Angry at the World - Chapter 25 - Union
Title: Angry at the World
Pairing: Grimmjow x Ichigo
Rating: NC-17 as a whole; this time R
Description: Trauma and dark fascination draw Grimmjow and Ichigo closer, until obsession keeps them together. As the Winter War looms, they fight not to become pawns in a game whose claws dig deeper than they could have ever realized.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, make no money from these stories, not real, please don't sue, etc.
Enjoy, and a thank you to my readers. Without you, this would have stayed a one-shot.
Chapter 25 - Union
“Dammit,” Ichigo said to himself with gritted teeth. That conversation yielded as many questions as it had answered. He stood up slowly, looking grim. I can only assume Aizen ain’t lying, Ichigo thought. But then, where is Grimmjow? Why do I have to want to see him so badly? … I can’t even understand myself when I try. At least now I’ll have plenty of time to keep asking myself, he thought, unable to keep bitterness away.
Plenty of time. …Indefinitely… Realization settled sharp and cold in the pit of his stomach. No one else wanted to save Orihime. They wouldn’t waste the extra manpower it would take to saver her… to save me, he thought disdainfully. I can’t believe I need saving. I can’t believe I’ve let this happen. Then the dizziness began to set in, and he was forced to sit down on the edge of his bed. It was all a trap.
If Aizen even wanted Orihime, he surely knew Ichigo would waste no time in trying to save her with his few friends. And race to the rescue he did, just as Aizen had wanted.
And now he was captured. Orihime was no closer to freedom than before, and Danna was probably dead because of him. The cold in the boy’s stomach was swiftly becoming nausea.
How could he have forgotten? The poor girl hadn’t even crossed his mind or his questions when Aizen had been in the room. Disgusting of me…Ishida… will never forgive me. How could I…Ichigo swallowed hard. There was no actual proof the singer was dead. She was a Vaizard, surely she had to have powers he didn’t know about. He had to believe that; he couldn’t spend his time grieving in this room, not when he was alone with his thoughts. He couldn’t afford to indulge in self-destruction.
Worst of all, Ichigo still knew next to nothing about why he was here, only its high cost. That for now he wasn’t dead, for now. Hopefully they were going to keep it that way. As for Aizen’s message… Grimmjow hadn’t visited; is he allowed?
Maybe Grimmjow isn’t here yet because… He would be pissed. He would help me escape, Ichigo thought with a rakish grin. They know better. Maybe he isn’t such a bastard after all. They can’t keep me hidden from him forever. It was a shy fire in his chest. Hope made him nervous; he was never sure it was worth the pain. But…
Don’t make me regret hoping for you, you asshole.
~
Danna Ruby felt so much better that she thought she could only be dreaming. Her eyes flickered opened and weren’t accompanied by any throbbing pains. When she lifted her hand to gently touch her head there was only a slightly jarring. Little Nel managed this all by herself?
“Nel?” The Vaizard called quietly, unsure of where she was other than a hard floor and a gray ceiling.
“Ruby!” Nel launched at her stomach, and her arms closed like a vice. Ruby choked a yell back and inhaled down the wrong pipe. In response, one hefty white hand lifted her up while the other smacked her back much harder than was necessary, just prompting more coughing. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Nel screamed at Dondochokka, who was now the picture of regret.
“I was just trying to help, don’ cha’ know?” He exclaimed, tears flowing.
If Danna hadn’t been coughing she’d have stared at them all like a lost child. Nel and two…Hollow-esque creatures, one of them downright terrifying while he cried, surrounded her.
“Can I…just have some space?” Danna squeaked. Nel mouthed “oh no,” looking mortified.
“Space, she needs space!” The little girl shoved Dondochokka out of the cave completely and motioned for Pesche to do the same. Danna was confused.
“Not that much space, you don’t need to leave!” The Vaizard protested. Nel looked at her, lips pursed.
“Then you shoulda specificied!” The green-haired girl said with her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, don’cha’ know!” Dondochokka shouted in Danna’s face. She let out a little scream in response.
“Dondochokka, restrain yourself! Our guest is injured!” Pesche implored him, tugging him away from Danna.
“Yeah, just be a little careful eh?” She squeaked, eyes wide. This was turning out…differently than she’d expected. Actually, Danna didn’t know what she had expected from them at all.
“I’M SO SORRY!” The tiki-masked Hollow shouted again in tears.
“QUIET!” Nel screamed. That child was terrifying, but Danna had suspected as much when they had met.
“…” Danna lay back down, exasperated, and covered her eyes. Nel gasped in horror, and her companions followed suit.
“Wuby, are you okay?” She crawled over to her new friend, distraught.
“Oh, I’m quite fine, y’know?” Danna said weakly, feeling a little twinge after she realized what she’d said. Damn bad habits.
“Oh good, don’ cha’ know!” Dondochokka said gleefully. Danna sighed inwardly before sitting up and looking at Nel.
“Which direction is Las Noches in?” Nel paled, and shook her head, mouth open.
“You can’t go there, you’ll die!” She looked very distraught about it, and Danna shifted uncomfortably.
“I don’t think I’ll die-Wait a second, ohmygod!” She grabbed Nel’s sack shirt by the front and yanked her over. “Where’s Ichigo?!” Nel’s eyes watered and her lower lip wobbled.
“We couldn’t find Itsugo,” she said in a small voice. Danna’s heart sunk; she couldn’t do this alone, and she didn’t want her partner to be dead for so many reasons. The fact that she couldn’t feel Ichigo’s almost omnipresent reiatsu anymore was worrisome.
“Shit,” she cursed, and then looked guiltily at Nel. “Sorry,” she muttered and let go of the girl’s shirt. Nel cocked her head.
“Sorry? For what?” She asked innocently. That’s convenient, Danna thought with relief.
“Nothing, nothing…” But what was she supposed to do without any extra help? The task was looking impossible, but she stood and readied herself anyway. If Ichigo is dead, so am I… Uryuu, find a way to get your ass here, if only for Orihime.
“What’choo thinkin’ about Wuby?” Nel asked, looking up innocently at Danna. The Vaizard’s expression became cross.
“Are you sure you can’t just call me Danna?” She asked with a hint of exasperation.
“No! …I mean, yes! I like Wuby!” Nel cried. This is going to be an adventure and a half…
“Yes! I quite like the name Wuby myself,” Pesche added, fist bravely over his heart. His little mandibles clicked, and Danna suppressed a shudder.
“All right…Wuby it is,” she sighed. “Now, Las Noches?” She asked, hoping the little girl wouldn’t forget her request again. Now Nel shook her head in exasperation.
“I got it coveeered, jus’ hold on a minute!” She trotted out to the front of their cave, put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loud. The ground outside began to rumble ominously.
~
Chad walked up silently behind Uryuu and spoke.
“I think I already knew.”
“Gah!” Chad’s deep voice shocked Ishida out of his reverie, and he whirled around, glasses knocked a bit askew. “Oh, Sado, ah, sorry, what?” He asked while adjusting his eyewear, trying to recoup some of his lost dignity.
“About Ichigo being part Hollow,” he rumbled.
“How? No offense, but I don’t think you can see reiraku, and Ichigo’s has stayed red the entire time he’s been like this,” Ishida said carefully. Sado shook his head.
“No, you can see it in myself and Orihime,” the gentle giant explained. “Orihime is the light. She did well in Soul Society.” Ishida stared. He thought he saw where this was going, and it made enough sense to make him angry with himself. “I am the dark part. Our powers surfaced because of Ichigo…” Chad paused. Uryuu watched him, awaiting his words for the next detail, and the man shifted while under scrutiny. “And when the gate to Hueco Mundo opened, I felt it call to me.” Ishida nodded, looking off somewhere while he thought,
Of course. It’s obvious looking back. Sado’s power has latent Hollow characteristics. Then signs of this monster in Ichigo, his capacity to nurture such a thing was…
“…Was something like this in him even before Urahara?” He suddenly asked, looking back at Chad. He nodded just barely. Uryuu let off a string of particularly harsh curses, which earned him an uncharacteristic widening of the eyes and small smirk from Chad. “I still don’t know a thing! This could mean Urahara… Why can’t that god-be-damned man tell us things instead of making us figure them out? Would it be so bad if we knew what was going on for once? It’s not our fault we aren’t used to looking at the bigger picture, he could give us a…a hint. And this doesn’t even implicate him any less!” The Quincy continued to rant, and Chad’s surprise faded to simple raised the eyebrows. Eventually, Uryuu talked himself out, and sat down in the dirt.
“Thanks for listening,” he mumbled. Sado nodded stoically, and they waited.
~
Renji’s hands settled softly on Rukia’s shoulders, and she didn’t feel inclined to move them. They were separate from the others; they were a different kind of friend to Ichigo. They were Shinigami, and Ishida’s damning accusations stuck. Like always.
“I should have stopped trusting Urahara entirely after what he did to me,” Rukia whispered. “But even then, I couldn’t imagine that…”
“Maybe Ishida is wrong,” Renji offered. Rukia shot him a piercing glare, and he responded with a sheepish half-grin. “Not easy to find a bright side here, cut me some slack,” he asked, cajoling.
“…I wish he were wrong. But it all adds up, doesn’t it? Urahara was the one who helped restore his powers… It would have been… so easy to make something else happen at the same time. And there’s been a dark part of Ichigo for a long time, something that wasn’t there in the beginning,” she finished, still speaking softly.
“But…” Renji released his hold and moved to stand in front of her. “There would have been signs, right? If Ichigo was really part Hollow, we would have been able to sense something, things would have happened,” Abarai said confidently. Rukia looked up at him hesitantly, before looking back down at the ground. Renji’s face fell.
“There were signs,” she said softly. “We didn’t put them together. Oh Renji, we did this to him.” She looked up, sad and angry, at her longtime friend. “Soul Society chewed him up and spat him back out… We ruined him. We ruined him and Orihime, and that girl, we ruin everyone…” She couldn’t help the tears that seemed to boil up from nowhere. No, no, Kuchikis don’t cry, we don’t cry. “It was us,” she said and looked away.
“Rukia! He wanted… He wanted to be a part of this, even when we didn’t want him to! Not… always, but then… You’ve seen him, you know, this has to be what he was born to do! How else could he be so great? Soul Society still doesn’t even get it, but we do!”
Rukia still looked down at the ground, tears dripping quietly, but she nodded slightly. “He was born to be great. He wouldn’t want you feeling sorry for him. He’d probably be pissed, right?” Renji asked her with a grin. She finally looked up and gave him something of a smirk.
“He’d smack me over the head. And then I’d do the same ten times harder,” she said, smirk growing.
“So instead of feeling sorry for him, let’s just figure out how the hell to get him out of there, and then how to help him with his Hollow.” Renji said solidly. Rukia made a face.
“If that problem can be helped…” She muttered.
“Rukia!” He said with a scowl.
“Sorry! Sorry…” She looked forlornly over at Ishida and Chad, then at Urahara in the distance.
“It’ll be okay,” Renji said, not sounding entirely sure, but she appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. Then he bent down slightly and kissed her forehead. Silently, her breath flew away. A wonderful and terrible feeling bloomed; she wished it didn’t respond so quickly all of the damn time. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she told him with a smile.
“Let’s wait in the Shoten until Urahara is ready,” he offered, and Rukia nodded.
~
The basements of Las Noches kept some of its greatest secrets. Labs belonging to Aporro Grantz and Lord Aizen himself, locked rooms that belonged to the other leaders of the Espada, mazes, terrible prisons.
The kitchens and the laundry.
One of the castle’s greatest qualities was not it’s size but the unnoticed staff that toiled within, bringing instant service to Las Noches’ many short-fused inhabitants.
In the room that housed the giant cleaning boilers, Vey finished hanging the uniforms assigned to her and carefully folded them over the side of her large wheeled hamper. Slowly, hindered by the rugged scars stretched across her spine and legs, she pushed the cart down the hallways. At every room she would stop to collect dirty clothes, and hang up or put away the clean uniforms she had brought with her.
No one bothered her, past the occasional sneer. That, at least, left her ignored and able to do her job.
The day stretched on in its routine; exhausting and boring. Walk, fold, hang, throw, repeat. The monotony of the work left Sondegaard with nothing to distract her. Scar tissue stretched and rubbed against tendon and bone, tissue that would never become pliable enough to let her go through her day pain-free. But I’m alive. It has to be enough. If bitter resolve were to be her last weapon, then she’d wield it well.
After countless dirty rooms, the woman was in a bad mood. No one is more messy and entitled than us…she thought with resignation. In a particularly devastated room, Vey slammed open two closet doors and pushed aside the already hung clothes to make room for her delivery. As she reached for the clothes, she saw a dirty pile in the corner of the closet and sneered. A body. Another body.
“Can’t they even take out their own corpses anymore?” Vey growled in frustration and grabbed the body’s sleeve to drag it out.
When his eyes opened, Vey squeaked. When their eyes met, she screamed.
~
She screamed. When his silver eye met her blue, Nieronaut Asterlindt was inside the memories of Vey Sondegaard.
Nieronaut was hunger. Greedy, blind hunger was all that filled their Hollow’s mind. And then they were born. Aizen-sama took her from unknowing need and sated her by making her an Arrancar. She wasn’t strong but didn’t care; I’m beautiful. Green hair, blue eyes, and a hollow mask like a circlet on her head. Let them stare.
He felt Vey’s new thankful nature, almost as strong as the hunger had been. They did anything and everything, every day; all of it sped up a thousand times while revealing every detail. The wrenching moments of humanity when they felt the force of emotions no one had told them existed, the easily obtained and unrestrained happiness, how quickly it soured… and it got them into trouble. Terrible trouble.
She had baited the fifth Espada. Snapped without thinking or knowing whom she was speaking to. They felt his hot, horrible stare, taking them in, in entirety. The gaze settled on her green hair, and they saw something snap. Immediately, Vey spun on her toes and tried to sprint. No time passed between that first step and the horrible burn that flashed across her back and sent her sprawling to the ground.
Then the black-haired monster was there, cutting at their body, clawing with nails across her arms and face, smashing her head against the floor. Screaming and breaking bones because she was a horrible, righteous bitch who deserved it all. Everything he did to her there, inside and out, she deserved. He reminded her.
“Never look at me with those eyes like that again.”
She never looked at anyone with eyes like that anymore. She considered herself lucky to still have her eyes at all.
That scene was over almost as quickly as it started. Then there was dragging herself away, disappearing and finding no one willing to follow the trail of blood. So many months she recovered, they lived it. They didn’t remember Vey’s face anymore, before or after. No more mirrors, no more looking people in the eye, just bitter living.
Nieronaut felt the rage still there, fresh and waiting for the right moment, in a wounded girl he’d never expected to look in the eye.
When Vey was released from his vision, she groaned and let herself slide down to the ground, body convulsing with held back sobs. Niero shivered behind the dropped clothes. He had hoped the mind he found next would help him forget everything he had lived inside Szayel; instead he’d resurrected memories in the woman that were better off dead. He inched forward on his knees, tired and eyes pricking.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, touching her partially broken mask ever so carefully. She wouldn’t look at him, but her weak, pale hand grasped at his. They couldn’t help what they shared now.
~
As he walked down the looming hallway, Grimmjow was flanked on each side by an Espada. To his left, Yammi. To his right, Ulquiorra. He knew why it was those two. Always those two, and he hated it. He hated the ball of fear and revulsion that dropped into his gut whenever he saw the giant. Grimmjow's hackles were up the entire trip; both of his guardians refused to say why he was being taken and to where, only that he was required to attend. To say the least, it rubbed raw on the Sexte Espada's temper.
"Grimmjow," Ulquiorra stated calmly, "Lower your reiatsu immediately, or it will jeopardize our... excursion." Grimm bridled and was about to open his mouth before both Espada shot him a dangerous look. Painfully, Grimmjow swallowed his words. Damn them to hell. He gradually eased down on his spirit power. The blue-haired man was becoming more irritated with every step, and was about to say so when they finally stopped in front of a door with no identifying characteristics. Just some random room...The fuck. Then horror rose in his throat. They won't. They can't do it again.
"Don't do anything stupid," Yammi warned, and stepped behind Grimmjow.
"Like kicking your ass?" He snarled in return.
"This is a boon from Aizen-sama. Do not take it lightly," Ulquiorra told him with a cold, sidelong glance. Grimmjow simply sneered, and then the green-eyed Arrancar opened the door and stepped inside. Grimm followed, and behind Yammi, the door closed.
"So I don't get it," the Sexte Espada scowled as he scanned the room, and then his heart seemed to stop. Unruly hair, angry brows and sullen stance. No. He stepped aside to face the other Espada. "What the fuck is this?! Some joke from Aizen?! It's not fucking funny, and I'm not going to fall for some half-assed illusion. You've got another fucking thing coming if you think I'd accept something so stupid--" Ichigo stared at him, confused, angry and maybe happy, all at once. Oh god it hurts. How unfair of Aizen to use his Zanpakutou against one of his own Espada, especially someone so...
"...It's me, goddamnit! I'm no damn illusion!" Kurosaki snarled. Grimmjow turned to stare. No. He has to be fake. But everything was right, from wild red locks to fiery brown eyes down to his very posture. But he was wrong, dressed all in white with some collar around his neck.
"Why don't I feel any spirit power then?" He growled low, and turned back to Ulquiorra.
"His powers have been bound...so that he causes less trouble. I assure you, this is the real Kurosaki Ichigo," he replied without emotion. Inside Grimmjow's mind he retched, he screamed. No, no, no. They touched him. What do I do? They've stolen and fouled something sacred. I'll ruin them. Took his power? It was the most beautiful, natural thing about Kurosaki.
"...YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" He yelled and unsheathed his sword. "I'll kill you for fucking touching--" Yammi had the Sexte Espada's left arm twisted behind his back, and Ulquiorra's hand held Grimmjow's sword wrist in a vice grip. He yelled in rage. "What makes you think you had the right to touch him?! I'll fucking kill all of you, ALL OF YOU! HE'S MINE!" He struggled with the two Espada, but it wasn't long before he was pinned to the ground. He was angry. He was so furious and torn apart he didn't know what to do with himself. His reiatsu was shooting through the roof, but it did nothing to get Yammi and Ulquiorra away from him.
But it did force Ichigo to the floor, making him gasp for breath.
"HOW DARE YOU BRING HIM HERE YOU PIGS! You're NOTHING!" He let out another wordless cry of rage.
"If you do not calm down, you will hurt what you are so foolishly desperate about and find yourself barred from visiting him, do I make myself clear?" Ulquiorra said forcefully, pressing down on the back of Grimmjow's neck. Grimmjow roared.
Ichigo yelled.
Grimmjow’s head snapped up to look at the redhead, on his knees and panting, eyes unseeing.
“Ichigo?!” The air was becoming heavy and smothering. It’s not us, but it doesn’t feel like Ichigo either…Ulquiorra released Grimmjow to look at the captive. Yammi stomped over to the teen and tried to pick him up by the arm, but let go as if burned.
“Shit! Little prick is--”
~
The pain in Ichigo’s head was pounding and resonating through his whole body. He was on fire, needles and pins. It felt good, right, but it was overwhelming. It was worse than any press of reiatsu by Aizen or the Espada. He felt the pressure inside and out, and something had to burst.
And something did.
With a pop, the pressure within dropped and the pain lessened. Ichigo slumped to the floor, breathing heavily, but relieved the short ordeal was over. He hadn’t even realized he couldn’t hear until words gradually became audible.
“Fuck! What the fuck did you do to him?” Grimmjow bit something out of his hand and spat it back down the floor. It was a white chip-The Sexte Espada had another embedded in his face, and the Cuatro had several. He removed them with absolute calm, and collected the fragments in his palm.
“I did nothing,” Ulquiorra replied in as much of a snap as he was capable.
“…” Ichigo eased himself back to his feet, away from the giant Espada next to him. “What the hell happened?” he asked with a scowl.
“You were the next person I was gonna ask,” Grimmjow replied with the self-same scowl, and pointed at Ichigo’s leg. One of the bone-white cuffs had shattered. …No wonder... Some of his reiatsu was available again; not enough to do any good, but enough to let him feel alive again.
Yammi and Ulquiorra’s gaze met, and the latter nodded minutely. Both Espada moved towards the door.
“Grimmjow,” Yammi growled. The blue-haired Espada was still watching Ichigo like a hawk.
“Go fuck yourself,” Grimm replied without looking away. The staring was bordering on uncomfortable now. Yammi took a step towards Grimmjow, but a slight shake of the head from Ulquiorra stopped him.
“Ten minutes. You’re being watched,” he said flatly. Yammi sneered, but exited the room. Ulquiorra’s cold stare focused on Ichigo for a moment and he could barely repress his shudder. Then the door closed behind the Cuatro Espada, and Ichigo and Grimmjow were alone.
(AN: Sorry about another cliffhanger.)
COMMUNITY DISCLAIMER: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this fanfiction (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States state of California, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from.
Pairing: Grimmjow x Ichigo
Rating: NC-17 as a whole; this time R
Description: Trauma and dark fascination draw Grimmjow and Ichigo closer, until obsession keeps them together. As the Winter War looms, they fight not to become pawns in a game whose claws dig deeper than they could have ever realized.
Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, make no money from these stories, not real, please don't sue, etc.
Enjoy, and a thank you to my readers. Without you, this would have stayed a one-shot.
Chapter 25 - Union
“Dammit,” Ichigo said to himself with gritted teeth. That conversation yielded as many questions as it had answered. He stood up slowly, looking grim. I can only assume Aizen ain’t lying, Ichigo thought. But then, where is Grimmjow? Why do I have to want to see him so badly? … I can’t even understand myself when I try. At least now I’ll have plenty of time to keep asking myself, he thought, unable to keep bitterness away.
Plenty of time. …Indefinitely… Realization settled sharp and cold in the pit of his stomach. No one else wanted to save Orihime. They wouldn’t waste the extra manpower it would take to saver her… to save me, he thought disdainfully. I can’t believe I need saving. I can’t believe I’ve let this happen. Then the dizziness began to set in, and he was forced to sit down on the edge of his bed. It was all a trap.
If Aizen even wanted Orihime, he surely knew Ichigo would waste no time in trying to save her with his few friends. And race to the rescue he did, just as Aizen had wanted.
And now he was captured. Orihime was no closer to freedom than before, and Danna was probably dead because of him. The cold in the boy’s stomach was swiftly becoming nausea.
How could he have forgotten? The poor girl hadn’t even crossed his mind or his questions when Aizen had been in the room. Disgusting of me…Ishida… will never forgive me. How could I…Ichigo swallowed hard. There was no actual proof the singer was dead. She was a Vaizard, surely she had to have powers he didn’t know about. He had to believe that; he couldn’t spend his time grieving in this room, not when he was alone with his thoughts. He couldn’t afford to indulge in self-destruction.
Worst of all, Ichigo still knew next to nothing about why he was here, only its high cost. That for now he wasn’t dead, for now. Hopefully they were going to keep it that way. As for Aizen’s message… Grimmjow hadn’t visited; is he allowed?
Maybe Grimmjow isn’t here yet because… He would be pissed. He would help me escape, Ichigo thought with a rakish grin. They know better. Maybe he isn’t such a bastard after all. They can’t keep me hidden from him forever. It was a shy fire in his chest. Hope made him nervous; he was never sure it was worth the pain. But…
Don’t make me regret hoping for you, you asshole.
~
Danna Ruby felt so much better that she thought she could only be dreaming. Her eyes flickered opened and weren’t accompanied by any throbbing pains. When she lifted her hand to gently touch her head there was only a slightly jarring. Little Nel managed this all by herself?
“Nel?” The Vaizard called quietly, unsure of where she was other than a hard floor and a gray ceiling.
“Ruby!” Nel launched at her stomach, and her arms closed like a vice. Ruby choked a yell back and inhaled down the wrong pipe. In response, one hefty white hand lifted her up while the other smacked her back much harder than was necessary, just prompting more coughing. “WHAT DID YOU DO?!” Nel screamed at Dondochokka, who was now the picture of regret.
“I was just trying to help, don’ cha’ know?” He exclaimed, tears flowing.
If Danna hadn’t been coughing she’d have stared at them all like a lost child. Nel and two…Hollow-esque creatures, one of them downright terrifying while he cried, surrounded her.
“Can I…just have some space?” Danna squeaked. Nel mouthed “oh no,” looking mortified.
“Space, she needs space!” The little girl shoved Dondochokka out of the cave completely and motioned for Pesche to do the same. Danna was confused.
“Not that much space, you don’t need to leave!” The Vaizard protested. Nel looked at her, lips pursed.
“Then you shoulda specificied!” The green-haired girl said with her hands on her hips.
“Yeah, don’cha’ know!” Dondochokka shouted in Danna’s face. She let out a little scream in response.
“Dondochokka, restrain yourself! Our guest is injured!” Pesche implored him, tugging him away from Danna.
“Yeah, just be a little careful eh?” She squeaked, eyes wide. This was turning out…differently than she’d expected. Actually, Danna didn’t know what she had expected from them at all.
“I’M SO SORRY!” The tiki-masked Hollow shouted again in tears.
“QUIET!” Nel screamed. That child was terrifying, but Danna had suspected as much when they had met.
“…” Danna lay back down, exasperated, and covered her eyes. Nel gasped in horror, and her companions followed suit.
“Wuby, are you okay?” She crawled over to her new friend, distraught.
“Oh, I’m quite fine, y’know?” Danna said weakly, feeling a little twinge after she realized what she’d said. Damn bad habits.
“Oh good, don’ cha’ know!” Dondochokka said gleefully. Danna sighed inwardly before sitting up and looking at Nel.
“Which direction is Las Noches in?” Nel paled, and shook her head, mouth open.
“You can’t go there, you’ll die!” She looked very distraught about it, and Danna shifted uncomfortably.
“I don’t think I’ll die-Wait a second, ohmygod!” She grabbed Nel’s sack shirt by the front and yanked her over. “Where’s Ichigo?!” Nel’s eyes watered and her lower lip wobbled.
“We couldn’t find Itsugo,” she said in a small voice. Danna’s heart sunk; she couldn’t do this alone, and she didn’t want her partner to be dead for so many reasons. The fact that she couldn’t feel Ichigo’s almost omnipresent reiatsu anymore was worrisome.
“Shit,” she cursed, and then looked guiltily at Nel. “Sorry,” she muttered and let go of the girl’s shirt. Nel cocked her head.
“Sorry? For what?” She asked innocently. That’s convenient, Danna thought with relief.
“Nothing, nothing…” But what was she supposed to do without any extra help? The task was looking impossible, but she stood and readied herself anyway. If Ichigo is dead, so am I… Uryuu, find a way to get your ass here, if only for Orihime.
“What’choo thinkin’ about Wuby?” Nel asked, looking up innocently at Danna. The Vaizard’s expression became cross.
“Are you sure you can’t just call me Danna?” She asked with a hint of exasperation.
“No! …I mean, yes! I like Wuby!” Nel cried. This is going to be an adventure and a half…
“Yes! I quite like the name Wuby myself,” Pesche added, fist bravely over his heart. His little mandibles clicked, and Danna suppressed a shudder.
“All right…Wuby it is,” she sighed. “Now, Las Noches?” She asked, hoping the little girl wouldn’t forget her request again. Now Nel shook her head in exasperation.
“I got it coveeered, jus’ hold on a minute!” She trotted out to the front of their cave, put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loud. The ground outside began to rumble ominously.
~
Chad walked up silently behind Uryuu and spoke.
“I think I already knew.”
“Gah!” Chad’s deep voice shocked Ishida out of his reverie, and he whirled around, glasses knocked a bit askew. “Oh, Sado, ah, sorry, what?” He asked while adjusting his eyewear, trying to recoup some of his lost dignity.
“About Ichigo being part Hollow,” he rumbled.
“How? No offense, but I don’t think you can see reiraku, and Ichigo’s has stayed red the entire time he’s been like this,” Ishida said carefully. Sado shook his head.
“No, you can see it in myself and Orihime,” the gentle giant explained. “Orihime is the light. She did well in Soul Society.” Ishida stared. He thought he saw where this was going, and it made enough sense to make him angry with himself. “I am the dark part. Our powers surfaced because of Ichigo…” Chad paused. Uryuu watched him, awaiting his words for the next detail, and the man shifted while under scrutiny. “And when the gate to Hueco Mundo opened, I felt it call to me.” Ishida nodded, looking off somewhere while he thought,
Of course. It’s obvious looking back. Sado’s power has latent Hollow characteristics. Then signs of this monster in Ichigo, his capacity to nurture such a thing was…
“…Was something like this in him even before Urahara?” He suddenly asked, looking back at Chad. He nodded just barely. Uryuu let off a string of particularly harsh curses, which earned him an uncharacteristic widening of the eyes and small smirk from Chad. “I still don’t know a thing! This could mean Urahara… Why can’t that god-be-damned man tell us things instead of making us figure them out? Would it be so bad if we knew what was going on for once? It’s not our fault we aren’t used to looking at the bigger picture, he could give us a…a hint. And this doesn’t even implicate him any less!” The Quincy continued to rant, and Chad’s surprise faded to simple raised the eyebrows. Eventually, Uryuu talked himself out, and sat down in the dirt.
“Thanks for listening,” he mumbled. Sado nodded stoically, and they waited.
~
Renji’s hands settled softly on Rukia’s shoulders, and she didn’t feel inclined to move them. They were separate from the others; they were a different kind of friend to Ichigo. They were Shinigami, and Ishida’s damning accusations stuck. Like always.
“I should have stopped trusting Urahara entirely after what he did to me,” Rukia whispered. “But even then, I couldn’t imagine that…”
“Maybe Ishida is wrong,” Renji offered. Rukia shot him a piercing glare, and he responded with a sheepish half-grin. “Not easy to find a bright side here, cut me some slack,” he asked, cajoling.
“…I wish he were wrong. But it all adds up, doesn’t it? Urahara was the one who helped restore his powers… It would have been… so easy to make something else happen at the same time. And there’s been a dark part of Ichigo for a long time, something that wasn’t there in the beginning,” she finished, still speaking softly.
“But…” Renji released his hold and moved to stand in front of her. “There would have been signs, right? If Ichigo was really part Hollow, we would have been able to sense something, things would have happened,” Abarai said confidently. Rukia looked up at him hesitantly, before looking back down at the ground. Renji’s face fell.
“There were signs,” she said softly. “We didn’t put them together. Oh Renji, we did this to him.” She looked up, sad and angry, at her longtime friend. “Soul Society chewed him up and spat him back out… We ruined him. We ruined him and Orihime, and that girl, we ruin everyone…” She couldn’t help the tears that seemed to boil up from nowhere. No, no, Kuchikis don’t cry, we don’t cry. “It was us,” she said and looked away.
“Rukia! He wanted… He wanted to be a part of this, even when we didn’t want him to! Not… always, but then… You’ve seen him, you know, this has to be what he was born to do! How else could he be so great? Soul Society still doesn’t even get it, but we do!”
Rukia still looked down at the ground, tears dripping quietly, but she nodded slightly. “He was born to be great. He wouldn’t want you feeling sorry for him. He’d probably be pissed, right?” Renji asked her with a grin. She finally looked up and gave him something of a smirk.
“He’d smack me over the head. And then I’d do the same ten times harder,” she said, smirk growing.
“So instead of feeling sorry for him, let’s just figure out how the hell to get him out of there, and then how to help him with his Hollow.” Renji said solidly. Rukia made a face.
“If that problem can be helped…” She muttered.
“Rukia!” He said with a scowl.
“Sorry! Sorry…” She looked forlornly over at Ishida and Chad, then at Urahara in the distance.
“It’ll be okay,” Renji said, not sounding entirely sure, but she appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. Then he bent down slightly and kissed her forehead. Silently, her breath flew away. A wonderful and terrible feeling bloomed; she wished it didn’t respond so quickly all of the damn time. “Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she told him with a smile.
“Let’s wait in the Shoten until Urahara is ready,” he offered, and Rukia nodded.
~
The basements of Las Noches kept some of its greatest secrets. Labs belonging to Aporro Grantz and Lord Aizen himself, locked rooms that belonged to the other leaders of the Espada, mazes, terrible prisons.
The kitchens and the laundry.
One of the castle’s greatest qualities was not it’s size but the unnoticed staff that toiled within, bringing instant service to Las Noches’ many short-fused inhabitants.
In the room that housed the giant cleaning boilers, Vey finished hanging the uniforms assigned to her and carefully folded them over the side of her large wheeled hamper. Slowly, hindered by the rugged scars stretched across her spine and legs, she pushed the cart down the hallways. At every room she would stop to collect dirty clothes, and hang up or put away the clean uniforms she had brought with her.
No one bothered her, past the occasional sneer. That, at least, left her ignored and able to do her job.
The day stretched on in its routine; exhausting and boring. Walk, fold, hang, throw, repeat. The monotony of the work left Sondegaard with nothing to distract her. Scar tissue stretched and rubbed against tendon and bone, tissue that would never become pliable enough to let her go through her day pain-free. But I’m alive. It has to be enough. If bitter resolve were to be her last weapon, then she’d wield it well.
After countless dirty rooms, the woman was in a bad mood. No one is more messy and entitled than us…she thought with resignation. In a particularly devastated room, Vey slammed open two closet doors and pushed aside the already hung clothes to make room for her delivery. As she reached for the clothes, she saw a dirty pile in the corner of the closet and sneered. A body. Another body.
“Can’t they even take out their own corpses anymore?” Vey growled in frustration and grabbed the body’s sleeve to drag it out.
When his eyes opened, Vey squeaked. When their eyes met, she screamed.
~
She screamed. When his silver eye met her blue, Nieronaut Asterlindt was inside the memories of Vey Sondegaard.
Nieronaut was hunger. Greedy, blind hunger was all that filled their Hollow’s mind. And then they were born. Aizen-sama took her from unknowing need and sated her by making her an Arrancar. She wasn’t strong but didn’t care; I’m beautiful. Green hair, blue eyes, and a hollow mask like a circlet on her head. Let them stare.
He felt Vey’s new thankful nature, almost as strong as the hunger had been. They did anything and everything, every day; all of it sped up a thousand times while revealing every detail. The wrenching moments of humanity when they felt the force of emotions no one had told them existed, the easily obtained and unrestrained happiness, how quickly it soured… and it got them into trouble. Terrible trouble.
She had baited the fifth Espada. Snapped without thinking or knowing whom she was speaking to. They felt his hot, horrible stare, taking them in, in entirety. The gaze settled on her green hair, and they saw something snap. Immediately, Vey spun on her toes and tried to sprint. No time passed between that first step and the horrible burn that flashed across her back and sent her sprawling to the ground.
Then the black-haired monster was there, cutting at their body, clawing with nails across her arms and face, smashing her head against the floor. Screaming and breaking bones because she was a horrible, righteous bitch who deserved it all. Everything he did to her there, inside and out, she deserved. He reminded her.
“Never look at me with those eyes like that again.”
She never looked at anyone with eyes like that anymore. She considered herself lucky to still have her eyes at all.
That scene was over almost as quickly as it started. Then there was dragging herself away, disappearing and finding no one willing to follow the trail of blood. So many months she recovered, they lived it. They didn’t remember Vey’s face anymore, before or after. No more mirrors, no more looking people in the eye, just bitter living.
Nieronaut felt the rage still there, fresh and waiting for the right moment, in a wounded girl he’d never expected to look in the eye.
When Vey was released from his vision, she groaned and let herself slide down to the ground, body convulsing with held back sobs. Niero shivered behind the dropped clothes. He had hoped the mind he found next would help him forget everything he had lived inside Szayel; instead he’d resurrected memories in the woman that were better off dead. He inched forward on his knees, tired and eyes pricking.
“I’m sorry,” he said quietly, touching her partially broken mask ever so carefully. She wouldn’t look at him, but her weak, pale hand grasped at his. They couldn’t help what they shared now.
~
As he walked down the looming hallway, Grimmjow was flanked on each side by an Espada. To his left, Yammi. To his right, Ulquiorra. He knew why it was those two. Always those two, and he hated it. He hated the ball of fear and revulsion that dropped into his gut whenever he saw the giant. Grimmjow's hackles were up the entire trip; both of his guardians refused to say why he was being taken and to where, only that he was required to attend. To say the least, it rubbed raw on the Sexte Espada's temper.
"Grimmjow," Ulquiorra stated calmly, "Lower your reiatsu immediately, or it will jeopardize our... excursion." Grimm bridled and was about to open his mouth before both Espada shot him a dangerous look. Painfully, Grimmjow swallowed his words. Damn them to hell. He gradually eased down on his spirit power. The blue-haired man was becoming more irritated with every step, and was about to say so when they finally stopped in front of a door with no identifying characteristics. Just some random room...The fuck. Then horror rose in his throat. They won't. They can't do it again.
"Don't do anything stupid," Yammi warned, and stepped behind Grimmjow.
"Like kicking your ass?" He snarled in return.
"This is a boon from Aizen-sama. Do not take it lightly," Ulquiorra told him with a cold, sidelong glance. Grimmjow simply sneered, and then the green-eyed Arrancar opened the door and stepped inside. Grimm followed, and behind Yammi, the door closed.
"So I don't get it," the Sexte Espada scowled as he scanned the room, and then his heart seemed to stop. Unruly hair, angry brows and sullen stance. No. He stepped aside to face the other Espada. "What the fuck is this?! Some joke from Aizen?! It's not fucking funny, and I'm not going to fall for some half-assed illusion. You've got another fucking thing coming if you think I'd accept something so stupid--" Ichigo stared at him, confused, angry and maybe happy, all at once. Oh god it hurts. How unfair of Aizen to use his Zanpakutou against one of his own Espada, especially someone so...
"...It's me, goddamnit! I'm no damn illusion!" Kurosaki snarled. Grimmjow turned to stare. No. He has to be fake. But everything was right, from wild red locks to fiery brown eyes down to his very posture. But he was wrong, dressed all in white with some collar around his neck.
"Why don't I feel any spirit power then?" He growled low, and turned back to Ulquiorra.
"His powers have been bound...so that he causes less trouble. I assure you, this is the real Kurosaki Ichigo," he replied without emotion. Inside Grimmjow's mind he retched, he screamed. No, no, no. They touched him. What do I do? They've stolen and fouled something sacred. I'll ruin them. Took his power? It was the most beautiful, natural thing about Kurosaki.
"...YOU SONS OF BITCHES!" He yelled and unsheathed his sword. "I'll kill you for fucking touching--" Yammi had the Sexte Espada's left arm twisted behind his back, and Ulquiorra's hand held Grimmjow's sword wrist in a vice grip. He yelled in rage. "What makes you think you had the right to touch him?! I'll fucking kill all of you, ALL OF YOU! HE'S MINE!" He struggled with the two Espada, but it wasn't long before he was pinned to the ground. He was angry. He was so furious and torn apart he didn't know what to do with himself. His reiatsu was shooting through the roof, but it did nothing to get Yammi and Ulquiorra away from him.
But it did force Ichigo to the floor, making him gasp for breath.
"HOW DARE YOU BRING HIM HERE YOU PIGS! You're NOTHING!" He let out another wordless cry of rage.
"If you do not calm down, you will hurt what you are so foolishly desperate about and find yourself barred from visiting him, do I make myself clear?" Ulquiorra said forcefully, pressing down on the back of Grimmjow's neck. Grimmjow roared.
Ichigo yelled.
Grimmjow’s head snapped up to look at the redhead, on his knees and panting, eyes unseeing.
“Ichigo?!” The air was becoming heavy and smothering. It’s not us, but it doesn’t feel like Ichigo either…Ulquiorra released Grimmjow to look at the captive. Yammi stomped over to the teen and tried to pick him up by the arm, but let go as if burned.
“Shit! Little prick is--”
~
The pain in Ichigo’s head was pounding and resonating through his whole body. He was on fire, needles and pins. It felt good, right, but it was overwhelming. It was worse than any press of reiatsu by Aizen or the Espada. He felt the pressure inside and out, and something had to burst.
And something did.
With a pop, the pressure within dropped and the pain lessened. Ichigo slumped to the floor, breathing heavily, but relieved the short ordeal was over. He hadn’t even realized he couldn’t hear until words gradually became audible.
“Fuck! What the fuck did you do to him?” Grimmjow bit something out of his hand and spat it back down the floor. It was a white chip-The Sexte Espada had another embedded in his face, and the Cuatro had several. He removed them with absolute calm, and collected the fragments in his palm.
“I did nothing,” Ulquiorra replied in as much of a snap as he was capable.
“…” Ichigo eased himself back to his feet, away from the giant Espada next to him. “What the hell happened?” he asked with a scowl.
“You were the next person I was gonna ask,” Grimmjow replied with the self-same scowl, and pointed at Ichigo’s leg. One of the bone-white cuffs had shattered. …No wonder... Some of his reiatsu was available again; not enough to do any good, but enough to let him feel alive again.
Yammi and Ulquiorra’s gaze met, and the latter nodded minutely. Both Espada moved towards the door.
“Grimmjow,” Yammi growled. The blue-haired Espada was still watching Ichigo like a hawk.
“Go fuck yourself,” Grimm replied without looking away. The staring was bordering on uncomfortable now. Yammi took a step towards Grimmjow, but a slight shake of the head from Ulquiorra stopped him.
“Ten minutes. You’re being watched,” he said flatly. Yammi sneered, but exited the room. Ulquiorra’s cold stare focused on Ichigo for a moment and he could barely repress his shudder. Then the door closed behind the Cuatro Espada, and Ichigo and Grimmjow were alone.
(AN: Sorry about another cliffhanger.)
COMMUNITY DISCLAIMER: All characters depicted in sexual situations in this fanfiction (including material in the comments) are fictional and are intended to be and considered to be by the author of said material of the legal age of consent in the United States state of California, regardless of what age these characters may be in the material they are derived from.