CHAPTER 7

He opened his eyes and looked around. He had imaged hell to be different. He stood on one white column that was the biggest near him. He looked down but couldn't see the bottom. It looked like there didn't exist any ground, but there needed to be one since screams were coming from there. Ichigo carefully jumped to the next column, carefully not to fall down. He moved on like that for a while before he stopped. What did he do here again? Ichigo didn't know anymore. He began to panic but calmed himself and thought about it. He wanted to get the soul flower. Ichigo took a deep breath and tried to hold onto that. It was like he was slowly forgetting about his very existents.

Ichigo jumped from one column to the next. He felt like hours had passed by since his surrounding still didn't look any different. He was trying as hard as he could not to forget about anything but it almost felt like someone was trying to pull them out of his head by force.

"Can you do something against it Zangetsu?" Ichigo finally asked having remembered that Zangetsu and his hollow where still with him." He didn't get an answer. He asked again but with the same result. Quietly cursing he moved forward looking around for anything that would resemble a flower.

It was later on that he saw a building at the middle of one column. He only then noticed that there where many buildings in the middle sections of the columns around him. He jumped down and opened one door. It looked empty inside but Ichigo could hear breathing coming from one of the corners of the room. He jumped inside and looked around. He turned toward the direction of the small breathing that he heard and was shocked from what he saw. He went toward the person to see him being chained at the wall with very big nails having been driven through his body. There was blood flowing out from where the nails where, and only then did he notice that the floor was over flown with the said blood. The man opened his eyes to look at what was before him and stared at Ichigo. Ichigo stared back at him right into the eyes. When Ichigo had known him his eyes had already a dead look to them but this was really the worse. Ichigo couldn't hold eye contact. It was to horrifying to look the man into the eyes.

"Who are you?" The man that was still bonded to the wall asked. Ichigo looked at him again and whispered his name, not given answer to the question.

"Ulquiorra" he hadn't said it out loud and it was almost inaudible but the man still heard it and his eyes widened at the name. Ichigo snapped out of the weird trance that he was in. He had been too shocked to see Ulquiorra look like that. It hadn't been the warrior that he had fought ones.

"Have you forgotten?" Ichigo asked gently. He wanted to know if that happened to all the people that came here.

"Have I forgotten?" Ulquiorra seemed to question himself. Had he really forgotten everything? This man before him was familiar, but he didn't know why or when he had ever met him. He wanted to know!

"What is your name?" He asked again.

"My name is Kurosaki Ichigo." The man looked at him with wide eyes. It seemed that his memories of the boy were slowly coming back. It had known that boy. He had been the most dumb and still somehow interesting human or mix that he had ever met. That boy was human, but also shinigami and hollow. Hollow and shinigami, those to words awoke more of his memories. He had been a hollow. He had been feared by the humans and the shinigamis. This boy had attacked him to save one of his friends. Her name had been Orihime. It slowly but surely came back to him, everything that he had forgotten. The boy before him didn't say anything for what he was grateful. He didn't disturb his mind when he was trying to remember. It was then that the boy asked a question that he hadn't thought of before.

"What is your name?" He looked at the boy who still wanted to find out if he remembered everything already. He thought about the question for a bit. What was his name? He didn't know. He couldn't remember. It was like a lock had been placed over this part of his memories. Only then did he remember what the boy had whispered at the start. 'Ulquiorra', the sorrowful one (don't know if that is through but I liked it). That was his name. When he realized and accepted it his last missing memories started to surface. It was like a lock had been opened with his name. He looked up to Kurosaki Ichigo and answered the still open question.

"Ulquiorra Cifer" Seconds after he had said his name the chains started to fade away. The nails seem to pull out themselves till only the wounds remained, who also soon disappeared with Ulquiorra's ability to regenerate.

Ichigo was surprised. Why had the chain and the nails suddenly disappeared, but there was one more question that was far more important than anything else.

"What are you going to do?" Ichigo asked Ulquiorra with a curious and a bit fearful look. Ulquiorra looked at him puzzled before he asked:

"Why are you in hell? Did you die?" Ichigo shock his head. Theoretical no one really knew if he was still dead or alive but he since he counted himself to the living he couldn't say that he had died.

"How are you here then?" Ulquiorra was curious. A human, the boy that had beaten him was here in hell and seemed to have escaped his own cell, if he even had one.

"I jumped through the gates of hell when it opened to get a hollow that I had defeated. I came here for the special purpose to find the spirit flower." Ichigo was puzzled. Why had he told the man what he wanted and how he had gotten here? He somehow had the feeling that he could trust him even thought he was a hollow, or more like had been.

"The spirit flower? Why would you need it?" Ulquiorra asked while looking at Ichigo with his normal monotone facial expression.

"My body mixed with my spirit because of a virus that I had. I absorb everything that I touch. The pull of the absorption is still weak so I still don't absorb any living beings expect plants but it is getting stronger and I have heard that the spirit flower would be able to let me control that at least." Ulquiorra's facial expression hadn't changed but Ichigo had made him curious. What would become of the boy? What was he? Why did this virus force Ichigo's body to such an extreme change?

"I will come with you." He didn't say anymore but Ichigo was alright with that. It was easier to remember with something familiar near him. Ichigo nodded and jumped out of the weird white room with Ulqiorra right behind him.

"Are you still a hollow?" Ichigo suddenly asked looking into Ulqiorra's direction. He didn't do or say anything other than shaking his head. Ichigo accepted that as an answer for the time being. He knew that he wouldn't get anymore anyway.


Ulquiorra was a great help on the search, maybe because he was better in sensing reiatsu. Ulquiorra had told him that they were moving toward the part of hell that had the most reiatsu. The sudden scream behind them almost made Ichigo turn around. He stopped himself thought while Ulquiorra didn't even seem to register it or he just plainly ignored the scream. Ichigo remembered that he wasn't allowed to turn back. The peom had said that. He would be stuck here if he really turned around. It was a gigantic sword that came from under them that stopped Ichigo from thinking anymore about it. It looked exactly like the sword that had pierced the hollow when he entered. Ichigo and Ulquiorra watched how the sword rose higher till the door of hell suddenly appeared in the sky above them and the sword went through it after it opened. It pulled back after the sword had pierced a hollow. The sword pulled back and disappeared in the never ending abyss under them, pulling the hollow with it. After the hollow went out of sight only a scared scream was heard from it before even that seemed soon too far away to hear anymore.

Ichigo looked at Ulqiorra. Why hadn't his soul been pulled into hell like that? He had disappeared but the gates of hell had never opened. He normally shouldn't be here. He looked at Ulquiorra but decided to not ask about it. It was probably one of the many things that existed that stayed forgotten and without anyone knowing about it.


Ichigo was tired. They had moved forward for quite some time now and there still hadn't been any sight of the spirit flower, not that they knew how it looked. Ichigo wouldn't complain since it had been his decision to come to hell. It was then that a very light but still lovely fragrance entered their noses. Ichigo knew right away that that would be the spirit flower. They moved faster, Ichigo egger to finally leave this place. The scent became stronger and Ichigo was sure that they would soon arrive there when a hand shut up from the abyss under them and tried to grab him. Ichigo evaded in the last second before the being under them could grab his foot and pull him down with him. They stopped and tried to locate the being when the whole dimension seemed to start to shake.

"What's going on?" Ichigo shouted a bit scared. His fear was soon affirmed when hands started to shoot out all around them and it seemed that they pulled something up. The body would soon follow.

"Ulquioora, I don't really want to see the body's so do you thing that we can cut the hands of that are trying to pull up the following parts?" Ichigo asked hurriedly. He noticed that they almost seemed to have achieved their goals. Ulquiorra nodded, for the first time having to agree about not wanting to see what followed. They started to cut off the hands and noticed how screams were heard when the beings fell down. The screams weren't anything human. They sounded like the monsters out of the horror movies. Ichigo wasn't sure which of the two was scarier.

It was then that he saw that one of them had succeeded in pulling itself up. Ichigo had the feeling that he needed to vomit but held it down. The monster before him was the nastiest and disgusting thing that he had ever seen. It looked like it had been created out of thousand other human parts that had been stitched together. There were a few things that was still sticking out of the whole body that had been stitched together and there was blood coming out of the parts where there had been stitched. The whole skin also seemed to be in the progress of decaying and the smell was almost unbearable. Ulquiorra looked at it with disgust and started to attack. It was weird that he still had his sword but oh well, better than needing to fight this being alone. Ulquiorra cut it and Ichigo really vomited this time when he had seen what was inside the beast. It was filled with thousand different and random organs. There were also a few humans that were in there, slowly being ripped apart. The screams were almost unbearable. The monster used the new skin to stitch the wound together again, or more like it was stitched without the monster even doing anything at all.

Ichigo wanted to look away so badly but he had learned that something like that could cost one his death. He pitied the humans that went through this torture but they still had done something to end up here. He couldn't take their punishment away from them. They had dug their own graves and needed to live through it.

Ichigo and Ulquiorra attacked it again and again and every time they did it regenerated or more like repaired itself. Ichigo was near tears and about to vomit again when it finally seemed that they had beaten that thing. They quickly moved on, not wanting to see one more of those monster and finally arrived.


Ulquiorra and Ichigo couldn't believe their eyes. Hell had been white and black till now but now they had arrived at a flower field. The flowers that stood there were made of gold silver and even diamond but Ichigo knew that those weren't the spirit flower. Ichigo moved forward, straight ahead, remembering the poem. It was in the middle of the flower field that the noticed a tree. It was a very big tree and Ichigo looked up. There, where the crown of the tree started was the spirit flower. Ichigo carefully climbed up, trying to hurt the tree as little as possible. Ichigo noticed a few bones that were stuck in the crown. Why had they ended up there? Ichigo moved slowly and carefully forward. Had it been anyone else they would have probably freaked but after having seen the monster today, he wouldn't be shocked of anything anymore. Ichigo took almost ten minutes to arrive at the crown. He looked down and noticed that the tree seemed to be higher than before. It seemed to have suddenly grown. It was later that Ulquiorra told him that the tree had grown in the middle making his way more problematic. Right now, Ichigo didn't really care about it thought, since he was right next to the spirit flower. The flower was very beautiful. It had beautiful blue and golden floral leaves.

Ichigo carefully grabbed it, not sure if he should pluck it or not. The second he grabbed it broke of like glass and Ichigo wondered why. It was then that a light suddenly appeared from the flower and went over to him. He felt a increasing pain all over his body that made him fall of the tree. He didn't notice how Ulquiorra caught him or how his body started to change. He soon fell into unconscious. Ulquiorra could only watch how Ichigo's body changed.


Ichigo awoke again and looked around. Ulquiorra was sitting near him and wondered why a blue something suddenly surrounded him. Ulquiorra seemed to study him throughout. Ichigo wondered why. He looked down at himself. His body looked normal but something felt different. He looked around his whole body and spotted what looked like tattoos all over it. He cursed. Now he looked even more like a delinquent. It was only then that a strand of hair fell into his eyes did he notice that they weren't orange anymore.

"No way!" Ichigo almost yelled. He pulled at his hair a bit more. When he felt something on his back he took it in his hand and noticed that it was also his hair. He really wanted to cry now. His hair color had changed to gold and it reached till his back now. Ichigo wanted to cry. It was such a brilliant gold. He could almost see the laughing faces of the others when they saw him like that.

"Ulquiorra, has anything else about me, expect for the tattoos and the hair length and color changed?" Ichigo asked him worriedly. He nodded and said:

"Your eyes, they are azure blue color and your iris have become slits that have another darker blue as color." Ichigo eyes widened. They weren't black anymore? He would look like a freak. He took a deep breath. This was one of the times that he really needed a mirror! They didn't have time for that, since they were suddenly surrounded by hundreds of those disgusting creatures. Ichigo really wished that he could open the gates of hell himself. The gates suddenly appeared and opened right next to him. There still existed a god after all. Ulquiorra and Ichigo jumped through it. It closed right before a monster could follow them. Ichigo sighed in relieve. At least something was happening like he hoped for. They landed right inside Seiterei. They were already surrounded by hundreds of shinigami. He jumped from one dangerous situation into the next, so much for his luck.

"Who are you?" Ichigo was surprised that the old man himself would come here. Maybe it had something to do with that the gates of hell normally never appeared in soul society.

"Doesn't any of you recognize me?" Ichigo thought about that. "Ok, scratch that. I can't even recognize myself!" They all looked at him a bit baffled. Who was this stranger and why was he accompanied by the former fourth espada?

"It's best to just show you." Ichigo thought out aloud and let Zangetsu appear before him. At first there was quiet. Ichgio looked around himself and cursed. He had hoped to find out if this saying that you could have heard a pin drop was true. Then they started to talk with each other. At first it was quiet whisper but then it became louder until it was almost unbearable. It was Yamamoto that saved him from going deaf.

"Quiet!" It was not even a loud yell but everyone became quiet again and watched the sou-taicho, waiting for him to do something.

"You are Kurosaki Ichigo." It wasn't really a question, it was a statement. Ichigo only nodded.

"Why did you come out of the gates of hell?" The sou-taicho asked.

"I don't know how to say it. I was in a really dangerous situation when the gates of hell suddenly appeared. It really saved us and without thinking about it we run through." The sou-taicho nodded.

"Where were you at that time and what happened to you body?" Ichigo somehow knew that the sou-taicho had the general idea of what happened.

"I was in hell in search of the spirit flower. I hoped that she could change the circumstances that I was in at that time. When I touched the flower it began to glow and I blackened out from the pain. When I awoke again I looked like this." He nodded again. They had all heard about the special circumstances that Ichigo had gone through. he had known that Ichigo had went to hell since he had come through the gates of hell but he hadn't known that he had been in contact with the spirit flower. He thought that it had been a myth.

Ichigo was having different thoughts. Why had he changed? He thought that the spirit flower only gave one power and didn't change one's looks. He got his answer from Zangetsu that seemed to have decided to talk with him again.

'You didn't just receive powers from it. You absorbed it into yourselves and fused with it. It happed in a subconscious level so you don't remember it.' Ichigo really wanted to run against a wall right now. Why always him.


Hope you liked it. I used the eyes from a robot that I have seen in an anime. It looked really cool and beautiful so I couldn't withstand.