"Ichigo, wait!" Nel calls after him, her newly fixed fracción following after her. Apparently Dondochakka and Pesche were all messed up, too. Courtesy of Szayel. They don't look too different, surprisingly. They're faces are young and not ugly like their masks, so they've got that going for them.
"No, Nel. I can't do that," Ichigo shakes his head, walking away from her faster. He forces his Reiatsu away to cover him from peering senses.
She uses sonído to reach him, and snatches his arm. He whips around, a snarl at the ready. Her face makes him pause.
"I know something in your plan has failed. I know that's why Ichimaru was looking at you," Nel states.
"Shhhh! Gin or Tousen could be listening," he snaps in a hushed voice.
"No one is here. I promise. If you need something, just let me know. I will bail you out of trouble. You just have to ask."
He knows he probably looks as frantic as he feels, yet her eyes bring him an odd and temporary sense of peace. "I have to check on my fracción. I need to make sure they're okay. Stay away from me, Nel. For your sake, stay away."
"I won't."
"Then watch your back."
He takes his arm out of her grip and uses shunpo to his palace. He needs to be sure that everyone is okay. Oh, please, everyone be okay. Please tell him nothing happened while he was away.
He gets to the palace entrance, and he chokes up. The doors are knocked off its hinges. Why is the door knocked off its hinges? A part of him already knows the answer, yet fears it nonetheless. He slips into the entry way of the palace, going over the door as quietly as possible. This feels wrong. He can't sense anyone anymore. Why? What happened?
A voice murmurs softly into his ear, urging him forward. He doesn't bother looking upstairs in his room, and simply heads for the fracción quarters. The sitting room before the quarters is a mess, the struggle evident in the burn markings and broken, misplaced furniture. There's blood, too.
Oh god, he's going to be sick. What's he supposed to do now? He doesn't know what else than if not to move forward. The voice continues to offer him sweet words and gentle encouragements while Ichigo himself stalks forward.
In the fracción common room, his fracción are on their knees, their hands shackled in front of them. Gin paces before the line of beaten and bloody warriors known as Ichigo's friends. Tousen stands off in the corner, merely sensing the movements of his colleague. Rukia isn't here. Why isn't Rukia here?
"Kurosaki," Tousen greets. "Why don't you join us?"
Ichigo screws his eyes shut. This is bad. Really bad. There is little he can do in even less time. What should he do? He sucks in a big gulp of air, and walks into view for everyone but the blind man to see.
Chad's face is covered in more blood than hair, his nose still dripping. His knuckles are busted and his arms are heavily bruised. Uryū's glasses are gone, yet the scrapes around his eyes must've been from the lenses shattering while still on his face. There's two cuts to his right arm, one on the wrist and one from his mid forearm to his shoulder.
Mizuiro has a black eye, it so swollen, he can't see through the healing flesh and salty tears. There are cuts littering all over him, but none are as threatening as Uryū's. Keigo is beside Mizuiro as always. The brunet has a fat lip, and a little bit of blood is getting into his eye. His chin is scratched up, too. He's breathing loudly, and is shifting in constant discomfort. Did he break a bone? From this angle, Ichigo would have to guess his leg is fucked.
Inoue, bless her soul, is the least harmed. Her powers aren't defensive, so she probably had to surrender when the rest of the group was taken down. To be fair, there's a few cuts on her from close calls with a sword. A chunk of her hair is missing, and there's a cut across her throat like a sword was pressed there in warning - another reason to surrender. Tatsuki has to be in the worst shape. She probably took all the hits directed at Inoue with her titanium skin. She's covered head to toe in cuts and bruises, her knuckles busted and nose broken. There's trails of blood coming from her mouth, too. She probably got hit in the stomach really hard. God, if that's the case, she's got some broken ribs.
"What's going on here?" Ichigo demands lightly after finding his voice.
"Why they attacked us," Gin replies.
"Liar! You came in here-" Tatsuki is cut off by an aggressive slap to the face by Tousen, who used shunpo to get to her.
"Hey!" Ichigo snaps. "Haven't you done enough damage?"
"Ichigo," Gin starts playfully. "We know about your plan."
The ginger ignores the building fear in his chest. "What plan?"
"You're going to pretend to be a child now, Kurosaki?" The blind man snaps.
"What?" He wrinkles his nose.
"Don't play dumb. That's just going to make things worse," Gin states.
"What plan? The deal was join Lord Aizen or else Rukia dies. Why would I risk her life like that? You both were literally there when I challenged some of Gotei 13's most powerful captains in name of saving Rukia."
"Including Lord Aizen," the blind man reminds.
He mentally screams. What should he do? How is he going to get out of this? He looks to Gin, an idea striking him. Hopefully this will work.
"What about Rangiku?" Ichigo glares at Gin.
His playful nature turns malevolent, like the storm after the calm. "What about Rangiku?"
"Isn't this why you do it? For her? You want to the world to be a better place for her," Ichigo continues.
"How do you know about that?" Gin demands, stomping over to the ginger to grab his collar. "Tell me!"
"She told me about the two of you," Ichigo snaps.
"Why would she do that?"
"Because she was sad when you left her to join this crusade. I figured if what the two of you had was real, you would be doing this for her."
Gin's grip lessens. "When was this?"
"A couples days after you left. She came to my hospital room to talk to me about what it was like going against you."
Gin steps away yet his hand is still clenching the front of Ichigo's kimono. Everyone holds their breath, awaiting for what Gin will say next. Ichigo doesn't quite know if that was the way to get under Gin's skin, or if it was a good idea all together, and he's sitting on the edge of his seat. What will be the ex-captain's move?
"How do I know you're not lying?"
Ichigo's eyebrows raise. "Then it'd be one hell of a guess."
Gin pushes Ichigo back, releasing his hold. He grumbles under his breath about gingers and strawberry blondes.
"Fine. You're here for Rukia. How do we know you're not going to plan against Lord Aizen? The Espada don't trust you - all they've had to say about you was how suspicious you are. I can't tell you how many times Lord Aizen is a little concerned about how quick you were able to turn killer. Let's not forget when Ulquiorra reported his required information about you, saying you were planning to kill however many Espada it took to quench your thirst for blood."
The ginger stands there, listening to Gin's rambles. Of course Ulquiorra would report Ichigo's vengeance for Rukia's assaulter. And of course the Espada don't trust him. He's going to have to find a way to change that.
"I want the Espada that beat her," Ichigo can't help but snarl. "Ulquiorra wouldn't tell me who, so I've had to figure it out myself."
"You're a shitty guesser," Gin comments.
"I know it's Grimmjow now."
"Are you going to kill him?"
The ginger refuses to look at his fracción. He didn't tell them about his seek of vengeance. Guess he really is a hypocrite.
"No," he decides. "Rukia told me to stop."
"Ya know," Gin smirks, "murder is a one way ticket to Hell."
"Whatever it takes."
Tousen turns to Gin's general direction. "What do you think?"
The smug ex-captain hums. "I say we let them go. Ichigo won't leave without Rukia, and his friends won't leave without him. If there's something suspicious, we take another one."
Ice pours down Ichigo's back and into his veins. Take another one? What does that mean? "Where's Rukia?"
"She's fine. Lord Aizen simply wishes to hold her for safe keeping. There is only three people allowed in the room, and most of them are women, so nothing bad will come to her."
If he didn't know any better, he'd say Gin sounds empathetic. Without a queue, the ex-captains leave. Stiffly, Ichigo gets to his knees and gets to work removing the irons from his friends. The silence would be deafening if it weren't for the roaring of his heart. His hands shake as he reaches to free Chad first, him being the first in line.
He keeps his head low as he frees his fracción from their chains. His chest is heavy with guilt, his anxiety ridding him of any relief. He had to manipulate the shit out of Gin, but he can't do that to his friends. He can't mask the truth from them.
Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite. Hypocrite.
Monster. Monster. Monster. MonsterrRrrRrRrrrr...
"You killed the Espada with premeditated intentions?" Uryū demands in a low voice.
Ichigo stays crouched on the floor while the rest get to their feet. He takes a cleansing breath. "More or less."
"Why?" The bespectacled teen. "I thought you wanted to be better than your father."
Ichigo bites his tongue, holding back the retort. He rises to his feet, and looks at Uryū in his eyes. "I had only planned to kill Nnoitra. Even then, it was a last minute decision."
"Ichimaru said you were trying to quench your thirst for blood!"
"I can't help it!" Ichigo snarls. "I want to kill every person that even dares to put a hand on anyone I love! But I don't!"
"Then what about the Espada?"
"I wasn't in control of my body for most of them. You know that!"
"Do I?" Uryū gets in Ichigo's face as much as he can.
There is more silence drawn out. His friends refuse to look up from the floor. The ginger bares his sharp teeth in anger, growling in frustration. He somehow manages to calm himself down.
"You chose to be here, Uryū. I told you the risks. I told you," he seethes.
"Then why not tell us about your blood lust? Is your Hollow that far in control?"
Ichigo's balls his fists, white knuckling the invisible rage in his grasp. "My Hollow doesn't need to be controlled. And I don't have blood lust. Nnoitra was the only one I decided to kill," he repeats. "Decided, not craved."
"Uryū, give him a break," Tatsuki steps in.
"This doesn't concern you, Arisawa," Uryū snaps.
"Hey! He is telling the truth! He has been up front about everything until now. Even then, Rukia knew about it. Just because he doesn't tell us something doesn't mean he's keeping secrets. Some things are just between two people," the short haired teen yells.
"Tatsuki is right," Inoue nods, her voice small yet stern.
"But..." Uryū stumbles.
"You heard the man. He loves Rukia. Let it go," Tatsuki huffs.
"Wait, hold on here," Ichigo starts. "That's not what I meant."
"You are so full of shit."
"It's kinda obvious how you feel about Rukia," Chad nods.
"And I saw her leaving your room last night," Mizuiro grins.
All heads snap to Ichigo. He can feel his face light a flame.
"It's not like that!" Ichigo waves his arms frantically.
"You don't have to tell us. Like Tatsuki said, some things are between two people," Keigo teases.
Ichigo groans, hiding his face behind his hands. At least this was a distraction from his anxiety. "Is she okay?" He manages through his hands.
They somber up. "She was willing, but that blue haired jerk was a little rough with her."
His head snaps up. "Blue haired jerk?"
"Yeah, he's an Espada," Keigo nods.
His teeth grind. "Those bastards!"
"What?"
"What happened?" Chad asks, his voice and body on edge.
"Grimmjow! He's the one who hurt Rukia," Ichigo roars.
"Uh oh."
That was the last thing he hears as he marches out of his palace, his fracción behind him.