Chapter Two
She blurred into existence in front of them, her father draped over one shoulder. For a moment, no one recognized her. She sat her father down on the side before resuming her previous place.
"Is that… Ichigo?" Tatsuki asked?
"Is it just me, or is her hair longer?" Keigo added, "And could it just be the hair… Or does she look taller too?"
"…I can't… I can't feel anything…" Tatsuki murmured, panic beginning to rise, "I can feel him crushing me… But from her… Nothing…"
"Are you Kurosaki Ichigo?" Aizen intoned, a slight frown pulling at his lips.
"What do you mean?" she asked, face perfectly neutral, not unlike the face of Kuchiki Byakuya.
"If you are truly Kurosaki Ichigo… I am disappointed. I no longer sense any reatisu from you. What a pity-"
"Aizen," she interrupted, looking around briefly, "Let's move. I don't want to fight here. People will get hurt."
"I will leave the destruction of this town until after-" he began, only to be cut off as he was suddenly propelled backwards through the air.
"Impossible!" he protested, "To push me back… With such sheer force…"
"Let's get this over with, Aizen," she returned, "I will defeat you in an instant."
"I see…" Aizen murmured, "You have discarded your reatisu… And replaced it with physical strength…"
Ichigo leapt forward and so began the fight. Blow after blow was traded, beginning to reshape the terrain around them with each blow. Aizen continued to taunt her, but all the while, Ichigo remained silent.
Aizen swung, intending on shattering Ichigo's zanpakuto. However, she stopped it a moment later with a single hand. He jumped back, beginning a kido which he believed she could never escape or survive.
Ichigo merely stood there, watching as the world closed out around her. Moments later, the box shattered. Aizen watched in shock as she began to step forward. Thus the fighting began in earnest.
"Mugetsu." The sky fell, darkness descending upon all of the land, bisecting the form that was once Aizen Sosuke. Seconds stretched into hours as Ichigo felt herself expanding into the power. What was only moments later felt like days as her form re- solidified.
Mildly horrified, she watched as Aizen's back began to stitch itself together.
"He can still regenerate?" she asked, feeling the terror begin to kick in. She made to shunpo forward, but felt the world pulse around her. The bandages over her face cracked, and all at once she felt a weight disappear off of her back. It seemed to settle in her core as ice rushed into her heart. "No…!" she protested.
However, even her protest was weak as the rest of the grey bandages fell, revealing only the top of her torn shihakusho. She was lucky that she had the foresight to extend what was previously underneath of her Bankai coat. Now, instead of the medical wraps that had been there before Hueco Mundo, now it resembled almost a corset, black with a white lining peeking out the top.
Her torn coat had a thin strip running up one side, barely going over her left shoulder. Glancing down, she realized that some parts of the tail of her coat were still there, but a majority was gone.
Aizen had made his way back to his feet and was beginning to speak, but Ichigo couldn't focus enough to understand his words as her powers flared again, their dying struggles dimming her world and clouding her senses.
She noticed as other reatisu signatures began to appear in the area, but couldn't distinguish one person from the next. A flash of green appeared as she felt her knees give out. Something white appeared next to her. Vaguely, she realized that it must be Aizen. She attempted to protest when her powers began to twist.
Aizen moved, unsure even of which technique he was using as the shinigami began to appear en mass and grabbed a thick strand of her hair. Hefting Ichigo, he sneered as she began screaming. Finally, her reatisu began to appear again, flickering between crushing him and vanishing from his plane of existence. Somehow, he managed to remain confident. Her reatisu eventually decreased to where it was no longer causing his knees to shake.
"Urahara Kisuke!" he greeted, smile growing ever wider, "Have you come to surrender?" Urahara remained silent, taking stock of his student.
Just barely, he could feel crushing flickers of her reatisu brushing against his senses. In an instant, he realized that she must have done something drastic. He resolved to question Isshin about it later. However, as he studied the pair opposite him in small details, he realized that Ichigo was just barely clinging to consciousness. Even as he watched, she went closer to comatose.
"What have you done to her?" Urahara finally asked, looking Aizen straight in the eye.
"I did nothing," Aizen returned, "But I'll tell you what you must do. You must let me go."
"Or what?" Urahara asked, eyes narrowing.
"As an… intelligent man, surely you understand what is happening to your former student…" Aizen murmured, taunting Urahara with the suddenly silent Ichigo. As the pair watched, pieces began to flicker away from her shihakusho, altered as it was for her bankai state.
"Her soul is disintegrating," Urahara surmised, slightly shocked by how flat his tone of voice was. On the inside, he could hear Benihime screaming her crimson rage to the heavens that they were unable to do anything. Aizen felt his smile grow as he saw the pain in the other man's eyes. "Go," Urahara said shortly, "But understand, I will come after you. Nothing you cherish will be safe and any power you garner will be for naught. You will die and it will be the final death. Your reign will end in fire." Aizen felt chills in his soul at the killing intent in Urahara's gaze.
Glancing up, he realized that more Shinigami were closing in from a distance. Purposefully lowering his reatisu, he watched as the weaker ones began to fall to their knees.
"Your champion has failed!" he shouted gleefully, holding up the daiko for all to see, "She came at me with her best, and she has collapsed, losing any and all powers she once may have possessed! Now, I will leave you to make one last pitiful attempt to stand against me. My victory will be that much sweeter when you fall."
Aizen spun, a garganta opening behind him without the need to physically summon it anymore. With a laugh, he was gone, leaving only a few strands of Ichigo's hair to mark that they had ever been there.
AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS
So... Fun story. Enjoy. Please leave reviews! While it's awesome to see that people must enjoy this to some extent and therefore follow/favorite this (thank you guys so much for that!), I'd really love to see what you think/why you think it!
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