Rukia and Chad stood frozen with horror, five captains, against them and Isshin. They didn't stand a chance, but Isshin just turned around and spoke to his daughters, "now girls listen to me, I'm going to turn into a shinigami now, don't ask how I can there isn't time, I need you to go with my body and hide inside the house. And no matter what you hear, don't come out. Ok?" both girls nodded, with tears in their eyes.
Isshin took out a soul candy and swallowed it, popping out of his body. His body sprung up, and ushered the girls into the house. Isshin turned around and drew his Zanpakuto, as Rukia drew hers, swallowing at the same time. Chad started talking, "Kurosaki-Sama, how many can you beat?"
Isshin looked solemn as he said, "two, maybe three." these simple words seemed to echo infinitely, they all knew it, they couldn't win, it was impossible, but they had to fight.
Rukia spoke up "its ok, we don't have to win. We just have to survive long enough for help, either Ichigo will come with the Vaizards, or the others will come from Urahara's."
They all smirked at that, and Isshin said, "Your right, we're not alone, we can get through this, together." and with that, they charged.
Chad immediately launched a huge blast at the centre of the five captains, but they all shunpoed out of the way, Soi Fon appearing behind Rukia, who blocked her strike. Byakuya appeared behind Isshin, who blocked and launched a getsugatensho at him, Byakuya shunpoed to Isshin's side, just as Komamura appeared on his other side, both captains swinging at him, Isshin dodged, leaving both captains open as they adjusted their blades to avoid hitting each other. Just as Isshin was about to cut into Komamura's arm, Kurotsuchi appeared and blocked his blade, Byakuya swung his sword at Isshin's midsection, but Chad blocked with the shield portion of his left arm, grimacing as the captain's blade bit deep into his arm.
As they continued to fight, Kyoraku stood by, torn. It was his duty to fight them, and bring them in, but it was wrong, he could feel it, deep in the core of his very being.
He saw Soi Fon about to strike a wounding blow on Rukia, but Ichigo appeared and caught her blade with his bare hand, his anger so strong it could be felt within his enormous Reiatsu, pushing down on all of them. Before any of the captains could react, the rest of the 'outlaws' appeared.
The five captains looked around at the foes they now had to face, and quickly realised a single fact. If they fought now, they would be killed in a matter of minutes, if they were lucky. Kyoraku opened a senkaimon, and as four of the captains ran through, they looked back to see Soi Fon with a sealed Zangetsu through her shoulder, which was quickly pulled out.
Everyone looked at Ichigo as he started to speak. "that isn't a lethal wound, just a warning that if you ever try to hurt Rukia again, I'll kill you." they all looked at Ichigo in shock, none more so than Rukia herself.
Soi Fon clutched at her shoulder, trying to preserve what was left of her dignity, as she ran through the senkaimon, which closed behind her, and with that, the five captains fled for their lives. Everyone stared at Ichigo, wondering what had come over him, when he spoke up "has everyone been filled in on what's happening?" he looked around at them and everyone nodded or answered with a simple "yeah"
He nodded "good, then let's go back to Urahara's." Isshin found Yuzu and Karin hiding in their room, and got back into his body.
Because of Yuzu and Karin, they were unable to Shunpo to the shop, and so most of the group walked along the street, while the Vaizards ran over the rooftops, keeping watch for any shinigami that might try a surprise assault. While they were walking, Rukia looked up at Ichigo and said, "so Ichigo, what's your plan?"
He smirked at her, "and what makes you so sure I have one? I could just be making this up as I go along."
She smirked back, "please, I know you, you have some crazy, harebrained scheme to get us out of this mess, which shouldn't work but probably will. You can't fool me Baka, I can read you like a book." Ichigo looked around, rubbing the back of his head when he noticed everyone was looking at him, hoping to hear the plan.
"I'll tell you when we get to Urahara's, and the rest of you stop looking at me, it'll look weird to the humans if you're all looking intently at thin air."
They arrived at Urahara's and Ichigo led the way down to the basement. "Urahara, how soon can you open a garganta that will allow my sisters through?" everyone except he Vaizards looked at him in shock.
Urahara shrugged "about a week I guess, why?"
Ichigo looked back at him and smirked, "why else, we're going to Hueco Mundo."
Urahara looked shocked, but his shocked expression gradually turned to interest, "actually, that's not a bad idea, I assume we will be heading for Las Noches, and it is indeed the safest place for us to hide from soul society, I'm impressed Kurosaki-San."
Ichigo sweatdropped, "you didn't have to sound so surprised." everyone chuckled at his expression, evidently upset that the thought of him having a good idea was so surprising.
He then turned serious, "alright then, Urahara, how many of us can stay upstairs in the shop?"
Urahara looked thoughtful as he answered, "I think all the women could fit up there, and us men will have to stay down here in the basement."
There were a few groans from the men at having to stay in the basement on the rocky ground, but Ichigo quickly said "fine, do you have enough bedding for all of us?"
Urahara didn't reply, instead he shouted "Ururu, Jinta, please can you check all the bedding we have, and see if we will have enough for all our guests!" at which a small cry of "Hai" and a louder one of "sure" came from up the ladder.
It was a surprisingly short time before Jinta shouted down "We're three short boss!"
Ichigo nodded and said "right, I'll go out and get those then, Chad, can you come with to help me carry them?" Chad nodded, and they both walked out, and Rukia walked out with them, automatically going with Ichigo as she always had.
After Ichigo had stopped at the bank to withdraw his savings, saying that there was no point keeping any money in the living world, they had picked up the three sets of bedding, and were on their way back to Urahara's shop when Rukia spoke up, "Chad, can you go on ahead please? I want to talk to Ichigo."
Chad just nodded and took the three sets of bedding, leaving Ichigo and Rukia alone. "Ichigo, what came over you before, I've never seen you like that, you were so angry you were practically crushing us with your Reiatsu."
Ichigo just looked away and replied "I don't know, I just saw her blade about to hit you, and something snapped, the thought of you getting hurt is unbearable, all I could think of was that moment I saw Grimmjow plunge his hand through your stomach, I don't ever want to see you hurt, and I just felt like I needed to warn her so that she never tries to hurt you again."
Rukia was touched, but at the same time she was incredibly amused, she burst out laughing and Ichigo looked hurt and said "what the hell are you laughing for?" Rukia had tears in her eyes as she answered "I'm sorry Ichigo, but you just said something romantic!"
Her laughter intensified at the sight of Ichigo's face turning a bright red, "No I Didn't! I just want to protect people so it upsets me when people I care about get hurt!"
Ichigo stopped shouting when he saw her laughter fade quickly, and a hurt expression on her face for a split second before the Kuchiki mask appeared and she stated in a calm voice, "Fine, I'm sorry I made fun of you Ichigo, and I'm sorry I saw something that wasn't there" despite the mask, Ichigo saw tears in the corners of her eyes a she spun around and walked towards Urahara's at a brisk pace.
He ran after her and shouted for her to wait, all the while thinking, how in the hell am I going to fix this?
Ichigo caught up with Rukia and grabbed hold of her arm. Strangely, she didn't fight him, she just stood frozen, refusing to turn around. "Rukia, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, I was just embarrassed and... Well that's no excuse really; I didn't mean to hurt you, I just..."
Rukia's voice was cold, emotionless, "you didn't hurt me Ichigo, what you said was perfectly justified, there's no need to apologise, you were right."
Ichigo shook his head, "Rukia, I do need to apologise, because I lied, I do want to protect you more than I want to protect everyone else, because... You mean more to me than anyone else."
At this point Rukia turned around, hardly daring to believe that he might mean what she thought he did. She looked into his eyes, and hesitantly whispered, "why?" I Ichigo swallowed, loudly, "don't be stupid, you know why." He said, looking away. she embraced him tightly, and he was shocked for a moment, before he embraced her back, savouring the feel of her in his arms. He had never been so happy or content. It was perfect. "I love you." he whispered softly.
She looked up into his amber eyes, and smiled. "I love you too. Strawberry." and for once, he let it slide. Just this once.
They eventually separated, and Ichigo said, "we'd better head to the shop, they're probably wondering where we are."
Rukia smiled and replied, "yeah, and the less time we take, the less time Urahara's imagination can run wild." they both grinned at this, and headed to the shop, hand in hand.
They arrived at the shop and hesitated before Ichigo spoke up, "do you want to tell them, or should we leave it for a bit?"
Rukia shrugged and said "I'm not ashamed or embarrassed, are you?"
Ichigo answered immediately "of course not! I was just dreading the reactions of certain "adults", especially my idiot Dad."
Rukia sighed, "I suppose the sooner we do it, the sooner they will get over it"
Ichigo scowled and mumbled his doubts, and then they entered the shop, with their hands still joined.
As they entered the basement where everyone was gathered, they saw various expressions as people noticed them, shock, joy, and sadness, which puzzled them both, why were Renji and Orihime upset?
But they had no time to think on it as Isshin jumped up and flew at them, arms outstretched. "Woohoo! My precious th-" he was cut off by Ichigo's foot.
In answer to everyone's questioning looks, Ichigo gave a quick nod, and rapidly tried to start a conversation before they could ask any questions. "so Urahara, is there any way to get that garganta open quicker? We don't want to stay here any longer than necessary."
Urahara was silent for a moment before he replied "I'm afraid not, unless... Ichigo, when you killed Aizen, did you pick up the hogyoku?"
Ichigo just shook his head, and Urahara was about to continue when Rukia spoke up, "Ichigo didn't, but I did" she reached into her robes, and pulled out the small orb.
Everyone looked at her in surprise as she explained "well, after Ichigo passed out, I noticed the hogyoku on the floor and I could feel some shinigami heading towards us, and for some strange reason I just had a feeling that soul society shouldn't have the hogyoku, so I picked it up and hid it in my robes. Good thing I did too, because it was how I was able to sneak into the central 46 and break Ichigo out."
Urahara grinned, "this is excellent news, with this I can get the garganta open in three days not seven, maybe less!"
Ichigo smiled at Rukia before looking at everyone else and saying "alright then, we need to get all the bedding set up, and also a watch schedule so soul society can't take us by surprise." everyone got to work, following Ichigo's instructions and not once wondering why he was giving the orders.
Later that day, the sun was setting, and sat in front of the shop was Rukia, watching the sunset and reflecting on how crazy the last few days had been. She felt Ichigo coming out and turned around, he smiled at her. "well that went better than I expected." she smiled and chuckled a little.
"Your dad sure is predictable, but, did you notice Renji and Orihime?"
Ichigo nodded, looking sombre, "yeah, they looked dead upset, I think I might know why though."
Rukia frowned, "really?"
Ichigo looked at her, "yeah, see I've known for a while now that Inoue has a crush on me, and I always suspected that Renji liked you."
Rukia looked shocked, "what? Nah, Renji's like a brother to me, though it does make sense that Inoue has a crush on you, when we were in school, she never seemed to stop talking about you."
Ichigo rubbed his hair, "I know, I always felt bad, a lot of the girls who hit on me were annoying, so it was easy to shoot them down, but with Inoue, whenever I tried to tell her I simply wasn't interested, I always felt guilty."
She grabbed hold of his hand, "you're so sweet Ichigo, sometimes you're too kind for your own good."
He smiled at her, "yeah, but maybe she'll get the message now, and move on." she smiled back, and he gave her a quick kiss, then he realised they had never kissed before. It had seemed so natural, so normal, that he hadn't even registered it as new, he looked down into her eyes, and knew she felt the same. They were meant for each other.
His head lowered again, and this time he didn't pull away after the first touch. He slowly moved his lips against hers, feeling her warmth, the softness of her lips, and her smooth skin as his hand cupped her cheek. When they separated, Ichigo wondered why the hell they hadn't done this sooner. It was amazing how simple a thing could feel so good.
Rukia smiled up at him, then took one last look at the sunset before it fell below the horizon, and stood up to head back inside. "you coming?" she asked.
Ichigo smiled up at her, "sure." and together, they walked back into the shop, Ichigo giving her a quick kiss before leaving her at the door to the room she was sharing with Inoue and Hiyori, and going down the ladder to the cavernous basement.
The days passed slowly, as they waited for an attack that never came. It seemed that soul society was biding its time, perhaps hoping that they would move out of Karakura, so the humans would not be harmed were they to attack.
Eventually they were all assembled in the basement, as Urahara opened the garganta. They all headed through with packs of varying weight, as in addition to food, water and bedding, they had all agreed to help carry Urahara's equipment, as it would undoubtedly come in useful.
They entered the garganta, and Ichigo had Ishida, Yoruichi and Urahara make three paths, as they had the best Reiatsu control. They travelled at a steady pace, and eventually reached the desert of Hueco Mundo.
They could see las Noches, and luckily it wasn't too far away, they would reach it by sundown. With Ichigo in the lead, and Rukia by his side, they set off towards their new home.
They were halfway to las Noches, when a small green bundle threw itself at Ichigo, all the while shouting "ITSYGO!" Ichigo sat up in alarm and the bundle's hood fell back, revealing Nel.
Slightly out of breath, Pesche and Dondochakka soon appeared too, as Nel, with small tears in her eyes, yelled happily, "Itsygo! You came back! Nel missed you!"
Ichigo had a slight grin as he said "I missed you too Nel, now can you please let me up?" Nel gave him a tight hug, before getting off.
Pesche spoke up, somewhat fearfully, "no offence Ichigo, but I didn't think I'd see you again, why are you here? Is Aizen back?"
Ichigo shook his head before replying, "Nah Aizen's dead, but after I killed him, soul society betrayed me, and tried to kill me and my friends. So we've come to live in Hueco Mundo."
A huge grin broke out on Nel's face, "YAAAYY! Itsygo is staying here forever! Nel is so happy!"
Ichigo thought of something, "Hey Nel, how would you three like to stay in las Noches with us? You'll be much safer there."
Nel literally started bouncing with joy, "Yay! Nel would love to come stay with Itsygo" Ichigo started walking towards las Noches, and Dondochakka opened his mouth wide, Nel said "why are you walking Itsygo? We can get there much quicker on Bawabawa." As she said this, Bawabawa appeared from Dondochakka's mouth, and they all jumped onto the hollow's back.
Ichigo was sat next to Nel, and they were having a chat about her life as an Espada. "so you have all your memories back now?" Ichigo asked.
"uh-huh Itsygo, Nel can remember everything, and Nel's been working hard on transforming too, Nel can do it at will now! But only for about ten minutes."
Ichigo was impressed, "that's incredible, at your power, I reckon ten minutes is more than enough for you to beat most opponents."
Nel grinned at the compliment, "Thanks Itsygo. Nel appreciates that."
They arrived at Hueco Mundo shortly, and Bawabawa returned to Dondochakka's mouth. Half an hour later, after a lot of unpacking, they were all settled in, and Ichigo walked into Urahara's lab to see said scientist conversing with Nel. "Ah Kurosaki-San, Nel here was just explaining her predicament to me, and I believe I can help her."
Ichigo was slightly suspicious of the perverted scientist as he asked "what do you mean?"
Urahara waved his fan as he answered Ichigo with a huge grin "I believe I can create a device that will allow Nel here to maintain her adult form as long as she wishes!"
Ichigo was stunned "really? You can do that?"
Urahara grinned wider "of course, Miss Nel has already agreed, in fact, it's nearly finished." He went back to working, and fifteen minutes later, he held up a green bracelet shouting "Eureka!" all the while, Nel was jumping up and down trying to reach said bracelet, which the scientist was accidentally holding just out of her reach.
Ichigo noticed this, and shouted; "before you celebrate, maybe she should put the damn thing on!" at this point Urahara noticed Nel's efforts, and handed the bracelet to her. She quickly slid it on her left arm, and appeared to concentrate for a minute, before a cloud of pink smoke appeared, and there stood Nel in her adult form, looking overjoyed at her new ability.
Noticing that Urahara seemed far too interested in Nel's new form, and lack of coverage on said form, Ichigo quickly pulled her out of the room, and into the nearest room with some clothes in. much to Urahara's protests.
After Ichigo had found some clothes that fit Nel, he left her to get changed by herself, despite her insistence that she needed his help to do up the zip, and went back to the lab with a rather red face.
Upon entering the lab, something suddenly popped into his head, something he had been meaning to ask the scientist for a while now. "Hey Urahara, I've always wondered, you and Yoruichi-San seem really close, are you two, you know, together?"
Urahara chuckled and shook his head, saying "no, no, we're just really good friends, in fact, she's like a sister to me."
Ichigo just shrugged and said "okay, I was just wondering." And he left the lab with Urahara still chuckling, and him wondering what the hell was so funny.
Ichigo was about to head to his room, when Renji came running up to him, "Ichigo! Soul society, they're here!" Ichigo was shocked, and he ran with Renji to the north entrance, where three hundred shinigami were approaching las Noches, and at their head were Byakuya Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki.