I have FINALLY finished this story and am beginning to post it. This is "A Rose That Won't Bloom", a Bleach Fanfiction. The final four chapters are being read by my editor and will likely be done soon, so I've decided to start posting this story. It will be updated every Monday afternoon, often sometime between 3 and 5 PM, EST. When summer comes, updates will likely be earlier in the day. If there are any foreseen events that will prevent me from updating on time, I will do my best to alert my readers beforehand. That being said, I hope my loyal readers will enjoy this story, and I hope newcomers will also enjoy my work. Disclaimer: Bleach and its characters belong to Tite Kubo. Any OCs belong to me.
His dark red eyebrows furrowed in annoyance as he scanned the stack of papers supplied to detail his newest mission. It was like a freakin novel! Luckily, he knew by now that only the first couple of pages actually held any necessary details. The rest was almost always extraneous. And although Lieutenant Abarai enjoyed his job and put in the required work, he refused to waste valuable time on unnecessary reading. He was to investigate the theft of a powerful, legendary artifact, starting with questioning the only survivor: the Ninth Division's Third Seat. Renji wondered where Shuhei Hisagi was in this mess, if he was still around.
Sliding the four-inch stack under his left arm, Renji turned to leave the Division Six barracks, stepping towards the large wooden-framed doorway in quick strides.
"Hey Abarai! Should you really be doing such heavy lifting in your condition?" a fellow Soul Reaper asked as he passed, indicating the stack under Renji's arm. Renji recognized him as Hisoka Imagawa, the eighth seat of the Sixth Division.
"What?" Renji replied, a grin stretching across his handsome features. "You mean this?" gesturing at the paperwork. "This is nothing. I got one before all that Aizen crap that was eight inches. Now that was one interesting mission."
Imagawa's eyebrows tweaked up, slightly surprised. "You're seriously going on a mission this soon? Didn't they want you to stay on medical leave for another week?"
"Nah," he lied. "I'm good as new."
In truth, they had wanted him to stay. Well, the Soul Reapers in the Fourth Division, at least. But times were tough and so many of the strongest Soul Reapers were still recovering, so the Head Captain ordered him back in the field. Apparently, his new mission was important.
Imagawa shrugged. "Fair enough I guess."
Renji turned to leave, but a thought struck him.
"Hey, did you hear anything about Gin? Your girlfriend works as a guard at Maggot's Nest, right?"
"Gin? I wouldn't worry. No one's ever escaped Maggot's Nest. Besides, he's been a bit off since that Ichigo guy managed to kill Aizen. He... he stopped smiling, from what I heard."
"Weird," Renji commented, shaking his head. "Well... thanks."
Imagawa nodded, and each continued on his way. Renji continued on to the Fourth Division, where he'd been only a week before.
"Back so soon, Lieutenant Abarai?" one of the Soul Reapers of the Fourth Division asked. Renji vaguely remembered his name. Marusa? Or maybe it was Masudu? There were too many Soul Reapers for him to keep track.
"Good morning Lieutenant Abarai, Maruya-san," another Soul Reaper greeted, bowing slightly as she passed. Renji frowned slightly and turned his attention back to the young man before him.
"I'm here on business," Renji answered. "I need to find the Third Seat of the Ninth Division." The young man gave Renji a slightly perplexed look, glancing at the paper in Renji's hand.
"Who is it? May I see?" Maruya asked. Renji passed him the paper and the young man's face lit up with realization. "Oh, her! Right this way." The red-haired lieutenant was led through the hallways of the Fourth Division, passing other Soul Reapers along the way. Once they neared the room the patient was in, Renji's escort stopped.
"Thanks for the help," he said.
"Don't thank me yet. Good luck with her. She's pretty scary when she's mad," the young man answered. Renji cocked an eyebrow at him before shrugging and entering the room. Captain Unohana was working with the woman he'd be questioning, standing in front of her.
"It looks like we have a guest," the captain said pleasantly, looking over her shoulder. "Can I help you with something, Lieutenant?"
"I'll need to speak with your patient when you're through with her, Captain Unohana," Renji answered, stepping out of the doorway and closing it behind him.
"I just finished. Try not to upset her."
As Captain Unohana turned to leave the room, Renji was able to see the woman he would be questioning. It was a face he hadn't seen since his days in the Soul Reaper Academy. Her hair was long and as fiery as his, though it wasn't in the braid he'd been used to seeing her wear. Her facial features were soft, as always, but covered in bruises. She was thin and, if he remembered correctly, flexible. Renji was a bit surprised to see her torso so exposed, but covered with bandages. She'd always been a bit modest in that respect. What shocked him most was the empty space where her left arm used to be, the shoulder wrapped with bandages where her upper arm and torso would have met. The woman's eyes held fire and anger, but now with shock mixing in as well.
"Renji?" she asked, a surprised inflection in her voice. Her typically fiery eyes widened in shock as he approached.
"Kagami Okasawa… You're Third Seat of the Ninth Division?" Renji answered with a question of his own. The woman before him gave a wry smile.
"Damn right. I see you're a lieutenant now. Congratulations."
"Thanks. I'm sure you know I'm here by orders from Captain Kuchiki."
"I figured. Seems like they didn't tell you I was the only who barely managed to survive."
Renji shook his head, one hand clenched into a fist. He and Kagami had lost contact after graduating from the academy. He'd never guessed he reunite with her in this way; Kagami the victim of a brutal attack. Renji remembered her being a strong woman who could hold her own in a fight. Whoever put her in such a condition, and killed the team she was with, must have been powerful.
"What happened the other day?" Renji asked, referring to the attack. He'd known when it was, but little else. A select team from the Ninth Division had been chosen for the mission. Kagami sighed heavily and gingerly placed her hand on her left shoulder. Renji pulled a chair closer to the bed, knowing the story could take a while. He leaned back in the chair, waiting for her to begin.
"We were guarding the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi. There were fifty of us and it was meant to be a simple task. Lieutenant Hisagi was leading and I was second-in-command. Everything was running smoothly until five that afternoon. We were swarmed by hundreds of Hollows and even some Arrancar. There were too many for us to all fight off. Lieutenant Hisagi and I, we were nearest the sword when it happened." Renji noticed the tears forming in Kagami's eyes and his brow furrowed. He watched as her eyes scrunched in frustration, as she used to do in the academy when she didn't want to appear weak.
"You were outnumbered," he stated and Kagami nodded.
"By a wide margin. I saw the one leading them. You're going to think I'm crazy, but it was Cap- I mean, Kaname Tousen."
"Don't be stupid, Kagami. Hisagi brought him to the brink of death and Aizen finished the job, probably because he thought Tousen wasn't useful anymore."
"I know what I saw! H-He had some kind of mask, like a Hollow's, on his face, but I knew it was him. I'd recognize his spiritual pressure anywhere. He was leading the Hollows in this attack, killing so many of our men and women. We were able to fight off many of them, Lieutenant Hisagi and me working in tandem for much of it. Then, it felt like a wave of spiritual pressure was coming, like a tsunami. Nearly everyone was killed in an instant, but Lieutenant Hisagi stood in the way of it, protecting me. He'd always said that a lieutenant should look after his subordinates, and that's what he did for me. He saved my life, though the blast still took my arm. A few of the others managed to avoid the brunt of the attack as well, but it wasn't enough. The rest of them died here in the Fourth Division. The last one was early this morning. I'm the only one left from that group."
"I'm sorry," Renji murmured, though wondering if the sight of Tousen was merely caused by trauma. A tear finally fell from Kagami's eyes as she stared down at her hand in her lap.
"After that, I couldn't do anything, not even move. Tousen just kicked me out of the way and took the sword. I thought I was going to bleed out and die there. Tousen left with his Hollows and I was sure death would soon come to me. Honestly, I wasn't even afraid."
Renji remembered a time in their academy days, when they were doing some field training. Kagami had been caught off guard and she'd frozen in fear. Later, she'd confided that she was afraid of being killed in battle. Hearing Kagami say she wasn't afraid made Renji wonder how much she'd been through and changed since he'd seen her.
"The report said they found you just in time and were able to treat you." Kagami gave him a wry chuckle, glancing up from her lap.
"That's the only reason I'm alive and kicking. They keep telling me I should lie down all the time, but I refuse to," she answered.
"Don't you think you should listen to them," Renji asked, crossing his arms. Perhaps it would help her give up this delusion of Tousen attacking her, he thought.
"I was going to give up after Tousen left, but I made a deal with Lieutenant Hisagi. I told him that if I had some sign that I should keep living, then I'd continue to fight. That's when the Fourth Division showed up, and I've been fighting since." Renji shook his head slowly, now sure his old friend had lost her mind. Striking deals with a dead man? It was too much.
"Thanks for the information. I'll bring it back to Captain Kuchiki and we'll go from there," Renji said, turning to leave.
"You don't believe me." It wasn't a question and Renji sighed. Kagami had been good at reading him. He turned to face her once more.
"What do you expect me to say, Kagami? Tousen was killed by your superior officer."
"I know that, but I saw Tousen. I felt his spiritual pressure! It was Tousen!" Renji watched as Kagami's eyes sharpened, as though angered. She began sitting up straighter, appearing ready to attack an unseen enemy. Before Renji could answer her, three members of the Fourth Division entered the room. One of them placed his hands on her temples as she thrashed, trying to shove him away.
"You need to leave now," another Soul Reaper, a woman, said while leading him away.
"Let go of me!" Kagami screamed as the other man held her legs still. The first man kept his hands at her temples as they began to glow faintly. Renji watched as Kagami's eyes slowly lowered and she stopped struggling. She drifted to sleep and Renji was pushed out of the room.
"Damn," he murmured. "Whatever happened must have traumatized her to the point where she can't remember right."
"It's very strange," the woman who'd led him out answered. "Normally, with trauma victims, it's all or nothing. They either remember everything to the finest detail, or they remember close to nothing. Her story is consistent, what she told us, at least, but she's so adamant on her attacker being the former Captain Tousen. It doesn't add up."
"No, it doesn't, especially considering who Kagami is."
"Oh, do you know her personally?"
"We go back."
"I'm sorry you had to see that."
Renji shook his head and walked away, leaving the Fourth Division as quickly as he could. It disgusted him to see his old friend in such a way. Whoever did that was going to pay. He'd stolen a precious artifact, killed a team of Soul Reapers – one of them being a friend of Renji's – and both mentally and physically hurt another friend. It had previously been just an assignment, but it was now personal. Renji would take this mission and see it through to the end.
I hope you enjoyed the first chapter. Please R&R.