13 Chapter 13

His name was Ichigo Kurosaki. A human.

He was a boy with spiked orange hair, and a rugged face that always seemed as if he was glaring. Many viewed him in Karakura Town as a sort of delinquent due to colour of his hair, and his quick temper.

Currently, such things hardly mattered.

For he was in the black and white garb of a Soul Reaper, or Shinigami.

Ishida Uryuu was by Ichigo's back, and the both of them were in the midst of battle surrounded by numerous hollows.

The entire situation was caused due the hollow bait Ishida had used as a means to start a competition with Ichigo.

"I don't see an end to them!" Ichigo yelled, cleaving a hollow in half with his oversized sword.

It was a flat and standard blade with a square hilt used to prevent attacks to the hands. From a different perspective though, it was identical to the unreleased form of a Shinigami's Zanpakuto.

"This is quite strange," Ishida muttered. The bait he used should not have been able to draw this absurd number of hollows into one location. In fact, the bait did not possess enough spiritual energy to even tempt this many.

Most weaker hollows unable to fend for themselves with just their power alone in Hueco Mundo, turned to the human world as a means to increase their strength. By consuming the spiritual power of the more spiritually aware humans, they could harness that strength and use it as their own. In this regard, hollows were mainly attracted to the human world based on the quantity of spiritual power they could detect.

This was why Ishida was growing confused as not only were the numbers of hollows increasing, but so too was their strength. Guilt began to take root within him. The number of hollows was just too much to be handled without letting a quantity of them escape into Karakura Town.

From there, it couldn't be helped that innocents would get involved, and maybe some of them could remotely stumble upon the new training partner he had made.

Ishida's efforts increased, the quality of his arrows thinning as he chose to focus on quantity. However, because of this, the general power of his attacks was reduced.

Ichigo on the other hand, made up for this.

The hollows that Ishida managed to injure, Ichigo would deal the finishing blow.

The thought alone that a Shinigami was fighting along side a Quincy, sobered Ishida's mind. This kind of situation had been exactly what his grandfather had been striving for.

Ishida's grandfather was the one who taught him the art of the Quincy unlike his father who seemed to have had abandoned it. Because of this, Ishida held a great deal of respect and devotion to his grandfather, taking to heart the lessons he was taught and improving himself with them. In this regard, there was no way he didn't know his grandfather's biggest dream.

A day where Quincy and Shingami would put aside their differences and work together to approach an equilibrium of sorts, and obtain an understanding of one another. It was that very dream though that lead Ishida's grandfather to his death.

Holding out by himself against a group of hollows, Ishida's grandfather waited desperately for a group of Shinigami to come to come to his aid, only for them to come far too late.

Since then, the animosity Ishida held against the Shinigami had morphed into bitter resentment knowing that he was then the last Quincy. That was until that woman ad showed up.

"They aren't stopping," Ichigo clicked his tongue as he landed with back facing Ishida. "Got any ideas?"

Ishida pushed up his glasses and monitored the area around him, his eyes focusing on the largest gargantia forming in the air. A bad premonition soon took root within him seeing the hollows at the edge of his vision fleeing back into Hueco Mundo.

Hollows were sentient beings, and only a stronger being could force them to run away so openly.

Ishida's lack of an answer drew Ichigo's attention.

However, it was then that Ishida spoke, a tremble in his voice. "In the sky, what is that?"

Indeed, within the cracks formed from the gargantia, a massive hand appeared to grip at the very fabric of the world; a lone eye peering in before a second hand emerged and began prying the gargantia open wider.

Kon, the mod soul currently in possession of Ichigo's body seemed to stagger at that moment. Yet no one's reaction was as telling as Rukia Kuchiki, the Shinigami tasked with defending Karakura Town.

Rukia's eyes were wide open, her mouth trying to form words, but failing again and again as her complexion paled considerably.

"T-The hollow bait couldn't have caused this," Ishida tried to deny.

Ichigo scowled. "There's no use trying to deny anything now. This entire competition between us to kill the most hollows was decided by you," he said.

As if agitated by the larger hollow's arrival, the other weaker hollows began to attack in sheer number.

Both Ishida and Ichigo prepared their weapons, but a spray of spirit bullets rendered the incoming hollows into nothing.

A little girl stood in front of them with a box like device on her shoulder that rapidly fired shot after shot of spiritual energy, reducing even more of the hollow's numbers down. Not too far off was a little kid wielding a bat which he used to strike down hollows, and near him was a man who killed them bare-handed.

"Hat-and-clogs?" Ichigo said, lowering his sword.

Ishida only raised his guard up after seeing the new arrivals.

Kisuke smiled from beneath the green and white patterned fan he kept in his right hand.

"Now now Kurasaki, this isn't the time to be flapping your lips, rather you should concentrate on fighting him while we deal with the rest of them," Kisuke spoke, pointing at the hollow in the sky that had managed to pry open the gargantia large enough for it's head to pass through.

Looking up at the giant hollow, it was Rukia who began to explain what it was.

"M-Menos Grande," she eventually whispered with her body trembling. "It's a gigantic hollow said to be born when hundreds of hollows come and pile together, combining into this monstrosity."

Rukia's expression changed. "This is impossible," she said. "This is the Royal Special Affairs Department's jurisdiction."

Kisuke only smiled.

It didn't take long before the Menos stepped one foot out of the gargantia.

Clicking his tongue, Ichigo charged as Ishida yelled for Ichigo to reconsider, and come up with a plan.

Watching from the side, Kisuke didn't give anything away as Yoruichi silently sat herself near his foot. From the expression on her face, Kisuke could tell that she wasn't exactly in the greatest mood, not after coming back empty handed.

Face calm, Kisuke bent over and picked up Yorichi, letting her rest within the crux of his arm while he began gently fanning himself.

"Kisuke, you can't be serious!" Rukia yelled, rushing forward to help Ichigo.

However, Kisuke immediately retrained her using a Kido of some sort.

"It will be fine," Kisuke said. "Just leave everything to Kurosaki."

Unable to do anything under Kisuke's suppression, Rukia could only watch how Ichigo and Ishida would deal with the current situation.

Her heart began to hammer rapidly as the world was dyed red during the Menos's process of creating a cero.

"We have to stop it!" Rukia urged. "It will destroy everything."

"Just calm down, Kuchiki. Everything is under control," Kisuke spoke.

Naturally, after saying such words, Kisuke still prepared to intercept should something go wrong. However, not only did Ichigo not perish under the doom blast of the Menos, but he had been able to counter attack and repel it as well.

The only trouble came when Ichigo could not properly release his energy and the build up was beginning to swell his body. Kisuke shared a look with Tessai, his attendant, but ultimately would have to do nothing as Ishida was the one to save Ichigo. The stored up energy within Ichigo's body was released by Ishida syphoning off the excess power and releasing it into the sky.

Yoruichi tapped gently against Kisuke's chest, and smiling faintly, Kisuke then took his group and left.

Collapsing on his knees, Ishida took a breather as both Kon and Rukia approached.

"Thanks," was all Ichigo said, laying flat on the ground.

An odd silence permeated through the air as a great shock shook the area.

Rukia's eyes widened as a gargantia formed beside. Based from the power the rip in space was exuding, she had no doubts that a powerful hollow must have been crossing through.

"Ichigo!" Rukia said, jumping back and raising her arms to guard.

"O Damn it all," Ichigo grunted as he used his willpower alone to force himself onto his feet.

Ishida did much the same, raising his formed bow up with his hands despite the blood dripping down from them.

"-You idiot!" A voice came from the gargantia before Lilynette dropped down on her ass in front of Ichigo and the others. "What are you looking at?" Lilynette griped.

Staring at the clothes Ichigo wore, Lilynette couldn't help but become apprehensive.

Similarly, looking at Lilynette, Rukia could feel a shiver run down across her back. If Menos was the lowest level of a hollow's evolution, then Adjuchas, and Vasto Lorde were far more terrifying. This being the case, what separated a Adjuchas from a Vasto Lorde was the similarity to that of humans and Shinigami.

In that regard, what did that make Lilynette who appeared all too similar to a human?

The answer caused a cold sweat to immediately spread through her body. She had to warn the others before they did something stupid.

Unfortunately, Rukia was too late as Ichigo pointed his sword at Lilynette and cautiously took a step forward.

Apprehensive as Lilynette already was, as soon as she saw Ichigo take that first step forward, immediately, a pink cero formed in front of her mouth without any prior warning.

Ichigo, Rukia, Kon, and Ishida froze, realizing the magnitude of what had just happened. The menos that they had just faced required a massive build up of energy, and a period of time to form its cero, yet Lilynette managed to do it in an instant.

Rukia swallowed, her earlier deductions coming to the forefront of her mind.

"Don't make any sudden moves," Ishida was the one to whisper.

He had noticed something peculiar about Lilynette ever since she had come out from the gargantia. She was only being cautious. He could tell from her expression, and her clenched fists.

Listening to Ishida's words, no one in the group moved, causing Lilynette to frown.

Lilynette knew that she wasn't the strongest hollow, perhaps only able to take on other hollows at Adjuchas level on a good day. Thus, she had always been cautious without Starrk near her to act as a buffer.

Seeing that the group of individuals in front of her were not going to make a move on her, she gradually began to dissipate her cero, remembering at least one point in the conversation Shirou had with that Shinigami named Aizen. This point in particular was what had happened to Brans, and why it was Shirou was insistent on visiting the Human World.

To find Silent.

Until then, it would be a very bad idea to draw attention to herself, not knowing if this Kisuke Urahara would come out and attack her.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for those present, the cero in front of Lilynette disappeared, a genuinely curious expression on her face. "You aren't going to attack me?" She asked sceptically, scrunching up her nose.

The clothes Ichigo wore was a Shinigami's garb, so Lilynette had been preparing herself for a confrontation.

"Not at the moment, no," Ishida said, calming his nerves down as he realized that he may just be dealing with a child. Her actions only solidified this point.

Seeing the situation unfold in such a matter, Rukia felt as if she had avoided a sword by a hair's breadth. Ironically, she didn't know that if she had teamed up along with Ichigo and Ishida, they may had had a chance at defeating Lilynette since she wasn't the strongest of hollows. It was only her appearance alone, and the description of a Vasto Lorde that prevented a physical confrontation.

"Good," Lilynette beamed, her hands coming to rest on her hips, before a lost expression flittered across her face.

To start with, she didn't even know where to begin looking for Silent, let alone how to navigate around Karakura Town.

"Still though, there's a question that we must ask," Rukia said after calming herself. "Why did you come to the human world?"

"I'm looking for a friend," Lilynette responded without much thought. "She's like me, looks really human too."

The expression on Rukia's face faltered before becoming complex. If what Lilynette said was true, then there could potentially be another Vasto Lorde class hollow within Karakura Town.

If one Vasto Lorde was enough to fend off a whole division of Shinigami, then what would it mean if there were two?

Ichigo laughed. "Is that all? Then you should have just said so. We'll help find this friend of yours if you promise to leave straight after."

Lilynette crossed her arms. "Of course. It's not like the human world is that interesting anyway," she said, yet her eyes were wandering everywhere in excitement, contradicting her words.

Scratching his head, Kon stepped forward after a moment before asking the most logical question. "Do you have an idea where to look?" He asked.

Karakura Town was a large place, and it would be difficult to search the entire town with just their group alone.

Lilynette shook her head before smiling.

"No idea," she said bluntly.

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Arriving back home, Ichigo made sure no one was around before motioning both Rukia, Kon, and Lilynette into his room. By now, Ichigo was back into his body, and Kon was stuffed back into the lion plushie that Ichigo had obtained before hand.

As Lilynette did not know where to search, and was not in a hurry to locate her friend, Ichigo, Rukia, and Ishida had decided that it would be best to rest up before proceeding. In which case, the only matter left to be decided was where Lilynette would be staying. As it would turn out, Rukia had decided that it would be best if she watched over her. In this regard, it was natural that Lilynette had inadvertently ended up staying within Ichigo's house.

Sitting cross legged on Ichigo's bed, she teetered on her tail bone, curiously staring at the moving body of Kon, and not saying anything else.

"You both, stay here for the time being," Ichigo directed.

The hollows attracted by Ishida's hollow bait had all been defeated moments prior, and those that remained chose to retreat back into Hueco Mundo. A few of them even staggered upon recognizing Lilynette and fleeing on sight.

This only cemented the impression of Lilynette's strength.

Lilynette simply nodded as her gaze travelled around the room. The scenery she was used to involved only shades of black and white. In the human world, things were far different.

Rukia grunted at Ichigo's words, but felt they were necessary as they couldn't leave Lilynette on her own.

Without another word back, Ichigo left his room and entered his living room which unsurprisingly was empty. It was still the middle of the day and Yuzu and Karin were probably still off at school while his dad seemed to be busier and busier as of late.

Sitting down to catch his breath, he was alerted to the sound of his front door opening and then being closed gently.

The living room of the Kurosaki household was directly adjacent to its front entrance which gave Ichigo a good view of who had just walked in.

"Karin?" Ichigo called.

Karin was Ichigo's younger sister, and twin to Yuzu. She had black hair parted down the center of her head which exposed her face. However, what caused Ichigo to become concerned was her expression. It was utterly blank.

Dismissing the fact that she had returned home early from school, Ichigo didn't bother with such things. Instead, he focused on the state of her clothes. Parts of them were in tatters, and other parts smeared with dirt.

"What happened?" Ichigo instantly demanded, a glare forming over his face.

"Ichigo," Karin whispered, before wrapping her arms around him and pressing her face to his chest.

It was so unlike the Karin Ichigo knew that he just stood there unable to do anything. The Karin he knew was stubborn, and was completely self reliant. To see her in such a state ignited a fire within Ichigo's chest.

"What happened?" Ichigo demanded again.

"How long have you've known about this?" Karin's grip around Ichigo tightened.

"Known about what?" Ichigo asked.

"Don't lie to me!" Karin pulled back from Ichigo, her eyes glistening. "I've seen them, those things." And if you knew about them that you must have had known about her.

It was a conclusion Karin had come up to after thinking about just how many things Ichigo was purposely keeping her away from.

Ichigo's fists clenched. After hearing Karin's words, he knew with certainty that Karin had encountered one of the hollows drawn in from Ishida's hollow bait. He began to hesitate on a way to answer her. Unlike him, she didn't have a way to combat the hollows, and as such would be put at risk.

Seeing the hesitation on Ichigo's face, Karin's expression darkened.

"Fine then, don't tell me," she said before walking towards her room, pausing as she passed the portrait Isshin kept of Masaki on the wall. Her hands balled into fists. "I'll find out on my own."

Standing by himself near the entrance, he scowled.

He nearly yelled when he heard a giggle come from directly behind him.

Lilynette had her hands covering her mouth as she tried to muffle her laughs. Rukia on the other hand stared at Ichigo with a brow raised.

"I don't see any harm in you telling her," Rukia said after a moment. "In fact, it just might be safer than having her discover things on her own."

Ichigo grunted. "It's still too much of a risk," he said.

"Why don't you just tell her?" Lilynette asked. She and Starrk never kept anything away from each other.

"It's not that simple," Ichigo argued.

"Nothing ever is," Rukia said.

Falling silent, Ichigo said nothing else as he realized something at that moment, remembering what he had asked of the two.

"Why are you both here?" He questioned.

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Elsewhere,

"Well, this is quite unfortunate," Aizen scratched his head with a rarely heard of frustration in his voice. "That hollow friend of your seemed to have tampered with something."

Tinkering away at the device he had brought, he was subject to the gazes of many hollows. Shirou's was most telling as even now he desired to go rescue his friends.

"How long will this take?" Shirou asked.

Aizen calculated the repairs he would be doing, and concluded that it should take at least two human days at the least, and a week at the maximum.

Shirou creased his brow. "That's too long," he ended up saying.

"I could try to shorten the time frame, but when I had first programed the device, I had set it to send a hollow of great power through. The one that had just passed through, was not up to that standard, and as such the device is experiencing a malfunction," Aizen explained.

"Then the device doesn't matter," Shirou said.

"You're going then?" Aizen asked.

Shirou only nodded. Not only would he have to retrieve Silent, but he would have to get Lilynette as well. God forbid what would happen if Starrk found out.

"If the King is going, then so too will we," the hollows around all voiced their opinion.

"The enemy of the King is the enemy of all of us."

"Why should the King have to move for such a small matter."

The voices continued to echo out within the lands of the Vasto of White.

Aizen's however, quickly put a stop to it.

"If you go, your arrival will only bring more danger," Aizen said. "If my estimate of that hollow's strength that went through is correct, then she should be around an Adjuchas level. This means the only one that could cause her any harm would be-"

"Kisuke Urahara," Nel concluded remembering Aizen's earlier words.

Aizen nodded. "Indeed, other than him, the Shinigami dispatched into the area are only as strong as the lesser hollows who have yet to even partake inn the road of evolution. If you go openly to the Human World, not only would the Soul Society get an estimate of your power, but they will send a task force in correlation to your strength," he said.

Some of the hollows in the crowd snorted. "Then let them come," they said. "Do you think our numbers are small? Do you think my fellow hollows here are weak?"

The eyes of the other hollows lit up as blood lust filled their beings.

Aizen didn't pay them much attention and instead kept his gaze on Shirou.

"Then how many lives do you wish to be lost?" Aizen asked.

The question silenced the voices of the other hollows. Living alongside their King, they knew of their King's disposition. If just the life of one follower was enough to get him to act, how could he bear sacrificing anymore lives.

"I alone will be enough," Shirou spoke resolutely after a moment.

"If you do so, will you be able to find both of them fast enough before the Soul Society floods the area with Shinigami?" Aizen asked. "Know that when they do so, they have a higher chance of finding your companions first before even you."

Shirou furrowed his brows.

"Two days," was all Aizen said. Two days and he'd be able to fix the device.

However, in that time span, they had no idea about what would happen in the Human World. Such things were only known by Aizen who was specifically buying time for a reason. Shirou was not effected by the power of his sword, making him the most difficult of opponents. Yet, he thought further, why make him an enemy?

Gratitude and debts were powerful tools, but first he would have to set up a suitable situation now that he had to rework his plans. Using Kido, he secretly sent a message to one of his subordinates. It was time to accelerate the capture of the Hogyoku.

Thinking quickly, he came up with a suitable set up.

"Aaroniero, Ulquiorra," he called under the gaze of the hollows around him.

From beneath the sand, a large hollow emerged with another hollow with a cracked mask riding on its back.

Aizen smiled as he introduced them. "The large one is Aaroniero. The one on his back is Ulquiorra," he said.

Ulquiorra was a sleek and entirely pale hollow. His most discerning feature though was the cracked mask over his face.

Aaroniero on the other hand was an octopus like hollow with a half man protruding from the top of its body wielding a trident. As far as a hollow's evolution went, it was close to becoming a Gillian.

"Lord Aizen," Ulquiorra nodded his head.

Aaroniero did much the same, for the majority of his power was garnered through Aizen's help.

"And what purpose do you have by bringing them here?" Nel asked.

Aizen smiled without answering her question, and instead met eyes with Shirou.

"This is my solution if you're willing to hear me out?"

Shirou nodded.

"As you can tell, Aaroniero is not yet a higher-class hollow in evolution, therefore it wouldn't draw any alarms if he was to go search for your friends in the human world," Aizen said.

"Then why should we trust him?" One of the hollows in the crowd asked. If it was a fellow hollow in the Vasto of White's domain, then there was no need for questioning, but Aaroniero did not come from the Vasto of White's domain.

"Ulquiorra," Aizen called.

"Understood," Ulquiorra said, raising a hand to one of his eyes and gauging it out.

"Ulquiorra has a special power," Aizen explained. "His eyes can record anything they see, and once crushed," Aizen motioned towards Ulquiorra who crushed the eye ball.

"A scene of what Ulquiorra had witnessed is manifested."

Indeed, after the eye in Ulquiorra's hand was crushed, a small hazy screen was projected for all hollows to see.

Verifying the truth in Aizen's words, Shirou eventually decided to do as Aizen suggested and wait for the device to get fixed while sending out Aaroniero in the mean time.

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In the past day, not only did Ichigo notice that Rukia had been acting strangely, but he also noticed that Karin had disappeared when he wasn't paying attention.

He scowled, still thinking about whether or not to inform Karin of the situation, yet he continued to put it off.

Over the course of the days, Ichigo, Rukia, Chad, Ishida, and Lilynette had been out searching for Lilynette's friend, but had turned out with no results. What instead happened was, like a child's attention span, Lilynette was caught up in the various things she had seen within the town.

At times, it was hard to believe that she was still out looking for her friend, but in the end, it was Lilynette who insisted in continuing to search.

Night had fallen unknowingly, and the group had then dispersed.

Laying on his bed in the middle of the night, Lilynette was taking a short nap, her breaths coming out slowly.

Quite honestly, whenever he looked from any angle, even if she was a hollow, she didn't appear to be any different from the younger brats of the neighborhood. Even her actions were similarly childish, her eyes lighting up after the first time she saw a television though the windows of a shop.

Sighing, his mind then wandered back onto the topic of his sister, Karin. She had arrived home moments earlier, and she had gone directly into her room after sparring Yuzu a small glance. His father though had yet to return, but it was normal since he worked as a doctor.

Staring up at the ceiling, he remined still, yet his mind still wandering.

It was an hour later that he heard a creaking noise originate from his closet.

If one were to aske what he kept in his closet at the moment, it would not be anything close to normal. After all, he couldn't exactly say that a Death God was using it as a temporary shelter. It was simply too ridiculous.

Still, if a creak was coming from his closet, it could only have had been caused by a single individual.

Without moving his body, he turned his eyes in the direction of his opening closet.

Rukia quietly slipped out, a resigned look over her face that immediately caused concern to emerge from within him.

When she fully exited the room, it was only then that he pushed himself off from his bed and grabbed Kon who made a startled noise in which he instantly muffled. Walking towards his window, he saw Rukia quietly making her way down the street.

Clicking his tongue, he got dressed and immediately followed after, closing the door to his room as he left; not noticing that Lilynette's pair of eyes had opened, and not hearing the sound of another door in the house opening as Kon demanded to know what was happening.

Rukia didn't get far before he eventually caught up.

The resigned expression on her face had only increased the further she walked.

The moon hung high over head, not a single other person in sight.

It was the utter silence though that unnerved him. It was simply too quiet. Enough so to get the hairs to stand at the back of his neck.

Near the end of the street was where Rukia had decided to stop, the one-piece dress she wore fluttering without any indication of wind. Standing alone, she appeared fragile at that moment, a stark contrast to the head strong woman he was used to.

Something was going to happen tonight, and he knew it. He moved closer and decided to wait and see what Rukia was up to.

Unknown to him, he wasn't the only one observing the ongoing seen, many pairs of eyes were, and even one pair that inexplicably began to water.

After staring at Rukia for what seemed like an eternity, he could no longer take it anymore. This wasn't the Rukia he knew. This wasn't an expression that should ever appear on her face again.

His name was Ichigo,

The one who protects.

He had failed one person before, and never again would he let himself fail another. Not when the scars of the first had yet to heal if ever.

"Rukia," he called out, startling her.

Trembling, Rukia tuned around, her lips pursed together.

"L-Leave while you can!" She yelled, her expression schooling and morphing into one of anger.

His steps slowing, it only took a moment for him to decide on a course of action.

There could only be one.

To protect.

"Ichigo, you-"

Before Rukia could even finish her words, a Senkaimon appeared behind her.

From it, three figures walked out along with a cold voice.

"Rukia Kuchiki. By orders of the central forty-six, you are hereby under arrest."