Chapter 12: Kisuke And Yoruichi

Some KisukeXYoruichi In This Chapter. Enjoy.

After Ichigo had sent both Yoruichi and Kisuke to Hueco Mundo, and Shinji and his group to the world of the living, Tessai was questioned about just what happened out there in a captains meeting. The head captain was not happy to hear that they had lost four captains to some sort of hollow experimentation and possibly two more captains were involved in it somehow. The news put the old man in a tough predicament as now they were short six captains now and were losing Ginrei to his illness. So they would lose seven total captains. The news to the remaining captains came as a shock as nobody knew just what to do about this problem. Word would spread fast of the missing captains and news had already spread of Ginrei's retirement from duty, so that put the thirteen court guard squad in serious jeopardy. As Tessai finished his explanation up to the point where Yoruichi knocked him out for some unknown reason, Ichigo decided to speak up out of everyone to recommend potential captains to fill in now.

"Head captain." He started, surprising everyone remaining in the room. He stepped forward and continued. "If I may, I think I have, at the very least, four potential candidates to fill in the role of captain."

Everyone knew where this was going as Ichigo spoke with slight hesitance, almost as if he wasn't truly sure about his students filling in the roles yet. The head captain looked at the Kenpachi with shock in his old eyes and decided to weigh his options. He had known of Ichigo Kenpachi Kaiyo training seated officers and a lieutenant for some time now. He had heard that the four had become truly on par with captain class reiatsu and that they had achieved Bankai with the squad eleven captain's help. They were capable warriors and competent enough to fill in the role as captain. True, some didn't have true leadership skills, but they can learn on the job. And it is not as though Kaiyo would simply abandon them if they couldn't handle some of the responsibilities. They were young yes, but have far greater experience than any other seated officer or even lieutenants in the soul society right now. This could be a bad decision on the head captains part, but they would at least only have to fill in three captains spots now instead of seven. With a deep sigh that caught everyone's attention, the head captain banged his cane on the floor.

"Captain Kaiyo." He started. Ichigo stood fast, in case the head captain rejected this offer. "As much as this goes against tradition, and as young as your four students are, do you believe they are ready?"

The question seemed to freeze everyone in the room aside from Ichigo. Everyone looked to the orange haired captain and waited for his response. The uncertainty from before was gone completely as he stood proudly and said to the head captain and all the remaining captains in the room.

"Yes. I do"

"Then we will have to test and assign them as soon as possible." The head captain stated to them all before banging his cane. "There is a crisis in our midst. A hollow, or hollows, with the ability to change soul reapers into them. This must stop now if we are to keep the upper hand on all hollows. I shall assign captains Shiba and Kyoraku to hunt down these hollows and stop them before anyone else is effected. In three days, your four students will take the captains test captain Kaiyo. I can only hope that they do not disappoint me."

"You and me both." Ichigo said to himself.

The head captain banged his cane again and dismissed them. As soon as he did that, Isshin went over to Ichigo as they walked out of the room together.

"You sure those four are actually ready for this?" He asked his friend in a concerned tone. He's known Ichigo long enough to tell that when he was sure about something and his resolve was there, that he was always sure.

"They are Isshin." Ichigo started as they made their way to a gate that led outside of the Seireitei. "I can only hope that they take the news well." With that, Isshin nodded to his friend and left for the Shiba manner to prepare for the hunt of the hollows. Ichigo went through the now opened gate and made his way to the training field that him and his students practiced in. Not to his surprise, his students were sparring in their usual way. Byakuya and Sosuke versus Gin and Soi-Fon, a team effort to better strengthen their ability to fight alongside each other whenever need be. He watched them as they continuously switched tactics to throw each other off balance. Since they were so damn good at that, the spar ended in a stalemate as usual.

Before they could try and spar once more, that was when their teacher flashed over to them. They weren't surprised he was there as they've felt his spirit energy so many times that they could always tell when he was close by. He looked to them all as they appeared in front of him. They bowed before seeing a look on his face that was very much foreign to them. Uncertainty.

"Is there something wrong Captain?" Byakuya asked him. Despite knowing Ichigo as a teach for a decade now, he still insisted on calling him 'Captain' instead of his regular name like the others had.

"Yeah. You look like someone killed your pet fish and got away or something." Gin joked.

With a sigh that caught their attention, Ichigo looked them all in the eye and said. "Due to several captains being indisposed at this moment, we have captains positions that need to be filled. And I recommended all four of you."

The looks of both shock and confusion on their faces was evident as they were all legitimately surprised by his words. The fact that they were recommended to becoming captains was incredible, but the fact that their teacher had enough faith to recommend them was truly amazing to them. Even Sosuke was shocked that he would be a captain along his friends and teacher.

"Does this mean that my grandfather is stepping down?" Byakuya asked with a concerned tone to his voice.

Ichigo looked to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Ginrei would want you to take this opportunity Byakuya. Not for him, but for yourself."

His words did in fact reassure him and the others decided to ask an important question.

"Ichigo, what exactly happened to the other captains?" Soi-Fon asked him as she stepped in. "I heard that Yoruichi was a part of whatever happened and that's why she wasn't at her own barracks. Is that true?"

Ichigo could tell that she was worried. Not as much as she would've been if Ichigo hadn't come into the past, but concerned nonetheless. He sighed and told them a fabricated lie. "From what I can make from the report from Tessai and what I felt at least, her, captain Urahara and Tessai went to check on captain Hirako and his group. When they arrived, everyone there were possessed by something. I didn't really believe it at first, but he said that they had hollow masks on them and were acting like hollows." This caught everyone off guard as Ichigo continued. "Tessai trapped them with some kido spells and saw captain Urahara check on them. That was when he blacked out because Yoruichi attacked him."

"What?" Soi-Fon asked in a surprised yet stern tone. "Why would she do that?"

"From what Tessai can remember, she also had a hollow mask on her. Same with Urahara apparently." Ichigo told them. "So with that and Ginrei stepping down, we have seven open captain spots, and you all will fill in four of them."

At first there was silence from the four, then they all showed resolve on their faces as they bowed to their teacher.

"We won't disappoint you."

Ichigo smirked to his students before telling them one last thing. "In three days, you'll all take the captains test to determine if you're truly ready. Don't make me regret training the four of you for so long. I expect no less than for all of you to pass and be assigned a squad. Understood?"

"Yes captain!" They said in unison as they bowed one more time.

Ichigo looked to them with pride before leaving to attend to another matter.

Las Noches

Back in Las Noches, there was some commotion that rocked the palace. In one of the large training rooms, two very powerful beings were doing battle with several arrancar. The two looked like soul reapers, but they had on masks like hollows did. No one knew just what was going on, but these two had been on a path of destruction since they awoke earlier today in the aforementioned training room.

One was a woman with short purple hair and a white hollow mask in the shape of a cat. The cat-like mask had markings on each side of her face in shape of whiskers that were the color of her hair. The ears were pointed and sharp, and her teeth were the same.

The other was a man with dirty blonde hair and some kind of doll-like hollow mask on his face. His mask had a blank stare to it and stitch marks along his face and connecting to the eyes. The mask had no teeth at all, just that blank stare.

The two were battling whoever they saw in their path almost as if they were working together. They were still feral, but it was a more coordinated state than Shinji and his group. They fought a few espada as well. Neliel and Halibel were told by both Stark and Aka that Ichigo ordered for these two not to be seriously harmed, so the two women were holding back.

Off next to one of the walls watching the whole thing was Aka and Szayel. They were supervising for now until Ichigo showed up to take care of these two himself. The two had mixed interpretations of this. Szayel thought he would do the same thing he did with him and the rest of the espada by cutting their masks, but then he realized that they were actually soul reapers. Aka thought he would probably kill them himself, but then that would make sending them here absolutely useless. As they thought this over, a garganta opened near them and Ichigo stepped out of it.

"Ichigo." They both started to him.

"How are they doing Szayel?" He asked the pink haired espada as he kept his eyes on the two in question.

"Well, after the initial reaction of being in an unknown environment passed, and destroying a good portion of these chambers in the process, it seems they're tiring. Yet they seem to be working together. Almost as if their running off of-"

"Instinct." Ichigo interrupted as he watched the two begin to slow down while facing Halibel and Neliel.

"With all due respect Ichigo," Aka started. "What exactly are they? Their clearly soul reapers, but those mask make them kinda like us."

Ichigo looked down to Aka and smirked before looking back to the two. "Sosuke and Misuto found a way to convert a soul reaper into that of a hollow." He started, earning a gasp from the two. True Aka was involved in helping draw the soul reapers out, but he was kept in the dark as to how this was possible. "I think I'll call them Vizards."

"But if they're soul reapers, then they won't intentionally join us in destroying the soul society." Szayel started. "What are you going to do exactly Ichigo?"

Ichigo grinned to the two tired Vizards. "Give them an offer they have no choice but to accept."

He walked over across the training room, catching both Halibel and Neliel's attention. He looked to them and nodded. The two espada bowed and sonidoed away from them. Ichigo stood in front of the two and saw that they looked confused by his own presence. Ichigo was about to say something, but was caught off guard when Kisuke of all people flared his spirit energy. A vibrant red energy pushed Ichigo back a few feet and knocked Yoruichi away to a nearby wall. Ichigo stopped himself and saw that Kisuke's body was changing to a much more hollow form of himself. Almost like Ichigo's full lizard-like hollow form when he trained for control of his own hollow. Kisuke's form was a completely pale white, muscular body suit of himself, only it was covered in stitches and ripped through his shihakusho. Ichigo chalked this transformation up to seeing him here. Without wanting to draw this whole thing out, Ichigo unsheathed his blade, but was caught off guard when Yoruichi also flared her energy. Purple electricity flared and sparked all over the room, hitting any nearby wall and floor in the process. Her body was also changing as she went on all fours and her skin changed from her beautiful dark skin to a pale white color. She grew a white tail with some kind of golden eye attached to the end and her mask eyes glowed the same golden color. Her purple hair started to grow along her body and covered her as it ripped through her soul reaper uniform completely, leaving her in the nude.

"Ichigo?" Aka started in a concerned tone as he along with everyone else were about to draw their blades and help their leader. Ichigo held up his free hand to tell them to hold. They did and watched as Ichigo summoned his shikai blades.

"Yoruichi. Kisuke." He said to the two as they made their way to him slowly. "I'm only going to say this once. Control yourselves now, or I will make you do so."

The two flared their energy again and charged at Ichigo. Yoruichi was faster than she was before and reached him easily. She extended her clawed hand to him only for Ichigo to stop it with his left blade and fling her away at breakneck speeds. Kisuke raised his own blade and brought it down with incredible force. Ichigo was surprised by this and used both blades to block his shot. It left a crater where he was like when he fought Kenpachi the first time in his time. Ichigo used some more force and pushed Kisuke off of him. As he did that, Kisuke used his free hand to fire a vibrant red cero at Ichigo.

"Tch." Ichigo said as he raised his right blade into the air. "Getsuga Tensho!"He released his own energy and canceled out the cero.

Yoruichi rushed over to him again and tried to unleash a flurry of strikes on him. Ichigo dodged and blocked her attacks before stopping her by stabbing her right arm. She roared before her tail lifted itself above her head and the eye glowed like a cero. Ichigo was completely caught off guard as her cero hit him straight in the face, knocking him back several meters.

The espada were concerned. This had been the first time they had seen Ichigo knocked back with such force before. They were ready to step in to help him, but stopped when they felt his pressure rise drastically.

Both Yoruichi and Kisuke felt the pressure as well and were brought to their knees for a brief second before they saw that Ichigo was now in front of them again. They were too slow to react as Ichigo used a kido on them and bound the two together. He let up on his energy as he watched the two struggle to break free. Ichigo sighed and stabbed the ground with both of his blades before kneeling to the two. They were clearly in a blind rage from seeing their comrade siding with the hollows and turning them into this, yet Ichigo could tell that the both of them were trapped within their own battles with their own hollow. Ichigo sighed again and sat in front of the two cross legged with his blades behind him. He closed his eyes and decided to enter his own inner world. His inner world had changed ever since his declared his new resolve. Instead of skyscrapers or Karakura Town, it was just his old home if Karakura Town. He opened his eyes to see that he was standing in the living room. After a few quick glances he left through the front door and saw two other buildings across the street from him. One was what looked like a traditional Japanese home, but it was styled after a doll house of some kind. The other looked like a small house with a cats eye on the front door. Ichigo could hear rumbling within both houses and decided to check them one at a time. He went to Kisuke's home first and went through the door. He was surprised when the structure was empty on the inside and he saw Kisuke being held by the neck by his hollow form. His hollow form just looked like him but pale with stitches along his body and with black and yellow eyes.

"I don't care what you are." Kisuke said to the hollow in a weak tone. "I will get rid of you." He clearly was being destroyed by his hollow and Ichigo was having a hard time thinking that his former mentor was losing this badly.

Kisuke's hollow laughed at him before turning to see Ichigo standing in the doorway. The hollow instantly saw red and rushed over to him, dropping Kisuke in the process.

"I'LL KILL YOU TOO!" The hollow yelled out as it brought its blade down. Ichigo dodged it with ease and flashed over to the downed Kisuke.

Kisuke looked up with both shock and anger. He stood up on groggy legs and looked Ichigo in the eye as best as he could before speaking.

"What did you do to me and Yoruichi, Kaiyo?" He asked in a weak tone.

Ichigo had a stern glare and turned to see the hollow draw in energy from the structure they were in. He crossed his arms and kept his gaze on the hollow as he spoke to Kisuke. "That doesn't matter right now. For now, the only thing you should worry about is how to defeat your inner demons." This caught Kisuke's attention as Ichigo continued. "This monster inside of you is everything that you hate about yourself. Your fears. Your anger. Your despair. All of it rolled into one being that you can't overcome in any way that you seemed to do beforehand. This hollow is you, and it's about to take control of your inner world and force you to watch everything that it does to the people you care about, or more precisely, to Yoruichi."

That was what triggered Kisuke the most. He may not have known what Ichigo did to him or Yoruichi, but one thing he did know was that he refused to have this monster of a hollow hurt the woman he had affection for. Kisuke stood up on shaky legs and looked to the hollow version of himself. He gritted his teeth at the thought of what it would to Yoruichi and saw nothing but the will to destroy this creature. His eyes glowed a faint red color and his inner world started to change. The empty structure started to grow pillars and walls within it as Ichigo could tell that Kisuke's resolve was strengthened by Ichigo's words. His hollow was caught off guard as Kisuke rushed over to it and stabbed his Benihime through his hollows chest. The hollow chuckled a bit before fading away from Kisuke's blade.

"Looks like you really can fight seriously when she's threatened, eh." His hollow started to him.

"You will never lay a hand on her as long as I exist to stand in the way." Kisuke said to it with a serious stern look on his face.

"Heh." His hollow started. "I'll hold you to that. We all know that the real reason you don't open up to her," he grabbed Benihime, "is because you're afraid I'll be the one to open her up."

With those last words, his hollow faded, and the structure started to look like an actual house now. Ichigo decided to take his leave as Kisuke contemplated what his hollow said to him. For the longest time Ichigo thought that Kisuke and Yoruichi were just good friends who were pretty inseparable, but after hearing that, he now knew that Kisuke had feelings for her in this time. He would have to check Yoruichi as well. Maybe this little brush with uncertainty and death would in fact bring them closer. Just as Ichigo made his way to the door, Kisuke grabbed him by his haori and got in his face, his eyes now burning red.

"What did you do Kaiyo!" He shouted out.

Ichigo was genuinely surprised hearing Kisuke raise his voice and lose his composure. It was unexpected, but Ichigo regained himself and forced Kisuke's hand off of him to answer. "Technically, I didn't do anything. But right now you need to be worrying about Yoruichi much more than me."

His words went through Kisuke's head and made him realize that he hadn't seen her for a while now. Ichigo left the house followed by Kisuke and they went into the small house and saw that it was nearly destroyed all around. There were many objects strewn about the room and there was a hollow version of Yoruichi walking towards them with a seductive sway. She looked like Yoruichi, but she was pale skinned and had a tail and cat ears formed by her black hair. She was also naked. Her eyes locked on Kisuke's and she purred seductively as she approached him. Kisuke was frozen as she made her way towards him, ignoring Ichigo and eventually backed him into the door.

"Hey there Kisuke." She said in a tempting tone. "Bout time you decided to grow a pair and take me. Or maybe I should just take you instead? Doesn't matter to me as long I steal you from her." She looked over to a destroyed wall and they other two spotted Yoruichi laying unconscious and with ripped clothing on.

Kisuke wanted to go to her, but the hollow version of her kept him from seeing her. Ichigo made his way over to her downed body and checked on her himself.

"Yoruichi. You have to wake up." He said to her. When he got no response, Ichigo decided to try something different. "Yoruichi, if you don't wake up and face what you hate about yourself, then you will lose the one person who cares the most for you and lose your chance to tell him how you feel."

Yoruichi slowly opened her eyes and saw Ichigo kneeling over her. She rose up slowly only to see her hollow all over Kisuke. Her golden eyes started to glow and she gritted her teeth. Despite how she felt towards Ichigo right now, all she could think about was how pissed she was at this fake version of herself. Without thinking and letting instinct take over, Yoruichi flashed over to her hollow and kicked her through the wall and off of Kisuke. He looked to her with shock in his eyes as she stared down her hollow. She flashed over to the hollow and delivered a devastating kick to her downed dark side. The hollow dissipated and Yoruichi's eyes went to normal. When that happened, she fell backwards in exhaustion only to be caught by Kisuke. Ichigo noticed that the both of them were probably now out of their hollow forms in training room, and decided to leave to assess the situation.

Back in the training room, the espada's present watched as the two hollowfied soul reapers started to crack. Suddenly and without warning, their forms exploded and shrouded the room in smoke and dust. Just when it was subsiding, Ichigo woke and waved his hand to clear it all. When he did, he saw the unconscious bodies of Yoruichi and Kisuke, with their masks next to them, lying on the ground in each others arms. Ichigo smirked at this and grabbed both his blades before sealing and sheathing it once again.

"Aka, Halibel." He started to the two. Both espada stepped up to him. "That spare room on the south side of the palace, would the both of you please take these two there and let them rest. They've earned it, for now."

Both Aka and Halibel nodded before taking the both of them and using sonido. Ichigo sighed in relief that for now everything was calm and decided that now was a good time to head back.

"Uh before you leave Ichigo." Szayel started, stopping Ichigo from opening a garganta. "What exactly should we do if they wake up and start attacking again?"

Ichigo turned to the scientist and smirked again. "If they do wake up, the first thing they do won't be to attack. They'll be to concerned with what happened to them that they'll ask questions. If they wake up before I come back in a few days, then keep them in their room and provide them with some food. Tell them I'll be back in a few days to answer any and all questions they have. Understood Szayel?"

"Understood Ichigo."

Ichigo nodded to him before opening a garganta and leaving the palace.

With Aka and Halibel, they had just arrived at the spare room and laid the two down on the bed. Before they made the two comfortable, the two espada dressed them in some white robes that covered them up. They then made the two comfortable before leaving the room to see if there was anything else that needed to be done.

This Will Probably Be The Only Actual Pairing In This Story. This Situation Was A Perfect Opportunity To Do This Pairing So That Ichigo Could Play Off Of It For His Benefit. I Will Show What Happened To Shinji And His Group Over The Course Of The Rest The Story Until The Actual Turn. I Really Hope You Guys Enjoyed This Lengthy Chapter.

I've Also Updated My Profile To Show My Second Ever Bleach Crossover. And This Time It's From The CW TV Show, The Flash. Read The Summary On My Profile To Know What Happens In "The Flash Meets Bleach."

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