Chapter 4
Choice
Rukia slowly opened her eyes. She found herself lying on a bed in a small room.
'Ugh, where am I?' she asked herself as she got up and looked around. There was only a small window that had bars over it. She looked out of it and gasped when she realized where she was. 'This- This place is... Hueco Mundo! No, does that mean I...' She immediately brought her hand up to her face expecting to find a mask on it.
She moved her hand over all areas of her face to see if there was a mask there. To her relief, there wasn't. She looked down at her body. She was still wearing her shinigami robes with a hole around the stomach area where Grimmjow had attacked her. There was no wound either. She had been completely healed. Rukia sighed in relief. After seeing she was in Hueco Mundo, she had expected to have become an arrancar.
'What's going on?' she thought. 'Aizen probably wanted me here so he could turn me into an arrancar.' Rukia couldn't understand what Aizen intended to do. Surely the best time to turn her into an arrancar was while she was unconscious.
'It's about time you woke up' a familiar voice said. Rukia turned to see it was Grimmjow. 'I was getting bored shitless waiting for ya.'
'You' Rukia scowled. 'Why am I here?'
Grimmjow shrugged. 'I was given orders to bring one of Kurosaki's Ichigo allies here.'
'One of Ichigo's allies?' she thought 'I wasn't the target?'
'Why would you have been the target? You ain't nothing special. I just wanted a good fight. I couldn't give a crap about that mission or you.' he said while walking towards her.
Rukia scowled. She reached for her zanpakutō as a response only to find it wasn't there. 'I should have known Aizen wouldn't let me keep it' she thought to herself. She then also noticed that Grimmjow only had one arm. She didn't care how he had lost it but she thought she might be able to at least get away from him. Without thinking about what she would do next, she then wasted no time by holding out her palm right in front of his chest. 'Hadō no san-jū-san! Sōka–' she was interrupted by Grimmjow who quickly covered her mouth before she could finish. She stared up at him with her eyes wide open. Grimmjow smiled menacingly before throwing her onto the floor. Rukia tried to get up but Grimmjow grabbed her by a part of her robes and slamming her into a wall.
'What were you planning to do if that worked?' he asked, still smiling. Rukia had one of her eyes closed in pain. A small trail of blood rolled down her face from the top of her head and from her mouth. 'Just because I only have one arm, it doesn't mean I'm that weak.'
'Y- You bastard' Rukia managed to say through the pain. Grimmjow let go of her causing her to fall to the floor. He managed to resist the urge to beat her further.
'Aizen wanted to see you when you woke up so hurry up already' Grimmjow walked out of the room, leaving Rukia where she was on the floor. She was holding herself up with one arm when she noticed the blood on the floor below her head. She got up, using the wall for balance and wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve. She then tried to find her way to where Aizen was as Grimmjow neglected to tell her exactly where it was where Aizen wanted to see her. Rukia found that the way to Aizen's throne room was very straightforward. She then faced Aizen who was standing in front of his throne.
Aizen smiled. 'I was beginning to think we were to late when we healed you. I hope Grimmjow didn't injure you too badly' he noticed the blood on her face. Rukia wiped it away again. 'First I would like to give this back to you.' He held out a sword. Rukia could tell it was hers. She knew Aizen had no reason to keep it from her. Even if she did use it to escape, there would be nowhere to run to. She took the sword back.
'What do you want with me, Aizen?' Rukia ignored Aizen's comment.
Aizen held up a hand. 'Hold on for a moment. I will get to that soon. There is a reason you are here-'
'I don't care what you have to say!' Rukia was clearly irritated. More blood rolled down her face but she ignored it. 'Tell me why I'm here!'
'Very well then' Aizen smirked. 'You are going to help me with the destruction of Soul Society.'
'What makes you think that I would help you with that?' Rukia had no intention of helping out with anything Aizen wanted.
'Not too long ago, I lost one of my espada' he began. 'It seems she wasn't too popular among some of the others.'
'What does this have to do with me?' Rukia already had a feeling where this was going to end up.
Aizen continued 'Since then I have been trying to find a replacement. It was at this point I remembered something. Kurosaki Ichigo. My espada would be enough to defeat the Gotei 13 but he may be able to overpower them as his strength increases. That is where you come in. I think you know how this plan is going.'
'I'm that replacement.' Rukia said, unsurprised.
'That's right. You seem to be the best person for this particular job. He wouldn't fight one of his friends especially the one who gave him his powers' Aizen said.
One thing was still bothering Rukia. 'Might I ask why I haven't already become that replacement?'
'You should already know the answer to that' Aizen seemed to be stating the obvious to her. 'If you were already an arrancar, there would be no difference to what is happening right now. Although you would be my creation, you would retain your memories from your shinigami state which would mean you would still oppose me.'
'So you need my consent?' Rukia asked, already knowing the answer. Rukia was confused. Aizen's whole plan would depend on her answer. Aizen surely knew that she would never join him.
'Correct. You need a reason to fight for me. Erasing your memories wouldn't have been of much use as they would eventually return to you.'
'I refuse' Rukia said as soon as Aizen finished. She knew his plan wouldn't work if she didn't agree to it.
'Just as I expected' Aizen smiled. 'There is no reason for you to join me at this time.'
'Is that all then? Aren't you going to force me to join you?' She knew Aizen would have something planned. Aizen said nothing. 'I'll be returning to my room if you're done.' Rukia turned and began to walk back to the room.
Aizen wasn't done. 'Before you go you might want to know something.' Rukia stopped. 'It may interest you to know that Soul Society has no intention of rescuing you.' Rukia turned and faced him again.
'There's no way you could know that' Rukia tried to say in her normal tone.
Aizen smirked again. 'If you would accompany me briefly, I can show you' Aizen began to walk down a nearby corridor with Rukia following.
After continuing down several corridors, Rukia found that Aizen had led her to what looked like a laboratory. There was a large screen with a chair in front of it. Someone was sitting there.
'Szayel Apporo' Aizen said, facing the chair. The chair turned around. There was a pink haired arrancar with glasses sitting there.
'What is it, Aizen-sama?' he said.
'Show her the footage of what we saw an hour ago'
Szayel Apporo then pressed a few keys on the keyboard in front of him. He then pressed a final key causing the screen to show a video.
It showed an area in Karakura town that was just outside a house.
'I have many arrancar in the real world acting as surveillance' Szayel Apporo said. 'They are filled with bugs of my creation that allow me to see what they can see. This house caught this arrancar's attention. It detected two people with very high reiatsu.'
Inside the house, Rukia could see Hitsugaya, Matsumoto and Orihime looking at a large TV-like screen with Yamamoto on it. The video showed what Yamamoto told the three of them. Rukia was shocked to find out about Aizen's ultimate plan. The video continued to play with Rukia paying close attention.
'This, however, does not explain why he has captured Rukia Kuchiki. It would be best to not investigate this matter further. Aizen probably wants us to try to get her back so our forces will be weakened.'
'You're saying we should just leave Kuchiki-san there? No, we're going to rescue her!'
'You will do nothing of the sort. 'You are to tell Ichigo Kurosaki of Aizen's plans and that will be all.'
The video stopped. Rukia stepped back shaking her head in disbelief. 'No. This- this can't be real' her voice trembled. She knew it was the truth but she didn't want to accept it. 'You- You must have changed something.'
'I assure you this footage is of what truly happened one hour ago' Szayel Apporo turned his chair so he was facing Aizen and Rukia.
Without thinking, Rukia drew her zanpakutō and prepared to strike Aizen only to have the attack blocked by Szayel Apporo, who had also drawn his zanpakutō, still sitting in his chair. Rukia lowered her zanpakutō and fell to her knees.
'They managed to figure out my plan so I must applaud their efforts. But they have no clue about my other plan' Aizen looked towards Rukia.
'I- I still refuse to help you, Aizen' Rukia said weakly. 'Have they really given up on me? Why would they do that? I may not have a seated position but... do they even care for me at all?'
'Is that so? Well then, I think it will be a good time for you to start your training. I can't have you losing your ability to fight when you change your mind.' Aizen gestured for Rukia to follow him again.
