• • •
"Ikorose, Shinso!" Ichimaru commanded, releasing his Zanpakuto into its Shikai. The small wakizashi stretched before you could even blink; the sound of blood splashing on the ground could be heard before anyone could actually see what had happened.
I left out a sigh of relief once I saw that Rukia was no longer in Aizen's grasp; Kuchiki-Taicho had shown up and taken the blow for her. Although, I had never seen the Taicho look so defeated. Ichigo must have really wounded him during their battle. Even Kuchiki-Taicho's kenseikan, the white hairpieces that symbolized him as a proud noble, were gone.
"Nii…Sama..!" Rukia gaped, staring up at her adoptive brother with wide eyes as he held her in his arms.
Ichimaru immediately withdrew his Zanpakuto, even more blood splattering all over the ground and dying it a twisted shade of crimson.
"Nii-Sama..!" Rukia exclaimed once more, eyes widening in shock as he seemed to collapse. She wasn't strong enough to hold him up, so they both sunk to the ground. "Nii-Sama?!"
Rukia's cries grew more frantic as Kuchiki-Taicho remained unresponsive, his breathing becoming more ragged. "Nii-Sama… Why… Why did you save me..?! Why… Nii-Sama? Nii-Sama…? Nii-Sama!"
Aizen turned around, his eyes landing on Kuchiki-Taicho's frail form. Rukia seemed to snap, instantly grabbing Kuchiki-Sama's head to her chest and cradling it. Aizen's hand traveled towards his Zanpakuto, only to freeze as two other people showed up.
"What a…nostalgic face!" The ex-Fifth Division Taicho noted as he smiled down at one of the two faces that held him in his place.
Yoruichi sternly looked up at him, her golden eyes narrowing. "Don't move. If you move even one muscle…"
"You'll lose your head." Soi-Fon-Taicho finished for her, shoving her Zanpakuto even closer to his neck to back up her words.
Aizen only smiled as his eyes traveled down below him. "Very well."
Almost immediately, large crashes were heard. Buildings below were being crushed, but not by normal Shinigami. These were giants…
"Impossible..!" Yoruichi exclaimed, "Even those three are traitors..!?"
"What will you do now? Not even you two can come after me while fighting all of them at the same time, can you?"
Yoruichi tisked, only for her retort to be cut off by a howling cry…
Jidanbou..! He was alright and was even going to fight the other giant Shinigami!
"Kukaku!" Yoruichi shouted in excitement, grinning.
The fireworks technician smiled back from her perch atop Jidanbou's shoulder. "Yo, Yoruichi! I got really bored, so I decided to drop by after taking a walk. So then, let's do it, Jidanbou!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" Jidanbou nodded.
Shiba Kukaku managed to take one complete giant down by herself, using a kido spell of course. Jidanbou then jumped into the fray as well, fighting off the remaining two guards.
"Hya, what immense strength! What ever should I do?" Ichimaru questioned, throwing a hand back as he witnessed the brawl taking place below them. However, he wasn't expecting to have someone restrain his wrist and place their Zanpakuto against his throat.
Matsumoto tightened her hold on his wrist. "Don't move, please."
"Sorry, Aizen-Taicho." Ichimaru slyly called out. "She's got me."
"This is the end," Yoruichi pointed out.
Aizen blinked, looking down at the flash master. "What did you say?"
"Don't you sense it, Aizen? You have been…completely surrounded!"
True to her words, the rest of the Taicho and Fukutaicho of the Gotei Thirteen appeared, successfully surrounding Aizen, Ichimaru, and Tousen.
"It's over," Yoruichi announced. "Aizen."
The ex-Taicho only proceeded to laugh.
How was this situation funny? He was caught; completely surrounded. Unless…unless he had another trump card up his sleeve!
"What?" Yoruichi demanded, "What's so funny, Aizen?!"
"Yeah, sorry but…" Aizen smiled, "It's time."
Yoruichi's golden eyes widened, her mind racing through all of the things that could possibly happen. "Get away, Soi-Fon!"
Both women were barely able to get away from Aizen before a bright beam of golden light shot down from the sky and enveloped him. All eyes were trained on the sky, watching as the claw of a Menos Grande ripped through the sky, opening it up. The sky continued to rip, multiple Menos visible and staring down at us below.
"Menos Grande...!" The Taicho-tachi exclaimed, their eyes widening as the large Hollows' arms reached out from the crack, their heads soon following.
The Fukutaicho of the Second Division balked. "Gillian! Just how many of them are there?!"
"Wait… There seems to be something else in there!" Hisagi-Fukutaicho noted, his dark eyes widening as another larger eye became visible deep within the large crack.
Two smaller beams of light shot out, enveloping Ichimaru and Tousen as well. Luckily, both Hisagi-Fukutaicho (who was holding onto Tousen) and Matsumoto-Fukutaicho (who was holding onto Ichimaru) were able to get out of the way.
All three of the men seemed to begin levitating, each still standing on a large chunk of the earth.
"He's floating?!"
"Trying to run?!"
"You-!"
"Stop!" The Sotaicho commanded. "That beam of light is called 'negation.' The Menos use it to rescue their comrades. Once that light is cast, the area inside the light becomes a completely separate dimension and impenetrable from the outside. Everyone who has fought the Menos before knows this. From the moment that beam of light came down…Aizen has gone from our reach."
Komamura-Taicho was able to stand, a large hand colliding with the ground in his anger. He screamed out to Tousen, who had been his best friend. He couldn't understand why the blind man had betrayed everyone. But Tousen told him that he was choosing the path with the least bloodshed, which I didn't understand. Allying with Aizen would ensure bloodshed.
"To sink all the way to the level of allying with the Menos…" Ukitake-Taicho muttered, glaring up at Aizen. "What are you trying to do?"
"To go higher."
"Have you fallen in the process, Aizen..?!" Ukitake challenged.
Aizen only smirked. "You are too arrogant, Ukitake. No one starts…on the top of the world. Not you. Not me. Not even gods." He removed his glasses, shattering them in his grip. His other hand ran through his hair, pushing the wavy strands back. "But the unbearable vacancy of the throne in the sky is over. From now on I will be sitting on it."
The new Aizen continued to rise, his dark eyes gleaming down at everyone.
"Goodbye, Shinigami. And goodbye, young Ryoka." He and the other two traitors were now in the clawed hands of the Menos. Aizen stared down at Ichigo for a second. "For a human…you really are interesting."
The large crack in the sky completely closed, sealing off all hopes of ever reaching the traitor for the moment.
• • •
"Jun-Chan, are you alright?!" Orihime gushed, eyes widening as they landed on me as I limped over towards her and the rest of the group. They were surrounding Ichigo; he wasn't able to move because of Aizen's injury.
Ankoku-Tatsu had pretty much healed my nerves, blood vessels, and injured muscles. It was still very tender, and in some spots it still bled a bit, but I was in good shape compared to everyone else that had been on the hill during Aizen's ambush.
"I'm fine…" I weakly laughed a bit, shrugging off her worried attitude. "My Zanpakuto spirit is in the process of healing me, so just focus on Ichigo, okay?"
"That's bull, Jun." The strawberry argued, his cinnamon eyes traveling to the tip of my right shoulder, where some of the injury could still be seen. "Let Orihime heal you; I can wait."
"Idiot," I scoffed, sitting myself down beside the glowing shield that surrounded the carrot top. "Didn't you hear me say that I'm in the process of being healed? I can wait. If I'm not in top shape by the time Orihime's done treating you, then I'll let her heal me. Deal?"
Ichigo's eyes narrowed at me, but he didn't argue. "Fine, deal."
Laughing, I threw my head back and grinned. "I know you need Orihime to heal you if you don't even have the energy to argue with me. Rest up, you deserve it."
"Excuse us..!" A pair of voices chanted, gaining our attention. "We're here to provide any medical help that any of you may need!"
"There ya go, Jun. Let them heal you." Ichigo chuckled, cinnamon gaze boring into my own eyes. "Help's arrived, so you've got to take it."
"I do not!" I argued back, my eyebrows furrowing. "We're all fine over here!"
One of the timid Fourth Division members stepped forward, a slightly determined expression on her face. "Ma'am, you're injured. We can help heal you right away. If, for some reason, you do not want us healing your injuries, we can at least clean them and bandage them."
"Do it, Jun." Ichigo commanded, his eyes firm.
Sighing, I smacked my forehead with my left hand. "What's this? Gang up on Jun day? Fine! You guys win!"
One of the Fourth Division members stayed behind to help me, while the other ran off to help the other injured people. Huffing, I turned my back on her to let her get to work.
"Oh, my." She breathed out, "Um, I'm going to have to ask you to remove your kosode. I'll still be able to treat it with you in your shitagi."
Without a word, I pulled the kosode from my hakama and untied the sash that kept it closed. The Fourth Division member gently pried the bloodied top off of me, sitting it off to the side.
"That does look bad, Kokawa-San." Ishida observed, pushing his glasses up as his eyes observed my wound from behind his glasses. "I can see where it's already started healing, but it would have needed medical treatment anyway."
I shrugged my shoulders, wincing a bit as the movement tugged on the injured area. "Ankoku-Tatsu can usually heal my injuries. I don't think this one would've been an exception. Sometimes it takes a while but, in the end, it eventually is healed."
"Ankoku-Tatsu?" The archer questioned, looking a bit confused.
"My Zanpakuto spirit." I answered simply, resting my hand on the sheathed sword still hanging from my hip.
It was quiet for a couple of minutes, each of us consumed in our thoughts. But Orihime broke the silence as she looked around. "Is Kuchiki-San alright? She didn't get hurt any, did she?"
"Rukia's fine," I said, squirming a bit as the Fourth Division medic began placing bandages on my wounds. "She's over by Kuchiki-Taicho; he got hurt pretty badly."
"Yeah, Byakuya took Rukia's hit from Ichimaru." Ichigo said, angling his head so that he could look to see where Rukia was.
Currently, the dark haired woman was being held away from the injured Kuchiki-Taicho, who was having emergency surgery performed on him. Unohana-Taicho, however, allowed Rukia to sit by her brother's side.
"I…want to tell you something," Kuchiki-Taicho spoke, his voice sounding as weak as he looked. Everyone grew quiet at the words; even the Fourth Division members ceased their work to listen to the stoic Taicho speak.
Kuchiki Byakuya finally opened up to Rukia.
He told her everything.
Byakuya's wife, who had passed away years ago, was none other than Rukia's older sister: Hisana.
Hisana and Rukia were sent to one of the rougher districts of Rukongai, so she wasn't able to take care of the smaller child. Because of this, Hisana abandoned Rukia when she was still a baby. This act haunted her for years, forcing her to live in regret and search for Rukia almost every day.
As fate would have it, Hisana grew sick and frail. It was her last wish for Kuchiki-Sama to find Rukia and take her in as his sister.
He found Rukia just a year later, adopting her into the Kuchiki family.
That was breaking the rules, so he swore on his parent's graves that it would be his last time breaking the rules. He would uphold the law and defend the rules of the Soul Society.
"When you were sentenced to death… I was dumbfounded… The oath to my parents to follow and defend the rules, or…the promise to Hisana to protect her sister… Which one should I keep?" Kuchiki-Sama paused for a moment, his slate gray gaze drifting over to us Ryoka, landing mainly on Ichigo. "Kurosaki Ichigo… You have my gratitude."
A soft smile spread across Ichigo's face as his gaze drifted off to the clouds floating in the sky. Everything just seemed so serene and peaceful now, especially with Kuchiki-Sama's explanation of his thoughts.
Kuchiki-Sama raised one of his hands towards Rukia, letting her grasp it in-between her two smaller ones. "Rukia… I am sorry."