The Prince of Hueco Mundo

Disclaimers: Refer to the first page. There would be sentences (very few) taken directly from the translated version of Bleach manga.

A/N: I finally decided to continue. Thanks to all you who reviewed or would be reviewing. Sorry for the late update. Just to warn you, I will be updating this fanfic very slowly; probably only 1 chapter in two-three months.

Ichigo stared at the white ceiling above the bed he was lying on. His mind was working at a very fast pace. He was still very confused about what had happened lately.

“Kuso! What the hell am I doing here? I should be finding a way to escape!” He jumped up from the bed and grabbed his zanpakutou. Halfway to the only door visible, he stopped in his track and stared at the big sword. Frowning, he thought, ‘When was Zangetsu returned?’ He was dead sure that it had been taken away by Aizen. “Scratch that!”

Several hours later, Ichigo was still wondering around in the endless corridors. He did not even meet a single Hollow or come across a room. Hell, even his room had disappeared. Finally, he gave up and sat down on the floor.

“What the hell is this place?” As he was swearing and complaining, he did not notice when a portal appeared behind him. As he leaned back heavily, he fell through it. “What…!” He continued dropping and dropping. It was as if he had fallen through an endless hole. Just as he started to relax, his eyes saw something alarming beneath him – land! Normally, he would be very happy but now was definitely not the time he wanted to see the land. Slightly panicking, he took his zanpakutou and…”Getsu Gatenshou!”

There was a big explosion. The dust cleared to reveal the orange-head shinigami unharmed. The force from the impact had softened his fall. Ichigo landed on his feet. As he jumped out from the crater, a question appeared in his mind - why did this seem familiar? It was almost like the time he landed in Soul Society.

Looking around, he realized he was back to the same place where Uruhara showed Ishida, Chad, and him the way to Hueco Mundo.

Unable to believe it, Ichigo readied his sword tightly in a defensive stance. “Aizen!” He waited in suspense.

Nothing happened. After a couple of tense minutes, Ichigo started to feel like a fool but he did not lower his guard. The soft sound of footsteps reached his ears. Rushing towards the sound, he brandished his zanpakutou, getting ready to attack.

“Kurosaki-san,” Uruhara’s cheerful voice called out.

Ichigo’s eyes widened. Trying to retract his assault, he ended up tumbling down the hilly ground to a few feet away. Jumping to his feet, Ichigo yelled at the laughing Uruhara, “Teme! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

“Kurosaki-san, you’re the one sneaking up on me and attacking for no reason.”

Since that was the truth, Ichigo could find no remark to return. Glaring, Ichigo turned around and walked away.

“Kurosaki-san, where are you going?” Uruhara asked.

“Back to the real world,” Ichigo answered, impatience clear in his voice.

“The door is this way,” Uruhara pointed to the opposite direction.

Ichigo stopped in his track. Turning around, Ichigo walked towards the direction Uruhara pointed. “Thanks,” he said in a tight voice.

“You’re welcome.” A big smile stretched from ear to ear on Uruhara’s face.

Ichigo’s eyes twitched but he said nothing.

As Ichigo walked past him and disappeared through the door that was almost invisible, Uruhara looked up at the fake sky. The portal, Garganta, could be seen; the opening was getting smaller as seconds passed. Uruhara stared expressionlessly as the smiling traitor of the Soul Society waved at him from behind the disappearing space. Soon, nothing but the sky could be seen. Turning around, Uruhara walked through the door back to the real world.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

“Is that really alright? He won’t be so cooperative next time,” Gin asked the meditating Aizen.

“With his strong reiatsu in Hueco Mundo, my control over Hou Gyoku is slipping.”

“You’re toying with the boy again.” It wasn’t a question but a statement. The ever-present smile plus the amusement in his voice indicated that he was enjoying himself. “If he had stayed, he could have prevented the fate you have planned for him.”

“The presence of his strong reiatsu had already caused the Hou Gyoku to react more than it had these past months. For me to be in total control over it, I only need it to recognize me as its Master. With Ichigo’s presence temporarily removed from Hueco Mundo and his reaitsu in me, the result is guaranteed.” An evil smile appeared on Aizen’s face.

The faint sound of the chaos outside the room reached both the occupants’ ears.

“It seems that they have found out about the disappearance of Kurosaki-kun,” Gin commented lightly. “I’ll take care of it.”

“Do not toy with them too much,” Aizen warned with a knowing smile.

Gin did not react to the warning. He was still his usual smiling self when he walked out of the room, leaving Aizen behind.

As the door closed behind Gin, Aizen turned his attention to the red stone. Totally opposite of what he had told Ichigo, the stone was still in its sealed state. A sly smile formed on the former captain’s face. He had just the key to awaken the Hou Gyoku.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

“Grimmjow, Aizen-sama hoped that you could retrieve our precious Prince safely. You are allowed to bring as many Arankaru as you need,” Gin informed the hot-headed Espada. He had deliberately chosen this blue-haired Espada for this job because he knew that he would end up creating a huge and fierce battle, unlike the ever calm Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra, who was just nearby, gave no indication that he was surprised. However, when Grimmjow went to get ready, he approached Gin. “Gin-sama, may I go with Grimmjow?”

Gin turned to look at the serious Espada. He had anticipated this, which is why he had chosen to inform Grimmjow of his mission with Ulquiorra nearby. “If you want to…” As he stared at the disappearing back of Ulquirro, he said to the empty hallway, “What will you do, Grimmjow?” The smile on his face widened. “This will surely be interesting.”

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Ichigo entered the room that he had been to so many times before. Sitting on the floor surrounding the table were his friends. Sado, Ishida, and Inoue seemed perfectly healthy if a bit tired, especially Inoue; she looked depressed. A stab of guilt penetrated his heart but he pushed it away. “Yo!” he called out cheerfully.

Immediately, the room’s occupants turned to the owner of the voice whom they were worried over.

“Orange head!” Jinta yelled in surprise.

“Ichigo!”

“Kurosaki!”

After the shock was over and everyone calmed down, Ichigo sat down. He took a one-glance over. Even Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku-san, and Toushirou were there, but… “Where are Renji and Rukia?”

At that, the previous gloomy atmosphere returned.

When his question was not answered straight away, a horrible feeling settled in his stomach. “Why didn’t you answer me?” he lashed out. “Inoue?” he prompted the person that was the most optimistic amongst them.

“They are both fine. Kuchiki Rukia was still recovering. Abarai was serving his punishment.” In the end, it was the child-like taichou that answered.

Ichigo let out a mental sigh of relief. At least no one was killed.

“By the way, how did you escape, Kurosaki?” Ishida asked.

Ichigo glanced at Inoue, who was still not looking at him. How much had she told them? Looking back at Ishida, he said, “I was running around the endless and empty corridor and…” he shrugged, “I just fell through the portal. The next thing I know, I’m here.” That was the truth anyway.

Jinta, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku, and Ishida gaped at him. “What!” They yelled in unison.

“I don’t know, alright? They locked me up in a room and did not even think to take away my zanpakutou. There wasn’t even a guard! And the door wasn’t locked so I escaped. I did not bump into anyone along the corridor.”

“Maybe they deemed you too weak to pose a thr….” Ikkaku nearly choked on his own tongue when he suddenly grabbed by the threatening substitute shinigami.

“Of course, why should they keep a close on you when you do not even have a 10th of my beauty?”

At that vain sentence, Ichigo lost his grip on the bald Shinigami. He sat back down and sipped the green tea in one of the glasses on the table.

“Hey! That’s mine!” Ikkaku yelled. The war of tug came into play.

“Are you ignoring me, the beautiful…..” Yumichika shut up immediately. He was dripping wet. A vein popped up on his head.

Ichigo and Ikkaku, who had stopped in mid action finally let go of their tight grips on the small empty glass and hugged their stomachs while they rolled on the floor in laughter.

Yumichika lunged at both the shinigami. Soon, chaos resumed.

While the others looked on (some of them even cheered the three childish shinigami on), the shinigami captain with a child’s look mumbled, “Somebody, trade places with me please!”

Glancing at the only other occupant who had not cheered up or moved an inch the entire time, Hitsugaya frowned. Ever since the group came back from Hueco Mundo, the girl had been like this. He knew that she must have felt guilty. However, he also suspected that something must have happened – something that neither the girl nor the rude range-haired shinigami was willing to tell.

Besides that, from Kurosaki’s explanation, he came to the conclusion that the rude substitute shinigami’s escape wasn’t truly an escape. What was Aizen planning?

Removing his gaze from the long-haired girl, he glanced at the other two that were in on the rescue expedition. From the way the Quincy and the strangely strong human were looking at Inoue and Kurosaki, it was safe to assume that they had figured as much.

Suddenly, a strong reaitsu appeared. All activities in the room ceased for a moment.

“Espada.”

Just like that the spell that held them in place broke and a scurry of activities took place. As soon as the shinigami were separated from their gigai, they each went after the targets.

Before racing out, Ichigo told Inoue, who was in the process of standing up, to stay put. If he had spared a second to look back even once, he would have seen that he had hurt the sensitive girl.

“Kurosa…ki…kun.” Inoue stared bleakly at the empty space where the substitute shinigami had stood before.

“Don’t worry about him. He’s tough.”

Inoue looked at Uruhara-san, who was standing casually in the room as if he had no care in the world.

Uruhara walked out of the room. “There are some things that he had to figure out by himself,” he whispered under his breath.

Although it was soft, Inoue still caught the sentence. A look of surprised replaced her miserable expression. How much did the exiled shinigami-turned-Tenchou actually knew?

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Las Noches

Aizen stared at the Hou Gyoku. Inside of him, he could feel Ichigo’s reaitsu, which he had sucked out of him, reacting to the presence of the sealed stone. Although still in the sealed state, Hou Gyoku’s innate power was sipping out, calling to the reiatsu of its owner.

The stone rose from the floor to the height of the former captain’s eyes. It started to shake violently. Lines appeared on the seal.

Aizen’s lips curled up in a smile. “It’s time.” He released his tight hold over orange-haired Prince’s reaitsu, which was immediately drawn towards to stone. The reaitsu seemed to seep into Hou Gyoku through the cracks in the seal.

The pressure built up and up, never ceasing until all of a sudden, a blinding white light surrounded the stone and extended to engulf the whole room, including the only occupant.

Crack! The sound of something breaking into pieces echoed in the souls of all Hollows.

The blinding light dimmed to reveal Aizen standing just a step away from the beautiful round unsealed Hou Gyoku.

Slowly, the stone closed the distance with the soul that still carried the residue of its owner’s reiatsu.

Aizen’s face revealed nothing but a satisfied smile. He did not move an inch from the stance. He felt as if time had stopped until….

Hou Gyoku sank into the soul that it had recognized as its master into the heart. As soon as it was safely in the middle of the heart, hundreds of thin black tentacles grew from the surface of the stone and pierced through the heart in all directions. The tentacles wrapped around the heart in a tight grip. It would take time to be one with its master, but now no one could separate them.

Aizen’s brow creased from the pain, but he remained in the same position, enjoying the sensation. It was a strange combination: the expression of pain yet at the same time, satisfaction.

That was how Gin and the other Espadas found their leader when they came to check the sudden disturbance.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooo

On the other hand, in the human world, Ichigo, who was in the middle of running towards the reaitsu of the enemies, suddenly stumbled. He was brought to his knees at the sudden stabs of unbearable pain in his heart. As the pain faded, he knew something had changed. Try as he might, he could not come up with a plausible conclusion. It almost felt as if a missing part of him had come home.

Shaking himself out of the ridiculous feeling, he pushed the whole incident towards the back of his mind and got up. He had enemies to fight.

To be continued.......

A/N: So how do you think this chapter is? My friend thinks there should be more smut. I am undecided. Tell me what you think and you might just get it. By the way, if there are any spelling mistakes, please tell me. I might not change the past chapters but I will consider changing the future ones. (Coz I get the spellings from the translated version, no insult intended.)