And we're back! That's right! We're going back to the story! Just move into my new home and it's time we get this story going again!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. All rights belong to the creator Tite Kubo. This is an AU story with some OOC.
Chapter 18: Two Years
-X-
Starrk took one long and slow breath, his eyes closed for better concentration. Trying to focus on his task right now all while Annabelles keeps repeating about the simple and yet complicated instructions.
'C'mon, you got this. You're doing fantastic right now! You're up to 19 wolves! Remember, push out some of your Reiatsu and then command it to take a form!'
He furrowed his eyebrows in annoyance. 'Anna, hush, I'm trying to concentrate right now.'
Starrk had to remove his coat since it was annoying him and was sitting cross-legged on the sand while surrounded by a pack of his soul-wolves. While it was much harder to keep them materialized outside of his Resurrección, the task wasn't impossible. He took another breath and started pushing out more of his Reiatsu. Funny how easily he figures out how to do this. The task reminded him of when he wanted to leave the Gigai. By pushing himself out, he got out, and he was doing just that.
Although his body was the 'Gigai' while his Reiatsu was 'him' and this time around it was the 'Gigai' pushing 'him' out.
As the last chunk of Reiatsu left his body, Starrk furrowed his eyebrows deeper, trying to send a mental command to his Reiatsu of the form he wanted it to take. As his mind molded the Reiatsu to a wolf, Starrk opened his eyes to see the 20th wolf.
'Wooo! There you go, Starrk! Finally, you made 20 wolves!'
'Yeah. After how many tries?' He commented before standing back up and reaching for his blade. 'Should we start on that part of our training?' He could 'see' the way Anna was bouncing on the balls of her feet.
'Yes, Yes, YES!' She was eager and her body was shaking in anticipation. They have been working hard in this part of their training, and so far it has been a little unsuccessful but things might be different now! She senses that Starrk was ready to Resurrect but then she remembered something important. 'Wait. We have been training for 5 days straight, right?'
'I think? Don't remember. Hard to tell the time when there's no day or night setting here.' Starrk wonders why her excitement seemed to burn off. He was ready to enter his Resurrección when Anna started yelling.
'Wait you Idiot, we don't have any time! We have to return to La Estrella for Ichigo's ceremony!'
It literally took Starrk a second to remember what Anna was talking about. 'Oh crap, oh crap! But it's being held on Friday! And today is—'
'Friday!' She interrupted him. 'We have been training for 5 days straight, and we left on a Monday! Starrk you idiot!' Before she finishes, Starrk had already collected all the wolves and was shooting towards La Estrella with unimaginable speed. She bets the Hollows thought they just saw a shooting star.
Starrk couldn't believe he forgot about Ichigo's ceremony! 'And how could I forget!? I was the one who told him about it!' Damn it! Why can't he get there already? He didn't travel too far away for his training. With one last Sonido, Starrk reached his destination.
The mountain range that spread for miles and where he had made a home for all the Hollows under his rule, La Estrella; The Star. Lily had named the city because if you were looking for life, then all you had to do is look for the star in the endless nights of Hueco Mundo; a star that will soon symbolize 'Eternal'. La Estrella still looks the same as ever from the outside, but the real change was on the inside.
Starrk thought about going through the main entrance but if he did that, then he would gather a crowd and he needs to reach his room to change. He shook his head and aimed toward his balcony instead. He Sonido once more, closing miles of space in mere seconds and walked through the balcony's doors and into his room, a room far too big for one person.
He was a simple person, so he kept his room as simple as he could. But adding furniture to his home had made it look too big for him and before he knew it, he was already decorating to fill in the space. He has an unnecessary amount of objects in his room. A television, some cabinets, a gray rug, silver couches, a wooden table and chairs and just about anything to fill it up. He had even made one room into a personal office for whenever he's done with his usual duties, which is running an entire army and city; although Lily helped with the latter part of his job since she was at a more personal level with their 'normal' residence while he mostly kept the military in check. He filled his kitchen with every cooking utensil imaginable, even though he doesn't cook... or eat.
He filled his bedroom with a King-size bed with gray pillows and many colorful beanbags laying everywhere. Since sometimes he doesn't even bother sleeping in his bed. He kicked one bean bag that was blocking the door to his closet. He needed to change his clothes. As he grabbed a freshly new pair of pants, he heard a knocking on his door. 'Kami, please don't let it be Lily, she'll scream at me for being late.' He ran out to his living room and opened the door, expecting to see an angry Lily but he found Lily's bodyguards instead. Both kneeling in front of him.
"Starrk-sama."
That was Loly who spoke, and she sounded nervous right now. "Yes?" He could hear the audible gulp as she looked up to him.
"We're sorry for interrupting you in the middle of the night, your majesty, but Lily-hime asked us yesterday that if we were to sense your Reiatsu, then to remind you to not be late to Ichigo's ceremony." Loly said.
Starrk looked back into his room and found the clock on the wall. It read 2:30 AM... 'Well... I made it back on a Friday.' He sighed and looked back at both Adjuchas. "Thanks for the reminder, you're both dismissed." He closes the door and looks back to the clock. He has another good 5 hours of sleep before the ceremony starts.
Menoly stared at the closed door for a few more seconds before losing her calm composure. "Crap, I thought he would have been angry for interrupting his sleep."
"I know." Loly stood up and started heading down to the 2nd level. "Good thing we stayed up so late in case he shows up in the middle of the night." Her eyes caught her sister nodding.
"Should we wake up Lily?" Menoly suggested, stopping right in front of their room.
Loly looked at the door with a sideways glance. "I'm sure Lily had sensed Starrk-sama already, so I'm sure she'll be waking Lieutenant Kurosaki soon."
"You know, he won't be Lieutenant Kurosaki anymore." Menoly said, back to her sister's side. "As of later today, everyone will call him Captain Kurosaki."
Under the covers of burned-orange color sheets, Ichigo grumbled something unintelligibly as he started searching for the extra body heat. "Lily~." He whines before flipping to the other side and starts searching for her with his arm. "Come back to bed." He peeks through a small hole he made to look for the clock on his desk. As he found it and saw the time, he groaned before concealing himself again. "It's not even 4." He wonders if Lily had slept on her bed sometime last night. He opens a little passage for his eyes to see the other neatly folded bed. 'Well, she didn't sleep there.'
So where was she?
He was heading back to dreamland when the sound of running water reached his ears. As he listened more closely, he noticed the sound coming from the bathroom. 'Is she showering?' Again, he remembers the time. 'Why so damn early?' Perhaps she would clock-in early to work today? 'She probably senses Starrk has returned and she's glad that he'll get back to work soon.'
Ichigo didn't see how this should stop him from going back to sleep. He closed the gap again and started snoozing off when he felt Lily landing on his stomach.
"WAKE UP, ICHIGO!"
Ichigo huffed and removed the sheets to yell at an all-too-happy Lily who had a smile that spread across her entire face.
"What the Hell, Lily!"
Lily, just like him, has changed throughout the two years. His changes were rarely noticeable, but they were still there. His facial features got sharper, he grew a little more, and had grown out his sideburns. Lily changed the most. Her lean figure's mostly gone now, her body had developed curves around her waist, and for some odd reason, her perky breast seemed to have gotten bigger.
He shook his head and looked up to her face. Just like him, her facial features seemed to have sharpened up but got to keep the feminine smoothness around them. She has even let her hair grow down to her waist, and she grew a few inches herself, too; she was standing at 5'8. Though she changed into a beautiful young woman, Ichigo did not like the new choice of clothes she started wearing. She had dumped her old outfit 4 months ago and switched it up to something a little too revealing. Her clothes now comprise a white-colored briefs with a green outline positioned in the middle. Arm-warmers, a revealing vest with a high collar (which barely covers her breast), and thigh-high, fur-lined boots.
Kami, he doesn't understand why she started wearing that for. Was she trying to impress someone by showing off some skin? He hopes that wasn't the case, and that Lily was just going through a weird fashion-taste phase.
"Oi, Ichigo!"
The redhead shook those thoughts out of his head and looked back to Lily with a scowl. "What?"
"Get your ass up and take a shower! Today is your big day and you need to clean up and head down towards the Communication Division to get your office stuff move towards the S&P Division!" Lily got off and pulled him out of bed, dragging his body towards the shower. "Don't forget to wear the outfit I got for you! That way we go together looking like a pair!"
Not wanting to get dragged all the way into the showers like a doll, Ichigo stood up before walking ahead of his friend. "Sheesh, why are you making this into such a big deal? Knowing Starrk, he'll probably only invite the other Captains and Lieutenants into a small dinner and announce my official promotion to them. I don't even have to get suited up for it either. Is not like he's planning on doing all of this in the Main District."
"Umm, yeah, about that."
Ichigo turned around to see Lily looking at the wall. "What?"
Looking back at him with a nervous look, she started laughing like an idiot before saying. "Ha, it's, umm, funny that you mention the Main District because I convinced Starrk to announce your promotion there." She started sweating nervously as Ichigo looked at her with tight lips. "And, umm, I sort of told Menoly and Loly to invite as many people as possible..."
"And you did all of this when?" Ichigo asked.
Laughing like an idiot again, she said. "About three days ago... so you'll probably have a crowd of Hollows waiting for you today."
Ichigo looked back to the clock, it read 4:00 now. If he remembers correctly, Starrk will announce everything around 8... So he has about 4 hours to take a shower, move his stuff and then head towards the 1st Level of La Estrella. 'I got time.' He was about to walk into the bathroom when Lily walked past him with a towel over her shoulders. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Gonna shower." She answered imminently, removing her left arm-warmer.
He closed his eyes and turned around as Lily removed her vest. "You haven't even shower? Wait. I thought you wanted me to shower first?"
"Look, we can do this faster if we just shower together." She couldn't even get inside the shower before Ichigo covered her with the towel and threw her outside, door slamming behind her. She turned around and started banging on the door. "What the hell, Ichigo!? Let me inside! I need to shower, too!"
"Then go over to Mashiro's apartment and take a shower there!"
She heard him shouting from inside the shower. "What's the big deal! We sleep in the same bed!"
"But taking a shower together is different! And besides, you're the one that started sleeping in my bed with me!"
"Ugh! At least let me get my clothes back so I won't walk naked down the halls!"
"She's across from our apartment!"
With a groan, she turned around and headed towards Mashiro's apartment. As she slams the door to their bedroom, Lily walks towards the fridge in their kitchen to eat a couple of Szayel's Arrancar Pills. She looks towards the breakfast plate she has made for Ichigo. A basic breakfast with raw eggs, over cooked bacon and sloppy pancakes...
...
Okay, so cooking was definitely not her calling. 'He better eat it.' Although that won't happen. Ichigo will probably throw it all away. 'Ungrateful jerk.' She walked out from the kitchen to the living room. A couple of bookshelves to the left, a television to the right, and a couch set in front of it. She has been trying to find some free time to redecorate their apartment but with how busy things have been these past few years, she doesn't have the time for it. She walked out from their home and literally walked across to the other side to reach Mashiro's apartment—a little Chibi-version of herself hanging from the doorknob. She knocked once, and the door opened instantly, but the person she found staring at the other side of the door was Ulquiorra instead.
"Ulquiorra? What are you doing here?" Lily asked, she could see bags under the Arrancar's eyes.
"Mashiro came knocking at my door around midnight to come over to try out matching outfits for Ichigo's ceremony." Ulquiorra replied with a grumpy voice. "I haven't rested these past few weeks, and I had hoped to get some well needed shut eye last night." He looks back inside to the clock on the wall. "It's already 4:10." He walked outside and left the door wide open for Lily. "I must go over to my Division and get Ichigo's transfer ready for his own Division."
"Aren't you sad that you're going to be losing your Lieutenant, Captain Cifer?" Lily asked.
"Sad? No," he turned around and said. "There's no point for Ichigo to still be under my wing. He has grown stronger throughout the two years of war we have been with Baraggan." As he turned around and headed towards his division, he said one last comment. "Although I would have preferred if Starrk waited a couple of years before deciding on giving Ichigo his own division."
Lily watched the man leave her sights around a corner before walking inside and closing the door behind her. "Huh, I thought he would have taken it harder." She looks around Mashiro's apartment to see a shelf containing manga books by the right wall and, oddly enough, a huge multi-color lava lamp that stood at 7 feet at the center of the room; many color bean bags that she had 'borrow' from Starrk, surrounded the lava lamp. She walked past them and the kitchen to stand right outside of Mashiro's room.
"Nee-san," she knocks. "Is it okay if I can take a shower here?"
Mashiro, who still looks the same, opens the door. "Lily-chan!" She furrows her brows. "Why are you only wearing a towel?"
The older girl moved out of the way as Lily walked past her while releasing a low growl.
"Berry-baka kicked me out!" Lily turned around and pointed an accusing finger at Mashiro, even though the pointing is being directed towards Ichigo. "Can you believe that idiot kicked me out after I told him that we could use the shower together to finish faster!" She lowers her finger and raises an eyebrow. "Why is your hair a mess?"
Mashiro looked around her room for a comb. "It's not a mess! I was trying to set it wavier!" As she found a comb and started straightening her hair, she sent Lily a pout. "Why are you so mean? That's the reason Ichigo doesn't like you."
Lily blushed and walked towards the bathroom. "What are you talking about!? He likes me! We wouldn't be best friends if he didn't like me." She closed the door to the bathroom and got inside the shower, water running hot.
"You know what I mean by liking you~." Mashiro let the last two words leave her mouth slower with a bit of an emphasis on them. She heard nothing coming from Lily. "Well~, I'll see you later than Lily-chan!"
Hearing as the other lime-haired woman left, Lily muttered under her breath. "He likes me." She put a hand over her chest, expecting to feel her heart rapidly beating after remembering the look Ichigo was giving her this morning as she straddled him. "He likes me." She looked down to the sink with a gloomy look. 'Ichigo was looking at me, right?'
'No, he only likes what he sees.'
Her eye widened, and she spun her head around. That weird voice was talking again. 'It's all in my head, it's all in my head.'
Ichigo looked down at his new uniform.
As a lieutenant, Ichigo was to wear a black Capote de Paseo with green outlines around the ends of the mantel. At the center of his Capote de Paseo was his Division's Insignia; a bat's skull with its eye sockets filled with a green color.
That was his old uniform and as of later today, he will reach the rank of Captain and because of it, he now has a Traje de Luces (Suit of Lights). He has kept his white hakama and the black, tattoo-like bands around his wrist and ankles. He got rid of the white shirt and the black strap across his chest to wear a black, short, and rigid jacket over a white shirt. The ends of the jacket were a deep gold color. Just like his lieutenant uniform, he was wearing a Capote de Paseo, same colors and theme as his jacket and at the center of it was HIS Division's Insignia; a golden moon. To finish the touch, he has a black slash worn the same as Starrk.
He gave himself a quick check out before turning to the clock on the wall. It was already 5:00. 'I need to go over to Ulquiorra's Division and get my stuff moved.' He walked towards the door before stopping when his eyes caught the food on the table. 'She made me breakfast?' He changed his direction and headed towards the food. Lifting one piece of burned bacon, Ichigo sighed and lowered it down.
"Did she forget that I have my Hollow mask over my mouth?" He shook his head and left the food on the table. 'She'll probably be mad about it.' Well, it won't be his fault that he didn't eat since Lily forgot about his mask.
'Isn't this the first time she did anything like this?' Zangetsu asked.
'Yep.' Ichigo replied as he closed the door behind him.
'Hold up, you're not going to wear the suit Lily got you?'
The redhead stuck his hands inside the pockets of his pants. 'Why should I? It's not like we're attending a Ball or anything like that?'
'Sheesh, I thought you would wear it to make your girlfriend happy.'
Ichigo pinched the bridge of his nose as he walked down the stairs. 'Damn it, Zangetsu, how many times do I have to tell you this? Lily is not my girlfriend. We went over this for like, four years.'
'Yeah, well, in those four years you two have been inseparable.'
'That's not true!'
Sending the boy a deadpan, Zangetsu said, 'Ichigo, you sleep in the same place even though you have plenty of rooms to sleep in and I'm not talking about the beds! Then there's also the fact that you make sure you're stationed anywhere near in fear of danger, but one; you're inside of the city and two; there's no one to hurt her inside! Everyone loves her!'
'You never know when something could happen! One day Baraggan could burst through the city with his army!' Ichigo argued.
'That's such a weak excuse, Ichigo! Starrk would go straight for Baraggan and the rest of our army would deal with Baraggan's!'
'But what if Baraggan was aiming for Lily!' Ichigo scowled and scared the two Adjuchas that were keeping guard of the 3rd's level entrance.
'Ichigo... that's so unlikely...'
Choosing to ignore the man, Ichigo looked up to see La Estrella's military organization; Escudos.
It was a single large structure that strongly resembled the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. Urahara had helped Starrk with figuring out the ideal image of what their base of operation needs to look like, ironically enough, the real cathedral is a church. So taking inspiration from the famous structure in Spain, Urahara finished an exact and larger replica. Just like the actual building, they separated their base into 4 different sections. The North, South, East, and (soon to be his) the West façade.
A cathedral and cloister bound the South façade where he was walking by on both his sides. It has two entrance doors in degradation with archivolts with colors patterns of green and silver with a bunch of tympanum images of bats. The archivolts attached over eleven columns with the first three of them being white marble. All the windows of the South façade had an image of a bat.
This was Ulquiorra's Division; the Communication Division. If any sort of information needed to reach a captain or Starrk, they would come here where the fastest of Hollows pass the message across the city, the battlefield, or the Human World.
As he walks through the halls of the South façade, Ichigo wonders if the West Division's marble pillars would get decorated with something of his liking.
Even though he's here at the middle of the night, Hollows filled the South's halls.
"Captain Kurosaki!"
Ichigo turned around to see a Hollow he had gotten familiar with walking towards him. "Oh, hey there Rudbornn." He pushed a pair of wooden doors and into his old office he walked into. He looked around to see everything already removed, the only thing left was the wooden desk, chair, and the clock on the wall but those are probably left behind for his successor. "Shesh, do you guys want me gone already?"
Rudbornn enters the room. "It's nothing like that, sir, we thought we should do the hard work for you. Think about it as a small way for us to repay our debts."
Running a hand across the surface of his desk, Ichigo said. "I thought I told you to forget about it? I was only doing my job."
The Adjuchas shook his head. "A job that was too dangerous for us, normal Hollows."
"Well, I guess that's just an advantage of being an Arrancar."
"An advantage we have over Baraggan." He stops in front of Ichigo's desk, the teen taking a seat on the chair. "For two years we have been in this war with Baraggan and if it wasn't for all of you and the Visoreds, some, if not, all of us would have been dead."
"Yeah... the war." Ichigo rested his chin on top of his palm and thought back.
Too much has changed in just two years. Right after he returned with the Visoreds, some rumors started spreading and the rumors weren't about the Visoreds, it was about what he and Ulquiorra have done in the Human World. Apparently he had scared off a few Hollows during his transformation. Some ran away to a different city but others returned to Hueco Mundo and when they returned, they started passing over a single word; Zangetsu.
He didn't have a clue to how the Hollows knew that name until he finally heard the story from Rudbornn a few months back. During their first trip to the Human World and his first transformation, Zangetsu, using his body, defeated three Shinigami-Captains and because of this, the Shinigami had doubled their patrols around Karakura Town. Some Hollows have heard of their muffled conversation since the only thing they seemed to have talked about was a Hollow named Zangetsu that had wounded a couple of Shinigami Captains. By some time later, the name started getting passed around in Hueco Mundo but many of the Hollows' population dismissed the rumor since Baraggan, the King of Hueco Mundo, had never fought and defeated a single Shinigami Captain. So how did a no-name Hollow pop up out of nowhere and does the one thing Baraggan had seemed to have never done?
After some time, the Hollows dropped the name until it happened again.
During his 2nd trip to Karakura Town and going through his transformation again, a Hollow picked up his Reiatsu. It wasn't hard to forget the power 'Zangetsu' had radiated. So when the corrupted-soul sensed his normal Reiatsu and the afterwards Reiatsu after his transformation, the Hollow started putting the pieces together. Though Ichigo wonders which Hollow was it that was able to recognize Reiatsu's signature, although from what Rudbornn had told him, the Hollow who sensed him was an old forced-soldier of Baraggan. So he was probably there when he sensed his Reiatsu when he saved Starrk from Baraggan.
So how did a name cause a war? Well, it didn't directly cause the war, but was one factor that did.
With the Hollows now knowing he was Zangetsu, more of Baraggan's army left to join Starrk's; who has the infamous Zangetsu (a Hollow who defeated three Shinigami Captains and was a sort of boogeyman for the Shinigami) in his army. It wasn't a hard choice for them. Some joined for the protection, but others thought differently.
When news spread over Hueco Mundo after their return from the Human World, the Hollow population believed Starrk ordered him and Ulquiorra to send a message to the Shinigami. To declare war against the Shinigami; with what had happened, that's what they all thought, and that seemed to be what the other half of the population strongly believed.
However, soon enough, that all changed again when they all heard of the Visoreds. Some Hollows didn't like Shinigami with Hollow powers and they also didn't like the fact that Starrk asked for their help. Again, this caused another shift around Hueco Mundo and in both armies.
Some stayed with Starrk for either the protection or strength while those who returned with Baraggan wanted bloodshed.
By this point no sort of conflict had started, but the tension was high.
After the number of their followers tripled because of 'Zangetsu' popularity, Szayel and Urahara started working in creating all the necessary Arrancar Food Pills to feed their followers. Just like Szayel had promised, they only used the Gillians to make them and just like what Szayel theorized, the re-transform Gillians kept their Adjuchas' powers.
And that's when the conflict started.
Baraggan did not like Starrk's army getting stronger by the day. So he ordered his men to go down to Menos Park and devour or kill every Gillian in sight, trying to reduce their food supply.
That didn't sit well with Starrk. So he decided, after being nagged by the Visoreds, to talk with Baraggan to make some sort of treaty among both groups. Starrk went alone, since he felt that he should be the only one to go, but after he returned rather quickly and with a grimace look on him, they knew things didn't work out. The brunette hasn't said what their talk was about but it must have been serious since the first thing he said after his return was: "We got a war on our hands."
"Am I interrupting something here?"
Ichigo shook his head as Ulquiorra walked into his old office. Wearing a black, short, and rigid Traje de Luces with green ends and his Division's signature; a Bat's skull in the center. "No, there's nothing going on here, Rudbornn and I were just talking."
Rudbornn looked at his captain and bow. "Captain Cifer."
"At ease." Ulquiorra watched the Hollow nod before leaving. "He's an interesting individual, makes you wonder what kind of person he could be if Urahara gets to wake the Hōgyoku again and makes him into an Arrancar."
"Yeah," the redhead frowns. "It's a shame it went into hibernation after mine and Lily's transformation."
The green-eyed Arrancar turned to look at Ichigo and noticed how stiff the teen seems to be. "Nervous?"
Ichigo slumped his shoulders. "Honestly? Yes, I am." He stood up and started walking back and forward. "I'm not ready for this! I don't think I can handle the responsibilities of a captain! I know Shinji said that there was nothing too hard about it but that's because he's an ex-Captain, he already has the experience. I don't have any of that! I'm just some guy who knows how to fight! I can't lead people..." He took a break from his ranting to sit back down. "I don't think I can do this, Ulquiorra. It's too much work for me..."
"Are these doubts that I am hearing?"
Both men look to the door to see Starrk walk in; wearing a black, long sleeve cloak with a silver 5-point star on the back of his coat. Each tip pointing at 5 different objects; the current Divisions' Insignia. The bottom-left pointed at an image of Ulquiorra's bat, the bottom-right pointed at Ichigo's golden moon, the upwards tip was pointing at an angel's feather; Szayel's Division, the left one pointed at a white hourglass; Shinji's and the right one pointed at a black shield; Kensei's.
Shaking the surprise off, Ichigo said, "Why are you up so early today?" He let a playful smirk reach his lips. "Don't tell me you miss doing your job?"
Starrk rolls his eyes. "Haha, hilarious and if you want to know, I couldn't sleep." He looked around Ichigo's empty office. "Damn, they must be eager for your official promotion already." He lifts a stash of papers. "Good thing I brought these then."
"What's this?" The redhead took the papers and flipped through all of them.
"Transfer sheets." Starrk replied. "I announced your promotion about two weeks ago, but it won't be official until later today. Within the span of two weeks, all the other divisions' members have been asking for a transfer to the-soon-to-be West façade; the S&P Division. Have fun, kid."
Ichigo looked up from the papers to see Starrk and Ulquiorra leaving. "Wait! What the hell am I supposed to do with these!?"
"Each sheet contains information about the Hollows who wish to transfer to your division." Ulquiorra turned around. "Go through each one of them. Read every information about the Hollows' powers and see how useful they will be for your division. If their abilities seemed to be unfit for the Division, then declined their request."
The redhead gaped and looked down to the sheets of papers in his hand. It weighs like a freaking old-school phone book! "What!? There are hundreds of sheets here! How the hell am I going to finish all of this before my ceremony!"
"My division won't get to finish building yours anytime sooner than until later this week. Your official promotion is today. So, you have an entire week to read through all of them." Starrk said as he was walking away, giving Ichigo a little wave. "Don't be late. Oh, I'm sure Lily told you already but I will hold the ceremony in the Main District." Hearing footsteps alongside him, he glances to his left to see Ulquiorra. "Something you want to say?"
Ulquiorra kept looking forward as he answered. "It's frightening."
Starrk already knew what he was talking about, all the other Captains' and Lieutenants' talk about it. "I know it is, but at least this way we can slow him down."
"All it took was two years."
"I know." Starrk frowns. "I don't understand how Ichigo has such an astounding growth rate ability. I understand that he has been fighting a lot these past two years but none of his battles have pushed him to the point to evolve further, but still, he has closed the gap with most of the Visoreds, and it's not like they haven't gotten stronger either."
"Have you asked Urahara and Szayel to examine Ichigo?"
"I have, but they said it's unnecessary, everything is okay."
The green-eyed Arrancar frowns. "Okay? Starrk, you know there's nothing okay about it. Ichigo has surpassed the likes of Rose, Love and Kensei; all of them were Shinigami Captains. Ichigo erased the gap that used to be between him and I. Something like that doesn't happen in just two years."
Starrk knew that, he really does, but what can he do besides make Ichigo a captain to slow down the process of his ridiculous growth rate. As long as Ichigo doesn't get to fight, then there's no reason for him to get stronger. "He has to stop, eventually."
Ichigo wasn't even halfway through all the sheets when he looked up to the clock on the wall. It was already 7:30 and left his half-ass work unfinished. As he was walking down towards the Main District, Ichigo wondered about who his Lieutenant would be. "Is there anyone left? Lily works for Starrk, Lisa for Shinji, Kensei has Mashiro." He put a hand under his chin and thought. "Would they appoint one of the Visoreds? Or maybe one of the new guys?" He shook his head as he could hear all the noise of the Main District. "I'll find out soon." As Ichigo reached mid-way through the spiral staircase, he looked towards the Main District.
La Estrella has three different sections. The 3rd level of these sections is the current home to both the Visoreds and Arrancar. The 2nd level used to be nothing but ruins but after much cleaning and building, it became the base of the military force; Escudos. The last of the section called the Main District or Plaza is where all the 'normal' of Hollows live. A few of the Hollows who joined Starrk weren't capable fighters, but still Starrk didn't kick them out. So they created the Main District for them to live in. The Main District still has the same look. Buildings and stores of all kinds built in any corner and streets big enough for any size Hollows to walk through.
Reaching the ends of the stairs, Ichigo walked through the oddly loud streets. He looked to his left to see a familiar Hollow. "Oi, Mosqueda."
Mosqueda Gantenbainne was the rare example of a natural Arrancar. He has brown eyes and a big burnt orange afro-style haircut with thick sideburns and a goatee. They changed his outfit to match his particular style, including large frills on his collar and thighs. The remains of his Hollow mask are a sunglass's shaped plate on his forehead with four teeth coming out above each eye. There is a blue star in the center of the mask fragment. "I see you're heading towards the center of the city, chico."
"Are you here to escort me, caballero?" Ichigo jokes with the man, both walking together.
Mosqueda rolls his eyes and says, "I thought Starrk-sama promoted you to a Captain, not a comedian."
The redhead laughs. He was happy that Hueco Mundo still had plenty of mystery left and Mosqueda was an example of it. It was during one of the many battles fought in Menos Park that he had unintentionally found the Arrancar with a colony of other Hollows. This was all proof to Ichigo that not all Hollows act like hunger-driven monsters and thanks to the existence of these humane-Hollows that so many of them could leave peacefully together.
To Ichigo, he believes that not all the Hollows are nothing but evil spirits. Some of them must've been good people in their previous life but ended up as Hollows because they got devoured by one or they couldn't reach Soul Society in time before sadly turning into a Hollow. "Where's that friend of yours, Dordoni?"
The afro man shrugged his shoulders. "Beats me, he responded to one of the emergency calls a few minutes ago."
Ichigo hummed. The corner of his eyes could see Hollows bowing but not to him; those bows were being directed towards his friend. Mosqueda, and like his friend Dordoni, belong to the 'Police' force of Escudos, which Kensei's leads. Their job is self explanatory. To make sure the Hollows don't break any sorts of taboos, Kensei created the Police Division to keep Hollows both safe and checked. During the early days of La Estrella, some Hollows had turned on one another and started eating each other. Starrk had put down every Hollow that had done so, but still he couldn't be everywhere. That's when Kensei created the Police Division and controlled or exterminated every Hollow who broke the powerful taboo. It may have been a harsh punishment but to the Hollows who wish to live their lives, they couldn't be more thankful to the Police Division.
Making a turn around a street, Ichigo found a humongous stadium stage in the center of a plaza, thousands of Hollows surrounded it. "What the hell." his left eye started twitching. "Why did so many of them come? Starrk's gonna only announce my promotion." he started growling as he remembered a certain woman inviting all these Hollows. "I bet this is Lily's fault."
"Don't be so mad at your girl. I'm sure most of them are probably just excited to see the infamous Zangetsu." Mosqueda said, crossing his arms. "You should get up there already, chico. We're only 10 minutes away from the show starting."
"She's not my girl!"
Mosqueda smiled as Ichigo left and started heading towards the front of the stage.
Today feels like a good day.
-X-
And that's it. A bit of a short chapter but I wanted to keep it short. I was going to add more information.
Why the Visoreds stayed, What sort of Divisions everybody runs and such. The only reason why I did this was to add all that information to the next chapter. I didn't want to make this chapter into a block full of text.
Also, their uniform uniforms look like the outfits that Bullfighters wear. I will be basing Starrk's theme around Spanish culture (Spanish as in Spain, not Mexico. Yes i'm pointing this out because some people will think i'm talking about Mexicans' cultures.)
What else... ah, yes. Wanted to clear out something.
La Estrella is the equivalent to Las Noches and Seireitei. As is Escudos, which is basically like the Gotei 13 and Espadas. And think of Plaza as Rukongai.
The reason why I have Mosqueda as an Arrancar to a Hollow is because it's sort of canon that Starrk wasn't the only known natural Arrancar, there has been others, but none that reached his level. Mosqueda in this story will be a bit weaker compared to the anime since Urahara hasn't used the Hogyoku on him or of the any other Hollows that we know are Arrancar. Again, I won't reveal that until much much later.
Ichigo and Lily have been aging through out the two years so Ichigo looks alot like his post-timeskip and Lily would look like the one that will take the cover of this story. Although she doesn't have her entire Hollow masked or wolves. Is just an easy way to mentally imagine what she looks like.
Also for that one review from XenoLucifer. Yes the story is slow pace. I don't want to rush it and have things not make any sense. As for the romance aspect of this story, which is Lily and Ichigo, I won't rush it. Lily has known the feeling of solitude longer to what she's feeling for Ichigo. While she will love Ichigo soon, I won't instantly rush it the same way I seen some fictions do it; which contain a few compliments here or there and some sort of confession or understanding and have the main girl fall for the guy. Nope big nope.
Loves needs to be built up and not just have the girl fall for the guy.
Welp, that's it folks. Again, sorry this chapter came out slow and short.
Also, sucks this story didn't get the same follows and fav as the other one, oh well. Can't complain.
-Ten Out.