The spiritual pressure rose around her like a storm, erupting from the earth below. The wind sheer tugged at her clothes, making the yukata snap around her legs and her hair stream up from her face. His reiatsu clamped down on her body until she could feel it like one long vibration flowing through her, jarring her every cell until she was certain it would tear her to pieces.
He drove his sword deeper into the cross-beam above her head until, with a terrible, wrenching tug and a sound like a thunderclap, it cracked. The kido around her wrists dissolved.
She tried to scream. Started to fall. Suddenly, there was his arm around her waist, lifting her.
The firebird was gone. There was no longer any magic in the sokyoku; the wooden frame remained only; no more than a vast memorial to the ones who had died on it. Ichigo edged a little way along the cross-beam, away from the crack at its centre, resheathing his sword as he did so. Rukia had gone limp in his arms, aware only of the last of his reiatsu burning upwards, in dark streams. "Are you alright?" he asked her.
"You've grown – stronger."
He smiled at that. No doubt, he could feel her trembling and hear her breaths coming sharp and fast.
Below them, on the plateau, the shinigami were in chaos. It was Ukitake who had thrown the lassoo. He had been helped, it seemed, by Captain Kyoraku. As Rukia watched, the Captain Commander turned and began to shout at them.
Beyond the crowd of onlookers though, a new figure had just emerged onto the edge of the plateaut. It began to sprint towards the commotion and Rukia felt Ichigo suck in a breath before he bellowed at the top of his voice:
"Renji! You're late! What kept you?"
The figure halted and shouted at them:
"I had a few problems of my own getting here, you know!"
"Renji!" breathed Rukia.
"Hey! Rukia! Are you alright?"
"Y-yes!" She didn't know if he would hear her at such a distance, but she was too weak to shout. Months imprisoned within the seki-seki had left her with barely any powers and little or no resistance to reiatsu. Whether Ichigo was aware of it or not, his mere presence acted like a drain on her strength. She didn't care though. Part of her wanted his spirit to consume her, obliterate her even, taking with it everything that had happened today. The energy she could feel radiating off him would surely be enough for that, she thought. She could feel it streaming through her body: familiar; yet so many times more powerful than the boy she remembered.
"Renji!" He called down: "I need you to take Rukia!"
"Alright!"
Rukia felt Ichigo's hold on her tighten as he lifted her. It took her a moment to realise what was going on. Renji came to the same conclusion a moment after her:
"No!" he shouted: "Ichigo! You idiot! Not like that!"
And then, to her astonishment, he had thrown her clean off the sokyoku.
She screamed as she fell and she seemed to fall forever, until two strong arms caught her. The impact knocked Renji backwards and, all at once, they were in a heap together on the ground. He was hollering a string of expletives at Ichigo who was still perched on the sokyoku, grinning down at them.
Rukia, now lying with her head against Renji's chest, shifted just enough to see the human boy. She knew why he had done it. He'd thrown her clear of the other soul-reapers. Had they descended together by a more traditional means, they would have ended up in the midst of the shinigami. Of course, that didn't mean she had to forgive him for it.
Unlike Ichigo, Renji was fully aware of the effects of seki-seki. He didn't bother to ask if she could stand or walk, but scooped her up into his arms.
"Get her out of here, Renji!" Ichigo called: "I'll deal with the others!"