Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Bleach. I only own my OC, Sakura Hayashi. Raihiko is owned by my good friend, thatredheadedchick.

Any grammar mistakes that were made in the original document have been fixed. I was able to get to a computer and fix everything up.

"Name?" Said a rather spiritless voice of a man. He sat at a short, rectangular table, looking down at a sheet of paper. He was taking notes -notes that would be used in a judgement against a former captain.

A youthful looking woman sat at the other end of the table, with her hands folded into her lap. Her peridot eyes focused on the surface, as she pursed her lips together. Her brain was pounding, and even after hours of experiments, she still didn't feel like her old self. Everything was still hazy and she couldn't help but to think those scientists lied to her. Perhaps this was all a ruse, just to get information out of her.

No. No, that wasn't true. She shook her head quickly, knocking the idea from it.

"Sakura Hayashi. Former captain of Squad 10." She wrung her hands together, trying to make herself believe the words that were to come out next. "Wi-...ex-wife of Kensei Muguruma."

The man looked up from his notes, nodding once. His face had changed from being expressionless to somewhat shocked. Sakura hardly recognized him, having only seen him a few times in passing when she was still a captain. Sakura looked up to meet his gaze and quickly looked back down. She wanted so badly to sink into the ground and go back to that place. At least there, she believed it to be real.

"Keep going. Nothing will be held against y-" The man cut himself off as Sakura lifted her head and glared at him.

"Sorry. Just... You won't be indicted for any of this."

"Right," replied the raven haired woman.

Silence filled the room for moment as she composed herself. She continued to speak to the man for hours. Finally, unveiling her story after weeks of being held in the prison of squad six. Only days later, she would be spinning the same tale to a room full of members of Central 46, as well as all 13 captains.

"I was a captive of Sosuke Aizen."

"A willing one," said a snarky female, hiding behind her screen. Sakura could see her fanning herself, as her eyes shot up in momentary stunned silence.

"No!" That was her initial remark before shaking her head. Her brain buzzed, trying to make her remember the truth. She was getting glimpses of her tome in Hueco Mundo, as well as her time in the seireitei. "I... maybe... I don't know!"

"Why are we even doing this? She's either a beautiful liar or she can't remember anything prior to Aizen changing her perception." Said another voice, this one was male. He sounded annoyed, and she couldn't blame him.

"No, please...I just..."

"Give her a moment. This is difficult for her." It was the Head Captain speaking, his gravelly voice filling the void in the large room. Sakura looked back at him with a small smile, thankful for the support. For the briefest of moments her eyes met Kensei's, causing her breath to hitch. Everything that Aizen had ever told her filled her head. She shook it, trying to remove the terrible thoughts.

Taking in a deep breath, she righted herself as quickly as she could. If she could just get through this, she could start rebuilding herself.

"I was an unwilling captive of Aizen. The night everything happened is the same night that my perspective of things was changed." Sakura's eyes shot up to the seat of the snarky woman. "Without my permission."

"Proceed," she snipped.

"I was told my Sosuke that the Soul Society had fallen and had been corrupted. He painted Captain Muguruma as the main antagonist."

Kensei moved uneasily behind Sakura, as he stood with the other captains, visoreds and lieutenants. Mashiro placed a hand onto his shoulder, trying to comfort him. She knew had badly he was hurting. For over a hundred years, he thought Sakura was in the soul society, having accepted his death. He missed her every day. Every single day. Come to find out, she had been living in Hueco Mundo, as Aizen's "queen". Those were Aizen's words and they had made his blood boil. Even now, as Sakura talked, he thought of that disgrace touching the woman he loved.

"Tosen was my friend and when he backed Sosuke up, I believed it. There had been so many strange things going on in the seireitei and no one had a clue as to who or what it was." Sakura swallowed, wanting so badly to look back at the visoreds.

"Can you blame me?" She said, lifting her tied hands. "I had no idea what was going on. The only thing I knew was that Captain Muguruma had gone missing. Being that I was his wife, the head captain thought it too personal for me to go looking. He thought my feelings would get in the way. And... he was right.

"What do you mean by that, Miss Hayashi?" It was the voice of a man, who sounded similar to the head captain.

"Well, I disobeyed head Captain's rules and went to look for him, shortly before Shinji and the others did. When I got to the area he went missing at, I saw Sosuke. He ran over to me, telling me that we needed to escape. Captain Muguruma had gone mad and was attempting to take over the soul society. Tosen, then, said, "it's true. He's already converted half of them.""

Before anyone could speak, she continued. "Granted, I didn't fully believe it at first. I never would have thought Kensei would do something like that but before I could process it, everything went black. Next thing I knew was I waking up somewhere that was not the Seireitei."

"And where did you wake up?" Said the same voice. The damn screens, that hide their face, irritated Sakura. They always did.

"I learned it was called Hueco Mundo. Sosuke told me it was a safe haven that he had learned of. He had spent months finding it. He said he had started looking once Captain Muguruma began his planning."

"And how did he know about this supposed planning? Also, how did you stay there for so long? Aizen hadn't disappeared yet."

"Sosuke is an observer. He watches people, studies them. I'm assuming that's how he found out. He never actually told me. As far as him not disappearing, he would come and go from Hueco Mundo. Never really told me where they would go."

Kensei shifted again, as he tilted his head to the side. It was bothering him that she called him by his first name, almost intimately and how she would call Kensei - "Captain Muguruma". It was as if she forgot how long they were together and all the intimate moments they shares, even the ones that were frowned upon when she was just a subordinate.

"And you do realize that this was all a lie?"

"I do now, but you have to understand that for years it's what I believed."

"If my third seat could interject for a moment..."

"Of course, Captain Kurotsuchi." It was that damn woman again.

Sakura looked behind her to see Akon step forward. He oversaw all of her testing. "Sakura Hayashi is still picking up the pieces, so to speak. Her mind is, essentially, a maze right now."

He took a breath before continuing. He seemed to linger, almost not wanting to go on. "On top of that, her years of captivity have given her Stockholm Syndrome. Sakura eventually fell in love with love with Aizen, due to years of abuse."

Sakura pursed her lips, as one of the male members spoke up.

"What sort of abuse?"

Akon cleared his throat. He really didn't want to spill all of the woman's secrets but it was the only way to keep her out of the maggots nest.

"From the memories we saw of Hueco Mundo, anytime Sakura refused Aizen sexual contact, he would just take it. Oftentimes, he would rough her up a bit, before holding her down and forcing her to do whatever he pleased."

His words caused Kensei to clench his hands into fists. Both Lisa and Mashiro placed a reassuring hand onto him. Lisa leaned over and whispered to him. "Relax. This needs to come out."

"There were also times when she would question the validity of his stories. We ended up seeing, from Aizen's memories, that he would recondition her."

Sakura flinched at the memories that came flooding into her mind. There were countless times when Sosuke would force himself on her and for a long time, she thought it was fine. Honestly, she didn't think he could do anything wrong.

"How so?"

"From what she told us and from what we examined with her and Aizen's memories, it was found that any time she had a vivid dream about the past. The past that Aizen wanted her to forget... He would find a way to twist her reality back into his favor. They were almost an equivalent of hypnotic trances he would put her in. Usually with a drugged drink."

A very squeaky sounding woman spoke her. Her voice was rather high pitched and almost childlike.

"Why didn't you try to escape or fight back, if you don't mind me asking, Miss Hayashi?"

"I couldn't. Physically. Sosuke was a lot more powerful than me. Besides, I was made to believe that my powers were gone. I was, essentially, just a spirit. Sosuke made it very clear that Tosen, Gin and he were the only ones left with any sort of power. I still had my zanpakuto but it didn't work."

"But you do still have your abilities... and then some." She spoke.

"Yes. It was discovered that I am too a visored. I don't remember any of the training though. It's all a blur."

"Well, if you are not thrown into prison, we would have to find some sort of work for you to do. Perhaps the noodle house." The snarky woman from before spoke again. It was so blatantly obvious that she disliked Sakura. She could almost guarantee she was a member when Kensei and Sakura went through their case.

"Nonsense," said another member. "A lot of us remember former Captain Hayashi. She was always a wonderful asset to the gotei 13. This unfortunate circumstance shouldn't tarnish the name she built for herself."

"Rubbish!" She woman yelled, slamming a first down. "The name she built for herself?! Do you mean when she slept with her captain when she was a third seat? Or the fact that we dismissed how dangerous her zanpakuto is?"

"Enough!" A man sitting closer to the front shouted, his voice booming and echoing throughout the large space.

Akon moved his hands behind his back, and studied the back of Sakura's head. He could see from where he was standing how stressed and anxious she was becoming. It seemed as if all of the muscles in her back were tense. He sighed to himself, feeling awful about how she was feeling.

Everyone fell silent for a moment, the members of Central 46 looked as if they were all jotting things down. It only took a few seconds for them to all start whispering to one another. Sakura's case was unique in that she was pleading that she was under an illusion the entire time she was in Aizen's clutches. The members of Squad 12 quickly deduced that that was in fact, correct. Sakura had no real knowledge of what Aizen had been planning on doing. She was under the impression that he was trying to start a new seireitei with the being Aizen "found".

"Just a few more questions, Miss Hayashi." Said another older gentleman. His voice was soft.

"Of course," she responded, rather sheepishly. She had just been reminded of her prior incidents with Central 46 and she realized she was probably the only Shinigami who saw them on more than one occasion.

"How did you learn that everything you thought you knew was a lie?" The man's voice was much softer now, after having put that snarky bitch in her place.

"There was this room that I wasn't allowed to go in or even go near. It was like his office or something. I started having more and more vivid dreams of past events. I started getting more curious about what they meant. At this particular time, Sosuke was bringing up Ichigo Kurosaki more often. He had explained to me that Ichigo was trying to disrupt all the good work he was doing."

Sakura twisted her hands in her lap and sighed. "I snuck into the office one day when he left. Inside I found a notebook of everything that he's ever done and what he was planning on doing. After I read through I became sick to my stomach and knew that I needed to pretend from there on out. Thankfully it was only a few months before the events of Fake Karakura town took place."

"And that's when you took the fighting side of the shinigami."

"Sort of. My skills were ... lacking, to say the least. I had gone so long without using them that I had no real idea what I was doing. Had it not been for Captain Kyoraku, I might have died."

Silence filled the room again, only for a short time before a member spoke up. He explained that they would need to deliberate with the head captain and make their final decision on what Sakura's fate would be. The black haired woman stepped outside with the other captains, visoreds and lieutenants. She felt increasingly uneasy, as all eyes focused on her. The few captains that she hadn't recognized made her the most nervous. They didn't know her, or really anything about her, other than what they heard inside. Sakura already knew that their first impressions of her weren't exemplary.

Sakura went to walk away from the group, just wanting to be by herself. However, before she could take a step, Mashiro ran over to her, wrapping her into a tight embrace. She reminded her of Nel. Or maybe Nel reminded her of Mashiro. Either way, the abrupt action wasn't appreciated and caused Sakura to tense and push the girl away with a shove.

She took a step away from her, wrapping her arms around herself. She heard a gasp from one of the captains, as Kurotsuchi grumbled.

"Don't touch her, you imbecile. You just heard my third tell you what happened. What makes you think she wants physical contact?" He brought a hand to the side of his face and rolled his eyes.

"Honestly..." He continued.

Mashiro narrowed her eyes at him, as she folded her arms over her chest. Before she can speak, however, Kensei reeled her back in, his chestnut eyes lingering on Sakura. She caught sight of him staring at her, and decided to turn from the group. How long would it take to deliberate her fate? She wished they would hurry up.

About twenty minutes later, everyone was called back inside. Sakura would finally be given her judgement. She stood in the spot she had previously been in, her hands tied in front of her. Since they had removed her from her cell, she had been in uncomfortable binds.

"Sakura Hayashi, it is clear to us that you were a pawn in the games of Sosuke Aizen. Therefore, you will not be charged with any crimes." Said a kindly man. "We, however, are not sure where to place you. You were once a captain and placing you back onto a squad at a lower rank would be an insult, in our eyes."

"The noodle house is still an offer," murmured Sakura's new best friend. She rolled her eyes, as the gentleman who first spoke continued.

"Anyways... we will let the Head Captain choose where to put you. Head captain?"

Captain Yamamoto stepped forward, his long beard nearly touching the floor. "I would like to place Sakura Hayashi back in her original Squad. Squad 9, under the supervision of Captain Kensei Muguruma."

Kensei straighten up at the announcement. He was, secretly, thrilled but refused to let anyone see it. He needed to remain stoic and professional.

"She will be placed as a co-captain. I believe in what you have said about demoting her and feel that, while she recovers and relearns her roles as a captain, Kensei would be the best teacher."

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck! Sakura bit her bottom lip before letting out a long sigh. Right now, she'd probably prefer working at the damn noodle house. Being so close to Kensei was going to be tough. Exceedingly tough. For years she believed him to be a monster. It wasn't until a few years prior, when karakura town happened that she learned the truth and ever since then squad 12 was helping her pick up the pieces. Granted, she was happy that she would finally be leaving her cell.

"It's settled then. Sakura Hayashi, you will be co-captains with Kensei Muguruma of Squad 9 until you have fully restored your former self. He will guide you and reteach you how to fight and protect." And just like that, the hearing was over. A guard walked over to her, freeing her from her binds. She let her hands drop to her side, as she cursed under her breath.

The ever present snarky filled bitch spoke out again. "We don't want to see you here a fourth time Miss Hayashi."

Sakura didn't like the emphasis she put on that 'miss' and raised a brow at her.

"Yeah, well the first time was idiotic..."

"Ha!" A male let out a hearty laugh and smacked the table in front of him. "That's the sass that we used to see from you! We know you'll be back to your old self in no time."

The mystery woman ignored him. Her voice rose an octave and Sakura knew she pissed her off. It made her smirk. "Sleeping with your captain as a subordinate will get you here!"

"Not exactly. It's not against the law to have sex with your captain in the hot springs on a lovely night when the sakura blossoms have bloomed and are falling around your naked, wet bodies in a picturesque type of way. It is, however, frowned upon." Sakura said, her smirk growing into a shit eating grin.

"Get her out of here before I throw her into the maggots nest myself!" The woman yelled, pointing a long finger down at the raven haired, Sakura. The same man bellowed with laughter, as a few more joined in. Lisa Yadomaru raised her brow in an amused fashion, as did Captain Kyoraku.

Kensei stepped over to her, gently taking her arm. Even a gentle touch put her off, and Sakura squirmed away from him. She, quickly, turned on her heel and left the building, with Kensei, Mashiro and Hisagi in tow. Once they were outside, Kensei quickened his pace to keep up with Sakura.

"Hisagi, go ahead and get the squad ready. We're going to have a meeting."

"Yes, sir," he said before taking off. Sakura really didn't want to meet anyone else today. She just wanted to be assigned a room and go to sleep. She folded her arms over her chest as they walked towards the squad 9 barracks.

Any clothing that she had on her when she got to the seireitei had been destroyed. The only thing she had was a flimsy prison gown on. She hadn't noticed until now just how naked she felt.

It didn't take them long to get back and once there, Sakura stopped short of the meeting hall. "I need some clothes, Kensei..."

Mashiro perked up, taking off before anyone can say anything to her. She returned a few moments later with a skin tight jumpsuit in bright colors. Sakura raised a brow at it, as Kensei cleared his throat.

"Mashiro, I don't think-"

"It's fine," said Sakura in an annoyed voice as she took the clothing from Mashiro's hands. She found the storage room and quickly got changed inside. She left the gown on the ground, not caring what might happen to it. As far as she was concerned, that gown signified a moment in her life that she wanted to forget.

When she stepped out of the closet, Kensei and Mashiro stared at her. Mashiro grinned, while Kensei looked as if he just saw someone famous. Once he realized what he was doing, he snapped back into his typical stoic state. Sakura felt weird wearing Mashiro clothes and was even more weirded out at how form fitting they were. Sakura had always been someone to wear tight, form fitting, low cut clothing but Mashiro wasn't. At least to her knowledge. When Sakura was still a captain her shihakusho was so open at the chest that one wrong move and her nipple might pop out. However, in the years she lived with Sosuke, her clothing had become more conservative.

"All right, let's get it over with." She said, folding her arms back over her chest.

The meeting that Kensei conducted with the entirety of Squad 9 was awkward to say the least. They had a lot of questions and Sakura didn't want to answer any of them. A lot of them had to do with Aizen, of course. Kensei did most of the talking because of it. When everyone had left, Sakura followed Kensei and his two lieutenants back to his office. They were dismissed from their duties for the day, as it was getting dark out.

"We don't have a room made up for you yet, since the captain commander made that decision on his feet." He shuffled, uncomfortably, which was out of character for him. Sakura always knew Kensei to be very confident in how he held himself. For whatever reason, he was stumbling around her today.

Sakura walked over to his desk and let her fingers glide against it. Oddly enough, it was the same desk he had before the incident. Apparently, no one had wanted to redecorate. Her mind began to wander, as she tried to remember all of the moments she shared with Kensei in this very room.

"You can spend the night with me."

She shook her head, as she turned towards the tall, silver haired captain. "No, that's not a good idea."

"Where are you going to sleep then? Outside in the dirt?"

Sakura examined his face for the first time since returning. She hadn't done more than glance at him in the past few months. Because of it, she hadn't noticed how different his hair looked or that he now had piercings. She averted her eyes to the floor, not saying anything. As much as she didn't want to think it, she couldn't help but think that he was still gorgeous.

"Look, I'll stay out of the bedroom. You can lock the door and be by yourself. Tomorrow you'll have a place set up."

"Yeah, fine." She said, leaning against his desk, her eyes not leaving the floor.

She heard him sigh before walking out of the office. She followed behind him to what used to be the home they shared. It wasn't a long walk, so it didn't give Sakura a whole lot of time to reflect. She brought up a few memories, most of them having to do with waking up naked next to Kensei. She felt a jolt of energy surge through her body of the thought of his hands on her. It was too early to tell if it was a good sign or not.

Inside the home, Kensei went to grab some things to make himself comfortable for the night. Sakura felt a little guilty not letting him use his own bed but she knew that he wouldn't change his mind. Kensei was always very stuck in his ways and his honor was impeccable.

"Everything is ready for you... you know where to go. If you need me, just yell or come get me." He settled down into the spot he would be sleeping in, on a couch that she had never seen before. When he caught sight of her confused expression, he felt the need to explain.

"We were exiled to the world of the living and this was a couch that we had there. I wanted to bring it back... memories and what not."

Sakura nodded, without saying anything else and moved into the bedroom. She felt Kensei's eyes on her, as she shut the bedroom door. Closing her eyes, she let out a deep breath as she pressed her back to the door. She wouldn't lock it, knowing that Kensei would never harm her. At least, now she knew. A few months ago would have been a different story.

Sakura sat on the bed for what felt like hours, looking around and remembering things that she had long forgotten. Butterflies filled her stomach anytime n intimate memory would surface, like when they would lay together and Kensei would whisper sweet nothings to her. It was a side of Kensei that others didn't get to see and Sakura remembered how much she cherished that. Their relationship had its own secret language that she loved.

Sakura had fallen asleep at some point, reveling in the memories that were made in that room. Pleasant dreams filled her mindscape but were interrupted by someone coming into the room. Her bright green eyes popped opened, adjusting to the darkness around her. She stayed as quiet as she could, as she felt someone moving into the bed with her.

This had to be dream. Kensei said he would leave her alone. Flashbacks of Sosuke entering their bed, late at night, flooded her mind and she tensed up. A hand slithered around her and she couldn't help but scream and push away whoever it was. Darting up, she pulled the chain to a bedside light. As soft yellow light filled the room, she saw a woman next to her, with an irritated look on her face.

"Who the fuck are you?!" Sakura yelled, as Kensei ran into the room, half naked with tachikaze. The woman next to her had black hair and striking green eyes.

With a sigh, Kensei ran his hand through his hair. "I didn't think you'd be coming here tonight."

"Why is she here, Kensei?!"

That voice. That fucking voice. It belonged to that snarky bitch from central 46. Kensei looked at the women before focusing only on Sakura.

"Sakura, this is Akiko. She's my fiancée."