Chapter 6: Awaken, Answers

Soul Society

After the attack and the erase of a good chunk of the Seireitei, everyone was on high alert now. There was an immediate medical response called to see to the injured and attempt to find wounded. What was found was truly disturbing to the soul reapers assigned to find survivors. There were no traces of a single presence in the bath of the chasm, and anyone who had attempted to dodge the attack were torn apart in clean cuts. The truly disturbing part of it all was the fact that the ones caught in the path and cut apart were still alive somehow and in unimaginable agony. Men and woman cut in two from the waist down, or missing entire limbs or even entire chunks of themselves filled all of squad four. Unohana was neck deep in injury reports and updates now.

The central 46 had placed the four responsible as a top priority threat. Not only has four 'hollows' broken into their ranks with minimal effort, but they've also killed one of their captains, killed dozens, maybe hundreds of their forces, and retrieved another 'hollow' and left with no effort at all. Just one of these things was punishable by death.

During the chaos now, Aizen was in his own secret lab trying his hardest to find traces of that one hollows spirit energy. Unfortunately for him, there was none. It was almost like he had none, yet his destructive power and ability to simply open a Senkaimon at will said otherwise. That was when a theory hit the brown haired captain.

"What if his spirit energy is so high we can't comprehend it unless he allows us to?"

That thought stuck with him and he now had a new objective for his plan to conquer the soul kings throne. Find this hollow and either get him to help willingly, or find a means of persuasion. That orange haired 'human' might just do the trick.

Hospital, The Next Morning

Ichigo was beginning to stir in his bed. He slowly opened his eyes once he felt the sun beam down on him, forcing him to bring his right hand up to cover his eyes. Once he adjusted to the shift in light, he noticed quite a sight around himself. He noticed that he was in the hospital, which confused him beyond all belief, and he was surrounded by his sleeping older brothers. G was near his left side, slumped on a chair. Vas to Ichigo's right, leaned back in another chair. Both Shiro and Rei's position is what made Ichigo snicker a bit under his breath. Both of them were near the wall in front of the bed and leaned together on their on chairs. Shiro's head was on Rei's shoulder in a way Ichigo knew that his pale older brother would absolutely loathe.

As Ichigo looked to them, he started to remember that horrible place again. Those people that looked down on him and were calling him a 'hollow'. They all looked like they were ready to completely destroy him if he even made the slightest movement. The fear of being dissected and that intense pressure he felt, all of that along with the pain he suffered from that clown faced captain. Oddly enough though, the last thing he remembered is looking up at G then waking up here. He had passed out at some point between then and now.

Ichigo shook his head to rid himself of his time there and sat up in his bed. The sudden shift causing G, who was closet, to wake up with a jerk and a bit of shout. This caused the others to wake up with a start and look around real quick before they saw Ichigo sitting up. The others woke up quickly as they noticed their younger brother was sat up and saw his slightly amused face.

"Hey, there he is." Shiro said with a yawn and a grin to his face. "Bout damn time you woke up."

"Yeah. You did have us all worried Ichigo." Vas said with a smile of his own.

Ichigo was about to say something, but then he remembered what had happened to him in that crazy guys lab. He felt himself around to feel if his body had any cuts or piercings through it. This confused the four in the room for a brief moment. Ichigo checked himself some more before stopping and looking to his brothers.

"What happened?" He asked them, a slight bit of confusion in his voice. He also looked around and noticed that they were in a hospital their uncle and cousin worked at. "How did we get back here?"

That was what made the four brothers a little hesitant to answer. Ichigo noticed their uncertain expressions and could tell that something was very wrong. Usually his brothers would never make these looks unless it was something truly bad, and it took a lot to make them all think anything was that bad. Before Ichigo could ask them why they were so hesitant, Rei stood up, getting the youngest's attention.

"Ichigo." He started in a serious tone that bordered slight sadness. "What all do you remember from that place?"

Ichigo could hear the anxiety in Rei's voice as he asked that question. It was something that caught Ichigo off guard as he looked to the others. They had the same expression as Rei when it came to that question, and Ichigo was getting very worried. Without a moments hesitation and a deep breath, Ichigo answered as best as he could.

"I remember that I saw some monster attacking a spirit. I followed it in an alley to try and help her and that was when some girl in a black outfit showed up." Ichigo recalled. He glanced over to his left when he saw G's hand clench into a tight fist and continued. "She killed that monster then did something to the girl. I thought she helped her and was about to leave, but that was when she aimed her sword at me and called me a 'hollow'."

Ichigo looked to the rest of his brothers and saw a mixture of reactions at hearing that word from them. G's fist tightened harder until his knuckles were white. Shiro looked like he was ready to tear the room apart. Vas looked away from his little brothers gaze and held his head down for some strange reason. Rei on the other hand simply shut his eyes as he crossed his arms together. Ichigo knew his oldest brother well. Whenever Rei would do that, Ichigo knew that he was angry. After seeing their reactions, Ichigo continued.

"That girl brought me to some other world against my will and had me sit in front of these people in white coats. This old man kept asking me questions I didn't know the answers to and handed me off to some clown guy that wanted to-" Ichigo stopped when he remembered what that particular man did to him. His brothers saw the pain and slight fear in his body language as he remembered that part of his time there.

"Ichigo." G started in a calm tone as he gently grabbed Ichigo's hand. "Do you remember what happened after that?"

Ichigo took a few breaths and shook his head. "I remember passing out on a table in a lot of pain. But then I woke up and saw you saying that I was okay now." Ichigo looked at G. "You looked completely different though."

That was when Rei sighed out. "Because we are different Ichigo." The rest of them looked to Rei. "Where you just went to with that girl was the afterlife."

"The afterlife?" Ichigo questioned.

"Yeah." Vas started. "At least for good spirits that is."

"Tch." Shiro started in annoyance. "Good spirits my fucking ass."

"That place in particular was called the soul society." Rei continued. "And you were captured by a soul reaper, a being who cleanses a soul while also hunting... hollows." He hesitated when saying that word. "They took you Ichigo because they saw that you were something like that and wanted to know more about what you are."

"W-What am I then?" Ichigo stammered out.

"Ichigo." G got his attention. "Do you ever remember our father?" That was a strange question to ask, but Ichigo shook his head to it. "That's no surprise. What about mom? Do you ever remember her?"

Again, Ichigo shook his head.

"Our parents were different." Vas started. "Our mother was like a beacon of light that would always find a way to shine down anywhere that she went to. She would always find a way to make things better for us."

"It was our father, if you could call that bastard a father, that was the problem." Shiro said outright as he leaned on the wall.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked them.

"Our mother is something called a Quincy." G answered. "A Quincy basically does the same thing that soul reapers do to hollows only instead of cleansing them, they completely destroy them."

"Our mother was a very peaceful woman though." Rei continued on. "She would only fight when it was the only option. I remember when she told me how she met dad." Rei sat back down in the chair and continued on with his explanation. "She was on her way back to the house when she felt a hollow's spirit energy close by along with another being as well. She decided to check it out to see if a lone soul needed help only to find 'him' there." Rei said that with a slight disdain in his voice. "She never described to me what he looked like, but she told me that he went by the name Isshin. I don't know much else about what he is, but after our mother met him, he took advantage of her."

"W-What do you mean, 'take advantage of her'?" Ichigo stuttered out.

"The bastard raped mom." Rei continued. "That's how all of us were born. And every time he would do that it would corrupt part of her soul." Rei had to take a deep breath, same with the others around Ichigo, before continuing again. "A hollow's blood is like poison to a Quincy, so that meant that every time he raped her and shared his energy and bodily fluids with her, she was dying. With every birth, she would sacrifice a part of her unhampered soul so that we would come out as normal as possible. She did that to spite him and so we could all live normal lives."

Ichigo had no idea how to take in all of this information so suddenly. If that was the case, then- "Why didn't any of you tell me this?"

"Because we wanted to protect you from the truth." Vas said to him. "We had just lost our mother when you were born and we were just kids at the time."

G interrupted. "We all made a vow to keep you safe no matter what and then tell you the truth when we were ready, Ichigo."

"When ya'll were ready?" Ichigo questioned.

"You really think talkin bout all of this is easy for us all?" Shiro asked with a slight smirk, causing Ichigo to smirk as well.

"We didn't think that we would ever be ready to tell you this Ichigo." Rei continued. "But now with what's happened to you because of all those soul reapers, we might as well tell you this now rather than later." Rei finished with a slightly saddened look in his eyes.

Ichigo could see the sadness in the faces of his brothers and understood. Something about this whole situation made Ichigo forget his anger and distrust towards his brothers as they had just shown that they just weren't ready for this discussion. Thanks to those soul reapers that took him away and the pain it caused his brothers already, Ichigo sighed in disappointment for himself. This didn't go unnoticed as his older brothers looked to him, expecting the sigh to be for them. That was when Ichigo looked to them and said two words they thought were the furthest things from his mind.

"I'm sorry."

The four went wide eyed at his words and were about to ask just what he meant, but that was when they all felt a very strong spiritual pressure pressing down on them.

Been A Long While Since I've Updated Anything. Been In A Bit Of A Rutt Lately And Been Very Unmotivated To Do Anything. But Now, I've Found An Outlet. Drawing Anime Characters And Posting Them On My DeviantArts Page That I Completely Forgot I Had. Check It Out If You Like, StringDman94.

Ya'll Know What To Do By Now. Will Try And Post When Not Busy Drawing, Mixing Music, School, Or Making Videos.

Ya'll Are Awesome And As Always, Stay Sexy Out There.

PEACE!