I got a lot more reviews than I thought I would on the first chapter. You guys gave me a lot of good advice that I hope put to good use in this chapter. Thanks to everyone that has read, reviewed, followed, and favorited this story it all makes me feel like this was a good idea to write. So let's get this chapter started before I keep talking.
(This is the revised version of the chapter I shouldn't have to do this, but I rushed this chapter and it had a lot of mistakes. I'm going to be taking more time on the chapters to come so they are near perfect, well as close as my terrible writing skills can get them.)
Ichigo's POV
It seemed like I have been asleep for ages and it has been the best sleep of my life. I finally started to wake up and slowly opened my eyes noticing Nel was still asleep on my chest. Wait when did this happen I didn't remember falling asleep with her.
I definitely can't complain though whatever it is about her being here with me it made sleeping peaceful again. Sleep used to be a rushed and dangerous thing always having to wake up and make sure there isn't a hollow hunting you. So this is a great change one of the many things that have changed since yesterday.
I slowly got up making sure not to wake up Nel, because she just looks to peaceful at the moment and I want her to enjoy it some more. I walked over to the closet to grab my outfit. After grabbing it I looked back at Nel, who was still sleeping and currently snuggling to a pillow and mumbling to herself. I chuckled lightly after seeing that.
After walking into the bathroom I had to admit it was a lot bigger than it probably needed to be. A very long counter with two big sinks on each side. Hanging on the wall behind the counter was a big mirror that stretched the length of the wall. I looked at myself in the mirror again and smiled slightly because of everything that has happened. I didn't look at myself for long though, it brings back a lot of memories.
After a minute I found my way to the shower, it was at least five foot by five foot and lined with a white tile. I took off the clothes I slept in and stepped in then turned on the water. The water came down like rain it felt amazing, I could sit there and let the water hit me for hours. But I had to get ready and Nel still had to get ready to so I started washing my hair.
I have been in the shower for about seven minutes when I hear the door open and the footsteps of someone walking in. I looked out from behind the shower curtain, and saw Nel by one of the sinks brushing her teeth and looking at herself in the mirror.
I didn't want to say anything until after she was done brushing her teeth out of fear she would chock herself if I startled her. So once she was done I said, "Morning Nel how did you sleep". Once I said that she jumped a little because I surprised her but she calmed down quickly.
After a second she said, "I slept well thanks for asking, it was the best sleep I have had in a long time. Oh and the meeting today is at ten so we still have an hour and a half". With that I smiled to myself glade that she also had a good night's sleep and went back to washing myself off.
I turned the water off and reached out from behind the curtain to the little table next to the shower and grabbed a towel. I quickly dried myself off and wrapped the towel around my waist and walked out of the shower. I saw Nel turn and look at me and then blush and turn away afterwards she said, "I didn't know you where done yet Ichigo, sorry".
I didn't understand what she was sorry about but I didn't question it I just said, "It's fine Nel I don't care if you see me like this, I'm going to go back to the room and change, the shower is all your". With that I walked out of the bathroom and started getting dressed.
Fifteen minutes later Nel came out of the shower in her normal outfit and I have to admit she is gorgeous. she walked over and sat next to me at the end of the bed and rested her head on my shoulder. I won't tell anyone this but I really like it when she does that. We sat like that for quite a while until we heard a quite knock at the front door.
We both got up and grabbed our swords and put them in our sash like they were yesterday. Then we walked out of the bedroom towards the front door. I opened the door when we reached it, to find Loly and Menoly standing there the first with a blank expression on her face and the later with a smile.
Menoly was the first to speak, "Morning Nel and Ichigo we are here to take you guys to the throne room for the espada meeting". Loly still held a blank expression most likely from boredom, but still nodded with what her sister said. Before we could say anything they both turned around and started walking leaving us behind a bit.
I looked over at Nel and she just look at me and smiled and then we grabbed hands and started walking after the two sisters. We caught up rather quickly and started walking just behind them. Nel was the first person to break the silence by asking, "So how was your guises days yesterday after you had to leavet".
Loly just grunted and didn't say anything, which finally but the thought of she isn't a peoples person in my head. While Menoly answered like usual, "We had to go do something that Aizen asked us, since we aren't fraccion we normally get told what to do by Aizen or another espada". That made me wonder what fraccion where but I didn't want to bug them with any more questions.
We made it to the throne room and Menoly said her goodbyes and Loly just nodded and they left quickly using sonido. After they left I turned to Nel and asked, "Are you ready to get this over with". She nodded and held my hand even tighter, which told me she wanted to hold hands until we got to our seats.
With that I opened the door to the throne room and saw everyone sitting exactly where they where yesterday, leaving our two seats open and the right side of the table. I also saw everyone but the "leaders" looking at us with different looks. Stark and Harribel seemed like looks of approval, Ulquiorra had his normal blank look but gave us a nod of approval.
The ones I didn't care about where the looks of Nnoitra and Grimmjow, they where giving use stares between anger and confusion. Everyone else didn't really have much of a change in facial expressions so I didn't know what they were thinking at the moment.
I looked up at the throne where Aizen and Gin hade smiles. Gins was really big and almost looked unnatural but I didn't look long so it doesn't matter. Then there was Tosen who had his normal look but like Ulquiorra nodded. This was all I needed to know that most of the people here seemed to be excepting this, so I was happy with it.
Nel started walking all of a sudden and basically dragged me to my seat, where we both sat done and waited for someone to start the meeting. It didn't take long either Aizen stated, "Now that everyone is here let us have some tea before we start, Gin can you please bring some in". Gin came back with a big kettle of tea and several cups.
He placed one in front of all of us and then started pouring in some tea. I noticed that he did it as quickly as he could when it came to mine and Nel's. Maybe he is scared of me I doubt it though, Gin is a scary man himself. Whatever the reason it doesn't matter, I reached out and took a drink of the tea and it was quite good. It was a Vanilla Chi tea that wasn't too hot exactly how I like, its not hot enough to burn you but warm enough to make it taste better.
Now the meeting is under way I guess, if all of these meetings start off like this I think I could get used to them. Then Aizen started on his topic of today, "The main thing that we will be doing today is giving all of you your ranks. These ranks will go from zero to nine, with the stronger people having the lowest numbers".
Gin than brought in this metal box with a glass top and handed it to Aizen. Right away he states, "This is the device will help me assign you your ranks, each one of you will put a small amount of your reishi into it and a score will be given on the top screen". He handed it back to Gin who went over to Stark and put it on the table in front of him.
"I would like you to start us off Stark, just place on hand on each side of the box and put a small amount of reishi into it, quit simple actually", is what Gin said aloud. Then Stark did what he said and gave it a small amount of his reishi, after ten seconds a lit showed up on the screen. The number was 57,000 I thought that it has to be a fairly high score but maybe not I'll just wait and see.
Once the number came up Aizen said, "This machine takes in your maximum reishi, skill and experience in combat, reason why you fight, and then gives a total score, an espade should have a score of 15,000 or higher so that is quit a good score Stark". Well that answered my question so he is a pretty strong guy just like I was thinking at first .
Next was Harribel who got a score of 42,000 which based on the number Aizen gave is also quite good. Nnoitra got a 26,000 which really pissed him off he yelled out,"Aizen this thing must be broken, I got such a low number compared to this bitch". After he said that Harribel starred at him which shut him up at least. I'm just glad I don't sit next to him, he is a childish brat.
Grimmjow got a number close to Nnoitra getting a 24,000 and I was really surprised when he didn't really do anything, other than hand the machine down to Baraggan. Maybe he isn't as bad as I first thought, I guess I can give him another chance.
Baraggan got a 36,000 which he didn't say anything about, but you could tell he was absolutely pissed about. I stopped myself from laughing out at his face which I'm really happy I did, because first off it would be weird for the first thing for me to do is laugh. Secondly I have an "image of the silence type" to keep up. Even though I held in my laughter I could hear Nel chuckle slightly which made me smile.
After that whole funny experience it was Aaroniero's turn, and he got a 19,000 which surprised me a bit. There is something about him that shows he has power, but to get that low of a number maybe he doesn't really have anything special like a originally thought. But I can't think about that for long it is almost my turn after all.
Szayel was next and his score didn't surprise me, he seemed much more interested in intellect than strength. He received a score of 22,000 but I could tell he didn't give a damn what his number was, which made him seem a lot better than Nnoitra. Well during this experience I have found two more that Nel and I might be able to call friends.
Ulquiorra was next and to be honest I was really looking forward to what his number was, he just seemed like he was really strong. Once he was done putting his reishi into it he got a number of 51,000, which was actually a bit more than I expected but then again Ulquiorra has been pretty surprising. Now it was my turn I wonder how my number will compare to everyone else's.
I don't know if I want to be the strongest or not, but I have a feeling that I will be. I slowly put a small amount of reishi into it and the light from the screen was really bright, if I kept looking at it my eyes would have started hurting. Before I looked back down though I heard a couple of gasps from people in the room and looked down at the screen.
I really was not expecting this at all my number was huge compared to everyone else's, hopefully this won't make it harder for me and Nel to become friends with them. Aizen was the first to speak, "Well that is very interesting in deed Ichigo, 215,000 that is incredible". I looked up at him and saw how shocked he really was and also confused.
I quickly handed the machine to Nel because I didn't want this to be any bigger than it already is. After giving it to her I looked at all the other espada and could see Nnoitra was pissed, Stark and Harribel were surprised, and Ulquiorra had a questioning look on his face, like he was trying to understand what I am. Everyone else just looked confused or intrigued in the case of Szayel.
Nel's number popped up, thank god I don't have to deal with any more of their stares. She quickly showed it to me, with a smile on her face waiting for my response. I said to her, "thats great Nel, 32,000 is double what we were shooting for and your almost as strong as Baraggan". Gin came over and took the machine from Nel and walked back out of the room from where he got it.
After he got back Aizen said, "Okay now that everyone has received a score we will give you your rank based on them. I will start with the Noveno, Aaroniero just think about where you would like your rank to be and it will appear". I looked over at Aaroniero and a solid black nine was on the brain that was towards the top of the glass tube he wore as a helmet.
Aizen continued this until he got to me. So far the Octova was Szayel, Septima was Grimmjow, Sexta was Nnoitra, Quinta was Nel which made me smile, Cuatro was Baraggan, who still had a pissed off look but I don't care. The Tresa was Harribel, Segunda was Ulquiorra, which still didn't surprise me that much, and finally there was the Primera, Stark.
Now it was just my turn it isn't anything special now because I already know that I'm the Cero but it is still cool. Aizen started talking will I was still thinking about my rank which brought me back to reality. He said, "Finally the Cero espada will be Ichigo, now that you all have your ranks there are some rules that must be known". I could feel my rank burning into my skin on my left chest, I'm suprised I only thought about the spot for a second and it was there.
Then Aizen started with the rules," The first rule is any espade of rank four or above is not allowed to release under the dome of Las Noches, but you are free to do so if you are in Soul Society or the World of the Living, but only if you have no other choice of course'. "Secondly espada of rank four or higher can't use a Gran Ray Cero under the dome as well". "My final rule is for Ichigo, you are not allowed to use your release or give your rank to any shinigami unless I give you the go ahead".
His rules made sense up until the last one why can't I release or give out my rank when fighting shinigami that I don't understand. I can't dwell on it to long though otherwise I'll go nuts. Well I guess it could be worse ya know, my rank can't be seen under my clothes anyway I just have to remember not to say it by accident, of course.
Aizen than started talking again, "The last thing we will do today is witness the release of all espada rank five to nine, If you all will follow me we will get started". With that he flash stepped out of the room followed by Tosen and Gin. After they left everyone but Stark, Harribel, Ulquiorra, Nel ,and myself left just as quick.
I looked over at everyone and nodded to them receiving nods in return then I looked over at Nel and asked her, "Can you ask them if they would be willing to meet with us at our palace after this, show of strength". She smiled and nodded at me than looked at them and said,"Ichigo was wondering if you guys would be willing to meet us at our palace when this is over".
Stark was the first to respond, "Of course, I'll have to bring Lilynette with me but she shouldn't be a problem".
Harribel spoke next, "Yes I will join you at your guys palace later today, I will also have to bring my fraccion they can get into a lot of trouble if I'm not around".
Lastly it was Ulquiorra,"Yes I will also come but I will not be bringing anyone with me". After he said that he disappeared in a flash of sonido, making me wonder why he actually excepted, I didn't see him as the type to actually interact with others.
Nel looked really happy after hearing their answers, she had a big smile on her face which put one on mine. She said one last thing before Stark and Harribel left, "Okay guys thanks for excepting the offer, it will be fun we can get to know each other a lot better". They both nodded to her and where gone in a flash of sonido.
I looked over at Nel and we got up and left in a flash to, we where each fairly excited to get to know our fellow espada, but it has to wait a bit longer. We appeared next to everyone else, about half a mile away from the entrance of Las Noches and just waited for Aizens orders.
Aizen said, "First up will be Nel, if you would please move a little bit away from the group and release". Nel jumped about twenty feet away and brought her sword out of the sheath. Then placed it in front of here with the edge facing forward and placing her left hand on the back.
She simply stated, "Declare Gamuza"! The her sword started glowing a bright purple after a second smoke engulfed the sword, and then an explosion of purple reishi. It took about ten seconds for it to finally calm down and it left her standing in her resurrection.
She looked very much like a sinter, her lower horse half was very big and looked like it was solid muscle. Light brown fur covered all of it, and her tail was the same teal color as her hair. The human torso that stuck out from the horse body looked exactly like she did before releasing.
Her shirt ripped just below her cleavage revealing her stomach. Around her neck and over her shoulders there was white armor several inches thick. This armor also covered her elbows, and hands almost like a pair of mittens. Her mask fragments horns grew in length and the only other real difference was the white bone material that went down the sides of her face like sideburns.
Nel only stayed in her released form for a couple of seconds, no real reason to if you aren't fighting someone. Once she was done she walked back over to me, and went right back to her spot at my right side hand in hand. I leaned over and said, "Good job Nel, now we just have to wait for everyone else to do theirs and we can go home".
It took about thirty minutes but we were finally done, other than Nel's release I really thought Grimmjows was the coolest. His form was build for speed and quick attacks done in short succession. The only thing I didn't really understand is why he didn't keep his sword in that form I'm sure it could be of use, but I'm not goanna say anything to him.
Aizen finally let us go, with that Nel and I raced back to our palace to get ready for some company. I could tell that Nel was nervous she wouldn't sit down and she just kept pacing back and forth in the main room. I couldn't say anything to her though I was also nervous, but I did a lot better job of hiding it then she did. Finally we heard a knock on the door.
I walked over and opened it revealing Ulquiorra standing with his normal blank expression, which I have gotten used to at this point. I motioned for him to come in which he noticed and started walking in. I was about to close the door when a foot stopped it.
Opening the door back up the was Stark standing there with a little girl. She had minimal clothing, well to put it bluntly a thong and a weird vest bra hybrid. Her hollow hole was at the bottom of her stomach close to her hips. Her hollow mask was sitting on top of her head kind of like a helmet, with a single horn in the middle if her forehead.
I motioned for them to come in which they did, and now we were just waiting for Harribel and her fraccion. I definitely didn't take them long though, I only got two steps away from the door when I heard someone yelling. "Shut the fuck up you stupid cow, why wouldn't someone be attracted to this, it's perfect". When I heard that I sweat dropped and just prayed they weren't meaning me being attracted to them.
Then there was a knock on the door and I quickly went and opened it showing Harribel, and three very different women behind her. The one on the far right was tall, skinny, and had long greenish-brown hair. Truly I didn't know if it was more green or brown but other than that, her mask fragment looked like hair pins on the right side of her head. The last noticeable thing about her was the pink dots under her right eye.
In the middle was a women about the same height as the first but not as skinny, her hair also stuck out a lot more. It was a dark blue that went down to her shoulders. She was kind of like me though, she had two different colored eyes. The left was a reddish brown and had a red outline, I can't tell if it's make up or not and I'm definitely not going to ask. I'll just assume its natural. Her other eye was a light blue not as dark as her hair but still blue. Lastly her mask fragment was a horn in the middle of her forehead and a strip that ran over the top of her head to the back of her neck.
The final women was taller than the others and, to put it simply a lot more developed in the chest and hip region. She was the only one out of the three to have a dark tanned skin. She had really long and curly dark brown hair. Her mask fragment was in the shape of a chocker around her neck and, what I guess is a crown on her head. Finally she had deep green eyes.
Before I could motion for them to come in the one with blue hair asked I'm guessing Harribel,"So this is the guy you can't even see who he is, how could you know what he looks like".
The brown haired women next to her instantly replied with, "Well if you weren't retarded, you would have noticed the features that Harribel had talked about, The hood covering his face, the blood red eye, and his two swords".
The blue haired one shot back with, "Why don't you shut up cow tits, just because I didn't notice everything about him doesn't mean I'm retarded".
Before either could say anything else Harribel looked at them which shut them both up, then looked back at me and said, "I apologize for their behavior, would it be okay for us to come in". With that I motioned for them to come in and we all sat down.
Stark, Lilynette, and Ulquiorra sat on the coach facing the right wall. Harribel and her fraccion sat on the couch opposite the first one. Nel and I sat on the coach the was facing the front door in between the other two coaches. We started off with introductions well Harribels fraccion and Nel for the both of us.
Nel was the first one to go gestured towards me and said, "This is Ichigo the cero espada and I'm Nel, the quinta espada it's nice to have you all here".
The blue haired fraccion was the first to reply again, "Wait you guys live together and he is the cero espada". She had a very confused look on her face most likely not knowing either of those things.
Nel replied with, "Yes, me and Ichigo live here together and he is the cero espada". This didn't help with her look of surprise though if anything it looked like she had even more questions. Thankfully before she said anything else the brown haired fraccion spook up.
"Well it is a pleasure to meet you two my name is Mila Rose, This is Apachi, and that is Sun Sun". So know I know who they are at least and those names are definitely interesting to say the least.
Then Sun Sun started talking which surprised me,"Ichigo why do you wear that hood all the time". I didn't really know what to do with this I just started looking around, until my eyes stopped on Nel and we locked eyes for a second before she spoke for me, thank god.
"First off Ichigo doesn't really talk with anyone but me, so you don't have to ask about that later and to why he wears the hood all the time. He told me he doesn't like the way his hollow mask reminds him of his past and everything he had to do". Nel said it perfectly I don't like what my mask reminds me of, every time I look at it I remember how bad of a person I was when I first became a hollow.
While I'll admit I still have urges to kill people and stuff like that, it's nothing compared to what I used to think all those years ago. Plus I have to many important things to me, so I can't just give into those urges when they come. If I did then I wouldn't be there for Nel and she would probably get hurt because of me.
Well this didn't seem to be the answer that Apachi wanted because she rushed over to me and pulled my hood off. This completely shocked me, everyone was looking at my face and I didn't know what to do. Seconds seemed like hours under their gaze and I was starting to freak out I pulled my hood back on as hard as I could.
Now a large amount of it hung over my head and the shadow it created covered all of my normally exposed skin on my neck. I hung my head down and started thinking the worst. They all probably think I'm a monster know and don't want anything to do with me, which means I fucked this up for Nel. Hanging my head even lower at the thought of ruining something that Nel was really wanted, I just find a way to ruin everything don't I.
I was brought out of my thoughts when Apachi sat back down and said, "I'm sorry I didn't really think that you would be upset by it or anything, I was just really curious to what you looked like".
I looked over at her and saw sadness written all over her face and in her eyes. I really didn't want to but I had to say something, or else she would be upset with herself all night. I quietly said, "It's okay Apachi, I understand". I guess this wasn't the reaction people were expecting because everyone's eyes shot over to me, and yet again everyone was staring at me.
Leaning over to Nel I asked her,"Nel could you please ask them to stop staring at me, it is making think I was right". She smiled at me and nodded which was enough to little my mood a bit.
She looked and everyone and simple asked,"Ichigo wants to know if you guys could stop staring at him, your making him think that his thoughts where right". They stopped staring but got a questioning look on their faces and Ulquiorra spoke up for the first time today.
"What does he mean by, we are making him think that his thoughts where correct I don't understand what that means could you please clarify". Once he said that he looked at Nel waiting for a response.
Again she answered quickly, "When Ichigo thinks back to his life as a hollow, it makes him think that he is a monster and that's why he doesn't like his mask fragment. He didn't want to show anyone his face because, he thought that you would think he is a monster to and didn't want to ruin the chance for us to become friends". I could tell that this shocked most everyone, I'm not sure if that's a good or bad sign.
This time it was Stark to speak up for the group,"Ichigo we do not think that you are a monster nor would we ever, and if you think that this changes any chance of us being friends with Nel or you your mistaken". Once he said that I looked over at him and could tell he wasn't lying but why don't they think that. That is the whole reason I was always alone, everyone was scared of me and thought I was a monster that would kill them on sight. My first couple years as a hollow this was true but after a couple of years I changed a lot.
Well maybe this will actually work out like I was hoping it would for me and Nel. I could tell Nel was happy with what Stark just said and before I could say anything to her she blurted out, "Wait does that mean that we can all be friends". Every one nodded once she said that which she replied with a loud,"Yeah Ichigo we have some more friends now this is great". Then she grabbed onto my arm and started shacking both of us.
We talked for another thirty minutes about our lives, what it has been like for us at Las Noches, and what we think about this whole war. I'm not really sure why we got onto that topic but we peaty much all agreed that we didn't really want to go to war but we had to.
Our last topic was our thoughts on Aizen and surprisingly all of their thoughts were mostly negative. I don't know what he did to make them all feel badly about him but it was something. My only guess was he dragged them into his war, maybe he didn't mention the part about the war to them until after they joined him.
Harribel broke her long time silence with a very weird question, "Would you two be willing to join us, in killing Aizen". So this is why they wondered what our thought about him where. I can't make this decision without talking with Nel first. So I leaned over and asked,"Nel I want to know what you think about this because, this decision will change both of our lives so I want to know where you stand in all of this".
She leaned in and whispered into my ear, "I think that maybe we should join them, they obviously have a reason for doing this and I think we can trust them a lot more than we can Aizen". That was all I needed to make up my mind as long as Nel is standing with me it will be ok.
I looked back at everyone and made sure I had their attention before I spoke up, "We will join you in your goal of killing Aizen, but we will have to have another meeting to get to know your reasoning and who is all on your side".
Ulquiorra was the one that answered me, "Of course Ichico in a couple of days we can have another meeting, with everyone present so we can discuss everything with that I must apologize but, I must be going there are things that I need to do". He waved goodbye and left in a flash of sonido.
Stark get up ready to go and said, "We will speak about everything at that meeting in the mean time don't bring this topic up with anyone else, we will see you tomorrow Nel, Ichigo goodnight". After that him and Lilynette left the same way as Ulquiorra.
Then Harribel got up and said, "I'm glad that your two are willing to join us, with your help we will definitely be able to accomplish this goal, now ladies let's leave I'm sure there are things that Nel and Ichigo would like to do". All of them got up and left except Apachi who looked over at us and smiled
Then she said, "I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable with what I did Ichigo, I hope that you won't base your judgment of me off of that, goodnight guys I'll see ya later". Then she was also gone leaving Nel and I sitting next to each other on the coach. She just laid her head on my shoulder and we both got comfortable on the coach, then drifted into a very thought filled slumber.
Okay guys I'm sure that you didn't expect that to happen but it did. Okay before I say anything about that I would like to thank everyone for their reviews, follows and even favorites which surprised me. I tried my best to follow all of your guys advice and hope that this chapter is a lot better than the first one. Okay next up the I gave a lot of the espada a new rank so I'm going to list them off.
0 - Ichigo
1 - Stark
2 - Ulquiorra
3 - Harribel
4 - Baraggan
5 - Nel
6 - Nnoitra
7 - Grimmjow
8 - Szayel
9 - Aaroniero
I just wanted to list them off in case there was any confusion on the ranks. Next at the moment the only people that we know are plotting against Aizen are Stark, Lilynette, Harribel, Apachi, Mila Rose, Sun Sun, Ulquiorra, Nel and Ichigo. I'm sure a lot of you are wondering why Ulquiorra is going against him well my explanation for now is he is a smart and strong guy so why wouldn't he do something that would benifit him. Okay, finally I would like to know what you guys think of the new layout, was it easier to follow and read. Thanks for reading and next chapter will most likely be this weekend unless I get caught up with something.