Transcendence

Ichigo could not help but stare at the form of his mother for a few more moments, before he was suddenly enraged, his blade drawn, and he was less than a second away from putting himself between his mother and Aizen by any means necessary. "Let. Her. Go."

"And why would I do that, Ichigo-kun, when I have such a perfect bargaining tool?"

Ichigo's voice lowered and took on subtle hints of a Hollow double-tone as he replied, his head slightly lowered so his hair was covering his eyes. "I'm warning you, Aizen. Do not bring her into this."

"What will you do, now that I have? What could you possibly do when you know that all I have to do is merely touch her and her soul will disintegrate like ashes on the wind?"

Ichigo head shot up, his eyes Hollowified and narrowed at his enemy. "You are going to regret ever having looked at her, Aizen Sōsuke!"

Before Aizen could blink, Ichigo had appeared in front of him, his left hand holding onto Aizen's head before slamming him to the ground hard enough to leave a crater! Tensa Zangetsu flashed, and Ichigo swung down at his foe.

Aizen barely managed to roll to the side, but found Ichigo in his face again as he got to his feet. Holding back Tensa Zangetsu with his hastily-drawn Kyōka Suigetsu, Aizen quickly called out "Gin!"

But before Gin could react, Ichigo suddenly materialized in front of him, blade already swung. It took a moment, but then Gin's entire torso erupted in a geyser of blood. Falling backwards, incredulous that he'd never gotten his chance against Aizen, Gin found himself wondering, Was it worth it?

Ichigo took another step forward, reaching to take hold of his mother and take her somewhere safe, but was interrupted by his Zanpakutō. Ichigo, you cannot touch her if you wish her to live, Tensa Zangetsu warned. Your reiatsu is too strong, too potent now. Your touch will have the same effect as Aizen's, until you can successfully keep all your reiatsu within yourself.

Ichigo could feel his heart breaking as he comprehended the words. To be able to see his mother once again after so many years of feeling responsible for her death, yet not be able to partake in her maternal embrace was a punishment too cruel for words. "Mom…" he whispered, taking a few more steps back, and turning around, trying to bottle his need to grieve for later. A single traitorous tear escaped his self-control and ran down his left cheek, but his voice was steady as he spoke. "Run. Get the others and run to our home. Yuzu and Karin are there. I'll see you there when I'm done."

"Ichigo…" Masaki whispered, her body still trembling somewhat from Aizen's reiatsu being so nearby, but not so much that she was frozen. But she didn't move. Ichigo was about to tell her to go again, when…

"Ban… kai," came an unexpected whisper from a short ways behind Masaki. Gin was wobbly on his feet, but certainly standing!

"No!" Ichigo Shunpo-ed between Masaki and Gin, but to his surprise, his mother wasn't the target!

Glancing backwards, Ichigo was startled to see Kamishini no Yari embedded in Aizen's chest, before Gin retracted his Bankai. Bent over and holding a hand to his chest as blood flowed out over it, Aizen looked at his old subordinate. "I knew you would betray me, Gin. I brought you along because I was interested in how you would try to take my life, but I find myself disappointed. Do you really think a simple stab like that will kill me now?" Aizen asked mockingly.

"No…" Stumbling closer, past Ichigo and Masaki, Gin continued to talk, though it was clearly an effort to get every word out. "But how about… a hole in your chest… Aizen-taicho? To match… your heartlessness…" Gin breathed, coughing up blood.

"What?" Aizen demanded.

"My Bankai… I lied to you about it," Gin explained, before coughing up even more blood. "It turns to dust… for a moment when I change its length… There's a poison… secreted on the inside of the blades, in the dust… It breaks down cells… I left some in your heart just now."

"Gin!"

Now within reaching distance, Gin raised a trembling hand towards his old taicho. "Kill, Kamishini… no Yari…"

"Gin! You bastard!" Aizen bit out as pain blossomed in his still-beating heart.

Gin chuckled, though it was obviously painful judging by how he immediately vomited more blood to the street below. "I'm a snake, Aizen-taicho… I am cold… unfeeling… and I prey on those who look tasty. You were… just the tastiest… of them all." He collapsed to one knee, just in time for Ichigo to look over his head and witness the results of Gin's traitorous act.

Ichigo's eyes went wide as he watched Aizen's chest just seem to dissolve, creating a round hole that seemed to continually expand, eating away almost his entire torso. Aizen's left arm, having lost the majority of its shoulder and separating from the neck, began to fall downwards, pulling at what little remained of his abdomen. But in the center of that hole that Gin created, was the Hōgyoku. Before Aizen could begin to fall, Gin's hand snatched the jewel and he Shunpo-ed to Ichigo, collapsing as soon as he had from the multitude of wounds he'd taken from Ichigo's battle with him, Ikkaku's battle with him, and Ichigo's latest crippling slash to his torso. Behind him, Aizen fell the ground with a thump, his eyes wide and unmoving. "Take it!" Gin whispered harshly. "Take it and destroy it!"

Ichigo nodded firmly, taking the Hōgyoku from Gin's grasp. "Rest," he ordered. "I'll make sure the others know what you've done, and you'll be taken care of." Gin merely nodded, and succumbed to unconsciousness. He needed medical attention, and fast. Can I touch him long enough to get him to the Gotei 13?

I do not suggest it – his reiatsu would normally protect him from the majority of the effects, but it is extremely weak right now and your own reiatsu would crush his existence rapidly.

Ichigo was beginning to see just how much of a pain being on higher plane of evolution than everyone else was going to be. But before he could ask the afro-haired guy to call Soul Society, Aizen's corpse erupted into a pillar of reiatsu that reached to the heavens, and a loud, piercing scream tore through the air!

Ichigo was able to weather it just fine, but he could sense that if something didn't happen in the next few seconds, his friends were going to disintegrate under the pressure! Shit, now what? Gin was out, he couldn't touch them without killing them, and the Shinigami with the afro was… able to move? Oh thank Kami. "Afro-san!"

"It's Zennosuke, damn it!"

"Get them out of here! My touch will kill them!"

The man nodded and, with obvious effort, managed to pick up Ichigo's friends and throw them to the roof of the school, before he picked up Ichigo's mother and Gin and Shunpo-ed up to the roof, staying there. The Vizard could tell through his reiatsu sense that they were still alive, though very weak and recovering.

"Holy fuck!" Tatsuki uttered, breathing hard but quite glad to be still breathing after being paralyzed so badly.

"This is what Shinigami are capable of?" Mizuiro asked almost disbelievingly. Keigo was quite simply agape, speechless, which said enough about his state of shock.

"Not usually," Zennosuke replied quietly, in awe of the sheer power of the two combatants. "This is beyond anything I've ever heard of."

"But he just got stabbed in the heart and had his chest blown open!" Keigo screeched. "Why isn't he isn't dead after that?"

"Because he's transcended the limits of a Shinigami," came an unexpected voice. Keigo twisted around on the spot and his eyes practically popped out of his head when he saw more people in the same black robes as Zennosuke. "I am Hitsugaya-taicho of the Gotei 13, and… friend of Kurosaki Ichigo," Hitsugaya greeted. "There will be time to explain everything later, but right now we have to ensure the safety of you and your town."

Aizen finally finished screaming, and the light began to fade, allowing Ichigo to see how Aizen had evolved this time. His clothes had lengthened flared out at the ends, making an apparent robe that reached past his actual feet. His eyes had lost their irises entirely, and Aizen had lost the lock of hair that curled over his face earlier, revealing a dark, diamond-shaped object on or in his forehead. The most distracting of Aizen's new aspects, however, were that he'd gained wings. Three sets of butterfly wings, actually, which Ichigo would normally have found amusing, but given the situation, he found himself more grim-faced than before.

The hole in Aizen's chest that Gin had made had centered itself and shrunk significantly, forming what seemed to be a normal-sized Hollow hole in his sternum. However, the hole was not complete: there was a thin cross inside it. Ichigo was unsure what it was for, but he was more concerned about how Aizen was surviving and evolving without the Hōgyoku within him to power the changes.

Apparently levitating even after the light faded, Aizen smirked as though he'd seen an interesting trick and figured out how to do it himself. "A very nice try, Gin," he complimented, looking past Ichigo to the school's roof. "But it is my victory. You see, even when the Hōgyoku is out of my body, it is in my command."

"What?" Ichigo gasped, looking down at his hand where he'd held onto the Hōgyoku, but it suddenly vanished, apparently rejoining Aizen and taking its place in the center of the hole in his chest. Well, that makes things trickier.

Aizen glanced around, still with that satisfied smirk. "It seems we have an audience, Ichigo-kun," he commented. "But if they're smart, they'll know to let us fight alone. After all, we both know that we are beyond their power now."

"They don't matter, Aizen! This is between you and me!" Ichigo yelled. "Now, like I said before… let's take this ELSEWHERE!"

Aizen blinked, and suddenly Ichigo had once again appeared directly in front of him, grabbing him by the face and suddenly everything was a blur. A second or two later, Aizen found himself being slammed to the ground again. I am getting rather sick and tired of that, he mused to himself before getting up and looking around. They'd traveled outside of Karakura in that short time, and were actually fairly close to the mountains. "How did you do that?" Aizen asked curiously. "I cannot sense your reiatsu, and your speed and strength have increased considerably."

Ichigo glared at Aizen. "Wasn't that the point?" he asked derisively. "You're the one who destroyed the Kōtotsu. You must've known I would take advantage of the Dangai's time distortion."

"Of course I did. I simply don't understand the direction you took with your training," Aizen stated. "If I'm not mistaken, you took slightly more than an hour longer to get here, so you were training for two thousand hours. Almost three months of training, and what did you do? I find myself disheartened, Ichigo-kun. I cannot sense a modicum of reiatsu from you."

He can't sense me? Oh, Ichigo had to fight a malicious grin upon hearing that. I am going to enjoy the look on his face when he figures it out.

You and me both.

"Even if you are suppressing it, sensing absolutely nothing is impossible," Aizen went on. "It seems you have failed at evolution, and I cannot understand why. You were near it, when last I saw you. But you seemed to have failed to grasp that last chance I bestowed on you. Yet, with merely brute strength, you managed to not only touch me, but take me far away from Karakura.

"It seems to me that you have not lost your reiatsu, as it were, but more as though you transformed it all into raw physical power, maximizing your speed and strength in the hopes you could defeat me that way." Aizen shook his head. "I find myself disappointed, Ichigo. You were on the cusp of evolving past the limitations of Shinigami and Hollow, but instead you've devolved into something less than either. You have given up on fighting me in terms of reiatsu."

"It doesn't matter if I have reiatsu or not," Ichigo bit out angrily. "You dared to threaten those I call family! You're dead, you just don't know it yet."

"Is that so?" Aizen asked, amused, but he lost the smile when Ichigo disappeared, and he spun around to block Ichigo's vertical slash from the side. "Trying to cut off my wings, Ichigo?"

"You're a worm, Aizen. You don't deserve to be in my sky."

Of all things, Aizen looked almost delighted at Ichigo's words. "Oh, so you did come to the same interpretation of my new form as I did! I had reached my limit as a Shinigami, so I cocooned myself in the Hōgyoku and emerged as a transcendent being, just as a caterpillar naturally evolves to a butterfly."

Ichigo's face twisted into his customary scowl, but before he could retort, Aizen's wings glowed and then grew far more pointed towards the ends. Eyes narrowed, he brought Tensa Zangetsu to bear, but then there was a bright flash of light. Spinning around, Ichigo parried Aizen's strike to the side, and in that direction a large part of a mountain was completely obliterated, leveling it.

"Nice dodge," Aizen complimented. "But can you see now? My power is so great, a single swing of my blade can reshape the earth. To be honest, not even I expected my powers to grow so strong. I am happy, Kurosaki Ichigo. Thanks to you, I will be able to test this power that transcends Hollow and Shinigami as much as I please." With that, Aizen rushed at the Vizard with a fierce grin.

Ichigo stood still until Aizen was almost upon him, but then vanished. Aizen blinked as his attack hit nothing but air, but then he heard two fateful words spoken behind him that chilled him to the bone and reawakened fear within that Hōgyoku-given form. "Getsuga Tenshō."

Aizen let loose a bellow of pain as his wings were obliterated in an instant, and his back was flayed open as the Getsuga – still impossibly seeming to have no reiatsu at all – tore its way through him! "How…?" he gasped.

Ichigo reappeared directly in front of him, and suddenly Aizen realized that he'd been impaled through the stomach on the Vizard's blade. "You didn't realize?" Ichigo spat. "It wasn't your sword that crushed that mountain. It was mine. You're weaker than I am right now, Aizen. And I have no mercy for you."

"Holy shit," Renji uttered, watching Ichigo demolish Aizen. He and the rest of the fukutaicho and taicho in Soul Society had arrived just in time to watch Ichigo take down Gin with a single strike, and had been observing outside earshot ever since, not wanting to risk Aizen's using their susceptibility to Kyōka Suigetsu's illusions. They'd come close to interfering after Ichigo had told Zennosuke that he was unable to touch anyone without killing them, but Zennosuke had proven himself admirably by managing to not only stand under Aizen's reiatsu, but save the spiritually aware humans and the spirit of Ichigo's mother.

After Ichigo forcefully relocated both himself and Aizen with such incredible speed, everyone save Matsumoto and Hitsugaya had followed. They had stayed behind to tend to Gin, along with Ichigo's friends and family, with orders to check on the rest of the school afterwards.

"How is this possible?" Komamura asked Ukitake and Kyōraku, the senior taicho available. "Kurosaki Ichigo was not this strong before, and he looks different now."

Ukitake rubbed his chin in thought. "Longer hair, slightly taller, far more powerful, though no one among us can sense him… Everything points to him simply aging somewhat during an extremely long training session."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking, Jūshiro?" Shunsui asked.

Ukitake nodded. "I don't see how he could have done it, but Ichigo must have undergone Jinzen in the Dangai."

"That would explain the aging, and the newfound strength," Soifon agreed. "But why did the Kōtotsu not interfere?"

"That's what I can't figure out," Ukitake admitted. "Shinigami can't affect it with reiatsu, so how could Ichigo…?"

"While I agree that it would be Kurosaki's style, given how he destroyed the Sōkyoku," Kira said slowly, "it might have been Aizen."

"Aizen is a lot more knowledgeable, and the Hōgyoku might have given him the ability," Soifon concurred. "But then the question becomes, why would he do such a thing?"

"Maybe it caught him by surprise?" was Iba-fukutaicho's contribution.

"Certainly possible," Ukitake affirmed. "But I suspect that he did it on purpose."

"Ichigo is our last real chance against Aizen," Kyōraku began, obviously thinking along the same lines as his old friend. "I think he did it to allow Ichigo to improve himself beyond recognition. He knew that sooner or later we would realize what had happened, and wanted us to see the crushing of our hope."

"That seems to have backfired spectacularly, ne?" Renji commented with a smirk.

"Have none of you thought about the implications for after this is all over?" Soifon demanded heatedly. "None of us can sense either Kurosaki or Aizen! If Aizen wins, he could just as easily disguise himself as Kurosaki, though he likely won't bother since his goal is to replace the Spirit King. But if Ichigo wins, there's a rogue, unstable Vizard that we cannot sense, cannot defeat, and cannot control!"

"Unstable?" Renji hissed back, ignoring his common sense that kept screaming not to aggravate a taicho. "What has Ichigo ever done to us? He broke into Soul Society for the purpose of saving someone who saved him and his family. Name one other time he has done anything against Soul Society!"

"It's not a chance we can take," Soifon countered coolly.

"So you would imprison or kill him for saving you, saving all of Soul Society and the living world?" Renji inquired incredulously. "Some justice system we have. Should I go ask him to back off then, and let Aizen do what he wants?"

"Abarai!" Komamura rebuked sharply. "You are out of line!"

"Even so, he has a point," Kyōraku pointed out with a stern look at Soifon. "It is not our place to make a decision as heavy as that one, Soifon. In the meantime, Kurosaki Ichigo is a valued ally, as is any he calls friend."

Aizen flashed away in another burst of light, reappearing on higher ground a few dozen meters away, ignoring how blood was now pouring out of his stomach and back wounds – the Hōgyoku would take care of it momentarily. His face, however, was the very image of surprise. I don't understand. He has no reiatsu. How can he use his Getsuga? How did he inflict such pain upon me?

Ichigo looked sideways and up at him with narrowed, Hollowified eyes. "Do you really think you can escape me up there?" he asked scathingly. "That distance is nothing to me. You have merely an illusion of safety. Allow me to disillusion you!" Aizen's eyes widened, but it was too late, as the Vizard appeared right in front of him, his sword swinging too fast to block!

Blood sprayed from the incredibly deep wound – Aizen fell to the ground, a hand over his stomach as he tried desperately to keep his top and bottom halves together. "That was me returning the favor from Soul Society, Aizen," Ichigo told him vindictively. "Now, how did you put it again? Oh yes. 'Right now, your spine is the only thing holding your body together. No matter how hard you try, there's no way for you to stand up without destroying your body. It's not a matter of spirit, it is physically impossible.'"

"Fool!" Aizen gasped. "Are you happy, knowing you've given me such an injury?" Help, Hōgyoku! Aizen could feel his wounds mending rapidly, he would be able to retaliate in just a few more seconds.

"You have no idea." Suddenly, Aizen felt another stabbing pain as Ichigo plunged Tensa Zangetsu through his neck and into the ground, pinning him. Then, a searing, familiar heat began to burn behind his head. "Did you forget? I know the Hōgyoku allows you to regenerate. The thing is, I probably wouldn't have gone this far to kill you if you hadn't threatened my family and friends. That said…" Ichigo summoned his Adjuchas mask and leaned in, almost relishing every word he was about to say. "Let's see you regenerate this! Cero!"

The brilliant red beam of energy erupted from Ichigo's fingers for a few seconds, and then all was silent. When the dust cleared, Ichigo stood over Aizen's headless corpse, completely unharmed form his battle. Not willing to take any chances, the Vizard reached down and plucked the Hōgyoku from the corpse's chest. That done, Ichigo took off his mask and crushed it. It's finally over. He closed his eyes began to walk away, but froze upon feeling a rising reiatsu from Aizen's body. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," he groaned. "What does it take to kill you?"

Aizen's head regrew itself rapidly, and all of his wounds hissed with steam-like reiatsu as they regenerated. "You cannot kill me, Ichigo-kun," Aizen said with a triumphant smile. "I have gained immortality. And with my ever-growing power thanks to the Hōgyoku, you will eventually fall."

"Not if it's destroyed!" Ichigo quickly gave it a small toss in the air and attempted to slice it in twain… only to have Tensa Zangetsu cut nothing but air as it twinkled momentarily and vanished back to Aizen's chest.

Shit. Think we can destroy the Hōgyoku if we can hold onto it long enough? He'd been hoping to capture it long enough for Inoue to reject it with her powers, but it seemed that was no longer an option.

Perhaps, but have you forgotten, Ichigo? The wielder of Benihime mentioned a seal…

**Flashback**

"Bakudō," Urahara revealed, stepping forward. "He was successfully held in place by multiple Bakudō, with some assistance from yourself, long enough for me to cast a full-incantation Hado 91: Senjū Kōten Taihō. The seals I've placed seem ineffective, though I have put one on that will take effect if he weakens significantly…"

**End Flashback**

Ichigo's eyes widened momentarily, before they narrowed as he thought about it. Weakens significantly, huh? How significantly? Guess we'll find out!

Aizen, unknowing to Ichigo's new plan, raised his arms to the sky, feeling the Hōgyoku ready to give him another transformation. "Now, bear witness to my next evolution!"

The diamond-shaped object in his forehead abruptly opened, shifting into a more vertical oval shape, revealing a third eye. The next instant, a very large bead of dark blood trailed its way down Aizen's nose and onto his right cheek, but Ichigo was more preoccupied with how Aizen was suddenly screaming again, and his reiatsu was rising and changing once again! Then the Hōgyoku emitted a great flash of light!

When the light dimmed a few seconds later, Ichigo quickly took a moment to study how Aizen had morphed once more. His head was now a blackened skull, with the third eye in his forehead, and though Aizen's hair still had all the ridiculous length of earlier, it now seemed to be coming from where the skull reached where the neck should be.

Aizen's feet and hands had changed dramatically – no longer did they even remotely resemble that of a human's. His feet had become single-toed claws, and his left hand had both lengthened and thinned, looking quite sharp. Aizen's right hand had fused entirely with his Zanpakuto, and all four extremities had taken on a pitch black color. He had apparently regrown all three sets of wings, though with a new style – instead of butterfly wings, they now resembled sheets a large eye centered on each one, and they were adorned with Hollow-like skulls on the top-outside tips. On the bottom-outside tips, tentacle-like extensions gently swayed in the wind.

But perhaps the most telling thing about the new transformation, was that Aizen now no longer had any semblance of clothing, and had three Hollow holes, all in a vertical line down his torso, with the Hōgyoku resting in the center of the top one. "I see…" Aizen murmured. "To defeat a Vizard using Hollow powers, to transcend him, the Hōgyoku wills I take on a Hollow form more powerful than any and overwhelm him."

Ichigo glared at Aizen with all his might, his mask beginning to materialize. I just have to get him to weaken long enough for Urahara's seal to take hold… "Fine then. You want to make this a battle between Hollows? You've got it. Blacken the night, Cazador de la Luna!"

The Vizard could feel the white vest underneath his Bankai coat stretching, enveloping his body, though it was only truly visible on his right arm, where the ivory skin of his Resurrección lay underneath the obsidian chain of his Bankai. Once more, at his wrists and neck, the red tufts of fur emerged as Ichigo's Hollow mask grew around his head and his Hollow hole emerged unseen.

"Are you ready to die, Aizen?" Ichigo roared.

"You presume to think you can kill me, even after I have proven my immortality?" Aizen screamed back. "Abandon your arrogance, human!"

All six of the Hollow skulls atop Aizen's wings suddenly snapped to attention and charged a Cero. To counter, Ichigo twisted to the side and pointed three claw-like fingers at Aizen, looking down his arm at Aizen as well, charging a Cero both in his horns and at his fingertips. "Arrogance?" Ichigo repeated darkly. "So far, you're the only one who's been hurt so far since we got here! You dared to give me the time I needed to grow strong enough to defeat you, you dared to hold my mother hostage and give me the motivation to kill you, and you still thought you could defeat me? If anyone's arrogant, it's you!"

In response, Aizen unleashed his round of Ceros, and Ichigo did the same, all of blasts of destructive energy meeting at a point between the two of them… before Ichigo's overwhelmed Aizen's, racing ahead to destroy his opponent!

But there was a flicker of light, and Ichigo spun once more, clashing Tensa Zangetsu against Kyōka Suigetsu! "Such power!" Aizen praised, his blade in a deadlock with Ichigo's. "Why do you not work with me, Kurosaki Ichigo? You could be a king, a Kami to all the worlds!"

"I already am a Kami of a world," Ichigo replied softly, before raising his voice and looking Aizen straight in the eyes. "Myself, and that is all I wish to rule!"

Breaking the deadlock and vanishing in a flash of light to be a few dozen meters away, Aizen looked at Ichigo, his expression unreadable due to his current skull-like face, but his feelings on the matter clearly evident by his voice. "Pathetic! Your strength is wasted on you! You are held back by your compassion! Sacrifices must be made for progress, and it is your refusal to make those sacrifices that makes you weak!"

A Getsuga raced down Tensa Zangetsu, further empowering it as Ichigo made his rebuttal. "It is not weak to value life! It is my compassion that drove me to become strong, Aizen Sōsuke! Getsuga Tenshō!"

Aizen was taken by surprise when the Getsuga that Ichigo let loose was only as tall as he was, but its size was more than made up for by its speed! But Aizen had a plan. He raised his left arm and quickly chanted, "Bakudō 81: Danku!"

A transparent rectangular barrier three stories tall materialized in front of Aizen just in time for the Getsuga to clash on it. But the former taicho was astounded when the Getsuga broke through it easily, and barely had the time to bring Kyōka Suigetsu up to block! Aizen found himself forced backwards from the sheer power of the Getsuga as it raged against Kyōka Suigetsu, but after a moment he was able to shunt it to the side, destroying yet another mountain as the Getsuga annihilated it.

That accomplished, Aizen quickly looked around, trying to find his opponent. In front, right, left, above, below… behind! He spun around just in time to clash swords once more against Ichigo, an explosion of reiatsu that could be felt for miles emitting from the impact.

Renji was simply awed, watching as Ichigo and Aizen fought at levels far surpassing anything he'd ever thought possible. And Ichigo will continue to get stronger over time, he realized, remembering Ichigo's incredibly young age – Shinigami lived for centuries, if not millennia. Ichigo was not even a fifth of his way through his first century, and he'd gained all this power so recently, so quickly! Where will he be when he's my age? Renji shuddered just trying to imagine it.

"This is insane!" Omaeda whimpered from next to his taicho, shivering as he weathered the latest rush of reiatsu that washed over him. "They're going to tear Soul Society down around them before they finish! How are they so strong?"

"They are men who found a reason powerful enough to drive them to transcend everything that they knew, everything that they were before, and break every boundary they come across," Ukitake replied with an almost reverent tone. "Aizen sought to replace the Spirit King, while Ichigo sought to protect! Both are willing to do anything to achieve their goals, to sweat and bleed and put their lives on the line, because their very souls cannot allow anything less!"

But something in Ukitake's words struck a chord in Soifon. "Ichigo sought to protect." Soifon would have smiled triumphantly, but she smothered it with her assassin training. We have the key to ensuring Kurosaki will never threaten the Gotei 13.

"If you ever come after me or my friends, you will need Yamamoto Genryūsai himself at your side to save you, because I swear I will come at you with all of my power!"

Soifon could not help the shiver that came from those vividly-remembered words, but refocused her mind to plotting how to harness the raw power of Kurosaki Ichigo for the good of Soul Society.