Thank you very much, EVERYONE, for your reviews! I am very glad to see the reception this story has received, and it was beyond what I was expecting! Your reviews are very much appreciated, and I would like a lot more feedback, be it bad or good. Anyway, I suppose a disclaimer is in order.
I don't own Bleach, I only make fanfiction out of it.
Without further adieu, Chapter 5!
"Back off, Ulquiorra," Ichigo demanded.
"You know my name? Though I don't recall having told it to you before," Ulquiorra coolly responded. Ichigo's blade was still at Ulquiorra's throat, and Ichigo enunciated,
"Get back, Ulquiorra,"
"Kurosaki-kun," Orihime pleaded, "Don't hurt him! He helped me. . ." Ichigo blinked as his jaw slackened and he turned to Orihime,
"He did? So I guess that was your Cero a moment ago, wasn't it?" Ichigo turned to Ulquiorra, who calmly nodded with a terse "yes". Ichigo slowly lowered his sword, still wary of the Espada, but he nonetheless brought to light something that had bothered him since first arriving at the spot,
"You've changed, Ulquiorra. Your mask is gone, your skin's normal, and," Ichigo glanced down to Ulquiorra's chest, slightly obscured by a few scraps of cloth that stemmed from Ulquiorra's left side, but the sight caused Ichigo to gape, "your Hollow hole is gone!" Ulquiorra nodded with eyes closed, opening them as he answered, "I have undergone some changes," and he glanced at Orihime, but was distracted by a new arrival in the form of Kuchiki Rukia along with Nel.
"Ichigo! Where's — You??" Rukia put Nel on her feet and put her hand on her zanpaktou, wary of the familiar man before her. Nel hid behind Rukia as Orihime panicked and tried to prevent her friend from mistaking friend for foe,
"No, Kuchiki-san! He's my friend. . . He's the one who helped me," she said, smiling as she turned her gaze to Ulquiorra, who in turn, let a small smile form on his own lips. Two noises alerted the group to Ishida and the rest. Sado flinched, realizing the identity of the man before them and summoning the armor for his right arm,
"Ichigo! That's—"
"I know, Chad. He was there. . . when you got hurt. . . But if Inoue says he can be trusted, then I'll trust him." Ulquiorra chose this moment to speak up,
"I'm fairly sure you came here to take Inoue Orihime back to the real world. I'll open a path." Ulquiorra walked past Orihime and tapped his finger on air. An unusual tearing sound accompanied the shredding of the boundaries between realms that is the Garganta. Through the portal could be seen the blue skies of the real world, and below it, Karakura Town. Ulquiorra turned back to the group, speaking more to Orihime than to the rest,
"As promised. . . I've freed you. Go on home." He raised an arm to beckon them through, and the group started to approach the portal. Orihime was the closest to the gate, and she turned to Ulquiorra, bowing low as she spoke quietly,
"Thank you very much! Ulquiorra. . . Thank you." Ulquiorra was stunned by Orihime's sudden expression of gratitude, and, unsure of what to do, turned his gaze downwards in embarrassment. Nonetheless, he returned the gesture, almost murmuring,
"You're welcome. . ." Orihime turned to her friends, and they began to depart. Ichigo, blade on his shoulder, remembered that Nel and her 'brothers' were here, and turned to Nel to ask,
"Hey, Nel. . . Are you gonna come with us? To the real world?"
"Itsygo, do you really have to go??" panicked the short Arrancar. Ichigo nodded with a sympathetic "Yeah". Nel resolutely told him,
"Then I'm comin' with!" Pesche exclaimed to Dondochakka,
"Aaah, Dondochakka! Looks like we're takin' our first trip to the real world!"
"It's gonna be real interesting, don'tcha know!" The two Arrancar followed the group across the void between worlds. Orihime turned as the group entered the real world, and asked Ulquiorra,
"Aren't you coming?" Before he could open his mouth to answer, Ichigo yelled,
"Ulquiorra, behind you!" Ulquiorra turned and found a blade piercing through the tattered remains of his clothing and into his chest, tremendously close to his heart. Two more followed it, falling from the sky in rapid succession. The dark blur that was Ichigo appeared in front of him to strike away with unbelievable speed the maelstrom of blades that were raining down upon them. Ulquiorra toppled, and the Garganta became unstable, shifting constantly. As the Garganta finally closed, Ichigo could hear Orihime call out,
"Kurosaki-kun!" and the portal snapped shut with a high-pitched whine. Ulquiorra felt a pang as he realized it wasn't his name Orihime had called. . . Ichigo, in the meantime, swung his sword in every direction at once, just like he had against Kuchiki Byakuya, until the blade-rain ceased and Ichigo could see his opponent. Ichigo quickly recognized him as one of the captains on Soukyoku Hill, and the captain who had saved him from his first battle with Grimmjow: Tousen Kaname. The blind captain appeared on the floor with a quick demonstration of Shunpo-assisted speed. Ichigo raised his sword in front of him, but heard Ulquiorra's coughs behind him. Damn! Looks like I can't just sit here and fight this guy — I have to help Ulquiorra. . . Grabbing Ulquiorra by the waist, Ichigo turned left and blurred himself out with Shunpo, dashing away. Tousen followed promptly, sword sheathed and held in his left hand, dreadlocks fluttering behind him. Ichigo glanced behind him to see Tousen ever so slowly advancing on him with each individual Flash Step. Damn it! Ichigo upped his pace, Tousen beginning to struggle to keep up. Ichigo stopped, waiting for Tousen to come close enough. Ulquiorra still in his arm, Ichigo swung out with Tensa Zangetsu —
"Getsuga Tenshou!!!" The captain was caught off guard by the sudden surge of focused energy and consequently blocked with the sword's scabbard, the zanpaktou itself still sheathed. Ichigo took the opportunity to summon his mask (his sword still in his hand) and dart away with more speed than he had ever displayed using Shunpo. Tousen, with both hands on his zanpaktou and the Getsuga arc-wave still pushing him back, let reiryoku surge through his hands as he intoned,
"Bakudo Number Eighty-One: Danku."
The Splitting Void blasted open in a wall of translucent energy that repelled Ichigo's Getsuga into nothing more than crimson-black wisps of mist. Tousen lost sight of his prey, but followed the immense reiatsu that was leaving his vicinity as he disintegrated his kido spell.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ichigo was rushing across the sands of Hueco Mundo with Ulquiorra still in his arm, out cold. That is, until he began to stir in Ichigo's arm. Ichigo glanced at him through his mask as he continuously swooped across the empty land of the Hollow World. In his warped voice, Ichigo asked, obviously in just a tad bit of a rush,
"You wouldn't happen to know of a place to hide around here, would ya? Hey, Ulquiorra! You with me here?" Ulquiorra's head was bobbing up and down slightly as he tried to look up at the source of that strange voice. He was intrigued to see the scarlet-striped mask molded to Ichigo's face, and shared his thoughts,
"That mask—"
"Is not important right now," Ichigo cut in, "We need a place to hide — we got Tousen on our tails." Ulquiorra composed himself — he was, after all, brutally injured, even if he did put on a masque of cold strength. He thought for a moment, eyes closed, until he asked Ichigo,
"How long have we been traveling at this speed?" Ichigo glanced behind him, and took a moment to think,
"About two to three minutes now. I can't even see Las Noches anymore." Ulquiorra calculated distances and speed, making an estimate as to the closest possible hiding spot,
"Head to your northwest; there's an abandoned Hollow nest about 5 miles out." Ichigo was succinct,
"Got it," and veered to his northwest as dictated, increasing his speed even more as he swerved.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Garganta closed, and Orihime yelled out his name as he disappeared from sight:
"Kurosaki-kun!" The squealing whine of the Garganta was all that was left as Orihime turned to Rukia and declared,
"We have to go after them, Kuchiki-san! They're in danger!" Rukia nodded quickly and turned to her companion,
"Renji! We're going to Urahara's!" Renji nodded in understanding and grabbed Dondochakka as he zipped away with Shunpo. Ishida grabbed Chad and Pesche, the latter complaining loudly about he hated moving at such high speeds. Rukia picked up Nel and took Orihime's arm as she herself dashed towards Urahara's shop.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ichigo finally saw a large rock structure. More likely than not, it was made of the same quartz crystals that the trees of Hueco Mundo were made of. The structure itself was vaguely shaped like a horseshoe facing towards the two travelers.
"Hey Ulquiorra, is that it?" Ulquiorra woke from his brisk slumber and looked ahead.
"Yes. We're here." Ulquiorra coughed blood upon finishing that statement, catching Ichigo's attention,
"Hey, you hang in there. I didn't just save you to have you die."
"I'm fine."
"Yeah, you sure as hell look it with all those wounds. Let's go in here." Ichigo leapt from the sands as he ceased his Shunpo and landed on the lip of a small quartz-like outcrop leading to a cave, all on the left side of the horseshoe. Ichigo went in, Ulquiorra still in his arm, feet dragging along the ground as Ichigo dispersed his Hollow mask. Ichigo walked in far enough for there to be enough distance between them and the opening so as to not be seen. He set Ulquiorra down against the cave wall, the three blades still jutting out from his chest, bloodied, as Ichigo had held Ulquiorra by the abdomen and blood subsequently seeped down across the edged surfaces. Ichigo observed Ulquiorra's erratic breathing and quietly stated,
"We're gonna have to get those things out of you, but you're gonna have to compress your reiatsu now. I can do well enough to hide from Tousen, I think, thanks to my Bankai, but you're gonna have to compress yours yourself. Can you do that?" Ulquiorra nodded, comprehending completely.
"As soon as I get those out of you, we're gonna have the problem of you possibly bleeding to death. . . Can you suppress your reiatsu well enough with your zanpaktou released? That might help with stopping the wounds." Ulquiorra chuckled, causing him to cough fiercely, blood slightly spilling from his mouth,
"I can't release my zanpaktou."
"What??"
"It's true. It was sealed off completely, for a time. My power doesn't reside solely in my zanpaktou anymore." Ichigo stared at the green-eyed man. Ulquiorra raised his arm to show Ichigo the back of his hand,
"It resides in this," he said, swiping his hand over his face and swiftly summoned the Hollow mask to his face. Reiatsu blasted out at its appearance, smashing onto Ichigo's shoulders as he struggled to maintain his standing position. He dropped to one knee as Ulquiorra began to compress his gargantuan reiatsu so that it molded to his body and emitted a slight glow. Ichigo gasped, catching his breath and looking to Ulquiorra, whose eyes were now gold and black, veiled by a pristine Hollow mask which wept thick green tears in the shape of inverted triangles.
"W-what — when!? HOW?!?" Ichigo managed to stutter out.
"Perhaps mere minutes before your arrival. Grimmjow had sealed my zanpaktou. . . And I managed to 'bypass the seal', per se." Ichigo processed this, and asked,
"So, that's why you don't have your old broken mask and your Hollow hole?" Ulquiorra shook his head,
"You have it the other way around. The only reason I have this mask is that I had regained my humanity." Ichigo went wide-eyed at the prospect,
"Really?? And what gave you the power to just do that? Or maybe a better question: Why do it in the first place?" Ulquiorra turned his gaze from the Substitute Shinigami,"That isn't really your business. . . ." Ichigo scoffed, seriously considering that statement a little too weird to be coming from Ulquiorra,
"What is it, private?"
"Yes — I have my reasons. . . ." Ulquiorra was now very glad for the mask he was wearing, otherwise Ichigo would have seen the light stain of a blush coming across his face. Ichigo instead waved his hand indifferently and dropped the subject,
"Whatever you say. I'm gonna get those out of you now." Ulquiorra tensed slightly. He had felt pain before, and it was no matter to him to experience it now, but that didn't mean he had to enjoy it. That thought was quite strange to him, now that he mentioned it. He probably wouldn't have cared about pain either way — back when he was an Arrancar, that is — but now he seemed to have some sort of firm opinion that he didn't enjoy it. Ichigo stepped over now, and stabbed Tensa Zangetsu into the ground behind him. He kneeled down and put a hand on the blade that was stabbed into Ulquiorra's abdomen, about where his liver would be. With a sigh, Ichigo yanked the spear with a fast pull, earning a tight-lipped groan from Ulquiorra. Ichigo looked down at the wound, seeing no blood spilling from the gash. Ulquiorra's reiatsu was doing its job. Ichigo placed his hand on the second spear, situated right next to Ulquiorra's shoulder joint.
It was right then that Ichigo and Ulquiorra noticed the quickly approaching reiatsu of the former Ninth Squad captain. Ichigo dashed over to Tensa Zangetsu, grabbing it as he crept over to the opening of the cave. Slowly looking out across the plains, Ichigo saw Tousen blur into existence in between the two 'prongs' of the horseshoe structure. Ichigo compressed his reiatsu as best he could as Tousen scanned the area for reiatsu. Ulquiorra, too, had increased the compression of his reiatsu, hoping that Tousen wouldn't find them. Ulquiorra couldn't beat him in his current state, even if he did know the powers of Tousen's zanpaktou, and Kurosaki might not be able to defeat him either. Ulquiorra called out to the Shinigami with a whisper,
"Kurosaki, get back over here!" Ichigo turned, heading back into the cave, wondering just what the hell Ulquiorra wanted.
"What is it?"
"Stay right where you're standing. If we're lucky, he'll pass us by."
"What difference will it make—"
"Shh!! Just wait . . ." The pair sat still, yet feeling the reiatsu in their area. Ichigo blinked in surprise as Tousen's reiatsu began to shift from its position and move on. Ichigo directed his attention to Ulquiorra,
"How the hell did you know that would work??"
"I realized what this place was made of. I'm sure you've seen the trees that are scattered across Hueco Mundo."
"Yeah."
"Well, to an extent, that material stifles reiatsu. This structure is made of the same compound. I had hoped, if we were deep enough in the structure with our reiatsus compressed, we'd avoid detection. It seems as if my hopes were fulfilled."
"Yeaaah, no kidding," Ichigo confirmed with an affirming nod. Ichigo stabbed Tensa back into the cave floor and got back to business, "Let's get back to getting those spikes out of you."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
At the same time . . . .
Rukia, Orihime, and the others blurred into existence outside of the Urahara Shop. Orihime rushed forward, Rukia rushing behind her as she set Nel down on the ground, who walked behind them with the rest of the group. Orihime slid the door open to address Sandal-Hat,
"Urahara-san!" No one was there — not Tessai, not Ururu, not Jinta. Rukia stepped right beside her as she walked in, heading for the most likely place for him to be: the training room. Orihime pulled open the hatch, and, letting Rukia grab hold of her, dropped straight down to the ground with the others right behind them. When Rukia and Orihime gazed forward, they met a highly unexpected sight.
"Byakuya nii-sama!" The captain of the Sixth Squad turned behind him upon being addressed, as did the eleven other people present. Renji, truly surprised to see his captain, quickly acknowledged him,
"Kuchiki-taichou! What are you doing here?" At this point, the hat-wearing manager decided to speak up,
"What are you guys doing here?? I sent you all to Hueco Mundo not three hours ago!" At that point, Urahara noticed the presence of Inoue Orihime, which instantly changed Urahara's demeanor from surprised to his more controlled self,
"I see you've brought Inoue Orihime back!" The shop owner's face was now obscured by his semi-circular fan, "This is wonderful! But I notice also that in place of Kurosaki-san, you've brought along some new friends. Who are they?" Nel was more than eager to answer, lisp-riddled speech piercing the ears of everyone present,
"I'm Nel! Dis is Pesche and Dondochakka," she said, pointing to each, "and we are! —"
"ThievesGreatDesertThreeNelSiblingsDonSiblingsPe!" The ridiculous display merely brought about a wave of silence and awkwardness into the situation, which was mercifully remedied by Ishida saying,
"You guys are still out of sync. . ." The trio promptly argued over their title as Rukia and Orihime walked up to Urahara.
"We need you to open a Garganta for us, Urahara," Rukia pleaded, albeit with no less a stern look on her face. Urahara sighed and adjusted his hat with his fan still in his hand as he reluctantly admitted, "I can't do that."
Orihime was distressed. "Well, why not, Urahara-san?? We need to go back! We have to help them!" Urahara turned an eye to Orihime as he promptly inquired, "Them? I was under the impression that it was Kurosaki-san who was left behind." Urahara now rotated full body towards Orihime, giving her his full attention, "Who else is with Kurosaki?" Orihime frowned at the question, turning her gaze away from Urahara's as she answered the question, uncomfortably, "Ulquiorra. . ." Kisuke blinked, his eyes widened now to a controlled state of surprise, "The Arrancar??"Urahara remembered well how that composed beast of a Hollow had managed to deflect Benihime's attack with his bare hand. He had also been quick to ruthlessly punish his subordinate with that same hand. Some of the Captains turned to the trio upon hearing it. Kuchiki Byakuya spoke up, voicing his concerns with an expression of complete composure,
"The boy is helping an Arrancar? Why?" Orihime turned her head to Byakuya, and quietly responded, "Because Ulquiorra freed me." The captains now had a decently surprised look in their eyes, and this time, Kurotsuchi Mayuri commented, "Freed you, did he? Strange behavior for an Arrancar. . ." Captain Unohana asked the most important question, "Why would he do that?" Orihime panicked internally. She can't tell them that. It's. . . embarrassing. So, against her better nature, she lied,
"I really don't know. . . But he did." She decided to leave out the part about the pair of Espada he fought for fear of the captains' further inquisition. Urahara sighed,
"Whatever the case, Orihime, I can't open a Garganta for you. I'm trying to adapt these Garganta so that the captains can go through without any complications — not to mention to get them into Las Noches. The earliest you'll be able to help Kurosaki is when the captains go. In the meantime," Urahara placed a hand on Orihime's shoulder, gazing assuringly into her eyes, "Have faith in Kurosaki-san." Urahara gently squeezed her shoulder and turned back to the Garganta. Orihime tried to calm herself, but thoughts about Ichigo shuffled through her mind.
Be safe Kurosaki-kun. . . You and Ulquiorra. . .
------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Number. . . Four?!?!" Ichigo was gaped in shock at the number on Ulquiorra's chest. The last of Tousen's blades that Ichigo plucked from Ulquiorra had pierced him just above the heart, through a tattered piece of fabric which, until now, had covered the rank tattoo. Its revelation surprised Ichigo, but puzzled Ulquiorra.
"Were you expecting some different?" Ichigo scoffed at the question, closing his eyes as he chuckled and toppled backwards, letting himself rest against the cave wall,
"I had honestly believed you were Number One." Ulquiorra found the thought quite silly with his prior knowledge of the Espadas' powers.
"Somewhat of an unfounded belief. There are at least 9 other Espada who could've held that rank."
"Well, you're not what I'd call 'weak'." Ulquiorra conceded the truth of that. Was he stronger, though, with this new power? He had much to come to grips with. Ichigo, in the meantime, was standing up again and checking each of Ulquiorra's wounds to see if the reiatsu compression was helping with the healing. "Well," Ichigo mused, "It seems to be working. If you can, I'd suggest you keep that mask on for a while longer."
"Understood." And here he was supposed to be nihilistic. Self-preservation? Since when did he start really caring about that? The pair rested silently for some time until Ichigo asked Ulquiorra,
"Ulquiorra. . . Why did you let Orihime go?"
"Didn't I tell you I have my reasons?"
"I'm curious! No need to be so defensive." Ichigo sighed, and Ulquiorra drew in a slow breath.
"I freed her becau—" Ulquiorra froze as his gaze turned to a spot on the cave wall behind Ichigo. Ichigo turned behind him, but nothing was there.
"Ulquiorra?" Ichigo looked at the masked man's eyes, but they were blank in their determined stare. Irregular grunts and sharp intakes of breath could barely be heard. Ichigo glanced down at Ulquiorra's chest. A hole was opening. Ichigo grasped his sword from the ground, swearing,
"Damn it! Ulquiorra!" He jumped to Ulquiorra's side, grasping Ulquiorra's shoulder with his free hand, "Concentrate! You gotta concentrate! Focus on stopping its spread!" It was too late. Ulquiorra roared in a terrible fusion of rage and agony, the mask itself opening its grisly jaw in eerie unison with Ulquiorra's own. Ulquiorra's right hand now grasped his sword and slashed outwards. From outside the entire structure, a loud crashing of rocks and rubble could be heard as Ichigo flew out of the cave. He had luckily parried the sword strike, but with Ulquiorra wearing that mask, he had still been shot straight out of the cave. Ulquiorra suddenly appeared in front of Ichigo, sword raised above his head in one hand. Ichigo brought his sword up in a horizontal stance to block the attack and the two blades collided. Ulquiorra's zanpaktou pushed with increasing force into Ichigo's, cracking the edge until Ulquiorra slid his sword and thrust Ichigo into the sandy dunes of Hueco Mundo. Sand scattered everywhere, and Ulquiorra darted down towards Ichigo, all the while roaring like a savage brute. When the sand cleared, Ichigo was masked like his opponent and whipped his sword out while yelling,
"Getsuga Tenshou!!!!!" The blast immediately hit Ulquiorra, but the ex-Espada tore through the blast with both his sword and his arms as if he were just pushing himself through water. Ichigo sped away with Shunpo as Ulquiorra crashed down on his last position. Ulquiorra roared, and started walking towards Ichigo, but with highly beleaguered steps. His own body might have been fighting against itself by the looks of the awkward movements he was taking now. Ichigo watched as Ulquiorra ambled toward him through his mask, and met the other pair of golden eyes for but a moment before Ulquiorra ripped his head back and unleashed a horrific bellow as gray tint seeped outwards from the Hollow hole and onto Ulquiorra's skin. The Hollow mask which he donned began to shift in its shape — the horns were moving forward, and the ribbed covering on the back of his neck were melding into two outward-protruding horns. All this accompanied by the sound of bones cracking as not only did pieces of Ulquiorra's mask began to crack and fall to the ground, but the two original horns were becoming more refined and curved. Out of Ulquiorra's back shot out threads of hair followed by two enormous black bones that were sharpened at their tips. Half of the mask's jaw was gone now, and with more bone-cracking came more of a change in the two bones jutting out of Ulquiorra's shoulder blades — they were now jointed and bent downwards like the frame of wings. All the while, Ulquiorra was screaming in pain. Dropping his zanpaktou, he grasped his head, mask fragments still falling from his face until little but the helm and the eyes of the mask were left. Ichigo noticed the zanpaktou, now stabbed into the sand, was translucent. The horns upon Ulquiorra's helm were now well-refined in their curvature. Ulquiorra, however, would let it go on no longer. Reasserting control of his body, he took hold of the helm on his head —
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" With all the strength he could muster, Ulquiorra had yelled and torn the remains of the Hollow mask from his crown. Ichigo stared as the wings and hair on Ulquiorra's back dispersed into ash, and the pieces of the broken mask fell off of Ulquiorra's head. The Hollow hole shrunk into nothing, taking with it the gray tint that was veiling Ulquiorra's skin. Ulquiorra fell on his stomach from sheer exhaustion, and his zanpaktou became fully opaque. Ichigo relinquished his mask. Just what the hell is happening to him??
Ichigo's eyes shot wide open as he felt a familiar reiatsu reveal itself along with one word:
"Bankai."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Elsewhere. . .
Awakening, he opened his eyes in anxiety of what was to come. The injuries covering his body stung, delivering nothing but a wave of vexation upon him. He slowly stood, breathing in deeply so as to not overexert himself. He was tired, but his desire outweighed the callings of his body. He summoned his sword into his hand, letting his clothes return while simultaneously relinquishing his armor. Securing the sword to his waist, he walked in the direction of multiple strong reiatsus. He glided down calmly off the roof of Las Noches and landed softly on the sand below. Grimmjow Jaguarjaques, the Azure Panther, was ready to prowl once again.