Heh… you know while I was at my friend's funeral I noticed something. We all cried and well that got me thinking. If no one ever cries at your funeral then you were never loved.

Just a thought.

I do miss him though. To those who care(I thank you if you do care for a total stranger's pain) but he had Cystic Fibrosis, it's a disease with no cure. The doctors said he'd be dead by age 16 but he showed them that he was a fighter and lived for four more years before his will to fight just… gave up. He was in so much pain.

Try breathing through a straw. That's how he breathed. He never fully healed and was always on the thin side but what was so amazing about him was that he never once since the day I met him complained. Not once.

So if just for a day could you all wear a purple ribbon? Cystic Fibrosis falls under a purple ribbon, you don't have to but… it's hell for the person suffering from it and they ALL die young.

No one lives long with this disease.

On a lighter note I thank you all for the support, I know I say it every time but I mean it every time!

You guys rock!

Also sorry if I screw up the time line of Bleach, it doesn't matter much how it flows here so…

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 4: Shinigami vs. Quincy

Karin looked around.

"Are you sure it said it'd be here?"

Rukia looked at her phone confused.

"Yes it clearly said a hollow would show up here…"

Sighing Karin sheathed her sword and they made their way home, this was the third time and it was getting annoying.

That night there wasn't another call, the next morning was as always and they got up each girl got her ten minutes in the shower, Yuzu first so she could make breakfast for everyone. Then it was breakfast at table with Isshin goofing off as always. Rukia had to admit she liked how fatherly Isshin was.

Ichigo and Masaki were always brought into the conversation at some point before the three girls were off to school. Once at school there were the antics of Keigo who now included Rukia in his morning greetings, only Rukia wasn't against laying a punch or kick now and then when he got too close. The rest just laughed and moved on.

Once she sat down she felt that she was being watched. A slight shiver went down her back as she looked over her shoulder where she was looking at the seats beside hers'.

There sat Uryuu Ishida. The guy with a stick up his ass, Karin frowned at the Ishida. He felt… different.

Now that she had Rukia's powers she was feeling other things, Rukia had explained that she was feeling other people's reiatsu that was always extremely faint in normal humans but Ishida had an odd vibe around him.

She frowned harder when she met the man's gaze, this seemed to catch the stiff teen off guard as his eyes went wide for a few seconds, Karin huffed and looked in front of her no longer giving the brunette teen her attention as their sensei entered the room with her joyful manner.

Later that day while Rukia and Karin walked home without Yuzu because said girl was on an outing with her friends that Karin mostly avoided due to her boyish mannerisms, as they walked Karin asked the question she had been thinking about all day.

"Have you felt the reiatsu of Ishida-san?" Karin asked looking at Rukia who was now frowning.

"I have felt the odd reiatsu and deducted that it came from him but other than that I have no idea."

"Shinigami!"

The yell was sudden and spooked both girls out of their wits. Turning around they saw that it was Ishida.

"Huh?" was Karin's not so intelligent reply.

For some odd reason when Ishida's mouth started to move her mind blocked him out.

All she really caught was. "Quincy, revenge, more powerful, shinigami… yada yada yada." She blinked when she realised that both Rukia and Ishida were waiting for her to react.

"Sorry what did you say?"

Ishida sighed and pushed up his glasses.

"I will give you a shorter version then. I am a Quincy a once proud race that was slaughtered by your kind a thousand years ago, there are so little left. A shinigami also killed my grandfather so I will now show you Shinigami the true description of power. I will get my revenge on those who killed my grandfather and I will show that I am stronger than you." He said and all his words just confused Karin more.

"Wait wait wait." She said shaking her hands. She frowned harder unknowingly making a face very similar to Ichigo.

"You…" she said pointing at Ishida.

"Want to fight me." She said pointing at herself. "Because you want revenge on your murdered grandfather, and want to show… shinigami that you are more powerful than them? Did I get the gist of it?" she asked getting a confused nod.

Karin looked at Rukia.

"Seeing as I have most of your power only it's powered by my reiatsu… I can safely assume that there are more powerful shinigami out there in Seireitei?" she asked getting a nod. She looked back at Ishida.

In a deadpan voice she said.

"You are an idiot."

Ishida's jaw dropped but he didn't say anything when Karin's face tightened with a serious look.

"Revenge is a stupid life goal, when you finally kill all the shinigami or show you're stronger what do you think will happen?" She asked but didn't give him a chance to answer.

"I'll tell you. From what I gathered they would join in and destroy you. You're a lone Quincy. What do you think you can do against captains? Rukia here is a seated officer and no higher. I have no inkling where I stand but I can gather that I am nowhere near captain level." She said looking to Rukia who gave a grim nod.

"Quincy's also upset the balance of the worlds." Rukia said grimly, her face looked sad yet serious. "The Quincy massacre and the reason behind it is taught at the academy, When a Quincy shoots down a hollow they don't cleanse it. They destroy it completely. At a time they killed so many hollows that the world's balance was starting to tip. Once it does it is irreversible and would cause the end of us all. We shinigami asked and tried to get the Quincy people to stop but they were just as prideful as us." She gave Ishida a hard look.

"You Quincy kept killing hollows, kept going. We had no other choice, as guardians of the balance of the three worlds we did what we were ordered to. You Quincy took just as many lives of ours. Lives that would never be part of the re-birthing cycle." She hissed the last part making Ishida flinch just a bit.

A hard look suddenly appeared on Ishida's face.

"I don't care." With that said he took out a small cube and crushed it.

"You fool!" Rukia yelled and got out the glove with the flaming skull with a quick palm to the head Karin was in her spirit mode and unsheathed her blade the moment she heard a mass of hollow roars. She looked around in horror as a lot of hollows came out.

"Shit." Karin nervously looked around. She wasn't scared for herself. No she was scared for those who had no idea what was happening.

She gave a poisonous glare at Ishida that made the man twitch minutely.

"You are a sick fuck of a human begin." She hissed before dashing off to help humans and souls alike while Rukia went a different way, she had to get Karin's body in a safe place, they didn't bring Kon with them as he was currently stitched to two other bears.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ichigo's head snapped up while in a meeting.

"Something the matter Ichigo-san?" Gin asked opening an eye to see the blank face of Ichigo. The rest of the Espada looked at their Cero the same.

"Wow." Ichigo said after whistling.

He looked to Aizen.

"Lord Aizen there seems to be a mass of hollows all converging at one place." Ichigo didn't look away from Aizen's brown eyes. The man leaned on his closed fist.

"Go and investigate."

Ichigo nodded and was gone with a buzz noise.

At the table Szayel frowned. "How did he sense that?"

No one could answer that.

Once he was in the spot where all the hollows were massing he noticed a male with a glowing blue light bow shooting hollows where after they just vanished. He frowned but decided to remain where he was. He saw a small brunette shinigami who had a rather long sword, it looked like a nodachi. He watched her for a while but noticed something about her movements was stiff.

Like they were not as natural as a shinigami should be.

They had a far better bond with their blades than the Arrancar did. After all Arrancar only had slight shinigami abilities. Theirs were versions of Shinigami powers but not Shinigami powers. It was all confusing to Ichigo so he didn't really dwell on it much. He blinked when he saw an orange long haired female human who was talking to an older looking girl who was sweeping glass that had shattered due to a hollow lurking nearby.

Another soul that caught his interest was a Hispanic young man walking thought a park where a bunch of girls were having a picnic. It was clear to Ichigo that there was a powerful hollow lurking nearby making itself ready to attack.

He watched all with barely contained excitement.

Oh how was all this going to turn out he wondered.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Tatsuki looked around in horror as people came at them like they were possessed, well they did have odd vein like patterns all over them at some spots. Orihime looked terrified behind her and thus she wielded her trusty broom and fought them off to the best of her abilities but she was suddenly hit by something. And with her last bit of clear thinking she whispered to Orihime to run.

A distance away Chad was having a similar problem but his problem was he wanted to protect Yuzu and her friends but his opponent was not visible to him. He punched at air till he hit something. He looked confusedly at the air for a second before swinging again at the air.

Ichigo found this oddly funny yet for some reason he didn't want the human to die.

So with a feeling of mischievousness he sneaked behind the Hispanic teenager and with his reiatsu laced hands pushed enough of his reiatsu into the human making him falter in his step as he was suddenly filled with energy.

His arm pained before his eyes burned, when his eyes cleared up he saw the hollow as clear as day, by then Ichigo was gone to watch from afar.

He gave enough of his reiatsu to kill a human but for some reason this one didn't die, Ichigo was so curious to see how it would end out.

Ichigo sensed he wasn't alone and looked to the side to see a blonde man wearing a green traditional looking outfit along with a white and green striped bucket hat with wooden shoes, what was odd to Ichigo was the fan in front of his face. There was a black cat sitting on his shoulder.

Shrugging he looked back to the fight just as something amazing in his opinion happened.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"Did you see that?" Yoruichi asked blinking owlishly.

"Hmm." Urahara replied still looking at Chad. That Arrancar had just injected in a way, a large amount of his hollow reiatsu and Chad didn't die. The thing was that the hollow didn't seem to be in with the idea to kill. It looked like he was curious as to what would happen.

"Did he look familiar to you too?" the cat asked frowning as she looked in the direction the strong Arrancar's reiatsu was barely felt.

Both their heads snapped back to Chad when his left arm suddenly changed into a black, red and white armoured arm. Its look was vaguely hollow and Urahara didn't know what to make of it or how to feel about it but they watched amazed as Chad gave a powerful punch that sent the hollow flying before it disintegrated.

Chad looked at his arm in shock. Yuzu and her friends had run off when he told them too so they never saw any of this.

Urahara felt the Arrancar leave and move towards Orihime. He cursed and walked to Chad.

After he told him about Karin the man's body went ridged. Ah it seemed that there was something between those two. He smirked behind his fan.

Once they told Chad to go to the bridge they rushed to Orihime's side only to see it was over and the girl was talking to her fairies before the returned to their original form and she passed out. Looking around they saw Ichigo was on the room of the dojo looking down at them.

Something of the man was familiar to him but he just couldn't place it. A lop sided grin made its home on the Arrancar's lips.

"Interesting."

The hollow said before he was gone with a buzz.

He was still in the realm of the living but somewhere in the distance.

It dawned on them both that he was now near Karin and the Quincy that caused this whole mess. They quickly helped those attacked by the hollow's controlling abilities and then woke up Orihime. They told her the same as what they had with Chad and the girl moved to the bridge as well. Nodding to each other they met up with Tessai, Junta and Ururu on their way to the bridge.

When they got there they stood slightly behind the two teens who watched as Karin fought hollows, she had gotten better. Urahara saw this and smirked, it was to be as Isshin was naturally good with a blade. He looked to the side and saw the Arrancar was standing in a tree looking at the on goings of Karin and the Quincy. Urahara was surprised to see a heavy frown in the Arrancar's face as he watched the Quincy destroy more and more hollows.

Karin finally reached the Quincy and sliced through the hollow the Quincy was about to shoot.

She was breathing a little heavy but her face showed she was utterly and completely pissed.

"You FUCKING MORON!" She yelled at the Quincy.

Urahara and the rest watched surprised as Karin walked up to the man and actually slapped him hard across the face. She slapped him so hard he actually fell to the ground.

"Have you even thought about all the humans YOU just got killed?" She said, her anger was clearly getting the better of her as Karin wasn't one to act this violently. The Quincy looked up at her in shock as he held his face.

"You are sick! You're so pathetic!" She screamed at him. She was going to go on but there was a large tear sound and all heads snapped up to the sky where a Menos Grande came through. Urahara cursed, Karin wasn't strong enough to take down a Menos Grande.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ichigo watched somewhat amused as the smaller shinigami actually slapped the odd bow wielding man to the ground. That was one hell of a slap. He snickered when the girl started to yell at the male but his snickers fell short when he felt a Menos Grande appeared. He looked up surprised.

This wasn't right.

Menos Grande were never to set foot in the world of the living. He frowned, he rose from his spot in the tree and jumped down gaining everyone's attention, his masked side was facing the mass so his face was obscured. He slowly walked towards the Menos Grande who was roaring and looking around. The Menos Grande's attention was drawn to Ichigo when he flared his reiatsu. The Menos Grande regarded him before it roared and charged a cero in its mouth. This was odd, Menos Grande weren't supposed to take on stronger hollows. He narrowed his eyes.

Urahara and the rest watched as the Arrancar didn't move out of the way as the cero came his way. He just raised his hand and blocked it in that manner shocking everyone.

The cero faded showing the Arrancar was unharmed and looked slightly annoyed.

"That wasn't a cero." He spoke his voice deep but not that much, just enough to be intimidating. The hand that blocked the cero cocked back as a red ball of energy formed before it was shot at the Menos Grande obliterating it in one clean shot. The explosion followed but the dying roar of the Menos Grande was the last thing that was heard as silence overtook the park. When the dust settled the Arrancar was gone, he wasn't in the realm anymore as Urahara couldn't feel a trace.

Looking at the spot where the Menos stood he was surprised to see a large scorch mark, the tear in the sky had fixed itself and the sky was normal again.

"That one is interesting." Urahara commented looking at the spot where he stood.

"And oddly familiar but I cannot put my finger on it."

Xxxxxxxxx

Back in Hueco Mundo Ichigo was called to Aizen's throne room. Ichigo could see that Aizen wasn't pleased with him and the other Espada were confused as to why. They probably didn't think that their leader was the one that sent the Menos to the world of the living to test he girl no doubt.

"Is there a reason you interfered Ichigo-san?" Aizen asked while Gin had an unreadable look on his face. Kaname looked slightly confused as to why as well. Ichigo guessed that the dark skinned man thought he was under Aizen's spell as well.

"To protect the balance." Ichigo said not taking his eyes off Aizen's.

The balance was easily disrupted in the world of the living.

Ichigo's face was hard as he almost glared at Aizen. "I was merely protecting the balance Aizen-sama. That girl you wanted to test wouldn't have been able to defeat that hollow." He knew that the blonde male could have. He felt the power the man hid but his instincts screamed at him not to tell and being a man who followed his instincts he obeyed them and remained quiet about that part.

Aizen nodded and sighed. Ichigo wanted to growl at the man, oh how the man annoyed the living hell out of him. He bowed and walked out the room. He heard Aizen dismiss the rest of the Espada and with that he walked to where he felt he would calm down the quickest.

He walked till he was where the Fracción relaxed while the higher ups had their meeting. He walked in and looked right at Szayel's older brother.

"You come with me." He said and due to him being higher rank that Grimmjow he could easily out order the blue haired man not that he thought Grimmjow would mind if he borrowed his little blonde companion.

Yylfordt was led to his bed chambers where he proceeded to roughly manhandle the blonde into multiple orgasms by using all methods he knew of, he even used his reiatsu to make it hard for the blonde to breathe.

By the time Grimmjow came to collect his Fracción after a spar with Nnoitra he noticed the lack of one of his underlings. When he asked the rest told him that well… he was whisked away by Ichigo. Getting a sudden flash of jealously he walked to Ichigo's chambers after ordering his underlings to return to his own. When he opened the door he saw no one but heard a hell of a lot as the bedroom door was wide open allowing him to see Ichigo almost brutally dominate Yylfordt. The blonde man screamed his release as Ichigo held Yylfordt's back to his chest by the throat. Without so much as a glance in his direction Ichigo beckoned Grimmjow into the fray. He pulled out of the hyper sensitive man making him fall flat on his face.

Ichigo then guided Grimmjow to stand behind the man, with almost gentle hands he undressed Grimmjow giving a nip here and a suck there. When he was naked he was hard and wanted something, anything the man was willing to give. Looking down he saw that Yylfordt was looking up at him not even trying to hide his lust. Seemed that he and his younger brother shared the strong libido.

"I bet you want to fuck him now don't you?" Ichigo whispered into his ear making both men shudder.

"Look at his hole, it must be soaking wet by now… come on you do him… and I'll do you." Ichigo growled the last part before he shoved Grimmjow onto Yylfordt and in doing so into the blonde man. The thrust of entry was harsh but the blonde clearly loved it as he screamed into the bed sheets while pushing back.

Grimmjow didn't even get a breather before he was harshly entered from behind. He groaned long and loudly. Ichigo was in control the entire time. When he trusted Grimmjow took and gave. Yylfordt was just a mewling mess by then as his tired and sensitive body was brutally struck by a double thrust.

It didn't take long before they all found their release. Ichigo was now looking down at the two panting males, one was far more tired than the other. Grimmjow who was still a little sore from previous escapades didn't even think about asking for more. The day after his first sex episode with Ichigo he had a horrible limp he was teased about by Nnoitra. Even Aizen was surprised by Ichigo's… nightly activities but smartly reframed from commenting.

"Rest here." Ichigo said in a seemingly bored tone and walked off to the bathroom. He returned with a basin filled with warm water and rags, he cleaned them both and dragged the covers over them before he left the room and his chambers.

He was restless.

He opened a Garganta.

Ichigo looked around the world of the living, it was night time now and he decided to hide his reiatsu and just… watch.

He walked around unseeingly; nothing seemed to catch his attention till he saw a blonde haired male. His reiatsu smelled like Shinigami yet there were hollow markers there too, the male was carrying some brown paper bags filled to the brim with what he could guess was food.

"Ah could that be a famed Visard?" Ichigo asked himself as he watched the long haired male walk to what looked like an abandoned warehouse. Aizen had informed him of all the experiments he had done and what they produced, the Visards came with a warning. Be carefully. Feeling his interest peeked he sonído'd in front of the man who froze in his step when he looked up at Ichigo.

"Hello little Visard." Ichigo gave his custom lop sided grin.

Urahara who had just entered the lot of the warehouse stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Shinji and the hollow from before. The mask side was facing him again so he couldn't see much of the male's face. Only a strong jaw line and well formed lips that were stretched in a not so innocent grin. Urahara started to move which got him noticed.

The Arrancar looked his way for a split second before he did something Urahara never thought possible. With quick movements he grabbed Shinji the back of the head forcing his head back, his long blond hair fell over his shoulders revealing the stretched out neck.

"Mine." The Arrancar growled and actually bit Shinji. What reaction Urahara waited for, he expected a scream of pain but what felt Shinji's mouth was anything BUT a painful scream. He watched highly fascinated when Shinji went lax dropping the brown paper bags and lightly clutching the white vest of the Arrancar. When the orange haired male released the other's neck he whispered into the ear of the blonde.

"My name is Ichigo, remember it well as you belong to me now, just as I belong to you." Ichigo licked the neck of the remaining blood staining his lips. "Tell me your name little Visard." This Urahara heard and was surprised by the dazed look in Shinji's normally wary eyes.

"S-Shinji Hirako…" Urahara had to arch a brow at the breathless tone of Shinji's voice but the answer seemed to please the Arrancar.

Shinji was now looking into the red eyes of Ichigo. His mind tried to come to terms of what was happening. One this man made him all woozy and feel safe, second his hollow was as quiet as a mouse and three he had heard that name somewhere before.

Seeing the hazy look in Shinji's face as well as the lax body in his arms he knew it would be so easy to just… take Shinji with him but he being a Visard would cause the blonde man trouble.

"Heh… I'll see you soon Shinji." Ichigo purred out before gently lowering him to the ground. Ichigo rose to his feet gave a cheeky grin to Urahara now looking fully at the man, Urahara however couldn't breathe. It had to be Ichigo, the signs were there, the orange hair and even the face still held faint traces of the boy that once committed suicide. He watched as the man disappeared with a buzz noise.

He ran to Shinji who was still in his daze. Hitting the barrier as hard as he could so that Hachigen could feel him, he only had to wait half a minute before the barrier was down and the Visards were surrounding him and Shinji. He was slowly trying to be as gentle as possible to get the man to wake from his daze but he seemed to as if he was high.

"What happened to baldie?" Hiyori asked looking down at their leader that looked like he was on something. Urahara rubbed his face.

"Let's get him inside first shall we?" No one argued as Kensei lifted his leader and carried him inside while the girls picked up the fallen groceries luckily they were all covered and nothing got spoiled.

Once inside their make-shift home they placed Shinji on his cot before packing away the new food, once they all settled Urahara retold everything from his point of view.

"What's his name?" Lisa asked crossing her arms, for once she wasn't reading her manga.

Urahara opened his mouth to tell them that he had an inkling but Shinji's voice broke his opportunity. "His name… he said it was Ichigo." Urahara went stiff. This gained all of their attention. Shinji looked at Urahara with an unreadable look.

"I have heard that name before, I can't recall where. However now I remember it had something to do with you." There was no accusation just curiosity.

Urahara looked down at his hands that were folded over one another. "You all remember Isshin Shiba, what I told you about him after he came here?" Urahara asked looking at those around him. He told them once that Isshin Shiba had fallen in love with the woman he saved. They knew it all apart from what the man did afterwards.

"Well you see they had a son and a pair of twins. When their son was nine Masaki died, Ichigo who had a hollow dormant inside him started to build up negative emotions. He went out one night and when Isshin went to check on his son he noticed and rushed out but no one could find him. We found his body two days later along the river."

Urahara didn't know what the Visard's faces looked like but he could guess sadness and shock would be the more dominant ones. "We hoped and prayed that the child had passed on by some miracle but well I always knew somehow that the child would not be in Soul Society. Seeing him now and having the name I know now. Ichigo Kurosaki became a hollow after he committed suicide."

The room was deathly quiet.

Shinji was sitting bent forward. His hand was placed over the bite mark that healed and was faintly humming with Ichigo's potent reiatsu.

"He said I was his as he was mine." A faint blush crawled its way onto his face.

Urahara was blinking at him in utter surprise.

"He might… he might be able to be persuaded to join our side." Urahara said looking at Shinji like he was the answer to all his life's problems. Shinji blinked owlishly before he uttered a 'Huh?' that got snickers from his fellow Visards.

Urahara however wasn't seeing the funny in the situation. He sighed again.

"Hollows are instinctive. If what I have learned from them is true then you have his loyalties… not Aizen if he ever did. Ichigo wasn't very trusting towards strangers when he was a child."

Shinji looked down at his feet.

"Well if I see him I'll ask him but that can't be why you're here…" Shinji looked up to see a deadly serious face."

"Aizen's getting ready. I can almost guarantee it."

Again the room was swallowed in the tense atmosphere.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Ichigo was in Hueco Mundo killing hollows as he went. He had got far enough that not even Aizen would be able to sense him. Like hell he was telling the man where he was. He was now however bored of killing hollows as most tended to scatter when they saw him. He sighed as he ran his fingers through the sand between his legs. He heard a buzz noise and looked over his shoulder to see Ulquiorra looking at him with mild confusion.

"Ichigo-sama?"

"Yeah?" Ichigo replied bored. The more he started to screw around the more empty he felt. The sex was great but it lacked something. What he didn't know. Feelings were confusing.

"What are you doing out here if I may ask Ichigo-sama?" Ichigo flopped onto his back looking up at the green eyes fourth Espada.

"Thinking if you must know." He replied.

Seeing the opening for a longer conversation Ulquiorra sat down next to Ichigo. "About? Is something bothering you Ichigo-sama?"

Ichigo looked at Ulquiorra for a few seconds before he answered. "Just mixed up feelings." Ichigo replied with a shrug.

"Can't seem to put my heart into anything." Ichigo said not mentioning how for just a few moments he felt content when he had Shinji in his arms. "Heart? What does an organ have to do with how you feel?" the pale Arrancar asked with a curious tilt of the head. Ichigo looked at him like he was a child who said something silly.

Ulquiorra felt slightly silly when he saw the way Ichigo looked at him like he was supposed to know. "Well… your emotions don't come from the heart per se but well how do I say this." Ichigo stroked his chin. He sat up and looked at the unmoving moon.

"As far as I know the emotions start in your brain and move on to your heart when they're strong enough like joy, fear and sadness. I don't know why the emotions move to the heart but I could guess it's cause the heart is the centre of the body and a viral organ as well as a symbol for love and life so that might be it. However one's metaphorical heart can be with someone you love or with something you put all yourself into achieving. The term heart is a big thing and can't be so easily classified into terms everyone can understand but did I help a little?" Ichigo asked looking at Ulquiorra.

He was thinking, Ichigo could see it, the wheels in the man's head were turning at breakneck speed and the small frown was highly amusing to Ichigo. "So the heart is one's being?" Ichigo scoffed and he shook his head. He stood and helped the shorter male up. He placed a hand on the pale chest with no bad intentions in mind, after all he had claimed someone and hollows stuck by their mates.

"The heart is important just as the mind is. Think of it like this. The mind is the logical part of a being, it thinks and controls every function like the thoughts, how you breathe and so forth, all your bodily functions are controlled by the brain but the heart it what keeps us alive. The heart is what gives us emotions, hormones and all the scientific shit that I never bothered to listen when I was looking in on Szayel. The heart is a strong organ, in a sense a muscle but when emotions become so strong they effect the heart which makes a lot of people think that emotions come from there, the heart is our centre even though ours don't work as they should know that the 'heart' in a metaphorical sense is essentially you as a person, your likes, hates, the people you care for. Your brain is your logic while your heart is the rest, one can't live without the other." Ichigo looked into Ulquiorra's eyes the entire time to try and get his message through.

Understanding suddenly flashed thought green eyes.

A small smile made its home on Ichigo's lips. "You get it now?"

Ulquiorra nodded looking down.

"Tell me Ichigo-sama, where do your loyalties lie?" the question caught Ichigo off guard and he became wary. "Why do you ask?"

Ulquiorra looked confused again.

"Usually we all show at least some respect to Aizen-sama but you don't, you call him sama yes but you never mean it. You go against him when you can never minding that he would be angry at you. Why?"

Ichigo looked to the side.

"Because he doesn't have my loyalty. He never had. I only joined as I was bored and lonely. Now I'm feeling I made a mistake."

Sighing Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck where his Espada mark rested.

"Following a shinigami… how fucking idiotic were we?" he asked to no one as he started to walk back to Las Noches. His reiatsu was heavy with the dark thoughts running through his mind.

He didn't really know what to do anymore.

Ulquiorra followed after Ichigo with the new information he gained and as well the new light he saw the Cero Espada in. He was more fit to be their leader. He had noticed that Ichigo was always fascinated by the world's balance and was oddly very in-tune with it as most of the Espada discovered when he noticed the Menos Grande long before even Szayel's sensors did.

Ichigo was someone with a big role resting on his shoulders, Ulquiorra would be there for the man when the time came but for now all had to continue as normal.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sorry for any mistakes!

Thanks for the reviews and all that! You're darlings and please remember the purple ribbons if you don't mind?

Next chapter will be more aimed on Ichigo gaining the loyalties of those around him, a silly part with Karin and our favourite tv show host.