Chapter 38: Psyche, reformed (Oblivious of obvious)
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.
"Normal speech"
'Inner speech/thoughts'
'Inner spirit speech'
'Inner Hollow/Zanpakuto speech'
xxx
After his return from unconsciousness, Ichigo was greeted with bleary vision and weary muscles. His whole body ached like never before. It felt like every single fiber of his being and every nerve ending in his body was on fire. The best word to describe his current state was hell; a state of perpetual torment. A groan made its way through his clenched jaw.
"Oh! You're up!"
A pair of arms fell on him and wrapped him in a soft embrace that was more surprising than hurtful. Furiously blinking in order to get rid of the fuzzy vision, he recognized strands of green hair.
"Nel?" His hoarse voice caused the Privaron Espada to shudder and tentatively let go of him. Moving her head so that her face was hovering right above his, she allowed their foreheads to touch.
"I'm so glad you're okay."
While grateful for the kind gesture, Ichigo felt his breathing getting faster. The unexpected closeness to the pretty female was making his insides go haywire. Not to mention the lips that were only inches above his own…
A chill ran across his spine and he lightly but firmly placed his hands on Nel's shoulders and pushed her away so that he could sit up.
"Thank you. How long was I out?" He asked while looking away from her. Pain from moving too fast caused him to hiss.
"Barely twenty-four hours."
Stupefied, Ichigo slowly turned his head to look back at her.
"Seriously?"
She nodded. Then she bit her lower lip, something she never did. For an unexplainable reason, it made Ichigo frown.
"We have a… new and very proficient medic in our team. It's only thanks to her that you weren't out for longer because…" She trailed off with a pained grimace.
Ichigo's frown deepened.
"Because?"
She sighed and shook her head.
"Because you were a mess when you fell out of Garganta. You just suddenly appeared in front of Las Noches, looking barely alive. Covered with angry burns, deep gashes, a lot of blood and, what was the most important thing, with barely any spiritual energy at all. And when there's no energy, there's no regeneration."
She took a deep breath.
"Even Aizen-sama was unsure of what happened. He said that once you accomplished what you were meant to do, you simply vanished from his surveillance. Then you appeared barely alive. I was… worried."
Ichigo listened to her with an unreadable expression. He thought of many things at once but the one that caused him to stop and stare was also the oddest, considering the situation.
'She's so much human-like… why is she even considered a Hollow?'
"I… thank you, Nel. For caring." He said with an honest smile, causing the female Arrancar to open her mouth and then close in surprise. Staring at him, she slowly formed a smile of her own. Several seconds of silent exchange of stares later, Ichigo cleared his throat.
"So… where's Aizen? I think I should speak to him soon."
"He's-"
"Here." A familiar voice stated as its owner walked through opened doors with a fairly amused expression, prompting Nel to slightly lower her head in greetings and then quietly leave. Left alone with the man, Ichigo grabbed his clothes and began to put them on.
"You are surprisingly durable, Kurosaki. I honestly didn't expect you to wake up until tomorrow."
Ichigo snorted. In the middle of putting his undershirt on, he threw a brief look at him.
"Too durable for my own good you mean."
Aizen's expression turned into a smirk.
"Perhaps. What happened, Kurosaki?" The man asked and his smirk died down. Seeing that, Ichigo turned his attention back to his clothes. He gathered his thoughts to form a believable explanation and sighed.
"Well, the plan was going pretty well. I made it to the Sōkyoku Hill without any problems. Used the Shihōin tool without any problems. Destroyed the Sōkyoku blade without any problems as well. But when I entered the Garganta to leave, something happened. I don't know what it was but I suspect some kind of security measure. It threw me away and I crashed through the void and landed in the middle of Karakura Town. The only other thing I remember after that was getting attacked from every direction and then a pulse of energy. Then, darkness until I woke up here." He finished his story at the same time as he got dressed. Turning around, he looked at Aizen and met his poignant stare.
After seconds of staring, Aizen narrowed his eyes.
"I see. You didn't see who attacked you?"
Ichigo shook his head.
"I don't think so, though the only one I can think of that could push me to the limit is Urahara Kisuke and his cohorts. Aside from him, there's nobody in Karakura that I couldn't take on. At least there wasn't before."
Aizen watched him for a few more seconds before giving a short nod. Giving him one last glance, the man turned around to leave. When he reached the doors, he briefly stopped walking.
"Take your time to get well, Kurosaki and then use as much time as you can to train. It won't be long now."
After giving him the cryptic message, Aizen left.
…
Two days later, Ichigo finished a brief sparring match with Dordoni. After excusing himself, he walked for several minutes until he reached a quiet spot behind one of the large pillars, hidden in its shadow. There, he took out his zanpakuto and sat down, with his legs crossed and placed the sword on his lap. It was a meditative pose also known as Jinzen.
He closed his eyes and let himself fall into his mindscape.
…
Inside his mindscape
It had been weeks since he last visited his mindscape and Ichigo couldn't help but marvel at the changes in it. The void in his soul created because of the absence of his zanpakuto spirit had previously tormented the place to the brink of destruction. Now, his mindscape looked stronger, calmer and steadier than ever.
Also, on the top of a skyscraper in a short distance away from him, stood two familiar figures that made his heart jump in joy.
"Zangetsu!"
His zanpakuto spirit looked at him with something akin to a tired exasperation.
"Been a long time, dumbass."
Not expecting the less than enthusiastic greeting, Ichigo landed several feet away from the spirit with a frown on his face.
"Dumbass? What did I do this time? Wait, not important! Where the hell were you, Zangetsu?! You just left without saying a word!"
As soon as he mentioned that, Ichigo saw the spirit grow serious and he found himself gulping. Whatever the spirit was going to say, he was sure it wasn't about to be pleasant.
"There is a reason I had to leave, Ichigo. Or did you think turning into a Hollow wouldn't have its consequences?"
Ichigo stiffened.
"Oh."
"Oh, indeed. Do you have any idea what was going on in your mindscape while you were turning? It was falling apart, Ichigo. Each and every single skyscraper we have built together was collapsing. Rain filled the gaps between them and threatened to submerge everything. So, on the brink of destruction, I made a decision."
Ichigo found himself nodding. The calm way his zanpakuto was presenting his words made him feel even worse. It also upped the level of seriousness.
"You were turning into a Hollow and my presence, partly Hollow, was undesirable. I realized that if I could regress into a state of nothingness, to force myself not to exist, I would prevent your mindscape from completely falling apart. The small part of you that exists within me, would be kept safe, unable to turn into a complete Hollow."
Seeing the pained grimace of his zanpakuto spirit's face, Ichigo understood it must have been a painful decision. He felt ashamed and opened his mouth to apologize only for the zanpakuto spirit to shake his head and point his stare at the third figure in the mindscape, the spirit of the older man in black billowing overcoat.
"In the last moment, I turned to Yhwach for help. Using his Quincy ability, he tore me apart into spirit particles and absorbed my whole being into himself."
Ichigo's eyes bugged out at that and he took a step backward in pure disbelief.
"You can do that?"
The spirit nodded.
"I can. It was not pleasant. For me but also for him."
Ichigo gulped and looked at both spirits.
"I'm very, very sorry."
His zanpakuto spirit did not react and continued speaking.
"By doing that, he took the mantle and the role of being your dominant source of power just as he had done many months ago. It prevented your mindscape from collapsing but, because he created the charade of simulating my powers with the use of my energy, it made you weaker, though it allowed you to continue using my sword as if nothing happened."
At that, Ichigo adopted a confused expression and glanced between the spirits with a frown.
"What? What are you talking about? I wasn't weaker or at least I didn't feel like I was. In fact, until now, I was slowly getting stronger."
It was his first time seeing his zanpakuto spirit truly confused. Zangetsu glanced at Yhwach, who confirmed Ichigo's words with a nod.
"Huh… interesting. Hang on a minute."
With that said, Zangetsu closed his eyes and remained standing still for more than two minutes. Then his eyes snapped open and he slapped his face with a free hand.
"For fuck's sake."
Startled by the reaction, Ichigo looked at Yhwach but the man seemed just as surprised.
"I changed my mind, you are not a dumbass, Ichigo. No, you are not just a dumbass, you are a complete moron!" Zangetsu shouted the last part loudly enough for Ichigo to jump a bit.
"Wha… what?"
He watched as his zanpakuto spirit took several deep breaths and then the spirit looked at the other spirit.
"You are an idiot as well, Yhwach."
Now that was something truly surprising. As far as he remembered, Ichigo never witnessed his zanpakuto spirit insulting his other spirit. They clearly didn't like each other but always acted respectfully.
"Yes. I am aware of that now. Though I don't regret allowing him to do it."
"Tch… of course you don't."
Ichigo gathered his courage.
"Uhm, guys? Out of loop here?"
Zangetsu turned his attention back to him and when he saw his face, he sighed in what seemed like resignation.
"No point in fuming now, I guess. Ichigo, by all accounts, you should have been weaker. As a Shinigami, it just isn't possible for you to get stronger with Yhwach, a Quincy spirit, simulating powers of me, a Shinigami-Hollow spirit. However, you being you, you did it. And, once again, you did it by almost fucking things up."
When Ichigo opened his mouth to argue, Zangetsu held out a raised hand.
"Let me finish. I don't hold you responsible, because you weren't aware of what was going on. You trained with those idiots, Vaizādo, to increase the size of your Hollow mask. In reality, what you did, was forcibly sucking out my power out of Yhwach's grasp. It may not sound that serious but it was. You were practically tearing him apart."
Immediately, Ichigo's head snapped towards Yhwach and he stared at the spirit with a face that was completely drained of color.
"Then you left for Hueco Mundo and you spent your time here training even further and though you were no longer forcing it like you did with Vaizādo, it was still bad. Since the air here is rich with Hollow reiryoku and saturated with its reiatsu, it was involuntarily being absorbed by your body as well as by my blade. I'm sure you recall those moments when you slew Hollows and some of their energy transferred into my blade."
Still staring at Yhwach, Ichigo numbly remembered his rampage in Menos Forest and the moments that were similar to those Zangetsu just described.
"You do recall. Good. By continuously absorbing Hollow energy, you were getting stronger and bit by bit, without you knowing, you began to tear me out of Yhwach. It all came down at the moment when you tried to use way too much Hollow reiryoku at once and I found myself being reformed out of Yhwach. I thought you were transforming into a Hollow yet again but… you didn't. The amount of Hollow reiryoku you were trying to control was too much for you to handle, yet you rejected the transformation with every fiber of your being. That forced me to take control of your body. Don't get me wrong, Ichigo. Considering your situation, you did well. Still, me taking control of your body as a zanpakuto spirit without our Hollow part interfering with our mind… it's not normal Ichigo. That is why your body had to release that large explosion of energy and that is also why you were in so much pain after you woke up. Nevertheless, what you did at that moment was also something I wanted you to learn for a very long time. It is something that will soon allow you to unlock the full potential of my initial release. It's also the only method you could have brought me back from Yhwach, though I would have preferred if you didn't do it so forcefully."
Starting to feel mental weariness, Ichigo waited for him to finish. With a small grin, Zangetsu delivered the final part.
"It is to learn how to dominate every bit of Hollow energy in your body while staying completely in control. To learn how to unite your reason, your instinct and your heart into one coherent system."
"…is that possible?"
Zangetsu nodded. Once he did so, Ichigo slowly walked to his Quincy spirit and lowered his head in shame. Quietly mumbling, he formed a short but intense apology to the man. Being told that what he had done, he had done without even knowing was a comfortable way of trying to rid him of any guilt but Ichigo felt he did not deserve such a luxury. He almost destroyed a part of his own soul.
It was a sin he had to atone for. Eventually.
Yhwach being Yhwach, the man easily accepted the words of penance without a word and without malice. When Ichigo protested, saying he needed to be punished, the spirit simply smiled.
"All of my choices are mine to make, Ichigo. If I can help you by making them, I will make them happily and without hesitation."
Disgruntled, Ichigo was forced to admit defeat. The last thing he thought about before leaving his mindscape, was that his Quincy spirit wasn't just a representation of his reason.
He was a representation of a saint.
…
Ichigo woke up from his mindscape with a start. There was a sudden influx of spiritual energy expanding within him, from the center of his chest to the tips of his fingers.
'Don't worry. Now that I retook the dominion in your soul, the power that was held back is now free for you to use and control. You no longer need to siphon it from Yhwach. How does it feel?'
Flexing his limbs and stretching his back, Ichigo allowed himself a deep breath.
'Amazing. Reinvigorating. Refreshing?'
'Well, you have been training a lot lately, so it's only natural that what you have gained without me is now even greater.'
Feeling giddy like a little kid, Ichigo had to grin.
'Cool.'
His zanpakuto spirit chuckled.
'From what I saw in your memories, you learned how to incorporate basic Hollow Hierro into your body. Try to strengthen it. It would be pretty pathetic to leave it this weak.'
Ichigo's grin turned into a barely concealed pout.
'Hey! I have you know I tried my damn hardest!'
'Yeah, yeah. Don't whine now. You may be in better control of your Hollow side but I'll still call you a weak little bitch if you decide to slack off. I am still partly a Hollow, you know.'
The pout on Ichigo's face vanished and was replaced with a scowl. Still, he was way too happy to have his zanpakuto spirit back to just enter a pointless argument. A moment later, he gathered his focus and did as told. With a mental nudge, he found the river of Hollow reiryoku that was passively fueling his Hierro and widened it.
A buzzing whisper sung in his ears as the energy spread. While the passive defense was invisible to the naked eye, Ichigo immediately felt the difference. The amount of reiryoku covering his skin shifted his mental outlook and he suddenly felt like nothing short of an Espada-powered strike could hurt him.
'Yeah, well, let's not get overconfident. Hierro is a superb ability to have but it'll take time to get used to it. It is still better to just block and evade.'
Before Ichigo could reply to that, his zanpakuto spirit continued.
'This was the easy part, though. It is time for us to move towards other abilities I'd like you to learn. Now that you have a pretty good grasp on your Hollow reiryoku, they will be Hollow-like. You ready for the first one?'
There was something in his zanpakuto spirit's voice Ichigo hadn't heard in quite some time. Enthusiasm. A sort of happiness with a slight edge for high expectations towards him. It seeped into him like a venom but instead of poisoning him, it infected him with a large dose of eagerness.
'Hell yeah!'
He could feel his zanpakuto spirit doing the same thing he was doing. Grinning madly.
'Alright, first ability is called Pesquisa. You have already dabbled in this one on an instinctual level. Whenever you wanted to detect a presence of a living being, you expanded your spiritual energy in a pulse. Pesquisa is a more refined and informative version of this. There are two variants you can learn. First one is passive, just like Hierro. It continuously sends out weak pulses of energy so that you are aware of your surroundings at all times. The amount of energy you need to spend on it is negligible so you don't have to worry about that. Try it.'
'Huh… interesting. But wait, just like that? You won't give me any advice?'
A loud chuckle resonated within his mind.
'Too much of a challenge, Ichigo?'
Curling his lips into a derisive smirk, Ichigo cracked the knuckles in his hands.
'Hell no!'
With that, he once again plunged into the very center of his being and found the rivers of energy and the large orb representing his core he had created some time ago. There, he moved towards the stream of energy that was being used to power his Hierro and gave it a short gaze. With a thoughtful expression, he reached out with his arm and lowered his index finger into the large river of Hollow reiryoku. Making a swiping motion, he flicked the finger from the river and towards the orb and connected the two in a stream of energy.
Almost immediately, he felt a surge of power accumulating in his body. Concentrating on it, he got ahold of its texture, its amount and the way it flowed within him. In one blast, he expelled all of it outwards.
An image, similar to those constructed with a use of three-dimensional scanning followed with computer processing, appeared in his mind. It covered the area around his body in a radius of several dozen feet. The amount of information he got out of it felt overwhelming.
'Not bad, but definitely too much energy. If you continuously tried to process this much data, your brain would fry. Well, not literally. You'd still have a perpetual headache, though. Again.'
Ichigo scoffed. Zangetsu was a demanding teacher. Though he knew that since the beginning. Shaking his head to relieve himself of a throbbing in his brain, he focused once more.
He looked at the newly-created stream of energy with a sour grimace. Using both hands he pushed its edges together to make the stream thinner. He continued doing it until it was barely wider than a strand of hair. The amount of abundant energy decreased to the point he barely felt it. After several seconds of trying to get ahold of it, he expelled it in one pulse.
The image was now a lot smaller, reaching only a few feet away from him.
'Not enough. Realistically, it should be sufficient to see whether a blade or any other attack is already near you, but with your current reflexes this is way too late. Again.'
And so Ichigo tried again. And again. And again until, by his seventh attempt, Zangetsu finally became satisfied. The image in his mind was now large enough for him to see and feel an incoming attack from around twenty feet away. That was enough of a warning for him to be able to react in time.
'Good. Now, push the thought of you continuously releasing the pulse into the stream of energy so that it will do it for you, without you having to do it consciously.'
A minute later, it was done. However, the amount of information constantly flowing into his brain quickly became disorienting.
'Can I leave it turned off while not fighting? It's really… ugh, my brain hurts.'
'Yes. It would be best if you got used to having it turned on though. I imagine the best time to train it would be while you are sleep, to let your brain deal with it without you even knowing.'
Ichigo nodded.
'Good. The second variant is basically what you have been doing before. Send a pulse of strong, concentrated energy to a large area. Depending on how proficient you are with it, you can determine not just a number of opponents but also the level of their power, the nature of their power as well as their emotions. For now, just focus on getting on the most basic one. You practically did it just a few minutes ago when you used way too much energy. There is a slight difference though. Since the amount of information you get from the large-area pulse is huge, you need to learn how to ignore unnecessary and useless data and focus only on living beings. Also, if it wasn't clear, this variant is definitely not a passive ability. Understood?'
'Yeah.'
Almost twenty minutes later, Ichigo felt like his brain was way too big for his skull to handle. An intense pressure squeezing his gray matter made it impossible to continue training the Pesquisa and Zangetsu told him to stop.
'Don't worry. You did well for your first time. Technically speaking, you know what to do. Now, it's just a question of practice in order to get you used for the mental strain. It's time to move on to another ability.'
Subconsciously, Ichigo let out a quiet groan.
'There's more?'
Zangetsu sent him an image of a grin that promised pain and suffering, causing Ichigo to shudder.
'Of course! We haven't been able to train for weeks, Ichigo! Weeks! This is just us catching up!'
Ichigo groaned again and muttered something about sadistic spirits brought back from the dead to torment him. Zangetsu ignored him and told him to stand up.
'You should be acquainted with this one as well. It is a very basic blast of concentrated spiritual energy, not unlike my Getsuga Tenshō. You know it under the name Cero.'
Ichigo recalled the pair of powerful blasts that almost ended his life a few days ago and suppressed the urge to shiver.
'You shouldn't have problems using it. The only variables are the Cero's power, force, speed and blast area. These are all dependent on your strength and spiritual power. Though I should specify that the source of Cero can only be pure Hollow reiryoku. You mix anything else with it and it can explode in your face. Therefore, the power of your Cero depends on the amount of Hollow reiryoku you can safely control. Try it.'
Before Zangetsu finished speaking, Ichigo was already assuming a stance he had seen many Hollows do before. He shifted his feet so that one was bit forward while the other one was kept a bit back, with his weight being evenly distributed between them. He focused on his spiritual energy and automatically began to pull the Hollow part into him and…
…he realized he didn't know what to do next.
'Uhm, is it better to shoot it from the tips of my fingers, the palm of my hand or… what?'
A loud snort resonated in his mind.
'Follow your instinct.'
Rolling his eyes, Ichigo briefly closed his eyes and let his instinct take over. He felt his right arm ascending until it was parallel to the ground. Outstretched forward but bent a little in the elbow, his arm hovered in the air and Ichigo let the fingers of his hand slowly move towards each other until they formed a shape similar to the tip of a spear. Immediately after that, he pushed all of the gathered Hollow reiryoku into the tips of his fingers. A small but bright orb of crimson energy swirled into existence.
His eyes snapped open and he let go of the energy. The blast that shot forward was thin and felt quite weak. However, it was still powerful enough to drill several consequent holes in the pillars that stood in its way.
Ichigo slowly lowered his arm but kept his eyes glued to the results of his first Cero.
'That was…'
'Pathetic?'
Forming a sour scowl, Ichigo's shoulders drooped.
'I was going for underwhelming but yeah, sure, let's go with pathetic.'
'Keep your head up. At least it worked. Now, I'm sure you're wondering just why it felt so weak despite you trying your hardest?'
With a frown, Ichigo shook his head.
'Not really. I'm in my lowest, base form, therefore I don't have access to most of my Hollow reiryoku. There's only so much I can control while in it.'
Short-lived silence fell upon his mind. Then, Zangetsu spoke in a tone that betrayed his surprise.
'Hm, exactly. Release me, form your mask and try again.'
Not wasting a second, Ichigo quickly muttered Zangetsu's release phrase and let his Hollow reiryoku to wrap around his face. When the mask fragment covered both his eyes, he felt panic creeping into his veins.
'Easy. Now that we are once again together, your mask is almost complete. There's nothing to be afraid of. You already controlled this much before. It's nothing new.'Surprisingly soothing voice of his zanpakuto spirit eased his worries and he let the mask form. For a while, he alternated between deep inhaling and just as deep exhaling.
When he was certain he was fully in control of both his body and mind, he raised his arm and formed with his fingers the same shape he had done just minutes ago. With a mental nudge, he opened the gates of his Hollow reiryoku and let it flood him. Keeping his eyes opened, he watched a large orb of crimson energy forming with a crackling sound of barely suppressed power.
It shot forward in a heartbeat.
Unlike his first attempt, this Cero was accompanied by a loud buzzing and a feeling that caused the hair on the back of his neck to stand up. Almost as thick as his own waist, the blast spread in a wide arc that tore through the nearest pillar without seemingly losing none of its power. It continued swallowing a whole row of pillars until there was nothing else but air. After it reached a certain distance, the energy dissipated into nothing but pure spiritual particles.
Ichigo stared at the aftermath with a gaping mouth. He expected the Cero to be more powerful but not that much. A sudden drop in his reserves forced him to blink.
"Holy shit." He muttered and let his Hollow mask disappear. A sound of quick steps behind him caused him to turn around.
"What was that?!" Nel half asked half exclaimed as she came to a stop next to him with Harribel and Starrk following closely after her.
Sheepish, Ichigo scratched the top of his head and gave her an embarrassed grin.
"Cero."
Nel's eyes bugged out and she stared at him in bewilderment.
"You can do Cero?"
"Well, I am partly a Hollow. If I could learn Hierro, there's no reason I couldn't learn Cero as well, right?" He retorted with a shrug. From the corner of his eye, he caught Harribel's unreadable gaze.
"Powerful." She simply stated. Standing next to her, Starrk nodded.
"Definitely. Was that a Gran Rey Cero or just normal?"
Ichigo tilted his head in question.
"Gran what?"
"Ah, so just a regular Cero. You got a lot stronger awfully fast. What's your secret?"
Glancing back at the aftermath of his Cero, Ichigo shrugged again.
"I don't know. Training with the best helps." He stated cheekily, earning himself a set of three shaking heads. They continued doing so even after they turned around and walked away. Watching them go, Ichigo felt a bit of relief washing over him.
'That was amazing.'
'I agree, though I don't recommend repeating it. I'm sure you don't want everyone know about your new abilities. However, I expect you to master it to the point where you could incorporate it into my blade.'
Ichigo shook his head.
'You're crazy. So, anything else? I feel like I'm on a roll.'
He sensed his zanpakuto spirit falling deep in thoughts. Then he felt as if the spirit was looking at him with a keen gaze. Slowly, the spirit began to speak.
'There is one last ability I want you to master. It is one of my own. You already tried to use it in the past but it never worked because you lacked two things. One of those is the knowledge of the name. And like I told you in the past, names are very important with these things. Second is the knowledge of the energy composition. I'll explain in to you now, if only because you managed to come up with it on your own. It is called Getsuga Jūjishō. As its name, Moon Fang Cross-Shaped Piercer, tells you, it is an ability in a shape of a cross. You accomplish that by using two separate Getsuga Tenshō which you combine into one large. But each Getsuga has to be made with a separate blade and using a different part of your powers, therefore, it is a mix of different types of energy. Since mixing energies can be very volatile, it will probably take you some time to master, but I am convinced you can do it.'
A few memories of when he tried to combine two Getsuga Tenshō together popped in his mind, with his first attempt being instinctual during one of the fights in the Valley of Screams. A groan escaped his lips.
'I think I know what you mean. Though I expected it to be a lot simpler.'
A loud, obnoxious laughter filled his mind.
'With you, Ichigo, nothing is ever simple.'
There was only one type of reaction appropriate for something like that and Ichigo did just that. He scowled.
…
After few quiet days of intense training, now courtesy of not just Nel, Dordoni, Harribel, and Starrk but also Zangetsu, Ichigo found it surprising he was not exhausted. True, every night he fell face first in bed completely drained of stamina, yet each following morning he was brimming with renewed vigor that did not allow him to slow his pace down. On the contrary, ever since his zanpakuto spirit returned, his pace seemed to be even increasing to the point where even the friendly Arrancars watched him with suspicion. It was one of the recurring moments, where Ichigo felt not quite normal compared to the rest.
Truthfully, after everything he had gone through, Ichigo was now able to find it funny. He was, after all, a being considered to be abnormal even by rare creatures that were Hollow-Shinigami hybrids of the strongest caliber, the Espada. He found it especially funny because, in his eyes, they were the ones who were quite abnormal. Maybe not in power but in their humanity.
Still, the peaceful days couldn't last forever. Ichigo discovered the fact in one of his usual treks through Las Noches. Once again, he came across slightly opened doors leading to a small chamber with a large screen, where he found Aizen talking to the same woman he had heard him talk to almost two weeks ago.
"…promised, Momo, but you know I wouldn't lie to you."
This time, however, was different. No longer the voice was just that, a voice. Now, he caught a name.
Momo.
His eyes narrowed as he tried to listen to quiet ramblings of the Momo person. Who was Momo? It couldn't have been a normal name. It sounded way too informal, which meant a nickname. So, a young woman called Momo. Moreover, Aizen seemed to speak to her in a certain familiar way Ichigo didn't recognize.
Was it a friend?
A colleague?
A… lover?
The last one felt so unrealistic, Ichigo almost immediately threw the thought away. But something stopped him. He had never thought of Aizen as a regular man with any interest in the opposite gender. Even if by some miracle, Aizen did like a woman, who could have she been? There weren't many women in Soul Society Aizen had been close to, or was there?
A chill ran through the whole right side of his body and caused him goosebumps. Breath hitched in his throat and a memory that seemed completely random popped into his mind.
Momo seems to be doing fine but I don't believe it. She must be hurt pretty bad; she idolized Aizen too much for too long…
He froze in shock. It was just hours after Aizen's defection that he had spoken with both Vice-Captain and, at that point, Captain of the 10th Division, Rangiku, and Toshiro Hitsugaya. The one speaking in the memory was the latter after being asked about the condition of the Vice-Captain of Aizen's former Division, Hinamori Momo.
A young woman called Momo, who clearly held Aizen in high regard and who spent most of her time with the said man.
Ichigo's eyes bugged out.
'Holy shit. Is she his informant? But… but that's so obvious? Too obvious!'
He quickly placed his ears at the tiny space between the doors and the wall while continuing in his thoughts.
'Or maybe he counted on it being too obvious? That nobody would think he could be this stupid?'
Whatever thought followed after was interrupted when he heard the next words.
"Well, whatever you do, Momo, be careful. Tomorrow, we are going for the first part of the final stage of our plan."
Ichigo slowly turned away and leaned into a nearby wall.
'Shit.'
End of Chapter 38.
Bit by bit, Ichigo is slowly getting conscious of women! Finally! No more asexual Ichigo! Yay!
In all seriousness though, it is only a natural progress for him. From being disgusted and feeling panic, it took Ichigo many chapters to get this comfortable, even though I'm kind of worried that realistically, in real world, a person who went through the same thing as he did would take even longer time (roughly 5 to 6 months have passed in the story).
I have to admit, I have rewritten the conversation between Ichigo and Zangetsu at least 4 times and I'm still not sure I got my thoughts through in a good, coherent way. If there is any confusion about the explanation, ask me. As long as it won't contain spoilers, I'll answer.
They are mostly just generic abilities but still, Ichigo is learning something new! No more spamming of just Getsuga Tensho! Noe there is also Cero and... another Getsuga... uh, I swear I'm not without ideas, I just don't want Ichigo to suddenly learn 12 different abilities at once. There will be three more types of Getsuga in the future!
And, dum-dum-dum, the curtain is slowly falling. Expect unexpected. Next chapter is going to be action-packed! It is time for invasion!
Or is it?
To reviews:
EVA-Saiyajin - yes, that's exactly my intention. Aizen is sort of a villain but being mostly right makes him not a complete bad guy. Urahara on the other hand is sort of a good guy but being shady and static in his opinion makes him not a complete hero. And I always wanted to know more about Yoruichi. This is my way of explaining her. I'm happy you liked it.
MugetsuIchigo - hype is over 9000! Or is it? Hmmmm indeed.
Dinner - thank you. I hope I won't squash all this excitement.
Takei Daloui - yeah, Visored got quite the surprise. I tried my best to explain Zangetsu's absence in this chapter, though like i mentioned, I'm not sure I got my thought through properly. Those two hollows are kind of a setup. A bit for this arc but also for the future. Also, happy birthday!
Zionchar11 - yeah. It was difficult to make sure he was outclassed but, at the same time, that it wasn't absolute.
Scarease - it may have been smarter to keep the Sokyoku for later but Aizen didn't want to leave it intact in case his plans went wrong.
kaxipoptos - once this arc ends, your questions should be answered. Yes, I always wanted to know what would happen if Ichigo didn't take Urahara's shady bullshit in stride like in manga. Ichigo and Zangetsu talked in this chapter, it was impossible during the fight. Ichigo will meet Vizards in the future so that will happen later on.
The Last Kenpachi - not a bad idea. Though a bit too crack for this fic.
Coyn1206 - nope, not his sisters. Aizen is the kind of guy that likes to pretend he's the master of the situation even if he's not, which means that he would never tell his story in a way that would even hint on him not being in control. The thing about Rukia's mission was mentioned in first two Bleach databooks and are considered to be canon (specifically, it's called Bleach 0 - side B)
D - well, I like Aizen and I'm not afraid to admit it, so whatever happens in the story, Aizen's influence will be there until the end.
The rest of you, thank you as well. I am especially glad you liked the bit about Yoruichi and her zanpakuto. Next chapter, just like I said, will be heavily action packed and some things should get cleared. Look forward to it!
Next chapter: Chapter 39 - Enemy at the Gates (Shattered Illusion) - will be posted on 10/11th May!