Just a (relatively angsty) 'what-if' scenario regarding Kira and his ending thoughts on, naturally, Ichimaru. Break out the tissues now~

There was no sound, and that was reason enough to be concerned. Of course, in the blurred state of consciousness he was seeing the world through currently, there was no saying that the lieutenant would hear an explosion right next to his head. That was, naturally, another reason for worry.

Slowly, the events that brought him to his current position leaked back through his mind. Everyone was fighting-- no, correction, everyone was dying-- around him. Finally, the captains (along with the aid of that strange Vizard) had Aizen cornered. It seemed impossible that he was going down, but it also seemed too improbable that he could make it out of such a tight situation. Then...then...

Hinamori started moving. That wasn't a good idea, by any account, considering her wounds, but at the same time, could Kira really blame her? It was her former captain that was about to be murdered and, as much as they both proclaimed their loyalty to Soul Society as Shinigami, they had their own loyalties as people, too. He wouldn't blame her for watching. Wouldn't blame her at all...

But it hadn't been her, had it? It was really Aizen there, standing before him; so close and so unnoticed. Kira didn't know from when. Maybe from the start? But that seemed impossible, too. This all seemed like a dream, but surely enough, Kyouka Suigetsu had cut through him like a cold wake-up to reality. Positively, his blood spilling out and the faint feeling in his head was truth. So, it must all be real.

Then everything became quiet and Kira knew for sure that neither Hinamori nor the three captains and Vizard up in the sky were still alive. Or, if they were, they certainly weren't able to do much more than he was, now: Provide a fitting decor for the war setting and soak the ground red with blood. Well, at least they had some use.

Still, Aizen must have been sloppy or lazy or unconcerned because the cut he made wasn't fatal. Alright, it was Aizen in consideration, so sloppy and lazy were probably out of the question. The matter was irrelevant, though, and only took away from his fading concentration. Who cared on the 'why'? Or even the 'how' at this point? Everyone's mind was only on the 'when'. As in 'When will all of this end? When will he show an opening?' That 'when', Kira feared, may be never.

Slowly, with great effort and shaking limbs, the lieutenant managed to push himself onto his back, so at least he could look upward where the action was sure to be. There wasn't enough energy left in his body to even aid his own wounds and though he knew, somewhere, Unohana was still lurking in the shadows, healing the wounded, that he wasn't high on the priority list. The captains, the Vizard-- they would be the ones she would work on. As long as he could hang on until they had time for him...

Then his vision cleared enough to spot two familiar figures in the sky above him. One with bright orange hair that stuck out like a sore thumb, their trump card, Kurosaki Ichigo. Why was he even here? What did he owe the Soul Society? He had friends here, was that it? Or maybe because of Kuchiki Rukia and how close they were. Or perhaps there was some deal in play. Whatever the reason, Kira knew Ichigo was willing to risk his life. Anyone here today had come with that dedication, himself included. Then the other figure up there...

Moving casually, gracefully, and ultimately like a fox slinking through the grass, eyeing up its prey: Ichimaru Gin. The very sight of his old captain in those dirty, white clothes nearly sickened Kira. After all, it wasn't just their side that had come willing to throw their lives away. It seemed unrealistic, how the man Kira had followed so closely and so blindly had been just like him, in the end. Ichimaru had never done anything but follow Aizen; never been burdened with the responsibility of thinking and acting on his own. They had both been spoiled by their superiors.

But there was a big difference between the two of them, wasn't there? It was the difference between sleeping alone and waking up next to someone; the difference between hoping you're valuable and knowing you're irreplaceable; the difference between lying on the ground and standing in the sky.

Slowly, Kira's arm lifted itself into the air, fingers stretched upward toward...toward what? Toward the man he wished he could still answer to? Toward the side that sometimes, late at night when private thoughts were actually personal, he wished he had been invited to join? Toward something he could never have? Kira had never been a redundant person or even a man of unnecessary action. This was both of those things, yet somehow he felt like every feeling left in his body was being leaked out through his fingertips. Like maybe somehow if they stretched far enough, those feelings would reach that person.

Nothing came, though, and his arm finally collapsed back by his side. Eventually, his eyes shut out against the sight that was now engraved in his mind and a light sigh escaped his lips. Whatever he thought he needed or wanted to gain from being near Gin again wasn't something he was going to get. With those unsettling thoughts lingering in the back of his mind, Kira let the silence overcome him and waited for Unohana (or whoever may come) to reach him.

Meanwhile, Up Above

"My, my," the playful tone sang out, "that boy really never knows when t' quit, does he?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed considerably at the off-topic and nonsensical question. "What are you talking about?" he demanded, Zangetsu ready and willing to make the next move. This was, he figured, just some sort of distraction.

"Izuru," Gin remarked, tilting his head as if it were obvious. "But I guess ya can't tell, seein' as how ya suck at noticin' that kinda stuff."

"Eh?" Ichigo's lips pulled down in a frown as his eyes briefly shot down to the ground where he knew the fallen lieutenants to be. From here, they certainly looked dead, but if they truly were, then they would have disappeared. Shaking his head, Ichigo focused back in on Gin. "Why does it matter about him, anyway?"

"Hmm." Adopting a thoughtful look for a moment, Gin finally shrugged. "It don't, really, but it's hard t' ignore the feelin's of someone so fond've ya, ain't it?"

"I'm surprised you think that way," Ichigo sneered. Certainly, Aizen had no such feelings. Perhaps Gin wasn't quite as heartless and corrupted. Well, he was still an asshole that needed to die, regardless.

"That ain't nice," the white-clad man complained. "I got feelin's, ya know."

"Not really," Ichigo admitted, shrugging a little half-heartedly. "As far as I can tell, it's just as much your fault that he's down there like that as it is Aizen's."

"I said I got feelin's," Ichimaru repeated. "I didn't say they were as important as followin' my orders." And trying to protect Izuru in any way was, certainly, not in his orders.

"I never pictured you for the type to be so obedient," Ichigo commented. For everything, he sounded more like Ulquiorra at that moment than himself.

Gin grinned a bit wider and leaned in closer to Ichigo. "Well, when ya got no choice, makes the matter real easy, don't it?"

The Shinigami let the meaning of those words sink in, and suddenly his eyes widened considerably. "You mean..."

"It don't matter," Ichimaru said quickly, pointing Shinsou in Ichigo's direction. "Ain't we s'pposed t' be fightin'?"

"You're not going to go down there?" Ichigo wondered, looking down once more. "Wouldn't it be worth it, even if it did upset Aizen?" Ichigo knew if there was someone that had been loyal to him, and hurt so badly because of him, that he would risk his life to be by their side in their final moments. From what he could tell, no one down below would make it through this thing, and he knew Gin knew it, too.

"Upset 'im?" Ichimaru wondered aloud, joining Ichigo in watching Kira's motionless body, before scanning the area where Tousen's remains were splattered. "It'd do a bit more than that."

"Won't you regret it, if you don't?" Why Ichigo cared, he would never know. Still, he couldn't understand how Ichimaru could be quite so heartless. It was a familiar feeling-- the same one he had when Byakuya insisted that obeying the rules was more important than saving his sister. What the hell was wrong with these people?

This caused the older man to laugh, short and with a tinge of bitterness mixed in. "Done enough bad things that regrettin' stuff ain't even in my train of thought." If he started now, the guilt would probably kill him. If Aizen didn't, first.

"I see," Ichigo muttered, frowning before focusing back in on his enemy. "In that case, I'm sure now that I can defeat you."

"Oh?" Gin wondered, flickering his gaze once more to the ground below to find that the wind was blowing a certain patch of ground clean of a new layer of dust. "Looks like maybe ya already did."

And since that was all sad and stuff, there'll be a...well, it's not going to be happy, but... more closure-y ending? Since we love our closure~