Whoooooo WEEE, have I taken a while to update... And I'm really sorry... But Writer's Block and actual friends (HAH! Who knew I had 'em .) result in little updating! So, I hope this chapter satisfies your need (and I really do hope you have a need :P ) to know what happens next! As always, reviews are (desperately) appreciated, as are any questions (send me a message or something. :D )
As is consistently the case, I don't own Bleach. I just make fanfiction out of it...
ENJOY!
That uppercut hurt. Really hurt. That was the singular thought that crossed Ichigo's mind as he crashed down into the sand, a good twenty meters away from Ulquiorra, the one who punched him. Grimmjow was already standing from the painful kick he had received. The partially-masked Ulquiorra stalked forward, murderous eyes locked on Ichigo, who had himself already stood up. Ulquiorra quietly blazed forward, disappearing but reappearing right in front of Ichigo, right hand pulled back to punch. Ichigo brought up the blunt end of Tensa Zangetsu to block, barely catching the devastating punch which drove Ichigo back through the sand. Grimmjow appeared behind Ulquiorra and slashed with his zanpaktou, one-handed, at Ulquiorra's neck, sweeping from left to right. The blade suddenly stopped, and Grimmjow scoffed as he saw the back of Ulquiorra's left hand holding Pantera's blade at bay. Ulquiorra turned his head to the left, piercing Grimmjow with his blackened eyes as the fluid of the hollow mask crept along the brim of his eye. Shoving the sword away, Ulquiorra punched viciously into Grimmjow's rib cage, knocking out air and spit from Grimmjow's mouth with the force of it. Ichigo appeared on Ulquiorra's right flank and began swinging Tensa Zangetsu at every conceivable angle, sweeping and jabbing at the Hollowfying ex-Espada. The strikes never met their target, though, as Ulquiorra was speedily dodging each and every swing and thrust as it came along, frustrating Ichigo enough to swing down with a nameless Getsuga Tenshou blast which Ulquiorra defended against with arms crossed in front of himself. The arc-wave pushed Ulquiorra back, but dissipated after a short while, immediately after which Grimmjow appeared with a kick to Ulquiorra's left side, sending him sprawling next to his zanpaktou. As Grimmjow and Ichigo raced towards the ex-Espada, Ulquiorra drew his sabre from the sand as he stood. With a raging, agonized roar, Ulquiorra mindlessly swept his zanpaktou across their own, sending them away instead of allowing them to strike him. Ulquiorra let out a low growl, allowing more of the mask to seep down the right side of his face and generate a bony jaw.
"Well, I guess we can say that he's not gonna stop unless we stop him," Ichigo sighed. Grimmjow, standing right next to him, was keen on being sarcastic,"Really, Shinigami, d'ya think so? I didn't think he was just gonna give up if we asked him to. . . Idiot." In this short time, Ulquiorra had raised his left hand in front of him, a lone finger pointed towards them. An emerald sphere kindled at its tip.
"Damn it!" Ichigo swiped his free hand across his face and summoned his Hollow mask, disappearing in the act. He emerged at an angle above Ulquiorra, Tensa Zangetsu raised diagonally to strike. The Hollowfying ex-Espada lifted his hand higher and unleashed the cone of pure energy straight at his assailant, who slashed at the incoming Cero, blocking it, but he was pushed back as a result.
"Grind! — Pantera!!!" Ichigo swiped away the Cero with a quick Getsuga that negated the beam. He looked to the source of the invocation and his eyes froze upon twin columns of sand that surrounded Grimmjow and molded into a singular, grand funnel of sand. The sand swirled for a few moments before dissipating and revealing Grimmjow's Resurrección. Distracted, Ulquiorra observed as Grimmjow let loose a powerful growl that erupted into a deafening roar. Ichigo put his sword arm up in front of his face to block the wind that was shot out. What the—? A sound wave? Just his scream is this strong?? The panther leapt upwards in a wild spiral, far above Ulquiorra, and then, he sped towards him like a bullet, disappearing momentarily after his acceleration. His reappearance caused an explosion of wind upon colliding his clawed hand with Ulquiorra's zanpaktou. Grimmjow brought up a leg to bear down on Ulquiorra's unmasked cheek, sending him twirling sideways over the sand, almost comically. The Sexta chased after him, claws dragging behind Grimmjow's feline form. The Hollowfied victim instinctively reoriented himself to retaliate, zanpaktou already swinging forward to meet the Espada, who subsequently leaned back, dodging the blade. With his momentum still dragging him forward, Grimmjow landed his body with his arms, simultaneously pushing himself up into Ulquiorra's face to plant his pawed feet. The agile display was successful, and Grimmjow was launched like a trapeze artist, practically weightless, into the air. With a spin, Grimmjow faced in Ulquiorra's direction and launched a quintet of darts from his elbow at the prone figure. Without even standing, Ulquiorra disappeared with Sonído and thrust his sword with the speed of a machine gun upon appearing in front of Grimmjow. The five darts sent sand flying upon their explosions as the Sexta Espada dodged and reflected Ulquiorra's strikes, focusing intently upon where the next strike would go. Behind Ulquiorra, Ichigo appeared with his zanpaktou raised above his head, the sword charged with seemingly wicked energy.
"GETSUGA TENSHOU!!!!!!!" The blast both engulfed and impacted against Ulquiorra, almost seeping towards Grimmjow, but he had been lucky enough to move away with Sonído, seeking refuge on the ground. A bellowing roar echoed from within the smoke, pushing it back in a noticeably spherical pattern from the force. Ichigo brought up his free hand to cover his eyes from the intense wind. Even Grimmjow had to turn his head away, if only for a moment. Ulquiorra, enraged, charged at Ichigo and swiped his zanpaktou furiously, seeking to keep Ichigo from protecting himself. The part-Hollow swept Tensa Zangetsu away with his zanpaktou and struck Ichigo straight in the face with a hard punch. Ichigo flew back and fell to the ground, shards of the cracked mask trailing behind him. A beam of blue suddenly enveloped Ulquiorra from his right, bursting apart on impact. The might of Grimmjow's Cero had managed to almost incinerate Ulquiorra's sword arm, that much Grimmjow could tell as Ulquiorra fell backwards and down toward the ground. Ulquiorra never reached the ground, for he had slowed himself down and turned himself back towards Grimmjow, sand swirling around the Hollowfying man as his reiryoku propelled him forward. Grimmjow then noticed that Ulquiorra's arm was healing itself as he approached, bringing the katana across himself as he had against Grimmjow in the beginning of their last battle. Grimmjow veered to the right, blocking Ulquiorra's downward-sweeping zanpaktou with his elbow blade. He then suddenly lifted his leg in a swift kick to Ulquiorra's abdomen, slowing him down and letting him float for a split second. Using his reiryoku to keep himself afloat, Ulquiorra twirled like a horizontal top and swung out his left leg, shin impacting mercilessly into Grimmjow's face. Grimmjow flew back and flipped once to orient himself. Ulquiorra gave him hardly any time to react; slashes and thrusts were delivered en masse, seemingly simultaneously. Grimmjow managed to deflect some but took several painful cuts across his extremities in the process. With an upward slash with his right hand's claws, Grimmjow got his opponent's sword out of the way, and using the same arm, fired a single dart directly into Ulquiorra's chest, just below the Hollow hole. Ulquiorra staggered back for but a moment, but even that was enough time for Grimmjow to flip backwards and kick Ulquiorra's chin in the process. Ulquiorra was shot, missile-like, into the black sky of Hueco Mundo. Ulquiorra stopped himself, and a black shroud appeared in front of him. Ichigo slashed outwards with Tensa Zangetsu, letting blood fly from Ulquiorra's collarbone as he composed himself in the same stance he had carried after deflecting the entirety of Kuchiki Byakuya's Senbonzakura. Ichigo's mask was now pristine but for the center, where the bridge of his nose was revealed, and it seemed as if there were no slits for the eyes, just an open space. The teeth, in contrast, were whole, and opened in unison with Ichigo's jaw as he yelled, charging forward at Ulquiorra.
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At the Urahara Shop. . .
With Urahara Kisuke hard at work on modifying the Garganta, the rest of the waiting crowd had little to do. Tessai, Ururu, and Jinta would help Urahara by fetching something when needed, but otherwise, they tended to the shop. The captains were more or less calm at this point. With the surprise of Orihime's rescue past, each captain went back to his or her habitual motions. Yachiru was already boring Zaraki with her talk of some weird shapes she saw in the rocks that abounded Urahara's training room. Byakuya was standing upright, not far from Urahara, tranquilly observing his focused work. Kurotsuchi, quite contrastingly, was quite interested in the newly arrived Arrancar — peppy, even, one might say, as he questioned them. Nemu stood, statue-like and detached, next to Mayuri as he prodded the Arrancar with inquiries. Unohana, after checking each of the newly-arrived group for injuries (which turned out fruitless, of course), was conversing quietly with her lieutenant, Isane, while Hanatarou went to talk with Renji, Chad, and Ishida. Orihime was sitting on a low rock, nibbling at her bottom lip, and Rukia took her attention as she walked up next to her,
"You feeling all right?" Rukia smiled gently, and Orihime returned the gesture,
"Yes, I'm all right, Kuchiki-san. I was just thinking. . ."
"What's on your mind, Inoue?" Rukia took both the liberty of sitting down next to the apprehensive-seeming girl and asking another question, "You're worried about him, aren't you? Ichigo?" Orihime glanced down at her hands in anxiety before answering meekly,
"Yes. . ." Rukia sighed, but not in displeasure so much as calm consolation and understanding, for she too worried about that orange-haired fool.
"You don't have to worry," Rukia assured her, "Ichigo knows what he's doing. He's not that much of an idiot." Orihime gently staved off Rukia's attempts to calm her worries,
"I know, Kuchiki-san, but. . . there's more to it than that." Rukia nodded,
"I know what you mean. . . I still worry about him too. . ." Orihime turned to better face the Shinigami, a look of concern plastered to her face,
"It's not just that. . ." Rukia's ears perked up to this, and she promptly asked the obvious question: "Well, then, what is it?" Orihime hesitated, looking to the rest of the people in the room as she bit on her lower lip.
"Do you remember when I said I had been rescued by an Arrancar?"
"Yes."
". . . And do you remember me saying I didn't know why he did it?"
"Yes. . ." Rukia was beginning to feel wary of where this conversation was going.
"Well. . . I lied. . ." Rukia blinked and stared widely at the statement. What could possibly make Orihime lie? "I know why Ulquiorra rescued me," she continued, but stammered slightly as she spoke, clearly nervous about telling anyone about this, "It's because. . . He. . . loves me. . ." Orihime didn't think Rukia's eyes could widen anymore than they already had, but they did. The Shinigami quickly checked for observers of their conversation, and finding none, turned back to the girl in front of her and leaned towards her, whispering,
"Are you serious?" Orihime reluctantly nodded. "That's. . . That's just completely unprecedented! For an Arrancar to fall in love — !" Rukia took a moment to ponder this bizarre turn of events. Orihime struggled with what she said next, but she had to get it across to someone,
"And Kuchiki-san, I'm afraid. Not just afraid for Kurosaki-kun, but for Ulquiorra-san as well. He risked his life to free me, but the Captains no doubt see him as an enemy. They'll probably kill him. . ." Rukia gazed at her friend's selfless concern, contemplating the change Inoue had brought upon the apathetic Arrancar. Rukia closed her eyes and smiled before placing her hand on her friend's shoulder and looking into her eyes with a determined stare,"Then we'll just have to find the two of them first."
Orihime smiled. There was hope on the horizon.
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The clashes of two similar zanpaktous ramming into each other repeated over and over and over as the blades' owners sped past each other. Sonído amplified their speed so that they could consistently blaze past each other as streaks, letting loose sparks from their swords upon impact. Ulquiorra and his doppelgänger had yet to land a strike on each other (even after five entire minutes of Sonído attacks), though with the speed they were displaying, outside observers would have trouble noticing if they did cut each other. The doppelgänger grew tired, vanishing with Sonído just as Ulquiorra was to slash at him. The Hollow stabbed with his katana from behind Ulquiorra, but cut nothing but air as his target disappeared himself. Ulquiorra cut down at the doppelgänger's extended right arm, but the Hollow pulled his arm back to catch the blade with his own. Ulquiorra began slashing at breakneck speed, using two hands to increase his attacks' strength, but the doppelgänger needed only one hand on his own sword to defend against Ulquiorra's onslaught. Ulquiorra began pushing the doppelgänger back with his strikes until the Hollow swept aside Ulquiorra's thrust with his palm and made his own riposte. Ulquiorra replied with two Sonídos, one to escape upwards from the thrust, and the second to bring himself straight back down, landing on the Hollow's horizontally-raised zanpaktou. Ulquiorra pushed down with increasing force onto the Hollow's sword, his face skewing in vexation while the Hollow remained lifelessly stoic in his expression. The Hollow then raised a finger to point at Ulquiorra, a black-tinged, pinkish-red light forming at the tip for but a moment before blasting outwards, engulfing Ulquiorra in the blast. That had been what the Hollow had thought happened, but Ulquiorra reappeared, unscathed, behind the Hollow with a finger raised to the duplicate's head. The emerald Cero shot forth, but this was also a failed assault. The Hollow had used Sonído to appear far on Ulquiorra's left, sword held casually in his hand.
"Though it's amusing to know that you have strength enough to keep up with me," the doppelgänger commented, "I don't intend to fight you forever. I've wasted enough time." With a burst of speed, the doppelgänger appeared high in the sky above Ulquiorra, lifted his free hand, and fired off a continuous barrage of Bara blasts, the Hollow's arm moving at machine-gun speed. Before any of the multitude of reiatsu bullets could reach him, Ulquiorra sped away, materializing at the Hollow's right flank with a Cero charging at his finger. The Hollow whirled around and fired the Baras straight at the now-incoming Cero, halting it between the two combatants. The profusion of Baras began to destabilize the Cero, causing it to explode, dispelling the reiryoku that was fueling it. With an abrupt buzz, the Hollow appeared behind Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra clutched his left flank with his arms, blood shooting out momentarily before seeping out into his clothing.
He had nearly been cloven in two. Ulquiorra turned to see the Hollow's back, and the blood which stained the Hollow's zanpaktou. Ulquiorra scoffed, a half-cough that deposited blood on his chin. The doppelgänger lifted his arm from his side, pointing a finger to his left as he fired a Cero, but to Ulquiorra's confusion, the Cero was disappearing into nothingness as it fired. Hearing noise above him, Ulquiorra turned his gaze upwards to see a sanguine beam speeding towards him. With barely a second to spare, Ulquiorra got his zanpaktou above his head and protected himself from the Cero, which shoved him towards the ground. Before he reached the ground, Ulquiorra sped away with Sonído, the Cero burning through the sand. Ulquiorra reappeared behind the doppelgänger, sword darting forward at the Hollow's head. The Hollow leaned his head away from the thrust, turning his head back as he did, turning his body with him. Swinging his zanpaktou's blunt edge up, knocking Ulquiorra's sword upwards, the doppelgänger elbowed Ulquiorra — or the air, rather; Ulquiorra slipped away with another burst of Sonído and sped upwards behind the Hollow, slashing his back as he did. Blood spilled as the back-spanning cut opened wide. Ulquiorra was now floating calmly above and behind the pained clone of his, clasping his side with his left arm. The clone, despite his momentarily disgruntled expression, showed little along the lines of pain, but Ulquiorra knew his assault hurt. The Hollow turned, using Sonído to lift himself to Ulquiorra's altitude.
"What was that technique? Is it your unique type of Cero?" Ulquiorra inquired. The Hollow didn't speak, but instead raised a hand and tapped the air. A miniature Garganta opened, rather quickly as well, many times faster than a normal Garganta would open. Another one opened on Ulquiorra's left, and through it he could see the Hollow.
"A useful ability," the Hollow began, "though regrettably, one that can only be used here, in the confines of your mind." Ulquiorra's eyes widened.
"My mind?" he said, clearly surprised to hear this. "Does that mean none of this is real?"
"Quite to the contrary. This is no illusion." With the index finger of his sword hand, the Hollow fired a small green Bara through the Garganta, which Ulquiorra swept away with his arm. The pair disappeared once more, their swords clashing rapidly as they reappeared higher up and kept rising, circling around each other. Ulquiorra became more ferocious with his swings, adding more force behind them, pressing the Hollow into using two hands in defending himself. The Hollow defended aptly, yet Ulquiorra was still getting through and cutting him. What prompted this? the hollow contemplated. Ulquiorra managed to duck a horizontal swing that the Hollow unleashed, sweeping out with his right hand, consequently leaving himself wide open. Ulquiorra rose quickly, zanpaktou poised high above his head and slashed straight down. A long gash appeared through the Hollow's shirt, and dark blood spilled from it as the doppelgänger staggered backwards through the air, gripping his chest with his hand.
"You are in my way, mimic," Ulquiorra declared, raising his zanpaktou directly in front of him, "I must return to the real world—"
"And then what?" coughed the Hollow, blood spilling from his mouth as he lifted himself to his former rigid, upright stance. "To the woman? pathetic emotions are in vain," he scoffed, spitting blood from his mouth, his expression unchanged even if his demeanor was judgmental, "No matter what you may truly believe, you are still an Arrancar. No insipid change of heart will alter this fact: She will never truly love you."
"SILENCE!!" The Hollow stared in astonishment at Ulquiorra's outburst. Ulquiorra swept his zanpaktou outwards, speaking in a wavering tone that was so much unlike him, "You're not the one to be making judgements on things you know nothing about!" After this sudden declaration, Ulquiorra's voice calmed, returning to its original stoic timbre, "I shall defeat you, impostor, and take back my body!" Just as he spoke those last words, a different sight flashed before his eyes: Kurosaki?! Ulquiorra had seen Ichigo fighting, as if he himself had been fighting the Substitute Shinigami. Another person flashed before his eyes. Grimmjow!?!? The Hollow observed his counterpart, "You can see them, can't you? Grimmjow and the boy. Your body, devoid of a consciousness, has fallen back on its instincts and begun morphing into a Hollow, the latter effect due to my influence. When I defeat you here, I will reign over this body, and you shall be nothing."
"I won't let you do it."
"You have little say in the matter."
"We'll see about that soon enough," Ulquiorra retorted. The Hollow closed its eyes in exasperation, opening them a moment later. Ulquiorra charged the Hollow, and the Hollow Ulquiorra before the two clashed their blades together, the swords flaming emerald green and pink scarlet, inverts of each other as their owners are. The two energies destabilized each other, exploding and flinging the combatants in opposite directions. The doppelgänger quickly sheathed his blade and pointed both of his index fingers in different directions, firing off Ceros from each hand. The Ceros disappeared into thin air, passing through their own mini-Gargantas. Two corresponding Gargantas appeared in front of Ulquiorra and belched out the Ceros, which shot at him with the speed of freight trains. Ulquiorra used Sonído to dash backwards and away from the oncoming Ceros, but they once again passed through a set of Gargantas that opened up a subsequent duo of Gargantas that cut off Ulquiorra's escape route. Ulquiorra quickly charged as much reiryoku as he could into one hand and blasted a Cero head-on into the two heading towards him. The trio of Hollow Flashes exploded on impact, sending a huge gust of wind flying past Ulquiorra. The Hollow appeared right in front of him and slashed down with two hands, diagonally slicing Ulquiorra's chest and flinging him far down into the sand that filled the dark quartz structure. Ulquiorra quickly stood, despite the large gash that painted his chest with blood. Lifting his left hand to aim at his doppelgänger foe high above, Ulquiorra gathered reiryoku in a large green sphere. The Hollow's eyes showed no surprise or fear, and simply waited for the attack to come. And it did, as Ulquiorra shouted,
"Gran Rey Cero!" The sphere exploded outwards, headed towards the indifferent Hollow. The Hollow, having charged his zanpaktou with reiryoku enough to make it glow a crimson-pink, raised his sword and swung it down at the Gran Rey Cero, carving it into two streams of energy. The Hollow cut through, and was met with Ulquiorra charging towards him with blinding speed until he disappeared into thin air. And this was no Echoing Movement. Hearing a Garganta open behind him, the Hollow spun with his zanpaktou to the right, cutting through whatever was behind him. What was behind him was Ulquiorra, but he disappeared once again, before the Hollow's zanpaktou could reach him. Now, with the Hollow wide open, Ulquiorra appeared in front of him once again, sword pointed straight at his heart, moving forward, faster and faster until he impaled him. The Hollow's eyes gaped at the sword that skewered his rib cage, and, spitting blood, the Hollow spoke,
"You learned to use that technique rather quickly. . ." Ulquiorra, with grim eyes, solemnly replied,
"Desperate times. . ." The Hollow agreed,
"So it seems." Ulquiorra slid the sword up, cutting it through and out of the Hollow's right shoulder. The Hollow arched its back and began to fall, but burst into ash before it could descend anywhere. Ulquiorra watched as the ash swirled and flew in a line towards the strange figure that was perched in between two of the coliseum spires. Ulquiorra froze as the entire world seemed to darken. . .
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In Hueco Mundo. . .
Things weren't going too well for Ichigo and Grimmjow. Ulquiorra was getting closer and closer to becoming a full-fledged Hollow. The mask had already covered the entirety of his jaw, and while it had slowed down, Ulquiorra himself hadn't. Ichigo and Grimmjow were both clashing with the former Cuarto at the same time, and yet, they were hardly gaining any ground. Whatever cuts they inflicted were ignored, and by the time they managed to get another attack through, the original wound was practically gone. It didn't help that both Ichigo and Grimmjow had battles before this one, and were already drained of their power somewhat. Ichigo's mask was reduced to a small jaw piece on the left side of his face, much like Grimmjow's pre-release mask fragment. The blades on Grimmjow's limbs were all in some state of damage, but, if nothing else, Grimmjow still had claws with which to strike.
Ulquiorra kicked Grimmjow in the gut, knocking him over and sliding him across the sand. The Hollowfied Ulquiorra then turned on Ichigo and focused its berserk assault on him. Each slash was accompanied by a successive scratch or punch of some kind, and Ichigo had trouble keeping up. The Hollow fiercely backhanded Ichigo, impacting directly at the remaining mask pieces. The lower half of the jaw broke apart, leaving only the top row of teeth. Ichigo reeled from the brutal attack, spinning around, leaving himself wide open, but before the demi-Hollow could attack again, five large, glowing claws caught Ulquiorra at each of the extremities and just below the neck, pinning him to the ground. Ichigo looked back to see Grimmjow floating in the air and holding up a second set of identical claws. Ichigo reached him with a Flash Step, and Grimmjow announced his attack,
"Desgarrón. It's my strongest technique, Shinigami, and I don't know how long it's gonna last. Got a plan?"
"Not really," Ichigo said, "but if you could give me some time, I could probably get some of my reiryoku back."
"How much time?" Grimmjow asked, noticing Ulquiorra's vicious writhing under the grasp of Desgarrón.
"I don't know, and I don't know how much energy I'll get back, either."
"Wonderful. . . Well? Get to it, Shinigami!" Grimmjow barked.
"Got it." Ichigo held up a hand to his face and slowed his breathing. Crimson-black spirit particles slowly congregated at Ichigo's face, gradually molding into the shape of the left side of his mask. Grimmjow, left arm extended in control of the Desgarrón claws, noticed black spots appear at Ulquiorra's shoulder blades. From these spots burst twin bat wings, longer than Ulquiorra was tall, and as dark as the surrounding night. Crap! Grimmjow thought. The wings extended fully outwards and flapped down, crushing the two Desgarrón claws that pinned the Hollow's arms down. Ulquiorra dropped his zanpaktou and took hold of the Desgarron claw embedded in his back, crushing it in his hands. Ignoring the final two Desgarron claws embedded in his legs, Ulquiorra stood, grasping his zanpaktou as he did. With a single motion, Ulquiorra cut through the remaining claws, and all the pieces of the five claws faded into nothingness. Grimmjow lifted his right hand and flung it forward with a yell, sending the other five Desgarrón claws careening towards the demi-Hollow Ulquiorra. Ulquiorra slashed down through the claws, taking out two while one pierced him in the shoulder, the other two in the stomach. Ulquiorra raised his zanpaktou and smashed through the remaining claws, and they disintegrated. Speeding forward with an Echoing Movement, Ulquiorra crashed into Grimmjow's face with a painful head-butt, sending him falling to the ground in pain. Ulquiorra turned once again towards Ichigo. Damn it! I've only gotten half the mask back! The Hollow charged towards Ichigo and slashed down with its sword. Ichigo blocked with Tensa Zangetsu, struggling for a few moments before being overcome and shot to the ground. The impact had cracked the mask, and Ichigo slowly brought himself back up on his arms and knees. Ulquiorra appeared in front of him after a burst of Sonído, and Ichigo stabbed upwards with Zangetsu, aiming for Ulquiorra's heart. The Hollow caught the sword before it could get anywhere and yanked the sword from Ichigo's hand. Ulquiorra tossed it away and shot his hand toward Ichigo's chest. The hand pierced Ichigo's rib cage just below the collarbone, and the half-mask Ichigo had managed to re-summon fell apart in pieces. Grimmjow stood, recovering from his dizzying assault, and saw the black disappear from Ichigo's eyes.
"Kurosaki!"