Chapter 7: Unleashed

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor is my hair bleached.

"Congratulations my son, this is your time to leave," said Isshin with tears in his eyes as he threw his son out of the comfort of his birth home to the mysterious future that lay ahead.

"Are you trying to kill your own son you crazy asshole," cried Ichigo as he was literally thrown out of his house by his father and landed right in front of a surprised Rukia.

"I-Ichigo," said Rukia a bit worried as she poked the teen with her fingers to see if he was alive and was nearly scared out of her dress when he brought his head up with a few blood spurts from his head. "Don't scare me like that you baka, I nearly had a heart attack!"

"You weren't just tossed a good mile by your crazy father so don't come crying to me," muttered Ichigo angrily as he got off the ground, bones snapping into place with sickening cracks, and he dusted himself off. "So where is the captain? Shouldn't we be going now?"

"Well apparently he would find us or something like that," replied Rukia in an unsure voice because she was just as confused by Captain Saito's words as Ichigo was. "I guess that means we go to Urahara's house and see if he's at that portal or he'll appear out of thin air before us."

"Something about the Captain is just not right," muttered Ichigo as he trudged along beside Rukia, but as soon as he turned a corner, a sudden tremor shook his body as he felt a huge sense of hollow nearby and a huge amount of spiritual energy being unleashed. "What is this sensation? It's off the charts!"

Rukia was already running when Ichigo started asking questions he already knew the answer too because the spiritual energy being emitted was most definitely the Captain's energy, Ichigo had been around him too long not to know it. So he ran after Rukia, hoping to catch up, but his own joints were still healing from the previous throw so he would have to turn into a shinigami. It was just his luck that he had to trip at that exact moment and that he had to have been watched by Tousen, well tracked since Tousen is blind after all. As soon as Ichigo was down he felt a blade being pressed to his neck and he turned to see the treacherous ex-shinigami facing "looking" down on him with a blank expression on his face.

"If you move one inch you will be killed," said Tousen as he pressed the blade into Ichigo's throat, giving it a slight cut just to show how serious he was. "You will be a good bargaining chip to get your Captain to show off bankai."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that, Tousen," said Urahara as he appeared with his zanpakto drawn from his cane and pointed at Tousen, who now seemed a bit unsure of the circumstances that he was facing now. "I've heard about your own bankai and I think I know the perfect way to counter it so if you wish to try I will put my new product to the test."

"A fight between you is unnecessary, the only thing I had to do is make sure that Saito Haijime released his bankai," replied Tousen before he vanished off with one of his portals.

"Come on up Ichigo, you should be more careful of where you land," said Urahara as he pulled Ichigo up and set him on his feet.

"Give me a break I had a bit of a crash landing," cried Ichigo before turning and running. "Thanks for the help but I have to help my captain."

Rukia didn't know what she was watching; it all seemed so unreal as she saw one of the espada, some nameless one that had taken the place of Grimjaw, being take down by a jab from Saito. The captain was barely visible as he moved around in a flash, appearing at one direction and then going off into another direction like some form of phantasm. As the espada parried each attack with just as much grace as the offending slash, Rukia saw that neither was really putting any effort into it, just getting an estimate of the other's power. It was after five minutes of this that she could see a depraved grin spreading across his face that sent shivers down Rukia's spine as she could see the animal instincts.

The swords clashed with the metal clanged against each other metal and the espada was taken aback at how much his opponent's demeanor had changed and by extension, the change in fighting style. The shinigami was being aggressive to an extreme extent, using his thrusts to keep his opponent on his feet while he quickly started to power up a demon ball kido that would hurt him. With a war cry, Saito drove the kido at his opponent who jumped back from the attack and erected a shield to cause the ball to explode in his face.

"You see how insignificant those little kidos are when compared to my shield," asked the espada as he grinned triumphantly at the smoke that Saito been immersed in and he thrust zanpakto into the smoke. "I am unlike that other weak espada you took out, I am at a level that is reflective of my greatness."

"I have to admit, you make up for the disappointment that you sent before," replied Saito as he held the blade in his newly revealed black gauntlet that was in the resemblance of hollow claw. "I will greatly enjoy give you a taste of my bankai at seal release six. That is the lowest level all the way up to zero."

"What are you," gasped the espada as he took a step back at the newly revealed bankai that was in the form of a new looking hollow with the legs that bent backwards and what looked like black metal covering a red reptilian form that had a the head of a horned dragon.

"This is my bankai and it involves me taking on the form of my zanpakto's spirit, Sesshomaru," replied Saito in a very eerie voice that was both deep and raspy. "This is the exact reason why the soul society went to war against me and had me banished, feel honored to die by my sword now, for you will be part of my zanpakto."

Then it was all just a blur as Saito started to move slowly, breaking up the earth with his powerful feet and then he shifted his sword into his left hand to perform his powerful thrust. A sound like something ripping roared in the air as the sound barrier was broken by Saito's thrust, which slowed down as soon as it was close to the espada. The espada blocked the attack by jerking his sword up and then he countered with a hollow blast that Saito dodged. After dodging the attack, Saito used it as a catalyst to jump off and then landed right behind the espada, who turned to slash, but Saito had already pushed his left claw right through the espada.

Blood burst from the espada's mouth and he felt himself being lifted up from the hole that was in his chest as Saito brought him up with one arm and then most savagely started to consume the espada. Rukia's body was shaken with spasms of sheer terror at the gruesome sight that was being displayed before he and she could only stop to think about how much she wished she wasn't alone there. Two strong, warm arms wrapped around her and Rukia was calmed by the shinigami that she had grown attached to, Ichigo Kurasaki.

"Don't worry, our captain isn't this scene of slaughter," whispered Ichigo into her ear and then, without thinking, he kissed her neck. Rukia didn't care about the kiss, it was just another thing to calm her down and she grew to find absolution in his whisperings in her ear that drowned out the sound of the espada's screaming, which was followed by a bone chilling silence.