Sunset in Heaven

Chapter 27

Ichigo's mask slowly dissolved, showing his unreadable expression staring at Ginjo's form which was sprawled on the floor. The man was still breathing, but barely. He was having his last breath.

"...You're truly strong... No wonder... you're a Taichou..." Ginjo voiced quietly as he smiled. "I wonder... If you were on my shoes... would you also..." But then his eyes had lost their light as his heart had stopped.

Ichigo stood there for a long, long time, staring at his enemy's lifeless body. If he were in Ginjo's shoes huh... "Then I'm sure, someone like Byakuya or Kenpachi would stop me too." He knelt on one knee before he closed Ginjo's eyes. "You're very strong too... Ginjo." He said just as he coughed up so much blood that he really had to hold his chest.

"King!!" He heard Shiro's worried voice. Muramasa and Zangetsu were also voicing their own comments. His three spirits seemed to be very worried about him.

"I'm fine." He smiled as he said the words quietly. "I'm fine..." He sat on one of the rubbles as he watched Byakuya and Kariya's fight. He knew he would not be able to take on another fight anymore, much less a fight against Kariya so he sincerely hoped that he didn't have to help Byakuya win against the Bounto.

On the other hand, Byakuya could feel Kariya's overwhelming strength even though he was not admitting it. The man was surely the epitome of revenge. When they both felt Ginjo's reiatsu drop, Kariya must have felt the need to win more than anything. His attacks had become more serious and his expression and demeanor had changed as well.

"I won't let you interfere with our plans any further." Kariya voiced as he started his continuous attacks from every direction.

At the start of their battle, Kariya had used Messer for both defense and offense. But now, he had abandoned all defenses and at least powered up his offense tenfold. Byakuya was starting to have a hard time dodging his attacks since he was still using Senbonzakura as both a form of defense and offense. He would have to abandon defense too if he wanted to catch up to his enemy's current speed and power. However, that would be too reckless even for him. He was not a man who fought his opponents with reckless abandon, especially since he was known as a cool and calculating Taichou.

He needed to think things carefully.

"Master, there's no need to hold back." Senbonzakura voiced inside his mind. "You've been unconsciously holding back for a while now."

Byakuya's eyes widened at that. He's unconsciously holding himself back? He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. There was no need to hold back against Kariya. So what was the reason? His eyes then darted towards Ichigo's direction and he immediately knew why. He wanted to reserve his strength because he wanted to protect the other Taichou in case more opponents appeared. There was also the fact that he felt the need to use his healing kidou once again and treat Ichigo's wounds.

He clenched his fists tightly. He did not want Ichigo to be his weakness nor would he want to be the teen's flaw. He wanted to serve as the other Taichou's strength, just like how Ichigo was to him. "I'll finish this." He voiced coldly towards his enemy.

Kariya simply smirked at Byakuya. "I see that your heart is not here in our fight." He commented just as he looked at Ichigo, concentrating a quiet but massive attack towards the younger man. "Maybe killing that other one will make you more inclined to be serious?"

Byakuya's eyes widened. "You bastard...!!" He immediately shunpod towards Ichigo just as Kariya appeared right before the younger Taichou.

Ichigo could feel the intense pain accompanied by using too much reiatsu. He really needed to rest or he would lose consciousness again. Sitting would normally be considered as resting but his body was still in so much pain even though he was keeping his movements to a minimum. Damn, he really needed to rest... He could feel his vision blacking out from too much fatigue. Unohana-taichou would surely scold him again. But there's no way he could actually rest while Byakuya was still fighting. He wanted to watch the fight until the end. Or maybe he would try to sleep while they were fighting...? That sounded like a really nice idea... except he would be utterly vulnerable.