Fullbringer's Lioness

by Arrancar113

Takeshi Kurosaki is the adopted son of the Kurosaki family. One day as he walks with his brother and mother. They suffer an attack by a strange monster. He's then carried away by the strange monster and winds up in world full of them. He awakens an odd power and must now fight to survive, in order to find a way home. As he winds up receiving help from the most unlikely source.

16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen: Facing Reality

Takeshi began to steadily regain conscious. His eyes fluttered a little bit before opening and seeing his little brother sitting on the ground next to him.

"oh little brother, I had a crazy dream just now." He spoke while looking directly at Ichigo. "We came up to confront Halibel and the other's about Aizen. We managed to figure everything out and then Yoruichi showed up out of nowhere. We managed to settle that before anything got violent. Then both Mila and Yoruichi told me they were Pregnant. Isn't that a crazy sounding dream?"

Ichigo looked a bit sheepishly at Takeshi, scratching the back of his head as he spoke. "uhhhhh, big bro. I hate to break to you but none of that was dream. All of that actually happened."

"whaaaa…." Was his simple reply, as he turned his head and saw Yoruichi, Mila and the others. Realizing he really was dealing with the facts of being soon to be father to multiple children. With two different women no less and he was only a 16 year old high school student.

"you know I suddenly feel as though everything with Aizen. Is somehow the least of my worries." Takeshi stated. "I've done some questionable things in the past, but I really managed to fuck with things this time around."

"'Fuck' being the keyword of that sentence." Chimed Apacci.

Which got her a smack on the back of the head from Sung-Sun. "now's not the time for your immature comments. This is quite serious Apacci." Chided Sung-Sun.

Apacci growled in response but before it could escalate further. Halibel gave a stern glare to the two women. However hearing Sung-Sun suddenly put a thought in Takeshi's head.

"hold on Sung-Sun, what about you? I know you and Ichigo slept with each other the night before we left for soul society." asked the fullbringer.

Ichigo so caught up in his older brothers' moment. Hadn't thought about the realization. that he may have accidently gotten Sung-Sun pregnant, like Takeshi did Mila and Yoruichi. The orange haired teen looked to his girlfriend with a worried look on his face.

Sung-Sun looked away shyly with a sleeve covering the bottom of her face. "well you see Ichigo." She began sounding a bit nervous herself. the color was draining from Ichigo's face as he suddenly began to fear the worst. Then Sung-Sun pulled her sleeve away, revealing a smiling face.

"don't' fret Ichigo, me and you have managed to avoid such a thing. There won't be any orange haired and lavender eyed babies. Running around your house anytime soon."

Ichigo couldn't help but give out a massive sigh of relief. "dammit, don't scare me like that Cyan!" he then yelled out.

"apologize Ichigo, the temptation was irresistible. However, once this business with stopping Aizen and such is handled. We should look into the possibility of having little one's of our own." Chimed the snake like arrancar.

"you do realize I'm only a 15 year old high school student?" retorted Ichigo.

"should we manage to deal with Aizen and his army. Then I dare say parenthood should prove an easier task. I've faith in your skills, as well as my own."

"I'm not getting out of this am I?"

Sung-Sun chuckled to herself as she walked up to Ichigo. "nope." Was her simple reply before she gave him a playful peck on the cheek. Ichigo ran a hand through his hair in defeat.

"can we please focus on the fact that me, Mila and Yoruichi are the ones actually having kids here." Cut in Takeshi.

"agreed." Spoke Yoruichi as she helped Takeshi to his feet.

Takeshi looked at Yoruichi and then Mila and spoke the first thing that crossed his mind.

"you two are absolutely sure that you're pregnant?"

"yeah." said Mila. "you see, a few days before Aizen returned I started feeling really weird. Almost like I was sick or something. With arrancar having high speed regeneration, that sort of thing shouldn't really be happening. so I focused some energy in my hand and ran it over my body. Seeing if I could detect anything weird myself. Then I felt it around my womb, a new presence inside me. A presence that felt like a mixture of our reiatsu's. I knew right then and there much to my own shock as you can imagine."

"here." Said Mila as she grabbed his hand and placed the palm of it over where her womb would roughly be. "feel out for it."

Takeshi did as he instructed and focused some his reiatsu in his hand and tried to feel for a separate energy presence inside Mila. he didn't feel anything at first, then he suddenly felt it. just like Mila said, it was presence inside her that felt like a mixture of his and her energy's. he kept his hand over it for a little while longer and to his continued surprise. He could feel it very slowly but surely growing more.

There was no denying it at that point, she really was pregnant.

Takeshi then turned his attention to Yoruichi.

"you're completely sure about being pregnant too?" He asked.

The werecat nodded her head. "my body started feeling weird too a few day ago. I remember our night together and decided to test myself." answered Yoruichi as she reached into her pocket and pulled out two pregnancy tests. They both read positive. "I took one the day I first suspected and then another the next day to be sure. As you can see, they both came out positive."

"does anyone at the shop know yet?" Takeshi wondered.

Yoruichi shook her head. "no, I made sure to keep this secret from everyone, even Kisuke. I felt it was important for you to know first. I didn't want to tell you right away, since you were still relaxing after everything that had happened back in soul society."

Takeshi then looked back to Mila. "do you think Aizen knows?" he asked knowing that was a very troubling idea.

"I…. I don't know to be honest." She replied. "when I figured out, I was pregnant, I immediately told lady Halibel and the others. We all agreed it was best to keep are lips sealed tight on this matter. Though considering Aizen has figured out, everything else about all of us. even if he doesn't know yet, it won't be long before he does, I'm sure."

Takeshi simply stood in place for a few moments thinking to himself. With all the shock of everything having died down a bit. he was able to finally think more clearly on the matter on hand.

"I'm so sorry for doing this to the two of you." he finally said. "with everything happening at the moment, this is one of the absolute last things that needed to happen. Dealing with Aizen is going to be rough enough as it is, now this will only give him ammo to use against us all. not to mention how the hell the soul society will react to this. There's no way we can hide this from them, kami only knows how that will play out."

"I'm such a fucking fool sometimes." Takeshi spat at himself.

He suddenly felt a hand on both of his shoulders from Yoruichi and Mila. both of them giving him looks of support.

"hey now, don't go blaming all this on yourself. we have our fair share of responsibility in all this." Spoke Mila.

"after all making kids is a two person job." chimed in Yoruichi.

Takeshi let out a deep breath and looked back and forth between the two of them. "yeah I know but somehow I feel like this falls more on me if anything. Afterall we have all this fighting that's going to be happening soon. Now with you two being pregnant, you can't fight. There's far too much risk for you, the babies and more."

"That is a fair point, though pregnant or not. I don't like the idea of being on the sidelines in all this." Said Yoruichi. "for now we'll continue to do what we can until we have to be sidelined."

"agreed." Piped Mila.

"I guess that means if we want help in all of this. There's only one person we can go to at the moment. Look like we're off to go see Urahara." Announced Takeshi.

"this should be interesting." Spoke Yoruichi.

"how do you think he'll take all of this?" wondered the fullbringer.

"well few things these days, genuinely shock and surprise Kisuke. This however will definitely do just that."

"is that a good or a bad thing?"

"don't worry, things we'll be fine." Finished Yoruichi.

"well we better get going to the shop then." Stated Ichigo.

*Urahara shop*

Kisuke sat on the porch of his shop, thinking to himself about recent events and how to plan the next course of action in everything.

"hey boss." Spoke Tessai as he walked out to his boss and friend.

"ah Tessai, what's going on." replied Kisuke in his usual cheery demeanor.

"have you seen Yoruichi around today by chance?"

"hmmm, she left a few hours ago actually. Said she had some personal business to handle. Didn't bother trying to dig into it. we both know Yoruichi well enough to know not to do that."

"have you noticed her acting a little stranger than usual the last couple days?" wondered Tessai.

"I have but I don't think it's anything to serious. If it was Yoruichi would have said something to us." retorted the shop keeper.

Tessai looked out of the corer of his eye and caught something surprising. He quickly turned his head to get a better look. His jaw nearly crashed into the ground at what he was seeing.

"boss you may want to amend that statement."

"what do you mean?"

"look to your right."

Kisuke did as he asked and immediately began to question just what he was seeing. He saw the Kurosaki brothers walking up to his shop with Yoruichi holding hands with Takeshi. however what drew his attention far more were the four other women with them. they all wore white style uniforms, he also noticed they all had bits of bone like appendages on their heads or faces. Not to mention the noticeable hole in the amazon looking one. Who was holding onto Takeshi's other hand.

"hey Kisuke, we could really use your help." Spoke Takeshi as they neared the shop.

Kisuke ignored the greeting as he looked directly at Yoruichi. "Yoruichi, just what in the name of kami is going on here?" asked Kisuke.

"it's a bit of story Kisuke. It's best we head inside to discuss the matter." replied the werecat.

Kisuke then turned his attention to the two Kurosaki brothers. Giving them both a hard glare. "you two better have very good explanations for what I'm seeing here." Spoke Kisuke, his usual cheery and happy go lucky attitude non-existent. "Everyone inside."

"maybe this wasn't such a great idea after all." Takeshi muttered out as he and the others nervously began walking into the shop.

'maybe I was wrong.' Yoruichi quickly thought to herself.

*30 Minutes of lengthy explanation later*

Everyone was sitting around a table in the back of the shop. Takeshi had just finished explaining everything. Kisuke took a moment to process everything and took a deep breath.

"so let me see if I understand more or less the gist of everything." Began Kisuke. "the same night Ichigo got his powers, all your hollow friends suddenly showed up from hueco mundo. wanting to find and catch up with you for old times' sake, since they had become arrancar. You convinced the vasto lorde class one amongst them to secretly train your brother. So he would be better prepared in his new job as a soul reaper. During that same time, you also began a romantic relationship with one of them. sometime after that Ichigo began a romantic relationship with one of them as well. This pattern of secret training and romance continued till the night Byakuya showed up and nearly killed the both of you. as Ichigo trained with me, you went to hueco mundo and trained there with them. the night before you and Ichigo left you both had sex with your respective partner. Fast forward to the end of the rescue mission. Aizen fully admits to somehow knowing all about your relations with the four. Fast forward to earlier today, they show back up under orders to drag you two to Aizen. As you travel up there, Yoruichi secretly tailed you all. they admit to be working for Aizen but refuse to carry out his orders and announce themselves breaking away from Aizen. Yoruichi pops up, things get a little heated, you guys stop it all before it comes to blows. They then proceed to convince Yoruichi that they are telling the truth of things. At that point, one them announces they are pregnant with your child. Is that about all of it?" Finished Kisuke.

"weeeelllll…." Sheepishly went Takeshi. "Mila isn't the only one I got pregnant."

"let me guess, the deer like one too." Replied Kisuke, ignoring the growl that then came from Apacci.

"actually Kisuke." Cut in Yoruichi. "I'm the other one who's pregnant."

At that announcement, Tessai eyes looked like they were going pop out of his head. While Kisuke held a look of pure and utter shock, his trademark fan that he had closed in his hand. Fell from his grasp and hit the floor with an audible 'thunk' sound.

"who would've possibly thought it was gonna happen only after doing it a single time?" said Yoruichi cheekily as she pulled out the two positive pregnancy test and placed them in front of Kisuke.

Kisuke and Tessai both stared at the test's like they were ancient text of an unknown language trying to decipher what they said. Kisuke snapped out of his surprise first and addressed his longtime friend.

"Yoruichi, are you sure about this?" questioned the shop keeper.

Yoruichi nodded her head. "yes I am Kisuke. I'm just as responsible in this as Takeshi is. you know I've never been one to shirk my responsibility's. atleast over important stuff anyways."

"this is going to be even more trouble." Chimed in Tessai.

"how so?" wondered Takeshi.

"you need to understand." Began Kisuke looking and speaking seriously. "it's bad enough that you got Yoruichi pregnant. Humans of the living world generally aren't supposed to know about soul reapers, hollows and so on to begin with. Children between beings of soul society and the living world is a big time issue. Cause by doing so you're essentially creating more beings of living world who are most likely highly spiritually aware. If that grows and grows, then you have the living world filled lots of highly spiritually aware people. That's a big problem to soul society, if so, many people are like that. then it means more hollow attacks and more people who could develop abilities that could in turn potentially cause problems for soul society."

"what has soul society done in the past with such situations?" asked Takeshi, as he suddenly thought about his siblings as their father was a soul reaper from soul society.

"depends on those involved but most of the time. they usually round up the offending soul being, their partner from the living world. any children they had no matter how old or young they are. As well as grandchildren too if they exist and terminate them all." explained Kisuke.

"Holy shit!" cried Takeshi.

"that's way too extreme!" Cut in Ichigo.

"it certainly is I won't deny it." spoke Kisuke. "from your own time in soul society as well as whatever you may have learned about it prior. Soul society has a bad tendency of 'kill first, sort details later.'"

"all too true sadly." Spoke Yoruichi.

"now we also have to add on top of that, an even bigger issue." Stated Kisuke as he put his attention on the arrancar in the room.

"Not only do you have an association with arrancar, but you also put a baby in one of them as well. Soul society will have a far greater issue with that, then you impregnating Yoruichi. Not to mention the fact they have had association with Aizen. Soul society's number one enemy at the current moment. It puts you in a very compromising position, not just that but by extension Ichigo as well. Seeing how you dragged him into getting involved with them too."

"then you have to also ad in the fact that soul society as it is, is quite wary of you. you have great power, enough to even stand up and defeat various different captains. That's makes them very nervous seeing how you're not a soul reaper, thus they can't claim authority over you. Case in point you've essentially managed to jump right onto the equivalent of an anti-tank mine." Finished Kisuke with a little bite in his tone.

Takeshi sighed. "I kind of figured that much, I can tell you're not exactly thrilled by all this."

"more like I'm very disappointed with you Takeshi." stated Kisuke. "you have great power and so does your brother. You two have potential to exceed most of the captains around, if not all but the head captain. Now you've completely jeopardized yourself, your brother and someone who's my closest friend. I'm not angry at the fact you been seeing these arrancar women. I understand that they are same hollows who helped you for the four years, you were stuck in hueco mundo. what has me upset is that you never bothered to trust us here with such information once they first showed up. It's not wise to keep such things a secret from those who give you the most help."

Takeshi couldn't help but scowl at the fact. Kisuke Urahara had the nerve of all people in the world. to lecture someone on not keeping important things secret from people. now that notion was both infuriating and laughable at the highest level. Takeshi was going to make sure that point was made loud and clear.

"let's freeze it right there for a second Kisuke." Cut in Takeshi with obvious displeasure in his tone. "you're the last fucking person to be lecturing others on keeping secrets and you know it. from the moment I arrived back in Karakura and began living here again. You've been keeping all sorts of major shit hidden. Long before Ichigo received powers from Rukia, I was telling you how I wanted to help Ichigo and our friends who are spiritually aware. But no, you said not to and when I would ask you refused to tell me why. It's been secret this, secret that, scheming here and scheming there. Looking back you had some idea that what happened that night at the house was going to happen sooner or later. You let it happen because it was all a part of your little scheme. Even after Ichigo got his powers, you refused to allow any other soul reapers besides Rukia to train him. despite full well knowing she was far from capable of teaching him adequately due to her weakened condition."

"so of course I took my brother to meet Halibel and the others so he can be properly trained amongst other things. You know damn well I wasn't going to let my little brother suffer as harsh a start into the world of soul reapers, hollows and what not." "then there's the rescue mission." Takeshi began his anger visible now. "you know damn what the hell what was waiting for us in soul society. you knew all about Aizen and his cohorts. Instead coming yourself to help stop it all you basically went 'fuck it' and sent a bunch of high school kids. Most of them mind you only had any powers from maybe three weeks to a couple months. You knew how bad it was going to be and didn't do a damn thing to better prepare us all. once again because of your god damn precious scheming!"

Kisuke took the moment to cut back into the conversation. "let me ask this, would have still gone to save Rukia had I told everything ahead of time?" he asked icily.

"Of course I would have!" Takeshi growled back. "nothing would have kept me from going to save her and you know that! so don't try throwing that one in my face! speaking of Rukia, the whole secretly hiding the hogyoku inside her was fucking ridiculous to begin with. You knew Aizen would have made a move to get it from her one way or another sooner or later. And chose to wait till the last fucking moment in essence to do anything about it! while we're on the topic too, then there's the damn hogyoku!"

Thinking about the item that caused him so much unwanted torment and change. Plus in turn the one who wielded it. caused Takeshi's anger to raise even further, to a point to now his hollow side had begun to fuel it. suddenly to everyone's surprise a very hollow like aura began emanating from Takeshi. the sclera of his eyes began to slowly change black. While his eye color went from their violet to silver and his pupils became vertical slits. His hollow mask partially formed on the top right side of his face and his voice took a hollow like tone to it.

"look at me Kisuke! Look at what you failing to share that information with us caused! If we had known about Aizen beforehand, we could have prepared, we could have been ready from him when he struck! Instead by being left unaware we were left completely exposed to him! Ichigo nearly died, Rukia nearly died! I fell prey to the sick bastard, his twisted experimentation and the item of your own creation!" he roared out.

Takeshi hollow fueled anger rose more as his reiatsu rose in turn. Suddenly he felt a firm but gentle touch on his shoulder. Turning to look, he saw Halibel standing over him.

"Takeshi" she spoke softly. "I understand your anger at this but now is not the time for such things. Please calm yourself."

Her words snapping him back to more normal state of mind. Takeshi closed his eyes and took some deep breaths. In an effort to calm himself. Soon enough his energy began to recede, his eyes returned to normal and his mask fragment broke off and disappeared.

"sorry about that, my anger very rarely ever gets to that kind of level." He stated.

Halibel nodded her head and returned to her seat. Takeshi ran hand through his hair and sighed in frustration.

"look Kisuke, I'll admit I probably should have said something about Halibel and the others returning. I guess I was too nervous and admittedly afraid of what could happen if I had. There tends to be no love lost between hollow's and soul reapers. not to mention I know you all had been somewhat weary of me having befriended Mila and the others. During all my time in hueco mundo. maybe I should have taken a leap of faith and trusted more. I'm…. I'm sorry alright. I never meant to cause all this but I'm sorry none the less." Finished the fullbringer dejectedly.

All was quiet for a moment before Kisuke himself took in and let out a deep breath. "I'm sorry as well Takeshi. I should have put more trust in you as well on my part, that was continued mistake on my end. Even after others tried to tell me not too." He said as me made a motion towards Yoruichi.

"so then." Spoke Yoruichi. "the fact is that mistakes were made to one degree or another on both sides. However, we can't let ourselves be caught up in the past. What's done is done and we still have the major issue of stopping Aizen still. Bickering amongst ourselves only makes things easier for him. so let's just keep our focus on the here and now. So are you two going to be good with one another?"

"Yes Yoruichi." Replied Takeshi and Kisuke simultaneously.

"glad that's all settled." Chimed Ichigo. "but what exactly are we doing about Cyan, the others and not to mention dealing with Mila and Yoruichi's pregnancies?"

"first and foremost." Spoke Kisuke. "dealing with the pregnancies is the biggest issue. The fact of the matter is soul society will find out about all of this at some point, there is no 'if' about it. plus we simply don't have nine months to wait until they give birth. Aizen will make his move long before that happens. So, I'll work on something that can safely speed up the gestation process."

"for real?" wondered Mila.

"if anyone can come up with a way to do it. it's definitely Kisuke, he's the only person who can match if not surpass Aizen in intelligence." Said Yoruichi. Mila nodded her head in understanding.

"the next major thing to address." Cut in Kisuke. "is supply our new friends here with gigai to help keep them covered here in the world of the living. Not to mention setting up places for them to stay at and so forth."

"me and Ichigo can figure that out. We can house who we can and talk to the others we can to people we know for arrangements if needed. We're gonna have to tell Orihime, Chad and Uryu at the very least of all this." stated Takeshi.

"I just realized that explaining this all to Karin and Yuzu may be an issue." Piped Ichigo.

"what about dad?" retorted Takeshi.

"not too concerned after all he is a soul reaper." Causally said Ichigo.

"yeah that's tr- WAIT YOU KNOW!?" said a surprised Takeshi.

"uhhhh…yeah. after I got my powers back, Kisuke said it was because it was hereditary. Seeing how it couldn't have been from mom otherwise she would've dealt with the hollow at the river that night. the only real logical option was dad. Plus, when you considered he's never really shared his past with us. it just sort of adds up."

"oh man I can't wait to see how the old goat reacts to that."

"wait a sec, how long have you known?" questioned the orange haired teen.

"I found out about it the night I arrived back in Karakura. Dad made me promise not to tell you or our sisters." Replied the violet eyed teen.

"fair enough."

"getting back on track here." Said Kisuke. "we also have to figure what you two are going to do about dealing with the hollow power's you have."

"I can handle that." said Halibel. "they have the most experience training under me as it is. being an arrancar also makes me the most suitable in helping them train, understand and develop their hollow powers."

"sound's good, you can utilize the training room under the shop as well. Now then, I'm gonna get started on the gigai's." Kisuke then pulled out four large clear orbs. "if you ladies would be kind enough to take one each and put some of your energy into them. these will become your new gigai."

The four arrancar women each took an orb and fed a little power into them. soon enough the orbs began to glow and Kisuke took them and headed off towards a back room in the shop.

"it will take some time to craft all four of them. I also need to make some modifications to yours as well Mila. considering your pregnancy, Yoruichi I'll go ahead and make the same modifications to your own gigai." Stated the shop keeper as he disappeared into the back.

"So what are we going to do while we wait?" wondered Apacci.

"I have something that I think would be beneficial for Takeshi, Mila and Yoruichi." Announced Tessai as he pulled out of nowhere what seemed to be catalog books of sorts.

"what are those?" asked Takeshi who began to feel a bit nervous.

"why they're baby supply catalogs." Stated Tessai. "anything you find in here we can have ordered directly to the shop."

"oh fantastic Tessai!" chirped Yoruichi.

"sounds a like a good idea in all honesty." added Mila.

"yeah great." Said Takeshi as he slowly made his way to stand back up. Only to have his arms be gripped to hold him in place, by Mila and Yoruichi.

"where are you off to Takeshi?" asked Mila

"I figured I was going to go do some training with Ichigo." He said hoping to escape from spending the next few hours looking through catalogs.

"they'll be plenty of time for that. for now, why don't you help us look at some nice things for our soon to be children." Said Yoruichi sweetly with an edge that implied there was no escape.

Realizing he had no hope of getting away. Takeshi simply hung his head in defeat and accepted his fate. Everyone else couldn't help but chuckle at the little display.

A few hours later, everyone's gigai's were ready. Everyone gave a quick good-bye to Kisuke and Tessai. Whom in-turn insured Takeshi and Ichigo they would help watch their backs in the turbulent times to come no matter what.

They began walking back to the Kurosaki residence, as they neared the house and stopped just in front of the door.

"how do you think dad will handle all of this?" mused Takeshi.

"only one way to find out." Replied Ichigo. "okay you guys keep back and get ready for one of the strangest things you'll ever see."

Everyone raised an eyebrow at this but didn't say anything. The Kurosaki brothers approached the door to their home. As soon as it opened, they were assaulted by their father.

"Daddy surprise atta-" Isshin's words died in his throat as Ichigo's foot planted squarely in his gut. Which was followed by Takeshi's own foot to the Kurosaki patriarchs face. Isshin flew back into the house and crashed into heap onto the floor. Both brother's shook their heads in annoyance.

"do you ever wonder, how it is we haven't gone insane with him as a father sometimes?" stated Takeshi.

"more than I will ever care to admit." Retorted Ichigo.

Meanwhile the others who had watched the whole display unfold had their own reactions to it. Halibel gave an incredulous look at the whole thing. Tres bestias were laughing their asses off. Yoruichi simply gave a smirk as she shook her head. "Isshin never changes it seems." Chimed the werecat.

"unfortunately for us all." deadpanned Ichigo. "come on let's go inside."

Isshin began picking himself up from the floor, he stood in time to see a sight nearly made him face vault back onto it. following his two sons into the house were four women each one he had to admit that were rather beautiful in their own way. Then what truly surprised him is when none other Yoruichi walked in finally as well. Before anything could be said Isshin broke into fake anime tears.

"oh my son's you make me so proud as your father in this moment!" cried the elder Kurosaki.

"get a grip old man!" cut in Takeshi. "it's not what you think. Well it's actually sort of what you think but not exactly. Point is we have a lot we need to discuss."

Catching the seriousness in his son's voice. Isshin became more serious himself. "alright, lets head to the living room and talk."

"where's Karin and Yuzu?" asked Ichigo.

"at a friend's house but they'll be home by tonight though." Replied Isshin as everyone took a seat in the living room. Isshin couldn't help but notice that one of the mysterious women and Yoruichi sitting on either side of his eldest son.

"so first things first dad." Spoke Ichigo. "everyone here is aware about the spirit world and what not. Including you having been a soul reaper captain at one point."

Isshin looked at his orange haired son in surprise. "how do you know?"

"I figured it out myself after I got my soul reaper powers back. I just never said anything. I figured you had your reasons for not telling me." Spoke Ichigo.

Isshin couldn't but laugh a bit. "you're sharper than I gave you credit for son. I'll explain my past to you if you want."

"I would but we need to discuss some more pressing matters first though."

"I see." Spoke Isshin. "I assume that would involve your friends here?"

"yeah that's right dad." Said Takeshi. "so you remember when I was stuck for those four years in hueco mundo and made good friends with a group of hollows."

"yes, I do, what does th-" Isshin's words hitched in his mouth when the realization hit him.

"so you see, this is them. though they're all arrancar now. Let me introduce them to you."

Isshin payed close attention as his son introduced the four women.

"Emilou Apacci." Takeshi said gesturing to the black haired woman with two different colored eyes.

"Cyan Sung-Sun." Takeshi sated as he gestured to a long green haired woman that sat closely to Ichigo.

"Franceska Mila-Rose." The eldest son said gesturing to a well built, dark skinned woman that sat directly next to him

"Tia Halibel." Takeshi finished gesturing to a dark skinned and messy blond haired woman.

Isshin was stunned for a few moments before finally regaining himself. "so you're the ones who helped keep my son alive and looked after him while in hueco mundo?"

"that is correct." Replied Halibel.

Isshin nodded his head before standing up walking over the Vasto lorde woman and extended a hand. "thank you for looking after my son. He only made it back home alive and well because you all. as his father I can't possibly express enough how thankful I am to you all for that."

Halibel reached out and took the hand and shook. "it wasn't a problem at all. despite the rough start some of us may have had. Takeshi quickly became someone we all care a great deal for. As a member of our own strange little family."

Isshin smiled in return before breaking the handshake and turned to his eldest son. "so I'm gonna go out on a limb here and assume they've been secretly visiting you for some time?"

Takeshi nodded his head in response. "They've been secretly visiting since the night Ichigo received his powers. in fact I convinced Halibel to train Ichigo like she did me."

"that explains why your brother seemed so much more powerful than he should've been for a substitute with only a few months experience. I knew you two were sneaking out every night but me and Kisuke assumed you were simply training your brother yourself. you made it quite clear you didn't want Ichigo to struggle needlessly when he first got into this world. considering how powerful you were when you first arrived back home it made sense. Though having him be trained by someone as powerful as she is certainly make's sense as well." Stated Isshin.

"there's also something else you should know dad. As you're already aware of Mila was the one who first found me in hueco mundo and we've known each other the longest. Long story short, after she came to Karakura as an arrancar with the others we had a heart to heart and we're together you see." Said the fullbringer.

Isshin seemed taken aback by this for a moment. "I see, so the night I confronted you in the kitchen and teased about having been to bed with a woman. The woman you slept with was Mila then I'm gonna guess." Takeshi simply nodded his head. Isshin couldn't help but smile a bit at that. "my, my son. Taking an arrancar for a lover, that's quite the exotic choice to have made." He teased.

"dammit old goat." Growled Takeshi.

"relax son, I'll admit I would normally be concerned about one of my children being so close to someone who's an arrancar. However considering the history between you two, I'm not too surprised and I know I can trust her."

"good to hear, seeing how you should know, that me and Cyan are also a couple as well." Cut in Ichigo.

Isshin whipped his head around to his other son, to just now notice Ichigo and Cyan were now holding hands and she was sitting on one of his legs as Ichigo sat in a chair.

"oh my son's." he began with a tone of pride. "I'm so happy to see you both growing so well into your own as men!"

Takeshi sighed. "don't get too excited just yet. Seeing as you know about me and Mila sleeping together that night. you should know that she's pregnant now."

Isshin whipped his head back around to his eldest son, mouth agape. He couldn't find the words to speak in the moment.

"also" began Takeshi. "seeing how you're also aware of what happened in soul society between me and Yoruichi. Well….. Yoruichi is also pregnant."

If Isshin Kurosaki wasn't surprised before, he sure as hell was now. His eyes quickly darted back and forth between Takeshi and the two women at such a pace. His eye's looked like they were going to roll out of his head. Finally he stopped and simply looked at Yoruichi for confirmation on this news.

"it's true Isshin, me and Mila are officially carrying your grandchildren." The Shihoin simply replied.

Isshin was at a loss of words. A whole myriad of emotions ran through his head all at once before he was finally able to speak again and looked at his son seriously. "you're taking responsibility in all this?"

"yes I am." Replied Takeshi equally serious.

Isshin nodded his head. While he was certainly shocked that his son was becoming a father at only 16. Having children with two different women practically at the same time to no less. He was glad his son was being responsible in this situation. Then his emotions and thoughts finally settled on one thing.

"OH MASAKI!" cried out Isshin as he ran over to the giant poster of his late wife. "WE'RE GOING TO BE HAVING GRANDCHILDREN! I'M SO EXCITED AND HAPPY ABOUT THIS!"

Mila looked to Takeshi with a raised eyebrow. "does he tend to act like this?" she wondered.

"regretfully yes." he deadpanned.

Then a sudden thought crossed Isshin's mind as he then looked to Ichigo. "Ichigo what of you and Cyan?"

"don't worry dad. While we have slept together, we thankfully avoided having to worry about being soon to be parents." Replied Ichigo.

"I see" spoke Isshin as he turned his attention back to Takeshi with a serious look back on his face. "Takeshi while I am happy about this news. I hope you understand just how dangerous of waters your treading here with soul society."

"well aware dad. Kisuke gave the full rundown of things back at the shop. Now I understand why you've always been so adamant about trying keep us out of this business of spirits and such."

"precisely. They're still plenty of people running around soul society from my time as captain. If any of them saw me in the living world and then you kids, they would instantly make the connection. That could bring a whole slew of danger for you and your sisters." Isshin finished.

"speaking of Karin and Yuzu. I think it would be best to come clean to them about everything. Karin is already pretty spiritually aware even if she doesn't like to admit it. while Yuzu isn't quite at Karin's level yet, she sure to get there sooner than later. Things as they are, secrets out one way or another here soon enough. whether we want them too or not. With the scale of everything that's going to be happening once Aizen begins making his move. It would be more dangerous to keep them ignorant about it all, in my opinion." Cut in Takeshi.

Isshin went quiet and closed his eyes going into deep thought about what his son said to him. after a few more moments he opened his eyes, let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "as much as I would like to avoid having Karin and Yuzu in this business. I can't argue with your thoughts on this Takeshi. I'll talk to them once they get home tonight."

"we'll talk to them together." Said Ichigo. "that reminds me, I'm gonna call Chad, Orihime and Uryu. Might as well get them out of the way as well."

"good idea little brother."

Ichigo went off to go call their friends, while everyone else remained.

"so Yoruichi." Said Isshin. "besides my son managing to get you pregnant by accident. what exactly is the relationship between you and him?"

"truth be told Isshin. I've had my eye on Takeshi for quite some time now." Explained the werecat. "when it comes down to it, me and Mila have agreed to share him, shall I say."

"yeah with everything that's happened and everything that's going to be happening." spoke up Mila. "him having to worry about choosing between the two of us is the last thing he needed."

"agreed, besides Takeshi is enough of a man. I doubt a single woman would be enough to satisfy all his cravings." Playfully stated Yoruichi.

"sweet Kami, I'm not that much a sex freak." Replied the violet eyed teen.

"I beg to differ; I was sore for a whole day after we fucked, and I have high speed regeneration!" exclaimed Mila.

"plus while you probably don't remember. I actually had to get a whole new set of clean sheets for your hospital bed after we were done. The sheets on it were soaked from how much you made me gush." Explained Yoruichi.

"I… I don't even know how to reply to all that." said Takeshi in a subdued tone.

"just you wait until me, you and Mila have our first kinky threesome." Chimed Yoruichi.

"now that sounds fun." Cut in Mila. "never had a threesome that involved a guy before."

"wait what?" went Takeshi.

"what?" began Mila "when we all became arrancar and had more human like bodies again. We all decided to have some fun amongst ourselves. Hell, I kept it up until we started dating. Sung-Sun did too until her and Ichigo started dating. Though Apacci and lady Halibel still do it for fun every so often."

"Mila-Rose!" sternly cut in Halibel.

"that would explain a lot as to why you all refer to Halibel as 'Mistress' at times." Said the fullbringer.

"Takeshi!" went Halibel.

"Sorry." Spoke both offenders simultaneously.

"Ha!, I knew you were a kinky kitty like me." Went Yoruichi.

Meanwhile Isshin was laughing his ass off though he eventually calmed down enough to speak. "two pieces of advice son. One, get a bigger bed as soon as possible. Two, make sure that bed has a good warranty attached to it."

"everyone's on their way and should…..be here soon. Did I miss something?" questioned Ichigo as he walked back into the room.

"nothing worth brining back up again." Quickly spoke Sung-Sun, not wanting to repeat the conversation.

"by the way we need to figure out housing. I doubt we have enough for everyone here." Said Takeshi.

"non-sense." Announced Isshin. "the couch becomes a bed and we have spare sheets and pillows. we can manage just fine I think."

"that should work just fine than and we keep everyone together at that too." Said Ichigo.

After about 15 minutes a knock was heard at the door.

"I got it." said Ichigo as he got up to answer the door. A minute later Ichigo walked back in. followed by Chad, Orihime and Uryu.

"so what exactly did you and your brother have to talk to us about that so impor…..tant?" went Uryu as he walked into the living room and saw Yoruichi and four women he didn't recognize.

"what exactly is going on?" asked Orihime after she saw Ichigo sit right next some green haired woman she didn't know.

"please explain." Went Chad.

Ichigo and Takeshi looked to one another before turning back to their friends.

"buckle up, it's quite the ride." Stated Takeshi as he began explaining everything.

*30 minutes later*

"and that's everything." Finally finished Takeshi.

The room was deathly quiet as Chad, Orihime and Uryu processed everything, while the others simply watched them. unsurprisingly it was Uryu who spoke first.

"Takeshi." went Uryu.

"Yes?"

"are you out of your god damn mind!" yelled the quincy.

"probably a little, what's your point?"

"do you not understand how serious this all is" retorted Uryu.

"Uryu, I've had this damn talk about how serious this all is twice already today. I don't need it a third fucking time. I am deathly aware how much shit I can find myself up in with all of this." Retorted Takeshi.

"look, I'm just being concerned as a friend." Went the quincy. "there's not really anything I can do with no longer having my quincy powers. I'm just worried about all of this, I don't want to see anything bad happen to you, Ichigo or the rest of your family. While I can't say I fully trust the arrancar despite your history with them. I will trust you and Ichigo though."

"let's have some faith in Takeshi and Ichigo. They've always shown themselves to be good judges of character." Piped up Chad. While he was certainly surprised by the revelation of everything. He could understand why they kept things secret for as long as they did. The only he felt he could do now, was be a good friend and help them through all this.

Orihime had remained quiet, while she was hurt that Ichigo had found someone else to happy with. She didn't want to hold that against him or his girlfriend Sung-Sun as she was called. She was going to be a supportive friend for Ichigo and Takeshi both.

"I agree with Chad." Piped Orihime. "we should help as we can. With everything that will be happening at some point. We need to keep together in this all."

"well said Orihime." Chimed in Yoruichi.

"well, if that's the case, me and Ichigo are going to start training at Kisuke's tomorrow. You should join us; the training area is big enough for us all." stated Takeshi.

"sounds good." Spoke Chad, while Orihime simply nodded her head in agreement.

"while I appreciate the offer, but I don't have powers anymore remember?" went Uryu.

"if I could get my powers back, I'm sure you can too Uryu." Said Ichigo. "I'm sure Kisuke will have some way to get your powers back."

"no." stated the quincy. "I will get my powers back but if anyone will for sure be able to get my powers back it will be my father. He's the only other quincy around besides me."

"fair enough Uryu. Whenever you get your powers you can start training with us." replied Ichigo.

"sounds good. Well if that's all, I suppose we might as well take our leave for now." Said Uryu.

"see you all at the shop." Went Chad.

"see you all later!" said Orihime in her peppy tone as she, Chad and Uryu left the house.

"well that went a bit better than I expected." Said Takeshi.

"yeah, I'm glad it did. Yuzu and Karin will be back soon. Might as well get ready for them." retorted Ichigo.

"fair enough let's do this thing."

Another 20 minutes later the younger Kurosaki siblings arrived home at last.

"Karin, I'm going to check on dad and see if Takeshi and Ichigo are home." Spoke Yuzu as she walked into the house. She went to the living room and froze up at the sight she was seeing. She saw her brothers and father but who were all the women in the room? "umm, who are all our guest?

"what's going on in here Yuzu. What the heck?" spoke Karin as she too saw the sight in the living room.

"Karin, Yuzu." Said Isshin. "there's a lot for us to talk about."

*One hour later*

To say that Karin and Yuzu were shocked by everything they had heard. Would be massive understatement. While Karin was somewhat aware of things like hollows and soul reapers already but simply ignored it as much as she could. The realization that there was so much more to it than she had known was astounding. There were more advanced forms of hollows. Entire society of soul reapers and such. Her eldest brother being something entirely different from the previous two was something she had no idea about.

For Yuzu the realization of it all was an even bigger shock. While she was spiritual attuned like her sister. It wasn't quite on the same level, so she was even less aware about it all then even Karin was. She never would have imagined things with were so massive and complex.

Then there was the similar thoughts the twins shared about everything. Their father, brother Ichigo and a woman who called herself 'Yoruichi' were all something called a 'soul reaper'. Their eldest brother Takeshi was something called a 'fullbringer' and he had lied about his disappearance. He had actually been taken against his will to some world filled with soul eating monsters called 'hollows'. Having to fight and survive there until he got home eventually.

What was even more nuts, was the fact the other four women in the room referred to themselves as arrancar. Highly evolved version of hollows and they were good friends with their eldest brother. Plus the fact they were all apparently wrapped up in some growing war between the worlds of soul reapers and hollows.

What really tossed them for a loop was when Ichigo admitted he was dating one of the arrancar women. A slender and elegant looking woman by the name 'Cyan Sung-Sun. the even bigger news was Takeshi admitted to being in a relationship with one of the arrancar women. A dark skinned and well-built looking woman named 'Franceska Mila-Rose and also dating the soul reaper woman Yoruichi at the same time. to top it all off, he had even managed to get them both pregnant.

The sisters were sitting near their father, finally starting to come down from the shock of everything as they finished processing it all.

"this is all complete and utter madness." Spoke Karin.

"I know this awful lot to take in girls and I'm sorry that this was all kept from you. we were hoping we could go through all this without you two also having to be involved. But things as they are made us realize keeping you blind would be even more unsafe considering the enemy we have to deal with." Explained Isshin sympathetically.

Karin and Yuzu remained quiet thinking more on things. Then Karin spoke up once more.

"I want to actually develop and have real powers like dad and Ichigo." Karin announced.

That was a statement that no one actually saw coming. Everyone else had their mouths a gape at the declaration.

"Karin" started Isshin. "I'm not sure that's a good idea. You can't fight in this coming war. It's bad enough your brothers have to."

"I'm not wanting the power to fight in some war." Protested Karin. "I know you'll never want me to fight in it. plus the fact is I probably wouldn't even be ready for it by time it kicks into full gear anyways. I want it so I can better protect myself, Yuzu and everyone else I care for. You guys might not always be around to save us if were attacked by whatever. They're have been some close calls already as it is. it would just be a good thing to have in my opinion."

"Karin are you sure you want to do this?" questioned Ichigo. "normally I would be against this sort of thing, but I admit. It's hard to argue with you reasoning. If something were to happen and me or Takeshi or dad, couldn't be there to help. If you or Yuzu suffered badly or worse since you couldn't defend yourselves. Simply because we denied the option to you have the capabilities when you could have had them. that would feel even worse, I think. You have to understand though, this is not an easy thing. There will be struggles and hardship if you go on this path. Me, and Takeshi can both attest to that fact, dad as well I'm sure. So I'll ask again, are you sure you want to do this?"

Karin looked her orange haired brother square in his eyes and replied with full confidence and determination. "Yes, this I feel is the best thing for me."

"I'm with Karin on this as well!" Yuzu suddenly cried out. "if she's going to go through this then I shall as well. I won't be left behind as the rest of my family is involved in all this. I'll go with Karin and develop my own powers too; I might not be as attuned as she is at the moment. However I feel I can get there with some work."

Everyone else was left stunned. No expected Yuzu of all people to be so determined about something like this. Then out of the blue Takeshi chuckled, drawing everyone's attention to him.

"my oh my. As unexpected as this turn of events all is. seeing the fire in you two makes me feel this a good move to be making. We better let Kisuke know his training room is going to be awfully busy tomorrow. In the meantime it's getting kind of late and we still haven't eaten dinner yet." Stated the fullbringer.

"oh goodness!" exclaimed Yuzu. "I get started right away! Come on Karin I'll need your help." With that, both Kurosaki sisters left off to the kitchen.

"I really do think this is actually a good move to be making for a couple reasons." Said Takeshi to the rest of the room.

"care to elaborate?" wondered Ichigo.

"think of it like this." Takeshi mused. "not only will developing their dormant soul reaper powers they've inherited from dad. Won't only just allow them to effectively defend themselves against danger from basic hollows and such things that could attack them. it will also give them a get out jail card against seireitei. once seireitei finds out about some of the truths of our family and they will here soon enough with everything going. If they achieve their own soul reaper powers, then soul society will then most likely seek to recruit and make them substitute soul reapers like Ichigo. While it may not be the greatest thing, it far better than the possible alternative I don't need to state."

Isshin had a hard look on his face as he thought about his son's words and let out a sigh. "you're right about that son. Soul society would rather simply recruit them at that point. Instead going through the bigger work of the alternate possibility."

"exactly, though granted that still leaves me potentially on the proverbial chopping block. Since I am not soul reaper myself and everything else, I have stacked on my plate so to say." Replied the fullbringer. "and before you guys say otherwise let me make it very clear. If it comes down to it, if me, Mila, Halibel, Sung-Sun, and Apacci. Have to make a run for it, no one else is too try being a big damn hero's in that situation. The rest of you may have a clean way out and I won't have you jeopardizing that. Understand!?" he finished looking sternly at his brother and father.

"you do realize that I'll have to go as well? While I haven't gotten her pregnant. you really think soul society will turn a blind eye to me and Sung-Sun being a couple?" said Ichigo.

"if it comes to that, I'll be going with you too." Said Yoruichi.

Takeshi looked at the werecat with an unsure expression. "Yoruichi, you can still make it in the clear. You don't have to go on the run with us, if it comes to that."

"Takeshi Kurosaki." She replied. "I'm pregnant with your child. I'm in too deep as it is already. Besides incase you forgot I'm quite used to being on the run from soul society. you're not going to change my mind on this, so don't even bother trying."

Takeshi could only sigh in defeat understanding there was no winning the argument and stood up. "fair enough, I understand. We better contact Kisuke, get everyone settled in and then help out in the kitchen."

Everyone agreed with the statement and began getting up to go about helping out with what needed to be done.

It was now well into the night and Takeshi getting ready to settle into bed. Yoruichi had called Kisuke to let him know about what was going on. Kisuke promised he would have everything ready in the training area ready for everyone tomorrow. After going about getting living arrangements settled and pitching in with dinner and cleaning up after words. Takeshi had to admit he felt rather tired after the day that was had. He was wearing some gym shorts and a plain shirt as he prepared to climb into bed. Only to hear his door open and close behind him, he turned to see Mila walking over to him.

"hell of a day eh?" chimed Takeshi.

"you could say that again." Spoke the lioness. "turning against Aizen. Revealing the truth of so much to everyone. Preparing for what's to come. It's all so much to deal with and yet. Despite all that, I feel okay about it all even if there's still a little nervousness."

Takeshi sat on his bed and took a deep breath. "yeah, I know what you mean, a part of me kind of makes miss the days of traveling about hueco mundo. in hindsight everything was so much simpler back then. Just you, me and the others, wondering about the sands. Underneath the calming moonlight of the realm. Just chatting and enjoy each other's company, almost no worries on our minds."

Mila sat down next to Takeshi. "yeah those were pretty good days, granted I was still a normal hollow back then. The fact is becoming an arrancar has opened a whole avenue of things to me, to us. sure we've hit a few unexpected rough spots but will get through it. we always have and I'm sure will make through all of this no matter how tough it gets."

Takeshi gave smile and leaned in gave Mila kiss. "your right." He replied after breaking the kiss. "we'll manage somehow someway. You, me, Yoruichi and the kids."

"nicely put I do say so myself." spoke a voice suddenly.

Mila and Takeshi turned to see Yoruichi standing in the room. Neither one had any idea when the werecat had entered the room.

"you know, normally I question how someone snuck into my room without me or anyone else in the room realizing it. then I remember this you I'm talking about, so there's no point to it." said Takeshi. "also why are you here? I thought you would go back to Kisuke's, seeing how you live there."

"with everything happening, I'm officially going to be living here with you from here on out. I'll sort the details of getting all stuff brought over here at a later date." Chimed Yoruichi as she plopped on to the bed as well. "come on we have a busy day tomorrow, let's get some sleep."

No one could argue with that notion, quickly going to turn off the bedroom lights. Takeshi laid himself down in bed followed by Yoruichi laying to his right and Mila to his left. Him only having a twin sized bed made things a little cramped, with both women having to lay somewhat on top of him in order to fit. He was definitely going to have to take his dads advice on the bigger bed. Wrapping an arm caringly around each of them. soon enough all three drifted off to sleep.

*Next day, shop training grounds*

It was the late morning, and everyone was gathered at the training grounds at Urahara's shop. The whole Kurosaki family, the arrancar, Chad and Orihime. Uryu had called earlier in the morning that he had convinced his father to start helping him regain his lost quincy powers. currently everyone at the shop was discussing how they were all going to train. Thankfully Kisuke had been true to his word and had expanded the training room to safely accommodate everyone. Tessai even reinforced the existing barriers and added new ones for extra security and safety.

"ok so here's the plan. First off Karin and Yuzu will be splitting off with Yoruichi to obtain their soul reaper powers." said Kisuke.

"you better not do to them what you did to me get my soul reaper powers." cut in Ichigo with an edge to his tone.

"nothing so dramatic or dangerous I assure you." replied Kisuke as he proceeded to pull out two black marble sized pills. "I have in fact worked on newer much safer method you see. Isshin, I will simply need you to put some of your spirit energy into these and then the girls will need to swallow them. it will in essence inject their bodies with soul reaper reiatsu. Then they will simply need to take a blank zanpaktou and focus on imprinting on it. should they succeed, it will cause a reaction that will automatically make them soul reapers. it a much safer method I've developed in contrast to what I did with Ichigo. It's also safer than the usual stab them through the chest with a zanpaktou method."

"damn Kisuke that quite something even for you." said Ishhin as he took the pills and fed some energy into them. he then handed them off to his daughters.

"why thank you Isshin!" replied Kisuke with glee.

Karin and Yuzu looked at the pills inquisitively. "well, no point in turning back now. Let get to it." spoke Karin as she tossed the pill in her mouth and swallowed. Yuzu put a look of determination on her face and did the same. Soon a glow of energy enveloped both girls.

"wow, this feeling is so odd." Said Yuzu.

"that's because your bodied are now ready for the next stage of the process. Yoruichi if you would be so kind." Mused Kisuke.

Yoruichi nodded and in a flash was gone and then back again just as quickly holding two blank zanpaktou and handed one to each of the sisters. "ok girls follow me, and I'll show how to begin imprinting on those blades. If all goes well, you two should be soul reapers by the end of the day." Stated the werecat as she motioned the twins to follow her. They all walked off to a section of the training grounds.

"right then Chad, Orihime and tres bestias should train together. Tessai will be with you all to supervise and help as needed. Mila, I won't dissuade you from training but if at any point things start to feel weird for you. I would highly recommend stopping at once. we don't know how being pregnant will affect the flow and function of your power just yet." Explained Kisuke.

"I understand I'll be careful about things." Spoke Mila as she and everyone else in their group left to train in their own spot.

"next up." Began Kisuke. "Halibel will take Takeshi to help him begin developing his hollow powers. as well as helping Ichigo gain control of his own hollow powers and start developing them as well."

"sounds like a plan to me." Said Takeshi.

"so that just leaves me to help beat the rust off of Isshin." Chimed the shop keeper.

"as if Kisuke." Retorted Isshin. "I may be a bit rusty but don't think I'll be easy. You'll find it tough to touch me."

"Oh….really?" mused Kisuke with mischievous gleam in eyes. "well in that case I suppose I won't need to hold back with Benihime then."

"you're on Kisuke!" said the Kurosaki patriarch as both men left to their own spot in the training grounds.

"so…. where do you want to start Halibel?" questioned Takeshi.

Halibel thought for a moment contemplating what to do before eventually making her decision.

"I'll start with Ichigo, he has an inner hollow but does have any sort of control of it. if he's too develop his hollow powers, he must first gain a semblance of control first and foremost." She said as she then looked directly at the orange haired soul reaper. "I will use some of my own reiatsu and forcibly draw out your hollow powers and put you into your inner world."

"what exactly can we expect once it starts out here while I'm in my inner world?" wondered Ichigo.

"that I am not entirely sure, however do not fret. whatever comes me and your brother are here to deal with it. keep focused on the task of doing what you must to bring your inner hollow to compliance while in your inner world. now, go into your soul reaper form." Stated Halibel.

Ichigo nodded and pressed his badge to his chest. Takeshi caught his brothers' body and moved back a safe distance with it. Ichigo stepped forward to Halibel and prepared himself.

Halibel's hand began to glow yellow with her reiatsu and raised it to Ichigo's head. "here we go Ichigo." Said the espada and then Ichigo's world went black as he was put into his inner world.

After a moment Ichigo awoke inside his inner, it was massive city with lots of skyscrapers. He drew out his blade, ready for his face off with the hollow that dwelled within him.

"well, well, well, look who finally got off his ass to actually do something!" A distorted voice sneered.

Ichigo looked in the direction of the voice and saw his inner hollow. it looked just like him except he was all white except for its black and golden eyes. His inner hollow carried a blade just like his except mostly white with a black blade edge.

"where's the old man?" questioned Ichigo.

"don't worry about him, instead you should worry about ME!" roared Hichigo as he charged Ichigo to attack. Ichigo quickly brought up his own blade and blocked the incoming strike. The battle for dominance had begun.

In the underground training ground Halibel and Takeshi watched Ichigo as his body began change as battled in his inner world. to their surprise and mild horror Ichigo's body began to morph. His hollow mask covered his whole face, a hollow hole opened up in his chest. his eyes had turned black and gold, a white bone like substance began to form across his body as it grew in size. By the time all changes were finished most of his body was covered in white. His hands had elongated claw like fingers, he had some sort of long reptilian like tail with some spikes at the end.

"ok that's kind of fucked up." Muttered Takeshi to himself as he stood a safe distance away with his brother's physical body.

Meanwhile Halibel had her blade drawn and ready. She could no doubt handle Ichigo in his current state. Her only concern was what would be the outcome of the battle dominance, within her friend's mind. What would be the result?

She didn't have much time to think as the hollow like Ichigo lunged forward. Halibel quickly side stepped the strike and backhanded her opponent. The monstrous hollow like Ichigo flew back and crashed into the ground. It quickly stood back up and gave a roar of fury at the arrancar.

"I will not be intimated by someone as weak as you are." Proclaimed Halibel. "I've dealt with beings far more dangerous than you could ever be."

That seemed to piss the monstrous hollow Ichigo off as it quickly brought a hand with two fingers pointed out. A red ball of energy formed at the tip, a cero. Then it launched at full force at Halibel.

She however was not concerned. She merely raised her own hand up and focused a yellow cero in the palm of her hand and launched it against the red one. Both beams collided and the yellow quickly engulfed the red. Before the hollow Ichigo could react, it was engulfed in yellow energy. Once it a cleared the hollow was on the ground but slowly making it ways back to its feet. Halibel's attack had done a number, that was for sure.

"I hope you resolve the battle inside your mind soon Ichigo." Mused Halibel.

"I'm not gonna loose to you!" yelled Ichigo as he took a swing with his blade at Hichigo. Hichigo parried the strike before moving in with a swing of his own. Ichigo blocked it and pushed off forcing his inner hollow to slide back to a stop.

"you better be stronger than this kingy!" sneered Hichigo. "you'll lose and your body will be mine. I can guarantee that right now!"

Ichigo glared down his inner hollow, determination burning in his eyes.

"you want to see stronger?" Ichigo asked rhetorically. "fine then I will give you stronger." Ichigo raised Zangetsu out in front of him as his energy began to swell around him.

"BANKAI!" yelled Ichigo as he was engulfed in vortex of power. That soon dissipated revealing his Bankai form.

Hichigo had wolfish grin spread across his face in response to this and cackled like a mad man before speaking. "that's it kingy! Now it's getting really good. But if you're going to raise the stakes like that. then look like I'll need to do the same."

Hichigo then raised up his own Zangetsu and began powering up his power.

"BANKAI!" roared Hichigo as to was engulfed in a vortex of power. Which soon revealed him in a bankai form similar to Ichigo's.

"that can't be." Said a shocked Ichigo.

"surprise kingy." Said Hichigo with glee and a mocking grin.

Undeterred, Ichigo quickly regained his focus and speed off at Hichigo. Their respective blades collided sending a shockwave that shattered the windows of nearby buildings. Ichigo pulled back and made swing which was dodged before Ichigo had to quickly parry a return strike. Ichigo jumped back and made distance between them, brought his blade back focusing his power. Black energy swirled around his blade and then swung around for his attack.

"Getsuga Tensho!" yelled Ichigo as the black of energy shot out towards Hichigo.

Hichigo seemed unfazed by this as he swiftly charged power into his own blade and then swung it around for his counterattack.

"Getsuga Tensho!" yelled Hichigo as a white arc of energy shot out.

Black met white and exploded thunderously against one another. To the amusement of one and the shock of another.

"that… how does he…?" questioned a stunned Ichigo, not expecting his inner hollow to also know getsuga tensho.

"Behind you kingy!" roared Hichigo. Using Ichigo moment of shock to get right behind him and brought his blade down.

Ichigo tried to quickly move but wasn't fast enough to avoid the whole strike. As he was sliced cleanly down his back, Ichigo hissed at the pain as he whirled to try and prepare himself. Only to have Hichigo directly in his face, then a sharp pain shot through his gut. As Hichigo's blade pierced through him and he was slammed into one of the buildings. Being held place from the sword in Hichigo's hands, Ichigo was stuck in place.

"you really are pathetic kingy." Hichigo hissed. "you don't deserve any of the power you have. You don't deserve anything you have. You certainly don't deserve that snake chick. Your little sisters, none of it. Don't worry though, I'll be sure to take good care of everything once I have full control." Hichigo finished with a sinister smirk across his face.

"you…you won't win." Growled Ichigo. "I won't loose. Not to you or anyone else!" he roared out as his power began to rise to Hichigo's surprise. Before Hichigo could react, Ichigo quickly grabbed the blade that held him in place. Ichigo swung his own blade at his inner hollow and landed a severe slash clean across the chest. Hichigo yelled in pain and forced back losing his grip on his own blade in the process.

"I'll never allow you to control me ever again you bastard!" roared Ichigo as his energy rose further. He gripped the blade sticking in him and in single motion pulled it out of him. "I'll never let you anywhere near the people I care for!" at those words he gripped Hichigo's blade so hard it broke and dissipated. Much to the shock of his inner hollow. "not you or anyone else will ever harm anyone as long as I am here! I will protect everyone!"

Ichigo took off in blinding speed and before Hichigo even knew what had happened. Ichigo's blade had pierced through his chest. Soon enough Ichigo's inner hollow began to disappear.

"fine Kingy, you win this one. Just remember, you slip up and I will take what I desire." Said Hichigo with a threatening tone as he disappeared fully.

"Got it." Ichigo simply replied.

Back in the training ground, Halibel was defending off the monstrous hollow Ichigo off. When suddenly it froze in place, to the surprise of Halibel and Takeshi. then cracks began forming all around it before it suddenly burst. Once the smoke of the explosion cleared away. It revealed Ichigo standing in place, hollow mask on his face.

"He did it." said Halibel in satisfaction.

Ichigo suddenly began to fall over as his hollow mask fell from his face. thankfully he was caught midfall by his older brother.

"so how do you feel?" mused Takeshi.

"like hell but accomplished." Retorted Ichigo.

"well done Ichigo." Spoke Halibel as she approached. "you made a huge leap in taming your inner hollow. go and rest for now, while I attend to Takeshi's training."

Knowing he couldn't argue Ichigo simply nodded his head and Takeshi took him back over to his physical body. As they neared it, the brothers felt two burst of spirit energy. Karin and Yuzu had succeeded.

"Can't wait to see what their zanpaktou look like." Chimed the fullbringer.

*Meanwhile with Karin and Yuzu*

Karin and Yuzu were sitting cross-legged next to each other. they had their blank zanpaktou resting on their respective laps. Yoruichi took a seat in front of the sisters after having made sure to be a good distance away from the rest of the training happening.

"Miss Yoruichi how does this work exactly?" asked Yuzu.

"please Yuzu, just 'Yoruichi.' As for this part of the process you must meditate and focus upon your blank blades. It might take a little time so don't get frustrated if it doesn't happen right away. As you focus, you'll feel a tug of sorts on your mind, when you do. simply go along with it as that means the process is working." Said Yoruichi in her teacher like manner.

"I see and that pill we took earlier combined with that will cause some sort chain reaction and make us soul reapers. like dad and big brother Ichigo?" asked Karin.

"yep." Was Yoruichi's simple reply.

"right then let's do this." chimed Karin as she closed her eyes and began to focus. Yuzu nodded in agreement and did the same.

Yoruichi watched the Kurosaki sisters as they began trying to bond with their blank blades and become soul reapers. she kept close watch on the area around them all. she could sense Ichigo trying to gain control of his inner hollow in the distance and the training of the others. She wasn't sure how long she had sat there, but she began to feel a rise in power from both girls. she looked at them and saw the outline of their reiatsu began to from around them. Yuzu's held a sky blue like color to it, while Karin's was more of a dark red.

"not too much longer now from what I can tell." Mused the werecat.

Yuzu kept her focus as Yoruichi instructed, while she had to admit all this was rather sudden. She didn't let it bother her, apart her felt like she had to be doing this for the sake of her loved ones. She kept her effort in trying to form a bond with her blade. She didn't know how long it had been since she started but she suddenly felt a strong tug in her mind. Remembering Yoruichi's words, she didn't fight it and simply allowed it to be. Suddenly she felt as though she was somewhere new and opened her eyes.

She looked around and saw herself in what looked some sort Shinto temple. Everything looked pristine and well kept. She wasn't quite sure at what to do though.

"no need to be nervous little Yuzu." Said a kind female voice.

Yuzu couldn't help but jump a little from the surprise and quickly turned to see at the direction the voice came from. She saw standing not too far away from her a woman. She was of average height and build, long flowing black hair that stopped at her waist. Peach colored skin and deep blue eyes. She wore an elegant kimono of white that held intricate swirling designs of a light blue color. The woman was simply beautiful for a lack of better words.

"greetings Yuzu, it's a pleasure to meet you." spoke the woman.

"Ummm, hello." Replied Yuzu feeling a bit nervous. "just where is this and who are you by chance?"

The woman gave a kind smile and spoke as she approached Yuzu. "this Yuzu is your own inner world, a place of your existence within your mind if you will. As for me I am your zanpaktou spirit."

"so I managed to bond with my blank blade and manifested you then!?" Yuzu said with some excitement.

The woman stopped right in front of Yuzu and bent down to be eye level with the young girl. "not quite yet." She said "but you are very close Yuzu. Tell me what exactly do you desire out of me?"

"desire from you?" wondered Yuzu, not expecting that question.

"yes, what do you desire with my power or rather our power?" the woman questioned.

Yuzu took a moment to think about that. "well" she began. "I don't wish dominate and conquer others if that's what you're asking. I simply want to protect my family and others that I care about. There's so much danger lurking in shadows around everything. I want to help keep everyone safe from it however I can. A part of me can't simply sit back and do nothing, not while I have the power to do so."

The woman took Yuzu's words in carefully and thought them. "you wish to be the light that shines in the darkness and protects that which you hold dear to you?" she asked.

Yuzu looked at the woman in front of her with determination in her eyes. "yes!" she spoke firmly.

Pleased by her the women gave a smile and presented her hands to yuzu for the young girl to take. "then I can certainly help with that, little Yuzu." She spoke caringly.

Yuzu took the woman's hands in hers. "what's your name by chance?"

"you're not ready for my name just yet. Do not fret, considering your brother's and father. You will be ready for it soon enough little Yuzu." She spoke. "for now allow me to grant what I can."

Then Yuzu's inner world was engulfed in a blue light.

Meanwhile Karin had also managed to enter her inner world. Karin opened her eyes and took a look around at what she was seeing. Taking in her surroundings she noticed she was in what looked to be the courtyard of feudal era styled castle. It was nighttime with a crescent moon in the sky illuminating the whole area.

"ok, this is weird." Muttered Karin.

"not really when you get down to it." announced in a silky male voice in the distance in front of her.

Karin looked to where the voice had come from and saw someone walking down the steps that lead to the inside of the castle. It was man who looked to be in his 20's. his height and build was similar to her brother Ichigo. He had long wild black har that stretched down to the middle of his back and some covered the left half of his face. his skin was pale, and his eyes were a deep green color. He also wore traditional samurai armor minus the helmet. The armor predominately red with some black and grey adorning it.

"ok, who are you and where am I exactly?" asked Karin a bit gruffly.

The man simply smirked a bit before replying. "it's your inner world girl, what else would it be. After all you came here in order to seek me out. About time too."

Karin had to think for moment before it all began to click. "this is some sort of place within my subconscious of sorts. then you must have something to do with me trying to bond with the blank blade and manifest my own zanpaktou."

The man laughed a bit to himself as he stopped in front of Karin. "I'm glad to see you're sharper than you look." He chimed.

Karin scowled in response to that.

"oh please don't get all pouty with me." He said. "to clarify things a little your right about this place being a part of your mind. As for me I'm your zanpaktou spirit."

"I see, so what happens now exactly?" she wondered.

"let me ask you this. Are you prepared to do what has to be done in the moment?" he asked.

"what the hell does that mean?" retorted Karin.

"it means girl. Are you prepared to strike down your foes if need be in the heat of battle? Are you prepared to do what you must to achieve your goals, uphold what you believe in and protect the things you hold dear?" he asked.

Karin was unsure of what exactly to say as the man in front of her continued.

"Tell me" he said as his eyes narrowed slightly. "are you prepared to slay your enemies without hesitation if it is what you must do?"

Karin remained quiet as she stared up at the man. She thought about what he asked her and then thought about everything she cared for and believed in. her family, her friends, all the things in her life she cherished. She locked eyes with the samurai dressed man with a fire burning in her eyes.

"while I don't care for killing, if it's what must be done for the sake of everything around. Then it will be done." She said with conviction.

The man's lips curled up in a smile. "that's good enough for me." He said with some glee. "I look forward to being partners with you Karin Kurosaki."

He then placed his hand on the top of Karin's head and the whole placed was blinded in a red light.

Back in the underground training room, Yoruichi kept her watch on the Kurosaki twins. She was surprised when suddenly both of them were engulfed in a respective burst of light blue and dark red reiatsu. Once they died down, she smiled at what she saw. Both sisters were now standing in soul reaper uniforms while their physical bodies still sat on the ground. However the blank zanpaktou that had been in their laps, were now on their waist. Each one having transformed to reflect their respective bond with their wielders.

Yuzu's was a standard sized katana with an all-white sheath with a streak of sky blue running down the middle of it. the guard was shaped like a seven pointed star. The hilt was white with some of the same sky blue color adorning it.

Karin's was also a standard sized katana with a bright blood red colored sheath. The guard was shaped like a ten pointed star. The hilt was the same blood red color as the sheath with some grey with it.

Yuzu and Karin both saw one another and immediately smiled at each other.

"we did it!" exclaimed Yuzu with joy.

"yeah we did." Replied Karin right before she noticed her and her sister's physical bodies still on the ground. "ok that gives a rather surreal feeling."

"don't worry you two, you'll get used to that bit in time. regardless, you succeeded. Congratulations." Piped the werecat.

Both sisters smiled again in joy over what they had managed to do.

*Meanwhile with Tres Bestias, Chad, Orihime and Tessai*

The six had gathered around at their own spot in the training grounds. Tessai moved in front of the group and addressed them.

"alright everyone for this training it will be all of you vs me in a spar. I want you all to come at with all that you can, understood?" announced the former kido commander.

Everyone seemed a little apprehensive to the idea, then Apacci spoke up on it.

"not to be mean or anything but is that really such a good thing?" asked the deer arrancar.

Tessai simply chuckled in response before speaking. "while your concern is appreciated. Back during my time in soul society I was commander of the kido corps. I'm just as capable in a fight as Kisuke and Yoruichi. Who are both former captains like Isshin."

That caused a stir of surprise through the group and made them realize just what they were dealing with.

"now then" began Tessai. "I want you all to take a moment to discuss a plan amongst yourselves and then we shall begin."

The others gathered and began to come up with a plan of action.

"first things first." announced Sung-Sun "I believe we should go over all of our styles of fighting to better decide our roles."

"I'm a frontline fighter in that regard. While I do have range with my power, I do better up close with my opponents." Said Chad.

"I'm more of supporter." Said Orihime. "I have some attacking but I do best with defending and healing at the moment.

"I prefer a more up close and personal approach myself." said Mila with glee.

"same here." Chimed Apacci.

"while I do have more attack capability than Orihime, I'm also more a support fighter." Stated Sung-Sun.

"here's what I'm thinking" began Chad. "me, Apacci and Mila can make the front line and directly engage. Sung-Sun can keep back and engage as opportunity permits and Orihime can provide defense with her shielding to us as much as she can. If we can manage to swarm him enough and force off balance enough, we could manage to actually do something. Granted I'm sure his telling the truth of what he stated about himself. So we can't hold back, otherwise we'll fall short for sure."

"well put Chad." Said Sung-Sun.

"sexy and sharp in the head. I like this one." Cut in Apacci.

"keep your panties on Apacci. You can wait till after training to have your fun." Snarked Mila.

"that's rich coming from the one with a bun in her oven." Retorted Apacci.

"shut it you skinny bitch. It's not like we knew it was possible for an arrancar and a human to have children with each other." sharply replied Mila.

"well then maybe you should have played it safe and not of had Takeshi cream your insides." Snapped Apacci.

"I'm gonna kick your ass!" spat Mila.

"enough both of you!" cut in Sung-Sun not wanting her friends foolish arguing go any further. "keep focused on the task on hand, would you please?"

The other arrancar women simply grumbled and nodded their heads in agreement.

"good now lets' get in formation." Stated Sung-Sun.

A few moments later the group was lined up against Tessai. The front line was Chad in the middle, Apacci to his left and Mila to the right. Sung-Sun was behind the group and Orihime right behind her. Tres bestias had their weapons drawn, Chad's arm had transformed with it's black covering with magenta colored markings. While Orihime held herself in a ready stance. Tessai took a ready stance of his own and both sides stared each other down.

"El Directo!" yelled chad making the first move by launching a blast of reiatsu at Tessai.

Tessai easily dodged the blast but immediately found Apacci on his left flank. The deer arrancar swung her chakrams at the former kido commander. Tessai avoided her strikes and held out a hand towards her.

"Bakudo #1: Sai!" he spoke.

Apacci suddenly found her arms bound behind her from the kido. "what the fuck!" she exclaimed.

Seeing in an opportunity Sung-sun began peppering bala strikes at Tessai. The kido commander tossed a barrier in front of him to block the rapid blast. He suddenly felt an energy building up behind him. he whipped his head around to see Mila behind him charging an orange cero in front of her mouth.

"Cero!" cried Mila blasting the orange beam at the large man.

Tessai quickly countered with a kido of his own. "Hado #33: Sokatsui!" a blast of blue energy shot out and collided with the cero. Both attacks exploding upon hitting each other. Tessai had quickly jump back to avoid a direct swing from Chad. Tessai chanted another hado as he moved away from the strike. "Hado #1: Sho!" a burst of energy shot out from Tessai's hand towards Chad. However before the strike could land a large shield from Orihime intercepted and blocked the attack.

Once some distance had been made Tessai made a quick assessment of what he had seen so far. 'they're already trying to coordinate as a team as much as they can.' The former kido commander mused to himself, pleased by what he was seeing so far. 'it will be interesting to see how far they all can go.' He thought as the training continued.

Mila charged up and launched another cero at the kido master. Only for it to be blocked by a barrier. She moved forward with her blade in hand to get up close and personal. It had been some time since the spar began and she had to admit Tessai was no slouch. Despite only using kido he held his own against all five of them very well. While Chad and Orihime weren't as strong as Tres Bestias, they were still giving it everything they could. Mila had to respect that effort.

Mila herself was actually doing better then she anticipated much to her approval. She had been worried her pregnancy would severely hamper her but for the time being she seemed just fine. The only thing she could really complain about was she did feel more fatigued then usual. However she could power through that no problem, in her mind she had too.

Pregnant or not, there was too much at stake for them all. she had to be stronger for her friends, for Takeshi and most certainly the child growing inside her. she'd be damned if she was going to be weak, being weak meant death to her. in the current situation of things.

"Graahhhh!" roared the lioness as she swung at Tessai. The spar had been going for nearly an hour now. The man dodged away, and Mila launched a bala in response. Tessai easily swatted the attack away. Before she could move again, Tessai held up a hand to signal a stop to the spar.

"that's is enough for today I think, you all worked hard together." He chimed.

Mila took a quick look at the others and saw they were are breathing heavy and look tired from intensity of the spar. A wave of fatigue hit Mila as the adrenaline of the spar wore off. She had to drop to a knee as she regained her breath.

"are you alright?" asked Tessai as he approached her.

"yeah I'll be fine. Just a little more fatigued than usual is all." she replied.

Tessai said nothing and simply kneeled down next to her and began applying some medical Kido to Mila. she could immediately feel some of the fatigue wash away from her.

"thanks." She said.

"not a problem at all." Tessai replied "you know I see why Takeshi likes you so much I think?"

"how so?"

"simple going against you in the spar with the others. You don't hold back and give it your all. you push yourself as much as you can to better yourself. while I might be looking to deeply into things with this. Despite the bickering you do amongst your friends, you all truly do care for one another."

"geez, talk about reading it like an open book." Mila retorted with some mirth. "yeah, your right though we really do. soon enough I'll have someone else to care a lot for too." She finished as she placed a hand over her belly caringly.

"arrancar or not Mila-Rose, you and your friends are good people." Spoke the former kido commander.

"thank you Tessai."

*With Halibel, Ichigo and Takeshi*

"Takeshi step forward." Said Halibel. "seeing how your inner hollow is also your fullbring. You already have control of it. so I will jump straight to teaching you hollow techniques."

"so what's the first thing then?" wondered Takeshi as he stepped forward and activated his fullbring.

"first things first. I want you to summon your mask on to your face." instructed Halibel.

Before Takeshi could even ask on how to do that, he received his answer from Reaver.

"simple war pup just focus energy into your hand and run it across your face. as you do imagine your mask upon your face." Reaver stated.

Nodding his head in understanding, he focused his power in his right hand. He could feel its concentration in is hand. He began to picture his mask upon his face and then made a quick swiping motion across his face. he could immediately feel his whole face being covered by his hollow mask as well as a surge of hollow energy begin to course through his body. On top of his usual fullbringer power.

Halibel was somewhat taken aback by what she was seeing. While she had seen a small glimpse of Takeshi's mask during the first visit to Urahara's. this was the first time seeing it in its entirety. She noticed his eyes remained silver, but the sclera of his eyes went black and his pupils became vertical slits. The mask had a large jagged silver 'x' going across the front and the jaws held long pointed and serrated teeth. That interlocked together but what really caught Halibel by surprise was the color of the mask.

The mask was as black as the void itself, never had she ever seen a hollow mask of such a color. Something about it couldn't help but feel unnatural and somewhat unnerving to her. though she pushed these feelings aside.

"this's the first time you've ever put on your mask. Tell me how it feels?" questioned the espada.

"it…. it feels kind of odd and yet right all at once." spoke Takeshi now with a distorted voice.

"that makes sense, your half hollow now after all. not to mention your fullbring power is based in hollow power. Now then let me teach how to cast 'cero'." Announced Halibel.

"so how do I do that exactly?" questioned the fullbringer.

"remember hollows by nature tend be dominated by their instinct, especially their instinct of survival. it's because of this that many hollow powers tend to come naturally since they are in essence ingrained into out very instincts from the moment of our births. Cero can in theory be launched from any point of one's body but most stick to simply to the hand or mouth. These two places tend to be the easiest areas for one to focus and launch a cero from." Explained Halibel.

"right then." Said Takeshi as he raised a hand up in front of him. he began trying to channel and focus his power at the palm of his hand. He felt power begin to well up in his palm, but nothing seemed to be happening beyond that. then he saw a silver orb begin to appear at his palm. Once the cero physically formed, he found it a bit difficult to keep it stable. However he made the mistake of not stopping his pumping of energy into it. which caused it grow more then he had wanted and soon the cero began to become unstable.

"Oh Shit!" Takeshi cursed out just before the unstable cero exploded in his palm in a silver explosion.

"Takeshi are you alright!?" cried out Halibel.

"yeah, yeah I'm good. No real damage done I think?" Takeshi replied as the dust and smoke form the explosion died away. He seemed a little scuffed up at points on his body and the hand he had used. Had some blood trickling from one of his fingertips but that was all. which perplexed Halibel somewhat.

"you should have suffered more damage from that cero going of in your face like that." she questioned.

"it's because of your harden ability and your new hierro war pup. Since your fullbring powers are hollow in nature and your harden and hierro are so similar in nature. While you have your hollow mask on, they both essentially are active simultaneously. Both powers work in a passive manner unless you directly focus on them after all." explained Reaver.

Takeshi explained to Halibel what his inner hollow/fullbring told him.

"hmmm most interesting." Mused the shark like arrancar. "having the ability to have both active at once is quite the boon. With some reinforcing you could have a hide that even surpasses the fifth espada Nnoitra in toughness. That's nothing to scoff at mind you. regardless let's continue on your cero practice. This time be more aware of your energy that you flow into it and release it at the right moment."

"understood." Takeshi replied as he brought his other hand up this time and repeated the process. this time though, once he felt he had reached a good point without things going unstable he unleashed the attack.

"Cero!" he shouted as the orb of silver in his palm shot out in beam in the distance and obliterated a boulder in a blast of silver.

"nicely done Takeshi." chimed Halibel.

"yeah though not as impressive as the ones you and the others launch out." He replied.

"true but your only just learning, yours will become just as strong as ours in due time. now continue your practice for and we will move on to the next lesson when it's time." instructed Halibel.

Takeshi simply nodded and began to practice more as Halibel watched him. after about 30 minutes of practice. Takeshi had been to launch ceros at much more natural pace and even was able to start feeding more power into them.

"Impressive." Halibel Muttered to herself as she watched. "he's shown an impressive growth rate with the usage of his power. Granted Takeshi has always been a rather quick learner, a trait he and his brother both share."

"I think that's enough cero practice for now Takeshi let us move on to our next lesson." She called out.

"what's next?" wondered Takeshi.

"allow me teach you garganta. If you can learn this, it will be very handy incase you must ever make a quick escape or need to get somewhere in a hurry." Spoke Halibel.

"how do I do that?" wondered the hollow like teen.

"Garganta is a hollow's means of travel between worlds. One must focus on the destination they wish to travel to and focus creating a pathway from their current place to the point of their destination. Simply imagine a spot and try to open a pathway to it.

"I see" he replied, and Takeshi closed his eyes and pictured in his mind a destination in mind. He thought about the old hideout in hueco mundo he and the others shared at one point. He put his focus on the destination in mind and began to picture a pathway to there from his current spot. He could feel himself straining to make the pathway, but he kept his focus as continued. He began to feel as though something in the area around him was starting to give way. He eventually had to stop though as the strain began to get to be too much.

"damn that's hard." He mused.

"don't be discouraged, learning to create a whole pathway from one world to another is no easy task. Continue your practice." Halibel commanded.

Takeshi knowing she was right continued his practice. After another hour of trying and failing, he at last found progress. During his current attempt he suddenly felt, as if the presence of new area a distance away was right in front of him. then heard the sound of what seemed like a zipper being opened. He opened his eyes and saw an opened garganta in front of him. it wasn't a big one, in fact it was probably just large enough for him and no one else. None the less he was quite pleased.

"hell yeah!" exclaimed Takeshi in excitement.

"excellent work Takeshi." said Halibel genuinely pleased with his progress. She moved closer to the garganta in order to properly inspect it. she studied for a moment and was surprised by what she realized about it.

"this isn't the kind of garganta used by gillians or adjucahs." She murmured. "this is 'Descorrer' this type of garganta is usually only able to be used by espada."

She turned to Takeshi. "well done Takeshi, while its size needs more work. That can be improved with more practice. Where did you choose for your location of choice?"

"I chose the old hideout in hueco mundo." he replied.

Halibel allowed for a small smile behind her mask. "a good choice. Now close the gateway by cutting off your power to it." she instructed.

Takeshi did that and soon enough the same zipper sound was heard as the garganta closed itself.

Halibel walked back over to her Takeshi. "one more lesson for the day which will be sonido. It's the fast travel technique employed by me and the girls. seeing how your harden and hierro skills work in tandem together. I wouldn't be surprised if your sonido and bringer light do the same. Seeing how your usual fast travel technique is very similar to sonido. However sonido/bringer light are active techniques instead of passive. Now I want you to move as fast you can so I can gauge things."

"fair enough, gotta go fast!" chimed the fullbringer and he took off as fast as he could. After a few attempts he noticed he was moving at a faster pace and his bringer light had a 'bzt' like sound to it. he paused and looked to his mentor. "Halibel I'm hearing this weird buzz like sound as I move."

"that would be your sonido." She replied. "It would seem that your bringer light and sonido also work in tandem with each other. I have an idea for training I'm going to move as fast as I can, and I want you to keep up as much as possible."

"why do I feel like this is going to suck." Muttered Takeshi.

He didn't have much more time however as Halibel took off and he quickly gave pursuit or rather tried too. Despite his new speed boost he still had a hard time trying keep up with her. she constantly remained a good ten yards in front of him the whole time despite his best efforts. He didn't even want to think about the speed difference if she were in her release state. After about another hour Halibel called an end to the exercise mostly due to the fact Takeshi was about to keel over.

"sweet…. Kami….. you are…. Fast." He huffed out.

Halibel simply laughed at that. "come, I think that's enough for the day from what I can feel the others have finished as well."

"no arguments here." He replied as he removed his mask and deactivated his power.

*Three weeks later*

Three weeks had passed since then and everyone met at the shop as much as possible to continue training.

Karin and Yuzu were the most eager to train after having unlocked their dormant soul reaper powers. everyone was rather curious about their zanpaktou's. while Isshin was a bit nervous still about his daughters becoming soul reapers. at the same time he was still very proud. The girls would alternate there training with some days being dedicated to swordplay being taught by their father. Hand to hand training being done Yoruichi obviously and Kido training being handled by Tessai. Thankfully pregnancy hadn't seemed to slow down Yoruichi's combat capabilities for the time being.

Both girls performed well in swordplay though the differences cam out between them with the other two skills. Yuzu had much greater talent at Kido then Karin. Karin meanwhile had much greater talent at hand to hand then Yuzu. One thing that was noticed by the more seasoned soul reapers. was that Karin and Yuzu also shared the same fast growth rate of Ichigo and Takeshi. Kisuke theorized at their current rate it wouldn't too long before they could achieve shikai.

Tres bestias, Chad and Orihime's training also progressed well. Even with her pregnancy causing her to become more fatigued faster. Mila and the others became stronger. Orihime's skills increased with her shielding and healing. While chad had seemingly undergone the biggest change in the fact his left now had covering of sorts on it. though the new one was white with red.

Not too mention Chad and Apacci both had started to spend more time together when not training. It was becoming a common occurrence for Chad to show up at the Kurosaki household. In order to spend more time with the deer like arrancar.

Takeshi and Ichigo kept up the training of there hollow powers under Halibel's teaching. Ichigo after some trial and area had gotten the grasp of basic hollow techniques too. Tough it was bit tougher for him having soul reaper powers instead of fullbring. Seeing how soul reaper powers and hollow powers were so much different in nature from each other. some things like sonido didn't have synergy with shunpo. So he had stick with either one or the other. granted his bankai made him such bullshit levels of fast. Takeshi still found himself working to keep up with him at times.

Takeshi himself had improved very well in using his own hollow powers. using cero had started to become second nature to him. Halibel had even begun instructing him how to use an espada level cero called 'Grand Rey Cero'. It was a cero of such destructive capabilities, Aizen had forbidden its usage within los noches. Takeshi had also trained up his harden/hierro as well. Which consisted of the tried and true method of Halibel beating the shit out of him until he couldn't feel anything.

Another important note was that Kisuke had been working on a means of safely speeding up Mila and Yoruichi's pregnancies. The eccentric shopkeeper announced that it won't be too much longer until everything was ready. In the meantime they had made adjustments in the house to be ready to accommodate the soon to be new additions of the family. While Takeshi was certainly nervous about it all, apart of him was oddly enough okay with it as well.

Granted there was still the looming shadow of Aizen still to worry about. the fact he made no moves yet even though it was obvious Halibel and the others had no intentions of returning to him. Couldn't help but put everyone on edge. They knew Aizen would have to make the first move, whatever that first move would be is what had everyone nervous. Plus the constant concerns of soul society at some point finding out everything as well.

It was late at night currently in Karakura. They had taken a break from training for the day. After all working themselves into the ground would do no good. Takeshi had decided to hang in town on his own wanting sometime to himself. Ichigo was also out with some friends at another part of town. While everyone else was at home.

Takeshi was currently sitting on a bench at old park that didn't see much use. Thinking about everything that had transpired of the course since the Rukia rescue mission.

Takeshi gave out a sigh and ran hand through his hair. "if I wasn't living this, I would call it just some wild fantasy." He muttered to himself.

Sadly his musing were cut short when he suddenly felt a garganta near him in the park. then he felt another one near the outskirts of town and finally another not far from home.

At the garganta on the outskirts of town out walked a group of arrancar at the front of the group leading them was a male arrancar. He was of decent height and well built he had a hollow hole in his abdomen and had piercing blue eyes and blue hair. He had the remnants of a hollow mask on the side of his face. Ichigo was the closest to that group.

The garganta some distance from the house opened up and revealed a man of decent height, he had shaggy brown hair and a bit of a stubble. He had the remnants of a hollow mask down around his neck and a hollow hole in the center of his chest. Next to him was a child sized arrancar with lime green hair and a pink eye. Her hollow mask remnant was a horned helmet with one of the horns broken off and it covered one of her eyes. It also had a flame like pattern on it.

The garganta that opened the closest to Takeshi. revealed another group of arrancar. They were being led by an elderly looking arrancar with one good eye. Takeshi's eyes went wide when he made the realization of who it was in front of him. while he looked a lot different now, there was no mistaking his reiatsu signature. How could Takeshi ever forget it.

Hovering in the air before hm was none other than Baraggan Louisenbairn.

"so we meet again Takeshi Kurosaki." Spat Baraggan.