FicWad

Careless Wonder

Chapter Fifteen: Death Of A Friend

Ichigo frantically ran through the streets of Karakura town. His mind reeling over everything that was going wrong at that very second. He could feel Aria fighting, her spiritual pressure rising and falling at an alarming rate. There were others fighting as well, Toshiro being one of them. He knew they were keeping an eye on her and probably after seeing her being attacked they came to help. It seemed everyone was fighting, he could already hear the battle not too far from where he was. But why the hell were they fighting so close to his home? Yuzu and Karin were at school, right?

If they were then why did he have had a dreadful feeling the fight that was going on had his sisters involved? Thinking that made him run faster the he ever ran in his entire life.

"Ichigo!" An all too familiar voice called from behind. He glanced around his shoulder and saw Uryuu running not too far behind him.

"Uryuu? What are you doing here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" He pushed up his glasses in that annoying gesture Ichigo had grown to hate. "I've come to help. You're not the only one to notice the fighting brewing ahead."

Ichigo nodded his head. "Thanks Uryuu." Of course the Quincy didn't respond but Ichigo didn't take it to heart. He had too many things going on inside his mind to take notice.

Ichigo instantly brought his substitute soul reaper bag into play once he saw the fight ahead, deciding he would move faster in his soul reaper form. He let his body fall in an alleyway, not caring who found it.

Ahead he could finally see the fight taking place. Toshiro had used Bankai and was fighting an opponent he did not recognized. Rangiku, Renji, Ikakku, amd Yumichika were present as well, each facing their own opponent. Damn. How many did Roy had on his side? What the hell did he miss? As he ran closer with Uryuu trailing close behind, he frantically searched for a certain red head who would never miss with her unusual colored hair, but what caught his eye instead was someone completely different and significantly shorter.

"Rukia!" He called. She momentarily glanced over at him, but continued on with her fighting without returning the call. She had a fight at hand and she couldn't distract herself from Ichigo's momentarily stupidity. Why did he always had to call out everyone's name when he first saw them? No matter what the circumstances presents itself?

He swore underneath his breath seeing her continue on with her fight. Her opponent had slick black hair and was wearing normal human clothing like the rest of Roy's comrades, including himself. They all had Zanpakuto's which indicated they were all ex-soul reapers. Some looked too had called on their released forms all ranging from combat only Zanpakuto's to elementals and magic wielding ones. Flames, icicles, lighting, and other acts of Zanpakuto power rained through the air. Everyone was fighting to kill or be killed.

"Ichigo!" Uryuu yelled, worry heard clear in his tone. He looked over at his annoyingly smart friend to see him running towards… his house. So, he was right. The battle was taking place near his house. His eyes followed the direction of where Uryuu was running, his face paled at what he saw.

Lying on the ground was his two sisters and father. All three not moving. Without even thinking, he ran toward his family, the pain and fear evident in his eyes as the worse crossed his mind. It felt like a millennium until finally, he was close enough to them to kneel down next to Uryuu. Uryuu had his hands on each of their necks, his eyes scanning over their bodies. He sighed and pushed up his glasses for the second time. "Their fine. They don't look that hurt, just some cuts and bruises of what I can see, but I can't be too sure. We should go get Orihime to heal them just to be safe."

And just like that, Ichigo's heart slowed back down to its normal pace. His family was safe, but he wasn't there to protect them. He gritted his teeth as he looked down at his two sisters' unconscious faces, his hands balling into fists as he growled. "Damn you Roy," he clutched his fist in front of his face, letting it shake slightly from his fury. "What the hell do you benefit from hurting my family?!" He shot up to his feet and looked around, her eyes scanning the sky with fury as he looked for the man he hated with all his might at that very moment.

His eyes finally caught sight of a familiar red-head he was looking for earlier, but it was only a glimpse as he saw her body barreling through the sky, blood flying behind her as she crashed into the ground below her, a dust forming around where she landed. Both boys ran to her, Ichigo having his sword drawn and Uryuu having his bow at hand ready to counter. The dust settled as Aria slowly rose from the small crater she made from her body. Ichigo and Uryuu stopped when she was standing fully, her back facing them and her right arm clutching her left bloody one that was too damaged to be of any use. She was breathing heavily, her eyes glaring up into the sky.

"Aria!" Ichigo yelled, closing the gap between them and running to her side, his eyes travelling over her injured arm. "You're hurt! Bad!"

She narrowed her eyes as she stared at him from the corner of her eyes. "What gave you that idea, genius?" Before he could come up with a comeback, she winced and fell to one knee. Ichigo took a step forward to see if she was alright, but Uryuu was already at her side, his hand on her right shoulder.

"You're too injured to continue." Uryuu pressed lightly on her shoulder, trying to refrain her from moving any further. She only glared at his attempt. "Don't move. You're only going to further your injuries." Aria swatted his hand away and brought a shaking fist in front of her face, her eyes set with determination.

"Nonsense," she croaked out. "I feel like I could tackle a bull head on…" Her face stiffened when a cracking noise was heard from her back, then she slowly withered down until she face planted into the ground. "See," she mumbled out weakly. "Everything's fine!"

"Like hell you are!" Ichigo grunted. He walked over and stood in front of her, his eyes instantly locking with Roy's who was smirking down at the withering Aria. "Just stay put. You've done your share so let Uryuu and I finish the job."

Aria propped herself up on her elbow, her left lying limp at her side and glaring at Ichigo's back. "Ichigo, you need to stop this." She slowly rose to her feet again, ignoring Uryuu's protests. "If you keep this up, you'll lose your soul reapers powers sooner rather than later. Please Ichigo-"

"Will you just shut up already?!" That made Aria shut her mouth instantly. "This isn't about me, this has nothing to do with me! This bastard hurt my family and my friend for whatever stupid reason he came up with. I will never forgive him for what he has done and what he is doing now. I won't let him hurt anyone I care for any longer. This ends now!" He brought his sword forward, pointing it straight at Roy and yelled, "Bankai!" The black, spiritual energy engulfed Ichigo and then revealed his Bankai state. Aria gritted her teeth when she felt his spiritual pressure fluctuate. Uryuu felt it too, noticing Aria's distress about the matter, he placed a hand on her good shoulder to show he felt it too.

"He's an idiot," Aria whispered harshly. Uryuu nodded his head in agreement.

"Tell me something I don't know."

Aria grimaced again from the pain that shot through her body. She swayed back and forth on her knees, but Uryuu leaned over letting Aria fall against his chest. He gripped her good shoulder and examined her injured body, his eyes growing wide after realizing the extent of her injuries. Her whole left arm was torn up, her blood soaking through her school uniform jacket and pooling at the ground below her. He also noticed the heavy scarring on her shoulder that was exposed but didn't ask about it since that wasn't the place or time. There were numerous gashes across the length of her body that had him worried. It amazed him how injured she was on such a short period of time, and how she was still able to move.

Aria looked up at him, sensing his perplexed state. "I had to protect them," she breathed out, then grimaced from another shot of pain running through the course of her body. "He was going to kill Ichigo's family and I had to stop him. I stood in the way of his blast…"

"Then that explains your injuries," Uryuu assessed, unaware of Ichigo's hearing. "The nights we've spent together I've analyzed your fighting capabilities. It was hard to believe you would have sustained such horrendous amount of damage in such little time." Aria chuckled meekly.

"I've been through worse, believe me, this won't stop me." She reached down and grabbed her black sword in her right hand, ignoring the pain. "I can still fight. Ichigo is no match for him in his current state."

"Don't be idiotic. You're no better than him right about now, you'll only get in his way. Besides, Ichigo always finds a way to win his battles, no matter what the odds are." Aria opened her mouth to protest, but ended up coughing up her words, making them incoherent. Uryuu grabbed her good arm and slung it over his shoulders, helping her stand on her own two feet. "Let's get you somewhere safe."

"Where do you think you're going?" Roy's voiced called from above. He was over them now, looking at the two with a triumphant smile. Uryuu growled with annoyance.

Ichigo raised his sword at the man who harmed his family and now close friend. The anger evident on his face as he growled. "She's not your opponent anymore. You're mine." Ichigo leaped into the air, heading straight for Roy, his sword raised.

"Ichigo," Aria yelled up at him. "Watch out for his arm! That's his Shikai!" Uryuu was already helping her walk away to let her sit and rest at a safe distance. When she yelled up to Ichigo, Uryuu turned his head to see his arm. It gleamed in the light from where he was standing. It looked like he had a large metal arm and at the end was a barrel shaped like a large gun… was it a gun?

Roy smiled down toward Aria before fixating his gaze at Ichigo's incoming form. He pointed his arm at the boy, his smile growing. "You should listen to her, boy." The barrel began to glow, near his shoulder an intake valve was pulling something out of the air and into his arm. Before Ichigo could react, a bright light blasted from Roy's armored arm and headed straight for Ichigo. Ichigo brought his sword up, not having had enough time to dodge the attack. The blast hit his sword square on, some of it obliterated on the spot and another part splitting with the sword and hitting Ichigo's chest with a quarter of its strength. It sent him flying back and into the ground.

Uryuu watched Ichigo fly backwards as he helped Aria into a sitting position. He swore under his breath and told Aria to not move before running over to Ichigo's fallen form. He kneeled over, grabbing his arm and helping him into a sitting position. Ichigo took sharp breaths of air, his right hand clutching his chest in pain. "Dammit," he swore under his breath. Blood trickled down the back of his hand.

"Are you alright, Ichigo?" Uryuu asked, concern written all over his face.

"Yeah, just wasn't expecting that." Ichigo stood up shakily, and with the help of Uryuu. He looked up toward Roy and growled when he saw the man smiling smugly at the two boys.

"Had enough, Ichigo? Want to know something funny?" His smile grew, his teeth shining bright from the sunlight hitting them perfectly. "That wasn't even my strongest attack. If you can't handle that, then you don't have a chance in hell against me, boy."

Aria watched as Roy mocked Ichigo. She ground her teeth together at how helpless she felt at that moment. Dammit all to hell. Aria wasn't a weak person. She watched Uryuu stand up and step in front of Ichigo like he was protecting him. He formed his bow and pointed it at Roy. Aria, yet again, ground her teeth together. Even Uryuu was no match for him.

"This can't be happening," Aria whispered to herself, not even realizing she was speaking out loud. "What am I supposed to do? I can't just sit here and do nothing!"

Someone else appeared near Uryuu. Another lackey of Roy's it seemed. He was a couple of feet away from Uryuu and was smiling. They conversed, Aria not being able to hear what they were saying. Soon though, they were fighting one on one. The guy attacked first, forcing Uryuu to battle with him. So, that was Roy's plan. One on one battles.

What was the point of that? If he was planning on killing someone then why only bring enough men for one on one battles. The man fighting Uryuu wasn't fighting anyone before he came. So, he was hiding in the shadow until Roy's cue? Why didn't he fight sooner?

What was Roy planning?

Aria stopped her musing when she heard Ichigo yell up toward Roy again. She could hear the anger clear in his voice. No. Not anger. He was furious.

"What the hell do you want with her?" Ichigo yelled up at the supposed uncle. His eyes burning with hate for the man before him.

Roy smiled at Ichigo's fire, finding him amusing when he was all worked up. "There's something she has that I want," he paused for dramatic effect. He watched Ichigo's face closely, knowing what he was going to see with his oncoming words. He had done a lot of research on the boy per Aizen's request. He knew what would get him off the end of sanity. "There's something inside of her, something I need." There it was, Ichigo's eyes grew wide with realization. The one named Rukia had something similar happen to her and Ichigo was incapable of stopping Aizen from taking what he needed from the girl. Now, Aria was in the same position. What would he do to protect her? He wanted to test it.

Roy moved his eyes to look over toward Aria. He smiled in her direction. "Of course, in order to retrieve what I want, she has to die." Aria heard every word, but she kept her glare hard and unwavering. But Ichigo was a different story. His eyes were wide with alarm, he was to shaken to speak, his breath coming out raggedly. "To bad, I was fond of her when she was a child. So bright and always wanting to learn something new. Of course, she was such a happy child back then too. Her eyes held such joy and affection for everyone and everything around her. But now – now her eyes only hold sorrow and pain. I don't blame her. She did kill her family after all. Their blood are on her hands, and of course the other family she killed. They took her in just like yours has, and she kills the two parents leaving the kids as orphans." Roy smiled wickedly down at Ichigo's bewildered gaze. Then, he looked over toward Aria. Even her eyes were now wide, her pain showing deep like the scars on the left side of her body. Seemed talking about that family pained her.

Roy smile widened, his next words directed toward Aria. "Isn't the anniversary of their death just around the corner, Aria? You know, those kids are still living in that orphanage, not being loved and cared for like they are used to before it was ripped away by someone like you? Too bad they have to live-"

"SHUT UP!" Ichigo roared, his hands shacking at his sides and his eyes obscured by his bangs. "Stop talking like you know her. You know nothing about her. Don't you dare speak to her like that again; she doesn't deserve any of this. None of that was her fault!"

"I don't know her?" Roy laughed out, like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "In truth, ever since she murdered her own parents I haven't had much contact with her, but knowing her as a child I know enough about how she would change when presented with a situation she found herself in. Hell, I probably know more about her than she does about herself."

"Are you deaf or something!?" Ichigo yelled out once more, his pose never changing. "You don't know jack about her."

"Oh, and you do? You've only known her for a month, am I correct? Do you think you're her family now or something? If you don't know, I know for a fact Aria doesn't plan on sticking around for much longer. She can't stand being in one place for too long. She doesn't like getting attached. You're nothing to her."

"Even if that is true," Ichigo said now rather calmly. Aria had to strain to hear what he was saying. "Aria is still my friend. A very close friend of mine. And I'll be damned if I let anything more happen to her. I'm here now to protect her… I want to protect her." Aria took a sharp inhale of breath as she listened to what Ichigo had to say. He – he wanted to protect her? "I won't let you near her ever again! You hear me? Even if it kills me I will protect her with my life!" She exhaled, her chest hurting from holding her breath, but when the dulling pain continued, she wondered if it was something else that was making her chest ache.

Aria lifted the corner of her left lip ever so slightly. "You're a dumbass, Ichigo Kurosaki," she whispered.

"Is that so?" Roy questioned with a smile. His eyes landing on Aria's again and lifted his armored arm. "Let's put that to the test." Both Aria's and Ichigo's eyes grew wide when they saw what he was doing. Roy shot off a blast, bigger than the last, and was heading straight for Aria. Ichigo yelled on her name and jumped toward her. Aria stood up quickly, ignoring the pain that shot through her body and moved her body forward. The blast, though, maneuvered, following her every move. That was something Aria didn't know Roy could do. He could control which direction the blast was headed, no matter where his opponent moved after he shot it.

She stopped her frantic running and grabbed her sword, releasing it into its true form. It vibrated in her hand, the power still strong while her body was weak. His blast was strong, her sword would absorb maybe only half of his; she just had to hit it in the right spot so it would do less damage to her already beaten body.

A blur of black appeared in front of her and before she knew what happened, Roy's blast had hit something, causing it to fly back and crash into hers. She fell back, her head hitting the cement below her hard.

When her senses slowly came back, whatever had hit her was lying on top of her, but when her eyes moved down she was shocked at what she saw, her heart stopping. Orange hair was the first thing her eyes laid on.

"Ichigo?" she whispered, not received a response. She sat up, pulling her arms around him when he started to slide off. Her belly felt hot and wet. When she sat up straight and looked down, everything had stopped around her.

Ichigo stood in front of the blast, blocking with his sword, but like she predicted, it didn't block most of the blast. The rest hit him square in the chest…

Instead of flesh, there was a fairly sized hole in the middle of his chest. He wasn't breathing, he wasn't moving. He wasn't doing anything.

"Ichigo," she whispered again. Still, no response. "Ichigo…" her voice sounded frantic now. She turned his body so his head was resting on her good arm. His eyes were closed, not moving when she called his name again. Her hand rested on his neck, feeling for a pulse. She concentrated past the pain coursing through her arm and searched for a pulse.

She felt nothing, her hand slide to her now exposed chest. Still nothing, she brought her head down, her ear near his mouth. Nothing. She couldn't feel or hear anything.

She was shacking, wrapping her hurt arm around his torso and bringing him close to her. "This isn't real," she whispered. "This can't be happening."

Rukia and Uryuu witnessed everything that just happened. When Ichigo fell back into Aria with a hole in his chest, both yelled out his name, making everyone around them look and stare at the scene below them. Rukia looked down with despair, her eyes filling up with tears. She wanted to go down there. She wanted to help in any way possible, but…

She blocked an attack of her opponent, making her reel back and brought back into reality. Her opponent wouldn't let her help, nor did he let up on his assault. She held in her tears. After all, soul reapers did not cry.

But, more than anything, she wanted to fall to her knees and hold Ichigo close to her, plead for him to not die. She wouldn't believe what she just witnessed. Ichigo had to survive. He always did and he will now.

Uryuu, on the other hand, looked down with a critical eye. He remembered the last time Ichigo had a hole in his chest while in his soul reaper form. His hollow side wouldn't let him die so easily. But, was this like last time? Will he transform? If so, he had to warn Aria. In her state, she wouldn't last long against the lust for blood the hollow side of Ichigo usually craved when it came forth. But, much like Rukia, he was fighting his own opponent. Someone who seemed to know he was a Quincy and was prepared to fight him beforehand. This seemed well thought out. Almost too well. What was he missing? Was there something else going on he couldn't see?

Aria stopped shacking, her eyes so wide they looked like they were going to bulge out of their sockets. She slowly placed Ichigo on the cement floor, caressing his cheek gently before standing up and glaring up toward Roy with complete and utter hatred.

The one person she just come to realized that actually cared about her for who she was, was taken from her. He was her first friend. Her actual first friend that accepted who she was and never questioned her about her past or her actions. And now… now he was… Roy took him away from her and his sisters… his sisters. No. No! This couldn't be happening! Not again!

Aria was clutching her head as a million thoughts ran through her mind. Everything was her fault. It was all her fault.

Everywhere she went, someone died, and it was always her fault.

"What's wrong, Aria?" Roy called mockingly. "Did I kill your boyfriend? Oh, what a shame. What a damn shame." He laughed crazily.

Aria brought her sword she now grasped in her right hand and pointed it toward Roy. Her eyes were wide with despair, the only thing she could do now to prevent herself from having a breakdown was to fight Roy. She wanted to murder him.

"Desolate…" she barely whispered, almost sounding broken, but her Zanpakuto heard her nonetheless. "Hakai."

Roy faltered, not believing what he had just heard. Her sword began to disintegrate and turn to smoke. She called on her Zanpakuto's final form, not caring who was around. She wanted revenge. She wanted Roy's blood.

The smoke was black and it began to circle around Aria, protecting her in its own cocoon. Images began to emerge in the smoke, crying out to Roy in an eerie scream that would send shivers through anyone. Her Zanpakuto was the essence of evil in its final form, taking shapes of monsters in the shape of human skulls as it destroyed whatever enemy Aria had been fighting at the time. And with Aria's burning hatred for Roy, the cries reached for him, almost like they were promising him a slow and painful death.

He visibly gulped, suddenly feeling frightened as he watched the smoke like material grow around Aria, the skulls looking up at him as they swirled around her protectively and hungry for his flesh.

"Are you scared?" Her voice – it was different. She no longer sounded like the Aria very few knew. Even Uryuu looked down at her wearily. The way she spoke reminded him of a man he knew. She sounded… in control, menacing, like the world bowed before her at her very feet.

Almost everyone stopped and stared at the sudden increase of spiritual pressure she was exerting, like they forgot they were fighting for their lives.

She was still visible in the mass of smoke surrounding her, but the amount around her was astounding. She lifted her arm, her good one, and thrust it toward Roy without any warning. A large amount of smoke poured from the swirl around her, but the size of the mini-tornado stayed the same. To everyone, the smoke like material heading toward Roy looked just like it was, a dark ominous smoke, but to Roy, he saw a massive skull barreling toward him, screeching and opening its mouth to devour him. He yelled out in fear and flashed stepped away as quickly as he could.

"Roy!" Uryuu's opponent yelled, forgetting about Uryuu and rushing over to Roy's side in an attempt to help. He flashed stepped in front of Roy and spoke an incantation for Kido. A wall formed in front of him with the smoke like material barreling toward him. He then saw it, the skull as he redirected for him. When it came closer he screamed, the screeching the thing made frightened him beyond belief. It completely engulfed him, the screaming ceased when it consumed him. When the smoke cleared, the man was nowhere in sight.

"Where did he go?" A man with red hair pulled up in a ponytail, yelled out in question.

"I don't know," Rukia answered in disbelief. "What kind of Zanpakuto power is that? I've never seen the likes of it before."

"It's darkness reincarnated, there's not another Zanpakuto power than has any similarities to her." Both Renji and Rukia look over to see the girl named Jade standing not too far away from them. Renji and Rukia both brought up their swords, but Jade shook her head at their action. "I'm not here to fight. I'm the one who warned Aria of Roy's actions to go and attack Ichigo's family. I don't approve of what he's doing."

"So you're not going to attack us?" Rukia asked, eyeing Jade suspiciously, but the way she spoke sounded frantic.

"Do I have to repeat myself?"

Rukia descended below, not responding to Renji's protests as she headed for Ichigo's body. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she drew nearer.

Renji watched her descend toward Ichigo. He too was worried for his friend, but right now wasn't the time to think about him. They were at war, distractions could mean your life. "What do you mean by darkness reincarnated?" Renji asked. He glanced around them warily. Some of his comrades were still in the heat of the battle, but others like Yumichika and Rangiku, as well as their opponents, were watching in awe as Aria attacked Roy will that strange smoke of hers. Everything it touched seemed to disappear. The sides of buildings, streetlamps, anything.

"Her black Zanpakuto is called Hakai (destruction in English), and her white Zanpakuto is Sukui (Salvation), they stay true to their names. Yin and yang, light and darkness, Salvation and Destruction. Her swords are the essence of light and darkness, and their principles stay the same. One cannot survive without the other, and even though they both are opposites, their powers are almost identical. Sukui can create a portal to anywhere Aria desires, which is why it was hard for us to follow her whereabouts all these years. She never stayed in one spot for too long, and Hakai… even though its way looks a little more – demonic, it too, sends anything it touches… somewhere else."

"What do you mean 'somewhere else'?"

"What I've been told, it sends you to something worse than hell. Everything you fear comes to life over and over again. I've never been told the details, or how it actually works, but my guess is that it sends you to some other dimension, someplace worse than anything you could ever imagine."

Renji tried his best to hide how startles and nervous he suddenly felt. "And how do you know all this?"

Jade turned to look at him, a smile playing on the corner of her lips. "Aizen had done a lot of research on her swords while she was growing up in Germany. I read a lot of his notes."

"Aizen," Renji growled through clenched teeth. "What the hell did he want with her?"

"A lot of things. Shame that he wanted to experiment on her with that whole hollow thing. I'm pretty sure he could have had greater use for her when he finally rebelled against soul society. He would have won for sure with her on his side."

That startled Renji. He looked down toward Aria with realization. If what Jade said was true, Aria would have had been able to change the course of Aizen's plan. He would had succeeded with her on his side. But wasn't Aizen someone who thought ahead? Why would he experiment on her when she could had been the key to his plan?

Rukia kneeled next to Ichigo, her hands shacking slightly as she reached for him. He wasn't moving and he wasn't breathing. "Ichigo," she barely whispered, her voice cracking. She felt the hot tears form in her eyes again, but this time she felt one slip away. "Ichigo," she said again, but louder and with a slight quiver. The third time she said his name, she sobbed. She couldn't help it, she felt the need to cry.

How did this happen? He wasn't supposed to die. Not like this.

"You fool!" She sobbed out, her tears falling and hitting his cheek. "You can't die!"

A loud crashing noise had her look away from Ichigo's lifeless body momentarily. Aria was still fighting, the hazy smoke raging after Roy and destroying everything in its path, but Aria was now on one knee, her labored breathing now evident. She was losing a lot of blood, Rukia could see that as she was clutching onto her blood soaked arm.

A barrage of bullet like blasts came barreling through the air towards Aria's occupied form. Rukia, startled by the fact Aria didn't notice the bullet like masses coming toward her, screamed, "ARIA!"

A blast of spiritual pressure had her flying back hard, skidding across the ground in a daze. She opened her eyes and saw the sudden blast of spiritual pressure was coming from Ichigo. It completely covered his body, but she could see through the haze of red and black energy, a body rising off the ground. She smiled with absolute happiness at what she saw, but stopped short when she noticed a pair of horns on the forehead of the body rising.

The energy dissipated, leaving behind Ichigo's full hollow form. It was looking up into the air directly at Roy. Its breathing was loud, quivering from the two-tone nature of it.

It stared up at Roy with its empty eyes. Roy glared back at the hollow below him, grinding his teeth together as he thought about the situation. This wasn't what he predicted. He didn't know Ichigo had enough spiritual pressure to transform.

He miss-calculated.

He turned toward his fellow comrades. "It's time for us to take our leave!" he yelled. Everyone who was fighting stopped, fleeing back and reaching into their jackets to pull out some sort of sphere. They threw them and portals appeared. One by one they all disappeared. Ikkaku tried to go after his opponent, but before he could get close enough he disappeared, leaving their fight unfinished. He swore under his breath and watched as other disappeared as well.

Roy threw his sphere and stepped toward his portal. He looked down one last time at Aria, who was glaring up at his retreating form, and the hollow who took over Ichigo's body. He sneered before disappearing into the portal leaving everyone confused, and worn from the battle.

Aria warily looked over at Ichigo's hollow form. He was completely transformed, and was still looking up to the sky where Roy was previously at. Then he titled his head down, like he sensed her looking at him, and levelled black, empty eyes with hers. She narrowed her eyes at him, expecting the worse.

That was a bad decision.

The hollow raised his sword, launching forward and straight for Aria's worn out form with the intent to kill.