Bleach: Tatsuki X Ichigo
Chapter 7

Ichigo's blade slashed horizontally through Ywach with little resistance until he caught the blade in his hand.

"The path is being closed, Ichigo!" he shouted as he clung onto the blade that had cleaved him in twain. "The path to a world with no fear. The world of the living, Soul Society, Hueco Mundo; they were all meant to be one! Life and death twisted and fused together. They were all destined to be one and the same. But now, that will likely never happen and you only have yourself to thank for that. Sadly, because of all of your efforts here, life and death will never lose their current forms and all those who breathe will continue to pass each and every day living in fear of death for eternity."

Ichigo looked at the dying god with indifference in his eyes, listening to him beg and plead with his dying breaths for his philosophy to come to fruition.

Aizen stood with Ichigo as they watched Ywach's form melt into a pool of darkness that seemed to evaporate before their very eyes, neither man looking at or acknowledging the other as they watched the darkness fade to nothing.

"It's finally over," Ichigo sighed as he stabbed Zangetsu into the ground and sat with his back against it.

"Not quite," Aizen replied, giving the substitute shinigami a quick glance. "His spirit hasn't completely disappeared. I'm not sure if it ever will, but his spirit energy hasn't disappeared yet."

Ichigo gave Aizen a silent stare as he listened to the words he said before he spoke, "So what now, then?"

"What exactly do you mean?"

"What are you going to do?" he asked the former captain.

"I suppose you're waiting for me to run away? Like this is the only chance I'll have at freedom again?" Aizen answered, his tone not changing as his chest wound disappeared before Ichigo's eyes and he wiped the blood from his mouth. For a moment, Ichigo could see the hogyoku burning brightly within him.

"I can't say I wouldn't be thinking about it, if I was in your shoes," Ichigo said, casting his eyes up at the sky as he caught his breath sitting against his zanpakuto.

"There would be little point in it," Aizen responded, flatly. "Even at this point, I'm sure Kurotsuchi or Urahara have a tracking device somewhere for me, and with the current state of things, what would I waste my freedom on?"

Ichigo glanced at the former captain as he saw his head shift so he could look up at the cloudy sky over the palace.

"My goal, my ambition, all of it is pointless now," Aizen answered as he turned towards the Central 46 prison where he'd been released from. "The Soul King is dead, so there's little reason for me to pursue my freedom now."

Without another word, Aizen disappeared, no doubt flash-stepping to his former bonds, awaiting the guards and other staff to place his chains back on him and bury him deep in the lowest pits of their prison.

Ichigo heard footsteps approaching him quickly and turned to see Orihime sprinting full tilt towards him, her hands already on her hairpins as she called forth her healing powers. Uryu was not far from her as he walked towards Ichigo from the place he'd been standing when he'd fired the arrow into Ywach to weaken him and allow Ichigo to defeat him.

"Ichigo, are you ok?" Orihime shouted as she slid up to him, sullying her dress as she grabbed his face and checked him over for any severe wounds.

"Is it over?" Uryu asked as he approached Ichigo, looking at the spot that Ywach's essence had faded before him.

"Who knows?" Ichigo answered, shrugging. "Only time will tell, I suppose."

After a few minutes of Orihime's examinations and healing, the trio stood and moved towards the exit from the palace, moving out to join the other captains and lieutenants, as well as Chad, who had all been fighting the last of the Sternritters.

Rukia was nowhere to be seen and Ichigo asked about her when suddenly, Byakuya appeared before them.

"She's recovering," he answered. "I suggest we all do the same."

Ichigo nodded, and with that, they all prepared to return to the Seireitei.

**************************BLEACH***********************

Tatsuki sat nervously at her home, waiting for some sort of sign that things had turned out alright. The whole world had been shaking multiple times now, keeping her on her toes. Even though the local news stations all discounted it all as just a standard earthquake and told everyone not to fear, Tatsuki knew, somewhere deep inside, that this was no earthquake and that it had something to do with Ichigo's fight.

She sat on her bed, her knees drawn to her chest as she looked outside at the setting sun, her eyes sore and red from not sleeping in days.

She hated this.

She hated them.

She hated the Soul Society.

She hated everything about this.

She felt her stomach gnawing as it complained to her that she was hungry, but that hunger was entirely physical. Her mind didn't pay attention to her body as she sat staring out her window at the horizon, her cell phone sitting on the window ledge as she waited for the call from Orinime telling her that they'd made it home. Telling her that everyone was safe. Telling her that Ichigo was alive.

Hours had turned to days and she was approaching a week of not hearing from them. She felt her chest tightening more and more with every passing day that she didn't hear from her friends.

What killed her more than anything else, however, wasn't that they were gone, or that she didn't know where they were. It wasn't even that they were in danger. She was most upset that there was absolutely nothing she could do about any of it.

A call came through on her cell phone, jolting her from her thoughts. In her excitement she didn't read the screen and picked up.

"Orihime?" she practically yelled.

"No, it's Isshin," Mr. Kurosaki came through, crashing her hopes as she almost hung up before he continued "Do you have your ticket on you?"

Her heart sunk as he said this and she pulled her legs to her chest harder.

"Yeah," she answered, "but we don't need it right?"

Isshin didn't answer as her chest ached.

"Right?" she asked, again, more insistently. "He's going to be coming home, isn't he?"

Again, Isshin didn't answer for a long time, the only sound she could hear was her own heart beating so loud that blood rushed in her ears.

"Bring your ticket with you and be here around nine-thirty, ok?" he asked.

She couldn't bring herself to answer him. She didn't trust her voice as she silently nodded her understanding, less for him and more to herself.

"Nine-thirty," she finally managed, her voice shaky as she spoke, her response clear enough for Isshin as he confirmed softly before disconnecting the line.