So… Heh…

Thanks for all the lovely support!

Again if I make a blunder let me know!

Xxxxxxxxxxxx

Chapter 11: Growth beyond endless white

The white room was starting to bother him, Ichigo growled at the endless white.

It was really starting to get to him. His skin crawled with the fake-ness of all that surrounded him; again he was reminded of what a nice place Seireitei looked like and felt like compared to this dump.

He felt like a caged animal, one small mistake on Aizen's part would probably make him snap.

There was a knock on the door before Akira opened the door; by the sound of his voice Ichigo could gather it was one of the three shinigami. Aizen had allowed his full ego to emerge pissing off a lot of Arrancar it seemed as Grimmjow had started to follow in Ichigo's lead of being borderline rude and yet still in the boundaries of respectful although one could easily hear the disgust and distaste in Grimmjow's voice. Nnoitra had begun to do the same.

"Is Ichigo-san up yet?"

It was Aizen.

Must be important.

Sighing Ichigo lugged himself up out of bed and walked bare chest to his living room, behind Aizen were the other two shinigami. Ichigo just gave them a glance before moving to a couch and flopping down on it. He stared at Aizen in a manner he would usually stare at the lower level Arrancar who pestered him. The look was unnerving to say the least.

What was more unsettling was each time Ichigo went to bed he woke up stronger.

His reiatsu had grown in bounds, so much so that he had asked Szayel to take the cloth of the cloaking cloak and make it into strips that he could wrap around his body. Now without them his reiatsu was unrestrained and it screamed feral animalistic power. Gin shivered as he looked down at Ichigo.

All Aizen saw was the key pawn to his fight against Seireitei, only problem was that Ichigo had shown he had no respect for him nor did Aizen have his loyalty.

Those two things he NEEDED.

"Ah Ichigo-san, good morning. I have a task for you and two other Arrancar." His only reply was the tilt of Ichigo's head.

"I want you, Starkk and Ulquiorra to go and spy on those in the world of the living. More accurately the female teenager with long orange hair, I believe she has a skill that would be of use to me." Ichigo nodded and stood.

"Alright Aizen-sama." He said and walked into his room with the soft click of the door closing behind him. After a few awkward silent minutes Ichigo came out with his new uniform.

The cloth was asked to be made black by Ichigo's request, was wrapped around his stomach area; starting from his hipbones till just below his pectorals. His new coat had sleeves now, they were tight fitted yet loose enough to allow movement and the coat was also longer now ending just above his ankles. The coat had a high collar that was fastened with a wrap around fastening while the coat was allowed to remain open displaying the black bandage like strips that were skin tight showing off the godly physic.

The orange obi was still there as was his hakama pants and black and white boots, Ichigo had also replaced his black fingerless gloves for gloves that covered his entire hands.

All in all he looked rather… deadly.

With a nod Ichigo walked out the door not bothering to look of the others followed. Akira sighed and rubbed his face. Something was wrong but Ichigo didn't want to tell him, saying that he would be put in danger if he knew. Growling at the frustrating position he found himself in Akira rose to clean Ichigo's room that was never actually dirty.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The ripping sound was all that was heard when the Arrancar entered the world of the living. Both weaker men looked at their group leader and wondered why Ichigo was sent when there was a chance that the Cero Espada had a living sister.

Well the chances of Ichigo being only a ten year old hollow was impossible when one looked at how powerful he was. Frowning Ichigo pulled his reiatsu back, the two followed suit and they sonído'd out of the small clearing just as patrolling Shinigami came rushing.

Grimmjow swore under his breath as they watched the Shinigami looking around afraid.

'Newbies then.' Ichigo thought to himself.

They just moved on, moving farther away from the spot. Feeling the area around him he noticed then that most reiatsu was to be found in large buildings as if all the humans where smooshed into them. He closed his eyes and felt between them for a shinigami reiatsu that had a human tint to it.

He found it.

"She's in that large building." Ichigo pointed at what they didn't know was a high school.

"She?" Ulquiorra asked confused.

"The shinigami girl, we are to watch one of her friends. Quickest way to find the red head friend is through her." Ichigo's face gave nothing away, this was…

Well if it were true this was his sister's friend he was going to spy on, he felt guilt settle on his stomach but forged on. They got closer moving to high standing trees that allowed them to see into the lower three levels of the building.

Inside they saw teenagers all dressed the same with grey bottoms of some kind and white shirts with ties and they all looked very… bored as they looked at an older human up front who was talking. Not caring about what was being said Ichigo looked through the six class rooms they could see into and in the last room being the one of the third floor closets to them he saw Karin looking at the older human while she rested her chin in her hand as he looked on bored.

Looking next to her Ichigo saw a girl with blond brown hair with the same colour eyes as Karin, something about this girl made his soul cry out that he knew her once. Frowning slightly he moved on to the Hispanic teen he saw holding Karin back in Soul Society. Next was their target.

He supposed the girl was pretty in the typical sense.

Large breast, cute face and from what he could see long legs as well.

Yet he didn't feel a thing as he only saw Shinji in that light now that he had a small taste of the man and boy did he want more.

Sighing in annoyance he looked back at the group in a whole as a bell rang loudly and all the teenagers got up and grabbed their bags stuffing the paper books and pens into them. They filled out of the room only to come out the large entrance of the building.

Predatorily eyes quickly locked onto the large group. A scrawny male had joined them and Ichigo knew he was the bow wielding teen from before.

Slowly yet carefully the three followed after the group of four as the paler haired girl waved and walked in a different way with some other girls.

The group of four moved to a residential area full of homes. They stopped at a house that read 'Kurosaki clinic'. Karin opened the door only to suddenly jump back as a black, white and red blur whizzed past her with a loud yell of:

"DADDY'S SPEACIAL HELLO ATTACK!"

The three Espada watched in surprise as Karin kicked the blur, she sent it flying to the small wall surrounding the house. A hand arranged into a thumbs up sigh was held high in the air. "Well done my daughter!" the blur now revealed as a man looked at his daughter with a proud look in his eyes as he regarded the group of teens.

Karin rolled her eyes while the rest just waked awkwardly. They all entered the house but what Ichigo didn't miss as the quick looked the father sent their way. It could easily be a look back to make sure he closed the door right but Ichigo saw the man looking in their direction.

"Interesting…" Ichigo drawled where he sat on a tree branch crossed legged with his chin resting on his closed fist.

Starkk and Ulquiorra looked at him confused.

"That man is a class A nutball." Ichigo drawled out again not taking his eyes off the building.

What he didn't say was that he felt the man's power just lingering beneath his skin. It was warm like fire, it felt painfully familiar to his own. Sighing in what could be counted as a bored sigh the three accepted the task of watching the house for now as they waited for their target to come out of the house.

It was a few hours later when the whole group came out alone with a… moving lion plush toy? Okay that was weird the three agreed on. Never the less they followed after the group and watched as they ran to a lesser used park where a soul was being chased by a very… ugly hollow.

Ichigo cocked his head.

"Well that thing looks like a featherless chicken merged with a dog." Starkk choked back a laugh while Ulquiorra looked at the hollow and silently agreed.

The mask of the hollow was bird like, more accurately a chicken where the body was four legged and shaggy fur encased.

The three watched as Karin jammed her hand into the plushie's mouth and pulled out a small green pea sized orb and swallowed it.

Karin's shinigami form popped free while the body ran some distance away.

The fight was boring even to Ulquiorra but Karin did miscalculate and got hurt, it was a minor wound nothing to worry about but a stab of panic flared in Ichigo's soul as he watched her fall down just as the hollow was dealt with.

Their target came closer in a slight panic and yelled out. "Shun Shun Rikka! I reject!" Ichigo watched fascinated as her teal hairclips glowed before two of the five petals turned into… fairies? Said fairies made an orange bubble around Karin and right before their eyes the wound healed without leaving a scar.

"Interesting." Ichigo murmured and rose into the air with the two lesser Espada following his lead knowing they had seen what they needed to. They also stopped holding their reiatsu in and that got the attention of the five beings on the ground. Karin looked up in shock as she saw Ichigo looking down at them, well that what she thought till she realised that Ichigo was looking right at her, it was only a few seconds before his eyes darted off to each teen's face. He idled at Orihime but didn't have the usual lusty look in his eyes that most guys had when they saw her.

No… the look was calculating, he was probably trying to figure out what he just saw. That made more sense to Karin.

She took in the new look of Ichigo as did the rest of the group. For some reason he looked more scary now that his chest was revealed. The hollow hole painfully obvious, Orihime blushed faintly when she saw hard packed muscle on the man's stomach. The long Nodachi blade loomed menacingly over Ichigo's shoulder.

Ulquiorra opened a Garganta while Ichigo gave them a lop sided grin. "Thanks for the show." He almost purred and stepped into the rip in the sky as the two with him had done so while he spoke. Karin's voice was stuck in her throat.

What the hell was that about?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

The meeting room's inhabitants all looked their way as they walked in and took their seats.

"Ah good, you're all back." Aizen said with a pleased smile. Ichigo just nodded before allowing his head to fall backwards in a bored gesture. Aizen frowned minuscule but didn't comment on it.

Looking towards Ulquiorra Aizen nodded his head and waited.

The small raven haired male gouged his eye out where after he crushed it allowing all to see what he saw. Once the last scene was done and dusted they all apart from Ichigo looked to Aizen for orders.

"In five days I want Ichigo to go to the world of the living and kidnap Miss Inoue." Ichigo snorted and rose. "Hai, Aizen-sama." Ichigo drawled and shuffled his way out without being dismissed. The man seemed… agitated for some reason, Aizen wondered if it was due to him having to go all the time.

Ichigo stalked the hallways gritting his teeth, that fucking bastard!

He had OTHER Espada to send WHY the hell was HE constantly sent out? He knew he was strong and had the least chances of getting killed but fuck it he was getting tired! His sword's spirit wasn't much help as each night he was called back to the empty black world only to stare at fire and talk to his sword as they grew to know more about one another.

Another pesky Arrancar was pestering him about something he didn't pay attention to; it was that moment when he snapped and rammed his fist into and through the lesser Arrancar's gut. Giving a loud yet low growl he yanked out his fist and walked away. He didn't even look back to see the shocked faces of the Espada and shinigami traitors.

"What the… hell…" Grimmjow murmured where Nnoitra just nodded. "What he said."

"He's far more tensed lately… I wonder why…" Kaname said with his stronger sense of reading reiatsu, he head felt the unstable feel of Ichigo's reiatsu and wondered what on earth it could be.

In his room Ichigo had nearly given Akira a heart attack from seeing his right forearm covered in blood but when Ichigo explained that he just killed an annoying Arrancar, Akira just nodded understanding that well… they were rather persistent.

Ichigo had shrugged off his coat and glove, giving it to Akira who would pass it on to be cleaned for him as he went to take a shower.

After that he laid down in his head closing his eyes he knew El fuego would pull him in again but for some reason his instincts told him it would be different.

He was proven right as the moment he opened his eyes he saw a blood red cloudy sky, looking closer he saw that the clouds were actually rising smoke.

Bolting into a sitting position he gawked at the sight before him. Tall pillars all different in height surrounded him, looking down he saw he was sitting in what looked like black liquid, said liquid didn't stain his clothes though. Didn't even make him wet.

Rising on wobbly legs he noticed that each pillar had a raging fire on the top. He was so engrossed he didn't notice the brighter flames behind him at first but when he did he whirled around and gasped.

There in front of him was… a majestic dragon looking like it was purely made of fire but there was some odd white bone like platting over his face and down his neck and belly going down his tail while the rest was black skin that blended well with the dark surroundings all for the masses of flames. The dragon wasn't of Asian origin but rather more mediaeval with the jutting spikes and four long limbs with huge wings flapping as the beast was up in the air.

"So you see me."

Ichigo rose and looked up.

The dragon's maw didn't move as the gravelly voice spoke. Ichigo nodded feeling a little overwhelmed, the dragon lowered closer to the ground and stopped flapping its wings making it land on the ground with a loud thud and splash.

"Well, what do you think of me know?" EL fuego asked lifting his head high in a proud gesture, his eyes were a fiery yellow that glowed brightly.

Ichigo chuckled and rubbed the mask-less areas of his face.

"Are you kidding me? You're a fucking flaming ass dragon! Of course I'm going to be impressed!" Ichigo said laughing as he fell back to sit on his ass.

He could faintly see the dragon's mouth twitch and guessed that was kind of what a smile would look like. "What now?" Ichigo asked pulling his knees up to his chest so he could res his chin on his knees. El fuego looked at his master.

He was ready.

"Wake up and go deep into the sands of Hueco Mundo, far enough that those here won't sense you unless you raise your reiatsu. Then unleash me." Ichigo looked a little confused but didn't have time to ask more as he was pushed out of his inner world and sat up with wide eyes.

Looking around he growled and huffed as he got dressed and stomped out of the room telling Akira who looked like he had lost his mind that he was just too tense to sleep and he was going out into the white sands to blow off some steam. Akira nodded having calmed down halfway into Ichigo's explanation.

"Alright Ichigo-sama."

Ichigo gave a smirk and lazy wave as he walked out the door. Down the hallway he was sure to not go close to any of the reiatsu signatures. He finally made it out after a while and sonído'd at his fastest rate till he was miles away from Las Noches. Breathing deeply Ichigo unsheathed El fuego and held him horizontal in both his hands.

"How am I to 'unleash' you?" Ichigo asked confused.

"Rush all your reiatsu and I mean all of it right before you pass out, into me and unleash it in our basic attack." Ichigo nodded and looked around for a target, he was near the rock shards that looked like they were raised from the ground and they looked hard and sturdy. Good enough he supposed. Taking a deep breath he pull all of his reiatsu out of his reserves pushing it into El fuego. The ground trembled around him as the power built higher and higher. He was amazed his blade wasn't even bending under the massive load.

Back at Las Noches Akira was sitting on top of the dome looking out wondering where Ichigo was and if he was okay.

"Yo what are you doing here?"

Looking around Akira saw it was Grimmjow, Nnoitra, Starkk and Harribel all with their followers looking at him confused. "I am waiting for Ichigo-sama's return."

"Huh didn't he go to bed?" Nnoitra asked narrowing his eye in his confusion.

"He tried to sleep but said he was still too tense and went to blow off some steam, as he said."

Just then there was what was the biggest flame torrent they had ever seen, exploded into the distant rocky spikes of ground, the torrent of fire made impact with the rocky spikes and exploded into one large explosion; everyone froze as they felt the aftershock of the explosion hit Las Noches from the distance.

It was downright scary.

What was more frightening was the animalistic roar that echoed in the distance, it was like some large beast roared in anger.

The Arrancar who were on top of the dome stared in horror as the flames didn't die down.

"Well guess we know where Ichigo-sama is now…" Akira said while his eyes looked like they would pop out of his skull at any moment.

The rest of the inhabitants of Las Noches came to the roof to stare at the fire in the distance. Gin looked in awe as the flames seemed to spread engulfing a large chunk of the white dunes scorching them black.

"What on earth did he do?" Aizen asked utterly flummoxed.

Back with Ichigo who had passed out the moment the attack for lack of better words exploded in his face. His body laid on the sand dune as the fires raged on, the flames roared they consumed more ground. This fire would burn for a long, long time.

As the fires roared and consumed it heated Ichigo's entire body making him warm verging on hot, his body temperature rose as the fires grew; the heat became too much for the sand as it slowly turned to glass forming around Ichigo as he sunk into the fiery red glowing liquid glass.

Suddenly Ichigo's power was called back, the flames themselves reacted. They all converged around him till it was a loose circle surrounding him. Inside Ichigo's mindscape where he was called into he looked at El fuego in shock.

"What the hell?" He asked confused.

The moment he had forced out most of his reiatsu El fuego had called him back in and he was shocked to see that well… EVERYTHING was on fire yet it didn't bother him. When the dragon ordered Ichigo to pull the released flaming reiatsu around him to himself he did as ordered only to be shocked when the flames moved like little snakes, slowly coming towards him till he was… well engulfed in the flames as if he was on fire.

The flames seeped into his skin, he slowly begun to feel very hot and was sweating like mad.

He fell to his knees when it felt like he was being burned alive. Gritting his teeth he refused to scream, he refused to show more weakness than he already was.

El fuego watched on with seemingly indifferent eyes yet when one looked closer into the glowing yellow eyes they would see great concern for his master who was unknowingly fighting against his own powers. "Do not fight it, let it out. Allow yourself to express all your pain and anger in this place where no one will ever know. Accept who you are." El fuego's gravelly voice boomed inside Ichigo's head.

Not being able to handle it anymore he screamed loudly while going limp allowing the flames to spread deeper inside his very soul. The pain oddly enough didn't worsen as he expected but lessened as if the power was pleased with him for allowing it inside.

In all but a few seconds it was over and the power now so new hummed under his skin making him feel so… ALIVE! He gasped and looked up at El fuego who looked like a proud parent.

"You have accepted who you really are. It was easier than I expected it to be but seeing your sisters and father must have solidified the idea into your head making it easier to accept." Ichigo rubbed his face and nodded. Being one who followed his gut feelings, Ichigo knew that Karin, her words were true and that she was his sister. With the added confirmation of the Vasto Lorde…

Well it was rather easy to accept actually as he always felt… different amongst his fellow Espada.

El fuego raised his head and looked off into the distance.

"Your fellow Espada are coming, the flames have died down when you called your power back." Ichigo nodded and closed his eyes knowing how to get himself out of his mindscape by now.

He felt the odd sense of vertigo and bolted up into a sitting position just as the group came into view seeing the melted glass around him. He was breathing calmly, for some reason he felt so…

Calm.

Like he was back to how he was before he heard El fuego for the first time.

"That is because you were feeling my annoyance of being unable to reach you which turned into anger due to what was going on around you; you felt my feelings as your own. Now that we have the proper bond you won't feel my emotions so strongly." El fuego explained getting a faint nod from Ichigo.

Akira and the rest looked on as Ichigo rose from the cooled down glass that had encased him, the glass had an imprint of his body where he laid. Looking back Ichigo burst into laughter. He laughed so hard he bent over holding his stomach.

"I should have made a glass angel."

The group just looked at him as if he had lost his mind.

"What?" Ichigo asked with the melted glass and slightly charred rocky spikes behind him.

"What on earth did you do Ichigo-sama?" Akira asked coming closer to see that Ichigo didn't even have a hair out of place. What scared him was that Ichigo didn't even feel weak after releasing such a massive attack. In fact it felt like he had more than before.

Ichigo tilted his head to the side.

"I released all my reiatsu." The frank answer had most sputtering.

"That was you releasing all of your reiatsu?" Nnoitra barked out, eye gone wide. Again Ichigo tilted his head to the opposite side. "Not ALL of it but a large chuck of it, well all of it before I would pass out." Ichigo blinked owlishly at them when their jaws dropped.

Aizen frowned.

"Then why do you feel like you lost nothing if not gained more reiatsu?" Ichigo's red eyes looked his way. "I called it back." Was the bland reply, Gin frowned.

"Ya can't call back reiatsu Ichigo-san."

Ichigo looked utterly confused. "You can't?" Again everyone was wondering just what the cero Espada was really. He was like anything Aizen had ever seen. Something in Ichigo reminded Aizen of the white hollow experiment he had released a long while ago.

"No Ichigo none of us have ever been able to call reiatsu used to release attacks back." Understanding glowed in Ichigo's eyes.

"Oh I get it! No see, that wasn't an attack."

Once again jaws dropped.

Just then Ichigo gave his lop sided grin making everyone suspicious.

"That was me just releasing it."

"WHAT!" Grimmjow and Nnoitra yelled at the same time. Ichigo's lop sided grin morphed into a devious grin showing off sharp teeth. "My reiatsu has always been… deadly." With a gleeful laugh Ichigo walked alongside Akira who was giving Ichigo awe inspired looks.

Who knew reiatsu could be so potent?

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Karin and the group all looked at Urahara who looked just as worried as they felt.

They had just told him that three Arrancar, one being Ichigo had been caught watching them. It was a sign something was going to happen. "I want you all to be more careful, no one goes anywhere alone. Sleep over if you have to. Chad will bunk with Uryuu while Orihime with Karin. Don't argue with me on this."

The teens nodded, they still had worried looks in their eyes.

"Urahara-san…" Urahara looked at Karin.

"He was looking at Orihime longer than the rest of us, he wasn't looking at her like most men do…" Orihime then started to blush crimson red making Yoruichi snicker beside Urahara.

Karin was frowning trying to get the right words together in her head. "He was… looking at her like you look at your experiments."

That made the blonde man went stiff.

"That cannot be a good thing then, be more attuned to Orihime from today on, I suggest taking Yoruichi with you in her cat form for added security." The mocha skinned woman nodded with a serious face. "It would be safer. I out of all of you teens have the best sensing abilities so I could detect him faster than you could."

They all nodded and got ready. In a poof of smoke Yoruichi was back in her cat form. On the walk to Orihime's place so she could pack Orihime asked a question she had in her mind since Karin told Urahara about how Ichigo looked at her.

"How… do guys usually look at me?" The hesitant question came once they were inside the red head teen's room. Karin sat down on her bed looking up at the ceiling as she thought.

"Some look at you and I can see they REALLY want to approach you but are too scared, some look at you like you're a piece of meat." Karin wasn't going to lie to her friend of it could save her hassles in the future. "How did your brother… look at me?" the question was quiet and Karin knew what was going on in Orihime's head and sighed mentally.

She couldn't REALLY blame her…

Ichigo had after all grow into quiet the heart-throb and with the new outfit he donned, even more so.

"Hum well I guess like I said before, he was studying you. After all he just saw you heal an injury of mine leaving behind no scar. Your abilities are unique and he was most likely sent to watch us by his boss… Aizen." Karin said Aizen's name with pure disgust.

"Would you be mad at me if I told you I find your brother attractive?" Orihime asked shyly as she zipped up her bags. Karin tilted her head. "Nah, I'd understand it really but I would advise you to stay away, not because he's my brother. That has nothing to do with it." Karin stood and grabbed one of the duffle bags.

Orihime grabbed the other one and they were off out the apartment and on the way to the Kurosaki residents. "Why then?" If Karin wasn't paying so close attention to her friend's tone of voice she could have sworn she heard annoyance in the ever submissive teen's voice.

"He's an Arrancar… a very powerful hollow; Orihime, he can't live in the world of the living. He will outlive you ten times at least and who's to say he doesn't already have someone? After all he didn't even give you one suggestive, hungry or perverted look." Karin said rolling her eyes glad that it was too dark for Orihime to see.

The red head teen frowned while pouting.

Inside her head she replayed the moment Ichigo had risen from their hiding spot. Man she thought he was attractive before but now…

Damn.

Those long toned arms were cover this time but the torso was on display, why would a man show off his chest and stomach if he had someone? It didn't make sense in her head at least.

They were wrapped in black clothe but were skin tight showing off perfect blocks of his abs, she wondered how it would feel to run her hands down the hard toned torso. Sighing inwardly she looked up as they reached the Kurosaki clinic and home.

Opening the door they were met with the typical greeting by Isshin where Karin smacked the man hard on his head where after she explained that due to a pest problem Orihime would be staying with them till it was solved. Isshin jumped up and hugged Orihime and welcomed her to the dinner table that had just been set.

When Isshin spotted Yoruichi he made a odd manly squeal noise before picking the black cat up and hugging her, he had a role to play after all.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Kinda boring I guess but it was needed…

If you're confused about Ichigo's deal with El fuego don't worry explanation will come next chapter. Also from now on I'll only update my fics on Saterday. I will be starting collage soon so I won't have that much time anymore so I need to start getting my schedule ready. I still have loads of fan fictions I am going to write so I won't be going anywhere soon.

I also might start a second fanfiction as I am scared I will forget most of the details I have for it, it was requested by two people, well one just asked for the pairing while the other was a little more detailed.

It will be a Ichigo x Hichigo story with VAMPIRES! (Yes I know I have already written one with them in but this one will be taken more serious.) Ichigo is the seme(Again.) and I will warn you all NOW that it will have incest so beware!

If you're interested please let me know. If I have enough people interested I will start it and write it alongside this one.