CHAPTER TEN! And, I will say, the longest chapter so far. To answer any questions about it, no, it did not take me a week to write this out. Again, it only took me a couple of days. I just couldn't stay focused on the comp the other days of the week :P
Review Corner;
Nightkill:Apacci is awesome, isn't she? XD
darkmachines:Sorry that you had to wait longer than usual, but here you go!
MizoreShirayukiFan:Word! *Wearing black sunglasses*
Grinja:He is not. That will come into play later down the line
bloodyemperor:Like I said to machines, sorry you had to wait so long(In my opinion) Here you go!
King of the Fallen:Thanks much. You think it'll be Harribel or Nel? ... WRONG! *Explodes* This chapter will give a hint :)
slimcoop:Do not worry, my good man, Rukia will not be in the harem.
Beloved Nightmare Union:I have nothing against the pairing... I just don't want to write it. Compared to the other girls, Harribel is too... well, her boobs are too big, among other things, to put it bluntly.
darknessbounty:That 'Nine' in german actually means No... *Cough* When you said "I'd like to see the harem" I hope you didn't mean me Pm you or something... if so, I'm sorry
BrazeRancor:...That... was wisely put, young padawan :O
God:I did not know that about her past hmm... and about your second question... *Cough*
Desuse:You will have to wait and find out... *cackles maniacally*
Kaiser969:I do remember something about that in Spanish class... I'll have to work on it
LAWLS117:Indeed it would be :P
lightningblade49:It's a definite possibility
Seiei:I, personally, cannot wait to write out SOul Society's reactions. It'll be a big role in the story once Aizen has been taken care of...*Cough* IF he gets taken care off *Pats himself on the back*
gandalf42:FKT will still happen, don't worry. And I'm planning something big for it... hehe
There you go! Today's review corner. Hope you enjoy this chapter, came out to be just under 14k words.
Oh, just a quick note. I've been forgetting to do this
This chapter, as well as every chapter starting at five has been Beta-readeded by the great LazRuth! Just so you know, he fixes dialogue spacing and such. So don't blame him if there is mispelled words.
(Karakura Town)
Ichigo let out a long sigh of relief as he turned the corner and saw his home. Today was tiring, to say the least, and he was already wanting to go to sleep. Not to say that the day hadn't been enjoyable, far from it. Apacci was fun to hang out with, and he did secretly enjoy her little parting gift. One thing for sure, was that it definitely stumped him as to why she did it in the first place. Even now he was going through a list of reasons as to why she had done it. He did know the answer, though, he just refused to admit as the truth, as it sounded ridiculous.
Walking down the street to his home, Ichigo grabbed his still unconscious father by the ankle and dragged him up the path and into his home. Walking inside, he was greeted right away by his two younger sisters. Karen was seated at the table, Yuzu was running up to greet him.
"Nii-chan! How was your day?" Yuzu was the first to speak.
"It was ok." Ichigo stated simply with a shrug. He let go of his father's leg and walked away from the body, going towards the kitchen. "Did I miss dinner?"
"Nope! Almost done!" With that Yuzu went past him back to the meal she was preparing. Ichigo sat himself down at the table, resting his arm on the back of his chair as he looked over his shoulder at what Yuzu was doing.
"Where's that Apacci-chick you brought home last night?" Karen asked from across the table in her usual monotone.
"She, uh, went over to Loly and Menoly's after we were done hanging out." Ichigo told her. Technically speaking, it wasn't a lie.
"Hanging out, huh? When did you get so popular with the ladies Ichi-nii?" Karen asked curiously, one eyebrow raised.
"How the hell would I know?" Ichigo asked in return with a scratch of his head. When Karen only shrugged, Ichigo remained silent and simply waited for dinner. He didn't have to wait long as Yuzu called out,
"Done! Nii-chan, can you help set the table?" She asked politely, to which Ichigo sighed and stood up to help.
A few minutes later, the table had been set and Ichigo was close to being done with the small serving he gave himself.
"You never seem to eat much." Yuzu pointed out with a slight pout.
"I'm just not that hungry tonight. I ate lunch with Apacci only three hours ago." Ichigo tried to assure her. It worked as Yuzu nodded and went back to her meal. "Anyways, I'm going upstairs. I'm tired and I've got stuff-."
"Not so fast! Ack!" Isshin's surprise attack failed as it began when he was clotheslined abruptly by Ichigo's forearm.
"-to do tomorrow." Ichigo finished, not even making a comment to his dad, who was clutching his throat, gasping for air. Ichigo turned and went upstairs without another word, a tired look on his face and in his step.
(Upstairs)
Ichigo closed his door behind him and sauntered over to his bed. He collapsed on his sheets and didn't move at all, comfortable in the somewhat awkward looking position. Ichigo sniffed slightly and noted that it smelled like Apacci on his sheets. Not that it was a bad thing.
"Look what the cat dragged in! Ichigo-teme, you sold me out to Yuzu!"
Ichigo's peace and quiet was disturbed by Kon's shouts. He groaned and only rolled to the side to try and ignore him better.
"Hey! Don't you ignore me!" Kon jumped up on the bed and tried to stomp on Ichigo. Though, his stuffed limbs didn't do much, except aggravate Ichigo, who finally lashed out and grabbed Kon by his leg and threw him aside.
"Just shut up. You seem to be fine, so don't yell at me about it." Ichigo growled out. Kon stood himself up and huffed. He did back off though, not interested in getting on Ichigo's bad side at the moment.
"Fine! I'll just go out and find some girls or something! Considering you're the one who seems to be getting lucky lately!" Kon announced, before opening the window and leaping out. Ichigo sighed in relief upon seeing the stuffed animal beat a hasty retreat.
Maybe now he could get some sleep.
"Ichigo. Good, found you easy enough."
Nope, apparently not. Ichigo sat up and looked at Rukia as she entered through his window. She was in her gigai currently, still wearing the school uniform of Karakura High. She faced him and commanded,
"Get up, there's something I gotta tell you."
Ichigo groaned in reply, pressing his face into a pillow. He did eventually sit up though, half asleep. Looking at Rukia, he asked "What is it?"
"It's about Aizen." Rukia said sternly. Ichigo was now paying attention to what she had to say, something that please Rukia.
"Hitsugaya-taicho was told to set up an emergency link so that Yamamoto could tell us something important. By the way, he still seemed pretty miffed about last night." Rukia pointed out with a scowl.
"The old man can kiss my ass. What did he tell Toushiro?" Ichigo replied with a blank stare.
"Aizen's true objective."
(Las Noches/Tercara's Palace)
Harribel made no move as she sensed Apacci come up from behind. She had been waiting, almost anxiously, for the return of her fraccion. She had a couple of questions for her.
"Harribel-sama." Apacci spoke up respectfully, bowing her head slightly to the tercera. Harribel turned to address her fraccion.
"Ah, Apacci-san. I am pleased to see you have returned unharmed. Have you completed the assignment as you were instructed?" Harribel asked the younger woman.
"I did just as you ordered, Harribel-sama. I told Ichigo-ku- Kurosaki everything he needs to know about our current situation." Apacci mentally cursed herself. Had she already got in the mindset of using the affectionate suffix on Ichigo's name? She knew Harribel had noticed. The way she had narrowed her eyes in suspicion was the give away.
"Good." Harribel stated, deciding to question Apacci about the slip-up later. "Did he have any questions?"
Apacci nodded. "Yes, he had a couple of questions, but I was able to answer them. He only wanted to know about the Espada and how many of use were on his side." She answered, glad that it appeared Harribel wouldn't be questioning her about the suffix.
"The knowledge should help him, and any allies of his. Now, about your second objective." Harribel started with the same uncomfortable stare as usual. "What can you tell us about Kurosaki? What is your opinion of him?"
By now, Mila-Rose and Sun-Sun were in the room, listening in on what their third Fraccion had to say. Out of the two, Sun-Sun was the most curious, for her own private reasons. Apacci squirmed slightly under the stare of the other three women but answered nonetheless.
"He's trustworthy." Apacci tried to answer simply, hoping she wouldn't have to say anything else. Though, it was obvious Harribel wasn't going to let her off so easy.
"I'm going to need more than that, Apacci. I must know exactly what I have to work with." She said sternly. Apacci could only nod dejectedly. Taking in a breath of air, she started.
"From what I experienced, Ichigo is a very kind and respectful person. He had no problem allowing me to stay the night, saying he didn't want me to get in trouble for not letting me. Later, he let me sleep in his bed."
Apacci was cut off by Mila-Rose. "You slept with him already?" She whistled. "You work fast, Apacci."
Apacci flushed at this, something both Harribel and Sun-Sun took note of. "Of course not! He slept on the floor." She almost yelled at Mila-Rose, who had a smug look on her face.
"Oh right, of course. How silly of me to think that any guy would want to sleep with you." She said, succeeding in making Apacci even redder, though this time in anger.
"What did you say?" Apacci asked, pointing accusingly.
"You heard me. What guy, in his right mind, would go for you? I mean, really?" Mila-Rose said in her usual condescending tone. Her joking expression didn't last long, however.
"Oh yeah? If Ichigo could never 'go' for a girl like me," Apacci started, using her fingers to air-quote the word 'go'. "Then explain why we made out before I left!"
…...
It took Apacci a few seconds to figure out why the room was suddenly awkwardly silent. She blushed and tried to cover for herself.
"Uh, I mean. No, that's not what I-!"
"Sun-Sun, Mila-Rose, you two are dismissed. I would like to discuss something with Apacci alone." Harribel ordered, cutting Apacci off. Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose both bowed and left the room quickly. With the two of them alone, Harribel spoke up again.
"Is this true, Apacci?" She asked seriously. Apacci fidgeted, but managed to answer.
"Well, kinda, I mean, we didn't make out. I kinda caught him off guard and, ya know?" She rambled to Harribel, who only stared.
"No, I don't." Harribel replied. When Apacci opened her mouth to try and explain, Harribel cut her off. "Apacci, this is very serious. Choosing Kurosaki is a very bold move, and no, it's not because he is a Shinigami."
Apacci said nothing, wanting to hear what the tercera had to say. Above all, she thought Harribel would disapprove because of him being a Shinigami.
"From what you have told me, both Loly and Menoly are infatuated with Kurosaki." Apacci's eyes widened in realization. How could she have forgotten about her two friends? "If they were to find out about this, then they might refuse joining us just to spite you." Harribel explained.
Apacci looked down in slight shame. She hadn't thought her action through. She had just wanted too prove something to Ichigo, and apparently it would have consequences.
"And if Loly and Menoly do not decide to join us, then Kurosaki may very well refuse helping us because of it." Harribel finished with a rather scolding look in her eyes.
"W-what if I tried to talk to them? Maybe we could work something out?" Apacci suggested suddenly, to which Harribel raised an eyebrow.
"Try to work something out? Very well. This was your doing, so you are responsible for fixing it. I would have most likely kept this from them, but, then again, it isn't so honest to keep such things from friends, is it?" Harribel asked in a knowing tone. Apacci nodded firmly, agreeing.
With nothing else to say to her fraccion, Harribel dismissed Apacci with a nod, who bowed before leaving the room. Upon exiting, Apacci considered herself lucky that she hadn't gotten in trouble, at least, too much trouble. The only thing she had to worry about was how her two friends were going to take this. Menoly might be calm about it, but, from what she knew of Loly, she might not take it so easily. Loly might even get violent. Which is why Apacci would try and talk to Menoly first.
Though, even if things did get bad between the three of them, Apacci concluded that it would have been worth it. Remembering the feel and taste of her tongue on Ichigo's caused a light blush to adorn her cheeks. Apacci tugged at the collar of her arrancar uniform, feeling very warm all the sudden.
"Aww, you daydreaming about your true love?" Mila-Rose's voice slightly surprised Apacci, but she hid it and turned to look at both her and Sun-Sun with a frown, her blush vanishing.
"So what if I am? What's it to ya?" Apacci's blunt reply got no verbal reaction from Mila-Rose, who could only stare in surprise. Sun-Sun, though, spoke up in return.
"Apacci, I do not think it is wise for you to pursue Kurosaki-san." She tried to warn her fellow fraccion.
"It probably isn't." Apacci admitted, waving off Sun-Sun's warning.
"If you know, then why?" Sun-Sun asked curiously.
"Sun-Sun..." Apacci sighed. "You'd just have to meet him to understand." At that, Sun-Sun had nothing to say. At the silence now, Apacci spoke up again. "Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to get some sleep. I'm probably going to have a rough day tomorrow. Later." With that, the sound of a sonido was heard and Apacci disappeared.
"She's crazy and stupid." Mila-Rose said with a sigh. This got no verbal reply right away. Sun-Sun had decided that she would endeavor to meet Ichigo. At the very least, she'd be able to find out what made three of her fellow arrancar fall for him.
"Maybe, but I, too, would like to meet this Kurosaki. I'm very curious as to what is so special about him." Sun-Sun spoke up, getting Mila-Rose's attention.
"Hehe, careful you don't fall in love with him too." Mila-Rose joked. Sun-Sun actually scoffed at this.
'Please. Like that will happen.' She assured herself.
(Segunda's Palace)
Starrk walked casually into the palace of Baraggan Luisenberrn, the Segunda Espada. Starrk's expression was close to apathetic, walking with one hand tucked into the break of his arrancar uniform on his mid-torso. Lilynette wasn't with him at the moment, instead waiting back at his palace. If he was certain of one thing about Baraggan, it was that he had little to no patience concerning Lilynette, like he had patience for anything beneath him, though.
"Primera-sama, what do you want?"
Starrk was cut from his musing as he looked up slightly to see one Ggio Vega kneeled down on one of the pillars, in a way that made the shadow from his mask fragment darken the area around his eyes, which would have been intimidating to another Numeros. The fraccion was regarding him with a frown. If Starrk could respect any one thing about the fraccion, it was that he wasn't afraid to show what he thought of the arrancar other than Baraggan.
"Ggio-san, I wish to meet with Baraggan-san." Starrk told him smoothly, the same apthetic look on his face.
"Baraggan-sama does not wish to be disturbed right now." Ggio replied venomously, correcting Starrk's suffix. Though, all this did was cause Starrk to narrow his eyes in slight annoyance. There was one thing respectable about Ggio, but the way he blindly followed Baraggan was rather annoying.
"Too bad." Was Starrk's reply, to which Ggio growled at. Before Ggio could form a reply, Starrk continued. "It would probably be best if you didn't make a big deal out of this, I'm tired enough as it is. So, I'm going to have to order you to step aside."
Ggio's reiatsu actually flared this time, clearly pissed now. Using a sonido, Ggio appeared in front of Starrk, upside down, bringing a kick in to rock Starrk's temple. The attack was halted as Ggio suddenly found himself on his back, lying on the, now slightly cracked, tile. Starrk stood in the same spot, the same look on his face. Ggio knew what had happened, though. Starrk had taken him down without even having used a sonido.
Ggio supported himself on the palms of his hands and slowly stood up again.
"You-."
"Enough, Vega!" When Ggio turned, his eyes widened and he dropped into a bow on a knee.
"Baraggan-sama! I-!"
"Silence! Keep your reiatsu in check, your tantrum is what is annoying me the most at the moment." Baraggan scolded the fraccion. Before Ggio could speak in his defense, Baraggan cut him off.
"You are dismissed, Vega." he commanded, at which Ggio bowed his head and disappeared. Baraggan turned to Starrk.
"Starrk, I must say I'm surprised at your visit. You usually waste your time and abilities sleeping in your palace." Baraggan said, disgust evident in his tone. Starrk shrugged.
"Maybe, then again, there's nothing else to do here in Las Noches. Is there?" He asked the Segunda.
"Of course there is, especially someone of your caliber. At the very least, you could be acquiring servants. Like I have." Baraggan told him.
"I don't want servants. I prefer allies." Starrk commented off-handedly. Baraggan scoffed.
"Bah! Allies do nothing for you, other than take what is rightfully yours in the end."
"Oh, I don't know. I'd say that attaining allies can be useful. Just look at what Aizen-sama has done." Starrk replied, now looking at the Segunda intently. As he expected, Baraggan seethed.
"Aizen-teme." Baraggan glowered and turned away from the Primera. "Do not even bring him up, Starrk. I don't care where your allegiances lie, I hate that cursed Shinigami with every fiber of my being."
Starrk raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"The bastard took everything from me. And for what in return? Power? Feh, I was already the strongest." Baraggan turned back to Starrk and declared, "I swore that, one day, I would kill that man and take back MY kingdom."
Starrk stared blankly at the Segunda. This would probably be easier than he suspected. Whether Baraggan was aware, all six of his fraccion had shown up now. All of them were either kneeled or standing around the room, encircling both the Starrk and Baraggan. It was obvious they wanted to know what their master was talking about to the Primera.
"Why haven't you done so already?" Starrk asked. Baraggan narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the Primera, but answered nonetheless.
"Everyone I have approached to serve me in my goal has been too pathetic to help me in doing so. In the end, every arrancar that I went to I've had too kill. They were too dangerous to be left alive at that point." Baraggan said with a wave of his hand. He then stopped and stared intently at Starrk. "What are you getting at, Primera? Am I going to have to make sure you never tell anyone of this?"
Starrk 'tched' at this. "While I hate to do this kind of thing, you forget I am the Primera, Baraggan."
"Do not insult my intelligence or attempt to intimidate me. I know you aren't at full strength unless that brat is nearby so you can use Resureccion. I'm positive that I would have a good chance." Baraggan pointed out confidently.
'No, you don't. Not even close.' Starrk thought to himself. "Maybe, maybe not. You needn't worry though. My coming here just so happens to have something to do with that promise of yours." He said subtly. Though, Baraggan knew right away what Starrk was getting at.
"How many?" He asked.
"Myself, Harribel and her Fraccion, Grimmjow and his fraccion, Aaroniero, and..." Starrk paused.
"And? Who else?" Baraggan questioned with an eyebrow raised.
"A Shinigami by the name of Ichigo Kurosaki." Starrk finished.
"A what?" Baraggan all but yelled at the Primera. Starrk brought a finger up and cleaned out his ear with a blank stare.
"A Shinigami." Starrk repeated simply.
"So, we're to do the exact same thing that got us into where we are now? Ally-." Baraggan practically spat the word. "-with a shinigami and become pawns again?" Starrk shook his head.
"This Shinigami has been deemed trustworthy by, not only Harribel, but by a couple of Numeros as well." Starrk informed the Segunda, who raised an eyebrow at the mentioning of a couple of Numeros right then, but not having been told of any with Starrk when he listed their allies. "This Shinigami is part human and has no ulterior motive to want to kill Aizen."
"Hm, and what's to keep you and the arrancar from turning on me if we manage to pull this off?" Baraggan asked. Starrk could tell the Segunda was close to agreeing.
"I, personally, have given no thought to what I'll do afterwards. Las Noches does not interest me. Without anyone here in this fortress, it would be rather... lonely." Starrk said, holding back a scowl. He looked back up and continued, "Tell you what, Baraggan-san, you can consider this. If you wish to assist us in this matter, Harribel requests that all of us show up at her palace tonight at midnight. Everyone. Espada and Fraccion alike."
Baraggan grunted in reply, deep in thought. With nothing else to say, Starrk nodded his head and turned and walked out. All six of Baraggan's fraccion watched him leave while Baraggan himself turned and looked the other way, frowning. He was silent, and he would have remained that way if Findor, the tall, blond, fraccion of his hadn't spoken up.
"What are we going to do, your majesty?" He asked respectfully. Baraggan scowled.
"As much as I loathe to say so, we will be assisting the Primera and Tercera with this." This got no visible reaction from his fraccion, something he brought up. "And what do you lot think about this?"
Poww spoke up this time, apparently speaking for the rest of the fraccion.
"We will follow his majesty wherever he goes."
"Hn. Good." Was all Baraggan said.
(Vaizard Warehouse/The Next Day)
"Well, well, well! Look who finally decided to grace us with his presence!" Hiyori announced, obviously pissed off. "Wat'cha got to say for yourself, baldy?"
This got no reply from Ichigo, who walked past her and up to Shinji. Something that only made Hiyori angrier.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" She yelled out. Ichigo turned and blinked.
"Hm? Sorry, did you say something shorty?" He asked with something close to a smirk on his face.
Hiyori saw red and lunged at him, but was suddenly restrained by Kensei. "Let me at him! Let me at him! I'll wipe that shit-eating smirk off his bald face!"
Shinji, who had been suppressing his own snickers at Hiyori, turned to Ichigo, who had started talking. "Sorry about the past couple days, there was-."
"Arrancar? Yeah, we know." He said with a blank look. Ichigo blinked in surprise.
"You knew? And you didn't do anything?" He asked, almost angry at the other Vaizard.
"Not our fight. Besides, you seemed to handle it pretty well. You didn't need us." Shinji pointed out with a shrug. Ichigo calmed himself and nodded.
"Yeah, I guess so. If it wasn't for my being able to Hollowfy, I'd probably be dead. Guess I have you guys to thank for that." Ichigo told Shinji.
"We only showed you the door, it was you who decided to walk through." Love's voice was heard behind them.
"Would you stop reading my manga aloud?" Rose's voice was heard next. Ichigo sweatdropped, but his attention was brought back to Shinji when he said,
"Yeah, don't mention it. Say, off the top of your head, how long did the fight last after you Hollowfyed?" Shinji asked, curious. Ichigo scratched his head, thinking back.
"I don't know. Maybe five or six minutes?" He estimated roughly. "Why?"
"Kensei, what was Ichigo's longest mask time recorded?" Shinji asked, turning to the other Vaizard.
"Around forty seconds? Give or take?" Was the answer. Ichigo's eyes widened.
"Forty seconds to five minutes? How'd that happen?" He asked Shinji.
"Learning how to use the mask is best approached with... reverse psychology. The less you actually think about keeping the mask up, the more you subconsciously keep it up. Which is partly why we have you fight Hiyori." Shinji explained this in a rather condescending tone, acting as if he was talking to a child. Which, technically, he was.
"Well, in that case, better get back to it." Ichigo said, taking out his Shinigami Deputy Badge. Shinji raised an eyebrow.
"Don't want to warm up?"
"Nah. I want to get started right away." Ichigo said confidently. He clenched a fist around the badge sharply, which ejected his soul from his body.
Ichigo, now in Shinigami form, rolled his arms, turning to address Hiyori. "Alright, Hiyori! Let's get started."
"That's Hiyori-sensei, or Hiyori-sama! Baldy!" Hiyori yelled in response. Ichigo rolled his eyes.
"Not a chance." At that, Ichigo Hollowfyed, followed shortly by Hiyori. They both stood in place, sizing each other up briefly, before leaping at each other. Their blades collided against the other's, their reiatsu meeting and swirling around them, kicking up dusts and rocks.
Shinji observed them as usual, Kensei close by on the stop-watch.
(Later)
The Mask-Training had lasted the majority of the day this time. Both Ichigo and Hiyori were panting. Ichigo had several cuts on him, but that was pretty common after the spars. This time, however, Hiyori looked equally wounded. She was glaring daggers at Ichigo, who was only looking back at her focused.
"Tired, Badly?" She asked between pants.
"Not me, but you don't seem to be doing too well." Ichigo pointed out with a slight smirk. Hiyori only growled and prepared to attack again, but was stopped by Shinji.
"Alright, good job you guys. That's enough for today." He called out. Ichigo dropped from his stance and sighed, disappointed that the training was over for the day. He put Zangetsu away and, as usual, seated himself on a small boulder to catch a breath. Shinji approached him casually, his hands in his pockets.
"You made excellent progress today. From five minutes to..." Shinji looked over at Kensei, who took the hint.
"Nine minutes, twenty-two seconds." Kensei told them both, rechecking his stop-watch.
"-Nine Minutes, twenty-two seconds! I'm surprised you lasted as long as you did." Shinji told him. Ichigo could only shrug in response. "Well, go home and get some rest. You can take tomorrow off if you feel like it."
There was a shout of "What?" from Hiyori, but it was ignored.
"You're definitely making progress, but we gotta be careful not to overdo it. Your Soul could get damaged as a result." Shinji warned, looking at Ichigo seriously.
Ichigo looked disappointed at first, but understood Shinji's point. Maybe he could go to Urahara's the next day and try to get in touch with Zangetsu. It would probably be best if he could try and learn anything new from his Zanpakuto. Ichigo also planned to tell Urahara about him helping the arrancar kill Aizen. Hopefully, the conversation would go well. Despite his goofy exterior, Urahara could be scary-serious when the situation called for it.
"Yeah, yeah, I understand." Ichigo said, waving his hand slightly. He stood up and went back over to his body. After re-entering, Ichigo began to make his way up the long staircase. He did, though, turn one last time and said, "See ya guys later." Which received a mixed response of grunts, waves, and silence.
(Las Noches/Infirmary)
Apacci entered the Infirmary nervously. She had no idea how she was going to get this across to the two Numeros. Approaching them about defecting, in itself, would have been simple, but now she also had to tell them about Ichigo, or more specifically, what she did to Ichigo the day before. She could only hope she could get through to them.
"Move!"
Apacci was brought from her thoughts as Grimmjow almost shoved by her. He was clutching his side slightly, but was walking fine all in all. Apparently sitting around in an infirmary finally got to him. She stopped and called out to him,
"Hey, Grimmjow-sama."
Grimmjow stopped and turned to look back at her, obviously annoyed. "What?"
"Did Harribel-sama tell you about...?" She trailed off, hoping Grimmjow would figure out the rest. He did, apparently, when he scowled and said,
"Yeah, yeah! I'll be there." At that, Grimmjow turned and left Apacci's sight. She turned back to look into the infirmary. She could only see Menoly, though. Something she thanked her luck for. Menoly would, most likely, be the easier out of her and Loly and to talk too about this.
Menoly seemed to be close to a full recovery. There were no longer bandages on her body, as her gash had healed. There was, though, a long, thin, scar that could be seen if you looked close enough. Instead of wearing nothing but bandages from the waist up, Menoly had on a bustier, probably provided by the nurse. It was the only thing she wore up top, her stomach and shoulders exposed. She was also sitting up on her bed comfortably. Though, she appeared to be thinking about something. She looked up when Apacci approached her.
"Oh, Apacci-san! What are you doing here?" Menoly asked with a small grin. Apacci managed to put on a small grin of her own.
"Oh, ya know, just visiting. Thought you could use some company. After all, you were in here with Grimmjow for a day." Apacci joked, light-heartedly. Menoly rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, he's not much of a talker. The only time I heard him talk was when Harribel-sama, of all people, visited him last night and earlier today." She said tactfully. Apacci's eyes widened at this. If Menoly knew Harribel had been here, she could have heard her and Grimmjow talking. Menoly saw this expression. "Gotcha.' She thought to herself seriously. "Apacci, what's going on? I heard Harribel-sama and Grimmjow-sama talking about Ichigo."
Apacci sighed at the question. They had been found out. She better tread carefully now. If she said the wrong thing, Menoly could overreact.
"Menoly... you're my friend, so I guess you deserve a straight answer here." Apacci started. She glanced around the infirmary to make sure they were alone. "Harribel-sama and Starrk-sama are planning to kill Aizen."
Menoly almost choked in response to this. It took her a few seconds to calm down, and when she did she managed to speak. "What? Are you crazy?" She almost yelled. "Overthrow-?"
"Shh! Keep it down! Jeez." Apacci told Menoly, bringing a finger up to shush the other arrancar.
Menoly looked around before speaking again, this time in a hushed whisper. "Harribel-sama is going to defect? Does that mean you, Sun-Sun, and Mila-Rose are going too?"
Apacci nodded. "Not only us, but also Grimmjow and Aaroniero. Starrk-sama approached Baraggan earlier today."
Menoly blinked. This was... surprising to say the least. "Why are you telling me?" she asked, though she knew the answer.
"Harribel-sama wanted me to come to you and Loly about this. She wants you two to join us." Apacci answered sternly.
Menoly looked at her intently, then asked, "Before I say anything, why were Grimmjow and Harribel-sama talking about Ichigo?"
"Harribel-sama sent Grimmjow to ask Ichigo to help us." Menoly's eyes widened. "Before he did, they fought. As you saw, Grimmjow lost."
"And, did Ichigo...?" Menoly trailed off, waiting for Apacci to answer. Menoly felt butterflys in her stomach when Apacci nodded. "Alright."
Apacci raised an eyebrow and Menoly continued. "I'll join you guys. I... I want to see Ichigo-kun again." She said, determined. Apacci grinned at her friends answer, but then frowned again, remembering what else she was supposed to say, something Menoly noticed.
"What?"
"Well, now that that's out of the way. There were something I wanted to tell you." Apacci tugged at her collar slightly, like she had before. "You see, uhm, Harribel-sama has ordered me to be the one to go to the World of the Living and update Ichigo on anything new. And, well, I went yesterday to do that."
"Really?" Now Menoly's expressions was that of excitement. "And? Do you like him?"
Apacci nodded, a little enthusiastically herself. "Yeah, I do. He was everything you and Loly said he was." Though, there was a little something in her tone that Menoly caught.
"Apacci, did you... do anything?" Menoly asked slowly. Apacci visibly winced at the question.
"Well, yeah. I kinda, er. Right before I left, I... kissed him." Apacci told Menoly, who only stared at her.
It was silent, and awkward. Apacci fidgeted slightly under her friend's stare. It was this way for several seconds, but stopped when Menoly only grinned.
"You did? How was it?" She asked playfully. Apacci practically gaped.
"What? You're not mad?" She asked, surprised.
"Well, at first I was, but then I thought it was silly to get angry at. If anything, you understand why Loly and I... loved Ichigo-kun." It felt slightly strange to admit it to Apacci, though it did make Menoly feel a sense of calm, like she was admitting it to herself.
Apacci blinked. That was not what she had expected Menoly's reaction to be.
"So, what kind of kiss was it?" Menoly asked, to which Apacci flushed slightly.
"Well, I grabbed the back of his head and just went for it." Apacci answered nervously.
"Did you use your...?" Menoly trailed off. When Apacci nodded, Menoly almost pouted.
"Aww. I... didn't go that far. How did he taste?" Menoly asked suddenly. Apacci's blush got darker.
"Uhm, well. He kinda tasted like... I don't know, like-." She was cut off when Menoly laughed.
"I'm kidding." She said, still chuckling.
"You seem to be in an unusually good mood." Apacci couldn't help but point out.
"Well... I guess I'm just happy right now." Menoly answered with a genuine smile.
"Well... what are we going to do about this?" Apacci asked.
"About what?" Menoly replied with an eyebrow raised.
"Ya know. With Ichigo?"
Menoly sighed and thought for a second. "I don't know. I think we should talk to Loly-chan about this though."
Apacci nodded, fearing the conversation with the other Numeros. "Yeah, I agree. In that case, I guess I'll talk to you later."
Menoly nodded at this. Before Apacci left, she did say, "Oh, since you're going to, ya know, Harribel-sama requests that everyone meet at her palace at midnight. If you're feeling up to it, I can tell Harribel-sama to expect you."
"Ok, I'll be there." Menoly replied, serious. Apacci gave one last nod before leaving the infirmary.
Menoly laid back down on her bed once she was alone. She was content now. Sure, things might be getting hectic now that she was going to defect from Aizen, but she might be able to see Ichigo soon. The thought made her smile.
(Midnight/Tercara's Palace)
Harribel, Apacci, Sun-Sun, and Mila-Rose all stood patiently in the main lobby of their palace. The room was close in comparison to the room Aizen turned Hollows into arrancar. It was pretty spacy, with ledges all around for anyone to sit on. In the center stood Harribel. Close to her were her three fraccion, all standing off to the side slightly, in front of one of the stone blocks.
It was getting close to the start of the meeting. The three fraccion didn't have a clue as to what would be discussed, exactly, in the meeting. Harribel had just requested that they stay silent and only speak when spoken too. None of them really wanting to annoy the other Espada, the three fraccion planned to do what they were told. Apacci was rather expectant of the meeting. Hopefully something would be discussed that would need to be relayed to Ichigo, so that she could go back to the World of the Living and update. A.K.A, spend some more time with him. She looked over at Sun-Sun and Mila-Rose, who were both standing at attention. Apacci opened her mouth to try and say something to her Fraccion, but the static sound of a sonido filled the room.
They all looked over to see Starrk standing there, off to the side, with Lilynette at his side. Starrk, as usual, had an apathetic expression on his face, Lilynette, surprisingly, looked calm and standing at attention at the Primera's side. Harribel regarded them both with a nod, which they returned. Well, Starrk returned with a nod, Lilynette grinned slightly and waved at the taller woman. Another Sonido was heard, or sonidos.
The Sexta and his fraccion appeared in the room. Grimmjow was already sitting on the ledge of one of the stone blocks, an annoyed look on his face. He no longer seemed to be in pain moving, his wounds having healed up. There was, though, a long scar stretching, diagonally, from his waist to his shoulder. His fraccion stood behind him, all at attention. Harribel regarded them, too, with a nod. Grimmjow only 'tched' in response.
The sound of bubbling was heard from the other side of the room, opposite of Grimmjow. It was Aaroniero, standing there silently and motionless as usual. Both of his hands were clasped down at his waist and his mask was, surprisingly, off, exposing both of the small skulls that lived inside the tank. When Harribel greeted him with a nod, he body remained motionless, though the two small skulls both twitched slightly in her direction, acknowledging her.
As far as Harribel knew, only Menoly remained to wait for. She was pleased that Apacci was able to get the Numeros on their side. It would, if anything, solidify Ichigo's resolve to help them. Hopefully Apacci could convince Loly to join them as well. Though, from what she knew, it might be as easy.
They didn't have to wait long for the Numeros, as Menoly appeared in the room as well, standing a few feet away from her fraccion. She was standing up straight, showing that she was no longer bothered by her past injuries, and she was fully clothed in her usual arrancar uniform. Apacci grinned at her and waved slightly, which Menoly returned with a grin of her own. She turned to bow to Harribel, who nodded at her as well.
With everyone here, all the arrancar waited expectantly for Harribel to start. When Harribel took in a small breath and opened her mouth to say something, another round of sonidos were heard. She stopped and looked up. It was Baraggan and his fraccion, all standing on the tallest stone block, looking down on them all. This received mixed reactions. Harribel, herself, was pleasantly surprised that the Segunda had decided to help them. Grimmjow and his fraccion seemed to not care, which was expected. Apacci, Sun-Sun, and Mila-Rose all had obviously surprised expressions on their faces, Menoly too. Out of them all, Starrk was the only one without much of a reaction. Though, he did look pleased.
Harribel spoke up. "Baraggan-san, I'm surprised. I did not expect you to come forward to assist us." She told him. Baraggan scoffed.
"Do not assume that this makes us friends, Tercera." He said in a reminding tone. "We share a common goal, and that is all. I want Aizen dead, it only happens to benefit me that you lot do as well."
This reply was what Harribel had expected, though she made no move to retort to the Segunda. She turned and addressed the others in the room.
"Welcome, fellow Espadas. It pleases me that you were all able to make it tonight. Now, let's begin."
The meeting had started.
(Later)
The meeting had lasted close to an hour. There were only a couple of topics discussed. No official plan on killing Aizen was in place yet, though there was talk of preparation. One of the things that Harribel had requested was that everyone besides herself, Baragga, and Starrk train and become stronger. Much stronger. It was decided that, when everything went down, Harribel, Baraggan, and Starrk would fight Aizen. Grimmjow, Aaroniero, and all the fraccion would be fighting the remaining Espadas. This thought startled Harribel's fraccion slightly, as they all knew they weren't anywhere near as strong as an espada. Grimmjow and Baraggan's fraccion had similar thoughts, though they masked it with excitement.
When it had come to a close, noone really stuck around. They had all wanted to return to their palaces as soon as possible, for fear of being caught out at midnight. There wasn't a curfew, or anything like that. It would just be suspicious.
Now, it was only Harribel and her fraccion in the palace. Sun-Sun spoke up first.
"That went... surprisingly well." She said, bringing a sleeved hand up to her mouth in a contemplative manner.
"We all share a common goal. It does not surprise me that everyone was willing to speak with each other calmly." Harribel replied. Sun-Sun nodded. Harribel continued. "Now, as you heard, it will fall on you three, as well as the other fraccion, Grimmjow, and Aaroniero, to defeat the other Espadas when the time comes." She saw their nervous expressionsm but didn't comment on it. "I have been training you three this past week, and you have made progress. But if you wish to survive the coming battle, you must improve even more." They all nodded at their masters words.
Apacci spoke up next. "Harribel-sama, will what happened her need to be relayed to Ichigo?" She asked hopefully. Harribel nodded.
"Yes. At the very least, he should know of our new allies. Anything else that he may need to know, I leave to you to figure out." She told the younger girl.
"Hai, Harribel-sama. I will leave tomorrow... today." Apacci said, correcting herself with a sheepish grin. Harribel nodded before turning to face all three of her fraccion.
"You three are dismissed. Get some rest." She said warmly, which received a chorus of, "Yes Ma'am." before each of the fraccion left the room. Apacci planned to get a few hours of sleep before she would depart to the World of the Living and see Ichigo again.
(Morning/Kurosaki Clinic)
The usual surprise attack by Ichigo's dad was thwarted effortlessly as a half-asleep Ichigo managed to block and counter the attack on his person and send his dad out of the room, tumbling down the staircase. It didn't take long for Ichigo to get himself out of bed to get ready for the day. He did have a couple of things planned.
On top of the list was to see Urahara about the arrancar. That could, potentially, go really bad or really well. Hopefully the latter. Next was to try and get in touch with Zangetsu or, at the very least, his Hollow. He needed to learn how to use his attacks more effectively, and outside of actual combat training, going to the ones who taught him the techniques would be the best choice.
Ichigo dressed casually for the day, wearing a pair of blue jeans and a solid white t-shirt. Finishing up tying his tennis shoes, Ichigo made to leave, planning to skip breakfast for the day. He left his room and went downstairs. Stepping on and over his father's body, Ichigo made for the front door and left the house with a small wave to Yuzu and Karin. It surprised him that his dad hadn't mentioned him skipping out on school. His sisters had noticed it and mentioned it one morning, though he told them to not worry. It was left at that.
After having walked about ten minutes, Ichigo stopped. He scratched the back of his head in thought. Something felt off. He didn't feel... alone right now. Ichigo widened his honed senses and tried to discover what it was that he was getting a feeling about. There it was. Or, there she was. It was Apacci, and she was getting closer. Ichigo hadn't been expecting her back so soon. Hopefully, she would have some good news about the arrancar helping them. When he could feel her get within earshot, Ichigo turned.
"Apacci-san." He said in greeting. The girl stopped in her tracks suddenly and looked at him with something close to a pout.
"Aww, you already sensed me. You're good. I was hoping to surprise you." On the outside, Apacci was brushing it off like it was nothing. Inwardly, she was disappointed that she wouldn't be able to surprise him. She had actually planned to do something close to a glomp, but apparently she wouldn't be doing that now.
"Sorry." Ichigo 'aplogized'. "You have some information?" He asked, getting straight to the point. Apacci nodded.
"Yes. You recall what rank Harribel-sama and Starrk-sama held?" She asked.
"Yeah. Harribel was the... third, and Starrk was the first?" Ichigo answered in a questioning way.
"Mhm. Well, Starrk-sama managed to convince the Segunda, the second Espada, to join us. His name is Baraggan." Apacci informed Ichigo was a grin.
"Whoa, really? That's great. The strongest Espada are on our side. Hopefully, that will make things easier." Ichigo replied. He was right, Apacci did have some good news. "Anything else? Anything with Loly or Menoly?" Ichigo asked hopefully. When Apacci nodded, he almost visibly brightened.
"I managed to talk to Menoly-san about this. She has agreed to join us. I will approach Loly about it when I return." Apacci told him. Ichigo could only grin for a few seconds, before he shifted back into a serious expression.
"That's good to hear. Is that all?" He asked.
"Well, that was the most important thing to tell you. There's some other minor details that I could go ahead and tell you about, if you want." Apacci told him, scratching her cheek nervously. Her nervousness vanished when Ichigo nodded and said,
"Sure. You can tell me on the way."
Apacci raised an eyebrow. "On the way?"
"Yeah. I've got some business with a store owner a couple blocks from here." Ichigo told her, shrugging. He gestured with his hand for her to come up as he turned and continued walking. Apacci jogged slightly to catch up to him and walk at his side.
"Last night there was a meeting. All of us that were defecting got together and discussed our plans. Currently, we have nothing on actually killing Aizen. At the moment, we're just preparing. The only thing that was said was that Starrk-sama, Baraggan-sama, and Harribel-sama would be the ones fighting Aizen. The rest of us, meaning all the Fraccion, Grimmjow, and Aaroniero would be taking care of the remaining Espada."
Ichigo noticed, right away, that Apacci's brow had furrowed when she said this. She was worried about fighting the Espadas, even with help. "You don't seem to be looking forward to that." He commented.
"No... I'm not. As much as I hate to admit it, I'm nowhere near the level of an Espada, not even the weakest. If it was just myself and the other two under Harribel-sama, then we would die." Apacci told him, looking down, worried. Seeing her nervous like this made something in Ichigo want to help her. Maybe, while she was here, he could at least try and help her get stronger. At the very least, they could spar.
"Well, if you want, I can help you out a little bit." When Apacci only looked up at him, surprised, he said, "I don't know how much I can help, but I can spar with you. If you don't want to-."
"No, no. It would be great if you tried to help me get stronger." Apacci cut him off, barely containing her excitement. While the thought of fighting Ichigo slightly worried her, this meant that she would have a legitimate reason to stay with him longer today. "I appreciate it." She said genuinely. Ichigo only grinned.
"Don't mention it. Oh, here we are." Ichigo said, gesturing up ahead at a small store with a sign that displayed prominently, 'Urahara Shoten'. "Quick warning. The store owner is a little... off. Though he should be able to help us."
"Us?"
Ichigo didn't answer as he walked into the store, Apacci following behind him.
"Urahara-san!" Ichigo called out. It didn't take long for the eccentric store owner to come from the back of the store. Urahara was dressed as usual, wearing his hat and walking with his cane/zanpakuto. The store owner had a small grin on his face as he greeted Ichigo.
"Ah, Kurosaki-san, how nice of you to stop by." Urahara told him. Ichigo saw Urahara glance to Apacci, and then narrow his eyes upon doing so. Apacci was oblivious to this, however, as she stood off to the side examining the objects in the store. Most she had never seen before.
'Crap, he already knows.' Ichigo thought to himself.
"Kurosaki-san, may I ask who the young lady is?" Urahara asked Ichigo, bringing up his fan to cover the side of his face.
"This is Apacci, Urahara-san... She's an arrancar." The moment Ichigo said this, there was a slight ruckus heard from Apacci as she stumbled slightly and nearly knocked over a display. She turned and looked at Ichigo with wide eyes.
"Yes, I figured as much. The crudely-made gigai she's wearing was a give-away." Urahara said in a slightly joking tone. "Why is she here?" Urahara asked, though there was no malice in his words. He just stood there calmly. Apacci was slightly frightened though, and edged closer to Ichigo.
"There's something I've got to tell you about." Ichigo told Urahara, not answering the question right away.
"Should we get comfortable?" Urahara asked, which Ichigo nodded in reply.
(Twenty Minutes Later)
"So, a ragtag group of arrancar is planning to kill Aizen, and they asked you for help because a couple of female arrancar you were practically dating said that you were trustworthy?" Urahara asked from behind his fan. Ichigo nodded.
"That basically sums it all up." He answered with a small shrug. They were all seated at a small table in the back of the shop. Ichigo on one side of the table, Urahra on the other side. Apacci was next to Ichigo, seated as well, though she was nervous at the moment. She would have been sitting on Ichigo's lap if she shifted a few more inches, she was so close to him.
"I had promised myself to stop becoming surprised at your doings, Kurosaki-san, but this is quite the story." Urahara told him, amused.
"So, will you help us?" Ichigo asked the shopkeeper seriously.
"Heh, why not? It'd be incredibly rude of me to hear you out, and then say no." Urahara answered with a slight wave. "Is that all, Kurosaki-san?" Ichigo shook his head.
"I was also wanting to know if I could use your training room for the day. I told Apacci-san that I'd spar with her, and that big room is probably the best place."
"Eh, go ahead. Try not to destroy everything." Urahara said, waving Ichigo off. Ichigo stood up.
"Thanks, Urahara-san." Again, he was waved off. Ichigo held his hand out to Apacci, who grasped it with a blush, and helped her stand up. Urahara stood as well and led them over to the entrance to the training room.
"Mind if I watch?" Urahara asked. Ichigo shrugged.
"Sure, if you want." He replied. At that, the three of them descended into the underground room.
(Urahara Shoten/Training Room)
"Whoa, this place is huge." Apacci announced in wonder. At first, she had been curious as to what, exactly, the training room was. In a store as small as it was, Apacci was sure that it wouldn't be very big. She was definitely surprised.
"It certainly is." Urahara told her. "With out technology though, it was easy to build. I will now explain how we were able to pull this off. First, we-."
"Yeah, that's great." Ichigo cut off Urahara, who sulked. "We're going to get started. I don't know how long Apacci-san can stay." Ichigo told him. Urahara nodded in understanding.
"By all means, go ahead. I'll just be off to the side. Does she have a way to exit her gigai?" Urahara asked, glancing at the Arrancar.
"I got it covered." Ichigo told him, taking out his Deputy Badge and holding it up. Urahara nodded and went to go find himself a seat. Apacci took and couple of steps closer to Ichigo and stared at the small badge at eye-level, an eyebrow raised.
"What's that?" She asked, examining it curiously.
"It's something that a Captain gave me before I left the Soul Society. It'll tell me if there's Hollows nearby and it can eject my soul from my body." Ichigo explained, bringing it away from her and closer to his eye-level. He wondered briefly if that was all this thing did, before looking back at her. He tossed it up in the air for her to catch. "Have a look."
Apacci reached out to catch the small badge. When she did, she felt a sudden jolt. Her eyes widened when her soul was ejected from her gigai, which was caught by Ichigo before it hit the ground hard. Apacci cursed inwardly when Ichigo held her gigai bridal style and set it down off to the side.
"HOLLOW! HOLLOW!"
Apacci jumped when the small badge went off. It only took her a couple of seconds to realize it was talking about her. She frowned at that, staring at the small badge in her hand, but didn't say anything. Only when she looked back up at Ichigo did she catch him staring.
Ichigo looked at Apacci in her Arrancar form. He was surprised, to say the least. Apacci was now wearing an almost solid white tunic that opened at her torso, exposing a bit of cleavage. Like he had seen with Loly, Menoly, and Grimmjow, Apacci, too, had a mask fragment. Hers took the shape of a sharp horn that rested on a base on her forehead that stretched all the way to the back of her head. She also had a bracelet on each of her wrists.
The one thing that caught Ichigo's attention, though, were her eyes. She had heterochromia. The one eye that was red, had a stylish red outline around it, accentuating the color. Her other eye was blue, that stood out with her dark blue hair. A couple of seconds later, Ichigo noticed that the eyes he was adoring at the moment were staring back at him.
"What is it?" Apacci asked with a blush. Ichigo blinked and shook his head slightly, trying to regain composure.
"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just that you're…" Ichigo couldn't help but grin slightly. "You look pretty… beautiful right now." He said, not really giving much thought to his reply. Apacci's already dark blush deepened considerably.
"Uhm, t-thanks. T-thanks a lot." She stuttered out. "D-do you wanna get started?" She asked, trying to get Ichigo to look away from her so she could hide her blush.
"Uh, sure." Ichigo replied, holding out his hand. Apacci looked at his hand for a couple seconds, then realized what he wanted. She held out the Deputy Badge and dropped it in his hand lightly. Like he had before, Ichigo clenched a fist around the Badge and his soul was ejected from his body.
His body slumped over and Ichigo stood there, clenching and unclenching a fist, stretching his fingers. Apacci's eyes widened at the zanpakuto on his back. It was huge! All she had were her chakram. How was she supposed to fight against that? She would have to do her best, she concluded. She swiftly brought out her own weapons and gripped them, ready.
"Ready, Apacci-san?" Ichigo asked her. When she nodded, he unsheathed Zangetsu and held it out to the side. Apacci narrowed her eyes at him, planning out her attack. She leaned back on one foot in her stance, preparing to use a sonido.
Jolt.
Apacci gasped slightly and almost stumbled. It took a couple of seconds for her to regain composure and stand up straight again. What was that? For a second, she felt as though her entire body went numb. Went numb, or felt like it just got shocked by something. It had been an odd sensation to say the least. She paid it no further attention though, getting back into a combat stance.
Off to the side, Urahara observed her carefully.
'Interesting.'
(Urahara Shoten/Late that Afternoon)
Urahara stood up from his spot and called out to the, still sparring, Ichigo and Apacci.
"Hey! You two! How about you call it a day?" He yelled at them to get their attention. It worked as they both looked over at him, then dropped out of their own respective stances. Ichigo was breathing heavy out of his nose, but not quite out of breath. He looked to be doing well, all in all. Zangetsu was still in Shikai form, as Ichigo hadn't even considered using Bankai against Apacci.
The hems of his Shihkusho were slightly tattered, but other than that, he was unscathed. He looked over at Apacci to assess how she was doing.
Apacci was panting at the spar that had lasted the majority of the day. She had light bruises and scuffs on her person, though she was proud of herself that she had managed to hold her own pretty well against Ichigo, in her opinion. Though, there was something that seemed… off. She couldn't quite put a finger on it though. Similar training sessions had been held in Las Noches with Harribel and her other two fraccion. She recalled them lasting all day, and she had felt like passing out after they were done. Right now, she was only out of breath, and felt like she could keep going.
Urahara approached them casually. "Very impressive. You certainly managed to exceed my expectations, Apacci-san." He spoke up, getting Apacci's attention.
"I… feel weird, Urahara-san." Apacci said out of the blue. She tried to stretch out her arms slightly, to see if that would have any effect.
"I suppose that's to be expected after what you've been going through." Urahara said cryptically. Apacci blinked.
"Huh? What's that mean?" She asked suspiciously. By now, Ichigo had walked up to the two, listening in on what Urahara had to say.
"From what I can sense, your overall reiatsu reserves have increased by almost double than what they were." Urahara told Apacci, who only stared in shock.
"What are you talking about? How could that have happened?" She asked.
"Yeah, we were only sparring." Ichigo added in, to which Urahara shook his head.
"Yes, you were. Though, from what I can tell, Apacci-san has been… absorbing your reiatsu." He told Ichigo, who only looked at Apacci with an eyebrow raised.
"D-don't look at me! I don't know what he's talking about!" Apacci said, trying to defend herself. She was certainly NOT stealing Ichigo's reiatsu. Being looked at accusingly only made her slightly angry.
"Kurosaki-san, she has not been doing in intentionally. Maybe it's because of her being a hollow, but she seemed to be absorbing the spare reiatsu that you can't seem to suppress as you fight." Urahara explained to the two of them.
"Uyru said something about my reiatsu always being at maximum, or something." Ichigo started, thinking back. "How come her, though? Why not anyone else I've ever fought?"
"Again, it may be because Apacci-san is a Hollow. Just an instinct to absorb reiatsu to become stronger." Urahara explained further to the two of them.
"So, what if, say, Starrk-sama were to fight Ichigo. Would he get stronger as well?" Apacci asked. Ichigo knew what she was getting at.
"From what you've told me of Starrk-san's strength, no, he would not get stronger. I believe it may be a combination of you being a hollow, and your reserves having been rather low before you two began. Even now, you still seem to be absorbing his reiatsu." Urahara pointed out.
"Does this mean Ichigo is getting weaker because of this?" Apacci asked, worried. Urahara shook his head.
"That won't be a problem. Kurosaki-san's reiatsu reserves regenerate at a rather astonishing pace." Urahara said, putting her worries at ease.
"So, Apacci could continue to absorb my reiatsu like this, so long as she is weaker than I am?" Ichigo asked, confused.
"I believe so." Was the simple answer.
"Well, that's pretty convenient." Ichigo noted. Apacci couldn't help but agree with him. "It'll definitely help you get stronger to fight the Espadas, Apacci." Ichigo told her with a small grin.
Apacci nodded. "Yeah, so long as I can keep coming back to train. Maybe Harribel-sama will let me come back every couple days so I can?" She asked hopefully.
"You two are welcome to continue using this training room, if you wish. I would like to observe more of this." Urahara interjected. Both Ichigo and Apacci thanked him, before they both left to return to their bodies.
Urahara stood there for a few more seconds.
'This turned out to be an interesting day.'
(Urahara Shoten/Store Front)
"Well, thanks for sparring with me Ichigo." Apacci told said as they exited the store.
"Yeah, no problem. Hope you can come back soon. If you got as strong as Urahara said you did, then it'd be best if you came back as soon as possible." Ichigo replied, closing the door to the shop.
"Yeah, I agree." Apacci said happily. She had considered herself lucky that she had been able to return so soon after the first time. Now, she had a legitimate reason to return every couple of days. The thought made her excited.
"Well, I guess you have to go now. Right?" Ichigo asked her, an eyebrow raised.
Apacci sighed. 'Thanks for reminding me.'
"Yeah, I do. Harribel-sama would probably want to know about this." Apacci answered.
Briefly, Apacci considered leaving the same way she had last time. With another kiss, but she decided to wait until talking to Loly. After all, Loly might not take it as well as Menoly had. She was disappointed with her decision, but decided it was for the best. Apacci tapped the air in front of her, opening up a Garganta.
Ichigo stared at the hole briefly, slightly amazed at the sight. Though he looked away and back at Apacci.
"See you later, then." He said with a grin. Apacci replied with a grin of her own and a "Yep!" With that, she stepped into the Garganta, throwing a small wave back at him before the Garganta closed. Ichigo sighed upon her departure.
'What a day.'
(Las Noches/Tercera's Palace)
"Harribel-sama." Apacci spoke up excitedly to get the Espadas attention. When Harribel turned to reply to her Fraccion, her eyes narrowed. Apacci's reiatsu was strong now. Nowhere near her own level, but it had still increased pretty impressively.
"Apacci... your reiatsu. It increased." Harribel said bluntly, surprised. "How did this happen?"
"I went to the World of the Living and met with Ichigo. I told him what he needed to know. When he offered to spar with me, to try and help me get stronger, I agreed. He took me to some store, or something, and he told this guy of our plans."
"What?" Harribel almost yelled, cutting Apacci off. Apacci, realizing what she said, held her hands up in defense.
"No, no. This guy's a friend of Ichigo's. He said he'd help us." Harribel visibly calmed down at this.
"Continue."
"So we used this guy's training room, and Ichigo and I sparred for several hours. When we were done, I noticed I wasn't near as tired as I should've been. The guy, Urahara was his name I think, said that I had been absorbing Ichigo's reiatsu subconciously."
Harribel stared intently at Apacci. This was... strange news. Though, it could certainly work in their favor. "Do you know anything else?"
"Urahara said it had something to do with me being a hollow, and being a lot weaker than Ichigo." Apacci said, thinking back to what had been said.
"In that case, Apacci, I would like you to return to the World of the Living within the next couple of days to train with Ichigo." Harribel told Apacci, who brightened. "And I would like Sun-Sun to accompany you."
(Two Days Later)
Sun-Sun stood next to Apacci, in her own gigai. It had been the first time she had been inside of it, and the first time she would be going into the World of the Living as an arrancar. Her gigai looked similar to her arrancar form. Her hair was the same, though her mask fragments were no longer there abov her her right right eye. Even though they could have been written off as tattoos, Sun-Sun had decided against keeping her three pink dots on her right cheek as well.
She was clothed in a olive-green hoodie that seemed to a size to big for her. The reason for this was so the sleeves would reach past her hands, which they did, as she was standing there in her usual stance- one sleeved hand up at her mouth. Despite Apacci's constant suggestion to wear something different for a change, Sun-Sun wore a white skirt that reached down to her sandals.
"Excited, Sun-Sun?" Apacci spoke up mischievously.
"Not particularly." Was the blunt reply.
"Aww. Not even a little? You're going to finally meet Ichigo." Apacci continued, the same smirk on her face.
"Yes, I am, but to spar with him. I see no real reason to get excited over it." Sun-Sun replied, looking over at Apacci with a bored expression. Apacci sighed over-dramatically.
"Fine, fine. Just you wait. You'll see." She told Sun-Sun, who only rolled her eyes. Apacci opened a garganta for the two of them, which they both entered through, leaving Las Noches.
(Karakura Town/The Road to Urahara Shoten)
Ichigo walked casually down the street, approaching the Urahara Shoten. The day before had been spent at the Vaizard Warehouse. He had done more Mask-Endurance with Hiyori, who seemed to be getting more and more agitated with him, considering that he was doing more and more damage to her as they fought. From Nine minutes and twenty-two seconds, Ichigo was now able to maintain his masked state for close to thirteen minutes.
One of the reasons he was visiting the Urahara Shoten was because, if Apacci did get permission, this would have been the day she would have returned, based on what she said. Hopefully, he was right. If not, then he could try and get in touch with Zangetsu, something that slipped away the last time he came to the Urahara Shoten.
Just like before, Ichigo suddenly detected a presence that was rapidly approaching him once more. Though, there were two of them this time. One he recognized as Apacci, the other he didn't know. Before he thought anything else, he was glad that Apacci had been able to come back so soon, and when he predicted as well.
Ichigo made to turn around, like he had the last time, to call out to Apacci. Though, before he did, he suddenly felt a weight on his back. It almost made him stumble in surprise. He had not been expecting it, to say the least.
"Sup, Ichigo?" Apacci's voice was heard in his ear. Ichigo knew what it was now. He turned his head to try and look back at her.
"Not much, just going to Urahara's." He told her, managing to look at her out of the corner of his eye. "Uhm, what're you doing?"
Apacci pouted slightly. She had been hoping for more of a reaction from him, but oh well. At least he was comfortable to hang on too. She retracted her arms and landed back on her feet. "Nothing." She took a couple steps back and stood next to Sun-Sun, who had been watching what had taken place just now with a bored expression.
"Ichigo-kun." Apacci just decided to use the suffix and gauge his reaction. When he only looked over at her at having his name called, she figured he had no problem with it. "This is Sun-Sun. She's another fraccion of Harribel's. She was sent here to spar with you, like I am."
"Kurosaki-san." Sun-Sun greeted him with a nod. Ichigo could tell right away that Sun-Sun was different than Apacci. She was much more reserved it seemed, something Ichigo could appreciate from time to time. Ichigo put up a warm grin and greeted the slightly smaller arrancar.
"Nice to meet you, Sun-san. Is it alright if I call you that?" Ichigo asked her.
"Why?" Sun-Sun questioned with an eyebrow raised.
"Well, it sounds easier for me to say. Plus, it just... I don't know, sounds right." Ichigo answered with a small shrug. Sun-Sun looked at him intently for a couple of seconds, before she looked off to the side slightly and closed her eyes.
"Very well, Kurosaki-san."
Ichigo nodded in return and turned to Apacci, who was watching them both with a strange grin.
"Well, I suppose we should hurry and get to Urahara's?" Apacci nodded.
(Urahara Shoten)
"Ah, Kurosaki-san, Apacci-san! Back so soon? And with another customer, no less!" Urahara greeted them all with his usual care-free demeanor. "Let me guess. She was sent here to see if other arrancar, other than Apacci-san, can become stronger as a result of fighting you."
"Please do not refer to me like I'm not here, Urahara-san." Sun-Sun spoke up to the storeowner.
"Right, my mistake. May I ask, then, why you are here?" Urahara asked Sun-Sun directly.
"You are correct. Harribel-sama sent me here to see if I can improve like Apacci-san had." Sun-Sun told Urahara, who nodded.
"Excellent! In that case, I'll lead you straight to the training room." Urahara exclaimed with a wave of his hand. Walking over to the specific mat on the floor, he lifted it to reveal the entrance to the training room.
Ichigo followed Urahara down into the training room, Apacci and Sun-Sun following as well. When they all touched down, Ichigo took out his Shinigami Deputy Badge, giving it to Apacci first. Apacci walked a little closer to Ichigo, more so than necessary, and grasped the badge firmly. Like she had intended, she exited her gigai, which was, again, caught by Ichigo and set down off to the side. She smirked at his expression, knowing that he had caught on.
Apacci tossed the badge back to Ichigo, who caught it. This ejected his soul from his body, causing it to slump to the ground behind him. He stood there in Shinigami form, Zangetsu sheathed on his back as usual. He held up the badge for Sun-Sun to take from him, instead of simply tossing like he had with Apacci. Sun-Sun took the badge from him and took a couple of steps over to a boulder. She seated herself against it and the ejected herself from her gigai, which only leaned back against the boulder, going limp. She stood herself up and turned to Ichigo.
"Whenever you're ready, Kurosaki-san." Sun-Sun said calmly. Frankly, she didn't expect this spar to make any sort of difference on her abilities. She didn't think that in an arrogant way, it just sounded a little far-fetched, that fighting this Shinigami would increase her reiatsu like Apacci and Harribel said it would. At the very least, she would be able to observe his fighting style and abilities so she could figure out, for herself, if Ichigo was any help to them. Sun-Sun dropped into her own fighting stance as Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu. His reiatsu flared enough for the wrapping around the blade to unwrap itself.
Zing.
Sun-Sun's eyes widened slightly in surprise. She almost lost her balance completely. What could that have been? For a split second, she had heard a slight ringing and her body had felt like it had gone numb. Apacci looked over at her, a cocky smirk on her face.
"Hehe. I told you." She said to Sun-Sun, holding back some laughter. Sun-Sun ignored her fellow fraccion and looked back at Ichigo, who was holding his sword out to his right. Maybe this trip would be worth it.
"Fight as you normally would. Do not think any differently or react to situations differently. Doing so may cause yourself to no longer absorb reiatsu." Urahara called out to Apacci and Sun-Sun. "And with that, begin!" He announced, opening his fan swiftly to cover his face slightly.
Right away, Sun-Sun's hand flew out of her sleeve, grasping her sai, Apacci had quickly taken out her chakram. They both sonidod and attacked Ichigo, who blocked the simultaneous attack with his cleaver.
(Later that Afternoon)
"Kurosaki-san! I believe it is about time to stop!" Urahara called out, jumping down from his boulder. Ichigo looked over at the shopkeeper and nodded. Both Apacci and Sun-Sun heard him and slowly got out of their own stances. The four of them walked towards each other, the three fighters putting away their respective weapons.
"Tell me, how do you two feel?" Urahara asked. Apacci was the first to answer, clenching her fists excitedly.
"I feel great!" She exclaimed. "Much better than the first time. I'm... not even tired."
"Yes. From what I can sense, your maximum reserves have increased by... hm, seventy two percent. Over half, but not as much as the first time." At Apacci's confused expression, Urahara continued. "Don't be so disappointed. If you recall, I said that when you reach Kurosaki-san's level of reiatsu, you'd no longer be able to absorb from him. So, everytime you spar with him like this, you will absorb less and less. Though, it will take a while, and your reserves have already reached that of a third seat."
Sun-Sun ignored the explanation between Urahara and Apacci. She didn't need to have anyone tell her that she was stronger. Considerably so, in fact. She was the weakest of the three fraccion, she had admitted, but now, she felt... strong. It was difficult to explain to herself, she concluded.
"Hey, Sun-san, how're you feeling?" Ichigo's voice broke her from the train of thought. She looked at him and answered,
"Fine. Like Apacci-san had said, my reiatsu reserves have increased exponentially."
After the fight had ended, Ichigo now knew just what type of person Sun-Sun was. The way she attacked and manuevered. She was very level-headed and collected, as well as elegant. She was much more subtle than Apacci was, and seemed to plan strikes with precision, instead of stopping power. And from what he felt within her blade when they clashed, Ichigo could tell she was... well, a very respectful and 'proper' woman.
"Well, that's good." Ichigo said with a grin. "I guess that you'll be coming back again."
"Most likely." Sun-Sun replied, looking away from him and at Apacci and Urahara, who had finished his explanation.
"It's good to see my theory was correct. You seemed to have increased in ability as well." Urahra noted, to which Sun-Sun simply nodded, slightly annoyed at the redudancy. "I guess I'll be expecting you three back soon. Good to know. This place gets so dull during the day."
At that, nothing more was said about the subject between the four. They all said their goodbyes and took their own leaves. Ichigo got back into his body, both Apacci and Sun-Sun in their gigais. Urahara went to the back of the store upon leaving, Ichigo, Apacci, and Sun-Sun exiting the front of the store.
"Thanks again, Ichigo-kun." Apacci spoke up when they left.
"No problem, Apacci-san." Ichigo replied warmly. She pouted slightly at him not using the suffix she was hoping for, but ignored it for now. He'd start using it eventually, Apacci vowed to herself.
"Yes, thank you Kurosaki-san." Sun-Sun thanked Ichigo with a nod, which he returned.
"Don't mention it. Come back anytime, and I'll spar with you again." He told her. Sun-Sun said nothing in reply, only looking at Ichigo intently. Apacci turned and opened a garganta behind them. They both walked through the garganta, Apacci turning to give Ichigo one last wave, as she had done both times before. The garganta closed behind them as they took off to Las Noches.
(Las Noches/Tercera's Palace)
Both Sun-Sun and Apacci exited the garganta and stepped into the palace. When the garganta closed, Apacci turned on Sun-Sun with a grin.
"Well, what did you think?" She asked, excited.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Sun-Sun answered simply.
"Don't give me that. I saw the way you were checking him out every chance you got." Apacci pressed further, her grin turning into a smirk. Sun-Sun hid her mouth with her sleeve.
"Don't be ridiculous. I was merely... observing him." She told Apacci, trying to look sincere. Apacci didn't buy it.
"Observing him? More like you were undressing him with your eyes." Apacci replied mischieviously. Sun-Sun brought her sleeve up higher, covering more of her face. Was she...?
'Yes! Got'cha!' Apacci celebrated inwardly. Sun-Sun was blushing, something Apacci had never seen her fellow fraccion do.
"I... don't know what you're talking about." Sun-Sun repeated, looking away. Apacci wanted to continue teasing Sun-Sun, wanting to see how much of a reaction she could get out of her, but was interrupted by Harribel.
"Apacci, Sun-Sun. You are back, and I can already sense the difference in both of you." Harribel spoke up to them, getting their attention right away.
"Yes, Harribel-sama. My reiatsu did increase, just as you and Apacci-san said it would." Sun-Sun said respectfully. Harribel nodded, then turned.
"Good. Go get some rest, you two. I must see Starrk and Lilynette. I'm sure they would both like to know of this." With that, the tercera sonido'd out of the room, leaving Apacci and Sun-Sun alone. Apacci turned and looked at Sun-Sun.
"You're still blushing." Apacci pointed out with a smirk.
"Shut up, Apacci-san." Was the calm reply.
(Primera's Palace)
"Harribel-san?" Starrk stopped to cover a low yawn with his hand. The tercera had shown up rather unexpectedly, and it looked like she had some important news. But, then again, she always looked like that. "What can I do for you?"
"Starrk-san, Apacci's visit to Kurosaki-san after our meeting yielded something unexpected. Ealier this morning, I sent both her and Sun-Sun to the World of the Living." Starrk raised an eyebrow at the mention of the other fraccion. "They both came back as I had predicted."
"What're you talking about?" Starrk finally asked. Harribel said nothing for a couple of seconds, before she said, in an almost amused tone.
"Let's just say, you won't have to worry about training Lilynette-san yourself."
Starrk's brow went up in surprise. He was now giving the tercera his full attention.
(End of Chapter/Author's Note)
And there you have it, Chapter Ten! Due to time restraint, I'm afraid I don't have much to add to this Author Note other than the usual.
Please read and review. Constructive Criticism is welcome, but flamers will be hunted down and beaten up by me personally, I assure you.