Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or Soul Eater or their characters, all of which belong to Tite Kubo or Atsushi Okubo respectively. OCs and anything original from these is my own work.
Brief: After the Kishin was revived, the Madness Wavelength was released to the world and a new form of Black Blood was made that found it's way into the realm of the hollows. Lord Death decided to act by sending to Meisters to investigate, but they soon end up with more than they had bargained. Contains swearing, slight romance and potential gore/shocking imagery.
Pairings: IchiRuki, KaiHime, SoMa, potential others.
Note: This chapter contains spoilers from the Arrancar arcs.
Bleached Souls: Black Bloodlust
Chapter 7: Descent Into The Eternal Night Again
Sanctuary Temporary Base, Later
Ed arrived at the hideout entrance and entered nonchalantly with his hands thrust into his pockets.
"I'm back!" he called to no one in particular. The huge chair before him swung around to reveal his commander sat there, awaiting him.
"You're late," Ken growled. Ed rolled his eyes.
"I'm not some puppet; I had to take care of something before I came back."
"You were told to bring him with you."
"Who's 'him'?" Ed asked coyly. "I went to see my friend get married."
Ken blinked, slightly surprised by this.
"Married, huh?" he mused, turning away from Ed. "Then you can get him back to our side through her."
Ed's heart skipped a beat at the order.
"What did you say?" he asked, ensuring he had not misheard.
"I said, threaten his wife and make him come back." The cold eyes fell onto Ed again, a disinterested look obvious. He was serious about what he had said. "Is that a problem?"
"A problem?" Ed repeated bitterly. "Oh no, it's not. A problem is forgetting your homework, accidentally losing your friend's book or something like that. This is just sick. I won't do it."
Ken's eyes showed a hint of resentment over Ed's response.
"Listen to me, Sun," he growled. "You don't have a choice; I am your Commander; I tell you to jump, you say 'how high', and when I give your an order, I expect you to follow it to the letter. Got it?"
Ed didn't respond, instead turning and walking away.
"In that case, we're done here." He reached the stairs, but something grabbed him. Ken had shot up and now gripped his arm tightly.
"I say when we're done, you insolent brat!" he spat venomously, throwing Ed to the floor behind him. "You are not finished with until the Sanctuary says so, got it?" A kick nearly caught the middle-aged man, but he dodged as Ed stood to punch him, but a pistol was drawn and smashed into Ed's face, spinning him away. "Don't bare you teeth at me, dog, and don't bark at the air. Now get to your cell before I show you why that hollow your friend has despises this weapon."
Reluctantly, Ed backed down, storming into his quarters with venom in his eyes, spitting blood at the floor as he went.
Urahara Shoten Underground
Urahara stood before the group and observed them. Ichigo's group consisted of the Squad 5 Captain himself, Rukia, Renji, Chad, Uryu, Kai, Maka, Soul, Kid, Liz and Patty, all of whom were split into their groups of colleagues.
"Are you ready to go through?" the Shop Keeper asked finally from his position atop the Garganta pillars. Everyone nodded. "Remember, bend your reiatsu to form a path across; and don't stop running."
"We know, Kisuke, you've said that so many times already that it's getting repetitive!" Ichigo called up to him. "Just open the damned thing!"
"As you wish, Ichigo, but be wary of what Hueco Mundo holds!"
Urahara knelt down on the right-hand beam of wood and leant his left hand on the crook of the cane, speaking the incantation to unlock the Garganta;
"Here in my right hand, the stone that connects the worlds," he chanted, his left hand beginning to glow blue. "In my left hand, the blade that binds existence," The energy around his hand flowed down the cane towards the right-most beam. "The shepherd with black hair, the chair of the noose, I strike the ibis as the clouds gather." The blue glow had spread to the beam of wood by now, when a stream of the energy leapt outwards and struck the left beam. The plane of energy slowly crept open to reveal a mouth-like, dark opening in the air as the glowing subsided everywhere. "Okay, it's ready when you are, Ichigo."
"Woah!" Patty exclaimed. "It's like someone just tore the sky open!"
"How is it you can downplay this so much, Patty?" her sibling pouted. "Who knows what's through there?"
"Actually, we do," Rukia replied. "We've had to go to Hueco Mundo before now; it's the land of the hollows, where all of them are made and live unless they pass through to the World of the Living."
"Great," the older Thompson girl whimpered. Kid sighed.
"Liz, you and Patty transform now, in case we run into a welcoming committee," he ordered. His weapons obeyed as he took out a skateboard and hopped on, catching the pistols as they fell towards his hands. "Soul, you should go into scythe-form just in case."
The albino nodded and jumped towards Maka, who caught him as the metal staff neared. With everyone ready, they leapt into the gaping void. Ichigo's unsteady pressure made a cracked, rough route forward as he ran, leading Rukia behind him. Renji's more stable flow provided the way across for Maka and Soul, though it still looked a little poorly made. Kai ran onwards by himself as Kid flew alongside him on Beezlebub, the skateboard he had pulled out, focussing on not tripping on the craggy ground he was forging. Uryu skimmed by ahead with Chad behind his steady stream of reiatsu, forming an almost surfboard-like item in his wake. The group pounded forwards, the only sounds in the desolate blackness were that of their feet hammering the unsteady roads, the soft growl of Beezlebub, and the clanking chain that shifted around Kai's torso as he ran.
"Man, this place is depressing," Kai recalled. "I wonder what Los Noches is gonna be like."
"What makes you say that?" Kid asked. "Haven't you been here before?"
"Well, admittedly not, I was in Karakura helping de- Yah!" The Vizard Captain yelped as he lost his footing and almost plummeted into the dark abyss. "Christ, that was close!"
"Could you make less noise, Friel?" Uryu snapped. "It's not easy controlling this you know!"
"Oh, shut up, Quincy!" Kai growled back. "You don't have to worry about falling off 'cause-"
A scream caught their attention as a crumbling sound came from the far left; right where Ichigo's trail was. By now, the groups had dispersed some distance, and Kai's trip had caught them off-guard, making Rukia repeat his error and slip off of the crumbling edge of Ichigo's path.
"Rukia!" the orange-haired Captain cried out, diving at the falling form of his subordinate, desperately grabbing for her.
Ichigo's grip found her wrist as it was about to slip through his fingers, but he was pulled over as the sudden stop forcefully used his strength against him. Both hung there, Ichigo's left hand tightly grasping hold of the weak reiatsu path above him while his right held Rukia's wrist as they dangled in the shadows. He looked down and smiled reassuringly as she gazed up at his chocolate brown eyes gratefully. But her gratitude soon became discarded for fear as the sound of a crack echoed above; Ichigo was holding the barely-intact road tightly, but their combined weight was too much and the pathway was tearing under it. Ichigo's wide eyes went from Rukia to the ledge and back again. He could see her eyes shine as fear set in; she was scared for their sakes.
"Ichigo," she pleaded. "Let me go, you can still save yourself."
"No," the male returned. "I'm not letting you go, Rukia, not now or ever!"
"Baka! Don't throw your life away for me! Think of your family!"
"You are my family, Rukia," Ichigo protested adamantly. "I can't do it."
A few stray tears escaped Rukia's amethyst orbs and a smile came onto her features as she heard these touching words, but she gasped as she felt herself sliding away.
"I'm slipping!" she yelled, but it was too late; she had fallen from his grasp before Ichigo could do a thing. He stared wide-eyed after her.
"No..." he said in disbelief. "Rukia... R...RUKIA!"
"Gotcha!" came a two-toned shout as the sound of wings beating filled the air beneath him.
Kai swooped upwards, his mask on and wings flapping powerfully, before placing Rukia gently down onto the path as Ichigo began to pull himself up. The dark-haired Captain had heard the shout and did the best thing he could to help; he had hollowfied and used his wings to arrive faster and to grab Rukia as she fell through the void. With all three on the ground, Rukia and Ichigo panting heavily, Kai spoke again.
"Had a feeling you could use a hand," he said. "You ok?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Ichigo replied. Rukia just nodded.
"Cool. I'll head on in front and make you a path, should stay longer with hollowfied reiatsu."
He flew ahead, generating a steady stream of darker reiatsu for the duo to run across. After a while, Rukia broke the silence.
"Thanks, Ichigo," she said. "If you had let me fall, I wouldn't have been here now; you saved me."
"It's no problem." Ichigo replied, smiling to her.
"Um, Ichigo?"
"Hm?"
"What... What did you mean when you said I was family?"
"Uh," Ichigo stalled, his face as red as Renji's hair. Luckily, he was saved from answering as they ran through the other end and got away with a simple; "I'll tell you later."
The two burst through the opening and fell a few feet down to the white sands of Hueco Mundo, rolling a few feet before coming to a halt, Rukia atop Ichigo, their chests pressed against one another. They stared at one another for a while, both blushing a deep scarlet, before Rukia pushed herself off of her Captain and both staggered to their feet.
"S-sorry," the raven-haired Soul Reaper blushed. Her Captain grinned, still blushing a little.
"Don't worry about it," he replied, before a cough caught their attention. Renji was glowering a little at the pair, but he restrained himself, and he was not the cause of the cough.
"You came I see," the hooded woman said. "The King of Hueco Mundo wishes to speak with you immediately..." Celest paused. "My master requested, Ichigo Kurosaki, that you bring ten of your finest with you, not six. I suggest that you return when you have ten."
"We do have ten!" Kai shouted, flying just above them, still hollowfied. "You missed me and the three weapons down there!"
"A hollow in Soul Reaper uniform with a zanpakuto?" Celest murmured, bewildered. "I have never seen such a thing before."
"Friel, would you stop clowning around!" Uryu yelled, clearly fed up of the conversation.
"Tch, spoil-sport," Kai growled, touching down and removing his mask, the wings going with it, and sheathing his weapon behind him.
"We're ready to meet with your master," Ichigo said firmly, trying to address the arrancar formally. "Our seven are more than enough for the task he has for us. Take us to him."
"Very well then," she replied. "Follow me to Los Noches."
The group followed the arrancar, Ichigo and Rukia a few feet ahead while Kid and Maka trailed at the back. The pigtailed girl ran up to the dark-haired Captain, who trudged a short way ahead of her with his hands shoved into the pockets of his hakama.
"Why is he acting like that?" she asked. Kai turned his head to her and frowned.
"Who? And like what?" he asked.
"Ichigo. He seems to be being more formal than usual."
"Oh, that." Kai chuckled. "Since Aizen got killed in the Winter War, Hueco Mundo has been in need of a new King, and since the Espada were wiped out, we don't really know who is the new King of Hueco Mundo. Therefore, Ichigo's trying to set a good example to keep things between Soul Society and Hueco Mundo running smoothly, so to speak."
"Oh, that kinda makes sense." Maka nodded intently.
"How did your talk with the Vizards go?" Kai asked abruptly.
"Huh?" Maka looked thoughtfully to one side for a moment. "Oh, that! They were friendly enough, but I didn't really get a chance to find out how they came about their powers or how to control them."
"Oh," Kai trailed off.
"Could you teach me how to?"
"What?" Kai blinked. "What did you just say?"
"You have a control over these powers which means that you have a sort of control over Madness should it strike; you could generate energy waves of it and use them as an attack." Maka elaborated. "I want to know how to control the Madness inside Soul and I when we resonate, but I think only you can teach me how to do that."
Kai absorbed the information and sighed, running his hand through his shaggy black hair, muling it over.
"I'm not promising anything," he replied finally. "But I'll give it a go. But if you fall behind, let me warn you in advance, I won't go slower. You fall behind, you won't learn it. Alright?"
"Yes! Thank you, Kai!" she beamed, returning to her friends, not noticing the smirk on the male's features.
"Determined one, she is," he muttered to himself.
The group trudged on for several minutes, until they clambered over the crest of a sand dune, revealing the hulking mass of white stone that was Los Noches. The palace wall had two large holes in it, leaving it open to all who came across it. The once mighty dome was clearly missing the peak and the towers that once topped it were little more than charred stumps which resulted from Ichigo and Ulquiorra in their fight. The memories of the Quatra Espada turning to dust after his hollow had crushed his insides still haunted Ichigo on a bad day.
"Come," Celest ordered, leading the group into the palace, the main doorway cracked and open on one side, the other door broken and hanging by one rusted hinge.
The corridors were old and cracked, the once vibrant green-blue paintwork faded and yielding to the spiderweb of cracks left from the intense fighting in the compound. The arrancar led the group of seven into a large room where Ichigo had started his final fight with Ulquiorra, but the pillars were badly scratched or broken and crumbling in places as the damage took its toll on the structures. The once sparkling, pristine blue floor was upturned and littered with cracks and debris from the intensity of Ichigo's Kuroi Getsugas, and a pair of holes in the far wall from the bat-like Espada's cero and Ichigo's own Hollowfied Getuga Tenshou. The stone throne, which had been miraculously undamaged by the intense fighting, had not changed, but a masked arrancar resides on it, his torn white garb tattered around his body. The mask hid his eyes completely, masked his reiatsu and hid his features, including his hair. The man stood and Celest bowed.
"Sire," she said respectfully. "I have brought the man as you requested." Ichigo bowed to the King of Hueco Mundo as a sign of mutual respect; he did not want to impose, after all.
"Your Highness," the orange-haired Soul Reaper Captain said firmly. "It is an honour that you have requested my help, and I hope that this may lead to future alliances between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society."
The King absorbed this information, then softly chuckled, leading to a raucous laugh.
"Oh my, Kurosaki," he said, his voice booming and deep. "You have not changed in the slightest since our last encounter."
"Last encounter? We have never met before."
"You're a fool if you believe I would summon a stranger to my palace!" The laughter subsided as a hand reached up for the chin of the mask. "Gaze upon the face that you left to die all that time ago!"
The skull lifted away, taking the crown and purple fur that draped the arrancar's shoulders with it, and was discarded to one side. Ichigo's eyes widened as he saw a face he had not for a long time; the sinister glaring eyes, the blue-handled sword at his waist, the toothy, cheek-mounted segment of hollow mask and the electric blue hair all pointed to one person; and his powerful reiatsu only confirmed this theory.
"You're..." he started, but the arrancar nodded and finished for him.
"Yes, I am," he said, before announcing to those unaware of his identity. "I am the former Sexta Espada, Grimmjow Jaggerjaques. And," He pointed to Ichigo. "I have a task for you, Ichigo Kurosaki."
There was silence as Ichigo's group prepared to release their weapons and fight anyone who attacked them, but no one came. Ichigo stood still, taking no action, staring into space a little before he finally asked his question.
"What business do you have with me, Grimmjow?" he asked calmly. "Is it that you want to fight me again, like I promised before Nnoitra cut you down? If so, I feel I must warn you, I'm stronger than last time we met."
Grimmjow waved a hand and disregarded the point.
"I'm holding you to that one," he replied. "But this is more important. First of all, I'm aware of your promotion in the Gotei 13 to Squad 5 Captain, and I know your friend down there is your Lieutenant. I also know that the man I don't recognise must be the elusive Vizard Captain, but these do not bother me as of yet."
"Then why the hell did you summon us here?" Kai growled, losing his patience.
"You are aware, I assume, of the destructive power of an Espada's release, and that it rivals that of a Bankai," Grimmjow explained. "Well, only two Espada have ever extended beyond this to what is know as a Ressurrecion Segunda Etapa, one of which is the former Quatra, Ulquiorra Schiffer." Ichigo nodded solemnly, remembering how the Espada had melted away in the wind above the dome so long ago. "Well, he also had the uncanny ability of high-speed regeneration of non-essential organs, which is why you are here. It seems something odd happened upon his death; Ulquiorra's discarded horn did not break down with his body, and his right eye rebuilt. On top of this, some of the ashes of his body built up together but seemed to lack the energy needed to rebuild him. We had these three artifacts stored to ensure that he could not be reborn and had them placed under the guard of two current Espada and a Privaron Espada to make sure no one could bring him back. These items and the Espada were taken a few nights ago now and have vanished without a trace.
"I want you to search for the items and the Espada and get them all back here as soon as possible," Grimmjow went on. "If Ulquiorra were to be reborn, his power would crush mine, and I can't let that happen, so I summoned the one person who stopped him before. I'm counting on your help, Ichigo."
The orange-haired Captain thought about the matter; Ulquiorra was undoubtedly a powerful adversary, and his destruction had been more luck than Ichigo's power topping his. In fairness, Ichigo had been slaughtered by rights, but his hollow had brought the battle around and destroyed Ulquiorra without taking any damage at all.
"Alright, Grimmjow," Ichigo finally answered. "But I'm only accepting so that I can protect those in the World of the Living from him; got that?"
"I expected nothing more from you," the blue-haired King replied, pulling out two items and throwing them to Ichigo; one bearing an insignia of some sort, the other a black cube. "That cube is a Garganta manipulator; use it to get back here when that insignia tells you. Also, I'm placing my highest-ranked warriors at your disposal; show them the insignia and you'll show them that you have my authority bestowed upon you." Grimmjow turned and walked away. "You can go back to the World of the Living, but be prepared for the call."
Hueco Mundo Hidden Area
The maniacal laughter echoed through the cave walls as the three warriors were placed in position along with the Ashes, the Horn and the Eye. Aizen laughed crazily.
"The time is here," he mused, fiddling with dials and various switches and levers to get the machinery running. "Soon, he shall be reborn!"
The captured arrancar began to wake slowly. Each was lying in a sealed pod surrounding a tall green glass tube with the three specimens from Ulquiorra stored within it. As the machines turned on, the screams of the Privarone and regular Espada resonated off of the walls as they were torn apart and made into reshi. The energy began to build together and soon filled the tube with a swirling mixture of red, blue and yellow reshi. Each piece of the fallen Espada broke down into this reshi mixture and a greenish hue began to show through as the energy took the shape of a man where his left head held a helmet-like mask segment and a green-hilted zanpakuto hung at his waist. With the process completed, the tube shattered, revealing the Espada in all his former glory.
"Ulquiorra Schiffer," Aizen purred. "Welcome to my domain!"
"Lord Aizen," the green-eyed Espada replied, bowing. "It is good to be back. What would you have me do?"
"For now, wait." Aizen began to laugh hysterically. "They shall come for you, and it shall spell the end for them!"
Sorry everyone, this last week or two have sucked for writing.
But still, I'm back, I'm well and I'm sorry that this one was shorter than normal, but oh well.
Next chapter with be up within a fortnight, don't know when.
But for now, read and review; I'm gonna hit the hay, so to speak.
Sayonara!
