Crows x Souls

"Even the strongest of opponents always have a weakness." — Itachi Uchiha.

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[POV: With Itachi, The Clone – Inside Las Noches] 

He found Lilynette shortly after leaving Aizen's clone, and with her direction they quickly left for Starrk's Room. From Aizen's earlier words, he could infer that he had somehow figured out a way to mask his Kidō from Itachi's senses. It was quite the feat, however not a complete one. 

The closer they got to where Starrk was, the clearer that he could see the slight inconsistencies between the natural Reishi and that of Aizen's construct. 

Passing through it was very easy since it was a specialized barrier: meaning it focused more on its masking effect than actually keeping people outside of it. 

He wasn't sure what scene was waiting for them when they passed through the door but seeing Aizen looking as if he was in the middle of having a tense conversation with Starrk was something along the lines of what he expected. 

Starrk on his part seemed pleasantly surprised when he saw him. 

He'd half been expecting them to be in the middle of a brawl by the time he and Lilynette arrived. Starrk was very powerful, he knew that firsthand, but he also knew that Aizen's Kyōka Suigetsu was absolute. All it took was one moment and nothing else of Starrk's strength would matter. 

The only reaction Aizen had to their arrival was the small uptick of his eye with his focus entirely zeroing on Itachi. 

"I see you killed my clone."

Aizen chuckled as he saw Itachi staring dead at him with his trademarked blank expression. He leaned forward, a derisive gleam in his eyes. 

"Do you want to take a chance at killing me? This will be the only chance you get." He said invitingly to which Starrk who was by his side sighed tiredly. 

"Truthfully, I expected you to come here yourself and use your clone for the distraction. I was even halfway with preparing a generous welcome."

Itachi looked at Aizen's sword hanging idle hy his side and then at Starrk who had Lilynette fussing over him. 

"Should I not have come?" He asked. Starrk shook his head and gave him a lazy smile. 

"I didn't expect it, even you coming this far for me, but I can appreciate the gesture." He said while scratching his head, slightly embarrassed by his own words. 

If one was not aware of the underlying tension between the three men, they would have thought it was a gathering of old awkward friends. 

Except in this room, hidden from the rest of Las Noches, sat three monsters and a child. 

Aizen didn't bother with attacking Itachi because he was just a clone and he wanted to see what Itachi had planned out. 

Itachi didn't attack Aizen because there was just no need. He could hold off Aizen for a few minutes but that was if the man attacked, and looking at him all he had on his face was the same arrogant nonchalance he always knew the man to have. 

As for Starrk, he would rather that nobody fought. The last thing he wanted to do was fight. If they fought, undoubtedly it would spill out, which in turn would alert the others and very soon it would be a buffet of battle hungry Hollows. 

"So would you like to take a seat?" Aizen asked, gesturing to a seat at his side but Itachi promptly ignored him. 

"Starrk…" He began. 

Starkk sighed and hung his head low. "I know."

The unasked question was the same one he was treading the waters with against Aizen a few minutes ago. 

Could he really defect like this? 

He had no lost love for the Espada, honestly he really couldn't care less, but it was for the same reason he grudgingly joined Aizen that he was now hesitating when he finally stood before the line. 

Two people came to mind. Ulquiorra and Harribel. Especially Ulquiorra. 

As much as he was content with letting the young Hollow spread his wings and fly, he'd much rather it be from where he could watch him a mountain away. 

On Itachi's end, why he didn't know what was going on in Starrk's mind he was patient enough to let the man sort it out himself. 

Although there wasn't enough time, he didn't care much as long as the collateral was himself. 

Despite how aloof he appeared, he never let Aizen out of his sight. Aizen wouldn't allow blatant insubordination, much less from a Hollow as powerful as Starrk. And no way he would just let Itachi run rampant in his castle – all these Itachi was absolutely sure of. 

Starrk's sigh drew Itachi's attention as the man finally stood up while scratching his head and complaining about the inevitability of it all. 

"I'd rather not fight if we can help it." Starrk muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "But I guess it can't be helped."

"What a shame." Aizen shook his head and picked up his blade. 

If only Starrk hadn't met Itachi. If he had met Aizen first, then for these people he called comrade, he wouldn't have given up the privilege of their connection for anything else. Alas, he had met a forlorn Shinigami on a nameless dune years ago and that changed everything. 

"Go. I'll hold him back as much as I can." Itachi didn't look at them as he drew his blade, never allowing his eyes to trail off Aizen for even a second. 

The moment the sheen of Aizen's blade left its sheath, Itachi immediately was upon him, eyes steadfast and aiming to take off the arm drawing out the blade. 

His blade hit a Kidō spell, but undeterred Itachi grabbed the hilt of his blade with his other hand and with a thrusting motion pierced through the barrier with an elongated blackened blade. 

Obviously, an attack of that caliber wasn't something Aizen couldn't react to. The small delay between Itachi's first action and the second was all the moment he needed to cleanly parry the blade's elongated edge and move on to disarm Itachi. 

Itachi's eyes which were firmly set in its Eternal Mangekyō state critically scrutinized each and every of Aizen's move. 

Aizen continued releasing Kidō spell after Kidō spell that forced Itachi to respond in kind. Aizen was clearly the stronger one of the both of them but Itachi held on fairly well mainly because he wasn't trying to one-up Aizen's attacks. He was fully focused on being defensive, trying as much as he could to stall Aizen enough for both Starrk and Lilynette to escape. 

He was kicked in the chest and almost bifurcated from the waist down if not for the desperate spin he did midair to narrowly dodge the sword's path. 

Aizen narrowed his eyes as he regarded the clone in front of him, lazily dodging the Amaterasu-shuriken that threatened to explode on contact. 

"There's a secret to your clones, aren't there? They feel more 'complete' than the one I made. I see I still haven't perfected the technique."

Aizen was better at Kidō than Itachi – he had to admit. While he was masterfully proficient in every Kidō he used, since there were no limitations of nature affinity, he leaned more into specialization than someone like Aizen who was just good at everything. 

"Surely you don't think that you can stop me without your Bankai, let alone with a clone?"

He kicked Itachi through the building, past the general castle room and what looked like a showroom, and then out through an underground tunnel directly under the throne room, or at least where the throne room used to be. 

All Itachi could do was run. Run and evade while also barring Aizen's path the moment the man tried to withdraw. It was more trouble than it sounded. 

"What are you waiting for, Itachi Uchiha?" Aizen couldn't help but be curious at this point. It could be seen as if Itachi was hell-bent on protecting Starrk and Lilynette from him but that clearly wasn't the case. 

No matter how it looked on the outside, Aizen wasn't a fool. Itachi was doing a good job stopping him from going after Starrk but he could tell that it wasn't the only thing Itachi was doing. 

He had been surprised when Itachi had made a clone do the infiltration but even more surprised when Itachi remained in the vicinity. He had taken into account the possibility of a siege, unexpected reinforcement, Itachi having another more secret mission to play out but all he could see was Itachi waiting. And he kept waiting. 

He was already starting to question it when the clone's eyes snapped open with an eerie clarity. 

"Starrk and Lilynette just made it out." He informed Aizen as if wanting his input on it but all it did was make Aizen's expression harden. 

The spiritual pressure that blanketed the whole of Las Noches was one Aizen had sensed before and even from this far away he could feel it all swirling back into one place. 

Outside of Las Noches. 

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