Announcement: I would like to thank everyone who took the time to review my fanfic. I'm very glad that many of you liked it. Now, given the one-shot's positive responds, I've decided to go ahead and run with my fic idea.

The story is titled Death and Fireflies and it takes place about a year after the one-shot. I except to have the first chapter done and the story up in the site in a couple of days, but in the mean time, here's a small preview. I hope you enjoy it and, once again, thank you for your support and I hope to see you in the main story.


Death and Fireflies Ch1 Preview

…Now she had just returned from a Hollow extermination mission in the living world. The young Shinigami had immediately headed for her squad's barracks to give her uncle her report. She had been very surprised to find the 6th Division's offices almost completely deserted and not sign of her Captain anywhere. That was when she decided to simply head home, after all, her report was not time sensitive and, with any luck, her uncle would be at the Kuchiki compound already.

Back to the search for her family, Ichika was starting to get frustrated, not only with her inability to find her parents, but also with the fact that all the other people loitering around kept giving her anxious looks when they thought she was not looking.

"Ichika-san?" The redhead heard her name being called out and immediately turned towards the source of the voice. A nervous looking Shinigami with disheveled dark grey hair walked towards her.

The Abarai immediately recognized the man as her squad's 4th Seat, Ayatsuri Tsusha. The girl had always liked the grey haired man. Despite ranking quite high in the division, he was always respectful with the rest of his teammates and referred to them with honorifics. However, at the moment, the amiable man looked as anxious and jittering as everyone else invading the Kuchiki household.

"What's going on, Tsusha?" Before the young man could answer the girl's question, noise started to be heard from down the hall.

The 4th Seat looked nervously towards the noise. "Quickly, Ichika-san, you have to hide!" He said urgently and, before the girl could protest he dragged the redhead into one of the rooms to the side.

"What's happening…?!" The redhead tried to ask again, but Tsusha pleadingly gave her a sign asking her to stay quite before sliding the door almost all the way close until there was only a slim gap to look out into the hall.

Ichika peered into the hall just in time to seen a group of Shinigami walking authoritatively. The girl recognized Central 46 insignia strapped around their left arm. After the war 20 years ago, Central created a new Shinigami force outside the Gotei 13, and even the Onmitsukido, that answered directly to them, the Shikko Buntai, and they were always dispatched whenever Central wanted to circumvent the Captain Commander or one of the noble houses. Needles to say, their presence always meant trouble.

Before the young woman could ask why the enforcers were here, her eyes widen in shock and she was stun into silence.

Right in the middle of the Shikko Buntai walked Kuchiki Rukia.

The 13th Division Captain walked with a steady step, head held high, and strong eyes, but there was not mistaken what was happening.

"This… This… This…" Ichika tried to speak for her mouth would not make actual phrases.

Suddenly, Rukia's gaze darted to the side and fixated on her daughters eyes. The look that the redhead received from her mother was so charged that she could not even begin to decipher it.

Tsusha's hand grabbed the young woman by the shoulder and pulled her back before fully closing the door. "Ichika-san, you have to listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you." The man said.

It took several moments for the Abarai to muster enough concentration in order hone her attention in on the 4th Seat.

"Earlier today… Central 46 sent the Shikko Buntai to the barracks to arrest your father." The gray haired man revealed. "They claim that Abarai-san broke into the Pillar and tried to destroy the King's Lynchpin." He said.

Ichika heard the words from her squadmate, but they did not make sense to her. The King's Lynchpin was some sort of device created by the current and former Captains of the 12th Division and one of members from the Royal Guard to hold Soul Society together in the absence of the Soul King, and it was housed in the fortify structure known as the Pillar because of how frail and unstable it was. The idea that anyone in the Gotei 13, let alone Abarai Renji, would try to destroy it simply did not make any sense to the young girl.

"My… My father… Where is he?" The redhead barely managed to ask.

"I don't really know… Nobody knows." Tsusha responded. "The Shikko, and us at the Division, searched for him, but this is all we could find…" The man said as he brought out a Lieutenant's badge with a camellia flower on it.

Slowly, Ichika reached out for her father's badge. "That's… Impossible…" She whispered through her disbelief.

"The Captain immediately headed to Central to find out exactly what was going on." The 4th Seat said as he let the girl take the badge from his hand. "But while he was away, we got word that the Shikko Buntai was coming here with orders to take your mother into custody under suspicion of being an accomplice." The man explained to the shellshock redhead.

"What is the meaning of this?!" A booming voice was suddenly heard right before a powerful and aggressive spiritual pressure washed over the Kuchiki compound.

The outburst snapped Ichika out of her trance. The redhead had never heard her uncle that angry or felt him release that much spiritual power…