Chapter One
"I wouldn't attack if I were you. My hand might just slip and cut Rukia-chan's lovely and supple throat. We wouldn't want that, now, would we, Mr. Kurosaki!?" Gin asked tauntingly, and slightly pervertedly, holding a tiny, but razor sharp dagger to Rukia's neck, right next to her Carotid Artery, so really, he wasn't threatening to cut Rukia's throat, but her Carotid, which would leave her just as dead, so there wasn't really much point in debating the difference.
"W-what…" Ichigo began, but Urahara held his hand up to his mouth and stepped forward, releasing his Shikai in case he had to act quickly.
"Wait, Ichigo. I have a question for Gin. Why did Aizen send you, rather than one of his Arrancar minions? Certainly he could more easily suffer the loss of an Arrancar, even if it was an Espada, than he could your loss. After all, he can always make more Arrancar to take the lost one's place, but there is only one of you, correct?"
"Well, Mr. Urahara, you are right in that respect, Lord Aizen wouldn't wanna lose me, but he wanted to make sure that the job was done correctly. He wasn't absolutely sure that the Arrancar could do that."
"I see. What is your motive here? What do you want out of this?" Kisuke asked icily. Gin grinned his usual foxlike grin and then said something that shocked even Kisuke.
"Well, I want Mr. Kurosaki. Lord Aizen desires Mr. Kurosaki's prodigious potential for his own uses."
"Forget it, slime bag!!" Rukia shouted, venom dripping from every syllable she spoke. The hatred for Gin that Rukia held was almost tangible, almost visible in the air around them. It was as though an oppressive black cloud of anger and rage hovered over them and blocked any light from coming through.
"You don't have a choice, you stupid little bitch!!" Gin hissed in barely suppressed rage as he lifted Rukia by her chin in one hand and slapped her hard across the face with the other and then returned to his former position, ready to cut her Carotid Artery at the slightest provocation.
"Mr. Urahara," Ichigo said calmly, glaring at Gin the whole time, not taking his hand off of his Bankai. "I may not be more powerful than you, or more eloquent than Aizen, or more graceful than Rukia, but please trust me and let me do this on my own."
Kisuke looked at Ichigo with eyes that gleamed with respect for the man that Ichigo had become. When he first met Ichigo, he was a punk kid with an attitude and a passion. Now, that passion had turned him into a still passionate, but infinitely more powerful man who could stand on his own two feet and fight for what he believed in. Kisuke nodded and stepped back, not taking his gaze from Gin in case the silver haired former captain made any sudden movement.
"Thank you. If I go with you, you have to promise not to hurt any of my nakama," Ichigo said, his voice as hard and resolute as stone. Gin grinned even more widely and nodded as if that were already obvious. Slowly, he began to pull the knife from Rukia's neck and he loosened his grip on her throat so that she could breathe more easily. Rukia gasped in horror that Ichigo was even considering this.
"ICHIGO!! DON'T!! Don't you understand!? I don't care if I die! I'm a Shinigami, and if I must die to ensure a mission's success, then I have died with honor and I would die happy. If my own failure caused me to lose you, though, I don't think I could ever look your family or our friends in the eye again! Don't let them control you through me! I'm not important! Killing Gin is what's important right now!" Rukia shouted.
Silently, Ichigo glared at Gin and contemplated everything that was going on. Gin was forcing him to make an impossible decision. He knew full well that it wasn't a good time for deep introspection, but he had to talk to Zangetsu. The old man always seemed to know what to do.
Old man! Old man!!
Yes, Ichigo? What is it that you want?
I need help. I don't know what to do.
So you came to me? You can no longer look to me for power. You must find it within yourself.
I know!! But I don't have that kind of time!!
Make the time! Think about your own abilities and how they have served you in the past. How do you usually use your power, and how can you use it in ways that will make you more effective in combat?
I-I don't know! I'm not supposed to have to think this hard in a fight! A fight isn't about thinking! It's about power!
You imbecile! Your selfish attitude further proves that you are still a child! If you aren't good at thinking in battle, then get good at it! Only idiots throw caution to the wind when they're in a decisive battle!
Then what should I do!?
THINK!!
And so, Ichigo thought. He thought of his powers. He thought of his strengths and his weaknesses alike. He was able to form a hollow mask. That was a strength. A weakness was that it only lasted for a minute at the longest before it disappeared and after that, he was tired from using its power. However, in his Bankai, his strongest ability was speed. He could use Shunpô with greater speed and he could run faster than he could use Shunpô in Shikai. His other ability in both Shikai and Bankai was his Getsuga Tenshô, his Moon Fang Piercer of the Heavens. In his hollow form, all of his abilities were augmented, and he also gained some new ones. For example, he had been practicing recently with a Cero blast. He wasn't great at it, but he could use it. With all of that, he might be able to beat Gin if he could get Rukia away from the silver haired traitor. He would need Yoruichi's help, to do that, though. He started thinking again. Was there any way that he could use telepathy to silently transmit a message to Yoruichi without alerting Gin? Yes. Bakudô #73 would allow him to do it, but there was a simpler spell that even he could do. It was much weaker, but for the short distance that he needed to cover, it would work, and he could do it silently.
Goddess of the sun, God of the moon. Ancient beings converge. Evil and good as one. Bakudo # 6, Telepathy!
Ms. Yoruichi!
Yes, Ichigo?
Can you get Rukia away from Gin if I provided an adequate distraction?
Perhaps. I can try.
Good. We need to do it before he gets a chance to hurt her, though.
I know.
With this, Ichigo came out of thinking and instantly donned his hollow mask.
"GETSUGA TENSHÔ!!" Ichigo shouted, shooting it toward Gin's left arm so that he would be sure to dodge it. Gin did just this, and then Yoruichi used her Shunpô to move in and grab Rukia before Gin could recover. Ichigo's plan had worked perfectly. Wait. Ichigo formed a plan? Ichigo never planned for anything, and frankly, he was a terrible thinker, anyhow, so any plan that he did come up with, she would probably look on it with some doubt. Gin hissed in annoyance and drew Shinsô, releasing it in the din and dust that had been kicked up. Ichigo blocked the tip of Gin's blade with his own blade and used a high speed Shunpô to attack Gin at point blank range with a Cero blast.
An explosion of epic intensity happened almost immediately and Gin was thrown back just as violently. Slowly, the smoke began to clear and Ichigo could once again see. What he saw, though, he didn't really like. Gin was standing there, practically unharmed. He grinned insanely and sheathed his sword, walking toward Ichigo slowly, shaking his head to get rid of the ringing noise that he was hearing at the moment.
"Wow! Mr. Kurosaki, did you come up with that plan all by yourself?" he asked mockingly. "I must say, it was impressive. You never intended to hit me with that first attack, did you? You merely meant to force me to move enough that it would be a significant distraction that I would loosen my grip on Rukia-chan and Lady Yoruichi could rescue her. Am I about right? The only problem with that plan is… You should have used a second Getsuga Tenshô instead of a Cero. It would have been much more powerful and may have actually done some damage."
"Shut up!!" Ichigo shouted, using a Getsuga Tenshô. Gin merely threw it off to the side, though, causing it to hit a tree and vaporize it instead. Ichigo looked at Gin, stunned.
"You shouldn't make such obvious moves, Mr. Kurosaki. It wastes energy and it does nothing to me."
"I wouldn't be so sure, Gin! Your arm is bleeding." Ichigo said, smirking underneath his mask. Gin looked at his arm, surprised at the outcome. He smiled though and nodded.
"Touché. However, you shouldn't let your guard down. Bye bye!!" he said, grabbing Rukia with one Shunpô and taking her back to his original location.
"You see, Mr. Kurosaki, it's all about who's more powerful. In this case, I am, so I will defeat you, no matter what you try. Now, you have two options. You can surrender yourself to Lord Aizen, or Rukia-chan can die right now in front of you, and you can know that it was entirely your fault!" he said with a twisted grin on his face, as though to say that he knew how vastly superior he was to Ichigo and to the rest of them. Ichigo groaned and nodded, going out of his Bankai state and releasing his hollow mask.
"Fine. I'll go with you. You have to promise not to harm any of my friends, though!"
"ICHIGO!! F-fine! If you're going, then I'm going with you!!!" Rukia shouted. Ichigo looked at her, eyes hard.
"No. Not a chance. They need you. You should go back to Soul Society and continue to plan how to beat Aizen."
"I wasn't asking! I was telling you. If you go, then I'm going too. Ichigo, I love you, and I'm not going to let Aizen take you away from me! Kisuke, please explain to my Nii-sama why I have to do this."
"What!? But your brother is so scary!" he said sarcastically. "But, if this is really what you want, I'll make sure to tell him."
Rukia nodded and shoved Gin off of her, following Ichigo and Gin back into Hueco Mundo, where they would be staying for a long while. Both Ichigo and Rukia, as well as Kisuke and Yoruichi knew that they would eventually meet again, if only on the battlefield, and that they would have to be ready to fight them as though they were enemies. Ichigo had made his choice, and perhaps he had a plan. Perhaps he didn't, though. Kisuke had to plan for the eventuality that Ichigo didn't have a plan, though, that nothing had changed, and that he was merely the reckless, headstrong, pigheaded individual that he had always been. Kisuke didn't like to think of Ichigo like that, but it may have been unavoidable. What made it worse, though, was that Rukia was leaving as well. He wasn't exactly sure how he was going to explain to Byakuya what had happened. He could see it perfectly.
"Um… Lord Kuchiki, I just came to say that your sister eloped to Hueco Mundo with Mr. Kurosaki!" Kisuke would say with his usual goofy grin. That was about the same thing that he would have to tell Isshin. Isshin might be more open to a discussion after that, but Kisuke was sure that no matter what, he was going to become pretty damn unpopular.
"Don't worry, Kisuke." Yoruichi said kindly. She looked at him and smiled sadly as the gate to Hueco Mundo closed again.
"I understand what happened. I won't leave you."
"Well, small comfort, I suppose, but thank you, Yoruichi," Kisuke said. After that, they both used Shunpô to go back to Urahara Shôten.