AN: I don't really have much to say about this one, other than possible Karin and Toshiro relationship down the line. And this takes place when Ichigo and Orihime are 21- Yuzu, Karin are 17- Keigo also 21, just to clear up any confusion as to when it takes place. So two years after the whole situation with fullbringers, is when Orihime died, now is two years after that
Ichigo wants to start helping Koko with her hollow, by taking her somewhere that if she does lose control, nobody near Rukongai will be hurt.
"I know you don't want a big invention, which is why I'm giving you this!" Urahara was grinning like a child behind his fan. He gave Ichigo a box with the invention. "Open it! You'll love it!" by now his eyes were wide as a child's on Christmas morning. Ichigo opened to box and immediately shot a glare at Urahara who was giggling.
"I hate you…so much. This better be a damn joke!" in the box was a pink arm guard the started at the fore arm and went down to the fingers, with a picture of a garganta and a lollipop.
"Nope! It's the Portable Urahara Portal Maker! What? Do you knot like it?" Urahara had a fake frown on his face.
"Make it a different color and lose the lollipop then I'll wear it." Ichigo had thrown it at him nailing him in the face.
"Fine…one second…" Urahara turned his back on Ichigo and started doing something with another thing he pulled form his pocket. "Here! I hope you like it, I won't change it again." He handed the guard back to Ichigo and it was an obnoxious orange. "Get it, because your hair is orange!"
"It's better…thank you anyway." Ichigo put the guard on his left arm so as to cover most of the claw. He started poking it and got frustrated. "How do you work this thing?!"
"Calm down, hold your hand out, point two fingers forward and turn them to the right." Urahara demonstrated but of course nothing happened. Then Ichigo tried and a garganta opened with that weird sound, which attracted the attention of some people.
"Now how do I close it?"
"Same thing, but to the left." Ichigo did as instructed and it closed. He was approached by his father and Rangiku.
"Ichigo there was a garganta next to you…" Rangiku had pointed out the obvious which made Urahara sigh.
"Yes, and? I need to go to Hueco Mundo for something. Is that a problem?" Ichigo turned to Rangiku who shook her head.
"Ichigo, why do you need to go to Hueco Mundo right before your wedding?" Isshin sounded concerned. "And shouldn't you be trying to find who killed Tatsuki?"
"I already know who did it. Have you seen my barracks in the past day? They're gone because I had to make sure the one who killed her did not survive."
"What the hell!? What did you do to make this happen?!" Isshin had looked past Ichigo and saw that only a few walls were still standing.
"Hado 91."
"I won't ask why he deserved that death, carry on." Isshin kept walking with Rangiku and Ichigo saw out of the corner of his eye, his dad grabbed Rangiku's ass, and he cringed a little.
"Well, Urahara. I'll be going now. Thank you for this…whatever you called it." Ichigo turned and made his way to the cave where Koko was.
…
"One more time, I have to regain control faster this time…Almost made it out of the cave last time…" Koko said to herself as she stood there without her altered appearance but still in her Shikai, which she found out that when she released her Shikai without its command the hollow partially took control of her, the hollow constantly draining her power when she was in Shikai in an attempt to get out.
"Ah…are you trying to control me again!? You foolish girl, I own this body!" Her voice changed to that demonic voice that echoed in her head constantly. A mask started to form from nowhere it completely covered her face, and then some of it dissolved to form eye holes in the shape of diamonds. And three red stripes crossed the area where the mouth should be, but was missing.
'This is my body! You are in my soul! You will obey me and let me control you!' Koko screamed at the hollow inside her.
"I don't think so, this is my body now! I need to get out of this damned cave!" Her voice echoed throughout the cave. Ichigo was walking into the cave when he heard it, so he decided to wait in the mouth of the cave.
'I will make you submit!' Koko was fighting the hollow in her inner world.
"Bitch, I will never submit, I am much more powerful than you could ever be!" The hollowfied Koko had made it to the mouth of the cave when she said this. She looked up when she heard a voice.
"You know…My hollow said the same thing to me, and he submit to me. I'm sure Koko will get you to listen." Ichigo was standing in the mouth of the cave and smirking.
"You're that damn father of hers that she keeps going on about! I'll just kill you to assert my dominance over her!" She charged at Ichigo only to lose sight of him. He was behind her.
"It's a couple hundred years to soon for a hollow struggling for control of a body they inhabit…to even touch me." He thrust his bone claw at her face. He shattered the mask stopping just short of her face. Her silver eyes reverted back to the normal colors. Her eyes started to water when she realized what happened.
"Dad…Thank you! She would have gone out and killed someone if it wasn't for you!" she pulled into him and held him tight, tears streaming down her face.
"It's okay, Koko…I won't let anything hurt you…even if it's something in your head." He sent a hell butterfly to Orihime telling her to take care of the squad; he will be back before the wedding. He opened the garganta and pulled Koko though.
…
"Whoa, this place is so cool!" Koko was staring at random things. The occasional small hollow that would run in the distance. She noticed a giant dome in the distance.
"What is that? The giant dome over there?"
"Las Noches, Aizen's castle where he held Orihime captive. I'm sure I told you that story, right?" Ichigo had a bothered look on his face. "But either way, we're here for a reason, get on my back." He kneeled down and got on his back. He stood up and flash stepped to Las Noches. They arrived in about four hours.
"I still can't get over how fast you are…and this place is huge!" She was looking straight up. Ichigo held out his hand for her to take, but she just stood there in shock, she hadn't noticed the claw before. "What…is that? What happened to your hand?"
"Right…you weren't there…I had to blow up our barracks earlier to kill a very dangerous person. Mitezu was not who you thought he was. He was the one who killed Orihime to begin with. And I blew up my hand in an attempt to kill him…" he continued and explained it as he grabbed her and jumped up to the canopy of the castle.
"What the hell happened here? Everything is nearly blown up and destroyed."
"It was my fight to save Orihime. Ulquiorra Schiffer was the fourth espada and the one who had to watch her…anyway, let your hollow out." Ichigo had started to ruffle her hair, but she didn't do anything, for she was too busy imaging what kind of fight had to go down for this kind of carnage to happen. "Koko, let you hollow out, you need to…Hold on…there's someone really powerful near us." Ichigo was looking around then his eyes fell on the hole in the canopy and someone shot up out of it. It was a tall dark skinned blonde woman with green eyes.
"Who are you? State your business here." She spoke to Ichigo while staring at his hand.
"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki, captain of squad five of the Thirteen Court Gaud Squads. This girl next to me is Koko Kurosaki, third seat of squad five. She is part hollow, and I am a Hybrid. We wish only to gain control of the hollow inside her soul. I will not pursue you, and I hope you would do the same." Ichigo tried to be respectful as possible to the woman, as to not get in a fight. He held up his hands to show he meant no harm.
"My name is Tier Harribel former Tres Espada. I've heard of you Kurosaki, you are the one who killed Aizen, and even though I served him, I am grateful to you. Follow me." She turned and jumped down into the hole and Ichigo grabbed Koko and followed the tall woman into the hole.
…
She eventually led him to the throne room where her three fraccion were sitting around. They jumped up at the sight of Ichigo following Tier with his hand resting on his zanpakuto. The three charged him only for him to dodge each of their attacks, he told Koko to stay where she was, he eventually grabbed one of them and broke her arm, making the others stop as his hand moved to her throat.
"Enough! Mila Rose, Apacci, Sung-Sun…leave him alone, you cannot hurt him that easily and plus, he is a guest." The women he had by the throat stopped struggling and he let her go and apologized.
"I'm sorry for being so rough with you ladies, I didn't want to hurt you too badly, sorry for breaking your arm." He was scratching the back of his head not knowing how to apologize for breaking someone's arm. "Excuse me, what do I call you all?"
"You can call me Tier, they are Mila Rose, Apacci, and Sung-Sun." she pointed to each of them while she named them off.
"Sorry for breaking your arm Sung-Sun." he apologized to her properly this time.
"He is nice…where did you find him?" Sung-Sun jumped back up to where she was sitting earlier.
"I found him with that girl on the canopy. He's a Hybrid and she has a hollow in her soul, or something along the lines of that, he wants to help her control it." Tier had explained as she jumped up and sat in the throne with her legs crossed and she unzipped her jacket to reveal the bones covering her breast and mouth. "Apacci! Stop glaring at him…he means no harm, and is respectful. If you wish to still fight him, you should reconsider. He is the one who killed Aizen." When Tier said that Ichigo killed Aizen, Apacci collected her posture, thanked him and went and sat with the other two.
"Umm, dad…Why did she bring us in here?" Koko whispered to Ichigo who just shrugged.
"Tier, why did you bring us in here? I understand that you are grateful for me killing Aizen..." Ichigo spoke up to the blonde woman who just jumped down to him grabbed his hand and pulled him away, telling Koko to follow aswell.
"There is someone who also stays here with me and those three. She talks about you constantly, other than me wanting to thank you…I brought you here for her to meet you. I felt a massive spiritual pressure a couple hours ago, I went searching for it but couldn't find it, then it appeared on top of my castle. And it was you and your…daughter?"
"Yes, she is my daughter, who is it that wants to see me?" Ichigo was scratching his head as to try and remember who would want to see him.
"Her name is..." she was interrupted by a voice that called from the throne room.
"I'm back!" the voice belonged to what sounded like a young girl.
"Oh that's her, come on but wait outside the room." She led him back to the throne room and pulled Koko in with her talking softly telling her it will be okay. Ichigo thought to himself that the former espada was a lot kinder than she appeared when they met.
"Tier where are you?" the girl was calling from the throne room.
"Right here! Did you kill that one yet?"
"Yes but…who is that? A Shinigami…she's so cute! Where did you find her?" The girl ran over to them and knelt down to introduce herself. "You can call me Nel, okay?" The girl asked with a smile and Koko just nodded.
"Her name is Koko Kurosaki. I found her on the canopy, she is part hollow." When Tier introduced her, Nel stood up and her eyes went wide.
"Kurosaki…part hollow…Is she Ichigo's daughter?" Nel's voice was shaking.
"Mr. Hybrid would you come out please!" As she called to Ichigo, Nel's hands clapped together in hopes that it would be Ichigo.
"Tier, I would prefer that you called me Ichigo, I missed you Nel. I see you can stay in that form now." Ichigo walked up and hugged Nel, she was shaking with excitement.
"I wanted to see you so much! I thought you forgot about me…I was so lonely, for so long, then Tier found me and brought me back here with her, they treated me like family…" she was in tears and couldn't continue speaking. She was in her espada uniform with her sword at her side.
"What happened to the other two, your family?" Ichigo rubbed her back to soothe her.
"They died." She didn't want to go into more detail. So she just held Ichigo for a little while longer. When she let go, she noticed what happened to his hand. "What did you do to your hand, and why did Tier call you Mr. Hybrid?"
"I blew my hand off in a fight and it regenerated like this. And I didn't show her this, but I said I was Hybrid. Watch." Ichigo held his arms out and they turned to that of a hollows and part of the skull mask formed over the now black eye. "I might as well stay like this while we're here, to fit in." Nel looked confused since his mask that he always wore was replaced with a skull and a horn.
"Wait, if Koko is your daughter then that means…you and Orihime…"
"No, I adopted her and me and Orihime didn't do that. But I am marrying her in three days."
"What!? Can I come!?" Her eyes lit up at the thought of them together.
"I'm sorry, no. The other captains are fine with me, they don't know Koko is part hollow, and they would probably flip out if I brought an espada into my wedding. Maybe if you wear a hood, I could probably sneak you in…but when they find you, and they will, they will either kill you on sight or completely accept you, I expect they would kill you sooner than remotely allowing you to stay."
"I'll take that chance…I'm sure there is something I can find around here to use as a hood…"
…
"Alright Koko, I'm going to knock you unconscious, and you are going to face your hollow in your inner world. Your hollow will also become more and more manifested, changing your body, and fighting me for probably an hour, or less. If it gets too long, I can't help you, all I can do is keep the hollow occupied so you don't go and get killed, or kill one of them…" Ichigo explained this and pointed to the four women sitting up near the throne watching them, Ichigo asked Tier to lead them back out to the canopy and she did, followed by the other three. They eventually got back to the canopy and the four took a seat on top of one of the pillars, Nel had Ichigo's coat.
"I can do this! Let's go! Just try not to make it painful when you knock me out." She said as she stared Ichigo in the eyes who just smilled.
"You won't feel a thing…" He lifted his hand and grabbed the top of her head, there was a flash of light and she fell over. Ichigo jumped back a bit and waited. Her body started to twitch and that evil voice was heard growling.
"Where did you leave me this time bitch…?" The hollow started looking around and her metallic eyes fell of Ichigo, who had his swords drawn.
"Welcome to Hueco Mundo, Koko and I are going to tame you, shall we begin?" He charged down the masked girl slashing one sword after another, not giving anytime to counter, he continued this pace for a few minutes until the hollow let out a shriek and a hole formed on her neck with all that white material coming out of it covering her arms in spikes of what resembled scales. She shot at Ichigo with much more speed than before, catching him off guard and cutting his arm. He tried to slash like he had been before but the hollow was too fast for what he was doing. He flipped one of the swords around and slammed the hilt into her stomach sending her back. She started growling and raised her right arm after dropping the zanpakuto, and charged a bright green Cero, she shot it at Ichigo who brought up Enkosen, which he should have said the vocal component because it broke right through the kido and hit him in the face.
"Ichigo seems to be having trouble with her." Tier said, seemingly enjoying the show.
"He doesn't want to seriously hurt his daughter. He hasn't even released his Shikai. He's far from fighting with intent to kill. Which is probably a very hard thing to defend against." Nel responded noticing he isn't using anything to powerful.
"Come on Koko, don't let her devour you, devour her." Ichigo remembered hearing Shinji say that, so he thought it might be relevant here. He continued to dodge the hollow girl's attacks and he didn't notice when the rest of the skull had formed and now had both horns. By the time he noticed the new addition to his transformation. Koko had fully transformed and 40 minutes had passed. She had been covered in white scale like spikes. Her mask was no longer smooth, it was pointed at the bottom, square at the top, and very sharp teeth. She had two long flat tails around ten feet long each and had bat like wings, her left arm turned into a lance and had her zanpakuto in the right hand, her feet turned into talons. She started flying and shot multiple Cero's at Ichigo, a few of them hit him and she flew at him cutting him up for she had gotten much faster, but the strength was still the same it felt.
"This is getting interesting. I hope they don't end up killing each other, I was starting to like him." Sung-Sun mentioned at the others when the bat like hollow girl fired a bunch of Cero's.
"That would be too bad, but he hasn't released his zanpakuto yet, which means he isn't in trouble." Tier replied to her fraccion.
"Dammit Koko, finish this. Finish this for me! Come back to your father! So we can go back to Orihime and be a happy family!" Once Ichigo finished yelling at the hollow its face cracked a bit, and it flew back and started screaming. Its wings dissolved and it slowly started to walk forward, its white bone covering started chipping away…eventually Koko was standing there with her mask. The original one, smooth skull with no mouth and three pink lines where the mouth should have been, and metallic silver eyes.
"So…I hope I didn't give you too much trouble…" Koko removed her mask and it melted away in her hand. "Sorry for making you take me to such a place. And you have a complete skull now…"
"I noticed. Don't be sorry, I was going to help you with this either way. You decided to go hide in a cave…but never mind that, I met four interesting people who aren't trying to kill me for once." Ichigo grabbed her hand and let her on his back and jumped up to the four watching.
"Ichigo that was something I've never seen before how did you know that would work?" Tier asked with a raised eyebrow.
"I didn't." Ichigo laughed and then Nel tackled him.
"So…When are we going?" Nel asked with a small smile.
"I actually want to ask before I bring a former Espada into an area with a bunch of captains. So I'll be back today or tomorrow with the answer, they shouldn't mind since I'm basically a hollow…" Ichigo let go of Nel then turned to Tier. "Tier, thank you for being kind and letting us train uninterrupted, I would love to come back sometime and fight you." His arms and head reverted back leaving just the claw.
"Ichigo, I look forward to it, and tell that…what was his name…Hitsugaya, no hard feelings, okay?"
"He will probably try to kill me for hanging around some espada, but I'll tell him…" Ichigo opened a garganta and took Koko through it...
…
The garganta opened above the remains of the fifth squad barracks, Byakuya was out doing something when he saw it and went up there to see what was going on, and with his sword drawn he stood waiting to see what would come out. Ichigo and Koko walked out and it shut behind them. Byakuya sheathed his sword.
"Captain Kurosaki. Do you mind telling me why you came out of a garganta?" Byakuya had kept his hand on the hilt just because he didn't trust the occurrence.
"I took Koko to Hueco Mundo for certain training without any risk to anyone around her." Ichigo decided to leave out the part about the espada.
"Very well, I won't pursue the cause." And with that he flash stepped away.
"Koko, go find Orihime, I need to talk with Shunsui."
…
"I don't think that would be a good idea, Ichigo…" Shunsui was reluctant to agree with Ichigo this time.
"Oh come on, she might have been one of the third espada, but she hated Aizen and the other third espada is passive and thankful for me killing Aizen aswell. But she doesn't want to come, she's content there. And plus, I'm more than capable of watching two hollows, Koko and Nel. Nel just likes to read, give her a book and she'll sit in a corner for hours and read it, and be happy." Ichigo tried one last argument to get Shunsui to agree.
"Ichigo, fine, but if anyone attacks her, it's up to you to stop them, I won't do anything. Your barracks are still gone, but we set up some tents for your squad, and you will stay with Retsu, along with Orihime, Koko, and the former espada. I can't believe I'm agreeing with this, but you're digging your own grave here."
"Thank you Shunsui, I owe her a lot anyway, she saved my life once, from the fifth espada. I'll watch her closely if that is what you want."
"Bring her here to me, I don't suppose you could open a garganta in here instead of your barracks, don't want that many people to know yet." Shunsui tipped his hat to look Ichigo in the eye. Ichigo nodded and opened a garganta which surprised Shunsui by how easily it opened. Ichigo stepped through and about twenty minutes later, it took much less time because he opened the garganta in the throne room, he came back with both of the espada.
"I thought you said there was only one…" Shunsui was eying Tier like she was a nice steak.
"Captain Commander Kyoraku, my name is Tier Harribel, former Tres Espada, I am here to extend my thanks for ending Aizen's rule. I will not linger, but please take care of Nel. I expect to see her back in a few days. Oh, if it isn't too much trouble, express my sorrow to captain Hitsugaya, I did not want to fight him. Thank you." She opened up her own garganta and stepped back through.
"I guess she's okay…and I guess this means you're Nel that Ichigo bothered me so much to get you here. My name is Shunsui Kyoraku, pleased to meet you." He took off his hat to be polite and she just gave a small smile.
"Yes, I'm Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, but you can call me Nel, I used to be a Tres Espada…" She introduced herself and explained why she wasn't an espada in the war. "I don't like fighting, and Ichigo said that most of the captains won't accept me because I'm an arrancar…"
"I just told Ichigo that the other captains wouldn't like it, only one of them would really care, he's done so much for us as a hollow…and Koko, I assume can control it now."
"Yes, she managed…Now, can we go? I want to go see if there is something salvageable from my barracks." Ichigo motioned to the door and Shunsui let them go.
…
Ichigo was walking with Nel towards the rubble that was his barracks. There were the occasional group of Shinigami that drew their zanpakuto when they saw her, but put them away when Ichigo held his hand up to tell them to stop. Then they ran over and apologized for threatening his friend, now most of the lower rank Shinigami were afraid of him since they heard he blew up his barracks to kill a squad member. When he got to his barracks all of his squad members were just standing around taking a break from cleaning and talking. Ichigo walked over the rubble to where his office was, and started digging around. Nel was a bit behind him looking at him, and a couple of his squad members didn't know about her yet and came charging at her and attacked her. She noticed and kept dodging the attacks.
"Ichigo! Tell them to leave me alone, I don't want to hurt them!" Nel complained as she dodged.
"Would you three go away? She's my friend and doesn't like fighting, so unless you want to fight me, stop bothering her." Ichigo turned around and walked up to them with a few books in his hands, some slightly burned. "Tell the squad that they are not to attack her, we have to go somewhere." Ichigo took Nel's hand and dragged her away from the barracks towards squad four. "Here. These are books from the world of the living that I brought a while ago, I already read them so you can have them." Ichigo handed her the books and she gave a big smile.
"Thank you! I love reading…" she continued going on about books and authors that she had heard of and Ichigo had to fend off the frequent attacks, then they stopped altogether because Shunsui sent out word that they are to leave the arrancar girl alone. They came to the squad four barracks and there weren't many people in the halls since it was around seven or eight. He took her to Retsu's office and knocked.
"Come in Ichigo." She called from the other side.
"How did she know it was you?" Nel whispered to him. Ichigo just shrugged.
"Hello Retsu, I want to introduce you to Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, she will be attending the wedding, I'm sure you were filled in on who she is." Ichigo pulled Nel from behind him and put her in front of Retsu.
"Hello Ichigo, and hello Nelliel, I've been told yes, I'm sure she will like it here, not many people will attack her here. Nelliel, you can call me Unohana if you want." Retsu had her smile on which made Nel smile.
"Unohana-san, thank you for being nice to me, and not attacking me like most of the people who saw me did. Also if you want, you can call me Nel! And make sure Ichigo doesn't do anything bad with you behind Orihime's back, you're very pretty!" Ichigo's eye twitched when she said this and her clapped his hand over her mouth, Unohana's eyes widened and her face turned a little red.
"Nel, I appreciate the complement but Ichigo and I are just friends. Right. Ichigo." She turned to Ichigo and spoke slowly; she seemed to be glaring at him under that happy face she wore.
"Ye-yes, she's just my friend! Nel, why don't you go read one of the books! Retsu, is Orihime here?" Ichigo spoke nervously, no matter how much time he spent around Unohana she was still a scary woman.
"Yes she's here, I'll take you to her. She's with the other three." Unohana had got up and led them down the halls into a room where the four of them were waiting and she went back to her office. Ichigo went in and greeted everyone, Orihime had a smile on her face even though Tatsuki was just killed, she was good at hiding her emotions when around other people, but when she was alone with Ichigo, he made the emotions fly out. He sat down and noticed Nel didn't follow him in.
"Come on in! They are friendly!" Ichigo called out the door only to get some mumbled reply. "Be right back…" Ichigo got up and went out the door and pulled her in behind him.
"Everyone, this is Nel, a very good friend." Ichigo introduced her to them and Keigo jumped up.
"Ichigo! She's so cute! Why do you still bring cute girls to taunt me!?" Keigo cried to Ichigo and Nel moved behind him slightly.
"Nel-chan!" Orihime jumped up and pushed Keigo aside and grabbed her into a huge hug which she returned. After the two finished their greetings they talked and Nel read one of the books Ichigo gave her. After a while of hanging around they dispersed to separate rooms, Keigo alone, Yuzu, Karin, Nel sharing a room, Ichigo and Orihime sharing a room.
"Orihime who is the Maid of Honor now?" Ichigo asked as he played with her hair while she sat on his lap.
"I asked Rukia and she said yes, so I replaced her with Rangiku as a bridesmaid." She closed her eyes and leaned back against Ichigo.
"That's nice. Hey, do you…eventually… want to have children?"
"Yes, I want two…So they won't be lonely." She spoke with a smile, but Ichigo couldn't see it.
"I hope we have a boy and a girl, so the boy can protect the girl from all the boys who want to get with the girl as pretty as her mother." By now they were laying down with arms around each other.
"That's a good thought…But, is pregnancy the same here?" Orihime closed her eyes and pulled closer to Ichigo.
"I guess we'll find out…who do we know that had a kid…Nobody I think…I'll ask Jushiro tomorrow."
"All right…I'm tired, going to sleep, I love you." Orihime gave him a kiss then turned over and he put his arm around her.
"I love you too. Goodnight."
…
"Wake up. Wake up…Wake up. Wake up! WAKE UP DAMMIT YOU FOOL GET OUT OF BED!" Ichigo awoke to find himself on the floor with Rukia standing over him.
"What the hell are you doing here…I am in the fourth squad barracks, right!?" Ichigo stood up and looked around.
"Yes, but there's someone asking for you at your barracks. And it's someone we've met before." Rukia sounded a bit worried.
"Who? Is it a tall blonde woman… I didn't mean to break her friend's arm…I didn't think she would be mad." Ichigo said under his breath on his way out.
"Do I want to know?" Rukia asked as she followed him out. The two made their way to his barracks and there was a crowd, he saw a few captains scattered in the crowd. When he got to the front of the crowd he saw what everyone was looking at. It was a man with blue hair arguing with Nel. Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez was in Nel's face yelling at her for not telling him Ichigo came to Hueco Mundo.
"Grind, Pantera!" Grimmjow released his resurreccion and lunged at Nel, but she dodged and didn't fight back, the crowd backed up, realizing they were espada, and had no chance against them.
"BANKAI" Ichigo was up in the air and threw his two swords at the angry espada wrapping him in chain and stabbing into the ground, anchoring him to the ground. He started struggling and his eyes started to follow the chains to who was holding him. Ichigo was standing there. And the arm guard that Urahara made him was fused into his arm.
"Yo! You asshole, what the hell did you do in Hueco Mundo that was so important that you couldn't come fight me!?" Grimmjow was still struggling.
"better question…what the hell are you doing here, I swear if you say that you're here to say hi, I will cut off your arms, I'm getting enough shit about hollows as is." Ichigo was walking slowly towards him.
"Hell no, I want to fight."
"Seal it." Ichigo spoke slowly as he tightened the chains
"Seal what?" he had stopped struggling by now because he realized he couldn't get out.
"Your resurreccion. If you don't I will kill you on the spot." Grimmjow just sighed and sealed it. Ichigo unwrapped him, opened a garganta and kicked him in and closed it. "Everyone, I'm sorry about that, I thought he was dead! If he appears again, tell him where I am. I'll send him back." Ichigo sealed his Bankai and turned towards the crowd and Shunsui approached him.
"I suppose that one likes fighting?" Shunsui asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, well I thought he died a couple years ago…and I'm pretty sure that him, Tier who you met earlier, and Nel are the only espada alive, so…Sorry about this. I'll have to kill him if he comes back too many times." Ichigo was scratching the back of his head when Orihime and Nel approached him.
"I hoped Tier wouldn't tell him that you came to get me…" Nel hugged Ichigo for getting rid of him.
"Ichigo…you have some weird friends…I'll tell the captains that if they see him, they are to not engage him but lead him to you. But please…try not to attract anymore arrancars." Shunsui turned and waved to Ichigo as he left.
"Ukitake-san said he would talk to you, he's somewhere around here, probably got lost in the confusion when Grimmjow released…Oh! There he is! Ukitake-san…" Orihime ran off to go get him. Ichigo turned to his squad.
"Squad! Do you want to play another game!?" The second Ichigo said game his squad disappeared and Ichigo started laughing. And told Nel that he didn't want his squad around when he asked Ukitake what he needed.
"Ichigo, what is it you wanted to ask me?" The sickly man said while approaching with Orihime.
"How do pregnancies work?" Ichigo asked with a straight face and Ukitake's eyes went wide and he stared stuttering.
"Well…"
"When a man puts his pe-" Nel started explaining for him making hand signs.
"Nel! Not what I meant…"Ichigo's face was slightly red. "Jushiro, what I mean is how is it different here, if at all."
"Everything is the same, and they grow at a normal human rate until about 15 years old, then the growth rate is slowed down, but things like hair will grow normally. I assume you two are going to have children after the wedding?" Ukitake was still shocked by the frankness of Nel.
"Once my barracks are fixed, yes." Ichigo spoke as he let go of Nel and pat her back.
"Ah, good luck then." He turned and left and Koko ran up and said Yoruichi left.
"Oh, damn, how's Sui-Feng taking it?" Ichigo imagined her curled up in a ball being depressed.
"I'm going to take my sister to see Toshiro today, you guys can do whatever, Jushiro, thank you for the help." Ichigo ran off to squad four to get his sister.
…
"Ichigo, where are we going?" Karin asked as Ichigo dragged her out of the room she was in.
"It's a surprise, you'll like it." Ichigo picked her up and put her on his back when they got out of the barracks and he started flash stepping to squad ten. Ichigo put her down and took her inside and started towards the captain's office.
"Where are we?" Karin asked annoyed because her brother wasn't telling her anything.
"Just wait." He came up to the office and knocked.
"Enter." Karin's eyes lit up when she heard whose voice it was. Ichigo took Karin in to the office, the captain was sitting at his desk doing paperwork.
"Are you going to say hello? Or shall I just take your present elsewhere?" Ichigo said with a smirk.
"Present…what are you…" he looked up from his desk to see Karin standing in front of Ichigo.
"Hi, Toshiro…" Karin said happily.
"I'll just let you two catch up." Ichigo left the office and started walking out of the barracks.
"Captain Kurosaki! Can I talk to you for a moment?" It was Hinamori who was behind him looking disturbed.
"Yeah sure, what is it?" he stood there waiting for her response.
"I'm sorry, When I left your squad two years ago, I thought you would just be someone basking in the fame of being the hero…But I've noticed you don't like praise and formalities that much, I learned that you blew up the barracks to protect your squad, and I felt bad. I heard you had a stone slab in your garden with Aizen's name on it, and every night you stood there staring at it. I was told you respected him somewhat. Is that true?"
"I respect him as a captain, because he left me a fine squad. You don't have to feel bad…I already know that you were watching me when I was in my garden, you wanted to see what I was like when not in front of my squad…you don't have to lie and tell me someone told you about the names." Ichigo gave her that same smile he did two years ago.
"I still have no idea how you know everything I'm thinking!" Hinamori screamed.
"Oh yeah, did you ever figure out which one of those things I told you wasn't true?" Ichigo leaned against a wall and smirked at her.
"The winning the war with a flick of the wrist?" she had no clue.
"The one about my power being held in check. Well, it was more of a wave of the arm…anyway, I have to go somewhere." Ichigo turned and waved at her.
"He is pretty scary…" she said under her breath.
"I know right!" Rangiku had snuck up on her and spoke into her ear which made her jump.
…
"Isane, why don't you talk with Nel, she seems nice…" Unohana was watering a flower next to a window in her office.
"I don't think she will want to talk to me…She doesn't talk much and she's reading right now." Isane started to think of another excuse.
"No excuses, I'm sending for her, and we are going to talk." Unohana sent a hell butterfly to a squad member and a few seconds later they came in with Nel. "Nel, have a seat next to Isane and let's talk, I want to get to know you, since you seem nice." Unohana had the smile she always had, and Nel returned the same smile.
"Thank you Unohana-san, I don't know anyone here other than Orihime, but she's busy helping her squad clean up the barracks, and Ichigo went back to Hueco Mundo for some reason." Nel said as she was looking around the office.
"He did? How do you know?" Isane sounded surprised at this news.
"I felt the garganta open then his spiritual pressure vanished. He probably went to kill Grimmjow."
"And I suppose this…Grimmjow, you are talking about is the one who attacked you this morning?" Unohana was pouring something to drink from a pot she pulled from under her desk.
"Yes that would be him…He is a bad person, even by espada standards…Isane, I like your hair." Nel had a small smile on her face as she changed the subject.
"Oh, umm thank you, I wish my hair was like Unohana's though…So long and smooth."
"Thank you Isa-" she was interrupted by someone charging into the office and yelling.
"Captain! Come quick! Emergency!" Unohana and Isane ran out of the room and followed the squad member to the emergency.
"What the hell happened to her?" Unohana said in shock as she saw the naked body of a girl, covered in cuts bruises and it looked like she was blind. She had short blonde hair, splattered with blood, a large chest, and a zanpakuto in her hand; it had a square light red guard and a purple hilt. She was unconscious outside of the squad four barracks in a pool of blood.
"We don't know! She was found here! I've never seen her before." the squad member spoke frantically as Unohana bent down to see if the girl was still alive, she was breathing so Unohana picked her up and rushed her into a room and started healing her then dress her in a white robe. After a while she came out of the room. To see Orihime who was walking by.
"Orihime, can you come here and tell me if you recognize this girl? I have no clue who she is." Orihime nodded and walked in, when she saw the girl she froze.
"Yumai-san..." Orihime was speaking shakily.
"You know her? Is she in your squad?"
"N-no…I saw her in the world of the living…when I told Tatsuki about her being maid of honor, I went and talked to her a little, since she's blind not many people talked to her…Why is she here though…" Orihime seemed shaky and Unohana put her hand on her shoulder.
"Does Ichigo know her? Are you sure she was human?" Unohana kept trying to get answers from her.
"Yes, Ichigo knows her, he helped her a lot when he was younger from what she told me, I think she was human…I mean, I've never seen her do anything weird or have abnormal spiritual pressure."
"Alright, well I want to tell Shunsui about this, stay here in case she wakes up." Unohana ran out of the room with Yumai's sword and left Orihime to watch the blind girl.
"Yumai-san…what are you doing here?" Orihime spoke quietly as she heard the sound of a garganta opening near the barracks. She ran outside to see if it was Ichigo. It was, and he was covered in blood, his clothes ripped and his face burned. "Ichigo! What happened!?" she ran up to him and hugged him, he made a grunt of pain, for his ribs were broken. But he told her not to heal him.
"Orihime, I…killed Grimmjow…what's up?" Ichigo spoke slowly, he was out of breath.
"Ichigo…do you remember Yumai? The blind girl you used to help out?"
"Yeah…why? What are you bringing her up for?" She didn't say anything and took his hand and led him to her room, where she was still unconscious. When she was found her grey eyes seemed to look into the distance, now they were closed and she was breathing normally. "Why…Is she here? What…What happened? Where did you…find her?" Ichigo was looking really worried.
"Unohana had her here when I came back, she should be back soon, she was telling Shunsui about this." Orihime slowly started to heal Ichigo's wounds, which was going slowly since his injuries were covered in residual spiritual pressure that made it difficult to heal. They sat there for an hour while Orihime was healing him, not to great success, and Yumai not waking up, when Unohana came back into the room with Shunsui.
"The hell happened to you Ichigo…you look like crap." Shunsui noticed Ichigo slumped against a wall, with Orihime trying to heal him.
"Grimmjow…blue hair…sixth …espada…killed." Ichigo's broken ribs made it hard to speak. "Yumai…where did you…find her?"
"She was naked and covered in blood outside of my barracks."
"Wait, Shunsui…not Full…Bringers. Orihime wasn't…Tamaza…not…Ele…" He was cut off by Orihime.
"Stop speaking until I heal you, your wounds are very serious, I'm surprised your conscious." Orihime motioned for Unohana to continue.
"As I said, she was found naked, unconscious, covered in blood, with this…" she held up the zanpakuto for Ichigo to see.
"…The hell…" Ichigo took it from her and unsheathed it, then he sheathed it again and handed it back.
"Orihime, Let me help you." After another hour of the dual healing Ichigo could stand and speak fine, but was sore and had his right arm in a sling since the forearm and upper arm had been broken in seven places each.
"Okay, Shunsui…they weren't Fullbringers, Orihime wasn't one, I remember that she had some fairy things, I don't remember what they were called, Tamaza…was a Hollow that surpassed Vasto Lorde… Eletera. Orihime, was killed by him, and when an Eletera kills a human, they get sent here, with all their memories and if there were any, abilities. Tier told me, after my fight with Grimmjow. She said she only knew of four of them and two had gone missing a while ago. The Eletera, according to her, can have three lives, when it dies as a hollow, it can resurrect as a human with immense strength. But the third life is a considerably weak Shinigami unless it absorbs something powerful by killing it. I don't have an answer as to how he was able to change forms though…in both lives." Ichigo had finished explaining this, then Shunsui sent a hell butterfly to all captains informing them to tell their squads and the other squads without captains about the Eletera.
"If what she said is true, we cannot let any Vasto Lorde advance."
"She is already doing that, she and her fraccion go around killing the Vasto Lorde so she remains as 'Queen of Hueco Mundo' so, if one of them dies, we should find them in the world of the living, kill them and then watch for new squad members with weird abilities. I'll periodically check in with her, if this sounds good to you."
"I'm fine with that plan, maybe sometimes go and exterminate them yourself. If she says one disappeared tell me and you, me, Sui-Feng, and Kenpachi will go hunt them down."
"That sounds like a good Idea…but, what about her?" Ichigo pointed to Yumai who was still unconscious. She made some noise but didn't move.
"I would just stay here and watch her, since you know her. Maybe ask her some questions, why she was naked covered in blood, in front of these barracks." Shunsui turned and left with Unohana, Orihime said she had to go talk to Rukia for something and left aswell. Ichigo pulled a chair next to the bed and sat there for a few hours, with frequent visits from Orihime. She shifted in his chair and bumped the bed slightly and she started talking.
"H-Hello? Is anyone there?" her voice was very soothing Ichigo always thought, she spoke with an obvious fear in her voice.
"Hey, you're finally awake." Ichigo said softly as he put his hand on her arm to let her know where he was.
"Ichi-dono? I thought you died…What is happening where am I?" she started speaking frantically, and she took his hand in hers.
"Hey, hey, Yumai, I told you to stop calling me that, didn't I? And I'm sorry, but you are dead, in a place called the Soul Society, where souls go after they die, do you know what happened to you?" Ichigo held her hand because she was obviously afraid, she started to describe something.
"I remember feeling like something huge hit me, and then I felt light, then a little bit later some guy with an annoying voice poked me on the forehead, next thing I knew I was standing in what sounded like a town…and then…someone grabbed me and…tore my clothes, I tried to get away, he cut me with a blade and kicked me a lot, then I was knocked out I guess…and now I'm here with you…" tears ran down her cheeks when she realized what happened to her. Ichigo pulled her into a hug to comfort her, she was blind and very childlike in her thoughts and the way she spoke, like a young girl, even though she was only a year younger than Ichigo.
"That's horrible…It's okay though somehow you ended up here, I'm here for you, so is Orihime, do you remember her, Yumai?" Ichigo let go of her so she could speak.
"Yes, Hime-san was talking to me a while ago, she said she was visiting from Italy, I guess she was coming from here…wherever here is…"
"Yeah, she came from here to visit some old friends, so I guess she ran into you. And I guess she didn't tell you, since you were told I died, that we are getting married in a few days…can you walk?" Ichigo helped her out of the bed, and she could stand but had to hold on to Ichigo. "Do you know where you got that sword you were found with?"
"I had a sword?" She sounded really surprised since she had no idea what Ichigo was.
"I guess that means it isn't yours." Ichigo took her hand and led her down the hall; he kept her in front of him so she wouldn't fall. "I'm going to introduce you to one of my friends Retsu Unohana, she will explain everything, and I'll ask her if I can watch you."
"Ichi-dono…Am I really dead?" she spoke quietly as if finally accepting a bad truth.
"Sadly, yes." Ichigo put his hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking.
"What's wrong with your hand, it feels different."
"I lost it, and that is what replaced it, everything will make more sense soon."
He knocked on Unohana's door and she said for him to enter. "Come on, she will explain." He led her in and sat her down next to Isane, she just aimed her head in front of her.
"Does she remember?" Unohana said quietly to Ichigo. He nodded and wrote down the words 'Tell Shunsui, Eletera in Karakura…zanpakuto, no memory of it.'
"Yes I remember, but I don't know what killed me, I just remember Ichi-dono and Orihime…" she continued to talk in the direction of the voice. Unohana went on and explained everything to her, surprisingly, she accepted it right away. Ichigo had sat down on the ground in front of her.
"Ichigo, it's unusual for medical conditions like blindness to carry over, I'll have Mayuri see if he can figure out if he can make her see if that is okay with her, of course."
"I would like to see who took care of me." She said with a small smile.
"If that is what you want, I will request he looks into it. For now, Ichigo will take you to Orihime." Retsu said as she sent the crazy scientist a hell butterfly. Ichigo took her hand and helped her out.
"Ichi-dono…" she started to speak but stopped when Ichigo asked her something.
"Why do you call me that?" Ichigo kept holding her hand since she didn't have any way of knowing where she was.
"Because I can, does it really bother you that much?" She made her voice sound really childish which made Ichigo uncomfortable with saying yes to her question.
"It's fine, you can call me that." Ichigo and Yumai walked for another few minutes until he came to his room, to see if Orihime was in there, Nel and Orihime were sitting and talking about something. "Orihime and one of my other friends are in here." He led her in and introduced her to Nel
"Orihime…Hi." Ichigo led her in and sat her down in one of the beds, he had a spare bed in his room for Orihime, but they shared a bed. Orihime got up and gave Yumai a hug.
"Yumai-san, I'm sorry this happened…" she was cut off by Shunsui who had come in to talk to Ichigo.
"Ichigo, you stay here for this one, you have to get your squad back in one piece, get married, and keep in touch with Tier if another Eletera disappears, since you're the only one who can open a garganta at will. Sui-Feng, Kenpachi, and I will go for this one, and hopefully I won't have to hide in the World of the Living for eight months. And Yumai, you can stay in here with Ichigo and Orihime, although he isn't in here most of the day." He turned and left, and a member of squad four that Ichigo knew from long ago walked in.
"Hey Ichigo…one of your squad members came with this for you…" it was Hanataro with his mask, it was broken in half and cracked.
"Oh, I liked that too…anyway, Hanataro, thanks for bringing me this." Hanataro ran back out of the room and Ichigo turned back to Yumai on the bed.
"Ichi-dono, you sound like a very important person here…" Yumai spoke up with a laugh.
"I guess so…Yumai, I'll leave you with Orihime and Nel, I have somewhere to go that isn't safe for you…I'll be back later. Okay?"
"Okay, maybe you can find out what happened to me after I got knocked out…I would appreciate it, at least knowing…not knowing is tearing me up." She spoke quietly and lay down on the bed.
"I'll try…" he got up and left, he was going to find his squad and train them, even if they had no barracks.
…
"I am going to train you right now, even if we have no barracks. That is not an excuse for lack of training. Get in groups of three. Fight each other in your group; until I jump in, you all turn to fight me, once I jump out, you fight the others, no Shikai for those who have achieved it. begin." His squad followed his orders without question, every now and then he would jump into a group instead of personally sparring one on one with an extra member, who would jump into a group when Ichigo did.
"Strawberry!" there was a voice that called to him which distracted him and he got a cut on his face about half an inch under his right eye he turned and used Sho to push away the person who did it and her addressed his squad that they were done for today, and he went to the source of the voice, Rukia.
"Whats up Rukia? You seem a bit too happy today, did Renji propose?" Ichigo asked Rukia who stood in front of him with a huge smile.
"No, he didn't…I heard something about you…" She was still smiling staring him in the eyes.
"Is it a rumor about me and Sui-Feng this time?" Ichigo said sarcastically as he went back to squad four.
"It's not the rumors that I'm talking about." She skipped ahead of him to stop him, but he just went around her.
"Then what? If you won't tell me, then you can come back to squad four with me. Don't fall behind." He started flash stepping and arrived at the barracks a little later, and went inside. A few more minutes later Rukia came in and found him.
"How the hell can I keep up with you, fool! Oh? Who's this?" She came into his room and scolded him quickly before she noticed Yumai lying in the bed across from his, where he was lying.
"Ichi-dono, is this another one of your friends? It sounds like you made her mad." Yumai spoke from the bed she was in and sat up and tried to face where the voice was coming from.
"Yumai, she is Rukia, one of my closest friends, Rukia, this is my friend Yumai, she's blind so don't just barge in and start yelling, it'll startle her. She has been through enough as is today." Ichigo knew she had been raped, he just didn't know how to tell her. If someone attacked her and undressed her then knocked her out it must have been one of the slummier districts of the Rukongai he thought.
"Oh, I'm sorry…hi Yumai, and Ichigo, good luck with the children!" She spoke quickly then left.
"You're having children?" Yumai spoke with a happy tone and went back to lying down.
"When my barracks are repaired yes…Yumai…I know what happened to you, but I don't know where…" he got up and sat on her bed and took her hand. She sat up and turned to him. "You were raped in one of the lower districts of the Rukongai…I will have Unohana see if you are pregnant…I'm sorry about this, you don't deserve this." She couldn't form a sentence, Ichigo pulled her into an embrace and she started crying.
"Thank you, at least I know now...I remembered something…" She spoke through her tears and into Ichigo's shoulder. He let her go so she could speak.
"What, is it something the guy said? Did you hear a number?" Ichigo asked as he held her shoulders.
"I heard the number 10 and the number 64." She started to stop crying. "Can we go for a walk?"
"Yeah, I think I know what the numbers are, I'll look in to it. Let's go." He stood up and took her hand and she followed him out the door, and ran into Orihime to which Ichigo whispered.
"Go find out if Toshiro knows if anyone from his squad was at the Rukongai within the last three days." He whispered into her ear and she left the barracks with them and sped off to squad ten.
"Ichi-dono, where are we going?"
"To district three in Rukongai, I used to go there, but haven't had time, there is a nice lake there that not many people know about, so it's very quiet."
"That sounds nice, I used to like swimming before I went blind…"
"That's right, I met you after you were swimming in the lake at the park, that's when you could see. I will never forgive your father for doing that to you…" Ichigo remembered when she was brought to his father with her eyes painted black. His dad took her to the hospital and when he came back he told him.
…
"Her father was on cocaine and beat her mother unconscious then he kicked her in the stomach and held her eyes open then painted them black. I was told by the one who took her from me that it is likely that she will never see again. Ichigo, she kept asking for you, do you know her?"
"I met her in a park, and we used to walk around, I haven't seen her in a few weeks…" Ichigo continued to take care of her until high school, when she went to America to go to a school for blind people.
…
"When did you get back to Karakura? I thought you went to America for your education." Ichigo asked her as he took her carefully through the district.
"I came back when I was 19, and I had someone take me to your house, and your father told me that you died from falling off a balcony at a hotel the year before. I was so sad…many people for some reason stopped talking to me when I went blind…you didn't stop talking to me." She kept a smile on her face.
"Of course, why would I not talk to you, you were my friend. And, I never actually died, I was brought here, and my dad told everyone I knew, except for a few people who knew where I was, that I died. We're here, I'm going to walk us into the water a little so that our feet get wet." Ichigo led her to the water after she nodded.
"Oh it's surprisingly warm…" She sat down with Ichigo and closed her eyes. Ichigo was going to speak when a hell butterfly landed on his finger.
'Toshiro said that he has one squad member in district 64 south Rukongai. 11th seat Tizake kezuro. Black hair tall, well-built. Toshiro asked for you not to kill his squad member.' Orihime's words echoed in his mind.
"Yumai…I have to take you back, I just got a message about something important. I'll carry you back, it will be much faster." He picked her up and put her in his back, her arms around his neck. He started flash stepping back to fourth squad barracks and he helped her to the room, where Orihime was. He turned and left going to where the squad member was. But not before leaving his coat and putting on a cloak and gloves to hide his identity.
"Bitch, stop struggling, I'll slice you up if you keep trying to get away." He heard a voice from behind a building, and he saw the person that Orihime described, pulling a woman into the nearby forest.
"Let her go." Ichigo said calmly looking down slightly so his hood would cover his face.
"Who the hell are you? This doesn't concern you, now run along so you don't get hurt!" The angry Shinigami drew his zanpakuto. Ichigo just stood there. Tizake charged at him and started to swing his sword Ichigo held up a hand, and knocked the sword from his hand.
"Bankai." Before the person knew it, he was wrapped in chain. He looked up and noticed the white hand and he immediately started apologizing. The woman was still frozen in fear. "You, be quiet, I will not release you before I give you to your captain. Miss, I'm sorry if he hurt you, he will be punished." And with that Ichigo decided to walk him back instead of flash stepping, the sword of the chain that was wrapped around him was at his neck, and the other sword was in his hand. He held up his hand for a hell butterfly and sent one to Toshiro. "I hope that you didn't have anything to do with the blonde girl at squad four?"
"I'm sorry! She struggled and I got carried away, then she got knocked unconscious, and started bleeding a lot, and then after I finished, she said 'Ichigo' so I dropped her at the fourth barracks when no one was looking! I thought she was a friend of yours so I panicked!" At his confession the chains tightened.
"You are not forgiven; I will not forgive you for this. You raped a blind girl!" Ichigo shouted and that drew attention to who he was dragging. He was slowly making his way to squad ten making sure that everyone was looking at him. He was flaring his spiritual pressure so that it would draw attention to the man being punished.
"Captain Kurosaki, what is so urgent that you called me out here, and why are you pulling him with your Bankai?" Hitsugaya asked crossing his arms in confusion.
"I have him like this because he doesn't deserve a binding kido. I caught him about to rape someone, and he raped a friend of mine, he got scared when she said my name after he knocked her out, so he dumped her body at the fourth squad." Ichigo explained as he moved closer to the man in chains, and took his sword from his neck, and the lightning singed his face. Ichigo sealed his Bankai and the man started to run, then a yellow-orange tendril wrapped around his leg and pulled him back, Ichigo dragged him back with Horin. "Explain to your captain why you did it."
"He doesn't need to explain. I believe you Kurosaki, otherwise you wouldn't go through the trouble. Bring him into my barracks, I will punish him." Ichigo dragged him into the barracks and left.
"Ichigo what the hell did that guy do to piss you off that much?" Rangiku was outside and walking towards him, she could see the anger in his eyes.
"Hey Rangiku, I'm sure Toshiro will tell you if you want to know. I don't want to say it again." Ichigo continued walking back to squad four.
"I'm bored so I'm coming with you, is that a problem?" she was going to follow him regardless of his answer.
"Fine, but I'm going to squad four, you can come, but you can't stay, I'm tired and I want to go to sleep." Ichigo didn't realize that the sun was going down, he had already done so much that day, so many things happened, so much news, everyday something weird happens, or something explodes, or some news of super hollows…After a little the two came to the barracks and Rangiku followed Ichigo inside and into his room, Yumai was asleep in the other bed and Retsu came in to tell him that Isane is showing the others around and getting his sister from squad ten.
"Ichigo, who is the girl sleeping in the bed?" Rangiku asked as she walked over to the blonde girl.
"This is my friend Yumai, she's blind, and the reason I went so overboard with bringing that guy back. He raped her, and probably many others." Ichigo said as he sat on his bed waiting for Orihime to come back.
"Is she alright?"
"For what she went through, yes."
"Ichi-dono?" Ichigo sighed as he accepted that she wouldn't call him anything else.
"Yes, I'm here Yumai. And so is Rangiku, one of my friends." Ichigo spoke up so she could know where in the room he was.
"Hello Rangiku, and, I'm sorry, where Is Orihime sleeping, I heard there were only two beds, and they aren't large beds." Yumai sat up and rubbed her head.
"She sleeps with me, we don't need much room." Ichigo spoke staring at the ceiling.
"Good job Ichigo!" Rangiku said as she gave a thumbs up.
"No, we haven't done that yet. We decided to wait until after marriage." Ichigo said calmly knowing Rangiku would have thought he was lying if he gave her an energetic response.
"Oh you're so old fashioned… I mean, me and your dad were-" Ichigo interrupted her story.
"Please no! I'll bury you if you finish that story!" Ichigo turned over and said goodnight. He decided to ignore Rangiku and Yumai as they had a conversation about him riddled with the occasional 'What?' and 'No way!' and filled with laughter.