Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of its characters, Tite Kubo does. I do, however, claim ownership to all original characters and ideas present in this story; don't steal them or use them without permission, because that's just not cool.
Author's Note: Just a quick note before we begin, I'd like to thank all of the people who made last chapter my highest-reviewed installment yet (good times!): Blekmedelninjan, XxIceFurXx, Revived Sin, Music-Warrior-Nightsong and, last but certainly not least, MatsuMama. Thank you also to everyone else who has reviewed in the past, it means a ton.
Love Conquers All
Chapter 10: No Mercy
The four figures sat on their mounts at the crest of the hill and waited, their cloaks flapping idly in the breeze as they observed the battle going on in the distance.
"I say we ride in and sweep these insects aside all at once, Tarsin included," a burly figure with a thick, black beard and equally dark eyes said, his rumbling voice evoking the chaos from which he drew his name. A pale woman next to him crossed her arms delicately, giving the slightest of chuckles.
"You are too hasty, my love," she replied. "Give them time, and sooner or later they will all come to me. We shall let this play out, and see how many are left standing in the aftermath."
"I can feel the infections forming in their wounds, brother," a scarred, bald horseman with a raspy voice spoke to his twin, who sat next to him. "Soon, there will be nothing to save them from the sickness that will clench their hearts and make them rot from the inside out!"
"They think they can stay within their high walls and survive this siege, brother," the final horseman said, his wasted figure and drawn face making his feverish, hungry eyes burn all the brighter. "But I will take their food from them, and watch them writhe in hunger for days before I rob them of their water and gaze upon their withered forms as they waste away into nothingness before the famine."
So the Four Horsemen stood assembled and waited, reining in their instincts for the time being. After a few moments War's dark eyes shifted their gaze and he smiled.
"It looks as though the young prince has bitten off more than he can chew, my Lady," he said. "Do you think you will pay him a visit presently?"
The pale woman shook her head.
"As much as I would like to, my love," Death answered, "it will not be his time for a while yet. He may stand on the threshold between the two worlds, but I cannot push him one way or the other."
The dark-eyed man sighed.
"That grieves me deeply, my Lady. I despise cowards like him, and those who cannot rule their troops effectively. If it were the older prince who commanded us, this battle would have already been decided."
"Be that as it may, my love, he fights for the enemy now. When the time is right, we will cut him down as we have been ordered to whether or not royal blood flows in his veins."
"I just wish Callos would return and give the order," Pestilence rasped in a half-whine. "There's someone in particular I need to pay a visit, in order to conclude some long-unfinished business."
"Why you didn't just kill him all that time ago, brother, I will never understand," Famine said. His scarred sibling just shrugged.
"I was having a good day, and I felt like being generous. It does not matter, in any case. Soon, I will cause his disease to bloom in his blood and he will fall, my greatest victim yet."
The four harbingers stood lost in their own thoughts, ageless and powerful. When the order came down they would ride once again, and Hell would follow behind them.
Inside the Seireitei, all Hell had, quite literally, broken loose. As Saika stood locked in a duel with the berserker Tarsin, the Captains of the 13 Divisions found their hands full with bloodthirsty, ravenous demons. The two former Espada-turned-half demons, however, were having fun.
"That's twelve for me, Schiffer!" Grimmjow taunted, slicing yet another grunt in two. "How many've you killed?"
"I don't do something as juvenile as keep track of my kills, Jaegerjaques. This is not a game," Ulquiorra replied, his hand striking and ripping out a demon's heart with surgical precision.
"You're just saying that because you know I'd win if we did keep score," the blue-haired warrior shot back, grinning madly and laughing as he found himself surrounded by a ring of aura-enhanced demons.
"Finally. It's about time you maggots started taking me seriously!" he shouted, charging forward with his sword poised to strike.
"If I didn't know any better, Kisuke," Yoruichi said to her best friend in between strikes, "I'd say you were truly enjoying yourself for the first time since we got exiled."
Urahara smiled roguishly.
"Well, it is nice to have these robes back," he admitted, "but that's nothing compared to fighting against these demons. I've never seen anything like them, Yoruichi-san. I'll have so much new data to analyze tonight it almost makes my head spin!"
The Shihoin princess rolled her eyes, venting her frustration with her friend's addiction to science on a poor demon with a particularly vicious punch.
"You never quit, do you?"
Urahara laughed.
"I wouldn't be a true man of science if I did that, now would I?"
Benihime sang as she danced through the air with cold, calculating precision, absorbing a trace amount of both the reiatsu amplifier and the demon energy itself for later analysis.
Meanwhile, Rukia was testing the ever-expanding limit of her bankai with a valkyrie's delight, carving a frozen swath of destruction through the enemy's ranks. When a group of about ten heavily-armored axe-wielders appeared in front of her, a smirk crossed Rukia's face as she thought of a way to take them all out at once. Forming a thin wall of ice in front of her, she formed cracks in numerous places and held her hand out, palm open.
"Scatter."
The wall of ice promptly turned into hundreds upon hundreds of razor-sharp ice flakes that surged forward with a shrill whistle and cut the demons to shreds. As Rukia admired her work with satisfaction, a scornful snort sounded behind her and she turned her head to behold her brother, Senbonsakura unsheathed and adorned with drops of black blood that rolled down its blade like sweat.
"I thought I raised you to be more inventive than that."
Rukia's smirk turned into a smile.
"You know, they have a saying in the Human world, Nii-sama: 'Imitation is the highest form of flattery.'"
The young Kuchiki thought she saw the tiniest of smiles curve her brother's lips upwards, but it was gone before she could be sure.
"Typical human foolishness," he said before flash-stepping away. Rukia's smile grew wider and she vanished in turn, this time seeking out a particular orange-haired Soul Reaper.
"Man, this is boring," Ichigo groused as he blew through his latest opponent. A laugh drew his attention over to his left, where Kenpachi Zaraki was yanking his zanpakuto out of some demon's skull.
"You want a real fight, Ichigo," he growled, "just say the word."
Kurosaki couldn't stop his hair from standing up on the back of his neck out of habit.
"Why don't we wait until after the bloodthirsty demons are all dead, Kenpachi?" he said, hoping that would shut up the 11th Division Captain. Unfortunately, that just gave him another opening.
"Fine by me. But when all of these slugs are dead I'm gonna hold you to your word, Ichigo."
The Soul Reaper shivered, realizing what he'd just done, as Zaraki gave him a murderous smile and Yachiru started to cheer.
"Yay! Ichy and Ken-chan are going to play together again. That'll be a lot of fun, right, Ken-chan?"
"Yeah, Yachiru," the Captain replied as he cut through more demons with renewed purpose, "it most certainly will be."
Ichigo, on the other hand, was far from happy and felt like letting one of the demon grunts end his misery before a familiar laugh brought him back to reality.
"I can't believe you just challenged Captain Kenpachi to a rematch, Ichigo," Rukia said. "You really are as stupid as I thought."
"I didn't do it on purpose," Ichigo snapped back. "He misinterpreted… you know what, I don't have to take this from you, short-stack."
Rukia's smile turned into a murderous glare as she shoved an ice-katana behind her, right through the chest of a hapless demon. Ichigo felt another shiver crawl up his spine, but he forced himself not to show it. If normal Rukia was intimidating when she got angry, bankai Rukia was downright terrifying.
"What did you just call me, Ichigo?" she asked, yanking her blade out of the demon and brandishing it at her loved one.
"N—nothing, Rukia," he replied, "nothing at all."
She smiled evilly, and Ichigo knew that it was going to take a lot of work now if he ever wanted to wear the pants again, so to speak.
"That's what I thought," she said, dropping the glare and giving Ichigo a heartfelt kiss.
"Be safe," she said seriously, before vanishing. The brown-eyed Soul Reaper was still reeling slightly over the kiss when he heard a deeper chuckle and turned, seeing Renji with a smirk on his face performing a certain demeaning gesture complete with sound effects.
"Someone's whipped," he said, and Ichigo just stared daggers at his friend.
"I hate you," he shot back, flash-stepping away to go kill something while Renji's laugh echoed behind him.
"Man, I am so much better at this than you!" Grimmjow shouted as he racked up kill number two-hundred something, running after a pack of terrified demons. "You're an embarrassment to the number four, Schiffer."
"Shut up, Jaegerjaques," Ulquiorra replied, angered that his comrade's constant trash-talking was starting to throw off his concentration.
"Someone knows I'm right," Grimmjow said with an almost singsong lilt to his voice, his taunts provoking the former fourth Esapda into obliterating a group of demons with a completely unnecessary gran rey cero.
"You two never quit, do you?" an amused voice said as a third figure broke into their fight, green hair flashing in Ulquiorra's peripheral vision. Grimmjow turned to face the new arrival and smiled, his eyes flashing.
"Why would I, when I'm having so much fun? By the way, Nel," the former sixth Espada said after giving her a quick once-over, "you're lookin' particularly nice today."
Neliel gave her one-time comrade an exasperated glare. She knew he was just saying that to get under Ulquiorra's skin, but still.
"You disgust me, Grimmjow," she said, although not without a hint of a smile to take the sting off of her words. She was slightly unnerved by his constant lust for battle, but it wasn't self-destructive like Nnoitra's had been; Grimmjow was a true warrior, and Neliel had a level of respect for him that had not extended to the chauvinistic backstabber.
"Whatever," Grimmjow said, smiling internally as he saw Ulquiorra shoot him the most murderous look he had ever seen the green-eyed Espada give over Nel's shoulder. "Whenever you wise up and change your mind, let me know."
Nel slashed Gamuza through a nearby demon and chuckled.
"Keep dreaming, Jaegerjaques."
Schiffer had to use all of his impulse control to keep from unsealing Carnifice and cutting Grimmjow up into countless pieces, but he just barely managed it. Venting his anger instead on the stronger variety of demon that had finally emerged to challenge them, the normally stoic Espada began carving through his enemies with abandon. He was so caught up in letting his anger out the Ulquiorra didn't become aware of the blade descending towards his back until it was almost upon him, cursing his weakness as he braced himself for the pain.
But it did not come. Instead, the sound of steel clashing upon steel reached Schiffer's ears and he turned slowly, seeing that Neliel had put herself in between the sword and her friend, blocking the blow with her hierro-enhanced skin. Vaporizing the attacker with a casually-fired bala, she spoke to the former fourth Espada.
"How many times am I going to have to tell you to watch your back, Ulquiorra?" she teased, and Schiffer sighed in as much embarrassment as he could allow.
"I am once again in your debt, it seems," he said, as a ring of demons began tightening around the back-to-back Espada. Neliel gave a small smile Ulquiorra couldn't see and readied her zanpakuto, while Schiffer did the same with Carnefice.
"Don't mention it," she replied. "After all, that's what friends do, right?" she said calmly, and Ulquiorra's expression softened ever-so-slightly in gratitude before he forced it back to normal, focusing on the skirmish about to erupt before him. He couldn't afford to be distracted, not now.
"Are you ready, Sir?" he asked, making a point to himself by not saying her name.
"Always," Nel answered, getting ready to attack. "And for the last time, stop calling me that!" she half-shouted as the two of them began to fight once again, the sound of steel crashing upon steel drowning out the small chuckle Ulquiorra had given at his former superior's reaction.
Some things never changed.
"It looks like your Araeas aura isn't doing much good, Tarsin," Saika remarked pointedly as he blocked yet another strike from the bullish Greater Demon. "Don't tell me you're losing your touch?"
Tarsin raged forward and swung his blade down hard, scoring a blow that ran from Aron's shoulder-blade down to his sternum.
"Do not mock me, you half-breed!" he shouted, eyes flaring as he summoned the more powerful legionaries to the field with a telepathic command.
"A pathetic bastard like you will never reach the heights of power possessed by us pure-blood demons. Behold the secret arts known to my clan, and tremble before their power. Rain your wrath from the sky, Shi'vornash!"
When the incantation was finished thunder sounded in the heavens and meteor-like bodies of dark energy screamed down to the battlefield, enveloping the elite demon legionaries in shrouds of powerful, chaotic reiatsu. The Soul Reapers and their allies suddenly found themselves on their heels, faced with a foe exponentially more deadly than the grunts they had previously been cutting through like wheat. Saika was seemingly unmoved, but one of his eyes followed Yoruichi's form with worry until he was sure she and Urahara had the situation under control. Turning his full attention back to Tarsin, he shrugged.
"I've seen better," he said coolly, hoping to incite his enemy into a blind, uncontrolled rage. When the Greater Demon roared and charged Saika knew he'd succeeded, but as he barely dodged a vicious attack he was wondering if he might have succeeded a little too much.
"What's the matter, Aron? You too afraid to stop blocking and start attacking? Is that it? Hah, the great General Saika Aron, son of Lord Mortos himself, is secretly a yellow-bellied coward? That's too much. How did you even get promoted so high, runt?"
Saika smirked as he blocked another strike from Tarsin, the words from the first lesson Yoruichi had given him flashing through his mind.
"Always study your opponent's defense as you attack, and work to understand his attacks as you defend. Knowing how to strike is meaningless if you don't know when or where to attack."
"How did I get promoted so high?" Saika repeated, and then he grinned wolfishly.
"Let me show you. Rise, Oujiscuro!"
Tarsin staggered back as the power spike hit him, but he kept his footing. The son of Mortos now stood in front of him in his 'true' form, fangs glinting in the sunlight as his dark orange eyes smoldered with bloodlust.
"What's the matter, Tarsin?" he asked, smiling. "Having second thoughts?"
The berserker gave a feral laugh, ecstatic that he had been able to force Saika into drawing out his inner strength. Releasing his own barriers that he had been using to conserve his energy, Tarsin hefted his sword once more and challenged his nemesis.
"Not in the slightest, half-breed. Come on!"
The two flash-stepped away to a more open space, not wanting to be distracted by the melee around them. Grimmjow noticed this and made to follow, but Ulquiorra's voice stopped him.
"Where do you think you are going, Jaegerjaques?"
"The boss is about to beat the shit out of someone, and I want to see it."
"And how do you think it will look to the Soul Reapers if you leave the field in the middle of combat?"
Grimmjow gave a harsh chuckle.
"Do you think I give a fuck about what they think, Schiffer? You think that I'm going to grovel for their approval? Don't make me laugh; we're always going to be Espada to them, regardless of what we do. I'm only fighting because it's the boss' orders, and nothing more. Those Soul Reaper scum don't like me being here, fuck 'em. They want to fight me, I'll run 'em through. They aren't my friends, Ulquiorra, and they certainly won't warm up to someone like you any time soon. If you want to be their hound, though, be my guest. See ya," he finished, vanishing to go watch his master fight.
Ulquiorra heard a sigh behind him and turned around to see that Neliel had hung her head, Grimmjow's words clearly cutting her more deeply than she wanted to admit.
"They call me a monster."
Ulquiorra's eyes widened ever-so-slightly at Nel's uncharacteristically anguished whisper, and he took a step towards her on reflex.
"What?"
The former third Espada raised her head, and Schiffer saw that her eyes were damp with barely restrained tears.
"After all I've done for them, after all of the times I fought to protect them, they still call me a monster. It's not fair, Ulquiorra. It's not fair!"
The sudden outburst of emotion and reiatsu caught Schiffer off-guard and he staggered slightly, but it was the sight that greeted him once the dust cleared that actually shocked him. Nel was still in front of him, and still emotionally distressed.
But Nel now looked like a six-year-old girl. The green-haired Espada looked down at her small hands, and the enormity of the situation crashed down on her as a few wounded demons advanced on her hungrily, payback in their eyes.
"Oh, fwuk," she said, her eyes wide with fear. Before any of them could strike, however, the discordant hum of a cero tore through the air and annihilated the would-be attackers, leaving wisps of ash in their places.
"We're even, Sir," Ulquiorra said, feeling weird himself saying that to a six-year-old, but still refusing to call her by her name. The former fourth Espada found himself caught off-guard for the second time when something hard suddenly rammed into his chest and sent him skidding backwards. When he stopped moving, Ulquiorra looked down to see that Nel had head-butt him, and now had her small but tenacious arms wrapped securely around his waist. She looked up at him, and Schiffer felt a rare surge of anger towards the deceased Nnoitra when he saw the now-prominent scar on her face.
"Thank'u, Ulqiorwa," she said with her normal serious, despite being trapped in this other form. Still, he couldn't help but give a small smirk at the way she butchered his name. Her expression of gratitude quickly shifted into one of childish fury.
"What's so fwunny?!"
"Nothing," he said, finding himself biting back his first genuine laugh since, well… since he'd become a Hollow. Nel let go of him and crossed her arms petulantly, frowning.
"You're an ashwhole, Schwiffer."
Ulquiorra was almost blue in the face now, wishing that the demons weren't all scared shitless of him so that he'd have someone to fight. As it stood, he was perilously close to showing actual emotions, and he couldn't let himself slide down that path again. Forcing his mirth down with a mighty struggle, the former fourth Espada put his stoic mask back on and looked over to where the Soul Reaper Captains were slugging it out with the other demon legionaries. Most of them had resorted to bankai at this point, and he noted with interest that Kurosaki had donned his Hollow mask. Whenever he did that it meant that he was serious about the battle, and copious bloodshed was sure to follow.
"Itsygo's gettin' tired o' pwaying around," Nel observed, and as Ulquiorra watched him cut down even the Praetorian Demons with frightening ease he couldn't help but feel a brief flash of fear, his hand unconsciously tracing the scar on his chest where Tensa Zangetsu had delivered his deathblow. Looking down at the former third Espada, Ulquiorra motioned with his head towards the fray.
"I am going to assist them," he said, although even he wasn't entirely sure why he felt like helping the Soul Reapers. "You stay here, and don't move."
Nel sat down on a rock and nodded, her gaze deadly serious.
"Come back," she said, and Schiffer locked eyes with her before replying.
"Of course." Then he was gone, and Nel sighed. Would he ever open up?
Hitsugaya and Callos stood apart, backs facing each other post-strike. Toshiro's bankai had shattered under the sheer pressure of the attack, and Hyorinmaru's blue reiatsu was gone from his eyes. Callos was in much worse shape; lacerated and bleeding, he drew breath in shaky gasps and wiped the blood away that was dripping into his eyes.
"Damn you, dragon," he cursed, falling to his knees and then slumping over completely, lying in the grass as his life-force continued to ebb away from him. Hitsugaya walked over and was about to give the prince his deathblow when the cascade of reiatsu inside the Seireitei hit him at long last, and the Captain realized he was needed elsewhere. As he looked down at his enemy, Hitsugaya noticed that he had stopped breathing and moving altogether. Confident that his job had been finished, Toshiro didn't wait a second longer to join his friends and vanished, hoping that Momo and Matsumoto were holding up fine without him.
As he felt Hitsugaya's reiatsu fade and disappear, Callos drew in a shaky breath and forced himself to his hands and knees. Coward that he was, the prince had turned playing dead into an art form. Turning all of his reiatsu inward, he was able to heal his wounds and appear to be dead at the same time, waiting until his foe dropped their guard before striking. As it stood, he needed to get back to his camp as quickly as possible.
He had some horses to let out of their stalls. Tomorrow morning, at dawn, the Four Horsemen would raze the Seireitei to the ground, and Callos would able to face his father with honor. He would see Mortos look upon him with affection, with pride, and then all of these wounds would be worth it.
But that wasn't until tomorrow morning. For now, he needed a medic and some rest. He rose painfully to his feet, barking various curses of vengeance at his enemies in the ancient tongue of the demons before vanishing.
Saika and Tarsin had stopped at the summit of Soukyoku Hill, and were now dueling each other with no concern for themselves or the environment around them. Reiatsu flared to incredible proportions, with the occasional line of black splattering on the dry, cracked earth. The ground seemed to drink it up eagerly; the Hill had a fondness for destruction and death, instilled over the ages as souls had been obliterated on it by its namesake blade. As Saika landed what felt like the 100th attack against his enemy and Tarsin showed very little sign of slowing down, much less dying, he began to wonder if he was getting weaker or Tarsin was getting stronger. The Greater Demon smiled as he saw Saika's thoughts play out across his face.
"I see you've come to realize why it is you can't win, half-breed," he taunted. "Why do you think I led you here? This place is rife with dark reiatsu, years and years and years of bloodshed, grief, hatred and pain stagnating and waiting for someone like me to anchor them. You see, only a pure demon like me, who has fully acknowledged his ties to the darkness, can wield this power to its fullest extent. As long as I am fuelled by it, your pathetic sword strikes cannot harm me, much less kill me. Prepare to meet your end, Saika."
Tarsin tensed for a moment and his reiatsu flared mightily, the negative energies of the Hill flooding into him and giving him strength. Determined to stop him before he became too powerful, Saika lunged forward and struck with all of his might, forcing Tarsin off-balance. As the Greater Demon's foot left the ground, Aron saw that the energy from the Hill stopped flowing into that part of his body. Seeing what was going on, the orange-eyed warrior smiled. He still had a chance, all thanks to a story he had been read by Jushiro Ukitake when he was a boy.
In this story, a warrior of old by the name of Hercules had been forced to fight a man by the name of Antaeus, who was a son of Gaia, the Earth Mother, and drew his strength from her. As long as his feet touched the ground, he was completely invincible. To defeat him, Hercules had used his superior brute strength to lift Antaeus off of the ground, crushing him to death.
All Saika had to do was get Tarsin off of the ground, away from the Hill, and the rest was easy. So his kendo wouldn't do him any good? That was fine by him.
He'd been waiting to cut loose with his kido, which he couldn't use in Hell, for a long, long time. While Tarsin's leg was still off of the ground, Saika slid back to make some space and raised his hand outward, readying a spell.
"Bakudo number 9: Geki."
The red light slammed into Tarsin's leg, completely paralyzing it. It wasn't until his shifting weight caused him to lose balance that Tarsin tried to disable the kido, but it was too late. As soon as he hit the ground, Saika threw another spell at him.
"Hado number 58: Tenran."
A whirlwind shot out from Aron's outstretched hands, becoming wider and wider as it lunged towards its prey. The cyclone swept Tarsin up before he could draw enough power from Soukyoku Hill, forcing him high into the air. Saika grinned wolfishly as he cracked his knuckles, warming up mentally for round two. It had been ages since he'd practiced the spell he was going to throw at this son of a bitch, and he wanted to make sure he had time to say the incantation. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, he decided to dispel the whirlwind before casting a binding spell instead.
"Bakudo number 61: Rikujokoro."
Six pillars of light surrounded Tarsin on all sides and held him in place as he wriggled like a fish on a hook, cursing until he was almost foaming at the mouth. Grimmjow, who had lurked in the shadows until now, chose to make his presence known and took a few steps towards his boss. Saika, who had closed his eyes in concentration, raised a single eyebrow and spoke without turning.
"Why are you here, Grimmjow?"
Jaegerjaques shrugged.
"I just wanted to see the fireworks. How're you gonna finish this bastard off?"
"You will see soon enough, my friend. Oh, and Grimmjow?"
"Yeah?"
"On the rare occasions I decide to give them, orders are orders. You would do well to keep that in mind, and know that the next time you abandon your post for something as frivolous as watching me fight I will do far worse to you than cutting off your arm. Do we understand each other, my friend?"
Saika reminded Grimmjow of Aizen in that moment, but he respected the orange-eyed Prince enough to take him seriously. He swallowed his pride and nodded.
"Yes, we understand each other."
"Good," Saika said, finishing his meditating and rising. Taking one final breath, he looked over his shoulder at his Captain and grinned wickedly.
"Get a good seat, somewhere high up," he said. "You're gonna love this part."
Grimmjow grinned in kind and used sonido to perch up on a newly-formed spire that had been created by Saika and Tarsin's brawling. Saika looked up at his target, smiled, and began to chant.
"Oh vengeful Gods of Old, hear my plea…"
Around the time when Saika and Tarsin had just reached Soukyoku Hill, the Soul Reaper Captains noticed that the horde of demons was finally beginning to thin out. Their morale rising, they surged forward and Ichigo allowed himself to relax, having done a sizable chunk of the fighting himself. Just as he let his guard down and took off his Hollow mask, a wounded demon forced itself up from the ground on its one remaining arm and lunged at the Soul Reaper, too quickly for Ichigo to bring his sword up to block it. Before the brute could strike, however, a shield of ice formed and stopped the charge. As soon as the demon halted, the shield morphed into a spike and lodged itself mercilessly in the monster's chest, killing it for good. The orange-haired Soul Reaper turned around, relieved, only to find himself inches away from a very irate Rukia Kuchiki. She brought her hand back and smacked Ichigo across the face before he knew what was going on, sending him back a few steps. He was stopped when a pair of arms encircled his waist, pulling him forward again. Kurosaki looked down to see that Rukia was now hugging him fiercely, tears dotting the corners of her eyes.
"Damn it, Ichigo, you idiot," she said, "don't ever do that again, you hear me? I thought you were going to—"
Ichigo cut off her last word by tilting her head up at the same time he leaned down, kissing her gently and wiping a tear away from her cheek. He parted from her after a moment, relieved to see that she had calmed down somewhat, although her breath was still heaving. After a moment of tense silence, Rukia all but leapt up and kissed Ichigo passionately, anchoring herself with her legs around his waist to make sure he wouldn't go anywhere. Ichigo was too busy wondering how she could go from enraged to crying to so aggressively affectionate, but he just chalked it up to the fact that she was Rukia and went along with it. They stayed like that for several moments, until reiatsu flared nearby that was so strong it knocked Rukia off of Ichigo and flat on her ass. Getting up in a huff, the young Kuchiki turned and was about to berate the person who had interrupted her until she saw who it was.
Byakuya's face wore a multilayered expression, but the most predominant emotion on it was disdain.
"If you truly desire to bestow your affections upon this unworthy peasant, Rukia," he said calmly, "please do so somewhere I cannot see it. Now I am doubtful as to whether or not I will be able to stomach dinner, and that upsets me a great deal."
"M—My apologies, Nii-sama," Rukia forced out after a few moments, while Ichigo was silent as stone. "It will not happen again… in public, anyway," she finished in a mumble, not willing to concede the entire argument to her brother.
Byakuya nodded, seemingly satisfied with her response, and began to walk away before stopping, speaking to Ichigo without turning his head.
"Ichigo Kurosaki," he said, and Ichigo found the strength to speak once again.
"Yeah, Byakuya?"
If he was upset about being called by his first name, the Kuchiki noble did not show it. Instead, he simply continued as if Ichigo hadn't said anything, his voice as sharp as the blade of Senbonsakura.
"If you break her heart, I will kill you."
Yoruichi, who happened to be nearby finishing off a lingering demon with shunko, came over and tried to calm the understandably nervous teenager.
"He doesn't really mean it, Ichigo. Right, Byakuya-bo?"
Byakuya gave the Shihoin princess a look that made even her pale, and she turned back to Ichigo.
"Actually, it looks like he does mean it, Ichigo."
"Most emphatically," Byakuya said before he vanished, leaving Yoruichi feeling especially awkward.
"I'm sure you'll be fine, kid," she said lamely, trying to think of something more convincing to say when a heinously huge spike of reiatsu grabbed her attention, along with every other Captain. It felt like Captain Hitsugaya, but it was blended with something else, almost to the point that the two reiatsu had joined completely to become something entirely different, and much more powerful. But just who… or what… was it?
Yoruichi's question was answered when a huge barrage of oversized icicles stormed down on the heads of the few surviving demons, wiping out the last remnants of the legion in one fell swoop. Everyone looked over at Rukia in shock, but she just shrugged.
"Wasn't me," she said, and everyone was confused for a few moments before Momo let out a shout of delight, running over to the left.
"Shiro-chan!" she said, launching herself at her childhood friend in relief and glee.
"We were so worried when we couldn't find you," she said into his shoulder. "Where have you been?"
"Dealing with an old enemy," he said, the traces of Hyorinmaru's voice making Momo look up in surprise, where an even bigger shock awaited her.
"What happened to your eyes, Toshiro?"
Hitsugaya realized that not all of the traces of his transformation had vanished and he closed his eyes tightly, only opening them back up when he knew they were back to normal.
"Nothing, Momo. See? They're just fine," he said, cursing inwardly as his best friend's intelligent eyes saw right through him.
"I can understand if you don't want to talk about it now, Shiro-chan," she said softly, "but I hope that you trust me enough to talk to me about whatever is bothering you, whenever you are ready."
Hitsugaya was grateful that Momo hadn't thrown him into the spotlight just then, and he gave his friend's shoulder a gentle squeeze.
"Of course I trust you, bedwetter-chan," he said, grinning inwardly at the annoyed look on her face, "and I'll tell you about it at some point. But right now, what I really need is to sleep for about three straight days. I can barely stand up, if you hadn't noticed."
Hinamori felt the pressure of Toshiro using her as a crutch and cringed as she saw how beat up he was now that whatever strength he had been tapping into had left him. Letting him lean on her shoulder, Momo guided the wounded Captain as quickly as she could to Fourth Division, followed by a nervous Matusmoto.
"Well, that was unexpected," Shunsui said as he surveyed the icy graveyard before him. "What do you suppose happened to Captain Hitsugaya, Kisuke?"
Urahara, who had insisted that people drop the 'Captain' because, in his words, 'the haori speaks for itself', thought for a moment before speaking.
"It appeared as though his reiatsu had somehow melded completely with the reiatsu of his zanpakuto… but even then, no normal zanpakuto is this strong."
"I wouldn't exactly call Hyorinmaru a 'normal' Zanpakuto, Urahara," Ichigo chimed in, remembering the havoc caused when a copy of the sword had emerged not too long ago.
"Good point," the Twelfth Division Captain said, and the air was calm again for a few moments before it was ripped through yet again. This time, the reiatsu responsible was also familiar and twisted, but in a way that was like a Vizard's reiatsu: dark, dense and unquestionably deadly. Yoruichi, who knew the core of the reiatsu as well as the back of her own hand, was the first to break the silence.
"It's Saika," she said urgently, vanishing immediately afterward and heading for Soukyoku Hill. Rukia and Ulquiorra were the next to disappear, followed closely by Ichigo and Urahara. Yoruichi's thoughts were in turmoil yet again, torn between hoping that he wasn't in danger and wanting to kill him herself.
The four Soul Reapers and the former Espada arrived at the summit of the Hill when Saika cast Tenran, huddling under one of Yoruichi's barriers in order to mask their reiatsu and remain hidden. They saw the orange-eyed warrior use the Rikujokoro to hold Tarsin in place and exchange a few words with Grimmjow before readying himself and beginning to chant. When they saw that Jaegerjaques had moved to higher ground in preperation for what was to come, the group did the same thing and stood nearby the blue-haired former Espada, wondering what was coming next.
Saika had felt the reiatsu of his allies as soon as they showed up; Ichigo's reiatsu was so strong it leaked right through the barrier, but he paid them no mind for the moment. He had more important things to focus on, like obliterating Tarsin from existence.
"Oh vengeful Gods of Old, hear my plea. Righteousness, rise and banish sin. Virtuous dragon, collide with the Kitsune and shake the stars. Purifying flame, soar high and strike with the power of the Patriarch Phoenix: Hado number 95, Part 1: Dark Karma!"
"He certainly doesn't want to leave anything to chance," Urahara said dryly as he braced himself against the rock and watched the spell unfold.
A haze as black as midnight flowed out from Tarsin, gradually gaining form and weight as moments passed. When it was thick enough it coalesced into an orb in front of the Greater Demon, growing bigger and bigger as more black energy left him to nourish the orb.
"What's going on?" Ichigo asked, turning to Yoruichi. For a destructive spell above 90, this didn't seem very impressive.
"Right now, every single one of Tarsin's sins is being drawn from his body to feed that orb. It should finish now, and you'll see what all the fuss is about."
The orb, now fully formed, suddenly compressed itself to the size of a watermelon and floated about ten feet away from Tarsin. Taking a breath, Saika began the concluding part of the spell.
"Justice, great balancer, receive the sins of the lion. Vesta, pure lady, draw the light from the shadow. Michael, warrior of the sun, wield this blade against thine enemy and wipe their wickedness from this world. Hado number 95, Part 2: Retribution!"
As soon as Saika had finished the incantation, the black orb began to spin. Slowly at first, and then faster and faster, the black began to shear away, revealing pure white energy underneath. Ichigo understood that this was Tarsin's sins being purified, no doubt to be thrown right back at him. And considering how sinful a Greater Demon must be, it was probably going to be one heck of an explosion.
He wasn't disappointed, to say the least.
When the orb was completely white, it flared as bright as the sun for a moment before racing towards the immobile Tarsin and embedding itself in his chest. Slowly but surely the light spread to engulf its prey, and when the Greater Demon was completely enveloped in the light it flared again and Tarsin screamed once in pain before the energy around him exploded outwards with such force that everyone but Ulquiorra and Grimmjow were forced to avert their eyes. When they looked again, there wasn't even a wisp of his reiatsu.
Tarsin had been completely annihilated.
Silence reigned until the former Captain flash-stepped up to join the crowd, a satisfied smile on his face until Yoruichi moved forward and slugged him hard across the face. Grimmjow and Ulquiorra reached for their swords on instinct, but Aron waved him off with one hand while he popped his jaw back into place with the other.
"That was beyond deserved," he said, "and it probably hurt as much as you wanted it to, Lady Shihion, if not more. But out of consideration for what shred of dignity I might still have, can we please finish this later, and in private?"
Yoruichi softened when she heard Saika's regretful tone, and almost felt bad about belting him across the face without warning. Almost. She dropped her arm back down to her side, and Grimmjow sighed in disappointment.
"Man, I know I want to see the boss get his ass beaten up by a chick. Who's with me?"
"That would be quite amusing, I agree," Ulquiorra agreed, and Aron glared at them both.
"You two are doing the opposite of helping."
Urahara, seeing the look in the former Captain's eyes and knowing what it meant, moved quickly to stop a fight from breaking out between the recently-resurrected Saika and his Espada comrades.
"Okay, okay; now that this threat is past, let's go celebrate it!"
Aron paused and thought for a moment, and then grinned mischievously.
"I think I still remember where Lieutenant Matsmoto keeps her secret stash of Umbriacan Sake," he said, and the glare on Grimmjow's face was replaced by a rare look of awe.
"No way…" he said, looking like someone who had just found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. "That stuff fucks you up to next week…"
Saika's grinned widened.
"Oh, I know, my friend; I know. So, what do you say we follow the esteemed Captain's suggestion and celebrate this first day's victory?"
"Amen to that," Ichigo said, and the group vanished.
"Okay, who was the jerk who decided to throw a party and not tell me about it?!" Matsumoto shouted, causing the assembled group of Captains, Lieutenants and Arrancar to fall suddenly silent.
Well, all of them except for one, which happened to be a slightly buzzed Saika Aron.
"I did, Lieutenant," he said, and Rangiku's eyes went wide as she saw her former Captain sitting on a couch pouring himself a glass of sake, from a bottle that looked quite familiar… wait…
"Captain Aron," she breathed out, a knot tightening in her stomach, "tell me you didn't…"
Saika grinned.
"Oh yes, Lieutenant. Yes I did."
"But then surely that's not…" The look in her eyes was even more pitiable than a sad puppy's at this point, but Saika's grin just grew wider.
"Oh yes, Lieutenant. Yes it is."
Matsumoto looked like her heart had just been ripped out of her chest and stomped on.
"Captain Aron, How could you!?"
"Consider it payback for the hundreds of hours of my life I spent doing your paperwork for you back when I was your Captain, Matsumoto. I'd say this makes us about equal, wouldn't you?"
Matsumoto just collapsed into a chair, deflated and crushed, while a recovered Hitsugaya hurried over to Aron and sat beside him, an earnest look in his eye.
"You used to be Captain of Tenth Division?" he asked, and Saika nodded.
"So you know all of Matsumoto's weak points?" Another nod, this time accompanied by a smile. Toshiro felt as if he'd just witnessed a chorus of angels.
"Please teach me, Aron-sama."
Saika laughed, finishing his cup of sake.
"In due time, grasshopper; in due time. For now, revel in the fact that you are living, and will see at least one more sunrise."
Toshiro nodded and rose, casting a victorious look at Matsumoto's slumped form before going over to talk to Momo. Saika was enjoying the feeling of the Ubriacan sake when he found himself staring into a blazing pair of golden eyes and his buzz died in the blink of an eye.
"We need to talk, Saika," Yoruichi said in a voice that brooked no arguing, and Aron saw his life begin to flash before his eyes.
"Is there really no way it can wait until—"
"Now."
Saika sighed, clearing his head in a moment and getting up to follow his former Captain.
This was not going to be fun.
Urahara and Byakuya watched the two of them disappear and smirked, each in their own way, before turning to each other.
"Thirty gold pieces says he comes out on top in the morning," Urahara said, and Byakuya nodded.
"Done," he said, already hearing that money jingling in his pocket. After all, it was never, ever a smart idea to bet against Yoruichi Shihion in anything, especially when she was furious.
Saika entered Yoruichi's room with the expectation of being pinned up against the wall and beaten senseless, so he was quite surprised when she just stood there, giving him that look she'd always used to have when trying to peer into his heart and figure out what was going on in there. After a few tense moments, she spoke, her voice as soft as Saika had ever heard it.
"Why didn't you just tell me, Sai?" she asked, using the nickname she'd given him when he was her lieutenant. It almost brought a smile to his face, but Saika knew that smiles had no place here right now and kept it down.
"Tell you what, Yoruichi?"
"Don't give me that," she said, her voice hardening as she frowned at him. "You know exactly what I'm talking about."
Saika felt like he was on the outside of one gigantic inside joke that everyone thought he knew about. Hesitantly, he replied in the negative again.
"No, Yoruichi, I really don't know what you're talking about Unless this is about that time when I sprayed catnip on your pillow just to see you stumble around like a drunk for a few hours, in which case I'm really, really sorry and I'll never do it again."
Yoruichi's eyes narrowed that that revelation.
"That was you?" she asked dangerously, and Saika cursed his big, fat mouth.
"Maybe…?"
The Shihoin princess would have beaten Aron to a pulp for that any time other than now, but she had other, more important things to get off her chest now than anger. Screwing up her courage, Yoruichi spoke and hoped that she wasn't destroying a friendship by doing it.
"Saika, someone told me the other day that you… well, before you left, that… that you were in love with me."
Saika stopped moving entirely, his face a motionless mask betraying no feeling whatsoever. After a moment's pause, he spoke softly and calmly to his former Captain.
"Who told you that?"
Yoruichi looked deep into his bright orange eyes and sighed, shaking her head.
"It doesn't matter," she said, "I can tell by the way you're looking at me that he was wrong anyway." She turned around and began to walk away, tears stinging her eyes and clamoring to break free.
"Yoruichi."
She froze at the sound of her name being uttered with such longing and untapped feeling for the first time in her life; her late 'husband' had only cared about her influence and wealth, and had never said a loving word to her throughout their whole relationship. And now here was her former lieutenant, who had never dropped even the slightest hint that he saw her as more than a friend, saying her name like his heart would shatter if she left the room. She turned around slowly, her breath catching in her throat when he flashed to a few inches away from her face.
"Whoever told you that was wrong about one thing," he said, and Yoruichi drew in a ragged breath at the implications hidden in his voice.
"And what was that, Lieutenant?" she asked, gasping silently as he cupped her chin in one of his hands and stared right into her eyes.
"He shouldn't have put it in the past tense," Saika half-whispered, his voice a volatile mix of pent-up emotion, love and lust. Yoruichi's eyes widened in comprehension and relief and she lunged, fulfilling Saika's earlier prophecy and pinning him to the wall before beating him senseless with the single most passionate kiss she'd ever given.
Saika was sent reeling from the unexpected strength behind the kiss, and it took him a few moments to get his bearings and return the favor. Determined not to be beaten on the world's oldest battleground, he used strength forged during countless battles in Hell to break out of Yourichi's hold, pushing her back and steering her towards her bed. The Shihoin princess felt her feet leave the ground as Saika hoisted her up before laying her down gently on the sheets, keeping his hands on her shoulders to hold her down before letting go once he was on top of her and drawing her into a tight embrace instead, glorying in the feel of the woman next to him.
"Promise me one thing," she whispered urgently, "and I'm yours. Just one thing, Saika; that's all I ask."
"Name it."
"Never leave me like that again."
The orange-eyed prince pulled back slightly from Yoruichi, looking in her eyes and seeing the hope there, the hope that maybe this wasn't just a dream. Saika smiled, running one of his hands through her hair lovingly.
"I wouldn't dream of it, Yoruichi," he said, and she smiled, rewarding him with a searing kiss that spoke of centuries of unresolved lust.
Neither of them got much sleep for the next hour, to put it mildly.
"'Wait until morning?" the pale-skinned lady scoffed. "What in the Nine Hells is Callos thinking, my love?"
"I do not know, my Lady," War replied, "but that is irrelevant. Get some rest; there will be plenty of time for you to do your work tomorrow.
Death gazed up at the full moon shining in the sky, making up her mind.
"The moon will be gone in the morning," she said, spurring her horse onward towards the Seireitei and searching for the strongest fighter among the assembled Soul Reapers. Finding him, the pale Lady smiled. He was perfect.
"Are you ready to die, Ichigo Kurosaki?"
Ichigo shot awake like a bolt of lighting had just struck him in the chest, the chilling question from some unknown figure clothed in black still lingering in his thoughts. Careful not to wake the Chappy-pajama-clad Soul Reaper lying next to him, Kurosaki woke up and switched into his Soul Reaper form. He walked outside and found himself drawn to a field just outside the walls of the Seireitei by some kind of invisible force, which became decidedly less invisible when a woman appeared from out of the shadows, pale skin glimmering in the moonlight and holding a dangerously potent Yari in one hand. Ichigo felt his blood freeze at the mere nearness of this woman, but he forced himself to ignore it.
"Who are you, and why have you brought me here?"
The woman gave a cryptic smile at his questions.
"Was I not clear enough in your dream, Ichigo Kurosaki? I have brought you here to die, pure and simple. As for who I am, well, I think a young man as smart as you should be able to figure that out."
Ichigo fought back a shiver, refusing the instinct to draw Zangetsu.
"I refuse," he said. "Even if you are who, and what, I think you are, I'm not just going to fight you because you want me to."
Death sighed.
"An idealist, huh? I should've known. Very well, how about this as incentive. If you don't fight, I'll crush your heart and kill you where you stand. If you choose to stop being such a coward and fight me with all of your strength, you may yet live for a few more minutes."
Ichigo saw that there was no dissuading the ethereal woman in front of him and he shifted into bankai, pulling on his Hollow mask and charging forward. He attacked with all of the strength he could muster, but the Yari moved like a tornado and blocked every strike. It even landed a few vicious blows of its own in between blocks that seemed to draw the power from Ichigo's limbs, leaving him short of breath and torn in a matter of minutes.
"Pathetic," she scoffed, lowering her Yari. "This is the warrior who struck down Sosuke Aizen at the peak of his power? Are you serious? This can't be anywhere near as strong as you can get if that's the case, Ichigo Kurosaki. Perhaps a more… coercive form of persuasion is needed.
Closing her eyes for a moment and concentrating, Death summoned a glowing ball of blue energy into her empty hand.
"Do you know what this is, Ichigo Kurosaki?" she asked, with a look in her eyes that made Ichigo suddenly very, very afraid.
"I take it by your silence that you don't. Very well, let me tell you. Actually, no… let me show you. That's always more effective."
Ichigo's heart stopped as an image of Karin, his sister, appeared hovering in the air before him. She was playing soccer in the sunlight, laughing. Death looked at his eyes and laughed.
"Ah, I see you get it now. And what do you think will happen when I do… this?"
Ichigo was pretty sure that he yelled some strangled form of 'no' at the top of his lungs as he saw Death's fingers close around Karin's life force and crush it, but he would never be sure. His jaw went slack as he saw her body fall to the grass with a thud, with so many kicks left to make that would never come; not now.
"Oh, don't look so sad," Death mocked, laughing again. "At least I gave her a Soul Burial, too. She'll be here before you know it, Ichigo."
At the sound of the Horseman's voice, Ichigo's heart started up again with a lurch and his soul churned, waking up a power that had been dormant until now.
kill.
The voice started out soft and shocked, as the skin around Ichigo's fingertips began to turn white.
Kill.
It grew less shocked and more insistent as the whiteness moved up Ichigo's arms and he did nothing to stop it, welcoming the berserker within him with open arms.
Kill!
The voice became more enraged and stricken as the whiteness reached Ichigo's shoulders, the beginnings of a smile creeping over Death's pale face.
Kill!
The voice's urging became almost overpowering as the whiteness spread down over Ichigo's chest and legs, the dark power rushing into his veins as his Inner Hollow manifested himself more and more concretely.
KILL!
The Inner Hollow cried out in primal need, his rage fueled to even greater heights by Ichigo's sorrow. Ogihci wanted blood, and Ichigo was more than happy to accommodate his evil twin. The transformation came to an end as the whiteness finally reached Ichigo's face, which turned white under his mask. The mask and the control it symbolized shattered into countless pieces, leaving Death staring into the face of a heartbroken, bloodthirsty and stark-raving furious Hollow Ichigo, fully unchained at long last. Raising his pure white Tensa Zangetsu, the creature made of pure rage snarled at his opponent.
"Say your prayers, whore."
Death laughed joyfully, seeing that this was the boy's power, and what power it was. Readying her Yari for a real fight, the Horseman smiled.
"This is what I've been waiting for," she hissed as the two enemies charged at each other, the tiniest tears escaping the corners of Hollow Ichigo's eyes as he struck.
Author's Note: Damn, that sucks for Ichigo. Or is it Ogihci now? In any case, yes, Karin is dead, and Ichigo has gone off of the deep end. We'll see where that goes next chapter, but for now I hope you enjoyed this chapter (sorry that it turned out so long, but there was nothing I could cut), and please review if you did, because it means a ton to hear from you guys. Thanks to everyone who's read so far, and hopefully I'll see you next chapter!