Notes:Ok, first things first. I do not own Bleach, Tite Kubo does. And second, since I know nothing about any kind fighting, sword or hand-to-hand, I used Google to look up some terms, so if they're not right or they sound just plain weird, my bad.
6/9/10- Yo! I've started going over the chapters I already have posted and adding/removing some things where needed. I think I kinda rushed a little bit, so I'm going to add more detail and explanations. It shouldn't really effect the way things are going, but if it does I'll put in the A/N in the new chapter, which won't be posted until after I clean up what I already have.
Chapter One
He was surrounded by darkness. Not the kind that trapped you and pushed you deeper into its clutches, the kind you tried hard as you could to get out of. No, this darkness was comforting, soothing, as he laid there in peace. Vaguely he wondered if he was dying, or hell, if he was already dead, but then he discarded that idea. The pain was too much for him to be dead. So he just lay there, waiting for whatever came his way next. Not that he could have moved anyway, he was exhausted. He'd used everything he had in that last fight. He'd given everything he had and in the end it had proved to be enough.
Aizen was dead. And Kurosaki Ichigo had been to the one put an end to the chaos. Ichigo had watched the life leave Aizen's eyes, had allowed himself that one pleasure, before slipping into the darkness.
In him semi-lucid state, he replayed the last of the battle. Every lunge, every block, every swing, chop, and slice of their zanpaktous was seen through by the other; the fighting skills, the instinct, on par with the others. In the end, it had been a battle of reiatsu.
Ichigo pushed away from the contact he had with Aizen's sword and jumped back and Aizen did the same. Breathing heavily, he watched Aizen through his mask. Once he had figured out the way to escape Aizen's shikai he'd been waiting and waiting for the ex-captain's bankai. He expected it. He was ready for it. He'd trained with Zangetsu and his Hollow to work around the hypnosis Aizen could create with Kyōka Suigetsu.
"Why do you still resist the inevitable, Kurosaki Ichigo?" Aizen asked the tired shinigami in his usual holier-than-thou voice.
Ichigo snorted. "Why are you not sick of hearing yourself talk? All you do is talk. Maybe you should fight as much as you run your mouth, than we'd accomplish something."
His face unchanged from his usual creepy smirk Aizen said, "You do amuse me so, ryoka boy."
"Kurosaki Ichigo."
"What?" Aizen said lifting an eyebrow.
"That's the name of the man who's going to kill you. Remember it." Ichigo said, tightening his grip on Zangetsu. "Not ryoka boy."
He moved, disappeared, only to reappear behind Aizen. He swung his zanpaktou. Aizen turned to block, but Ichigo had already disappeared again .Coming up from below Ichigo attacked, with both hands gripping the hilt of his sword he swung again.
CLANK!
The blades pressed against each other, each one pushing the other forcefully, refusing to back down. Aizen tried to go low, but Ichigo was there to block. Aizen flash stepped behind his opponent ,but the young shinigami whirled.
CLASH!
Zangetsu met Kyōka Suigetsu in a conversation of anger. Aizen came from the right, Ichigo tried a counter-parry.
"Getsuga Tensho!"
A blast of red and black crescent shaped energy came surging towards Aizen; Aizen flash-stepped out of the way.
"I grow tired of you."
Ichigo removed his mask. "It's not like you have anywhere to go. You're the only one of your numbers left. Everyone else is dead."
"Do you not believe that I cannot simply get more from where those came from." Aizen said with that infuriating smile.
"You won't get the chance!" Ichigo barked out.
Red and black reiatsu began to swirl around Ichigo.
Is it time King? That familiar voice inside Ichigo asked.
Yeah, Ichigo told it, it's time.
All right! Let's do this! His Hollow let out a manic laugh.
Ichigo stared straight into Aizen's eyes and said, "Resurrection."
The powerful, untamed reiatsu went crazy, exploding around him in a dome shaped haven. And when it dropped away from Ichigo's form, he was a completely different person. From the waist length orange hair, the tough armor like skin, the Vasto Lorde mask with its twin horns, and the black markings that wrapped around his shoulders like a lover's arms, Kurosaki Ichigo was a sight to behold.
Ichigo could feel the power, how intoxicating it was. But, after all the training with the Viazard, he had more control over his Hollow side than ever. It would never control him.
The clawed hand which gripped Zangetsu hung by his side, its sleek black blade gleaming, its chain swinging back and forth like a pendulum.
No worries King. With my power, a simple shinigami don't stand a chance.
Don't underestimate this simple shinigami. He always has something up his sleeve, Ichigo told his Horse.
Laughing manically Hichigo replied, We can't lose if we work together. I don't' think some little battery can stand up to your power, my power, and Zangetsu's power together.
Ichigo didn't even bother to answer. Nor did he correct his Hollow on calling the Hōgyoku a little battery. Aizen sure as hell wasn't a pink bunny.
Aizen watched from afar as his Viazard opponent changed forms, hiding his surprise of the reiatsu coming from the young man.
"So you've reached this level already. I must admit that I'm surprised. But the fact that you still believe this gives you a chance of walking away from here the winner is a grave mistake.
Aizen raised Kyōka Suigetsu. "Since you have been a great source of entertainment I'll make this quick. Though I did enjoy playing with you, you and Soul Society have gotten in my way too many times I need to rid myself of the annoyance. Bankai."
Ichigo tensed. This was it, the moment he'd trained for, what everything came down to. In the back of his mind he wondered who all from his side was alive and who was dead, but cast that aside. He had to focus on Aizen, had to differentiate between what was real and what was illusion.
Aizen had disappeared. No, that was an illusion. Ichigo knew it. Drawing on his Hollow powers and feeling the waves in the reiatsu Ichigo could make out the genuine from the fake. The double horned head turned, the trademark black and yellow eyes of the Hollow transformation taking in the surroundings.
Ichigo twirled Zangetsu on its chain, switching the spinning blade from hand to hand, as he searched for Aizen. He found him. Ichigo stopped spinning Zangetsu and gripped the zanpaktou tightly in his right hand. The red and black spirit particles that make up Getsuga Tensho appeared, wrapping around the black blade and dancing like flames.
Ichigo moved, flash stepped to the spot Aizen had been originally. Then, he disappeared again and reappeared ten feet away, swooping downwards, his arm already in motion. "Getsuga Tensho!"
The blast of energy came out of nowhere. Aizen whirled, then using shunpo he came up behind the Vasto Lorde Ichigo and swung his blade.
SLASH!
Kyoka Suigetsu's blade cutting Ichigo's shoulders. Ichigo turned, bringing Zangetsu down at the same time, his aim: Aizen's arm. But Aizen jumped back. The ryoka boy was faster and stronger than he had been before.
I'll trap him in an illusion, Aizen thought. That way the speed and strength will not matter.
We ruffled his feathers, King!
Yeah well don't get too excited. He's just getting started. He'll try another illusion, Ichigo said.
As soon as the words were out, Ichigo suddenly found himself staring at the prone, unmoving bodies of Rukia and an Espada. The air was icy from Rukia's shikai's attack. Even though he knew it was fake, that it was just the hypnosis, that the dying body of Rukia was not really in front of him, it still made his body freeze and the shock run through his blood. He shivered.
Aizen took advantage of that and lunged. Surprise on his side, he sliced off Ichigo's arm.
Ichigo screamed. More out of anger than pain.
Your fault, King. You let the body of that shinigami get to you even though you knew it wasn't real.
I know, Ichigo snarled. He was angry at himself. And that anger made him more eager to slice off the head of the one who even thought about Rukia dead. From the shoulder of the cut off arm another one, the same white with black markings, grew in its place.
Pull yourself together. Hichigo said. But Ichigo was already a step ahead. He'd found the real Aizen again and was moving in. Ichigo was moving around the man in question in circles so fast he appeared to be in several places at once.
SLICE!
Ichigo had brought Zangetsu down and across Aizen's back. Aizen cried out and flash stepped out of harm's way, but Ichigo was having none of it. He followed Aizen's every move, his Vasto Lorde eyes taking in every little detail.
CLANK!
SHREE!
CLANK!
Aizen countered every attack.
SLICE!
Ichigo had found an opening. When Aizen had moved to block Ichigo's next swing, Ichigo had then faked and moved behind Aizen to place a deep cut in nearly the same place the evil man had put on him. But then Aizen gave a burst of reiatsu and disappeared. The next thing Ichigo knew he felt the sting of twenty cuts across his body. Aizen had put enough reiatsu into the blade so that his sword would cut the skin of Ichigo's Vasto Lorde transformation. Enough that Ichigo felt pain, but not for long, because just as Ichigo threw back his head and screamed, a white liquid bone-like substance oozed from every single cut.
Aizen watched what was happening right in front of him. High speed regeneration. Not waiting until it was complete, Aizen lauched another attack. But every time, no matter how fast or hard he swung, a pure black, unmoving blade was there to stop his own silver one. Aizen cursed in his head.
Ichigo retaliated. "Getsuga Tensho! Getsuga Tensho! Getsuga Tensh!" Ichigo let out three consecutive attacks from three different directions. Each time Aizen flash stepped to avoid a crescent moon shaped blast another came hurtling toward him.
Ichigo swooped down from above Aizen, "Gran Ray Cero!" he shouted.
A bright red ball of cero formed in between his horns and he released it in Aizen's face.
"Way of Destruction No. 81: Severing Void!" Aizen threw up the shield as fast as he could, but it wasn't fast enough. He still took a bit of the blast since it was so close when released.
Nice.
It's not over yet, Ichigo said.
Aizen threw several illusions at him so fast Ichigo's head was spinning. His friends dead, his sisters being attacked by Hollows, his mom alive and well in the kitchen making food; every single one disappearing as fast as it came. The flurry of visions kept Ichigo busy. He didn't notice Aizen flash step up behind him and raise his sword. Quick as lightening Aizen flicked his wrist and sent a dozen slashes of his blade over Ichigo's chest before Ichigo got his bearings and blocked.
The high speed regeneration worked fast, but Ichigo knew he'd be sore and exhausted for days afterward.
CLANK!
CLASH!
SCREE!
ERRRR!
Ichigo was breathing hard. The Hollow transformation distorting his voice like always, was a kind of comfort to Ichigo.
Aizen was also breathing hard. And that made him mad. Who was this kid? To push him this far, what was he? Aizen thought he had Kurosaki Ichigo figured out, but he was wrong. He needed to end this fast.
Aizen flash stepped behind Ichigo and ran Kyōka Suigetsu threw Ichigo's chest.
Behind his mask, Ichigo smirked.
His Hollow laughed inside him. This is what we've been waiting on.
Ichigo's clawed left hand wrapped around Kyōka Suigetsu's hilt and around Aizens hand while his right, the hand that wielded Zangetsu plunged straight for Aizen's heart.
SPLISH!
"Getsuga."
Aizen's eyes widened.
"Tensho."
The blast of energy ripped through the man impaled on Zangetsu and sent him flying.
Ichigo watched the man slam against a wall and crumple before falling to the ground. He was barely in one piece. But it wasn't over yet.
Coughing up blood, Aizen rolled over and grabbed his left shoulder and cursed. That damn kid had blown his arm off. By the time he had managed to stop the bleeding, he was already on his feet, looking up at the hybrid.
His face fell from its composed state that had been smeared on it from the start. His eyes were wild.
"You'll die for that, ryoka boy."
Aizen's reiatsu flared around. All of it. The blue light surrounding him was great. Aizen's hands gripped his zanpaktou tightly. It would end now, this boy was going to die for pushing him this far. And Aizen was going to make sure he suffered. In one jump he was back in the air facing the boy.
This is it, King.
Yeah, I know.
This is going to be fun.
Yeah, it is. It really was, Ichigo realized.
Ichigo brought forth all his reiatsu. It flamed around him like a protective mother's embrace, pulsing and twisting around him.
Ichigo stared at Aizen through his mask, not a single shred of fear in his eyes.
"AAAAAARRRHHHH!" Ichgio yelled, the massive force of his reiatsu becoming more heavy. He placed his left hand on Zangetsu's hilt with his right.
Aizen and Ichigo stood facing each other, their reiatsus raring and roaring to tear into the other, the pressure so great the structures around them started to shake.
Ichigo disappeared. Aizen disappeared. They charged, their targets each other, their blades packed full and sharpened with reiatsu.
It was over as quick as it had started.
SPLISH! SPLISH!
Ichigo started to fall forward, his chest sliced diagonally across it. He managed to catch and prop himself up with Zangetsu. Piece by piece, the white and black Hollow armor broke apart and fell away, disintegrating in the wind until Ichigo stood there in his usual bankai clothes, his orange hair back to its short style. His breathing was ragged, and his body was shaking with exhaustion.
The hypnosis that Kyōka Suigetsu created fell away. Aizen's chest was split across from the stump of his left shoulder to his right hip. He fell.
Ichigo got a grip on himself and flash stepped to where Aizen fell. His body aching, every joint shaking, exhausted. He raised Zangetsu as he came closer to Aizen to be prepared. He stood over Aizen's body and kicked the broken Kyoka Suigetsu away.
Aizen was laughing. "Hahahahaha…" he coughed, "you're a monster."
Ichigo just stared.
"One of these days that power will consume you." Aizen continued. "And when it does, your friends will turn away from you and you'll meet the same end as me. Kurosaki Ichigo."
His eyes closed and his breathing stopped. Aizen was dead. After everything that had happened from the time Ichigo had watched Aizen pluge his hand into Rukia to retreive what he wanted to now, it was finally over.
Ichigo looked down at the body. "I'll never be like you."
He turned and walked away.
Hey, hey! What'd I tell ya?
Ichigo was too tired to do answer. In fact, he got ten feet away from Aizen's body and let the darkness consume him.
Ichigo.
Ichigo.
Someone was calling him in a familiar voice. A voice he wanted so bad to answer but the darkness that seem protective at first now seemed smothering. Rukia. He started to fight his way out, barely noticing that the pain was almost gone. Finally, he reached the surface.
He opened his eyes slowly, his eyelids feeling like they weighed twenty pounds each. The first thing he saw was orange. Which kind of freaked him out, until he realized it was Inoue's Sōten Kisshun healing shield.
"Oh! Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue beamed.
"Yo." Ichigo said. Or he tried to, it came out a little raspy. He needed some water. Talking didn't work so he tried a smile and tried wetting his throat by swallowing.
"Ichigo!"
He turned his head to his left, to where the voice came from and saw Renji and Rukia coming this way.
Rukia kneeled on his other side, the side opposite Inoue. "You're awake."
Inoue removed the half- oval shield and Ichigo sat up. It always amazed him what she could do with that thing. He felt brand new. Well physically anyway, he knew that his reiatsu was still replenishing.
He tried to talk now. "Hey, guys. Are you all okay? How bad is it?"
Rukia and Renji exchanged tired looks.
"Bad." Rukia started. "We lost two captains, Komamura and Kurotshuchi, the others severly injured and Inoue here and the fourth division can only work so fast. We also have some missing people. Ishida and Chad are hurt but they're okay, they're helping the fourth division out. And the damage is…well, bad."
Renji jumped in. "The good news is the war is over. The Royal Family is safe as is the King's Key, Aizen and Gin are dead and the Hogyoku is destroyed- which, by the way, made pretty much half the damage."
Rukia spoke again. "There's a meeting about in an hour. The Captain-Commander wants anyone who's available to come."
"What about–"
Rukia cut him off, knowing what he was asking. "They're safe. They're unhurt, for the most part." When Ichigo whipped his head around Rukia expanded her explanation. "Karin and Yuzu are completely fine. When they were captured no harm was done to them. But your dad got a little banged up against the Espadas he was fighting."
Ichigo sighed. Thank God. But his relief didn't last long when he remembered the other not-so-lucky people. Ichgio scratched the back of his head and furrowed his brow.
For the first time he noticed that he hadn't been moved. He was lying exactly where he'd fallen. Looking over to where Aizen had fallen he noticed his body was gone. He tensed.
Noticing Ichigo's suddenly stiff body, Rukia followed his eyes and saw where he'd been looking.
"Two of the captains took it." She said referring to the body. " They're going to send him to Hell so his spirit can never be born again."
Ichigo nodded, still not relaxing completely. He stood and looked down at his friends, "Let's go see what old man Yamamoto needs to say."
Renji, Rukia, and Inoue stood and fell into step with Ichigo: Ichigo and Rukia in the middle flanked by Renji and Inoue. Side by side, the young hero and his friends made their way to the quarters of First Division to add their strength to the relief efforts.
oO0Oo
Ok, apparently the final battle took place in Soul Society. I had no clue where I was going to put it while writing this first chapter, but it sort of jumped where it wanted to go. The battle, that is. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this first chapter and review it to tell me what you liked about it. I'm not sure when I'll have the next chapter up as it's not even written yet but…it'll get done. This is going to be an IchiRuki story. Oh, and sorry about the fight scene, they're not my thing but I tried my best.