Summary: Tell me, Yamamoto, have you ever seen such casualties & pain before? Look at your dying shinigamis. Look at your precious Soul Society. Watch as they die. Watch as it all turns into ashes. Look at them, my good captain, & tell me….how would you like to die….

I do not own Bleach nor any characters mentioned in this story.

Yoruichi sensed it…the what? That she could not explain, but she knew something was wrong. Standing up from her spot on the ground, she looked at the sky and jumped, narrowing her eyes as the Earth's sun blinded her for a second. The closer she got to Urahara's strange house, the greater the terror within her chest increased. Only one question ran through her head…

Kurosaki, do you sense it too?

Yes.

If Ichigo had telekinesis and heard Yoruichi's question, he would respond yes.

He had been bored out of his mind, staring out the window, wondering if any hollows would appear any minute as his teacher discussed the importance of calculus. For the past few months after Aizen's defeat, only two hollows had appeared. Ichigo had taken care both of them within minutes of them showing up, for they were small, almost nothing compared to the strong ones he and Rukia had to fight before.

At first, he thought the bad feeling he had on his chest was nothing. Maybe another small hollow would show up later tonight. There had been one incident about a month ago where something odd had entered Karakura town; not a shinigami, but something powerful and almost hollow-like. Nonetheless, after it had entered the town, nothing had happened. No danger. The town continued to stay quiet, everybody stayed the same, and nothing had changed. It's as if whatever entered was either defeated before Ichigo or any of the other shinigamis found it, or it was still in the town, hiding somewhere, waiting for the perfect chance to strike…

Furrowing his eyebrows, Ichigo rubbed his chest softly and wondered that if what had entered before had decided to show. But why wait so long? Why a month?

"And that is it for today," announced the professor, putting his sheets of notes away.

Ichigo immediately stood, deciding to patrol around as soon as he got home.

"Ichigo!"

"Uryu?"

"I need to speak to you-"

"Not right now. I'm going to do a quick looking around."

"So you felt it too?"

Ichigo paused for a second. "We should talk outside."

It was amazing how everything had changed from one minute to the other.

Aizen's execution was coming closer, but besides that, everything else in Soul Society was normal. New captains were sought to fill the seats for the three missing occupants. Toushirou, Unohana, and Ukitake watched as the top shinigamis fought for positions as captains. The day had been quiet…strangely quiet. Unohana pressed her hand on her chest, sensing a dreadful feeling upon her chest. She would get these feelings every day, but today's was different.

Miles away from them, Matsumoto and Momo sat, watching the rest of soul society upon the ceiling of one of the houses.

"I can't face him…"

"Momo, you know you have to at some point. You can't just keep running."

The young vice-captain turned her head and looked at the older woman. "How are you coping with him being gone?"

Matsumoto smirked and took out a bottle of beer. Momo shook her head and turned her head back at the scenery before them. "You can't keep on numbing your pain with alcohol. You need to face reality and move on."

"As should you. You should know by now that Aizen was using all of us for his own good, not just you. He may be what inspired you to become a stronger shinigami, but he is the reason why your best friend was almost killed. As grumpy as my captain can be, he still cares about you."

Putting her head down, Momo murmured, "I attacked him…what kind of friend am I? He protected me…and I betrayed him. I feel so ashamed. I can't face him. Seeing him reminds me of how much of a horrible friend I am!"

"Momo, don't- what the?"

Both shinigamis looked up as a large shadow fell on them. A rectangular-shaped object flew feet above their head, blocking the sun's rays. The object at first stayed over their head, but then rose up a few more feet before continuing to fly. Just as it slowly passed by them, they were able to estimate its size and just realized that this unidentified flying object was almost the size of Soul Society.

Shinigamis ran outside and looked up, unsure of what the thing was. Bells were suddenly rung and every captain immediately showed up by Yamamoto's headquarters. The great captain walked outside as he was met with a strange darkness. Whatever the object was blocked almost all of the sun's brightness that was present not too long ago.

"Do we attack?" asked Yamamoto's vice-captain.

The captain ignored the question and looks he was getting from the other captains and continued staring at the object. Whenever danger had risen in Soul Society, he always knew about them right away; but for once, he was confused. He knew that if he attacked first, a war between Soul Society and something would erupt, but he could not let this unknown object create panic as well.

And then, everything become slow motion to him. Either his old age was getting the better of him, or whatever that flowing object thing, it was fast. Cylindrical-like objects, yet still attached, slightly came out of the hovering vessel; and soon enough, some gray light was fired. Yamamoto's eyes widened as he turned his head and saw that his vice-captain, who had spoken a minute ago, was gone. Any trace that he had been standing next to him, that he even existed, was gone.

All of the sudden, he felt his own body being violently pushed back as screams and more ashes appeared within sight.

"Captain, are you all right?! Captain?!"

The man opened his eyes and saw Ukitake leaning over him.

"Taichou, you need to snap out of it?! There are shinigamis dying out there!?"

"What do you mean it's blocked?"

Urohara ignored Ichigo's demanding questions as he paced around, sweat rolling down his face.

"You had no problem opening it before! What do you mean it's block-"

"There is something, Kurosaki, blocking the gate! I cannot access Soul Society! I can't even glimpse at it! It..It's as if Soul Society doesn't even exist! I can't locate it! I can't sense anything!"

Rukia shook her head and run up to the former captain. "That is impossible! Soul Society can't just disappear! My brother's in there! And Renji! There has to be another way of getting into Soul Society."

"And I am telling you,"Urohara sighed, "that I can't access it. Something is blocking each and every possible way of communicating with Soul Society!"

"Could they have been attacked? Maybe hollows entered through and found a way to tamper with the-"

"No," replied Yoruichi, looking at Uryu. "Hollows aren't intelligent enough to go to Soul Society. The reason why a portal was opened before between Hueco Mundo and Soul Society was because of Aizen…because he had found a way to do it. But he's locked up."

"Maybe one of the Espadas helped him escape?" offered Chad. "One of the Espadas with enough power and knowledge to open a portal and get Aizen out."

Yoruichi shook her head, "If an Espada did manage to enter Soul Society, every shinigami, including Captain Yamamoto, would defeat him or her. Espadas may be strong, but not strong enough to defeat more than one captain. Even if that Espada did bring a few Hollows to back it up, it wouldn't work."

"If not Hollows or Espadas, what else could've done this?"

"It could be a glitch? Maybe there's nothing to worry about and –"

"No," Urohara said. "Whatever is blocking my attempts at opening a gate to Soul Society is strong. If Soul Society didn't want Ichigo or anybody else entering Soul Society, Captain Yamamoto would have said so. He wouldn't just block every single attempt anyone makes when trying to enter. Also, it can't be any shinigami or Hollow doing this. In my opinion, there is something else involved in this. Whoever or whatever is blocking us from entering Soul Society is using some type of magic that I have not seen before."

Matsumoto and Momo jumped to the ground and took their zanpakutos out as strange mechanical beings rained down from the flying object. Both shinigamis noticed that when attempting to attack these strange things, a blue shield appeared, thus halting their attacks. Like the object floating above them, these smaller mechanical ones also had weapons that shot out the same type of weird light and cause the same type of effect. Both women saw shinigamis be hit by such strange light and evaporate. Any trace that they had been standing there just a few second ago was gone.

"We can't attack and if we get hit by that strange light, we'll be gone! What do we do?"

Matsumoto looked all ways, noticing how the odd lights were about to rain down on them. "It's almost like an execution." She said. "We need to find shelter! We can't fight in the open!"

Grabbing Momo's hand, she ran into one of the small houses and noticed a few shinigamis already there, cowered in a corner. She saw the fear in their faces and couldn't blame them. If it had been Hollows outside, she would yell at them to go outside and fight. But they didn't know with whom they were dealing with.

"Vice-captain Matsumoto, we're sorry but we can't fight-"

"No, it's OK! We understand. Those things…are impossible to kill."

"What do we-"

The shinigami suddenly disappeared as one of the mechanical beings, knocking down part of the wall, appeared and began shooting into the room. The rest of the shinigami who had been hiding in the corner started disappearing as Matsumoto and Momo ran outside.

Zanpakuto held high, Matsumoto tried to attack one of the mechanical things from behind but failed as its automatic shield appeared. The mechanical being turned, and for a second Matsumoto noticed a pair of bright yellow eyes through the glass where the head laid of the being, and pushed the vice-captain feet away against the wall. Then, it turned towards her and ran as she scrambled to get up.

As Momo was about to help her friend out, two mechanical things appeared and aimed at her. Panicking, she turned and ran, immediately turning a sharp left around the house they had just escaped as two lights brushed just behind her. She made a right, hoping that the quick changes in direction would cause the things to lose track at her. She made two more rights, then left but halted as soon as one of the mechanical things appeared right in front of her. It aimed its weapon at her head and fired, but soon its attack met a wall of ice as Toushiro quickly appeared beside her, grabbed her, and flew away.

Tucking Yachiru onto his chest, Kenpachi growled as he turned and the white light hit the wall beside him. Six mechanical beings appeared around him, weapons aimed at him. Growling, he placed the pink-haired girl on the ground and urged her to run.

Noticing the young shinigami attempt to escape, two of the mechanical beings turned towards her but their attacks failed as Kenpachi screamed and attacked both beings. Despite the shield that appeared, both mechanical beings tumbled backwards at the sudden force that the angry captain exerted.

Kenpachi noticed that the four other things behind him were about to attack, but quickly hid behind one of them just as the light missed him and hit the mechanical being.

A loud roar was heard as the shield that protected these things collapsed and hit the mechanical being, causing the metal suit to shatter and a bulky creature slowly start evaporate. Before lying in a pile of deep brown ash, the creature glared at Kenpachi and snarled.

Not wasting any time with the others, he dodged the second attack and ran up to the one that had fired at him. The other creatures aimed at the captain's back and as soon as Kenpachi noticed that the lights were about to hit him, he jumped up and saw the mechanical being get hit with its own attack and eventually suffer the same fate as the other one.

Quickly, he landed behind one of them, attacking it with all his might as the shield turned bluer and bluer with each and every quick attack. The other beings started firing at the captain and again, he hid behind a third being and let the creature die from its own attack. Nonetheless, before the creature (along with its mechanical suit) turned into complete ash, Kenpachi grabbed part of the mechanical suit and yanked it out, giving it a quick glance before running away.

"Where are we going!?"

She asked, staring over Toushirou's shoulder at the floating object above them. She hugged her friend's chest tightly, afraid that a weapon would appear from underneath the object and hit them.

"Away from Soul Society-"

"But what about Matsumoto and the others!? We can't run away!"

"Captain Ukitake created a quick portal. It won't last long because it isn't strong enough. It leads to Karakura Town."

Toushiro dodged two attacks and flew quicker. Momo turned her head and saw what her friend had been talking about. On the ground was a bright green light and saw Renji and Byakuya enter it.

"Hurry before those things appear around here!" the white long-haired captain yelled.

"Hold on tight." Toushirou told her as he flew faster, stopped just above the portal, and flew in.

Matsumoto screamed as she felt a hand grab her arm. Ikkaku pushed her back as one of the lights hit where she had just been standing.

"Come on we need to go! Captain Ukitake has opened a portal for us! It won't last long!"

Matsumoto let the shinigami lead her on as she looked back and took notice of the destruction. Hundreds, if not, thousands of shinigami had been standing with their zanpakutos before, ready to fight. Now, only a few remain.

They quickly arrived to a frantic Kenpachi.

"I'm not leavin' until I find Yachiru!" the captain screamed, knocking down Hisagi. Ikkaku stood in front of his captain and stopped him.

"Captain, look around you! Everything is gone! Soul Society is collapsing!"

"I don't care! I will find her-"

Kenpachi stopped as two mechanical objects started firing at them. Kiyone screamed as one of the attacks hit Sentaro, quickly evaporating his body.

"Everybody! In the portal! Now!" Ukitake ordered, throwing a crying Kiyone over his shoulder and jumping into his diminishing portal.

Matsumoto jumped in, followed by a screaming Kenpachi as Hisagi and Ikkaku pushed him into the portal. The mechanical beings ran towards where they had been standing not too long ago, staring down at the empty ground.

Urahara stopped in his tracks as he quickly turned and saw a green circular object appear a few feet away from him. Rukia, Ichigo, Chad, and Uryu stood from their sitting positions and ran towards Urahara, weapons drawn, ready to fight whatever was about to come out. A cold breeze flew around them as their eyes widened and a sigh of relief escaped Rukia as she saw Renji and her brother-in-law step out. After them came a tired Toushiro still holding on to Momo. After them came out Captain Ukitake, carrying a weeping Kiyone and finally, an angry Kenpachi came out with Hisagi and Ukitake holding on to both arms.

The spiky-haired captain threw both men away and turned, but yelled once he saw the portal disappear. Angrily, he glared at Urahara and Ukitake.

"One of you better open a damn portal now!"

"But-"

"We can't." Urahara said, cutting the captain off.

"And why the fuck not!?"

"Because from this end, whatever type of communication we tried to have with Soul Society was blocked."

"Blocked!?"

"Yes. Something within Soul Society was stopping me from communicating with you! Besides, what happened?"

"We were attacked." Ukitake responded. "Something appeared out from the sky and started attacking us. Some floating object. Started shooting lights at us. If it touched you, were gone. Not injured; gone. Didn't leave any trace that anyone had been standing there just a few seconds ago."

"Do you know what they were?"

"No. It appeared and started shooting. I was able to make a quick portal once I saw that no one had a chance at these things. The portal didn't last long since it was weak, but it was enough for us to escape."

"Was it Aizen's doing?"

"No. If these things were going after Aizen, whether to kill him or help him, they would've done so first, or at least by now. But all they were doing was just killing. They didn't care what your strength was, if you were a captain or not; they just look at you and shoot."

"There has to be a way to get back to Soul Society! Yachiru is still in there!"

Ichigo looked at the screaming captain and looked down, knowing what he was feeling. Everybody stared at Kenpachi as the captain stared at all of them, hoping one of them would come out and say that they know how to open a gate to Soul Society. But they all looked down, an apologetic look on their faces.

"What about everybody else" Rukia asked. "Captain Yamamoto, Captain Soi Fon-"

"We don't know," replied Ukitake to his lieutenant, "all we know is that, bankai or not, those things are destroying shinigamis. Soul Society is destroyed."

Yamamoto growled as he saw his zanpakuto being taken away from him. He looked at the ground and closed his eyes. He knew in his heart that some of the captains and fellow shinigamis had escaped to Karakura Town, though he was not angry at their decision. He rather have them take cover and avenge Soul Society than fight a losing battle.

The old captain looked up as he heard another growl. Looking up, he saw none other than Aizen being thrown down to his knees. For once, Yamamoto saw the former captain look both confused and frightened. With his hands tied behind his back, Aizen looked up from his kneeling position at the older captain.

One of the mechanical beings suddenly took off its metal gears, letting it fall to the ground as it walked towards the kneeling Aizen. He stared at the ex-captain in the eye for a few seconds before revealing a long sword. Two mechanical beings grabbed Aizen and forced him to look down to the ground as the sword came down, quickly detaching his head from his body.

Captain Yamamoto didn't flinch as the unknown being suddenly turned to him, Aizen's blood running down its sword. The captain let the beings push him to his knees as he heard another set of footsteps on his left.

"You look down at everyone as if they were nothing but insects," the creature said in a raspy deep voice. "You like the power…the feeling of knowing that you're the head of everything! But how does it feel to suddenly be at the bottom?"

Yamamoto remained silent, yet something in his head told him that he has heard those words before.

The creature grabbed Yamamoto's head and forced the captain to look up.

"Look at the destruction that I caused to your precious home! Tell me, have you seen such casualties before? Such pain? Your poor Shinigamis are gone! There is nobody here to help you! Some of your precious soul reapers escaped! Good! Dead or alive I do not care about them, for they are nothing but insects!"

The creature let go of Yamamoto and walked a few steps back.

As the old captain tried to think of where he had heard those exact words before, he saw a small head and pink hair suddenly come out from behind a wall.

Run and hide…until Ichigo or someone comes…

The old man thought and was relieved to see the young vice-captain crawl back to her hiding place.

"I would ask you how you would like to die…but I figured that this is the best way of dying." The creature said as he brought the sword down to the old man's neck; and just as the sword was an inch away from his neck, he realized that he himself had said those exact words to none other than his son…

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

So..what do you guys think? Please review! If you like it, I will keep on updating! If no one likes it, then I'll delete it. As for Diary, I apologize for the 2-year wait... I lost interest in the story. I actually wrote half a chapter but I'm trying to figure out what exactly to do with it. I don't want to rush it.

As for this fic, tell me what you think! Please leave me a note on anything, really!