Kurosaki Ichigo was in a bind

Kuchiki Rukia wasn't really having a better time. Kuchiki Byakuya, her brother, had left Senbonzakura behind in an uncharacteristically airhead way. That in itself was worrying, since Byakuya never let Senbonzakura out of his sight, not normally or by choice. Explosions coming from the west wing of the spacious Kuchiki Estate was a little unusual too.

Then she heard it. The familiar keening scream of a Hollow. Now, Hollows don't come to the Kuchiki Estate. They don't even come to Soul Society. It's a VERY dumb Hollow that willingly walks into the home of its nemesis, and an EXTREMELY dumb Hollow to waltz into the home of one of the most powerful Captains of the Gotei 13. The dumbness factor goes off the scale when you reckon in the fact that the Kuchiki Estate is right up in the noble area of Seireitei, surrounded by powerful shinigami, not to mention the spirit absorbing rock that formed the wall of the White City. So that was one dumb Hollow.

Not to say it wasn't effective though. After all, it HAD gotten past all their defences. And her adoptive brother lacked his zanpakutou at the moment. Sure, he had kidou, was darn good at it in fact, but he always fought best with his partner in death dealing, and the most dangerous cherry blossoms in all of Soul Society couldn't agree more. Problem is… where the heck was he?

Well, no use hanging around waiting for the rain to fall, or whatever proverb she can think of. Much better to go out and try and find her wayward brother. If her memory served right, he must've consumed about a bottle of sake the other night. Her heart felt a sudden pang. That was the night, the night that was anniversaries for both of them. The anniversary of the day Hisana left her. The day Byakuya married her. The day she died. The day Rukia had been adopted into the Kuchiki family. Funny how they all managed to happen on the same day. It was also the one day Byakuya's composure slipped. It hurt, seeing her brother like that. But she didn't have a choice.

The Hollow's roar sounded again, much closer this time. That was weird. Why hadn't Byakuya destroyed it by now? Surely a common Hollow stood no chance against a Captain? Even a Captain with a hangover? He could fire off level 80 spells without the incantation and still pack a big punch for crying out loud. The floor was starting to shake under her feet. She cursed under her breath. Only last week she'd had those floor boards replaced. That Hollow had better have insurance.

She ran out, her hand already held up wards as she quickly mouthed an incantation. "Bakudou no Rokujyuu Ichi: Rukojou Korou!" That was good. A nice level 61 binding spell, six bars of light to hold the enemy in place. With a practised movement, she drew her brother's blade. It was notably heavier than her own, but nothing she couldn't handle. She was, after all, good enough to be a Seated Officer, even though Byakuya had pulled some strings so she could stay out of harm's way. She snorted. Fat lot of good that ever did.

The Hollow roared at her. Although immobile, Rukia could see the energy it was starting to gather around its mouth. Of course! Cero! That must be how it managed to get past the defences! Another thing she noticed was the lack of reiatsu the creature emanated. In a world as spiritually aware as Soul Society, lacking reiatsu could pretty much make you invisible. Well, that answered a lot of questions. Now, the burning question: Who was faster, her or the Cero beam?

Her feet answered for her, slamming into the ground with surprising force, propelling her away from the danger zone microseconds before the Cero beam reduced the floor boards to nothing. Oh boy. Bad move Hollow boy. She'd just replaced those boards, remember? Her eyes slid to Senbonzakura, where it lay immobile and lifeless-looking in her grasp. Surely…? She'd always wanted to say those fabled words. Who didn't? Anyways, it couldn't hurt, could it? She judged it couldn't. So she did.

"Chire, Senbonzakura!" Scatter, One Thousand Cherry Blossoms. Pure sweetness in a phrase. How many people have longed to say those fabled words? Many people did, of course, but for all the good it did them, they might as well have called out for the legendary blade of the Captain-Commander, Ryuujin Jakka. Not her.

The sword responded, the blade melting away into pieces too small to be seen by the naked eye. However, the minute blades caught the light and scattered it off in all colours of the spectrum, although the dominant colour was pink. It was a Byakuya thing. The only male to look good in pink. Many others have tried to pull it off, but the closest anyone'd ever come to succeeding was Kyouraku Shunsui, with his own pink haori. Not that he looked GOOD in it, but hey, at least he managed to pull it off.

Too bad the same couldn't be said of the Hollow. Senbonzakura decided to do a little fashion statement and wrapped around it like a cloak, the miniature but razor sharp blades cutting into it and reducing it to slush in so many seconds. Pick a harder target next time.

Judging that the killing was over, the sword flakes gathered together, hovering over the hilt of Senbonzakura that Rukia held. With a soft whisper like the wind through the sakura blossoms, it glided down, reforming the slender blade of the zanpakutou. Rukia's eyes stayed wide the rest of the day.