I will be forever grateful to EternalDream for being an awesome beta!
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The Ties that Binds
Chapter 15
Ichigo looked down at the man who was trying to stand up. Despite Ichigo releasing him from his bonds, Hideyoshi was still not a match for Ichigo. It hadn't been more than five minutes since Ichigo separated the two of them from the group, but the force of Ichigo's beatings had already done a lot of damage.
"It doesn't matter what you do to me. Your father is as good as dead—and you will never see your sister again!"
Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he slammed his knee on Hideyoshi's chest before he dropped the man on the ground. "Why her?" he demanded as he slammed his foot down on Hideyoshi's back.
The man hissed in pain. "She has been chosen as Mamoru-sama's reward for...arrhh!" Ichigo didn't give Hideyoshi a chance to finish his words. He applied pressure and held Hideyoshi down.
"Ichigo-kun!"
The substitute Shinigami turned around and watched Orihime cry out as she ran towards him, her face filled with distress. Renji, Kisuke and Kakei were following closely behind. They all stopped a few meters away from Ichigo and observed him, his mask still in place as he towered over a badly beaten Hideyoshi on the ground.
Before Orihime could step forward, Kakei blocked his mother from moving.
"What the hell happened to him?" he asked, his voice filled with disbelief and confusion. "What's with the hollow mask?"
All three of them glanced to Kakei in surprise. He didn't pay attention to them because his eyes were trained on Ichigo, whose own eyes had drifted back to the man on the ground. The time traveller didn't fail to notice the yellow and black glowing eyes underneath the pale mask, and something like worry twisted in his stomach along with the confusion he was already feeling. His father, who had always been so powerful and unstoppable in Kakei's detested memories, couldn't have been defeated or eaten by a hollow and turned into one. It just wasn't possible. The time it took for even a plus soul to transform was usually a few hours. So what was going on? That dark energy, that animosity—he'd felt it before. He just hadn't recognized it for what it was. That was definitely a hollow mask, and that dark murderous energy was definitely the kind of feeling hollows radiated, but…this was his dad. His dad wasn't like this. Right…?
"You don't know about his inner hollow?" Kisuke questioned, his voice low and calm, and Kakei shook his head and looked at his mother for an explanation.
Orihime bit her lip as she took a quick look at Ichigo to make sure he was okay. Even in his hollow form, she could sense him, Ichigo—her lover and father of their only child so far—and she knew that he was listening to their conversation and that he was hurt by the knowledge that this part of him had been hidden from their son. She couldn't understand why their future counterparts had never shared something this important to Kakei. "I'm sorry, Kakei. I can't imagine why we wouldn't have told you something so important."
Kisuke was staring at Ichigo, almost as if he was measuring him up. "Ichigo, that's enough," he ordered.
Ichigo turned his attention again to the fallen man. With a sneer, he kicked the man on the stomach, turning him over, and Hideyoshi grunted in pain as he coughed up blood. "No," the orange-haired man shook his head, "it's not nearly enough. He's still alive."
"Ichigo-kun!"
At her reprimanding voice, Ichigo's head shot up. Just as Orihime began to move towards him, Kakei again blocked her path, but this time, his other hand reached out behind him for his Zanpakuto. Before Kakei could reach for the hilt, Orihime touched his hand gently. She could see his confusion and turmoil.
"It's okay. He won't hurt us," Orihime said softly, her voice filled with conviction. She offered her son a small smile and gently turned him so he could face her. She brushed his bangs away from his eyes before she continued. "He will never hurt us. Please understand also, that this is how your father has been since he first gained his powers back when we were in our early teens."
With that, Orihime boldly moved towards Ichigo, who suddenly gripped his head as he fell to the ground with a shout.
"Ichigo-kun!" Panicked, she started to run to him.
"Stay back!" Ichigo cried out. He grit his teeth, his hands still clutching his head, as he fought not to scream out loud n pain. He glanced up through his bangs, and saw Orihime coming for him. One eye had reverted back to brown, and the other still gleamed yellow. "Stop her!"
Renji immediately grabbed Orihime in her tracks and held her in his arms when she struggled to get to Ichigo. Kakei continued to look on with shock, disbelief, and a sinking sense of horror creeping up on him. Dark, black waves of energy were pouring out from Ichigo, kicking up all the dust around them.
"What the hell is happening to him?" he whispered.
"Ichigo is fighting for control with his hollow," Kisuke replied and before Kakei could ask another question, Kisuke silenced him with a look. "There will be time to answer all your questions later, but this is not the right moment for it." Kisuke waved his fingers and hands around, and began to mutter a shield kidou that would encase all of them and protect them from the dust and Ichigo, should he lose the battle with his hollow.
"You didn't really think you could get rid of me that easily, did ya?"
"Shut up!" Ichigo clenched his eyes shut as the voice taunted him. Searing pain seemed to engulf his brain all at once, and it was hard for him to stay conscious. What held him steady was the thought of Orihime and his son being in danger.
"After trying to lock me up with that Shinto shit, you really think I'm just gonna let it pass? How'd you like it if I locked you up?"
Ichigo felt his whole body vibrate as his hollow prepared to take complete control. He tried to remember what the Shinto priest had told him, how he was able to bind the hollow within him.
Hideyoshi watched the scene play out from his front row seat on the floor, and he winced at the reiatsu that Ichigo was releasing. It was like they were surrounded by a dust storm, with Ichigo's friends most likely unable to see him at this point due to the poor visibility. Hideyoshi was close enough to reach him, though. He knew that sooner or later, they would force answers out of him, even if they had to use a kidou to do it. Death wasn't really something he wanted to cross just yet, but he would rather die than betray his clan.
Seeing that the man before him was distracted, and the others were too far away and too visibly disabled to help, he deftly pulled out a tanto hidden in his uniform. Just as Ichigo grunted in paid and bowed down to the ground even more, Hideyoshi took his chance. He moved to try and stab Ichigo, but he never made contact because Ichigo's eyes flew open, his hands quickly grasped Hideyoshi's, and, in one quick twist, he broke his wrist. Hideyoshi screamed in pain as Ichigo stood up. Both eyes were now back to yellow as he glared down at him. The sandstorm gathered in strength, but seemed to stabilize.
"You really want to die painfully, don't you?"
The Taira clansman noticed something off about Ichigo's voice, and the hair on the back of his neck and arms was raised, but he was determined not to be taken hostage at all costs—even if that meant goading Ichigo into killing him. "Do what you want!" he boldly exclaimed. "I'll die knowing that we've already won. Your sister is going to be the key to our victory, and you can't do anything to stop it."
Ichigo narrowed his eyes and gripped his Zanpakuto. The bands keeping his Zanpakuto sheathed unwound and twirled in the dust storm as Ichigo stood like a menacing avenging angel above Hideyoshi. "Not even all the demons in Hell can stop me. I've already gone through Hell once for her. Or was that not in your reports? There's nothing your clan can do to stop me from taking my sister back."
"The best trackers in all of Seireitei have never located us, and neither will you. Seishiro-sama will grant your sister as a gift to Mamoru-sama once he destroys the shield that's protecting Soul Society from us."
Ichigo's aura flared in anger, and he put his foot over Hideyoshi's chest again, grinding him to the ground. "I will find her sooner or later. Tell me where she is now, and I'll let you live."
"I would rather die."
"Then so be it." Ichigo raised his blade and prepared to strike down. But before Ichigo's blade could even pierce Hideyoshi's skin, Orihime ran through the dust storm seemingly out of nowhere and wrapped her arms around him.
"That's enough, Ichigo-kun! Please..."
"My father could die," he spoke unevenly, his voice filled with pain. It was deep and ragged from the hollow's influence. "They took my sister."
"We know," Orihime said softly. She could feel his muscles tensed up against her fingers, wound up too tightly and ready to spring into action. "We will find a way to save Yuzu, Ichigo-kun, and your father. That is what we always do. We defy all logic and find a way." She gently reached out and placed her hand on the arm that was clutching his Zanpakuto.
Deep inside him, his hollow flinched, torn between rebelling and stepping down for her. With Orihime's touch, and her soothing voice, Ichigo could feel his hollow slither in the background of his mind. Even after all this time, Orihime still had a hold over his hollow that no one had ever been able to explain.
The dust around them slowly settled, and Orihime continued to whisper words of encouragement to Ichigo.
Beneath Ichigo's feet, Hideyoshi spluttered out blood as he laughed. "The only way to save the old man is to kill him with sword wielded by a Taira, and I sure as hell won't help you! It's too late; you'll never be able to defeat it. Only someone with the blood of the Taira running through their veins can survive the poison."
With the dust storm finally over, everyone ran towards where Ichigo, Orihime and Hideyoshi were, and Uryuu's eyes widened as he heard Hideyoshi speak. So, the Taira clan was immune to the poison… An idea came to him. It was a long shot, but it was the only one they had at the moment other than ending Isshin's life. He quickly assessed Ichigo and knew the others were doing the same thing. Even though Ichigo's eyes had turned back to their natural light brown, his hollow was still close to the surface, and every person there could feel it. Orihime's hold on his hollow had not diminished even in the time they'd spent apart, but Uryuu wasn't going to let Orihime shoulder the burden of keeping Ichigo's hollow at bay alone.
That aside, Uryuu wasn't sure if he was even going to make sense in saying this, but he spoke up anyway. "There might be a way to save Isshin-san. There's no guarantee it will work, but it's the best one we have at the moment." He paused for a moment, waiting for everybody to give him their attention. Ichigo's gaze felt especially thick, and Orihime was still holding onto his arms to prevent him from dealing a killer blow. "He said that the blood of the Taira would need to run through his veins to survive, correct?" When Ichigo didn't move, Uryuu continued. "Orihime has already isolated the poison, if we can transfuse this guy's blood to Isshin-san's, where the poison is at the moment, it might counter it. Inoue-san, how far has the poison gone in his blood stream?"
"Shun-o and Ayame have stopped it from reaching his shoulders. It's contained in the right arm."
Uryuu nodded his head, as if he was convincing himself that his plan would work.
"If we're going to try and save Isshin-san's life, we need that man alive."
"Listen to him, Ichigo-kun. See? There's a lot of people that are willing to help us. You never had to go and do this on your own." She hugged him tightly and willed her love for him to pass onto him by the contact.
Ichigo turned around, and cracks started to run through the surface of his mask, with parts of it crumbling into reiatsu particles.
Orihime released his hands, moved beside him, and softly cradled his masked face in her hands.
"We're with you. We are always with you. I will always be with you."
At her words, the mask completely crumbled in her hands.
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"This…thisis the child my brother betrayed his clan for?" Seishiro sneered in disbelief as he walked towards Yuzu, who was being held captive by Kusanagi.
Yuzu stayed still as the man walked towards her and stopped a few inches away. He roughly grabbed her face and stared at her hard for a few seconds before dropping his hand. She watched as he approached the two Aizens angrily. "There is nothing special about her! Her reiatsu is too weak. We could choke the life out of her within seconds if we so chose."
"And yet, she can see us." The older Aizen replied smoothly. "You are so quick to overlook the fine details, Taira-sama."
"And what details would that be?"
"That your brother is enamoured with her. The advantage you hold over him now will ensure your victory over Soul Society."
Yuzu trembled in anger and despair at everyone that surrounded her. She could still see her father, blood trailing from his lips as he slumped to the ground, and yet here she was, captured by these strange people and unable to get to him.
"What kidou did you use over Mamoru?"
Yuzu looked at him and tried not to flinch under Seishiro's angry gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"You..." Seishiro seethed as he walked back closer to her and looked at Kusanagi, who nodded. Yuzu winced as the man holding her forced her down to her knees and forced her to look up at Seishiro. "Do you really expect me to believe that my brother would choose you over his clan? His loyalty belongs to us, to me! Tell me what you did!"
"I don't know what you're talking about! I'd never seen him before until your people came to try and take Hime-nee away!"
Seishiro glared at her, still unconvinced that someone so weak, so plain, could hold his brother's interest. Mamoru had always been surrounded by women, even before their banishment. Women from all clans, from the lowest of the Noble Houses to the most influential and beautiful, had continuously thrown themselves at Mamoru, and he'd never once shown any interest. How could one human girl capture his attention when many others, more beautiful, talented, and worthy to be a member of the Taira clan had not?
His mind raced of ways to punish the girl and to punish Mamoru. There were so many ways, and his mind settled on one. Mamoru was still his brother, and he would not be so heartless as to destroy something that his brother considered important to him.
"You are the cause of my defeat! If it wasn't for you, I would've won. Orihime and the throne would've been mine by now!" Seishiro hissed as he grabbed Yuzu's face with one hand. "You have taken my brother's loyalty from me. I believe it's only fair you repay that in kind." Seishiro's fingers drew a pattern on her forehead. He began to chant, and Yuzu began to scream as her head started to feel like it was on fire.
"Yuzu-chan!" her mother said with a smile. "You're so good at this! Your father will be so happy you helped me make his favorite!"She could see her mother gently holding her hands as she learned how to bake, but the image slowly disappeared. It was replaced by her father, who laughed beside her as they watched Don Kanonji together. That too slowly disappeared. The pain was too much for Yuzu, and tears began to stream on her face as she continued to scream. There were more images in her memory, from Karin protecting her from their boisterous male classmates, to her brother Ichigo ruffling her hair and thanking her for cooking for him. These also vanished, like they were being pulled down behind a screen of inky darkness.
The fire felt like it had spread all over her body, and she felt as if she was being ripped open. When the heat and the pain finally began to disappear, her body felt as if it were submerged in icy water. Her limbs began numb over, and her eyes fluttered shut.
Seishiro drew his fingers away and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "Welcome to the family, Yuzu-chan."
End Chapter
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Before I forget again, I need to mention that the bike scene from the last chapter was inspired by a scene in James Bond with Michelle Yeoh and Pierce Brosnan. I loved that scene! And Yuzu being used as a shield came from a Fatal Fury movie!
CheeseMaiden: I packed a lot of stuff in that chapter, I tried to separate them, but it didn't work for me!
Kevin Trevino: Thank you! And hope you liked this one!
dameonkaine: Thanks heaps! I hope you continue to enjoy this fic!
nypsy: It will be very interesting for Mamoru in what he'll do next. I hope you liked this chapter, and the (little) foreshadowing I wrote in :)
Xtremefairy: Thank you! This chapter doesn't really answer your question, but it soon will!
RainingLight: Hiya! Thanks for letting me know! And hope you enjoyed this one!
Ermilus: Will Isshin die, Maybe? Who knows, our fave Quincy could save the day!
Thank you all for reading and commenting, and for adding this story to your alerts and updates! I hope you all enjoy this, please continue to feed my plot bunnies with your reviews and comments!
Until Next time!