Hello again. Here is yet another bleach story to satisfy my obbsession. Sorry to all those who are waiting for Hold On to be updated, but due to a serious writer's block, that is now on temporary haitus. This is very angsty, so sorry if you don't like that sort of thing. Tissue will be needed. This is set after Aizen is defeated, so let's just imagine he has.

Disclaimer: Maybe, one day, I'll own Bleach, as unlikely as that may seem, but for now, I don't own anything......Execpt for Aimi and Mizaki.

Everyone had always expected the eleventh division Third Seat to be the first to die, leaving his long time friend and follower behind. Ikkaku had always loved to fight, always gone into battle looking to die a honourable death by someone who was genuinely stronger than him. He was always first into battle, and when faced with a strong opponent, he pushed Yumichika behind him, and fought himself, never letting anyone interfere, even if he died or was on the point of death.

It wasn't just that everyone thought he was going to be the first to die, most people knew that fact. And Yumichika was on top of the list. He rarely fought, only when there was more than one opponent was he actually allowed into the battle. And even on these rare occasions Ikkaku took the main bulk of the hollows. And those times when he was stuck on the sidelines? Well, these were the worst of them all.

It was always hard to stand and watch, to just stand there, not moving, while watching your best friend nearly die in a battle. Throughout the fight, Yumichika finds himself itching to join in, to stop the hollow, or Arrancarr from killing him, but he knew Ikkaku would never forgive him if he tried, and it was always that, and the grin on his best friends face that stopped him. He knew Ikkaku loved the thrill of battle, loved to be fighting for life or death. Others always thought it was Yumichika's vain outlook on life that stopped him from fighting, worry that it was going to mess his hair up or something of the like.

Ikkaku knew it ran deeper than that. He knew Yumichika respected his rule when it came to fighting. No interfering. Ever. And Yumichika never disobeyed that rule, even during the most bloody of battles, where Ikkaku was nearing death. Even while he was fighting, Ikkaku noticed the twitch every time he got hit, noticed the worry in his friends eyes throughout fight, and always made sure he won those battles, not just so he could live to see another, as Kenpatchi Zaraki had once told him, but to see the relief and happiness in the purple orbs to know that he was alive.

But despite this, he knew that one day he would die, leaving his best friend behind to fend for himself.

Everyone knew this.

Maybe...Maybe that's why it was such a shock when Yumichika died on the battlefield, while his bald friend survived.

The shrill sound of the alarm bell echoed throughout Serietei, rousing the Shinigami who weren't already awake from their slumber. The early sunrise glowed orange, casting long shadows over the city. Surrounding the high walls were large groups of Hollows, those in front seemingly weak, but the one or two behind each group were practically leaking power.

"Squads three to five, take the East gate. Squads Six, seven, and eight, North gate, Squads Nine and eleven, west. And ten and thirteen, South gate." A Hell Butterfly flew through each of the divisions, calling out orders from the captain-commander. Soul Society was in chaos.

"Yumichika! There's an emergency!" The bald third seat of the eleventh division burst into the room at full speed, grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of fighting.

Yumichika had just finished tying the knot of his sash when Ikkaku burst into the room, and surprisingly, he didn't flinch at the loud bang, whereas most people would. Maybe this was because this had just happened so much recently it was losing its effect on the fifth seat. "Did you actually think I hadn't realised?" He said dryly, not even bothering to look up as he grabbed his sword from its place leaning against the drawer. He looked up at Ikkaku, mirroring the grin with equal enthusiasm. "Let's go."

Outside there was barely enough room to move around, much less get to the battle ground, the shinigami were in a panic, running to and fro. Screaming was heard in the distance. Ikkaku grinned back at Yumichika, before taking off into the air, heading for the West gate, where their division was based.

Yumichika found himself hesitating, watching Ikkaku flash step away from the door. Something inside was telling him to stay here, to guard the inner city. Something was saying 'don't go', don't follow Ikkaku, don't go into battle. But he brushed it off as nothing, tiredness maybe, and leapt into the air after his friend.

As he leapt through the air, he felt a familiar reiatsu draw near behind him.

"Tachiou!" He yelled as the captain flew past him, the pink ball of energy attached to his shoulder, as usual.

"Hey!" Shouted the pink ball, turning to face him. "Weirdo-chan, there's lots of strong ones here, Ken-chan's gonna have fun!" She giggled excitedly as they neared the main battle. Yumichika smiled, rolling his eyes at the feral grin forming on his captains face. Looking ahead he noticed Ikkaku, already locked in battle with a strong opponent, a four legged furry creature that strongly resembled a cat, but with longer claws and very, very fast reflexes.

'Well, at least he's having fun.' Yumichika though with a grin as he threw himself into the middle of the chaos, releasing his Zanpaktou, and slicing at a weak hollow, killing it immediately. But it was only a weak one, many more surrounded him, most much, much stronger. Using the skills he had built up over the years, Yumichika kept slicing and cutting at the hollows, dodging strikes here and there, but generally doing quite well. As all fights go, he ended up with a few scratches and bruises, but nothing that seriously lowered his standard.

Ikkaku had long defeated his opponent, and moved onto larger, more powerful prey, finding his first fight rather boring, needing the thrill of a better opponent, someone stronger to really test his strength. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a orange and black blur run through the commotion, the early morning sun glinting of his sword as he stopped to fight yet another hollow. It would seem he had the same idea as the third seat. The stronger hollow seemed to be further back, if they are defeated early on, the smaller, weaker hollows will be easy to pick off without any distraction from the strong. That and he probably just wanted a stronger opponent. As Ikkaku began to fight yet another hollow, still grinning, he kept watching the fifth seat in the corner of his eye.

Yumichika was fighting what looked like a weak hollow, judging by the size of it, but was finding it was stronger and faster than it looks. The hollow was small, only about the same size as Yumichika, and was furry, with tall, sharp ears, and glowing yellow eyes. Dodging and slashing at the hollow whenever there was an opening was more difficult than it looked. He had managed to scratch the hollow a bit, but nothing life-threatening.

"You think you can defeat me?" The creature growled in a low voice. "Think you can do what these weaklings have tried?" It gave a small chuckle, grinning from ear to furry ear, showing off long sharp fangs, dripping with the blood of its last victim, who was lying in the mud, in pieces, not too far off.

"There's a difference between them and me." He grimaced at the sight of the broken bodies on the ground. "They are unseated shinigami, not very powerful, nor particularly talented fighters."

"And you are?" The thing asked.

"Eleventh squad fifth seat, Ayasegawa Yumichika." He grinned, lunging at the creature, who dodged out of the way, up. Growling, Yumichika leapt after him, up into the air. The creature tried attacking again, but Yumichika dodged easily, spinning around to face the hollow, who had bared his teeth in a growl.

This thing has a strange reiatsu.

What?

Try slicing it's mask.

His brief conversation with his Zanpaktou was cut short as the hollow dived at him again. He dodged, but not before attempting to break the mask. A loud crack was head, signalling he was successful. Smirking slightly he turned, sword lowered slightly.

Don't get smug just yet.

He was right, the hollow turned to face him, grinning. The cracked mask was beginning to reform its self. Violet eyes widened. 'it's regenerating.'

I thought so.

What do you mean?

They can't be defeated by pure physical strength. The only thing that can is Kidou.

But that means... He glanced round at the rest of the division.

No, I think there's only a few of these. You're going to have to use it.

But I....

Does it look as if anyone else can take it on? One glance around the battle field proved that, not one person wasn't stuck in battle. Meaning nobody was paying attention to him.

....Alright. He sighed, dodging the hollow as it leapt at him again.

But then a burst of reiatsu caught his attention, turning his head he saw Ikkaku grinning from ear to ear, fighting an opponent twice the size of him.

The hollow saw an opening, the shinigami was distracted, and so, flash stepping, he leapt in front of him. Yumichika turned, wide-eyed, the hollow too close to be able to do anything. With a shocking speed, the creature opened his mouth wide, wider than it looks like it could, fangs dripping, and tried to sink his teeth into the shinigami. Yumichika dodged, but only enough for his head not to be caught in the wide mouth, a searing pain screamed in his chest, as he felt two long fangs tear through his lungs, ripping through the other side with ease. It only took a few seconds for the pain to dull, a numbness sweeping through his body.

DO IT! DO IT NOW! Kujaku screamed in his head. Before it leaves you for dead and moves on to the others. None of your division can defeat it.

Coughing out blood, with the teeth still embedded in his chest, Yumichika tightened his grip on his sword, determination mixed with pain clear on his face.

"Split and Deviate, Ruri'iro Kujaku." He whispered, and the four bladed sword began to glow, before merging and splitting, writhing vines erupting from the hilt. They didn't have to go far, wrapping around the body attached to the shinigami, not daring to move him away for fear of hurting Yumichika further.

But the creature began to writhe in the hold, making Yumichika hiss sharply as the pain came shooting back. The vines gripped tighter, another two wrapping around the creatures neck and head, keeping him completely still.

Yumichika felt himself becoming drowsy, eyelids were becoming heavy, but determination kept him awake, kept him going. It only took a few more seconds for the hollow to dissolve, the vibrations of the scream shaking his body. Having defeated the thing, Yumichika felt his vision becoming blurred, seeing the flowers raining down, but unable to do anything about it. Unable to reach up and take one, to heal his injuries. He felt his sword become solid again in his hand.

Blackness filled his vision, and he felt himself falling, numbness once again spreading throughout his body. He felt himself hit the ground with a sickening crack, and he slipped into unconsciousness, the pain slipping away into nothingness.

Shuuhei Hisagi was struggling against a strong hollow close to the wall. His division was based on the west gate, along with the eleventh. This wasn't so bad, most of his men were still safe behind the gate, standing guard in case of a break. The eleventh division, because of their love of fighting, were all out and locked in battle. But the hollows were stronger than they had anticipated, many of the weaker ones were being defeated easily, but that usually exhausted the shinigami, and when the weak ones were all dead the strong hollows were able to move forward, attacking the weakened shinigami. It was clever. Too clever for hollows such as these. Was there someone pulling the strings? Hollow or human?

Dodging low, and striking hard at the hollow, Hisagi managed to defeat his opponent. Breathing hard, he glanced around the battlefield. Most hollows had now been defeated, only a few were struggling on, most of these now faced with more than one shinigami, or an eager captain of the eleventh.

Ikkaku managed to catch his eye, against a opponent twice his size, he was bloody and looked as if his arm was broken, but it wasn't stopping him. If anything he seemed to be enjoying it even more. Giving a small chuckle he headed towards the bald shinigami as he finished his battle with the creature-slash-hollow. Letting out a large burst of Reiatsu, Ikkaku finished the fight in one blow, before standing up straight. Feeling the ninth squad's vice-captain's reiatsu, he turned to greet him, but was stopped by a glowing flower falling in front of his face.

"What the...?" He caught the flower, being careful not to crush it, and examined it. It seemed to be made purely of spiritual energy, glowing a light blue with the power that made it. He looked up to see Shuuhei, who staring at his own flower in his hand, wide-eyed with shock.

"So he used it, huh?" Hisagi said softly. Both heads jerked up when a loud 'thud' was heard from behind Ikkaku.

Ikkaku spun around, his eyes widening when he saw what had fallen. 'no.' There, lying in front of him, was his worst nightmare. Lying on the ground, sword still held tight in his hand, was Yumichika, unconscious, the front of his uniform ripped, with two gaping holes in his chest. As much as his mind was screaming at him to do something, anything, his body was frozen, staring at the unmoving body on the ground.

A Slight twitch in Yumichika's hand almost made him jump, but shocked him out of his frozen state, he rushed towards the body, dropping to his knees next to him.

"Go! Get a medic!" He yelled behind him, making Hisagi jump. "Now!" The lieutenant nodded, flash-stepping towards the Fourth Squad to find a healer.

Ikkaku turned back to his friend, brushing a stray strand of hair of his face. The feathers that usually adorned his eye and brow were gone, his hair was a mess, and dirt covered the shinigami from head to toe. He would freak if he was awake. Or even alive. Ikkaku panicked at the thought, quickly pressing two fingers on his neck, feeling for a pulse. It was there, faint and weak, but it was there nonetheless. Ikkaku breathed a sigh of relief, but he couldn't stop the panicked thoughts in his head.

What if the healer doesn't get here in time?

Those injuries are pretty severe, he may not make it even if the healer does make it here.

And of course the main one:

Why?

"Damn it Yumi, it's not meant to be this way round. I'm the one who always get himself hurt remember, you're the careful one, the smarter one. How did you get yourself into this kind of mess? Look at yourself, how did you manage that? If I could I would take you to the healers myself, but I don't want to hurt you anymore than you are." He gave a shuddering sigh, trailing his finger down a pale cheek. If he died, if he didn't make it through, Ikkaku didn't know what he'd do. Yumichika was his best friend, closer than family, if he died...it didn't bear thinking about.

"We're here!" Came a voice from behind him. Turning, he saw Hisagi, and with him was the fourth seat of the fourth division, Aimi Hayashi. The healer quickly ran around the pair, dropping to her knees by them.

"I'm sorry it's only me." She said, as she begun to cast a healing spell over the injured man. "Tachiou and Fuku-Tachiou are both busy and I could get here fastest." She explained, as a pale blue glow appeared around Yumichika's body.

"I don't care. So long as you can heal him."

Aimi hesitated in her answer. "Well, I'm not-"

"You can heal him, can't you?" Hisagi asked over her shoulder. He grimaced at the sight of the injuries he had sustained, they were grave. Smaller injuries were scattered around his body, but the holes in his chest were life-threatening. It may be pessimistic but Hisagi didn't think he'll make it through.

"Please tell me you can." Ikkaku muttered, head down, his face in shadows. He took one of Yumichika's hands in his own, squeezing tight. Hisagi looked shocked. He always knew the pair were close, it was obvious, but to bring the bald man down to begging, that was really something strange.

Aimi sighed, lowering her head so her hair covered her face. "I don't know. I'm giving it all I've got. His injuries are severe, it could take a while for me to heal him, but it's just a case of him hanging on that long." She sighed again, checking over the broken body to see the process, the smaller injuries were beginning to heal, but the serious ones haven't even started. She could feel his reiatsu weakening more and more by the second. "Without treatment, I would say he's not going to last more than five more minutes." Ikkaku's eyes widened, and he sub-consciously tightened his hold on his friends hand. "He's lost a lot of blood, I'm not sure even the captain could heal this without him at least going into a coma."

"A Coma's better than dead." Ikkaku exclaimed. "Can't you do anything. Where's Unohana tachiou?"

"On the other side of Serietei." Hisagi said, his eyes downcast.

"He'd be gone before we can even make it halfway."Aimi said, as she poured more power into her spell. A bead of sweat ran down the side of her face as she tried her hardest to keep the man alive. She bit her lip, hard, breaking the skin, a drop of blood running down her chin. Despite her hard work, the injuries didn't look as if they were even beginning to heal, much less heal completely. She wiped her eyes on her shoulder, hot tears beginning to form.

"I-I don't think I can do this." She muttered, keeping the spell going nonetheless.

Ikkaku stopped breathing, his heart beating hard in his chest, pounding in his ears. No, no, this can't be happening. No matter what they decided to do, Yumichika wasn't going to survive. Unohana simply wouldn't get here in time. Ikkaku felt his world shattering. Yumichika, his best friend, the one he swore to protect, the one and only person he would willingly die for, was dying. And there was nothing he could do about it.

"I'm sorry." A faint voice brought him back to reality, and he glanced up at Aimi, who was still trying her hardest to heal. His vision was becoming blurred, for the first time in his life, The great Madarame Ikkaku was crying.

"The best you can do now is say goodbye." Aimi said, the blue glow disappearing. She stood next to Hisagi, her head bowed, eyes downcast.

"Come on." Hisagi took her hand, leading her away from the heartbreaking scene.

"Yumi." Ikkaku muttered, inching closer to the barely alive man. "Don't do this. You can't do this....not to me." As gently as he could, he lifted his torso off the ground, cradling his head in the crook of his neck, wrapping his arms around the still body. Giving a shuddering breath, the bald man began to talk softly.

"I don't want to say goodbye. But then who does? You're my best friend, you always will be, no matter what, I promise. I'm still waiting for that miracle to happen, the way you always read about. But I can see that's not where this is going, as much as I want it to. You're leaving me. People always said I would be the first to go, not you. What cruel twist of fate this is. But then, if this pain is anything like what you would have to go through were I to die, I swear I'll lock myself in my room and stay safe forever. "

A weak scoff was heard from somewhere below. Ikkaku's eyes shot open, and he pulled back slightly to look down at Yumichika. His eyes were still closed, but a small smile graced his features.

"As if you...be ab-able t-to." His voice was quiet, barely heard even in the quiet of the morning. It was only then did Ikkaku notice they were alone on the field. A few shinigami were in sight, but all too far away for them to notice him.

"Shh." Ikkaku whispered. "Save your energy." Maybe the miracle would happen.

"S-sorry, f-or all this." Yumichika coughed, blood splattering the already soaked ground.

"I said be quiet Yumi." Ikkaku warned, tightening his grip on the frail body. "Just stay with me a little longer. Please."

"Ik-kak-u." He managed. "Please, l-let me say t-this. Don't beat y-yours-elf up over this, p-lease. I-I don't want to go e-either." Coughing up more blood, he shook slightly, gripping the black material of Ikkaku's uniform with one hand, and his sword in the other.

"I'm sorry." Ikkaku muttered into his hair. "I shouldn't have let this happen."

"Not... y-your fault." Yumichika murmured. "J-just one t-thing. T-Tanaka Mizaki. F-find her." His hand fell limp on his lap, the other dropping his sword, which landed on the floor with a surprising 'crack'. The sword had split up the middle, another crack running along the width of the sword near the hilt. "Sayonara, Ikkaku."

The body in his arms began to glow softly, slowly fading, until he was holding nothing but air.

He was gone.

Reaching forward with a shaking hand, Ikkaku gripped the hilt of the sword, lifting it off the ground, staring blankly at the broken blade left on the floor. He's gone. He's really gone. The thought continuously rung clear in his head, however much he wanted to deny it.

Bending over, dropping his head to the ground, still gripping the hilt of the sword as if his life depended on it, the powerful, tough third seat of the eleventh squad cried.

Everyone knew Ikkaku would be the first to die.

But as it turns out....

...

Everyone was wrong.

A/N: Thanks for reading to the end. Please review, reviews bring light to my dark life ^^

Okay, so I killed off Yumi. Sorry. Don't worry, more chapters are coming, and things should turn out okay. Next chapter: Ikkaku hits rock bottom, and we find out what happens to a certain character. One last thing (This AN is getting long) a lot of flashbacks are going into this, so if you have any ideas for Ikkaku and Yumichika, past scenes, that you would like to see in here, anything from the day they met to a few days before the beginning of the story, please send it in a PM or leave it in your review. Thanks ^^