Disclaimer: Not mine, I can wish….but no :(

Setting: After Winter War

Chapter Nineteen: Time, Start

Note:

Italics is thinking

Bold Italics is Ichigo's Hollow

The materialisation of the barriers was the signal Captain Kuchiki and Captain Histugaya were waiting for. They lifted their swords and launched into a flurry of attacks in perfect synchronicity born from years of working together. Hisa withdrew her sword quickly, letting the thin blade glint for a second before it clashed with the Captains' swords. The movement from her sword caused the nine ribbons on the end of her sword hilt to flutter wildly and glitter; distracting the two men long enough for her to jump back and out of range of the attacks.

"So this was your plan? How interesting" Hisa said as she looked at the barrier "I've never seen a barrier like this before. Was it made for the sole purpose of catching us?"

"It was created by Captain Kurotsuchi and Urahara" The tenth captain told her.

"It needs so many to make it powerful enough to stop us from escaping, such a flaw in your plan if those Shinigami were to be injured" she said sweetly as she twirled her sword around, seemingly unworried by the situation.

"Which is why they are outside the barriers" Kuchiki said.

"I wonder how long they can continue pouring in that much reaitsu" Hisa mused, glancing up to see her opponents exchange looks, "There is a time limit then" she said with glee, passing the information down the link to her followers "Which could be lessened by attacks on the barrier itself I would assume."

Kuchiki exchanged a small grin with Hitsugaya.

"That time limit exceeds the time it will take to kill you," he said and turned his sword to point at Hisa. "Scatter Senbonzakura." The sword exploded into tiny pink-looking blades and shot towards the young woman. Hisa jumped up and evaded the blades but Kuchiki was already directing the blades up with the hilt of his sword and they caught her legs. "Live, inju!" she gasped.

Her command echoed around them as the ribbons on the hilt of her sword started moving on their own and wrapped around her legs, protecting them from the piercing blades. She pushed the pain down the link but kept the injuries herself.

"Fascinating shikai you have there" Hitsugaya commented from behind Kuchiki as the 6 th Captain concentrated on attacking.

"My ribbons can be controlled by my mind, much like Kuchiki's Shikai and Bankai" Hisa told him as she swept past in a fast paced shunpo, "Remember we can share thoughts" she added when she saw the surprise on his face.

Suddenly Hisa felt pain shoot past the filter in her mind; telling her someone was injured and had passed the pain down the link to the other followers.

"Who's injured?" she passed down the link, following the sweep of pain.

"Me, Hisa-sama" came Ami's voice. Hisa looked to the east and saw Ami with her back to the barrier with Soifon bearing down on her with her sword.

"Dive" Hisa commanded and watched as Ami let herself fall out of range of the sword. "I thought she wasn't going to hurt you too much in case it hurt Ichi and Ren?" Hisa asked, aware that she had stopped in mid air but was not being attacked as the two Shinigami Captains watched her with interest.

"After the barriers went up I realised what was happening and tried to break the barrier to get back to your side, I think that means I'm a threat now. She is trying to disable me from fighting." Ami explained quickly as she righted herself and then vanished using her shikai.

"Then you will have to fight, she will not trust you if you stop" Hisa told her.

"Yes Hisa-sama" Ami replied. Hisa sent another look in her direction before starting moving again.

"Problems?" Hitsugaya asked smugly, having seen the concern on her face

"Nothing we can't handle" Hisa told him stiffly as Kuchiki resumed his attacks and she started moving again.

Ami's POV

Ami quietly flitted around Soifon, the fighting between them had become serious after she had tried to destroy the barrier.

"So you're going to try and kill me huh? What if it kills the others?" Ami asked and the moved as Soifon turned towards her and jumped forward to attack. The Shinigami couldn't see her but she was very quick to react.

"I can't let you break the barrier at any costs, I will try not to kill you but as head of Covert Ops it is in my nature to do so" Soifon told her "If I do kill you, it will be quick and that should hopefully stop your death spreading to the others"

"And if it doesn't?"

"I will take that risk, I have no choice if I wish to stop you" the Captain told her seriously.

"Doesn't do things in halves does she!" Ami thought to herself

"She's merciless Ami, be careful. She's well-known in Soul Society for being ruthless with rules. She's even attacked her own squad members." Renji warned through the link.

Ami focused on Soifon again, watching her stand still, waiting for Ami to betray her position.

"I should get this over with, I shouldn't be playing with you, you have made it clear you hate Shinigami even without Hisa's influence" Soifon told her "Sting all enemies to death, Suzumebachi" she intoned, releasing her shikai.

"Is she really going to kill me? Well I won't go down without a fight." Ami thought.

She looked at the wound on her thigh then broadcasted a thought:

"Will one of you take this for me? I need full movement to live through this"

"I will" Nanami replied quickly "I'm not fighting"

Ami quickly pushed the wound through the link and turned back to Soifon, standing in her shikai uniform, ready to fight to the death.

Over in West side of the room Ikkaku and Yumichika was shocked when Nanami, standing silently between them, suddenly started bleeding from his thigh.

"What the heck?" Ikkaku asked, motioning to the injury

"It's Ami's, she's fighting seriously with her opponent, and she needs full motion to be able to fight properly." Nanami looked up at them to see them exchange a glance "What?"

"We hate to break it to you kid, but your friend won't survive against Captain Soifon, she's brutal, she would fit in well in the 11th division"

"You underestimate Ami, she will be fine," Nanami told them confidently, following the fights through the link as the only one of Hisa's followers not fighting and able to watch.

He suddenly doubled over, clutching his left arm.

"Can't you just stop the pain being transmitted from that Ami girl?" Ikkaku asked

"No I can't, and it's not Ami, its Kaori" Nanami panted.

Isn't that young lady fighting against Matsumoto and Rukia? I cannot see them harming her too badly, especially because of our orders." Yumichika said, flicking his hair back with an air of importance and knowing. He looked down to see Nanami standing stock still with his eyes closed.

"Heh" he said with a little laugh "Only Kaori" he mumbled, but did not elaborate when the two Shinigami looked at him questioningly

Kaori jumped upwards to avoid Matsumoto's sword and grinned down at her,

"I think you're getting too old for this type of thing" Kaori taunted in a gentle voice, Matsumoto gave her an affronted look and shunpo'ed to the spot behind her, cutting her right forearm

"I can't be that old if i've manage to cut you twice" Matsumoto told her.

Kaori smiled obligingly at her in a way that young children often did to their elders when they didn't understand something from the young generation, a very condescending look which enraged Matsumoto.

"Rukia, you deal with this brat" Matsumoto said.

Kaori was especially good at reading people, a trait that Hisa-sama had nurtured to help in her plans. She had quickly noticed Matsumoto's efforts to look young with her clothing and speech and figured it was because she hated the idea of being old; it turned out to be the correct deduction. Goading Matsumoto had very quickly made her sloppy enough for Kaori to dodge some of the more dangerous attacks, although the Shinigami was very talented, she wouldn't last against her much longer.

The short young woman came forward at Matusmoto's call.

"They won't attack me together? I wonder why, I would not be able to win against the two of them, they must know that" Kaori thought as the dark haired lady stood in front of her, seemingly just sizing her up.

These Shinigami seem to have a code of honour" Nanami said across the link. "The ones who I should be fighting think its dishonourable to fight two against one, maybe your Shinigami believe the same"

"That is probably correct, it's better this way, Hisa-sama did mention a time limit, and we only need to survive until then" Kaori told him and received a non verbal confirmation

"I'm not even fighting; I think I might be able to wait out the time limit without getting too badly injured. When the barrier lowers I can take these two Shinigami by surprise and get back to Lady Hisa's side"

"Good plan" Kaori agreed "Keep an eye on Ichi, Renji and Ami, you know how trigger happy they can get" she added and let the link dissolve into the back of her mind so she could concentrate on the fight ahead of her.

"Miss" the dark haired Shinigami started "We don't want to kill you"

"I find that hard to believe, the Shinigami fighting Ami seems to be making a good shot at it" Kaori shot back, her calm demeanour fading as she felt a stab of pain on her shoulder from Ami, she squinted through the barrier to the east and saw Ami sporting a black butterfly marking on her shoulder where she had felt the pain. "What is that marking on Ami's shoulder?" she asked commandingly

The two Shinigami looked over towards the mentioned party while Kaori waited, she would not attack until she had answers.

"That..." Matsumoto started "That is the Captains' Shikai, it marks an opponent where she hits them, if she hits twice in the exact same place then the opponent dies" Matsumoto explained, obviously shortening the explanation.

"Ami's vulnerable where that butterfly is on her shoulder" Kaori quickly passed down the link to Hisa and Nanami "Ami, can you pass that mark to one of us? It's only that Shinigami that can use it to kill you, as it is her Shikai" she waited with impatience until the other black haired girl replied, watching her two opponents while she did so.

"I can't Kaori, It's a poison of some type and its infused with my blood, I can't separate it from my blood, and the mark seems to be some concentration of the poison, it feels like it's clamped to my skin, it won't pull away" Ami answered quickly through the link and Kaori watched her disappear using her swords ability again.

"Be careful Ami" she thought before concentrating on her battle again, knowing that Nanami was keeping an eye on things.

"I'm Kuchiki Rukia, of the 13th division" the dark haired girl introduced herself,

"I'm assuming as you've told me your name we shall fight now? Is it a custom for Shinigami to introduce themselves?" Kaori asked, flinching as she felt a stab on her leg and flicking her eyes up to Ami again, another mark, but not in the same place.

"Yes, and as you have not received a mark from Captain Soifon then you must not be affected by her attack, so we can safely assume you will not all die if one of you does" Kuchiki explained.

"Are you going to test that?" Kaori asked, not quite aggressively but not calmly either.

"We will try to spare your life but if you keeping fighting we may have to" Kuchiki said with a hint of regret adorning her face.

Kaori let a serious expression fall onto her face and got her sword ready before jumping into battle, only finding that she was against kido attacks, she backed off and dodged, hoping the kido would disrupt the barriers.

Ichigo and Renji kept half an ear on the conversations going along the link but spared little attention on it as their battle was more intense than the others going on around them. The injuries so far were superficial , Ichigo was a close range fighter in Bankai while Renji was a long fighter in Bankai and they complimented each other nicely and managed to protect the other very easily.

Their opponents on the other hand were both relatively short range fighters, but had the advantage of one of them being able to use kido with some proficiency.

They were so far on an even level for fighting, but they were slowly overpowering Ukitake and Kenpachi through teamwork and synchronised attacks.

That was until all of Hisa's followers froze mid attack and began to fall from their places in the air.

And hell broke loose

A/N: I know I haven't updated in ages, New term started and I have to work this year or risk failing more than I did last year. This story will be finished I promise that, it may take a bit of time. We're nearing the end now, this is the final fight if you hadn't already guessed, but I fail with fight scenes so I procrastinate lots before writing them. Now that bit is out of the way with the explanations I know what I'm writing so the next chapter should be pretty soon. Enjoy

PS: Sorry if it's confusing to read, the line breaks have a tendancy to not work