Story of the Cero Espada

by CoOkIe MoNsT4Z

Ichigo dies at a young age, becoming a hollow and spending nearly eight years by himself in Hueco Mundo. This is until he meats a certain teal haired hollow, now he finally isn't alone anymore. Forging a bond with her and making even more friends along the way, but life is never that simple.

18. We'll Always be a Family

This is a bit of a shorter chapter, but I wanted to focus just on the main part of this chapter. Hope that you guys don't mind the fact it's a bit shorter. So here's the next chapter hope you all enjoy.

"Normal Speech"

'Thoughts'

Ichigo and Nel suddenly appeared outside of the eighth division and Ichigo quickly made his way inside. Nel watched as he rushed up to the door and walked in. She stood there a bit longer and thought, "There's times that you worry me so much Ichigo. Times like this where you seem to be the only one that can do anything. I've wished that you weren't the strongest one, that you didn't have to carry any burden, I've wished that it was just me and you living our lives. Every time I do I feel like I'm being so selfish, I'm not the only one that needs you anymore. Just don't worry about me for a little while, maybe that will help you stay focused.'

The time Nel was standing there the door opened again. The sound of the door and the people walking towards her broke Nel out of her thoughts. Looking over Ichigo followed by, Ulquiorra, Stark, Vincio, Harribel, Aaroniero, and Szayel. Ichigo quickly made his way over to Nel and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek and whispered, "Are you ready to go?"

Nel smiled and looked up into Ichigo's eyes, "Yeah I'm ready."

Offering a smile of his own Ichigo said, "Good."

Turning to face all the others Ichigo yelled, "Everyone this meeting is the most important thing that we have done in a while. It will determine if we will be allowed to stay in Soul Society or not, it also will decide if the Shinigami are in fact our allies. I'm not going to tell you to keep your thoughts to yourself, don't say anything, or let me do the talking. This meeting is about us! It is about our future not just mine. If at any point there is something you want to say or bring up I urge you to do so, that goes for all of you. Just speak your mind and hopefully they will understand where we truly stand in this situation."

There was a long pause of silence among the group but eventually everyone walked up to Ichigo. Stark put his hand on Ichigo's shoulder and said, "We'll find a way to make this work, we always do. There is a lot that I wish I could actually say, but I'll just sum it up." Stark paused and looked at everyone in the circle, once he was done he was having a hard time keeping an emotionless face. Taking a deep breath he continued, "Everything that we have gone through, everything that we overcame, everything we will overcome, it's all been hard and just as emotional for all of us. We've lost people, killed people, yet our reason hasn't ever changed. We protect our own and we always are there for eachother, because we are the Espada!"

Closing his eyes you could see a few tears fall from Stark's eyes, "They can say what they want about us, whether that be we are monsters, killers, whatever. Nothing will change who we are, this meeting is about showing them who we really are."

During Stark's speech everyone watched him, and Ichigo payed very close attention. Ichigo looked around and knew everyone had strong feelings for what Stark just said. Closing his eyes for a second Ichigo looked back at Stark and quietly said, "Stark."

Opening his eyes Stark looked at Ichigo who had a small smile on his face. "I'm glad you feel the same way Stark, we are the Espada. That means so much more than just our ranks among the Arrancar in Hueco Mundo. The Espada are a family and we are all a part of that family, all of us are a part of that family. To be honest I wouldn't have it any other way. Stark, Harribel, Vincio, Szayel, Aaroniero, Ulquiorra, Nel, you are all my family and no matter what happens you're always going to be."

The group shared another long break of silence before Ichigo continued, "Now it's time that we go, the meeting will start shortly."

With that said Ichigo and Nel disappeared heading towards the first division. Everyone else just took a moment to recollect themselves. Walking away from the group towards the direction Ichigo headed Ulquiorra stopped and stared up at the sky. "It is still quite difficult for him to talk about his emotions and still just as hard not to look at us like a mother would her young. It's obvious that he still thinks it's his responsibility to keep us from danger, I don't think that will ever change though. However the more that happens the more obvious the reason we wanted him to lead us becomes. It's almost funny when I think about it."

Before anyone could respond to what Ulquiorra said he disappeared, heading in the same direction as Ichigo.

The five that were still standing there just looked at one another, then headed in the same direction.

As the group was heading towards the first division several of the Captains were already there. Waiting for everyone else to arrive and thinking about what is about to happen. Standing together Ukitake and Shunsui waited for the group to arrive. The two have been the strongest supporters of them being here and in a way are the closest among the Shinigami to them. Pushing his hat back up above his eyes Shunsui asked, "When do you suppose everyone else will arrive."

Ukitake just looked towards the direction of the eighth division, "I"m sure that they will arrive quickly, Ichigo seemed like he wanted this dealt with as soon as possible."

"Yeah, after everything we have seen from them it's hard not to say I'm impressed. Not only from the idea that they are technically hollows, but everything they've done to get here. Ichigo and all the others definitely are amazing, yet a lot of them don't understand that."

While they were talking Kisuke appeared next to them accompanied by Gin and Tosen. Ginn and Tosen both acknowledged their fellow captains and walked into the first division then into Yamamoto's office.

Kisuke watched the two leave and then walked over to Ukitake and Shunsui. Waving at them Kisuke said, "I figured you two would be the first here. I did expect Ichigo would already have been here though."

As he finished his statement Ichigo and Nel appeared next to him. Putting his hand in Kisuke's shoulder Ichigo said, "It's nice to see the three of you."

Turning to look at him Kisuke noticed how tight Ichigo's hand was in his shoulder. For a moment he thought to himself 'I wonder what his meaning behind this is? Either he is still a bit upset about earlier or he is hoping I'll come around.'

Ukitake was the first to reply, "It is nice to see you as well Ichigo, Nel. The meeting should be starting soon, we should make our way inside."

Nodding Ichigo said, "Yeah we probably should, I'd like to wait for the others to arrive before we do though."

Kisuke asked, "Who all should we expect?"

Before Ichigo answered the rest of his group arrived, all taking their place around him and Nel. Ichigo turned to them and said, "This is everyone that is coming, the others are still at the eighth division."

Shunsui nodded, "I hope you are all liking it there. How about tonight you all come over to my bracks and we can have a few drinks."

Ichigo just shrugged his shoulders, "I don't mind coming Shunsui, I'm sure most of us would like to. It'd give us some time to talk and relax."

As they continued talking outside Gin and Tosen walked into Yamamoto's office. Taking a seat across from his desk Yamamoto looked up from his papers at them. Acknowledging them he quickly went back to his papers, "So you two are finally back."

Gin just chuckled, "Of course we are back."

Glaring at Gin Yamamoto said, "This is no laughing matter Gin. You two have spent the most time with this group so I want to hear what you have to say. Anything that could be of yuse to get the others around that we don't know of yet."

Tosen quickly answered, "The group is very close as you already know, they did several things together while in Hueco Mundo. While I don't know of what their goals were before meeting each other, now it seems like they only wish to live their lives peacefully. The thing standing in their way is Aizen, that is what makes them defy him."

"What do you have to say of them Gin?"

Looking at Yamamoto with a smile Gin just said, "They are amazing people, all of them unique and special in their own ways. I don't have any doubt in them, I would easily put my life in their hands."

Yamamoto stopped with his papers and looked over towards the door, "I see. I will ask of you both to join this meeting, it might be a way to get them to see it in the same perspective."

He was cut off by the sound of a loud siren and explosions blaring. Yamamoto sat up in his chair and looked over towards the door. He let out a small sigh and got up, "Gin, Tosen come with me. We need to gather everyone together."

As he walked out the door Gin got up and followed, Tosen slowly gut up afterwards and made his way out the door. Stepping outside Yamamoto saw everyone that had already gathered there to his left Byakuya, Kenpachi, Unohana, and Mayuri both appeared. Byakuya walked up and said, "Yamamoto we have reports of a group of intruders, they were said to be near the eighth division."

Once hearing this Ichigo shouted, "Who are they and how many are there?"

Unohana walked up and put her hand on his shoulder, "I'm sorry Ichigo, but we have no real idea of who they are or how many. All we know is they are here."

Turning to Yamamoto Ichigo said, "I need to go and make sure the others are alright."

Once again a loud explosion followed by an unknown spiritual pressure. Yamamoto raised his eyebrow and looked in the direction it came from. "You may go Ichigo however, I would like some others to go with you. Shunsui, Kenpachi, Tosen, and anyone from your group that you would like to take with you."

Shunsui, Kenpachi and Tosen all walked over to him, Kenpachi with a big smile, Tosen with an emotionless expression, and Shunsui with his hat down covering most of his face. Ichigo looked to the others and said, "Stark, Harribel, and Szayel would you come along?"

Stark quickly made his way to stand next to Ichigo and gave him a nod. Harribel also made her way over. Lastly Szayel shook his head, "Why would you want me to come along Ichigo? When you could take Ulquiorra or even Vincio"

"It's my own reasons Szayel, you don't have to come if you don't want to."

Szayel held his hand up, "Of course I would like to accompany you, I was just unsure of the reason to pick me is all."

Offering a small smile Ichigo walked up to Nel. Grabbing onto her hand he whispered into her ear, "Please stay here Nel, just stick with Ulquiorra and the others. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Turning around Ichigo let go of Nel's hand however, Nel was still grasping onto his tightly. Nel just wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in his shoulder. "Make sure everyone's okay and make sure you come back."

She sat there for another few seconds and then backed away. Turning to look over his shoulder Ichigo said, "Everyone's going to come back Nel. Let's go guys."

Quickly Ichigo disappeared followed suit by Harribel, Stark, Szayel, and the Captains. Nel just grasped her hands together and looked up at the sky.

Ichigo was rushing as quickly as he could to the eighth division, behind him everyone else was having a hard time keeping up. Appearing at the edge of the eighth division the majority of it was up in flames. Ichigo just went wide eyed and stared at the blaze in front of him, around him everyone else started appearing.

Ichigo's head jolted forwards and his hood fell forwards onto his head, "FUCK!"

The sound of sonido brook through the air getting their attention. Looking up a group of five cloaked people floated above the blaze. Ichigo was the only one still looking at the fire and not caring about the new individuals, however he already sensed them.

The five figures just looked down onto the group shifting their attention between them, until the sound of coughing broke the silence. From the burning building in front of them the coughing got closer and closer. Stark stared into the fire and smoke and slowly made his ways towards it. Suddenly he stopped halfway between the fire and everyone else.

Without warning he just dropped to his knees. From the smoke a small figure started walking out, towards Stark. Breaking out from the smoke, a bloodied and tattered Lilynette stumbled out. She was bleeding heavily and large portions of her skin were burned. She slowly made her way towards Stark who was staring at her, unable to move.

Ichigo and the others just watched as she got closer to him. When she was almost in arms length Stark reached out for her and she fell into his arms.

Stark just sat there staring into Lilynette's eyes as she laid there. Opening her eyes she tried to smile but couldn't make her mouth do it. Tears started falling from Starks face down onto her body as she closed her eyes again. Stark put his hand on her cheek and whispered, "Lilynette?" When he didn't hear an answer he closed his eyes and brought her up to his chest. "Lilynette?"

Ichigo was watching and trying to keep himself from snapping. With a quick flash of light one of the cloaked figures was behind Stark and shoved his sword through his chest. Going all the way through and out of Lilynette back the cloaked figure just looked down at the two.

Ichigo just froze, to him it seemed like everything was going slow motion and now everything hit him like a train. While drawing one of his swords Ichigo rushed towards them yelling, "STARK!" Before Ichigo could get to the man Tosen appeared in front of him. Blocking Ichigo's sword Tosen was pushed back several feet before stopping very close to the cloaked man.

The man pulled his sword from Stark's and Lilynette's chests and turned towards Ichigo. Flicking the blood off he put his sword back in its sheath.

Ichigo never even looked to see who blocked his sword, he didn't care. They were stopping him from killing the man that just murdered Stark. To him it didn't matter who they were they would die along with the cloaked man. Under his hood Ichigo was crushing his teeth together almost to the point of them cracking. His eyes were locked onto the man and didn't pay anything else a thought.

Harribel appeared next to Stark and Lilynette's bodies and sonidod away with them. Reappearing back next to the group she laid them down on their backs.

In a quick swift motion Ichigo put a large amount of force onto his sword. Pushing down to his left Tosen's sword followed and his body went flying towards the ground. After this he quickly pulled his other sword from its sheath throwing it into the air. It made a whole flip and Ichigo jumped up to catch it then brought it down with all his force.

The rest of the cloaked figures in the air saw what Ichigo was doing and two of them quickly disappeared, reappearing under Ichigo's sword with their own drawn. One was a large scythe like blade and the other a short straight blade. Ichigo's sword smashed into the scythe blade and cut halfway through it before hitting the smaller blade. The two swords stopped Ichigo's before it cut through them however, the force from the strike cracked the ground under them, creating a small crater. Ichigo looked up from the swords that barely blocked his and still stared at the original man.

Tosen finally picked himself up from the ground and looked over to see what was happening. Grasping his sword he rushed towards them, bring his sword up and delivering a strike to Ichigo's shoulder. His sword didn't cut through like he figured it would instead, it hit what looked like a shoulder piece. It looked liked a black shoulder piece from an old armor set. As his blade made contact it created a large amount of sparks that went flying. Tosen just looked on wide eyed, jumping back he looked and saw that there was another one on Ichigo's other shoulder as well.

From Ichigo's sword his Reiatsu slowly started to come off of it like steam, at the same time the force behind the blade increased to the point of sending the two blockers to their knees. Throughout all of this Ichigo never broke line of site with the man. Ichigo slowly whispered, "Cero Arco." Then the Reiatsu that had been building up around his sword rocketed towards the ground, breaking through the two swords and cutting deep into the ground.

The force behind it sent the two cloaked figures that were trying to block Ichigo's earlier strike up into the air. Dirt and dust went flyinh, making it seem like it was raining it. Ichigo said, "Finally everyone in my way is gone and I can destroy you."

The air throughout the Seireitei suddenly got a lot heavier as Icihgo released a large amount of Reiatsu. Around him his Reiatsu was easily visible, looking like the air around him was on fire and spreading up and outwards. Taking a step forwards the fire like Reiatsu followed and when he made contact with the ground it compacted in on itself, creating a hole around his foot.

By know all of the cloaked figures and Tosen had already made their way away from the scene, floating in the air about half a mile away and watching. Harribel, Szayel, Kenpachi, Byakuya, and Shunsui had also got a fairly large distance away.

~ Line Break ~

Still at the first division Nel had tried to leave towards the eighth division once Ichigo's Reiatsu flared for the first time. Ulquiorra had felt it just like her, however he also noticed what was intertwined with it. Looking from Nel towards the source of the Reiatsu Ulquiorra thought to himself, 'Why do you always have to witness death Ichigo? I know you tried not to let Grimmjow's death affect you however, I know Stark's will. Just do what you can to make this right, for everyone's sake.'

~ Line Break ~

Kenpachi, Byakuya, Vincio, and Harribel all watched as Ichigo's Reiatsu started to increase the wind around them, to the point of large gusts that whipped hair and clothes around. A large gust blew through and knocked Ichigo's and the man he had been facing hoods off. Getting a good look at Ichigo's face, the marks of his mask fragment were basically glowing.

Koyo stood their, looking into Ichigo's eyes with a blank expression. Pulling the hair the had fallen over his face back he calmly said, "Cero Espada, Koyo Hisoka."

Ichigo just smirked, "Cero Espada huh. Well here's a news flash. I'm the Cero Espada, Ichigo Kurosaki. Just because Aizen made you and gave you that rank doesn't mean it's true. Now let me show you, what it truly means to be the Cero."

Ichigo swung his left sword forwards and it cut deeply into the ground and created a large gust, blowing dirt everywhere. Sonidoing to his right Ichigo brought his right sword up and down for a diagonal strike against Koyo however, Koyo was able to sonido away in time to dodge. The ground where he once stood now completely destroyed from the power behind Ichigo's strike though.

Looking towards Ichigo, Koyo drew his sword, 'He is as fast as I thought, I need to be careful. If I don't block a strike like that it would probably kill me right now. There is still a couple of minutes until we are safe to leave though. I need to distract him as long as possible, if it comes down to it I might have to release.'

Dashing to his left Koyo started forming a Cero in his left hand. Quickly changing direction he darted straight towards Ichigo, jumping up he tried to deliver a downwards strike. Ichigo easily blocked it and got his other sword ready to counter however, Koyo brought his left hand up and said, "Cero."

Red Reiatsu blasted from his hand into Ichigo's head and neck, a moment later a large explosion of energy and debri followed. Jumping back Koyo took a deep breath and watched to see what happened next. In an instant all of his Reiatsu was blown away in a big gust of wind. From the center Ichigo walked towards him, swords to his sides and his hollow eye roaring to life. The red Reiatsu from it burning like a flame.

Koyo sighed and to himself he thought, 'There is still a few minutes until we can leave. I don't have any other options right now.'

Stabbing his sword into the ground Koyo laid both his hands over the hilt. Leaning forwards he his sword dug further into the ground. Looking up Koyo took a deep breath letting it out he said, Dispatch Caballero."

Red Reiatsu erupted from his sword, cracking and sending large chunks of earth into the air. His red Reiatsu completely souronded him creating what looked almost like a shield. The energy from it created winds that reached upwards of fifty miles an hour.

From where the rest of the group had been watching you could see the full extent of Koyo's release. His Reiatsu weighed down on everything causing Szayel and even Kenpachi to have a hard time standing. Still they all watched as Ichigo just stood there, hair and cloak flapping in the wind. Under this pressure Ichigo still held himself like nothing had changed.

The Reiatsu slowly died down and then was all gone in one last blast of power. From the center of all of this Koyo walked out. His mask fragment grew exponentially, now taking the shape of an old knight's helmet. On his shoulders, torso, hands, legs, and feet were similar white pieces of armor resembling that of an old knight. To complete this his sword had changed its appearance to look a lot like a broadsword, and he was holding onto an almost body length diamond shaped shield in his left hand.

He stood up from his crouched position and lightly stretched a few of his muscles, getting used to the new weight. Looking across at Ichigo he said, "I respect your strength however, I do not hold any respect towards you actions. In time you will come to understand how pointless your efforts truly are. Everyone close to you will die, everyone you care about will die in front of your eyes. This is only the beginning of it Ichigo, this war will be the end of you. Maybe not by my hands in this battle, but it will happen soon. At that point you will prove me right."

Koyo lifted his new sword up and examined it, "I hope you will be satisfied from the result of this, I already know I will be. Now let's finish this before we run out of time, shall we?"

Lifting his broadsword up Koyo rushed forwards with his shield up in front. When he was within ten feet he quickly sonidod and appeared to Ichigo's right bashing him with his shield. It made direct contact with Ichigo's right side and he was sent back a good twenty feet. When Ichigo stopped lazily looked over at Koyo, looking him over once again he chuckled to himself. "You act so much like another man that thinks he is above me, Koyo. I'm going to do the exact same thing I promised him I would do. You will die by my hands Koyo."

Ichigo disappeared and reappeared almost instantly right in front of Koyo. You could tell Koyo was shocked, but he quickly got over it and brought his huge blade crashing forwards. The loud crash of metal against metal was followed by a barrage of sparks flying in every direction. All Ichigo had done was hold his sword up, it didn't even look like he put effort into holding it there. With his right hand he brought up his other sword and slammed it down against Koyo's shield. Cutting a few inches into the top the shield was finally able to stop it from cutting any further to Ichigo's disliking.

Koyo quickly jumped back and looked down at the damage done to his shield. To himself he thought, 'Damn it. I knew his strikes are incredibly powerful, easily twice as strong as mine, but to cut that far into Castillo. It's impossible, how can he have such strength behind his strikes, I couldn't even see any Reiatsu in the bladecenter. So was he pushing his Reiatsu into them, if not just how much damage will they do? However, if he was putting Reiatsu into them, then why wasn't it visible in the center. During the battles we watched you could always see his Reiatsu in the blade.'

Shaking his head Koyo looked back up at Ichigo, who looked back and then was gone. Quickly turning to his left Koyo's shield was hit with another powerful strike. Once again a large amount of sparks went flying as Ichigo's sword traveled across the shield.

Koyo took this one opportunity where both of Ichigo's blades might not be able to block his strike. Bringing his sword up red Reiatsu radiated from it, creating a high pitched whistling noise. Bringing his blade down he yelled, "Cazador de Dragones!"

A moment later the red Reiatsu erupted in a giant cloud, resembling the shape of a dragon's head. Koyo jumped out from the explosion and stood above it and watched. 'Where is he?'

The explosion and fire that the attack caused were still lingering around the area. Making it hard to see much of anything. Without warning from the center of the explosion all of the energy crashed inwards on itself. A moment later it was gone and Ichigo was standing there, panting and leaning on one of his swords. His hollow eye slowly went back to its original state as he fought to get his breath back.

Koyo just watched from above. Looking over Ichigo's form you could tell he was hit by the attack by the large indent on his black shoulder piece followed by a large gash that ran down most of his back. As Koyo finally touched back down into the ground he slowly made his way over to Ichigo. "I commend your efforts Ichigo, however you will never defeat me in your current state. Just lower you blades and come with us, it'll be that simple."

Ichigo stood just like he had been not even shifting an inch. He just chuckled and said, "If you think that is all it takes to stop me that you're even more ignorant than I originally thought."

Shaking his head Koyo said, "I'm no more ignorant than you are now. Thinking you still have a chance against me in your state. It's impossible for you to win anymore, I know how much Reiatsu you used to block most of my last attack Ichigo. Based on how hard you're breathing alone I'd say you couldn't manage to do it again."

Lifting himself from his sword Ichigo stared across to Koyo, "It doesn't matter if I can do it again or not, I'll finish this before you have the chance to use another attack."

Pulling his swords from the ground he was gone, repairing twenty feet above Koyo. He stood there a moment until Reiatsu erupted from the center of his blades. He kept pouring in more and more until it sounded like they blades were screaming to life, and looked like they would break under the pressure.

Ichigo closed his eyes for a minute 'There isn't any other option than this attack. I just hope it doesn't end up killing me from the lack of Reishi. Fuck, let's do this already.'

He brought his left blade up across his body like he was about to strike something. He brought it across his body quickly and when you would normally ready it to stop he kept going and let go of the handle. The blade rocketed towards the ground and crashed into it. The small cloud of dust was cleared almost instantly be the Reiatsu that engulfed the blade. He quickly did the same thing with his other sword and looked between the two.

Holding his hands together he slowed down his breathing. As he brought his hands apart a Cero starting forming between them. Taking one last breath he was gone once again. This time appearing right behind Koyo he yelled, "Cero Erupcion"

Pushing the Cero into his back Koyo was forced to the ground. Once Koyo hit the ground an eruption of Ichigo's Reiatsu rocketed from the ground. In a quarter mile radius there was a pillar of it that reached almost a mile high. The force of the explosion destroyed several of the surroundings buildings and forced the bystanders and brace themselves.

The winds of the explosion were strong enough to spread across the entire Sierette. At the first division Ulquiorra, Kisuke and Nel stared at the source of the explosion. Nel was completely frozen and her face was full of worry. 'What on earth could that have been? His Reiatsu has never felt like that before, it was like it truly did overtake everything.'

Ulquiorra got her attention when she put his hand on her shoulder. "We should go and see what happened."

Nel just shook her head and then the three disappeared heading straight towards the eighth division. Yamamoto watched as they left and looked over at Unohana who had gotten there a few minutes ago. "We are going to head that way as well, I'm sure there will be someone that needs your help."

Turning to look at Aaroniero he said, "I'm sure that you would come along even if a said no so we will all be going."

With that Yamamoto, Aaroniero, Unohana and Ukitake all headed towards the eighth division.

As Ulquiorra, Kisuke and Nel got closer the noticed Harribel, Vincio, Kenpachi and Shunsui all standing near each other some looking at the massive pillar of Reiatsu that was slowly dissipating and the others glancing from the ground up towards it.

Sonidoing next to them when they looked down and Say Stark and Lilynette they froze for a second. Looking down at his friend Ulquiorra asked, "What happened?"

Crossing her arms Harribel looked towards the pillar, "It's a long story Ulquiorra, It's a long story."

Then Nel asked, "Who has Ichigo been fighting?"

"I'm not completely sure who he is fighting Nel, but he was able to kill Stark. Other than the fact he is an Arrancar I don't know much else. I think it would be best to just wait until we can explain everything from the start."

The huge pillar had decreased to about half of it's original size by now. The smaller it got the more it would lash out form the source like lightning bolts. WIthout any warning it all suddenly collapsed in on itself, leaving a small dust cloud hovering over the area. Nel was the first to rush down there and everyone else quickly followed suite. The ground they landed on looked like an earthquake destroyed it, huge gashes in the ground and the rest of it was mostly crumbled and broken apart.

Small traces of Ichigo's Reiatsu swirled around the ground in the wind. When the dust completely cleared you could see the result of Ichigo's attack. Koyo's body was nowhere to be found and his broken sword laid on the ground. Ichigo was crouched down holding onto the side of his head and barely keeping himself from falling over. The group was just close enough to hear him say, "Anyone that harms my family will die Koyo. I don't care if it costs my life to keep that promise." After saying that he was panting very heavily and completely out of breath. A moment later he lost his strength and fell to the ground. Nel started rushing over to him as he collapsed to the ground.

Yamamoto's group arrived a minute later and looked at the scene before them. Unohana quickly made her way over to Nel who was holding Ichigo's head in her lap. Aaroniero and Ukitake made their way over to Harribel and the others and saw what happened to Stark and Lilynette. Yamamoto was the only one that didn't move over to Ichigo or Stark's body. He just stood there evaluating the area and quickly became lost in thought.

~ Line Break ~

It has been a few hours since the attack and the Seireitei was still in a bit of confusion. With no word from any of the captains on the incident several of the non seated officers were coming up with their own ideas. Ranging from some kind of experiment Mayuri created to a rebellion. None of these ideas were anywhere close to reality however.

Ichigo was taken to the fourth division barracks and Nel, Ulquiorra, Kisuke and Harribel couldn't be talked out of going with him.

There was a search done of the area around what is left of the eighth division. They found Aysu, Sun Sun, Apache, Mira, and Ggio and they were also taken to the fourth. While they didn't have any severe injuries they were all nocked out from the amount of Reiatsu during the fight.

Yamamoto had also called a meeting for Captains and Espada, if they would be willing to attend.

~ LINE BREAK ~

Yamamoto slammed his cane onto the floor of the meeting room to get everyone's attention. Looking around the room at the small group that had come to the meeting he said, "We are here to discuss what happened and an appropriate reaction. Firstly,anyone that has information on who the attackers were please step forwards."

The small group of people in the room was made up of Kenpachi, Gin, Szayel, Aaroniero, Byakuya, Toshiro, Ukitake, and Shunsui. From the small group Shunsui stepped forwards from his place. "There was a group of them, if you count Tosen among them then there was six. I don't wish to repeat everything I saw so I'll just say one of them Killed Stak and Ichigo lost it. Tosen stepped in to protect who I'm guessing are his comrades. The battle was mostly them trying to keep Ichigo from the man who killed Stark, until Ichigo started getting really serious."

Toshiro asked, "What do you mean when he started getting serious?"

Kenpachi slits smiled, "He means when Ichigo decided he was going to destroy the man and didn't care who or what got in his way. It was an awesome fight to watch because of that."

Yamamoto looked them over and asked, "Was there any sign of who these people are?"

Shunsui stepped forwards again, "They were Arrancar, the one Ichigo fought released his sword part way through the fight. That's all I can say though, we will have to wait for Ichigo to wake up to know exactly who they are."

Looking down Yamamoto tapped his cane on the ground. "We need to make the final preparations for this war. I want all of you to start training as long as the rest of your squads. I would also like all of the Espada to join in on this training, you can do it however you see fit but I want everyone to be training until we make our move."

Szayel looked up at Yamamoto and said, "That won't be a problem, I'm sure most of us would like to spend some time training. However, Nel, Ulquiorra and Harribel most likely won't do much of any training until Ichigo is up."

Byakuya quickly stepped in, "That won't be a problem Szayel. That does bring me to what I wanted to ask though. What is our move going to be exactly?"

Yamamoto let out a small sigh, "I was wanting to discuss the exact details with Ichigo and form the rest of the plan. Until then just know that we will be invading Hueco Mundo and killing anyone there that stands against us."

Taking a small pause he continued, "I know that doesn't sound like much of a plan, but know once Ichigo and I can sit down and form the rest of it everyone will know. For know just go to your squads and make sure they know they are to be training whenever they can. Also I hope that this stops the idea of Ichigo and his group being here to take down the Seireitei or anything like that. Now you may all go."

Waving them off most everyone left except Shunsui, Ukitake, Szayel, Aaroniero and Byakuya. They all shared a look and then disappeared all heading towards the fourth division. They walked into the main barracks and Unohana was making her way down the hallway. Shunsui called out, "Unohana can we see Ichigo?"

Stopping and turning around she was surprised to see all of them, but quickly smiled. "Of course I finished healing his wounds a little bit ago, now it's just a waiting game. Just follow me."

They made their way down the hall and Unohana knocked on a door, "I have some visitors, we're coming in."

Opening the door they all made their way into the large room. It was dimly lit and the blinds were shut. Against the far wall Ichigo was lying down in his bed, blankets completely covering his body. Nel was sitting in a chair next to him grasping onto his right hand and never looked up from him. Kisuke was leaning agaisnt the wall and looking between Ichigo and the opposite wall. On the other side of the bed Ulquiorra and Harribel sat there, both of which noticed the group of visitors.

Everyone made their way over towards the bed and found a place to stand or sit. They watched as Ichigo's chest slowly raised and lowered. Unohana said, "Ichigo's Reishi levels were at a critical level, if he went to much longer fighting like that he would have definitely died. However because of his large Reishi supply he should be fine. It is just going to take a while for him to get back to a level where he can function. I'm guessing it could take a few days to upwards of a week for him, during that time you are all welcome to come and go or stay here if you wish. Now I'll have to excuse myself, there are other patients I'll have to attend to."

Unohana made her way out and closed the door behind her, the sound echoed through the empty room and showed just how silent everyone was. Ulquiorra looked over towards everyone and asked, "What was talked about during the meeting?"

Honestly I've been debating this for a few days and only recently decided to go with this. I was going to have someone else die at first, then I was going to have something completely different happen. In the back of my mind I kept thinking back to this though and just had to go with it. I did tell you guys earlier to expect some important character deaths and that is what I'm going to do. I'm not planning on killing everyone or anything like that, I'm just going to put deaths in that I think actually play some part into the story in some way.

So I'll talk to you guys later, I'm going to be updating my other story in a week or so and after that I'll have the next update for this one. I'm trying to give equal time to both of my stories so don't think I'm favoring my newer story. I just have people that are wanting updates for it as well, so I somewhat made things more difficult on myself. I should have honestly just kept working on the other story on the side and not post it yet, that way I'm not trying to split my attention. However, I don't think about things like that. So just know there will be an update in a few weeks. Hope you all enjoyed.