Ch 20
Ichigo opened his eyes halfway and furrowed his brows as they bright rays of the moonlight passed his eyelids. He had risen halfway up when he felt an arm grab his waist. He hadn't noticed the warm and larger body of his brother when he woke up, and now he looked at the sleeping feline whom made soft purrs in his sleep.
Even though Ichigo had been unconscious the heat of his brother was familiar, and he quickly understood that Grimmjow had been the one to shield him in his grieving sleep. He smiled and ran his fingers through the blue hair, and decided he'd rather sleep for a while longer instead of getting up.
And so he snuggled up to his brother's side again, letting the feline pull him flush to its warm body. Ichigo closed his eyes and rested his head on Grimmjow's arm that lay stretched out on the bed, and shortly after the sound of snoring mixed with purrs echoed between the walls of the room.
Ichigo hadn't noticed when he woke up for those few seconds, but his black haired brother was also present. Ulquiorra had left his guard post during the night, to be closer to his brother's side and was now resting his back against the side of Ichigo's bed sleeping soundly.
Karin had been told not to enter Ichigo's room and let him sleep for as long as he wanted, and even though she could feel something wasn't right she had listened figuring it would probably be the best for all of them. At the time she was sitting on Ichigo's throne sharpening the blade of her zanpukto.
It was something Ichigo had taught her a couple of days ago, and Karin was an energetic fighter so she needed to keep her blade from dulling. She knew her brother was strong, and that whatever it was he was going through he would survive.
She knew that Ichigo hated making other people worry about him, so she tried her best not to and therefore she was always searching for something to do, even helping the chamber girls cleaning.
Karin shrieked as the blade sliced through the side of her hip and instantly put her hand over the wound. She looked at her opponent in fear and took a few steps back. As the arrancar came at her again she was saved by her reflexes and instincts and managed to block what could have been a lethal attack. She was in the middle of her first serious spar and the pain she gained from her wounds was indescribable.
Sure she had sparred before, but not with real blades. It had always been with those wooden sticks or with fists, but now the chiming of metal clashing with metal was echoing inside Las Noches. She had already learned the name of her zanpakuto, and it was released already. It had a rather simple name, but its power lived up to it.
Her blade named Tatsumaki was capable of sending incredibly strong gusts of wind, that had sharp edges and it was the perfect blade for a long range fight.
But in this case she couldn't attack from afar, and was caught in a hand to hand combat with the 16th arrancar. As she crossed blades with the man once again, she used the ability of her zanpakuto and sent a slicing wind directly in the face of her opponent leaving him with a rather deep wound across his shoulder.
The arrancar smiled, it seemed as if the girl was getting the hang of things, and so he surged forward just a little faster than he had did before. Karin thought she was prepared and raised her blade to block her opponent. As the metal chimed once again the arrancar decided to put more force behind his blade, and pushed hard against Karin.
Karin was still restrained by the harness, and her muscles were trembling under the pressure. When she heard the sound of metal cracking her irises shrank to mere spots, as she saw the arrancar's blade cut through her own. She shrieked as the blade penetrated her abdomen and fell to the ground.
On the sidelines Ichigo shot up fearing for his sister's life, but Ulquiorra stopped him with a slight tug at Ichigo's sleeve. Ichigo sat down again, and decided to wait and see what happened. If Karin had the will, she would regenerate her blade and stand up to fight once more.
On the battleground the 16ht arrancar was standing still resting, while he waited for the girl to recover. He furrowed his brows as a blue light began to engulf the petite female. As a column of blue reaitsu greatly resembling her brother's shot up in the air, the shape of a skull shielded Karin. Ichigo knew what was happening; it was kind of like a Déjà vu.
This was the exact same thing that happened to him when he faced death at Kenpachi's hand all those years ago. But he didn't expect her to reach a higher level.
Ichigo watched in awe as Karin's blade evolved and changed shape. Her blade split into two, and a chain was forged between the two hilts of the now separate blades.
Karin's new blades reminded Ichigo of Hisagis Kaseshini, and looked very much like scythes. The difference was that there were three scythe blades on each weapon. Two at one side and one on the opposite, positioned between the other two. The blades were perfectly suited to Karin's wind natured abilities.
While being perfectly customized for shredding and tearing her opponent apart in close range combat, the chain allowed Karin to reach enemies in the distance, as well as spinning the blades allowed Karin to send bladed tornados at her opponents.
She could easily take out multiple enemies, or obliterate one in hand to hand combat. The increased power of her zanpakuto allowed it to stop Karin's bleedings, and the arrancar watched as the girl got to her feet with a new shine in her eyes.
Karin was quick to adapt to her Ban Kai, and was delivering countless blows to the arrancar. The 16th was beginning to fade in strength, and was barely able to keep up with the intense attacks of the shinigami. She really lived up to her brother's names, even though she didn't have the ability to make use of her greatest weapon yet.
Ichigo was keeping a close eye on Karin now, knowing the possibility of her hollow powers awaking with her Ban Kai were great. When he had first used his Ban Kai in real battle against Byakuya, and was at the verge of losing the hollow had taken over and nearly killed Byakuya in the process.
If Karin's hollow were to awaken, it was unsure if she would manage to force it away like Ichigo had done. Both Ulquiorra and Grimmjow could notice the concern in their brother's eyes, and so they too kept a close watch on their little sister. Karin seemed to be enjoying the fight now, and had begun to resemble Ichigo.
Just like Kenpachi, Ichigo had taught himself to ignore pain and enjoy the battle for as long as it lasted. Ichigo had used to deny the fact that he wanted to fight and enjoyed it. He had denied the fact that he loved to fight and to win, but after he met Kenpachi that was something which had changed. It had taken him years though, to reach the level Kenpachi was at and now he'd take any damage dealt with a grin or with no emotion at all.
Karin had picked that up from watching Ichigo's battles. Though Ichigo made sounds that implied that he felt pain whenever he was injured, he didn't let it affect him and battled on ruthlessly. Just like Ichigo and Kenpachi, Karin was now doing really well in ignoring the pain and battled on with a smile on her face.
However she did not expect the arrancar to release his full power, and as the 16th went into his resurrection Karin was met with power equal to her Ban Kai. As they battled Karin kept losing consciousness for a few seconds, and she heard a voice calling every single time.
Karin was still inexperienced, and when you lacked something vital as that, it didn't matter how much power you had. Karin soon found herself loosing once again, and as the 16th landed a lethal blow on her she froze.
She couldn't move her body at all.
"Fight, use your instincts," A female voice cackled. "Who are you?" Karin asked. "That doesn't matter, you're dying and I can't allow that," the voice laughed and with that Karin's mind went black.
The 16th backed up a couple of steps as Karin began laughing like a maniac. He watched as the girl's eyes inverted to blue on black. As something white began covering her face, the 16th realized he had forced her hollow to awaken. He gulped and proceeded to continue retreating and this was picked up on by the three brothers.
"Ichigo, why is he retreating?" Ulquiorra asked, truly puzzled. The 16th was known as a brutal and ruthless fighter, whom feared little and now he was backing up even though he had his full power at disposal.
Ichigo was watching his sister furrowing his brows with a worried look. As he felt a burst in power in Karin's reaitsu his irises shrank. In the blink of an eye he was down at Karin's side and touched her shoulder. He dodged the swing of her blade and grabbed it with his hand.
As her inverted eyes met his, he saw the fraction of the hollow mask that had appeared.
"Damn! She's hollowfying!" He shouted back to his brothers, and groaned as Karin ripped free of his grip and dealt him a huge gash across his chest.
Karin's power was greater than Ichigo had imagined it to be, and as her body began to change she was giving Ichigo a tough time. Ichigo knew he'd have to go to drastic measures if he wanted to stop his sister. He shifted to his shinigami form, and released Zangetsu.
On the sidelines Ulquiorra and Grimmjow watched as Ichigo shouted "Ban Kai. Tensa Zangetsu!" They were both shocked at the next course of action Ichigo chose.
Ichigo engulfed his blade with the black reaitsu that was his signature, and as soon as he saw an opening in Karin's defenses Ichigo shot his blade through Karin's chest. Karin froze, and Ichigo grabbed the opportunity and pushed her to the ground. He used a binding spell to keep Karin to the ground and pulled Zangetsu free from his sister's body.
Ichigo lifted his hand to cover his face, and the audience watched as his black reaitsu gathered inside his palm. Ichigo resorted to his old hollowfying technique, not wanting to hurt his little sister more than he had to. Ulquiorra and Grimmjow watched as the familiar mask appeared on Ichigo's face.
During the short fight with her brother Karin's face had been completely covered with her hollow mask. The mask was white with blue patterns and covered the upper half of her face. The holes for the eyes were shaped like a snake's eye line, and the mask ended in a pointy tip resting on Karin's nose.
Karin grinned revealing pointy fangs, and Ichigo already concluded that once she obtained full power over her hollow, her resurrection would resemble a snake.
Somehow Karin managed to sneak her hands out of the bindings Ichigo had put on her, and just as she was about to use her now claw like nails to lash out at Ichigo, Ichigo caught her hands and forced them to the ground.
He was crouching on top of her keeping her still, and as Karin roared at Ichigo's face Ichigo's eyes lit up and he roared back with greater strength. His distorted roar seemed to reach the hollow that was controlling Karin, and the glowing blue eye's lost their shine.
Ichigo knew he had made the hollow submit, and so his mask shattered and vanished into the air. He growled as he put his fingers beneath the edge of Karin's hollow mask and ripped it off. After a few seconds Karin's eyes went back to their original color and she stared into her brother's eyes. "Ichigo," she said before she fainted.
Ichigo lifted his hand and used it to wipe the sweat of off his forehead and sighed in relief. Had Karin been allowed to hollowfy completely she would have wrecked the entire place and killed countless people. He scooped his injured sister up into his arms and shunpoed over to his brothers.
"That was a close call," he said before proceeding to head for Karin's room followed by his brothers.
Ichigo was patching Karin up bandaging all her wounds, after Ulquiorra had cleaned and stitched them up. She had been quite seriously hurt, and Ichigo knew it would become a valuable experience to her.
But Ichigo would never have thought she would reach Ban Kai and Hollowfication so quickly. Well, Ichigo attained Ban Kai only three days after learning Zangetsu's name, so really he wasn't one to talk.
Karin had been training for much longer, but it still only took her a couple of weeks. Ichigo was amazed by the amount of power his little sister packed. He smiled and patted the unconscious Karin's head before dipping a cloth in cold water and putting it to rest on her forehead. "
Ichigo, you knew this would happen didn't you?" Ulquiorra said. "I didn't know if it was really going to happen or not, but I had my suspicions," he said. "What would have happened if she turned completely hollow?" Grimmjow asked next.
"She'd lose consciousness and attack anyone. She'd turn into a mindless hollow and destroy the whole place. The reason I was able to kill Ulquiorra back then was because I gave into the hollow and turned. I even attacked Ishida when he tried to stop me from completely destroying Ulquiorra," Ichigo explained.
"Damn, that takes some power," Grimmjow said. "Indeed, and that is what Karin would have ended up like if I hadn't gotten to her as quick as I did," Ichigo said. "How were you able to stop her?" Ulquiorra asked.
"When I looked into her eyes, the hollow I saw resembled the one I used to fight. Crazy and only intended on killing and winning the battle," Ichigo said. "And what does that have to do with you stopping her?" Grimmjow continued.
"Well, when I tried to stop her I learned something new about myself. It seems like I am able to part ways with my hollow again returning to how I used to be. That is the only reason why I was able to use my old hollowfication teqhnique," Ichigo said.
"That still doesn't explain how you stopped Karin," Ulquiorra said. "I figured that since me and my sister's hollows are so alike, my hollow could somehow overpower or force Karin's hollow into submitting," Ichigo explained.
"So I simply let Shirosaki run wild inside my mind again, and when he screamed back after Karin let her threat roar at me, Karin's hollow seemed to have been scared into submission. I had to fight him again in order to undo my hollowfication, just like in the old days," Ichigo finished.
"So by letting your hollow return to its old wicked behavior you were able to force her into submission," Ulquiorra concluded.
"Yes it seems so. This could become useful in the future. I think being able to use my hollowfication again can become useful in battles where I don't want to resort to resurrection. That state is quite powerful after all, and besides me and my hollow are friends so I won't risk being overrun by him," Ichigo said.
"You've got a point, you gave me quite a fight even though you were only using that mask," Ulquiorra said.
"Yeah, it'll work fine as a last attempt before having to resort to full power," Grimmjow chuckled.
"Indeed," Ichigo finished.
Ichigo, Grimmjow and Ulquiorra were strolling around in the streets of Kurakara town. All three of them in gigai's. Kisuke had been able to modify the gigai to respond to their hollow reiatsu, and now they were running a test drive on them.
Both Ulquiorra and Grimmjow found it strange to be able to walk around in bodies of blood and flesh, and so they used some time to adapt. Ichigo toured them around the city, and as they came by a flower shop Ichigo entered it.
Grimmjow and Ulquiorra followed him inside and proceeded to walk around taking in the look and scents of all the different flowers that were there. Grimmjow found a blue flower and tugged at Ichigo's shirt. "What flower is this?" He asked.
Ichigo gently grasped the blue flower from Grimmjow's palm and looked at it.
"This is a rare type of bluebell imported from Norway. It's rare because it is ice blue. Any other type of bluebell will usually have a darker blue color with a hint of purple in it," Ichigo explained. "I think I'll have a couple of those in my bouquet," Ichigo said as the shop keeper came up to his side.
Ichigo proceeded to pick a variety of different flowers with matching colors, and for the last one he picked a beautiful orange flower that he put in the middle of the bouquet.
"What are you going to do with those," Ulquiorra asked after Ichigo had paid for the flowers. "I'm going to put them on my mother's grave," Ichigo said. As they arrived at the shrine, Ichigo found Isshin in front of the grave. It was the day of his wife's birthday, and they had always used to go here each year to pray.
Yuzu was somewhere inside the nearby forest, Ichigo could hear her laughing.
Isshin had noticed the small crowd, and when Ichigo looked away for a second he jumped into the air, and came flying intending to kick Ichigo in the face. Ichigo blocked and sent his father flying, rolling his eyes at the two brothers standing behind him. "
Is he always like that?" Grimmjow asked laughing his head off. "Pretty much," Ichigo said. "So why are you gathering here?" Ulquiorra asked. "It's a family tradition, we always go here to pray and leave flowers every year on this day," Ichigo explained.
"Why on this particular date?" Ulquiorra continued. "Because it's her birthday," Ichigo said before he walked up the grave and put down the flowers in silence. He sent a couple of warm thoughts to his mom, and as Isshin came flying in a second attempt to knock Ichigo down, he jumped and kicked his father down into the asphalt.
"Seriously dad, are you trying to kill me!" Ichigo shouted keeping his father down. Ichigo stood like that for a while, staring at her dad. When they couldn't hold it any longer they both burst into laughter, and Ichigo let his dad go.
"How can you be so happy about all of this?" Ulquiorra and Grimmjow asked together. Shortly after they were kicked in their backs, falling face first into the asphalt with a grunt.
"Because it is our belief to not grieve over the dead, but rather celebrate the life they had," Isshin laughed ruffling the hair of both his nephews'.
After Ichigo and his dad had finished spending some time together at Masaki's grave they parted ways, as Ichigo decided it was time to leave. He wanted to check up on his sister, whom was still in bed not quite recovered from her injuries. All three of them waved a goodbye as they stepped inside the garganta, and headed for their home.
When they were close to their destination all three of them could feel that something wasn't right. When they arrived in Las Noches, the reason why struck them horribly hard. All around the castle lower arrancar lay dead in piles of blood, and the horrifying music of blades dancing could be heard from the backyard of their home.
Ichigo, Ulquiorra and Grimmjow looked at each other with eyes wide open, and proceeded to rush to their minions' aid. All the espada were out there fighting shinigami from several squads. Ichigo scouted the area and registered known faces all around the field.
All squads were there, except from the 1st, 5th, 6th, 9th, 10th, 11th and the 13th were there. They had found excuses for not participating in the raid, and Ichigo thanked his friends for not participating. Ukitake, Kensei, Shinji, Kenpachi, Renji, Hitsugaya and Byakuya had chosen not to battle, and it proved to Ichigo that he still had friends in soul society.
Now Ichigo could see that the 6th espada was battling Shunsui having a tough time with his shadow technique. The 5th espada was battling Komamura and his giant Ban Kai. Unohana, Rojuro, Sui-Feng, Mayuri, and Enjoji were standing on the sidelines, fending off any arrancar that tried to harm them easily. I
chigo watched in horror as arrancar after arrancar fell, and Ulquiorra and Grimmjow could feel the angry spice that was being added to his reiatsu.
Both of them readied themselves for combat as Ichigo stepped down onto the battlefield.
It's official. THIS IS WAR! XD Well yeah, so I decided to let Central 46 send all the squads that aren't directly friends with Ichigo to Las Noches for a raid, probably sending half of them to their deaths in the process 0.0
Reviews are most welcome XD