Thanks a bunch to those who reviewed my story! Please enjoy the next chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't (sniffle) own Bleach! (sob)

Chapter 3: Reprieve

Captain Juushiro Ukitake was extremely worried.

He had just finished disposing of the Hollow his team had found and now he was rushing to the location of Kuchiki's team. He just had a bad feeling that something was going wrong at that location. Or maybe he was concerned because of Kuchiki's ragged condition.

When he saw her walk into his office so weak looking before the mission he had considered keeping her out of this assignment. Her face was so pale that her skin looked ashen. She had lost weight and her violet eyes were dull and huge in her face. He had stopped her before they left to ask her how she was doing but as usual she had just smiled wanly at him and insisted that she was fine.

She always tries to put a brave face on for everyone, he thought. She's always thinking more about everyone else.

In the end he had decided that she would be worse off if he left her at the barracks with nothing to do instead of on the Hollow hunt with the squad.

Seeing her in that condition made him wonder for the millionth time if he had made the right choice in keeping her here.

When the Captains had met to discuss who would be going to the human world Kuchiki's older brother, Captain Byakuya Kuchiki, had been very adamant in his arguments against her placement in any of the teams going there. Everything that had been said he had prepared a counter argument for but in the end it was Rukia's status that had been the deciding factor.

"I do not believe that it will be necessary to send Rukia to the human world." Captain Kuchiki stated. "Kurosaki Ichigo and his comrades have sufficient skill to take care of Karakura town by themselves."

"What about their ability to communicate with the Soul Society?" Captain Ukitake had asked. "Won't they need someone with them to act as a go between?"

"Urahara Kisuke will still be in Karakura town and will be able to aid them."

"Still they may need more outside help because they are all still living humans." Replied Captain Kyouraku as he tipped up his straw hat to look at Captain Kuchiki. "Besides won't Rukia-chan be a bit disappointed. We all know how she feels about Kurosaki."

"That is another reason why she should not be allowed back. She has responsibilities here as a member of the Noble House of Kuchiki. If anything were to happen to me then she would need to take over since there are no other heirs. I do not believe that the risk of an extended mission is in her best interests or the interests of the Kuchiki family."

All of the Captains had been fully aware of Rukia Kuchiki's strengths as a Shinigami, but because she was the sole heir to the Noble House of Kuchiki the other Captains decided to grant Captain Kuchiki his request. Besides, her relationship with Ichigo Kurosaki was perceived as "unhealthy" by some of the Captains and this was thought to be a good opportunity to break their ties. In the end because of Captain Kuchiki's arguments the other Captains were persuaded to keep Rukia in the Soul Society.

At that time he had thought that she would bounce back. Even if she suffered a little he had thought that her natural resilience and strong will would help her recover.

If she could survive the death of her adored Vice-Captain, Kaien Shiba, by her hands then she surely should be able to recover from this, he had thought at that time.

In the three months since Kurosaki and his group had left he had watched her slowly deteriorate day by day. She hid her true emotions well and anyone who wasn't really close to her would never have suspected that anything was wrong. The worrisome thing was that now it seemed that her depression was starting to seriously affect her physical health.

I shouldn't have agreed to have Kuchiki stay here, he thought to himself as he led his team to her location. Now she seems to be sicklier than I am.

Captain Ukitake suddenly felt Kuchiki's reiatsu spike and became instantly more concerned. It felt like her reiatsu but something was just a little off about it.

I'm going to have to use Shunpo to get to her quicker, he thought.

"I'm going on ahead!" he shouted to the rest of his team just before he vanished from their sight.

When he arrived at her location, his eyes widened in fear at the sight that greeted him.

He arrived just in time to see Kuchiki begin to swoon as she tried to stand up to help her team. Right at that moment the ugly, grayish green Hollow broke through the defenses of the rest. For some odd reason it seemed intent on eating her because it ignored the rest of the team and barreled straight toward her.

"Kuchiki!" He shouted in an effort to warn her.

He saw her try to bring up her Zanpaktou to ward off the attack but instead he saw it slip out of her grasp as she fell slowly to the ground. He heard the Hollow scream in triumph as it opened its gaping jaws to devour her.

Clang!

Captain Ukitake made it just in time to block the Hollow with his Zanpaktou before it could reach her. He shifted his stance and shoved the thing back with all his strength. The hideous thing flew backwards and was slammed into a tree with a loud crack. He moved quickly in front of it before it could recover and with a quick downward slash he cut the Hollow in half. The Hollow let out one last scream as it dissolved into nothingness.

He turned around and cast his senses about to see if he could feel anymore Hollows in the area. After he was certain there were none he sheathed his sword and walked quickly to Kuchiki's prone form on the ground. The rest of her team was standing around her murmuring to themselves. They seemed concerned but unsure about what to do. Captain Ukitake felt a pang of sadness at the sight but he could understand their hesitation.

Even though Kuchiki was an excellent warrior and leader in battle she was not a very open person and she didn't let many people get close to her. Her status as the sister of the head of the noble Kuchiki family usually pushed people even further away from her.

"Kuchiki?" he called out as he kneeled down next to her. He gently turned her small frame over to examine her unconscious body. A sigh of relief came to his lips as he realized that she had no serious injuries and had just fainted.

Right then he heard Kiyone & Sentaro rushing over to their group.

"Captain!" they shouted together as they slid to a stop on either side of him and Kuchiki. "What happened?" Both were breathing hard because they had been trying to get to him before the other. Their poor teams behind them all collapsed to the ground in exhaustion from trying to keep up.

"Is everyone else ok?" he asked.

"Yes, Captain!" Sentaro exclaimed as he puffed out his chest in pride. "My team subdued our Hollow first and made our way here once we felt the fight going on here!"

"Well, my team and I finished off two Hollows before we headed here, Captain!" Kiyone interjected, not to be upstaged by Sentaro.

"You did not you ugly, little hag!" Sentaro yelled angrily at her.

"Enough!" Captain Ukitake shouted, his worry for Kuchiki making him a little impatient with them.

When are these two going to realize that they are both important to me and the squad, he thought. He felt completely exasperated with them.

"Sentaro, Kiyone, I need you to take Kuchiki to the Squad 4 barracks and have her checked out." He said. "In the mean time, I will lead everyone here in patrol to insure that we have gotten rid of all the Hollows."

"Yes, captain." They said in unison. Then Senataro bent down to lift Kuchiki up in his arms.

"Don't worry Kuchiki I will make sure you get to Squad 4's barracks in one piece." He said.

Kiyone's feathers got instantly ruffled. She turned toward them and said, "No Kuchiki, I will make sure that you get to Squad 4 barracks safely. This ass here is only good as a pack horse."

"Shut your mouth, Kiyone!" Senatro snapped back as he turned and started off in the direction of Squad 4's barracks.

Captain Ukitake watched their verbal sparring as they headed back toward the Seireitei with Kuchiki.

At least they're reliable when it comes to carrying out their orders, he thought as they vanished from his sight. They just can't do anything together without fighting about it. He turned toward the remaining members of his squad to issue his orders.

I better make sure to let Byakuya know, was his final thought before he completely turned his attention to his squad. I know Kuchiki hasn't spoken to him since she was forced to stay here and he probably doesn't know how sick she really is.

Thanks for reading! I hope I got Captain Ukitake right.

I had a little trouble getting into his head when I wrote this.

I should have the next chapter out soon.

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