Yo everybody! Like I said in the last chapter, I'm posting two chapters for the price of one. So if you clicked the link to take you to the latest page, go back and read chapter seven first.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.
Chapter Eight
Half an Hour Later
Las Noches
Aizen grinned as he watched the recording of events play out of early this evening with Gin, Tosen, the Espada, and a few other arrancar. Things had gone far better then he expected.
Originally, he had planned on using Tatsuki, Mizuiro and Keigo as weapons against Kurosaki and his human comrades. The perfect weapon to use against people like Kurosaki is their own friends. He would never be able to kill any of them without the guilt and remorse of killing a friend destroying him. Tatsuki, Mizuiro and Keigo on the other hand, were beyond such things as guilt and remorse.
That is until he discovered the full extent of Miss Orihime Inoue's power. He changed his plans, deciding to use them to aid in the capture of Miss Inoue and then as them leverage to ensure she do what he wanted her to do.
His plan originally was to return to Karakura for a few weeks, to give the appearance that nothing what so ever happened. They would keep an eye on Kurosaki, the other humans and the team of soul reapers, maybe they would even get their former friends to trust with their secrets. Then they would reveal themselves the night he planned to capture Miss Inoue. But Grimmjow's attack on Tatsuki and what happened afterwards changed that. But it wasn't a bad change. In fact, he had already formulated a new plan long before Yoruichi and Urahara had told Kurosaki and the others about his arrancar.
He had to admit, he was a little surprised that they had actually beaten their opponents one on one, especially with a quarter of their power sealed and without unsealing their zanpaku-tos. He knew from the beginning that they would ultimately lose and be captured. Frankly, he never expected them to do as well as they did, and it wasn't just the events of this night either. They actually reached the adjuchas-class several hours sooner then he expected. Then during the month he trained them, they had shown, just like Kurosaki and all of his humans comrades, an extraordinary rate of growth in terms of spiritual power. Though of course theirs' wasn't on par with Kurosaki's, no one's was. He wondered if it was the result of exposure to Kurosaki or if it had something to do with Karakura itself.
'Perhaps one day all three of them will join the ranks of the Espada.' he mused. He knew of their desire to join the ranks of the Espada and encouraged it.
Nnoitra laughed and said, "Looks like they got their asses handed to them."
Grimmjow laughed as well. "Well what do expect from bunch of weaklings like them. Hey Ulquiorra, I bet your pretty pissed at your subordinates for losing."
"I never expected them to win." Ulquiorra said. "Though the fact that they were able beat Kurosaki, a lieutenant and one of the humans before they were defeated speaks volumes of their ability."
"Bah. I beat Kurosaki twice, you and Yammy beat Kurosaki and that human. It's not like it's that big of a deal. And Asano didn't let that lieutenant fight at full strength. How can that measure his ability?"
"Actually Grimmjow, you never beat Ichigo. The first time you fought him, Tosen stopped the fight before a winner could be determined and the second fight also ended before a winner could be determined. And Keigo's actions show that he has the intelligence to beat an opponent rather then trying to prove how strong he is to everyone. Unlike your dead Fraccion." Ulquiorra replied in his usual monotone.
Grimmjow became enraged but before he could shout out an insult or a comeback at Ulquiorra. Aizen said, "Enough. Now who wishes to come with me and retrieve them?"
Ulquiorra raised an arm as did Grimmjow, who said with a smirk, "I wanna rub this in their faces."
Surprisingly, Halibel raised her arm as well.
Nnoitra chuckled. "Oh what's this? Your fond of one of them, aren't ya. It's that Kojima kid isn't it. Half the women in Los Noches are attracted to him. What is his appeal to women anyway?" (I wonder this myself. Especially after in the actual storyline, he went on a vacation with his girlfriend, whose older then him, and nine of her female friends.)
Halibel said nothing nor did she even acknowledge him. Nnoitra laughed even harder.
"Very well then. Luppi, Yammy. You two are coming as well."
"Yes Aizen-sama." the two Espada in question answered.
"That's a lotta Espada yer takin' Aizen-sama." Gin said.
"Indeed. But if I know Yamamoto, he won't let three captured arrancar to sit in the world of the living even in a secure place like Urahara's shop. He'll send a team of captains and lieutenants to escort them to the Soul Society for interrogation. He'll send Soifon and at least one of his four strongest captains. Strength in numbers is ideal for this situation."
Aizen rose from his seat and added, "Come. We'll attack when they are at the weakest."
Urahara Shoten
Elsewhere
"What do you mean you might not be able to do anything to fix them!!!" an angry and bandaged Ichigo yelled.
He, Chad, Orihime, Rukia and everyone else were sitting around the Urahara Shoten. Renji, Chad, Rukia, Orihime, and himself were still pretty beaten up. Orihime would have healed them all but she was physically and emotionally drained. She did however, heal the majority of the damage done to Keigo's and Mizuiro's arms. Wounds that Urahara didn't have the proper supplies to heal. But he stopped her from further healing them, saying that it would be better for everyone to keep them unconscious. In fact, Urahara sedated them afterwards.
"Calm down Kurosaki or you'll reopen your wounds." Urahara calmly said.
He tried to calm down, but was still very angry. A little bit of his anger was directed at Urahara, the man who created Hogyoku which turned them into those monsters and was now saying that he might not be able to do anything to help.
But most of his anger was directed at two people. At Aizen for targeting his friends and using them in this vile way. And at himself, for not being there to protect Keigo, Mizuiro and Tatsuki from Aizen.
"I understand how you feel Ichigo but this is uncharted waters we're in. I'm not even sure if a normal hollow exorcism would work on an artificially created arrancar."
"But you created the Hogyoku. Shouldn't you know everything about it?" Rukia asked.
"Yes I created it but I only finished the initial testing when I realized just how dangerous it was. After that, I focused on how to destroy it rather then experiment with it."
"Wait just a minute." Hitsugaya said. "You had the Hogyoku for a hundred years and yet you never were able to destroy it? And why wouldn't a normal hollow exorcism will work on an artificially created arrancar?"
Urahara sighed and said, "The Hogyoku is abnormally resilient. In the one hundred years it was in my possession, I tried everything I could think of to destroy it, only to fail every time. As for your second question, that's a lot more complicated."
Urahara paused for a moment before continuing. "It all has to do with how much of their being is hollow and how much is soul reaper."
Everyone, save Yoruichi, had a puzzled look on their faces.
He continued before anyone could ask him what he meant. "As you know, arrancar and vizards are not solely a hollow or soul reaper, rather they're a fusion of the two. But neither is a perfect fusion of one half soul reaper and one half hollow. The majority of their being is what they were before their transformation."
"A natural born arrancar is usually only thirty to thirty-five percent soul reaper. Enough to give a zanpaku-to and abilities similar to that of a soul reaper. But because a larger percentage of their being is still a hollow, they can still be purified like a hollow. It's different story with the ones made using the Hogyoku. The percentage of hollow and soul reaper in the majority of the arrancar under Aizen are about forty-five percent soul reaper, a much more balanced fusion then the natural ones. Which means that if a soul reaper kills them, the normal exorcism may not actually occur, instead they may just die like a soul reaper who falls in combat."
Urahara paused for a moment, before adding, "Of course I could actually make them human or at least as close as poss-"
"WHAT?!" Ichigo shout. "You just said you couldn't!"
"It won't be fixing them. It would just be putting them in untraceable gigais, like the one I gave Rukia. It would slowly sap their spiritual power and eventually they would basically be humans. But it wouldn't be fixing them. It wouldn't restore them to who they were before they were turned into hollows."
"Then there has to be way to suppress their inner hollows and allow them to take control of their bodies." Ichigo said, desperation in his tone.
Urahara shook his head. "You don't understand Ichigo. They aren't being controlled by an inner hollow."
"What? Then why are they working for Aizen?!"
"They aren't vizards, they don't have inner hollows. In most cases, an inner hollow is created when a hollow transformation is stopped halfway through when a person becomes a soul reaper instead. However, even the partial transformation will alter a part of the person's soul, creating a separate personally within their soul. What they would have become if the transformation was completed, the inner hollow as it's called."
Urahara then asked, "What's the difference between a whole and a hollow?"
"A hollow it a whole that has lost it's heart." Orihime answered in a weak voice.
"And that's exactly what happened to them. Their hearts and by extension their humanity is gone."
"But when Tatsuki first attacked me, a tear looked like it was going fall from her left eye. There's still a part of her that's human, it's the only explanation." a desperate Orihime said.
Urahara sighed. "There's speculation that most hollows, excluding those born of evil souls, still have a small shred of humanity that remains in a hollow. In some cases, like your brother, that shred may even attempt to reassert itself for a time at least. But the shred of humanity in a hollow becomes increasingly smaller and suppressed the longer they remain a hollow and as it climbs the up hollow evolutionary ladder."
Urahara paused for moment. "I need to see what exactly happened to them before I can make any real plans."
Hitsugaya raised an eyebrow. "How do you plan to do that?"
A grin spread across Urahara's face. "You forget. I'm the former president and founder of the Soul Reaper Research Institute. I have a number of prototypes that were never officially put in use by the 13 Court Guard Squads. Including a failed prototype of an interrogation device that should give me what I need."
"You plan to torture them?!" Ichigo said, shocked that Urahara would even consider such a thing. And he wasn't the only one. Everyone, save Yoruichi had a similar expression.
Urahara raised an eyebrow. "What? No, no, no. Why would you think that I would torture someone? The device in question displays a person's memories. In case you're wondering why it was a failure. It won't show a conscious, unwilling subject's memories and it has a habit of waking unconscious subjects up."
Urahara looked over his shoulder and shout, "Tessai, Jinta, Ururu!"
One of the back doors opened and Urahara's employees stepped out. Tessai asked, "Yes boss?"
"Tessai, bring out one of the prisoners and an extra sedative. Jinta, Ururu, I want you two to look in the storage rooms and bring me the box labeled "Memory Projector". Don't drop it."
The three nodded and went about their tasks. A minute later, Tessai came back into the room, pulling a stretcher with an unconscious and chained Keigo on it. He placed the stretcher next to the table.
Keigo's jacket had been removed and replaced with a number of bandages covering his upper body. What it didn't cover was his number, 83, tattooed onto his abdomen.
Tatsuki's, 84, was on her right bicep and Mizuiro's, 85, was in the area just underneath his neck.
Those numbers sicken Ichigo. It only further showed how Aizen twisted them into something vile.
A moment later, Jinta and Ururu came back in with a box labeled "Memory Projector". They set it on the table. As soon as they did, Urahara waved them off and opened the box and pulled out two things. The first looked like a laptop computer, save it was twice the size of a normal laptop and was missing the screen. Also it had fewer buttons. It only had the numbers buttons and the buttons play, fast forward, rewind, stop and pause. The second thing was a bunch of wires that looked like the wires used on a heart rate monitor.
Urahara attached three of the wires to the device and then attached the wires to Keigo's forehead. One in the middle and one on each side. He then pulled out a remote, pushed a button and a large screen lower down from the ceiling.
Urahara paused and looked at the group. More specifically, Ichigo realized, Urahara was staring at Orihime, Chad, and himself.
With a grim expression on his face, he said, "None of you have to be there for this. Those of you that do, you should know that it's gonna be bad. Especially for Keigo, for he will relive every memory that we watch."
No one left. Ichigo knew he could have and probably should have left. He knew what happened to them and a part of him felt that he shouldn't see how they became monsters. Yet something compelled him to stay, to see what happened with his own eyes.
He and everybody else, however were surprised that Orihime was staying. She didn't say anything, she just sat there with a look of grim determination.
Urahara nodded. "Okay then. Let's begin. The device will show us everything that Keigo saw and heard, through his eyes."
Urahara typed in the date they disappeared, the first day of school, then he keyed in the time classes ended.
The image of their classroom filled the screen. Everybody was packing up their stuff and leaving the classroom.
Urahara hit the fast forward button, skipping through his walk home, dinner, most of the evening, until shortly after his parents left, leaving him with his sister.
There was a knock at the door. Mizuho yelled at him to get it. Keigo mumbled to himself, "Keigo get the door. Keigo go to the store and get me some juice. Keigo do this, Keigo do that. What am I her errand boy?"
Keigo reached the door and opened it, revealing a dark-skinned man in a strange white outfit.
Everyone knew who it was. One of traitors, Kaname Tosen.
The man was holding a sheathed sword. At his feet was another guy, a black hood on his head and he was holding his arms behind his back kinda like he was wearing handcuffs.
"Is that Mizuiro?" Ichigo asked to no one in particular.
"Probably." Urahara said. "Probably."
The man asked, "Keigo Asano?"
Keigo didn't know what to make of this guy. Deciding that he didn't want to know. "No one with that name lives here." he lied.
As soon as he finished his sentence, his sister yelled out, "Keigo! Who's at the door?!"
A nervous grin spread across his face. He tried to slam the door shut, but the man was faster. He pushed the door all the way open before he could. He grabbed the hooded person and walked into the room and closed the door behind him.
"Hey Keigo! Who was at the door?" Mizuho asked as she entered the room.
She paused and stared at Keigo and the others. "Who's that kneeing on the ground?"
Keigo was surprised. Why was she just asking about the one on the floor? What about the guy in the outfit? "Shouldn't we worry about the about man that brought the kneeing guy." he asked her.
Mizuho raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? There's only the one guy on the floor."
"She can not see or hear me." the man said.
"Wh-what? What are you talking about? How come she can't see you?"
"Wait a minute. Tosen's in spirit form. How can Keigo see him? Have you been hidding something from us Urahara?" Ichigo asked, eying Urahara suspiciously.
Urahara nodded. "A little bit. Chad and Orihime weren't the only ones who's spiritual energy was awakened by contact with you after you became a soul reaper. The only difference was that before all this, they never reached the level that would grant powers, like Orihime and Chad did. No doubt that was one of the reasons Aizen chose them."
"Why didn't you tell us?!" Ichigo shouted at Urahara.
"Kurosaki, what would you have done if I did?"
Ichigo sat there for minute thinking about it. He realized that if he had known before hand, the most he could have done was tell them about what was going on. But probably wouldn't have really changed much if anything.
"Who are you talking to Keigo?" Mizuho asked.
Before he could answer. The man disappeared and reappeared in front of his sister. There was a loud pop and a bright flash. Mizuho passed out and fell to the ground.
The man turned around and said, "Keigo Asano. You are to come with me."
Before Keigo could make any kind of response. The man pulled out his sword an said, "Howl Suzumushi."
A loud buzz filled his ears, causing him to pass out.
The screen turned blue. Urahara said to everyone, "It just means he passed out."
A moment later, the screen turned black.
"How does that mean?" Rukia asked.
"It means he's awake but can't see anything." Urahara responded.
After what seemed like an eternity the black shroud over his head was lifted. His body was frozen in place. He could only move his head to sides a bit.
From what he could see of the room he was in, it looked like a large throne room. Standing in front of him was two men, the first was a pale, grinning man. The second was brown-haired man, who to Keigo looked like the guy in charge.
The dark skinned man stepped forward from behind him and walked to the right side of the brown-haired man.
Said man suddenly stared at him. The second he did, an indescribable terror shot through Keigo. He just wanted to get away form this guy. But as soon as started it ended and Keigo realizing that he had been holding his breath the entire time, exhaled and tried to breath.
The brown-haired man said, "Tatsuki Arisawa, Mizuiro Kojima, Keigo Asano, I imagine you are all wondering why I had the three of you brought here."
"My name is Sosuke Aizen, and these are my lieutenants, Gin Ichimaru and Kaname Tosen. You have been brought here because I see much potential in the three of you and I have seen how those you call friends have neglected and abandoned you because you currently lack the power they possess. They think you are too weak to be anything but a burden if they told you the truth about the powers that they received and about the world you live in. I however, see your potential and hate to see wasted potential."
Ichigo wanted to yell out "Don't listen to him! He's lying!". But it was pointless.
"I am going to make all of you more powerful then you could ever imagine. In fact, I will train you for one month, it will be brutal though and it is possible that all three of you will die. If you survive the month, then offer you a choice about whether you join my army or return to the world of the living. No strings attached."
"A choice?! He offered them a choice and they still sided with him!" Ichigo yelled.
"Calm down Ichigo." Yoruichi said. "They were given that choice after they were transformed. They were already different people."
"Well now that that's out of the way, lets get started." Aizen took a step forward before adding, "Oh, I almost forgot that this will be quite painful, but just think of it as the price of power."
The man named Tosen appeared in front of him, grabbed him with one arm and lifted him up. Energy surged into his body. It was doing something to his body. Something painful. He let out a low groan.
During the whole time Tosen was doing that, Keigo's body shuddered.
"Damn. Aizen's forcing the dormant part of their spiritual power to awaken." Urahara said.
"Why does it look like Keigo's in pain" Orihime asked.
"Because he's forcing it awaken immediately rather then slowly like what happened to the rest of you." Yoruichi answered. "It's painful and an extremely dangerous procedure. It can enable a person to reach a higher level in terms of power quicker then it normally takes. But if too much of a person's spiritual power is forced open at one time, it can tear their souls apart."
Then it stopped and the palm of Tosen's other hand hit face, sending flying backwards to the ground.
Keigo, realizing that he could move again, tried to get up, until he heard the rattle of chain coming from his chest. Looking down, he saw a metal plate and chain attached to his chest. He followed the chain to it's source, a second him still being held by Tosen. He glanced to his right and that Tatsuki and Mizuiro were indeed here and in the same state has him.
"This doesn't make any sense. It can't be real." he whispered as he looked back at the second him.
"Would you do the honors Gin." Aizen said to the grinning man.
Gin pulled out his sword and said "Shoot to kill Shinso."
The blade of his sword shot out and impaled Tatsuki through her metal plate on her chest. The blade retracted causing the plate and chain to crumble, leaving a hole in Tatsuki's chest. She let a pain filled scream. A second later, something bizarre happened to Tatsuki. Her body started to tear itself apart.
Ichigo could have sworn heard Orihime let out a quiet sob. He would have looked but couldn't turn away from the screen.
"Shoot to kill Shinso."
The blade shot out again, this time it impaled Mizuiro's plate. And just like Tatsuki, he started to scream as his body tore itself apart.
It didn't take a genius to figure out that he was next. But there was nothing he could do. He'd only get so far with this chain on his chest and it looked like removing it was a very very bad thing. He hung his head in defeat and waited for the inevitable.
"Shoot to kill Shinso."
The sword impaled his plate, destroying it like the others.
The moment Keigo's chain of fate was destroyed, his unconscious form began to convulse. Tessai quickly held Keigo down. But he still continued to thrash around.
Unbearable, unimaginable pain shot through his body. It felt like thousands of tiny hooks were digging into every square inch of his skin and pulling in every direction. His body tore itself apart and reformed into a larger, monstrous form. The only human part of him that remained was his head. But the instant his body finished transforming, a white liquid poured out every hole in his head, it covered his face and hardened into a mask.
As the mask started to form on Keigo's face, static started to fill the screen, increasing as the mask continued to form. When the mask was complete, the entire screen turned to static.
"Well this is a first." Urahara said to himself. "In all the times I've used this thing, it's never shown static while a subject is hooked up to it. Could be the result of the final stages of transformation."
The static filled screen turned blue and Keigo's thrashing stopped.
The screen turned black before revealing Keigo's first sights as a hollow. A massive cave that had a dark purple mist covering the floor.
"That explains a lot." Urahara said more to himself then anyone else.
"What are you taking about?" Ichigo asked.
"Watching them fight you and the other, I realized that there was no way that they were turned into arrancar from ordinary hollows and be as strong they are with only a month of training under their belts. Yet it can take decades at least for a hollow to become menos grande. However, there are ways of speeding up the process. That mist is a pure form of the extremely diluted gas I used in the shattered shaft. As long as a hollow has a supply of food, that gas can speed it up the evolutionary process. Achieving what would take decades and centuries in days."
Ichigo watched in growing horror as Keigo looked at his new form. He appeared to be a giant winged snake, with bright red and dark blue scales. Kiego then turned his head and saw the hollows made from Mizuiro and Tatsuki. Mizuiro was purple-skinned, hunched over humanoid hollow that looked like it was nothing but skin stretched over bone. Tatsuki was looked like a hollow version of a manticore with a wolf-like mask, complete with point ears that looked more like horns and the red half Xs on sides of both eyes.
The sight of three of his friends as monsters, made him feel like throwing up. Again he wanted to turn away, to leave before he witnessed any other horrific images. But again, he felt compelled to stay, to watch. Perhaps seeing these images would give him some idea of how to help them.
The three seemed to have no memory of who the were, but that didn't matter as shortly after they woke up, a horde of hollows appeared. And a massive brawl between all the hollows occurred. And Tatsuki, Mizuiro and Keigo were no expectations. They fought and devoured hollows, just like the rest did. However, they didn't fight each other. In fact, several times they went out of their way to help each other.
Urahara pressed the fast forward button, skipping through a hours of such memories. Until around twenty-three hours after they first became hollows, when a second transformation occurred. They each let out a long, pain-filled howl, causing all of the nearby hollow to back away from the trio as black shrouds shot out from the edges of their masks covered their bodies. They grew taller and taller till they became giants, towering over all the other hollows. Again Keigo's body convulsed as he transformed. They had become menos grande.
The screen became blurred and it was impossible to clearly see what was happening. Urahara again sped through those memories. Until about forty-six and a half hours after they were first transformed into hollows. That's when the screen returned to normal.
Again they howled, this time however, they howled repeatedly like they were in agony. And again Keigo's unconscious form started thrashing. Their bodies shuddered and convulsed as rips and tears formed across their cloaks, sending chucks of black fabric to the ground . Keigo's limbs disintegrated and he fell straight down to ground, creating a mound of twitching black cloth with a giant mask on top. The mound then exploded, revealing a roaring, newly created adjuchas-class hollow.
(I know in the anime fillers, they have shown adjuchas of different colors, but I'm going by the manga and in the manga all of the adjuchas shown have a base color of white.)
Ichigo watched through Keigo's eyes as he stared at his new form. He was smaller then he was a ordinary hollow. He now had a humanoid upper body, with a rattlesnake tail for legs. His scales were white with crimson and dark blue streaks running down his body. His dark blue wings returned, joined by a second, smaller pair underneath the first pair. Although he had arms, he didn't have hands. Instead, hands and half of his forearms had been replaced by dark gray scythe blades.
He turned to where Mizuiro and Tatsuki were. Tatsuki's body had shrunk. The large bulky muscles she had as a hollow was replaced with slimmer, but still powerful looking muscles. Her skin was white but still had the crimson spiral designs covering it. Her fingers were now crimson claws. Her legs and feet had changed. Before they were similar to a canines, now they were bit more human. She was now standing upright on the balls of her feet while her heels were high up off the ground. Her toes and heels were tipped with crimson talons. She changed her position from standing on her arms and legs to standing just on her legs. She now had three long lizard-like white tails with the same red spirals, each tipped a wicked looking blade. Her mask changed, losing some of it's wolfish features, though it retained it's ears and red marks.
Mizuiro's body was no longer hunched over, now he was standing straight up. Otherwise, the basic shape of his hollow body remained. Like the others, his body was almost entirely white, save for the long, green curved talons on his fingers and toes and the green spikes running down his spine. There a was a tube-like bone sicking out of each shoulder blade. Green smoke slowly rose out of the openings on the bones. There were also a series of lines of black dots running down his arms, chest and back. Also there was several pieces of the ripped meno grande cloak attached to his waist running down to about the middle of his shins. As well as baggy sleeves that covered his biceps and then split into three sections, hanging from the elbow. It like he was wearing a torn robes.
They examined their bodies for moment, then the hollows decided to resume their fighting and Keigo, Tatsuki and Mizuiro joined them. But there was something different now. Before every time a hollow fell, another appeared to take it's place. But now the endless tide had stopped and eventually all the hollows and few menos grande that had wondered in, were dead and eaten. Leaving Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro standing in an empty cave. They looked at each other, unsure of what to now.
"Well congratulations are in order." a voice called out.
A brown-hair being appeared before them, along with a pale haired and skinned grinning creature and a dark-skinned one. He didn't know who or what they were but they smelled delicious. Brown hair continued to speak. "You completed the first step of your training. And know it's time for your reward, to become something even stronger."
Training? Was that what this was? Who was this guy and what was he talking about.
"Who are you and what are you talking about?" his female comrade asked.
"You know who I am. You just have forgotten. Just like you forgot who you are." he replied. "But I can help you remember."
"Really? How?" he asked. He had wondered who and what he was, but had little time to ponder it with the near non-stop fighting.
"With this." he said as he pulled out a small black marble.
He approached this man who claimed to have the answers about him. When he reach him, the marble began to glow. Suddenly, a bright beam of energy shot out and hit him. The light was blinding as the energy filled his body. He could feel his body changing but unlike the previous ones, it was painless.
The sound of an explosion filled his ears. The bright light faded, allowing him to see. He was sitting, naked on the ground. His body was now similar to the one who did this to him. The hole in his chest had moved. It was now located just to the left of his right shoulder. He felt a triangular piece of the mask he had worn on each cheek and a pair of fangs hanging from each ear.
Then the memories began to return to him. He looked at his hands and balled them into fists. He felt powerful. Aizen was right, he had become more powerful then he ever could have dreamed.
"What is your name?" Aizen asked him.
He grinned and answered, "Keigo Asano."
Aizen smiled and asked, "And what do you remember Keigo Asano?"
"Everything Ai-"
The rest was cut off as the picture and sound became distorted.
Keigo began to shake his head. "Get out... Get out of my head!"
His eyes opened up. And the first thing he saw was Tessai, who was still holding him down and who's face a few inches his own. Naturally, Keigo did what any rational person would do in that situation. He screamed and started thrashing, threatening to reopen his wounds.
"Tessai, sedate him." Urahara said.
Tessai pulled out a needle and injected it into Keigo's neck. Keigo's eyes opened wide for a few seconds before they glazed over as he mumbled about creepy men and needles, before passing out.
Urahara sighed. "I honestly don't know what I can do in the amount of time I have."
"What are you are talking about?" Ichigo asked.
"They won't be remaining here much longer. Aizen and Yamamoto will both eventually send teams to retrieve them. The question is who will be first?" he replied on a grim tone.
Ichigo knew what would happen if Aizen retrieved them. He'd take them back to Hueco Mundo and chances of them ever becoming who they once were, would hit rock bottom. On the other hand, Urahara implied that it wasn't the best thing to have them go to the Soul Society.
Ichigo asked, "What will happen to them if they go to the Soul Society?"
Urahara was about to answer, when the main door of shop opened. Everybody turned to the newcomers.
Who's at the door? Soul reapers or arrancar? Gonna have wait till my next chapter.
In case, your wondering who those four strongest captains (aside from Yamamoto himself, personally I believe Ichigo by himself couldn't beat him) I was talking about. It's Kenpachi, Byakuya, Shunsui and Jushiro, who I believe to be the strongest (and the coolest) captains underneath Yamamoto.
I have decided not to start my Naruto/Bleach crossover until after Orihime is kidnapped, probably in another two or three chapters. But I'm giving you guys a little preview. This is just a rough version, so it may change a bit when the chapter is posted.
And I've decided that Neji's getting Byakuya's blade.
Shunsui Kyoraku smiled at the unconscious blond lying on the ground. Old Man Yama had finally started the awakening. The first test would soon start but there was some time before that happened.
He waited for this day since he had woken up in the boy's mind, the day Naruto was born. He had watched the boy's life unfold through the his eyes. He watched Naruto's mother die shortly after giving birth to him. He saw Naruto's father sacrifice his life and any chance for his son to have a normal childhood, to seal powerful nine-tailed demon fox that was trying to destroy the Hidden Leaf Village and everyone. Shunsui remembered when he spoke to the fox when it appeared in the part of the kid's mind that was connected to the seal.
"Hello there." he said in a cheerful tone as he approached the Kyuubi's cage.
"What?! There's someone else already in this brat!" the fox roared at him.
"Something like that. My name is Shunsui Kyoraku. And you are the Kyuubi no Kitsune." He sat down in front of the cage and pulled out a bottle of sake. "Drink?"
The demon fox stared at him. No doubt he was confused by sight of human who showed no fear of him, who was speaking to him like he was a good friend and was offering him a drink. "No."
"Suit yourself." he said and took a sip from the bottle. "I imagine you're wondering what I doing here. I'm here to offer you a chance at redemption for all the damage you've done to the world and the boy you're sealed in."
"Bah Like I care this brat and this village. I will break this boy and take over his body and have my revenge on this accursed village."
He sighed. "I thought you might say that." he said as his tone changed from usual cheerful and goofy tone to a more serious tone. "That's why I'm also where to tell you that you will never escape. I will keep you restrained until Naruto is strong enough to do it himself and use your power as his own. If he ever fails, I will be there to hold you back and if need be, destroy you."
The fox laughed. "Kill me! You a mere human, threatening to kill me! No human can kill me."
A smile spread across his lips. "Bakudo 99 Part 1. Kin Restrict."
Black leather straps appeared out of nowhere and wrapped around the Kyuubi's limbs. Binding it's front legs together, it's hind legs together and all nine of it's tails together.
The demon fox fell to the ground, thrashing. "What?!! Impossible! No human technique can bind me like this. Nor have I ever heard of such a technique."
"That's because this technique predates you."
"Impossible! I have been alive since the beginning of this world."
"Yes. Since the beginning of the shinobi world. This technique was made before the shinobi world existed." he replied. "Now to finish this. Bakudo 99 Part 2. Ban-Kin. First Incantation. Bandage. Second Incantation. The Hundred Gate Bolts."
White bandages wrapped over the fox's body, then the fox was impaled by a hundred bolts.
The Kyuubi roared and thrashed, trying to escape from it's bindings.
"If I say the final incantation, you will die. I suggest you take some time to calm down and think what I offered you. If you change your mind or you wanna drink, you know where to find me."
Sadly, that was all he could do for the moment. He could only watch the horrible and lonely childhood the boy suffered through. Those early years were filled with many, many rainy days. He feared the boy would break long before he could help further. Yet somehow the boy endured and dreamed of proving everyone that they were wrong about him. Eventually becoming a ninja and finding a family in his teammates, one of his teachers from the academy, and Old Man Hokage.
Then there was the events of the Land of Wave mission. When Naruto and the Uchiha boy were fighting the boy with the Hyoton bloodline. Shunsui knew that even with the two of them fighting, they didn't stand a chance against Haku, yet he refused to release some of the Kyuubi's chakra beyond the passive amount that normally entered Naruto's body. All because he feared it would be too much for the boy to handle at that time.
Then the moment came that surprised both Naruto and him. Sasuke pushed him out of the way of a lethal barrage of senbon needles. He had realized his mistake, after it was too late. He released a small amount of the Kyuubi's chakra. Enough to beat Haku. But the damage was done, Sasuke died saving Naruto, like a true friend would which surprised him as he thought that Sasuke hated Naruto. But he guessed wrong. The brooding Uchiha did apparently care about Naruto.
Of course, he was just as surprised when Sasuke turned out to be alive.
Two women appeared at his side. His only company, besides the fox. The first was the woman he loved and was going to propose to, before the two wars broke out that would ultimately result in the end of his world and the birth of this one. Nanao Ise. The other was the spirit of his zanpaku-to, Katen Kyokotsu. The two had been partners for years before his death. And now it was time for Naruto to earn the right to have her fight alongside him.
"It's finally time Shunsui. He'll be waking up soon. I'll let you make the initial introductions. Then I will test him to see if he is worthy." Katen said to him.
"Trust me, he is. After all, he will be Hokage one day."
That was something Shunsui never doubted. There was something about Naruto, something that made him believe the boy could anything.
"We shall see." she replied as she disappeared.
Naruto began to stir. He turned to Nanao and asked, "Did you bring the basket of flower petals Nanao?"
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