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The Heart in My Hand	By : chayron Category: Bleach > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 10028 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. It belongs to its respective owners. This fan fiction is not a commercial project, and I am not making any money from writing it.

Chapter List
- 1-Part 1
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 7-Part 7
- 8-Part 8
- 9-Part 9
- 10-Part 10
- 11-Part 11
- 12-Part 12
- 13-Part 13
- 14-Part 14
- 15-Part 15
- 16-Part 16
- 17-Part 17
- 18-Part 18
- 19-Part 19
- 20-Part 20
- 21-Part 21
- 22-Part 22
- 23-Part 23
- 24-Part 24
- 25-Part 25
- 26-Part 26
- 27-Part 27
- 21
- 22
- 23
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach – it belongs to its respective owners. This fan fiction is not a commercial project, and I am not making any money from writing it.
Warnings:
1. Yaoi (male x male). Ulquiorra x Ichigo and vice versa. Other pairings?
2. Ichigo – 20 years old; Ulquiorra – probably a few hundred as a Hollow and about a decade or so as an Arrancar?
3. Post anime (haven’t read the manga).
4. Alternate Universe.
5. I’m not a native speaker, thus expect various language oddities.
6. I’m not very familiar with all the details in the anime, and I am also new to Bleach fandom, so I will be straying away from the canon quite frequently. I do my research but Bleach is a vast universe that is not so easy to grasp. I must admit, though, that there are also things in the anime that don’t make sense to me and I take the liberty of recreating certain parts of this universe as I see fit.
The Heart in My Hand
by chayron (lttomb@yahoo.com), beta-read by Ash
Part 22
Ichigo didn’t know how long it had taken them to arrive at the pit, but his legs were about to fall off once they had. His feet were sore and swollen. At the sight of the pit, however, he forgot all about complaining and even the pain itself. They landed on a high cliff and there was absolutely nothing below, just pure, pitch blackness stretching wide and long. One felt as if they were standing on the end of the world. Ichigo tried to estimate how wide the pit was and ventured a guess that its diameter had to be about two kilometers long. It was similar to a volcanic crater that just ended abruptly, as if someone had taken a massive shovel and neatly scraped all the excess rock off until the pit was perfectly round.
They noticed about twenty Hollows near the pit but, at the sight of King Cifer, they scattered in all directions without looking back.
“Let’s take a look around?” Renji suggested.
That was why they had come here in the first place, so no one protested except for Ichigo, who wanted to rest his hurting feet. “I’ll just wait here,” he said kindly, “and hold the fort.”
“Hold the fort against what and why?” Renji grunted.
“Let’s hope we never find out,” Ichigo whispered ominously.
The other redhead rolled his eyes. “You’re so full of shit! Fine. Just stay here and rest. Make sure to report anything suspicious.”
“Will do,” Ichigo promised, sitting down at once.
He watched the three men head east. It looked funny, their backs. Who would have thought the three would ever work together? His eyes followed their diminishing silhouettes. With a sigh and a painful grunt, he stood up and approached the pit again. He leaned in, curious, trying to discern at least something in the darkness. From up close it looked like the pit was filled with black clouds. They seemed to be rolling and moving like mist and while one could see a couple of meters or so into it, it was too dark in the deeper layers. For some unfathomable reason, the dark mist didn’t ever seem to rise above the ground level. He squatted down and stretched his arm out into the clouds. He could see them moving past his hand. And then something slammed into him. With an alarmed cry, Ichigo sailed through the air in a straight trajectory and then started falling into the pit.
How was this for suspicious?
Ichigo powered up to Bankai. Trying to flashstep up through the dark mist didn’t work as there was nothing to step on to gain momentum. He turned and rolled in the air, his arms and legs flailing about, trying to get a hold of something, anything. He tried using his reiatsu to slow the fall and it helped somewhat, yet it didn’t stop his fall.
The pitch-black darkness was unraveling before his eyes as he fell. The gray Hueco Mundo sky and the crescent moon were no more. Despite his reiatsu, he was crossing the black air as a bullet. His eyes were watering at the wind rushing past him, his clothes fluttering madly. His ears were buzzing and getting blocked. The fog was becoming thicker, enclosing on him. The darkness didn’t feel aggressive, but he could instinctively tell that it was dangerous. There was something about it that made its intentions clear – it was going to swallow him, to take him whole and absorb. Perhaps he would be able to break his fall with his reiatsu. It would, most likely, protect him from injuries of any kind. He, however, would never be able to leave that place. Already, before he even reached the ground, he would not exist anymore. He knew that somehow, he could not explain this instinctual knowledge, but he was certain of that.
Panic spread through his adrenaline-filled body. The fog had become so thick that it was nearly black now. There wasn’t much difference whether he had his eyes open or closed. All of a sudden, there was an abrupt gust of wind and familiar reiatsu and he was tossed sideways. For a fraction of a moment, the blackness was blown off. Then something grabbed his upper arm and, with a horrified shriek, Ichigo turned his head to see what it was.
“I am not sure I can pull this off. With the speed we are falling, we probably weigh about the same as your house.”
Ulquiorra was saying something, but Ichigo wasn’t able to hear. The other man kept falling with him for a few seconds then grabbed him by his waist and, suddenly, they started changing direction, not only falling down but also starting to glide sideways. The dark fog was everywhere and Ichigo wasn’t even certain which direction they were heading in and if they were not about to hit a protruding rock. He just held onto Cifer, glad that the man had enough sense not to grab him by his hand and try to stop his fall – he’d be missing an arm now.
They kept falling for a couple more seconds then the fall turned into a fast glide forward. Ichigo’s ears stopped ringing. The speed kept dropping then Ulquiorra fully extended his wings and, with a few strong swings, stopped even that. They started rising.
Ulquiorra could feel the mad, hammering pulse in Ichigo’s body slowing down. The redhead was still shaky but his panic was rapidly retreating. “Don’t even think of dropping out of your Bankai,” Ulquiorra warned the other man just in case. “My reiatsu will destroy you if you do.”
Tearing through the black mist, they shot out of the pit and hovered above it for a few seconds. There were a few things to take in that were happening on the ground: Renji was being attacked by hordes of Hollows; a man Ichigo had never seen before was giving out orders for the Hollows from behind their ranks; Grimmjow was standing farther away from the battlefield and watching without getting involved.
Cifer swept down, flew over and past the battleground while avoiding a few attempts at blasting him out of the sky. He landed on the outskirts of the battle but once he did, the hordes of Hollows went running to him and Ichigo. Folding his wings, Ulquiorra watched the lines of advancing enemies with a disinterested expression. The redhead still looked out of it and Ulquiorra patted him on the back.
“Stay here for now. And do not power down,” he repeated. He turned back to the Hollows and stepped forward, in front of Ichigo and spread his wings again. “Foolish creatures,” he muttered. His reiatsu soared onward, a green spear materializing in his hands. This was mutiny and he was going to spare no one, not a single soul. Hollows uprising against a Vasto Lorde? Preposterous.
The Hollow army fell into disarray when a green Cero hit its ranks. The familiarly distorted sound repeated two more times, disintegrating the most of it. The front lines, suddenly deciding that they wanted to be the rear, turned and ran. Cifer didn’t let go of them, showering them with the excess of his green reiatsu. On the other side of the battlefield, with the Hollows giving in to panic, Renji had a breakthrough and was mowing their ranks left and right with Zabimaru. Ichigo could see his red, spiky head bobbing here and there.
“I’m going to help him,” Ichigo informed Ulquiorra before bolting across the field and towards the Shinigami.
Ulquiorra wasn’t very pleased with this, but Ichigo’s absence had granted him a free range of movement. With the Hollow ranks so thin and them running about so much, a Cero was useless now. He shot into the air and hurled his spear at the Hollows from above. This was where his Bankai would help: he could skewer tens and twenties of these conspirators at once with those spears. But it wasn’t too bad now either: his spear hit the sand near the Hollows, missing them, but the impact with the ground made the spear release a pulsing ring of reiatsu, frying everyone and everything within a thirty meter radius. He swept down, dislodged his spear from the ground, and rose into the sky again. Weaving amongst the fleeing Hollows, he started weeding them out one by one.
Panting, Renji leaned on his Zanpakuto to take a breather. Ichigo was clearing out the last of the remaining Hollows that were still opposing them. Cifer, though, didn’t choose his targets, systematically annihilating anything that moved from above. He flew past Renji and the Shinigami felt the urge to flee together with the Hollows. Cifer’s reiatsu had nearly sunk him down into the sand and his entire body felt as if something burning had momentarily engulfed him. Gasping, he followed the winged creature with his eyes.
“So what is this about?” Ulquiorra demanded. With a soft thud, he landed on the sand in front of Grimmjow and a lanky, middle-aged man. The man was Human but didn’t exactly feel or look like one. Dark green hair and skin, red eyes. He was wearing a black suit and shoes, which were probably full of sand. Normally, any Human would have already disintegrated under his reiatsu but he seemed to be wearing a protective shield, similar to what Ulquiorra had seen Orihime Inoue use. Curious, Cifer sniffed at him, trying to discern what was so different about the man. In turn, the Human inspected him: took in his lack of Hollow Hole and the strange mix of Hollow and Shinigami reiatsu. Once Ulquiorra had pinpointed what kind of weird reiatsu the man was exuding, it took him only a moment to realize who the man was. “You are one of those so-called Fullbringers. You are the one who sent for the Kurosaki sisters,” he said. It wasn’t a question.
The man gave him a bright smile. “Just what one would expect from King Cifer.”
Ulquiorra’s spear rose, already impatient with the sudden ass-kissing. Akira Kawaguchi was an enemy. Perhaps he was more Ichigo’s enemy than his. Nonetheless, he had had the audacity to instigate those measly Hollows against him. A useless and arrogant action.
“We could share their power,” Kawaguchi said, pointing in Ichigo’s general direction.
Ulquiorra’s eyebrows rose. “Share? I do not share.”
Grimmjow groaned in frustration. “I went through all this trouble luring Kurosaki and Abarai here, so you could at least listen to what he’s got to say first,” he said. “You just might be interested.”
“Hmm…”
“I knew they would send someone to investigate the problem,” Kawaguchi said with a chuckle. “But Kurosaki and Abarai exceeded my wildest expectations. They will be plenty to make not one but several wishes.”
Ulquiorra gave Grimmjow a look. “When did you strike the deal?”
Somewhat baffled, Jaegerjaquez shrugged; Cifer implementing time concepts still felt foreign. “It was a while ago. I was certain that you’d like the idea.”
“I do,” Ulquiorra confirmed. “The problem is that once we help Kawaguchi get rid of the Shinigami, he’ll try to get rid of us.”
“Well, naturally,” the Arrancar agreed easily. “But nobody said that we can’t throw all of them into the pit and be done with it. That will be plenty for any kind of wish!”
“I do like your thinking,” Ulquiorra complimented Grimmjow. “There’s just one problem with it. You can do whatever you want with Abarai, but if you touch Kurosaki, it will be you flying down into that pit.”
Grimmjow cursed. “I knew it!”
“What do you mean ‘do whatever you want with Abarai’?” Ichigo hissed angrily from behind Ulquiorra. “How can you even say that?!”
“Uh-oh,” Grimmjow said with an amused grunt.
“Well, he is your friend, not mine and he is most annoying,” Ulquiorra said.
Ichigo kicked his leg. “Shut up, you heartless bastard!”
“I have a heart. It’s in my hand.”
“In your fucking ass!” Ichigo spat angrily. “I’ll never forgive you if you let anything happen to Renji!”
“Oh. I see.”
“So what do these two bastards want?” Kurosaki demanded.
“They want me to throw you and Abarai into the pit so they can make a wish.”
“You haven’t agreed to that, right?” Renji asked, joining the conversation. His voice was filled with suspicion.
“Right.”
“These two are an item,” Renji explained patiently to Kawaguchi and Grimmjow, pointing at Ichigo and Ulquiorra. “Didn’t you see how he went right after Ichigo into the pit and saved him? It’s kinda pointless asking him to get rid of his lover, don’t you think?”
Kawaguchi grimaced. It was beyond comprehension. Two males, a Human and an Arrancar or whatever the creature was. Repulsed, he shook his head. “Disgusting!”
Ulquiorra stared at him. He didn’t understand. This was not the first time he had heard and sensed disapproval. He couldn’t understand it. It only made sense for him to be attracted to Ichigo as the redhead was currently the most powerful Vasto Lorde. Maybe not exactly awake, but nonetheless. And Kawaguchi couldn’t have meant him not being good enough for Kurosaki. He was everything Ichigo could ask for – the second strongest Vasto Lorde, the King of Hueco Mundo. There was absolutely no reason for Ichigo to refuse him. It was only a question of time when Ichigo would realize that. Perhaps he already had.
“Get rid of him,” Ulquiorra ordered Grimmjow.
The Arrancar huffed in annoyance. “So much planning for nothing!” He sighed. “Fine. Can I, at least, make a wish?”
“Yes.”
Ichigo looked from Ulquiorra to Grimmjow and then to Kawaguchi. “Wait, wait! You can’t kill him!”
Renji blinked. “Huh?”
Grimmjow was perplexed. “Why?”
“Not this again!” Cifer snapped at the redhead. Once again Ichigo’s absurd stubbornness was going against all logic. “Besides him trying to kill and use you again, can you take the responsibility of your family’s future safety?”
“Umm…”
“Kill him,” Ulquiorra repeated his order to Grimmjow. “Take his ring off first; it seems to be creating some kind of a force field.”
“You don’t seem to have thought this through,” Renji told Kawaguchi.
Kawaguchi threw his hands apart. “Yes, it didn’t exactly turn out how I had expected.”
Ulquiorra shoved Ichigo to the ground. Kawaguchi’s blade fruitlessly sliced through the air where the redhead had just been standing. Kawaguchi retracted his blade to block Abarai’s Zanpakuto. Sparks fell around them when Zabimaru screeched against the other blade. Spitting the sand out and jumping to his feet, Ichigo was just in time to see Ulquiorra’s spear hit Kawaguchi’s chest. The Fullbringer was tossed through the air and hit the sand on his back. The spear rolled into the sand. Grunting, Kawaguchi got to his feet, unscathed.
“You’ll find that it’s not so easy to kill me,” the Fullbringer laughed. He grabbed Cifer’s spear with an intention to throw it back at the winged creature, but had to abandon the idea – he wasn’t even able to lift it off the ground.
“He’s starting to seriously piss me off!” Renji spat. He went at the Fullbringer with Zabimaru again. It connected with the invisible shield that surrounded the man’s body and bounced off. “Fuck it!” Renji yelled. In frustration he kept hacking at Kawaguchi. Even if his sheer force would sometimes throw the Fullbringer back or make him stumble, his attacks yielded no result. Kawaguchi didn’t even bother to deflect all his blows.
Ulquiorra flash-stepped to his spear to retrieve it. He watched Grimmjow join Abarai. Kawaguchi was laughing at the two men, mocking them. All of this was bluff and the Fullbringer was simply trying to create a mass psychosis, to make them believe he was invincible, just as he had convinced those senseless Hollows. It was far from the truth. Yet it was amusing to watch Grimmjow and Abarai exerting themselves mindlessly.
“Why don’t you join them?” Ulquiorra asked Ichigo, who was sitting on the sand and resting his feet.
“Don’t want to spoil their fun.”
Ulquiorra sat down next to him to enjoy the sight.
“Is this really wise?” Ichigo wondered. “What if Grimmjow wishes to become the most powerful Vasto Lorde in Hueco Mundo? Or for some kind of indestructible weapon? Or maybe he’ll just wish for us to drop dead?”
“The pit does not really work that way,” Ulquiorra calmed him down. “Kawaguchi is delusional. Whatever Grimmjow gets out of that pit, it will only be similar to that fountain, the shack or a few rocks. I think you felt it when you were in it, right? It doesn’t have any killing intent. It will just absorb anything that falls in it and will form something new.”
“But it does get ideas somehow,” Ichigo protested. “Why a fountain? Why a house?”
“I don’t think that the shack is what Jaegerjaquez has really wished for. Perhaps those were just passing thoughts. And the fountain… Perhaps someone very dirty has fallen in?”
“Ha-ha,” Ichigo said with a roll of his eyes. “Well, a bath wouldn’t hurt anyone here.”
“Aha!” Renji shouted triumphantly. “You’re getting tired, you sonofabitch, aren’t you?”
“It’s almost over now,” Ulquiorra said.
Kawaguchi was invincible with his shield on, but the shield maintenance required continuous energy, which was depleting much faster than the Fullbringer would ever be able to absorb from his surroundings. Ulquiorra watched Abarai and Jaegerjaquez pushing Kawaguchi backwards, maneuvering him towards the pit. Then Abarai caught a moment and kicked the Fullbringer right into it. Flailing and screaming, Kawaguchi sank into the dark mist. Giving mistrustful looks to each other, the Shinigami and the Arrancar carefully approached the pit to stare into it. The scream kept echoing and echoing long after Kawaguchi had been swallowed by the swirling dark clouds.
“You wishing for anything?” Ichigo asked Ulquiorra. The other man gave him a look, and the redhead shrugged. “Well, I am. Just in case.”
“Fine.”
“So will you wish? Are you wishing?”
“I would if you finally shut up.”
Silently, the four of them waited. The scream in the pit had gradually been turning quieter and quieter until it had disappeared completely. It was difficult to say how much time had passed but nothing was happening. Renji and Grimmjow left the edge of the pit and joined Ulquiorra with Ichigo on the sand. Nobody knew how deep the pit was and when exactly or if anything would happen at all.
All of a sudden, there was a high, whizzing sound and all of them turned to look at the pit. A large, green bottle of sake shot out of it. Clumsily, Renji got to his feet and ran to the pit to catch the bottle safely before it could land onto the sand.
“I swear this isn’t what I wished for!” Renji said, turning around with the bottle grasped tightly in his hands.
“Yeah, right. Sure,” Ichigo spat.
Renji carried the bottle over the other three men. They watched him uncork it. Faint, fruity smell of sake entered their nostrils.
“Well, it’s definitely better than a useless fountain,” Renji said protectively. “The scent is wonderful too. I’m sure it tastes even better.”
“Let’s try it,” Grimmjow said, holding his hand out for the bottle.
“Now, now, don’t be stingy,” Ichigo admonished Abarai, whose hands had wrapped around the bottle possessively; Ichigo was worried that the other redhead would just drink the whole bottle on his own and pass out on them.
“Something else might come out of the pit,” Grimmjow said. “There’s nothing else we can do now anyway but wait. Let us make the most of it.”
Muttering under his breath, Renji brought the neck of the bottle to his mouth. He took a little sip. Tasting, he rolled his tongue about, swishing the liquid in his mouth then swallowed it. His eyes closed in pleasure; the taste was heavenly. Then he took two more large gulps and passed the bottle to Grimmjow.
“I didn’t know you drank,” Cifer said, watching him taking a swig.
The Arrancar shrugged. “Neither did I. Tastes pretty nice, though. You should try it too.”
“Thank you, but no. I prefer my mind lucid.”
The bottle reached Ichigo. He had to agree that the sake was really one of the best he had ever tried. Impressed, he passed the bottle back to Abarai. Perhaps it hadn’t been such a waste; at least it was something. Renji took a mouthful and sent out the bottle again.
The familiar, high, whizzing sound carried from the pit again and their heads snapped towards it. Something small and sparkly appeared from it. The three tiny things landed softly onto the sand. The four men stared at them quietly.
“Are those shot glasses?” Ichigo spat in disbelief. “Whose fucking wish was that?! Will you stop wishing for stupidly random things?!”
Renji got up again and went to take the glasses. He carried them back to everyone and poured them wordlessly. It became clear that, apparently, the pit registered random, passing thoughts. They were indeed wishes, but not exactly conscious ones.
“I bet it was your own wish,” Renji said, grinning. He passed the outraged redhead a filled shot glass.
“Fuck you!”
“Yeah, yeah, bottoms up.”
Most of the sake was already gone when a platter with food landed at their feet. It was filled with steaming Hollow steaks.
“Oh for fuck’s sakes! Who’s hungry here?”
Not answering, Grimmjow grabbed the platter and started eating without looking at them or offering anything just to be polite. He actually hissed at Renji, who wanted to pass him another shot. Just like Kisuke had told Ichigo a Hollow would.
“There’s a freaking field full of dead Hollows right next to you!” Ichigo growled. “And you wish for more! I can’t believe this!”
“They were weak, smell rotten and can’t be very tasty,” Ulquiorra pointed out while staring at Grimmjow’s plate. He wanted to try the food. It smelled wonderful – a pure, uncorrupted soul. He could just knock Jaegerjaquez out cold and take it. Ulquiorra considered the idea, thought very carefully about Ichigo’s possible reaction and then let Grimmjow finish his meal in peace.
The bottle of sake was empty and the platter licked clean when suddenly a double bed sprang out of the pit.
“What the hell?”
“Oh, this one must be mine,” Ulquiorra said standing up. “Finally.” He flash-stepped to the bed, the four legs of which had just softly sank into the sand. At first glance, it was a sturdy bed. It was made of dark wood and had a tall backrest. He squeezed at the white mattress with his both hands, fluffed up two pillows and grinned contently.
Renji elbowed Ichigo conspiratorially and grinned as well.
“What the hell are you thinking?” Ichigo hissed at the redhead.
“Exactly the same what you are,” Renji told him. “Will you quit pretending to be a virtuous maiden? If you keep acting like a brainless goose, Grimmjow will steal him from you in a blink!”
Ichigo blinked. “Huh? What?”
“You’re kinda slow, aren’t you?” Renji muttered, rolling his eyes in disbelief. “Think about the house Grimmjow wished for himself and his lover. Nobody said he isn’t living with one.”
“Oooohhh… Shit.”
Renji nodded. “Yeah.”
The four lingered around the bed for some time, but nothing else appeared from the pit. After having thrown the empty bottle, the platter and the shot glasses back into the dark, swirling clouds, they headed back to Cifer’s hideout.
There were probably many ways to carry a bed, but, for some reason, they carried it as they would a coffin: on their shoulders. Ichigo though that it was very fitting since he was about to bury all his reason and dignity. Not to mention his poor legs.
TBC
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The Heart in My Hand