Crownless, a bleach fanfic

One

Forward Motion

The war was over, as far as Kuchiki Rukia was concerned. They had lost a long time ago. Some people still held hope that things could change, that they could somehow turn things around, but she knew better. All of the more powerful shinigami were either dead or captured, which was considered far worse.

As far as she knew, the only surviving captain level shinigami were Urahara and Isshin, who had seen the least fighting in the very beginning of the war. Though once the battle seemed to go horribly to Aizen's favor, they had had no choice but to leave the sidelines and enter the fray.

Despite their efforts, however, Karakura had been completely destroyed along with the neighboring towns and cities, for good measure, or good sport, there was no telling which. Not that it mattered any more. The death toll had long since exceeded the millions, humans and shinigami alike died by the dozen.

The arrancar had been ruthlessly efficient in the destruction of the material world and spiritual world, both. Employing the mindlessly obedient Gillian class menos to wreak havoc upon the citizens of either world, they had consumed souls by the hundreds, which only served to birth new and more powerful hollows who almost immediately became arrancar themselves.

As the hollow's numbers rose with the shinigami's numbers declining, it had become evident that something had to be done, and fast. The previously disbanded 'Spearhead' project had been reinstated and modified souls had been mass produced. In the material world humans were being forcefully induced with highly concentrated spiritual pressure in order to create more spiritually aware potential warriors like Chad and Tatsuki had eventually become. They had even gone so far as to gather as many third seat and above level shinigami as they could find and transformed them into viazards using a modified version of Urahara's original hougyoku design.

It, however, was still far from enough. They couldn't create enough powerful allies quickly enough to combat the growing strength of the arrancar army.

The arrancar's, sensing their victory, turned hunting down and killing the remaining shinigami into a twisted sort of game. Once again, using the might of the Gillians, they had sent them out on what would eventually be known as berserker patrols. They would simply roam around the wastes igniting cero after cero at any and everything, threat or not, demolishing any potential hiding spaces the remnants of the gotei thirteen might be held up in.

In fact, it was only on the strength of others that she had survived this long. Rukia grit her teeth at the thought. She had tried so hard to get stronger, to hold the power to protect the ones she cared about for a change, but it had still all been useless. First Ukitake, then Byakuya, then . . . Ichigo . . . . She closed her eyes and forced her heart to calm itself. Crying would accomplish nothing but assert her as the weakling that she was.

Still, despite this assuredly hopeless situation, there were those that had refused to accept defeat. Like, one, Urahara Kisuke. For the past two and a half months, he had been working on something that, according to him, would enable them to completely win the war. Rukia and the others were obviously skeptical and for good reason.

At this point in time, what would winning grant them? Almost all of their loved ones were either dead or turned into who knows what, courtesy of Aizen. No one had any real motivation or longing to continue to fight, but that had done absolutely nothing to deter the ambitious ex-captain. If anything, it had only caused him to work ten times as hard twice as fast, until today, however.

If Urahara was to be believed, his work was now complete.

Down in the relative security of Urahara's underground cavern, one of—if not the only—remaining safe havens in the material world, Rukia and the others stood waiting for him to reveal his master weapon that would allow them to defeat Aizen's armies.

Being completely honest with herself, from what she was seeing, Urahara had gone completely mad.

It looked almost similar to the device he had created to artificially produce the Gargantas in the beginning of the war, though with many distinctive differences. Instead of hanging high in the air it was placed squarely on the ground and in place of the huge wooden rods that made up the original device this machine was made entirely out of a metallic substance.

Urahara hadn't said anything yet as he waved his fan in front of his face idly. He was waiting for the last member of his extemporary squad to arrive. He had gone up above to the ground floor to place a twenty-two layered barrier around the remnants of the shop and surrounding city blocks after setting up several decoy reiatsu flares throughout the demolished city desperate attempt to shield Urahara's 'precious' work.

Such precautions were necessary lately. After so long, this was the only real area of resistance, but even then, it was fragile, capable of crumbling under even the slightest of disturbances. More than once they had almost been obliterated by Arrancar scouts; caught off or under guard by surprise attacks and sporadic bombardments.

For a long moment everyone stood in silence, wondering what might be holding up their missing companion, but before long, a heavy breathing and utterly exhausted Yamada Hanataro descended slowly down the long ladder leading from the surface, skipping the last few dozen with a swift shunpo.

"Sorry . . . I'm late," He wheezed out as he made his way to where the others waited.

Urahara nodded. "What kept you?"

Hanataro sighed deeply as his shoulders slumped forward giving him the appearance of a much older, broken man. "There were . . . complications," He closed his eyes for a moment before looking back to Urahara. "I had to increase the barrier count to one hundred thirty just to be safe."

Shock was apparent on everyone's faces; Urahara's eyes widened in obvious disbelief. "Things have advanced that much already? I'd expected at least another day's reprieve."

Hanataro shook his head solemnly. "Let's just say we are a little more pressed for time. Tessai-sempai taught me a lot before he died, but I can't guarantee the barrier will hold out, especially from that sort of force," At Urahara's raised brow, he elaborated. "He's with them."

Urahara smiled sadly at the mention of his fallen friend and former captain of the Kido Corps. "I guess this is really the end game then. . . ."

"So," Rukia began "This is your prized weapon that will end the war? I have to say, Urahara, it doesn't look like much."

"Urahara smiled. "Yes, this is it, however, it is not a weapon."

Isshin, who was leaning on a rock behind Rukia, rose and inquisitive eyebrow. "Then what is it?"

"Something much, much more. " Was all Urahara supplied before he moved to stand next to the mysterious contraption he had so haphazardly constructed. His face suddenly became stony and serious. "Of course, you all understand that even I do not know what will happen if this works, let alone if it does not."

"Like that matters at this point."Rukia stated, folding her arms.

Isshin spoke next. "This is a hit or miss situation, Kisuke. Whether it works or it doesn't, this is it."

Hanataro nodded along.

Smiling Urahara nodded to them. His eyes landed on the final of the four. "And you? What are your thoughts on all this, Hinamori-san?"

She had been silent from the beginning and maybe even a little before that. Out of everyone, she was the only one that had never fought in the beginning of the war. She could not, really. Her mental health had always fallen into question, and in the end, she was never allowed on the battlefield.

Over the years, she had developed a sense of self-contempt. Everyone had seen her as useless, and so eventually, she began to see herself as useless. She was weak, she could not keep up with anyone and so they had left her.

However, after Hitsugaya-kun di . . . was murdered, she swiftly snapped back to her senses. She pushed herself harder than anyone did, fueled by hatred and revenge to the point where everyone had began to think she had finally lost her last shred of sanity, but she kept to it.

She ignored the criticism, the looks and the words of doubt. Until, eventually, she had been the one to avenger her fallen friend, she had been the one that killed Ichimaru Gin.

However, with Gin gone, she had nothing left, no more reason to push herself, no more reason to fight. All she wanted was to go where Toushiro, Kira, and Renji were. All she wanted were her friends back.

". . . Even if it does not work, it is fine with me. But . . . it would be nice . . . to see them again, wouldn't it?"

Everyone nodded.

"So allow me to explain the basics." Urahara started. "This device distorts the barrier of space and time. It peels apart the dimensions and for a very brief moment, folds them together. During this time it should allow you to pass through."

"So . . . what? It's like a time machine?" Isshin asked, looking skeptical.

Urahara smirked. "Not quite. You see time cannot move in any direction but forward. To try to reverse this is impossible. We can slow it down, sure, but no matter how hard you try, it will never turn back. This device completely bypasses this rule however, by bending time to a more convenient location."

Rukia raised a suspicious eyebrow. "And what does that mean?"

Urahara took out his fan and opened it.

"Imagine that this side," he pointed to the left end of the fan. "Is where we are now, and this side," He pointed to the right side of the fan. "Is the past. This device does not reverse time, but instead compresses it for a short time to allow you to move towards any point in history while still moving forward in time."

He closed the fan and drew an imaginary line from the present to the past with his finger.

"That's brilliant, Urahara-san!" Hanataro shouted in excitement.

Urahara beamed. "Riiight!" he sang the word.

Isshin brought the conversation back to a serious note. "So, we can all guess what happens if it fails, but what should we expect if it works?"

Urahara shrugged. "I honestly don't know. However, there is one thing I am certain of. Normally you would not be able to travel into a time where you already exist. You see, two objects cannot occupy the same space. Your flesh, your bones, your blood, it is all already in use. However, sending you into a time before you existed is far too dangerous. The slightest mishap can alter the future inexplicably. All of your foreknowledge would be useless."

Urahara again opened up his fan and waved it in front of his face. "However, using my incomparable cunning and supreme intellect, I have come up with a plan. We will destroy your physical forms. All that will remain is your consciousness. That . . . may be enough."

Isshin shook his head. "You're going to try and send our minds back? Kisuke that's- -"

Rukia cut him off. "If it's our only option then it will be enough. But before that, Urahara, let me ask; why do you use words like 'you' and 'your' instead of 'we' and 'us'?"

Urahara laughed. "Because I am not crazy enough to put my life in my own hands! I mean, seriously, I do not even know how this thing works! You guys are- -"

"Someone has to stay behind to work this thing. Is that it?" Isshin said.

Urahara only smiled in response.

For a long moment everyone was silent, the full gravity of the situation along with Urahara's pending sacrifice bearing down on them.

"Well," Urahara said, breaking the growing tension. "Since time is of the essence, quite literally, let's get started shall we?"

Urahara gave each of them a small blue pill that looked similar to a gikongan before moving to the side of the machine.

Knelling down, he placed both of his hands on a small red circle. He poured all of his reiatsu into the device as it began to glow.

"Swallow that and as soon as the gate is open, please move through as quickly as possible. As I have said before, it will not last long." As he watched them swallow the pills without question, he added. "Oh, yes! The destruction of your spirit bodies will be extremely painful, but please bear with it."

As soon as he said that, everyone, except Isshin who was still rolling the pill on his tongue, curled over in blinding pain.

Rukia noticed this and sent a questioning look to him; she was in far too much pain to form a coherent sentence.

Isshin moved the pill to his cheek as he spoke. "Sorry, but I'm not going with you." At that moment a deafeningly loud crack filled the cavern as white tendrils of electricity jumped from rod to rod, indicating the gate was open. Before anyone could even think of changing their minds, they were pushed through by Isshin.

The gate closed and Urahara took a deep breath. "How long do you think the barrier will hold?"

Isshin thought about it. "Ten, fifteen minutes tops."

Urahara nodded. "Then that will have to be enough."

It was all whiteness.

Everything had disappeared; all of it had been swallowed by this overpowering whiteness. However, through it all, she could see herself, or perhaps it was simply how she imagined herself.

Her raven colored hair, her piercing violet eyes and her black shinigami robes.

Then it suddenly started to disappear.

Rukia watched herself begin to breakdown into spirit particles, and she became suddenly aware of the pain. She shut her eyes against the pain. It shot up and down her entire body, even after it was gone, the phantom pain continued to plague her.

However, just like that, it stopped.

She opened her eyes slowly; weary of whatever it was that she might see. As Urahara had said, there was no telling what would happen if it worked, let alone if it did not.

However, what she saw was much of a surprise, a very familiar surprise. One of the handmaidens of the Kuchiki manor sat just next to her bed idly wiping a cool damp cloth over Rukia's forehead.

Said handmaiden gave a start when she noticed Rukia's very conscious eyes gazing at her.

"R-Rukia-sama! You have awoken!" She sounded surprised, extremely so.

Rukia sent the woman a confused look. "What do you mean by that?"

The woman rose up from her position and rushed to the bedroom door before she called for another maiden.

"Send for Byakuya-sama at once! Tell him Rukia-sama has awakened!"

Rukia shook her head as she sat up. "Tell me what is going on."

The handmaiden quickly returned to Rukia's side and gently pushed her back down. "Please, Rukia-sama, be careful. You fell ill some months ago, you have been asleep ever since!"

She had fallen ill? A side effect perhaps, but she has been asleep for months?

'Sensory overload.' Rukia deduced.

When her future consciousness traveled back, all of her acquired knowledge and experience must have rushed into her past self's consciousness all at once, and it was simply too much information to process so quickly.

It made sense, or at least she thought it did. However, what became of the others? Had they all made it back safely as well? Had the same thing happened to them? There were too many questions, too many concerns; she had to find out.

As she began to rise again, she slapped the handmaiden's hands away as the woman insisted she rest more, despite the fact she apparently had several months worth of it already.

As Rukia assured her that she was fine, she changed into her shinigami clothes and made her way towards the door, much to the maidens protest.

As soon as she had turned around, she laid eyes on the docile figure that was Kuchiki Byakuya. At first, she was shocked to the core to see him, standing there, staring at her with eyes seemingly devoid of all emotion.

"Where are you going, Ru-"

Before he could even finish his sentence Rukia had ran towards him with tear filled eyes and embraced him in a tight hug. Byakuya was far too stunned to react immediately. All he could do was stare, wide eyed with his mouth agape ever so slightly, at where she had been only a moment ago.

Rukia had not even thought about what she was doing. She had reacted purely on instinct. After all of these years, seeing her one and only Nii-sama, the man that was slain in a last ditch attempt to save her life, this was all she could think of doing.

She had always missed him so terribly, but now with him here in her arms, she knew just how much he meant to her, and likewise, how much she meant to him, even if he did not openly show it.

She knew that she would never have dared to do this before, and that doing it now would likely draw a few suspicious eyes towards her, but she simply could not help herself. She breathed in his scent and hugged him to her even tighter.

Snapping out of his stupor, Byakuya, placed his hand on her shoulder and tried, vainly, to push her away gently. "Rukia, what do you think you are doing?"

She pushed her face into his chest, aware of the growing wetness from all her crying. "I . . . I had the most terrible dream, Nii-sama." She spoke just barely above a whisper. Her voice shook and cracked.

Slowly, Byakuya stopped trying to push her away and simply listened to her. "Dream?"

Rukia nodded in his chest. "I . . . I dreamed that, you . . . you had . . . you had. . ." She could not bring herself to finish.

For a long moment, Byakuya remained silent. Filling in the blanks on his own, he figured he knew what she had dreamed. His hand, which had still been on her shoulder, slowly wrapped around her in a half embrace of his own. "It was only a dream. More importantly where were you attempting to go?"

Rukia had slowly returned to a sense of calm, her tears gone. As Byakuya asked his question, she quickly pondered on what she should say. Fortunately, a useful distraction helped by her some time to think.

"R-Rukia?" A soft voice said weakly from the doorway.

Rukia glanced behind Byakuya and suddenly went white with shock.

Byakuya closed his eyes and sighed lightly. "Hisana, you should be resting."

Oh my God, Rukia thought to herself. We've broken history.

With a groan, Hanataro sat up and looked around him. His eyes widened as he took in the familiar surroundings of the forth division medical ward.

Did . . . did it really work? Am I really in the past? He got up and looked around for a moment, he was really here. In Soul Society, in seireitei. He simply could not believe it. It worked! It really worked! I'm really here! But, is everyone else?

His internal monologue was cut off by the sound of a soft cough coming from behind him. With a start, he quickly turned around to find the face of none other than Unohana Retsu.

"U-Unohana-Taicho! W-what are you-" Hanataro began before she cut him off.

"I have to admit, I thought it strange when Hinamori-san, and Kuchiki-san, as well as yourself, seemed to have fallen ill all at the same time, seemingly from the same ailment. However, stranger yet, Hinamori-san has awoken and roughly the same time, so have you. Something tells me that Kuchiki-san would be feeling well by now too." She smiled as she spoke in a casual tone.

Hanataro had to fight not to sweat buckets. "Wh-what a coincidence!" He laughed weakly as he spoke.

Unohana's smile widened. "So it is."

She rose from where she was sitting just beside his bed. "You are physically healthy; it's almost as if there was never anything wrong to begin with. Still, try not to over exert yourself. You have been bed ridden for quite some time now, you'll have to undergo a small amount of physical therapy but you'll be one hundred percent before you know it."

She walked over to the door and paused. "You may visit Hinamori-san if you like; her room is just down the hall." With another gentle smile and small wave, Unohana was gone.

Hanataro was left staring at where his former, or rather current Captain just stood.

Have . . . have I already been found out?

He had always known that Unohana was by far one of the most perceptive and deductive captains in the Gotei 13, but really, she could not be suspicious from just that could she? He sighed as he also walked to the door and exited his room.

He made his way down the hall silently marveling at all the new, yet, familiar sites. It had been so long since he saw them, he could almost cry. Seireitei had fallen almost in an instant once the war started full bloom and the fourth division was the first squad that was hit, the enemy wanted to disable all of the readied healers, worse yet, they were successful.

The division had immediately fallen into a state of panic as they were all slowly picked off. If it was not for Unohana-Taicho and her surprisingly devilish bankai . . . Hanataro shuddered as he thought about it, and decided it would be better if he put it out of his mind.

As he neared where Hinamori was staying, he caught site of someone he had honestly not expected to see. He watched from a relatively far distance as the man walked up to, and inside of Hinamori's room.

He flinched as he thought of how she might react. No warnings were necessary when they had came back; they had all instinctively knew that they had a character to uphold no matter what, but he wasn't so sure she could hold up as well as she should.

Picking up his pace Hanataro made his way to the room before she could do anything that would possibly jeopardize this entire 'mission'.

After Unohana had came and checked on her, she had left Hinamori to herself.

For a long time all she could do was sit there in shock. She . . . she was back. She had really made it. Then that meant . . . they were all alive. All of them. Renji, Kira. Toushiro.

She felt tears well up in her eyes as she thought of being able to see him again after so long. In that, moment she had sworn to herself that she would never take her friendships for granted again.

She briefly wondered if he would come to see her before she had the chance to go and see him. It really did not matter to her either way, all she wanted was to gaze at his face for a while, soak in all of his scent, and burn his image into her mind, all over again.

There was a knock on her door and she felt her breath catch in her throat. Was it really him? She felt a smile break out on her face as the tears came full force. She called for the person to enter, her voice sounding colder and hoarser than it should, from the months of lack of use.

The door slowly creaked open, and her smile fell, replaced with an expression of dread as the man entered.

Aizen slowly entered the room, a smile on his face slightly overshadowed by the look of concern that was present. "Hello, Hinamori-kun."

She almost screamed.

A/N: I know, I know, not an update, just another edit. Forgive me. I'll admit I got a little lazy halfway through, but whatever.

I really am working on chapter two this time. I just needed to change a few more things to this chapter before I could finish the next chapter. Also, I'm delegating Rukia to the role of main character instead of shifting back and forth from POV to POV. The next few chapters will feature POVs from both Hinamori and Hanataro, but eventually the story will be told exclusively from Rukia's perspective. (However it will remain in third person)

And please, please, please!!! Tell me about any mistakes you find so I can correct them.

Also, I need a beta-reader. A good one. Send me a PM or leave a review or whatever. I'm going to set up an IM so you guys can get into contact with me, regarding the story not for personal stuff please.

Review if you want. Look forward to the next installment within the month. Maybe sooner. Promise.

Written and Created by Archimedes III

Characters based on the characters from Bleach