Chapter 31 – Repercussions
Well, this is familiar, Ichigo thought as he lazily observed the blur of color surrounding him. He felt like he was floating peacefully, though he wasn't sure if he was really supposed to be able to do so in a metaphysical place like this. It was just so easy to relax in the time stream…
A colorful burst of swearing cut through the haze. Ichigo mentally shook himself and focused. The hypnotizing effect of the swirling, indistinguishable images faded away.
Everything alright, Shiro? he directed inward, easily identifying the voice.
No, Shiro moaned. I feel sick. I want to get out of this place!
He was affected last time, wasn't he? Ichigo remembered, thinking of the night months ago at the riverside.
It was different. Then, everything just hurt. Now I think my insides are twisting into pretzels.
/We should not stay long in this place. It is dangerous,/ Zangetsu added, sounding nonplussed. Ichigo got the feeling that his zanpakuto was hovering protectively over his inner Arrancar, who had curled into a tight ball.
Before Ichigo could try to do something on his own to rectify the situation, a cord of light attached to the inside of his clenched palm. It was startlingly solid and defined in this place of constant change. The other end was connected to something Ichigo couldn't see, though with a sharp tug from the string, Ichigo was moving in that direction. As the line shortened, it thickened and glowed brighter. After focusing for a moment, Ichigo was startled to recognize his friends' reiatsu signatures. Among the horde, he could pick out Renji, Rukia, Uryu, Chad, and Orihime. Just feeling their friendly reiatsu made him realize how much he'd missed them, especially the former two, since he'd had to be around their younger selves constantly. It was easier to ignore the pain of loss if the object of said loss wasn't shoved in one's face every single day.
The string tugged him closer towards a blurry image. Ichigo could vaguely make out predominant brown hues splashed with a few other colors gathered in a circle. As he approached closer, the image resolved into the basement of the Urahara Shoten. Ichigo was startled to recognize a large number of his friends sitting in a circle.
As soon as his focus was on the now-clear image, the pull on Ichigo became even stronger, and he spiraled forward at a nauseating speed. He heard Shiro moan in agony before he suddenly found himself in actual space again.
He crashed down on something highly uncomfortable and heard several startled shouts before he fell unconscious.
Ichigo woke to the sound of muffled voices. His head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton. He was lying on a futon in the Urahara Shoten. He recognized the ceiling; he'd woken up to it enough times after being knocked unconscious for some reason or another.
It took a second to realize the significance of his observations and for his memory to kick in.
He was home.
Probably… hopefully.
He poked at his inner spirits, and Zangetsu sent a wave of gentle reassurance back. The zanpakuto was fine, but Shiro was still incapacitated, so Zangetsu was staying low-key to keep an eye on the Arrancar.
Ichigo slid out of the futon, made his way towards Urahara's distinguishing drawl, and opened a door to a completely packed room. Everyone turned to look at him. Uryu, Orihime, and Chad were squashed in a corner. Toshiro, Matsumoto, Renji, Rukia, and Urahara were crowded around a low table, which Yoruichi was lounging on in cat form. Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta; Shinji, Love, and Lisa; and Ikkaku and Yumichika were squished into the other three corners.
Definitely the right time period, then.
Here many of his friends were, crammed into a single room. Ichigo had missed them all dearly. He actually found himself becoming a little teary.
Then Renji, the nearest person to Ichigo, stood up and decked him.
There was an explosion of shouting as Ichigo reoriented himself. Then he returned Renji's punch, and silence fell again.
"The hell was that for, asshole?" Ichigo griped.
"That was for having us all worried, dumbass!"
"Sorry." His friends had really missed him, hadn't they?
"Don't you get all emotional on me, now," Renji said, sounding kind of choked.
"Me? Never," Ichigo scoffed, blinking his eyes dry.
"Men," Rukia grumbled before pushing Renji aside and putting Ichigo in a headlock masquerading as a hug. "It's good to see you safe, Ichigo."
"Y-you too, Rukia…"
"Hi, Ichigo!" Orihime said, carefully winding her way to Ichigo to glomp him. "I'm so glad you're okay!"
"If he was stupid enough to get himself hurt in the past, I wouldn't even be here," Uryu huffed, looking uneasy to be in the presence of so many former and current Shinigami.
Chad grunted and gave Ichigo a thumbs up. Nothing more needed to be said.
He got a flurry of "Welcome back, Ichigo!"s and "Good to see you unharmed, Kurosaki-san"s from the others. Urahara smiled mysteriously behind his often-present fan.
"So how long was I out?" Ichigo asked.
"Less than an hour," Urahara replied. "Orihime-san was kind enough to heal any physical injuries you may have had."
"It wasn't bad at all!" Orihime assured. "Renji-san cushioned your fall, and you weren't really hurt from before that…"
"Oh?"
"Yeah, you landed on me, you bastard," Renji complained.
"Well, if you hadn't moved out of alignment…" Yumichika reprimanded.
"So tell us, what happened?" Matsumoto cut in before Renji and Yumichika could get into a petty argument.
"It is something we're all curious about," Love added.
"It'll take a while. Does it have to be now?"
"It's fine. It's what we're here for, after all. Circumstances have changed a bit while you were away," Toshiro said. He gestured, and the Shinigami sitting at the table shifted, giving Ichigo just enough room to squeeze in between Renji and Urahara. As Ichigo sat, he eyed the Vizards curiously; last he'd heard, they wanted nothing to do with Soul Society.
"Okay. But first…" Ichigo viciously elbowed Urahara in the face.
The shopkeeper whined and clutched his viciously throbbing nose. "I hope this doesn't become a habit, Kurosaki-san," he whined.
"Stop deserving it, then," Ichigo retorted. Yoruichi burst into guffaws. Urahara gave her a baleful look.
"Anything else before you'd like to start?" Lisa said dryly.
"Nope. So, here's what happened…"
Ichigo tried to keep his summary of events as concise as possible. No one really needed to know too much about his classes or the friendships he'd made, especially since Urahara interrupted him to explain how he prevented paradoxes with his memory eraser. Ichigo described how he'd laid as low as he could at the Academy and why he'd decided to attend the Academy in the first place. He spoke with as much detail as he could about his encounters with Aizen and why he'd decided to not attempt to assassinate the man, despite how he'd dearly wanted to. He summarized the results of his training, glossing over how he'd trained and completely omitting any mention of Shiro's participation.
His audience was, for the most part silent and attentive. Ichigo was occasionally asked to clarify something, and Orihime was the most vocal in her reactions to Ichigo's story. About half the room challenged him to a spar after he finished talking about his training. Urahara was the only one not giving him his complete attention, as he was fiddling with something that looked rather technologically complicated, but Ichigo didn't doubt that his every word was heard and carefully analyzed.
"…and then Urahara's stupid invention brought me back here," Ichigo finished. His audience remained silent for a few moments while they mulled over his tale, and then—
"You can't take two steps without tripping into trouble, can you, Ichigo?" Uryu snorted.
"Shut up," Ichigo said, glaring at Uryu and then Lisa, who'd started snickering. Shinji was rubbing his forehead in exasperation.
"Well, I'm just glad you're home safely," Orihime said.
"I can't believe you were really part of some of my most important memories," Renji mumbled, looking pensive. Rukia's eyes had glazed over as she retreated to her inner world to talk with her zanpakuto.
"You've been through quite a lot," Yoruichi said, brushing up against Ichigo. She wouldn't admit it, but she was very proud of Ichigo for handling the situation as well as he did. She was sure that a few of the others were feeling similarly.
"Thank you for telling us all this," Toshiro said, typing a report for Soul Society on his phone.
"It didn't sound like you got into any terribly good fights," Ikkaku snorted. "I hope you haven't gotten too rusty."
Amidst the chatter, Urahara grabbed Ichigo's arm. "If you'll turn towards me, Kurosaki-san," he said, his eyes shadowed. Ichigo distractedly did so while trash-talking with the Shinigami from the 11th. Urahara activated a basic diagnostic kido and scanned Ichigo's torso, frowning. Ichigo paid him no mind until Urahara's diagnostic struck what felt like the reiatsu equivalent of a nerve, and Shiro shrieked in pain and anger. Ichigo lashed out on instinct, catapulting Urahara through a door and into a hallway. Conversation halted as the majority of the room reached for their weapons on reflex. Ichigo clutched at his chest and panted heavily, feeling as though he'd been electrocuted.
"Maa, maa, sorry, Kurosaki-san," Urahara wheezed.
"What was that?" Ichigo snapped.
"Just a diagnostic. Your reiatsu potential has been stretched past its limit, so you're a bit sore, but you should be fine in a few days," Urahara explained, straightening his hat and returning to the room. "I suggest you take it easy during that time."
Twangs of pain still echoing on his nerves, Ichigo could only agree with the shopkeeper. What little advice the man did deem fit to dispense was usually sound.
Let's get out of here, Shiro whispered. I don't want to be around all these people anymore.
The Arrancar felt awful from both the trip and Urahara's prodding, and it was leaking over to Ichigo. He silently agreed. "Can I go home now? I'm tired."
"Of course," Urahara said.
"We'll escort you home," Toshiro offered, standing.
"Nah, it's okay. I'll be alright."
"Not optional. Yer lookin' a little peaky, there," Shinji drawled. Toshiro nodded. Ichigo was thrown for a second that the Shinigami and Vizard were getting along so well. He'd have to find out what happened to change the relationship later.
"Fine," he sighed, "Just stay out of sight of my family."
As he left, he didn't see the considering look Urahara gave him.
Ichigo's return home was uneventful. His father attempted to tackle him, like normal. Yuzu was glad to see him back and asked how his vacation had gone. Karin just gave him a rare smile.
Ichigo skipped dinner and headed straight up to his room, drained. He felt the reiatsu signatures of at least ten of his friends circling the house. Knowing that he was safe, he fell asleep and healed.
Life went back to normal. Ichigo caught up with all of his friends and learned of the new alliance between the Vizard and the Shinigami, now that Aizen's treachery was out. He returned to school with hardly any fuss, feeling strange to be attending a human school instead of a Shinigami one. He wondered what the Academy was like in the present day. Renji and Rukia pestered him to tell them about his time at the Academy and outright demanded that Urahara reverse the alterations on their memories. The last Ichigo had heard, Urahara still hadn't found a way to reverse the effects, leading to several unhappy Shinigami.
Then it all went to hell in a couple of weeks. Orihime was outright kidnapped – successfully, this time – spirited away as she walked home from school one day. The Soul Society couldn't spare resources to help Ichigo rescue her, so he gathered his loyal group of friends and badgered Urahara into building a portal to Hueco Mundo. The man looked uneasy about the task, for some reason, citing that Ichigo probably needed more rest after being exposed to the time stream, but Ichigo, hard-headed as always, wouldn't hear any of it.
So they traveled to Hueco Mundo, found themselves a pint-sized, green-haired guide, and moved ahead to Las Noches. The others found the Hollow world creepy, but Shiro enjoyed the tranquility, silence, and abundance of Hollow reiatsu saturating the dimension.
Las Noches was the opposite of Hueco Mundo, bright and chaotic and full of Arrancar wanting a fight out of the group.
Maybe splitting up wasn't the best option, Ichigo thought as he fended off the crazy Don Panini.
Ulquiorra was a surprise. For as long as Ichigo had trained at the Academy, he would have thought that he'd be well-prepared for the Espada.
Apparently not, Ichigo snarked to himself as his consciousness faded, dragged down to the depths by the hole in his sternum. Sorry, everyone… Orihime…
It was surprising to wake up. It was especially surprising to find that his savior was none other than Grimmjow. They fought, and Ichigo won handily, more easily than he'd expected, by using an unexpected Bakudo and slicing through Grimmjow's ultimate weapons.
Then Espada number five showed up, and while Ichigo was tired from his past fight, he still managed to fend off the Arrancar for a few minutes before he was taken out of the fight and none other than Nel saved him.
Shiro was getting really tired of getting pounded into the ground. Had the second journey through time actually weakened him? He hadn't thought it possible, until he remembered the blinding pain of the time stream. Their mask felt and looked the same, but Shiro felt that there was more to his power than just what they could put out right now, something the time stream had knocked loose.
They seriously had to figure out what it was, because getting kicked around so much was starting to get pathetic.
Kenpachi showed up somewhere in there. Ichigo was too beaten up to really tell when.
Orihime healed him while Kenpachi and the Espada duked it out. The last of Ichigo's injuries were just sealing up when the captain edged a win over the Arrancar before collapsing.
And then Ulquiorra showed up (again), and Ichigo, feeling stronger than ever since he was healed, challenged the Arrancar (again).
It was a good thing his power and skill level seemed to increase with every difficult fight, otherwise he'd already be down from another hole in his chest, he mused as he exchanged blows.
Ichigo jumped back and watched the Arrancar warily. Ulquiorra seemed content to wait for him to try to get past to Orihime.
Then Shiro, having been unusually quiet during the invasion, had an epiphany that broke the stalemate. Break the mask! Before Ulquiorra decides to pound us into the ground! he called desperately.
Are you crazy?!
I figured it out! Use the hilt of your zanpakuto and hit the mask! Hurry!
Ichigo, having learned to trust Shiro during his stint at the Academy, reversed his grip on his sword and drove the hilt into his Hollow mask before Ulquiorra's disbelieving eyes.
The mask shattered. Ichigo staggered at the sudden loss of reiatsu and shrieked at Shiro. Ulquiorra opened his mouth to say something condescending.
Then there was an explosion. Ichigo's form became obscured from view. Ulquiorra's eyes widened at the sudden unexpected development. He made no move to advance, though, and waited patiently for the cloud of dust that had been thrown up to dissipate.
That was his mistake.
A blur flew out of the cloud and collided with Ulquiorra, sending him flying and leaving him with a scratch on his torso. Ulquiorra couldn't believe his hierro had been pierced. He looked up to see his opponent. Once again, Ichigo Kurosaki defied expectation.
Ichigo, for his part, felt almost like he was floating. The world had slowed down. It felt like when he'd achieved bankai for the first time, except that this was no bankai. He laughed internally, feeling more powerful than ever. He charged from the cloud and took a swipe at Ulquiorra with his sword.
Ulquiorra cautiously eyed Ichigo's form. The boy's bankai coat and sword were intact, but that was the extent of the similarity between the boy who'd challenged him before and the creature that faced him now.
Ichigo laughed. It was a maniacal sound, caught up as he was in the sudden rush of power.
The boy's skin had paled to an almost alarming paper white. Striking orange hair had lengthened to fall past Ichigo's cheekbones to brush his chin. His eyes were yellow, but the sclera were white instead of a Hollow's black. Finally, and most noticeably, a crown of bull's horns adorned his head, slanting around his forehead and framing his face.
Shiro smirked. Well, if I'm an inner Arrancar from all this time traveling business, then it would make sense for us to have a Resurrecíon or something… right?
Ichigo couldn't agree more and threw himself back into the fray, forcing Ulquiorra to draw his sword and retreat above the dome of Las Noches.
Ulquiorra released his Resurrecíon, and Ichigo let his battle instincts, reawakened during his prior fights, take over. When I block, I won't be cut. When I defend, I won't let Orihime die. When I attack, I KILL!
And that's exactly what Ichigo did. He drove through Ulquiorra's attacks, dodged his spears, and sliced the Arrancar who had caused him so much grief in half.
Maybe it was too ruthless for a Human. Shiro didn't care; it meant Ichigo had finally accepted his power and all that it entailed. Once Ichigo's mask fragment shattered, he collapsed on top of Las Noches, exhausted, and mused about how his time at the Academy had changed him.
Later, Ichigo, with the help of Urahara and his old man, defeated Aizen above the fake Karakura Town, extracting and neutralizing the Hogyoku and chopping off the madman's head.
And that was the end of that.
A/N:
Really, the whole Hueco Mundo arc should take up several chapters, but much of it continues like canon did (as I'm sure you've figured out), and I really didn't feel like rehashing familiar ground. The focus of this piece wasn't the changes made when Ichigo returned, it was always about how Ichigo interacted with his peers in the Academy. Plus, I am just trying to finish this, so… Sorry if it's not everything you ever wanted.
Unless ff . net messes up, the epilogue will be up in the next twelve hours. It's short and was actually completed before this chapter, but I think it ties up this piece nicely.
-HM