Thirteen
Chapter Notes
shorter chapter, yes, but i wanted the cliffhanger xD
oh, and I just wanted to say thank you. all of you guys have been so supportive and lovely readers and i- ah, i really appreciate you guys. you are all the best 3 and I hope you're all having a good week 3
The first trip back to Hueco Mundo post-surgery was on a misty Monday morning. Hot and humid and painfully stifling. The hike through the tundra to collect herbs didn't even manage to cool the sweat from his skin before they were stepping through the sekaimon. All of which only served the arid chill that met them in the desert. The false-sun that hung over Las Noches provided no warmth, and for once Ichigo was eagerly thankful for it.
It was also, coincidently, the first trip in which Gin was there. He met them just past the entrance with a sly fox-smile and the air of someone itching to stir trouble. Which, honestly, was how Gin looked most days.
"Aizen," he greeted with a nod just shy of disrespectful, then turned to Ichigo with a more gleeful smile that had his hackles rising. "Ichi-berry, come for ya'r playdate?"
This asshole.
"Stop calling me that and it's not a playdate."
"Oh? That's not what I 'ear, Ichi-chan. Lilynette won't shut up 'bout da games ya play."
"I will stab you."
"What have we talked about," Aizen said – because it really wasn't a question – not even looking back at Ichigo as he started down the hall.
Ichigo answered anyway, "He deserves it."
"Ichigo."
"It's not like it would kill him."
"Ichigo."
"Yes, Ichi-chan, listen ta ya're-."
"I thought this was an important meeting," Barragan interrupted, his reiatsu heavy and so obviously posturing which was a hilarious thought, because Ichigo knew that Aizen had far more, "and yet you bring the child." He said child in the way one might say cockroach or cleaning the barracks.
"Gin will be taking him to Lilynette," Aizen replied blandly.
Barragan's heavy reiatsu sat for a moment longer before retreating. He turned to Gin, voice harsh and grating and just begging to be punched. "See to it he stays out of my palace." He didn't wait for a response, disappearing down another hall towards one of the many meeting rooms. There were at least a dozen in the damn place, although Ichigo suspected that was one of Aizen's favorites if only because it was the closest to a kitchen and thus closest to his stashes of tea. Honestly, Ichigo wondered why no one had tried just poisoning his tea yet. The man drank enough to quench an army.
Or, maybe, he thought, he'd just poison Barragan's. It wasn't like anyone would miss him.
"Can I stab him?"
"Behave," Aizen sighed, turning down the same hall and taking a turn with a swish of robes.
"Well, Ichi-chan," Gin said, looking down at him, "let's go find ya'r keepers."
Ichigo scowled, "Nobodies my keeper."
"Ya sure 'bout that?"
"Fuck off, yes."
"Language, Ichi-chan. What would Aizen say, hm?"
"What are you even doing here anyway?" he asked instead of answering whatever the hell that had been.
"Paperwork."
"You're kidding."
"Not at all," Gin chimed happily, although he sounded more like he wanted to murder something. "Ya're really giving Aizen a run for his money with how far behind da paperwork is."
"Maybe I can drown him under enough that he'll suffocate," Ichigo grumbled.
Gin's smile stiffened, "It'll be me suffocatin', Ichi-berry."
"All the more reason," Ichigo said with a too-wide smile.
Gin's laugh was more of a snort than anything else, "I see what Aizen means when he calls ya a headache."
A reply was on the tip of his tongue, but they rounded a corner and Ichigo realized they weren't heading to Lilynette at all. "Why are we going to Szayel's labs?"
"'Cause ya went and swallowed the Hogyoku," Gin explained. "Aizen thinks ya need a check-up. Not that he said any o' that."
"He didn't say anything?"
"Nope. Da only reason I know is ya told me ya'r plans."
"Why wouldn't he say anything?" Ichigo muttered, brows furrowing and gaze going unfocused
against the white floors. "Unless his plans haven't changed… but the deathball is gone, he'd have to change them." He looked up at Gin then, "Can he make another one or finish the one he has?"
Gin shook his head, "I don't even know how he got his in da first place. And I think ya forget that what Aizen is doin' is just as political as warmongering. His plans may be changin' but he won't tell anyone 'til there's nothin' ta do ta stop 'im."
"But you and Tousen knew last time."
Gin snorted, "I bet ya we only knew our own parts. Aizen told us what we wanted ta 'ear and needed ta know. I know more 'cause I look for it." Gin's eyes cut to passing doorway, and then he was tugging them both inside an empty room. "Listen close. Aizen only lets ya know as much as he wants ya ta. Don't go thinkin' ya can learn anythin' without him knowin' ya know."
"By that logic he knows I know he knows I know."
"Now ya're getting' it." Gin nodded; face so deadpan that it could be nothing other than humorous.
"Then what do you know?"
"Not much," Gin admitted with a shrug. "He's gone back ta readin' everything he can get his hands on again. It could mean he's plannin' somethin' but it's also not that unsual. Bookworms, da both of ya."
"So he's acting like nothing happened?" Ichigo pressed, feeling incredulous at the idea. All of his plans were ruined, and yet he acted like nothing was wrong. Which could only mean something was very, very wrong and they were both missing it.
"Beyond his usual brand of weird recently?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Gin tilted his head. "Aizen's been actin' odd for a while now. Like he's not botherin' with hidden as much anymore."
"Unohana had said the same thing," Ichigo mumbled.
"Oh?"
"Not exactly, but just… that he's different. She blamed it on raising me."
Gin snorted, "Ya do cause a lot o' trouble."
"It's not like I go looking for it!"
Gin raised a brow.
"Can we go back to the part where Aizen's not acting different because of the deathball… He must know something we don't."
"Yep."
"Fuck."
"Language."
Ichigo rolled his eyes, "The deathball was destroyed. He helped destroy it! And he's not changing anything? He's not telling anyone shit? I'm allowed to curse about the absolute fuck all sense this makes!"
"What ya mean he helped?" Gin said in a voice brimming with poorly contained hysteria.
"He was there," Ichigo explained, waving a hand as if to encompass the shop and the lab and his surgery. "Showed up right before I died and the deathball ate me or whatever. He- he saved me. Destroyed it. Yoruichi didn't tell you?"
"She sent'a note. All it said was the surgery succeeded." Gin was silent for a breath, frown tugging at his lips. When he spoke, his eyes were cracked open, the blue of them solemn in the unnatural light of Las Noches. "Be careful. Da only thing that can mean is Aizen thinks whatever ya can offer is more valuable than a completed Hogyoku. Ya're the new keystone ta his plans."
Ichigo sucked in a breath. He knew Aizen saved him because he cared. Knew that the same way he knew his zanpakuto's name. Still. Caring and using were not mutually exclusive when it came to Aizen. He'd pursue his goals by any means necessary with an almost reckless abandon that bordered on insanity. No. No, it probably was insanity. Whatever plans Ichigo was now a part of – the center of if Gin was right – had probably been thought of long before the surgery. Or, at least the potential of it.
All of it only really served to remind him; "Do you know why Aizen's doing all this?"
If Gin was surprised by the question, he didn't show it. "His reason?" Gin titled his head, foxlike and sly and clearly wanting to know why Ichigo wanted to know. "Said somethin' 'bout there bein' somethin' wrong with da world. Wants ta fix it."
"Fix what?"
Gin shrugged, "He won't say. Even Tousen asked, ya know. All he said was the knowledge would crush ya'r soul."
"Right, sure," Ichigo snorted.
"Whatever it is," Gin said, "it has somethin' ta do with Central. The hatred Aizen has for them doesn't make sense otherwise."
"They're corrupt old sacks of shit,' Ichigo said dryly. "Who wouldn't hate them?"
Gin stared at him the way most people would blink. "And here I thought ya were fightin' ta protect everyone."
"As if," Ichigo said with a scowl, "I'm not some big hero that'd do this for just anyone. I'm doing it for my family and friends. Central would sooner execute all of them, so the hell would I protect those stuffy old bags for?"
"Ya're a good kid," Gin hummed, finally starting back towards the door and the hallway and Szayel's labs. "Let's go see what da deathball did ta ya."
The rest of the walk, while short, did give him a few minutes to just think.
Aizen wanted to change something. He thought the world needed to be fixed. Why?
The question, really, he thought, was what was so wrong with the world that Aizen thought
becoming Soul King was the only way to fix it? Or, did truly just want to be Soul King? Hitting two birds with one stone was more Aizen's style. Perhaps there were other ways to fix whatever wrong he saw in the world, but Aizen picked this because it also led to another of his goals? Or, maybe, there was no problem and he'd merely told Gin and Tousen what they wanted to hear… But then… would Aizen truly suffer the loneliness that he had been just for the satisfaction of the throne? He already considered himself above everyone, did he truly want to prove it with a fancy title? Sure, there were people that did everything for power and Aizen reeked of a superiority complex the size of Hueco Mundo's desert, but…
But none of it sat right with him. Aizen didn't just think he was better than others, he thought he knew better. During the war he'd even seemed almost detached from everything and one. Like he couldn't be bothered by it all. The only time he'd shown interest was when Ichigo had faced him and it was the interest of a scientist towards and experiment. And then again, at the end… but Ichigo hadn't heard what he'd said, already collapsing under his own exhaustion as Aizen shouted and raged against his defeat.
And Central. Gin was right. Aizen hated them. There'd been more than once that Ichigo had complained about the stunts they'd pulled and Aizen hadn't reprimanded him. Not even if he'd cursed during his rant.
Was there something truly so heinously wrong with the world that is justified all of Aizen's actions?
No. There was no way, right? Because even if his reason was right, was just, there was no way wiping out a whole town and forcing the vizards the live as they were could be weighed equal to it. The means he'd used to get here… Well, 'the devil can cite Scripture' and all that.
He'd need to sort out Aizen's reason all the same. If he knew then perhaps he'd be able to figure out another way to fix it. Perhaps he'd be able to make Aizen see it, too.
And then, after Aizen's stint in prison… if he forgave Ichigo for putting him there, then they could solve it together.
With a deep breath he pushed that thought away. It would do him no good getting his hope up for something like that.
"Expectation is the root of all heartache," he reminded himself.
"What' s will all the quotes, Kingy? Or maybe I should call ya King Nerd."
"Fuck off, Shiro, that wasn't even a good insult."
"Fuck you, it was genius."
"Thou hast no more brain than I have in my elbows."
"Oi, don't insult me in nerd!"
"You can't even say shit, you like Shakespeare, too!"
"Nah, that's you and Ossan's kink!"
"Then how'd you even know I quoted him?"
"Because ya spent how many years droolin' over his books, and the past month ya blabbered
nonstop about the shrew book!"
"The Taming of the Shrew," Mura corrected because he understood the sanctity of literature. "But that one was from Troilus and Cressida."
"Perhaps if you bothered to listen when Ichigo reads, you'd have more eloquent insults."
"What's wrong with fuck, huh? It's versatile! Fuck this, fuck you, fuck off, fucker."
"Shiro, shut the fuck up."
"All good, Ichi-chan?" Gin asked as they came to the door to Szayel's labs, breaking him from his internal debate.
"Yeah," he said, "just arguing with Shiro."
"Ya talk with them outside meditating." It was more of a statement then a question.
"Don't you?"
"No," Gin said, "most Shinigami don't."
"Why not?"
Gin tilted his head, a frown on his face but Ichigo got the feeling it was more thoughtful than anything else. Wherever the conversation might have gone was lost the second Szayel flung his door open and ushered Ichigo inside with excited tittering about all the different tests they were going to run.
In the end, there was nothing wrong with him.
The deathball had done nothing.
Okay, well, not nothing, but it hadn't hurt him since the last time Unohana had run a diagnostic which was practically the same thing and the real point of the entire endeavor.
"Pity," Szayel sighed as Gin started herding him back out of the lab. "You were such a unique test subject. Now Aizen won't ever let me near you."
Thankfully, Ichigo didn't say.
Lilynette was practically vibrating in place when they entered her and Starrk's rooms. The entire place was filled to the brim with pillows and blankets. A wall to one side had long since started disappearing behind an ever-growing mountain of books and games. It'd all started some months into his trips here – he couldn't even pinpoint exactly when at this point. Just that the room had become something of a base for him whenever he was brought here. Occasionally, he'd be towed into an office or meeting room or even the kitchen, but never as much as Starrk's rooms. The others would pile in after him and Starrk would complain about the noise disturbing his nap but
crawl from his bed of pillows to the nest of pillows they'd pile on the floor around one game or another.
That day, Lilynette hovered in the center of all the chaos with a too-wide smile. Her eyes refused to meet his even as she gave a cheerful cry of his name. "Ichi! Took you long enough!"
She took a few steps forward but froze at whatever look was on his face. "Lilynette, what happened?"
She chewed her lip for a heartbeat before crossing her arms, nose going into the air, "I'm supposed to wait to tell you."
"Wait for what?"
"For the others," she huffed.
Gin stood like a statue at his back. Whatever this was about, he knew.
"Why?"
"Well… it's…"
"Lilynette."
"It's Nel."
Thirteen
Chapter Notes
you guys have NO IDEA how hard it was to not write a dad joke during one scene: Ichigo: I'm freezing! Aizen: And I'm Aizen.
I… valiantly refrained.
White walls blurred. The pounding of his heart drummed anger through him, drowning out everything else. He rounded a corner, skid past several doors and didn't even pause as he passed Aizen who was talking with Harribel. Barragan's scowl and Starrk's raised brow hardly registered. He was too busy with the feeling of both his blades falling into his hands. Too busy with his eyes set on the tall figure near the end of the hall, just coming out of the meeting room.
It was sheer luck that had Nnoitra bring his blade up in time to block. That and the warning Ichigo's seething reiatsu had probably given. Even he could feel the way it poured out of him, washing the hallway in thick, vicious killing-intent. Grimmjow let out a started bark of laughter, clearly excited by the sudden fight. The sound of it was nearly lost to the cracking thump of Nnoitra hitting the far wall. He may have stopped himself from being cut in half but he hadn't been properly braced for the blow.
Chunks of white stone littered the floor, the patter of them settling and Ichigo's own harsh breaths filled a deadly silence.
Nnoitra pulled himself up with a crazed look. Ichigo shifted; keeping not only Nnoitra but Grimmjow in his line of sight.
"What is the meaning of this?" Aizen demanded, flash-stepping between them.
"He hurt Nel," Ichigo said evenly.
There was a soft sigh, "Nelliel lost a fight and was thus demoted. That is how arrancar determine their position in my ranks." It is nothing to be upset over, Aizen didn't say, but Ichigo heard the reprimand all the same.
"No," Ichigo snapped, "he worked with Szayel to trick her and break her mask. It wasn't a fight, it wasn't for a promotion. It was humiliation."
"Even so," Aizen started, "she lost. She may fight for her position if she returns."
Right. Of all people to argue the validity and fairness of using tricks to, Aizen wasn't it.
"Ichigo. This is simply how it is here. How it's always been."
Fuck that.
"Just because something has always been done one-way doesn't mean it's right. Doesn't mean it should stay that way!" The words came out harsh and rushed and not as refined as he'd wanted, but
they came out all the same with the weight of his reiatsu and belief and resolve. "Isn't that why we're here? To clear the prejudice between Shinigami and hollows? Aren't you working to change things?" It wasn't. Not really. But even if the real reason would support this argument all the same, he wasn't so lost in his anger that he'd give away that he knew all of Aizen's plans.
"Changes like this are made slowly," Aizen replied calmly. Annoyingly so. As if none of this mattered. As if it wasn't life and death. There was no passion in his reply, no emotion; and that made it all more unbelievable. Aizen had no real stake in this – the arrancar were his pawns at most. Replaceable. His calm did not come out of logic and reason, but of disinterest and lack of care. "Prejudice isn't destroyed overnight and millennia-old traditions aren't uprooted so quickly." Or, no. Not lack of care. Because any positive change to provide the arrancar more say and stability, any move towards acceptance between them and the Shinigami, would mean a weakening of his own power in Las Noches and that would detriment his plans. So he took an argument that would support Ichigo's own stance and twisted it to fit the lopsided reality that he preferred.
It was sickening.
"Well you need to start somewhere," he countered; shifting on his feet and glaring for all his worth at the grotesquely smiling face of Nnoitra.
Gin had said that there were more politics here than he'd expect. If that included fighting to declare the winner then Ichigo was willing to go along with it for now. He'd come out on top and bring Nel back where she belonged. He'd force Szayel to help her and then she'd be more than capable of beating them all herself.
Aizen pinched the bridge of his nose, "You're not fighting Nnoitra."
"Why not?" Ichigo demanded.
"A challenge like this is to the death."
Ichigo was well aware. Yet hearing it again… "You said earlier that Nel could come back and fight for her place, right?"
"I did."
He could see the exact moment Nnoitra figured out his next words. He'd savor that anger for months. "Then I'll just go get her."
Nnoitra scoffed, "Bitch can't even fight anymore. If you bring her back for another round, then I'll just kill her."
"We'll see about that," Ichigo snapped.
"Enough," Aizen commanded. His reiatsu bore down heavily on both of them; the weight of an ocean suddenly on his shoulders, but Ichigo was used to this. Reveled in it, even. So as Nnoitra bowed under the pressure, Ichigo merely lifted his head higher. "Your fighting has already lost me a capable Espada. I will not abide by the loss of another. You will cease this childish squabbling and complete you missions. Ichigo, if she returns, we will discuss this again, but until then the topic is dropped, understand?"
The temptation to throw a Getsuga Tenshou in Nnoitra's face anyway was a strong one. He refrained. But only just. And only because Harribel stepped forward; her hand coming to rest on his shoulder, firm with barely held back strength.
"I'm going to look for her," he told Aizen. He turned on his heel and flash-stepped away, ignoring any and all protests, including the soft squeeze of Harribel's hand.
Las Noches's white walls turned to pale sand soon enough.
It would have been around a month since Nel's transformation, yet there was no telling where she'd gone. He knew that in his first life she was at least close to Las Noches. Relatively speaking. But that was years from now. As it was, she'd recently been beaten. She might have retreated far off to lick her wounds. If she had the state of mind to do so. Which was another can of worms entirely; how bad had she been right after he mask broke? Did her mind degrade all at once or gradually?
Could he even trust any of the others to keep her safe when he found her and brough her back?
At least that question had an answer.
One in the form of Harribel falling into step beside him with a powerful burst of sonido. Gin arrived with her, his usual smile in place.
"Lord Aizen sent us, Lordling," Harribel said.
"To drag me back?" He took several steps away.
"Yep!" Gin said. "But only after we help."
It came out in a tone like he expected the world to suddenly end. Like it was ending.
Which. Yeah. Ichigo got that.
Aizen not doing what you expected would do that to a person.
"For how long?" he asked, because it was the most concerning issue.
"A few hours," Harribel said evenly, her gaze scanning the horizon. "Given what we know of her situation it is unlikely she went far."
"Right," Ichigo said, starting to trudge through the drifting sands again. Of course they couldn't stay out here forever; not with Unohana waiting back in Soul Society, and he didn't doubt that Aizen would still want him to practice his reiatsu control despite Nel missing. Besides, Hueco Mundo was… well, practically endless. Ichigo could hope Nel was nearby but there was such a large chance she was further than they'd be able to search just yet. "And if we can't find her?"
"My fraccion will continue the search," Harribel answered without missing a beat.
"Thank you," he said because he had manners, and because in his last life he hadn't known the Espada to care much for each other. Whatever had happened to change that here… he could take a guess, but he doubted that their monthly game days were the only factor.
"I'm not doing this for you, Lordling," Harribel contradicted. "Nelliel has grown close to Sung-sun, Mila Rose and Apacci. And she is also one of the few Espada whose company I can tolerate." She looked down at him, "Outside of your visits, Nelliel is almost unshakably calm."
"I never thought I'd hear Nel and calm in the same sentence," he said instead of 'that's good to hear' or 'it's good she's made friends'. Or, even 'the fact you're doing this because she's your friend is far more heartening'.
"It was part of the reason Nnoitra loathed her so deeply," Harribel explained. "No matter how he acted or what he did during a spar, she wouldn't react and yet beat him soundly every time."
"Except this time."
"Yes, except this time." Then her eyes were on him, the sharpest of needles. "Szayel's hand in this is evident, but unproven. How did you conclude his involvement and speak so confidently of it?"
Ichigo's mouth went dry even as he didn't break eye contact. Fuck.
"Fuck," Shiro echoed in his mind.
"I told 'im," Gin smoothly intervened.
"And how would you know?"
"Ya really think I wouldn't? That Aizen didn't know before Ichi-chan said it?"
Harribel considered it for a long moment. What would she do if she didn't believe them? What could she do? Gin outranked her. But then… would she think that they had a hand in it? Surely not.
"It is interesting that you should," she said at last, "considering your absence in the last two months."
Nothing outwardly changed, but Gin became frostier. He didn't even say anything, simply stared.
"I see. So that's how it is," Harribel hummed.
"Paranoid bastard, ain't he?"
"To be wary of such volatile allies is hardly paranoia."
"Are ya sayin' there's somethin' ta find?"
Harribel's gaze was steely, "Not among my fraccion."
"But someone else's," Ichigo pressed.
"Not that you need to worry about, Lordling." Harribel drew her sword as she spoke, "Unlike Ichimaru, I do not believe children should be brought into the affairs of adults." The hollow that burst from under a dune was dead before it'd even shaken off the sand. He watched it melt into reishi. An adjuchas. A very stupid one. Or perhaps, with how tightly their reiatsu was pulled in, the hollow hadn't even realized what it was up against.
"I'm not a kid," he protested once her sword was sheathed.
"You're not?" She looked him up and down. "How old are you then?"
"Thirteen," he said on a scowl. A sour feeling pitted his stomach and heated his face; he couldn't say his real age, after all. Not that a handful of years would mean much to her.
"Thirteen? You're not more than a babe, let alone a child." Her brows crinkled, but only for a
moment. In the next she was glaring at Gin like a lion its prey. "Is this truly how Shinigami treat such young souls?"
Gin looked two seconds from fleeing.
"I'm not a baby," he snapped, annoyed that not only did he have to say it, but by how it made him sound all the younger. "Do I act like one?"
"You do not," she conceded.
"Exactly! So will you tell me what you meant before?"
"No."
"Withholdin' somethin' like this ain't gunna end well," Gin chimed in.
Harribel merely scoffed, "I hardly withheld it. Lord Aizen has already been informed."
Damn it.
He looked to Gin and saw his own sour frustration in the twist of his frown. They were shit out of luck in this.
All the same, Ichigo would put money on this dissent stemming from Barragan or Szayel. He'd also bet on Aizen not letting it fester for much longer. Certainly not long enough for them to make use of it. Given his own change in plans, he didn't know whether or not to feel relieved.
"Let's focus on finding Nel," Ichigo grumbled; the others didn't protest.
It was far easier said than done. Hueco Mundo was an expanse of rolling dunes that did more to resemble ocean waves than anything. The few outcroppings of rocks that were big enough for caves were sparce this close to Las Noches. Farther out along the horizon was the outline of mountains but they would take ages to reach. There was the occasional canyon, but none of them held a shock of green hair.
Worst of all, the sand got everywhere. Digging into his sandals and socks. The wind pushed it up and sent it into his face leaving him coughing and squinting and entirely out of sorts.
The first time he'd been here back when he was sixteen the weather had been far more accommodating. Now, he took a breath of relief when they stepped into a cave.
A group of hollows were huddled in one corner – powerful enough to recognize safety in numbers but not enough to come under Aizen's prevue.
"Wait," Ichigo said, holding out a hand to stop Harribel. "Maybe they know something."
She didn't strike them down which was as good as agreement, even if she didn't sheath her blade either.
Ichigo looked back at the cowering hollows. Right. "I don't think they'll listen to me," he muttered.
"They won't," Harribel hummed. "Listen up," she said louder, "we have no care for any of you. We are looking for a small vasto lorde with green hair. Have any of you seen anything?"
Silence.
"If you don't respond, I will assume you consumed them," Harribel continued coldly, reiatsu rising.
"We don't know shit!" shouted a hollow with far more arms than anyone reasonably needed.
"Is that so?"
"Yeah," another spoke up, clearly encouraged by the first one, "we didn't see her at all!"
The only reason he saw Harribel's blade was because he'd been training with Aizen. Her sword came to rest against the hollow's mask; even the slightest pressure and it would crack in half.
"I never mentioned she is a girl."
"I-I- we didn't see anything, I swear! Some others came by asking 'bout her!"
"Others?" Ichigo asked, "What did they look like?"
"I don't- yellow? Spotted?"
Harribel didn't retract her sword. "That's all?"
"The other looked like a toothpick," the hollow offered, voice small.
"Pesche and Don-something," Ichigo said on a rush. One of relief. If they saw them then Nel couldn't be too far, right? "How long ago?"
"A week?"
"Are you asking or telling us?" Harribel demanded.
"Telling! Telling!" the hollow shrieked, shaking. "We saw them a week ago by a rock that looked like a snake!"
"It's a start," Gin hummed. "But we can't check now. Not if ya wanna make it back on time, Ichi- chan."
"In that case, I will investigate. You two head back," Harribel said.
Ichigo dug his nails into his palms. Even if they'd made progress that didn't mean he was satisfied with leaving it here.
"Ichigo," Gin said.
"I know. It's just-," he shook his head. "Let's go."
They arrived back just as a sandstorm hit.
The howling wind and scrape of sand against Las Noches's walls reminded him distinctly of the ocean. The roar of waves. The rush of the breeze. The further they got into the fortress the duller the sound, until all at once it disappeared.
That was when they found Aizen. Tucked into an office sequestered at the end of a hall and not
nearly as grand as Ichigo would ever expect. Wing-backed chair? Check. Towering bookshelves? Check? But simple other than that. No chandelier. No grand windows. No statues or any of the oddly fragile vases that lined the hallways – odd because who would think to put something that breakable near someone like Grimmjow.
Aizen looked up from his piles of scrolls of papers and inkwells.
"One of you is going to tell me how Ichigo found out about Nelliel," Aizen said instead of a proper greeting.
Ichigo stubbornly kept his mouth shut.
Gin, the absolute traitor, did not.
"Lilynette told 'im, though Harribel thinks it was me."
"And why does she think that?"
"Ichi-chan hadn't wanted ta throw her ta da wolves, well da shark in this case, so I figured he wouldn't appreciate me doin' it."
"I would've kicked you ass."
"Language," Aizen said without missing a beat. "That still doesn't explain your frankly idiotic choice to attack Nnoitra."
Years of experience told him that saying Nnoitra deserved it would get him nowhere very fast. Saying he could have won would earn him a one-way trip to a mountain of bland textbooks. So instead he wisely decided on; "You were right there! Nothing would've happened."
Aizen raised a brow, entirely unimpressed, "Would you have attacked him if I wasn't there?"
Stubbornly he denied it. "No."
Wisely, Aizen didn't buy it. "I don't believe you."
"It didn't happen that way so it doesn't matter," Ichigo said.
"I'm not having this discussion again," Aizen replied simply, then he turned back to Gin. "You were there with Ichigo when Lilynette told him. Why didn't you stop her?"
"It wasn't a matter o' stoppin' Lilynette."
"I deserve to know if one of my friends is hurt," Ichigo declared, chafing at being dismissed so blatantly from a conversation about him. Seriously, when was shit like this going to stop?
"It's not a matter of deserving, but of your reaction," Aizen said. "Gin, you're free to go."
"Sure thing, da paperwork won't do itself. See ya around, Ichi-chan!" he said cheerfully. Ichigo was positive he'd rather be killing Aizen with a thousand papercuts.
The second the door clicked shut behind him, their conversation continued. Just… not in the direction that he expected.
"Would you prefer to come here instead of going to the living world next week?" Aizen asked, moving around his desk to stand in front of Ichigo.
On one hand he wanted to help. Wanted to ensure Nel's safety. On the other, his mom and sisters and dad and Ishida stood. "I trust Harribel," he decided on. "She said she'd help." His usual scowl turned demanding then. "You better tell me when they find her."
"Mind your manners, Ichigo," Aizen reprimanded. "But yes, I will tell you." He reached a hand out and brushed it through Ichigo's hair, sending sand everywhere. "What did you do, roll in the dunes?"
"It's windy."
"We'll have to clean you off before we get back," Aizen said with a frown. "I'm sure Unohana knows a river we can stop at."
"You're not throwing me into a river!"
"No?" Aizen raised a brow; his lips curved into a smile. "Then I suppose I'll have to let you clean off here. Come on."
Ichigo wanted to scoff at the way Aizen said it; like it hadn't been his plan from the start. Like there wasn't three different hot springs in Las Noches. Like there wasn't one two hallways over with an entire line of showers.
And while Ichigo appreciated not being thrown into a river, he would also appreciate Aizen not shoving him under the spray of freezing water. Clothes and all. "Hey!"
"It's not just your hair covered in sand," Aizen replied.
"You couldn't have waited until it was warm?!" he demanded instead of arguing over that.
"That would waste time."
"It's freezing!"
"You'll be fine."
"I can't feel my fingers."
"If you didn't just stand there then you'd be done with this faster." On a sigh Aizen rolled up his sleeves and reached out to started working the sand out of his hair, which hadn't been cut in months and was very much falling into his eyes. "Circulate your reiatsu in a consistent pattern. It will help warm you up."
"So you admit it's cold."
Aizen pulled his hair over his eyes without a hint of remorse. "I said no such thing."
If he were an actual child, he would have stuck his tongue out right then. Instead, he started moving his reiatsu around, and when he no longer felt like he was going to turn to ice, he started scrubbing off the bits of wet sand on his robes that shaking them out hadn't gotten rid of.
"Can we have curry for dinner?" Ichigo asked scrunching his nose up at how his socks had become soaked through. Walking around in them until they dried was going to suck.
"If you're awake enough to go to Rukongai."
"Do you think Unohana will want to come with us?"
"You can ask her."
Ichigo bit the inside of his cheek to hold back the laughter bubbling in his throat as a sudden – ridiculous and impossible – thought came to mind. He was going to blame Rukia for it. It was entirely her and Yachiru's fault. "Ya know, Rukia said you act like my dad and Yachiru told me Unohana acts like my mom so does that mean-."
There was a sharp tug on his hair, "Not another word."
"Because you don't want to admit you like her?"
"I hold no such feelings for her."
"Is it because of her smile?" Ichigo pressed, not bothering to hold back his laughter after his shaking shoulders already gave him away.
"No, even if it could turn Grimmjow into a kitten."
"Can we-."
"No."
"You didn't even know what I was going to ask!"
"Focus on cleaning your robes, Ichigo," Aizen said, voice light. He pulled back from working on Ichigo's hair. "Meet me back in my office when you're done." And then he was gone and Ichigo was left standing in sandy water slowly but surely running clear.
By the time the majority of the sand had been cleaned off, he was pleasantly warm. Hugged by that warmth and an almost too-fluffy towel – as white as the walls – he walked back to Aizen's office, the piles of neglected paperwork greeting him.
He slid into a seat and sank down into his towel-turned-blanket.
"We have an hour before we leave," Aizen told him from his wing-backed chair. "Meditate and don't stop circulating your reiatsu."
He waited only a minute before reaching out to poke at Aizen's reiatsu, trying to drag it out.
"You're supposed to be surrounding yourself with hollow-reiatsu," Aizen said.
"Then can I go find Starrk?"
"Is finding Starrk going to have a convenient detour to find Nnoitra or Szayelaporro?"
"No."
"Then go. I'll come find you when it's time to leave."
Ichigo was up and out the door before Aizen could change his mind.
Even with his fastest flash-step it took a good minute to reach Starrk's rooms. Thankfully, he was
there. Lilynette, however, was nowhere to be seen.
"Where-?"
"She went to look for Nel."
"In the desert?" he asked, taking a step back because the sandstorm was still raging outside. The wind and the sand whipped past the small windows that Starrk had in his room, beating against the glass.
Starrk yawned, "She's fine."
At that moment the wind screamed long and loud.
"She's the size of a kitten and out in that."
"She isn't a child," Starrk snorted. "If she heard you, the sandstorm would be the least of your concerns."
Ichigo didn't have anything to say to that. Lilynette was one half of the Primera. What was more, Ichigo had seen her wrestle Grimmjow into submission over a monopoly game.
"Are you going to nap or just stand there?"
"I'm supposed to meditate," Ichigo grumbled, wading through the sea of pillows and blankets to collapse against Starrk's side. It earned him a lazy oof. He shifted until he was comfortable, his sealed blade resting across his knees and his back pressed snuggly into Starrk's side who had sprawled spread-eagle across his bed.
Ichigo lasted all of a few breaths before tipping backwards to spill across Starrk's stomach, staring at the painfully white ceiling. If he stared long enough, maybe he'd go blind.
"You should pain it blue with clouds," he commented, voice low.
Starrk gave a soft hum of interest.
"Or maybe stars," he said.
"Which ones?"
"Huh?"
"Which stars?" Starrk asked. "I'm not painting them all."
Ichigo snorted, "You'd make Lilynette do it anyway."
"You're not wrong."
Ichigo scratched at his cheek, squinting into the white abyss and wondering why Aizen chose this color of all things. Or, more, why he had to make everything so monotone.
"Hey Starrk."
"Hm?"
"Why do you follow Aizen?" he asked; twisting to watch the way Starrk cracked one eye open.
"Before Aizen found us," Starrk started, "our reiatsu crushed everything that got close. Now, we have board game nights."
"So you were lonely?"
A lot like Aizen himself, then. Only Starrk and Lilynette were willing to admit it. Or, perhaps they were simply not as scared of what it meant.
"We were." Starrk took in a deep breath, jostling Ichigo. "We owe Aizen a debt for helping us."
Ichigo frowned, "There shouldn't be a debt for something like that."
"Maybe not for you," Starrk said, "but for us it is worth our very lives. I always envied the weak, thanks to Aizen I no longer have to."
Ichigo let the harsh scrape of the wind settle like silence around them. Part of him was tempted to sink into his inner world and sort out the wealth of emotions nesting in his chest. The part that won, however, had him prodding at Starrk's reiatsu until he released enough to drown a menos.
Soon he wouldn't be small enough to do this. In a few months he'd shoot up like a weed; finally hitting that promised growth spurt. He wouldn't be as tall as he'd been at fifteen or sixteen just yet, but he'd be tall enough that he'd look down on Rukia and Lilynette. Tall enough that his mom would fuss with that strained smile and his dad would puff up like a damn peacock; his camera out even though Ichigo wouldn't be able to show up in any of the shots. Tall enough that leaning against Aizen's back and tucking himself into Starrk's side would swiftly become nostalgic. And…
And tall enough to be able to wield Shiro.
"He won't abandon you," Starrk's voice broke through the wind's. "Nelliel is a comrade that lost a fight. She will return if she wishes to. You are his son and student. I doubt there is anything you can do to make him leave you behind."
You'd be surprised, Ichigo bit his tongue around the words.
"Why aren't you looking for Nel?" Ichigo asked instead, pushing his own thoughts away. "Isn't she one of your friends?"
"Do you trust Harribel?"
"Yeah."
"So do I," Starrk said. "Besides, she may not want to return. Losing like that is a shame that would break many packs."
"Is it enough to break yours?"
"No."
It was a comforting thought to meditate to.
Normally, they left Las Noches before heading back through the dangai, but the second they
opened the door to head out a blast of wind whipped up a wave of sand. Aizen closed the door, just shy of slamming it.
"I told you it was windy."
"Ichigo."
"Did something happen?" Unohana asked by way of greeting, her smile gentle as always but her eyes sharp.
"Sandstorm," Ichigo said with cheer, like he hadn't scrubbed off the sand he was once more covered with a mere hour ago. At least this time Aizen was just as bad off.
Unohana rushed forward, wasting no time in scanning them both with her reiatsu, "Did you inhale any of it?"
"No, it started just as we left," Aizen said like a liar.
And like a good little student and future member of the fourth, Ichigo didn't let him get away with it, "I told him it was windy but he didn't believe me. When we left the cave, he got blasted in the face."
It earned him a chuckle from Unohana and a put-upon sigh from Aizen.
"Why didn't you just make the garganta in the cave?"
Because Aizen was a paranoid bastard that didn't want to risk even the slightest chance that they would be traced back to his super-secret fortress where he was planning to overthrow the Soul King.
"Because there were hollows in the cave with us," Ichigo explained.
Unohana stilled, smile going flinty. "You didn't kill them?"
It was directed at Aizen, but Ichigo answered anyway. "They were just trying to get out of the storm."
"They're dangerous. You could have been hurt."
"That doesn't mean they deserve to die," he said. "You said you used to be a criminal. The worst criminal. Does that mean you shouldn't have gotten a second chance too?"
"Many hollows are mindless in their hunger, Ichigo. They cannot be reasoned with and it is our duty to protect against them."
"Then what about my hollow? What about the vizard?"
That, at least, brought her up short.
"I'm not stupid," he said to her silence. "I mean it's not really their fault, is it?" At least not all of them, he clarified in his head. The hollow that had been after Chad's spirit friend, and Grand Fisher came to mind easily. Yet, Starrk and Lilynette and Nel and Harribel pushed them both out easily.
"They were the ones left behind. Is it really right of us to assume they're all evil just because they want to survive?"
"He's been like this all day," Aizen told Unohana. "At this rate he'll turn into a revolutionary."
Ichigo was positive that he as the only one to hear the twinge of pride in Aizen's voice.
"Ichigo," Unohana started, voice gentle and slow, "you must not tell anyone else this. Especially the other captains."
"I know," he snapped. He knew Soul Society was prejudice. Knew they didn't like hollows to the point they would kill their own hollowfied allies. Knew. Yet Unohana had accepted Shiro easily. Had spoken in support of the vizard. "I just thought you'd be more willing to understand."
"I do understand," she said, "but I've also seen the damage that they can do. Every day Shinigami come to my squad injured because of hollows. Every day souls are eaten by them."
"But not all of them are like that. Not all of them are mindlessly driven by hunger."
"Be that as it may," Unohana said, "it's not the ones that are different who we face each day. If you go around saying that hollows deserve sympathy then you will not find anyone willing to listen."
"Your position isn't a bad one to have, Ichigo," Aizen stepped in, "but if you want people to listen then you will need proof and to speak with more nuance from a place more powerful than the student of a captain."
The problem, Ichigo realized, was that he had proof and could do nothing with it. And that he'd gotten people to listen once upon a time, but that Aizen was right. Painfully so. Back in the future, he had been a war hero and martyr. Not to mention that the vizard had helped take down Aizen. With Central dead… there was little to stop their acceptance from happening.
"Now, let's get moving," Unohana said, pulling back and walking towards the forest in the distance.
"Are we still going to get curry?" Ichigo asked, trying to shake the sand out of his still slightly- damp hair. It didn't do much good.
"A bath would do us good first," Aizen reasoned.
"Curry?"
"Ichigo wants it for dinner," Aizen said. "He also wanted to ask you to join."
Unohana's smile was more genuine as she shook her head, "I would love to but I need to take care of the herbs I've collected."
"Next time then," Ichigo said.
"Next time," Unohana agreed. "But I have to wonder if you're planning on walking through Seireitei covered in sand."
"Ideally not," Aizen huffed.
"In that case, come along, I have an idea." And then she flash-stepped away, leaving them to do nothing else but follow after her.
"Captain Aizen! Ichigo! What happened?! Why are you both covered in mud?!" Hinamori cried out as they trudged through the fifth.
"Long story," Ichigo grumbled, scratching at a bit of mud that had dried on his arm.
"I'll leave some clean clothes outside the bathhouse," she rushed to say and then was off like a shot before either of them could reply.
"At least no one else is around to see this," he mumbled.
"Ichigo?" Rukia's voice came from behind, thick with laughter.
Damn it.
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