This is the last I will post of this story, after this, the Fallen hero story will be done! But I might make small short stories with the same characters and backstory later XD If I do that and feel pleased enough with it, I might post it here as extra chapters XD
Warnings: Nope ^.^ Just fluff and fun=)
Disclaimer: I own nothing, all characters belong to the great Tite Kubo ^.^
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Fallen Hero
Epilogue
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"And a little over here Vlad-san!" Orihime cheers, as the two Vasto Lord Brothers does their best to help her put up the decorations.
"Come on Orihime-chan!" Vlad cheers, William gives a growl as his brother leans closer to the confused human girl. "I told you didn't I? Since you are such a cute little lady you can call me Vlad-chan."
"Kurosaki-kun isn't a cute little lady. You let him call you Vlad-chan too." Orihime helps Chad to paste together a few of the white uniforms to make a new banner. Ishida sews them together when he wasn't happy with their glue skills.
"He is an adorable man, works as the same." Vlad laugh, and gets the banner up as Yuzu and Rukia had decorated it with teddy bears. "I don't think this place has ever looked so cute before."
"Of course not, this is Inoue Orihime's special decoration committee!" Orihime looks quite content over herself. "But it is mean of all of you to say that I can't make food! I already planned on a special treat!"
"I think we leave dinner to Ulquiorra and Yuzu." Ichigo sighs, as he had come back from changing, everyone looks a little confused at his new uniform. Since his bankai jacket was a mess, Ulquiorra had ordered him to get new clothes, he had been lucky that Ishida didn't mind helping him. So they had pulled one of the Espada uniforms inside out, so now Ichigo walked around with a uniform like Ulquiorra's, just black outside, and white inside. "I have to give you some credit Ishida, didn't think you were able to make something without putting on decoration."
"How can I be able to do that when I am watched all the time?" Ishida complains, as he take in the full scope of his work on Ichigo's clothes. "It isn't too tight?"
"Nope, not at all, it is really good to move around in." Ichigo laughs, as Ishida works on checking the tails behind on the coat. "I really didn't think it would fit either, since it is closer to Ulquiorra's size and all."
"I added some more to it, that guy is a hundred times skinnier than you." Ichigo sighs. It probably meant that he had more muscle mass than Ulquiorra, but Ishida kind of made it sound like he were fat.
"Ulquiorra, who is that?" Vlad suddenly asks confused, Ichigo looks equally confused back.
"Um, tall skinny guy with black hair and white face, impossible to overlook…" Ichigo stammers, Vlad and William gives an understanding 'ah' together. "You never got his name?"
"No, the guy never talks with anyone outside talks with you… I try to check him up all the time, he just calls me thrash and walk away to read a book or something." Vlad answers, Ichigo and the others sweat drops. That was so possible. "But his name is Ulquiorra?"
"Yeah, how come?" Ichigo asks curious.
"Nothing, just that I knew someone with a name close to that before." Vlad laughs, a nostalgic and sad look in his eyes. "But the guy died ages ago, many saw it as justice, but I was never sure."
"You are talking about the old hollow king aren't you?" Ichigo asks and Vlad nods. "Just what did he do that was so wrong?"
"That bastard betrayed his people!" William yells, and pushes his brother away as Vlad had been about to give them a kinder version of the story. "First he starts travelling to soul society by himself! One day he comes back with a man he says is a scout from soul society… soon they even get married! Then he keeps telling about how wonderful soul society is, and the human world where we could meet a lot of new and kind people too… so we opened a rift. It was ok at first, we meet soul society and they welcomed us all."
"But then the lesser hollows started to change." Vlad continues, as he looks with sad eyes out of the window. "They were driven to the taste of souls and shinigamis, we couldn't stop it, and soul society went into a killing spree."
"What happened to the hollow king then?" Orihime asks sad, she wants to give Vlad a big hug. He looks really depressed. "And his husband?"
"The last I heard… was that soul society ordered his death, by the hands of his shinigami husband." Vlad sighs, all of them gasps. "He might have done something that cost thousands of people their lives, but he were pure hearted and kind, there were no way for any of us to know what would happen. He loved everyone, humans, shinigami and hollows and he just wanted to have the creatures he loved close. And to enjoy the old sun here in Hueco Mundo with a smile on his face."
Ichigo goes silent. That dream he had, the deep sadness and despair, and the new calm as he had met him? But, he had never met the old hollow king had he? It had to be ages ago he died! Long before his time.
"Yo! King! I finally found the brat!" Cero cheers, all of them turn as he came in with the sobbing Kon, who had finally found a woman! But Cero forced him away! He was just mean!
"Ah! What is an Ichigo kid doing here?!" Rukia yells in panic. Orihime and Ishida both scream out over the sudden appearance.
"Ah! That heavenly voice!" Kon cheers, Rukia looks confused at the kid, which comes stumbling towards her. "Neesan!!"
"K…Kon!?" Rukia asks shocked, as she picks the eager kid up, and she did not have the heart or resolution enough to hit a kid away. "What happened to you?!"
"Evil Cero broke my pill and I turned into an adorable little kid that looks nothing like Ichigo at all!" Kon nuzzles content against Rukia's chest. Yes, this was the touch he had missed, the slender and delicate body of his neesan. "I missed you! Neesan!"
"Oi… don't hug so hard." Rukia blushes, as she has no heart to pull the kid away, as he looks up at her with big brown eyes.
"I am taking this guy." Ichigo grabs the flailing Kon away from the beaten Rukia. "Cero, how about you two help a little too? You can help Inoue decorate, ok?"
"Where is the fun in that?" Cero asks, about to bring Kon with him to make a racket somewhere instead.
"Hey, Cero! Yuzu is holding a really big banner by herself! What if she falls down from the ladder and hit herself?!" Ichigo suddenly yells, everyone looks in shock at the twitching Cero, who turns around, and makes his way back to them, before he grabs hard unto the ladder that Yuzu stood on.
"I'll only stand here and hold it until yah are done… after that I am leaving. Brat…" Cero mutters, not able to meet her gaze as she smiles warmly to him. Damn, why did he have to have a human brother side after Ichigo? He would have been better off with something else, his sudden panic attacks maybe? Yes, that would be a whole lot better! But now he was at the really weak and cute little human girls' mercy! "Hey King? Where are those two bastards? Shouldn't kitty and gloomy help out too?"
"Grimmjow is too pissed with the castle full of guests and Ulquiorra I have no idea, he disappeared the second we came back." Ichigo looks over at Grimmjow, who were sprawled over the roof outside the tower they was in. "I'll at least get moody in, gloomy can take care of himself."
Ichigo walks over to the window, and opens it as he looks over at Grimmjow. The bored man looks over at him.
"So, how about coming back in now?" Ichigo asks, feeling the night breeze blow over his hair as he smiled to Grimmjow.
"Don't want to." Grimmjow turns over, and shows his back to Ichigo. "You just go and have fun, I'll sleep here until we are done playing house."
"You are acting like a brat again." Ichigo sighs, Grimmjow just shrugs over it. "You don't like any of them do you?"
"Nope, hate the whole bunch of them!" Grimmjow complains, before he turns over to his back again, Ichigo notices a sad hint in his eyes. "I just can't stand it…"
"What?" Ichigo gets up on the window frame, before he jumps out to sit with Grimmjow, and he closes the window after him so the others wouldn't be able to listen. "Tell me what is wrong."
"I'm just selfish and bad at sharing." Grimmjow moves a little aside to let Ichigo sit down beside him. "I own you after all, so I would prefer those bastards knew it."
"Don't worry Grimmjow, I doubt any of them want me the same way as you." Ichigo gives a soft laughter, Grimmjow just gives a deep sigh. He kept forgetting that Ichigo were too stupid to take hints. "What?"
"I'll be the first one to say this to you Ichigo." Grimmjow sighs, as he sits up beside him. "All those friends of yours have a good eye on you, believe me."
"Come on, I figured out Inoue and Rukia already, but Chad and Ishida there is just no way!" Ichigo laughs, and was about to go more into it, when he sees that Grimmjow weren't joking. "You have to be kidding…"
"Nope, that Renji guy too keeps his eyes on you most of the time, I have even seen that cold captain guy take a few stares at you too! It really pisses me off!" Grimmjow growls, Ichigo tries to see it from Grimmjow's perspective. It had to be like someone moving in on his territory. So that was the reason he always seemed to hate all of them so much?
"I'm not interested." Ichigo looks up at the moon as he gives a warm smile. "I don't want to end my friendship with any of them. Their friendship is all I want."
"Me then?" Grimmjow asks, as he leads his hand slowly to Ichigo's. "What do you want with me?"
"I… I don't know at all." Ichigo looks down again, his eyes looks to be in hopeless despair. "I just can't get it at all, I don't want to be without the comfort from either you or Ulquiorra, but I don't know the feeling! It is more like a hopeless feeling… that if I don't have you, I will fade again, but it still does not feel like love or anything like that."
"You… don't know how it feels do you? Ulquiorra told me you were asking him about it, told me to back off before you would get too confused." Grimmjow looks sadly at the desperate Ichigo. He had been a little too selfish hadn't he? Ichigo had never been with anyone before him, and he sort of didn't seem like the guy to fall in love easily. So since he turned into an Arrancar before learning the feeling, his body had a harder time to mimic it than the rest of them had. All feeling he kept close to his soul was to protect.
"I'm sorry, I don't know if I will ever be able to find out about it." Ichigo whispers, before Grimmjow lay his arm over his shoulder. "Grimmjow?"
"Screw it, I don't really know about it either." Grimmjow snorts, Ichigo looks confused at him.
"But Cero said…" Ichigo stammers.
"I don't know how it feels to be in love, but I know what you think." Grimmjow pulls Ichigo closer to his chest. "I feel less than you, but in my mind I am sure, that the one I will always be with is the adorable brat that I gladly tossed away three years to sit with. I couldn't know if that brat wanted to stay with me, or if he even cared the same way for me, but I would sit there anyway. It might not be love, but it is affection, and I wouldn't give it away for anything."
Vlad smile from the window, before he pulls the curtains shut.
Ichigo gives a weak smile, as he clutches hard to Grimmjow. Was that all it was to it? Not feeling, but just your determination? Would his love be decided over his own resolution to love? So if he knew he wanted to spend the rest of his life with Grimmjow, Ulquiorra and Cero, did it mean almost the same as love? But… did he really need such a mushy word? He liked being together with Grimmjow, but he didn't think being in love with him was fitting.
"I don't like the word Love, if it isn't more than a word I don't need it." Ichigo gives Grimmjow a kiss on the cheek, before he just rest content against him. "I'll just be like you. I'll stay forever together with you, since it is what I want."
"And there is really nothing more to it." Grimmjow chuckles, both of them smiles gentle to each other. They just wanted to never be alone again, and if they continued to stand together, they would never have to face the discussion they one day would have to figure out just what their relationship was. But deep down at least Grimmjow were sure, Ichigo was his mate, the only one he would ever have any feeling for.
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"This party is all fine and all." Ichigo tries to keep his cool as he was once more forced unto the dance floor. "But there has to be someone else to ask for a dance than me! Is there anyone now I have not danced with?!"
"Shut up and dance Kurosaki." Ishida complains, as he tries to not look too pleased when he finally got Ichigo with himself. If the Espada didn't mind dancing men and men, he would take his chance too. And Orihime had been dancing with Ichigo for the last half hour. "When did you learn to dance? I never saw you as the type."
"Vlad forced me to learn it." Ichigo did not like the obvious line to dance with him. He hated it when Grimmjow was right! Couldn't this be a good time for Grimmjow to mark his territory or something? "And I am leading you bastard."
"And why would I let you do that? I am by far the manliest of us." Ishida laughs, but gives a scream as Ichigo toss him into the crowd. "What was that for!?"
"Look in a mirror you idiot! You are not manlier than me!" Ichigo yells, and was about to walk off, when a tower stand before him. "Chad?"
"Can… I have this dance?" Chad stammers, and holds his hand forth to Ichigo as he looks embarrassed away. And he looks so pitiful that Ichigo didn't even have the heart to say no to him.
"Do you know how to dance?" Ichigo asks, as he took a hold of the confused Chad's hand.
"No… not to slow songs." Chad stammers, all the dancing he had done had been at clubs with Ichigo and their friends in the past, it was not suited for slow songs.
"Why did you ask then?" Ichigo asks.
"Because it looked like you were leaving." Ichigo gives a sigh, before he holler on Kon, who had gotten the job on arranging the music, Kon comes skipping over to them. "Can you put on something faster?"
"Ok Ichigo!" Kon cheers, before he is lifted up to the CD player by Cero. He looks trough the CDs, before he finds one he feels would be good enough, and he grabs the microphone that Orihime had gotten for him. She felt like he wasn't heard enough, since he was so small and there were a lot of grown people there. "Ok everyone! This is the great Kon-sama!"
"Hey, don't leave me out chibi-partner." Kon gives a cry, as Cero moves away, and almost makes him hit the floor. "See? I am a big part of this station."
"And the great Cero-chan!" Kon cries, Cero decides that it was good enough, as he moves to support him again. "And with a request from the King of hollows himself, we are getting some beat back into this party! 'Love don't roam' performed by Neil Hannon!"
The beat starts to pick up. Ichigo and the others laugh over the music, as it hadn't really been anything light for a while now. It seemed everyone had kept requesting slow songs for their dances with him, but at least Chad was a little more honest.
And as the song goes on, the entire dance floor turns into an all out freestyle battle. Ichigo just trying to do his best to follow as everyone tried to get their chance to dance beside him. Even his sisters trying to dance a little with him, before the nervous Rukia also decided to try her luck, but as she didn't really know a thing about dancing, Ichigo tries his best to lead her. And the giggling Rukia following the dance steps Ichigo did, both of them laughing as they soon were the center of the worst made choreography in the history of dancing. As everyone in the dance hall had decided to join in, the joyous laughter stretching trough the entire castle, seeming like it almost colored the cold walls in a warm rainbow.
Then the laughter stills to make room for awe, Ichigo and Rukia looks confused up as the bright light comes through the colored glass window at the top of the tower. The cold half moon slowly grows into a full moon before them. A bright warm light spreads over Hueco Mundo, before it rests on the still form of Ulquiorra.
Ulquiorra gives a weak smile, and covers his eyes as the sun burnt his eyes a little. But he soon get used to it again, his eyes almost glows in a painful light as tears runs down his face, but he still had a smile on his lips, as he reaches for the light, and closes his fist as he felt like he had a hold of it. Then he brings it to the empty hole in his chest.
"I said I would return the light to this world without you." He holds unto the warmth in his grip, as he covers his eyes with his other hand. Painful memories flash before his eyes. "I need no heart, since I have the most radiant orange sun. After all… he shines even brighter than you."
Ulquiorra release the warmth he had been able to catch, and looks after it as it faded upwards. He would never dwell over the past again, he would see to the future now, together with Ichigo and all his friends. He would toss away the pain from the betrayal that took away his kind heart.
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"Wow! Look at it! It is almost like a rainbow sun!" Orihime cheers, and dances around under the rays that shoot down from the windows in the roof. The pure light from the transparent windows around them glows against all surfaces in the room. "It is so pretty!"
"I guess the sun is moody." Ichigo laughs, and smiles to Rukia, who still holds his hand after the dance. "It will only come forth when it sees happy people."
"But it is a really beautiful sun." Rukia whispers, Ichigo nods to her, everyone in the room looks a little envious at her, as it seemed like Ichigo had chosen Rukia. But none of them notice the person that had decided to sneak in again. He forces the sobbing Kon to change music, before he march over to Ichigo, and grabs his arm hard.
"Eh, Grimmjow?" Ichigo asks confused, as Grimmjow pulls him over to the middle of the dance floor again, and lays his arm on his hip as he hold him close. "Ah, what are you doing you idiot?!"
Grimmjow says nothing, Ichigo turns beat red as the slow music starts again. Grimmjow leads him quite gracefully over the floor. The rainbow sun almost makes both of them radiant for everyone who watches them.
In the end Ichigo gives in, and lets Grimmjow lead him as it seemed he knew what he was doing. Was this Grimmjow's way of showing everything what was his? But it really wasn't like Grimmjow to get jealous so openly. But, Ichigo really didn't mind at all.
Grimmjow looks confused at Ichigo, as he squeezes his hand, and let his other arm rest behind Grimmjow's back, a little amused over the fact that he could still see his hand.
"There is nothing to be ashamed of anymore is it?" Grimmjow whispers, as he opens the front of Ichigo's jacket, and shows the hole. "You are a hollow, and your friends knows it and don't care about it anymore, you don't have to be ashamed about it at all."
Ichigo looks blushing down, as Grimmjow brushes his mask gently. Damn, why did he feel so weird?! He felt so frustrated of how Grimmjow was acting before everyone! But there was a deep feeling inside him that told him that he didn't hate it. Didn't even hate how everyone seemed to start to understand that something was up with the two of them. Just how the hell could he put words on that fluttering sensation? That grew from deep in his stomach, and flew up trough his chest, trying to force trough his lips!?
Their eyes meets, Grimmjow looks confused down at the amazed Ichigo, who seems to be both shocked and really pleased about something. Then the feeling broke trough him, and escapes from his lips:
"Butterflies…"
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End of story
Well, hope all of you enjoyed the story ^.^ I sure did ^.^
I don't know if everyone will take the butterfies part xD If not just ask me and I will try to give a answer XD
Well, this part of the story is done, but I really want to write a Christmas story, so if anyone has any ideas, please do not hesitate to give me some good ideas ^.^ You can come with them in comments here, or on my fallen hero pictures over at my deviantart account ^.^ my account is Anki-chan
Please review ^.^ And once more thanks for reading my story *Bows deep*