When Sora opened his eyes, his vision felt a bit blurry for a second. He took a deep breath, his senses already telling him everything he needed to know about his situation. Welp, it was about time to kill some people.
He sighed a bit. He felt stronger than ever. No, his body strength was still the same—the thing that received a massive boost was his techniques, and his soul resistance was tougher now.
Neat. He would still get one-shot by cosmic Satan, though... so there was that.
He then looked up at his opponent.
He took a deep breath...
Suddenly, like grains of sand, there were thousands of Soras all around Hueco Mundo, each pointing their guns at the Espada. Individually, they might not be a threat, but all of them at the same time...
Hm.
"Release my friends... or I kill you all."
There was no in-between.
Silence followed.
Starrk, still holding his twin pistols, sighed. "Man...," he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're really making this annoying."
With a defeated shrug, he lowered his guns.
Harribel's golden eyes narrowed, but she, too, knew. She had seen this before. This wasn't a fight they could win.
Sora exhaled slowly, feeling a gaze settle on him—soft, warm, familiar.
Rukia.
He lowered his Reiatsu output immediately.
As you know, he wasn't trying to hurt his Rukia. Plus, she felt soft and... cold... like very cold... like holy geez, was she cold. Yet he didn't pull away, even if he felt like she was freezing him. Once more, his Blut was not activating.
He decided to make fire, though—more like he created heat, some heat to slowly warm her up so she could go back to normal.
She rushed into his arms, wrapping herself around him. She seemed to really have missed him, if the way she was hugging him was anything to go by.
"I thought you were dead..." she whispered, voice breaking.
He smiled softly, pressing a small kiss to her forehead before squeezing her cheeks between his fingers.
"You think a fraud like Aizen could kill me?" he teased.
She sniffled—but smiled. "You're an idiot."
"Your idiot," he corrected, flashing a smug grin.
Rukia blushed but didn't let go.
Sora then let his gaze drift to his friends—Ichigo looked beat to hell, but he had that look. Sora didn't like that look. Almost felt like Ichigo knew something he shouldn't know.
What could he possibly have to make him so smug?
Uryu did look beat, and Nemu was healed by Orihime. She had a hole in her shirt where her chest was, but that was about it.
She was fine.
Sora felt glad that his friends were late. He was so glad. He wasn't that much of an idiot.
"So," he said, crossing his arms, "what'd I miss while I was in the gulag?"
Ichigo groaned, waving him off. "Shut up."
Uryu adjusted his glasses. "Believe it or not, we have no idea."
"So you mean to tell me, while I was playing Uno with God, you did nothing?"
Uryu didn't know whether Sora was messing with him or if he had actually met God. He couldn't tell if Sora was lying, which normally he could do, but now he couldn't detect a lie.
What kind of trick was Sora using?
Then, a single sound cut through the air.
A throat being cleared.
Sora froze.
Oh.
Oh fuck.
He looked up slowly—and there stood Byakuya.
The man's expression was unreadable. He wasn't mad. He wasn't tense.
Just watching.
And that was somehow worse.
Oh shit.
Sora had just kissed Rukia.
Right in front of him.
Fuck.
Byakuya exhaled, ignoring what just happened, and instead asked:
"Are you in a state to fight?"
Sora blinked.
Oh.
He was letting it slide?
Huh.
"And," Byakuya continued, "summarize your battle with Aizen."
Sora clicked his tongue. "Tch. Straight to business, huh?"
He cracked his neck, stretching his arms.
"So, hum, long story short, I threw everything I had at him, almost had him on the ropes—like, almost there—but then he used his Bankai... and I got folded."
Sora sighed a bit, remembering the beatdown he received.
"His Bankai?"
"Yes. The illusions become real... Whatever he makes become real. That was some reality-warping BS, and it seems like he has no control over what spawns. It's all up to the target's mind... so basically, the more creative or overthinking the person is... the worse it gets."
Uryu froze for a second... If that was true, that meant...
That Aizen had a buff against Sora. The BS that goes through Sora's mind...
What kind of diabolical-ass combo was Sora hit with?
Uryu could see it now: a dragon, who was also a futa, shooting laser beams from his eyes—rainbow lasers—that acted like pink kryptonite.
Yes, Sora's imagination could get that wild. Or even worse. Let him not think of the worst part.
Shit probably felt painful for Sora.
He must not laugh at his cousin's misery.
Sora, meanwhile, was already scheming. A way to get Uryu and Nemu close. He may or may not have turned her soul into a real one instead of an artificial one.
Now, all he needed to do was make sure his fight with Aizen played in such a way that it could expose the upgrade of her soul without giving away his new abilities.
And the fact that after this, he was going to take Rukia's ability to walk.
A/N