Chapter 11

Five days later...

Ichigo sat far away from the town where he had been born and raised, on a hill where soft tall grasses grew. The blue sky over him held few cluds, a day that is hard to find, considering Japan's existance as an island and Karakura Town's location along the sea. It gave him a sense of openness that he desperately needed.

Everyone did after learning so much in a few days.

But in the end, staying near the town, he decided, exactly four days, twenty hours, 4 minutes, and 5 seconds ago, was not helpful for the spiritually aware people there. He was a bane to all existence, and he knew it. And having him near them, Ichigo knew that he was only a uncomfortable ...

How should he put it?

Trash?

Garbage?

...

'Thing?'

He chuckled at the last word. Indeed, the last word fit him the most. He was a 'Thing' that had neither home nor family. He has been dead for quite some time, if the memories Urahara managed to bring back at the time of his evolution served him right. Of course, he can't fathom why Urahara did what he did; the bastard was always doing his own stuff even when he was inside someone else's head.

But that was not the only thing the hat-and-clogs managed to bring out. Urahara had unlocked something that should not have been unlocked: Memories of Ichigo's past lives. Some of them were ... disturbing while others made him feel like he was a savior and a good man. Good spirit at any rate. Memories had, however, knowledges as well. They ranged from profound to pathetic.

At least it was 'Ichigo' who was the conscious of this body, not any of those people from the memories... People ...

'I was them, remember?'

Ichigo looked down and noticed his zanpakuto.

Norowareta Kasumi was a very special zanpakuto. Unlike Zangetsu, who was sealed away by the dominant hollow power present within him, Kasumi was not of him, but of his past memories. It was a zanpakuto based not on soul but on emotion and power. As such, it was silent and did not take the form of a human. It's name, which meant Cursed Guardian of Water, a legendary beat that took the shape of a turtle, suggested its power.

Mist that corrodes all...

It was indeed, a power for a 'protector' that 'Ichigo' wanted to be.

Well-

"Kurosaki-san."

The said arrancar turned around and looked at Urahara. "...What do you want Kisuke?"

"I've come here to ask you something."

Ichigo stared at the man for a few seconds, during which Urahara pulled out his fan to cover half of his face. Then he realized what Urahara meant. He touched his mask, his hollow mask.

"I'm still not a arrancar."

Urahara nodded. "You're a Vasto Lorde."

Ichigo cursed under his breath. He still needed to feed on souls.

"But my mask-"

"It's been cracked as long as you have been a hollow, Ichigo," Urahara said as he sat down next to Ichigo on the hill of green grass.

Ichigo growled. "And you didn't tell me this because?"

"It's not relavent to your evolution. It may have looked ugly when you were a Gillian, but ... there was no need to inform you of it."

"..."

"..."

"So, what now?"

Urahara sighed. "Both Vizards and Soul Society are scared of you. I've just contacted them and told them of your existence. Their reaction was ... interesting."

"How so?" Ichigo asked.

"Well, for one, Yamamoto opened his slit eyes."

"Who's that?" Ichigo asked, but all of a sudden flashes of memories passed by his eyes, memories of him before all this. "Oh..." Ichigo chuckled. "The kid's that old now?

Urahara opened his fan.

"Now do tell me your reason for being here," Ichigo asked.

"I've come to ask you of yourself."

"... Myself." Ichigo stood up. "... I'll answer that AFTER I rescue Rukia."

"Ah, that is still the -"

Suddenly, Ichigo grabbed him by the collar and shook him. "You put the Hogyoku in her."

Urahara's eyes widened. "How did-"

"It's not hard to imagine what you did to hide your things. You are, after all, a coward," Ichigo said as few more memories flashed by.

"Am not," Urahara replied as Ichigo let go of him. "I had to hide it. But how did you know of its existence?"

"... Your hands."

"What about my hands?" Urahara asked as he inspected them.

"They have traces of Hogyoku's fragments. you attempted to break it, right?"

Urahara looked up with fear in his eyes. "You are dangerous. You could tell the history of things just by looking at the traces of them."

"An ability one of my former self had. Very useful, but not always in control," he replied as more memories flashed by. This time, these memories were of him knocking a man in toga down to the floor. "Such useless memories..."

"... Surely-"

"No."

"But you didn't even hear what I-"

"Don't need to. Rather, I got no time for it," Ichigo said as he opened a Garganta. "Tell the Vizards this: Aizen will last only for so long from now."

"Are you planning on fighting him?"

"Yes."