Yo everybody! Man am I happy. 35 reviews for this story. 3547 hits. 16 favorite stories and 16 story alerts. Far far better then my original expectations. Because of all of my fans, I have been driven to update this story as fast as I can.
Disclaimer: Don't own Bleach.
Chatper Eleven
Karakura Town
Monday 8:55 am.
"We're gonna be late." Mizuiro said.
"Of course we are. But it will make for a better entrance." Keigo replied in an amused tone.
Tatsuki laughed. "I can't wait to see the looks on their faces. It'll be worth wearing these stupid gigais again."
Mizuiro and Keigo chuckled. "Yeah." Keigo said. "And we no longer have to act like a bunch of clueless humans."
"Yeah. All that acting was starting to get on my nerves." Tatsuki said. "At least now we can actually train while we're here."
"True. Before we had to give the appearance that there was nothing out of the ordinary. Now we can do as we please. Well, as long as we follow Aizen's orders anyway." Mizuiro said.
"Let the fun begin."
Kakakura High School
9:04 am.
Ichigo sat at his desk, barely paying attention to the teacher as she went through attendance. He found himself staring at three of the empty desks. Keigo's, Mizuiro's, and Tatsuki's desks.
He, Chad, and Orihime had wanted to go after them. To rescue them from Aizen's clutches. But Urahara had stopped them. He pointed out that they were in no condition to go into the heart of Aizen's headquarters and rescue three people who sooner fight them than go with them. Urahara further pointed out that the only that he could actually enter Hueco Mundo was through a Garganta. And at the moment, the only people who could use one were those under Aizen's command.
Urahara told them to be patient. He was working on a means to enter Hueco Mundo. But he recommended they wait till Aizen sent them out again. As it would be easier to capture them here than in Hueco Mundo.
"Well it looks like everyone is here expect for Uryu, Tatsuki, Mizuiro and Keigo. You know, I'd like to have one day-"
The classroom door opened and Keigo, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki entered the room.
Ichigo's heart skipped a beat. He barely kept himself jumping out his seat.
Tatsuki, Keigo and Mizuiro paid on attention to his, and no doubt the others, surprised reactions.
"Sorry for being late." Mizuiro said politely to their teacher.
"Whatever. Take your seats." she said.
Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the three walked to their desks. Their expressions were completely normal. Like nothing had ever happened. And Ichigo almost believed that what happened was a nightmare and nothing else.
Until their eyes meet his own. For a split-second and only a split second, feral grins spread across their faces.
This time Ichigo did jump out of his seat and onto his feet. Just about everyone stared at him.
"Ichigo, get back in your seat." the teacher said, annoyance laced in her voice.
"Sorry." he said as he took his seat.
As soon as he sat down, he, along with Orihime, Chad, Rukia, Renji and the rest of the soul reapers stared at the three of them. If they were aware of the nine people staring at them, they didn't show it. Again, Ichigo was reminded of how normal they looked. The second he saw them, he expected them to attack.
Instead, here they were. Sitting at their desks like nothing had happened.
Ichigo couldn't help but wonder why they were here. What purpose did Aizen have for sending them here like this?
He didn't like it. But at the moment, he couldn't do anything. Not in the middle of class. He'd have to wait.
12:00 pm.
The lunch rang and most of the class quickly left. Keigo, Mizuiro and Tatsuki were among the first out the door.
Ichigo was about chase after them when Hitsugaya blocked his path, stopping him from following.
"I know you want to go after them Ichigo. But blindly chasing after them, will only get yourself killed." he said. "We need to be careful or it will be a repeat of last Friday."
Ichigo grimly nodded.
"Okay. First we need to let Urahara know." Hitsugaya turned to Rukia and said, "Rukia call Urahara and tell him what's happened and ask him if he felt a Gargante open up recently. Because none of us did."
Rukia nodded and pulled out her phone and started dialing Urahara's number.
"Now, we have to be careful. There's a lot of people here that could get caught in the crossfire. So have to avoid fighting unless we have no other choice. And if we do get into a fight, we have to get as far away from here as possible."
"Captain Hitsugaya." Rukia said.
"Yes?"
"Urahara wishes to speak to you." she replied, handing him her phone.
"Yes?" "I see." "Yes, I agree." "Alright, I'll tell them."
Hitusgaya hung up and said to everyone, "Urahara wants us to keep an eye on them. If they suddenly leave, we are to inform Urahara and Yoruichi follow them. He also said that we should avoid a confrontation if possible. But if you want to go speak to them right, then we should do it."
"We're going." Ichigo said, his tone leaving no room for arguing.
Everybody else nodded and they walked out of the classroom.
They quickly located them on the roof as they weren't making any attempt to hide their reiatsu.
As they climbed the stairs, Ichigo felt anticipation and dread rising in him.
Ichigo heard laughing as they reached the door to the roof.
"Oh man. Their faces were priceless. I only wish I could have taken a picture." he heard Keigo say in between laughs.
"Yeah." Mizuiro said. "Wonderweiss and some of the others would have gotten a kick out of seeing their faces."
"Ichigo, what are you waiting for? Open the door." Renji said from somewhere behind him.
Ichigo braced himself, expecting a fight the second he opened the door. The three of them were sitting together, eating lunch and talking.
But they didn't attack. Instead they just kept on eating their lunches and talking and laughing. They didn't even seem to notice them. Until they approached them.
"Hey Ichigo, Chad, Orihime, Rukia, everybody else! Oh, and tattoo face!" Keigo greeted him in the same tone he always greeted him in. "Hey Ichigo, why did you jump out of your seat this morning? Did we scare you?"
All three of them laughed at that comment.
"Why have you come back? Did you come back to fight us?" Renji asked.
"Fight you?" Mizuiro replied. "If we were here to fight you, then why didn't we fight you the second we arrived? And why for the matter, are we in gigais if we intended to fight you?"
"Then why are you here?" Hitsugaya asked.
"Now that would telling." Tatsuki said nonchalantly before biting into an apple.
"It doesn't matter. The three of you are coming with us." Ichigo said.
"Later. We're having lunch right now." Keigo said, his attention now back at his lunch.
"No. You're coming with us now." he said, the tone in his voice signaling that there was no room for argument.
"Why?" Mizuiro asked. "So you can turn us back into humans. Ha! We have no desire to go back to being humans. We're arrancar now. I suggest that you expect that Ichigo. That all of you expect it. Because nothing you say or do will change that."
"I refuse to believe that."
"Me too." Orihime said.
"Same here." Chad added.
"Then you are all fools." Mizuiro replied. "Now unless there's something else you want, leave."
"You're coming with us to Urahara's."
"You're coming with us. You're coming with us." Keigo said mockingly. "You're starting to sound like a broken record Ichigo."
"We didn't come here to fight you. So why don't you leave us alone and we'll leave you alone." Mizuiro said.
"Or you could fight us." Tatsuki added. "In which case, you'll end up beating us by sheer numbers, even if we are now at a hundred percent. But not before we cause a great deal of collateral damage. Damage we certainly don't care about, but you guys on the other hand probably will."
"Oh. That reminds me. There's another arrancar here in Karakura. And if we don't report in every couple hours, he will detonate three bombs we planted in Karakura." Tatsuki said with a smirk.
Ichigo was stunned. They had basically just said, 'Fight us and we'll kill as many innocent people as we can and we'll enjoy it'.
"How can you say that Tatsuki?" Orihime cried. "What about your friends,your family?"
The three of them snickered. "Any familiar bonds we had when we were alive, have been cut." Mizuiro answered. "I cut all ties with my mother years ago.(1) There is no one in Karakura we care about. I thought that would have been pretty obvious when we joined Aizen's army, considering he's gonna wipe this place off the map."
Rage filled Ichigo. Without thinking, he grabbed Mizuiro by the collar and lifted him off the ground. Tatsuki and Keigo quickly stood up, ready to come to Mizuiro's aid should the need arise.
"How could you say?! How can you not care about friends, your family?! How can you support a man who wishes to kill an entire city just so he could become a god?!"
His outburst had no effect on Mizuiro, who just stared back at him.
"It's simple." he calmly replied. "Let me ask you this Ichigo. Do you feel bad when you step on an insect? No, because an insect is beneath you. Just as humans are beneath us. Truth be told, we don't care what happens to Karakura or the rest of this world for that matter. Or even if Aizen becomes a god. We merely joined his army because we felt like it."
"You felt like it?! You felt like siding with Aizen over your friends, over your nakama!" he shouted in disbelief.
"Nakama!" The three of them laughed again. This time however, there was a bitter edge to their laugh.
"I thought I just said that all ties with our family and friends have been cut. But if you did understand it then, I'll say it much more clearly. We certainly don't consider you our friends anymore. So why would we fight on your side, especially considering the Soul Society will either lock us away or execute us for simply for being what we are."
Ichigo let go of Mizuiro. He was even more stunned then before. Not just by what Mizuiro said, but by his tone and his eyes as well.
There wasn't any hesitation or doubt in his voice or his eyes. He firmly believe in what he said. Ichigo honestly know what to think anymore.
Mizuiro sonidoed onto the fence on the ledge of the school's roof. "Now are you going to leave, or do you still want to fight us?" Mizuiro said as raised his right hand over the schoolyard and began charging a cero.
All of the soul reapers and humans present, stared at him in shock and disbelief.
"You can't be serious!" Rukia shouted. "There's dozens of people down there!"
Mizuiro shrugged. "Aizen gave us orders to avoid capture at any cost. Even if we have to kill a few dozen people."
Keigo added, "It's not like these people are important anyway. Hell, even if we wipe out this entire school, it won't affect the creation of the Key in the slightest. There's still more than enough people here to make the Key."
"So you can either leave and no one dies or you can fight us and we cause as much damage as we can." Tatsuki said as she snapped her knuckles.
Before anyone could respond, there was a spike of reiatsu in the air above them. Everyone looked up. A tear formed in the sky and a large centipede hollow dropped out. It flew down towards them, specifically right where Mizuiro was standing.
Mizuiro moved his right hand above his head. He sighed. "Troublesome pest."
He fired the cero at hollow, destroying half of it instantly. The rest of the hollow began to break apart into bits of energy. He then raised his other hand and all of this energy gathered into a ball in his palm. As soon as it finished forming, Mizuiro swallowed it.
It took Ichigo a moment to realize that Mizuiro had just devoured the hollow. Ichigo suppressed a shudder. The sight of Mizuiro devouring a soul, even if it was a hollow, was sickening.
"Where were we? Oh yes. Choose. Leave us alone or fight us."
"We're leaving." Hitsugaya said.
Ichigo, Orihime, Chad and all the other soul reapers looked at him in shock.
"I'm sorry. But we can't risk fighting here." Hitsugaya explained. "Not when there's so many civilians around and when our enemies will specifically target them. There will be other times."
Hitsugaya and others started to walk to stairs. But Ichigo didn't follow.
He knew Hitsugaya was right. But there was something he had to ask. Something he had to know.
"Why?" he asked. "Why did you cut your ties with us?"
Mizuiro smirked. "You misunderstood me Ichigo. I never said we cut our ties of friendship with you. Just that they had been cut. Truth be told, those ties were cut by you."
Ichigo's heart skipped a beat. Did they honestly think that?
"You abandoned us. We didn't matter anymore because we lacked your power."
"How?" he asked. "How can believe that?"
"Simple. It's the truth."
Aizen's words entered his mind.
"You kept them in the dark about what was happening, and almost entirely cut yourself off from them, despite the fact that they were your friends. It was only natural for them to feel bitter and abandoned. So Kurosaki, if you're looking for someone to blame, you need only look into a mirror."
"Protect them? How does keeping them in the dark keep them safe? All it did was make them feel like you didn't care about them anymore."
"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."
"But that was then and this is now. We have that power now and we don't need you anymore. If your smart Kurosaki, you'll leave with the others."
Ichigo hung his head in defeat. The people he knew were truly gone. Replaced with soulless monsters. And at the moment, there wasn't a thing he could do.
8:30 pm.
Keigo took a sip from a bottle of water in his hand as he stood on the balcony of his family's apartment. He stared up at the night sky. It was a new moon tonight, which meant that it was a full moon in Hueco Mundo tonight.
He sighed. The full moon of Hueco Mundo was something to behold and the fact that he was missing it, annoyed him.
"What a nice night it is. And yet I'm stuck here instead in Hueco Mundo enjoying it. Ah well."
He set the bottle on the balcony railing and turned his attention to his left hand. Which was currently hanging past the railing and wrapped around his sister's mouth.
She looked absolutely terrified. Tears were pouring down her face and her arms were wrapped around his forearm.
"Now listen up as I'm only gonna say this once." he said to her in a serious tone. "I'm only going to be in this wretched place for the week, then I'm leaving for good. In the mean time, I'm no longer your little errand boy or your personal punching bag. You are not to talk to me unless you have to. Or I'll kill you. Do you understand?"
Mizuho nodded her head as best as she could.
"Good."
He lifted her up and back onto the balcony. As soon as he dropped her onto the balcony, she fell to her knees still scared out of her mind.
Keigo picked up his water bottle and started to walk away, when he stopped and turned his head back to her. "Oh, and if you tell anyone about what just happened. I'll kill you and them too." he said in his usual, goofy tone. "Have a nice night now."
He had gotten into the kitchen when his cellphone started ringing.
He raised the phone to his ear. "Hello?"
"Keigo." It was Ulquiorra.
"Yes Ulquiorra-sama?"
"Come to the meeting place immediately."
"As you wish."
He hung up the phone and turned to his sister, who was still a sobbing, scared mess.
"I'm going out. Be back in an hour or two."
He walked out of the apartment and came face to face with Ikkaku and Yamichika. No doubt Hitsugaya had ordered them to keep an eye on him. It wasn't really necessary. They were going to do anything until Friday. Hell, that whole bomb thing was a bluff to get them to leave them alone. He had to hand it to Tatsuki. She had come up with a story that would keep of the soul reapers out of their hair until it was too late.
"Evenin' fellas." he greeted. "Just going out for a stroll. You can come with if you want. Or you can go look at the mess I made in the apartment."
Both their eyes widened. No doubt fearing the worst, they ran into the apartment.
He resumed walking and began to whistle a cheerful tune.
Yumichika and Ikkaku quickly entered the room, fearing the worst. However, instead of finding a dead body, they found Keigo's sister, Mizuho, on her knees, looking terrified and crying.
As soon as they approached her, she jumped up and tackled Ikkaku in a big hug and started crying into his shirt. Ikkaku looked up at his friend with an expression that screamed 'help me'.
"I'll call Urahara." Yumichika said as he left his friend under the sobbing girl.
Urahara Shoten
"Hello?" "Figured you two would be calling. The other two are on the move as well. We'll see what their up to."
Urahara hung up the phone and turned to Yoruichi, who was in her cat form. "Well, all three of them are on the move. Likely heading towards the same place."
"I'll follow them and find out what's going on." Yoruichi said.
"Be careful. Even if it's only the three of them, they're likely prepared for anything, you included."
Yoruichi nodded. "Don't worry I will." she replied before she fast stepped out of the shop.
Urahara sighed as he rubbed his forehead. He knew Aizen had sent them back to Karakura for a reason. What that reason was, he didn't truly know. But he had some theories. The two most likely being either that Aizen was going to have them assassinate Ichigo and some of the others. It would be easy for them to do it too. They simply claim that somehow a small bit of their humanity had somehow awaken and was trying to battle back the dominate hollow side or something along those lines. Ichigo and the others would drop their guard and try to help them. Only to be stabbed in the back by them.
The other possibly was that Aizen was using them in order to get Orihime and keep her in Hueco Mundo. It was an effective way to keep her in check. Aizen could simply tell her that if she refused him to follow his orders or tried to escape, he slowly and painfully kill the three of them while Orihime watches. Chances are he'd let her to bring them back to life, only to do it all over again. He also could offer to give the three of them to her if she used her powers for him. And about a dozen different other things he could of.
Personally, he believed the second theory was the more likely one. But he believed that wasn't the original reason for Aizen turning them into arrancar. They had been turned far too early for Aizen to truly know about the full extent of Orihime's powers. Likely Aizen originally turned them into arrnacar, to use them as weapons against Ichigo and the others. It was the most effective and terrible weapon to use against people like Ichigo and his friends. After all, how could they fight to the death against their own friends?
Ultimately, he needed to know, what they were planning. And hope that there was something he could do to stop it before it was too late.
Urahara sighed and waited.
An Abandoned Warehouse
Keigo arrived at the warehouse second. Mizuiro beat him there and was sitting on a stack of old crates. Tatsuki arrived a few minutes after he did.
As soon as she did, the large main door of the warehouse closed and a glowing skull symbol appeared on the door. Signaling that the warehouse was sealed. Nothing could get in or out.
Ulquiorra stepped out of one of the back rooms.
"The final stages of the plan have been mapped out. Saturday morning, you three will approach Kurosaki, Sado, and Inoue, one on one. Claiming that you were under Aizen-sama's hypnotic control and are trying to fight it off. Once they lower their guard, you will kill them and bring their heads back here. During this, I will lead a group of arrancar to distract and kill the soul reaper team stationed here."
"I will remain here to keep an eye on you and if need be, I will detonate the explosive devices and free you should you be captured. However." he added. "I will not be here Friday night. So return here after school ends and remain here until Saturday morning."
"We understand Ulquiorra-sama." Tatsuki said.
Ulquiorra nodded. "Remember, Aizen-sama wants Miss Inoue dead above all others. She is the biggest danger to his plans. With her dead, there will be nothing that can stop Aizen-sama's plans."
"Of course. I'll personally take care of her." Tatsuki said with a smile.
"Good. You may leave now." Ulquiorra waved his arm and the seal on the disappeared.
The three of them nodded and left.
"Finally! In a few days, we'll be done with this place." Keigo said.
"Yeah." Tatsuki said. "I can't wait till Saturday. I can picture it now."
Tatsuki then hunched over like she was in pain and put a hand to her forehead. "Help me Orihime." she said weakly. "I don't know how long I can fight this. Please help me. Please Orihime. I'm scared...Ha ha ha ha ha!"
They all started laughing. As they laughed, they were all well aware of a black cat that was following them.
Just as all four of them had been aware that the cat had followed them into the warehouse and heard everything that happened.
Which was what they had planned for from the beginning. The whole act in the warehouse and the act they were currently performing.
Yoruichi would report back to Urahara. Urahara would either think that what they said in there was true. In which case, he would have Hitsugaya and his team follow them Friday after school, while keeping this information from Ichigo, Chad and Orihime. After all, how could they be expected to battle their 'friends'.
If Urahara didn't believe it, he wouldn't have any other choice but to send Hitsugaya's team anyway. As he had no other idea of what they were planning.
"Well, should we start training tonight?" Mizuiro asked.
"Nah. It'll attract the others. I don't feel like dealing with them tonight." Tatsuki said.
"Well then lets get something to eat." Keigo said.
Keigo could imagine Yoruichi tensing up right now. No doubt she thought they were talking about eating souls.
"Sure. There's a decent pizza place a couple of miles from here." Mizuiro replied.
"Last one there is paying." Tatsuki said before sonidoing.
Keigo and Mizuiro performed their own sonidos and followed her.
An Hour Later
The three of them left the pizza place with full stomachs and in the case of Mizuiro, a slightly lighter wallet.
Yoruichi had left them about ten minutes after they reached the restaurant. She had clearly felt that they weren't going to do anything dangerous. Which was true. They weren't going to do anything they would consider dangerous until Friday.
'Until then, we'll just have some fun-'
"Ouch!" a voice screamed from beneath them.
The three of them stopped and looked down.
Under Tatsuki's foot was a stuffed lion doll.
"Did that thing just talk?" Keigo asked.
Tatsuki picked it up and inspected the doll. "I think this thing has a piece of soul candy or a mod soul in it."
The doll gave no reaction or response.
Tatsuki shook it vigorously for a moment. Still no response.
"On second thought, maybe it isn't. Then I guess it won't mind if I tear off it's arms."
Tatsuki grabbed the lion's left arm and started to pull.
"OKAY! OKAY! LET GO OF ME!!" it shouted.
Tatsuki let go of it's arm, which the lion started to rub like it was an injury.
They stared at it for a moment before it realized that they weren't going to freak out.
"Hey, why aren't you all shocked by sight of a talking doll?" the lion asked.
"We know that you're a gikongan or a mod soul in a lion doll." Mizuiro said. "An interesting use of am artifical soul. We may have to try it with our own mod souls."
"You're soul reapers?"
Keigo smirked. "Yeah, something like that."
"So who are you and what are you going wondering around town in a stuffed lion doll?" Mizuiro asked.
"I'm Kon, a super powerful mod soul and God's gift to ladies!" the mod soul shouted out in pride.
'God's gift to ladies...He's got to be kidding me.' Keigo thought to himself.
"So what are you doing out here Kon? Shouldn't you be with your soul reaper until he needs to use you?" he asked.
"But Ichigo's so boring to be around." he whined.
'So this thing is Ichigo's mod soul.'
"Especially right now. He's all moody and stressed out over something bad that happened to a couple of his friends. I don't know who or what happened to them but I do know that he's no fun to be around right now. So I left and when looking for chicks."
"Well." Tatsuki said to him. "We know why Ichigo's so upset. Those friends of his were turned into arrancar."
"What?! Oh man. That really sucks."
"Do you wanna know something else?"
"What?"
A feral grin spread across Tatsuki's face. "We're those friends of his."
And that's all for now.
(1) Read the extra chapter in Bleach Vol. 12. It shows how Mizuiro and Keigo met Chad and Ichigo and during that chapter, Mizuiro says to his girlfriend, "I don't have a mother.".
I just read the latest chapter of Bleach. And it was awesome. Nnotira made the biggest mistake ever. He tried to hurt Yachiru. He's dead man no matter how many arms he grows.
Anyone who wants to know where to find the latest chapter of Bleach, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist and others. Go to That's where I go for all the latest chapters of my favorite mangas.
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