"Wassup fanfic homies. This is Supremacy118 once again bringing you Chapter 3. So to disclaim, I don't own Bleach and all rights go to Kubo Tite. Now then, onto the story"

CHAPTER THREE: A HOLLOW REUNION

A few days have passed since Tia Halibel's arrival and reaching out to her has been easier now. Anyone who knew her wouldn't believe how reserved she was in the past.

-Flashback-

"W-What?! I don't believe it! Aizen is dead?!" roared the Tres Espada glaring at Urahara with utmost shock, "How-No…Who did it?!" she finally asked.

Urahara saw the rage engulfed in her eyes. He looked over his shoulder to see Tessai on standby, ready to intervene should the situation get out of hand. Nevertheless, he resumed his talk with her with Ichigo beside him.

"The one who killed Aizen…is right beside me." He simply replied. Tia's eyes widened even more when she turned her head towards Ichigo.

'This shounen… killed Aizen?' she thought to herself with disbelief in her mind. "You did it?" she asked him directly.

"Yes. I'm the one who killed Sousuke Aizen" he answered her with full intent to make her understand that the former devil-like being is gone forever.

The former Tres Espada was speechless. The man who could destroy anything just by blinking…was dead! If that's the case, then the boy who killed her is something beyond his existence. She couldn't believe it even though she knew it was true. She just had to confirm it once more.

"Young shounen…what are you? Who are you?" she asked with plea on her tongue.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, Substitute Shinigami" was all the spiky-orange teen said. He saw the look in her eyes. The look one would give if they came across an unidentified object.

"I assure you, even though I've gone beyond that world, I'm still the guy you saw that night." He said. Tia body-language reeked of fear but little by little, became more relaxed as she gazed into her saviour's eyes once again. She saw absolute power but more importantly, pride and honesty. She didn't know the reason but one thing she did know was that she can count on him.

No sooner after that, she stood up and walked in front of the teen. The other room-dwellers wondered what she would do next as they braced for the next possible event. Instead, she shocked them all with a bow towards the teen; taking a good sufficient breathe to say something no one expected an arrancar to say to a Shinigami:

"Thank you, shounen. You really set me free before I even knew it." Was all she said. The room was absolutely eerie; you could hear a pin drop onto the floor.

-End Flashback-

Everyone in the store can freely talk to her though in Urahara's case, he needs to be careful since she now knows all his peeping glares, peeping spots and the such as if she has soul GPS. However, although she won't say it, she prefers the company of a certain orange haired teen. She would express more emotions whenever he's around and they would even spar with each other once in a while (even though we know that Ichigo could squash her ass like a bug).

During the time when he was at school, she would do chores around the shop to keep busy and whenever he comes to the shop, the mood would automatically engage 'Happy-Time'.

"You're late Ichigo. I was getting bored" she said playfully welcoming the god-like teen.

"Sorry. Class took longer than usual." He playfully replied as he scratched his left cheek.

"All well. Come on in. I'll get some hot cocoa ready" she said as she drifted into the kitchen.

"Thanks Tia-san." He said trying to hide the colour of his namesake on his face.

"You can call me by either names. No need to be formal" she said still in the kitchen

The two warriors were practically the best of friends even though the emotions pent up inside said the matter was beyond that line. Nevertheless, they subconsciously decided to take it slowly, one move at a time.

They sat down drinking their beverage whilst exchanging sneak peeks and smiles at each other as if they were a couple already. Anyone would find it hard to believe that Halibel had been the strong, silent type. Now, she was a gorgeous, buxom, cocoa lady who enjoyed company (mostly Ichigo's) except for Urahara for obvious reasons.

"Ichigo, have you noticed it?" changing the topic after a sip of her beverage.

"Yeah, the hollow reiatsu has diminished dramatically. I wonder why?" he asked himself

"It's because Aizen is dead. The modern hollows were created using the Hyogyoku but once you killed him, the Hyogyoku 'died'.

Ichigo was taken aback by that last word. He began to wonder if Urahara's creation was in some way alive. Tia sensed his suspicion and replied in time to stop his train of thought.

"Don't worry about it. I meant the energy it possessed finally diminished silly." She said to reassure his suspicion.

"Oh. *Phew* That's a relief" he said with the latter present in his tone.

They chuckled at Ichigo's misunderstanding, however, Tia's attention averted to the fruit boy with curiosity in the gleam of her teal eyes.

"Hm? Something wrong?" he asked noticing her interests shifted gear now.

"I still am shocked that you defeated Aizen. That monster was practically a god and you killed him. Are you sure that you're a human?" gazing at him awaiting his answer.

"Yes I am. 100%" he replied with an innocent smile on his face.

At this point, the two warriors were really connected. Like Urahara and Yoruichi only this time, there was secret emotions pent up. Just as Tia was about to resume her discussion with him, a nostalgic sound emanated from the teen's pocket.

"Oh man, a hollow?" he said whilst holding his substitute badge in utter disappointment.

"Relax. It's just another stray hollow right? One swing from your axe and it'll be over before you know it." She said.

"I guess so-" he was cut short after realising the joke in her statement.

"It's a cleaver Tia, not an axe!" he deadpanned with mock anger and a popped vein.

"Whatever you say fruit-boy" she playfully replied

The youth clicked his teeth, knowing that he couldn't resume his battle with her any longer. Afterwards, he grabbed his badge and transformed into his Shinigami form and rushed off into the distance, towards the hollow's location.

-At the Park-

The hollow was chasing a lost soul as usual. A little boy with brown shorts, an orange hoodie and grey eyes flowing with tears full of fear to the brim. As the boy ran, he tripped over and fell onto the ground afraid to look at the monster that would end his life, or rather his afterlife. All seemed lost till the transcendent instantly delivered the finishing blow to the monster, slicing him in two. (Nice.)

He looked over towards the young soul who was still crouching but mustered sufficient valor to see if his end was still present. He was shocked to see no monster but startled to see a man with a big ass sword hang over his right shoulder. His saviour approached him, offering a hand to pull him up with a smile on his face.

"Now then. Its time to go kid" Ichigo said with reassurance in his voice.

The child soul, still shaken by the terror shyly took his hand and approached his saviour.

"Go where mister?" the boy asked with tears at his eye's edges.

"To Soul Society. Over there, those monsters won't bother you and you can live in peace"

Those words calmed the boy who easily felt relief. He closed his eyes as Ichigo placed the end of his halberd onto the soul's forehead (A/N: a soul burial), sending him to the safe haven, spiritually parallax to the world of the living.

Just as the teen was about to call it a day, he felt a presence towards the opposite direction. Or rather presences of three beings, vice-captain level, reiatsu similar to arrancar. An uneasy aura shrouded the fruit named teen, as he began to think to himself why the presences appeared suddenly.

'What's up with these three? Why are they here? Are they here to kill Aizen like Tia…or to avenge him?!' he thought to himself.

Too many thoughts of possible circumstances danced in his train of thought but it came to a halt when he sensed a change in the visitor's reiatsu.

'What the…? Their reiatsu just suddenly slouched. Why? Geez, there's no time to bitch around thinking. I'd better take a look' he concluded mentally.

Considering the potential threat, he vanished towards the site of interest, sweat running down his face using sonido, which he learned to perform in his Shinigami form from the former Tres Espada. He smirked somewhat at the thought of this but brushed it aside refocusing on the issue at hand.

-Random alley, the city-

Thanks to his new skill, our hero arrived at the scene so fast that he didn't even realise he broke the sound barrier and that is Yoruichi's usual speed (Goddamn, he's fast!). Upon arrival into the area, he sensed the reiatsu levels of the three individuals fade faster by the minute. Under these circumstances, he had to physically search for them. Opening garbage trolleys one after another, even trash cans and boxes (Dude, they arrancar, not hoboes) out of desperation. As he uncovered more vicious stray cats, he felt that his efforts couldn't bring him closer to finding them but it was bringing his temper to new peaks.

"Ahh! Dammit! I give up!" he threw his hands up into the air in defeat before stumbling over and into two soft pillows. However, he thought to himself after realising something about these 'pillows'. 'Hold up. Pillows do NOT breathe! And since that's the case, what the hell am I resting on?!'

Just to be sure, he felt the 'pillows' more precisely with his hands and was surprised to be greeted by a low groan. His face turned red after slowly understanding what he landed on yet he still wanted to deny the truth. As he looked over his shoulder, with mechanical precision in mind; you can almost hear his neck making the clanks and crunches of a hydraulic pump, he gazed his eyes towards a dark-skinned woman in what appears to be the leftovers of her amazon-style arrancar, ripped, cut and dyed red in blood. He saw two other females, one with a horn sticking out of her head and a slender figure with green hair. Neither of them were in better shape than the amazon.

Ichigo began to think about how he could assess the situation. Then suddenly, the amazon groaned and mumbled a name with all her might before passing out again. Thanks to that mumbling, Ichigo discovered how he can assess this dilemma.

"I'd better call Urahara and Tessai to pick up these guys." He said pulling out his phone, "I'd better mention to bring along Tia. She definitely needs to see this"

A few minutes later, the pervy shopkeeper and his assistant flew on his plain imitation of the magic carpet from Aladdin. And on it was the girl who brightened up his life.

"Kurosaki-san, done already?" he mockingly commented whilst waving his fan until he noticed the battered trio. He decided to spare the jokes for now.

"What happened here, Kurosaki-san?" asked Urahara pointing at them with his fan.

"I don't know. I just found them beaten up and-" he was cut short when he heard the former espada cry out to her fallen fraccion.

"Sun-sun! Mila-Rose! Apache!" Tia cried as she sonidoed towards them. "Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be dead…"

If any of the espada were still alive, they would witness, first-hand, the mental breakdown of the Tres Espada. Tia Haribel has always from the time she became an espada kept a cool demeanor. Now, she was falling apart and it didn't go unnoticed by the Urahara group especially Ichigo. However, she was surprised when she felt a warm grasp on her shoulder and turned to see Ichigo with a mild smile on his face.

"Don't worry Tia. It'll be alright. After all, Tessai is here. He'll heal them up and they'll be as good as new." He said with all the comfort he could muster.

"Okay." Tia said drwing closer to him to complete a hug of relief.

'I'm so glad fate led me to you Ichigo', she thought as she held onto him as if she would die without him.

During their moment, they didn't notice a depressed shopkeeper, tracing his finger into the ground. Reason being, Ichigo left him out when he was comforting her. He now has confirmed that although he was a powerful captain, he's still the enemy of women everywhere. Especially Tia. Tough luck dude.

Meanwhile, Tessai had finished healing the fraccion with his healing kidou and Tia was in high spirits again, relieved that her fraccion was no longer knocking on…actually I don't know which door they were knocking on. Its not heaven and its not hell so I'll just say they survived.

Tia helped put Sun-sun onto the carpet while Ichigo lifted the amazon. However, she unconsciously threw her arms over his neck and cuddled closer to the teen, purring like the big cat she is before Ichigo finally managed to put her on the carpet.

"Well, she seems…nice-ish." He said with a disturbed expression.

"She is based on a lioness after all. Lionesses are known to be strong and very passionate." She replied as she approached Apache.

"I see. Very passionate indeed." He said. No sooner after that then the deer arrancar began to wake up. She was still dizzy from the blood loss as she wiggled in her position but just as her vision cleared up, she saw the person who she gave her second chance at life…or rather afterlife.

"Halibel-sama! I've found you at last! I'm so glad that you're safe! Those damn Shinigami bastards stormed the domain and-and I-"

The blue-haired arrancar cut herself short when she saw Ichigo stand close beside her.

"Oi! Get the fuck away from Halibel-sama you prick!" she yelled stepping in between the two shielding the shark queen while glaring at the teen with lethal eyes.

"That's enough Apache." ordered Halibel calmly, "He is by no means an enemy. In fact, he's my precious companion, so please don't try to do anything foolish."

That last bit sounded more like a command. Nevertheless, Apache was stupefied, as if she was a bird that got hit by a peashooter but she knew that the shark queen spoke the truth.

Ichigo's face was dyed like his namesake and didn't do a fair job at trying to hide it, but he couldn't help but feel happy at hearing what Tia said about him. He noticed Tia blush but she also did a poor job at concealing it.

Apache wondered why her mistress would care for a Shinigami. Whatever the reason may be to her, she still saw it was her duty to protect her.

"I'm sorry if I made you feel shitty but if touch Halibel-sama where your hands don't belong, I'll use my cero to vaporize your balls! You understand?!" she shot at him. In that sentence, as every man that dwells across the face of the big blue sphere known as Mother Earth, when their 'tenders' are in a position of potential destruction, he must oblige with the ancient self-preservation protocols to survive the threat.

Ichigo simply twitched his thighs to the front to make a shield, fortunately, his kimono was baggy enough to hide his gesture, and simply replied: "I shall not ever conduct a child-lethal act of that calibre in this and any world in the history of ever!"

The reply was not as simple as his expressions said it would be as the two arrancar women looked at him with awkwardness, with a bead of sweat forming on Apache's head but behind them were Urahara and Tessai were fellow brethren who understood his actions as they both held both their hands with a thumbs up, mouthing the proud oath of 'tenders' protection: 'Viva Las Gonads!'

Ichigo feigned ignorance despite inwardly comprehending their reason. Nevertheless, the fraccion were loaded onto the carpet and they floated off into the distance towards the shop. Tia was silent during the whole ride back and it didn't go unnoticed by Ichigo. He fought the urge to talk to her but he already knew the reason why; after all, her fraccion whom she thought were no more are alive and well. It was a lot to take in in a single night.

-At the Urahara Shop-

After arriving at the Urahara Shop, the group of powerful warriors made themselves comfy as the Shark Queen waited beside the two slumbering arrancars, however, a certain blue-haired loudmouth had something to get off her C-cup chest.

"Aaachooo!" sneezed Apache. "Dammit, someone's talking shit 'bout me…"(Oops..)

"Aren't you just overreacting as usual Apache?" asked her mistress with slight authority in her tone.

"Forgive me Halibel-sama" she said wiping snot off from under her nose and wiping it on the floor which left a significant moist trail on it. "But seriously Halibel-sama, why stay at a dump like this!? It's so small, clunky, dirty and…so homosexual." Those comments let a giggle escape Ichigo's mouth and also brought the attention of the foul-mouth arrancar towards him.

"Alright you Shinigami bastard, what are you up to!?" she asked trying to exert as much pressure on him as possible. "Why did you help us? To make us indebted to you?! To personally kill us in one go?! Oh I know…! You wanna excavate our chambers with your long, stiff spade!"

That last part painted both Tia's face and Ichigo's face crimson. Tia knew that she was handful but she didn't expect her to be that much. Ichigo, on the other hand was speechless at the sexually-rueful comment.

"D-don't be screwed up! I ain't that kind of guy! And don't make biased assumptions you pervert!" he answered with absolute embarrassment.

"Shit, you guys say crap like that all the time!" she said pointing at him with prejudice in her body language. "Just deceiving women for selfish benefits for you and your nutsack!"

(Sheesh! This chick…!)

The next few moments were sex related comments each person had to say for themselves. Apache kept on with the prejudice act (maybe she's just jealous or frustrated, if you know what I mean) while Ichigo kept on defending his pure honour. However, the case, it seemed like forever and neither of them were making progress. He flashed a glance at Tia with a plea for serious assistance. She knew Apache was too much of a hassle for anyone except her.

"Apache, that's enough." She commanded her underling. "Ichigo isn't like that at all. In fact he's the opposite."

"Opposite?! Milady, how can you trust this Shinigami so much?! I don't understand any of this…" that last part was present with slight sorrow. It was obvious to Tia since she was her leader after all.

"Apache, when he saved me, it wasn't as a Shinigami. Rather it was as a man, and a kind one at that." Tia said it with so much passion that Ichigo literally became as red as a strawberry. "You can trust him with your life as it is."

Apache at that moment thought she saw her mistress give a smile. Not a normal bending of lips smile; the kind that comes from the heart. It was completely alien to her. All the time she spent under Tia's command, she never once saw her express emotion let alone a smile. She was truly witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime event.

No sooner than she crept off her train of thought than the other two arrancar warriors began to awaken. First was Mila-Rose, grunting like someone who passed out from an all-you-can-eat buffet. Then and finally was Sun-sun who woke up with a lustful moan like a hooker with a hangover. It made our hero red with passion and felt 'something' beginning to feel it also.

'No no no, bad hormones. Stay, heel, suppress, submerge, sleep, stay put…' he thought to himself as he tried to fight his bodily functions with sheer willpower.

"Mila-Rose! Sun-sun! You're okay!" shouted their leader with utmost relief. Her important people were alive.

"Halibel-sama!" the two said in unison. "You're alive!" eyeing their leader to confirm if it wasn't a wound induced hallucination.

Sun-sun was about to ask how their mistress survived the barrage of Shinigami at Hueco Mundo till she spotted a certain orange haired boy right beside the Shark Queen.

"Sh-shinigami?!" she hissed as her defensive instincts kicked in.

After Apache's rambling about the whole 'we're enemies' nonsense, Tia decided to just clarify things before things got worse.

"Everyone listen up." Everyone now was focused on the tanned beauty. "I'll only say this once so listen well".

-1 CLARIFICATION SPEECH LATER-

"So that's what happened", said Sun-sun nodding her head behind her veil. "I apologise for making assumptions. It's the result of hanging around buffoons for a really long time."

Sun-sun's stressed comment was quickly picked up by the two arrancar who sat opposite her. Veins bulged on their heads with sheer anger as they directed their discontent towards the snake.

"Sun-sun." they started calmly. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU SAY BITCH?!"

"Ara, you didn't hear me. In that case, I'll say it at layman's pace: my-rashness-is-a-result-of-hanging-around-buffoons-like-you." She mockingly rephrased pointing at the latters like a school teacher to a board.

After observing the amusing yet annoying bickering among the three beautifully, annoying group, he began to imagine how Tia survived. He turned to look at Tia to see her facepalm at their stupidity (because we all know that we facepalm when expressing something stupid with words just doesn't work).

As the argument's tension rose, so did Tia's temper. Alas, she finally snapped.

"That's enough you lot!" she hissed angrily. "Is bickering like retards the only thing you can accomplish in your current afterlife?!"

The trio looked down at the floor' too ashamed to even look at their mistress. "Please forgive us Halibel-sama."

Despite apologising, it was clear that Halibel was still fuming with anger and it didn't look like it will simmer down anytime soon so a certain fruit tried to change the topic for the sake of peace.

"Um, I don't think I got your names" he addressed the trio, "So, if you would be so kind as to introduce yourselves" he said with a nervous smile.

At first, it looked like Sun-sun was about to introduce herself till a dark skinned amazon just cut her from the blue.

"I'm Franceska Mila-Rose. Nice to meet you Shinigami" she said. If Ichigo wasn't too focused on the other two, he would've noticed two things: One; she greeted him with a flirtous tone and Two; she pressed her large tits to front more so. It is obviously clear that this lioness has taken an immediate liking to the transcendent.

"I'm Cyan Sun-sun. Thank you for having me Shinigami-san" she said. This time, Ichigo noticed that she doesn't talk much, she's more dignified than the other two and somewhat a snob. Fortunately, he sensed no resent from her so at the least he could have a decent conversation with her. Lastly was…

"Emilou Apache. What's it to you chump?!" Mentally, Ichigo wanted to bitch-slap her like there was no tomorrow. On the bright side, no hostility was present but there was still fiction between the two.

Tia saw her surbodinate's attitude affect the transcendent youth but was glad to see him persevere despite the rashness. Nevertheless, she decided to console him.

"Ichigo" she gently whispered to him. "There will be times when you wish your head was buried 6 feet into the ground when these three are together; but one thing you can be sure of, is that they never abandon those who show them kindness, even if it's a little."

That last, Tia smiled like an angel and that made Ichigo smile also, unfortunately, Apache saw it and decided to intervene. (Classic jealousy. How pitiful.) "Alright, we've been introduced. Let's get this over with now. Oi, Shinigami-!"

"Call me Ichigo" cut in the latter. "And if it's okay with you girls, may I call you by your first names?" he asked.

"That's fine" said Sun-sun and Mila-Rose together though the latter had more joy in her tone. "What will happen from now on Ichigo?" Sun-sun finally asked.

Ichigo put his hand under his chin as he began to think about what to do with them. He can't tell Renji or Rukia for obvious reasons, nor the other Vizards since Miyori and Lisa are there. Sighing at his rejected ideas, he just said what needed to be said.

"You girls can stay over at my house. If that's cool with you, I mean." He turned red with slight embarrassment, wondering what their responses will be.

She didn't know why but Tia felt a great amount of happiness surge her body. She gets to move in with Ichigo and apparently she wasn't the only one who was happy. Mila-Rose fist-pumped the air with joy since it would mean she could get more up close to the attractive god-like warrior.

"Hold up!" spurted Apache. She looked like she had something on her mind. "Why can't we sleep here Ichigo…" she stressed the last bit with much sarcasm.

"You wanna be pounced on by a pervy, lecherous shopowner when you sleep?" he deadpanned. At that moment, the trio's faces froze with shock. The man who appeared decent was a pervert?! (They should have seen it coming really)

After a moment of silence (2.375 seconds to be precise), the three said in an audible manner:

"To Ichigo's house!" as they pointed in a direction only to be corrected by the youth that his house was in the oppositedirection.

Everything suddenly felt like déjà vu to Ichigo. Meeting beings that are believed to be myths and accommodating them in his house reminded him of the time it was with Rukia. A thought popped in his mind that felt like history will be rewritten, only this time he knew the shortcuts. With that he said what every protagonist would usually act based on the plot of the directors (cheapskates…):

"Here we go again"…

-AUTHOR NOTES-

Hi everyone. Supremacy118 here. Firstly, I'd like to thank you, my readers, for following, favouring and liking my story. I'd like to thank plums for the tips on how to improve my story in the future. Now then, my examinations will begin in 4 days' time so I've typed this to keep you busy. I'll have finished in 2 weeks' time, so wish me luck and enjoy Chapter 3. I hope you enjoy this chapter. See you next time. Supremacy118 over and out.