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Comatose	By : ShadowedEcho Category: Bleach > Yaoi - Male/Male Views: 2442 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach, no money is being made by me, this was written purely for entertainment purposes

Chapter List
- 6
- 7
Chapter Six
The Older I Get
"Welcome to Las Noches Whelp, you had better be ready for this." Grimmjow introduced as they arrived at the tower complex.
Three weeks had been spent in the desert. Ichigo was fighting almost continually during that time, either one-on-one or in a group match. All of it designed to teach him his third lesson. He had to learn how to read attacks, whether from a familiar opponent or a stranger. He had gotten strong enough to keep up with Ulquiorra in his first stage of release. Grimmjow and Ichigo could spar for nearly an hour before one was forced to yield, and as time wore on the yielding was done by Grimmjow more and more.
Starrk watched Ichigo come into his own, and it became harder and harder to resist the Visored. He had kept his advances tame, and let Ichigo set the pace, but he wouldn't last much longer. The more feral Ichigo grew, the more Starrk wanted him.
He was now at the level it was time to introduce the other Espada, and expand on his lessons. Junichi was proving to be a strong and capable teacher, at the same time as Ichigo was learning how to command him in a way that suited both of them. The four that had been training him in the desert were curious to see how the other six were going to react to both Ichigo and Junichi. The two could be quite chaotic when they agreed on a plot, it didn't happen often, but when it did all Hell could break loose.
Ichigo scanned the complex carefully, not reacting to Grimmjow's words. He had gained the ability to tune him out. Las Noches was not what he was expecting, it wasn't really a building, more a group of towers and low structures connected by open air. The most surprising aspect of it was he could see lights shining out from the towers, and illuminating the sand between them. "Where did the lights come from?" He asked curiously, there wasn't any wires or anything leading to the towers to suggest electricity. It was truly strange.
"That's Szayel's doing. He's always running an experiment on something. He gives us light, Harribel fills the reservoirs below the towers so we have water, and we send out the small fry to pick up living world food when we are in the mood for something different." Grimmjow seemed almost proud of the advances they had made, but Ichigo noticed something.
He got a dismissive look on his face, and a bored tone to his voice, "You sound so proud, but I didn't hear you claim any of that stuff. What have you done for the good of the group?"
"He protects the fortress, along with Nnoitra, we might be the strongest around here, but that doesn't mean other Hollows aren't a nuisance if they get too close or in too high numbers." Starrk informed him, not wanting the two to allow their argument to devolve into a sparring match. That was fine out in the desert, but they had to introduce Ichigo to the others before they could indulge in any more fighting.
"The others are waiting for us, come on." Ulquiorra informed, leading the group to the tallest tower in the cluster. Silently agreeing with Starrk that the situation needed diffused before it could get more heated.
Ichigo unconsciously stepped closer to Starrk as they entered the tower, he could feel eyes on him as they walked to the meeting room. It hadn't truly hit him until now that for the number ranking to make sense, there would have to be many more Arrancar than the ten Espada. "The meeting is for Espada only, I will take you to meet Lilynette after it." He was distracted from his musings by the comment from Starrk.
"I was meaning to ask you about that. If Lilynette is your Zanpakuto, than how could you fight me at full power during training when she wasn't with us?" Ichigo asked to distract himself from the sudden rush of nerves.
Amusement danced in the elder Espada's eyes, "I told you I would be fighting at my full power, I didn't say I would be fighting at our full power. You weren't quite ready for that yet, but you are now. In addition when Lilynette and I release, our form does not really help you with your sword training. You will understand when you see it."
They reached the meeting room not long after, and Starrk had to put a hand on Ichigo's back and shove him inside, taking pity on him and making the gesture as inconspicuous as possible. It wouldn't be a good first impression to show fear.
Six sets of unfamiliar eyes drilled into Ichigo, but with Starrk so reassuringly close he was able to meet and match each one. Evaluating each gaze, and letting his gut instinct pick out which were worth knowing, and which should probably be avoided as much as possible.
"If you are done with the starring contests, we should go sit down and introduce you," Harribel drawled, spurring Ichigo and the others into action.
The Visored found himself settled between Starrk and an unfamiliar Espada; he was exceptionally tall, with long black hair, and an eye patch covering one side of his face. Ulquiorra was on Starrk's other side, Grimmjow across from him, and Harribel at the other end of the table beside an older looking Arrancar and a pink haired Espada with a mask that looked like glasses.
"This is Urahara's prized Visored? He's just a kid!" The pink haired one protested almost as soon as they were seated.
Surprisingly Grimmjow spoke up, "I would watch it Pinky, this one could be trouble for you."
A snort from the tall Espada next to Ichigo, "I sense a bruised ego, what did he do Grimmjow, beat you up?"
"Oh shut up Nnoitra," Grimmjow snapped back, a wide grin appearing on the Espada now identified as Nnoitra's face.
"He did?" There was excitement to Nnoitra's voice, the same kind Ichigo had heard from Kenpachi after Ichigo managed to make him bleed, and he stared down at the orange haired boy speculatively. "I'm fifth Espada Nnoitra Jiruga, who will I have the pleasure of beating into the sand when this meeting is over?"
Ichigo's eyes narrowed and he bristled at the implication, "Ichigo Kurosaki, and I will not be the one losing."
"Well we'll see about that," Nnoitra drawled, leaning back in his chair, stretching languidly as if Ichigo's anger meant nothing to him, which it probably didn't.
"Anyone else wanting to challenge me?" Ichigo growled, his quick temper burning through his previous nervousness.
He was not expecting the burst of laughter that followed. Coming from the same Espada Grimmjow had called Pinky, at least he wasn't the only one the Sexta had saddled with a demeaning nickname. "This one could end up being fun." The Espada claimed, after getting control over himself. "Grimmjow you should know, the more trouble I am caused, the better the research subject."
"Just who are you?" Ichigo demanded, "I doubt your real name is Pinky."
An angry tick appeared on his forehead, "If you even think about calling me that, you will be nothing but pieces floating in jars in my lab before you could blink. I am the Eighth Espada, Szayel Aporro Granz."
A nudge to his leg, and soft bit of advice came from Starrk after that, "I would stop antagonizing for a bit, Nnoitra and Szayel have banded together before to eliminate a stronger opponent. Tread carefully." Ichigo squeezed his thigh under the table in affirmative reply.
"Just how good is he?" An Espada with dark skin, odd facial tattoos, and spike like mask fragments lined up in a row on the top if his head and surrounding his throat like a necklace. As if it were an afterthought, he introduced himself, "Zommari Leroux, Seventh Espada."
"He can keep up with my first release, he hasn't beaten me, but he has come close when he joins with his Hollow." Ulquiorra reported emotionlessly. Unlike Grimmjow, he had gone into this knowing the boy would probably surpass them, anything less would not have caught Urahara's attention as he had.
Surprising the other Espada, Starrk spoke next, "He has fought me, without his sword, and can last almost twenty minutes."
"That doesn't mean much, you are always holding back." A large Espada, with a mask fragment like a complete lower jaw, interrupted.
Starrk resisted the urge to smirk, but that was too far out of character for him during a meeting, keeping a firm hold on his composure he replied simply, "The last couple spars, I wasn't holding back Yammy."
Nnoitra's grin widened even further as he heard the claim by Starrk, getting more excited at the prospect of a good brawl with the newcomer.
The first to speak after Starrk's claim was the oddest appearing Espada, he had a white mask fully covering his face, with just a few small holes cut into the mask not wide enough to see what lay beneath. The voice when he spoke was oddly disjointed, one high and sounding almost female, the other deep and male, "Well that's interesting," The first voice stated, "What about you Harribel, how does he measure up?" The second voice finished.
"I have to draw my sword," Was all she replied, but it was enough for another round of speculative glances sent Ichigo's way. She didn't draw that sword unless she was willing to kill her opponent, she wouldn't do that to a student unless she thought they could hold up under her attacks. Since Ichigo was still breathing, he obviously had.
The mask turned in Ichigo's direction, "We are the Ninth Espada." Voice switched, "Aaroniero Arruruerie."
"We?" Ichigo was curious about that.
"Trust me Whelp, better not to ask," Grimmjow warned, even as a kind of bubbling chuckle came from the mask in two different tones.
"We will show you… Some other time," They informed him.
"I don't see why everyone is so excited, no matter how good he is, he's still just one fighter. Have you forgotten what we are up against?" The old Espada spoke for the first time, and it was enough to silence the whole table.
Ichigo broke the silence, "I only know the basics, that a group of people stole some of Urahara's research and managed to screw themselves over. I want to know more about them. Just how strong are they? What are they after?"
"They call themselves Visoreds. They are the mirror image of Arrancar. I assume you have already been told about the differences physically, one starting out a Hollow, the other Shinigami, correct?" Szayel spoke like he was giving a lecture, firm and no nonsense, with a slight air of arrogance. At Ichigo's nod of agreement, he continued, "There is a step beyond that creating the true difference between the two. When a Hollow willingly breaks their mask, they regain a part of their conscience they gave up during the original transformation from a Whole soul. An Arrancar is deadlier than a Hollow not just because we are stronger, but because we can think far clearer and less instinctual than our mother race. Visoreds gave up their conscience. They have all the power of a Shinigami, with a Hollow giving them an additional burst of power, but none of the refined control. They are dangerous in the way a tsunami is, you throw enough power into an attack and it doesn't matter how refined the attack is, you are still just as dead. The combination of power they hold puts most Visoreds at least at equal strength of the Espada. We have numbers on our side, there are only eight surviving Visoreds, but since they can blend in far better in the living world they have the advantage of stealth."
When Szayel stopped long enough Ichigo was pretty sure his explanation was over, he asked his next question, "That answered what they are, now what are they after? I would imagine if it was general destruction, action would have been taken already, either by you are the Soul Society."
"We don't know. That is something we've never figured out, because you're right, if they were out making nuisances of themselves someone would have cleaned them up by now. The only reason we know they are active again is because Urahara has been tracking them, and they set off a few of his traps. They started moving around again at the same time you were created." Grimmjow spoke now, he and Ulquiorra had the most recent contact with Urahara and knew more of the details.
A thought sparked at that, "Could they be curious about how I was formed without losing my conscience?"
Ulquiorra answered him, "Not likely, it's not widely known exactly how you are different from them. It might not have anything to do with you, because your awakening was closely timed with the upheaval in the Soul Society."
"So they could have been reacting to Aizen, not me. Why would they react to him? They are in the Living World, he was in Soul Society." He was slowly wrapping his mind around the situation, each answer clarifying the picture in his head.
Starrk answered this one, breaking his usual silence yet again, "The Visoreds used to be in the Seireitei, most of them were Captain class. Their leader is a man by the name of Shinji Hirako, and when he was in the thirteen squads, Aizen was his Lieutenant."
"I knew they were Soul Reapers, didn't know they were that high level. Does this mean with Aizen gone, they might go back under whatever rock they crawled out from?" Even Ichigo didn't think that was true, but it needed to be asked.
The Espada who brought up the subject in the first place answered him, "Too many unanswered questions. Once something like that is woken up, it rarely goes back to sleep without a fight. The question I have is this, they have no conscience, therefore shouldn't be rational. If they are part of some deeper plot, who was strong enough to command them?"
"Aizen was powerful," Ichigo answered with a slight tremor, "He might have even succeeded in his plan had we not forced him to show his hand early. A few more days, and it could have ended very differently."
A shake of a scarred head, "No, they wouldn't follow someone who hadn't proven their power. Don't think of them as human, they aren't anymore though neither are we; they are more like a pack of wolves. The strongest wolf leads the pack, but they must prove themselves worthy of the title. Think deeper, Aizen wasn't the Alpha wolf yet, so who was?"
"Never thought of it that way, but you have a point." Ichigo agreed.
Starrk nudged his leg again, before speaking to the whole table, "Aizen showed interest in Ichigo, he drastically underestimated him, but we may be able to track that interest back to the one holding his strings. Anyone powerful enough to keep a leash on the Visoreds is bound to be trouble."
"There was something else that happened during Aizen's plan, Central 46 was slaughtered. If you are looking for the mastermind, I think it would be a good idea to check out the people who have the most to gain from the ruling body being decimated." Ichigo proved he could understand odd situations quickly with the suggestion, it held a lot of merit.
"That would be any Captain, as well as the heads of the Noble families. Those two groups are what Central 46 affects the most with their decisions." Szayel answered this one, his research told him as much.
"Sounds like a good fight to me, might actually find someone worth the time," Nnoitra drawled after Szayel's response.
"Anytime spoon boy, anytime," Grimmjow grumbled, and Ichigo almost chuckled, Nnoitra did kind of look like he was wearing a satellite dish on his head.
"If you are going to fight do it outside, or you are both cleaning it up." Ulquiorra ordered them, a hint of exasperation in his stoic voice.
Grimmjow rolled his eyes, while Nnoitra suddenly straightened, "Well this meeting is getting boring, why don't we bring the new guy out with us and put him through his paces?"
That seemed to be the end of it, the Espada splitting in half, one part heading back to their quarters, while Nnoitra, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, and Szayel pulled Starrk and Ichigo out of the meeting hall.
"What if I don't feel like fighting?" Ichigo protested, turning to Starrk, "I would rather just go meet Lilynette."
"Tough, I sat through that boring as Hell meeting just for the chance to fight you. Now get ready," Nnoitra warned, a hand clamping down on Ichigo's shoulder, matching him out to their training area, far far away from any of the structure of Las Noches.
Szayel was looking sharply between Starrk and Ichigo, trying to figure out why the strongest of them was allowing the Visored to be so clingy. "Don't worry about it Pinky, you'll figure it out soon enough." Grimmjow teased as he saw the action from the scientist. "Wait, since when do you fight with the rest of us?"
Szayel stopped the indignant snort, "Oh, I'm not fighting, this is research, plus if one of you manages to kill someone the specimen is better if it is fresh."
Grimmjow shook his head slowly, "You're creepy, you know that right?"
"I used to think you had slightly more intelligence than a brick wall, I stand corrected. We've lived in close quarters how long, and you only just realized this?" Szayel snapped back, he enjoyed baiting Grimmjow, but knew not push too hard. He wasn't in the mood to research the feral Espada, it would be a waste of a fight.
"So did you figure them out yet?" Grimmjow asked conversationally, gesturing to Ichigo and Starrk.
"I have my suspicions," Szayel admitted, "It will be interesting if I am correct."
Grimmjow nodded, "Very interesting."
Szayel and Grimmjow settled onto one of the high piers set into the sand for observation purposes around the training yard, "Aren't you fighting him?"
Grimmjow shook his head, "Not right away, I want to see the look on Nnoitra's face when the Whelp makes him eat sand. Ulquiorra is down there, I can get the recording from him later if I want a replay."
"He is really that good?" Szayel asked skeptically.
"Yes he is," Grimmjow admitted. "He doesn't win every time, but he can beat me when he is worked up enough."
Szayel contemplated that for a moment, "So Starrk wasn't lying, he hadn't been holding back?"
Grimmjow shrugged, "Who knows? I don't think any of us have a clue what Starrk's true power is. He went harder on him than I have seen him do to most of us though, on the rare occasions we get him to fight. By the way, speaking of interesting, Starrk volunteered to teach Ichigo first, he willingly fought when he could have just left it to the rest of us."
"I see, so my suspicions are correct most likely. Any idea what caused it?" Szayel reclined back to rest on his hands, not fearing an attack by Grimmjow, there was no need for a fight and the panther was relatively calm.
Grimmjow didn't answer right away, more interested in watching the opening scuffle of the fight below him, grinning widely at the surprised yet gleeful face when the mantis didn't manage to slaughter Ichigo with one strike of Santa Teresa. Only when it settled into the steady back and forth of a spar did he reply, "All I know is Ulquiorra and I had gone off by ourselves, Ichigo heard us and woke thinking we were in danger. Starrk was there to calm him down and explain some things. When we got back to the group awhile later, they were kissing, and Starrk was issuing death threats for interrupting."
"Hmm, very interesting indeed." Szayel responded, looking out, but not focusing on the fight, instead his eyes sought out Starrk at the edge of the arena. His entire body was tense leaning subconsciously towards the fight, like he was arguing with himself about letting Ichigo fight alone or jumping in and helping him.
It was like when Lilynette got pulled into one of the generalized spars they had, the smaller half of the Primera far easier to goad into battle.
He was even more intrigued when Ulquiorra approached Starrk and started speaking softly to him, the tenseness slowly easing from Starrk's shoulders. Who knew the ever emotionless fourth Espada could calm down the strongest? Szayel wanted to know what Ulquiorra said to him, but doubted he would have a chance to find out.
Then it hit him what exactly Grimmjow had just admitted to, "Were you and Ulquiorra really that desperate you couldn't have gone far enough away to not wake the others up?"
"We could have, but didn't feel like it. Whelp would have found out at some point anyway. It took a bit for Ulquiorra to go along with it, but it was worth it." A leering grin at the end was just daring Szayel to ask for elaboration. "Plus you can't tell me you and Nnoitra wouldn't do something similar."
Szayel couldn't deny it, so he didn't even try, "Nnoitra wouldn't bother with waiting until I gave in, he would just take what he wanted."
"You would want it differently?" Grimmjow grinned wickedly when the only response was stony silence. "You should watch this part, the fight is almost over."
Szayel drug his attention over to the spar, and saw Ichigo reach up and claw his hand across his face, a white and red mask materializing under his fingertips while his Spiritual Pressure skyrocketed. "So that's a Visored." He commented, seeing the transition for the first time in person.
"Yes, and wait until you meet Junichi, he is going to be your most interesting research project yet." Grimmjow informed as he watched the newly transformed Ichigo beat into Nnoitra. It said something about his strength that he had managed to last so long against him without his mask.
Szayel was too busy watching Ichigo hack off one of Nnoitra's six arms, and the subsequent shock as the arm grew back, to answer right away. "He figured out how to cut him?"
"You really weren't watching the beginning were you?" Grimmjow realized, "The Whelp was able to draw blood before he switched into Bankai. He told the four of us about the people he fought in Soul Society, one of them was a Captain who was famed for being impossible to cut. Ichigo fought him to what amounted to a tie. That was before Ichigo learned Bankai, now he has control over his Hollow side, as well as a few weeks of intense training under us. What did you think we would be bringing back, a weakling?"
This time Szayel couldn't stop the snort of disbelief, "I wouldn't go that far, if he was a weakling, there would have been nothing left to bring back. I wonder though, he fights well against those who specialize in close combat, how do you think he would fair against someone like Zommari or my own release?"
Grimmjow cocked his head to the side thinking, "To tell the truth, you would have better luck than Zommari. The Whelp has a stubborn streak wider than Heuco Mundo, with a bit of motivation I believe he could overpower Zommari. You he would struggle against, since yours is not a direct attack. He might learn how to beat it. I'd like to see the first few fights though, been awhile since the Whelp was thoroughly beaten."
"Let me guess, he has no clue you can analyze him that deeply does he?" Szayel asked drily even as the possibility of fighting the Visored made him curious. It would be a test of his own skill as well by fighting a type of opponent he has never encountered before.
"Probably not, what good is having an advantage like that if everyone knows about it?" Grimmjow agreed.
Szayel watched the end of the fight come, Nnoitra was shocked enough to hesitate a fraction in a swing when the Visored's mask suddenly broke, leaving Ichigo an opening. The black blade of his Bankai nicking Nnoitra's throat, but not before one of the six scythes bit deeply into his left shoulder. Both fighters srung back out of the fight, clutching the respective bleeding part.
Szayel was not surprised when Nnoitra's wound was already knitting back together, but when Ichigo's began to do the same he was thoroughly shocked. "He can regenerate even when he doesn't have his mask?"
"A gift from his Hollow, as long as Junichi wants him to heal, he does. If his Hollow is mad and sulking at him, he doesn't." Grimmjow informed, watching as Starrk approached Ichigo to make sure everything was closing correctly. There was no doubt it would, but concern was still something new to him, being alone so long took its toll on his emotions.
"So he and his Hollow are close?" Research was always a priority.
"Most of the time yes, but both of them have very short tempers and little patience; they get mad at each other pretty often. The end result is usually something to see, every time they fight and get over it, they get stronger." Grimmjow assessed.
"So in other words, they are just like you and Nnoitra." Szayel was quick enough to dodge the fist aimed his way, jumping from the pier to go have a chat with the new member of their company. This would be an interesting subject of study, of that he was sure.
- 6
- 7
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