The Noble Sort

A/N: As usual, all the important information is lurking in the notes of the first two parts. And for those of you not on AFF, yes, Chapter 18 is missing. It's, well, R-rated and not allowed on the other sites. I don't want anything yanked or to be banned from anywhere. I know people post all the time on FF without problems, but I'm also due to have my last name become Murphy, and Murphy's law gets us all the time.

And the eye color issue, which is probably bugging me more than you guys. Apparently Kyouraku's eyes change color in the anime, but 335 of the manga (a color chapter) shows him with brown eyes. I was right! Unfortunately, that freakin' mangaka changed Ukitake's eye color on me. In the earliest color scans, Ukitake has copper eyes. In 335, they're green. I'm sticking with copper; I can't even imagine him with green eyes other than in that picture! Although—well, he's smexy in the picture. That's all I'm gonna say. They both are, really. Kyouraku looks damn good in a suit!

And as for Ukitake-Sexy-Voice, which shows up in 18 and this chapter, well, it is! That seiyuu has a voice straight from a romance novel! Itachi=sexy voice. Ukitake=sexy voice. I can't help it! I don't know about the English version, but the Japanese seiyuu—mmmm.

There will be some notes at the end of Chapter 20 too; I recommend you read them. There are some important things covered.

Enjoy!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"The Noble Sort"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Minako woke the next morning feeling pleasantly warm, even though the sun hadn't risen yet and it was early winter.

Juushirou—and she could legitimately call him that now—was pressed up against her back, his heat warming her skin to a pale blush. And Hidaruma, flurry and fluffy, was in front of her, barely half a foot away, also warming her skin. She had two personal heaters, and she was happy.

She was pretty sure the agreement had been that he would stay away for the night, but it must have gotten colder outside. Besides, there most likely wasn't any time left for any activities she would shame her zanpakutou with.

Surely other people didn't have to think about these things, right?

She felt the arm around her waist tighten as his breathing pattern changed, and she feigned sleep, desperate to see his reaction to Hidaruma sharing the futon.

Oh, and something else is awake, too…

She feigned sleep and shifted backward just a little, allowing his lower body to come into full contact with her back. She heard him stifle a noise—a groan, maybe—before he exhaled slowly. She knew he was most likely trying to control himself.

She felt his head raise up as his hand flailed about, no doubt tickled by the extravagant fur brushing up against it, and he let out a—very girly—shriek, the arm on her waist tightening again and pulling her close while the one beneath her neck continued to flounder about.

She would never tell him it wasn't a manly noise, though. He would already be embarrassed.

She felt him try to calm his breathing as he edged them away from the mass of black fur and muscle on the other side of his futon, and it was over for her. He was acting like an academy student scared by their first hollow.

She couldn't stand it anymore; she let the laughter loose.

"You knew he was here with us? You could have warned me!"

The exasperation he felt over his wake-up surprise was clear, but she couldn't help finding the situation funny.

"But it—too good!"

"And you! What are you doing in here?" he said demandingly, as if scolding a child.

Hidaruma just cracked open an eyeball, scooted a little closer, and returned to dreamland.

"Probably too cold outside for him," she said, and she could feel the disgruntled air coming off her lover as she moved to cuddle the hellhound. "Poor shishi," she murmured.

"So I should expect this often?"

The sweet, no-nonsense way he said it, so accepting of the idea that they would share a futon—well, a bed, if she had any say in the matter—in the future warmed her heart in a way she didn't think possible. The future was uncertain, but just the idea that he wouldn't mind sharing one with her…

"Probably."

She blushed—a very rare thing.

The arm around her waist pulled her a few scant inches backward, tight against his chest, and she could feel his nose burrowing in her hair. It definitely ended any thoughts she had of hugging the shishi. She wiggled down into the blankets and his arms, seeking the warmth that waking up and moving had made her lose. The air was too chilly to be up yet. They had at least another hour before even the taichou had to report.

"You have everything you need for today?" he asked quietly, his voice muffled by her hair in his face.

She just nodded, knowing he would feel it. He was still and quiet for a moment, most likely pondering what they would face this morning, and then he nosed through her hair, nuzzled her neck, and placed a soft kiss on her jaw line.

She almost purred with content; she was sure she was glowing after last night.

"Do you?" she asked.

He nodded against her neck.

Then they had about an hour to enjoy the peace before they had to get up, get ready, and go to war. She had longer, but she knew the taichou were meeting early to make sure everything went right.

His arm slid lower, then, down to her hips, and she felt him trace a line down her thigh, caressing, fondling, teasing. His hand slipped in between her legs and she felt him lift one, sliding his knee in between her thighs.

Mmm…

"Not that I don't appreciate the thought, but Hidaruma—"

"Will not be watching, if he knows what is good for him," he said, his voice husky from sleep and turning her on more than should ever be possible.

If the giant dog didn't bother him, she'd put aside her own shyness for one more round before the day they had all dreaded began.

She gave in.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Four hours Later

Everything was crazy. Shinigami were running around everywhere, including the newly-transferred Karakura Town, and those that would be fighting to defend the pillars and the fake Karakura had left at least an hour before.

She had stayed in Juushirou's rooms until she felt the need to let Sasakibe—and her own private back-up—know she was present and accounted for. There was nowhere else for her to go here, really, and she hadn't wanted to leave his futon. Leaving meant ending the night they had shared, and while she usually wasn't emotional, she was definitely feeling that way right now.

And Hidaruma had been on her case since Juushirou left, not because they had sex with him in the room—apparently only an issue to her, really—but because she had suddenly become a 'lovesick female' that was 'incapable of emotional control.'

They had argued back and forth before she tried to banish him from the futon, at which point he told her that if her lover could accept him being there she would just have to grin and bear it. The point had been bandied back and forth for almost half an hour before she just gave up.

She had lost an argument to a dog.

Suddenly, though, she was ripped out of her musings by a flash of bright red hair behind a building right in front of her, definitely right in her line of vision.

Akane.

And right behind her, Chouko.

She jumped off the third division building that had become her informal post at the moment and headed toward them and the abandoned little custodial hut they were currently sneaking into. Somehow, they had made it this far into Seireitei. They were no longer just staying back and watching the show, ready to help her with the seals if she needed. They wanted something else.

She threw the door open, threw herself in, and slammed it shut as quickly as possible; even if the shinigami were all busy, they might notice a clandestine meeting of exiles in the middle of Seireitei at some point.

As she looked around she was even more surprised. Akane and Chouko were there, of course, but Kenta and Isamu had also shown up. The two former Kidō Corp. members had made it very well-known that they had no plans to fight on either side, so their arrival was…fishy. The arrival of her entire network even more so.

"What are you all doing here?"

"I'm ground support; I'm supposed to be here. Chouko you knew would show up, considering. But these two lugs, here," she said, pointing to the two men, "I have no idea! They just showed up this morning at the gate coordinates you gave me!"

All three women turned and looked at the two very large, imposing men.

"Got some news," Kenta said gruffly.

"Apparently some back-door dealin' goin' on—"

"And you don't wanna know which side—"

"'Cuz it's both," Isamu finished, and she realized once again why she rarely visited the two brothers.

She held her hands up, signaling for a pause.

What?

"What do you mean, 'back-door?'"

Isamu crossed his arms and looked down at her.

"Back-door. Wrong-way. However you wanna put it. Aizen's got a few traitors in 'is midst."

Her mind was racing. If so, if it was true, there might be a way they could capitalize on it. But she doubted it; it was too late, the battles were already raging and her part would be up soon.

"Who?"

"If the info. was right, Ichimaru."

"Could he be turned?"

"Not 'cording to the source. Says he's a loose cannon. No loyalty."

Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

That was worse. Unlike the rest of the people on the battlefield, he would have no loyalty to anyone but himself. There was no real way to tell who he would go after and what his motive was.

"The other?"

"Arrancar. Supposedly he's turned from his master. Still stuck in Hueco Mundo, though."

No help at all, although she would be extremely happy if she could just have the man's sources herself. She doubted her uncle even knew of this. But that was how the secret corps worked; they weren't above using hollows as sources if it got them what they needed.

Suddenly she froze, staring up at the large expert in front of her. He had said both ways. Both sides. That meant that someone on their side was also dirty, which meant they could all be preparing to fall into a trap.

"And on this side?"

"Some low-levels Aizen's had panderin' to him for decades. Spread out, though. Most likely know everything goin' on. When they figured it out he sent word to the Second's taichou. She supposedly took care of't before she left."

"What do you think, Kenta?" she asked, looking to the other man for his input.

"I don't think any of 'em left can do anything major. Not this late in th' game."

Nothing to be done, then.

"And you boys? Is that why you came all this way?"

They both shook their heads, eyes shining like diamonds.

"Then why? I thought you weren't going to get involved in this?"

"We weren't. But we still have contacts on the inside, y'know. An' if we heard right, an old friend from Zero'll be making an appearance soon."

The shudder that rolled down her spine was easily spottable, she was sure.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The battles for the support pillars were over; she couldn't hear the distant fighting over the comms anymore. The rumbling had ended only an hour and a half earlier, although no real word had come from the final front line in the human world. They had been in this limbo for at least two hours now, Minako sitting, waiting and watching from atop the gate closest to the transferred Karakura.

She could see a few people wandering through the streets below that weren't shinigami, most likely shocked and terrified, but it was to be expected. There was a reason he was targeting the town, and those with any decent level of spiritual pressure wouldn't have been knocked out like the normal humans.

When it was all over they would see who had seen what and take care of the situation. That was the shinigami's job, though, not hers.

Sasikbe had joined her less than an hour before, winded and crazed, and informed her that the Visoreds had gone into the barrier, joined the main battle. Ichigo, the human they had all put their hopes into, was still M.I.A.

Just as her uncle feared.

It didn't matter in the long run, though. She had a job to do whether or not the teenager showed up on time.

Other than that, he had said, he knew her uncle had engaged in battle and that many of the taichou were fighting the Espada in groups or one on one. There had been a brief moment of terror as she realized Ukitake—the Juushirou thing was still off and on—was somewhere in the other barrier, fighting for his life.

She hoped that he stayed down until Aizen left. The Espada were one thing, but Aizen—he would leave none of them standing when he finally came this way.

She would have little warning, perhaps a few minutes when Aizen began to open the Garganta, and she was finally starting to feel the pressure building inside her chest. It felt like a weight sitting on her lungs, immobile and steadfast. There was no way she could fail now, but the possibility was always there. No amount of practice made anything foolproof, and the long list of things that could go wrong had run through her head over and over this morning.

In the end, she was forced to calm down and remember that there were no second chances here, that she couldn't change anything now.

She was as prepared as she could be.

As was Seireitei. The academy, the lower-level unranked shinigami, and anyone below fourth seat had been evacuated into the human town, where they could be protected by her barrier. Those left behind would be little match for Aizen, but at least they wouldn't be as bad as throwing kids into his path like flies for him to swat aside.

And her guys were now positioned at different intersections throughout the town, ready to throw up kidō flares for the harder seals. It would give her an easy way to pinpoint locations that could make the circle half-sphere thing her uncle had requested instead of her typical barrier. She still thought it was a lot of hassle to go through for one little barrier that probably wouldn't be that effective in the long run.

She turned to the older man beside her, frowning.

"You should move in now. I won't have much time when I get going."

He shook his head at her and then returned to scanning the city and the skies for any sign of trouble.

"I have my orders, Minako-sama."

"Oh?" she said, an amused lilt in her voice. "Has oji-san given you babysitting duty?"

She saw his quick smirk before he was able to wipe it away.

"Of course not, Minako-sama. I am…supervising."

"Oh. Supervising. You came all the way back here to…supervise."

"Indeed."

"Me or them?" she said, jerking a thumb over her shoulder at the mass of terrified confusion behind them. All the fuku-taichou and seated officers worth anything were already in battle or had already fought. Or were in Hueco Mundo.

They were left with a writhing ball of nothing, third and fourth seats from almost every company that weren't worth the zanpakutou they held. And there were less than a hundred of them. Cannon fodder for Aizen, if it came to it. They would be enough to make him pause a moment in his progress but not enough to do any harm. They were a stall tactic, essentially.

As a matter of fact, the only fuku-taichou left were Sasakibe and Nanao. He was here now, playing leader, and she was inside the 'barrier-zone,' as Minako had named it, trying to keep everyone calm and situated. She was the planner, in effect. The organizer.

Minako figured the feisty little fuku-taichou would have something to say about that when her taichou returned from battle. She almost regretted that she wouldn't be there to see it. She sighed, closing her eyes and shaking the thoughts out of her head. It did little good to concentrate on her approaching mortality. Better to ignore it until it was right in front of her.

She heard Sasakibe suck in a breath and a terrified murmur sweep across the crowd behind the gate; everyone was pointing at a small black dot in the western sky.

Garganta.

It was taking quite a long time to form, though, which was good for her, but it also meant that the barrier was still up over the fake Karakura Town, that he had to fight it to get the full Garganta formed. At least, she hoped it did.

If the barrier was still up, Gen-oji-san was still breathing somewhere.

As four pillars of light shot into the sky above Karakura, she moved.

She jumped from the ledge she had been standing on to the full wall next to the gate, which was by far larger and safer. If she began to kick up a wind from her reiatsu, she would need that sturdy foundation.

Sasakibe had obviously taken the cue she gave and fled backward, coming to rest on a building off to her right. The troops could see him; he could see everything. It was the perfect spot for him right now.

Ready, shishi?

Of course, my dear. Let's do this.

She could hear the grim resolve in Hidaruma's voice, and she used it to shore up her own courage.

She raised the blade in front of her.

"Ryouken Jigoku no Akazora, Kaze-ni!" she yelled.

He immediately released, and the sword-seal form was in front of her, the six seals dull on the blade without activation. She grasped the sword in her right hand and brought her left up near the tip of the blade.

"Dai-ichi Raimon: Kai!" she said, swiping her left hand across the first seal and it immediately began glowing bright blue.

She felt the seal begin to fall and maneuvered it to the street near her right, the seal making contact with the concrete at exactly the same time the lightning struck the very spot. Then, she brought her hand back up.

"Dai-ni Himon: Kai!"

Another swipe of her left hand, and the second seal glowed a luminous orange.

This one she maneuvered to a spot of pavement to her left, where one of the flares was being sent up, which immediately had a small fire burning in the spot marking the seal's landing zone. She hoped that pavement would be enough to keep Karakura from burning, considering there was no way for her to surround the whole town. It would be less dangerous then, but she didn't have near the power to do it.

"Dai-san Tenkamon: Kai!" she screamed, swiping her hand across the third seal and watching the purple glow appear right before her eyes.

There was a very loud boom and a scream as she startled someone with the lightning and fire mixture off in front of her, in the exact spot of the furthest kidō flare. She was sure they had moved in time, but it couldn't have been a nice surprise.

Poor Chouko.

She could see the location in her mind's eye, and she made sure the seal made it all the way to the pavement. Then, she stepped backwards a few feet, glancing into the sky at the approaching garganta.

"Sanmon no Akazora: Kai!"

The barrier flashed into existence, uniting the three seals in a triangular shape. Her hands flew again, tracing out a circle and dragging the lines into it, and the lines connecting the seals bent into a circular shape stretching throughout Karakura and, in one case, even through a building.

"Rokumon no Genshukusa," she said, and while there was no reaction amongst the seals or the barrier, a wind flew up suddenly, surrounding her and the scared shinigami behind the wall. She could hear someone wailing now, even, which almost disgusted her.

Except, well, it was Aizen. She could understand their fear.

"Dai-yon Raikagemon: Kai!"

She swiped her hand across the fourth seal and it glowed a deep dark blue. The seal materialized a scant ten feet in front of her, high in the air, but she pulled it down with her left hand and fought to get it to pavement level. She released it and, thankfully, it stayed.

"Dai-go Hokagemon: Kai!"

She swiped her hand across the fifth seal and watched it glow bright red. She focused on the location of the kidō flare to her left and used her left hand to forcefully drag the fifth seal down to pavement level. There was a short burst of light not a second later, one of the team telling her it was in position and she could release the seal.

"Dai-roku—"

She choked on the wind and the dust being sent her way by the reiatsu that was fluctuating wildly around her. She could feel Hidaruma's concentration though, his hold on the part of her power she never felt comfortable releasing, and she forced it out.

"Dai-roku Okagemon: Kai!"

She swiped her hand across the seal on the sword and it glowed black. She forced the seal, already so low as to be down on the ground, form over the last flare to her right. There was a final shot of light and she let it go.

All six seals were in place.

"Taikasei!" she shouted, raking her hand down all six seals glowing on the flat of the blade in front of her, and she felt all the seals connect on the same level ground, in one dimension. The seals on her blade pulsed once in tandem, and then the colors were gone. Everything was golden.

A cheery, goldish-orange bubble that looked transparent but shiny, much like the bubbles she had seen kids playing with in the park, popped up over three quarters of Karakura Town.

She stepped back, standing up—when had she hunched over like that?—and took in a deep breath. She was pouring sweat and shaking like she had run a marathon, but the barrier was up before the full Garganta opened.

Just barely, though. She could already see Aizen and Gin in the distance, walking out of the black hole, stepping into a portion of Karakura she wasn't able to shield. Hopefully the damage he would do would be minimal.

She turned and jumped down at the same time as Sasakibe.

"I have to—"

"Go! If he comes this way we'll do what we can. But you have to keep it up however long you can!"

She nodded, already running for one of the buildings near the gate.

But she never made it.

She wasn't sure exactly how they had traveled so fast but they were there, right in front of her, Aizen with his evil smirk and Gin with his clueless facial expression. She could hear someone screaming at him in the background, and she swore she heard Sasakibe yelling something, but they were out of her mind now.

He was here. In front of her.

She was terrified.

Whatever he had done to himself, it wasn't normal. He looked like a Hollow, really, or a very fancy Arrancar. And the sheer power rolling off of him had all but a few of the shinigami behind her down on the ground, unconscious.

My God…

She took an involuntary step back, her instincts telling her to flee, but it wouldn't do any good. He would catch up with her.

So she once again bolstered herself and stood her ground. The hand holding Hidaruma stiffened, her body already prepping for a battle she knew she could never win.

"Yamamoto-fuku-taichou."

"Aizen," she spat, her disgust obvious.

He just stood there, smirking.

She could hear Hidaruma screaming in her mind, telling her they had no choice anyway and to just do it, but she was literally frozen in the face of the threat they were all working to eliminate. The idea of suddenly stabbing herself with her own sword wasn't even computing at the moment.

"I had always hoped to see your barrier. Of course, I never thought you would be joined with them, trying to thwart me or my plans. After all, they have wronged you, have they not?"

She swallowed, and her hands balled up at her sides.

"Do I frighten you?" he said, sounding feral yet calm. It was odd, almost as disconcerting as hearing her voice when meshed with Hidaruma's.

"I think you do," Gin said, his singsong voice completely inappropriate for the situation.

"Shut it, Ichimaru," she murmured, her voice low in the din created by his reiatsu being released. She raised her sword to the side, straight out. If she had to…

"Or is it the truth you cannot handle, Minako? What have you told them about that terrifying day all those years ago? Do they think I am the cause of your pain? Have you even told your oji-san the truth? Have you told him his own are responsible?"

She heard Sasakibe gasp.

The barrier was fighting her now; it had been too long. It was pulling too much power and without using bankai it was unsupportable for more than a few minutes. Her body was tugging at her, the power drain and emotional overload becoming too much.

"Or are you spinning tales, trying to protect them from the truth about their corrupt dictatorship?" He smiled at her, a predatory smirk if she'd ever seen one. "You always did tell a good story."

He took a large step forward and then the tenuous standoff was over, finished, as Sasakibe made a suicidal dash for the madman in front of her. She felt more than heard herself scream at him to stay back, he didn't know what was going on and she wanted to know how he knew and how much he knew but it was too late, Gin was laughing and his blade was already in Sasakibe's stomach, and she didn't even have to move her sword for it to begin.

She felt herself drop to the ground like a rock, felt the fire spreading inside her as Hidaruma screamed and she screamed from the feeling of a billion cells rearranging, shifting, changing. Evolving in a way they were never meant to.

She could see the childish glee on Aizen's evil face as he watched, most likely extremely interested in seeing what they had done to her, what they had thought would be able to defeat him, and she closed her eyes. It was not an image she wanted, and the pain was becoming unbearable.

She was going to pass out. It was all going to have been for nothing because she wasn't going to make it through the fucking transformation because of the energy she had already expended.

As everything dulled from fire to black she could hear Hidaruma, but she couldn't understand him.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

She woke in the same courtyard she had passed out in, shinigami bodies all around. Some were dead but most were just unconscious, the effect of Aizen's power.

The pain was gone, now, which meant she was flame. She brought her hand up in front of her face and, sure enough, saw orange-bright flame with pinpricks of blue where the tips of her fingers should have been.

She pushed herself off the ground slowly, carefully, afraid that any movement might cause her to lose the form. But she still felt light and pain-free, and the feeling intensified when she saw her barrier was still stable.

I told you. I can control it when you cannot.

Thanks, shishi.

It was always different, their conversation. More like speaking to herself than another entity. It was terrifying for both of them, except it was exhilarating at the same time.

She saw Sasakibe, thankfully still breathing although badly wounded, and glided over to him.

"Will you live, old man?" she asked, her voice a strange mix of male and female, as if two voices were speaking from one mind. Interference, Urahara had called it. Said it sounded like radio interference, as if you were picking up two stations at the same time.

His eyes were wide with shock and—even though she hated the very thought of it—fear, and he nodded. He was pale, definitely in pain, but he would live.

"Where did he go?"

"To—toward the city."

She crouched low and pushed off with her feet, suddenly jumping through the air so fast that shunpo wouldn't catch her.

She landed on the concave side of her barrier, scanning the available bit of city he could be in. Who knew what he was doing to the people he found there? She couldn't stop him. Hell, she couldn't injure him. But she could slow him down, even if just long enough for the human to get here…

A long, straight sword reminiscent of Hidaruma in his everyday form slowly sprouted from her right hand, the hilt coming from her left. She was not weaponless, and she was unbelievably hard to injure in this form.

A large crash from her left had her swinging around, pivoting on what was once a foot as she turned to face the disturbance.

There.

Matsumoto was down, obviously, but Gin had finally played his hand. He was lying on a pile of rubble, severely injured, and Aizen was standing above him, ready to deliver the killing blow.

She pushed off once again, intent on getting there and joining the fight.

Their blades met, hers swinging in a large arc and pushing his away from the silver-haired man laying in the rubble—but he was off, gone far enough away that he could guess her next movement before she could consider another swing.

"You should not get involved in this, Minako."

She grinned at him as she stepped into the stance she was so accustomed to.

"This is not your fight."

"Maybe not," she conceded, "but I'm here."

She flitted towards him, her bankai-increased speed making her invisible to the naked eye, but he was too quick. Her sword didn't even meet his before he was away, moving once again out of range.

"Are you gonna fight or just run away?"

He shook his head at her, an evil smile on his face.

"I know better than to let you get too close. I know what they have done to you; the only way for me to safely kill you is to force your transformation."

She snorted.

"And you say this isn't my fight. What was done to me is your fault."

"Ah, but I did not do it, now did I?"

"I wouldn't put it past you to have had a hand in it, though. Always scheming."

She flicked her sword and then her left hand shot up in the air in front of her.

Aizen was immediately engulfed in a pillar of flame—Hibashira. It wasn't her strongest attack but it was her favorite due to its immediacy and the chance of crippling any opponent vulnerable to her element. But when the pillar disappeared—he was fine. Not even smoldering.

"Minako. You should know better."

I can't defeat him. I know that.

Then we keep him busy and talking, onna.

She moved to flit to his position again but he was suddenly in front of her, sword flashing near her neck. The quick movement threw her off balance but she recovered quickly, her shunpo turning into a quick retaliatory strike at his left arm.

It did no good.

He was already gone, at least three blocks away. He was toying with her; she could feel her anger rise at it. He knew she had no chance of defeating him but he continued to play with her.

But it didn't matter—she was buying time, right?

And then the scene changed, she was standing in the middle of the road but Aizen was where he had been at the beginning, where he had been all along, standing right beside Ichimaru. He had tricked her—the anger she felt grew.

She moved again, this time putting all the energy she had behind the shunpo—

She stopped short nearly a block away as the human kid that Urahara was always talking about appeared, and—well, what a surprise—an old face with him. He moved to Aizen and their fight was on.

Ichigo had made it then.

She heaved a sigh of relief. There would never have been a chance for her to defeat Aizen, even for her to fight him seriously. The cat and mouse game would have ended eventually and she would have been in the same state Ichimaru was, down on the ground in agony, dying.

She kept the barrier up, not sure who would win or what kind of damage they would possibly do, and moved to Ichimaru, slowly. He was breathing badly, obviously run through at least once already.

She lifted her sword, prepared to take at least one of the men who had cause all of the chaos and strife they had faced out of this world once and for all, but Matsumoto was in front of her suddenly, almost sobbing.

"Please don't. I—I need—"

Are we gonna get to kill anyone today, onna?

You are upset that we did not need to really fight? Are you for real?

She stepped back, lowering her sword.

I'm getting soft, shishi.

He grunted.

She turned and looked at the other man—shinigami—lying on the ground, and she could feel her face breaking out into a smile. Boy, tons of people were popping up today, weren't they?

"Isshin-san."

He just huffed a large breath at her, obviously extremely worn out from whatever had been going on inside the strange Garganta they had seen earlier.

And then there was a bright flash of something, able to make her feel like the retinas she didn't have had been burned, and she couldn't feel Aizen's crushing power anymore. Whatever had happened over there, Aizen wasn't what he once was.

They had won.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: Chapter 20 will be up asap.