I needed to think of a way to keep Uryu away from Yhwach, and I think I've come up with one. Let me know what you think. Enjoy the chapter.


28

Ichigo, Tenebris, and Shiro were taking a walk; although, the hollow zanpakuto was deathly bored. Shiro Zangetsu was walking with his hands folded behind his head and looking up toward the sky.

While looking up to the blue sky, Shiro noticed a small dot falling. He narrowed his eyes, hoping to make out what it was. The first thing he saw was the color green, followed by white. He began to hear what sounded like screaming. Now he knew what was falling; it was a tiny Arrancar, a familiar one.

Shiro stopped walking, causing Ichigo and Tenebris to halt when they noticed he stopped following them. They turned to face him. "What's up?" Ichigo asked.

Shiro looked Ichigo in the eye. "Nel," he replied seriously.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow confusedly, but it quickly changed to shock and pain when a hard Arrancar mask met his skull. The shinigami shouted in pain and fell to the ground. Shiro began laughing so uncontrollably that he could hardly keep himself standing.

Tenebris looked up to see if anything else was falling from the sky. Her wide eyes were the only warning Shiro got before she vanished with Ichigo. She reappeared ten feet away when a purple and white blur crashed where the two had been previously.

Shiro looked to see that it was the weird, bug-faced Arrancar. 'What was his name again?' he questioned silently.

"Pesche, what is going on?" Tenebris asked the purple, bug-like hollow since Nel was too busy crying into Ichigo's shirt.

Before Pesche could say anything, however, Nel said, "H…help…Ichigo…" Ichigo stared at Nel for a second, before he, Tenebris, and Shiro turned to Pesche.

"You want to explain further?" Ichigo asked with a hint of danger in his voice.

"Well…" Pesche rubbed the back of his head nervously. "I think we may want to have everyone here for what I have to say."

"Fine," said Tenebris, "we'll go to Urahara's shop and call Uryu and Chad to meet us there."


Shiro, Ichigo, Tenebris, Nel, Pesche, Urahara, Chad, and Uryu were all sitting in the sitting room of the Urahara's Shop.

Ururu served tea to everyone before leaving the room. Uryu picked up his tea and took a sip before saying, "Mind telling us what's going on?"

Everyone turned to Pesche, who stiffened when he saw all their focus on him. He coughed into his hand to clear his throat, but Shiro knew it was a cover-up to hide his nervousness.

"Well, after the battle with Aizen, Harribel took control of Hueco Mundo. Everything was going great, but then these people in white appeared. We don't know who they are, but they attacked Las Noches, destroying everything in their path. They captured all the weaker Arrancar, but Nel and I were the only ones that got away," Pesche finished explaining.

Nel, sitting on Ichigo's lap this whole time, looked at his face and said, "We couldn't find Dondachaca anywhere, so we think he was captured. If he was, we knew we would need help. Those guys are powerful. They even captured Master Harribel."

"Darn that's strong," said Tenebris with a whistle. "That girl is no pushover."

Ichigo and Shiro turned to look at the dragon hollow. "How would you know that? We never saw her fight."

"She was Espada number 3, right? I'm basing her power on that of Nel's while she's in her adult form. Nel was a powerhouse and whipped the floor with Nnoiritoa before I took over and killed him."

"Oh," Ichigo said silently.

"Wait, Nel has an adult form?" asked Uryu.

"She's an Espada?" asked Chad.

Ichigo raised an eyebrow. "You didn't know?" the two shook their heads.

"I heard Pesche call her "Master Nel", but I forgot all about it since we were in the middle of a battle," said Uryu.

"Well, now you know. She was Espada number 3 before Spoon-Head tried to kill her," said Tenebris with an expression of disgust. She still hated that Arrancar, it seemed, even if he was dead.

"Spoon-head?" questioned Uryu, but Chad seemed to know who Tenebris was talking about.

Ichigo decided they needed to get back on topic. "They must have been the quincies. Their king had come back recently and is building up his army. So, we'll help you save your brother and find out what these guys are planning."

"I'm sure we'll find out anyway," said Tenebris with a roll of her eyes. "Bad guys just have a thing for telling the good guys their plans."

"Only when they thought they had already won," stated Shiro.

"Which pops up way too prematurely." Tenebris paused when a thought struck her. "What happened to Grimmjow and Ulquiorra?"

"I don't know," said Pesche with a shrug. "They haven't been around Las Noches for some time."

"They're probably fine then," said Ichigo.

"Um…" Everyone turned to Uryu when they heard his voice. "You guys go on ahead. There are some things I need to do."

Shiro thought he heard something in Uryu's voice. It sounded like nervousness, but why was that? Ichigo didn't seem to hear it, because he shrugged his shoulders dismissively, but Tenebris took notice of Uryu's behavior.

"Why don't you want to come? Is it because it's hollows?" she asked, but the way her eyes narrowed and her head tilted, told Shiro that she knew it wasn't what she was accusing Uryu of.

"That's… not it," Uryu replied slowly, not looking Tenebris in the eyes.

"Then why?" Uryu didn't answer her this time, making Ichigo realize something was wrong.

"Uryu," Ichigo started, "you're our cousin. You can trust us. Please tell us what's going on."

"What's goin' on in that head of yours?" Shiro asked.

"I know it has something to do with the quincies. I know you don't agree with what they're doing. Heck, you said so yourself sometime last year when you and Ichigo had that hollow killing contest. So why aren't you coming with us? Do you not wish to fight them?" Tenebris asked.

Uryu remained silent for a bit but sighed in defeat shortly after. His shoulders sagged and his head bent down, meeting no one's gaze. "I do plan to fight them. I was thinking of joining their ranks so I can get close to the king and kill him."

"So you're planning on pulling a Gin Ichimaru…" Tenebris said with her eyes rolling in annoyance. "That's a dumb idea, and you know it. Why risk your life like that?"

"That is a dumb idea," said old man Zangetsu from within Ichigo's inner world.

"He's the reason my mother died," replied Uryu. "He's why many quincies died nine years ago."

"Nine…years ago?" Tenebris muttered to herself before turning to Ichigo. "Didn't our mother die then?" she asked.

"Yeah, but she was killed by a hollow, though."

"But wasn't she a quincy? Shouldn't she have been able to kill Grand Fisher?"

Ichigo thought about that. "I guess she could have… but why didn't she?"

"Maybe lack of fighting, or something to do with the king?" Tenrbris guessed, but then Old Man Zangetsu pitched in after manifesting in the room.

"I saw a pillar of light hit her before she could take on the hollow. It blinded Shiro and I for a moment so we never saw what happened. When I was able to get my sight back, Grand Fisher was gone and your mom was dead. I suspect it may have been Yhwach." he said, finally letting Ichigo know what he saw that night.

"That pillar came from the king of the quincies. He stole her powers at the wrong time, but even if she did survive that encounter there was a chance she would have died later due to the silver blood clot."

"What?" Tenebris asked.

"Silver forms inside a quincy when they lose their powers. This silver acts like poison to us."

"Okay, well the old man also agrees that your plan is stupid, and I would listen to him if no one else," said Shiro. "So tell us, Zangetsu. Why is his plan so stupid?"

"The king's powers allow him to see visions of the future. So he will know about Uryu's betrayal long before he makes a move," the quincy zanpakuto explained.

Tenebris groaned, "Great! How are we supposed to fight someone with that kind of power?!"

TBC


I had to do a lot of fact-checking while editing because I wrote some things that I wasn't too sure were things the characters knew already or not. I also had to look up how Uryu's mother died.

Ichi: Good thing you're taking an editing course.

Enj/Dark: Yeah, but I'm only 20% done. I still have a ways to go. :(

Shiro: Well, people here could let you know while reading from here on out.

Enj/Dark: I know there are still going to be some mistakes. No one's perfect, after all.

Ichi: True.

Shiro: Please review! We'll be going to Hueco Mundo in the next chapter!

Enj/Dark: Hopefully… :/