Disclaimer: This story is made completely from request from a friend which means the OC, Voltaire, is not mine. I am writing this story for Red Cr0w and I do hope it is to their liking and to everyone else's as well. I do NOT own Bleach or Voltaire.

Summary:Byakuya Kuchiki, a stoic noble and Captain of the 6th Division, for all important pretenses, holds back any and all objects of his past from anyone. Aside from Hisana, not even Rukia knows about the life he spent with a woman whom claimed his heart for nearly 8 years. Even as he stands alone as the leader of the Kuchiki clan, his heart still aches for the person he truly loved. He is able to keep up this façade until he is sent with a recon team to Zaraki to investigate a sudden surge of reiatsu. When they arrive, what will Byakuya do when he finds the woman who disappeared all those years ago beaten and broken and without any memory of him at all?

Castle Of Glass

Chapter 4: Show Me How To Be Hole Again

"Kuchiki-taicho!" A red-headed lieutenant ran to his leader.

"What happened?" Byakuya eyed his subordinate expectantly.

"I don't know. Everybody keeps telling me that it was just an explosion from the 12th Division but it wasn't even close to their department." Renji explained.

"It isn't unusual for such occurrences." Captain Kuchiki contemplated. "Abarai, go and investigate the site for any trace of what the Research and Development Institute was working on at the time of the explosion. Report back to me when and if you find anything. Go." He headed in the opposite direction of his vice-captain after Renji traveled to his destination.

"Byakuya!" A familiar voice caught Byakuya's attention before he reached the mass of soul reapers gathered in meeting.

"Kurosaki Ichigo." Stopping, he turned to the sun-kissed substitute who ran up to him and frowned. "Your lack of respect is deplorable Kurosaki Ichigo. You may say you are studying for exams in the World of the Living but the fact that you are still so uneducated in manners tells me otherwise." Closing his eyes after Ichigo's eye starting twitch, Byakuya continued on his path to the shinigami group.

"Hey, Byakuya! Wait up!" He caught up to the raven-haired man and joined the many squad members.

Both men were standing in the background as the situation was being discussed amongst the various soldiers.

"So what happened?" A man asked.

"Apparently, an experiment in the Research and Development HQ went awry." Another man explained.

"Yeah, that's what I got from the others who were there when it happened." A woman spoke up.

"Is that your official report?" Byakuya's sudden interruption made the crowded shinigami jerk lightly.

"K-kuchiki-taicho..."

"Yes, sir. We have to gather intel from the captain but that's pretty much the situation here." The first soul reaper to speak told the raven-haired leader.

"I see. I have sent my lieutenant to do such and I will receive his report when he returns. Until such time, gather any and all injured soul reapers and see that their wounds are tended to." Byakuya turned to leave. "Stay out of the rubble as much as possible. We do not yet know the conditions of the explosion site and there could be radioactive material in the area. Stay alert."

"Hai, Kuchiki-taicho!" They bowed and took his orders and he traveled through the open field.

Whilst the stoic noble moved through the barracks of the eleventh division, Ichigo followed close behind, panning the scattering and disordered medical staff rushing to and fro to help all the wounded members of the twelfth squad. Byakuya, on the other hand, was barely aware of his surroundings and turned corners only from subconscious memory, his mind elsewhere. He was mulling over the events that transpired the current ones.

'Voltaire...' He thought, knitting his brows together in speculation of the woman's words.

"I hate it. I don't ever want to see it again. That face..." V lifted her head to meet Byakuya's concerned gaze as she continued. "When I pushed your hand from my face after you called me that name, the face you made was...gut wrenching. I hated it. I know I don't know who you are or what I really mean to you, but no one deserves to be rejected so bluntly. No one deserves to hear the words I spoke to you." V let her hand loosen around the noble slim arm. "When you looked at me so incredulously, so hurt...I felt like my heart was being ripped from my chest. Please, I don't really know what's happening to me, but I want to know why I feel this way when you're around me."

"What are you talking about?" Byakuya stared at the woman who sat before him. What the hell was going on?

"When you looked at me...when I saw you're face for the first time, my heart practically melted. I don't think I've ever had anyone who could make my heart a million miles a minute and stop at the same time. I don't understand why, but when you called me that name...when I heard your voice, something stirred in my chest..." She pulled her free hand up and over her pulmonary cavity. "I don't know for sure, but the way you make me feel, the things you do to make me feel that way and when you call me...Voltaire...I love it. I think, Kuchiki-sama, that I'm in lo-"

"Oi, Byakuya!" The noble was yanked from his thoughts by the sound of his sun-kissed traveling companion.

Stopping in his tracks, he turned to look at the substitute. "What is it?"

"Where are we going?"

"To Squad 12." He continued in his path. "Your observation skills still seem extremely dull, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Why, you..." Ichigo's eye twitched in disdain.

They finally made their way to the entrance to the Shinigami Research and Development Insitute. Pushing the concrete shields open, both soul reapers made their way down the corridor to find Captain Kurotsuchi's main laboratory with a large, purple-foamed machine with winding copper wires and twisted silver pipes protruding from its core.

Ichigo gaped at the room's impossibly large-scale while Byakuya moved towards his piano-keyed computing system. Despite his pure hatred for the vulgar, blue man, the captain of the 6th was quite knowledgeable about the 12th's workshop. He pushed his custom chair to the side and peering at the gargantuan screen and all its data. Pressing select keys, he furrowed his brows at the information that crowded the screen. His eyes widened in realization.

"This is...!"

"Huh?" Ichigo looked over to the noble. "Byakuya, what's wrong?" He walked over to him. "Byakuya...?"

"There's no way...this cannot be...!"

'Byakuya...' V had long since left the Kuchiki manor. She made her way through the streets and alleyways back to the Seireitei. 'He left so suddenly...' She hung her head as her pale red locks hooded her emerald orbs. It wasn't until he tapped her on her shoulder that V noticed Ukitake had caught up to her.

"Is everything alright? How did it go?" He gave her a concerned look when sorrow danced across her sharp features. "V?"

"I...I didn't get to tell him. He had to leave."

"Ah, I see. That's right, there was an explosion in the 12th Division's barracks. The head-captain must've requested his presence." He raised a hand to his chin in thought.

"Yeah..." V's tone was weak and low.

"V," he placed a guiding hand on her chin and lifted her head to face his own. "Tell me what happened."

She was quiet for a moment before answering. "I don't...I don't really remember..." She tried to recall what happened while she was with Byakuya. Every moment of their conversation was completely blurry. "All I can remember is that when his servant burst in, he took off."

"What?" Jyuushiro gave her a serious look. "What do you mean 'you can't remember'?"

"I don't know..." Jyuushiro gripped V's arms and shouted at her.

"Tell me what you mean, Voltaire!"

"You're hurting me." V cringed under his vice-grip.

"What do you mean, Voltaire?! Are you saying you don't even remember meeting with Byakuya?!"

"Why are you calling me that?"

"Tell me!"

"I don't know!" She shouted back at him.

"Enough." A wirey, robot-like voice rang in both their ears, stealing their attention from each other. "Such loud voices are deplorable. Subjects should learn to quiet down and listen to the scientists." A white, slim forefinger pointed straight up as golden teeth erupted with face muscles stretching into a wide, nefarious grin.

"Kurotsuchi-taicho...? What are you doing here?" Jyuushiro's tight hold loosened around V's arms.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Sorry it took so long to update this, Red Cr0w! I had to juggle three other stories and school at the same time and when you deal with classes and homework and family issues all at the same time, it gets stressful and takes time to finish off loose ends, ya know? Anyway, REVIEW!