were in this?" she said and held up the lion.

Kon glanced at Isshin before he took it and sighed. He glanced at Aiko. "Reach in my mouth, back of the throat, little green sphere…pull it out."

Aiko nodded, doing as he asked. The second he pulled, Kon's body slumped lifelessly into the sat. Seras caught him, frowning. Isshin took the green sphere and pressed it into the mouth of the lion plushie.

"I hate this damn thing! Okay, can I leave now?" the lion said as he stood up and put his hands on his hips. "Everyone got it now? Okay, good, Aiko, put me back in that body!"

Aiko smirked. "You're kinda cute that way, Kon. Maybe we could keep you in there for a bit."

Kon growled and flew at Aiko, slapping him with stuffed lion paws. Aiko laughed out loud then plucked the sphere and put it back into Ichigo's body. Kon sat up and snorted, grabbing the lion and poking it. "I hate that thing."

"I can't believe that you were in there…" Yuzu said, taking it back.

"Not all the time," Kon said. "Sometimes I was in here when Ichigo was gone to Soul Society or something," he said with a shrug. "When he didn't come back…I stayed so no one would know Ichigo was dead. Karin knew, she could sense that it wasn't the same spirit energy as Ichigo's."

Isshin sighed. "I never wanted you girls to find out this way, not about Ichigo, me, or your mother. But I think that it's time for all the truth to come out."

It was almost three am before Isshin Shiba had finished his tale.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Time seemed to tick by slowly as various people took up watches, two hours at a time. Rukia realized very quickly what an impact the orange haired Shinigami substitute's return had on the people of soul society. He seemed to be stable, from what they could tell, but Unohana said she could detect no change in the activity of his brain. Once he regained consciousness, Urahara would try to do what he could, but there were no guarantees. No one knew exactly what would happen when he awoke. And before they knew it, two weeks had passed with no changes. His body had begun to heal fully, and the healing teams of the fourth set about doing what they could to correct the badly mended bones throughout his body. The worst had been his hands. Finally, after almost a week of intense healing, they manage to return them to a somewhat normal state. It was a blessing he had slept through the bone mending procedures, though. They would have been painful.

His wrists had been another story. Even after Orihime's magic, they had wept blood for several days, and it had taken her several times to get them to heal enough to stop being open wounds. Her magic usually rejected any wounds and removed almost all scars. Except these. No matter what she did, the wounds on his forearms would not go away, and it had been Unohana that had finally mended the worst of the damage. It was like Orihime couldn't reject the damage the same way as she normally did. Urahara speculated it was because the damage was to his soul, and not his body, but he didn't want to tell Orihime that.

The skin was different, distinct scar tissue, after Unohana finished. She didn't understand it. Finally, he was fully healed, a combination of Orihime's tireless work and the healers of squad four. But still, his mind was not functioning correctly yet, those parts of his brain that had been affected by the cuffs still refused to light up with activity when Urahara scanned them…

They were not, of course, able to witness the internal struggle.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Zangetsu was tired still. He could barely maintain his own form in the inner world. That world was now an ocean with nothing in it. Rain poured from the blackened sky. And Zangetsu didn't care, he just wanted to sleep. Strange for a Zanpakutō to feel like this. Somewhere, he could hear sobbing. But he was too tired to go figure it out. He saw his white companion eventually, stumbling through the air above the ocean. He was already white, but he was sure he would have been paler if it hadn't been for that. He wandered around, staring at his arms where these large black scars had appeared.

It took forever of standing beside the old man before he could speak. "Where's the king gone?" he croaked.

Zangetsu likewise took a long time. "No idea. I heard sobbing. I wasn't sure if it was you or him."

"Not me, but I don't feel right. I can't remember…" he muttered, looking around. "What did th' king do?"

Zangetsu was a little clearer. "He's giving up, if we let him."

Shiro shook his head. "Nah, can't let 'im do that."

"Have you searched his memories to find out what happened?" Zangetsu asked.

Again, Shiro shook his head. "Nah, can't be that bad, ya?"

Zangetsu blinked slowly. "Maybe you shouldn't look."

The hollow looked at him. "What?"

"You may be better if you don't."

"I will, now that you told me not to," he said and his form dissipated.

Zangetsu swallowed. "I hope he doesn't lose his mind."

-Spiraling-

Renji stood over him. He was still unbroken, snarling and cursing at him as his hands were slammed into the clamps on the floor. He held up a hammer. He stared at him and grinned, slamming it down repeatedly on his struggling hands. Every bone was shattered, every one sending lancing pain throughout his body. And then, his legs were locked at the knees under his chest, and it began again. The pain in his hands didn't eclipse the rest, and by the end he was hoarse from the screams. But he wasn't broken. Not yet. Even then, curled up, nursing his hands against his chest, he wasn't broken, screaming curses at Renji. But was it Renji? That smirk, something about that smirk…

-Spiraling-

He lay still, breath panting in and out. His ankles and wrists were fixed and he was on his stomach. He had lost any shame at the undignified position months ago. His head lolled to the side on the floor. He heard the light footsteps and heard the hiss of the metal. He had stopped begging. He had no voice these days. He was close, so close to doing what they wanted.

"Call me Rukia-sama," she said, and he felt the heat from the iron as she held it above the backs of his thighs.

"I'll call you Rukia-bitch," he said softly. Of course, the expected searing of the flesh came, the smell of his own burning skin wafting up, making him retch uncontrollably. One. Two.

"What is your name?" she asked.

"Ichigo," he snarled at her. Three, four. Between, she returned it to the fire.

"No, you are a pet now, you have no name," she said, and the heat returned. Higher, this time, closer to the inside of his thighs.

"Fuck you, bitch," he whispered. Five, six, seven, eight.

Eight was his limit. It was then he passed out. He never had been able to last past the eighth touch.

-Spiraling-

He was standing against the wall, hands tied above his head this time. Byakuya was back, lashing him with a scourge whip, the barbs tearing chunks of flesh away mercilessly. He rested his head against the cold stone, panting. The first lash he'd called him a bastard. The second curse had died on his lips in a scream. The third lash had nearly sent him unconscious.

"You are doing well, Pet," he said, looking at his handy work.

"I'm not your fucking pet," he said softly. He was rewarded by a fourth lash.

"You are nothing but a worthless hollow monster that deserves death. You are lucky I allow you to live here and don't kill you," he said running fingers up and down Ichigo's spine.

"Kill me, I'd rather be dead," he said. Fifth lash, and he barely had the strength to flinch.

The whip fell, and his legs were kicked apart. "You won't be dead, you'll be punished."

Somehow, he found the strength to scream again.

-Spiraling-

"Heal him, freak," a muttered curse in the dark lancing through his head. Why couldn't he see? "Not all the way, just make sure he doesn't die," the voice continued.

A needle. Suddenly, pain was amplified, and he realized his eyes were beginning to reconstruct themselves. That's right; it had been tonight's fun, taking his eyes… He vaguely thought that this had happened twice before, the sick pop and slithering feeling down his cheeks. Strange that that part didn't really hurt that much. But he deserved it. He didn't look up when he was told to. That was the result. Of course, at the time, he couldn't look up, but that didn't seem to matter. He should have tried even with his head chained down.

-Spiraling-

Pain, too much to count. The knife was sliding under the skin, and to his horror, he looked down to see it being peeled away. The pain was searing and wavering as the skin fell to the side with a plop. He looked up at the grinning Yumichika. Why was he grinning? He couldn't even see his eyes; his grin was so wide. This was before the cuffs; this was while he was still fighting.

"Yumichika, why?" he cried out.

"Ah, you know, fun," came the answer and the voice, it was Yumichika but it was wrong, something wrong with it. "How much skin can I flay before ya pass out?"

Again, the searing pain and drip of blood down his legs.

He heard Ikkaku laughing and felt the slighter cuts on his back. No, he begged in his head. Not both of them. Then it stopped and he tried to hold his voice, but as the burning liquid poured from Ikkaku's jug, he found new ways to scream.

-Spiraling -

It was gone, just gone, like filaments of sugar candy on the wind. Blown away. Faces flashed, but they didn't remain solid. It was slipping away. No name, not anymore, it was stripped like his flesh. The world was cruel and he was a sick, diseased thing. If he wasn't he wouldn't be here. Slowly eyes blinked open as he rested on his knees, arms secured above him. Master was back. Didn't master have another name? He couldn't remember anymore.

"Hello, Pet," he said, kneeling, pushing his chin up to force his eyes to connect.

"Master…" he said softly.

He looked down at a damp spot below the bound man. "You made a mess, didn't you?"

"Bad Pet," he whispered.

"What do we do with bad pets?" Master said softly.

"Punish them, Master," he whispered as his Master kneeled between his legs to bring his punishment, his pain, and his humiliation. But then, humiliation requires having knowledge of what it is like to not be like this. He'd lost it.

-Spiraling-

Master stood over him again, telling him the usual words.

"Such a dirty monster, pet. Are you a monster, pet?"

"Bad monster, Master. Punish me, please," he said softly.

"Ah that's a good pet. When you're good, I love you."

He was at a loss for what the Master wanted. He received a slap. "You've made me angry."

"Master?" he asked, as he was forced to his knees.

"Please your master, and I won't punish you so severely."

He did as he was asked, but he was still punished. He wondered if it mattered.

-Spiraling -

Sitting alone in the dark, he yanked at his hair again and again, pulling painful clumps loose. The memories had tried to surface. He remembered for a moment who he was, and he punished himself. He had to be punished for such things, even if Master did not know. He glared at his bloody hands. If master couldn't, he had to, he had to. Bad pets had to be punished. But there was a tickle, a terrible tickle, and he whispered hoarsely words that he didn't understand.

"Kill me, anyone…"

-Spiraling-

The Renji above him was punishing him again. He didn't know why. It had become something that happened each day. Pain and blood. And he deserved it. So much. He kept seeing his name and it meant he needed punishment. He looked into the face, and for a second swore that the eyes looking at him were blue instead of brown. "Kill me," he whispered, and watched as shock and something else twisted the face above him. Hands clasped on his neck and squeezed. Oh, this would be it. Then the pressure eased and he was gone. So, close.

-Spiraling-

"Disgusting creature. Hollow. You are lucky to be our pet, instead of dead. Lucky. Be a good Pet."

He had a memory flash and whispered, "Ishida?"

He was punished several times that day. "Do not say such a name."

Soon another memory flashed, and in confusion he said softly, "Uryū help me…"

And again, teaching and punishing, ending up with healing from the medical freak before he bled to death. "Do not say such a name."

"Monsters don't have friends. If you ever had a friend, they find you vile, dirty, and disgusting now."

All the while, the only thing that was constant was the small Arrancar that would pet his head and try to help him through the worst of the pain. He hung to the words that he said, that he'd help him. It took so long, though, and hope was fleeting.

-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-

Ichigo was screaming. Screaming and screaming, and nothing could stop the sounds being torn from his throat. It was like a nightmare but it was more. He heard sounds, a lot of sounds and talking. He felt hands and he tried to throw them off, but it didn't work. Finally, his back arched and a strangled sound escaped his lips and an eerily familiar white substance began frothing from his mouth and over his face, sending everyone in the room a few steps back, except for two men who moved closer in anticipation. This was, after all, always a possibility.

His body relaxed suddenly and a groan escaped his lips. Unohana stood in the doorway as Shinji and Urahara watched carefully near the bed. Urahara had summoned the Vizard when Ichigo had begun screaming almost an hour ago. Renji, Byakuya, and Rukia had also come down but they stood to the side of the room. Wonderweiss, scared by the amount Ichigo was screaming, was huddled against Rukia's side.

"Fuck!" came the guttural reply as Ichigo moved to sit up, his hands on his head. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!" The voice was not his own, however. It was different, and Byakuya stiffened, knowing that voice all too well.

Ichigo, who was not Ichigo, lifted his head up and stared around the room. His face was half covered with a hollow mask, and his eyes were different, black sclera with brilliant gold irises. His eyes fixed on Byakuya.

"Fuck you and yer pansy ass sword," he snarled and then looked around. "Fuck every one of ya fuckin' assholes!"

No one moved. "Five fuckin' years, five fuckin' years, holy fuck!" he exclaimed, running hands through Ichigo's orange hair.

His eyes flashed back and forth. "The fuck happened in here?" he muttered. "Fuck! What fucked with his head? I can't even tell what fuckin' did it! I got fuckin' flashes of shit I don't want to see, and that's all, everything's fuckin' gone. Fuck, king!"

Urahara put a hand on Ichigo's. "I assume you are Ichigo's hollow spirit? Shiro, I believe he calls you?"

"Who the fuck else would I be?" he snapped.

Shiro looked at Shinji. "You fuckers, you fuckers and yer shit. I could fuckin' kill you bunch! I wish I'da taken' yer fuckin' head off when we fought the last time!"

"Well, Shiro, while I would prefer to see Ichigo in control, as you can tell by the state of his mind, that's difficult right now," Urahara said softly.

"No fuckin' shit!" Shiro exclaimed. He thought for a while then his eyes flashed up between Byakuya, Renji and Rukia. "The fuck. Why do I see you three in his memories? Why the fuck would you do this shit to him?"

Urahara could see the anger building as the reiatsu in the room sent a couple healers in the hallway to their knees. "Shiro, Shiro, listen, do you remember who put the sealing bracelets on you, remember?"

Shiro thought. "In my memories, not Ichigo's," he said, thinking. "Fuckin' Aizen. And his fuckin' piece of shit sword. The first sealing bracelets didn't seal me away altogether, I could still see, feel, a little. I felt when that fucker pulled that shitty sword on us. Then, he slapped a stronger set and I've been fuckin' floating in water for the last fuckin' three years. But there was one moment, one moment…yeah, I fuckin' remember, connecting for a moment and screaming myself hoarse at king to run like a mother fucker, but then it was sealed again and shit it hurt that time, even I felt that shit."

Shiro paused. "I tried to protect him. I didn't have much time, but I did what I could, I grabbed his soul and shoved it into a box and put everything I had into it. Guess it didn't work as well as I thought. Still tried to destroy him…" he mattered.

Urahara nodded. "That's the second set, the ones we removed from you three weeks ago. They were horrible, insidious things. They sealed his spiritual energy and seemed to affect his brain."

Shiro frowned down at the massive scar tissue on his forearms. "Fuck, so that's where that shit came from."

"What do you mean?" Urahara asked.

"It showed up on my arms a while ago, my arms all fucked up with this shit…" Shiro said with a mock pout.

"Is there anything you can tell us from what you've got from his memories?" Urahara said.

Shiro shrugged. "Hold on." He closed his eyes, exploring.

He gasped suddenly. "Sadistic fuckers," he muttered.

"What is it?" Urahara pressed.

Shiro looked around. "Okay, so he fuckin' took cherry blossom pussy there's form. Aizen did anyway. The fucker with the blue hair, fuckin' Grimmjow took Red's face over there. And um, that fucker that changes forms took the midget's face, well she was one of his faces. That face liked whips and the irons. He took the drunk captain's face when he wanted to use water on him. Then he took the bald headed one's face to cut him and pour fucking sake in the wounds. He'd bring that old bastard and he looked like pretty boy, the baldy's boyfriend, and he liked flaying the skin off. Aaroniero also took the white-haired captain's face, the tall one with the cough, and stuck needles in him. Fat ass assassin guy broke his hands and feet while that skinny bitch captain crushed his junk or worse…but that was Yammy and Luppi. The fucking druggie bastard looked like her," he muttered, pointing to Unohana."

There was a hushed silence for a moment. "Fuckin' bubblegum pink scientist that could put Kurotsuchi to shame kept him alive. Shoulda died a lot. But they wouldn't let him."

He picked up his hands and examined them slowly. "Ya know, it fuckin' hurts like a bitch when someone takes a fuckin' hammer to your hands. I got that much. Didn't feel any better the second, third, or fourth time, either."

Urahara cringed at the thought. "Anything else you can remember? Did Ichigo have any idea that they weren't who they appeared to be?"

"Kind of, he remembered thinking that Byakuya didn't smile, and that Renji shouldn't be smirking like he was. But it was all fuckin' foggy from the pain and haze he was in. Drugs from that freak, too, he was out of it a lot, or that might be whatever the fucker did up here. Feels like someone took a fuckin' sledge hammer to his brain..."

Rukia moved up, Wonderweiss moving with her. "Can you fix it? Whatever is wrong in his mind?"

Shiro looked at her. "Ya sure ya want me to, midget? I do that, he's gonna fuckin' remember every detail, relive that shit. No fog, no nothing. Fuckin' bell clarity. All of it. Not just the flashes that sent my hollow ass to screamin' bloody murder. We're talking all five years."

He sighed though and stared at Wonderweiss. "Yo, brat. Thanks for what ya did for m'king. He probably wouldn't have lived without you there, even if he thought you were imaginary."

"He thought Wonderweiss was imaginary?" Urahara asked.

"Yeah, he didn't think there should be Arrancar in Kuchiki manor. For some reason, whatever Aizen fucker did, it didn't work on this little bitch after he resurrected him. I remembered, before the second bracers he put on me, seeing him, and Ichgo was confused as fuck by there being an Arrancar just wandering about, so he just figured it was him going crazy."

"Fix Pet Friend?" Wonderweiss said, looking at him.

Shiro sighed and nodded. "I guess I gotta, huh, brat?"

Wonderweiss nodded. "Please help my friend."

Everyone glanced Wonderweiss when he changed voices like that. "Yeah, got it. Let's see here," he said and closed his eyes. Shiro was quiet for a long time.

"Too fuckin' much damage. Whole damn higher functions are gone. Like fuckin' gone. Shit, what the fuck, man, this is some twisted shit," Shiro said with a frown. Try not to freak the fuck out, okay? I gotta go all the way into hollow form to pull this shit off. He ain't capable of stopping me. But give me a fuckin' minute before you try killin' my ass. Unlike when I took over before, I'm in control. It's different when I don't trake control to bring our ass back from the dead."

Before anyone could say anything, Shiro stepped back. He closed his arms over his chest and reiatsu burst out so broadly that everyone in the area that hadn't attained shikai was knocked flat to the ground. Even the captains shivered, and within minutes the sound of multiple flash steps filled the room with a sea of white coated captains around the outside of the glass room. Byakuya held up a hand.

Inside, Shiro had his head thrown back, as his skin faded out to pure white, a hollow hole erupted in the center of his chest, and black lines poured out to cover the skin. The half mask quickly turned into a full horned mask, his hands and feet shifted into the clawed counterparts. His hair blasted outward and down his back, and orange colored cuffs flared on his wrists. The outpouring receded back into him with a slam. Shiro lifted his hand and curled his clawed black nails and looked around. The tension was thick.

"The fuck, ain't ya seen a vasto lorde before? Guess big tits and cape boy were the only two that saw this," his voice was distorted. "Now keep fuckin' quiet, and don't fuckin' get near me or yer ass will get fried while I'm in here fixin' shit."

He closed his glowing red eyes and stared upward. A black reiatsu flared around him, encasing him. He was still aside from the thrumming of the energy. He stepped backward, almost falling. He held onto whatever he was doing. A snarl erupted from his mouth.

"Stop it, fuck, Ichigo, stop fighting me!" he growled out. "Let…me…fix…it!"

Shiro stumbled back again. "Dammit! Put that shit to use on someone else! Fuck, Ojiisan!"

He panted for a second then stood up straight again. "Thanks, Zangetsu," he murmured with a sigh. "Hang on to him, this gonna get worse, old man."

There was a long moment of whipping reiatsu around him. "Shut up, fuck, king! Don't fuckin' wimp out on me, or I'm fuckin' takin' over and makin' you the fuckin' horse! Don't give me that shit, ya ain't gonna do that, or I will fuckin' kick yer ass…"

He sighed and opened his eyes, staring around at the others. "Watch him. Close. He's broke as fuck now. And he might not want to keep going."

The mask evaporated, and he fell to his knees, the features of the hollow slowly receding, the sick white skin going last of all. Urahara caught him easily, and lifted him back on the bed. He was still out, but when Urahara pried open an eye, they were thankfully brown again. He was unconscious and Urahara didn't know for sure what he'd done to Ichigo's body.

People filed out, seeing the threat was seemingly over. Urahara sat down beside him, taking a hand. He looked up at the two Kuchikis and Renji that remained. "I have a feeling the worst is yet to come."