AN: Well, this is gonna be a really short chapter, cause I just wanted to give a short update! It's better than nothing... right? Anyway, if anyone of you wants to check out my new story, BEFORE THE DAWN, please do! (It's shameless advertising for myself, but whatever!) Updates will come even less(?) I think, cause my exams are in... two weeks. And I haven't started revising. Oh well!

skyglazingMaro - haha! I know it's confusing. poems confuse me!
Misc. Ink - Glad you liked it! :D
crown zero - Thanks!
Mizuki 8D - Hopefully you'll still find this exciting!
AkurnaSkulblaka - I'm sorry, I changed it already. I can't believe I missed that! Thanks! :D
The weasel is MINE XP - Haha it's okay! This is VERY soon!
Ichi-Berry15 - Haha thanks! :D

Once again, enjoy!

CHAOS, ASSASSINS AND GODS
Chapter 8:
Vessel

Yoruichi opens her mouth, and dense purple fog spills from it. It fills the entire room, obscuring everything but her face. I begin to feel a sense of panic, but the rest are quiet, so I assume that this is what is supposed to happen.

Yoruichi starts moving her mouth and a low guttural voice that is creepy in its own right suddenly echoes within the room.

"It has reached the critical time
When he will make the most heinous crime
The vessel will be the key
To be chained or set free
A complicated mind game
Where everything is gain
A man insane with power
In the palace tower
Lies and deceit
Victory or defeat
A hidden blade
And life fades"

Yoruichi shuts her mouth, the purple fog slowly dissipating as I sat there in my confusion.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I stuttered, thrown off by the incredibly weird poem.

"Well, I don't really know. Poems are too damn confusing." Grimmjow scowled at Yoruichi, his forehead scrunching up.

Yoruichi frowned at Grimmjow, before turning to face Urahara. "What do you think Urahara?"

He opened that infuriating fan, flipping it open before hiding the bottom portion of his face from our view. "One thing that's for sure, it's that a disaster is imminent, and that somehow a vessel will play a key role in this event."

At this point of time, all eyes swivelled to me, and I stared back defiantly. "What? Why are you guys all looking at me?"

They all just glanced at each other, before Urahara sighed and decided to answer me. "You might be the vessel, although I'm not entirely sure about that."

"Who cares, apparently someone is going to initiate some huge event, where lives will be lost." Grimmjow groaned, "How much more complicated can this get."

"Nobody knows what will happen Grimmjow. Prophecies are confusing, and there's a reason that so few people are able to understand them!" Yoruichi shot back, flipping her purple hair behind her.

"If you just made them easier to understand, and not in some kind of shitty poem form, more people would be able to understand!"

"As if you didn't know that I don't actually control the prophecies! They come to me, not the other way round!"

Irritated, I whacked both of them in the head at the same time. Who cared if they were gods, they were acting like little kids! "Hello? Possible disaster coming, can we focus here?"

Urahara nodded, "He's right. We should be trying to figure out this prophecy, not waste our time trying to argue over trivial matters."

The two of them scowled at each other, twin expressions on their face. I might not admit it, but they just looked really cute. Focusing on the matter at hand, I thought about the poem come prophecy. What the hell did it mean? I honestly didn't know what to make of it, until a word caught my attention.

"Palace? The only palace I can think of is in Las Noches… Could the man insane with power be Aizen?"

Catching their attention, looks of careful considerations took over, before Grimmjow nodded slowly. "Aizen did seem to be rather power hungry. But I don't think he'd have the capacity to become that powerful in order to set off such a huge event."

"There are ways to obtain power… None of which are particularly pleasant. If this is what Aizen truly plans to do, then he must have been planning this for quite some time."

We all fall into silence, caught up in the possible repercussions from this scenario.

"Is there any way to stop him…?"

"We're not sure if it really is him in the prophecy, so we can't actually do anything." Urahara explained.

"But by the time we find out, it'll be too late!"

We all kept silent for a moment, before Grimmjow speaks up, "We can't do anything yet, not until we find out what is truly going on."

"Grimmjow is right. We can't go charging ahead without knowing what we are really facing. That's just a death wish, and innocents may get dragged in." Yoruichi sighed, raising her hands to cover her face.

"The only thing we can do now is to confirm the identity of the vessel. At least we'll know if you'll be a key player in this."

Urahara stood up, moving out of the room to pull a simple wooden chair into the room along with some slender strips of cloth. Curious, I watched as he put the chair in the middle of the room and gestured to me to sit down on the chair.

I sat down gingerly on the small chair, wary of what Urahara was going to do.

"Ichigo, essentially what I'm going to do is to try to call out whatever is contained with you. If there is something there, then it will be pulled to the surface. If not, nothing will happen. Do you understand?"

I gazed at the bits of cloth he held, and unable to hold back my tongue, I had to ask. "What about the cloth, what is it for?"

Laughing he replied. "It's to tie down your arms. It may be violent, and it's best to restrain it."

I stared at it, doubtful that it would be able to hold anything back. I was pretty sure that even I could break it with my own strength if I wanted to. Nevertheless, I put my arms behind the chair, and Urahara binded them in place with the cloth.

xxx

I watched as Urahara set up the place, curious as I had hardly ever seen this being carried out. As far as I remember, I've only seen it maybe once or twice since godhood. Seeing the thin straps of cloth, I shuddered. Although those looked like they could barely restrain anything, they were extremely strong, and had been used on me multiple times when Urahara and Yoruichi fancied a joke. They tied me to a tree when I was asleep, and wouldn't let me down until I agreed to help them clean the house for a month.

He tied Ichigo's arms behind the chair, before standing before him. Both I and Yoruichi stood up, moving to stand before the chair, observing them without getting in their way.

"Relax Ichigo; you won't be aware for any of this."

I looked at Ichigo's confused brown eyes, his gaze flickering to me before Urahara rests his hand on Ichigo's forehead.

"Dormir."

A slight green glow came from under Urahara's hand before it sank into Ichigo's head, his eyes slowly sliding close in unconsciousness. Ichigo's body slumped in the chair, completely lax and unresponsive.

"Revelar sus secretos."

Urahara flicked Ichigo gently on his forehead, small shockwaves visible from the action, fading away quickly.

Suddenly, a manic laughter began to fill the room, the sound somehow managing to echo within the small space. The laughter sounded distorted, almost as if it was underwater, and it seemed familiar, like I knew the owner of the voice. A sense of unease began to brew within me, a feeling of general discomfort, and I knew that I wouldn't like what was going to happen next.

Ichigo's eyelids started to flutter widely, before they shut again, pressing hard against each other. When they opened, one eye was a dark brown, filled with calm and peace, yet seemed to exude a kind of confidence that told you that he could handle you with ease. The other eye was much more disturbing, the right eye having a bright golden iris, surrounded by inky black sclera. The black eye screamed danger, of unrestrained chaos and violence.

Even Ichigo's hair changed colour, split perfectly along the centre, the left turned a dark black, with slight brown highlights, and the right was completely devoid of colour, becoming an ashy white. His skin turned pale, the left remaining a paler shade of what Ichigo would normally look like, while the right bleached completely, leaving behind no remnants of Ichigo's former skin tone.

A wicked grin twisted Ichigo's face, baring much sharper canines than what Ichigo normally possessed. "Looking for me?"

A moment of doubt passed over me, before recognition stirred in my gut. "You're Shiro!"

"Damn right I am. How ya doin' blue?"

"What are you doing in Ichigo's body!"

This time, it wasn't Shiro's cackling voice that replied, but a much more reasonable and soothing baritone. "Shiro found Ichigo to be interesting, so he entered Ichigo, transforming him into a vessel. I followed so as to ensure that he didn't end up killing Ichigo instead."

Now, Urahara was the one to speak. "Zangetsu? Is that you?"

"Yes, it is. I'm here to prevent Shiro from accidentally murdering Ichigo."

"Hey, I wasn't going to end up killin' him! I like this guy."

Listening to the two voices spilling from Ichigo, it was incredibly disconcerting, not to mention confusing. Having one person sealed within a vessel was complicated enough, but to have two powerful gods in one person, it was wonder that Ichigo's body could withstand the combined pressure.

Shaking her head in irritation, Yoruichi finally spoke. "Can you get out of his body? Or are you stuck there?"

Cackling madly, Shiro replied. "Nope! We're stuck in here for good!"

Resisting the urge to slap Shiro in the face, the only thing that kept me from doing exactly that was the fact that it was actually Ichigo's body.

"My my, what are we going to do about this…" Urahara mused behind his fan, a slight frown marring his forehead.

"Urahara, is there any way to get them out of Ichigo's body without killing him in the process?"

Thinking about it for a while, Urahara shook his head. "I don't believe so. Or at least none of which I know of."

Shiro grinned widely, looking really pleased with himself for no reason in particular. "At least now you know that Ichi is the vessel!"

Frustrated, I heave a sigh. "As if we didn't already predict that. And it explains why he could use the garganta without issue too."

Somehow, despite finding out that Ichigo was the vessel, it didn't seem to make things any better or clearer. Instead, it was even more complicated. And with Shiro being the person contained within Ichigo, it just made it exponentially worse.

"Urahara! Make him go away. He's annoying."

Laughing, Urahara nodded, before waving a hand in front of Ichigo's face. "Desaparecer."

Ichigo's body fell limp once again, completely inanimate except for the slight rising of his chest. "I'll take him back to the house first."

Yoruichi smiled, still looking a little vexed over the issue. "Don't worry about it. We'll think of a solution."

AN: Heh, hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Or is it too short to be a chapter? Thoughts please?
More shameless advertising. Please go check out my new story, BEFORE THE DAWN! :D (It has a sex scene. In case you are wondering.)