RAYEARTH KNIGHTS: ICHIGO THE INFERNO

by hypn0s

A tale, trascending the bounds of time and space, tells the tale of three knights, like the fire he will burn his enemies crossing his path, like the fire he is chaotic, this is Ichigo, this is his story...

10. 9: Duel of Souls

Hello fellow readers, I am back, Hypn0s returns after finding his muse for this history and adding some very kickass fights, the next chapter of Ichigo the Inferno is done baby, and as i promised, this one will have one hell of a surprise for those who have been wondering who is going to the main character on the next rayearth saga, to those who voted i thank you for that, it was their votes that allowed me to decide between three possible candidates to the role of the princess and rayearth of earth, truth to be told i selected them mostly because of their royal ties in the manga, anime and cartoons, we all know the royal ties of Sakura in the other publications of CLAMP and mangas, Flora of Winx Club, like the rest of the girls is a princess in some sort, and like Cornelia they had both connections to the earth element, even more than Sakura, i won't spoil now who won, you will have to either read this chapter or check my profile and see who won, you will see the stats of how many people voted, and trust me people, i was suprised on who people placed their votes.

now without any delay, i give you yet another chapter of ichigo the Inferno, enjoy!

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CHAPTER 9: DUEL OF THE SOULS

Momo kept staring at Gin, the captain of the 3rd division by his part kept that fox like smile that suited well a kid, but not a grown-up like him, his clothes sported several damaged spots, his haori was completely made out of rags, simple as that, it was obvious he had been among those many who tried to stop the knight of fire just minutes ago, and now were on the rather long list of wounded by his part.

"Momo-chan, I don't like the way he is looking at us" Momo agreed with Tobuime, she had never been wrong when judging a person at first glance, Gin at the moment seemed to be staring at a hollow rather than a comrade, and that made her tense greatly, that was not normal, hell so far the days ever since the knight of fire made act of presence had not been normal.

"Your captain wants to see you" Gin said simply, his smile never leaving his face, if she was tense before, now she was like a mouse trap, deadly if the trap was sprung.

With a nod Momo began to follow Gin to whatever the hell he was taking her, there were as lot of questions that needed answers.

And it seemed Aizen held answers to many of them.

---

"GGAAAAAHHHHHH!"

CLANK!

"UUUUUFFFFF!"

"YUZU!"

Never in her life, had Karin Kurosaki felt so angry, mad and impotent at the sight of her fallen brother, before he had look so strong, so invincible, so unstoppable, now he lay on his back, Ignis gripped on his left hand, Zangetsu on his right hand, unconscious, while the person responsible for it just swatted Yuzu angry charge like if it was a fly.

The pink haired woman had changed the moment she struck Ichigo, Karin mussed, instead of a woman every man would lust for her, now stood a teenager, while her robes still were too small for her frame, now they covered more flesh, which was good, but it seemed that her skills were not diminished, even more, she carried her own sword as well, but while the sheath had two wheels on the bottom were still a mystery to her.

Any train of thoughts died when Yuzu stood up and charged again at the pink haired teenager, Karin had never seen Yuzu so angry, truth to be told she had never seen her so angry in her life, Yuzu always carry a happy face, or a worried one, acting as a mother hen in the Kurosaki household, this was the first time she has ever seen Yuzu angry, ever.

With a snarl, Yuzu pulled her zanpakutou, the short blade seemed to fit her perfectly, and the pink haired teenager frowned at that.

"You draw your zanpakutou against me…then you better be ready to fight for your life" the pink haired teenager said, pulling her own zanpakutou out, flicking the blade several times, then setting herself on a combat stance.

"Just because you are the sisters of the Rayearth of fire don't expect any kind of mercy, I in fact expect you to fight all out!" with that the teenager jumped at Yuzu, Karin cursed as she unsheathed her own zanpakutou and swung it at the teenager at the same time as Yuzu.

Both girls swung it to the air, not seeing the pink haired girl anywhere, both girls tensed up when they heard something behind them.

"…You were slow" was all they heard as their world erupted in pain and darkness.

Yachiru turned around, seeing both sisters collapse to the ground, deep gashes on their bodies that oozed blood, their zanpakutous dented, but still in one piece, there she frowned at that.

"Those two…they must have better control over their spiritual energy and pressure to create such solid zanpakutous, I swung my own hard enough to snap any other zanpakutou of an unseated shinigami…maybe…" Yachiru thought, sheathing her zanpakutou, she walked to the downed sisters, and with a flick of her wrists, both of her hands were buried on their chests, both unconscious girls gasped, then returned to the land of unconsciousness once more.

Yachiru for her part returned to her original size and age, a pout on her face, she had just enjoyed five minutes of adulthood, "Well…easy comes easy goes" she muttered, then brightened up, "Maybe ken-chan is awake, Ichi will be strong! Strong enough to play with ken-chan, yes! Ken-chan will be very happy I helped!" she said with a vigorous nod of her head, skipping away, just to stop in mid-air, and pull her zanpakutou, an annoyed look on her face.

"Shred apart! Shiyamu!" both her petit hands were engulfed in pink light and everything that was in front of her once she swung both her hands was shred into tiny fine slices, and pushed away violently.

Yachiru hissed like a cat, her pupils like slits, her message made and received, she sheathed her zanpakutou and flickered away.

Down in the ruins of what used to be a wall and a tower, Faeron removed himself of the rubble, a sneer on his face, he, like anyone of his people would recognize that shade of pink hair, those pink eyes, that taunting smile…that cat like hiss.

"Yachiru-ha Aramada…that bitch reincarnated" he snarled, his left arm ready to brush his hair, it is then that he realizes he is missing something, looking at his left arm, he sees is sliced off of his bicep cleanly, neon purple blood pouring out.

His yellow eyes narrowed at the sight of his severed limb, looking around, the dark dressed man spotted his arm, an arm with a hand with four fingers that had a set of vicious looking nails, the visible skin was reptilian in appearance and in touch, and there was his arm.

Grabbing it, Faeron narrowed his eyes at the extend of the damage of his arm, the bitch had made herself sure that re-implantation of the arm was to be as painful as mortally possible.

Faeron growled, knowing that what he was about to do would delay him two hours, two damn hours his targets could use to recover, get away of him, erase their traces and hide.

"By my ancestors, that bitch even reincarnated is a pain to my people" he snarled, sitting on the ground cross legged, placing his severed arm on the ground, and pulling a vial of his belt, one that contained a green liquid, opening the vial, he poured its contents on his severed arm wound, seeing how the flesh began to hiss upon contact, then he took five deep breaths and rammed his arm to his stump.

The scream that came out of his mouth scared every shinigami of the 4th division.

---

Zangetsu didn't knew what to call Fira, she seemed like a zanpakutou spirit, but she was in essence different, he knew that, a spirit that far surpassed him and the hollow persona of Ichigo, he could feel a mesh of identities in her, from a serious one to a bashful, humor loving to grumpy, to a not worried one to a serious one, he had also noted one thing in particular.

Fira's eyes had begun to change in color, it seemed to be a slow process, but he noted how her red fire eyes began to change to a brown colored one, like the ones of Ichigo's.

Shifting his eyes to the dueling pair, he could see that Ichigo's eyes were glowing blue in his sclera and red fire on his irises, it was an interesting change, something was happening to Ichigo and Fira, of that he was certain.

"In case you're wondering I'm starting to share" Fira said to Zangetsu, the zanpakutou raised an eyebrow at her, his brown eyes scanning her trough his tinted stylish glasses, "Share?"

"A Guardian and a knight are in essence bonded, and so the other knights, Ichigo is showing the first stages of the share, each knight becomes bonded in a way, sharing feelings, ichigito right now is showing the traits that make the knight of wind so unpredictable, along with the sharp mouth of the knight of water, sooner he will start showing the traits of our esteemed Princess Sakura" Zangetsu narrowed his eyes at that.

"You worry too much you old goat, his soul will remain untouched, that what created you will remain, it would be greatly stupid to tamper with a soul, ichigito will only change in personality, nothing else, his soul shall remain the same, and so will you…of course I would lie if I told you this place could use some redecoration, perhaps a wooden house with a small patch of flowers"

"…that would be nice"

With that Zangetsu and Fira observed the fight in front of them.

Sparks flew of both blades as Ichigo and his anti-thesis kept dueling, Zangetsu and Ignis locked in a stalemate as both beings tried to bring down the other, Ichigo grinded his teeth at the realization that hollow Ichigo was as physically strong as him, surely a side-effect of a inner hollow formed out of a Rayearth/shinigami.

"You're strong"

"You're not slouch yourself king, this just makes it even better!" hollow Ichigo exclaimed with a gleeful look on his bone colored face, Ichigo made a face, "Dammit get a toothbrush, those teeth can't be natural black" Ichigo then blinked, and so his hollow persona, "Okay…where the hell that came from?"

"Don't know…but damn I'm pissed!" hollow Ichigo snapped, an awful spiritual pressure fell over the area, windows imploding outwards and creating a shower of the likeness of stardust.

"Ooohhh so pretty…damn princess Sakura and her girly nature!" Zangetsu just rose and amused eyebrow, really wondering how this 'princess Sakura' really was, and how her 'girly nature' would affect Ichigo.

One thing was certain; there wouldn't be a dark cloud on his skies for a long time.

BOOM!

Hollow Ichigo snarled as he drove his feet to the relative ground that was the building body, stopping himself from continuing backwards after that vicious blow he barely deflected, this battle was not exactly going as he had expected hell most of the things that were currently happening were not even suppose to happen.

While he got some sick muscle and a improved sky scenery out of the deal of Ichigo becoming a knight, other things weren't so good, being mauled and eaten by a Nemesis was on top of his 'I'm piss at this deal' list, then followed by the ability of Ichigo to breathe fire and shoot ceros, hell he even knew that shinigami couldn't fire ceros not even if their lives depended on it, also the fact that Ichigo was different, way different.

He might have lasted a minute alive against the Nemesis, but that was enough to get a template of the old Ichigo, and compared to the one fighting him it was different, while the former Ichigo would have frozen against a strong opponent like last time, this one didn't even bathed an eyelash if the soul king itself bitchslapped him, instead he would surely ask 'is that it?'

Also there was this sharp tongue thing, the old Ichigo usually held his tongue, only to talk to draw his enemies angry, the current one enjoyed trash talking his enemies, taunting them, bringing down their ideals like a house of cards, furthermore this one seemed to smile more often, which the other one didn't do often, add that with the unpredictability of his attacks combining long-range attacks with close-quarter assaults, this trash talking taunting Ichigo was far more dangerous than his other self, even more because this one seemed to be driven by a force that didn't wavered against nothing, he doubted his speech of instincts and matching him blow by blow would shock him, hell he was worried all that would give him more fuel to fight on.

His musings were cut short when a beam of flames traveled to him at great speed, cursing he flicked Zangetsu at the flames, blocking the oddly solid beam of flames, pushing him back slightly, with a roar he swung the cleaver upwards, dividing the flames and making the divided pieces to sail harmlessly at his sides and crash behind him, there upon impact both flames beams made a chunk of a building blow into rubble.

"Not bad king…MY TURN!" with a gleeful look Hollow Ichigo rose his free hand, palm opened and pointed at Ichigo, immediately a cero formed on his palm and then fired it when he saw Ichigo neatly lined up for a kill.

The cero flew at great speed, only to meet Ichigo's extended palm, much to the shock of Hollow Ichigo.

As the cero died Ichigo let out a stream of purple flames out of his mouth, Hollow Ichigo just jumped away, seeing how the flames burned the ground and left a path of crystal in its wake, hollow Ichigo answered that by flicking Zangetsu up, reiatsu pouring on the blade.

"Pluvia Incendia!" not liking what he saw Hollow Ichigo prepare to him, Ichigo decided to cut loose his strongest attacks, his flame attack sailed sure over the stationary Hollow…

"You don't have what it takes king, you lack instinct" Hollow Ichigo informed to Ichigo, then swung the zanpakutou down, letting out a pure reiatsu arc of energy that resembled a crescent moon shape just as Pluvia Incendia impacted Hollow Ichigo.

Ichigo rose Ignis to block the incoming attack, much to his shock the crescent reiatsu beam began to push him back, Ichigo dug his feet on the ground, anchoring himself to stop himself, with a roar and using his already inhuman strength he swung Ignis and deflected the reiatsu attack, seeing how this one impacted on a nearby building and blowing a chunk out easily.

Ichigo stared at the impact point, narrowing his eyes, "I lack instinct the little hypocrite, that attack didn't came with an intention to kill" Ichigo mumbled with a scowl, then frowned.

"What is wrong with me? That attack was meant to kill me yet I felt unaffected by it…" Ichigo mental musings were cut short when he turned to stare at the spot his hollow self was, only to see his hollow self dust himself with a scowl on his face.

"That wasn't nice king"

"It wasn't supposed to be nice" Ichigo answered, flicking Ignis slightly, the metal wrap attached to the hilt of his sword wrapping around his arm.

"You are different king" his hollow declared, "Is that so?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah…your eyes…they were once weak looking…you would slightly panic against a stronger foe…but now…oh but now they are strong, you are actually stronger than before, so different than before…IT MAKES IT ALL BETTER!"hollow Ichigo clacked in glee as he swung Zangetsu around, finally setting it over his shoulder.

"This feeling…is amazing…I have been waiting, longing for this!" Hollow Ichigo declared with an almost crazy smile, Ichigo there realized why he stopped smiling, besides the death of his mother of course; he looks kinda disturbing with a smile on.

"Oh…I'm going to enjoy this!" With that hollow Ichigo shot at Ichigo, Ichigo had just barely time to raise Ignis to block the wild strikes of Hollow Ichigo, there he noted two things, one was how insanely strong he was, just like he was currently, so in terms of strength they were matched with no way of overpowering the other on a struggle.

The second was how wild his hollow side fought, like a berserker, wielding his zanpakutou like crazy, while the hits had his brutal strength behind them, they lacked finesse, his hollow was just swinging Zangetsu like a maniac, hoping to get a hit, overpower his opponent with a relentless assault, to wear him down and then go for the kill.

Ichigo wouldn't fall for this trick, he was not a creature driven by the sole instinct of kill and level everything on his path, he had already a plan.

Ichigo began to deflect each blow at the best of his capabilities, fighting Urahara with his shikai unleashed was a good idea after all, comparing Urahara to hollow Ichigo battle style it was obvious that Urahara could defeat hollow Ichigo easily.

Soon Ichigo began to retaliate blows, hollow Ichigo showed himself surprised when Ichigo began to trade blows, but then grinded, this made it even better, the clash of two superpowers, blades crashing without any regard whatsoever for the welfare of the wielders, only one would win.

To anyone observing they would only see a blur on what suppose was their arms, moving a great speed, the only evidence of their clash was sparks flying around, the sound of metal clashing on metal and the deep gashes on the ground.

Soon Ichigo made a mistake, lunging with Ignis to stab hollow Ichigo, this one took the change, took several steps back then brought Zangetsu upwards in a kendo move along with Ignis, effectively disarming Ichigo of his Rayearth blade, just as he expected.

With a war cry Ichigo shot at hollow Ichigo, that one seeing his mistake too late, he let himself open to a counter, Ichigo capitalized on this by slamming his fist on Hollow Ichigo's face, hollow Ichigo surprise was visible, even more when he brought Zangetsu down, attempting to cut down Ichigo, but he was unable to do so when Ichigo blocked the blow with his left hand, the ground under him groaning after such impact, but Ichigo didn't relent or relented on his attack.

Hollow Ichigo head shot to several directions every time Ichigo right fist crashed on his face in different directions, making him groan in pain and dizziness for the act, then he lurched forward when Ichigo slammed his left knee on his stomach, making his gasp in pain, then he glared angrily at his counterpart, a snarl worth of a devil on his face.

"You little shit!" hollow Ichigo exclaimed taking two steps back then shooting towards Ichigo, Zangetsu aimed to stab Ichigo, Ichigo just sidestepped a little of the trajectory of Zangetsu, then grabbed hollow Ichigo's arm on a vice grip and flipped him over his shoulder, the impact coupled with the strength behind the flip made the building/ground to groan after such blow.

Ichigo by his part was not finished with hollow Ichigo; with a kick he disarmed hollow Ichigo of Zangetsu and then lifted his arms, purple energy around them for an instant, then brought them downwards aimed at his hollow self.

BAMM!

The building was unable to withstand the massive telekinetic blow that fell over its frame and hollow Ichigo, splitting in half in a shower of rubble, dust and glass, out of the rubble the still conscious hollow Ichigo glared where Ichigo was last time, and then smirked.

It was so much fun.

Crashing on a nearby building, hollow Ichigo had little time to outright laugh in joy as he had to roll away when a barrage of fireballs impacted where he was before, looking at the inferno that descended and then at the descending Ichigo, landing in the middle of the inferno he had created…

"Yes…" hollow Ichigo hissed, "Every king needs a nickname…something that strikes fear on his enemies…or I'm mistaken?" Ichigo just stared at his counterpart with a scowl.

"ICHIGO THE INFERNO!" and with that hollow Ichigo launched himself at Ichigo, without a weapon, just his fists and perhaps a cero or two, Ichigo did the same, both clashing and making the building under them to collapse against such violent clash.

On their lookout point, Fira smirked at the declaration of hollow Ichigo, "Naruto the Maelstrom…Danny the Tsunami…Ichigo the Inferno…it has a nice ring in it"

Ichigo began to block punches and kicks of his hollow part, once he saw and opening he began to counter, kicks and punches flew as both Ichigo and his hollow tried to beat the crap of each other, each blow was followed by either a telekinetic burst by Ichigo or either by a reiatsu enhanced blow by hollow Ichigo.

Ichigo suddenly saw an opening, blocking a straight of Hollow Ichigo with his right arm, his left fist sailed freely to Hollow Ichigo's chest, much to his surprise his fist sailed through a newly formed hole on the chest of Hollow Ichigo.

"Tch…looks like my time is up" hollow Ichigo exclaimed with a sneer on his face, the hole expanding, "Make no mistake king, this isn't over, it's never going to be over, we will fight again…and I will get the crown to myself"

"Oh yeah?" Ichigo said with his own scowl, rearing his head back, he locked eyes with his other persona, "Well here's your crown!" then he rammed his forehead on the forehead of the disappearing hollow, hearing with satisfaction a crack of bones, then his vision grew white bright as hollow Ichigo vanished with a shocked look.

He never noticed the smirk of satisfaction of Fira, the slight proud look of Zangetsu, or the change on Ignis.

---

Zaraki Kenpachi is not the kind of guy who waits idle for things to happen, he is a man of action, he is proactive and can't stand in a same place for more than an minute, expection being the time he has to place his bells on his hair but that's another story.

The little stun of Yachiru had him a little mad, but as she had explained to him once he recovered consciousness and he had praised her and scolded her for the strong yet sneaky punch, she had been working on making Ichigo stronger, now is a known fact that sometimes is poked fun off that Kenpachi loves fights, he loves to fight and to fight strong opponents, opponents that actually can put a fight, that can wound him, that fight him head on without fear, he loved to fight, it is a requisite to become captain of the 11th division and of course there is a reason he is called Kenpachi.

But he is not too fond of walking slowly, hell he hates it, is not on him to walk slow, or talk slow, or take things slowly, is just not right for him, it makes him feel odd.

But alas he had to; Yachiru had been very adamant about that, meaning she pouted and when the pout didn't worked, she cried waterfalls and wailed like if a cat was being used to play a violin.

So there he was, walking slowly like a snail in his point of view, waiting until 'the sign' Yachiru spoke made itself present, then he could rush head in to the fight without any remorse, "Sign, sign my ass, there is no sign, I'm starting to believe puberty is finally messing with her brain" he muttered, why Yachiru couldn't remain as a small little cute girl for an extra pair of decades, it was much to ask for her to not reach puberty?

Then he came across with a sight that made his day, or sort off, he finally found the Rayearth that also was Isshin's son and his two sisters, all unconscious, well it was a shame they were unconscious, that mean he had to wait until they regain consciousness and then he could fight them, it is a solid plan.

Well it was a solid plan until Ichigo suddenly opened his eyes and stared at him, a violent telekinetic blast him straight on, sending him crashing on several buildings, stopping on the tenth and such building collapsing over him.

Ichigo slowly shook his head, waking up with a scary face as his first sight was starting to annoy him, true he could have yelled and let fire out of his mouth, but a telekinetic blast seemed more straight-forward and did more damage in the long run.

Standing up Ichigo reached for both Zangetsu and Ignis, there he noticed that Ignis had once again changed, the once curved cleaver was not a straight blade, to sharp tip, instead the tip of the blade was circularly shaped, Ichigo barely noted the very small gaps between the cutting edges of the blade, like something was stored in them, yet the sword was still as long as Zangetsu, only the blade form had changed, nothing else.

"This thing changes more than the weather" he muttered as he slung Zangetsu and let Ignis vanish, then approached to his two fallen sisters, noting that both girls must have been struck by the pink haired woman as well in the same fashion as he was struck which could be either good or bad, he didn't actually believed that both of them were ready to meet their zanpakutou spirits, and if he had a say in it they would never meet them.

"Ugh" Ichigo eyes snapped to one of his waking sisters once he heard that noise, as usual Karin always woke first than Yuzu, no one knew why that happened, maybe because Karin was more active than Yuzu in a sense, she spends most of her time either beating their dad for being a moron or playing soccer, unlike Yuzu whose time is divided in studying, keeping the house from burning and trying to stop Karin of permanently maiming their dad.

"Ichigo…" Karin moaned as she sat up, clutching her head in pain, "Let me guess, the pink haired girl shoved her hand like a knife on your chests?" Karin nodded, "But she became a teenager Ichigo, once she did that to you she…well she lost some age" Karin confessed, "Odd…so what happened?" there Karin took a thoughtful look.

"I spend a lot of time on a soccer field playing a one vs. one soccer game with a teenager clad in what seemed bear fur and had some weights on her arms and legs, the only reason I knew it was a she it was because of her voice…and I even got her name…Ninau…why her name means bear a burden?" Karin said with a slight smile, there Ichigo's eye twitched, one because he had to nearly turn into a hollow and fight Urahara to learn Zangetsu's name, and second because Karin, with just barely an hour of becoming shinigami had learned the name of her zanpakutou, that is just so unfair.

"Mmm" Ichigo and Karin saw how Yuzu slowly groaned into consciousness, blinked once, then focused on them both, smiling gently, "Ichi-nii, Karin-chan…" she said as she slowly crawled to them and hugged them, "I'm so glad you're both okay" she whispered, both siblings were not surprised by her show of care, in fact they would be worried if she didn't acted as usual and hugged them at least once every two hours.

"I had this wonderful dream…I flew the skies on top of a falcon, it was great, and he was so much fun to talk to" she commented, making Ichigo sight in satisfaction, at least she didn't mention her zanpakutou name…

"Oh Ichi-nii, Soratobu says hi" Ichigo there skulked, his two sisters knew the names of their zanpakutous, any hope he had of keeping his sisters away of combat basically died in that moment, hopefully his old man will set his foot on letting both girls fight hollows or train, maybe when both girls are married.

As Yuzu detached herself of her siblings, Ichigo stiffened when the area round them basically was flattened, Karin and Yuzu gasped in pain at the sudden pressure that fell over them, Ichigo seeing this used his body to protect them both, his reiatsu protecting both girls of the oppressive reiatsu that suddenly fell over them.

"Hey Old fart no fair, they are mine, I waited for this chance the guy weeding out the weaklings!" Ichigo looked over his shoulder, seeing how the scary looking man with the impossible looking hair with bells on top and eye patch exclaim, Ichigo followed the line of sight of the sadist looking captain and spotted an old man, a very old man with a very long beard and long eyebrows, bald, with an X shaped scar on his bald head, wearing the usual captain grabs, yet they seemed too big to him to wear, the haori that characterized all captain ranked shinigami was actually hanging over his back, like a cape, all while holding a wooden cane unlike the one of Urahara, it seemed as ancient as him, walking at him with a narrowed gaze at him and him alone, Ichigo noted that the oppressive reiatsu was coming out of him and his cane, like Urahara's cane was in fact a disguise for his zanpakutou.

"Who the hell is this guy?" Ichigo asked to himself, "That is our esteemed sotaichou, Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, the strongest shinigami around Seireitei, the head of the Gotei 13, the big fish if you want to get technical, over 2000 years old, defeated five times, four against Vasto Lorde and the fifth against the Rayearth of wind Demetia Tyraluca…" Fira said on his mind, suddenly becoming silent for some seconds.

"Alone you would defeat him or the other captain, Zaraki Kenpachi"

"So that guy is the one Ikkaku warned me about…Kenpachi"

"Yes Ichigito, if they were alone you would defeat them each other, with some trouble, Kenpachi seems the guy who has no fear or pain receptors, he would charge head on and fight like a berserker, you would win, but with medium to high wounds, Yamamoto is another case, he has over 2000 years of combat experience, he is driven by both duty to Soul Society and his total hate to the knights of Crystalia, he handles fire, your element, that is an advantage, you would take away his most fearsome power, yet it remains painfully apparent he is no pushover, his skill with the blade must be supper, not to say his strength…you would win also, but with very heavy wounds and extreme collateral damage, but both…I doubt it, even more with Karin and Yuzu, his presence alone makes them both choke...unless…"

"Unless what Fira?" Ichigo asked with a mental raised eyebrow.

"It is risky what I suggest, neither Naruto nor Danny has reached this stage of their powers, and they won't reach it until some time, not even princess Sakura has reach her own…but with this two enemies…desperate measures for desperate moments" Fira murmured.

"But what it is?" Ichigo asked with a scowl on.

"Limit Ichigito, the closest a Rayearth can get to their full potential without completing the trials and finishing their evolution, five trials Ichigito, you have completed two of the five, the last one recently"

"My fight with my…"

"Yes…you refused to stop fighting him, to let him go and have the last laugh, you refuse to relinquish your soul and body to him without a fight, you fought for your soul and won, you fought your inner demon and the test of soul was passed, two out of five, Naruto passed his own test of soul with his own inner demon, in the most literal sense…nevertheless you need three passed tests, three runes to access limit safely, you, Danny and Naruto already have two, but they are not going to face two overpowered death gods while protecting their sisters"

"Fira…get to the point, the old man is undressing…damn look at all those scars and muscles…how the hell!"

"Okay…against these two you can't win, unless you want to die with them…you need an edge, an edge only limit can grant you, but of course the risks are too great unless you done your hollow mask"

"The mask? What it has to do with all this?"Ichigo asked.

"The mask acts as a shield; it will protect you from the worse wounds possible, including the degradation your body will feel upon activating limit without achieving the third rune, the mask will hold for over two minutes, then you have three more minutes after that to defeat them, your body will feel that brunt of the three minutes, more than enough to defeat them soundly, take your sisters and find a safe place to lay low and recover, trust me on this, limit unlike the full complete form of a knight does drain you greatly"

Ichigo digested what Fira had just told him, it was a long shot he believed, but Fira firmly believed he could defeat them both with limit on; the problem was that his sisters were around.

"Don't worry about Karin and Yuzu" Fira suddenly materialized and flew to the surprised girls, landing in the middle of the young accidental shinigami, "You go" was all Fira said, Ichigo seeing that Fira was going to do the same that she had done with Hanatarou in his fight with Renji nodded and turned to face both shinigami, seeing how Kenpachi reached for his blade and how Yamamoto was engulfed in flames, his zanpakutou equally covered in flames.

"Uh Fira" Ichigo called, "How the hell I go limit on them?" Ichigo asked, "Oh yeah I knew I was forgetting something…just stand still" Fira said, opening her beak a small stream of flames that seemed more like a thread emerged of her mouth and hit Ichigo on the base of his neck, immediately a pulse of pure reiatsu emerged out of Ichigo, pushing dust and rocks away, the pulse hit Yamamoto and Kenpachi, Kenpachi had a shit eating grin once that powerful wave hit him, instantly he discarded his eye patch, his monstrous reiatsu being unleashed upon that, all while laughing like mad.

"OH YEAH! NOW THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT, GOING ALL OUT! HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Yamamoto scoffed at Kenpachi's reaction, yet he didn't expected less of him, Zaraki Kenpachi was born to fight, kill, fight and kill and sometimes getting drunk, obviously he would die on a battle surrounded with his dismembered enemies and on a pool of blood, surely his and the one of his enemies, a fitting death Kenpachi and anyone who know him would believe.

"…foolish" Yamamoto whispered, raising Ryūjin Jakka, "Jȏkaku Enjȏ" he said, his flaming blade creating a colossal wall of flames that began to surround Ichigo, then forming a bubble around him.

"I have used this few times, I can either leave an opening so oxygen can be filter to the prisoner, but you…you won't have none of that" Yamamoto seemed to relish in the fact he could control his enemies with that prison and would kill Ichigo in a very horrible way, drowned because he lacked oxygen to breathe.

That thought of control seemed to die the moment the fire bubble collapsed under the inner pressure of a multi colored wall of flames that emerged of inside, followed closely by a telekinetic wave that hit him straight on and made him dig his feet on the ground to prevent him of flying away like a leaf.

As the flames dissipated, Yamamoto could see what had emerged of the flames, and sneered at it, "So…you finally show your face…Rayearth"

The Ichigo that emerged out of the flames was greatly changed, his skin was in fact a thin layer of blue reiatsu that was more like an aura than skin, all that kept a body made of semi solid lava, his clothes were slowly burning, very slowly, his spiky hair was now set aflame, yet keeping the spiky shape, and his face, his face was that made the sotaichou so angry.

"A hollow mask…you dare to step onto our laws even further!" the sotaichou's answer to that proclamation was Ichigo suddenly appearing in front of him and punching him on the stomach, hard, the old shinigami gasped in pain as his whole body was dug into the ground, creating a monumental crater, instantly the masked Rayearth raised Zangetsu, easily stopping a blow of Kenpachi.

The captain without fear stared at the masked Rayearth, the mask resembled a demonic human skull in black and white with four lines on the black part, the eyes were the only thing visible trough the holes of the mask, purple glowing eyes that easily overshadowed the stare of a hollow.

"Tch…you're strong, I'm going to enjoy this!"

"I have little time to toy with you" Ichigo's supernatural voice boomed all over the area, flicking Zangetsu upwards he rejected the blow of Kenpachi easily, opening his guard along the way, then he shot his left arm to the exposed guard of Kenpachi and punched him on the gut, making Kenpachi grunt as he sailed in the air, as the man without fear opened both of his eyes, he saw Ichigo traveling alongside him, and not with good intentions it seemed.

Ichigo's eyes slightly glowed brighter for a second, and Kenpachi was suddenly impacted by an invisible force that sends him downwards towards the hard unforgiving ground, hard.

Kenpachi easily detached himself of the ground, his eyes looking for his opponent, he was impossible to miss of course; his hair is fire to begin with and his body is semi solid lava held by a thin layer of reiatsu that makes it of skin.

"Looking for me Kenpachi?" Zaraki Kenpachi grinded when he heard Ichigo's changed voice at his left side, turning to his left, Kenpachi nodded, "I have little time to talk, so let's make this short, first one to fall unconscious loses"

"Unconscious? Bah, first to die LOSES!" Kenpachi roared in happiness, launching himself at Ichigo, Ichigo first action was to summon Ignis; the red blade occupied his left hand as usual, Kenpachi began to flail his blade at Ichigo who began to block the rusty and dented blade of Kenpachi with Ignis and Zangetsu, blocking every blow the man without fear kept throwing at him.

Blocking a blow that most surely would have taken his head of his body with Ignis, Ichigo lurched at Kenpachi exposed guard, elbowing him on the face, Ichigo brought Zangetsu upwards and slashed Kenpachi on the chest, instantly blood exploited of the wound of Kenpachi, yet the man didn't scream in pain, he grinded.

Ichigo swung Zangetsu again, this time leaving a huge gash on the shoulder of Kenpachi, then pushed Kenpachi's zanpakutou with Ignis and in the momentum he swung Ignis, leaving a nasty looking cut on the face of Kenpachi that trailed his cheek and nose bridge, but the man seemed unaware of the wounds that would have brought other men and shinigami to their knees in pain.

But Kenpachi seemed unaffected by it, Ichigo narrowed his glowing eyes at that, then he turned around and blocked the strike of Yamamoto with ease with Zangetsu, the cleaver being more than match against the strongest elemental zanpakutou know.

Ichigo pushed the sotaichou easily, then shot at top speed at his barely exposed guard, blocking the punch the aged shinigami launched at him with his left forearm, then slammed his masked forehead on the forehead of Yamamoto, making the shinigami to take several steps back but to not falter in his rage or glare directed at Ichigo.

Ichigo suddenly blurred of sight, leaving a trail of fire on his wake, the captain-commander was able to follow Ichigo's movements, if barely, it was not shunpo of course, it seemed similar, but greatly filled with reiatsu to hamper his ability to see, the only visible way to actually follow Ichigo being the flame trail he left on his wake as he moved.

He blocked a blow to his left side, then turned to his right, blocking a sweep to his chest, just to go eye wide as his back erupted in pain, grunting in annoyance he turned, just to receive a cut on his chest, then to his left bicep, to his right forearm, cuts and blood began to erupt of every part of his body, yet they didn't carry the horrible pain associated with a Rayearth weapon cut.

"There" Yamamoto hissed, flicking his flaming blade and blocking Zangetsu, immediately he tried to flick the weapon away of Ichigo's hands, only to that movement to be turned to him as his zanpakutou was forced to the ground by Zangetsu, there Ichigo rose Ignis and brought it down, the blade, much to the sotaichou's shock cut his zanpakutou like if it was a simple blade, like nothing.

Slightly in shock, the old shinigami was unable to defend himself when Ichigo punted him on the face, sending him crashing on one of the buildings, Ichigo had little time to admire his handiwork as he turned around and blocked Kenpachi's vicious strike laced with enough reiatsu to pulverize anything that was not captain class.

"HAHA! You're strong, stronger than Isshin ever was at your age, oh this is grand!" Kenpachi boomed as he applied more strength into the blow, but Ichigo didn't cave in, "My father? You knew him?" Ichigo asked, obviously wondering how the hell his dad got tangled up with this guy.

"Yes! Oh the fights we would get into, the destruction, the power! The amount of hollows we would slay just to see who pays the next drink, oh those were the days" Kenpachi said with a wistful look, "But then he 'died' or so we heard twenty years ago…it was until we heard he was pretty much alive, and had CHILDREN, oh you can't imagine how excited I was to get into a fight with him again, or his children, as strong as him!" Kenpachi boomed, his reiatsu taking the shape of a very scary looking skull.

"AND I WAS PROVED CORRECT, HIS CHILDREN ARE STRONG, I CAN FEEL THE POWER OF THOSE GIRLS FROM HERE, YOU DESTROYED THE ZANPAKUTOU OF THE OLD FART! OF THIS IS GREAT!"

Ichigo paid little mind to Kenpachi's rambling, he was more focused on defeating him, "All that power! Just to fight us, oh this will be epic!"

"I didn't gained this power to amuse you in a fight" Ichigo said, his voice silencing Kenpachi instantly, "I'm not here just to fight and cause generalized destruction…I'm here to rescue someone" Ichigo exclaimed as he lifted Zangetsu and pointed at something behind Kenpachi, the giant of a man looked at the direction he was pointing and it dawned to him, just like Unohana had predicted, Ichigo was for Rukia Kuchiki.

Kenpachi scoffed at that, "You came for the pansy's sister, so what?" Kenpachi said honestly, surprising Ichigo, "So what? SO WHAT?" Ichigo called loudly in shock at Kenpachi's lack of interest for Rukia's situation.

"Yeah, why I should care about her, I don't even know her, I have my own agenda, my own believes, why should I care for a death row prisoner when I can get a great fight out of it!" Kenpachi boomed, Ichigo just kept staring at Kenpachi with a disbelieving look, "You…you just wanted to fight?"

"But of course! You think I'm a captain just for the kicks and the housing? I do admit the barracks of the captain are nice, but that's not it, I'm in the Gotei for the thrill of the fight, for the emotion of combat, for the rush of a bout to the death, I don't fight for the safety of this place, I fight for myself!" Kenpachi said with a grin.

"You…fight for yourself…that ain't a valid reason to fight!" Ichigo snarled, surprising Kenpachi, but for a whole different set of reasons.

"You…need a reason to fight Ichigo? Why don't you just accept this fact Ichigo? You seek out fights, dammit I heard the knight of fire is the fighter of the Rayearth knights, is in your blood! As you fight you grow stronger, there is no exception for this rule, and anyone who seeks power without exception seeks fights, even you! You fight to gain power? Or you gain more power to fight more? I can't tell ya that, but I can tell ya this is the way we are born! We live to fight you and me! We don't need a reason to fight, we fight because we want! Is instinct! It guides us to the heart of battle, Ichigo! Fight! Fight to gain power to control your enemy, is the only way, so grab those swords of you and cut your enemy down, carve a path Ichigo, just move forward and forget everything behind you!" Kenpachi roared, making Ichigo frown under his mask, not that Kenpachi would note that.

Karin and Yuzu by their part looked aghast and surprised by the statement of Kenpachi, "is…that true Fira-san?" Yuzu asked to the bird of fire.

"Is like asking the meaning of life, no one really knows, not even us the guardians know, everyone have theories, is just like with Kenpachi there, fighting to him is all to him, some people can't live without conflict in their lives, some nations can't live without conflict in their histories, some say that conflict helps to move forward because those who lead a peaceful life eventually stagnate, maybe is true, maybe is not, who knows? But I know that is his personal believe…and that Naruto would surely not get along with Kenpachi" Fira confessed, "Who's Naruto?" Karin wondered, her only answer was the equivalent of a smirk of a bird by Fira.

Ichigo just stared at Kenpachi, seeing on the corner of his eye how Yamamoto slowly crawled to his feet, "You think…I'M JUST HERE TO JUST FIGHT!" the effect was immediate, Ichigo's reiatsu reacted to his mood, a huge blast leveled the few things Ichigo transformation had not leveled, "I gained this power to rescue Rukia, not to amuse you Kenpachi!" Ichigo roared, taking a combat stance, Zangetsu's blade being saturated with reiatsu.

"But if you want so badly to fight then I'll grant you that!" Karin and Yuzu eyes widened when Ichigo's mask shattered completely, revealing his face, just like the rest of his body his face was made of semi solid magma held by a thin blue aura, his lips, eyebrows and eyelashes were in fact flames, his teeth they noted were also ablaze, kinda freaky, while his eyes were deep purple glowing.

Kenpachi roared in laughter at the sudden spike of reiatsu of Ichigo, such was the burst of reiatsu that everything around Ichigo was melted, turned into hot glass, Kenpachi had heard stories of only other person able to do that, the old fart, but that was only when he unleashed his Bankai, which happened rarely, but Ichigo's reiatsu and presence alone was enough to set ablaze the ground around him, melt it and keep it that way, he also noted that his zanpakutou was gathering a lot of reiatsu, surely a very powerful and last attack, this was Kenpachi really expected after a long time, a fight going all out, gambling it all in one last, powerful attack, like Unohana had promised him, Ichigo was worth a fight going all out, and the best thing of all this, he was doing it while beating the old fart with his other hand, oh this was glory to him.

Kenpachi then noticed how the sotaichou stood up, bleeding, now he knows that the man is hard to wound, even more than he is, but considering who delivered the wounds he ain't surprised not even a little by the wounds.

Ichigo seemed to note this as well because he turned and faced the sotaichou, Kenpachi there could see that Ichigo outright hated the man, why? He didn't know, perhaps it was something related to the time Unohana came all a mess.

"You think I'll let you do your merry way? You little rascal, you know nothing of how the world goes!" Yamamoto boomed, not even bothering Ichigo with the reiatsu burst that emanated of the man, his sisters were not bothered either, Fira's sole presence protected them of the worse of the spiritual pressure, yet they could basically taste the hate of the old man to Ichigo…and to them, the old man hated them as well.

"You trample our rules, you spit on our traditions, you dare to defy the order of things!" Yamamoto all but boomed, his reiatsu flaring and incinerating all around him without a problem, but Ichigo just scowled at that.

"Maybe because those rules are so stupid they are worth trampling, you think you uphold balance? When you pursue those who could go head-to-head with the strongest hollows, to think that you place all your hopes on some power drunk men, to let them have all control of your lives! It sickens me!"

"You have no right to judge our way of life, this is how it has been even before I took reigns of the Gotei 13, rules have kept Seireitei the way it is for over 2000 years, this way of life has been upheld only because of those rules, without rules there is chaos, in chaos lies anarchy, in anarchy justice disappears" Yamamoto boomed, staring at Ichigo directly on the eyes.

"Your kind…you rayearths, you live without rules, you walk on chaos, revel in anarchy, there is no justice in your ways of life, I was proven correct when I met that knight who tried to turn a hollow into a plus, breaking the balance, destroying the rules that were set upon to those beings…and you…you dare to defy our way of life, you, whose mere presence is an offense to all our rules!" Yamamoto stated, adopting a fighting stance, "That's why I shall teach you a lesson you rascal, the justice of the world always goes first than the person justice" Yamamoto said with conviction, Ichigo's answer was blurring out of sight and punching him the face, hard.

The captain-commander was surprised at the actions of Ichigo, surprised yes, he never expected someone to move faster than him, flipping in air he dug his feet hard on the ground, realizing there the strength of the blow.

"Justice? Laws? You hypocrite bastard!" Ichigo all but boomed, his transformed face enhancing his not so usual angry scowl, to his sisters the usual scowl was bad enough, but a scowl in a face made out of lava with glowing eyes and flaming hair and teeth, that is scary as hell.

"You call this justice? You justify trying to kill my family to fulfill your laws? You bastard, that is not justice, that is not law, is madness, putting one of your subordinates on death row because she used some unorthodox method is stupid, sending an assassin to kill a human family is stupid, you and that stupid council of 46 morons believe that you are above all, making harsh rules so others obey or die" Ichigo snarled.

"Who gave you the right to decide who lives and who dies? Who gave you the right to decide who is an abomination and who is right in this world?"

Yamamoto just narrowed his eyes further, his reiatsu flared even more than before, "Because is the way our world runs, we act as protectors of your world, the balance is delicate at is best, we don't need human with powers destroying that balance, those rules were set for a reason" Yamamoto stated.

"…That's why you killed the Quincy…I see…you all were afraid" Ichigo muttered, but it was loud enough for Yamamoto to hear, the result was instantaneous.

"SOUL SOCIETY IS NOT AFRAID!" the old shinigami screamed, followed by a "The hell I was!" of Kenpachi, considering the warmonger nature of Kenpachi Zaraki, Ichigo guessed that Kenpachi said that because he believed he had killed the Quincy out of fear of finding one too strong for him to fight, while in truth the Quincy campaign happened long before Kenpachi happened to join the ranks of the captains, Kenpachi would have only fought the Quincy to find a strong opponent to fight.

"All we did, all we have done has been in the name of peacekeeping and safeguarding the balance between the worlds, all of it, I will not allow some children whose lifespan barely covers one of a fly to chastise me about justice and the laws of my world, I promise myself that if I ever found another Rayearth knight I would kill him or her, you are the greatest mistake that was ever made" Yamamoto hissed, making Ichigo narrow his eyes.

"And all this…kidnapping my sisters, trying to kill my family…now I see it" Ichigo began, suddenly jamming both of his blades on the ground, "All because you got beaten by a girl on your own game, all because you were weak and you couldn't get your way" Yamamoto growled and Kenpachi was slightly contempt to see the old man growl like a rabid dog, all while not fighting, surely a first.

"You should realize by this moment that there is no one capable of stopping me of helping my friend, not you, not Kenpachi, not even all Seireitei, not even your stupid uptight laws and council of decrepit power hungry individuals, not even the king of soul society will stop me!" Ichigo declared taking a fighting stance.

"I gained this power, all this, to help a friend, for her I'm doing this, and the only way you're going to stop me is by killing me…which I doubt" Ichigo there allowed himself to smirk, making Fira to chuckle and to Yamamoto to basically explode, in the most literal sense.

Reiatsu exited of the old shinigami's body like a waterfall, flattening the spot he was in, immediately he shot at Ichigo, the spot he was becoming a sizable crater in its wake, Ichigo merely narrowed his eyes and steeled himself, in an instant the sotaichou of the Gotei 13 was over Ichigo, launching a powerful two fisted blow at the transformed Rayearth-shinigami.

"Sȏkotsu!" the man boomed, Ichigo rose both hands, grabbing each fist with ease, but finding surprising the strength in each blow, yet it was nothing he could handle at the moment, he felt quite invincible right now, but he knew it was temporal, and the old man was too strong for him if he lost his transformation.

Digging his feet to the ground and applying all his strength, Ichigo stopped the massive blow, a powerful shockwave pushing dust and debris all over them, signaling the power behind the blow and the power behind the blow stopper, to say that Yamamoto was surprised was an understatement.

With a grunt Ichigo opened the guard of Yamamoto, brining his left arm up and his right arm down, there he released the sotaichou's fists of his hold, and then released a powerful right straight at the stomach of the man, gasping in pain the captain-commander was unable to raise his guard up when a powerful roundhouse kick met his left side of the face, lifting him of his feet and sending him flying in a spiral towards the ground, yet he never met the ground as Ichigo was already waiting for him.

Letting the spinning shinigami pass him slightly, Ichigo suddenly reached for the man, grabbing him in mid-air and by the ankle, then pushing him towards himself, there he welcomed the man with a mean left punch to the face, the blow made Yamamoto's whole body to cave in on the ground, creating a gargantuan crater on his wake, yet Ichigo didn't released the man's ankle.

With a grunt of annoyance Ichigo pushed Yamamoto back to him, releasing his ankle of the hold, Ichigo immediately began to punish the man's upper body with a devastating rain of powerful blows that would have easily killed any shinigami lesser to Yamamoto.

Yet the captain-commander took all the punishment, then he saw a small opening, brining his left arm up he blocked a blow of Ichigo, directing the fist to another direction, then rose his right leg, punting Ichigo's chin, the transformed shinigami was left stunned slightly, enough to Yamamoto to strike back.

"Sȏkotsu!" he repeated his attack, this time meeting its mark, sending Ichigo spinning on his back on the air, yet it was not enough to harm Ichigo, just to stun him further and fueling his conviction to beat the sotaichou.

Somehow regaining control in mid-air, Ichigo landed on the ground, immediately launching himself to the surprised Yamamoto, there Ichigo began to launch a series of kicks to Yamamoto, Yamamoto found himself on the defensive as he began to block each bone shattering blow, there he realized that his Haduka training never covered human made martial arts, and if it did, only to a certain extend.

Ichigo by his part was forever thankful that his former training with Tatsuki, while he was not near her level, being that she practiced karate on a more professional level, unlike him, besides he knows that he would never be able to defeat Tatsuki on a fair match, she is considered only the second strongest woman in Japan because she had fractured her arm, nothing else.

Stopping his barrage of kicks, Ichigo suddenly rushed at Yamamoto and impacting the still dazed shinigami with a shoulder charge, Yamamoto still held his guard high so the shoulder charge only met his arms, but that was enough to push Yamamoto away.

With the man away, Ichigo jumped, Yamamoto didn't saw when Ichigo flipped over him, landing softly behind him, when he realized of this however it was already late, Ichigo poised his left hand like a dagger blade and plunged it in, the captain-commander there screamed in pain as the lava limb of Ichigo and reiatsu skin pierced his skin, blood there being vaporized instantly and organs around being boiled every passing second.

"I told it to Byakuya and I told you now the same…mess with the bull….you get the horns" Ichigo snarled, digging the hand more, making sure the man who had ordered the dead of his family and kidnapped both his sisters would suffer as much as he could before his transformation died out.

When he felt his transformation coming to an end, Ichigo pulled his hand out,then punched Yamamoto on the back of his head, effectively sending the captain-commander away, spiraling and crashing on one of the buildings, collapsing under him, burying him under tons of rubble.

Immediately after that Ichigo's transformation came to an end, his body returning to its original state, in that moment Ichigo felt exactly the effects of the transformation stress on his body, now realizing why Fira told him that only the knights with the three runes could endure the transformation safely, kneeling, Ichigo began to gasp, his whole body felt like lead, his muscles ached like if he had run a decathlon, ten times on a row without rest, he could barely breathe because every time his chest expanded his ribs would make him cringe in pain, horrible pain.

But he couldn't allow himself to rest, not with other enemy nearby, Kenpachi still stood and he had to defeat him, it was that or allow him to kill him and let his sisters be recaptured again, forcing himself to his feet, Ichigo gritted his teeth as he felt his legs groan in pain, begging him to not force them further.

"Kuso…Fira was right, Limit is a bitch of a pain to tolerate" Ichigo thought, locking eyes with the rising Kenpachi, by the grin on the man's face and the rise of his reiatsu, Ichigo concluded that the man was willing to end the fight on one blow, all or nothing, unlike the old man who had tried to beat him down, but was unable to.

At least his mind was not numb by the stress on his body, so he was able to use his telekinesis to call Zangetsu back to him, albeit it killed him to raise his right arm to grab the blade, so he didn't risk himself with Ignis, he was sure he would not be able to raise both blades, he was struggling to hold Zangetsu right now.

"…you are weakened Ichigo"

"Thanks for stating the obvious Zangetsu…but I'm not giving up…there is much at stake" Ichigo replied to his zanpakutou.

"I know" the zanpakutou replied, Ichigo by his part kept panting, looking at the approaching Kenpachi, and in that moment, while he felt utterly weak, unable to move, something came to his mind, something he knew he had never heard before from no one.

When you fight to protect a precious one…you become truly strong…

Ichigo didn't know why, but that single phrase held too much of a meaning right now, because he was not only fighting to rescue Rukia, but to protect his sisters, his family, and truth to be told, he had gained his shinigami powers because he wanted to protect his sisters, his precious ones.

"Zangetsu…help me…protect!" Ichigo hissed, gripping his zanpakutou tightly, his resolve set, Ichigo would not accept a no for an answer of Zangetsu and would not accept a defeat that would cost too much, obviously something Zangetsu realized because in that moment Ichigo felt a burst of reiatsu like no other flood his body, invigorating him, dulling the pain on his body greatly and allowing him to move freely, now he could grip Zangetsu with both hands and fight Kenpachi head on.

"I can only dull the pain for some instants, make them count" Zangetsu replied, "It doesn't matter if it just for a second or an hour, if you fight by my side…I know we can win" Ichigo said, adding his own reiatsu to the already mighty burst of energy, a burst that was felt Seireitei wide.

Shinigami of all ranks froze at the overwhelming energy that just minutes ago had snuffed the one of the sotaichou, the energy that kept rising and overwhelming the one of Kenpachi easily.

Kenpachi kept his maniac like grin on his face, even on the brink of death the kid of Isshin was pulling down all the stops, proof of this was the reiatsu that was flooding the area, it was great, simply great.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Oh this is great! That's right Ichigo, fight! Put it all on a single strike, your power, your emotions, put it all on your blade and let it drive you!" Kenpachi said with a smirk, "This is the true essence of a fight, one to the death, two combatants putting it all on a single blow, victory being the only driving force that kept them going, nothing else!"

"You're wrong" Ichigo called, making Kenpachi stare at him, "Victory for the sake of winning is empty, there is no victory on that, but…" Ichigo tightened the hold on his zanpakutou, "When you have a real reason to win, a reason that really drives you on to win…then victory is the sweetest thing ever…when you fight to protect you become strong, when you strike to protect you will win!" Ichigo said as his reiatsu, much to the shock of his sisters took the shape of a blue shaped skull like mask, just like the one he had been wearing before, "That is my resolve and believe…that's why I will win!" Ichigo then charged at Kenpachi, each step creating a small crater on his feet as he yelled on his charge.

Kenpachi by his part just grinded more, his reiatsu taking the shape of a skull, simple as that, a gold skull that cackled madly like the owner of the reiatsu that formed it, with a roar that was more like laughter Kenpachi charged as well, his zanpakutou digging a path as it was dragged on the ground.

As Ichigo and Kenpachi approached, Karin and Yuzu noted how their brother irises were glowing blue azure, like his reiatsu, Zangetsu coated in the same energy that was engulfing Ichigo.

Karin for an instant swore she saw an old man behind Ichigo, charging alongside her brother, behind him, following him, like a soldier following its commander to battle, or a friend following another to the unknown.

But Yuzu saw another thing altogether, at the side of her brother, charging with him she swore she saw two faces that definitely were not her brother friends, one was blond spiky with blue sky eyes and spiky eyes, a grin that resembled more that of a mischievous fox, the other belonging to a boy with black spiky hair with blue sapphire eyes, those suddenly glowing green neon for a second, both faces at the side of her brother, not a visible body in all that energy surrounding her brother.

Then both men came close to each other and brought their blades against each other, and as each blade touched each other, the concentrated reiatsu on each blade and combatant was released violently.

A huge blue/gold explosion was set loose on the area, Yuzu screeched in fear and Karin sat in mute shock as the buildings around them were sliced in half cleanly, others closer to her brother and Kenpachi being uprooted of their bases and falling to the ground, the ones far suffered cracks all over their bodies, and it was obvious those buildings would never be habitable again.

As the explosion died out, both girls were able to see ground zero, and gasped when they saw what was left of it, a big crater made of debris and dust, ignoring all logic to stay alongside the guardian that had shielded them of the worse of everything, and had only allowed them to feel a small fraction of the power released, Karin and Yuzu abandoned Fira's protection under her wings and rushed to the crater, Fira by her part was not bothered by both girls ditching her, in fact she was expecting it all along.

"You're late Yoruichi" Fira called on her left side, her crimson gaze falling on a black cat with yellow eyes that just landed at her side, "I just arrived Fira-san, I had to check some things here and there…he surely stirred the bee hive…I could feel Yamamoto's reiatsu even from where I was" Yoruichi commented in a serious manner, yet it held an importance to whoever should be hearing the cat that one might believe that it was talking about the weather, not a boy overpowering the strongest shinigami's know so far.

"I know…and as someone would say, since I know, that means I know everything" Fira said in a teasing tone, "Indeed…then you must know that the 1st division, the whole division is heading this way…I doubt Ichigo can handle them in the state he is, and as sure as hell he will let his sisters fight for him"

"I know that too…but don't worry, right now everything can happen" Fira said with a smirk on her avian features, "Like in wrestling" Yoruichi added, mimicking the smirk of Fira, "Yeah…transform now, once I tell you move to retrieve Ichigo and the girls…then run some 100 meters and don't stop until you see a gate" With that Fira vanished on a burst of flames, leaving on her vanishing act a bundle of clothes, clothes Yoruichi found familiar, "Blasted bird" was all Yoruichi muttered as smoke enveloped her feline form, it was not the way she wanted to present herself to Ichigo right now, but well, he didn't had any idea who she really was, the silver lining on the clouds some say, this was her, and as she transformed she kept her gaze on the crater and combatants, and came to a single conclusion.

"That boy sure can take a beating" she declared, seeing Karin and Yuzu froze on their tracks once they saw their brother, a blade poking behind his back, blood leaking out, dangerously close where the heart was, sheer luck had saved Ichigo of having his heart bisected, not that she could say the same about his left lung who was surely punctured, but shinigami could take more, much more.

Kenpachi by his part pulled the blade slowly, the metal cutting more flesh, with a forceful yank he finally released the blade, blood pouring out of Ichigo's chest wound, yet he remained on his feet, and he knew why.

"I…win…" Ichigo declared, his own zanpakutou coated on blood, Kenpachi's blood, suddenly Kenpachi's chest erupted on blood, a mighty gash appearing on his chest starting from his right shoulder and ending on the left side of his hip, but that wound didn't took the grin out of Kenpachi, oh no, it didn't at all.

"…Yes…yes you did…when the rematch is?" and with those words Kenpachi collapsed on his face, unconscious, a pool of blood forming on the ground, yet that grin remained, even unconscious and bleeding out Kenpachi kept grinding, the fight had been so much damn fun.

Ichigo kept staring at Kenpachi, not believing that someone could still grin after all that, yet Kenpachi was grinding, even unconscious.

Ichigo took several steps back, then fell, but his fall was short lived as he suddenly felt someone softening his fall, looking behind he saw Karin and Yuzu holding his weight, allowing him to land softly on the ground, on is butt, "Karin…Yuzu…" he gasped slightly, the wound on his chest hurting like hell, like the rest of his body.

"Ichi-nii" Yuzu muttered as she hugged her brother with all her might, Karin by her part just stared at her brother, a contemplating look on her eyes, but that was gone, replaced by sisterly care, something she rarely showed to her brother, mostly because he could take of himself, but after seeing all he had done for them, for them, she felt she could allow herself, just for once worry about him and shed a little tear, just one.

As Ichigo hugged both his sisters and his sisters hugged him back, he didn't notice someone behind them until he heard his voice.

"How naïve" Ichigo froze instantly when he heard the voice of the sotaichou, right behind them, he could not feel his presence, his inner fire, did that meant he could control it?

"No" Ichigo thought, suddenly realizing that he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings, letting his guard down.

"How utterly naïve of you" Yamamoto hissed, Ichigo had not turned around yet, still he could detect the pain on the voice of the shinigami, it was obvious that he was putting the brave face despite having a section of his internal organs burned and cooked, that and the sounding beating he gave him, the man was surely barely standing, holding out in sheer stubbornness, nothing else.

"You actually believed you could defeat me, how naïve and childish of you, in over 2000 years I have retain the title of sotaichou of the Gotei 13 for a reason, there hasn't been a shinigami born stronger than me" Yamamoto hissed, there Ichigo smirked, "Until today when I trashed you" Ichigo said, adding salt to the wound that was the pride of the captain-commander.

He didn't know where this new attitude and wiseass comments were coming out, but damn he loved it.

Yamamoto grew incensed at that comment, but that anger was suddenly a reminder of his pain, his back, more specifically his insides burned with the pain of the wound the Rayearth had inflicted on him, he knew that Unohana would chew him off for such a wound, like she did 300 years ago, and with the amount of wounded shinigami the Rayearth had send to her care she would be pretty much stressed and ready to chop the head of the next patient stupid enough to not heed her advice of steering clear of the man who has a sword that can cut trough anything and takes over 10 years to heal a wound inflicted by that blade.

But that didn't mattered to him, as soon he killed the Rayearth all would be fine in soul society, the eventual chewing off of Unohana would not shift him of his good mood once he kills the knight.

"Silence rascal, I'm about to teach you a lesson that you and your sisters will take to the limbo, no law is superior to the one of Seireitei, no law is superior to the law of the king of soul society, human laws are merely child play to us, we do what we must do to preserve the balance and order, regardless where we are, that's why I destroyed that hollow to even the soul, I made an example of that to the Rayearth of wind, and I'll make an example of you, no one is above the laws, no one!" Yamamoto said as he raised his first at Ichigo, not noting someone behind him.

"Learn your place rascal!" and he let his fist sail to Ichigo and his sister…

"The Shield!"

Yamamoto's fist met there a dome of green energy around Ichigo and his sisters, Ichigo seemed surprised as well because he turned around and seemed to go eye wide at the sight of something behind Yamamoto.

"Leave them alone you bully!" Yamamoto turned around, and he was suddenly unconscious and flying away when a pink staff met his chin and send him flying like a ragdoll, such was the force of the impact that Ichigo winced when he saw some teeth fly as well of the mouth of the man, overall that blow was perhaps more effective that his blows during Limit mode against the man, and that kinda scared him, what kind of person could have in one blow knock the teeth out of the strongest shinigami of the Gotei 13 when he couldn't?

His answer came as soon as it was asked, he stared clearly at the attacker and could not give credit to his eyes, the attacker was a girl, surely as young as his sisters, clad in a traditional sailor school uniform for girls, white skirt and a black shirt with white cuffs with red trims in the cuffs, the left sleeve had some sort of shield with a cross in the middle, flanking it was two bronze colored wings, surely the emblem of her school, what called more his attention was her facial features, short light brown hair that barely made it to her neck, green emerald eyes that simply shouted 'cute' and 'naïve' at the same time, also he noticed what she had on her hands, on her right hand she held a pink staff, the one she used to punt Yamamoto to orbit, the tip however was circular and hollow, with a yellow star in the middle and the circle was flanked by two small wings, her left hand held what seemed a pink card of some sort, like a tarot card, but there are not pink tarot cards as far he knows, but that wasn't the only thing she had on her left hand.

Right there, just like his left hand, hers was clad in a ivory fingerless glove, on top of it lay a yellow crystal image of what seemed a sun and the moon surrounded in stars, encircled and flanked by two small chibi like wings, it was perhaps the most intricate symbol he had seen, and it didn't take a genius to know who she was.

"…the fourth Rayearth…the princess" Ichigo gasped, even more as she began to slowly vanish, she didn't seemed concerned by this, in fact she seemed relieved a little by this, "Glad I could help" was all she said with a smile as she vanished with the wind, leaving a dumb folded Ichigo, a kneeling Ichigo still holding his sisters who had no idea who had saved them.

Whatever time to rest and think suddenly died out as the area around them began to be shelled in what seemed red balls of energy that were being fired from afar, "The bastards" Ichigo swore, holding both of his sisters, with a grunt he reached for Zangetsu, then willed Ignis to return to his crystal, and then tried to stand up, only to be unable to do so, soon the attack it was added what seemed blue beams that took the shape of solid pentagonal lances that began to land and impale all around them, the attacks barely avoided them because of sheer luck, yet the attacks were getting closer to them.

"Damn those guys surely hate me!" Ichigo called with some apprehension, holding Karin and Yuzu tighter, using his body to shield them of the blasts.

"NOW!" Fira's voice brought shock to Ichigo, even more when he was lifted by someone along with his sisters and Zangetsu and began to move at a great speed, dodging every spell that met the ground.

He believed they made it a hundred meters before a door suddenly materialized before them, "A Senkaimon…" Ichigo breathed, whoever held them just rushed at the opening gates of the Senkaimon, entering the door as a barrage of red balls and blue spikes fell in the area, the door closed successfully, and no one was none the wiser of what had happened, or where they were.

But to those who crossed the gate it was quite an experience, more to Ichigo who knew what happened when you didn't used a hell butterfly to pass a Senkaimon, apparently they were using one because the trip was way different, smoother, safer, and fast because as soon he blinked the trip was done, another door opened before them, and they stumbled in, whoever was carrying them obviously tripped or something.

"Dammit…never got the hang of exciting a Senkaimon using a hell butterfly" he heard, turning around in pain, he saw a woman, the woman had dark skin, like chocolate but lighter, purple hair tied on a pony tail, dressed in an orange robe that made it of a shirt with baggy black pants and sandals, her figure was very enviable to any other woman, but athletic, he could see that on her hands, what caught his attention was her eyes, yellow, unlike other eyes he ever seen, surely a trait most shinigami had, unique eye colors.

"…Hey Ichigo…how you're holding up?" she asked, slowly standing up, helping his sisters stand up as well, then reaching for him, Ichigo, reached for her hand, grabbing in and grimacing in pain as she pulled him up.

"Hot damn, you surely know how to take a beating, most shinigamis would be on their backs moaning in pain with that kind of wound on your chest" she commented, Ichigo just smirked, then grunted as some blood poured out of his wound.

"Easy there, maybe you're a Rayearth built as a tank but you're not invincible, if it wasn't for that girl…who was she anyway?" she asked to Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu by their part observed Ichigo, and how he turned serious, Karin reached for Zangetsu, she was sure that wherever they were, Zangetsu wouldn't be needed, for the moment.

"I…don't know…she knocked the old man with a swing" Ichigo commented, "I saw that, I bet he is still on orbit, but who was she?" she asked again, "I don't know her name…but I know this…she is the last Rayearth…the princess" Ichigo statement was met by mute shock of the dark skinned woman, "The princess…a Rayearth…you mean the secret Rayearth? Kami mighty this is unbelievable" the woman said in surprise.

"Well, guess you know how to draw attention" she said, Ichigo just raised an eyebrow, looking at his sisters with a slight smile, then turned to the woman, "Who are you?" he asked, the woman just smirked and leaned, anyone looking would believe the woman was flirting with Ichigo.

"I'll give you a clue…" she said in the most seductive way possible, making Ichigo fluster, "you bit my tail" she then said, serious as a statue, no amusement on her voice, it took a second to Ichigo to realize who she was.

Truth to be told his reaction was expected.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

---

"He's here" she said in a sing-song voice, a smile gracing her lips, truth to be told she had been waiting him for a long time, hell ever since she knew they were inside Seireitei she had tried to make contact, but her position had not allowed her that.

Not only that, Yamamoto had totally ignored her orders, he had tried to kill her children, her babies, he would pay, in time of course, just like Isshin would, not that bad, maybe frustrate Isshin and make him sweat, but he, unlike Yamamoto would be able to make up for his little mess up, it has been a while since she had her man on the bed.

Nevertheless she had to control herself, the entrance of her son to Seireitei, or better said storming like a bulldozer, if he hadn't done that she was certain she would have never realized who was attacking, the shock of seeing her son leading a charge to free a girl was kinda romantic, on a way, but it showed her that Isshin raised Ichigo well.

Yet things seemed to get out of hand at the moment, Yamamoto had the gall to order the kidnapping of her daughters, which made her really mad, but was glad her son had rescue them, and she was quite amused when Yamamoto got beaten not by her son, but by a girl that randomly appeared, but with a Rayearth knight nothing is random, just their personalities.

Once she saw that they were going to shell the zone her children were, she acted, it was easily to create a shield around the fallen Kenpachi, she kinda owed it, he didn't fight when Ichigo was dueling Yamamoto, and his sole reason to fight was that, to fight, he was not there for some obscure reason or carving of revenge, he was just there to fight, he never raised a finger against her daughters, so she decided it was best the man without fear had some protection until his lieutenant picked him up once the shelling of the area is done, after all men like him are needed in times of conflict.

She was not surprised when Yoruichi Shion herself took her children away, saving them of the shelling, and even knew where the Senkaimon she made would appear, she suspected Fira had something to do with that, but for the moment she had only suspicious and her children were safe once they crossed the Senkaimon.

True is highly irregular that someone who is not of the royal family to enter the palace, but well, Yoruichi just saved her children, so by default she became friend of the family.

Besides their children deserved to know the truth, they deserved to rest, especially her son, she knew what was next to come would be hard for everyone, and a lot of dirty lies would be uncovered.

With a flourish and a flick of her wrist, two shinigami dropped at her side, each of them had a pentagonal badge that had no inscription in it, nothing, nada, not even a number, or a symbol to distinguish them, just a pentagonal badge tied to their biceps.

"Come…let's welcome my family" and with that Masaki Kurosaki and her escort walked away to welcome the new arrivals, after all they were part of the royal family as well, so their stay in the royal palace was highly welcomed and expected.

---

There you have it people, another chapter done and gone, this one was highly expected because of its spolier contents i believe, or perhaps it promised the longest batlle i have written without breaks or line breakers i don't know, either way this one is done, now to those who have been reading the manga you can expect a lot of spoliers coming in the next chapter, and me shamelessly butchering the cannon line as i continue writting, but one thing is certain, in my story Aizen is NOT; by any way possible ending up as a bondage project gone wrong, now for the preview of the next chapter.

Truth shall set them free...

"I can't believe it...we are in the royal dimension"

Truth shall lift the burned of their shoulders...

"Yamamoto-sotaichou...please tell me what you know about the Kurosaki"

Truth...

"So, you been hiding here...Sosuke-Taichou"

Truth...is not somehting that must be set so easily...

In the next chapter of Rayearth Knights. Ichigo the Inferno...Truth of three days...

"Ichigo-chan, Yuzu-kun, Karin-chan...I have miss you so much"

The truth shall set them free, or kill them...

"Retsu-chan...for old times...tell me what happened to my daughters before I decide to rip Isane's head off"

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till a next time people, Hypn0s signs off and bids you all a good weekend.