Chapter 9: Shinji Grows Suspicious

Ichigo's answer came when he was met on the sands by a familiar giant worm. This was clearly Bawabawa, which meant that Neliel, Pesche and Dondochaka weren't too far away.

Bawabawa was doing his best to surprise or scare the soul reaper captain, but Ichigo simply stared at the giant worm with a grin on his face. He patted the big worm and, at first, Bawabawa tensed up. But the bug like hollow eased down when he noticed that Ichigo was smiling warmly at him.

"Good boy." Ichigo said as he removed his hand from Bawabawa and walked along with the big worm in tow.

After a few seconds the three aforementioned hollows stepped out from behind a sand dune not far from the captain. They were clearly confused by his actions and the fact that he didn't try anything to harm Bawabawa. Ichigo knew they were already there and turned to them. When his eyes locked onto theirs, the three ducked down quickly.

"You think he saw us?" Dondochaka asked his brother and sister.

"I don't think so." Neliel started before they rose up. They were immediately met by soul reaper captain who was just standing there with his arms crossed and a grin on his face.

"You guys aren't that great at hiding you know." Ichigo said to them. "So where's everyone else at Neliel?"

Neliel stood up quickly and straightened herself up, much to Ichigo's confusion. "They're all back at the ruins of Las Noches, sir." Both Ichigo, Dondochaka, Pesche and even Bawabawa stared at her in confusion as she said those words like that. Neliel noticed their looks towards her and just said. "What?"

Ichigo started to chuckle under his breath, much to the surprise of the four. They so far had never seen him do more than give that death glare to anyone. They didn't know which was more terrifying, his death glare or his smile and chuckle.

After Ichigo finished and regained himself, he looked over to Neliel and she straightened up fast. "Neliel, do me a favor."

"Yes?" She quickly said.

"Don't change, okay?" Ichigo said before walking off toward Las Noches. He was followed by Bawabawa and Dondochaka, but Pesche stopped and looked at Neliel. She seemed a little confused by those words and didn't know how to react to it.

"Nel?" Pesche started, getting her attention. "You okay?"

"Yeah." She said to him in a relaxed tone. "Lets get going."

With that, both Neliel and Pesche followed Ichigo to the ruins of Las Noches. It didn't take long for them to reach the broken palace and enter through a crumbled archway. There was a lot of commotion before Ichigo showed up and a few fights going on. All of the espada had on clothes now, so that was good for Ichigo to know. All of the fighting and noised stopped when Ichigo stepped into view. Ichigo saw how everyone was staring at him in anticipation and wondering if he could really bring back the palace of Hueco Mundo like he promised he would. Aka was among the ones who was waiting on pins and needles as Ichigo made his way over to the center of the large area. As he walked, hollows of nearly all kind moved out of his way. Ichigo finally made it to the center of the broken palace and took a deep breath before sitting cross legged on the ground. He took another deeper breath and his chest started to glow a light purple color. Everyone was in awe of what they were seeing and had no idea what to think of this whole spectacle. Ichigo took one last breath before the light faded and surrounded him in a circle. When that happened, Ichigo stood up and drew his blade. He stepped out of the circle and popped his neck a few times before saying one word.

"Bankai." His blade disappeared from his hand and he moved his right arm into the circle. When he did this, a massive torrent of black, red and purple energy fired high into the sky.

No one could tell what was going on, but they could feel the crushing yet soft spirit pressure dropping on them all. It was unlike anything that anyone had ever felt before, and it only continued as the impossible happened. The once destroyed palace started to form when the beam started to spread out throughout the sky. It formed a large ceiling that covered the entire sky under them and started to spread down toward the ground miles around them all. The destroyed rubble broke down into dark spirit energy and went over to the beam of energy. The spectacle continued for several more seconds until the it was complete. Las Noches was back and even more magnificent than before. The floor was tiled with dark red tiles while the walls were a shaded type of white. The room they were in was a massive courtyard like area with an opening large enough for everyone there to exit and enter at their own will. What surprised every hollow there the most was the fact that the outside had light from a sun out there and instead of sand, it was concrete like a street.

The beam was still going but the pressure had died down tremendously to the point that it could barely be felt. Ichigo reached into the beam and grunted for a brief moment before pulling out his now sealed blade. His arm had a burn on it but didn't look all too serious as he sheathed his blade. Ichigo looked around and saw the awed looks on everyone's faces, despite the fact that most of them had masks on. He smirked and looked around until he landed his eyes on a familiar panther Vasto Lorde.

"Grimmjow." Ichigo started as he motioned the powerful hollow over to him.

Grimmjow was confused on why he was being singled out right now. He saw that all eyes were on him and slowly made his way over to the captain. When he reached Ichigo, he could feel a strange energy resonating from the calm beam and looked over to Ichigo. Said soul reaper motioned for Grimmjow to go into it and even grinned while he did so. Grimmjow hesitated at first, but felt a pull that he could feel felt natural to him. With everyone already waiting in anticipation, Grimmjow took a breath and went into the beam. For a few brief seconds, the shadowy figure of a panther changed to that of a man and Grimmjow came out of the other end no longer a Vasto Lorde, but a full fledged arrancar like the others. He was a light skinned man with blue hair, a jaw piece on the right side of his face, was very toned, and had zanpakuto in his its sheath in his hand. Of course he was also naked too.

"What the fuck?" Grimmjow said to himself as he looked himself up and down.

"Impressive isn't it?" Ichigo said, earning Grimmjow's attention. "Remember this feeling Grimmjow, because that power is yours now." Grimmjow actually nodded to the captain out of respect, the first anyone had ever seen him do that before. Ichigo returned it with his own nod and looked around to all the other hollows that weren't arrancar yet. "Each and every single one of you are going to step into this beam to become the very strength this palace deserves!" He started with leadership in the tone of his voice. "Every single one of you will become arrancar and live within this restored palace! All I ask from all of you in exchange is your loyalty and help when we face the soul society! If you are indeed having second thoughts, then there's the door! You will not be hunted by me or anyone else that decides to stay here!"

He pointed towards the exit to signal for anyone to leave that didn't want this. There was complete and total silence all throughout the large courtyard as no one even bothered to look at the exit. Ichigo looked around and saw resolve and strength in every pair of eyes around him. He smiled and decided to continue.

"Good! Then form a line, and do it calmly!" There was a bit of irritation in that last phrase so his point could get across.

The hundreds of hollows from the weakest Gillian to the strongest Adjucha, they all went through the beam and emerged as arrancar now. As this was going on, Ichigo was approached by Aka and a few the other espada. Mainly Halibel, Neliel, Stark and Szayel.

"That was incredible." Szayel started as he was very amazed by the power that the captain had used. "I know I won't get any answer from this but I just have to ask. How did you do this?"

Ichigo looked at all of them and saw the same look of question mixed in with awe and amazement and chuckled again. "It has something to do with an object that I have in my possession. That's all you all need to know."

"So now that you restored the palace," Stark started in a slightly curious tone. "Does that mean we have our own rooms now? Yes, no?"

Ichigo knew exactly what he was talking about and chuckled again. "The rooms in this palace are tailored to your spirit energies. You'll be able to find them if you search for your own familiar energy Stark. And yes, it has comfortable beds for you to sleep on."

Stark smiled at that and excused himself to search for his room. He was followed by an angered Lilinette who wanted to explore with him, not watch him sleep.

"Oh yeah, Szayel." Ichigo started to the pink haired espada. "I think you'll like room very much. I tailored it to suit that scientific mind of yours, so I made it a laboratory."

Szayel beamed at hearing that. He bowed many times to Ichigo much to the captains mixture of annoyance and amusement. Szayel went off to find his room/lab leaving the area in a hurry.

"Halibel." Ichigo started again, getting the dark skinned arrancar's attention. "I know how much you enjoy the water and how it calms you, so your room has something extra to help with that. I hope you enjoy it." Ichigo was referring to a small fountain in her room that had a shark in the center of it spraying water from its eyes into the water.

Halibel nodded to him and went in search of her room, but she stopped when she noticed the snake, lion and deer Adjucha she used to be around. She noticed them as one by one they went through the beam and appeared as young women. They noticed that Halibel was staring at them and they bowed their heads to her. Halibel looked at them then back to the captain to ask him a question. She didn't even have to ask him as he smirked to her and nodded. Halibel sighed in relief and told the three to follow her to her room.

"So, do I get anything special in my room or something?" Neliel asked Ichigo.

He thought for a second before snapping his fingers. "Your room has window that looks out to the ground floor where Bawabawa will be staying."

"Really!?" She yelled out in excitement. She hugged him tightly and released him after a brief moment. The ones that saw this were shocked that the captain didn't do anything to retaliate and instead smiled at her.

"You're welcome Neliel." Ichigo said to her. "Now go on and find your room okay." She smiled at him and nodded before leaving to find her room with the new arrancar forms of Pesche and Dondochaka.

Ichigo looked to Aka and saw that he was still staring at the beam of energy. Almost like he was hypnotized by it or something.

"Impressive isn't it?" Ichigo said as he placed a hand on Aka's shoulder to bring him out of his trance.

Aka looked up to him and asked. "This power, isn't it the same you used on me when we first met?"

"Yes it is." Ichigo said to him. "Only this time its more or less used to change hollows to their own liking, not mine. And before you ask, no. Even if you do go through it, you'll still be the same as you are."

Aka nodded to him and they both continued to watch the rest of the hollows pass through the beam.

A Few Hours Later, Squad 11 Barracks

It took a long time, but Ichigo was finally able to leave after the last of the hollows turned into arrancar. He stepped through the garganta and closed it before unsealing the room. After healing his arm of the burn, Ichigo left the room and went out to find a squad member walking along the barracks.

"Captain Kaiyo." He said with a bow.

"Tell me, what time is it right now?" Ichigo asked in his usual voice.

"Almost one o clock captain."

"Enough time then." Ichigo said before thanking the man and leaving for the captains meeting in only twenty minutes.

As he walked along, he felt that he was being watched by someone new. This clearly wasn't Soi-Fon since she showed the utmost respect for him, and it couldn't have been Yoruichi, she was more of a 'let someone else do it' type of person sometimes. Ichigo stopped and felt the energy until he recognized it completely.

"Captain Hirako." Ichigo started as he turned to the direction of said captain. "Something I can help you with before the meeting?"

Shinji stepped out of the shadows and approached Ichigo. He stopped in front of him and had a very serious look on his face. "You can start by telling me just what you and my lieutenant and third seat are up to. Then give me one good reason I shouldn't report any of your recent actions to the central forty six."

Ichigo hadn't changed his expression not once and instead folded his arms. "Like I said with Yoruichi before concerning Soi-Fon, I see potential in those two. And unlike you Captain Hirako, I actually push them to reach that potential instead of having them figure it out on their own."

Shinji narrowed his eyes on the captain and continued to listen.

"Now I honestly don't know what you really mean by my recent actions, but I assure you, I haven't done anything to warrant any sort of actions towards me."

Shinji had enough of this and grabbed the captain by his haori. The passing soul reapers were shocked by what was occurring and watched intently.

"You're hiding something Kaiyo." He said in a low tone so only the both of them could hear. "You appear out of the blue with this already established power at the academy. Blow through the academy and everyone in your squad within less than a century. You become a captain with a zanpakuto unlike anything anyone had ever seen in the history of the soul society. You train lieutenants and other seated officers for a bogus reason, and you keep placing a barrier not even a captain could get through. You're hiding something and I don't like it Kaiyo."

Ichigo noticed the crowd started to get a little bit larger and decided to break the tension between him and Shinji. "You are right about one thing Shinji. I am hiding something, but you'll never know until I believe you're ready to see it like your lieutenant has." That caught Shinji's attention completely. Ichigo grabbed at his arm and lowered it off of himself calmly. "So are we done here captain? We have a meeting to get to."

Ichigo let go of Shinji's arm and walked off to the direction of the captains meeting. As he walked, the ones in his way moved aside and Shinji watched with an angered look as Ichigo walked away.

Done.

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