A Wandering Soul

I stared blankly at the gleaming metal construct in front of me.

When I first realised I would need some kind of ship to break out of the local multiverse I had jotted down several designs based on the information in my Archive that I only the barest comprehension of. Perhaps because of the fantastical situation I found myself in, I had used fictional ships I was fond of as the base for many of the designs.

For example the life sized, slightly modified recreation of a YT-1300 Light Freighter.

…

I won't apologize for being a nerd.

…

"Are you going to spend all night down here?"

"Is Urahara still sulking in a corner?"

"You did trash a lab and spent three hours trying to castrate him." Yoruichi said with a sigh, though she didn't fool me since the look in her eye told me she was definitely amused by the situation. "You can't be that mad he went through your notebook."

"I can be petty if I want too." I retorted. "And don't think you're off the hook just because you showed me where this was. I'm blaming you too."

I didn't miss Yoruichi's small tsk. "So any plans now that Aizen is out in the open?" She tried changing the subject.

"Don't worry about me just running off." I reassured her. "Even with Urahara somehow getting a mostly working product out of my notes this thing isn't really operational."

Urahara had done a fantastic job actually. The only components he hadn't been able to complete were the weapons system, the AI core, and the drive system. All because those systems had been designed with magitech as the base.

Which also 'coincidentally' meant I couldn't just take the ship and run off either.

"I'll hang around until I can get everything completely working." I continued. "And as a thanks for shaving years off getting even this far I'll help with the Aizen thing as well."

Yoruichi nodded.

It wasn't something any of us ever said, but we all knew I would leave eventually and was only hanging around as long as I was due to a personal feeling of debt towards the shopkeeper. I could help out until the crisis was over.

"How are the kids taking the arrival of the Arrancar?" I asked.

After my brief rampage punishing Urahara for digging through my stuff, I was told about the arrival of two Arrancar, Hollows who had removed their masks to gain more power, had shown up at a local park two days ago and killed a lot of people. Chad and Orihime had almost been among them and Ichigo had been wounded as well.

Yoruichi and Urahara managed to drive them off in the end, but it wasn't a victory so much as a strategic withdrawal by the Arrancar accomplished their goal.

"They're taking it hard." Yoruichi admitted, unconsciously clenching and unclenching a fist. "Those two walked all over them and they got hurt pretty bad."

"And you two?"

Yoruichi raised her left hand and clenched it tightly. "Uninjured for the most part." She said. "I got the worst of it from spiritual backlash. We probably would've beaten them if they stuck around but the kids would've paid the price for it."

I nodded. "I'll stop by and see what I can do to heal them. Anything else I should know?"

"Nah, that should be it for now. See ya!"

With one last parting wave Yoruichi ran off to do...something I'm sure. While I took one last look at my new ship and went to gather some medical supplies.

-o-​

Some time later I was standing outside Orihime's apartment waiting for her to answer the door.

I had stopped by Chad's place earlier and did what I could but it would take more than a few sessions to get him healed after his right arm had basically been torn off. Thankfully Urahara had managed to administer some first aid quickly enough that there shouldn't be any lingering issues.

And that was after Orihime had healed him herself.

Speaking of, I banged on the door a few more times. She was taking a long time to answer.

A minute later the door was opened by a heavily bandaged Orihime, who looked pretty surprised to see me.

"Miss Alexandria! What are you doing here?" She said with a cheerful smile. Too bad it did nothing for the general air of melancholy she had surrounding her.

"I just got back from the Soul Society and I heard about your fight."

"Oh…" and the smile vanished.

"Yeah, oh." I gave her a wan smile of my own. "Do you mind if I come in? I figured I could help speed up your recovery."

"Ah, sure, I don't mind!" She quickly said. "But shouldn't you go visit Sado-kun first? He was really hurt and I only got a few injuries, and they don't even hurt that much so it'd be fine if you-"

"That's enough, Orihime." I raised a hand and cut off the orange haired girl's rambling. "I just came from his house. He'll be fine. And I'm going to Ichigo's place after this so don't worry about that either."

Orihime dutifully closed her mouth, probably about to suggest that I go there instead.

I waited a few seconds.

"So do you mind if I come in?"

"Oh! Uh, sure, please come in." She finally moved out of the doorway and I made my way inside.

Compared to Chad's injuries, Orihime's were pretty simple. Her left arm had a pretty nasty break and there were some minor skull fractures around her left eye, but that was the worst of the damage. I think it said something about myself that I was starting to think of anything short of impalement or dismemberment as 'simple' injuries. Probably not good things actually. I should probably do something about that.

"There, not completely fixed but you should be fine just to keep everything lightly bound for a few more days." I said as the golden spell circle faded from under my palm. "If anything feels off feel free to stop by Urahara's and I'll take a look."

I waited until Orihime nodded before continuing.

"Now that I'm done playing doctor, how are you feeling?"

"Eh?" Her eyes widened in surprise.

I gave her a very unimpressed look.

"Orihime, you saw dozens of people die and your friends nearly lose their own lifes. That doesn't even cover that you almost died as well." I pointed out. "It couldn't have been easy for you."

"No, I'm fine, really!" She hastily denied, waving her hands in front of her. "I mean it was really scary but Sado-kun Kurosaki-kun were the ones who actually fought. I was too weak to actually do anything. In fact I probably got in the way more than I helped, ha ha."

I sighed at her attempt to laugh the whole thing off.

"I wouldn't call yourself weak, Orihime. You went up against two beings that the Captains of Soul Society would struggle against. Captains that have been training and growing stronger for multiple of your lifetimes."

"But I couldn't do anything!" Oh damn, Orihime was starting to tear up. "All I could do was wait for people to protect me! Even when I decided I wouldn't rely on Kurosaki-kun I couldn't do anything!" Tears were falling down her face as her cheerful mask finally started to break. "And then, when Kurosaki-kun saved me, I felt frightened by him. His Reiatsu was so rough and dark."

I did the only thing I could think of and pulled the shorter girl into a hug.

It took several minutes for her to calm down. Not that I blamed her. Like I said, she had been through a very stressful situation and then had to deal with her feelings about it alone.

She wasn't the stoic statue that Chad seemed to be at times and she didn't have the supportive home environment Ichigo did. She was simply a sixteen year old girl thrust into something beyond her control.

Once she recovered a bit from her emotional outburst Orihime seemed...not happier, but more content perhaps? I resolved to check in on her more in the future even as she practically pushed me out the door to go check on Ichigo.

I felt awkward leaving her so soon after everything, but if she wanted to be left alone I would respect her boundaries for the moment.

Something I wasn't doing for a certain substitute Soul Reaper as I found myself knocking at the door of the Kurosaki Clinic.

"Hello! How can I help you?" One of Ichigo's sisters brightly greeted me, Yuzu I think?

"Hello, I'm looking for your brother. Is he in?" I returned her smile.

"Yes he is. Hey Ichigo, you have a visitor!"

Ichigo arrived at the door soon after, "Alexandria? What are you doing here?"

I gave Ichigo a good once over.

He had some minor injuries, Kon had apparently ran into an incomplete Arrancar and gotten hurt according to Urahara, but the biggest thing wrong was the look in his eyes. Like he was waiting for something to drop on him at any time and he knew he wouldn't be able to deal with it.

All in all, he needed a therapist over a healer. I probably wasn't the best person to pick up that role but I was also probably the best he was gonna get.

"Checking up on everyone after the park incident." I replied. "Come on, let's go somewhere more private." I certainly didn't miss both Ichigo's dad and sister peeking around a corner watching us.

Ichigo scowled at me, "Look, thanks for checking up on me but- Hey! Let go!"

"But nothing. Let's go." I grabbed him by his collar and dragged him along, only pausing to give the two hiding a wave goodbye.

I only released him when we reached a nearby park.

A different one than where the Arrancar showed up.

Now that I think about it Karakura has a lot of those, huh?

"Alright, we're here. What's so important that we had to come all the way out here?" Ichigo complained.

"Part of it was going around and speeding up the recovery times for all of you that were caught up in the Arrancar attack. But after what happened with Orihime, I figured you might need someone to talk to about it." I said.

"Arrancar? What's that?"

That brought me up short.

"The things you fought in the park?" I tried. "Didn't Urahara explain this to you?"

Urahara was normally the information source about all the things Ichigo ran into. I was surprised he hadn't taken the chance to explain already, but the chance might have slipped by due to the injuries of the others.

"No, I just went home after everyone got treated. What the hell are Arrancar? And why did they attack us?!" Ichigo growled at the end, getting more irritated the longer he talked.

Well it was better than him moping like earlier.

"Arrancar are Hollows that have removed their mask and sealed it to gain powers similar to a Soul Reaper. Doing so makes them many times stronger than they were in the initial hollow form." I explained. "They lose some of their traits as Hollows in exchange but they can recover them by releasing their Zanpakuto similar to a shikai."

"The powers of a Hollow and a Shinigami?" Ichigo questioned. So they're like…" He trailed off, clearly thinking about something.

"Like you and Shinji Hirako?" I continued for him, much to his surprise. "No, quite the opposite really."

"You know about him?"

"A bit," I admitted. "Urahara keeps tabs on his group every now and then."

"Urahara knows about the Visored? Does that mean he can help me get rid of my inner Hollow?" Ichigo asked hopefully.

I wasted no time in crushing that thought.

"Nope. There is no way of removing an inner Hollow once it's reached the strength yours has."

The fire in Ichigo's eyes went out at that and returned to the fear filled look of dread he had earlier. "So it's just going to keep screwing with me until it takes over?"

I sighed and smacked him in the back of the head.

"Ow! What the hell?!"

"First off, quit it with the mopey look. Second, it isn't 'screwing with you', as you put it. Your inner Hollow is just that. A mental representation of your Hollow powers."

"Then why does it keep trying to get me killed when I fight?" Ichigo cried.

"Because you keep rejecting it." I said with a sigh.

"Because if I don't it's going to take over my body!"

I smacked him again.

"Dammit, quit hitting me!"

I gave him a very serious look. "Look Ichigo, you seem to think your Hollow powers are somehow separate from you. They aren't. They are exactly as inborn as your Soul Reaper powers only you need to take the reverse approach to harnessing them."

Ichigo glared back. At least he stopped moping again. "What do you mean the reverse approach?"

"Do you remember when you first started to work together with Zangetsu? How you acknowledged him as a partner to get the most out of your Shikai?"

"Yeah, but…"

"And then to gain your Bankai, you needed to force Zangetsu to submit to you, while still acknowledging him as a partner?" I continued as if I hadn't heard him.

"I mean, I just fought until I beat him…"

"Well with your Inner Hollow you need to do the reverse. Force him to submit to you, but don't reject him then get him to work as an equal partner."

Ichigo was silent as he absorbed this new information. Then he violently shook his head back and forth.

"No way, there is no way I can trust that." He said resolutely.

I just sighed again. Well, I guess it should be expected he would be a stubborn ass about this. Hopefully this gave him a hint to get over his issues earlier though.

"Ignore me if you want, just remember that no matter how strong the Hollow seems he is still part of your power. Now sit still. I can't get rid of all your injuries without people asking questions, but I can cut down on how bad they are."

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