Inversion of Truth

Cazador opened his eyes, looking even more like Ichigo than usual with one of his trademarked scowls adorning his face. Great. So Ichigo's fighting some embodiment of Hell reiatsu. I bet he's giving it everything he's got, and I'm not there! Fuck, that's just not fair! Why does some stupid poser get to fight Ichigo right off the bat when I had to wait for Ichigo to get his shit together? You better win in there, Ichigo, I've got a bone to pick with you!

Growling, Cazador stood. Tōsen still appeared to be meditating, so he turned to the still-sitting Vizard and pointed at Shinji. "Oi. You, c'mere." The Hollow that was once Shinji rose and walked to Cazador calmly. "Not sure this is gonna work, but I'm gonna give you a direct order and I expect you to follow it. You don't, I hurt you. Understood?"

There was no response. Cazador didn't really expect one, though he privately felt it would've been nice. "Seal your Resurrección," he commanded.

The ivory robe that Shinji sported began to melt and coalesce, retracting as though being vacuumed up into the center of his chest. His skin, too, returned to the same pale complexion as Cazador himself, and then his mask retracted and shifted, leaving nothing covering his face, but instead a circlet that wrapped around his forehead, with a short flowing hood reaching down to cover his neck.

Shinji's clothes had changed somewhat in his transition from Vizard to Arrancar – like Cazador, he wore loose leggings, though his were the same shade of yellow as his Resurrección skin. He was also dressed in a simple long-sleeved shirt of similar color, though it looked slightly loose.

Finally, Sakanade materialized in a flash of reiatsu, and Shinji's Hollow snagged it in midair, before apparently sheathing it behind him in a similar way to Cazador's Zangetsu. "Aaah," the Arrancar sighed in relief. "Thanks. Cazador de la Luna, right?"

Cazador nodded. "And you are?"

Shinji's Hollow shrugged. "I don't have a name."

Cazador frowned. "That's not right. I learned my name after beating Ichigo for the first time."

"Well, I haven't exactly beaten Shinji, ya know," Hollow Shinji replied easily, looking around. "He let me have control to keep us alive when everyone else went berserk. It's also the reason I hadn't left Resurrección; since Hell forced it, and we hadn't earned it, neither of us were in control. Or at least, that's how Sakanade explained it."

Cazador rubbed his brow. He was getting answers, but damn it Ichigo was better at this than he was! Give me a fight and I'm good. Otherwise, leave it to Ichigo. "So you can't use Resurrección until you beat Shinji?"

"Yeah," Hollow Shinji sighed and scratched his head absently. "Something about Shinji still being the owner of the body, and how until I've beaten him down like he did me then I can't rightfully call on the power that he earned from me."

"Great," Cazador muttered sarcastically. "Let me get everyone else back to normal and then we can have this discussion as a group. Everyone, cancel your Resurrección."

A flare of reiatsu later, and there stood eight fully conscious Arrancar. Before they could even begin to speak, though, Cazador cleared his throat. "I'm sure ya have questions," he acknowledged. "I'll get to them as soon as I can, but right now we got a problem. I'm going to assume that all of your Inner Shinigami are paying attention."

There was a murmur of agreement, so Cazador nodded. "Basically, it turns out that Hell is a person bent on conquering the various worlds – living world, Hueco Mundo, Soul Society, the lot of them. We got some experience with that – Aizen and all, right? How's this for a twist? Hell can't be killed. His dimension resurrects him every time. And he's got anyone who dies in Hell as his slaves. And just because our luck sucks that much, he's probably got an army of evil freaks just yearning to get a second chance to wreck havoc.

"So Soul Society's pretty much rescinded all the laws that may or may not apply to us. We'll be protecting the living world for the most part, but that means you all need to be at full strength. Bankai and Resurrección, same as me. Am I right in thinking none of you know your names?"

Nods from his audience prompted one from Cazador as well. "We don't have time for all three of your soul aspects to learn how to trust each other. We can't do this the long way, Ichigo's way, anymore. Now it's time to do it my way."

"And what way is that?" Hollow Hiyori demanded aggressively.

Cazador smirked, and flared his reiatsu, a black and red Getsuga-like aura raging around his form as he raised his ivory Zanpakutō to his favorite position. "The fun way. Tear the sky asunder, Zangetsu."

"Oh, shit," Hollow Rose cursed, eyes wide as reiatsu-infused smoke erupted from Cazador.

Hollow Love gave Hollow Hiyori a very dark look. "You just had to ask, didn't you."

Finally, the smoke cleared, and Cazador was in his Resurrección form. He swung Tensa Zangetsu to the side carelessly, the pressure behind the swing crushing an enormous boulder a few dozen yards away to dust. "This is your test. Get those swords out, kiddies; it's time for Uncle Cazador to give you a lesson in pain!"

Hitsugaya felt the reverberations of an ongoing battle underneath them and sighed before taking another sip of the tea Urahara had been gracious enough to offer. No doubt, Cazador is training the Vizard and Tōsen in Resurrección. Trust a part of Ichigo's soul not to waste time and just get to the point. Perhaps I should do the same.

For the last several minutes, Hitsugaya had been thinking about something that would surely scandalize Yamamoto-sōtaicho. But this was not the time to waffle about decisions. "Urahara-san, I request training for myself and my comrades for the duration of our stay in Karakura."

Urahara blinked, genuinely surprised for a moment. "Why would you seek training from this lowly shopkeeper?" he asked after a moment.

"You trained Ichigo. He went from no powers at all, to being able to beat me in less than a month. Yoruichi-san continued the training, and he was capable of fighting Kuchiki-taicho in Bankai less than a week later," Renji pointed out.

"Now granted he has Hollow powers, and we don't want that for ourselves," Hitsugaya cut in quickly, forestalling Urahara's obvious reply. "However, we will shortly be fighting Togabito who have been training in Hell for Kami knows how long, and resurrect endlessly in Hell to be sent out to fight again. We need all the advantages we can gain, all the power that can be mustered."

"You were almost a match for Aizen, even after he began evolving with the Hōgyoku," Rukia added. "So, really, who else would we ask? Ichigo?"

Renji could not hold back a snort. "The strawberry's good at fighting, I'll give him that, but the only reason he got as strong as he did was…"

"Stop." Renji fell silent at Urahara's quiet, but powerful command. "I am not to praise, or blame, for Ichigo's rapid growth to power. Yes, I admit, I gave him the tools he needed, but all three of you know the path to power. Communing with your Zanpakutō," he answered, looked at Rukia pointedly, "expanding your repertoire of usable techniques…" That part seemed to be directed towards Renji, who looked abashed. "… and experience." The final words were directed towards Hitsugaya, who looked on icily.

"Ichigo earned every last drop of his power. He gained Shikai of his own volition. He chose the shorter, infinitely harder path of gaining Bankai where had he failed there is every chance he would have died, and even after succeeding using it damaged himself. He became the first Vizard to ever gain Resurrección by taking unbelievable risks with his own soul and identity. He was able to kill Aizen after being forced to make a horrific choice, and finding it within him to sacrifice still more of something precious to him. So don't you dare sully his sufferings and achievements by painting him as a product of what I did to him."

Urahara glared at the three before him. "If you want strength, get it the right way. Earn it. From your Zanpakutō, and from yourself. I refuse to train you. And even had I wanted to, I have little time – I am extremely busy preparing for the invasion and performing research on the Togabito reiatsu samples I have."

Hitsugaya-taicho nodded, giving Renji a cold glare for a moment. "Thank you for your time. With your permission, we would like to wait for Inoue-san, Sado-san and Ishida-san to arrive so we may work out accommodations."

Urahara waved dismissively as he rose and retreated to his secret back room where he was performing his experiments. As soon as he left, Rukia smacked Renji upside the head, hard.

"Ow!"

"Idiot! Fool! Of all the things you could have said, you had to imply that Ichigo didn't earn his power?"

To his credit, Renji did look ashamed. "Sorry. It's just a bit… frustrating. We've all been at this for decades if not centuries, for far longer than Ichigo's even been alive. We've all worked hard. So it just feels so worthless when along comes Ichigo. One year. One lousy year. He went from human with spiritual energy to… what? An ascended Vizard with both Bankai and Resurrección, capable of owning each and every one of us in a fight. What makes him so special?"

"He's still alive," Hitsugaya answered quietly. "Humans have a short life span, remember? Less than a century, usually. They're forced to grow and adapt quickly, whereas we with our millennia-long life cannot. Every year feels to him like a decade or two feels to you."

Renji wasn't entirely sure how to feel about that – on one hand, it meant that Ichigo would continue to grow stronger with his all-too-human growth rate, leaving everyone else in the dust. On the other hand, it also meant that it wasn't any fault of Renji's that left him lacking the power to keep up. Not that I'm going to let that stop me from trying to catch up, he thought furiously to himself. Frowning, he shook his head to clear it. "We should get going – I don't want to get caught up in that fight downstairs."

"Are you sure?" Hitsugaya asked unexpectedly, looking at Renji with an inscrutable expression. "I will be joining them shortly – Urahara was correct, I do lack the experience of my fellow taicho. Fighting a variety of opponents simultaneously will help tremendously."

Renji shook his head negatively. "My problem is that I have very few tricks up my sleeve. My Bankai has all of three techniques to attack: smash with its head and body, slice with its spines, or blast with Hikotsu Taiho. Urahara was right about me too – I need to learn some variety. I was hoping Rukia would help me with Kidō, if I help her get started on Bankai."

Rukia did a double-take, looking at her long-time friend incredulously. "Me? Bankai?"

"Yes, you, Bankai," Renji asserted firmly. "You'll need to increase your reiryoku reserves a lot, but just the process of learning Bankai will make you stronger in other ways as well. I learned how to use Higa Zekkō while training for Bankai. You might learn another dance from Sode no Shirayuki."

"Shi no mai…" Rukia whispered.

Yes, Rukia. The last and greatest of my dances, Sode no Shirayuki murmured within her soul, her voice sounding as though it were carried along an icy wind to Rukia's ears alone. But to learn it, you must put your life on the line. Are you prepared to risk everything?

If Rukia was honest, she had to admit that she simultaneously excited and terrified of the prospect. Shinigami who achieved Bankai were rare for a reason. Not only was there a significant reiryoku requirement, but there was nearly always a danger to the prospective wielder's life. To achieve domination over one's Zanpakutō spirit was no small thing! There were cases where failure to achieve Bankai had soured the relationship between Shinigami and Zanpakutō to the point where even Shikai was no longer accessible!

Admittedly, Rukia had daydreamed of reaching Bankai for years, decades. But even in those fantasies, she was far older, admittedly a little taller, facing her brother in a spar. Byakuya-nii-sama would release his grip of Senbonzakura, and his Zanpakutō would melt into the ground to unveil the rows of enormous blades that shatter into his Bankai. "Bankai. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

And then Rukia, dressed in the fine clothes of the Kuchiki, would take a pose – what pose, she'd never been able to make up her mind – and call out her own Bankai, Sode no Shirayuki's pure white ribbon twisting and twirling around her dramatically as her blade began to warp into a Bankai worthy of the most beautiful sword in Soul Society.

But those had been mere dreams, idle thoughts that she had thought had no base in reality. Her levels of reiryoku had never been the greatest unlike Ichigo's or Renji's, and she'd honestly never considered herself strong enough to even aim for that height of power. Could she really reach it? Rukia took one look at Renji, who was looking at her with utter confidence, as if he could see something in her that she herself could not. That steadied her resolve, and gave her courage. "Then let us train, Renji. Show me the way to Bankai, and I will teach you Kidō."

Leaning against the wall just beside the door from the other room, Urahara smiled, tipping his hat over his eyes as he silently moved away.

When Hitsugaya entered the basement to enter the fray, he was taken aback at the situation. The Vizard-turned-Arrancar were all teaming up against… Cazador de la Luna? Yet Ichigo's Hollow stood his ground easily, without even a scratch, while several of the Arrancar were panting, sweating and bleeding. Shinji's left arm hung uselessly from his shoulder, which bled profusely, while Hiyori was doubled-over in pain, clutching her stomach. Toshirō took a moment to consider his options, and then decided to sit and wait – it was always wise to study your opponents' fighting styles, and while he'd seen Ichigo's, he was curious how Cazador de la Luna deviated from Ichigo in combat styles.

"Is that all?" Cazador taunted. "You'll never beat me like this."

"Kensei, Hiyori, cover me!"Shinji barked, spinning Sakanade quickly. No one was bothering with adding "Hollow" to their names anymore – using their Shinigami names, everyone knew who was being addressed anyway. "Everyone else, keep him occupied!"

"On it!" Kensei replied, flashing in front of Shinji with a burst of Sonido, charging Tachikaze with his reiatsu.

Cazador laughed. "You think I'm going to give you the time to confuse my senses? Getsuga Tenshō!"

Everyone jumped or Sonido-ed well out of the way of the enormous Getsuga, except Shinji and Kensei. Kensei's Zanpakutō glowed brightly for a second before he thrust it in front of him, unleashing a large energy blast, deflecting the Getsuga just enough to miss everyone. "Hurry it up, Shinji!" he bit out. "I don't have many more of those left in me!"

"I just need a few more seconds…!"

"Too bad." Cazador materialized right behind Shinji with the low sonic boom of Sonido, snagging Sakanade in mid-revolution and halting its spinning. Easily, carelessly, he snapped the Zanpakutō in half and kicked Shinji into a nearby boulder, which crumbled around him. "You don't have that long."

"Shinji!" Hiyori cried, rushing Cazador with her Kubikiri Orochi, only for Cazador to smirk. A moment later, all the Arrancar stood in shock – Cazador hadn't even bothered to block with Tensa Zangetsu. A single finger had been all he put up, and Kubikiri Orochi was halted instantly.

"Ha! Now I get why Aizen did that to Ichigo!" Cazador cackled. "The stupid looks on your faces are hilarious!"

"You've got to be kidding," Lisa muttered. "A finger? Are we that much weaker than him?"

"Damn it!" Hiyori cursed, backing off to hopefully form a better plan than "Just cut his damn head off." He's too powerful! Oi! Kubikiri! What do I gotta do for Resurrección?

You must earn back the right to your Hollow power. That would mean taking it from Hiyori.

Fuck that! I refuse to let that strawberry get away with blocking us with ONE FINGER! Earn, nothing, I'll give it to you! Take your power, Hollow, and make him bleed!

Hollow Hiyori was suddenly rooted in place as a strange sensation within her suddenly grew. She could feel her Hollow power skyrocketing as Inner Hiyori drew her Hollow mask. "Thanks, Hiyori," she said aloud, the tell-tale Hollow echo catching everyone's attention as she flared her reiatsu as high as it would go. "Let's kick his ass together! Chop Cleanly, Kubikiri Orochi!"

The dust and dirt kicked up from the fight so far spun around crazily, obscuring Hiyori from vision for a few moments, but when it settled she was back in her Resurrección form from Hell, with one minor difference: her mask was largely gone. Now only the horn remained, though diamond tattoos had appeared on her cheeks. Once again, she still had no Zanpakutō, but Hiyori could feel the raw power in her veins just aching to be unleashed. "Let's try this again!" she challenged.

Cazador's grin grew larger and far more bloodthirsty. "That's more like it! Glad to see at least one of you learned the damn lesson!" Stabbing Tensa Zangetsu into the ground next to him, he rushed at Hiyori to fight claw-to-claw. A flurry of exchanges later, Hiyori was sent flying into a enormous boulder hundreds of feet away, sending it crumbling around her.

"Don't you dare look down on me!" Hiyori screamed, flaring her reiatsu, blasting away the rubble with a cry. Crossing her arms, she gripped the blade-like protrusions from her elbows and snapped them off before rushing at Cazador once again.

Cazador suddenly appeared behind her in the sonic boom of Sonido and kicked her in the back, once again sending her flying. "Too slow, Hiyori-chan!"

Hiyori bounced on the floor a few times, clutching her makeshift weapons desperately. Getting to her feet wearily, she took one look at Cazador, who was still completely unharmed. "Damn it!" Angrily hurling the blades at Cazador, she was taken aback when they suddenly transformed into cobra-looking snakes as large as she was. The cobras hissed angrily, hoods flared out and jaws unhinged, ready to take huge chunks out of Cazador's hide.

Dodging quickly, Cazador took stock on the new situation. "You have got to be kidding me!" he complained, taking a moment to Sonido behind one and rip it to shreds with his sharp claws. "I haven't learned any of my unique Hollow abilities yet, and you get one in the first few minutes?"

"I can't really be surprised by that," Shinji said loudly from a small distance away, reiatsu oozing into the air around him in visible wisps as his Zanpakutō repaired itself. "You've never needed your unique abilities, not with your deal with Ichigo. You both are far more comfortable with swinging Zangetsu around, and even without your blade you're faster and stronger than us. You've never been pressed into needing anything more since you achieved Resurrección." He gave a toothy grin, and suddenly his voice regained its Hollow echo. "You're surprisingly subtle, though, despite all that. Nice lesson, making us invert everything to gain our power back. But Sakanade taught Shinji and I more about reflections than you'll ever know. Collapse, Sakanade!"

His Zanpakutō suddenly, for lack of a better word, unraveled, transforming into one very long ivory cloth that spun around Shinji rapidly, obscuring him from view before settling down into the sleeveless robe that he had worn in Hell. His circlet, the mask remnant from his pre-Resurrección state, had grown a single upward-curved protrusion in the center, but otherwise remained unchanged.

"Heh," Cazador chuckled, telekinetically summoning Tensa Zangetsu back into his hand with a mental call. "Now things are starting to get interesting."

Yes, yes they are.

Cazador stumbled in shock, then held up a hand. "Hold on, Ichigo's back. Shinji, Hiyori, spar with the others and try to make them understand what you figured out."

The two nodded in acquiescence as Cazador Sonido-ed a fair distance away and sealed his Resurrección. A few moments later, he entered his Inner world. Ichigo was standing next to Zangetsu, arms crossed and his perpetual frown on his face. "So, I see you finished up with your new doppelganger," Cazador observed with a smirk.

"Yeah, took a bit longer than I expected, but it's finished. I need control of my body again, and we don't have time to fight this time."

Cazador grinned. "Glad to have you back, King. Don't worry about the fight, we're about to get into the fight of a lifetime. I'll fill you in as you go."

Ichigo nodded as he took control of his body again. Feeling it shift from Arrancar to Vizard once more, he opened his eyes and began to move. He half-listened to Cazador telling him what all had happened in the interim, but in truth, all Ichigo was interested in was getting to Yuzu and Masaki. He'd spent a few moments pouring over his Hollow side's recent memories when he'd awoken in the Inner World, so he knew where to go.

"Oi! Kurosaki!" Hitsugaya called out.

"Not now, Tōshiro. Busy," Ichigo said tersely. Not bothering with climbing the ladder leading up to Urahara's shop, he merely leapt straight up to the top and entered the shop.

"Ah, Ichigo-kun, you're back," Urahara greeted warmly.

"Urahara," Ichigo acknowledged. "Take me to them."

The shopkeeper's smile faltered, before he dipped his head, allowing his hat to shadow his face. "Alright. Can you actually break the chains?"

"Yes."

Seemingly reassured by Ichigo's surety, Urahara led him into a backroom, where Hachigen was meditating and apparently maintaining what appeared to be a complex set of barriers. "Hachigen, let us in," Urahara requested.

Without opening his eyes, Hachi nodded and a man-sized door appeared in the barriers, allowing Ichigo access. He quickly made his way to his mother and sister, quietly assessing how they looked. They look… dead. They were both pale, and neither was breathing. It made Ichigo's heart ache. This is my fault.

Yamamoto said they were trapped – not in Hell so they can't revive, but neither can they be saved.

Does that mean that we have to bring them to Hell for them to be revived, before I break the chains?

Perhaps Urahara would be the better one to ask.

Ichigo quickly repeated his question for Urahara, who looked uncertain. "I'm afraid I have no data, Ichigo-kun. They may revive after you break the chains, or they may simply deteriorate as spirits do after death. However, the chances of Yamamoto-sōtaicho allowing you to take them to Hell are slim at best."

"Has Inoue been in to try to reject their being taken by Hell?"

"Yes, I tried, Kurosaki-kun," Inoue's voice suddenly sounded, as she walked into the room, her voice and expression sorrowful. "The Hell chains are too powerful. Even if you were to lend me your power using medical Kidō, it would be too dangerous. Somehow the chains have become part of their being – rejecting them outright would damage their souls. If you can remove the chains, I might be able to revive them, but to bring them back from death might be beyond even my powers. I don't know, and I don't think you want to run that risk on your family, Kurosaki-kun."

"Damn it!" Ichigo cursed, turning back to his family and kneeling next to them. "I'm sorry, Yuzu, Mom. I can't save you yet. But I will."

"Kurosaki-kun?" Inoue asked with uncertainty in her tone.

"The Berean family had the knowledge to send souls to Hell. They'll have the knowledge of how to save them," the Vizard declared, standing up and striding out of the barrier.

"Ichigo, the Berean family is working with us now," Urahara quickly informed him. "I'm not sure what all you've been informed of…"

"Hell is a person, made the dimension; his soul was shattered a long time ago by the Spirit King, now he's back and is probably going to go to war with us," Ichigo summarized succinctly.

"… I see, so you're already aware. The Berean family has already shared its knowledge, and we have three taicho going over their records for any useful information."

Ichigo paused. "Who?"

"Ukitake-taicho, Kyōraku-taicho, Kuchiki-taicho."

The transcendent sighed. "I guess I can trust them."

Ichigo, there is one other way… Hell said he would trade them for two souls who are equally 'pure'.

…

King, are you really going to consider that option? For once, Cazador sounded unsure.

… For my family, I will do anything, Cazador. Anything.