Chapter Two: The Battle Pursues

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow."
~Unknown

Ulquiorra froze for a second as the memory washed over him. This left him vulnerable for attack. The orange-haired teenager, Ichigo, lunged towards him and pierced his arm with his long

blade. Ulquiorra bit back a yelp but he quickly fought back sending his own sword into Ichigo's calf.

Ichigo winced in pain. He swung his fist at Ulquiorra's head. Ulquiorra did a quick Sonido and avoided the lethal punch. They both glared at each other, sword's raised.

"You've gotten stronger still, Kurosaki Ichigo," says Ulquiorra staring at Ichigo's glinting sword.

Ichigo sneered and lifted his sword preparing to strike again.

"I have as well," says Ulquiorra lifting up his own sword.

"Bind," he calls," Murciélago!"

Ichigo watched as two black wings sprouted from Ulquiorra's back. Ichigo had seen Ulquiorra's release only once before, when he had nearly killed him. As the transformation progressed,

Ichigo noticed something shocking. It was not his first release, but his second more powerful release. Two white horns sprouted from his head and black fur covered him from the waist

down. His usual tear marks had grown broader and the whites of his eyes were now black.

"Bring out your hollow mask, Kurosaki," demanded Ulquiorra.

Ichigo did not hesitate to do so. A new red and white mask covered his face making him look more like a hollow that a shinigami…more like the enemy.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" he cried sending a wave of black riatsu zooming toward Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra blocked it simply by holding out his hand. The riatsu flew around him like water would flow around a rock in a stream.

"I expected better from you Kurosaki," says Ulquiorra as he raised his arms in front of him, "Now it's my turn."

"Lanza del Relámpago!" he cries summoning a glowing javelin-like object composed of his own riatsu.

With a swift motion he sends the projectile flying towards Ichigo who bonds away. The javelin misses him by only inches and hits a building below causing a massive explosion.

Ichigo kept in motion as Ulquiorra continued throwing the projectiles at him. Sweat began to sting his eyes as his breath became deeper and more frequent. He wasn't sure how long he

could keep this up. He had not been in his hollow form for such a long span of time for several years and the strain was becoming hard.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo yelled sending a fresh wave of black riatsu hurtling towards Ulquiorra.

Ulquiorra deflected the attack again with ease.

"You're going to have to do better than that to-" Ulquiorra stopped in mid-sentence when he noticed that Ichigo had vanished. His eyes searched for him but he could find nothing.

"Gotcha."

Ulquiorra felt Ichigo's sword piece his left shoulder, slicing through skin muscle, and bone alike.

Ulquiorra felt the warm blood flow down his chest as the sword severed his flesh.

"How inconvenient," murmured Ulquiorra looking behind him at the smirking Ichigo.

"That ended all too quickly."

Suddenly, Ichigo felt something strange. Everything was black and silent. He could still feel his sword in his hands, but he could not see it. He didn't feel as if he was connected to the

world properly.

He gasped as a strange force pulled his wrists behind his back making him release his sword. He struggled to free his hands but the invisible restraints only grew tighter. He then felt

something encompass his neck. It was tight and Ichigo struggled to breath.

'What's going on?' he thought to himself.

Ichigo! Cried a familiar voice.

'Old man Zangetsu?' Ichigo asked inside his head.

Ichigo, yes it's me! Hurry you need to free yourself now before it's too late! 'How?' Ichigo asked, but the voice was silent.

Then, he was back to the world around him and the first thing he saw was Aizen's laughing face.

"Finally! Kurosaki Ichigo has been captured!" he called triumphantly.

Ichigo looked at his hands which were held tightly behind his back. They were being held together by a glowing golden substance. It looked so familiar.

"Huh. Ichigo, if only you knew how weak you were, you fell under her spell only too easily," Aizen said waving his finger back and forth.

"What?" Ichigo questioned staring at him.

"It was all fake! That battle with Ulquiorra, how interesting! You managed to defeat him that easily, almost too good to be true it seems, I wonder why that is! Maybe, because, that's just

the case," Aizen said grinning evilly.

"What are you saying?" Ichigo asked confused as he tried to break the restraints with no success.

"Poor, poor Ichigo. Why it was all an illusion. I have my little helper here to credit for it," says Aizen as a figure emerged from behind him.

Ichigo's eyes widened as he gazed at the sight before him. It was Orihime! It was the same strawberry-blonde hair and purple eyes, but something was different. They now looked dead

and her hairpins had turned a new shade of black.

Ichigo didn't know what to feel. Inoue was alive!

"Inoue!" he cried but the strange invisible thing around his neck tightened causing him to choke and gasp for breath.

"Don't say that name," the girl growled.

Ichigo jumped at her voice. I was distorted, almost other worldly, very unlike the voice she had had so many years before. It was then that Ichigo noticed the true difference in Orihime's

appearance. The air around her seemed to shift as her face began to drastically change. The left side of her face was marred by a white mask and her left eyes was totally black. The side

remained the same seeming to mock Ichigo with the memory of Orihime's past self.

"You see, Inoue is not the sweet little girl you remember anymore Ichigo," hisses Aizen. "That night so many years ago, Inoue did in fact die, but I brought her back. I brought her back a

new stronger being. She is now one of my arrancar army and an expert in the art of illusions."

Her dead eyes gazed at Ichigo's horrified face.

"Do you want me to kill him Aizen?" she asks as the invisible constricting force on Ichigo's neck tightened.

"Tell him something nice before he dies," says Aizen smiling and staring coldly and the struggling Ichigo.

Orihime was silent. She closed her eyes and was thoughtful for a few moments. When she opened them, Ichigo gasped to see that her irises were gone, replaced with a small image.

Ichigo squinted to see what it was and held back tears as he saw what it was. His pregnant wife, Rukia, sat in the large candle lit room humming softly as she rubbed her swelling belly.

"Your wife loves you," says Orihime softly," And the babies a girl."

With that there was a sickening snap and blood seeped from Ichigo's cut neck.

"Eww," said Gin softly to himself seeing the dead body of Ichigo go limp.

"He had a quite painless death," said Orihime as the restraints on Ichigo's neck and wrists were released. She watched at his body plummeted down to the ground.

"Let's go before any of the other captains figure out he's dead," suggests Tousen.

The others nod. With a snap of his fingers, Aizen summons his minions and the all retreated back to their palace, Las Noches.

End of Chapter Two