STOP ME WHEN YOU'VE HAD ENOUGH

Fuck, Of Course

Gin's laughter fills the room. He tugs on Rukia's shackles with him as his fit leaves him unbalanced. The small Shinigami hisses in pain from the tugging, and an auditable growl sounds from Ichigo.

"You - you want to become an - an Espada?" He gasps through laughter.

"And?"

"Gin only means that we already have all the Espada we need," Aizen saves.

"Of course because there can only be ten."

"Precisely."

"Don't tell me there's not one Espada you want to rid of?" Ichigo finds himself grinning again.

Aizen's brief lack of response seems to prove his point. "And if there is?"

"Why, I'd be happy to oblige you, Lord Aizen."

That title leaves Ichigo's mouth tasting foul, but he doesn't let it show. The Shinigami lord seems to be feeling the opposite. The brunet is practically purring.

"Tousen, please summon the Espada."

"My lord, you can't mean that you wish to listen to the boy?" Tousen frowns.

"I'm curious what he means by 'oblige,'" Aizen smirks.

Reluctantly, the blind man starts his search. He shunpos away, leaving them in an awkward silence. Ichigo takes a deep breath, gives Uryū a silent indication of staying put, and goes to approach Rukia. No one stops him, yet everyone watches. Especially Rukia. Gin glances at Aizen for orders, but his lord doesn't give him any.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I'm saving your ass once again, Kuchiki," Ichigo jests.

"I saved you first, Kurosaki," Rukia snorts in humor, aggressively wiping away unspilled tears.

"Could we possibly take these off?" He asks Aizen, gesturing to the shackles blistering Rukia's wrists.

"Of course."

Gin grumbles under his breath as he unlocks the irons. He shunpos to Aizen's side with a pouty look on his face. Ichigo's eyes study his best friend for any fatal wounds, and sighs in relief when there isn't any.

"How's the stitches?" He questions.

"They need to come out. Whatever you did, the stitches closed everything in a couple hours," she claims.

He sets his jaw in thought. The voice that had whispered in his ear to cover the thread in his salvia was credible? Is his saliva a healing power? Weird. That must be a Hollow factor.

"We can remove them later."

Tousen shunpos back to Aizen, and the large group that follows stands before their lord, waiting for orders. Eyes of different color set on them almost immediately, and Ichigo puts a protective hand on Rukia's shoulder. The Shinigami girl rubs her wrists unconsciously while she glares back at the Espada.

"Is that Kurosaki?" A pale, long haired man asks.

"He doesn't look like much," snickers a lanky, one eyed man.

"His skills have to be decent enough to beat Yammy," a tan, blonde woman reminds. She's Ulquiorra's superior, Ichigo reminds himself.

Yammy, one of the few Espada Ichigo met prior, scoffs. His arm is back, too, and Ichigo couldn't help himself.

"Hey, Yammy!" He calls. "How's the arm?"

A good half of the Espada chuckle at Yammy's snarling face. The ginger gets a good laugh from it, too. Rukia, however, doesn't find it very funny, and rams her elbow in his diaphragm. He jerks forward, and he almost gasps for breath. Almost. Instead, he simply glares at her.