Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy... I FINISHED! Which means... All of you get a chapter a day until we're done! YAY! There are five more chapters and a small epilogue, and then we're done. Oh wow....


Chapter 12

Toshiro was snapped out of his sleep by the sound of the door to his cell opening, his teal eyes flying up to see Ulquorria standing there, Orihime just behind him.

The white haired man blinked in shock, his eyes meeting the girl's before they traveled to the Espada's.

"You will be joined by the girl for a time." Ulquorria said in his normal monotone, turning away.

"Why?" Toshiro asked softly.

"Aizen-sama ordered that I watch your cell for a short time; there are intruders heading this way." Ulquorria responded dully.

Toshiro's eyes widened. "Intruders? Who?"

He didn't expect the Espada to answer him, but to his surprise there was a response. "Two boys with orange hair."

With that the door shut, and Toshiro's knees gave out on him, his body sinking to the ground. The small taichou stared at the closed door, his body shaking, and then gentle hands touched his shoulders. He jumped, whirling to look into the concerned gray eyes of Orihime, who had come closer as he hit the floor.

"Hitsugaya-kun?"

Toshiro's body shook faintly, and then he spoke softly. "My boys… My sons are here… But how? Why did they come?"

Orihime nibbled her lower lip. "No doubt they came for you and Kurosaki-kun."

"But why?" Toshiro asked fiercely, anger tinting his tone. "Why didn't they stay where they were safe?.! Why would they come here, where Aizen will destroy them?.!" The white-haired man's voice broke on the last word, his body falling limp as he shook. "Why? Why didn't they stay away, where I knew they would be safe?"

Orihime felt sadness flowing through her, and she carefully moved forward, hesitantly wrapping her arms around the small figure in front of her. Toshiro accept the embrace, resting his chin against the girl's shoulder as she attempted to comfort him.

"They came, Hitsugaya-kun, because they are yours and Kurosaki-kun's children." She laughed softly. "And apparently they are very much like Kurosaki-kun."

Toshiro smiled at that. "It's actually Kurosaki now. Kurosaki Toshiro. And yes… Yes they are…" His face saddened faintly. "Ichigo… I wish I knew if he was okay…"

There was a silence for a moment, and then Orihime spoke, her voice a little confused. "Ano… so there are two Kurosaki-kuns now?"

Toshiro couldn't help but chuckle softly. "You may call me Toshiro-kun if you wish, Orihime."

She bowed to him with a smile, but said nothing. The two sat there together in the cell, Toshiro contemplating the fact that his children were coming for him, and Orihime wondering how she could possibly help her friends.


Yoru ran a little faster as he felt a gentle spike of coolness somewhere ahead of them, clutching his brother's hand tighter. "I know that feeling…"

Sora nodded. "Papa. We're getting closer. I don't feel Dad though, or Ogichi."

"He's somewhere else…" Yoru replied, his eyes narrowing. "I'm not sure where though. Somewhere deep in Las Noches."

The younger squeezed his brother's hand. "Yea. I would look for him, but I don't want to waste the reiatsu. Don't worry, we'll get them. Come on, faster! We're almost there!"

The two of them skidded around a corner, and then to a stop as they saw the Espada standing before them, Sora's eyes widening and Yoru swallowing thickly.

"Shit." Yoru said softly. "Shit."

"Ulquiorra." Sora murmured. "Shit."

The pale Espada said nothing, only watched them silently with his melancholy green eyes. He spoke after a moment, taking a step forward. "I'm afraid I cannot allow you to go any further."

Yoru growled softly at those words, his eyes narrowing. "Our Papa is behind that door, isn't he? We'll get to him, no matter what you say! We'll defeat you!"

Ulquiorra scoffed quietly at that, closing his eyes. "You will not be able to defeat me, you are children."

Sora drew his zanpaktou at those words, growing and getting into a battle ready stance. "We're not going to let you stop us."

"Very well…" Ulquiorra murmured, closing his eyes. "Then I have no choice but to defeat you."

Yoru growled again before drawing his sword. "Bring the heat, Kogasu!"

Flames whirled around the zanpaktou, the staff of the scythe jamming into the ground as Yoru clutched it tightly, his teal eyes locked on the Espada before him. Ulquiorra met his eyes silently, his hands still in his pockets. Yoru growled faintly, and then lifted Kogasu, spinning the scythe to call forth flames.

Sora breathed calmly, knowing that this was going to have to be a battle of wits. There was no way in hell that they would be able to defeat Ulquiorra, at least, not at this time. Had they been uninjured and rested, they may have had a chance (at least by Sora's calculations). But they also had the door behind the Espada to worry about; neither twin could release too much power for fear of collapsing walls or the ceiling.

At that thought the younger twin spiked his reiatsu, searching faintly for the energy he felt behind the door. There was a flinch, and then a questing touch in return. He sent reassurance through the link that he knew connected him to his Papa, and felt a brief flash of fear before he severed the connection, putting his focus into helping Yoru, who was attempting to cause some sort of damage to the green skinned Espada.

Sora breathed out mist, the area around them beginning to cloud as he released his zanpaktou. "Freeze the skies, Koorimasu…"

With a soft croon the sword extended into its separate scythes, the mist growing thicker. Yoru seemed to realize what his twin was doing and fell back, his fire dying away and allowing the thick white fog to envelope the area. Sora could sense Ulquiorra's irritation as the mist covered up all sight, the Espada starting to search for them.

Instantly both twins hid their reiatsu, cloaking themselves with the master ability they had learned from their Papa. Sora reached out along his constant link to Yoru, his voice soft in his twin's mind. "We need to startle him, and catch him off guard. In the condition we are now, there's no way we can beat him."

Yoru's annoyance at that filtered through him, but Sora paid it no mind. "Alright, what are we going to do?"

"Papa is behind that door…" Sora mused. "We need to get him and run. I think I can freeze Ulquiorra for a short time; we're going to have to move fast."

"Won't he come after us?"

Sora nodded faintly. "Unfortunately. What I'm hoping is that if we keep going we can at least put some ground between us, maybe find Dad."

Yoru seemed skeptical. "This is too risky, Sora."

The younger nodded, but he didn't have to say anything else. There was a nudge against his mind, and then the cool, frosty voice of Koorimasu came into his mind. "Come now, my little cub, you know there is a way that you can freeze this enemy in his tracks for longer than a short while."

Sora frowned, his eyes going down to the scythes in his hands. "Are you sure about this, Koorimasu?"

"Of course. We must save your Papa, and we both know that this will work."

The young orange head nodded, and then set his stance, clutching tight to the hilts of Koorimasu. "Yoru, you might want to back away a little."

Yoru raised an eyebrow, but a burst of reiatsu from Sora made him leap back as the area around his younger twin froze instantly.

Sora's eyes found Ulquiorra's and the boy's teal eyes narrowed. "Bankai."

Ice sprang up and whirled, the air freezing around him as Yoru watched with wide eyes. And he got mad at me for having bankai! He had his all along!

The ice exploded out and Ulquiorra was forced to raise a hand to block his body as the ice formed spikes nearly as large as himself. As it cleared Yoru grinned as he saw his twin standing there, holding a long silver staff that resembled Kogasu. There was a blade at each end of the staff, curving away from the center in opposite directions. Just like Yoru, his coat was long and sleeveless, but it was a shimmering white, almost reflective. "Touketsu Kyuuten." Sora whirled the double-ended scythe, and then nodded to Yoru.

The elder understood the sign and leapt forward, summoning fire in order to get Ulquiorra to turn towards him. The Espada did so, assuming that he could handle both twins should Sora attack from behind.

He was wrong.

Ice exploded from the whirling double scythe, thundering forward and wrapping around Ulquiorra's unsuspecting form before contracting tighter and tighter around him. As it shrank to nothing Sora's bankai vanished, leaving the orange-haired boy to slump to the ground, exhausted.

Yoru released his shikai, sheathing Kogasu before running forward to help his brother to his feet, concern on his face. "Sora?"

Sora shook his head. "I'm okay. That's just… not something I should do often, and my bankai is still very immature, I can hardly control it. Come on, we need to get to Papa. That should hold him for a few hours, but I'm not sure how many we have."

"What did you do?" Yoru murmured.

"Trapped him in another dimension, one of Koorimasu's creation. She told me while she was teaching me that it would hold an enemy for a time, depending on my strength and theirs. It's not something I can do often." Sora replied. "Now come on, open that door."

Sora reached out again with his reiatsu, finding his Papa and sending urges to get away from the door. Toshiro seemed confused for a moment, and then sent a reassurance that he was away from the entrance. Yoru raised a hand, performing the only kidou he could manage without blowing himself up.

"Hadou 31! Shakkahou!"

As the dust cleared Sora moved forward cautiously, narrowing his eyes. "Papa?"

"Sora? Sora!"

A moment later a body collided with Sora's chest, wrapping arms tightly around him and squeezing. Sora let out a pained cough at the collision, his knees trembling. "Papa!"

Instantly the arms left him, and he looked into worried teal eyes that matched his own. Toshiro's pale, shaking hand touched his cheek, and then the small taichou carefully examined him. "You're hurt. What happened? Why are you here?"

Yoru snorted. "Isn't it obvious, Papa? We're here for you. We had to fight Grimmjow and everything."

"Grimmjow?" Toshiro's eyes narrowed. "You fought with Grimmjow?"

Sora sighed. "We're fine Papa, don't worry about it. Now come on, we need to get out of here. Where's Dad?"

Toshiro sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "That I don't know. Aizen took him some time ago. Except…" He stopped, shaking his head. "No, don't worry about it. You both need to be healed, come here, Orihime will help."

The twins blinked as they spotted another occupant of the cell, their eyes meeting gray orbs. Sora blinked and then bowed slightly, a small smile on his face. "Orihime-san. Our father has told us a lot about you, it's very nice to meet you."

The woman stared at them, and then smiled. "They look just like you, Toshiro-kun! With Kurosaki-kun's orange hair! And they're both so handsome!"

Yoru preened at that comment, while Sora blushed faintly. Sora then elbowed Yoru in the ribs, eliciting a grunt of pain. "Hey, say hello, you dolt, don't be rude!"

Yoru glared at his twin, and then bowed quickly, mumbling a quick hello. Sora grinned. "Don't mind him; he's always been a little rude."

Orihime laughed softly. "Just like Kurosaki-kun… Come now, I'll take care of those wounds of yours."


Yea, I'm not so good at battle scenes... Plus I've never really seen Ulquiorra fight! Argh... This chapter took me a while, and I'm still not sure it's right.. Let me know! Alright, Sora's bankai is called Touketsu Kyuuten, which means "Frozen Heavens." Once again, Koorimasu means "to freeze", so I moved up to Frozen Heavens. Using an online translator, so if I screw it up, I'm terribly sorry!