Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach. I do however own all of the OC's in the story, unless stated otherwise.
AN: This is the second to last chapter of A Walk with your Heart. It saddens me to say, but what I have planned for the story will only take two more chapters. These chapters will be a little longer than my previous ones. There is a time skip from the end if the last chapter to the beginning of this one. Without it there would be a pointless filler chapter that would just waste my time and yours. Its much easier to say X time passes. Also I have two polls up on my profile now. If you enjoyed the story and want a sequel, or are a fan of My Little Pony, go vote. They will be open until around chapter 2 of my next fanfic is uploaded.
To dragonofthe8elements, thanks for helping me with some of the ideas for the story. The last idea you gave me will be in the last chapter. As always, enjoy! R&R!
...
Chapter 14: Problematic Hollows
-8 months later-
"Hurry up Hiroto! We're going to be late!"
"I'm coming!" You fix your tie and leave your bedroom, heading towards an anxious Soi Fon. Your suit is just the same as it was eight months ago, when you first found out about Soi Fon being pregnant. It was a dark grey, accompanied by a black undershirt and a black tie.
Entering the living room, you find Soi Fon standing by the door, caressing her stomach and waiting for you. She wore a light green dress, nearly the same shade as your eyes, with a pair of flats and a necklace to match. The dress was slightly longer than the yellow one she owned, having it trail nearly to the floor, and obviously bigger around her midsection to accommodate the newest member of your family. Her hair was out of its usual braids.
She also wore a new ring on her finger, one that rested on her left hand. You had proposed only a few days ago, but it feels like you have been like this forever.
"If you don't stop staring, we will miss the party." She rolls her eyes at you while you divert your attention to your feet, trying to make them move.
"I can't help that you look gorgeous." She blushes lightly at your comment. Still after all this time, she blushes when your give her a compliment.
"Shut up. Let's just go already."
"Yes ma'am." You salute her and give her a serious expression. She just rolls her eyes again and giggles at your attempt at humor. Grabbing your hand, she leads you out the door towards the Kuchiki Manor.
Captain Kuchiki was gracious enough to host the party for our engagement. He told you that it wasn't everyday that a soul reaper couple of high ranking got engaged, or had a child for that matter. You think it might have something to do with Hisana however. You think that this is his way of giving happiness to a pair that deserves to keep it.
You can tell that it still hurts him to talk about Hisana, but at the same time, it makes him happy too. She was definitely the most important thing in his life.
The rest of your journey to the Kuchiki Manor consisted of ideas on how to break the engagement to everyone. Since it only happened a few days ago, you managed to keep it a secret from everyone, that is, everyone except the Head Captain.
...
-Flashback-
"Head Captain, thank you for agreeing to see us on such short notice."
"It is no trouble at all. Thing have been peaceful in the Soul Society for a while now, and there is not much paperwork for me to do. Now, why is it that you both requested to see me?"
You look at Soi Fon with a smile on your face. "Sir, I proposed to Soi Fon yesterday and she said yes. We want to have our wedding in a year."
"That is wonderful news! I'm happy to see such talented soul reapers joining together. This raises the question of why you wanted to see me, of course. You do not need to have my permission to be wed."
"Yes sir, we are aware of that. We do have a request though."
"And what is this request?"
"We would be honored if you would head the ceremony."
The Head Captain gives you a light smile. "I would be glad to. I am honored that you chose me for this occasion."
"It is we who are honored sir. Thank you." As you are about to leave, you stop yourself and ask him one more favor.
"Sir?"
"Yes?"
"We would also greatly appreciate it if this was kept a secret. There is a party to celebrate us having a child in a week and we would like to tell them ourselves."
"I won't say a word."
"Thank you very much sir." You both bow and take your leave, the smiles never leaving your faces.
...
-Present Day-
"Hiroto, is there something wrong?"
You look over at Soi Fon who is staring at you with concern.
"Nothing at all. I'm just thinking about how lucky I am to be with a girl like you."
She blushes slightly and smiles. "I think I am the lucky one Hiroto." She grabs your arm in a tighter grip and you finish your walk to the party.
...
"Mr. Arinori and Ms. Fon have arrived." A herald for the Kuchiki Clan announces your arrival to the party and everyone turns to see you. It is your party after all.
Captain Kuchiki walks up to greet you both. "Welcome to the Kuchiki Manor. We are honored to have you here." Captain Kuchiki takes a slight bow.
"Thank you very much for allowing us to have the party here. No other place would have enough room for everyone."
"Not at all. It's a pleasure. I'm glad to see that love isn't a thing of the past."
"Well you did give me great advice before. If there is anything I can do to for you, just name it."
"Hiroto. If you promise to stay with Captain Fon for the rest of your life, there is nothing else for you to do."
"I can definitely so that."
"Please enjoy yourselves, I have to step out for a few minutes." He takes another slight bow and exits the room.
Soi gives you a suspicious look. "You asked Byakuya for help?"
"Yeah. I asked him about dating, and he gave me some great advice. I wouldn't be here if he hadn't helped me."
"I didn't know Byakuya was capable of such nice things." You roll your eyes at her.
The rest of the attendees begin to swarm around you both, eager to talk about the baby. Being dragged off by Rangiku and the rest of the SWA, Soi leaves you to chat with some of the others there.
"Congrats on having a kid! I didn't know you had it in you." Yoruichi slaps your back and gives you a wide smile. You return the smile sheepishly.
"Thanks." Some of the others start asking about how you and Soi Fon got together and some other, mildly, embarrassing questions.
After a few minutes of talking, and seeing that Captain Kuchiki had arrived along with Head Captain Yamamoto, you call our to get everyone's attention.
"Excuse me, I... we would like to say a few words before the party gets into full swing." You motion to Soi Fon, who walks up and stands next to you, while the rest of the crowd falls silent.
"I would first like to thank the Head Captain for coming. It is an honor to have you here sir. I would also like to thank Captain Kuchiki for allowing us to use the Kuchiki Manor for the party. I promise we will clean it up when the party ends." This elicits a few groans from some of the soil reapers as well as a small, barely noticeable, smirk from the aforementioned captain.
"It's great to see you all having a great time, and thank you for coming to celebrate our child... however, that is not the only thing we have to celebrate tonight." A few soul reapers started to murmur to themselves and those around them, giving questioning looks to Soi Fon and yourself.
You grip Soi Fon's hand. "A few days ago, something amazing happened. Something that I would like to share with all of you. Soi and I... we are engaged. We're getting married!" For a second there is silence, followed by a great roar of happiness and congratulations. You smile at Soi Fon, who in turn smiles back.
Many people came swarming around you to congratulate you on your engagement.
BOOM!
A large explosion echos off in the distance. What the hell was that?... Wait... that spiritual pressure? It's...
"It's Vacio."
"Captains! Go deal with the arrancar! Lieutenants! Provide support for the Captains, but do not enter the right unless necessary. Captain Soi Fon, you shall remain here with me. Hiroto, go with the others to combat the hollow." The Head captain barks our his orders, and with a quick kiss to Soi Fon, you leave, following the others.
...
This time it seems that Vacio had chosen the edge of the seireitei to fight. Arriving at the wall, you see him standing on top of it, smirking at everyone.
"Welcome, welcome one and all to my last show. I greatly appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to come see me. It means a lot."
"Cut the crap Vacio! Why are you still alive!?" You yell at him, giving him an evil glare.
"Ahh, Hiroto Arinori, still as pleasant as ever I see. Now why won't you just die? It would make everything quite easy for me."
"I made the mistake of not killing you off when I should have."
"That you did. Now prepare yourselves. I'm going to show you why I should have been the 1st Espada."
"Hiss and slither, Serpiente." He let's out a roar and transforms into his ressureccion.
"Is that it!? We beat you last time while you were in you ressureccion!" He just gives you an evil grin and closes his eyes.
The ground starts to shake and the wall rumbles as a dark blue energy surrounds Vacio. He let's out a mighty roar, causing a shock wave of energy to push everyone back. With a blinding flash of light, Vacio steps forward and reveals his form.
He is now a humanoid around 6 feet tall. His face is pure white with the same blue markings on it just like his mask had. His arms and legs seemed to be covered in scales, while his hands bore talons. He was wearing a tight fitting black tunic.
He smiles, showing off his now razor sharp teeth and long fangs. "Segunda Etapa."
...
With the fight in full swing, you couldn't help but think about how much stronger he got. It was insane the amount of power that expelled from him. It was very similar to the Head Captain's own spiritual pressure when he didn't reign it in.
You pressed up against his arm with your scythe. You went straight Bankai, not wanting to take the chance of something happening to you. You still had to go back to Soi Fon. He pushes you away with ease and the next person attacks.
It went like this for several minutes, cycling through each member of the team trying to take him down. Screw this, we need it over now. You close your eyes and focus on Kanashimi. You feel feel yourself being tugged inside before your vision goes black.
...
"Why the hell is that bastard still alive!" Kanashimi yells at you the moment you appear in the dusty plains of your inner world. "Why isn't he dead! I cut him in half!"
"I don't know why that is, but what I do know is that with his Segunda Etapa, we have no chance of beating him without you taking over. I give you permission to do it again, but I will need my body back."
"No problem, I'm going to rip this bastards throat out." Before you even have time to leave, you feel yourself being torn out of your body while a new consciousness replaces your own.
...
-Kanashimi POV-
"Damn, will no one get used to this?" You look around at the soul reapers staring at you. The Captain's don't pay much attention to it, but the lieutenants looked very shocked. Well it is the first time they have seen you like this.
"Hiroto? What happened to you?" Momo Hinamori, the lieutenant of the 5th division stares at you with wide and fearful eyes.
"I'm not Hiroto. My name is Kanashimi. I'm Hiroto's inner hollow. He let me take over so we could kill this sicko. It's not the time for questions though, I'm going to end this."
You lunge forward with incredible speed, slashing at Vacio's head with your sword, which he dodges with ease.
"My my, if it isn't the infamous Kanashimi. So nice of you to finally join us. I can't wait to kill you and consume your soul!" He smiles happily at you.
"You are going to die here."His smile melts off his face and he looks at you, puzzled.
"And how do you plan on doing that? Last I checked, not one of you soul reapers could even scratch me."
"I'm not a soul reaper."
"Ahh, you are correct there. You are a hollow. I'm so glad that you are mire observant than last time we met."
"Shut the hell up!"
"Such foul language! It hurts my ears to hear such things. I think I ought to remove your tongue so you can't speak.
"In your dreams!"
"No. Not in my dreams. Right now!" He lunges forward with a clawed hand outstretched. You dodge the attempt St choking you and swing at his back. He blocks with an arm and claws at you again, barely scraping against your mask, leaving four long, but shallow, streaks across it.
You hop back a few steps, keeping him out of range. Damn his hierro is impenetrable. Your going to need more than just a sword strike to stop him. The only thing you can think of is Shinimasu, but he doesn't have a heart. You stare at him for a moment, checking for something.
"Where is your hollow hole?"
"Hmm, my hollow hole?"
"Yeah."
"My dear, this is why I was considered defective. My hollow hole disappeared. I have a heart, but I am a hollow. It disgusted Lord Aizen to no end. Something as simple as missing a hole or having a heart makes that being defective. I was never fond of soul reapers, but I had to take one under my wing in order to gain this power. You see, by merging my soul with hers, we became a more powerful being in its own right. My Segunda Etapa devours another persons soul and gives me their life. Since I devoured a soul reaper's soul, I gained a heart. It still feels weird and wrong, but I can tolerate it if it gives me this immense power!"
He fires a cero at you which you barely dodge. It hits the top of the wall, effectively cutting through it like butter. When the smoke clears, there is a cleanly cut semicircle through the seki seki rock.
Many of the captains couldn't believe what they were seeing. To actually cut through seki seki using spiritual energy? It was supposed to be impossible.
"I'm surprised that you managed to dodge that last attack. Not many could have."
"Thanks, but that attack was nothing. I'll dodge every one that your throw at me."
He grins at you and disappears in a flash of sonido, appearing behind you and slashing with his talons. You raise your sword and barely catch them on your blades edge.
"What happened to dodging all of my attacks?"
"Just shut up! Why do you want to destroy the soul society anyways! And don't give me the 'I hate soul reapers' crap!"
"It's simple. I am worthy to rule. None of you are."
"What makes you worthy?"
"I am evolved. Evolution drives the worlds, it makes the strong stronger. I have taken the best parts of both soul reapers and hollows and melded them into a perfect being. One that is flawless, one that is all powerful. No one can touch me."
"You think you are all powerful? You think you have no flaws? We hollows all share our greatest strength, we have no heart. We don't need emotions to rule us, we just take what we want. I am hypocrite by saying this because what I'm about to do next is filled with emotions. I'm sorry Hiroto. Just trust me."
"Of course I have no flaws, what are babbling about?"
"You gave up your greatest strength for something as fragile and stupid as a heart. Now pay the price." You raise you hands towards him, palms outward and head bowed. You can feel Hiroto trying to fight you for control, but you push him back so he can't interfere.
"Cry unto me. Burden myself. Rain blood across the sky. Become whole, ravage all that is grown, sate your hunger with my tears. Depression overtake, crumble will, and rot fortitude. Take that which we have. Steal the breathe from our bodies. Rejoice as we succumb to darkness. Be born anew from the ashes of my corpse."
You raise your head and speak that one word. The word that will end his life. The word that will kill Hiroto.
"Shinimasu."
The arrancar's face twisted into a look of pain and he clutched his chest. "What the hell did you do to me!?" He yells at you and stumbles while in the air.
You grin at him, feeling Hiroto's spiritual pressure fading. "Shinimasu. It grants me the power to take the life of a being by stopping their heart. In exchange foe this great power, I have to give something of my own. My life. I don't have a heart, but Hiroto does. Even now I can feel his spiritual pressure weakening."
"You sacrificed your soul reapers heart to kill me?" By now he was kneeling on the top of the wall, his breathing was ragged and forced.
"I had too. You can't continue what you are doing."
"Typical hollow... sacrifice a soul reaper... for your own... personal... gains..." He heaves his last breath and falls to his stomach.
"It's done." You turn to face the captains who look at you with fear and rage.
"You sacrificed Hiroto to kill the arrancar?" Captain Komamura asks in a surprisingly calm voice.
"If you're worried about him, don't be-"
"How could we not be worried! You just killed Hiroto!" Nanao screams at you with tears in her eyes. "How do you think this will affect Captain Fon! Do you think she won't kill you for this!"
"If you would let me finish, I'm trying to tell you Hiroto is okay, but not for long. I had to offer a heart to work the technique. The only one I could offer was Hiroto's. I can trade places with him now and kill myself instead."
You turn away from the soul reapers and sigh. "You know I never wanted to be a hollow. When I died I wanted to become a soul reaper. I always respected you guys and what you did. Unfortunately, I was consumed by that vasto lorde before I could cross over. Then he injected me into Hiroto. In a way I still got my wish. This time when I die though, I won't be coming back. I'm going to stay gone for good. I want to believe that Hiroto will be sad by my absence, but something tells me that he will be glad to be rid of me."
"So you're leaving now?" Nanao asks you, done with her fitful rage.
"Yeah." You turn around and face the group. "I told you you would thank me one day. This might sound weird coming from a hollow, but I will miss you all. You grown on me, surprisingly." You take a deep breath and turn around, no longer facing the group.
"Ribasu Shi." You feel your body start to fall apart and you feel Hiroto's spiritual pressure increase again. Unknowing to everyone else, you give a little grin as the mask breaks away and Hiroto takes over, leaving you to fade out of existence.
...
-Hiroto POV-
You can't believe Kanashimi just did that to you. She used Shinimasu on Vacio and let you take the fall. She said to trust her, but seeing as how you are just willing yourself to stay alive at this point, it's kind of hard to.
You can hear her talking to the other soul reapers, but you can't exactly make out what they're saying. One of them appears to be very angry at someone.
So this is how it ends... you beeping trapped on your own body while a hollow talks to the people you work with. You never wanted to die like this. You never wanted to leave Soi Fon by herself. She is going be having your baby in a few weeks, you have to be there when she does.
You try and fight back against Kanashimi, but to no avail. You clutch at your aching chest and try to hold on to your life, but you feel it slipping away.
Suddenly you feel something strange happening. You clutch your chest feeling the familiar beat underneath. It's back. Your heart beat is back.
What the hell is happening!? How is this possible? Did Kanashimi do something?
A violent gust a wind blows through your inner world, stirring up sand and making it hard to see. When it finally settles, Kanashimi is standing in front if you, blood trailing from under her mask.
"Kanashimi! What the hell is happening!?"
"You did it."
"Did what? What did I do?"
"You held on long enough to survive this. I switched the attack to take my own life instead of yours."
"How is that possible?"
"Ribasu Shi. It allows you to take all of the illness, disease, and abnormalities from one being and transfer it into yourself. I took away your abnormality. I gave your heart a beat. In turn, I gave my life."
"Why?"
"If you die, I die. There is no point in killing both of us."
"So why did you give my heart up?"
"I don't have one."
"So can I use the skill then?"
"Do you mean Ribasu Shi?"
"Yeah."
"You can. If you do, you won't die unless what you take from someone else is fatal."
"I see... Kanashimi..."
"Don't even try with that sentimental crap. I accept the consequences of what I have done. It's time for me to go."
"Can you ever come back?"
"It's very unlikely, but I am apart of your soul. Someday I might manifest again. Goodbye Hiroto Arinori and good luck." Kanashimi turns around and walks away, fading into nothingness.
"I guess it's time for me to leave as well. Farewell, Kanashimi." You close your eyes and dissolve into darkness.
...
"Hiroto! Are you ok!?" You hear a voice, but can't identify it. Its definitely female though. You can tell from the pitch.
"Hiroto! Wake up!" That sounds like Soi Fon.
"Get your ass up before I beat you!" Yep that's Soi Fon. Your eyes flutter open and you see Captain Unohana, Soi Fon, and Nanao surrounding you.
"Captain Unohana? What are you doing here?"
"Why I'm here to make sure you are all right. Your heart did stop beating for over a minute. Not many could have survived that."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense."
"Just lay still for now."
Soi Fon looks at you with tears in her eyes and grabs your face tightly. "Don't you ever do that again, you hear me!"
"Yes ma'am." She smiles and kisses you. Maybe now you can finally get some peace.