Chapter 16 – Conspiracy Revealed

Chapter's music – Hell's Bells by AC/DC

Attack by 30 Seconds to Mars

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Ichigo was running, following the reiatsu he felt around Orihime's wound. Normally he wasn't really good at sensing it, like Ishida was always remembering him, but this time it was no stupid or simple hollow, it was the monster that almost took his wife away and he would never forget the lingering dark energy, for many years he lived.

The set around him was just a blur of dark colors, while Ichigo flash-stepped through the trees and bushes, without touching anything. When he felt the reiatsu start to increase in intensity he knew that he was getting closer and he hidden his presence, controlling the amount of reiatsu he was letting go.

He was so furious it didn't transpire in his mind that the all ordeal was being too easy. He just wanted to slice and cut the hollow that was stupid enough to cross pass with Orihime, without thinking what might be waiting for him ahead.

When the substitute shinigami stopped, he could discern, through the trees, a large cave, that, apparently, was empty. Knowing better than that he approached the place slowly, waiting for any sign that would show him he was being watched.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ichigo grumbled, feeling someone behind him and putting his stalker against the cave wall, while taking Zangetsu from his back and pointing it to the newcomer. All in the gap of a breathing.

"Take that thing from my throat! And I would suggest you to shut the fuck up if you don't want to get caught!" Grimmjow replied, while Ichigo's fingers gripped the zanpakutou tightly.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Ichigo asked again, in a lower voice.

"Nell bugged me to come and rescue you!" Grimmjow replied, bored. "And apparently you really needed that, I've been coming after you for half of the journey and you didn't feel me at all…"

"Bastard, you were suppressing your reiatsu!" Ichigo grumbled, shoving him against the stone and releasing his throat.

Grimmjow scoffed and stepped back to look at the cave's entrance. He turned his head to one side and the other, to analyze the environment.

"So, is here… the place where the hollow that killed your woman is hidden?" Grimmjow asked, without looking at Ichigo.

"She is not dead!" Ichigo replied hastily and the former Espada shrugged his shoulders.

"It's just a way of speaking, I really don't get what is so special about her that makes you and Nell and all those shinigamis turn into mush in her hands…" Grimmjow said absently.

"If you did I would be worried…" Ichigo snapped and Grimmjow snickered under his breath.

Ichigo shook his head to get rid of crazy thoughts like Grimmjow caring about someone and started to walk into the cave. The Arrancar's steps could be heard behind his own and he had to stop himself from pushing him back again.


"That's not what Orihime would want you to do…"

"But she is not here…"

"She would know, she always knows…"

"Damn, you're right… Wait, am I talking alone? Shit, I have to keep my mind in the game… Focus, Ichigo!"

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The cave was much bigger that the exterior would let on. The ceiling was hidden under layers of shadows and Ichigo couldn't estimate how higher it could go. After some meters, the moonlight couldn't be seen anymore and the man and the arrancar had to orientate themselves through the cold and wet walls.

"Hey, you bastard! You just kicked the back of my foot!" Ichigo complained, to which Grimmjow just snorted quietly.

The orange haired one breathed deeply and would have exploded if a flicker of light in front of him wouldn't have called his attention. He started to walk in a briskly pace, leaving a stunned arrancar behind that could affirm he just pushed the last button of Ichigo's patience until the man started running away from him. He swore under his breath and ran behind him, cursing Nell and the entire Kurosaki clan to the bottom of hell.

When Ichigo finally found the source of the light, he found himself in the middle of a hallway, carved skillfully, with torches illuminating the path. The walls were too smooth to be a natural happening and those torches were definitely brought there by someone human, or at least similar to a human being.

The reiatsu increased exponentially and, in the back of the hallway, a huge being, similar with the one he fought two days ago, with a stinger he eyed with hatred, headed to them.

"I smell blood…" the hollow said and he looked at the newcomers with shining eyes. "Hum… you smell nice, Kurosaki Ichigo and Grimmjow Jeagerjaques…"

"Good, I won't lose time introducing myself…" Grimmjow said, with a cold grimace. He grabbed the handle of Pantera, and was ready to attack when a new voice sounded behind the hollow.

"Good night, old companion… I wasn't expecting you, but since you're here it's polite to say hello…"

Grimmjow's eyes widen and he saw someone he knew walking behind the monster. Ichigo's eyes observed the blonde hair appear behind the shadows and his memory brought to him the name of the being.

"Harribel…" Grimmjow whispered and the woman smiled. He watched her with a sense of confusion clouding his mind. He knew she was alive, but he always thought that she would forever stay in the depths of Hueco Mundo, away from the shinigamis and their fights. She was always the most thoughtful and observant of Aizen's Espadas, the one that would never attack another if she didn't receive orders to do so, and now, here she was, showing herself as the true master mind behind the attacks.

"She saved you…" Ichigo hissed, with his blazing eyes on fire.

"I'm sorry, but I needed her flesh, blood and bone, and there wasn't another way of taking it from her, am I correct? But I specifically ordered not to kill her and Scorlio here already learnt his lesson for disobeying my wishes… She was really an unusual woman and…"

"She is not dead!" Ichigo acclaimed and Harribel's eyebrows shoot upward.

"She is not dead? According to Scorlio he injured her with his venom and I know how deathly it is…" the Espada replied, with her face contorted in confusion.

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Oh, yes, she could remember perfectly what happened the first time she saw the hollow using his special weapon. She was watching the experiment about his development, under the watchful eye of a lost follower of Aizen. She played her character well, telling that man she wanted revenge about what they did to Aizen, telling him he was essential in her plan and that they were going to rein together beside Aizen in the future. The man, an active shinigami, that never told where his loyalty true fell, was the perfect pawn to help her walk around Seireitei. He couldn't surpass Kurosaki Ichigo, so she couldn't count with him to get her what she needed, but he was smart and had a strong presence and besides, studied Aizen's research with an obsessive passion. Some years ago, the being she was in that time wouldn't use someone like this, but now, when after months of being alone, in the solitude of the sands and darkness, her psyche lost its last amount of conscience, she found strength enough to lie and make them believe what she was telling them. In those occasions, was she better than Aizen? She lied to her followers, but would never let them get killed or would betray them like he did. So, when Scorlio, in a rampage of fury killed the shinigami, she punished him severely, showing him that comrades in arms protected each other in a battle, not falling under the spell of irrationality.

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"She is an unusual woman…" Grimmjow confirmed, before Ichigo could lose his last slice of patience.

"Yes, apparently…" she muttered to herself.

"Why? Why the fuck did you try to hurt Orihime?" Ichigo screamed, feeling his feet take control, until two strong arms rounded his chest. He looked around, baffled, seeing Grimmjow behind him.

"Nell will kick my ass if I let anything happen to you!" Grimmjow replied, in a tone that clearly said It's not for you I'm doing this, jackass…

"Besides, we need to know what the hell her plan is! Do you want your woman and brat in danger?" he kept growling, wondering if it would be a great problem if he knocked him in the head and blamed the hollow.

"Why? It's quite simple, actually! I'm sick! I'm sick of seeing hollows fight every day in front of me, killing each other's with no rational thoughts, killing my companions with no spare of consideration for them…"

Ichigo could hear her words, even if they looked like they were muffled behind a wall. But even knowing that she was right, nothing could justify her actions. Nothing could justify hurting an innocent person, taking away her life and chance of being happy! But knowing that, it was even harder to stop himself from attacking, so he made the reasonable thing and imagined Orihime's face, when he would see her next time, scowling him for being reckless, but smiling nonetheless for her husband coming back to her. Yes, that was what he had to focus himself on, and not the monster that almost took away his most precious being and should die an excruciating death and… Focus, Ichigo, focus!

"And how are you going to change it?" Grimmjow asked, seeing that Ichigo was too focused in trying to stop himself from cutting the hollow in front of him.

"Aizen had some plans about reproducing the effects of the woman's powers, but, with the invasion of shinigamis he couldn't do anything about it and when he lost the war, it turned impossible for him to fulfill those objectives. But I was always the one listening, when all of you only thought about fights and blood, so I learned about those plans and I waited to see if she was really remarkable as he thought… But, when she cured my wounds I realized it had no importance if she could do what he thought or not, and because of that I left to Hueco Mundo in peace with my Fraccion… But, with the rebellions between the hollows, their constant fights and the ineffectiveness of those shinigamis, my comrades fell with some years between them, and I was left alone, to bear the power of knowledge in the middle of brainless beings…"

"I still don't understand…" Ichigo grumbled, between his gritted teeth. He could see her reasons, but the importance of Orihime in all that confusion still evaded him.

"Aizen was a traitor, not only for shinigamis but for us as well, that fought for him, but even with those actions, the way he acted in Hueco Mundo brought us peace for some time…"

"So, you want to free him?" Grimmjow asked, to which Harribel laughed.

"Of course not…" she said smiling. "I'm going to steal the Hougyoku!"

"You what?" Ichigo and Grimmjow said, at the same time. It was impossible; the object was destroyed when Ichigo defeated Aizen! The arrancar must have gone insane, seeing her Fraccion being destroyed probably destroyed the last part of her short sanity! Those were the only reasons Ichigo could see for her unexpected affirmation.

"Why do you think I needed Kurosaki Orihime's powers? I will get her to reject part of this reality, and in that way, create a passage between the present time and a specific day in the past. Like a bridge I can cross…" Harribel said, eyeing a point behind her with some kind of dedication. "Aizen had plans about that and when my last comrade fell I made the decision to gather followers and then, after some years, return to Las Noches and steal his hidden plans…"

Ichigo eyed her with disbelief: believing she could cross time and space to steal the Hougyoku was one thing, but believe that she could make Orihime do those kind of things was plain stupid!

"Imagine stopping Aizen from killing and hurting all those people! Together, we could help those beings finding the light and the reason! You could protect the shinigamis, humans, hollows… all of them from his clutches! Can you say that you never thought about going back and make everything alright? You could help me! I want the Hougyoku to help other hollows! I won't hurt the humans like Aizen thought about! I will live in Hueco Mundo, with my companions surrounding me, in peace!" Harribel's eyes were shining with maddening fervor. And for instances, Ichigo felt himself compelled to nod. If they could went back in time, he could steal the Hougyoku before Aizen changed Shinji and the others into vaizards, he could stop Kisuke, Yoruichi and Tessai from being accused of treason, Orihime would never have been kidnapped, his sisters and friends wouldn't suffer because of Aizen's war and he… he might not be a shinigami, maybe with the old captains there, Rukia would never had to kill Shiba Kaien, maybe she would choose another Squad, maybe she would work under Kisuke's orders and if that could happen, if all the shinigamis' past could be changed that way, maybe Kuchiki Rukia might have not receive the job to look after Karakura Town and he would never had to pass through all those moments of lost and sadness… And then, Orihime's face, crying, seeing her brother trying to kill her, came to his mind… If he wasn't a shinigami, she could be dead; the person that would be taking care of the city could be too late… If he wasn't a shinigami he would never learn about his own strength, how he could surpass his own fear… He would have never met Rukia, Renji, Toshiro, all the shinigamis that, in their own way, taught him so much about the world… Yes, it was so easy to let himself get lost in his own life, but now, it wasn't only his life that mattered... His life and Orihime's were so intricate that changing one would change the other irrevocably… He knew what his answer was. Actually, there was no other way around, he always knew what his answer would be…

"No…" he said, grabbing Harribel and Grimmjow's attention. "I can't let myself be persuaded… The past is too complex and the future is still to be written, and changing the first would change what we built in the present and what we dreamt to the future…"

"Oh, I never thought you had it in you…" Grimmjow said in a sneering tone, cutting the dramatic effect of Ichigo's words. He sneaked a dark glance in his direction, but kept his attention in Harribel's face.

"If you want it that way…" she said and for moments she looked like she was regretting what she was going to do next. "My dear, please, restart your preparations, that our visits so rudely interrupted…"

And from another room, appeared someone that made Ichigo and Grimmjow speechless. She had long auburn hair, brown eyes and pale skin. She moved with soundless steps. She was…

"Orihime…"


When Bleach's manga came out with Harribel's returning I was like: "I can't believe it, now that I have her as my villain she gets back as a victim!", this because, from the begining I had two options for a villain, one of them Harribel, obviously, and the other Ukitake, the last one I don't know why it came to my mind, maybe because of all the story of the Fullbring arc, but I just couldn't see him as a bad guy, he has this purity about him and when his scene with Jushiro talking about his wife and daughter came to my mind (I had that scene in my head since the first chapters) I just decided I couldn't make him the bad one...

So, please, read and review!