Ichi Guo's eyes took in the environment around him while his sixth sense kept a lock on the monster, alerting him of its every breath. Whatever had happened, this creature was out for blood. This had nothing to do with a need for food or an invasion of territory. Ichi Guo could sense the murderous intent coming from the elder ghost wolf in waves.
He had managed to gain the beast's undivided attention, for better and worse. Its attacks were furious and its speed could match his own, even now that he wasn't carrying Rukia around. Claws slashed though the air, teeth snapped, but still Ichi Guo continued to evade, swinging his own blade in where he could find an opening.
But it didn't seem to matter where he hit it, the back, the mouth, the stomach, the legs. Everywhere he tried, his blade was met with the massive spiritual pressure of the beast, a pressure that ran through the creature's fur, turning it into a practical wall of needles. The monster's spiritual energy was over six times his own, placing it in a league where Ichi Guo's blade couldn't even scratch its defenses.
Ichi Guo's rank had maxed out at ten since he never absorbed the spirit halo needed to advance further, but a monster of this age was something that rank fifties would hunt. There wasn't even supposed to be one in a forest as young as the one he lived next to.
Time was limited. His legs were already passed their old max on Shunpo usage. He couldn't keep it up forever, or else his body would simply collapse under him.
He observed all of this with a calm mind. Everything was simple. It didn't really matter how powerful the beast was. It didn't matter, because Ichi Guo was going to win.
Resolve. Resolve was everything. It sharpened the spirit, both offensively and defensively. And Ichi Guo had already decided, he was going to kill this wolf. He just had to figure out how.
The wolf was using all its senses in order to track him and him alone. He needed to shake those senses in order to get a clean shot. If he put all he had into one hit, he knew he could finish the job.
As his eyes found the burning ruins of the inn, he couldn't help but have his face twitch upward into a smile as old words played out in his mind. "When you dodge, you don't let yourself get hit." He said as he shunpoed in front of the fire. The wolf was right behind him, not letting him escape. "When you defend someone, you don't let them get hurt." It lunged straight for him, but he shunpoed out of the way. The beast slammed itself face first into the fire.
The fire didn't burn its wet fur, but with the only light source so close, the roar of the fire in its ears and the fumes of the smoke filling its nostrils, all its senses were being blocked. Its head was swinging around, trying to find the boy it had been chasing. "And when you attack someone," A strange, echoing voice continued. The wolf didn't even have time to turn its head upwards and Ichi Guo formed a spirit energy platform underneath his feet, kicking off of it with one final shunpo and moving downwards like a bullet. The upper left side part of his face was covered by a piece of a white plaster mask. His left eyes turned black as his spiritual pressure increased from rank ten to rank twenty five. He was focusing everything he had left into the edge of his sword, sharpening it to the point where it could cut through solid steel. "YOU KILL!"
The edge of his blade started to glow a light blue as he poured every drop of energy he had left into the swing. The hit connected on the back of the wolf monster's neck. The hound screamed as the blade penetrated the outer coating of fur, quickly making its way down to the spine before losing momentum.
The cut hadn't gone all the way though, even with all of Ichi Guo's spiritual energy backing it up. But it had been enough to sever the spinal cord. The monster was dead before it hit the ground, not a single whimper leaving its lips. Ichi Guo rolled off the creature's body, fixing his unsteady legs into a defensive position, not relaxing until he saw the dark purple halo moving out of the monster's body, a clear sign that it was really dead.
The mask dissolved as he collapsed to the ground. His legs were killing him from over use of Shunpo and his spiritual essence levels were so close to hitting zero. It had been a close call, just a few centimeters shallower of a cut and they would have all been killed.
"Ichi-nii!" Rukia cried as she ran over to him, throwing her arms around his neck again. The rain ran down her cheeks, or maybe they were tears, Ichi Guo couldn't really tell.
He reached a tired arm up and started to pat her head. "There there, don't worry. Your big bro won't let anything happen to you." He said as his eyes moved to the purple ring.
'Are you shitting me!?' Ichi Guo nearly shivered at the familiar sound of his Hollow's creeping voice. Even though the voice of 'old man' Zangetsu had never returned, the Hollow had reappeared shortly after Ichi Guo's spirits had been reawakened. 'You're so weak it's pathetic. Even this pushover forced you to pull out all the stops. What are you going to do when the real shit hits the fan?'
'Shut up.' Ichi Guo's retort was weak. He could feel the truth of the words. He could feel it in his arms and legs that reminded him constantly of his exhaustion.
'I refuse to just watch this bull crap! Now stop hesitating! Take that Spirit Halo! Finally grow this weak ass power of yours before you get yourself killed again!' The Hollow shouted.
Ichi Guo gritted his teeth and, giving Rukia one last pat on the head, he stood up on shaking legs. "Ichi-nii?" She said confused as he pulled her hands off of him.
"Don't worry. I will become strong enough to protect you." He said, raising up Zangetsu and pointing it towards the halo. The ring wobbled in the air for a second before dragging itself to Ichi Guo's sword. He staggered as the power flowed into him, then collapsed to his knees.
"Ichi-nii!" Rukia shouted, as an ear splitting scream exploded from her brother's mouth.
Ichigo was numb all over. "Where... am I?" He mumbled as he looked around him. Everything was covered in fog, just like his thoughts. He couldn't remember what was going on. He couldn't remember where he was. Pain was all over his body. His head was screaming.
"You failure." A familiar, obnoxious voice echoed through the emptiness. Ichigo turned around to see Byakuya standing there, glaring at him. "You simply faded away into nothingness. You gave in and disappeared."
"Wh... what are you talking about!?" Ichigo tried to demand, but a wave of bright pink flowers flooded out of the Soul Reaper Captain, washing over Ichigo. He screamed as the feeling of a thousand cuts poured over his body. There was a blinding pink light all around him, then everything went black.
Ichigo was slow to regain any senses, but when he did, he found his father standing before him. Isshin Kurosaki stood with his arms crossed and his back turned to Ichigo. "We put all our hopes in you, and then you just went off and died!" He barked angrily, turning to Ichigo so that he could see the angry look on the man's face. "I can't believe I thought you could match Aizen. You lost, and died like a dog for it. You're a disappointment. All that time I spent training you. What a complete waste."
"No... I didn't... I did everything I could! I had to use it!" Ichigo cried, trying to move towards his father, but the image disappeared before he could get there.
Looking around, he could see that the fog was lifting. He was in the ruins of a city that had once boasted massive skyscrapers, all that was left of his own inner world. Decay was everywhere he looked. The atmosphere was suffocating him.
Then he heard it, a voice he missed so much. "How could you?" He turned his head to see her, standing there in the middle of the ruins. Her bright purple eyes were rimmed with tears. "You never came back. After everything that happened, you just left me. How could you just replace me?" Ichigo couldn't find anything to say. He felt like something was stomping on his chest, like hands were wrapped around his throat. "You should have just stayed died."
A dark hole opened up underneath Ichigo, dragging him down into its dark depths. "You should be dead!" "You were weak!" "How could you leave us!?" Voices, so many voices. His little sisters, Chad, Orihime, Urahara, Yoruichi, Renji... all of them screaming at him. How could he just keep going, knowing that he had let them all down.
"I... don't deserve... to live..." Ichigo mumbled as the darkness spread over him.
"Damn it, you moron! You were supposed to be devouring its soul, not the other way around!" The Hollow side of Ichigo shouted angrily, but the words weren't reaching his ears. "Get up stupid! You can't let it win! King! Hey, don't you ignore me! Damn it, where is the old fart when you need him!?"
"I... shouldn't be alive." Ichigo said, his spiritual power was starting to waver as his soul began to break down.
"Ichi-nii!" Ichigo's eyes snapped open as a small purple jewel appeared in the air in front of him. It seemed so familiar and glowed with a soft white light. "Please don't leave me! Please! I don't want to lose you too!" His new little sister's voice echoed, drownding out all the other voices.
"Ru...kia..?"
"Ichigo." The jewel transformed into Old Man Zangetsu. The man's dark wavy hair looking the same as it had always. "Regardless of the past, you cannot fail here. There is still someone who relies on you, and so you must keep going." The old man lifted his hand into the air and seemed to grab onto an invisible cloth, pulling it hard.
The world distorted around him and his inner world had returned to normal, and standing in the center of one of the rooftops was the Ghost Wolf. The monster's soul was struggling to regain its effect on Ichigo's soul, but was finding it impossible. The creature growled, its dark purple aura flaring up around it.
Ichigo bared his teeth back as he slowly started to realize what had happened. The soul of the monster had tried to trick him, using his own memories to inflict wounds upon his soul. "Sorry, you overgrown mutt, but there is someone waiting for me, so I'm going to have to cut this sort!" Ichigo raised his hand above his head and Zangetsu appeared in it. "Getsuga Tenshou!" The wave of blue light flew through the air and quickly split the monster's spirit in half. The low howl rang through the inner world as Ichigo's soul soaked up the spiritual energy.
Ichi Guo opened his eyes, the rain was still falling and he was laying down in the mud with his little sister leaning over him, tears were definitely coming down her cheeks this time. "Ichi-nii, please wake up!"
"Who could sleep through all this noise?" Ichi Guo chuckled as he raised a hand to wipe the tears from the girl's eyes. Rukia sat up, her silver eyes widening as she stared down at her brother's smirking face.
"Don...don't do that!" She shouted, wiping her face. "I thought you were going to die!"
Ichi Guo smiled softly as he looked up at the dark sky, the rain was just starting to break and a few stars were starting to shine through the clouds. "Don't worry, I can't die. I've got too much to live for."