Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or its characters and plot.
Pairings: Ukitakex(male)OC, Byakuyax(female)OC, One-sided Ikkakux(female)OC before becoming IkkakuxYumichika.
Summary: A new disease is spreading in the Rukongai and it's been ignored for far too long. From the ruins of a city, a rare flower sprouts. But will it find the energy to bloom in its new surroundings or will the haunting past make it wilt? What lies behind the events and who is lurking in the shadows? Will Soul Society bring an end to this crisis, or will it fall into enemy hands?

Warnings: Warnings will be from chapter to chapter so remember to look at them before reading!
1st chapter contains adult themes, mentions of death; nothing explicit whatsoever in this chapter.

IMPORTANT Author Note: Well, here is a small preview to the Rewrite of my story Blooming Opportunities. I stressed and hurried with the first one and was not the least happy with the result. I gave up on it but later realized it wouldn't leave me alone until I wrote it properly. So I picked it up again. This time I will take my time to work out everything and it will take the time it takes.
I hope you enjoy and please leave a review.

Chapter 1. A tranquil morning

It was a lovely morning in the early days of February. The sun shone brightly from the unclouded heavens and a gentle breeze was blowing through the quiet squad buildings. The door leading to the division's captain's room was open, letting the fresh air in.

It was still early and the captain of the 4th division, Unohana Retsu, sat by her desk and sipped quietly on a cup of tea. Her shift would start in about an hour but she took her time to enjoy the still morning while it lasted.

The 4th division had been bustling with activity the past year; they had gotten lots of new recruits and the halls were full of happily chatting healers. Unohana had never seen the squad so big before and she was proud of the way her division had grown over the past years. It had been strenuous during the war nearly three decades ago; the healers had been far too few to be able to tend to all the injured and the division had been filled to the brim with them.

But it had increased morals greatly since everyone got the chance to prove what they were worth and they had to cooperate, veterans and newcomers alike. She had always been proud of the closeness in her division, but after the war it had proved to be just a shadow of what they were to become. The division was now forged together and they easily accepted new members within the ever growing family. For that was what she thought of her division, like the family she had given up on long ago. It wasn't a replacement; it had simply taken its place in her heart.

She put down her now empty teacup with a content sigh. At that moment, her lieutenant Isane entered quietly. She smiled at the young woman who returned it fondly.

"Unohana-taichou, there will be a captain's meeting around noon today. Until then it's just a little paperwork and the usual round." Isane put a small heap of paperwork on her captain's desk before she took the empty tea mug and bowed as she made her way out of the office.

Unohana scheduled her day up inside her mind and then started with her work. Time went by and when she next took a break she was almost done with the paperwork given to her earlier. She rose from her seated position and stretched slightly before she went outside to wander for a short while inside the garden close by.

She walked quietly, inhaling the smell of flowers and relaxing. It had been busy for a while before, but it was starting to calm down again and she was grateful for the spare time this granted her. She stopped and looked at a big cheery tree that grazed the garden. It was not yet in bloom but she knew it wouldn't be too long until it revealed its pale flowers to the world. Smiling softly she gazed at the dark branches for some time before she returned to her office to finish her work before the morning rounds.

She was almost done when she came upon a report that darkened her mood considerably. It stated that the 45th Rukon district had all but collapsed. The citizens had been struck by some disease and two days after healers from the 4th division had been sent there, the outbreak had reached a peak and the habitants of the district started dying one after the other. They had been unable to do anything to stop it; all their attempts at healing had failed.

She frowned and continued to read the report. The nearby district of the 44th had also been struck by the same, and she had gotten a report from the 82nd, 87th and 89th that the same thing was spreading there. It was uncertain how many districts were affected by this, especially since only a few ever got in contact with the shinigamis directly more than once every few months and then only rarely.

She reached the last page and reread the last part twice before she took a clean paper and copied the things written there. It was different symptoms that had been found. The symptoms included high fever, dark bruises, hallucinations and seizures. Death seemed to come about 2-4 days after the first symptoms showed.

After she had copied it she put the report aside and put the small note inside a pocket of her shihakusho. Cleaning her desk of any remaining paperwork and making a mental note to research in the great library about the symptoms found, she left her office to go on her usual round.

After she had checked on her patients and gotten short reports from the healers on shift Unohana made her way back to her office to eat some before it was time for captain Ukitake's examination. Her meal was light and simple and just when she was about to finish it, she heard a soft knock on her door.

"Come in" Unohana answered and put down her second cup of tea as she waited for the person to enter. The one who entered was the relatively new lieutenant of the 6th division, Sullivan Hanako. The brunette entered and gave Unohana a smile before she stated her business.

"I'm sorry to disturb your meal" she started with, obviously having noticed the dishes on the desk by the captain. Unohana simply smiled and assured her that it was no trouble.

"I wondered if perhaps you could give me some painkillers. My period have started and I have some serious cramps" She said, a slight blush on her face. Unohana smiled gently at her and rose. Motioning for her to follow, she then headed to her office inside the health department of her division.

Once they reached the room she asked a couple of questions and then examined the girl's lower abdomen before taking out some pills from a cabinet. She carefully checked the pills before writing a small note that she gave the young lieutenant together with the pills and along with a few instruction.

"Take them thrice a day; one in the morning, one around noon and the last one about an hour before you go to bed. They will take a little while before they start working and I suggest you go and rest for a couple of hours now after you take the first one. Give this to Kuchiki-taichou and he'll let you off for the rest of the morning." The young lieutenant smiled and thanked her before excusing herself.

Hanako made her way out from the office after thanking the captain and walked down the hallway when she ran into another captain. She bowed and greeted him politely.

"Ukitake-taichou" The white-haired captain smiled at her.

"Sullivan-kun, I hope your health is good" He said with a smile.

"I'm mostly fine; although I visited Unohana-taichou, it isn't anything serious." She said and saw how the slight worry that had been visible on the sickly captain's face vanished.

"That's good to hear" He said and then bid goodbye before he headed to his examination and Hanako continued on her way back to her own division.

She knocked softly on the door to her captain's office before she opened the door and entered. Byakuya didn't even look up as she entered but when she went and stood in front of his desk he finally looked up at her and waited for her to speak.

"I would like to request to be excused from duties for a few hours on behalf of Unohana-taichou. She told me to give you this." She said and handed the small note to her captain. He quickly glanced at it before putting it down on his desk and dismissing her.

"You are free until noon. I except you back here when the captain's meeting is over." Hanako bowed and excused herself and then headed to her quarters, slightly disappointed by the, although predictable, cold indifference of her captain.

Byakuya had quickly glanced at the note to verify that it was from the 4th division captain before he had dismissed his lieutenant. Since she was only requested to leave for a couple of hours it couldn't be anything serious and so he hadn't asked about any details. Besides, unlike his former lieutenant, now captain of the 5th division since five years prior, she didn't slack with her duties.

Not letting himself be distracted by petty thoughts, he returned his focus fully to the task at hand. Yet another report that needed to be signed; who would have guessed? He skimmed through it and after giving it his flowing signature picked up a new one. This one was the report from the squad he had sent on hollow extermination in the 65th district.

Skimming through it he took note of a few things; two casualties and seven injured ones. The expedition had been sent with his 3rd and 4th seat, there shouldn't have been much of a problem. Byakuya didn't need to read much longer before he found that the report had clearly been missing out on several important factors. He'd have to talk to his seated officers about this. A report like this was unacceptable. He sighed and put it to the side before picking up the next piece of paperwork.

Back in the office with Unohana, Ukitake waited patiently for the results of his examination. The time between his scheduled checkups had grown shorter after the Aizen war and was now down to once every 3rd week. Although his disease hadn't shown any signs of getting worse lately, he still steeled himself out of habit every time before he got the results.

Unohana came back from the other room where she had checked over the results of her examination. Her face was unreadable as always but then she gave him a soft smile.

"It's not getting better, but it hasn't become worse either. I saw some changes in the results to the previous one that I will study further, but nothing points towards it becoming worse in the near future."

Ukitake heaved a sigh and relaxed slightly. "That's good to hear" He said with a smile before he rose from the chair he had been sitting in and turned to leave.

"Good bye Unohana-taichou" He said before he left and Unohana answered back politely.

"Good bye Ukitake-taichou"

Outside the 4th division stood a familiar figure, leaning against the wall with his straw hat shadowing his face. Ukitake smiled as he walked over to his longtime friend and when he reached the place where he stood, he continued on, now accompanied by his friend and fellow captain.

"How did it go Juushiro?" He asked and Ukitake sent him a small smile before telling him about the newest results.

"'Nothing pointing towards worsening in the near future' huh" Kyouraku said and gave his friend a smile that showed he was relieved. Ukitake knew his friend was most likely as worried as he was every time he went for a new examination. Though he was carefree by nature, he was very concerned about those close to him. And Ukitake was happy to know he was one of the ones accounted there.

They walked calmly back to the 13th division where Kiyone and Sentarou waited with some tea. Ukitake offered his fellow captain some but he declined and said something about Nanao hitting him if he didn't get to work soon and that Ukitakes office was a too obvious place to hide. Ukitake laughed and waved goodbye at his friend before he seated himself with his tea and listened to his 3rd and 4th seat argue about who got to make tea next time.

Finishing his tea he started to do some of the paperwork he had to do, dismissing the worried and insistent pleas for him to take it easy and rest for a while. He felt fine and wanted to get something done before the captains meeting at noon. He had missed the one before since he had been out with his squad, and the one before that because of a coughing fit. The white-haired captain didn't feel like missing another one just because he rested or was late with his paperwork.

About two hours later the captain of the 13th division waited together with the other captains in the meeting room for the Captain Commander to start. All captains were present during the meeting and the atmosphere was as formal as it usually was.

"Captains of the Gotei 13; I am glad to see that all of you have found time to attend this meeting" There was a slight rebuke in that statement and Ukitake notice he wasn't the only one to wince slightly. It seemed like Soifon-, Hitsugaya- and Abarai-taichou had also missed some meetings.

The Captain Commander seemingly content with the reaction then started the meeting. He informed them about the most important news and then went on to talk about the minor changes to their schedules. When that was over with, he turned to Unohana.

"Unohana-taichou, I heard that you have something important to inform us about. If you would?" Yamamoto said and all attention was focused on the healer of the 4th. She stepped forward and started her report.

"For some time now I have received worrying reports from different districts of the Rukongai concerning a disease. As usual I sent a few squads out to the different places reported to have been affected. It seems that a plague like disease is spreading in the outer and middle districts. What worries me is that I have not been able to identify the disease yet, although I received some new information that I have yet to inspect further. I would like a warning to be issued for the squads heading to the further districts about this disease and I would also like to request the help of the 12th division on finding the source and origin of the spread." She completed her speech and waited for a reaction.

The other captains spoke quietly to their neighbors but were silenced after a few moments by the captain commander.

"Make the necessary precautions; the disease is not to reach inside the Seireitei. I expect you to handle this situation correctly Unohana-taichou." Unohana bowed her head before once more taking her place and listening to the status reports of the other captains.

Nothing of much importance was brought up after the 4th captain's report about the disease and the meeting was dismissed soon thereafter.

Unohana was about to return to her division when Byakuya walked up to her and asked if he could have a word with her. They walked slowly side by side for a short time before Byakuya finally broached the subject.

"I had seven injured men on the latest mission to the outer regions of the Rukongai." He said and seemed to gather his thoughts before he continued.

"I talked to the ones who had been on the mission; the report they had given me was far from complete. But they mentioned some unusual things that they had refrained from in the report. It seems like they sighted a strange hollow while passing through one of the towns."

Unohana listened to her fellow captain and thought through her words carefully before she spoke.

"During the years after the war, unusual hollows have appeared quite frequently. The structure of hollows has been thought to have been effected to greatly to reverse by the events caused by Aizen." She said and the 6th division captain nodded slightly before casting a glance at her.

"But none of these hollows have had the ability to strike fear in the division members with its mere presence. " This caught Unohanas attention more than what had been said before and she quietly inspected his expression.

"This strange hollow, did they eliminate it?" She asked quietly and Byakuya sighed.

"They did not. When I asked them why they said that just being near it had nearly paralyzed them for some reason. And several ones have mentioned that the hollow seemed to vanish in thin air when they got closer to it." They had now reached the place where they had to go different routes to arrive at their separate divisions. Byakuya stopped and looked over at the healer.

"I'll send the report on the hollow to you. I want it analyzed and reported if found somewhere else. I have my suspicions that this hollow has been around for a while."

Unohana nodded at him and then they said their goodbyes before returning to their own divisions and duties.

A/N: Well, as noticed this chapter wasn't too long. It also swapped between the POV's, but that was so you would know wich characters it would focus on during the story. I have yet to present a couple of characters but they will come later on. Hope you enjoyed and prefered this version to the first one. Leave a review and if you wonder about anything, don't hesitate to ask ^^