The feeling in her legs was starting to fade, replaced with a hot ache that grew into a painful throb. Rukia felt as if her insides were coming apart at the seams, the poisons were doing their work. As the battle raged in the background she stared at the long blade before her. Zangetsu, the Hell Blade some called it. The most feared weapon that ever graced the fields of war. So few zanpakutou before it could match the blood spilled by its edge.
Why then, even knowing this, did she feel relief by looking at it? Where was that fear? The first words that came to mind when she saw Ichigo standing over her were "what took you so long?" Despite everything that had happened, all the years gone by, she could only see that teenaged powerhouse ready and willing to die before he let those he cared about get hurt. Ichigo, the man who only a short time ago had tried to kill her now fought to save her from death.
No… that wasn't true. If he had truly wanted to kill her she would most certainly be dead. If he could rip a hundred shinigami warriors from the sky with a mere swing of his sword, he could kill one foolish girl. She couldn't imagine what stayed his hand. Why have so many died when she alone was spared? Toshirou, Taska, a multitude of others whose names she would never know. The answers did not reveal themselves to her; no heavenly sign eased her troubled thoughts. As Rukia's world began to dull into an aching murk thinking about the past became that much harder. The sounds though, she could still hear the world as crisp and clear as if she were in peak health. All she heard were the booms, the noise of battle. For her the din was almost overwhelming.
Soi Fon tried to catch herself as she skipped and bounced across the ground, finally coming to a halt on her back. She'd struck at him a dozen times; nothing was getting through his defenses. How was that even possible? Her last kick had put her ankle right into his grip somehow, and he'd tossed her like a stone to skip over a lake. "This isn't going to get any easier, shinigami!" Wiping the blood from her lip Soi Fon rose up and lifted her stinger to her face. She hid the grimace of pain thanks to a broken rib from her opponent. She couldn't show weakness now. "You have to get me twice, and that isn't going to happen."
"Wrong! Even now the venom of my Suzumebachi is eating into your body. Even a single strike, a simple scratch from it is lethal! I just consider the finishing blow a courtesy now. The offering of a swift death for my enemies." Ichigo's gaze fell to the hornet's crest spread over his heart and shoulder. The realization occurred to him and he shot a look back towards Rukia. She was covered in them. "The more crests there are, the faster the poison works. It is too late for the both of you." A burst of speed as Soi Fon launched into a flash step. This was her chance, her enemy was distracted. End the traitor, both of them, once and for all. She was so close now, racing up towards his side. He wasn't even looking at her, the crest just out of reach as she homed in.
The stinger struck, tearing cloth as it passed harmlessly through the jacket and shirt of its target. Ichigo had just barely moved back, and she was off-balance in his reach. The titanic blow came from underneath, his knee connecting with her stomach like a battering ram. The strike sent a flash of white over her eyes, the shock alone of such brute force had nearly broken her in half. Before her senses could return Ichigo grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling her head back so she could stare right into his eyes. They burned like golden suns, the eyes of a hollow. "Undo what you did and I'll let you live." No answer.
Like a diving bird of prey Ichigo dropped to the ground and drove Soi Fon's head into it. He let go and she fell limp onto her back. Blood flowed down her face from the gash on her head. Ichigo just watched for a moment, and right as she began to stir he stomped her into the dirt, inciting a gasp of pain from his victim. Grasping the rags that remained of his shirt and jacket Ichigo pulled them away. His chest was riddled with thick scars etched all over his carved features. She could do nothing but stare as his spirit energy began to take form, focusing in on the hornet's crest. It began to glow, and then dissolve like watery ink running off a canvas. Soi Fon's eyes went wide as she saw the venom drip out from his wound and ran with the blood from her sting. "Impossible."
"Your little poker can remove the poison it injects. Remove it from Rukia."
"Those who disregard the law deserve only death." She winced as the pressure on her chest increased slightly. "I will take solace at least one traitor faces judgment." With a deep growl Ichigo lifted his hand, but did nothing. After an agonizingly long moment he stepped away and made his way through the rubble back towards his sword, and Rukia. "I don't have time for you. Take your solace and leave. Be grateful, I'm not much known for mercy anymore."
Kneeling next to Rukia, Ichigo lifted her up, supporting her head with his hand. She was just as short and petite as always, his hand alone dwarfing her head in its grip. Her skin felt cold, not a good sign. "Rukia?" She didn't answer. "Damn it, Rukia! Wake up!" One eye cracked, looking up at him sluggishly. "Ichigo?"
"Look at you. I make such a big show of trying to be a bad guy and here I am again. You make me do the dumbest things."
"The book… the answers are in it. The truth."
"Stay with me, I didn't come here for some stupid book." She smiled... she rarely did that.
"Come to finish me off then? Like you did Taska?"
"I haven't killed anyone in a while, Rukia." Her eyes widened a little. She opened her mouth to speak when Ichigo suddenly yelled in pain. He let Rukia go as he spun, brining Soi Fon with him as she wrenched her stinger from his back. She landed a cut across his cheek before leaping back. The two crests already forming from the wounds as she regarded her foe with a sneer. "You should have killed me, Kurosaki. You're a fool to think I had no way of healing myself in an emergency. Now we will see if you can remove my crests when they cover every inch of your body! So keep on fighting until every cell in your body falls apart."
A thick black glow began to emanate from Ichigo's whole body. It engulfed him like a bordering haze, tinted with the color of blood. His face only held a scowl, though his eyes burned bright with their hellish fury. The glare alone made Soi Fon take a cautious step back. This spirit energy was dangerous, she could feel it. Though what shocked her the most was his spirit pressure alone was skyrocketing. Within moments she felt it exceed her own and continue to rise without slowing. She had to take another step back; just being near him was causing her skin to burn. His very aura was damaging. "That's impossible. My poison should prevent him from summoning more energy!"
Just like that he vanished. Soi Fon's eyes went wide as she looked left and right. She hadn't seen where he had gone. She didn't even have an idea of which direction. He had simply disappeared. A burst of air just inches in front of her face, a flash step the likes of which she had never seen. Before Soi Fon could even react, Ichigo batted her away like someone would a fly. A geyser of dust and rocks erupted in her wake as she skid on the ground from such a staggering blow.
A pile of rubble fell over top of where she landed. The dust choking the air all around. Pushing herself out Soi Fon stumbled to her feet. Blood dripped from her arm as she pushed the shoulder back into its socket. Despite her best effort her legs shook, that was the hardest she had ever been struck in her entire life. He made it look as if he had just swatted her, no effort at all in the blow. "Nothing is that strong… he can't be…" A black streak zigzagged through the air towards her. She knew this attack, the black core bordered by crimson. A kuroi getsuga, he had even mastered its use without a zanpakutou. She would definitely be in trouble if it struck. Gathering her own spirit pressure Soi Fon gave a burst of speed right as the black ribbon smashed into where she had just stood. As she soared she shot a glance to her side. There he was again, moving so fast her eyes couldn't even register it.
This blow sent her through a derelict wall, collapsing it over top as she blasted into it like a cannonball. A searing pain gripped her jaw as Soi Fon rose up out of the debris. He'd cracked her cheekbone. A single punch had nearly smashed her face in. "You haven't got a hope in hell of beating me. Skill and speed are useless. Just give up already."
"I'm not done yet." She snarled as focused spirit particles mended the bones in her face. She had to heal the serious injuries first; the superficial cuts and gashes could wait. "Don't think you've won just yet."
"I could crush you at any time. But I'm not about to let Rukia die."
"She's nothing, to you or anyone else. Who cares if she lives or dies?"
"I do."
"I see, now I understand."
Ichigo watched as his opponent moved into a flash step. Though he readied himself, nothing happened. He blinked, had he not been the target? He swung around and watched as Soi Fon dove at Rukia, he zanpakutou ready to strike. She was going to kill Rukia! Steadying an arm pointed at the assassin, Ichigo aimed two fingers right at Soi Fon. Black energy condensed at the tip of his fingers, pulsating with its reddish light. He made sure his aim was precise as he released the cero blast.
The black and crimson beam tore across the ruined city. It engulfed its target and continued on till it struck the barrier. The force of the explosion caused such a shockwave that it shook the ground inside and out of the invisible wall. Hurricane-like force ripped up dirt and rocks and all manner of debris and threw it everywhere. After a few moments of chaos, the winds finally died down. A single flash step put Ichigo onto the path his cero had carved into the ground. To the side was his target, she'd been thrown clear and escaped the brunt of the devastating blast. Though she still looked as if she had been nearly incinerated, blood trickling from a thousand small cuts. She groaned as he approached, unable it seemed to even move. "Turning your back to the enemy… Well now I laid you flat on yours. I'll tell you this, I expected more."
He got what he expected. Soi Fon shot up with a cry, aiming to drive her stinger through to where she had planted a crest on his back. He had come just close enough that she had a chance to end it. All she received was the back of his fist. The sheer power of this pushed her back and deeper into the stone and dirt beneath. The earth shook as if in aftershock from the force of her impact with it. "Don't get up." Despite his words Soi Fon pushed herself to rise, but he smashed a foot onto her elbow to halt this attempt. Ichigo felt the bones crack as he leaned down, grasping her zanpakutou firmly. He removed the stinger before wrenching the rest of it away from her arm, nearly breaking her wrist in the process. "Just lay there and bleed to death. I gave you your chance."
Holding Suzumebachi up to get a better look, Ichigo scowled. He knew better, it wouldn't work for him. He couldn't make it undo what its master had done. But, it would be a waste to just leave it with her. It had other uses. Turning Ichigo leapt off towards his sword. Back to where Rukia was lying, fighting for her very life. Soi Fon could only watch as he left.
She couldn't just let him walk away. He'd beaten her, the worst defeat she'd ever experienced. Despite that, she couldn't just let it end with her broken in some hole. Even a twitch of movement was excruciating, but it was just pain. The cero had done so much damage that it was agony every time her heart beat, a penalty for her weakness. No, she couldn't let him win. It had taken her over a century to reach the level she had achieved. She wasn't ready to go out; she still had to surpass her master. No boy given a tenth the time she had to train was going to kill her. He had to have a weak spot somewhere.
His back! Right in the center line, the backbone. He hadn't seen her coming. Only until she had struck had he even noticed her! If she could get just one more shot, it would all be over. Summoning every ounce of strength she had left Soi Fon drew herself up. She put everything she had into this, what remained of her robes shredded as her feet drilled into the stone underneath them. Energy cracked and hissed as the condensed kido energy materialized at her shoulders.
Flash Cry, Yoruichi Shihoin's prized technique. Soi Fon had one shot at his back, one last attempt. Her bones were about to give out, her muscles in tatters, her whole body was on the verge of collapse. Through all of this she pushed on. She was Yoruichi's greatest student. She was the one to shine, even if it killed her. Pushing off with everything she had Soi Fon launched into the hardest flash step she had ever achieved.
There he was, walking now towards his blade. If he reached that, she was finished. If he could use its powers, like the getsuga, without even wielding it than his power through it could only be thought of as monstrous. The zanpakutou was a ways off, and she was in his blind spot. He would not have the chance to retrieve it. She noticed her crest had vanished; he had removed the poisons again. That didn't matter now. A single blow to the spine and unleash the full force of her flash cry through his chest. Blow his lungs out, tear open his ribcage. She just needed to get there. Four meters left now. Her body screamed in protest, but its cries were ignored.
One meter left, she moved in for the kill. Her hands never did reach their target. A black streak filled her vision, and blood flew through the air with it. Zangetsu sung as Ichigo swung it in a wide arc, the same black force he emitted from his body trailing behind the tip like a stream. "How…" Blood poured from the huge gash in Soi Fon's chest. She could only stare blankly, the energy from her flash cry dissipating as if it were afraid to even challenge the black sword. "How… his sword… how…" She didn't feel the ground beneath her as she landed on it. The unyielding stone of what had once been a street on her chest, nor the grit of it on her cheek. The whole world was only a blur.
"Such a fool." Lifting Zangetsu high Ichigo readied to drive it through his fallen enemy. She was helpless; he could see it in the blank expression on her face. It felt like a favor now to put her out of her misery. He tensed as he started the last strike his opponent would ever receive.
"Stop!" That voice, his arm froze with the tip inches away from Soi Fon's back. A pair of hands were grasping his arm, pushing up against it as hard as they could to stave off his sword. Rukia was standing over Soi Fon's broken body, doing her best to hold Zangetsu at bay. Ichigo didn't move, it looked as if a stiff breeze would simply knock her over. She couldn't stop him by force and yet she had tried to anyway. "That's enough, just stop."
"Get out of the way, she deserves this!"
"How much more?! How many have to die? How much blood do you need?" A tear streaked down Rukia's cheek. Looking up into the man's black eyes she fought back the cries that welled in her. Those deep golden cores burning holes straight to the back of her head, but they were his eyes. No matter how much he scowled, his eyes were always soft. "No more killing. Please, no more." The sword lowered, Ichigo just staring at Rukia as she wiped the tear from her face. He bowed his head, eyes closed.
For so many years he had lived by that black blade. Killing was all he had known. Kill or be killed, that was the law of Hueco Mundo. The strong prevailed, the weak died. But, for the first time in so many years he felt the will to land that final blow leave him. For the first time he couldn't finish it. All the ruthless resolve and hardened nerves melted away in the tide of a single tear.
Taking hold of the hilt in Ichigo's hand Rukia lifted it and pushed the length back into his sash. "No more killing, Ichigo. Please."
"Rukia." She placed a hand against his chest to steady herself, feeling the scars beneath her palm. They were thick, knotted. No doubt the wounds to cause them had been brutal indeed. What had the years done to him? What had she let happen to him? The thought just hurt to imagine. The pain was coming back. The feeling of razors every time she drew a panting breath. "Bring him back, the Ichigo I knew. Not this angel of death. I just want to see his face one more time."
"I'm sorry. I can't change the way I look."
"But you sound like him. I can remember his face. All I have left… are memories." She fell forward, collapsing against his chest. Ichigo wrapped his arms around her as she fell, eyes closing slowly. "Rukia! Wake up! RUKIA!!"
