Snowflake
Chapter Fifteen
"Now this time you will die, and I'll make sure it's by my damn hand!"
Aizen let a smirk crawl onto his features as he stared at the obviously now furious captain. Her anger had already been heightened to the max by seeing Yoruichi severely injured, and of course threatening her comrades and innocent souls that should have had nothing to do with this. She shunpo'd forwards, flailing her fist wildly at her foe. Aizen dodged with ease and couldn't help finding this quite amusing. He wanted to go to the Soul King's dimension, but who said he couldn't have a little bit of fun first?
Aizen shunpo'd forwards and drew his sword, hoping that the leader of the punishment force would be a good warm up. She, however, had already warmed up and was all set to kill Aizen. If Aizen took any severe hits, they Hogyoku wasn't going to heal him, it still didn't accept him as its master.
Ichigo was going to step forwards but was then stopped by Rukia.
"Ichigo, this isn't just a fight!" said Rukia, "She's most likely fighting out of fury… but then again, she may be fighting for Yoruichi-san!"
Ichigo stopped and began thinking to himself.
"If this is for damn honour, I can understand that… but this is Aizen! If it was a hollow then I would have left her… but Aizen… Aizen is…" Ichigo was cut off from his thoughts as shouting from Momo could be heard.
"CAPTAIN SOI FON!" she shouted. Ichigo snapped his head forwards as the small and rather loud Captain was froze, her sights dulling slightly.
"W-what… is this?" she said to herself, causing everyone to look at her in confusion. Gin cracked open a eye and stared at her, obviouslt knowing what was going on.
"It's an illusion."
Everyone turned their head to him and widened their eyes.
"Of course…" said Renji, "Only our memories had been modified to handle Aizen's Zanpaku-to! Captain Kuchiki, Soi Fon and Hitsugaya are probably still under that illusion process!"
"And what about Karin-san?" questioned Unohana.
"I… I never saw Aizen's Shikai…" said Karin quietly, "I know what it could do and I know what its powers are, but he never once made me see his Shikai… but why?"
"Its not that he didn't want to show you his Shikai, it's because he can't." said Gin suddenly. "Aizen only had the ability to show the people he showed before he lost his powers, therefore any new people he had come into contact with aren't affected."
He then pointed to himself and let out a sly smile.
"It also doesn't have an affect on me because Aizen thought I had seen his Shikai, but I never actually did."
Everyone was shooting him incredulous stares when mad chuckling erupted the air and small whimpers of pain could be heard.
"Too bad, you weren't even a warm-up!" laughed Aizen, tightening his grip around Soi Fon's throat. She tried to kick out but failed. What she could see was completely different from what everyone else could see.
"Lady Yoruichi… why…?" She thought to herself, staring at the twisted version of the person she admired, "Why are you-"
Her thoughts were stopped as another viscous squeeze was aimed at her throat. Evil golden eyes stared at her, evil laughing echoing out.
"You thought you were strong enough to protect the likes of me?" She laughed eerily, "You honestly thought you were worth something when I allowed you to work under me? Your nothing Soi Fon! Nothing at all!"
Soi Fon closed her eyes and winced at the hateful words. Was she really going to die this way with such a horrible version of Yoruichi killing her?
"KamiShinioyari, Buto Renjin!" shouted Gin, his blade travelling at a high speed while swerving at the same time, missing Soi Fon by inches and then digging itself into Aizen's side.
"Bankai, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."
Everyone turned in amazement as Byakuya stood up and glared at Aizen through the blood in his eyes. Then another figure stood up next to him.
"SHUNKO!"
Soi Fon felt the grip on her throat slacken slightly as she heard hisses of pain from the twisted Yoruichi before she turned into Aizen, his eyes filled with hatred at blood ran down his side. Soi Fon slowly and painfully turned her neck to the side to see a flash of purple past her. Yoruichi was screaming out a battle cry as she grabbed Aizen's arm and wrenched it away from Soi Fon and pierced his flesh with his hand.
"BYAKUYA! DO IT NOW!"
Byakuya shunpo'd forwards with his blade raised high.
"Senki, Senbonzakura Kageyoshi!"
He swung down but to his surprise Aizen still managed to move, so he was only successful in cutting of an arm. Aizen scowled and growled at him, feeling extreme pain coming off his shoulder with no arm and his gut which was pierced in two places.
Karin took this to her advantage and bolted forwards while everone drew their sword.
"Dance, Sode No Shirayuki."
"Bankai! Hihio, Zabimaru!"
"Snap Tobiume, Deflect!"
Isane stayed put next to Unohana, prepared to heal any of her comrades if needed. Both of them looked into the sky as Ukitake and Kyouraku came out, both seemingly exhausted.
"It took us a while to hold off the remaining Arrancar and Espada, but we did it." Said Ukitake, his arm draped round Kyouraku's shoulder.
"Wasn't easy, mind you." Said Kyouraku, tilting his hat, "The instant wee get this over with a long drink of Sake is definitely required."
"Kyouraku Taicho, I believe you should think about that after the battle, watch." Said Unohana gently, turning towards everyone who had charged and then glancing towards a running Karin. "It looks like Karin-san it going to help Hitsugaya Taicho."
Everyone nodded in agreement as they turned back to Aizen, who had many Shinigami attacking him now. Karin stopped running when she appeared next to the rubble, picking and tearing large chunks off her Snowflake.
"Shiro, you can't be dead, you can't be…" whispered Karin, allowing tears to fall freely from her eyes. "You can't go… I need you…"
She got most of the rubble away and the starting pulling Toshiro's body away from it. Her eyes locked onto his face but there was no reaction at all. The hollow mask was completely gone and his face was covered in dust, dirt and blood. Lots and lots of blood.
Karin closed her eyes and bit her lip, refusing to let the sight make he sick. She opened them again and then instantly went to the medical training Goat Chin had taught her ever since she was little. She reached for his pulse and placed two fingers on top of it, letting out a large sigh of relief as she could still feel a weak pulse. She struggled with his weight at first but then began running towards Unohana and Isane, who were already running to her.
Aizen snapped his eyes open and then smirked. So many blades had pierced his being now and he was surprised he wasn't dead yet.
"Well, If I am to die… then those two… shall die… TOO!" he said hoarsely, aiming a hand at the running Karin and aimed with perfect accuracy.
"Hado 90, Kurothitsugi."
Karin kept running but the froze in her tracks as dense spiritual pressure surrounded her. He looked at the ground and saw black coming up and appearing around her and Toshiro like a jigsaw puzzle.
"QUICKLY! KILL HIM BEFORE IT FORMS FULLY!" shouted Yoruichi. Byakuya nodded grimly and swung his blade down fully, cleaving Aizen's head off with one final blow.
Karin collapsed, deliberately backwards so she wouldn't crush her snowflake and started screaming. It felt like her flesh was being torn apart.
"GETSUGA TENSHO!" a black and red light broke through the barrier and it shattered into multiple pieces, leaving a collapsed Karin on the ground with Toshiro wrapped tightly in her arms. "Karin!"
Yuzu looked up from where she sat on her knees, tears falling freely from her eyes.
"K-Karin…Ch-Chan…" she whispered, seeing her sister lie on the ground with the invisible thing she was hugging. "It must be a spirit… she's hugging someone… but who?"
Yuzu then turned towards the flickering gate. Now that the person who had summoned it was gone, it couldn't really keep up its existence anymore. With once last flicker it vanished and Yuzu let out a sigh of relief. She then looked round in an attempt to see anyone she knew. The only person she could see was Karin! But then again… maybe her brother was here? In soul form?
Yuzu flinched as she felt a hand rest on her shoulder and then felt something wrap round her own. It was a warm presence, much nicer than the person who was touching her before. She allowed this person to help her back to her feet and she bowed slightly.
"A-Arigato Mister… or m-ma'am…" she whispered, trembling slightly. Ukitake let out a low smile and ruffled her hair, not feeling the need to say anything since she couldn't see him anyway. He turned towards Unohana and Isane, who were now by the sides of Karin and Toshiro. Orihime was back on her feet and was now healing Uryu, murmuring pointless apologies even though they weren't needed.
Karin lay on the ground, panting slightly as she saw Unohana appear over her, resting a soothing hand on her forehead as she put healing energy into her other hand and began scanning it over the cuts and gashes covering her skin. Isane was next to Toshiro, forced to use both her hands on his chest to try and bring back some of his pulse rate. She wasn't doing to bad, because he was near enough stable now but it still appeared as if he was in a lot of pain.
"Hinamori-San." Unohana called out, Momo appearing next to her within seconds. "Do you think you could help Isane with the healing of Captain Hitsugaya?"
Momo nodded and shunpo'd next to Isane and began healing as well, although her skills were not as great as the squad four members, she was still good with minor injuries.
"To…shiro…" Unohana looked down to see Karin staring up, "Is Toshiro ok?"
"Yes, I believe he will be fine." Said Unohana brightly." Rest now, Karin."
Karin nodded and turned her head to the side, smiling. Toshiro was ok, he had lost his Arrancar abilities but who cared? It was still him.
"I'm glad your ok… Toshiro."
A/N: I know it's not up to my normal standards, but I really can't get much motivation to write this even though I know many peole are waiting to read this. I... I kind of started writing an IchiHitsu fic... (IchiHitsu is one of my fav Yaoi pairings, which I don't normally read but now I find them really facinating...) well, You'll know if I published it anyway .
Anyway, about this story... this chapter was pretty abrupt but I only hold out stories as long as I don't get bored...
Actually, I was going to update on monday, but if any of you are from Scotland or even the UK, you should know that th wind was really bad and all the internet connections were knocked down and the phone lines too! Oh well.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, it only had one or two more to go before completion.