Chapter 18: The end of an era

Ichigo rushed the old man with both her Odachi and Nodachi drawn. She was seeing red in the worst of ways now. This old man had talked down on her mother and for what? Just because of some sad old believe that every Quincy is as evil as the ones from centuries ago? That was his mindset? That was the reason why Ichigo's mother died? That was the reason her life fell apart after her mothers death? The very thought of that made her furious. She had never wanted to rip apart someone so much before today. Never wanted to see an opponent die by her blade as much as she does right now. Yamamoto was going to die this day, and it would be Ichigo who would do this.

Sosuke stood back and was visibly worried at what he was seeing from his love. She was angry and being a bit reckless. True, now that the head captain didn't have his zanpakuto with him anymore he was primed for the kill, but that didn't mean that he was a pushover either. He hoped that Ichigo wouldn't lose control and attack in a blind rage, because if that was the case, then he would have to step in and end this quickly.

Ichigo, contrary to what Sosuke thought, attacked with purpose. She wasn't blinded by her rage towards this old man stuck in his ways, but that didn't mean she wasn't angry. She attacked with her blades, watching as the old man dodged her attacks as best as he could. Ichigo was faster than the old man, but he was more experienced than she was. It was like a game of chess. Making sure that you didn't screw up enough where your opponent would catch you off guard.

Ichigo fired a Getsuga Tenshou at the old man. The black/red energy from her Odachi fired in a wide arch towards the old man. Yamamoto dodged the attack but then felt her appearing behind him. He quickly turned around and evaded her downward slash with her Nodachi. He avoided it with shunpo but then felt a sudden weightlessness along his left arm. He looked to it and saw a small gash on the forearm.

"What?!" The old man yelled out.

Ichigo fired another Getsuga from her Odachi, hoping that the distracted old man wouldn't have enough time to react. Unfortunately for her, he did. He shunpoed behind her and delivered a devastating fist to the small of her back, knocking her with great force down to the ground. Large amount of dust kicked up and Sosuke looked down in concern for Ichigo. The head captain thought that that was the end of that, but his thoughts were very much interrupted when Ichigo blew the dust away with simple flick of the wrist. She looked up at him with her glowing red eyes and looked to the old man with an intense stare. Sosuke let out a sigh of relief seeing her unharmed at best.

"Incredible." Kisuke spoke up from his still tied up position on a rooftop. His eyes widened when he saw that Ichigo wasn't even remotely hurt.

"My my Isshin." Ao Shun started with a smile. "Your daughter really is something else isn't she?"

"Yes she is." Isshin nodded with a smile of his own.

"Isshin." Kisuke spoke up, getting the former captains attention. "You can't let her do this. Aizen will try and use her to get to the soul king. Don't you understand what that would mean?!" Kisuke had lost his calm demeanor long ago.

Isshin didn't answer his former friend and instead looked back to his eldest daughter. He knew what Aizen was really planning and what that would mean for the soul society. In all honesty, it sounded much better than how everything would have been if it stays the same.

Ichigo disappeared from the crater and appeared in front of Yamamoto, much to the old mans surprise. She flared her spirit energy into her Odachi and went for a wide slash. The head captain used his good arm to block the slash as best as he could, but found that the attack numbed that arm as well. He went wide eyed as he saw that Ichigo's Nodachi was what fired at him. The old man grunted as he felt a slash to his leg. The blood that trickled down his leg came in droves. He gritted his teeth and looked over to Ichigo. She looked into his eyes with those glowing red orbs of hers and scowled. This man was solely responsible for her mothers death. If it had been Sosuke that was in charge of the soul society, then her mother would still be alive today.

The head captain gritted his teeth hard as he knew that this was the end. Everything he had fought to preserve was now undone because of some Quincy hollow abomination and a so called man with some ridiculous dream of peace. "You think-" The old man started out but was stopped once Sosuke appeared next to Ichigo.

"It's over Yamamoto." He started as he and Ichigo looked down to the broken and deceitful old man. "You've taken many things from many people, but now you have a choice to make."

"And what choice is that, boy?" He spat out with venom in his voice.

"To either stick to the old ways and continue the cycle of hatred and senseless violence that's been the status quo for thousands of years." Sosuke started as he looked down to the now kneeling old man. "Or you can help us change the spiritual world right here, right now."

"What do you mean?" Yamamoto asked, eyes narrowed.

"The world of hollows, Hueco Mundo, follows their Alpha." Ichigo spoke up as she still had her blades out and ready for anything. "They will strive for the peace that we all wish to achieve. Where everyone can accept each other and strive to build bonds to one another. No one will ever have to live with the fact that they will be killed by the other ever again."

The old man looked up to the girl and narrowed his eyes before spitting to her feet. This caused Sosuke to sigh in frustration at the stubbornness of this old man while Ichigo gritted her teeth.

"You think that this will change anything?" He started with malice in his voice. "You think that a silly little dream and an army of abominations can really make a difference to the world?! You are a fool!" He glared at Sosuke while saying this. "Someone will finish what I could not and end this tirade of yours. Do you really believe that there won't be others like me? There will always be men like me to snuff out the impurities of any world and bring about order!"

"Then, you leave us no choice Yamamoto." Sosuke spoke up.

He drew his blade and pointed it towards him. Ichigo did the same with her Odachi. The couple looked to one another, gazing into the others eyes before stabbing the old man in the chest and head respectively. Down below, Kisuke looked on in horror as the head captain was defeated so easily and killed by these two. Ao and Isshin breathed a sigh of relief that this was all over now.

When the two pulled their blades out of the now dead former head captain, they looked to each other as the body fell, no longer caring about him. They gazed into each others eyes and in the heat of that moment, they kissed passionately, knowing that finally, it was all over.

That is the end of the Winter War. Yeah I know it wasn't as epic as it really should've been, but I think this is more poetic than anything. For Yamamoto to really see that his failure and old ways has led to his downfall and death. I hope ya'll enjoyed this chapter.

This story is almost finished. A few more chapters and I'll have finished the first stepping stone to my next new fic.

Tomorrow I'm going to be posting up details for the crossover story that involves all of the Ichigo's that would fit into this story. I will leave a description of what's going on and which Ichigo will exactly be in the story. I know that it'll be difficult to really identify them for the fic, but I'll try my best either way. If you want to know which Ichigo's from which fics are going to be in it, then check out the latest chapter to Ichigo and his Brothers.

Till then, stay awesome and as always:

PEACE!