Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any other series I might use for inspiration.
A New, Unexpected Player in the Game
"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Ichigo asked warily.
The person he was talking to was definitely, and unquestionably, thee most beautiful person that he had ever seen in his life, spotting spiky blonde hair with braided locks, aqua green eyes, thick eyelashes, and olive skin. She was also wearing blue form fitting jeans and a black form fitting T-shirt and also appeared to have a sword horizontally placed on her back, the sword being the reason that Ichigo was looking at her warily.
Ichigo was on his way to meat Kisuke Urahara, who he refers to as Mr Hat and Clogs. The man had promised to help him get his powers back and even promised to provide him with some extra training in order to get him ready to better compete with the soul reapers that were responsible for his loss of power, heck the guy even said he had a way to get him into Soul Society undetected. Ichigo was not going to miss out on his one shot at rescuing his friend Rukia, that is of course, if he somehow managed to survive this encounter.
"My name is Tier Harribel, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person, Kurosaki Ichigo. In the interest of not wasting yours or my time, I will tell you exactly why this encounter between has occurred, and of course, my intentions towards you." Harribel said with a serene tone of voice.
"Okay, I'm listening." Ichigo said warily, though doing well not to show it, relieved that this person seemed to only want to talk to him for now.
"I've been watching you since you awakened your shinigami powers. Initially, it was only out of sheer curiosity, but the more I watched you, the more….attached I became, the more I started to wish for your success and to dread your demise. You have awakened something within me, your sheer passion and determination, and of course, your compassion and the resolve that derives from it to protect all that is precious to you, these are the qualities that have drawn me to you" Tier said, pausing momentarily before elaborating on her what exactly she was trying to convey to the carrot topped teen.
"Needless to say, you have changed the way I see the world. That is why, in your time of need, I wish to repay you by offering my services to you. If you would come with me, I can take you to an isolated location where I can give you the training you require in order to rescue your friend." Harribel said passionately.
"That, is a wonderful offer, and thank you for your praise. But I already have someone to train me. I hope this does not offend you." Ichigo said regrettably.
"It does not, for you see, you have a misconception, Kurosaki Ichigo, or perhaps it is my fault for implying that you have a choice in the matter." Tier said with a grave undertone.
"What the hell? So what, you're gonna kidnap me? I should have known you were…!" Ichigo trailed off, not getting a chance to finish his sentence as, in the blink of an eye, Harribel had already moved behind him and used a karate chop to the back of the neck in order to render him unconscious, catching him before his body hit the ground as she held him gently in her arms.
"You'll thank me later, and if not, then you will forgive me…eventually." Harribel said softly, picking Ichigo up bridal style before using sonido to get away, taking Ichigo to her secure and hidden hideout.
Two Hours Later:
"W-where the hell am I?" Ichigo thought as he looked around the place, finding only a barren land that seemed to be made entirely of white sand. It also seemed to be night time, just how long was he passed out anyway?
"Damn that Tier Harribel! I should have known she was a bad guy!" Ichigo thought as he rubbed his sore head, looking down only to find, much to his utter surprise, a broken chain on his chest area.
"What the hell? That bitch! She killed me!" Ichigo exclaimed indignantly, unable to believe the audacity of that ugl…okay very attractive but ugly on the inside bitch.
"That is uncalled for, Kurosaki Ichigo. Here I am going out of my way to help you get stronger and all you can do is to call me horrible names. Perhaps I was wrong about the kind of man you are." Ichigo heard an all too familiar voice coming from behind him, instantly jumping to his feet and taking on a battle stance so as to protect himself.
"Y-you! What did you do to me? What is this place? Why did you kill me? Answer me damn it!" Ichigo said angrily.
"You are technically dead yes, but you have the power to change that. See, your body is not damaged, it is still physically healthy, it is only your soul that is disconnected from your body. That chain on your chest will gradually shrink and eat itself away and as you know, if you run out of chain, you will turn into a hollow. This means that you have to awaken your shinigami powers before that happens, and if you do that, you will be able to return to your human body any time that you want." Tier Harribel deadpanned.
"Just how am I suppose to do that genius?" Ichigo asked incredulously.
"Simple really, just make sure you don't die. Pesche, Dondochaka, Neliel! Show yourselves!" Harribel exclaimed, three people coming out of the double story structure that was behind Harribel, one a beautiful woman with green hair and hazel eyes and the other two tall men, one lanky and blond haired and the other red haired and quite stocky. They were all dressed in white and they all carried zanpakutou, and come to think about it, Harribel had also changed her outfit to one that was white and she had half of her face covered now.
'Is this some kind of uniform? Definitely, it has to be. But its different from the normal shinigam uniforms and why do these people have broken hollow masks? They definitely aren't from soul society. Are they hollows? But, they look so human.' Ichigo thought warily.
"Hello Itsygo! I'm Neliel tu Odersvank and these are my friends Pesche and Dondochaka. Its nice to finally meet you in person." Neliel said excitedly, Ichigo sweat dropping at the ditsy behaviour of this…also very attractive woman, having been scared out of his mind when she first appeared, her current behavior the total opposite of the intimidating and serious demeanour that she had before she started talking.
"Ichigo, all you have to do is to avoid every attack that Pesche and Dondochaka throw at you. In other words, just make sure you don't die. This training is meant to hone your skills but most importantly, it is meant to fine tune your battle instincts. When your battle instincts are at their peak, you will be able to awaken your latent shinigami powers. That Soul Reaper captain only destroyed your borrowed powers, but you have your own shinigami powers. Those are the powers you must now awaken." Harribel instructed.
"So all I have to do is awaken my powers before I run out of chain? This should be a piece of cake!" Ichigo thought, deciding to focus on the training for now. He had a lot of questions but the answers to those questions were not as important as gaining power and saving Rukia.
"That's what I wanted to hear, Kurosaki Ichigo." Tier said with a sinister smirk.
20 Days Later
It took five days for Ichigo's chain to completely eat itself away, five days for him to begin his hollow transformation, which of course, had been Harribel's goal from the get go. Granted, she didn't lie to him because she had every intention of making him strong enough to rescue his friend, and if he had awakened his shinigami powers, then he wouldn't have undergone hollowfication.
However, she had been banking on him failing and turning into a hollow. So one can imagine her surprise when, mid hollowfication, Ichigo somehow managed to awaken his shinigami powers and turn into a shinigami with a hollow mask. She could honestly say that she had never seen anything like that before, and was even more surprised when Ichigo went on to break the mask off without any consequences.
He wasn't an arrancar, and he wasn't a normal shinigami either. So what the hell was he? In the end, after careful observation and deliberation, she and Neliel had concluded that Ichigo was the polar opposite of them. Whereas they were hollows with shinigami powers, he was a shinigami with hollow powers.
Both Tier and Neliel were quite disappointed in all honesty, because it would be more difficult for them to convince Ichigo to join them now because it seemed like he could still masquerade as a shinigami if he wanted to, whereas had he turned into a hollow and later an arrancar, it would have been impossible for him to pretend to be a shinigami and he would have ended up having no choice but to join them.
Still, if Ichigo slipped up and his hollow powers were discovered, the Gotei 13 would no doubt attempt to do what they do to all hollows, that being to eliminate him. He would be forced to defend himself of course and that would result in him becoming enemies with the Gotei 13, and what do they say about the enemy of my enemy?
'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Tier thought with a smirk that went unseen behind her mask and jacket-covered lower face.
"Enough!" Tier exclaimed as she flexed her overbearing spiritual pressure, Ichigo wondering how, despite him having grown so much in strength over the last twenty days, Tier and Neliel still had so much more spiritual pressure than he did.
"Aaaaw but we were just getting to the fun part!" Neliel wined petulantly.
"You've been sparring non stop for ten hours. If there was going to be a fun part, you would have got to it already." Tier said with an heir of authority.
"Not that I'm not happy to get some much needed rest, but why did you stop us, Tier? What's going on?" Ichigo asked curiously, he and Neliel walking over to the tres espada, Neliel looking so clean and fresh that it didn't look like she had done anything at all today, much less sparring for ten hours straight. Ichigo on the other hand had bruises and cracked bones all over his body, and his face looked like he had been someone's punching bag for the entire day. Honestly, it was a miracle that he was still standing, much less sparring against the former tres espada.
That's what he had been doing over the last ten days, sparring with Tier for one day, and then with Neliel the following day. It had taken him just five days to defeat Pesche and Dondochaka in one on one battle, and another five to defeat them in two on one battle, such was the ridiculous speed of his growth.
Of course, none of the battles involved the use of zanpakutou, Tier insisting that he first master hand to hand combat before he goes on to sword to sword battle. However, given how strong and fast he was now, it was unlikely that Pesche and Dondochakka would even challenge him in sword play, in all likelihood he would have to start his sword training with the tres and former tres espada.
"Your hand to hand skills have improved drastically over the last ten days, as you are now, you're only losing because you simply lack the power and the speed to keep up with us, not because you lack the skills. I'm particularly impressed by your fighting instincts, granted you have a background in Karate but even your judo and jui jutsu skills have grown exponentially in the last ten days. Therefore, for the remaining eight days we will put hakuda aside and focus on zanjutsu." Tier explained.
She still hadn't told Ichigo the whole story. This place they were in, this dimensional pocket had a different flow of time to the living world, to Soul Society, and even to Hueco Mundo. Twenty eight days in the real world was equal to two years in here. In other words, Ichigo had a whole two years to prepare for the battles ahead.
She didn't want to tell him yet because she wanted to see how fast his growth would be if he thought he only had twenty eight days to train. She also wanted to put him in a high pressure situation and see how strong his mental fortitude and resolve were, and of course, she wanted him to grow as much as possible in a short amount of time.
She intended to tell him the truth after the next eight days, in other words, after the twenty eight days of allotted time was up. However, even then she wasn't going to tell him the entire truth. Instead of two years, she would tell him that he only had six months in order to again maximize his growth. At this point she knew that Ichigo worked extremely well under pressure, absurdly so in fact, and she had every intention of capitalizing on that.
She had asked Aizen-sama for access to his personal library in order to learn about the Gotei 13, and in there, she had found their academy program. Apparently Aizen-sama had worked closely with the academy and had even been a teacher at one point.
She wanted to give Ichigo six months to pass the academy program. She knew from Aizen-sama's records that there were only two people in the past who had passed in just one year, those being Ichimaru Gin and Hitsugaya Toshiro. The next best student was Kuchiki Byakuya, who passed in two years.
With that in mind, she fully believed that Ichigo could do it in six months, after all, he was already qualified to be a full fledged shinigami as far as she was concerned and as he was now, he would mop the floor with anyone who wasn't a leuitenant. She was confident that he was also much stronger and faster than a Leiutenant but would probably struggle due to inexperience and lack of diversity in his skill set.
So yes, Ichigo would definitely pass the program in six months, probably less if it wasn't for the difficulties she anticipated he would have with kido. Hoho would be easy for him to master, and of course, hakuda and zanjutsu would be non factors.
"We're training zanjutsu now? That's great news! Maybe I'll finally be able to learn the name of my zanpakutou since I'll actually be using it now." Ichigo said excitedly.
"Indeed you will. But before we continue, I'd like to give you a warning, no, actually, not a warning, more like, information." Tier said gravely.
"What is it?" Ichigo asked with concern.
"I have been using pesquisa to analyze your reishi and reiatsu since you underwent your shinigami transformation. Ichigo, if you recall, you almost turned into a hollow before you turned into a shinigami in the last minute. Based on your reishi, it is with certainty that I say unto you that there is a hollow living inside of you."
"W-what? What the hell do you mean!" Ichigo exclaimed frantically, Neliel on the other hand not knowing whether to smile or frown at hearing the news as she did not understand what it meant exactly. She knew Ichigo was part hollow, after all, they had discussed this issue with Tier right after Ichigo awakened his powers. However, she hadn't known that there was an actual hollow living inside of him. That was news to her.
"Initially I thought that you were just part shinigami and part hollow, and that was it. That is true, but it seems the hollow powers inside of you have manifested a consciousness existence of their own. That is likely because of the nature of your powers as a shinigami. Shinigami powers manifest their own consciousness and form inside of their masters, so it seems like your hollow has done the same. At some point, this being will attempt to devour you." Tier explained.
"W-what? G-get it out! Now! Get it out of me! Why the hell are you so calm about this damn it!" Ichigo exclaimed frantically, Neliel unable to contain her laughter anymore as she broke into a full blown giggle.
"What the hell Nel? What's wrong with you? This isn't funny damn it!" Ichigo cried indignantly.
"Stop being a child, Ichigo. This is nothing. You have two options when the hollow tries to take over your body, beat it into submission, or devour it." Tier said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Devour it? What the hell! I'm not a god damn hollow!" Ichigo exclaimed comically.
"Actually Ichigo, you are part hollow. In the same way we are hollows with shinigami powers, you are a shinigami with hollow powers. You are our polar opposite. Do not worry about that for now though, just focus on getting stronger so that you can save your friend. Remember, it is not just physical or spiritual power that you need, you also need to hone your mental and emotional fortitude, otherwise you'll lose to your hollow. Strengthen your resolve Ichigo, because doubt leads to death." Tier said gravely, Ichigo schooling his features as he also got serious, instinctively realizing the importance of this lesson.
"Doubt leads to death." Ichigo repeated as he etched the words into his very soul so that he may never forget them.
"Good. Now, let us move on to the next stage of your training." Tier said with a confident smirk, knowing in her non existent heart that Ichigo would overcome everything that was to come.
21 Months since the training began.
"I'm ready for training." Ichigo said, fully garbed in his shihakusho, complete with sandals and the gigantic sword that was sheathed on his back. On top of the shihakusho he also had a dark blue hoari with a red, black, and white hollow mask design on his back, which was of course the design of his hollow mask.
Speaking of which, he had fully mastered his hollowfication now. As Tier told him, eventually his inner hollow did attempt to consume his soul and take over his body, but Ichigo had beaten it into submission. However, just as Tier predicted, that had only been a temporary solution, as the hollow would only rest for a month before trying to take over his body again.
After the third attempt, Ichigo finally decided that he had to devour the hollow after all, and asked Tier and Nel to teach him how hollows devour other beings, following which he went on to devour the hollow and assimilate all of its power into himself.
His mastery over hoho was second to none, it was so good in fact that he could even keep up with Nel and Tier when they were using sonido. Speaking of which, he had learned how to use sonido as well, although he only used it when he was using his hollow powers because it wasn't very effective when he wasn't using his hollow powers, shunpo was far more effective when in shinigami form.
He also learned how to use cero, bala, and its many variations as well and had such a high level of skill in kido that he could use nineties spells without incantation and yet with devastating effects. Ironically, learning how to use cero and bala was what helped him to master kido to that extent as he was able to manipulate his reishi at a high level without incantation when he was using cero and bala.
Needless to say, Ichigo was super strong, in fact, if he were a captain, he would likely be the captain with the highest spiritual pressure, and that was despite the fact that he still did not know the name of his zanpakutou.
At least he had met the spirit, because for a while he hadn't even been able to find it in his inner world. He could see that it was speaking, trying to tell him its name, but he couldn't hear it. Still, that he could see it and interact with it was a good sign. It was only a matter of time before he heard it.
"I'm afraid there will be no more training. We have nothing more to teach you anyway." Tier said regrettably, Neliel, Pesche, and Dondochakka also spotting sad facial expressions.
"The way you said that makes it seem like the fact that you have nothing to teach me anymore is not the real reason we're stopping our training." Ichigo said warily.
"It isn't. The Gotei 13 have shortened the execution time for Kuchiki Rukia. If you wish to save her, you must leave today." Neliel said gravely.
"I see. Then I must open a garganta and go to Soul Society immediately." Ichigo said calmly, but with urgency, his mental and emotional temperament very stable and mature after spending almost two years training with Tier and Nel, no longer prone to sudden bursts of emotion when hearing dire news, or for any reason really.
"That would not be wise. It will be difficult for you to explain how you got there when you run into your human friends. Its better for you to go back to the human world and travel with your friends to Hueco Mundo." Tier explained.
"My friends?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"Ishida Uryu has been training on his own, whereas Sado Yasutora and Inoue Orihime have been training with Shihouin Yoruichi and Urahara Kisuke." Neliel explained.
"Inoue and Chad have powers? I had no idea. Are they shinigami too? Or perhaps quincy?" Ichigo asked with intrigue.
"Neither. It seems that thanks to your previously unchecked spiritual pressure leakage, you have activated or awakened powers in the people closely related to you. Their abilities are entirely different, they are something new entirely." Tier retorted.
"I see. So you want me to go back to the world of the living so that I can leave with them? Are they strong enough to handle themselves? Will they be able to defeat a captain?" Ichigo asked curiously.
"Absolutely not. Ishida Uryu might defeat a leiutenant, Sado Yasutora is hard to gage, but he'll defeat a third seat for sure. He would probably have to give his own life in order to defeat a leuitenant however. And as for Inoue-san, she has great potential but that potential is offset by her fragile heart and her weak resolve." Tier said bluntly.
"But she has great healing powers. She will be useful as a medic." Neliel chipped in.
"I see. Its not bad really. They are much stronger than I anticipated." Ichigo said sternly.
"You do not see them as a hindrance?" Tier asked curiously.
"Not at all. Granted I'll have to do most of the heavy lifting but its fine. I'm sure the Gotei 13 will underestimate us initially, if we work fast, we can get in and out without much trouble." Ichigo deadpanned.
"I see…" Tier trailed off.
"….."
"Well, are you just going to stand there or are you going to give me a hug?" Ichigo asked with a playful smirk. Neliel looking at Tier with a mischievous smile before sauntering towards Ichigo.
"A mere hug? Why Itsygo, its day time in the living world. Your friends are only leaving tonight according to my spies. We have a lot of time to kill before then." Neliel whispered in the carrot topped teen's ear, causing him to get a massive boner as Nel put one leg between his legs and rubbed her bossoms against his chest, Tier meanwhile unzipping her jacket as she took the more direct approach of flashing Ichigo to death, or rather, flashing him to lustful intoxication.
Ichigo knew that no one else would understand his relationship. Most people would think it was already weird enough that he was with two women, but the fact that it was two hollows was enough for everyone to consider him to be a freak and a traitor to both mankind and shinigami kind.
However, feeling the soft touch of Neliel's lips on his cheeks, neck, and lips, and looking at both of their voluptuous bodies, Ichigo was reminded of exactly why he didn't give a rat's ass what anyone else said about him and his tastes. Even worse was the fact that it wasn't lust alone that created and maintained his relationship with these two women, but true love as well because they were the most wonderful and precious people in the world to him.
He not only owed them everything for what they had done for him but he also loved them dearly, literally, he loved everything about them. They were his precious people, and he would sacrifice his life for them in a heartbeat. Yes, he was aware that they may have, okay they definitely devoured many souls in the past, but that was when they were mindless hollows. They were decent people now. He wasn't going to say good people because his experiences here had taught him that good and bad were subjective terms in some ways. They were not evil though and they loved him unconditionally, and that was good enough for him.
Needless to say, Ichigo made love to his women like it was the last day of his life, to the point that he couldn't even count the number of orgasms he and the girls had, such was the stamina that they all had, and of course, the skill that they all had. Ichigo had also learned that passion and love served to increase the sensations of sexual intercourse, because nothing is better than making love to someone that is emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and physically on the same wavelength as you.
That evening: Kisuke's Underground Training Lair
"I think we've waited long enough. Ichigo is not coming. He…we have to face the fact that he is probably dead. Its not normal for someone to disappear for this long without a single trace, especially without telling anyone…" Uryu trailed off as he felt an impossibly large spiritual pressure bearing down on him, falling on his knees as he couldn't even move a muscle, looking at the corner of his eyes to see that Orihime and Chad were going through the same thing.
Thankfully, Urahara Kisuke used his own spiritual pressure to blanket and protect them, allowing them to breathe once again and even get back up on their feet again.
"W-what is that? I felt like I was going to die." Orihime said fearfully, panting hard from the pain and exhaustion she felt from trying and failing to resist the overbearing spiritual pressure, looking at Urahara-san for answers but to her shock and amazement, realizing that even he was straining hard to repel the monstrous and sinister spiritual pressure.
It felt like hours but was not even a minute before the familiar sight of spiky orange hair came out and onto the barren land that was built under Urahara-san's shop, although he looked vastly different with that dark blue hoari that he was wearing. He also looked bigger too, like he had bulked up over the last twenty days, not in the sort of way that a body buiilder would but how an athlete would when doing strength and conditioning.
"Mr hat and clogs! Its been a long time! Chad, Inoue, its nice to see you again! Uryu…I don't know what to say. You're an annoying prick but I'm happy to see you for some reason!" Ichigo said jovially, as if seeing his friends for the first time after a long holiday away even though everyone was worried not knowing whether he was alive or not.
"Imbecile! Lower your spiritual pressure! Are you trying to kill everyone?" Yoruichi the cat said with a deep and masculine voice.
"Forgive me. But I wanted to test you, and to prepare you for what is to come. That is the kind of spiritual pressure a captain will exert on you, or so I'm told. You have to not freeze up and definitely not go down and be unable to move otherwise he or she will kill you with their spiritual pressure alone." Ichigo said with a grave undertone, however doing as instructed and reigning in his spiritual pressure.
'I don't believe this. How is he so strong exactly? I've trained my ass off and this guy just rocks up out of nowhere flexing the kind of spiritual pressure that shouldn't even be possible. What's his secret?' Uryu thought enviously.
"Ichigo, you always had a high level of spiritual pressure, but I never imagined you would become this strong so soon. Also, the way you spoke so casually about the power of a captain, could you possibly have…?"
"Achieved bankai? Sorry to burst your bubble Mr Hat and Clogs, but I don't even know the name of my sword, not for lack of trying mind you. But don't worry, I don't need any of that. I can handle myself just fine, and if not, I still have a number of trump cards up my sleeve." Ichigo said with a confident smirk.
"Bankai? What is that?" Chad asked curiously.
"The shinigami zanpakutou holds the true power of a shinigami. The first release transforms the zanpakutou into a more powerful form, and each zanpakutou has its own unique powers. Achieving the first form is extremely difficult and can take years to achieve. Achieving the second form is even more difficult. In fact, very few ever achieve the second form, and those that do become captains, but only after spending at least ten years trying to master the second form because its power is so vast and difficult to control." Uryu explained.
"How do you know all of this, Ishida-san?" Inoue asked confusedly.
"We the Quincy have collected a lot of information about our sworn enemies over the centuries." Uryu replied simply.
"Ichigo, where have you been all this time?" Yoruichi demanded to know.
"That is neither here nor there. The fact is I am here right now, and I have attained the strength to rescue Kuchiki Rukia." Ichigo said uncompromisingly.
"And if we say we do not trust you?" Yoruichi asked gravely.
"That's not a problem. I do not trust you and Hat and Clogs either. The only thing I know for sure is that for some reason, you two also want to rescue Rukia. We have a mutual goal, and we can help each other achieve that goal. Its in both our interests that Rukia is rescued and returned to the world of the living." Ichigo replied.
"……"
"Alright, let me make this easy for you. I have my own method for getting to Soul Society. I only came here because I thought we had mutual interests and of course because I didn't want my friends to go to enemy territory alone. However, if you will not work with me, I can easily go to Soul Society on my own. I have the means, I do not actually need you." Ichigo deadpanned.
'His spiritual pressure did not waver even slightly. He's telling the truth. He has another way to get to Soul Society.' Urahara thought warily, he and Yoruichi looking at each other as if telepathically communicating before they both came to a mutual conclusion.
"Fine, you can come with us." Yoruichi finally said.
'As much as I would like to know how exactly he intends to travel to Soul Society, we cannot however let him go off on his own. At least this way I will be able to keep an eye on him and hopefully learn his motives and secrets.' Yoruichi thought.
"Alright, we've wasted enough time. Time for you all to go. I will be praying for your success." Urahara said as he prepared to open Senkaimon.
'Initially I thought that the visored must have taken him but he wasn't there. He wasn't training with his father either and he wasn't with me or Yoruichi. Where else could he have been? I can't think of anyone else.' Urahara thought stressfully.
There was nothing he hated more than a puzzle that he couldn't solve or being left out of the loop of things, and Ichigo was both the puzzle that he couldn't solve and he was intentionally leaving him out of the loop. Granted it was quite hypocritical of him given that he too was leaving Ichigo and his friends out of the loop but he couldn't help but be infuriated by Ichigo's actions, though he did well not to show it.
Shiba Clan Residence:
"Kurosaki-kun…" Shiba Kukaku said warily.
Kukaku is youthful-looking woman of average height. She has green eyes and is wearing bandages over her long messy black hair that parts down in half at the small of her back. She is also wearing a white skirt and a provocative red robe exposing her ample bosom. She is missing her right arm and has a tattoo on her left arm. She also has bandages around her right shoulder and both ankles. She and has wooden sandals and a cloak.
No one, literally no one who is alive could say they had ever seen Kukaku nervous, shy, or wary of anyone, usually having a very loud, aggressive, and bold personality. But this young man, this young man who looked like her late brother's identical twin had her feeling rather self conscious and wary despite herself.
It wasn't even the fact that he looked like the spitting image of her brother, no, but rather, the reason she was so wary was the sheer level of his spiritual, as it was so immense that it felt like she was constantly on a knife's edge. However, his spiritual pressure wasn't just strong, it was also quite terrifying and sinister, honestly, given the nature of his spiritual pressue, she wondered if he was even a shinigami and not an entirely different being altogether.
"Kukaku-san…" Ichigo replied simply, not even turning his head to the side to look at his host but rather choosing to continue staring into the distance, as if lost in thought.
"Why aren't you training with the others? If even one of you messes up the reishukaku, you could all die before you even make to soul society. You're putting everyone at risk by not learning to control the technique." Kukaku said dangerously.
Honestly, all she wanted to do was to beat the snot out of his for his childish and selfish behavior, but she trusted Yoruichi and Yoruichi had cautioned her strictly about taking that course of action. She didn't know Yoruichi to ever be scared of anyone but she had seemed wary and even, dare she say, terrified of this young man.
"I already did practice, I mastered it on the first try. It was rather easy. Besides, grateful as I am for your assistance, I'm afraid we won't be needing your technique to enter the Seiretei." Ichigo said with certainty.
"How can you be so sure that you won't? Even if you defeat the gate guard, you do not know what you will run into once you enter. You could immediately run into a captain for all you know." Kukaku said, wondering of this kid was just an idiot or simply had too much of an ego for his own good, ignoring the fact that he somehow managed to master her technique on the first try for now.
"It doesn't matter who we run into. Once we're in, we'll only leave when have rescued Rukia." Ichigo replied.
"And you're sure of this? You're sure you won't just die or get pushed out of Seiretei as soon as you enter?"
"Of course I am. I wouldn't have said so if I wasn't." Ichigo retorted, causing a tick mark to appear on Kukaku's forehead.
"How stupid? How can you be so sure? Are you clairvoyant? Are you an oracle?" Kukaku asked condescendingly, completely losing her fear and replacing it with incredulity and frustration.
"Because doubt leads to failure, and failure leads to death." Ichigo said with conviction, turning around and looking Kukaku directly in the eye as he spoke, Kukaku's eyes widening slightly when she saw how serious Ichigo was and how much conviction and resolve was in his eyes.
"F-fine! Whatever!" Kukaku said stubbornly, Ichigo smiling slightly before turning away again and looking into the distance, a comfortable silence settling between the two of them.
"……"
"So, I saw you looking at our family pictures. One in particular seemed to have caught your attention." Kukaku said brazenly, her confidence growing now that she was relatively sure that Ichigo was not the threat that Yoruichi made him out to be, not because he didn't have the power or skill to be that threat, but because as far as Kukaku was concerned, he had absolutely no motive to be such a threat.
"You mean the family member who looks exactly like me? Why wouldn't I find that suspicious?" Ichigo asked rhetorically, much to Kukaku's surprise.
"Suspicious? I mean, sure, it is rather peculiar, but why would you think it was suspicious?" Kukaku asked, confused.
"Well, what can I say. Yoruichi's friend has shown a keen interest in me and my development from the get go, and he always seemed to act like he knew some big secret that nobody else does. Also, when Byakuya Kuchiki cut off my soul sleep and soul chain, I was told that he only destroyed the shinigami powers that Rukia gave me, but that I had my own shinigami powers that I could awaken." Ichigo began, taking a momentary pause before carrying on from where he left off.
"So why was everyone so sure that I had my own shinigami powers? As far as I was aware I was just a human who happened to have spiritual awareness. If every human who had spiritual awareness could become a shinigami, then why didn't Uryu, Inoue, and Chad become shinigami? Why did they become a quincy and whatever Chad and Inoue are? It therefore dawned on me that you can't be a shinigami simply because you have spiritual awareness. What Mr Hat and Clogs and my teacher meant had to have been that I was always a shinigami." Ichigo elaborated, taking another momentary pause before continuing with his explanation.
"I'm sure you already get what I'm trying to say. My mother, or my father, one of them has to have been a shinigami. Mr Hat and Clogs and Tessai-san left soul society and managed to pass themselves off as normal humans in the living world. If they could do it, then who else has done it? And then I come here, and find out that the people who have shown a keen interest in me, who told me I have my own shinigami powers, have a friend who has a brother who was a shinigami, and looks exactly like me. That's just too much of a coincidence don't you think?" Ichigo asked rhetorically.
"Indeed it is…" Kukaku said with a deep frown, also feeling that something was a miss here, and also unable to believe how naïve she was to have thought that Ichigo's resemblance to her brother was just a coincidence.
"Tell me Ichigo, what are the names of your parents?" Kukaku asked curiously.
"Kurosaki Masaki and Kurosaki Isshin." Ichigo replied.
"Isshin? Did you say Isshin?" Kukaku asked as realization dawned on her.
"Yes, why? Do you know that name?" Ichigo asked, his curiosity also peaked.
"Why that..! Why that lying conniving bitch! Yoruichi! Yoruichi! Come here you conniving snake!" Kukuku exclaimed as she stormed into the house.
What transpired next was something completely unexpected for, well, everyone except Ichigo apparently, who didn't seem all that surprised when Yoruichi morphed into her human form in order to defend herself against Kukaku, or rather, Shinigami form, seeing as apparently shinigami were a different species to humans.
The fight between the two was violent and ugly, and it appeared that Yoruichi was in fact a very powerful person because of the sheer level of speed and power that her kicks and punches packed, able to outright dodge or even kick away some of Kukaku's kido spells. Eventually, when it seemed like neither woman would relent, Ichigo had to intervene and stop them from fighting, getting in between them as he figured that neither of them would want to hurt him since he apparently was important to Yoruichi's invasion plans and was possibly, well, almost certainly actually, related to Kukaku somehow.
Fortunately Ichigo didn't have to fight the two of them as, true to his suspicions, neither of them wanted to see any harm done to him, not that it was easy to hurt him anyway. Ichigo had then demanded a full explanation from Yoruichi or else she would be booted from the team and therefore the mission, leaving her no choice but to explain everything to the others, well, almost everything at least, seeing as she still left out a number of things, such as the fact that Ichigo's mother was a quincy and that the real reason she and Urahara were helping them was not to save Rukia but to retrieve the Hogyoku, of course, the explanation only taking place after Yoruichi managed to put some clothes on.
"So my father is a shinigami who lost his powers huh? That better be true Yoruichi, you better not be making excuses for him not protecting mom and I from Grand Fisher all those years ago." Ichigo said venomously.
"Your father definitely did not have his powers, and they haven't returned up to this day." Yoruichi said firmly.
"You're still leaving things out. If my father was a shinigami all this time, then he knew what my spiritual awareness meant and he knew that it would draw hollows to me and my family, and yet he said nothing! He could have trained me and had me prepared to do what's necessary to protect the family, especially after mom died, but he did nothing, and said nothing! That piece of shit!" Ichigo said angrily, taking a few breathes as he tried to calm himself down and control his oppressive spiritual pressure so as not to accidentally hurt anyone.
"K-Kurosaki-kun, are…are you okay?" Inoue asked warily.
"Inoue…" Ichigo trailed off, regret taking hold of him when he saw the fearful and concerned expression on his friend.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. I'm fine now. I'll deal with my father when we get back to the living world." Ichigo said with a kind smile, a smile that did wonders for Inoue's mood, although the part about dealing with his father still had her concerned as she wondered what dealing with his father entailed exactly.
"What about Ichigo's mother? Was she a shinigami too or a human?" Uryu asked suspiciously, never one to miss a beat it seemed.
"Masaki was a human woman." Yoruichi replied.
"A normal human or a special human like Sado and Orihime?" Uryu asked for clarification.
"She was nothing like Orihime-chan and Sado-kun." Yoruichi replied.
"You're hiding something. Its written all over your face and your spiritual pressure! What was she? Was she a quincy?" Ichigo asked angrily, tired of all the lies, Yoruichi stuttering incoherently when she realized that she would likely have to tell the truth, having hoped that she could get away with a lie of omission.
'Forgive me Isshin, but I have no choice in the matter. If I'm caught in a lie then your son will lose the very little trust he has in me and I won't be able to accompany and protect him like I promised. I have to tell him.' Yoruichi thought with a heavy sigh, half considering using her massive spiritual pressure to intimidate the kids into leaving her alone but quickly dismissing such thoughts as she quickly came to the realization that such a tactic, while it might work on the others, would not work on Ichigo, and that Kukaku could still force the issue on their behalf even if it would have worked on Ichigo.
"Yes, your mother was a quincy, a powerful one at that. Both your mother and father were captain level in both the strength of their reiatsu and their abilities. Both the quincy and soul society however would have never allowed such a union to exist, so they decided to live normal lives so that they can never be tracked down by either faction. Fate however seems to have had other plans, your emergence as a powerful shinigami and your fated encounter with Rukia, which has lead to us invading the Seiretei is proof that a rumbling in destiny is taking place. Whatever the future holds, it is quite clear that things will never be the same again. A great change is about to happen, for better or worse." Yoruichi said sagely.
'My mother was a quincy? I guess it makes perfect sense. Quincy excel in pure reishi manipulation. When it comes to that, they are second to none. They do not need incantations to use powerful reishi based techniques like shinigami. That must be why I was able to master cero, bala, and kido so easily. It must be why I am able to use high level kido without incantation.' Ichigo thought analytically.
"I still feel like my parents were selfish. They put us all in grave danger for the sake of what….a normal life that clearly was never going to happen seeing as I could see spirits from a young age. Were they living in some kind of delusion or something? Whatever the case may be, I think they made the wrong call."
"However, nothing I do or say can change the past, so let us focus on rescuing Rukia for now. We'll deal with everything else later." Ichigo said resolutely, everyone else nodding their heads in agreement as they all agreed that the mission was the most important thing right now, although Uryu especially couldn't completely put everything aside as he didn't know what to think of Ichigo now that he knew Ichigo had quincy blood in him.
That Evening:
"Ganju! I know that look, I know you hate shinigami and hate the fact that Ichigo is one too, but that doesn't change the fact that he is our cousin and besides, he had no idea he was a member of the Shiba clan until today, so you can't really blame him for being a shinigami, not to mention he is going to be fighting against the Gotei 13 that you hate so much." Kukuka tried to reason with Ganju, who had just heard the news about Ichigo being his cousin.
Ganju, of course, wanted to deny it with every fibre of his being. He so badly wanted it to be a lie. However, he knew that his sister was telling the truth, it was too obvious, the guy literally looked like his older brother's long lost twin brother, only younger. He didn't know what to think of the guy, honestly he looked like a punk with that orange hair and he also looked like a prick with that permanent scowl on his facial features.
Ganju however knew that he had to give the guy a chance. Up until now, he and his sister had been the only remaining Shiba clan members, the clan having fallen badly since its glory days, especially thanks to uncle Ishhin's mysterious disappearance and his brother's death. He couldn't afford to alienate the very few family members he apparently had, at least not without first giving them a fair shake.
"What is your true goal exactly? Why invade the Seiretei? If defeating even one squadron was that easy, I would have done it a long time ago. As much as I hate to say it, as I am right now, I probably wouldn't even be able to defeat a leuitenant, heck, I might lose to even a third seat. Why would you go up against these odds for just one person? And what makes you think getting her out of there is equal to saving her? They'll just keep coming after her again and again, you'll have to protect her forever." Ganju asked with both curiosity and incredulity.
"Precisely, Ganju. Nothing would stop them from coming after her again, which means that I will have to crush their will and force them to give up on executing her. I'll have to destroy anyone who stands in my way and force them to yield." Ichigo said with conviction.
"And you believe that you alone can do this? Where is your army? Where are your captains?" Ganju asked incredulously.
"I have what it takes to bring the curtain down on all of them, trust me. And if not, then I have Inoue, Chad, Uryu, and Yoruichi. They are my Captains and Leuitenants." Ichigo said with conviction.
"You believe in them that much?" Ganju asked incredulously.
"Of course I do! Why would I bring them with me if I didn't believe in them?" Ichigo asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"……"
"Fine! Then I'm coming with you. And before you say anything, I don't care if you believe in me or not you got that!" Ganju said, pointing an accusatory finger at Ichigo almost as if expecting some form of ridicule.
"Don't be ridiculous. Why wouldn't I want my cousin by my side, stupid!" Ichigo countered, Ganju's eyes widening in surprise before breaking into a wide smile.
"G-Good! Because I wasn't asking!" A flustered Ganju stuttered.
"K-Kurosaki-kun believes in us?" Inoue stuttered after listening to Kukaku's recording, Yoruichi resisting the urge to clap her hands in adulation of Kukaku's deceptiveness and charisma, internally acknowledging how much of a genius strategist Kukaku was for coming up with such an inspired idea in order to boost the morale of the team.
"Where are those two idiots right now?" Yoruichi asked curiously.
"Ganju took him out to meet his friends, I guess he wants to brag about his cousin to his friends or something." Kukaku said with a casual shrug.
"They better not stay up late. We leave first thing in the morning." Yoruichi said warily.
"I told them as much. I doubt they will do anything stupid. My brother notwithstanding, Ichigo seems to have a pretty good head on his shoulders. He will not jeopardize the mission." Kukaku retorted.
"I see. In that case, lets finish up here and go to bed. We have a long day ahead of us"
The Following Day: Inside the Seiretei
"Oooi ooi, cutting down your own comrade? Is that anyway for a Captain to behave?" Ichigo asked mockingly, easily able to identify the man who had just cut down the gate guard, Jidanbo, as a captain because of the white hoari he was wearing over his shihakusho.
The man in question was tall, skinny, and lanky in physique, spotting silver white hair and dressed in the standard shinigami shihakusho, barring of course the white hoari, for which there was nothing standard about it. The guy also appeared to either have his eyes closed or for some reason he didn't feel the need to completely open them, keeping them almost closed at all times it appeared.
"No it is not. A more responsible Captain would have aimed for a vital spot and killed the traitor on the spot. The gate guard does not open the gate when he is defeated, he fights uuntil he dies." The man answered.
"I see. Well I wouldn't expect anything less from you savages. Tell you what, I'll give you one chance to turn the other cheek and pretend you didn't see anything." Ichigo retorted.
"Ichigo you fool! That's a captain! What did I tell you to do when you run into a Captain?" Yoruichi chastised Ichigo, having taken on the disguise of a cat once again.
"To run for our lives. In hindsight, it was a pretty stupid instruction. If Captains are as strong as you make them out to be, then there is no way we could outrun them. The only choice is to run through them." Ichigo retorted.
"I can't tell if you're wise or stupid. Nevertheless its time for you all to die. Before I kill you all, allow me to introduce myself so that you may know the name of the person who killed you. My name is Ichimaru Gin, captain of the third division of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads." The captain, now identified as Ichimaru Gin, introduced himself.
"Kurosaki Ichigo, no rank, just the man that's going to take you down." Ichigo replied, however not making any move to take his gigantic sword out its scabbard.
"Goodbye Kurosaki Ichigo, sad as it is to say, I'll probably have forgotten your name by tomorrow morning." Gin said as he pulled his sword out of its scabbard.
"Shoot to kill, Shinso." Gin said, the blade rapidly extending its length far beyond what anyone would be able to comprehend as Gin pointed his blade directly at Ichigo.
However, for some unimaginable reason, the blade veered completely off its course just as it was about to hit its target squarely on the chest, its trajectory going wide to the left of Ichigo, which was Gin's wide right, as if some invisible force deflected the blade or something.
"H-he missed…?" Orihime asked, confused, a sentiment that everyone, including Yoruichi and Gin, also shared, none of them knowing what exactly happened
"Your skills are poor for a captain. Just what the hell were you aiming at? That didn't even come close to hitting me. Seems like I won't even need to draw my sword to defeat you." Ichigo said with a cocky smirk.
'What's going on? Granted the attack wasn't at its top speed, I'm not supposed to kill him after all, but to completely miss my target like that? No, I didn't miss, something deflected my blade, but what?" Gin thought warily, unable to come to any sort of conclusions, or even to develop any kind of hypothesis for this phenomenon.
'The only way to find out is to force him to reveal his hand. I'll have to use all of my ability then. Kurosaki Ichigo, don't die…not yet anyway. Aizen-sama will be mad at me if I kill you now.' Gin thought as he launched another attack, his blade lengthening considerably again, but this time at a much higher speed than before, only to again be deflected by this seemingly invisible force, except this time to the right hand side.
'Again? What is happening? I didn't see anything. I cannot detect any use of kido, and there isn't any significant spike in his reiatsu when he deflects the attack. So what is he doing exactly?' Gin thought, true fear starting to settle in because he knew very well that the inability to figure out an enemy's technique could lead to death.
'Okay, I guess I'll have to pull the blade back just as fast and repeat my attacks in quick succession until he is forced to reveal his hand.' Gin thought as he launched as series of lighting fast strikes, and true to his analysis, the enemy's technique began to make sense to him as he could see multiple after images of Ichigo's sword, disbelief settling in when Gin realised that Ichigo actually was pulling out and swinging his blade, but it was happening so fast that you couldn't even see the draw, heck, you couldn't even see his arm moved because it looked like his arms remained on his sides. The only reason Gin and everyone even knew that he was using his sword was because of the multiple after images it left in its wake as Ichigo deflected every single attack Gin threw his way.
"Aaah I see. What an interesting ability. But this doesn't seem like a zanpakutou's ability, how exactly are you doing that?" Gin asked with an eye smile.
"Its called the Flash Sword Technique, its a technique unique only to me. But it's a little too soon for you to be feeling relief isn't it? Just because you figured out my technique doesn't mean that you can stop it." Ichigo chastised the century old captain.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that if I were you." Gin said with a cocky smirk.
'He hasn't moved at all from his position. This would be discouraging to the average fighter but it is clear that he either can't move because he wants to protect those behind him or he simply cannot move while he is using the flash sword technique. That must be its weakness.' Gin thought analytically.
Gin also had another suspicion, that because Ichigo spent so long mastering his arm speed technique, his hoho was perhaps not as good as he wouldn't have had enough time to practise hoho. This meant that the kid would probably have a hard time closing the distance in order to land his own strike.
However, almost as if Ichigo had read his thoughts, Ichigo appeared right in front of Gin, so fast that Gin barely had enough time to draw his sword into a defensive stance in order to block the attack. That turned out to be a horrible mistake as it seemed like he had severely underestimated the power of Kurosaki Ichigo because he was hit with such great force that he was sent flying rapidly, crashing into and through multiple buildings before his body finally landed on the surface, a hug crater forming where his body landed.
Needless to say, the captain was in severe shock and pain as he tried to get back to his feet groggily, his bones creaking like the bones of an old man as he had multiple shattered and fractured bones across his entire body. Most of all, there was a lot of blood flowing from the horrible wound on his chest, his own sword stuck on his chest as the force behind Ichigo's strike was so powerful that Gin's own sword with which he tried to block the attack ended up deeply lodged into his own chest with the other edge of the blade.
"You're still alive? Impressive! But you should have stayed down, now I have no choice but to finish you off!" Ichigo said as he put his right hand on the hilt of his zanpakutou, getting read to draw his sword so that he can deal death blow.
"Wait Ichigo! I thought we came here to rescue Rukia, not to commit murder!" Uryu exclaimed.
"What? Are you out of your damn mind, that's a captain who was caught off guard. When the others learn about his defeat, they won't be so easy to defeat anymore, they will go all out. There are thirteen of them, so we have to make sure the ones we take down don't rise again. Besides, I thought you hated these guys, why wouldn't you want them dead?" Ichigo asked incredulously.
"Killing someone in battle is justifiable, and honourable, but killing someone who cannot defend themselves is straight up murder! That makes us no different to them!" Uryu said passionately.
"Do you guys agree with him, Chad, Inoue? Yoruichi?" Ichigo asked, keeping one eye on his fiends and one on the enemy, who seemed to be half dead already, struggling to even pull out his zanpakutou from his own chest, although Ichigo wondered why he felt the need to do such a thing in the first place given how much more blood that action would cause him to lose.
"I am conflicted. My heart says kill him, but my mind says otherwise." Yoruichi said, causing Ichigo to stare at her like she had grown a whole new cat head on her shoulders.
'Isn't it supposed to be the other way around. Why would it be the heart that tells her that I must kill him? Does she have a history with this guy?' Ichigo wondered.
"I…I don't want to see anyone die. I…I especially do not want to see you become a murderer, Kurosaki-kun." Inoue said with tears in her eyes.
'What the hell? Where is the resolve I saw in them earlier? Are they actually naïve enough to believe we could come here and fight the entire Gotei 13 without having to kill anyone?' Ichigo thought incredulously.
"Chad? Ganju?" Ichigo asked, although it was a mute point to ask those two now because the 'do not kill the enemy' side already had three votes, which meant that Ichigo could only get a draw at best.
"Kill the filthy shinigami! They have no honour and deserve no mercy!" Ganju said hatefully, causing even Ichigo to sweat drop at Ganju's response.
'I don't know why I'm so surprised he said that but I am for some reason.' Ichigo thought in dismay.
"I already promised to have your back until the end, no matter what. So whatever you do, you will still have my support. If it were up to me I would not kill a defenceless man though." Chad replied.
"Damn it! I can't believe you guys! Fine! I won't kill him, but lets at least knock him out. Hado number 88: Dragon Strike Heaven Shaking Lightning Canon." Ichigo said, letting go of his grip around the hilt of his sword and pushing his arm forward with his palm facing forward before releasing an incredible amount of electrically charged reishi from his palm, as if some sort of energy cannon had just fired from his palm.
The energy was so great that the size of the energy blast dwarfed Ichimaru Gin, heck, it dwarfed even the remaining building structures it was so impossibly large. As if that wasn't enough, the explosion upon impact was even greater than the beam itself, about a dozen times greater as a great shockwave washed over the area.
Despite how far Ichimaru Gin was after Ichigo smacked him away earlier, the blast range reached even Ichigo and his friends, forcing him to have to use Hado #81: Danku in order to create a translucent barrier in front of himself and his friends to stop the blast from hurting them.
"Ichigo what the hell is wrong with you? Didn't you just get outvoted? Why did you kill him?" Uryu asked angrily, shocked by Ichigo's actions but in all honesty even more shocked by his display of power, unable to believe how unimaginably powerful Ichigo had become over such a short space of time.
"Idiot! What are you, blind? Open your eyes damn it!" Ichigo said much to everyone's confusion, everyone squinting their eyes as they tried to see past the dust and debris, which managed to clear after a while, enough for them to see what Ichigo was talking about.
There, standing in front of Ichimaru Gin was a tall, beautiful and voluptuous woman with braided hair that is covering her neckline. She was severely injured, with lacerations all over her body. Large chunks of her shihakusho and her captain's hoari were missing due to the damage that she had taken in place of her fellow captain.
Behind her was another woman, a younger, taller woman who had silver white hair and was wearing a leuitenant's badge. It seemed like she had also sustained a lot of damage but not as much as what could reasonably be presumed to be her captain, who seemed to have protected both her leuitenant and the creepy injured captain Ichigo was fighting earlier.
"Isane-chan. Take Captain Ichimaru with you and run as fast as you can. Heal his injuries only when you have managed to get as far away from here as conceivably possible, and please don't argue with me. Before us stands a boy who, without even an incantation, was able to use a hado strong enough to completely destroy both Minazuki's shikai and my incanted Hado Number 81."
"Naturally, there is the fact that he defeated Captain Ichimaru without sustaining any injuries even before we arrived. If I'm going to defeat him and somehow hold off his friends too, then I cannot afford to have other people to worry about." Captain Unohana Retsu said with a calm and elegant tone despite the gravity of the situation.
"Y-yes, Captain Unohana! I understand. Please be careful!" Isane pleaded, Captain Unohana simply nodding her head in the affirmative as Isane turned and headed for the injured third division captain.
"I hope you can all forgive me but I'm going to have to break your no killing rule. There are now two Captains standing before us and one is about to escape with a lieutenant. We cannot allow the enemy to regroup every time we defeat them if we are going to succeed in rescuing Rukia." Ichigo said as he placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword again, getting ready to attack only to suffer an attack from his own comrade as Yoruichi pounced on him and started viciously scratching at his face.
"Aaargh! What the fuck Yoruichi? Just whose side are you on exactly?" Ichigo exclaimed angrily, grabbing Yoruichi by the scruff of the neck as he held her in front of his face, just not close enough for her to scratch him again of course.
"You idiot! Did you come here to kill people or did you come here to rescue Rukia?" Yoruichi asked angrily.
"Are you some kind of idiot? What the hell is the difference? Killing shinigami and rescuing Rukia is one and the same thing you stupid talking cat! How else are we going to stop them from capturing her again?" Ichigo asked incredulously.
"I don't know who the hell has been training you but they haven't been a good influence on you. You're behaving like a hollow!" Yoruichi said furiously, Ichigo's eyes narrowing when Yoruichi said that as the aura around Ichigo became much darker all of a sudden.
"….."
"You're an idiot! Fine, whatever! Get out of here then! I'll cover your escape!" Ichigo said as he threw Yoruichi at Chad, Yoruichi's eyes wide in horror and embarrassment at Ichigo's audacity, unable to believe she was being tossed around like a damn football.
Nevertheless, everyone did as instructed, all of Ichigo's friends running for their lives as Ichigo remained behind to make sure they were not being followed. Isane too was running in the opposite direction as she carried Captain Ichimaru to a safer location, leaving behind only Captain Unohana and Ichigo to face off.
"…."
"Aren't you going to try and stop my friends from escaping? At this rate you won't be able to catch them even with your formidable captain speed." Ichigo asked tauntingly.
"I find that to be a strange question. Most people would be relieved that their friends were getting away from a captain safely. But not you. Do you actually want your friends to die, or are you looking for an excuse to kill me so that you can tell your friends that you had no choice but to defy their wishes?" Unohana asked curiously.
"I do not need an excuse to kill the likes of you damn Gotei 13 thugs." Ichigo said venomously.
"And yet you stand there, refusing to attack me? I have sheathed my sword and I stand at ease, not in any recognisable fighting stance, and yet you do not strike me. For a criminal that has infiltrated the Seiretei and allegedly hates the shinigami of the Gotei 13, your actions are not what I expected." Captain Unohana retorted.
"I know you're just trying to stall for time, but that's a good thing, because I'm also stalling for time so that my friends can get away. So we can stand here and chat all day if you want, I don't care." Ichigo said stubbornly.
"Interesting. So you won't attack me after all? Considering the power you displayed earlier, and the fact that you defeated a captain, one of the most talented to ever graduate from the Shino Academy, I can't fathom that it would be because you are afraid. I do not think you feel sorry for me either, so it has to be that you are honouring the wishes of your friends that you do not kill me. They mean that much to you?" Captain Unohana asked, her intrigue about the boy knowing no bounds as she found herself wishing to know more and more about him despite herself.
"Those guys are all idiots! Of course I should kill you all. But I cannot have them lose their trust in me, and more importantly I cannot afford to have them question whether they are on the right side of this or not. Rukia's life depends on all of us. I'll just have to figure out another way to get the job done." Ichigo replied.
"I see. I believe you, Ryoka boy. But you know, I think there is another reason why you won't at least attack me and put me out of commission. I think whoever trained you trained you only to fight to kill. I'm not saying you do not have the skills to effectively subdue an opponent, but I think your instincts have been honed in a way that you feel that the battle is not won if the opponent is not dead. Who would train a person in such a savage way, I wonder." Captain Unohana said curiously.
'Damn! Does being trained by hollows, even sentient ones like Tier and Nel have that much of an effect that other people can immediately tell something is off from the way I fight?' Ichigo pondered very briefly before discarding those thoughts immediately when he realized that he actually didn't give a rat's bottom what anyone else thought.
All he had to do was stall this shinigami captain long enough for his friends to get away and then he would he would be on his way. The only thing he had to figure out was whether to regroup with them or go his own way, because it was a really big decision.
He wanted to be with them so that he could protect them against the captains, maybe even the lieutenants, but at the same time, would they ever manage to rescue Rukia if he stayed with them? He didn't want to think that way but it kind of seemed like to him that they were holding him back.
He didn't doubt their potential, not at all, but he kind of felt like they were not really ready for this kind of mission yet. At the same time if he stayed by them they would continue to have this sheltered mind set and would not learn anything from this experience. For them to learn and grow, he probably needed to let them face adversity and struggle on their own.
But what if they got captured? Worse yet, what if they got killed because he wasn't by their side. The whole mission kind of felt stupid if rescuing Rukia meant that he would lose all of his other friends and his newfound cousin.
Honestly this was probably the hardest decision on Ichigo's life, he couldn't recall ever having to make such a big call in his life before. Suffice to say, Ichigo was unable to make a decision until the decision was forced on him, until he had delayed the Fourth Division Captain long enough and had to also make his way to either rejoin his friends or go in a completely different direction.
End Chapter