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The loud footsteps followed by bellowing from his cousin erupted in the streets of Seireitei.
Ichigo was running through the crowd while doing his best to tuck his reiatsu in to avoid detection from the madman.
The lot of them. The whole Shiba clan was as insane as Goat face.
This was the first day that he was able to get out of bed after his injuries had healed after being punted by the soul King to the past and wringing that bastard Yhwach's neck as soon as he landed and found the demi-god.
He did end up half dead after the battle and landed himself to the fourth where they took a single look at his face and called Shiba Kaien over.
The rest was history and he was Shiba Ichigo and now running desperately for freedom from the whole month of bed rest with the Shibas hovering around him like mother hen and Unohana-taicho's curved solemn smile preventing him from getting the hell out of there the first day in.
"ICHIBERRY-TAN!!! Where are you! Cousin!"
He hated that nickname with vengeance. Ichigo needed to get away from any Shibas—especially that one—before he goes Zanpakuto happy and started slashing people.
The maze-like streets of Seireitei were useful for once and he was able to lose his Kaien quickly. He Shunpoed as an intersection appeared in his eyes and he was ready to find the nearest forest and camped out.
He was not staying at the Shiba compound. No. Just no.
And his plan would have been executed if he wasn't Kurosaki Ichigo of the shittiest of luck.
A flash of gold like threads of molten crystal sparkling under the rays of the sun covered his eyes before he was sent down on the ground when a body collided against his.
He guffaws from the impact and Ichigo's instincts allow him to Shunpo away from the person he collided with and his hands resting on his Zanpakuto in a second.
"Hiyori, ya little shit! Look at what ya did."
His breath hitched when the familiar voice with that annoying accent filled his ears.
"Shut up baldy! Shoo back to your division!"
Hiyori appeared in his vision with a scowl and her Fukutaichou badge wrapped around her shoulder.
On the ground clutching a broken nose was Shinji with long golden hair sprawled on the ground a pristine white captain haori over his uniform.
His heart thumped loudly at seeing his previous friends. The vizards. His pack.
No. Not his. His was gone. They weren't his pack.
He quickly shoved those thoughts deep into his head never to be visited again unless triggered by another world shaking scene.
"Kaien? What the hell happened to your hair!"
Hiyori caught sight of him and purse in displeasure as she glared at his hair.
He was about to snark back to the midget as usual but had to bite his tongue to prevent it. He didn't know this Hiyori. They weren't close enough for the casual and comfortable back and forth bickering he was used to.
"Oi, yer not Kaien." Shinji's eyes sharpen and those glowing amber seem to pierce through him. "What are ya—"
"COUSIN!!! Found you baby cousin!!"
Ichigo's face paled at the exhilarated squeal from the cheerful nightmare that was his cousin and now legal guardian.
He forgot that Kaien for all his silly Shibaness was still a lieutenant who managed to snag that title only 5 years after his graduation as a known genius.
Of course he'd be able to sense Ichigo that moment even if a bit of his guard dropped. And Shinji's appearance certainly made it.
He dodged in time to avoid the dark haired shinigami who tried to tackle him from behind. A quick movement of his feet sent a kick which surprised the man and shoved him back.
After managing to distract Kaien by sending him toppling to the store behind him, Ichigo turned back and shunpo away again. This time hopefully no distractions of golden haired captains would prevent him from escaping his overprotective and clingy cousin. He could only hope.
In the end the one to catch him was not Kaien. But rather, a smiling Unohana who had questions as to why her latest patient who was just allowed out of bed was Shunpoing around Seireitei.
He froze as that cresent smile full of aura was sent his way and he obediently followed after the medic.
Ichigo was rebellious and stubborn to a fault. But even he knew better than to incur the first Kenpachi's ire.
Thankfully the woman was merciful enough to disallow his relatives from barging in every time while he was in the fourth.
Small mercies.
He was grumbling under this breath and trying to brush his long hair out of a bird's nest when the door opened.
It wasn't a grand gesture of the door slamming open followed by loud voices so not a Shiba.
He looked up and he met amber eyes and hair like silken crystal gold. Shinji.
"Oh~ So yer the talked 'bout Shiba. Looks just like Kaien. But prettier though. Younger too."
He gapped as Shinji shamelessly grinned and his hand immediately moved to throw a pillow on the pervert's face.
Shinji caught it in one hand and whistled. "Quick reflexes kid. But yer gonna have ta do better than that." That toothy grin spread in his face and Ichigo bristled as he distinctly felt like a cornered mouse in front of a smug long haired cat with a cheshire smile ready to pounce.
Those sharp inspecting eyes scanned through him and in the room before zeroing on his Zanpakuto laying beside his bed.
Even before his exile at Seireitei, Urahara had told him that Shinji has always been paranoid incarnate. Always suspicious and hungry to know everything.
But he also liked playing with fire. The thought 'bring your enemies closer' is taken literally. So Aizen happened.
"Nice Zanpakuto over there. Amazing skills too. If it allowed ya to take Kaien on and escape. So where did ya came from?"
He scowled and forced the feeling of hurt at being suspected by Shinji away from his mind.
The story Unohana and Kaien managed to patch up from his short answers was that his father was a descendant of a Shiba who left Sereitei long ago to live in the human world. Not an impossible thing according to Kaien. It had happened a couple times before the Shiba head said.
But kept the information and raised Ichigo as a proper Shiba. But only for them to die from a Quincy attack that left Ichigo to run for his life while being hunted down and learning about his powers as a shinigami through experience.
His wounds that were quick to be identified by Unohana as marks left by Quincy attacks proved it so.
Not the truth but not that far off of a lie.
He scowled further and nearly bared his teeth as Shinji probed. "Back off." He didn't want to be in Shinji's attention circle. He still had a lot of things to do. Like maybe cutting down the man's lieutenant with Zangetsu.
But as Ossan said that would be stupid and it was better for him for Aizen to reveal his colors during the future hollowfication incident that Ichigo will try his best to prevent or die trying.
"Little spitfire aren't ya. Do ya even know who I am?" The man teased with mischief in his eyes but likely knew he didn't give a damn about his position. He showed that enough with resistance against his cousin—a respected lieutenant.
He frowned further but didn't answer and Shinji had the gall to pout like a child who didn't receive what he was waiting for.
"Okay okay, I'm Hirako Shinji. Captain of the 5th division. Nice ta meet ya Ichigo-chan."
Oh he was asking for it. The older man was clearly trying to get a rise from Ichigo and the hybrid was more than willing to make it explode back into Shinji's smug face.
His long golden hair softly tumbled as the straight locks moved when Shinji tilted towards him.
It was still odd to see Shinji with long hair. His eyes seem to always catch the gold strands. It was fucking weird to have a fixation on the man's hair. It was just literally hair.
In the end the one to stop Shinji from continuing on teasing him until Ichigo explodes was Kaien who suddenly appeared behind the blond and leaned over Shinji's left shoulder with a face akin to Sadako as he eerily asked what was Shinji doing with his baby cousin.
The shriek that left the captain was enough to send Ichigo tumbling over with laughter.
Over the course of the next few weeks when Ichigo was hauled by Kaien to the Shiba clan as a permanent member, Shinji popped up like a particularly annoying rash.
He was there with mischievous amber eyes and a grinning smile as he appeared to pester Ichigo and smooch off food from the Shiba clan.
The man appears when Kaien wasn't around because for some reason Kaien developed a sort of vendetta and went feral mama bear mode when Shinji was near Ichigo.
But he was amicable to the blond when Ichigo wasn't involved.
But if had to pick between his cousin and Shinji then he'd pick the blond. He was used to Shinji's type of teasing. But Kaien was too much like Goat face and too Shiba with all their loud enthusiasm that he was getting a headache.
Here was another instance when Shinji appeared to be a menace.
"Aren't you supposed to be—you know—in your division, Captain."
Shinji only laughed and wiggled his eyebrow. "Not when my favorite strawberry is missin' me." His nicknames only got worse.
He threw the watering can he had on his hands towards the blond who merely caught it and waves it around his face.
"I'm hurt Ichigo-chan~What if the waterin' can ruined my handsome face? Can ya pay for that?"
"Oh I'll ruin that face alright. With my fist if you don't get out."
"Aha! So ya do admit that I'm handsome!"
"That's what you focus on!?"
This Shinji was completely shameless and more carefree. He wasn't this bad in the future. Maybe the decade in exile and hunted down by his former comrades hit the blond harder than he thought. What was Ichigo thinking, of course it did.
He bit his lips and the gnawing feeling of guilt and righteousness for the blond distracted him enough not to notice when Shinji approached him close enough to be face to face.
So when Ichigo looked up and saw Shinji's face close enough that their noses were nearly touching his war honed body slammed a panic button and immediately tried to lunge and rip the captain apart.
Zangetsu roared by instinct and was ready to slash their enemies down but only through pain-staking will did he manage not to unsheathed his Zanpankto and slash Shinji at where he stood.
But the killing intent was enough to warm a captain like Shinji that he stepped on a landmine and he immediately backed off.
Sakanade gripped his hand and was ready to defend himself.
The tense atmosphere was disrupted by a loud firework shooting up the daylights—clearly someone messed up again and Kūkaku is going on a rampage later—and by sheer dumb luck, both of them ended up crashing into each other when they moved away from the location of the loud noise.
Shiro cackled in his head when Ichigo ended up pinned on the ground with Shinji sprawled on top of him ungracefully.
His temper flared up and tried to push the man off him but instead managed to snag his long hair. It was unfairly soft.
A pained shout and Shinji pinned him on the ground to prevent him from fumbling around any further and pulling more of his hair.
"Sit still will ya! If ya grab my hair again I'll kick yer ass."
"Well hurry up and get the off me!"
"Ya got yer feet on my haori. Lift it up."
"You are literally pushing your leg over mine. How can I move it!"
"If yer arm ain't gripping over my shoulder then maybe I could!"
And that was how Kaien found them, on the floor tangled with each other and loudly quarreling.
If a person with a normal brain saw this they would laugh at the scene and think both of them were having a childish fight.
But this was Shiba—Shiba-brain—Kaien.
"You. How dare you. I'LL REVENGE YOUR TAINTED VIRTUE COUSIN!!!"
So that was how the rumor of the captain of the 5th division had a sordid affair with the new Shiba ward of Shiba Kaien and how the said man chased Shinji around the Seireitei wielding his Zanpakuto in a furious rage.
Ichigo didn't want to know whether to laugh or be mortified.
Three years passed by peacefully with Ichigo slowly but surely integrating himself into this new world despite everything.
Living in the Shiba household with the rambunctious Shibas, going to the Seireitei streets and meeting familiar faces that slowly did stop being so heart wrenching to see and reacquainting and befriending those he knew back then.
Being pestered by Shinji and learning about the past. (His present)
He didn't want to join the academy despite wanting to be a shinigami under the eyes of the Gotei again. It would severely limit his freedom being stuck at the academy.
But at the same time being a non-shinigami didn't allow him in the field which grates on his nerves.
But the incident was going to happen soon.
Shinji once told him of that cursed day when everything went into hell for the visoreds.
He did have the time to spend in the academy with the incident so close to fruition. Nor does he have the patience to deal with being placed in a restricted division if he speed runs the academy.
It was as if the day knew it was going to a tragedy today and the sky was gloomy over the Seireitei.
Ichigo frowned and his grip on Zangetsu tightened as he looked at the sky from the Shiba compound.
Shinji didn't pop in today to pester him. He had asked the others as to why Shinji wasn't around much to his embarrassment as the Shibas around him started to tease him about missing his 'lover'. They had never been able to clean their names because of that incident.
It was then that he heard that the disappearance of souls in the Rukongai was too big now and Central 46 urged the Gotei to send some captains and lieutenants over to finish everything once and for all.
Ichigo's blood ran cold.
It was raining heavily, the sky so dark that it almost seemed like night.
Ichigo didn't care and rushed to where he thinks the location of the hollowfication incident was.
He gritted his teeth and wished he knew more about the incident aside from the disappearance of the 9th division with Kensei as the catalyst for it.
But the thing is—Kensei didn't disappear with Mashiro. All of them were sent on a mission together at the orders of Central 46.
Things change. He brought the change. He didn't know how his appearance managed to change Aizen's plan but his instincts told him it wasn't good.
Then he suddenly felt Tosēn reiatsu behind him and he blocked an attack on him with Zangetsu.
In the middle of the battle he noticed that the blind man didn't actually try to kill him as much as he tried to incapacitate Ichigo.
Then remembering Aizen's love for melodramatics and grand reveal that bad feeling churned again.
"Hey king. Listen to me. How about we go along."
"What are you talking about, you crazy bastard!?"
Shiro bristled inside his mindscape and crossed his arms. "Stop trying to insult me when I'm doing my best to try to help ya! You don't even know where the damn battle is. Better let Aizen's pet bring us to it. "
"Maybe you should listen to Shiro, Ichigo. I think he's onto something." Ossan's soothing calm voice intervened and Ichigo begrudgingly accepted the offer.
"Ooohhhh so you listen to the old man but not to me. I can feel the love king!"
"Shut up!"
Ichigo did end up faking falling under Tosēn's attack and pretending to faint while the man carried him over his shoulder.
Soon he heard the sounds of battle and he had to secretly pinched himself from visible reaction when he heard Aizen's smug voice.
"We're going to murder him good."
"For once I agree with you."
Ichigo knew the moment when the others saw him when he felt Shinji's palpating killing intent rise followed by the golden haired captain's roar of fury.
He shivered as goosebumps spread because he had never heard Shinji sound that furious.
"Oh, it seems our special guest has arrived. Good job Tosēn."
The blind man then roughly dropped him to the ground beside Aizen's feet and he promised the man pain.
He immediately opened his eyes and placed his hands on Zangetsu. Aizen let out an amused quirk on his eyebrow at his quick action.
The man was so sure of himself that Ichigo couldn't wait to wipe that smug smile off his face.
"Captains and lieutenants. To showcase the results of my study on the Hōgyoku. I present to you—" The man smiled eerily and before Ichigo knew it a sense of vertigo hit him as his instincts rang in alarm. It was fucking airborne. No wonder they didn't notice it then. To infect, it didn't need any contact. Just being near the fucker was enough.
"—the barrier between Shinigami and Hollows thinned and destroyed through the power of the Hōgyoku."
The white hollow substance erupted from him and the feeling was so familiar he wanted to laugh. The white substance consumed him as it pushed forth his inner hollow. Shiro having a screaming fit followed by hysterical laughter because Aizen fucked up big time.
He soon noticed that behind the man were numerous hollows that were likely low ranked Shinigamis that had their souls fully consumed by the hollows, unable to defeat it unlike the visoreds.
Before his vision shook and he was consumed by Shiro's laughter and his screams he looked over to Shinji and saw the despair into those eyes as the man was bloodied and on his knees with Sakanade trembling in his hands.
He didn't like it. Shinji shouldn't be afraid. His long golden hair that sparkles like sunbeams crystal shouldn't be bloody and disarray. His amber eyes shouldn't be bloodshot and desperate. His smile—where was his—
And the world went black.
Hiyori couldn't bear to hear the hoarse wretched whimper that left Shinji as she watched the loud pained screams of Ichigo come to a stop as the white substance wrapped around him.
Instead she glared with all the hate she could muster on the damned traitor. Aizen Sōsuke. She will not stop until the man is dead.
The rat who thought of himself as God and experimented on shinigamis and souls alike. Hollowfication. He sounded so proud of it.
But they were down. All eight of them were too injured from fighting off the hoards of hollows and the sudden ambush on them from the three traitors.
She could feel the pain radiating from the large gash over her stomach and her throb of her broken leg. She hated being this week. This helpless.
If only they didn't fall for the trap then they would maybe cleaned up all these hollows and murdered the bastards.
But it was too late. And based on Aizen's monologue he was going to conduct the hollowfication on them too.
She remembers the head strong brat with fire and sadness in his eyes. Hair an eye searing orange that easily made the kid stand out in a crowd. That signature scowl with gentle hands. Rare laughter following Shinji's latest antics.
She couldn't cry. Not when the traitor was still there. Standing proudly with Ichigo's corpse on his feet.
She wanted to scream out, fight it out. Rage at the world.
"Hmm, and here I thought his strong reiatsu and oddness would have allowed him to survive the process. Such a shame."
Aizen spoke carelessly. Shinji's shoulder was trembling and she could see Hachigen have trouble trying to stop whatever it was Shinji was about to do. With the man in front of the blond and the only one to see his expression.
Love, Rose and Mashiro were all knocked out and Kensei was visibly doing his best to keep his consciousness.
Lisa was quiet the whole time yet she knew the Lieutenant were burning with fury behind her glasses. All of them were.
With Shinji it affected him most of all. Aizen was his lieutenant. He knew that the rat was suspicious. And Aizen just killed the man he loved for a show.
She couldn't imagine how Shinji must be feeling now. Hiyori was barely even able to keep her mind clear with her rage burning her soul.
Then a flash of Shunpo appeared and Tessai and Kisuke appeared.
The two took in the sight of the hollow army behind Aizen, their battered forms and finally Ichigo.
Tessai didn't hide his horrified expression and voice while Kisuke was completely still and expressionless, it was as if he wasn't even breathing.
"Finally, the last performers." Aizen looked at Kisuke and lifted his hands. "Now we can sta—"
A large barrier of kido surrounded the area they were on and enclosed all the shinigamis and hollows inside in a blink of an eye.
Then the whole world exploded in deadly and potent reiatsu.
Everyone was forced on their knees and Hiyori bit out a curse as her body was nearly crushed under the torrent of hollow reiatsu.
The unconscious members of their group were forced to awaken and looked on in horror.
Tosēn was pinned on the ground and Aizen was barely able to stand. That conniving fox Gin was already unconscious.
And it was then she noticed that they were only feeling the leftovers. The reiatsu was actually focused on the traitors.
Her eyes turned towards the source of the monstrous reiatsu and silently screamed in horror as she saw what it was.
Its long orange hair so familiar and once brought begrudging fondness only filled her with dread.
Skin white with black lines over his body and large horns over a skull like visore. Clawed hand and feet with a Zanpakuto in his hand.
And a hollow hole right in the chest.
The Vasto Lorde stood over them with suffocating reiatsu and glowing gold eyes.
A roar and the silence that filled the area was blown away.
One second Tosēn was ready to make a futile move to attack but the next moment he was red splatter as the creature's claws tore his chest apart.
Let it not be said that Hiyori didn't feel the curl of satisfaction at that. Serves the justice mad hypocrite.
Kisuke was quick to move the moment they all could and placed himself in front of them with a kido barrier.
Tessai on the other hand started healing the others.
But Hiyori watched with rapt attention as the hollow that was once Shiba Ichigo descended on Aizen with the fury of a thousand Suns.
She knew that everybody else was doing the same.
The army of hollows behind began to screech and run. Instincts warning them of the Vasto Lorde amidst them.
But a single swing of the Zanpakuto and a black crescent curve glowing red all cut them down.
Their dying screams echoing in the field they scattered into reiatsu.
A single swing of its Zanpakuto and all those hollows enough to likely destroy a whole division was destroyed.
Hiyori was terrified as she was amazed. They knew Shiba Ichigo was powerful. Power was thrumming under his skin despite the oblivious shinigami not noticing it. His movements were full of regal and authority even when not even meaning it. Attracting everyone's attention no matter where they were.
Shinigamis shared a characteristic with hollows despite all their claims to be opposite. It was this attraction to power, of ability and will. And a powerful individual who didn't seem keen on showing it but with will undefeated was a desirable partner to most.
And Shinji was persistent enough to kick out and chase away his competitors without Ichigo noticing. Not to mention Kaien.
And of course the annoying stubborn brat who manhandled and bickered with her (gave her snacks, told stories with her, listened to her complaints, played pranks wit—)just had to turn into a Vasto Lorde. Nothing else was enough for the overachieving brat.
She wanted to cry out to the world. (She wanted Ichigo back.)
Hiyori wasn't stupid or self-deluding. So she settled on keeping an eye on the play of karma in front of him as the hollow tore into Aizen with viciousness.
Blood splattered and limbs went flying. Yet Hiyori never took her eyes off the scene.
And when the scene settled, those golden eyes turned to them. If Hiyori were to pick a choice she'd rather not die.
But between Aizen and Ichigo, she knew her pick. But none of them are going to go down without a fight, even if Ichigo is the hollow.
"All of you look like shit."
The warped inhuman voice of the Vasto Lorde said in the blunt way that Ichigo always did. Hiyori could do nothing but gape.
"The barrier kept my reiatsu and the other things from attention outside. I'll bring it down now. Tessai-san please watch over them. You're the only reliable adult around."
Then the hollow (ICHIGO) turned around and opened a garganta with a slice of his fingers.
The hollow(ICHIGO) turned back at them for a moment when could see those warm brown eyes that glowed gold more times that she could count. "Take care. Live well, all of you."
And the Hollo—Ichigo left.
Ichigo spent the next several days in Hueco Mundo fighting with Shiro in his head and cutting the hollow population in half.
Whatever that was, it made his transformation into a Vasto Lorde stick longer.
They had estimated that the hōgyoku experiment that Aizen made pushed his hollow self further.
It would have been fine for a normal shinigami. They end up as a visored if they were strong enough.
But he already was a visored. Even more than that because he was born quarter of a hollow.
So he's stuck in this form for at least nearly a half a year according to Shiro and Ossan.
A shitty scenario. He only hopes that Shinji and the others told the Gotei he was dead. Eaten by a hollow or something and not turned into this.
Ichigo didn't really want to handle shinigamis being sent his way. He also knew if there was then Kaien would be one of them.
So imagine his surprise when he was lounging on the sandy dunes of Hueco Mundo and sensed familiar reiatsus coming his way.
"You gotta be kidding me." He growled out and stood up before Shunpoing to the location of the idiots.
He arrived to see a large group of Gillians surrounding two blond figures.
Ichigo pushed down his temper before he started yelling at the two idiots. Who in their right minds allowed these two to do this mission.
He gritted his teeth before letting out a loud roar. Alerting and warning he pack of Gillians below to fuck off.
Gillians had the intellectual capacity of an animal. So they were smart enough to leave with a few exceptions.
So Ichigo just shot a cero at them and disintegrated them.
He approached the pair and winced at seeing how bad they looked.
Shinji looked like he hadn't slept for days (starting from the moment he left, Ichigo didn't want to think about that) and he was just at the edge of a hypocritical cliff.
Kisuke looked awful as well and Ichigo was familiar enough to those eyebags to know signs of when the scientist goes on a research mad rush.
Fucking idiots.
"Hiyori and Yoruichi are going to rip both of you a pair." He watched as they nearly sank in relief as they saw him. "Idiotic captains."
Ichigo was about to berate the idiots who look like they belong to one of the fourth's special chained beds than in Hueco Mundo when Shinji flashed towards him and suddenly the golden haired captain was practically hanging off him with arms wrapped around his neck.
"Yer the idiot! What did ya think yer doing rushing towards a trap fer us. Leavin' us and worryin' the death out of us! Kaien is in the fourth after havin' a heart attack. A heart attack. Souls don't get heart attacks."
The man's voice was coarse and Ichigo's eyes went wide as he noticed the nasal sound of someone about to cry and looked at the trembling lips and teary eyes of the captain.
Ichigo was weak against tears. Think he'd know how to handle it with so many people crying around him but no. They were girls and this was Shinji.
Annoying, dependable, mischievous Shinji. He'd never thought he'd see him cry.
He slowly sat on the sand to help the captain get back on his feet and when it seemed that Shinji's knees were too weak for it, he gently positioned the blond between his legs as he hugged the man to his chest.
Ichigo whispered comforting words as the man trembled and sobbed. Soothingly brushing his hands against his long golden hair.
Great. Now he felt like an asshole. But if he didn't leave then the whole Sereitei would have hunted him down.
"Sorry Shinji." He wiped the tears off his eyes and snorted when the man glared at him. "I can't exactly stay there looking like this."
"There's a way!"
He blinked and looked over to Kisuke who he forgot was even there. But to be fair, a crying Shinji was a good distraction.
"We took the remains of other hollows and managed to figure out what the hōgyoku actually did." Kisuke's stormy gray eyes were tired yet determination burned through them. "Please. Please let us try. We can—"
"Hush it Kisuke. There's nothing to fix."
If he wasn't in Vasto Lorde form with skin tough enough that not even a bankai can scratch it then he would have winced when Shinji tried to pinch him.
The lapful of blond shinigami on top of him then instead targeted his horns.
"Shinji, you bastard! Let go!"
"Ya little shit. Ya have no idea how much time we spent tryin' to find a way to change ya back. Where's the brat with fire in his eyes! Don't lie down and accept this! Ya can be a shinigami again. Come back!"
"There's nothing to change back because nothing to change! Give me half a year and I'll be back." He grumbled and tried to pry Shinji's hand off his horns. "That's if I'll even be able to. I don't think the Gotei or Central 46 will be happy having something like me walking around Seireitei."
The two of them were the smartest and most paranoid person he met. There was no way they wouldn't guess something based on his mysterious past and the ease at which he was able to use his hollow ability without going out of control. He didn't even act surprised when he changed.
"What are ya talkin' about Ichigo? Nothin' change? Ya turned into a hollow!"
"I already was a hollow! Well, a fourth hollow. Whatever Aizen did to me that time didn't actually change much of anything. Just pushed my hollow side up more than I was comfortable with. Give me time to balance my soul and I'll be back to normal."
He was met with two disbelieving stares, Ichigo didn't really want to go through with and explanation of what he was. Even he didn't know it. He was a literal hybrid of everything after all
"And how the fuck is that possible!?"
"Genetics, shitty luck and manipulation of a megalomaniac."
Kisuke looked wearily and mumbled something about genetics not working that way but Ichigo could see the curiosity in his eyes.
"Don't care." Shinji's voice was steel and his eyes a glittering amber, Ichigo couldn't take his eyes off him. "Get back ta Seireitei as soon as ya can. Or else's I'll drag yer ass myself."
He swallowed and couldn't help the curl of warmth in his chest. Shinji would always be Shinji.
"Yeah, okay. Just give me time to get back to normal."
The sun couldn't compare to Shinji's smile and Ichigo for once felt at peace.