… A Good Deed…

/Warning/: This chapter contains, cussing, sadness, maybe fluff, and the secrets will be out! And who knows what! I appreciate all the reviews.

"Talking"

"Thinking"

… Flashbacks or dreams…

"Zanpakuto or Hollows talking"

Chapter 3

"Explain!" Yamamoto roared which forced everyone to flinch at the- Ichigo would assume an uncharacteristic display of hostility from the elderly man who claims himself the Sou-Taichou of the Shinigami. It all started with that clown-like Captain opening his mouth to talk, his words trailing as silence followed his sentences and paleness creep over his painted face. Which if Ichigo would admit it was impressive as much as it was surprising? Disturbing? What kind of words someone is to use when defining a stuttering mess that was seeking to maintain their soul? Ichigo still didn't know, as new treats appeared every second the clown was stuttering,

Ichigo sighs from his place; he had picked up the rock next to him as a makeshift seat, which was not comfortable by the way, growing tired from standing while the spectacle in front of him went on and on without an end. From the corner of his eye, Ichigo gaze at Byakuya, who was yet struggling to act uncaring and composed, like seeing Ichigo after two hundred years of nothing was normal; but to Ichigo's experienced eyes, Byakuya was anything but. He caught the glimpses that shifted to his way, the shock that passes over his features like he still couldn't believe what he was witnessing, the uncertainty that flashed in his eyes, little details that drew Ichigo's eyes to the young man like a moth to flames, waiting for his next action.

The other shocking event was Kurosaki Isshin; the man was still staring at Ichigo like a man who finally found a sip of water after being lost in a desert for days, which to say the truth was making him uneasy, for Ichigo did nothing to earn an expression like this. A look that was full of hope, joy, and love. And if Ichigo looked hard enough, he may see hero-worship too, something that the Espada doesn't know what to make of, considering that the emotions Ichigo was feeling were strange, to say the least, having not felt them for the past two centuries.

"I didn't know! I thought the Kōtotsu will finish him so I didn't care! I didn't know that there were other passages in the living world connected to the Dangai, until after he entered it!" The clown stuttered as he tried to explain himself to the commander; Ichigo watches all of that happen with boredom clouding his eyes, giving the clown a few more seconds of trying to stutter through his explaining before he puts an end to it, getting a massive headache.

"For God's sake enough," Ichigo growled as he jumped from the place he was sitting, his words made everyone look at him, even Starrk who opened his eyes to gaze at Ichigo for a second before closing them and going back to sleep. "I don't care that you were too foolish warming that high chair of yours to give a time of the day to go check on what your little puppets are doing in your absence, but what's done is done, and I am here now." Ichigo hissed as he straightens himself; and he ignoring the growl and the narrow-eyed look he gains from the Sou-Taichou, Ichigo can clearly see that the man was restraining himself from attacking Ichigo, which was impressive if Ichigo was going, to say the least. "Now, here is what's going to happen; you are forbidding from entering Hueco Mondo ever again, just like how you forbade us from going to your realm. If I saw a Shinigami wandering around there without permission from me, they will be killed." Ichigo can see the dark look on the Shinigami and the thoughtful ones on the Captains as they listen to his demand. "And don't think for a second that you will be able to seal Hueco Mondo; you can't, because every time you try I will break whatever seal you are going to use. You handle the Hollows in the living world and yours, we will handle ours; we don't need a Shinigami shoving themselves into things that are beyond them." Ichigo can sense that his words hit deep, he knows that it was a harsh blow to handle; the Shinigami were always sitting on their high horse, thinking that they were always right, that there was nothing wrong in their logic. Now, they are being questioned, ridiculed, and were forced to open their eyes and see that everything they thought of was wrong; this blow will be the harder to recover from, not even Aizen betrayal will come close to it.

It was the silence that greeted Ichigo after he finished his words; a total silence that made the one listen to the rush of blood in his vines and breathe force to be held, the type of silence that Ichigo relishes in and was waiting for who was brave enough to break. "What about your debt?" And the brave soul was none other than Byakuya, something that Ichigo never doubted for a second; his question that was delivered with a knowing coldness made Ichigo smile darkly because it seems that on some level, Byakuya knew; he knew that whatever kind of request he will give to the Shinigami as a payment for his debt of defeating Aizen, it will destroy them in some way.

"Now, now, where is the fun in being informed now? I was thinking about going over what we need with my Espada here before we decided; what do you think, Espada?" Ichigo asked with a smug look on his face, gaining mocking laughter and smug smiles from his fellow warriors; the dark look on Byakuya's face was worth it, especially when it was followed by the frown of every Shinigami in the place. It made Ichigo relish in the power he possesses over the Shinigami after decades. To say the truth; as much as Ichigo wanted to walk forward and order the commander to give him his payment, he knows that what he seeks will not be given, not only because it was ordered as a payment, but because the person who he wants will hate him for breaking a promise that he made over two hundred years ago; which left him with only one thing, a meeting with his fellow warriors, to decide which payment will be better for their people, something that could actually help Hueco Mondo instead of their world being lost in sand and night forever with no way to improve it.

The silence return; and this time Ichigo didn't wait if someone was going to break it. Already knowing that no one would, they were too lost in their thoughts to do much more than stand like status. "Come home with me, Ichigo…" That was Isshin's voice as the man finally seemed to gather himself after what he was forced to hear; his pleas made Ichigo still in his place, not knowing how to act around the man because even if Isshin was his father once upon a time, the man was a complete stranger to Ichigo now; a stranger that Ichigo doesn't know how to act around, either because he was uncomfortable or because he was confused or maybe both? That's a question Ichigo needed to find the answer for.

"I can't," Ichigo finally said; his words making Isshin break, and he could see how Isshin was breaking in front of him, pain and hurt clouding Isshin's eyes as he gazes at Ichigo. "I overstayed my welcome here; I can practically feel your fellow Shinigami trying to glare at me to submission so that I will return to Hueco Mondo." Ichigo gave a sharp grin as he turned his eyes to the few who dared to glare at him and his Espada, which made them back away and flinch at the crazy twinkle the probably saw in his eyes. "Though if you ever wanted to see me or needed my help, you know where to find me, only you and Bya-Chan over there have permission to wander in my home without being mauled to death," Ichigo grin widen when Byakuya glared at him for using that name; a name that was one of many that Ichigo made especially for Byakuya. When Ichigo turned around, he found that a Garganta was already opened and his Espada were walking through it to reach home. "I expect a visit from you very soon." Ichigo said as he throws a smug look over his shoulder, his eyes falling on Byakuya as he said those words, gaining nothing but a hiss that he caught only because of his feline senses.

This was exciting…

It was when the Garganta closed that Byakuya finally relaxed; even if that relaxed state will stay with him for only a few seconds. The shock; Byakuya knows it will only take a few seconds for it to still deep inside of him, for he was still in denial. And why wouldn't he? He met a ghost that was supposed to die two hundred years ago, but against all odds, the ghost survived… changed, but survived. Byakuya remembered the first time he met him, a Hollow that took the shape of a lion; a creature that Byakuya only heard of when he was going through his textbooks about the living world and Hueco Mondo. But now, now that lion is a man, a dangerous man, but still. It was all confusing; and Byakuya, he knew that the second they return to Soul Society, he will be asked question after question about the Hollow; questions that even he doesn't know how to give an answer to.

The stares on his back made Byakuya tense; he can feel the dark questioning look on him, trying to force him to confess for his greatest secret and hidden sin. In the end, he forced himself to relax and turn to gaze at his fellow Captains with a blank look, trying not to show any emotion when the Sou-Taichou was looking at him with such a look that frozen Byakuya's blood. "No comment." Byakuya ended gritting those words out; it was either that or he will start glaring at everyone within a few meters of his place, he can already feel his fellow warriors categorize him as a potential danger, a potential traitor and threat, another Aizen.

"No comment?!" The Captain of the twelve divisions screamed as he took a step toward Byakuya; the madness that was coating the man, made Byakuya frown and try to not scrunch his nose, he always hated how the Captain of the twelfth always thought of himself as something higher than everyone while in fact, he was at the bottom of the food chain, he also hated how the Sou-Taichou never done anything to the Captain to show him his rightful place, even after all the fatal mistakes he made, personally Byakuya preferred Kisuki over this clown. "Do you know what we could do with the information you have on that Espada? We could capture him and discover the secret to his powers! He is obviously a Vasto Lorde!" The Captain screamed as he took a step toward Byakuya which made Byakuya roll his eyes, an action from the look of it froze his fellow Captains.

Byakuya ignores Shiba Isshin growl and glare as he sends a threatening look to every Captain, even the commander, that was an idiot to go after Espada Cero, his son. "I can't congratulate you enough on being more of a fool, Captain Kurotsuchi," Byakuya started gaining nothing but a snarl from the man, though without care he continued. "The bottom line is; you can't defeat him, he will end you as soon as he senses that you have entered Hueco Mondo without his permission. He is not someone you mess with, even without his hounds that are more powerful that the Captains we have," Byakuya can see how his words made the Captains tense, some of them looking at him like he has lost his mind for siding with the Espada, others were complimenting his line of thoughts; unlike them, Byakuya knows when to pick his battles and not rush toward death like an idiot. "A piece of advice; leave him be, or what's to come will make you wish for death to claim your soul before he does." Byakuya warns before he starts walking away, ignoring how the Captains were trying to stop him and make him explain more.

This was a nightmare…

.

He remembered meeting him on a stormy day; the weather that day had reflected exactly what he had felt, the rage, the pain, the helplessness. That day Byakuya felt like he was choking; he felt like the world was against him like it made a plan to destroy him from the inside out. Kuchiki men don't cry; that's what his grandfather told him, and continued to tell him in the past few days, ignoring that the only relief Byakuya could get was if he cried his eyes out, ignoring the fact that Byakuya was only five years old, practically child by the living world's standard and an infant by Soul Society standard.

That day he ran to the forest; away from home. He was planning on spending that day crying because his grandfather can't see him with tears clouding his eyes, Byakuya won't allow the man to see him at his weakest point when he was breaking again and again and feeling like he was dying.

He remembered walking and walking until he was tired; he remembered sitting on a small rock and letting sobs shake him as he cried; he cried until he heard a sound of a breaking branch and he raised his head fast afraid that he will see his grandfather looking at him with so much disappointment and blankness that it made Byakuya choke even more just to think about it.

But what he saw that day froze him in his place; that day, he saw a lion. A lion with a piercing gaze as he took him in, refusing to look anywhere other than him. A lion that when another Hollow attacked him out of nowhere; he protected Byakuya and was injured for his good deed…

Byakuya knew that he was still indebted to him, even when he paid the debt.

.

"What do you want Shiba-San?" Byakuya asked when he felt Shiba Isshin, now known as Kurosaki Isshin Shunpo after him. That action made Byakuya stand on the edge because for one he hated being followed around, for another he doesn't even know how to act around the man that was missing for years upon years, only showing when it was time to kill Aizen.

"How did you meet, Ichigo?" Isshin questioned and Byakuya had to give it to him when the man went straight to the killer question and didn't dance around the bush like people usually do when they were talking to Byakuya. If anything Byakuya respects more, it was the straightforward way that some people chose to use.

"He saved my life once upon a time." Byakuya chose to leave it at that. He knows that an answer like this will bring more questions than answer them, but he doesn't have it in him to take pity on anyone and explain more; he just wanted to return home. Home, such a strange word, a word he didn't use for over two hundred years now, but it still hit close.

"I see," Isshin hummed before stopping in his place, forcing Byakuya to stop too. Byakuya knows that the two of them were far from over with their conversation; Byakuya was proven right when Isshin looked at him with a calculating look follow by an eyebrow rising. "I am going to gather my family and travel to Hueco Mondo to see, Ichigo. You are welcome to join us, maybe then whatever storming inside your mind will be laid to rest." Isshin said before he Shunpo as fast as he can away from Byakuya, leaving him alone with more thoughts than needed and no answers to questions that spent centuries picking at his wounds.

Maybe it was time to get his answers…

"What you said back then was mean, Cero," Ichigo hummed when he listens to Nel go on and on about how mean he was when he dismissed his father and Byakuya and didn't invite him with them to Hueco Mondo. "I mean you could have at least brought your father along, but you didn't and now we are short on that cute murderous doll face and your long-lost father." Nel grumbled as she throws herself on Ichigo's bed, glaring at him, which gains her nothing but an eye roll from Ichigo.

"And who said I left them behind?" Ichigo questioned which made Nel raise an eyebrow at him the confusion claiming her face, only for her eyes to widen when the meaning of what Ichigo just did crash into her; literally. "I gave them both a choice, and that was to come here with a free will. Not even the Sou-Taichou will be able to do a thing now, expect a few unwelcoming guests tailing them though." Ichigo instructs getting a huge grin from Nel.

"You sly bastard, you have us all fooled while you work from the shadows. Nice." Nel hummed at that as she gave thumbs up to Ichigo, jumping off the bed and rush toward the door on top speed. "Gonna inform everyone about the list of the guests and prisoners." Nel called out as she rushed out of the room, leaving Ichigo chuckling and leaning back on the window behind him, taking in Las Noches.

His plan was simple, Ichigo knew that. He knew that with a plan like his no one will suspect that he was the mastermind behind it, just give a free invitation to his father and Byakuya and leave, and the two of them will come out of their own will, if nothing else then it is to finally have the questions to the answers they have, and if some noisy Shinigami decided to follow them, then it's within Ichigo's rights to kill them for trespassing on his domain, a warning he gave to the Sou-Taichou and Ichigo won't be afraid to go through.

Ichigo though doesn't believe that his father or Byakuya will be foolish enough to doom anyone's fate by bringing them here uninvited. Though even if they didn't he knows will enough that Shinigami will follow the two of them to investigate what's going to happen, and when they do. A dangerous smile crosses over Ichigo's face as he watched the sands of Hueco Mondo dancing in the wind. And when they do; the Sou-Taichou himself will beg Ichigo to spare their lives…

Soon…

I know, I know another brief chapter, but I can't help it!

I have so much going on right now, I probably won't be able to update until the end of October, Maybe earlier.

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Nazaki-Sama