Chapter 25

The cool spray of the river cooled Soifon's raging thoughts and body, washing away the fallout of the morning incident. The thing had pushed Soifon to her limits and beyond, yet she still ended up beaten and broken. All the bruises were visible now, dark and blotchy, marring the porcelain skin on her legs and torso. She'd have to visit the fourth division soon, and avoid exposing herself to Yoruichi or else receive another earful of teasing. Scooping up handfuls of crystal water, she washed out the remainder of her cuts, biting her lip when the cold sting registered.

Sauntering back to Ichigo and Yoruichi along the grassy banks, Soifon applied the little healing Kido she knew. It wasn't nearly enough, but her shallow wounds sealed at least. Again, she'd have to visit the fourth division for the deeper wounds. Or ask Ichigo to heal her when he wakes… whenever that would be. Hopefully, it wouldn't be another three months. She shook her head and knelt down, laying her hand on his muscled chest to feel out his spirit energy levels.

The pressure he radiated was almost half his usual maximum, though when she focused on his raw energy…

"What the hell?" she blurted. The spirit energy that swirled within his soul was like eddies in an infinite void, marked by the distinct textures of his faceted power. Soul Reaper. Hollow. The Hogyoku… And a fourth unknown, just as dense and concentrated as the other three energies.

A spark of intuition told Soifon it had something to do with that vein ability that saved Yuzu's life last week. Soifon stowed the information in a corner of her mind, and checked for Rukia's spiritual pressure again.

Nothing. No Soul Reapers in miles.

She had carried Ichigo and Yoruichi to the nearby spring and setup camp hours earlier. She couldn't carry both of them at the same time, and she hadn't leaned the Utility Kidos to carry them in bandage either. Ukitake's message had said Rukia was already on her way, but he was oddly nervous on the time estimate. She couldn't be that slow—she was the one of the stronger lieutenants. And that's not even counting how much Ichigo had empowered her.

A leaping salmon jumped into view, it's slimy body glinting in the noon sun. With a quick flick of her wrist, she picked up her Zanpukto and skewered the fish, then tossed it to the pack of gulls fifty meters down the river.

Still sharp as ever—if catching a fish was even a test of speed. She still had a long way to go, to catch up to Yoruichi… to catch up to Ichigo… who hadn't even been a Soul Reaper for more than a decade. She narrowed her eyes at the thought of how powerful he'd become in a century… but then again, they had said the Hogyoku draws out a Soul's potential. Perhaps this was his full potential.

Eyeing his Zanpuktos, Soifon hesitantly approached and picked up the pair, carefully unsheathing the dark blades. She shouldn't be wielding another Soul Reaper's Zanpukto, but that was nothing compared to all the times he had slept with her now. This was nothing in comparison—and she had been curious of how well his weapons handled.

She moved further down the field, then began stepping through her Katas for dual wielding that she had learnt a century ago, gaining speed after every manoeuvrer.

Cut. Parry. Twirl. Stab.

Every step barely made a noise, barely disturbed the blades of grass beneath her calloused feet. But it was there—the evidence of her sluggishness. Anyone of Yoruichi's calibre would notice hundreds of openings, and see every move she'd make. Her progress was quickly reaching a plateau—her limit. With Haduka at least. Soon she'd have to adopt to training with her oversized Bankai or cumbersome Kido.

In a spat of frustration, she mistimed her next double slash, cutting her forearm with the Wakizashi.

She hissed as the Katana flew out of her hand and clinked against a boulder. "Shit," she mouthed, fingering the fresh wound. It missed an artery by an inch and a half, but still deep enough that she wouldn't be able to heal it.

An immense spiritual pressure washed over her shoulders, tainted with a Hollow undertone. "What are you doing," a layered, flat voice cut through the riverbank.

In a single move as her heart thumped, Soifon dropped the Wakizashi, flashed over to her Zanpukto, and snatched it off the grass.

Before her stood a young male with shoulder-length white hair and skin almost as pale. He wore a sleek white robe, tightly fitting his sleek physique. But what stood the most was the Hollowfied eye, and Hollow mask fragment atop the left side of his head.

"Arrancar!" Soifon spat. "How did you get here?!"

He frowned. "You really aren't that bright," he said, his tone hinting disdain.

Soifon growled. "You're trespassing through Soul Society! Retreat to Hueco Mundo or I will be forced to execute you!" she commanded, reciting the order that Central forty-six had given at the end of the war.

He shifted his arm outward and opened his hand. In an instant, Ichigo's Katana flew into his grip, buffering soifon with a gust of wind. "I, am Tensa Zangetsu," he said, voice raised significantly.

Soifon blinked and dropped out of her battle-stance, mentally pinching herself for not recognising Ichigo's Hollow spiritual pressure. "I knew that!"

"Hmmm."

Breathing once, Soifon let her heart calm before speaking again, then discarded her rising embarrassment from being nude. Her stealth uniform was still drying on the branch, and she hated damp clothing more than anything else. And Tensa Zangetsu didn't even appear to care about her bruised body, despite being part of that pervert's soul.

"Where's your other half?" she asked, careful to not call her perverted. "And when will Ichigo get up?"

He eyed the Wakizashi, tilting his head. "They're sleeping."

"When will they wake—"

"You still haven't answered my question," he interrupted. "What do you think you were doing?"

A scowl tugged at Soifon's face, already starting to dislike this spirit. He would be the exact opposite of Ichigo's perverted spirit—perhaps that was the point. She'd need to be even more careful if that was the case, for this half-Hollow was more powerful than her, even when weakened.

"I was just practising some of my Katas that I haven't practice in a century," she answered coolly.

For over half a minute, his features morphed to a hard glare, and his spiritual pressure became deadly. "Is that so?"

She took a step back, muscles tensing. "Of course. Nothing else."

"Don't lie," he said, emphasising each syllable.

"I'm not l—"

He charged in a flash step so fast that Soifon could only see as a blur. Only a millisecond after raising her blade to block, she was met with the tremendous force of his strike. "Uughhh," she breathed, skidding back through the field.

He wasn't done, already twisting his stance for a follow-up.

She flashed back to the treeline, missing the blur of black steel by fractions of an inch. "What the hell's your problem?!"

"You neglect your own Zanpukto, and yet you dare touch this blade!" he snapped, charging again with a stab.

"What?!" she hissed, dodging after a quick parry that vibrated up her arm. "For over a hundred years I had strived to perfect Suzumebachi!" she said, parrying after every second word.

"Oh really?" He altered his stance and style, coming at her with slash techniques she hadn't seen before.

"Really." Charging her spirit energy into the edge of her blade, Soifon struck for a critical blow before his unusual repertoire broke through her defense.

He effortlessly deflected her slash. "And the Bankai that you refuse to accept?"

"What about my over-sized Bankai? An assassin has no need for such a weapon!" And she could have been certain that she hadn't ever mentioned or released her Bankai around Ichigo. Tensa Zangetsu stabbed again before she could further ponder.

"Is that why you are so envious of this blade?"

"I'm not envious."

As they clashed, black-red spirit energy burst forth from his blade.

"Shit!" Soifon tumbled into the trees in a clumsy flash step as the black moonfang tore into the sky. "Arrghh," she spat as the pain of the burn flicked up her back. It wasn't severe—he had clearly held back to her relief.

"Did you not know, that one's Bankai is ever evolving, along with their soul?" he said, already behind her.

"What?" she whispered, eyes widening and twisting around. "But the Bankai is the true and final form of the Zanpu—"

A red Cero charged in his fingertip before he fired, engulfing her in burning spirit energy.

She flew back into the field, denting into the soft ground as the Cero exploded. The Hollow energy tore into her body, igniting her insides. The pain wasn't the worst she had felt, but enough that she could pass out in minutes. Palming the soil for support, she spat blood, gagging from the iron and salt.

Tensa Zangetsu buzzed in front of her and picked up the Wakizashi, sauntering to within a meter of her.

"Why are you doing this?" she said, struggling to keep blood from flowing into her mouth. "Don't you know that Ichigo has a thing for me?"

"Are you at your limit?" he asked, but his knowing tone suggest he didn't even need to ask.

"Of course I am… I used everything on that Hollow earlier." Her vision blurred as a trickle of blood reached her eye.

He turned and strode to Ichigo's side—and then flicked his blade across his chest, drawing blood. The wound healed in seconds, bubbling with white goo.

"Have you gone insane?" Soifon said, voice breaking.

"You want power, yet you don't want it served to you on a plate," he said, walking back to her. "You want power, yet you avoid the path that would grant you it."

"So?" She couldn't deny it. It was obvious as a Hollow hiding in a city of Soul Reapers.

"I, Tensa Zangetsu, cannot allow that!" he roared. "For you are a burden to us. A burden that Ichigo only risks his life to protect."

"Tch, that pervert doesn't have to," she said under her breath, looking away as her wounds throbbed. "He was the one who started this."

"I don't care." He pointed the bloody Wakizashi at her as he started glowing in white-blue light.

"Wait! What are you—"

A dagger of indigo Reishi mixed with Ichigo's blood shot into her chest, piercing her heart. Before she could scream, a beam of light brighter than the sun blasted down on her, lasting for the longest seconds in her life. As the Reishi penetrated every thread of her soul, the accompanying energy and light wiped the wells of spirit energy in her chest with pure white. No—it was forging the center of her soul and binding it to whatever was in Ichigo's blood.

And then it was over.

Tensa Zangetsu hunched ever so slightly, breathing mouthfuls. He dematerialised in a swirl of spirit energy as she collapsed into the soil. She fought the enclosing darkness before losing consciousness.

The gentle hum of a vibrating fluid woke Soifon from her dreamless sleep, except it was not a fluid like the running river. It was the Reishi of the air, the Reishi of the trees, the grass, and the pebbles. It all radiated in an energy she didn't have a name for. It wasn't the spiritual pressure of her spirit energy reserves—which was somehow refilled. Nor was it the elemental power Hitsugaya or the head captain seeped into their surroundings. This was something else.

"Uhhhh…" she mumbled, rubbing her head. "Ichigo's going to pay to this."

Pulling herself up and dusting off the dried soil, she checked her wounds—which were all healed. She huffed, and eyed Ichigo's blades that sat on the exact position where Tensa Zangetsu had dematerialised.

So the light had also healed her.

Snatching up her Zanpukto, she flashed over to her now dried stealth uniform and shook it out. The fabric had been ripped in several places, leaving it to look more like the black rag Omaeda used to wipe his mouth. A frown spread across her brow as she pictured the state of squad two under his lead… Perhaps it would be best to return to the Seireitei as soon as possible, and then figure out what Tensa Zangetsu had done to her.

"Ichigo! Yoruichi! Awake yet?!" she barked over her shoulder and trudged through the shredded field to their still bodies. "Of course not." She looked to the sun, revealing that only a couple of hours had passed since she fought Tensa Zangetsu.

Beneath the sun in the far distance beyond her sight, a pulsating source of Reishi spewed energy like a volcano.

And it was approaching—fast.

Drawing her blade, Soifon concentrated her new and unusual spirit energy into her forearm. "Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi!" she chanted, flaring her spiritual pressure.

Nothing happened. Her blade remained Unsealed.

"What the hell?! Suzumebachi!"

No reply—not even the typical buzz when she had ignored her.

"Dammit!" she swore, balling a fist. Whatever was in the distance was getting closer, and it didn't release any spiritual pressure either. Only that same vibration in the air that she interpreted as energy.

She raised her spiritual pressure to her limit, pushing the entirety of her energy reserves into the blade to forcibly release it. "Suzumebachi!"

Then the truly unexpected happened for the first time since Yoruichi appeared at Rukia's execution. Her blade discharged the same light that Tensa Zangetsu had used on her, then split into two and wrapped around her arms.

A blade of light-blue Reishi was secured to her left wrist in ornate, silver bindings, mirroring the matching gold blade on her right wrist. Her stinger was no more, replaced by these sleek daggers that Ichigo's spirit had granted her.

Holding them up to the light, she had to admit, they weren't half bad.

"I wonder…" she said to her blades absentmindedly as she checked on the approaching enemy. It looked to be far further than she thought, which only meant it was unimaginably powerful if it outshone all the Reishi within miles.

Pointing the gold dagger at a tree, she channelled her spirit energy into the pattern of her death strike. "Homonka!"

The butterfly marking appeared like always, allowing Soifon to sigh in relief. At least that much was still the same. She had trained every day and every night the past hundred years perfecting her Shikai, for that was a true weapon of an assassin. Not even Yoruichi could withstand a direct blow from her death strike.

She looked to her daggers, expecting Suzumebachi to chirp up like she always would when Soifon thought about her Shikai stinger. "Well? What do you think?"

But Suzumebachi still wouldn't say a thing, almost as if she was erased from her Soul. Though Soifon wouldn't miss her too much, for she had given her the worst Bankai in history of the court guard squads.

Pushing her spirit energy to next level, she prepared herself for her final release. "Banka—"

THUMP

The thing in the horizon closed the remainder of the distance instantaneously, crashing into the river and freezing the entire spring. Mist and frost plumed into the surrounding blanks as the Influx of Reishi overwhelmed Soifon's new sense.

"Gah!"

Soifon frowned, recognising the voice instantly. "Rukia?!"

The lieutenant appeared in front of her with a buzz. She wore a beautiful white dress, matching her misty white hair. "Soifon! What happ—" She blushed, looking up and down Soifon's body. "Why are you naked?"

Eye twitching, Soifon restrained herself from slapping her.

"Tensa," Ichigo said, trying to hide his concern. "Are you better?"

He had been watching over her hours now, sitting at the edge of a shallow pool in his inner world. She hadn't shown a sign of life since he had found her by the edge of the forest after waking. She only floated on the still water, sparking in indigo spirit energy every now and then.

"Tensa…" he said again, looking down. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I thought I was strong enough for that attack."

"Goodbye Ichigo… It was nice knowing you…"

Flinching straight, Ichigo's heart dropped. "WHAT?!"

"Just kidding," she whispered, hinting a smile, then lost all emotion again.

"One day…" Ichigo mumbled, sighing.

Though he felt better after exchanging those words—any words. She had changed his life, more than anyone else. Perhaps even more than Rukia, who had started this whole insane journey over a year ago on that terrible night. Rukia had saved his life and that of his family… more than what Tensa had done. Swallowing, Ichigo made a mental note to never say those thoughts aloud.

"I heard that," Tensa whispered.

Ichigo inched away from the pool. "So are you going to be okay?"

She didn't answer, relighting Ichigo's worry again. He couldn't help her in any way, and he had tried for hours. He had poured his spirit energy into her, but it was seemingly sucked into an infinite void.

And he didn't even know what the Hogyoku was made of. He hadn't questioned Urahara once.

"You don't want to know."

"Why?"

No answer.

Sighing, Ichigo sat back down next to her and thought back to the encounter with that thing that nearly killed Soifon—the Hollow wasp. But it wasn't just a Hollow, or a Soul Reaper, or anything he had fought against… except against Aizen when he had transformed into a horrific, tentacle being. Though he could be sure that it was part-Hollow, for its Hollow spirit energy had been greater than even his own.

He'd need to visit Hueco Mundo as soon as possible, he concluded. If his training with Yamamoto said anything, it was that route would be the most logical. Whatever that wasp was, it must have had come from the Hollow world and been planning to invade the Seireitei. Maybe it was behind all those attacks Byakuya had been complaining about as well.

Maybe Aizen knew something.

"It's time to leave," Ichigo's other spirit interrupted his thoughts. "Your friends are waiting."

"Rukia actually found us?"

"Yes."

"Huh…" Ichigo said, eyebrows rising. "I doubt I could have even waded through the Rukongai."

Tensa Zangetsu tilted his head, and buzzed off into the distant skyscrapers.

Grumbling, Ichigo cast his gaze on Tensa again, hesitant to leave her side. He hadn't seen her so weak before.

"I'll be fine in a few days," she mumbled.

"Right." Hardening his jaw, he struggled to settle into the meditative pose to exit his inner world.

"Or never," she said just before Ichigo was sucked out of his inner world.

A/N: A shorter chapter this time. I'm not that satisfied with Soifon's fight with Tensa Zangetsu, and the dialogue. It might be heavily edited to a be longer and maybe bit comedic depending on the reaction to this chapter.

Explanations as usual…

Soifon—yeah she's a quincy/soul reaper hybrid now, but she's not transcended because Ichigo was heavily weakened while she got the powerup (I guess Tensa Zangetsu isn't as smart as he thinks he is). She'd be just short of Ukitake's level atm without training further. And I'm pretty sure she hadn't ever met a Quincy before or felt their spirit energy in canon (if she did, then lets say this fic is going against canon).

22/07/2016 – Some proofreading/line edits done.