Bleach fic: Storm Front - Part III
Title: Storm Front - Part III
Author: aviss
Pairing: Grimmjow/Ichigo
Rating: PG-13 this part
Genre: Action, Adventure
Warning: Violence
Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters belong to Kubo Tite, as everyone already knows.
Summary: While investigating the disappearance of a group of shinigami Ichigo discovers not everything they told him about the end of the war is true.
Word Count: ~2.400
Prologue - A Storm is Brewing
Part I - The Calm Before the Storm
Part II - Storm Clouds
Part III - Thunderstorm
"It's a neurological block."
Ichigo is sitting with Renji and Rukia in Urahara's shop, all of them drinking tea from the small cups while Urahara Kisuke talks. He's told them everything he learned from Orihime, including the flower mark on Grimmjow's neck. Urahara was startled at first hearing about it, and he's now the one explaining the meaning of it.
"It resembles the reiatsu limiters they put in Taichous and Fukutaichous when they come to earth, only it works differently," Urahara says holding their attention and making small gestures with his hands. He's not touched his own cup of tea, and there is a worried frown etched on his forehead. Ichigo has rarely seen this serious side of him. "It's put here," Urahara touches the base of his neck, "and it controls the impulses sent from the brain to the body, effectively making the person wearing it a puppet in someone else's hands."
"How do you know all that?" Rukia asks, her face showing the disgust Ichigo feels at those words.
Urahara shrugs, "I created it."
"You?" Ichigo narrows his eyes, he should have guessed. Every single one of Urahara's old creations seem to come back to haunt Ichigo.
"It was a mistake. I was researching something to help the treatment of injured shinigami during missions, something that would help relieve the pain until the 4th Division was able to help them," Urahara explains slowly, "the theory was to create a barrier between the nerve's response to pain and the brain, that way the shinigami affected would not feel it."
Renji's staring at him with a disbelieving expression, "That's exactly the opposite of what you just said."
Another shrug, this time accompanied with a self-depreciating smile. "I know. The only thing I managed to achieve was blocking the brain impulse to the nerves, not the other way round. The body becomes paralyzed but they can still feel everything. Pretty screwed up if you ask me."
"It is," Ichigo agrees. The more he knows about that thing the angrier he becomes, somehow he feels like taking it all out on Urahara, though he is sure this time he's not the one to blame.
"My fukutaichou at the time told me loud and clear--I had the print of her sandal on my face for a week--what she thought of that. I had to agree with it. The research was never released and I forgot about it until now."
"Obviously Kurotshuchi found it and put it to good use," Rukia says.
"Are you sure it was the 12th Division insignia?" Urahara asks again. He refused to believe them at the beginning but now he looks almost convinced.
"Yes."
"Fine, I'll help you with this."
…
That the concealed entry to the Research Institute is at Urahara's old training place is no big surprise for anyone, Ichigo had guessed that much on his own, but they would have never found it without Urahara's instructions. No matter what else the guy is, he is very smart.
"So what's the plan?" Rukia asks quietly, her voice barely carrying a couple of feet in the dimly lit passage.
"I'll know when we get there," Ichigo replies in the same tone. It's better than saying there is no plan, which is the absolute truth. He just knows he needs to be there, see what's happening in the 12th.
It's not only Grimmjow, there were other arrancar killed--or kidnapped it seems--that day in Hueco Mundo: Nell, Peshe, Dondonchakka and who knows how many more. Grimmjow can take care of himself, he has escaped after all, is the others which have Ichigo worried right now.
The corridor seems to go on forever, the darkness and the light shuffle of feet on loose earth combining to give Ichigo a feeling of claustrophobia. Or maybe it's just a feeling of foreboding at what he might find on the other side.
After what feels like an eternity the corridor opens to a slightly wider chamber, Renji, Rukia and Ichigo stopping there to look for the hidden door. It's not so easy to find, even with Urahara's instructions, and Ichigo can feel his patience wearing thin after ten minutes of fruitless search. He's too tightly strung, the last day's events repeating in his head over and over again. He should have known, he should have guessed, he shouldn't have allowed something like that to happen.
He has a bad feeling about what he's going to find on the other side of that door, if they ever manage to find the fucking door, that's it.
"Finally," Renji's voice brings Ichigo attention back to the present, looking to where a small rectangle of darkness has appeared on one of the walls.
The first thing that hits Ichigo is the smell, rank and putrid so very wrong it makes him almost retch. He can see in his friend's eyes, even in the dim light, the same revulsion. It's not they have never seen or smelled death, he can say they are all pretty much inured to it, but this--just the smell alone is enough to make Ichigo's blood freeze in his veins.
It's desperation and fear and loneliness and madness and blood and pain and so many other things Ichigo can't name but he hates to associate with Nell or any of the others. With Grimmjow.
"What the fuck?" Renji says in a chocked whisper, his hand coming up reflexively to cover his mouth and nose.
Ichigo breathes deeply, nose scrunching at the revolting smell but trying to get in as much oxygen as necessary in his lungs, trying to calm down the hammering of his heart. "Let's move it," he says, entering the dark room.
The door closes behind them almost immediately, leaving them in the most absolute darkness until Rukia conjures a light with some sort of Kidou. What they see there is the stuff of nightmares.
The room is bare except for a cage in the corner and a door on the far end. The smell comes from the cage, which is not empty.
"Oh fuck!" Ichigo hears Renji saying breathlessly, his horror at what they're seeing so thick they can almost touch it. "Fucking bastard!"
Peshe, or what remains of him, is inside the cage. There are only scraps of his old clothes covering him and his mask has been removed somehow. The face that looks at them from the other side of the bars could be human, if one ignored the empty black eyes with a bare hint of yellow looking at them. No, not actually looking at them, looking past them.
"Is he alive?" Rukia asks in a low voice, a slight tremble showing how much is affecting her.
Ichigo approaches the cage and extends his hand, a cold fury writhing in his belly. He's starting to feel something--someone--inside him pushing against his restrains, and he knows he has to keep his temper in check or risk the hollow overpowering him. Peshe doesn’t move, doesn't give any indication he can see Ichigo until he touches him. He flinches then, a high pitched squeal of terror torn from his throat and filling the room.
Ichigo takes a hurried step back, the noise ceasing the moment he is not in contact with the arrancar.
"Yes, he is alive," he says through clenched teeth. His vision is narrowing and he needs to get away from that room now. Fighting against the urge to retch, Ichigo takes a calming breath and turns his back to the cage, moving to the door. "We'll come for him later; we have to find the rest."
He doesn't like leaving Peshe there, but he knows he can't get close enough to him without making him scream again, and he can't allow anyone to know they're there before they have found the rest.
The next room is empty, Rukia's faint light illuminating shelve upon shelve of strange concoctions and bottled specimens Ichigo would rather not know where they come from. On one corner two boxes, filled with papers, rest carefully on top of a chair.
Ichigo moves quickly to the door but Rukia stays for a second, looking at the boxes. "Wait," she says, taking one of the papers and scanning it quickly.
"Come on Rukia, we need to move," Renji says impatiently, his voice betraying his nervousness.
"I said wait, maybe there is something here to tell us where they are," she insists not looking up.
She has a point, but Ichigo doesn’t have the time or patience to go through all those papers. "Leave it, it would take too long to read all of them," he says crossing to the next room.
They don't find anything there, or in the next one. Only more shelves of disgusting things and more discarded papers. Ichigo is getting more and more agitated by the minute, the feeling that time is of the essence pushing him to go forward, to find something.
The find another cage in the next room, only this one is empty. The smell of decay and desperation still lingers in the air, enough for them to imagine what used to be there. Ichigo tries not to put a name to the former inhabitant of the room, and he is glad to know he can at least be certain it wasn't Grimmjow.
He can't be so sure about Nell.
"There is something here," Rukia says when they cross to the following room, her eyes moving straight away to some files neatly stacked on a shelf. Ichigo can see what drew her attention, there are names on the spines of the folders.
Test Subject 1: Hollow. No name. Deceased.
Test Subject 2: Hollow. No name. Deceased.
Test Subject 3: Hollow. No name. Deceased.
Test Subject 4: Arrancar. No name. Deceased.
Test Subject 5: Arrancar. Dondonchakka. Deceased.
He feels a shudder running down his spine reading the name and nods at Rukia inquiring stare. She takes the folder from its place and opens it, dread and revulsion plainly written on her face.
"I'll have a look, you carry on," she says, looking up quickly from the file, "I'll get you if I find something useful."
They nod and leave her to it, Renji conjuring his own kidou-light to help them with the search.
Ichigo is glad there wasn't a folder with Nell's name there, though he feels incredibly sad and angry for the other ones. Kurotsuchi is dead meat, that much is clear. But he wants to find the rest of his victims before he trashes the division, and he doesn't give a fuck what Yamamoto or the rest of Soul Society have to say about that.
"Guys!" Rukia's hushed voice reaches them and Ichigo turns to see her hurrying to them, her hands full of paper and a shocked expression on her face. "We need to get this papers to Yamamoto-soutaichou or Ukitake-taichou," she says, her voice urgent.
"What is it?" Renji asks before Ichigo can react.
"Mask Removal Day One: the subject is weak after removing his mask completely, the transformation to arrancar has not been achieved, the face is completely human and the subject has no reiatsu. Useless.
Mask Removal Day Two: The subject dies within 24 hours of the removal. It tried to speak and managed some garbled words in a strange an ancient language. Could it be possible for the Hollow to retain part of his human conscience? Might be an interesting study to take into account but for the purposes of this test is a failure.
"Fuck, that's sick!" Renji gasps, staring at Rukia wide eyed. Ichigo is feeling his control fraying, each word of that monstrosity eroding it a bit more.
"Mask Removal Day One: The subject dies immediately, the mask tearing whatever life it had from it. It looks as if it dies of shock, the pain probably too great for it. We'll try some sort of numbing agent on the next one.
"You go Rukia, go with those papers and find someone who gives a shit," Ichigo says, struggling to form coherent words with the storm of feeling stirring inside him. "Find Toushirou, of your brother, or Ukitake. Just not Yamamoto, I don't trust the geezer to do the right thing here. We'll keep searching for Nell and anyone who might be alive. Hurry."
Rukia nods once and turns around, leaving.
Ichigo almost sighs in relief. He wants the back up, that's true, but there is a reason he wants Rukia out of the 12th. He's losing it, and if the worst comes to happen he doesn’t want her anywhere near him.
Clenching his jaw he looks at Renji, who return his grim look with a nod, and they move to the next room.
…
"You still don't get it, Espada," Kurotsuchi says after a while, his voice mocking and so irritating Grimmjow wishes he could turn it off. He hates the fucking bastard with a passion. "You didn't escape; you just did what I wanted you to do."
Grimmjow struggles against the force holding him, though he knows it's useless. He has been subjected to that helpless feeling too many times to know he can't do anything. Still, he has to try; he can't just let himself be taken back to that place.
"You're just bait," Kurotsuchi continues and Grimmjow snaps back to attention, listening to his words again. He has a bad feeling. "I realized my research couldn't be completed with the specimens I had. I needed more than hollows and arrancar for what I wanted. I needed visored as well."
Grimmjow stares at him, horrified, the blood freezing in his veins. Visored. He knows what the freak means with that.
"But they are forbidden to go back to Soul Society, all except for one, and they are not good test subjects. They know too much, they are tainted by the Hogyoku. I needed another, purer specimen."
Fucking freak! Keep your hands away from him, bastard! Grimmjow wants to say, wants to shout and lunge at the freak, and tear him limb from limb. But the only thing he can do is listen to him, raging inside and thinking, Not him, he's mine.
"So you see, I let you go because I knew, the moment he realized you were still alive he'd come looking for you. I saw you two in Hueco Mundo, I knew he'd go after you." Kurotsuchi turns to look at Grimmjow, a terribly smug smile on his face-mask-whatever it is. "We have to go back now; my perfect specimen is probably already there, waiting for me."
Kurosaki.
…
Part IV - The Eye of the Stoorm
Author: aviss
Pairing: Grimmjow/Ichigo
Rating: PG-13 this part
Genre: Action, Adventure
Warning: Violence
Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters belong to Kubo Tite, as everyone already knows.
Summary: While investigating the disappearance of a group of shinigami Ichigo discovers not everything they told him about the end of the war is true.
Word Count: ~2.400
Prologue - A Storm is Brewing
Part I - The Calm Before the Storm
Part II - Storm Clouds
Part III - Thunderstorm
"It's a neurological block."
Ichigo is sitting with Renji and Rukia in Urahara's shop, all of them drinking tea from the small cups while Urahara Kisuke talks. He's told them everything he learned from Orihime, including the flower mark on Grimmjow's neck. Urahara was startled at first hearing about it, and he's now the one explaining the meaning of it.
"It resembles the reiatsu limiters they put in Taichous and Fukutaichous when they come to earth, only it works differently," Urahara says holding their attention and making small gestures with his hands. He's not touched his own cup of tea, and there is a worried frown etched on his forehead. Ichigo has rarely seen this serious side of him. "It's put here," Urahara touches the base of his neck, "and it controls the impulses sent from the brain to the body, effectively making the person wearing it a puppet in someone else's hands."
"How do you know all that?" Rukia asks, her face showing the disgust Ichigo feels at those words.
Urahara shrugs, "I created it."
"You?" Ichigo narrows his eyes, he should have guessed. Every single one of Urahara's old creations seem to come back to haunt Ichigo.
"It was a mistake. I was researching something to help the treatment of injured shinigami during missions, something that would help relieve the pain until the 4th Division was able to help them," Urahara explains slowly, "the theory was to create a barrier between the nerve's response to pain and the brain, that way the shinigami affected would not feel it."
Renji's staring at him with a disbelieving expression, "That's exactly the opposite of what you just said."
Another shrug, this time accompanied with a self-depreciating smile. "I know. The only thing I managed to achieve was blocking the brain impulse to the nerves, not the other way round. The body becomes paralyzed but they can still feel everything. Pretty screwed up if you ask me."
"It is," Ichigo agrees. The more he knows about that thing the angrier he becomes, somehow he feels like taking it all out on Urahara, though he is sure this time he's not the one to blame.
"My fukutaichou at the time told me loud and clear--I had the print of her sandal on my face for a week--what she thought of that. I had to agree with it. The research was never released and I forgot about it until now."
"Obviously Kurotshuchi found it and put it to good use," Rukia says.
"Are you sure it was the 12th Division insignia?" Urahara asks again. He refused to believe them at the beginning but now he looks almost convinced.
"Yes."
"Fine, I'll help you with this."
…
That the concealed entry to the Research Institute is at Urahara's old training place is no big surprise for anyone, Ichigo had guessed that much on his own, but they would have never found it without Urahara's instructions. No matter what else the guy is, he is very smart.
"So what's the plan?" Rukia asks quietly, her voice barely carrying a couple of feet in the dimly lit passage.
"I'll know when we get there," Ichigo replies in the same tone. It's better than saying there is no plan, which is the absolute truth. He just knows he needs to be there, see what's happening in the 12th.
It's not only Grimmjow, there were other arrancar killed--or kidnapped it seems--that day in Hueco Mundo: Nell, Peshe, Dondonchakka and who knows how many more. Grimmjow can take care of himself, he has escaped after all, is the others which have Ichigo worried right now.
The corridor seems to go on forever, the darkness and the light shuffle of feet on loose earth combining to give Ichigo a feeling of claustrophobia. Or maybe it's just a feeling of foreboding at what he might find on the other side.
After what feels like an eternity the corridor opens to a slightly wider chamber, Renji, Rukia and Ichigo stopping there to look for the hidden door. It's not so easy to find, even with Urahara's instructions, and Ichigo can feel his patience wearing thin after ten minutes of fruitless search. He's too tightly strung, the last day's events repeating in his head over and over again. He should have known, he should have guessed, he shouldn't have allowed something like that to happen.
He has a bad feeling about what he's going to find on the other side of that door, if they ever manage to find the fucking door, that's it.
"Finally," Renji's voice brings Ichigo attention back to the present, looking to where a small rectangle of darkness has appeared on one of the walls.
The first thing that hits Ichigo is the smell, rank and putrid so very wrong it makes him almost retch. He can see in his friend's eyes, even in the dim light, the same revulsion. It's not they have never seen or smelled death, he can say they are all pretty much inured to it, but this--just the smell alone is enough to make Ichigo's blood freeze in his veins.
It's desperation and fear and loneliness and madness and blood and pain and so many other things Ichigo can't name but he hates to associate with Nell or any of the others. With Grimmjow.
"What the fuck?" Renji says in a chocked whisper, his hand coming up reflexively to cover his mouth and nose.
Ichigo breathes deeply, nose scrunching at the revolting smell but trying to get in as much oxygen as necessary in his lungs, trying to calm down the hammering of his heart. "Let's move it," he says, entering the dark room.
The door closes behind them almost immediately, leaving them in the most absolute darkness until Rukia conjures a light with some sort of Kidou. What they see there is the stuff of nightmares.
The room is bare except for a cage in the corner and a door on the far end. The smell comes from the cage, which is not empty.
"Oh fuck!" Ichigo hears Renji saying breathlessly, his horror at what they're seeing so thick they can almost touch it. "Fucking bastard!"
Peshe, or what remains of him, is inside the cage. There are only scraps of his old clothes covering him and his mask has been removed somehow. The face that looks at them from the other side of the bars could be human, if one ignored the empty black eyes with a bare hint of yellow looking at them. No, not actually looking at them, looking past them.
"Is he alive?" Rukia asks in a low voice, a slight tremble showing how much is affecting her.
Ichigo approaches the cage and extends his hand, a cold fury writhing in his belly. He's starting to feel something--someone--inside him pushing against his restrains, and he knows he has to keep his temper in check or risk the hollow overpowering him. Peshe doesn’t move, doesn't give any indication he can see Ichigo until he touches him. He flinches then, a high pitched squeal of terror torn from his throat and filling the room.
Ichigo takes a hurried step back, the noise ceasing the moment he is not in contact with the arrancar.
"Yes, he is alive," he says through clenched teeth. His vision is narrowing and he needs to get away from that room now. Fighting against the urge to retch, Ichigo takes a calming breath and turns his back to the cage, moving to the door. "We'll come for him later; we have to find the rest."
He doesn't like leaving Peshe there, but he knows he can't get close enough to him without making him scream again, and he can't allow anyone to know they're there before they have found the rest.
The next room is empty, Rukia's faint light illuminating shelve upon shelve of strange concoctions and bottled specimens Ichigo would rather not know where they come from. On one corner two boxes, filled with papers, rest carefully on top of a chair.
Ichigo moves quickly to the door but Rukia stays for a second, looking at the boxes. "Wait," she says, taking one of the papers and scanning it quickly.
"Come on Rukia, we need to move," Renji says impatiently, his voice betraying his nervousness.
"I said wait, maybe there is something here to tell us where they are," she insists not looking up.
She has a point, but Ichigo doesn’t have the time or patience to go through all those papers. "Leave it, it would take too long to read all of them," he says crossing to the next room.
They don't find anything there, or in the next one. Only more shelves of disgusting things and more discarded papers. Ichigo is getting more and more agitated by the minute, the feeling that time is of the essence pushing him to go forward, to find something.
The find another cage in the next room, only this one is empty. The smell of decay and desperation still lingers in the air, enough for them to imagine what used to be there. Ichigo tries not to put a name to the former inhabitant of the room, and he is glad to know he can at least be certain it wasn't Grimmjow.
He can't be so sure about Nell.
"There is something here," Rukia says when they cross to the following room, her eyes moving straight away to some files neatly stacked on a shelf. Ichigo can see what drew her attention, there are names on the spines of the folders.
Test Subject 1: Hollow. No name. Deceased.
Test Subject 2: Hollow. No name. Deceased.
Test Subject 3: Hollow. No name. Deceased.
Test Subject 4: Arrancar. No name. Deceased.
Test Subject 5: Arrancar. Dondonchakka. Deceased.
He feels a shudder running down his spine reading the name and nods at Rukia inquiring stare. She takes the folder from its place and opens it, dread and revulsion plainly written on her face.
"I'll have a look, you carry on," she says, looking up quickly from the file, "I'll get you if I find something useful."
They nod and leave her to it, Renji conjuring his own kidou-light to help them with the search.
Ichigo is glad there wasn't a folder with Nell's name there, though he feels incredibly sad and angry for the other ones. Kurotsuchi is dead meat, that much is clear. But he wants to find the rest of his victims before he trashes the division, and he doesn't give a fuck what Yamamoto or the rest of Soul Society have to say about that.
"Guys!" Rukia's hushed voice reaches them and Ichigo turns to see her hurrying to them, her hands full of paper and a shocked expression on her face. "We need to get this papers to Yamamoto-soutaichou or Ukitake-taichou," she says, her voice urgent.
"What is it?" Renji asks before Ichigo can react.
"Mask Removal Day One: the subject is weak after removing his mask completely, the transformation to arrancar has not been achieved, the face is completely human and the subject has no reiatsu. Useless.
Mask Removal Day Two: The subject dies within 24 hours of the removal. It tried to speak and managed some garbled words in a strange an ancient language. Could it be possible for the Hollow to retain part of his human conscience? Might be an interesting study to take into account but for the purposes of this test is a failure.
"Fuck, that's sick!" Renji gasps, staring at Rukia wide eyed. Ichigo is feeling his control fraying, each word of that monstrosity eroding it a bit more.
"Mask Removal Day One: The subject dies immediately, the mask tearing whatever life it had from it. It looks as if it dies of shock, the pain probably too great for it. We'll try some sort of numbing agent on the next one.
"You go Rukia, go with those papers and find someone who gives a shit," Ichigo says, struggling to form coherent words with the storm of feeling stirring inside him. "Find Toushirou, of your brother, or Ukitake. Just not Yamamoto, I don't trust the geezer to do the right thing here. We'll keep searching for Nell and anyone who might be alive. Hurry."
Rukia nods once and turns around, leaving.
Ichigo almost sighs in relief. He wants the back up, that's true, but there is a reason he wants Rukia out of the 12th. He's losing it, and if the worst comes to happen he doesn’t want her anywhere near him.
Clenching his jaw he looks at Renji, who return his grim look with a nod, and they move to the next room.
…
"You still don't get it, Espada," Kurotsuchi says after a while, his voice mocking and so irritating Grimmjow wishes he could turn it off. He hates the fucking bastard with a passion. "You didn't escape; you just did what I wanted you to do."
Grimmjow struggles against the force holding him, though he knows it's useless. He has been subjected to that helpless feeling too many times to know he can't do anything. Still, he has to try; he can't just let himself be taken back to that place.
"You're just bait," Kurotsuchi continues and Grimmjow snaps back to attention, listening to his words again. He has a bad feeling. "I realized my research couldn't be completed with the specimens I had. I needed more than hollows and arrancar for what I wanted. I needed visored as well."
Grimmjow stares at him, horrified, the blood freezing in his veins. Visored. He knows what the freak means with that.
"But they are forbidden to go back to Soul Society, all except for one, and they are not good test subjects. They know too much, they are tainted by the Hogyoku. I needed another, purer specimen."
Fucking freak! Keep your hands away from him, bastard! Grimmjow wants to say, wants to shout and lunge at the freak, and tear him limb from limb. But the only thing he can do is listen to him, raging inside and thinking, Not him, he's mine.
"So you see, I let you go because I knew, the moment he realized you were still alive he'd come looking for you. I saw you two in Hueco Mundo, I knew he'd go after you." Kurotsuchi turns to look at Grimmjow, a terribly smug smile on his face-mask-whatever it is. "We have to go back now; my perfect specimen is probably already there, waiting for me."
Kurosaki.
…
Part IV - The Eye of the Stoorm