This is a fan fiction. I do not own Bleach in any form.

The following day Tier and her sisters felt better than ever, they simply never had such a peaceful sleep since they could remember. Tier was thinking very hard as to why would a hollow show anyone any mercy, it was not typical of how a hollow would act. She finished her breakfast and saw that her sisters had received their morning treatment by Semillia, she decided to ask her why did Ichigo have so much food? And where she learned to heal wounds like she did. Semillia continue to work on Apachi's injuries while she decided to tell her.

"The reason we have food is because Ichigo found a way to cook and preserve our food, typical hollow flesh lasts a few hours, but thanks to my big brothers experiments in cooking, he managed to improve the taste and once prepared and properly stored. The food last for a few weeks if not a whole month. We still hunt every day, but thanks to his cooking we don't feel bad when get managed to get nothing that day." Tier found it remarkable, almost praiseworthy.

Semillia moved to treat Mila next, "As to my healing that was my experiment. Ichigo may be a kind guy, but he is a harsh teacher, and his training can lead to injuries if you don't pay attention, but in the end it is worth it. You probably will never believe me, but thanks to Ichigo's training I am strong enough to take down a gillian all by myself. I also learned to heal not only to treat my injuries, but as a thank you for my big brother. I wanted to contribute something to our home life."

She went last to heal Cyan. The last questions was the one that had the shortest answer, the question was, Does your brother have a mate? This made Semillia looked rather embarassed, as soon as she finished healing Cyan she look at Tier and told her that as far as she knew, her brother had no mate or has ever looked for one. "But why? As far as you told me, he has virtues that would make him the single most sought out male hollow in hueco mundo. So why doesn't he have a mate?" Semillia only said that she did not know.

Tier decided to go for a walk and saw Ichigo train with what looked like a zanpakto, why would a hollow be training with the weapon of their natural enemies, the soul reapers? She saw him train and she was fascinated by the way he moved with the blade, it was almost as if he was working with his weapon, rather than simply swing it around. "Can I help you with something, Tier?" She saw certaintly surprised at being found out so easily.

"I have questions of a personal nature, would you mind answering at least answering them?" Ichigo put his sword back in on the scabbard. "I don't mind listening to them first, and if I decide after hearing them, I will choose with to answer, but you have to ask. Mind reading is not one if my talents." Tier could not help but to laugh at that last part of his comment. "Why don't you have a mate?" Ichigo told her that it was more than likely the same reason as her, the danger of hueco mundo, allowed little time for romance, as when he became a Vasto Lorde and regain his memory, most hollows were scared of him.

"True our kind doesn't have much time or opportunities to date." Ichigo told her to ask her next question. "Why did it look like you were working alinsude that sword, just a moment ago." Ichigo looked at the blade and with a smile he told her that was eaxctly what he was doing. "This blade is alive, just like I am. She is a part of me, that I had been apart for awhile, so we were just getting reacquainted. Amaterasu is shy, other wise I would be glad to introduce her to you." Tier asked how can a hollow consider a soul reaper weapon a part of himself? That was the one thing Ichigo could not answer since he couldn't figure it out, he just did.

Amaterasu knew the reason and she wished that she could tell him, she wanted to scream the reason so that all the hollows present would know. That the man holding her had been an absolute vision of what a soul reaper was. But deep down she also knew that if he learned the truth, the pain that would follow could drive him close to insane out of the sheer grief, or blind with rage. She wanted Ichigo to know the truth, but she cared too much about him to cause him such pain, in the end she decided to let him find out the truth on his own, the truth always comes out, it was only a matter of time.

The three that were injured recovered rather quickly thanks to both the food Ichigo prepared, and Semillia's treatment of their injuries, the three even talked amount themselves, that they did not want to leave their newly found home. Semillia joked with them that they might change their tune if Ichigo decided that the only way they would be alllowed to stay is that they trained. Apachi was sure if she was well, she actually would welcome the training, Cyan not so much, she said that she rather learn how to cook like Ichigo, and Mila wanted to learn how to treat injuries.

The day finally arrived, and it was as Semillia said, if they wanted to stay they needed to train and when strong enough contribute in someway to their home. It was simple really the way Ichigo explained it. "The training will prepare you to defend and be able to provide for yourselves. You never know when some unforseen tragedy might befall them, and then they will have to be able to either defend themselves or others against attack. Hueco Mundo does not let the weak live long."

Tier was not against the way idea of them training, in fact she welcomed it. In fact she asked if Semillia could train them, and she could train with Ichigo. There was nothing wrong with that idea, Semillia knew all the training methods and how his training regiment was planned. This however was far from an innocent suggestion. Tier welcomed the idea of training with Ichigo for several reasons, first she could use the training, but she wanted to spend some more time with him, so that she could get to know him better. She was also happy that she would get to spend some quality time with him, alone together.

The training proved to be a double edge sword for the threeadjuchas, one the one side only after a few months they felt stronger and tougher than before, but the negative side is that after each training session they felt pain, a lot of pain each day. Apachi was also concerned with Tier. It might be painful for her too, since the training Ichigo did was on a whole different level. Tier did not mind one bit, I mean besides the horns and tail, Ichigo was a positively hunk, but then again having teeth like she did, she really had no right to say his features were that ugly.

"Ichigo do you ever do anything that is fun?" Tier clearly said something funny, because Ichigo was laughing really hard. "Of course I do some fun things." Tier smiled seeing that he also did fun thing, "Really like what?" The answer almost made her trip on her feet. "Why training, and defending my forest from idiots that want to steal it from me." Tier was really worried about him now. 'This is his idea of fun!? I don't even want to think what he thinks is having something unpleasant to do.'

Amaterasu had gone through some changes since she last seen Ichigo, but since he did not remember it was not major of an issue. During his soul reaper days she often appeared as a beautifully dressed classy lady, but since he becameva hollow and especially since he became a Vasto Lords, her way of making herself look seemed a lot more daring, aggressive if not with a bit more sex appeal in mind. Where there had been beautiful dressed was now armor, where the clothing seem to be loose was not form fitting, and where she kept most if her figure covered, now she showed significant amount of cleavage.

Tier asked him why did he meditate everyday with his sword on his lap. His answer was that by talking, and getting to know each other, they both grew stronger and their skills would get better. Tier found this to be rather strange, how could a piece of equipment talk to him. He decided it was high time, he introduced her to Amaterasu. Concentrating on his sword the figure of an armor clad red haired woman appeared. Tier first notice that she had a rather nice figure, and a pair of breasts same size as her own. Her armor looked both tough and sexy.

"Amaterasu, this is Tier Harribel, Tier this is my good friend Amaterasu." Both ladies looked at each other and they had a rather strange smile on their faces. "So you are the one that keeps slowing my Ichigo's training, how about you put a little more effort in your training." Tier had a nice comeback all ready to go, "Well how about you keep your chats for only 3 days a week instead of every day. Then maybe I can train a lot more time."

"I can see this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship, I like her Ichigo. She definetly has a strong mind, and is not afraid to voice her opinions." With that Amaterasu disappeared. "No wonder you spend so much time talking to each other. Honestly is talking all that you do with her or do you screw around like a pair of wolves in heat?" Ichigo told her she was a very good friend but that was it. She of course didn't buy that excuse. For a strange reason she was actually feeling rather jealous. She had feelings for the guy but could it be she was in love with Ichigo.

The group almost forgot what life was before the met, the three training with Semilia were close as sisters. The forest felt truly like a home, and they had gotten into very nice rhythm. They ate a light breakfast, Semillia and the three adjuchas trained till mid afternoon, Ichigo and Tier trained at a different place and after training Ichigo spent some time meditating with his sword, and Tier glaring at him for doing it so often. Apachi had gotten strong enough to truly be able to pull her own height, Mila has learned to cook, Cyan was getting better at identifying injuries. All in all life was peaceful, or at least as peaceful as life could be in Hueco Mundo.

In the soul society, life was also very much the same as always, Ranging was having a serious discussion abiut proper manners with her son Renji. It appears that he made the mistake of telling his teacher something he really shouldn't. He told his mother that he simply gave his teacher some friendly advice. That is when his mother would not accept his lame excuse. "You call telling your teacher, that all she needs to do is to lighten up, and find a guy and get laid. Do I need to remind you that she is a widow, much like your mother. Are you going to dare to tell me the same thing? It is an insult not advice, and you will pay for shaming our family."

Rangiku told him he was to be on toilet cleaning duty till further notice, and no he could not use anything except soap and a brush. Toma called his brother an absolute idiot, it would have been better just asking said teacher out on a date, this comment earned him garbage duty for a month. Her last son was the only smart one and did not make a comment, he simply walked over the sink and began cleaning the the family's dishes. It was times like these that made Rangiku miss her beloved husband.