{Rukia- Short Chapter- ten}
We were unable to get to the fighting up above the canopy where Ichigo was, thanks to the left-overs down stairs. I'd secretly been following his spiritual pressure as long as I could, but our tasks grew heavy enough that I had to put it out of mind, even as it warped and tripled in strength.
It's just his mask. I chastised myself. He can do this. It's okay.
It was enough that I could feel it again. For a short time it had disappeared from the back of my mind, and at that time my knees had felt week with the conclusion I drew.
I'd figured everything was okay until the blast of red cero energy that tore through the canopy.
"That spiritual pressure…"
I don't think that I have ever felt my features harden into such a grave face as they did then. That thing was a cero blast. Cero blasts were made by hollows.
"… Could it be…"
It was made of a spiritual pressure I recognized- one I held very dearly to my heart. It had changed so much in the last couple of minutes, but even with this new signature there was no mistaking it.
"…Ichigo?"
What fear might have been in my heart the moment I lost track of his spiritual pressure, it was dwarfed in comparison to the crushing terror I was consumed by then.
Don't take him away from me. Not again. Never again.