So I've decided to rewrite this story. It's been a while, Bleach is ending, and I really need to start writing regularly again to get back into habit. Bleach is ending guys, we've had an amazing run and I'm excited to see what happens next.

Please enjoy the rewrite, and as always leave a comment!


Today was the day.

Rukia jumped from her bed and grabbed her robe and slippers, then ran to her private bathroom. A quick cleaning and warm bath, and she was ready. For the next half hour she spent her time making sure that every aspect of herself was perfect; makeup, hair styled with a single bang in her face, and no such thing as a wrinkle in her morning kimono. To finish the look Rukia wove a silver hair clip into the side of her hair, a symbol of her status in the house.

Throwing on her house slippers, she left the room and made her way down the hall, passing servants and other staff members, until coming to the tea room and taking her place at the table. The room is small, enough to fit ten, with green meadows and forests painted on the walls and new washi paper in the shoji doors. As she sits on one of the throw pillows, a tray of soup and rice is placed in front of her with a side of Rukia's favourite grilled fish. The maid, a girl with brown hair and kind eyes, also places a cup of fresh tea. Rukia thanks her and begins her meal, trying with all her might not to scarf the food down and get on with her day.

"You're up early."

Immediately Rukia stands up from her seat, "Nee-sama!", and bows as her sister enters the room. As always, Hisana looks amazing even in a simple morning house robe, her hair still tousled from sleeping. Rukia's older sister smiled and the two sat down as Hisana's own meal was brought to her.

"Excited?"

"Very," Rukia answered. "I'd thought this day would never come."

Hisana laughed, "Well I'm glad you're excited, but don't try to get your hopes up. It is a diplomatic visit, we'll only be there for a few days."

"I know, but I've never seen the place before. Not a lot of shinigami get to leave the Soul Society, especially a low ranking one such as myself."

"Don't say that, you've been doing your best. I'm sure you'll get a promotion soon enough."

Rukia smiled. Her sister, unlike her husband, was very encouraging when it came to Rukia's career as a shinigamai. She trained regularly, both in the barracks and in private, but had yet to make a seat in the Thirteenth Company. Like Hisana, Rukia's captain and assistant captain both had said before that she had great potential, but what Rukia was really striving for was to impress her brother, Hisana's husband, Kuchiki Byakuya. The head of the Kuchiki clan as well as the Sixth Company Captain, Rukia's brother was one of the most important people in Soul Society, and so he had been entrusted with the important job of playing political diplomat on behalf of the Court Guard.

Finishing her meal, Rukia excused herself to her room to change from her robes. She threw the garment onto her bed and replaced it with her far more befitting shihakusho. With the utmost silence she lifted the window in her room and jumped out, immediately breaking into bursts of shunpo towards her brothers Company. Knowing her destination like the back of her hand, Rukia slipped easily into the barracks and made her jolly way to her targets room, ignoring the loud snores that came from there. Creeping in like a mouse, she tip-toed towards the bed her victim slept on, calm and relaxed in his deep sleep unaware of her presence, and at the peak of a particularly deep breath, drove her foot into the belly of the Assistant Captain.

Renji, whom had been having an extraordinary dream that he would never remember, gagged on his own dribble and doubled over in bed as he caught his breath and screamed at the person who had woken him.

"W-What the hell Rukia!? I was sleeping!"

"It's nine o'clock, you should have been up two hours ago."

"It's a Friday!"

"It is also the day we are leaving, fool!" She kicked him in the side again for good measure. "Now put on some clothes and meet me outside!"

"Put on some cloth-! Ah! Get out!"

Rukia left, smiling at the red in Renji's face, and waiting for her friend to join her in the yard before they both ascended to their usual place on top the barracks roof.

Renji huffed, "Alright, so do I finally get to know where we're going exactly? I've been waiting for Captain Kuchiki to tell me for nearly a month."

"Well it was definitely worth the wait," Rukia said. She explained her brothers plans and their destination, excitement bubbling over in her as she talked about the days ahead that the two had in store. Renji, on the other hand, looked skeptical.

"Hueco Mundo, eh? Never thought they'd send someone there on purpose."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Rukia that place is savage. It's nothing but desert and the only life there is monsters and dead trees. Why the hell would you want to go there?"

"It can't be all bad. What about the city and villages? I've heard there are plenty of settlements."

"Sure but the people there aren't like us. They live with hollows."

"Well it is the hollows birthplace. Their armies must be pretty busy all the time."

"No that's not what I mean. They actually live with hollows, like together and everything. The arrancar there are treated like people and I've even heard that the whole army is just a bunch of them stationed together."

Rukia was astonished, "But how is that possible? Hollows are monsters that eat souls they can't live with people!"

"That's what I thought but apparently their king has some sort of way to make them seem more human, or at least complacent enough so that they don't attack everyone. The hollows aren't even the worst of it, that place is always night and it's days away."

"But my brother was given this mission to make sure the treaty is signed. You've seen the reports Renji, we can't afford a war with them so it's best to get a treaty signed before something happens."

"I'm not afraid of a few hollows. Just because a couple arrancar signed up to act like soldiers doesn't mean their army can beat us."

"But you are coming, right?"

"I'm the Assistant Captain of Sixth Company, of course I'm going."


The journey took a total of three days, a long time for staying in a carriage that carried only four people. They took two, one for Byakuya and Hisana, the other for Renji and Rukia whom was thankful for not sharing a small space with her brother and sister for three days. In that time Rukia familiarized herself with the lore and politics of Hueco Mundo thanks to a couple books she borrowed from a friend in Thirteenth. She reviewed the trade and public information, the laws and history of Las Noches and surrounding cities.

As it turned out, Renji had been right. According to the books Hueco Mundo was indeed the homeland of hollows and arrancar, all of whom did live alongside the residents of Las Noches. It seemed impossible, monsters living with people, but pictures did not lie and the books had plenty of them. Ones showing arrancar assisting citizens and guarding the city, another accompanying the king and his own court, one photo even displayed a group of arrancar in various ages. Like a family.

Renji snored again, so Rukia threw a book at his head successfully waking him.

"Would you stop that?!" He yelled and rubbed the bruise on his forehead.

"Can't you just stay awake. We're nearly there and we have to make a good impression. Remember who we're representing."

"We still have at least an hour till we reach the main city. Just relax."

"You try relaxing in this dress," Rukia commented and attempted to lift her arms up. The Jūnihitoe she wore gave her little room for comfort, the twelve layers of silk weighing her down a considerable amount, and keeping her slightly too warm for desert weather. She could stripe down a few layers but being so close to the capital as they were she decided it was best to grin and bare it. At least she could still read.

"Look at it out there," Renji said. He leaned against the window and watched the sand dunes go by. Rukia followed his gaze. Each dune looked the same, the night sky threw her sense of time, and every passing moment Rukia expected a hollow to attach the caravan. The few towns they had passed by were fair looking and not at all what Rukia had expected. The entire land was nothing she had expected.

"Rukia."

She watched the endless moon, so still and bright.

"Rukia!" Renji smacked her on the arm to get her attention.

"What! What? Why did you hit me?"

"We're there."

"Already? We can't be it's still an hour away."

"Well there it is! I can see it from here."

"What?!"

Rukia threw herself to the window to see what Renji saw, although it was slightly hard to miss.

"Las Noches."

Rukia's mind was playing tricks on her because there was no reason for her to be seeing the city yet. Yet there it was in front of her, the outer city line protected by walls so large she believed not even Judanbo would be able to lift them. The domed city stood against the night sky like a beacon, giant and formidable and everything that the Seireitei didn't appear to be. Renji pointed to the sticks poking out from the sand.

"See those? They're trees."

"What?"

"Yep."

"I can't believe it. I mean, in the books it says that the king built Las Noches with its own sun, but this is ridiculous. It must be twice the size of Seireitei."

"You can see some people outside, look."

Outside the dome a small market was set up, and by the looks of it that was the only entrance to the capital. As they got closer, the dome got bigger, and Rukia's sense of size warped. Stalls and marketeers milled about selling produce and items Rukia was unfamiliar with. The carriage continued until they passed through the great entrance, where they were stopped by, what Rukia assumed to be, capital guards.

"Renji..." she whispered.

"I see it."

The guard, a woman with long turquoise hair and facial markings, wore a white uniform that matched the whiteness of Las Noches. It was what was on the woman's head, however, that caught Rukia's attention. The skull of what seemed to be a goat rested on top the guards curls, the clearest indication of what the woman truely was.

"Hollow."

"So it is true. Arrancar in the service of the king."

"How is that even possible? All the reports of arrancar say they act and look just like regual hollows, but these things seem just like people."

The two stared in awe as the carriages moved again, finally passing through into the city. Rukia had to cover her eyes from the glare of the sun, a sun that had not existed until seconds ago, as the view of Las Noches bloomed in front of her. The inside of the city was like stepping into another realm so different from the rest of Hueco Mundo, bright and full of life as citizens walked the busy streets, men and women shopping and children running. Small homes and market stalls and shops streched over the horizon, white desert sand still covering the earth. A group of soldiers passed by, all of them hollows Rukia noted, and a small group of children ran past the carriage. One child caught Rukia's attention, a small piece of bone placed just above his eyes, and she quickly grabbed Renji's attention.

"Is that what I think it is?"

"Yeah I saw them. Hollows with families," Renji said with disgust. "Why would they allow this? Just because they look human doesn't mean they are!"

"Calm down, they may have their reasons. Arrancar live about as long as shinigami, maybe it's a military stratagy or a way to keep them complacent."

"Well whatever it is, I don't like it."

The thought made Rukia just as uncomfortable, more hollows, even ones that looked like children, were not a good thing especially for a shinigami whose job it was to rid the world of them. The idea that they were allowed to... breed, in an environment surrounded by normal people was unthinkable not to mention dangerous. What would happen if they went wild and attacked? Who would be able to stop them from killing and eating everyone's souls?

"Makes you think about how strong their king must be," commented Renji.

"He must be to keep this many hollows in line."

Another terrifying thought passed Rukia's mind. There were rumours about Hueco Mundo's ruler, some said he single handedly built an empire in the desert, others that he was an ex-captain of the Court Guard, another saying he swayed the older hollows into following him. All farfetched and most likely false, but there must be some truth to the legend if an entire population of monsters were willing to follow a singal man. A man with a fortress bigger than the Seireitei apparently, and a castle to boot.

The inside was bigger than Rukia had imagined and just as strangely beautiful as the rest of the dome city. The walls were tall and painted white, the flooring a dark black tiling and so clean that Rukia could see her own reflection perfectly. It seemed to be a common colour in the city, white. Everything from the staff uniforms to the furniture was the same colour as the moon outside the city. They were escorted to the throne room by a group of arrancar in white uniform, as well as the courtman whom had greeted and welcomed to the captial. Rukia noticed how Renji kept a tight grip on his sword, the sheath tucked safely away in the belt of his kimono, and felt herself a bit less unprotected.

At a large set of double doors they stopped.

The courtsman spoke, "Please wait while I inform His Majesty of your arrival."

He dissapeared through the doors, leaving the Kuchiki's and Renji behind.

"What do you think he's like?" Rukia whispered to her friend.

Renji leaned closer to her and whispered back, "No idea. I'm just really hoping he's not crazy. You never know in this place."

"I'm sure he's sane enough, he is the king of a country."

"Oh yeah he's completely sane, that's why he built a sky in the land of night."

Byakuya's head turned slightly in front of them and the two youngers immediately silenced themselves. Both were well aware of Byakuya's cold temper, Renji having recieved it more times than he could count in his years as the Clan Head's Assistant Captain. In just moments the negotiations would begin, throwing the future of both Soul Society and Hueco Mundo to the table, and everything depended on whether or not the king signed a single piece of paper. Rukia, Renji and, to a lesser degree, Hisana were expected to behave like the respectful dignitaries they were. One slip up and the whole treaty may go down in flames and war declared.

A war the Soul Society could not afford to partake in.


I'm going to stop there, two thousand words is enough for one chapter I think. Well I hope everyone likes it, if you want you can go read the original version but I highly hope you don't since I write it when I was fifteen and my writing was atrocious. I may actually just delete it entirely after downloading a version to keep.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed reading this, and please leave a review!

Bye Bye~