"I know that reiatsu," Grimmjow growled and looked up.
He was in the middle of culling some adjunca hollows that had been encroaching on Las Noches recently, and while necessary, it was also fun. He enjoyed the mindless slaughter of the lower hollows. He slashed at a four-legged hollow coming toward him, decapitating it easily, then used his sonido to head back to Las Noches.
What would he be doing in Las Noches? And why did it feel like a hollow instead of a Shinigami? He had no idea, but he was going to find out. He knew something had to have happened for him to come to Hueco Mundo, and he was going to find out what.
Some time later, he arrived at Las Noches, still sensing the very strong, and very recognizable, reiatsu signature. He stormed into the building and followed his senses, ignoring the other Arrancar who looked after him with questioning gazes. He didn't care about any of them anymore. He had to know why he was here and why the hell he felt like a beta in heat.
He threw open the door to one of the rooms to find what he was looking for behind it.
"Grimmjow?" Ichigo stammered, looking up from where he was sitting on the bed beside Nelliel.
"What the hell happened to you?" he demanded.
Grimmjow knew something had changed. His face was marked with red lines that looked like the streaks on his hollow mask, and he could see black markings on his chest, neck, and wrists. A bone fragment sat on his collarbone, coming to a point in the center above the black circle in the center of his chest. He wore a frayed Shihakuso, the black coat strappy across his chest. The sleeves were ragged at the ends, and so was the bottom of the coat. Beside him on the bed, lay his Zanpakutō. It was black in color with a long thin blade, as though already in Bankai.
Ichigo looked like he wasn't sure what to say for a moment. Then he sighed. "It's a long story."
"Well, I got time," Grimmjow said, crossing his arms over his chest and glaring at him.
Ichigo glanced over at Nel and sighed again. "Okay, so basically, the hollow has gotten stronger lately. He did something that led me to look for Soul Society's help. They tried, or at least, I thought they were trying, and I guess they couldn't do anything. They were going to lock me up and seal my power. The hollow didn't like that idea, so he pushed things, turning me into this so we could escape through a garganta to Hueco Mundo. So, here I am."
"And yer a beta bitch?" Grimmjow remarked, eyebrow raised.
Ichigo colored immediately and grumbled, crossing his own arms and looking away. "Definitely not yours!"
"Well, obviously, but I could smell yer ass from the entrance to Las Noches! Yer dumb ass is going to draw hollows to Las Noches like crazy unless you take an alpha, so hurry the fuck up and do it!"
"Well, it isn't that easy!" Ichigo growled.
Grimmjow didn't know how much easier it could get. "You fuck. That's it, how hard is that? Find an alpha and take care of it!"
"He can't take just any alpha, you know that," Nel said, glaring at him now.
"Well, he can damn well try!" he snapped.
Ichigo, meanwhile, was looking paler, and his eyes were fixed at some position on the wall. His breath had gotten ragged and he was starting to shake. Grimmjow realized he was having some sort of panic attack. His face suddenly softened, unable to resist the call of a beta in distress.
"Hey, now, what's wrong?" he said, dropping to his knees in front of him and taking both his hands.
Ichigo jerked, almost falling backward onto the bed, and locked his eyes on Grimmjow's, breath still coming too fast. "S-sorry," he said, biting his lip as he stared at Grimmjow.
"It's okay, just what's wrong?" Grimmjow asked, now worried as any alpha in this position would be.
"Just stuff that happened. I can't-I can't just take an alpha like that. Okay? That's all."
"Okay, alright, if that's the case, you…wait, you've already got an alpha picked out, don't you? Otherwise, you'd be reacting more to me and Nel."
"You'd be right," Grimmjow heard from behind him. He turned to see Starrk standing in the doorway carrying a tray laden with food.
"Wait, you? You fought him and won already?" Grimmjow asked, standing up slowly and moving out of the way.
"A fight is not necessary. He defeated Aizen, you, and Ulquiorra in his Segunda Etapa. He has proven his power, and it has only increased since then. My own powers are at least a match for him now, so a fight between us would be…destructive, to say the least. We have only really finished restorations on Las Noches, and renovations. I do not wish to destroy the home I have made," Starrk said, walking in and handing the tray to Ichigo.
On the tray, there were a few food items. It seemed utterly random, but there was a piece of chocolate cake, a sandwich with some sort of meat, and a handful of fragrant mushrooms. Grimmjow recognized some of the it as things that fell through the Dangai turned into food, while others were grown in Las Noches now. Things like mushrooms and some crops were now grown under sunlamps near the canal system that had been built.
"Thank you," Ichigo said, smiling, and Grimmjow could smell the pheromones in the room they were both emitting.
"Damn, you two are making me sick. Fuck already," Grimmjow waved a hand in front of his face and looked away.
"It is more complex than that with Ichigo," Starrk said, watching as Ichigo started with the chocolate cake.
Grimmjow wanted to make some comment about how it wasn't that complicated to take a beta and fuck them senseless, but there seemed to be something more going on. He didn't know exactly what it was, so he kept his mouth shut. For one thing, he was getting glared at by Nel, and he really didn't want to piss her off anymore than he wanted to piss off Starrk. Between the two of them, he would get his ass handed to him. And he'd already fallen once to Ichigo. He didn't want a repeat of that, either. So, he crossed his arms over his chest and figured there would be some more hollow slaughter in his future…
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
"Las Noches is somewhat disorganized," Nel explained as they walked through the halls.
Along the once plain walls were pieces of wall décor that were mismatched and random. Strange paintings were followed with even stranger shelves topped with odd little knickknacks. There were some curtains in place of doors and in doorways, and as they passed through a wide curtained area, they came into a dining hall. The tables, like the walls in the hallways, were set with random items on them. Here was a vintage radio, while there was an old camera that took rolls of film. He looked around and saw larger items sitting between the tables, like strange-shaped side tables and lamps, and odd tall vases with faux flowers sticking out of them.
"How do you mean, disorganized?" he asked.
"Well, Starrk is somewhat in charge, in that everyone tends to look up to him. He's no ruler, though, not like Aizen was. There isn't as much in-fighting as there used to be, but there's no reason to fight each other now. There's no reward for being stronger than one another, so there's nothing to gain. Instead, we mostly live together without problems, though occasionally there are fights between Arrancar for territory within Las Noches, and sometimes there are fights between alphas for the rare betas that we have in Las Noches." She stopped and looked at him. "You see, betas are rare. All the Arrancar that Aizen created were alphas, so they are numerous. The ratio is small between alphas and betas already, making them a rarity already."
"So, these betas are the only ones that can carry babies, right?" Ichigo asked, looking around where various Arrancar sat at tables together and talked with each other. Their dress was as random as the items that had been collected in Las Noches from what he could see.
"Right. Only betas have the ability to bear young. One beta can only mate with one alpha, so the bond between them is strong."
"Hi, Nel!" a voice came from behind them.
They turned to see an Arrancar with bright yellow hair and piercing purple eyes. Their body was slender and lithe, and their face was very androgynous. Across their head, laid a headband-like bone fragment.
"Luci!" Nel said, hugging them briefly. "Ichigo, this is Luci. They're one of the herders."
"Herders?" Ichigo asked, frowning.
"Yeah! I have a heard of cat beasts!" Luci said with a grin.
"Cat beasts?" Ichigo looked at Nel.
"We have herds of smaller hollows that are useful. The cat beasts as Luci calls them are cat-like hollows that we use for hunting predatory hollows. They're quite useful once they're trained. They are all various types of cats, but they're useful. We breed them when we can to have babies that we can raise to be handled easily," Nel explained.
"Wow…" Ichigo said. "I never thought about that."
"Yeah, there's a couple herds of different types of hollows. One is the cat beasts, another is kind of like dogs, I guess you'd say."
"How do you even know what a cat and dog are? You've never been to the World of the Living," Ichigo noted, looking between Luci and Nel.
"Gin told us about it while he was here," Nel explained. "He liked to talk about the World of the Living and all the stuff that was from there. He told us how to use certain things that we found, and he helped us get to know what to do with others."
"Oh, well, I guess that makes sense," Ichigo nodded.
"I have to go! Was nice to meet you, Ichigo. Hope to see you around!" Luci said and turned with a spin, swirling a gray skirt as they went.
"Was that a guy or a girl?" Ichigo asked as they disappeared out the curtained entrance.
"Both. Luci is a merger of two smaller hollows, one male appearing, the other female appearing. So, they're just Luci," Nel said with a shrug.
Ichigo gave a nod. He supposed it made sense. They really didn't have genders, so it didn't matter what they looked like on the surface. All that mattered was if they were an alpha or a beta, and that determined what position they would have.
"So, you said all the Arrancar that Aizen made were alphas?" Ichigo asked as they walked through the dining room toward another large, curtained doorway. "How many are there?"
Nel paused, looking at him. "That I don't know. He created so many, hundreds at least with the hogyuku. Most of the ones you see will be alphas because of that. Only naturally evolved hollows can be betas, and that doesn't happen often."
"If that's the case, why am I stuck being a beta?" he grumbled.
Nel put her hand on his back. "Being a beta isn't that bad, now. You're just rare and special. Who knows why you're a beta. My guess is that all the ones Aizen created are alphas because he was going for more dominant traits in the ones he made."
"I wouldn't call myself submissive…" Ichigo muttered, sighing.
"It's a matter of being submissive in a certain way. Betas aren't submissive to just anyone, usually only to their alpha, and anyone else, they'll fight, especially for their alpha's honor. Of course, the reverse is true. An alpha will do everything to defend their beta—"
"Nel!" a voice called out.
Ichigo turned to see Pesche and Dondochakka running toward them. "What's going on?" she asked, frowning at them.
"Starrk said to come to the observation room! We have intruders in Hueco Mundo!" Pesche said urgently.
Nel looked at Ichigo and nodded. "Let's go," she said.
Ichigo followed her at a brisk walk to a new room, this one with a bank of monitors. Starrk sat in front of them and was sitting at a keyboard. He looked up as they entered.
"A leftover from Aizen's days here," Starrk explained. "He kept watch on Las Noches from here. But see what I have found," he said, pointing to one of the monitors.
On it, a black clad figure appeared and disappeared almost as quickly in a Shunpo. Then there was another one, and another. Ichigo's eyes went wide. It was a reconnaissance team. They were looking for him, no doubt. Probably from the second division. His heart began to hammer in his chest, and he grabbed for Nel's hand. She let him take it.
"Don't fret," Starrk said. "I've already dispatched a team to deal with them."
"What? But they're here for me. You'd put your people in danger like that for me? You don't even know if I'll stay here and I haven't agreed to this beta thing yet!"
Starrk turned and looked at him. "This I would do for any Arrancar that comes to Las Noches. I may not command much in the way of power over the other Arrancar, but they will come together to defend one of their own. You are one of us, now. And we will defend you from those that would come to harm you."
Ichigo felt his breath hitch a little in his chest. He didn't know what to say to that. He didn't want to put anyone in harm's way, but to think that these Arrancar, these strangers, would defend him where his friends did not…
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
"You can't go!" Renji said. "Absolutely not! You're going to give birth soon!"
"I have to go! I can't leave him alone in Hueco Mundo!" Rukia exclaimed, arms crossed over her burgeoning belly.
"I'll go! You stay here!" Renji sighed. "I'll ask if I can go with the recon group. Maybe I can find him first and convince him to come back on his own," Renji said and put both hands on Rukia's shoulders.
"I just don't understand why, or how, he escaped to Hueco Mundo. They said they were making progress with Kurotsuchi-taichou's work. What could have happened?" Rukia said, turning away from Renji and going to sit down on the futon.
Renji followed her over and sat down beside her. "I don't know what could have caused him to run away. Maybe something happened that they're not telling us," Renji wasn't sure what could have happened.
They had gotten the news the day before that Ichigo had somehow managed to open a garganta and escape from Soul Society into Hueco Mundo. This feat was something that Ichigo had never been able to do before, and it was a shock to everyone that it had happened with seemingly no warning. Of course, they weren't privy to the details of Kurotsuchi-taichou's work, but it was supposed to help Ichigo. If it was to help him, though, why would he have run away? That was the question that they had no answer to.
The next day, Renji set off with the recon team to Hueco Mundo. He'd asked and was given leadership of the team considering his relationship with Ichigo. Of course, sending someone with a Bankai was a plus as well. He had a captain's power, so he would be able to handle just about anything they came across in the sands of Hueco Mundo.
When they got close to Hueco Mundo, he knew something was going on. He knew they were being watched. He sensed it keenly. Then, they were attacked on three sides at once by a group of ten Arrancar. Their own team had fifteen in it, matching up without a problem with the Arrancar as most of them were seated officers. Renji managed to avoid getting entangled with an opponent and continued onward. He had to find Ichigo no matter what.
As he got close to the wall of Las Noches, he heard a familiar voice.
"You don't want to come here, Renji!"
Renji stopped, seeing Ichigo standing on the wall, looking down at him. He was alone. And he was different. Even from as far away as he was, he could see the red marks on his face and bone around his neck.
"Ichigo, what's happened to you?" he called out. "Come down and talk to me."
Ichigo moved in sonido down before him and Renji could see all the changes that had taken place. He stared openly for a minute.
"I'm not the same as I was. I'll stay here, you tell them not to worry about me anymore. I won't try to go back to the World of the Living, and I won't come to Soul Society. Please."
"Ichigo, I can't do that! The Sou Taichou said you had to be brought back to Soul Society immediately. You need to come with me!" Renji pleaded.
"So Kurotsuchi can torture me some more? So they can lock me up in the Tower of Penitence like they did Rukia?" Ichigo growled out.
"What? Torture? The Tower? What do you mean, Ichigo?" Renji frowned and was completely confused.
"What do you think they were doing to me?" Ichigo said, pulling Zangetsu and pointing it at Renji.
Renji stood still, not moving to pull Zabimaru yet. "What do you mean? I don't understand. We were told they were helping you."
"Helping? If that was helping me, I'd hate to see what harming me was!" Ichigo looked pained, and Renji was having a hard time holding onto the things he'd been told.
"Okay, alright, so Kurotsuchi wasn't kind. I wouldn't expect him to be, but what are you talking about the Tower of Penitence?" Renji put up both hands to show he wasn't going to pull his weapon.
Ichigo swallowed. "That's why I left. They were going to take me to the Tower and cut off my powers. The hollow, he wouldn't stand for it, so he gave me his power, and it turned me into an Arrancar. I can't go back now. What's done is done. Leave me alone here," Ichigo's hand shook where he held Zangetsu.
"I can't do that! You know that!" Renji said, stepping back a pace and pulling Zabimaru. "I'll fight you so you have to come with me."
"Please don't!" Ichigo said, moving to block Zabimaru as Renji came at him.
Only Zangetsu didn't meet Zabimaru. Ichigo looked up to see Starrk had appeared between them, weapon stopping Zabimaru inches from meeting with Zangetsu. Ichigo hadn't even heard the sonido. He just seemed to appear there in front of him.
"You should leave while you can," Starrk said.
Renji stepped back, regrouping, taking in the Arrancar before him. He wore a white jacket over darker beige hakama and wielded a yellow wrapped sword. He stepped back, keeping his weapon between Ichigo and him. He didn't recognize this Arrancar.
"Starrk!" Ichigo exclaimed and it clicked for Renji who this Arrancar was. He should have been dead.
"You can't be here," Renji said.
Starrk opened his jacket, revealing a massive scar crossing his body. "I survived your captain. His games did not end me. Now, leave. Ichigo belongs to me and Las Noches now. You are not welcome here."
Renji looked between them. "What is this, Ichigo? What does he mean?"
"I told you. I belong here. I'm an Arrancar now. Just leave me alone and forget about me. It would be for the best," Ichigo said quietly.
"Ichigo! I can't just leave you here! What about your father? Your sisters? Orihime?"
"Orihime has Uryū now!" Ichigo snapped.
"What?" Renji blinked, not knowing what to say to that.
"Ask her. She's carrying his baby," Ichigo's eyes had teared up and one slipped down his face.
"What?" Renji asked, eyes widening in complete shock. "His baby?"
"I have nothing there. I have a home here now," Ichigo said.
Renji couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Look, we can work things out with the Sou Taichou. Whatever he was going to do, we can fix it and see if we can't get Urahara or someone to help with this hollow problem of yours—"
"It's not a problem! It is what I am now!" Ichigo said. "Look, just leave me. I'm not going to go back."
"And we'll stop anyone who tries to take him from here," Starrk said, pointing his sword at Renji. "I have regained my power and then some. Only I am no longer alone. I have my companions, and I have Ichigo, should he have me. We will defend him. I will defend him."
Renji looked at Ichigo one last time and licked his lips. "We'll come for you to take you home, Ichigo. Know that."
"Know that you won't," Starrk said.
Renji took off back toward where the others were still fighting with the group of Arrancar. He signaled to them to retreat. All of them disengaged and came with him, back to Soul Society. Renji had a report to give, and a decision to make.