Prologue

It had been two years since the battle against Sosuke Aizen but soul society had been forever changed by his actions. Due to the extent of his plans and the large time scale it covered the new central 46, that was put into place after the war, had implemented several new laws to prevent such a catastrophe again. One such law was that captains were no longer allowed unofficial private meetings, this applied even to the long standing captains and friends: Jushiro Ukitake and Shunsui Kyoraku. All squads were treated as separate entities from one another, only having joint exercises and missions when it was absolutely necessary. These laws also took away all influence that a captain had over another squad, causing Rukia Kuchiki to finally be promoted to the lieutenant of squad thirteen. She felt weird being in that position, Kaien Shiba's position but over the two years she had grown use to it. Similar to Kaien, due to Captain Ukitake's illness Rukia frequently found herself as the acting captain of her division, this was one such occasion. She was reading through the reports and status updates which had been delivered by one of the agents of central 46. Most of these were progress reports about security, hollow appearance and dispatch rates in the world of the living but one caught her eye. It was a promotion report, from squad ten. She read into the report, Toshiro had received a new subordinate from the Shiba clan, one powerful enough to be promoted to third seat upon joining the squad. Rukia turned the final page in the report, the page which would detail the new third seat of squad ten.
"It can't be…." Rukia stared at the person's photograph for at least ten minutes, repeatedly stating her disbelief out loud.
"Hey Rukia, sorry for making you do so much of my work. I can take over now if you want." Captain Ukitake arrived, his words falling deaf on Rukia. The captain placed a hand on Rukia to gain her attention.
"What's wrong Rukia?" Rukia handed him the report.
"Oh, a new soul reaper from the Shiba clan huh? And third seat of squad ten? This Masaki Shiba must be something special." The captain commented excitedly.
"Something about this bothers you Rukia?" Rukia looked away and turned back to her captain.
"Captain, that girl. I've met her before."
"You have? I haven't even heard of her."
"That's because her real name… Is Karin Kurosaki."