Notes:

Bleach canon is my bitch, sorry, not sorry. Have some Ichigo doing king things. Or trying to do the king things.

Cheat Sheet:

Reiryoku → reiatsu → reishi

Die Königin (The Queen)

Aspect: Vengence, Life

Location: Geisterwelt (Spirit World aka: Soul Society)

Physical medium: Die Augen der Königin (The eyes of the Queen)

Ability: Das licht (the light)

Kinder: Quincy (Manipulate reishi)

Quincy host: das Herz der Königin (The heart of the Queen)

Current Host: Adaliz (F)

- xxx -

Alteza (High King)

Aspect: Regret, death

Location: Hueco Mundo (Hollow world)

Physical medium: Las manos de Alteza (the hands of the High King)

Ability: El sangre (the blood)

Niños: Hollows (feed off of reishi)

Hollow host: El corazón de Alteza (The heart of Alteza)

Current Host: Kurosaki Ichigo (M)

Previous Hosts: Aizen Sousuke - Mictlān

Ganbari masu!

Mandar

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

- xxx -

Kurosaki Ichigo

Hueco Mundo

Thera stared at him when she thought he wasn't looking, and it made him uneasy. The amount of attention she showed him was always unsettling. The rest of the arrancar he'd turned weren't much better. They huddled at the far end of the room like bats, their eyes reflecting the light in a way that probably should have been eerie, but he just found it to be somewhat endearing.

There were a few arrancar he flat out loathed, but of the arrancar he'd turned, besides the one sonovabitch he'd killed, he was fond of them in their own ways. None of them were perfect, god no, but they were so very human in their flaws.

He sat on the floor to try to get them to relax, but he wasn't sure if it was working. Harribel was right, they were torn between abject fear and a strange kind of worship. He didn't like either.

It was only a few moments more before all the arrancar were rounded up, Loly included, because she was the one that started all this.

Thera came up to him, doubling over in a low bow. "Heika, all arrancar are present."

He stood, nudging her shoulder. "You don't need to be so formal."

Her head jerked up, watching him with wide eyes. She blushed, then dipped in another bow, and stepped to the side. It was a work in progress he supposed.

Scanning the arrancar present, he counted around fifteen. A small enough number that they seemed somewhat close knit; even just a glance gave him some idea of the hierarchy they'd forged for themselves. Thera and Loly at the top, another five beneath them, and the rest followed in a loose ring, to one shy looking male in the back.

He didn't need to speak very loud to be sure they could hear them, they barely even breathed. "None of you were called here because you've done wrong, quite the opposite; I've done wrong by you." There was a ripple of nervous movement, all of them fearing the worst. He tried not to let those fears fester. "I killed Akimasa, you know this, but you don't know why."

He crossed the room to get a bit closer, noting how they tensed. He sat across from them on some rubble, surprise rippling through the group. He continued, "I'm not going to give you excuses, but I'll try my best to explain." He looked away, then back to the small group, his eyes never settling on one particular arrancar. "I didn't give you all the entire truth."

There was a noticeable uptick in reiatsu, more than one of them upset by this. He continued smoothly, as if he hadn't noticed. "There is something of an unavoidable cost when I help you evolve to arrancar. I feel your heart, your soul. I know you, all of you."

"Bullshit!" shouted a male at the front. One of the more alpha of the arrancar, that was clear. He couldn't remember his name; names were so arbitrary.

Ichigo stood and crossed over to the grey-eyed arrancar. He had a nasty scar on his neck, Ichigo remembered this one as well as all of them. The arrancar shifted his weight, afraid, but he held his ground. Ichigo was proud of him for that.

He rested a claw on his chest, reaching for the darkness inside the arrancar. Ichigo leaned in, his voice barely a whisper, intended only for him. "You were almost devoured, your throat was in their jaws, you were afraid, but you won, you survived because you're a liar. You hate liars, but you're weak, you can't rely on strength alone." He drew his hand back. "I know you, I've seen your soul."

The arrancar paled, but said nothing. A female at the back spoke up. "If that's even true, what do you want?"

Ichigo sighed, taking a couple steps back. "This isn't blackmail, I don't need anything from any of you. Nothing has changed, you're still under my protection."

"But, you killed him..." one began to protest.

"There's ugliness inside all of us, but for Akimasa, it was much more than that. I killed him because I hated what he was. I'm not above my prejudices and flaws, and I won't lie and tell you it won't happen again. All I can tell you is that by changing you, I accept you."

Thera questioned, "You accept us?"

Ichigo answered, "If I didn't, you wouldn't be here."

Another arrancar near the back voiced their opinion. "How can you say you know us?"

Ichigo pointed to a hollow on his left. "Masochist." He moved down the line. "Narcissist, hemophobic, heliophobic, you prefer to kill with your bare hands, you're partially deaf, you devoured your only friend, you-"

"We get it!" blurted the next in the line of scrutiny. "We get it…"

He stopped, he wasn't trying to put them on the spot, but this was pointless if they thought he was lying. Those he'd called out seemed shaken enough that no one else wanted to be next.

Ichigo was warring with the truth, he didn't want to be seen as weak, but they needed to know. "I don't like changing an adjuchas into an arrancar, I hate it," he admitted. "You don't like feeling it, what makes you think I want the burden of all your faults and fears? I deal with it not because I need you here, but because I want you here. I should have told you to begin with."

Thera asked, "Why didn't you?"

Now that the question was finally posed to him, he wasn't sure he had an answer. "I don't know. The feelings I get from you are hard to differentiate from my own. There's a lot of shame, humiliation, fear; acknowledging it at all isn't any easier than if you were facing it yourself. I'm not infallible."

An arrancar in the back argued. "Hollows don't have a heart."

Ichigo huffed, gently disagreeing. "That's bullshit, and you all know it. The very fact your mask is incomplete is proof you have a heart. Pretending otherwise is pointless."

No one else had anything to add, they watched him expectantly. He said, "If I've seen your heart and you're still alive, you have nothing to fear from me. I can't say anything more to convince you, that's just how it is." He didn't know what else to say, so he turned to leave.

"Is that it?"

He paused and looked back. "Were you expecting something else?"

Thera asked, "What did you see in Akimasa then, if you killed him on the spot?"

He was hoping no one would ask that. Even with the added benefit of time between then and now, thinking back on it made him sick. They were waiting for an answer, all of them, and he didn't want to give it. He swallowed, his voice still less steady than he'd hoped it was. "I can stomach a lot, but a child killer isn't one of them."

The arrancar shared looks, and he couldn't tell if they were judging him negatively or not. He added, "I don't regret it, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to kill any of you without a damn good reason."

He realized something, looking to Thera, then to the rest. They all made a point to avoid eye contact, out of fear or otherwise, he didn't know. "I don't want something like Aaroniero to happen again. I promised you had my protection, but if I don't know what's going on, I can't do anything about it. There's only one of me, I'm not omnipotent."

The hollow with the scar on his neck growled, "Don't act like you give a shit."

"I'm not acting, what purpose would that serve?" He was blunt. "I'm stronger, I don't need to manipulate you."

The blatant reminder seemed to be salt in the wound for most arrancar, but it was the only truth they could all agree on. They shifted nervously, then Loly spoke up, looking bored with the one-sided conversation. "Can you prove your intentions?"

He admitted, "No more than I already have."

She folded her arms. "There you all have it. This is a waste of time."

An arrancar directly behind her objected. "Why are you even here?"

Loly moved, faster than the arrancar could block, but not faster than Ichigo could prevent. He intervened, catching Loly's arm before she could make contact. Her eyes widened in genuine fear, even if he didn't have punishment in mind.

The arrancar all took a step back from her in a wave, not willing to be caught in the middle. He thought she might have lashed out because of the insinuation she didn't belong there, but he couldn't be so sure.

He gave her a disappointed look, and let go. "As long as you aren't killing each other, I don't care what you do out of my sight. In my sight, I expect you all to control yourselves."

Loly muttered, "Hypocrite."

"The balls on this bitch. I don't know why you let her get away with that shit."

'Look at her, she's testing me, she's shaking like a leaf. She wants me to hit her.' Hell if he knew why.

All the arrancar took another wary step back, clearly expecting the worst.

Ichigo said, "That's true." His answer surprised more than just Loly. She'd been on the receiving end of his temper more than once, but this time he was burned out. "That's why I expect you to hold me to account as much as I do you."

The scarred arrancar asked, "How?"

Ichigo raised a brow. "The same way you are now. Talk to me. If you aren't hunting your own within Las Noches, there's little you could do to get on my bad side."

"S-she called you a hypocrite." Ichigo didn't see who said it, but their confusion was justified if they believed the rumors about him.

"She did. I've been called worse." He turned around and they all took another step back. They parted around him like a school of fish around a shark, but they hadn't fled, so it was a start.

Loly grit her teeth, then drew her sword, lunging for his back. He heard Thera shout in indignation from across the room. Ichigo didn't even bother to dodge. Loly's sword hit him across the shoulders, and he only sighed. She didn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of cutting through his hierro, but that wasn't why she'd done it. "If you're trying to make me angry, this isn't the way to do it."

She screamed, drawing her sword back to strike him again. This time he caught it in his hand, feeling a flicker of real concern. He didn't have time for every arrancar in Las Noches, but clearly he should have made time for Loly. He didn't think she'd intended to have a meltdown with an audience, but for some reason she wanted his wrath and couldn't get it.

She yanked on her sword hard enough he thought she might dislocate her arm. "Loly."

He didn't take his eyes from hers, trying to understand the source of her rage. He fundamentally understood all of these arrancar, but her, he thought he was beginning to understand why she was so angry. He ordered, "All of you are dismissed."

They didn't need to be told twice, the only one that hesitated was Thera, but he knew she would follow an order.

He waited until they were alone before he let go of her Zanpakuto. "Where's Menoly?"

She snapped, "Don't need her."

The tone in her voice and the flicker of her reiatsu was worrying. He asked, "Loly, weeks ago, why did you come back, why did you follow my orders?"

She swung her sword for emphasis. "You expected me to run, I wanted you to fail!"

He wasn't sure he understood, but Zangetsu did. "King, she's jealous."

'Of who?'

"Think about what you just told them."

Now he felt stupid. Clearly Loly had held him in higher regard than he thought, and he'd trampled on her feelings.

"Loly, I didn't expect you to run."

"Bullshit! Don't pretend you care. I hoped they would see that you're a fraud, that they would take was you were offering and go. I wanted them to leave you, but they stayed!""

Now he was on the same page, it was his fault for letting it get this bad. He took a step towards her and she lashed out, knowing full well how pointless it was. He raised his arm, stopping her sword short. "I'm sorry."

"I don't want your fucking apologies!" She hacked at him again, but he caught it, if only to reel her in. She could have let go, but she was stubborn.

He pulled her Zanpakuto to his chest and her along with it. She was close enough now that if he wanted, he could reach out and touch her. If she was truly afraid of him, he thought she would have let go of her sword by then. He said, "I was apologizing for how late this conversation is, I should have had this talk with you weeks ago."

"What are you talking about?"

He didn't answer, he gently steered the conversation back onto Loly. "Menoly didn't come back, did she?"

Her eyes widened in shock, but it quickly devolved into anger. "So what?! I don't need her!"

"You don't have to need someone to want them to be there."

Tears shone in her eyes and she bit her lip. "Shut up."

He might not have known what sort of relationship the pair had, but he empathized with the pain of losing someone all too well. He shifted the subject towards himself to relieve some of the tension she was gathering. "I'll admit it, I'm not the best king, am I?"

There was a wobble in her tone, but she still managed to sound condescending. "You're pretty shit at it."

"I wouldn't say I'm all that inspiring. You convinced rogues and loners to come here with no true promise of safety. I don't know how, but I'm grateful. I never told you, but I'm glad you stayed."

"Liar," she hissed.

"I may bend the truth, but I don't often lie. I mean that. They might pretend you're not one of them, but you are. You found them, you helped them."

She bit her lip. "That isn't why I did it."

He kept his tone as calm as he could manage, he didn't want to rile her up and more than she already was. "That's fine, I don't expect altruism." His brows furrowed, slowly letting her sword go. She didn't back up. "Don't hurt them, they'll only fear and resent you. I should know."

"Shut up. I don't want your pity." If it's one thing he could understand about Loly, it was her desire to hurt the things that hurt her. He wasn't proud of that inclination, but he recognized it was there.

He asked a rhetorical question. "Does it sound like I'm pitying you? You've done well."

Tears escaped despite her best efforts and she looked away, her sword tip scraping the ground in defeat. "She always came back before...I thought...I thought I might find her, but I think she's gone." Her lip curled in disgust. "She must hate me. I deserve that, don't I?"

Now he understood why she stayed. Finding arrancar was a swift fix for loneliness, but Loly didn't understand how to keep it at bay. "I don't know what you deserve, Loly."

She asked, "Can you find her?"

He didn't know how much it cost her to ask that, but he knew asking for help didn't come easy to any arrancar. "I'm not familiar with her reiatsu, I would have far less luck than you."

She argued. "But I've seen you do things! Why can't you just try?"

"I'm sorry, Loly, I can't use it to find someone specific unless I know them well." That was the truth. His sensing ability had never been very refined, but when it came down to using la sangre, it was about as subtle as a shotgun.

She sheathed her sword and turned to leave, but he caught her shoulder. He let her go when she shot him a hard look and he said, "Don't punish yourself, and don't punish everyone around you for your frustrations. If you want to hurt someone, come after me instead."

She clenched her jaw and whirled, leaving with as much dignity as she could muster. That could have gone worse, but he was surprised he'd almost gotten a conversation out of her.

He left the opposite way, heading straight to Harribel. She was waiting nearby; both of them had decided it was for the best. It wasn't that she didn't trust him to handle it, but if things went badly, she could intervene as well as any Espada.

He got within speaking distance and she pushed off from the wall to face him. She mused, "You're right, you're more agreeable once you're rested and worn out." A straight ten hours of sparring with Zangetsu had settled his nerves and exhausted him better than anything anyone else could have managed.

"I can't take credit, it was Zangetsu's idea." He asked, "Do you think it helped?"

She asked, "You told them the truth?"

"Yes."

"You didn't lose your temper?"

"I stayed calm." He could safely say that without stretching the truth. He felt a bit pathetic that he had such simple guidelines to work within, but he was the farthest thing from calm and patient, and Harribel could help him get there,

Her eyes narrowed in a smile. "Good, then it's a start. Now go deal with your fraccion before he undoes all your work."

- xxx -

Tatsuki Arisawa

Living world

The week crawled by, her mind wandering enough that she wondered why she didn't just leave with Nel when she had the chance. She was distracted, anxiety knotting in her stomach and guaranteeing she would lie awake at night, desperate for sleep.

One more day. Why was she so nervous?

She'd seen Ichigo at a distance, dressed in all black, a sword on his back, but she hadn't ever seen him like that, never as a...Calling him a monster didn't feel right. A hollow…

It was so surreal to see him outside the window, the warm, amber eyes she remembered replaced with frigid yellow. To be able to see straight through his chest to the buildings behind was almost more shocking than his appearance.

She was so lost in her thoughts, she almost ran into someone. She muttered an apology and took a step to the side, but they mirrored her action, putting themselves directly in her path.

"There you are."

She looked up then, brows drawn. Blonde...a foreigner? "Do I know you?" she asked.

He smiled, his mouth stretching into a toothy grin. It was kind of creepy. "We have a mutual friend." She took a step back but he pressed on. "Ichigo."

Her eyes widened, taking another step back. Anyone that knew Ichigo knew he was dead, or was involved with some dangerous shit.

She hadn't been paying attention, but now that she focused, his presence was huge, he reminded her of that shopkeeper. What had Ichigo called him? Geta-boshi? "Are you a shinigami?"

It was his turn to be surprised. "Ah, so you do know what's going on."

She noticed he hadn't answered the question. Why did Ichigo have to have such dangerous friends? She asked, "What do you want?"

"You know how to get in contact with Ichigo."

Her brows scrunched together, choosing her words carefully. "You don't know that."

"You met with an arrancar."

Her eyes widened, there was no way to guess that. "You've been following me?"

He rolled his eyes. "Don't be so offended, the shinigami are keeping tabs on you too."

She tilted her head. "What are you then?"

"The same as Ichigo. Visored." She could only assume he meant he was also hollow-like, and it wasn't reassuring.

He took a step closer, and she made the conscious decision to stay still. He pressured. "I need to talk to him."

"Why? Whose side are you on?"

His smile faded. "My own. Where is he?"

As far as she knew, everyone knew where he was, so she saw no reason not to tell the truth. "Hueco Mundo."

He didn't seem too surprised by this, it seemed she had only confirmed what he already known. Maybe he'd been testing if she would lie.

He took a step closer, and she couldn't help herself, she threw a punch. He leaned aside easily, brushing her attack aside with his wrist. His eyes widened a touch. "I see."

Tatsuki jerked back, preparing to defend herself, but he didn't move again. He tilted his head to the side, too far to be comfortable, and studied her more closely. "That's some impressive reiatsu, for a human."

"Rei..atsu?"

He made a thoughtful sound, but didn't elaborate. "If you have a way to contact Ichigo, it would save me a lot of hassle."

"If you really are friends with him, why don't you talk to that other guy instead? The shopkeeper. Leave me out of it."

He frowned. "It's complicated."

He hadn't threatened her yet, so she gave in and made the decision to try to go around again. This worked, but the man simply followed her. He said, "Would it make a difference if I told you why?"

She almost said no, but that would just be pure belligerence. "Maybe," she admitted.

"My inner hollow is restless. Things haven't been this way in years, not until Kurosaki showed up."

She glanced at him, brows furrowed. "You think it's his fault?" That seemed like a stretch, she wasn't sure if he was lying or not, and if he was, she wasn't sure she would be able to spot it.

"Din' say anything about fault, just sayin' it's strange, and it seems like he knows more than we do."

Tatsuki wasn't sure, but he sounded bitter about that. She admitted. "I'm not sure what you mean by restless."

"Let's just say it's in everyone's best interest that this be resolved."

His tone made her uneasy, he spoke it like a threat. If he was like Ichigo...claws, black stripes, yellow eyes…

The blonde shoved his hands in his pockets, lifting his shoulders in an exaggerated shrug. "What's the worst that could happen? Ichigo can take care of himself, I ain't a threat to him."

The creep had a point, it wasn't like she had any business screening his calls, so to speak. If Ichigo didn't want to talk to him, he didn't have to. She grit her teeth. "Fine! Fine. He's sending a messenger tomorrow, I don't know when, but it's not my fault if you miss them."

He made an irritated sound, but broke away, heading down an alley. "Thanks. It's Hirako, by the way."

"I never asked!" she called after him.

He made another annoyed sound, then disappeared in that same eerie way Ichigo had.

- xxx -

Tatsuki had been more than wary to step into a garganta. Reishi seemed like a temperamental thing to stand on, and Nel's insistence it was safe did little to quell her fears. The only thing that got her into it was the need to not look like a coward in front of glasses and the creep.

Once she was inside it, it could have been worse

It was more than a little disorienting to step out of the garganta into a deep expanse of night. With nothing but the bleached white sands around her, the light reflected the moon so much it was almost as bright as daylight. She turned in a circle, feeling incredibly small beneath such an open sky. She thought it would be more frightening, but all she felt was a small sense of home, and melancholy silence. She asked, "Where are all the stars?"

Nel followed her gaze upward, then pointedly looked away. "Don't worry about it." She lifted her hand to her ear, touching what Tatsuki could only assume was a communication device. "I have them."

Tatsuki was expecting a wait, but only a few seconds passed before Ichigo stepped from a wall of darkness before them. Her heart caught, startled. She thought she would be use to these kind of surprises, but she never was.

Ichigo's eyes snapped to the blonde first, surprised to see him. "Hirako?"

"You're a hard man to get ahold of."

Ichigo gestured randomly at the desert. "I've been occupied."

"Clearly."

Tatsuki noticed that even when he looked human, he was still just as different. He acted a bit like Nel; never relaxed, eyes roaming, yet too still, purposeful. He reminded her of some big cat, always ready, watching.

He looked at Ishida and said, "Give me a minute."

He finally turned his attention towards her, apologetic. "This is long overdue."

She didn't know what to say to that, so she opting out of saying anything at all. He gestured for her to come with him so they could talk in a bit more privacy. Hirako immediately began to pester Ishida, and she found the banter helped make this feel more normal, grounded.

He stopped once they were out of earshot of everything but Ishida's protests, looking her up and down. "Your hair got longer."

She scoffed. "A little, look at you."

He blinked, running his hand through his hair, It was long enough that he could see it before it fell away from his fingers. "I guess you're right. Time keeps getting away from me." He shrugged. "But I didn't ask you to come here to talk about me."

"You didn't?"

He rolled his eyes. "I'm glad you think so highly of me." He held out his hand to her palm up. "Can I have your hand?"

"What, are you into palm reading?"

He smiled. "No, just checking something."

"My pulse?"

He snorted. "Smartass."

She gave him her hand anyways, curious, and this version of Ichigo she was use to. It felt a bit strange to banter with him like nothing had changed, because it had. It felt almost like she was talking to her instructor, he talked to her like he was somehow responsible for her. Maybe she would have been annoyed over that once, but she didn't feel he was being patronizing.

His thumb brushed over her inner wrist, settling on a vein. His brows drew together and he looked to her sharply. "No hollows have attacked you, have they?"

His concern was a bit infectious. "Recently...no. I think I'd remember that. Why?"

"You have a lot of reiatsu, hollows are drawn to that kind of thing."

Tatsuki's looked down in thought. "The creep mentioned that, reiatsu. What is that?"

Ichigo's eyes widened. "Hirako noticed, when?"

"About a day ago. I tried to punch him, he touched my wrist." She realized she trusted Ichigo just as much as she always had, she felt no need to guard her answers.

"You tried to punch him?" He chuckled. "Figures he would like you."

"Gross."

Ichigo laughed a little harder. "Hirako is weird, but his heart is in the right place." He waved it off. "Regardless, you have a lot of reiatsu, but unlike me, you're instinctively clamping down on it."

She looked down at her hands with a frown. "I don't feel any different."

"You can see Neliel, and me, can't you? If you didn't at least have some reiatsu, you wouldn't be able to. That's proof enough."

"So what do I do?"

He answered, "Whatever you want to do." She looked up at him and he smiled. "If you don't want to be a part of this, I understand. It's why I wanted to talk to you. You got pulled in, but these aren't your problems."

She looked back at the group, thoughtful. Neliel was laughing, Ishida was trying to retrieve his glasses from Hirako, who was remarkably fast. Her lips turned up into a small smile. "I don't think I really understand what it means to be involved, but you protect people, don't you?"

She looked at him, and he admitted. "I try."

That was just like him, to be annoyingly humble. She sighed. "If I can do something with this reiatsu...I think I want to."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

Was she? It wasn't like her to be wishy washy. She didn't like relying on others for support. She steeled her will. "Yes."

He seemed pleased by that answer, beyond that, he looked like he'd expected it. "Good. Remember, you asked for this."

She was confused, about to question him, when an ocean of pressure fell on top of her. She struggled to stand, watching him with wide eyes. What was this?

He reached for his sword, slowly drawing it. Was it always so large? The look in his eyes was both expectant and...violent. He was serious.

He advanced and swung his sword, slower than she thought he could, but it was still fast enough that she had to struggle to dodge. She rolled out of the way and ran, but he blocked her path, suddenly before her.

Instead wasting energy stopping her momentum, she adjusted on the fly. She jumped and spun, kicking him in the neck. He caught her leg, but she kept twisting, kicking out with her other leg. He ducked, tossing her with strength she didn't remember anyone having.

She caught herself in a crouch, already struggling to breathe. What was this pressure?

Ichigo readjusted his grip on his sword and moved again. She didn't wait for him, she ran forward, trying her damndest to hit him. He dodged every punch and kick with a speed that just wasn't human. She poured everything into those hits, and he dodged them with ease. Asshole.

She screamed, aiming right for his smug face, and he blocked it with his sword. "OW! Fucker!" She withdrew, moving faster than she thought she should be able to. The pressure didn't seem so bad anymore, she thought she could move easier than before.

She dodged a side strike, stepping on the blade and using it as a springboard. She jumped higher than she thought she should have been able to and spun, trying to catch him in the neck. Instead of dodging, his blocked, raising his arm to stop her kick short.

A wave of power surged from her attack, sluicing from her skin and over him, the sand behind him disrupted for several yards. Her eyes widened, so surprised she fell to her ass before she could think to catch herself.

Ichigo laughed, stabbing his sword into the ground. He offered her a hand up, smiling wider than she thought she'd ever seen before. She accepted his hand up, energy still humming over her skin.

He hauled her to her feet, a crooked smile on his face. "Not bad for someone who didn't even know what reiatsu was."

She turned her hand over, the tingle slowly fading along with power she hadn't noticed before. She had a faint blush on her cheeks, a bit embarrassed for falling on her ass, but Ichigo didn't seem to notice.

He continued, "When you get back, go to see Kisuke, tell him I sent you to Yoruichi."

She asked, "Who's Yoruichi?"

"Perfect for you. She can teach you, she's hand to hand, like you. Your power seems similar to Chad's, but she's better suited for your style. I think you'll like her."

Her brows furrowed and she accused. "You knew that would happen."

"Sort of. You were top ranked in the tournaments, weren't you? You needed a challenge, and a regular human isn't going to give you that anymore. If you're serious about this, Yoruichi will help you."

She frowned. "Doesn't sound like she knows she's going to be doing this."

He smirked. "I'd be surprised if she turns you down. You're her kind of girl."

"What's the supposed to mean?"

Ichigo smirked. "Cocky, violent, loud-" She tried to hit him again, and he only laughed.

Kurosaki Ichigo

Tatsuki wandered back over to Hirako and Nel. Hirako seemed a good deal more interested in her, and Neliel fawned over her in a way that reminded him of the way she'd once treated Rukia.

He beckoned Ishida over to where he stood, and gestured for him to sit. The quincy stubbornly refused. "Please sit, Ishida."

Ishida shot him a defiant look and Ichigo frowned. He sat down cross-legged and gestured for him to sit again. He was correct in thinking Ishida's manners wouldn't let him turn it down. The Quincy sat, hands clenched on his knees.

Even in his own time, Ishida had barely liked him, but in this timeline it seemed the quincy saw him as something of a threat. Like all his friends, it seemed he couldn't skirt by without hurting them. He'd very nearly killed Ishida, he was surprised he'd agreed to come at all.

Ishida asked, "Why ask me here?"

"Because I think you needed to hear this from me."

"You?"

Ichigo tried to ignore the condescension in that tone. "Whether you like it or not, I have Quincy blood in me, now let me talk to you." Ishida frowned, but didn't argue. He had a feeling curiosity was winning out.

Ichigo didn't want to believe the shinigami's intentions were entirely malicious when they had wiped out the Quincy. He held on to the hope they were merely ignorant, but that didn't he wasn't prepared to accept the worst. He'd been lied to and let down too many times not to.

Ichigo started. "I heard this from the previous host, from an arrancar-"

"You believed what an arrancar had to say?"

"Let me finish." Ishida narrowed his eyes, but thankfully stayed silent. "He fell in love with a Quincy, and he loved her so much, he let her kill him. For the last few centuries, she's been gathering power so she can take her revenge. I wanted you to know who was telling me this, because it might sway your opinion."

"How do you know he didn't lie about that?"

If there was one thing he was certain about, it was Mictlān's heart. He didn't really want to go into detail, it wasn't pleasant. "I felt it, it was real."

Ishida let him continue, and he relayed everything Mictlān had told him. He'd wanted to tell someone sooner rather than later, he didn't want to forget anything, and he thought Ishida deserved to know. From the look in Ishida's eyes, he thought it was only out of the desire to know the entire story that kept him in place while he spoke.

When he finished, Ishida scowled at the sand between them, his grip white-knuckled.

The silence dragged on, but when he sucked in a breath to speak, Ishida rounded on him. "They wipe out the Quincy for no reason, declare you an enemy after fixing their problems, and you still do nothing. Why won't you retaliate?"

Ichigo didn't rise to meet his anger, for once in control of his own. "Ishida...you're asking me to start a war."

"And why shouldn't you? Why should they be allowed to get away with it?"

Ichigo had asked himself these questions again and again. "Think about who you would be raising a weapon against. Rukia, Renji, Hanataro...they had nothing to do it, most shinigami didn't, but they would be caught in the middle all the same."

"So we do nothing?"

The venom in his tone was expected, but it was different to know Ishida would be upset, and another thing entirely to experience it. He looked away, recalling what Mictlān had said to him. Was it really his place to deny someone vengeance when he so readily took his own? He felt like such a hypocrite.

Ishida was at least hearing him out. He said, "I never said that, I'm only asking you to consider the consequences." His eyes slid over to Nel, who was busy terrorizing Shinji. "Their lives are in my hands...I won't send anyone to die without good reason." He was tired of war. He liked to fight, but there was a difference between a good fight and a prolonged war with no goal. He didn't want to watch his friends die again.

Ichigo continued, "The fact remains that if Mictlān is right and the balance has shifted, I might have to act, Alteza might not give me a choice. Even if I choose to sit on my hands and do nothing, eventually Adaliz will make her move, and I'll be dragged into it whether I want to be or not."

Ishida's brows drew together, questioning, "Alteza might not give you a choice? Explain."

"Alteza already cut off my connection to my living body. If I try to go against its desires, it's in my soul, shutting me down is as easy as tightening its grip." He tried to keep his tone even, but he couldn't help but betray his disgust.

"So you're this thing's slave, and you'll let the genocide of our people go unanswered unless you're forced into action? What kind of justice is that?"

He knew Ishida was feeling spiteful out of hurt and powerlessness, but that didn't mean it didn't still sting.

Zangetsu had a lot of choice words for the Quincy, but Ichigo didn't let him manifest, he hadn't called Ishida here to fight with him. He was upset, but this wasn't just his own life at risk, he did his best to keep his voice level, calm. "Ishida, I know I'm the last person that should preach peace, but this isn't one man to kill, this is an entire society. I won't drag down thousands of innocent people over it without a damn good reason."

Ishida pushed up his glasses and looked away, jaw tight. "So that's it then?"

Ichigo sighed. "For now, yes. I don't know enough to make a decision, and I don't think you do either. Please, don't do anything rash."

"I'm not yours to command," Ishida snapped.

He had hoped things would have gone better between them, but he supposed they could have been worse. "I know, Ishida, I know, I'm only asking that you're careful. Soul Society might be inept in certain areas, but they didn't get where they are now by being weak."

"You invaded twice already, and both times you suffered no casualties. You could take Seireitei if you wanted."

Ichigo frowned. "Just because I can throw my power around doesn't mean that I should. I won't become another Aizen, I won't become a conqueror."

Ishida didn't back down, he stood, restless, and gestured wildly around them. "Then what do you call this? What are you doing here if not to conquer?"

Ichigo let out a slow breath and stood, slipping into his hollow form with ease. He'd only shifted out of it for Tatsuki's sake, but now that she was sufficiently reassured he wasn't a monster, there was no reason to stifle his power. His hair lengthened, the hole in his heart widening. The burden of handling Alteza's was lessened, and he found it easier to distance himself from his emotions.

Ishida faltered, taking a step back. It seemed he'd forgotten who he'd been talking to, but this was only a gentle reminder, not a threat. "The shinigami don't want anything to do with me, you can barely acknowledge I'm part Quincy-"

"That's not…"

"-and my reiatsu is too powerful to remain in the Living World for long, even if I wasn't bound to Alteza. That's my personal stake in it, but that's not why I'm here, not anymore. I'm a king, not a warlord, I'm not going to act in my personal best interest, I'm acting in theirs. I won't start a war unless I have no choice. I told you as a courtesy, and because you helped me when you had little reason to. You have my empathy, you do, but I won't side with you, I'm sorry."

He argued. "Are you? I don't understand you. A hollow killed your own mother and you're still defending them?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, Ishida's accusations twisting a long buried knife. He'd long since known Ishida disapproved of more than one aspect of his nature, but once the shinigami threw him on the front lines, the fact he was a shinigami hadn't come up again, and Ishida had never been brave enough to breach the subject of his hollow. He reminded him. "I'm a visored, Ishida, I'm not so different. I'm only asking you to be patient."

"It isn't as if I have a choice."

Ishida was bitter, he couldn't blame him for that, and there was little he could do to help. He had to remind himself Ishida might be independent, but he was still young. He had no right to judge, but he could offer what little help he could. "I doubt you feel the same, but I still see you as a friend. I won't start a war for you, but that doesn't mean I won't help you where I can."

Ishida pushed his glasses up in habit and turned away, wrestling with his own morals. He'd said all he could, they both had, so he didn't stop him.

That left Hirako.

He still wasn't sure why he was here, but he couldn't imagine he'd come all this way just to say hello.

He started in their direction, and Hirako was instantly on the defensive. He might look relaxed to an outsider, but he knew Hirako well enough to see he was on edge. His shoulders were tense, a wary look in his eyes. Ichigo wasn't sure what warranted it; if it was who he was, his appearance, the note they left on, or all of the above, but Hirako looked ready for a fight.

Nel wandered off to join Tatsuki when he approached, clearly interested in helping her sort out her reiatsu now that she wasn't babysitting Hirako.

Ichigo left the visored his space, asking, "Not that it's bad to see you, but why are you here?"

The former captain looked away, then back. "It was a forceful request. I'm not too sure why I'm here myself."

Ichigo's eyes widened in realization. "Your hollow asked you to come here? Why?" He was under the impression the visoreds and their hollows operated under a different set of rules, in fact they hardly seemed to be able to communicate with them at all. Maybe he was wrong.

"I told you, didn't I? I'm not sure. I just know he won't shut the fuck up."

Ichigo raised a brow. "Annoying, isn't it?"

"Fuck you too, king."

Ichigo asked, "This is probably a stupid question, but you didn't try jinzen?"

"That is a stupid question," Hirako said, "Of course I tried, Sakanade wouldn't explain."

That was interesting. Ichigo stepped a little closer, raising his hand. "Do you mind?"

Hirako stiffened. "Mind what?"

"If I try see what's wrong. Unless you came here to sightsee?"

Hirako frowned at his hand. "And what could you do?"

Ichigo tilted his head, realizing Hirako was far more removed from the loop than he thought. "Ah, I see. I'll explain briefly then."

He twirled a hand, calling la sangre into his palm. It swirled and churned, dripping between his fingers. Hirako's eyes widened, probably expecting Kido, but this was the farthest from it. "This is a bit of a metaphor, but bear with me. This is la sangre. It's a part of all hollows, it's why Hueco Mundo feels like home, it's why all hollows are instinctively drawn here, regardless of where they're born, or how far away they are. Don't tell me that even as a visored, you never felt something was missing?"

From the look on Hirako's face, he had, but he imagined that like himself, he'd smothered the feelings and deemed them to be irrelevant. Ichigo closed his hand, losing his grip on la sangre. "There's a hollow in your soul, I should be able to pull that part of you forward."

After a moment of internal debate, he relented. "Fine. Do whatever it is you're going to do."

Ichigo reached out for his chest, his fingertips cautiously making contact. Hirako was unusually agitated, he could feel it in his reiatsu, and he could only imagine it had something to do with his hollow. If he'd come all this way, and despite his better judgement was asking him for help, it must be worse than he was letting on.

He reached for the darkness he had come to expect in a hollow, and found Hirako wasn't so different. He pulled on it, tugging it to the forefront of Hirako's power, and the visored panicked.

Hirako sucked in a breath and stepped back into shunpo. With a 'safe' ten meters between them, he demanded, "What are you doing?"

Ichigo held up his hands defensively. "Easy, Hirako. You want me to help, you're going to have to trust me a little."

Hirako didn't move, watching Ichigo carefully. Slowly, the visored edged thought it might have helped that he stayed very still.

Once he was close enough to touch, Ichigo warned, "I know it's unpleasant, try not to fight it."

"Can you at least tell me what the hell you're doing?"

Ichigo tilted his head. "Calling your hollow." He could see this didn't sit well with Hirako, so he tried his best to reassure him. "If the problem is with your hollow, it stands to reason we should just ask him, doesn't it?"

Hirako scowled, clearly annoyed that he was being talked down to, but it seemed to be the prodding he needed to reason himself into letting Ichigo continue.

Ichigo touched him again and began what he'd started, albeit much more slowly than before. He knew Hirako would feel like he wasn't in control, like he was losing his battle with his hollow. He locked eyes with Hirako, the visored still struggling to trust him. He was reaching for an intrinsic part of his soul, it wasn't normal, or comfortable.

He closed his eyes and focused, treating this the same way he went about helping an adjuchas evolve to an arrancar. He fed his own reiatsu to Hirako, and instead of forcing Hirako to hollowfy, he forced his hollow to manifest. Of all the things he could have done, this was the least intrusive.

He opened his eyes, watching over Hirako's shoulder as his hollow gained form from his mask down, the pharaoh-like detail familiar to him from watching Shinji fight. He'd never seen or heard of Hirako's inner hollow before, he wasn't like Zangetsu, he looked completely different from Shinji. Long, wild, black hair spilled over a tanned, bare chest . He'd always wondered what the other's inner hollows were like, he couldn't quite hide his fascination.

The hollow regarded him with cold, yellow eyes. He drawled, "You're the king."

Hirako jumped back, drawing his Zanpakuto, but his hollow didn't acknowledge him.

Ichigo could feel his pain through the thread of power he fed to the hollow. He got the distinct impression someone had tried to change him before. Kisuke? In his desire to undo what Aizen had done, he hadn't finished what he'd started. Maybe he hadn't been capable of finishing it? He knew Hirako had said his Zanpakuto's name before, but he found his name through his heart. "Sakanade."

The hollow spoke with the same echoing tones as Zangetsu, but his voice was deeper, smoother. "You can make me whole."

He felt the yearning need within the hollow, but that feeling was within all hollows. The hollow wasn't wrong, that power came hand in hand with Alteza. 'Zangetsu, how can he know that?'

His hollow didn't immediately respond. "Hard to say since I'm already a part of your soul, but have you noticed the way adjuchas flock to you? They must be drawn to something, right? It ain't like they can feel your reiatsu."

"Do you remember the way Aizen's arrancar use to speak about him?"

'You mean the way they damn near worshipped the ground he walked on? None of them could give me a real answer as to why they followed him in the first place.'

"Perhaps it was the Hogyoku, the heart? Aizen abused that inclination."

"Motherfucker probably thought it was his charm."

By this point, he had everyone's full attention, not that that was surprising. There was suddenly a potentially hostile hollow in their midst, and it seemed Hirako's inner hollow hadn't made nice with him just yet.

He turned his attention back to Sakenade and answered honestly. "There's only so much I can do. In the end, this is between you and Hirako, but I think you know that."

Sakenade let out a warbling growl, his eyes landing on Hirako in burning frustration. Ichigo was starting to see the problem. From what he could recall, Hirako had a time limit of around 5 minutes. He was fighting Sakenade for power, and it was making them both all the weaker for it. He didn't really want to be in the middle of this argument, but Sakanade was right, he could complete him. Doubtless both of them would have rather gone through soul suicide than turn to Aizen, but this chance wasn't closed off to them anymore, there was hope.

Hirako shouted at his hollow. "Why did you have to go an' involve him?"

Sakanade ignored him, he still hadn't taken his eyes off of Ichigo. "Fix me."

Looking back at Hirako, Ichigo questioned, "Do you understand what he's asking for?"

Hirako sounded exasperated. "How should I know?"

Ichigo shifted, wishing he didn't have to witness this. It wasn't pretty. Changing an adjuchas was one thing, but he knew from personal experience that this was painful. "Hirako, you must have noticed. Your inner hollow doesn't have a hollow hole." Hirako still looked confused, so he spelled it out for him. "Sakanade is asking you to give up your heart for power."

Hirako looked to Sakanade. "Why?"

His hollow finally acknowledged the visored. "We're incomplete, a botched experiment. We can be better."

Hirako argued, "Is this not bad enough?"

"It is bad." Sakanade turned and paced up to Hirako. "You can still barely use my power at all, we're at odds with one another, and it's through no fault of your own. We're incomplete."

Hiraku's eyes narrowed. "So what?"

No matter how quietly they spoke and how badly Ichigo tried to give them privacy, he could still feel the meaning through Sakanade.

Hirako's Zanpakuto stopped just a foot from him, towering over his wielder. "Things will get worse before they get better, Shinji. This opportunity may not come again."

Shinji's expression softened, a conversation Ichigo was thankfully not privy to passing in less than a heartbeat. His eyes steeled with resolve, looking past his Zanpakuto to catch Ichigo's eye. "Oy, do it."

Ichigo couldn't know the subtleties of Hirako and his Zanpakuto's relationship, and he didn't want to know, if they both agreed, he would do it in a heartbeat.

Sakanade turned to face him, kneeling not out of any sort of respect, but merely so Ichigo could reach him. Neither of them were fooled, no Zanpakuto bent to anyone outside of it's wielder, and maybe not even then.

Ichigo reached for Sakanade's mask, paused, and looked to Shinji. "Brace yourself."

He wasn't looking forward to this. He reached for his inner spirits, leaning on their support.

"We're here, King."

He closed his eyes, his hand resting on Sakanade's mask. He knew exactly what he was looking for, it was only a moment before he'd sunk his fingers into their darkness. He found all the torn and frayed edges of their soul, all the pieces Kisuke had stagnated, and he let them corrode.

The change was immediate, the pain in their soul was echoed in his own, his grip on Sakanade's mask tightening.

Sometime between starting that process and reaching for Hirako's heart, both had started screaming. He wanted it to stop, their pain cut into his own soul like it was his own, but stopping would be cruel, wrong. He let go of Sakanade's mask, letting him return to Hirako's soul. He'd kept him manifested to try to lessen the burden, but now that was impossible, now they needed each other.

He pulled la sangre from the ground, squeezing his hands into fists. He pulled on Hirako's heart, on all of his fears and rage and instinct. He snapped the thread that tied his power to Hirako, leaving Hirako and his Zanpakuto on his own. It was up to the visored if he could accept every aspect of himself, he couldn't help him anymore.

He took a step back, la sangre roiling over and through Hirako. He remembered the first time he'd abandoned his heart, he couldn't forget it, and he didn't think Shinji would either.

Giving in to instinct had been terrible and intoxicating. What he'd felt in Hirako's heart proved this was different for everyone. Personally, he only remembered the wrenching loneliness, the need for it all to stop.

Ishida spoke up from somewhere to his left. "Kurosaki?"

"Shhh." His tone was gentle, if not a bit morose. These weren't feeling's he'd planned on dredging up, but nothing ever went as planned.

Moments passed, and he listened to the currents of Hirako's heart, he felt the tempo of his reiatsu. He had hope he would survive this, Hirako was strong, he didn't doubt that. They didn't just let anyone become a captain.

Slowly, he felt Hirako's reiatsu settle. He realized he was proud of the visored. His demons hadn't eaten him, he came out on top, he was the master of his instincts. He let go of la sangre, that catalyst no longer needed.

Hirako didn't look too different, but he caught the curve of a hollow hole in his chest. He sat up, blonde hair suddenly too long, spilling over his shoulders into his lap. He ran his fingers through it with a frown, then turned amber eyes to Ichigo. Like his own, his sclera were black, but there was no sign of his mask, he almost passed as a shinigami. Three, black. barred stripes ran beneath his eyes, a memory of his mask.

Ichigo held a hand down to him, and after a second's hesitation, Shinji accepted. He bared his teeth with a hiss. "Holy hell, Kurosaki, do you feel like this all the time?"

Ichigo asked, "How do you feel?"

Hirako looked down at his hands "Numb…" He tightened them into fists. "Violent."

Ichigo could empathize. "Yes. I'm sure you got use to something like this with the mask, but this is different, deeper. Be careful."

"You saying that from experience?"

Only Shinji could hear him, the others were too far away, so he answered honestly. "The first time I fully hollowfied, I was being tortured. I broke my own arm to free myself, then ripped the arrancar apart with my bare hands, little by little. I liked it. Too much."

Shinji didn't look aghast or even judgemental, he knew he wouldn't, he wasn't that kind of person. He only dipped his head in understanding, a haunted look crossing his face. "I won't forget that. Thank you, Kurosaki."

He exhaled, closing his eyes, and let his hollowfication go. The markings on his face faded, his hair returning to its usual length. His breath caught in his throat, clearly not prepared for the rush of emotion. He blinked it away, waving a hand at the air. "Now send me home, it's been a long, trying day."

He smiled and obliged, opening a garganta just outside of Karakura. He finally turned his attention back to Ishida and Tatsuki. She looked a bit pale, but thoughtful, and Ishida's expression was guarded.

Shinji stepped into the garganta, stumbling with a curse. Ichigo had no doubt he was exhausted, that first time burned through nearly all Shinji's reiatsu. The visored offered Tatsuki a hand, who swiftly turned him down on account it looked like she could pull him onto his face with no effort at all.

Nel took up a place just beside him, not needing to escort the group back.

Ichigo stopped Ishida before he could pass him. "Has Orihime shown any interest in training?" From the sour look on Ishida's face, that was a yes. He jerked his head in Shinji's direction. "There's someone in his group, Hachi. His power is a lot like hers, he might be able to help. I told her I would introduce her personally, but it looks like I have to break that promise."

Ishida frowned, his eyes slipping to Shinji. "You made him a full hollow."

There was judgement in his voice if he'd ever heard it. Ichigo tried not to sigh. "I did. Sort of. Shinji was one of a handful of shinigami Aizen betrayed and forcefully turned. They were "failures", they were going to die, but Kisuke used the Hogyoku to stop it. Now that the Hogyoku is a part of me, I could finish what he started. Do you think I should have denied him that, when I had the power to change it?"

Ichigo wasn't quizzing Ishida, he was asking his honest opinion. The Quincy looked away, brows drawn tight. "No."

Ichigo stepped aside, letting him pass. "I wish I'd had better news for you, Ishida."

The Quincy looked at him, lingering at the edge of the garganta. He stepped through it, and rather than walk with Tatsuki, he slipped into hirenkyaku and was gone.

'Ossan, I'm worried about him.'

"Worried he'll do something stupid?"

'Yes.'

"Ishida still struggles to see you as anything but an outsider, there isn't much you can do about that, Ichigo, you did what you could."

Nel put her hand on his shoulder and asked, "Are you okay?"

He sighed. "It's been a long day. Let's go home."

- xxx -

[Edit] As Bleached One pointed out, I fucked up and wrote Arisawa instead of Akimasa *facepalm* I fixed it lol

Poor Ishida though. He's barely got a family left, barely has friends, and centers his whole identity over something intrinsically tied to heartache. I feel bad for him.

Still working on that timeline, sorry! Thanks for reading ~

Current Espada Ranking

King Strawberry

Fraccion: Grimmjow, Nelliel

0 - Harribel

1 - Ulquiorra

2 - Starrk & Lilynette

3 - Grimmjow

4 - Zommari

5 - Aaroniero (deceased)

6 - Szayelaporro

7 - Shawlong

8 - Cyan, Mila Rose, Apacci (Quimera Parca: Ayon)

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Fallen Espada

Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck - former tres

Fraccion: Pesche Guatiche