The Day Before Tomorrow

by Daricio

Aizen is taking over. The situation looks bleak. And Urahara Kisuke suddenly remembers a device that may save them all. Unfortunately, nothing ever goes exactly as planned... Ichigo-centric. Time Travel gone wrong. Chapter nine: Picking up the pieces.

2. Nothing Goes As Planned

Okay, those of you who watch my profile have probably noticed by now that my hard drive crashed, and at that time, I lost a lot of information, including 34 pages of Day Before Tomorrow and 17 pages of Feeling Hollow. I finally got a new hard drive, and I've got my computer up and running the way it should be, but all that information is still lost.

So, this is my attempt at rewriting those pages I lost. When you're reading it, keep in mind just how much work has gone into this chapter. Bear with me here. I'm trying to deal with a computer that needed re-convincing that words like "Ichigo", "zanpakutou", and "Hueco Mundo" aren't misspelled.

Random note: you may also want to read my other story, Hollow Feelings (the ginormous one-shot about Ichigo's Hollow). I mean, you can just read this without it, but I actually got the whole idea for this story while I was writing Hollow Feelings. Ichigo's hollow acts a little weird during this chapter, but Hollow Feelings sort of explains why. My Arrancar-theory in Feeling Hollow explains the rest of the way why. So, y'know.

Oh, spoiler warning: I'm trying to follow the recent manga chapters as best I can as far as Ichigo's past/future goes, so there are very vague mentions of manga events up to the latest one.

Anyway, so let's go. This chapter begins exactly where the last one left off.

---

Ichigo sat on the floor of the underground training area, watching in shock as Renji strode towards him with a confident grin on his face, his zanpakutou slung casually over one shoulder. One thought kept running through Ichigo's head over and over: It had worked!

Urahara's machine had worked! He had somehow managed to go back in time, all the way back to his Bankai training! Renji was still alive; Aizen hadn't attacked yet; He had a second chance!

Ichigo grinned at Renji in relief. "Yo, Renji. Good to see you."

Renji apparently didn't catch the heavy emotion with which Ichigo spoke, because he replied sarcastically. "Che. Like I'd go off and die or something from the scratches you gave me."

That threw Ichigo off for a moment, and then he remembered the context: The last time this Renji had seen him was when the two of them had been trying to kill each other. He smirked back, trying to force himself to act 'normal' so that his friend wouldn't think he'd gone nuts. "Yeah, sure. So, let me guess, you're training so that I don't kick your butt so hard next time."

Renji rolled his eyes. "You wish. Actually, I've got some news for you that you're not going to like."

Ichigo frowned, trying to remember what news Renji had brought when he'd broken into the middle of his Bankai training before. "Oh?"

"It's about Rukia's execution," Renji said gravely. "It's been-"

Ichigo remembered. "Moved up again. To noon tomorrow."

Renji and Yoruichi both stared at him for a long moment. Then, Renji shrugged. "You're better informed than I thought, then. Yeah, it got moved up. We don't have much time."

"I can finish my training," Ichigo said confidently, grinning. Of course he could, he was done already.

Yoruichi continued to stare at him. "That's… but that gives you less than a day! That's-"

"I can finish!" Ichigo interrupted her. "Trust me. I can do this."

Renji smirked at him. "Sure you can. That's why you were collapsed on the ground when I came in here."

Ichigo scrambled to his feet irritably. "Hey! Say that to my face, pineapple-head!"

"I just did, strawberry!"

"Why you…!"

Yoruichi stepped in between the two of them, looking very annoyed. "Knock it off, you two. Ichigo, he is right. Are you up to this? Should we continue the training?"

Ichigo hesitated. He didn't need to finish his Bankai training this time around. But did he really want to tell Yoruichi that?

She wouldn't believe him. Even if she did, Renji wouldn't. And besides, if he wanted to change anything this time around, it might be better if nobody else knew about it, so that they wouldn't get in his way.

He could just imagine the lecture from Yoruichi: "Don't change things right now! Wait for the opportune moment! Let's get a plan ready!"

Yeah, it'd be one giant waste of time, while Aizen escaped off to Hueco Mundo a second time. That'd be just perfect.

So the question was, how was he supposed to convince Yoruichi that he didn't need to finish Bankai training without explaining everything to her? Ichigo frowned, trying to come up with something.

"Ichigo?" Yoruichi waved a hand in his face. "Are you all right?"

Ichigo nodded distractedly. "Yeah, I... I think I need to talk to my sword for a bit before I continue. You know, privately?" He tapped the side of his head once.

Renji smirked. "Just going to meditate for a while, then? Boring! I'm almost done with my Bankai training, so I'll just head off over there. Don't get in my way, got it, strawberry?"

Ichigo waved him off with a small smile. "Yeah, yeah. Don't hurt yourself."

"What was that?!"

"Go!" Ichigo shook his head in amusement at Renji's fuming. They had argued constantly, hadn't they? Always trying to show off. If only...

He stopped that train of thought in its tracks. There was no need for if-onlys anymore. He could change things now.

As Renji stormed off to start his training, Ichigo sat down again, laying his hands in his lap and closing his eyes. Traveling to the inner world of his mind always required a lot of concentration for him, but he had finally been able to get to the point where he could enter it by himself, without Zangetsu (or someone else) pulling him in.

After a moment, he found himself falling through the darkness and coming to rest on the sideways office buildings within his mind. He glanced around automatically, feeling, as he usually did, a little wary. He knew logically that his inner hollow hadn't appeared in here since he'd defeated him, but he still couldn't help feeling like he was about to be attacked every time he came in.

The only thing he spotted, of course, was Zangetsu standing balanced on the flag pole of one of the buildings. With a sigh, Ichigo headed over to him.

The zanpakutou was watching him suspiciously. "Yes?" he inquired.

Ichigo shrugged. "Just wondering if you had any suggestions, Zangetsu-san."

Zangetsu raised an eyebrow at him. "Suggestions about what?"

"About Yoruichi-san, of course," Ichigo frowned. "I mean, I should probably go rescue Rukia now, but I can't just go up to Yoruichi-san and tell her, 'By the way, I completed Bankai training already!' She's not going to accept that."

Zangetsu's voice suddenly became stern. "I'm not going to accept that, either, Ichigo. What are you talking about?"

Ichigo glanced up at him in confusion. "What do you mean, what am I talking about? You know. We've done this before. I have Bankai already."

"I think you hit him a bit too hard or something, Zangetsu-san," a voice from behind spoke up suddenly. "His head's all messed up!"

Ichigo spun around, startled to see his inner hollow standing less than two feet away from him. Automatically, his hand went for his sword hilt. "You! What are you doing here?"

His inner hollow backed away from him with a grin, raising both hands up in a defensive 'surrender' motion. "Hey! No need to get violent, partner!"

Ichigo stared at him. "No need to get violent?" he repeated incredulously.

His hollow just smirked at him in response, his hands still raised. "Well, not right now, no. Seriously, though, what's up with you? You're talking crazy! Bankai?"

Angrily, Ichigo opened his mouth to retort, but Zangetsu interrupted him. "He has a point, Ichigo. What are you talking about?"

That brought Ichigo up short, and he scowled at his zanpakutou in confusion, vaguely wondering why he didn't seem to be surprised that the hollow was there. Slowly, he answered his question. "We've been through Bankai training before. Urahara's machine sent us back here, yeah, but we don't have to-"

Zangetsu raised a hand to stop him. "Urahara's machine? What machine?"

Ichigo stared. "Did you not just see the massive explosion we were just in? Lots of lights, suddenly we're here again?"

"You're talking crazy talk," his hollow informed him with a laugh. "What explosion?"

"Oh, come on! There's no way you didn't notice! You were-" Something dawned on Ichigo suddenly, and his mouth fell open in surprise as he turned to stare first at his hollow and then back up at Zangetsu. "You... Wait, you didn't come back here with me?"

"Come back where, Ichigo?" Zangetsu was still watching him worriedly.

His hollow had a look of amused interest on his face. "In case you didn't notice, Ichigo, you kind of can't help but to take us with you when you go places." He gestured vaguely around him, indicating the sideways world.

Ichigo shook his head irritably. "It's not a 'where'. It's 'when'. Urahara built a time machine a while back, and I used it to go back in time. I... I assumed you would come back with me, Zangetsu-san."

There was a moment of silence, and then his hollow cracked up. "Time travel? Seriously? You're from the future?" He laughed again, shaking his head. "No way, now I know you're crazy."

Ichigo growled. "Why, you-"

Zangetsu stopped him before he could continue, addressing the hollow. "No, his explanation does make sense."

His hollow smirked. "Oh, really? How, exactly?"

"How else would he know the exact time of Rukia's execution? You know as well as I do that he never received that information from anyone. Also, how else would he know how to enter his inner world on his own?"

His hollow shrugged noncommittally. "And?"

Zangetsu's expression did not change. "How else would he know who and what you are?"

At that, the hollow's smirk faded, replaced first with a look of surprise, and then deep contemplation. "Huh! You're right!" He looked Ichigo up and down thoughtfully. "So, time travel?"

With a frown, Ichigo nodded.

"How far did you travel back? And how does that work, anyway? The not taking us with you part, I mean."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. He didn't like that it was his hollow, of all people, asking him the questions, but they were valid questions that needed answered, even if just for himself.

"I don't know how it works. Urahara invented the thing, not me. He said something about not taking back anything physical, though, so I guess that could be it: it only took one soul."

His hollow nodded. "And how far?"

Ichigo's gaze wandered up to the buildings and clouds above him as he mentally calculated the time that had passed. From this point, there was a month for Vaizard training, another month or so (hard to say, exactly) living in hiding, and a few weeks here and a few weeks there for all the stuff in between those.

With a shrug, he hazarded a guess. "Um... Three, maybe three and a half months?"

His hollow laughed. "Only three months? Man, that's some time machine! That's terrible! And here I was thinking it was something like several years! Three months?!"

"Better than three days," Ichigo shot back. "Which is all Urahara could make it do. I'm lucky I got this far back."

His hollow continued to snicker. "Yeah, yeah, all right. So, did you get back far enough to do whatever it is you came back to do?"

Ichigo scowled. "It should be, as long as no one gets in my way while I'm trying to do things." He glared pointedly at his hollow.

His hollow gave him a confused look, which slowly faded to a smirk. "Yeah, yeah. I'm working on it, partner." Ichigo frowned and opened his mouth to question this bizarre statement, but the hollow continued thoughtfully. "Those must have been some three months, though. You definitely seem stronger, anyway. Do I get stronger, too?"

"That's an understatement," Ichigo muttered under his breath.

The hollow's grin widened and he exclaimed joyfully, "Great! So, soon I'll catch up to you, and..." He trailed off, paused a moment, and then laughed. "Oh, never mind. Now you're three months ahead of me! Wow, it's going to take forever to catch up, isn't it?"

"You'll never-" Ichigo cut himself off abruptly as a thought struck him. His hollow was right; he was way behind Ichigo now. If he were to fight him now, Ichigo would definitely win, hands down. Maybe then, he'd be able to use his hollow powers to their full extent, for once, and surprise Aizen with them. Then, he'd be able to-

No, that was a bad idea. Yoruichi and Renji were outside, and he had been told what had happened the first time he'd fought with his hollow. He wasn't about to unleash his hollow form on his friends. He would have to take care of his hollow after he had rescued Rukia. He shouldn't get that much stronger in that amount of time. Should be no problem.

His hollow was watching him, trying to interpret his sudden silence. When Ichigo looked up at him, he grinned. "Don't worry, I'll just have to train faster, that's all."

Ichigo scowled again. "What's that supposed to mean?"

His hollow laughed. "Duh. What do you think it means?"

"You...!"

Zangetsu interrupted him, trying to bring the conversation back to its original topic. "Ichigo, why did you come back in time?"

His hollow's grin widened. "Oh, right! I was going to ask that! So, who died?"

"What?!" Ichigo's eyes narrowed.

"Oh, come on, something had to have gone wrong, or you wouldn't have needed to go back in time. Who died? I hope it wasn't Chad." His hollow continued to smirk as he talked.

Ichigo scowled back. "No," he bit out, already starting to regret his decision not to fight his hollow right now.

"Rukia-chan, then?" his hollow guessed lazily.

"No!"

"Well, then, who?"

"Everyone, okay?!" Ichigo snapped. "Renji, Tatsuki, Keigo, everyone else in Karakura town, a ton of Shinigami, everybody! And all because of me! There, you happy?!"

His hollow obviously wasn't expecting that, and for a long moment, he simply stared at Ichigo with surprise. Finally, he spoke softly. "Sorry."

"Like you care," Ichigo ground out between clenched teeth. Irritably, he forced himself to focus on Zangetsu. "Look, one of the Shinigami captains turned traitor, and he destroyed Karakura town to make some key thing. Yoruichi's going to want me to continue this training, but I already have Bankai, and I don't have time to mess around. He makes his first move right after Rukia's scheduled execution tomorrow. I have to strike early. What should I do to make Yoruichi lay off?"

Zangetsu frowned at him. "Continue the training, of course."

Ichigo's scowl deepened. "I already have Bankai," he repeated. "I don't need to-"

"Ichigo, what is Bankai?" his hollow asked suddenly, looking serious. He ignored Ichigo's sudden glare in his direction and answered his own question. "It's a Shinigami's ultimate bond with their zanpakutou. You may've used Bankai in your time, but you haven't achieved that level with this Zangetsu."

Ichigo's glare wavered, and then faded as he glanced over at Zangetsu. Slowly, Zangetsu nodded, indicating that the hollow had spoken correctly.

Abruptly, Ichigo began to panic. "I-I don't have time to regain Bankai!" he stammered. "I barely made it to Rukia the first time! If I've been wasting time standing here talking to you and I still have to do training, I'm not going-"

"Do not have fear, Ichigo," Zangetsu scolded him. "Your training should go faster here than it did in your own time."

Ichigo looked unsure. "Why?"

"Think about it, partner!" his hollow laughed. "You don't have to relearn the techniques. You just have to prove to Zangetsu-san that you can do it! Review, you know?"

Ichigo stared at him distrustfully. Finally, he scowled. "I hate it when you make sense." He turned back to Zangetsu. "Fine, I can do that. Let's get started, then. I'll go get Yoruichi to get the doll ready."

He immediately began concentrating on heading back to his own body. He almost felt rude for leaving so abruptly, but being that close to his inner hollow for that long was making him uneasy, and he wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

As his view of his inner world faded to black, his hollow turned to Zangetsu with an oddly sad expression on his face, and Ichigo caught the beginning of his comments before they faded away: "He really doesn't like me much, does he? I wonder what I ever did to-"

Ichigo shook his head in an attempt to clear it. His hollow had been acting strangely the entire time he'd been in there, and he had...

But this wasn't the time to be thinking about that. He'd deal with his hollow later, when he had time.

Yoruichi noticed his movements and hurried over to him as he got to his feet. "Well?"

Ichigo smirked at her, ignoring the slight dizziness that arose just from standing up. "Let's continue the training. I can do this."

Swiftly, she nodded, picking up the Bankai doll and propping it up for him. Ichigo unsheathed Zangetsu and plunged the blade into the doll, the kidou within it forcefully materializing Zangetsu's human form as both blade and doll disappeared.

Zangetsu gave Ichigo a level look. "All right, Ichigo. Are you ready to back up your claims?"

Ichigo grinned, reaching around behind him instinctively and grabbing the hilt of one of the many versions of his sword that were scattered everywhere. "Of course, old man Zangetsu. Any time you're ready."

Zangetsu nodded and, procuring his own blade from somewhere, ran at Ichigo. The fight began.

At first, the fight was easy. Zangetsu was obviously caught off guard by what, to him, was a sudden jump in Ichigo's fighting ability, and Ichigo nearly let his guard down. However, the zanpakutou recovered quickly, and a way-too-arrogant comment from Ichigo was, thankfully, cut off when Zangetsu suddenly increased his own ability to match his. After that, Ichigo was once again struggling to regain the upper hand, just as he always had when fighting him.

Ichigo wasn't particularly worried, though. He always enjoyed the challenge of fighting against his zanpakutou, and anyway, his hollow had been right: he already knew what Zangetsu was looking for in this battle. Steadily, he began driving the fight towards a specific corner of the fighting ground, where a specific sword was waiting.

It wasn't really the sword itself. Ichigo knew this as well. He had actually been fighting with the blade for quite a while, the first time, before Zangetsu had stopped him and told him that his training was complete.

The sword pieces represented pieces of Ichigo's soul, and therefore using the right piece was important to victory here. However, there was something more.

It wasn't just the sword. It was a mindset. It was, as his inner hollow had said, a connection with his zanpakutou, an understanding of who Zangetsu was, what his abilities were, and how he could use them. It was an understanding of what his own abilities were, and how they meshed with Zangetsu's. It was the idea of proving to his zanpakutou that together, they had the ability to succeed.

With this in mind, Ichigo lunged once more at Zangetsu with the blade he had picked up, pushing him far enough back that he had enough time to whirl around and grab the version of his sword that had won him the victory the last time. The sword that represented, among other things, Zangetsu himself.

Now, the battle was half-won. Ichigo turned back to his zanpakutou and began once more to fight. Zangetsu's expression never changed as they exchanged blows, but somehow, Ichigo felt that his zanpakutou approved of his attitude.

Finally, Ichigo brought the sword down hard enough against the other's blade that it shattered. The attack would have continued on to hit Zangetsu himself, but he reached up at the last minute with his other hand and caught the blade. Slowly, he smiled at Ichigo.

"You have found it," he noted solemnly, releasing the sword and letting Ichigo swing it up to a rest across one shoulder.

Ichigo smirked at him. "Of course I did, Zangetsu-san. I know you."

Zangetsu nodded in agreement and stepped back from Ichigo, raising his free hand above his head. Ichigo, knowing what was coming, didn't even flinch as every sword in the area lifted itself from the ground and flew through the air towards Zangetsu, who caught the first one lightly and then held it in place as the others merged with it one by one.

Eventually, Zangetsu was holding all of the pieces fused together, a sword that now looked like a duplicate of the sword that Ichigo had. "All right," he said with a gleam in his eyes, "show me our Bankai."

Ichigo grinned and brought his blade down in front of him, holding it parallel to the ground as Zangetsu did exactly the same with his. The white hilt wrap twisted around Ichigo's arm, and as he poured energy into the blade, there was an explosion of blue and white, which shifted midway through to a deep black tinged with red.

When the light cleared away, Zangetsu had disappeared back into the depths of Ichigo's mind and Ichigo was standing alone, wearing his usual Bankai outfit for the "first" time. Exclamations of awe behind him drew his attention, and he turned to smirk at Yoruichi and Renji, the latter of whom had scrambled over to see what the explosion had been all about.

"N-no way," Renji breathed. "You got it?!"

Yoruichi looked as though she could hardly believe it herself. "Two days. More like one and a half, Ichigo. That's... That's amazing!"

Renji turned to stare at her. "A day and a half?! Wait, you mean he just started his Bankai training a day and a half ago?"

Ichigo grinned and flash stepped to stand beside them. "What? Jealous, Renji?"

Renji flinched at Ichigo's speed, and then turned to glare at him with a scoff. "Jealous? Of course not! Why would I be jealous of someone like you?"

Ichigo laughed. "You're jealous. You better get back to work, Renji, or you'll never catch up to me!"

"Why I oughta... Now, listen here, brat! I could kick your butt any day, Bankai or not!" Renji brandished Zabimaru at him threateningly.

"Oh?" Ichigo laughed again. "I seem to remember being the winner of our last battle, Renji, and that was way before Bankai."

With a growl, Renji lunged at him. Ichigo didn't move, waiting to sidestep at the last minute. Yoruichi, however, didn't even let him get close, flash stepping between the two of them. "Will you two knock it off? Renji, get back to training! Ichigo, rest!"

Ichigo stared at her. "Rest? No way! I've gotta go rescue Rukia now!"

"You're joking, right?" Yoruichi glared back at him. "Your spirit energy is totally drained. To be honest, I'm surprised you still had enough to go to Bankai in the first place. You're shaking all over, and I suspect that the only reason you're still standing is the sheer amount of energy that your Bankai keeps flowing through you. Return to shikai, and you'll collapse."

Ichigo scoffed, balling his free hand into a fist to stop it from shaking. "I'm fine. Never felt better. I can fight."

Yoruichi crossed her arms, raising one eyebrow at him with a smirk. "All right. But you'll need to return to shikai anyway, or you will run out of spirit energy."

Grumbling, Ichigo rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah, sure." Slowly, he concentrated on bringing Zangetsu back to its shikai form. This done, he sheathed his sword and spread his arms open towards Yoruichi to indicate himself. "There. See? Totally..."

Abruptly, the edges of Ichigo's vision went black and he found himself staring up at the painted ceiling above him. Renji, who had apparently caught him just before he hit the ground, was laughing at him. "Totally fine. Right."

Embarrassed by the fact that he had just momentarily blacked out, Ichigo tried to struggle out of Renji's grasp. "L-Lemme go, I'm fine!"

"Ichigo, sleep," Yoruichi ordered firmly. "You have plenty of time."

"But I don't!" Ichigo protested. "I have to... I have to..."

But the world around him was fading into blackness again. The combined effects of general sleep-depravation, walking all night, the time traveling, and then re-achieving Bankai were all too much. He was totally drained, and no matter how hard he struggled to stay awake, it was impossible.

"But... I still have to..."

Ichigo drifted unwillingly to sleep.

---

Someone was shaking his shoulder lightly. "Oi, Ichigo."

For a moment, Ichigo considered trying to make them stop, or possibly telling whoever it was to go away, but he was so tired, he didn't even have the energy to do that.

"Leave him be. He needs rest," a low voice spoke up. Mercifully, the shaking stopped, and Ichigo began to drift again.

The first voice answered back. "Renji just left without us. He's been sleeping a long time, now. He said that he needed to act quickly."

There was a sigh. "I do not know what Ichigo has been going through these past three months, but I suspect that he hasn't gotten a chance to sleep much. Let him get as much as he can now. The execution is not due to take place for quite a while yet."

"Che. Whatever you say, Zangetsu-san."

At that, the two of them stopped speaking, and sometime in the resulting silence, Ichigo went back to sleep.

---

Can't breathe! Wet! Splashing! Water! Water! Why? Can't breathe! Water?!

Ichigo awoke abruptly as his head, along with the rest of him, went completely underwater. His sleep-groggy mind still too busy trying to figure out what was going on to even attempt to figure out which way was up, Ichigo panicked, his desperate flailing brought to a confusing slow motion by the drag of the water.

His feet made contact with a hard surface, and he instinctively braced against it and pushed himself away. This appeared to be the right thing to do, because a moment later, he broke through the surface of the water and gasped in air, coughing and sputtering.

What was going on? Why was he standing in a pool of hot water? Why-

A light laugh from above drew his attention, and he turned to glare at Yoruichi, who had obviously just thrown him in.

"What-" Ichigo was cut off by a fit of coughing, but when that stopped, he continued angrily. "What was that for?!"

Yoruichi grinned at him. "We need to get moving. I figured the water would clear your head a bit. Besides," she added, cutting off an irritated response from Ichigo, "the hot springs are healing your wounds."

Blinking, Ichigo looked down at the water he was standing in, faintly surprised to find that he was feeling much better than he had when he'd gone to sleep.

That was odd. You didn't find many magical healing springs, and the only one he'd ever seen was in the training grounds... in... Soul Society.

His memories of recent events finally caught up to him, and he nearly laughed. Right, time travel. He was in Urahara's Soul Society training grounds, and he'd just regained Bankai. And then he had-

He'd fallen asleep! He looked back up at Yoruichi with wide eyes, his previous panic returning. "How long have I been asleep?" he demanded.

She looked as though she was about to laugh. "Not long. Rukia's execution is still a few hours away."

Ichigo grit his teeth in frustration. Only a few hours?! That barely gave him any time! Why did he have to sleep so long? Why didn't anyone wake him? Where was Renji?

He glanced around. Where was Renji? He decided he'd better ask. "Did Renji leave already?"

Yoruichi nodded. "He completed his training and headed out. I tried to get him to wait for you, or at least wake you up, but he said he needed to fight on his own." She shrugged. "Besides, you weren't budging at that point. Are you feeling better now?"

Ichigo scowled. "Sure. Much better," he answered grudgingly. Slowly, he climbed out of the hot spring and began wringing his clothes dry, shaking water out of his hair. "All right, let's get going."

"Here." Yoruichi tossed a towel over his head. Ichigo snatched it off in annoyance and continued trying to dry himself off.

"Good enough," he insisted after a moment, throwing the towel aside and starting to look around for his zanpakutou. "Let's go."

Yoruichi's amused expression faded. "Why such a rush? We've got plenty of time."

"To go after Renji, of course! Knowing that idiot, he's going to get himself killed."

Yoruichi smirked at him. "Says the human who stormed into the middle of Soul Society's best fighters and purposefully picked fights with the strongest of them."

Ichigo grinned smugly as he picked Zangetsu up off the ground and sheathed it on his back. "Oh, shut up. Come on, let's go save Renji's butt."

"Let Renji fight his own fights," Yoruichi advised. "I suggest we break Rukia out of that tower while everyone's attention is on him. We should leave soon, but before we head out, I want to teach you something. It will increase your speed, so you can keep up with the likes of Byakuya."

Ichigo scowled again. Right, he hadn't learned shunpo yet at this point. But he definitely didn't have time to listen to explanations he'd heard before. "Keep up with him? I can already move fast enough to outpace him."

Yoruichi raised an eyebrow. "No offense, Ichigo; I know your growth rate is ridiculous, but you're not going to be able to-"

"I don't need shunpo," Ichigo interrupted. "I can keep up with him. Trust me."

Yoruichi stopped dead, watching him with a suspicious expression. "You know the name of the technique already?"

Ichigo tried to hold back a smirk. That was the second time he'd done this. At this rate, people were going to think he was psychic. "Urahara mentioned it before. Flash steps. It makes you move fast. I don't need to learn it. Let's go."

"You don't need to learn it," Yoruichi repeated incredulously, her expression not changing. "All right. Prove it. You're it." She flash stepped at him and touched his shoulder, and then she took off in the opposite direction.

Ichigo glared. "Oh, I do not have time for this," he groaned to himself before chasing after her.

Thankfully, it wasn't going to take too long to catch her. He'd been training his shunpo in battle since he'd first learned it from Yoruichi, and while he could never avoid getting tagged by her in these games of hers, he had long since reached the point where he could get her back. This would only take a minute, tops.

Or so he thought. As Yoruichi dodged nimbly around rocks and even ducked directly under his arm to shoot off the other way on multiple occasions, Ichigo slowly realized that she was much faster than he'd thought.

He was forced to come to a bitter conclusion. Either Yoruichi had been holding back on him in their previous battles, or he had somehow gotten slower in the weeks since he'd last seen her.

"It's probably the time travel, actually," a familiar, eerie voice broke into his thoughts suddenly, causing Ichigo to flinch, nearly crashing into one of the rock piles.

Managing to dodge to one side and come to a screeching halt just in time to avoid it, Ichigo turned his attention inwards enough to see his hollow watching him with a smirk. "What? What are you-" he started angrily.

"See, maybe your body isn't used to using shunpo that fast yet. You know how to, but it isn't capable of it yet," the hollow theorized. He grinned. "Fascinating technique, though. You know, I've actually got one like that called sonido. They're pretty much the same, but-"

Ichigo sputtered unintelligibly for a moment before spitting out, "S-shut up! I'm busy! And you just scared the living daylights out of me!"

His hollow's expression immediately turned serious. "Oh, right. Sorry." He vanished from Ichigo's mental sight.

Ichigo blinked in surprise. He hadn't meant to actually say the last part. And he definitely hadn't expected his inner hollow's reaction to be anything like—

Yoruichi was approaching him slowly, a worried look on her face. "Ichigo? You okay?"

Ichigo's scowl returned as he realized that he had come to a dead stop in the middle of a game of tag. "Great, now she's going to worry, and then we won't get anywhere. How am I going to get out of this one?"

The answer occurred to him the moment she stepped within ten feet of him. He grinned and, abruptly, he lunged at her. With a single flash step, he was within arm's reach of her.

Thoroughly caught off guard, Yoruichi ducked his first attempt at tagging her, but his second got her squarely on one arm. "Got you!" he called smugly.

Yoruichi laughed. "I never would have thought you were capable of pulling off a trick like that, Ichigo. And who taught you shunpo?"

Ichigo smirked, breathing hard. "Never mind. Are you convinced yet? Can we go?"

Yoruichi nodded, turning and heading towards the ladder that lead up out of the training grounds. "Good enough. Let's get going."

A little surprised that she'd let him off so easily, Ichigo followed quickly after her. Both of them scurried up the ladder.

They got up to the hidden cave just as a wave of spirit energy rocked the area. Renji had just gone to Bankai, which meant he had definitely found Byakuya. With a sudden grim expression, Yoruichi started moving faster, going to a stack of boxes and digging through it until she pulled out a tan cape.

Ichigo easily recognized it. It had helped him get to Rukia last time, its abilities allowing him to fly while he wore it. Seemed to be a trend of Shihouhin items.

"Here, put this on." Yoruichi threw it at him hurriedly. Without questioning, Ichigo threw it around his shoulders and the two of them ran for the cave entrance.

Yoruichi jumped down to the nearest rooftop and began flash stepping. Ichigo followed suit, only without bothering with the rooftops. Thankfully, Yoruichi didn't comment on the fact that Ichigo already knew what the cape did, and the two of them simply ran in silence, heading for the white Tower of Penitence.

At the speeds they were traveling, it didn't take long to reach the bridge that led to the tower's only door. There were a few guards at the door, but they didn't even see what hit them before Yoruichi took them out.

As soon as Ichigo's feet hit wood, he strode towards the door, keeping his senses as open as he could so that nobody could sneak up on them unexpectedly. When he reached it, he banged on it with one fist. "Oi! Rukia, you still in there?"

For a long moment, there was silence. Then, "Ichigo? You idiot! You came back?!"

Ichigo scowled. "Duh! How else am I supposed to save your sorry butt? Get away from the door, we're busting it down."

Yoruichi brushed him aside, examining the door carefully. "It's a pull-up door. Its weakest points are going to be here, where the-"

Ichigo rolled his eyes and unsheathed his sword. "Oh, who cares? This'll get through it. Getsuga..."

Yoruichi sensed what he was about to do and ducked out of his way. "Ichigo, wait!"

Too late. "Tenshou!" Ichigo released his blue energy attack directly at the door. However, instead of blasting a hole in it, as he had anticipated, it ricocheted off, reflecting directly back at him.

Surprised, Ichigo threw himself to the ground as the blast sailed over his head, crashing heavily into the building behind him, tearing a canyon through the center of it. Slowly, the walls that were still standing began to crumble.

It took Ichigo a few seconds to realize what had just happened, and then he groaned to himself. "Right. It's made of SekiSeki rock. I should have known that. That was stupid." Pulling himself to his feet again, he braced himself for the lecture that he just knew he was about to get from Yoruichi.

Yoruichi was too busy staring at the now destroyed building to lecture him, though. "What was that? When did you learn that?"

Ichigo scowled again as he suddenly remembered that he hadn't learned his Getsuga Tenshou attack by this point either. More mysteries for Yoruichi to solve.

Thankfully, Rukia interrupted him before he had to explain. "What's going on out there?"

"Ichigo's just blowing himself up," Yoruichi answered dryly. "Word to the wise, Ichigo: never attack SekiSeki rock with energy attacks. It absorbs and deflects spirit energy and-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Ichigo rolled his eyes and went back to the door, inspecting it carefully. It didn't even have so much as a scorch mark on it. He was going to have to do what Yoruichi had been plotting earlier and figure out where he could physically attack it to break it down. "So, its weak points are..."

Yoruichi brushed past him again. "Let me take care of this."

"Hey!" Ichigo protested. "I can-"

Yoruichi ignored him, pulling one fist back and holding it there. For a split second, nothing moved; the air itself seemed to freeze. Then, almost faster than Ichigo could see, she shifted position and slammed her whole weight into the punch.

The metal around her hand buckled and gave away, cracking into a spider web pattern that quickly spread to cover the whole door. It stood unsteadily for a moment before simply crumbling around her, leaving the doorway open before them.

Ichigo stared, first at the doorway and then at Yoruichi. Then he scowled again. "Show off."

Yoruichi turned and flashed him a feral grin before stepping halfway into the tower, standing on the rubble from the door. "Okay, Rukia! Door's open!"

Rukia stormed past Yoruichi out the doorway, heading towards Ichigo with an angry expression on her face. "Ichigo! I told you not to come after me! You're going to get yourself killed!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. He'd forgotten about this. Rukia could be so overdramatic at times. "Don't lecture me about coming to rescue you! Didn't I tell you already? I'm not listening to you!"

"You're an idiot!" Rukia emphasized again. "You're still-"

"Yeah, yeah, tell me about it later," Ichigo interrupted her irritably. Without waiting for a protest, he picked her up and slung her over one shoulder. "Come on, we've got to move."

Now the protests came. "I can walk! Put me down! Ichigo!"

Ichigo jumped up onto the railing of the bridge. "Sure, you can walk. But can you fly?" With that, he leapt from the edge and started running. Yoruichi was right behind him, the expression on her face revealing that she was trying to decide whether or not to be annoyed by Rukia's yelling or amused by it.

It didn't take long for Rukia to figure out what direction they were heading, and then her protests grew even louder. "Ichigo, exactly where are you taking me?" she demanded.

Ichigo laughed. "Don't worry, we're going under Soukyoku Hill," he informed her, knowing that she'd seen the large execution stands they were running towards. "There's a cave down there, and-"

His explanation was cut off by a blur appearing on a rooftop almost directly in front of him. Ichigo scowled, gripping Rukia tighter. The blur was shunpo, he knew, and he braced himself for the new arrival.

It was Soi Fon, current captain of 2nd Division and the special forces, and she did not look happy.

Ichigo hesitated, frowning deeply. Soi Fon was on their side in his time. She had given up her posts in the Gotei 13 when Ichigo and his friends had been proclaimed enemies, and the last time Ichigo had seen her, she had been leaving to go on yet another mission with Yoruichi somewhere up north.

She was his ally in his time. Now was a different story. Soi Fon had told him herself once that she had positively hated him during the time he'd broken into Soul Society, and he was sure that she would violently oppose him now.

Thankfully, before he could even think about trying to fight her, Yoruichi shot ahead of him. "Keep Rukia safe!" she ordered him without looking back. She slammed into the now very surprised Soi Fon, taking her down into a nearby grove of trees and clearing the way for Ichigo.

Immediately, Ichigo took off running again, continuing towards the cave beneath Soukyoku Hill.

He didn't get very far, though. On the rooftops all around him, more people blurred into view, surrounding him. Ichigo was forced to come to a dead stop, glancing around and trying to assess his situation.

Directly between him and Soukyoku Hill was the captain of 8th division, Kyoraku Shunsui, and his vice captain. To his left was captain of 4th division, Unohana Retsu, and her vice captain. To his right was the captain commander himself, Yamamoto, and his vice captain. Before he could even think of retreating backwards, Soi Fon's vice captain closed in the gap behind him.

"Ryoka-kun!" Kyoraku called out amiably. "I would advise you to put down Kuchiki-san and step away! We would rather not have to fight you!"

Ichigo nearly smiled. He could believe that, at least for the captains. Unohana was the nicest person he'd ever met, and Kyoraku was probably the laziest. Yamamoto was arrogant (and many other things not worth listing here), and would wait until his allies were near death before he'd even bother lifting a finger to help.

Still, even though Unohana and Kyoraku were his friends in his time, right now they were still under the impression that he was the enemy. Until Aizen revealed himself, he was going to have to avoid them.

At least he wouldn't have to worry about fighting. If he ran, it wasn't likely that any of the captains would follow. If anything, they'd send the vice captains after him, and he already knew that he was fully capable of knocking them out without causing them any permanent damage.

"Rukia, get onto my back," he directed, shifting her around so that he could free up his arms. Wordlessly, she followed his directions as he moved Zangetsu out of her way, unsheathing it. "Sorry, guys. That's not going to happen!" He grinned. "You want Rukia, you're going through me first!"

Rukia finally found her voice again, whispering harshly at him: "Ichigo, you're not planning on fighting them, are you?!"

Ichigo smirked at her over his shoulder. "Like I'd let them just take you back. Of course I'm fighting!"

Kyoraku let out a long sigh, and he reached down to draw both of his swords. "I'm sorry you feel that way, Ryoka-kun. I'm afraid I'll have to kill you."

Rukia gripped his shoulders tightly. "Ichigo..." she trailed off nervously.

Ignoring both of them, Ichigo glanced around. Running was definitely his best option right now. Even if he couldn't get Rukia to Soukyoku hill, he should probably try to figure out where Chad, Ishida, and Inoue were so that they could help him when Aizen revealed his plans. If he wanted to run, though, he would first have to find a way to get around the captains surrounding him.

Unohana's vice captain was the least dangerous person here who would actually fight him, so if he were to duck around that direction and head towards Soukyoku hill from that side, and then maybe he could make it. Except that Kyoraku was a lot faster than he looked; he would probably be able to intercept him on the way, and Ichigo really didn't want to use Bankai just to get enough speed to dodge around him.

Kyoraku was starting towards him now. Ichigo scowled. He was going to have to make a decision quickly. "Maybe... If I..."

"Go up!" The voice of his inner hollow rang through his head again, sounding urgent.

Ichigo flinched in surprise, gripping Zangetsu tightly. Quickly, he shifted his position to hold his sword at the ready, to hide the sudden movement from the people who couldn't hear the voices in his head. "What?!" he shot back instinctively.

"You've got that cape thing! Fly, you moron!"

Ichigo blinked as the logic behind that hit him suddenly. Of course! Go up! But his hollow was...

With a blur, Kyoraku was right in front of him, the sword in his right hand swinging towards him. Rukia let out a yell of fear, but Ichigo just ducked, spun to one side, and kicked up off the roof and into the air.

In a moment, he was running again, way too high to be in the reach of any sword, and flash stepping towards Soukyoku hill. The group of captains and vice captains was left in the dust.

Rukia's grip was uncomfortably tight now. "Ichigo, what are you-"

"Shut up, Rukia!" Ichigo growled back at her. "I'm making this up as I go, okay?"

"Oh, that's comforting!" She sounded worried, but she didn't say anything more.

Ichigo sighed in irritation. "Don't worry, I just gotta—Whoa!" He dodged to one side just as a large blast of red energy barreled through the air where he'd been just a split second ago.

As soon as Ichigo had caught his balance again, he looked down, searching the ground for the source of the blast and finding it in Kyoraku, who had sheathed his swords again and was pointing up at him, the tip of one finger still smoking.

Ichigo gaped at him for a moment. "He's shooting kidou at me!" he complained, beginning to run again. Kyoraku easily kept pace with him on the rooftops below him, aiming another blast at him almost lazily.

"Of course! What did you expect? You think they'd just let you go?" Rukia said with exasperation. "Just put me down, and they'll-"

Ichigo just rolled his eyes and kept running, jumping out of the way of kidou blasts whenever he sensed them behind him. "Shut up," he told her again. "I know what I'm doing."

"You're getting yourself killed is what you're doing! Quit worrying about me! Where exactly do you think you can go that they won't find us?"

Ichigo's scowl deepened and he didn't answer her. That was actually a really good question. Even if they were to get to Soukyoku hill now, Kyoraku was way too close for them to be able to get in without him noticing where they'd gone. They'd just end up trapping themselves in the training grounds.

He supposed it didn't matter too much where they went as long as he was able to keep Rukia with him. Then, when Aizen revealed himself, Ichigo would be there, since Rukia was his target. And since Aizen wouldn't be expecting him to be as strong as he currently was, it was possible that he could take him by surprise then.

So, as long as he could just keep dodging kidou blasts long enough for Aizen to decide to make his move, he'd be fine. If he could find his friends, that'd be even better, since they could help him fight, or at least keep Rukia close by him while he fought without putting her in danger.

A shot of red fire whizzed by very close to his head, making Rukia cry out again and forcing him to pay attention. Kyoraku was getting more accurate with his shots, and he was going to have to-

"Ichigo, watch out!" Rukia called hurriedly. At her warning, Ichigo dodged aside, barely avoiding a yellow light he didn't quite recognize.

Ichigo twisted around enough to look down at Kyoraku again as he ran. "What the...? That wasn't attack kidou. That was a lot fast-"

A second yellow blast caught him squarely in the chest. Abruptly, six giant, glowing, yellow rods swooped in. The binding spell quickly pinned his entire body in place; not an inch of him could move. Ichigo growled as he recognized the spell: Bakudo 61, Six Bars of Light.

"Ichigo!" Rukia had her hands around one of the bars now, trying to break it with a feeble attempt at the reverse spell. Kyoraku had come to a stop below them and was pointing up again, starting to chant what sounded like the incantation for the Shot of Red Fire.

Ichigo grit his teeth. He could break the kidou, but being exposed to that much energy might potentially knock Rukia out at this point because of the SekiSeki rock. If she was unconscious, she wouldn't be able to hang on to him and he would have to carry her, which would severely limit his ability to fight.

Still, if he didn't break the kidou, he was going to get blasted. "Rukia, let go of that and hang on to me as tightly as you can," he warned her.

As soon as he felt her arms wrapping around his neck, he started pouring spirit energy into the bars of light, trying to break through them with sheer brute force. For a normal Shinigami, this was a stupid idea that hardly ever worked. Ichigo, however, never had been and never would be a normal Shinigami.

"Come on... Come on..." Ichigo hissed to himself, shoving more energy in. His body began to glow blue from the reiatsu coursing through him, and slowly—too slowly—cracks edged their way through the yellow shafts. Kyoraku was finishing the incantation; any second now, he was going to get hit.

With a yell, Ichigo gave one last push and the spell couldn't take it any more. One bar shattered, followed quickly by each of the other five. There was a huge wave of reiatsu as the spell exploded, and then Ichigo could move again. "Yes!"

As quickly as he could, he whirled around, holding Zangetsu at the ready to guard against Kyoraku's kidou spell.

He needn't have worried, though. Kyoraku had let the spell die away and was currently staring at him, his mouth slightly agape.

"Rukia, you okay?" Ichigo asked, his gaze not leaving his opponent.

There was a mumble of acknowledgement from behind him, and Rukia's grip on his neck tightened briefly. "Good. She can still hold on."

Kyoraku straightened suddenly and let out a low whistle. "Wow. That was a level 61 binding spell," he commented. "That's some strong reiatsu you've got there. Most vice captain level Shinigami would have had trouble with that."

Ichigo smirked, breathing heavily. All this running around was finally getting to him. "You'll find I'm much stronger than any vice captain," he informed him.

Kyoraku nodded thoughtfully, and then addressed the air beside him. "Nanao-chan, did you see that? Surely I can't be expected to fight against that," he said almost hopefully.

There was a blur of shunpo beside him, and his vice captain appeared. She was bent over double, her breath coming in short gasps as she looked up at Ichigo. One arm was holding a clip board and the other was on her knee, supporting herself. When she had mostly caught her breath, she stood up straight again. "Yes, sir, I saw it. No, sir, I'm afraid you are expected to fight."

Kyoraku sighed heavily, raising one hand to aim at Ichigo again. "That's so sad. Sorry, Ryoka-kun!"

Ichigo laughed. "Well, no one can say you didn't try! Speaking of not fighting me, though, where's Ukitake-san? Isn't he supposed to be helping us rescue Rukia too?"

Once again, Kyoraku's kidou spell died before it even left his fingers, and he stared at Ichigo interestedly. Ichigo could feel Rukia staring at him, too, and Kyoraku's vice captain glanced at her captain unsurely, a look of surprise on her face.

Finally, Kyoraku laughed too, lowering his hand again. "Yeah, he's trying to unlock an old Shihouhin device that can destroy the Soukyoku, and it's taking him a bit long. Looks like we probably won't need it anyway, though."

Ichigo shook his head. "No, that thing needs destroyed anyway. Way too dangerous, and obviously being used stupidly."

Rukia finally found her voice again. "Kyoraku-taichou, you're helping us?!"

Kyoraku tipped his hat at her cheerfully, without answering her.

His vice captain looked perplexed. "Taichou, what are you...?"

"Well, I'm trying to find my friends," Ichigo supplied, ignoring the girl. "I don't suppose you know where they might be? You could chase me over that direction or something."

"I've got a pretty good idea as to where they might be," Kyoraku answered amiably. "Before I say, though, mind sharing how you knew?"

Ichigo grinned. "Call me psychic," he quipped. "Which direction?"

Kyoraku laughed again. "Okay. They were being kept in fourth division's holding cells. If they managed to get out of there, I'd imagine they would start heading towards Soukyoku hill to stop the execution. So they'd be somewhere that way." He gestured.

Ichigo nodded, closing his eyes briefly and trying to sense Chad's spirit energy in that direction. He found it fairly quickly, confirming Kyoraku's words. "All right, thanks. So, back to playing dodge ball in case anyone's watching?"

"Nah, the show was just for old man Yama." Kyoraku shrugged. "I'm not sure that even Juushiro and I working together can take him on; I'm sure not about to try by myself."

"Fair enough." Ichigo dropped from the air to stand beside Kyoraku on the rooftop. "Okay, then, lead the way."

With a smile, Kyoraku turned and began running the direction he had indicated. Keeping a tight grip on Zangetsu in one hand and leaning over slightly so that Rukia would have an easier time hanging on, Ichigo followed him.

Rukia was absolutely baffled. "Ichigo, what's going on?"

"Let's just say there's more people than just me who don't want to see you killed for no reason," Ichigo explained, smirking at her over his shoulder. "Inoue, Chad, and Ishida came to Soul Society with me to rescue you, along with Yoruichi. Ukitake's your captain, so of course he's helping; and Kyoraku's friends with Ukitake, so he talked him into it. Toushiro's trying to appeal to the Central 46 right now. Kenpachi and a few others from 11th division are fighting somewhere, too. And there's Hanatarou, of course, and then Renji is currently fighting your brother."

Rukia's voice was filled with emotion. "So many people... are fighting for me?"

Ichigo laughed. "Duh. Like it or not, you've got friends, Rukia. Now shut up and help me look for them."

"But why do you care?" Rukia continued anyway, wiping away angry tears. "I got you into all this trouble. I'm not worth getting cut up for."

Ichigo's amusement faded immediately and he glared at her. "I think I'm the one who gets to decide who I get cut up for, Midget! Look, I don't care what you think you-"

His rant got cut off when a giant wave of spirit energy rocked over everyone, bringing them all to a stop again. Ichigo's head whipped around and he peered into the distance, focusing on the energy. That was...

Rukia gasped in disbelief. "Renji!"

Renji's spirit energy had just spiked dramatically, and then fallen to nearly nothing, his Bankai fading away as he lost the ability to maintain it. The battle was over. Byakuya would be heading this way now.

"Hand Rukia-chan over here," Kyoraku suggested grimly. "If Kuchiki-san shows up, you'll need to fight. Nanao-chan can get Rukia-chan safely away from here."

Ichigo shook his head. "I need her with me. Nanao should go help Renji. You go find my friends and bring them here. I'll deal with Byakuya until then."

"Ichigo," Rukia warned. "You can't just-"

"I can and I will. Hang on." He gripped Zangetsu's hilt in both hands, holding it ready in front of him.

Kyoraku looked somewhat doubtful of his choice in plans, but turned back towards the direction that Ichigo's friends would be. "All right Nanao-chan. Time is better spent moving than arguing, you know."

His vice captain nodded, and they both took off in different directions.

"Ichigo, this is stupid," Rukia said again. "Byakuya-niisama will kill you! Especially if you're trying to carry me too!"

Ichigo just shook his head again. "I can take care of Byakuya," he promised. "You just worry about hanging on."

Rukia's worried expression didn't change. "Nobody can stand against him; even his Shikai is too powerful! What are you going to do if he uses Bankai?"

Ichigo smirked. "Then I'll use my Bankai. Rukia, quit worrying about me already."

She opened her mouth to protest, but before she could, Byakuya arrived in a blur of shunpo. Ichigo tensed, getting Zangetsu back into a ready position and waiting for Byakuya to make the first move.

At first Byakuya just watched him silently, his eyes narrowing at what he saw. Ichigo noted with satisfaction that the 6th division captain was already showing signs of tiring, and his black uniform was a little cut up. There was blood splashed in a few spots on his captain's cloak, and although Ichigo suspected that most of it was Renji's, at least some of it had to be his.

"Perfect. He hasn't had time to recover from fighting Renji this time around. I should be able to wear him down pretty quickly, so I can finish this and still have energy left for fighting Aizen."

"Don't be so arrogant, stupid," his inner hollow warned him suddenly. "You're tired, too."

Ichigo scowled. "Not as tired as last time," he shot back without thinking.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya interrupted his thoughts. "I see you still insist on pursuing this foolish mission. I suggest you put Rukia down."

"Not likely!" Ichigo called back.

Rukia's grip was uncomfortably tight. "Ichigo, don't!" she repeated.

Byakuya ignored her protest and continued watching Ichigo, drawing his sword. "Then I shall have to cut you both down. Shire, Senbonzakura."

Ichigo's eyes narrowed, his whole body tense as he watched Byakuya's sword shatter from the top down into hundreds of shimmering pink blades.

"No!" Rukia screamed as they all suddenly shot towards them in a whirlwind of destruction. Ichigo winced at that, and then proceeded to duck around the swarm, occasionally using Zangetsu to knock a few out of the air.

Byakuya wasn't taking him seriously at all, yet, so his attack was slow and moving in a predictable pattern. Having Rukia on his back slowed Ichigo down, too, but dodging was still only a matter of figuring out the rhythm and dancing around them. Soon, he was right beside Byakuya and bringing Zangetsu down directly at his head.

Byakuya's sword reformed into his hands just in time to block the attack, the metal ringing together as the two blades connected, sending sparks flying between them.

Ichigo smirked. "Don't treat me so lightly," he goaded. "Is this all you've got?"

"You are far too arrogant, Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya intoned. He shoved hard against Ichigo's blade, forcing some distance between the two of them. "I have no need to use my full strength against one like you."

"Sorry you feel that way!" Ichigo laughed. "I'll take you down at this strength, then."

With that, he lunged at Byakuya again, adding in a quick shunpo so that he could get around behind him in a mimic of Byakuya's own signature move. He knew that Byakuya could follow him, and so he was ready when he countered deftly, turning to face Ichigo as he moved around him.

What Byakuya wasn't expecting, however, was the energy blast that Ichigo was adding to his attack. "Getsuga Tenshou!"

The blast just barely missed him, flying right past his left shoulder as he ducked out of the way. Ichigo immediately swung a second time, using Byakuya's surprise against him to score a hit across one arm.

Byakuya recovered enough to block Ichigo's third blow, and then he jumped back away from him, holding his sword out in front of him defensively.

"What kind of an attack was that?" he asked calmly, obviously trying to hide the fact that he was breathing hard now.

Ichigo smirked. He didn't have time to explain all of his moves all over again. "Wouldn't you like to know?" he shot back. "Hang on tight, Rukia."

Silently, she gripped his neck harder, but before Ichigo could move to attack again, there came a call from below.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo looked down and grinned. Running towards him, waving madly, was Inoue, followed closely by Chad, Ishida, and Kyoraku, along with that one 11th squad guy they'd picked up whose name Ichigo couldn't remember just now.

Quickly, he turned and flashed stepped down to them. "Thank goodness you're here. Chad, take Rukia."

Chad nodded solemnly and reached out to take her. Rukia protested. "I can walk!"

"No, you can't," Ichigo told her as he passed her over. "Don't argue. It's okay, I'll deal with this."

"I'll take care of her," Chad promised, cradling her in one arm. Rukia scowled, but didn't say anything about it.

Ichigo smirked at her. "Okay. Stay close, but not too close," he warned. He didn't want Rukia caught up in the fighting at this point, and he was glad that his friends were there so that he didn't have to worry about her.

Without another word, he turned back to Byakuya and flash stepped back up onto the rooftops.

Byakuya was watching him expressionlessly. "You're wasting your time," he informed Ichigo.

Ichigo laughed. "You think you can take me down? Bring it on, Byakuya."

"You are far too arrogant," Byakuya scoffed. "Fine, then. I will destroy you before your head gets any bigger than it already is."

With that, he held up his sword, blade pointed down, and let it drop.

Ichigo's amusement faded. Byakuya was picking now to go to Bankai? Why now, and not before? The last time he'd fought Byakuya, he'd gone to Bankai right after he'd showed him his Getsuga Tenshou attack. What was different this time?

Rukia. Ichigo smirked again. Of course. He'd had Rukia on his back this time, and Byakuya hadn't wanted to hit her unintentionally. So, he'd already had his doubts about this execution, then, even before Ichigo had fought him. Good to know.

Byakuya's Bankai rose silently from the ground—hundreds of blades that then simultaneously shattered into pieces. "Bankai. Shire, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

Dodging off to the side to avoid Byakuya's initial attack, Ichigo thrust Zangetsu forward, holding it parallel to the ground, and let the hilt wrap twist around his arm, channeling his spirit energy into the blade.

"Bankai!" There was a flash of light and a cloud of smoke and dust as Ichigo's Bankai formed, leaving him holding Zangetsu's black katana form and wearing his black coat. The flying cape that Yoruichi gave him blew off, which was all right; the speed his Bankai gave him was nearly like flying anyway.

"Tensa Zangetsu."

Byakuya was staring at him in surprise, his pink blades swirling in the air around him. "Did you say Bankai? Impossible."

Ichigo grinned. "You heard me. And this time, I'm not wasting time playing fair. Let's go!"

He knew that with Byakuya still underestimating him, he had enough speed to easily get under all of his defenses. The last time, he'd stopped with his blade at Byakuya's throat and then backed off, trying to get him to fight all out. This time, he was going down right now.

Before Byakuya could even blink, Ichigo was beside him and Zangetsu was slicing across his left side and up one arm. Not enough of a wound to kill, obviously—He needed him alive later—but enough to cause him extreme pain.

To Ichigo's surprise, Byakuya ignored the wound. His face registered shock as he flash stepped back away from him, but other than gripping his side with one hand, he remained totally focused, moving his other arm up to direct his blades in a counterattack.

Ichigo moved easily out of the way of the swarm, but he was careful now. Byakuya would definitely be taking him seriously now, at least enough that he needed to pay close attention to his actions.

A flash of white-blue light distracted him briefly, and he turned to look back down at his friends. Grimly, he noted that the other vice captains had finally caught up with them and that his friends were now fighting.

They were holding their own pretty well. Chad's attacks were not in the least weakened by the fact that he was still holding Rukia, and the light from the energy blasts had been what had caught Ichigo's eye. Already, one of the vice captains was out for the count, his released zanpakutou shattered by a punch.

Inoue was doing her best to help as well, maintaining a shield in front of Chad while Tsubaki zoomed around, trying to find a good angle of attack on the other vice captain. Ishida and the 11th squad guy were hanging back, looking as though they wanted to help, but couldn't think of a good way to.

Kyoraku, for his part, was doing nothing other than cheering the others on. Ichigo decided that he must be trying to conserve strength for fighting Yamamoto and was, therefore, waiting for Ukitake to show up.

Suddenly, the air all around him was one massive blur of pink. Ichigo whirled, dismayed to find that while he'd been distracted, Byakuya had completely surrounded him.

Moving as fast as he could, Ichigo began batting away each of Byakuya's thousands of blades as they came at him. A few of them ended up getting past his defenses and they swooped in to inflict deep cuts across his shoulders, but for the most part, Ichigo was able to knock them all out of the air.

Ichigo ignored the pain from the cuts and focused back on Byakuya again, dashing in to try a close range attack. Byakuya was ready for him, the mass of pink rising to form a solid shield between them.

As he attempted wildly to weave his way around all of Byakuya's blades, Ichigo mentally yelled at himself for having become distracted in the first place. Hadn't he just told himself that he needed to focus on this? Why was his attention so hazy?

"Let me take over!" his inner hollow broke into his thoughts urgently.

Ichigo flinched. "No! No, not this again, no!" He jerked back away from Byakuya, putting a large distance between the two of them so that he could concentrate on this new problem.

His hollow was intent on forcing Ichigo to listen to him. "I can fight him! You know I can!"

Ichigo brought one hand up to his face, clenching his fist as he attempted to push the hollow down. He knew the hollow was weaker than him; it should have been easy. But for some reason, controlling it was a struggle now.

Seeming somewhat confused and angry by his sudden efforts, his hollow pushed back. "Come on, you idiot! I have no idea what this Aizen guy is capable of and you do! You need to save your strength for that! Leave Byakuya to me!"

"No!" Ichigo grit his teeth, fully aware that his spirit energy was fluctuating crazily as he and his hollow shoved at each other. Byakuya was keeping his distance, trying to figure out from there what was going on. "Not again! Not this time!"

"I'm not going to kill him," the hollow argued exasperatedly. "I heard you say you need him later. What's the big problem?"

Before Ichigo could stop them, several memories surfaced one after another of their own accord, almost too quickly to even note: His hollow taking over during his original battle with Byakuya, the subsequent fight for control, the long weeks without using his Shinigami powers in a sad attempt to keep his hollow from gaining control, facing his hollow at last in the basement of the Vaizard's hideout, and finally, a memory strong enough that it lingered in his mind long enough to really be seen:

---

In a small back room of a hastily set up emergency shelter, Ichigo was trying desperately to get some sleep. Both of his little sisters were curled up against him, their heads in his lap. They were already in a fitful sleep, clinging tightly to him, but no matter how he tried, he just couldn't.

Every time he closed his eyes, images of Karakura town's recent destruction flashed through his mind, overpowering all of his senses. There was no room in his head for logical thought; all of it was blocked out with multitudes of what ifs. Could he have somehow prevented this?

His musings were cut short by a sharp knock on the door followed immediately by it opening. Renji and Rukia both came hurrying into the room.

Ichigo blinked up at them. "Wha...?"

"Ichigo, we've got to move, now," Renji snapped at him. "Come on. Bring your sisters."

Confused, Ichigo looked to Rukia, but she was already on the opposite side of the room, pulling open the door to a small closet where bundles of supplies had been shoved. She grabbed a couple of them and slid one across the floor to where Ichigo was sitting.

When she realized that he wasn't moving, she glared at him. "What part of 'move now' don't you get?"

"What's going on?" Ichigo asked with a frown. "Aizen isn't attacking again already, is he?"

Renji scooped Yuzu and Karin up into his arms. They were tired enough that even with Renji's rough handling, neither of them woke. "No, it's not Aizen," he reported. "Worse. We just got our orders from Soul Society. There's a kill-on-sight order issued for you."

Ichigo scrambled to his feet in surprise. "There's a what?!" he demanded.

"Kill-on-sight," Rukia confirmed somberly, slinging another emergency pack at him. "You, the other Vaizard, all of the Arrancar—regardless of whether or not they're still helping Aizen—and, of course, any Shinigami or human allying themselves with any of the above."

Ichigo stared at her. "But... But I'm one of their best fighters! And none of them would still be alive if the Vaizard hadn't showed up when they did! Not to mention what Grimmjow and Nell have been doing for us! Why would they do this?"

Renji laughed bitterly. "Why does Yamamoto issue any of his stupid orders? Why execute Rukia? Why forbid us from rescuing Inoue? Who knows?"

"The official reason is that since Vaizard and Arrancar are part hollow, that they absolutely cannot be trusted," Rukia mentioned. "They're using your hollow's attack on Ishida as proof."

A wave of guilt washed over Ichigo, followed immediately by anger. "T-they can't do that! I lost control once, and they're going to-"

Renji cut him off. "To be fair, I doubt that most of the Gotei 13 is actually going to follow the orders. Regardless, those few who do want to kill you know that you're here, so we need to move. Now."

Rukia nodded, heading out the door. "Come on. Ishida's going with his father, but Chad and Inoue are coming with us. Urahara says that he knows where the Vaizard retreated to, so we're all going to-"

---

"Ichigo, watch out!" Rukia's scream, along with movement out of the corner of Ichigo's eye, drew his attention back to the present. He threw himself sideways, dodging an attack from Byakuya's swarm of blades.

"Kurosaki Ichigo, your movements are becoming quite slow," Byakuya commented, not pressing the attack further. Obviously, he hadn't been trying to kill with that blow, just trying to snap Ichigo out of his daze. Typical chivalrous Byakuya.

Breathing heavily, Ichigo forced the sudden flashbacks out of his mind, trying to concentrate on the fight at hand. That was then; this was now. That was not going to happen again. He'd take Aizen down first.

His inner hollow was uncharacteristically quiet, having stopped pushing at Ichigo the moment the memory rush came. Grateful for the lull in his inner battle, at least, Ichigo took the opportunity to focus further on what was happening outside.

The fight down below with Ichigo's friends and the vice captains seemed to have come to a standstill. Kyoraku was talking with the only one still standing, the girl who was Unohana's vice captain, apparently trying to convince her not to fight them.

Byakuya was standing several rooftops away, his blades hovering around him, waiting for a response of some sort from Ichigo.

Ichigo smirked at him, trying to regain his composure. "Sorry," he called. "Looks like I'll have to speed up a bit!"

The swarm of blades swirled around Byakuya faster in preparation for a whirlwind attack of some kind. "Your arrogance, at least, continues to have no limit," he quipped lightly. "Your body, however, seems to be incapable of keeping up with your tongue."

Ichigo glared. "We'll just see about that."

With that, he lunged at Byakuya, twisting around as he moved to avoid the worst of Byakuya's whirlwind, and knocking down the rest with Zangetsu. Quickly, he got into range of Byakuya himself and attacked again, holding a Getsuga Tenshou onto his blade so that the energy attack could enhance his original slicing motion.

Byakuya was apparently surprised that Ichigo was still able to fight effectively, because Ichigo was able to catch him while his guard was down. A deep gash was carved across Byakuya's left shoulder before he could get away and counter attack.

Ichigo ducked around and went at him again, trying to get as many hits out of Byakuya's shock as he could. He wasn't able to get many, and he took a few blows himself from Byakuya's counters, but by the end of the exchange, both of them were sporting several new wounds.

Byakuya wasn't slowing, though. Before Ichigo really had time to recover, he was attacking again, his swarms of blades coming at him ferociously.

Ichigo scowled, flash stepping back to avoid them and almost getting severely nicked. These near misses were getting annoying.

Just as he was about to express this, Byakuya interrupted him, speaking sternly. "Why do you continue trying to rescue Rukia? You know that this attempt is useless."

"Why keep trying?" Ichigo asked incredulously. "That's a stupid question. Just because you can't keep your promise to Hisana doesn't mean that the rest of us aren't going to fulfill the promises we've made!"

Byakuya froze, his attacks falling away completely. "What did you say?" he let out in a harsh whisper.

Ichigo nearly smacked himself in irritation. He just kept doing this; spouting off information that he had no right to know. Byakuya had never mentioned this to anyone; it was anyone's guess what his reaction to this would be.

Thankfully, before he had to come up with a response of any sort, another commotion from below drew both of their attentions. Glancing down, Ichigo was somewhat relieved to note that Ukitake had finally arrived.

With two captains in the area, as well as Ukitake's two third seats, Unohana's vice captain quickly changed her mind about fighting them. It probably helped that one of the two third seats was the vice captain's sister.

Kyoraku sent Ichigo a thumbs up. "Ryoka-kun! We're going to head up to Soukyoku Hill! Good luck!"

Byakuya sent Kyoraku a distasteful look, but the other captain just ignored it. Kyoraku, Ukitake, and the three other Shinigami turned and flash stepped away, leaving Ichigo's friends standing by themselves, Chad still hanging on to Rukia. The 11th squad guy from before seemed to have backed off, because he was nowhere to be seen.

Ichigo smirked at Byakuya, suddenly getting an idea. "You don't have to fight me, Byakuya. She's your sister. She's your responsibility. And she did nothing wrong. Help us."

Byakuya glared at him, raising one hand to continue his attacks. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"I know exactly what I'm talking about," Ichigo countered. "Help us, Byakuya. If not for Rukia's sake, then for Hisana's."

All this accomplished was making Byakuya furious. "How dare you?" he seethed, sending another wave at Ichigo, which he barely managed to dodge. "Do not presume to meddle in things that do not concern you, Kurosaki Ichigo."

Okay, so, persuasion using foreknowledge of past events wasn't going to help him here. He was going to have to resort back to disabling him, hopefully more effectively than his previous attempts.

With a scowl, Ichigo ran at Byakuya again, this time dashing around him in circles, going faster and faster and faster, until even he could have sworn there were multiple versions of him running around.

Byakuya didn't react much, merely moving both hands to direct his blades into the circle that Ichigo had created. Very quickly, Ichigo was forced to drop the run-around tactic so that he could dodge around Byakuya's swift counter attack.

He was getting increasingly frustrated at Byakuya's refusal to tire. It wasn't fair; he wasn't nearly this difficult to fight the first time around! He was supposed to be stronger this time! What had gone wrong?

He had attempted this too early, he realized grimly, still ducking Byakuya's continued attacks. The time travel had taken way more out of him than he'd originally anticipated. He should have waited until Rukia's execution had actually started before he went to rescue her, to give himself more time to recover.

Then, he would have actually had a better idea of where everyone important was, as well. As it was, he had no idea where Aizen actually was at the moment. Or Gin and Tousen, for that matter.

Too late for that. Now, he had to deal with the decisions he'd made. He could still take Byakuya. And if he did it fast enough, he could still have time to rest before trying to take on Aizen.

Determinedly, Ichigo put on another burst of speed, trying his best to get around behind Byakuya so that he could disable him more effectively. Byakuya seemed to have anticipated this, because he whirled around and pointed directly at Ichigo's shoulder. "Byakurai," he intoned softly.

Ichigo's eyes widened as the white lightning kidou, Byakuya's favorite spell, which he totally should have anticipated, blasted through his right shoulder.

Shaking from the electricity still running through his body, Ichigo jerked back away from Byakuya, shooting off a haphazard Getsuga Tenshou blast in his general direction to keep him from continuing to attack.

Seeming to ignore this, Byakuya was suddenly right beside him, grabbing hold of the front of Ichigo's coat and pulling him abruptly upright. "Before I kill you, tell me. Who told you the name Hisana?" he hissed dangerously.

Ichigo forced himself to smirk. "You did," he shot at him. Before Byakuya could figure out what that was supposed to mean, Ichigo shoved him away, twisting to make him let go of his clothing. Then, he flash stepped away to put several yards of distance between them.

He faced Byakuya again with a grin. "I'm not going down that easily, Byakuya!"

Byakuya's eyes narrowed. "Say what you will. I'm finishing this right now."

He held up one hand, and all of the pink blades began to gather to one spot above him, whirling around his hand to create what seemed almost like a massive, moving ceiling above his head.

Magic crackled through the mass, causing the air around him to grow dark. Ichigo tensed. Byakuya was shifting to one of the other forms of his Bankai. He had about three of them. The question was, which one was he going to have to deal with now?

The darkness around him spread as the already large cloud of blades seemed to grow even larger, casting the area into shadow. Ichigo held Zangetsu ready, fairly sure now which version this was. This was going to get interesting.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue yelled suddenly, her voice sounding panicked.

Ichigo's head whipped around as he searched frantically for his friends. Finally, he spotted them a large distance away on the street below. Chad had obviously been firing off more of his punches, because there was a lot of smoke, and Inoue had her shielding up.

The smoke cleared, revealing that his friends' opponent was completely untouched. Ichigo's eyes widened as he recognized him: Kaname Tousen. One of Aizen's followers.

Immediately, Ichigo turned and started flash stepping towards them, trying to get over there as quickly as he could. Byakuya yelled something at him, but Ichigo ignored it. He had to get over there now.

Tousen threw one hand up in the air, holding onto the end of a thick, white ribbon, which began to twist itself around the group. Inoue's Tsubaki slammed into it, trying to cut through, but it did nothing.

Ichigo panicked. That was a Kidou transportation spell! That was going to take them to Aizen! He was going to miss them!

He put on an extra burst of speed. He had to make it! He had to!

At the last minute before the white ribbon completely cocooned the group, Ichigo managed to slip into the circle, reaching out and grabbing hold of the first person he came across.

There was a loud whoosh noise followed by the dizzying feeling of being moved very fast, and then everything stopped. The white ribbon fell away, slowly revealing their new location: Soukyoku Hill.

Ichigo glanced around quickly, trying to get his bearings in case he needed to fight right away.

The Soukyoku itself was still intact. Obviously Ukitake and Kyoraku hadn't gotten here yet. They must have been intercepted on the way.

The only people in the area were Ichigo, his friends, and Tousen, and of course Aizen and Ichimaru Gin, who were now walking towards them purposefully. Nobody else was in sight. Aizen had them right where he wanted them.

Ichigo scowled. Aizen was looking just as smug as he remembered. As always, it was impossible to tell exactly what he was thinking as he scanned the group.

After a moment of silence, Aizen smiled amiably at them. "Hello. I don't believe most of us have met before. I should introduce myself to you." He stopped and gave them a small bow, holding his hands spread out by his sides. "I am Aizen Sousuke, captain of fifth division."

"Traitor to Soul Society," Ichigo bit out hatefully.

Aizen looked mildly surprised, but then his smile grew. "You could say that. But then, that makes us on the same side, does it not? Ryoka-kun, please put down Kuchiki Rukia and step aside."

Ichigo held Zangetsu at the ready, standing between Aizen and Chad. "Hang on to her, Chad. Don't let go," he instructed.

Chad nodded solemnly, gripping Rukia tighter. Inoue and Ishida put themselves in front of him, keeping Ichigo in the front, but making sure there was another solid barrier or two keeping Aizen and his group away from Rukia.

"Aya..." Gin sighed, the creepy smile on his face not fading. He held both hands up in the air in an over-exaggerated shrug. "Looks like they're not gunna make it easy on us, Aizen-sama."

Aizen's gaze remained fixed on Ichigo. "I see." Slowly, he unsheathed his sword, beginning to walk towards them again. "Pity."

Ichigo tensed, trying to prepare himself for anything. Aizen was deceptively fast, he knew. Even though Aizen seemed to be quite some distance from them now, he had to be ready.

Aizen moved. Ichigo swung, trying to intercept him. If he was going that way, it meant he was planning on attacking from behind, so—

No, he wasn't attacking Ichigo at all!

Too late, Ichigo whirled around. He was only just in time to see Inoue and Ishida sent flying by the surprise attack, too taken off guard to do anything to stop him. Chad began powering up a punch, but it was no use; Aizen was already on him, slicing a deep gash across his chest. Chad didn't let go of Rukia, merely taking the hit with a grunt, sliding backwards from the force.

"Chad!" Ichigo yelled. Angrily, he threw himself at Aizen, swinging wildly. "Getsuga Tenshou!"

The attack never left the blade. Aizen reached up without even turning around and stopped Zangetsu mid-swing with a single finger. With a crackle of unused energy, the Getsuga Tenshou fizzled out.

Ichigo stared in disbelief. He was faster this time! How could Aizen still have anticipated that? Why had this happened again?

Aizen smirked at him, letting his current situation fully sink in before turning and swinging with his own blade, fully intent on cutting Ichigo completely in half.

Thankfully, Ichigo was at least expecting that much, and he leapt out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting hit. Still shaken, he backed off, trying to regain his balance for another attempt.

Aizen apparently didn't see him as much of a threat. He sheathed his sword, turned away and walked back to where Chad was now kneeling on the ground, clutching his chest with the hand not holding Rukia.

Reaching down, he grabbed the red collar Rukia was wearing and, with his other hand, shoved hard against Chad. To Ichigo's surprise and horror, Chad fell backwards, lying on the ground without moving and leaving Aizen holding Rukia up in the air.

"No!" In a burst of outrage, Ichigo ran at Aizen again. He knew that Aizen was fast, but he also knew his style by now. Right before he reached Aizen, he leapt sideways and ducked under where he knew that Aizen would be blocking him and swung hard.

There was a sound of metal against metal, and sparks flew up in Ichigo's face. Quickly, he moved away from Aizen, trying to determine what had just happened.

Ichigo scowled, realizing that his attack only hadn't worked because Aizen had partially activated that weird green-hand thing that he had used before to forcefully pull the Hougyoku from Rukia's soul. Part of the device was apparently a strong Kidou shield that surrounded the two of them.

Aizen smirked at him briefly. "You are quite persistent," he noted with some amusement. "But slow."

Ichigo grit his teeth, his hand tightening on Zangetsu's hilt. It would be no use to attack him, now. If he interrupted the kidou on that device, it might end up not working properly, and then it might kill Rukia when Aizen used it. "Rukia!" he called out in frustration.

Rukia looked terrified, still trying to figure out exactly what was going on. "A-Aizen-taichou?" she stammered. "W-what?"

Aizen smiled at her almost comfortingly. "I apologize for not explaining myself properly, Rukia-chan. Kaname, Gin, if you could perhaps make sure we can talk without interruptions?"

Ichigo tensed, but apparently it was his friends that Aizen was more worried about. Chad, who had by now propped himself up on one arm, suddenly found Gin's sword at his throat, preventing him from moving.

Inoue and Ishida were being held up in the air by the backs of their stolen shinigami uniforms by Tousen. Both of them struggled, protesting loudly, but neither of them could move either.

Angrily, Ichigo returned his attention to Aizen. "What are you trying to accomplish, Aizen?"

"Merely informing Rukia-chan, here, exactly how useful she has been to me," Aizen said cheerfully, with a glance at Ichigo. "Having been sent here by Urahara, I'm sure you already know this full well. However, a bit of information might do Rukia-chan some good. I suggest you listen well, too."

Ichigo scowled, but said nothing. At this point, he really had no choice. He couldn't attack Aizen, and he couldn't help his friends, either. If he went to Chad, Tousen would kill Ishida and Inoue. If he went to them, Gin would kill Chad. Ichigo couldn't move any more than they could.

Aizen took his silence as a yes. "Good. Now, as you may or may not be aware, there is a limit to the amount of strength that any one Shinigami can attain. He may become a master in all four areas that Shinigami train in—sword play, hand to hand, footwork, and kidou—but at that point, he has to stop. There is no way to become stronger. At least, not as far as Soul Society's rules are concerned."

He smiled maliciously and continued. "There is one way to breach that limit, to make the ability to become stronger completely boundless. That way is the erasing of the line between Shinigami and Hollow: the creation of a hybrid. The idea has existed in theory for a long time, but no one has ever made any sort of breakthrough. No one... except for Urahara Kisuke."

That statement achieved various gasps from amongst Ichigo's friends as they realized what Aizen was getting at. Ichigo merely continued to glare at him hatefully.

Aizen waited patiently for their attention again, and then he went on. "Urahara created a device unlike any other previously created; one that instantly dissolved the barrier between Shinigami and Hollow. It is a powerful device known as the Hougyoku, or Orb of Distortion. A device which he has hidden within your soul, Kuchiki Rukia."

Rukia's eyes, previously narrowed with suspicion, widened in shock as that sunk in. "Hidden in my soul?" she gasped.

Aizen nodded amiably. "Not only that, but he also gave you a gigai created specifically to destroy spiritual energy, rather like SekiSeki rock does. It would have eventually turned you into a normal human. He never meant to help you; he meant to use and destroy you so that he could completely conceal the location of the Hougyoku."

Expressions of hurt and betrayal shadowed across Rukia's face as she tried to take in the information.

Inoue outright protested it. "You're lying! Urahara-san wouldn't do something as horrible as that! I met him! He's nice!"

"Nice?" Aizen affected a surprised look. "Hardly. His actions seem like rather cruel tricks to play on those he called friends, yes, but it's true nonetheless."

Ichigo growled low, gritting his teeth. "Don't listen to him. He's just playing mind games."

Aizen merely smiled at Ichigo, as if to say he was wasting his time. He was nearly right, too. While Urahara was most definitely their friend, Ichigo couldn't outright deny a single one of Aizen's claims against him.

"Don't worry, Rukia-chan. The gigai has already been disposed of, and I plan to remove the Hougyoku now. Hold still."

Before she could protest, Aizen lifted her higher, raised his free hand and activated the rest of the spell, causing his hand to become monstrous-looking and green. Without hesitation, he plunged it deep within her chest.

"Kuchiki-san!" Inoue cried in horror. Ishida and Chad looked equally disgusted. Ichigo's expression set in a hard line as he watched, hoping beyond all hopes that this worked the same way it had before.

Slowly, Aizen drew out the Hougyoku, a small, blue ball encased in clear white kidou barriers. As soon as he had it free, he released the spell, lowered Rukia to the ground, and examined his prize. "I'm surprised. It's rather small." He grinned. "So this... is the Hougyoku."

Ichigo was watching Rukia carefully as the spell dissipated. She still looked completely shocked and dazed, but the gaping hole in her chest was closing up. She was going to be okay.

Aizen seemed to notice this as well, and he glanced down at her with some surprise, stashing the Hougyoku away in his uniform. "Oh? And you are completely unharmed. Marvelous technology."

Right, well, now that the spell was done with, Ichigo could at least make an attempt to get Rukia away from Aizen. First, he'd have to do something about his friends. How was he going to manage this?

Aizen seemed to have his own plans. Reaching down, he picked up Rukia by her collar again. She remained totally limp. "Unfortunately," Aizen said almost sadly, "I have no more use for you. Gin, kill her."

Gin glanced down at Chad and contemplated him for a moment, probably trying to interpret his suddenly mixed orders. He apparently decided not to kill Chad, because he withdrew the sword from his throat and pointed it at Rukia. "Ah, well, can't be helped. Shoot to kill, Shinsou."

At once, Ichigo moved, flash stepping as fast as he could and snatching Rukia out of Aizen's grasp, narrowly avoiding Gin's sword himself as it extended towards him. At the same time, Chad leapt to his feet and powered up a punch, aiming it at Tousen's midsection. Tousen went flying, dropping his two captives.

Just like that, Ichigo and all his friends were out of immediate danger, Ichigo with Rukia slung over one shoulder, and Chad carrying Inoue and Ishida.

Aizen smiled. "Nicely executed," he complimented. Gin grinned at them as well, sealing his sword again and sheathing it. Tousen picked himself up off the ground, looking unscathed by Chad's attack.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. Aizen had to have known that this would open Ichigo up to move against him. There was no reason for him to have Gin do this except to purposefully incite a fight. Why would he do that? To entertain him while he waited for the Menos to pick him up, maybe?

No time to think about that now. With the Hougyoku already with Aizen, he was no longer going to focus on Rukia and would instead work on taking down the strongest fighter there: him.

Before Aizen could make his move, Ichigo flash stepped to Chad's side, just as he was putting Inoue and Ishida back on their feet. Quickly, he passed Rukia off to Chad again. "You guys get out of here. I'll hold them off."

Ishida dusted himself off somewhat indignantly. "That's not going to work, Kurosaki," he pointed out. "After that, do you really think they'll just let us leave?"

Chad apparently agreed. "We should stay and help you fight," he stated, shifting Rukia into a more comfortable position. "We're stronger together."

Ichigo scowled. "I don't want you guys getting hurt any more."

Ishida just scoffed. "And you honestly think this will be any different if they kill you first and then come after us?"

"Kurosaki-kun, you're hurt, too," Inoue pleaded with him. "Don't try to fight alone."

Ichigo rolled his eyes. "I'll be fine. If you lot stick together, you should be able to get away while I hold them off."

"Quit being stubborn and let us help fight, Kurosaki!" Ishida demanded.

"And what exactly are you going to do?" Ichigo shot back. "You can't fight right now. And while Inoue can-"

Ishida interrupted him, his expression changing suddenly to one of suspicion. "What do you mean, I can't fight?!"

Ichigo frowned at him, a little thrown off by this. "You fought Kurotsuchi, right? You lost your Quincy powers?"

Ishida stared at him in shock. "How...?"

Abruptly, it occurred to Ichigo that he wasn't supposed to know that yet. It hadn't been till Inoue had pointed it out weeks after this that it had even crossed his mind before.

Scowling, Ichigo pushed on. "How I know is beside the point. You can't fight. Inoue can't either. If she uses her shields and Chad attacks anyone who comes near, you should be able to-"

Chad shook his head, resting his free hand lightly on his wounded chest. "Ichigo. They're too fast for me. We need to work together."

Ishida agreed, still looking disconcerted by Ichigo's random foreknowledge. "If there was just one of them, that'd be one thing. You're not going to be able to fight all three of them."

Ichigo's scowl deepened. He hated to admit it, but they were right. Still. "Got any better ideas?" he growled. "None of you are in good enough condition to fight, and-"

"Neither are you, Ichigo," Rukia pointed out dryly, looking worriedly at him. "I'm surprised you're still standing!"

"I'm not hearing any better suggestions!" Ichigo let out in frustration. "If we just stand here, they'll kill us all!"

Ishida frowned. "Calm down, Kurosaki. Your yelling isn't helping."

"Look, if you don't-"

"Aya... So upsettin' to hear such arguin' amongst friends, ne, Aizen-taichou?" Gin sighed dramatically.

Ichigo glanced over to see Aizen smiling at him, with Tousen and Gin standing close by on either side. "Quite," Aizen agreed with Gin's statement. "We should end this now."

"Good idea." Gin grinned creepily and drew his short zanpakutou again, dropping down into a crouch with the tip of his blade pointed directly towards them.

Moving without even thinking, Ichigo darted forward and slammed Zangetsu against the blade of Gin's sword even as he was opening his mouth to release it, forcing Gin to focus on him instead of his friends. Gin reacted immediately, turning to swing at Ichigo.

He ducked the blow and flash stepped around to the other side of him, attacking again. Gin deflected the attack fairly easily, merely bringing his arm around to match Ichigo's location and flicking Zangetsu off to the side. A quick slash then left a shallow cut across Ichigo's arm as he tried and failed to twist away.

Ichigo scowled. He couldn't get too far away from Gin, or else he'd just release his sword for a distance attack. But he couldn't get too close, either—Gin's sword was a wakizashi, a short sword designed specifically for close combat.

Behind him, Chad had handed Rukia over for Ishida to carry piggy-back, and the group was struggling to defend against Tousen's attacks. Only Inoue's shields were managing to hold him back even a little.

Tsubaki remained completely useless, darting around, but unable to ever get close enough to Tousen to even attempt to attack. Tousen could only see things by sensing the spirit energy they emitted, and Inoue's Shun Shun Rikka were pure spirit energy themselves; to Tousen, they were probably bright enough to see a mile off.

Aizen himself was just standing back and watching, much to Ichigo's irritation. What was this, prime time television to him?

Gin was attacking again, and Ichigo returned his attention to that, trying to move as quickly as his Bankai would let him go.

Even with Bankai speeds and flash steps, though, Gin kept seeming to get faster and faster as they exchanged attacks. Ichigo was smart enough to know what that meant: he'd been fighting too long while exhausted. He was involuntarily slowing down.

His expression set with concentration, Ichigo forced himself to continue focusing on the sword blows.

Lunge forward. Dodge. Slash. Twist. Jump back. Duck. Block. Slash. Turn around. Block. Sparks fly.

He was moving purely on instinct and reflex. Attack. Defend. Attack. Faster! Faster!

A loud crackling noise broke through his concentration suddenly, followed by a voice that sounded as though it were on loudspeakers. "Binding... successful! Captains, vice captains, and temporary vice captains of the Gotei 13, and also the Ryoka! This is Vice Captain Kotetsu Isane of the 4th division speaking. Can everyone hear me?"

Ichigo quickly put some distance between himself and Gin so that this distraction wouldn't cost him. Was this...?

"An emergency situation has occurred. This emergency transmission is under the authority of Captain Unohana Retsu of the 4th division and myself, Kotetsu Isane. Please listen carefully. Everything I'm about to say is all true."

Unohana had found Toushiro, Hinamori, and the Central 46. Ichigo felt a wave of relief flood through him. He'd been a bit worried that his early rescue would cause Aizen's actions to go completely unnoticed by Soul Society. That would have proved disastrous.

Thankfully, it seemed that when he had started acting early, Aizen had responded by also moving faster than he had the last time. While this probably meant that Toushiro and Hinamori had been lying there injured for longer than last time, it also meant that soon Ichigo and his friends were going to get help from the other captains.

Aizen, Tousen, and Gin were, by nature of the communication kidou spell that Isane was using, unable to hear the transmission that she was giving them. However, they were definitely aware that Ichigo and his friends were receiving it. Gin and Tousen had backed off to once again stand by Aizen, who was watching them with vague interest as they listened.

Ichigo was trying to ignore the transmission. He already knew the contents of the message—details about Aizen's treachery—and if Gin and Tousen weren't attacking any more, he was going to use this time to catch his breath a bit and try to come up with a plan.

Just attacking outright wasn't working. He was way too tired for this. If he couldn't even handle Gin's attacks, there was no way he'd be able to take Aizen.

His friends weren't going to be able to help either. Glancing over at them, he could tell that much. Chad's chest was bleeding a lot, and Ishida seemed to have taken a hit or two during the exchange somehow as well. Inoue seemed to be all right, but Rukia looked as though she was nearly unconscious there on Ishida's back. All of them had varying degrees of horror on their faces as they listened to Isane's message.

Ichigo's attention was drawn suddenly by Aizen beginning to walk forward. "It seems that my actions have been discovered," he observed, smiling at Ichigo. "I shall have to finish this now before the others arrive." He shook his head. "It is a shame. You were doing quite well."

Gripping Zangetsu's hilt tightly, Ichigo tried to raise it to a ready position as Aizen drew his sword again. He was horrified to realize that his body had ceased to respond to him. Slowly, he lifted Zangetsu up about an inch, but that's all he was able to do. He was shaking all over.

"Move... Move!" he yelled at himself desperately, watching Aizen approach. "Move!"

"My turn!" His hollow pushed at him suddenly, trying to force control.

Ichigo nearly choked, shoving his hollow away with what little strength he had left. "No! Not again!"

His hollow yelled back at him. "You have no excuses this time! There is nobody here who would report this to Soul Society! Your friends are on your side, and I'm going to kill those three! You're going to get us both killed! Let me through!"

Ichigo didn't let up on the pressure, still struggling to stay in control of his own body. "No!" he ground out, not even caring that he was speaking aloud now. "Stay... back!"

"Che." His hollow sounded almost disappointed. "You truly are pathetic..."

So fast that Ichigo barely realized what had just happened, his hollow shoved hard at him, knocking him down and out of the way and forcefully taking control.

Immediately, the mask began to form across his face and he grinned. "Sorry, Ichigo... I'm not about to die just yet."

Ichigo found himself rather suddenly in a very strange position. He was no longer in control of his body, but he could still see everything that was going on. He could still feel, could still hear, everything, but...

"Ichigo!" he could hear Rukia yelling from the sidelines.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue, too. His other friends were yelling something at him, as well. They all sounded panicked and confused, and for good reason.

His hollow began to move, lunging at Aizen with a yell of joy. Aizen had a look of surprise on his face, but he moved deftly out of the way of the attack. The hollow didn't stop, using sonido to move around behind him, firing off several black Getsuga Tenshou attacks.

The red-tipped black blasts of energy swirled and twisted around unpredictably, so that it looked as though they filled every available space in the area. All together, they smashed into the rock below them, sending dust and debris flying up everywhere.

Without waiting to see if the attacks had actually hit, the hollow leapt into the middle of the cloud of dust, slashing his sword in front of him blindly. Zangetsu came into contact with something metal, which sent sparks flying and created a screeching, ringing noise that echoed through the air.

At that point, the dust settled enough for him to see Aizen standing there with his sword drawn, holding back the hollow's attack easily. His smile had returned to his face, and he examined the hollow's mask with interest. "Fascinating," he murmured. "Are you, perhaps, an experiment of Urahara's?"

The hollow laughed. "Who knows? I'm just here to kill you!"

With that, he was moving again, spinning around and flash stepping backwards, of all things, in an attempt to hit Aizen from behind. Aizen was faster, though, and he dodged out of the way. Immediately, the hollow turned to attack again, letting off several more Getsuga Tenshou blasts. Aizen blocked a few of these with his sword and ducked around the others, keeping his gaze locked on the hollow mask.

Surprisingly, Aizen never attacked, instead merely continuing to put distance between them, ducking and twisting out of the way of the hollow's attacks whenever he needed to. He seemed almost as if he were simply analyzing the hollow's moves rather than fighting.

Finally, the hollow got fed up with this game of tag and he stopped, glaring at Aizen. "Fight me!" he yelled angrily.

"Oh, I will," Aizen assured him. "I just need to decide how first. You see, I would really like to avoid killing you at this point, and it's difficult to calculate how much weight to apply when stepping on an ant so that it doesn't die."

The hollow grit his teeth. "An ant?! Why you-"

Aizen interrupted him, his smile growing wider. "At any rate, I believe I have seen enough. This should do."

Suddenly, faster than he could even see, much less try to keep up with, Aizen was behind him. The hollow's eyes widened, and he attempted to whirl around to face him again. Before he could, though, several wounds opened up across his arms and legs near the shoulders, elbows, and knees, and then several more appeared across his back. Blood flew everywhere.

There was no time for thought; before he had even realized he'd been hit, the hollow had collapsed to the ground. From the sidelines, Ichigo's friends let out cries of dismay. "ICHIGO! NO!"

"W-what?!" the hollow let out in outrage, trying to get to his feet again.

Now Aizen was in front of him again, the tip of his blade at the hollow's throat, forcing him to look up at him. "I have severed the tendons in your arms and legs, and destroyed several important nerves in your back," he informed him. "Until those are healed, moving should be physically impossible for you."

The hollow growled in pain, jerking his head away from Aizen's sword and trying to force himself to his feet anyway. Aizen was right, though; he couldn't move at all.

"Now, what to do about this?" Aizen wondered almost idly to himself, tapping his blade against the hollow's mask. "Hmmm... Perhaps if I simply got rid of it."

With no further warning than that, he rammed the tip sharply into the mask, careful not to hit the skin beneath. The whole thing shattered, and Ichigo's hollow was forced back into Ichigo's mind, leaving him back in control of his own body again.

For all the good that did. The first thing he was aware of was the pain coursing through his body. He still couldn't move, and now it seemed like every part of him was on fire from the pain, blood seeping from his many wounds to collect in a pool beneath him.

Ichigo grit his teeth hard, trying not to scream. Why had this happened? What, exactly, had just happened?

His hollow had just taken over. Taken over! Just like that! When had he become so weak that it had been able to just push him over like that?!

And Aizen had just beaten him quite literally into the ground. It was a wonder and a half that he wasn't dead. Again.

Why had this happened? Why was everything he was trying going so horribly wrong? Now Aizen was going to be able to retreat to Hueco Mundo again, and there was nothing he could do about it! Why-

"Well, that seemed to have worked." Aizen's voice broke through his thoughts again. With a happy smile down at Ichigo, he addressed his subordinate. "Kaname, keep an eye on the boy. We're taking him with us."

Ichigo choked and sputtered, trying to get to his feet again. "What?! Y-you can't just-!"

"Yes, sir." Abruptly, Tousen was standing next to him. The heel of his right foot slammed into his back, forcing him painfully to the ground again. Tousen had him firmly pinned.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

"Kurosaki!"

"Ichigo!"

Ichigo's friends sounded horrified. The sound of running footsteps let him know that they were heading his way, and immediately, he forced his head up to face them. "Stay back!" he yelled desperately. There was no need for them to get hurt, too.

"The others are still useless to me," Aizen commented. "Gin, kill them."

"No!" Ichigo continued to struggle against Tousen's hold, ignoring the pain ripping through him at every movement.

Gin paid him no heed, simply drawing his sword and pointing it at Ichigo's friends. They had stopped running towards Ichigo by now and were instead standing defensively behind Inoue's shield, though most of them were still watching Ichigo fearfully.

"Shoot to kill, Shinsou," Gin released his sword with a disturbingly happy look on his face. His blade extended towards the group at an alarmingly fast pace.

Instead of hitting Inoue's shield, though, Gin's sword came instead into contact with an enormous swarm of pink, which stopped it dead in its tracks. Behind the swarm, standing protectively in front of Ichigo's friends, was Byakuya, his expression as cool and deadpan as ever.

"Byakuya..." Ichigo let out in surprise. He hadn't honestly been expecting him to show up again. Now that he thought about it, though, it made sense. He hadn't actually defeated him, and now he was still in good enough condition to fight. Ichigo couldn't help allowing a smirk to cross his face. That was one thing that had gone well, anyway.

Byakuya wasn't looking at him, instead keeping his gaze on Gin while his blade returned to its normal length. When it was wakizashi size again, he turned to Aizen and Tousen. "Release Kurosaki Ichigo," he directed.

Aizen raised his eyebrows. "Release him? Why?"

Byakuya's eyes narrowed. "I swore an oath to kill him personally. I will not have him taken from me before I can do that," he said coldly.

If Ichigo could have smacked his forehead, he would have. Typical Byakuya. Knowing him, he meant it, too.

Aizen laughed. "I am sorry to hear that. I'm afraid I cannot do as you ask, Kuchiki-taichou. Maybe I'll let you have him back once I'm finished with him."

Byakuya frowned, and then reached his hand up to direct his swarm of pink, sending the blades flying directly at Aizen.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he realized that this meant that they were also headed directly at him. And that Byakuya wasn't likely to care. He quickly ducked his head, burying his face in his arms—the most protection he could give himself with his current mobility.

The blades swarmed around him, whipping up the air into a whirlwind, but surprisingly, not a single one hit him. Ichigo glared up at Byakuya. "Hey, watch it! You almost hit me, you jerk!"

Byakuya still wasn't looking at him, for obvious reasons. Aizen had dodged completely around the attack, and now he was nowhere to be seen. Ichigo twisted around in all directions—or as much as he could with Tousen pinning him down—and tried to locate him. Where had he--?

"Hado number 90, Black Coffin." Aizen's voice came from behind Byakuya, and he whirled to face him. It was too late; black rods formed a cube around him, and then filled in with black.

Ichigo stared. No... Aizen hadn't just... He couldn't have...

The kidou spell completed its course, impaling the cube with thousands of black spears of energy. The whole thing faded away, leaving Byakuya standing alone, his face lifted upward, his eyes closed. For a half second, Ichigo dared to hope that perhaps the kidou hadn't worked, that Byakuya was unharmed...

Then, Byakuya collapsed, blood flying through the air from the multiple gashes suddenly covering his entire body.

"Niisama!" Rukia screamed.

"Byakuya!" Ichigo called out in horror. Angrily, he glared up at Aizen, fully planning on calling him as many bad names as he could think of.

Gin interrupted him before he could, though, whistling low. "A level ninety kidou spell without incantation? That's scaaary, Aizen-taichou."

Aizen shrugged, approaching his subordinates again. "I messed up, actually. That spell didn't have even half the power in it that it should have had. I'll have to work on that."

Rukia had struggled down from Ishida's back and was now running as quickly as she could, stumbling over the uneven ground. "Niisama!"

Aizen shook his head in amusement. "I keep trying to kill all of you, and yet every time, something keeps interrupting me." Smiling, he started to draw his sword once again. "I wonder what it will be this time."

As if in answer, two people flash stepped in, surrounding Aizen. One slammed a hand down on the hilt of his sword, keeping it firmly in its sheath. The other attached itself to Aizen's arm, holding a blade at his throat.

Aizen smiled down at the first. "Aha. Now this is a face I haven't seen in a while... Yoruichi."

Yoruichi glared up at him. "Don't move, Aizen."

"Or I'll cut off your head," Soi Fon added from her place on his arm.

Aizen kept still, his expression continuing to be calm and composed. "Of course."

"Kill him!" Ichigo shouted to them. "Don't hesitate! Kill him now!" Yoruichi gave him an almost surprised look, probably wondering at Ichigo's sudden call for violence. "Don't look at me like that! Just kill him!"

Tousen dug his foot further into Ichigo's back, causing him to cry out in pain and crumple to the ground again.

"Need help, Aizen-taichou?" Gin called out with some amusement. He raised one hand in a half-shrug. "Dunno exactly what I'd do, but—Whoops!"

Suddenly, someone had hold of Gin's raised hand, and a blade was being held at his throat as well. "You're going to not move, is what you're going to do," a calm voice instructed him. Just like before, Matsumoto Rangiku had him held down.

As soon as he realized who held him, Gin grinned at Aizen. "Sorry, Aizen-taichou!" he called almost happily. "I went an' got myself caught."

Aizen raised an eyebrow at him. "I see."

"It's too late for you, Aizen," Yoruichi informed him, glancing at Ichigo. "There's nowhere you can run. We have you surrounded."

Blurs of shunpo from captains and vice captains alike began to swarm in from all directions, seemingly confirming her statement.

Ichigo knew better, though. "He's escaping to Hueco Mundo with Negacion!" he yelled angrily, ignoring Tousen. "Kill him now!"

Yoruichi's eyes widened and she turned to Soi Fon. "You heard him! Do it!"

But it was already too late. Yoruichi, Soi Fon, and Matsumoto barely had enough time to get back before all three ex-captains were engulfed in yellow light, which flowed downward from a suddenly cracked sky.

Ichigo let out a cry of frustration. Aizen's "ride" had arrived early! Way early! How?! Why?!

Aizen was going to get away again! This wasn't what he wanted! Why had—

Suddenly, Ichigo had other things to worry about. Beneath him, the ground began to shake, cutting away from the rest of the hillside with loud cracking noises. In horror, Ichigo glanced up to realize that Tousen still had his foot placed firmly on his back. He was inside the Negacion field!

"Hey! Wait a—Help!" Ichigo struggled once again in vain to get to his feet as the chunk of ground rose into the air.

Tousen pushed him back down again. "It's pointless. Don't even try it," he advised him disinterestedly.

Ichigo growled at him, trying to push against him anyway.

"Kurosaki-kun!" His friends were, of course, still below, watching in complete shock.

One of the vice captains growled, stepping forward and unsheathing his sword. "Aizen-taichou! You'll pay for-"

"Stop." Yamamoto looked solemn as he watched the pillars of light. "It's too late. Negacion is an ability used by Menos to rescue their own. Everything within its range becomes part of a different dimension entirely. As soon as that light came down, Aizen moved beyond our reach."

Captain Komamura growled low, his gaze locked on the field that held Tousen and Ichigo. This time around, he was decidedly un-black-coffined, but that didn't stop him from being just as angry as he had been the first time. "Tousen!" he yelled. "Get down here and explain to me!"

Tousen turned in his direction, the expression on his face unreadable as always.

"Why did you become a Shinigami?! Was it not for your deceased friend?! Was it not to carry out Justice?! Where is your Justice now?!"

Tousen replied calmly. "I've told you before, Komamura. The only path I see with these eyes is the path of least bloodshed."

Ichigo choked, struggling against him again. "'Path of least bloodshed' my—Ack!" Tousen kicked him down again and continued as though he hadn't spoken.

"There, Justice can always be found. The path I walk... is Justice."

Komamura growled angrily at him again. "Tousen..."

Ichigo quite agreed with his tone, but was quickly finding that even when he wasn't moving, black and white spots were fading in and out of his vision dizzyingly, so he didn't bother trying to move again.

Ukitake, meanwhile, was having his conversation with Aizen. "To sink all the way to the level of allying with the Menos...What are you trying to do?"

Aizen gazed at him impassively. "I'm trying to go higher," he replied.

"Have you fallen in the process, Aizen?" Ukitake asked wisely.

Aizen shook his head in vague amusement and irritation. "You are far too arrogant, Ukitake," he intoned. "No one stands on the top of the world. Not you. Not me. Not God. But the unbearable vacancy of the throne in the sky is over. From now on... I will stand in the heavens."

Ukitake evidently didn't have anything he could say in response to this. Instead he just glared up at Aizen.

Ichigo's pain-fogged mind was whirling. He now had about three seconds to try to come up with something he could possibly yell down at his friends, some bit of information about Aizen's plans he could give them. Something. Anything! What could he say?

Aizen smirked and turned away from them, facing the portal that had been opened up leading to Hueco Mundo. "Goodbye, Shinigami. And goodbye, Ryoka." He gave them one last glance over his shoulder. "Tell Urahara, 'Thanks for the gifts.'"

With that, the portal snapped shut, throwing everything into darkness.

---

I seem to have developed some fondness for ending chapters by knocking Ichigo out. Well, he's not knocked out this time! =D!

This chapter took forever to write. XD Seriously, I've been working on it ever since I actually put up the first one. It would have been done way before now if it hadn't been for that stupid hard drive crash. (Grumble, grumble)

It turned out really long, too. I remember posting up my second chapter of Feeling Hollow and going, "Wow, this is long! It's like 45 pages long, guys!" ... Um. Yeah. This one's 53 pages. Maybe it's just something about second chapters, eh? (Although it's not as long as Quickedit seems to think it is. o.O Weird thing keeps adding a thousand words to its count every time I save it... Microsoft Word says it's only 19,000 words.)

Well, I did have a lot of stuff I wanted to cover in this chapter. My tendency to overcomplicate anything that has a battle scene in it because I want blow-by-blow battle scenes doesn't help much. XD This whole chapter, it seems like, was one ginormous battle scene.

I was really really sick of writing battle scenes by the end of this. So, you know, they're not very good. =D Good thing Lizeth drew me some nice fanart for some of it. (I've got a link up on my profile). A good manga page makes any battle look awesome. Thanks, Lizeth!

XD I actually got fed up enough with writing battle scenes that partway through, I attempted to pull up battle scenes from past chapters of my stories and copy/paste them in here and change names around... It didn't work. Apparently, I don't write very good cookie-cutter battle scenes. XD They're very event specific. I couldn't use any of them. So, I couldn't cheat. I had to create entirely new battles for this chapter. Oh well, probably better that way.

I'd like to thank everyone for the many many many reviews on the first chapter of this. =D Your encouragement is awesome, and I love reading your speculations! Quite a few of you were pretty close with your guesses, too! (Though I wish that those with close guesses weren't anonymous reviewers.)

The stats in general on this story are pretty amazing, actually. Thank you so much if you helped contribute to the 57 reviews, the 2800 hits, the 79 favorites, and the 117 alerts that the last chapter got! For a 4000 word teaser prologue chapter, that's not bad!

Also, a big thanks to those who did beta-reading for me! I really appreciated your comments!

And a huge thank you to my little sister, Shells (Shells124), who is planning on creating a manga version of Day Before Tomorrow. The whole thing. o.o Wow. That's some birthday gift. So, don't forget to stop by her deviantART page and check those out once she has some up.

Not sure what else to say about the story itself, so I'll switch gears a bit to inform you what stories I'll be spending my time on next. First off, I've been keeping track of my progress on my profile, so if you ever wonder what I'm working on, feel free to check there. It's kind of my instead-of-Twitter.

The next thing I'm going to be doing is finishing up a chapter of Legend of Zelda: The White Magician that I started randomly. It's pretty near completion already, so that shouldn't be too long.

After that, I'll be writing the next chapter of Feeling Hollow (including rewriting the 17 pages I lost from the hard drive crash).

At the same time that I'm doing the above two things, I'll be writing an original fiction story that Katie and I have been working on. At the moment, it's called Ghost Stories: A Traveler's Log, but that's actually going to change as soon as I come up with a better title. Hopefully, I'll be able to publish this one someday!

All this, of course, comes after my real life stuff that I gotta worry about. I'm still going to college, and I've gotta apply for a summer job, and do work around the house, and all that.

Anyway, so I'm not sure when the next chapter of The Day Before Tomorrow will be started on. o.o Possibly not for a while. Although the next scene will be fun to write, and I may try to fit time for it in there somewhere. There are ideas for the story, no worries about that. It's planned out all the way to the end. I just wish I had enough time to write it. (haha time travel fic has no time to be written).

So, yeah. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Make sure you check out Lizeth's awesome page, too! Please leave me reviews! =D!

--Daricio