Sintesis Gris

Chapter 2

They all clambered through the hole in nothing, Ishida holding Orihime's hand, Chad carrying Rukia. A pair of hollows followed them, one with a mask that looked like a cross between a cow's skull and a scorpion's head and one with a tiki mask. Urahara ignored them for now, as he did the little arrancar that followed them.

The sounds of Ururu and Jinta chasing his three new projects around the great underground chamber echoed in the silence. Kuchiki-san wriggled out of Sado-san's arms and stood shakily, still leaning on him. He raised an eyebrow at her.

Kuchiki bowed shakily. "Urahara-san," she said. "How did you find us?"

"Oh, I've been tracking you since you left! Special kidou in the portal, you see. A better question would be 'where were we?'"

Kuchiki stared at him, perhaps put off by his flippant attitude.

"Where were we, Urahara-san?" Inoue-san asked obligingly.

"Nowhere!"

"I told you!" yelled one of the hollows to the other. They immediately started arguing with the arrancar attempting in vain to break up the fight. Urahara continued to ignore them.

"What do you mean by 'nowhere?'" asked Ishida.

"I'll explain that later," said Urahara, "and then we'll try to figure out how you got there in the first place. For now I need to know what happened to Ichigo."

Kuchiki grimaced. "He- he wasn't there when I woke up." Inoue broke out into tears.

Urahara sighed and sat down on a near by rock. The sounds of battle, or whatever you wanted to call it could still be heard, as could the voice of Yoruichi's cat form, shouting "encouragement."

Inoue, who had been sobbing into a rather stunned Ishida's chest, suddenly stopped crying and turned her head towards the noise, and the accompanying reiatsus.

"Is that Tatsuki-chan?"

It was at this point that a quickly approaching feline scream was heard. A moment later a low flying cat-shaped Shinigami-exile hit Ishida in the face, knocking him to the ground. Inoue seemed not to notice.

"Ah, yes," replied Urahara. "Our friend Kurosaki-san's powers seem to have rubbed off on a few more of his friends."

Arisawa-san herself appeared over a large bolder shouting something about already knowing how to fucking fight. She demonstrated her excellent footwork by proceeding to fall head-over-heels off the bolder in shock upon seeing Inoue-san.

"Ouch."

"Tatsuki-chan!" yelled Inoue running towards her. She engulfed Arisawa in her arms and began sobbing into her shoulder. "Tatsuki-chan, it was so horrible... they - they - and we lost Kurosaki-kun!"

"Ah, yes," said Urahara from behind them as Ishida finally got to his feet. "Would you mind explaining how you managed that?"

-___________-

The room with the mirror was his. He was to sleep and live in it. Master had given it to him. It contained a bed for sleeping on and a chair for sitting in. There was another little room for washing blood off after missions. Gris was curious about missions.

He tried the water. It was very cold. He felt, distantly, that that was unusual, but he couldn't imagine why. Why would he need warm water?

He stayed in his room for a few hours, just exploring all the new things. Everything was so new. There were so many surfaces to touch, so many new textures to feel. It was amazing. There were things to wear. He spent a while feeling and smelling those, then put them on: a white trench coat tight white loose white pants and a tight, sleeveless black shirt. Then he went back to exploring the rest of the room.

Eventually he ran out of new things, of little imperfections in the walls, to explore, so he ventured out of his room. It wasn't long before he found someone new.

The new person had part of a mask, like him. It covered the top of half of his black hair. He had green eyes and very pale skin and he wore black and white, just like Gris.

Gris didn't know how to deal with new people. He'd only known how to treat his master because knowing that was part of who he was.

He cocked his head to the side and stared at the new person, wondering what to do. The new one solved his problem by speaking.

"You are ... Sintesis Gris?"

Gris nodded, wide eyed. This was the first voice other than his master's and his own that he had heard.

"I am Schiffer Ulquiorra. I was sent to bring you to Aizen-sama."

"To Master?" Gris asked. Was his master not this person's master? Why did he only call him "sama?"

The new person looked at him oddly. Pityingly? Why would he pity Gris?

Ulquiorra started walking away. Gris watched him blankly. After a few steps he turned around.

"Follow me," he said. Sintesis followed.

-____________-

"- and I saw Aizen grab something, maybe it was Kurosaki-kun, but then we were in the middle of the black place all of a sudden."

They were all sitting around a traditional low table, including Asano-san, Kojima-san, and the desert brothers, who had been cowed into silence by a well-placed threat from Tatsuki-chan. She was currently staring at them suspiciously.

"Well then," said Urahara-san, "the best we can hope for is that Kurosaki-san's soul has been completely annihilated.

"WHAT!?"

Orihime wasn't sure if anyone had actually said "WHAT!?", but that seemed to be the general sentiment. Nell-chan started bawling and Tatsuki slammed her fist into the table, causing it and Asano-san to jump, but it was Kuchiki-san's reaction that was most marked. She actually jumped up onto the table and grabbed Urahara by his collar.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN 'TOTALLY ANNIHILATED?! HOW THE HELL IS THAT 'THE BEST WE CAN HOPE FOR'?!"

"Ku- Kuchiki-san, please calm down. I you must consider the alternative!"

"And what exactly is that?" asked Uryuu as Orihime snaked her hand into his.

"That he is currently in Aizen's hands."

-____________-

Ulquiorra lead Sintesis Gris into a long white room with a long white table. His master was sitting at the end of the table opposite the door through which they entered. Upon seeing him, Gris broke in to a contented smile.

"And if that is the case - "

Master rose, and Gris's the other people at the table followed his actions. Aizen walked back to Gris, who immediately knelt, looking up at his master with adoring eyes.

" - the Kurosaki Ichigo who we all know - "

"Espada, this is Sintesis Gris. Your new leader." Slowly, he began to clap his hands.

The applause spread.

" - is already worse than dead."