Disclaimer - I do not own anything from Bleach


Warnings: AU, Time Travel, Ichigo-centric, violence, language


Author's Note: Alrighty everyone. I literally took the canon by the throat, drove it to its knees, and crushed its trachea with this chapter. I hope you're ready. This chapter is also fairly...sad. Messed up even. Hold onto your asses. We get to see what happens when Ichigo makes a bad decision. The repercussions aren't pretty. Remember the pairing is a canon woman. Hope you enjoy!


Chapter 9: Choices

Satoru shook his head. This wasn't Kaname's work.

He could see it clear as day. He knew how she executed her missions, and this was definitely not how she did it. It was sloppy, brutally so, and there was far too much widespread destruction for it to have been her work. It was a bloody murder house.

He could have chalked it up to it just having been personal, but at the same time he doubted it. Personal for Kaname would have been her murdering the man painfully first, grabbing her sister next, and then hightailing it.

That and this were not the same thing.

She would have bypassed the guards, not carved through them leaving a ridiculous blood bath in her wake. She would have climbed in through a window, not blasted the door off of its hinges. She would have left the office looking pristine, and not destroyed practically every inch of it.

So no. This most definitely wasn't Kaname.

It didn't look like any shinigami either. Taking another look around it was inhumane, more reminiscent of a monstrous, blade wielding tornado than anything else.

What a mess. He'd had to step over a couple severed heads earlier, and lost his appetite because of it. Blood was everywhere, and there were at least 30 dead bodies if you included the clan head and the other unidentified man in the office, and all of whom were horribly disfigured in some way.

Especially the clan head.

He'd actually gagged when he'd first seen the mound of flesh that was barely recognizable as having once been a person. The only way they'd even been able to identify that one was by the clothes he wore. Although, half of the reason why he'd gagged might have been because of the room they'd found the body in. He doubted he'd ever get those images out of his head, they'd been seared into his retinas the moment he'd walked in.

He didn't even know what half of the contraptions they found in there even did. He doubted that he even wanted to know anyway. The Onmitsukido as a whole was no stranger to torture, but that? That wasn't torture. If there was a word beyond torture than that was what it was. It was unholy, horrific, nightmarish even.

Why did he always get stuck with the icky jobs?

Central 46 was in an uproar. A group of panicked old geezers all screeching like children about how this was a crime of the highest order, or how this was a stain on their honor as nobles to have a clan head killed in his own home.

He didn't see that. This wasn't some petty murder. This wasn't even a crime.

All he saw was righteous retribution.

They'd shut their damn mouths when he submitted his report. He knew that for a fact.

This was a clear cut case, and sure enough Kaname had been 100% right the entire time. He never doubted her of course, but that didn't matter. Sex trafficking was a very bad thing to be involved in after all, and this Clan would be wiped from the house registry. The members might even need assassination if Central was feeling up for it. They'd decide over their afternoon tea or something, and pick and choose which people needed to…disappear. Then they'd dump it all in his hands.

He'd be left to clean up their mess again, as always.

Oh well. It wasn't like this would take much to get to the bottom of. Central would probably all forget about the murder itself anyway once he finished his report on everything else. They'd all be lost in their own mad scramble to cover each of their individual asses, and then they'd pay attention to the bigger crime. The crime that actually mattered. Which took precedence? The murder of a clan head? Or that that clan head had been running an illegal sex slave ring involving the enslavement and torture of at least one hundred rukongai souls. That wasn't even counting the ones who's already been sold over the years.

Those poor women.

God he just…he couldn't even imagine.

They'd all been taken into custody of course, and were being taken good care of. Some had even gone to the 4th, at Unohana's behest, but he doubted there was much that they could do. It was a mad house over there. Wounded were streaming in from the battles out in the Rukongai, and they were working around the clock to save as many shinigami as they could.

That wasn't the only reason he doubted it would do much good though. He'd seen the looks in the eyes of those women, and no amount of physical treatment would ever rid them of the scars. Scars that they bore on their very souls. The memories would always be there, right along with the fear that accompanied them.

He mentally shook himself and tried to steer his thoughts away from that particular subject.

He turned back to the matter at hand, and surveyed the room. The office of the now deceased clan head was an absolute wreck. The portrait of him had crashed down, the desk and chairs were destroyed, broken wreckage from the drawers that belonged to the desk were everywhere along with their contents.

Dried blood was absolutely everywhere too. On the floors from where the dead guard lay, pooled there and smeared all around him. Several meters away near another wall was another massive pool of dried blood, and in the middle of it was a deep incision, like someone had jammed a blade into the floor. Someone must have been gutted there, and then the body might have been moved.

Who had done this? He knew that in a while it wouldn't matter to Central 46, but he wanted to know. It mattered to him. He needed to know who, or even what, could have caused such havoc as this.

He'd asked several of the witnesses that they'd gathered for statements, but the majority of them had all claimed that they hadn't seen a thing. The only one who had actually given him anything to work with had been the butler.

The butler had claimed that he didn't know the man's name or appearance, but that a single shinigami had done it, wielding two swords, a wakizashi and a katana. He'd been hooded and had stormed the house, killed all the guards, beaten Kirigaya Oda to within an inch of his life, released the women and then set them on the downed clan head, and then finally killed the other unidentified man. The butler said he'd witnessed the majority of it, and had set off to help the released women, only to find upon returning that the mysterious assailant had vanished along with one of the victims.

That had probably been Kaname's sister, and since she wasn't among any of the women that they'd gathered up that suspicion seemed to be founded.

But a single man though? Really? That seemed a bit far-fetched, along with the claim that he'd been wielding two blades. He didn't know what to think about all of that.

Satoru looked over at the body of the other unidentified man that had been in the office. Several of his men were crowded around him making observations, and he strode over to examine it too. He tapped the shoulder of one of his Onmitsukido, and gestured for them to move out of the way so that he could get a better look.

He knelt there and examined the body that lay crumpled in the wreckage of the desk, and he poked at the unnaturally angled neck bone that stuck out at him. Definitely the cause of death there. He rifled through the pockets of the robe the man was wearing, hoping to find something within them, but he came up empty except for a single bloodstained handkerchief. There was nothing to identify him with then.

Satoru shook his head. Of course there wasn't. That would be too easy.

Suddenly, something caught his eye and he reached up to brush aside the cloth covering the dead man's shoulder.

He found a hole, a stab wound in fact, that seemed to pass straight through his shoulder and out the other side. He peered at it, and examined the blood that had crusted around the wound. It was printed in a way, not really clearly, but the blood still looked like it had been shaped into a symbol. A circle maybe?

He blinked in realization. A tsuba then. Someone had stabbed a blade straight through all the way to the shoulder leaving the print of the blade's tsuba against the skin. But why? Why push it all the way in?

Satoru blinked again, and then he looked back at the dried blood puddle over by the far wall with the hole in the floor.

Ah. He could see it now.

The dead man had been pinned there, a non-lethal wound in the shoulder meant to keep him in place to be dealt with later. He'd been dealt with too alright. His neck wasn't just broken, but his whole face was a bruised, disfigured mess making identification difficult.

He glanced down at the clothes again and noted that they were a rich navy blue. He grabbed the cloth in his hands and felt the material. Finely woven too. No doubt a wealthy man then. A dead man dressed in fine clothes. Probably a potential buyer, judging by the scene and the sack of money found on the floor across the room.

But who was he though?

Something nagged at the back of his mind. He was missing something here, and he couldn't put his finger on it. It bugged him.

He glanced down at the bloodstained handkerchief in his hands.

He looked at it for a second, and then began unfolding it.

His eyes widened. There, embroidered on the center of the handkerchief, was the Shiba family crest.

Shit.


"The eastern front is failing ma'am. There is someone out there that's tearing us apart. No one seems to come back from the engagements up there, and those that do weren't fighting around that area."

Kaname glanced over concerned, "Is it a captain?"

Godou shook his head, "No idea. Like I said, no one's come back to give an accurate report."

Kaname glanced down at the maps and then closed her eyes, she sighed after a moment of thought before speaking, "You know my standing orders Godou. If a captain is spotted amongst the enemy everyone is to retreat and vanish into the surrounding districts before regrouping. No one is to attack the captains directly. If a captain is not identified then they are to continue fighting. Until we figure out who this man is keep them out there. We can't afford to lose there."

The hulking man nodded, although in a worried way, and she continued, "How are the other fronts?"

Godou pointed at the map in front of them, "Our hold in the south is still as strong as ever. We haven't given an inch, and every battle here turns in our favor. The west is faring better than the east, but they've fought to a standstill."

"And the North?" Kaname inquired with slight hope.

Godou shook his head, "We still haven't heard anything from the north. It's starting to look like they won't join us in this."

Kaname's eyes dropped down again, and she lightly tapped the table with her fingers trying to calm herself. She was able to admit that she'd expected that, but she'd still hoped otherwise. The north was beyond their reach it seemed.

"Very well, listen up Godou."

For the next half hour or so they discussed plans over that table, and poured over the maps. They came up with strategies, reviewed casualty reports, and planned their next attack. Contingency plans on top of contingency plans were made. Finally, when all was said and done, Kaname handed over several scrolls with various orders on them to Godou.

"Take these Godou, and give them to the runners. I need them out there, and to the fronts as soon as possible."

Godou nodded and made to lumber away, but Kaname called out to him again.

"One more thing Godou, have one of our men who came from the Onmitsukido go out there and get eyes on this mystery shinigami that's battering our eastern front. Don't have him attack, I just want him identified. Understand?"

Godou nodded again, and then resumed his trek. Once he passed the corner and disappeared, and Kaname sensed that he was fully gone, her knees gave out and she slumped down in the chair against the wall while releasing an explosive sigh. It sounded tired, exhausted even. She reached up and slowly began rubbing her temples to relax herself, and when that didn't work she reached back and started rubbing her own shoulders instead.

Nothing worked. She was still absurdly tense.

She leaned forward and put her head in her hands. Her hair fell out of her hood to cascade around her covered face.

She was so bloody tired.

She was completely out of her depth too. She had been a damn 5th seat for crying out loud. Sure, it was higher than most, but she'd never had a command of her own before. She was honestly so lost it was absurd. She had been in the Onmitsukido, and she wasn't bragging when she said she was one of the best, especially when her captain had taken her under his wing. That didn't make her a commander though. That bastard Satoru had even told her once that she was his next pick for lieutenant, but she'd left before that could ever come to fruition. If it ever would have.

So much for loyalty.

Look at what it had come to, and she was swept up right in the middle of it. War wasn't her way. She'd never learned war, never experienced the intense planning it required or the subtlties of it. She'd learned to kill in a way that prevented war. Assassinations were her strong suit, but not commanding hundreds of shinigami on an open battle field.

And Misuzu…

She was starting to lose hope. She tried not to, but at the same time is seemed impossible to stay hopeful with the present circumstances. It had been a solid three months since her sister had been taken, and one week since that mystery shinigami had agreed to find her. She had little hope that that one mystery guy would be able to do anything, so she turned to more practical thinking. Thinking that only made her heart sink further into her stomach.

Her sister might have been sold already for all she knew…or worse. There was no way for her to get to her really except by using the gates around the Seireitei, and that avenue was less than viable. The Oda compound was in there though, along with her sister.

Her heart dreaded the thought of what they might be doing to her in there. Dark thoughts that kept her up at night, and were part of the reason she was so tired all the time. She'd heard stories about what went down in that clan, and…if a single hair on her sister's head was touched then that whole clan would be wiped from the face of the Earth.

Justice would be served, on this day or the next.

Suddenly, she heard the scurrying sound of feet, and she glanced up to spy a mop of purple hair on top of a child come bouncing into the room.

Her mouth turned up in a small smile despite her thoughts.

She greeted the child with a tired smile that he couldn't see, and in a soft voice called to him, "Hey there little Tosen. I'm over here."

The child spun in the direction of her voice, and the lavender blank eyes the blind child had settled on the air a few feet from where she was sitting. He walked forward tentatively with his hands out in front of him, and she grasped his hand and steered him over when he came within reach.

"What are you doing in here Tosen? Why aren't you with the other kids?"

The little dark skinned boy frowned, and his blank eyes blinked up at her.

"They're being mean to me Kaname-san. They keep making fun of my eyes and stuff...and about me not having a last name. They laugh at me for being an orphan, so I left."

Kaname frowned, "Ohhh," she reached forward and grabbed him be the back of his head to pull him into a hug, and his little arms flailed for a moment out of confusion before they settled on her back, "Oh don't you worry about what they say. Their words mean nothing Tosen, so don't listen to them."

It hurt her heart to know that the other boys and girls were being mean to the kid. All of the other little ones in the caves were here with their families, so Tosen here was practically the only orphan around. She had a soft spot for the poor child, and had had one ever since she'd found him wandering the halls of their little headquarters. She'd taken him under her wing several weeks ago, and she'd slowly found out about what he'd been through. It was a sad past, but that wasn't surprising. They really did all have their own personal tragedies.

The poor kid was an orphan, just like the millions of others out in the rukongai, and had been blind since birth. It was a miracle that he'd survived this long as it was, not only being an orphan but also as a blind one. She didn't know how she'd adopted a soft spot for him, but she had and now there was practically nothing she could do about it. She'd look after him if no one else would.

"You don't need to listen to them, little Tosen. You're perfect just the way you are," She said with earnest sincerity.

The child pulled back, and a fragile smile pulled tentatively at the corners of his mouth at her words. Suddenly, an idea hit her, and she spoke up again.

"And as for your name…well…you can have mine!"

The child looked up at her, figuratively speaking, and confusion colored his dark skinned features.

"Kaname-san?"

She smiled and nodded, ignoring the fact that he couldn't see it, and continued, "Yep. Kaname Tosen. That's your name and don't you forget it."

She bopped him on the nose with a finger after she finished speaking and he smiled again, but this time it was brighter and spread across his face in a wide grin. She 'oofed' when he jumped at her, and she was wrapped up in another little hug from the child.

"Thank you Kaname-san!"

She smiled warmly, and rested her cheek against the top of his head.

"Of course Tosen."

She looked up suddenly, and Tosen turned toward where she was looking when both heard the sound of shouting and running men. Slowly the sound dwindled away as the troop of her shinigami left the cavern network and headed for the field of battle.

"Where are they going Kaname-san?" Tosen asked quietly as he heard them leave.

Kaname patted his head gently and spoke quietly back to him, "They're going to fight, little Tosen."

He turned back to her, "But why? Why do they have to fight?"

Kaname gave him a smile, a small sad one that spoke of her feelings on the matter, and answered, "It's for justice Tosen. They fight for justice."

She grabbed his shoulders to spin him around quickly and he almost lost his balance when she stopped him, she patted him on the back and bumped him in the direction of the passage, "Now go show those kids who's boss. Kaname Tosen is coming. Everybody watch out!"

The kid giggled before taking off, and he stumbled and ran stiltedly down the passage that he'd memorized.

She smiled watching him go, and her heart warmed at the sight of him happy again.

That warmth vanished quickly though, as the thoughts from before slowly crept up on her.

She sighed. What to do?

Suddenly, her trained eyes caught movement out of their corners, and she spun to watch as two people stepped out of her wall.

Huh?


Ichigo stepped out of the shadows, and he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. He glanced around, and his gaze fell on Kaname sitting in her chair beside a brand new table to replace the one he'd destroyed looking entirely bewildered. Misuzu stumbled out of the shadow after him, and she bumped blindly into his back with her face. He took a few steps forward into the room tugging her behind him, and he released her hand.

He looked at Kaname closely for a second, and he idly noted that she looked like hammered shit.

Ichigo's instincts suddenly roared to life, and his head spun to stare at the passage to his right. He'd felt something. Something horrifically familiar. Someone horrifically familiar.

What?

He blinked in bewilderment.

What?!

No.

He stalked across the room toward the passage, and was about to reach it to glance down it when a shout came from behind him.

"MISUZU!"

He glanced back and watched with interest as Kaname jumped out of her seat to blast across the room, barreled into her sister, lifted her up in her deceptively strong arms, spun her around, and then squeezed the life out of Misuzu in a bone crushing hug. It was a warming sight.

Ichigo peered closer.

Were they crying?

Yep. Those were tears. They were crying.

Shit. He wasn't good with handling tears of any kind, and especially not girl tears. You would think that after all of the teary eyed encounters with Orihime he'd have gotten better at it, but no. It seemed it would always remain out of his skill set.

He started after a few moments of observing the happy pair, suddenly remembering why he was standing across the room from the others, and spun to stare down the connecting hallway.

There was no one there.

Bullshit.

He made to walk down the hallway and start searching, but a tug to his sleeve stopped him. He glanced down and his brown eyes met Kaname's deep green ones. They were puffy and red now from crying, but the biggest, broadest smile of absolute gratitude stretched across her face.

"Thank you."

In the next second she practically lunged and viscously glomped him so hard that he almost lost his balance. Her face was buried in his robes, and she was squeezing so hard that he idly wondered if his spine was going to collapse anytime soon. He flailed his still blood covered hands wildly, completely at a loss, and stared wide eyed at the mop of black hair against his chest.

The hell?

"Oi! Get off!"

She ignored him, and kept right on hugging him no matter how much he flailed his arms. Eventually he settled, and still totally at a loss lay his arms on her back. He was tentative about it, trying to make sure none of the blood coating his hands got onto her clothes, and he gave up trying to get her off. She'd let go eventually.

He didn't expect what happened next though.

She did let go, for a moment, but then her hands darted up to grab the back of his head, and dragged him down into a smashing kiss.

Ichigo's eyes flew wide at the feel of her lips on his, and he yanked his head back violently. Her grip broke, and he spluttered in shocked alarm. He stumbled for a moment, reeling, and fell flat on his ass coughing and viscously wiping his mouth.

"THE HELL WOMAN?!"

High pitched, uncontrolled giggles reached his ears, and he glared over at her as she lost herself in her mirth. She stumbled away, laughing too hard to walk straight, and she grabbed her sister to pull her down to the ground with her. They both were laughing now, and the sound of their guffawing only made him glare harder.

She looked over at him from her position on the stone floor, and through her laughs she spoke, "Oh come now! Don't be mad! It was a thank you!"

His ears burned and he didn't let up his glare. She lost herself again as she laughed.


Night came, and whispers of the wind carried throughout the tunnels like the moaning of the dead. The torches still flickered in their places, like the lingering wisps of the fallen shinigami who'd given their lives over the dispute. A few of the men who were on guard walked the halls, weapons at the ready, but aside from them all was quiet as sleep took the remaining residents.

Except for Ichigo and Kaname.

"So. You gonna tell me your name now?"

Ichigo glared over at her again, still not happy with the shit she'd pulled earlier.

She poured herself another cup of sake, and huffed a teasing laugh, "Oh come on. I let you skip the first date and everything, just jumped straight to the first kiss, and you still won't tell me your name? That's cold."

"I don't seem to recall asking you to kiss me," he growled lowly.

She laughed again while rolling her eyes, "Pretty girl kisses you and you complain. Makes me wonder. Is there something you're not telling me? Don't tell me you're-"

"Don't say it!" Ichigo growled again, and his mood soured further. She exploded in giggles and she kept laughing into her cup before she set it down again.

Ichigo was left to drown in a split second flash of his father teasing him about the same thing when Rukia used to live in his closet. His knuckles popped as he clenched his fists. He had half a mind to say fuck it and leave right then…but he couldn't. He needed to talk to her.

He needed to stop this.

"Is it enough Kaname-san?" he inquired in a more level voice, temporarily forgetting his annoyance…and fleeting despair.

She looked over at him, a smile still on her lips, "Hmmm? Is what enough?"

Ichigo scowled hard under his hood, "Is returning your sister and setting free all of those women enough? Will you stop this now?"

She blinked over at him in her semi-tipsy stupor, before she settled further into her seat to think. Hope rose in his throat, but it disappeared when she shook her head and spoke up.

N-no I…I can't. I won't stop. I can't thank you enough for saving my sister, but this war isn't over just one noble family. It's a war that's been a long time coming, and over far more than that. Even if I stopped leading them, the war would still continue without me, and frankly I'm not ready to stop anyway. Those atrocities are common place, and will continue to be common place under the rule of those noble clans. As of right now…war is the only option we have. Violence is the only thing they'll listen to."

Ichigo's anger flared, and he almost retorted, but alarms rang in his head before he could.

He blasted to his feet and shunpoed across the room at a blinding speed to catch the Onmitsukido clad shinigami by the throat just as he himself materialized in the room. He dangled there in Ichigo's tight grip for a few moments before a blade came sailing for Ichigo through the air. He deftly caught the hand bearing the knife inches from his own face, reversed its trajectory, and brought it down again only to stop bare millimeters from the shinigami's throat.

Ichigo stared into the eyes of his caught prey, and for the thousandth time he bore witness to the rapid fire emotions that roared through the soon to be dead man's eyes as he realized his end was upon him. He'd seen this so many times before. He'd seen the look of people right before he killed them.

He'd seen it too many times.

A palm came to rest on his flexed bicep, and another came forward to remove the knife from his grip. He glanced to the side and received a nod from Kaname.

He dropped the man, watching for a moment as he writhed on the ground, and turned away to return to his seat.

His adrenaline cooled in his veins, and he sat there stewing as he watched Kaname converse with the now kneeling Onmitsukido rebel. The assassin passed Kaname a scroll of some kind, and dismissed the man who then promptly disappeared in a hurried shunpo.

Probably eager to get away from Ichigo. He didn't blame him. He didn't blame anyone who wanted to be away from him really.

He wasn't the kind of person that anyone should associate with.

Kaname returned to her seat while eyeing him speculatively for a moment and then started pouring over the scroll in her hands. After a few seconds of reading her eyes widened.

Ichigo watched her, and she looked up at him before passing him the scroll. She spoke up then.

"I had a man sent to the eastern front this morning to try and discover who was decimating our ranks over there. The man I sent isn't back yet, but it seems that my squad leaders over there took the initiative and had a man bring back a description already. It would appear that he's a Kuchiki."

A Kuchiki?!

Ichigo started in surprise before sliding open the scroll and reading through the description.

Oh shit.

Ichigo's fist clenched over the end of the scroll, and the wooden end splintered in his grip. Kaname stared at his reaction avidly.

Ichigo dropped the scroll, and in a low bone chilling voice said one word.

"Koga."


A hurried journey via shunpo carried Ichigo to the eastern front of the resistance, and he came to a stop in the outskirts of the later 60's. He spied through the trees from his personal branch that a battle was being waged out there on the sloping hills and grassy plains.

Purple reiatsu explosions were all over the place, and its unique signature permeated the air.

He knew this reiatsu, he couldn't forget it, and so his suspicions from before were grounded.

Koga Kuchiki had given all of them enough trouble to last a lifetime. They'd been deep in the war with Aizen already, so when all of their zanpakuto's started acting up right in the middle of it…it hadn't been good.

Many had died. Gruesomely. Yumichika and Ikkaku to name a few of them.

So no Koga.

Just no.

Koga wouldn't be sealed away this time around if he had anything to say about it. He'd gut him before the old man had the chance.

Kaname fazed into existence next to him out of breath, and she panted as she spoke to him, "Damn…you're so…bloody fast."

The corners of his mouth twitched. She had no idea. She calmed down after a minute, and then peered through the trees with him. She gasped, and her eyes widened at the view the field presented.

Dead bodies stretched as far as the eyes could see. Most with their own zanpakuto's through their throats. The sights and smells of the field of corpses overrode all senses, and Kaname's eyes flooded with tears.

Ichigo paid it little mind, (part of him wondered if maybe there was something horribly wrong with him if he could dismiss such a sight so easily these days) and he kept watching as Koga continued to absolutely decimate the remainder of the rebel forces in the field. Slowly though he started noticing what was going on beside him.

He glanced sideways, and dread started pooling in his gut.

"How dare he…how dare he…I'll kill him," Kaname whispered in barely contained wrath, "I'll kill all of them for this…him and every fucking noble…I'LL KILL HIM!"

She drew her zanpakuto in a frenzy and blasted off the branch, shaking leaves loose as she shunpoed away at full tilt, and left Ichigo to silently battle with himself. His first instinct was to rush after her and stop her…but should he do it?

Would it be the right choice?

He watched as she approached the edge of the forest, and then blasted out of the tree line. She was heading straight for Koga, and certain death.

Could he just let her die like that?

He made his decision, and he completely ignored the call from Zangetsu to stop.

Ichigo appeared next to her with little difficulty, snatched her arm making her jolt and she started to tumble and cry out, and he launched her back with some strength to send her sailing back into the trees. The sound of her slamming into one of the trunks within carried with the wind.

Ichigo vanished from the field of battle again. Just in time too as Kuchiki Koga turned in the direction he'd been standing, scanning to find the source of all the noise.

Ichigo dropped out of shunpo next to the unconscious form of Kaname as she lay there slumped against the tree she'd collided with, and he stood there staring down at her.

Was that the right choice?

The new feeling in his gut made him question it.


The rain fell. It hadn't stopped of course, and it didn't look like it ever would either.

The droplets slid down the sides of the skyscrapers, over glass and metal, on their never ending journey downward. Lightning flashed around, and their bright light illuminated the concrete world.

Shiro stood alone, high up on top of the tallest skyscraper, and he tisk'd into the wind out of annoyance. He crossed his arms, and his gold and black eyes looked away from the roiling clouds above and down at his bleached feet.

He shook his head almost sadly.

"You done fucked up now King."

Zangetsu appeared next to him, and he looked up at the clouds in Shiro's stead. He too shook his head.

They both knew Ichigo had just made a mistake. A very grave mistake.

"Oh Ichigo…you will regret that decision."


"WHY DID YOU STOP ME?!" Kaname screamed as she got right in Ichigo's face, her eyes swimming in absolute rage.

"Because he would have killed you," he answered back in as calm a voice as he could manage. Her face twisted in front of him into a glare loaded with frenzied anger…and something else.

Something dark was in her eyes.

Her voice dropped down to a barely controlled whisper, heavy laden with malice, and she spat out, "How the fuck do you know that?"

She turned away and stalked across the cave away from him.

Ichigo picked up where he left off, "His zanpakuto's name is Muramasa."

She turned and glared at him, "What of it?"

Ichigo ignored the look, but part of him was concerned by what he saw there lingering in her eyes.

He continued, "His zanpakuto has the ability to turn other's zanpakuto's against them. That's its power. If you had gone in there, yours would have fallen under his sway, and you would have died."

The glare shattered, but there was something still in her eyes that…unsettled him. She turned away and stumbled over to her table. He came over to stand beside her, and his ears picked up rapid mumbling.

"-They'll die. I swear it. They will die by my hand and no one else's. I'll tear their heads from their shoulders…I swear I will-"

Ichigo backed up in alarm, "Kaname?"

She didn't seem to hear him.

He stepped forward and grabbed her shoulder to spin her in place, "Kaname!"

Her eyes found him, but they didn't really see him. They were out of focus. "Don't you see?!" she cried in a hysterical voice, "They killed all of them! My people! People that trusted in me! A noble killed them! A damn noble! I'll make them pay…I swear I will…I will have all of their heads!..."

Ichigo let go of her shoulders, and backed up several steps with wide eyes full of panicked confusion. Her eyes didn't follow him, and she kept mumbling her threats to the air.

Maybe Kaname seeing that field full of hundreds of her butchered troops hadn't been a good thing.


War wasn't pretty. It never had been, and any romanticized version of it was nothing more than a bold faced lie. It was sheer tragedy heaped on top of lunacy and a pile of corpses.

You could never be ready for it.

It seemed that nothing could ever prepare you for the sheer amount of senseless violence, nor the overwhelming amount of death that came with it. It catches all by surprise, even after thousands of years of its existence, it still manages to catch people off guard.

Did you not think that people would die?

Did you not think that maybe you wouldn't be going home?

Did you not think that some of the people you commanded wouldn't make it back? Forcing you to write letters home to their oblivious mothers on tear soaked, ink stained parchment.

What would you say to them? That their child had fought bravely? You'd seen him cower in the dirt. That their child had died quick? You'd helped him hold his entrails in his stomach as he'd bled out on the grass screaming in a horrible, gut wrenching, and shattered voice. That their child had made a difference? Blood still soaked the earth on which he'd once lain, and another man fell there to die on the next day. War was simple, two sides throwing bodies at each other until one side finally came out on top.

But war was hell. War could break anyone.

The same fire that melts butter tempers steel.

Kaname was not steel.


Months of war passed.

Ichigo visited often, and each time his heart sank more and more.

She was losing it, and all he could do was stand there and watch. She was falling off of the deep end, just like so many did when drenched in the horrors of war. She was drowning in her own rage, her own anger, her own despair. The war she'd started was spiraling out of control. More of her people died every day, rukongai volunteers and shinigami alike, and with Koga out there doing the killing there was practically nothing she could do about it. Misuzu had done her best to help, but nothing seemed to be able to bring Kaname back from the brink she was approaching.

Ichigo could see it clearly now, and a helpless despair bled into his veins when the realization hit him.

He'd grown attached in the short time he'd known her, and that choice he'd made…when he decided to save her out of his own instinctive reaction to protect her.

It had been the wrong choice.

She was supposed to have died on that battlefield against Koga, but he'd stopped it from happening. Now the war was dragging on, and the death toll was on an ever upward climb. Now she was wary of Koga, and wouldn't go out to specifically battle him out of fear of falling to his zanpakuto's power.

She was lost to Ichigo now. Nothing he could say would stop her. She was driven, driven to kill each and every noble out there, and the rukongai citizens kept supporting her. They still kept coming to her to refill her ranks, and the loyalists were losing men. The war continued to supply her with the bodies she needed to throw at the enemy. The only thing Ichigo couldn't see her overcoming were the captains.

If this kept up then who knew how many would bodies would be piled on either side by the end.

He needed to make it right.


Ichigo materialized out of a shadow within her cave, and he was greeted by a sad sight. A sight that made his heart plummet into his stomach again.

This was what Kaname had been reduced to.

She was a shell of her former self, and the beauty was long gone. Her hair was a mess, huge bags were under her eyes from her exhaustion, and she had a wild look about her. Her clothes were torn from battle, and through them he could spy her figure. It was thin. Too thin. Like she'd stopped eating. He wouldn't be surprised if she had.

He walked forward and extended a tentative hand toward her, she blinked at him in confusion.

"Who are you?!" she asked in a panicked tone as she jumped to her feet.

Ichigo started in surprise, she had gotten even worse since he'd last seen her. He put up his hands in a placating gesture, "It's me Kaname, you know me. I'm a friend."

She shook her head rapidly, "N-no, I don't know you. I don't even know your name." Suddenly her eyes flashed, and she rushed forward to grab him.

"I have the perfect plan! You have to listen to me! You have to help me!"

Ichigo's stomach lurched at the sight of the look in her eyes. She spun away again, stumbling lightly as she did, and she threw her hands up as she giggled, "I figured it out! I know how to make them surrender! I know how to bring them to their knees!"

Ichigo stepped forward again, his heart breaking with every passing second that he watched, and he grabbed her shoulder tightly. She tensed noticeably under his grip.

"What are you talking about Kaname?"

She looked back at him, and he got a clear look into her eyes again.

Madness.

Total madness was what he saw lying in those dulled forest green orbs.

"I can bring them to their knees," she giggled, "The Gotei 13, and those monstrous nobles."

She turned to him, and she continued to drown in her madness, "Don't you see? This war, it's perfect! Shinigami die over and over and over, and what does that do?"

Ichigo shook his head, forlorn and desolate, and he answered in a quiet voice, "…I don't know Kaname. What does it do?"

Her eyes lit up again, "The shinigami need to go and help the souls in the living world right?! But they're all here! They're all dying! Pretty soon there will be no one left to do it, and as soon as they see that they'll surrender! They're priority is to keep the balance right?! RIGHT?! SO ALL I HAVE TO DO IS KEEP KILLING THEM, AND THEN THEY'LL GIVE IN TO MY DEMANDS! FOR THE SAKE OF THE WORLD! THE WHOLE RUKONGAI WILL RISE UP IF I NEED THEM, THEY ONLY HAVE THOUSANDS WHILE I HAVE MILLIONS! HAHA CAN'T YOU SEE NOW! I CAN'T LOSE! I'LL KILL ALL OF THEM IF I-"

Ichigo's hands shot forward, and snapped her neck. She dropped like a puppet with her strings cut. Her body hit the ground, her skull bouncing on the stone floor, and the rebellion came crumbling down with her.

He gazed down at her lying there, and a broken feeling roared through his heart. He clenched his fists out of despair, and he knelt down to brush the frazzled and torn hair out of her eyes.

"…My name is Ichigo…and I am so sorry."

His tears fell to splash against her still warm cheek. He tried to blink them away, but there was nothing for it.

She was going to kill so many. She didn't know the old man like he did. She didn't know how the Gotei 13 reacted when faced with total extinction. He did though, he'd seen it with Aizen.

They'd never surrender, and they'd rather watch the world burn than fall to their knees over anything. Her quest would only result in countless souls from the rukongai being killed, and just as she'd said the shinigami would die with them. The human world would be abandoned, and the balance would be shattered. Without the shinigami, the afterlife would fall into total ruin. It would be the end.

He pulled his hand away, and he clenched his fist again.

He hadn't had a choice.

She looked back, "We have no choice."

Ichigo shook his head again, and his hood swayed, "There is always a choice."

Ichigo's eyes shot wide and he jumped to his feet, "N-no."

He looked around and spied the table again. That fucking table.

He grabbed it and flung it into the stone wall. It exploded in wood and splinters on impact. He saw the crate full of maps, and grabbed it too only to fling it into the wall as well. Ichigo continued his frenzy, and he began flinging boxes and crates every which way, and his yells filled the passages.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" he screamed, and tears of blinding agony streamed down his face.

Pretty soon there was nothing left to throw, and he started punching the stone in his horror. He never stopped yelling.

Blood ran down his hands, and his knuckles kept breaking only to be regenerated by his hollow regeneration. Over and over they shattered against the stone, but he wouldn't stop. He couldn't stop.

The hurricane raged on his in soul.


Kaname Tosen could hear everything, and he sat there crying in the abandoned passage. The guy, Ichigo was his name, had hit her, and there was nothing he could do. Then there was a bunch of crashing and yelling and crying, and then…silence.

Tosen was pretty sure the guy was gone, but he was still too scared to go in there.

Several minutes passed, and eventually Tosen wiped his eyes and crawled down the passage listening intently to hear if there was anyone ahead of him.

He didn't hear anything, so he got up on wobbly legs and stumbled the rest of the way to Kaname's chamber. He stepped tentatively into the room with his hands out in front of him, but he still didn't hear anything. It was completely silent all around him. He walked a bit further into the room, mindful of the debris scattered all around the room from the wrecked crates and tables, and he stopped when his foot hit something causing him to lightly trip.

He bent down and his hands found clothing, and his hands traveled up until he found a face. He felt it, and panic gripped him when he identified it as Kaname's own.

His hands flew to her shoulders and he shook her, "Kaname-san! Kaname-san wake up! Kaname-san are you okay?! Answer me!"

She didn't answer. He let her go, and his hands traveled to her throat.

Her throat felt…odd. Like it was out of place…and there wasn't any pulse.

Kaname Tosen's blind eyes cried tears anew, and the child collapsed in anguish onto the dead body of the woman who gave him his name. The woman who had shown him compassion. The only women who'd ever cared for him.

Through his choking sobs he spoke to the un-hearing dead body below him, "I swear Kaname-san, I swear…I promise you…I will have justice for this…"

He'd find this Ichigo one day…and he would pay.


"What do you mean you want me to destroy the evidence?! Are you asking me to cover this up?!" Satoru yelled at the gathered men in the inner chamber of Central 46.

Shuffling of papers and several annoyed grunts sounded throughout the hall, and after a few moments the speaker of the assemblage addressed him again.

"That is our order Shihouin-taichou. We want all evidence from the Oda compound destroyed, and there will be no follow-up investigation. Justice has already been served on this matter, and we need not take it any further than the murderer did."

Seething anger roared to life behind Satoru's eyes, and he spat out his next words, "So you just want to forget it happened then? Is that it?! All of those women out there will receive nothing in recompense for the crimes against them? You will take no action?! What if there are more crime rings out there?!"

Angry murmurs could be heard in placed of the annoyed ones, and the member spoke up again in a clipped tone, "You will watch your tongue Shihouin-taichou, lest we take action against you. Do not defy Central 46, or else you will face the consequences. If we hear of you attempting to enact your own unsanctioned follow-up investigations against any of the houses then you will be stripped of your rank. Are we clear?"

Rage replaced the anger, but Satoru forced himself back down and reeled in his emotions. It would do nothing for him to get angry here, and he knew that nothing he said would sway any of them.

He nodded stiffly, "Yes, crystal clear," he looked up, "and the Shiba man we found?"

Another voice popped up from his right, "Like we said, justice was served the night of the murder Shihouin-taichou. Dispose of the body in a place that it can dissolve into reishi undiscovered. With the rebellion only now coming to an end we don't need any more added tension to the political scene."

Satoru fought back the urge to roll his eyes. He knew what that meant. 'Dispose of the body, we don't want any of the families discovering how much we've been fucking up over the years.'

He inclined his head in that direction with a barely concealed glare, "Understood sir."

He had to try really, really hard not to sound mocking.

The first speaker addressed him again, "As for the Oda…we will summon you to a more private session in the near future. They will need to be dealt with appropriately. You are dismissed."

He nodded and turned to leave, and the sound of chairs sliding out as the members of Central all started meandering toward their own exits followed behind him. He left through the door to the inner chamber, headed down the numerous halls, and finally made it out into the sunshine again allowing the breeze to pass through his ebony hair.

He sighed explosively, meandered forward a few feet, and then plopped down on the steps to lean back on his hands.

God. He was out of it.

He needed a vacation.

He had a few dozen leave days stocked up…perhaps he'd take some time off. He might even be able to convince Tindra to tag along.

The happy thoughts died after a few minutes of him sitting in the sun, and he leaned forward to put his head in his hands.

What a mess. That rebellion had been the worst thing he'd ever seen. Thousands had died in it, and it was only now coming to a close. It had been almost six months since the rumors had started popping up, and for a rebellion that only took place in a single city…6 months was a long time to fight down in those streets.

He glanced back at Central 46 from where he was siting, and that anger smoldered back to life again. For the length of the entire rebellion those bastards had stayed cooped up in there safe as could be, while thousands died over their damn incompetence. It just went to show how pathetic they were with them only now getting to the case over the sex trafficking.

Pathetic, cowardly gas bags. The lot of them.

His thoughts turned to the crime. The murder of the Oda clan head had caused quite the stir, not to mention how it had led to a renewed slew of desertions when the facts had gotten out. Dirty laundry was aired laundry in the Seireitei, and nothing like that stayed hidden for long.

Part of him wanted to feel betrayed by his fellow shinigami over this war, but…the majority of him didn't. He felt like it needed to happen. Hopefully this would be a wakeup call for the other clans, because if it wasn't then similar things were bound to happen again.

He could see it now. If things around here didn't shape up then someone strong was gonna come along who was fed up with everyone's shit. Perhaps a shinigami like Kaname. They'd be tired with how things were run, and they'd cause another rebellion just like this one. They'd drag other shinigami along with them for the ride, and maybe…just maybe…the Gotei 13 would lose that one.

Things needed to change if that was to be prevented, and he desperately hoped they would. The balance really did need to be maintained.

His earlier thought came back to him, and he idly wondered how Kaname was doing. She hadn't been spotted on almost any of the battlefields, especially near the end, but he hoped she made it out okay. Her sister was supposedly safe now, so she had something to live for. Besides, she was a slippery one that one. She knew how to get out of tight situations, young though she might have been. He'd trained her well.

He sincerely hoped that he'd see her again one day, and that they'd be able to part on better terms the next time their paths crossed.

A rustle of clothing alerted him to someone else's presence as they dropped out of shunpo behind him, and he didn't stir when he recognized their signature as Tindra's. A few moments later her hands found his neck, and she started kneading his shoulders with a gentle massage. He groaned in satisfaction, and her mouth appeared next to his ear.

"Rough day at work?"

He turned his head to kiss her deftly on the cheek, before he relaxed into the impromptu massage.

"Yeah…ah…those Central 46…assholes…always manage to ruin my day."

Chime like giggles danced in his ears, and the sound of them warmed his heart. Suddenly, an idea struck him, and he jumped to his feet interrupting the massage.

"Something wrong?" Tindra asked from behind him, and he turned to look at her in all her haori clad beauty.

"Nope. I just think that it's time I go find Shunsui. I feel like getting slightly comatose tonight. Care to join me?" he asked as he extended his hand.

She cocked a delicate eyebrow and a smile danced on her lips as she laid her hand in his, "Hmmmm, celebrating does sound nice right now. Sure, why not?"

He nodded. They would indeed celebrate tonight. The war was over, and they'd made it out to see the other end of it. He'd raise a glass to Kaname, and wish her the best of luck going forward.

Tomorrow though, they would lament the fallen, and bury the dead.


(Insert maniacal laughter)

Right. Sooooooo...I'm currently hiding. Under my bed. From all of you.

Just so you know the story isn't going to all be like this. It gets better again. I promise.

I just want to take a moment and inform all of you reading this (if you're still alive after reading this particular installment) and let you know that I've managed to pump out 100k words in 7 days. My brain is mush. I think I might just keel over after all of this. Carpal Tunnel is a possibility as well. I hope all of you don't expect me to keep this up when I go off to college again...that would be tragic. Almost as tragic as this chapter.

Did anyone notice my little Axel KH reference in there?! Eh?! EEEHHHH?! (I'm talking to you Sorrowful Requiem. Yes I can see your Icon. I love it.)

As for the pairing, I think I'd better restate it. It's not THAT out there. Unohana? Really? (chills up my spine) For those it may concern, the romance will be very important, and yes it will be a focal point. It will also move the story along, but that's the point of romance in a story really. -That's to you Pure soul. Hope it helped.

Gotta give a shout out to my main man Fraiku, you've given me like 300 reviews by yourself man. Thank you so much, it means the world to me.

HAHA SWEET JESUS iamadisco, you are too kind. I doubt that I'll ever be able to live up to cywscross, but hey, here's to hoping right? Maybe one day.

As for Kronus96, you are also too kind. Thank you so much for appreciating my work. I put absolutely no effort into it.

To all of my other reviewers out there that I didn't mention. I love you very much. Don't think that I don't just because I didn't mention you.

Got to give thanks to people. They deserve it. I want to thank cywscross again for being wonderful and being my inspiration. I want to thank my dear friend garrus for being the beta of this story. He went on a rage first by the way out of all of you since he was the first to read it. And mom. Sorry that I was a tumor baby and didn't want to cooperate even back then. Yes I know I'm a little shit.

Anyway, thanks everyone, and I hope you enjoyed it! Once again, please leave a review if you feel like it. I absolutely adore them.