Okay... This story is temporarily under revision. I am fixing my worst writing from a few months ago, and will hopefully be writing more chapters soon... The main fictionpress site had some pretty good essays on fight scenes, and I looked up (And wrote down) some people's major pet peeves. You know that feeling you get about fanfics that are good, but not good enough? Yeah. I now can see (at least part of) the problems, and am focusing on fixing them. One is ridiculously long authors notes that make up half the word count of a story. I am definitely going to do more than one edit on the existing chapter(s) in an attempt to improve my story overall.

~~STORY START!~~ (Bum-bum-BUUMM!)

26 years ago… (ICHIGO POV)

Zangetsu, is there any other way to defeat Aizen? The question was on the tip of Ichigo's tongue, but he felt as if his mouth was full of cotton.Any way other than the final Getsuga? He stood in the dangai, still impaled on Tensa's sword. To lose Zangetsu, even Shirosaki, as well as his shinigami powers, would be maddening. Their words in his mind had become so common that he almost hadn't noticed, Zangetsu's reassurances, even Shiro's constant taunts were a part of him, and provided a pillar of strength. The knowledge that they were there, and how well they knew him allowed him to speak to them and be understood.

Tensa Zangetsu looked at Ichigo, and his face softened.

"Of course, there always is another way..." Ichigo stared, his unasked question answered.

"Then why did you teach me the final Getsuga?" They stood across from each other now, seemingly floating. "I mean, if there was anything else I could do-"

"It was a last resort," Tensa looked as if he was half smiling now, caught between happiness and pain. "If our first option failed, I want you to be able to survive, even if I was never able to speak to you again." They both paused in their conversation, letting it sink in.

After a moment that seemed to last forever, Ichigo spoke.

"So..." he trailed off into silence, clearly uncomfortable. "How exactly does this 'alternate method' work?" He jerked Tensa Zangetsu's sword form out of his gut and slowly let it rest at his side.

"You merge with Shiro in order to, in short, gain his powers and abilities." Tensa Zangetsu paused, allowing Ichigo to speak.

"What do you mean? I mean, Shiro would never actually merge with-"

"Yes, he would." Tensa spoke softly, yet firmly as he cut Ichigo off.

"But he hates-"

"No." a breath "He doesn't hate you."

A while later...

Ichigo parried a blow from Aizen, retaliating with an attempted blow to the shoulder which brushed the creepy butterfly man's sleeve as he hastily shunpoed to the right. Ichigo grimaced as the two started glowing with a dark energy, the tendrils reaching out towards each other. Ichigo went back to concentrating on the fight, whirling around Aizen's precise strikes. Suddenly, in his minds eye, he saw a bright flash of brilliant light. That was all it took.

~~Aizen POV~~

A pillar of dark energy rose around Ichigo, pushing through the clear sky, forming grey clouds, and obscuring him from view as the ground split and cracked, pieces of it floating into the air. All of a sudden, it stopped, and Ichigo- no, a demon – stepped out of the pillar of dak energy. It had long white and orange streaked hair, as well as a skull-like mask with a eerie, sadistic grin and five red stripes going through the left eye and bleeding down its neck into a tatoo. It had Ichigo's bankai outfit, as well as two long, red tipped horns and a bone-like armor covering its arms, legs, and torso. Its sword was a pure, undiluted white, except for the midnight black guard and gripThe demon (Aizen refused to think of it as Kurosaki) walked towards him. Slowly, very slowly. However, Aizen felt unnerved,. Why can't I feel its spiritual pressure? For an instant, the world seemed to stand still to Aizen. Then Ichigo's spiritual pressure slammed down on him and he was barely standing, struggling to breathe. For one of the first times in his life, Aizen was scared. And, of course, that was before the monster that was Ichigo called out: "Getsu Diablo!"

This human was getting annoying. It was fun toying with him in the beginning, but now … it was getting serious. Aizen was completely outmatched by Kurosaki, and could barely even stand, let alone fight. Do you wish for more power? The Hogyoku. My power source. Of course. Aizen felt the familiar flow of energy from the orb in his chest, and was only somewhat suprised when he felt his face... split into three pieces, and skulls grow t the end of his wings. However... This is not enough, Hogyoku. I know. However, I can only give you a certain amount of energy every few minutes. If it were any more, you would... self destruct. I would be killed? No, worse. Your soul would simply cease to exist.

Aizen... was frustrated. Very frustrated. He obviously did not have the power to destroy the being in front of him. He couldn't shunpo away, having no doubt that the beast would catch him in less than an instant. Talking wouldn't work, Kurosaki had learned not to listen to him by now. Illusions were no longer an option, Kyoka Suigetsu having long since fused with him. Therefore, his only option was to throw himself at the... monster, and hope that it was suprised. Aizen steeled himself for a split second to move towards Ichigo. However, in that split second, his muscles tensed, notifying Ichigo of the iminent attack, who jumped forwards and swiftly stabbed Zangetsu through the Hogyoku in Aizen's chest. Aizen, "future god" (note the sarcasm) was dead before he noticed Kurosaki had moved.

~~ICHIGO POV~~

I felt new. I felt powerful in a way that I had never experienced before. So when I saw the look of absolute terror on Aizen's face, I almost started laughing. Almost. Whats happened to 'god'? Afraid of me, the lowly human? Aizen's eyes darted back and forth, and he froze before gasping and spluttering, clutching his knees to stay upright. Suddenly a triumphant grin split the man's face, and his face split in half as his wings grew creepy skulls. Though his spiritual pressure greatly increased, crushing much of the remaining surrounding landscape, it was still barely a blip on the radar- at least comparing to the amount that I currently possessed. After a few seconds of silence, Aizen, with a glazed look in his eyes, tensed up. I'll finish this before it even starts. That was all it took for me to spring forwards and impale the Hogyoku in his chest, before I tore off his head with my red-clawed hands. The traitor's decapitated body hit the ground, creating swirling eddies of dust where it hit the dry earth.I stood there, staring at Aizen's body. It was suddenly hilarious, how a man who had caused so much pain in my life was dead in less than an instant. I bent down and picked the still-glowing Hogyoku out of his chest, sliding it into the pocket of my haramaki after taking a look at it. It still works... Well, what would I expect from Urahara?

~~Rukia POV~~

I ran onto the dry, arid, battlefield, my eyes searching desperately for Ichigo, or at least his body. Clawed hands, strange tail, creepy mask, huge horns, so evidently not Ichigo, simply a hollow. Perhaps Aizen brought it for back-up? Suddenly, I caught sight of a flash of orange. Ichigo!

I ran back to the hollow, whose mask was quickly dissolving, giving way to Ichigo's familiar face.

"Ichigo!" I cried, taking his head in my hands, "What happened?!" Ichigo muttered something like:

"hollow… merged… Zangetsu… Aizen… died…" It was faint and hard to hear, but I still got the gist of it.

"You merged with your hollow and killed Aizen?!" Ichigo weakly nodded his head, confirming my suspicions. "How… When…Why?" Ichigo slowly sat up and started talking, his voice growing clearer and stronger with every word.

"How…? I'm not sure. It was Zangetsu… who truly merged with him. As for when, just a few minutes ago. And why? I think you know." Ichigo stood, his white shikahuso creating a cutting figure against the setting sun and the darkness above it. Like the moon… I thought, before shaking my head, dispelling the thoughts. Bad, bad Rukia! You know Orihime likes him! I stared of at the sky, getting lost in my thoughts. "Oi midget!"Ichigo stretched out his hand, already 20 feet ahead of me.

"Midget!" he called, his voice slightly hoarse, "you better catch up, we both know those short little legs of yours don't move very fast!" I broke myself away from my inner scolding and ran up to him, for once not chastising him for calling me a midget. As soon as I caught up to him, however, he slung me over his shoulder like a sack of dirt.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" I ground my teeth together, desperately trying to keep myself from staring down at his butt. Orihime, Orihime likes him… I reminded myself. Ooh, someone's in looovve… I groaned. Of all times … I am not in love with him, Shirayuki! I cried out indignantly. I just … I trailed off, not sure what to say. Like him? Sode no Shirayuki responded coyly. I internally groaned, my cheeks heating. If only Sode no Shirayuki didn't do this to her every time I saw someone I found attractive. First with Kaien, then Renji (who started out as a bratty kid, but then grew up to be very good-looking), and now Ichigo! She was glad that Shirayuki wasn't like this all the time-it would be ridiculously annoying.

"-said, your short legs don't move very fast. Plus, I want to get away from here as soon as possible." I blinked, breaking myself away from my thoughts. I opened my mouth, ready to give him another tongue lashing, when I realized how fast we were going.

"Whoa…" I whispered to myself. Ichigo chuckled, having obviously heard me.

"And that," he said, punctuating 'that' "is why I'm carrying you." I decided to stop protesting.

~~TIME SKIP!~~ (ICHIGO POV!)~~

After getting about 20 miles from fake Karakura, I set Rukia down and checked her for injuries. She was (thankfully) unharmed, except for a few scratches and bruises. But then I saw her face.

She was sweating, and her entire face was beet red.

"Rukia," I breathed softly, suddenly slightly afraid. Her face seemed to get redder. "Are you feeling sick?" I felt her forehead. It was warm, but not warm enough for her to have any type of fever. Wait … is she…blushing?! No. It must have been the wind when I was running. After all, I was moving pretty fast … "Hmm…" I frowned slightly. "I guess not." I then opened a senkaimon to Soul Society. As soon as I stepped out with Rukia, the cheering nearly deafened me. It was time to celebrate the defeat of Aizen, and it was obvious that not a single bottle of sake was spared. Before I went off to see my family and friends, I gave Urahara the Hogyoku. "Keep it safe until you find out how to destroy it." I had a feeling that Urahara didn't exactly hear what I had said, but understood what I meant. His happy face turned serious for all of a second as he nodded and slipped the Hogyoku into his sleeve. Then it was gone, a joyful expression back in its place. He skipped off into the crowd, looking completely innocent. Then I sighed as I looked down at the rejoicing masses. Time to meet the crowd of fangirling/boying shinigami. Oh, joy.

~~End Chapter!~~