CHAPTER SEVEN

Renji and several others had gathered on the outskirts of the main city. He looked glum, and a little unsettled to have been selected...and yet be amongst a group of such low class Shinigami.

From afar, Byakuya entered view. Renji tensed, and everyone instinctually made formation, despite being mixed squads.

"You all fail miserably at the use of Kidou." The Captain said simply. Renji grimmaced, but said nothing. "This training session will help you fine tune your abilities...and hopefully make something of you before the coming conflict."

"Yes!" Everyone said unanimously.

Rukia watched from afar, somehow wishing she was within their ranks. She felt weak, though probably just in spite of the fact that she so horribly fought the test-tube-headed Espada weeks earlier. It was still unsettling for her to have been tricked so easily into thinking Kaien had somehow managed to survive his own death. The paralell between him and Ichigo made it even more difficult. Reliving Kaien's memory in such a short time before Ichigo's death. Such close friends...not even just friends, people you would give your own life to save or help. She felt that way for everyone in their clique. She was sure they all felt it too. Hopefully Orihime still had hope they'd be able to come back and save her for sure, even if Ichigo's strength couldn't help them anymore.

Explosions from afar. Rukia fell off the chair she was watching from, smacking her head. "What the hell!?" She looked completely flabberghasted, wide-eyed and looking out the window again. "What in the world happened out there!?"

Renji and the others were black in the face and just as wide-eyed as Rukia was. Byakuya retained his composure but inwardly was thinking he had been appointed to train idiots. What a day it had already been.

Chad and Uryuu had returned to Soul Society not too long ago, but seeing as they weren't Shinigami (or even official members of Soul Society) they weren't being formally trained. Instead, they headed back to the Shiba household...after spending a day or so trying to find where it had newly moved to. Kukaku had laughed herself silly at them asking for personal training to refine their kidou, but eventually agreed, and they were well on their way.

"It's a pity your spikey headed friend can't be here. He probably needed this training far more than any of your two." She laughed, Ganju in the background twitching at the mention of that particular fellow.

"We're doing this for his sake." Chad said, speaking for them both, though Ishida said nothing. To him, Ichigo was still just an unofficial accompliss, one he wasn't even supposed to have.

"Well, we'll see what you can accomplish in such a short ammount of time. You did well with the cannon training, after all." Kukaku noted, slowly fanning herself as the Quincy and his sparring partner exchanged kidou blasts.

Hueco Mundo stretched on for endless, countless miles in every direction. Isshin was growing tired of the wild goosechase to find his son there, but he wouldn't give up hope. He could still feel a shred of Ichigo's reiatsu and he wouldn't stop until he could hone in on it. There was a sudden spike, and Isshin darted immediately in that direction, wasting no time with running. Instead, he used shunpo to traverse large distances quickly without the risk of sinking into the dusty sands.

"That's the last in a long distance." The large Hollow said to itself, Nell sitting inconspicuously on its shoulder, holding onto one of the three spikes that jutted out around it. She could sense as the demon changed its focus from the lowly Gillians in the area, to the feast of Espadas and their associates residing within Los Noches itself. She could feel him laughing quietly to himself, and could only imaging the sickening smile it had born under its mask.

'He's going to go there...' She thought to herself, getting anxious, 'That means I might change back...maybe I can save him from this thing...'

The Hollow lurched forward, effortlessly running far away from the edge of the Menos Forest. Los Noches grew quickly, so massive that it seemed hardly to grow at all...but they were incredibly far away before, so it was at least slightly expected. By the demon's account, it had officially devoured every single Adjucas on the western side of the huge, towering city. Quite plainly, it was hungry for something more powerful now. Mere Adjucas weren't satisfying it anymore. The craving for power to fill its emptiness was insatiable on such a slim diet.

Nell nearly flew off the creature's shoulder as it came to a sudden stop. Momentum caused a huge plow of sand to burst into the sky, a huge wave that carried on for several yards before falling to settle again.

"Such a high reiatsu..." The thing said to itself, "Not a Hollow either."

"I recognize it..." Ichigo said to himself, then realizing his inner Hollow did too. "It's the same as before, when Grimmjow invaded Karakura."

"Time to find out who it is!" Ochigi laughed, darting off in its direction.

Isshin was making that same heading, following the flow of spiritual energy straight to the Adjucas' core. It was only moments before the two passed each other and came to another quick halt. Isshin took cover before the Hollow could turn around.

"Show yourself!" It called, its breathing sounding much heavier, as if about to frenzy from the sensation of being near something so powerful. "I've sensed you before! Don't think I can't dig you out of the sand!"

"Give back my son." Isshin said flatly, slowly; a command befitting of a Captain, former as he may be.

The Hollow couldn't help but freeze for a moment, Ichigo's realization and disbelief compounding so heavily that even Ochigi couldn't help but react.

"ISSHIN KUROSAKI!" It laughed out loud, turning around and pointing at him. The dust wave blew away and sure enough, there stood Ichigo's own father. "Pops! How are you? Good I hope?"

"Don't call me that, Hollow." The ex-Captain said sternly, immediately drawing his zanpakuto and pointing it towards his adversary, "I'll give you one more chance to release my son before I'm forced to attack head on."

'Ichigo's...father?' Nell thought, unsure what to make of the situation. Before she could make one more process, her small body was grabbed unceremoniously from the Hollow's shoulder and held at arm's length.

"Your son is long gone, Isshin Kurosaki." It said, lifting its head in a psychotic howl, the white jaws parting to reveal the trademark set of ghostly teeth residing behind those of the mask itself. "I'm here now."

"I'm afraid I don't have time to debate that issue. Give back my son or I'll attack. This is my last warning."

"What do you intend to do, hmm? Fight a Hollow much stronger than you because you have some strange hope that drives you to believe you can win? Is that is? Don't make me laugh! You're pathetic and weak, and a former Captain to make it worse! You probably don't even know what it's like to fight a Hollow anymore." The demon mocked, shaking Nell around as if she wasn't even there.

"Drop the girl." The senior Shinigami said, "Now."

"No. Take her from me if you dare."

And so Isshin did, using shunpo to dart forward, and cutting deep into the Adjucas' arm. Blood spurtted forth and Nell fell to the sand, swept up quickly by the Shinigami and rushed far away again. The Hollow bellowed, but soon its cries of pain turned to snickering again.

"So that's the trick then.." It said to itself, "I always sensed that about you, FATHER." It released its arm, the wound already beginning to close. "Why I always thought there was something more to you than just met the eye. I'm going to guess you were once the commander of Division 11, the fighting team?"

"He's a Shinigami..." Ichigo said, "He was a Shinigami this whole time..."

"Perhaps you'd like to hear your son's terrified voice, his crying and weeping?" The Hollow laughed again, the mask opening up again, the two mouths stretched wide.

"YOU LET MOM DIE, YOU BASTARD!" The voice was Ichigo's, coming from the Hollow.

Isshin was taken aback, but didn't show it. He held Nell behind him, ready for some trick attack, assuming the voice was manufactured and not actually his son's.

"YOU WERE A SHINIGAMI THIS ENTIRE TIME AND YOU COULDN'T EVEN BOTHER TO KILL THE GRAND FISHER BEFORE IT KILLED HER!? RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES...I CAN NEVER FORGIVE YOU!!"

It was too real, Ichigo's voice reverberatted through Isshin's entire body, shaking the very marrow in his bones.

"Ichigo, it wasn't that simple." He said flatly, "A day didn't go by that I wasn't ripped apart by Masaki's death. You KNOW how hard it was on the family! If I had any knowlege that the Hollow would go after her, I would've been there!"

"YOU LIAR!!"

The Hollow shuddered, and Ichigo's voice was gone. It knew that Isshin was too rattled now to fight back, at least not at the top of his game.

"Ichigo...I'm so sorry for what happened to her..." Isshin was broken, falling to his knees before the Hollow, "I so badly wanted to save her...back then I couldn't go to my Shinigami form...it tore me apart for years how some lowly Hollow could take away someone so important to all of us. I blame myself...I take all the responsibility!"

He was knocked back several dozen yards, Ochigi wasting no time on talking. He was going to devour the ex-Captain's soul, he was sure of it! That's what would push him over the edge! He stretched out his arm, pointing two fingers towards the stunned Death God and huffed a laugh.

"Cero."