I got another chapter for you guys. Enjoy, my friends.
Hollow speaking or thinking
Zanpakuto Spirit speaking or thinking
Normal speaking or thinking
Everyone just stared at the four, not saying a word in response to the weak statement made by them. The silence continued for a quarter of a minute longer until Randy began to get uncomfortable with the looks they were giving them and ended the period of quietness by saying, "What are you all looking at? Is there something on our faces? I'm being completely serious, you guys are really freaking me by not saying anything."
They all sighed in relief. "Oh thank god. I was really freaking out over all of this. First Tia, her Fracciones, and Nel appear with serious injuries, then you two pass out right after we rush them here," said Ichigo while running a hand through his orange hair. "A device Kisuke had in the shop reacted to both of you wanting to save them and forced all of you into a state of unconsciousness. That was yesterday in the early afternoon, each one of you were out for a little over a day."
"Damn, I didn't think what we did would take that long. A whole day? That's twenty-four hours of preparation wasted." groaned Bennett.
Yoruichi raised an eyebrow at the first part of the statement. "What did you say? Something happened to you four while you were knocked out?"
Urahara interrupted that train of thought. "We can figure that out later. Right now, making sure they are alright is the first thing we should do."
All of the people surrounding the four soulmates quickly dispersed to give them some and Tessai and his employer used a diagnostic Kido to check for any discrepancies in their systems. When they found none, Tessai brought a set of clothes for both Tia and Nel's spirit forms and the Gigais they would be using and the women quickly got dressed and into their new bodies and joined who were already sitting around a pair of circular tables pulled together. Kisuke then asked the five females from Hueco Mundo what happened to cause them to flee the desert world and they gained a solemn look on their faces, indicating something had happened that forced their hand.
Tia went first. "We're not sure how it happened, but somehow someone found out about part of our plans and could have possibly informed Aizen, Gin, and Tosen, though I don't know if that did happen. I think they may have spied on us or overheard us while we were in Las Noches, but I can't be sure, but I know they didn't have the whole picture since we only talked about how we would leave Aizen's army and nothing about who we would meet. The Fifth Espada, Nnoitora Gilga, confronted us with the Fourth Espada, Ulquiorra Cifer, and both attacked us after we refused to answer any questions they had, which they took as a sign of guilt. I do not understand how those two had knowledge, however limited it was, of our plan, but I suspect the person who discovered the small bits of information concerning it told them and sent them after us," she told the people in the room. "There were two problems that reared their ugly heads almost immediately. Nnoitora may be weaker than me, but he is unbelievably sadistic, and while Ulquiorra is ranked lower, I have had suspicions that he had hidden a major portion of his strength from the rest of us and my thoughts were proven to be correct. Both made the situation much worse, and we fought them as long as we could to retreat to what was our home before Aizen 'recruited' us." she finished with a sigh. Her soulmate gently grasped her hand and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to comfort her, and she greatly appreciated the gesture from him.
"Before the two had confronted Master Halibel, they approached Apacci, Mila Rose, and I. They said they had a 'situation', as Ulquiorra put it, involving her and had questions that needed to be answered, and Nnoitora threatened to kill us if we didn't take them to her. We may be strong, but we definitely cannot take on an Espada all by ourselves because we wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight," Sung-sun explained what had occurred before the confrontation. "We took them to her and they asked all of us about what we were up to and why we planned to leave Aizen's forces. None of us responded and Nnoitora didn't like that and immediately assumed we were guilty of all of that, each of them drawing their weapons and firing off a Cero that left us with some injuries and blasted a hole in the palace. We left and Sonidoed away with them following us, but they lost our trail for quite a bit of time." she said.
Mila Rose started talking next. "We stayed in our old hideout for a little while we talked about a strategy to find Master Nelliel and get the hell out of Hueco Mundo. We needed to evade our two pursuers long enough for us to find her and bring her here with us. Master Halibel used Pesquisa to find her and located Master Nelliel and her former Fracciones' spiritual pressures around the sands bordering the outskirts of the Menos Forest. When we found her, we explained what had happened and that we needed to come to Karakura Town as fast as possible."
"I told my companions to run and hide in the Menos Forest. They didn't want to leave me alone to fight against two Espadas, but I gave them my word I would be fine and would see them again someday. They did as I asked and not even twenty seconds after they vanished into the Forest, two powerful Cero shot out and smashed hard into our backs, injuring Tia and her Fracciones even more and causing some moderately severe wounds to appear on my body. We knew immediately that Nnoitora and Ulquiorra had found us. When they appeared and Nnoitora saw me, that animal got a savage grin. I could tell by the look on his face that he was not finished tormenting me yet and wanted to inflict and cause as much damage and pain as possible to me after all the time that had passed since he attacked me the first time and tossed out me and my friends out of Las Noches. He still wasn't satisfied and he had become much more bloodthirsty and violent since I last saw him." Nel interjected after Mila Rose had ended her part. The occupants could tell it was an upsetting subject for her to talk about and didn't ask for any details since she had a defeated look on her face. "We tried to fight them off as much as we could, but our wounds hindered us greatly and we soon couldn't put up much more of a fight. We were essentially running on fumes." Randy rubbed her back in an attempt to soothe and calm her, which helped immensely.
Apacci began to finish the account. "Since Master Nelliel had a lower number of wounds than the rest of us, she opened up a Garganta to Karakura Town and we rushed through it. I was the last through, and before she closed the opening, I saw Nnoitora ready to go after us, but his fellow Espada had held him back and shook his head, saying they could not go after us since Aizen wanted them to stay hidden from the Soul Society until the time was right. Using some of her remaining strength, Master Halibel opened a Garganta and we exited right into the middle of the park where you found us. Even though all of us were wounded, we managed to drag ourselves to a hidden area in the park. Master Nelliel suggested we flare our spiritual pressure to help you find us and it worked. You obviously know the rest." she said.
"I'm sorry all of you had to go through that. We didn't really know if someone else was going to find out about you five defecting since you four only met in Bennett and Randy's Inner World, so this is just something we couldn't predict without knowing more information. And since none of us could get into Hueco Mundo without following a Hollow through a Garganta and alerting Aizen, we couldn't get the needed information to get you out of there." Kisuke apologized to the five women for what happened to them, which they were thankful for. They could definitely understand his reasoning and they didn't hold it against him. "Now that we have addressed that question, there are some others that require answers, specifically Yoruichi's question. What exactly went on while you were unconscious?" he asked.
Nel had a sheepish expression appear on her face. "I guess we need to answer that, don't we?" Urahara nodded. "Well..."
Nel was sitting by herself with her knees tucked under her chin on a small hill overlooking the ancient ruins in his Inner World. The multitude of grassy hills were never in the Substitute's mind before and she wondered if something had somehow modified the landscape after she had last met her soulmate here. She couldn't think about it any longer because Randy had appeared without warning and she shrieked in surprise. "Randy, don't scare me like that!" she yelled.
"Sorry, Nel. One minute we were taking care of you guys and talking to Hat-and-Clogs, the next I am no longer conscious but here instead." He finally noticed where they were. "The hills were not here before. How did they get here?"
"I don't know." she whispered softly, a forlorn look in her eyes which were watering a little.
Her lover noticed this and sat down beside her. "Nel, talk to me. What's wrong?"
Nel turned to him and hugged him tightly. She was afraid. Afraid of dying and never seeing him again. "Randi, I'm scared. I thought I was going to die and leave you alone." A couple of tears trailed down her cheeks as she buried her head into his shoulder. "If I lost you and could no longer be with you, I would never feel complete. You have made me the happiest I have ever been in a long time, I just don't want it to end."
"Oh, Nel. You're safe now. You don't need to worry, I'll always be by your side. And that's a promise. I love you, Nelliel. Nothing in the world is ever going to change that." he said with a loving tone in his voice.
Nel leaned back a little bit and did something she had been wanting to for a long time ever since she met him. She cupped Randy's face and moved forward, giving him a long, affectionate kiss straight on the lips.
For a split second, Randy was surprised at the kiss but soon returned it with eagerness. 'God, how I have waited to do this. How lucky am I to have this woman as my girlfriend and soulmate.'
They pulled apart and took a breath. "That was my first kiss, Randy. I'm glad it was you who I gave it to." she gushed.
"Same here. And it was mine as well," Randy happily responded. "This is kind of out of the blue, but do you think we are here for a reason? It all seems weird that I fell asleep right after we got you to the shop."
"Indeed you are." a voice echoed around the area. Both of the two lovers' heads whipped around and looked around for the source of the voice.
"Who's there?" shouted the blond. After he said that, a large, glowing crystal orb appeared in front of them. They could not sense any spiritual energy coming from the orb and that worried them a bit.
"Calm yourselves, I mean no harm. I am the device Kisuke Urahara created and used to save the captains and lieutenants Sosuke Aizen experimented on, though while he created me, Urahara does not know the full extent of my capabilities. I am the Hogyoku," the orb spoke in a monotone voice. "I heard your wish to save your companion and brought both of you here to help Nelliel."
"Help me? How?" asked Nel.
"You have both demonstrated that you have a good character and heart and you walk the path of what you believe is right and just and fight for it as well. Your brother and his lover have done the same. That alone shows me you are all worthy of my help. What I will do is help you become complete and restore your heart, Nelliel, making you a true Soul Reaper/Hollow hybrid like Randi."
The turquoise-haired bombshell gasped. "You can really do that? You can make me like Randy?"
The Hogyoku glowed slightly as if it was somehow making a facial expression. "I grant the desires of those around me. This task is within my power and I shall do the same for Tia," it replied. "However, I only play a small fraction of the task. You are able to accomplish much of it yourself. What you must do is confront your past and discover why you lost your heart and became a Hollow. You must move past your despair and find a reason to regain your heart and become complete, then search for it and take it from the despair within yourself that is plaguing you. If you can do this, you will pave the way for other Arrancars to become complete without my help."
She nodded. "I can do that. If it means being with the one I care about the most, then I will do what I can to accomplish that."
"Then let us begin."
"I really didn't want to meet in person for the first time like this, Bennett." Tia sighed in resignation. She was upset that things had not gone to plan like she hoped. When she found the person who informed those two Espada about part of their plans, she would personally see to it that she tore them limb from limb for ruining everything.
Bennett nodded. "I know, but I'm just happy you were able to get here. It's a good thing we found you and got you to the shop before you lost too much blood. Still, this wasn't the ideal way for this to happen." he said. The newest ex-Espada hummed in agreement.
"Now that all of us have left Hueco Mundo behind and been essentially exiled as long as that bastard is in charge, I really have no idea what we are going to do now and how we will live here." she explained about her and her companions' situation.
He turned his head in confusion at her statement. "What do you mean?" He didn't quite understand what she meant by what she said.
"Well, we don't really have a place to stay in Karakura Town. We could possibly stay at the shop, but I don't want to intrude on your mentors. Plus, if what you told me about Kisuke and his perverted antics is true, then the shop is definitely out of the question," Tia told her soulmate. "We might be able to have Kisuke help set something up for us, but that could take some time to get everything in order and sorted out. I just don't know, this is something that I just can't figure out."
Bennet got what the issue was, and after a bit of thinking, an idea hit him. "Why don't you live with us? Space is not an issue and since each of us have our own room, you could stay in mine with me while Nel bunks with Randy. I would really like it if you stayed with my family and I, I know Randy would like it if Nel did." he suggested.
Her eyes widened and her head snapped quickly to face him. "You'd do that for us, Benetto? You would really do that? I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality and intrude on your family."
He brought her into a hug and kissed her on the lips passionately. "I'd do anything to make you happy, Tia. You mean the world to me, don't ever doubt that."
Tia was moved to tears of joy from his caring and selfless gesture. 'I won't, Bennett. Believe me, I won't. You are everything to me.'
They stayed in their embrace for a while, then they let go while still holding each other's hand. "So what happened after you brought us to the shop? Everything was fuzzy and kind of blurry and I was no longer awake after Tessai starting bandaging us."
"Well, Hat-and-Clogs asked us what happened and right when Randy started to tell what took place on our side, he started wobbling a little on his feet and fell down on his ass, losing consciousness after a few seconds sitting down. I think I also somehow fell unconscious a moment after that. Everything went black for me and I woke up here with you." he said.
"How did both of you somehow get knocked out with no explanation? That's very unusual." she asked.
"That would be my doing." came a voice out of nowhere. They turned around rapidly and saw the same crystal orb the other pair of soulmates encountered. "There is no need to panic. I didn't do it with malicious intent in mind."
"Who are you and how did you get inside my Inner World?" asked Bennett in restrained irritation. This orb was an unknown and whether it was friend or foe remained to be seen.
I believe Kisuke may have alluded to my existence when he would talk about the Hollowfication Incidents over one hundred years ago. I am the Hogyoku, the device that he used to stabilize the victims of Aizen's experiments," explained the Hogyoku. "As for why I am here, I have witnessed all you have done and accomplished and heard your pleas to save your soulmate. Like your brother and his own lover, you two have passed my test to receive my help, which I have already explained to them."
Tia asked cautiously, "What will you help us with exactly?" Living as a Hollow in Hueco Mundo tended to leave one skeptical and wary of any help another Hollow gave as it could very well lead to them getting eaten and assimilated.
"Helping you regain your heart and become complete and a true hybrid of a Soul Reaper and Hollow like Benetto, Tia."
This was something the blonde was not expecting for the Hogyoku to say. "Can that even be possible? As much as I want to become whole again, I'm not even sure there's a way to do that." she said with disbelief.
Without missing a beat, the orb said, "It is very possible. Nelliel is attempting to do so as we speak. Succeeding gives other Arrancars like your Fracciones the chance to do so on their own."
Tia now knew she wanted to do this not just for herself and Bennett but for Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun. "What do I need to do?"
"As I told the other two, look into your past and find why you lost your heart to despair. You must then find a reason to recapture it from despair and complete yourself. After that, you must then reclaim your heart from the negative emotions and despair within yourself."
"I understand. I'm ready to do this." Tia affirmed her decision with confidence. Her boyfriend squeezed her hand in reassurance.
"We'll get started then."
"When Tia and I faced our pasts and became true hybrids, we gained Inner Worlds of our own that were connected to Randy's and Bennett's. In addition to that, we also learned our Zanpakutos' names. Both of us still have our Resurreccion releases, but now we have an actual Soul Reaper release and Zanpakuto spirits as well," explained Nel. "We will show you our Shikai that we have later, but we'd like to keep our pasts private for now." The rest of the room accepted it since it was a well known fact that Hollows were born from despair and sometimes the events that lead to the creation of a Soul's despair weren't exactly pretty to hear or know.
Sung-sun was amazed at the possibility of becoming a whole person and having their hearts back. "Master Halibel, are we really able to regain our hearts like when we were alive and be complete again?"
Tia held up her hand. "No more of this 'Master Halibel' stuff, Sung-Sun. I am no longer your superior and you three are no longer my subordinates. I'd like for you to just call me 'Tia'. To answer your question, it is very possible, but the Hogyoku cannot be used to do so since we were the first two that went through the process with its guidance and the process took just about all the power it had because it fundamentally changed what we are. But you are able to do so without it. It's a good feeling to be whole again, there's no question about it."
Kisuke had an astonished look on his face at the information he had been given while Tia and Nel were speaking. "God, so not only is the Hogyoku sentient, but you two regained your hearts you lost when you first became Hollows and then became Vizards like Randy, Ichigo, and Bennett. Not even the combined intellect of both Aizen and I could come up with something like that." He let out a defeated sigh. "You know what, I am not going to have any expectations for you any longer because all of you just blow them out of the water and give me more headaches to deal with." he mumbled in slight frustration.
Tia and Nel chuckled at Kisuke's complaining while the brothers snickered. "Hey Hat-and-Clogs, earlier you said there were some people who were in the same boat as us and who would be giving some help. Why have they not shown up yet?" asked Ichigo after they had their fun.
The perverted man said, "They're the captains and lieutenants we saved when Aizen experimented on them all those years ago, who are classified as Vizards, hybrids of Soul Reapers and Hollows, which is what you five are, though both your sides are completely balanced with each other while they lean more toward the Soul Reaper aspect of themselves. They stayed around Karakura Town with us when we left the Soul Society. The thing about them is they have the ability to manifest a Hollow mask to enhance their abilities and gain Hollow powers, which they will teach you how to do, but I suspect Tia and Nel will have an easier time with this and can help out the rest of you since they used to be Arrancars and know how to use their Hollow abilities."
Randy asked, "There's less than a week left before we go to save Rukia. Any edge we can gain will help immensely. When can they start teaching us?"
"I'll get in contact with them today and have you start tomorrow. All of you can take the day off to rest from this unexpected ordeal and get your minds in a better state as well." All of them nodded in agreement and started heading out of the shop.
Before Ichigo left however, he decided to ask his girlfriend about something after he heard his brothers and their girlfriends' story. "Yoruichi, I was wondering. Since Tia and Nel will be living with us from now on, would you like to stay with us like they are doing?" he nervously inquired. He hoped she would say yes because it would mean a lot to him if his sisters got to know his girlfriend.
She smiled and hugged him. "Aw, that's sweet of you, Ichi. I'd love to. As much as I cherish Kisuke as my best friend, his antics and perverted tendencies do get on my nerves a lot. I can get my clothes and possessions from the shop and bring them to your house tomorrow. And I am staying with you in your room, got it? Don't worry, I'm not going do anything like what you're thinking I might do. That'll come later when we feel ready. We'll just be sleeping in the same bed in the same room." she said, easing his worries about the potential problem that them being in the same bed could have caused.
"Do you want to come with us right now so I can introduce you to my sisters? You already know my crazy father, but I think you will really enjoy meeting Karin and Yuzu."
"Sure."
Once everyone was out of the shop, they discussed a little bit about where Sung-sun, Mila Rose, and Apacci would reside now, to which they said they wanted stay with the people who housed them the previous night since Chad and Orihime didn't care that they were Arrancars and treated them like normal people. All of them saw no problem with the arrangement because it meant their friends could help teach the three Arrancars a few minor things about modern life, given that the former Fracciones had already known nearly all the information one needed to know to live in the twenty first century with a few exceptions (though Tia and Nel knew everything due to the fact Aizen wanted them to blend in normally in the World of the Living if he didn't succeed in his plot and they needed to hide there), and it solved the small problem of integrating them into society.
After that little conversation, Yoruichi, Tia, Ichigo, Nel, Bennett, and Randy departed to the Kurosaki household, Uryu and Tatsuki went to their respective residences, and the female Arrancars left with the person each of them would stay with. On the way, Tia and Nel asked about the boys' father, not knowing a whole lot about the man. Yoruichi snickered at what was going to be an interesting discussion concerning the aforementioned dumbass while Bennett, Randy, and Ichigo groaned when they heard the question.
"Oh god, where do I begin?" lamented the redhead. He gave a defeated sigh. "Isshin Kurosaki, formerly Squad 10 Captain Isshin Shiba of the Shiba Clan of the Seireitei, is probably one of the idiotic people we have ever had the displeasure of knowing. He is a complete manchild who still treats Yuzu and Karin like they are little kids, ambushes us multiple times a day to attack us for the simple reason of 'making us into men', and bawls to a oversized memorial picture of our mom about 'where did he go wrong in raising their three sons who became delinquents.'"
"I don't know if he was like this when he lived in the Soul Society, but how he has survived with all the shit he does daily is beyond me. But lately, he has been more understanding and supportive of us and lessened most of his antics ever since Rukia first appeared, though it might not be permanent. One of the good things about him is he was one of the local hospital's top surgeons and he made very good money doing that, so he knows how to provide for us and makes us pretty well off. He now runs a small clinic that is connected to our house and deals with smaller injuries, but he still goes to the hospital sometimes when they require him for a surgery if Uryu's dad is busy or not available at the time and they pay him well when he does so." Randy gave some props to his father for at least starting to be less of an ass.
Bennett added, "Though if he starts to act up, all of you have our permission to sock him in the jaw, especially you, Yoruichi, since you have known him for a long time. Karin and all three of us do so to stop him from being an idiot."
"Will do." Tia giggled.
They soon arrived at the house and knocked on the door. Isshin opened the door and nearly fell on his ass when he saw his three sons standing in the doorway. "Hey, Dad." said the brothers.
"Welcome home, boys." He then pointed at the black-haired teen and blond and sarcastically said, "You just love to give me scares, don't you? I thought I was going to have a heart attack when your brother called me and told me about you two passing out at Kisuke's shop."
Randy and Bennett sheepishly scratched the back of their heads. "Yeah, we're sorry about that." nervously chuckled the punk culture enthusiast.
Their father then noticed the three women standing with them. "Benetto, Randi, are they your soulmates?"
Randy grasped Nel's hand as did Bennett with Tia's. "Dad, the turquoise-haired girl is my soulmate and girlfriend, Nelliel 'Nel' Tu Odelschwanck. The blonde girl is Tia Halibel, Bennett's soulmate and girlfriend."
"Hello/Hi." both of them said.
"It's nice to meet the ladies that stole my sons' hearts." He noticed Yoruichi's hand holding his orange-haired son's. "If you're here, Yoruichi, then does that mean you are Ichigo's...?"
"Yes, Isshin. We're soulmates as well as boyfriend and girlfriend. Now, are you going to stand there all day looking like a dope or can we come in now?" she jabbed with a feline smirk at the bearded man. He chuckled at his old friend's mischievous attitude and opened the door all the way to let them inside.
All of them followed him into the house and they sat down on the sectional couch in the family room. For about an hour, they talked about what happened to bring Tia and Nel to the World of the Living, how the two new Vizards had attained their current state of being, and their new living arrangements (the boys' father didn't mind the plan at all since it would make his sons happy and give his daughters some interaction with another female presence). A decision all of them came to was they would need to go to the mall and get the two former Arrancars essentials like clothes, necessities that only females used, and other things that were needed. Yoruichi wouldn't need any of that since all of her stuff was at the Urahara shop and they could just bring it after training tomorrow.
Karin and Yuzu eventually came downstairs from their room and noticed the three gorgeous women sitting with their older brothers. "Goat-chin, who are they and why are they sitting with Randy, Ichigo, and Bennett?" asked the more serious of the twins.
"Karin, Yuzu, these are our girlfriends, Yoruichi, Nel, and Tia. They are going to become a part of our family and live with us for reasons we won't disclose at the moment." said Ichigo.
The kind-hearted Yuzu started bawling. "You three can't have girlfriends yet, you can't be growing up that fast! You'll spend all your time with them and won't spend any with us! Wah!"she sobbed.
"Yuzu, we're still going to spend time with both of you. They will too and I think you'll like them. They will be like older sisters to you two. And don't worry, we're not that old yet or going anywhere for a long time." explained Bennett to his crying younger sibling, throwing in a little joke to cheer her up. Luckily, it worked and the light-haired twin let out a small giggle at the joke as she wiped her tears away from her eyes.
"No, I guess you're not," she responded. "It's nice to meet you three. I hope you enjoy living with us." Then the cute little girl had a creepy expression on her normally adorable face that scared the rest of the people in the living room a little and sent shivers down their spines, even the battle-hardened ex-Stealth Force Commander that was Yoruichi Shihoin felt somewhat afraid seeing the ghastly look the sweet, innocent child had. "But if any of you hurt Ichigo, Bennett, or Randy or break their hearts, you better be prepared to run, suffer and pay dearly because there will be no place for you to hide or escape from my wrath, got that?" The three women nodded, knowing they would never do that to the men they loved but also not wanting to risk the wrath of their younger sibling.
Yuzu dropped the scary look and adopted a happy one instead. "Welcome to the family, it's going to be fun having three older sisters." She smiled as if she had not dropped a threat of pure suffering.
Everyone, save for the young girl who had made the threat, sweatdropped at the declaration Yuzu had made. 'Jeez, Yuzu. I get the protective-sibling-threatening-the-girlfriend/boyfriend schtick, but that felt like the Grim Reaper himself was behind me and breathing down my neck.' was the thought all of them shared.
"Well, all of us are going to head to the mall in a little bit to get some clothes and stuff for Tia and Nel since they don't have very much with them in the way of possessions," Randy said. "Come on, we'll show you our rooms upstairs for a bit, then we need to get going after that." The six of them got up and walked up the staircase to enter their respective rooms.
Unlike her sister, the other twin in the household was a little conflicted with her thoughts about the three women her brothers were dating that she had just met and had immediately deducted this had something to do with what she had seen in the cemetery all those weeks ago. Karin was not sure what exactly had happened to cause them to meet her siblings, so she decided to confront all of them now and get an answer after they came back from the mall. She followed them up the stairs and opened the door to Ichigo's room, seeing the sight of him and the dark-skinned, purple-haired woman talking and looking around the room.
"Ichigo?" she asked. They turned towards her when they heard her voice in the doorway.
"What's up, Karin?" he asked in turn.
"We need to talk about what all of you were doing fighting that giant monster with that black-haired teenage girl near Mom's grave. I want an answer and an honest one too." Seeing both of them freeze, she continued to speak. "You don't have to tell me now, but you will explain what happened after you get home from shopping."
They sighed. "Alright, we'll do so. But you cannot speak a word of this to your sister until we feel she is able to handle it. Promise me that." the Strawberry requested. She nodded in understanding and left the room, closing the door as she exited and went downstairs. Silence ensued for a good thirty seconds before both of them groaned in irritation. "Shit, I did not expect this to happen. I know she can see spirits just like we can, but she must have seen us battling Grand Fisher somehow. And now, we have to tell her everything." he lamented.
His soulmate rubbed her temples. "Just imagining how interesting that conversation will be is already giving me a headache. Good thinking on your part to her not to say anything to Yuzu, she may have sent chills throughout my body with her little threat but I can tell she's just too innocent right now to know anything. We'll tell the others on the way to the mall, focusing on helping Nel and Tia choosing clothes and feminine products should get our minds off of this for now."
"You're right. Let's go get the others and be on our way."
The sextet arrived at the mall after a long walk and small discussion about Karin wanting to know about what they were up to. Needless to say, none of them were looking forward to telling her about their extracurricular activities. But they couldn't do anything about it at that point in time, so they shoved it into the back of their minds.
Inside the mall, they went to several different stores with the two female Vizards trying on different outfits and Yoruichi helping them with deciding what would look good on them and choosing what they wanted. It didn't take very long since Tia and Nel weren't particularly picky about clothes unlike many girls that were the age that their visual appearance appeared as. They eventually ran into Tatsuki and Orihime helping Apacci, Mila Rose, and Sung-Sun choosing articles of clothing while Yasutora waited off to the side, looking a little out of place and out of his element. The boys pulled him out of the store to keep the gentle giant from becoming more uncomfortable than he already was. They decided to take him to a music store to surround him in a familiar element in addition to look for CDs of albums that Apple Music and iTunes didn't have in their selections (because of each of the Kurosaki boys' extremely similar preferences of music they enjoyed, there were quite a few LPs that fit the bill).
While Sado liked classic rock artists such as Bruce Springsteen and Black Sabbath as well as a bunch of others, Ichigo, Randy, and Bennett liked a wide variety of modern rock music that consisted of nu metal bands like Limp Bizkit, Mushroomhead, and Dangerkids, rap rock/rap metal/rapcore artists such as Hollywood Undead, Biohazard, and Deuce, metalcore groups such as Crown the Empire, Emmure, and Stray from the Path, and heavy metal players like Disturbed, Fozzy, and Pantera. Since the older Kurosakis liked the same stuff, it made getting CDs for presents to the others easier for them but caused a lot of fighting between them on who the CDs belonged to when it was just something they purchased and not a gift.
The thing that was common between every single group all of them liked was the bands were all from Western civilization and none of them were Japanese in origin. Because the mixed teen grew up in Mexico for a large majority of his youth and knew Spanish, English, and Japanese and the brothers spoke both Japanese and English and were highly proficient, though not perfect, in German since Quincies came from the German-speaking nations in Europe and Masaki spoke the language to them a lot in their childhood, Japanese music was ruined for them and they could not listen to the stuff, instead preferring tunes in English. But they weren't complaining because it was great music and the song topics were always incredibly diverse and creative.
Each of them bought some albums they wanted and exited the store. They found the girls with some shopping bags holding a large amount of clothing and hygiene products. Greeting the male teenagers, the females picked up the bags and headed out the mall with the boys alongside them. They bade goodbye to each other and left to the house they lived or were staying at.
"Did you find everything you needed, Nel?" asked Randy as they were walking home, each boy carrying a few of the bags to take a portion of the load off their arms.
"We did. Yoruichi helped us a bunch and gave us ideas and tips on what to pick, buy, and wear. She really knows her fashion and has a good idea of what she's doing."
Ichigo took the opportunity to tease his girlfriend a little. "I'm willing that's because she may be a closet shopaholic. Would I be correct in my assumption, Ms. Shohoin?"
The dark skinned heiress blushed a little and thumped on the arm, but had a noticeable smile on her face. "I am and damn proud of it, Mr. Kurosaki. You tend to pick up on the trends and what people are wearing when you've lived in the World of the Living for as long as I have. There was really no issues with figuring out what they wanted to have, they just needed some ideas to push them in the right direction."
"Let's just hope your soulmate doesn't turn into a fascist version of the Fashion Police, bro." Bennett joked good-naturedly. All of them laughed at the comment the punk teen gave.
They reached the house and entered, immediately going straight up to their rooms to deposit the bags to put the clothing away at a later time. As soon as that task was finished, all of them went to Ichigo's room and took a seat while his taller brother got Karin to come to the room to talk.
"We might as well get this over with. I'm not exactly sure how she will take in this influx of revelations, but I think she will very much be shocked at everything we will tell her." said Randy. The rest of them agreed.
Karin and Bennett entered and shut the door so they would not be disturbed. Then the serious preteen asked, "So what exactly have you three been up to?"
Ichigo sighed. This was not going to be easy.
"Well..."
And there. As always, read and review. And no flaming please.
So I have actually realized I might need to give a real life example of Bennett and Randy's hairstyle since I think some people won't have a very clear idea of what the haircuts look like. Bennett's haircut is the same style as former WCW, WWE, and TNA/Impact Wrestling pro wrestler Shannon Moore when he had the full mohawk, just colored black and with the dyes previously described in the first chapter. Randy's haircut is the same as the only current vocalist in the rapcore/hardcore punk band Biohazard, Billy Graziadei's style in the music video for the song "Tales from the Hard Side" from their third album "State of the World Address." Look up pictures of these two people and you have a pretty good picture of what the brothers' haircuts look like.
Some may question why I put those genres and bands for the selection of music Ichigo, Randy, and Bennett prefer to listen to. The bands I listed are some of the ones I love and listen to a bunch in real life, many of them being players of nu metal, rap rock, metalcore, and heavy metal. If you were a teen during the late 90's and early 2000's, you would have heard bands like Limp Bizkit, LINKIN PARK, P.O.D., and Papa Roach on the radio a lot. Nu metal was the genre to listen to at the time but had a reputation for being an extremely hated genre of music, though I don't really care. I LOVE the genre, and the funny thing is that I had never heard of it until I started listening to LINKIN PARK and a few other bands that had played music considered nu metal. I then discovered Hollywood Undead in June of 2019 and I was hooked. I searched for a list of bands that played that style of music and I just went on a nu metal craze. I would discover more and more artists involved with the genre and add their songs to my phone. And it wasn't just nu metal. When I found out that Hollywood Undead was also labeled rap rock as well, bam! Same thing happened. Just a little background information on the choices I gave the boys.
Also, the reason I had the boys ask their soulmates if they wanted to live with them is because I believe that even though Kisuke is her best friend, Yoruichi would definitely get fed up with his antics and perverted tendencies a lot and need many breaks from them. Plus, Tia and Nel really have nowhere to go after fleeing Hueco Mundo. The becoming Vizards concept was inspired by "Welcome to my World" by LiamG, an excellent author whose awesome Bleach stories involving Yoruichi, Tia, and Ichigo I have read before. Unfortunately, they have not been updating since December of 2018, though they have favorited stories that have been published as recently as May of 2020, which makes me believe they're taken a break from writing and is now just reading on here. I recommend you go check them out.
I also need to put a list of original concepts that I have put in my stories on my bio page such as the attacks and Zanpakutos I created and google translated for you guys, that way people remember what they are instead of having to go back and search for them in the stories.
One last thing, I will be taking a small break from "Power of Three" to work on "Undead" more. This is not a hiatus or anything like that, I just need to get the story caught up since I have not worked out it since May and I have some great ideas swirling around in my head.
Crash, out.