Sheer Madness
When Ichigo's hollow destroyed his former master's house, Karin was out playing soccer. Isshin was up in his office, and Yuzu was cooking dinner.
The explosion caused tore through the wall of the house and exploded once inside the kitchen. Isshin, immediately aware of something wrong, dashed downstairs. A fragment of the floor had hit Yuzu in the leg, and a piece of plaster hit her in the head, knocking her unconscious. Isshin couldn't remember the last time he had been in Shinigami form, but the black robes were clothing his body now.
Grabbing Yuzu roughly, he dove out of the quickly collapsing building. Isshin could sense the presence of a nearby Arrancar. Swearing, the former captain gently laid his daughter down on the ground and drew his sword, preparing for battle.
He didn't have much time to realize how serious the injuries on her daughter were.
----
"She's in a coma. I don't know when she will wake up," Isshin declared.
Ichigo remained silent. It was his fault. It was because of him that the damn hollow escaped. It was his fault that he was too weak to stop it from killing Chad; it was his fault that he had been defeated. Uryuu had died fighting the arrancar. Why didn't his hollow kill him? Why couldn't he just end his worthless life?
Because he wants me to suffer, Ichigo realized. He wants me to witness the death of all my friends.
Ichigo stood up slowly. "I'm going, Dad," Ichigo declared.
Isshin made no move to stop his son. This was what happened when you were fifteen: you became rash, you became reckless, you angered easily, and if anybody tried to hinder you from your goals, you ran over them.
Ichigo had become all these things, but he had become more. He was kind, he was brave, and he never hesitated to help anyone. Isshin was proud of his son, and that was why he didn't make a move to stop him- because he knew it would be useless.
----
Hitsugaya lay in the 4th Division, badly injured. He didn't move at all- he wasn't so badly injured that he was paralyzed- he just didn't want to move.
There was a captain's meeting in a couple of hours. Attendance was mandatory. HItsugaya snorted at the thought. If all of the captains actually attended, he would eat his sword.
Hitsugaya stared up at the ceiling, and began to think. Why am I so weak, he asked himself. Why did I lose, he asked.
The arrancar had said that he was confused. Confused by what, Hitsugaya wondered. Hitsugaya knew that he was more distracted than confused, and that he was just more pathetic than distracted.
As Hitsugaya came to this conclusion, he sighed. What was making him so pathetic?
"Maybe it's because I talk to myself," he muttered, still not moving from his bed. "Or maybe I'm just naturally weak. Maybe I should just give up."
HItsugaya sighed, again. He certainly was sighing a lot nowadays. "Fuck this," HItsugaya muttered. "Fuck this."
Aizen, for all practical purposes, had killed HInamori the moment he had put her under his spell, HItsugaya realized. He had loved Hinamori, and Aizen had killed her.
But Aizen was dead, so what could he do now? The arrancar, once in league with Aizen, were constantly attacking Karakura, obviously trying to forge the Ouken.
"Once in league with Aizen," Hitsugaya muttered. Everything was goddamn Aizen's fault. Everything was Aizen's fault!
"And I can't stop him," Hitsugaya muttered, running a hand through his hair, "because I'm weak."
Hitsugaya Toshiro recalled something Urahara had said about Kurosaki Ichigo having an inner hollow. The boy had not paid much attention at the meeting, but he had remembered a few of Urahara's remarks: "training incident," "the hollow gives him a considerable increase in strength," and "incredibly hard to control."
Hitsugaya Toshiro found himself at Urahara's doorstep, asking for training.
----
"This is stupid," Ichigo's hollow grumbled. "Can't we use letters that aren't from Ichigo's name?"
Grimmjow shrugged. "You try to think up a name for yourself!"
"How about Kan?" Ichigo's hollow asked. "Kan sounds cool!"
"Kan makes you seem like a poser," Grimmjow muttered. "Are you sure you don't want Shirosaki, Hollow Ichigo, Hichigo, Ogihci…"
"A play on Ichigo's name, fucking gay, a play on fucking gay, and another play on Ichigo's name," the hollow responded. "No thank you. Isn't there supposed to be a meeting or something soon?"
"Yes," Grimmjow replied. "Aizen wants all Espada into the meeting room in an hour. Have you chosen a fraccion yet?"
"No, and I don't plan to," Ichigo's hollow replied. "Too much hassle."
"To each his own," Grimmjow said, shrugging. "I like having subordinates. It's fun bossing people around."
---
Urahara started as a miniature garganta opened up right beside his head. Immediately, his hand flew to his sword. "Who the hell are-"
"Shut up, Urahara," Alacran commanded, "you might attract attention that I can't afford. Yamamoto. Now give this to Taka."
Urahara nodded in acknowledgement. "Yamamoto" was the password that Taka had told him to use, and because this arrancar knew the password, he was obviously in league with Taka.
Alacran smiled when Urahara took the paper. "Good," he said, pleased, "it seems as if the Shinigami assisting us isn't as incompetent as I expected. Goodbye."
Urahara was left with a sheet of paper he was obviously not supposed to read and a feeling that his ego had just been brutally slaughtered.
----
After serving tea, Aizen stood. "Ladies and Gentlemen of the Espada, I present to you the fully awakened Hogyoku."
The small black ball would seem completely unimpressive to any idiot who didn't know its full power. As none of the Espada assembled were that stupid, they eyed the Hogyoku with a considerable amount of apprehension.
"Arrancar will begin to be formed with this now," Aizen declared. "As such, we will have to… lay off some of the Espada, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. The biggest issue at hand is the impending invasion of Karakura. Unfortunately, the Shinigami proved to have a bit of intelligence. After they discovered that I was in league with the arrancar, they searched through all my library searches and discovered my interest in the Ouken. Needless to say, they have begun to prepare for a swap of Karakura. A fake, artificial city will be put in the real city's place, and Karakura will be placed in Soul Society. We have two courses of action: one, go to fake Karakura, battle the Shinigami that will no doubt be stationed there and force the true Karakura to return, or two, storm Soul Society and attack Karakura directly. The second option has no advantages over the first, and it is much more difficult- garganta open to the human world, not Soul Society. As such, I have decided to take the first course of action."
The assembled Espada nodded in understanding.
"Good," Aizen said, pleased. "I expect the invasion of Karakura to occur within two months. Good day."
Ichigo's hollow ran into Grimmjow on the way out. "So, exactly how are we going to stop this guy?" he asked.
Grimmjow shrugged. "When in doubt, stay calm and act like you know what you're doing."
----
When Ichigo arrived in Soul Society and barged into Yamamoto's chambers, a captain's meeting was going on. Ichigo smiled.
"Hey everyone," he called out. All of the captains assembled could see the obvious determination in his eyes. Only Kuchiki, Juushiro, and Shunsui could see the hate. "Remember when you wanted me to be a captain? Count me in."
----
Urahara hit his head against his shop wall repeatedly. "Why," he muttered, "why do all the crazies come to me?"
Urahara turned to Hitsugaya. "Do you have any idea how idiotic this is?"
"Yes," Hitsugaya responded.
Urahara shook his head. "No, no, I don't think you do," he responded. "You could die, Toshiro. You probably will if you do this."
"If I die, so what," Hitsugaya countered. "Soul Society won't care. I've been utterly useless lately!"
"That's no excuse," Urahara said quietly. "Ichigo's hollow was an accident. Ichigo was either supposed to have regained his Shinigami powers or he would have died. The half-half thing was not supposed to happen, and if we do it with you, the odds are astronomical that you will die. You already have Shinigami powers, you can't take back something you already have. If your timing isn't just right, you will die."
"Look, Ura-"
Urahara cut Hitsugaya off with an impatient hand gesture. "This is sheer madness!" he shouted. "Maybe I am not making myself clear. Why don't I rephrase myself. You will die. Three, very, very, simple words. This is not suicide in the figurative sense. This is like throwing yourself off of a motherfucking cliff!"
Hitsugaya sighed. "Fine," he said.
"Soten ni zase, Hyouinmaru!"
Urahara was found the next day frozen in a block of ice. Once he was freed, he swore to God the next time he found Hitsugaya Toshiro he would tie him up and hand him over to Kurotsuchi Mayuri for experimentation.
----
Hitsugaya searched the shop for a couple of minutes before he found the underground training area. When he found it, he spent another five minutes looking around before he found the shattered shaft.
This is probably it, Hitsugaya thought. He found a control panel next to the entrance to the shaft. There was two buttons on it, clearly labeled "on" and "off."
Not much thinking to do here, Hitsugaya thought, pressing the on button. Then the boy jumped into the shattered shaft.
----
The captain's meeting was just a review of the battle plan for most of the captains, but for Ichigo, the new 3rd Division Captain, it was an introduction. When Ichigo learned about the fake Karakura town plan, he felt a very distinct twinge of mistrust. It was probably because of the people behind the plan- Urahara and Kurotsuchi.
"What happens to the people in Karakura?"
"We're putting them to sleep," Yamamoto responded. "They'll be transported along with the real city. Should Aizen manage to bring the real city back, he'll be able to do what he pleases."
Ichigo winced. He had heard from the other captains about what Aizen was planning, and he wasn't particularly thrilled about the "massacre of every single living human being in Karakura" part. No, he wasn't very pleased at all.
"So, when Aizen attacks, we get to Karakura, and then we crush him," Ichigo said. There were nods from around the room.
"Ok then," Ichigo said. "Let's do this."
----
Hitsugaya Toshiro felt excruciating pain. He could feel his mind slipping as a new side of him was born. If he dared to try and reach that part of his soul, all he could feel was hunger- hunger for power.
There wasn't much to do at the bottom of the shattered shaft except to wait for something to happen, so Hitsugaya did just that. It would have been very, very, boring, if there were no mind-numbing jolts of pain every so often.
Unbeknownst to Hitsugaya, after Urahara had been rescued from the block of ice, he immediately went over to the shaft to see if the captain had actually been stupid enough to jump in, and hopefully, if he was, that he hadn't released the hollow change-inducing gas. He had done both, unfortunately.
Urahara just wanted to get it over with. Unlike Ichigo, Hitsugaya had no desire to get out. He could get out any time he wanted, but he chose not to. Urahara didn't need to give Hitsugaya any large amounts of time, so he grabbed a lever on the shaft's control panel, closed his eyes, and pulled.
Down below in the shattered shaft, Hitsugaya screamed from the sudden pain that raced through his head. Then he blacked out.
----
When Urahara gave Taka the sheet of paper, the captain waited until Urahara had left his office. Then he crumpled it into a ball of paper and threw it out the window. It was a useless thing. Alacran knew it was useless as well, but seeing as he had not told Urahara everything- what kind of an idiot would?- he couldn't have Urahara knowing that it was, indeed, completely useless. Taka knew everything written on the sheet.
Aizen was trying to find a way to stop the Vizards- and with that mad scientist of his, he could actually succeed. This was bad. The Vizards were one of Soul Society's greatest allies.
There was more news that was more pleasing to hear, at least. Taka could make do with what he had for the time being.
----
"I…" Hyouinmaru muttered, "have an idiot of a wielder."
Hitsugaya gasped, pointing next to his Zanpakuto. "What is that?"
Hyouinmaru sighed tiredly. "That is your hollow. Right now, it is in its final stages of development. After that happens, it will leave this soul and take over your body."
"Is there any way to… stop it?" Hitsugaya asked.
The writhing mass of white next to Hyouinmaru pulsed rapidly. Appendages began to appear all over its body, forming and diving back into the lump of flesh just as quickly. Suddenly, golden eyes flashed, and disappeared just as quickly.
"That remains to be seen," Hyouinmaru responded. "Do you want to stop it?"
Inwardly, Hyouinmaru hoped to whatever Gods there were that Hitsugaya Toshiro was susceptible to horribly overused motivational lines.
"Hyouinmaru, that's a horribly overused motivational line."
"Do you have an alternative suggestion?"
----