Chapter 18: Flying Machine

The next few weeks went by in a blur. Shinji trained me harder than ever and at the end of each day he gave me a back rub. He tried for more, but I usually swatted him away; I'd think about sex when this nightmare was over. He pouted of course, but that was just too bad.

Finally, the day had come. I was in our room looking in the mirror. I figured if I was going to go out, I might as well look good while I was doing it. I was wearing a red plaid skirt with a stretchy black ¾ length shirt. I had on black Doc Martens that went to my ankles. I was nervous and afraid; I would've been a fool if I weren't. I made my way down the stairs and stopped beside where Shinji was sitting. He looked up at me.

"You ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

He grabbed his zanpaktou and stood. He took my hand and we went to the warehouse door.

"Let's go." And we went

We got to the battlefield; or what was left. We picked our way through the rubble and stood below the other shinigami and arrancar. As everyone else started to shoot up into the sky, Shinji held me back. He didn't say anything; he didn't need to. He kissed me quick, but hard. We pulled back from each other and made our ascent. We got to everyone else, but I didn't stop when Shinji did and smacked into a barrier. Shinji laughed. I flipped him off. A Shinigami came over and Shinji talked to him. The man looked apprehensive for a minute, then opened the barrier and we went inside.

When we got there, hole had been ripped in the sky. Emerging from the hole was a gigantic white mass with four legs and a mouth. I looked at the shinigami on the ground and in the air. Most of them looked completely with hope. Then I looked at the men standing near the white mass. I saw Gin looking creepy as always. A man with brown hair and a smug look on his face had to Aizen. Next to him was a man with an eye shield; I could only assume he was Tousen. I stood next to Shinji.

"Wait," Shinji said. All eyes swiveled over to us.

"Long time no see, Aizen."

Everyone was staring at us. I wanted to shrink back and not be a part of this, but I couldn't; I'd come too far. Aizen looked me up and down then turned to Gin.

"That is girl you've been moping about? She's insignificant."

"She rammed her elbow into my face. Nothing says 'I love you' like a broken nose."

Shinji looked around. "Is there anybody have somebody they'd like to say hello to?"

"I don't know anyone," I said.

"Nope," said Hiyori.

"Shut up, Hiyori! I wasn't talking to you!" Shinji said.

"You asked everyone!" she said.

Everyone else declined, except Lisa. She disappeared to the ground.

"I'm going to go say hello to the Commander," Shinji said and flitted off.

The look Gin was giving me felt like it was going to burn a hole through me. Shinji came back a few minutes later.

"Are you done talking?" Love asked.

"No, but it'd but it'd be unreasonable to talk any further; our enemies can't wait any longer," Shinji said.

The mass let out a screech and the front split. Out poured thousands of gillians. Shinji didn't even blink.

"Let's go," he said.

We donned our masks and unsheathed our zanpaktous. And we launched ourselves at the gillians. I lost count of how many I cut through.

I stopped and watched as Shinji stood in front of Aizen. He removed his mask and started to bring his zanpaktou down. Tousen appeared and swung his own across Shinji's forehead. My breath stopped as Shinji flipped backwards and dodged most of the attack, but not all of it. There was a bloody cut above his left eye and part of his bangs were missing. They started to talk but I couldn't hear what. Knowing Shinji, it was probably something smartass. Then, a man and a dog like shinigami appeared, blocking Tousen. They looked like they could watch his back, so I turned my attention elsewhere.

Gin took that moment to come in behind me. He put his hand over my mouth and started pulling me backwards. I started flailing and trying to get someone's attention. Then, I remembered my zanpaktou, but so did he. He grabbed my wrist to keep me from stabbing him. I smashed the back of my head into his nose. He let go of me. I turned around to face him. He had a bloody nose, but it didn't look broken; too bad.

His smile dropped and his eyes opened. The pale blue of his eyes just screamed 'pissed off'. "Do you really think you can beat me?"

"No, but you'd better believe I'm going to fight you tooth and nail," I said.

He back handed me and I flew into a building. I dropped down and landed on a piece of rubble. He flashed over and pulled me up by my hair then slammed me face first into the building. He pinned my front to the building and took my wrists in his hand. The hand pulling on my hair let go and slid down my side and then up my shirt and under my bra.

"Hmmm… so soft," he purred in my ear.

I struggled harder when that hand left my breast and smoothed down the front of my skirt. His hand slid under my skirt and along my inner thigh. He ran a finger along my cloth covered slit. Heat started to pool in my stomach and I hated myself for it. Gin ground against my back and I felt something hard. He buried his nose in my neck and breathed in. And then he was gone. I looked over to see him dodging blows from Shinji.

"I'm going to chop off every part of you that touched her!"

Hands shaking, I smoothed my skirt down. Shinji and Gin were in the sky trying to hack each other apart. Then, everyone started to line up on opposite sides. Shinji and Gin went to their opposite sides and I followed, placing myself between Shinji and Hiyori.

"Don't approach him carelessly. It's that ability of his. If you approach him without thinking, that'll be the end of you," Shinji said.

"We know," Hiyori said.

"You idiot. That was directed at you. Relax your grip on your sword, Hiyori."

"Such kind words. Just what I'd expect from you, Hirako-taicho," Aizen said. Hiyori's brow furrowed.

"Hiyori!" Shinji called in warning.

"However, this whole 'It's over if you approach him carelessly' business sounds rather funny. It doesn't matter if you approach me carelessly or whether you approach me with caution or even if you don't approach me at all; all of the outcomes will be the same. I'm not talking about the future. Your demise will be due to those events of the past from which you already have no escaping," Aizen said calmly.

"He's baiting you! Don't fall for it!" Shinji said.

"What do you have to be afraid of? All of you already died that night 100 years ago," Aizen said.

Hiyori exploded, launching herself at Aizen. Shinji yelled after her. It happened in a split second. A zanpaktou sliced through her middle. For a minute, I didn't understand what I was seeing. Then, I screamed as Shinji jumped down to catch her. They landed on a building below. They were down there for a minute before Shinji looked up with murder in his eyes.

"Such a nice look. I feel as though I'm looking at eyes that have returned to life for the first time in 100 years, Hirako Shinji. Do you despise me? If you do, then come and face me. I will make an exception and take you on with my sword," Aizen said. He was almost smiling.

Shinji had hachi watch over Hiyori and appeared in front of Aizen.

" 'Until Ichigo gets back'? You place a great deal of trust in that boy."

"It's not like you could understand. Since you're not capable of trusting even your allies."

"Trusting in someone is the same as depending on them. That is something the weak do; we have no use for it."

"That's quite a thing for someone who totes around so many henchmen to say, but you've probably tricked them into trusting you with some fancy words."

"Not at all. Not once have I told my subordinates to trust me. I have told them to come with me, but I never said anything like 'Trust in me and come with me'. I have always told them to never trust anyone, myself included. But sadly, there are not many who are strong enough to follow that through to the end. All living creatures place their faith in someone more powerful than them and they cannot survive unless they blindly follow that person. The recipient of that faith then seeks out someone in an even higher position in order to escape from the pressure. That person then seeks out someone even more powerful that he must put his faith in. In this way, all kings are born. And in this way, all gods are born. Do not believe in me yet, Hirako Shinji. For now, I shall slowly teach you who the god is that you will put your faith in. Believing in me comes after that."

I waited for a minute, but he didn't say anything else. I let out a sigh. That the lord. What a egomaniacal freak. He must love to hear himself talk because I don't think I've ever heard someone talk as much as Aizen does. Then, he drew his zanpaktou.

"You finally drew your sword, huh? You're quite a slacker. Scared?" Shinji said. He would know. Aizen didn't say anything. "Don't you ignore me. No matter how strong you've gotten, you must have some misgivings. You said it 100 years ago. I didn't open my heart to you. I didn't give you any information. And I didn't try to get to know you. As a result, you know nothing about my zanpaktou's abilities. Just to let you know, Aizen, if you think your Kyouka Suigetsu is the only zanpaktou of completely controlling a person's senses, you're dead wrong." Shinji held his sword out in front himself. "Collapse, Sakanade."

Light flared and the next thing I knew, Shinji's sword had transformed. His blade had five circles and another circle had formed at the base of hilt with his hand in the middle. Interesting. Then, I smelled something beautiful, like roses and lavender.

"What an interesting looking sword," Aizen said.

"Oh, stop. I'm not going to let you borrow it," Shinji said.

"Although, I don't feel as though anything has particularly changed. Perhaps I heard you wrong when you said 'It controls the senses'?"

"What are you talking about? It's changing already," Shinji said. Then he smiled and started sniffing the air. "Hmmm… what's this…? Isn't that a lovely smell?" Aizen's eyes widened. "Holding your breath won't do you any good at this point. Welcome, to the inverted world."

I looked around and screamed. I was upside down. I was upside down and mid-air. Shinji and Aizen looked over at me. Shinji sweat dropped and slapped his hand over his face.

Aizen blinked. "It would seem I'm not the only one you didn't tell your zanpaktou abilities to."

Shinji looked back at Aizen, but directed at me, "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but I'm a little busy right now. Just hang out there until I'm done."

"Ha ha. Fine, do what you gotta do!"

He said to Aizen, "This is Sakanade's power. It reverses the opponent's sense of up and down and left and right. It's similar to one of those falling block puzzle traps. Neat, huh? Well, I don't suppose you play games or anything, right?" He launched himself at Aizen.

Aizen smiled. "Interesting indeed. Everything is backwards, up and down, left and right, and front and back, as well. Did you think I wouldn't notice?" The smile left his face as blood sprayed from his arm.

"Apparently you didn't notice. Left and right, up and down, front and back are all reversed. But at the same time, your vision as well as the direction you're cut from are also reversed. Can you fight when up and down, left and right, front and back, and the direction you take damage from are all mixed up inside your head? No, you can't; nobody can. The stronger you are, the more used you are to combat. The more likely your body is to react only to what you see!" Shinji aimed his sword at Aizen and missed.

"Oh? And here I was intrigued but it's nothing more than an optical illusion. It's vastly different from my power, which controls all of the five senses. Your power is nothing once your opponent grows accustomed to it. It's a children's game, Hirako Shinji."

Finally, Sakanade wore off and I found myself right side up. And just in time to see a black hole open up in the sky. Holy flying strawberries! It's Ichigo!