Inner Conflict — XV

Rukia jerked her Zanpakatou up just in time to block the sudden attack. The resulting impact threw Rukia backwards. She hit the ground with an surprise, "oof!" and the wind was knocked out of her.

"What the hell—?" Toushirou's and Momo's eyes flew to Ichigo, who was still hunched over on the ground. But his Zanpakatou was out. He had attacked Rukia. "What are you doing Kurosaki—"

A strange chuckle reached Rukia's ears. She straightened up, still struggling to breathe, and her eyes found Ichigo. His body was shaking with laughter. Except that didn't sound anything like him.

Ichigo's head snapped up suddenly, and Rukia was greeted with a terrifying sight. Ichigo's hollow mask had formed over his face, his eyes a sickening yellow color. But there was something…wrong. Something different. Rukia had seen this form during the war, it shouldn't have scared her.

"I told him not to be so weak." The hollow cackled as he stood up. His voice was distorted, high-pitched. Rukia winced at the sound of it. "First sign of weakness, that's what I told him. Shame he didn't listen to me."

Rukia was shaken. She stumbled up, trying to make sense of what was happening. "Ichigo." She managed to say, her throat closing around the word. "What…what happened, he…he can control it, he can—"

"That's the funny thing though. Spend fifteen years out of your mind, you tend to get weak. Really, I have you to thank for that." Rukia winced, hurt flashing in her eyes. "Let's see, how can I pay you back…? Oh, I know! I can make your death painless!"

He sprang forward. Rukia knew she should defend herself. But she couldn't bring herself to raise her Zanpakatou. Her fingers shook as she gripped the hilt; Shirayuki remained motionless at her side.

Clang!

That was the sound of Hitsugaya's Zanpakatou meeting Zangetsu. The tenth squad captain grunted as Ichigo — no, as the hollow tried to push past his defense. "Get out of here Kuchiki." Hitsugaya snapped, not taking his eyes away from the hollow. When Rukia didn't respond, "move it! That's an order."

A hand grabbed Rukia's shoulder. Hinamori was standing behind her, brown eyes wide with fright. "Come on Rukia-san, listen to him."

It wasn't the same. That was what Rukia tried to tell herself as she allowed Hinamori to drag her away. It wasn't the same, it wasn't the same…

"Damn it Kurosaki, snap out of it!" Toushirou snapped as he dodged another attack. He didn't want to be in this fight…but if he hadn't interfered Kuchiki would be dead now. He wasn't sure he could live with that on his conscious. "For God's sake, fight back! What the hell was all that training for if you still let the hollow take over?!"

The hollow laughed. "You idiot, Ichigo can't hear you! It's me now, only me!"

Hitsugaya swung Hyonimaru up, blocking the hollow's wild attack. This was just a game to him. He wasn't even taking it seriously.

But damn, he was strong…

Momo and Rukia watched in horror as Hitsugaya tried to fight the hollow — and failed. He was too strong. Momo bit her lip, worry clear in her eyes.

"Shirou-chan…"

"You know, Rukia-san, I'm impressed. I never thought you had it in you to pull off achieving Bankai."

Momo's and Rukia's eyes widened. They whirled around and found themselves face-to-face with Aizen. Rukia took an automatic step in front of Momo, hiding her friend from Aizen's view. "What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded, struggling to keep her voice from shaking.

"Enjoying the show." He said simply, his eyes shifting up to the hollow and Hitsugaya, who were still fighting. Something clicked in Rukia's mind. Aizen's assurances that he could, in fact, kill Ichigo and Hitsugaya whenever he wanted to, his subtle hints about having a spy in the Seireitei…

"The hollow."

Aizen smiled. Momo shuddered. It was a twisted version of the smile she'd once loved…

"You catch on fast Rukia-san. That's right. The hollow became very attached to my spiritual pressure when Kurosaki was last in Hueco Mundo. It fed him like candy, made him stronger. He'd only have to feel it once to break through." Rukia's hand shook with fury as she gripped the hilt of her Zanpakatou tightly.

"Damn you…" Stupidly, knowing it would accomplish nothing, Rukia sprang forward, Zanpakatou raised.

"Rukia-san don't—!"

She didn't see Aizen's hand move. But she saw the flash of light, and she certainly felt the pain of the Kido attack as it hit her, throwing her backwards. Stupid, stupid, stupid, she whimpered silently as pain coursed through her body.

Hitsugaya looked over as the familiar spiritual pressure registered in his mind. And he saw Aizen, standing in front of Momo.

"Hinamori!" He turned to run to her, but the hollow stopped him.

"Hang on a second there Shirou, we're not done yet!"

Momo wanted to go to Rukia, to find out of she was okay. But she felt as if someone had glued her feet to the ground. She couldn't move, save for the fact that she was trembling like a leaf. "Wasted talent." Aizen sighed. "But unfortunately you both seemed to have fulfilled your purpose. If you're going to start fighting against me…"

He brought his hand up. It was crackling with energy. "Don't worry. I'll make this as painless as possible."

Something inside Momo snapped. Before she knew what she was doing, her hand flew out. Shock kept Aizen from reacting, from stopping her as she shot the Kido blast at him. He dodged it. Barely.

Rukia coughed as she sat up, rubbing her head. Damn that had hurt…

Her eyes quickly found Momo. And she was greeted with a shocking sight. Momo and Aizen. Facing off.

My God, is she actually planning on fighting him…?

"Momo-san, hang on—!" Rukia moved too quickly. Pain tore through her, immobilizing her. She winced, her hand flying up to her chest. Damn it, damn it, damn it…

Toushirou had seen Momo's attack out of the corner of his eye. He didn't have time to be shocked. But that didn't stop him from being impressed. She attacked him. Hinamori attacked Aizen…

He focused back on his fight with the hollow as Zangetsu came unnervingly close to his body. Damn it he's playing with me. He could have killed me any time now, he's doing this on purpose, he's trying to stop me from getting to Hinamori…

Momo's face was set, determined. It still hurt, staring Aizen in the face, knowing how much she had once admired him. But he wasn't the Aizen she'd known. He wasn't the man she had admired. He was the enemy. He had to die.

It hurt to think about it. So she decided not to think. "Impressive, Momo-san." Aizen sounded calm, as if that had just been a demonstration. Momo shivered slightly at the sound of his voice. "But do you really think you can stop me all alone?"

Of course she didn't. The only person she'd ever seen fight on-par with Aizen was Ichigo. Momo knew she didn't stand a chance. But she wasn't about to stand around and watch her friends die.

A hand rested itself on Momo's shoulder. She looked around and saw Rukia standing with her. The raven-haired Shinigami's face was twisted in pain, but, like Momo's, it was set with determination.

"She's not alone."

Aizen didn't seem put off by this. He knew, as did the two Shinigami facing him down, that he was stronger than both of them, even both together. Not to mention he had Ichigo's hollow on his side — for the moment. And they had nothing.

"Well, this looks like a bit of a bind you've all gotten yourselves into." Momo and Rukia jumped and looked towards the roof of the nearest building. Renji, Matsumoto, and Kira were standing there, watching the scene in shock. "Honestly, can't you leave you alone for even a minute…"

In a flash, Renji and Kira were in front of Momo and Rukia, blocking them from view. And then Matsumoto was standing behind them, her eyes on her captain, who was still locked in his endless struggle with the hollow, who seemed to be enjoying teasing the white-haired captain.

"As much as I'd love to ask what the hell's going on, I feel like this isn't quite the right time."

Kira and Renji gripped their Zanpakatous tightly. Aizen, however, had lost interest. "I got what I came here for. That's enough for now."

"Running away already?"

"You make it sound cowardly, Abarai. Why stay when there's nothing left for me to do? My purpose here has been fulfilled." He shifted his eyes to gaze at the hollow, who was still locked in battle with Hitsugaya. "We'll have to do something about him…"

A hole appeared in the air right behind the hollow very suddenly. And Hitsugaya, without realizing what he was doing, pushed him right through. "No!"

Everybody looked back at Aizen just in time to see him step through another hole. One by one the spiritual pressures of the remaining Arrancar disappeared. They were retreating. For now.

Rukia fell to her knees, closing her eyes. Momo knelt down next to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "Rukia-san, are you okay?"

"Spend fifteen years out of your mind, you tend to get weak. Really, I have you to thank for that."

"It's all my fault." Rukia murmured, swallowing hard. "The hollow…and he…this is all my fault."

"It isn't!" Momo protested. "Aizen was just…he was using us, all of us. You didn't do anything wrong."

Rukia just shook her head. That was all anybody seemed to tell her. It wasn't her fault. If she hadn't don't anything wrong, then why did people need to keep saying that?

"We should head back." Kira brought them back to the issue at hand. "Yamamoto's going to need to know about this."

Renji and Hitsugaya nodded in agreement, their faces grim. Matsumoto knelt down next to Momo and Rukia. "You're coming back with us, right?"

She sounded almost pleading. Hitsugaya knew she'd missed them, her friends, while they'd been gone. "Of course." Momo said quietly, looking sadly at Rukia. As she watched, Rukia's Bankai faded away, leaving nothing but Rukia in her regular Shinigami robes, her Zanpakatou back in it's normal form. All three vice-captains stood, Rukia keeping her eyes on the ground.

"Matsumoto." She nodded, stepping forward and raising her Zanpakatou up, holding it out and turning it in mid-air. The gate opened, Hell Butterflies flying out to escort them home. Kira, Renji, and Matsumoto went through first. Rukia followed them after a moment. Momo started to go as well, but Toushirou grabbed her hand, pulling her back for a moment. Their eyes locked.

"Shirou-chan, what—"

And then his arms were around her, holding her tightly. For a moment Momo couldn't speak. She relaxed, raising her arms and wrapping them around him. They stood silently for a minute, happy, if nothing else, to be back with each other. Even with the hell that had erupted around them, nothing mattered other than the fact that they had each other. Again.

For now.

Author's Note: Yeah…so…about a week ago…my flash drive was stolen. I was not a happy person. It's a long story, check profile for full details. Just know that this greatly derailed my updates, because I had all my chapters on there, and of course now they're gone. I'm still very upset. But anyways, I hope that explains the long wait on the update. Will try to get the next one up faster. Review please — Sam