Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach nor any of the characters. The OCs however are mine

Chapter Twenty-Three – Fury Unleashed

There was no need to remain behind and see what had become of the Espada, there was no doubt in Shiro's mind that she was dead. There could be no other outcome after that attack and the most pressing thing was currently finding Heikichi. The thought that the other boy hadn't betrayed him was no longer anywhere in Shiro's mind, now the gleam in the cold eyes of the young captain promised one thing and one thing only.

That Heikichi was going to pay for bringing his siblings into this.

"Nii-san won… but that was scary," Misaki said as she and Kaien watched the end of the battle between their brother and the Espada. The twins still had no idea what was going on but they were starting to grow more concerned for their brother the more time that passed. And seeing that battle really hadn't helped the situation because that hadn't looked like the Shiro that they knew.

Their brother didn't have that cold look in his eyes.

"What did that meanie head hollow do to our brother?" Kaien asked as he and Masaki turned back around to face Heikichi, who seemed to still be reeling over the way that the battle against Shiro and the Espada had gone.

For the briefest of moments the young man didn't even realize that the child had spoken.

Heikichi seemed to snap out of it after a moment however and his gaze went to the twins that were facing off against him as though they had every intention of fighting him. That was another thing that he hadn't figured into his plan and something that he was desperately hoping to avoid. While it shouldn't be any problem to take care of a pair of children that was not something that Heikichi wanted to do.

"She just brought out a side of him that you two have never seen before…" Heikichi said, which was the truth of the matter. He had only seen this side of the teen himself and he couldn't stop those images from appearing unbidden in his mind's eye.

Couldn't keep himself from recalling what he had witnessed and heard about the last time that Shiro had been encased in black ice.

"We don't like it…" the twins said in unison, referring to themselves as a single entity but this was something that they were prone to doing. They were still young enough that they thought of themselves as a singular unit rather than two individuals.

"You aren't the only ones," Heikichi said as his gaze shifted around, the Lord of Hueco Mundo attempting to track the reiatsu trail of the Shinigami Captain so he could anticipate when he was going to arrive at Las Noches.

He needed time to prepare for that.

Luckily there were still other guards that would make things difficult for Shiro but he knew that they were going to be no match for him. Given the ease with which Solara had fallen after Shiro undergone this transformation it was really only a question of when he would arrive.

Not if.

Despite what both Kasumi and Heikichi were thinking this transformation was not entirely the same as the last time that Shiro had called upon these powers. Unlike that day the white haired captain's mind wasn't completely blank as it had been on that day. True he was not himself and he was being fueled by blind rage but Shiro was at least aware of who he was and what his mission was.

A mission that had changed at this point.

When he and Kasumi entered Hueco Mundo it was with the objective to find Heikichi, get him away from the Espada, and bring him back to the world of the living. Now the goal was to find his siblings and make the person that had brought them to this place suffer.

The safety of the twins was his number one priority.

Nothing else mattered.

If he were completely in his right mind then Shiro would have realized that he had put Kasumi in danger but darting off without her but unfortunately he wasn't quite that coherent. He knew that his siblings were in danger and he was out for blood, that was about the extent of what he was capable of thinking in his current state.

Which left the Quincy Shinigami to fend for herself.

Kasumi was really freaking out as she searched for her friend's reiatsu signal but at least Shiro wasn't making any attempts to hide that from her so it was easy enough to track. Using her flash-step she gave chase, hoping as she did so that this wasn't going to turn into a repeat of the last time. Because the memories of the ensuing battles were still a source of pain for her best friend and she didn't want to see him do something else that he was going to live to regret.

"Please be okay Shiro-chan…" she said as she gave chase, praying as much for his mental stability as for his safety against the enemies that were everywhere.

Enemies that she was getting a taste of as well but only in the form of lower level Hollow that she could deal with. The effort required to bring an end to them was far from great but all the same it was an annoyance to have to continuously stop her pursuit of Shiro in order to cut her way through the Hollow menace.

"I don't have time for this," Kasumi said as she used her bow to cut down another group of Hollow, her voice sounding strained as she spoke.

Shiro's path to the castle of Las Noches was far from unhindered but even so the white haired Shinigami was barely slowing his pace. Keeping Hyourinmaru drawn the young captain was slicing through the obstacles that were in his path as though they were nothing, his icey blue eyes holding a cold look within them and his hands were clenched around the handle of his sword with such force that his knuckles had actually turned white.

That was how pissed off he was right now.

"Reign over the frosted, frozen skies, HYOURINMARU!" As the name of his zanpaktou left his lips the ice dragon burst from the tip, swirling around in front of him before laying waste to the group of Hollow that had attempted to block his forward progress. The spray of ice that was left in the wake of the attack was just as black as the ice that encased part of Shiro's upper body, as well as the wings that he was using to propel himself forward, and it was certainly not a natural sight.

The surge of his reiatsu ensured that there was going to be a trail of black ice shards left in his wake.

Which could inadvertently aid Kasumi in her efforts to track her friend though given the level of reiatsu that he was currently exhibiting it was hardly necessary. A person would have to be completely incapable of sensing the reiatsu of another in order to fail at tracking the white haired teen at this point.

"I'm coming Shiro…I just hope it's not too late when I find you," Kasumi muttered to herself as she continued to follow the trail of her friend, a look of concern shining bright in her eyes. And again she couldn't help but think, if only briefly, about just how much her feelings toward him had changed over the years. She wasn't even really sure when it had happened but she knew that she loved him…all that was really left was to tell him.

Which she vowed to do when she had the chance.

A/N: Another chapter…and it only took years. Wow. Hope that you enjoyed and this story will have a conclusion, I have the remaining chapters mapped out and everything. I'm going to try to finish the ones that are on-going, aside from collabs that are dead, and I'm going to be writing new stuff. To that end there is a poll up on my profile page concerning a new project and I would be very much appreciated if you would vote. Thanks for reading, please leave a review on your way out.