Disclaimer- I don't own Bleach

Just to avoid confusion the beginning scene in this chapter happens before Sayomi and Gin join Aizen and Tousen and leave for Karakura. There's lots of skipping around in this one and some things are out of sequence, but that's the way I want them, you've been warned.

Chapter 38

I'll be Here

"Tousen."

"Yes, Aizen-sama," the dark skinned, dread locked man replied immediately, the reverence and respect he felt towards the brown haired man evident in his voice.

"Tenteikuura." Was all that Aizen deigned to say as he placed his hands behind his back and let a smirk tilt the corners of his lips as Tousen reached for something in his kimono.

Producing two small ink patches, Tousen simply tossed them in the air and the two objects sprang to life, tattooing his arm with an intricate pattern. Once the pattern was complete, he fully straightened his arm and two black boxes, one inside the other, appeared just outside of his reach. "Bakudo number 77, tenteikuura."

"Hello my dear invaders, can you hear me," Aizen began as soon as the connection with the four captains, four lieutenants, Ichigo, Uryu, Chad, Rukia and Hanataro was established. "I thought that I would congratulate you all for your continued success in defeating the members of my Espada. As well as inform you that as of now, we will commence our invasion of the human world. I am leaving Orihime Inoue in the fifth tower, if you would like to retrieve her, she is no longer useful to me and you are free to make your attempt. Sayomi Himura, however, the other person that you all came here to rescue, is no longer in need of your services."

"No longer in need of our services," Ichigo repeated slowly, confusingly, as he stared blankly into the distance. "What is that supposed to mean? What happened to her?!" He knew there was no point in demanding answers at the moment, the only people near him now were captain Zaraki and his little pink haired lieutenant, Yachiru.

And neither of them had answers to his questions, they were as confused as he was.

"I don't understand, what does he mean," Renji asked, uncertainty clouding his features as he turned his attention to Uryu.

The black haired boy was sitting atop some of the rubble of Szayel's destroyed experimental room that the boys had fought the strange, twisted scientist inside. He was frowning as he too tried to understand the meaning behind Aizen's cryptic and daunting words.

"Does it really matter," the masked man that was captain of the twelfth division sighed, he was impatiently tapping his foot against the ground as he watched his lieutenant dig through the debris in search of Szayel's laboratory. "The girl was a nuisance anyway. Hurry up, Nemu, I'm growing annoyed with your dawdling."

Ignoring the mad scientist, Uryu pushed his glasses up on his nose and concentrated, blocking everything else out until he found what he was looking for. Sayomi's spiritual pressure that signified she was still alive, but there was something wrong with it. It was too dark and mixed with so much malice that it almost made him think he had somehow been mistaken and that this person wasn't Sayomi. He didn't doubt his own abilities though and he didn't doubt that he really was feeling Sayomi's spirit energy.

Rukia remained silent, as did Isane, the fourth division's lieutenant, after the statement about Sayomi had been made. Isane's silence had more to do with her needing to concentrate on healing Rukia than anything else.

For Rukia, it was because she had seen the look in her brother's eyes and the way the smoky orbs had narrowed in response to Aizen's words. She wondered if her brother still loved the woman that had disappeared from his life a century before or if it was something else that had so obviously agitated him. It wasn't her place to ask however and so she didn't. She just continued to watch her brother stare over the expanse of Los Noches that stretched for miles and miles to the south.

"I suppose I should elaborate and tell you why Sayomi is no longer in need of you, but that would really ruin the fun. Just know that you, Byakuya Kuchiki, because I know you're listening, were the one ultimately responsible. The rest of you who call her your friend are partly responsible as well, not that it matters now, she is beyond your reach and belongs to me body, heart and soul."

"Brother, are-"

"Weren't you told to remain silent," Byakuya cut in coldly, but Rukia knew that it wasn't his intention to be cold towards her. He just wanted to be left to his thoughts after Aizen's brief and mostly unhelpful explanation for Sayomi no longer being in need of their help.

"In just a few moments," Aizen continued from where he stood high atop the platform in the fifth tower that he favored over all the others. "I will be standing on the throne of the heavens and Sayomi will be standing proudly beside me. All that needs to be done now is to eradicate you all. Which should be easy since the strength of the Gotei thirteen lies in its thirteen captains. Three of those captains have defected and four have been imprisoned here, effectively cutting the strength of the Gotei in half and leaving them virtually powerless." At that moment, the garganta that allowed the soul reapers to enter Hueco Muendo, closed, trapping them all. "If you'll excuse me, it seems that my queen has arrived."

The connection to all of the invaders of Hueco Muendo was severed as the doors at the far end of the enormous hall were pushed open to reveal Sayomi and Gin. Aizen smirked when he felt that Sayomi was ready for a fight and that her anger had grown more fierce in the short while they had been apart.

"There you are Sayomi, Gin, why don't the both of you join us. We were just about to open the garganta," Aizen informed them, turning to look over his shoulder at them.

"Hey, Kenpachi," Ichigo said over his shoulder at the large captain of the eleventh squad. "You said my job was to protect my home, right? Well, you're wrong. My job is to protect my friends."

"Huh? What's your point, kid?"

"My point is that you're on your own," Ichigo replied before pushing off from the ground, creating an explosion of sand as he propelled himself towards the fifth tower and where he could sense Orihime and Ulquiorra with her. He could tell that Sayomi was near by as well, but he was having a harder time getting a clear reading on her as he sped towards a collection of tall, gray towers.

"So what should we do," Renji asked, scratching at his fiery red head of hair.

Uryu frowned, he was standing now and staring off into the distance. "What we came here to," he answered evenly, adjusting his glasses. "Help our friends."

"We owe a lot to Kisuke...and to Aizen," Shinji said, his tone unusually serious as he replaced his cap on his head and stood up from the chair he had been sitting on in the broken warehouse that had been home to the Vizard for almost a century. "It's time to go."

Kensei, Love, Rose, Hachi, Lisa, Hiyori and Mashiro all rose from where they had been sitting as well. There was an ominous air about them all as they silently head for the door with every intention of breaking through the barrier that had been erected around the fake Karakura town and join the fight against Aizen.

"Hey, Kensei," Shinji called to the gray haired man.

Looking over his shoulder at Shinji, Kensei frowned, he knew what was coming and wanted nothing to do with it. "I don't want to hear it, Shinji."

"Too bad," Shinji replied, scratching at his head as the two fell a few steps behind the rest of the group. "I'm sure you noticed already, but during Sayomi's brief appearance in Karakura with Aizen it was obvious that she ain't herself and she ain't in control. It's like I thought, she submitted to Aizen and the bastard probably didn't make it easy on her. Who knows what he did to her or made her see-"

"What's your point, Shinji," Kensei grunted irritably, he didn't want to think about the things that Aizen had likely done to the woman he still loved very much.

Shinji sighed heavily and shoved his hands in pockets. "My point is that I don't think Sayomi is on our side anymore."

"Yeah, I know," Kensei replied wearily.

"Are you okay with this? We're probably gonna have to-"

"Beat some sense into her," Kensei interrupted. "I'm fine with that."

Shinji chuckled letting his serious demeanor fade away. "Well then, let's get this party started."

Sayomi stood up from the ground, her eyes narrowing as the rip in the air grew larger and the blue sky over the fake Karakura Town came into view. She could sense the unease of the shinigami as the garganta widened to reveal the giant creature that was looming behind her and Wonderweiss.

The blond boy took her hand and they began to walk forward, into the dark nothingness that was a garganta. When they reached the other side they were greeted with a nearly demolished replica of Karakura and several faces that showed not only surprise, but despair and the hopelessness that came along with a loss that was now quite real and not very far off.

Looking to her left, she saw that her brother, Aizen and Tousen were still trapped in the head captains flaming prison. The fight had been left to the three Espada and their fraccion, from what she could tell, their side had taken more loses than the shinigami. However, the shinigami were not used to the strength of the Espada and the arrancar that served them and though more had survived, most were in no shape to fight.

As her eyes took in the devastation, she saw that Rangiku and the soul reaper with the 69 tattoo on his cheek and another were encased in a strong barrier. Rangiku was missing much of her right side and looked to be on the verge of death if she weren't already dead. The young lieutenant she remembered seeing standing alone in the Ninth division's spot when she was paraded in front of the captain's in Soul Society looked to just be exhausted and badly beaten, but not on the death's doorstep yet. The other girl appeared outwardly fine, but it wasn't hard to tell that she was suffering greatly from an internal injury as she coughed up a stream of blood.

Her blue eyes strayed back to her former subordinate and friend and the blank glaze that had formed over them lightened until there was a look of concern on her face and she began to grow confused. She wanted to help Rangiku, to help the soul reapers that had wanted to kill her because she knew that was what was right. They were fighting to protect the lives of all of the innocent people in Karakura that would be lost should Aizen succeed in making the King's Key, not to mention the thousands if not millions of lives that would be lost after he succeeded in taking the throne of the heavens for himself.

Her breathing was growing unsteady as she stared at the strawberry blond woman and her free hand went to her head and her eyes closed tightly. 'What's going on? I want to help them, I should help them, but...'

As soon as her eyes closed, flashes of the innocent children that had tried to save her flashed through her mind so vividly she felt like she would wretch as her stomach violently revolted. Her air supply was cut off when Byakuya's arm wrapped itself around her throat and tightened with the intent to kill her. She whimpered and shook her head, trying to break free of the hold that the darkness behind her closed lids had on her.

"Ah..."

"Hm," Sayomi jolted out of her stupor, having been unaware that she was even in one until Wonderweiss had spoken and pulled on her hand. Her eyes snapped open when he released her hand and disappeared only to reappear behind captain Ukitake, his right arm thrust through the captain's chest and covered in blood and gore. The white haired captain then plummeted to the earth, surprise still evident on his face as he fell.

Captain Kyoraku was the next to fall, but he fell at the hands of Stark and cero that was fired from a pistol in his left hand.

She couldn't move as she watched the boy withdraw his hand with an innocent giggle from the captain's back and before she could register what she was doing, a sinister smile had appeared on her face and she flashed her way towards the great fireball that had enveloped Aizen, Gin and Tousen. The creature behind her had taken a breath and was exhaling, extinguishing the flames that had jailed the three men.

Appearing at Aizen's side as the flames dispersed entirely, Sayomi wrapped her arms around one of his and giggled as she looked around at the looks on the faces of the shinigami she had every intention of helping to permanently remove from the planet. "You're right, the looks on their faces were worth the wait. I still would have liked to join in on the fun though, after all, now that you're free they're all shaking in their boots since the have lost all hope. They will die and they know it, it's not very amusing to kill people who are expecting to die."

"I don't quite agree," Aizen replied with a dark smirk. "Seeing the fear in their eyes and they way they still struggle to survive even though they know they will die is amusing in its own way."

"I suppose," Sayomi sighed. "But still, there aren't a lot of energetic looking ones left to play with."

"I'm not so sure," Aizen said quietly.

Blinking up at the brown haired, brown eyed man, Sayomi grew confused until another voice spoke up.

"Hey, Aizen. Long time no see."

"Would you look at all those nostalgic faces," Gin drawled from beside her, but she couldn't bring herself to look, her body had frozen again and she clutched to Aizen's arm tightly.

"Sayomi, there is nothing to fear," Aizen assured her, tilting her head up so that he could lock eyes with her and hold her gaze. "They are not your friends, they have turned their backs on you. All of them. They deserve to die, they are in the way of our happiness and we can't allow that, now can we?"

It took her a moment, but slowly she shook her head from side to side. "No, we can't let them," she repeated, her voice sounded distant as if she were in a daze as she spoke and her eyes had further glazed over. She looked like an emotionless doll as she let her hands drop off of Aizen's arm and she took up a position standing between he and Gin, her gaze on the group of eight people she had once considered her friends, until her eyes settled on the stiff and angry form of her former lover and stayed there, blankly studied him.

Lisa and Shinji broke away from the group, Lisa to roughly kick her fallen ex-captain, Kyoraku, and Shinji to greet the head captain that seemed mildly surprised by the appearance of his group.

"I didn't think you were so weak as to let a man control you, Sayomi," Kensei spoke up.

"Weak, Kensei? Not at all, I'm not letting myself be controlled by anything but my hate for those that don't value the lives of anyone aside from themselves," Sayomi replied blandly. "And it has made me anything, but weak."

"Really? The Sayomi I know wouldn't agree with that."

"The Sayomi you know no longer exists," Sayomi stated, her right hand going out to her side. "Breathe, Fuyukaze." There was an eruption of spiritual pressure as the bracelet she wore exploded, flurries of snow circling her wrist and forming the intricately carved blue sheathe that housed her sword. Switching the sheathe to her left hand, she took hold of the blue and silver hilt of the katana and let an arrogant snort slip through her lips as she began to slowly withdraw it.

Being so focused on Kensei, she didn't immediately realize that Wonderweiss was making a series of loud noises until she felt the immense spiritual pressure of several different hollow. Turning her attention from Kensei to the gluttonous creature that Wonderweiss controlled, Sayomi was surprised to see that appeared to vomiting numerous gillian level menos grande.

"That's...kind of gross," she said with a distasteful grimace.

Beside her, Gin scratched at his silvery hair and shrugged. "It's definitely not pretty, but it's effective."

"Effective," she repeated with disdain and a toss of her long hair. "You're underestimating them. Those gillian will be dealt with in less two minutes, it's nothing but a minor distraction for them. If you want to beat them, you'll have to do better than that."

"Well, I didn't exactly do anything," Gin began, trailing off as he watched the scene play out in front of them.

Shinji and Lisa had rejoined the group of other Vizard and Shinji had proclaimed that it was time to get started with a grin on his face before calling upon his inner hollow and pulling his pharaoh like mask over his face. The others followed suit and then donning their hollow masks charged at the mass of gillians that were lumbering around Karakura.

Sayomi didn't care about the others, her eyes were focused on Kensei as he unleashed his inner hollow and released his zanpakuto. He easily blew two gillian to smoking little bits within seconds of charging and had moved on to his third not long after. He was moving with fluid ease through the battlefield, it was obvious he was well trained and extremely skilled as he made his way through gillian after gillian as if they were nothing more than bothersome ants. It was much the same for the others she noted as she let her eyes briefly flicker around to see how the others were doing.

Her eyes narrowed when she saw Mashiro, in her white jumpsuit, with her bee like mask on her face making her way towards the large creature that was behind Wonderweiss and without a word she disappeared from her spot.

"Let her be, Gin," Aizen advised the woman's brother that had curiously turned to follow after her.

Sayomi reappeared in front of Wonderweiss just in time to block Mashiro's leg from slamming into the young boy's face. She grunted against the force of the kick, she was only using her arms to block the girl's leg which was strong despite the girl's size. Evidence to support this was in the fact that before attacking Wonderweiss, Mashiro had taken out the large thing that was behind him. It now lay in a strange and gross looking pile on the rubble several hundred feet below.

Pushing against Mashiro's leg, Sayomi was able to flip the girl back and away from the boy who was loosely holding on to her haori. There was no doubt that Mashiro would attack again and Sayomi had no intention of letting the girl harm Wonderweiss, her hand went towards the hilt of her sword only to pause as her head snapped to her left to see that Shinji was standing several yards in front of Aizen.

She growled and without thinking about the situation she was leaving Wonderweiss in, she flashed back to where she had been. There was a loud screech and a shower of sparks as Shinji's sword collided with Sayomi's as she took a defensive stance in front of Aizen.

Shinji's brown eyes darkened and he gaze Sayomi a rather nasty, disapproving look. "I was really hoping it was just an act, that you were still you, but ya ain't, are ya?"

"Of course I'm me, Shinji and I'm going to kill you," she growled. It was at the same moment that she heard a loud crash and her attention was drawn to where Mashiro had taken a victorious stance over the place that Wonderweiss had smashed into a building.

Gin chuckled. "Poor thing, that was kinda harsh."

Gritting her teeth, Sayomi growled and prepared to push Shinji away and go back to aid Wonderweiss, but she found that the pressure on her sword was suddenly gone. She looked up to see that Shinji had leapt away and there was some blond strands of hair floating in the air where he had been.

"Ya got me," he drawled cheekily.

"No, I missed," Tousen replied coolly. "I was trying to take your head off from the eyes up, that little scratch doesn't count."

Figuring Tousen could handle himself, Sayomi shrugged and sheathed Fuyukaze, strapping the katana to her back before making her way to Wonderweiss. He was laying on his back in a pile of rubble, completely unconscious due to the harsh blow he had taken followed by the impact with the building he had demolished when he had crashed through it.

Leaning down beside him, she brushed some of his hair from his face and almost started laughing when he began to snore. "I think you'll be just fine," she chuckled.

"He may be fine, but you won't."

Letting her eyes slick upwards, she let a cold, heartless smirk form on her lips when her eyes met Kensei's. He had removed his hollow mask and stood in the air above her, it was easy to see by the way that his eyes were slightly narrowed and the stubborn set of his jaw that he was unhappy with her.

"Is that so," Sayomi challenged, rising from her crouch and tapping her feet against the concrete lightly to send herself soaring into the air so that she was eye to eye with Kensei.

"Yeah," he replied, settling himself in an offensive position. "I'm going to beat some sense into that thick skull of yours."

She chuckled darkly. "You won't be able to touch me, but you're welcome try." In one fluid, graceful movement, she had unsheathed Fuyukaze and was grinning at Kensei.

The serious set of Kensei's face never faltered as he watched Sayomi draw her zanpakuto and grin arrogantly at him. "I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to do this, Sayomi," he informed her wearily. "I don't want to hurt you and I know you don't want to hurt me."

Her grasp loosened on her zanpakuto and she gasped, her eyes blinking several times as she stared at Kensei and for a moment she could feel the desperation that seeped through her whole body and was evident in her face. "K-Ken..sei.." She closed her eyes for a moment and as soon as she did, her mind went blank and her hands tightened their grasp on her sword. "Enough talking, I thought you were going to beat some sense into me."

"Fine, have it your way. I won't go easy on you and I won't stop until you open your eyes," he told her. "And when you do...I'll be here for you."

Again, this isn't very well edited, so yeah...Sorry for any errors, hopefully there aren't too many though.....In my defense, I've been really sick and medicated so sleep sounds better than editing, k.

Anywho, I'm working on getting this finished and once this is done expect updates on just about everything else. I then intend to finish Tainted so that I will only have four stories at one time and not the six I currently have going. At which point I plan on trying to focus on Of Death and Love since it's been seriously neglected these past several months.

Well, enough blabbering from me, please review and tell me what you think. I have decided the final pairing for the story by the way, I'm not telling, but just so you know. ;) I'd also say that there are about four chapters left, but we'll see. Please review!