The former espada and Carrot top meet! (Ichigo)

Locura stared at the house that belonged to the Kurosaki family. Currently, the girl was out of her gigai, so as to not arouse suspicion as to why she was staring at this particular house. She heard it was home to the boy known as Ichigo Kurosaki, who had single-handedly saved the Soul Society while at the same time completely screwing up the espada. He is certainly going to be interesting to meet... Locura thought to herself, hoping he showed up soon; her reiatsu wasn't suppressed in the slightest, so that he could be able to easily sense that she was there.

I have been standing out here for a while...I wonder, does this Ichigo's school have demonic teachers and classes? That has to be it! They work the kids to the bones until they have to let them go, but even then, they sometimes keep kids for diabolical experiments! Locura was thinking to herself, although her face didn't betray the thoughts she was thinking.

After a long while of contemplating, she eventually walked up to the door and began to pound on it with her hand. "Carrot top!" she shouted, having heard that calling him such would get his attention more quickly than Ichigo. "Open the door!" she cried out loudly, her banging on the door still occurring as she hoped he would heed her words and open the door soon. I hope he's home, otherwise I'm gonna look stupid Locura thought to herself as she kept banging on the door.

Ichigo dragged his feet along the pavement as he walked home from school. His hand in his pocket, he let out a yawn. Having fallen asleep during class today, he got stuck with cleaning duties, having to clean the entire classroom by himself. He had been so tired it took him 3 times longer then it usually would. Taking his hands out of his pockets, he held onto the straps of his backpack, looking up at the stars as he walked. A normal boy would be going home right now to do his homework then go to bed. But not Kurosaki Ichigo. If he had time, he would quickly do his homework, then go out for his nightly patrols. Maybe after that he'd get some sleep.

Ichigo turned the corner of the street that led to his house, a strange, unfamiliar reiatsu filling his senses. He had never met the Arrancar that the energy belonged to, but he knew what their reiatsu felt like. Bursting out into a run, he stopped at the gate of his house, looking at the girl knocking on his door. He could hear her voice from all the way down the street. Narrowing his eyes, he crossed his arms. "Who the hell are you?" He shouted boistruously, not caring who he woke up. The heavy, tired feeling had left his body now, being replaced with adrenaline from sensing the Arrancar reiatsu.

She was forced to just stand there, staring at the door, feeling stupid; she really was starting to get the feeling that he wasn't home. As if to confirm that feeling, she felt an unfamiliar reiatsu enter the area, though it felt like a vizard's reiatsu. Ah...right, I did hear he had an inner hollow Locura thought to herself, turning in the direction the reiatsu was coming from. "Ichigo Kurosaki, right?" Locura questioned as she looked up at him, her mask fragments clearly visible on either side of her mouth. He was quite a bit taller than her but, considering the fact that she looked rather young, that was to be expected. "It's a pleasure to meet you; glad to see that your teachers' demonic experiments didn't end up with you dead or worse," she said this cheerfully, a smile on her face as she spoke to him.

"My name is Locura Ash; I doubt you've heard of me, but I'm a much, much former espada. I've heard lotsa things about you, Carrot top. Stuff like how you single-handedly messed things up for both the shinigami and the espada," Locura was saying to him; truth be told, she didn't really know why she was talking to him, she just felt like meeting him. "Look, you're still allied with the shinigami, aren't you?" she decided to ask of him; she figured that one of the best people to tell about the situation with the current espada was Ichigo. If he really was the one who had managed to save everyoen by himself, he would definitely be a help when it came to stopping the espada's invasion that was planned.

Ichigo opened the gate to his home and walked up the pathway, hearing the gate creek shut behind him. He approached the other, looking down at her. He had grown quite a bit since the battle with Aizen, and had also grown out his hair a little. "Ichigo Kurosaki, right?" His dad had left the outside light on for him, so he could clearly see her mask remnants lining her jaw. He felt really uncomfortable having an Arrancar right outside his house. "Yah, thats me. he responded. "It's a pleasure to meet you; glad to see that your teachers' demonic experiments didn't end up with you dead or worse," What the hell was she talking about? His teacher's experiments? How did she even know about human school? He raised an eyebrow at her comment. "Uhh... yah..." was all he could manage to muster up as a response to her weird comment. He was about to ask his previous question again, but then the girl began speaking again.

"My name is Locura Ash; I doubt you've heard of me, but I'm a much, much former espada. I've heard lotsa things about you, Carrot top. Stuff like how you single-handedly messed things up for both the shinigami and the espada," His eye twitched angrily as she called him 'carrot top'. Fuck, did he ever hate that nick name. If he knew it wouldn't start a conflict right outside his front door, he would have said something about it, but he decided to shut his mouth and listen to what she had to say. He would give her at least that. "Look, you're still allied with the shinigami, aren't you?" He nodded at her question. "Yah, I am. So why are you here? How did you find my house?" Hopefully the location of his home hadn't become public knowledge to the Arrancar. He'd be getting a lot less sleep if it did.

Locura followed behind the taller male, listening as he replied to her. She was glad that she hadn't gotten the wrong boy; then again, she thought it would have been impossible to get the wrong boy, considering the fact that barely anyone had a hairstyle like Ichigo did. She knew he was rather confused about her comment about the school, and frowned as she explained. "I know the teachers at that school of yours has demonic teachers that work kids to the bone and, on occasion, they make kids stay after school is over to be in some kind of evil experiment. Kinda obvious, really," Locura said to him, casting a glance to his home after she said that; it looked like a modest enough place. Why are so many houses in the human world the same? 'least this place isn't the same as all those other places Locura thought to herself, looking back at him as his eye twitched.

"Sorry about calling you that, carrot top. Would Kuro-chan be better?" Locura asked him, a small smirk on her face as she asked that; she doubted he would be pleased with that either. "Finding your house wasn't THAT difficult; it isn't like there are a ton of vizards wandering about Karakura Town, after all. I just had to investigate each reiatsu that felt like a Vizard's, and it was a matter of time until I found yours," Locura said to him; she knew he didn't exactly trust her, so she wondered if he would accept that explanation. "I'm here mostly because I have something to tell you about the current espada." Locura hoped that would gain his interest. "Plus, I just kinda wanted to meet you, since you seem like an interesting person."

Ichigo almost let out a laugh when she explained her wierd comment about his school. She really had no clue. But if that's what she wanted to think, whatever. "Yah, they can be pretty mean." He said, putting his hands into his pockets. His fingers played with a round spirit pill that he kept in there for emergencies. He rolled his eyes as the other called him carrot top again. Wow, thick chick was getting under his skin already.

"Just call me Kurosaki." he said, a little agitation in his voice. He was also a little annoyed with how easily she had found him. Not with her this time though, but with himself, for not being able to hide his reiatsu better. He had tried training to do so, but had yet perfected the ability. Then the arrancar said she wanted to talk to him about the current espada. He didn't care that she wanted to meet him, that didn't matter. He needed to know what she knew about the espada. "What about the Espada? What do you know?" He asked, his voice a little loud considering the time of night.

"Pretty mean? Well then, ain't that an understatement. If working your students to the bone to cause the school to collapse is pretty mean, I'd hate to see nasty," Locura commented, and she appeared to be beliving every single word she said. Considering who she was, this would come as no surprise to any who knew her, but she did just meet Ichigo. He just wants me to call him by his last name huh? Locura thought to herself, nodding her head at that.

"Alright, alright! I'll call ya Kurosaki then," Locura replied cheerfully, ignoring the agitation in his voice as she said that. It was around then that he asked about what she knew about the espada. "I don't fully know what's happened since Aizen's died, and even then I barely knew what was going on, but from what I've gathered, an arrancar by the name of Dellapero performed a coup and defeated Grimmjow to become the leader of the espada. Now he's planning on marching on the Soul Society within a week, maybe less." Locura informed the vizard; she wasn't sure how long ago she heard this news, so for all she knew, they could be marching on the Soul Society the very next day.

Staring back at her blankly, he blinked. Ichigo couldn't process what he had just been told. There were so many thoughts running through his mind at the moment, he didn't know where to start. Why was this Arrancar telling him this? Is it a trap? If it's true, would soul society and the Gotei 13 have already known about this? If they had, why weren't they preparing for it. "Why are you telling me this? Why give away your commrades?"

He would try to get as much information out of her as he could, then go to find... someone. He didn't know who he was going to tell, but he had to do it soon. Time may be running out.

She returned his stare, wondering what he was waiting for; she expected him to have any number of questions, after all. As it turned out, he eventually did ask her a question; a rather inane question n her mind. Hadn't she said that she was an ex-espada? from a long time ago? Why did he think that she would still be loyal to the espada after having left them, especially when she barely knew them now? "Comrades? Pfft, funny joke Kurosaki. They're not my friends in the slightest, 'cept for maybe Ichi-chan. He's...different, compared to most shinigami," Locura stated. "The reason I'm telling you this is because if anyone can stop what's going to happen, I believe it's you."

Well, her response had seemed sufficient enough. Nel was an ex-espada, and he trusted her. The orange haired boy decided to trust this Arrancar, nodding his head to her. He needed to go somewhere... anywhere... Soul society needed to know about this. Looking down into her eyes, he pulled the spirit pill out of his pocket. "Thanks for the information." he said, popping the pill into his mouth, swallowing it. His spirit form remained standing as his body fell to the ground, Kon's spirit now enhabiting it.

"I'm gunna go gather some people then go to soul society." He told her, turning around. Looking back at her from over his shoulder he added. "You commin'?"

"You're welcome; the shinigami might kill hollows and arrancars, but...they're needed for balance. If there were no shinigami, eventually all humans would be dead, oh, and thanks for deciding to trust me," Locura said to the boy, watching as he popped a pill into his mouth. "Ah...interesting; that pill seems convenient," Locura was now wishing she had such a pill, if only because it would be easier getting out of her gigai. "Of course I'm coming," Locura soon added, wondering how much time had passed since she had learned of what was going to happen. "You know, we might want to hurry; I don't know how long it's been since I heard the information. They could be attacking right now, for all I know." she stated, and although she didn't know it, they were indeed attacking the Seireitei at that moment.