Me: Ano~, gomenasai. As pointed out to me, I probably shouldn't have used an entire chapter to explain Arrancar/Vizards. But even if you know about Bleach, the Vizard part contained something that I only guessed at, and probably isn't canon. It's the difference between Shiro and the other Inner Hollows.
Sandira: So, this explains the Shinigami's side of the backstory, along with some of the Espada's. The backstory for Las Días will be told, maybe in parts throughout, or maybe in one fell swoop.
Me: RUKIA GETS HER OWN CHAPPY SOON!
Rukia: Chappy?! Where?!
Me: Sorry, I meant chapter. ^_^"
Rukia: *demonic aura* I. Want. CHAPPY!
Me: O_O
Sandira: SSKA does not own Bleach in any shape or form.
10. Remembrances
~Toshiro~
Toshiro heard the commotion downstairs as Harry returned, and he heard the Weasley twins, Ginny and Rukia start chanting, "HE GOT OFF, HE GOT OFF!"
But he made no move to join them.
He preferred the solitude of the Black library.
He wondered where Kurosaki was: had the brash Captain gotten into a fight?
His hand moved subconsciously towards his shoulder…if he were to remove his shirt, there would be a large, jagged scar there. Where Aizen had struck him down in Central 46's chambers, and then reopened the same wound in the final fight at Fake Karakura.
Aizen…
Toshiro looked on in disgust as Aizen turned his blade on one of his own subordinates.
"Aizen-sama," the Tercera Espada gasped, "why?"
The traitorous man said nothing, merely looking at her with such kindness in his eyes that Toshiro wanted to stab the man through and through. How dare he look so calm after he betrayed someone who had fought with her life for him!
And then from behind the pseudo-god, suddenly, there was a crack in the sky. It was a Garganta, was it reinforcements for the former Captain? No—Kurosaki! The human boy lashed out at Aizen: firing off a strong Getsuga Tenshou.
But no—something was wrong…Aizen was completely unharmed.
From behind Ichigo, Unohana-taicho quickly left the Garganta, leaving to tend to the fallen Vizard girl and many others. Behind her, Kotetsu-fukutaicho followed, along with Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho.
Toshiro flew closer to the battle, angling his icy wings to land on half-fallen building very close to the now-closing Garganta.
Kurosaki was their last hope—if the human boy saw Aizen's Shikai, they were all done for. Canceling his Bankai for greater agility, Toshiro Shunpo'd in front of Kurosaki.
"Kurosaki, stand back, I can't allow you to see Aizen's zanpakutō," Toshiro said.
"Toshiro?"
"That's Hitsugaya-taicho to you," Toshiro snapped out of habit. He could feel Kurosaki's smirk burning into the back of his head. "And wipe that smirk off your face."
"Tch," Kurosaki replied.
Toshiro felt other reiatsu surround him and Kurosaki.
Soifon-taicho. Kyoraku-taicho. Komamura-taicho. Four of the Vizards that he would later learn were Shinji, Rose, Love and Lisa. And…Urahara, Yoruichi and a man Toshiro had never thought he would see again.
(CUE FLASHBACK WITHIN THE FLASHBACK)
"GOOOOOOOOOOOD MORNING NEW RECRUITS!"
Toshiro leapt quickly out of bed, landing in a crouch. Behind him, he heard an "oof," as the recruit in the bunk next to his wasn't as quick and was landed on by their assailant.
Toshiro turned around, exasperated, to see the leader of his division: Isshin Kurosaki-taicho.
(END FLASHBACK WITHIN THE FLASHBACK)
"Dad?" Kurosaki questioned, looking at the man with something akin to awe on his face.
Isshin barely spared his a glance, but smiled anyway.
"We'll be talking about this later," Kurosaki hissed, so only Isshin and Toshiro heard.
"I wouldn't expect anything less!" Isshin cried happily.
Toshiro noticed Gin Ichimaru slink away from the battleground, but had no idea what the fox face was planning. But Aizen was the priority either way. He'd pay for everything he'd done:
To Toshiro.
To Soul Society.
To the World of the Living.
TO MOMO!
As the battle began, Urahara was surprisingly the first to attack, restraining Aizen with some new Kidō never seen before, undoubtedly developed for the sole purpose of battling Aizen.
Even though Aizen effortlessly broke free and knocked Urahara aside as though he were a flea, the former Captain merely smiled. The conniving scientist had been planning something, though at time none of them had known.
Yoruichi and Soifon-taicho quickly followed up on Urahara's attack, using a mix of Hakuda, Shunpo and their Shunkō technique to knock him around for a bit, before Aizen merely got up again.
After a while, both Kurosakis joined the fray, raging on the battleground as only a Kurosaki could.
Toshiro himself confronted Aizen quite a few times, but was caught off guard when Aizen unleashed the Hōgyoku's power to undergo a cheap transformation and grow a freakin' mullet.
Unfortunately, that cheap trick/mullet brought Aizen more than enough power.
Toshiro heard others screaming his name as Aizen cut through ice, flesh and bone. He felt his wings give away, and the last ice flower on his back finally crumbled.
'MASTER!'
He heard Hyōrinmaru's cry, but what could he do? He had been cut down.
"Gomenasai…mina…"
He had let them down. They still had a fighting chance, though. Everyone was trying their absolute hardest to defeat Aizen: no one was holding back, and injuries ceased to matter.
He heard a ripping noise, and, as he fell to ground, he glimpsed a Garganta opening: Kuchiki-taicho, Zaraki-taicho, Kurotsuchi-taicho, Kusajishi-fukutaicho, Abarai-fukutaicho, Kuchiki, Ishida, Sado and Inoue…and, to his surprise, there were several of the Arrancar.
They could still win…! And everything faded to black.
Toshiro had been unconscious during the remainder of the battle, but he knew just as well as anyone who had been there what had happened.
In Hueco Mundo, as the Shinigami first confronted Aizen, Inoue-san had finished healing everyone. However, due to something Unohana-taicho had said before she, Kotetsu-fukutaicho and Kurotsuchi-fukutaicho followed Ichigo Kurosaki, she had insisted to heal one of the Privaron Espada that Sado had fought.
This lead to her healing quite a few of the Arrancar, and, somehow, they'd managed to create a sort of temporary treaty.
Due to Ulquiorra's newfound "heart", Grimmjow's newfound respect for Kurosaki, and Nel's desire to repay Kurosaki for protecting her, it was rather easy, considering that those were the most important Arrancar still in Las Noches.
Ulquiorra had opened a Garganta to Fake Karakura and they arrived in time to see Soifon-taicho and I getting struck down. By then, Yoruichi, Komamura-taicho, Lisa, Rose and Love had already fallen.
Aizen had not expected his Espada to betray him, so he was temporarily distracted.
As he was distracted, Ichimaru released his Bankai (Kamishini no Yari) and struck Aizen from behind.
Urahara had taken this chance to steal the Hōgyoku from Aizen and destroy it.
"Most people would have found it next to impossible to destroy it," Toshiro remembered Urahara's words later on, "but, as the creator, I happened to know the entire structure of the Hōgyoku, and it was child's play to figure out how to destroy it."
Unfortunately, even without the Hōgyoku, Aizen was powerful, and he had already started evolving. Though without the Hōgyoku he couldn't evolve as completely, he had absorbed more than enough of the Hōgyoku's power before its destruction.
Inoue and Unohana, meanwhile, were healing everyone who had fallen: Shinigami or Arrancar or Vizard.
As the battle raged on, Hisagi-fukutaicho, Kensei Muguruma, Kira-fukutaicho, Coyote Starrk & Lilynette, Tier Harribel, Rangiku and Harribel's Fracción joined the attack on Aizen. They had all been healed by Inoue and Unohana.
Harribel was furious at Aizen's betrayal, and, by extension, so were her Fracción.
According to Kurosaki, they fought like demons.
Coyote Starrk had, for once in his life, actually fought with gusto. Even when he fought Kyoraku-taicho, Love, Rose and Ukitake-taicho, he had held back and remain calm. However, Starrk was enraged as well by Aizen's betrayal, and instead of fighting with only Lilynette, he was fighting with comrades: even if they were only temporary. That had also encouraged him to go all out.
Little did anyone know, the longer they fought, the closer Aizen came to defeat, thanks to Urahara's Kidō.
Finally, Aizen released his next form (quote from Kurosaki: "A FREAKING BUTTERFLY!"), and the participants of the battle fought with a renewed passion, getting cut down one after the other.
Aizen called them fools, and prepared to release his final form when Urahara's Kidō took effect.
By this time, the only ones left were Ichigo, Urahara, Starrk, Harribel, Ulquiorra and Unohana, though all of them were injured—heavily or not. The Head Captain had been incapacitated a while ago using Ittō Kasō to try to kill Aizen.
Urahara's Kidō surprised them all, with the exception of Urahara himself. After Aizen's defeat, Urahara had told Toshiro in a joking manner that they all had had expressions that reminded him of asphyxiating fishes.
Aizen had cursed them—cursed them all, but mainly Urahara and Ichigo, who he felt were responsible.
After Aizen was sealed, they healed and worked out a more permanent treaty with Las Noches and the Masked Army, with Ichigo being the main go-between.
The Head Captain had cleared Yoruichi, Tessai, Urahara and Isshin of any charges (being it human experimentation, aiding convicted criminals or deserting Soul Society) and invited them back to the Seireitei.
Ichigo was made an official Shinigami: when Urahara had told Tessai to sever Ichigo's Chain of Fate, they had effectively killed him, but Ichigo didn't really care that he was officially dead. Really, no one had cared much.
What people HAD cared about is when the Head Captain announced that he wanted Ichigo to succeed Aizen as the Captain of the Fifth Division. There had been an uproar, but of course anyone who had actually met Ichigo didn't disagree. And because all of the Captains had seen Ichigo in action, he hadn't even had to take the Captain's Examination. They had all recommended him (even Toshiro himself), much to the Head Captain's amusement.
After Ichigo's well-deserved appointment, the Soul Society had held a trial for Aizen, who was still sealed in Urahara's Kidō. Needless to say, he was found guilty, and sentenced to execution. None of them wanted to kill him in cold blood, but he was too dangerous to be kept alive, and no one could say that the bastard didn't deserve it.
Later on, after the celebration of Aizen's defeat and Aizen's execution, the Head Captain ended up promoting Rukia and Renji to Captain positions, but not until a few decades later, by which time Rukia had gained Bankai using Urahara's method (though it had still taken her a few weeks, not the few days it had taken Ichigo).
Toshiro stopped rubbing his shoulder's scar. Yes, Aizen was gone. But the scars he left behind would never fade.
~Ichigo~
Ichigo was walking through the corridors of Hogwarts. Dumbledore had invited him to explore Hogwarts and the surrounding grounds while he himself finished "very important work." Which probably meant naps, Ichigo decided. Old people were weird like that—did he just insult himself?
Ichigo paused.
"I think I did insult myself," he commented aloud. He paused, listening to the soft echo his voice caused. "I shouldn't talk to myself."
And then something exploded on the back of his head.
"THE HELL—?" he screeched.
He brought a hand up to his hair, and smelled the gooey stuff now on his hand..."Raw egg?"
"LOOKS LIKE PEEVSIE DOESN'T NEED TO WAIT FOR THE ITTLE-BITTY FIRST YEARS!"
Hōgyoku: Crumbling Orb (an artifact used for desire manifestation)
Tercera: Spanish for "Third"
Shikai: First Release
Bankai: Final Release
Hakuda: hand-to-hand combat
Shunkō: Flash Cry (Yoruichi and Soifon's special technique/a mix of Hakuda and Kidō)
Kamishini no Yari: God-Killing Spear (Ichimaru's Bankai)
Fracción: Spanish for "Fraction"
mina: everyone
Ittō Kasō: Single Blade Cremation (a Kidō technique requiring a sacrifice from the caster)
thingofmyth:It'd be no fun if Grimmkitty wasn't insane at points in time. And you're right! Dumbledore's reaction is lacking because he's Dumbledore. Anyone else would've freaked.
deathbykitsune: Yeah, looking back, that was NOT a good idea on my part.
o-WinterQueen-o: What Toad and Idiot wanted will be revealed at the Hogwarts' Feast/the Sorting in a flashback. I love flashbacks. *flashback* I don't wanna write about it now…but I gotta update…hey, I know! Flashbacks! *flashback end* ^_^
killroy225: Starrk, Lilynette, Barragan, some of Barragan's Fracción, Harribel, Harribel's Fracción, Ulquiorra, Nnoitra, Tesra, Grimmjow, Szayel Aporro and Yammy. The rest of them are OCs that recently became Arrancar/were already Arrancar and became stronger.
Grisia: I already answered you through PM, I just wanted to include you in these things…
Deamonslater576: Today.
Scaehime-KingofKing's Daughter: Silliness IS good! :D
Mary Queen of Sues: Ouch. Either way, I don't mind you speaking your mind. Your review is what made me type up the next chapter in *checks time* 2 hours and 45 minutes. Ish. Fastest I've ever written a chapter. Thank you for your honesty—*gives cookie.*
animeartist523: Pretty soon. As for the IchiRuki: all I'll say is that Toshiro's spent too much time around Rangiku. *wink wink nudge nudge*/I read your review and I immediately imagined Ichigo becoming flustered and trying to allay their suspicions.
The OMG Cat: RenHime is pretty crack, but I actually rather like it. I might replace it with UlquiHime though. NO! QUINCIES! …Sorry about that, I just feel very passionately about the recent arc's WTF-ness. ABSOLUTELY NO WARNING! AT ALL! Though…still pretty badass arc.
Cloudedguardian: I wasn't going to add that last part, but I saw it SO vividly, that I'm like "awww…what the heck?"
Me: *is bloody from Rukia's beating* Guess who comes in next chapter?
Grimmjow: Yoruichi?
Yoruichi: Grimmjow?
Me: Maybe~.