CHAPTER 65: IS THIS HOW IT ENDS?

"Eien no… Shiru*?"

Aizen's eyes widened as he felt a gripping pain overwhelm his body, starting from his hands, which Tayomi held onto tightly. Her head was lowered, her bangs covering her eyes, and he could not see through her emotions at that moment. He could not tell what she had up her sleeve.

In fact, he could not tell what the kidou spell was doing to him as his vision faded.

"So, exactly what will this spell do, Tayomi Taicho?"

Captain Commander Yamamoto had summoned her into the First Division's barracks to hear about her breakthrough in the secret project he had given to her. Given the unpredictable nature of the tag battle, he had called upon Tayomi to devise a plan to capture Aizen for good. Due to Kyoka Suigetsu's abilities and the fact that only Ichigo and Tayomi had never seen his bankai, Yamamoto knew that these two were his only chances at victory. However, even though Ichigo was more than capable of striking Aizen down, there was a need to keep Aizen in check and halt the damage he was causing as soon as possible, to put an end to this war quickly.

And the best way to do that was by sealing him completely.

"Let me do you the courtesy of telling you what's going on, Aizen."

Tayomi's hands were still firmly holding his, as black ribbons began to circle his body, creeping up his limbs, ready to bind him for eternity.

"The Captain Commander wants this war to end as quickly and painlessly as possible, so he tasked me with creating and executing a sealing kidou to put an end to this whole event."

Aizen snickered to himself, before erupting into psychotic laughter.

"And just what makes you think that you can seal me, just like that? I may not have the Hogyoku within me any longer, but that's still a foolish thought, Tayomi-chan. I thought you'd be better than to entertain such silly ideas, Ta-"

"You know that I don't play around with my kidou, Aizen."

Tayomi looked up, her purplish-blue eyes piercing right into his brown ones.

"You know how strong my kidou is, Aizen, but you don't know how much its strength is amplified when I use my own original spells. Why would I create a spell and have it be weak?"

"But surely you are aware that powerful sealing spells often come with repercussions?" Aizen asked.

Tayomi remained silent for a moment, before taking a breath and giving her reply.

"Yeah, I am very well aware what this spell would do to me."

"And could you be so kind to tell me what it does to you, Tayomi-chan?"

Tayomi could feel a lump forming in her throat and she struggled to hold in her emotions, but she knew there was no turning back now. She could feel the black tulip insignia on her arm glowing, before she spoke in the gravest tone in her life.

"The rapid deterioration of my soul, resulting in my death."

The purple orbs enclosing each arena began to crumble and disintegrate, slowly coming apart and revealing each pair in the arena. Those of the Gotei 13 remained standing, with the Captains having successfully defeated the remaining Fraccion that Aizen had brought along with him. Ichigo fell to his knees, panting and puffing before a defeated Viquierra, whose body had begun to shatter and fade away. Hitsugaya smiled to himself, noticing that Aizen was gone, glad to see that they had emerged victorious in this war. He looked around frantically, wondering where Tayomi was, before a thought struck him.

"Where's Tayomi? Wasn't she in battle?"

Matsumoto looked at him and nodded.

"You're right, Taicho… Oh, there she is!"

Matsumoto pointed at Tayomi, who stood before a huge black orb, binding Aizen within it. Captain Commander Yamamoto nodded at Soi Fon, who raised her hand, sending in members of the Secret Mobile Corps to transport Aizen's sealed form back to Soul Society's prison. Tayomi turned her head to look at Yamamoto, before looking at Hitsugaya. She gave him a smile, causing him to smile back in return.

"With this, we can finally be together."

He was just about to go over to her when Hinamori screamed.

"YOMI-CHAN!"

Blood had begun to drip from her nose, mouth and limbs, and she began to fall at a rapid pace. Hitsugaya rushed over to her, catching her in his arms right before her body hit the ground. He was trembling, quivering, not understanding what was happening. Matsumoto, Hinamori and Hisagi rushed after him, followed by Ichigo.

"What's happening, Tayomi?"

"Yomi-chan! Hang in there!"

Tayomi reached for Hitsugaya's hand, holding it tightly with the little energy she had left.

"I'm sorry."

"WHY WASN'T I TOLD ABOUT ANY OF THIS?" Hitsugaya screamed, throwing a whole stack of paper against the wall of his office.

"None of us knew, Hitsugaya Taicho…" Hisagi shook his head. "I knew she was feeling troubled but I didn't want to force it out of her so I ju-"

"YOU SHOULD'VE FORCED IT OUT OF HER!" Hitsugaya stormed over to Hisagi, ready to hit him in the face.

"IF I KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN, I WOULD'VE! BUT IT WAS ALSO HER CHOICE NOT TO TELL ANY OF US!"

Hitsugaya stopped in his tracks, lowering his arm.

"Even if we knew, we couldn't have stopped her, right?" Matsumoto sighed.

"Captain Unohana is personally tending to her, so hopefully she'll be alright…" Hinamori nodded.

"I'm going to see her now."

Hitsugaya walked off, heading towards the Fourth Division's barracks. Matsumoto and Hinamori glanced at each other and shook their heads, while Hisagi sighed, worried about what was to come.

"How is she?"

"Well, we managed to sustain her lifeforce, but she's still very weak…" Captain Unohana sighed. "The sealing kidou was strong enough to kill her, so it's a miracle that she managed to survive somehow. She's more or less in a comatose state, Hitsugaya Taicho, and I don't know if she'll ever wake up, but we will provide her with the best care possible."

Hitsugaya looked at her sleeping face and he knelt down beside her bed, holding her hand. The tulip insignia had disappeared from her arm and there were wires attached in its place. While he was relieved that she had survived, she was unconscious. It felt like a repeat of the past, as he felt that he had lost her all over again. And just when he thought that they could have a future together, it was taken away from him.

"Did you know… Did you know that this was going to happen, Ukitake?"

Hitsugaya stormed out of the First Division barracks after a meeting with the Captains, furious that so much had been kept in the dark.

"None of us knew… Apparently it was a secret between Sensei and Tayomi-chan…" Ukitake shook his head. "I would've tried to stop her if I knew it was going to end like this."

"Even Yama-jii didn't know that the sealing kidou would kill her," Shunsui sighed. "Tayomi-chan sure did a good job, hiding the truth from everyone."

"Too good," Hitsugaya mumbled.

"But you'll consider it, right?" Ukitake spoke seriously, causing Hitsugaya to pause. "You'll consider Sensei's proposal right?"

"Letting us prepare you to eventually become the next Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 after he retires."

Hitsugaya turned to face them.

"Really though, why me? He could've asked both of you."

"Yama-jii tried to convince one of us to step up to the role, but we both rejected it. I don't really wish to take over the Gotei 13 anyways, it's not really my kind of thing," Shunsui admitted. "Ukitake isn't in the best health either, and we all agreed that you had great potential… Besides Tayomi-chan, of course."

"I don't know. I don't want to think about it."

"Ugh… There's so much going on right now, you know? I would've asked you for your opinion, but you aren't in the state to give me any right now."

The hospital room remained silent, aside from the beeping noises from the machines and the faint sound of her breathing.

"The only thing I can do now is wait, huh?" He sighed. "How long more do I have to wait to be with you?"

He kissed the back of her hand and stroked her hair.

"But since it's you… I'll wait forever if I have to. I'll wait till we can be together again."

*Eien no Shiru: eternal seal

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

There were quite a few flashbacks this chapter in order to fill you guys in on what has been going on... Now we know what was up with the black tulip insignia a few chapters back! Next chapter, we'll look at the final conclusion to the entire Aizen saga and hear out Hitsugaya's decision. In the meanwhile, we'll need to wait for Tayomi and see what'll happen on her side too :(

The story is coming to a close really soon (finally!) and for those who have stuck around since the first story, "School Life and Frostbitten Lightning", thank you for your support, despite the long hiatus I took due to school and family issues. For those who just discovered this story, I hope you enjoyed reading it so far :)

Do leave any feedback if you'd like to and stay tuned for the next chapter! Thank you so much for reading this story :)