Insanity of Betrayal

in which the author is lazy and time skips

In Hueco Mundo...

"He still isn't finished with the gigai?"

"Nope. He said it'll take a while, cuz you wanted a super fancy one. What was it that you wanted?" Shirogo started listing, "Spiritual pressure cloaking, quick reishi absorption, hyper healing, superhuman speed, strength, and agility, oh, what was that other one? You wanted it to be able to absorb your leaking spiritual energy, too, and contain it so you could use it as a backup reserve, or something."

Ichigo nodded as his clone continued. "Those wouldn't be too hard, but then you wanted it to have a switch so you could choose whether or not humans could see you! And to choose if it were invisible to souls and soul reapers, too... Isn't that taking it a bit far? I mean, I know you want to avoid them, but still!"

"Just a precaution, Shirogo."

"Whatever. Anyway, I'm going to take a nap, so don't summon me again for a while, ok?"

With that, the clone faded into nothingness, returning to his home in Ichigo's conscious.

"Come on, Nel. Let's get stronger."

The green haired teen grinned. "Then we can defeat Aizen!"

Ichigo smiled as he ruffled his companion's hair.

A few years later...

They were in a battlefield. The corpses of Hollows began to disappear, slowly, but surely.

The day's casualties were in the hundreds of thousands... and they were completely one sided. Ichigo and Nel, the 'Black Demon' and the 'Emerald Knight,' stretched their sore muscles.

"That was quite the workout, wasn't it, Isygo?" Nel said,smiling at her comrade. She had regained her adult form, and could fluently switch between age, although she always called him by the nickname her child self had given him, years and years ago.

"Naw, that was just a warm up!" Ichigo boasted. He too, had grown. His hair was much longer, reaching down to his waist when down. Because of this, he most often kept it up in a ponytail, not bothering to cut it., except for the bangs on one side of his face. He had cut the fringe on the left side, so his mask was more easily seen. He left the bangs covering the human half of his face be. Then he could only see with one eye, giving his enemies a advantage. After all, it didn't help him get stronger if he could defeat a hollow without any effort.

His black kimono was torn, and he wore a white cloak over it. His Zanpakuto was sheathed to his back. Luckily, Ichigo had managed to learn how to suppress his spiritual energy- it had gotten quite out of hand as his blade grew along with his energy. He could keep it down to its original size, but that was as small as he could get it, which was still rather large for an ordinary Shinigami.

Half his face was covered by his trademark hollow mask, although it, too, had evolved, looking more like a Vasto Lorde mask, a horns coming out the side, like dragon spikes.

He could hold it for over a few months before it exhausted his energy, which was leagues better than his original eleven seconds. Now, he kept half the mask up at all times, though he wasn't sure why.

A wailing noise echoed through the Menos Forest.

The two warriors didn't have to speak to know what the other was thinking. They shunpo ed towards the group of menos grande, taking the whole family down in mere seconds.

"A good fight, eh?" Ichigo said teasingly.

"Psh, I coulda taken them in my sleep," Nel replied. "Menos are so rare nowadays, it's like they're going extinct."

"It's probably because we keep killing them before they can evolve." Ichigo informed her.

Nel snorted, "Well maybe we should go back to the surface and fight the stronger hollows."

Ichigo looked up at the canopy of dead tree branches above them. After returning Orihime to the human world, they had gone down into the Menos forest to train against the multitudes of hollows down there. Now, it seemed like they had killed off all of the worthy opponents. Apart from an occasional herd of menos, the forest was empty.

"OK. Tomorrow, we'll go to the surface." he said, pushing the bangs out of his eyes so he could see with his human eye, rather than his hollow eye. "Then we'll see if Aizen has made his move."

In the Soul Society

It was a quiet day. Just like the past few years had been. They had prepared for the winter battle, only to be met with silence for 5 years.

That only made everyone more on edge. What had happened to their foe? Was the battle a bluff? Did his army break apart? Had he been killed?

No one knew.

It seemed like Aizen had been defeated; there were less frequent hollow attacks, most of them were the small ones that even a rookie soul reaper could take care of.

But there was something with these hollows... Rukia wasn't sure, but the last time she went to the human world, to check on the Kurosaki family, Orihime, Chad, and Uryu, she had run into one of the hollows.

*flashback*

Rukia took a deep breath of the human world's air. It was so refreshing! Suddenly, her soul pager beeped. There was a hollow nearby. She followed it's pressure until she found it, cowering under a bridge.

It swung around once it sensed her.

It let out a wail, and surprisingly, spoke out loud.

"No! I just escaped... I can't go... don't make me go back to the Demon, or the Knight! I beg of you!"

Rukia raised her sword. "Who? Who is this Demon you speak of? Is it Aizen?"

"Aizen? No, the Demon is a far greater being! A strange half breed with his loyal arrancar, they kill for sport, and have taken over the whole menos forest. They strike fast, and without fear, slaughtering anyone in their way! They chase you through the darkness, just until you feel safe, then stab you in the back. Don't make me go back, please!"

It gave her no new information, so she cleansed it with her zanpakuto, before heading to her friend's house.

A new threat? Greater than Aizen? It was crazy! Impossible! And yet... Rukia couldn't help but feel uneasy.

*Flashback end*

Rukia shook her head. Someone had to look into this, but no one would listen. Even in her head, it was ridiculous. Something worse than Aizen? No one would take her seriously.

She pulled out her pager, and sent a message to her friends.

She would go to investigate. But she couldn't go alone.

Meet me at Urahara's. Important. Expect to be gone for a while.