Stand in the Rain
Shadow of an Echo
Chapter Seventeen
It's Not Over
Hanataro and Rikichi were chuckling in the corner, trying not to draw attention to themselves as Ichigo was glomped and nearly knocked down by two medium sized blurs; otherwise known as his little sisters.
Karin had tackled him on his left side, Yuzu on his right, and he was now firmly sandwiched between two sobbing little girls. "Hey it's alright, I'm back you guys. I'm okay, you don't have to cry." Ichigo spoke gently trying to calm them down, he hated it when his little sisters cried. Now they were doing it because of him.
"Ichi, don't you ever scare us like that again!" Karin did a remarkable job of quoting their father despite not being at the shop during his and Ichigo's reunion.
"I won't," Ichigo promised, knowing he'd walk through Hell before he'd let an enemy tear him away from the people he was supposed to protect.
"You better not," Surprisingly that was Yuzu speaking up, the normally calm twin nearly as worked up as her sister.
He didn't say anything more, just let them cling to him while they cried out their fears and worries. That's just what a big brother did.
Eventually the girls came around enough to let go, but they still stayed within a two foot radius of him. Though Yuzu was the one who thought to ask, "Do I need to set two more places for dinner?" She was looking at Hanataro and Rikichi for the first time.
"Yes please. Yuzu, Karin, these are my friends Hanataro and Rikichi." He pointed to the Shinigami in question as he gave their names.
They were met with a measuring stare from the black haired twin, "You've been with my brother?"
"Yes," Hanataro responded first, "He was recovering, and we helped each other." He explained.
"How?" Yuzu asked curiously.
"I'm a healer, I helped to patch him up when he was brought back to us, and he found Rikichi and I when we were in trouble, he protected us and then trained us to fight harder." Hanataro elaborated for the young girls, not missing the fact Karin was listening to his answer just as intently as Yuzu.
"Sounds like Ichi alright," Karin judged. "Are you staying with us?" Seemed a reasonable assumption to make considering the last time Ichigo brought a soul reaper home.
"Yes," Rikichi spoke up for the first time. "Your father said it was all right."
"Oh good, I like having company, and if you're friends of Ichi that just makes it better," Yuzu said with a welcoming smile, Karin just nodding in agreement with her sister.
"Thank you!" both Rikichi and Hanataro responded at the same time, nearly identical smiles on their faces.
Soon enough the six of them were sitting at the table, bowls of steaming curry in front of them. Ichigo feeling like he was finally home as soon as the first bite hit his tongue. It tasted of family and home, the meal familiar to him from all the times Yuzu had made it for them. It was easily his favorite meal.
It wasn't long before the food was devoured and the occupants of the house were getting tired, especially Ichigo since the day had been so emotionally taxing due to his confession to his father. It didn't take long to switch Yuzu into Karin's room, they didn't need to move absolutely everything, at least not on the first night. There was no telling how long Rikichi and Hanataro would need to stay, so Ichigo was willing to bet over the next week or so they would see a total migration of Yuzu's things, and that was purely from knowing his sisters' habits. It didn't bother them one bit to share a room, they interchanged their things so much as it was he suspected even they weren't sure who the original owner of certain items was.
The next morning, Ichigo didn't go to school. He had been missing so long he was so far behind he would have to study in his own time to catch up, Kon went in his place just as he had been doing for the past eight months. With his body gone and his friends in class he made good on a promise he had made to Shunsui.
First Ichigo dropped Hanataro and Rikichi back off at Kisuke's shop so his mentors could put them through their paces. From there he collected Shunsui, not telling the older Shinigami where he was taking him.
Ichigo had gotten a lot better at tracking Spiritual Pressure along with learning control. He used the newly honed skills to confirm the targeted group was still in the same broken-down warehouse.
Shunsui had far more practice at tracking spiritual pressure than Ichigo, and was able to tell exactly what Ichigo was up to as soon as they came within range of the hideout. Visoreds. All of their power trails had been altered by the Hollowfication process, but he still knew who they were, and in their midst was the one he had lost.
Ichigo stood out of the way as the Visoreds came out of the training area to meet them, having felt the new presence of Shunsui. Ichigo didn't know who looked more shocked his love or Lisa when they finally saw each other again. Both of them froze in place, no one else sure of what to do so the silence between them was not broken for a long while.
Eventually Shunsui's exuberance won out over surprise and he grabbed his former Lieutenant up in a crushing hug, Lisa resisting the urge to bat him away, she well remembered his ways with touching and it was actually a comfort that he was still willing to act the same way no matter that she harbored a Hollow inside her.
While they were reuniting, the others swarmed around Ichigo. He endured yet another round of reassurances and chastisements to never do it again. He was getting used to that reaction, but he hoped things would go back to normal soon.
Thankfully they did not ask for the full story, not yet anyway. The Visoreds would be one group well aware some parts of a person's history were not easily talked about if they could manage it at all. They would wait until he was ready to talk to them before getting more answers.
"Thank you for bringing him." Shinji changed the subject, lowering his voice enough they could speak without drawing attention from Shunsui and Lisa. They deserved some privacy for their long over-due reunion. "She missed him very badly, and it terrified her that if they met again he would hate her. We all tried to tell her he wouldn't have cared that she was a Visored, but I knew she wouldn't believe us until she saw it for herself."
"Shunsui, Jyuushiro, and Retsu were the ones who patched me up when I got back from Aizen. When Shunsui told me he missed Lisa so much I couldn't not bring him. We are just lucky he was the Captain chosen for this mission or it would have been a lot more difficult to bring them back together." Ichigo brushed off. This was something that meant so much to his love it was second nature to give it to him. That it helped Lisa also gave Ichigo a good feeling, he felt attached to all his fellow Visoreds and if they were hurting he would do whatever he could to make them feel better again.
Shunsui and Lisa came back over to the rest of them, Shunsui still draping an arm around her shoulders. The joy and relief in his eyes made Ichigo's heart clench. He had done the right thing in bringing them together, the proof was right in front of his eyes.
"It's been a long time," Shunsui addressed the rest of the Visoreds with a smile, "It's good to see all of you made it through."
"Tell us the truth, how many people in the Seireitei thought our exile was the right thing?" This was Hiyori, the girl hanging back in the group, hands crossed over her chest looking at him accusingly. It was all well and good to say those things, but she wouldn't believe him until he gave her proof.
"About half," Shunsui didn't bother with his usual teasing, knowing it wouldn't go over well when dealing with the kind of questions she would likely throw at him after his response. "A lot of that was due to fear I think. Most of the older ones though, we were more afraid for you rather than of you. We had no idea what would happen to you over time. I meant what I said I am very glad to see all of you safe. We weren't sure that would be the case."
"If that's true why didn't anyone speak for us?" Hiyori demanded.
"It happened too fast, by the time all the Captains heard what was going on you were already gone and we believed if we went after you all we would do is put you in more danger of discovery." They had to make a choice in those chaotic times, their faith in their comrades helped them decide what to do. They could take better care of themselves if they weren't being hounded by Soul Society.
"Has anything actually changed?" Shinji had a hand on the fuming girl's shoulder attempting to calm her a bit but well aware he was in danger of bodily harm from the hot-headed former Lieutenant. "You are here now, is it any safer?"
"Aizen is on the loose, he's planning something big, no one is safe." Shunsui responded seriously. "We need every good warrior we can get. I also missed my Lisa, and counted the rest of you as friends. I wanted to come."
Ichigo interrupted, "I also didn't tell him where I was taking us. If I didn't say it out loud there would be no way of overhearing. Kisuke checked and doesn't think we have any trackers from the twelfth on us, and I have been here often enough they would have picked it up sooner if I was being tracked that closely, I thought it was worth the risk to bring us here."
"What do you know about Aizen that we don't? We've been trying to track down his minions but we get bogged down in chasing what amount to Hollow pests." Kensei spoke this time, he had his own opinions on soul society, but for now he would trust in Ichigo's judgment. He'd been through hell and had the closest contact with Aizen, he was motivated to protect his friends even more than he always had been.
"Those pests you keep running into is a part of it, but we honestly have no idea what that part is." Shunsui admitted. "Souls are going missing, but not one living person has been touched. This area of the Living World is crawling with humans possessing higher than average spiritual pressure. That should be practically irresistible to any Hollow no matter what class if left on their own."
"You think someone is controlling them and the only one we know of that's uniting Hollows together for a singular purpose is Aizen." The former Captain of the Ninth realized.
"Yes," Ichigo confirmed, taking over from Shunsui. "I have an idea on how to figure out more about what exactly Aizen is planning."
Shunsui jumped in briefly, "Not that we like it, but he has the only plan that's even slightly possible at this point."
"You are going to rush headlong into danger again aren't you?" Shinji chastised, making Ichigo cringe but nod.
"The way I see it we don't really have a choice." Ichigo decided to explain himself quickly. He realized holding anything back would only cause the other Visoreds to pry deeper into the problem. "I know how to get in contact with the Espada that helped me escape. There are several of Aizen's top warriors that are more pissed off at him than they are at us. They would rat him out in a heartbeat if it meant they would be free of the bastard."
"And the catch is?" Shinji knew better than to think any of Ichigo's plans would be that simple, and he knew Shunsui enough to know if he was concerned about something there was a reason to be.
Again Ichigo couldn't quite meet any of their eyes, "I know how to do it, but the catch is I don't know which Espada is helping in the Living World, with something this big Aizen would not trust it to someone else. At the very least there is a Fraccion here reporting back to their Espada in Las Noches which amounts to about the same thing. Personally though, knowing Aizen, it will be an Espada. My plan to reach Grimmjow means I have to bait the one who is here enough to have them complaining about it during their report."
Shinji's eyes widened in surprise, "Grimmjow? Your plan for information revolves around him?" He asked incredulously, leaving the part about irritating an Espada for later. He had actually fought Grimmjow before, and he couldn't wrap his mind around Ichigo actively trying to draw the violent Espada close to him.
"Yes. He is the only one I know for certain is willing to betray Aizen." Ichigo insisted.
Love beat any of the others to a response, "What makes you so certain?"
"Because he has already done it," Ichigo admitted. "He was the one who broke me out of Las Noches, hell he practically carried me through the Garganta to the Soul Society. Something that big can't be passed off as a whim on his part, it was planned out in advance, Grimmjow is fighting tooth and nail to rebel against Aizen without getting himself killed."
"How exactly are you planning on contacting him?" Kensei asked the question Shinji had avoided.
"Ah yeah, the best way of getting an Espada's attention is to use another Espada against them." Ichigo was rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, he knew how much of a gamble this sounded like, but he was convinced it was the only way. "I highly doubt Grimmjow is the one trusted to be the babysitter here. It's someone else. Worst case is Barragan he hates both Aizen and me and can use my death to get a stab in at Aizen. Best case would be Grimmjow himself, but I already explained why that isn't likely, other than him Harribel would be a safer bet. She doesn't fight, not unless she has to, I think she would hear me out if nothing else."
"What are the chances something like that would work?" Rose asked. He trusted Ichigo to know what he was doing most of the time, but they had already witnessed what he was willing to do to protect the people he loved. He would put himself into extreme danger if it spared others.
"If I get the right Espada I know it will, finding the wrong one would make it more difficult." He responded honestly. "I want to avoid Barragan, Ulquiorra, and Nnoitra. Anyone lower and I'm not worried about defending myself against them. I know how they fight and I can beat them as long as I have Zangetsu and Junichi backing me up."
"Any of those three likely to be here?" Rose continued to question, his Captain side coming out.
"Of the three the only one I see Aizen possibly assigning here would be Ulquiorra. Nnoitra is just as volatile as Grimmjow while being a step higher in power. He keeps Barragan closely under his thumb, even he knows an Arrancar that old poses a real threat to him if left to his own devices. Ulquiorra might be more powerful than Nnoitra but he follows every order given to him and is usually much more restrained." Ichigo laid out from what he'd observed in his more lucid moments in Las Noches.
"How many people do you think it would take to back you up if it is him?" That was Kensei getting down to practicality.
"There is a good chance with him that I can do it myself, but I doubt I will be functional for a long time afterword. If I want to keep myself in fighting shape there should be a minimum of two there and three would be better." At least he had a solid answer for that particular question. Ever since the basic idea had come to him he'd been fine tuning it in his mind.
Shunsui broke in at that point, having left the explanation up to Ichigo since it was his plan, but this was something he wouldn't leave unsaid. "No matter who it is, I will not let Ichigo go out hunting them alone. Anyone else who wants to help track them down should be in pairs as well."
"Anything that has a chance of bringing down that bastard is worth a shot," Shinji decided, not needing to ask if the others felt the same. When you live in such close quarters for so long you learned a lot about how the others' thought. "I agree we should go at least in pairs, but what happens if we do find them when you aren't there Ichigo?"
"Well you can bet they have their own power shielded or we would have already felt them, make sure they keep shielding then send up a flare. If I feel that I will know to come to you. Also with me I don't mind being followed but I don't think we should be obvious about it, I think I have a better shot of making non-violent contact with them if I appear to be alone." That was another thing Ichigo had thought of after Shunsui had insisted he wouldn't be left alone. He was willing to compromise on that point if it meant his love would let him go through with the plan.
"I can do that," Shunsui allowed, with the Visoreds nodding in agreement. "You are the one that has the best idea of how to pull this off. Unless you are deliberately risking yourself more than necessary I will follow your lead." He promised.
"I just thought of something," Love spoke up, "What if we encounter one of the three you are worried about, is the plan still the same? Maybe you rushing towards them would be a very bad idea."
"Doesn't matter," Ichigo insisted, "I still need to get a message to Grimmjow, but using one of those three will be different than others. Some of them I feel comfortable enough to outright ask, or at least imply enough they can figure it out. I'm essentially just going to be pissing off the rest. They can go on some impressive rants and that's how I intend to get to Grimmjow indirectly through them."
"You really think some are going to listen to you without fighting?" Hiyori was skeptical of Ichigo's plan. Fighting her own Hollow left her with full knowledge of just how violent and dangerous a Hollow could be and Arrancar had much more developed minds than the typical low level pests they dealt with in the living world.
"Definitely not the majority, but there are a few that yes I think they will listen to me. I know I have said Harribel doesn't like fighting and Starrk is the same way. Szayel may be a possibility but I doubt he's here, Aizen uses him as a researcher, he's much more useful staying in his lab than working in the field no matter how tough of a fighter he is. It's not a good idea to underestimate him because his power is less than others. He has one of the more elaborate releases out of the Espada. I don't know about Zommari, he could go either way, he kept to himself too much for me to get a firm read on his personality." Ichigo responded, he felt lucky the two strongest on his safe list were reasonable. He really didn't want to get into a battle with either one in the living world, too much opportunity for innocents to get hurt.
"Looks like you have enough figured out that this might work. Now who else came with you? Just want to know if we have to dodge them or not." Shinji figured they learned as much as they could about the plan, it was time to move on.
"I don't think you've met any of them," Shunsui warned. "Four officers and one Lieutenant came with us, Retsu sent her Lieutenant and one of the officers, Squad Six sent one, and Squad Eleven sent two. We picked them ourselves, they will not be a threat to you. Two in particular want to meet you, Ichigo taught them and it made them curious about the rest of you." Hanataro and Rikichi had confessed to that as soon as it was confirmed they would be going to the Living World with the team.
"Kisuke pounced on them first didn't he?" Mashiro's question was half-serious and half-rhetorical. They knew the experiment crazy ex-Captain would not let something like that slide away from him without studying them.
"He should be running them into the ground right about now," Ichigo confirmed with a small smile at the thought of his mentor doing the same thing he had done to him with Hanataro and Rikichi. Those two could use the extra training, Ichigo had no doubt they wouldn't be content staying at the level he had worked them hard to achieve, Rikichi especially.
"Well guys, feel like going on a field trip?" Shinji asked mischievously. "We haven't bugged him for awhile, sounds like it's time to break that streak."
"Might as well, nothing else to do around here," Kensei shrugged. "Plus it might be nice to talk to new people that are curious about us. It could clear up a lot of things if they take the stories back to Soul Society."
Ichigo couldn't stop himself from smirking, "Oh, I think I forgot to mention something. I don't just have a plan for getting into contact with the Espada, I also have an idea of what could come after." He explained. "If you had the choice to come back to the Soul Society with the approval of the Head-Captain, would you do it?"
"For me, I think it would depend on why." Shinji decided. "If it is just to save face, then no, I will do him no favors. If there is an actual need or purpose for us, then maybe."
"Well, I already said the reason I think the Espada will listen to me is because they hate Aizen more than us, I'd imagine it's probably similar for you," Ichigo guessed.
"He's right Shinji." Love realized. "You've had the most contact, we know that, but he ruined all of our lives, we can never get back what he took. Even if we took back our old spots tomorrow there will still be a century of exile to overcome."
"So is that an actual offer, or just wishful thinking?" Rose asked, quietly agreeing with Love.
"Mostly wishful thinking," Ichigo admitted, "But with Retsu, Jyuushiro, and Shunsui backing up the request we might get somewhere. No one here has done anything wrong since coming to the Living World, hard to make an argument that you guys are dangerous, and the fact they found out Aizen was a con man might help with that too."
"True, though that last part affected Kisuke more than us. At the time I don't think it mattered where we got our Hollows, the problem was we had them in the first place." Lisa contributed to the conversation for the first time. "Though you were allowed to remain. That could be a sign that things are changing regarding that."
Ichigo sighed, "Maybe, but I think it has more to do with their ability to use me. My Hollow is strong, and they were heading into a war unlike when you were Hollowfied. Also I was mostly untrained so they had the opportunity to influence me from the beginning about fighting and Hollows. Our circumstances were completely different unfortunately."
Mashiro spoke first, "I think it would be worth giving them a chance. As much as I am angry at them, I also worry about our friends that are still there. I don't want to abandon them."
"They abandoned us!" Hiyori broke out angrily. "We've been stuck here for a century and no one has come to help us. Why should we help them?"
"It wasn't their choice Hiyori." Shinji chastised sharply, ducking the sandal to the head as he continued speaking. "What if we were in their place? What would we have done? It's nearly impossible to go against Yamamoto if he's made up his mind, and he had. You just heard Shunsui, everything happened too fast for anyone who actually wanted to help to act. Kisuke has us protected here, I also agree with him that coming to us would have just put us in more danger."
"So forgive and forget, is that what you're saying?" She challenged crossing her arms across her chest stubbornly.
"No." Shinji refuted. "I don't mean forget, but they should be given a chance to be forgiven. This is a grudge that shouldn't last forever, at least not the people that haven't done anything to us. I know I will never forget Central 46 and Yamamoto for what they did, but others either didn't know or couldn't do anything about it. Even those that agreed with our execution were only following the direction of the Head-Captain."
"Shinji, Hiyori, maybe we should drop this for now, we have time to think about it for a while longer. Ichigo told us there wasn't anything formal about the offer yet." Kensei interrupted, breaking up the heated discussion before it could go too far. Those two were always volatile even when they didn't have opposing views.
"You're right Kensei," Love agreed. "We shouldn't read too much into this until we know more."
"Are we still going to see Kisuke?" Mashiro asked cautiously, the tension making her more serious than usual.
"Yes. I think we need to do something to cool off, and I still want to meet the kids Ichigo trained." Shinji decided, knowing the others were right to change the topic.
Shunsui couldn't help but laugh as he and Ichigo lead the mismatched group out of the warehouse and towards Kisuke's shop, "They aren't kids Shinji, young yes, but not kids. The one is older than Byakuya." That was a little tidbit of information Ichigo had shared with Jyuushiro and Shunsui.
"You know that isn't much to their credit right? I still kinda think of Byakuya as a kid too." Shinji pointed out. "Last I saw him he was still trying to catch up to Yoruichi when she provoked him. He was just a little hot-head then."
"And he gets mad at me just for using his first name?" Ichigo teased. "I wonder how he'd react to someone calling him a kid?"
"If we do end up in Soul Society you will probably get that answer," Shinji assured. "I don't think many of us could resist telling on him to the people that thinks he is an overly serious stick in the mud."
"Well he kind of is like that now," Ichigo pointed out, hey he was just being honest.
"That is circumstantial, he's had some hard luck in the past few decades, but I bet with the right push he would start acting a bit like himself again," Shunsui explained.
That was the second time Ichigo had heard an older captain hint at problems in Byakuya's past, the first being Retsu in one of his first few discussions with her. He made a mental note to try and figure out what it was that could change a person so drastically.
Soon the shop came into view, Ichigo discreetly touching Shunsui's hand to get his attention, allowing the Visoreds to enter fist and drop to the back. "I thought of something while we were talking." He explained. Ichigo wasn't sure this was something he wanted overheard right away. "We were talking about being able to persuade Yamamoto with the right number of people protesting to him."
"Yes, it's possible in some cases, why?" Shunsui had an idea where this was going, but was reluctant to say more than necessary, it was another one of the darker aspects of the Seireitei.
"If that's the case, why can't we get anything changed with the taboo against us? From what I've heard a majority of the Captains support us, so why not?" Yep, it was what Shunsui had been afraid of. Although he should have expected it at some point with how smart Ichigo was, honestly he was more surprised it had taken as long as it had for him to notice.
"I hoped you wouldn't ask that," Shunsui confessed honestly. "I don't like it either. The reason Yamamoto is so steadfast in his opposition of us is he needs a ready-made target for Soul Reapers who get violent when they are bored. We are an easy way of doing that, because let's face it there will always be discrimination against something different than ourselves in general, he is just sanctioning that behavior. I do believe we can change his attitude towards the hollow/Shinigami hybrids like the Visoreds and Espada because we are going into a war and no one can deny your strength. We need you in other words."
"…The sad part about that is I'm not real surprised that's the case." Ichigo observed. "I've come to expect that kind of thing from the rules here. It could have been worse I guess. At least knowing that we have a starting point at getting things changed without Yamamoto being able to do anything about it. If enough people back us up there would be no one powerful enough to be threat to us anymore."
"I was expecting more anger," Shunsui admitted, "But I like what you've thought of. Jyuushiro and I have believed that for a long time, but it's been difficult to get together enough people to deny him openly like that. It's a real risk for high officers to take, demotion and exile to the Maggot's Nest is not out of the realm of possible consequences."
"That is going to change, if I have to drag people kicking and screaming into the light. I have nothing to lose, so I can make the first move, we can only hope the rest will follow," He affirmed.
"With that attitude they just might," Shunsui smiled at him approvingly before heading into the shop with the rest so their absence wouldn't be too noticeable.