Author's Notes:
This fic is already plotted out to the end. So I will try to update at least every week. Reviews mean so much. If you like this fic (or even if you hate it) please let me know what you think! Thank you, in advance! :)
This chapter is dedicated to HarunaOno. Thank you so much for your review. It was because of your words of encouragement and interest that I pushed myself to write and plot out this story to its conclusion.
The Red Tie That Binds
by Sands
Chapter 2 – Aftermath
Squad 4 members efficiently moved about on top of the Sokyoku Hill. Orders were given to attend to the wounded – Captain Komamura, Lieutenant Abarai, and Captain Kuchiki. Their injuries were grave indeed. Graver was the fact that it had been one of their own that had inflicted them. It is the betrayal one doesn't see coming that is truly frightening.
Third Seat Iemura glanced at the group of Ryokas huddled together healing their own. Once invaders, now dubbed the saviors of Soul Society. A common enemy had united them in their time of need.
The treachery of Captain Sousuke Aizen had shaken them all down to the roots. How many years had he plotted this betrayal? He had been a Captain to look up to. Even Iemura had held him in a position of utmost respect in his mind. But his loyalty and service to Soul Society had all been nothing but a lie. Years of trust, shaken. Decades of solidarity, broken, irreparably in the matter of minutes.
Captain Unohana's arrival relieved Iemura's apprehension. Her calm demeanor was an oasis in the middle of all the chaos. At least one thing he could put his faith in.
He updated her on the current status of those being healed on Sokyoku Hill. Seeing that the Ryoka were taking care of their own just fine, she settled down by Captain Kuchiki's side.
"Oh, Captain Kuchiki," she said. "You were very reckless."
His breathing was uneven but she knew he would live. She called out to Rukia Kuchiki, the Captain's adopted sister, knowing that her patient would be alleviated by the knowledge that whom he had so recklessly thrown himself in front of to protect was finally safe and by his side.
"Rukia," Captain Kuchiki weakly uttered. "Are you there?"
Rukia knelt down, leaning in to listen better so that he wouldn't have to strain himself tomake himself heard. She couldn't bring herself to be mad at him. She knew he had had his reasons even though she didn't understand it herself. He had shielded her with his own body from the blade that would have taken her life. Now here he lay, bleeding and weakened from the very wounds he'd incurred on her behalf.
"Yes, I'm right here," she said tremulously and held his hand.
From traitorous outsiders to saviors of Soul Society. How fickle these labels are, Yoshina thought as she watched the orange light of Orihime's power heal Ichigo. It was laughable really. But now was neither the time nor the place.
The battle was over. Ichigo had held his own against Byakuya and won. Rukia Kuchiki was saved. Sousuke Aizen's true nature was revealed.
Finally. Finally everyone knew the truth that Kisuke, Yoruichi, and Yoshina had known for over a hundred years. The truth that had burdened them. The truth that had condemned them.
Her eyes kept straying. Captain Unohana of Squad Four was diligently at work, kneeling beside Byakuya, healing him.
The blood. She kept seeing it over and over. How the blade had pierced him. How the blood had spurted out staining the ground beneath them. The slightest shift to the left and Gin Ichimaru's Zanpakuto would have pierced him in the heart.
For a moment, it had been so, so close. Yoshina's hands trembled from the residual anxiety and fear. She wrapped them around herself to calm her nerves.
Rukia knelt beside him. He was talking to her. Yoshina could not hear the words because his voice, as weakened as he was from his injuries, did not carry across the distance. But she knew. Instinctively, Yoshina knew that he was finally telling Rukia about his wife, Hisana.
Hisana.
She wanted to be jealous. She wanted to be upset. She wanted to be something but she couldn't. She could not fault him for how he chose to repair what she had broken. She wished it had been her. She wished she had made a different choice. She wished...but what was the point in wishing for anything now. Wishing was pointless because life never worked out that way. So she chose to be grateful instead for the fact that in her absence he had been loved.
Unexpectedly, across the distance, their eyes met. Yoshina's widened with surprise, and Byakuya's remained as expressionless as ever. She wondered if it was his default setting now.
If there was any kind of romantic notion or whimsy still left in Byakuya, he'd have thought that time stood still as he gazed into her eyes without meaning to. But there wasn't. Time, loss, and pain had stripped him of any sentiment he had once had.
Pain.
Regret.
Yearning.
He could see every emotion she ever felt reflected in her eyes. That had always been the case with Yoshina. A hundred years, and she hadn't changed a bit. Well, physically she had obviously. She had grown into herself. Unlike her older sister, she had taken more after her mother. Her build was slight and petite, and her curves more subtle. He hated how he noticed but he was too weak to even beat himself up for it.
All these truths. All these revelations. Ichigo Kurosaki's convictions and Sousuke Aizen's betrayal had made him rethink everything. The events of the past few minutes had brought about the undeniable understanding that nothing is ever as it seems. That even the truth one believes like gospel can merely be a carefully woven lie.
Seeing her now, he did not know what to think. For a century, he had believed she was dead. He had mourned her for decades after she had disappeared until he had taught himself to feel nothing so the loss and the pain would not destroy him. He had forced himself to forget.
Yet, here she was, standing a mere distance away, alive and well. A bit worse for wear, which was understandable with what they had all been through. But she was alive. She was well. And she was here, right before his eyes. She was smiling at Kurosaki, he realized. How he had yearned for that very smile to be directed at him once. How he had gone above and beyond to make that curve happen on her lips, to be the reason why she smiled.
But that was neither here nor there. He was glad she was well but a hundred years separated them. There was nothing that could bridge the distance that was between them now.
Yoruichi appeared right beside her side, blocking Yoshina's view of where Byakuya was. She wondered if it was an intentional move on her sister's part. Knowing Yoruichi, it probably was.
"Head Captain Yamamoto wants to speak to us," Yoruichi informed.
Yoshina's brows furrowed with confusion. "About what?"
"I think you know," Yoruichi replied with a knowing look.
Yoshina had some inkling. An inkling that was proven to be accurate once they were at the Squad One barracks, facing the formidable Head Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.
He gave them the option to stay behind in Soul Society. Yoruichi and Kisuke would be reinstated to the positions held previously by them, and Yoshina would be allowed to take the examinations at the Soul Reaper Academy. She had known it was coming. But now, with this shift in direction dangling in front of her, Yoshina could not decide what to do.
She glanced at her sister to see her reaction. Yoruichi's answer was plain enough to see. There was no way she was going to stay. Not for an institution that had condemned her and Kisuke without a second thought. Understanding and acceptance now, was simply a hundred years too late. Besides, Yoruichi was too accustomed to the freedom that being in the World of the Living allowed. She was not going to relinquish it. Which meant, this would undoubtedly be Kisuke's response as well.
"Think it over," the Head Captain advised, seeing Yoshina Shihoin's conflicted look. Then he left the hall, leaving the two Shihoin sisters alone.
Yoruichi sighed. "I know where your mind is at, Yoshi," she said. "Don't. Don't do it."
"Don't stay here?" Yoshina asked, purposefully playing obtuse. "You have to understand why a part of me wants to. I mean, I never had the opportunity you did. Is it so wrong that I want to attend the academy? That I want to graduate, and be seated upon my own merits as a soul reaper? To make friends and find a family in my squad? Is it so wrong to want that for myself?"
Yoruichi was not fooled by the speech. Not at all. After all, she knew her sister too well. "Don't stay because of him."
Yoshina gasped, and opened her mouth to retort indignantly at what Yoruichi had insinuated.
Yoruichi stopped her tirade before it began with a hand held up to let her know that she wasn't done just yet. "I won't press the matter, Yoshi," she continued. "You are not a kid anymore and I can't tell you what to do or what not to do. I can't protect you from everything either. But Yoshi..." She took her sister's hand and stared intensely into her eyes. She wanted Yoshina to understand the implications fully before a choice was made. "Don't change everything about you and your life because of some misguided notion in your head that he is still the same person you once knew. That you can both go back to how things were."
Yoshina wanted to get angry but she couldn't. After all, her sister was only looking out for her as a sister would and should. Protecting her interests, as she always had. Yoshina did understand the weight of her decision. But in the end, it was her decision. One she had to make for herself.
"He is not the reason," she reassured. "At least, not the only one."
Yoruichi nodded in understanding. It seemed that Yoshina's mind was made up. She was going to stay back. As much as she wished they could both return to the World of the Living, Yoruichi understood Yoshina's motivation.
"I'll tell Kisuke you said goodbye."
Yoshina hugged her. "I'll visit. You know I will."
Yoruichi's arms tightened around her briefly before letting go. "I know."
To be continued...
Next Update: 4th March, 2018.
