Afire Love (Bleach: Ichiruki)

XXXI

Third Person

As Ichigo Kurosaki's reiatsu flared to the point where even Zaraki struggled to stay on his feet, the Soul King approached the glass, shattering it with a slight tap of his finger.

Mayuri & Kisuke's eyes widened. They had expected the calming liquid to explode out, but it remained in its cylinder-like form.

Aizen reached his arm through the water, not wincing once at Ichigo's terrifying reiatsu.

Ichigo's reiatsu was strong when it was just his soul; his soul being a half of a huge soul.

But this reiatsu was his and Rukia's combined.

And it was suffocating.

But Aizen did not react in any way.

The second he placed his fingers over Ichigo's chest, where his heart is, in an instant, Ichigo's reiatsu calmed down.

In fact, in the small cylinder, Rukia's small sliver of her soul grew slightly.

Byakuya placed Rukia on the glass table in which Ichigo was strapped into. Her body was limp from the drug Mayuri inserted in her to relax her nerves, although the effect the weapon was doing to her was evident on her wide eyed, pained facial expression.

In fact, you could even sense Yhwach's spiritual energy hovering over Rukia's body.

"Thank ya, Aizen!" Urahara said.

"I'm leaving. If Ichigo doesn't succeed in this, if my wife dies..

I'll kill him."

•

74 minutes later

"Any changes, Kisuke?" Yoroichi asked as she walked back into the room.

"No." Urahara said, defeated.

All Captains and Lieutenants had gone back to their own businesses a while ago, except for Byakuya and Renji. Mayuri had left to attend to "more important matters", aka Nemu, and Yoroichi had gone to the Soul King's palace with Captain Kyōraku and his Lieutenants.

"How's Asami doing?"

"She's almost dead, Kisuke." Yoroichi sighed, setting herself down on the chair at the control center.

"She'll die anyway, right? I mean, if Ichigo succeeds, then she'll have to die, or she'll have to get the rest of her soul back." Renji said. He was looking down at his best friend, a look of grief on his face.

"He's correct. Yhwach only has a part of Asami's soul. She would need to get her entire soul back to survive." Yoroichi said.

It was silent after that. Urahara was standing before the cylinder Ichigo was in; after the Soul King had left, the cylinder had pieced itself back together as if nothing just happened.

Urahara was starting to lose faith in Ichigo; he had thought he would be able to do it; to redistribute Rukia's soul.

But he had not made even a tiny bit of progress ever since Aizen intervened.

If only he could get into Ichigo's head.

•

Ichigo Kurosaki

I was surrounded by a countless number of Rukia's.