Closer to Heaven

"Owie..." Ichigo rubbed his head which had a big red bump on it. Orihime huffed and crossed her arms.

"That's what you get for being so perverted all the time! We're currently in a war, Ichigo! Stop playing around! " Orihime scolded him.

" But I said I'm sowwy!!! " Ichigo whined with fake tears running down his eyes.

" Sorry won't cut it, Ichigo. You have to promise me that you'll be serious from now on. We can't afford mistakes. " Orihime muttered. Ichigo nodded his head repeatedly.

"Okay....I promise I'll be serious from now on." Ichigo promised her. Orihime smiled sweetly at him.

" Good. Thank you for listening to me. " Orihime thanked him. Ichigo grinned, by that grin turned into a devious one in an instant.

" Can we hold hands now? " Orihime glared at him.

" What did I just say!?!? Get over here!!"

" Ahhhh!!!! "

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" Hmph! " Orihime huffed while she was holding hands with Ichigo. Nel who was walking with them, held Ichigo's right hand while Orihime held the left.

"Yaayyy..." Ichigo chuckled happily. They then encountered a group of Shinigami. One of the people in the group was Rukia.

"Rukia! We're here!" Ichigo called her. Rukia looked at him and smiled.

"Ichigo!" Rukia approached him. They hugged each other for a few seconds before releasing it.

"Hey, Ichigo! Look who we have!!"

Ichigo looked at Zaraki who wwa grinning broadly.

"We got your wives!!" Zaraki stepped aside to reveal Tatsuki and Rangiku. Ichigo widened his eyes.

"Tatsuki!! Rangiku!!" Ichigo shouted and ran towards them. Rangiku giggled and widened her arms. Tatsuki did the same.

Ichigo hugged them lovingly. "Are you guys okay?" Ichigo whispered to them. Tatsuki nodded.

" Yeah. We're okay. It's all thanks to Toshiro and his friends. " Tatsuki looked at the Strike Force group and smiled gratefully. Toshiro blushed a little and crossed his arms.

"You don't have to thank us, Arisawa-san. It's all Commander's orders. We were just following them." Toshiro grumbled. Rukia raised her eyebrow and looked at him suspiciously.

"Oh really? Then why did Captain Zaraki tell me that you decided to take matters into your own hands? Where was the Commander's orders?" Rukia asked him with a triumphant smirk on her face. Ladies and gentlemen, she got him. Toshiro had a tick mark on his head. He glared at Zaraki with an embarrassed blush on his face.

Zaraki just cackled loudly. Suddenly, they heard footsteps approaching them.

"The reunion is very beautiful. But I'm afraid we have to cut it short." Everyone turned to look at Unohana who had Isane behind her.

"Captain Unohana? How did you get here?" Rukia asked with a confused face. Unohana looked at her and giggled.

"I do not know the specifics that well, Lieutenant Kuchiki. Perhaps you should ask Captain Kurotsuchi instead. " Unohana looked at the man beside her.

The man was Mayuri Kurotsuchi, the captain of the 12th Division in the Gotei 13 and 2nd president of the Shinigami Research Institute.

His lieutenant is Nemu Kurotsuchi, his artificially-created "daughter". He also formerly served as the 3rd Seat of the 12th Division under Kisuke Urahara.

Mayuri's appearance has a skeletal look to it with a skull-like visage. His face is painted entirely white with the inner portion of his face painted black with the exception of his nose.

His eyes are a golden color and he constantly bares his teeth giving the appearance of him constantly smiling. Both his ears are seemingly replaced with stubbed golden cones.

His fingernails are blue and, with the exception of the fingernail on his right middle finger, are all short. The one long fingernail is as long as the finger itself. He also wears a white hat with two ends that point to his right and a large purple scarf around his neck.

His whole body, even his face and hands, has been painted black and white. He repaints his makeup every morning, as he always removes it before going to bed.

Without his makeup, Mayuri has blue hair and honey gold eyes. He has small, slatted portcullises with multiple earrings in place of where his ears would be, and his body is covered in scars.

But that was just his old look, Mayuri wanted to look special so he changed his look upon entering Hueco Mundo.

Now, his face paint had changed with him creating a black cross upon the center of his face covering everything but his nose and a small portion of his lower chin.

His ear attachments have become shorter and rounder but wider, his chin has a long golden attachment reminiscent of an Egyptian Pharaoh beard, his teeth have become a golden color, and he no longer wears a hat as there is a golden frame around his face.

His hair is also styled into "horns," that slope down from the top of his head and frame his face, which when viewed from the front looks much like a Pharaoh's crown.

"Care to explain to us how we got here, Captain Kurotsuchi?" Unohana asked sweetly. Mayuri shrugged.

"I created the Garganta by myself and voila. It's simple really. But I don't think airheads like you will understand the process of the creation." Mayuri grinned creepily at them. Ichigo chuckled. Mayuri cocked his head at him.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, may I ask something from you?" Mayuri asked him politely. Ichigo was curious.

" What is it, Mayuri? " Ichigo asked him. Mayuri was ticked off by Ichigo not calling him with honorifics but he decided to bother him about it later.

"Can I ask for your blood? qOnly a little bit will suffice." Mayuri grinned at him creepily while holding up a giant syringe in his right hand. The syringe can at least fill 200ml of fluid in it.

Ichigo stared at him for a few seconds. He raised his right hand and pointed at him. A golden orb was generated at the tip of his index finger.

The golden Cero spun on Ichigo's finger dangerously. Mayuri widened his eyes and held up his hand defensively.

"Woah! Woah! Woah! It's just a joke, man! A joke!" Mayuri shouted feeling genuinely scared.

"I hope it is." Ichigo muttered and the golden orb became brighter. Suddenly, a girl jumped in between Mayuri and Ichigo.

This is Nemu Kurotsuchi, the former lieutenant of the 12th Division of the Gotei 13, serving under Captain Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

Slender and youthful, Nemu is a well-endowed woman with green eyes. Her black hair is pulled back into a long braid, with slightly parted bangs.

Her uniform consists of a short black kimono, which extends to mid-thigh, with a white nagajuban underneath. The sleeves of her kimono are not as wide as those worn by most Shinigami, and the upper parts of the sleeves are puffed.

She wears a traditional wide white obi, fastened with a red cord. On her left sleeve is her lieutenant's armband. She wears white gloves, which only cover the back of her hands and wrists, and a dark red choker.

Ichigo raised his eyebrow. "Is this your daughter, Mayuri?" Ichigo asked the mad scientist. Mayuri smirked arrogantly.

"She is my proud creation! Nemu Kurotsuchi! I created her by using a combination of Gigai and Gikon technologies to bring her into existence! " Mayuri then began to tell Ichigo every single detail of the process of creating her. Ichigo was nodding repeatedly while somehow understanding what he was saying.

"See, it's simple right?! Maybe with your blood! I can create Ichigo 2.0!!" Mayuri held up his syringe again. Ichigo chuckled and shook his head.

"No thanks. I want to create Ichigo 2.0 and more the old natural and fun way." Ichigo grinned deviously at Orihime, Rukia, Tatsuki. They blushed shyly and looked down feeling flustered. Mayuri grunted uncaringly.

"Whatever. Don't come crying to me when your successor generator doesn't work. " Mayuri grumbled. Unohana meanwhile was in deep thought.

'I wonder what would happen if Ichigo and I had a child? Would the child be the ultimate prodigy? ' Unohana thought to herself while smiling menacingly.

"C-captain. You're Reiatsu is.... leaking out..." Isane grunted while kneeling on the ground while breathing heavily. Unohana immediately snapped out of her musings.

"Oh! My dear Isane, I'm so sorry! I just got excited about something back home!" Unohana explained.

'That's her excitement?!' Isane panicked in her mind.

"Ahem. We should now address the Jidanbō in the room. Care to explain why there is an Espada standing among us?" Byakuya asked Ichigo while looking at Nel. Nel grinned and waved at him.

"Hi! I'm Nel! Former Tres Espada! Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt you guys! I'm Ichigo's best friend! Whoever his friends are they're my friends too!" Nel introduced herself happily. Byakuya narrowed his eyes.

"Hmm...." Byakuya looked at Ichigo who nodded his head at him.

"She's one of the good ones, trust me." Ichigo promised. Byakuya sighed.

"I'll take your word for it, Ichigo. But if she even tries to kill us then she leaves us no choice but for us to kill her. " Byakuya told him. Ichigo nodded.

" Back to the main point. We are sent here because Aizen and her army of Espada have started the second invasion of Karakura Town. " Toshiro quickly explained. Ichigo narrowed his eyes.

" You should've told us that earlier!" Ichigo grumbled. Toshiro rolled his eyes.

"You were too busy reuniting with your wives." He grumbled back. Ichigo sighed.

" C'mon. Let's go. " Ichigo muttered and tried to open the Garganta but was unsuccessful.

" What??" Ichigo muttered in confusion. He tried again with the Descorrer technique.

" Shit, why isn't it working? "

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In Karakura Town, Aizen and her subordinates were standing on thin air. She was smirking triumphantly like she already won the battle.

'Sealing the Garganta with some Kidō I created proved to be fruitful. Without Ichigo, this battle is already won. All according to plan. ' Aizen giggled to herself.

'My dear Ichigo. After I'm done with the captains, you're next. I can finally see you again!~' Aizen smiled sweetly to herself.

In front of her were the Gotei 13's remaining captains. Yamamoto led the group while staring down Aizen.

Beside Aizen were Starrk, Lilynette, Harribel, the Tres Bestias and Ulquiorra. Yamamoto tapped his cane on the air, somehow creating a loud banging sound.

"Sosuke Aizen, Ichimaru Gin! Your downfall will be swift! We, the Gotei 13 will make sure of that!! " Yamamoto declared. Aizen looked at him menacingly. She had a shadow covering her eyes.

" Without your student by your side, that will be impossible, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto...

To be continued....