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Karakura lay in ruins, while the many battles of the shinigami, vizards, and arrancar continued. The once prosperous city, with its buildings, parks, schools, and bridges was left a barren wasteland.
It seemed that the many seated shinigami, have gotten the upper hand, but the main battles were far from over. No, for them it had all but ended.
Buildings would tumble over as espada or vizards were sent tumbling towards the oblivious structure. Explosions of reiatsu, due to the clashing of zanpakutous, would leave craters in the ground the size of football fields, and the many forms of spiritual energy emitted, be it ceros or kidō attacks, left the ground sizzling with nothing but charred earth.
--
"Ukitake," Aizen said, giving an ominous chuckle.
"What…" Ukitake asked distastefully, while his blades made a run towards Aizen's head. Aizen steadily raised his zanpakutou and held off the attack, as if it was nothing to him. Ukitake instantly jumped back and was getting ready to strike again, but stopped when Aizen lowered his own zanpakutou.
"I thought Soul Society was going to save this town, not destroy it," he said jeeringly, drawing Ukitake's attention to the destruction around them.
"The souls are safe from you Aizen, and that is all that matters," Ukitake said in a somber manner. "You'll never get the 100,000 souls that you require."
"Still arrogant as ever, Ukitake," Aizen affirmed, staring at him. "Tell me, when did I say I was after 100,000 souls?" His smile grew into a roguish grin, as Ukitake's eyes widened. "Was it when you found the records of the ōken? The records I implanted to draw Soul Society out."
"What?" uttered Ukitake taken aback.
"Let me tell you," Aizen said, while he gradually descended from the sky. "The ōken isn't an object. No, it's a being. Just how a shinigami can open the senkai gates to Soul Society; this soul can create a dimensional gateway that leads to the Royal Dimension. I've gathered you all here, so that the Hougyoku can absorb all of the spiritual energy of the shinigami, my arrancar… and now the vizards. With that I will gain the power needed to open the Royal Dimension's gates."
Ukitake stiffened as he stared back at Aizen. All of this was a trap. They knew they could have been walking into one, but they couldn't have imagined such a thought out plan would take place. Aizen always seemed to be two steps ahead of them. I have to warn everyone.
--
Ukitake quickly took off, flashstepping towards Shunsui. He could feel his reiatsu nearby, as he was getting closer.
"Ukitake," Aizen gave a menacing chuckle, appearing in front of his former alley.
What… how can he be this fast. Ukitake widened his eyes, looking at the man ahead of him.
"Do not worry Ukitake; I will only break the Hougyoku's seal enough to only kill Shinigami and arrancar of lower ranks. There is no escaping this fate Ukitake." Aizen said, while vanishing from his sight. "For the last thirty minutes you have been fighting with air." Aizen finished in a small chuckle, before completely disappearing.
--
What… Yamamoto, Ukitake, and Kyoraku have stopped fighting. Is it over? Hitsugaya said to himself, noticing their reiatsu-s are in a calmer state. But it seemed Gin's eerie smile grew tenfold, while he also noticed the charge in reiatsu. Why is Gin so confident…? Damn it.
"I, I, Ya kno Rangiko, Shiro-chan," Gin said, while sheathing his zanpakutou, "Is time for me to go. It was fun." Gin waved to Rangiku as white threads came out of the sleeve of his kimono. "Bye, bye," he said just before the threads completely encircled him.
"Wait, you bastard," yelled Hitsugaya, while sending a dragon of ice towards Gin, only to meet emptiness. The young captain didn't know if he was angrier about being called whitey or about Gin running off, but it was evident that the captain of the tenth division was fuming.
--
Urahara stiffened his back, and his eyes went wide. He gave the older Kurosaki a nod, which he returned in agreement. "It's time," Urahara simply stated, looking around the table.
"HACHI," Hiyori yelled towards the ladder. "Put up the shields now," she demanded.
"Tessai, please go help Ushoda-san with the barriers. And please take the girls to where Ururu and Jinta are." Urahara asked the towering man.
Yuzu was tearing up and Karin was getting restless, but Isshin simply told them not to worry. He said to them, that daddy and Ichigo had grown up stuff to do. The manner in which he told his two youngest ones was so sincere, which he rarely used that tone with them, giving them a silent resolve that helped them follow Tessai, without question.
"What's going on?" asked Ichigo, looking back from Urahara to Isshin.
"It's time, Aizen is about to make his move. Now we make ours." Urahara responded back.
"What move?" Rukia asked, her neck becoming rigid.
--
In the skies above Karakura, two figures appeared beside an other.
"I was beginning to think that you two would not make it," stated Aizen.
"I am sorry Aizen-sama." The blind man said, bowing his head.
"Gin, Kaname… Please put the barriers up, I am about to rupture the Hougyoku," Aizen told his subordinates.
Aizen reached into his kimono and pulled out a small object, a small black sphere encompassed by a translucent field. Aizen simply dropped the Hougyoku. Reciting something in a low whisper and pointing his hand towards the descending object, a bright flash of light soon engulfed it. The moment the Kidō spell left his hand an orange barrier immediately surrounded them, due to the other two shinigami.
"Well done," Aizen calmly spoke, looking down at Tousen and Gin, kneeling down and holding the barrier in place. "It will only take five hours, for the Hougyoku to dine upon all the spiritual energy."
--
Ukitake stalled for a moment putting his arms out in front of himself defensively, what a reiatsu, I can barely move anymore. I have to get to Shunsui. His eye flinched as he continued onward, ruggedly flashstepping towards his friend.
--
The hair in the back of Ichigo and Rukia's neck stiffened as they too noticed the strong spiritual pressure building around them. Ichigo turned his gaze towards Urahara who seemed to be in deep thought.
"Whose reiatsu is this, it's massive, I've never felt this type before," Ichigo asked in a halting voice.
"The Hougyoku, Aizen has released it," Isshin answered to his son, meeting his gaze across the table. "There is nothing for us to do but wait now."
--
Che what reiatsu, I can't even move. Damn it… Shunsui thought while he was grounded. Not even the mighty captains of the first, eighth, and thirteenth divisions could move. How pitiful he thought, brought down by a traitor. He could feel Ukitake being just a flashstep away. Two thousand years of training and brought down by Aizen, how nostalgic. It seemed that all hope was lost. Soul Society will fall to the hands of Aizen.
"Giving up already," A masked voice said.
Shunsui's eyes narrowed. Although the voice was masked he could still make it out perfectly. He hasn't heard that voice in over a hundred years. "Lisa-chan," he muttered under his breath.
"Come on, I don't have much time before I can't move either," she said to her old captain.
"Lisa-chan, you never did follow orders well, did you?" he said, while she lifted him up over her shoulders. "Lisa-chan, please get Ukitake. He's nearby."
Lisa nodded and in a step she was in front of the fallen captain. Lisa put her former captain beside Ukitake and took a step back. "Hold on, I'm going to transport us inside Hachi's barrier." White threads like those from Gin and Tousen started to surround the three and soon after, they found themselves in Urahara's basement. Lisa instantly fell over as soon as the transportation was done.
Lisa-chan, she used her remaining energy to save us. "Lisa-chan I always knew you loved me," he teased.
"You wish," she gasped, as her mask crumpled to pieces.
--
"Ukitake-taichou," yelled Rukia. At first they drew their zanpakutous ready to strike. However Rukia was the first to notice that it was Ukitake and Kyōraku. "Ukitake-taichou," she yelled once more, turning him over.
"Do not worry Kuchiki-s-" He tried to say, but his aggressive coughing faltered him.
"Inoue, please heal them," Rukia pleaded her friend to heal her captains and their savior.
"Hai, Kuchiki-san," Inoue came closer to the three and tilted her head, "Sōten Kisshun- I reject." Two flying objects came out of her hair pins and formed a large orange barrier around the three.
There they stood and watched as the two captains and vizard regained their lost spiritual energy. The shield lessened only to encompass Ukitake, who was a shocked to say the least.
"What are you doing," he whispered, staring at the orange headed girl. The group stood there watching carefully, Shunsui stood and watched as the young girl continued to heal his long time friend. Surprised filled his eyes as he felt his friends sickness slowly leave his body.
"Please, I am healing your illness Ukitake-san," Inoue said in a low whisper. She knew she could do it, why not?
Rukia, Ukitake, and Shunsui looked transfixed at what she was doing. The pain that his illness has caused him in the many years was evident. No healing technique had been able to heal him, not even Unohana was successful at expelling his sickness. But now Inoue stood there healing him, as a healthy glow started to creep into his skin.
"I-Inoue-san thank you. I'm indebted to you," Ukitake said humbly, with a smile directed towards the blushing orange head.
"Aah, No, no. It was nothing… really." The red faced girl exclaimed, frantically waving her hands from side to side.
--
"So are you sure that this is how you want to do this Kisuke?" Isshin asked with concern lacing his words.
Urahara gave his answerer with a measured nod. "Che… I hope you're right, this wouldn't be the first time you've been wrong." Isshin said humorlessly.
--
"Well now, please everyone we must get back to business," Urahara said looking around the group, but his gaze stopping upon Ichigo.
He exhaled deeply at what he was about to say, "Please Kurosaki-san, close your eyes for a moment," he coolly asked. His wary eyes covered by his hat, when he bowed his head towards the young shinigami.
"Huh," Ichigo mumbled with a blank expression. Clueless to why Urahara wanted him to do such a thing. He could tell he was up to something thou; that bastard always had something up his sleeve and this didn't sound right at all to him. "What, why?" he asked apprehensively.
"Just do it Ichigo," his father said in a grave manner.
Ichigo was still uneasy, he couldn't help it. Why in the hell do they want him to close his eyes, was today his birthday or something?
In the end he slowly closed his eyes, while the rest of the questioning eyes kept their gaze towards him… ICHIGO! He could have sworn he heard his name, but it was faded and becoming more distant. He also felt several stinging sensations around his body as coldness enclosed him.
Thank you for reading. Chapters are going to be around this size for now on. I will try to update again by Friday. I also have a oneshot and a new fic coming out this week.
Please review this chapter. To let me know your opinions and suggestions, or compliments. Thanks : )