Chapter Two: The Sacrifice is Made
All that was running through Ichigo's mind as he exited the garganta was "I have to get everyone else out." To buy himself time to signal the others, he slammed Aizen through a number of the red pillars that dotted the landscape before taking off in a combination of shunpo and sonido.
Meanwhile Retsu Unohana was at a loss as to what to tell the former Ryoka's, friends. How could she tell Orihime that the man she had a crush on was about to be kenneled like a naughty dog? How could she explain to Rukia that the person who was like a brother to her, was to be a casuality of war at his own choice? What would Chad do when he discovered he couldn't cover Ichigo as he has done in every other battle? How will Renji feel at the loss of his sword brother? How could Captain Kuchiki cope without his foil, the one person that could force him to drop the mask? She was still debating how to broach the subject when she saw the man in question approaching faster than the goddess of flash herself.
"Hurry up, we have to get the fuck outta here! The Gotei 13's gonna seal him in Hueco Mundo" Ichigo yelled. While traveling Ichigo decided that ignorance was the best policy in this case. He knew that as soon as his friends heard of his plan, they would use any weapon at there disposal to get him to flee with them. He can't afford to falter, if he did, people would die.
"Ichigo, what happened?" "Where's Aizen?" "What's going on?" "What do you mean, 'seal him in Hueco Mundo?" Ichigo was bombarded with questions as soon as he slid to a stop on the sandy ground of Hueco Mundo. "Stop, stop, STOP! Your questions can be answered later, all you need to know is that you either get your asses into the garganta, or never leave!" This halted there impromptu interrogation and shocked them into action. He followed his friends and the various captains to the garganta, sharing a knowing look with Unohana. Halfway through, the captain of the sixth division suddenly came to a halt. "Where's Kurosaki?", he inquired, "wasn't he right behind us?" This caused everyone to turn towards the entrance where the last sight they saw was a sad smile from Ichigo, and heard a faint "Goodbye….everyone", before the garganta closed.