The Scars Run Deep (Izumo)

"Tsukino is in Hueco Mundo, Izumo... I have to go..."

"Please, Kaori... I'll go! I can protect Tsukino... You don't need to endanger yourself or Kahna..."

"I have to remain strong for my Squad, Izumo... Even in my condition..."

"Please don't do this... I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you two..."

"I'll be back tonight... I promise..."

Izumo remembered the conversation like it was yesterday. He knelt slowly to the ground as he saw her, matted with her own blood. A few yards away was the mutilated body of Tsukino Mahara, Kaori's new Lieutenant and her childhood friend. She was long past saving. The Quinta Espada was standing over the poor girl's corpse with a wide grin on his face. Izumo scrambled over to Kaori on his knees and gently lays her head in his lap.

"Kaori... Kaori..."

"I-Izumo.... I'm sorry... F-For everything..."

"Don't... Don't say that! I was promoted to Squad Four for a reason! I can fix this! Don't speak like that... Please just... Please hang on..."

Izumo began using the strongest healing kido he knew, only to have Kaori stop him. She looked to him softly and smiled, even amid Izumo's flood of tears. The pair sat there, silently holding each other, even as the Quinta Espada looked on. Izumo went over how the pair met, how cold Kaori was to him initially. She would order him around fiercely, acting like she did not even care about him. This went on for nearly ten years, him faithfully serving her while developing budding feeling for her. He couldn't really put a finger on it. All he knew is that he never wanted to be apart from Kaori.

Then the day came when he was out on a mission with Kaori as her Lieutenant, and they came under attack from a Vasto Lorde Hollow. They both fought, Kaori's wind zanpakuto making Izumo's blood attacks sharper and quicker, tearing apart the Hollow quickly. Izumo noticed the synergy as they both panted afterwards, looking to each other. Then, with a quick "I'm sorry, Captain!", he leaned forward and kissed her, embracing her tightly. To his surprise, she not only let him kiss her, she actually embraced him back! They stood there for longer than either of them care to remember, holding each other, as if they were a pair of long lost lovers that had not seen each other for many years.

They spent the next five years barely apart from one another, Izumo finding the one speck of happiness in his life needed to have him excel. It wasn't soon after that that Izumo was promoted to Captain of Squad Four, his ambition finally realized. He was where he wanted to be. Then, as he returned home to Kaori, she gave him the news that she was with child. It was the icing on the cake. His horrid life beforehand, all of the hard situations he had to wade through to get here... All of it was worth it.

Then, six months later, news of Tsukino's capture came to Kaori. She looked to Izumo and lowered her head sadly. After that quick conversation, she was gone, while Izumo went to the Head Captain, begging for him to stop her.

"Please, Head Captain... Please stop her! She is pregnant! She can't be out fighting right now! You have the power to make her stop!"

No matter what he said, Yamamoto would do nothing. They were not to mount a full-scale assault on Hueco Mundo for the sake of one Captain and her Lieutenant. With a dark look in his eyes, he looked back at Yamamoto. All he could feel was hatred at that moment for his superior. He felt a clutching in his heart as he dashed away from the Head Captain's office. He may not be able to do anything, but Izumo would. He wouldn't just allow Kaori to be hurt.

Coming back to the current scene, Izumo looked down to his fiancee, slowly fading. She was a lost cause as well. No amount of healing would bring the Captain of Squad Six back. Izumo silently cried over Kaori as she spoke her last.

"I love you... "

And then she was gone, falling limp in his arms. He held her corpse shakily as the Quinta Espada continued to watch, seemingly pleased by the scene. Izumo just shook softly, the one person that gave him happiness was brutally wrenched away from him, mere months from having their child. Then the Espada turned to leave, and Izumo's reiatsu skyrocketed, making the Espada turn back to look to Izumo. A woman made of blood stood next to him, his Zanpakuto spirit.

"We'll be together forever, Kaori... I love you as well..."

The woman standing next to Izumo began to laugh, the Espada grabbing his ears in pain with the sharp ringing caused by the woman's giggling. She then dashed forward, stabbing through his gut while he was distracted and wrenching him to the side. Chishioyaiba floated back to Izumo as the Espada lay bleeding, Izumo slowly standing and walking over to the dying Arrancar. With a swift motion, he slashed down and beheaded the Espada without so much as a hesitation, glaring darkly down to him. Then his head throbbed in pain. He remembered the conversation with the Head Captain and growled, the woman behind him and laughing darkly.

"Captain Commander... This is your fault... I'll make you pay for this... I'll make you regret not listening to me and... And...."

Izumo gripped and sides of his head and yelled out for a long time. Digging his fingernails into his head, tearing into his flesh and crumpling onto the ground. His family was gone. His fiancee, the Captain of Squad Six, dead on the ground and still carrying the corpse of their unborn child within her womb. Everything was gone, all because the Head Captain would not listen...

"Just you wait... I'll see your eyes clouded with death like you've done to her..."