Bleach OneWord

50Prompts

7. "Dead"

It had all come down to this. Toushirou was staring down Halibel. Shunsui had drawn Katen Kyoukotsu and faced Stark. Barragan and Yamamoto stood across from each other. And then a Garganta opened, and Naitana Aikeru stepped through. All activity stopped as eyes focussed on the renegade Privaron Primera Espada. Her voice rang out, strong and clear.

"Aizen. I have the Hougyoko." With those words, Yamamoto's Joukaku Enjo collapsed and Aizen, Gin and Tousen stood free. Aikeru was already in her Resurreccion state, the familiar ridges of bone running down and over her body. She held up the small Orb, resting it in her bone encrusted palm. A smirk crossed Aizen's face, she was such a good little lapdog. The smirk died as words rolled from her throat, completely blank.

"And I'm about to destroy it. I won't let Orihime – chan needlessly throw away her life, when I can substitute mine." A look of horror crossed Jyuushirou's face, she couldn't be contemplating – She couldn't, it was, it should be completely impossible...

Bone rasped on bone as one hand removed a bone sakabatou from it's organic sheath. Aikeru turned the sword so it was level with her shoulders, blade pointing outwards. She inhaled deeply, before uttering her death sentence.

"Immolate, Hakumei no Hikari." Her shikai initiated, familiar lights of orange and purple beginning to strobe around the blade, dissolving it, replacing it with currents of pulsating light that flowed around Aikeru's body. She bit her lip, the pain was so intense, she could see why the hollows she had once hunted screamed as she unleashed her vengeance. Hakumei no Hikari, once released, had a unique property: The light eroded anything that was remotely Hollow – like.

"No..." Jyuushirou whispered, as she reformed the twin blades of Hakumei no Hikari, and placed the Hougyoko between the pommels, balancing the Orb carefully, as she shouted,

"BANKAI! GINJO NO HAKUMEI NO HIKARI!" Pure white light exploded outwards, looped around and attacked the Hougyoko. Aikeru whimpered as the light began to dissolve the bones encasing and protecting her, and started to erode her, from the inside out. She focussed once more on the Orb in front of her, willing the light to obey her command once more.

She squinted, so utterly absorbed in destroying this destroyer, that she didn't notice the arrival of Ichigo and company. She didn't see Chad's look of desperation, didn't hear Orihime scream, didn't feel anything. Her world had shrunk to the innocent – looking Orb in her disintegrating hands. Dimming eyes widened as a small crack appeared in the outer shell of the Hougyoko. She focused all of her willpower into that crack, forcing it to widen and spread.

With a crack that would rival thunder, the Hougyoko disintegrated, relenting under the inexorable pressure. Her bankai disappeared, wisping away from her broken and dying body. She managed to rasp out her final words as she collapsed backwards, falling towards the ground.

"Tou..shirou... I'm... sorry I never.... managed.... to tell you... I.." She was dead before her body hit the ground with a dull thud.

The last thing she was aware of was of a distraught and crying Jyuushirou being held back by Shunsui, who was visibly holding back tears...

Sado Yasutora blinked sleepily at the ceiling a few times before a muffled yell caught his attention. A concerned chocolate gaze slid to the girl lying beside him, before she bolted upright with a name on her lips. Normally calm hazel eyes were wide with terror and fear, and her hands were trembling badly. She was hyperventilating and a cold sweat ran down her back. Chad sat up, covers pooling around his naked hips, and wrapped a strong arm around her trembling form, pulling her in close, wrapping her in a comforting hug.

He could feel the rapid beating of her heart beneath his large hand, it was going nineteen to the dozen, throwing itself against her ribs in a desperate attempt to get free. He ran his hand gently over her back until her shivering stopped, and she returned his embrace.

"Another nightmare?" His bass voice sent comforting ripples through her soul. Aikeru swallowed heavily, and tucked her head underneath his chin, in reply. Chad lay back gently, still holding onto the fragile girl, cradling her to his chest. She turned her head to the side, letting the strong, steady sound of his heartbeat calm her down.

"Just another nightmare..." Aikeru buried her head into his chest, so Chad felt her last two words.

"... I hope..." With those words, she drifted back off to sleep. One thought still plagued his mind, one that often occurred around three am. Aikeru, you're too young to have a child... Aren't you?

AN: Ah God. This was the HARDEST oneshot to write so far. I award myself a grade of FAIL at descriptive writing. And I did imply several things, and if you can name all three, you'll get a slice of Death by Chocolate cake, with icecream! *dangles enticingly* I probably rewrote this about four times, and then picked this fail of a plot.

Please note: Updates will be extremely sparse for the next week or two, as I'm going off on Biol camp, and I've just recieved an Ancient Inquiry assignment, so I have less time to write. Apologies.

Reviews! Thank you to larkinlover, for your two lovely reviews! lol I nearly OD'd on my own writing skills when I uploaded two things in one day. Dance? What dance? I am still confused, that I am... *Kenshin ORO face* Yes, Aikeru - chan is an OC, and I have faaaaar too much fun weaving her into the Bleach storyline. I've killed her soo many time now, poor thing... lol, I think you'll find that my writing standard has decreased in this chapter. The eyes line, I had to go back and change, because I screwed up the word order, and then re - upload it. AARRGH!! T__T soo tired...
Betaing is the process of getting someone to proofread your work before you upload, so that they can point out any glaring errors and omissions. aww, thank you for the compliment, but my beta's are really the ones to thank/blame for my work. (Well, not for this chapter. No Beta of mine has seen this chapter. Sorry Alenna - chan, no sneaky preview for you!)

Wow, yet another lengthy chapter. Hope you enjoy it, peoples!