A/N: As always, thanks to my great reviewers. I finished writing this bit in record time as a result. All your thoughts and opinions were much appreciated, but please if you want to flame at least have the courtesy of leaving a way for me to get back to you, or I'll simply block anonymous reviews.

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The Heir Apparent
Chapter 13: Traitor's Fate

Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez stood on the tallest remaining pillar overlooking the ruins of Las Noches. The massive fortress had been all but demolished in the fights between the shingami and Ulquiorra and Yammy. He had little remorse, both for his former comrades and home. He'd have fought them both had he not been leashed by Aizen, and panthers didn't live in castles; they wandered the forests and plains.

It was difficult for him to believe even that he had ended up allied to his orange-haired rival. It had been Nel who'd talked him into it. All of her points had been good ones, like the fact that since his side had already lost there was no point in continuing fighting, and that he couldn't fight thirteen captain-class shinigami. He sort of owed them for his newfound freedom too. That didn't stop it from galling him though.

He scanned the area with his blue eyes, reaching out with his senses at the same time. There was no sign of Tousen or any Arrancar though, they must have fled when they'd realised the shinigami were coming. Cowards, now they'd have to track them, which could take weeks or even months. But he was a hunter, and as long as he had the trail he would continue for a thousand years.

He hated Tousen. His hatred was a pure thing, the exact polar opposite of true love. He couldn't stand the sight of him, the way he talked, his idea's; everything. Just being in the same room as him would raise his hackles. He would kill him, and in his dying the black man would know pain greater than he had ever imagined. He would beg for death. Grimmjow licked his lips, such thoughts were delicious.

Nel jumped high, landing just behind him on the pillar. Somehow she managed not to touch him, even though there was barely enough space for them both.

'Anything?'

He growled a negative.

She sighed. 'I thought that would be the case. It's a pity the shinigami couldn't seal this realm like Aizen did. For all we know, they fled to the material world.'

'We'll find them soon enough,' said Grimmjow confidently. He would never give up, no matter how long it took. They couldn't hide forever.

x

Rukia fell onto her bed, exhausted. It was almost becoming a routine. Training with Zaraki hadn't gotten any easier over the past week, the big captain had simply held back less and less as she'd got better. He truly was a remarkable fighter. Despite not knowing his swords name he fought with it in a constant released state, and he took all her best attacks with his reitsu-sealing eye patch on. How Ichigo had ever bested him was beyond her.

Thinking of Ichigo reminded her sharply that he was still away. She hadn't been idle in his absence, besides the training she was doing every evening; her and the third seats were nearly finished with that annoying backlog; and they'd recently taken a whole contingent of new recruits into the squad. Still, it was harder with him away, and she did kind of miss him.

She moved restlessly around, trying to get comfortable. She could remember before she'd met him, after she'd been adopted into the Kuchiki clan. It had been a dark time; she'd been alone then, always alone. Kaien had been the one ray of light, it had been snuffed out cruelly. But Ichigo… he filled that void. She smiled to herself as she remembered all the stupid things he did, and the equally stupid fights they got into. Strange though it might sound, she treasured all those moments they'd had together. To lose him as well-, no, she wouldn't even consider it.

If she'd been hiding the fact that she was worried, Kiyone and Sentaro certainly weren't. They went around with serious expressions all day long, they weren't even fighting any more. Ichigo had taken Ukitake's place as the captain to fawn over, somehow the fact that Rukia had been their subordinate before meant that while they would follow her orders to a tee they wouldn't fall over themselves in their trying to please her. Actually she preferred it that way. Still, it did mean that there were no laughs in the office with their captain gone.

She tossed and turned, trying to get to sleep. But even though she was physically exhausted, her mind was still active. Finally she got up, wrapped a soft robe around her, and stepped out into the passageway. The air was cool there, the floorboards cold beneath her bare feet. She immediately remembered her bunny slippers, and wished she had them with her. But they were at the Kuchiki manor, with most of her other possessions.

With her brother away, Rukia had moved out of the family home. It wasn't that she didn't like living there, quite the opposite, it was just with her days being so full it was much more convenient to sleep at the divisional headquarters. In Kaien's old room.

She opened the door and stepped outside. The cold wind immediately assailed her, she gasped and quickly went back in. It was too cold to go out in without dressing up warmly. So she turned around and took a walk through the empty rooms. It was dark, but she knew her way around. There wasn't much to see though, and after a bit she headed back.

When she reached her doorway, she noticed that the one opposite was slightly ajar. Ichigo's room, she thought. Before she knew it she was pushing it aside and stepping in. It was, predictably, empty. Clean, but still empty. Ichigo had obviously not had time to fully settle in, there were precious few items of his lying around. The only new decorations she noticed were a few framed photographs he must have brought from the material world.

She examined them, using a quick Kido spell to give some light. One was of his family, his father looking insanely happy, Karin and Ichigo both making fake smiles, and only Yuzu looked normal. The second was of them some years before, there was a woman in the picture she supposed must be Ichigo's mother. The last was of his class, a school photograph. He was in the back row, two away from Chad.

She sighed, he didn't have any of her. She knew it shouldn't affect her, but it did. She extinguished the small blue fire in her hands, and was about to leave when she thought of something. Moving to cupboards, she opened and closed them until she found the one she was looking for. The one with his spare hakama and kosode hanging. Of course he'd taken a new set to Hueco Mundo. Reaching inside she found the pair that was the most worn.

How many times had she helped him stitch it after a battle, after healing him of course. The poor guy had had no idea how to point a needle in the beginning, he'd got quite good in the end. This was one of his first sets of Shinigami clothes, the ones he'd worn when he'd saved her from execution. There were almost more stitches than original material. She held it to her face, and breathed in. His scent was laced into every inch of it. Musk, spice and sweat, soft yet distinctive. There was also a sharp undertone of copper and salt. Blood. It struck her again how much he'd risked, coming to save her like he did.

Suddenly she felt tired, as if all the day's activities hit her in one moment. She made her way back to her own room and crawled under the bedcovers, Ichigo's shihakusho still wrapped in her arms as she fell into a dreamless slumber.

x

Ichigo was tired of this hunt, dog tired. They'd been on Tousen's tail for nearly two weeks, all the while without a single sighting of their quarry or his Arrancar cronies. Grimmjow fortunately was an expert tracker, and Nel had an ability that allowed her detect when someone had used Garganta recently in an area; and then replicate that exact portal. Between those two they had never lost the trail, even though they'd been going between Hueco Mundo, the real world, and even Soul Society a few times; stopping only to rest the lieutenants. Ichigo only rested every third stop, using the other time to train his Kido with Byakuya.

Amazingly he'd actually got closer to Rukia's older brother over the time they'd been together. He wasn't quite sure if he believed it himself. But there was definitely an understanding that had built up between them. They would probably never be friends, they were too different for that. But they were learning to accept each other.

It was because of this newfound understanding that he felt comfortable broaching a particular question to the more experienced captain after one of their training sessions. Byakuya had been carrying a pouch against his thigh, opposite his sword, since they'd got there. That in itself wasn't that odd, they were all carrying packs and quite a few had other containers for more personal items. But this pouch was black, and bore the symbol of a skull with bandages covering the forehead and one eye.

'You heard the sentence pronounced on Tousen,' said Byakuya with a frown.

'Yeah, we're killing him.'

'No. The sentence was to give him the Traitor's Fate.'

'The what?' said Ichigo.

Byakuya sighed. 'You are new, so your ignorance can be forgiven this one time. That's the highest level of punishment Soul Society can give.'

'What could be worse than death?'

'Think back to when Rukia was going to be executed.' he held up a gloved hand, 'I know we were in the wrong there, the sentence was far too harsh and I should have fought it. The point is that we were going to destroy her soul, meaning that she would be eternally removed from the flow of spirits.'

'So that's the ultimate punishment!'

'No, that's the second worst. The worst is to send them to hell for an eternity of suffering. Now if you would excuse me, I am tired of questions and I would like to take some rest.'

Not content with that explanation, Ichigo went and found Kensei, who was sitting on his own away from the main group.

'The Traitor's Fate huh,' said Kensei when he asked. 'What do you want to know about it?'

'Well, for starters, how do you send someone to hell?'

'It isn't easy, normally the only souls that go there are those who sinned horribly in life,' Ichigo nodded, he knew that much. 'Souls in Soul Society will never go there naturally, no matter what they do. But there is a way to forcibly send them there. We take the skull of one who has been damned by his or her own actions, and convert it to spiritron. After that the twelth division tweaks it a bit, and hey presko, we have a black-fate skull.'

'Black-fate eh, so how does it work?'

'I'm not too sure,' the other captain admitted, 'You'd have to ask Captain Urahara. I just know that if you put it on a person when they've been sufficiently weakened, it'll send them to hell.'

He shivered at the thought. 'It seems a bit unfair to me, Aizen and Gin didn't get the same treatment when we killed them.'

'We didn't have a chance then, but we will,' said Kensei grimly. 'We have teams combing the material world for signs of their imminent rebirth.'

'But surely they won't remember anything,' Ichigo protested.

'Doesn't matter, they're still traitors. All that it will look like is another infant death. And even if we don't find them in life, they'll be spotted as soon as they come to Soul Society. Souls don't change their appearance.'

Ichigo stood silently, wondering if that was actually justice. They would be punishing people for actions in a previous life. It was all very confusing, he'd have to talk to Rukia about it some other time. 'How are the others doing,' he said finally, more to change the subject than anything else.

'Well,' Kensei shrugged. 'Except Hinamori Momo, she's being so quiet, and she's stopped eating. It's worrying.'

Ichigo sighed. He'd hoped that he would be able to finish the mission without a confrontation. But if that was the case… 'I'll talk to her,' he promised. She was sleeping already, so he'd have to wait until their next stop. He could already imagine the drama and the tears, perhaps she'd even attack him. Neither of them were going to enjoy it, that was a given. But it had to be done.

x

'Thanks for agreeing to this,' said Renji.

'I need the practise too,' said Hitsugaya.

'And it does get kinda lonely with our lieutenants away, doesn't it?'

The boy captain scowled. 'I didn't come here to talk, Abarai.'

'Heh, did I hit a sore point?' he smirked. He wanted to beat him at full power, and making him angry could do the trick.

They were in the tenth division training grounds, facing each other with their sealed swords drawn. It was supposed to be spur of the moment thing and completely secret. Naturally the whole of the tenth and seventh division had shown up to watch. They would have sent them all away, had Yamamoto-soutaicho not shown up as well. Apparently he wanted to see how strong the two captains were. And his presence did add legitimacy to the duel.

Fighting between captains was strictly forbidden for any purposes other than training, and then there had to be another captain present to make sure that it didn't get out of hand. Especially in a battle like the one they were about to fight. There was no point just going to Shikai level, they could train with lieutenants for that. This fight was one with no limits, except intentionally killing your opponent. Such duels were incredibly dangerous, probably more for Renji than Toshiro, but they had to get stronger.

'Seated upon the frozen heavens, Hyorinmaru,' cried Hitsugaya, his zanpakutou lengthening slightly and growing a chain and sickle out the back.

'Howl, Zabimaru,' cried Renji, his becoming a segmented machete with two pick-like blades protruding from the front and back of each segment.

'HaaaaaAAAAA,' cried the white haired captain as he charged forward, holding his sword low.

Renji immediately lashed out, his sword extending like a whip. Hitsugaya jumped over the first swing, but Renji was fast, and swung it at him a second time before he had landed. His opponent had to block awkwardly just as his feet hit the ground, then found the rest of Zabimaru whipping around to strike his other side. With no time to evade, Hitsugaya grabbed his sickle attachment and managed to block with that, stopping the closest segment an inch away from his neck. It didn't stop the longer picks though, which opened several deep scratches. The sharp sickle also cut into his hand from the impact, even though he'd wrapped a few links of the chain underneath it to prevent that from happening.

If they had been fighting to first blood it would have already been Renji's win. But they were in it until one party was beaten or submitted. Wasting no time, Hitsugaya forced the blade away and leapt at the redhead, his sword slashing downwards. Renji, with Zabimaru busy re-linking, found himself momentarily weaponless. Desperately he pulled back in a limbo, narrowly avoiding the killing blade, but it kept coming down. He completed his back flip, catching Hitsugaya's body with his legs.

'Nani,' cried the boy-captain as he was propelled forward, his sword just missing Renji's head. Renji meanwhile bounced on his hands and twisted in mid-air so that he came up facing the falling captain, and immediately swung at him. A dust cloud rose as both struck.

The dust had settled enough a moment later for visibility to be possible. Hitsugaya had taken some more deep scratches from Zabimaru's picks, but he was blocking it. Renji's eyes widened, his opponent had managed to wrap his chain-sickle around his weapon, immobilizing it. Hitsugaya gave a brief cold smile before leaping forward again.

Renji smiled too, but his smile was hot and bloodthirsty. 'Higa Zekko,' he cried.

Hitsugaya's aqua eyes widened as the blade segments detached themselves and hovered around him. They struck so fast that Renji could barely follow their progress. A larger dust cloud billowed into the air. Renji's eyes also widened as his smile faltered. Perhaps he'd gone too far, Hitsugaya could be seriously injured or even killed.

Zabimaru hung limply in his hand, just a hilt with long durable material and elastic strings hanging from it. The attack he'd just used had originally damaged his blade, tearing the strings. His recent training though meant that he could separate the metal from the strings during the attack, making it faster. It also meant that all he had to do was re-summon the segments after; making it both lethal and practical. Indeed, it was his best attack in Shikai form.

He could hear loud mutters in the crowd, which were replaced by gasps when the dust settled. A pair of icy white-blue wings protected the boy captains body, they were dotted with pieces of Zabimaru. Renji's tattooed eyebrows went up, so, Hitsugaya was using his Bankai.

'Daiguren Hyorinmaru,' said the young captain, opening his wings to reveal that he was unscathed.

'Heh, looks like I beat you on Shikai if you had to use that,' said Renji.

'The fight isn't over, Abarai. Now release your Bankai, and let's finish this.'

Renji had no illusions, Hitsugaya had had his Bankai longer than him, and it was probably a more powerful one in any case. But since the fight was going to this level he had to follow suit. 'Bankai, Hihio Zabimaru,' he shouted.

Smoke poured out of his blade, spinning upwards in a plume as pieces of his weapon shot back to him. When it cleared, Renji had fur draped over his shoulders and arms, with a skull emblem. Zabimaru had changed form, becoming a massive snake-like entity with a spine of long spikes, a red mane and a fanged skull head. He held the tail in his right hand.

Hitsugaya leapt at him again, but much faster than before. With the wings it seemed like he was flying. Renji flicked the tail of Zabimaru, it hissed and charged back. Hitsugaya shot a dragon-headed ice blast out his sword, trying to force it out the way. For a moment the two serpents seemed to be evenly matched as the ice burst on the skull head, then Zabimaru broke through and snapped at Hitsugaya, who was forced to change course and veer away.

'Hmm, he's gotten stronger,' the young captain mused aloud.

'You ain't seen nothing yet,' cried Renji, as Zabimaru circled around his flying opponent and attacked again.

Hitsugaya dodged swiftly, and sent another icy blast, this time at Renji. Zabimaru's coils moved between, and though they got frozen by the attack a second later they'd burst free. The two combatants faced each other again, their eyes narrowed. Renji knew that he would have to get serious if he was to stand any chance of winning. Meanwhile an icy petal above Hitsugaya disintegrated.

Renji then tried something he'd never done except in practise. He coiled Zabimaru up tightly, until the energy between the segments was almost nonexistent. Then he released it. Zabimaru reacted like a coiled spring, or rather a striking snake. Hitsugaya had no time to dodge, only to defend with his ice wings. Renji roared as he poured his maximum power into his zanpakutou. The jaws strained, then smashed through the defensive wings.

Hitsugaya pulled back immediately, somehow avoiding damage. His wings regenerated, but at the cost of two of his petals. He flew high and started shooting ice streams at Renji, which were defended, but some were aimed around him and formed pillars when they struck the ground. When there were seven in a rough circle around him, Hitsugaya turned his blade in his hand and said, 'Sennen Hyoro.'

The ice pillars closed in on Renji, who wrapped Zabimaru around himself in a protective shield. It froze completely. After a moment the ice started to implode, his zanpakutou falling along with it. Renji though was unharmed.

'Not the best I can do with that attack,' Hitsugaya admitted, coming back to ground. 'But it was sufficient.' Above him a whole clove of petals shattered, leaving only five.

'Bastard, this fight isn't over,' growled Renji.

'Your weapon is frozen solid,' the other captain pointed out.

'Ha, Zabimaru is very thick-skinned.' He flicked the tail, and his frosty zanpakutou rose sluggishly.

'Fine, I guess I'll just have to finish it,' Hitsugaya sighed.

Renji was in trouble and he knew it. The cold had reached the core of his weapon, there was no way he could defrost it quickly. In the meanwhile it would be slower and prone to shatter. He was also out of breath and sweating heavily, he was nearing his limit. Hitsugaya didn't seem nearly as tired. Both combatants breath was forming mist in front of them.

Renji had one chance left. He sent Zabimaru charging at his opponent, and cried, 'Hikosu Taiho,' pouring the remainder of his energy in. It shot through the segments, making them burst apart as it reached them, and fired out the head, splitting the open jaws as it shot forth. The massive energy blast vaporised Hitsugaya's form. It would also have taken out a good portion of the spectators had Yamamoto not flash-stepped in front of it and knocked it skywards with his zanpakutou.

At that point Hitsugaya flash-stepped in front of him and held his sword to his throat. 'It's over, Abarai,' he said.

'But how,' Renji protested. He was sure he'd hit him.

'Once a battle I can create an ice-clone,' the other explained. 'In this case I didn't really need to, since your attack was slowed, but it did have the desired effect; I caught you completely by surprise.'

'I lost,' said Renji with a dazed expression, falling to his knees. Scattered all around him were shattered frozen pieces of Zabimaru. Normally his bone cannon attack would just leave it in segments, but the energy flowing through it thawed it too quickly, breaking it into countless pieces.

Hitsugaya slashed the air, returning his zanpakutou to its sealed state before sheathing it on his back. The icy wings there cracked and broke off. 'You did well, I had to take you a bit seriously. Train some more, then challenge me again,' he said over his shoulder, and walked away, to the cheers of his jubilant division.

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