...


"... Are you going to kill me?" she breathed. Jairo shook his head.

"No, Leona." he murmured, bringing his sword down with a heavy swing. "I'm going to save you."


"One who paints the beauty in love is one who pretends to not know love's form. One who paints the ugliness in love is one who understood it well."


It burned. Everything simply burned. Her heart and her head were on fire from fear, panic and confusion. Her muscles screamed and ached, while her arm was literally scalded to the bone. Her breathing was ragged and uneven, and Leona could only hope with some desperate, faint hope that she could defend herself through so much pain. But as her crimson blood sprayed through the air, drawn out by her own Zanpakuto spirit, who she had always trusted so explicitly, she quickly began to doubt that she would live to see the end of this small chapter in her life- The Winter War may go on without her, after all.

"If you keep thinking that way, you really will die."

Jairo was staring at her from the red waters of her inner world. His Zanpakuto glittered in the light reflected by the ocean, and Leona couldn't help but think that he looked almost like a vindictive god of some kind. In a flash he was in front of her, his Zanpakuto clashing with her searing hot blade with a metallic clang before he pushed himself away yet again.

Leona flinched- The wound he had inflicted minutes before seemed to be causing more pain than a normal wound, and she guessed that it had something to do with the blade that had now fixed itself to her hand. The burning tentacles continued to climb farther up her arm, searing her skin like meat on a grill before attaching itself to her. She cried out again, tearing at the tentacles with her nails, not caring at all as some of her own flesh came off along with the tentacles as she ripped them from her arm.

"That's really what you're deciding to do?" Jairo asked, raising his eyebrows in surprise. "Ignore the person cutting you, and focusing on that?"

"It hurts!" she protested, tears still stinging her eyes as she pulled desperately at the tentacles.

"Power hurts," Jairo said softly. Leona frowned, ignoring him as she continued to rip at the tentacles. "I was being serious, Leona. If you keep this up, you will die."

"So let me die!" she cried, turning away from her self-destructive weapon to face her Zanpakuto spirit. His words were not comforting- They didn't help her accept the situation at all. She wished he would just stop speaking, and see things from her perspective. "There's no way I can fight you and this... This thing all at once!"

"Who said anything about fighting it?"

"What?" she breathed, but instead of answering, Jairo lunged.

She backed away from him swiftly, ducking low in the sand to avoid her face getting cut by his blade. Jairo growled in an animalistic manner, flattening his ears and snarling at his wielder before jabbing his sword in her direction once again. Leona blocked it, however, instincts overriding her need to get the searing tentacles off of her sensitive skin as she met Jairo's blade with her own.

"That's right," he muttered ducking to avoid a blow before taking a swipe at Leona's legs. "Fight me."

Snarling, Leona sliced upwards with her red hot blade, watching as a chunk of Jairo's hair fell from his head and landed in the sand. The stinging in her arm increased, and Leona flinched, leaving an opening for Jairo. Taking the opportunity, Jairo sliced straight through her stomach, the skin opening and letting out a fair amount of blood. Leona gasped, barely able to keep her body from falling to the ground as her body began to get low on blood. She felt woozy- Queazy, even. Her head had a light feeling, and her vision was quickly becoming blurry.

The small, indescribable fears that had always resided in the back of her mind were quickly overflowing into the forefront of Leona's mind. She was powerless to stop it, no matter how hard she tried. She wasn't afraid to die- On the contrary, sometimes she even welcomed the very thought of death. She had been living this life for hundreds of years, possibly more, and all she felt was exhaustion. No, she was not afraid to die. She was afraid of becoming a shadow- Afraid of being trapped in her body and watching as Hiori or whatever other part of her soul could possibly rebel against her forced in into her inner world, forcing her to watch as they caused all the pain they possibly could. Pain that she would be unable to stop, but pain that would remain on her hands and on her conscious for the rest of her life.

"If you don't fight me seriously, nothing will happen." Jairo said, his bright red eyes observing Leona carefully as she struggled to stay standing. "Don't think for a second that I won't wound you for real,"

"Thanks," she muttered bitterly, clutching her stomach with her free hand as she said this. "I'll keep that in mind next time."

"You act as though this is my fault." Jairo said, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion.

At this, Leona lashed out, unable to control her frustration with her Zanpakuto any longer. "It is your fault!" she growled, ripping the tentacles growing on her arm away from her flesh once more. "You got me into this mess! Why did you even bring me here- You could have just let me go!"

"I can't do that,"

"You're so desperate to live that you won't just let me rest?" she retorted, glowering angrily at the Chimera Boy in front of her. "Selfish."

"The opposite, really." he replied without missing a beat. "You can't die just yet. Not for my sake, or yours, but for Ichigo and the others." Leona paused at this statement, completely thrown by this unexpected sentiment.

"... What do you mean?" she asked, lowering her blade and concentrating completely on the boy in front of her. Jairo sighed.

"There are things that may happen soon... Things that only you have the solution to."

"'May happen', you say." she repeated, arching an eyebrow. "You don't know for sure?"

"Of course not. I'm a Zanpakuto spirit, I'm not convalescent."

"That's helpful," she replied sarcastically.

"What did you expect?" Jairo snapped, taking a step closer and raising his Zanpakuto. "For me to just give you all the answers here and now? Life isn't so easy, Leona, when has it ever been?" Leona stayed silent, nodding slowly.

She knew what he said was true- Life wasn't easy. It never had been, not for her, anyways. Bit if what Jairo said was true, perhaps she couldn't die just yet. She didn't know what he thought was to come- She didn't know what would happen in the future. But she did know that, had it been Ichigo, he never would have given up. He would have stayed alive, even if it was only to protect those he cared about. Jairo was right... She had been selfish for giving in... For giving up.

At last she stopped her musings, looking up from the sandy beach to stare straight into Jairo's fiery eyes. He made a face, apparently trying to gage her reaction to see just what was going through her mind. Leona knew that he knew just what was going through her mind. She knew he could feel what she felt, that he knew what she knew. She knew just how tired she was. Tired of the struggle that life brought with it- But that was living. As long as she was needed by those that she cared about, she could accept it for what it was. She would push through it, if it meant that someday, she could protect Ichigo the way he had so selflessly protected her for so many months.

"Jairo..." she murmured, feeling the burning in her arm increase tenfold as the tentacles attached themselves to her shoulder. His eyes widened at her words, apparently lost as to what she was doing.

But Leona knew it was an act- She had calmed down, and now that she was in her right mind, she could sense what he was sensing just as easily as he could sense what she was feeling. She didn't understand how she hadn't seen it before- The answer that he was so desperately trying to get her to realize. The wound on her stomach had stopped bleeding, and the tentacles had soon overtaken much of the right side of her body. She knew what she had to do- Jairo's eyes had revealed this much to her. She just hoped that she would not come to regret returning to the world. All she could to was trust in Jairo's words, and believe what he said. There would come a time where she would be needed more than she was at that moment- Then, and only then, could she finally give herself over to her next life.

"What are you doing?" Jairo asked, eyes narrowing as the tentacles overtook her left shoulder.

Leona smiled against the pain, forcing herself not to cry out as the little arms of her blade fixed themselves to her body like parasites. She felt something inside of her stir- Like some great power was mixing with her own. She felt it fill her up slowly. It was a feeling more intense than the burning pain that she was feeling all over her body. The feeling of letting that power in for the first time since she had become "Leona". She was afraid- But Jairo didn't look afraid. And all she had at that moment was the trust she felt for her Zanpakuto spirit.

"This is the way it's supposed to be, isn't it?" she whispered. She raised up her chin, wanting to to finish speaking to Jairo before the tentacles overtook her face. "I'm accepting it- This power that burns me. I'll take it and turn it into something that I can use," Jairo's confused expression quickly turned into one of triumph. He dropped his Zanpakuto to the ground, his eyes proud as he watched his wielder slowly give herself over to the power that she had so carefully hidden from herself in plain sight.

"When you wake up, Leona, Aizen will be looking for you." he said, glancing around the skies of their inner world. "Actually, I think he already has."

"Wha-" Leona's words were cut off as her lips were burned by a tentacle. Her cries were muffled as they continued to cover her skin, and she blinked back tears as she tried desperately to meet Jairo's eyes.

"Don't stop him," he said, looking down from the sky to meet her eyes one last time. "What he does when you wake up- Don't stop him."

Jairo... she wanted to say desperately. Her eyes were obscured from view as the burning tentacles covered them, and she wanted to cry out as they burned through her eyelids, searing her skin. Jairo, please don't leave me...

"I'm not leaving you, Leona." he said. Leona's breath caught in her throat as she felt her body slowly begin to meld with the tentacles. "No matter what, I'll never leave you alone. Even when you leave this life, I'll stay with you."

With those last words, Leona felt her body fall apart, the tentacles grabbing hold of everything they could possibly reach. The little bits of her that she could somehow still feel were brought back together again- But somehow, this time, they felt different. She felt different. The flock of cardinals did not reappear in the sky, and she felt that empty feeling that had always been with her quickly begin to disappear as the power filled up the entirety of her soul. All she had to do was accept it... Transcend the pain. And then, she was spiraling downwards, away from her inner world and back to her body in the middle of the Winter War.


Destruction and chaos surrounded her when she finally came to. All the pain she had felt when she went under had left her body, leaving her feeling completely healed and, if anything, more powerful than ever.

Slowly, cautiously, she sat up. Her heart was beating loudly in her ears, even though she somehow knew that she no longer needed to fear for her life. All around her was smoke and rubble. Looking down, she soon realized that she was laying on the remains of a completely demolished building. Looking to her right, her eyes widened as they fell on a group of all too familiar faces.

The eyes of Arisawa Tatsuki widened, too, when Leona's met hers. It was as though she somehow recognized her, despite Leona having been completely forgotten in the world of the living. Leona, however, was not allotted much time to reminisce, and the next moment a familiar feeling began to overtake her. She immediately recognized the feeling as Aizen- But, for whatever reason, his Reiatsu no longer caused her bones to creak and her head to ache as it once had. The approaching presence of the Hogyoku was her alert to his appearance, and tearing her eyes away from Tatsuki, Leona looked to her left.

Far away, she could see Aizen's silver-haired right hand man laying against a rock. His breathing was ragged and uneven by the looks of him, and with immense surprise, Leona realized that one of his arms was missing. Matsumoto was bent over him, tears spilling from her eyes as her lips moved and she spoke to him. Leona's eyes softened- Perhaps Gin had not been the coldhearted killer and traitor that everyone had thought him to be.

No sooner had her mind begun to think about this, she was torn away from the subject, her thoughts turning instead to the presence that was now directly in front of her. Leona's breath caught in her throat, and she felt bile rise in her mouth as she felt an inescapable feeling of disgust overtake her.

Aizen Sosuke was almost beyond recognition. His skin was pure white, his eyes such an abysmal black that had she been anyone else, she may have gotten lost within them. He stared down at her, his expression showing a hint of annoyance and confusion as he regarded her thoughtfully. Three pairs of identical wings protruded from his back, white as the rest of his body, and his brown hair now flowed in the air behind him. Leona's eyes narrowed as she continued to stare- This was a truly horrendous transformation, one the defied all laws set by nature and, consequentially, the world itself.

She hated it. She hated him.

"This is troubling, indeed." Aizen said at last.

The rubble shifted beneath him as he took a step closer, reaching out a pure white hand. For a moment, Leona considered fighting, or even running. But Jairo's words rang through her mind again, keeping her from doing anything besides keeping her eyes locked on the transformed Aizen- Don't stop him, he had said. Aizen's fingers drew still closer, and Leona could practically feel the evil energy surrounding him radiate against her skin. He was a truly disgusting creature- She was surprised that the world even allowed his presence. Certainly such an abomination should not be allowed in the world of the living?

Her thoughts ceased as his fingertips touched her skin, running down her face as he crouched lower to the ground. She shivered, but not out of fear, as they traveled down her neck and over her chest. For some reason, Aizen did not seem to be questioning why she wasn't running or resisting. Perhaps by that point he thought so highly of himself that it didn't faze him- Perhaps he thought her powerless in his presence. Leona's eyes narrowed even more; How wrong he would soon find himself to be.

"I had hoped the fall would kill you," he mused, hid fingers finally coming to rest on her Hollow Hole. "But it seems that I made you stronger than I thought... No matter," he continued, and second later Leona gasped as he stuck his whole fist straight through the hole in her abdomen. It didn't hurt- But it did not feel right, either. Her body seemed to sense the intrusion of such an abominable creature, and she felt her entire existence begin to reject him with everything it had. The feeling itself did nothing, however, though it took all Leona had in the way of willpower to not shove the man away from her right at that very moment.

Don't stop him.

She repeated these words to herself like a mantra. She didn't know what would happen if she stopped him, but she didn't care to find out. Jairo would not have told her to do otherwise had the consequences of doing so not been detrimental, to say the least. So she waited, holding her breath as she met the dark eyes of Aizen Sosuke, who was now smiling to himself triumphantly. She rolled her eyes. He really was fond of all this horrible power that he now held in his body.

"The Hogyoku exists to serve its master," he murmured. Leona's eyes fell on his chest, where the little gem that was the Hogyoku was now clearly visible. "I wished that it could change you and turn you into what you are today- So it did." A uncomfortable tingling was now spreading through Leona's body, and she was now struggling to resist the urge to push Aizen away with all of her strength. "And now, it will take away that power that it gave you, because I wish it to."

The next moment, Leona could not contain her cries of pain. Energy burst forth from Aizen's fist, which was still going through her body through her Hollow Hole. Leona screamed as loud as she could, fighting her own instincts even as her hands raised of their own accord to push Aizen away. Blood sprayed the air as her Hollow armor was ripped away from her skin, and she felt the hole in her stomach begin to close around Aizen's hand as her Arrancar appearance was stripped from her body.

Was this what Jairo had wanted? Leona didn't understand. How was she to beat Aizen if she was no longer the Indigena? In truth, Leona wasn't even sure if that was what was happening. Through the immense pain, she could still feel the power she had gained only minutes ago still within her. None of Aizen's actions seemed to be affecting that in the slightest.

"Be gone, Indigena," he muttered, watching with barely concealed delight as the Hollow armor vanished entirely. "I no longer have any need for you. You are a hinderance-"

A sudden crushing noise stopped the rest of his words, leaving them unsaid but still on the tip of his tongue. Leona stopped screaming as he removed his hand from her body, leaving her completely whole, no evidence of her time as an Arrancar visible on her body. She was breathing heavily, desperately trying not to panic. Despite her trust for her Zanpakuto, she was worried. Worried that she was now powerless.

All of her worries were instantly forgotten when her eyes came to rest on Ichigo, who was now standing in between her and Aizen. Leona nearly jumped as Ichigo swiftly set down the limp body of his father beside of her, and it was then that she caught sight of his face. He looked so different. His bright orange locks were now almost as long as her hair was, the carrot colored hairs tickling just above the base of his neck. His face looked different, too; Older, wiser somehow, as if he had been around this world forever. As if he felt the weight of everyone's problems on his shoulders, and he knew that he was the only who could fix them.

His body had also become more muscular, and Leona gasped along with Tatsuki and the others when she realized that Zangetsu was now attached to his muscled arm by a thin chain. His hakama's sleeves were ripped, and he wore the most serious expression Leona had ever seen on his face. His normally light brown eyes had darkened with seriousness, and Leona could only stare up at his back as he continued to shield her from Aizen. For a moment, it looked like he was hesitating, but then he murmured something so soft that she almost didn't hear.

"... Good. Yuzu and Karin are safe," he said. Then, he turned to face Leona, his serious brown eyes settling on her with an intensity that she had never felt from him before. "What did he do to you?" he said at last, looking her body up and down, confusion barely showing in his eyes. She shook her head slowly, standing up shakily before she spoke.

"It's nothing,"

"You were screaming."

"It doesn't hurt..." she assured him. Slowly, she ran her hands down her smooth skin, the very skin that had, only minutes ago, been concealed by heavy Hollow armor. Despite herself, she felt a smile twitch the corners of her lips before she looked back up to meet Ichigo's eyes once again. Her fingers twitched, and for a moment she hesitated, unsure of whether now was a good time. But with a heavy swallow, Leona shoved all of her doubts into the back of her mind, reaching out for Ichigo's face determinedly with her fingertips. "... Not any more."

Ichigo's eyelids fluttered shut for a fleeting moment as the tips of her fingers made contact with the cool skin of his cheek. He let out an audible sigh, but he didn't move as Leona stepped still closer. Leona moved cautiously, carefully, like a sudden movement would alert Ichigo to the many dangers surrounding them once again, and then the moment would come to an end. Placing her knuckles gently against his cheekbone, Leona leaned in further, not even daring to breath. Finally, she stopped, unable to take it anymore. Her eyes searched his face for something- Anything- That would tell her what to do.

Ichigo's eyes opened once more, meeting her stormy grey orbs for another minute. Had Leona been able to form a single coherent thought, she would have most likely been wondering why someone had not attacked them yet. But all half formed thoughts were scattered in her mind when she felt Ichigo's warm lips on her own. From far to her left she heard a collective gasp form the group of Ichigo's friends that had somehow made it into the fake Karakura Town. She couldn't breathe, and she couldn't think, but oddly enough it was not an uncomfortable feeling. It felt right... It felt perfect.

"... That..." she whispered, keeping her lips as close to his as possible, even after they had broken apart. "... Is what I wanted to tell you..."

"Remind me again later," Ichigo said, chuckling deep within his chest and backing away slowly from the red head in his arms. "We haven't won yet."

And then he turned away from her, and Leona was watching again as he walked towards Aizen. Her lips still tingling, Leona tried to reach out to sense Ichigo's Reiatsu- But there was none there. It wasn't the same as with Aizen's Reiatsu. The feeling with his was more like she had overcome its crushing power, rather than it had surpassed her beyond her conscious understanding. She could feel it, but it no longer affected her because she was stronger. But Ichigo... From him, she felt absolutely nothing.

"Kurosaki Ichigo," Aizen murmured. "That was touching." he said sarcastically, his eyes resting on Leona for a short moment before reverting back to Ichigo. "... But if you are really Kurosaki Ichigo, then I am disappointed. I can't feel any Reiatsu from you at all." Leona's heart stopped, and she turned her attention back to Ichigo, who seemed unfazed by Aizen's accusations. Something inside of her told her that she had to trust him. She just had to. "Even if you were holding back, I'd feel something. You've made a mistake. I gave you one last chance, but you let it slip away... Too bad, Kur-"

"Aizen," Ichigo's voice was deep, cutting across Aizen's voice easily like a knife cutting through soft butter. "Let's go somewhere else. I don't want to fight here." His eyes darted from Tatsuki and Keigo to Leona, and then back to Aizen again.

"A meaningless proposal," Aizen murmured. "Those are the words of a person who has the strength to fight me. Don't worry. Before Karakura is destroyed, you will be-"

The rest of his words were lost to them, however, as Ichigo's hand grabbed hold of his face violently, silencing him before he could say anything more. And just like that they were gone, leaving only the empty sound of Aizen's lost words in their wake. Leona nearly choked on her own breath, looking skyward to watch as Ichigo disappeared from view.

"... You..."

Leona turned, her grey eyes finding Tatsuki standing just beside of her. Her eyes were narrowed, peering at her in disbelief. She stepped closer, and Leona flinched a little when she reached up her own hand.

"... I know you..." she murmured, contorting her face as if she were desperately grasping at the memories in her mind that should not have existed any longer. Leona smiled kindly, tilting her head to meet Tatsuki's eyes as she spoke.

"Yes," she replied, her smile flickering almost sadly. "You did."

Tatsuki fell silent once again, backing away but still looking confused. Leona sighed, looking back up at the blue sky above her. There was no longer any sign of Ichigo or Aizen, but far off in the distance she could still feel the level Reiatsu of Aizen, along with the feeling of the Hogyoku. Closing her eyes, Leona focused her mind on her Zanpakuto.

'Jairo?'

'Yes.'

'What can I do?' she asked solemnly. 'He didn't take my powers, did he?'

'No,' he replied swiftly, and Leona could have sworn that she felt her dagger sized Zanpakuto thrum with excitement. 'You have all of your own power, now. He changed your soul with a piece of the Hogyoku- A piece that he still has yet to retrieve. That little slice of the Hogyoku that did his dirty work for so many years is yours, now. You made it yours by fighting for it, Leona. And now he's going to regret what he did to you.' Leona's breath hitched in her throat as she listened, her closed eyes twitched as she waited for him to continue. 'He's going to regret what he turned you into all those years ago.' Leona's eyes opened and widened.

What...?

'You heard me right.' he said slowly. 'Because of that, you yourself won't ever be able to kill him. You have a connection with that thing inside him that will always prevent you from dealing the final blow... But you can still help Ichigo.'

'... Just tell me what to do...'


So in this chapter, Leona has a short fight with Jairo, which ends with her realizing that he never really wanted to fight her- He just wanted her to see what she needed to do with that power. When she woke up, Aizen was standing over her, and said that since he created her using the Hogyoku that he is the master of, he can take her Arrancar powers back, which he proceeds to do. Ichigo shows up then, and the long awaited moment arrives! Hope I wrote that little scene alright...

Anyways, Ichigo leaves and Tatsuki says that she knows Leona. Just a short pre-fight moment with Leona's long lost foster sister. Then she speaks with Jairo, who at last reveals just what the hell is up with her powers- Aizen used a sliver of the Hogyoku that is now in his body to create the thing that Leona became, which then created the Vizards. So now she's stuck with a little itty bitty piece of the Hogyoku inside of her. Although this means that she would never be able to kill Aizen herself because of the twin pieces of the Hogyoku inside of the both of them, Jairo says that she can still help Ichigo. How? Find out next chapter!

Hope you all enjoyed this, and please, please review if you read! I never like it when people withhold chapters for reviews, so I won't do it, but just know that I'd really appreciate the reviews!

Also, I'd really love it if some of my readers would go check out my new story The Dark Beat- Feedback on that would be really great.

To Azulish: Your review made me smile like an idiot when I read it. This is the longest review I have ever received, and I must say I enjoyed reading it. I'll also say that you are much closer than anyone in your guesses, though I won't flat out answer with yeses or nos. All I'll say is that you've got to keep reading to find out- But those are some excellent theories about Aizen's trick, as well as the "Beta Indigena", or Omega, already having some sort of power! Thank you so, so much for the review and all of your praise for my writing! I hope you enjoy the rest of the story!

to bored411: All good guesses but no dice! Not to worry, though, all will be revealed soon! Another hint, it's not someone who has been mentioned too much. I'm sure if you read some of the other reviews for the previous chapter you could gain some other helpful hints! Thanks so much for reviewing!

to Lago: Thanks for all of your reviews and support! I have to admit that I was a little nervous about doing that thing with the Hogyoku, so I'm glad you enjoyed it, and that you didn't think I was overdoing it too much.