Motivation

That went well. Zen'i gasped as he crawled out of the lava pool back in Hell, but little could stop his sense of supreme satisfaction.

Indeed it did, Asahi no Kagami agreed lightly. I was able to fulfill my own goal while there.

I don't suppose you're going to tell me what it was?

No.

I thought not.

"So, you have failed. Did you not use my Zanpakutō?"

Zen'i got to his feet unsteadily, absently noting that his clothes too had been restored. "No, I did. Asahi no Kagami was doing her magic, and he was getting more and more distracted. But he managed to see me and put his Bankai through my throat." He rubbed his neck absently at the memory, trying to banish the phantom pain. The wonderful thing about the truth was that it could be twisted so beautifully to say something else without ever lying. After all, Ichigo had seen him… just after he'd dispelled Asahi no Kagami.

Hell did not look amused. "And why did you not kill him while he was distracted?"

Zen'i shook his head. "Couldn't. I tried a few times, but Ichigo's Bankai is more than just his sword. His speed and reflexes are enhanced too. He consistently saw or heard me coming and was always able to react in time. So I decided to let Asahi no Kagami really work him over first, to wear him down without distraction. I almost had him, too!" And again, all true.

Hell inspected Zen'i's face carefully, before giving a short nod. "You were far closer than any other Togabito," he admitted. "I am simply disappointed that Kurosaki Ichigo is now aware of my Zanpakutō's ability. Tell me, how was he handling its effects?"

"He was definitely shaken," Zen'i assured him. "I saw and heard him talking to himself. Stuff about being a monster, and arguing about why he wasn't purifying every Hollow he saw."

Hell smiled. "Excellent. Those are powerful doubts, and should prove very distracting to him, especially as both sides of those arguments can be very compelling." He turned and began to walk away. "Walk with me, Zen'i."

The Togabito did as he was bid, keeping a half step behind and to Hell's left. "Is she still alright?" he asked, being purposely vague just in case anyone else was listening.

"She's fine," Hell replied calmly. "It's simply occurred to me that you don't have a power to counter Kurosaki's Bankai."

"I could try to master Asahi no Kagami and earn her Bankai," Zen'i offered.

Hell shook his head negatively. "No, that will take too long. I have an alternative."

Zen'i followed Hell in silence for almost half an hour, until it became apparent that they were heading for a large cave in a section of the cliffs. "Hell-sama?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm sensing something strange."

"Oh?" Hell sounded amused. "Tell me."

"It's like… like your reiatsu has a very strong concentration in that cave. But that shouldn't be, since your reiatsu is spread relatively evenly throughout your dimension, except for you yourself. Is there another you in there?"

"You could say that."

Zen'i blinked, then shivered. One Hell was bad enough. A second would be catastrophic. How was Ichigo supposed to beat two when just one outclassed him so badly?

"Come. I grow impatient with mere walking." Without warning, Hell spun around, grabbed his servant and threw him towards the cave at high velocity.

Reacting by instinct, Zen'i managed to use the air-walk technique to slow himself down just before entering the cave, landing easily. Hell was already there, of course. Zen'i shivered again. That was a chilling display of casual power; to be able to move so fast, so easily…

"Come," Hell ordered again, and began walking down into the cave. Zen'I followed him down a slope lit by torches for a few minutes before it opened up into a gigantic cavern with dozens of full cages. And in every cage was…

"Kushanāda!" Zen'i muttered. "Of course. They're fragments of your soul, so having so many of them here gives them a similar spiritual presence."

"Yes," Hell confirmed. "There are dozens, hundreds more on lower levels and in other caves. This is the task I've entrusted to my lieutenants from the last war – to gather the remaining pieces of my soul."

"Why not just eat them and return to your full power?" Zen'i asked with a sinking heart. Ichigo had such trouble with Hell now… how would he fare against Hell's true, full power?

"The thought has crossed my mind," the ruler agreed. "But right now, it suits my purposes better this way."

"How, Hell-sama?" Zen'i made especially sure to give his voice a proper submissive tone; Hell would likely respond better to that.

"Well, for one thing… it gives me a convenient way to grant power to certain people in my service." He smiled, then raised his voice. "Hana! Open the cage nearest me!"

"Hai, Hell-sama!"

The gate in question slid up, freeing the giant beast. The Kushanāda immediately began to charge towards Hell, who did nothing but smile knowingly. And in a second it was all over. Hell had grabbed the Kushanāda by the arm, pulled it down to his level and used his other hand to punch through the soul fragment's head.

The body of the Kushanāda began to glow and shrunk down to a purple orb, held in Hell's hand. He turned to Zen'i, that same smile on his face, and then materialized Zen'i's chains before shoving the orb into them.

Zen'i felt the influx of power wash over him and gasped as he felt it manifest. "Wha… what did you just do?" he asked disbelievingly, inspecting his arms and chest. They seemed to have been covered by some kind of armor that seemed somewhere between white and gold in color. It also seemed to cover the top of his hands, and around his waist seemed to be a row of downward-pointing curved blades. He felt the armor with his hands, and noted that the armor seemed hard, smooth, but somehow flexible. He reached up and noted that it even covered all the way around his neck. "Are those skulls on my shoulders?" he demanded incredulously. He reached with right arm and felt the left shoulder. "They are! Hell-sama, what did you do?"

"I simply gave you what you needed in order to defeat Kurosaki Ichigo," Hell replied simply. "I bestowed on you the power from one of the fragments of my soul. With this, your synergy with Asahi no Kagami should increase significantly, and you should be able to keep up with Kurosaki's Bankai easily now."

Zen'i snapped his mouth shut, the implications whirling in his head. Hell had given him a portion of his soul's power. Could he…?

Hell laughed. "I see you're using your head, Zen'i! Yes, this allows you some power over my chains, enough to break them or bind people with them as long as you are in my dimension. But know this, Zen'i." His voice lowered, and his expression sobered enough for him to give Zen'i a very, very dangerous smile. "If you break your mother free without due cause, you will take her place in chains and watch as I utterly destroy her. Her torment will last for eons before I give her the relief of oblivion."

The Togabito swallowed uneasily, his throat suddenly dry as the desert he'd just left. "Yes, Hell-sama."

"Ichigo, what's going on?" Love demanded. Ichigo had just stormed into the training area, reiatsu falling on the Hollowified Vizards hard enough to send Lisa and Hiyori to their hands and knees, gasping for air. Love himself was fighting the Hollow instinct to run far, far away from this obviously very angry being.

Ichigo's scowl deepened and the reiatsu intensified, sending Love to the ground as well. Lisa and Hiyori now seemed unable to draw breath. "Hell's pissed me off, that's what's going on." And then suddenly, the pressure was gone. All three of the Vizard-Arrancar shakily got to their feet, mercifully drawing in air. "Step up the training. The timetable's been moved up. In three days, Hell's going down." And with that, Ichigo turned on his heel and stormed out of the training room. "Ulquiorra!"

The three ex-Shinigami turned to look at each other uneasily. "Three days?" Hiyori asked incredulously. "How the fuck does he plan to do that?"

"Sealing," Lisa whispered in disbelief. "He plans on mastering a seal capable of holding Hell in three days?"

"Guys, this is Ichigo," Love reminded them. "He's always performed best under pressure. I heard he gained Bankai with Urahara's training method, and it only took him two days. And our Inner Shinigami all saw what happened when Aizen pushed his buttons. If Hell's made the same mistake…"

An echo of Ichigo's Resurrección roared from within their memories, and all three of them shivered. "Kami-sama…" Lisa breathed.

"I take it back," Hiyori tried to say confidently, but her voice shook. "If he says he'll be ready, he'll be ready."

Love turned around and went back to his training dummy. Damn, but Ichigo's a scary guy.

No kidding.

Ulquiorra gave his master a report as he led Ichigo to the cells where they were keeping the Togabito. To a man, all of them had given no trouble at all as Ulquiorra carefully removed their Hell-binding chains. As a precaution, he'd decided to cut their chains all at once with the speed of Resurrección: Segunda Etapa and the power of Lanza del Relámpago, just outside of Las Noches. "I apologize for not following your instructions to the letter…" Ulquiorra began.

"No, what you did was better," Ichigo approved. "That gave Hell minimal time to realize what was going on. Did any of them get summoned back to Hell, or escape into the desert?"

"No," Ulquiorra informed.

"Excellent. Well done."

"Some of the prisoners have expressed a desire to join you."

Ichigo slowly nodded. He hadn't considered that possibility, but it bore thinking about. "I'll need to speak with them first. What's their average reiatsu comparable to?"

"A Número. Not quite Fracción level."

The Vizard grunted acknowledgment. "That's not very useful in combat except in groups. That explains why they focused so heavily on using Hell's chains."

"Kurosaki-sama, have you considered using these Togabito as test subjects for your seals?"

"That's one of the reasons I wanted to see them. The other reason was to gauge who needs more security than the others." Ulquiorra stopped in front of a door, and Ichigo paused for a moment to gather his thoughts before opening the door and stepping inside, closing the door behind him.

It was a simple room – a bed, but nothing else. For all intents and purposes, this was a cell. Sitting on the bed was a woman. Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he looked at her. She looked in her late twenties or early thirties, he guessed. Her black hair reached her shoulders, though it looked like it had been a long time since it had been properly cared for. Even from where Ichigo stood, he could see that it was tangled and dirty.

The woman looked at him uncertainly, her dark eyes reflecting a mixture of fear and anticipation even as she took in his appearance. "You're Kurosaki Ichigo, aren't you?"

"Yes. And you are?"

The woman smiled, and Ichigo blinked – just smiling enacted such a transformation upon her face that it was clear that she'd once been a beautiful woman. Even her eyes looked hopeful. "My name is Tsuki, Kurosaki-sama."

"No last name?" Ichigo noted.

Tsuki's smile dimmed. "I'm afraid I've forgotten it…"

The Vizard shook his head. "No matter." He looked at her with a hard eye. "You seem glad to see me."

"Oh, I am!" Tsuki cried out, jumping to her feet. "You're the one that Hell told us about, the one with the power to break our bonds, to cut our chains! I'm finally free of Hell! Please, Kurosaki-sama, can you send me on to the next afterlife? Soul Society, or directly into my next reincarnation? Anywhere but Hell again! Please!"

Ichigo took a moment to formulate a response to that. It was more than a bit odd having someone so obviously older than him showing him such reverential respect. "Tsuki, I'm afraid we're in unexplored territory. I could use Konsō on you, but to my knowledge that technique only purifies you of sins performed after your death, not before. Where you go depends on your actions in life. I don't know if it takes into account any repenting you've done in death. Konsō could send you to Soul Society, or it could send you back to Hell. I really don't know, and I'm sorry for that."

Tsuki's smile fell, and then her expression seemed to close itself off. "I should have known," she whispered. "Hell will never let us go." She shot a frustrated, almost angry look at Ichigo. "Well? Get it over with."

"Get what over with?"

"Use your Konsō, send me back to Hell," Tsuki bit out. "Send me back so I can throw myself into the desert and let it take me."

"No!" Ichigo barked, the memory of Shūren dissolving into sand at the forefront of his thoughts.

"What?"

"I said no," the transcendent repeated firmly. "Just because I don't know the mechanics of Konsō doesn't mean that I don't know people who do. If a technique doesn't exist to judge if you've repented, then I'll get people started on creating one. Regardless, all Togabito captured be staying in Las Noches until Hell's defeated – with any luck, he'll drain his resources training more people, giving us the time we need to beat him."

Tsuki stared at Ichigo open-mouthed. "You… you really mean that, don't you?"

"Mean what?"

"The bit about making sure we're all judged properly?"

"Yeah, why wouldn't I?" Ichigo was promptly tackled, the ex-Togabito hugging him tightly. If the moisture gathering on his vest was any indication, she was crying as well. I will NEVER understand women. "Er, Tsuki?"

"Hmm? Oh." Tsuki reluctantly let go and wiped her eyes. "Sorry. I just… I miss my children. I had begun to think I'd never get the chance to see them again. I know I made a terrible mistake, but I'm so sorry. I just want to see my children again. I want it all to be over. I don't want to go back to Hell."

Ah. Ichigo understood. Without a word, he pulled Tsuki back into a hug, one she gratefully accepted. "You'll see them again, someday," he assured her. "How would you like to help me take Hell down?"

Several minutes later, he stepped out of the room. Ulquiorra didn't seem to have moved a muscle. The former Espada said nothing, but Ichigo could hear the unspoken question. "She's agreed to be my test subject. Come on, let's get to the next one."

"Hadō 54: Haien!" Rukia cried out, flinging a blast of purple energy into Sode no Shirayuki's incoming Tsugi no mai: Hakuren. The wave of cold air promptly collapsed as the heat of Rukia's fire spell destabilized the technique.

"Shi no mai: Shirayuki." Sode no Shirayuki dissipated into a cold whirlwind of snowflakes that quickly spread out to reduce its presence.

Rukia silently charged up Hadō 73: Sōren Sokatsui, carefully observing her surroundings, waiting for the moment that her Zanpakutō would rematerialize. They had been fighting now for almost an hour, and Rukia had several light cuts from where Sode no Shirayuki had managed to nick her with her blade. Thankfully, Rukia hadn't been caught in any of Shirayuki's dances yet. Then again, she hadn't even managed to land a single blow to her Zanpakutō.

And…. there! A rush of cold air had just brushed by her right arm. She leapt away just as Sode no Shirayuki regained corporeal form and thrust her hands forward. "Hadō 73: Sōren Sokatsui!" she yelled.

"Some no mai: Tsukishiro!"

The twin blasts of Rukia's spell crashed into an ice pillar that had manifested just in time to protect its user from one of the blasts, shattering the ice but obscuring both combatants of their opponent. My turn. "Shi no mai: Shirayuki," Rukia muttered the technique she'd practiced constantly lately.

Now one with the cold air, Rukia's consciousness crept swiftly towards where she last saw her Zanpakutō spirit, only to find her apparently gone. Puzzled, she extended herself as widely as she dared… ah! Sode no Shirayuki had had the same thought, and they had ended up essentially switching positions.

Ending the technique, Rukia coalesced back into her Shinigami form at the same time that Sode no Shirayuki did. There was a warm smile on the Zanpakutō spirit's face, and Rukia grinned fiercely. "San no mai: Shirafune!" she incanted quickly, dashing towards Sode no Shirayuki, who readied who her own blade.

Their blades clashed as they danced around each other, white ribbons flying through the air as neither managed to gain the upper hand over the other. Then Sode no Shirayuki spotted an opening in Rukia's guard. She swung…

Only to go right through empty air. Rukia reappeared right behind her Zanpakutō spirit, her blade pressing against her back. "Shi no mai: Shirayuki," the petite girl whispered, half in triumph, half in disbelief. "I win."

"So you have." Sode no Shirayuki stepped forward and turned around to look at her Shinigami with pride shining in her eyes. "Well done, Rukia. How do you feel?"

"I feel…" Rukia couldn't seem to find the words as she sheathed her blade. "My muscles ache, my hands hurt, but I've never felt as strong, as alive as I do now! How could you have possibly known that I had the potential for this?"

Shirayuki's smile softened as she came closer and pulled her into a hug. "Silly Rukia… I've always known that within you was a core of strength. You just needed to find it." They stood in silence for a minute, before the Zanpakutō spirit broke the embrace and began walking towards the lake that they'd been training near. "Come. Dance with me."

Rukia's eyes lit up, and she practically chased her Zanpakutō spirit to the water, which froze over once more as they approached. Sode no Shirayuki paused as she stepped onto the ice, and reached out her hand for her wielder. Rukia gladly took it. And as one, they pushed off.

No words were exchanged as they glided across the frozen lake. None were needed. They danced and leapt and spun together, totally in sync with each other. Finally, Sode no Shirayuki broke the silence. "Rukia, do you feel it? The warmth of the cold, the blessings of the snow?"

"Yes," she whispered back.

The two of them spun, faster and faster in tighter and tighter spirals around the lake until they both came to a stop in the direct center. "All winter is our domain, Rukia. Now is the time to take your place among it! Call forth our Bankai!"

Sode no Shirayuki dissolved into snowflakes as her spirit returned to her wielder's heart. Rukia drew her blade and held it above her head as if she'd always known that this was way, white ribbon lengthening and spiraling around her body just like she'd always dreamed. Without thinking, acting by instinct alone, Rukia brought her left hand up in front of her face, forming a simple hand seal. "Bankai!"

Amagai was not happy. Kumoi had called him in to let him know of his meeting with Kuchiki Byakuya, and to tell Amagai of the new plan. To his consternation, it was both frustrating and relieving that the assassins would not be sent out again for some time. On the one hand, it was yet another reason to delay his righteous vengeance against Yamamoto. On the other hand, it eased his lingering feelings of responsibility and guilt about the prospect of betraying the people whose trust he'd won.

"My, you look angry there," Kyōraku's voice broke Amagai from his thoughts.

Amagai almost jumped, but smiled sheepishly as Kyōraku stepped out of a side street. "Sorry, just some bad news from a friend of mine."

"Oh? I'm sorry to hear that." There was a pause, and then Kyōraku spoke up again. "Would you mind some company tonight? I'd like to know how you're doing with your new Division."

"Sure," Amagai accepted easily. They began to walk at a slow pace down the street, and after a few moments, the 5th Division taicho began to talk. "I think things are going as well as can be expected. Hinigami-fukutaicho and I get along decently well, I think… it's just going to take a bit of time for me to get to know everyone."

"Of course. No conflicts, I hope?"

"Surprisingly, none," Amagai confirmed. "I thought for sure that some would reject me entirely because I came directly from the Patrol Corps, but that hasn't happened at all."

"I'm glad," Kyōraku commented warmly. "It's always nice when one's fears don't come to pass." He reached under his haori and pulled out a tall bottle. "Sake?"

"Ah, no thanks," Amagai declined nervously. "Sorry, I've got no tolerance at all. One cup of sake and I'm out for hours."

"Oh? That's a shame." Kyōraku chuckled as he put the sake away. "Then again, I imagine it's also quite useful when you have trouble sleeping."

Amagai laughed aloud. "My company in the Patrol Corps spiked my drink a few times while I was trying for Bankai. You tell me, does alcohol play well with a manifested fire-element Zanpakutō spirit? I'm surprised it didn't make me spontaneously combust!"

The two of them laughed at that for a minute. "How are you handling Yama-jii's assignment? It's an awful lot of responsibility for a new taicho."

The self-proclaimed lightweight shook his head. "I think I'm handling it alright. I've got a nice group of four, different specialties in them all. Their teamwork needs some work, but they've got promise." Amagai glanced at Kyoraku questioningly. "Tell me about Kurosaki. I've heard some from Soifon-taicho, but what I saw didn't exactly match up."

"Hardly surprising. They have opposing mindsets," Kyoraku explained. "Kurosaki Ichigo has a strong belief in doing what he feels is right and honorable, regardless of the consequences. He invaded Soul Society to rescue the Shinigami who gave him the power to save his family from Hollows. He's also fairly intelligent – not genius-level by any means, but he learns very quickly and draws reasonable conclusions from related information."

Amagai hummed in acknowledgment. Much of what Kyoraku had said had also been in the profile that Soifon had given him after becoming taicho. "He seems reasonable enough," he commented. "Soifon-taicho seemed to think that he's a danger to Soul Society."

"As the leader of the Onmitsukidō, Soifon has to prepare for any foreseeable event that could threaten Soul Society," Kyoraku reminded him. "I've no doubt that she has contingencies planned for if any of us turn traitor now. Her problem is that there really isn't a viable way for her to take out Kurosaki Ichigo without causing a civil war.

"That wouldn't be a problem if Ichigo-kun were demonstrably loyal to the Gotei 13," the normally easy-going taicho continued. "But he is not. He is loyal to his friends and family. Soifon believes that he will eventually turn on us. To her credit, that's still very possible," he admitted.

"But you don't think it's likely?"

Kyoraku grimaced. "If you had asked before the Hell conflict started, I would have said unreservedly no. He just wanted to be left alone. But a noble family kidnapped his mother, and then sent her to Hell. Other decisions were made that I don't agree with. I hope Ichigo-kun doesn't turn on us… but I would understand if he did. I believe it all hangs on if Kurosaki Masaki can be saved. If her soul is rescued from Hell, then relations would be strained but we'd eventually be alright. If she's not…" His head bowed and he fell silent.

Amagai slumped. "Then after Hell is finished, he will come to exact revenge on those who put her in that position in the first place… and we go to war to silence a threat we created ourselves," he finished grimly.

"Let us hope it does not come to that."

Ichigo and Tsuki sat in the training room while Ichigo inspected her right wrist. While he had located the reiatsu vent, he was having trouble pushing his own reiryoku back into the vent. "Maybe you're just not using enough power?" Tsuki suggested. "You did tell me that sealing is very difficult."

"Maybe. The reiatsu you naturally emit is enough to push mine away. I just don't want to hurt you by using too much at once," Ichigo admitted.

"I'm fine. I'll let you know if you're using too much."

Nodding in agreement, Ichigo summoned up more of his power and channeled it through his right hand into his index finger, where he sent a sharp burst into Tsuki's wrist.

Tsuki nearly jumped, startled by sudden sensation of his power inside her wrist. "Well, you definitely made it in that time," she muttered.

But Ichigo was too busy concentrating. He could only just sense the reiryoku he'd used, but it was a start. "Alright. Use your own reiatsu to push it out," he instructed.

She did so with little effort, and the Vizard nodded thoughtfully. His reiryoku had had no true purpose behind it, not shaped into a spell of any kind. They repeated the test with Tsuki's left wrist with the same results.

"Alright. I'm going to try to bind your arms from moving," Ichigo warned. Seeing her nod, he pressed his index fingers against her wrists and shot an even larger burst of reiryoku into her reiatsu vents, focusing on what the desired effect.

His power swiftly spread through her arms up to her shoulders, overwhelming Tsuki's own reiryoku. Once it was there, Ichigo's reiryoku expanded to fill Tsuki's arm and stiffened. "That feels… weird," Tsuki admitted. She tried to move her arms, but they seemed frozen in place. "I thought you said this was difficult."

"We haven't gotten to the difficult part yet. This is just the precursor," Ichigo explained, though privately pleased by his progress. "That was basically me replicating a low-level binding spell, and that was while I had unhindered, direct access to the reiatsu vents. The next step is seeing if I can do the same thing with my chains."

Unfortunately, Ichigo's first attempt at using his chains to invade Tsuki's reiryoku failed miserably, as none of the links even got close to her wrists. The second was hardly any better, as the chains did hit the wrists, but then failed to wrap around her properly. It was a few hours later that Ichigo finally got the hang of simultaneously wrapping her up tightly and binding her.

The Togabito rubbed her arms with a grimace as Ichigo released her again. She was starting to bruise from the repeated impact of the chains.

"Sorry," Ichigo apologized, noticing the pained expression on his training partner's face. "Let's call it a night and pick up where we left off tomorrow. Ulquiorra!"

Ulquiorra appeared right behind him with a Sonido. "Yes, Kurosaki-sama?"

"Please take Tsuki to her room and have Pesche fetch some dinner for her." Ichigo's stomach growled. "And then some for me. I'll take it in my room."

"Hai, Kurosaki-sama. Tsuki-san, please come with me."

Tsuki nodded and made her way to the Arrancar before pausing and turning to the Vizard. "You're going to win," she told him quietly. "I can tell by your intensity. There's someone down there that Hell's taken, isn't there?"

Ichigo hesitated, but nodded. "Yes."

"You'll win," she repeated. "I'm sure of it." And then she was led away.

Ichigo took a deep breath and sighed heavily. He wasn't particularly tired, but the quiet rage that had stayed with him from his fight with Zen'i was fading. Nodding to himself, he walked back to his room.

It was empty when he got there, and Ichigo had a brief pang of disappointment. He'd half-hoped that Nelliel would be there. It would have been nice to talk to her a bit more, share what Asahi no Kagami had made him see and hear… maybe even try to put to words how he felt about Zen'i.

I suppose it doesn't matter. Ichigo set Zangetsu up on the sword mount and sat at the desk, setting his elbows down upon it and rubbing his forehead wearily. The words that Zen'i had spat at him earlier echoed in his mind.

"You don't know what I am, do you?"

"There's far more to me, Ichigo. And I can't tell you."

"WHO AM I?"

I should know who he is. Zen'i is part of my soul. Why is he so hard to figure out?

A knock on the door interrupted Ichigo's thoughts. "Come in!"

Pesche walked in a moment later, carrying a tray of food and a bundle. "Ichigo-sama! Your dinner is here, and your clothes are ready."

"Ah, thank you." Ichigo took the tray and laid it on the desk. Picking up the bundle, he opened it and laid the clothes on the bed. "Perfect. Thanks, Pesche."

"No problem at all, Ichigo-sama!" The thin Arrancar seemed to glow with pride before noticing Ichigo's distracted appearance. "Is something the matter?"

"Just a lot going on, and I'm trying to figure something out."

"Maybe I can help," Pesche offered.

Ichigo was about to decline, but thought better of it. Maybe he was too close to the situation. Would a fresh perspective help? While he would prefer to figure Zen'i out himself, this was no time for pride. "Maybe you can," he allowed. "Do you know what a Zanpakutō is?"

"Of course I do!" Pesche answered, sounding slightly insulted. "I'm an Arrancar!"

Ichigo shook his head. "Sorry, I phrased that badly. My Zanpakutō spirit, Zangetsu, has a personality of his own, separate but linked to mine. In essence, his personality is made up of the traits I associate with true strength of spirit."

Pesche adopted a thinking pose. "That makes sense, I guess. Because Zangetsu is an extension of your soul?"

"Exactly," Ichigo confirmed. "The same applies to my Inner Hollow, Cazador de la Luna. He's my instinct."

"Right, of course," Pesche agreed easily. "What about it?"

"The Togabito version of myself, Zen'i. Who is he? What traits of mine does he embody?"

The Arrancar hummed for a few seconds, cocking his head to the side pensively. "Well, the more damning traits, I would think," he guessed. "Zangetsu is made of the traits that would allow a soul to become a Shinigami, right? And Cazador is made of your instinct, the most necessary part of Hollows. So, following that logic, wouldn't Zen'i be made of the parts of you that would make you a Togabito?"

"Yeah…" Ichigo sighed. "I'd made that connection. Pride, hate, rage. But he said there was a lot more to him. What else could damn me?"

They were both silent, dinner forgotten, for so long that Ichigo was about to sigh and send the insect-like Arrancar away so he could get some rest. But he was stopped when Pesche jumped up excitedly. "Wait a minute!" he cried out in triumph. "Sinning grievously sends souls to Hell, right?"

"Right…"

"So, sinning is an action," Pesche concluded. "Personality traits aren't actions…"

"…but they are the motivation behind those actions!" the Vizard finished. "Of course! I've been looking at this the wrong way. I've been trying to figure out traits of mine were bad, instead of looking at what traits would motivate me to commit those sins!"

Pesche struck a ridiculous pose. "Once again, the genius Pesche has demonstrated his unparalleled intellect!"

Ichigo tried, and failed, to hold back to a chuckle. "Thanks, Pesche."

"Anytime, Ichigo-sama." He bounced through the open door easily, closing it. Even so, Ichigo could still hear him gloating to himself as Pesche walked away. "Wait till Dondochakka hears about this!"

Ayumu and Akio stood upon the terrace once more, staring out at the sunset. "I've been thinking," Ayumu said quietly.

"As always," Akio replied easily with a knowing smile. "What about this time?"

"The nature of the human soul."

"Deep thoughts indeed."

"Humans tend to group with like-minded people, people they can sympathize with."

"Yes. What are you thinking?"

"Do you think that that tendency persists on a soul level?"

"How do you mean?" Akio sounded a little interested.

Ayumu took a breath, trying to organize his thoughts. "I was just thinking… Hollows are drawn to Hueco Mundo naturally, even if no other Hollow has shown them the way. Souls who need no purification are called to Soul Society even without a guide. What if souls are naturally pulled to go to the world that best suits them? What if the human soul naturally gravitates towards beings that are like them? Hollows to the Hollows in Hueco Mundo, Pluses to the souls in Soul Society?"

For once, Akio looked outright intrigued. "That's… a very interesting thought. It's worth testing."

"But how would we test it? We would need to create a world, then populate it with enough souls to create a presence that dead souls can identify with. How would we get that many souls to volunteer for this experiment, let alone ensure they all have the right common element?"

Akio smiled. "This seems an excellent opportunity, my friend, to test your other theory at the same time. Segregation and rehabilitation of evil souls?"

Ayumu blinked, and then his eyes widened as he finally understood exactly what Akio was suggesting. "Wow. You're serious?"

"Yes." Akio turned to look at his long-time friend. "I, too, tire of seeing the unjust continue to escape punishment for their crimes. The number of souls who succumb to temptation have been increasing disturbingly. Let us create your world for the sinners, so that they might be more thoroughly cleansed before returning to the rest of humanity. Even if your theory about soul gravitation proves false, then you could still rehabilitate the ones we discover to be evil."

"We're going to make a world," Ayumu whispered in awe. "A world where people may repent for their evil. The good may continue to come here and live in the paradise they've earned, while the wicked are made to understand why they were wrong."

"Yes. But be warned: you cannot force people to see a better way, not when they blind themselves to the suffering of others. This new world may simply become a very large prison for those who refuse to be cleansed. Can you make peace with that knowledge?"

"I'm not sure," Ayumu admitted. "But I have to try. If I can turn their hearts, then maybe one day all the worlds will be at peace, and we can discover a way to grow without needing conflict to spark it."

Akio smiled. "Your name truly does suit you. Let us begin."