"Lord... whatever I've done to piss you off... if you could just get me out of this and somehow let me know what it was I promise to rectify the situation."

Maverick – Bret Maverick

Ichigo felt the tick start near his left temple and a headache the likes of which he had never known, slowly spread over every nerve in his brain from the back of his skull.

"I said no, Rukia."

Rukia crossed her arms and glared at the stubborn man standing before her. His eyes shown like polished amber, hot, dark, and dangerous and he gazed at her as if he could cheerfully strangle her.

"I don't remember asking you for permission, Kurosaki," she spat. Ichigo's eyes sparked at her condescending use of his last name, but he held on to his control.

"Fuck princess, I don't really care if you asked for my permission or not. I am not letting you go through with some half baked plan that involves you trading yourself for my sisters, so you can just get it out of your crazy head."

Rukia gritted her teeth.

"Dammit Ichigo, I'm going!" He took a menacing step towards her.

"No dammit, you're not!"

She lifted her chin and stared down her nose at him.

"Yes idiot, I am."

Ichigo snarled, cursed, reached up, and wrapped one hand around the back of her neck, pulling her into a punishing kiss. He growled and she groaned, kissing him back with equal bruising fury. When they broke apart they were breathing heavy.

"You're not," he said, his voice low and deadly and she pulled away from him, glaring.

"You're not my brother, or my father, you don't get to fucking tell me what to do."

He smirked. "No, I'm your lover, and dammit Rukia if I have to fucking hog tie you to the nearest bed to keep you from following I will, 'cause there is no way in hell I'm letting you put yourself in that kind of danger. Not when I can protect you."

She cursed.

"Dammit, I don't need you to protect me I need you to…" kiss me, fuck me…love me, her traitorous mind added. She looked at the man before her and felt a rush of emotions, anger, lust, protectiveness, tenderness, and above all, love. Even if she wasn't sure if he loved her back she couldn't let him go off half cocked and face Aizen alone, not when she had the power to protect him.

She closed her eyes, collected herself, and opened them. "I need you to trust me Ichigo."

He turned away and knelt near Zangetsu to tighten the straps of his saddle.

"I do trust you," he said, quietly, "but I can't go in to this hornets' nest worrying about you. Not when I have Karin and Yuzu to worry about as well. I just…." Can't bear loosing all the women I love, he added silently. "I just…can't," he whispered.

He turned his attention to his horse and didn't hear Rukia sneaking up behind him till it was too late. A loud crack echoed, he grunted, and fell unconscious into the dirt. Rukia stood over him holding her gun by the barrel. She'd pistol whipped him and she graced Zangetsu with a culpable look. The stallion was looking back at her with a gleam of disapproval in his midnight eyes.

"It's for his own good," she defended. The horse snorted and tossed his head. Rukia shook off the feeling of guilt tightening her belly and winced when she saw the thin line of blood near the back of his skull.

She holstered her gun and turned away, pulling herself into Sode no Shirayuki's saddle.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, dug her heels into the horse's flanks and galloped away.

Ichigo felt the lump on the back of his head, cursed and spurred Zangetsu faster. She had gotten the drop on him and cold cocked him. He cursed again and pushed for more speed. Fear and anger churned in his gut making him physically ill, but it was nothing compared to the terror suffusing his racing heart.

"Fuck midget, what the fuck were you thinking," he mumbled.

She was going to get killed, just like his father…just like his mother. He was going to have to add her to the list of people he loved that he couldn't protect.

"Fuck that," he growled. Aizen was not going to win. Ichigo would not allow it to happen and he would save Rukia, he would save Karin and Yuzu, he would kill that fucker Aizen.

He would win because he had no other choice.

"Damn straight," he growled and pushed Zangetsu faster. The stallion snorted and ran harder, feeling his master's urgency through every muscle in his powerful frame. Ichigo pushed Zangetsu over the next rise and abruptly pulled the mighty horse to a halt.

Three riders could be seen in the distance and they looked very familiar. He grinned, wildly and yelled, "Yay," digging his heels into his horse's flanks. The stallion reared and took off like a shot, his hoofed feet kicking up clods of earth until he'd finally caught up to the dark haired man with a quiver or arrows belted firmly around his chest. The stallion and his master fell into a steady gallop next to him.

"Glad to see you're alive," Uryuu said. Ichigo grinned.

"It's good to see you too, idiot. Hey Chad…Renji," he nodded and the other men nodded back.

"So," Ichigo began innocently, "you headed to Aizen's ranch."

Uryuu's half feral smirk matched the one twisting his brother's lips. The other two men simply nodded.

Ichigo's lips twitched wider. "Good, let's go kill the bastard."

"Karin hurry," Yuzu urged. Karin shot her sister an annoyed look and bent back over the door knob, working his sister's bobby pin into the key hole.

"I am hurrying. This isn't as easy as it looks you know," she muttered. Yuzu bounced back in forth on the balls of her feet, chewing her nails nervously and hovering over her twin's shoulder. Karin gave a frustrated growl.

"This would go a lot faster if you wouldn't hover like that." Her sister smiled weakly, appearing contrite.

"Sorry," she murmured and step back a little. Karin scowled and bent over the door knob again.

"Come on you bastard," she muttered to the solid oak door. She jiggled the hair pin and her hand slipped, slicing a small groove into her hand.

"Fuck," she hissed.

"Don't swear," Yuzu admonished and took her sisters hand in hers. She winced in sympathy, ripped a strip off her dress, and tightly tied it around the wound.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Karin grunted and went back to picking the lock. Minutes passed and she cursed every time the pin slipped but this time Yuzu didn't bothering admonishing her. Finally they heard a click; both girls froze and exchanged a glace.

Karin frowned and slowly turned the knob, it opened smoothly and she shot her sister a wild grin, before cracking open the door and peering into the hall.

"All clear, let's go."

Rukia slowed Sode no Shirayuki to a walk when Aizen's ranch came into view, knowing that what she was about to do was either really brave or incredibly fucking stupid, depending on the outcome.

Taking a deep, steadying breath she spurred her mount forward into a cantor and rode across the open plains towards the house. She could see a number of men coming onto the porch and standing in the doorways of the various barns and corrals, watching her.

She swallowed and kept her head high and her gaze condescending to hide the way her heart was pounding.

Sode no Shirayuki drew closer and closer to the main house and Rukia reined her in just as Aizen stepped out on the front porch, flanked by Tosen, Gin, and Davis.

"Rukia, nice of you to join us and where is Kurosaki, don't tell me he abandoned you."

She narrowed her amethyst eyes on the man before her and replied.

"I want Kurosaki's sisters. A fair trade, me for them, just like you offered."

Aizen smirked and started to chuckle, Davis laughed and Gin turned his insane smile in her direction. Tosen merely remained blank and passive, regarding her silently with sightless eyes.

"I have a better idea. Why don't I simply have my men capture you, kill Kurosaki's sisters, wait until he shows up, and kill him as well."

He flicked his hand and his men started towards her from the corrals and barns. Rukia's hand blurred and she drew her revolver, but she didn't start firing at the encroaching horde, instead she cocked the hammer and jammed the barrel under her chin.

"Tell them to back off or I pull the trigger." Aizen froze and his handsome face contorted into a frown. He waved his hand again and the men stopped.

Rukia smirked. "That's what I thought. It was a long shot but I figured that since you hadn't killed me yet then you must need me alive. So here is my deal. You bring two horses, saddled and provisioned, out here and bring Ichigo's sisters. Once they are on those horses and far enough away I'll drop my gun and come quietly. Otherwise…well I'm sure you've seen what it looks like when you have to put a cow down. Brains everywhere."

Aizen narrowed his eyes. "You're bluffing." Rukia went still, her voice cold and deadly. She jammed the gun against her skin harder and her finger tightened slightly on the trigger.

"Go ahead and try me, you bastard."

He regarded her silently from his post on the porch, gauging her resolve and snapped.

"Go and bring the girls."

Davis nodded and both Rukia and Aizen continued to watch each other coldly. They were in a Mexican standoff, each unable to act and neither assured of victory. If Aizen betrayed her Rukia was prepared to pull the trigger and if Rukia pulled the trigger than all of his careful planning would go up in a blast of lead shot and brain tissue. The Kuchiki ranch would be tied up in probate, costing him thousands of dollars and years of wasted effort.

Hate, black and thick curled in his stomach and he vowed that as soon as Miss Kuchiki had outlived her usefulness to him she was going to die.

Minutes passed but they seemed like hours when finally Davis returned, a look of disgust and distress twisting his ugly face. He leaned in to whisper something to Aizen and his boss turned cold, dead eyes on him.

"I see," he murmured, "that is most…unfortunate."

Suddenly his hand blurred, drew the gun from his hip, and fired. Davis staggered, bloody spittle bubbling from his lips and his hands clutching the wound in his chest, as he fell over, dead. Aizen turned his revolver on Rukia.

"It seems Kurosaki's sisters have escaped, now if you would please get down Miss Kuchiki."

Rukia started and her mind started reeling, trying to find a way to get out of there, he must have read her mind because he cocked the hammer back.

"I suggest you do it now."

She swallowed, lowered her gun, and started to swing out of her saddle when a thunderous roar echoed across the plain and the ground started shaking as if an earthquake had hit.

Rukia turned and yelped when she saw hundreds of heads of cattle barreling toward her. She quickly regained her seat in the saddle and held onto Sode no Shirayuki for dear life, as the stampede grew closer and started running over everything in its path.

A shot rang out and Rukia saw a man near her grunt and fall, and then another shot, and another. Aizen's men scattered and she watched as the Gin and Tosen tried to pull Aizen into the house. He shrugged them off, darted for Rukia, pulled her roughly from the saddle and dragged her inside with him, slamming the door.

"Bastard," she spat. He gave her a cold look and unceremoniously threw her into his office. He waved Gin and Tosen away.

"Get after them." The two men nodded and departed, leaving them alone. Aizen calmly pulled his gun and motioned the barrel towards the door leading to his bedroom, he smirked.

"Over there, open the door and get inside." Rukia glared at him defiantly and then flinched when he pulled the trigger and the bullet whizzed by her ear.

"Now," he commanded, low and deadly. Trying to hide her trembling hands she grasped the door knob and opened it to reveal Aizen's bedchamber. She gasped.

"Sally?" The thirteen year old was huddled in the bed and flinched when she heard her name. Rukia ran over to her and gathered the trembling girl in her arms.

She looked awful, her clothes were torn and she had bruises all up and down her arms, and that was when Rukia noticed the blood on her dress near her maidenhead. She snarled and whirled on Aizen.

"You dickless, cock sucking, sheep fucking, bastard, she's just a child!"

He leveled his gun on them and smirked.

"Not anymore." Rukia would have lunged at him but Sally held her tight and whimpered.

"No please, he'll kill you, just like he did Miss Rangiku and my m-mother." Rukia started and gathered the girl closer to her. She turned cold eyes on Aizen.

"Ichigo is going to kill you." She stated it as fact, no doubt, no remorse, like she was talking about the how it was going to rain today or what she was having for dinner.

He smiled, his genial, half crazed smile, and rested his other hand on the katana at his side.

"I look forward to it."