Chapter 28

(General P.O.V)

"So you killed the hollow huh?"

Uryu said, using his high speed movement skill to appear right next Ash. Ash turned around at the voice, wielding his plasma knife before him.

He lowered his guard upon seeing it was Uryuu.

"Was there any doubt?"

Ash asked, leaning on the trunk of a tree. He was tired.

"Honestly?" Uryuu smirked.

"Yes. That hollow was not weak."

Ash smirked right back.

"Does this mean, I've earned your approval, 'oh majestic Quincy lord?'"

Uryuu snorted surveying the scene.

"Well, you have proven you are hard to kill. That might come in handy if we need a distraction."

"Ooh sick burn."

They both laughed a little.

"Seriously though, well done." Uryuu's expression turned grim.

"Though I am sure that the real mission will not be that easy."

He tightened his hands into fists, looking down at the ground intensely.

"But we have to do it. We have to succeed. It's my fault in the first place that he is stuck there."

Ash sighed. He could see the weight bearing down on Uryuu. While different, he had also carried that same guilt over his father's death. Despite there being nothing Ash could have done, he still felt responsible. He was the closest person to his dad yet, he hadn't seen the signs. And when he had...it was too late.

"Look man, I know how you're feeling right now."

Ash begun, weathering the stare Uryuu threw his way.

"Do you?"

The other teen asked, all signs of friendliness disappearing from his tone. Ash nodded.

"Yes, I do. Life is unpredictable." He shrugged.

"I lost my dad and the only thing I could think of during the next few months was what I could have done different. My inaction killed him, that's what I used to think."

He looked up at Uryuu, whose expression had undergone a change into something conflicted.

"But recently, I came to understand why that outlook is wrong, arrogant and unfair to yourself."

Ash barked out a laugh.

"You cannot control the world! You cannot control life. There are no wrong or right choices because either can lead to something good or bad. You just buckle up for the ride and do all you can to stay on it. Blaming yourself for something you had no control over whatsoever..."

"But I did! I had control!" Uryuu loudly interjected.

"I had a choice and I made the wrong one! My arrogance led to this. I am responsible. And there is nothing you can say that will convince me of anything else."

A tense silence fell between them.

"I think we should... probably leave."

Ash finally said.

Uryuu sighed and turned to leave.

"Wait!"

Ash called out, stopping the teen in his tracks.

"What Ash? You're still not done trying to compare our situations?"

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Ash frowned.

"Come on man, thats not what I was trying to do."

"It's not?" Uryuu asked.

"Could have fooled me."

Ash's hand fell.

"What does that mean?"

He said lowly.

Uryuu kept silent and begun walking away, eventually getting lost in the woods. Ash swallowed down the annoyance and floated to the sky using his ring. He tried to take his thoughts elsewhere, so as to forget the recent incident that had occured. Eventually, he settled on the fight that he had won.

A soft smile graced his face as he closed his eyes and ascended some more. The cold air hit his face and washed down his skin, reminding him he had thrown away his heavy jacket. Wait, not thrown away exactly, he had seen Rukia holding it the last time he saw her.

Deciding to pass through the building where the fight between him and the hollow had started, Ash changed his direction and returned to downtown. From afar he could see the flashes of police car lights, and a cordon around the wrecked building. He surveyed the scene some more, too high for the half a dozen police men on scene to see.

He didn't see Rukia and hence thought that she had already left for Urahara's. Ash turned and flew away from the scene.

*********************

Unbeknownst to Ash, high above even him was a recording device that showed real time footage of what was happening. The device which was similar to a hell butterfly in design sent the feed to a certain chamber before two interesting individuals.

"Well well, Captain Aizen. Seems like we found a new toy."

Gin Ichimaru, the captain of the 3rd division of the Gotei 13 told the other occupant in the room.

A bespectacled handsome man with a gentle look on his face smiled, cocking his head to the side.

"Careful Gin, you're letting your sadistic side show." He narrowed his eyes.

"Let's make sure we don't break this toy too fast."

*************************

Ash had no way of knowing that he had just garnered the attention of someone dangerously brilliant and cruel.

He made it back to Urahara's and fell on his futon without a second thought.

The next morning saw Ash sitting cross legged before Urahara and Yoruichi in her cat form. Jinta and Ururu were helping Tessai manage the store.

"So Ash-kun how did things go?"

Urahara begun, gently fanning himself.

Ash did not answer right away. Instead he fixed Urahara with a critical stare.

"About as well as you would expect."

He finally answered, neutrally.

"That was your first fight against a hollow, surely you have more to share Ash-kun. What do you say? How about you give your old pal Urahara the info, the deets, the scoop?"

Urahara insisted, making Ash roll his eyes at the older man's theatrics.

He sighed, eyes dipping down to look at Yoruichi. He found her staring straight at him. Remembering the scene from the bathtub a day ago almost made him look away in a blush before he remembered that she had no idea he knew that she could shift forms.

"Just humor me." Urahara spoke up, closing the fan and placing it on the small tea table before him with a small bang. The sound startled Yoruichi and she scratched him on his arm, then jumped over the table to land on Ash's lap.

"That's not very nice Yoruichi." Urahara complained while rubbing at the scratch marks.

Ash was not sure what to do. A cat that was not actually a cat but a young woman who was actually not young but dozens of centuries old was on his lap.

"She likes you."

Urahara informed him.

"You can pet her but let me warn you, she only lets me do...ah shit."

Urahara trailed off when Ash ran his hand across Yoruichi's back and she purred.

A small grin appeared on Ash's face.

"I like her too."

He said. Urahara narrowed his eyes. For a second there Yoruichi had stiffened before relaxing under Ash's petting.

"So about the fight." Urahara called attention to him.

"I will not stop hounding you for information, Ash-Kun and trust me I can be very annoying."

He warned, squinting his eyes under his hat.

Ash did not doubt that for a minute.

"Ok. Umm...at first, I thought it was going to be hard." He found himself saying, recalling his feelings at the time.

"I was wound up, ready to explode. Full of nervous energy. However, the longer the fight went on, the easier I found it to just...react. The fear was there. Nobody likes getting hurt after all but right beside the fear was this excitement..." He trailed off, looking up at Urahara's curious eyes.

"It made me feel like I was on top of the world. Fighting gave me a high...it made me feel when I haven't allowed myself to feel over the last 7 months or so."

Urahara and Yoruichi shared a glance. There was a story there.

The hand petting Yoruichi stopped in place. He raised it and looked at his palm with an indecipherable look.

"But more than that, I felt myself get better." The hand suddenly bulked up as he activated his hardening.

"The hollow was weird as well. It could fly and harden a part of it's body. Just like me."

The last part was said while meaningfully looking at Urahara's face for something.

"Oh that is interesting."

Urahara remarked in surprise. Ash narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah. Interesting."

He continued to pet Yoruichi, continuing his explanation of the events and how they had played out.

"I knew I could not afford a long battle inside the town so I flew it towards the woods in the outskirts of the town. There we had our final showdown."

"And how did that go?"

Yoruichi spoke up, greatly startling Ash. It was one thing to know she could actually speak, not to mention in a deep masculine tone and actually hear it for yourself.

"Holy shit! You can talk!?"

Yoruichi had initially decided to hold back that information until they were sure he could be trusted.

"Yeah I can talk."

She affirmed.

"You just fought a creature that has no place in modern society and where you draw the line is on a cat that talks?"

Yoruichi questioned.

"No, that's...it's different."

Ash lamely said, failing to put his exact thoughts into words. Urahara broke out in laughter.

"Sorry Ash Kun, I forgot to tell you, Yoruichi is not an ordinary cat." He studied the cat,

"She is special."

Urahara finished.

"And it seems like she knows it too."

Ash grumbled.

His instinct informed him of an attack but he was too slow to move his hand away, so Instead, he hardened it. There was a brief flash as Yoruichi slashed at him.

"Ow!"

Ash yelled nursing his hand.

"Oh right. She can also ignore your defense."

Urahara added rather uselessly.