Hey everyone! The problem with trying to upload this chapter is finally fixed and that means that I get to upload it for you all! Yay! I have started making the video version of this chapter already and it should be up sometime this week. In the meantime, please enjoy the latest chapter of Incomplete Sorrows!

Chapter 9: Standing Ground

Blood dripped down from the deep gash that affected the base of Grimmjow's neck as he panted and struggled to stand up. Nnoitra flashed a toothy grin as he quickly stomped his foot down hard on Grimmjow's chest, earning a scream of agony.

"THIS IS JUST TOO PERFECT!" Nnoitra screamed with delight as he stomped once again on his rival's chest. "I HAD DREAMT OF THE DAY WHEN I WOULD ONCE AGAIN KICK YOUR ASS, GRIMMJOW! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"

As he stomped repeatedly, blood burst out of Grimmjow's mouth as he yelled in agony. Neliel needed him and at this rate there was nothing he could do. The blood was draining rapidly from his neck and the ribs breaking beneath his chest were not helping things either. He just could not give up.

With a powerful and violent kick, Nnoitra kicked the weakening espada to the side. "I dare you to get up, Grimmjow," he laughed, "it's such a shame you had to rebel against Aizen-sama's orders. How do you like the humiliation? You look just as pathetic as Neliel!"

That name managed to bring a little bit of strength back. Grimmjow slowly pulled himself onto a knee as he glared at the 5th espada. "How dare you say such shit?! Where is she?!"

Nnoitra laughed once again. "Oh my dear friend, you still think that you're gonna to rescue her in your condition? Why should I explain it to a dead man? Huh?" He pointed his finger towards Grimmjow and dark reiatsu encircled it. "Yer pathetic face sickens me to no end. Looks like I'm hittin' pay dirt!"

That was when a voice startled both of them. "Scatter, Sebonzakura."

A large swarm of flower petals caught Nnoitra off-guard and Grimmjow winced at the intruder. He almost jumped at the touch of a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry," the soft, motherly voice of Unohana Retsu assured from behind him, "I will heal you and then you can go rescue Neliel."

Grimmjow fell silent for a while as he stared at the white haori blowing behind Byakuya Kuchiki. Why must these shinigami protect an espada? It's not right. However, he must be alive long enough to see Neliel rescued and safe from harm.

Also, he still had unfinished business with the 5th espada and he was not going to go ahead until he had finished off this bastard once and for all. He needed to be in good and perfect condition first.

"Heal me, woman," he ordered in a husky voice as he glared at the enemy in front of him. Unohana complied as Nnoitra looked on with pure disgust.

"Now you really sicken me," Nnoitra sneered. "Gettin' help from lowly shinigami? Seriously!"

Byakuya held onto his zampakutou tightly. "You aren't even welcome here anyway. I am going to make sure that you stay down once and for all."

That was when Grimmjow was fully healed. "No," he objected as he stood up. Byakuya and Unohana looked at him puzzled. "I have unfinished business with this bastard. He ruined my Neliel's life in the first place, and for that I am going to make him pay. He also had caused me trouble in the past as well. I've got unfinished business with him."

"What about the mission?" Unohana questioned.

"Neliel will be fine for now," Grimmjow replied. "However, this bastard had defiled both of our honours, and I must make him pay. This is something that I must do. However, you see that katana that is lying on the floor?"

Unohana noticed the emerald-hilted blade that landed on the floor after Nnoitra's assault. "Yes," she replied. "What do you want me to do with it?"

"Do me a favour and take it with you," Grimmjow explained. "Do what you can to search for Neliel and heal her. I will be joining you shortly. Go!"

The healer captain realized that the former espada knew what he was doing. If he was fighting for the honours of both himself and Neliel, then the best thing that she had to do was leave him to it. She picked up the sword and turned to her companion. "Let's go, Byakuya."

The sixth division captain did not hesitate and left the room with Unohana, leaving the rival espada behind.

"That was some pretty noble shit you just did there," Nnoitra complimented, holding onto his double-bladed weapon tightly. "Too bad that it would be yer downfall."

"Enough talk," Grimmjow replied as he drew his zampakutou. "Let's end this dispute once and for all."

They circled one another for a moment before charging towards each other, slashing their blades against one another in an intense duel for honour.

Darting through the air like a pair of hummingbirds, Isshin and Leroux repeatedly clashed against each other in an intense battle. They managed to get hits on each other throughout the battle and they were evenly matched. However, the battle did not look like it would be finishing soon.

They separated from each other for a bit to catch their breath.

"I must say," Leroux panted, "You're pretty tough…for an old man."

Isshin smirked. "Heh, I am not that old. And yea, I haven't rusted one bit during the twenty years of my absence."

"What do you say we turn it up a notch? I am curious to see what your zampakutou looks like." The seventh espada poised himself for another round.

"Very well." With one hand, Isshin held his sword upright facing to the side while holding two fingers up adjacent to each other with the other hand. Reiatsu surrounded him as he shouted, "Protect the heavens, Gotoro no Jin!"

A bright orange aura swirled him, forming a bright golden shield in his left hand and gauntlets of gold on both his wrist. The sword became a lot more sharper and menacing looking and a deadly stare formed in the former captain's eyes.

Leroux stared cold and undaunted for he seemed to not be impressed by the transformation. "That's it?" he asked nonchalantly. "You honestly think that you would defeat me with that getup?

"Don't underestimate me," Isshin snapped. "I may be 20 years out of practice, but I still have the experience and the strength to defeat you in battle."

"Then let's see its skills," the espada suggested as the two charged towards one another.

This round was so much more intense and different. Every time when the espada swung at Isshin, he would block it with his shield and counter with a menacing slash of his sword, driving the espada back. Shock and surprise started to form in Leroux's eyes as he struggled against his adversary.

Isshin's eyes narrowed and he smirked. "What's the matter? Am I too much for you?"

"Stop mocking me, you old bastard!" Leroux retaliated as he tried to swing his sword as hard as he can against Isshin's defences, but to no avail.

Although it was small, the older Kurosaki found an opening and went for it. Blood spattered as Leroux grunted from the impact. He growled as he stared at the gash that ran along his abdomen. "You bastard!" he hissed but Isshin did not hesitate one bit. He sent a kick that caused the espada to go flying towards the ground, crashing into the buildings that stood underneath them.

Not too far away, Hitsugaya's eyes widened at the large amount of spiritual pressure emanating from Isshin. "Holy shit," he muttered to himself, "that is definitely the spiritual pressure of a captain! It's a good thing that he came back out of retirement."

"Stop being so lost in thought and focus on our fight," Halibel snapped as the young captain glared at her.

"I haven't forgotten about you," Hitsugaya growled as he tightened his hold on his sword. "Sit upon the frozen sky, Hyourinmaru!"

A large, serpent-like dragon made out of ice sprung out from the tip of the blade as the sky above the opponents darkened and became stormy. Halibel instantly dodged the dragon before it caught up to her and fired a cero toward the diminutive captain, who dodged it instantly before throwing the scythe attached to the hilt of his sword towards her, wrapping it around the arm holding her sword.

"You little brat!" she hissed as she tugged against the chain to get it off of her, but Hitsugaya knew she would do that and flung himself towards her, striking against an opening on her shoulder. Blood gushed from her wound as she finally managed to shake the chain off of her. "You'll pay for that."

She held two fingers in front of her and a bolt of turquoise reiatsu started to form at her fingertips. "Gran Rey Cero." The powerful blast shot towards her opponent.

"Bankai," he muttered, causing icy wings to sprout from his back and wrap around him, forming an impregnable shield which blocked the attack from coming towards him. Letting his wings unwrap themselves, icy claws formed on his arms and feet and three large, four-petal lotuses formed behind him. A long icy tail whipped out from behind him. "Daiguren, Hyourinmaru."

Halibel's eyes narrowed as she undid the zipper that hid the bottom half of her face, showing the mask that covered her mouth, chin, neck and chest. "It seems that you had finally decided to fight with your full power," she noted as she held her sword in front of her, pointing the blade straight at her opponent. "I guess it's my turn. Proyectil Azul!"

Her hollow sword glowed a bright yellow and the blade flew at top speed towards the young captain. Noticing this immediately and remembering what it had done the last time he had fought against her, Hitsugaya used shunpo to dodge the attack immediately and countered the attack with Hyourinmaru's release.

With a slash of her sword, Halibel swept the attack away. "It seems that you can see through that attack perfectly. Might as well turn it up a notch." She pointed her blade downward with an outstretched arm and shouted, "Attack, Tiburon!"

Hitsugaya's eyes widened as heart-shaped aura made of water surrounded the espada and then covered her for a moment before she sliced her way out of the cocoon-like aura.

Her clothes were gone as well as her tattoo that showed her rank. The hollow fragments had become a collar with pieces that completely covered her nipples and covered her back and shoulders in what appeared to be shark fins. A thin, spine-like structure ran down her stomach and she donned a mini skirt with a pair of knee-high boots and elbow-length gloves. Her braids disappeared and were replaced with messiness in her blonde hair, and a large shark tooth appeared in her left hand. On each side of her face was a pair of small lightning bolts. The menacing look in her eyes never disappeared as she stared coldly at her opponent.

Hitsugaya knew that it was in this form that she had nearly defeated him, but he also knew that if he could see past her last formidable attack then he could probably see through the rest. With a flutter of his ice wings and a twitch of his ice tail, he got into a fighting stance to show his opponent that he was ready.

Swords crossed and reiatsu rushing between them, Ulquiorra and Ichigo were locked in an intense battle that had them evenly matched and none of them showed signs of backing down soon.

Ulquiorra's anger had been increasing throughout the battle because of the death of his girlfriend, and he could not wait to slaughter his opponent's girlfriend for what she had done. However, the odds of that happening anytime soon were slim to none for Ichigo had attacked frivolously throughout their battle and blocked any attack that was given to him.

The espada's patience was weighing on him and so was his opponent. Taking a break, they split apart to opposite sides of the room, catching their breaths and glaring each other down.

"It's about time to turn things up," Ulquiorra suggested and Ichigo's eyes narrowed.

"Very well then," Ichigo replied, "things were getting kinda boring anyway."

"Bind, Murcielago." Ulquiorra's sword burst into a shower of black reiatsu that surrounded him, causing two huge bat-like wings to spread out from his back, his helmet-like hollow mask to centre on top of his head, and a razor-sharp javelin to appear in his hand.

Immediately, he flew towards Ichigo at full speed. The substitute shinigami tried to dodge but because of Ulquiorra's superior speed, he managed to catch up to him. Ichigo barely had time to breathe when he felt the blade dig into the back of his neck. Instead, he immediately fired a Getsuga Tenshou to push the espada back and then panted in relief.

He knew that Ulquiorra's first resureccion was sinister enough. It nearly took his head off the last time he's seen it, and now that event had repeated itself. He was entirely thankful that his reactivity was perfect and flawless; otherwise it would have been over for sure.

"Looks like history repeats itself, doesn't it?" Ulquiorra asked as Ichigo still panted with shock. "Who knows? This time I might kill you once again."

"Like I would let that happen!" Ichigo snapped as he readied his zampakutou once more. "Besides, you know that I still have tricks up my sleeve that I haven't used yet. I am waiting to use them at a later time."

"Oh?" Ulquiorra asked with feigned interest. "You expect me to believe that you can turn into your hollow form at will?"

Ichigo smirked in reply. "Yes. I may have defeated Ogichi before coming here, but I did manage to absorb all of his powers and I can tap into them at will. However, there has to be an appropriate time to actually become full hollow and I don't plan on that happening anytime soon. You might recognize this move though." He pointed his finger towards his opponent and a deep red cero started to form.

"Impossible!" Ulquiorra exclaimed as he managed to stop the incoming cero with his bare hand.

Before he knew it, Ichigo had disappeared and while he had tried to look around for him, Ichigo caught him off guard with a slash towards the neck. Ulquiorra barely managed to block the impact with his javelin. "You're quite the fast learner," he noted and Ichigo smirked before sending a roundhouse kick to his opponent's jaw.

Ulquiorra landed on his back with a slightly bruised jaw and noticed Ichigo standing above him, waiting to continue their duel.

He's gotten faster, he thought to himself. Could it be from his improved hollow powers? Or could he have probably gotten luckier? Either way…he's pissing me off. However, I know that he can't beat my segunda resurreccion without going into his full hollow form. I have to provoke him into transforming so that he can get this over with.

Call me crazy, but Orihime gave me a reason to live and now that she is gone… I know that I said that I would slaughter that shinigami who killed her, but I have a good feeling that Aizen-sama will do that. After all she is closest to him.

"Hey!" Ulquiorra snapped out of reality as he saw the impatient substitute shinigami waiting for him. "You're losing focus in our fight!"

The espada stood up as he glared icy daggers at his rival. "What of it?"

"What of it?" Ichigo repeated. "You are really something else. However, I have a question before we resume. Why are you in your resurreccion when you yourself told me that espada ranked 1 through 4 can't release their resurreccion in Las Noches?"

"It's simple," Ulquiorra explained. "After Orihime restored everything, Aizen-sama had Szayel enhance certain areas so that our resurreccion can't affect Las Noches in any way. This is just one of those areas."

Ichigo sneered. "Why the hell would I have the feeling that Orihime would use her powers for such devious and traitorous acts?"

Ulquiorra shrugged. "She wanted to prove her use to Aizen-sama, but whatever…time to end this once and for all. Resurreccion Segunda Etapa."

The wings grew smaller and more sinister as the horn-like hollow fragments on top of his head grew sharper and longer to better resemble actual horns. His long, white coat was replaced with black fur which covered the lower half of his body, his fingers grew into black claws, and a whip-like tail grew out from behind him.

Ichigo was slightly overwhelmed by the growing reiatsu of his opponent but he was more than ready for any attack that would come to him.

Next time on Incomplete Sorrows…

Isshin panted as blood ran down his damaged arm. How could someone do such a sinister act of controlling parts of their opponent's body? It was such an incredible technique. At this rate, if he manages to lose the use of another limb, his chances of winning would go down even further.

I struggled greatly with the Ichigo vs. Ulquiorra scene, but oh well, at least things are finally coming to a head. The reunions between Ichigo and his sister and son and Grimmjow and Neliel will be coming up in a couple of chapters, and the final, intense battle should be coming up very soon as well. There will also be surprises coming up at certain points as well.

I also regret to inform you guys that the viazards, Ishida, and Chad will not be making an appearance in the war. I thought I could include them, but I found out that by the time when they actually set foot in Soul Society, everything will be finished. The viazards are also still banned from entering Soul Society, despite the fact that Urahara is no longer banned. However, I will include short scenes somewhere in the story that include them and their feelings with what had been going on until this point, especially Ishida's feelings towards Orihime and how he had somewhat blamed himself for "causing" her betrayal.

In the meantime, however, please review and let me know what you think!