Chapter 11

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Yuki looked back over her shoulder. Jaku stood there, hunched over, dragging his axe behind him. Leaving a deep trail in the sand,

"You should've killed me…when you had the chance…"

She put her hand on Ichigo's shoulder and pulled herself to her feet,

"Yuki…You can't-"

She put her hand up to quiet him,

"Not now…Kurosaki."

She picked Korihoshi back up, it had changed back to its usual silver color. The only thing about her that had returned to normal was her eye color, other than that she still looked like the Arrancar,

"You're right. It looks like I'll have to finish you now instead."

She spun Korihoshi around in her hand.

Jaku smirked, "I won't be letting that happen. You either defeat them for Aizen-Sama, or you die."

"Let's just see if you can back up those big words."

Jaku lifted his axe above his head, using the sheer weight of it to gain momentum,

"Come on!"

He lowered it, swinging it toward her head. She raised up her arm and stopped it completely. He pushed on it as hard as he could, but it wouldn't budge. Only a small bruise started to form there from holding it back with her wrist,

"Wha? Why?"

"You don't know the meaning of power…True power comes from fighting for those you care about and protecting them…Not from forcing someone into it…"

She swung her arm down, slamming the axe into the ground, completely knocking it out of his hands,

"I won't allow them to be hurt any further…"

She walked toward him, stumbling a bit. He started to back up,

"You…Can't do this…" He looked at her with puppy dog eyes, "I'm just a kid…"

She picked the axe up, examined it a moment, then handed it back to him.

He took it, "Why're you…?"

"She's trying to be honorable, yes?" A third person said.

They both looked up to see Aizen standing there behind Jaku,

"A-Aizen-Sama…I swear! I was just about to finish her off! I-"

"Don't lie to me…Get out of here…I'll deal with you later."

Jaku lowered his eyes and disappeared.

Aizen turned his attention back to Yuki,

"I see, somehow, you've broken through." He began to slowly walk toward her.

"Did you actually think I wouldn't?"

"I had hoped…It's really too bad…I didn't want to have to kill you…"

"You can't…"

"And why might that be? You've failed me. There is no longer any need for you to be alive."

Yuki stumbled forward a few steps,

"Then I'll just have to kill you first."

She lifted her sword and sped toward him. A few seconds later she was frozen in her tracks as Aizen's sword flashed in front of her face. Searing pain suddenly filled her chest. He looked down to see Aizen's blade sticking fully through her, the hilt touching her skin.

"Yuki! No!" Toushiro shouted, his voice pained. He tried to run toward her, but Ichigo held him back.

She slowly looked up to see Aizen grinning down at her. She rested her hand on top of his, trying to push it back,

"I'll take it out if you honor one last request to me."

"What…" She whispered, blood beginning to stream from her mouth as she opened it,

"Bow to me."

"Never." She pushed back on his hand, drawing the sword back a few inches.

His face quickly changed from a grin to a somber frown,

"You are in no position to continue to fight me."

He pushed down on the sword, forcing it into her ribs. She resisted it for a moment, but soon the force and pain from her previously broken ribs became too much, and she was pushed down to her knees,

"You see…That wasn't so hard…"

He tore the sword from her. Blood flew into the air and dripped down onto the sand. He knelt down in front of her and put his hand firmly on her chin, forcing her to look at him. He took a moment to take in the pain and terror in her eyes before he spoke again,

"I'm going to spare your friends for now…Someone will need to take your body back to SeiReiTei," He laughed, "And if, for some reason, you should survive…The healing techniques of the 4th division and of Orihime Inoue will fail to help you…" He raised his sword again, "Good bye."

He slammed the blade into the right side of her face, causing her mask to shatter and her cheek bone to break. He looked up at the others and smirked, then disappeared.

Yuki collapsed onto her side, kicking up a small cloud of dust. She blinked a few times in an attempt to regain some form of focus. The world around her was a dull shade of gray. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. She could hear some kind of voices, but they all seemed very far away.

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Ichigo and the others stood in shock. They couldn't believe what had just happened. Ichigo slowly lowered his arm and let Toushiro go. He bolted to Yuki and slid down into the sand next to her. She slowly moved her eyes to look at him. He carefully placed his hand on her shoulder. He could feel her trembling with every excruciating breath.

After a moment the others had come out of their shock and made their way over to her, crowding around her. Renji carried a still unconscious Hisagi on his back. Orihime trailing behind, worried about moving him.

Ichigo dropped to his knees, exhausted, but still wanting to try and help,

"We should probably…roll her over onto her back…" He said, his voice very distant and quiet.

Toushiro nodded. The two of them, very carefully, rolled her over onto her back. She managed to force out a tiny squeal of pain. Ichigo rested her head on his leg and looked down at her,

"You should try to relax…We'll get you out of here soon…"

She slowly lifted her arm and touched the large, bleeding wound that made its home on his forehead. She quickly ran her eyes over the rest of him to find that he'd been injured quite severely,

"I…did this…"

She gazed around at the others, taking note of all of their injuries as well, until her eyes stopped on Hisagi,

"Shuuhei!" She tried to sit up, but Ichigo clamped his hand down on her shoulder so she couldn't move,

"Now isn't the time for you to be concerned about us."

"But you're…my friends…" She winced.

"Kurosaki!" Ishida called from a short distance away.

"What is it, Ishida?"

"I just spoke with Urahara. He said he would open a new portal here at our location. It should only take a few minutes."

He sighed, "Good."

He looked back down at Yuki and smiled, "You hear that? We'll be outta here soon."

She very subtly nodded, her eyes beginning to get very droopy. Toushiro squeezed her hand,

"You gotta stay awake…"

"I…" She started, "Don't think…I can do that…"

"Of course you can! You have to!" He began to panic a bit.

She smiled very slightly, "I'll be…okay…I promise…you…"

Tears started to well up in his eyes a little, "You'd better…"

She took one last gasping breath and closed her eyes. The others just watched her for a few minutes until Ishida caught their attention,

"C'mon. We can't waste time right now. The portal won't wait for us."

They all made their way toward the newly opened portal. Toushiro stood up and helped Ichigo stand without causing Yuki any more pain. Ichigo picked Yuki up , and the two of them followed the others into the portal.

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That's chapter 11! I do hope your diggin' it so far, I'm certainly enjoying writing it ^-^

Don't forget to review!