The Space Between Two Worlds

[Leviathan]

Ichigo ran through the garganta, thewhite pathway fragile and splintering beneath his feet.

They'd left Ulaanbaatar before the sun rose. Ichigo stumbled as another patch of white flooring crumbled beneath him. In the darkness of the garganta, he could barely make out the faces that peered over shoulders at him. He'd seen Yumichika's brows tighten once in confusion—Ichigo had long since struck a balance between power and control; he shouldn't be having a problem keeping the pathway solid. The most recent glances—Nel's of concern—Soi Fon's of disdain—made clear that he wasn't hiding his emotions as well as he'd hoped.

Kurosaki Ichigo was nervous.

This would be the first time he'd been to Karakura since Soul Society had been taken by Aizen. He had no way of knowing what condition his hometown—the place where he'd made his first friends and memories—was in.

He knew of the portal to Hueco Mundo. He knew that almost every Hollow in the world had slouched its way through the streets of Karakura, rampaging there before chewing its way across the rest of the globe. Ichigo did not know how bad the damage was. He couldn't know if anybody he'd known had escaped at the early signs of trouble. Did Chad and Tatsuki escape? Did Mizuiro's family run? How many people had been devoured in their homes when the sky tore open and Hell gnashed its teeth at the world?

Another footprint shattered, sending shards as white as snowflakes fluttering into the abyss.

The group stopped. They were here. He stared at the backs of his companion's heads—Nel, Yumichika, Soi Fon, Grimmjow. They were the five elected to draw the attention of Aizen's vanguard. The plan was simple: they head to the portal; if Ichigo's group needed to splinter off to fight Aizen's soldiers, then they would do so, jettisoning one member of the group at a time—Yumichika first, followed by himself, Nel, Grimmjow, and finally Soi Fon; this could serve as a distraction so that Unohana's team could open a senkai gate; because of the proximity of the senkai gate and the massive garganta in the middle of town, their spiritual signal would be muffled and they'd be able to open a pathway directly into Seireitei without Aizen's immediate detection. While nobody was foolish enough to assume that Aizen was unprepared for their attack, gaining even a second of surprise might be enough for them to maintain an advantage.

Grimmjow stuck his finger into the blackness and turned his face over his shoulder. His blue eyes regarded Ichigo for a moment. The Shinigami looked away. Grimmjow sighed and opened the portal into Karakura.

There was fog. In the early morning light, Ichigo could see a lot of fog. He stepped out of the cool garganta and into the chilly morning, the mist snaking around his ankles as the portal's teeth closed behind him. He'd never seen this much fog in town before—there had always been too much traffic, too many people walking on the sidewalks. Such a heavy mist could never settle, even at this early an hour. Now, as his eyes scanned the fog, the silence of the town was painful.

He took a step forward and felt a brittle snapping beneath his shoe. He lifted his foot back and looked down at the thin pikes of white on the asphalt. His hand tightened into a loosely curled ball. While his foray into medicine had been cut short, he'd taken enough anatomy classes to recognize the bone on the street: it was a human ulna.

"Come on," Soi Fon said from ahead of him. "Let's get going."

Ichigo left his gaze on the shattered shaft for a moment longer. He looked up at her, but she'd already begun walking down the street, the rest of the team following her. Nel gave him a glance over her shoulder—one of obvious commiseration—but quickly focused ahead once more. Ichigo trailed behind.

The fog grew thicker as they got deeper into the city, the tangle of alleyways blocking the mist from the breeze of the river and the open streets. Every few blocks, Ichigo's heightened senses would snap to a shape in the corners of his vision. He'd turn, hoping to see a person, an animal, anything alive emerging through the white haze—but it was only ever a discarded garbage bin or abandoned ribcage.

They emerged from behind a café as the first rays of sunlight broke over the rooftops. The fog lit up as it continued its listless drift over the town. The newly illuminated horizon drew Ichigo's eyes to the edge of the street. They were standing at the riverbank, on the sidewalk where he would watch fireworks explode over the bridge on a warm summer evening. The remains of the bridge stretched up into the sunrise, its frame skeletal and shattered, its cables limp and dangling into the placid river below.

The fog in front of him glowed a bright red. Ichigo's eyebrows furrowed at the color that differed from the orange sunrise. A low rumble filled his ears and he leapt aside, avoiding the cero that plowed into the black surface of the river. A plume of water surged into the air, sending the fog spiraling outward into shapelessness.

They'd been discovered. As the river began to fall from the sky, he felt his companions vanish among the pattering water droplets. There was little need for secrecy now; Aizen had predicted their arrival. They needed to get to Soul Society as fast as possible. Ichigo prepared to use shunpo and leave Yumichika behind to get to the center of town.

"I'm glad to see you haven't gotten slow," Madarame Ikkaku bellowed, "Yumichika!"

Ichigo froze. His eyes darted around, trying to locate the origin of Ikkaku's voice. The plan had been to leave Yumichika behind to handle the first attacker. But Ikkaku's presence changed everything. Ichigo saw them both and bolted forward. Ikkaku was already plummeting down from the sky, Houzikimaru drawn. Yumichika was still looking around, his back turned to the coming attack.

Ichigo reached out and grabbed the shaft of Ikkaku's shikai. Yumichika turned and gasped—the spear's head was only inches from his face. Ikkaku's feral battle-grin faltered for a moment before it flashed bigger and he tore his weapon from Ichigo's grip and leapt away.

"I'll handle this," Ichigo said, turning his back to Yumichika and stepping between the two old friends. He couldn't let Yumichika fight Ikkaku. It presented too big of a risk. Urahara had hypothesized that it might be impossible to change the corrupted Shinigami back to their normal selves, that the grip of the hougyoku held them too tightly. Death might prove to be the only option for defeating any of them. While Ichigo hated the thought, he knew that he could kill Ikkaku if he needed to. He couldn't imagine Yumichika committing to that plan as easily.

Worse, he couldn't leave Yumichika alone on the sidewalk to kill his best friend.

"Thank you," Yumichika said before whispering away. Ichigo smiled.

"Ah, dammit," Ikkaku said through a sneer. "Why'd you run him off?"

"I thought you didn't do two-on-one-fights?"

"I didn't used to do a lot of things."

"Like kill your friends?"

"Blah blah blah," Ikkaku groaned, making a flapping mouth with his hand. "I knew you guys would say something boring like that. Besides," he said, his grin growing, "ain't that what you're about to do?"

"I'd rather not," Ichigo replied. "That's up to you, Ikkaku."

Ikkaku's grin fell once more, but stayed down. He lifted a hand to his forehead, his bald scalp gleaming in the sunrise. "I knew you'd say some shit like that, too."

Ikkaku launched himself forward, his bare feet pattering over the asphalt, a white mask obscuring his face. He lashed out with his spear, the shaft splitting and spinning and twisting as his wrists twirled. Ichigo brought his own large blade up and began to block, Ikkaku's strikes driving him back and into a defensive retreat. Zangetsu's wide edge batted the spear aside, but Ikkaku was quick to whip it back around again. Ikkaku raked downward with the shaft, vanishing with a buzz as he struck. Ichigo turned and lifted his sword high over his head with both hands, bringing it down as Ikkaku appeared out of sonído.

"Getsuga Tenshou," he said softly, bringing the zanpakuto screaming down, a bright gust of energy erupting from its tip and carving a wide crevasse into the street as it tore through an already ruined building.

Ikkaku buzzed back into sight behind him, his spearhead cutting a gash into the flesh of his shoulder blade. Ichigo gasped and whispered forward, his blood spattering on the vacant asphalt as he vanished. He appeared on top of the café, blood flowing freely down his arm.

He stared at Ikkaku's mask. The face was that of a Chinese dragon, scowling as its spiky brows furrowed and its mustache curled up along its cheeks. Ikkaku's golden eyes glowed out from its eye sockets and his battle-crazed grin shined out from behind the mask's four curved fangs. Ichigo frowned at the mask—he knew that the mask would take a shaped based on both the Shinigami and the Hollow inside. The grimacing face of the dragon, its teeth miserably bared, made Ichigo feel a welling sense of pity.

Ikkaku pulled the mask up and let it rest on his forehead. "You've had this kind of power all along and you never shared it with me?"

"Why would I have?"

"What a bullshit question," Ikkaku barked. "Have you forgotten me, you asshole? I love power! I love strength! Why wouldn't I want this for myself?"

"Because," Ichigo began, leveling his shikai at his old friend. "With this power comes a curse. Mine was the threat of mutiny…"

Ikkaku growled.

"…Yours is the promise of slavery."

"Bastard," Ikkaku hissed, leaping upward at Ichigo on the roof.

"Bankai."

Ichigo's thin black blade clashed against Ikkaku's spear. The shaft split and spun around, the edge looking to bite into Ichigo's temple. The Shinigami ducked and spun around, his shoulder touching Ikkaku's hip as he twirled around his opponent's back. He slashed sideways, hoping to slide his blade across the tendons of Ikkaku's ankles. The bald hybrid leapt up and back, flipping over Ichigo's head. He kicked his foot down onto the shock of orange hair, but his opponent had already sprung upward, his blade's tip jabbing forward at Ikkaku's jaw. He kicked Ichigo in the chest, sending the Shinigami flying away. Blood trickled through the air from Ichigo's lips. Ikkaku launched himself forward, vanishing and appearing directly in front of Ichigo. He smirked and let a bala loose, the red sphereslamming into Ichigo's gut.

"Come on, Ichigo!" Ikkaku yelled, his grin still wide. "I haven't kicked your ass this hard since you were just a kid! Don't tell me you've gotten this weak!"

Ichigo grimaced as he landed on the roof of another building. He reached a hand to the burnt hole in his shirt, the skin of his stomach now exposed. Sweat rolled down his cheeks. He leaned over to catch his breath, his eyes catching a glimpse at the building he was standing on top of. The green paint was peeling away and the windows were shattered. The sign was dilapidated and most of the letters were unreadable, but Ichigo didn't need to read the sign to know what it said: Kurosaki Clinic. Ikkaku appeared behind him then.

"Or maybe," he said, his grin proud as a cero swirled in his hand. "I'm just a better Hollow than you."

Ikkaku threw his fist forward, the crimson beam of energy rocketing Ichigo off the roof of his old home. The cero tore into the earth below, demolishing the buildings on the other side of the block as it shoved Ichigo along its length. The beam stopped, leaving Ichigo lying in a pile of smoke and rubble. Ikkaku let out a victorious laugh and leapt into the sky. He quickly dropped down, the spear gripped tightly in both hands as he aimed it down between his legs. He plowed through the dust and debris, crashing feet-first into the pavement below, Houzikimaru's spear now through Ichigo's chest, pinning him. With a final grunt, Ikkaku shoved the edge deeper into the pavement below Ichigo's torso.

"Sorry, buddy," Ikkaku said, pulling up his mask as he tugged the spear out of the concrete. "But you guys just don't got what it takes to beat Aizen. He's too—"

Houzikimaru's shaft had no blood on it.

"Ikkaku," Ichigo said, his hand lifting to his face, "you're not the only one who's become more like a Hollow."

The last of the smoke cleared, revealing a Hollow-hole in Ichigo's chest. Houzikimaru's shaft was sticking out from the black center of it. Ichigo's mask finished forming and, his brown eyes soft as he looked up at his old friend, he pulled it over his face.

A massive cero erupted from the mask's mouth, Ikkaku's body tumbling upwards as he was pushed away by the beam of energy. His mask shattered like china, but his body endured the blast. He twisted out of the surge of the cero, his charred chest heaving as he struggled for breath. He looked down at Ichigo, still on the street far below. Ikkaku grinned as the rising sun glinted off his head.

"So it's like that, eh Ichigo?" he asked, pulling his mask back and over his face. "Bankai!"

As soon as the massive weapon was released, Ikkaku began to spin it over his head, the pair of massive spades whirling through the air. The dragon crest almost immediately grew red to the halfway point.

"This is it," Ikkaku yelled down to the street. "The moment we've been destined to share since we met. Our final strike at sunrise!"

Ichigo didn't reply. The dragon's crest filled.

Ikkaku grinned. "Get ready for it, Ichigo."

He flew down, the massive center spade cutting through the air as he pushed it closer to his enemy. He cackled as he sank, the sunrise glinting off the blade of his sword, the orange of the morning glowing on his grimacing mask.

His blade stopped, taking his laughter with it. Ichigo was holding the edge of the spade with his bare hand. He looked over its surface at Ikkaku, his eyes red above the twin crimson lines below his sockets, glowing beside the pair of horns that curved out from the sides of the mask.

Ichigo's zanpakuto arced upwards, splitting Ikkaku's bankai in half while tearing open a trench in his torso. The massive weapon fell in two pieces, each landing on either side of its wielder's body. Ikkaku hacked up a dark wad of blood, staining his lips a deep red as it dribbled from the corners of his mouth to the puddle beneath his head. A ray of yellow sunlight knifed down from over a building, streaking across his eyes.

Ichigo stood over him, blocking the offending light, his mask gone and his eyes soft and brown. The hole in his chest was gone behind the fluttering of his tattered shirt. He leaned down and grabbed Ikkaku's zanpakuto, now resealed into a normal katana. He placed it by Ikkaku's side, just out of reach.

"Jeez," Ikkaku said, his eyes tired and squinting at Ichigo's silhouette in the morning sky. "Just like last time, eh?"

"Yeah," Ichigo replied, placing Zangetsu on his back and sitting on the sidewalk next to Ikkaku.

"Except," Ikkaku wheezed, his voice gurgling against the blood in his throat. "Except you ain't gonna be nursing me back to health this time, are you?"

"I can't."

Ikkaku chuckled. "Finally. I thought you'd never grow a pair."

Ichigo stood, his head once more eclipsing the rising sun as he looked down at his friend.

"Live, Ikkaku," he said, turning away.

"Fuck you. Don't give me that bullshit."

"Live," Ichigo went on, "lay there until you can live outside of another man's shadow again."

Ichigo left Madarame Ikkaku, former captain of the Eleventh Division, in his own blood to make his decision.

Soi Fon flashed away at the explosion, hearing the twin buzzes of her Arrancar companions follow. She didn't feel Ichigo or Yumichika following. Coming into sight for a brief moment, she skipped off of a roofing tile, the clay disintegrating as she leapt into shunpo once more. She wondered if there had been two attackers. Her worry quenched itself—she was certain that Ichigo and Yumichika could handle whatever had ambushed their group.

But would Aizen really send out two soldiers this early? she wondered. Wouldn't that leave Seireitei under-protected? Unless we've underestimated Aizen's forces. Or maybe he was simply that confident that we'd be here right now?

An explosion rocked her out of her thoughts. She stopped on an exposed iron roofing beam and glanced toward the center of town. Another explosion erupted from the skyline, near where Unohana's team should be. Grimmjow and Neliel appeared next to her as a third bloom of smoke blossomed pink and orange in the sunrise.

"Shit," Grimmjow hissed. "He was ready for us."

"Should we help them?" Neliel asked.

"No," Soi replied. "Captain Unohana's team should certainly be capable of handling themselves."

"Then what should we do?" Grimmjow asked.

Soi didn't answer. She stared west, watching another plume rise into the morning. She felt a burst of energy behind her—belonging to Ichigo—and another, fainter one to the north which she recognized as Yumichika's. He was taking the outside route around town to get to the center. She grinned.

"Let's go south," Soi said. Grimmjow glanced west, toward the center of town. He didn't say anything, but Soi Fon could read his face. "Hopefully, we can avoid attention by taking a roundabout route to the center of town."

"You're the boss."

Before they could move, the building they were standing on began to crumble. They vanished, reappearing on three separate rooftops, their zanpakuto drawn. Soi's eyes darted through the dust and debris, looking for any sign of an attacker. The building had fallen slowly enough that it could have been simply from their weight on its weakened frame. But there was no need to be caught off guard.

Neliel buzzed next to her as the building she stood on began to crumble. The two women scanned the dust as their shared roof rumbled. They flashed away, reappearing in the sky. Grimmjow leapt up to join them, a cero charged in his palm. He flung his hand forward and tore at the ground with the crimson beam. The cero suddenly flung itself away, crashing down the alley. The smoke, cleared by the repulsion of Grimmjow's attack, revealed the hulking body Komamura Sajin below, his zanpakuto glowing with the heat of the cero. He bellowed up at them, an orange cero erupting from between his fangs. Neliel tossed herself in front of the group, swallowing the attack. Grimmjow and Soi Fon skipped away to the nearest rooftop.

"You two go," Soi Fon said, her eyes watching as Neliel vomited her own cero back toward the ground.

"What?"

"I'm best suited to counter Komamura."

"But," Grimmjow growled, "that's not part of the plan,"

Soi didn't look away from the battle. "Since when have you cared about sticking to plans?"

He didn't respond. She looked at him. He was looking away.

"We were supposed to go together."

"I know what the plan was, Grimmjow," she said. "But now things have—"

"I just got you back, Soi," he said, snapping his head back to look at her.

Her mouth opened, but she looked away.

"I know."

He sighed harshly. "Look, I understand. I'm being stupid. It's just that—" He stopped himself as another explosion sounded beside them. He was looking west again.

Soi took his face in her hands and brought it down to her, pressing her lips against his. He placed his hands on her hips, closing his eyes and ignoring the heat of the battle raging next to them. They pulled away, and she tried her best not to mimic his sullen expression.

"I'll be right there beside you soon," she said, letting go of his cheeks and stepping away from him. "I promise."

He lifted into the sky without a response and launched a rapid-fire series of bala down at Kommamura, blocking Neliel from being attacked and giving Soi Fon an opening to switch places with her. She grinned up at him. He rewarded her smile with a wicked smirk.

"I'm holding you to your promise," he said, Neliel appearing next to him. "Little Captainess."

She smiled as the two Arrancar buzzed away. She turned to Komamura, his canine face snarling up at her. She leapt forward, slipping her sword out of its sheath and whispering down to her opponent. She clashed the edge of her blade with his, her body's full momentum not enough to force his zanpakuto back. She flashed away as he slashed out. She reappeared behind him, her own sword cutting down at the back of his neck. He whirled around and blocked and struck her away. She landed softly on the street.

"Captain Soi Fon," he said. She didn't respond. "I find our match-up both saddening and fortunate. I hate that I must kill you, because I have always respected your intelligence and skill."

She remained silent, focusing all of her attention on the edge of his powerful blade.

"However," he continued when his compliment produced no reaction, "I see our meeting as fortuitous because, of all the surviving captains, you are the least likely to lecture me on my motives."

"What's to lecture?" she asked, her wakizashi warping and covering her hand as it molded into her shikai. "You've been brainwashed. You now stand between me and completing my mission. If you'd prefer to leave this fight alive, step aside."

"Brainwashed, you say?" Komamura replied. "It is noting of the sort—"

He twirled around, slashing outward in a wide arc with his sword. The edge caught Soi Fon's protected wrist, keeping it from cleaving her in two. The momentum of his strike slowed enough to allow her to vanish once more. She reappeared down the street and smirked as a black crest bloomed on his white chest.

"I see," he replied, reaching a massive hand up to his snout. "You have no desire for understanding, then? Only a desire for victory? I suppose I respected you erroneously, Captain Soi Fon."

He pulled the mask down. The long piece of ivory stretched over his muzzle, appearing in profile as the face of a sleeping dog. When viewed head-on, as Soi Fon was now seeing, it looked like that of a man in pain.

Komamura Sajin rushed at her, bursting forward with a speed Soi never expected him capable of. She leapt away, too surprised to block, and narrowly avoided his zanpakuto. The blade crashed into the side of a building and brought it falling to the street. Soi Fon lifted into the sky as he glared up at her from behind his white mask. A shadow began to rise up alongside her, taking the shape of his massive bankai. She turned and looked up at it, her mouth agape. She'd never seen it this close colossalsword swung down at her and she zipped to the side, swinging her own arm out and pointing it at the behemoth.

"Bankai!" she yelled, flinging herself backward to avoid another wide arc from the giant samurai. She flashed around to its rear, her own bankai unleashed and aimed directly at the back of its head. She unleashed the missile, the force of the rocket's launch propelling her back through the air. The giant spun around, bringing a hand up to protect its face, the torpedo slamming into its palm before exploding.

Soi was sent tumbling down from the blast, slamming into a green dumpster on the side of a nearby building. She struggled to get up, the spent casing around her right arm too heavy and pinning her to the ground. It fizzled away and resealed itself into a sword. She shoved herself to her feet, gripping her left shoulder.

She looked up into the sky, seeing the massive samurai standing as the last of the explosion expanded up into the sky. Its left arm was a tangle of blood and splintered armor, dangling uselessly after taking her bankai at nearly point-blank range. Soi Fon darted away, ducking through an alleyway.

Komamura's bankai was still standing and able to fight. It had also gained the boost in speed and strength that its master had from the hybridization process. The only way she could defeat it was with her bankai, but it would need to be a direct hit. She needed to find a way to land that hit in the next shot. She couldn't afford to miss—after two years without any real training, two shots from her Jakuhou Raikouben would be the best she could hope for.

She stepped out of the alleyway to find Komamura Sajin waiting for her.

He swung at her with his zanpakuto, barely missing her skull. She leapt away, her shoulder clipping the wall in her fatigue. She slipped and scrambled to her feet, dodging another strike. She leapt into the air and positioned herself to dodge another attack. Komamura stayed on the ground. He kept his right side facing her. She could see a pool of blood behind him. She rushed forward and slashed at him with her wakizashi, forcing him to move and shift his weight. She vanished again, reappearing a block away.

He was missing his left hand. His bankai's wound had transferred to him. She looked up into the sky where the colossus awaited its orders. If she could take down the puppet, she could kill the master. She sighed and vanished, reappearing above the town in front of the samurai, her own bankai clinging to her side once more. Her breath was labored and sweat beads slid down her face.

The giant slashed at her and she vanished, reappearing in a torrent of images, each one a near-living replica of her. She circled it in a cloud of clones, each pointing the lethal weapon at it. It took a swing at one, but the apparition vanished and the massive blade slid through air. It watched the clones for a moment longer and then stood still.

"I see," Komamura's voice boomed out of the giant's hidden mouth. "So you're attempting to distract me until you can get a clear shot?"

The colossal bankai swung out at another clone, once more hitting its target without effect.

"How hard is it to maintain that level of speed, Captain Soi Fon?" he asked. "You're already slowing down, and the number of images you're producing is starting to dwindle."

The giant slashed again, hitting air. The clones weren't as numerous now; what had started as a swarm of images had fallen to a mere dozen. The number was visibly dropping.

"Perhaps I'll simply bide my time until you wear yourself out?"

The clones were down to three, each positioned in a triangle as she aimed at the bankai. It gripped the handle of its sword with its remaining hand. There were now only two clones, one on either side. The samurai turned and committed to one side, slashing downward, making contact with the tiny Shinigami and sending her tumbling to the ground in two pieces.

Each of which became a half of her jacket, the green fabric fluttering gently to the ruined street below.

The giant whirled around, but Soi Fon had already launched her missile. A massive explosion erupted from its chest, sending it toppling onto its back. She tumbled back through the air, landing on the asphalt and skidding into a brick wall. She looked up into the sky through the space between buildings and saw the colossus collapsing into a crumbling pile of reiastu particles. She forced herself to her feet, cursing the fact that she'd hit the wall with the same shoulder. Her hip, too. She limped through the street toward where she'd last seen Komamura.

He was still alive. He was huddled in a corner, his body mostly hidden by a dumpster, his chest a ragged mess of blood and bone. He was muttering to himself, his black lips working rapidly under half of his shattered mask. She shuffled closer to him, cautiously, quietly.

"Please," he was stammering, his voice barely above a whisper. "Please don't let me have been wrong. Please don't let me have died in shame. Please don't let me have been wrong."

Soi didn't know who he was talking to. He didn't have long to live—she could see the organs trembling as he struggled to continue his mantra. She slowly closed the distance between them, daring to look him in the face, daring to comfort him in his final moments. She leaned her head into his field of vision and his murmuring stopped.

His eyes tightened and he roared a vile, blood-soaked, gurgling howl, reaching out a clawed hand for her throat. She stumbled back and he tumbled onto his belly, the rest of his body's blood spilling onto the street. He snarled and growled, his golden irises burning as they glowered at her. He clawed at her once more, his lips curling, revealing his fangs as he stared into her face. His whiskers twitched and the hair on the back of his neck stood erect in an instinctual warning. She reached out a hand from the distance, as if to pat his trembling head, and brought it back.

She turned and left him panting and whimpering in his own blood.

author's note

2011

expecting an update for 'heroes'

ISHYGDDT

seriously, though. i'm very sorry about the wait. school and work and life all got in my way. fortunately, i've got a lot of material scribbled in notebooks from over the course of my semester, so hopefully i'll be able to finish this thing up sooner than later.

big ups go out to jazzpha as always

jta~!

the space between two worlds - nujabes

leviathan - john zorn