Hello to you all, and happy new year! I know it has been some time since i have updated any of my stories, serious writters block and all that, in any case i'm here with another chapter, and also to wish you all a happy new year, and to those who live in countries who are already on 2011, well lucky you, i'm still waiting as i write this, in any case my last chapter of this year, and hopefully the beguining of many more to come on the new year, so without any other wait, and to those who are reading right now at this hour, passing time so to reach midnight, i give you yet another chapter of the rayearth knights, this one will have an omake, enjoy.


CHAPTER 10: TRUTH OF THREE DAYS

Day one…

"This…is too much" Shunsui, truth to be told had been expecting a lot of things considering who had clashed in this spot, three titans had basically beat the shit out of each other, and honestly said, he had no idea who had won.

Kenpachi was being carried away by his Lieutenant to the 4th division barracks, unconscious and grinding while at it, the captain-commander was yet to be found, last he was seen, he was sailing on the air and already bypassed Seireitei aerial boundaries, and the third one, Ichigo the Rayearth Ryoka was missing, there was no trace of him or his sisters whatsoever, only the destruction and devastation left behind in their clash.

To be honest he expected more destruction, this was of course the sisters of the Rayearth knight who had been kidnapped, who also were the son and daughters of Isshin, he is still surprised to not see a trace of Isshin raising Seireitei in search of his daughters.

"So…Sado-kun, do you still believe Ichigo needs help?" he asked to the giant that was posing as one of his shinigamis, and advantage of having his own division and the sheer number of shinigamis in the Gotei 13 was that most of them didn't knew each other, even inside their own divisions, maybe in his some of his subordinates knew each other better than in other divisions, with the exception of the 4th division that required every person to know the other so they could work as a well oiled machine, but the fact remained that anyone who could done shinigami robes and a sword on their hips could pose as a shinigami, as long they could stick to their covers, in Chad's case, he was a newly minted member of Shunsui's division, no one could question a captain, especially with a man like Chad standing at his side, believe it or not Chad in shinigami robes and his hair covering his eyes is quite a daunting sight.

"Damn he wrecked the place…pity I wasn't here to see him do the same to those two" and as usual Ganju expressed his hate towards shinigami, much to Nanao annoyance, at least he was mellowing, with a lot of alcohol and her taichou's easy-going attitude that is.

"I doubt we would have been conscious to see it, even from our barracks we could feel their reiatsu…Kami mighty I have never felt so much power unleashed" she said as she looked around, raising her glasses upwards with her fingers, her book ever present on her arms.

"You have to ruin my fun eh sweet cheeks?" Ganju said with a sneer, immediately Nanao had her book on his skull, on repeated occasions, Shunsui chuckled at that, ever since Chad and Ganju came Nanao had been lively, and he was having such a blast, if only this was not followed by the utter destruction of the Rayearth knight battles and the sotaichou vendetta.

"…Ichigo was here…he kneeled here" Chad said as he looked at the ground in front of them, then kneeling, "…that man was also here…the sotaichou…but he was violently punched or punted away here by another person" Chad said, grabbing something on the ground, then standing up and handing it to Shunsui, the layback captain accepted it, seeing that what Chad gave him was a tooth.

"…Okay, either one of Ichigo sisters lost one of their milk teeth or…" he trailed off, seeing a courier shinigami approaching them, "Taichou…sir…we found the sotaichou…on the outskirts of Soul Society…uh…" the courier there began to fidget.

"Yes?" Nanao asked, "Well…he asked if someone were to finds his teeth then to hand it to Unohana to she can re-implant them on his mouth" the courier said, there Shunsui looked with astonishment at the teeth on his hand, then at Chad, and grinded.

"And here I was told the tooth fairy didn't exist, you just prove me wrong" he said with a chuckle, Chad just grunted but said nothing, his growl and silence pretty much said it all.

"Captain" Nanao warned, "What? Is not like the tooth fairy does exist" he said, "It does not!" she snapped.

"…So you all said the same about the Rayearth knights and…" Chad trailed off, drawing his inner Shunsui and looking at the area around him with some amusement, making Nanao eye twitch, "For the love of…sunova…mother…ARRRGGHH!"

"Now now Nanao-chan, we all make mistakes, including you, that makes you even more cute" Nanao's answer to Shunsui's comment was a book on the face and a lot of obscenities coming out of her mouth.

"Oh man this is awesome, I'm so glad I tagged along with you" Ganju commented as he leaned on Chad's.

Chad's only response to that and the out coming beating Nanao was giving to a captain with a very thick book was to let a loud and long groan followed by a roll of his eyes.


"Hanatarou-kun, get me those bandages of the storage room, and while you're at it get me several burn salves and disinfectant, we need to treat the wound the old fashion way"

"Hai Unohana-taichou!" Isane watched as Hanatarou dashed towards the storage room, not as meek as he usually did, this brought a smile to her face, "He changed" she said to Retsu.

"Indeed, I knew that he tagging along with the knight of fire would do him good, I guess I was correct, not only he presented him with the blade of Rukia, but Ichigo gave Hanatarou something we have forgot once we became shinigami" Unohana said as she glance at a room in particular.

"What?" Isane wondered, "…Hope, hope for change, change is good as long everyone accepts it, and currently we need it and want it, everyone felt his reiatsu, his power, he overwhelmed the sotaichou on combat, he overwhelmed our best in combat, on another time this would have warrant him a death sentence"

"And he has, Yamamoto-sotaichou wants him dead" Isane replied, "Indeed, but he doesn't realize that he is contending with forces far beyond his control, the knights serve a greater being that he cannot hope to content against and Ichigo itself is tied to a force that rule us all" Unohana said seriously.

"…Chaos?" Isane wondered, making Retsu chuckle at that, "No…but it will be chaotic once everyone realized to who he is tied to" she added with a small smirk, Isane steeled herself at that, she would never be able to get use to see Retsu Unohana smirking in any way.

"Now let's us attend our new resident" she said as she opened a door and exposed its occupant, "Yamamoto-sotaichou I told you not to move, you are wounded and I haven't found all your teeth!" she snapped, making Isane slightly smile.

Maybe the captain-commander is or was the strongest on Seireitei and commands the shinigami, but Retsu Unohana rules supreme on the 4th division and no one questions her, not even Kenpachi, although he couldn't, he's still unconscious and with that shit eating grin on his face.

Isane shivered at that, she didn't want to imagine what maintained that grin on the unconscious man's mind.


"Is okay Ichi-nii" Yuzu said as she patted her brother's back, all while Ichigo rocked back and forth, all while muttering nonsense, his chest was wrapped already on bandages, Yoruichi seemed to have a small skill on first-aid because she easily wrapped the wound of his chest, and much to the girls shock, the wound was well on its way to heal, another example of the power of a knight.

Karin by her part kept her grip on Zangetsu and her eyes on Yoruichi, by any accounts she didn't trust the woman, true she plucked them out of a literal warzone, but she had done something to her brother, there was no way her brother would break like that, he didn't even after going toe-to-toe with those two maniacs, yet this girl said something to him and he was wailing his soul out.

"Hey!" Karin shouted to Yoruichi, the dark skinned woman turned to the little girl, noting finally the shinigami clothes, and sighed, "My lord…Isshin had three shinigamis" she said, "IT WAS A MISTAKE!" Ichigo shouted, making Yoruichi raise an eyebrow at that, no brother would say that, unless…

"Ugh…Ichigo dammit you turned your sisters into shinigamis! Can't you control that monster reiatsu you have?" she all but snapped, ignoring Karin, "First thing we will do once this mess is over is to properly train you on how to control your reiatsu" she snapped, "HEY!" Karin didn't like not even a bit being ignored, so she tried a different approach, her brother's approach, meaning the violent one, she tried to kick Yoruichi, key word being trying.

Yoruichi had to hand it to Ichigo, even if transformed as shinigamis Karin still had the potent kick that Urahara kept complaining about, she would have paid a lot of cash to see a little girl kick a rock like a soccer ball straight to Kisuke's head.

But the girl had a temper, and in combat that temper would land her in many problems, unlike her brother she couldn't take titans all alone, and while that kick could break bones of anyone, be it shinigami or hollow, it was slow, so it was easy, painfully easy to move away of the kick, stand behind Karin, steal her zanpakutou and hit her lightly on her head, all in the span of a second, to say that the ones present were surprised was a understatement.

"Little girl, you think you can jump on me? I'm not nicknamed the goddess of flash step just for the kicks of it" Yoruichi stated, seeing Karin turn and glare at her, or pout, "You have a mean kick I'll give you that, have that connected to any part of my body I would have so said part fractured, but you lack speed and you need to control your temper a little, unlike your brother you can't go head on with the meanest Seireitei or Hueco Mundo has to offer" Yoruichi said, all while Karin glared at her, then huffed, "As for while your brother freaked out when I talked to him…let's just say that he had a taste of me" she said with an all superior smile, Karin meanwhile reacted accordingly to that proclamation.

She turned around, stabbed Zangetsu on the ground, dashed straight at her brother, jumped and delivered a nasty kick to her brothers face, all while shouting "BAKA!"

This seemed to be a normal occurrence because Yuzu automatically began to scold Karin for her behavior, Yoruichi chuckled at that, it seemed fairly normal, and it reminded her of other times, easier times, times when she was young and naïve, when she had a lot of friends, now the only friends that remained alive after that were Urahara and Kuukaku, the only ones alive.

She in a way envied Ichigo and company, they had the world at their grasp, they were alive and accompanied by those who they loved and cherished, and the worst thing they had to worry prior of knowing that shinigamis existed and fought spirit eating beings was their grades.

"Okay kid enough" Yoruichi said as she stepped between Karin and Ichigo, this one using his telekinesis to call Zangetsu back, something his sisters saw in awe, Yoruichi saw the speculative looks on their eyes, and answered the unasked question, "No girls, you can't call your zanpakutous like he can, is a Rayearth thing" she said as she looked around, going eye wide a minute later.

"Oh hell" she muttered, but it was loud enough for the Kurosaki siblings to hear, the three stared at the dark skinned woman, her yellow eyes wide in surprise, "I can't…believe it…" she muttered.

"Believe what?" Ichigo asked, looking at the shocked woman.

"…we are in the royal dimension" Yoruichi said in a soft whisper, her yellow eyes locking with Ichigo's, there he could see how serious the thing was.

"…royal…dimension?" Karin asked, "That's right, the king of soul society lives here with the royal family, also the zero division lives here" Yoruichi said, narrowing her eyes, "Zero division?" Yuzu this dime asked.

"Yes, the Gotei 13 are divided in thirteen division, the old man Ichigo fought is the captain of the first division and the head of the Gotei 13, while Kenpachi, the maniac with the pointy hair and scary smile is the captain of the 11th division, a division made by the sole purpose of combat" Yoruichi said, looking at both girls with a smile.

"But sometimes the king calls a shinigami of any division to his command, no one, not even the sotaichou nor central 46 can't overrule this, the zero division is formed of the best of every other division, medics, brawlers, kido experts, haduka adepts, name it they have it, they are the king's army, his bodyguards, they protect the royal dimension and the king and his family, you think we were knee deep back in Seireitei, well here we don't have the advantage of Ichigo blowing the imperial barrier and putting half of the Gotei shinigami on a reiatsu induced coma, we are in a very bad position" Yoruichi said as she eyed both girls and then at Ichigo.

"I hope you know how to handle those zanpakutous like your brother does because if worse comes to worse we will have to fight" Yoruichi said as she adjusted her clothes, "I doubt they will blow this place Yoruichi" Ichigo commented to the woman, so said woman just turned to stare at him, "And in what you base this?" she asked.

"We are in the royal garden" Ichigo said, pointing at the area around them, indeed they were standing in a very luscious and beautiful garden, with a pond which was fed by a medium size waterfall, flowers of all kinds littered the ground with a well trimmed grass, rocks lay around like chairs, and they could hear a lot of birds singing, it was quite a peaceful place to be.

"I bet anything that this place is the favorite spot of the wife of the king, is well kept and is obvious she spends a lot of time here, either way a battle here would damage the place, and I bet the woman would hate her garden be destroyed" Ichigo commented, making Yoruichi sigh.

"I guess you're right, yet the zero division would have a perfect excuse to destroy this place on battle considering that we are basically intruders in the realm, hell not even Yamamoto has entered here and he is the closest to the king a shinigami can get" Yoruichi said.

"Indeed Shihoin" Yoruichi turned so fast that she almost broke her spine and neck while doing so, her eyes widened when she lay eyes on a woman dressed in shinigami clothes, but the difference immediately were seen , the white haori usually wore by captain class shinigami was black as the uniform with golden trims on the edges of the haori, the sash held a pentagonal emblem which Yoruichi was well familiar, the same skull surrounded in flames which Ichigo had on his glove, but this one had a crown on the top of the skull, the emblem of the royal family.

"Shit" she hissed as she assumed a battle stance, but then froze when three burst of reiatsu emanated from behind her, turning around she saw with great shock how Karin, Yuzu and Ichigo glared at the woman, the girls irises were glowing blue as they held their zanpakutous, while Ichigo were basically burning.

"You…" Yuzu hissed, "How you dare…" Karin added, grinding her teeth together, "HOW YOU DARE USE KAA-CHAN'S FACE!" Ichigo basically went ballistic, Yoruichi noted that the girls were not far behind their brother temper and reiatsu unleashing, as she looked at the woman in shinigami robes, then at Yuzu, then pondered the statement of Ichigo, the reaction of the girls and who was their father, she made the connection, and was really shocked by it.

"Guys stop!" she said, but it was too late to stop them at all.

"Rest asunder, Ninau!"

"Reflect, Soratobu!"

"Obliterate, Ignis!"

Yoruichi could only stare in shock as two girls of barely eleven years released their zanpakutous; Karin zanpakutou had taken the form, much to Yoruichi shock of a pair of armored boots that reached to her knees, the armored boots seemed highly sectioned and for superior movement, not to mention that the tips were fashioned as a trident tip.

She then looked at Yuzu, her arms had what seemed two armored wings of some sort, then both wings opened, revealing a mirror in the middle of each, Yoruichi could conclude there that Yuzu's released zanpakutou was for defense, not offense, and quite a beautiful one she might say, the wings that formed the shield edges were made of silver, delicate at sight but they seemed sturdy enough to take even the nastiest attacks.

Then it was Ichigo's Rayearth blade, she knew Ignis didn't need a command phrase, she knew it, Rayearth blades react at the will of their wielders, not a command word, maybe it was in his anger he had decided to give Ignis a command word or something because Zangetsu was always on a released state, her answer came when out of Ignis edges, serrated blades emerged, Yoruichi got eye wide at the array of deadly blades that emerged of Ignis, even more when these array of blades began to move, like a chainsaw chained blades.

"This…is not going to end well" she was right as several members of the zero guard converged around the woman whose eyes had a sad look, "She must be sad, her own children didn't recognized her"

"You! Using our mother's face to trick us! I won't forgive you!" Karin snarled, this seemed to be consent among the Kurosaki siblings as they snarled and launched themselves at the zero guards, anger etched on their faces.

"Aw dammit all to hell!" and against all her best judgment Yoruichi joined them, but to prevent them of injuring someone too much or attacking their mother.

"ENOUGH!"

BAMM!

BAMM!

BAMM!

"ITAI!"

Only to stop and gape like the rest of the zero division as the woman she knew as Masaki Kurosaki hit her three children with a paper fan that she pulled out of her haori, she was surprised that the simple looking paper fan was enough to actually bring pain to Ichigo when not even being stabbed by Kenpachi and hit by Yamamoto was unable to.

"Ichigo Kurosaki! Karin Kurosaki! Yuzu Kurosaki!" Masaki all but boomed, looking at her three children who were clutching their heads in pain, Yoruichi and the zero guard all but sweat dropped and took several steps back, not wanting to be caught in the wrath of the queen of soul society and mother of the Rayearth knight and the two small shinigami.

Ichigo was about to say something when Masaki locked eyes with him, and he froze at the sight, "Ichigo-chan…have you already forgotten how your kaa-chan looked like" she said, slowly kneeling in front of Ichigo, Karin and Yuzu were about to snap at the woman and say something to Ichigo when they looked at him and froze on sight.

Karin and Yuzu would remember this day forever because not only they found their mother; it was also the day Ichigo Kurosaki cried.

"…Kaa…chan…" Ichigo breathed, dropping Zangetsu and Ignis, Zangetsu would have snapped at Ichigo hadn't been for the fact the inner world was basically being hit by a typhoon, and Zangetsu hated rain, but this was different, he knew why.

"…It…it…can't be…you…you died…he…he killed you…" Ichigo whispered, being the only witness of that fateful day the Kurosaki family lost Masaki to the hollow know as Grand Fisher.

"I know…he killed me, I wake up in the nights with phantom pain on my back, covered in sweat and wondering if my baby lived" she said, slowly bringing her right hand to his cheek, rubbing Ichigo's cheek in a way that he long had believed he would never feel again.

"My body died, my chain was broken, I could never return…but I was saved, they drove Grand Fisher before he dared to attack you…and I regret nothing of that day, maybe perhaps not seeing you grow, seeing Karin-chan and Yuzu-chan grow as well, seeing your dad every day…oh god how I missed you" Masaki said as she hugged Ichigo, the boy answered her hug with one of his own, all while letting tears out of his eyes, holding the woman for all that was worth.

The two girls meanwhile stared at the woman who had basically made their brother cry, they had never seen him cry, it was always a frown, a scowl, a serious face, a sad face, a smirk, never a smile or a tear on his face, this was new, this was frightening to them, then both girls stared at the woman straight in the eyes, and froze as well, memories rushing to them hard, days where both girls giggled without control when their mother rubbed her cheek to their brother cheek, days when her mother scolded their father with a frying pan on the hand for trying to take a bite of the unfinished food, of the woman who always smiled at them no matter what.

That same smile the woman was directing at them, the same lips, the same eyes, the same cheekbones, the same hair, the same all.

Karin dropped to her knees, eyes wide, unable to believe was she was seeing, Yuzu simply brought her hands to her mouth, drowning a gasp and a sob that emanated of her mouth, the released forms of their zanpakutous vanishing, becoming once again simple blades and falling to the ground, joining Zangetsu and Ignis.

"Kaa…san?" Karin asked with hesitation, Masaki simply nodded with a smile, "Kaa-chan" Yuzu simply muttered, her eyes filled with tears, Masaki just smiled once again.

"KAA-CHAN!"


Central 46, the main hub of the laws on Soul Society, the place where the 'wise' gather to judge those who broke the laws with an iron fist and with cold attitude that one would mistaken them for machines for their lack of soul and feelings, they didn't care why a rule was broken, they never cared, even if it was for a loved one, revenge, or for necessity, they didn't care, the rules of Soul Society were absolute, their rules were absolute, no one was above those rules, not even them.

And now they lay dead on their desks, on their chairs, the atrium of Central 46 was littered with dead bodies, blood pooled on the ground, every member of Central 46, everyone held a shocked look on their faces.

Momo just stared at the scene with some apprehension, Central 46 is…or was the central hub of laws in Soul Society, it was also the most well defended building in all of Seireitei, Kido spells of all kinds were casted on the area to protect those inside, yet this seemed useless now.

"…So…this is why you brought me here Gin…to put the blame on me" Momo said with a snarl, looking at the silver haired man who smiled like a fox, "Or it was because Aizen ordered you" the smile slipped a little, but yet remained on Gin lips.

"My…you are quite perceptive" Gin commented, Momo just narrowed her eyes, then turning around, raising her hand and letting a kido spell fly to one of the stands, the impact forced someone to leave the protection of the shadows and the stand, landing softly in front of Momo.

"Or it was because Aizen-Taichou ordered you to" she said, staring at the face of her captain, the spectacles on his face gleaming and covering his eyes, and that smile…that damn faked smile.

"You can drop the act, I know who you really are" Momo said with a serious look, Tobiume posed on his neck, Gin actually held an incredulous look, Momo not only had unsheathed her blade at the speed a captain would unsheathe theirs, but her zanpakutou was on its released form at the same time, now that was something commendable.

Instantly Aizen's overall demeanor changed, while he still held a smile this one was different, it felt…darker, it looked like a smile of someone sure that would be able to take over the world, it was not overall cocky, it belonged to someone who knew what he was doing.

"So you found out…Hinamori-kun" he said.

"It was not that hard to puzzle, especially when I'm your lieutenant and you basically showed me what your zanpakutou can really do, unlike that demo you gave to the others" she said seriously, Aizen didn't seem intimidated by the fact a blade was about to take his head off, in fact he looked smug.

"I commend your insight Hinamori-kun, but you really know what I'm doing?" Aizen asked, staring at Momo like a father lecturing a child, Momo didn't like that look at all.

"Truth to be told I don't, but I can guess is something relating Central 46, after all they are the governing body of Seireitei, no matter how powerful the sotaichou is he is practically useless if Central 46 tells him to do nothing" Momo stated.

"Partly right, partly wrong" Aizen stated, "You see, while true Central 46 is the governing body of Seireitei, they are not exactly fit to govern at all, in fact they receive orders also, but from whom?" he asked with a smile, looking at Momo in the eyes, "Do you know who they answer to?"

"Of course…they answer…to the king…" Momo breathed eyes wide, "What are you really planning?" she asked with shock.

"Not much Hinamori-kun, in fact my plan is just in its infancy stage" he confessed, "Infancy? You call slaughtering Central 46 just the beginning? What the hell!" she snapped angrily.

"Indeed, and I must say all was going according to plan when the literal X of the formula appeared" it didn't take a genius to know who he was referring to.

"The Rayearth knight" she gasped, and then smirked, "So…he basically put a stop to your plans eh?" she said.

"Hardly, while I dare say that he is a factor that I didn't saw coming no matter how smart or powerful I am there is little he can do, what I have set in motion is something not even the fabled Rayearth knights with all their power can hope to stop dead in their tracks, Ichigo is just…what is the word living use for this…ah yes, delaying the inevitable" Aizen stated.

"And I have to admit that you knowing, while surprising is nothing of consequence" he added, making Momo scowl, "In fact all my plan layout changed the moment Ichigo the Ryoka came, including timetables, but as some living general of the human world say, no plan survives first engagement, is all about adapting, and I" Aizen said as he rose his hand, a small dark purple orb in hand.

"Have adapted" the next thing Momo knew was that her back erupted in pain, blood suddenly raining in front of her, but not even a drop landing on Aizen, yet Aizen gave her credit for keeping herself on her feet.

"You…bastard…" she gasped, swinging Tobiume to whoever had attacked from behind, only to her blade to be stopped by a single well tanned finger.

"Harribel, if you may?" Momo had little time to react when her chest erupted in blood, falling backwards her left hand grabbed the cuff of something, just to give in, as she fell the face of her attacker was visible.

Blond hair with stunning green eyes, tanned skin and the bottom of her face was covered by a mask, a hollow mask.

As she fell she looked at Aizen with scorn, "A…hollow…what…are you really…planning?" she asked with anger, Aizen just smiled that smile of his as he approached her and kneeled on her fallen form.

"You see, for so long the throne above the heavens has been empty, not even the king has been able to fill it, but I will, the king will die by my hand, and then I will seat upon the throne above the heavens, a god, and when that happens you can expect changes…great changes"

Momo just gritted her teeth, and as consciousness slipped away of her alongside her blood, the last thing she saw as darkness claimed her was Aizen walking away with that woman Harribel and Gin approaching her, and the feeling of someone grabbing her right ankle.

"Well, I guess you are about to share a cell with Rukia-chan…send her my regards"

How she hated that fox faced bastard.


Yoruichi had seen many things in her long life, perhaps not as many as Yamamoto has seen and even less considering that Fira was older than anyone in the room and has seen the making of heroes and villains, has seen wars come and go, civilization crumble like sand castles, but if something she knew from watching the current scene was that for the first time in many years she wanted to go to Hueco Mundo and slaughter every single hollow on sight.

On the academy they taught everyone to kill their emotions on the field, the death of a companion would be easily the first step to yours, getting angry was synonymous of suicide, in the academy they taught them to be hollow killing machines, to have little mercy against the beasts, the after-effects of suppressing your feelings sometimes can be seen among the ranks of the Gotei 13, quirks that can vary between laziness, violent tendencies and responses, abuse of the alcohol and acting as man-whores or sluts depending of the gender being a few of the examples, other extreme cases being the total lack of feelings, and so far Byakuya Kuchiki is a prime example of this.

But there was something that can actually return the feelings to anyone after seeing a mother being reunited with her children, it was a touching moment, indeed it was something that few people could see full force and endure without shedding a tear, maybe Aizen would endure it and keep that stupid smile of his, even having the gal of offering tea while at it.

Pushing aside the thought about the man, Yoruichi focused on the task at hand.

"How in the name of your son you became…the queen" Yoruichi asked, Masaki, who held both her daughters on her arms and Ichigo who stood behind her looked at Yoruichi seriously.

"You can say it was thanks to Isshin" Masaki began, "The day…I died…the chain that bound me to the living world was severed, I nearly ended up as food for a hollow when two shinigami who were not clad in shinigami robes came to my aid, they scared the hollow away, mostly because they were afraid what a battle near my son would do, truth to be told they were afraid of awakening more of his latent power, in any case they performed Konso on me once they explained the risks of staying too long in the living world in the state I was, after I…said Ichigo goodbye they performed it…next thing I know I ended up here" Masaki began.

"Isshin's brother welcomed me with surprise, he actually didn't expected someone coming here, even more after a Konso, when he asked me who my husband was and answering he was clearly surprised, Isshin was his brother, the older and therefore entitled to the title of King once his father died after 5000 years of rule, but when Isshin 'died' that responsibility passed to him, still since I married him I became sort of a princess, and my children were royalty as well, who would have thought it?" Masaki said with a smile.

"Not me, dad keeps a poster of you in the kitchen, I can't imagine him as royalty, let alone a king" Ichigo said with a grimace, "Yes…guess time without his wife messed him a little, nothing a good night sleep…"

"Mum…for my sake and the sake of my sisters, don't, and I repeat, don't say your plans relating you, dad and your room in like, forever" Ichigo added, making Masaki pout, "You're not fun" she said.

"I'm the dammed Rayearth of fire, I'm not supposed to be fun, I'm suppose to set things on fire and blow shit everywhere" Ichigo snapped, "He has a point, he has basically done that ever since he set foot on Seireitei…but he'll tell you later, now if you please could continue?" Yoruichi asked to Masaki.

"But of course…you could say the first two years were odd, my time with Isshin awoke my own spiritual power, maybe not as vast as Isshin's or Ichigo's when he was little, but it existed, and Isshin's brother Sanosuke decided I should get training, and in those two years I learned all I could from the members of the zero guard, kido, haduka, you name it I learned it, my power grew to be on par with Isshin's back when he was a shinigami, which surprised Sanosuke and several members of the guard, I guess Ichigo can blame me for being such a fast learned, Isshin-kun was not exactly a fast learned in many matters" Masaki confessed with a smile, making Ichigo and Karin to snort softly.

"On my third year I learned why he wanted me to be strong, a strong king needs a strong queen" she said, instantly the room grew hot and saturated with reiatsu that emanated of Ichigo.

"Oh pipe down Ichigo-chan I did not cheated on your dad" Masaki snapped sternly, brandishing her paper fan to Ichigo, Yoruichi would have laughed after seeing the so far invincible Rayearth of fire and shinigami/hollow hybrid for shrinking after seeing an object he could easily set ablaze with his sight alone if it wasn't for the fact she might get on the bad side of Masaki and therefore getting the paper fan on her head.

"There is a rule among members of the guard and the royal family" one of the guards suddenly said, "Because we live so long and this dimension is separated of soul society that we live in nearly total isolation, seeing the same face every day for the next two or three millennia kinda makes you crazy, so every two hundred years we are allowed a leave to either soul society or the living world, from there you can carry a simple life, have a family, live, of course when your Gigai expires you return immediately to the royal realm and your family is entitled that same right of those of the royal family once they are konso-ed, they arrive to the royal realm to live here, to bolster the ranks" the guard said to Ichigo.

"But Sanosuke never left the realm, he spend too much time here, trying to find a 'fitting' queen from the many women of the royal guard" Masaki began, "This caused many of the guards to be really angry at him because they were married woman and a king looking for a wife among married women is greatly frowned upon, so when he saw me he knew I had no attachments, or so he believed, I still love Isshin, and I'm still married to him" Masaki said, displaying proudly her wedding band on her ring finger.

"All that 'Till death do us apart' is a lie on most cases; if a couple loves each other greatly those bonds are carried even in death, although there is a problem in the cases of couples who married again" Yoruichi said with a thoughtful look.

"In any case as you can expect he didn't took it kindly, he attacked me and I retaliated, our duel destroyed several halls of the palace, and a garden, he had the experience on him, and I only had my will to not give up, eventually I made a mistake and he disarmed me" Masaki said with a serious look, "But the guard intervened, since I am married to the oldest son and technically Sanosuke was just covering Isshin's position until he came back that made me the queen by default, so I kinda outranked Sanosuke" Masaki there grew silent.

"Attacking the queen, regardless who is punishable with death" one of the guards stated, "Sanosuke forgot this and attacked her in blind rage, and even in death he was enraged by the fact his brother had it all" other guard stated.

"Envy…why I'm not surprised" Ichigo muttered, holding Masaki by the shoulders, he was glad is mom was alive, but not so glad someone has been trying to wed her when she was obviously married, a sentiment shared obviously by his sisters that seemed equally determined as his brother to protect their mother of anyone who wanted her.

"He was not fast enough and was distracted by me, so he fell fast against the zero guard, truly a shame, your father will be devastated after hearing this, but I guess he'll understand, eventually, family is family, regardless of how they behave" Masaki stated with a sigh, running her hands on her daughter's hair, this seemed to mellow both girls who gave happy sighs as they leaned more to the touch of their mother.

"Now that how I survived and became queen is cleared out, I want to know…" before she could say anything else, a female shinigami busted into the room, panting and clearly shocked.

"Your majesty, prince, princesses" the woman said as she kneeled, "I have just received some startling news…central 46 was wiped out" she said, making Masaki frown and Ichigo to narrow his eyes, "Central 46…as the morons who condemn people for trivialities and make harsh laws? That central 46?" the female shinigami nodded.

"How it happened?" Masaki asked, instantly shifting of mother to ruler in an instant, something Karin noted faster than Yuzu or Ichigo.

"Is still on investigation, but preliminary evidence suggest that they were murdered by a lone shinigami, one Hinamori Momo, Lieutenant of the 5th division under command of Sosuke Aizen" the shinigami said, immediately Yoruichi stood up angrily at the mention of the man's name.

"Aizen you say?" the shinigami nodded once she saw the glare Yoruichi had directed to her, "Yes, captain of the 5th division for over fifty years…well liked among his peers" the shinigami said to Yoruichi, making the dark skinned woman scowl.

"That rat…always planning, always ready" she said with a hiss, looking at Ichigo, then all dawning to her in that moment, the reason why Unohana offered Hanatarou, the reason Fira was so eager to aid.

"By the end of the day...all will change" the words of Fira the day she summoned Shinji after Ichigo regained his powers rung in her mind and echoed now more than ever, "Shit…that dammed bird knew" she called, looking again at Ichigo.

"Fira must surely knew how things would play until this point, surely with the hell of Draconax" Yoruichi began, "She knew how things would turn…your fight with the captains, the separation, you encountering your mother, all has sense now…she knew perfectly well what would happen, or the possible outcomes and planned a solid plan, one that carried itself and that only required her to be present only, never moving a finger, just aiding when it was absolutely necessary, like when you reached limit, only then…she knew and we helped fulfill her plan" she added, looking at Masaki straight in the eyes.

"Your majesty" Yoruichi began, "I dare say that central 46 was not slaughtered by Hinamori Momo" Yoruichi stated as she leaned and was nearly nose to nose with Masaki, "I know who did it, and I have a plan to lure him out"

Much to the shock of her children, Masaki smirked at Yoruichi, "I'm listening"


Komamura pondered what to do as he made his way towards the hospital room of Yamamoto, the single thought of the captain-commander on a hospital bed made him ill in all honesty, in over 2000 years there hasn't been a shinigami or hollow strong enough to defeat the sotaichou, until Ichigo came and destroyed that record, not only that, he had fought captain Zaraki Kenpachi, and if the what Kenpachi kept murmuring in his unconscious yet loud state was true, he had stabbed Ichigo on the chest, but the boy hadn't fell at all.

Honestly he felt overwhelmed by all that has happened in just one day, the defeat of the captain-commander was a hot topic alongside the murder of every member of Central 46 by Hinamori Momo, albeit he doubts the last, even if she is a lieutenant, every member of central 46 is a shinigami capable of fighting, besides the countermeasures protecting the hall in which Central 46 was located should have stopped her.

There was so many questions in his mind that he didn't noticed he stumbled onto someone until it was a little too late.

"Uff" he cried, much to his surprise, there were little things that could made him exclaim surprise upon colliding with it, when he looked he realized why, he had collided with Retsu, the woman looking him with a serious stare, the same she had been giving to everyone who had delay her on her works.

"Oh Unohana-taichou, I am sorry" he began, trying to walk away, just to her to grab him by the cuff oh his haori and drag him to whenever she was going.

The sight of Unohana actually manhandling Komamura, a man or fox-man twice her height and triple her weight was something that made everyone look over and stare in shock.

Komamura himself was about to ask her what was all that about until he felt her stop pulling him, when he turned around he could only stare in mute shock where he was, the morgue.

Right there on the metallic table's lay 46 covered bodies, a blanket on top of each body, Komamura easily recognized them as the bodies of each member of central 46.

"Okay…I give up, why I am here?" he asked, Unohana simply moved to one of the corpses, removed the blanked and then pointed at the corpse, Komamura, while not trained to be a doctor or a medic like Unohana is, saw something that surprised him greatly.

"…is a stab wound…a single stab wound" he said slowly, Unohana then began to remove the covers one by one, all having the same pattern, stab wounds right at the hearts.

"What the hell?" he wondered out loud, "My thoughts exactly, every single one of them presents the same wound, a stab wound, a single one, the entry point varies in every one of them, the front, the back, it barely matters, what matters is the objective, the heart, the cause of death in them is a stab to the heart, the damage is extensive to the organ, no shinigami known, no matter how strong he or she is can survive a blow to the heart of that magnitude, whoever did this had it all planned" she stated with a frown on her face.

"You know that Aizen and Gin stated that Momo killed the members of central 46 with her released zanpakutou…have you seen her zanpakutou on her released form?" he nodded, "Please describe the blade and just the blade" she commanded.

"…a straight blade, like a small broadsword, there are…three jutte that sprang of the length of the blade" he said in a whisper, "Exactly, those jutte would have prevented a blade to go through and through, furthermore the jutte would have left visible marks on the flesh, something that is not visible, meaning?" she asked to Komamura.

"The accusation to Momo Hinamori about her being the murderer of central 46 is a lie" Komamura stated, "Yes…but we have to treat this evidence carefully, we could easily put her into unwanted danger" she said with a frown on her face.

"…I see… (Sigh) why I have the feeling this is all tied to Kurosaki" Unohana turned fast and stared at the fox-man shinigami, but she remained calm and collected by that news, "Is that so? Why you believe that?" she asked.

Komamura was very straightforward with his answer, something that Unohana took as a sign of trust, "…the guardian of wind…Anima presented itself to me in the shape of the Rayearth of wind, he overwhelmed me with ease…then he spoke to me, he mentioned that I should ask the sotaichou about the relation he has with the Kurosaki in general"

"You were heading to his room before I intercepted you" Komamura nodded, "I see…then go to him, but I warn you that you should ask him with caution, he is still too angry for his defeat, and me might take your questioning rather violently" her advice didn't fell on deaf ears, as Komamura took the words to the heart, he knew the risks of this, Yamamoto was like a bomb right now, anything could set him off, but it was a risk he was willing to take so he could learn the truth.

"I'll let you on a little secret…Komamura-kun" the voice of Unohana snapped him of his thoughts, turning around he saw her visage, serious and slightly stern, "Yes?"

"You're not the only one who a guardian has presented himself to, I have a mission of my own, one the guardian of fire herself gave to me, by this moment you must know the same I know, there is a traitor among our ranks, who we don't know, Fira only told me the names of the people I should trust on this, yours in it, I didn't called you before because she told me you would have a revelation of your own, now you have, and now you must know what I know, a traitor lies on the ranks of the captains, it is obvious now that the list is narrowed to three people" Unohana stated as she stared at the yellow eyes of Komamura.

"Aizen…Gin…Tousen? That can't be, Tousen has showed only loyalty to Seireitei and hasn't showed signs of hostility towards anyone" Komamura replied.

"Maybe, but he was conveniently around when they 'found' Momo in the chambers of central 46…until that moment I didn't suspected of them, but…" she let the sentence hang on the air, making Komamura frown at that, yet what she insinuated was perhaps the truth.

"Anyway the sotaichou has already dictated a sentence for Momo, she will be executed along with Rukia using the Sōkyoku" Komamura eyes widened at that, not believing what he heard, "That…is highly irregular, not only a shinigami that has no power and is not even near the ranks of a captain is going to be executed by using means reserved to captain-class traitors, but now a lieutenant was being condemned to the same fate.

With a sigh he asked the question surely many, including the Rayearth of fire was making as well.

"How much time they have?"


"Three days?" Hiyori muttered as munched a piece of chicken pie and stared at the bald shinigami of the 11th division, near him was the effeminate man that was swooning all over Orihime silk like hair and Uryuu's Quincy clothes, which he said where 'fit for a beautiful prince' meaning him.

"Counting from today that is, the sotaichou said that both would be executed per our laws" the bald shinigami said with a serious stare to Hiyori, the blond girl just narrowed her eyes as her fang poked out of her lips.

"That can't be good…Ichigo must have give the sotaichou quite a beat out to force him like that, as far as I knew we still had at least half a month to rescue Rukia" Hiyori stated, not even caring that she had basically told that they were the Ryoka that were invading Seireitei and were in league with the Rayearth of fire.

But Ikkaku Madarame already knew who they were, and truth to be told he didn't care, all the situation truth to be told reeked of spoiled shit, if that existed, true he is a shinigami, true he follows orders, but he also and individual, he thinks, and also had a 'chat' with Retsu Unohana after his battle with Ichigo, if could be called a chat at all, it had been more of a warning of the captain to him and Yumichika.

"Things are about to change, Madarame-san, a great deal will change, there will be conflict and your division will spear point the battles ahead, but the question here is, right now, which side you take? Choose wisely, next time I might decide to kill you for being the enemy"

He didn't knew why, but he felt a chill, one far worse that any shinigami of the 11th division under the care of Unohana had ever felt before, unlike those times however, he knew she would exact that promise on his person, and she would succeed.

Either way he knew he had chosen well when he realized that the people in front of him were in fact the Ryoka accompanying Ichigo, how he knew? Simple, first of all there is no woman with a rack like the one of Orihime, Rangiku Matsumoto is quite famous for her bust size, a woman with her same rack would be noticed in less than a day, second the boy basically oozed 'angst waves' no shinigami oozes 'angst waves' that and he saw the white uniform under the shinigami robes, and third the little girl…the girl who had shinigami AND hollow reiatsu mixed, just like Ichigo's own reiatsu, that's how he realized he was around the Ryoka.

"That's rash…but clever, the sotaichou is hoping to lure Kurosaki to him by this short span of time, even more, now there are two people that are going to be executed the same day, in the same place, at the same time, Kurosaki will have his hands full by just handling one, but two will be a problem, Rayearth or not" Uryuu said with a thoughtful look.

"Obviously the sotaichou had this planned for some time, he knew that one day he would cross paths with a knight and had a trap set up" he added with a grimace.

"That might explain why he called all captains to assist to the executions, regardless of physical state and included their lieutenants…he needs all the muscle he can muster if he hopes to overwhelm Ichigo, he learned of his last fight, in a fair fight the knight will always win" Ikkaku replied, obviously replying his own conclusion of his last fight against Ichigo.

"What an ugly strategy, no beauty or flawless lines of plot to follow, so crude and rude" Yumichika replied with a small frown on his face.

"It doesn't need to be pretty to work" Uryuu replied to Yumichika, "Ichigo is strong, I admit, his reiatsu paralyzed me and surely would have paralyzed any hollow that felt it out of fear, but he will be taking the captains of all the divisions, thirteen captains, not counting their lieutenants, it will be barely a fair fight" he added.

"But Kurosaki-kun can win…right?" the three males looked at Orihime seriously, in less than a second Orihime understood why they had such faces, Ichigo could not win that.

At least not alone.

"…we must help him" she stated a minute of silence later, shocking both shinigamis and Quincy.


"Come again?"

"We must help him Ganju, alone he will fall" Chad replied, it was perhaps to Nanao, the first time she had heard Chad talk that much, it was either grunts, short sentences with a lot of meaning or more grunts with a lot of meaning, and his fists making the talk, she's still resenting the fist he rammed to her stomach on their last training, for a person without shinigami powers and power that resembled greatly to that of a hollow without the harmful effects on the soul, he was more than a match to any shinigami, and with a proper training he could easily challenge and defeat lieutenants and Menos–class Gillians with ease.

Right now she was seeing how Chad and Ganju were discussing the news her captain had told them, not only Rukia would be executed in three days, a great shortening of the time she had allotted to do 'penitence' but also Momo would be joining her in the execution for her supposed crime against central 46.

All this only reaffirmed her suspicious that Unohana had arose the day she called several captains to the sewers to talk, there was indeed a traitor among the captain ranks, Kenpachi had delivered, Shunsui had delivered, Unohana had delivered, only Ukitake was missing on his promise, but all was falling together, and that mere thought scared her.

She had seen the devastation Ichigo lay on his rampage, where he surfaced and basically mauled three divisions alone just because his sisters were kidnapped, Soi-Fong was still having nightmares of that, but the devastation of the clash between the captain-commander, Kenpachi and Ichigo made her really wary of things, and to sum things up the sotaichou had called all the captains and lieutenants to assist in the execution.

It was obviously a trap, one Ichigo would walk in knowing what to expect, but no one knew if he would get away of it safely.

"The sotaichou has never been so keen on being subtle" her captain said, looking behind her she saw a rare sight, her captain serious and not wearing that lazy smile of his, "He is a firm believer that all problems, no matter how small have to be dealt with the upmost brutal and definite way possible, it sometimes annoy me, why do you think the Quincy wars were so damn bloody, the Quincy didn't bowed to his terms, so he commanded every able shinigami to kill them, luckily at least five families of Quincy's escaped the massacre, one of them being the Ishida" Shunsui replied.

"Yes…then what now?" Nanao asked, not liking at all the look Shunsui was giving to her, it was a not pervert stare, it was more feral, and it scare the crap out of her.

"Simple…Nanao-chan"


"We train" Yoruichi said while staring at Ichigo and his sisters, "All of us, that include your sisters"

"Oh hell no, I put my foot on this" Ichigo said, standing up and staring at Yoruichi straight in the eyes, the dark skinned woman didn't even budged when Ichigo's reiatsu followed his statement and tried to flatten her, the only reason that didn't happened it was because it was too fast and Masaki had flared her own reiatsu, drowning Ichigo's reiatsu, if barely, Yoruichi had to admit, it was only because Ichigo's reiatsu was so wild that Masaki had such a hard time drowning it with her own, and since Ichigo's reiatsu was so closely linked to his Rayearth powers, meaning his fire, every strong emotion fueled more his reiatsu.

"Ichigo-chan, enough!" Masaki snapped, immediately Ichigo relented, but kept a steely gaze on Yoruichi, "I know you want to protect your sisters, so do I" Masaki began, her eyes strong but filled with remorse, "But right now you have to realize that they are like you, they have power, power to defend, power to protect, I know both of them felt helpless knowing they had no way to defend themselves against the shinigami who kidnapped them and knew that you would be lured to them" Masaki began.

"Ichigo-chan, I really don't want it either, I love my daughters as much as I love you, the only reason I don't keep you three here for your safety is because one, you are a Rayearth, I doubt there is a barrier that can keep you down, especially with that on your wrist" Masaki said, pointing at Ichigo's right wrist, right there still lay the prayer beads that formed the cannonball.

"Second, I doubt Karin will remain idle, now she has power to defend, like you, and she will use it" Karin smirked at that, "And third I doubt Yuzu will let you two troublemakers go all alone" so said troublemakers just glared at Masaki with a pout on their faces, while Yuzu looked flustered, but rather proud, "Besides, you're not going alone, I'm going in as well"

"Oh no queen, out of the question" Ichigo was surprised, as Masaki, Yuzu, Karin and Yoruichi when her own guard basically scolded her for such thoughts.

"And why shouldn't I go outside?" Masaki asked, "Queen we don't know the dangers of this, if this 'Aizen' is really what Yoruichi-sama claims, it would be better to you to remain here, safe"

Masaki just furrowed her brow, "I'll have none of it, I will go outside and help rescue the girl that ensnared my Ichigo-chan's heart"

"KAA-CHAAAAN!" Ichigo exclaimed with a heavy blush, but Masaki seemed to zone out once she glanced at her son.

"Uh…Kaa-chan?" Ichigo asked to her apparently zombified mother…

"KAWAI!"

"WHA! LET GO! I'M NOT CUTE!"

"You look just like your father when he declared himself to me, so cute!" Masaki declared while smothering Ichigo, Yoruichi smirked by obvious reasons, while the male guards just muttered the following sentence, by obvious reasons.

"Lucky bastard"

Masaki had basically shoved her son's face on her bosom, which seemed odd for Ichigo to not detach from, considering his inhuman strength, but Masaki's grip on his had seemed to be too much for him, and was unable so far to do so.

"Kaa-chan" Yuzu began, "Yes dear?"

"You're breaking his neck and suffocating him" Karin replied in a dry tone of voice, Masaki looked in panic to see that indeed she nearly broke Ichigo's neck and suffocate him into unconsciousness.

"…Just like his dad" was all she replied as she dragged her unconscious son towards one of the chairs and lay him there to rest.

"…Yoruichi" Masaki began, running a hand on her son's orange spiky hair, "I will allow you access to the training halls of the palace, I want my children to be prepared for anything, I want my girls to be able to fight as a team and control their reiatsu and along with my son to move as fast as you" Yoruichi blinked owlishly at Masaki, did the woman knew what was she was asking her? She didn't became the goddess of flash step in just a day, and she expects her to teach her three children, which turn to be part of the royal family how to fight and move as fast as her?

"With all due respect…are you drunk?" Yoruichi asked, making Masaki growl, "I am not, I haven't drink ever since I married Isshin…come to think of it I don't remember much of our honeymoon, just that it was damn good" Masaki muttered out loud, making Yoruichi and her guard to sweat drop.

"But I am serious in what I am asking you, if they are as much as they are to me and Isshin, they will take the lessons like sponges, besides" Masaki began, "I can't send the guard with them to help them; if I could I would but…" Masaki began, looking at Yoruichi straight in her eyes.

"Come…I must show you what really lies in the palace" with that Masaki directed Yoruichi to wherever the woman went; Yoruichi suddenly felt such a foreboding feeling, like if she was about to glance at something forbidden, something that she, like any other ordinary shinigami outside the palace should never see, or even glance.

"…Okay"


"I still believe is a bad idea to ally with that woman Aizen-sama" Tousen stated to the man at his side, while blind he was well aware who was around him and to whom direct his words to.

"Have faith Tousen, our alliance with her will pay off, while I admit I don't trust her either, she knows too much" Aizen replied, glancing then at Harribel, the hollow…

"No…Arrancar" he thought as he stared at the anti-thesis of the vizards, they were the only conceivable comparison he could come up with, where the vizards where shinigami who gained hollow like powers, Arrancars were in fact the opposite, hollows gaining shinigami powers, two different beings with such similarities.

"I agree with Tousen-sama, Aizen-sama, that woman…is something different, she seeks another goal, we are just means for a purpose" Harribel stated firmly, her arms crossed over her greatly generous bosom, something Gin noted was comparable to the one of Rangiku.

"Oh come on Harribel-chan, I would expect those pessimist thoughts of Ulquiorra, but of you?" Gin slightly mocked, Harribel just frowned, "That woman seeks something else, we are just pawns to her, expendable" Harribel explained.

"I know" Aizen began, "She seeks the capture or the destruction of the Rayearth of fire, Ichigo" Aizen began, "She saw us as a more direct way to accomplish her goal, after that…well I care little, our paths don't cross after that" Aizen said, "But I know that she is not alone, and she will try to double-cross us, she saw what the Hōgyoku can do, I saw it on her eyes, she wants it, but to gain our trust she gave it to us, but she will try to steal it, so we must be alert, and when that happens, Harribel" Aizen said as he directed his gaze to the blonde Arrancar.

"You can eliminate her anyway you see fit" he stated.

"As you command, Aizen-sama" she slightly bowed, then looked at the man, "Aizen-sama…what about the knight…even in Hueco Mundo stories are told about them, what if she fails?" she asked.

"…Hard to tell…he overpowered Kenpachi and Yamamoto, and if stories are to believe, he might be more than a match to even the king…I know that the ambush of the hill will have the objective to weaken him or kill him, only the first will happen, and there she will strike, if she fails, and Ichigo proves to be…and obstacle…we remove him as well, better to have the path clear than to have one full or obstacles" Aizen exclaimed.

"Our path is already full of obstacles, the path to peace, true peace will always have obstacles" Tousen replied, making Gin to mentally roll his eyes, the man was being used and he wasn't even aware because he was blinded by his so called 'righteous' quest to peace, while he could see in ways no person or hollow could, his vision of 'peace' had him blinded, really blinded.

Gin, on the other hand knew that after the three days all would change, and his plan would be set in motion, all he needed to do was to bide his time, after all he has been bidding his time for the past hundred years, he could wait a little more.

All he needed was for the Rayearth to prove to be more than able to fend off everyone, if Ichigo succeeded, then all was a matter of time.

After all, a boy with such strong eyes as he can't fail, he won't"


Karin knew beforehand that when Yoruichi returned, she looked deadly pale, but seemed to have an awed look on her face, whatever her mum showed Yoruichi was enough to keep the woman silent for the whole trek to the training halls, once in the halls she saw in awe, just like Yuzu that they are in a place that seemed to resemble a barren wasteland with a lot of cliffs and rocks, and a single steaming pool of water on one of the corners of the room.

"This place resembles too much the training area that is under Urahara's shop" Ichigo stated, "The day he left Seireitei, he left behind several notes, those including the construction blueprints of a training ground and the healing waters, we took some liberties and made our own, a little better, and ever since the guard uses this place to train" Masaki began.

"I remember well that I ended with a lot of sore body parts, and your uncle took every chance he get when I was in the healing waters to make a move, not that any worked" Masaki began, electing a triple growl of her children, it seemed they have some jealous issues concerning her and their dead uncle, not that she could blame them, they seemed to be as jealous as their father, which is saying something.

"It will do" Yoruichi simply said as she scanned the area, then turning to her three new students, "This will be either fun or too much of a pain"

"Okay you three, we have three days from now on to put you into shape, that means to make shinigami out of you" Yoruichi began, "You got the concept of combat well grasped, but some enemies can't be simply taken by using overwhelming powers" she said.

"Speed and skill are also required; you won so far because you had the elements of surprise on your sides, that and the overwhelming need of revenge of your opponents clouding their sights, along with pride and bloodlust, but in three days they will be focused on the task at hand, which is stopping Ichigo at all cost, to defeat him no matter the cost, the fact you two were kidnapped shows the lengths they will go to do so…not that it went well" Yoruichi said with some amusement, she had seen it all and was clearly spooked after seeing the destruction an enraged Rayearth with still little control over his powers could do.

"So I will train you hard and fast, in three days I will turn you into a cohesive force capable of fighting together and alone if needed and hold your own, to move faster than them, to think ahead of them, it won't be easy, but trust me I will make sure that you are ready to what is to come" Yoruichi said, taking a fighting stance.

"Okay you three, draw your blades, all of them, and attack me; I will see how good you really are" Yoruichi said, gaining some odd looks from the three children of Masaki.

"Don't worry about it, Yoruichi is a very capable fighter, she was once the captain of the 2nd division and commander of the Onmitsukidou division, basically ninjas" Masaki began, Fira, still in her avian form, and perched on Masaki's shoulder perked at that.

"Ninjas? I bet they are lame" To Yoruichi, who had led the unit it was not the thing to say, "Excuse me? I use to lead elite forces" she exclaimed.

"Yeah right, well I have you know that one Rayearth is in fact a ninja, one honest ninja, from the all disappearing act to transforming and using shuriken and all that, albeit with all that orange on he is not exactly stealth material, but hell if you can vanish while wearing orange you can basically hide from anyone" Fira stated, making Yoruichi raise an eyebrow.

"Anyway, ignoring the fact that Ichigo's possible ally wears orange…"

"An orange jumpsuit"

"That…and he isn't stealthy…"

"He has spiky blond hair, blue azure eyes, tanned skin, three whisker marks on each cheek"

"Thanks for describing it, now as I was saying…"

"He is also loud"

"WOULD YOU CUT IT OUT YOU OVERGROWN CANARY!"

Fira actually smirked at Yoruichi, making the woman to growl like a cat and fancy some thoughts of her in her cat form basically mauling Fira in her avian form.

"Oh yeah…happy place"

After going to her happy place, she motioned the three accidental shinigami in front of her to draw their weapons, "Okay kids, try to hit me with everything you three got, I will see what to work on you from there" Yoruichi began.

Karin and Yuzu were not so much certain of attacking Yoruichi, after all she had saved them of being bombed to death, but Ichigo had little problem doing that.

"Pluvia Incendia!" the goddess of flash step showed how she earned her nickname as she basically vanished before the rain of fire incinerate her, yet she was impressed, a radial attack of such power had enough power to destroy a Menos-Grande army easily, she noted that Ichigo's power had grown even more since the last time she saw him fight.

"The rate his strength and skill grows…is insane" she thought with utter amusement, she was fighting a prodigy in all the sense, the youngest soul society has ever seen, more because he is fifteen years old, a baby compare to shinigami and spirit age, he grew fast, way too fast, maybe…

"HIYAAA!" Yoruichi Shunpo'ed again, avoiding the high kick of Karin, yet she was able to see the devastation her released Zanpakutou could do, as the crater in which Karin now stood showed.

"That's a nasty kick, if only she could remain a little quiet while doing that" Yoruichi thought, then turning fast she launched a roundhouse kick to the sneaking Yuzu, it had not much strength behind it, just enough to launch the shinigami girl away, yet Yoruichi found herself petrified in shock when her left leg stopped dead on its tracks when it made contact with the released form of Yuzu's Zanpakutou, then without any delay she was launched away, and unlike Yuzu who was launched as well, she landed well and with grace, unlike Yuzu who landed on her butt, yet Yoruichi saw a lot on just that move.

"She is quite able on stealth, the only thing that gave her away was her lack of training on both stealth and controlling her reiatsu, in fact both girls are like Ichigo, they have some hard time controlling their massive reiatsu, yet Yuzu seems able to control hers better, even more, her zanpakutou is quite unique, it reflected my attack, back to me, Yuzu felt the recoil of such attack, but I felt the damage that was meant to her, it can do the same with zanpakutous and Kido spells?" a plan was already brewing in her head, all that needed was some fine tuning.

"Telum Incendia!" Yoruichi easily bended backwards, avoiding the fireball that sailed in front of her, yet she felt the intensity of the heat of the fireball, righting herself up, Yoruichi rose her hands to block the vicious blow of Karin, Yoruichi there noted that Karin's kicks were enough to basically kill anything bellow lieutenant shinigami class with just one blow, kill a lieutenant with a well placed blow on the head, and a captain with perhaps two, after all the head is the central processor of the body, sufficient damage to it will cause irreversible damage, death in extreme cases.

Karin by her part looked shocked that Yoruichi was able to block her kick, while it had been able to split rocks it was unable to even force Yoruichi back, her surprise and hesitation were of course capitalized by the far more experienced woman who grabbed her armored leg and began to swing her around, Karin screaming all while the way.

Ichigo jumped at Yoruichi, Zangetsu ready to cut the woman down, only to the woman to flicker away at even a faster speed than Yamamoto or Byakuya had ever moved, Ichigo slashed an empty spot, and then grunted in pain when Karin was slammed to his side, sending both tumbling to the ground, groaning.

Yoruichi simply stared at Ichigo and Karin, then at the shocked Yuzu, and sighed, "These are going to be some really long days" she muttered as she stalked Yuzu, "Just because you're a little girl, sister of the Rayearth knight and daughter of the spirit queen doesn't mean I will go light with you…in fact I'm going to push you more" the nasty looking smirk on Yoruichi's face didn't help to ease Yuzu's nor Masaki's worries.


Isane left the room of Zaraki Kenpachi with a huff of annoyance, while she was glad that his fight against Ichigo had somewhat mellowed his lust of battle, if even a little, it didn't mellowed his stubbornness, the captain, stubborn as he is wanted to leave the hospital now, she had to remind him that Unohana-taichou was not exactly in the best of moods due to the influx of wounded that she had to attend, most of them not attending her warning of steering away of the Rayearth, but of course, like in the human world, no one listen the doctor warning only until you suffer the consequences.

The fact that Kenpachi stopped his struggling just after she mentioned Unohana-taichou meant that he was genuinely afraid of her, that or held a healthy respect for her and didn't want to ruin that, considering that Kenpachi didn't respected authority like many shinigami around, it was surely the first option, and she couldn't blame him, Unohana-taichou, when she wanted it, could be quite fearsome, the fact she had the sotaichou still remained in the hospital even after he ordered Unohana to release him meant that not even the most powerful shinigami had a sway when it came to Unohana and her hospital.

As she glanced at the full moon, she wondered what would happen from here on out, she knew that Ichigo would not stand for the execution, the fact that the date was being widely broadcasted, along with the calling of all the captains to assist to the execution, it was obviously a trap, they had the bait, question was the prey would take the bait.

"Of course he will, he stormed Seireitei with the only focus of saving her, he would save her even if she was in hell" she thought, many shinigami women had seen Ichigo's storming Seireitei to save Rukia like a romantic setting straight out of a novel, albeit the many screams of 'SHE AIN'T MY GIRLFRIEND' sounded once in a while, many girls whished that they were in Rukia's place, and in her place meant being saved by a good-looking boy who can level half of the world on a temper tantrum, Isane had to admit, that display of power to a shinigami women is quite hot.

As she made her way around the halls, humming a tune and wondering if the influx of wounded shinigami had finally come to an end, she never noticed the tall figure behind her.

Retsu Unohana, just by sheer luck happened to be nearby Isane when it happened, and she walked in she was shocked by the sight so much that she didn't even unsheathed her zanpakutou.

Right in the middle of the halls, holding Isane on a chokehold and pointing a zanpakutou on her stomach stood Isshin Kurosaki, looking as every bit the shinigami he is, powerful, standing proud, and with a piss off face, the same face the very few conscious shinigami reported Ichigo had right when he emerged of the ground like a demon from the bowels of hell itself.

"Hello Retsu" Isshin began, turning to face her, "This is how is going to play now, you're going to help me find my daughters and my son, or Isane dies"

Retsu Unohana, for a first time in a long time, felt unable to do a thing, only sigh.

Day two…

Yoruichi blocked a kick of Karin easily, then rising her right leg she blocked a blow of Yuzu, her smirk remained even when both girls blurred out of sight, then appeared behind her, Yoruichi simply black flipped an avoided the blow, just to gasp when she landed and her legs tripped on something, catching herself in mid-fall, Yoruichi saw that Karin had actually tried to hit her, but Yuzu had stayed behind, and simply had tripped her by rising her feet to met hers, it was a childish, yet so simple and effective way to catch the enemy off guard.

"Good work girls, you're advancing fast, but you have a long way to go" Yoruichi said, if she said herself she was surprised by the speed the Kurosaki siblings learned, Ichigo had learned Shunpo quite fast, at almost a surreal rate, while his sisters learned at a more moderate rate, they had grasped it faster than any other shinigami, besides, unlike Ichigo who was actually working on a secret training program with his mom, Yoruichi began to focus on other aspects of combat, while Ichigo, able to actually fire a Cero and basically summon every know and not know flame to do battle with him, sucked in the kido arts, simple as that, maybe it was the massive amount of reiatsu that gave him this handicap, she didn't knew, or maybe because unlike other shinigami, Ichigo had been a shinigami roughly a month or more, he was unable to use kido arts, but his sisters, oh his sisters were another story altogether.

She was pleased to see that where their brother failed, the girls succeeded, they had soaked on the kido arts like he had done to Shunpo, while the girls had learned kido 1 to 30, and Hado 1 to 4, the girls knew how to use both areas at their advantage, surely because unlike their brother, they can't take insane amounts of damage point-blank, so they decided to work as a team, using their skills to overwhelm their opponent and not relentlessly attack their opponent and send everything to oblivion like their brother, it is a solid strategy.

"SAI!" Yoruichi felt the usual tugging of the binding spell on her arms, trying to cut one of her means of defense, an intelligent approach, but Yoruichi, being more experimented on combat, and with Yuzu's weak binding spell, she was able to break free, and just in time to block and grab Karin roundhouse kick, then use Karin as a makeshift bat to hit Yuzu with, sending both girls crashing to the ground, groaning in pain.

"I told you a million times Yuzu, put more energy on the spell, it might work against a normal human being an unseated shinigami, but I was a captain at one time, and it requires more than the first binding spell to stop me" Yoruichi called loudly, seeing how the smoke settled down, and then blink in surprise, only Karin was present, Yuzu wasn't.

"…Okay, that is new" she muttered, then blinked more when the sash of her pants was undone, and her baggy pants fell of her legs, "What the…"

"SHO!" unlike her sister, Yuzu always put a lot of herself in her spells, reason why Yoruichi felt like Ichigo had punched her on the stomach when the basic spell hit her in the stomach, sailing in the air she saw how Yuzu began to appear out of thin air, recognizing the spell she used on herself as Kyokko, a spell that basically bended light and hid the user, not only that, it also hid the reiatsu of the caster, making him basically invisible.

"Clever" Yoruichi thought, her opinion changed more when both girls casted the same spell, at the same time.

"Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself in horror and then claw out your own throat: Geki!"

Yoruichi felt her whole body stiffen, the 9 level spell doing its magic, even more since it was casted by two girls, it was two layers of the same spell, she smirked at herself, and these girls brought the word teamwork hard.

"Good work girls" Yoruichi said, breaking of the double layer spell with ease, shocking both girls, "Against lieutenants that will work, but remember you will have to strike them down in order to win, I don't say outright kill them, just knock them down" Yoruichi seeing the shocked expression of Yuzu.

"But you did good, but against a captain, well you will need to bring out the big guns, I don't say this was bad, but it will only give you a second, maybe less of an opening, so use it wisely" Yoruichi reminded, "Also remember you have zanpakutous and their special abilities, that will tip the balance to your favor, no one beyond these halls has seen what your zanpakutous can do, so you will have a great advantage, capitalize it" Yoruichi replied to her young students, she wouldn't admit it, but it was good to pass the knowledge she had.

BOOM!

The three girls just looked upwards, then sighed, knowing that Masaki and Ichigo kept training hard, Masaki had mentioned something about a powerful attack that was actually part of the family, what it was she didn't knew, Isshin kept under wraps most of his abilities, much to Urahara's annoyance sometimes, but it had to be something powerful because Masaki had mentioned it would be more than enough to do the job, besides she had mentioned that Ichigo had used it several times without knowing what it was really, so it was weak comparing it to a fully learned attack.

When Yoruichi was about to continue her training, she saw how Masaki and Ichigo blurred in front of her, she blinked owlishly at the state of their clothes, all torn up and their bodies full of cuts, now she knew why Isshin married Masaki instead of Unohana, Masaki, while a human, a mortal, was not afraid of getting wounded, evidence of this was the fact she took a blow that was meant for Ichigo when he was just a little boy.

"Sorry Yoruichi-san, but now I'm going to train my daughters" Masaki said, making Yoruichi raise an eyebrow, did really Masaki was going to teach them the same she taught Ichigo?

"Okay…Ichigo you're with me, you look like crap, you need some rest" Yoruichi declared, making Ichigo blink, "Yoruichi-san, I have no time to rest" Ichigo began, "Oh yes you do, just because you are a knight doesn't mean you're invincible, you need to realize of your limits, in fact you haven't slept at all, you need to recover" Yoruichi pointed out while poking his chest hard.

"Okay, okay…I can't believe it I got my mother back and other one is taking her place"

"What was that?"

"Nothing…uh, Yoruichi-san?"

"Yes?"

"PUT ON SOME UNDERWEAR!"


Renji moved around the training ground, the place was well hidden and had a barrier around it to hide reiatsu of any amount; it was the perfect place to train with no one bothering you, and to add it had a hot spring, healing hot springs, his previous wounds and soreness after…that, had healed quite nicely, in fact all that remained of that incident was the horrible nightmares he had once in a while regarding it.

Shacking those thoughts aside he stared at the horizon that was the training grounds, his haori open and exposing a network of tattoos that extended all over his torso, his zanpakutou in hand and staring at Zabimaru, his materialized zanpakutou form in front of him, the part goat part snake stared at him in open defiance.

"You believe that with this current power you will have a chance against Byakuya, let alone Ichigo and Zangetsu?" the snake tail of Zabimaru snapped at Renji, "Again!"

And again he tried, he pushed himself to subdue his materialized zanpakutou, he pushed himself harder than he had ever pushed himself, for Rukia, for himself, for his pride, for the will to surpass Byakuya, to defeat him, to defeat Ichigo, to end their battle, he had a lot of catching up to do, but he would catch up, he had little time, and a lot of will.

"Is she that important?" Zabimaru asked, "You know the answer already Zabimaru, she and I…went through a lot, is not like the bond you and I share" Zabimaru growled at that.

"Is greatly different, we grew together, we lived together, we survived together, but eventually I had to let her go, because I knew she had better chances than me, it hurt, yes, a lot, I care for her, but in time I realized that she cared for me in a different way, not in the way I care for her" Renji muttered, then stared hard at Zabimaru.

"But I guess that's what you do for those you care; you let them go when needed, and help them whenever you can" Renji said, "But…if I want to help Rukia I have to become stronger, strong enough to challenge a captain, strong enough to protect her, even more, strong enough to defeat anyone who would try to harm her" Renji stated.

"…And if I have to help Ichigo then I will, I'm not stupid, I can't do this alone" Renji stated firmly, staring at Zabimaru, and then turning to his left.

"Isn't that right…Shinji-sensei?"

His only answer was a toothy smile.


"What you're saying is ridiculous" Isshin stated as he stared sternly at Unohana.

"I am only saying what I know so far, no bodies, no blood, it means your son escaped with your daughters of the battlefield, I myself scanned the area…a Senkaimon was opened in a spot where the trail of blood of your son ended, someone helped them" Unohana stated, staring straight at Isshin eyes.

She would be lying if she said that she didn't missed him, in fact she did miss him, she cared for him, but things are different now, he is different now, so is she, whatever past they had before died the day he vanished and was buried when he married Masaki, besides the woman he had once met what just an illusion, something crafted to contain the real Retsu, to keep away the past and the knowledge of something that both knew well enough.

She had seen the process that allowed a hollow to become a plus, oddly enough it didn't require profaning something or dwelling into dark rituals or something like that, it required a simple talisman and an insane amount of energy to do so, reason why might explain why the former Rayearth had done the ritual during noon, when the sun was at its apex, and was giving more power, maybe the ritual itself was suicidal since a Rayearth had to use the power of the sun itself to not die, and even in that weakened state, the Rayearth trashed her and the sotaichou like nothing.

"Could you trace the Senkaimon location?" the question of Isshin brought her back to the matter at hand, his children, in a sense she was envious of Masaki, she was able to give Isshin what she at one time feared, and regretted not giving him later, a family.

"I wasn't able, it was shielded I'm afraid, and trying to enlist the aid of our resident mad scientist would only carry more problems than he is worth, and I'm sure you don't want to see your children on the slab" she said as plainly as possible, the reputation of Mayuri was well deserved, as bad as it is.

"Then what" Isshin asked sternly, "Then we wait" she said simply, "Your son will return, of that I have little doubt" she began, "He has compromised himself on saving Kuchiki-san and helping us in luring the traitor out, his actions will prove to be the turning point on our society, even more when his lineage is revealed" Unohana continued, unaware of the stern look of Isshin.

"Sooner or later someone will put the pieces like I did, and unlike me they won't be so tight lipped, they will say it to the four winds, basically taunting you of your legacy, your birthright" she added, there Isshin grew bitter.

"Is not a birthright, is a curse" he stated, "Like the curse of the shinigami, I have heard of shinigami falling in love of humans, but our longevity proves to be a curse, we can't be like them, join them, love them, in the end our bodies in the human realm is a Gigai that can be toss aside once it has met its purpose, we can't die like them, we can't die in our sleep at their side, we can't be together in the afterlife like they can, we can't age as they do, is our curse" She stated, "And your son and Rukia are now part of it as well"

"I know…to think that he of all people would fall in love first, I always imagined it would be Yuzu or Karin, they are girls, more prone to fall in love, more at their age, but my son?"

"Your son is special, and I'm not just saying it because he has leveled half of Seireitei on his personal war, he might not admit it, but he likes her, that will evolve into love, in time, the question of course is he will accept those feelings, I recall he is as stubborn as you" Retsu said with a soft smile.

"…How we ended up talking about my son love life?" she laughed softly at that, "Simple…it all connects, and all will come together, tomorrow at noon"

"Yeah…at noon…all will change"


Toshiro had to basically bury himself in work to try and divert his thoughts of going to Momo, the fact he was worried sick of his oldest friend was not missed by Rangiku, his lieutenant.

While she found the behavior of Toshiro to be nearly the same before the Rayearth of fire decided that the life of Rukia Kuchiki was worth blasting Seireitei apart, shredding their ranks and stomping his rules, she found odd that so far Toshiro hadn't tried to feel a cope of her.

True she had hit him several times…okay made it a lot of times, it seemed puberty finally arrived to her captain, and had hit him full force, he had felt her at least fifty times ever since the Rayearth of fire had arrived, and while she found herself flattered by his usual charming words (something that had totally caught her off guard) the fact his hands were always cold and always seemed to slip on her flesh made her jump and moan at the same time, cold wandering hands belonging to a teen with a sudden need to feel every single thing with curves, boobs and a butt simply and downright annoy her, and not to mention Momo, before she was imprisoned, she had basically trashed Toshiro for feeling her butt, how he was able to slip his hands under her robes, straight to her bare butt is anyone's guess, the fact she didn't need her zanpakutou to make Toshiro cry uncle made the affair a lot scarier, and the fact that he still felt Momo while on a full nelson was even scarier.

But what had Matsumoto worried was that ever since Momo was imprisoned, Toshiro had reverted to his former self, cold, distant, and burying himself on paperwork, while she admits she missed the old Toshiro, the new Toshiro had found a place in her heart…as a party partner, she never imagined that the cold prodigy child could party so hard, the first time they partied, her legs were sore for so much dancing, and damn he could hold his liquor, she knew he should have prevent him of drinking sake, but as a shinigami and overall a spirit that basically will age at a very slow rate and die only with the most horrible wounds, drinking some sake was not a crime, especially to the young captain.

But he drowned five barrels; it should be criminal to drink like that.

In any case, the current shift of personality of her captain worried her greatly, she admired him, it would be a lie to tell she didn't, true they were different, before and after the Rayearth coming, and true she had her sights set on Gin while he had his set on Momo, and she would be lying if she told someone that she wasn't worried about Momo.

She had heard that Momo had been tossed into the penance tower, another one mind you, she was originally going to share the one Rukia was in, but that changed when the guards and Momo stumbled on the beheaded bodies of the guards of Rukia cell, Momo had basically begged the guards to toss her to another cell, they complied, mostly because they knew that if they died while guarding Momo, at least it would be a clean death, not having their heads ripped off their necks.

In any case, Momo, unlike Rukia would not have the time of grace, or the equivalent of one for them, tomorrow at noon both of them would be executed, surely that had Toshiro at a crossroads.

"Taichou?" Matsumoto asked, Toshiro kept his sights on the paperwork.

"…UH…about Momo…" Toshiro seemed to tense up, even a little, something that Matsumoto noted, "…What…are you going to do…" before she was able to end the sentence, the chill like reiatsu of her taichou flooded the area, drowning her words and her thoughts, the fact Toshiro was shacking while unleashing his reiatsu meant he knew what she wanted to speak about, but he didn't want to talk about it.

Or so she believed, ten seconds later, the reiatsu died down, and her captain sighed, a heavy sigh, like if he had the world on his shoulders.

"I know…Matsumoto" he began, holding the pen on his right hand, hard.

"But you're not on my shoes; you can't imagine how I feel!" Toshiro snarled, tossing his pen, and part of his paperwork tower away.

"I'm a captain of the Gotei 13 dammit, I of all shinigami must upheld the law of Soul Society, the laws the king set, that's why I have to face the Rayearth knight on combat tomorrow, because he has broken enough laws to get him kill over a thousand times" Toshiro began, "But he is your direct opposite on power, he is your anti-thesis" Rangiku stated.

"And people say blondes are dumb" he muttered loud enough so the over-busty Rangiku could hear.

"Yes, he is my direct opposite in every sense of power, I control ice, he controls fire, two forces that naturally clash, enemies by nature" he said, "And you know about natural enemies, we fight until one stands, that's why I have to fight him…to stop him of saving Rukia…and Momo" he said, his aquamarine eyes basically burying themselves on her own.

"On the other hand, Momo is my friend, I grew up with her, I know her better than anyone else, dammit we basically shared the same bed for five years until she began to develop boobs and I began to pour my reiatsu around, I ate watermelons with her on hot days, we played with the spinning tops, we basically did all things together, when she became a shinigami, you can believe that I wanted to stop her dead on her tracks, to prevent her of going a path that has only one end, death, you of all people should know better" Toshiro stated, Rangiku nodded, between Hisagi, Gin and Toshiro she had enough experience in that regard.

"And she is going to be executed" he added; "Now you see? On one hand I have my duty as captain, to uphold and protect the laws and ways of Seireitei, thus I have to face the Rayearth who is going to rescue Rukia and in extension rescue Momo, on the other hand I am Momo's closest friend, besides you and grandma Momo is the closest thing I have to a family, I have a duty with her, to protect her, now you see why I am worried, I am not worried about the execution itself, but of what I am going to do?" he added, running a hand on his snow spiky hair.

"I know you're not exactly a counseling guru"

"HEY!"

"But…I don't know who else I can turn to, Gin, Tousen and Aizen were present when apparently Momo killed the last member of the 46 and tried to attack Aizen, I can't turn to them to help her, even if Momo is Aizen's subordinate…then is the rest, in any instance they had been on contact with the Rayearth, his friends or his family, Soi-Fong is regretting ever kidnapping his sisters, Mayuri is cursing the Rayearth for burning his lab, Kenpachi still has that stupid grin even while unconscious, Gin was the first captain that welcomed the Rayearth to Seireitei, both Retsu and Byakuya were in the human world and returned looking if they were on a match with a Vasto Lorde, the sotaichou FOUGHT him and lost badly, I think Komamura had contact with the Rayearth at some point, same with Shunsui and Ukitake, I had a little contact with the Rayearth during the failed ambush, even Tousen…the only captain as far as I know that hasn't been on direct or indirect contact has been Aizen, and I can't trust him…I don't know why but I just don't" he confessed to the shocked Rangiku.

"But I trust you" he declared, shocking Rangiku even further, "What should I do?" was his simple answer, Rangiku frowned at that, she had never seen Toshiro in such distress, she honestly didn't knew what do to also, it was quite a dilemma and truth to be told it was not exactly her area of expertise.

"Taichou" she began, "Honestly I don't know" she added, "You are good figuring things out" she stated as she began to push him out of the office, "But you're so stressed about this matter and burying yourself in paperwork to even think a proper way to deal with it is not the way, it will only add fuel to the fire" she added as she guided her taichou away.

"I know…but every time I think of a solution, only problems come as the aftermath" he said, "Everything has consequences, think of what happened with the Rayearth and his sisters, kidnapping his sisters was an action, the reaction was him blowing us all to oblivion and then discovering he is not only a shinigami and a Rayearth, but also a hollow hybrid" Rangiku stated.

"And what a shock it was, even more when he fired an omni-directional cero that was laced with enough reiatsu to put every single person in range on a coma, hot enough to melt zanpakutous and harmless enough to not kill us, if not outright vaporize us" Toshiro stated.

"I feel…I feel like a pawn on a game of chess" he stated to Rangiku, "Problem is, I don't know in which team I am, and who is playing with us"


"Faeron, are you sure it was her?"

"I know who I saw, that whore! After what she did in the lord wars, she didn't had the dignity to die and not reincarnate like the rest of the knights, she lives, she is here! I WANT HER HEAD!"

"And she will carve your head and eat your liver with fine wine if you charge in your current state, berserk and like a fool!"

"And what do you suggest Eurania? Not only are we dealing with an ever growing Rayearth of fire, but also one of his predecessors, I'm not exactly happy, and even less since she cut my arm off and I had to reattach it!" Faeron snapped, Eurania had to suppress her disgust at the sight of Faeron's face.

Like the rest of his kind, Faeron's skin is like that of a lizard, with scales, harsh to the touch, his hair were braids, or in the females case, long curls, their eyes basically were yellow in their kind, that, their skin roughness and mouth shape was standard among his kind, while humanoid in shape, his face was not, his mouth was in fact a four segmented jaw, meaning the thing could open itself in for different directions, revealing in the inside a set of razor triangular shaped teeth placed on a circular form, and a forked tongue inside.

"And you realize I have a plan" Eurania replied, giving a dry look to the reptile looking member of the knighthood of fire.

"Tch, if you refer to the upgraded Revenant" Faeron began, "That thing came out of a shinigami's back; yes it is disturbing, even to our standards, but I must remind you that it provided us with the perfect opportunity to use the salvaged energy of the Nemesis, I must admit the result is quite pleasant" Eurania stated with a slight smile.

"Pleasant? You crazy mockery of a mad scientist, you put that thing on the small girl's body…you have no honor…nor shame" Faeron stated, "Oh grow up, there is no honor, there is no shame either, there is only victory and the means used to achieve it" Eurania stated, making Faeron growl.

"We have order of her majesty herself, and you better than anyone knows what she meant when she said 'by all means necessary' it means that we can do whatever it takes, without any regard for the lives of others or our 'honor' as long the Rayearth is brought to her, dead or alive" Eurania stated with a smirk.

Faeron just growled at her, but remained silent altogether, she was right, those had been the exact words of her majesty, and her word is the law, when she commands you to jump, you don't ask why and how, you just do it.

"Besides is that or facing him ourselves, and I admit we can't win against a Rayearth, no matter what we do, he already has limit, his blade has evolved, not to mention that even without his Rayearth powers he is beyond anything we can do" Eurania confessed, "We will surely be killed if we fight him head-on, our best chance is hope that the Revenant can weaken him enough so we can deal with him safely" she added.

"And what about the other rayearths, in case you have forgotten we have still yet to receive any confirmation of the others about the status of the other knights" Faeron replied, "Indeed, we can only hope they accomplish their deeds…and what about the special team send to capture this…princess?" Eurania wondered out loud.

"I don't know…all I know is that the team is elite, so they won't fail" Faeron simply replied as he checked his arm, the one that had been detached of his body just days.

"They better not, the queen's patience is running thin as it is with the resistance, the last thing we need is that to learn that they failed their objectives and the knights arrived to Crystalia, it will be our doom if that happens" Eurania scowled while saying this.

"…You just wonder if the guardians called the rayearths to either silence the rebellion or to help them" Faeron added to the scowling Eurania.

"I hope not…too much is at stake" Eurania confessed as she stared at the night sky of Seireitei, wondering how much longer she would remain in this world and when she would return to her own.

But truth to be told she also wondered if this was her last night, after all tomorrow an all out battle was going to take place right in that summit, not only that, Aizen, the guy with glasses, the guy reminded her of Tyranus, a Nemesis that served under the wing of the dark lord in the past war and perhaps the strongest of all the Nemesis ever created, what made Tyranus quite scary was not its appearance, which was not standard with other Nemesis, hell he looked like a normal human, no, it was his smile, an everlasting small gentle smile that never left his face, not even when he slaughtered armies with his bare hands and bathed in their combined blood, he always had that smile.

Aizen reminded her of Tyranus for that reason, because she believed that Aizen, like Tyranus, would kill her without even blinking, all while smiling.

"…I will need to be alert against him"

Day three, day of the execution…

Gin was to escort the guards who would take Momo and Rukia to the summit, it was not exactly the task he expected, hell he was actually shocked when Aizen told him and Tousen that they would present each other in the execution, to see 'the fireworks' as he called it, and not the fireworks that involved the massive halberd.

The 'trap' which Aizen said was bad made and that he could make a better one while drunk and smothered by girls, would only end in one way, the captains beaten, Aizen had theorized that the growth of the Rayearth of fire, and therefore the growth of the other knights is rather accelerated, way too fast, unlike anything seen before, the Rayearth knights could do what it would take others years, in the lapse of days, that concept slightly freaked Gin out, there was nothing like that in the world that could match such growth.

Now Gin understood why the knights were the strongest mortals in the universe, they grew way too fast, so much that there were few beings capable of even hoping to match their growth rhythm; Aizen had even said that if this growth continued, Ichigo would be surely on par against Coyote Stark on his released form in a month or so, the growth of the knight came to the combat experience, the more it fights, the more he or she grows, and Ichigo had plenty of fights to add to his growth.

Gin knew that conflict currently was unavoidable, especially with the sotaichou hell bent on gaining revenge, no matter the cost; he knew that today the Rayearth would get stronger, but Gin, being who he is, knew one fatal flaw in Ichigo.

While his Rayearth powers grew at an alarming rate, the shinigami powers of Ichigo grew stagnated, it was something he had seen, it was something Aizen knew, and it was something the sotaichou expected, while the knights are indeed strong, if Ichigo is to fight as a shinigami he would lose, of that he was certain.

His musings were cut short as he and the guards arrived to Rukia's tower/cell, looking at the entrance which was flanked by two guards, this time gladly they weren't beheaded like the last ones, how that happened, he believed it was Eurania, who else would have done it, not him that's certain, besides he would at least have the decency to cover their bodies, or at least place their heads near their bodies, so the whole package can be buried in one go.

He still smirks when he thinks that the crime was about to the pinned to Ichigo, problem was that Ichigo had not killed not even a single shinigami ever since he arrived, so any idea of pinning him with the fault was a mute point, besides considering he was actually getting support of some captains, not openly mind you, but some of them were already questioning why the sotaichou was so angry with the rayearths prior to Ichigo's arrival.

Whatever the case, today is the day, and all would come together, for good or ill.

He saw how the guards, with some apprehension began to move Rukia out of her cell, using the collar around her neck to do such purpose, he idly wondered if he should taunt her, he did it with Momo, yet the girl didn't seemed phased by his taunts, a new to him, she only smirked at him and said that he would get his due in no time.

But Rukia…he felt something off with her, something that was not right, call it a gut feeling, a gut feeling that has saved his ass more than once, that feeling solidified in shock when he saw the eyes of Rukia.

Her sclera was pitch black, like the one of a hollow, her irises red blood, all covered by her hair, it was sheer luck the guards haven't seen it too.

"Maybe Momo has a gut feeling too" it was the only thing he could think off as reason why Momo avoided being sent to the cell alongside Rukia.

Those eyes…were just wrong.

That shock became outright fear when she spoke.

"There is little you can do to stop me…I will escape…and I will kill you all" she hissed loud enough for everyone to hear, the guards tensed and instantly tightened her collar, making her growl like an animal, the guards were tense like rat traps after that, Momo was already ahead, per her request, she didn't want to walk to her death alongside Rukia.

"Something is off with her" she stated, and Gin couldn't help to agree with her, considering he was about to betray Seireitei as a whole and help start a war, agreeing with a death row criminal, even one who didn't deserve it, was something off to him.

"…Eurania" he whispered in loathe, he already knew who had some hand on Rukia's sudden change.

The first thing he would do was going to bifurcate Eurania…from the head to the groin.


Ukitake cursed his luck as he stared at the damaged shield in front of him; his two third seats staring at the item with some disappointment, the Shihoin shield, a relic of the Shihoin clan, one of the four noble houses of soul society lay broken in two, unusable.

"Dammit all to hell" he cursed, Shunsui was not far behind, looking a little crestfallen, "This is not good, someone got here before us" he mentioned, Ukitake just growled at that, "I'm going to kill whoever did this" he stated.

"Unohana-taichou won't be happy about this development" Kiyone muttered with some apprehension, "You think? She will blow her top off after she learn this" Sentaro muttered a little too loud to everyone to hear, "The whole plan was based on the shield working, without it the Sōkyoku was sure to take down Rukia and Momo.

"What now?" Kiyone wondered.

"We improvise" Ukitake stated, "Remember that Unohana told us that only two things could really destroy the Sōkyoku, one was that shield…the other is the Rayearth blade of Ichigo…Ignis" Ukitake stated.

"The blade that can cut zanpakutous" Sentaro uttered in fear, there was few things that could damage a zanpakutou, a stronger zanpakutou wielded by a powerful opponent, sheer brute force (something that is yet to be seen, only speculated) high ranked kido spells, and now in that category, the Rayearth blades, and blades in plural because Ichigo is not the only Rayearth alive, the one of the wind and water also posses Rayearth blades, each with the ability to cause the same damage to a zanpakutou as Ichigo's Rayearth blade, the prospect of three beings wielding weapons capable of cutting down zanpakutous with ease, truth to be told freaked him out.

"Yes, that weapons is capable of cutting down a zanpakutou, or damaging one if the blow behind it is not strong enough" Shunsui stated, "I also heard that those zanpakutous with strong wielders, once struck by Ignis seem to…scream in pain, apparently a Rayearth blade does much more than damaging the physical form of the zanpakutous, it causes them pain…exactly what we need against the Sōkyoku" Shunsui added to the group.

"A weapon that can damage the Sōkyoku" Kiyone and Sentaro said at the same time.

"No" Ukitake stated, "A weapon that can stop AND destroy the Sōkyoku" he added with a small grin, "Okay, let's go to Sōkyoku hill, we need to be in our places"


Yamamoto remained stoic and impassive, even more as the object and reason the Rayearth knight had stormed Seireitei and so far had caused more destruction than a hollow army, the boy, who he would personally hunt after the execution if he didn't fell to the obvious trap, had caused such ruckus that had caught the attention of the king…no the Queen herself, if something good came out of all this mess so far was that they have been slacking, and that he needed to toughen up a little more, that and now he knew the face of the ruler of soul society.

Yamamoto, like the rest of the captains and lieutenants present stiffened when the overwhelming presence of the queen herself came crashing over them, Zaraki had such a look that said simply he wanted to fight the owner of such power, but of course he held himself because he would obviously die if he dared attack the queen, who by the looks was not alone, she had come with her guard, her own personal bodyguards, surely pretty strong ones considering that she was going to presence an execution and she was the pillar in which soul society stood, without her, all would come crashing down.

"Your Highness" he said loud enough so everyone could hear and realize who she was, Aizen seemed to go eye wide when he saw the woman who oozed power like a waterfall, her stern look, however, thankfully or not was not directed to any of the captains, but to the sotaichou.

"I learned of the advancement of the sentence by one of my agents" she said sternly, everyone could see that the three figures were greatly amused by the way the queen expressed herself, while the tallest one, carrying a rectangular wrapped object was obviously smirking under his hood, the other two, the small ones were openly giggling, female giggles, they, like the tall one had hood under their heads, but the small ones were openly displaying their zanpakutous.

"It had to be done your majesty, we couldn't hold much more, not with the knight of fire openly rampaging around Seireitei, I, along the captains concluded that it would be better to execute the criminal and reason the Rayearth is around, if the reason is gone, so will he" he stated simply, making the queen narrow her eyes at him, it seemed she wasn't convinced by this.

"Regardless, this was a decision that affects everyone, including me, you actually think this act will not have consequences?" she snapped/asked, making the captains around to take an involuntary step back, "I saw what the Rayearth did to you and captain Zaraki Kenpachi, I saw what he did to the remaining shinigami, alone, angered!" she forcefully screamed, her reiatsu crashing over the area, the monks working on the Sōkyoku fell on their knees in utter fear, while the captains instantly tensed up, mostly out of instinct after feeling such a heavy reiatsu, the lieutenants where at least on their feet, but had such an expression of horror on their faces that the expression 'well' was quite redundant.

"You haven't considered the consequences of this day" she snapped tersely as she turned to face the Sōkyoku, her reiatsu vanishing and allowing everyone to breather properly, she saw instantly how the monks around the gigantic halberd continued with their work.

"Perhaps other kings have done things the old fashioned way, letting forty-six people decide the fates of many, but trust me on this Yamamoto, I am different than them, things will go different while I'm around, and the first thing I will do is to reform central 46 with less power" she snapped, making every shinigami around, with the exception of her guards to go eye wide, "It is obvious that the power the former kings gave them went over their heads" she snapped as her gaze fell on the two prisoners being carried towards a white pedestal, her eyes narrowed even more, causing the guards around Momo and Rukia to shiver in fear, albeit her gaze was not focused on both girls.

"You disappoint me…Yamamoto-sotaichou" the queen hissed, seeing how both girls were left in the pedestal.

"If I were you, I would prepare myself for the inevitable backlash of this execution" she snapped as she began to make her way where the captains were, only that she made her distance of them, and her guards easily formed a perimeter around her, her gaze kept being one of disapproval against all this.

Aizen-sa…" Tousen began, "No Tousen, it is too risky, I felt her power, she is too much for me to take head on, we will stick to the plan, thought I admit that knowing her face make things a lot easier" he admitted, looking at the queen and her guard.

"Yet…I feel something is wrong" Gin muttered, "Indeed, Ukitake, Shunsui and Unohana-taichou are yet to arrive" as if he had summoned them, so said captains came along, Ukitake as usual came with both his third seats, a problem and a boon Aizen summarized, having two people on the same post generates friction, but at the same time when the time requires it both can work together.

Then he saw Shunsui appear, the man was flanked by his lieutenant and a giant of a man, the shaggy hair of the man covered his eyes, and overall gave him a daunting expression, quite a sight he admits, far better that Yammy he believes.

Then Unohana arrived as usual her lieutenant, Isane stood by her side, but he could feel another presence that had arrived with Unohana, but hadn't allowed himself or herself to be seen, a smart move.

As soon all captains were present, the execution began.

The sotaichou didn't wait for formalities nor had time to grant last requests, he simply lay his hand on a nearby panel near the spot where the girls where, immediately their bonds were destroyed, three cubes suddenly emerging of the white stand, one of each arm and the last on their legs, lifting them up until they were on par with the tip of massive halberd and stand behind them.

"Release it!" he commanded, at the same time the five monks around the halberd base finished the ritual to release the halberd to its natural state, the temperature around Sōkyoku hill instantly rose, then two seconds later the halberd was consumed in flames, the once mighty weapon was replaced by a mighty fire bird that flapped its wings and stood in position to strike, aiming at Rukia and Momo.

Momo could only stare with wide eyes at the sight of the released form of the Sōkyoku, slowly gulping and realizing this was it, her only regret of all this was not being able to expose Aizen as the man he is.

As for Rukia, in whatever state she was after her encounter with Eurania, she still has some semblance to recognize the danger she was exposed, and uttered one single word, only Momo was able to hear it.

"I...chi…go…"

Then the bird lunged, but it didn't had the expected result as Yamamoto expected, nor the words prior to it.

"ICHIGO NOW!"

The captain-commander had barely time to turn around and see the queen scream those words, seeing how one of her guards were missing, looking upwards he saw Ichigo Kurosaki already in front of Rukia and Momo, between them and the massive fire bird, his zanpakutou revealed and Ignis in hand.

"Come on!" Ichigo snarled, Zangetsu impacting clearly on the beak of the fire bird, the impact resounded all over Sōkyoku hill, even more the scream of indignation of Soi Fong when they saw that an average zanpakutou was able to stop the released form of the Sōkyoku, indignant screams turned into pained screams when Soi Fong's gut was introduced to the released form of Karin's zanpakutou, Omaeda was unable to lay a blow to Karin mainly because of Yuzu's released form, and ended up receiving the blunt of his own attack, those three attacks were a prelude to the madness to come.

Yamamoto instantly barked the captains to attack Ichigo while unsheathing his zanpakutou, but before he could fully release it Shunsui and Ukitake were in front of him…opposing him.

"…You…are defending him?" he asked in slight shock, shock turned into outrage, "YOU DEFEND THE BEING THAT HAS BROKEN OUR MOST SACRED RULES?" he all but screamed to his former students.

"No" Shunsui began, "We are doing this for the sake of soul society" Ukitake added, those words made the captain-commander to scream, his flame like reiatsu lashing wildly around and causing his haori to be incinerated without even a regard, hell he was burning the area around him, but as soon as it had come it had gone when the Sōkyoku trilled in defiance after being rejected in such a way, and like with all zanpakutous, it was sentient, prideful to a level and really, really pissed.

The strongest fire zanpakutou charged head on, angry without any shadow of a doubt, basically ignoring one fact most zanpakutous that had crossed paths with Ichigo had taken to their hearts.

He could hurt them, really hurt them.

With a smirk, Ichigo actually launched himself against the bird; the captains were still trying to figure out how he was able to walk in the air like most shinigami while still in Seireitei, that was until they noted that Ichigo's sandals were different than theirs, his had metal soils, or what seemed metal, and that allowed him to do what other shinigami couldn't inside Seireitei.

It was Ichigo's ability to walk in their air like most shinigami, while inside Seireitei that gave him a greater edge, with a roar he brought Ignis upwards, just when the Sōkyoku reared its head to add power to the stab, and with a similar roar he brought it straight to the middle of the Sōkyoku's beak when it tried to break Ignis, what happened shocked many to years to come.

Ignis saw like blades dug into the beak of the released halberd, then much to everyone's horror, such saw like blades came to life with a mechanical roar, and started to saw the Sōkyoku in two, all while Ichigo kept forward on his charge, in less than five seconds, the released form of the Sōkyoku was neatly cut in two, the fire bird reverting into a halberd, a halberd that was neatly cut in two and continued its path away of the girls, both pieces landing on the forest bellow the mesa.

The silence that reigned there was perhaps the greatest of them all, the shocked look of every single captain, not including the one of the queen and the little girls was, to say the least, something to behold.

"This is going to get ugly" was all Gin said as all hell broke loose.


and there you have it people, this year chapter, what a way to end the year, with a clifhanger, i know I'm evil, so what sue me, in any case this chapter will have an omake, it will not have a preview of the chapter to come, i'll keep that as a surprise, i know i know, evil.

now into the omake.