This War's Not Over: Chapter 10

Black Or White

Hey!

I hope my previous chapter didn't look too rushed. Maybe that's what changed. XD

Thanks again for all your awesome reviews! ^^

Slight Ichiruki, Ichihime rivalry if you squint.

Let's get on with this chapter then…

Amidst the sideways tilted buildings and splattering rain, a pale figure sat crouched down, a grin plastered across his face.

The duplicate copy of Kurosaki Ichigo looked up at Zangetsu, who was standing in perfect balance on his pole.

"Do you realize that you might have destroyed the last chance of Ichigo ever being able to trust you? Those chains will return," Zangetsu warned the hollow.

"King is too soft. He trusts the soul reapers too much. He doesn't want to believe that the soul reapers are his enemies now," the counterpart hissed, clearly unaffected by Zangetsu previous comment.

Zangetsu lowered his gaze from the raining skies to finally meet the hollow's, his eyes narrowing. "That is not for you to decide."

"It will be if he doesn't make his mind up soon," the darker half snarled. "I've done my part Zangetsu. I lent him my power. When are they going to do theirs? When are they finally going to tell him?"

Uneasiness squirmed in Ichigo's stomach as he ran inside the abyss of the Garganta. The topic of the conversation hadn't left him after his father had signaled to them that he had found the way home.

Home.

A rush of relief coursed through Ichigo at the thought of it. He was finally returning home—where all of his memories were. He hoped the question that was stuck into his mind wouldn't overshadow his joy.

"Hurry up Ichigo, you're falling behind!" Nel squealed excitedly.

Ichigo ran faster to catch up with her, passing her as he saw the glowing light up ahead. He couldn't take the dark anymore. The light—the sunlight that he had missed so much was right in front of him.

He made a final leap towards it, and when he did, the light was so bright he had to cover his eyes with his arms.

As he heard the others join him, followed by groans and hisses, and he heard Grimmjow mutter. "See? Too bright."

As Ichigo's eyes got used to the sunlight of the world of the living, a nostalgic ache made its presence in his soul as he recognized the town immediately.

"Karakura," Ichigo breathed.

His moment was interrupted by Isshin's flying kick, which Ichigo grabbed by reflex and flung him across the sky. Isshin landed a few feet away, grinning. "Feels good to be back home, eh?"

Ichigo narrowed his eyes furiously. "You seriously need help."

But he was again interrupted by a cheerful voice that made Ichigo shiver.

"Mah! If it isn't the Kurosaki-sans!"

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched, another part of his memory coming back to him as he recognized the blonde. "Urahara-san."

"Inoue-san! Hurry up! I sense Kurosaki's reiatsu!" Uryu called to Inoue as he exited the Urahara Shoten, breaking into a run.

Orihime followed Chad and Uryu, picking up her long skirt as she did so, her heart racing. Karin and Yuzu, who had stayed at the Urahara Shoten while Isshin had gone in search for his son, were racing at her heels.

There were so many questions that she needed to be answered with her own eyes. Was Kurosaki-kun okay? Was he hurt? Did she need to heal him?

As they neared the gapping Garganta, Orihime's joy quickly evaporated as she saw three Espadas surrounding Isshin.

"Ishida-kun!" she said, alarmed.

But Uryu had stopped, his eyes wide with disbelief. "K-Kurosaki?"

Orihime stopped too, as she tried to squint to get a closer look at the Espadas that had made Uryu so shocked. Her heart almost stopped as she recognized all three of them, one of them, which was the one and only Kurosaki-kun.

But something had changed that frightened Orihime. It was his eyes again. She could not see her reflection in them. Those soft brown eyes were yellow now.

Orihime's eyes widened with more alarm than before when she saw the white espada uniform he was wearing. "Kuro—"

His detached gaze lowered from Urahara to her, squinting. There was no sign of recognition on his face. Only uneasiness.

But then his face brightened up, his eyes glowing. Orihime's chest fluttered with hope that this was not the Kurosaki-kun who had appeared before her as a hollow during his fight with Grimmjow but the one she had fallen in love with.

She could only watch as he sonidoed towards her, the warmth still in his eyes—and walked past her.

"Karin! Yuzu!" Ichigo smiled broadly as he hugged them both.

The two had both properly developed their spirit sight, being around their older brother so much. Yuzu displayed hesitation at first by the change in her brother's appearance, but Karin didn't.

"Ichi-nii! Why are you always getting into so much trouble! And what's wrong with your face!"

Orihime tried not to show the hurt in her eyes as she turned around to greet Ichigo, weaving past Nel and Grimmjow.

"Don't forget good old—" Isshin was interrupted by both Karin and Ichigo's foot in his face.

After a long family squabble, Ichigo finally turned to greet Orihime and his friends.

"Hey—"

Orihime's eyes widened as Ichigo's eyes rolled at the back of his head and collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.

"Kurosaki-kun!" she said with alarm, crouching over him. She raised her hands to touch her hairpins, but a hand stopped her.

"Leave him be," Urahara said. "The hollowfication miasma is no longer present in the Karakura air. He should be returning back to normal now. His body just might be…in a bit of a shock."

Orihime exchanged a confused glance with Chad, who hadn't said anything this whole time. Uryu pushed his glasses up his nose, his eyes narrowing. "Are you saying that Kurosaki is returning back into a normal soul reaper?"

"Yes," Urahara smiled.

"So…no more yellow eyes and long hair?" Karin cocked a brow.

Urahara put a hand on his hat. "You could put it that way as well, Kurosaki-san."

"We should get out of here," Isshin said. "The soul reapers will be making their arrival soon. They must be convinced that Ichigo is still in Hueco Mundo for now."

"I'll carry him," Chad offered.

They disappeared from the scene by a display of sonido and flash step.

As they laid Ichigo down in the Kurosaki residence, Yuzu had sat herself next to her brother's body, her eyes clouded with anxiousness. Amidst this world of soul reapers and hollows, she felt so terribly lost. Isshin rested a hand on her shoulder.

"All we can do now is wait."

Ichigo's eyes opened to his inner world, surprised that for once he wasn't flat out on the ground. He paced across the windowed floor, glancing around at the sideways skyscrapers.

"Ichigo."

Ichigo whipped around, only to look into the eyes of his zanpakuto. "Oh… Zangetsu."

"The one you seek is not here," Zangetsu's monotone voice echoed and bounced off the building walls.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed in hostility. "He better not be."

The wind ruffled Ichigo's orange hair, and he realized it had returned to its usual shortness. He hugged his shihakusho—he hadn't seen it for so long. Especially not on him.

"Your body is returning back to normal," Zangetsu stated.

Ichigo looked away, feeling an odd twinge of resentment.

"What? Is that not what you want? Or is there still that confusion you have?"

Ichigo's gaze dropped to the ground. Zangetsu was right. There was this confusion. But for what?

"Why does your gaze go downcast when you look at me in the eye Ichigo?" Zangetsu asked.

Ichigo hesitated at first but than reluctantly spoke.

"Zangetsu…There is this feeling that I have. And all the time, I feel so angry—what is that?"

His hand gripped his shihakusho, his teeth gritting together. He felt so miserable all of a sudden.

"I feel like…my hollow impulses haven't left me at all—and that they're growing. This anger that I have…won't leave me."

Zangetsu eyes narrowed. "Do you hold a grudge against the soul reapers for turning against you?"

Ichigo flinched, because the accusation seemed so blunt—and accurate.

"I don't…The Gotei 13 are my friends—aren't they Zangetsu?" Ichigo asked quietly, but as Zangetsu didn't answer, he went on. "Zangetsu…I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

Karin sat hunched over a magazine, finally back in her own house. She had missed her room so much since she had been ushered to stay momentarily at Urahara's place. As she flicked the page, her thoughts drifted to Ichigo, who had remained in a comatose state in his bedroom for a whole day. He was making Yuzu so worried.

Karin's teeth gritted.

"Can I come in?" a muffled voice came from behind the door.

Karin turned to look at the door, an expressionless look on her face. "Yeah, sure."

Orihime slotted herself into the room in a gingerly manner, clearly bothered by entering Ichigo's sister's room. Not to mention invading Karin's space.

Orihime sat herself on Yuzu's bed; her straight position contrasting with Karin's splayed out lazy one.

"How is he?" Karin asked, flicking another page of her magazine.

"Still no change," Orihime said softly.

"Oh," Karin answered flatly.

Orihime fidgeted nervously as the silence in between the two girls dragged on.

"Did Kurosaki-kun…always like to protect people?"

What an odd question to ask. Karin lifted her gaze from her magazine, caught off guard.

"What? Oh… Yeah, he was always like that. Ever since mom died, Ichigo was always so hell bent on protecting people. I guess, that was another way to try and rid himself of the guilt he had for not being able to protect her."

"Oh. I see," Orihime nodded.

Karin tried to act friendly to the teen. Otherwise her dad would never let her hear the end of it for 'not offering hospitality to such a pretty girl'.

"After mom died, he was probably the last one of us to recover. He was in a very dark place before our good-for-nothing father slapped some sense into him," Karin said, shacking her head slowly.

"A dark place?" Orihime repeated.

"Yeah. That was the time when Yuzu and I had never seen so much hatred in his eyes before. We were worried he'd never return back to normal," Karin sighed.

Orihime's eyes narrowed. That's how I felt—when I looked into his eyes back then.

Ichigo kept on falling in and out of sleep.

When his eyes opened, he had returned to his inner world. Anger pulsed through him as he laid his sight on his inner hollow, who sat crouched on the windowed ground, a grin all over his face.

Ichigo leapt forwards, lunging at the hollow. He could finally give his counterpart what he deserved for taking over his body.

"You bastard!"

The two Zangetsus clashed against each other, screeching as they came in contact.

"Just remember what I said King," his hollow smirked. "I'll lend you my power, but you have to promise me not to lose your head."

"I didn't lose my head!" Ichigo let out a hiss, before confusion crossed his face. "Why does it matter to you anyway?"

The hollow's eyes glittered, the same anger in them back when the vines of the Hogyoku had attacked Ichigo.

They broke apart, the counterpart reassuming his crouching position. The hollow's eyes narrowed in misgiving, his lips curving downwards. "Don't go there King. You won't like what you find."

Ichigo fell off his bed with a thump, his covers wrapped around his legs and body as if he'd been tossing and turning all night. Footsteps clearly indicated that everyone had heard him, and as he untied himself from his covers, Yuzu burst into the room and threw herself at Ichigo.

"Ichi-nii!"

His back slammed against his bed frame, being so ready to fend off Isshin's flying kick rather than Yuzu.

Karin and his father stood in the doorway, grinning. Karin pointed at Ichigo.

"See? His eyes are brown again!"

Ichigo blinked as he took in his clothes. Human clothes. Warmth spread through his veins as he realized how long he had yearned for having this kind of family atmosphere again.

"Where are Nel and Grimmjow?" Ichigo said after a few moments of reassuring Yuzu that he was okay.

"They stayed at Urahara's. Yuzu and Karin had a hard time dealing with an espada's reiatsu level," Isshin answered.

Ichigo stood up, pressing his long-lost badge to his chest, only to reveal his soul reaper form. "Good. I'm going to go get everyone so we can rescue Rukia and Renji."

Ichigo was about to set off with Uryu, Chad, Nel and Grimmjow when Yoruichi appeared in front of them with her hand on one hip.

She had a devilish smile on her lips. "Ichigo. I thought you might do with some…interesting information. Soul Society is being attacked."

At some time in the past, this would have immediately alarmed Ichigo, but now, it was to their advantage. Ichigo's smile joined Yoruichi's.

"Distractions, huh?"

Rukia and Renji had been all but forgotten as war raged in Soul Society. The Seireitei was in chaos. It had happened all so quickly. The arrancars that Aizen had created had come to Soul Society to wreck the whole place. The Gotei 13 had been completely unprepared. Instead of attacking the Seireitei, the arrancars had started eating the souls of the Rukongai. It was so big, it had taken awhile before the soul reapers could pinpoint their exact location.

Now soul reapers were running back and forth in front of them, and both looked at each other stupidly. The captains had hastily entrusted them to two guards, but Rukia and Renji had managed to knock them out, even with their reiatsu-suppressing handcuffs on.

"So this must be the second time your in this kind of crap for the same person," Renji laughed awkwardly.

Rukia's eyes narrowed in annoyance, knowing he meant Ichigo.

"Let's not just stand here. Don't you know the meaning of the word 'escape'?"

"Don't you know that you belong to the Gotei 13, and that it might be natural for you to be concerned about the safety of your comrades?" Renji threw back at her.

"Well we won't be much good with these handcuffs on. Help me get my sword."

It became awkward since both of them had their hands behind their backs. After some great difficulty, Renji finally managed to pull out Rukia's sword. It took a moment before both of them were free.

"You don't think Aizen's with them too do you?" Rukia asked as they started to flash step across the roofs of the Seireitei buildings.

Renji shook his head vigorously. "Not a chance. That ass would never expose himself to us like that. But who really knows with Aizen?"

Silence settled on the duo as they continued their journey towards the actual fight.

"You…you think Ichigo's alright?" Rukia asked suddenly.

Renji gave her a weird look. Rukia wondered what it meant. "Yeah. He should be alright."

Again silence. But the quiet ended with the distance sounds of battle, when burning objects and blood assaulted their noses as they came across the arrancars.

The battlefield over the houses of the Rukongai was a bloody mess. Rukia's head turned from side to side, wondering where she would be of any help. When something caught her eye, Renji was already leaping to spring himself into battle.

"Wait Renji!" Rukia called after him, but above the turmoil of sounds, Renji couldn't hear her.

She gave an angry huff, turning her attention back to what had caught it moments before. She landed on the ground, coming towards a broken skeleton of a house where someone was hiding, shivering under the hay.

"It's all right now…" Rukia tried to speak softly to the abandoned child.

But Rukia didn't realize she had just turned her back and exposed it. As she turned around just in time to see an arrancar lift his blade to cut her, Renji yelled in alarm. "Rukia!"

"Shit!" she said, closing her eyes.

But the clash of swords that sounded inches away from her told her someone had arrived in time to block the attack. I'm so stupid.

When she looked up, her eyes widened in recognition. "I-Ichigo!"

Ichigo's blade tore into the arrancar's flesh, throwing the arrancar back. Renji went on to finishing the arrancar off while Ichigo, in his bankai state, turned to look at the petite soul reaper.

"Hey Rukia."

Rukia gaze met his brown eyes, confusion crossing her stare.

"I thought you were an espada and everything and now you're a soul reaper again. Will you make up your mind already?" Rukia grinned.

Ichigo smiled, his glare veering towards the battle.

"Kurosaki's gone back to being a soul reaper since he's out of the miasma of Hueco Mundo. He'd probably return back to being an espada if he ever returned there," Uryu explained, coming from behind Ichigo, before sending a rain of arrows onto the battlefield.

"Let's go then," Ichigo told his friends as they sprung into battle.

Rukia got up, guiding the child away from the fight, looking back at Ichigo with an amused smile on her face. He looks so much like Kaien. Especially when he's giving orders.

Rukia hesitated before bringing the trembling child to where the soul reapers seemed to be rounding up the habitants of the area in one place. She was a criminal now after all. But she went on ahead since there was no soul reaper she recognized. She left the child without any problems.

When she returned to the battle with her sword in her hands, she came across Ichigo who seemed to be distracted by something in the distance when an arrancar assaulted him from the back.

Rukia charged in to block the enemy's sword, fending him away. Ichigo turned around, dazed and surprised.

"Pay attention!" Rukia snapped.

Ichigo's gaze flicked nervously back at the place he was looking at moments before, then looked at the opponent in front of him again. "Oh…Sorry."

Rukia flicked her sword downwards, calling out to her zanpakuto. "Dance, Sodeno Shirayuki."

Then she flashed stepped beside the arrancar. "Tsukishiro."

She disappeared from the scene as the snow of her zanpakuto encased the arrancar, before casting her sword out to command her pillar of ice to shatter into a thousand pieces.

She landed gracefully back to the ground, flashing a grin at Ichigo's general direction and holding up a thumb. "How's that?"

But Ichigo was nowhere to be seen. Rukia turned her head from side to side, confused and angered. "Ichigo?"

"He ran off somewhere with no explanation," Uryu's voice came from behind her, making Rukia jump.

Rukia frowned. "Oh…"

It was then she felt Ichigo's deperate blast of reiatsu shoot up in the direction he'd been staring at earlier, before plummeting to an absolute zero.

An arrancar bowed to Aizen as the traitor held up the vial that his subordinate had brought him.

"The boy is coming, Aizen-sama," the arrancar warned.

The traitor didn't answer as he tipped the vial onto a cloth before wiping Kyokasuigetsu with it. "There is no need to worry. We are ready. He is not."

The arrancar looked nervously at the vial as Aizen dropped it back into his hands. "That could kill him, Aizen-sama. We are only trying to—"

"I know. Bu as I said before, there is no need to worry," Aizen smiled sardonically. "He will come to our side. Eventually."

As Ichigo skidded into the clearing, his eyes widened as his glare met Aizen's. The teen dropped into a fighting stance, his sword at the ready, recomposing himself.

"Round Two," Ichigo tried to grin.

"Indeed," Aizen turned away from the arrancar that had been bowing to him.

Sweat began to form on Ichigo's brow as they took the air. What if Aizen used whatever the Hogyoku did to make Ichigo feel sick again? Ichigo's teeth grinded together. No. He wouldn't let that happen. He would attack first.

"It's a pity that I did not have the chance to fight you in Hueco Mundo," Aizen said. "There were some…unfortunate interventions."

Ichigo knew he was referring to Nel and Grimmjow.

"It is interesting how you have a certain knack for bringing people to your side," Aizen smiled.

"And how you have a certain knack for bringing them away from my side," Ichigo's eyes narrowed.

"Why don't you go back to wearing an espada uniform? White looks better on you."

The orange haired teen showed no warning as he charged at Aizen, clashing swords with the traitor.

"I'll take that as a no then."

"King."

Ichigo did not want to talk. He ignored him.

"Getsugatensho!" Ichigo threw his reiatsu at Aizen.

"King, listen to me."

It was a desperate attack that Ichigo knew would do nothing. But he knew even if it did nothing, he had to defeat Aizen.

"King!" the voice turned into a vicious snarl.

Ichigo refused to listen. His hollow could not be trusted. He blotted out whatever his hollow had to say.

The traitor came out unscathed from the black and red reiatsu, but Ichigo only saw a glimpse of him before Aizen's sword impaled itself in Ichigo's gut.

"I tried to go easy on you," Aizen said with a downward curve of his lips. "You can't say I didn't give you any chances."

Ichigo coughed out blood, which dribbled down the side of his lip. He couldn't move. He couldn't do anything. He hadn't changed anything.

Ichigo fell to his hands and knees, still managing to keep himself in the air. But when Aizen withdrew his blade from Ichigo's body, Ichigo felt a pulse in his reiatsu. The teen's hand clutched his stomach, his eyes wide with horror as black ink began to spread over his eyes.

Agony tore through Ichigo's limbs as his black and red reiatsu enveloped and smothered him, before finally vanishing back into his body after a few moments.

Ichigo lifted his hand, realizing that he had regained the powers that he had once had in Hueco Mundo, and was once again wearing the white uniform of the espada. What was going on?

His reiatsu hit an absolute high, before falling to an absolute zero.

"What did you…do to me?" Ichigo gasped before his eyes closed and his body fell forwards to the ground below.

Why didn't I listen?

Rukia and the others shivered as they heard Ichigo's pained screams fill the Urahara Shoten. Orihime's eyes were all teary as she had her hands clasped over her ears. Rukia sat stiffly next to her, numbly staring at the ground. This was her fault. Again.

After a long search for Ichigo's fatally low lying reiatsu, they had found him, convulsing with a deep wound in his stomach. No one was around to blame for his injury. They had to carry Ichigo all the way through the Dangai, slipping past the guards and back to Karakura before he could be properly seen to. Ever since, Ichigo reiatsu had felt…odd.

Rukia tried to tune in once more to what Uryu was yelling to Urahara about.

"How many times does Aizen plan on almost killing Ichigo and never finishing the job? Do you think Aizen's performing some sort of tests on Ichigo?" Uryu demanded.

Urahara gave a sigh. "He's done it in the past."

Rukia began to nod off as her head started to droop forwards, the petite soul reaper hopelessly trying to resist the lull of sleep. It had to be around 3 am.

"Kuchiki-san," said an alarmed voice, shaking her awake.

Rukia pried her eyes open, turning herself sleepily to Urahara.

"What?" she asked grumpily.

"I've—found something," Urahara said uneasily.

Rukia shot up, all signs of grogginess disappearing. She knew something was serious when the usually cheerful shopkeeper had such an alarmed look on his face. She prepared herself for the worst.

"What did you find?" Rukia asked, tensing. "Is it the Hogyoku again?"

"No. Aizen is trying to do something else entirely."

Rukia watched as Urahara pointed at his screen. "We can see here that Ichigo's reiatsu is intermingling with his hollow's—even though it shouldn't. They are two separate souls that should be left alone…"

Rukia froze as what Urahara was trying to say dawned on her. "You—you can't be serious."

"Yes. Aizen is trying to merge Ichigo's soul with his hollow's."

That was a really long chapter!

Sorry for those who are Ichihime fans. There was no Ichihime really intended, I just needed someone who cared about Ichigo to ask Karin some questions about Ichigo's past which will be relevant to the story later on. :) Also needed some rivalry to spice up the story! XD

I really hope you enjoyed this one and again and always, review! ^^