Hey everyone!
Sorry it took so long to update. I was revising some things, and I finally decided to delete the oneshot that I originally had set as chapter 18. So now it's no longer there. I apologize to everyone out there who read the author's notes that I made about 2-3 times throughout the fic about the original chapter 18. Please remember to read my author notes I make, sometimes they have really important information in them. Thanks again for your patience.
Information about the two new Bleach fics that will be coming out after this on will be posted on my LJ soon as well as my profile.
Disclaimer: I do own Bleach.
Ishida lay awake in bed, staring at the ceiling. Unohana had given him his own room away from the infirmary, trying to keep his uneasiness down to a minimum. Despite the fact that Ishida hated Shinigamis, he could not help but respect the woman doctor for putting up with so much complaining around the Seireitei.
Getting up, he frowned at the ache in his shoulder. He was still very sore from healing.
Wounds...
Suddenly the past events flooded into his mind. Nemu? Where was she? Pulling himself to his feet, his senses jumped to alert status. Opening the door, he froze in his spot to find the person in question standing outside his door holding a tray of tea.
"You're okay." he sighed.
"Mayuri-sama healed me." she said, "I was told that you were still resting."
Ishida stepped aside to let her in. He frowned, "Who knows-"
"Unohana-taicho assured me that no one knows I am here." she said, setting the tray down, "You need not worry. She also told that that once your wounds are healed, you may return back to your home."
There was a certain note of irritation in her voice. She thought he was leaving after this and never returning. Nemu knew that he hated the Seireitei, and Shinigamis, and everything to do with them. If he could, he would stay away from them all together.
That would be the wise, sensible thing to do.
Ishida had realized not to long ago that life was not sensible or logical. There was always a wild element that he would never be able to control. In this case, there was a lack of connection between his mind and his heart. That had been one of the few things that he had learned at his stay at the monstary.
The other thing he had learned, was that if he wanted something down to the fiber of his soul he should take it otherwise he would regret it for the rest of his life.
"I won't be leaving."
"What?" she was unable to hide her shock as he sat down and took a sip of tea, "What do you mean?"
Ishida took another sip, and then set the cup down.
"Because the thing I want to protect is here."
Her mouth literally dropped open.
Isshin Kurosaki sat at the table, sipping a glass of whiskey. It was late nights like these that he sat down and had a drink. Back when Misaki was alive, they used to sit up late after the children were asleep and simply talk. After her death, he had become so used to staying up late that he was physically unable to go to sleep before a certain time.
Ichigo and Orihime were three hours late.
There were a two explanations that Isshin could come up for this. They were fighting Hollows, or they were...up to other activities that had nothing to do with fighting the undead. Isshin personally thought that despite the fact that he was a little crazy, he was not stupid.
The clock ticked.
He did not like this feeling. Something was going on and he could not help but second guess himself. Standing up, he drained the rest of the glass and set it in the sink. He spied Hachi sitting his house at this point.
Pulling the door open, he caught Hachi's attention, "I'm stepping out a moment. Will you watch the house?"
"Of course, Isshin-san."
Isshin nodded and shut the door, pulling on his jacket and shoes.
It was breezy outside, and the sky was dark. The news had talked about a high possibility of rain, which was bothersome. There had already been so much rain that there was talk of the river flooding.
His senses spiked.
There was someone with an enormous amount of reiatsu coming towards him. The energy signature felt strange, like it was a flickering candle.
Isshin whipped around to see who it was and gasped.
Ichigo was clinging to the edge of the retaining wall that bordered the sidewalk. Looking up, Isshin realized with horror that his son was drenched in blood.
"...D-Dad..."
"Ichigo!"
Running forward, he caught his eldest son as Ichigo sunk to the pavement. Quickly laying the injured person down with practiced ease, Isshin begin to see the full extent of Ichigo's injuries. It looked like the poor boy had been put threw a meat grinder.
"...Ori...hime..."
"Shh." Isshin snapped, scooping Ichigo up into his arms. Carrying the young man effortlessly down the street, he stormed into the front door of the Kurosaki Clinic.
"I need help down here!" Isshin roared as the door slammed shut behind him.
"...Dad..." Ichigo grabbed a hold of Isshin's collar as he was set onto a hospital table, "Listen-"
"Shut up, Ichigo."
Hachigen came in with the commotion. Isshin could hear Yuzu and Karin rushing downstairs, and watched as the big man put his hands on Ichigo's chest. With a glowing light, much like Orihime's powers, he began to heal the jagged gashes.
"Who did this too you?" Isshin leaned over.
"Arracnar." Ichigo flinched. It felt like all the bones in his body were crushed, and they probably were. Hachigen was healing him, but Ichigo had spent the last twenty minutes after gaining consciousness at the riverbank dragging himself down the street.
"Niissan!" Yuzu screamed as she rushed over, followed by Karin.
"No need for alarm, I can heal him." Hachi replied, seeming like it was no undertaking despite the violent wounds.
"What happened?" Isshin questioned, "Why did the Arrancar attack you?"
"To get Orihime back." Ichigo replied, "They wanted her back. I tried to stop them but..." he was suddenly silent. Isshin watched as Ichigo laid a hand over his eyes. As a young boy, it had been a tactic that Ichigo had used to make it look like he was not going to cry. After the twins had been born, Ichigo had always tried his best to look like the strong one in the family, "...those bastards took her. They took her away from me."
Orihime sat, once again, on the windowsill of her villa. Staring at the white and black plant sitting on the railing of the balcony, she began to wonder if Tak had been taking care of it while she had been away.
Aizen had promptly struck her across the face when she stepped through the gate and told her she was restricted to her quarters until she had gray hair. Orihime had simply walked silently down the hallway, still in shock after watching Noitora completely obliterate Ichigo. The scene of watching the huge blade slice through the man that she loved would be ingrained in her memory for the rest of her life.
"You knew that we would get you back."
She was silent at the voice that suddenly came from the corner of the room. When coming through the gate, she had tried her best to ignore Grimmjaw's gaze from the corner of the room.
Orihime continued to not speak, and turned back to gazing out at the dead expanse of the gray plains.
"You'll have to talk eventually." the Espada moved from the edge of the room to stand by her. He made a disgusted face as he drew a piece of her hair into his hand, "You smell like a Shinigami."
"So what?"
It was the first thing she had said in the past five hours.
"Kurosaki." Grimmjaw frowned, "I smell that bastard's scent all over you."
"Good."
He grabbed her back the arm and viciously yanked her off the window, and raised his own hand to strike her. She was so infuriating that the only thing he wanted to do at the moment was whack sense into her.
His hand froze.
Orihime was staring back at him like she did not care he was just about to slap her silly. In fact, her cheek was still bruised after being hit by Aizen.
"Go ahead." she said, "Kill me."
"Maybe I will."
"You always told me you would. What's stopping you now?"
"I don't need to beat a woman to feel confident about myself."
"I think you're a coward."
"I don't give a flying fuck what you think." he grabbed both of her shoulders and shoved her against the wall, "So how was it?"
"Excuse me?"
"How as it?" he asked, his face only inches from hers. His voice was dark and spoke with a sarcastic trill that he was known for. Grimmjaw was not simply angry with her, he was livid. "Getting to do it with Kurosaki."
"Damn you."
She would have slapped him if he had not trapped her.
"You dreamed about it." he sneered, his blue eyes bore into her mind, "You're in love with him."
"Let me go, Grimmjaw."
"What do you think..." his lips were about to touch hers, "...should I wash his scent off you?"
Her eyes snapped open and he watched as there was nothing but rage filled in them.
"Santen Kasshun, I repel thee!"
Grimmjaw jumped backwards in time to miss being crushed by the glowing shield that was now surrounding her.
"Either you kill me or don't, its your choice." she said, "But I will kill myself before I spend another moment in this place."
Aizen stood in the war room, a look of utter annoyance on his face. Tousen regarded him with a certain caution, knowing that Aizen was a loose cannon that could go off anytime.
"Commence the attack."
"Sir?" Tousen looked up.
"Order them all to the Seireitei. I don't have the patience any more for this game. Send the appropriate squad to Karakura to begin the preparations for the soul harvest. I want everything in place and be able to begin the ceremony for extraction within the hour. Destroy who and what you need to, I don't care anymore."
Within the hour.
The alarm went off in the building.
Grimmjaw cursed, they had decided to dispatch the crews right away. He knew in the back of his mind that it was going to happen. Still locked in a stare-down match with Orihime, he stood up straight and shoved his hands in his pockets.
"Do or don't do whatever you want. I don't give a shit anymore." he turned towards the exit.
Orihime watched him leave, well aware of the fact that he was more enraged and hurt then he was appearing. He tried to make it look like he was disgusted by the mere sight of her, which was an obvious lie. Grimmjaw always tried to bend or break the rules in whatever way he could, so lying about what he was really thinking was no big deal to him.
"Come back with me."
She knew that when it came down to it, Grimmjaw needed to be away from Hueco Mundo and Aizen.
He gasped, and turned to her with a genuine look of shock on his face.
The shield still held as she walked towards him, "You don't like it here, Grimmjaw, so come back with me. You want you're own life as much as I do."
Betray Aizen completely? As much as he wanted to be free of the hell that he was in, the loyalty to Aizen had been so ingrained in the soul of an Arrancar that not one could deny it, not even he. Despite this, him wanting to leave Los Noches and finally be an individual was a good temptation.
"You overstep your bounds." Grimmjaw glared at her.
"I don't have any bounds with you. I never did." she then gave him a small smile, "Let's get out of here. I'm sure there is something we could set you up with back in the real world."
"Real world, huh?"
Hueco Mundo was the real world to him, and the human world was a bunch of idiots. What was there for him anyway? At least in Hueco Mundo he had strength and status.
"I need to leave." he said, "The Karakura squad will be leaving. I need to be there."
"Grimmjaw-"
He was out of the door before she could stop him.
Maroh ran down the hallways towards Rukia's quarters. They were going to get married in two days and he would finally have this whole conflict out of his hair.
To have an alliance with the Kuchiki family meant that his own family would achieve a wealth and status they would not normally be able to reach. Rukia Kuchiki was a symbol for accomplishment in his family's eyes, and they needed to be married in order for his family to become more than they already were.
Abarai was with her in her office. Maroh plastered himself against the wall in hopes that he could hear them speaking.
"...Kuchiki-taicho will cut me to pieces. Again." Renji continued.
"But if we don't tell him then he'll be more upset." Rukia said, "You know him, he would rather be let in on the big secret than be outside the loop and stumble into it."
"But-"
"Oniisama is a sensible person. He will understand and break off the engagement."
What?, Maroh frowned.
Renji stood at the window, "You're willing to do that for me?"
Rukia smiled up at Renji, "Of course. I love you, you idiot."
Maroh's eyes grew wide, she what?
"Be careful." Renji shook his head, grinned, "I'm barely restraining myself as it is."
The door yanked open, and Renji and Rukia stared in shock at Maroh Kazah in the doorway. The young man glared at them both, and then his face grew soft.
"Oh, you have company, Rukia." he said, "I did not mean to disturb you. I have news from the council, but I suppose I could come by later."
Renji seemed to advert his eyes to look back out the window, but he was keeping close tabs on Kazah.
"It's okay, you can tell me." Rukia said nonchalantly.
"I believe it would be better discussed alone-"
"What?" Renji chuckled, "Are you afraid I'm gonna eat you?"
"I'm not afraid of you, Vice-Captain Abarai." Kazah shot a dark glance at Renji.
"It's alright, don't mind Renji." Rukia waved it off.
"Fine then." Kazah replied, "We will be getting married in two days."
There was a loud sound of wood crunching as Renji's grip shattered the windowsill. Rukia stood up, "What?!"
"It was decided." Maroh walked towards her, "In two days, you and I will be married." then his eyes strayed back to Renji, and he smirked, "Anyone who interferes with the wedding plans will be either dishonorably discharged from the Soul Society or exiled from the Seireitei. This does not exclude yourself, Rukia."
There was silence. Maroh stepped forward, and kissed her. Then turn on a heel and out of the door. Rukia did not know what to say. Looking at Renji, he bent over to pick up his sword that leaned against the wall.
"Renji?"
If he stayed there, he would only be getting her in more trouble. With one look that he intended to be the last, he said,
"Good-bye Rukia."
She gasped as he walked out of the door. Just about as she was going to run after him, a strange sense crept into her thoughts.
No...its too early...
Ishida stood up from the floor, and yanked the shutters to his room open. In the distance he could see the lights from hundred of portholes. The Menos Grande were already on the front doorstep, and the armies of Arancar were emerging from the other realm.
It looked like this time he was going to be fighting to defend the Shinigami.
"They're here." Nemu replied absently from where she sat on the floor. She had enough time to take a sip of her tea when the alert alarm filled the Seireitei.
I'm going to try and finish the story in 3 chapters. I don't know if I'll be able to. Maybe 4. :P
There will be two new Bleach stories that will be started after Five Years is finished. 'Enemy At the Gates' will be a sequel to this story, and will have a few new characters that I hope everyone will enjoy. The next story will be 'Shadows on the Wall' which will be released towards the end of Five Years ::around the middle of June::.
Arigato
Lilith