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pin-k-ink · 28 days ago

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BENEATH HUMAN SKIN ⋆✦⋆ ulquiorra schiffer

synopsis ➸ after ulquiorra is resurrected by orihime, you’re tasked with taking him in—a bitter twist of fate given the memories of your time as his prisoner. stripped of his power and bound to a fragile human body, he’s now completely dependent on you for survival. at first, you’re repulsed by the idea of caring for the very man who once held you captive, but as days pass, you find yourself drawn to the complexities of his new existence. with each lesson in humanity you’re forced to teach him, the lines between resentment and compassion begin to blur in ways you never expected.

chapter one — reluctant caretaker

pairing ➸ ulquiorra schiffer x reader

word count ➸ 5.9k

masterlist

"Absolutely not," you growled, leveling a scathing glare at Urahara Kisuke. "There's no way in hell I'm taking that...that monster into my home."

The words seemed to vibrate with the force of your conviction, echoing through the small confines of Urahara's underground training room. Beside you, Orihime wilted slightly, her delicate features creasing with distress.

"But...he helped me," she whispered, worrying her lower lip between her teeth. "I can't just leave him here after everything..."

Your gaze flicked to the silent, impassive figure standing off to the side – Ulquiorra Schiffer, former Espada and the embodiment of your worst nightmares. Even stripped of his power and shunted into a gigai, his very presence made your skin prickle with instinctive unease.

"He kidnapped us, Orihime," you reminded her, gentling your tone out of respect for her kind heart. "He would have killed us if given the chance. Just because he's been...diminished...doesn't erase that."

"Now, now, let's not be hasty," Urahara interjected with his usual affable smile. The brim of his hat cast his features in shadow, making it impossible to read his expression fully. "Ulquiorra-san no longer poses any threat in his current state. And Miss Inoue went through...extraordinary measures to bring him back."

You snorted derisively, crossing your arms over your chest. "So she fished him out of the reincarnation cycle out of some misguided sense of guilt? That's her choice to make, not mine."

Beside you, Orihime tensed as if steeling her resolve. When she spoke again, her words were laced with the same gentle steel that had enabled her to endure captivity and war with bravery.

"Ulquiorra will need a place to stay while he adjusts. He...he should not be left alone." She swallowed hard before meeting your gaze squarely. "And you're the only one I trust to help with this, besides Urahara-san."

A muscle ticked in your jaw as you fought against the rising tide of reluctance. Of course sweet, empathetic Orihime would look at the once-monstrous Espada and see only a chance for redemption. She was too pure, her heart too open to anything resembling hate.

Which was precisely why you couldn't deny her this...no matter how much the thought of sharing living space with Ulquiorra made your very bones ache in apprehension.

"Fine," you ground out after a tense silence. "But I'm not making any promises to play nice. That hollow scum will be lucky if I don't throttle him in his sleep."

Rather than looking affronted by your threat, Urahara let out a light chuckle. "I'll hold you to watching your words at least, dear girl. While suppressed, any violence against Ulquiorra-san could destabilize his fragile condition."

Your lip curled at the reminder that you now held a degree of power and leverage over your former captor. The urge to exercise that dominance and make him suffer even a fraction of the torment you'd endured under his watch was intoxicating.

But Orihime was watching you with open hope now, clearly trusting you to take this burden despite your reservations. Gritting your teeth, you bobbed a terse nod of agreement.

"I suppose we should get this over with then," you snapped, straightening your shoulders as if bracing for an oncoming storm.

Orihime beamed shakily in gratitude, while beside her, Ulquiorra remained utterly motionless and unreadable. You refused to meet his stare, turning on your heel to lead the way out of the claustrophobic confines of the training room. Every step felt leaden, weighted by the prospect of what loomed ahead.

The short walk back to your modest apartment passed in loaded silence. Urahara and Orihime flanked Ulquiorra, seemingly escorting the once-powerful Espada like an inmate being transferred between holding cells. If the role reversal struck him at all, the hollow-turned-human gave no outward reaction to betray his thoughts.

You unlocked the door with hands that trembled ever-so-slightly despite your determination to project an aura of indifference. This was your territory now, the place where Ulquiorra would have to play by your rules for once. A flicker of gratification sparked low in your belly at the prospect – your first true taste of the control you now wielded.

Orihime hovered near the entryway, hands fidgeting nervously as if she too sensed the shifting undercurrent of power between you all. Urahara bowed slightly to you both.

"I'll leave you three to get settled then," he said easily, already retreating. "Remember, violence and restraint are strictly off-limits for now. Otherwise, make yourself at home, Ulquiorra-san!"

With a jaunty wave, the eccentric shopkeeper ducked out of the open door and vanished into the gathering gloom of twilight. You watched him go with a sense of abandonment settling heavily across your shoulders.

The three of you stood in stilted silence for what felt like an eternity pressed into mere seconds. You kept your gaze averted from Ulquiorra's hulking form, instead focusing on Orihime with ill-disguised impatience.

"Well?" You prompted gruffly when the quiet became too oppressive. "Don't you have some other friends to go reassure now? I'll take it from here."

Orihime flushed, casting an anxious glance at the unnervingly still former Espada beside her before stepping forward. She wrapped you in a brief, fierce embrace you returned halfheartedly.

"Thank you," she breathed against your hair. "Thank you for doing this..."

Before you could respond, she'd already whirled and hurried out after Urahara, throwing one final look at Ulquiorra over her shoulder as she departed. Then it was just you and your reformed captor, left alone together to navigate this new, twisted balance of power and peril.

Another tense minute ticked by as you avoided acknowledging Ulquiorra's presence directly. Instead, you busied yourself with closing and locking the door, straightening some clutter on the hall table in an agitated flurry of needless activity. Anything to avoid having to confront this next ugly stretch of imposed cohabitation between you.

When you could no longer delay the inevitable, you inhaled a fortifying breath and turned to face Ulquiorra fully for the first time since he'd entered your sanctuary. The former Espada stood exactly as he'd been since your arrival – back ramrod straight, expression utterly remote.

But there was no mistaking the electric weight of that eerie viridian stare boring into you now with undisguised assessment. You refused to be cowed by the appraisal, stiffening your own spine as you met Ulquiorra's eyes squarely in flat defiance.

"Let's get one thing straight," you bit out after several tense beats of silence. "You may be weakened and trapped in that gigai, but don't think for one second that gives you freedom here. This is my home, my territory. You're the prisoner, and I'll be calling the shots from here on out."

To your surprise, Ulquiorra didn't seem rankled by the open challenge and insubordination in your tone. He blinked once, impassively, a series of micro-expressions flickering across his striking features too quickly for you to decipher.

When at last he spoke, his voice carried that same arid, inflectionless cadence you recalled from memory, now rendered in blandly conversational tones rather than frigid disdain.

"Neither of us wished for circumstances to have taken this path," Ulquiorra replied, surveying his modest surroundings with a slight downturn of his harsh mouth. "But the reality cannot be altered by attempting to rewrite the past. What's done is done."

Your jaw clenched hard enough to creak at his utterly logical dismissal. The utter lack of acknowledgment for the pain and terror he'd inflicted, as if everything were so cleanly binary in his mind. Beside you, your fingernails bit into your palms as you fought for control.

"Is that so?" You echoed with deceptive mildness, stalking closer until you could sense the subtle displacement of air caused by his breathing – a needless biological function for his current form. "And what if I told you I've decided this little arrangement of yours is unacceptable? That I plan to make your life a living hell to repay you for every ounce of torment you caused Orihime and me?"

You halted mere inches away from Ulquiorra, so close you could smell the faintly antiseptic scent of whatever hair product Urahara had outfitted him with. His unblinking stare remained leveled over your head rather than meeting your obvious provocation.

“You are completely justified in expressing your feelings, and I have no authority to prevent you from doing so.”

That flat, unbothered response made your tenuous grasp on restraint fray ever further until you could practically feel crimson bleeding into the edges of your vision.

"You arrogant son of a-" you seethed, exploding forward in a blur to seize Ulquiorra by the collar of his plain shirt and haul his hulking frame down until your noses were nearly brushing.

To his credit, the former Espada didn't flinch or make any move to retaliate against your aggressive posturing. Those bizarre, otherworldly eyes simply bored into yours with infuriating indifference.

"Perhaps I should clarify further," Ulquiorra continued in the same detached tones, seemingly unperturbed by the close press of your infuriated form against his solid bulk. "I welcome whatever punitive actions you deem necessary to inflict upon me. Truthfully, such torture may prove a balm compared to the indignity of... existing in this weakened state."

Something about his vaguely mournful delivery knocked you back a step, loosening your grip on the now-wrinkled cotton of his shirt. You stared up at Ulquiorra in bewildered consternation as he calmly awaited your response.

"Weren't you listening?" You demanded hoarsely. "I plan to make your life a living nightmare to get back at you for...for everything!"

A flicker of what you could have sworn was wry contemplation surfaced behind the former Espada's unblinking stare before dissipating just as swiftly. He inclined his head a bare fraction in acknowledgement.

"I suspected that might be your ultimate aim, and I have no intention of fighting such understandable vindication." His pale gaze seemed to strip you bare down to your core of bitter resentment and agonized resolve. "Perhaps existing as your powerless captive for the foreseeable future will afford me the clarity to accept the reality of my inglorious...rebirth."

The implications in his hushed tone sent ice raking down your spine even as they fanned the flames of your outrage higher. You snarled something wordless and animalistic, prepared to unleash the full force of your fury on this insufferably arrogant hollow's uncomprehending frame.

But then, Ulquiorra uttered words that brought you up short – freezing you more effectively than any physical restraint could.

"Or perhaps I should have stayed dead after all, an unlamented memory fading into nothing rather than suffering further indignity."

You recoiled instinctively from the flat, defeated delivery of those final syllables, hands falling away from Ulquiorra's collar as if burned. There was no mistaking the truth underpinning his stoicism now – this former harbinger of devastation would truly rather wallow in oblivion than submit to whatever horrors you and fate had in store.

A dizzying vertigo seemed to swamp you, swaying dangerously on your feet as all the anger bled away in a wash of conflicted unease. This proud, deadly entity could barely conceive of a concept so lowly as continuing to draw breath, let alone resisting your threats of reprisal. In that moment, you saw the first cracks begin to web across his foundations of conviction.

Ulquiorra's eyelids drifted shut as another interminable stretch of silence mushroomed outward like a festering wound between you. When they reopened, his expression had flatlined into something utterly vacant.

"But you need not concern yourself with such sentimental notions," he murmured with evident finality, turning away to begin exploring your modest quarters with measured, mechanical strides. "I shall endeavor to make my presence as unobtrusive as this form will allow. Do with me what you will – even should that involve simply leaving me to wither."

Against your will, against every instinct screaming in outrage, you watched numbly as the former Espada ghosted past you, disappearing into the depths of your sanctuary as if awaiting the next chapter of his undoing in silent absolution. The fight seemed to have already bled from his marrow, leaving only empty resignation.

And you didn't care. At least, that's what you told yourself as the hours ticked by in tense, maddening silence within the confines of your apartment. You went about your usual routine with pointed indifference – showering, preparing your meals, catching up on work. All the while, resolutely ignoring the looming presence of the defeated hollow currently taking up residence somewhere in your home.

A petty, vengeful part of you hoped Ulquiorra was stewing in his own unraveling misery. That he was grappling with the full, bitter reality of his diminished circumstances every second you left him to fend for himself. It would be a fitting start to his torment, you reasoned – a precursor to whatever punishments you ultimately decided to inflict upon him in retaliation for the nightmare he'd once subjected you and Orihime to.

So you refused to seek him out or even acknowledge that he existed within these walls. You simply went about your day-to-day life, simmering in a caustic blend of residual fear, resentment, and a strange sort of hollowness that made your chest tighten unnervingly whenever your thoughts strayed to the defeated Espada.

It wasn't until the sun began slipping below the horizon, casting your normally cozy living room into deep shadow, that the illusion of normalcy you'd been clinging to shattered with a resounding clatter. The harsh clang of something solid impacting your kitchen floor made you flinch violently, book tumbling from suddenly numb fingers as your heart jackknifed into your throat.

For a suspended moment, you remained frozen on your loveseat, straining to discern the source of the disturbance through the muffling layers of dread and uncertainty now smothering your senses. Then, just as you started to convince yourself it had been nothing more than an overactive imagination playing tricks, the unmistakable sound of a pained groan echoed from the direction of the commotion.

You were on your feet and moving before conscious thought could kick in, every instinct screaming at you to investigate the potential threat homing in on that low, rasping utterance with laser-like focus. There was something sickeningly, viscerally familiar about the timbre of that solitary sound of anguish that made your pulse triple even as you rounded the corner into your kitchenette.

There, crumpled in an ungainly sprawl beside your battered oven, was Ulquiorra. The former Espada was hunched over himself with an unnatural stillness, arms wrapped protectively around his midsection as if cradling some grievous, invisible wound there. Even from several paces away, you could see the tension thrumming through his powerful frame, the rictus of what could have been pained confusion twisting his severe features.

For a stunned heartbeat, you could only gape at the unexpected sight of Ulquiorra brought so brutally low. Part of you balked instinctively even as morbid fascination rooted you in place to study the display of uncharacteristic frailty unfolding before you. This cold, brutally effective hollow – reduced to helplessness over what, an errant stubbed toe? Some stumbling accident as he tried to navigate your human domicile unaided?

The notion should have been laughable, a delicious validation of the power shift you now held over your former captor's undoing. And yet, as you watched Ulquiorra curl further in on himself with a breathless, animalistic keen of clear agony, you felt not even an inkling of perverted satisfaction. Just a strange, gaping hollowness in your core that seemed to swell in tandem with every distressed exhalation spilling from his grimacing lips.

When he finally registered your silent presence looming at the periphery, Ulquiorra lifted his head with what seemed to be a Herculean effort. Those eerie green depths you'd once associated with such frigid, apocalyptic menace were glassy and shuttered, jaw clenched against what you could only assume was searing torment based on his tense, hunched positioning.

"What..." He ground out the fragmented syllable haltingly, as if simply giving voice to his duress was unimaginable hardship. "What is...this?"

It was the blatant bewilderment underpinning that strained murmur that cemented your decision before you could second-guess the impulse. With a huff of resigned annoyance, you crossed the tiled expanse of the kitchen and knelt beside Ulquiorra's huddled form without preamble.

"It's called hunger, you colossal idiot," you stated with a degree of snide condescension that would have been unthinkable mere days ago. "Evidently you need to eat regular food now just like the rest of us humans."

Ulquiorra recoiled fractionally from your proximity as if you'd struck him, eerie gaze going comically wide with shock and something like childish affront at your blasé assessment. You rolled your eyes overtly at his dramatic display, ignoring the tiny flutter of vindictive glee at getting to knock this fallen specter down another peg or twelve.

"Oh don't give me that scandalized look," you scoffed in a tone dripping snide impatience. "Let's get you up and into the guest room like a sensible invalid so I can actually feed you this time. I have a feeling you're going to need me to walk you through every humiliating biological function this human body of yours requires from here on out."

Your words seemed to catalyze a flush of heated indignation across Ulquiorra's aristocratic features as your intention became clear. Before he could open his mouth to undoubtedly deliver a scathing rebuttal or refusal, you seized his arm in an uncompromising grip and hauled him unceremoniously to his feet beside you.

"Don't try fighting me on this," you warned with an arched look as he swayed dangerously in your steadying grasp, features pinched from obvious discomfort. "You may be some hotshot warrior in your natural state, but right now you're the sad little human who can't even remember to feed himself. So let's get you taken care of before your weak little body gives out entirely and you leave me with a corpse to deal with on top of everything else."

True fury flared behind Ulquiorra's eyes at your continued derision, no doubt galled by your flagrant dismissal of his former prowess in favor of such scornful disregard for his current helplessness. His mouth worked silently for a fraught instant as if struggling to piece together a rebuttal befitting his offended pride.

But then another spasm of clear discomfort seemed to lance through him, deflating whatever diatribe had been brewing with a pained wince and ragged exhalation instead. You took full advantage of the opening to seize his elbow in an immovable grasp and begin forcibly steering his weakened bulk towards the small guestroom without awaiting consent.

"We'll get you fed and resting properly," you pronounced in a tone far too bright and upbeat for the situation at hand. "Then maybe you'll be in better shape to start figuring out this whole 'being a useless human' thing you seem to struggle with so pitifully."

Ulquiorra's steps were uneven and faltering beneath your rough ushering ministrations, every line of his tense musculature broadcasting his helpless capitulation to your will despite the undercurrent of mutinous humiliation flashing behind those hooded, inscrutable eyes. By the time you'd shepherded his labored form fully into the

guestroom and deposited him atop the bed with one final bodily shove, a faint sheen of perspiration dotted the former Espada's brow – belying the toll this unexpected physical trial was exacting on his human vessel.

As you withdrew a few paces to study the pathetic display through narrowed, assessing eyes, Ulquiorra's quiet rasp wormed its way beneath your defenses despite your best efforts.

"I did not...ask for your assistance." The words seemed to physically pain him to utter, wreathed with rasping indignation and something darker, more visceral.

Curling your lip in a perfunctory sneer, you met that balefully hooded jade glare with a scoff of dismissive unconcern.

"Well good, because I'm not offering it." You tilted your chin up in a silent challenge, squaring your shoulders subtly. "I'm simply doing the bare minimum required to keep your worthless human body from keeling over on me and causing more problems than you're already worth. This is a preventative measure against added inconvenience, nothing more."

Ulquiorra regarded you through those unsettling slitted eyes, seemingly trying to excavate the truth behind your callous rebuff from the scant tells of body language and microexpressions alone. Then his gaze slid away in weary resignation, lids drooping infinitesimally as whatever fight briefly rekindled by your hostility extinguished once more.

He said nothing more, retreating behind those fortified walls of silence that you were intimately acquainted with from your captivity at Las Noches. As if sensing the battle was lost before a new war could even be engaged, Ulquiorra simply turned his face into the slanted shafts of buttery light slipping through the bedroom window blinds - eyes sliding shut against your contemptuous scrutiny in quiet absolution.

You lingered in the doorway for a few beats longer, studying Ulquiorra's motionless form in profile. Despite the circumstances, there was something profoundly unsettling about seeing him lay in repose like this. Gone was the aura of coiled lethality and quiet menace that had shrouded him during your captivity. Now he simply appeared...diminished. The harsh angularity of his features seemed to sag with unspoken weariness in the buttery afternoon light.

Snapping yourself from the strange reverie, you shook your head sharply and turned on your heel to head for the kitchen. May as well gather some provisions for the fallen hollow currently playing at being your unwanted houseguest.

Some indeterminable time later, you re-entered the guest room brandishing a tray of food - a hearty sandwich, some fresh fruit, and a glass of cool water from the tap. Ulquiorra didn't stir from his prone position, eyes remaining closed to the world in apparent oblivion to your re-entry. You studied the rigid lines of his body for any signs of lingering discomfort from the hunger pangs, but his breathing seemed to have evened out and the tension bled from his joints.

"Hey," you called out gruffly, hefting the tray a bit higher in clear invitation. "I've got some food for you to try putting in that human body of yours."

Ulquiorra's eyelids fluttered once, twice, before finally parting to half-mast slits. He regarded you and the sustenance-laden tray with hooded disinterest that quickly flattened into blatant disdain.

"I did not ask for nor require any...provisions from you," he stated in that same toneless delivery that made rage flare molten in your gut.

"Yeah? Well tough shit, because this is happening whether you want it to or not," you snapped back, stalking across the room to set the tray on the nightstand with more force than necessary. "And don't even think about getting snippy with me because of your wounded pride or whatever delusional complex you clearly still have going on."

Ulquiorra regarded you with that same remote, infuriatingly flat stare. You could practically see the wheels turning behind those eerie green depths, the internal recalibrations as he struggled to compute the reality of his new helpless state.

For a protracted stretch, you simply glared at one another from across the narrow chasm of personal space. The tension built steadily as you waited for Ulquiorra to inevitably cave and accept the aid being offered - or at least that's what you anticipated his next move would be. Surely the pragmatism instilled from years of military expertise would win out over pigheaded stubbornness.

But then his jaw clenched almost imperceptibly, one fractional tell you caught only by virtue of extended study of his body language. Something in that micro-movement signaled grim resolution rather than anticipated capitulation.

"I will not be made to beg for rations as if some pitiful stray," Ulquiorra decreed with finality. He turned his head to gaze impassively out the bedroom window once more. "This human predicament imposed upon me is indignity enough without submitting to your further torment and debasement."

You stared at him in slack-jawed disbelief, momentarily robbed of any witty retorts. The former Espada spoke of denying himself sustenance and letting his human body starve with the same utterly blasé indifference one might use to comment on lackluster weather. It was beyond your ability to comprehend such resigned nihilism in the face of mere biological imperatives like eating.

Before you could gather your wits to try reasoning through his strangely skewed logic, Ulquiorra went utterly silent and catatonic - withdrawing into himself in that supremely isolating way that made your skin prickle. You watched as his eyes slid shut once more, expression settling into one of stony blankness that announced all discussions had closed on the matter of whether he'd allow you to provide for his physical needs now.

"Oh for fuck's sake," you hissed under your strained exhale as tendrils of familiar helplessness began creeping upward. Just when you'd thought you had Ulquiorra pegged, that you held the upper hand over his human vulnerabilities, he'd pivoted the script in a way that left you reeling mentally.

Fuming in volatile silence, you snatched up the tray from its abandoned perch and crossed to the bedside with jerky strides. This hard-headed jackass wasn't going to be the architect of his own squalid decline while in your custody - not if you had anything to say about it. If Ulquiorra wanted to play the obstinate martyr, then so be it.

Without preamble, you settled yourself on the edge of the mattress and set the tray of provisions over your lap in a clear invitation.

"Open wide and say 'ah', princess," you drawled in a tone dripping with caustic sarcasm as you grabbed a section of the sandwich. "Because you're about to eat this whether you want to or-"

The rest of your ultimatum died in your throat as Ulquiorra's eerie green eyes snapped open in a flash to pin you with a look of such scorching intensity that your breath stalled. His body remained in that same transfixed repose, yet somehow the air between you had become supercharged with intangible menace that crackled palpably over your nerve endings.

In that suspended moment, caught in the emerald depths of Ulquiorra's wordless, irrefutable censure, you experienced a bizarre sort of vertigo. It felt like the balance of power itself was teetering precariously into some unknown dimension anew - another remapping of your strange reality catalyzed by whatever portentous shift was unfolding between you now.

All at once, you became keenly, hauntingly aware of the hollow yawning behind those vivid eyes - the presence of something ancient and disturbingly other lurking at Ulquiorra's core no matter how much human flesh and blood now encased it. And in that instant, you felt the first frissons of legitimate, self-preserving fear begin to unfurl in your core once more.

But then Ulquiorra blinked languidly, and the thrumming menace seemed to bleed away into more corporeal tension just as swiftly as it had manifested. You fought the urge to sway back in a show of visceral discomfort, determined not to let the former Espada rattle you from your convictions.

"Well?" You drawled again, infusing your tone with far more bravado than you actually possessed as you brandished the half-sandwich like a gauntlet flung at his feet. "Going to keep up this little martyr act, or are you going to quit being a prideful ass and let me do this for you?"

Ulquiorra regarded you in that same cryptic, hooded study - clearly taking cataloging stock of whatever transpired between you in those fractured instants when his other nature surfaced. Then he settled back against the pillows with something almost like resigned allowance.

"Very well," he murmured in a remote rasp weighted with undisguised distaste and disgruntlement. "I will...allow this indignity to commence for now."

He didn't open his mouth or make any move to accept your proffered morsel. You heaved out an explosive sigh and scooted closer across the coverlet until you were within arms reach - near enough to see every sculpted plane and shadow dappled across Ulquiorra's patrician features.

"Don't make this any harder than it has to be," you gritted out, bringing the simple sandwich quarter to his parted lips without further fanfare.

Ulquiorra tracked the progression of the food toward his waiting mouth with that same distantly predatory gaze. At the last possible second, his unique eyes flicked up to bore into yours in an imperious challenge. You faltered infinitesimally, the undercurrent of sizzling defiance embedded in that pointed stare worming under your skin in a way you couldn't quite pinpoint.

Then his lips parted a fraction wider and he accepted the offering in a single refined motion, plush lips brushing against the pads of your steadying fingers with the barest frisson of friction.

You held his gaze as Ulquiorra chewed the meager bite with exaggerated slowness, his strong throat working in a hypnotic flex to accommodate the human process of swallowing sustenance. A spark of hot humiliation seemed to lance through those striking green depths in the aftermath, as if he silently resented allowing you to bear witness to such disgraceful biological functions.

But he never looked away - not even when you gathered another morsel and brought it obediently to his lips a second time. This time, Ulquiorra's mouth accepted the offering without that coiling tension settling between you, his eerie eyes remaining fixed on yours as you carefully fed him bite after bite of sandwich in weighted silence.

At some point, you became distinctly aware that your fingers lingered against that chiseled jaw and plush mouth far longer than strictly necessary with each exchange. Almost as if some delirious part of you was...savoring the textures and contrasts there subconsciously.

You tried to convince yourself it was just a function of Ulquiorra needing assistance until he became acclimated to eating food properly. But rationalization did little to extinguish the heated cinder of awareness smoldering low in your core as your questing fingers mapped the refined contours of his lips and chin with each feeding.

At some point, propriety faded to a dull afterthought as you traced the glistening pad of your thumb over the bow of Ulquiorra's lower lip without conscious volition. A shuddering inhale gusted across the sensitized pads in a hushed gasp that had you recoiling instinctively, the spell abruptly shattered.

Keeping your stare averted, you plucked up a vibrant green apple from the tray instead - intent on restoring space between your bodies while preemptively heading off any undesired reactions from Ulquiorra. With movements stiff and jerky, you offered the fresh fruit over in obvious invitation for the former Espada to satisfy his evident hunger in a more...autonomous manner this time.

Out of your peripherals, you caught the minute motion of Ulquiorra reaching up to accept the proffered fruit from your splayed palm. His calloused knuckles drifted over your wrist in a feather-light graze that had every hair along your arm standing on electrified ending.

You risked a guarded glance back at Ulquiorra then, somehow not surprised to find his viridian stare fixed utterly upon you once more. There was no mistaking the glint of curiosity kindled there in those eerie depths, the silent contemplations weighing behind that banked intensity now.

With careful, almost exaggerated articulation, Ulquiorra brought the juicy apple to his lips and took a measured bite from the yielding flesh. His brow furrowed minutely as he sampled the fresh tartness, jaw working in a flex you watched with unwilling rapt fixation. When he swallowed, your eyes traced the subtle bobbing motion of his throat.

"It is..." Ulquiorra spoke the words with gravid slowness, as if sampling each one alongside the lingering burst of tart fruit on his tongue. "...not entirely unpleasant, I suppose."

His tone remained inflectionless on the surface, remote and unaffected. But those few murmured words nevertheless carried an undercurrent that had heat searing upwards along the exposed line of your throat without warning.

Refusing to examine why exactly the prospect of Ulquiorra bestowing his backhanded approval on a simple pleasure like eating fresh produce made your pulse kick is errant, you simply nodded tightly and forced your legs to reclaim their feet in one clumsy motion.

"Good," you grunted, already whirling away to reclaim the now-empty tray with hands that trembled microscopically. "Glad we got that whole dehumanizing ordeal out of the way for now. I'm going to...go and...yeah."

As you retreated toward the safety of the hallway and beyond, you felt Ulquiorra's penetrating stare burning a lingering brand between your shoulder blades. That same wordless recalibration from earlier still seemed to be churning ponderously behind those vivid, inhuman irises.

Just before clearing the doorway, the former Espada's toneless baritone wormed beneath your rattled defenses with uncanny precision.

"Woman...I believe I will soon require..."

You paused mid-stride, entire body going rigid as your mind instinctively rushed to assign meaning to the strange note of pregnant hesitation hovering behind the ellipsis of unspoken words. Despite yourself, dread and curiosity flooded your veins in equal measure.

"...guidance in locating the appropriate...receptacle for bodily processes to commence."

You remained frozen for a suspended heartbeat, allowing those bizarrely clinical euphemisms to percolate through your consciousness with rising incredulity. Then, quite without intending to, a strangled snort of laughter gusted out between your lips.

Slowly, haltingly, you turned to pin Ulquiorra with an expression caught somewhere between bewildered mirth and exasperation. The former Espada met your stare head-on, utterly impassive despite the absurdity now charged between you.

"Tell me you didn't just use thirty words to say you need to take a piss," you sputtered out through the ragged chuckles still seizing your airway.

Ulquiorra simply regarded you with that same unruffled, distant focus - seemingly utterly unconcerned with how profoundly absurd and humanizing the notion of asking for bathroom privileges truly was in that moment.

"I...require the location of the appropriate receptacle," he repeated with maddening literalness, missing your incredulous hilarity entirely. "Unless you would prefer I improvise an alternative solution on my own?"

At that pointed rejoinder, your laughter broke off with an abrupt choke that may or may not have been borne of disgust. You shook your head sharply, expression rapidly smoothing over into businesslike determination.

"Just...sit tight for like two seconds while I get this worked out." You punctuated the command by jabbing an index finger skyward. "And I swear to every deity you piss anywhere other than the actual toilet, and I'll stuff you in one of those adult diapers myself."

Rather than looking affronted or rankled by the direness of your threat, Ulquiorra's lips twitched with what could have almost been a flicker of sardonic amusement. You stared back at the former Espada with an unnerved frown creasing your features, once again uncertain what bizarre undercurrents you were grappling with.

But then you shook your head again decisively and spun on your heel, already primed to set Ulquiorra up with the necessary facilities before this situation plunged off the rails into wholly different realms of uncomfortable absurdity.

Behind you, the former Espada settled back against the bedding compliantly, the tension seeming to bleed from his formidable frame as he awaited your guidance - an almost obscene paradigm shift from his former role that nevertheless persisted unabated.

And though you tried to maintain your clinical detachment and cool superiority in that moment, you couldn't quite shake the nagging awareness that some elemental dynamic had indeed shifted irrevocably between your souls - perhaps heralding a fragile pathway towards mutual understanding...or the first tremulous seeds of something rawer and more intimate entirely taking root.

Only time and patience would bear out which budding reality would ultimately blossom from the embers of your lingering defiance and Ulquiorra's resigned capitulation. The journey, it seemed, was only beginning anew.

#bleach x reader smut #bleach #bleach x you #bleach x reader #bleach smut #bleach ulquiorra #ulquiorra x reader smut #ulquiorra smut #ulquiorra x reader #ulquiora schiffer #ulquiorra cifer

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crispybonkeggllama · 1 year ago

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I've been watching Ichigo edits (mostly with manga panels) and just suddenly had a thought-

Watch these edits with Mugetsu/Vasto Lorde/Shiro&Ichigo and just imagine Ichigo being a VILLAIN.

I was awe-struck.

Honestly, he looks attractive, handsome, somewhere even soft with longer hair (I'm talking about Dangai look, yes), he has his moral code, he is protective (imagine if he actuallly was a villain and then we got to see him with his sisters, how much of a caring big brother he is with hints that not everything is steady in Kurosaki household).

He still would be a villain, doing evil things and crimes. But judging by his personality we would question his reasons, his motivation, we would ask ourselves if the "good guys" are actually good? Why exactly did he target those people, that building?

Then we would get a snippet of Shiro and Ossan. Thus being able to somehow sympathize him with his struggles in gaining control over his body, asking ourselves "who are you? You're so kind, you're hurting, you don't act evil yet do evil things. What is your goal? What makes someone like you choose the path of a villain?"

And then there would be the a supposed fight scene between him and Urahara, but neither of them making the first move, ending in them simply chatting, albeit with Urahara's teasings and strange humor and Ichigo's flustered face.

But then Ichigo would stop, getting something out of his pocket, leaving it in the ground while looking straight into Urahara's eyes.

"Hide it better this time, I might not be able to retrieve it back again." He disappears in shunpo.

It's Hogyoku lying on the ground. Stolen by Aizen not long ago (he very much bragged about it during their recent fight).

The first interaction we've seen between those two, no hints or anything that they know each other.

And they don't.

Urahara shocked, thrilled and intrigued at the same time.

And we would be struck by realisation that Ichigo is more complicated. That he is the third party in the game represented by Ichigo and Ichigo alone.

A soft, caring brother, pretty handsome young man whose motives or goals are unknown, whose next step is unpredictable, neither all his powers.

Who acts and looks more like a rebellious hero than a calm, cold-hearted villain.

Yet is being one.

#bleach #ichigo kurosaki #kisuke urahara #urahara kisuke #ichigo #bleach headcanons #kurosaki ichigo #bleach au #ichigo is terrifying actually #villain!Kurosaki Ichigo

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tuliharja · 6 days ago

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BLEACH: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Conflict episode 5 review

This was very good in-between episode from my mind. Nothing that major happened, yet at the same time...small things happened that are important.

However, two major things happened (at least in my mind) Aizen flexing (while still moping a bit) and Grimmjow finally showing up! Those two really did steal this week's episode. The fact Grimmjow was teased at the middle of the episode, just to fully appear at the end of it? Brilliant. Not to mention Ichigo's look of 'Grimmjow?' It was amusing. Also, this episode did indeed explain where Ichigo and Yoruichi fell down which is a good thing. Though, a cat always falls on their feet, so they won't need Kon plush to lessen the impact of falling...

It was kind of amusing and a bit 'oh boy, here we go again' when Aizen showed up and everybody was so against him. Like, they were still in the middle of the war, and just moments ago those remnants of Soul King were falling from the sky...which honestly made me wonder why most kami-related things are black eyeball things with sharp teeth? Like, did anyone get the Fullmetal Alchemist vibe from that? Anyone? Okay, moving on.

The fact Aizen came and was all badass was awesome. Though, there was this undertone of him having lost his mojo. Or maybe it was just me, but it felt like he wasn't really giving his all. Sure, he was restrained and he was (probably) forced against his will to help, but even so...considering the fact how crafty he has been portrayed and smug... Prison really changed a person, eh? He felt a bit less smug and dejected. Even his bickering with Urahara and Mayuri (not talking about the rest of the people) didn't have his usual sass. Then again, Urahara has also felt very...I don't know how to put it. We mostly see shots of him gawking things and looking like he truly doesn't know what he is doing. It has made me feel like his secretive attitude and atmosphere have indeed just been a bluff this whole time, because before he truly did not know what was going on or could make an elaborate guess of what was going to happen. Or, both Aizen and Urahara belong to that type of people when a crisis is going on, they freeze. But still manage to function somewhat, but their peak performance is all but lost. Which shifted my attention to Mayuri. He was sassy and showed he was truly the one on the game and the smartest cookie among the so-called genius people. Then again, Urahara and Azen were on Mayuri's turf, so...

Even so, it was a bit disheartening to see Aizen egging Kyoraku to try and kill him when NaNaNa Najahkoop had made him faint for those five minutes. Because it didn't feel like it was his mere plot to try and get Kyoraku enough close to him just so he could free himself. Not to mention his words about the fact that the one who defeated him (Ichigo) got to go first to Soul King's palace... which made me think: if Aizen had managed to make his way in there, what would he have done there? Kill Soul King? But the fact Kyoraku (and everybody else) was making so big a deal about the world(s) ending, because of Soul King's death made me wonder when Aizen was still his chirpy self, I doubt he would have wanted to make the world's end. Right? Then again, just like we've seen, the world(s) haven't just yet ended, so maybe Aizen knew that? But even so...it was obvious his original goal was to change things, but how? And how going to Soul King's palace would have changed anything since at least to me Soul King seemed like just observing kami who wouldn't intervene in anything. Maybe he would had the power to do so or not, but even so... this what-if scenario came to my mind when I saw that scene.

When all the shinigami were bickering, I just waited for someone to come and break it up. Which NaNaNa did. But surprise! He was betrayed by his fellow cannon fodder Sternritters. It's actually more surprising he was still loyal to Yhwach, after the stunt he pulled on them all in the last season. I think Bazz-B's, Liltotto's, and Giselle's reactions were more natural than NaNaNa's. After all, if someone stabbed you literally on your back, would you still be loyal to that person? I think not many would be, but then again...Yhwach has his 'charm'.

It was nice to see the three Quincies and Shinigami join together in a fragile ceasefire. Did anyone notice that little scene where Bazz-B and Renji are obviously talking about each other's hairstyles and tattoos? While Rukia was so done. It reminded me a bit of Ichigo's and Renji's shenanigans and when they share exactly that one brain cell. xD

Seeing Kenpachi come over and ask where Yachiru is broke a bit my heart. It break more when he was having that small showdown with Nanao, which he basically gave up. Like...it didn't matter and he was just so...tired. Hopefully when he and rest of the people who will go to face Yhwach and his merry bunch of Quincies will cheer him up a bit.

I also have to give it to Soi Fon. She was the first one to act when Soul King's remnants were falling from the sky, and her pointing out to Urahara that they aren't afraid to go up there and fight was awesome. It's nice to see her having these little moments. I also want to give credit to Byakuya for acting as coolly as ever when Aizen showed up. Talk about a cool guy.

I can't wait for the next episode because Yhwach is obviously ready for some resistance, and everybody else seems also ready to fight once again~.

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kyokutsu-sama · 2 years ago

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What would they do to cheer you up if you were sad :

So, first of all I apologize for not being as present here, I have been more active on ao3 and dedicating myself to the story I'm writing (link in the pinned post if you want to read it) I promise to come back with more content soon🤗😁

(I'm really sorry but I haven't been doing very well lately🫠)

Characters: Shunsui, Kenpachi, Grimmjow, Shinji, Jushiro and Urahara

___________________________________________

Shunsui :

He won't like to see you with that sad look and will do anything to cheer you up.

His personality is also an advantage for him to use on you if you're not feeling well.

He will crack some jokes and tell you some things that happened to him that made him laugh and decided to tell you.

He values your smile a lot and loves to see you happy.

He'll probably offer you some of his sake to cheer you up too (even though you both will end up drunk)

Kenpachi :

Don't show sadness around him (Just a writer's advice).

This man has the energy for three lifetimes and he can't stand to see you looking so sad.

He will carry you on his shoulder and yell at you to stop acting like that and lighten up a bit.

He might also start a little wrestling between you to see you join his fight.

You'll end up laughing at him and he'll feel good deep down knowing he managed to make you smile.

Shinji :

This man can drive anyone crazy and you will be no exception.

If he notices that you are quieter and don't look happy he will pull you close and cheer you up.

He will tease you until you show him a smile.

He can put on his typical jazz and invite you to dance with him.

He will turn your mood upside down (literally)

Grimmjow :

He'll give you a side eye if you tell him that you're feeling sad

He'll want to know right away if there was someone who did something to make you look like this and will ask you if you want him to kill that person.

You tell him it's just a bad moment but it'll be fine soon.

He will check in on you frequently and he may even (if he's in the mood) hug you close to him.

We all know that deep down our kitty has a good heart.

Jushiro :

He will be sad too if you are not having a good day.

He asks you a thousand times in that day if you're okay and if you need anything.

Hugs are very frequent, he wants you to feel that you are not alone and that he is there by your side.

Just like Shunsui, he will do anything to see you smile and prioritizes your happiness a lot.

He such a kindness man❤(take care of him🥹)

Urahara :

In the land of funny people this man is king

He has the usual goofy personality and will make your day 100% better

He will make jokes and try to mess with you to see if you can let go of this sadness.

Trust him to give you the best advice for your problems

#bleach #gotei 13 #bleach fandom #bleach headcanons #shunsui kyoraku #zaraki kenpachi #jushiro ukitake #shinji hirako #grimmjow jaegerjaquez #bleach imagines #sad #kisuke urahara

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doomxdriven · 1 year ago

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Drabble: Unsealing of the Blade

"Are you going to finally tell me what this is all about, Arrancar?"

Jin, standing there under the night sky, looks up at the large forest flanked staircase in front of them that led up to what seemed like a shrine or temple of some sort.

"Depends depends depends!!!! Did ya get the blood like I asked for? Ya got it didn't ya? Didn't ya?"

"Utagawa and the twins were able to retrieve it yes, though they were all nearly killed in the process" Jin pulls a strangely designed vial of blood from one of his overcoat's inner pockets, holding it up toward Parca.

"You could have told me your target was the former Commander of the Kido Corps and an employee of the Urahara Shōten no less, I would have sent far more capable individuals to deal with the matter."

"Awwwwwwwwww, ya actually worried about the people ya boss around? That's cute Vamps," Parca replies as they steal away the vial of blood Jin had been holding, energetically twirling it around between their fingers, at least until….

Jin vanishes, and then reappears closer to Parca, one hand pressed to and wrapped around their throat, "It's not a matter of worry Arrancar, it's a matter of efficiency, and seeing that both our goals are ultimately met."

Jin, grinning, calmly and viciously continues, "I have to say, I'm also growing tired of how comfortable you are speaking to me like you do; Arrancar never learn anything about respect back in Hueco Mundo, do they?"

Parca, a wide gap of pitch black nothingness stretching across their mask-like visage in the form of a grin, replies, without any trouble or hint of concern, "Both our goals will be met, they wills, and of course, of course, OF COUURRRSSSEEE I respect ya, I just be having fun is all, we both be knowing that!"

Parca then appears to…. melt, wholly, slipping through Jin's fingers and pooling on the floor, before that liquid streamed away, up the staircase toward the temple they and Jin had been walking toward. Its there that Parca reforms, and waves to Jin, shouting,

"I'm trying to get ya some more help here today! Calm down Vamps, calm down! Yer going to need someone to deal with that big brute of Kenpachi when we knock down the door of the Soul Society, ya know?"

Jin, rolling his eyes at the display Parca had put on and relenting on harming them further, replied, "You assume I don't already have someone for that task?"

Maki Ichinose instantly came to Jin's mind-- that man practically lived for the chance to one day kill Zaraki and avenge their former Captain, and they had grown quite powerful over the years, too. Jin was sure that they more than anyone were capable of dealing with the Gotei 13's pet monster.

Parca was never quite convinced of that, though.

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh yeah, ya kinda don't got one, Vamps."

Parca knew that Jin had collected a great number of talented and powerful individuals to make allies out of or serve under him, but there wasn't anyone among them that Parca believed could go toe-to-toe with Kenpachi Zaraki, not even that brat Ichinose-- no, if both their plans were going to work out, they needed someone who could definitely keep that monster Zaraki busy, or better yet, kill them.

"And if I know one thing, it's that the only person who can kill a Kenpachi, is another Kenpachi."

Parca then turns away from the approaching Jin, and walks through the doors of that temple. Within the confines of the temple, Parca finds a large statue with various Kido emblems etched onto the surface, and its upon that statue he smashes the vile of blood.

Afterward, Parca presses both his hands together and under their breath, another voice begins to quietly though quickly chant…

"Shackles of the six arcane arches, prison of the earthly realm, shattered are these binds by the bray of blood, life essence of their jailer; march free, imprisoned Soul, walk the three realms once more."

Jin, looking on from below, watched as that temple began to glow with a dark purple energy, before it suddenly erupted in a massive explosion that sent a shock-waves through the ground, splitting many of the stairs apart and uprooting a plethora of the surrounding trees. Jin easily manages to avoid any injury of course, continuing to make his way up the now ruined staircase.

When Jin finally climbed to the top, he would see Parca standing among the Temple rubble, along with a large individual dressed in tattered Shinigami garbs. Looking on with interest at the person Parca had called forth, Jin asks, "And who might this be?"

The large individual, rising to their feet, a sadistic expression washing over their face, announces, "I am a blade. I am, Baishin."

#headcanons: jin #headcanons: bansui #//we do a little story telling

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tatakaeeren · 1 year ago

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Since lavender is my favorite color and scent I can be lavender anonie 🥰. I’m 21 btw! I feel like I should always say age just for peeps sake but the way after every jjk episode I have to go watch free! (Season 2 specifically aka the best season) bc I keep thinking about the future of what’s to come (I’m caught up in the manga) and I just go 0-0

ALSO I’m so happy you post bleach too :0 I’m on like episode 308 and I’m reading it and even though I haven’t finished (I know the whole arcs bc I’m not spoiler sensitive really) it’s what I think got me REALLY REALLY into anime 🤓 who’s your fave bleach character? Mine is Urahara bc I’m a SUCKER for wet napkin loser men like him. I also feel like I sound so insane right now I’m a huge rambler especially since irl I have no one to weeb to over the bleach lore and how aizen and Urahara to me are similar parallels to gojo and geto in the sense that both groups have these ideals that they want for the greater good (soul king versus jujutsu society) and the villains on both side have some frustration against their counter bc of their strength and intelligence but they seemingly “don’t do anything” even they also want a greater good ANYWAY AH SORRY TO RAMBLE MORE

Aww how lovely!! Lavender Anonie 💖 it is then! :D Good to know you are not underage (even though I don't post a lot nsfw) but it is good to know just in case I post something or say something 👍. We all need our comfort something after an intense episode or chapter.... especially if we know what is coming... jjk ep 4 and onwards...😭 and the manga right now 😨. Damn... we only had 3 episodes of happiness.

YAASSSS BLEACHH!!! I'm so glad we have another one in common! bleach was the anime that got me into anime and my first ever physical volume and also what got me into reading manga. So bleach holds a special place in my heart. Ep 308! you have 58 to finish! :D. My list of top 5 hahah (don't make me choose just one because I can't XD) 1) Byakuya, Urahara, Aizen, Jugram and Grimmjow 💖. What other characters are your faves? from what other anime/manga? I'm curious to see if we have more faves in common!

OOHHH niceeee i never thought about it but you have a point there!! there are some similarities between those 4! I always find it interesting when there is a "battle" of ideals and see how people follow them and the decision they make. + those 4 are also hot as hell 😎💖 hahahah.

#whenever you have that feeling of sharing info especially if irl you can't.. don't hesitate to leave your thoughts here 😉#ramble ramble rambleeeee!! moreeeeeeee :)#im all ears! 👍#lavender anonie💜

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recurring-polynya · 3 years ago

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Your thoughts and headcannons on Nemuri Hachigou because I don't think she gets talked about enough, when in reality she's pretty interesting, she's essentially, a blank slate, Mayuri's second chance that I don't think he feels like he deserves. She's Nemu but she isn't and I think people(especially Mayuri) forget that a lot, that's a fascinating position to be in.

Puttin’ this under a cut because I’m gonna say some unkind things about Mayuri and I do not want to cause any distress to the many lovely people on this website who delight in his horrible antics.

This is not so much a headcanon so much as a thing I came up with for fanfiction purposes, but it’s all I got.

Right. So, like I said, I despise Mayuri. I just hate him. I understand that he appeals to some people, but I strongly dislike the dude and go to exorbitant lengths to avoid him ever appearing in my fanfic.

Additionally, I do not vibe with Nemu 7. She registers as not-a-person for me, she’s basically an extension of Mayuri himself. Don’t get me wrong, I find Mayuri’s treatment of her to be vile and I wish someone would take her away from him, but she comes off as very robotic to me. She is conscious, but she is not an independent being, if that makes sense. She is not a real girl. It’s funny that Mayuri keeps talking about how advanced she is, because clearly he means only her cognitive and fighting abilities. In terms of recreating a person, she’s incredibly primitive compared to the other mod souls we see. Take Kon, for example, who has a fairly limited powerset, but is never presented as less of a soul than any of the other characters. An even more interesting example is Ururu and Jinta. Ururu is described as being older than Jinta, and she is clearly “less human” than him-- she has less affect, she shifts into a distinct “attack” mode, etc, which implies that Jinta represents advances in mod soul technology. It’s notable that Urahara and Tessai and even Renji, in the canon scene where he protects the Shouten kids, never treats them as anything less than people. The contrast with the way Mayuri treats Nemu is stark. He likes that her feelings and personality are limited, he sees this as a feature.

I was completely unmoved by the entire chapter where Nemu died. Her sacrifice did not come across to me as anything indicating growth or humanity-- in every battle she's ever been in, she nearly dies because Kurotsuchi tells her to. She simply prioritizes Mayuri over herself. She always has. It’s simply the logical extension of her programming. A lot of people say they would have preferred Nemu to live and Mayuri to die and for sure I would have *preferred* that, but I have never seen Nemu as enough of a character to be worth rooting for. Like, at least Uryuu would have gotten some satisfaction form killing his clown ass, and that might have convinced me for at least half a second that he actually was on the side of the Quincy.

Caveat: if some talented fanficcer wants to write a short novel on Nemu discovering her humanity etc etc, I’m all for it, I’m just saying that canon hasn’t given us anything to suggest she would do more than just shut down without Mayuri to tell her what to do.

Onto Nemuri 8. I can’t believe they let Mayuri have another one. It makes my blood boil. The dude is an on-screen abuser and Kubo had the gall to try to make me feel sorry feel him (I did not) and then gave him another one.

So, I took her away from him.

I mentioned earlier that I go to great lengths to keep Mayuri the hell out of my fanfic, and usually the way I do that is to have my characters go through Akon whenever they have to deal with Squad 12. I think I started doing this because Akon is sort of weirdly familiar with Renji and Rukia in the TYBW, but I have projected all over him and he’s mine now. The way I assume Squad 12 functions, based on my career in scientific programming, is that Mayuri is like a primary investigator-- he's the Big Ideas guy and he spends a lot of time doing wholly self-directed research. He’s the face of Squad 12, so he has to go talk to the Captain-Commander and beg for money and defend blowing things up, but when it comes to science stuff, he does what he wants. Nemu is the lieutenant, and I think she handles most of the usual lieutenanting-- paperwork, meetings, etc., but I think Mayuri takes up a lot of her time by using her as a personal lab assistant on his wacky projects. There's nothing wrong with this, but I think in a lot of squads, the lieutenant is responsible for the day-to-day running of the squad and spends a lot of time dealing with their subordinates and other lieutenants. Nemu, instead, focuses on her captain. Now, the rest of the Gotei counts on Squad 12 for a lot actually-- gigai, Hollow tracking, Dangai monitoring, etc. etc. From the point of view of most science people, this stuff is mundane-- it’s all application, not development, and all the difficulty is in the twitchy little details. It’s frustrating and it’s unrewarding and you never get credit for it, and it is vitally important. There is a certain kind of science professional that makes a career out of this. They usually have master's degrees instead of PhDs, and they are usually tragically underpaid and underappreciated for what they do. In the real world, without these people, you wouldn’t have mass vaccination sites or weather data on your phone or cute li’l robots landing on other planets. In Bleach, these are the people keeping soul reapers alive in the field. And in my mind, this is Akon’s department.

So here’s the headcanon:

After Nemu’s death, Mayuri has so much sad clown pain about it that he wants another robot child poste-haste, but can’t bring himself to do the actual work, so he shoves it off onto Akon, with a list of the design specs he wants. The last one was pretty good, Akon can handle a few minor upgrades, it doesn’t need his personal hand in it. Thinking about going through all that work again just pisses him off, honestly. What a waste!

And Akon's like, yeah, cool, fine. It was heavily implied that he did a lot of the work on Nemu 7, it's just a matter of digging out his old notes and cleaning out some vats.

Except that, right around the same time, Rukia and Renji decide to have a baby.

Babies are super rare in the Gotei, and it’s not like those stuffy nobles are gonna let Akon look at their precious offspring. But Rukia is a rank weirdo, and Akon is their pal, so she’s always like “I hear they have these things in the Living World where you can pee on a stick and tell if you’re pregnant, can you make me one?” and Akon’s brain goes, “Wow, what even is the first detectable sign of a newly formed soul, this is very interesting.” So, at the same time he’s trying to grow a new and improved Nemu, he’s got access to the developing fetus of two captain-class shinigami. So when he has to pick between eight good candidate embryos to move to the next vat, he picks… not the one with the strongest reiatsu signature, like they did last time, but the one whose reiatsu looks the most like a real baby.

Akon reminds me of a lot of programmers I know, so I always sort of headcanon him as particularly interested in whatever passes for programming in Squad 12, and I think he takes special interest in revamping Nemu’s artificial intelligence system, which is primarily based on taking in information about the world and building up a realistic personality based on people she observes. In particular, it gives extra weight to “people who resemble her”. Nemu 7 was raised by Squad 12, so she came up very Squad 12, just like Mayuri wanted. Unfortunately, toddler Hachigou Nemuri’s algorithm unexpectedly decides that she has much more in common with toddler Abarai Ichika than any of the adult soul reapers around her.

Nemuri 8 is a very successful sample in terms of power and intelligence but she’s also very boisterous, and the rest of Squad 12 is like “Akon do something” so Akon takes drastic measures: he asks Renji for parenting advice. Distressingly, Renji is full of useful ideas like “tire her out” and “only fight the important battles” and “we’re signed up for baby yoga, you wanna start comin’ to baby yoga? Your back is gonna thank you.”

Akon didn't mean to let them hang out so much, but Ichika is a very useful data point and also if he takes Nemuri over to the Abarai house, the girls will entertain themselves (i.e. chew on each other) long enough for him to have a beer with Renji and Rukia and honestly my man really needs that beer.

I don’t think Akon thinks of himself as Nemu’s dad past the first time when she calls him ‘Daddy’ and he corrects her (she only did it because that’s what Ichika calls Renji, very predictable quirk of her programming). She’s just a work project. She’s not even his project, she’s Mayuri’s project, he’s just handling the little details. Fathering just happens to be an adjacent field of study that he’s found to contain a number of very useful best practices.

I would prefer not to get into the detail of the physical abuse that Mayuri uses against Nemu 7, but I would like to think that Akon finds ways to protect Nemuri 8 from the same, or barring that, maybe this is what finally drives Akon to murder Kurotsuchi and become Squad 12 captain himself.

Other Nemuri Headcanons:

Her favorite book is Rejection of the Twin Fishes!, Captain Ukitake’s posthumously published children’s book.

She prefers to be called “Nemuri” over “Nemu.”

Nemuri’s second favorite person in Squad 12 after Akon is Rin, because he always has candy. Rin actually likes having someone to share his hobby with and helps her make a World of the Living Snack Bucket List. When other shinigami come in for gigai, Nemuri constantly tries to con them into bringing something back for her.

Rukia teaches her to cuss, but tells her never to do it around Akon. Nemuri never actually cusses around anyone, but really enjoys having Forbidden Knowledge.

Speaking of Forbidden, she is mildly obsessed with Urahara, even though she’s never met him. She’s constantly on the lookout for thumbprints of his work in modern Squad 12 technology.

The one thing she does have in common with Mayuri is an absolutely batshit personal aesthetic. She starts painting her face as a tween and is somewhat inconveniently both into piercings and inflatable outfits.

The true proof that she has surpassed her predecessor, at least in terms of humanity, is that she is able to learn the name of her zanpakutou.

Oh, if you want to read any of my fanfics with Nemuri, here's one where she and Ichika play football and here's one where she tries to con Byakuya into buying her shaved ice. I really like writing Nemuri hanging out with Byakuya because I think an adult man who navigates social settings via rigid system of etiquette and class hierarchy and a small child with a pile of Markov chains for a brain would be natural friends.

#nemuri hachigou

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cheshiresense · 6 years ago

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Hey, speaking of the Aizen/Ichigo time travel notfic, I just want to say I really love the way y ou write Aizen when he isn't just the villain. Like I don't even know why Im surprised, it's /you/, your characterization is always amazing. Do you think you can write a few more snippets or hcs with him and Ichigo? Maybe some interactions or convesations between them? No pressure ofc, thank you for everything youv'e already blessed us with!

Lol thank you! That’s good to hear, I always find flat characters painful to read so I do my best to round them out whenever I can. Aizen was a new one for me, this is the first time I’ve explored his character beyond - as you say - just the villain of the story that’s been defeated or needs defeating.

Here’s two more short scenes in this ’verse. I actually really like this AU, which surprises me because before this, I didn’t have any interest in writing Aizen at all.

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[Dinner]

Sousuke generously reserves a table for two at the sushi restaurant a block down from the Academy. He only has to wait ten minutes before Ichigo slouches into the seat opposite his, looking like every student who’s ever pulled three all-nighters in a row rushing for exams.

Sousuke arches an eyebrow. “I did not think the course load you are taking would be difficult for you.”

Ichigo shoots a glare at him but doesn’t seem to have the energy to hold it for longer than a few seconds before he’s slumping again and reaching for the menu instead.

“The course load is fine,” Ichigo tells him irritably. “But one of my teachers used to be Thirteenth Division and has some stupid grudge against Kaien because Ukitake-san passed him over for lieutenant even though he had a longer tenure than Kaien or something. So he’s taking it out on me by giving me extra assignments out of the blue every week. Says I’ll fail his class if I don’t do them.” He waves a dismissive hand. “I kinda wanna call his bluff, but it’s whatever, I just wanna graduate as soon as possible, and I can deal with a case of asshole. It was just a little tougher lately cuz of midterms but today was my last one anyway.”

Sousuke studies him for a careful moment. “You could mention it to your cousin. I am sure Shiba Kaien would jump to your defense, especially when he is involved.”

“Yeah, and that’s exactly why I’m not gonna tell him,” Ichigo scowls. “He’ll go charging in and kick up a huge fuss and definitely go overboard defending my honour or some shit. He’ll probably get Hisakawa fired, which I don’t really care about, but he’ll also draw a crapload of attention, and I don’t want anybody tossing words like nepotism and favouritism around. You told me yourself the Twelfth doesn’t seem to have many big clan members, and it’s not exactly a shock that Kisuke chooses people for his Division according to their intelligence. I don’t want him thinking I’m coasting by on my clan’s reputation or something, and that’s exactly what will happen if I get Kaien to step in for me for every little thing.” He pointedly sticks his menu up between them. “Now can we order already? I literally haven’t eaten anything but instant ramen in a week. I’m getting everything here since you’re paying.”

“Oh I am, am I?” Sousuke enquires dryly.

“I’m poor, deal with it.”

“I am fairly certain your clan would shower you with money if you mention that you need it,” Sousuke points out. “And nobody else would even know if you are so concerned about reputation.”

Ichigo grimaces even as he glances around to catch the waiter’s eye. “Kaien’s already giving me a stipend every month cuz I’m family but I wanna save that for an apartment when I graduate. Besides, I don’t like asking people for money.”

Sousuke gives him a flatly droll look. “And yet.”

Ichigo meets his gaze without hesitation, a smirk curling at his lips, one that teeters between gruff amusement and a reckless sort of mockery. “Consider it payment for creeping on me when I was a kid and then dragging me into a war. You almost killed me multiple times; sushi’s the least you owe me, bastard.”

They pause for a minute to place their respective orders, and neither of them speaks until the waiter is out of earshot again.

“I wonder,” Sousuke murmurs, eyeing Ichigo thoughtfully. “If you blame Urahara Kisuke for ‘dragging you into a war’ as much as you blame me.”

Ichigo snaps his chopsticks and then jabs them at him. “Kisuke apologized. You didn’t.”

“And I never will,” Sousuke agrees, because he won’t, not with any kind of sincerity, and he’s noticed that Ichigo has a knack for picking out that sort of thing. Sousuke isn’t sorry. Perhaps his ambitions and plans gave the boy very little choice in the matter, but at the end of the day, it was still Kurosaki Ichigo who chose to fight instead of bow or run away, and Sousuke can respect him enough as a former formidable enemy to give credit where it’s due.

Ichigo made his choices, just as Sousuke made his own, and they’ll both live with them just the same, good and bad.

“No,” Ichigo acknowledges easily, and Sousuke knows no one else who can say that in this situation with no anger or bitterness, just a resigned sort of acceptance as if he made his peace with this truth a long time ago. Instead, he only points his chopsticks at Sousuke again. “But that’s why you have to pay for my sushi and Kisuke doesn’t.”

Sousuke watches him for a moment longer and idly wonders if he’ll ever understand the kind of person Kurosaki Ichigo is. One day, perhaps, but at least in the meantime, he won’t be bored.

He inclines his head just as the first of their dishes arrive.

“As you say,” He acquiesces, and Ichigo flashes a grin like he’s won something important. Oddly enough, it amuses Sousuke more than anything else. But there are worse things than amusement, and for now, he lets it be.

Well, he lets that be anyway. Ichigo is a… puzzle that Sousuke probably won’t tire of putting together for a good while yet, and that suits him just fine.

On the other hand…

He steps quietly into the classroom, shutting the door behind him. The click makes the man sitting behind the desk at the front look up. “Aizen-fukutaichou? This is… unexpected. Did we have a meeting I forgot about?”

Hisakawa’s confusion is understandable. As far as Sousuke can remember, in both timelines, he’s never spoken to the other Shinigami. Hisakawa was insignificant before - sub-par intellect and mediocre strength, not good for anything but canon fodder, which Aizen had plenty of Hollows for - and he’s just as insignificant now. It’s just that he’s also making a nuisance of himself this time around, which is unfortunate for him.

“Hisakawa-sensei,” Sousuke greets with a pleasant smile as he approaches. “We do not, as far as I am aware. I simply wished to speak to you about one of our mutual students.”

“Oh, well, of course,” Hisakawa frowns quizzically. “Which student are you talking about? Is it a schedule conflict? Those should’ve been ironed out months ago though.”

Sousuke supposes the man gets points for touching on the only problem a student attending both their classes could have. Hisakawa teaches history - a core class - while Sousuke only teaches calligraphy as an elective. They don’t have much else in common.

Then again, if schedule conflicts were ironed out months ago, it obviously can’t be that, and there’s no point bringing it up. Sousuke takes it back. Hisakawa is still just as much of a waste of space as Sousuke has always believed him to be. Honestly, the hiring standards these days. If this was Shiba Kaien’s competition for the lieutenant seat, no wonder Ukitake refused to fill the position with anyone else even if it meant waiting a decade for the Shiba Clan Head to accept.

“No, it is nothing of that sort,” Sousuke agrees. “But it has come to my attention that Shiba Ichigo-kun has been receiving quite a number of… extracurricular assignments from you.”

Hisakawa immediately bristles, and a sneer slashes itself across his face. “Oh, he’s been complaining, has he?”

“He has mentioned it to me,” Sousuke says mildly.

Hisakawa snorts. “I wasn’t aware Shibas even knew calligraphy existed,” He mutters snidely before saying, louder and more patronizing, “You shouldn’t listen to him, Aizen-fukutaichou. You know how Shibas can be, they’re always exaggerating. I’m not giving Shiba more work than he needs. His history marks could use some work, and I’m trying to help. I hear he wants to graduate in a year, and he can’t do that if he fails a core class.”

Sousuke hums a considering note. “He is in danger of failing? How strange. Shiba-kun takes after his cousin, does he not? Another prodigy.”

Hisakawa’s sneer only grows more pronounced. “They give that title to any clan kid these days, it doesn’t mean anything. Trust me, Shiba’s history marks alone will probably see him here next year, especially if he’s going around whining about not getting special treatment.”

Sousuke raises an eyebrow. “I admit, I am rather surprised by that. You see, I have read some of Shiba-kun’s history papers.” He hasn’t had much of a choice. For whatever reason, Ichigo likes working in his office, and he has the strangest tendency to paper his work all over the floor. And paperwork gets boring, and Ichigo’s thought process can be… interesting, even on the most mundane topics. “I am no expert on the subject of course, but from what I could tell, his work is always thoroughly researched and well-written. Perhaps you should take another look.”

Hisakawa’s face turns steadily red, and he pushes to his feet even as he accuses, “So you think just because he has a clan backing him, he should get special treatment too! I thought better of you, Aizen-fukutaichou.”

Sousuke has to suppress a chuckle but amusement slips into his expression anyway, because Hisakawa’s features darken to something downright hostile. “His marks will stay the same. In fact, I might fail him just on principle! I didn’t think Shiba was a coward too, sending another teacher to beg a better grade out of me just because he can’t handle my class.”

Sousuke stares him down for a long unblinking moment, until Hisakawa is almost twitching from the tension stretched between them. Only when the man opens his mouth again, no doubt to splutter out something belligerent, does Sousuke sigh and drop a hand to his Zanpakutou.

“Well, I did try,” He muses, mostly to himself.

He draws his blade. Hisakawa stares and doesn’t even make a move for his own Zanpakutou. What a fool.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Normally,” Sousuke explains courteously. “I would not bother stepping in on behalf of a student, especially when that student would - I dare say - be rather cross with me should he find out. But we have plans to carry out, and I will not allow something so trivial to hinder them.”

Hisakawa gawps at him. How unsightly.

“You need not worry,” Sousuke adds. “You will not remember a thing.”

Finally, Hisakawa reaches for his Zanpakutou, the first blush of alarm rising in his features. “Wait, have you gone insane, Aizen? What do you think attacking me is even going to do? I- I won’t be threatened-!”

“Shatter,” Sousuke cuts him off, smiling benignly even as his reiatsu swells around them. “Kyouka Suigetsu.”

And Hisakawa’s expression goes slack as the hynosis takes hold, slithering into the deepest recesses of his mind.

“You should be honoured,” Sousuke murmurs. “This will be some of my finest work. After all, anything less and Ichigo-kun might notice. And I would rather not be scolded again.”

(This Is A Time Skip But Also Does Tumblr Not Know How To Center Shit)

[Sight]

Sousuke glances up as a shadow passes through his window before returning to his paperwork. “Shouldn’t you be working?”

A disgruntled noise answers him. “Kis- Urahara-taichou is neck-deep in a new experiment; he’s not gonna notice I’m missing for days, never mind one afternoon.”

“And you decided to come visit me?” Sousuke can’t help but find that amusing, considering their past. “How thoughtful.”

He pauses when Ichigo doesn’t snipe something back, as is fairly standard these days. He looks up. Ichigo isn’t even looking in his direction. Instead, he’s still perched on the windowsill, and his gaze is slanted to one shadowed corner above the bookshelf across the room.

“…Ichigo-kun?”

Ichigo blinks, then turns to him and hops down into the office. “Hey, so, I figured it out,” He says abruptly. His eyes flit around the room again, and Sousuke notices the way they dart from shadow to shadow before finally focusing on him again. “The seeing into their little shadow world thing.”

Sousuke straightens. “Oh?”

“Yeah,” Ichigo lifts a hand, and pale blue light sparks off his fingertips.

Sousuke stares. How fascinating. He doesn’t think he’s ever seen any other Quincy wield reishi so casually.

“I think I can make it so you can see them too,” Ichigo continues. “I’m gonna have to… fiddle with your eyesight a bit though.”

Sousuke pins him with an assessing look before slowly reaching up to take off his glasses. “If you end up blinding me, I will stab you before you make it out of this room.”

Ichigo rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever, but I’m not gonna do that. Now hold still and close your eyes.”

It takes effort not to flinch, much to Sousuke’s irritation. But the grip he still has around his writing brush tightens anyway when cool fingers touch his eyelids.

It barely feels like anything. There’s a tingle that itches a little, but it’s there and gone within seconds, leaving only an odd chill behind, not unlike getting a cold gust of wind to the face during winter. Ichigo withdraws, and Sousuke opens his eyes.

Nothing looks different. He doesn’t actually need glasses to begin with so everything is clear. He cocks a questioning look at Ichigo, who shakes his head.

“Wait for it,” He murmurs, taking a seat on the edge of Sousuke’s desk and absently shuffling through the top file in the inbox. “They’re not always spying on everyone. But you’re a person of interest to them, you know that, so I think they check in on you pretty often.” He pauses, and his gaze slides across the room before he focuses on the file in his hands again. “Here he comes. Don’t let him see you watching him.”

Sousuke follows his brief line of sight, just in time to see a very familiar blond head bob into view in the shadow cast by the couch set against the wall. It isn’t a very big shadow, a foot high at most, so Sousuke only gets to see the face and part of his neck and a little of the high white collar of his uniform, but it’s enough.

The next second, he’s reaching for one of his books and flipping it open like that was why he looked up from his paperwork at all. But now that he can see that he’s being watched, can sense it even, and so blatantly too, the urge to simply get up and run the Quincy through for his gall is tempting. Only the knowledge that he can’t at the moment stays his hand.

Can he hear us? Sousuke scrawls on a spare piece of paper.

“No,” Ichigo mutters back. “I tested it. It’s like a soundproofed window. I mean, it is now.” He smirks triumphantly out of sight of the Quincy. “Before I figured it out, it was like one of those one-way mirrors. Now we can see them too. But we can’t hear them, and they can’t hear us. They might know how to lip-read though, so be careful anyway.”

Well, obviously. Giving the game away this early would be foolish.

Sousuke watches through his periphery as the Quincy gives them both a last cursory blank look before his head moves out of the shadow and disappears again.

“Jugram Haschwalth,” Sousuke murmurs, surveying his office before turning his attention to Ichigo. “And they can see through every shadow in Soul Society?”

“As far as I can tell, yeah,” Ichigo scowls darkly. “They’re a bunch of regular Peeping Toms.” He grins for a moment, all teeth. “You would’ve made great friends.”

Sousuke narrows a reprimanding look at him. Ichigo just grins wider, not at all repentant, but he doesn’t push further either.

“What should we do now?” He asks instead. “I’m still working on figuring out a way to get through, but at least we can see them. Do we just keep doing what we’re doing and try not to draw their attention?”

“Yes,” Sousuke decides. “But also, mark down who they look in on most, who they consider to be the biggest threats, and who they’ve overlooked but can be threats to them.” He puts his glasses back on. “How long will I be able to see them?”

Ichigo shrugs. “Eh, not sure. You’re my first guinea pig.” Sousuke sighs. At least Ichigo looks a little sheepish now. “We can do a few tests over the weekend or something when I don’t have work. I probably should get back now.”

“I thought you said Urahara wouldn’t notice,” Sousuke says sardonically.

“He won’t,” Ichigo confirms. “But Hiyori will. She’s yelling at the science department at the moment though, and that always takes at least an hour, so I figured I’d take the chance to come show you this-” He waves a hand in the direction of the shadow Jugram was in. “-since I finally got it down this morning.”

Sousuke glances lingeringly at him. You could have waited, he almost says, but the words don’t come in the end, and a moment later, Ichigo is halfway out the window again.

“Anyway, see ya later,” He calls back briskly. “I finally got my first paycheck yesterday so I bought groceries. If you want free dinner, swing ’round my place and I’ll feed you. And we can talk more about the Peeping Toms.”

And then he’s gone in a rush of Shunpo, leaving Sousuke to stare after him, feeling strangely wrong-footed.

But then, Ichigo has a habit of leaving him that way.

Sousuke sighs again, puts it out of his mind, and gets back to work, firmly ignoring the blond-haired spy that sidles back into his office via the shadow in one corner of the ceiling this time.

But he can’t wait until Ichigo figures out a way to get through. He’s chopping the head off of this one personally.

#bleach #myscrap #ichigo & aizen time travel verse #kurosaki ichigo #aizen sousuke #msg #anonymous #headcanon

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my-my-my · 2 years ago

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Do you have some meta hcs on Aizen?

Ugh yes, I love me some meta HCs!

The way Aizen ruled Las Noches would be similar to how he would rule once he became the Soul King. Beings would be given rankings based on their strengths, but it was still equitable (i.e. The Espada were ranked, but they had their own "kingdom" that were fairly equal in size/capacity between each of them).

I think he did this because he hates the concept of the Great Noble Families that reside in Soul Society. I think he's someone who despises nepotism, and the Great Noble Families are living proof that nepotism rules.

Aizen misses teaching. I saw some people remark that maybe "he likes the sound of his own voice", but I disagree. I'm of the opinion he liked imparting knowledge, and he wanted to get more students to critically think about Soul Society. I don't think he met many students in this regard though, because a lot of them fawned over him for superficial reasons.

I'm putting the rest behind a cut because it'll get too long otherwise!

In a way, the way Aizen wanted to speak to Ichigo, and just Aizen's rebelling/criticisms of Soul Society, remind me a lot of Socrates. There was even this whole thing with Socrates and "corrupting the youth" that he was charged with. Shunsui and Urahara didn't want Aizen to speak to Ichigo at the end, and I like to believe it's because they knew Aizen would tell Ichigo about the corruption Soul Society was built upon. Can't have the hero learn that he was working for a morally corrupt institution, can we? 🙃

Going back to the Trial of Socrates and Aizen's own trajectory, there are some similarities:

They both committed "blasphemy" (Socrates didn't believe in the Greek gods, Aizen disregards the Soul King).

They led their "followers"/"students" to question the basis of their society (corruption of the youth). It's good to note that Aizen wasn't totally successful with this, only Tosen and the Espada were followers, Gin was following Aizen for his own revenge.

Both of their trials were held with majority, if not all, male-led jurors (Aizen and Central 46) who decided their sentencing.

Both condemned to death (in Aizen's case, because he's immortal, 20,000 years but that might as well be death...)

Both could have escaped and dodge their punishments, but opted not to. Socrates was given an out, but took his death penalty. Aizen was temporarily exonerated for wartime service, and willingly went back to serve the remainder of his time.

In one of the novels (I think Spirits are Forever with You), Shinji and Momo talk about how Aizen probably wasn't lying to them as much as he wanted them to believe, and I would agree with them. Yeah, Aizen is a master manipulator, but he probably said a lot of "half truths" rather than full-blown lies. It's easier to manipulate someone when there's some semblance of proof to work from.

I'd like to think that at the end of Bleach, Aizen doesn't have the goal to become the Soul King anymore, but he does want change to happen in Soul Society. It's whole existence is based on a lie, and Aizen wants to see its reform. My own headcanon is that once that happens, I think Aizen would want to die - and since the hogyoku is tied to him, it would take away his immortality.

Again, a lot of people see Aizen as a narcissist, but I don't see it. Aizen wanted to be Soul King because he saw everyone else being unable to take a stand. He literally followed the quote "be the change you want to see in the world". He fully acknowledges that Yamamoto is stronger than him, Urahara is smarter than him, but those two refuse to do anything to fix the system. It's why he can acknowledge them, but can't respect them. Why have all that power and not try to change?

Last one lol: I'm of the opinion Aizen likes bullying Hitsugaya lmao. The way Aizen just reads him so easily and doesn't care to fuck around with him. A part of me thinks it stems from jealousy towards Hitsugaya for having people care for him. Another reason is that Aizen doesn't think Hitsugaya is the prodigy everyone else claims he is. Aizen just cuts him down in true "is this your MAN?!" fashion lol

Thanks for this ask!! I hope this is what you wanted in terms of "meta" lol

#aizen sousuke #sousuke aizen #aizen sosuke #sosuke aizen #bleach #bleach writings #aizen headcanon #a writes #aizen meta

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the-pallid-king · 3 years ago

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He grins, thoroughly enjoying the look on your face.

He starts to say he doesn’t drive the train, but if anything, that argument makes your statement that much more valid. So he throws his hands up. “I don’t know. I shouldn’t even be able to make these. Now, you’re talking about getting on trains and how I should automatically know things, probably because you knew it instinctively, which isn’t my strong suit, and worst of all, you’re making sense. It’s kind of freaking me out.” He huffs a little, but okay, he’s not all that upset. He shrugs and says, “I had Urahara’s machine hooked up to me. I just kept trying until it worked.”

He squints at you when you say to try a bigger target. “Is this going to be a barn metaphor this time?” Something big enough to hit. He exhales, but just tries for the entire castle. If they hit the arena, he’ll pretend like he meant to. “Maybe you have a point.” He makes another, feeling a little drained, but not so much so he couldn’t make a dozen more. He steps though, finding their bedroom on the other side. “Huh. It worked.”

You look so exasperated that it's actually kind of funny and he has to work to keep the amusement off his face. He shrugs. "There's a lot of things you shouldn't be able to do. That clearly doesn't stop you. And I always make sense." Just... sometimes in a round about way. He makes a face, not at all liking how what you says implies that you tried multiple times before it worked. He would have panicked so hard. Being trapped in Hueco Mundo was bad enough. Not to mention, if you hadn't been able to get through, he would have just assumed you were pulled back into the living world and weren't able to get back to him, he would have never known you were trapped between.

A brow arches. "D'you see a barn here? Just try it." Ok but yes, it was kind of a barn metaphor, though he didn't realize it when he said it. When you admit he might have a point, he motions for you to get to it, kind of just assuming that you're too stubborn to give up this soon, despite that they could flash step the rest of the way easy enough or that he could just do it. When you make another, and they end up in their room, he's honestly impressed. It was a good idea; you seem pretty capable of navigating to and from their room. He elbows you lightly, "Don't act so surprised, we both knew you could do it."

#ask #ichxgo

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junko222 · 7 years ago

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What are your thoughts on Soul Society? Do you think that it's as righteous as it's presented or as fans defend it to be? I read a post that said Soul Society has some corrupted parts, but the comments on the post were just from fans defending Soul Society. I don't think Soul Society is Hell, but there are problematic parts (useless Central 46, Rukongai, Maggots Nest, etc.).

For myself, I find it hard to read the SS as anything other than a dystopia.

Thing is, I understand where these fans are coming from. Despite what I feel are its obvious flaws, the Soul Society is very much presented as something worth defending. Ichigo goes to great pains to maintain the status quo (and he’s the HERO), as do all of the people we are meant to admire in Bleach. I mean, name your favorite character (with the sole exception of Tousen) and you’ll find them ready to die to protect and defend the Soul Society. (Weirdly, this includes Aizen, who fought Yhwach to defend the SS and Gin, who, at the very least, wanted Aizen dead…)

So, it must be worth it, right?

I mean if you’re born in the right places or with enough power, the Soul Society mostly is a decent place, or at least life inside the Seireitei seems pretty all right. I think Byakuya Kuchiki, for instance, has a good life. Possibly the same could be said for Kenpachi Zaraki��so, you know.

Of course the downside is the Rukongai. Any soul reborn with power there is starving. They SAY that Souls don’t feel hunger, but it seems pretty clear in Rukia and Renji’s flashbacks that that’s bull. Yet, food *is* available in the Rukongai. We know this because Kukaku has no problem feeding the ryokan when they stop by her weird traveling house. So, there’s something wrong. Something deeply inequitable there. Especially since we know from Byakuya’s big “difference between us speech,” that Rukongai souls are considered inferior socially/economically. I mean, you could say, maybe that’s just rich boy Byakuya’s attitude, but we see it again in Renji’s Academy flashback, in a scene that a lot of people misinterpret (and appears in the anime only) where Renji wants to write the answer on the board, but the professor won’t let him because “gentlemen” will have to stand to let him pass.

Add Tousen’s story of his special friend, the SHINIGAMI who was murdered by her husband and given no justice… yeah.

That’s a pretty ugly class divide.

And, as you point out, that’s just one aspect of the Soul Society. The Maggot’s Nest is surreally dystopic. Urahara tells us in the TBtP arc that a Soul can be sent to the Maggot’s Nest for being a POTENTIAL threat to the SS… that’s just Orwellian. That implies a whole lot of big brother-ness happening ALL THE TIME, which I personally believe is underscored SPECIFICALLY by Shinji’s line to Aizen in which he says, “I’ve been watching you from the womb.” My sense is that was an intentional threat to Aizen, saying, ‘look, pal, you’re lucky we didn’t toss you in the Maggot’s Nest as an infant.’ And given the children we SEE in the prison… yeah.

The other problem, which Tousen likes to harp on, is the utter lack of justice. Central 46 is so evil that Aizen could take it over and act utterly inconsistently –oh, let’s move up the execution again… for a crime that 1) had no trial or any chance for Rukia to defend her actions and 2) is a sentence RARELY given to a shinigami below captain level. AND LITERALLY NO ONE BATS AN EYE. (Renji, interestingly, seems to assume Byakuya’s family’s connection can get Rukia off. Rukia knows better. But Renji’s assumptions are interesting by themselves for the fact that he wouldn’t even consider that option, if rich people hadn’t bought their own justice from Central in the past.)

Then we have the later story of Nanao’s mother (and by extension, Kyouraku). She was executed without a trail, too, for a crime Kyouraku knew she hadn’t committed because (spoiler?) he had the stolen items in his possession. Ukitake is all, oops, I guess you missed the execution, and Kyouraku acts kind of fine about the whole thing, but then quite blatantly wears her kimono FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE and, one presumes, took the captaincy oath wearing it. I feel like his silent protest should be made so much more of, because holy shit it means he has no respect for Central.

Oh, and speaking of executions. No one ever talks about how much like a police state the Soul Society is, given that it’s execution grounds (and the method of execution) is centrally located and can be seen literally every where INSIDE (and outside) of the Seireitei. Every morning, if you’re in the Seireitei, you walk in the shadow of the execution grounds, which has been used often enough THAT NOTHING GROWS BENEATH IT.

Oh... and let’s not forget the 12th Division and its random trolling hospitals to find victims (?? the whole first scene with Mayuri and Ikkaku) and the random putting of bombs into people.

And the genocide of the entire Quincy people, which actually seems to have been the point (?) of the final arc. To legit finish what they started: wipe all Quincy from the face of the earth.

Now, I can’t say anything to authorial intent. Given the ending, and the rebuilding of the Sokyoku Hill/execution grounds to be bigger and better (under Kyouraku’s… ironic?… aegis) I don’t know how we’re supposed to feel about all this. Maybe Kubo-sensei, thinks he’s drawn/written an ideal world in the Soul Society. He’s really the only one who can tell us. But, consciously or unconsciously, there’s a lot of THERE there that can be explored. I guess I can see how you could argue for a utopia…

Honestly, I’m kind of more excited that you actually found a collection of Bleach fans still fighting about something this interesting (as opposed to the seemingly never-ending ship wars.) Where are they? Where is my fam???

#Bleach #Soul Society #theories #thinky-thoughts

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tuliharja · 2 years ago

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BLEACH: Thousand-year Blood War ep 3 review

Ukitake looked as fine as ever, Mayuri looked like 'I don't want to be here berated by my boss' and 'once I get out of here, I'll blow some of my subordinates and-...oh yeah, I probably shouldn't do that, because balancing souls...well, I'm sure we can mark a few of them as collateral damage when the actual war break!' in the captains' meeting.

I loved the contrast they played later on when Yamamoto talked with Mayuri. Did you notice Yamamoto had been placed on the side of light while Mayuri was on the side of the dark? Light vs. Darkness. Emotion vs. logic. Contrasts, but everybody should remember...light can blind one from ugly things, while in dark you can't ever be so sure if the path, you're venturing on is the right one or not... Gotta love this kind of thing.

Alright, they went full punkish idol look with Hidetomo Kajomaru (or, at least as much as they could) because I remember in the manga, he was almost a carbon copy of Aizen. I think it's nice there is a contrast between the sleekness and the fact he has some punk accessories. (Because those wristbands and earrings gave me such a vibe.) Though I must admit each time I see someone wearing a dog tag, it's like a big death flag to me. Like RIP, at least they'll recognize your body Kajomaru when you'll die.

Though, even though as a manga reader I know how the whole system works already (what comes to shinigami being balancers and quincies) and I recall that from earlier Bleach anime, I think Kajomaru's explanation about the whole thing was very nice. Shino and Ryūnosuke had a very easy time following what was truly going on, which I think it's important when fighting against your opponent. The lack of information when going against the enemy or even understanding why you fight someone...could be deadly. It was also a nice touch Kajomaru basically told there isn't justice when fighting in the war. It just is, which is true. There isn't anything cool or glorious...it just is. Two sides clashing and...yeah. I think his explanation did drive the point nicely.

I liked how Uryuu stubbornly still searched from the family library (?), despite the fact, Ryuken had told him plainly 'the information you're seeking isn't in there'. But because their son-father relationship is poor...it's poor, lol. Like, Uryuu just searched out of spite after his father's clue. xD Good thing he eventually got it. (Though, it made me think just how many times Uryuu has done things out of spite, just to try and show off to his father.) Though, each time when I see when there is a clear communication cut, I can't help but wonder...why? I mean, yes, it's obvious there is bad blood between them, but wouldn't it hurt to like...maybe talk things through and thus help the other party understand things from their perspective? Because when people don't talk, it'll often lead to more trouble or misunderstandings or something bad or all the things mentioned.

I seriously lolled at the end over the fact Urahara was carrying on his back Dondochakka. xD Goes to show how strong he is, despite the fact he doesn't look like one.

Also, the next episode spells trouble for the shinigami as Sternritters have arrived~. Their arrival looked very cool and poor Kira...

This time the ending was spoken by Toshiro! ...I didn't get why, though. Though, I suppose his ending 'poem' did suit the episode...kind of?

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testingcheats0n · 4 years ago

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Sure! Sorry for the delay btw. This is long, but I do think it's interesting!

The story is about Ichigo Kurosaki, a 15 y/o (and wow, when I was really into it I thought Ichigo was so mature~) hybrid between a Human, a Shinigami- which is literally translated as a god of death, but are more like the grim reaper- and a Quincy, which are humans that gained supernatural abilities by harnessing the scarce spiritual energy of the living world. (Ichigo was lowkey a test-tube baby ngl)

One day Ichigo's twin sisters Karin and Yuzu are attacked by a creature named Hollow- a corrupted spirit who hasn't been led to the afterlife and as such has suffered the torment of being dead while stranded in the world of the living. Fortunately for them, the shinigami on duty in their city noticed that there was a disturbance. Her name is Rukia Kuchiki and she will cause Ichigo so much trouble.

They fight typical shonen stuff- ngl I was never one for fights Worldbuilding is >>>>

Well, long story short she ends up transferring her powers to him after she gets injured for being a noob- which doesn't actually give Ichigo anything more like it awakened the power that was already there, in fact, I think she made it up at some point, but oh well.

Now, normally there wouldn't be a problem with giving power away because it was an emergency, but it turns out that the afterlife is a bit of military dictatorship (*looks at the rest of the Big Three*), and they don't take kindly to outsiders and other races- especially humans- that get spiritual powers. Yikes, you might say, and you're right.

The shinigami are known for their genocides- specifically of the Quincies which had spent centuries hiding and surviving in secret. There are very few of them left, among which are/were Ichigo's mother Masaki, her adopted family the Ishidas, their son Ryuuken, and his son Uryuu (one of my favorites- he's lowkey relevant). Masaki died when Ichigo was a child, due to an incident with a Hollow that was definitely planned, but Ichigo had suppressed the memory of.

Back to the main plot. Basically, Rukia had just committed a crime punishable by death to save some random brats she found on the street. That's pog of her. The problem is that she's practically a homeless refugee now- prime bite for Hollows.

Enter ~Kisuke Urahara~. He's a proper bastard- a smug genius that thrives on chaos (sounds familiar?) and has committed a few crimes against humanity. He's a mad scientist™️, former assassin, and now an exiled shopkeeper who definitely doesn't sell homecooked drugs from his "candy shop". (There's never customers, they're probably spooked by his child laborers Jinta and Ururu)

It's one-sided hate on sight. Ichigo can't stand him, and Urahara enjoys being irritating to the fullest. However, they do have to cooperate because he's the one who supplies Rukia with all the gadgets she needs to upkeep the front of a working shinigami on duty including an actual tangible body humans can see. He's creepy, has a cane and the free favors totally don't come at a price (👀).

Anyway. Life goes on. We get some world-building. Many characters are introduced, including Ichigo's friends. Let me enumerate them because they're kind of important. Orihime is a ditzy girl that can't cook (gross food gag idk- one might call it a personality trait), is kind-hearted, and had a pair of big... personalities. Chad or Sado, a Japanese-Mexican (a POC!!) who is very loyal to Ichigo, he's quiet and unusually muscled for his age. Finally, Uryuu Ishida. Prick. If Technoblade's social awkwardness were to be mixed with Wilbur's theatre kid shenanigans and that amazing headcanon that Tommy can sew. He's a dumbass, but he's a kind-hearted dumbass deep down.

Some short arcs resumed:

Ichigo kills the Hollow that killed his mother.

His friends have powers because his soul emits spiritual energy that reacts with their vanilla human souls.

Urahara rescued a bunch of artificially-created souls that were actually slavs, from certain death at the hand of the Shinigami.

Aside from the human world and the afterlife, there's Hell, and also a purgatory-like limbo where Hollows- including their evolved humanoid forms live. It's called Hueco Mundo. Or Hollow World...

In the end, Rukia's crime is discovered and someone has to come and collect her. Those someones turn out to be her former childhood friend Renji Abarai, and her adopted brother Byakuya Kuchiki who is both powerful and important. They beat the shit out of Ichigo, take his powers away, take Rukia with them, and dip.

Urahara trains and heals Ichigo in a training montage which both unlocks his Shikai- the first stage of his Zanpakutou, which is basically his soul manifested in an avatar that gives him cool powers related to his personality- and also awakens his Hollow side. Because Urahara is a scientist and also sus af he has illegal means to access the afterlife, so he sends Ichigo, Ichigo's three friends mentioned above, and his friend, the talking cat Yoruichi to the afterlife, also known as the Soul Society.

This is where it gets interesting.

The Soul Society is like the military barracks/slums of the Soul King who is like the God of this Universe. He is in charge of maintaining the balance of the Universe or whatever. If he dies everything begins to disintegrate basically. He has his guards- which are powerful Shinigami elected for the job- and he has his soldiers, which are the rest of the Shinigami.

The Shinigami are in charge of maintaining the balance of the Universe on behalf of the Soul King- they take care of the deceased souls until they're ready to re-enter the cycle of reincarnation. Unfortunately, they're also assholes. See, it's never really explained why or how, but Soul Society is composed of two distinct social classes that live in different places.

The normal souls live in Rukongai, which grows poorer the closer to the margins of Soul Society it is, and the Shinigami live in the Seireitei- or the Court of the Pure Souls, to show you how up their ass they are. It's messed up considering most of the Shinigami come from the slums where they starved unless recruited by other Shinigami (normal souls don't need to eat, so food is not a thing and souls with powers starve) while the ruling class is composed of Noble Families born and raised in luxury. The Nobles are also in charge of safekeeping history, ancient artifacts etc.

The hierarchy of the Shinigami is complex and lengthy to explain- I don't know if you have the patience for that- if you do, I can always explain no problems. But to summarize, Ichigo enters through Rukongai, infiltrates the Seireitei, fights a bunch of people including Renji and Byakuya, and bursts in just in time to save Rukia from being executed.

There are also multiple other fights, and smaller arcs including a murder mystery, several different flashbacks from many people, and the introduction of an amazing cast with intriguing powers.

This is also when the main bad guy is revealed, his name is Aizen and now I realize he is a shittier, less-developed c!Dream...

Hmph.

From then on the main goal is to defeat Aizen, because he wants to destroy the world, kidnapped Orihime, experimented on a bunch of people, etc, etc, etc.

There were also some traitors and such, and also Aizen invented a new species with one of Urahara's inventions called the Hogyoku (it's barely a MacGuffin so *shrug*) which Urahara had hidden in Rukia's soul- which means the entire execution was a plan to get to Rukia-and they're very cool villains, but I don't think it's relevant unless you're interested.

And that's the first half of the story + I'm missing a lot of details.

Hey from now on, I'm no dsmp blog. I'm a dedicated anime fan and I've recently rediscovered my passion for Bleach.

#tw mentions of genocide

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