Holy shit peoples, I'm actually alive! I haven't updated in what? Two, three months?
Well, the inspiration finally hit me... while trying to avoid homework and studying. Sorry this took so long to get out, and I can't offer a long chapter like most seem to be able to pull off after a hiatus. Any-who, enjoy.
Note: Y'know, I'm just gonna stick this in. This little fun-fact has been shoved in my face (a lot), and I want you all to know something: YES, I KNOW NELL IS A GIRL. I THOUGHT SHE WAS A BOY WHEN I STARTED THIS, AND AM TOO LAZY TO CHANGE IT. DEAL WITH IT.
How about this: You guys tell me if I should change Nell's gender midway through the story. I won't go back and edit my chapters, I'm too lazy. But I will switch her gender from chapter 11 and up. Let me know in a review... or you get to live with a male Nell. ;p
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Chapter 1o
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Orihime brought Pesshe into the spare room of the house. She offered him food, but he reminded her that he couldn't really eat anything. Once he was situated, she left him to his thoughts.
"Why did you let him stay, Orihime?"
"Oh, c'mon Uryuu-kun. He has no where else to stay. Besides, he can help me with cooking!"
Uryuu had to swallow some bile that threatened to come spilling out of his mouth. Over the course of the years, her cooking hadn't improved. He figured that help from a hollow wasn't going to help her much... or his stomach.
"Just don't start a fire..."
"That only happened once!" Orihime defended, childishly.
- - - - -
Ichigo ran down the halls, looking for a window or door that her could use to escape from Las Noches. He knew that if he wasn't concerned with his secret, he would still be fighting Aizen. To his dismay, he had to slow his pace a bit.
"Damn him..." Ichigo said, his path blocked by Ulquoirra and a few lower level arrancar.
"Kurosaki, Aizen-sama does not wish for you to leave yet," the green eyed arrancar stated matter of factly.
"Like hell." He pulled out his sealed zanpakuto, dried specks of blood hindering its glints of light from the near-by window. "I ain't going back for a while... and that 'while' isn't in the realistic future."
Ulquoirra closed his eyes for a few seconds, as if reflecting on the orange haired hybrid's words. When he opened them, his hand moved up to the hilt of his zanpakuto. "Very well then."
"You're not going to make this easy..." Ichigo said to himself more than those around him.
The green eyed arrancar turned to his subordinates, emotionless as ever. "If any of you get in my way, you will die. Trash is not useful to Aizen-sama."
All the arrancar backed away from the fight to be. They had a larger fear of their life than their honor. This was present in how quickly they followed the threat, without showing a verbal acknowledgement.
Ichigo and Ulquoirra jumped at each other, blades clashing loudly. Their expressions remained the same, Ulquoirra, indifferent; Ichigo, determined.
"Get out of my way, Ulquoirra."
"I cannot do that, Kurosaki Ichigo."
Their blades collided continuously throughout the first few minutes of their fight. Clashing reiatsu could be felt throughout half the white palace of Las Noches.
- - - - -
"Nell-chan, breakfast!" Isshin called from the kitchen door.
Karin and Yuzu were already eating, finishing up their last bits of food. They had school, their last year of high school, which demanded a lot out of them, but they tolerated it. Both had already made plans to attend the local community collage, as well as move out... well, Karin had plans for moving out anyway. Yuzu decided to stay at the clinic, as she wanted to be a nurse. The clinic was a good internship for her, even if she did work there just to help her dad.
Nell jumped down the stairs, grabbing a piece of toast and shoving it down his throat within a couple of bites. He then climbed into Yuzu's lap, his chair cushion laughing at his morning antics.
The small arrancar had learned the first time that Karin wasn't the best place to sit, and that Yuzu would allow him to sit with her. Consuming another piece of toast at the same pace as his first.
"Nell-kun, you'll get a stomach-ache eating like that."
"Nell ish fine! Nell can eatth like thith, no pwoblem." He said happily.
After thirty more minutes of family togetherness, Karin and Yuzu went to school. They still had a couple of months left of school, and that meant no slacking off.
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Sparks flew as Ulquoirra and Ichigo's blades hit each other again. The arrancar watching the fight were trembling because of the highly concentrated reiatsu being released by the two fighting. Ichigo's wounds weren't closing as fast as he was hoping they would, probably because he was focusing more on fighting and getting out than his well being.
"Kurosaki, I can not allow you to leave. I will leave you on your death bed again if you decide to proceed any farther." Ulquoirra stated, emotionless as ever.
"No thanks."
"Come now, Ichigo-kun. You belong here," a voice said from behind him.
Ichigo turned his head to see that Aizen had followed him. His eyes widened in shock as he followed the brown haired arrancar leader's line of vision to a part of his body where his hole was visible by a slim cresent.
'Crap.'
'King, let me out! Let me help!'
Ichigo closed his eyes, 'Shut up, dammit. Not now!' His tone was leaking anger, and Kuroji seemed to back off, he didn't want the wrath of his King to come crashing down on him. No way, he had better ways of wasting his time.
The orange haired hybrid's eyes shot open when he felt a stab through his stomach. It was in millimeters away from a key spot that allowed his reiatsu to work (as well as his hole). He looked down at the blade that stuck three inches out of his body, and looked behind him. Ulquoirra's stoic face inches from his own, a couple small drops of Ichigo's blood on his face.
"Dam... mit..."
"Nicely done, Ulquoirra," Aizen praised. "Now, keep him still."
Aizen raised his hand, and cast a level 65 Raikouhou directly at the temporarily immobilized hybrid. His target starting another bought of getting out of the blade that the stoic arrancar shoved into his abdomen. A brilliant flash of light erupted when the hadou hit its mark.
Once the light faded, Ulquoirra's blade was clean of a body, even if said body's blood still covered half of it. Both leader and follower looked in different directions to locate the temporarily missing hybrid. A trail of blood lead them to Ichigo fairly quickly. He had shunpo'd around a corner, his hand over a massive two and a half inch gap in his side. Dark reiatsu was being emitted from his hand.
"Yare, yare; you are proving to be quite a troublesome boy, Ichigo-kun," Aizen said.
Ichigo shot his head up, and backed up when he realized that Aizen's face was centimeters from his own. He was so frantic, he backed into Ulquoirra, who stood behind him. The orange haired hybrid felt cornered for the first time in over five years, and he did not like it. His eyes started to change color, digging into his hollow reiatsu.
Aizen smirked when he watched Ichigo's eyes change. To him, that was a clear sign that Ichigo was starting to get desperate. Ulquoirra's expression didn't change, but his curiosity seemed to peak out a little through his eyes... without a mask to go with it was new to him.
'I gotta get out of here. I can't take them both on right now. Not to mention I'm starting to lose it,' Ichigo thought, as his eyes scanned for a way out. When he saw the small window he planned on using for leaving earlier, Ichigo used shunpo to get there. Unfortunately, his still cut open stomach and other wounds he hadn't gotten around to healing yet were becoming harder to ignore. Even with his adrenalin racing at what seemed like over a hundred miles a hour.
Aizen was able to get in front of him, his sword drawn again. If Ichigo hadn't stopped during his shunpo, he would have impaled himself.
Ulquoirra came after him from behind, his blade slashing at the orange haired hybrid's back. With Aizen and Ulquoirra attacking at both front and back, Ichigo had transformed his left arm into that of his hollow's in order to level the field a bit.
A few minutes had passed, and Ichigo wasn't fairing very well. His moves were getting more and more sluggish as he lost more and more blood. The wounds that Aizen and Ulquoirra were giving weren't slowing down, which didn't help him at all.
When they stopped for a second, Ichigo and fallen to his knees. His shikai Zangetsu keeping most of his body perpendicular to the ground. The hybrid's breaths were coming out in heavy gasps, blood flowing out of half his body.
'I can't last much longer. I'm already having problems seeing them, let alone reading their movements.'
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Meanwhile, in Ichigo's inner world, Kuroji was pacing. He didn't want to piss off his King any more than he already was, but he couldn't have him die either. If Ichigo died, so would he.
'There is no way in Hell, Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, or anywhere that I'm lettin' us die now. King is keepin' somethin' from me, an' I wanna know wha' tha' is.'
He could feel that his outter body was on the path to death - to never waking up. He would not stand for that.
'Screw what Ichigo says! I am not gonna die because o' his over inflated ego god dammit!'
Kuroji began to unleash his reiatsu and his will throughout the sideways world that belonged to three different persons/ personalities.
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Ichigo took one hand from Zangetsu, and clutched his head. Kuroji was adding pain to his body in his attempt to take over. The orange haired hybrid had to surpress a yelp of pain when he felt himself losing more of his vision as well as his control.
"What... the fuck... are... you doing... idiot!"
'Savin' our hide, King. I ain't gonna die because you're too weak!'
"Heheheh... that's funny..."
Kuroji halted what he was doing. What was Ichigo talking about?! They were dying, and he was laughing?!
'King, you've lost it! Ge' in here right now, I ain't ready ta die because of you!' Kuroji yelled, his tone getting irritated with each word.
The attackers were looking at Ichigo with curiosity. Who was he talking to? And why was it so funny? Even when he was about to die?
"I see your hollow can keep you entertained... even during a fight that losing could cost you your life," Aizen stated, his kind tone hiding his tyrannical persona.
Ichigo looked up at Aizen, the fire in his eyes growing again. "Nah... that's not what I was laughing about. He isn't very comical..."
"I see."
"Aizen... I'm gonna kill you, and then leave. I think... I was naive back then... leaving you alive and all." With that said, the hybrid charged at Aizen, Zangetsu ready to slice him in half. However, his target was never hit.
Blood flew at his face, covering half of it. To his shock, Ulquoirra had taken the blow. This was something not even Aizen had expected. His take of the attack wasn't in vain though, as he lifted his right hand, a finger pointing at Ichigo. Said finger started gathering power, and Ichigo tried to get away from this blast with Zangetsu, who was being grasped by the black haired arrancar.
Unfortunately, that didn't happen. The orange haired hybrid was hit in his chest, just below his neck (like where Ulqui-chan's hole is). Ichigo's eyes went wide as he was sent flying backwards with his zanpakuto. He looked up from where he fell, his eyes quickly losing their fire.
Ichigo focused all his reiatsu on picking up Zangetsu and standing up. He could barely breath, and his will was the only thing keeping him up.
'Dammit... I don't... have much time... left... I'll deal with Aizen later. Right now... I have to leave. My death isn't going to help right now.'
He raised Zangetsu, and cut a hole in the air. The portal all hollows use to get back to Hueco Mundo or to the living world (the garganta). Ichigo limped/ ran through it, Aizen allowing him to go.
"He'll come back. He always does, since he doesn't belong anywhere else," the brown haired leader said to himself as he turned to see Ulquoirra healing himself. "How are your wounds?"
The black haired arrancar looked at him as passive as ever. "I'll be fine, Aizen-sama."
"Good."
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Urahara, Kon, Rukia, and Tesai looked in the direction of the hollow reiatsu that appeared near the shop. Dondochakka was shaking in the corner, afraid that an arrancar would come crashing through the door at any second.
When nothing happened, Urahara looked at the younger shinigami. "Kuchiki-san, would you mind greeting our guest?"
Rukia nodded, she knew this was serious. Anything coming out of a hollow portal was rarely a good thing. Nell and his brothers were the only exception. She walked out of the store, and looked up and the hole in the sky.
The figure limped out of the portal, staggering and losing altitude with each step. He looked down at her, and mixed emotions flooded his senses. His eye-sight was almost gone – the world a land of static and fuzz. However, he recognized who it was, and smirked. She was safe, meaning everyone else was too... most likely. Once that peaceful thought passed, his eyes closed completely, and he allowed himself to fall from the sky.
Rukia's eyes widen in surprise when the figure fell from where he stood. She was also shocked to find that it was Ichigo that was falling from the sky when she recognized his reiatsu signature. Her body jerked to look behind her. "Urahara-san, it's Ichigo!"
With that, she ran to where his body had fallen. Tears began pouring down her face when she saw the state he was in. His reiatsu pulse was insanely weak, his chest wasn't moving up and down like it should, and he was bleeding enough to rival the yearly floods of the Nile River. The biggest hit to her nerves was the hole about two inches in diameter in his upper chest, which was bleeding profusely.
Urahara arrived behind her, his expression grim. He moved her out of the way, and Tessai followed after him, picking up the orange haired boy. They rushed him back to the shop, Rukia following scared half out of her mind, tears flowing down her face.
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Sorry about taking so freaking long on this chapter. I felt totally out there while writing over half of this, probably because I haven't written anything in a few months that wasn't school related. However, now that my school year has officially ended, and I have about a week and a half until I get to go to summer school I should have chapter 11 out by the end of the month (hopefully I can release it before AX... x3).
Anyways, I'll try to update faster now that I have more time to do said updates and am in a bigger writing mood. All those comments that say something along the lines of "update soon, this story is awesome!" really gave me the motivation to tell myself to stop making lame-ass excuses, and type this damned thing.
And as for the slash pairing I forewarned about in the first couple of chapters... I feel bad for doing this, but there probably won't be any. Of any kind. Due to two circumstances:
1. I can't write a good yaoi/ shonen ai to save my life
2. My dad has threatened divorce if he catches me reading or doing anything on the compie yaoi/ homosexual oriented
And I don't want to deal with either (especially the later one). So I out-right apologize for bursting any bubbles that I seem to have blown around you guys.
Thank you for tolerating my long absence from this story, and I hope that won't happen again. Regardless of how busy my summer is. (-.-")