IN CHESS WHITE MOVES FIRST
Ichigo spent his time running errands for Urahara, apparently the shopkeeper was working on some secret projects and needed him to pick up and deliver some things. In his free time he wandered around Karakura, he was basically a ghost and couldn't be seen, so he poked fun at normal oblivious humans and slayed any hollows that dared enter. Hitsugaya and his team each got a Gigai and enrolled in school to keep busy, Toshiro wanted Ichigo to do the same so he could keep an eye on him, but the orange haired teenager refused. He didn't want to risk running into his still living family, which would be awkward and depressing. Sometimes Ichigo would walk by the river where he and his mother died, still he couldn't remember much. It was like the memories were there, he just couldn't seem to grasp on to them.
"So tell me about yourself Toshiro", Ichigo started the conversation as he followed next him while the walked down the street. The young captain didn't want to talk, mainly because he was in a gigai and Ichigo still refused one.
"That's Captain Hitsugaya, you'd be wise to use my formal title", he chastised the teenage.
"That's just not going to happen", Ichigo chuckled blowing a pink bubble with his chewing gum. "How about I call you Captain Hitsugaya, if you agree to dance at my wedding".
"Not a chance. When do you even plan on marrying Orihime?" Hitsugaya asked.
"Oh I don't know, I'm waiting for the right moment", Ichigo said floating alongside the shinigami in disguise. "What about you? When are you and the Hinamori girl getting married?" Toshiro blushed for a moment and turned away.
"What makes you think we have that kind of relationship?" the captain wouldn't meet hi eyes.
"She's cute and you tried to kill me when you thought I killed her. I just thought you and her were a couple", Ichigo shrugged.
"We're not, I do care about her but…I can't ask for that kind of relationship. Not now at least", he said staring forward sadly.
"Yeah, I heard about what Aizen did to her, freaking sicko", Ichigo spat. Ichigo didn't like manipulating people emotions, teasing people is one thing, but to toy with someone's heart that was disgusting. "If I ever get a chance to fight Aizen, I'll deck him one for you both", that seemed to finally bring a smile to his Hitsugaya's face.
"Unless I get to him first, there won't be anything left for you to fight", Toshiro said rather darkly making Ichigo chuckle.
"Come on I'll treat you to some ice cream", Ichigo said heading to a local ice cream parlor that he discovered with Orihime a few days ago. He handed Hitsugaya some money that Urahara gave him and let him order for both of them since he couldn't be seen by humans. Even so, a floating ice cream cone following next to the captain was sure to turn some heads much to Ichigo's amusement.
LATER THAT NIGHT
Ichigo was patrolling the empty streets of Karakura bored out of his mind. No hollows were showing up to ease his boredom, he almost felt like just going back to Urahara's shop and go to bed, but it wasn't the same without Orihime in his arms. Rangiku took Rukia, Orihime and Tatsuki for a girl's night, without telling Captain Hitsugaya, leaving Ichigo alone with nothing to do.
"Hm, should have stayed to seen what Renji was up to", he said aloud, apparently the red head was busy training with his recently acquired Bankai and didn't have time to hang out. Ichigo thought about who might not be busy right now when a loud thud halted his train of thought. He tilted his head back to see a giant hollow looming over him.
"OH YES!", Ichigo exclaimed happy that he found an outlet for his boredom. "So to whom do I owe this pleasure?" he asked. This hollow looked different than the others, it looked like some large man wearing a bunch of furs with a mask on its face and a big sword on its back. The only thing that told him it was indeed a hollow was the unmistakable gaping hole on its torso and the fact that his sixth sense was screaming at him, telling him that this creature was a hollow but no ordinary hollow.
"Surely you recognize me, although I have changed a lot, just like you've grown boy", the hollow spat with a sickening grin.
"Do I know you?" Ichigo asked tilting his head curiously.
"You don't remember me boy? You don't remember the hollow that took your life and…"
"The hollow that killed my mother", Ichigo's eyes widened in realization. "Grand Fisher", he said with a growl. He remembered that hollow, but it didn't look anything like this behemoth standing before him.
"That's right, I didn't get a chance to feast on your tasty soul and had to settle for the woman, but now that you've grown stronger I can devour you and become even more powerful", Grand Fisher laughed as he explained his evil plan. Ichigo chuckled humorlessly as he held up his hands to launch ten red beams from all his fingers putting as much power into as he could.
"GAH!" Grand Fisher yelled in pain as he was pushed back receiving ten large scorch marks on the front of his body. "I kill you just like everyone else!" the hollow grabbed his giant sword and attempted to crush the brat who wouldn't stop smirking at him.
"Do you have any idea how long I've been looking forward to this day?" Ichigo said calmly as he drew his sword and easily blocked the hollows. The street cracked from the force, but Ichigo remained still standing unharmed while holding off Grand Fisher's sword with his own.
"What the hell is this!?" the hollow said both shocked and angry.
"You're such a coward", Ichigo said slicing through the giant blade. "You knew I was in soul society, but you never had the balls to go there yourself", he used his superior speed and sliced through the hollow's ankle making the giant stumble. "I've waited a long time for this", Ichigo dodged the monster's giant hand as it tried to swat at him, slicing its arm off in the process.
"What's happening?!" Grand Fisher yelled in pain clutching the bleeding stump where his arm was. He was also having trouble standing with his damaged ankle.
"Your outclassed Grand Fisher, while you were busy fattening yourself up on the souls of the living I grew stronger", Ichigo dashed forward with shunpo and delivered a solid upward kick to the hollows jaw knocking him on his back. He then slowly walked across Grand Fishers chest dragging his sword through his skin along the way.
"Mercy", the hollow stuttered out as he watched the orange teenager point his sword at his chest.
"How many innocent people begged you for mercy before you ate them?" Ichigo asked driving his Zanpakuto into the hollow's flesh. "HOW MANY!?" he shouted stabbing into Grand Fisher over and over until the creature ran out of breath to scream. "You took what mattered most to me, I'll probably never see my mother again, but I'll settle for the freedom of her soul", before Ichigo could continue his onslaught he felt the ghost of a hand on his shoulder.
"That's enough Ichigo, butchering him won't satisfy you", the voice of O no Kishi said. "Killing a hollow means setting the souls inside it free, not torturing it to death".
"Oh please, I think I'm going to be sick, just rip the thing apart already, it's what you want to do", the other part of his Zanpakuto said.
"Just because it's what he wants to do doesn't mean it's the right thing to do", the old man said. Ichigo sighed for a moment letting his anger leave him before decapitating Grand Fisher in a quick painless strike. He jumped off the hollows corpse before it dissipated and sheathed his sword before walking away silently. Ichigo didn't feel anything in his moment of triumph, he thought he would feel happy that he finally slayed the creature that killed him and his mother, but he didn't. After he was gone two figures stepped out of the shadows.
"Wow", the blonde guy with large teeth whistled staring at the spot Ichigo once stood. "I thought your kid needed help, but Kisuke didn't say anything about psychological help".
"I didn't think that would turn ugly", Isshin Kurosaki said worried for his son's unusual behavior.
"I'm very confused Isshin, I was the under the impression that your boy might need help with his hollow, but I don't see a problem here", Shinji Hirako stated thinking that Urahara must be terribly misinformed.
"Yeah, it definitely feels like we're all missing something here", Isshin turned and walked away in thought. For now it seemed like Ichigo had control of things, so perhaps there was nothing to get worked up about.
LATER
"What's an arrancar?" Ichigo asked sitting across from Kisuke while reading a Manga comic. He came back to the shop to relax and calm his wrath when he found that Urahara was still up.
"Basically it's a hollow that takes off its mask and obtains the power similar to that of a shinigami", the bucket hatted shop owner explained. "You can think of them as something as hybrid".
"Huh, that's interesting", Ichigo said although he didn't sound all that interested as he flipped to the next page of his manga. "Wait a sec, is the opposite possible?" he asked when a light bulb went off in his head.
"You mean a shinigami that obtains hollow powers? Yes it is possible, but they're called Vizards", Kisuke said.
"Now that's something I'd like to see", Ichigo smirked setting his comic down.
"I'll introduce you some time", Kisuke said returning the grin.
"You actually know some? Oh hell yeah I want to meet them", he seemed genuinely enthusiastic about meeting a Vizard. "I don't see what the big deal about these arrancars are, Grand Fisher wasn't so tough".
"The creature you fought was merely an imperfect arrancar", Kisuke said tipping his hat down. "Though I have a feeling Aizen might be using the hogyoku to make perfect arrancars and build an army out of them".
"And do what exactly, take over soul society?" Ichigo rolled his eyes at how childish that sounded.
"Perhaps he's after something else, and soul society is just a stepping stone to that", Kisuke said ominously.
"Yeah whatever", Ichigo yawned and rubbed the back of his head, giving a wave and a good night as he headed off to bed. He walked in his room to see Orihime passed out on the bed in a gigai that Urahara provided for her. Lying next to her he wondered if Rangiku took her drinking or if Hime was just exhausted, and that worried him since he knew she was a huge light weight. He got his answer when he noticed the designated driver bracelet cleverly strapped to her wrist.
"That's my girl", Ichigo whispered giving her a kiss on the cheek before spooning behind her. Back in the other room Kisuke was looking at a small device in his hand, it was something old he invented that could scan someone and read what they were with a few adjustments. While he was sitting here talking with Ichigo he had it set to scan and analyze the boy. The results were confusing to say the least. First the word Shinigami appeared in red letters when categorizing him, then the screen glitches and changes to the word Quincy in blue letters.
'This just doesn't make any sense. The device can't make heads or tails of Ichigo', Urahara thought, he became even more concerned when the device flashed again changing the word to Hollow in black letters. Ichigo's powers were that of a shinigami, so where did the Quincy and Hollow elements come into this. There's so many pieces to this puzzle that he couldn't seem to find.
THE NEXT DAY
Orihime and Tatsuki, accompanied by a silent Chad were taking a short walk through the park. The two girls needed some fresh air after last night's fun. Somewhere close by a crater impacted mysteriously on the ground by an invisible force, well invisible to normal humans.
"So who the hell are we looking for again?" the big one dressed in white asked to his partner.
"His name is Ichigo Kurosaki, orange hair, withered sword", the smaller paler one spoke in a monotone voice. "Pay more attention when Lord Aizen is giving us orders Yammy".
"Whatever Ulquiora, now where do we start, I don't feel like spending all damn day here", the big guy growled.
"Then do something to draw him out", the one now identified as Ulquiora said dryly.
"Hehe, alright", Yammy laughed as he began to inhale. Suddenly dozens of souls from humans who were just minding their own business were sucked out and devoured by this hulking man. Sensing something was wrong Orihime, Tatsuki and Sado ran over to find out what was happening to all the people around them. They found two being responsible, one was a big guy with a weird shaped head and broken piece of a mask covering his jaw. The other was much smaller with black hair, pale skin and green emotionless eyes that watched them approach with a piece of a helmet stuck to the side of his head.
"Who the hell are these twerps?" Yammy asked staring down at the new comers. "Hey Ulquiora! Are any of these punks the one we're looking for!?" he asked his partner.
"Do any of them look like the description I just gave you?" Ulquiora couldn't help the tiny bit of annoyance in his voice at the other's stupidity.
"Who are you people? Are you both hollows?" Tatsuki asked stepping forward.
"Here that she thinks we're hollows", Yammy laughed.
"I don't care who you are, but you killed a lot of innocent people just now", Tatsuki used her reiatsu enhanced strength to recklessly charge at the big guy, foot raised to kick his head off. This proved foolish as Yammy just grinned and swatted her away with his bare hand. The girl crashed into a tree with a loud crack, breaking her ribs and a bit of her spine.
"Tatsuki!" Orihime ran over to help her friend.
"Orihime…run", she gasped out unable to move. Chad stepped in to try and fight this bastard while the two girls were away from the fight for now.
"I'm not leaving you here", Orihime summoned the power from her ring and let her healing barrier wrap around Tatsuki. "Just hang on for a bit", a body dropping next to her made Orihime jump, she turned to see Chad, his armor covered arm completely mangled beyond recognition.
"Sado!" She created another healing shield and blanketed it over his ruined arm.
"Hey Ulquiora! What should we do about the girl?" Yammy asked.
"She's just more trash, deal with her like the others", the shorter one said heartlessly. The big guy grinned down at her and attempted to drive his fist into her face, but was stopped inches away by an orange transparent triangular barrier.
"Shun Shun Rikka, cage", Orihime whispered with an angry look on her face. Suddenly more triangle barriers appeared and attached to the one that held off Yammy's fist, then folded around it forming a triangular prism that locked everything inside into the space it appeared in.
"What the hell is this!?" Yammy shouted attempting to free his hand, but it wouldn't move from its trapped spot in the air, he couldn't even move his fingers inside it. "DAMMIT!" He kept yanking to know avail.
'Interesting, she completely froze an area of space and time with her ability', Ulquiora thought as he watched the girl, his eyes then drifted over to her fallen companions as he observed her power that was slowly restoring their bodies back to the state before they were wounded. 'Lord Aizen will want to know this', he watched as the girl's concentration momentarily slipped and the prism that trapped Yammy's fist shattered as he pulled it out.
"Nice try girl", he went to punch the now unprotected Orihime, but his fist was stopped once again. Not by a barrier though, but a much smaller stronger hand.
"So what did I miss here?" Ichigo asked holding the big guys hand in place. Orihime looked up to see her boyfriend looking a little unkempt and disheveled, wearing only a black tank top, matching sweat pants, a pair of flip flop sandals and a dark gray house coat loosely draped on him. Even Ichigo's hair looked messier than normal.
"Ichigo", Orihime said in relief.
"I'm bored", Ichigo spoke in a lazy tone while using his other hand to point two fingers at the large arrancar.
"What!?" Yammy yelled in disbelief.
"BORED!" Ichigo shot two red beams from his fingers at Yammy's shoulder and hip knocking him back. "BORED!" he shot another two at his knee caps, "BORED!"
"You little shit!" the arrancar growled falling to his knees in pain.
"Orihime get those two out of here", Ichigo said seriously without looking at her. Tatsuki had just finished getting healed and helped her carry a still heavily injured Sado away to a safer locations. As much as they all wanted to help him, they Ichigo was incredibly strong and could handle this.
"So big boy, you got me out of bed, now how can I help you?" Ichigo asked with a smirk. The truth was he feeling very depressed after killing Grand Fisher, like he didn't know what to do with himself now that his original goal was complete. He didn't deny that he wanted to protect the souls in the Rukon District and improve upon the Soul Society, but he used to think of killing the hollows as practice until he could get his hands on Grand Fisher. Imagine his surprise when he found the hollow and also found out he was leagues ahead of it in strength. It was nowhere near the battle he was looking forward to and was just a one sided execution if anything.
"That's him Yammy", Ulquiora finally spoke up after watching the boy show up, knock Yammy back, and getting a good look at the old looking Zanpakuto sheathed in his left hand.
"Huh, this is the brat we're looking for?" Yammy questioned arrogantly.
"Yes, it's just as Lord Aizen told us. Orange hair, withered sword, this is Ichigo Kurosaki", the smaller arrancar staring emotionlessly at their target.
"Lord Aizen? Is that what he's having you guys call him?" Ichigo chuckled. "Then again I force my students to call me Professor Ichigo, so I can't really talk".
"I'm going to enjoy this twerp!" Yammy stood back up and grinned down at the orange haired punk while cracking his knuckles.
"Question, were you going to kill Orihime if I didn't show up?" Ichigo asked his face taking on a dark expression.
"Who the hell is Orihime?" Yammy asked.
"Incredibly hot well-endowed girl that you were about to squash", Ichigo answered.
"Yeah and what if I was?" Yammy's big ugly grin turned into a frown as Ichigo drew his sword, tossing the now empty sheath away.
"Then I'm going to hurt you, like a lot. First I'll cut off your arms, then I'll stab you through the heart, probably say some real creepy shit, and then I'll kill you", Ichigo said with pleasant smile like he was talking about the weather.
"We'll see about that!" Yammy attempted to grab him with his huge hand, but instead of dodging Ichigo stood his ground and stabbed his sword straight through the arrancars hand.
"AHH!" Yammy yelled in pain as Ichigo twisted his blade slowly.
"You know I don't normally like hurting people, even enemies that much. It's just can't stand it when someone takes away something that I love", Ichigo pulled his sword up painfully bifurcating the arrancars hand. "Torturing someone who already took something from me is pointless, my Zanpakuto was right about that, because I can't get back what was lost", while he was talking he easily side stepped another attack and countered by slicing off the arrancar's right arm at the elbow. "However when someone tries to take away someone precious to me now, well then all bets are off, the other part of my Zanpakuto is right in that regard", Ichigo quickly sliced off the big guys other arm and stood in front of the dismembered arrancar with a pissed off look on his face.
"YOU'LL PAY!" Yammy screamed charging a cero in his mouth since that was his only option at the moment. Ichigo disappeared with his flash step and reappeared directly behind Yammy stabbing his sword straight through his back and out his chest. "ARGH!", his half form cero dissipated immediately.
"Say something nice", Ichigo ordered keeping his sword run through Yammy's torso.
"W-what?" the arrancar choked out fearing for his life.
"Say…something…nice", he demanded once again.
"I d-don't…know…w-what", Yammy started sweating in fear.
"Mister Arrancar, I've got all day and I'm not going to kill you until you say something nice", Ichigo looked at him expectantly.
"I-I-I think…you have…uh…cool…uh…hair", Yammy said the only thing he could think of at the moment.
"Lovely, now lead us into the light", his sword glowed for a moment changing into its gold shimmering form. "O no Kishi", Ichigo stated calmly and in an instant the sword that impaled Yammy flashed and a dozen more swords exploded out of his chest. The arrancar collapsed face down as the Zanpakuto returned to its singular sealed state. Ichigo jumped on his back full of bleeding holes and began to jump up and down.
"Look, it's like a trampoline", he chuckled joyously as blood splashed out of the body beneath him.
'He turns from ruthless warrior to an animated child that fast', Ulquiora though at he watched the scene before him, wondering about what possible mental problems this Ichigo Kurosaki had.
"You know you look like a Goth", Ichigo commented jumping down off the fallen arrancar's body and facing the still living one. "So are you going to fight me next? I'm all mellow now after killing this guy and I'd like to go cool down"
"No, I have everything I need to report to Lord Aizen", Ulquiora disappeared with a quiet boom and reappeared behind Ichigo.
'Holy shit! He's super-fast', Ichigo turned wide eyed to see the arrancar opening a garganta and dragging Yammy's body with one hand.
"Hey before you go, can you give Aizen this?" Ichigo threw a yellow envelope at him which Ulquiora caught looking at it strangely. "Just a little gift for him", the arrancar stuffed it into his jacket and dragged his comrade through the black rip in space. Ichigo finally let his guard down when it closed breathing a long drawn out sigh. He sat down on the grass looking at the pool of arrancar blood nearby.
"Ichigo?" Tatsuki walked over to him concerned.
"I'm finished!" Ichigo exclaimed. An hour later they all returned to Urahara's shop to tell everyone what happened. They found the other shinigami there getting ready to leave a little late for that.
"Ichigo Kurosaki, what happened?" Hitsugaya asked in a commanding tone.
"Captain…Hitsugaya, I apologize in advance for this", Ichigo said and before anybody could question him he reared back and smacked Toshiro in the back of the head. "Where the flying fuck were you!?"
"What are you talking about?" Hitsugaya was too shocked to get mad that he was just smacked like a child.
"Do you have any idea how strong those arrancar's were? The one I took down was one thing, but the other one would have killed me and everyone around me if he wanted!" Ichigo yelled.
"How do you even know that?" Rangiku asked.
"Look I can't explain it, but I have this sixth sense with hollows. I can feel when they enter whatever realm I'm in and when I look at them it's like they're strength is laid bare before my eyes", everyone was surprised and confused by his explanation, all except for Urahara who looked suspiciously like he knew something that they didn't. "Toshiro, you in charge of this team, so what would you have done if this arrancar stepped over my corpse and started laying waste to Karakura?" Hitsugaya looked momentarily ashamed before steeling his face.
"I apologize, I was communicating with the head captain when we received an emergency call from the twelfth saying that powerful hollows had been detected, but you were already on the way there", Hitsugaya explained.
"Good god, the twelfth division is slow in detecting these things", Ichigo slapped his forehead in irritation.
"Don't ever say that around Captain Kurotsuchi, word to the wise", Renji said.
"Oh please I'm not scared of Captain Joker", Ichigo rolled his eyes. "So what did the old man have to say?"
"Let me worry about that", Hitsugaya said walking out of the room.
"What was in that envelope you gave to the hollow?" Tatsuki asked remembering what Ichigo tossed to the arrancar before he left. Her orange haired friend just grinned in a creepy way instead of answering her.
HUECO MUNDO
"I see, so that's why you retreated", Aizen said sitting high on his throne. Ulquiora had just returned from his mission to world of the living to investigate how strong Ichigo Kurosaki was, his report was a visual representation he projected into all their minds by removing his eye and shattering it like glass, the crystal pieces scattering about the throne room.
"Yeah why did you retreat!?" a loud voice asked. Ulquiora turned to see one of his fellow Espada sitting there.
"Grimmjow, I think that's obvious. Had I proceeded I would have been victorious, but the battle would have resulted in drawing the attention of the other shinigami stationed in the town", he explained with cold hard logic.
"So what, just kill the rest of them then", Grimmjow tossed back.
"That's enough Grimmjow", Aizen said calmly with an amused smirk on his face. "I believe you have something for me Ulquiora", said arrancar removed the envelope from his robe.
"I checked the contents, it appears harmless", Ulquiora handed it to one of Aizen's personal assistants who quickly delivered it to him up on his throne. Aizen opened it revealing a simple greeting guard with a picture of Karakura and the word 'Wish You Were Here' printed on the front. His smile never left his face as he read the inside.
Hey Aizen, we never had a chance to finish our little chat. How have you been? I'm fine. Just looking forward to the next time we meet. Perhaps we can talk over tea and cookies.
See ya soon,
Ichigo Kurosaki, number one protector of Karakura town.
"Hm, how amusing", Aizen commented with a light chuckle seeing the small doodle of a mini Ichigo giving a double piece sign at the bottom of the card interior. Gin was watching him from the side and couldn't help but genuinely smirk.
'It appears that boy holds no fear for Captain Aizen, with the way he's taunting him with that greeting card. This should be interesting', Gin thought stepping back into the shadows.
"Yammy still lives, but barely", Ulquiora brought up.
"It's doubtful that Yammy will recover, begin looking for a replacement Espada", Aizen commanded to his arrancars.
Halloween update, yes I finally met a deadline that I set for myself.
I gave Orihime this sort of space freeze prism thing she can use. Who do you think should replace Yammy, I'm thinking either Lupi or Wonderweiss. Lupi was never strong enough to be sixth, Aizen just gave him that spot to screw with Grimmjow, and Wonderweiss was able to defeat someone like Kensei, but then again I don't think Kensei was all that tough, if he was he wouldn't be dead in canon. Or perhaps one of the privaron Espada could be reinserted into this, I'm open to suggestions.
Happy Halloween, thanks for reading.
