A/N: Okay this one was a little rushed, but I'm wanting to get to the more...ah..fun parts of the ending of this story. Its looking more like 20 chapters now, so we'll see how it goes. My goal is two chapters a day until I'm done. I'm still trying to work with Rainfall Sunshine, a chapter a day. But that one need some editing before I move forward with it. Again, I apologize for the rough draftish nature of this chapter, I'm stuck in bed with a pulled muscle on my laptop.
Chapter Fourteen
Breaking the Dam
Sometime later, Urahara entered the room. He smiled softly to himself as he adjusted the equipment to make sure the reiatsu signatures were reading correctly. In the corner of the room, the three vibrant haired males sat together. Ichigo was tightly sandwiched between the blue haired arrancar and the red haired shinigami, and Urahara thought it was strangely appropriate since Ichigo seemed to be the bridge between those two worlds. The soft expression of contentment was not lost on the older shinigami, and he felt his heart clench again. He rarely saw such an expression on those normally scowling features. Then he realized something. The arrancar's mask was completely gone. Not a trace of it remained on what now looked very much like a normal face. His hollow hole was still in place.
Urahara stared thoughtfully. What if…what if Aizen wasn't as in control over the hogyuku as he thought he was? It was Urahara's invention after all. It had a sentience, a will of its own. What if…what if it still recognized the will of the one who made it? The last time he'd used the hogyuku had been to stabilize the vizard, to stop them from turning into hollows. Could the last vestiges of his will have stayed imprinted on the thing?
There was a knock at the door and he recognized Hyori and Shinji. He headed into the front and let the two vizard in.
"How is he?" Shinji asked, his face having lost his typical grin.
Urahara shook his head. "I don't know. His hollow has gone back, and Ichigo's taken over, but the hollow has sworn that if he tries to kill himself again, he'll push Ichigo down again. And I don't think he will resist if he does. It is taking everything for the hollow to keep him from retreating to his inner world again."
"Stupid asshole," Hiyori muttered under her breath crossing her arms. Shinji sighed. "What's he thinking?"
"Hiyori-san, I know how you feel, but Ichigo is doing his best, given his circumstances," Urahara said softly to his previous fuku-taichou.
"But why? Why is he being like this? Torture ain't that bad, I've seen him fight, Kisuke, how could Aizen have broken him so easily?" Hiyori asked. Of course, her and Shinji didn't know everything yet, Urahara had just gotten ahold of them to tell them that Ichigo had been returned to them.
There was a silence. "If only it had just been torture, Hiyori-san."
Shinji and Hiyori exchanged glances. "What do you mean, Kisuke?"
Urahara laid his fan down on the table. "He spent four months with Aizen. Aizen shattered everything he was in that time so much that if Grimmjow hadn't defected and come here with him, he would have died."
"So? I've seen him get more pissed the more hurt he was. He should have still be trying to tear Aizen limb from limb…" she started feeling Shinji put a hand on her arm.
"Hiyori, you aren't listening to Urahara-san."
Urahara nodded, and motioned them all to the back where the screens were set up. "It may be easier if you just hear what the hollow had to tell us."
Urahara returned to the table, having watched too many times. He tuned out the soft sounds behind him and continued to think on the problem at hand of the arrancar's sudden transformation. Why was he becoming closer to a shinigami? Why was his reiatsu signature turning into something closer to a vizard than a hollow alone? His mind came back to the hogyuku. Could the blasted thing still recognize his creator as master? Even after the two halves had come together?
He looked up from his thoughts as the two vizards sat down again. Hiyori was silent and Shinji was rubbing the bridge of his nose.
"Why?" Shinji asked.
Urahara sighed. "Grimmjow seems to think out of frustration because he attempted to test him and found nothing and a need to send a message to soul society that he could break even the strongest weapon they had against him."
"Are you sure we can trust this Grimmjow?" Hiyori asked, fire brewing in her eyes. "I mean, he tried to kill Ichigo and now he says he's trying to help him?"
"Fuck, you guys are so fuckin' noisy," a voice came from behind them. They looked up to see the blue haired espada, a scowl gracing his blue brows.
Hiyori fixed him with a glare and Shinji just frowned. "I thought you had a mask on your jaw," Shinji said finally.
The arrancar reached up and felt along his jawline where the jawbone was gone. He arched a blue brow and shrugged. "Fuckin' thing started falling apart yesterday. No fuckin' idea why. Rest of it disappeared at some point while I was dealing with Orange-berry."
Both Shinji and Hiyori frowned and glanced back to Urahara who suddenly snapped his fan open in front of his face, hiding a grin at the pet name Grimmjow had given Ichigo. No more Kurosaki or shinigami, it seemed.
"I left Red with 'im, both of 'em are lazy fuckers, but I'm fuckin' starving. Got anything?" he asked, flopping down unceremoniously beside Hiyori.
"Of course, Grimmjow-kun, give me a minute," Urahara said as he got up and headed into the kitchen to prepare a light brunch.
Hiyori stared at him. "Why are you here?"
Grimmjow rolled his cyan eyes at her. "Why are you here, bitch?"
Shinji grabbed her as she started to lunge at the espada, who didn't even flinch. "Hiyori, he's Urahara-san's guest, remember, we can't be fighting in the shoten."
"Yeah, Hiyori," Grimmjow said smugly. "No fighting here."
Grimmjow thought her head was going to explode. "Yer the one who was helping train him to deal with that hollow a'his weren't you?"
The change in subject seemed to calm the volatile female, and Shinji let her go. "Yeah, but you showed up and he didn't finish his training before he ended up running off half cocked into Las Noches."
Was he mistaken, or did Shinji see a vague sheen of guilt wash over the espada's face? Just then, Urahara returned with a plate of various sushi, sashimi, and rice. They ate quietly, and watched amused as Grimmjow carefully set aside two portions on separate plates.
"Grimm-fuckin'-jow, I gotta piss!" came a call from the next room. Grimmjow rolled his eyes, taking one plate and leaving the other.
"Hold yer horses, Red," he said, standing and heading into the next room.
Renji darted out and into the bathroom. A few seconds later he came and flopped down in the seat the arrancar had just vacated, grinning at the plate of food before him. "Damn, I'm hungry!"
He then looked up realizing he was being watched by two people he hadn't really met yet. His face blushed slightly.
"Abarai-kun, this is Shinji and Hiyori, the vizard I told you about who were training Ichigo-san before you all left for Heuco Mundo," Urahara said, motioning at them with his fan. Renji nodded, diving into his food.
"What the hell is going on here?" Hiyori asked. "You're sleeping in the same room with the arrancar? You're a shinigami, what the hell? And aren't you the fuku-taichou of sixth?"
Renji's face colored again. "It's complicated, Hiyori, was it?" She nodded. "We went into Ichigo's inner world to retrieve him, and it took both of us to do it. Now Ichigo doesn't want anyone else around, so we're taking turns sitting with him so he doesn't do anything…drastic."
Hiyori frowned and crossed her arms again. Then she stood up and headed to the room where Ichigo was with the arrancar. Urahara started to protest, but seeing the look on his former subordinate's face, he knew that he wasn't going to stop her. Well, seeing for herself was perhaps the best thing after all.
She flung the door open with a snap and stared at Ichigo and Grimmjow who sat on the far side of the room. Hiyori's face was a mask of barely restrained fury as she looked between the two. Ichigo was awake, the plate of partially eaten food in front of him on the floor, his back firmly wedged into the corner of the room. Grimmjow sat a few feet away leaning against the wall, looking thoughtfully around as Hiyori burst in.
"Ichigo, fuck, what is wrong with you?" she yelled, and instantly regretted it. His eyes widened and there was a flash of reiatsu, his head dropping forward. When he raised his head, his eyes were black and gold again.
"Dammit to hell, you fiendish woman!" came the alien voice from Ichigo's lips. Beside him, Grimmjow groaned. Not again.
"Fuck, you know how hard it is to keep his stupid ass from retreating into the fuckin' inner world!" Hichigo snarled, standing up.
By now, Shinji, Urahara and Renji had come into the room. Renji fixed Hiyori with a dagger slinging stare before looking at Hichigo.
"Don't worry, he's not fuckin' far. Zangetsu is holding him just below the surface, but its getting fucking harder the more his reiatsu comes back. I'll force him back, I just wanted to fuckin' see who the hell was tryin' to fuck with all the fuckin' hard work I put into keeping his dumb ass in control," Hichigo said, standing up and glaring at Hiyori. "I fuckin' know you. Yer one of those little bitches I had to tangle with on the outside while king and I were beatin' the shit outta each other inside."
Hiyori and Shinji both exchanged glances, having seen Ichigo in his full transformation into the lizard-like hollow. "Well, you weren't exactly the best looking hollow I'd seen," she muttered.
"Fuck bitch, yer lucky I didn't go all out on yer ass. You didn't see my bad ass vasto lorde transformation, sweetheart," he said snorting.
He sat down with a frump, ignoring the others. He scarfed the rest of the food down and looked to them. "Get the fuck out before I push his stubborn ass back to the surface."
Urahara ushered Hiyori and Shinji from the room and motioned to the monitors. "I record everything in there, you can watch what happens from here."
Curiousity welling, they stood and watched.
Hichigo rolled his head. "Aight, king. Yer coming back."
Fuck you.
"Fuck you, king, ya ain't got no choice here. As much as I hate the fuckin' rain, it ain't gonna stop until you sort this the fuck out," he responded out loud.
He closed his eyes, and started to stumble, caught deftly by Renji as he did. Ichigo's breath caught as he looked up and around, starting to struggle against the arms. Renji just held him tighter.
"Come on, you're fine, Ichigo," he said softly, but Ichigo managed to pull away and stumble backwards, right into Grimmjow's arms.
He looked up, his eyes wild and flashing with fear and anger, locking with the blue eyed espada. His breath hitched, everything washing over him as he squeaked, struggling madly for a moment.
"Settle the fuck down, berry," Grimmjow growled above him, deciding to use every bit of alpha instinct to get him to stop struggling. With a strangled cry he stopped and leaned into him going mostly limp.
Renji moved up in front of him, and pushed his hair from his face. "There, that's better, Ichi. You should be feeling better. You slept, you ate, and nothing is going to hurt you here, we're in Urahara's shop, remember?"
Ichigo's panicked look faded as he looked around. Being forced out of his inner world was always a head spinning experience. It wasn't like when he came out willingly, in control. It was like being shoved through layers of cotton into a blurry sunshine above. He still breathed heavy, his body felt so heavy, so weak, and he felt his knees give out under him.
"Hey, you okay?" Renji asked, as he wobbled noticeably.
"I'm tired…my legs…" he muttered, turning his face away from the red haired shinigami in front of him.
Grimmjow grunted and yanked him up bridal style without a second thought. "Of course, you fuckin' haven't got your strength back yet, baka. Hichigo's been using reaitsu to keep your body moving for the last day or so. Yer gonna have to do some work now."
Ichigo sucked in a breath at the motion and for a moment he grasped desperately at the vest of the man who'd so easily hefted him up, an irrational fear of being dropped thrumming through his veins. Grimmjow placed him on the pallet and made him sit up, sitting beside him, placing one hand firmly against the small of his back to make sure he did. Renji dropped down on his knees in front of him.
"You think you can talk now, Ichi?" Renji asked, reaching out and taking the orange haired shinigami substitute's hand gently.
Ichigo's mouth worked as he tried to put a coherent thought together, but he was finding with Renji's hand in his and Grimmjow's hand on his back he couldn't really do it. Finally, he just nodded, looking around the familiar room. His heart had finally stopped trip-hammering in his chest.
"Th-thank you," he muttered, staring down at his hands. "F-for what you did. B-both of you."
Renji and Grimmjow exchanged glances. "Well ya can thank us later, berry. For now, just promise us ya ain't gonna do something stuipid. Fuckin' Hichigo'll skin us both if you do," Grimmjow said, pressing his hand even harder into Ichigo's back.
Ichigo slowly nodded. The need to die was slowly, painfully slowly, beginning to recede. Maybe it was his strength rebuilding without the reaitsu sucking bindings, or maybe it was realizing that he hadn't been abandoned after all.
Yes you were abandoned, they're lying to you… came the smooth baritone voice he hated and loved at the same time.
He shook his head violently, causing both his companions to arch a brow at him. "I am trying….to believe…so much…I want to believe…how do I believe…what is real…"
"Man, he fucked with yer head, didn't he, berry?" Grimmjow said with a frown, reaching up with his free hand to run it through the man's orange locks. To his surprise, he didn't flinch this time.
"It isn't all his fault, Sexta," came a familiar voice from the doorway. All three men looked up to see a very particular pink haired arrancar scientist standing there with arms demurely folded across his thin chest.
Beside him, Grimmjow felt the boy go limp, and he reached out and caught him before he fell face first into the floor. He'd passed out at the shock of seeing one of his tormenters in person.
"Szayel, what the fuck?" Grimmjow asked, laying Ichigo down and motioning to Renji to stay put.
Szayel sauntered out and sat down at the tea table. Shinji and Hiyori had gone, and now Rukia and Ikkaku had returned, apparently brining the octava espada with them.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Szayel?" Grimmjow asked, face flushed in anger.
Szayel waved it off. "I see your mask is gone, too."
Grimmjow's anger dissipated suddenly. "What? I'm not the only one? I thought it was being here or some shit."
He slowly sat down opposite the table from the espada of madness. Urahara had returned bringing more tea. Rukia and Ikkaku were confused it seemed.
Szayel accepted the tea from the wary shinigami. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, it seems some strange things have been happening since you left," Szayel said shrugging. "Halibel and Stark both lost their masks for no reason, and Nel came back full strength and also maskless. There was a little coup de tat, I suppose you would say. Barragan has taken over Las Noches again, and we sealed Aizen in a neat little kido Urahara-san here helped me with," he said nonchalantly.
"What? You defeated him that easily?" Grimmjow asked, truly shocked.
"Never said it was easy," Szayel muttered. "Yammy stayed with him, so we had to kill him first. And then the other espada had to choose to defend Aizen or help us. Nnoitroi ended up helping us, to our surprise, but he's got two eyes now. Seems his hollow hole sealed up. Ulquirro also joined us in putting down Aizen. His hollow mask is gone, but the hollow hole is still in his chest."
Grimmjow sat, mouth agape. They'd turned on Aizen? Even with that bloody zanpakuto of his? He looked at Urahara who was hiding behind his fan again.
"I came here to bring the hogyuku back to Urahara-san, as promised, so he can destroy it," Szayel said, reaching into a pouch and handing the much sought over object like it was a simple gem or piece of gold.
"What…" Grimmjow muttered. Masks shattering? Hollow holes sealing up? What the hell was going on?
"It's the work of the hogyuku, Grimmjow-kun," Urahara said, holding up the decidedly innocuous looking object. "The greatest desires of the master is what it manifests. Unfortunately for Aizen, the hogyuku never really recognized him as its master, instead, it only bent to my will as its creator. And I didn't realize it until your mask fell off. It was 'fixing' the damage done by Aizen still, just as I had willed it to do when AIzen had experimented on the Vizards."
It was becoming clear. Without the power of the hogyuko, those under his command wouldn't follow him as they had before, especially if their hollow natures were slowly being erased. He didn't understand it at all, though. If the hogyuku desired to fix Aizen's actions, why didn't the arrancar simply cease to be?
As if reading his mind, Urahara smiled. "No, I wanted none of you dead, Grimmjow-kun. Taking life is not so easy for me. None of the espada willingly walked into this life. You were all forced into it. And without you knowing it, the longer you were in Las Noches in proximity of the hogyuku, it was slowly changing and altering each and every one of you, especially those who were truly powerful. Why do you thing Szayel softened and let you go? Even though madness had a tight grip on him, it still began to edge away and allow emotions long cut off to return. And you, espada of destruction, instead of wanting to utterly destroy Ichigo, you wanted to save him. Why? The hogyuku was awakening things that were long sealed."
Suddenly Grimmjow gasped, grasping his stomach and leaning over. "Fuck!" he snarled. A shock of utter and complete mind numbing pain ripped through him, and he vaguely saw the hogyuku flash and thrum gently, and he was hit with an incredible wave of…of…emotion. Love, pain, yearning, anger, lonliness, hope, thoughts of caring for someone other than himself, everything washed over him in a second and he lay on the floor now staring at the swirling ceiling. His breath came in heaving pants as his reaitsu seemed to roil and flash around him. It felt different somehow.
"Grimmjow-kun?" a voice from outside whispered and he opened his eyes to find himself staring up into the gray eyes of the hat wearing shop keeper. "Are you okay?"
Grimmjow frowned. "Fuck you asking, bastard, of course I'm not fuckin' okay, what the fuck happened?"
"See for yourself," Szayel said, motioning to Grimmjow's belly.
Grimmjow reached down tentatively and found fingers touching skin where there should be a gaping hole. He looked down and stared. Where the hole had been was a round spot filled with bright pink flesh. His hollow hole was…gone? He looked up between Szayel and Urahara.
"As I expected, having the hogyoku near accelerated the process," Urahara mused. "Szayel, your hollow hole has also sealed?"
The pink haired man nodded. "Last night. By the look on Grimmjow's face, it seems it hurts like hell no matter which of us it happens to. I had the hogyuku with me after digging it out of Aizen's chest. Similar thing happened after I'd been exposed to it for a short while."
Grimmjow didn't move, he only stared at his belly like it belong to someone else. In his mind, those thoughts of pure destruction had left, utterly and completely. And another feeling began to wash over him as he scrambled to his feet and stumbled into the room where Renji lay beside Ichigo, stroking his hair in a loving way. Though a part of him roared with jealousy to see someone other than him touching the boy, the new part of him simply smiled to see the sublime expression on the other alpha male's face. There was no mistaking the look of true and unyielding love in those dark eyes of the red haired shinigami.
Renji looked up at his entrance, his eyes wide. "Grimmjow, your hollow hole…it's gone!"