Uryū stared at the person he once knew and wondered if he would ever get him back. There was some part of him that was somewhat pleased by the situation for some reason. He wasn't sure exactly why. It wasn't that he wanted to see Ichigo suffer. It wasn't that he would have wished what happened to him even on Aizen himself. He was lots of things. Prideful, and sometimes damn arrogant. But cruelty was far from his heart. He frowned as he gathered the items for Ichigo again. It had been a week now, and there was steady improvement. Painfully slow, but steady. Almost all the self-care rituals had come back. However, ritual is what they were. He did them the same way, in the same order each day and began to get nervous when things didn't go right. He would sleep at the drop of a hat, which was in itself odd for Ichigo. He was used to sleepless nights, spending all day at school and half the night hunting hollows.
What spooked Uryū most, though, was when he would catch him talking in different voices to himself. He would use self-references that didn't make any sense, and would go push himself to near tears. He'd start rocking and holding his head when Uryū asked what was happening. Ichigo would mutter something about Master. Uryū had asked Byakuya to stay at a distance for now because of the strange rantings.
However, there was only one way he would sleep at all, and that was with Uryū touching him in some fashion. He might sleep an hour or so after Uryū would leave him, but that was the limit. For an entire night, he had to stay in contact with him. And while at the beginning, it would be something as simple as a hand on his back or his head, by morning he found himself entwined with Ichigo no matter how he tried to keep it from happening. He'd even tried sleeping on the floor and laying his hand up on the futon only to wake up with Ichigo on the floor with him. The whole time, the Arrancar would remain quiet and watch. Now and then, he'd intervene when Ichigo seemed to break down and start rocking back and forth in place. He'd go to him and Ichigo would seem to calm down before too long.
The nightly ritual had become pretty specific. They had dinner, then took an hour to sit, usually with Uryū reading and Ichigo looking off in the distance lost in his thoughts. After that, they would bathe, still together since Ichigo would not go near the bath without Uryū there. But now he was pretty much taking care of his own washing, including his hair. But it seemed to all be by rote. There was no thought to it. He would go through the motions and do the things, and to his horror, he realized something watching him.
He was still trained. All Uryū was doing was retraining him. He was still in the exact same mind set, only now instead of answering the desires of Aizen's cruel treatments, he was simply going through the motions of daily living without variation. The same strokes with the sponge, the same motions with his hands to wash his hair, first left side, then right, exactly the same as the night before. There was no thought, nothing. Repeated actions.
Shit. Two weeks had passed and things had only gotten worse. Uryū looked at Ichigo and felt his heart ache. He stood there with his head down, staring at the floor. He was waiting for Uryū to give him the towel like he always did.
"Ichigo, come on, let's finish up, we're going to talk to Urahara," he said softly, helping him dry off quicker.
"But we should go to sleep now…" he said, hesitantly, looking toward the door of the bathroom.
Uryū nodded. "We will, but it is very important that I talk to him right now, okay?"
Ichigo seemed like he wanted to argue, but before he could, he was wrapped in a dark blue yukata and the obi tied around him. Soon, Uryū was leading him with haste to the place Urahara was staying within the squad four barracks. He glanced at Ichigo who was slowly starting to panic. The routine was upset, and he was starting to get off kilter. Well, no time to waste. He grabbed him up quickly, lifting him and taking off as fast as he could, dropping down at the gates of fourth. He rushed through and beat on Urahara's door as he set Ichigo back on his feet.
The familiar green and white hat peeked out.
"Uryū-san? Is there a problem?" he asked, opening the door seeing him and Ichigo standing there.
"Damn right, this," he muttered pushing Ichigo into the room.
He'd started fiddling with the obi sash first, then proceeded to nervously look around the room as if for an escape. He was clearly avoiding both Urahara and Uryū's eyes. Then he started to pick at his hair, hands shaking.
"What happened?" Urahara said, watching as he inched closer and closer to a full panic attack.
"The same thing that happens every time I interrupt his routine. He's freaking out because I brought him here instead of going to his bed after his bath. He's not any different, Urahara. He's still trained, just now he's been trained by me!" Uryū said, walking to Ichigo and sitting him on the low sofa.
Urahara looked at him, suspecting what was happening, but wanting to confirm. "I don't understand, you said he had regained much of his knowledge of how to take care of himself, and some things about interaction with others."
"It is the exact same thing every time though. He washes himself the same way, eats the exact same way, moves the same way every time. Every time we see people, the words are the same no matter who they are now, and even though he's stopped flipping out on seeing everyone, he greets them the same way every time! Something isn't right," Uryū said, pulling both Ichigo's hands out of his hair again, grasping both wrists tightly.
"Okay, I see what you mean, bring him to the fourth first thing in the morning, okay?" he said looking over his distressed state. "Will he be okay once you return to his regular routine tonight?"
Uryū nodded. "Once he's back on track he'll be fine."
"Okay, then first thing after breakfast bring him to Unohana's office. We'll set up a few tests and scans and see if we can figure out why his progress is limited like this," he said, ushering them out the door.
Uryū led him back, and the closer they got to their room, the less anxious he became. Wonderweiss was sitting up on his futon waiting, but as soon as they came into the room, he laid down and fell asleep himself. Finally, they were laying in the futon once more, and he had fallen asleep as soon as he laid down. Unfortunately for Uryū, he'd buried his head in the hollow of his shoulder, and his right arm was now falling asleep. He brushed his left hand through his orange hair, biting his lip. Why was this so comfortable? Why was he able to lay here beside him with no thought that he was sleeping in the same bed with another man? And was he actually feeling something for him besides pity and guilt?
The last thought hit him hard. What did that mean? He was doing this for a friend. Any friend. Right? But no. Not any friend. He couldn't imagine doing this for Orihime, or Chad, or even Rukia. He would have gladly asked for someone to take over. But here he lay, a week later, and armed with the idea that he trusted him because he wasn't used against him. But neither was Chad or Orihime. And he knew that Orihime would jump at the chance to be in this position. It was pretty obvious that she harbored feelings for Ichigo, from the moment they became friends, he knew. But Ichigo simply threw off any advance with a shrug and a scowl.
"Hey you look comfortable," a voice said from the doorway. He craned his neck to see Renji.
"Yeah, well, my damn arm's asleep again," he muttered, not bothering to pause in his stroking of the orange hair below his hand.
Renji pulled up beside the bed and stared at the sleeping orangette. "He looks peaceful like that, comfortable with you. Has he had any nightmares since you've been staying with him?"
"Only if I get up and leave him," Uryū said sighing. "I swear, if I'm gone more than ten minutes he starts thrashing around in his sleep, and less than an hour he'll wake up. I can't imagine Ichigo agreeing to this sleeping arrangement if he were in his right mind."
Renji snorted and fixed Uryū with a grin. "Oh? Why not?"
Uryū lifted his head a bit. "Well, I mean, he'd probably rather have Rukia or Orihime in his bed, dumb ass."
"Well, he certainly didn't get cozy with either of them when they were here," he said with a smirk. "Orihime tried a couple times, but he actually slapped her once when you weren't around and she tried it."
"What? Really? Urahara said that probably any of us that weren't used could provide comfort for him," he said sighing and flopping his head back.
Renji leaned back. "Don't think so, Uryū, you are a dumb bastard sometimes. You and Kuchiki-taichou both are idiots," he said and sighed at him.
Uryū popped his head up, nearly jarring his sleeping pillow off his arm. "What the hell does that mean?"
"Seriously, Uryū, you are not aware at all, are you?" Renji huffed. "Look at it. Since the first day when he pulled your cross out of your sleeve, he's reacted better to you than anyone else. He actually touched you, he didn't touch anyone else. It seems like a little thing. He took Urahara's hat, but he reached out for you. While you were back at the world of the living, he didn't react to anyone else, then the minute you come back he lets you right in. Think about it." Renji smiled mildly. "Rukia's been trying to convince Kuchiki-taichou to come see him, but he refuses, saying that he doesn't want to interfere."
Uryū started to discount them all and then closed his mouth with a snap. He was right. No one else had come near, the closest had been Urahara, but if he'd slapped away Orihime, so did that mean… He shook his head. No way. That was just impossible, no way that Ichigo… And Byakuya? That was the face that was used to hurt him so deeply, so how could Ichigo think that way about him. Unless this all started before Aizen. He looked up and looked at Renji who had a wide grin on his face.
"You…you think he…likes me?" he said, surprised that he was even thinking such a thing. "And Kuchiki-taichou?"
"Holy souls, he gets it!" Renji said in an overly dramatic tone. "And you like him too; otherwise you wouldn't be curled up in bed with him and freaking out when things are going too well in the middle of the night running to Urahara. Kuchiki-taichou isn't much better. He's been hanging outside the door half the night to make sure nothing happens to him."
"But…he's not like that…he never…" Uryū stammered, realizing his hand was still clutching orange hair in a soft grip.
Renji rolled his eyes. "Come on, get over it. Gender and shit don't mean anything. I've had my share of male and female lovers. Most of us here in soul society are less hung up on that crap than humans. I'll admit, my attractions have led me to Rukia, though we've never actually been together, I think Byakuya would take my head off with Senbonzakura. I've always had a great time messing with Ichigo. Honestly, have you ever seen Ichigo show a romantic interest in anyone? Male or female? Not outwardly, but you know he holds some people closer to his heart than others. You, and Kuchiki-taichou are two of those people. Kuchiki-taichou doesn't want to admit it, but that connection is why he was used against Ichigo."
Uryū shook his head. Ichigo never had seemed to act romantically toward anyone, but there were those that he would have kept close. He was easy to embarrass, as was seen with Yoruichi's habit of running about naked, but he never acted aroused by it. Simply annoyed and embarrassed.
Renji smiled. "You guys get all hung up on what's on the outside of the body. Look, if you're attracted to someone's soul, what does it matter what they look like on the outside?"
Uryū stared at the sleeping face, mostly unmarred except a couple deeper scars that had been there too long for Inoue's magic to erase. "Uryū, tell me, what do you want? Why are you here and why are you doing this for him? If you can sit there and tell me once and for all that you have done this out of pure friendship, I'll leave it alone. But I know how much you loath most Shinigami after what was done to the Quincy, and your own grandfather. Yet here you are, in the middle of a noble Shinigami's house, taking care of another Shinigami that you considered your greatest rival until recently. Now tell me you're here out of friendship or a need to repay him some debt unknown to me?"
"I…I want…" he stammered, and realized with a shock exactly what he wanted. More than anything. "I want him back. I want him whole. And…I think I want him with me."
Renji leaned back in the chair, almost tipping it over, a victorious smile on his face. "Good, then you fight for it. You can bring him back; you might need help, but I think Rukia is dealing with her brother's stubborn resistance. He needs to know beyond a doubt that there's a reason to come back."
Renji stood up and left, leaving them alone. Uryū felt his heart thudding like mad in his chest. Did he just admit that he had feelings for Kurosaki? For Kurosaki of all people… But his mind spun back to their first real encounter. Standing back to back, under a massive onslaught of hollows that had no explanation. The hollow bait that shouldn't have drawn anything like a menos grande. Yet instead of leaving him to handle it, fingers bleeding from the effort, Ichigo stood back to back with him, and then drew on that unbelievable power he couldn't even control. And then Uryū standing over him, as he syphoned off the power so he didn't self-destruct from it, saving his enemy. Maybe that was the first thing. Ichigo had been willing to sacrifice himself for the seemingly on purpose actions of one enemy, then fight with him despite being to blame.
Uryū's head was spinning, but now he wondered if he really could carry similar feelings. But Renji was right, what else was there to explain him clinging to Uryū like a lifesaver. Like he was the only thing that mattered in the world. Maybe.
The next morning, the ritual was interrupted again, and he was steering a panicked looking orange haired Shinigami out of the gates again. He kept glancing behind him as if he was going to run right back to the house and sit in the garden like they normally did after breakfast. But instead, his caretaker steered him toward the fourth division. They arrived, met by Urahara at the door who led them into an exam room where Unohana was waiting.
"Uryū, I've explained what you were talking about last night. I take it he's having trouble now from the break in routine again?" Urahara said as Uryū got him situated on the exam table. He was already picking at his hair again, though not yanking on it yet.
"Yeah, after breakfast we've been going to one of the gardens, and as soon as I told him we were going somewhere else he started to panic about it," Uryū said, grabbing his wrists before he could yank any hair out.
Unohana nodded, running her hands over Ichigo slowly, thoughtfully. She then stood behind him and placed a hand on either side of his head. Uryū did what he could to keep Ichigo still, but his eyes darted everywhere and more than once he had to hold a hand on his chin to keep his head from turning while Unohana worked. She dropped her hands and looked at Urahara.
"I can't tell a difference from when he was first brought in," she said softly. "I don't understand it, he should be having some of his personality resurface. It may be like you feared, the soul fracturing into multiple pieces."
There was a long silence. "Can we make his hollow surface?"
Urahara looked at Uryū, frowning at first. "Make his hollow surface…we might be able to do just that and maybe get an idea of exactly what is happening in there."
-oooooo-OOOOOO-oooooo-
"Goddammit fuckin' hell, king!" the voice screamed. "Where the fuck is he this time," he muttered, crashing through another window that sealed shut behind him.
"Fuck! When I get my hands on ya, I'm fuckin' gonna kill ya myself and take over!" he screamed, landing with a crash into the side of a nearly submerged sideways sky scraper.
Shiro looked up at Zangetsu standing impassively on his damn flagpole. "The hell, Zangetsu? Any ideas?"
"The rain has stopped, I think it a good thing," Zangetsu said softly, looking around. A far cry from the thunder and lightning they felt at first, but still not bright and sunny.
Shiro groaned and felt a pull. "Hey, old man, I think they're trying to pull me up again. You think I should go have a chat?"
Zangetsu looked thoughtful then nodded. "You need to do something, Shiro, otherwise your threat to unseat your king is going to become all too real."
"Fine."
The world shook and he blinked his eyes. "Fuck, ya know some fuckin' warning would be damn nice," he muttered, swinging his legs over and sitting up on the mildly uncomfortable table.
Uryū frowned, looking at the strange eyes, the black sclera and gold pupils. It was a weird sight every time he'd ever come across it. It was better than the glowing red eyes of the monstrous visage that had nearly killed him in Hueco Mundo.
Urahara nodded. "Sorry, but we needed some insight on how to help Ichigo…it seems that our attempts are not quite reaching the soul core that you so studiously protected."
"Yeah, call it secondary fuckin' shock trauma. Having five fuckin' years roll into your mind of torture kinda does that, he regressed, and he's been hidin' from me, bastard," Shiro said, crossing his arms with a huff. "For some reason his soul core is still not attached to the rest of him. No idea why the link hasn't been back yet."
Unohana nodded then glanced at his still scarred wrists. They looked the same. "Shiro, could it have something to do with this damage?"
Shiro lifted his arms and then looked like something hit him. "Of fuckin' course! The actual soul damage is this, at least this is the outside look of it. Until we can get this shit gone, heal the actual soul damage, we're fucked."
All three stared at him until Shiro huffed annoyed. "Look a soul can't heal like a body. Usually, once it's damaged, it's dead. But Ichigo is different, he's got me. The fuckin' cuffs were meant to seek it out and zap the shit outta the soul, cracking it into pieces. Well, after fuckin' years, my barrier was degrading, and it managed ta get through the barrier and some of it was broken off…like a fuckin' crack in glass. Until we can get that put back together, an' seal it somehow…"
"How in the world can we do that?" Urahara asked, wide eyed.
Shiro sighed. "Find the soul, or souls, that are bonded to him."
"What?" Unohana asked.
"Twin souls, soul mates. There's a soul or souls that match the wavelength of his own. Not everyone has one, and even if they do, they don't always live at the same time. They're souls that are drawn to each other through reincarnations, and they both have strong powers, an' I know that Ichigo's bonded soul is alive now," he said, thoughtfully. "But it isn't me, as much as I'd like that, since I'm already in here."
"How do we find it?" Urahara asked softly, at a loss. He'd never heard of this concept.
Shiro shrugged. "Sometimes they get called soul mates, mostly they end up tangled in romance wit' each other. But…wait…"
Shiro fixed Uryū with a glare. "You, why do I smell our reiatsu all over ya?"
Uryū frowned. "Um, you should know already, the only way he'll sleep is if I stay with him," he said, surprised the hollow didn't know this already. "I thought you were in his head?"
"Wait, he's awake?" Shiro asked, a little surprised.
There was an exchange of glances. "Yeah…for the last two weeks…"
"Fuck! I've been chasin' his fool ass all over the inner world the last fuckin' weak, yet he's awake too? That's fuckin' not possible. His soul can't be in there and out here at the same time," Shiro said, eyes reflecting genuine shock at the idea.
Uryū gasped. "You said his soul had been fractured toward the end, what if one of the fractures is actually allowing him to function, while the rest, what really makes him up is in there with you?"
Shiro nodded. "It's possible. You put him out, right, to get me out?"
Urahara nodded. "Yeah, we did."
"So that means…ah fuck. This is gonna be a pain in my ass, fuckin' king," Shiro said with a groan. "I'm gettin' tired of the fuckin' hide and seek with him. The minute I get close ta him, he gets away from me. And if I can't catch 'im, we can't bind his soul back together and then get him normal again…"
"Can I enter his inner world?" Uryū asked slowly, looking up at Shiro's black and gold eyes.
Shiro frowned. "I don't know, what good would it do?"
"I have an idea I want to test, but if I could get in there and ahold of him…" he began.
Urahara nodded. "You're the only one he seems to trust, that may be significant. There's a kido I know, but it is risky, you won't be entirely safe if he lashes out at you in there. The problem is, as a Quincy, you can't go in alone. You would have to have a Shinigami guide you."
"I will do it," came Byakuya's voice from the doorway. Everyone looked at him. "I believe that I can help Ishida. He will not be able to access his Quincy powers while in Ichigo's inner world, but I should be able to help should anything go wrong."
Uryū thought a moment, but that was all it took. If he was right, and the reason Ichigo had been drawn to him, the reason he trusted him implicitly, was what he thought it might be, he had a shot. He could try, at least. He had to trust in the instincts that were flooding him, telling him this was the right thing to do. He looked at Urahara and then looked to Byakuya. He wasn't sure with the other Shinigami fit into Ichigo's world, but he knew he had to figure out where he fit.
"Do it. I want him whole again, Kisuke," Uryū said softly.
Another pair of beds were brought into the room quickly. Byakuya laid on Ichigo's right, and Uryū on the left. Shiro looked between them.
"I can't protect ya in there, either of you. But maybe you'll be fine. But then, since he's a Quincy…" Shiro said thoughtful. He glanced at Byakuya. "You know, Cherry Blossom boy, I think it will be a good thing that you're there. He's gonna be pissed off. "No Quincy bows in there, huh? Don't wanna explode. Got enough fuckin' reiatsu in there to blow out half the building if yer dumb," Shiro said, laying back.
"Okay, relax, Unohana-Taichou is going to apply a deep sleeping kido to both of you and Shiro is going to simply return. Then I'll put the kido that can connect your inner worlds to each other. But, obviously, as a Quincy, Uryū, you don't have one, so you'll simply sink into Ichigo's inner world. Be careful," Urahara said, and then it all went blank for a minute.
Uryū opened his eyes slowly and almost had a heart attack. He was lying on the side of a sky scraper. He looked up to see an image of Ichigo, only reverse with white skin and clothes. But the black and gold eyes revealed who he was. Byakuya stood already beside him looking around, seemingly unaffected by the tilted world.
"Wake up, sleepin' Quincy," Shiro said with a manic grin.
"What is this? I'm…sideways…" he said looking around.
There was a snort of laughter. "Just Ichigo's inner world. Now be careful, half the damn place is still under water…"
Uryū stood up, finding the tilted world stable. Shiro was right, only a few sideways buildings rose above the water. "Why is there so much water?"
Another voice spoke out. "When Ichigo is sad or troubled, it rains. And it has been raining a very long time now. Only in the last week has the rain let up." Uryū looked up to see a black clad figure standing on a flag pole. Byakuya tilted his head and stared at him, then returned to look at Shiro.
"Fuck, Zangetsu, ya gotta be all philosophical all the damn time? Fucker," Shiro said. "Come on, gotta find fuckin' king soon. Or we really will fuckin' drown in here."
"You said you have been chasing him?" Byakuya asked.
"Yeah, but it's fuckin' weird, like sometimes he'll be skittish as fuck, and other times he tries to take my damn head off. Like there's different versions of him. Makes sense. That lightning shit fractured him into several pieces. Someitmes one is in charge and sometimes another, that's how he can be causing ame irritation and being out there acting up, fuckin' brat," Shiro said with a shrug.
Uryū looked around and felt a tug. It was faint, but he headed that way. Shiro watched then looked at Zangetsu who shrugged. Shiro was soon leaping after him with Byakuya following them both. "Got an idea, Quincy boy?"
"Maybe. I thought I sensed something this way," he said softly. "If he's shattered apart, how many pieces of his soul are there?"
"At least four," Byakuya answered, getting a look from Uryū and Shiro. "He spoke to me in several of them. I believe one is a child, at least," he said with a sigh.
Shiro almost tripped for some reason and shook his head. "Fuck, no idea for sure, but four sounds as good as any number. But if we don't find them all, we're fucked. At least two for certain since I was chasing one, and there was one running the show. But by the time it broke the barrier, I was so weakened that I couldn't tell what was happening. Either way, let's just try to gather whatever we find."
Before long they came to a window that was open. Uryū dropped in and found himself looking a child, no more than nine or ten, playing on the floor, well really it was the wall since the building was tilted. He was sitting a large blackboard and drawing with chalk. There were three interlocking circles, looking almost like a diagram. He looked up, bright brown eyes and the familiar orange hair. His face was all smiles, and no trace of a scowl.
"Hiya! Have you seen my mommy? She hasn't come for me yet," he said cheerfully.
"No, but maybe we can help find her?" Uryū said, smiling to him. Byakuya watched, not sure where he fit into this place since Uryū was the one interacting.
The child looked skeptical. "Okay!" he announced and ran to leap into Uryū's arms. As soon as he came into contact with him, though he vanished in a puff of black and red smoke and Uryū felt something slam into his chest and pulse with energy. At the same moment, Byakuya was knocked to his knees, a weight settling into his own chest.
"The hell?" Uryū said, staggering backward a bit. He looked down, and in the center of his chest a bright white ball swirled.
Shiro arched a brow and shook his head. "Fuck me sideways, it is you two, fuckin' bonded souls…"
Uryū looked at him with wide eyes. "What's going on?"
"That part of his soul accepted ya, joined with ya, for the time being. Basically yer a container until we can find the other parts. Hope yer scrawny ass don't explode first," Shiro said with a shrug, but he looked at Byakuya. "But you have his wavelength too. I don't you always did, though. For some reason, you became bonded to his soul while Uryū was born bonded to him. But you're drawing the excess power away from Quincy boy. Fuck, might be the only way this works. That one was easy. The rest may not be."
Byakuya looked at Uryū. "The child was his innocence," he said and Uryū nodded, agreeing with him. It did seem that way.
They left, heading out for the nearest sense of Ichigo. Shiro nodded and pointed in another direction and they were there in a moment. This time, there was an open window that they could hear panting breaths come from. They dropped in and Ichigo was kneeling, his soul chain encroaching. Uryū frowned.
"When he became a Shinigami again," Shiro explained. "Only way to do with without dyin'. Also how he got mah power."
Uryū knelt before him. "Ichigo, it's time. Time to go."
Ichigo looked up, pain registering in his eyes. "That…would… be great…but…"
The final encroachment started and he threw his head back, the hollow mask forming. Uryū stepped back and watched as he writhed and fought the hollow trying to take him over. There was an explosion, and they were standing alone with Shinigami Ichigo wearing the mask. He pulled it off and stared at them. Uryū reached out his hand to him. "Come, Ichigo, it's time."
Ichigo nodded and stepped forward and took Uryū's hand, and again a puff of the black and red tinted smoke, and Uryū felt the same crashing sensation, only stronger. Byakuya gasped as well, holding a hand over his own chest as more energy seemed to swim into him. Uryū leaned over and panted with his hands on his knees. "I really hope there aren't too many more pieces…"
Again Byakuya looked at Uryū. "That was his persistence, the piece of his soul that is a Protector. A major part of his soul."
Shiro snorted with absolute glee. "Yeah, that was a huge piece of his soul, easily over half of it. Maybe we won't be so fucked after all."
Again, they were off, leaping through sideways sky scrapers until a flash of black energy came screaming from below. A Getsuga… Shiro smiled, dodging and pulled his inverted Zangetsu. "This is a feisty one…follow me!"
Shiro engaged his double with glee. Uryū stood to the side, and was tempted to use a Quincy bow but thought better.
Byakuya put a hand on Uryū before he moved. "There is a pattern, Ishida. The first piece we met was Innocence, represented by a childlike visage that was Ichigo before everything changed for him. The second we found was determination and will, when he gambled on losing his very life after I took his powers that Rukia provided him with. Now this."
This one, a vicious frenzied version, fighting on even footing with Shiro. Innocence, determination, power? Possible. Uryū nodded. "Fighting. This one is his powers?"
Uryū called out, "Stop, Ichigo, time to stop!"
The orange haired figure stopped and stared at him for a minute then moved to attack. Shiro was quick to the defense, going to stand in front of Uryū and Byakuya. Uryū put a hand on his back.
"Let him go," Uryū said.
Shiro arched a brow. "But if he kills ya in here, ya will die…"
"He can't kill me at all, Shiro."
The hollow backed off, and watched as Ichigo swung Zangetsu downward in a perfect arc to slice through Uryū from shoulder to hip. Except as soon as the blade touched him, he evaporated in that puff of black and red smoke and Uryū went skidding backward a few feet. Byakuya staggered, the excess power draining from Uryū into him. Uryū huffed and puffed for a moment and then stood up. "Okay. Not as easy as it looks. Now we find the rest and we can get the hell out of this tilted world."
Again, they were on the hunt. And this time they felt another strong piece. Uryū thought perhaps there were two more. He still needed to find the part that had been in control, what he was calling the "pet" part of Ichigo, the piece that retrained the trained aspects of him. And the other had to be the part he was hiding so well. The pain and shame, the part that retained the memories of the last five years.
Unexpectedly they stumbled into a window and found a scene that made Uryū's heart clench. Byakuya made a strange noise in his throat because the room was one that looked like one from the manor. Ichigo was chained to a wall beside them, hands high and shackled. The cuffs gleamed menacingly, and a thick heavy collar sat about his neck. He was only covered in caked blood and bruises. Above his head, his hands were obviously mangled, twisted and purple. Knowing what had happened to him and seeing it were two different things. Uryū kneeled in front of him, and he lifted his vacant eyes up to him.
"Pet please master's friend?" he asked tentatively. "Pet be good pet for master's friend."
Uryū reached up, and found the latches easy to remove provided it was done from the outside. He slowly lowered his hands and stared at Uryū. "Pet go home?" he asked, tears slipping from those large chocolate eyes.
Uryū nodded and reached down to embrace him. With a soft huff of air, the image was gone and Uryū barely felt the impact of this piece of soul it was so very weak. He placed a hand over the glowing mass that was swirling in his chest. Behind him, Byakuya was struggling not to look at the room. It was so familiar, yet foreign. It smelled of blood and worse. They knew that the last would be the hardest, but also the part that would release him. Uryū stood shakily and together, they all exited. Once outside Shiro stopped.
"You must do this without me, boys. Good luck. Try not ta die," he said, throwing a two fingered salute his way and was gone.
Uryū looked at Byakuya and they both looked down into the water. They felt it, both of them, like some sort of beacon calling to them. In he jumped and began swimming. He really didn't think it mattered where, just down into the murky depths of his sadness and pain. It was almost tangible as he swam, making his heart ache and throb within him. He realized that breathing wasn't a problem. Granted, it wasn't real water, it was a mental world.
Down lower, he saw a flash of whiteness, and he saw the orange. The pair of them dove toward it. They burst through the water and were inside another room, this one with Ichigo sitting nude and curled into the corner. Blood dripped from many places, his head, his arms, and the cuffs were gone, but in their place were raw, red wounds seething with pus and infection. The wounds that went to the core of his soul reflected.
"Go away!" he yelled, growling almost at him. "Go away and leave me to die here!"
"No," Uryū said and kept moving forward. Byakuya moved forward with him. This was where he would have to help Uryū directly.
"I'm not leaving here, I'm…stained."
"No."
"I'm not worth this, just go back and leave me be! I'm alone in my sorrow, and it is for myself so I don't need your pity," he yelled, pulling himself into the corner even more.
"No," Uryū repeated coming forward again.
"Stay back!" he practically screamed. "I'm stained, dirty, used, a monster no one wants or loves! Leave me alone to die!"
"But Ichigo, you're none of those things." Byakuya spoke this time and Ichigo go looked at him.
"If you saw what they did, what I did…you'd leave me here!" he screamed.
Uryū was now kneeling in front of him, and Byakuya dropped to his knees beside him. "So show me. Show us. Give it to us, all of it, give us all five years and see what we do. I came here for you. So did Byakuya. Ichigo, we know what happened, no matter what you think. I came here because I feel something for you." He glanced at Byakuya. "I don't know how it fits, but so did Byakuya. So if you think we will leave because of what was done to you, give it to us."
Ichigo's eyes widened. "What?"
"You say we won't want to help you out of here when we see what happened. So show us. Then we choose, and you'll see. Either we leave you here or we won't. Otherwise I'm not leaving," he said easily. "And you know that if I stay here, since I'm not a Shinigami, you know that I will die."
Ichigo seemed to think. He wasn't quite who he should be, but Uryū knew this was only a small part of him. "Fine, you asked for it. You'll be disgusted with me. You'll kill me with your own hands."
Ichigo reached out and tapped his skull tentatively with one hand, and tapped Byakuya with the other. The world exploded for a moment inside Uryū's head. It was like a movie going at super high speed, which only a brain could interpret because it was too fast for eyes. He saw it all. From the beginning, fighting, spitting and yelling at his captors no matter how often they beat him nearly to death, or punished him, or left him bleeding. He saw the broken bones, the pleasure they gained from his pain. He saw the faces of the illusion, but then there was a flicker in each face that was a telltale sign that they were indeed disguised illusions. Then the cuffs were applied, and the world spun sickly as he saw two things, the core of his soul thrashing against the cage and the energy seeking to shatter it. On the outside, the training of what remained, the constant pain and everything. Then it was flashed to one day, where they all took particular glee in hurting him repeatedly, crushing him, and then he was awakening in terror at a confused Byakuya.
Byakuya, though, saw something that Uryū couldn't. As the images flooded his mind, featuring his own image, something else became apparently. You can't forge that kind of connection. To bond a soul to another… a voice in the darkness of the pain. I can try. The hogyuku will do it. It creates Arrancar, it can create a soul bond. Then Ichigo will never be able to escape me. But the bond had been incomplete because the face Ichigo's soul recognized was Byakuya's, not Aizen's soul. The second bond. Aizen had tried and failed to bond Ichigo's soul to him. He hadn't anticipated the effect that his illusion would have on him.
Uryū staggered backward and clutched his chest. Five years in about two minutes had just spun through his mind. And he stared at the cowering form before him. Tears gathered in his eyes. A second later, Byakuya seemed to come out of the trancelike state he was in beside him. His own eyes were misted and his heart ached.
"Don't pity me! Just leave!" he yelled, covering his face.
"I don't pity you," Uryū said, leaning forward. "I…love you."
Beside him, the stoic visage of Byakuya Kuchiki faded and he smiled. "The bond between us was forced, Ichigo. But I do not pity you. I too feel love for you."
The form looked up with wide shocked eyes as Byakuya reached out and put a hand against the bloodied face. Uryū leaned forward and pressed gentle lips to the bloody ones before him. A warmth emanated outward, and the soul fragment was absorbed, this time seamlessly. Byakuya felt the heaviness grow until he knew he couldn't stand. Uryū stood as there was a warmth spreading out throughout him and the glowing fragments rose up, swirling together.
As the world began to fade, they heard a gentle voice he knew.
Thank you.
Uryū sat up with a start, nearly head butting Urahara. He was panting and clutching his chest and looked over urgently at Ichigo who was still out.
"Did it work?" Uryū asked.
Urahara shook his head. "I have no way to know, but since you're alive and well with your soul in your body, I'd say that's a good sign. Byakuya hasn't woken yet, however," he said with mild concern.
"He said that their bond was created when Aizen tried to make a soul bond between him and Ichigo, but the illusion in Ichigo's mind was too strong and it bonded him to the real Ichigo instead."
Urahara nodded. "That makes a lot of sense," he said as he heard Byakuya sit up finally.
"There, you've returned as well," Urahara said as he went over to look at him. "You've fared well?"
Byakuya nodded. "I would not wish to enter that tilted inner world again," he said as he looked at the bed next to him at the still supine Ichigo.
Uryū crawled down off the bed and moved to sit beside Ichigo on his bed, grabbing his hands in his own. "I meant what I said, Ichigo, so please, you need to come back to me now."
Byakuya stood and moved to stand by the bed, taking Ichigo's other hand. "Ichigo, I would request the same of you."
There was a long drawn out moment before a pulse of light emitted from the center of Ichigo's chest and spread throughout his prone form. His back arched off the table, black reiatsu seeping from every pore and filing the room with pressure that would have sent a lesser Shinigami to their knees. Then it was over and Ichigo's body fell back down. Slowly, eyes fluttered and looked up to lock with Uryū's expectant ones.
"Ichigo?" he asked quietly.
"Uryū…" he said softly. "I do too…so much…both of you…hurts."
With that, his head slumped over into sleep, and Uryū was left smiling across him at Byakuya who wore a similar expression.