Seireitei Struggles Part 2

There were four simultaneous "ICHIGOOOOOOOOO!" screams to be held, for four similar but somewhat different reasons.

Orihime's cry was of pure joy; one that came from months of longing to see her friend and crush.

Grimmjow's cry was of pure hate; one that came from months of longing to see his rival and crush him.

Kenpachi's cry was of pure fighting spirit; one that came from months of wanting to beat the shit out of a fellow badass and enjoy every moment.

Lastly, Yachiru's cry was of pure excitement; once that came from months of boredom while knowing that all the fun stuff happened when the carrot top was around them.

Thankfully for Ichigo the two men and the pink haired demon child were pre-emptively restrained by their companions before they could start another battle, leaving Orihime to cuddle the hell out of the unsuspecting hybrid.

"Kurosaki-kun..." Orihime's voice trembled as she nestled her head into his chest, taking in his warm smell and warmth.

Said Kurosaki-kun had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on. No more than 2 minutes ago he was in his room resting after his training with the visored, planning out how the hell he was going to get his friend out of her prison. Yet here she was, cuddling into him right then and there apparently no worse for wear.

Alongside four deadly hollows. "Orihime I..." His brain had to choose between the insanely strong hollow spiritual pressure he was feeling from across the room and the warmth of his friend.

He chose peace. "It's...good to see you. Are you hurt?"

"No." She told him, still cuddling the hell out of his chest. "No I've never been better."

All while Ulquiorra sat like a perfect, unmoving statue with his eyes on her. Keeping a straight face wasn't a talent of his, it was as simple as breathing. Those stressful meetings with Aizen, his training against the others, the insane adventures he had of late. He realised that every one of them had been the trial run for this exact moment, because while his body remained still his heart and soul were completely ablaze with the emotions he hadn't even known existed before her.

And boy did the other espada know it.

"Its o-..." Szayel began, trying to reach a hand out to pat his friend's shoulder before being stopped by the wall of dense spiritual pressure surrounding his body.

"Yeah its..." Nnoitra tried, but was stopped by his lack of knowing what the fuck to say. On the one hand, this was the golden opportunity to deal some effective emotional damage to his comrade. However, as tempted as he was to make a cuck joke, he realised that even with his impenetrable skin there was 0% chance of him surviving it. That and the fact he couldn't help pity the guy.

Even Grimmjow has stopped his bloodlust after noticing the sheer, unfiltered rage and pain his friend was feeling internally. Using 1000% of his brainpower, he managed to muster "She's happy right?"

"Indeed." Ulquiorra managed to muster, before managing to slowly dissipate the feelings along with his own spiritual pressure. "Indeed, she is."

Now of course practically every soul reaper in the room had felt this spike and at least half of them had worked out why, but between Rangiku 's and Unohana's glares they all managed to stay silent.

After what seemed like an eternity, Orihime managed to pull herself away from her favourite strawberry, her self consciousness finally catching up with her body. "S-S-Sorry I just..."

"Don't be." Ichigo smiled, finally beginning to process the moment. "I...I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

"Me either." She blushed back, glancing at the floor. "But I knew you'd come for me."

"Of course!" He exclaimed, smile widening, "Hell I'm almost done with my training, and all the battle preparations are..." He shot a sideways glance to Yamamoto, then to the Espada.

"So, you're Ichigo?" Nnoitra broke the ice, stunning all of his friends and himself. "Grimmjow's never shut up about you."

Szayel blinked. "Did...you just do something funny...?"

"Fuck you I am fu..."

"DAMN RIGHT I HAVEN'T, WE GOT A SCORE TO SETTLE!" The sexta espada roared, reigniting his fury and leaping to his feet. "Got this arm back from your girl there; how about we settle the score?"

"His girl?"

The question was quiet, and Ulquiorra did not even look backwards, but Grimmjow was reminded of the time he had accidentally said that he didn't like tea in the vicinity of Aizen. It was one of the single most horrifying experiences of his life, yet right now he would happily be fighting his old master rather than his companion.

"She's not..."

"We're not..." The pair of them blushed like school kids, before Ichigo collected himself a moment later. "Hey I'll take you any day asshole!"

"Sounds like a party!" Kenpachi grinned, again unsheathing his zanpacto and walking towards them. "Let's fuck each other up!"

"Finally, some actual fun!" Nnoitra said agreeingly, standing up and cracking his knuckles.

"No." Yamamoto said simply, and flexed his spiritual pressure enough to make the four of them strain. "We will not devolve into senseless violence."

"Agreed." Ulquiorra concurred, finally managing to move and look at the hybrid boy. "Apologies, but you will have to settle your differences another time."

"The hell we..." Grimmjow started, before catching a glance of Unohana tilting her head in his direction ever so slightly. The sight aged him like milk in the desert, and suddenly all of his will to move, fight or even breathe disappeared. "...a-another...time..."

"Can I please work with her as well?" Szayel asked, to which the Captain Commander sighed and shook his head. "Any price. Literally any price I'll pay for her mastery."

Ichigo however, turned his distaste to the hollow at the front. "And what makes you think you're off the hook? All the damage you caused with your friend the first time you visited..."

"I was under orders." Ulquiorra explained with an icy tone. "Now I am not. Though have no doubt the feeling is mutual after all of the damage you have paid ourselves."

"Ulqui..." Orihime started.

"Chad hasn't been sleeping since the start, Uryu's been training with his sketchy dad and Rukia hasn't stopped looking over her shoulder!" Ichigo shouted, "You ruined our lives! The battles, the preparations, the...everything!"

"Ichigo..." Orihime looked back at her friend, torn as to what to do.

"Once again, the feeling is mutual." Ulquiorra's tone was colder than Tōshirō's bankai at this point. "Yet unlike you we were under the control of a demon. Two in fact."

"Yeah, and so was Orihime." Ichigo's eyes glazed with a mixture of pain and anger. "She didn't deserve this."

"Which is why we freed her. She is apart from all of this."

"Well, what took you so long?"

"And what took you so long?"

"Guys!" Orihime shouted finally, putting her hands out to stop them like Chris Pratt stopping velociraptors. "Please...stop."

Rangiku and Yumichika groaned simultaneously. "And it was just getting good!"

Ichigo's shoulders tensed, then sagged as he looked at Orihime. "They kidnapped you!"

"And they protected me!" Orihime told him, determined to stick up for her new friends even in front of her old ones. "I wouldn't be here without them."

"Yet you would not have been among us in the first place if not for the kidnapping." Ulquiorra sighed, blinking painfully. "I apologise."

"Ulqui its ok..." The ginger girl said, shooting him an encouraging smile. "We're past this."

"Then I am to." Ichigo declared, shocking all of the hollows with his sudden change of heart. Walking tentatively over to the fourth espada, he looked into his eyes and stuck his hand out. "I can't forgive you guys that easy after all the crap that's happened, but if Orihime trusts you guys...then I guess I got to as well."

Ulquiorra glared at the hand outstretched towards him with the intensity of a million gran ray cero's, before sighing himself and returning the gesture. "Let us begin again, or at least make amends."

The pair shook hands for what seemed like eternity, neither one of them really wanting to let go of their animosity towards the other, before Ichigo finally broke it off. "...This is going to be hard."

"Agreed." The Espada gave a millimetre's wry smile, then returned his hand to his side. "Orihime has told us a lot about you."

"More than a lot." Nnoitra snorted, standing up and walking over to his previous prisoner's friend. "Nnoitra, strongest fucker there is."

Kenpachi snorted in the background, but kept his temper cool for once. He was already in Unohana's bad books and he sure as shit wasn't making things worse for himself.

"Um...hi." Ichigo clumsily replied, nodding at the towering hollow before him. "Thanks for looking after her."

"Pffft, no sweat nerd. I took reeeeaaaaaaal good care of her, if you know what I'm saying."

"Please don't finish that." Szayel started a half second too late.

"With my penis." He proudly smirked before once again feeling the burning eyes of the fourth espada decimating his soul. "...B-By which I mean...erm..."

Luckily the scientist of their group had calculated an outing. "He's a bit slow. Side effect of having his hole through his head." Walking over to join the others, he straightened his glasses and curtly tipped his head with a smirk. "Szayelaporro granz; the brains of this operation."

Mayuri snorted. "I suppose that is why their plan was so ridiculously foolish."

"Not as foolish as that headdress." Szayel retorted, a vein popping out of his head. "Just who are you trying to be, a mummy?"

Kenpachi and a few of the other officers chuckled a bit at that, and Mayuri's subsequent irritation made them laugh all the harder.

"Thanks as well." The ginger soul reaper said, getting a taste for how weirdly similar their dynamic was to the other shinigami. Facing the four of them, he gave a short bow. "Thanks for getting her back to us."

The octa espada hummed with curiosity. "Bit scrawnier than I usually like but he's got potential..."

"Szayel!" Orihime yelled, elbowing his ribs while Ichigo straightened up his posture none the wiser.

Yamamoto cleared his throat. "Not that I am not enjoying this teenage meet and greet, I am a millennium too old for this shit. You can finish your introductions at a later date; unless there is anything else to raise, I believe there is a final decision to be made about..."

"ORIHIME!"

As the head captain sighed once more, the group span round to see the rest of her friends appearing out of another senkaimon. Before she knew what was happening, Rukia was on top of her, knocking her to the ground and hugging her. "ORIHIME!"

"Rukia!" Orihime replied excitedly while the others rushed over.

"We came as soon as we heard the news." Uryu told her with a reserved but still joyful smirk, while Renji and Chad beamed at the back.

Yamamoto shot Mayuri a concerned look, to which the soul society's science officer merely shrugged and stated "Urahara can fund a surprising amount from his sweet shop."

"So much for scientific integrity." Szayel murmured, choosing to ignore the many many times he had taken bribes and offerings for questionable-at-best experiments at the behest of diabolical-at-best clients.

As Orihime managed to pull herself to her feet and greet the others, Nnoitra eyed up the new female of the group. "Flat chest but not a bad face. Could be useful for a face fu-…"

Without even making a suggestion of sound, Byakuya appeared behind him clutching the hilt of his sword. "Would you like a demonstration of a thousand razor cuts to the testicles?"

Needless to say Nnoitra did not, and instead chose peace that day and every other day he crossed the coolest shinigami.

"Hard to believe you're here too." Renji said, eying the espada with the same uncertainty of Ichigo moments earlier.

"Harder to believe we're not killing them." Uryu spat, glaring daggers at Grimmjow and Ulquiorra in particular.

"Have we met?" Ulquiorra asked dryly, before firing off another cold glare.

The sexta espada on the other hand merely stood in awe of the final new arrival. "So...your name...is Chad?"

The tall young man stared back at him, chisalled jaw and buldging muscles shining. "Yes."

Instantly Nnoitra snapped out of his lust. "Did he just..."

"He fucking did." Grimmjow's mouth gaped open. "He's...he's real."

"The Chad..." Nnoitra's eyes glazed over, a million lifetimes worth of memes flooding his synapses. "I...we have so many questions...!"

"Do you work out every day?"

"Is protein the only whey?!"

"How do you get your hair so...?"

Uncomfortable and frankly weirded out by the huge interest into his life that the two of these hollows were taking, Chad decided to walk over to his returned friend. Which of course only fed into it more.

"HE LEAVES WITHOUT EXPLAINING ANYTHING!"

"THE CHAD IS REAL!"

"Enough!" Yamamoto raised his voice, feeling a headache coming on from all the back and forth. "As previously stated, introductions can wait. Now we decide the placement of you two."

The group blanked, forgetting for a moment why they were there, before Ulquiorra sighed and repeated himself. "I will not be leaving her side."

"Wait he's coming with us?!" Rukia yelled in confusion, her sight switching between her commander, the espada and her friend before glancing her unbelievably cool brother staring at her in the background. "Ahem...I meant to say, is that a wise decision?"

"I do not believe it is a decision so much as a forgone conclusion." Ulquiorra reiterated, moving himself beside his charge.

"And Orihime is fine with this?" Uryu asked bitterly, exasperated with how calm everyone was with hollows mere feet away. The same hollows that had kidnapped the person in question months ago in the first place.

Renji nodded in support, feeling not quite as strongly as Uryu but still very unsettled at having enemy troops so close. "They took her once; whats to say..."

"You can stop your ass right there before it gets hurt." Grimmjow growled, spiking the tensions once more. "Hell I'll say it; I'm going with her too! Even if I have to put up with you assholes."

"Uh..." Chad began but Grimmjow's expression instantly softened.

"Not you oh great Chadness, the other losers I mean."

Orihime's friends bristled once more, but before another stare down could begin Ichigo took the initiative to prevent it. "Hey, we're all her friends right? How about we let her decide."

"Actually, you will find that the decision is mine..." Yamamoto began, but was silenced by Unohana's stare boring into the back of his head. "...Apparently not. Christ, I wish they hadn't upped the retirement age again."

Ulquiorra blinked and held a hand up to ease his subordinates. "That...is very true." Turning to look down into the eyes of his human friend, he exhaled slowly and prepared himself for the worst. "You are free to choose to keep or to lose our company; that will not affect our support for your side."

The other three espada were taken aback, Grimmjow in particular. "Woah woah woah; you're gonna let her go? Mr 'it is my duty to protect her with my life it is my design'?! After everything we've been through?"

"Yes." He replied smoothly despite the discord inside him. "If that is what she wishes, it shall be done. I believe you offered to assist me?" Byakuya nodded in agreement from the back. "Then we have both options."

"Wait, how do you even know he said yes?" Uryu roared, to which every Hueco Mundo replied.

"His eyes see everything."

The room was silent for a moment after that, which was longer than one of Baraggan's stories from 'back when I was king' for all of the espadas. With a deep breath, Orihime shut her eyes and thought through the past months. The fun times. The scary times. The pain. The joy. Everything.

"Well of course you're coming with me!" She told them, tears in her eyes almost falling to her trembling lips. "...I-If you really want...to..."

"Naturally." Ulquiorra replied, giving his best attempt at a reserved smile while internally his emotions raged.

"Fuck yeah the squads back together!" Grimmjow roared, much less reservedly rushing over and hugging his friend while her older mates gawked.

Orihime beamed. "We never split, silly kitty!"

"Kitty?" Captain Komamura questioned from the back of the room, causing the sexta espada to become instantly aware of his presence and hide behind the ginger girl.

"I don't know whoever the fuck that is but keep him the fuck away from me!"

Nnoitora and Szayel laughed at his discomfort while Ulquiorra turned to the Head Captain. "I understand if you wish to give us any restraints or restrictions."

Surprisingly, Yamamoto shook his head and waved his hand. "No, that will simply prolong this and I have had quite enough. It is settled then; Nnoitra will join Kenpachi, Szayel will join Mayuri and the two of you will join the others in the human world."

"Well then we're staying too!" Rukia exclaimed, puffing up her chest. "No way I'm letting these sketchy guys take even further advantage of our sweet Orihime!"

"Sketchy...guys?" Ulquiorra queried, but before he knew it he was through the door and feeling the bright warmth of the human world.

-After the meeting-

"Then the intel was correct." Yamamoto spoke, shuffling the papers before him. "I would say I am surprised, but after a while one comes to expect the unexpected from you."

"I do the best I can for a simple shopkeeper." Urahara grinned, tipping his hat playfully on the other end of the screen. "And Mayuri managed to bug all of them?"

The Head Captain nodded. "Unnoticed as well it seems, or at the very least unmentioned. I suspect the leader has his suspicions with those eyes, but he said nothing."

Kisuke's grin widened. "Oh, I'm sure he knew. Same as that pink haired scientist, but you had them cornered. If I had the choice between a bloodbath and some monitoring devices, I know which I would take."

Yamamoto snorted. "I have a hard time believing they are merely for recording...but I digress. Now that Aizen's forces are divided to some extent we should accelerate our plans and adjust accordingly. Though if things are as you fear..."

"Then we're probably screwed either way." The exile laughed humourlessly. "Guess we'll just have to chance it."

The pair were silent for a moment. "Do you trust them?"

"Less than the visored...but we will see." Urahara sighed, producing another lolly pop from thin air and sucking on it thoughtfully. "I will say this; one way or another they'll be heading back to Hueco Mundo." His hat slid back on his head, revealing a very rare serious expression of his. "And this time I think they'll be there to stay."