She waited for him.
For centuries, she waited.
And continued to wait.
One after another of the Old Guard fell.
One after another gave up hope.
But she persevered.
Time continued its march ever onward.
And she remained.
Ever faithful.
Ever watchful.
Ever patient.
Every day, she would say to herself:
"He will return."
She never lost hope…
"Where is that idiot?"
Tatsuki Arisawa was pissed.
It was mid-morning, and a group of close friends stood around, waiting impatiently and mentally voicing that same question in various ways. Orihime Inoue wore a concerned look as she watched her friends argue. Keigo was manically whining to Mizurio while Rukia, Tatsuki and Renji fumed. The only ones in the group not actively voicing their dissent were Uryu, who stood off to the side looking annoyed, Chad, who was impassive as ever, and the young healer herself.
It was the beginning of summer, and they were standing at the entrance to a local fair. It had been over a year since Aizen had fallen, and their world had returned to normal. The Soul Reapers had returned to the Soul Society, leaving Karakura in the hands of those who cared for her most. Rukia was able to retake her position as the town's official Soul Reaper, with the added stipulation of keeping an eye on the unofficial one, while Renji returned to his Lieutenancy without any major repercussions. The rest had returned to life as usual, and after a year of relative peace they had all mutually decided to celebrate.
They'd been planning this trip to the fair for months. It was originally one of Keigo's ideas, which didn't give it much merit, but after Orihime got excited about the prospect of going everyone else jumped on the idea. Before long the list of people going had grown considerably, until all of their closest friends were coming. Everyone had coordinated their schedules, saved up money… heck, Rukia and Renji had even gotten vacation time to come down here and spend the day with their friends without having to worry about hollow duty.
Except one of them was missing.
The most important one.
The one that tied them all together.
Ichigo Kurosaki was late.
"Are you sure you told him the right time?"
"Yes, I'm sure!"
"You think he got lost?"
"No way. His new phone has GPS!"
"GP-what?"
"Global Positioning… gah! Look, it just means that you can't get lost. It's like having a map of the world on your phone, with directions and everything!"
"Right… Okay, maybe he's hunting hollows?"
"You told him not to bring his badge, didn't you?"
"Oh please, like that would stop him. This is Ichigo we're talking about here."
"Good point… Wait! Did anyone try calling him?"
"No we didn't because that would make sense!"
"I'm guessing that's sarcasm…"
"Really, ya think?"
The conversation continued, with each verbal jibe making the group more and more irritated. They couldn't spend all day waiting for Ichigo to show up. They had a limited time here, and each of them wanted to enjoy it as much as possible.
Eventually talk of leaving without him started.
But with two words, it stopped instantly.
"I'll wait."
Orihime Inoue; sweet, kind and innocent. Out of all of them, she had been the one most excited about going out and seeing the rides, the attractions… and she was willing to wait.
They all felt like heels after those two words, each one retracting their previous statements. Ichigo was late, but they wouldn't start without him. Instead, they'd give the teen a little more time while quietly thinking of ways to punish him once he arrived.
That is, if he arrived…
Elsewhere…
"Rui, what's your progress?"
"Just a few more minutes sir."
"Excellent."
In a dank and disused section of the Seireitei three men skulked about in the shadows, doing everything in their power to keep their presence hidden. They had been working so long and so hard for this day to come, the day when they could realize their greatest vision; the resurrection of the Seireitei of old.
The Seireitei that stood as a pinnacle of power; strong and unstoppable, infallible and irreproachable.
The Seireitei that would not have lost the Central 46 to a handful of rebellious Captains.
The Seireite that would not have been brought to its knees by one boy and his rag-tag band of friends.
Minutes passed as the man in the dark seethed.
How far they had come…
How far they had fallen...
Three traitorous Captains…
Whose treachery was ended by a child.
More than a dozen Captain-level individuals in the World of the Living…
All beyond the Soul Society's control.
And him...
They didn't even have a word for what he was…
And he was beyond their control as well.
The man shuddered to think of what might happen should this continue. If these individuals were to become organized, if they were to find a common thread, a leader willing to stand and unite them, they could form their own equivalent of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.
In the World of the Living.
Beyond their control.
With only their own interests at heart.
If left unchecked, such a force could overthrow the Seireitei itself! They could cast down the old order, leaving naught but smoldering ruin, and replace it with their own regime. Their mere existence could disrupt, possibly even destroy, the balance and the Seireitei as it stood now had neither the means nor the inclination to stop them!
He would not let that happen.
"Sir, we're through!"
The man was drawn out of his contemplations as he rushed over to the patch of stone that the three conspirators had spent the last few months working on. It had taken years to find this place, the last of the artifacts he needed to ensure the continued dominance of the Soul Society hidden within. They took their positions and heaved, pulling the block from its place in the ground.
The seal was finally broken, the last piece of the puzzle revealed.
With this, they could put the power back where it belonged, in the hands of the Captains of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads and a newly re-formed Assembly of the Central 46 Chambers.
With this, he could set things right again.
First and foremost, all author's notes will be located on the bottom for ascetic reasons.
Now that that's out of the way…
Hi!
Welcome to my third fanfiction.
I'm LastGirlOnTheWrite. You may know me from such fanfictions as 'On Keeping an Open Mind' and 'The OneMonth Experiment'.
If so, hurray!
I have fans ^_^
If not then I hope you'll enjoy what you find here. It's a gets a little dark, and it will probably be a little confusing in the beginning, but it all comes together in the end.
And if I do this right, you might not see it coming till it's too late.
And I still don't own anything.