February Soul God Chapter 3

The immediate aftermath of the Winter War went smoothly, despite how unsettling Ichigo's allies found his new...state of being.

Of course, some jumped to the wrong conclusion.

"Stay back you hollow bastard!" Omaeda yelled, standing protectively In front of Soi-Fon with his Zanpaktou drawn.

Ichigo looked at the man and distinctly remembered beating him in one hit, without Bankai. With that in mind, he calmly stepped forward.

"I said, stay back!" Omaeda exclaimed, swinging his Zanpaktou at Ichigo, going right for the shoulder but fully expecting an attempt to block or dodge.

Ichigo didn't dodge or block.

Omaeda stared in shock when his blade stopped harmlessly against the shoulder, unable to even scratch him.

Ichigo glanced at it with an exceeding amount of patience.

"Tch. I'll show you! Smash-!"

"Oh, give it a rest," Soi-Fon called, sitting slumped against a wall, out of energy and barely conscious after all her wounds. "That's obviously Kurosaki."

Ichigo tilted his head to glance at her. Soi-Fon squinted, wondering why she got the distinct image of him greeting with a "Yo!" to her?

"But...his clothes are different colors! And he has a hollow mask on!" Omaeda pointed out.

"And he can obviously kill us both right now if he wants. Now stop being an idiot before he kills you by accident," Soi-Fon ordered flippantly.

"Captain..." Omaeda said, almost whining.

Ichigo ignored the large man as he approached Soi-Fon, crouching down next to her. "Aizen dead?" she asked bluntly.

He nodded in confirmation before looking her up and down.

"Is Lady Yoruichi alright?" was her next question, watching his sharp horns carefully. Specifically 'alright' because she knew she was alive. This close, Soi-Fon would know if Yoruichi had been slain.

She grimly wondered if that shock would have been enough to kill her in this state?

Something like a growl escaped from Kurosaki as he reached to pick Soi-Fon up, one arm around her back and another under her knees.

"Hey! You can't move her, she's too hurt!" Omaeda protested urgently.

"It's fine," Soi-Fon said, her voice regaining some strength as she eyed Ichigo suspiciously. "Surprisingly so. What did you just do, Kurosaki?"

He didn't answer, he just stood up and held her before turning to-

Soi-Fon stiffened and realized they were suddenly somewhere else. Still in the Fake Karakura town and, she quickly realized, among allies.

"Ichigo!" Orihime greeted with a smile. She wanted to wave, but she was currently focusing on healing someone.

Namely?

"Lady Yoruichi," Soi-Fon realized in relief.

"Soi-Fon!" the Goddess of Flash returned with a grin. "You're okay. Good, I was beginning to get worried about you. I even asked Orihime to heal up my leg so I could go check on you."

"Your leg?" Soi-Fon said in alarm and realization as she instantly scrambled out of Ichigo's arms and rushed over to Yoruichi, kneeling by her side. "Aizen did this?"

"Honestly, I got off lucky compared to most. Kisuke would have a concussion right now if not for Orihime," Yoruichi assured before taking on a playful look. "But enough about that, I didn't take you as one for being carried like a princess, Soi-Fon~"

The Second Division Captain instantly blushed in embarrassment. "That was only because I was-" she started to protest before abruptly standing up. She suddenly began touching herself all over, searching for injuries. Then she looked to her arm or lack thereof. If it had returned, she might have decided this was a dream. She rounded on Ichigo in bewilderment.

He stood there with his arms crossed and despite the mask, she got the distinct impression he was amused by her antics.

"You healed me?" Soi-Fon realized in confusion. "Since when can you do healing arts?"

"That is something that came with his makeover," Yoruichi supplied. "We think he's...something like what Aizen was trying to become. In case you didn't notice, we can't feel his reiatsu."

Soi-Fon blinked. She thought she had just been too tired and wounded to notice anyone besides Yoruichi's spiritual pressure, but no, she couldn't sense him at all. As the head of the Stealth Division, that was both alarming and interesting since Kurosaki was clearly still in Bankai, and wearing his Vizard mask…and normally very poor at hiding his presence.

"He, um, also can't speak right now," Orihime supplied with an awkward smile. "Or he could but something weird might happen."

Soi-Fon looked at the human with a furrowed brow. "What do you mean, something weird?"

Ichigo sighed, gathering their attention as he leaned down to grab a stone from the ground. He casually tossed it at Soi-Fon, who caught it in narrowed-eyed confusion.

-"Melt"-

Soi-Fon stiffed at his voice. It was his, but with it was something else, something more. Like the wind of a hurricane stirring up waves in a pool of magma. Her eyes shot down to the rock and watched in fascination as it did just that, it melted.

But the stone didn't turn to lava or even to water. It simply...oozed apart into a stone-colored soup that flowed off her fingers.

She looked back- and he was suddenly right in front of her. She tensed as he reached out and made a lazy slashing motion at her hand. Her eyes went wide as the liquids leaped up from the ground and back into her hand, reforming the same solid stone.

"See? He says stuff, and it happens. Apparently, he made Kisuke's mouth disappear," Yoruichi informed, despite having watched the scene with her own fascination.

That brought Soi-Fon out of her stupor, dropping the stone. "I would have rather seen that as a demonstration," she drawled. "I can see how this would make conversation harder."

"Oh, he hasn't shown you the alternative yet?" Yoruichi said with a chuckle. "Come on, sit down. Orihime should be able to restore that arm of yours."

-"She can't.-

Everyone looked at Ichigo in surprise.

"I can't?" Orihime repeated in response, getting a head shake.

'...What do you mean, she can't, Ichigo?" Yoruichi asked with a frown. "Look, I get that you didn't restore the Old Man's arm to not offend his pride, but-" she suddenly stopped before glaring blankly at Soi-Fon. "Little Bee, if you try to turn down getting your arm restored out of some petty indignation, I am going to make you redo all your basic training, three-times over."

Soi-Fon actually paled at the threat.

Ichigo grunted, suddenly behind Yoruichi. "Oh, so you prefer to be behind a woman, eh, Ichigo?" Yoruichi teased over her shoulder, grinning at her latest student.

Ichigo rolled his eyes, reaching up to grab the top of Yoruichi's head. She would have made another joke about this if he hadn't turned her head to face Soi-Fon. She got the impression he wanted her to look at the space where the arm should be.

She felt something from Ichigo's gauntlet. She decided to not think about it too deeply right now and welcome whatever information he was trying to convey.

She saw the image of Soi-Fon with both arms, but one of them slowly turning to bones. Then she watched the rot be undone only for it to restart again. The image looped several times for Yoruichi before she batted Ichigo's hand away.

"I get it, I get it," Yoruichi said with a sigh, looking apologetically at Soi-Fon. "I think he's saying that whatever was destroying your arm would be restored with it. Why, I don't know, but that's what it looked like."

Soi-Fon nodded in acceptance as she glanced to the ground. "Thank you, Kurosaki. I'd rather not relive that again," she said sincerely, looking back.

He was gone.

Soi-Fon was far too annoyed that he was able to do that to her. "Where did he-"

Someone grabbed her by the back of her clothes. She tried to spin to stab them, but she found a distinctive gauntlet grabbing her arm.

"Kurosaki, what the hell!?" Soi-Fon exclaimed in frustration as he casually brought her over and forced her to sit down in front of Yoruichi. "Are we SURE he's not an enemy now?"

"Positive," Yoruichi said, glancing up at Ichigo. "Okay, what is it? You saying Orihime can't fix it, but you can?"

Ichigo shook his head before pointing to Orihime and then to himself.

"Oh. We both need to do it?" Orihime realized in surprise…and maybe a bit of excitement about doing something together with him.

Soi-Fon grimaced. On one hand, getting her other arm back would be much more appealing than any replacement the Twelfth could give her. On the other, if this went wrong, she'd have to go through getting her arm rotted away and chopped off again. "Fine, I'll give you one try, Kurosaki," she said, handing her Zanpaktou to her Goddess. "Lady Yoruichi? I hate to ask, but if something goes wrong...?"

Yoruichi lost all humor from her face and nodded with a scowl as she took the blade. "Ichigo, please don't make me dismember my first student," Yoruichi requested with a pointed look at the transcended being.

Ichigo didn't respond. Instead, he knelt behind Soi-Fon's shoulder and waved Orihime to come closer. The orange-haired girl did so, albeit a little uncertain of what he had in mind. Raising her hands, she summoned her barrier to form over Soi-Fon's missing arm. "Now?" she asked to Ichigo.

He shook his head and placed a hand on Soi-Fon's shoulder. In one instance, Soi-Fon's arm reformed as if it was never gone. But at the tip of her fingers was a dark reiatsu that was already starting to turn her fingers to bones. Soi-Fon hissed in pain.

"I reject!"

At Orihime's command, the decaying powers of Barragan were banished away and Ichigo finished restoring the fingertips once more.

Soi-Fon relaxed, looking numbly at her arm, raising it to flex the fingers. It was back. Her brain hadn't really had time to process that it had been gone earlier, and now it was back; albeit, the skin was paler on her arm than the rest of her body. Still, it was a bit much to take in.

She was brought out of her musing as her Zanpaktou was placed back into her hand by Yoruichi, holding it by the blade with a smile. "You did good, Little Bee," Yoruichi said with a smile.

Soi-Fon sighed. "My lady, I was barely an annoyance to Aizen in the end."

"Yeah, join the club. The only thing he found interesting was my legs," Yoruichi said with a grin.

"...What?" Soi-Fon said darkly. "Was there anything left of him to castrate, Kuro-"

She turned and found that he was truly gone this time.

"If it makes you feel any better, I didn't notice him leaving either," Yoruichi informed her with mock sympathy. "So, Orihime, what do you-"

She stopped and looked at the obvious lack of Orihime in the area.

"I guess he took her off to help heal the others."

Indeed, the remaining injured were patched up, if not fully healed by the combined efforts of Retsu, Hachigen, Orihime, and Ichigo.

Granted, some wounds weren't physical.

"Is she going to be alright?" Toshiro asked in concern.

"Physically, Lieutenant Hinamori is fine now," Retsu said with a frown. "But I fear the harm done to her mind after what she endured.

Toshiro balled his fists, close to drawing blood, as he cast his eyes down in shame.

"It may have been your blade that stabbed her, but it was Aizen's hand that cast the blow," Retsu reminded softly. "Do not despair so great, Captain Hitsuguya."

"Captain Unohana, I...don't believe she actually knew what was going on. Or if she did, she refused to believe it," Toshiro said with gritted teeth.

It took a moment for them both to realize a new presence was among them.

"There's nothing you can do here, Kurosaki," Toshiro said, refusing to look at the horned lord. "Not unless you can heal the mind."

Ichigo hummed but made no form of comment on that subject. Instead, they both furrowed their brow, ignoring the discomfort as their minds were invaded by the image of the Head Captain standing in the Captain Meeting room back in Soul Society, which was otherwise empty.

"I'll assume that wasn't entirely literal," Retsu mused, turning to face Ichigo. "The Head Captain is waiting for us?"

Phrasing it as a question was as much a formality as Ichigo nodding to confirm it.

"Kurosaki? Could you retrieve...anyone to watch over Momo?" Hitsuguya asked softly, looking at the transcended being.

Ichigo's eyes soften as if to say that he didn't even need to ask.