CHAPTER 16: I MIGHT DIE LOATHING MY LOVE

There was no movement between the shinigami and the arrancar. Only the silent whispers of the air outside Las Noches dared to walk between the two. Purple against green. Their eyes shot nothing but contempt for each other's races.

Akiho didn't dare to create any movement. She waited for her opponent to take the first step. She's aware of her disadvantages. If she risked anything, that means also risking her own life.

"Your reiatsu dropped from 55% to 35% from your kills a while back. Make this count and escape from him" Ketsuei's voice whispered.

"Can't you increase it, even just a little?" Akiho responded telepathically.

She felt a nudge in her core. Her reiatsu reserve is slowly filling but not fully. It was as if just a slow flow of water from the faucet that filled just below the half of a basin.

"Go," Ketsuei signaled, his young voice evident of restrain and exhaustion.

Akiho focused on Ulqiourra's figure. She searched for any openings on his front, rear, and sides. But, the trained arrancar was as guarded as the Soul King's palace. There were no blind spots on him.

She let out a deep breath thundering all her power on her body. Akiho's reiatsu began to leak on their surroundings. Even not as precise and deadly as when she's at her 100% but enough for her survival.

Her hand clasped her zanpakuto's handle tightly. "Bleed, Ketsuei."

Crimson streaks followed by bluish reiatsu emerged around Akiho. They embraced her skin to skin as she surged forward towards Ulqiorra.

Ulqiorra unsheathed his sword and blocked the attack from Akiho.

Akiho stepped backwards and raised her blade against the Espada. She turned to her left and swung the sword to Ulqiorra's right elbow. Ulqiorra managed to dodge the attack with a backhand block of his sword.

The female shinigami didn't waver, she pushed through Ulqiorra's defense, rapidly slashing towards him. They exchanged attacks using flash step and sonido until they were no longer in the same corridors they had met.

Akiho was once again pushed into the throne room. She didn't bother to look at the steel throne sitting at the uppermost flight of gigantic stairs in the middle as she didn't want to be distracted by unnecessary thoughts as she fought for her life.

This time, Ulqiorra was the one to make the first attack after their short pause. The arrancar's fighting style was more than precise. Every inching attack of his blade was not wasted. Ulqiorra seems to know where to hit Akiho, even if she had never shown him any signs of an opening.

Akiho grunted as she was pushed to defense. She can't find the right time to flip the table and be the attacker. Ulqiorra was fast. His unique and rapid swordsmanship was one of the few she had faced. The difference is that, with Ulqiorra, there was no thinking twice. If he found her opening, he would strike and kill her right there and then.

Empathy had never existed in an Espada like him.

But, Akiho had trained. And, she was trained by nothing but also a monster. The head captain of the Gotei 13, the wielder of the most powerful and ancient flame zanpakuto.

Akiho gathered her reiatsu towards her and just as Ulqiorra was about to slash her nape, she sidestepped, earning a wound at the crook of her neck. Akiho hissed at the pain, and with her gathered reiatsu, she decreased her agility as she placed all her strength in the weight of her sword.

Ulqiorra was pushed back but remained on his guard.

Akiho can't maximize the power of her shikai because Ulqiorra hasn't released his zanpakuto yet. That's the weakness of her shikai. Her opponent needed to use their shikai for her zanpakuto to negate its effects. And if the enemy hasn't, her immunity is nothing but a costume.

And so, with the reiatsu she gathered, she pushed everything she had against Ulqiorra. The arrancar's eyes widened as his palm emitted a green energy to block Akiho's attack. Akiho placed every remaining force left of her. Before Ulquiorra could counter her attack, he was slammed against the other side of the room.

Without looking twice, Akiho mustered her remaining strength to escape. Ulquiorra is still conscious and it wouldn't take him a moment to intercept her if she didn't run now.

Sweat ran down Akiho's skin, and her breath huffed as she panted, searching her way outside Las Noches. There are numerous exits and chambers. Every intersection leads to another corridor.

When Akiho caught a glimpse of a familiar entrance, she pushed through it. The gardens and the gazebo greeted her. But this is no time to reminisce, Akiho held her palm in front of her and chanted a hado spell, blasting a hole from the barriers surrounding the garden. The gazebo shivered as the flowers moved to the side from the impact.

There she sprinted for her life in the sandy grounds of Hueco Mundo, not looking back at the garden even if there was a part of her that desired to.

Akiho's reiatsu was down to five percent. She wouldn't be able to fend off any remaining arrancar if anyone blocked her way. She had also taken a toll from killing the arrancars continuously and now, if Ulqiorra had caught her...

Her eyes gleamed when she caught figures at a far distance. Figures clad in an onyx cloak. The shinigami.

A tall white-haired girl caught Akiho's eyes as she neared the area. Kotetsu Isane, healing the injured shinigami together with...

"Unohana taichou!" Akiho screamed.

The captain and her lieutenant heard the approach and as Akiho came to view their eyes bloomed with surprise.

"Get the other medics! Isane led the watch for the recovering shinigami. I will tend to Akiho myself." Unohana Retsu ordered.

Fourth division members poured as they went to their assigned tasks.

"Captain..." Akiho said, her knees gave up. "Orihime was...did you see her?"

Unohana nodded as she stayed on Akiho's side to support her. A blanket lay on the ground and Unohana guided Akiho to lay on it. "You should have nothing to worry about. Byakuya and Zaraki taichou are present. Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends too. They came to rescue Orihime."

Akiho breathed a sigh of relief. "What's the condition of Karakura?"

Unohana paused for a while. "You must focus on resting."

Seeing the face of the older captain, Akiho knew better not to push her questions. For as long as the Gotei 13 are present in Karakura and Hueco Mundo, she could for now focus on recovery.

"The head captain is furious," Unohana said as she started to place anti-infections on Akiho's wound, dampening it gently and slowly.

"Everyone is furious at what the traitor did," Akiho responded. She can't manage to say his name. It tasted bitter and punctured her heart in splinters.

"It's not only that... Aizen captured you. That had placed a dilemma against him, despite wanting to go by himself here in Hueco Mundo, he needed to follow the greater good and not put his emotions on the line as head captain. So, he personally asked me to find you," Unohana muttered, she now started wrapping bandages on Akiho's arm.

Akiho smiled and laughed a little. "Even if you say this Unohana-taichou, the moment he sees me again, he will scold me."

Akiho felt gratitude and warmth for what Unohana said. But at the same time, there was guilt. Her grandfather will always consider her. And, she feared his disappointment the moment he knew what she failed to do for Soul Society while she was in Las Noches.

Her grandfather, despite Akiho being held captive, had done his duty as head captain. And yet she wasn't even enough to stop Aizen's plan or even get enough information to use against him.

***

"Two days have passed since I slept?" Akiho questioned Hanataro Yamada who was startled when she suddenly got up.

"Unohana-taichou ordered us that if you're awake we must take you back to Soul Society," Hanataro said, fiddling his fingers.

"No." Akiho firmly said. She reached towards the glass of water offered to her by another medic. Her eyes surveyed around Hueco Mundo, everything was tranquil at the very least. She could see that Las Noches was wasted inside. There seems to be no sign of any enemies before them.

"Where are the others?" Akiho asked again, shifting from one shinigami to the next.

"Uhm... they have left," Hanataro answered, scratching his head.

"Thank you for all your hard work. But why didn't you guys tell me?" Akiho muttered as she stood and grabbed Ketsuei.

"Akiho-san, Unohana-taichou will scold us if you don't go with us to Soul Society. We'll need to regather supplies and go back to Karakura." Hanatora explained, blocking her way.

"And you will leave me there? While you all sacrifice your lives?"

"You have done enough, Akiho-san" Hanataro tried hard to convince her.

"Sorry to break it to you, but I have never done enough."

Everyone was silent until they heard a rip in the skies. Akiho was immediately in her fighting stance until she figured out who appeared in the garganta.

"Yo, Akiho-san, it's been a while. Care to join me for a ride to catch up on the old times?" the man in a hat said as a fan covered half his face.

"Kisuke!" Akiho said in delight. She tapped the shoulder of Hanataro and nodded gratitude to the others before jumping to the garganta with Kisuke.

Before the garganta had closed, the last thing Akiho saw was Hanataro on the verge of tears.

"So, how was your vacation in Las Noches?" Kisuke Urahara started while they were still inside the pitch-black dome of the garganta.

"You haven't changed, Kisuke," Akiho chuckled. "Las Noches is filled with bastards. I wonder why you weren't there,"

"Such a mean thing to say to a handsome shop owner," Uarahara said, scratching his head and laughing a little. But, his face suddenly became grave and serious. "And Aizen Sosuke?"

"I don't even want to hear his name" Akiho answered with a deep breath as she affixed Ketsuei on her side.

"Not worth mentioning between the two of us?" Urahara pushed.

"Not worth mentioning between the two of us," Akiho repeated.

Their eyes met and they laughed at each other's sudden seriousness.

"Nothing had changed with Sosuke. I don't even know where to start." Akiho looked towards the dark engulfing them in the garganta.

"Well, you can start with this." Uarahara raised a white tablet to her face. The furrowed brows and questioning look of Akiho made Urahara smile playfully before he explained. "This capsule can increase a shinigami's reiatsu for more than half for as long as your reiatsu is below full. Let's say for example, right now, you have at least 40%, it could increase it twice. It won't work if your reiatsu is above 50%, but I am guessing that you... Akiho-san has below 50%"

"How did you know?" Akiho inquired, not taking her eyes off Urahara.

"Let's discuss that sometime," Urahara said. "For now have this,"

Akiho opened her mouth to speak but Urahara used that moment to push the tablet on her mouth gently. His fingers lightly grazed Akiho's lower lip.

Akiho swallowed the pill and pushed the cup of water Kisuke gave her.

"Now, you can go and greet Aizen Sosuke the proper way,"

The garganta opened and the first thing Akiho saw was Hinamori's body being punctured by the blades of the captains. The poor lieutenant's figure lay unmoving in Toshiro's arms.

"Hinamori..." she muttered. When Akiho glanced at her back, Kisuke had gone. And as she stared at the mess of Karakura, a man clad in white caught the corner of her eye.

Akiho gritted her teeth and went straight to where Aizen was.

Aizen raised his hand to intercept the arrival of Akiho, but knowing that move quite well now, Akiho dodged the force he was about to unleash by releasing her zanpakuto's shikai at the same time. The attention of the captains spun on her.

She landed behind Aizen. "I will end this once and for all," she declared, pointing her zanpakuto on Aizen.

"What did Kisuke Urahara give you?" Aizen's deep demanding voice muttered.

"Something to fend off bastards like you," Akiho answered.

"Why do you depend on a person like him?" Aizen followed, unmoving from where he was. His back was still facing Akiho.

Akiho paused for a moment. "Do I depend on you instead?"

Aizen turned to face her. He didn't respond and just stared at her with nothing but the same indifference he had given everyone.

"Kisuke Urahara is a trusted friend. It's normal that everyone depends on him. He's a genius and never a lying criminal." Akiho said as tension rose around her.

"Friend? How infuriating," Aizen whispered that even Akiho didn't hear. Aizen's reiatsu loomed over Karakura, shaking every debris.

Akiho wasn't sure of what she saw with Aizen. He's very different this time as if all sanity was drained out of him. And even Akiho before him was nothing but a piece of paper to shred.

Her heart grieved at the sight of Aizen. There's no way she'll be able to see him for who he truly is. The last time he showed her a side of him no one knew, that is the first and the last.

Her zanpakuto clashed with Aizen's power and despite the aching of her heart screaming along it, she continued to face him. Akiho blinked her tears away as she pushed all her feelings for him along with the crumbling stones disintegrating on the ground because of Aizen's spiritual pressure.

I had always said that my heart will always forgive you. But right now, I don't even know. A part of me whispers that isn't true. And before I could listen to that voice, I should make you pay the consequences of your actions. Because I...

I might die loathing my love.