Chapter 23:
-Atop the Sokyoku Hill-
Rukia, bound and defenceless, levitated a few inches from the ground at the base of the Sokyoku itself. In her presence, the most powerful Captains; Unohana, Shunsui, Ukitake, Akame and Yamamoto. Normally, the old man wouldn't order the company of his most deadly fighters but he was slightly interested in seeing with these ryoka were capable of. Him hearing of Kenpachi Zaraki, Ikkaku Madarame, Renji Abarai and Sosuke Aizen's defeat put him on edge slightly and he took as much time as possible on purpose.
Rukia slowly began to ascend towards to the monolith, eyes wide open every second. Panic and fear spread through her being and all hope left her. The looks across the faces of the attendees were solem with Akame being the only exception; her looking more annoyed than anything.
The top of the Sokyoku had a rather nice view, sadly it was only used for such a grim purpose, the short Kuchiki thought as she finally hit the top. Everyone looked so small and as she somewhat scanned the area, she could've swore she saw a flash of white for a very minor instance. The thought, as quick as it came, left and went desolate.
Muttering a silent apology to herself and everyone present for her failures, not only as a Shinigami but as a sister. She failed the entire Kuchiki family by letting her emotions get the better of her and making her lose her sense of judgement. All in all, had someone else been in this situation, she didn't know whether or not she would protest. Her thoughts went over many situations and possible outcomes, but none of them had her walking away from this alive. Then the heat wrapped around her body. Offering her a faux comfort.
"Release the Sokyoku!" Yamamoto bellowed, his voice sounding less than pleased. Within seconds of his command, the temperature soared to tremendous levels and the phoenix spawned before everyone. The magnificent bird, though artificial in origin, was almost natural in appearance. It lined itself with Rukia's tiny form and screeched loudly as if telling Yamamoto that it was ready to strike.
The eldest man looked towards the younger Captains to issue a quiet warning to them. Despite being silent throughout the whole ceremony thus far, Akame started to feel a bit uneasy about the whole ordeal. She had been in many battles in her long life, but for some reason, she opted to close her eyes as the Sokyoku neared the petite Kuchiki girl.
She heard a gasp and her eyes snapped back open. She knew that the artificial bird couldn't be stopped, because that's what they taught in the Shinso Academy, but to stand here and actually see the behemoth stopped was one the most incredible things she'd ever seen.
"Yo." One orange-haired brown eyed man said. Rukia had closed her eyes mid-ascension and now they had shot open. Ichigo simply looked stronger to her. He wore a coat over his shinigami uniform and, less visibly, an air of confidence. He appeared to be floating directly in front of her and wore a calm grin.
"Ichigo! Why are you here?!"
"To save you, obviously." Ichigo snorted at the question.
"By yourself?!"
"Why are you getting so flustered? Of course not by myself."
It was at that moment that the giant fire bird reared back. "Sadly Rukia, he isn't alone." The irritated voice of Toshiro said. Rukia turned her head towards the left wing almost scarily quick. Hitsugaya just stood there, looking disconcerned, like he usually did. He looked similar to Ichigo, mirroring both uniform and cloak, but instead was surrounded by an air of annoyance rather than confidence.
Ichigo had stumbled in the air slightly as the bird recoiled but quickly regained balance. "Oh, I forgot about you."
"How?! How did you forget about the massive pigeon over here?" Toshiro asked with a facepalm.
At this point, Yamamoto had heard enough. The old man spiked his reiatsu to let everyone know that he was, in fact, still here. "Do it now Kurosaki!" Toshiro commanded.
Ichigo didn't bother responding. He acted swiftly, holding his large blade in both hands and bringing down them down in a powerful swing. "Getsuga Tensho!"
The resurgence of energy was strong enough to completely blow off the Sokyoku's wing and forcing it back a few feet. That stunned the captains present and even brought a ghost of a smirk to Yamamoto's aged face. He watched the bird come crashing down and was mildly impressed that this boy actually had the power to do so in a single attack.
Once the bird actually hit the ground however, Ukitake and Shunsui shunpo-ed to either side and within moments, the massive bird exploded. The explosion was accompanied by a strong gust of wind and some fiery debris.
Rukia was speechless, save for a gasp when Ichigo gently but hastily picked her up over his shoulder. "Ichi-" She began but swallowed her words as she realized the boy's idea.
"Don't throw me!"
"Huh? Renji's right there."
"Don't. Throw. Me!" Rukia said through gritted teeth. Ichigo sighed but thought about his current situations and just hopped off of the monolithe with Rukia in a tight grip. Mid-fall, Ichigo gave a nod to Toshiro.
Hitsugaya unsheathed Hyorinmaru and simply tapped the misty blade's tip a few centimeters from his feet. A thin ice sheet spread for a few seconds before Toshiro embedded Hyorinmaru into the wooden structure, only few centimeters deep.
Everyone's eyes widen slightly as they watched the structure be completely covered in ice. Everyone fixated on Toshiro and either didn't notice, or completely ignored the presence of another person arriving on the scene.
The ice then shattered along with the structure and left Toshiro in the air, falling almost in slow motion. A smirk graced his lips before the old man disappeared. Shunsui and Jushiro's eyes hardened slightly, Unohana's smile faltered for a second before turning his eyes to Akame, whom looked so stressed out, she could pass out at any second.
Yamamoto reappeared behind the falling boy threw a powerful punch towards the back of his head. Hitsugaya's eyes rolled into the back of his head before he…. Shattered?
The old man's eyes cracked open slightly with interest when the ice close shattered and the boy's reiatsu wasn't anywhere near. "Oh dear." The ever graceful Unohana whispered. She saw a vein pop out of the man's forehead. Suddenly, something felt different. Like, there was someone here who shouldn't be. The feeling got her head turning towards the east; the same direction as the Central 46.
As she took off in that direction, Yamamoto landed on the ground between Shunsui, Jushiro and Akame.
"You two!" He yelled, referring to Ukitake and Kyoraku. "How dare you destroy the Sokyoku?! You two have done what no captain should ever do!"
Jushiro's sweat dropped slightly and he gave a sheepish grin. The man tried to explain the situation but was cut off when Shunsui grabbed him by the shoulders. "Hehe, no time to explain. Let's go Juu."
He and Jushiro shunpo-ed away at an amazing pace and left Yama-ji standing in place with an annoyed scowl. "Captain Arai. Hunt down the ryoka. Unohana seems to have gone long ahead of us." With those words, he vanished with his reiatsu circling around him dangerously.
Now of course Akame had no real intention of hunting down anyone. She would refuse Yamamoto's order this one time.
Soifon had now appeared on the scene with a legion of her stealth force members. She looked serious and a bit disappointed. Akame had never seen such an emotion of her friend's face; she looked as though she expected to see someone. Akame simply paid the woman no heed until Soifon got close.
"Arai! Where are they?" Soifon's voice was steeled.
Akame scowled at the tone and question. "Where is who?"
"The ryoka boys. The older one is there with fighting Kuchiki. Where is the one that fought Ichimaru and Zaraki?" By her tone of voice and the look in her eye, Akame could tell Soifon meant no good. It honestly irritated her to no end when someone so blantly wanted to cause her little brothers harm. But yet, she swallowed her anger and answered professionally.
"I have no idea where the ryoka are Captain Soifon. As you can see, there was only two here to begin with, and the white-haired one turned out to be a clone."
Soifon was preparing to respond but was swiftly cut off when a figure slammed into her and made them both fall off of Sokyoku Hill and into the forest below.
"Thanks Yoruichi." Akame whispered to herself with a small grin. That just left her surrounded by members of the Stealth Force. Normally she didn't care for the group but today, the seemed to be looking at her as though she was the enemy. It may have just been her mistaken, but she didn't take any chances.
A violet glow surrounded her tiny form. She unsheathed her sword slowly and deliberately. The very second the tip of Murasame felt the air, she vanished into an extremely quick shunpo. So quick in fact, to the Stealth Force members, she only seem to get slightly blurry for a short moment.
-With Toshiro-
Akame had told him the previous night to head to the Central 46 chambers the moment his ice clone was broken. He didn't know why he was here or what he was supposed to do, but he came nonetheless. Rangiku appeared beside him with her almost sickening amount of glee. "Hello Toshiro!" the woman exclaimed, much to Toshiro's annoyance.
"It's Hitsugaya! Anyway, why are you here?"
"Captain sent me here. She said she wanted us to investigate around here. Said she had a bad feeling."
Toshiro sighed. He wanted to chastise his sister but his own gut feeling had led him and Ash to do some rather crazy things. Speaking of Ash… "Hey, have you seen Ash? I haven't seen him since the mission briefing."
Rangiku just gave a small shake of her head and shrugged, "I haven't seen him either. I mean, you know better than me that that guy can defend himself. Didn't he fight and beat Zaraki?"
"I guess."
Stepping into the Chambers, Rangiku's eyes sharpened. Toshiro could feel it too. Which was odd, because he couldn't feel anything. That wasn't right. Toshiro felt shivers go down his spine at the darkness and silence of the place.
"Ugh, in here feels dead." Rangiku muttered.
Toshiro didn't respond nor paid her any attention. He felt himself grow nauseous with the sight of the next room. Bodies. Bodies everywhere. The scent of the place had grown to resemble that of decayed flesh and bone. Toshiro gasped and gave a dry heave.
"Leave if you'd like Hitsugaya. Someone your age shouldn't have to see this." The blonde woman said, voice sounding professional. Toshiro was very nearly going to throw up but he held it back with a harsh swallow. He gave her a pained scowled before shaking his head, indicating he can continue.
Stepping further into the Chambers, they found a narrow corridor with a dim light at its very end. Rangiku had informed the white-haired teen that that place is off limits too all shinigami, save for Yamamoto. "Matsumoto. Go find Akame. Tell her what we've found. I'll investigate further."
Rangiku looked at the boy and was prepared to give him an ear-full but silenced herself when he began stalking forward, hand on hilt, looking dangerous. Instead she sighed. "Look, just don't get yourself killed. Captain would be all depressed again." The buxom woman shunpoed away the instant the final word left her lips.
'Again?' Hitsugaya thought before creeping further.
Everything was dark. Visibility was very low and Hitsugaya's only source of light was his reiatsu covered hand which was raised defensively. He saw a light at the end of the corridor and sharpened his eyes on it.
His eyes widen at the sight. That girl he saw the other day, Hinamori was it? She was lying face down in a pool of her own blood, motionless. Toshiro rushed to her side but hesitated when he heard that disturbingly calm voice.
"Why hello Hitsugaya-kun." Toshiro froze at the mention of his name. "Fancy seeing you here."
Toshiro didn't bother turning to face the man, he knew he couldn't. A feeling of despair filled the teen's being, almost paralyzing him. "By that look on your face Hitsugaya-kun, I take it you remember me." Aizen said with his gentle smile.
Toshiro didn't say anything. He just stood there as if something was holding him in place. It was until Aizen walked up behind him and laid a hand on his shoulder before his body moved. Toshiro rapidly turned around and swung his sword furiously. Aizen dodged the attack gracefully and simply held out his hand to catch Toshiro's swing aimed at his throat.
"Now, now Hitsugaya-kun. That wasn't nice." Toshiro heard none of that. He shunpo-ed back and did a backflip just to ensure he was far from this man.
"Bankai!" Toshiro exclaimed much to Aizen's surprise. The room grew colder instantly. Toshiro's reiatsu spiked to extreme levels and his being began to glow white. Aizen's smile had all but fallen from his face and been replaced with concentration. A wave of freezing reiatsu washed over Aizen like a blanket of snow. Thick mist descended into the room due to the supercooled being still powering up.
Aizen sighed and let his own reiatsu leak a bit to force the mist to return visibility. He smirked with interest when he saw Hitsugaya's bankai up close. Toshiro's sword had remained the same but that was the extent of the similarities. The boy had grown massive ice wings, easily twice his height in length. From his hands to elbows had been covered by ice, acting as armor and his fingers had been covered with ice claws, clearly sharp enough to cut steel.
"Daiguren Hyorinmaru!" Toshiro exclaimed. Aizen felt mildly impressed by the boy's sheer reiatsu. For a human boy, it was astounding and for someone so inexperienced to accomplish such a feat really peaked the Captain's interest. Toshiro dashed at the man with one strong flap of his wings.
Aizen appeared to be lost in thought as this happened but when he easily avoided Toshiro's swing, Hitsugaya knew he was greatly outmatched.
"So you've learned Bankai? What a nice surprise. However, I can assume this was forced and not natural." Aizen stated as though he knew who's doing this was. "Your Bankai, though powerful, is immature. I can see the strain on your face. This wouldn't be the works of those little purple pills would it?" Aizen said calmly as he dodged a barrage of attacks from Toshiro with no effort at all.
Toshiro grew visibly more annoyed with each swing of his sword. He couldn't hit this man, no matter how hard he tried. That's not what annoyed the boy however, not at all. It was the fact that Aizen was toying with him. Aizen could've killed him at any point. He knew it, Hyorinmaru knew it and Aizen most definitely knew it. It was why that sickening smile had yet to leave his face.
"Okay, Hitsugaya-kun. That was fun but-" with one swift swing of Aizen's blade, he sliced Toshiro's chest open, almost completely revealing ribs. Blood sprayed everywhere and Toshiro's eyes widen. The boy went numb and stood completely still for a second. Toshiro then fell to one knee and, much to Aizen's surprise, shattered.
The real Toshiro then came into view, Bankai still activated, looking very worn out. "I know i shouldn't have used more than one." He panted. The Captain wasted little time is slicing the real Toshiro down, leaving a large gash over his heart.
"My, my Hitsugaya-kun. You are the very first person in a very long time to surprise me. I must commend you." Aizen turned to walk away but not before watching the boy fall to the ground in a pool of his own blood. "Ah, ice looks beauty this time of year."
With the first step Aizen took, he felt the presence of another being. A being that he subconsciously feared and, if need be, would take this person down himself. Retsu Unohana had arrived on the scene.
A/N: A long one. But I'm just gonna skip the Aizen/Unohana encounter, we already know what happened. Next Chapter will probably be them returning to the Human World (finally) and fluff. Until then mates.
