Chapter 22: Pressure

As Ichigo walked alone in Las Noches, Sosuke had to check on his daughter because she got into a bad fight with Grimmjow for some reason, he passed by a certain room that he knew all too well. He saw the door was cracked open a bit and decided to let it be as he walked along. Once he passed the door though, it opened up to reveal Yoruichi in her arrancar outfit; white leggings and a tight black shirt that hugged her curves well. She stopped when she noticed Ichigo in front of her as she was in the middle of tying her hair back. It had grown over the years and was almost the same length as in the original time.

"Oh, Ichigo." She started as she finished tying her hair up.

"Yoruichi." Ichigo greeted her in his usual tone. "I take it your running late for something?"

She smirked at him a bit and shook her head. "Not really, just getting a head start on Kisuke's slow ass!" She shouted that last part back into the room.

Ichigo looked over her shoulder to see Kisuke coming out of the bathroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist. He hadn't changed much aside from his hair being a little longer than before. Said man saw Ichigo and chuckled a bit as he then saw Yoruichi looking away from him. Even though her face was turned, he could tell she was probably blushing. Over the years, their relationship grew exponentially as they were usually always together. And since they were usually together all the time, they tended to tease each other sometimes, Kisuke moreso than Yoruichi did. It was countless entertainment for Ichigo to see the two try to outdo each other sometimes.

After Yoruichi had turned from him, she looked to Ichigo sporting a huge blush at being beaten today, and left without much of a word to him. Ichigo chuckled a bit before he was about to leave.

"Actually, Ichigo." Kisuke started, getting Ichigo's attention. "Is it okay if I can talk to you for a moment?"

"As long as you get dressed first, then yes." Ichigo spoke up as he turned away from the still open door to let Kisuke get dressed in his own outfit. It consisted of the standard arrancar attire, only he was given a special haori with black kanji on the side the spoke of his position as a scientist along with Szayel and Sosuke.

Ichigo entered the room and closed the door so they would have some privacy. He even placed a silencing seal around the room just to be on the safe side. Last thing he really wanted was anyone listening in on their conversation that he had a pretty good idea where it was going. After he had done that, Ichigo sat down in a chair next to the table in the room as Kisuke sat on the other. When the former soul reaper turned Visored did so, he gained a bit of serious look that Ichigo was unfazed by.

"I think I've figured you out as best as I could Ichigo," he started, only getting Ichigo to raise a brow.

"And what, pray tell, would that be Kisuke?" Ichigo asked him in the same, eerily chilling and calm tone.

Kisuke didn't waver from that tone though. "I assumed that you had some sort of personal vendetta towards the soul society as a whole, with how their bureaucracy was handled, and that you wished to destroy it off that alone. But as the years passed by, you showed genuine care towards certain individuals." Kisuke smirked a bit when he caught Ichigo's eye twitch just barely. "People like Sosuke and Gin. You treat those two as if they were more than just your students. Hell, it looks like you treat Sosuke like a son on the occasions I see you both together. Then there's Soi-Fon and Byakuya." Ichigo tilted his head slightly as he continued to listen in. "The way you speak to them and how well you know their own skills and zanpakuto's is also rather odd."

Kisuke watched Ichigo carefully to see any change at all. Anything to let him know that he was getting closer to uncovering the truth behind the current Kenpachi.

"Then there's me and Yoruichi." He started back up again. "When we first met, I remember how you couldn't even look me in the eyes. At first, I thought it was out of respect since I was a captain, but when I saw the look you gave me, it didn't look like something you would see from someone who was afraid of you or showing you respect. You had a look that showed remorse and loss."

Ichigo lowered his head slightly at Kisuke's words. Guess he should've figured Kisuke would remember that. Back then over a century ago, Ichigo wasn't as stone cold in his expressions as he was now and seeing his old mentor alive and well for the first time brought up the painful memory of his death all over again at that moment. It took all his willpower not to go over and hug the scientist in the middle of a meeting.

"So what I've been able to at least put together is that you know me somehow." Kisuke continued as he watched Ichigo's reaction carefully still. "The only problem with that assumption is that I have no memory of you whatsoever, yet you knew that I would be there when Shinji and the others were turned into Visored's and even knew about my relationship to Yoruichi long beforehand. That's what I don't understand Ichigo. How do you know me and the others before you became a captain?"

Ichigo sighed as he should have figured that Kisuke would slowly put these pieces together and knew they couldn't just be a coincidence. In truth, Ichigo could have been more careful in how he approached certain people back then when he first became a soul reaper officially, or even after when he became a captain.

"Then there's Isshin." Kisuke started up once more, surprised that Ichigo raised his head quickly to that. "So he is important to you in some way?" He watched as Ichigo did nothing but narrow his eyes to him. "That's why you didn't want to spend too much time with him when we invited you to that party. He is someone very special to you Ichigo, why?" Kisuke narrowed his own eyes as he was getting irritated at the lack of an answer on any of his questions. "ICHIGO, ANSWER ME!" He became impatient.

"He's my father." Ichigo answered with the same, near emotionless look in his eyes.

"W-What?" Kisuke went wide eyed as he heard that sentence. If what he said was true, then does Isshin know?

"Kisuke." Ichigo started as he gained a serious look to his face, causing said man to look him in the eyes, mouth still agape at his last statement. "What I'm about to tell you does not leave this room. Aside from Sosuke, no one else knows this, and until the time is right, I want it to stay that way." The room suddenly became twenty degrees colder from Ichigo's next words and even caused Kisuke to shiver in fear for a moment. "Understood?"

Kisuke quickly nodded his head, relieved when that coldness disappeared along with Ichigo's expression.

"Good." Ichigo started as he leaned back in his chair. "Let's start from the beginning."

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hope everyone had an awesome 2019 and just an awesome decade in general. Mine had it's ups and downs, but you know what, I'm still here aren't I? Lol.

Alrighty then, the next chapter will be a precursor to Phase 2 being unleashed onto the Soul Society. I will be doing the fights like in Ichigo Vs. Soul Society unless I come up with something else beforehand.

Hope ya'll are still into this story as I'm actually kinda close to ending it soon. And then I'll be one step closer to that mass crossover I've been planning for a year.

Until then, stay awesome and as always,

PEACE!