The Other Side of the Story Part III–

Toshiro woke with something warm curled against his chest. For a moment, he just lay with his eyes closed, not wanting to face whatever reality had to offer, but to his complete surprise, it was a cozy fire-lit room and there was a black cat snuggled up to him.

"She's a stray I found in the aftermath." A soft voice said and he rolled over in the plushy sheets of his bed to see a woman in plain robes sipping tea by the fire. White bandages poked out under the folds at her chest but her features were soft and relaxed, no hint of discomfort. In fact, she was practically beaming.

"Rangiku."

"How are you feeling, Captain?" She rose a bit stiffly but came to the bed.

"Fine." He said distractedly, his eyes wandering around the room. It wasn't overly ornate, just comfortable, much more lavish than the barracks though. The walls were lined with books from floor to ceiling and he felt the urge to read them all.

"Where am I?"

"Home." She said smiling. "This is your house."

"Why are we here?"

"Squad Four is overrun with civilians who were injured, but the fighting hasn't stopped yet. More and more keep coming in. They just don't understand what happened."

"What happened..." the memories returned slowly and then he looked to her and asked the question she'd been waiting for. "Where is Grimmjow?"

"In the first division cell, but he is unharmed, trust me."

He nodded. "And you?" He asked, eyeing her bandages.

"Captain Soifon and I were thrown back by Aizen, but its nothing to worry about." She reached over and stroked the cat on the bed who purred happily then withdrew and reached for something resting next to the bed.

"Hyonrimaru." he breathed, grasping the sword. Already it was a little heavier.

"He's gotten bigger." She smiled.

"So he'll return to normal?" Toshiro asked hopefully.

"The Head Captain thinks so."

"How long has it been– that I was asleep?"

"Three days, you used a lot of power healing Grimmjow. It was quite amazing actually."

She was beaming with pride at her Captian but then her face turned serious. "You still need some rest though. And frankly so do I, so I'll get us some breakfast and then sleep." she didn't quite get up before the door opened.

"No you don't." Renji said glaring. "You told me you'd sleep if I left for a while." he scolded.

"I wanted to be here when he woke up."

The red head rolled his eyes. "Stay there and I'll bring you breakfast."

She raised an eyebrow. "You're going to cook?"

"No," he said smiling, "Ichigo and Uryu volunteered."

"I'm sure they did." she mocked but stayed where she was, reaching once more to pet the cat, restraining herself from doing the same to the pillow-matted white locks of her little captain.


Ichigo and Uryu carried in the breakfast they had indeed volunteered to prepare. Rangiku returned to her chair and they took a separate tray to Toshiro. Ichigo nearly dropped it when he saw the cat.

"What?" Toshiro asked, not missing the shocked look that passed over his face.

"Nothing, I just didn't notice the cat before."

"Oh. She's a stray." he said repeating Rangiku's first words to him. Ichigo just nodded and left, though Toshiro was sure he caught a glance pass between the two humans as they went.

When breakfast was over, Renji lead Rangiku out to go to her own bed and let Toshiro drift off again. But the cat shifted against him until her wet nose was on his cheek and he flinched away. She persisted but he rolled onto his side. The cat hopped over him lightly and settled on the side of the bed not occupied. He thought nothing of it until he felt weight of the bed shift a little and his eyes shot open just as the hand clamped over his mouth.

He didn't even think he could scream even if the hand wasn't there– the purple haired, tan skinned, naked woman was enough to steal his breath. He felt his cheeks go from pale to crimson and burn again her palm. The woman smiled devilishly.

"Its rude to ignore a woman in bed." she scolded. He just continued to stare at her– his eyes frimly locked on her face– until she went on. "Urahara has a gift." She said and his mind whirled wondering who she was and why she knew Urahara and what the gift might be and scared out of his mind that it might be her. "A way out for Grimmjow."

She took her hand away now, knowing that would be enough. He gasped slightly then immediately sat up to turn his back on her, letting the colour in his face drain away.

"How?"

"A device. It will open up a gate from this world to the World of the Living. Then from there, he can go back to Hueco Mundo."

"Do you have it?"

"No place for me to hide it now is there?"

The colour returned instantly. "How do we get it to Grimmjow?"

"Through you."

"They'll never let me see him."

"They are already planning to have the two of you return to the Rukon districts to help get things settled down."

"How do you know that?"

"A cat's ears hear all."

"Okay, then how do I get it?"

"Urahara is going to call Ichigo and Uryu down to the lab to help him with something. Then they'll bring it to you."

"Okay. Then why are you doing this?"

"We have our reasons, but it seems Urahara and I are just as much enemies to the Soul Society as Grimmjow, they just weren't planning on telling us. Shortly, we'll be making our own exit."

"I see. Then I thank you."

"No problem." He felt the bed shift again and then the cat was nuzzling into him. He spun and looked at it disgusted.

"You can't seriously think I'm going to let you sleep in my bed after that. What if I wake up and you-re, you-re..." He couldn't finish the sentence, threw himself into the pillows, pulled the covers up over his head and hoped the feline would have the good graces to leave on its own.


Back in the fourteenth barracks, Ichigo and Uryu were waiting for the black cat when it came strolling in.

"What was that all about?" Ichigo demanded.

"What?" the deep voice of the feline Yoruichi asked innocently.

"What have you been doing these past few days?"

"Listening, learning."

"Okay, so what were you doing with Toshiro?"

"Giving him an option."

"What the hell does that mean? Don't be so cryptic."

The cat stretched lazily and dug her nails into the carpet. "Its late, I'm going to sleep and I think I'll go to my bed tonight."

This was just enough warning for the two boys to spin around blushing and watch the dancing shadow cast by the fire light change into the shapely woman.

"Night boys," she whispered teasingly.


It seemed to the two humans that after than night, next thing they were saying their goodbyes again, being whisked back home, sat back in school and trying once more to fit back into regular life. Chad and Orihime frequently shot them worried looks in class or tried awkwardly to skirt around what was wrong but Ichigo and Uryu agreed to leave them out of it. Just like Soul Society had decided for them they were better off without their memories.

A long time later, Ichigo felt the spiritual pressure he'd been waiting for. He'd just rolled into bed but now he jumped up, pulled on his clothes and sneakers and ran down the street.

He was sweating and out of breath by the time he rounded the corner near Urahara Shoten and found Uryu already standing before Grimmjow.

"Impressive." Uryu mocked, turning to him. "It seems your ability to sense spiritual pressure has improved."

"Shut up." Ichigo retorted still trying to catch his breath and glaring at Uryu until he remembered Grimmjow and turned to him. "You're back."

"Yeah." Grimmjow said shortly.

They discussed Urahara, Grimmjow's escape and a little of the information Ichigo had about the Shopkeeper, concluding that he expected to see Kisuke and this friends any day now.

"Huh, he was a strange one." Grimmjow said looking at the night sky. "Do me a favour eh, if you talk to him again, let him know I'd find some way to repay him if one of those friends he brought back was my zanpakuto."

"I will." Ichigo said. "So you're going?"

"Back to Hueco Mundo, there's no where else for me to go."

"What about your memories?"

Grimmjow shrugged. "Maybe I don't need them after all."

Ichigo nodded and watched Grimmjow shift through his thoughts for a moment. Then he snapped back to reality and reached out into thin air and pulled open the tear between their dimensions.

"Tell Urahara I'm coming to visit soon as I know he's back."

"Okay. See ya."

"Later." Ichigo waved at his back and watched him disappear.

"Well I guess that's that." Uryu said, turning to go. But the cracks had just closed when another presence flared in the world of the living.

"Was that...?

"Urahara. Come on." Uryu pulled Ichigo's sleeve in the direction of the shop and two pushed their way through the door and the empty rooms until they reached the hatch. It was already opening when they reached it.

"Well, fancy meeting you here." Urahra said. A small head appeared behind him and he reached back to take Ururu's hand and next came Jinta, Tessai and a black cat.

"That was quick." Ichigo said.

"What do you mean?" The shopkeeper asked.

"Grimmjow just came back too but he's gone again."

"Ah yes, we had to time it rather closely so Soul Society didn't have too much time to figure it out." He smiled. "But I didn't think we'd be this spot on. Too bad..." he pulled back his long white hiori and revealed Pantera, "I brought home his friend– not an easy task."

"He said he'd be back to see you."

"Well I'll be here, so long as Soul Society decides to leave me alone."

"Do you think they will?"

"We'll see."

Uryu had been silent but now spoke up. "Urahra, did you get your memories back?"

"Most, but I have a way to go."

"What about us, can you help us?"

"You two? I could have you both finished in a few hours. Give me a chance to settle in again, then come see me in a couple days."

"Great." Ichigo beamed but Urahara was serious.

"I've remembered much about you. Life as a Soul Reaper isn't easy. Make sure its what you want before we go ahead with it."

"Oh I know what I want." Ichigo said almost bitterly after having to listen to others for so long. But it subsided at once as he shook the shopkeeper's hand in thanks. He and Uryu started to leave but then Ichigo hesitated. However it was Uryu who asked the question that had just struck them both.

"What about Aizen?" the Quincy asked. "Will that seal really hold his powers at bay?"

"It doesn't have to for much longer." Urahara said darkly. "His trial was short, he was sentenced to execution."

Both humans looked to one another in shock then back to Kisuke.

"When?" Ichigo asked.

"As soon as Toshiro finishes in the Rukongai getting the people to calm down and see the truth about him."

"Otherwise, they risk making him a martyr." Uryu added knowingly.

"Precisely. But even still, I don't think the Head Captain will let him live much more than a few weeks. Everyone is on edge while he's still breathing."

Neither boy responded to this. They were uneasy too but there was a difference between executing someone and killing them in the heat of battle. Still, leaving him alive was far too dangerous.

"When you get your memories back, you'll have no doubts." Urahara said after watching the emotions on their faces. "Now go home."

"Okay, thanks." Ichigo said quietly and this time they did turn and leave. He was tired now, just wanted to curl into his sheets and forget about the spiritual world altogether but he kept picturing the execution. For some reason he could see Sokioku Hill very quickly and though he'd never been told about it, he knew without a doubt that was where the execution would take place.

"Ichigo?"

He didn't hear Uryu's call the first time, he was so lost in his thoughts, and the longer he pictured the hill, more images became clear. He saw Rukia all in white, hanging helpless, high in the sky. He saw a bird of fire flying toward her frail form, ready to devour it and leave nothing in its wake. He saw the faces of Soul Reapers, cold, uncaring, none moving to help her. And then he felt himself, fuelled by rage at those passive figures, and the desire above all else, to stop anything in the universe that would harm Rukia Kuchki.

"ICHIGO!"

He hadn't noticed that he'd fallen to his knees, that sweat soaked through his thin shirt and ran down his face. He didn't feel the explosion of spiritual pressure that burst from his body. He didn't hear the roar of hollows attracted to it. But he felt hands gripping him painfully hard on his shoulders and finally focussed on Uryu's strained face.

"Ichigo, stop! Every hollow for miles must have felt you, what's happening?"

"R-rukia." he strained past clenched teeth. "They were...going to kill her...I had to stop it..." He shut his eyes and felt his body spasm.

"Ichigo!" But Uyru was distant again, another presence was drowning out all else.

"Zan...Zangetsu?"

There was white hot pain, then darkness.


Ichigo was rolling. He had struck hard ground, skidded, then began to roll. A blunt weight smacked against his back each time until he finally stopped. He waited for the world to stop spinning but felt far too weak to move even when it did. However he knew he must have taken a pretty bad blow when he looked up and saw his own face next to him.

"Ichigo, hang on!" He heard Uryu scream a little ways away, his back to him and a blue bow in his hands. It took a second to register that his arm never stopped moving, pulling back the luminescent string time after time, killing hoards of...

"Hollows?" he muttered, his voice barely a whisper. He looked back to his face, still there, and looked down to find the rest of his body. But then what was he in? Was this what they call an 'out of body experience?' He looked at his hands, roughed up, but definitely his, then down further. Black. Black robes. And at his back– a sword. What was going on? He was dressed like... "A Soul Reaper!"

But even as exhilaration washed through him he felt another wave of dizziness. When it passed he looked back to his body and saw thick red blood spreading from his head.

"Oh know..." he breathed. "I'm out of my body because–"

"You're dying." Urahara's voice floated down to him. He watched unmoving as Tessai rolled over his human body and began healing it at once. Kisuke knelt next to him, only for a second, "Hang on, Ichigo. You'll be okay." And then he was off fighting with Uryu, Yoruichi right behind him.

Ichigo tried to stay conscious, but he began to slip back into the nightmare of the blazing bird rearing its maw, aiming for Rukia's small body and anger flooded him again. He was starting to blackout again. He felt strange, an oppressive sensation consuming all of him, filling everything with darkness...


Uryu dropped his arm, exhausted. The last hollow fell from Urahara's sword but he wasted no time in turning back to Ichigo. The two shop children were also there, Jinta clutching Pantera while he stood protectively before Ururu. He only relaxed when Urahara returned.

"How is he?"

"He'll make it." Tessai responded, though still working diligently. Uryu slumped next to him but stared at Ichigo's soul form.

"So he really is a substitute Soul Reaper."

"Yes. Even with no memories, some of the Soul Reapers still had their powers. Perhaps the same has been true of Ichigo all along. Still, this is odd."

"Something happened before the hollow struck him. That's what attracted all the hollows." Uryu explained.

"I felt it." Urahra nodded. "It was a massive, unrestrained burst of power."

"He said something about people trying to kill Rukia. That he had to save her."

Urahara thought this over. "I only have some memories of that time." He looked to Yoruichi.

"That's how I met him." she explained, her memories of that time clearly stronger. "We went to Soul Society to save her. Aizen had tricked them into executing her."

"RUKIA!" They all turned back to the soul on the ground and Ichigo jerked violently.

"His eyes..." Uryu began but felt a hand grip him and yank him back. Not a second later, the eyes that had turned black and yellow became only one feature in a terrifying white porcelain visage, unsettling, and similar to a hollow.

"What's happening?" Uryu said, raising an arm to shield himself from the massive spiritual force that struck them. But no one could respond when in one final burst, the orange haired boy had turned into an orange maned beast, horned, clawed, half naked and howling at the sky. Those terrible eyes landed on them for a second, then one hand reached up and tore through the air. The beast disappeared through the black cracks and the street was silent.

"Did he just...go to Hueco Mundo?" Uryu breathed, feeling the hands that were still around him finally slide off. He turned to face the shop keeper. "Urahara?"

"Yes, he did."

"Well we have to go after him!"

"There is no way. I have no means to open a Garganta."

"But..." Uryu wracked his mind for possibilities. "Grimmjow! Grimmjow will find him and bring him back." But he watched a slow pained expression form on the scientist's face. He held out a hand and Jinta passed the sword to him. He lifted the long jagged blade and held it before Uryu.

"No, Uryu. Grimmjow stands no chance against him– not without this."

Pantera reflected the blue-grey light of the moon: dull and cold, as if the zanpakuto was in fact reflecting its pain– its agony at knowing it would not be there to save its master.


To Be Continued in the up coming sequel The King of Hueco Mundo, in which Toshiro must remember how he pulled Aizen back to Hueco Mundo in order to reach Ichigo and Grimmjow in time. Meanwhile, Aizen's execution looms and something very small but very important lies lost and forgotten in the silver sands of Hueco Mundo.

Happy 2011!