Chapter 35
The Madness and Darkness
Pain
Agony
Despair
That's what Kuroda felt, though by now in his life he'd felt so much of all three that the feelings were more like familiar friends than unwelcomed guests.
He remembered a fight, a terrible fight.
He'd lost
The words stung him. Kuroda was not a stranger to losing a fight, before gaining his immense power he'd lost plenty. He never won a fight against his father, the old man had always kicked him around like a doll. He'd never won against a Yamamoto either, though he'd only ever fought the man on three occasions.
No, what stung him was the pure helplessness that fighting that Arrancar, Tyran, had brought upon him. In the beginning of the fight, it felt that he had a chance. Tyran seemed slower, Kuroda's blows seemed to do more. But in the end, he found out that the Arrancar was just warming up, just testing him out.
If Tyran had wanted to, he could have killed Kuroda in a fraction of the time they'd been fighting. The only reason he hadn't was because he'd believed that Kuroda was simply holding back.
It didn't matter, Kuroda had still lost in the end.
Now he was…what was he doing?
Lying down on something, quite hard, he could also pick up the smell of stale dust, and he could hear a low wind whistling around him.
Kuroda gradually edged his eyes open to a horrifying sight. The sky was definitely not the one above Karakura, it wasn't peaceful, or full of stars.
This one was dark and hellish. Right in the center of Kuroda's vision was some sort of horrible twisting vortex of fire hanging high up. It seemed to pull in what few dusty clouds were in the air and swallow them up to fuel its horrifying appearance.
However, the sight was very familiar to Kuroda.
He pushed his aching body up into a sitting position and took in a quick glance of his settings, confirming what he believed.
He was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of graves, marked by a variety of different objects. Tomb stones, crosses, flowers, even sticks, just graves as far as the eye could see, creating an endless graveyard. It wasn't a nice graveyard either, the ground was grey and barren, lacking any sort of ability to support life. The wind that blew around the graves sounded eerily akin to the wails of ghosts or spirits.
Kuroda knew that if someone were to stay there long enough, they would feel as though they were the only person on the planet, somehow cursed with a prolonged life. He himself had tried walking in one direction to see if he could find the edge of the graveyard, of course, he never found it.
This was his inner world, where his zanpaktou resided.
"Hello Kuroda,"
Speak of the devil
AnShen slipped around into Kuroda's field of vision, his hat tipped down despite the shadows already hiding his face and his large red cloak billowing on the low wind.
"It's been a long time since you've entered my realm," the spirit said, holding out a gloved hand to Kuroda. Kuroda took the hand and let AnShen help pull him up.
"I wasn't exactly trying to come," admitted Kuroda, "it just happened."
"Indeed, this has not happened for at least a century,"
"What?"
"Your defeat,"
"Oh, that," said Kuroda, turning his gaze to the ground, "yeah, so what are you doing here?"
"I live here, or did you forget?" replied the spirit as he walked around a grave, "just, roaming the world, from here to there and there to here. Not much else to do but, walk."
Kuroda was silent,
"Well walk and," AnShen touched a grave stone, almost immediately the grave that it marked began to glow a dark red. Before long a wisp burst out from the ground, it followed the path of AnShen's hand. He brought his hand to his face and the wisp was sucked into an invisible mouth.
"And eat," finished the spirit, his shoulders shuddered like someone in ecstasy, "mm, that was a particularly young one."
Kuroda cringed slightly, even he, after so many years, was put off by the zanpaktou's clear disregard for human life. If AnShen liked someone, or missed someone, it usually meant that he wanted their soul in particular to be added to this massive graveyard.
"So if you didn't pull me in here, then who did?" asked Kuroda,
"Hmm, who indeed?" asked AnShen, tapping a finger to its nonexistent chin, "who do you think?"
The question hung out for a long moment, both knew the answer but neither wanted to say. Finally, Kuroda broke the silence and whispered the answer, "him"
"Indeed," drawled the spirit,
"I thought I locked him up tight, behind the third seal. He shouldn't even be able to speak to me, let alone pull me into my inner world,"
"The seals are weakening, it was only a matter of time really and his grip is growing stronger, soon either the seals will break themselves or he'll break them,"
"How much time?" asked Kuroda,
"Who knows? I don't"
"He still shouldn't have been able to reach me, it's not just his barrier that's holding him back, the second one holds him as well,"
"Perhaps, but maybe he didn't need to reach you personally,"
"What are you talking about,"
The spirit shrugged his shoulders, "He, is a smart fellow, he should since he's you."
"He is not, me!" corrected Kuroda,
"Of course not, I am simply saying, perhaps he found a way around the second seal that did not require his personal touch."
Kuroda raised an eyebrow, he was almost certain AnShen knew the answer but was simply unwilling to share it, which meant that Kuroda would probably never get him to talk.
"You humans, such interesting creatures," whispered the spirit as he began to walk away, most likely to continue wandering around, "and such wonderful snacks. Do let me know how it turns out between you two."
Kuroda sighed as he watched the red cloak slowly get smaller and smaller,
"Great," he muttered, "stuck in my inner world, with a mad spirit and a-"
"A what?"
Kuroda nearly jumped, the one behind him had snuck up without a single sound. It would seem that his own skills were being put to good use.
Slowly, he turned around and to face, himself.
It was almost like looking in the mirror, every strand of hair, every pore, ever part of his face was replicated onto the one in front of him, right down to the strands of DNA. But this one, this copy of him, was indeed different.
Where Kuroda kept his hair in relatively good condition and made sure to clean himself, this other one was not as well off. Blotches of dried blood and dirt caked his face, his hair was longer, messier, and seemed a bit stringy.
Then there were those eyes, red like Kuroda's, but containing unspeakable amounts of madness. One needed but one glance into those horrible red orbs to know what sort of crazy this man was.
"What's up?" asked his clone,
Kuroda didn't respond,
"Don't like getting snuck up on do you? To be honest, I'm a little surprised myself, I wasn't sure I could do it, with these on me," Kuroda's clone put out his hands, revealing the cuffs that kept them tied together.
In fact, the clone's entire body was covered in restraints. Both legs were restrained by large metal chains connected to large rusting balls of iron. In addition to that, a pair of leg cuffs kept the man from spreading his legs too far apart. Then there was the huge metal collar around his neck, with a chain running off. However, the end of that chain seemed to be broken off of whatever had initially been attached to it.
"Why am I here?" asked Kuroda,
"Well, you never call, you never write, how else am I supposed to get your attention?" mocked the clone, "after all, family really should stick together."
Kuroda flinched, not just at the words, but the sound of his clone's voice. It sounded exactly like his own, only the clone's voice seemed to dance on the edge of a knife, it sounded so cheery in a sort of malevolent kind of way.
The clone began to walk, dragging those large iron balls, circling around Kuroda like a predator does its prey.
Kuroda swallowed
"We are not family," he managed to say,
"You're right," agreed the clone, stopping his stride for a brief moment, "we are so much…closer."
"No we're not, in fact we should be as far apart as humanly possible"
"Oh you say that, but with each passing moment, we become more and more…attuned to each other," the clone said knowingly, "you thought you could keep me away with your little seals, you thought that those could last. But there is a reckoning coming Kuroda. When it does, you'll wonder how you could believe you had peace and happiness and simply leave me and the other to rot in your mind."
"You'll be in those chains for as long as I want," Kuroda shot back,
"Oh will I?" asked the clone in mock surprise, as he continued to circle "If I recall correctly, the last time we spoke, I had my neck chained to a concrete slab. Where is it now I wonder?"
"You and I, will never be one," growled Kuroda,
"Oh that's where you're wrong," replied his clone, "you and I are the same, we are already one. This current state of affairs is simply, a temporary break. Sooner or later, we will be one. Did you really think that hiding behind those seals could keep us apart forever? No, I think you knew, you simply lied to yourself and said that it would."
Kuroda didn't respond,
"Is that why you secretly placed that cheap leather arm band around your arm? It didn't even have any real power, you just picked it up in some clothing store and tied it there like you thought it would magically solve your problems. Did it make you feel secure, having three bands around your arm again even though you knew that one was actually a fake?"
"Go hang yourself"
"Oh I think I've already tried that, it didn't work, the rope snapped. I tried something else recently, it involved a cliff and a very sad yet beautiful girl," replied the clone, "you know, I really hat how you keep pushing her away when it would be so easy to give in and take her."
"You bastard, don't you dare-"
"Oooh, jealous are we?"
Without warning Kuroda's hand grabbed his clone by the neck and squeezed. But the clone seemed to feel nothing, in fact he retaliated with a simple shoulder bump that sent Kuroda to the floor like a small child.
"Even contained, I'm still more powerful than you. Think what will happen when I get out"
"That will never happen," said Kuroda as he stood back up,
"Yes it will, don't try to resist. You think you know pain, but if you try to stop me," the clone began to circle again, Kuroda's heart beat began pick up in response
"If you try to push me back down," sweat dripped down his forehead
"If you try to find any way of stopping me. You will beg, to feel something as sweet as pain."
By now Kuroda was completely paralyzed, a cold grip on his spine refusing to let him go.
"And look at it this way," the clone stopped in front of Kuroda's gaze,
"Better me, than him," the clone nodded his head, Kuroda 's eyes followed.
They rested upon a large stone structure, a mausoleum, with it being the largest building in the graveyard it stuck out as much as AnShen's blood red coat. Twin angels on the roof, kneeled in terror, their cherubic faces forever etched into terror as they gazed upon those who would enter the open door.
Kuroda looked straight into the black open void that allowed entry into the structure. Almost immediately, he could feel the dark being inside. That cold twisted individual that resided in there, contained as a prisoner, but somehow he reached out to Kuroda.
He heard the prisoner's voice,
"We will be one"
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"No!" Kuroda sprang up, eyes wide with fear and body covered in cold sweat. His breaths came in heavy pants, each one empty his lungs completely or filling them to the brim. Inside of his chest, his heart beat like a drum, so fast that Kuroda almost feared that it would break out.
"Kuroda," said a familiar voice, though he did not turn to face it he knew it was Yoruichi, "Kuroda, it's alright, I'm here"
She grabbed his hand and comfortingly stroked it, "it's okay, it's okay, you're alright."
Kuroda let out another heavy breath as he tried to calm himself down. His eyes darted around with paranoia, until he realized where he was.
The familiar bamboo flooring, the plain yet large room around him, he was at Kisuke's shop. He'd been laid down on a futon and saw others lined up by his, three to be exact. Two were empty, the other one, the one farthest from him was occupied.
Under the covers of a blanket, his daughter lay with her eyes closed.
"Mei!"
"It's okay, she's fine,"assured Yoruichi, "she's wasn't hurt too bad, you on the other hand…"
As Yoruichi trailer off, Kuroda finally noticed the bright orange dome around him. It seemed to give off a kind of soothing feeling that calmed his nerves. Next to Yoruichi he saw the source of the orange dome, Orihime.
"Orihime has been working pretty hard to patch you up," said Yoruichi, "I didn't think it was possible to break that many bones and still stay alive."
Kuroda was silent
"There, all done," announced Orihime, she called back her small fairies and the orange dome around Kuroda disappeared.
"Thank you Orihime, you can go now,"
"Alright Yoruichi, good bye Kuroda,"
Kuroda didn't return the good bye, he simply sat there, looking into his lap. When the door shut closed and Orihime had left, Yoruichi turned her attention back to him.
"You gave me quite a scare, I was afraid that I'd have to start staying at Kisuke's if you died,"
She was trying to lighten the mood, make him laugh with a joke or two, keep the subject off of his defeat. He appreciated it, though part of him did want to talk about it and part of him didn't want her trying to lighten the mood.
Yoruichi seemed to notice that her attempt to lighten the mood was not working, Kuroda just kept staring down into his lap.
"I suppose we should go home now," she tried,
Kuroda simply nodded and stood up,
"I'll grab Mei," she offered, picking up the lithe sleeping girl into her arms,
Kuroda went to the door without responding and opened it to find two people waiting for him.
"Up already? You are tough," joked Kisuke,
Kuroda didn't react, he simply stared back blankly.
"Uh…well, Ichigo here has something to talk to you about," said Kisuke, he'd half expected some angry remark from Kuroda, not ominous silence.
Kuroda nodded, noting that Ichigo was standing behind the blonde man in Shinigami form. There was a certain look in the young Substitute's eyes, like something was weighing down on him, like he felt guilty and responsible for a travesty. Kuroda knew that look, because he had felt it as well, many times.
He turned to Yoruichi "Go wait outside, I won't be long"
She nodded and walked out with Mei still cradled in her arms.
"I'll wait out here for my turn, but you two take your time," said Kisuke before closing the door,
Kuroda sat down on his futon and Ichigo sat down in front of him,
"What do you need?" asked Kuroda,
A long pause held in the air, then Ichigo finally said, "It happened again."
"Your hollow"
Ichigo nodded grimly, "that bastard tried to take over again, I was fighting this Arrancar and I was losing. Then Rukia came and tried to help me, he grabbed her by the neck and was going to kill her. I wanted to help but…"
"Did he take over?"
"No, no he didn't," replied Ichigo, "but he tried and when he did I was, paralyzed. I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything, I could only watch that bastard punch a hole through my friend."
By now the teen's voice bordered on crying,
"So what are you going to do about it? Get stronger so that you don't need to fear your hollow anymore?" it was a low blow, but even now Kuroda needed to drive the weight of Ichigo's refusal for help home. He would need the hate soon enough.
"No, no, it's clear that won't work. You were right all along, this isn't something that I can handle on my own. I need help, right now. Can you contact the Vizard for me?"
Kuroda nodded, "I will, I'll pick you up tomorrow, you'll start first thing in the morning."
Ichigo nodded back, not even caring that tomorrow was a school day, "Thank you,"
The Substitute stood up and began to walk to the door but stopped just before exiting, "you lost today, didn't you?"
Kuroda felt a jolt of anger run through his heart, but he pushed it back down and simply replied, "Yes,"
"How?"
By now, Ichigo knew that Kuroda was one of the most powerful beings in existence. Ever since he had witnessed Kuroda taking on Captain Komamura's bankai for afar, he'd seen the Black Operative as some sort of invincible warrior. But now, to see Kuroda defeated, was something both demoralizing and frightening.
"Let's just say, I have problems of my own,"
Ichigo decided to leave it there, he opened the door and left. Kisuke came in soon after and shut the door behind him.
"He's going to the Vizard?"
Kuroda grunted in reply.
"I suppose it was only a matter of time, though I'm a bit surprised he didn't ask me for help first," said Kisuke as he sat down,
"He's smart enough to know that you already know his condition, and that if you did know how to help him, you would've already,"
Kisuke smiled, "I suppose"
"What did you want to talk about?"
"I wanted to talk about you and your fight,"
Kuroda paused, "what about it? I lost, not much more than that."
"It's because you lost that I'm worried, your condition isn't that much different from Ichigo's. I need to know Kuroda, are my seals still working?"
Kuroda sighed heavily, then shook his head. "No, they're breaking loose, both of them."
"That was what I was afraid of," Kisuke said grimly, "I suppose it was only a matter of time, technology can only fight nature for so long before nature finds a way to win."
"It's not your fault my friend. It's mine, I'm the one who walked into the darkness, I'm the one who accepted the power it gave me, but I'm also the one who tried to slip through the consequences. This is on me, not you,"
Kisuke didn't say anything, he was taking this harder than he showed. In his mind, every problem could be solved with the right kind of technology, he'd always relied on his inventions to give him an edge in life. He'd even used inventions to help his own power progress, using it to achieve bankai.
But now, he'd learned that one of his inventions could not help him with something. Worse, the one time his inventions did fail him, it had also failed his closest friend.
"I'll find a way to fix this, no matter what" assured Kuroda,
"That's what I'm afraid of" whispered Kisuke, he knew that no matter what would involve death.
Kuroda stood up and began to walk away,
"You should spend some time with Yoruichi," he heard Kisuke say, Kuroda stopped himself
"You never know what might happen," explained the blonde man, "don't want to go down with regrets still in your life."
Without bothering to respond, Kuroda opened the door and left.
When he got outside, in his gigai, he saw that his limo was already parked out in front with Kaito holding the door open for him and Rajin already in the driver's seat.
No words were exchanged between the three, Kuroda simply entered the vehicle. Kaito closed the door for him and entered into the passenger seat next to Rajin.
Yoruichi was already inside as well with Mei soundly sleeping against her shoulder.
"How is she?" asked Kuroda,
"She's fine," replied Yoruichi, "you should have seen her Kuroda, she took on two Arrancar all by herself. She held her own even when they released their zanpaktou."
Kuroda didn't say anything, Yoruichi frowned, she had hoped for some sort of response. If she was sure of anything about Kuroda it was that he truly cared for the young girl, but here he was, without even a compliment or some remark to show that he cared.
Whatever was bothering him must be truly terrible.
"It's a good thing we didn't lose anyone," she tried,
No response,
"and we got five of them, I'd say this is a victory,"
Still no response, instead he turned his head more toward the window.
Yoruichi quietly sighed. It was going to be a quiet ride home.
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It was 10:00 PM when the group arrived back at the apartment building. Rajin and Kaito headed off to their respective rooms after saying a quick good bye to their Commander.
Kuroda and Yoruichi, who was still carrying Mei, returned to Kuroda's apartment. After lying Mei back in bed and taking a quick shower Yoruichi announced that she would be going off to bed as well.
Kuroda, who was sitting down on the lower floor on one of his couches, told her "good night" and continued to sit down in the dark, an hour later, he was in the exact same position. The difference was that now he had a small glass full of sake in front of him and a tall bottle of the same stuff on the table. He'd also taken off his jacket and tie, leaving his torso with only an unbuttoned white dress shirt.
Between the time they'd returned and now, it had started raining outside and from the looks of it, there would be a full-fledged storm pretty soon.
Kuroda took a small sip of the strong alcohol in his cup and watched the rain fall outside of his overly large windows. Why did he have such large windows?
He sighed, truth be told the windows didn't bother him all that much. It was the events of the night, what that Arrancar, Tyran had said to him.
As much as Kuroda hated to admit such a thing, the Arrancar had been right. They were the same, just one look in the hollow's eye and he could tell, he too was a kin-slayer, he too had committed terrible atrocities.
But at the same time, they were completely different. Kuroda wasn't totally sure what, but somewhere along the path they had both walked, he had gone left and Tyran had gone right. What was the difference? Or was Kuroda fooling himself? Maybe they were exactly the same and Tyran was simply the bigger monster.
Would that mean that Kuroda would have to become even more of a monster to fight him? The thought of doing so made him shudder, he quickly took another sip of his sake.
Then there was the problem inside of him, those two…things. It was bad enough that one of them was getting loose, but now Kuroda knew that both of them were. The violent crazy one was horrible, Kuroda knew from firsthand experience. But the other one, the one trapped inside of the mausoleum, that one was the real nightmare. Kuroda didn't even want to think about that one.
He needed to find a way to take care of the first one quickly, maybe with that one out of the way the one inside the mausoleum would lose the ability to reach out. But that still left him with the question of how to deal with the problem of that damn maniac inside of him.
He could try just killing him, that had worked with two others. After Kuroda had killed them they had simply vanished forever and had become part of himself again. But Kuroda didn't know if that was an option in this case.
That maniac had survived this long because he was a huge chunk of Kuroda's power, second only to the one inside of the mausoleum who was an even larger chunk.
Even chained up like that, Kuroda doubt he could have done any damage to either of them.
He sighed and took gulped down the rest of the sake in his cup.
"Of all the times this could be happening, why now?"
He then looked down at his empty cup, then at the jar on the table, then back at the cup.
"why the hell am I drinking this crap?"
Kuroda eventually went to sleep on that couch, when he did, he dreamed of terrible things.
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The next day, Yoruichi came down stairs after a warm shower wearing only her tank top and underwear. She figured it could be a fun way to see if Kuroda was feeling any better after a night of sleep, if he reacted like a prude then he was fine, if he didn't…
Yoruichi's train of thought was interrupted when she saw the last thing she expected to see early in the morning. Kuroda was apparently passed out on the couch, she also noted a bottle of sake on the table next to him. She picked it up and gave it small shake, it felt mostly full, so that ruled out one possibility.
She decided to wake him, shaking his shoulder gently.
"Hmm?" he grunted,
"Time to wake up sleepy head, you're supposed to be the cook in the morning, not me,"
"Mmm," Kuroda opened his eyes and rubbed his forehead, he then sat up and shook his head like a dog.
"Were you down here all night?" asked Yoruichi,
"Yeah," he replied,
"Did you get any sleep?"
"Some"
"How much?"
"What time is it?"
"6:00 AM"
"uh… about three hours"
"You were up till three o'clock?"
"That's what it looks like," he replied, standing up. It was then that he noticed Yoruichi's lack of clothes,
However, that was all he did, he simply noticed.
"Let me take a quick shower, then I'll get breakfast started," he said, before moving upstairs and entering the bathroom.
Not even a small twitch.
"This is not good," said Yoruichi, she returned to her room and quickly put on a bathrobe. There was no point walking around half naked if Kuroda wasn't even going to chastise her. Though the thought of walking around completely naked to see if that would garner a reaction crossed her mind, she decided against it. Mei would be up soon and Kuroda would be probably a little more than furious if she started thinking her father was okay with nudity.
True to his word, Kuroda showered quickly and immediately began on breakfast.
Mei woke up soon after, as she walked down stairs she saw her father setting food on the table and let out a surprised yelp.
"Good, you're up," said Kuroda when he noticed Mei, "hurry and eat, you have school in an hour."
When Mei didn't move, Kuroda asked, "are you just going to stand there all day?"
Mei's lower lip began to tremble and her eyes began to grow wide, she ran down the stair and tackled her father in a tight hug.
"Waaah, I thought you were going to die!" she cried into his shirt,
"Wha-"
"You were all beat up and wouldn't wake up!" she wailed,
It was almost comical that the dangerous and calm girl that had been fighting two Arrancar last night was suddenly crying like a…well, little girl.
"Shhhh, it's okay," he whispered as he caringly stroked her, "I'm okay now,"
She held her face in his shirt for a few more minutes before Kuroda finally said, "you should probably eat your breakfast now,"
Mei let go of his shirt and smiled brightly, "Okay!"
She immediately sat down next to Yoruichi and began putting food onto her plate and swallowing it down.
Kuroda sat down across from Yoruichi and watched his daughter eat, when she finished she announced that she was off to school and left. Yoruichi was left smiling, Kuroda didn't notice, but she still said,
"You're a good father,"
He didn't respond to that either, something that worried her even more.
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Tyran sat at the edge of his bed, a sour look on his face with a hard scowl on top. His eyes were narrowed with annoyance and his thumb continuously flicked his zanpaktou an inch out of its sheath then let it fall back in.
Behind him, Yin knelt on the bed purposefully pressing herself against his naked back and rubbing his powerful shoulders whilst laying butterfly kisses along his neck. Yang sat on the floor between his legs, playfully rubbing his inner thighs through his pants. The twins had noticed that their master had been on edge and had tried to get him to relax the best way they knew how.
Unfortunately, while the sex had been great, it had only kept Tyran's mind occupied for a few hours. Now he was on edge again, the twins needed a rest but still attempted to soothe him nonetheless.
Tyran was disappointed, horribly so. He'd thought that he'd finally found someone that was like him. Someone who knew that making the choices that were necessary was the key to power. That only by becoming what the world feared could one climb to the top of the food chain. That knew only those were monsters deserved to rule.
Survival of the fittest
Yet those words that Kuroda had spoken before Tyran had left him for dead, "we don't deserve to rule"
It made Tyran want to strangle something!
Not just because it conflicted with his belief, but because it was saying that everything Tyran had done was for nothing. All the friends he'd killed to test his ability to murder anyone, all the millions of hollows that had called him kin only to be slaughtered by his hand, meant nothing.
He had sold his soul for the power he now possessed, just as Kuroda had. Yet Kuroda had also claimed that they didn't deserve to rule.
Tyran ground his teeth. Kuroda was nothing like him, he had been wrong to assume that Kuroda was anything like him. No, Kuroda was weak, just another bump on the road to life. Nothing more.
"Knock knock!"
The Cero Espada was shaken out of his thoughts by a disturbingly cheerful voice. Someone opened the door to his chambers and stepped in,
"I'm not interruptin anything am I?"
"Ichimaru," growled Tyran,
"Whoa! Somethin tickin you off Tyran?" Gin asked in a friendly manner,
The Arrancar and the rouge Shinigami were not best friends per se, but most of the time they got along just fine. So Gin knew that Tyran was on edge simply by the way he was greeted by the Arrancar.
"Nothing you need to know of," replied the Arrancar,
"Don't seem like ya've got much to be ticked off about," said Gin, referring to the two lovely ladies caressing his body, "or do ya need a few more?"
Tyran snorted, a bit amused, he'd always found Gin amusing.
"Nah, just…let down I guess,"
"Ah, yeah, I heard about that,"
"Lord Aizen said this guy was supposed to be strong," muttered Tyran, "but when I fought him, he was only a bit stronger than Nnoitra, which for me is like kicking around a puppy."
"Really?" asked Gin, his face bearing genuine surprise, "I didn't think ya'd over power him so easily, specially with his seals off."
"Yeah…wait, seals?"
"You don't know?"
"I just asked didn't I?"
"Okay, okay," said Gin, still smiling, "Kuroda's got these seals on his arm, they hold back his power. He's got three in total."
"Seals…" whispered Tyran, he then asked, "how many were off when I helped Lord Aizen, you, and Tosen escape from Soul Society?"
"Hmmm, let me think," Gin pondered, scrunching up his face as though thinking hard, "I'm pretty sure he had two of them off."
"Two?"
Gin nodded,
At first, Tyran said nothing, he simply sat there with his eyes wide and unblinking. The twins took note of this, Yin asked, "Lord Tyran? Are you alright?"
Then, he began to laugh. A loud, happy laugh of relief.
"Hahahaha! So that's why he didn't put up a fight!" he realized, "haha, oh, it makes sense now!"
"Lord Tyran?" this time Yang,
"He didn't release his seals! That's why I beat him so easily!" Tyran licked his lips, he was once again looking forward to fighting Kuroda. The next time they met, he would rip those seals off himself and show the world what people like him and Kuroda could do.
"Well you're in better spirits now ain't ya"
"Thanks Ichimaru, because of you, things make sense," said Tyran, a devilish smirk now on his face, "so I'm I'll give you some friendly advice in return, you might want to get out of here right now."
"Oh, why?" asked the rouge shinigami, quirking his head to the side,
Tyran grinned "me and the girls are going to get a bit…explicit,"
Gin snorted, "well then I best do as ya say, have fun"
With a flash of Shunpo, the shinigami was gone, leaving Tyran alone with Yin and Yang.
(& ()*%& ()#&%) (#*&%)( #&%) &#%)*& #)%&)
Ichigo walked with Kuroda as they exited the limo and headed on foot towards what looked to be a warehouse.
"That's where they are?"
"Yeah," said Kuroda, as they walked, "let me do the talking alright. You've made it pretty clear to them that you're loyal to Soul Society, the Vizard aren't very fond of anyone from there."
"Why's that?"
Kuroda paused, "it's a long story, I'll tell you it sometime, but for now let's just concentrate on your problem."
The two shinigami entered through the open garage door. It was dark inside, the only light available was that given by the sun from outside.
The door suddenly shut behind them with a loud screech. The two stopped their steps, the lights came on, blinding both for a few seconds.
"Well look who it is" said a familiar voice, "Ichigo, long time no see,"
The substitute looked up to see a rather colorful assortment of people standing upon the ledges of broken concrete floors.
"Looks like you were right," said the blonde man to Kuroda, who stood on the middle floor, "he did come around eventually."
Ichigo was silent and so was Kuroda.
"So, finally decided to join us, did you Ichigo," Shinji said cockily,
The substitute was silent for a brief moment, then replied, "Bite me!"
"Wha!" Shinji yelled, taken a back,
"I'm not joining your little club," corrected Ichigo, "I'm just here to learn how you control your hollows, that's all."
Shinji frowned, "is that so?"
"Be glad I don't try to beat it out of you, it's only because Kuroda seems to trust you that I've decided to even listen to you,"
Kuroda sighed,
"Why you little-" started a short blonde girl who wore her hair in pigtails, "you've got a lot of nerve speaking to us like that! Just because you've got a mask doesn't make you a Vizard. We only help people who are worth something and just by looking at you I can tell you're a weak-"
"Enough Hiyori,"
At the sound of Kuroda's voice, the girl immediately stopped her ranting though clearly begrudgingly.
"If you don't trust Ichigo, trust me when I say that he's strong enough to be a Vizard," said Kuroda,
Hiyori crossed her arms and looked away, obviously she accepted his word but didn't like it.
"I'd best introduce all of you since Ichigo will be spending a lot of time here," decided Kuroda, "from left to right, Kensei Mugurama, Lisa Yadomaru, Hacigen Ushoda, sometimes called Hachi, you've met Hiyori Sarugaki, Love Aikawa, Mashiro Kuna, Rojuro Otoribashi, but he mostly goes by Rose."
"Nice to meet all of you," said Ichigo, giving a small wave,
They all returned in their respective ways, Kensei simply grunted and so did Lisa, Hachi gave a small bow, Hiyori did nothing except scowl, Love gave a polite nod, and Rose gave a rather exaggerated wave back.
"Hey, you didn't introduce me!" protested Shinji,
"He already knows you," said Kuroda, Shinji tried to protest more but was largely ignored, "Hachi, I'd like you to get down to the training area and start setting up what you usually use for hollow taming."
"Right away," said the large man,
"The rest of you go join him, except Shinji and Love," the rest did as instructed, even Hiyori.
"Are you ready for this?" asked Kuroda turning to the substitute,
"He's been hounding me for too long, I'm done trying to avoid this problem, its time I confronted him once and for all and put an end to this," replied the teen,
"You didn't answer the question," Kuroda pointed out,
Ichigo sighed, "To be honest, I'm afraid as hell. I've tried pushing it out but it just doesn't want to go away. I wish I was like you, unafraid of anything."
"No Ichigo, don't be like me, at least not in this way,"
"What do you mean?" asked Ichigo, confused, "doesn't fear dull my attacks?"
"It does if you allow it to, but fear is still as much a part of life as that hollow is a part of your soul. All things feel fear, even hollow. Many try to repress it or make themselves numb to it, but they do not understand. Everything that makes us up, is perfected to helping us survive. When you get rid of fear, you get rid of the body's need to keep itself alive, to push itself beyond what it can do so that you can succeed. Whether it be fear of failure, fear of loss, or fear of death. How can you achieve the power you want, if you deny your body its basest function."
Ichigo didn't reply, for he knew not how to respond.
"Remember that when you are trying to tame your hollow, what he perceives as weakness from humanity is really your strength."
Ichigo nodded, though he didn't really understand.
By now Shinji and Love had arrived on their level,
"You ready Ichigo?" asked Shinji,
Ichigo nodded, he reached into his back pocket and took out his badge. He held it to his chest and popped out of his body into spirit form. Kuroda caught his body before it fell and carefully laid it out on the ground.
Suddenly, Shinji brought his hand up and stopped it right in front of Ichigo's face. A moment later, the Substitute collapsed, Love quickly caught the teen on his shoulder.
"I'll leave him with you for now," said Kuroda, "try to makes sure Hiyori doesn't kill him."
"Sure," replied Shinji,
Kuroda then reached into his coat and pulled out a large manila envelope. He handed it to Shinji, "this should cover whatever extra cost you have for his living here."
Shinji peeked into the envelope to find quite a few bundles of money, all paper bills, big paper bills.
"Cover extra cost? You could buy two houses with what you've got in here, besides we have our own money, we can take care of him fine,"
"Buy yourself a better hat," suggested Kuroda, "or get a decent haircut."
With that said, he turned around and left,
"And where are you headed off to?" asked Love,
"Kuroda paused by the exit before saying, "I have some of my own problems to figure out."
The door closed, leaving the Vizard to train Ichigo.
End
A/N
So, hope you guys liked this new chapter. I know it was quite a bit shorter than the last one but its mostly for pacing reasons. Don't worry, the first week of school is usually pretty lax so the next chapter shouldn't take too long to upload.
Kuroda is being a rich boy again! Heehee!
In other news, we finally got to see Kuroda's inner world! Yeah!
We also met his crazy side!
OC submissions for Arrancars are still up, just PM them to me.
Tell me what you think in the reviews, favorite the story, and share with your friends!
Bye Bye!