Disclaimer: Does not own. Bleach belongs to Tite Kubo

Chapter 5

Ichigo was dead tired. His condition didn't help, nor did the activities from the night before. Activities that he wished had never taken place, and yet, at the same time his body craved for now.

He didn't want to like what Shiro had done to his body, but he did and it left him confused, and questioning his sexuality. When Shiro had raped him in his mindscape he didn't like it, didn't even feel a twinge, so he didn't question his sexuality like he was now. Before any of this happened, he hadn't really been attracted to anyone, but was fairly sure he was straight. He had just been too busy trying to protect everyone, and never had time for a relationship. That's not to say he's never been aroused, he was a fifteen year old boy after all, and he had all the hormones included in that package, he just had never really been attracted to anyone on a sexual level. At least he hadn't been until Shiro came into the picture.

Now Shiro was an enigma and a mind-fuck all rolled into one neat package. He was crass, arrogant and very possessive, especially of him. This was of course a problem for Ichigo as he wanted nothing to do with the arrancar.

Shiro was the reason the life he had just gotten used to was over, and this time it wasn't his choice. When a first major choice he had in his life came along, he had chosen to be a shinigami. He had chosen to gain his power back, when he lost them knowing there would be a lot of risk involved. Shiro came along and didn't give him a choice. He just raped him and impregnated him. He probably wouldn't have had this much of a problem if he had been given a choice. But he wasn't and he was pissed.

Pissed as he was he could admit that his initial denial of his condition wasn't the best course of action. He was a substitute shinigami, and he was still thinking in terms of the living when he shouldn't, he was dead, had died, and didn't even think about it especially since he just hoped back into his body and went on living. Half of him still wished he was in denial because things were so much simpler then, but of course things were too obvious when he was in his spirit form, and he was not a happy camper about it. On the upside at least no one could tell him he didn't understand what women had to go through.

He was fucking pregnant!

Okay, so he wasn't completely accepting of that detail, but he was a man, damn it!

A knock on his door brought him out of his dark thoughts.

"Ichi-nii, you need to get ready for school," Yuzu informed him from the corridor.

Ichigo held back a groan. Screw school, he was planning on sleeping the rest of the day, as there was no way he would be able to function during school anyway.

"I'm not feeling very well today, Yuzu. I don't think I'll be able to go to school."

"Okay, I'll tell dad. Do you want me to leave a bowl of soup in the microwave in case you get hungry later?"

Yuzu giggled at Ichigo's mumbled request for curry soup. Ichigo usually hated anything with curry in it, but Isshin had just said he was going through a phase, and being the naïve little girl she was, she believed him. Karin however was suspicious.

Although Yuzu couldn't see Ichigo he was blushing, especially since he heard her giggles. He hated cravings. They crept upon him out of nowhere, and Orihime's lunches were the only things outside his cravings he could stomach. He hated curry but it appeared that his child was demanding it.

Ichigo rolled under the covers in an attempt to go to sleep. This course of action was halted less than ten minutes later by Isshin who burst into the room in his regular idiot fashion.

"Ichigo! My darling son! My beautiful daughter has told horrible things!" Isshin wined "She has told me of you illness, and I have come to che…" Ichigo's punch stopped Isshin in his tracks.

Ichigo's glare was icy causing Isshin to quiver in fear.

"I've had a bad night old man, and while I do need to talk to you later, it can wait until I've got at least a few hours of sleep!"

Isshin knocked his son's out stretched hand to the side, taking note of the delayed reaction time, as he checked for a fever. Finding none he shrugged in relief. He had already decided he wasn't going to force Ichigo to go to school; he had too many responsibilities already, and he'd rather have his son at home anyway. He needed a break every once in a while or he really would burn out.

"I'll wake you up for lunch, and I will examine you then. You're not running a fever, but you don't look so good, so better safe than sorry."

Ichigo glared but found he couldn't argue. It was very reasonable coming from his father, and he could use that time to talk with his dad.

"Fine, for now though…"

Isshin was promptly kicked out of the room and the door slammed in his face.

"Ichigo! Don't be so mean to your loving father!"

III

Isshin was only slightly surprised when Kisuke appeared on the doorstep of his house.

"Hey, Kisuke, It's been a while," Isshin said as he invited him in. "So why have you decided to grace me with your presence?

Kisuke gave him a look, which had Isshin feeling uneasy.

"There's something you need to see and you're not going to like it." Kisuke held up a dark tape. "The camera you had me set up caught something."

"Which one?" Isshin probed, feeling his heart drop to his stomach.

"The one in his room."

The tone in his best friend's voice had Isshin dreading what was on the tape, as he directed the two of them to the living room. They popped the tape in the VCR, and made themselves comfortable on the couch. Kisuke grabbed the remote and pressed play.

The video started with Ichigo sleeping peacefully. A few seconds later a large white male, obviously an arrancar stepped through the wall. It turned its gaze to Ichigo, watching him sleep for a few moments before going over to Ichigo's desk. It opened the first drawer and popped open a hidden compartment pulling out Ichigo's soul badge.

Isshin grabbed the remote from Kisuke, pausing the tape and giving Kisuke a questioning look.

"How the hell did that arrancar know where Ichigo keeps his soul badge? I didn't even know where he keeps since the time I told him I was a shinigami."

"Keep watching. It gets worse," Isshin allowed the video to play once more. His eyes were glued to the screen as the watched the arrancar use the badge to force Ichigo's soul out of his body, somehow managing not to wake Ichigo up in the process. The arrancar gave Ichigo's forehead an almost tender kiss, before nuzzling the mating mark on Ichigo's neck, causing teen's body to shiver. Then the arrancar picked Ichigo up as if he was precious cargo, leaving Zangetsu on the bed. Then the arrancar stepped through the wall taking Ichigo with it.

This time Kisuke was the one to pause the tape.

"You've come to the same conclusion haven't you?"

Isshin nodded. "That was the arrancar that used my son's soul as a refuge. I really hate the bastards that can do that. It shouldn't be free so soon though, I expected a few more months at least, and usually hollows that can do that aren't able to let themselves be known until they leave. We never even sensed it." Isshin paused. "Let's watch the rest."

Kisuke gave a grunt of agreement, taking the remote and fast forwarding the tape till about two hours after the arrancar left, and then let the tape play normally. The arrancar stepped into the room with a now awake but catatonic Ichigo.

"I've had a bad night!" Ichigo's words from earlier ran through Isshin's head.

All evidence pointed to his son being raped again, and it made him feel useless all over again. He had his power as a shinigami back and he didn't even sense the arrancar's presence. He had felt Ichigo's spiritual pressure move, but he had assumed that Ichigo had left to deal with a low class hollow, or maybe some night training so he didn't feel helpless again. Being sleep addled and out of practice might have contributed to his weakness, but he still felt that this was somehow his entire fault.

Isshin turned his attention back to the video. The arrancar gently put his son's soul back into his body, where Ichigo curled onto himself crying. Kisuke turned the volume up as the arrancar opened a garganta in the middle of Ichigo's room.

"I wonder if I've broken you yet, Ichigo." The arrancar's watery voice was so soft that even with the sound up to full volume they could barely make out the words.

Isshin knuckles were white as Kisuke clicked off the TV.

"I need to go cool off before I do something stupid." Isshin ground out leaving Kisuke alone in the living room.

He came back a few minutes later with two bottles of sake.

"Why am I always so useless? I didn't sense anything last night. Kami, I hate this, I feel so…Fuck! Damn it all to hell!"

"Isshin, I suggest you quiet down. You don't want to wake Ichigo up now do you? Especially after what he was forced to go through last night." Kisuke hissed. Isshin felt like punching him, but held back knowing it was only the anger talking.

He took a deep breath, counted backwards from ten, than exhaled. His anger was still there beneath the surface, but was now manageable.

"I'm angry too Isshin. I hate that this is happening to him, but it's not your fault. You probably did sense it, but it feels like Ichigo. The only conclusion I can come to from that is that it ate Ichigo's inner hollow. If it did Isshin, Ichigo can never return to being a normal soul, it's only his shinigami abilities that keep him from being destroyed."

"Are you sure?" Isshin paled, the anger giving way to despair.

"No, I'm not. I've never run into a case like this, I'm not sure how the mating bond will affect Ichigo. There is also the fact that Ichigo's spiritual pressure has not changed, if anything it's growing stronger. If he's missing a part of his soul, he should be getting weaker, especially since the fetus should be taking a large portion of his energy as well. It doesn't make sense."

"He's getting stronger, even though he's pregnant, and probably missing a piece of his soul. Could it be…?" Isshin seemed to be thinking of something. Then he closed his eyes taking a good feel of his son's energy. He paled, going paper white, as he recognized something that had not been there before.

"Isshin?"

"The arrancar is attempting the forbidden bond."

Kisuke paled. "If Soul Society…"

"I know. And the arrancar has almost completed it. The bond, which ties souls together for an eternity. The bond that allows hollow and shinigami to live together without trying to kill each other and the children from such bonds are so powerful that the Central 46 ordered the total annihilation of their souls." Isshin turned to Kisuke. "Ichigo has to disappear before anyone from the Soul Society finds out. None of the new blood knows of the incidents of three thousand years ago, but I doubt the old ones will allow it to happen again. They will completely destroy my son and my grandchild if this gets out. Kisuke, can you move up our plans? Ichigo needs to disappear, now."

"I'm going to try. How did you identify it? The bond?"

"It was the reason I left the Soul Society. I have never forgiven myself for that. The couple that I had to destroy had a son, you know him as Sousuke Aizen. Except both his parents were shinigami. They managed it accidentally, they hadn't even known the bond they had was illegal. I was supposed to kill Aizen too, but I couldn't kill an innocent babe, so instead I hid him away and said I killed him." Isshin said his tone full of regret.

"Do you think he knows, and that is why he betrayed the Soul Society?" Kisuke questioned.

"No, I think he just hates the Soul Society like we do. Unfortunately we understand that the Soul Society is necessary, that the shinigami are necessary no matter how much we hate it and their hypocritical ways." Isshin paused. "I would even say his cause is noble, but he just went about it the wrong way."

"In some ways I agree. I saw the Soul Society's corruption for myself a hundred years ago, but in others, well I don't really care, as long as their politics stay within the Soul Society. Even now I only help them for the benefit of Karakura Town."

"Looks like, in the end, we are the same as Aizen. We just took a less violent route, and have none of his desires."

Kisuke smirked, raising one of the forgotten sake bottles and taking a drink. "Heh, it appears so."

III

Aizen sat in the throne room his eyes focused on Orihime's terrified form. The arrancars were watching her too, many whispering among themselves as they wondered why the human girl was in Hueco Mundo and not yet hollow food.

"Welcome, Orihime-san, how do you like Las Noches? It's a grand palace, don't you agree?"

Orihime gave a weak smile in an attempt to hide her fear. "It a lovely place, Aizen-sama. I'm happy to join your cause."

"If that is true then you will have no problem demonstrating your power, Orihime-san." Aizen smiled coldly at her. "Grimmjow. If you will step forward, Orihime-san will restore your arm. I'm sure you would like it back."

Luppi the current Sexta Espada hissed in disbelief. "You can't heal what isn't there."

Orihime ignored the hiss holding her hands over the stump of Grimmjow's arm. "Sōten Kisshun: I reject."

Luppi watched in horror as Grimmjow's arm reformed under Orihime's shield.

"That's not possible! No mere human could possibly do that."

"Orihime-san power isn't merely healing. No, her power is event rejection, a power that reaches into God's territory." Aizen informed the room almost lazily.

"Hey, woman, heal this too." Grimmjow indicated a scar on his back with his newly restored arm.

Orihime took a deep breath and healed the scar revealing a gothic number '6'.

"No, no, no, no! I am the Sexta Espada now! Your time is over!" Luppi yelled at Grimmjow who was charging up a cero.

"Yeah, about that you're in my way so…Die!"

Luppi's top half was completely obliterated by the cero.

"I am once again the Sexta Espada!" Grimmjow cackled.

Orihime took a step back in fear.

"Ulquiorra please escort Orihime-san to her new room…"

Boom!

Aizen turned his gaze to the door that had just been blown open. A figure in white stood in the doorway cackling over Baraggan's corpse.

"Oops, I seem to have killed him. I wanted him to suffer much longer. Ke ke ke." The arrancar said right before eating Baraggan.

"And who are you Arrancar-san? This is a private meeting. I must wonder why you've interrupted." Aizen questioned politely completely ignoring his dead Segunda Espada, and the destroyed door.

"Oh? Me? Many here already know me, and you should too, after all that's my throne you're sitting on."

III

And that's a rap.

So I've finally finished, I'm so proud of myself considering the fact that I'm ignoring a towering pile of home work to write out this. He he.

Well hope you all enjoyed.