Victory

"Haaa...." Zangetsu yawned as he was easily dodging Muramasa's attacks. Muramasa tried to fire a quick Bala but Zangetsu grabbed his hands and yanked it.

*Pssh!!!*

"AHHHHHHH!!!" Muramasa screamed in pure agony. Zangetsu grabbed his neck with his left hand and pointed at Muramasa with his right index finger.

A small golden Cero was generated on Zangetsu's finger. Zangetsu grinned maniacally.

"Eat this!! All Might Style!!"

*BAAAAAAAAAAAANGGGGGGGG!!!!!!*

From Sōkyoku Hill, everyone witnessed a giant beam appearing out of nowhere and splitting the clouds apart. The beam disappeared, leaving a large trail of white clouds split in half.

Zangetsu chuckled and walked back towards Ichigo. "Mission Complete." Zangetsu muttered and they fist bumped.

"All that's left is Kōga." Ichigo muttered and looked at Rukia and Byakuya who were making quick work of the former Kuchiki.

.

.

"Minus 200 degrees." Rukia muttered. Byakuya stayed silent. He had pink sakura petals flying around him. But something surprising happened, the flower petals froze into ice petals. It still flew around Byakuya but now it looks like he was surrounded by a giant wall of snow.

It was frozen by Rukia. Her body can freeze the area so much that it can even freeze her surroundings, as shown when she fought Grimmjow one on one.

This time, her freezing area was much wider, so that's why she could freeze Byakuya's flower petals.

Ichigo was staring intently at Rukia. "I swear she gets even more beautiful when she activates her Shikai." He muttered to himself. Long, flowing ribbons on both elbow parts of her shihakushō flowed beautifully. Rukia breathed out cold air and disappeared out of everyone's sight for a second.

She appeared in front of Kōga who already unleashed his full power. She slashed at him, he dodged.

Byakuya controlled the flower petals, solidifying them into a bunch of ice blades. He guided them towards Kōga who raised his halberd to block it by spinning his halberd in front of him.

But instead of deflecting them, the ice blades stuck to the halberd and started freezing it.

Kōga swung his halberd again, pointing it at Rukia. He created spiritual threads and manipulated them to immobilize her. Rukia widened her eyes as she felt like she couldn't move.

Though these spiritual threads are invisible to the naked eye, they can be seen in the shadows cast on nearby surfaces. They work by capturing his opponent's shadow instead of simply their reflection, preventing them from being easily destroyed by a reflection being distorted.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes and looked at the ground, sure enough there were a bunch of threads capturing Rukia's shadow. He disappeared and reappeared near the threads.

He took out his claymores and assumed a battle stance.

'Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash:Godspeed! '

*BAAAM!!!*

Ichigo's body was surrounded by lightning. He zoomed past the threads, cutting them into pieces.

Rukia could move again. She glared at Kōga. 'Using tricks to fight people. Unworthy of being a Kuchiki! ' She thought angrily. She quickly calmed herself down.

She looked at Byakuya who nodded. All of the sudden, millions of frozen petals surrounded Kōga and rushed him, leaving no room for escape.

Rukia raised her right hand high up. Bright blue lighting crackled around it. Suddenly, a giant blue lightning dragon shot out of the sky.

Rukia appeared on top of the dragon's head, freezing it entirely. The dragon was now an ice dragon. It had bright red menacing eyes, there were still blue lightning crackling around it.

"Kirin!"

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!*

A giant explosion occurred when the dragon and the petals crashed into Kōga. There was smoke everywhere.

Once the smoke cleared, it revealed Kōga frozen in a giant ice shard. Rukia and Byakuya appeared behind the ice shard. They have already exited their Shikai form. They sheathed their blades at the same time.

*CRACK!!!!*

The ice shard shattered into millions of pieces of small ice rocks. Rukia sighed.

"That got stressful for a moment." She whispered. Byakuya patted her back.

"You did well, Rukia." Byakuya told her stoically. Rukia smiled back.

"You did too, brother. But we can still improve right?" Rukia asked him with a warm smile.

"Yes. Yes we can....."

.

.

"What did this teach us...." Yamamoto asked the Gotei 13's captains and lieutenants.

"That Zanpakutōs are out sword and shield, our advisors and our brothers and sisters." Shunsui answered with a bored face. Nanao sighed.

"I'm gonna kill you...." She muttered. Yamamoto palmed his face.

"On a serious note, without our Zanpakutō we wouldn't have gotten this far." Toshiro told them. Ichigo chuckled and patted Toshiro's head.

"See? The kid gets it unlike gay boy here." Ichigo grinned. Toshiro deadpanned at him.

"Stop treating me like I'm a child. I'm 130 years old." Toshiro grumbled. Ichigo chuckled.

"You'll always be a kid to me. Goat Chin would agree."

"I'm gonna kick you in the balls....."

.

.

.

After the meeting was over, everyone went back to their respective homes. Ichigo who was conversing with Yamamoto looked at Nanao who was walking aimlessly with a depressed look on her face.

Yamamoto noticed where he was looking. "Go on, Ichigo. The discussion already ended right?" Yamamoto patted his back. Ichigo looked at Yamamoto.

"Right." Ichigo muttered. He caught up to Nanao easily.

"Nanao-chan!" Ichigo picked Nanao up bridal style with a smile on his face.

"Kya!!" Nanao squealed and blushed madly at Ichigo's actions. She stared at Ichigo who had a big smile on his face.

"Why the long face, Nanao?" Ichigo asked her. Nanao looked away.

"I-it's nothing to be concerned about, Ichigo."

Nanao whispered shyly. Ichigo chuckled.

" See Nanao, when you say that, it's definitely something to be concerned about." Ichigo replied to her. Nanao waved her hands repeatedly, embarrassed at getting caught red handed.

"You'll probably laugh at me." Nanao tried to escape the situation with her words but Ichigo wasn't going away any time soon.

"It's something concerning, Nanao. There's nothing funny when it's something concerning. " Ichigo told her. Nanao gave up on trying to escape the situation.

" Do you know that the Ise Clan do not possess their own individual Zanpakutō? " Nanao asked him. Ichigo nodded.

" I heard about that. Only the head of the Clan inherits a Zanpakutō. It's called the Shinken Hakkyōken, right? " Ichigo asked her. Nanao nodded.

" So where's the problem in that? " Ichigo asked her. Nanao sighed.

" The problem is that it's lost and I can't find it. When I see you all wielding your respective Zanpakutōs so proudly.... it reminds me of my failures." Nanao muttered. Tears welled up at the corner of her eyes.

" I just want to be like all of you, wielding a Zanpakutō. Releasing Shikai and Bankai. I can't even imprint on an Asauchi because of some stupid clan curse..... " Nanao sobbed while leaning into Ichigo. Ichigo frowned.

" There there, Nanao. You don't have to cry. I'm here now. I'll help you. " Ichigo whispered gently and kissed her forehead, an act so shocking her face immediately turned tomato red.

"Wh-why did you d-do that?...." Nanao was a stuttering mess. Ichigo chuckled.

"Because you're crying. I don't like seeing girls cry, especially one so cute like you." Ichigo smiled warmly at her. Nanao shook her head.

"I'm not cute! Look at me! I wear glasses! How is that cute?" Nanao asked him. Ichigo laughed.

" That's the thing, your glasses make you cute." Ichigo grinned at her. Nanao blushed shyly and huffed.

" Can we please get back to the main point? " Nanao asked him. Ichigo chuckled.

" Of course, Nanao. Whatever you say....

To be continued....