"Aizen...Taichou...alive?And...what did you just say?" Kana's eyes flickered between Renji as he spoke, to the two Captains he was staring in shock at. She wasn't sure what was going on here, but the air felt heavy and her stomach clenched. She rested her hand on the hilt of her Zanpakuto for comfort, fingers playing with the ribbon. She held her other hand behind her, wiggling her fingers and ignoring the slight gasp from Orihime behind her as they sparked slightly.
"Ara? I thought you had heard me before, Abarai fukutaichou. I told you to leave Kuchiki Rukia there and back away." Aizen's voice rumbled lowly like thunder in the distance, and Kana felt her stomach knot even more. She had never felt such subtly oppressive energy from someone before. It was like he was physically pushing down on her entire body, and yet no one else seemed affected. There was a 'ping' in her head next, and she jolted in surprise.
"All court guard squad Captains, Lieutenants, and seated officers. May I have your attention please? As well as the Ryoka." An unfamiliar voice rang in her head, and her eyes flicked back to her friends. Ishida and Chad both nodded to let her know they heard it too, and Orihime had a hand pressed to her ear. Kana turned her gaze back to Renji and the Captains as the voice continued.
"This is Squad Four Lieutenant Isane Kotetsu with an urgent announcement." Well at least now Kana had a name for the voice in her head.
"Listen closely as this message will not be repeated. This is an emergency report from Captain Unohana regarding the traitor in our midst." Kana's eyes flicked to Renji again as he gasped, clutching Rukia tighter to his chest. Carefully watching the two Captains across from Renji, Kana started forwards despite the tug on her shihakusho from Orihime. The brown haired man's eyes moved to watch her path, and he held up a hand to stop the dark skinned man from approaching.
"As grim as the following facts are, what I'm about to tell you is the truth." Kana came to a stop beside Renji, placing her hand on his shoulder and locking her gaze on the two captains.
"Sosuke Aizen. Ichimaru Gin. Kaname Tosen. These are the names of the traitors to the Soul Society. They have murdered every member of the Central 46." Renji shifted below Kana's hand, and she squeezed it lightly.
"...I won't." He mumbled, and although it was quiet enough to have not been heard, apparently Aizen did.
"Would you mind repeating that?"
"I won't leave Rukia. I refuse to let her go!" Aizen was quiet for a moment in response before smiling softly, and Kana scowled at the false look. Although his face and posture screamed 'you can trust me' his entire reiatsu was making her own shudder in response.
"Very well then." Beside him, Gin grasped the hilt of his zanpakuto, but was stopped from drawing his blade as Aizen gestured for him to hold before moving forwards. Kana resisted the urge to unsheathe her own Zanpakuto with every step he took.
"You are stubborn, Renji. Since you won't let go of her and stand down as I ordered you, I have no choice. But i'll take your feelings into consideration, and I will let you have your way. She can stay in your arms."
Kana tensed even more when Aizen unsheathed his Zanpakuto with a dramatic flourish.
"The rest of you goes."
Kana gasped, eyes flying wide as she grabbed the back of Renji's shihakusho and pulled hard. She leapt back as far as she could and as fast as she could, and even still she was too slow. She brought her free hand forwards, purple lightning arching from her finger tips to Aizen. Renji had been pulled to his feet beside her, and he was still cradling Rukia in own arm, his other hand pointing his Zanpakuto at Aizen. The side of Renji's arm had been sliced open, and if she hadn't pulled him back she was sure he would have lost the arm entirely. Kana's heartbeat was loud in her ears as she locked her gaze on Aizen, who was shaking off the numbness in his arm.
"How interesting. It's been many centuries since I've seen a power like this one." Kana swore her heart stuttered when his eyes met hers, and she vaguely noted how clammy the back of her neck felt, similar to when you were about to pass out.
"It would be best for you to return to your friends. There is no need for one of your kind to invest themselves in Shinigami matters."
"My kind?" Kana whispered, mostly to herself, but Aizen's smile simply turned kinder and his gaze moved back to Renji.
"I hope you won't struggle for too long. It's difficult for me to control my power. It's difficult to step on ants without crushing them."
"I don't believe you don't want to kill me! You killed Momo in cold blood!" Aizen chuckled shortly at Renji's furious words.
"What happened with Momo couldn't be helped. I trained her so that she cannot live without me. So don't you think that killing her was an act of mercy?"
Renji was quiet for a moment before he started shouting again.
"I don't know who the mosnter in front of me is, but you're surely not the Aizen we all knew. I don't know what you want with her, but I'll never hand Rukia over to you! Even if it costs me my life!"
"It's good to know, that my illusion was so loved." Aizen hummed. Renji moved suddenly beside her and Kana flashed a bit back as Renji leapt to the skies. Aizen's reiatsu shifted and Kana froze for a second before shouting.
"Renji! Wait a minute!" It was useless though, as his blade separated and flew towards Aizen, only for him to stop it with his bare hand. There was another shift in his reiatsu, and this time Kana was too slow. In a blink of her eyes, Zabimaru was collapsing around in pieces, and blood burst from Renji's shoulder. He dropped to his knees, and Aizen was standing directly in front of him.
"I'll tell you one more time. Put Kuchiki Rukia down and back away." Rukia struggled in Renji's arm, and Renji clenched tighter, telling her to shut up. He smirked cockily at Aizen, especially for someone who was so beat up. There was another swift flash of Aizen's blade, but this time instead of a burst of blood there was the clanging of steel and Kana sighed at the sight of Ichigo standing guard over Rukia and Renji.
"Are you an idiot, Renji?" Kana blinked at Ichigo's insult, as he completely ignored the man trying to kill everyone in favour of mocking the red head behind him.
"All you had to do was take Rukia and run and you couldn't even manage that? Look how beat up you are!"
"You're one to talk! Maybe instead of coming back here, you should've gone to bed. "
"You've got a lot of nerve talking like that to the guy who just came to save your butt!"
Kana's eye twitched and she moved, smacking both of the idiots upside the head.
"You two are seriously gonna fight like this right now? You're making yourselves easy targets!"
Kana's attention was drawn back to the real issue as the snake faced one spoke.
"Sorry, Aizen. I figured ya wouldn't want me interfering, so I let one of the Ryoka slip by."
"It's fine, Gin. This will only take a moment longer is all."
"Kana." She looked to Ichigo as he talked to her, eyes locked on Aizen.
"Are you fast enough to get Rukia away from here?" Kana wanted to say yes. Instead she scowled, eyes also locked on Aizen as he stared back at her.
"You've gotten a lot stronger, Ichigo. But you're still stupid. Nobody can get Rukia away from Aizen." Her scowl turned fiercer as his smile widened and dark brown eyes shifted from herself to Ichigo.
"You should listen to your friend. The sooner you abandon your useless quest to save Rukia Kuchiki, the less your friends will be hurt." As Kana figured it would, this only seemed to piss Ichigo off and with a shout he started charging Aizen, his reiatsu visually flaring around him.
"Fucking idiot." Kana mumbled, shifting herself over to stand beside Rukia.
"No way." Rukia quietly whispered, and Kana shifted her arm around Rukia's shoulders to stop her from falling at the grotesque sight. Ichigo's blade was stopped by a single finger from Aizen, and it was impossible to tear her eyes away from Ichigo's form as he slowly crumbled to the ground.
"You're more powerful than I thought. I thought that would cut you clean in half." Aizen was there one moment and gone the next, and Renji was the next to fall. At this point all Kana could see was the red of blood. Rukia was shaking beside her as Aizen took his time approaching.
"Ichigo...Renji..." She cried softly, and Kana scoffed, holding Rukia closer as the petite girl's legs gave out.
"Idiots." And then Aizen was in front of them, and Kana felt that pressure again, Aizen's reiatsu was making hers tremble again, but she could stand and that was all she needed to do. Aizen seemed to sense either the fact that Kana was smart enough to not fight when she had no chance of winning, or he felt he wouldn't need it, but whatever his reason Aizen sheathed his blade. Ichigo was gasping ahead of them, barely moving to glare at Aizen, who explained that he knew their every move, and how it helped him complete his plan, and how Urahara's senkaimon could only bring them to the West Rukon.
"Since this is the end anyway, I'll tell you one last thing." Aizen motioned for Kana to follow him as he started towards Ichigo, and Kana hesitated a moment before slowly moving forwards. She didn't know who Aizen was. She didn't know what he wanted. But he was powerful, he knew things he shouldn't know, and Kana knew if she wanted to live she shouldn't go against him.
"Did you know Shinigami have four basic fighting methods? Zanjutsu, Hakura, Hoho, and Kido. But there is a limit to how strong a Shinigami can become in any one of them. No matter which of the techniques he chooses, there comes a point at which he will have mastered it, and all his growth will stop there. As a Shinigami, he will have reached his limit. However, for some, it is possible to get past that wall, and to exceed the limit that's built into all four techniques. And to do that there is only one way. The Shinigami has to become a Hollow. Either that, or a Hollow can become like a Shinigami. Either way, what is required is the removal of the barrier between those two opposing existences. That is the key to making the spirit's power even greater. In theory, the idea seemed plausible, so I studied it in secret. I started testing, focusing mostly on the transformation of Hollows into Shinigami. I was successful in creating Hollows that came close. Hollow's that could hide their reiatsu. Even ones that could take over Zanpakuto at a touch and fuse with Shinigami. But in the end, none of them worked out as well as I had hoped. It appeared that the theory was only that, destined never to be a reality."
Aizen came to a halt and Kana immediately stopped. She was unsure of Aizen, and Kana was never ever unsure of herself. It had her hesitate as to what she should do, and she felt herself simply wanting to run, but she knew it was useless.
"But, Kisuke Urahara succeeded where I had failed. The mechanism he invented removes the barrier, dividing Hollow and Soul Reaper, instantly making one into the other. It defied all logic within the soul society. It's called the Hogyoku. I knew immediately how dangerous it was. It was obvious Urahara felt the same way. He tried to destroy it, but he was unable to find a way to undo his own creation. Instead, he reluctantly resorted to another method. He created a shield around the hogyoku and activated it. Then he enveloped it deep within a konpaku in order to try to conceal it's location from anyone who would want to use it for evil." Rukia flinched as Aizen turned on the spot to face them.
"You know, don't you? That that's why I want you. Because Urahara decided to hide the hogyoku inside you. When I had learned you were missing in the world of the living, I realized right away that Urahara had something to do with it. All Shinigami and gigai are traceable by the Soul Society, no matter where they go." Aizen shifted in his robes for a second before pulling out a strange purple tube. It clicked open, and great green spikes rose around them. Aizen's hand shifted to match them and then Kana felt Rukia jolt in her arm as Aizen's arm plunged into her chest. He retracted slowly, and Kana watched in awe as his hand shifted back to normal. Within his fingers was a purple orb surrounded by crystal. Kana had to grab Rukia in both arms as she collapsed, and other than the fact she was shaking slightly, she seemed find. Aizen smirked above them, eyes locked in the orb in his fingers.
"The Hogyoku." Kana whispered quietly, and Aizen turned back to them.
"It's a shame, but I have no more use for you." Aizen reached forwards, grasping the collar around Rukia's neck and pulling her from Kana's hold. He held her up across from him with his arm fully extended.
"Kill her, Gin."
