16 – Reborn in Darkness

An arrow pierced into Ichigo's cloak and nailed him to a skyscraper wall. He dangled around, but it held strong against the water pressure for now.

"Do you want to fight? Or to live?" Gesshokuro asked, appearing in front of Ichigo, floating in the water easily. "Which do you choose?"

This question reminded him of what the old man asked during the fight against Kenpachi. His answer was the same as the one he gave then.

"Old man! I…what I want is to win! It's pointless to just fight, or to live! I have to save Rukia!" Ichigo answered.

"I see. But what if you cannot? What if that choice is not available to you? What will you do, if the sword you need does not exist in this world?"

"What do you mean? That I can't win no matter what?" Ichigo asked, shocked.

"Of course you can win, Ichigo! The question is, what will you win and what will you give up?"

A distorted voice reached his ears from behind him.

He jolted around, and saw an image through the skyscraper window. It looked like himself, except he wore all white and had yellow irises and a black sclera, wearing the Shinigami shihakusho instead of the Quincy modern style.

"It's you! Zangetsu?!" Ichigo asked with shock.

Once he realized it, the skyscraper turned transparent, but the glass wall remained.

"I heard from the Old Man you saw the future…that's how you know our name, isn't it?"

His white counterpart seemed much more serious than he remembered. Was it the spirit that was different, or he himself that was different and showed in his zanpaktou spirit?

"Yeah," said Ichigo. He tentatively knocked on the glass, and found it very sturdy. It seemed to represent the seal in his mind.

"So how do we win? What do I have to give up?"

"You already know the price, don't you? For using my power…" Suddenly the white Zangetsu grasped at his face, and pulled down a mask. "…the power of a Hollow."

With the mask staring back at him, Ichigo suddenly felt deeply unsettled. Nevertheless, he knew that the spirit wasn't going to harm him, so he pushed those feelings aside.

"But we can control it, can't we?" Ichigo asked back.

"Really? Can you?" The spirit asked with a dangerous smirk. "Why don't you let me out and test that?"

In his hand a sword formed. It had a long and thick blade with a thin hole running from the base to about half way.

Ichigo recognized it after only a moment. It was the larger one of the reforged Zangetsu pair.

The spirit slashed at Ichigo, only for it to hit the glass separating them and do nothing.

"You must make a choice, Ichigo." Gesshokuro's voice drew his attention again.

When he looked back, Gesshokuro held a sword in his hand too, the cleaver of his old Shikai and the current form of Gesshokuro Zangetsu. Ichigo noted for a moment that it wasn't the other one of the reforged pair, but he couldn't yet grasp the reason.

"Which sword will you choose?" Gesshokuro asked. "With the sword behind you, you can fight. You can put everything on the line, and I can help you break the seal by inverting your Soul Chain. But the price is your life, your soul. You are not yet powerful enough to break the seal by force, but by becoming a Hollow yourself, the seal should break from the extra burden, while I will disappear."

"That's right, Ichigo! Release me, and we will fight! First we'll fight each other and decide which one of us is the King and which one of us is the horse! Then the winner can get back out there and keeping fighting!"

Gesshokuro continued and raised his own sword at Ichigo. "With this blade, you can live. You can accept defeat in this fight, and survive to return another day. You can follow the path which is pre-ordained, the future you have already seen. I can use Letzt Stile to save your life, but without completing the Seven Day Trial, the form will break immediately and you will lose all your spiritual powers, before you can even hope to defeat your opponent with them, and you may well lose your future visions as well, if they are a result of your Quincy abilities. Nevertheless, you will live, and you may recover your powers the same way you did in your visions, or with your Quincy friend's help."

There was a moment of silence as Ichigo processed Gesshokuro's words.

The choice was…impossible.

To become a hollow, or let his visions play out? Neither was a real victory. If he released the seal, even if he believed he could win against his Inner Hollow, if the price was losing Gesshokuro, that was too high a cost. But if let gave up on the fight against Byakuya, and he lost his memories, wouldn't it lead to a doomed future?

"Which sword will you choose?" Gesshokuro asked again.

The cloak that was nailed to the skyscraper by the holy arrow began to rip slowly. It couldn't hold his weight.

"Time is running out, Ichigo. If you fall again, you will not rise," said Gesshokuro. "You must choose now."

"I…I…" Ichigo whispered in a broken voice. "How am I supposed to choose?!"

A wave of cold swept through him, and frost gathered over his ripping cloak, buying him just a little bit of time as the ice was buoyant.

Sode no Shirayuki appeared above him, a layer of ice around the skyscraper forming, and her black ribbon extended, wrapping around Ichigo.

"Ichigo! You have to look deeper! Think harder! The answer is right in front of you! Think carefully about what he just said! Look beyond the obvious. Don't rely on brute force for once, and use your head to get through this puzzle!"

"Wh-what? Sode no Shirayuki?" Ichigo looked up at the beautiful spirit of Rukia's zanpaktou.

He racked his brain for the answer. Every time the old man had taught him about his Zanpaktou before, it was usually a simple lesson. Rather than being puzzles, he simply had to look within his feelings, his instinct.

Or were those Hollow Zangetsu's lessons?

No, even last night, when Gesshokuro taught him again to abandon his fear, it wasn't like this.

This was something else.

He looked closely at Gesshokuro then back at the white Zangetsu. Was there something in two choices that held a secret answer?

If he became a Hollow, could he somehow return back to normal and get Gesshokuro back? He'd sort of Hollowfied in his visions too, right? Couldn't he just learn to suppress his inner Hollow again?

Or if he lost his Quincy powers, would things really just go the same way again, if Rukia also knew much of the future now? Byakuya came around in the end, so maybe she could get through to him before the execution?

But those seemed like extremely risky, remote possibilities. And even if they weren't dead ends, that didn't help him choose which one was right.

A puzzle, Shirayuki said.

Then he looked at her again.

Which sword?

"Wait, he's asking me to choose a sword! Could it be…?" He asked with a dumbfounded expression.

"Clever, but I'm afraid my powers aren't enough to get you out of this one!" Sode no Shirayuki said with a smile. Then her smile fell.

The ocean of water was simply too much pressure.

Even the ice began to crack, and both of them began sliding down. Only her white ribbons clung on, pierced into the building's wall, which unfortunately also allowed white Zangetsu to renew his attack on those areas.

"Come on, Ichigo, you can do it! Rukia and I believe in you!"

Not quite, she said, meaning he had been on the right track. Her powers weren't enough, but was there still another sword he could pick?

One that had the power to win, but which he couldn't yet see?

Where was it?

He looked around, finding nothing but water and an endless mass of skyscrapers, along with the two sword spirits.

Then a light drew his attention.

The Holy Arrow still wedging his cape to the skyscraper wall.

But it wasn't a sword. It was an arrow.

Wait. What did it matter if it was an arrow or a sword?

He was a Quincy. He could change it into a sword or axe or spear or whatever the hell he wanted.

And he looked at the sword in Gesshokuro's hands again.

Suddenly the answer came to him. It had been so obvious, he didn't know how he'd missed it.

The reason that in their last battle, Gesshokuro wielded what appeared to be a mere spirit sword.

Because what Gesshokuro had wielded wasn't just a regular spirit sword.

And his zanpaktou wasn't just a zanpaktou.

In the hands of Gesshokuro, it was also a Quincy spirit weapon, yet greater than any temporary construct.

It was a permanent spiritual artifact, that used the Asauchi base to form his own weapon, after he made it his own.

Similarly, in the hands of the Hollow spirit, the Zanpaktou was Hollow power sealed into the shape of a sword. It was no different from the Arrancar who had their true forms sealed in their swords.

Like the spirit weapons he created or the Hollow transformation, his Shikai and Bankai were merely his power given form.

He didn't need Shikai or Bankai to release anything from the zanpaktou, unless he himself chose to funnel and seal spirit pressure into it first like a pure Shinigami did.

Tensa Zangetsu taught him that both the old man and his white counterpart were originally both part of his power, but he finally understood what that really meant.

It wasn't that he had a soul made up two or three different parts like some kind of chimera monster that could be chopped up and recombined back into one.

He had been his whole soul, all along. He was one being, with one spirit energy, and one soul to manifest as a sword of his choice, that could be expressed as different powers, with different spirit pressures, in different forms.

That was why his "Shikai" took the shape of the great cleaver, which he had thought was supposed to be Hollow Zangetsu's blade.

It was neither Gesshokuro or Hollow Zangetsu's sword. It was just the form he most associated with Shikai, subconsciously. And after he made the mental link between the reforged sword forms and the two spirits, Hollow Zangetsu's sword changed to that new form, but Gesshokuro's hadn't because he had equated the cleaver with Gesshokuro for much longer than that, back when he didn't know that Hollow Zangetsu was his zanpaktou spirit at all.

The reality was they didn't have a "true" Shikai, or even Bankai for that matter. Gesshokuro was a Quincy power, who could reshape his weapon at will. Hollow Zangetsu was a Hollow, whose true form was…a Hollow, maybe even a Resurreccion like that blind Captain on Aizen's side whose name Ichigo couldn't remember.

If he wanted to manifest them as Shinigami weapons using Shinigami spirit pressure, then they could do that, because they were also Zanpaktou spirits and he happened to be a Shinigami too, but fundamentally, they were simply "his power".

Therefore, the correct choice was none of the swords that were currently visible, but rather, he himself.

But first he had to get access to the power that was sealed away on the other side of the glass, because right now he wasn't quite whole.

Once upon a time, the Hollow might have been a separate entity, but it had since then become his zanpaktou spirit, and a part of his power, yet remained sealed away.

But as Gesshokuro said, he simply wasn't strong enough to break it with brute force. So was there a way for him to break the seal, without actually becoming a Hollow?

Once again, Gesshokuro had given him the hint in the arrow. Just as Quincy powers could create a sword for him, they could also break things down.

The arrow was wedged tightly into the glass wall, even though white Zangetsu's blade couldn't do anything to cut the seemingly invincible glass.

He closed his eyes and reached out with his senses while grabbing the arrow.

Soon, he discovered certain weak points in the seal's structure, where he could chip away at its defenses. When he looked even closer, he found that there was a tiny spirit string tied to it, which led to a strangely familiar but unidentifiable spirit pressure.

Then it all became clear.

He didn't even need to break the seal.

He just had to cut the spirit string, and there would be nothing powering it anymore. The string was surprisingly strong but it was nothing in the face of his Quincy powers.

So he cut it.

And the glass shattered.

"Hahahaha! Aahahahaha!" The deranged, masked voice of white Zangetsu echoed as the spirit emerged, and the water also evaporated in an instant.

Then the spirit smirked and swung at Ichigo.

Ichigo, thinking that the power was his power and he didn't need to fear it, simply waited for the strike to come.

However, Gesshokuro suddenly appeared, kicking Ichigo away and locking blades with white Zangetsu.

The two spirits engaged in a furious melee, while Sode no Shirayuki dragged Ichigo to another skyscraper.

"What the heck? Why are you guys fighting?!" Ichigo yelled out.

Neither of the spirits answered him and simply continued their fight, now unleashing blue and red Getsuga Tenshous respectively.

"Didn't you hear what Shiro said, Ichigo? You aren't going to get access to his power without a fight. Why did you just stand there when he was attacking you?" Sode no Shirayuki asked with a frown.

"But I thought...in my visions…I had to accept the sword! And wait, is his name really just Shiro?"

"Whatever happened in your visions was a different situation. You can't accept his sword until he accepts you. You know we zanpaktou spirits don't just let anyone wield us," said Sode no Shirayuki.

Meanwhile, it looked like Shiro was getting the upper hand. He roared and more Hollow power was drawn out, his hair grew longer and the mask formed horns.

Gesshokuro countered by forming a second spirit sword in his other hand, and activating a full body Blut Vene, bringing the fight back to balance.

"What…what happens if he wins?!" Ichigo asked with alarm in his eyes.

"Then you become a Hollow, like Gesshokuro said. By the way, I don't want to get infected, okay? So I'll have to leave if you lose."

"Thanks…just what I needed to hear," Ichigo said with a sweatdrop. Then his face turned serious. "But it's fine, I know what to do."

If the sword you need doesn't exist in this world…

"…if the sword I need doesn't exist, I just have to make it! I don't need to choose between two shitty futures! I can create a better one!" Ichigo shouted.

That was the true nature of a Quincy. To destroy and create anew.

One hand reached out.

Suddenly the sword in Shiro's hand shattered into spirit particles, and so did the mask and extra hair. All of it went to Ichigo's hand, a mass of spirit particles with unlimited potential, a formless weapon.

Shiro looked dumbfounded for a moment, then he flashed over to Ichigo looking very furious for a moment, before suddenly laughing. "Heh, that was faster than I expected. Fine, you can have my power, you're the King, after all. And yes, my name is Shiro. Remember that when you want to call on me. I'm Shiro Zangetsu," Shiro added. "Well old man, aren't you going to tell him your true name too?"

Gesshokuro likewise flashed over.

"Not yet. Ichigo, it is time to finish what we started yesterday. Let your sword show me your heart!" Gesshokuro shot towards Ichigo with both swords, seemingly also bent on cutting him down. What was with his zanpaktou spirits and fighting him?

However, Ichigo was already expecting it, and the same cleaver and spirit sword formed in his hands. From the moment he grasped the answer to the choice earlier, he realized that there had been more to the lesson last night, which he hadn't grasped until now.

"No problem, old man!" Ichigo shouted as he rushed to meet the coming swords.

Gesshokuro and Shiro were his zanpaktou spirits, but they were also a part of him, each representing certain aspects of himself. They were two sides of the same coin, and originally one being, but sometimes more weighted to one side than the other.

In this respect, it was wrong to think of them as separate powers, even if they represented Quincy and Hollow powers respectively.

Therefore, when Gesshokuro said that Ichigo didn't trust him, he meant that Ichigo did not understand, or try to understand, what Gesshokuro truly represented, and it wasn't only about Quincy powers.

Like the earlier epiphany about which sword to choose, in hindsight it seemed obvious. In his visions, Gesshokuro somehow had Shiro's respect, cooperation, and willing service. Gesshokuro controlled his Shinigami powers and all their forms, even handling his Bankai training. How could he have done all that if he was only his Quincy powers, especially when Quincy powers conflicted with Hollow powers?

While his Quincy powers could indeed fake the Shikai, he couldn't do that if Shiro didn't cooperate. And why would his Bankai have changed, if the first Tensa Zangetsu had actually been Shiro's power?

The answer was that it wasn't, or not completely. The thin Tensa Zangetsu was also Gesshokuro's work, even though Shiro was providing the red Getsuga Tenshou and the mask.

With each clash of their swords, Ichigo's understanding grew.

At every step, Gesshokuro provided guidance, wisdom and control. He could control all of Ichigo's powers, not just the Quincy ones—because Quincy powers were themselves all about control. The first Tensa Zangetsu was a hyper-condensed weapon and the robes were hyper-condensed armor, something that Shiro could never accomplish on his own.

Shiro was raw power fueled by inborne instinct.

Abandon your fear. Fight to get stronger and get stronger to fight more. No matter who stood in his way, if they were the enemy, then he'd cut them down.

That was Shiro's way.

But Gesshokuro was careful control fueled by intuition from experience and observation.

Look forward. Analyze and find the path to victory. If there was no path, then make a new one.

That was Gesshokuro's way.

And so it was that in every form before the reforged pair when they were separated and Ichigo began thinking of each spirit as representing a specific power set because of the Zanpaktou inventor's comments, the two spirits actually always worked together in concert, Shiro providing power and Gesshokuro shaping it.

That was why Shiro respected Gesshokuro and not Ichigo, at least not until Ichigo claimed the position of "King" of his soul, the first time by defeating him in combat, and this time by outright taking the power without a fight using his Quincy abilities.

"Very good, Ichigo…it seems that you are ready," Gesshokuro announced with a smile as he stopped the fight, and the other two zanpaktou spirits disappeared.

Gesshokuro's cloak began growing outrageously.

Ichigo blinked, and the world turned pitch black.

"What?" Ichigo looked all around and saw absolutely nothing except his suddenly shining Quincy Zeichen.

"My son…"

An unfamiliar voice that sounded a bit like Gesshokuro whispered to him, though it felt distant like a memory.

"…born in the darkness…"

High above, a light began to emerge. First it was a thin crescent, then half-moon, and finally a full moon.

Although the light shined down on Ichigo, there was still nothing around him.

"…when will you open your eyes…"

Then the moon began to recede, progressing through its phases as if inverting the previous shapes, until it was once again shrouded in absolute darkness.

"…and gaze into the light?"

"Can you see it yet, Ichigo?" Gesshokuro's said, reappearing beside him, standing on a flagpole, illuminated only by the light coming from Ichigo's Zeichen on his wrist.

Ichigo's eyes widened.

"I-I see…I get it now! I can't believe it…this is…"

The spirit jumped off into nowhere, and Ichigo looked dumbfounded for a moment, then he reached out.

Upon his touch, the pole started to emit an inky darkness like smoke.

With a smooth motion, he pulled it out.

The pole morphed back into the shape of a thin black sword, and absorbed all the darkness around him.

The world of skyscrapers was back, with a full moon shining, only now he was standing alone, upright on a roof.

He slowly raised up his sword, and he gazed upon it with unbridled awe.

"Enshroud the heavens, Shoku Zangetsu!"

Then it dissolved into a mass of darkness, and covered his body, shrinking into a point until he disappeared.

O O O

Gesshokuro Zangetsu morphed back into its thin black sword form, lodged into the ground a few metres to the side.

"It's over, Kurosaki Ichigo," Byakuya said, using the boy's full name as a sign of respect. "You have fought well, but you have lost…"

Ichigo heard Byakuya drone on again about how his "Bankai" reverting to a "Shikai" meant the wielder was on the brink of death, and couldn't help but chuckle under his breath, which turned into a cough as he was still heavily injured.

Ichigo laid there up to the point when Byakuya moved to knock out Uryu, as the same events replayed themselves.

Except this time, Shoku Zangetsu dissolved into a shadowy mist and disappeared.

He carefully controlled his powers and Quincy spirit pressure receded along with his Blut Vene. Then he cleared the residual spirit particles in his veins almost instantly, his Quincy powers rising to a whole new level after the profound understanding he reached in his inner world.

Once the residual spirit particles in his blood were re-absorbed as spirit energy, Ichigo could use healing Kido again.

However, he now had another option that would get him back to fighting shape faster.

Rukia passed by him with that face full of despair yet again and Byakuya had turned his back walking away while supporting Renji.

Now was his chance, to strike before Byakuya unleashed his Bankai.

White liquid bubbled over his open wounds as his spirit pressure poured out.

"Engrave the earth, Shiro Zangetsu!"

Byakuya's eyes widened as he felt the incredible return of Ichigo's spirit pressure within the dust clouds that were kicked up by the release.

An inhuman roar echoed, sending chills down the backs of everyone present.

'This spirit pressure…it feels like a Hollow's!' Byakuya sensed it astutely as he turned around, releasing Renji and getting into a ready stance.

When the dust cleared, Ichigo was wearing a skeletal armor that crossed over the torso with black robes underneath. A white bone-like shoulder guard with red lined decorations covered his left shoulder, and a Hollow mask covered his face, with a horn extending forward from the left side of his head. Underneath the mask, a black line went up his neck to the forehead, expanding to cover his left eye, whose sclera turned black with a yellow iris. A white wrist guard formed on his left forearm and additional leg guards formed over both legs. Both feet were encased in a shell of bone-like gloves and boots.

In his right hand was a large yet sleek curved edge sword that had a long thin hole running through it from the base to about halfway, though unlike his reforged Shikai, this sword also had a chain extending from the handle, wrapping around his arm.

"What is this? What are you?" Byakuya demanded.

The only response he got was another roar, before his masked opponent disappeared with the sound of static.

When he reappeared right in front of Byakuya, the captain was already moving backwards.

However, Byakuya was just a bit too slow, thanks to the injuries he sustained in the previous fight that he hadn't been able to fully heal yet.

"Getsuga Tenshou!" Ichigo roared with his mask-distorted voice.

The red-black wave of energy slammed into Byakuya, blowing him away and tearing a hundred meter gorge into the ground.

When the dust cleared, Byakuya was down on one knee bleeding profusely, holding himself up with his sword dug into the ground.

He coughed out some blood, before attempting to stand, holding his sword out upside down.

Suddenly Ichigo was behind Byakuya, his mask already gone along with the black tattoo and yellow iris, while the misty mass of darkness that was Shoku Zangetsu had returned, covering his whole body like a cloak, and he held the black sword in his left hand, which was glowing in blue light like a Heilig Klinge.

Before Byakuya could release his Bankai, he was hit by another blue-white Getsuga Tenshou from behind, and smashed into the ground face first.

Once Ichigo confirmed that Byakuya was down for the count, he allowed Shoku Zangetsu's sword to dissipate again, while the cloak of shadows solidified into an actual cloak which was bound by a button with his Quincy cross symbol emblazed on it just underneath his left shoulder guard.

He flashed back and dumped the captain's unconscious body in front of Renji.

"No way…" Renji said with a tone of disbelief.

"You still want to fight? Just so you know, I'm almost done healing myself. Don't assume I'm vulnerable just because Byakuya almost got me earlier," said Ichigo, brandishing Shiro Zangetsu.

Renji swallowed and unconsciously inched back.

"Renji, please take Byakuya-aniki quickly to the Fourth Division for treatment. I am not returning to Soul Society," said Rukia with a tone of finality.

Renji nodded with a still shell-shocked face as Rukia healed his legs enough to move.

Once she was done, Renji made his way to the unconscious captain.

Before he left through the Senkaimon carrying Byakuya on his back, he turned and spoke up again. "Rukia…I wish you..." His eyes turned to Ichigo. "…and Kurosaki Ichigo, was it? I wish you two a lifetime of happiness. I only hope it won't be too short."

Rukia and Ichigo looked confused, then Renji turned around quickly and stepped through the Senkaimon before they could see a tear fall from his eye.

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Uh…was that supposed to be a…" Ichigo started asking.

"… a marriage blessing…?" Rukia finished.

"…he completely misunderstood," they said at the same time.

As they picked up Uryu and left the scene, Urahara and Yoruichi also headed back towards the shop, having been hidden inside a nearby building, watching from the windows.

"My, my, what a surprise. Ichigo has grown far faster than I could have imagined, and it looks like he has the Hollow under control already," said Urahara, as he walked down the stairs of the abandoned building.

"What are you going to tell them? They must have sensed it," asked Yoruichi.

Urahara shrugged. "Exactly what we saw. That Ichigo somehow Hollowfied but skipped the Soul Suicide stage entirely, and got it under control all by himself. How he did it…even I don't know. Maybe being Shinigami, Quincy, Human, and Hollow all in one balanced him out naturally. Guess my theory still needs some work," he said, shaking his head. "He was obviously holding his Quincy powers back on purpose before, if he could find and cut the spirit string so easily. Just what else is he hiding? To think that he would break the seal deliberately…"

Elsewhere, on the other side of the park, another set of observers came into sight as they ripped away their light and spiritual pressure camouflage, as if ripping a piece of the world itself away.

"So in the end the experiment fulfilled its purpose delightfully. And a dual sword Zanpaktou? Soul Society hasn't seen any of those since Shunsui and Jushiro," said a smiling man with brown hair and glasses in a captain's haori.

"Aizen-sama, are you not concerned that the Hougyoku was not captured?" A dark-skinned man with an opaque visor and dreadlocks asked. He too was in a captain's haori.

"There are often many ways to achieve the same end, my friend," Aizen said mysteriously. "Sometimes, it is beneficial to allow events to run their own course, just as 'White' chose to inhabit a Quincy despite its original programming."

"I see," said the blind man, even though he couldn't see how it was beneficial.

Then they retreated through a garganta.

Finally, a blond figure in a white cloaked uniform emerged from the shadows on top of a high rise building some distance away from the battlefield.

"So it was true…the blood of Kurosaki still remains pure after all these years…" he murmured. Then he raised his head toward the sky. "Were you watching, Your Majesty? Just what do you want us to do?"

After a moment, he vanished back into the shadows.

O O O

Shiro – White

Shiro Zangetsu – White Slaying Moon

Kuro – Black

Gesshokuro – First Black of the Month (月初黑) when read as Gessho-kuro, or Lunar Eclipse Reveal (月食露) when ead as Gesshoku-ro

Shoku Zangetsu – Eclipse Slaying Moon, shoku is hidden within Gesshokuro when using the Gesshoku-ro reading, or as katakana.

O O O

A/N: Whew, the fight's finally over, and we're off to a new world!

XenoLucifer: That sounds like fanon to me. I don't think it was ever explained in canon. Besides, it did have downsides, otherwise why didn't Ichigo use any Quincy powers after he found out about the Old Man?

nanox876: Yep, another chance happened this chapter.

aGnamZer0: Actually, the update time showing on the story probably lagged and showed the last chapter's update time. I actually posted chapter 15 when you got notified, not two weeks before.

lakeanon: I'm glad you like that part of it.

Petrox: Almost.

Kaiya Azure: Well, I was talking about the specific example you gave, the mole. Unless he's constantly following that person around, it seems difficult to pull off.

Emrys Akayuki: I think she might have saved Ulquiorra if it was only time limited.

Guessing Soul: Ah...Rukia was saved though. Legally, things will probably get worse for her from here. Haha.

Murderleo38: You were right, his regenerative powers did appear.

SalemTheSpeakerOfTruth: It's his spiritual body. At the beginning of the fight, when they were doing the whole "this isn't even my full power yet" thing, they got out of their bodies and Kon/Chappy took off.

ChronoMitsurugi: And now we're off it :D

Light Yagami: I'm not sure if Urahara betrayed him, or if he knew about Ichibei's plan.

Guest: The manga also says a lot of things that turn out to be untrue. Characters can lie or are wrong. Case in point, Aizen told everybody how he wanted to break the boundary between Shinigami and Hollow for more power because he had reached perfection, yet hybridized everyone but himself, and gave himself a completely different power up. Seems rather suspect, doesn't it?

777torn777: It was indeed. He just had too little time...but now he has some more.

Thanks to everyone else that reviewed!