"Follow me, Kurosaki Rukia." Aizen says calmly as he steps down from his throne. He slowly walks across the raised platform where the throne sits before descending the stairs on the far side. The other espada remain seated as their leader walks towards where Rukia is sitting before offering a hand for her to grab in order to stand up. Rukia smacks his hand away before standing abruptly and on her own, still scowling at the traitor captain. "Good, you won't be needing compassion here. Come with me. The meeting is over, you all may go." He once again turns his back and begins walking down the hall, the silence in the room only broken by his footsteps.
Rukia allows the former captain a several pace lead though it's merely a gesture since both of them are experts in shunpo, those few feet between them may as well be inches. Ahead of them, two of the exequias open the large double doors that lead into the throne room allowing for the cero espada and lord of Hueco Mundo to exit. Aizen doesn't look back at Rukia to make sure she's actually following him, his posture is relaxed and even happy that she had decided to reply to his invitation to the eternal desert. "It's strange you know, Fishbone D was meant to turn Ichigo." He begins, "You were meant to give him your powers yes, but I expected that hollow to strike you not bite you. Though, science isn't without its failures and unforeseen outcomes. While the scientist in me should not have allowed for such a variable to exist, that variable has yielded fruit." He says as he continues to walk at a leisurely pace down the hall.
"How could you have possibly known that I would have given Ichigo my powers?" Rukia asks, Aizen detecting less vitriol in her voice than earlier, though it still remained the venom in her words is now holding curiosity. "You couldn't have known he was going to react the way he did."
"You're correct, I had no way of knowing that he would attack the hollow out of his own fruition. However, I was the one who implanted the idea of keeping you from promotion to Kuchiki Byakuya. Without any promotions, I knew you would either grow complacent with the Gotei 13 like I did, or your own confidence in your abilities would waiver allowing for such a mistake to take place." Aizen's words leave Rukia in a state of bewilderment, how could he have possibly organized all of this to happen the way it did? "One of the key tenets of strategy is anticipating your opponent's next moves, just like a game of chess, one side is trying to anticipate what the other is planning and how to react to that outcome."
"I don't believe you." Rukia finds herself saying, though with how convincing Aizen sounds she has a hard time believing her own words.
"You don't have to. It would be foolish to trust me, I told that to every member of my espada." Aizen responds as he comes to a stop at a door with the number zero painted on the front of it. "Where do you want the tattoo to go?" Rukia doesn't answer as Aizen pushes the door open for her. "Fine then, I shall put it on your shoulder. The same spot Yammy had his. Fitting seeing as you're his replacement. Now, hollowfy so that we may begin."
"I refuse." Rukia responds, still standing a few paces away from Aizen himself as he expectantly waits beside the door he's holding open for her.
"Where have I heard that before?" The traitor asks, "That wasn't a request. You will hollowfy or I will force it out of you." Aizen's voice becomes threatening and cold after the pause following his rhetorical question. "Just because I'm not going to kill you, doesn't mean I won't make you suffer. There is no world for you to go back to now, Kurosaki Rukia. Only the one ahead that I will make. So, make your choice." Aizen shifts from the side of the door, still holding it open with his foot but now he stands with a hand resting on the hilt of his katana. As he does so, his spiritual energy begins to rise. She immediately feels the sadistic, cold, twisted and murderous nature of his spiritual pressure.
Left with no other choice, Rukia sighs deeply before raising a hand up to her face partially to comply with what Aizen is telling her to do and partially to hide the tears beginning to stream from her eyes. The reiatsu in the air begins to collect and solidify in white bonelike fragments over her face. Black and lavender hued reiatsu streams from the hole in her chest as it splits open to a full circle though her new robes hide the hole. Strangely Aizen looks disappointed at the vizard dawning her mask, his face resting in an unimpressed expression as Rukia lowers her hand back to her side. The mask hides the fear on her face and the tears that stain her cheeks. "I said hollowfy, not put on your mask." He says before suddenly vanishing, appearing behind the raven haired woman. The strike landed so quickly that Rukia didn't even react for a few moments, her legs suddenly giving out from underneath her as she instinctively clutching her abdomen in pain. Blood spewing from between the teeth of the kitsune mask she wears. "Seems like we're doing this the hard way." Aizen says as Rukia blacks out from the pain.
"When you awaken, you shall be my greatest success." Aizen monologues, he waves his hand motioning for the exequias nearby to gather Rukia's unconscious body. "Prepare her for her ascension." Aizen instructs as he walks away.
In Soul Society.
"You know that your mother was a quincy, and I can guess that you've never used any quincy abilities right?" Uryu asks as he has Ichigo extend his right arm, allowing Uryu to take measurements of his forearm, wrist and hand.
"Not without Zangetsu." Ichigo answers, "In his Shikai I draw on the reiatsu in the air into the blade letting me use reiatsu based attacks through sword swings and the getsuga tensho itself." Uryu nods as he writes down the measurements of Ichigo's arm before grabbing part of his Shihakusho, cutting it off. "Dude what the hell?" He protests.
"I need fabric made of reiatsu to modify your mother's sanrei glove. Since your shihakusho is made with your spirit energy I can use it on the glove to make it bigger so you can wear it and use it." Uryu explains, quick as a flash he shreds the piece of black fabric into threads then begins adapting the glove to Ichigo's measurements. "While I do this, grab the quincy cross and try to focus spirit energy into it like you do with your sword. Imagine a bow in your hand and mold the spiritual energy to that shape."
"How do I hold this thing?" Ichigo asks, holding up the multi pointed quincy cross by its platinum chain. Uryu sighs before holding up his own hand showing that his quincy cross is hanging down by his wrist. "Oh, I just need to wear it."
"Rukia really is doomed if you can't figure out how to wear a bracelet." Ichigo glares at Uryu for saying this but elects to merely walk away. "Remember what I said."
"Yeah yeah, I heard you four eyes."
"Like I haven't heard that before."
"Go back to knitting so I can focus." Ichigo demands prompting Uryu to sigh knowing that having to train Ichigo may be more trouble than it's worth.
"Gramps, mind giving me a hand here for this?" Ichigo asks, directing his words to his inner world and the quincy spirit within.
Across from them, Yamamoto sits by a kotatsu table calmly drinking tea. The ancient dragon observing how Ichigo interacts with his allies and his motivation to rescue Rukia once again. He watches silently as Ichigo stabs the shikai blade of Zangetsu into the ground before taking a few steps away from it. The large kitchen knife shaped blade begins to glow a bright white and blue color before becoming so bright that its shape can't be discerned anymore. Through squinted eyes he sees the light change shape becoming taller and taking a humanoid form before it dies down. The reiatsu shatters revealing a tall skinny tan skinned man appears, and Yamamoto recognises him instantly. Old man zangetsu's appearance has changed slightly, while he still wears his shades, his stubble and long brown hair, his cloak is open and fluttering behind him. He stands in a pristine white long sleeved shirt with a high collar and unbuttoned cuffs. Across his back hampering the movement of his cloak is the wrapped blade of Zangetsu. Yamamoto stands from his seat and approaches the quincy spirit.
"Has this been where you have resided since I defeated you? Yhwach Bach?" Yamamoto asks, his tone accusatory but not hostile, at least not yet. (Note, Yhwach is pronounced Yue-ha in the anime.) "You live on in your descendants."
"I am and I am not. I merely appear to be the Quincy king, but he still slumbers since you defeated him nearly a millennium ago." Old Man Zangetsu responds, turning to face the ancient captain.
"If you are and are not Yhwach then explain who you are then?" Yamamoto responds, finishing Zangetsu's parable of the Quincy king.
"I am Zangetsu, part of him. The other, White, Shirosaki Hichigo, Zangetsu, whatever you choose to call him is the other half. We are two sides of the same coin. I am the quincy and humanity of Kurosaki Ichigo while my antithesis is his Soulreaper and Hollow self." Zangetsu responds. "I am not that cruel monster that is Ywhach. I will never steal away his Quincy powers, I exist only to protect him."
"What about Kuchiki Rukia?"
"As she is his other half, I shall protect her as well." Zangetsu answers firmly. "Ichigo, follow my lead." The Quincy spirit instructs, ending the conversation with Yamamoto and addressing his student.
Seeing his ancient enemy appear like that out of the soul of his apprentice deeply troubled Yamamoto but he couldn't sense any deceit in the quincy's words. While he is a bit shaken by the encounter, Yama returns to his seat and to his tea to try to calm his nerves. He would have to press Zangetsu for more answers, a foreboding sensation crawling up the ancient captain's back. While he personally struck down Yhwach all those years ago, many of his opponents refused to stay dead for very long. Zangetsu raises his left hand up in front of him drawing upon the spiritual energy in the surrounding air, the blue and white spirit particles collect in his hand before solidifying in the shape of a simple longbow. Ichigo studies the reiatsu bow created by Zangetsu for a moment before attempting to do the same. He concentrates on the reiatsu in the air before trying to pull on it. To Yamamoto's surprise, Ichigo is as much a natural with his quincy powers as he is a shinigami. Mere moments after he raises his hands, spirit particles begin to collect around him; however there's a key difference between the ones he is manipulating and Zangetu's own.
The bow forming in Ichigo's hand is red rather than blue and while Zangetsu doesn't show any interest or confusion about the different colored reiatsu weapon, the other quincy does. Uryu stares bewildered at the red energy bow in Ichigo's hands, watching intently as he reaches towards the bow's string and pulls back on it. The arrow that forms on the string is the same color as the bow itself, but Uryu can sense that the reiatsu emanating from him and the bow is partially hollowfied. Zangetsu plays catch up for a moment, pulling back the draw string of his own bow before forming a standard bright blue quincy arrow. The instructor fires the arrow first, with the arrow traveling much faster than anything Uryu himself had shot since he used the Letzt Stil against Mayuri. The blue arrow slams into a painted archery target before exploding, destroying it. With Zangetsu lowering his hands he waits expectantly for Ichigo to do the same, and while the boy is naturally proficient with using his powers… his aim needs some work. The red arrow misses the target completely, instead hitting the wall behind it before it too detonates, however what Yama and Uryu weren't expecting was for the explosion from the arrow to emulate a cero rather than a quincy arrow. When the arrow strikes the wall, it condenses into a small red dot before firing outwards in a wide beam of energy vaporizing the wall, the wall behind it and part of the roof to the squad two barracks.
"That will be coming out of your paycheck, Kurosaki Ichigo." Yamamoto grumbles seeing the senseless destruction his apprentice is once again causing. "I suggest you get a head start. Captain Soi Fon is much less forgiving about property damage than I am. Especially when it's at her barracks." Ichigo doesn't need to be told this twice as both he and Zangetsu flash step away from the training yard shortly before Soi Fon appears, slightly scorched and, looking for a fight.