Beyond the Hourglass

A/N: I'm so glad you care about my story so much. I'll try not to disappoint you.

Portals of Light


It was decided that Urahara and Shunsui would stay at Urahara’s in case of an attack. Everyone else prepared to leave right before nightfall. Ichigo was more than ready. He knew that man, Ryu Hihara, would be there and he would make him pay for what he did. He could feel the rage boil from within and he felt it as it permeated his being but then Renji was putting his hand around him and some of his anger went away and before he knew it they were there.

They crept as best they could into the dilapidated building. They wandered around for a bit before they found the stairs but after they had climbed them they were met by the unnamed large man. Before anyone could say anything, Kira and Shuuhei were tackling the guy and then they were falling out of the building and the earth started to shake and Ichigo wondered if the building would hold and he was worried about them because he could not see them but he figured he still had to go forward. They continued on and they found another staircase and they climbed it and ran into Unohana’s sister, Masako, and Unohana and Byakuya said they would take care of her and Ichigo should keep heading up. Ichigo felt safe with Renji by his side, but something did not seem quite right.

They climbed another set of stairs and were greeted by a large and decorative doorway which looked like it led into a very important room. The doors creaked open and Ichigo saw the man who raped him seated at a desk appearing to do paperwork. He looked up from the desk and took note of the intruders.

“Good evening. I was wondering when you would get here.”

“You mean you were expecting us?” Ichigo asked, confused by his lack of surprise.

“Well, we did let you find us after all.”

“What do you mean you ‘let’ us find you?”

“Exactly what I said. We purposefully made our hideout obvious so that you would find it and come here to us.”

“But. . .why?”

“I don’t intend to tell you.”

“Your name is. . .Ryu Hihara?”

The man’s face broke into a maniacal grin at the mention of the name.

“I see you have been talking with Shunsui. What exactly did he tell you?”

“Nothing. Just your name.”

“That was my name, once. But that was a long time ago. But it seems some things never change.”

“What do you mean?”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“I’m going to kill you now.”

“You can try.”

Ichigo felt the rage well up again and he was charging at the man. Flames sprung up around him and he saw a flame hit Renji square in the chest and he was knocked outside the ring of flames and Ichigo lost sight of him. He was attacking the man, but he was managing to dodge each blow with an amount of grace and poise that seemed unnatural and suddenly the man had grabbed his wrist and was behind him, mouth next to his ear.

“Don’t think I’ve forgotten about that night, you little slut,” Ryu said.

“Bastard,” Ichigo said through clenched teeth.

Ichigo used his free arm to punch him in the face, forcing the man to let go of his arm and back up. Ichigo was on the offensive again, but despite his little maneuver the man was still dodging his blows.

“I’m starting to get bored,” the man started, faking a yawn, “maybe it’s time to spice things up a bit.”

The man changed his stance and the flames increased in ferocity. Ichigo was on the defensive, barely able to avoid most of Ryu’s blows. Ryu snapped his fingers and flames erupted around his hand and he threw them at Ichigo. He tried to jump out of the way, but some of the flames still managed to hit his leg.

“Bankai!” he shouted.

He charged at the man again in an attempt to regain control of the fight. But he had a sword now and he heard the clang of swords meeting and he felt him pushing against him but then he was not and he knew what was next and he moved to block the strike. Surprise flitted across the man’s eyes.

“You didn’t honestly think that would work again, did you?”

The man chuckled darkly.

“You are proving to be much more interesting than I thought.”

And with that, more flames erupted and Ichigo was struggling and he saw cracks appearing in his sword. He was not going to lose. Not again. He focused, concentrated his energy on his sword. He was pushing back more and more They were at a stalemate, neither appearing to gain any ground against the other. And then the flames died down and the man was looking at a clock.

“I guess it’s about time to wrap this up. I’m sure Revenge has had enough time to finish.”

“Finish what?”

“The attack on Urahara’s.”

Ichigo barely had enough time to process what was just said before the man was attacking him again, only Ichigo’s strength seemed to fail him. With each successive blow, he grew weaker and weaker. He was not going to lose. Not against him. That was unacceptable. He jumped back and raised Zangetsu above his head.

“Getsuga Tenshou!”

Ichigo’s blast was met by flames, and they seemed to struggle for a bit trying to decide the victor. Ichigo put everything he had into the blast, poured what little energy he had left into the attack. The conflicting waves of energy wavered back and forth in an almost hypnotic manner.

“Pause in flammen*!” Ryu said calmly.

And then the flames erupted and pushed back Ichigo’s attack and he watched in horror as it dissolved in front of him and he was hit by the attack. He fell to the ground. He could feel the energy leaving him and his thoughts were slurring and running together and his vision was starting to fail him but then he felt himself being lifted up and he smelled the cherry blossoms again and he went back to that night, to that darkest of places where he was alone and helpless but then he heard grunting coming from across the room and the movement of debris and the man was laughing again.

“Ever the persistent one, aren’t you?” he sneered.

“Put him down,” he heard Renji growl.

“And if I don’t?”

He heard footsteps and the clang of swords and the tearing of flesh and the spilling of blood and he was moving again and he opened his eyes and saw Renji lying on the ground in a pool of blood and he thought he was going to be sick but then his grip on consciousness faded.

*German for ‘break into flames’