Hello everyone! Sorry for the late update. There has been a lot going on, but I'm trying to press forward with the story. I hope you all enjoy it. :D
This chapter is more or less dedicated to two friends of mine who left for the military in the last few weeks. Good luck to them and everyone else who may be heading off to boot camp this summer! Keep safe everyone!
Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach
Hitsugaya lay in bed, listening to the commotion outside. Hinamori had left his side for a moment to check on the status of her squad. The third seat was in charge of the 10th Division, and Hitsugaya found himself wondering about the whereabouts of Matsumoto Rangiku.
He was still injured, and for some reason, his mind was having a hard time getting a jump start. What he needed to do was go and help his squad, instead of laying around the infirmary. With the approaching reiatsu's of the Arancar, Hitsugaya found himself sitting up.
He was not a coward.
Pulling the robe over his shoulders, he buckled Hiyorinmaru to his side.
There was a shuffle of feet down the hallway that only matched Captain Hinamori Momo's feet. Normally, Hitsugaya would have recognized her sounds right away without the aid of his spirit senses.
"Shirou-kun!" Momo called, opening the door to his room. "Shirou-kun?"
He was gone.
Ishida stood in his room, watching the first line of Arancar breech the city walls. Nemu had already left quietly without him noticing, and he found himself standing alone in his hospital room. Lifting his arm slowly, he stared at the bracelet that dangled from his wrist.
Maybe he was simply meant to be here at this given moment. Without him fighting as well, the Seireitei would most likely fall, and that would tip the war greatly in favor of Aizen. Although Ishida had promised his father that he would not do anything for Shinigami, Ishida had found an easy way around it.
He would be doing everything for himself.
This was the point in his life where he could finally redeem himself. For all the years of hiding away like a coward, this was his first chance to fix all of those mistakes. Besides, it was clear enough to him that if he did not fight the Arancar at the Soul Society, he would simply end up fighting them in Karakura anyway.
Zeele Schneider was laying on the dresser in his room. All five sword hilts were clipped onto the belt, and Ishida drew one to inspect it, flipping the blade in his hand as if he was some sort of outlaw checking his gun before a shoot-out. He did not care that his ceremonial robes were left back in the human realm, it was too late to worry about it. Pulling off his sweater, he strapped the belt to his waist.
"Leaving?" a calm voice came from the hallway.
Unohana smiled softly at him as Ishida emerged from his room.
"I can't stay here. This place needed more defense."
"You are not a Shinigami." she told him, "Everyone seen not wearing an armband for a squad division will be killed on sight."
"I am not worried." Ishida replied, tucking in his sleeveless back shirt and tightening the sword belt around his waist.
Unohana then reached into her sleeve and pulled out an armband for the 4th Division. Ishida made a face and stepped back, "I refuse to help-"
"You are not helping Shinigami, you are doing this for yourself, yes?" Unohana Retsu smiled, "But allowing us to help you does not violate that frame of mind, Ishida-san."
Ishida watched as Unohana stuck a 4th Division band on his bare arm.
"She's always been waiting for you, although I don't think she even realized it herself." Unohana replied, "Do not forget, Ishida-san, that you are yourself. Do not allow petty arguments of the past deny what you truly need to life to be happy."
He was taken back by her statement, and then he stepped back, bowing low to her.
"Thank you, Unohana-san, for everything you have done for me." he said, "I detest the Shinigami all the way to the bottom of my soul-" Ishida stood, "-but in the battle against Hueco Mundo we are all equals."
She watched him rustle off towards the front line. There was no doubt in her mind that Ishida and Nemu were going to turn out alright in the end. When the battle was over, Unohana was thinking about setting up a observation station in Karakura. Nemu seemed like the perfect candidate to run the research program.
Unohana chuckled to herself and headed to the Healing Room. There were already injured waiting for her healing hands.
Ichigo stood in the street next to Harako, and they were ready to leave for Hueco Mundo. The notice of the attach beginning has reached them, and some of the other Vizards were staying behind to defend the city. Since Aizen moved earlier than planned, the other Vizard communities around the world were on high alert, and some had answered Shinji's call for help.
"Take care, kid." Isshin stood in the doorway. Ichigo had no doubt that his father would be putting his two cents into the fight before everything was over.
"I'm not coming back until I get her."
"I know." Isshin patted his shoulder, "I expected you to say that."
"Dad-"
Before he could say another word, Isshin yanked him roughly into his arms, "I'm expecting a few good grandkids out of you and Orihime. Don't let me down, Ichigo. I won't let you hear the end of it if you chicken out."
Ichigo chuckled, despite the red blush that crept up his cheeks, "Don't worry about that just yet, Dad."
Isshin shoved him off, "Not get outta here. I'm going to be busy soon."
Ichigo nodded, and Isshin watched as the Vizards disappeared down the street.
"Looks like our boy is all grown up, huh?" Isshin took a cigarette out of his pocket. This was June 16th, the anniversary of Misaki's death. Ichigo had woken up at five that morning to visit her grave before he had to leave for the battle.
Looks like it, dear.
Isshin laughed to himself, blowing a long stream of smoke before sticking cigarette back in his mouth.
"We're in for a tough ride this time, Misaki. I don't know what the end is like this time."
Valuable fights are always that way. That's what makes them so important.
"True." he closed his eyes. He could almost feel the soft hand rest on his shoulder and it still seemed like if he opened his eyes, she would be standing there smiling up at him, "Watch over him, please."
I always am.
Isshin could sense the inter-dimensional portholes opening down the block, and made sure his zanpakuto was firmly attached to his waist before finishing the rest of his cigarette.
Ichigo slashed through the smaller level Arancars. It seemed like they had appeared right on top of the little party of Vizards, and now they were completely surrounded by enemies. Calling his bankai out this early would only sacrifice the margin of victory he would have over Aizen.
"We don't have time for this!" Hansei roared, "We don't have time to screw around with these guys!"
Risa flicked her sword through the air, slicing through another Arancar, "There are too many of them. The way to the gate is blocked."
Damn it, Shinji thought. The situation was worse than they hoped it would be at this stage in the game. If they could not get to Hueco Mundo in time, the whole war would be lost. Turning around, he gasped, "Ichigo! Behind you!"
The blast from the Arancar was stopped by some large force. Everyone stared in shock as a big grin passed over Ichigo's face. Whipping his sword through the air to clear it of blood, he stood back to back with his savior.
"Thanks for the save, Chad."
"I've always got your back." his low voice echoed in Ichigo's ears, "I've come a long way and now there's too much to do. Hurry up, I'll keep the path clear."
Ichigo smiled at the taller man, "Long time no see."
"You'll have to tell me all about this later."
"You got it."
"It's a promise then." Chad shrugged, both of his arms already transformed into their respective roles of defense and attack, "See ya later."
Ichigo saluted to his best friend, seeing Chad's knowing smile, and headed off towards the Urahara Shoten. They would have to sit down with a good drink and have a long talk later.
Hang on, Orihime, I'm coming.
She was not sure if Ichigo and the others were going to make it in time, and that was the biggest reason for Orihime to defy her orders from Aizen once more and leave the safety of her villa. Grimmjaw had left Hueco Mundo, and most of the gaurds were thin because of the battles. She could easily overtake one or two Arancar herself, so as long as she was cautious she was fine.
Reject the Hougyoku.
It was the only way to end the war, and she was the only one that could do it. Aizen had told her many times that she had powers of the gods, as did himself, but he had always been curious as to why she never used them for her own gain. Before, she had only used the power to heal, and this was the first time she would ever use them against anyone seriously.
Flattening against the wall, she peered on the other side of the corner and stared at the gates to the Los Noches grand room. Aizen did not appear to be inside, but Orihime could sense the Hougyoku's power from where she was. At this point, she did not try to stop the shiver that went down her back.
The Hougyoku was a terrible thing. She was certain that Urahara Kisuke regretted his creation every day of his life, and the death and destruction that it had caused. As much as Orihime knew that her life would have been greatly different if it had never existed in the first place, she could not bring herself to hate Urahara-san.
Reaching the door, she raised her hands, "Souten Kishun..."
Rejecting the door lock was a simple task. Over the years of her living in Hueco Mundo, she had used some of that time to fine tune her abilities. There had been nights where she had simply practicing rejecting various objects around her villa. This had been simple enough until the citadel caretakers had demanded that she stop messing with the furniture.
Pushing the door open, her breath caught in her throat.
The Hougyoku hovered in the protective barrier, casting an eerie glow of light in the pitch dark room. Orihime took another step, her eyes sweeping the pitch dark blackness, wishing that there was some sort of sign telling her-
The light instantly flipped on, and to her horror Aizen was sitting in his chair. Staring down at her from the row of steps, there was a wide grin on his face.
"I wondered when you would make your way here, Orihime." he said, "Come to destroy the Hougyoku?"
"I want the war to stop." she told him, "I'm tired of all the fighting."
Aizen chuckled, standing up from his chair and making his way down the steps, "You have much more power than you let on. If I had employed you into the army I would be victorious for sure."
"My powers aren't for your selfish gain." she told him, raising a hand, "But if I have to fight you, I will."
"You forget, Hime," Aizen smirked, snapping his fingers, "You may be a god yourself, but you are mistaken if that gives you a hope of defeating me."
A scythe barreled towards her from the dark shadows.
Grimmjaw stopped, staring at the big porthole. The next squadron had just gone threw, and his turn was coming up. Despite his eagerness to go into battle, he had a strange feeling that he needed to stay at the castle. His head turned abruptly as a flash of light erupted from the windows of the Los Noches grand room.
"What the hell was that?" Stark was standing next to him, due to leave right after Grimmjaw's departure.
Grimmjaw frowned, "I'll go check it out."
"Grimmjaw-"
"Go ahead of me." he ordered, and was down the hall before anyone could stop him.
Ishida pulled the bow once more, taking down one more Hollow. There was not enough time to perform a soul burials, so Ishida's powers had become very valuable on the battlefield. He let out another arrow, vaporizing a rather large Hollow that had been after Abarai.
"Thanks, man." Renji turned back-to-back with him.
"Don't mention it." Ishida aimed, and shot another out of the air. He frowned, noticing a big energy blast heading towards him, and shot an arrow in the middle of it to negate the attack.
"4th Division?" Renji made a face, "Who the hell thought you were a 4th Division type? You strike me as a 13th Division, or maybe the 2nd Division."
Ishida chuckled, and then his eyes spotted one familiar Espada. Zael Apollo had been an opponent of his back in his high school days. As the bow disappeared in his hands, he drew two of his swords, "Please excuse me, Abarai, I'm afraid I have a previous engagement."
"Stuck-up bastard." Renji chuckled as he activated his bankai and jumped off after one of the other Espadas.
There was a large sneer on Apollo's face as Ishida charged towards him, spirit swords flying. Raising his zanpakuto, he blocked both of them, his feet digging into the ground to brace himself.
"You and your damn Quincy swords." Apollo chuckled, "You think you can defeat me with those?"
"I do." Ishida lunged forward, whipping one sword threw the air, and following it with the second.
This was one battle that Ishida had looked forward to.
Ichigo stepped onto the plains of Hueco Mundo, following Hirako as he marched towards the white castle.
It had been years since Ichigo had returned to this place, and frankly he would have been happier not coming back for the rest of his life. The whole dimension gave him the creeps, and he admired Orihime greatly for being able to live there as long as she did without going insane. He probably would have not lasted a week.
He did not ask how Shinji knew where he was going.
"Mashiro, Hachi...I want both of you to concentrate on destroying the dimensional gate. We don't need them calling for troops while we're trying to get rid of this place." he turned to the others, "Risa, Hansei, I want you to to take the north end. Rose and Love will take the south end."
"Oh?" Hansei raised his eyebrows, "And do what?"
Shinji chuckled, "That is to your own judgment."
In a flash, they left Shinji and Ichigo alone. The blond man turned to Ichigo, and frowned, "We're going to Los Noches."
Orihime barely had time to raise a shield as Noitora's blade sailed towards her. The scythe stuck into the side of the shield, and she gasped as part of the blade began to stick through the shell of energy around her. Tsubaki and the other flower spirits were screaming in her mind, begging her to run and save herself.
"What's the problem, Hime-chan?" Noitora chuckled, "Suddenly loose your spark?"
She gritted her teeth, Orihime did not need to yell the commands out to control Shun Shun Rikka. Instead, she drew her hands back, and then slammed them together. Taking control of the shield once more, she deflected the scythe before it sliced through her shield.
"This is a special zanpakuto." Noitora whirled the sword in his hand. Orihime could feel the gusts of wind tear through her hair and clothes as the massive object swung back and forth, "It can slice through any shield. You're defenseless against me, Hime."
Noitora took a step towards her, and she stepped back.
Aizen was watching them with interest. It was true that Orihime had godlike powers, but she refused to use them. He had always considered her a foolish person, but deep down in his mind he had always known that she was probably the only person capable of stopping his plans. At first it had alarmed him, knowing that a little girl who was only a fraction of his age possessed a power that Aizen could not obtain for himself.
So he took her, and made her work for him. As long as she was within his sight, she would never be able to move against him without him noticing. He knew that she had been planning to reject the Hougyoku, and keeping her in Los Noches had made it easier for him to keep tabs.
"Kill her Noitora." Aizen commanded. With that statement, Orihime watched as Aizen swept his hand over the Hougyoku. It disappeared, and then with a flash of Shunpo, he was gone.
No!, her mind screamed.
"As much as I would love to enjoy this-" Noitora raised the circular sword once more, "-I would much more enjoy destroying that hole you come from."
"How can you please do this!?" she screamed, "You'll be killing thousands of people just do you can take over the world! There will be nothing left!"
Noitora laughed, his voice echoed throughout the corners of the grand room. It made her hair stand on end.
"That's the idea, love." he sneered at her, "Those who are strong enough deserve to live. Those who are not...well, let's just say fate is not tipped in their favor."
Swinging the scythe once more, he took another step towards her. Orihime raised her hands, getting ready to activate the shield. She would not be able to stop an up-front attack, but she would be able to stall it enough to try and deflect the blow somewhere else. However, if she made any mistakes at all she would not survive long enough to save anyone.
Or see Ichigo again.
The last time she had seen him, Ichigo had been laying chest down in a pool of his own blood. He had thrown himself in front of Noitora's blade to protect her. It had been too much to see, and she still remembered seeing his blood on her hands as she knelt down to try and heal him. Noitora had then scooped her up and pulled her through the dimensional gate before she had the chance to heal Ichigo.
The blade flew towards her.
I'm sorry, Ichigo.
She shrieked as the wall to the grand room blew apart, and Orihime found herself surrounded by dust and black light. Trying to regain her balance, she watched as two figures soared through the air.
Both with masks pulled over their faces, Hirako raised his sword and blocked the scythe as Ichigo had used the Getsuga Tenshou to deflect the original attack away from Orihime. Added with her shield, it would have been enough to protect her had Shinji not been able to stop the blade in time.
"K-Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime stared at him, her hands were starting to tremble.
"Sorry, I'm late," Ichigo glanced over his shoulder and pulling the mask off his face for a brief moment. His eyes glowed black and orange at her, and his voice was slightly strange, "I like it more when you call me Ichigo."
Noitora made a face, "Is this fair?" he whipped the scythe backwards, "Three against one?"
Ichigo frowned, this was the Espada that had...killed Orihime and tried to kill him. There was a rage in him that kept telling him to make the bastard pay. His attention was dragged forward as Shinji glanced backwards,
"Go after Aizen."
"Eh?" Ichigo looked forward.
"This is my fight." Shinji gripped his sword tighter, "Go after Aizen. Save Karakura."
"Wait!" Ichigo shouted towards him, "You're reiatsu will never be able to beat him-"
Shinji ignored Ichigo and rushed forward into Noitora, throwing both himself and the Espada out of the new hole in the wall. They disappeared into the dust and the night of Hueco Mundo.
Orihime watched Ichigo's face turn grim, and then gaze back towards her. He was dressed in full bankai form, his black sword held in his right hand. For a moment, Ichigo seemed to be looking over her white uniform, and when he determined that there were not any injuries on her he pulled her into his arms.
"I'm so glad your okay." he told her, "I was worried."
She sniffed, "You came to get me."
"Of course I did, silly." he murmured into her hair, "I wasn't going to leave you in the hands of these bastards to fend for yourself. Not this time."
She smiled into his chest, "Thanks."
Ichigo then took her hand, and they rushed from the room. There was not much time left before Aizen destroyed Karakura.
Not too much story left. TT ::sniff sniff::
Send and review and tell me what you think!
Arigato
Lilith