Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
Other Places You Can Find Me:
AO3: RamenSpice20
Tumblr: ramenspice - here you can find fanart for Rebirth, bonus material, and can ask me anything!
Notes:
So now is a good time to say that while there hasn't been anything graphic so far, there will definitely be disturbing scenes and chapters later. I mean this one's fine, but I'm just warning, everything's way tamer than my warning in the prologue led people to believe so far and it won't stay that way. The next couple of chapters will probably sort of ease into some violence, nothing major, but then we might get some graphic stuff that makes you go "oh, shit" but it won't be anything compared to the stuff that makes you go "OH SHIT," you know? Ichigo hasn't lived a good life.
Inner Speech/Thoughts
Shiro (Zangetsu)
Old Man/Ossan (Zangetsu)
Chapter 6: Truth Be Told...
-x-
Ichigo Godebert
"Ichigo! Why are you doing this? Do you want them to drag you back to that place?!" Came familiar screeching from behind Ichigo. Whipping around, Ichigo came face to face with his bleached double, normal manic smile twisted in rage. Stumbling back in shock, Ichigo began to stutter.
"N-no! No no no no no, you're not real!" Ichigo cried. Growling, Shiro shot forward and grabbed Ichigo by his shihakusho.
"The fuck's wrong with you? Ya didn't decide to shove down all your normal memories too, huh?!" Shiro bellowed into Ichigo's face. Ichigo didn't bother to break Shiro's hold on him and started frantically tugging at his hair, eyes squeezed shut.
"It's just another dream! Wake up, wake up wake up wake up WAKE UP!" Ichigo screamed. Shiro stopped his frantic chanting by violently shaking him.
"Stop it! What's wrong with you?! This isn't some stupid dream!" Shiro yelled inches from Ichigo's face. Ichigo's eyes finally flew open and he shoved Shiro off him, panting.
"Of course it is! How could any of this be real?! YOUR'E not real, you're just apart of some fever dream my fucked up head made! I spent years thinking my nightmares were real, that MONSTERS had dragged me away to this nightmare land, convinced that it was all real! I WAS FUCKING CRAZY! I'M STILL INSANE!" Ichigo screeched at the top of his lungs, eyes wild as he violently jabbed at his head to make a point. For a moment, Shiro just stared at Ichigo.
"Oh my god, you really think everything that happened was fake?!" Shiro said, a combination of shocked and enraged. Ichigo let out a short bark of laughter and ran his hands over his face, leaning back so far he looked like he was going to fall.
"How could I think it was real? I tried to tell everyone, but they knew I was batshit crazy! You told me that you'd always be with me, you'd be waiting to fight me again if I ever grew weak on you, you'd train me to make your power mine, but you wanna know what happened when I woke up every morning? YOU WEREN'T THERE! OSSAN WASN'T THERE! MY POWERS WEREN'T THERE!" Ichigo screamed, stomping on the glass as he bent back over again. Unfortunately the force of his foot bearing down on the glass was too much for the fragile material to handle, and it promptly shattered. Jumping back into safety with a flash, Ichigo watched wide eyed as black ooze bubbled up from the building to creep towards him.
"Don't let it touch you!" Shiro screeched as he shoved Ichigo out of the way.
"Whatever the hell's going on, you need to let me take over!" Shiro exclaimed.
"What?! No, you need to let me leave! This isn't real and I -" Ichigo was interrupted by Shiro aiming a knee for his stomach. Ichigo's reflexes proved too fast and he quickly dodged the attack.
"What the hell?!" Ichigo exclaimed. Shiro's large khyber blade was pulled out now as he advanced. Ichigo looked for his own dual blades only to realize they weren't on him. Snapping his eyes back to Shiro, Ichigo realized his spirit wasn't wielding his usual inverse Zangetsu. That was his blade.
"I told you what would happen if you were too weak to fight, whether it's against me or for yourself. We don't have time to sort out what's going on with you, but you're obviously too screwed up right now to take care of the issue, so I'm going to do it for you." Shiro growled. The two squared off against each other, but Ichigo was at a clear disadvantage not having his blades. How the hell did Shiro manage to take his sword?
"Whatever happened to me earning the right to be King?!" Ichigo exclaimed. He was stalling, and the other knew it.
"Let's just say that ended when you chose to hide so much of yourself from us. If you had really accepted us, you would have let us see what was hiding in those walls you put up. Even when your soul is tearing itself up from the inside, you refuse to let us see your memories! We didn't even know you had a human body, so when you went and somehow got yourself killed your soul went into overdrive. The damage, pain, and trauma you've been hiding over the years finally got out and now it's threatening to drown you!" Shiro called out over the raging storm. Ichigo stayed silent, confused. As far as he knew, this was just how things were in his inner world. There was always water covering his buildings, was the higher water level really that bad? Sure, the black ooze was new...
"I tried to take over and put everything back in their boxes so we could sort this thing out and heal you, but you kept refusing me. You kept fighting for control, for yourself. You and your memories are the same, you can't be Ichigo and still shove down all that shit! We've known for years that your inner world was on the edge, but we didn't think the chaos would end up this toxic! Whatever being in that hell hole did to you is eating at your soul. If just being there was bad enough to make you this sick, then do you have any idea what would happen if you went back there now?! The closer you get to being Ichigo, the closer they are to bringing you back, SO LET ME TAKE OVER!" Shiro screamed as he launched himself at Ichigo. Scrambling to get out of the way, Ichigo desperately tried to play along with this figment of his imagination.
"What about the Old Man?! What does he have to say about all this?!" Ichigo cried as he dodged a swing to the head only to nearly get kicked in the head.
"Thought you already knew that since you were the one who put him to sleep! Apparently he's the one those bastards are using to get to you - so I let you put him under! Since he's the connection, I ain't waking him up to deal with your shit!" Shiro yelled as he nearly skewered Ichigo.
The next blow was faster than Ichio could block without his swords, and he barely had any time to cry out when Shiro knocked him over the head. Stunned, Ichio couldn't stop Shiro from grabbing him and shunpoing leagues across his inner world. He himself had never even seen this part before, but now he knew what Shiro had meant by him hiding things in walls. Massive walls of ice rose up from the dark sea to section off miles of his world. What had once been sturdy was now cracked and chipped everywhere as the pelting rain beat down on it like a hammer. Two massive crevices stood out from the eroding walls as howling wind gushed from them. If Ichigo squinted, he thought he could actually see shadows escaping, but he didn't have time to contemplate this as Shiro dragged him kicking and screaming to the cracks.
"Stop! What are you doing?! STOP!" Ichigo screamed, but his efforts were futile.
"If you won't let me help you, then you're just going to have to stay out of my way until you're healed!" Shiro yelled before throwing Ichigo head first into the void beyond the ice. Ichigo tried to scream, but no sound reached his ears. Instead he fell into darkness, the world fading from him...
-x-
Kurosaki Clinic
Despite not feeling the best, Yuzu couldn't help but giggle a little at their new guests. Apparently when her father had called Kisuke to come over and help him, the man was in the middle of hosting a sleepover for a couple of students that had just joined his club. Indeed, the two girls were wearing pajamas while the rather tall boy was sporting half braided hair covered in sparkly animal clips and bows. Kisuke himself had a few stray bows and clips in his hair from their unfinished activity. Karin however, found none of it funny as she rushed to her sister. She'd just heard from her father about what had happened, and now she was seeing it for herself.
"Yuzu! I'm so sorry, I never should have left you alone in the park I should have just walked home with you!" Karin burst out when she saw the blood on Yuzu's clothes and her bruised ankle. Yuzu pulled her distraught sister in for a hug.
"I'm fine, really! Besides, Kisuke says that one of the friends he brought over will be able to fix me up real soon." Yuzu said. Karin held onto her nonetheless until Masaki put a hand on her daughter's shoulder.
"It's okay Karin, but we need to talk to you two for a minute." Masaki said as she pulled Karin onto the couch next to her. Isshin looked to Kisuke.
"Should you explain, or us?" He asked. Kisuke put a hand up.
"These are your children, you decide. I'm perfectly happy to wait while Yoruichi investigates the woods." Kisuke said. Satisfied, Isshin turned to Masaki and nodded.
"Alright, then let's all sit down." Masaki said. Once everyone was seated, she took a deep breathe and began.
"As the two of you know, when your father and I first met, we weren't exactly meant to be friends. He came from a family of people belonging to a life that generally opposed mine. My family didn't like his and those that shared the same life as him. They wanted me to marry my cousin in order to preserve our family name, but I met your father. Something about him drew me to him, and something about me drew him to me. We ended up meeting more and more until one day, we both found ourselves chasing down the same assignment. Things went wrong quickly and I ended up saving your father's life. Shortly after, I got very sick and fell into a coma." Masaki said with a far off look. Yuzu interrupted.
"And then dad saved you with his medical skills. After that you fell in love... But what does this have to do with what happened to me?" Yuzu asked. Masaki and Isshin both looked at each other before smiling at Yuzu.
"Because we only told you part of the story. You see, your mother and I aren't ordinary humans. If we were to tell you about everything that had happened, we would have had to tell you about the afterlife and what we are." Isshin said. Karin's eyes widened.
"Wait, are you telling us you knew about ghosts and stuff before I told you they were there?" Karin asked. Masaki couldn't help but chuckle.
"Oh honey, we're able to see spirits as well as anyone. We just couldn't tell you that until you were ready for the whole talk. It wasn't all that surprising when you started being able to see spirits, but now that Yuzu has accidentally gained that same ability, we need to talk. Both of you will likely become completely spiritually aware before you die." Masaki said.
"You see, your father and I contain abnormally high amounts of Reiryoku, or spirit energy. Reiryoku manifests itself into Reiatsu, a physical form of our reiryoku that can bee seen and used in various ways. We are part of a group of beings that can use these abilities to perform different duties necessary to the cycle of life and death." Masaki said. Yuzu and Karin were both hooked now.
"You see, when a person dies, their soul leaves their body and either stays here with us in the World of the Living, or goes to a place called the Soul Society. The Soul Society is basically the afterlife where souls go to live out the rest of their life. When they die there, they are reborn into the World of the Living in a different body as a different person. But sometimes souls get stuck in the World of the Living and can't move on. These souls can become corrupt and turn into creatures called Hollows. Some are innocent souls who were in so much pain that they transformed while others are evil souls that enjoy the torment of others. Either way, they all grow an enormous hunger for souls and begin eating souls. Hollows live in another world called Hueco Mundo, but they come here to hunt. This along with natural birth and death creates a very delicate balance that must be kept. Your father and I are both beings with the ability to do so." Masaki said. Yuzu's jaw dropped and Karin was trying her best to look skeptical.
"What are you? You're not ghosts... are you?" Yuzu asked. Isshin and Masaki both laughed.
"Oh no, but I would sort of be considered one if it wasn't for what happened between your mother and I. You see, I am a Shinigami, a master of death!" Isshin cried as he struck what he thought was a mighty pose. Masaki snorted and shook her head.
"Your father does not kill anyone, just to be clear. Shinigami are humans who have died and trained to gain special abilities in the afterlife. They assist souls in their journey to the afterlife as well as killing hollows. Shinigami use special weapons called Zanpakuto to purify hollows' souls, allowing them to rejoin the cycle of rebirth. I can also kill hollows, but when I do, their soul is destroyed and cannot be reborn. This is because I am what's called a Quincy, a living or passed human capable of gaining very special abilities." Masaki said. Karin looked between the two.
"Then how in the world did you two get together? Isn't dad technically dead?" Karin asked. Isshin huffed in offense at his daughter's comment.
"Just because I'm mostly semi-alive-ish doesn't make me any less good for your mother!" Isshin pouted. Masaki giggled and put a hand on her husband's shoulder.
"We already told you half of what happened. Shinigami and Quincy don't really get along, but I kept seeing your father going on missions in the World of the Living. The 'assignment' we were chasing down was actually a mission to hunt down a rogue hollow that had attacked and wounded a quincy in the Soul Society. When I caught up to your father, he was badly wounded and was in serious trouble. I let the hollow bite me in order to get close enough to kill it. Unfortunately, it infected me and I became very sick. When I tried to reach out for help, I was attacked by a strange group of people. Apparently that hollow was supposed to be a secret and led to your father and I violating a sacred rule of both the Shinigami and Quincy; never attempt to fuse souls, hybrid or artificial. Even though it wasn't my fault that the infection was hollowfying me, I was still wanted. I had no idea what to do until I was approached by another exile, a strange yet humble shopkeeper..." Masaki said. Yuzu and karin both looked at Masaki before turning to Kisuke in shock.
"Kisuke?!" They both exclaimed. Isshin laughed and threw an arm around Kisuke who smiled behind his fan.
"Yup! Kisuke got the boot too because of some weird rule. He knew that Masaki was innocent and was being blamed to cover up something, so he took her in and offered to hide her. We never did find out who or why someone was pulling strings up in the Soul Society, but it didn't really matter anymore. Masaki became gravely ill and fell into a coma. I found out when I came back to the World of the Living to check up on her. I also found out that I was probably in danger too, but I refused to leave Masaki, however dangerous it was staying with her. She had saved me, and I owed her the same." Isshin said with a solemn nod. Now Kisuke decided to interject.
"By all rights Masaki should not have been able to escape the implications of hollowification, but something happened before the hollow could completely change her. The original plan was to create a fake human body, a gigai, for Isshin and tie it to Masaki's soul. Shinigami are the opposite of Quincy, and Humans the opposite of Hollows, so by placing Isshin in such a body, he would be able to block Masaki's hollowification. We did this and it worked, but not long after the hollow in Masaki began receding. For some reason, something in her very being was repelling it from her soul. This was completely impossible and is one of the few mysteries in this world that still stumps me..." Kisuke said the last part with an unreadable expression. Shaking his head, he continued.
"It took two years for the hollow to completely disappear, but by that time Isshin and Masaki had already fallen in love. Even though the charges had dropped due to the Soul Society finally being able to reject such an outrageous ruling and Masaki was no longer in danger, they had already made a life for themselves. I agreed to continue to hide them so they could carry on with their lives, and the rest is history..." Kisuke finished. Yuzu let out a breath.
"Wow..." Yuzu whispered. Forgetting that they weren't really apart of this, Orihime piped up from where she was sitting with Chad and Rukia with a round of enthusiastic applause. Completely ignoring the fact that she was clapping over serious real life events, Isshin shot up and began bowing like an actor receiving thanks.
"Thank you! Such a dashing and heroic tale, I know! The suspense! The drama! The sorrow!" Isshin cried, fake tears spilling down his face as he got a little caught up in his own passion. Karin shook her head at Orihime.
"Don't encourage him!" Karin said. Orihime stopped clapping and smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry, it was just such a good story! I had no idea two people I've seen around Karakura town for so long had such riveting tales!" Orihime exclaimed. Isshin began bowing and posing again, all while crying fake tears of joy.
"I have been waiting for years to tell this story, and now I even have an audience!" Isshin cried out joyfully. Karin rolled her eyes.
"Okay, cool. But how does this all circle back to Yuzu?" Karin asked. Isshin sobered up a little at the mention of his wounded daughter.
"Ah, that. You see, because you two are the children of spiritually aware beings with considerable power, you're beginning to inherit our power. We predicted Yuzu might never be spiritually aware enough to see spirits, but the creature that attacked her in the woods changed things. It did something to Yuzu to make her more aware of spirits than she had previously been. Yuzu still can't see spirits clear enough to distinguish one from another, but it's enough that she will likely become fully spiritually aware before she dies. I brought Kisuke here to try and figure out just what that creature did to Yuzu and if she's in any danger." Isshin said. Karin hummed thoughtfully and looked at Yuzu in concern.
"You really think something could be wrong?" Karin asked. Yuzu looked mostly fine to her...
"Yuzu would have displayed symptoms of anything bad already if there was anything, but we still need to check. She also came in direct contact with a hollow, the creature that saved her, so we need to figure out how it's reiatsu affected her." Isshin explained. Rukia suddenly seemed a lot more interested and Yuzu sat up.
"Wait, you mean the other creature who fought off that thing in the woods is a hollow? But he wasn't acting like how you said hollows were... He was nice and healed me, and he carried me home!" Yuzu said. Masaki sighed.
"I know honey, but he's still an unknown hollow we've never seen before. I don't know why he helped you like that, but the only hollows who choose saving a soul over eating a soul aren't completely hollows, they're usually part something else." Masaki said.
"Then he's probably that!" Yuzu exclaimed. Kisuke shook his head.
"The Soul Society has records of every hybrid and abnormal soul out there, artificial or born. If he truly was some sort of hybrid, then he would already be accounted for and living somewhere else. I must admit from the way your mother described your story, he did sound quite interesting. Perhaps he's beginning to evolve prematurely into a sentient adjuchas..." Kisuke mused. Rukia looked like she was beginning to connect this hollow to the rogue that was killing and consuming the hollows of Karakura town, but he had made the connection the moment he'd heard Yuzu's story. He also was fairly certain that such a unique hollow could be the hollow Las Noches Imperio put a hit out on, but he wouldn't know for sure until he saw it for himself. If only Yuzu had been aware enough to make out it's features...
"Please try and understand, Yuzu. We don't know what's going on here but we are certain that hollows are dangerous. Whether or not he's dangerous to you is a risk we're not willing to take." Masaki said. Yuzu crossed her arms and fell silent. She could understand her mother, but she still felt that the hollow was friendly.
"I hate to interrupt, but did you notice anything... strange about the hollow you encountered?" Rukia asked, amethyst eyes carefully watching Yuzu. Yes, Kisuke would certainly have to be careful around this one...
"What do you mean?" Yuzu asked. Rukia seemed to debate with herself before pulling out her denreishinki identical to a flip phone (not very modern, but practical).
"This is a device shinigami use to track hollows, a denreishinki from the Soul Society." Rukia said. Masaki and Isshin shared a look with each other, but Kisuke subtly put up a hand to signal that she was with him.
"Ah, a shinigami! Don't suppose you could tell a humble former foot soldier how things are in his squad, eh?" Isshin probed with an elbow to the petite girl's ribs. Rukia didn't quite seem how to deal with him.
"Er, I'm sorry but I don't really recognize you from your days as a shinigami... Besides, I haven't been to the Soul Society since I was instated as Karakura's local shinigami." Rukia said awkwardly. She didn't notice it, but Masaki and Isshin immediately relaxed after that. Kisuke had to admit he was a little surprised at the move Isshin just pulled. It was hard to remember sometimes that the man had once been a captain. At least they knew now that Rukia had no idea who Isshin was and now thought he was just a simple foot soldier.
"Don't worry about it." Masaki said with a wink as Isshin pouted. Rukia nodded and continued.
"...Anyways, this denreishinki is programmed to pick up any type of hollow and almost any soul. A couple days ago, hollows started going missing in Karakura town, but my denreishinki wasn't picking up on anything. After a while I managed to come across a fresh hollow corpse and saw that hollows weren't disappearing at all, they were being eaten. Because no hollow was showing up, the Soul Society requested that someone take on the duty of becoming the new local shinigami so they could begin investigating as soon as possible. I volunteered after my Nii-sam- er - a captain recommended the position to me." Rukia said.
"The hollow you described seemed fairly abnormal, so I was wondering if it was the same hollow I've been hunting." Rukia explained.
"Oh, well I didn't exactly see anything..." Yuzu said. Rukia hummed thoughtfully.
"But it picked you up, didn't it? What did it feel like? Do you think you could maybe guess how tall it is?" Rukia asked. Yuzu scrunched her eyebrows in thought.
"Well, I guess if I really try to remember, he might have been as tall as Dad - no - shorter. I could sort of make out his shape when he moved, so I know he looked mostly like a person, besides the claws and weird legs." Yuzu said.
"A person? Did he show any signs of human level intelligence - did he try to talk to you?" Rukia asked. Yuzu shook her head.
"No he never talked to me, but he did sound a lot like an animal. He growled and screamed when he was fighting the creature that attacked me and he started purring when he healed me. Oh! That's the other thing, he licked me to heal me, and I know his tongue didn't feel human." Yuzu said. Isshin gagged and Karin rolled her eyes.
"It licked you?!" Isshin exclaimed. Yuzu sighed.
"Dad, he was healing me. I think he was also trying to make me feel better because when he first tried to get close to me I started crying. After that he crouched and let me feel his hands - that was when he started purring at me. I do remember that his skin felt kinda weird, kinda like he had lines in his skin or something - scars. But he was really nice to me and made sure I wasn't scared. He picked me up and hugged me and went everywhere I told him to even though he didn't really understand the things I told him." Yuzu said in a slightly pleading tone. Rukia appeared thoughtful as Kisuke thought she rightfully should be. It indeed sounded like the hollow had been friendly and -dare he say- kind to Yuzu, making itself less threatening to her by crouching, letting her feel it first, and purring to her.
"He does sound different, honey, but I still want you to be careful. We've already talked about this." Masaki said. Yuzu sighed.
"I know..." Yuzu said. Kisuke cleared his throat.
"Well, if we're quite done giving these girls 'the talk,' then I should be getting on with testing Yuzu." Kisuke said.
"Ah, right." Isshin said as he moved over for Kisuke to kneel in front of Yuzu. Taking out a couple of instruments, Kisuke began gently checking Yuzu over. He took several samples and swabs before standing up again. Masaki and Isshin both scooted in closer to hear the diagnosis.
"Well, that should be more than enough information. I can say now that the creature caused Yuzu no more harm than the physical wounds. It seems that when it dug its claws into Yuzu's forehead, it made a connection to her soul using a band of reishi. Through this connection it implanted some of its own reiatsu into Yuzu until she had enough amassed reiatsu to be able to see it. Oddly enough the foreign reiatsu does not appear to malignant and has already completely mixed with Yuzu's. This leads me to believe this creature wasn't aiming to infect her, but to grow her spiritual awareness to the point where consuming her would have an effect on the creature. For some reason it seems this creature needs a soul to be above a certain level of reiatsu to harvest it properly. I must say Yuzu is incredibly lucky that that hollow intervened..." Kisuke said.
He neglected from telling Isshin and Masaki that bringing a soul to spiritual awareness for better consumption was only part of why the reason the creature made her able to see it. It had wanted her to see it, to know that it had been hunting her and was going to eat her alive. The way Yuzu had described it chasing her and somehow calling out with her own voice made Kisuke realize that this creature wasn't just hunting to eat, it was hunting for fun. All signs pointed to it waiting for Yuzu to go into the woods so it could toy with her. It had likely been waiting in the trees watching her ever since Yuzu entered the park...
Masaki and Isshin both let out a sigh of relief that their daughter was fine, but Karin was pale. She hadn't really thought that that creature had intended on eating Yuzu. She thought that Yuzu was just scared and that's why she got the feeling it was going to eat her.
"Now that we know Yuzu has no strange infections or ailments, miss Inoue here can demonstrate her reason for being here." Kisuke said. Orihime stood up and bowed to Yuzu and her parents.
"I'll try my best to heal you, but I'm still a bit new to my powers, so I understand if you choose someone else to heal you." Orihime said. Isshin looked to Kisuke.
"Should we choose someone else...?" Isshin asked. He figured Kisuke would know better if Orihime really wasn't the best choice or was just being modest. Kisuke smiled behind his fan.
"That's up to you, though I will say that Orihime was able to heal her friends from the brink of death faster than any Kido master I've seen..." Kisuke said. As much as he wanted to see her powers at work, he wouldn't put Yuzu in danger. He trusted that Orihime would be able to safely heal her.
Nodding, Masaki held Yuzu's hand as Orihime knelt down to heal her. Closing her eyes, Orihime felt deep within herself to summon Shun Shun Rikka. After several minutes she found them and called out to them. Everyone watched in fascination as Orihime's hair clips began to glow, six tiny figures shooting out from them to hover around Orihime. Yuzu squinted to see them, so Orihime began describing each of them as they introduced themselves. While the introductions were going on, Kisuke's phone began to ring, so he stepped aside to where he could speak and still see Orihime's strange abilities.
"Yes?" Kisuke said.
"I found it Kisuke, and you're not going to believe this." Yoruichi said on the other end.
-x-
Uryu Ishida - Gemishct Quincy Academy
Uryu sighed as he tuned out his father. They had been at the academy for over an hour and still not dropped off the documents Mrs. Daan requested. Uryu had hoped that because of how late it was that there wouldn't be anyone to stop them, but the moment they had entered the school one of his mother's old schoolmates came running up to them. Uryu and his father had been forced to stop and talk as she rattled on and on about how things had been going at the academy and how happy Kanae would have been to see the school thriving like this. Uryu knew that she was saying such things to be polite and sympathetic, but her words only left a bitter taste in his mouth.
This academy was the last pace his mother had been seen alive, and yet when his father had tried to investigate the school, they had been denied by shinigami. Apparently they felt that such an investigation would draw too much attention to the supernatural world as they would have to go through the living to conduct it. What angered Uryu the most however, was what his father had had to say. He had followed their orders without question, hadn't even tried to use his connections with the Escht Quincies. Uryu had been absolutely stunned, but he had yet to learn what kind of man his father really was. No tears had been shed the day his mother's body had been found, no money used for a funeral, no words of grief or anything. Instead he had simply gone on with life, even becoming head doctor. All he had really cared about was his work.
"- Oh you're right, he has grown so much!" The woman said. Realizing she was talking about him, Uryu sighed. Now he actually had to pay attention...
"Yes, Uryu has grown considerably in his academics as well. He may yet prove himself learned enough to become a doctor." Ryuken said. Uryu gripped the paperwork he was holding harder. He would be "learned enough," but not to become a doctor.
"We'll see what I become." Uryu said curtly. Missing the silent animosity between father and son, the woman continued to speak.
"I must say I haven't had the chance to catch up like this in such a long time. What brings you to the Academy?" She asked. Uryu interrupted before his father had a chance to drag this conversation back into small talk.
"We're dropping off some paperwork for Mrs. Daan, but I'm not sure if she's still here..." Uryu said. Ryuken gave him a side-eyed glance. Uryu didn't care if his father thought it was rude to skip out on small talk, but he really wasn't up for another hour of idle pratter.
"Oh! I'm sorry, if I'd have known you were here for her I would have let you go much sooner. Mrs. Daan already left for the day, but I have keys to pretty much all the classes." The chatty woman said. Uryu opened his mouth to thank her, but this time Ryuken was the one to speak first.
"That's very kind of you, but I don't think Uryu needs my help to deliver her paperwork. Uryu, why don't you find Mrs. Daan's classroom while us adults continue catching up." Ryuken said. Uryu growled internally while the woman beamed. Taking the keys from her, Uryu left the two to their useless conversations.
Room 102...
Finally catching the room after several hallways, Uryu looked inside the darkened classroom and saw that Mrs. Daan was indeed no longer there. Unlocking the door, Uryu made his way around the desks to get to the teacher's desk. Plopping down the paperwork, Uryu turned to leave but tripped. Stumbling forward, Uryu caught himself on the desk. What in the world had he tripped on?
Reaching down to feel along the floor, Uryu felt something sharp and metal stuck in the carpet. Fumbling around with it for a few moments, Uryu finally grew tired of having to feel around in the dark and reached up to turn on the desk light. Caught in the carpet was a strange looking Quincy cross made of metal. The five points of the cross each had a small blood red orb embedded in the metal to join the thin metal connecting each one in a circle. Something about this cross seemed familiar to Uryu...
Shaking his head, Uryu untangled up the cross and tried to pull it from the floor only to find that it was attached to a thin rope hanging out of the bottom desk drawer. It must have fallen out when Mrs. Daan was getting something out and didn't notice. When Uryu tried to open the drawer, he found that it was locked. Jiggling it in frustration, Uryu fell back as he accidentally tripped the lock's inside tab with the bit of rope cracking it open. Growling, Uryu picked up the cross again and tried to shove it back into the drawer, but a dark green beanie was tangling the rope and making it impossible to close the drawer. Uryu leaned his head back and sighed exasperatedly. Today just wasn't his day.
Ripping the beanie out, Uryu was fully prepared to shove the infernal thing back into the drawer when something caught his eye. Holding the beanie up to the light, Uryu turned the beanie inside out. Was that... orange hair? Uryu's eyes widened as he saw that it was strands of short orange hair the exact color of Ichigo's. There was no way this wasn't Ichigo's. How in the world had this ended up in Mrs. Daan's desk?
Inspecting the beanie further, Uryu's breath caught when he saw blood splatters. Rotating it, he gasped when when he saw a rather large blood stain covering the inside to bloom on the outside. Quickly looking around, Uryu knelt down to look at the rest of the drawer. Rifling around, he didn't find anything all that strange until he came to a file at the very bottom. It was rather ordinary looking until he opened it up. Inside were pictures of various different people, some he knew as quincies and others he had only heard names of before. Uryu paused when he saw his own picture in the file, reading it to find mostly school records and personal testaments of his private training. At the very bottom it was labeled with an orange "possible" next to a green german symbol that read "neutral." Flipping to the next page, Uryu saw his father. His picture was labeled with an orange "rejected" along with the same "neutral." The next profile made Uryu's breath hitch.
It was his mother, Kanae Katagiri. Hers was a bit larger than his and his father's, but there were far more pictures of her. The first page had her normal school teacher picture with the same orange "rejected," but a large red mark caught his eye. Underneath he could just make out a german symbol meaning "active", but it was covered up by the red "EXECUTED."
Executed.
The word rang out in Uryu's head like an alarm, but his mind was working as if underwater. He knew what it meant by executed, but he refused to believe what he was seeing. Quincies were the just ones, quincies were the juries and judges, they looked out for each other, cared for each other, they were the holy soldiers of god. But this was something undeniably disturbing. Looking at the other pages, Uryu's stomach turned when he saw that they were filled with pictures of his mother going about her life he'd never seen before. Kanae shopping, Kanae walking home, Kanae picking something up from the sidewalk. Someone had been watching his mother... Uryu was breathing shallowly as he looked around again and pulled out his phone. Quickly taking pictures of every page in the file from start to finish, Uryu paused when he saw the last ones. It was an extensive profile of Ichigo...
He was labeled both rejected and active, but now he saw a symbol he hadn't seen anywhere in the file before. A black "failed" covered up the side of his profile. Reading through it, Uryu felt more and more ill. It was a detailed account of Ichigo's medical records from the time he was born to last year, bloodwork, height, weight, nutrition levels, growth, dental records, everything. Massive chunks were missing in ages 8 to 11, but the chart picked up again after that. Alongside the usual hospital records and random check ups were personal notes. Reading through them, Uryu was shocked to find that they had actual records and instances of Ichigo being abused. All of it was written in a cold and cynical way, only referring to incidents and injuries Ichigo had gained from physical abuse in relation to how it affected something called "Sonnenprinz," the sun prince.
They had known what Ichigo's mother was doing to him all along, but they had done nothing...
Flipping over to the next pages, Uryu saw that they were covered with unintelligible scribbling. He recognized the german and could easily translate it, but it didn't make any more sense like that. He felt like he was reading some sort of code.
Turning to the next, Uryu saw that it was Lena, Ichigo's mother. Hers was labeled both active and "expelled." What shocked Uryu the most was that Lena was a quincy, and an Echt at that. How in the world could Ichigo's mother be an Echt quincy and no one know about it? Uryu had never heard of the Godeberts before.
To his dismay, there were also records of non-quincies, like Masaki Kurosaki and former shinigami. Why were these here?
Having taken picture of the entire file, Ichigo's beanie, and the strange quincy cross, Uryu carefully put everything back exactly as he had seen it. As an afterthought, Uryu left the quincy cross as he had found it, hanging out the drawer and caught in the carpet tangled around the inner lock. That would make it look like whoever opened it next had been the one to break it, not him. Standing up, Uryu checked the rest of the drawers, but it was only the bottom one that had been locked. Making sure everything was in place, Uryu looked to the other file Mrs. Daan now had. He'd never taken the time to figure out what it was that Mrs. Daan had requested, but now he felt that he had no choice but to look through it.
Looking through the papers, Uryu was confused to see that it was an extensive history of the different quincy families. At the very end of the stack was a massive family tree that folded out like a map. Looking through the various families, Uryu recognized his own as well as almost every quincy he had ever met. One name caught his attention however, and that was Kurosaki. He knew the Kurosaki twins, knew their mother but had no idea that they were of quincy lineage... But there was Masaki Kurosaki. The entire Kurosaki line was deceased including for her. Looking at her extended family, Uryu saw that her father's sister had been erased. She had no last name or picture, but it was clear that she had been a Kurosaki. Married to her was a man from a similarly erased and deceased Echt Quincy family, and their child was none other than Lena Godebert...
So that made Lena Masaki's cousin, and Ichigo her nephew (first cousin once removed from a genealogy standpoint, but the common name was still nephew). Looking from Ichigo's family across to his own, Uryu also saw that that made Ichigo his cousin as well as Karin and Yuzu. Uryu blinked. He had learned so much more than he had ever expected to at this school, let alone in one day.
Why did Mrs. Daan and the people behind the files want this information? These papers had to be connected to the files considering so many of the people of interest in them were found in the files with equally unique documentation. Uryu was so engrossed in the family tree that he almost didn't hear the classroom door open.
"Found something interesting?" Came a deep feminine voice from behind Uryu. Uryu swallowed and schooled his panicked expression before turning to Mrs. Daan.
"Not particularly, I was just checking to make sure all the documents were here. As meticulous as my father's records are, no quincy family tree is ever truly complete." Uryu said. Mrs. Daan moved closer to Uryu who had to repress the urge to move back.
"Indeed, so many of our ranks have a tendency disappear..." Mrs. Daan said. Uryu tried his best not to stiffen.
"I suppose that would have been the case in older times, but I've rarely heard of quincy disappearing nowadays." Uryu said. Mrs. Daan nodded sagely.
"Yes, it's much harder for a quincy to go missing without a plausible explanation. I suppose it's a good thing us quincies keep such detailed accounts of our members." Mrs. Daan said. Uryu's stomach twisted.
Detailed documents indeed...
Mrs. Daan sighed. "Well, if that's all, then I suppose I should be getting back to work." Mrs. Daan said. Nodding, Uryu took the cue to leave.
"I hope those papers are useful for whatever genealogy project your students are doing." Uryu said as he left. Mrs. Daan smiled secretively to Uryu.
"You have no idea how useful..." She said. Uryu offered a small wave as he exited the classroom.
Oh, but I do now...
-x-
Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez - Hueco Mundo
Grimmjow sighed as he looked out over the city of Las Noches. Over the centuries Las Noches had expanded from the ancient ruins of a long defeated civilization to a thriving city full of arrancar. The trade-off of having so many arrancar under the Las Noches Imperio was that they actually had to develop some sort of civilization. And in any good civilization, the people had to be civilized. They had to follow rules and regulations and all these restrictions Grimmjow found unbelievably boring. Don't get him wrong, the Las Noches Imperio had become a far larger and more powerful empire than the one Barragan had ever made and he never once regretted fighting his way up through the ranks to become one of Reina Harribel's Espada, but he was still far more wild than any of these other weaklings. Arrancar like Nel and Szayel could happily follow the rules and serve their benevolent queen, but Grimmjow itched to fight. He itched to kill.
Here in the civilized parts of Hueco Mundo, that was banned. You could still maim and gruesomely wound fellow arrancars, after all what kind of empire would this be if such violence wasn't present, but you couldn't kill. Artificial arrancar were hard to find, but natural arrancar were even harder to find. If arrancar were left to their own devices in a kill-or-be-killed world, their numbers would constantly suffer and the arrancar of Hueco Mundo would never be able to form any sort of empire or follow their part of the balance.
God, Grimmjow missed the days when the souls of hell actually tried to stage rebellions and would invade the different worlds. Then they would stage all-out glorious wars in a violent land that thrilled his inner savage. Murder and carnage reigned supreme in those times as Harribel led them into battle against the hordes of sinful bastards deemed even worse than them. But after a while, the arrancar had gotten stronger and finally grown in numbers. More and more hollows were unlocking the potential to become arrancar. It was almost pathetic watching the souls of hell try and fight them, they had just become too damn powerful. None of them stood a chance.
Sure, he could always let off steam torturing souls in hell or squashing rebellions like he was supposed to, but that wasn't any fun. He missed the thrill of battle, the feeling of fighting for your life while you tried to end your opponent's. He had tried many times to get Harribel to spar with him, but she only sparred with her resureccion, and he refused to join them. He wouldn't give up being an Espada for anything, he had earned this rank fair and square.
Grimmjow's communication device flared up, interrupting his thoughts.
"Please tell me you have something you need me to go kill or fight!" Grimmjow exclaimed before the other could speak.
"No, but there is something I'd like for you to check up on..." Szayel said.
Grimmjow growled. Of course it was pinkie. Ever since he had found that hollow that had disappeared on him, Szayel wouldn't leave him alone about it. Apparently it wasn't one of his experiments, but he had wanted it to be so he put a hit out on it anyways. It didn't really matter to Grimmjow whether or not the thing was his, he just wanted a chance to fight it again. The most he had expected out of it was a quick but interesting fight before he killed it, but it had surprised him. Not only had it proved to be holding back a considerable amount, but it managed to escape from him with a technique he had never seen before. And Grimmjow never let his prey escape, ever.
"What the hell is it now? I thought executing those weaklings for the menos crime would have stopped anybody from misbehaving." Grimmjow said. The execution hadn't been nearly as exciting as he thought it would be.
"You would think, but I'm getting some strange readings from the Forest of Menos." Szayel said. Grimmjow groaned. He hated having to go down there, everybody was so weak. None of them ever put up a good fight.
"What kind of readings?" He asked.
"Readings strange enough that Harribel's ordering me to take care of it." Szayel said. Grimmjow perked up. Now he was interested. If it was an order from Harribel, that usually meant something serious was going on.
"Alright, I'll bite. Just what sort of things are going on down there?" Grimmjow asked.
"Droves of gillians are disappearing as well as massive amounts of adjuchas. Something down there is having an absolute feast, but we can't track any power changes that would show a hollow feeding on this level. Better yet, something is disrupting the reishi in a pattern similar but definitely different to a garganta. I need you to go down there and find whatever is doing this. If possible, capture it, but don't kill it. If it gives you enough trouble that you have to kill it if you continue fighting, leave. I need this one alive." Szayel said.
Okay, now this did sound interesting.
"Sounds like fun, though I can't promise just how intact it'll be when I bring it to ya..." Grimmjow said with a grin.
x
Damn, Szayel wasn't kidding about the whole 'feasting' thing...
Massive trails of blood and torn up hollow bits stained the floor of the Forest, trees knocked over in the wake of all the fights. The normally noisy Forest of Menos was eerily silent as Grimmjow surveyed the damage.
"Jesus..." Grimmjow muttered to himself.
It had barely taken any time at all to find what Szayel had been talking about, massive trails of carnage scarring the Forest almost everywhere you looked. Normally a hollow strong enough to do this much damage left the Forest of Menos to either fight against or join the Los Noches Imperio, but whatever was down here showed no intention of stopping. Grimmjow had been tracking the bloody trails for nearly an hour and still found no sign of the attacker. If it wasn't for how obvious this creature was being about it's kills, Grimmjow would have been able to find it by just going to wherever the strongest menos were, but it's obvious presence had driven menos and adjuchas to split up and flee as far apart from each other as they could. He was hoping he wouldn't have to do this, but it was looking more and more like his only option...
Grimmjow dropped his reiatsu like a hammer, blanketing the forest with his power and making him into a beacon that screamed "I'm here! Come fight me, fuckers!" If this wasn't a challenge, he didn't know what was.
It didn't take long before he felt something approaching, but not by it's reiatsu. Just like the hollow Grimmjow had met in the deserts, he couldn't sense any reiatsu coming from it, but his instincts told him to be ready. He sincerely hoped it was the same hollow just so he could really get a fight out of it this time.
Catching a flash of white and orange behind him, Grimmjow grinned. It looked like this would be a rematch after all.
"Little greedy with the menos down here, don't you think?" Grimmjow asked without turning around. He could hear the hollow breathing behind him, but he wanted to draw this fight out a little before he inevitably overpowered the other.
Silence.
"Not very talkative, huh?" Grimmjow said. He could feel the other slowly stalking around behind him, and he let him. Let him see just what kind of predator he was up against.
"Well, that's fine by me. I'd much rather just skip the chatter and get right to the good stuff!" Grimmjow exclaimed and put a meaningful hand on the hilt of Pantera as he turned.
Still no response came from his opponent as he stalked Grimmjow through the shadows, but Grimmjow's obvious threat drew him out to stand in front of Grimmjow. Grimmjow's grin twisted when he saw the hollow. He still bore the same spiky orange hair cascading down his back, but his mask had different markings. Twin black stripes ran down both empty eyes down to join the stripes coming from his shoulders into the hollow hole in the center of his chest. Massive horns reached out from his head to twist out in front of him, currently angled at Grimmjow's throat. His eyes were no longer the bright, intelligent gold he'd seen before, now they were empty pits of darkness like those he had seen in hollows who had long ago abandoned their humanity. Even the way it stood was different, less anxious and skittish. Now as it watched him, all he felt was cold power, a silent danger grating on his instincts from this eerie creature. The feeling of imminent danger was further strengthened by the blood soaking his tattered shihakusho pants and staining his parted jaws and arms to drip down their clawed tips.
As disturbing as he now generally looked, it wasn't these changes that set Grimmjow's stomach turning. It was the massive crack in his mask spanning from his ear across his brow to disappear over his forehead. Black ooze that reeked "toxic" dripped from the crack as well as it's eyes, mouth, and hollow hole. This hollow smelled deeply of sickness, and it made Grimmjow take a step backwards.
The hollow took a step forward.
"What the hell happened to you?" Grimmjow muttered as he unsheathed Pantera.
He wasn't so sure if he wanted to fight the hollow when it was like this, for all he knew he was contagious. Cocking its head slowly to the side, Grimmjow got the distinct feeling he was trying to decide if Grimmjow was worth eating... Not keen on being put on the menu, Grimmjow snarled and stuck up an aggressive stance. Mimicking Grimmjow, the hollow lowered it's head and set it's feet squarely to face him. Not one for waiting around, Grimmjow launched himself at the other with a growl.
As the other nimbly dodged his attacks, Grimmjow immediately noticed that he was faster than before. Whether or not that was because he was stronger or because he was no longer holding back was still up for debate. For the most part it was only Grimmjow attacking, but after a while the other began to attack in kind.
Dodging a swipe that would have no doubt cleaved lesser hollows apart, Grimmjow jumped back to get out of range. It was obvious now that this hollow wasn't any less intelligent than before, it was just... emotionless. This was clear in the way that it studied Grimmjow and began copying his attacks without any reaction. It was operating purely on instinct, but that was fine. Grimmjow himself played that side of the coin quite well.
Jumping back in, Grimmjow struck out even faster, slashing and stabbing with Pantera to force the other to tighten his defenses. Unfortunately the hollow's speed was growing, and he managed to slip between Grimmjow's attacks to swipe at his masked jaw. Narrowly avoiding injury with a sudden burst of sonido, Grimmjow pushed off against a tree to come flying at the hollow, a red cero growing in his palm. Screw bringing it back in one piece, Grimmjow was taking this thing down by any means. Serves it right for ruining his fight with the threat of disease...
Seeing the abominable bastard preparing to flash out of sight, Grimmjow changed his trajectory to intercept the hollow where he knew it was going to end up.
"Have a taste of this!" Grimmjow snarled and launched his cero point blank into the hollow's face.
Thrown back by the size of the explosion, Grimmjow kept Pantera up, just in case his cero hadn't quite finished him off. Just before the dust cleared, a massive roar shook the forest in rage. Grimmjow swore loudly and threw himself out of the way as a large red cero shot out at him.
Yeah, "hadn't quite finished him off."...
Now Grimmjow could get a read of the mystery hollow's reiatsu, and it was like nothing he had ever felt before. Dark and oppressive, it blanketed the area in an unshakable pressure that no doubt was crushing the weak adjuchas of the forest. Filled with rage and bloodlust, the pressure reminded him somewhat of Harribel's reiatsu when Barragan had nearly killed one of her Fraccion. Come to think of it, it did have the same feel as hers, but that was impossible. Harribel was unique to other hollows and arrancar in that she had reached a stage of evolution never before seen in hollows before becoming an adjuchas; Vasto Lorde. That was what she had called it, but she herself had no idea how she knew this. Everyone knew that after adjuchas, arrancar was the next natural stage of evolution. Harribel was the only exception, the only hollow who's path of evolution had differed.
And yet here he was fighting a hollow clearly not an arrancar with abilities and strength far beyond any adjuchas...
Dropping low to avoid a lightning-fast strike, Grimmjow charged another cero at the hollow from one side while jumping to the other to swing Pantera like a cleaver. Cero exploding and blade only cutting air, Grimmjow yowled in pain and surprise as he was grabbed by his hair from behind. Barely managing to rip his head away, Grimmjow felt claws graze his side as he hastily dodged. Now he was pissed.
Letting out an enraged cry, Grimmjow let loose three consecutive ceros before cutting off any means of escape. No one dragged him by his hair and lived to tell about it.
Grimmjow hissed in satisfaction when one of the ceros managed to catch the hollow's side, but no blood came. Howling in anger, the hollow flashed to Grimmjow to swipe, slash, and strike even faster than before. Impressively, Grimmjow's cero hadn't been enough to break the hollow's heirro, but it was more than enough to piss him off as much as Grimmjow.
Fighting in a flurry of blows, the hollow suddenly bent it's head down to twist Pantera away from him in his horns as he fired a cero at Grimmjow's stomach. Unable to block, the cero hit Grimmjow full on and blasted him back. Luckily Pantera came untangled from the hollow's horns in the blast and was still in Grimmjow's hand as he crashed to the ground, stomach bleeding profusely. Spitting blood, Grimmjow's eyes widened when he saw the massive red cero charging in the hollow's horns.
Ground cracking under the weight of the power being gathered up in the hollow's horns, Grimmjow didn't even have time to swear as the massive cero tore it's way through the forest obliterating trees and boulders in its wake. Desperation and rage fueled the Gran Rey Cero Grimmjow released moments before the other cero hit. Everything exploded in a magnificent display of violent power, red and bright blue reiatsu crashing against each other in a wild fight for dominance as the two fluctuated. Eventually Grimmjow's larger Gran Rey won out over the ordinary cero in a wash of blue, but so much energy had been spent stopping the other cero from hitting that by the time his reached the hollow, it was only slightly more powerful than a normal cero.
Blocking the cero with his bare hands, the hollow dug his heels into the ground as raw power blew his orange hair back. Finally the cero ran out, strands of blue reitsu rippling off the hollow's hands.
Show off...
Grimmjow growled, but refused to pant. He had far more fight left in him than this, it didn't matter how much power this guy had, he still had his resureccion. He wouldn't use it yet, but if things continued like this for too long, he might actually have to.
Growling long and low, the hollow suddenly did something strange.
Slowly standing up straight, the hollow set his shoulders back and put a hand to his chest like he was gripping something. Black ooze poured out of his hollow hole as he slowly began to pull his hand out. Grimmjow's eyes grew wider as he felt more and more power pouring out of the hollow, but his greatest shock came when he saw a sword handle wrapped in white bandages gripped in the hollow's hand. Clamping his other hand onto the sword hilt, the hollow's entire chest became jet black now as black liquid continued to spill from his hollow hole to coat his skin.
Impressive power quickly turned sickly as the hollow's shoulders began to shake spasmodically. Something wasn't right, and Grimmjow had a feeling it had to do with the black substance he was now choking on. Coughing up inky gobs, the hollow began to pant, but refused to release its grip of the sword. His hands were shaking now, and he was swaying, but Grimmjow didn't dare to move. Something told him to stay put and see this to its end.
Chest heaving, the hollow began to keen deeply as his body started violently jerking. Stiff stance dropping to an unsteady crouch, the hollow looked ready to collapse, but still he fought to release the sword from his body. Howling and screaming, suddenly he began to throw himself about as if locked in some sort of unseen battle. Grimmjow could feel his turmoil in the shift of his powerful reiatsu as two decidedly different signatures of the same reiatsu raged to find purchase over the other. Doubling over so far Grimmjow thought he was going to fall, the hollow began a howl that slowly built itself up to a deafening crescendo. At the peak of his cry, the hollow finally released the sword from his chest with a sickening squelch.
The hollow fell forward to his knees and propped himself up with his blade, a massive black sword like a khyber knife with a small cutout. Shakily raising his head up, once again gold eyes locked with Grimmjow's. Frozen in place, Grimmjow felt the hollow's reiatsu slowly drawing back into itself. While undoubtedly the same reiatsu, what Grimmjow was now feeling wasn't nearly as dark or oppressive as before. Something had happened, but he didn't know what.
"Well, that was one hell of a surprise, got anything else you wanna show me?" Grimmjow asked, carefully watching the hollow for a response. Something told him he was more likely to get a reaction from him now than before.
The hollow flinched at his voice, but neglected to answer. Instead he dragged himself up to stand, warily watching Grimmjow as he continued to pant. The two watched each other for a tense heartbeat before the hollow raised it's blade putting Grimmjow immediately on guard. But it didn't look like he was going to attack...
"Oh no you don't!" Grimmjow yelled as he scrambled to get to the hollow before he could open a garganta with his sword. Black void opening up, Grimmjow shot his hand out to try and grab the hollow, but his fist closed around air as the hollow narrowly escaped into the garganta. His only link to the mysterious hollow was gone in seconds.
"Dammit!" Grimmjow swore. This was the second time that bastard had managed to escape from him, and this time it looked like he was going to get an actual challenge. Grimmjow was even still bruised and bleeding from their brief encounter! He hadn't even had the time to enjoy his battle because of that stupid crack and ooze! Grimmjow resolved to ignore those things the next time he fought this hollow, and demons below, he would fight him again...
National Alliance on Mental Health
- 1-800-950-6264
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance
- 1-800-826-3632
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
- 1-877-SAMHSA-7
National Suicide Prevention Hotline
- 1-800-273-8255
Crisis Text Line
- Text "Start" 741-741
S.A.F.E. Alternatives
- 1-800-DONTCUT
The Trevor Project
- 1-866-488-7386 (24/7)
- Text "Trevor" 1-202-304-1200 (F 4pm - 8pm EST)
Disaster Distress Helpline
- 1-800-985-5990
- Text "TalkWithUs" 66746
National Sexual Violence Resource Center
- 1-877-739-3895
RAINN- Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network
- 1-800-656-4673
National Sexual Assault Hotline
- 1-800-656-4673
The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
- 303-839-1852
The National Domestic Violence Hotline
- 1-800-799-SAFE
The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence
- 1-800-537-2238
USA National Child Abuse Hotline
- 1-800-422-4453 (24/7)
National Safe Place
- Text SAFE and your current location to the number 69866 (24/7)
Whoo! A fight with Grimmjow! That's pretty much all I'm going to say, I'm done writing out questions to get you guys to ponder things. Y'all can find the mysteries on your own, I'm beat.
Reaper - Eek, you can do that, but there are so many things you'll miss out on reading like that - especially about Ichigo. Read however you like, I just hope you enjoy whatever parts you do read.
