Right… so this one was a little difficult to write but I hope you like it.

Thank you for the lovely reviews!

Chapter21: Crumbling world

Year: 2010

Byakuya watched the space were Ichigo stood frozen.

The look on his lover's face would haunt him for the rest of his days…

Ichigo….

His Ichigo….

Was…

Just kidnapped… right in front of the whole squad.

…

It was just the normal day for everyone, no one could have imagined for this to have happened. Ichigo was outside while he was busy inside the office with paperwork, Ichigo was waiting for the troops to assemble from the mess hall where they just finished eating.

So when the sound of something tearing and screams did Byakuya rushed out just in time to see a tall man facing Ichigo while a woman with yellow blond hair with half her face covered holding Rikich by his throat. Ichigo was stiff with hand on his blade ready to draw.

The taller man was looking at Ichigo directly with no form of malice in his eyes as a normal hollow should. Yes these two were hollows they stank of it.

Ichigo was growling something at the blonde that he couldn't hear.

As he came closer he suddenly felt a sword at his neck.

Not wanting to lose his head he remained where he was. He cursed himself when he only now sensed the third hollow.

Ichigo spun around and looked at Byakuya with wide eyes, fear clear in his eyes. "What do you want?!" Ichigo screamed his reiatsu unintentionally slipping in his anger and slowly rising, it caused the two visible hollows to raised surprised eyebrows.

"We were sent to get you, now either come peacefully or we will use violence." The brunette spoke in a tired tone of voice.

Ichigo's hands clenched in fists at his sides, his head snapped up when he felt the rest of the captains and lieutenants approaching as well as the other members of the sixth division. The woman hollow's hold on Rikich tightened making him cry out in pain.

The brunette stepped closer.

"If those who are approaching come we will start to kill, you're choice." The woman said in an almost bored tone.

Ichigo clenched his jaw and nodded allowing the man to stand behind him, he gasped when he suddenly felt a prick at the side of his neck.

Reiatsu restraints.

But why…

That was when Ichigo felt whatever they just injected react. He screamed in pain as all his power was suddenly forced to be released making everyone feel the full blunt of what he has been hiding for over 200 years, he felt nothing around him, couldn't sense anything, see, hear or even smell anything as his body was nearly torn apart by its own power.

He screamed as he felt his body start to give in and the white he saw in his pain fade to black.

Byakuya watched in horror as Ichigo's very skin tear due to him releasing everything. He couldn't believe the power that was flowing out of the body. The brunette was struggling to stand up right and was frowning with surprise in his eyes. He was fumbling with something before a red collar was snapped on Ichigo's neck.

The reiatsu restraint actually started to crack due to the sheer power it had to control. Ichigo was starting to fall to his knees with blank eyes, too caught up in his pain as he screamed till his voice became hoarse. The brunette caught Ichigo before he met with the ground frowning as Ichigo twitched in his hold.

He looked to Byakuya then to the woman holding Rikich. He nodded and with that the three disappeared from their eyes with Ichigo.

The grounds where Ichigo once stood was a crater as his power destroyed half of the training grounds just from releasing his power. He couldn't move, he knew the hollow behind him was gone but he couldn't move. Ukitake, Shunsui and Yamamoto were the first on the scene.

What they saw was a half destroyed grounds, passed out troops and Byakuya standing in shock with a clean straight shallow cut to his throat as if he was held hostage at knife point.

Ukitake came closer with the other two following, soon other shinigami members came out of breaths and worried. Ichigo's reiatsu…

Vanished.

"Cap- Byakuya-kun what happened?" Ukitake asked and gently placed a hand on the raven's shoulder. He got no reaction what so ever. Byakuya's eyes were wide with shock only blinking now and again.

"He… I…" the noble's voice sounded broken to the three closest captains. Suddenly much to the surprise of everybody the captain crumbled to his knees. Shock now replaced by guilt.

He should have done something, anything to keep Ichigo from giving in!

Now he was gone!

"They… took Ichigo…" was all he said and remained quiet no matter what he was asked.

Aizen watched all of this with a fake worried look while inside he was smirking like the evil bastard that he was. He succeeded, he now had Ichigo.

Now all he had to do was slip away so he can finish his mission for the day. Byakuya was led to the fourth division while Yamamoto ordered Ukitake to handle the sixth division, he followed after the stricken male and captain of the fourth.

Gin wasn't as happy even though you couldn't see it.

That was low even for… no it was right up Aizen's street to use the one weakness Ichigo had. His need to put others before him, of course Ichigo will give in if you threaten the man he loves…

Now… oh god no Ichigo. Gin's hands twitched with the urge to fist them.

Gin watched as the raven captain leave, the man looked broken…

But Ichigo…

He felt eyes on him, he turned his head and met eyes with Aizen. Nodding he said to Kira he had business to deal with. The timid man who looked close to tears nodded and went to help those who just woke up to ask if they remember what happened.

Kaname made the same excuse and left his lieutenant to manage the division, Hisagi was… pain stricken. Ichigo who was like their glue was now gone… he not seeing what else to do threw himself into his paperwork huffing thinking that Ichigo would have thought he was sick if he saw him now.

He could almost hear it. "Wow Hisagi are you sick or something?" then he would come and feel if Hisagi had a fever.

His heart clenched with worry… where the hell was Ichigo and who took him?

Momo as crying softly into Aizen's chest as the man patter her head.

"Momo why don't you go home, you're too distraught and both our work is done." He suggested with a smile and started to walk the woman to her home. Inside his mind he now knew he was all clear to leave.

Grimmjow huffed as he sat on top of one of the large red pillars in Las Noches.

Starkk, Harribel and Baraggan were sent out just a scant hour ago to 'retrieve' another shinigami who the bastard Aizen said would be joining their ranks, what the fuck?

Another shinigami?

Pfft like they needed another one of the bastards.

His train of thought was rudely broken when he felt the three stronger Espada come back but what made him sit up straighter was the reiatsu with them.

Holy fuck… he sonído'd off the pillar and to the meeting room where they were ordered to go once the three sent out returned. Grimmjow made it before the three which surprised him a little, that and the rest were already there. He huffed and sat down.

The beanpole of the Espada gave him a grin. "Yo Grimm-kitty ya feel that?" he asked and made a leering face as he felt the powerful reiatsu coming closer, it was fluctuating like mad but that didn't bother him one bit.

There was a bang as the doors opened and the rest of the Espada watched as Starkk carry a man nearly as tall as he was with a lot of effort as he was thrashing in pain, he was covered in red liquid as well as the shinigami he was carrying was covered in blood. With a tired sigh Starkk placed the thrashing and twitching shinigami on the table Szayel had to bring in before earlier in the day.

The table was like a surgical table only it had restraints on it. So with help of said man the two got the man restrained. Starkk sighed again and rubbed his neck. He groaned and flopped down onto his seat.

"Man, he is only now tiring out and running out of reiatsu…" that made most of the Espada's eyes go wide and snap to the man who just thrashed, he didn't make a peep.

They group only had to wait about half an hour before Aizen and his fellow traitors came in, Aizen saw that Ichigo was restraint as he ordered. He smirked and walked over it Ichigo who was now only twitching.

He caressed the man's face but oddly Ichigo's whole body revolted and tried to get away from the touch.

That made him frown, he shrugged it off but looked down at Ichigo, the top part of his shihakusho was open showing his chest and shoulders.

Finally having the man where he wanted him he took out what he believed to be the real Hogyoku. It worked as Urahara said it would. It had the basic powers of the real one but when infused to make one a powerful being and so on it would simply shatter, if used too much it will shatter.

In fact it was one use away from being shattered.

But Aizen didn't know this.

What Urahara didn't know was that this fake would make the real one react.

And that's just what happened.

Aizen got out the small golf ball sized orb and placed it above Ichigo's heart.

The orb started to glow signalling it was working, the orb lowered till it touched the skin of Ichigo's chest and the reaction was set into motion.

Inside Ichigo's mindscape Hogyoku was screaming hysterically as he she tried to fight against what was happening. Zangetsu was wrapped around the motionless Ichigo whimpering as they both watched their other mindscape inhabitant glow brighter and brighter unable to fight against it because Ichigo wasn't awake to wish for this not to happen. She couldn't do anything as the will of the other was forced onto her. Outside Aizen frowned when it took longer than he thought suddenly the orb shattered into small fine shards that disintegrated by touch. Standing in shock Aizen had no time to reflect on what just happed, they all had to move back because Ichigo was now a glowing ball of light too bright to see into.

They all jumped when an otherworldly watery scream ripped through the air followed an explosion of power as Ichigo was turned into an arrancar.

The light faded allowing everyone to see Ichigo on the floor table completely destroyed, he was facing away from them while lying in his back. There was a hole where his heart was, now no longer beating.

Ichigo was a little paler, his hair still the same wild mane of orange. There was something white next to Ichigo's head that they all could see what couldn't make out what it was.

Aizen stepped closer but stopped when Ichigo's hand made a big twitch, a low groan filled the room as Ichigo turned his head so the back of his head was being rested on. There were a few gasps as well as open mouths.

Hollow gold yellow eyes glared at them from the corner of two fierce eyes. Ichigo sat up and rubbed his head but when his hand came into contact with something hard he stopped and frowned, he looked up when his hand followed the hard object he felt.

He saw two tapered horns on either side of his head, his hands rubbed both horns as he looked at them in fascination. Said hands lowered as they touched his face, neck, collarbones till he got to the centre of his chest. He looked down and saw a hole going straight through him. He rubbed the ridge and shivered at the feeling. Looking around him he saw he was only wearing a nearly gone hakama pants with a few tattered pieces of what would have been some kind of matching top. Beside him were two swords that were calling out to him.

Grasping the two swords he looked up at the group who were staring at him like he was some wild animal.

"Who… are you? Who am…I" Ichigo frowned when he realised he didn't know who he was. He didn't know what he was, where he was or did he know anyone in the big dark room. He saw that a pink haired man jumped when he talked, hell he wanted to jump when he heard his voice, it had a watery sound near the end that somehow didn't sit well with him.

One man stood out of the crowd though. It wasn't a good thing though.

Something about the man rubbed him the wrong way. He looked at the people surrounding him, there were more males, one had blue hair and blue eyes and one was outrageously tall and had a spoon like collar behind his head. Next one to catch his attention was a silver haired man whose face remained him of a fox.

He got up on shaky legs, one hand holding both swords while the other held up what little clothes he had on.

The man with brown hair and glasses smiled at him but he only glared back with a growl showing he had hard longer canines than a normal human should have. He didn't know why he growled just that he did.

Aizen's smile fell at that, Ichigo's whole body language spoke of a cornered animal and he knew what one must never do when facing a cornered animal.

The smile came back quickly however.

"Why Ichigo-kun it seems you have lost your memories." He said in a tone that was concerned but somehow Ichigo sensed a feeling of glee. Like that man wanted Ichigo to lose his memory.

This sent warning bells ringing in his head but he really didn't know who he was or what he was to boot. He looked down at himself. Aizen and the rest took the chance to look at Ichigo as well. Hard clean lines with pale skin, the contrast between his skin and hair was greater now making his hair stand out more.

The horns were something new to get use to, they were tapered going away from the skull then making a jagged edge to face where Ichigo was facing. There were also three red lines running from the corner of his left eye under till his hairline following the curve of his cheekbone.

The once warm amber eyes flecked with gold were gone leaving golden yellow eyes that looked more hostile. 'Must be the hollow side now coming through.' Gin thought, it made sense to himself because hollows were creatures of instinct and hunger.

Vasto Lorde and Arrancar hollows don't need to feed on souls because they have evolved beyond regression.

So Ichigo didn't need to consume but the hollows could still consume spirits, Gin had to wonder if Ichigo would even like the taste. The red head looked around to all the faces not really feeling a hint of familiarity. He frowned and looked back to the brunette that spoke first.

"Is that so? Well then enlighten me as to who you are." He spoke not bothering to hold back the malice in his voice, he didn't trust these people, had no reason to.

The man nodded and stepped closer only for Ichigo to take one backwards.

Sighing Aizen regarded Ichigo, he was very different from what he expected, this Ichigo is even more hostile and in fact it's openly hostile. He had to wonder would Ichigo have acted like this if he wasn't a captain. He motioned to Gin. "I suggest getting dressed would be wise when you're done we can talk this over with some tea."

Ichigo thought about this, he didn't like standing near naked in front of this group…

He nodded and walked a wide circle from Aizen till he was close to Gin.

The man cocked his head to the side and nodded. "Com' alon' Ichi-chan~" he said and spun around. Ichigo arched a brown at the name.

"Ichi? Ichigo? I assume this is my name?" He asked when they were in a white hallway. Gin nodded and hid his hands in his sleeves. "Yup! Now let's get ya al' dress'd up an' no so nake'd ne?" he said and watched as some of the tension in Ichigo's shoulders loosen up but not by much. The red head nodded and tsked as it felt weird for him to nod with the weight of the horns.

Back in the throne room the rest of the Espada were sitting in their respected seats.

Starkk as the Primera was to the left of Aizen, next to him was the third, Harribel as Tres Espada, next to her was Nnoitra who wore a disgusted face at the fact he was sitting to a woman of higher ranking as him. Next to him was Zommari as the seventh Espada Séptima, sitting beside him was Yammy Noveno Espada. Sitting across them at the other end was the empty seat to Aizen's right where the Cero Espada would sit, next to this seat was Baraggan Segunda Espada, the was Ulquiorra as the Cuatro Espada, then was Grimmjow as Sexta Espada. Flipping his pink hair while sipping his tea Szayel the Octava Espada kept replying the scene of the red head shinigami's hollowfication.

It was so interesting to see a shinigami turn fully into an arrancar, he had to wonder why it worked out so well? Shouldn't the Hogyoku give the man a hollow first then later Aizen would change the man into a full arrancar?

It was so interesting.

Aizen all the while was silently cursing Urahara who had somehow made a dud Hogyoku. Now the question was where the real one was.

And where was Urahara Kisuke.

That damn man managed to trick him, a smirk formed on his lips when he remembered what the orb did before it shattered. Well his was one way to get back at the man.

He believed to would be easier now to get closer to the red head.

After a few minutes the duo came back and Ichigo looked good in his uniform that he specifically designed for the man.

It was loosely inspired by the outfit Ichigo wore when he was announced as the heir to the Shiba clan. Ichigo wore a top that zipped from the top to bottom, the sides were also cut out like that of the kimono but the garment didn't reach the floor. It stopped by Ichigo's ankles. Again Ichigo's hips were on show, a deep red sash held up a pair of slim fitting hakama pants, the sash also housed the two blades at Ichigo's side. Ichigo's arms were covered by loose sleeves but not nearly as loose as Gin's till the second knuckle and to finish the outfit Ichigo wore the black and white boots most of the Espada and Arrancar wore.

The zip up long vest was zipped up till the man's collarbone showing only the hollow of his throat. Ichigo looked around a little more calm than he woke up. His golden eyes took in all there was to see. The room was dark making it hard to see where the walls came up.

He looked down at the table to see all those around him.

Not speaking a word Ichigo stood rooted to where he was standing just a few meters away from the table. Aizen looked Ichigo up and down, Ichigo looked good enough to eat, the top was tight enough at the man's chest to show off the slim waist the man had as well as the broad shoulders. The tantalising display of sharp hipbones and smooth looking skin made Aizen want Ichigo all the more.

Ichigo arched a brow as he felt like he was being violated by the man's stare behind those heavy frame glasses.

"Please Ichigo take a seat." Aizen motioned to the Cero seat and a chain reaction happened. Two of the Espada stood and shouted in unison. "WHAT HE'S GOING TO BE THE CERO ESPADA?" the brunette that looked like he was about to fall asleep piped up.

"Trust me he has more than enough power to lay you both flat." That made both men look at Ichigo with a mixture of awe and anger. Ichigo remained indifferent which caused both men to get more pissed.

"Hey do you even know what that means?" The blue haired man screamed at him. Ichigo growled and bared his teeth at the man. The man sat down quickly followed by the taller when he was too glared at. "No I don't fucking know what that means you imbecile." Ichigo growled out in frustration. He stalked over to the chair that was empty and sat down but didn't bother with the tea.

"Well start talking." He said crossing his arms he was getting annoyed and his reiatsu showed it, unlike when Ichigo was in Soul Society where he hid his reiatsu, here he had it on a more relaxed hold allowing more to pass out into the air showing his reiatsu and mood.

Aizen chose his words carefully.

"You Ichigo are a changed man, you wanted to join my army to fight against the Shinigami. You will become my strongest soldier. My ace so to speak, you are an Arrancar, a very powerful hollow." He left out all the needed details. He already made the other Espada swore to not tell Ichigo anything.

Not that they knew much to begin with…

He saw Ichigo frown as of trying to see if the words rang true.

Ichigo didn't get anything from the words, no feeling of it being right yet no feeling of it being wrong either… the man was speaking the truth to some extent but he felt like much was left out.

He looked around to those sitting at the table.

This was not… no he didn't hate it but he wasn't comfortable here.

But where else could he go? He had nowhere to go for he remembered nothing.

Sighing he nodded. He still didn't drink the tea, he didn't know why but he had a feeling not to take anything from these people. Aizen looked to Ichigo, he cocked his head when he saw that the man was still looking around now and again his eyes never staying on the same spot for more than a few seconds.

"So do you accept Ichigo?" the red head snapped his head to the brunette.

"Do I agree to what?... What's your name anyway, who are you all. You expect me to trust you yet you have yet to give me any names besides Gin over there." Ichigo pointed to the man at Aizen's left where that man was standing. Ichigo now saw another man standing next to Aizen on his other side, this man had dark skin and strange glasses he couldn't possibly see out of making Ichigo believe he might be blind.

The man chuckled and placed the tips of his fingers over his heart in what would have been a charming gesture if Ichigo didn't think that man was a creep already.

"My name is Aizen Sosuke, the man to my right is Kaname Tōsen. Gin Ichimaru is on my left." He then went on to introduce the Espada, the look Ichigo kept on his face was suspicion. It never once wavered or faltered. His golden eyes were hard as actual gold bars.

Ichigo with no other choice agreed to becoming part of the Espada. He then got a gothic 0 just above his hollow hole where it showed proudly where his shirt wasn't zipped up and was told to choose an aspect of death for himself.

Soul Society was mourning.

It had been a few days after Ichigo was forcefully taken away by hollows. Byakuya blaming himself threw himself into work and becoming stronger training with all captains he could besides the first, second, fourth, fifth and twelfth.

What was worse was that the Shiba family didn't blame him at all. Kuukaku didn't yell at him, calling him an idiot or worse.

No she surprised everyone and started to cry softly. Ganju broke out in massive tears, he had grown to love Ichigo and now the man was gone and they didn't know if he was even alive.

Kaien was worried sick and couldn't fully concentrate on his work so he was given a few days off as well as Momo, Hisagi and Kira who took Ichigo's kidnapping hard but no one took it harder than Byakuya. Ichigo was the one person who meant the world to him.

Now he was taken away and the look of fear in Ichigo's eyes when he got injected haunted his dreams at night.

Kenpachi was having a hard time calming Yachiru down as she cried herself to sleep as any small sister would after losing a dearly beloved brother. Ikkaku and Yumichika were disheartened and didn't even want to fight for a while.

Ukitake was worried about Byakuya who was found passed out on his desk due to lack of sleep. The whole of the sixth division had lost its fire.

Hitsugaya tried to get Byakuya to eat at least, he succeeded there luckily as Byakuya could understand the importance of his role and the need of food. However sleep was hard to do, at nights he was plagued by nightmares.

In his dreams he kept dreaming of the whole situation or he dreamt of finding Ichigo dead somewhere. So at nights he didn't get much sleep it.

Yamamoto had finally decided to reach out to the one person he didn't think he would ever get back in touch with but having the strongest of his lieutenants kidnapped by hollows was understandable circumstances, that and the fact that the man was the one who found the soul first.

He sent out a shinigami with a message but had yet to receive anything back.

It was frustrating to the head captain, where was the man? The only place he could think of was the home world of the hollows but if that were to be true then… no the man was alive he just knew it. Ichigo was stronger than he let on, now it was clear as the damage was still being fixed where Ichigo released the full blunt of his reiatsu, if the hollow who was closets to Ichigo could withstand that then he was strong.

Byakuya was blaming himself, he didn't verbally say it but it was written all over his behaviour.

He let the fact that the man passed out on the job slide because he knew that the man was probably suffering nightmares at night.

All he could do now was wait to see if Urahara would reply to his message.

In the small town of Karakura was a small candy shop.

Inside the candy shop a man with a green and white bucket hat, green yukata and matching pants with geta shoes on his feet and darker green haori over his shoulder and a cane in hand. Said man was looking down at the seemingly innocent paper on his low table where he sat.

He sat unmoving.

He couldn't believe the words written on the piece of paper.

Hearing footsteps getting closer he looked up to see the other inhabitants of the building, he however only locked eyes with deep brown eyes.

Isshin could see the pain and guilt in the normally goofy grey eyes. Worried he came closer till he was sitting on the opposite side of the blonde. Without a word a piece of paper was shoved his way. Not picking it up but reading it the room went silent as the four other beings watched the scene unsure of what to do.

"This…" Isshin's head snapped up to see Urahara's head resting on the table between his shaking hands, the rest of him was shaking as well. No sound came from the man for a few minutes. One of the four beings watched and came closer. Four soft black paws padded on the table to the paper. Yoruichi read the words and as she read her ears drooped and her eyes went wide. "No…"

The other three just looked at one another.

A small boy with a head full of bright red hair yelled suddenly. "HEY WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" He yelled but there was concern in his voice.

The taller man gently nudged the kids closer.

Urahara looked into his friends face. "Tessai… Ichigo has been taken."

The man froze making the two kids look up at him in confusion. "Taken?" he asked praying he heard wrong.

"By… hollows." Isshin spat out, he didn't blame his best friend. No he didn't he was told what he did to Ichigo the moment they met up after the man got exiled. Now his son was missing and possibly dead.

"Well… at least we know he's not dead." Urahara said not raising his head, this was odd for Isshin.

"What do you mean?" the raven haired man asked. Urahara still not raising his head spoke. "Aizen as far as I have seen… was always after Ichigo even before the orb was placed into his soul. I have a feeling that Aizen is after Ichigo as a whole so I believe that your son is still alive. My gut instincts tell me so as well."

The two kids were confused as they watched and listened to the adults talk.

It was clear that whomever they were talking about was in great danger if Aizen was the one who kidnapped him, they felt sorry for the two men sitting. One who they heard was the father of the man they were discussing and the other was close friend.

Even Yoruichi looked heartbroken in her cat form.

"I will try my best to get Ichigo out of there but I fear Aizen might have already done something to him." Urahara said and lifted his head to stare straight into the eyes of his best friend. "I'm so sorry… I failed to protect your son." The guilt was so heavy in his friend's eyes that even of Isshin were angry at the man it would have melted away.

He smiled reassuringly at his friend. "I'm not blaming you at all, you said it yourself, Aizen had his eye on Ichigo from the beginning, I bet the man doesn't even know that Ichigo has it."

The blonde didn't even crack a smile, his mind making up the possible scenarios Ichigo was going through. The worst in Urahara's mind was Ichigo being raped or changed worse as the others were. Now all he had to do was try and find a way to save Ichigo but he knew it was a hopeless thought.

He just hoped the Ichigo he left behind in Soul Society would still be there.

Right…

So as you may have guessed Ichigo's time in Hueco Mundo will be starting up soon! But it won't be long maybe a chapter or two but no longer than three.

I hope you all enjoyed this! Thank you for reading!