Chapter 3

Rukia was keeping up with most of Gin's attacks, but didn't look like she was doing too well. Ichimaru had that stupid smile stuck on his face twisting and turning with every move he made. It was starting to irritate Rukia so she yelled, "First Dance, White Moon!" She drew a circle around herself in the air and it appeared on the ground. The circle started to glow and Ichimaru, a bad move in fact, jumped into the air without knowing the true meaning of her command. All at once everything from the ground upwards in the circle froze (except Rukia, of course) and Ichimaru was left frozen solid. His body crumpled into little shards of ice and fell to the ground. The circle disappeared and Rukia sheathed her sword.

"That was too easy." Rukia looked around at the others. They didn't seem to be having such a hard time, except for Hitsugaya. Maybe Ichigo was right, they probably should have gotten another captain, but, then again, Hailey wouldn't have allowed it. Rukia chuckled to herself. 'That girl's too clingy,' she thought. But, then again, what about her and Ichigo? Hadn't they been friends for a long time now? And perhaps, by chance, they might have developed feelings for each other. Maybe she could tell Ichigo how she had felt for a while now and see how he felt back. Maybe fate would bring them together and―

"Hey, what are you looking over there for? You should be concentrating on your opponent!" Ichimaru yelled. Rukia looked up. 'What? Sode no Shirayuki froze him and he crumbled to the ground!'

"I borrowed a doll from Aizen. Just like the one he used to forge his death," he said as he slowly descended. "That was a nice technique you used there. I would have been a goner there, but now I don't have to hold back!" The fight was still on.

Turning to Hitsugaya, "What's wrong? Don't you want to wipe off my disgrace from Seireitei's walls and people?" Tousen said. Hitsugaya breathed hard. There were various scratches and a few wounds all over his body that refused to stop bleeding. He had gone into Bankai which was fading away by the minute. He had to finish this quickly or else he was done for. Hyourinmaru was slowly drifting around Hitsugaya as if protecting him from Tousen if he were to make a surprise attack. Hitsugaya looked down at his hands. They were strewn with blood. A short distance away from them Yammi was laying face down possibly dead in his blood with gashes all over his body. He looked up at Tousen who only had a couple of scratches around his arms. What was protecting him that made Hitsugaya look so weak? His sword? No. His attacks? Probably not. His reiatsu? Yes! That was it. He had to prevent him from using his reiatsu as a shield.

Tousen had figured out that Hitsugaya was planning an attack and took this time to make an attack of his own.

"Hitsugaya, you leave too much of an interlude between your attacks which makes you vulnerable to anything I do. While you stand there thinking I could have already thought of something to kill you with in one swift move. Smash his limbs, Suzumushi," Tousen said. Suzumushi vibrated for a second and Tousen moved the blade around him in a circle. A trail appeared and turned into thousands of swords. Hitsugaya didn't have enough time to move; the swords rained down on him stabbing him everywhere (except for his head). Hitsugaya yelled in agony and dropped to the ground on his knees. Eleven knives were pierced through his body, the rest were all stuck in the ground around him. He coughed up some blood and watched as it splashed to the ground in slow motion. He couldn't breathe anymore. Maybe this would be the end.

"Goodbye, Hailey . . . Hinamori," he said as he dropped down in a pool of blood.

Hailey felt Toushirou's reiatsu disappear. "To-chan!" This was the first time that she could feel the rain pelting down on her as the deafening sound filled her ears. Hailey had taken her fight a long way from the Soukyoku hill so that she wouldn't hurt anyone in her form. She flash stepped a distance away, but Ulquiorra and Grimmjow stopped her from going any farther. Ulquiorra had a big gash across his forehead dripping blood while Grimmjow had slashes all over his torso. He had been coughing up blood continuously and seemed like he was having trouble breathing. "Brothers—"

"We are no longer your brothers. You have betrayed us and you are now, and will be forever, our enemy," Ulquiorra said. Hailey was, a little while ago part of the Arrancar herself. Aizen had taken her in when she was younger, seeing as how she had so much power, and made her one of his own (This will be explained in another story so just wait). Hailey had been fighting in the real world and that was when Ichigo and Rukia had found her. Hailey had never told them about this. She had then been kicked out of Las Noches and forced to live with Ichigo and Rukia. Ulquiorra, Grimmjow, Luppi, Ilfort, and Yammi had been her favorites so she called them her brothers. They had gone on missions together and now it was her duty to kill them. Renji had killed Ilfort. Hitsugaya had almost killed Luppi. Yammi was dead and Grimmjow was almost dead.

"Let me go, please. Ulquiorraonii-chan, Grimmjowonii-chan, I don't wanna kill you, too."

"The only way you can get past us is if you kill us. Either way, someone is going to die," Ulquiorra said.

Hailey was worried, but she quickly frowned and unsheathed her sword. "Prepare to die. Come with the wind and scatter with the rain! Burn all in your path, Towa no Hanatama (Eternal Flower Jewel)!" She yelled. A burst of flames erupted from her sword as her eyes turned from orange to a deep red. Small, sharp breezes of winds twisted around the blade. The cross-guard folded over the top of the hilt in the shape of a rose while coming out of it was a diamond carved to look like water splashing out. At the end of the hilt were two rings, one yellow, the other pink, and a purple ribbon flowing out behind them. In the middle of the blade were one blue diamond, one pure white diamond, and one red diamond that were all dull-colored.

Hailey wrote in the air "wind" with her sword and everything on it turned silver and blue. She made vigorous slashes in the air and they flew at Grimmjow slicing him up in every place they hit. "Kamaitachi, wind as sharp as knives." Grimmjow kneeled on the ground coughing even more. Blood poured out of his chest and discolored the grass. He muttered something that Hailey couldn't hear and coughed some more. She slowly walked towards him and brought her head close to his ear. "I don't want you interfering so I'll make this quick." She put her fingers on his head and whispered, "Dos (same as cero, but faster and twice as powerful)." A bluish ball of reiatsu was forming at her hand. Grimmjow's eyes went wide. "I made this myself, Grimmjow. Have fun in Hell." The ball exploded and Grimmjow was gone. All that was left was the fragment of his mask and his sword. Hailey looked up at Ulquiorra. He hadn't said anything while she was killing Grimmjow. "You're next, Ulquiorra!"

The mask that Aizen had given her was now clearly visible and seemed like it was laughing in pleasure of finally being used.

"I guess it can't be helped." Ulquiorra closed his eyes and said, "Sound, Hisomeiekoumori (Hidden Bat)." A sharp piercing sound broke out from the end of his sword. The sound filled the forest they were standing in and seemed like it stopped the rain. Hailey couldn't feel the rain anymore, but she could feel the smallest bit of reiatsu coming from Hitsugaya. 'So he isn't dead!' she thought to herself, but first she had to finish this with Ulquiorra. She wrote "fire" in the air with her sword. This time everything except the blade turned a fiery red, orange, and yellow. Hailey moved at an unseen speed and slashed Ulquiorra three times. With each hit a line of fire bursted from the sword. When the smoke had cleared, Hailey saw that she hadn't hit Ulquiorra at all. He was standing in the exact same spot blocking Hailey's recent attack.

"Hisomeiekoumori increases my sense of hearing so I don't need to see you. I can hear you coming and block your attack. Although, the fire coming out of your sword helps too," he said. Hailey frowned and jumped back. She and Ulquiorra flash stepped around blocking each other's attacks while getting small scratches here and there.

"You've improved, Hailey, but you're not good enough to beat me," Ulquiorra said as he shot his reiatsu through his sword and pushed Hailey back.

"Ulquiorraonii-chan, I don't want to do this, but there's someone I have to save. I'm going to kill you and stay with the other shinigami. This is the last time I'm going to be with you so don't hold back! Fight me with everything you've got and I will too!" Hailey let out all of her reiatsu and ran at Ulquiorra. That deafening sound could still be heard and her ears were bleeding from the pitch, but she continued on. 'To-chan, don't be dead, I'm coming for you.'

"Scream, Hisomeiekoumori," Ulquiorra said. His blade bent in half and curled over as a new blade came out from the cross-guard. He slashed at the air horizontally and vertically many times. The sound waves that he shot from his sword filled the forest. The rain was coming down even harder and collided with Ulquiorra's attack increasing the sound which was killing Hailey's ears. The waves were cutting her up from head to feet, but she couldn't stop now. She wrote "water" in the air with her sword and it turned aqua blue. "Ripping Waves!" Hailey spun around twice as water flowed out of the tip of her swords and followed her. Then she pointed the sword at Ulquiorra a small distance away and thousands of gallons of water spewed out of the tips of her swords. They caught Ulquiorra and threw him around giving him slices and hacking away at his bare flesh. The water returned to Hailey's sword refilling the blue diamond as she sheathed it.

Ulquiorra lay on the ground motionless. Her eyes turned back to their normal orange color. She walked over to him, but suddenly felt a stab of pain. She looked down and Ulquiorra's sword was impaled in her stomach. She fell to her knees as blood spurted out. Ulquiorra's outstretched arm went limp and fell. Hailey raised his head up to her face. She kissed his forehead and said, "You gave it your all and I did too because you were my favorite. Hadou no Sen, Hitoe Isshi no Eimin (Destructive art 1000, Single String of Death)." A short string of power emitted from her fingers killed Ulquiorra in a split second. She let go of him as it hit and he fell. Her tattered ribbons keeping her hair in two ponytails dropped to the ground as she quickly turned and ran away towards the Soukyoku Hill. Everything was happening in slow motion. Had she really killed them? Were they actually dead? 'I'm . . . fr—' Hailey couldn't finish her sentence. Being trapped her whole life by the people she loved; she knew the meaning of freedom and trapped better than anyone else. She had never been out of her heart's imprisonment. Tears obscured her vision as she flash stepped away from the scene and remembered when she was back in Las Noches. She had made everyone laugh. Aizen even let her drink some of the beer, but then she passed out and Luppi carried her to her room. One time she had slept in Ulquiorra's bed after a drink which had resulted with her getting beat up by him. She used to be so hyper and get along with everyone. Now, she couldn't think about them. They were her family and now most of them were dead. The rain seemed like it would never stop pouring in her heart. Rain and thunder clouded her thoughts as she ran to the top of the hill.