Chapter 20: Crossing the Rubicon (Calm before the Storm)
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
"Normal speech"
'Inner speech/thoughts'
'Inner Quincy/Yhwach speech'
'Inner hollow/Zanpakuto speech'
xxx
Undeterred by the large crowd of people passing him by, Ichigo stood still and tuned out all the noises and sounds coming from the town. He was standing in the middle of the Karakura Community Park, at the center of what had been a battlefield just a few days ago. Truly, barely a week had passed since he had lost control over his hollow part and since he had fought against Hanza and then Urahara Kisuke. On that day, he had destroyed a good portion of the place and a portion of the peaceful life within it.
Nevertheless, life in Karakura Town went on without him.
It took the public workers just a few days to erase a great deal of the destruction he had brought upon the park and now the only sign of the battle that stubbornly remained were freshly painted benches, brand new tiles on the walkway and trees with sawed off branches. A few days. That was all it took for Karakura Town to recover from the incredible battle. Now, it looked like the only one who could still remember it, was Ichigo himself.
And remember it he did.
His memories were still hazy and flashing images were the only thing he could recall from the actual fight but those were not the things important to him. Feelings and emotions were what forced him to stand still and just stare forward.
Anger.
Hate.
Guilt and remorse.
It had hardly been the first time he had fought a battle in which he had been forced to finish off his opponent. He had killed before and he knew he was also going to kill a lot more in the future. The fact that Hanza didn't survive the onslaught of his instinctual self didn't bother him that much. It had been either him or the man.
However, it had been the first time that his actions directly affected innocent people around him in the worst possible way. It had been the first time that he had directly caused their deaths. That he had killed them.
Urahara Kisuke could tell him all he wanted, that they may have died of reasons other than the fight itself, but Ichigo knew. Deep down, he just knew he was the one who was responsible. Back then, during the fight, or even shortly after it, he hadn't realized it but he could actually feel the moment the souls had left their human shells. He couldn't explain it nor describe it but it was the truth.
And the knowledge pressed on his shoulders. It scarred his soul and left him with his back bent forward, like Atlas, carrying the weight of the world.
But Ichigo wasn't a primordial Titan, a deity that defied the ancient gods, and his shoulders were not built to withstand such pressure. As he always described himself, he was just a normal and ordinary teenager like any other in his school, be it the one he had attended while alive or the Shin'ō Academy of Spiritual Arts he was attending nowadays. He was just a regular guy. The only thing that could be called remarkable were his goals.
'And the absolute absence of luck.' He added bitterly.
Immersed in his own thoughts, he stood there for a long time, and so he didn't even notice when the crowd of people gradually disappeared as adults returned to their jobs, kids returned to their schools and the others simply left.
He shook off his stupor only when an unfamiliar voice cut through the silence with resonating strength.
"Leave this place, Kurosaki. Leave and don't ever come back."
Ichigo blinked several times to clear his hazy thoughts and then turned to the source of the voice. What he saw caused him to narrow his eyes.
In front of him, in a distance, stood a boy clad in white clothing that seemed completely out of the place. He looked to be around Ichigo's age. With glasses pushed to the root of his nose and chin-length dark hair covering part of his face, the boy was glaring at Ichigo with something the orange-haired teen quickly recognized to be a distaste.
Ichigo was sure he had never seen the boy before. However, before he opened his mouth, he made some mental notes and noticed a growl coming from within his mindscape.
'He's clearly not a shinigami, yet he can see me. He also seem to dislike me. The same thing, only turned around, is coming off from you, Zangetsu. Want to tell me something?'
His zanpakuto spirit growled once more.
'I don't know… but my hollow part is reacting to him the same way it reacts to Yhwach. It awakens some sort of a primal instinct within me.' He said, causing Ichigo to stiffen a little bit.
'He is an enemy?'
'Think again.'
"I don't think you are deaf but, just to be sure, I will repeat myself. Leave Karakura Town, Kurosaki." The boy said again. There was more than just a small hint of urgency in his tone and it caused Ichigo to momentarily stop his conversation with Zangetsu and finally retort.
"Care to elaborate? And while you're at it, could you introduce yourself? It seems you somehow know me, yet I don't know squat about you."
The boys took one, and only one, step towards Ichigo. But even that little change of distance allowed the teen to see him better and he noticed more details on the boy's clothes. A stray thought entered his mind.
"I see. You really haven't noticed anything while you were alive. I guess it makes sense. I must say, though, I noticed your existence right away. Mainly, your spiritual energy. But, enough about that. My name is Uryū Ishida, a-"
"…a Quincy." Ichigo suddenly cut him off with a serious expression.
For a split-second, the boy appeared to be taken aback but he quickly masked his surprise by pushing his glasses up his nose.
"Indeed I am. Uryū Ishida, the last Quincy and a person who hates shinigami."
That answer threatened to bring a fairly amused smirk to the teen's face, so Ichigo decided to keep quiet for a moment. Still, some emotion must have shown in his expression because the Quincy frowned.
"Do you consider this to be a laughable matter, Kurosaki?"
"Nah. I just remembered your name from some conversation and realized that you hating shinigami is probably the only thing I actually do know about you." Ichigo replied.
'…along with the fact that you are wrong about being the last Quincy.' He added mentally and immediately heard his zanpakuto spirit seething.
'I hope, for your own well-being, that you aren't talking about yourself.'
'…well, technically speaking…'
"And it will remain like this. You don't need to know anything else." Uryū said, unaware of the conversation happening within Ichigo's mind. The teen briefly closed his eyes.
'You are a shinigami, Ichigo. Not a Quincy. You can learn any Quincy ability you want and I won't stop you. But only if you continue identifying yourself as a shinigami. Because if not… well, then we'll have a problem.'
A quiet groan escaped Ichigo's mouth and the teen rolled his eyes. Cutting off his zanpakuto spirit, he turned his attention back to the Quincy in front of him.
"I really dislike people telling me bullshit like that. You don't need to know… screw you." He stated a bit louder than he wanted to and took a step towards the Quincy boy. Almost instantly, Uryū backed away with a short jump, causing Ichigo to stop. The teen narrowed his eyes and stared at Uryū with a thoughtful gaze.
"I don't like people trying to manipulate me." He said.
"Few do." Uryū calmly agreed. A short moment later, when ichigo slowly took another step towards him, the Quincy backed once again. Ichigo squinted his eyes at him.
"Do you hate shinigami so much that you don't even want to be near them?"
"No. It's just you I don't want to get too close to."
The blunt answer made Ichigo blink in surprise. Standing still, he stared at the other boy with a blank expression. Several seconds later, he was hit with a sudden moment of clarity.
"Is that somehow tied to what you said in the beginning? That I should never come back to Karakura Town? Because I'm still drawing blank on that one."
Uryū pierced him with an intense stare.
"Yes, partially. I want you to stop returning to Karakura Town, because each time you do, you only bring destruction and suffering to it. If you care about this town and the people living in it, you will let others take care of it. May we never see each other again, Kurosaki."
…
Unnerved by Uryū's parting words, it took Ichigo some time before he managed to finally move from the spot. What the Quincy said really shook the teen up. In light of that, his inner spirits settled down and let him be alone with his own thoughts. They understood that sometimes, it was in Ichigo's best interest to form his own opinion, without any bias from either of them. And because Ichigo really didn't want to show up on the doorsteps of Rurichiyo's temporary home with a crestfallen, upset expression, he really had no other choice than to wait and cool off.
Because of that, it was already past the noon when the woman from Shiba clan opened the doors and let him inside the apartment. As soon as she did, Ichigo braced himself for impact. In the second moment of clarity, he realized that if she was from the Shiba clan, then there was surely something wrong with her too.
He was right.
Barely half a second later, he felt himself being hugged. He stiffened but the contact was brief, albeit a bit forceful.
"Come on in! You have a perfect timing. Rurichiyo-chan was just saying how happy she'd be if you came to see her."
A small smile forming on his face, Ichigo felt the tension from his body slowly disappear. But before he could really put his foot inside the apartment, the Shiba woman put a hand on his chest.
"Actually, wait a second. I'll usher my sweetheart back into his room. It seems he somehow doesn't like you that much. Sorry."
"That's fine. I was probably similar when I was his age." Ichigo said with a nod.
Once he was allowed to enter the room, he was attacked by another hug but this time the arms of the hugger barely reached above his waist.
"Ichigo!"
Despite the feminine voice of the person who was squeezing him, for once Ichigo didn't feel a cold sweat forming on his forehead. Instead, his smile only grew bigger. He glanced down and gently patted the blonde head buried in his belly.
"Hey, how are you holding up?"
Rurichiyo pulled a bit back and looked at him with a wide smile.
"Good. She is taking great care of me, Kenryū and Enryū." She said while nodding towards the woman. With a light blush, the woman excused herself and left them alone.
"Truly, it's been a long time since things have been so peaceful." Kenryū stated from a couch. His tone seemed odd, prompting the teen to glance at him.
Kenryū blinked two times in a row.
"There is so much I want to talk about, Ichigo!" Rurichiyo exclaimed and began pushing the teen towards the room in which she was staying. However, Ichigo slid away from her reach and patted her on her shoulders.
"I'll be right behind you. I just want to ask Kenryū something. Okay?" He said the girl. Rurichiyo pursed her lips but nodded nevertheless.
"Alright but don't take too long!"
The teen watched her leave with a calm stare that turned sour when he looked back at the royal bodyguard.
"Go on."
Kenryū sighed and took a sip from a cup of tea that was placed on the table near him. Then he shook his head.
"These days truly have been wonderful, Kurosaki Ichigo. I don't think I can thank you enough for giving lady Rurichiyo a chance of living as a normal girl for a while. Being here, with such cheerful people, it helped her forget the serious matter of the Kasumiōji clan. Even the assassinations and any other hostilities have ceased." He said honestly.
"But?" Ichigo inquired.
Kenryū sighed again.
"But I'm afraid that we won't be able to have such luxury for much longer. I've gotten ahold of a certain information concerning the Kasumiōji clan and Gyōkaku Kumoi. It appears the man has scheduled a wedding between lady Rurichiyo and Shu Kannogi-sama. If my source is right, it is going to take place about a week from today. It was supposed to happen even sooner so I'm glad for this prolongation."
Ichigo felt a headache coming and so, for a moment, he closed his eyes.
"Leaving out my opinion about this wedding… he wants to have it without a bride. Obviously, he can't do that. So…"
"So, most likely, he will use an impostor. It is not an unusual tactic." Kenryū finished for him, causing the room to fall silent.
After a several seconds, Ichigo formed a deep frown.
"But why now? Rurichiyo is still out of his reach and most of his Bakkōtō assassins have been killed. Is he so desperate to rule the Kasumiōji clan that he's willing to risk getting exposed?" He stated, creating another moment of silence with it.
It was broken when Kenryū suddenly spoke up.
"Well, this wedding is mostly because he wants to usurp the control of the clan. However, I suspect he may be using it as a cover."
"Cover?" Ichigo raised an eyebrow.
"Indeed. Because of the wedding, there will no doubt be somebody from the Gotei 13 to guard them and so we will be powerless to stop it." Kenryū explained quietly.
"Somebody from the Gotei, huh? That man is treading on a very thin ice. Maybe we could use that to our…" Ichigo trailed off when his eyes fell on the door to Rurichiyo's room. His frown deepened and turned into a scowl.
"No… that's not all he's doing. This wedding is not only to deter us from doing anything. It's also a trap. A trap for Rurichiyo. He aims to use her own feelings against her. He wants to lure her out and then… well, you get the idea." He said grimly.
Kenryū and Enryū glanced at each other worriedly.
"I'd like to say it sounds too farfetched but… we are talking about Gyōkaku Kumoi, so maybe you're right. In any case, it's good that we kept this to ourselves. If lady Rurichiyo learns-"
"You should tell her."
Ichigo's unexpected statement caused Kenryū to choke on his words.
"E-excuse me? Are you out of your mind? You said it yourself! If you're right and this is a trap to lure lady Rurichiyo out then-"
"I think she has the right to know. Keeping secrets from her won't work forever. She's a kid and kids have a nose for adults that are keeping secrets from them. She'll find out soon enough and when she does, she'll react badly. However, if you tell her yourselves, she'll have somebody to talk about it. Otherwise, if you don't, she won't speak about it and she'll just bottle it up. She'll try to think about it by herself and then she'll do something incredibly stupid. I guarantee it." Ichigo sharply cut him off and then took a step towards the girl's room.
"Wait, I-"
Ichigo shook his head.
"I won't tell her, I promise. But you definitely should. The sooner the better."
…
The moon was already up when Ichigo finally left the apartment. There was a small smile hovering on his lips but the concern within his tired eyes easily overshadowed it.
Weighed down by the burden of responsibility, Ichigo already felt like a hundred-year-old man that was nearing the end of his rope. He had hoped talking to the royal girl would have helped him to forget about serious matter for just a few hours but, as it turned out, it didn't. Somehow, near the end of it, the focus of their conversation had shifted towards Ichigo's problems and the teen had been unable to stop himself from talking about them.
It was as if the presence of a child calmed him down and, for once, let his rationality speak in his stead. Without unnecessary emotions, he had been able to talk about many things. About matter that caused him headaches but also about matter that caused him heartaches.
However, being so opened about his deep thoughts turned out to be a great thing because in return, Rurichiyo opened up to him too. More than he had thought and maybe even more than he had bargained for. It had saddened him, to see the girl talk about her personal issues with him, almost a stranger, when there were two men willing to do it for her by their own choice.
Still, if it meant he could help her, then he wasn't going to complain. After all, it did manage to help him prevent something that would surely end up in a tragedy.
'We really cut it close this time.' He thought as he kicked a pebble into a puddle.
Rurichiyo had confided in him about her plan to leave the Human World and go to the Kasumiōji compound to face Gyōkaku Kumoi all by herself.
It had taken Ichigo a lot of mental deep breaths not to snap at her right away. It had boggled his mind just how incredibly naïve she must have been to think that she could just waltz into the compound and simply face the man. However, the more Rurichiyo had talked, the more he had begun to realize that the girl was anything but naïve.
Despite that, her plan was not going to happen. Ichigo had been tempted to simply forbid her from doing it but then he had remembered his little sisters and immediately changed his tactic. Doing the simplest thing he could have thought of, he had patiently reasoned with her. To his great surprise, it had worked. But it had come with a price.
Rurichiyo was now allowed to call him Ichigo-nii-chan.
Walking past a dimly-lit street lamp, Ichigo shuddered. It was not that he didn't appreciate the sentiment. It was actually very sweet of a girl that, until not that long ago, had stubbornly referred to herself with a royal, and incredibly annoying, 'we'. However, to the teen, such a sentiment was a double-edged sword. While normally, it would have made him happy, it also made him relive his worst nightmare.
Being called an Onii-chan meant he could lose a little sister once again.
And if that happened, the teen wasn't sure what it would do to him. Therefore, it brought additional responsibility onto his shoulders. A responsibility to never let Rurichiyo die before him. And because of that, he wanted to end the whole charade with the Kasumiōji clan as soon as possible.
With closed eyes, Ichigo released a long-drawn-out sigh and slapped both his cheeks.
"Well, it was my own choice to get involved, so I can't blame anyone for this situation… ah, damn it. I almost miss the times when I could hold Dad responsible for anything." He muttered with a half-smile. A moment later, the smile withered and the teen blinked in confusion.
'What the hell was that? I thought I felt…' He thought. For a short moment, he stood still and reached out with his spiritual sense.
"Hm…"
Forming a thin line with his mouth, he began to walk again. This time, however, he pushed his previous thoughts into the back of his mind and instead focused on keeping his guard up. Cautiously, he moved through the street while trying to suppress the urge to grip the hilt of his zanpakuto.
Then he froze in mid-step.
'Again! I just felt another pulse of spiritual energy.'
With a suspicion in his eyes, he quickly looked around himself. He barely stopped himself from calling out and he quietly drew his zanpakuto.
'I don't know what the hell is going on but I don't like the feel of that spiritual energy. It reminds me of…' The realization hitting him, Ichigo trailed off and let his zanpakuto spirit finish the thought for him.
'It reminds you of your own, hollow-tainted reiryoku, doesn't it?'
Silent for a few seconds, Ichigo restarted the trail of his thoughts and nodded.
'Yeah.'
Narrowing his eyes, he turned in the direction from which he thought the pulse of energy came and began to carefully move along it with every intention of investigating the matter further.
*CRACK*
As soon as he heard the sound, he spun around and aimed his sight upwards, at the dark sky, where a fissure formed in the very air. He realized what it was very fast. It wasn't his first time witnessing it.
'A Garganta gate… '
He cursed.
"Hollows. Now of all times… damn it!" He glanced in the direction of the pulse of reiatsu one more time. He really wanted to find out what it meant but in the next second, the fissure in the sky grew larger until it was big enough to reveal several large corrupted souls moving out of it.
Seeing the size of the hollows, Ichigo briefly blanked out. In the next moment, he felt their spiritual pressure pressing onto his shoulder and it made him tighten his jaw.
'…this isn't a reiatsu of a regular hollow. Are they Menos Grande?'
Nevertheless, the confusion didn't stop him from preparing himself. Renewing the grip on his zanpakuto, he shot in the air.
'If they are Menos Grande, then this can get messy.' He mentally reminded himself and poured his reiryoku into his sword. In an attempt to stop the hollows right at the Garganta, he swung down his sword even before he finished his Shunpo.
"Getsuga Tenshō."
The only Zangetsu's ability he knew so far quickly crossed the distance and hit the mark with absolute precision. For just a short moment, it obstructed his vision, but Ichigo didn't let his guard down. The reason was very simple.
'…the spiritual pressure didn't dis-'
His thought was cut off when a bright red beam of energy struck him directly in his chest. The impact blew him several feet backwards and burned off a part of his clothes. However, he had managed to raise his sword and use it as a half-effective shield in time.
'Tch, like you needed to shield yourself from that. Come on, Ichigo, you're better than that.'
Ignoring his zanpakuto, he looked at the hollows and a grimace settled on his face.
"High-speed regeneration… damn, this is going to be a pain in the ass." He grunted and saw one of the hollows preparing another Cero. Immediately, he flashed towards it with his free hand aimed at its head.
"Hadō #63, Raikōhō!"
"Graaaagh!" The hollow screamed in pain when Ichigo's Kido caused its Cero to explode right in its face. It didn't howl for long though, as Ichigo quickly followed his Kido with a smooth slash across the hollow's head, splitting it in two with one strike.
"One dow-gah!" A sudden blow to the right side forced him to abandon his position and flash away. When he came to a stop, he glanced down and saw a piece of his clothes missing. There was also a cut on his skin.
It hurt.
Though, it wasn't his body that hurt. It was his pride. His grimace turned sour and he glared at the remaining hollows while gripping the hilt of his zanpakuto with greater force.
"Oh, you're so going to pay for that." He grunted and ignored a twitch of pain coming from the wound.
"Getsuga Tenshō!" He fired off another blast, this time aiming at the third hollow that was preparing a Cero. Kicking the air below his feet, he trailed his own attack and didn't miss a weird tentacle that shot towards him from one of the other hollows.
'Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice…' He thought and grabbed the tentacle with his bare hand. Straining his muscles, he yanked it forward.
At the same time as his Getsuga finally reached its target, the hollow with the tentacle was forcibly pulled towards the teen. Noticing a movement, Ichigo quickly let go of the tentacle and pointed his free hand at the source of the movement.
"Bakudō #1, Sai!"
Not even looking at the target of his Kido, Ichigo shot towards the pulled out hollow and pushed his reiryoku into his blade. This time, he didn't release it right off the bat but kept it contained within the sword. Only after he reached his target and sliced through its head, he released it in a straight line, aiming to get rid of all the other hollows with it.
"…that should do it." He muttered and waited for a few seconds.
The spiritual pressure slowly faded away.
Only to reappear an instant later, but this time, right behind him.
'What the hell?'
Using Shunpo to flash away, he watched as a sharp-looking bone, protruding from a hand of an odd hollow cut through the space where he had just stood. Despite his fast reaction, it managed to nick him and create a tiny cut on the back of his left thigh.
He readied himself to annihilate the hollow only to see a bright arrow pierce through the creature's head, killing it instantly.
"You missed one, Kurosaki."
Startled, Ichigo trailed the path of the arrow with his eyes to find the same boy he had come across earlier that day standing on the ground with a reishi bow in his hands, giving him a smirk.
Not one of the good smirks. The irritating, annoying and mocking kind of smirks.
"The Quincy… what are you doing here?" Ichigo asked in exasperation but, as he looked the boy over, he noticed several light injuries all over his body. His white robe was nicked on multiple places but, almost miraculously, there was no blood to be seen.
"What happened to you?"
Uryū replaced the smirk with a distasteful grimace and let the reishi bow disintegrate.
"It's Ishida Uryū… and I'm here to make sure that the town is clean from hollows. To answer your second question, well, let's say you are not the only one who was busy tonight."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes.
'I didn't feel any other spiritual pressure… that's odd.' He wondered.
"Also… I told you to leave Karakura Town." Uryū stated and recreated the reishi arrow once again. When he pulled the reishi string backwards and formed a bright arrow, Ichigo narrowed his eyes further.
'He's not going to-, oh shit!' Ichigo mentally cursed and hastily flashed to a side when Uryū fired the arrow straight at the teen.
"I thought…" As soon as he landed, Ichigo started to yell but quickly trailed off when he saw the arrow embed itself into the head of a hollow.
"It looks like it's still not over." Uryū muttered with a frown.
Just as he said that, several large fissures formed in the night sky.
Ichigo quickly glanced at the other boy.
"I know you don't like-"
"You want to join forces and fight together, am I right?"
Confused by the lack of negative emotion in the Quincy's voice, Ichigo blinked.
"Yeah… and you don't look like somebody who is about to reject that idea."
Keeping an eye on the slowly opening fissures, Uryū pushed his glasses up his nose.
"That's because I'm not. What I said about hating shinigami isn't a lie. It's because of them that my sensei died." He said. For a moment, the only sound in the area were the fissures getting larger.
"He wished for shinigami and Quincy to learn how to fight hollows together, even if on their respective terms. He kept appealing to shinigami about the necessity of Quincy, to have somebody in the World of the Living that could keep an eye on hollows in shinigami's stead. However, the answer from shinigami was always the same… don't interfere with our work."
Ichigo was silent. He didn't really care for the boy's life story but, somehow, he couldn't bring himself to interrupt him. What Uryū was saying seemed exactly like what the Gotei 13 would do.
"And then, sensei died. Battling five huge hollows all alone, he had no chance. As expected, shinigami came too late to handle the hollows. In the end, his ideals never reached the shinigami. If they did, sensei still could have been alive. From that point onwards, I began to feel like I had to prove the shinigami how wrong they were. To prove them my strength. But… the Bounts appeared in Karakura Town and I realized my strength was not worth proving to anybody. If it was, I wouldn't have needed help in dealing with them. And so I came to a conclusion that instead of proving my strength, I need to prove that Quincy and shinigami can work together."
Seeing that the boy was finished, Ichigo called out to him.
"If that's the case, then don't announce to every shinigami that you hate them. That doesn't make sense!"
Uryū shook his head.
"If a shinigami can't look past such a simple thing, then he is not worthy of working together."
Ichigo scowled.
'That attitude…'
He wanted to voice his opinion but the fissures in the sky finally cracked and opened wide to reveal even more hollows, prompting him to quietly curse.
"Just make sure not to aim at me!" He called out to Uryū and flashed towards the fissures with a sword raised high.
"Likewise, Kurosaki!"
With that, their fight against a horde of hollows began and took all of their attention away from their surroundings, allowing a small butterfly with large eyes to easily slip past their senses and settle on a tree with a good view on the battlefield.
With a short buzzing sound, the butterfly's eyes flashed open.
…
Undisclosed location, Hueco Mundo
Seated in a comfortable, large couch, a man stared at a wide screen with an amused and satisfied smile. Flashing images of a battle only seemed to widen his smile even further. Zooming in on a certain part of the screen, the man grabbed a cup from the table in front of him and took a sip.
"Hm, a nice, warm cup of tea and a plan working beautifully are truly the two things that can satisfy me the most." He said to himself. Taking another sip, he squinted his eyes to see the details on the screen better.
"You are simply incredible, Kurosaki Ichigo. You are just the person I have hoped you to be. Become stronger, because-"
The man's monologue was cut off when the door to the room were abruptly opened and another man with silver hair casually waltzed inside.
"Ah, sorry Cap'n Aizen, didn't mean to disturb ya at one of your stalking… I mean, watching sessions."
Smoothly ignoring the jib, Aizen glanced at the man with a calm gaze.
"No worries, Gin. As I've told you before, you can always join me."
Ichimaru Gin, the former Captain of the 3rd Division, waved his hand.
"Nah, I'm good. I just came to inform ya of a very interesting thing. Ya might wanna turn to channel 5. I recorded something for ya."
Curious, Aizen raised one of his eyebrows and slowly turned back to the screen. He pressed a few buttons and a small part of the screen changed and began to replay a short recording.
"What am I looking at, Gin?"
"Look closer, Cap'n Aizen."
Aizen did as told. Slowly, his smile widened so much, it turned into a smug grin.
On the recording, there were two hollows emerging from a Garganta gate and jumping into Hueco Mundo's sand. Nothing about them seemed to be out of the ordinary. However, Aizen immediately knew that it was not the case.
"Thank you, Gin. You are right, this truly is interesting. Fascinating, even. I can't wait to see what can come out of it."
In that moment, a deep voice came out of a speaker placed near the man's head.
"Captain Aizen."
The man, a former Captain of the 5th Division, Aizen Sosuke, briefly closed his eyes.
"Yes, Kaname?"
"I have finished my mission."
Not even for a second looking away from the screen, Aizen reacted calmly.
"I see. Tell me, how did it go?"
"The harvest was a success. I have gathered enough to fill all the tubes you have given me. The hollows we sent in the boy's way worked just as planned."
Hearing the last words, Aizen's smile widened even further.
"That is very pleasing to hear, Kaname. Great work."
"Thank you, sir."
When the voice in the speaker died down, Aizen turned his head to look at his colleague once more. Very slowly, his expression morphed into such a satisfied grin, it seemed to fill the whole room. It even reached a short pedestal with a small orb placed on top of it.
…
An hour later, Soul Society
With torn clothes and a battered body, Ichigo stepped out of the Senkaimon gate looking worse for wear. He was tired and vexed and the image of a nice hot shower seemed to be the only thing keeping him going. Unfortunately for him, ever since Aizen's betrayal, a group of guards had been constantly watching the perimeter and so his state didn't get unnoticed.
"You there… Kurosaki Ichigo? What happened to you?" Thanks to Ichigo's regular visits of the Human World, most of the guards could now recognize him quite easily. One of them walked up to the teen and looked him over.
"Should I call the 4th Division? You look like shit."
Ichigo glanced at the man. He was in a bad mood and so he had to consciously keep himself from snapping.
"No, thanks. Just the usual hollow stuff."
The man narrowed his eyes.
"That must have been one hell of a hollow if it gave you so much trouble." He said slowly, causing Ichigo to grimace. It seemed that the academy students weren't the only one listening to rumors and stories.
"Yeah, it was. I'm going to give a report now so… later." Deciding he didn't want to waste more time, Ichigo quickly excused himself and left the area.
The next time he opened his mouth was after he knocked on the door to his father's office and the Captain's voice called out to him.
"Enter."
With a sigh, Ichigo did just that.
"I know how I look so please, spare me the comments." He said as soon as he took a single step inside.
"You know? Well, I guess accepting you're ugly truly is a first step."
Ichigo sighed again.
"I walked into that one by myself, didn't I?" He said while walking towards the couch. Noticing Rangiku in the far corner, he briefly paused and then greeted her with an awkward nod.
"Though I have to say, you really do look bad. Couldn't keep out of the trouble for one day?" Isshin asked off-handedly and put a stamp on one of the papers lying on his desk.
Meanwhile, Ichigo plopped down on the couch and leaned into it. Feeling and hearing his joints cracking, he let out a sigh of content.
"I could, but then a horde of large hollows came out of several huge Garganta gates right above my head. Ain't that interesting, huh?"
Isshin's hands stopped moving and he looked up from the desk, frowning. Ichigo met his gaze with a frown of his own.
"Yeah. About 20 or so hollows with spiritual pressure of Menos Grande but with appearance of regular, not Menos-class, hollows."
At that, even Rangiku stopped doing what she was doing and glanced at the teen with a confused expression.
"Menos but not Menos? What does that even mean?"
Isshin's frown deepened.
"I would accept if you said a group of regular Menos Grande. It would still be odd but, given recent happenings, it would make some sort of a sense… I guess. However, regular hollows with spiritual pressure of Menos Grande? Too odd. That could match your torn up clothes, though. Regular hollows couldn't do that to you, right?"
Ichigo pursed his lips in dissatisfaction.
"They were anything but regular. They had Cero like Menos Grande, maneuverability and reaction times better than any hollow I've met so far and strange… enhancements that also didn't look natural. Stuff like tentacles and bladed arms. Moreover, I was kind of afraid of going all out so I abstained from releasing my zanpakuto."
While Rangiku looked at him as if he had three heads, Isshin simply narrowed his eyes.
"That sounds a lot like Adjuchas… but Adjuchas are a lot smaller than Gillians. And 20 Adjuchas would have destroyed you. Hell, 20 of them would certainly destroy even a Captain, if he went against them without releasing our zanpakuto, of course. That means the hollows you fought were still Gillians…" He muttered and slowly trailed off, only to suddenly blink at the teen.
"So who helped you, then?"
Ichigo met his blank stare with a firm gaze that wavered almost immediately. Raising his hands in front of himself, the teen shrugged.
"I'm too tired to even try and deny it, so… a certain bow user backed me up. He still doesn't like shinigami but it seems he wants to cooperate in order to make Karakura Town safe."
"… I see." Isshin muttered with a raised eyebrow and then went completely silent, clearly deep in thoughts. Ichigo let him be. Without stating it out loud, he was fairly sure his father was thinking the same thing. The incident was anything but an accident and there was only one person who could possibly had had his fingers in it. Somebody, who they both knew was currently residing somewhere inside the dimension of hollows.
Just thinking about it caused the teen to groan.
'I just can't catch a break, can I?'
'Nope.'
'It would certainly seem so.'
'Gee, thanks.' He scowled.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Rangiku slowly closing the gap between them and turned to face her with a pale and confused stare. The Vice-Captain of the 10th Division pointed at the bit of dried blood on his clothes.
"You should definitely let somebody from the 4th take a look at those cuts. If not properly healed, wounds caused by hollows can become inflamed."
Ichigo's expression turned sour and uncomfortable.
"I don't think it'll be a problem…"
However, Rangiku didn't look like she wanted to back down.
"You should still do it. Moreover…" She lowered her voice, causing Ichigo to get closer to her. Reluctantly, and with an even paler face, he did so.
"Moreover, today is the date of our next session so I thought we could do it once you're patched up. And since you'll be a patient, you could even sleep there."
Ichigo instantly sobered up.
"Oh… yeah. Yeah, sure. Sounds great." He said, all of a sudden feeling a lot more awkward.
A short moment later, the two of them left the office and let Isshin alone with his thoughts. Once the door closed, Ichigo heard a voice of his inner spirit calling out to him.
'You didn't mention the weird reiatsu… you didn't forget about it, right?'
'Not a chance. I just… I feel like I should look into it alone.'
…
Next day, he woke up early in the morning, strangely feeling more refreshed than ever. Squirming on the bed, he stretched himself until he heard the satisfying sound of his joints cracking. Once he did that, he stayed in the bed for five more minutes before he finally stood up. He looked at the bed.
"Is it just me or are these beds a lot more comfortable than the ones we have at the Academy?" He muttered to himself. For once, he was glad that he had let Rangiku convince him to stay the night at the 4th Division medical building. The sleep had been so good, he decided that the first thing he was going to do was to go and thank the lazy, yet caring, Vice-Captain for it.
After he made the bed, he did just that.
'…I wonder, though, how many sessions it will take before I can look at her or at any other woman without feeling a cold sweat forming on my forehead.' He mused while leaving the 4th Division compound half an hour later.
'You just have to be patient, Ichigo. So far, you are doing very well.'
He allowed himself a small smile.
'Thanks, old man.'
'I, on the other hand, am wondering whether you are really that forgetful or whether you are simply trying to ignore the fact that you actually can look at some women without any bad side-effects already.'
The smile slowly disappeared from the teen's face and was replaced with a puzzled expression.
'What are you talking about?'
'…you can't be serious. You can't be th-, actually no, never mind. You should get it in five, four, three, two…'
"Well, look who's finally decided to show up." When a familiar voice grumpily called out to him, Ichigo almost jumped in surprise.
'…now!'
"Rukia? What do you...? Oh." He yelped and then opened his mouth wide like he got hit with a sudden revelation.
Standing in front of him, Rukia narrowed her eyes and stared at him with a sour and unhappy grimace. It looked like she wasn't in one of her best moods. Fortunately for the teen, he noticed it soon enough. Before she could snap at him, without him actually knowing why, he assumed an apologetic pose.
"Sorry."
He had no idea what he had done this time but, from the little he knew about women, he was fairly sure apologizing was the best way to avoid unnecessary bickering.
Puffing her cheeks, Rukia continued to unhappily stare at him for a whole minute before her expression broke down and she let out a deep sigh.
"You better be. It's been almost two weeks since I last saw you! Were you that busy or did you just forget about me?"
"…to be fair, it's easy to forget midgets like y-ouch! Just kidding! Ouch! Don't just silently kick me, crazy woman!" Ichigo retorted and found himself under attack an instant later. Jumping away from her reach he put his hands in front of him.
"You're right, I was kind of busy. Sorry. Again."
Rukia stopped trying to kick his shin into oblivion.
"How about a spar to catch up?" He proposed while massaging his legs. When he heard no response for more than a few seconds, he looked up and then blinked in surprise because what he saw was Rukia with a big smile on her face.
"Yeah, I'd like that." She said and joyfully hopped towards their usual training grounds, leaving Ichigo watching her with a stumped gaze. After a while, he shook his head in exasperation.
'…women.'
Nevertheless, he followed right after her and silently ignored his zanpakuto's gleeful chuckle.
…
An hour later
Ichigo was having a blast. His spar with Rukia had been going better than ever. Using a good portion of her zanpakuto abilities, the raven-haired woman was steadily forcing him to use more and more of his own power, until it caused him to form a wide grin of satisfaction. He didn't want to admit it but his zanpakuto was completely right about him. The combat was his craze, a thing that made him feel at ease and a thing that could pump his veins full of exhilaration like nothing else could. It just felt so natural to swing his sword from left to right, from up and down, as if using his own arms to direct a dance of a liquid metal, screeching and sparkling whenever the blade hit something.
However, as the spar progressed, a nagging thought began to form within his mind. The more Rukia pushed herself, the more Ichigo felt like releasing his shackles and unleashing his own zanpakuto. He wanted to show her just how much he had improved. He wanted to enjoy the elating feeling of being true to himself. Yet he couldn't.
Right after he acquired Zangetsu's initial release, Ichigo had decided to keep it hidden from Rukia. He didn't want her to see and feel the hollow part of his soul. He could still recall the expression on her face the first time she had seen his changed sclera. Shock and a little bit of fear.
Ichigo wasn't afraid that Rukia would forsake him, cast him away or treat him with disgust. Time after time, she had been nothing but good to him. What she had offered at the beginning, she had been fulfilling ever since. Her loyalty and sincere friendship was indisputable.
But what caused Ichigo to doubt himself was the possibility of Rukia fearing him. He didn't want to even imagine a situation where she would treat him on tiptoes, afraid he may snap and succumb to his hollow, animalistic self. It was enough that he himself was afraid of that. He didn't want anyone else to fear it too. Especially not Rukia.
The heavy thought tilted his focus and he received a blow to his back. Fortunately, it didn't seem like Rukia noticed the change in his demeanor yet, so he shook his head and renewed his effort. Retaliating, he spent a brief moment to stare at Rukia's face, creased with complete concentration.
'Maybe I'm just being stupid. If she knew what I was thinking about, she'd probably get angry at me for underestimating her so much. Maybe I should simply tell her.'
Evading an avalanche of freezing air, Ichigo thought back to his yesterday therapy session and a surprising bit of self-reflection hit him seemingly from nowhere.
'I have great troubles talking about myself or my problems. I always had. But I feel like talking to Matsumoto-san is slowly, very slowly, starting to help. Is she right? That just exchanging a few words with somebody else can help a person grow? That such a simple thing can help me overcome great obstacles?'
As he crossed blades with Rukia, his mind brought him to yet another point in his memories, when he had talked with Rurichiyo.
'Her too. I wanted to talk about her and her problems, yet I ended up talking to her about my own ones. But it helped. Kind of. Damn it. This is just all so confusing. I'll just tell her and be done with it. I trust Rukia. Right, Zangetsu?' He mentally called out to his zanpakuto spirit but received no answer for several long seconds.
'I apologize, Ichigo. It seems Zangetsu is currently overwhelmed by your great insight. He is speechless.'
For just a split second, his Quincy spirit's words caused him to blank out. He still had troubles deciphering the old man's indirect, calm and level-headed responses that sometimes drove him to the edge of patience. But with the all too casual mention of his zanpakuto's spirit, the teen soon realized the meaning behind the statement.
'He's laughing at me, isn't he?'
'…yes. Using his own words, he's laughing his ass off.'
'...bastard. Then, what do you think, old man Yhwach? Should I just go ahead and tell her?'
This time, the answer came instantly.
'I think your judgement concerning Kuchiki Rukia is best out of us three. Despite that, I agree with one of your previous thoughts and I think you really are severely underestimating Kuchiki Rukia and her capability to understand you.'
A tiny grin briefly forced the right corner of Ichigo's mouth upwards.
'I most likely do. Thanks, old man.'
'Anytime, Ichigo. Anytime.'
Over the course of the next few seconds, Ichigo stopped passively defending himself and went on the offensive. Briefly overpowering his sparring partner with raw power, he called to Rukia before she could renew her effort.
"Stop!"
Rukia, panting a bit, raised one eyebrow and gave him a confused stare.
"There's… something I need to tell you." Ichigo hurriedly explained.
"Okay?" Rukia said and continued to stare at him, this time with an expectant gaze that caused him to squirm. Several times, he opened his mouth but his voice apparently didn't want to cooperate and left him looking like a fish on a dry land.
"Ichigo?"
The teen scowled. All of a sudden, he couldn't find the right words. Strengthening his grip on his zanpakuto, he scoffed at his own inability to express his thoughts and focused.
"…I guess it'll be a lot easier to just show you. Get ready and, well, don't freak out." He said. In the next moment, his reiryoku exploded and filled the whole area with its heavy spiritual pressure, forcing Rukia to take several steps backwards. Startled by the teen's action, she raised her voice and yelled at him.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to release my zanpakuto! You'll understand once you see it!" Ichigo yelled back. He waited until he saw Rukia nod and only then he finally uttered his release phrase.
"Bleach their souls, Zangetsu!"
He waited.
Calmly and silently, he watched his own reiryoku slowly dissipate. For a while, his view on Rukia was obstructed. But soon enough, that changed.
"You're a dual wielder? That's rare. Great, but rare. I guess…" The excitement in Rukia's voice from seeing Ichigo's Shikai died down as soon as the teen saw her looking up at his face and then meeting his eyes. She trailed off and, for a good minute, just stared at him with a blank expression.
"Several weeks ago, you noted that my eyes briefly changed their color. Well, it didn't happen without reason. Rukia… I'm not sure you understand what I'm trying to show you yet, so let me do this." Ichigo stated quietly and focused on his reiryoku. With the help of his zanpakuto spirit, he separated a small portion of a hollow part of his energy and brought it out as much as he could. The effect lasted only for a second but, from the minute change in Rukia's expression, it was clearly enough.
"I really want to tell you all about it. I really do. But… I just can't seem to find the right words so I hope you can understand without them." Ichigo added in a bitter tone.
Silence fell upon the training ground. It lasted for far longer than the teen was comfortable with and it caused him to gulp.
"You possess hollow reiatsu." Rukia finally said after a moment.
"Yeah."
"But you aren't a hollow."
"No."
"Is it your fault that you have it?"
"No, it's not."
Rukia slowly changed her mostly blank stare and replaced it with a small smile.
"Then it's alright, Ichigo. I trust you. Whatever this is, I can see that it has been bothering you for a while. It's your problem. A very difficult one. A very deep one. So don't explain it to me. Not until you are ready." She paused and widened her smile.
"You know me, I'm not such a refined person that I could just step into your very soul without damaging it. But I also know you and so I'll wait. I'll wait because I know one day, you will overcome this problem. Until that day comes, I'll wait." She added.
Completely speechless, Ichigo stared at her in amazement. His reiatsu slowly receded and his zanpakuto reverted back into its sealed state. As the color faded away from his sclera, he felt his cheeks getting warm and hastily looked elsewhere, momentarily not being able to meet Rukia's gaze.
"Now I feel like an idiot for even worrying." He muttered with an embarrassed smirk, causing Rukia to chuckle. She walked up to him and, out of nowhere, kicked him in the shin.
"That you are! You fool! What did you expect I would do? Did you think I would just condemn you? I'm not that shallow!"
Ignoring the kicks, Ichigo couldn't help but to chuckle as well. Seeing Rukia fume like that seemed to wash away all his worries in one fell swoop.
"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, midget. Now calm down, there are still other things I'd like to talk ab-"
He never got the chance to finish his sentence as in the next second, a part of the area's wall exploded in a shower of hubris, sending pieces of rubble everywhere and forcing the two of them to jump away in surprise.
"Ichigo! I felt your reiatsu from afar and I came for a rematch!" A male voice, followed by an immense spiritual pressure, entered the area. Immediately after that, a large silhouette of a man fell on the ground in front of the teen.
Ichigo glanced at Rukia, who seemed to be in absolute shock, and gave her a grin.
"Well, it seems we'll have to postpone our talk. This guy needs some serious beat-down to stop stalking me." He said and jumped towards the man with an excited smirk, leaving Rukia to watch him with an incredulous expression.
"…beat-down? But… but that's Zaraki Kenpachi!"
…
Next morning
The noise coming from a distance slowly pulled Ichigo from his sleep and caused him to blink. Feeling fairly exhausted, he barely managed to rub his eyes before he let his arms fall back on the bed. A quiet groan escaped his lips as he recognized his surroundings.
"I have got to stop waking up in the 4th Division…"
"I wholeheartedly agree, Kurosaki-san."
The unexpected voice coming from behind him almost made him jump in surprise. He quickly turned around.
"Unohana-san! Damn, you gave me a scare!" He yelped and, with a hand on his chest, took a several deep breaths. Leaning and bringing her face very close to his, the Captain of the 4th Division formed a heavenly smile.
"And why is that, Kurosaki-san? Surely, I'm not a scary person, am I?"
As if staring into the face of the danger itself, Ichigo momentarily forgot about Unohana being a woman, and, very slowly, he pulled his head away from her. Cold sweat ran across his spine. For some reason, he felt incredibly vulnerable.
"Uhm, no sir. I mean…" Since Unohana continued to stare at him with her smile, Ichigo found himself unable to continue talking and just mumbled incomprehensibly. After a few more seconds, though, Unohana finally pulled back.
"We're always happy to take care of injured, as that is our main responsibility, but you've been here too often these days, Kurosaki-san. I hope you are not intentionally hurting yourself."
His speech finally returning, Ichigo quickly shook his head.
"No, of course not, Unohana-san. I was just sparring and, well, you know how it goes."
While he talked, Unohana rolled up her sleeved and place her hand above his chest. In a fraction of a second, the hand glowed green and she moved it up and down.
"I don't think a spar requires you to end up with body covered in blood, Kurosaki-san. Please, take it to heart or else I will not be happy." She lightly scolded him. Ichigo tactically tried to avert her gaze but Unohana waited until he looked back at her.
"…I understand, Unohana-san."
Her smile widened.
"Very well. You are mostly healed, however, I would advise you to rest here for a while longer, if only because there is a guest waiting to speak with you." She said once the green light vanished from her hand. Slowly walking away from the confused teen, she stopped once she got to the door.
"One additional advice, Kurosaki-san. You should not spar with Zaraki Kenpachi too often."
That confused Ichigo even more.
"What do you mean, Unohana-san?"
The Captain of the 4th Division slowly turned around and Ichigo felt a cold breeze wash over his whole soul.
It was his first time seeing Unohana Retsu looking at somebody without a gentle expression plastered across her face.
"I am glad that man has found a person worthy of his praise but you mustn't indulge him in the pleasure of combat too much. There is a sin that needs to be atoned first."
…
Genuinely perplexed, Ichigo watched the Captain of the 4th Division leave the room without saying anything. He tried to understand the cryptic message she relayed to him but without much success. Whatever she meant by it went completely beyond the teen. Therefore, Ichigo decided it was pointless to muse about it any longer.
Not to mention there was the thing about him having a visitor. That was a much more pressing matter.
'I don't think it's Rukia. She wouldn't bother identifying herself as a visitor.' Ichigo wondered. Shortly after that, the door opened again.
"Mah, mah, sparing with Captain Zaraki sure is bothersome, isn't it, Ichigo-kun? Hello."
As soon as he recognized the voice of his visitor, Ichigo went through rapid series of emotions. In the span of a single second, he went from surprised to puzzled and from being glad to being displeased.
"Captain Kyōraku." He greeted the man in pink kimono through slightly gritted teeth. The Captain of the 8th Division quickly caught on the tone of the teen's voice and formed a somber expression. He took a few steps towards the bed and lowered his head a little bit.
"It's been a while since we last spoke, Ichigo-kun. I originally intended to invite you over to my office but after I heard that you were in the 4th Division, I decided that maybe I could visit you instead." He said and, after a moment of silence, lowered his head a bit more.
"I apologize, Ichigo-kun. I know I probably should have done this as soon as Aizen Sosuke disappeared into Hueco Mundo but… well, I won't make any excuses. I'm sorry I used you for my purposes." Keeping his head down, he was unable to see the resignation that crossed Ichigo's face after a short while.
"It's fine, Kyōraku-san. Honestly, you didn't really do anything bad. I'm not really mad at you." The teen said with a sigh. The Captain looked up.
"I can't say I'm happy, though. When people use me without telling me anything about their plans… it irks me. And that seems to be happening a lot these days. You could say I'm mad at the general idea of being manipulated." Ichigo continued with a sour face. Shunsui formed a respectful smile.
"Nobody can blame you for that, Ichigo-kun. When your lifespan exceeds centuries, when your body is more durable than iron and when your will holds against any kind of prejudice, the only thing that can bring you down is the betrayal of those around you."
Ichigo gave him a long and speculative stare.
"Why do you keep lowering defense around me, Kyōraku-san? I am aware you are not treating me like you would other students and it's not because my Dad is who he is."
The Captain of the 8th Division blinked and his features somehow became more prominent. Ichigo was unable to ascertain why, but he got the impression he just managed to truly surprise the man.
"You are sharp, Ichigo-kun, I'll give you that." Shunsui said and paused for a moment.
"I've suspected Aizen Sosuke to be a different person for quite some time. There has been something uncanny, something I have been unable to see clearly, with the Aizen Sosuke everyone knew. I can't claim I knew he would turn out to be a traitor to the Gotei but I just had a feeling he wasn't a complete saint. Nobody is. Not even the saint are truly saint. When I heard your story and, later, when I heard about his interest in you, my doubts about him grew even larger. I did what I did because I wanted to learn more about him." He explained quietly and then quickly continued.
"However, my interest in you isn't solely because of Aizen Sosuke. No. I consider you to be a very intriguing person on your own, Ichigo-kun."
Ichigo continued to stare at him.
"Tell me more. About Aizen, I mean."
Shunsui met his stare with his own unusual gaze. For a brief moment, there seemed to be a hint of a clouded pain within his eyes.
"I guess I could share a bit more with you Ichigo-kun but, before I'll do that, I'll give you a good advice you should always remember. Sometimes, it's better to know less. Else the knowledge may haunt you forever."
…
Next day
Sitting in the classroom, Ichigo kept his eyes opened only half-way. So far, the lesson had been quite monotonous, a stark contrast to the lessons of the past several days. It all changed, though, when the door to the room opened and a petite person sharply walked towards the instructor.
"Captain Sui-Feng? Weren't you supposed to come tomorrow?" The instructor asked in surprise.
"My plans changed." The Captain of the 2nd Division said in a nutshell, prompting the instructor to quickly turn and address the students. It was his voice that managed to pull Ichigo back from his half-asleep state.
'Huh? What's going on?'
Without any preface and introduction, Sui-Feng turned to the students.
"Today, I will talk about some of the interrogation methods we employ when dealing with enemies of Soul Society." She stated and looked over the whole class until her gaze met Ichigo.
The teen narrowed his eyes. For an instant, he thought as if the Captain was trying to give him a signal.
'What can she want-?' He broke his own train of thoughts when he felt something tucked in his left palm. Immediately, he lowered his head and glanced down.
There was a small piece of paper with something written on it.
'Kurosaki Ichigo. Meet me outside the Academy after his class ends. We need to talk about the Bakkōtō problem Yoruichi-sama has informed me about.'
End of chapter 20.
Phew, done with another chapter. My free time seems to be getting smaller and smaller every day *whines intensely* .
More character development! More mysteries! More answers! This chapter is packed full of content (as always, ahem). There's not really much I can add to this. The story is moving slowly, but steadily. Next chapter will continue in this manner. Oh and thank you for the congratulations. I appreciate them :).
Onto the reviews!
*Dinner - prepare to be more hyped! Here, more of Rukia-Ichigo interaction, enjoy it!
*Harbinger_Of_Kaos - aaand you were right! Kenpachi will stalk Ichigo but, it looks like somebody is not that happy about it. ^-^
*maxblast - thank you. Concerning the OC, maybe it's because I'm using them as supporting characters. The main OC in this story, Yuno Kyoraku will appear in the story again, though. I think having somebody with similar background can help Ichigo in his journey.
*MugetsuIchigo - ofc all the chapters are like that! Jk. Yep, everybody is slowly appearing but I don't want to overcrowd the chapters so I'm using them sparsely, just enough to keep you informed. Yes, the dot Mayuri was staring at was Ichigo. No, this time, Vizards won't just confront Ichigo like in manga. For now, they are simply testing him. And China? Nice.
*NieveDrop - the fun part is when you can make your audience think you are just needlessly prolonging the story only for something unexpected to happen. Totally not a spoiler. Yeah, I read some stories (not necessarily just from Bleach fandom) where the MC has trauma but it just magically seem to vanish. The sessions won't be the main focus in the story, but I wanted to let the readers know Ichigo will acitvely try to overcome it.
*Guest - for now, I really can't say. Though the company I'm working on is fairly small, there is an embargo on such information.
*mythics101 - yeah, I'm looking forward to him going all out too :).
Despite not reacting to all reviews, you can bet your asses I read them multiple times! Thank you for them.
Next chapter: Unexpected journey to a place nobody lives in?