"Rukia, I need you to stay quiet. Someone is going to hear us in here if we keep talking like this. Just stay here and wait a little bit more. Then I'll put up the barrier and then you can ask all of your questions," Ichigo ordered and watched the door they had just entered.
Rukia acknowledged the orders of her friend with a simple nod and watched nervously as the mask in Ichigo's hand disappear into black reiatsu and then fade away. The worry only increased in the female officer as she felt a strong spiritual pressure coming closer towards them. The door opened slowly and revealed an old face.
"Hey! Strawberry! Are you in here yet? Where are you?" Renji called out as he closed the door behind him.
"Renji!" Rukia asked, appearing from their hiding place behind a few boxes. The red head stared in shock at the now named dangerous ryoka.
Ichigo suddenly pushed the surprised officer back behind the boxes and stood up. He signaled her to remain quiet for now. Renji remained in his shocked state as he saw the switch from Rukia to Ichigo.
The amber eyes of his old friend reveled no emotion and frightened the sixth division lieutenant. For a second, Renji could have swore that they flashed from his normal amber eyes to golden Hollow eyes.
"How many clouds were in the sky when I first met you?" The question was so sudden that the sixth division lieutenant didn't answer immediately. Ichigo raised his spiritual pressure higher as the seconds Renji were wasting by not answering. The raven haired Shinigami watched as her old friend tried to shake off the evil feel of Ichigo's reiatsu and get his voice to work.
"F-five," he answered and fell to the ground as the carrot top relaxed and took a deep breath. Another second hesistation and the outcome would most likely revolve in a death of another innocent Death God.
"Renji!" Rukia yelled in concern as she ran to help her fallen friend. The red head's breaths were quick and short, by he would survive the heart attack the thirteenth division lieutenant had just caused him.
Ichigo allowed Rukia to walk over to care for Renji as he began a chant that was only audible to himself. He gently touched the ground and force his normal spiritual energy to surround Rukia and Renji in a circle. The task seemed pointless to the both of them as nothing around them seemed to have changed visually. The air was a little more thicker and thus harder to breath, but they would live through it. When he finished he sat down closer to his friends and within the circle of reiatsu he created.
As soon as he sat down, however, he was slugged in the face by the now fuming Renji.
"What the heck was that for? You scared me half to death!" the red head scolded, his face red with anger.
Ichigo scowled as he felt his friend's fist meet with his face. "Well sorry! I thought you were stronger that that, Pineapple!" he retorted.
"Weak? I'm not weak! You dumb Strawberry!"
"Why were you shaking in fear when I saw you! Or is that how you greet all of your enemies?"
"I can beat you in a match easily!"
The two of them began arguing, like old times. But Rukia couldn't help but notice that Ichigo was doing a lousy job of hiding what he truly felt. The reiatsu between the two friends rose as they argued and noticed it was beginning to suffocate the female Death God.
"So, why did you bring us here?" Renji asked, calming down from the argument. Both Renji and Rukia felt a great deal of pressure being lifted from their shoulders as Ichigo relaxed a bit more. The captive apologized for being so tensed at the moment and looked at both of his friends in the eyes.
"Aizen is going to be a traitor to Soul Society," Ichigo stated and prepared himself for the reaction he would receive.
No one said anything for a while. The shock left them speechless. Renji was the first to recover from the stunning news.
"How in the world did you get that idea! Captain Aizen is probably the most harmless of all of the captains in the Gotei! There's no way that-"
"He's the reason why I have a Hollow feeling in my spiritual pressure," Renji was silent at that remark. Rukia could only mutter her friend's name in pity and felt stupid that she didn't notice the subtle feel of Hollow before.
"There's a barrier around us. It's going to keep us invisible from officers that might investigate this warehouse. But we're going to have to keep quiet if anyone does come. It isn't perfect, but it'll do," Ichigo explained, trying to change the subject from his strange reiatsu.
"Where did you learn this Kido?" Rukia asked. She had never learned this spell from the academy and Ichigo wasn't skilled enough in the practice to be in the advanced class, even with his amazing growth rate.
"Captain Aizen," The lieutenant answered.
"Then why are you accusing him of being traitor if he taught you this spell?" Renji asked.
"Just in case we get caught,"
Ichigo was becoming less and less detailed with his answers. He was baiting them into asking the bigger question by trying to tease at their curiosity.
"We?" Rukia asked.
"Gin, Tousen, Aizen and myself. Look I don't have time to explain much. We're going to have to leave before someone gets really hurt. We only have a few hours before Hinamori gets caught in all of this too and-"
"How do you know this Ichigo?" The barrier within Ichigo was finally broken after so many years. Ichigo exhaled deeply and felt immediate relief when he was released from the spell. He mentally thanked Rukia for asking the question he longly wanted to answer for six years.
"Ichigo?"
"Rukia, who did you bring with you?" the orange haired captive asked, not wasting time to answer other questions they might have. Rukia flinched slightly from the tone of urgency from her friend's voice.
"Your mother, father, Yoruichi, and Ganju," the petite Shinigami answered. The thirteen squad lieutenant sighed in relief as he heard the news. Yoruichi would make sure everyone was safe. This gave the three of them much more time than he expected.
"How about Aizen? Is he dead and was his body hung on the wall?" Renji nodded grimly. He could still remember Hinamori screaming at the sight of her captain stabbed in many places. Ichigo growled in disdain.
The lieutenant tried to remember what the fifth squad captain had said to him four years ago. It he was going according to his master plans, then they would have three days before they should make he could make his move and destroy those plans. But with Gin moving around openly and freely, those days of free time could vary from the scheduled three days to tomorrow. And then there is also-
"Ichigo!" Renji called out, bringing the Kurosaki back to reality. He could think about those things later. As of now, he needed to answer the questions his friends had.
"What happened to you? How do you know all of this? What do you mean 'before Hinamori gets caught in all of this'?" Renji asked. Rukia's worried expression only confirmed that he needed to explain his history with the soon-to-be traitors before anything else happens.
"Back before any of this happened, I was an officer for the Third Division. I was only eleven, but I could still defeat most unseated officers and sometimes Izuru if I was lucky. Sometimes Aizen would visit and then he could really see what I could do,"
/Flash Back\\
"Ichigo! Could you come over here for a second?" Gin called. The young boy turned around to see his captain beckoning for him with another captain standing beside him. He asked for permission to leave from his opponent and ran over to the silver haired man and his visitor.
"So you're Ichigo Kurosaki?" the man waited for a nod, "Gin talked about you a lot about you during our little meetings. Is it true that you can beat his lieutenant?" the brown haired man asked with curiosity. It was the fifth squad captain. Ichigo had seen him a lot during training sessions and when his captain was in his office. Aizen would have kept a watchful eye on all the fighters during their matches, as if he was assessing them on their fighting style.
The eleven year old nodded proudly. It wasn't an easy win, even though Kira didn't resort to using his Shikai. But the thought of him becoming stronger than the lieutenant of his division despite being so young made him feel a great sense of pride. Gin watched the conversation of the two carefully but didn't add anything on.
"And you're only eleven? That means that with a few years of experience, you could be a very strong captain. Maybe even become stronger than Captain Ichimaru over there," Aizen joked.
"Don't give him any ideas, Captain Aizen. I wouldn't want to hand my title to some runt like him," Gin laughed and ruffled Ichigo's orange hair in a brotherly manner.
"What do you think Ichigo? Do you think that you can beat Captain Ichimaru in a match?" The fifth squad captain asked.
"Not yet. He's a lot stronger than I am," the red head answered honestly.
"That's probably true. But it would be some fun to see you fight one-on-one with a captain. Perhaps you would even fancy a fight with myself. I'm no fighter like Kenpachi, but I didn't gain this title by winning a contest either," Aizen smiled.
"Sure. I was starting to get bored with just fighting the unseated officers anyway," the child accepted calmly.
"Unseated?"
"Gin doesn't want me to get trampled over by the older and taller officers. But the only shorter officers are the unseated officers. It's only recently did I persuade Lieutenant Izuru to have a match with me but that was only with Gin's supervision," Ichigo explained.
"Well that means I'm going to have make sure I don't go too easy on you either. Seems like this battle will be quite the experience for you. What about tonight then? Meet me at the fifth division barracks at about eight with Captain Ichimaru. Then we'll see how skillful you really are," Aizen smiled and left the training grounds.
Suddenly the pressure of not embarrassing himself in front of two captains disappeared. Ichigo sat down in exhaustion from keeping his monstrous reiatsu under control for the whole entire conversation. The thought of a battle with a captain almost made him release his spiritual pressure from under his control and have all of the newly graduates from the academy have their first trip to fourth division.
"You did well in keeping it under control for that long. Before you know it, you might even become a lieutenant yourself and maybe a captain like Captain Aizen said," Gin commented, crouching down to be eye level with the small third seat. The young boy smiled and looked in the direction the captain left.
"Hey, Gin?"
The Third Division Captain slightly turned his head slightly at the sound of his name but wasn't completely focus on his third seat. His focus was still on the weakening reiatsu of the fifth squad captain.
"Do you really think I'm a runt?" Aizen was officially out of earshot by that point.
The smile on the fox faced captain widen and focused all of his attention on young, but powerful officer.
"Yup. Now get on training. That fight with Captain Aizen ain't going to be easy," he ordered and walked back to his room. Ichigo stared at his captain in confusion. Despite the wide grin on his, the eleven year old child could still tell that something was upsetting him.
The day passed by quickly as word passed on that Ichigo Kurosaki was going have a battle with Captain Aizen. During what was supposed to be Ichigo's training session, girls began to appear and watch him. The girls were normal visitors to the third squad due to the young boy's cute looks and his routine naps under persimmons trees. The stares and awing began to creep him out and the third seat didn't get much from his training session.
"Ichi-chan! Are ya' ready? Captain Aizen isn't fond of people who are late!~" Captain Ichimaru asked in a sing-song voice.
"Gin, I told you not to call me that!" Ichigo appeared from his room looking very well rested. The taller Shinigami laughed and petted the younger prodigy on the head.
They made their way out of their squad's barracks and walked the way to the fifth squad. Night began to settle in and the moon rose above their heads in its full shape. But as they walked, Ichigo began to notice a very dramatic change in setting.
"Uh, Gin? This isn't the way to the fifth squad. This is the way to the Rukongai," Ichigo noticed. When his companion didn't answer, he looked around to see him all alone. It was his captain's horrible habit of leaving him with any notice. He sighed and tried to find his way back into the city. He felt stupid for not noticing the change of scenery eariler.
A noise came from behind him. It was swift and hid in the shadows. Its reiatsu screamed Hollow, but a faint sense of a Death God was also in there. The mix was unusual, but it was most likely from a battle a Hollow had just won.
Ichigo grabbed Zangetsu and prepared for battle. He mentally scolded himself for not noticing his captain leaving earlier.
'He's probably already at Fifth Division without me," Ichigo thought to himself and held himself in a basic fighting stance. A twig snapped in the north. Then from the west, a creature came lunging.
'Shunpo?"
Ichigo flashed step away and tried to reach higher ground. But by the second he landed, the monster had already disappeared.
"What was that?" the young boy asked himself. He looked around to see if it had appeared again. No sounds were heard.
'I better find the way back to Soul Society soon. Or else I might not be able to find the path by morning,' Ichigo moved by jumping branches, convinced that whatever was after him was afraid of heights.
"Hey, kid. You know, it's not safe to be traveling at night. Some strange monsters might come and eat you." Ahead of him was another figure with bright blue hair. He didn't wear anything Ichigo had seen before. He had a white hakama and a white jacket. Since he was leaning on a tree, Ichigo couldn't see anymore than his left side.
"I'll be okay. I'm just looking for the way home," the young boy replied and moved ahead.
"That'll be fine, but you see, I have orders to kill any orange haired kids I spot," Ichigo looked behind him and saw the hole on the man's stomach. On the right of it was a black tattoo of the number six. On his face was a remaining Hollow mask. He was something Ichigo had never seen before. But before he had any time to react, a cero was blasted in front of him. The third division officer took direct damage from the attack and fell down to the ground.
"Wasn't even worth the effort," the blue haired man frowned and disappeared.
Ichigo was fading away. He could feel his spiritual energy leaving him and his mind fogging up. Gin had told him when souls die here, they would be born again in the World of the Living with no memory of their previous life in Soul Society or their life before they went to Soul Society. The thought that he could be reunited with his mother made him think that all the bad things his captain had said previously about death were wrong. He closed his eyes and hoped that luck was on his side. But before he fell into darkness, he heard a familiar voice.
"Don't ya die on me now, Ichigo. Captain Aizen said he can't have ya' dead yet. You might feel a little moody after this, but at least ya still be alive,"
/End Flashback\\
"The voice turned out to be Gin. He did something to me, and the next thing I remember was that I had a mask on my face. Aizen taught me how to use my Hollow powers, and in return, I'll help him with his plans to take over Soul Society. Back then, what he said made sense to me. A world without fighting or death, where only a person could be enough to change the world, it was like a blissful dream. It didn't matter how many I killed, that goal of a universe without wars seemed like every person's wish.
"But after a while, people were starting to suspect Gin of being some kind of evil mastermind. So he transferred me out of his division to make sure they don't think that we were partners in crime. After time, Aizen saw that I had become weaker since leaving Third Division. The truth was, after becoming closer to you guys, I really didn't want to kill anymore and thus my instinct dulled. He saw that and ordered me to kill Rukia. I refused and he threatened to kill me. Gin came to my side and said that he should give me some time to think about my answer. Aizen gave me half a year. During that time, we got even closer, and I began to see that Aizen's goal for a new world wasn't the way the world should be. But before I had time to act, we were sent to the real world together. I was captured and now Aizen might actually have his way," Ichigo finished grimly.
Renji and Rukia sat down and let all of the information sink in. It was certainly a lot to swallow. A few minuets later, Renji lifted his hand and slapped his friend again.
"You idiot. And you couldn't have told us this earlier? We could have helped you know!"
"Why didn't you tell Captain Ukitake? He would have helped you also! Any of use would!" Rukia scolded, not caring that her friend had once been a murderous villain.
"I couldn't. To make sure that I didn't say anything I wasn't supposed to and escape his hold on me, Aizen put some kind of binding on me before I had my six months to think about my answer. He didn't want erase my memory if I did decide to change my mind. So unless someone had asked me directly on how I knew this kind of stuff, I wasn't allowed to say anything I had learned from before. I could just say bits and pieces of his plans, like going Hueco Mundo, but not the reason why he's going there. To a normal person, it could sound like I was just making a harmless joke," Ichigo answered. The captive lieutenant felt relieved that his friends still held their faith in him and didn't reject him like he had feared. He could feel Zangetsu smiling and telling Ichigo that he was wrong to presume that his friends wouldn't accept him. Though the emptiness of the second voice brought him out his relief.
"Who was the guy who took you out so easily?" asked Renji.
"His name is Grimmjow. He's an Arrancar; a Hollow and Shinigami hybrid. He has all the powers of the Hollow with the intelligence of a normal Shinigami and a zanpaktou too. Aizen has a whole army of them and if we don't stop him soon, we're going to be facing them in the Winter War." Ichigo replied.
The group was silent for a moment. The amount of planning the fifth squad captain had to do in order for all of this to work must have been massive. There was no way he would go down easily. When the Ichigo saw that his friends were still ready to take on the traitor captain despite all odds, he explained the plan he had in mind.
"We can't mess this up, no matter what happens. Even if something happens to get in your way, try to stay on schedule as best as you can. If you can't try to make some kind of signal or something for us to see. No one in Seiretei is going to know about this, so they will probably be after you guys too when they see you helping the number one criminal on the loose," Ichigo joked. Renji and Rukia smiled. Their old friend was finally back to his old self.
Suddenly his amber eyes widen and he lunged himself between them with his hand grabbing Zangetsu's hilt. The barrier was suddenly broken. A glasses wearing man smiled. Renji could only stare in shock at the unwelcome visitor.
"Kurosaki Ichigo. It has been a long time since we last met. Tell me, have you changed your mind of switching sides yet?"
Captain Aizen was alive once more.
"Let go of me! I'm going to find my 'faithful' husband and show him not to ever underestimate me!" Masaki ordered. She didn't like the fact that she was being kidnapped and had no doubt in her mind that her husband had planned this all somehow seeing how calmly he reacted to her capture.
"I'm very sorry about this, but it's truly is safer if you get away from all of the fighting. Just stay quiet until we get to the safe house and then you can complain all you want," Nanao reasoned and continued to drag the caramel haired woman towards a small shed. It surprised her how violent a caring mother like herself could be.
For the first ten minutes in the safe house, Masaki would not sit still and stay calm. Her attitude towards her kidnapping reminded the eighth division lieutenant of the younger Ichigo and his short temper.
"Look, Masaki was it? Your husband probably has very good reasons as to why he had you get away from all of the battles. That battle with my captain was probably the easiest one he'll go have, and that's saying something. He can't protect you while trying to protect himself at the same time. Not all of them go by a rulebook," the young girl said.
"I don't need any protection from a goat face like him, and he knows that. I'm not sure that you know this, but between us, I'm the smarter of the couple. There is no way that he would be able to save our son and make through alive," Masaki said, pacing around the room frustrate at her husband.
Luckily the walls were soundproof. The "safe house" was specially chosen by the drunken captain since the only reason why someone would come in there would be a fourth division officer coming to replenish their cleaning supplies.
But sooner of later, Nanao would have to leave and tend to her Division since her captain was such a lazy man. Hopefully by then, everything will go back to normal and orderly again. And all of this could be a joke in the future to tell.
Knock Knock. The women were startled by the sudden noise at the door. Nanao retrieved her book and stood in front of the door. She motioned Masaki to hid behind a box, but she refused to mover from her spot behind the lieutenant.
The visitor didn't wait for someone to answer. He opened the door quietly and reveled his perpetual grin and closed eyes.
"Hello, Lieutenant Ise. It's nice to see you here. I see that you have a guest too,"
"Captain Ichimaru," Nanao bowed in respect, "Why have you come here?"
"My question to you is why you have come here. I'm only here to gather some supplies for the Fourth division captain," Gin countered and gently pushed the glasses wearing woman away. The third division captain smiled wider as he saw the resemblance between the woman and the wanted captive.
"So who do we have here? Isn't this Ichigo's mother?"
"Yes. My captain had planned that we should capture one of Ichigo's family members to lure him into a trap. And then we can finally capture him and settle this case once and for all," explained Nanao, desperately hoping he wouldn't want more details.
Ichimaru eyed the mother carefully.
"That's so? Well, that seems kind of ungentlemanly like of the Eight Division captain. Taking a beautiful lady like herself to lure such young child to his horrible death sentence. It almost seems like yer making up this story," Gin smiled.
Nanao took a deep breath as he got closer. She knew she was a bad liar. And for Gin, the child genius of his time, to come and investigate this place was just her luck. She could only hope that he would leave them alone soon.
"My, my, my, Ise-chan, you look as if you're a sinner in church. You didn't lie, did you?" Gin reached out to grabbed the bookworm's shoulder. The hand was reflected by Masaki.
"I have no idea who you are, but I do know that you're making her nervous. And that itself isn't very gentlemanly like, is it?" Masaki said, looking fierce like her son. Her eyes burned with determination.
"Like mother, like son, I guess you could call it," Gin smiled and took the mother's wrist and ran away out the door.
"Masaki!" Nanao called out, racing to reach the Third Division captain.
Masaki was being kidnapped the second time today. Isshin is definitely going to be in trouble when they all get out of this mess.
Don't expect an update next week. I'm going camping and I probably won't have enough time to post the next chapter.
But on to a more cheerful note, I'm really happy on all of the reviews I've been getting. You all rock. I hope that this chapter was okay. It was a pain to edit and keep everyone in character.
And if anyone saw the latest chapter of Bleach...
-**Spoilers**-
Tensa Zangetsu is really angry about the change of scenery.
You would expect for someone who has been living in a blue skyscraper world all their life would like to see a little more greenery or something.
And Hollow Ichigo is actually using a mask! And he has long hair like Aizen! Though it looks like Hollow Ichigo is going to stay a villian.