hey everyone!

to be honest i really enjoyed writing this chapter! Although i think it's quite fast-paced cause I really wanna end this Hisana part soon and get started on the rest! i hope you enjoy reading it just as much as I enjoyed writing this!

disclaimer: Bleach ain't mine I ain't kidding ya.


"Lieutenant Ukitake! We need your assistance! A group of soul reapers from squad 6 who were out on a mission got injured really badly from the sudden appearance of a Menos! One of the soul reapers got a direct hit from a cero while protecting his squad mates! He is in a critical condition and you and the Captain's expertise are needed!"

Namiko sprung up from her mattress, she threw off her sleeping clothes and threw on her Shinigami uniform. She tucked her zanpaktou on her waist and dashed out hurriedly, heading towards the emergency faculty. Her stomach was slowly twisting into a knot as she realized that she just might know who was the brave soul who had protected his squad mates. With that thought in mind, her heart beat even faster and a lump clogged her throat, making her feel as though she was suffocated.

As soon as the building was in side, she flash stepped to the entrance and quickly burst through the doors.

Sure enough, the person whom she thought had offered sacrificial protection was lying there, covered with dirt and blood. The Shinigami uniform on his chest was torn wide open, indicating the point of impact where the cero had shot at. From a novice squad 4 member or from a regular soul reaper's eyes, the condition that this person was in didn't seem right to be deemed critical. He would've looked normal from a normal person's eyes.

However, Namiko's eyes were well-trained from the many years of healing others. She had learned to recognized wounds that were internally hemorrhaging but looked all good and fine on the outside. She wished she had that ability to read people as well though. But that wasn't the point right now.

Namiko quickly advanced to the patient's side to look deeper before she started the healing process.

Not good, she thought. He must have been sent flying to the ground while trying the deflect the cero. Why else would the rib be so broken that it's piercing through his right lung? With his health like this, he shouldn't even be going around taking hits and then ruining his life. The impact from hitting the ground or tree or whatever must have been really painful and hard since it could damage his rib bone to the point where it caves up and emerge through the lung? Menos and ceros were uncommon in the Soul Society. They only appeared once every 100 or 200 years since the spiritual congregation never reached an extensive point. That was why no one understood the power of these peculiar species unless they had been reading up on them. Namiko had browsed through countless books on the Menos before she entered the Squad. She had wanted to understand everything about hollows, since number 1, they were the soul reapers greatest enemy and number two, she wanted to be able to heal every single wound and injury.

Ceros were much more complicated than people had thought. To maybe Kaien-ni, it was just an attack used by the Menos, if you get shot, you get hurt. That was true, however, there was another side to the story of Ceros. What people didn't know was that the beam of red light, if strong enough, could emit waves that affected and altered the layer of skin, muscle and the organs that lay under that flabby thing people call fats. It could degenerate the muscle or organ, or it could make the bone more brittle or smaller. What happened usually depended on the strength of the Cero and the Menos firing it. But everything would be well and good if people were to just dodge the Cero and let it hit the ground or space or sky.
Namiko returned back from her thoughts and she placed her palm on the wounded area. Two bones.. She could feel it. And she knew that this operation would not be so easy, given the condition this person was in and how he had always been.

"Get him an I-V drip and send him to the operating room, the Captain will be coming shortly and I need to confirm with her certain things before we can begin the procedure." Namiko ordered her squad members. Obediently, they pushed him to the room, careful not to be too swift so that he wouldn't be in more discomfort than he was in now.

"Oh Daddy Sojun, you were very reckless. And all for what, the life of your own son."


"Namiko, this is going to be quite challenging so I need you to stay with me. This healing procedure will be very tricky so I require your concentration and your attentiveness as well." Captain Unohana paused, waiting for Namiko to respond.

She nodded and the captain continued, "Isane will be healing the internal bleeding in the lung, you will be healing, or rather, fixing the bone back to its original position while I will be relaxing and contracting the wounded lung so that the bone can exit back and return to where it used to be. You will have to listen to my instructions. When I remove my hand, you have to hurry up and pour your spiritual energy and kidou in to shift the bone. My other hand will be controlling the muscle in the lung. When I tell you to release, you had better remove your hand or else you might cause him more pain and injuries. Do you understand me?"

Namiko gave an affirmative nod and looked at her third seat, giving her the "I'm counting on you." look. Isane nodded and returned the look.

The three of them quickly got to work, hoping to save the son of the head of the Kuchiki household as soon as they could.

"Release!"

Namiko drew back her hand and waited for the time where Unohana would signal her to heal the bone. She had to concentrated, she couldn't let things like how dumb Lieutenant Kuchiki was to do such an act, nor could she let things like her next date with Hiashi distract her. Come to think of it, Hiashi had been behaving strangely. Oh, she couldn't think about this, she had to focus Focus FOCUS!

She watched as her captain shifted her hand away, leaving a space for Namiko to place her healing hand and patch up the bone. Namiko closed her eyes and repeated what she had done earlier. She let her spiritual energy concentrate at her palm and seep through Sojun's upper body and to the bone. The flowing energy would then be directed to the bone and it would be pulled out inch by inch. Concentrate on the bone.. Focus on the energy... She repeatedly told herself.

"Release!"

...

The process continued and repeated for a span of 4 hours. Finally, the two bones had moved out and were no longer penetrating the weak lung that Sojun already had. He was on anesthetics, which numbed the pain and calmed the distressed expression that his face was masked with.

After Isane and Unohana and finished closing up the wound and stopped the bleeding, Namiko placed her two hands onto Sojun's chest and allowed her spiritual energy to flow out from her hand to finish the job. Throughout the process her only thought was this, "Connect the vein, and then the bone, and then everything that is around it."

When the deed had been done, Namiko rejoiced, delighted that she had managed to heal Sojun, someone who was precious to her. It made her feel useful for once in such a long time.

As she left the room to tell whoever who was waiting outside the good news, she tripped over the I-V Drip, causing it to disconnect from Sojun's body for an instant. Her face turned pale, afraid to think of what she had done.

"It's no issue. Just connect it back. And walk properly next time." Unohana coolly told the nurse on standby.

When Namiko came out from the room, she saw Byakuya sitting by the door, waiting. His left arm had been bandaged and his uniform was slightly tattered. Beside him was Hisana, who carried a worried expression on her face.

"It was successful. He's stable now and not in any real dang-" before Namiko could finish her sentence, her knees gave way and she fell to the floor. Only, she didn't as Byakuya had caught her in time, flinching from the pain in his left arm.

Namiko steadied herself, allowing her mind to settle and not dwell on the fact that she had not felt Byakuya's grip on her for a long time.

"As I was saying, he's fine now, and out of the danger zone. But he still needs his rest, you are free to go and see him when the dudes transfer him to a proper ward."

"Namiko? Thank you. Thank you for saving him." Hisana beamed as she reached out for her best friend's hand. Byakuya simply nodded towards her in thanks.

"It's nothing. It's part of my job, and recently it has gotten so boring that I almost forgot how to use my kidou to heal others so it's no big deal. You guys should just head over to the other side to check where Daddy -, sorry, Lieutenant Kuchiki has been warded. As for me, ah, I need to get my rest." Namiko muttered as she stumbled through the hallway.

"Byakuya, you should go see your father. I will take Namiko back to her room." Hisana told her husband, with a caring and gentle tone.

"Not would not be necessary. She has me and I am her knight. So thank you for the offer, but taking her to her room would be my job." a voice, a familiar voice came out.

To nobody's surprise, it was Hiashi. The arrogant man who had turned into a sweet talker. He stood there, holding onto Namiko as though he was the greatest pillar of support. Hiashi looked at Byakuya and Hisana and snorted, "You two? Tch, always causing Namiko to be so troubled, you are always causing her heartbreak."

"Wait, what, I don't get what you are talking about? Why are we causing Namiko pain?" Hisana asked.

"Oh you don't know? She -"

"Shut up Hiashi. No more." Namiko yelled. "Are you going to take me to my room or what?"

"Yes, my princess. Let us be going."

With a flash step, the two shinigami were gone, leaving a confused Hisana and an expressionless Byakuya.


As Hiashi carried Namiko to her quarters, she glanced up to the sky. It was already daylight, which meant that she had gone the whole night maximizing her spiritual energy without rest. This had better not become a habit, lest she turned into a sick old woman like her brother.

"Sleep tight my princess, I'll be returning to my squad. I'll come and visit you after my work is done." He whispered into Namiko's ear as he placed her down on her mattress.

Namiko gave a slight lowering of her head to acknowledge him. When he had left the room, she touched the upper part of her right shoulder and her heart pounded as she recalled how Byakuya caught her as she almost collapsed onto the floor. Her face turned a deeper shade of red. Whether from the embarrassment or from the fever she was having she did not know.

Namiko slapped her forehead with her left hand. All she really wanted was to forget the feelings she was having. That was what she had resolved to do since Hisana and Byakuya's wedding. If such a small act had gotten her so worked up, then what the heck would happen if during their brief moments of sword exchange, bump into each other's shoulders? This is stupid, but it hurts too. Right, he's no longer mine, wasn't mine to begin with, she told herself.

Namiko shifted her palm to her eyes to force the ears emitting from the tear gland back in. This was hardly anything to cry over. She was always like this, crying over trivial things. And hadn't she swore to herself that she wouldn't cry again?

Much to her disbelief, she realized that she had failed what she had sworn, by crying every night for the past month.


"Hey hey, have you heard? about Squad 6..."

"Yeah, that was horrible wasn't it? How could they..."

Namiko woke up to much murmurings along the corridor of Squad 4. She felt a bit groggy but nonetheless refreshed from a full day of rest after having exhaust her body to such an extent. It was a good rest, but that also meant that the paperwork in her office wouldn't be clearing up anytime soon.

She got up and looked in the mirror. She noticed that she hadn't changed out of her uniform that night. It was a good thing though.

Namiko left her room and quickly headed to the ward where Sojun was resting at. Or at least, where she thought he might be.

Just when she was about to enter the building, Unohana called out to her.

"He's no longer there Namiko."

Namiko turned around, surprised. She bit her lip, thinking what her captain meant.

"Oh, then where is Lieutenant Kuchiki now?"

Unohana motioned to Namiko to follow her to the office. There, she explained the grim situation to Namiko.

"I need you to understand that none of this is your fault. You were anxious, as I was, and that was why the other bone was overlooked. But that doesn't matter now. All we can do is reflect on this incident, and think of what we can learn from it. I am sure that this will be a good lesson to the other squad members to be more vigilant and diligent in their duties."

"Captain.. What are you saying... Are you saying that Daddy Sojun.. he.. he died?" Namiko trembled.

Unohana tore her gaze from Namiko's frantic eyes and looked out of the window instead, saying, "I'm afraid that that is the case."

Without a reply, Namiko bolted out of the door and flashed stepped through the buildings and streets and people all the way to the Kuchiki manor. Shit, shit, shit, I made a mistake, shit, shit! Byakuya he.. what is he going to do? What about Hisana? How are they going to take it? No.. This can't be happening...

Soon, she arrived at the door of the Kuchiki house. She could see the elders and Captain Ginrei Kuchiki at the door of the Shrine of Remembrance. It was the shrine specifically to remember people who belonged to the main household and Sojun Kuchiki was their latest addition.

Right in front of Sojun's corpse was Byakuya with his arm supporting Hisana, who was weeping. Even though Byakuya was carrying an emotionless expression as he always did, Namiko knew that it must have hurt him really bad. Immediately she could feel the ache in her heart. She wanted to cry but she couldn't because it would just be more of an insult to Sojun's death. She was one of the factors why he had die-... passed away.

As she stood forward, she could hear the elders mutter ill-mannered words about her, but Namiko didn't care. She continued walking and stood behind Byakuya and Hisana. Namiko looked at Sojun's dead body lying inside the coffin and she winced in pain.

"Namiko." Byakuya called.

She looked up and responded.

"My father - he said to tell you that it wasn't your fault. He told me to give you this letter. Although why he would leave a message for you and not his son is something I cannot comprehend. But, understand this, we don't blame you as well, and I haven't read anything in the letter."

Namiko took the letter from Byakuya and quickly flash stepped back to her favourite place, the riverside. And she opened it, and she read.


So, how was it? it's not my longest chapter but i liked writing this one because a lot of the words i type in this chapter all came from my imagination.

seriously, i don't know if a Cero would do that to the body of a soul reaper, nor do i know how the people in Squad 4 heal their patients. I do know, however that there's a room dedicated to a deceased member of the Kuchiki clan. or at least that was what I gathered from watching in the anime how Hisana had her own private room, where her picture was hung and many joss sticks surrounded it.

the next chapter would be on the letter written by Sojun to Namiko, so stay tuned and review! thanks! :)