Rain poured steadily in the Seireitei as a lone figure walked slowly through the woods next to the wall. Her Shihakshou was torn, and soaked in blood, as was the zanpakto in her hand, trailing behind her. Her long silver hair covered her face, which was pale from exhaustion and loss of blood. She took a few more stumbling steps, then pressed one hand against the white wall and smiled. "Finally." She murmured, her voice faint, and weak. She pulled her zanpakto up, and pressed it against the wall. "I'm sorry Gintsuki, I have to do this again. Open, Jigenme!" And the blade became a circle, opening a hole in the white stone, which she stepped through, finally collapsing outside of the Kuchiki manor.
Inside the manor, Byakuya looked up from his desk, out the window into the garden. He could see the black-robed figure near the wall, full upper half of the body leaning over the edge of the giant koi pond, which was almost devoid of the fish by now. "Her." He muttered, rising from the desk, and leaving the room.
In the squad ten office, Toshiro, and Rangiku both looked up with a start. "Captain… is that?"
"Yes. There's no mistaking that Reiatsu. Let's go!"
Byakuya was just stepping out, as Rangiku and Toshiro arrived at the side of the body. Kneeling down, Toshiro brushed her silver hair away from her face, and sighed. "It's her. There's no mistaking it. Plus, there's this." And he held up her right arm, which still had the lieutenant's badge on it. There were gouging claw marks all over it, but the symbols were just visible.
"Umiko Koro. Ex-lieutenant of squad ten." Byakuya murmured.
Toshiro nodded, and closed his eyes. He could still see that day.
"Me? Lieutenant?" Umiko asked, eyes wide with shock.
"Yes. I'd really be glad if you agreed."
They were sitting outside of the office, facing the training grounds and gardens. It was a warm, sunny afternoon. Umiko's silver hair was braided, with light turquoise ribbons. Her green-gold eyes were shining happily.
"What about third-seat Matsumoto?"
"The day she's ready to be a lieutenant…"
"Okay, I get it." She laughed. "I'd be honored to be your lieutenant then Captain."
"Thanks. It means a lot to me."
"You just want someone to do more of the paperwork, don't you?"
"…Maybe."
She laughed again, and Toshiro smiled. He had done a lot of smiling those days. It was only one short year later when it happened.
"Umiko! Get up, please, get up!"
Umiko laid still, a deep sword wound in her chest. As Toshiro ran towards her body, she murmured something, before her breath stopped. It had been raining that night. She had died outside the white walls of the Seireitei. They never found the killer.
"Captain." Toshiro opened his eyes to Rangiku's voice. She continued. "We should get her to squad four barracks, before she dies again."
Umiko slowly opened her eyes. She could see a lit ceiling, and two figures leaning over her. One of them was Captain Unohana. The other… "Cap…tain?" She murmured quietly. He nodded.
"I'm here Umiko."
"Captain I'm… so sorry."
"You have nothing to be sorry about. I'm just so grateful that you're alive."
Tears began to pour silently from her eyes. "No, I… you thought I was dead, and I didn't do anything to stop you from believing that, I just hid like a coward."
"No. You must've had a good reason. Just knowing you're alive…" He caught himself, realizing how much he sounded like Hinamori had right before captain Aizen had tried to kill her. He started to laugh softly. "You're not going to stab me, are you?" He grinned.
Umiko was horrified at the thought. "How could you say something like that? You're mocking me again! You always used to mock me at the worst of times!" She wailed, though she was beginning to laugh herself. They laughed quietly together for a while, as Captain Unohana slipped out of the room, smiling kindly.
"I've missed you Captain." Umiko said, stopping suddenly. You have no idea how much I wanted to come back."
"Then why didn't you?" He asked, his eyes growing sad, longing for the truth that had escaped him for these years.
"I…" Suddenly the bell clanged through the Seireitei as the urgent voice of the announcer calling, "Intruders coming from all sides of the Seireitei! All Captains will lead their squads to the designated areas for immediate defensive actions."
"I've got to go." Toshiro said, rushing out the door, followed by captain Unohana and Isane, leaving Umiko alone.
"No way am I getting left behind." She growled, snatching her zanpakto, and racing off, not even bothering to throw on her black Shihakshou over the white robe. "I've got a few new tricks to show you Captain."
"Hollows! Thousands of them!" Rose the terrified wail. It was a wall of the vicious hollows. They were so powerful, easily overwhelming the weaker soul reapers. Thousands of dead and injured littered the ground, and thousands more were fighting for their lives. In the midst of it all, Toshiro and Rangiku were slicing down the hollows as quickly as possible, but more continued to come in endless hordes.
"Scatter! Senbonzakura!" The tiny blades danced across the sky, cutting the number of hollows down by over half. The remaining soul reapers smiled up expecting to see Captain Kuchiki, but were surprised by a snow-white robe that wasn't that of a captain.
"Umiko!" Toshiro gasped, cutting down another hollow, barely even looking. Everyone was staring at the figure on the rooftop in awe. His eyes found the zanpakto in her hand. It was clearly Senbonzakura, and yet it was in the hands of the small ex-lieutenant. "How…?"
She cut him off by stepping off the roof, falling gracefully to the ground, where the zanpakto in her hand began to glow, and slowly transformed. When the glow faded, Toshiro's eyes shot open. She smiled quickly, and then turned to the hollows. "Reign over the frozen heavens! Hyorinmaru!" And the ice-blue dragon shot through the sky alongside Toshiro's, finishing off the rest of the arrancars. She then sealed the zanpakto, which took its normal form of the long silver blade with the mirror-like guard, and the pale blue hilt.
"What the hell was that?" Toshiro asked his lieutenant as she turned away. "How were you doing that? That's not your zanpakto's power!"
"You assumed that Jigenme was mine. You never asked what Gintsuki's power was!"
"Because I've never heard of a zanpakto that could mimic others!"
"You'd never heard of a zanpakto that could tear holes into the fabric of space either, did you?" She retorted. Then sighed. "Jigenme was my sister's zanpakto. After she died, I used its identity to hide my own. It's nice to have a normal zanpakto for once. Not having to use someone else's power as my own."
"Alright…Just promise me one thing." He sighed, turning to leave.
"Yes?"
He smiled again. "Don't ever use my zanpakto again."
"Heh… sorry about that. I just had to let you know what I could do somehow."
As he left, Umiko returned to the squad four barracks, and sat on the edge of the bed with her head in her hands, at a total loss of what to do. "What am I going to tell him? How can I tell him what I've done?"