Disclaimer: I don't own anything of Bleach save this story. I hope you enjoy this. It's taken me six months to finally get the ball moving on this one.

The following prologue takes place during Chapter 269 and from here on out everything starts to change.

Defying Fate
By David Knight

Prologue One: She Who Inherits His Will

Kuchiki Rukia looked over at the space that had been were Aaroniero Arleri, the Ninth Espada, had been until he simply dissolved into nothingness. Not even a corpse was left to mark his passing. As far as the universe was concerned, there was only her in this room. Only she was still alive.

And yet all she wanted to do was rest. She was so tired.

Don't die. You must absolutely never die alone.

Those were the words that Kaien-dono told her over and over again. But it was so hard to think.

I know what it means to be alone, Rukia thought. The loneliness of being held captive. The happiness of being saved by my nakama... and the horror of all the pain they endured just to rescue me. She started to move, yet even as she did so she felt her eyelids falling down and her strength failing. "Don't worry... Inoue... I'll... be right there..." She crawled closer, yet saw that the entrance was simply so far away.

And then, she fell to the ground, lifeless, her spirit energy dropping faster than a plane crashing to the ground until finally, her grip on the broken Sode no Shirayuki was non-existent.

Kuchiki Rukia had died.

Alone.

"Baka. You never listen, do you Kuchiki?"

----

Rukia opened her eyes immediately, taking stock of her situation and her surroundings. She was in the same room she had been. The same place where she had fought that... abomination that had been, in part, Kaien-dono.

And now he's dead...and so am I.

Immediately something hard hit her in the back of the head, sending her face crashing into the ground. She got up quickly, an angry look on her face.

"Bastard! Who do you think you..." her anger faded into horror. She now felt this nightmare would never end.

"Didn't I tell you to never die alone Kuchiki?" Kaien Shiba asked, a smirk on his face. He was dressed not in Espada clothes, but in the vice captain uniform she remembered him in.

"...Why..." was the soft reply from the female Shinigami.

"Eh?" Kaien asked.

"WHY DON'T YOU DIE ESPADA!" Rukia screamed. Raising what was left her zanpakuto, she tried to stab the man in the face only to have her attempt blocked effortlessly.

"Sorry, but I'm not Aaroniero," Kaien replied.

"And you think I'm going to believe you're Kaien!" Rukia snapped, sickened beyond belief at how Kaien's memory had been defaced by Aizen and his Hollow allies.

Kaien simply smiled. "Now, did I ever say I was Kaien, Kuchiki-san?"

Rukia froze in her rage, wondering what was going on. "Who... or what are you? If you are not Kaien, or the Espada..."

'Kaien' simply smiled, bending down to look at her. "Come now, Kuchiki-san. You're a bright girl. Not a genius, but you are bright. How many souls did you see in your fight with the Ninth Espada? How many parts of the past do you blame yourself for, even though you bear no responsibility for them?"

He patted her on the head affectionately. "Wherever Kaien was, I was. We always watched over you, right until the end."

It took a moment, but when she realized it, Rukia's eyes widened as she spoke the word she never thought she would never hear come out of her mouth.

"Nejibana."

"Bingo. Give the princess a Chappy the Rabbit," Nejibana said with a smile. A smile just like Kaien's.

It made Rukia feel joy and despair. "Why… why do you look like Kaien-dono? Why don't you look like―?"

"What I was when Kaien was my king?" Nejibana finished her question. "When Metastacia broke me, absorbed me into himself, I lost my original form. I became transient. I only survived because I latched onto Kaien, even after his soul was pulled here to Hueco Mundo. I could not abandon him." He lowered his eyes. "Even when we were devoured by the Espada. By that time, Kaien's soul was very much next nothing. Instead of me protecting him, he chose to protect me."

"Why?"

"I've spent all these years asking myself that. I tried to ask what was left of Kaien the same question," Nejibana said somberly as he opened his eyes. "You should know this: when you killed the Espada, you set Kaien's soul free."

Rukia let out a sigh. Again, she had ended Kaien's existence. This time though, she could safely say it was for the better. She looked back at Nejibana. "If I cleansed Kaien-dono's soul, why are you here?"

"What was left of Kaien had a small amount of influence over the Espada. This influence could only be used in a moment when Aaroniero was not aware and was taking Kaien's own image to taunt his enemies," Nejibana explained. "You see, Kaien knew of Aizen's war, and that the Arrancar who had devoured us would kill Shinigami. Kaien would hate himself for being unable to do anything. It would be hell for the both of us to sit and watch ourselves murder and devour Shinigami. So Kaien readied and watched for a fight, and waited for the moment he knew he could hold Aaroniero back, even if it was just for a second. It was the second needed to kill him."

Rukia's eyes widened as she realized what he meant. "Then... it was because of Kaien-dono that I was able to kill the Espada?"

"Maybe you could have killed him without Kaien's help. Maybe not. But with you there Kuchiki, he worked his ass off to make sure you didn't get killed," Nejibana said, his face morphing into a scowl. "And here you are, wasting what he gave you! Even now as we speak!"

Rukia stared at the image of her friend and mentor before looking down. "What can I do? I don't have anything left to hold on..."

SLAP!

"Are you that stupid to give up? If you die, what happens to those who care about you?" Nejibana roared. "Are you ready to let them suffer in hell? To let them mourn your death wailing and screaming! Is that what you want?"

"Do you think I want to die!" Rukia snapped back, irate. "Do you think I don't realize now that I'm between life and death and this is just some dream place? My body is just behind me, I know that much," she said turning around to see her glazed-over eyes and Sode no Shirayuki held limply in her right hand. "I don't have any choice, any..." Rukia trailed off as she saw something she could not believe.

Less than a foot away from her battered and motionless form was the released form of Nejibana.

"You do have a choice Kuchiki-san," Nejibana said simply, his hand gripping her shoulder. "You fight to live. We fight to live."

Rukia looked at Nejibana as if he had grown a second head. "We?"

Nejibana smirked. "Don't tell me you haven't heard of shinigami taking other shinigami's zanpakutos now?" He saw Rukia's eyes become as wide as dinner plates. "You have inherited Kaien's heart. Now, you should inherit his weapon." His gaze drifted from hers. "Assuming..."

"Assuming what?" Rukia asked.

"Assuming you want a damaged zanpakuto like me," Nejibana said simply, a tinge of sorrow in his voice. "I am not pure like Sode no Shirayuki. Though I am myself at my core, part of me still has remnants of the Espada's stench. I cannot say if you take me, there will not be consequenc―" His words were stopped by a hand to his lips and the defiant look of a bold, noble Shinigami.

"Kaien-dono gave what he had to save you. You gave what you had to help me. You are not damaged. You are you. I am me." Rukia said with conviction as she grasped the hilt of her own zanpakuto, it glowed white under her small fingertips. "And Shirayuki agrees with me."

Nejibana stared at the girl before cracking a smile. "I don't think I'll have any problems with you being my Queen... Kuchiki-sama," he said in a teasing tone.

"Baka," Rukia said with a half smile, rolling her eyes as she looked back at her body. It was time to stop existing here in this place of life and death. She was still alive. She still had hope. She still people that cared for her.

She would not let them down.

-----

In the waking world, Rukia's body looked as dead as any other corpse.

And then life suddenly flared in it.

Rukia screamed in agony. The pain was overwhelming.

Was it better to be dead? She asked herself for a second before instantly regretting it. Being dead can wait. I want to live! I want to live to be with the ones who love me! Who I love!

With each statement she clawed her way, painstakingly closer to Nejibana. "But most of all..." she ground out as she put her hands on the blade. "I WILL NOT DIE ALONE!"

She stared at the sword before saying what had to be said.

"Nejibana, I accept your offer, your words and your vow. I accept you as my zanpakuto. From now until the day I die, you belong to me!"

Light came, but it was not white.

It was black. All Rukia could see until she passed out was an all-consuming darkness.

-----

Nejibana's dark light surrounded Rukia, wrapping around her like black bands of fabric, binding her in place.

What would happen now... would be up to only the gods.

End Prologue One

Author's Notes: The Second Prologue I will have up within seven days. After that, the main story will begin. If you thought this prologue was entertaining, wait until you see who the second one features.