~Recap~
I skipped a bunch of stuff since most of you should have read or watched those episodes. Now they’ve separated and I’mma start Ichigo off there. Enjoy.
~Story Start~
I ran behind Rukia swiftly, having picked the same door as she had. I worried now that I wasn’t around Renji. He gave me warnings and advice when Nami was there to do it and he took care of me in a battle. If I was to get into a fight and I was injured… what would happen? I realized what I was thinking and shook my head, hearing the faint growl of my zanpakuto as she heard me thinking such nonsense. I was a Captain, I didn’t need anyone to fight for me or protect me. I felt like a coward, always depending on someone and hiding behind somebody else’s kimono. What was wrong with me?
“Ichigo,” Rukia called over her shoulder. “Keep your zanpakuto unsheathed and stay behind me if we’re stopped by an espada. If I tell you to run on, you run on, understand?”
I hesitated, “Y-yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t be so formal, you’re still a higher rank then me.” Rukia chuckled as we ran fast and hard. “Anyways, Renji warned me before I picked up at the Soul Society that you would need help sometimes if we ever got separated from him. I’m just here if you need me, nothing more.”
“R-right,” I stammered, smiling gratefully at the back of her head. As we ran on ahead, I felt an immense reiatsu flare for a just a few moments before it was gone again. I bit my lip, had that been Nami. Was she okay or had she just been killed effortlessly by one of Aizen’s espada? I felt the frustrated tears well up in my eyes and blur my vision as I feared for my older friend.
“You should calm down, Ichigo,” Rukia mumbled. “I’m sure Nami is fine, where ever she is.”
“Thanks, Rukia,” I sighed. “But it’s not nearly as simple as that. If she died then I would surely die as well because I tried to avenge her. There is no way that I would be able to live long enough to save Orihime as everyone is aiming to do. Although, not that I don’t care for Orihime as a friend, I do wish that this mission was for Nami instead. She is my friend and my sister and not only that, but she is also my teacher.”
“I know… I do silently wish the same as you,” Rukia murmured. “Renji does, too, and I’m sure that most Soul Reapers would agree with us. She is more important to us then Orihime, for sure but we must not forget the bonds that everyone has made. You and Nami helped them save me, forgetting how hard you had worked to become Soul Reapers just to save a friend, as Renji did too.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I growled. “Don’t need to give me a damn speech, I get it.”
“You are just like Ichigo, Strawberry, I swear! Now I know that all Ichigo’s are smart-assed, big-mouthed, whiny teenagers no matter how old they really are.” Rukia yelled at me like she usually did before she was stationed in the human world and then brought back and then journeying back to the human world.
“I guess it comes with the name,” I shrugged, grinning childishly, “And the color of the hair.”
“Renji has a lot of traits similar to yours and Ichigo’s. He’s practically just like you.”
“What do you mean practically?”
“You’re right, I’m not even sure if he’s a guy or not. Women can have deep voices right?”
We laughed at that, becoming a little more relaxed until we saw a light up ahead of us. I put my hand on my zanpakuto’s sheath and readied myself to fight, Rukia following my action quickly.
“Whatever happens,” I murmured, swallowing a little bit as we got closer to the light, waiting for Rukia to finish.
“We come back alive, as promised.” She breathed, the two of us entering a domed room. In front of us, I could see the door that would lead us even farther into Las Noches. We moved forward cautiously only to be stopped by the sound of footsteps echoing around the practically empty room.
I whirled around, trying to find the source only to realize that it came from in front of us. I waited impatiently as a hooded person came out of the door, their head hanging down in an ashamed pose.
“Show yourself, arrancar!” I yelled, gritting my teeth, waiting for the pain of a sword being stabbed in my chest.
“Huh?” The new person’s head jerked up, the only visible parts of them were visible were their nose down to their mid-neck. “I-Ichigo? Is that you?”
I froze when I heard her voice, Nami’s soft-spoken words echoing through my mind. Rukia obviously recognized it too and took a step forward automatically, all precautions dropped for that one moment in time.
“Nami?” I called back, my lower lip trembling as I felt tears spill over my cheeks. “Please tell me that it’s really you and not some mind trick played by Aizen.”
“It’s me,” Nami called back, slowly pulling the hood off and then pulling the rest of the cloak off too. Her new look startled me as she said, “But then again… it’s not me, either.”
“No…” Rukia breathed beside me as we took in the drastic changes in her. She wore the espada outfit, a pair of white shorts with a black line going down the center, a pair of mid-thigh boots with the same black line down the center, a sleeveless kimono top that stopped short just above her abdomen also with the line, and gloves (just like Lillynette’s) that started just below her shoulder and acted as the sleeves she didn’t have. Her pink hair was down and flowed just past her shoulders as usual and her green eyes radiated warmth, like I remembered but there was something new.
“Nami… did you dye your hair another shade of pink?” I asked, receiving a smack over the head from Rukia. “Hey what d’you do that for?”
“She’s an arrancar, you idiot!! Couldn’t you tell by the remnant of her hollow mask?” Rukia yelled, “Its right there, right there on the top of her head.”
I frowned at the wing pins in her hair, “It doesn’t look like anything special.”
I heard Nami groan as she listened to me, “Are you serious? They’re the wings that were held on the top of my hollow mask while I was a hollow. When I became an Adjuchas, it was just the matter of how to get my mask off. Lord Aizen helped me.”
“Lord Aizen?” I growled, “Since when has he been ‘Lord Aizen’?”
“I do wish you would stop hating people, Ichigo,” Nami sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose with her right hand. The glint of a ring caught my eye and I gasped.
“You’re hiding your power, aren’t you?” I completely ignored her unusual comment on hatred. “So you are still Nami inside that new arrancar shell.”
She looked up at me sharply, “Just because I’m a whole new being doesn’t mean I’m not who I was before. Unlike the rest of the arrancar and espada, I was killed as a Soul Reaper and turned into an arrancar quicker then most other arrancar. I was killed a month ago and I can’t say I’m exactly happy that I’m back.”
“Who killed you?” I demanded, pacing forward some more. When she didn’t answer, I repeated myself, more demanding. “Answer me, damnit. Who the hell killed you?”
“Aizen killed me,” She spat at me, hurt flickering across her young face. “Are you happy now, Ichigo? Are you happy that you have found another reason to hate Lord Aizen?”
“Why would I be happy? I don’t like hating people and you know that,” I growled at my friend. “Why would you accuse me of being happy to hate when you know me so well?”
“It comes with my Aspect of Death,” She muttered. “My Aspect of Death is Love because I died with my love watching me. It gave me peace for a while until I was attacked by hollows that turned me into a hollow myself.” She sighed, “After they turned me into a hollow, my reiatsu returned to its extremely high state and I began eating other hollows, eventually becoming a Gillian. A Gillian is a Menos that continues to eat other Menos because they still lust for the souls of other hollows. Afterwards, I became an Adjuchas; a hollow that takes on an animal form is how it’s best described sometimes. But I wasn’t an animal; I had giant wings and a tall, seriously slim body that could bend pretty well. From then, I continued to eat other hollows for food and the more I ate the more powerful I got. I was just turned into an arrancar today so everything is pretty new to me.” She waited for the two of us to respond but when we didn’t, she sighed, “I guess I’m the enemy now, huh?”
“No!” I screamed, “You’re not the enemy, you can’t be! You’re my sister, you’re my friend! Why are you doing this to me, why are you fighting along side them?”
Nami smiled sadly and shook her head, “I’m sorry, Ichigo. I was ordered to come here and stop you. I can probably take both of you on, but I would prefer to just fight one of you. The other may pass on to try and get to Orihime. I warn you though, it will not be easy.”
Rukia moved forward automatically but I held my hand out to stop her, “No, Rukia. If there is to be a fight with Nami, I will fight her. It is the least I can do, you have more will to find Orihime then I do, I only came along to find Nami and now I have. Now go, before she decides to kill us both.”
Nami’s pained look startled me as Rukia started to protest, at my quick glare though she decided better of it and ran through the doorway. I drew my zanpakuto slowly, my blue eyes as cold as ice as I stared at my former friend.
“One of us will die today, Nami,” I called out to her. “I do not doubt that it will be me. But first, tell me, what number are you?”
“I don’t have a number, Ichigo. Not yet anyways. Lord Aizen says if I live long enough that I shall replace one of the current espada when they die. For now though I am branded with the number six. I belong to the sexta espada, an agreement the two of us made the night before I was killed.” Nami let her lip jut out a little in a pout as she drew her own blade, “I’m sorry, Ichigo.”
“Assimilate, Light Render!” I screamed, opening my mouth large and wide and breathing out fire as my blade became a graceful quarterstaff. “You’re going to wish you were never reborn, Nami!”
I leapt forward, aiming to hit my former friend with my fiery breath only to gasp as her blade pierced me through my back. I stared down at it, tears falling down my cheeks as I looked up at Nami, her green eyes full of sorrow as she pulled the blade out.
“If I were able to cry, I would cry now,” She whispered, catching me as I fell forward. “I have lost a very dear friend because of the creature I have become and, as you said, I wish I had never been reborn. Please forgive me, Strawberry Dragon as I heal your wounds. It is not yet your time of dying.”
She lay me down on the floor gently, clenching the hilt of her zanpakuto and whispering, “Sing, Angel.” It turned into a much larger harp then I remembered, becoming a regular harp then a hand held one. Her fingers glided across the strings as I watched her do what was so familiar to her in her first life. Halfway through the healing process, I blacked out.
~Nami’s POV~
“I’m done with you, Angel,” I whispered, knocking the harp over and letting it clatter to the ground as a regular blade again. I stared down at the girl I had cherished as a sister, the one friend, other then Ichigo Kurosaki, that influenced me to become more like her in my first life. “I wish you the best, Ichigo.”
Turning away, I disappeared and reappeared outside of a door. Sucking in a deep breath, I tapped on it gently, hearing the grunted form of admittance. Slowly sliding the door open a crack, I peeked inside at the man on the bed, his arm covering his blue eyes.
“Well? Are you coming in or not?” He growled, not bothering to move anything but his mouth as he spoke.
I smiled a little, opening the door completely and walked in. Glancing around, I blinked as I saw a smashed lamp on the floor, probably having sat there since he’d smashed it. I chuckled, crossing my arms over my chest and saying, “Jeez, don’t you ever clean anything up?”
I listened as his breath caught in his throat, quickly removing the arm over his eyes and sitting up, staring at me. He leapt off the bed as I shut the door, only to wrap his hand around my throat and pin me against the wall. He glared at me, most likely waiting for me to disappear.
“You can let go anytime now,” I murmured, poking his hand gently. “When’d you get your arm back, by the way?”
“You’re… you’re really real?” He asked childishly, slowly letting me slide back down the wall to where my feet could touch but never releasing his grip on my neck. “Or are you my imagination again?”
“I’m about as real as you, Grimmjow,” I sighed, letting him relax a moment so that he could let go of me. It took him just a second after letting my neck go before he yanked me into his arms, hugging me tightly.
“You should’ve been back sooner! I missed you!” He hissed in my ear as I hugged him back, “You had me worried, I was afraid I would have to go after Aizen for killing you. I wouldn’t last 2 seconds.”
“You’re crazy, Kitty,” I whispered, pulling back and putting both of my hands on his face. “Just promise to go with me next time something like this happens.”
“I promise,” He smiled at me gently before getting a haughty look on his face. “Which of us did you replace?”
“I haven’t replaced anyone yet,” I grinned up at him. “Truthfully, I doubt I’ll even get the chance to be an espada. But once one of you die, I am replacing them”
“Oh good,” Grimmjow chuckled. “Where’s your hollow hole?”
I pointed just beneath my left breast with my right hand, “Right beneath my heart, so to speak. And I’ve got the number six branded on my left boob.”
“A little descriptive aren’t we?” Grimmjow smirked, making me blush as I realized what I’d said, trying to push away from him.
“You damn pervert!” I yelped, breaking free from his grasp and leaping up onto the window sill. “You leave my boob alone!”
“What Aspect of Death are you supposed to be?” He laughed, following me up.
I paused, blushing a darker red and turning my gaze out the window as I mumbled, “Love. My aspect of death is love.”
~End~
That was a lot shorter then the others but only because it’s seven in the morning this time and I’m fucking tired. Soooooooooooooooo I’mma go to sleep. I’ll see you in the afternoon, my merry band of readers. Buenos Noches. Or in some cases Buenas Dias.
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