Previously in New Yells from Hell: Rukia encourages Kazui to open up, and discusses his issue with Ichigo and Akon. Ukitake reunites with Yamamoto and Unohana, while Yachiru gains new (old) playmates.
New Yells from Hell
A Bleach Fanfic by
Nate Grey (xman0123-at-aol-dot-com)
Chapter 3: Playing Tag with Yam-Yam
Kazui was not asleep when he heard the door open, and smelled the floral shampoo that he would forever associate with his mother. Even so, he buried his face into the pillow, and pretended to be asleep.
It didn't work. Either because she'd seen him move, she simply knew better, or she'd been spying on him via her fairies again. Which he didn't mind so much anymore because, if he truly wanted to avoid that, he knew several ways to do so. None of which he would waste when he didn't actually need to. And, more importantly, in the moment, he could not imagine anything that would make the situation worse, than her not knowing where he was and being unable to find him.
Her fingers slid gently through his hair, and he allowed himself to enjoy the familiar sensation.
"When you're ready," she murmured in his ear, "you can tell me all about it."
"I don't wanna go to Hell," he said immediately, rolling over to stare up at her.
She blinked. "Why would you even think-?"
"I don't mean for being bad. I mean for being too strong."
"Ah." She hesitated, then sat down on the bed and gathered him up in her arms. "Do you really think we'd let that happen to you?"
Kazui buried his face in her shoulder. "I'm not sure you'd get a say in it. And, no offense, but you'd probably be... old when it happened."
She laughed. "Thank you for not saying that I am now."
He was not amused. "Anyway, you guys trying to stop it would make things worse."
"How do you figure that?"
"Because then they'd know how strong we all are, and they'd want all three of us in Hell."
"And what makes you think that they don't already know?"
Kazui stared at her. "What?"
"Kazui, your father has been to Hell before. It went... not well, but he had a very good reason, and he came back largely unharmed. They know exactly how strong he was at the time. He's only gotten stronger since then, and he's still here with us."
"But... when he dies-"
"Are you a prophet?" she asked sternly. "Do you know when that day will be?"
"No," he admitted softly.
"Are you so sure you'll die before us?"
"No!"
"Then, Kazui, why are you so worried about this? And if there was something to worry about, why are you so sure that we haven't given any thought to it?"
"Because... you don't... seem like the type of parents that would know anything about Hell."
She poked his forehead. "And you don't seem like the type of kid that should assume he's going to end up there. So maybe you should stop assuming things. Just so you know, if you were sent to Hell, we would come and find you."
"I don't want that!" he cried, clutching her arms.
"Of course you don't, you keep saying that you don't."
"No, I meant if I get sent there, the last thing I'd want is you two coming after me!"
She frowned at him. "That is the second time you've assumed you're dying before us, and I don't much care for it, young man. Are you so sure we wouldn't already be there?"
"I don't want that, either!"
"Then I guess, you had better not die. And we'll agree to do the same."
Kazui stared at her. "It can't be that easy."
She smiled. "You might be surprised. Do I need to bring out my scrapbook again?"
"You mean the list of people who you saved from death?"
"If you mean the list of people who actually did die, but they're somehow alive right now, and would blame me for that, then: yes. Which is my point entirely."
Much to Rukia's annoyance, Ichigo had been exactly right. Orihime was able to get the entire truth out of Kazui in less than an hour. And it was less that he had been keeping it from them at all, and more that he'd understood that sharing the knowledge might not exactly inspire comfort.
Orihime shared the details over dinner, which gave the perfect excuse for Rukia and Akon to stay longer than they'd planned to.
"Just so I'm clear on this," Rukia murmured, staring into her mug of coffee. "Kazui has never actually set foot into Hell."
"No," Orihime confirmed.
"And Captain Unohana has never fully emerged from Hell since she ended up there."
"Also no."
"But they have still managed to communicate extensively, mainly through-"
"Yachiru. No, I haven't seen her since she vanished, but Kazui apparently has, all the time." Orihime paused, sadly. "I wish she would have stopped by to say hello. I miss her."
"And Kazui doesn't know how Yachiru does this?"
"She always has a hell butterfly with her now, so I assume it's related to that."
Rukia sighed. "I suppose if this venture has a former Captain's approval..."
"Current," Orihime corrected. "It's my understanding that none of them ever retired."
Rukia stared at her. "Orihime, they gave their lives in service to-"
"They still appear to be in that service, from my perspective. I don't think there's anything former about them, until they say differently. Ichigo is right, you need to ask. If, as you claim, they're no longer official, then you need to make sure their goals still align with Soul Society's. But I'm sure they do."
"How can you be sure?"
Orihime smiled. "Because when Yachiru met Kazui, she introduced herself as the sole lieutenant of Squad Negative One."
"The important thing to keep in mind," Unohana said as they walked, "is that we're already dead. We will revive endlessly, and there are precious few wounds that would carry over through a resurrection. But nearly every creature that could inflict such a wound can be found here. So anything truly bad that happens to you here, has the potential to last for a very long time."
He understood the warning without needing further explanation. From what she had told him already, the strongest Hollows currently in Hell were largely the Espada, with nothing but time to relive their grudges for eternity. It would be shocking if they weren't obsessed with revenge. Or if they took the time to distinguish between the specific shinigami they hated, and any other shinigami they encountered. The odds of actually finding the very ones they passionately hated was slim, so it was a choice of either blind hatred or total unsatisfaction.
He had only seen the other Captains from a distance, so far. To no great surprise, they largely ignored him, and acknowledged only the old man and Unohana. At first, he chalked this up to simple disinterest, but now he knew better.
The unrestrained feel of their power as it constantly clashed with everything around them. The obvious malice in their eyes.
Hell had not made them that way.
Hell had been made for those like them, because they were already that way. It was the only place that could hope to contain them, now. They were the reason that every Captain was doomed to Hell. And there was no point being upset about it, because he wouldn't want them roaming endlessly anywhere else.
He glanced at Unohana, prepared to ask a question, but the words turned to ash in his throat, and then he was coughing violently, blackish blood spraying from his mouth and splattering the ground before him.
Her fingers closed swiftly around his neck, and her dead gaze held him in place as the pain dimmed. His throat was still too raw, but she accepted the gratitude in his eyes.
"I should have warned you," she said. It was not an apology. Not here. Certainly, if they had still been in the Seireitei. But not here.
He shook his head. "I expected some irritation. I can-"
"Live with it?" There was no humor in her tone, but she still seemed amused. "The situation is different here, Ukitake. You housed a god in your body for your entire life. This is no place for someone with traces of a divine entity in them. You were destined to have that cough, it seems, no matter the place."
"I can't argue with that. Is that why the old man sent me out with you?"
"Most likely. I don't mind the company. But you will need to adjust. I have no intention of changing my routine for anyone's sake."
"Which is what?"
The look in her eyes reminded him. She was one of them. A founding Captain, who was destined for this place. More so than him, or so he thought at the time.
"Hunting." She paused. "But first, we need to occupy the children."
He blinked. "Who-?"
"Yachiru."
Even before she finished speaking, the pink-haired girl was at her side, staring up at her attentively.
"Go and play. Take the twins with you."
Yachiru didn't move.
Unohana frowned at her. "What is it?"
"Minazuki wants to play, too."
There was a long moment, in which the two stared at each other. He could feel their enormous wills clashing in the extended silence. A lesser man would have wet himself, he was certain.
Finally, Unohana sighed. "Very well."
Yachiru beamed. "Thank you, Re-chan!" She vanished at once.
"Do I need to know what that was about?" he asked.
"I thought you would have realized. There is no need to restrain your zanpakuto spirit here. Some still do, out of habit, but there is no need. And in fact, restraint is unwise. The ambushes are frequent, brutal, and swift. It's better to have the spirits constantly released. Yachiru has a way with them." She paused, watching him.
"Is this the part where I should say it would be odd if she didn't?"
"I wasn't sure who Yamamoto told, or who figured it out, but I assumed most Captains were aware."
"Do you often leave Minazuki with her?"
"Not often. Which, she claims, is why the playtime is even more vital."
"You think she's lying?"
Unohana shook her head. "I know she exaggerates. But I also know why she does."
He was the most feared Espada in Hell. That was as it should have always been.
With one swipe, he could split the landscape for miles.
None of the others dared to challenge him. Or they didn't try, anyway. Most of them didn't seem to want the attention that he got. But that was fine.
Hell belonged entirely to him, and no one could claim any different.
Every being he encountered feared him.
Except for her.
"YAM-YAM! I came to play again!"
"Screw off, you pink gnat!" he roared, aiming a punch at her and missing by a mile.
"You're so slow!" Yachiru laughed, appearing on his extended arm and beaming at him. "Punishment time!"
He howled in outrage as she plunged her zanpakuto into his arm, yanked it back out, and vanished, all before he could even think to attack a second time. It didn't hurt, it couldn't possibly, not with the enormous size difference. But the very idea that she could hit him, and that he couldn't hit her in return... it drove him mad. And rage only made him stronger. And larger. And, consequently, slower. And what good was any of that, if he still couldn't hit her?
"I'LL KILL YOU!" he swore. "ONE DAY I SWEAR I WILL!"
"Not without help," Yachiru assured him. "Oh, that reminds me! I brought friends!" She shouted over her shoulder. "Minazuki! Mimi-chan! Hagi-kun! Your turn now!"
He turned, only to get covered in a crimson liquid that instantly began to burn him, although it was hard to say if the worst burning was due to that, or the repeated lightning strikes that followed.
His wish changed entirely then.
"KILL ME ALREADY!"
Yachiru giggled. "Why would we do that? Who would we play with if you ever got away from us, Yam-Yam? Don't be stupid! But I guess you can't really help that."
In the deepest parts of Hell, the names of the most feared occupants are kept alive eternally, passed on in whispers and curses.
Yachiru was one of the few that tried to come up with her own nickname, hoping it would catch on. It did not, though not for lack of her trying. Her desired nickname was simply too confusing.
"Triple Beast Yachiru" would never work, because no one ever realized she was meant to be the third beast. In part because, quite honestly, they all saw her as more a monster than a beast.
But she definitely had a nickname, even though she was totally unaware of it. And the Espada, the ones who came up with it, would certainly never tell her, for fear of how she might react. She would likely pick on them even more than she already did, trying to live up to it.
That was legend of "Espada Hunter Yachiru", and it was only growing more fantastic and horrible by the day.
Continued in Chapter 4: Looking for Lily-chan
Ichika tries stalking her prey. Kazui visits his doctor.
Theory 3: All Espada are Hell-bound.
Actually has very little to do with most of them being "evil", although that surely helps. No, it's more the being too strong qualifier that would doom them. And I have an idea that at least one would choose that fate, for reasons. But they should have even less options than shinigami. If you don't want to go to Hell, you have to be strong enough not to die... which surely dooms you to Hell. Sucks to be them.
One thing I like about Brave Souls, as a fan, is when game mechanics reinforce story elements. One thing I like less, is when they don't. I have been trying to come up with a reason for why the TYBW Yachiru targets Espada, considering she's never actually fought any, and certainly wouldn't be doing so at that point in the series. But I finally found an answer: so I could write a fanfic explaining why she does.