AN: So it's Thanksgiving and it wouldn't be a holiday without a huge fight with me and my family so needless to say this is the worst holiday of the year in my opinion well at least I have a new chapter posted. okay so this chapter starts off Ichigo's training with the Visoreds, hmm any warnings?
Oh yeah, some violence as usual but that's the only warning i can think of so without further ado...
Updated for spelling and such on 10/10/13
Chapter 11: Inner Battle For Power
Recommended Song: "Fight Inside" by Red
(Karakura Town, Ichigo's POV)
I sighed as I glanced down the near empty street on the outskirts of Karakura Town, a feeling of slight uneasiness was bugging at me from the back of my mind. Once more I glanced at the address Shinji had written down as I turned onto an unfamiliar street as I sighed. After living my entire life in this town it was hard to come by a street I didn't recognize, but I hadn't ever spent much time in this district of town.
It wasn't far from school but the walk home was definitely going to be longer than usual, I had entered the factory district in Karakura. Not much was in this part of town except for some apartments and warehouses, so needless to say there weren't that many people around. I glanced up at the building number and recognized it as the one that Shinji had written down during school for me.
Taking a glance over at the building I realized it was a dark and seemingly abandoned warehouse, I raised an eyebrow and checked the address one last time to make sure it was right. With a sigh I reached forward and opened the heavy metal door and before walking inside the warehouse that was only lit by the windows to outside it seemed. Ichigo raised an eyebrow when he walked in and noticed it was oddly quiet. "Yo, Shinji you dumbass where are you!" I yelled out, stepping farther into the dimly lit warehouse.
Turning my head to the side I jumped when I saw a large group of people sitting in the corner. The blonde man chuckled at my reaction and jumped to his feet with a wide smile. "Ichigo, about time ya showed up, did ya have trouble findin' the place or somethin'?" Shinji asked in a taunting voice that made me narrow my eyes at him.
"Whatever, I'm here isn't that good enough for you?" I asked with a scoff, my usual scowl finding its place on my face as I crossed my arms over my chest. "Can you just start training me so I can get this inner hollow crap out of my way?" Ever since that day when Ulquiorra and Yammy invaded I could feel my inner hollow getting stronger. But only earlier today I had decided to take up Shinji's offer, my fight earlier this week with Grimmjow had made me realize that I needed to get it taken are of as soon as possible so I could fight arrancars.
Shinji only smiled wider at the question. "Don't get too ahead of yourself Kurosaki, first let me introduce ya to everyone." He said, I rolled my eyes and none the less walked up to the group of odd people. The blonde smirked and pointed to himself. "Ya already know me. This is Hiyori Sarugaki." He said, pointing to a shorter blonde girl standing next to him.
The short girl looked him up and down and scoffed. "What's wrong with you Shinji? Are you sure this kid's strong enough to withstand training?" Hiyori asked with a scoff.
I glared at her. "Shut up you half pint!" I yelled at her and received a slap from her sandal in retaliation. My face went red with anger and I was about to strangle the little twerp when Shinji laughed and began to introduce the rest of the lot.
Pointing to a girl in a school uniform with dark hair in a braid, Shinji smirked. "This is Lisa Yadomaru." The girl glanced up at me from behind her glasses and merely nodded in acknowledgement but I couldn't help but tense up a little. Maybe it was just me and girls with glasses but they all seemed oddly quiet and lethal to me at first, I just hoped that this girl would warm up to me like Mizuki did. But none the less Shinji went on introducing everyone. "This is Hacchigen Ushoda." He said, pointing to a large man with pink hair.
The tall man smiled to me and waved. "You can just call me Hacchi, nice to meet you Kurosaki." He said happily, I nodded in acknowledgement as I glanced over at Shinji as he continued on.
"This is Love Aikawa." The blonde said as he gestured to a man with an odd shaped hairstyle but I decided against mentioning anything. "Kensei Muguruma." He pointed to a man with silver hair who nodded towards me. "Mashiro Kuna." A green haired girl smiled widely and waved to me before Shinji moved on.
"And last but not least, Rojuro Otoribashi." Shinji said and took a deep breath afterwards as he motioned in the direction of a blonde older man sitting at the end.
The blonde man in the tux waved to me with a smile. "Rojuro is so formal, call me Rose!" He told me and I nodded my head before looking back to Shinji and raising an eyebrow at him.
"Well? I've met everyone now can we start to train?" I asked with a scoff, wanting to get this training over with sooner rather than later.
A loud chuckle echoed off the walls of the abandoned factory, I glanced over to see Hiyori jump to her feet and glance me up and down before she crossed her arms. "You shouldn't be getting ahead of yourself strawberry, training to control your inner hollow is a lot of hard work." She said.
I rolled my eyes at her. "I don't care, I'll work as hard as I need to." I shot back at her and saw Shinji smirk at the statement.
"Good, you're going to need to. But still we're not going to start training you today." The blonde told him.
My eyes widened at the statement and I clenched my hands into fists. "What do you mean we aren't going to start training, what else do I need to wait for? I've already met everyone." I yelled at him in an angry voice.
The girl with glasses abruptly closed her book loudly and I glanced over at her to see her narrowing her eyes at me. Yep, definitely has at least a similar glare to Mizuki that I remembered from the first time I met the blonde girl. Lisa spoke up in a strong voice. "It takes everyone a different amount of time to control their hollow so you may be here for a few weeks. Take the next few days to make up some sort of excuse for your family and take care of what you need to do to prepare for it." She told him in a strong voice.
"But-." I tried to tell them all that I was ready to start today, no matter the risks or whatever. I just wanted to be able to make my inner hollow shut up so I could fight better.
Shinji grinned mischievously with a chuckle. "Don't worry Ichigo it'll all be over with soon, just take a few days to prepare yourself for a week or two of hard training. And besides, you haven't actually met everyone per say."
I raised an eyebrow at his last statement and crossed my arms over my chest. "What are you talking about?" I asked curiously, wondering who else there could be.
But the blonde merely smiled wider to reveal his pearly whites. "You'll understand everything soon enough." Shinji stated simply.
(Karakura Town a few days later, Mizuki's POV)
I sighed and glanced around the familiar town, sitting on a low rooftop and trying to collect my thoughts. For the past few days I had been fighting Espada's and arrancars that Aizen continued to send after me day and night. Mostly I had gotten away before they could seriously hurt me, but more often than not Hitsugaya's Team would find me after and I would have to fight again.
By now it was the early afternoon and I knew I had to get going soon to the warehouse part of town. For the past few days I had been so preoccupied that I hadn't stopped by to see the Visored's like I should have. I knew Hiyori would yell at me but to be honest I didn't really care. With another more annoyed sigh I was about to stand up and start to head over to see the group of ex-shinigami but I froze when I felt a powerful reitsu. For a moment I thought it was one of the soul reapers but I was quick to realize whose spiritual pressure it was and smiled.
I glanced down and saw a familiar head of orange hair and smiled. "Hey Ichigo!" I called, he stopped walking and glanced up at me as I jumped down from the rooftop and stood a few feet away from him before glancing up at him. "What are you up to?" I asked curiously.
Ichigo gave me a serious look and thought for a moment. "I'm going to go training for a few days." He told me.
After raising an eyebrow at him I asked. "With who?" I asked curiously, looking for something to do.
The substitute soul reaper rolled his eyes at me. "Probably no one that you know, these kids Shinji and this annoying girl Hiyori and a bunch of other people."
My eyes lit up when I heard that, I smiled uncontrollably. "Oh, you mean the Visored's right? Shinji Hirako and Hiyori Sarugaki?" I asked.
Ichigo's eyes widened when I asked that and I watched in amusement as he stuttered. "W-Wait, how do you know the Visords?" He asked.
I smiled. "It's a long story, you're going to their warehouse right? I haven't seen them in a while, do you mind if I tag along?" I explained vaguely.
He sighed, shrugging. "Sure, why not." Ichigo said and they began walking to the warehouse. "So how much do you know about the Visored's?"
Glancing up at him I smirked at the question. "Just the basic stuff really, the hollowfication and their powers or whatever. I can trust them since the soul society considers them traitors too." I told him as we walked up to the seemingly abandoned warehouse, Ichigo knocked loudly before he opened the door and I followed him into the dim room.
Abruptly there was a happy and excited gasp as we walked in. "Mizukiiiiii!" I heard a familiar voice yell, I reached up and grabbed Mashiro's foot to stop her from kicking me across the face as I walked in.
I smiled to the happy former lieutenant. "Nice to see you too Mashiro, how've you been?" I asked as I let her go to fall to her feet.
The lime haired girl smiled brightly. "I've been great! Nice to see you too Kurosaki, Shinji will be out in a minute. Shinji!" She screamed out the Visored's name loudly.
"I'm here, I'm here, you don't have to yell." Shinji said with a sigh as he walked over to us, he smirked when he saw Ichigo. "Oh wow, you decided to show up huh? I didn't think you would." He glanced over at me and scoffed. "Shorty, about time you showed up."
Ichigo rolled his eyes at the blonde Visored. "Of course I did, I want to get this over with." He said with a scoff of annoyance. I looked up at him and wondered what he was talking about but decided against asking.
Shinji smirked wide, revealing his pearly white teeth. "That so? Well then come on, everyone's waiting downstairs." He said before spinning on his heel and walking through the door with Ichigo, me and Mashiro following him. The blonde smirked as a thought formed in his head and glanced back at Ichigo and me. "So Ichigo, you never told us Mizuki knew you're a Visored." He stated in a matter of fact tone.
I looked up at Ichigo and raised an eyebrow at the statement, looking at him for clarification. But he didn't make eye contact with me and instead crossed his arms across his chest as he narrowed his eyes at Shinji. "She didn't until you opened your big mouth." He said and glanced down at me. "That's why I came here, so I can control my inner hollow."
After a moment I smirked. "So I'm not the only one keeping secrets huh? How did you become a Visored anyway?"
Ichigo rolled his eyes at the first statement. "Urahara showed me this way to achieve my bankai in three days so I could go to the Soul Society and save Rukia." I nodded in understanding and followed Shinji down through the open door to the underground training room.
Shinji turned to a group of Visored's. "Hey, get over here we have company." He called to them. The group rushed over and I smiled at all of the familiar faces.
"Hey Mizuki, long time no see!" The Visored's greeted me happily, I smiled to them and greeted them with the same amount of happiness in her voice. Ichigo opened his mouth to probably ask how I knew all of them but was promptly cut off by a very loud voice.
"Hey, about time you showed up carrot top!" Hiyori said, pushing to the front to be face to face with Ichigo, she glanced over at me and pointed a finger at me. "And you! You were supposed to be here earlier, what the hell took you so long?!"
"Sorry I hit the snooze button a few too many times this morning." I told the shorter girl sarcastically with a smile.
Hiyori growled at me. "What the hell did you just say?" She yelled out in annoyance and tried to punch me but I caught her fist in my hand and smiled. With a scoff of annoyance she pulled back her hand. "Whatever, let's just get this started get into your soul reaper form idiot!" Hiyori yelled at Ichigo.
The orange haired substitute did as he was told and I caught his human body before it hit the floor. I smiled up at him and chuckled. "Good luck Ichigo." I told him sincerely, and a moment later Shinji tried to cut Ichigo with his zanpakuto, making the orange haired man flash step out of the way to avoid getting hit.
I smiled as the two began to fight, putting down Ichigo's body. "That Ichigo kid, he must feel pretty confident to go toe to toe against Shinji." Rose commented with a chuckle.
"Idiot, watch Shinji. He's not even trying." Lisa said with a scoff.
"Now that I watch him, it seems like he's not using his full capabilities at all." Hacchi said, I smiled at the comment and watched Ichigo and Shinji's blades strike each other.
"He's actually doing pretty well, considering he's fighting Shinji." I commented.
Love sighed. "I guess so but he's still scared. Whichever way you look at it." He argued.
"Scared? What's he scared of?" Mashiro asked confused, tilting her head to look at Love for the answer.
However her ex-Captain Kensei was quick to answer. "Of his hollow, what else? It's so stupid of him to think that he can win the fight without his inner hollow." He said with a scoff, his eyebrows knitted together with annoyance as he crossed his arms over his chest.
At the statement I opened my mouth to try to scold him for that comment when Hiyori sighed loudly with annoyance as she stepped forward. "Hacchi, add a few more layers to the barrier." The shorter blonde girl told him as she walked up towards Shinji and Ichigo who hadn't noticed her yet.
Hacchi responded with a short "yes Ma'am." Before he made the barrier stronger, Hiyori jumped up to Shinji and I stifled a laugh when she hit him with her sandal and screamed at him to get out of her way.
The short girl glared over at Ichigo. "You're doing this all wrong." Hiyori told him.
Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the question in confusion. "What do you mean wrong?"
"You have no say in our final decision if we let you join us or not! If you have the power we'll teach you how to control your inner hollow and you can become one of us. But if you don't then get out now and go off and become a hollow and die on your own." She told him seriously, I saw Ichigo's eyes widen when she mentioned him becoming a hollow before he glared at her. "So turn into your hollow I want to see what you've got."
There was a tense moment of silence when no one talked, me and the other Visored's staring up at Ichigo and Hiyori waiting for Ichigo's answer. "…I refuse." Ichigo said lowly and adamantly.
Hiyori sighed, her back turned to him, her spiritual pressure growing and getting more powerful. "You still don't get it do you?" She turned to face him, her hollow's mask appearing on her face. "You don't get a choice! Now transform into your hollow before I pull it out of your very soul!" Hiyori yelled him, but before she could do much else Shinji got to his fight and resumed his fight with Ichigo.
I glanced over at Lisa who was standing next to me. "So what happens if he can't beat his hollow?" I asked her curiously.
The dark haired ex-Lieutenant sighed at the question and looked at me seriously. "Don't ask. Don't worry little innocent Mizuki, I'm sure your friends going to be fine." She told me, I rolled my eyes.
"I know he'll be fine, I was just wondering." I told her defensively, she merely smirked at my response and pushed her glasses farther up her nose.
"Whatever you say. So how's my Captain doing?" She asked me, I smiled.
"Same old pervert as always, he's doing fine." I told her, watching as Hiyori attacked Ichigo further and frowned when I saw him still not giving in to her or Shinji's demands.
So finally Shinji, who apparently had enough held his hand in front of Ichigo's face and smiled wide. "See you later, Ichigo." He said before looking to Hacchi. "Put up the double-layer dislocation barrier."
Hacchi nodded swiftly as I watched his hands glow with reitsu as he began to perform the kido. I glanced over to see Love pick up Ichigo's shinigami body and I gave him a worried look before I shook my head. Even though I didn't meet him that long ago, somehow I knew he was strong enough to overcome his hollow if he tried. So I followed the Visored's farther into the basement to the training grounds before Love placed Ichigo on the ground and his sword next to him as we all stood around him.
I was standing between Lisa and Mashiro and glanced up at Shinji when he started to talk. "…Hacchi, could you put up another barrier? One that binds his limbs." He ordered seriously.
The older man took a moment to answer before he nodded. "Yes sir." And with that began another kido. "Walls of iron sand a priestly pagoda, glowing iron-clad fireflies standing upright, silent to the end. Bakudo #75 Gochuu Tekkan." I had to look away when the pillars hit Ichigo, staring down at the ground.
We all just stood there for a moment until a strong reitsu began to grow from the pillars, I raised my head and glanced at the shocked Visored's faces and waited for the moment to draw my swords calmly. "Here it comes…" Shinji warned us seriously.
"Shouldn't we take away his sword?" Mashiro asked curiously, I didn't glance away from the pillars as Ichigo began to move.
"That'd be stupid and dangerous to get that close to him." Love informed her seriously, out of the corner of my eye I saw Lisa eyeing Ichigo carefully. The orange haired man raised his head and I saw the half mask he had on his face and I took out both of my zanpakuto. The pillars began to crumble away from the powerful spiritual pressure he let loose.
When the pillars crashed down Lisa spoke up. "Open up a gate here, I had watch duty today anyway so I'll fight him." She said.
Hachi nodded. "Of course." He said and raised his hand to create an opening.
Shinji sighed. "Don't kill him, you know." He reminded her, she smirked back at him for an answer.
Lisa looked at me and smiled. "Don't look so serious, you're too young." She told me mockingly before walking into the barrier. I rolled my eyes at her remark but refused to smile as I watched her go inside the barrier and began to fight Ichigo.
(Ichigo's hollow world, 3rd Person POV)
Ichigo's eyes slowly blinked open, the last thing that he remembered was Shinji talking but when he rubbed his eyes and glanced around he found he wasn't in the Visored Warehouse anymore. He stood to his feet and found that he was standing on a building that was sideways, his hollow world. The orange haired man looked around for Zangetsu or someone but at first thought that no one else was there.
"Hey King, long time no see." A sarcastic voice chuckled from behind him, Ichigo spun around to see Hichigo sitting on the building with a smirk. The orange haired man drew his sword once he saw the other him and glared.
"Where's Zangetsu?" Ichigo demanded as he glanced over the area before quickly looking around at his inner hollow and was surprised not to see the zanpakuto spirit anywhere.
The white haired hollow laughed at the question, his sadistic smirk only widening more at the question. "You still don't understand, do you?" He asked as he stood to his feet, Ichigo tensed at the action and clutched his sword tighter. Hichigo smirked over at Ichigo as he lunged towards him, drawing his sword as he swung it at Ichigo's. "I am Zangetsu! We're both part of your powers, originally we were one in the same." The hollow explained with a chuckle as his sword clashed with Ichigo's as he pushed against his sword.
(Visored Warehouse, 3rd Person POV)
Lisa kicked Ichigo back a few feet before she jumped back and stood up as she held her sword out to block another one of his attacks. However before her sword could hold hit his Kensei jumped in and took over the battle for her. With a sigh the dark haired girl pushed some sweat off of her forehead before she walked over to the group of Visored's and sighing deeply as she sat down. "Nice job Lisa." Shinji told her with a wide smile before adjusting his hat on top of his head.
The ex-Lieutenant sighed as she sat down next to Mizuki who was watching Ichigo fight Kensei with a serious expression on her face. "Thanks, so Shinji how much time do we have to rest between turns anyway?" She asked curiously.
He thought for a moment, holding his chin in his hand. "Hmm well there's eight of us so if each of us takes ten minutes to fight Ichigo we should have seventy minutes to rest." Shinji explained as he watched Kensei use his shikai on the hollow controlled Ichigo.
"You mean nine of us, we'd each get eighty minutes to rest." Mizuki corrected him as she continued to watch the fight in front of her. Shinji raised an eyebrow at her statement and glanced over at her confused.
"You're joining in too? Are you sure, you don't have to." Shinji told her casually.
The ex-Lieutenant rolled her eyes at his statement. "I'm here I might as well do something." Mizuki explained to him plainly.
Shinji opened his mouth to say something but Hiyori smirked. "She's got a point, idiot. It's about time she did something to help us instead of being a lazy bum."
Mizuki smiled at the statement but didn't glance away from the fight in front of her. "Thanks Hiyori, you sound like you really mean that." She said with a small laugh.
(Ichigo's Inner World, 3rd Person POV)
Ichigo's blade, now in bankai, clashed with his hollow's as he glared at him. However the hollow only smirked at the action and pushed against his sword with more force. The substitute soul reaper fell backwards and held his head when it hit a building behind him. With a groan he opened his eyes to find he wasn't in his inner world anymore.
He jumped back to dodge a hit from Kenpachi's blade, looking up at the Captain to see him smirk. "Wait! What the hell is going on?" Ichigo yelled out at the Captain, wondering how he got to the soul society. However the masochistic Captain only smirked wider and swung his sword at Ichigo. With a mumbled curse the orange haired man raised his sword to block the hit from the Captain.
When he pulled back his sword he realized he was just reliving the battle and tried to dodge the Captain's sword as it swung at him. Ichigo's sword clashed against Kenpachi's as he tried to push the Captain back with no avail. The Captain easily pushed past Ichigo's sword and the orange haired man had to flash step back to avoid another swing of a sword. Looking up Ichigo found an opening in Zaraki's defense and jumped forward to take advantage of it.
Ichigo tried to slash through Kenpachi but the Captain easily dodged his attack, when he pulled back his zanpakuto he realized that he wasn't even in the soul society any more. He found himself in the underground training room at the Visored Warehouse and for a moment thought that he had made it through. However, when he glanced around he found no Visored's around or anyone for that matter.
With his sword still drawn he raised an eyebrow, wondering who he was supposed to fight here since there was no one around and he didn't remember any fights here. "Abandon you're fear." A familiar voice began, Ichigo tried to look behind him but when he turned he saw a blurred figure for a moment before he felt his stomach get cut deeply. He reached out to hold the wound, he hadn't even seen the person swing their sword and yet he was injured. "Look forward." The voice told him.
Ichigo looked up and his eyes widened when he saw Mizuki there with her swords drawn, a serious look on her face. She swung her sword and it shattered, the shards breaking off and shooting towards him. He flash stepped to try to get out of the way but the shards followed him and he held his sword to block most of them but a few cut his shoulder making him wince. The orange haired man looked up and she looked at him sternly. "Move forward and never stop." She told him, tilting the hilt of one of her swords to make the shards attack him again.
He vaguely wondered how she knew what Zangetsu told him a while ago, but then realized that this was still just in his inner world and wasn't real. Ichigo flash stepped towards her and raised his blade to cut her, Mizuki smiled at the action and raised her sword to hold back his zanpakuto effortlessly. He tried to push her back but she held him there for a moment before kicking his stomach and making him fly back about a hundred yards before he hit the ground painfully. "You'll age if you pull back." She said.
Ichigo quickly got to his feet and raised his zanpakuto as a red reitsu glowed off of it. "Getsuga Tensho!" He said and a blast of energy jumped from his blade and rushed towards the blonde girl. Mizuki made no effort to move and the attack hit the ground she stood on, creating a cloud of debris. Ichigo tried to see if he hit her when he felt a blade at his throat making his eyes widen.
Glancing over to his side he saw the blonde girl glancing off in front of her before glancing up at him. "You'll die if you hesitate." Mizuki warned him and pulled back on her sword to kill him, Ichigo rushed to raise his blade to try to block the fatal blow
AN: Well how was it? I hope you liked it as much as I liked writing it. Happy Thanksgiving!
Chapter 12 Preview:
Lisa looked up from her erotic book and nodded to answer his question. "Little innocent Mizuki may be innocent and little but she'll give you a good run for your money." She told him.
"Stop calling me that! It's a one hundred and ten year old joke that got old a hundred and nine years ago!" Mizuki called to her, waving her fist at her in mock anger. Ichigo smiled when he saw how mad she got before she looked at him with a glare. "And what are you laughing at?" She demanded.
"You." Ichigo simply answered with a smirk, ignoring her glare that he knew was a threat that he could either stop smiling now or face consequences. A moment later, still smiling he felt someone kick his gut so hard he fell back nearly to the other end of the training grounds.
