Chapter 26: Doomsday: Beginning
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
"Normal speech"
'Inner speech/thoughts'
'Inner Quincy/Yhwach speech'
'Inner hollow/Zanpakuto speech'
xxx
A little piece of heaven:
When I died, I was told the Soul Society is something akin to a paradise, where nine out of ten times it is better than the living world and hunger is never a problem. I admit, hearing that calmed me down a bit. It certainly is good to tell the recently deceased a gentle lie, so he wouldn't be scared. But it's just that.
A lie.
A beautiful lie.
Soul Society is a paradise?
Not in the slightest. Only a masochist, or a person blind to the reality could honestly believe in such a thing. Soul Society is anything but paradise. It is a limbo, a never-ending cycle of humility and a place that surely isn't better than the living world in nine out of ten times. Those of you living in Seireitei will never read past these lines because to you, I'm saying heretical things, nonsense and just plain lies.
So let me ask you this.
Have you ever been in Rukongai? In its outer parts? Parts where the Shinigami laws are treated as jokes? A place filled with pain, suffering and irrationality? If you can answer yes and still treat my words as lies, then immediately stop reading. I have nothing to say to you.
A soul does not feel hunger. It does not feel thirst.
Yet people of Rukongai are always hungry or thirsty. Despite that, food or water does not satisfy them. Their needs are different. Separated from the limbo, they live in perpetual hell. A place where murder is treated as breakfast, rape as lunch, torture as dinner and anything else, possibly pleasant, as dessert. But that dessert is just an illusion. Something, that will never come.
I've seen it with my own eyes and felt it with my own flesh. It is mind-consuming. Soul-corroding. It's something I wish was never a part of my past. Stay there and you will never return. Even if by some miracle you do, you don't. What will return is no longer the you your friends know. It'll be just a shell, a container for a soul without any purpose.
I was fortunate. I stayed there, yet I survived. Irreparably changed and inevitably corroded, but I survived.
Yes, I may be painting an image with a color that is darker than black. All it takes is to take a look around. Not a single thing I mentioned is present in Seireitei.
Maybe that is the root of the problem. Nobody sees the truth here. I don't blame them. It is easy to lose yourself in the peace and calm. I do that sometimes myself. But then, the memories come back. To haunt me, to torment me but also, to remind me of my goal.
That goal is to change the Soul Society into a place that can truly be called a paradise. Is that a naïve dream? Maybe it is. What do I know? However, I will certainly try to make it happen so. With all of my strength and all of my power, until the end of times.
I may be an idiot. But, a smart person would never even try.
Ichigo stared at the words he had just written with a large frown on his face. He read the lines over and over again, in hopes he would find something he had missed or a part that didn't sound that good to him anymore. Eventually though, he admitted defeat. His words came straight out of his heart and no matter how many times he would read them, he could never not agree with them.
"Done?"
Ichigo looked up, at the man with a punkish appearance, and nodded.
"Yeah, I think so." He said after a moment and leaned into his chair, thinking about the past two weeks since he became a 3rd Seat of the 9th Division. During that time, he found out many things. About himself, about the 9th Division, their ideology and, most importantly, about the Vice-Captain who stood next to him, Hisagi.
Hisagi was exactly as Ichigo thought he would be after meeting him in the office of Captain Commander. Maybe even more. Simply put, Hisagi felt human. Like a complete person that had good points but also faults. Because of that, Ichigo found the time he had to spend with him as not completely wasted.
Since the 9th Division was void of its Captain's position, most of the paperwork was Hisagi's and now also Ichigo's responsibility. It was a lot of mechanical work but the two of them passed the time by having small talks about many different topics. This way, Ichigo discovered that the 9th Division had one additional responsibility.
That responsibility was called 'The Seireitei Communication' and, being a person who liked literature, Ichigo quickly offered to be a part of the staff. The Seireitei Communication was a magazine released in Soul Society with the purpose of raising morale and building solidarity among Shinigami.
"I like it. It's harsh but you can feel the emotions behind it." Hisagi suddenly said, waking Ichigo from his thoughts.
The teen sheepishly rubbed his head.
"Thanks, Hisagi-san."
"Though I guess we'll have to come up with a name for your column if you want to do this regularly." Hisagi looked at him with a thoughtful gaze, half asking, half stating.
"I'd like to. It's a good way to tell the thoughts I want others to hear. Matsumoto-san thinks it's a good idea too."
"Yep, we're definitely doing it." Hisagi said almost immediately, causing a small grin to form on Ichigo's face. It took him only two weeks to realize that if he really wanted something from his Vice-Captain, he only needed to mention one name.
"Alright, I'll ask Sannen whether we have any space left in this month's print. But I think it'll be definitely possible, now that we lost three large columns." Hisagi continued, his face slowly losing its emotions.
Ichigo sighed.
"Hisagi-san?"
"Hm?"
Inwardly, Ichigo released another sigh. Anytime Hisagi thought about the Sōkyoku Hill incident and about his former Captain, he became melancholic. Not that Ichigo blamed him for that. He knew how hard it must have been on the man. However, Ichigo himself was susceptible to melancholy and so, seeing Hisagi like that was like looking in the mirror.
"How about a spar? Writing for so long kind of made my neck stiff."
Hisagi blinked and some of his emotions returned.
"Sure. I'll just send your paper and my work to the editing department"
Fifteen minutes later, in one of the 9th Division's training grounds, Ichigo stood face to face with his Vice-Captain. Ready to begin the spar, they both tightened the grip on their zanpakuto. Ichigo even more-so as there was one more thing he had learned since becoming the 3rd Seat.
One should never underestimate Hisagi.
"Go."
Anticipating Hisagi's first move, Ichigo immediately took a quick step backwards and watched a blade narrowly missing the tip of his nose. The teen mentally sighed in relief and, using his zanpakuto, harshly batted the blade away.
"You're not holding back. Great." He muttered and briefly recalled his first spar with Hisagi. It ended with the teen's crushing defeat in barely one second.
"The last time I held back, you almost wiped the floor with me, Kurosaki. I never make the same mistake twice." Hisagi retorted with a serious gaze and stroke again.
As soon as he saw the blade coming at him, Ichigo put his weight into his ankles and leaped over the Vice-Captain. Mid-air, he tried to slash the man's shoulder.
Hisagi didn't waste a single movement and fluidly changed the trajectory of his sword so it would clash with Ichigo's blade, preventing the teen from harming him. Once Ichigo's zanpakuto slid along the edge of his sword, he grabbed the hem of Ichigo's sleeve and yanked him down, to the ground.
Using every bit of his flexibility, Ichigo spun around and, before his body could hit the ground, he stabbed his zanpakuto in it. However, while it prevented him from crashing, it also left him open for the attack. With that in mind, he quickly let go of the hilt of his sword and brought his hands to his chest.
It was just in time as the sole of Hisagi's left foot immediately came at him with the intention of blasting him backwards. Ichigo was able to absorb most of the strike but the stinging sensation in the palms of his hands was almost enough to make his hands go numb.
Still, he didn't let go of Hisagi's foot and, straining his muscles, he twisted it around and with it forced Hisagi to do the same. As the Vice-Captain went along with it, since he didn't want his leg broken, Ichigo quickly reached for his zanpakuto and yanked it from the ground.
"Back to square one, huh?"
Ichigo ignored the comment and kept his concentration at high alert. That he managed to hold his own for this long meant Hisagi would soon increase his pace.
Truth to be told, barely a second after he thought that, he was forced to slowly back away from Hisagi, as the man unleashed a series of short but fast swipes that left almost no room for parrying. Ichigo knew if he tried to do that, he wouldn't be able to keep doing it for long. His zanjutsu skills were good but not Hisagi-good.
Still, he was far too stubborn to just admit a defeat in a spar. While backing away, he watched Hisagi's every movement and waited. Occasionally, he dared to block a strike that got too close to hitting him but, what he tried to do the most, was to analyze Hisagi's attack pattern.
However, it soon dawned onto him.
Whatever Hisagi's attack pattern was, it was far too complicated to analyze during action. Soon, Ichigo felt a few shallow cuts on his body. It caused him to narrow his eyes. Refusing to go down like that, he tightened his grip and, after he dodged another swipe, he brought his zanpakuto down with all of his might.
"Whoaaa…"
The force behind the sword didn't allow Hisagi to continue his pattern as the shock-wave swirled the dry soil and raised it high enough to create a weak smokescreen.
Rushing through it, Ichigo appeared in front of squinting Hisagi and brought his zanpakuto down on him. With no time to dodge, Hisagi had to parry the strike. A bit satisfied, Ichigo saw the surprise in the man's eyes when his arms shook under the weight of Ichigo's attack.
"Good strength, Kurosaki!"
It was Ichigo's turn to be surprised as Hisagi quickly overcame the weight and violently pushed him away. Almost thrown out of balance, Ichigo preventively jumped in the air. Despite that, he still felt the tip of Hisagi's blade tearing the fabric of his clothes. A weak breeze caressed the skin on his back and made his skin crawl.
'Too close!'
He brought his knees to his chin and rolled through the air. When he landed, he instantly spun around and slashed the air. His sword clashed with Hisagi's sword. He saw the man nodding.
"I think it's time to stop this spar."
A bit winded, Ichigo raised one of his eyebrows. Only then he felt several different reiatsu in his close proximity. He looked away from the Vice-Captain and saw a large group of men from the 9th Division watching them.
"Eh, okay."
Both of them slowly lowered their swords and then lightly bowed to each other.
"Good spar, Kurosaki."
Ichigo heard weak clapping and a few catcalls coming from their audience and couldn't help but laughing.
"Thanks, Hisagi-san. Though, one day, I'd really like to force you into your Shikai."
Hisagi finally cracked a friendly smile.
"You'll have to try harder than that, Kurosaki. And by the way, your new shihakushō is waiting for you in the office."
…
Later that day, Ichigo walked towards the Shin'ō Academy feeling quite conscious of himself. The reason for that feeling was the new set of clothes he was now, as the member of the Gotei 13 and the member of the 9th Division, obligated to wear. Most of the clothes were just ordinary pieces of Shinigami shihakushō that every Shinigami wore but there was one difference after all. Since it was something of an unspoken tradition, every member of the 9th Division wore a sleeveless kosode instead of a normal one.
'Too shy to show some skin?'
Ichigo ignored the tone of his zanpakuto spirit's voice and mentally shook his head.
'Nah, I just feel a bit vulnerable, I guess. I'm sure I'll be fine in a day or two.' He thought and silently entered the Academy through its front doors.
'Oh yeah, remind me again, why are we here?'
Ichigo waited with the answer until the group of students politely greeting him passed him by.
'I thought I'd like to learn some new stuff but the Division's library has quite the limited selection of books.' He thought. After exchanging a few words with one of the instructors, he heard his zanpakuto spirit talking again.
'Really? And how about, you know, trying to master me and my abilities?'
'…and mine too…'
'Sod off, old man. I'm more important!'
Ichigo couldn't take it and released an exasperated sigh. He didn't like when his spirits argued. It always caused a throbbing headache that wouldn't go away for almost a whole day. Rubbing his head, he formed a small frown.
'I plan on doing that too. With both of you. I just felt like using my brain again.'
'Hey! What's that supposed to mean!'
Ichigo inhaled. Deeply.
'Come on! You know what I meant!'
A few moments later, he heard a disgruntled grunt.
'…that doesn't mean I'm happy about it. I want you to use me as much as you… okaaay, that came out wrong. Fine, I get it. Go ahead and study your stupid books.'
Ichigo almost chuckled out loud.
'Thanks Zangetsu, you're the best!'
'…fuck off.'
In a visibly better mood, Ichigo didn't pay enough attention to his surroundings and almost crashed into a petite student.
"Whoa, sorry about that… ah, Kyōraku-san."
The student that bounced off him and barely kept her balance, was Yuno Kyōraku, one of Captain Kyōraku's nieces.
"Oh, Kurosaki-san… or should I say, 3rd Seat Kurosaki?"
Seeing her smiling expression, Ichigo shook his head in slight amusement.
"Kurosaki-san is still fine."
Yuno's smile widened.
"Fancy meeting you here. I though you're busy with your new work. Congratulations to that, by the way."
"Thanks… I just wanted to grab some books from the library."
He saw her tilting her head.
"Hmm, I see. So you won't admit it by yourself."
Ichigo blinked in surprise.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
The girl reached into one of her pockets and took out a small piece of paper.
"I mean this. Somebody put in a good word for me in the 4th Division and they accepted me to be a trainee for a few weeks."
Ichigo intently stared at the paper, trying hard not to glance in Yuno's direction. But she kept her gaze glued on him until he backed down.
"Fine, I ended up in the 4th after a spar and, while I was being treated, I recalled you saying you'd like to become a medic and it just came out. I didn't really think they would listen to me." He admitted, briefly thinking back to a week earlier, when Kenpachi Zaraki had found him and had demanded a spar with him. Obviously, the spar had quickly become a survival of the fittest with both of them ending in the medical wing.
That day, Captain of the 4th Division had been very unhappy.
"Don't worry, I'm not accusing you or anything. I'm actually happy that somebody cares enough to do such a thing for me." Yuno said and lightly patted his shoulder. Then, leaving him stumped, she walked away.
"…I don't get it." Ichigo muttered to himself and tuned out his zanpakuto spirit as soon as he felt him making some sort of a snarky remark.
After that, he finally made his way to the library.
…
Ichigo closed the last book on his table and leaned into his chair. He stretched his back but felt it wasn't enough to release all the tension from his body. Swiftly, he leaped into his bed and closed his eyes in an attempt to relax his stiff muscles and to absorb all the information he had just read. The books he had borrowed from the library were a bit different from books usually used in Academy education and the knowledge in them was a lot more detailed and advanced.
'There isn't really much I can learn about Hakuda. It's mostly just mixed martial arts, though I could try to learn some of the special techniques. The only problem is, almost all of them require a better than good reiryoku control.' He thought while humming quietly.
'Hm… it still could be worth looking into.'
Turning his head left and right, he cracked the joints in his neck and an audible sigh of relief came out of his mouth. The loss of some tension felt good.
'Zanjutsu is another thing I can improve in only by practicing. Though I guess reading about it wasn't all that pointless. There are some good combinations in all those different sword styles. While I consider myself more of a 'react' kind of guy, I suppose knowing a move or two won't hurt.'
Ichigo opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling with a thoughtful gaze. By raising his arms and stretching them towards the ceiling as much as he could, he felt some of the stress leaving his shoulders.
'However, the really interesting fact was the Hohō section. In the Academy, they simply told us that the evolved Hollows, Menos, could use fast movements comparable to those of a Shinigami. But I didn't know it also has a name.'
He let the arms fall down on the bed.
'So, Shinigami have Shunpo, Hollows have a technique called Sonído. I have a feeling Quincy have something similar as well, even though the book doesn't mention them at all.'
'Your feeling is spot on, Ichigo.'
Ichigo barely batted an eye at the sudden voice within his mind. He had expected his Quincy spirit to react to that.
'Is it that similar?'
'The technique Quincy use for movement is called Hirenkyaku and it is similar to Shunpo and Sonído only in the sense of it being a high-speed movement technique. Also, while I understand your thirst for knowledge, I think it is not yet time for you to try and learn it, Ichigo.' Yhwach replied in his usual, calm, demeanor.
'Why not?'
'It… Hirenkyaku requires the user to be extremely good in energy manipulation. To illustrate, you would need to be able to gather enough reishi or reiryoku under your feet that you could ride it to the desired location in an instant. For now, Shunpo is your best choice.'
Pressing his lips together, Ichigo formed a frown.
'I see. Alright. Next thing, Kido. Right now, I can efficiently use four Kido spells; two types of Bakudō and two of Hadō. I am fairly content with that but I think some versatility would be nicer. Barrier spells are incredibly difficult, so I guess I'm stuck with either a new Bakudō or a new Hadō. I can cause enough destruction already, so… Bakudō. The ones with higher numbers are very interesting but also hard to produce and I think a spell with instant effect would be the best.' He wondered and thought back to the blocks of text in the books.
'Let's see… hmm, Bakudō with the number 8 was called Saki, no, Seki. It generates an orb of light blue energy which repels whatever strikes it. Sounds good. I could use it for a surprise block.'
With an affirmative nod to himself, he decided on the spell. Then he raised his head a little and glanced in the direction of the other books he had brought with him.
'Though I have to admit… it's really hard to find any book on information about the Noble Clans. Especially on what makes them so unique. Is it such a secret or…' He didn't finish his thought. Instead, his frown deepened.
Thousand questions popped in his mind.
…
Coming back from a lunch at the Kuchiki manor with Rukia and the Captain of the 6th Division, Ichigo aimed his steps to one of the sturdier training areas the 9th Division had to offer. He was planning to train with his zanpakuto and so, keeping in mind his destructive capability and the warning from Hisagi he had gotten the last time, he chose to use the area which walls were coated with Sekkiseki. Sekkiseki was a special mineral with properties that allowed it to repel all Reiryoku, making it incredibly useful for training where using large quantities of spiritual energy was involved. But even Sekkiseki wasn't impenetrable and a spiritual energy of sufficient density could potentially pass through, albeit with incredible difficulty.
"Good afternoon, 3rd Seat Kurosaki-san."
"Kurosaki-san."
Ichigo nodded to the greeting of his fellow officers and watched them pass with a neutral expression. Men from the 9th Division liked him enough but the teen felt some definite space between them. It wasn't just the formality or the military etiquette, though. They kept him far enough so they wouldn't get overly familiar with him. On one hand, it felt odd but, on the other one, Ichigo knew he couldn't fault them.
He was doing the same thing.
When he finally entered the training area, he quickly grabbed the hilt of his zanpakuto and took the sword out. With closed eyes, he took a deep breath. Feeling his zanpakuto firmly in his hand was just so relaxing. Going for too long without it made his skin crawl. He didn't know the reason behind it but he didn't care.
The feeling of security and tranquility, that felt like a lullaby to him, almost ironically clashed with the power contained within the sword.
"Bleach their souls, Zangetsu." He stated quietly. The rush of the increased flow of reiryoku was comparable to an adrenaline injection, given at the brink of death. It elevated his mood, his emotions and also, his instincts. He felt like a predator on the hunt, ready to pounce on the closest prey.
There was no mask fragment on his face. Ichigo consciously kept himself from releasing all the taps in his body, even though it was incredibly hard. The temptation to just let go was beyond belief.
'Now… I'm sure you want me to figure it out by myself, so I won't bother asking you a thing, Zangetsu.' He mentally said to his zanpakuto spirit, who remained silent. Then he thought back to the time he had spent in the Valley of Screams.
Back then, he had been sure he managed to produce something a bit different form his regular Getsuga but, as the time passed, he got a bit skeptical. He glanced at his two sword and frowned.
'So. Let's just try something.'
Focusing on his intention, he raised his swords and made two quick slashes, each one with a different blade.
"Getsuga Tenshō! Getsuga Tenshō!"
Before dispersing on the Sekkiseki coating, the two beams of energy briefly illuminated the area but the frown on the teen's face didn't change.
"…just regular Getsuga…" He muttered.
'Maybe I need to fire them at the same time?'
He raised his swords again.
"Getsuga Tenshō!"
Even though he yelled the name of the technique only once, Getsuga came out of from both blades. Ichigo's frown deepened. Then he cursed.
"I'm an idiot. If it's a different technique, it probably has a different name. Saying Getsuga Tenshō is probably forcing this one to come out."
With that in mind, he slashed the air again, this time without calling the name of the technique and just concentrating on his energy in hope it would do what he wanted it to do.
"Nope." He grunted and paused while staring at the wall in front of him.
'I'm definitely missing something.'
An hour later, he wasn't any closer to his goal. So far, he only spammed his regular Getsuga until he got to the point, where the missing portion of his reiryoku finally got to him. His knees became water and he knew he had to take a breather.
"…ah, damn it…" He sat on the ground, panting.
'It's no use… I'll try again tomorrow.'
Leaning backwards, he supported himself on his hands and looked up, at the sky. It was bright blue but there were some heavy clouds coming from a distance. Storm was definitely coming. Ichigo face twisted into a deep frown. With a sigh, he straightened his back and sat in a meditative pose. He immersed himself into his own consciousness and slowly calmed his haggard breathing. His eyes were closed but he saw his surroundings with his imagination. It was like a surreal picture, painted by an artist who used an abstract thinking.
Then, the dirt close to him began to glow and move towards him. Forming a trail of small particles, it turned into pure spiritual matter of light blue color. When it came in contact with the teen's body, it seemingly got absorbed.
'You are getting better at this, Ichigo.'
The praise made Ichigo happy but, since he didn't want to break his concentration, he didn't reply to his Quincy spirit. Instead, he just made sure the spirit could feel his emotions. Along with it, he sent him a peculiar mental picture. The spirit hesitated a little in his answer to that.
'…try it.' Was all Yhwach said to him.
In reaction to that, Ichigo blindly moved his hands until he found the hilts of his swords and then grabbed them. Bit by bit, the spiritual matter that flowed into him from his surroundings changed its direction until it seemingly joined with the teen's arms. There, it changed color and then flowed into both swords. Slicing the air with them, Ichigo opened his eyes.
"! Ow! The hell!?"
Surprised by a sudden and sharp pain in his right arm, he let go of his bigger sword while a small but bright Getsuga shot off from the smaller blade. He quickly glanced at his right arm, only to see bruising and tiny cuts forming on his skin. The pain remained.
"Gh, what's going on?"
'You're a dumbass, that's what's going on. Think about what you just tried to do.'
While the voice of his zanpakuto spirit didn't really sound angry, there was a lot of ire and exasperation in it, making Ichigo wince not just from the pain. The teen tried to block the sharp agony but found himself unable to do it as its intensity grew even more. A bit of blood came out from the cuts. However, as his spirits weren't freaking out or even bothered, Ichigo knew it couldn't have been that bad.
In light of that, despite feeling as if thousands blades moved around in his arm, he stayed silent and just tried to wait through the pain. It turned out to be the right decision and, several seconds later, the arm stopped bleeding. The discomfort preserved but he could feel his regeneration kicking in.
Only then he could try to do what his zanpakuto spirit suggested. He thought about it.
'Focus on why this happened in your right arm only. What was the difference in your arms when you tried to do what you tried to do?' His Quincy spirit quietly offered him a small hint.
Ichigo narrowed his eyes and looked at both his hands. It took him a moment but he realized it.
'…swords. I held different swords.'
'And?'
Ichigo closed his eyes and formed a grimace.
'…and I tried to use the reishi I gathered from my surroundings as the fuel for my Getsuga.'
'And what kind of technique did you use for that?'
'Uh… reishi manipulation?'
'And how can you do that?'
It finally hit him.
'Because I'm partly a Quincy and the larger sword is the representation of my Shinigami and Hollow powers. Is that it? It felt like my arm got blown off!'
He heard a deep sigh coming from the depths of his mind.
'Ichigo, I once told you I don't like this old man that represents your Quincy powers. That's not completely true. It's not that I don't like him. It's the hollow part of my that can't stand him. Literally.'
He blinked in surprise.
'Ichigo. Hollows and Quincy do not mix. They are like a poison to each other. No, let me rephrase that. Hollows are a poison to Quincy. A very hurtful poison. On the other hand, Quincy are not a poison for Hollows. They are just something that can completely eradicate Hollows and leave no trace after them.'
'So, what you did was to mix everything up. Never mix everything up because it creates a violent backlash. You hate that term, but if you weren't a hybrid being, an amalgam of every race, this backlash could kill you.'
A chill ran through Ichigo's spine. He gulped and placed his other sword on the ground. Some questions popped in his mind but he decided to put them away for now. He was far too disturbed to deal with them.
'…yeah, no more mixing things up.'
He slowly got up, only to hear a different voice coming from the training ground's entrance.
"Hey, Ichigo, got a minute?"
…
Inside the main building of the 9th Division, Ichigo motioned his visitor to sit down.
"What's up, Renji?"
The Vice-Captain of the 6th Division, Abarai Renji, sat in the offered chair but kept his gaze on the teen's fairly bloody right arm, prompting him to explain.
"I just trained a bit too hard." Ichigo said dismissively and reached into a cabinet. He pulled a towel out of it that he quickly dipped into water and then used it to wipe the blood away. Once he did that, Renji finally opened his mouth.
"Do you remember the new directive from a few days ago? The one that promotes the improvement of the inter-division cooperation?"
Ichigo immediately nodded.
"Yeah, I heard about it from Hisagi-san. Several weeks ago, when Menos Grande got to Seireitei, the Commander wasn't that thrilled with the level of cooperation between Divisions and this is the result of it?"
He put a glass of water in front of Renji, who gladly took a sip.
"Right. Ever since it came into effect, groups of Shinigami from different divisions are being sent to the Human World together for joint missions. Well, guess who got paired up this time."
Busy putting away the now dirty towel, Ichigo briefly didn't pay attention to the man but, when silence fell on the room, he blinked and looked at the Vice-Captain.
"Huh?"
Renji raised his right arm and, with index finger, pointed at the teen and then at himself.
"Yep, we are going first thing in the morning."
…
Sun barely popped from behind the horizon when a Senkaimon gate appeared in the middle of Karakura Town. Two equally sleepy Shinigami came out of it while yawning and cracking their neck joints.
"Man, I should've gone to bed earlier."
"Me too."
Renji glanced at the teen with a raised eyebrow.
"Yesterday training?"
Ichigo, still yawning, nodded. When the yawn subsided, he shuddered.
"You?"
Renji shrugged.
"Got together with Ikkaku-san and others from the 11th Division to talk about the old times. Of course, we ended up drinking. A lot." He said and briefly closed his eyes. The first rays of sunlight falling on his face caused him to wince.
Ichigo snorted.
"Why do you even drink if the mornings are so bad?"
Renji raised one hand and, for a few seconds, stayed silent.
"…the trick is to never stop drinking."
Another snort escaped Ichigo's nose.
"Heh, you sound like Ikkaku-san."
"Well, it is his damn fault."
The two of them glanced at each other and chuckled.
"He's a bad influence alright."
Renji lightly nodded.
"That he is. Now come on, we should do the rounds."
They spent the following few hours mostly in silence. They tried to focus on their mission as much as possible and so the conversation was sparse and brief. However, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As soon as the seventh hour came, a mass of people began to move across the city in an effort to get to work in time, kids and children hurried to their schools and the elderly leisurely strode to their favorite shops. Ichigo purposely averted the Karakura High School in fear of seeing some of his former classmates. He had already coped with the fact he was dead and that there was nothing he could do to change it. He had also accepted his past as the part of him but, despite that, he somehow knew he didn't want to meet his former friends.
It would still be very uncomfortable.
Maybe moving subconsciously, he ended up in the Karakura Park where, a few weeks ago, he had fought against Hanza. A place where he had lost control over himself and caused deaths of innocent people. To his surprise, he found the park completely reconstructed and rebuilt. It was almost as if his fight with the Kasumiōji assassin never happened. As if it had happened only in his memory.
'Funny how this town deals with its past better than I do.' He thought dryly.
Renji tapped him on the shoulder.
"I just got a memo that a group of students is somewhere in Karakura so we shouldn't be surprised if we came across them. Some Academy business."
"Okay."
They both turned around to go for another round when a weird feeling assaulted their senses. In that moment, a slight noise came from the sky, causing them to look up.
Up in the sky, a small hole appeared out of thin air and two things shot out of it. Causing a small tremor, they seemingly crashed into the ground a few miles away from Ichigo and Renji's position. Not even a second later, a hollow reiatsu pulsed across the whole area with great intensity.
Ichigo and Renji exchanged looks. Neither spoke a word. They both realized it.
Something was seriously wrong.
In the next moment, they flashed away in a burst of Shunpo. But even with that, it took them a few minutes to arrive to the location and the closer they got, the worse the situation became. The pulse of reiatsu washed over them again. From this close, they both realized it actually wasn't just one reiatsu, but two. Moreover, whoever was leaking it felt odd. It was as if the sources had both a Shinigami and a Hollow tint, with the latter a lot more prominent. Additionally, the reiatsu was incredibly heavy.
A flash of bright blue energy briefly illuminated the town and a third source of reiatsu appeared. However, it was much weaker than the other two and was rapidly getting even less recognizable. Before it got to the point of barely being there, a cold sweat washed over Ichigo. He recognized that reiatsu.
"We have to hurry. That's the Ishida guy, the Quincy." He muttered nervously, causing Renji to quietly curse and reach into his pocket.
"Damn it… the connection with Seireitei is unsteady."
Third pulse of reiatsu spread across the town and Ichigo glanced at Renji.
"You have a seal on you, right?"
"Yeah."
The teen looked away from him.
"I hope the connection will improve because I think you'll need all the power you have."
Leaping over the last obstacle, they finally arrived to the location, only to receive in invisible punch in a form of a reiatsu that briefly rooted them to the ground.
Wide-eyed, Ichigo couldn't believe his eyes. The whole street looked like a battlefield. Broken trees, lampposts, destroyed houses, rubble… everywhere he looked, there was pure devastation. In the center of it stood two beings he had never seen before. One of them, a giant humanoid with tanned skin, powerful build and a jawbone resting on his chin, held a person Ichigo recognized to be Uryū Ishida by his neck. The other one was smaller, built almost like a human, with black hair and half of his head covered with the remnants of a broken horned helmet, seemingly made out of a bone.
"Eh? What is this? I was hoping for a good meal or at least a good fight and this is all I get?"
When Uryū was thrown away, Ichigo noticed a large hole in the middle of the creature's torso. It surprised him to the point, where he barely managed to move in time to catch the limp body of the Quincy.
'…this is bad, he's barely alive.' Ichigo noted and carefully put him down, a bit away from the battlefield.
"Oh, we got two newcomers! Oi, Ulquiorra, can I smash them to pieces?" The larger creature called out to the other one.
"Look closer, Yammy. The one with orange hair is your target." The smaller one, Ulquiorra, replied.
Ichigo instantly turned away from Uryū and looked at the two beings, supposedly hollows, in surprise.
'I'm their target?'
Yammy, the large hollow, grinned from ear to ear and cracked his knuckles.
"What about the other one?"
Ichigo saw Ulquiorra glance in Renji's direction. The hollow briefly looked the Vice-Captain over and then looked back at Yammy.
"He's just a trash. You can kill him."
Blood froze in Ichigo's veins and he heard Renji growling.
"Hey, hey, that's not funny at all." The Vice-Captain quickly whispered something into the small communication device and then reached for his zanpakuto. Ichigo hastily did the same.
He had no idea what was going on but his instinct was telling him to keep his focus at the utmost level. The reiatsu leaking from the two in front of him was dense and it looked like that was just its lowest point.
"Ora!"
A large fist suddenly descended upon the teen and he barely managed to jump away in time before the ground beneath him got demolished. Pieces of soil, concrete and asphalt burst out of the fissure, denying Ichigo the view on anything. Only thanks to his instinct he was able to dodge another punch. It forced him to leap in the air, from where he saw Renji trying to slice the hollow, only for his blade to slide along Yammy's body without effect. No blood came out of the point of impact, just sparks. In response, Renji received a backhanded slap that blew him away and into a nearby house.
'…'
Unable to form a thought, Ichigo immediately gripped the hilt of his zanpakuto. He had sparred with Renji before and he knew that if the man couldn't harm his opponent, then Ichigo probably wouldn't have fared better; the seal on the Vice-Captain notwithstanding.
"Bleach their souls, Zangetsu!"
An explosion of reiryoku and the large increase in Ichigo's reiatsu instantly caught the attention of both hollows. Ulquiorra stared at him with unreadable expression, while Yammy formed a shit-eating grin.
"That's better! Maybe he's not a trash after all!"
Ichigo shot at Yammy like a bullet. Maneuvering around the hollow's another punch, he put his weight into his larger sword and brought it down on the outstretched arm in front of him.
*THUD*
To both hollows' surprise, Yammy's arm, cleanly cleaved below the shoulder, fell on the ground.
"Gyaaaah! You little shit!"
A backhanded slap from the hollow's other hand caught Ichigo by surprise and his body was blasted away, following similar fashion as Renji's. The force behind the slap was so great, Ichigo felt like it instantly broke some of his bones but that was just the beginning. Unable to control his body, Ichigo cried in pain when his back smashed through several thick house walls.
When the momentum died down and he finally came to a stop, Ichigo felt like puking his guts out. His regeneration was already kicking in, but the pain was incredible. He had never received such a powerful hit before. In a distance, he heard Renji's voice.
"Howl, Zabimaru!"
"Gh…" Groaning, Ichigo forced himself to move. Unsteady on his feet, he slowly moved back to the battlefield, while mentally trying to come up with a tactic.
'He has incredible strength but I can harm him. I only need to avoid getting hit.'
Releasing some of his hold on his reiryoku, he felt the energy spread across his body, rejuvenating him and giving him some of his strength back. He tightened the grip on his zanpakuto and flashed forward, just in time to see Renji almost buckling under the pressure of Yammy's another punch.
He saw a chance and leaped in the air but before he could do anything, Yammy swiftly kicked Renji in his guts and then turned around. Looking at the teen, he opened his mouth and a bright red orb of energy formed in its center. Ichigo realized what was going on too late.
'Cero?!'
A beam of red energy crashed into him mid-air. Only by pure luck, he managed to place both his swords in front of him in time and use them as a shield. However, he was still blown back as some of the energy leaked through his swords and slightly singed the skin on his arms.
"How do you like that, huh? Ora, ora, ora!"
While falling down, he saw several small bursts of red energy shooting from Yammy's fists as he showered the whole battlefield with them. Indiscriminately, he fired them at will and explosions soon covered not just the battlefield but the surrounding environment as well. Dust and debris flew everywhere and Ichigo had troubles seeing anything.
Still, he could feel the hollow's reiatsu signature well enough to know where the creature stood and so he raised his larger sword high in the air.
"Getsuga Tenshō!" The dark crescent-shaped blast of energy shot from the blade and sailed through the air, clearing it on its way, until the smaller hollow, Ulquiorra, appeared in front of Yammy and swatted it away like a fly.
Ichigo's eyes almost bulged out of his sockets.
'B-Barehanded?'
"Ulquiorra, you bastard! What's the matter with you?!"
"Quiet, Yammy. Because you stupidly let them cut off your arm, you would probably have some problems facing the two of them at once. The Vice-Captain also released his limiter. Not to mention, this one seems interesting."
Ichigo felt his throat drying up.
'The Getsuga I just fired at Yammy wasn't one of my strongest but it was still considerably powerful. It should have done at least some damage… but stopping it barehanded? And without any injury? What is this guy?'
As Yammy's fight with Renji continued, Ichigo felt Ulquiorra's stare.
"Come, Shinigami. Show me what you can do."
Ichigo tightened his grip on his zanpakuto. It had been a very long time since he last felt it but now, staring at the emotionless eyes of the hollow in front of him, that emotion slowly spread into his whole body like a poison once again.
Fear.
He wasn't sure how but he just knew it. His whole soul was screaming at him that Ulquiorra, the creature in front of him, was bad news. That it was an opponent he couldn't defeat. It was disheartening and terrifying. He hadn't felt such a thing even when he faced the Bounts, Kenpachi, Yoruichi or the Kasumiōji assassins. Only the Captain Commander had been able to instill such an emotion in him.
"What's wrong, Shinigami? You faced Yammy without a shred of hesitation so why hesitate now? I'm not even armed, yet."
His eyes fell upon the sword tied to Ulquiorra's side. If the hollow was so strong without it…
'Enough! So what if he's strong? You just have to get stronger!' A strained voice called out to him. In that moment, Ichigo missed it, but it sounded as if his zanpakuto spirit was trying not to speak yet was forced to.
More reiryoku spread across the teen's body and a small fragment of a hollow mask formed above his right eye, causing the hollow in front of him to blink.
"I see. Aizen-sama truly is never wrong."
Ulquiorra's words were overwhelming. They masked even the sound of the fight happening behind him and caused Ichigo to twitch. Instantly, he raised his zanpakuto and brought it down.
"Getsuga Tenshō!" A large black mass of spiritual energy shot out of his zanpakuto, scorching the ground beneath it as it traveled towards Ulquiorra.
Who wasn't there.
'Ichigo!'
A hit to his abdomen forced him to vomit everything that had been in is stomach as a sense of hopelessness overwhelmed the teen. There was nothing stopping his Getsuga anymore and it passed the other hollow and continued through the houses until it exploded in a shower of black rain.
"That is an interesting ability. It gives the feeling of Cero Oscuras, even though it's considerably less powerful."
On his knees and barely able to breath, Ichigo saw Ulquiorra retracting his hand and muttering something as the hollow stood next to him with an indifferent expression. He saw Ulquiorra's leg moving towards him but was unable to defend himself.
"Gah!"
His body rolled across the battlefield like a rag doll with limbs flailing around. Passing by the other fight, a large foot connected with his side and changed the direction his body was helplessly moving in.
"Oi, Ulquiorra, I thought you said this one wasn't trash!"
Only by sheer force of will Ichigo managed to raise his right arm and blocked a weak kick but it was followed with another, more powerful one that he couldn't block anymore.
"I was wrong."
From the corner of his eyes, Ichigo saw Renji sprawled on the remnants of a concrete wall. He was bloodied and seemed to be completely out of it. The teen couldn't even tell if he was still alive.
"So, can I kill him?"
Yet another kick sent him flying across the whole battlefield and away from it, towards the place where his Getsuga previously exploded. When he landed, he smelled something vile coming from not that far away.
A small hand touched his shoulder.
"I'm sorry for being late, Kurosaki-san."
On the brink of consciousness, he recognized the voice.
'…Urahara… Kisuke?'
"Don't worry, we got you."
A second, feminine voice said to him as the owner moved toward the battlefield. Ichigo rolled over, on his stomach and it was then, when he saw something he wished he never saw.
There, in a short distance, where his Getsuga seemingly exploded, lay several bodies covered in blood. Most of them were wearing clothes that tied them to the Academy. Just before his consciousness left him, he realized there was another body lying there.
A person that had a bright pink hair and was wearing a symbol of the 4th Division.
When he finally passed out, it was with tears flowing out of his eyes.
End of chapter 26.
I promised I'll deliver in three weeks but I ended up taking one more day. Why? Because I made a grave mistake. I got myself Witcher 3. Damn that game. Can't stop playing it. Damn it! I was also sick for a week and... well, doesn't matter. It's here.
You ask what? I'll tell you! It's the beginning of the end!
Nah, kidding. Still, the title of the chapter isn't just for fun. This is kind of a breaking point in the story. I was reluctant to publish it already because I want to have everything planned right (a mistake I made in my first story). Still, I was able to create outlines to a chapter 38 so I should be fine. Yeah, this story will be really long. Chapter 38 isn't the final chapter, btw. Not in the slightest.
To the actual chapter... Ichigo is making himself at home in the 9th Division. Finally, he has a short window of nothing happening. But, nothing lasts forever. His wake up call is fairly brutal, though not as brutal as it was in the prologue and chapter 1. Still, his calm and slightly happy days are gone. As gears of fate spin, Ichigo's story takes yet another turn.
For worse.
To reviews:
*Kragh50 - I was wondering what would you(readers) think about Amagai's punishment. I wanted to make it serious, yet light enough for him to still be a factor in the story. Ichigo's Quincy side will be a long and slow progress.
*Accursius - greek Mythology, actually. But it's tied to that loosely. Loosely enough for you to have troubles figuring it out :P
*Diner - I'll go over the chapter once I have more time. Promise. Damn, everyone figured out it's Nel? Shame on me. I have to improve my sneakiness. Actually, I made Yamamoto choose Division 9 because 1. It's the only Division left with no Captain and they need more strength, 2. Oblivion fits Ichigo's motif in this story 3. Their duty to protect is more prominent than in other divisions.
*reality_deviant - Uryu wasn't attacked. Remember when Ichigo and Uryu fought the weird hollows back in chapter 20? At the end of that chapter, Aizen comments on a good harvest. That's when he got his hands on Uryu's light arrows.
*MugetsuIchigo - your enthusiasm is catchy! I like it! Well, Doomsday will be tied to that arc as well.
*Guest - not a bad idea, though there isn't a place for it within my planned chapters. Maybe I'll make an omake about it. Don't count on that though.
Well, that's all folks. Look forward to the next chapter. No idea about its release date but I'll try to make it in another three weeks.
Next on ALPOH: Chapter 27: Eclipse of the Black Sun (Unleashed leash).