STOP ME WHEN YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH

Wow, That's Cold

The Espada leave the throne room first, Nel's lingering eyes on Ichigo. He shakes his head at her, prompting her to leave. She does. Then Aizen and his fuckheads leave, giving those who are left room to breathe. It's just Ichigo and his fracción.

Rukia rushes over to the lone Ichigo. She engulfs him tightly, and he can feel her shaking. He hugs back, of course. He soothes her gently, ridding her fears as well as he can. She's so small. Sometimes he forget he grew, so he's not used to their size difference yet.

"Are you alright?" He asks softly.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. What about you?"

"Eh. I could be better."

Rukia chuckles into his robes. "Same."

A small groan catches Ichigo's attention. Mizuiro is on the floor, but at least he's sitting up still.

"Mizuiro?" Rukia asks.

"Hey," he croaks.

"Lemme see you again," Ichigo states, subconsciously bringing Rukia with him by the hand.

The ginger crouches down, meeting Mizuiro face to face. He studies the smaller teen, and notices his eyes haven't changed from their blue or teeth from their sharpness. He hums in wonder.

"Uryū," Ichigo beckons the Quincy closer. "What do you think?"

Uryū frowns in brief confusion. He comes over with a slight limp to inspect Mizuiro. The smaller teen groans in pain as he glances up. Uryū's eyebrows fly above his glasses.

"His eyes are blue."

"That's what I said. Mizuiro, show him your teeth."

"My what?"

"Come on, man. Humor me."

Mizuiro rolls his eyes, but opens his mouth, his wicked fangs baring. Uryū grows a little more stunned. He grabs his chin in thought while Mizuiro closes his mouth.

"Interesting. And this happened after Grimmjow attacked you?" The Quincy asks.

"He lunged at me, but he didn't actually hurt me," Mizuiro states.

Ichigo looks up at Uryū. "So?"

"Honestly? No clue. We should probably investigate the stomach aching first."

"Good idea."

"What's wrong?" Rukia crouches down next to Mizuiro. She feels his forehead, and he sighs in bliss. Ichigo ignores the slight pang of jealousy. "He's burning up."

"Do you think we could let Orihime look at him?" Tatsuki suggests.

"I don't know. If this is his power at work, we might not want to mess with it. I'm sorry, Orihime," Uryū says not unkindly.

"Unless..." Ichigo studies Inoue, and she flushes under his stare. "Does your power expand time? You've three different ways of using your power, and one is healing. Do you think you could use that side of your power to glimpse into his condition?"

Inoue blinks at the thought. "I'm not sure. I can ask my fairies, though."

She presses her pins, summoning out her fairies. Ichigo never really understood how her fairies worked. They have their own names, personalities, looks, yet they are born from blue hairpins. Maybe they're the different parts of Inoue's personality? That would explain why her defense fairy is puny compared to her healing fairies. Her shield is pretty good, too, now that Ichigo thinks about it, but her shield makes up of three of her fairies and she only has six.

Inoue's power sure is something special. To think he gave that power to her. Well, maybe that's not how it works. Not entirely, at least. Their powers seem to grow out of the assets that are strongest. Chad's are his strong arms, Tatsuki's is her tough skin, and Keigo's is his constant speed. What's Inoue's then? Her personality? It's definitely gentle like her healing, but her overall power isn't healing; time is. What is something that Inoue has that time hasn't touched? Not her personality. Time changes that in everyone. Then what? He replays his memories of Inoue in his head, and comes to a conclusion. Inoue's strongest asset is her imagination. It makes sense. She's so bubbly and alive.