BLEACH: REPRISE

CHAPTER ONE

Byakuya had managed to defeat Zomari easily with his Bankai. The flurry of razor-sharp petals had overwhelmed the voodoo Espada and rendered him to nothing more than dust. Weakened and bleeding, the Captain gathered up what remained of his adopted younger sister and the 4th division runt, and made his way quickly to where he could feel Captain Unohana's reiatsu. He dared not show even a fraction of debilitation, lest another, potentially stronger Arrancar showed up. His focus now was on making sure Rukia was healed before her spiritual body desintigrated. A ghost that dies cannot return, after all. Rukia herself knew that better than anyone, regarding Kaein.

Arriving to where Unohana was busy healing Chad, Byakuya set the two smaller Shinigami on the ground. Unohana took one look at her fellow Captain and shook her head, but wordlessly knew that there was healing to be done on a grander scale than Byakuya was willing to admit openly. Wasting no time, the woman released her sword's Shikai form, materializing a massive whale-like creature that those present knew could heal within itself. Byakuya helped place Rukia and Hanatarou within the creature's mouth and then, humiliated but saying nothing, hopped up inside as well. Its mouth closed, and Unohana sighed.

"We were not supposed to fight. Captain Kuchiki, what did you get yourself into?"

Behind her, Chad was beginning to stir, his wounds healed.

The main fight was still waging. Kenpachi leered at the fifth Espada, Notoirra, daring him to attack. Wave after wave, the two powerful beings assaulted one another, neither seeming to gain the upper hand, and only one desperately hoping for it. Notoirra was known for his sneaky ways of gaining the upper hand, and it didn't take long for him to realize Kenpachi's only weakness lay in the fact that he was not seeking victory. Completely contrary. Kenpachi wished to be defeated, or at least hurt. Knowing this, Notoirra began crafting and scheming a way to possibly rattle the 10th division Captain. He secretly eyed the still-wounded Kurosaki, seeing Neliel and Orihime beginning to heal him as quickly as they could. Notoirra wasn't about to let such a thing occur. He was certain he could beat Ichigo, after all, but if he, Neliel and Kenpachi were to attack him at once, he wasn't too prideful to dismiss the possibility they could overwhelm him.

He stopped mid-Cero, to Kenpachi's slight disappointment, and instead aimed it straight for the weakened trio standing beyond him. Quickly, the Spoon Espada lunged forward, getting immediately in rather close proximity to the surprised group, smiled ever so evilly and released the cero right on their heads. Kenpachi laughed from behind, mocking the Espada's attempts to hurt the three so easily when he should know well enough that Inoue's power wasn't so easy to bypass.

The smoke cleared, and beneath a shimmering translucent dome sat the now irritable group of unharmed fighters. Inoue glared, as she might, at Noroitta, her hands outstretched to form the Hibiscus shield. Ichigo was a bit surprised, but then nodded and grinned, "I see you've done some training. That was fast."

"Y-yes!" She said, flattered and shaken at the same time. "I was training with Miss Rukia."

"You've done a lot, you should rest now. Let me finish this." Ichigo said, standing up, his severely broken arms now perfectly healed, the blood from his face wiped away, and a resolve greater than before. He had several allies now and he had no doubt that they could defeat this most obnoxious of Espada. "Zaraki!" He called out, stepping away from Neliel and Inoue. "Let's end this. We don't have time to waste on a pitiful, arrogant bastard like this."

"I was just beginning to have fun." Zaraki moaned, "You'll owe me a good fight after."

"Whatever, let's just kick his ass."

Ichigo gave the Spoon Espada one final smirk before reaching one tightly-splayed hand in front of his face. Pulling it back, the Hollow mask appeared, and Notoirra could immediately feel the huge spike in strength. Already in Bankai form, Ichigo had no need to waste more time powering up.

Notoirra said nothing, stancing and preparing for the worst. Suddenly, he paused, looked back and forth, and then up. There he was, the one who'd left Ichigo in shambles before. He'd finally escaped the dimensional prison; Ulquoirra!!

"Hah!" Notoirra sneered, "You're done for."

Ichigo shook his head, and jumped forward, giving Notoirra no chance to repost or even parry. The Espada still had a jubilant look even as a line of red appeared slowly in a criss-cross pattern. The eyepatch fell from his face, revealing the tiny patch of white, what little remained apparent of Notoirra's mask. Even that fell away, and Ichigo, behind him, said nothing and looked up towards the one he'd need to defeat next. Kenpachi groaned in the background, watching as Notoirra fell to his knees, and then further to the ground completely. Inoue turned her head away and put her hands on her mouth in an effort not to lose her stomach at the sight of it. Neliel crouched in front of her, glaring at the body, not happy but not exactly upset either. Her frustration, from a personal point of view, was finally over.

"Ichigo, you should take your friend and go while you're strong enough to do so." She advised.

"The more of these bastards I can kill before I leave, the less I have to deal with during the Winter War." He said back, as if completely unbothered by the fact that he had, for the first time, actually killed someone. Perhaps he felt nothing, having not actually looked to see Notoirra fall, but he knew deep down regardless.

"Ichigo!" Neliel called again, this time firmer. "You can't afford to waste time here, you've already risked the others' lives. Can't you feel their strength faded, if not even gone all together?"

"Chad is okay. The others are getting better. Even I can feel it, can't you? That prick up there cost me a lot of time, it's time for payback." Ichigo prepared Zangetsu and disappeared from sight, reappearing as a mass above Ulquoirra's head. Dozens of his images swirled about, much the same as Byakuya saw when Ichigo first revealed the power of his Bankai. Ulquoirra's expression didn't change, unafraid and far less interested. Instead, he merely reached for his eye, plucked it from its socket, and watched as Ichigo's illusions began to fade. Ichigo was completely perplexed. Who, after all, would pull out their own eye when in combat?

It suddenly struck him, and he felt there wasn't nearly enough time to block what was to come. Ulquoirra crushed the eye between his fingers and the dust swirled all around. Ichigo could see things he hadn't been present for, some he had, others he knew had happened but wasn't sure how. Images were coming from all directions, he wasn't sure which was real and what was projected. He sliced at the figures as though they were attacking weapons, but before the illusion faded, he felt a quick and sharp pain through his back, quickly escaping from his chest. He looked down and saw the end of a sword poking through him, directly through his heart. Ulquoirra didn't stop there, in fact, he braced a hand over Ichigo's shoulder and started cutting downwards. Not even the strength of Ichigo's mask could stop the Espada's attack, and as arrogant as he was before, it dawned on the Shinigami that Neliel was right. Now, it was too late to simply escape. The 4th Espada reached Ichigo's stomach before twisting the blade and quickly pulling it out through the teen's side.

Inoue was in shock, tears flowed down her face and she turned away. Neliel was furious. Kenpachi was unenthused. Ichigo's body finally began to freefall towards the ground. Pieces of his mask broke away and he finally landed with a wet thud against the dusty earth. His zanpakuto shattered, and the appearance of Ichigo's Bankai form faded, returning to a tattered normal Shinigami uniform.

"ICHIGOOOOO!!!!" Inoue screamed, helpless to do anything from as far away as she was. She looked at Ulquoirra and screamed again, "YOU MURDERER!! YOU KILLED HIM!!"

"Do not mourn for those who fail to fight back." He replied, neutral as always.

A few raspy breaths escaped from Ichigo's lips, the black and yellow faded from his eyes. Everything was blurring to him, getting darker, and then nothing. A quiet wind blew over him, dust and sand settling on his uniform and in his hair. The blood caked to his mouth dried up and flaked away. It would seem the unbeatable Shinigami substitute had finally met his end, and as a soul without its body, was about to disintegrate to spiritual particles, forever lost.

Kenpachi, for one, was ready and willing to fight, but he felt a twang at tbe back of his head that told him time was up. Unohana and Byakuya appeared not far off, assuming they were about to heal those over a victorious battlefield, but seeing much to the opposite. Rukia and Hanatarou were already forced back to Soul Society through the famed sliding-door gates.

Ulquoirra was unimpressed by the sudden appearance of two more Captains before him. Supposing he was even slightly intimidated, he still didn't show it. His missing eye regenerated in the socket and he turned about face, giving a simple warning, "Master Aizen has only a short time left before his ideal is realized. If you wish to even witness that glory, flee now and wait. Your end will be realized soon enough." However, despite that reprise, he still appeared beside the rattled Orihime and grabbed her around the waist with only one arm. There wasn't a second wasted before he, and Inoue, disappeared from the battlefield. His mission to retrieve the girl had been completed and he had no other objectives at that time. Aizen hadn't ordered anything else.

Unohana reached out desperately to get Orihime back, but she had no power to compete with the battle-ready Espada, not even her Lieutenant dared give chase. Instead, Isane rushed to Ichigo's side, hoping that she might at least be able to do some kind of good there. His body wasn't yet self-destructing so there was a glimmer of hope there. Captain Kurotsuchi slowly sauntered up to where the rest were gathered, a rather embittered and injured Renji and Ishida following. The two seemingly weak and freakish Hollows followed far behind.

"Oh, what's this here?" Mayuri asked, surveying the area, carrying a small, though empty bottle in his hand. "Nothing interesting, I see. Let's go back."

"We're about to. We're done here." Unohana said flatly, "Isane, gather him up, we'll be safer to heal him in Soul Society. Let's be quick."

The doorways opened and the group stepped through them, though Isane straggled. Her back to the group, no one was quite sure what was taking the Shinigami so long to stand. She was the only one who knew, and it paralyzed her with intense fear. Before her very eyes, Ichigo's arm lifted from the sand, shaking slightly in mid air before falling again. Isane couldn't see a breath on his lips or feel his heart beating, and it made no sense to her that the arm had moved. Shaking her head, she moved to pick Ichigo up again, but this time she was stopped. She heard a thud and then saw the movement. Looking down, she saw Ichigo's arm thrust clear through her stomach, as if of its own will, then going limp again within her.

"C-Cap...tain..." She whispered, blood trickling from the corners of her mouth, and much more dripping to the sand from her wound. Shocked, Unohana turned and rushed to her Lieutenant's side. She pulled the arm from Isane's flesh and dragged her a short distance, frantically trying to heal her quickly. Byakuya pulled his zanpakuto and held it to Ichigo's throat, calm as usual, but glaring. Something wasn't right about his body, and he looked to the blood-covered arm that had so easily penetrated Isane's flesh. It wasn't a normal arm...in fact, the fingers were stretched into incredibly sharp claws.

"What are you, boy?" Byakuya asked quietly, seeing Isane limping with Unohana back towards the gate, both flustered. He suddenly heard a very low and quiet, but obvious laugh coming from Ichigo's direction. His face still looked the same as before, but it slowly contorted into a twisted smile, and without notice, his disfigured, clawed hand flipped palm-side up and its fingers pointed in Byakuya's direction. A ball of VERY recognizable light formed at the pointed tips and a new voice spoke.

"Cero."

The blast launched forward, singing Byakuya's scarf and narrowly missing his skin. He could feel the intense power of the blast though and it even made HIS knees quiver beneath the pleats of his hakama. He dared not attempt to fight the downed thing before him, and instead fell to the excuse of his orders and backed up into the gates before they closed. Alone now on the battlefield, Neliel and her companions saw the gates close and disappear, taking the Captains, Isane, Chad, Renji, and Ishida with them. She felt a slight chill, and couldn't help but ignore the sudden greetings and cheers of her fraccion, only able to hear the chilling laughter coming from Ichigo's body.

"Quiet!" She told them, "Listen..."

Watching in horror, the three of them saw Ichigo's fatally wounded body suddenly rise to its feet as if completely unhurt. It tore away the two layers of kimono, revealing a wedge of open space on its side where Ulquoirra's sword had previously cut. Blood gushed from it still, dripping down its body and to the ground. It was a horrible display, but the risen corpse seemed to revel in Neliel's reaction to it and mercilessly continued. "Ichigo...what's going on with you?" She whispered quietly, a few tears welling in her eyes.

She saw a ripple move down the body's spine, bursting forth at the bottom as if its bones had suddenly ejected from above the hakama. The body's skin turned bleached white, and its newly grown mane of orange hair waved chaotically about. The wounds finally covered over and the body's size grew, the mask reappearing above the mouth that still sneered so insanely, laughing the whole way. Finally it stopped and the new figure shivered slightly before the three, then stood upright. Its feet had ripped the tabi socks and waraji apart, and all that remained of the Shinigami uniform was the pleated hakama.

Neliel had a half moment to react as the beast lunged forward at them, missing her but grabbing both Pesche and Dondochakka in its large hands. Neliel, still too shocked at the transformation of her former savior, watches in horror as the massive demon eats both of the weakened Hollows in a gruesome manner. Two allies now reduced to food for a ravenous monster. Neliel grew furious, but instead of attacking, merely runs in complete terror, hoping at least to not be caught and eaten as well. Perhaps her child-like appearance gave the monster less reason to want to eat her, as it didn't give chase.

The pale creature laughs again, but then turns and starts heading in the opposite direction. It would appear that Ichigo had entirely lost...even to himself.