Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

Okay, please, PLEASE don't kill me. I know it's been far too long since I've updated this fic, but yeah…I've had other things going on. I've just really had no muse for Bleach lately, but now I do! Truckloads of Bleach inspiration! And I plan on updating this fic somewhat regularly. If college doesn't get in the away again. I just finished up the Naruto fic that had become like a freakin' monster to finish, because my Naruto muse has been lacking, but I finally posted the end of it. Something that I never thought would happen would be that I would get tired of the Naruto fandom, but I have. As a result of that, this is the chaptered fic I will be focusing on more. Or I will try my best to, I will give you that. I can't promise you I will update like crazy, but I will try.

So, here's chapter ten! (10 chapters already? WOW!)

Wheel of the World
Chapter Ten: Remembering Byakuya

"Ah, damn it!"

Rukia cursed as the sword was yet again weaseled out of her grasp. Her hair was now down, out of the ponytail and spread across her features, matted to her neck and forehead with sweat. One of the straps of her tank top had been ripped, exposing the sports bra underneath, as well as the fabric that covered her left breast. Her shorts were dirty, grass stains adorned them as well as dirt.

Violet eyes were frustrated, and she groaned as she bent over to pick up the discarded kendo sword. She felt it in her fingers, which were calloused from training, and let out an exasperated sigh.

Renji was standing in front of her, his own wooden sword clasped expertly in his talented hands. His eyes appraised her figure and he felt his own hand moving to wipe away sweat from his brow. He didn't know how long they had been training, but he knew that it had been a damn long time. When they started, the sun was high in the sky, and now it was just melting into the horizon.

The red haired man turned to look at the icy captain, who was staring at the Kuchiki woman with a thoughtful expression, his turquoise eyes solemn and betraying no emotion. As usual. Renji thought with a roll of his chocolate eyes.

He didn't have enough time to stare at the captain, for Rukia then barked out, "Okay, let's go again!"

Renji glanced over to the sound of the voice, only to see that Rukia had adopted the fighting pose that Hitsugaya had perfected over the course of the time they had trained today. It had been shaky at first, but now she adapted to the position without any awkward movements, now she was fluid and graceful as she spread her feet apart and held the sword in front of her. She was panting, her chest heaving up and down, and her face was red from exertion.

"No, Kuchiki," came the strong, leveled reply.

The aforementioned raven haired girl looked up, her eyes not betraying the disappointment she felt, "Ne! I want to go again, Hitsugaya!"

Renji felt a chuckle escape his lips as he looked at his opponent. She looked the very picture of indignant child, her eyes wide and cheeks puffed, her eyebrows narrowed and her fists clenched even tighter on her sword.

"Not now." Hitsugaya replied, his eyes hard like jewels. "You've had enough, obviously."

"N-No, I haven't! I can take a lot more, trust me!"

Ishida stepped in this time, looking at Rukia with concerned, ocean blue eyes, "Listen to him, Ruk. He might be abrasive, but he knows what's best."

Abrasive, huh? Hitsugaya thought, a growl threatening to break from his chest. Instead of reprimanding the Quincy for his insolence, he said nothing, only waiting for the bespectacled man to talk some sense into her. If anyone in her life had any kind of pull over her decisions, it was Ishida, and though he didn't know why, he was going to let him talk her out of this.

After a few more words, Rukia had submitted, but hadn't relented her grasp on the sword in front of her. She only carried it inside with her as she walked back through the sliding glass doors that made their way in the kitchen.

"Any suggestions for dinner?" Ishida asked, his eyes trained on the stove.

"Depends." Ichigo stated, running a hand through his orange hair, "Are you gonna try to make us stay in the bathroom for hours on end after we eat?"

Hinamori looked disgusted at his comment, while Matsumoto laughed in good nature. Rukia let out a chuckle as Renji angled his kendo sword in the corner of the kitchen. Still, the Kuchiki kept her grip on hers, as if a hollow would burst through the ceiling at any moment.

She looked over at Ishida, who was busy arguing with Ichigo, and she felt a smile curve her lips.

It was strange, but all of this activity, where it seemed as a burden at first, was growing on her. It had been too long since she had heard other voices in this house - other than hers and Ishida's, that is - and it warmed her heart to see that there were so many people, all "enjoying" each other's company in her house.

Her eyes seemed to feel like there was pressure on them, like there were tears threatening to be released, but she ignored it. She couldn't let a feeling for camaraderie get her all teary eyed. Not when she had more pressing matters. She had to get stronger. There could be a hollow attack that threatened her life and the lives of the people she cared about, and she had to be ready. Even if she couldn't do much to help, she had to be ready, so she wouldn't be anyone's burden but her own.

She didn't even notice when Hitsugaya came up on her, his eyes staring slightly up at her from his position, "If you grip that sword any tighter, you'll take the handle right off."

Rukia blinked, out of her reverie, and looked at the handsome taichou in front of her, "Oh. Well, I…"

"You didn't want to let go of the sword, huh?" Hitsugaya stated, his eyes amused now, and an almost friendly smirk on his lips, "You felt like it gave you power, and you didn't want to let go of it right away."

The Kuchiki girl was stunned at the icy captain's thoughts.

He had hit the nail on the head.

How could he know the reason why she had held on to the sword for so long? Was she that predictable? How could he know her so well when they hadn't even known each other for a long time? It was more than a bit baffling, but also a tad bit flattering on the other side. If he had known that much about her, just by judging her actions, he must have been watching her.

"Y-Yes…" She found herself stuttering, and immediately she felt like a fool for stumbling over her words in his presence. "I don't - how did you know that?"

"We're more similar than you think."

The words he said, the connotation that they may be similar, despite all of their differences, made a chill go down Rukia's spine. Not one of dread, but one of delight. He thought they were similar? She wondered that make her heart lurch and her stomach flutter, as if filled to bursting with butterflies.

Seeing that he had rendered her temporarily speechless, Hitsugaya smiled at her - actually smiled and not smirked as he usually did - and said, "Now go wash up. We're about to eat and you stink."

Her eyes narrowed at his jab, and she quirked a brow, "I only stink because I have been working my ass off. You stink for no apparent reason."

Hitsugaya's turquoise eyes widened before a smirk came across his lips. He looked as if he were about to retort, when Matsumoto cried out, "Da-yum! Hitsu-chan got burned!"

"Ne, that was good, Rukia!" Ichigo clapped a rough hand on her slim back and chuckled at the sight of her flinching as he hit a particularly rough injury. The raven haired girl could feel that she had a least a moderate sized bruise somewhere on her back, and that carrot top had managed to hit the exact spot where it was.

Renji chuckled as he looked at Ishida, "The girl's got bite."

The bespectacled man just sighed, his soft eyes staring at the Kuchiki girl with barely hidden adoration. "On occasion, I suppose." He said, his eyes never wavering from the short girl's form. He knew better than anyone else in the room how Rukia could be both prickly and kind at the same time.

Because, just then, as she said directed her jab at Hitsugaya, Ishida had seen something in her eyes that he immediately identified - he had been on the opposite end of that look many times before, which wasn't a bad thing.

The Quincy couldn't quite describe it, but it was something that he had seen glitter in Rukia's eyes. A certain…fondness for the icy shinigami that would've gone unnoticed by any one else. But to someone who knew her as well as he did, it may as well have been painted on her forehead.

She was warming up to him.

He bit the inside of his cheek as he watched her leave the room, taking careful strides, but he could see the bit of a limp she walked with. Obviously from some part of her training, but he couldn't remember what had caused it. He felt himself want to reach out to her, but he knew better. Ishida knew if he did that, he would be met with a determined stare and her telling him that she could "handle it herself."

Sighing to himself, he fought the urge to grab her arm as she wandered into the downstairs bathroom.

He then felt a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Hey, she'll be fine."

His eyes examined the hand and then followed the slender arm to the beautiful woman who had placed it there. Matsumoto's grey eyes looked at him with a caring nature that he had rarely seen from the busty shinigami. Immediately, he felt stupid. The strawberry blonde had seen his pathetic display of worrying, and he felt like an idiot for wearing his concern so blatantly on his features. "Yeah?"

"Ya know, you worry more than a mother." She said, her casual voice drawling.

Ishida scoffed, moving his glance to his feet, "I can't help it."

The others were talking to each other, not paying attention to the conversation going on between the Quincy and the shinigami, and somehow Ishida felt comforted by her presence near him, and he ended up saying more than he originally intended, "She's all I have left."

The slender hand on his shoulder gave a squeeze, "And you love her."

Navy blue eyes widened, but his shoulders slumped in quiet surrender. A bitter smile curled his lips.

"Yeah, that too."

Rukia was only in the bathroom for a few minutes before she came out, looking as refreshed as she could with just a couple moments to get clean. She sighed and walked into the kitchen, completely unconcerned with her state of dress. The torn clothes were a sign to her as something she should be proud of. She was fighting, she was learning, and the tattered clothing she wore signified that in some way. It could be considered strange to anyone else, but to her it made perfect sense.

She rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw that everyone was talking, some were fighting, others were just calmly sitting by themselves, but one figure was staring in disbelief at a picture that was sitting upright on the cabinet across from the kitchen table.

She quirked a brow as she made her way over to him, wondering what exactly could be so interesting with the picture he was staring at. It was one of her favorites. Her and her brother on the beach. She was building a sand castle and he was sitting watching, smiling down at her.

"Hey…" She ventured, looking at Hitsugaya with a curious expression. His back was turned to her so he obviously didn't acknowledge that.

He was silent for a while, just staring at the picture. Rukia wondered how long he had been looking at the photo. Obviously not long, since no one else had paid him any attention.

"Hitsugaya?"

The sound of his name seemed to be enough to bring him out of his shocked reverie. He turned, and now Rukia realized the extent of his shock. His turquoise eyes were wide like saucers, as if he had just experience an extreme shock. Even his slightly tanned skin had seemed to lose it's color.

"What's wrong?" Rukia asked playfully, "I didn't know that I was that hideous in a bathing suit."

If this were any other situation, she supposed the icy captain would've blushed, but apparently this wasn't just another simple situation. This was something that had shocked him, and the raven haired girl could only wonder why.

The situation had now drawn the attention of the others, and they crowded around the two, looking at them as if they were foreign objects.

"Ne, taichou, why the strange look?" Matsumoto was in the same boat as Rukia, not understanding what the significance of the picture was.

After a while, the white haired youth finally spoke, "Who is this man in the picture?" He jabbed a finger in the direction of the aforementioned picture. There were many others around it. Some with her brother, others with just her and Ishida. There were plenty of pictures in her room, but he had obviously not paid them any attention while he was in there.

"My brother, Byakuya."

A heavy silence filled the room.

The brokenness of her voice was apparent even to her, and she wondered why it felt like she was in the middle of his funeral all over again.

"And he is deceased." Hitsugaya said, his eyes scanning her features.

Rukia felt her eyes narrow in the hurt that his tone caused, "Yeah. He is." She replied in a short tone, feeling a slight anger and pain bubble through her veins.

"When did he die?"

She bit her lip, clearly not comfortable with answering this line of questions.

"Hey! Can't you tell that she doesn't want to talk about it?" Ishida interrupted, his voice hard and unforgiving. "His death was just a year ago, and she's very sensitive to it."

Thanks, Ishida. She thought, eyes appraising his figure.

"Wait a sec…" Renji stepped forward, his eyes curious and wondering as he looked over the picture. "Holy shit! It's Kuchiki-taichou! In swim trunks!"

"Kuchiki-taichou?" A chorus of voices chimed together in wonderment.

Ichigo pushed his way through the throng of shinigami to see the picture. His chocolate eyes widened, "Damn! It is Kuchiki-taichou!"

Matsumoto was the next to see the photo, her eyes growing wide before a smirk curved her full mouth, "I always knew Kuchiki-taichou was hiding a great body underneath all those robes." She motioned over to Hinamori, "Come look! It's something any girl doesn't wanna miss!"

The bun haired girl stepped forward, a blush coating her cheeks as she looked at the photo, "Wow…"

Rukia's former feeling of sorrow was replaced with a curiosity that couldn't help but consume her. Kuchiki-taichou? As in captain? Like Hitsugaya-taichou? How could that be? What was going on?

Ishida leaned over and asked, "Do you know what's going on?"

"N-Not at all." Rukia admitted truthfully, her violet eyes shimmering with barely suppressed emotion in favor of her brother.

"That's where I heard the name Kuchiki from before…" Hitsugaya was mumbling, "I knew it sounded familiar. I just thought it was coincidence…"

Rukia swallowed before loudly asking, "Would anyone mind telling me what's going on?"

The frenzy stopped and all of the shinigami turned to look at the small woman. They seemed to be quite excited, which was strange since they had all gotten worked up over her dead brother's picture.

"Ne!" Matsumoto looked completely ecstatic to be to one to tell Rukia the news, but she was interrupted by her captain, who stepped forward, looking all business.

"Kuchiki Byakuya is the captain of Renji's squad." Hitsugaya explained, looking at her expression as it changed from confused and hurt to shocked.

"M-My big brother is a…a shinigami?!"

"What the hell?" came Ishida's indignant reply.

"I should've expected…" Hitsugaya mused, looking at Rukia and seeing the vague similarities between their appearances. The dark ebony hair, the pale skin. Even the facial structure seemed to be the same. Or maybe he was looking to close into it. "The extreme amount of spiritual energy, the last name, the…resemblance."

"It's okay, taichou." Matsumoto smiled, "We all missed it too."

Hitsugaya turned his gaze to his fukutaichou and his eyes were hard. "That's not - "

"Does that mean…" Rukia interrupted him, "that my brother is…he could visit? Like all of you…he could come and…"

The unrestrained hope in her voice was heart wrenching. Hitsugaya looked at her and his eyes immediately softened at her expression. Her eyes were wide, searching for anything to have at least one more talk with her brother. She wrung her hands in front of her waist, fingers shaking in anticipation.

"He could, I suppose." Hitsugaya said, "If Yamamoto-soutaichou would give him the okay, then I guess he could."

"So he could come back." Rukia said, her mouth fighting to turn up in a smile.

"It depends on…" Hitsugaya found himself trailing off, looking at her features made him want to be able to promise her something this huge, but it would involve getting Yamamoto involved in granting permission. And since this wasn't for her protection, then he might not let it happen… "Yeah, he could."

"Hitsugaya." Hinamori said in a warning, her brown eyes fierce.

"I mean…" Rukia continued, having heard the young fukutaichou's reprimand. "That's selfish of me. I can't ask you to do that. It's…not what you are here for. You're here to train me and…not to let me see any…yeah."

"I'll do what I can."

"Hitsugaya!" Hinamori snapped, not expecting his sudden answer.

"Wh-what?" The Kuchiki's eyes were wide, out of shock instead of hope now.

"Yeah, what?" came Ishida's voice.

"I said I'll do what I can." Hitsugaya said simply, turning his back from the rest of them and walking into the living room as if to avoid the onslaught of strange looks from the shinigami around him.

"Hey." A rough voice rang through his ears, and he felt the back of his shirt being pulled by a strong hand. "What are you doing?"

"The question is, Quincy, what are you doing?" The icy taichou growled, his hand snatching Ishida's from his shirt before turning around to glare up at him.

"If you can't go through with it, if you can't bring her brother to see her, then don't lead her on. Don't hurt her like that, giving her false hope and - "

"I would never hurt her."

Ishida narrowed his eyes, but he couldn't admit that he was surprised at the fierceness of the captain's words. He was about to retort, but then Hitsugaya's eyes took on another look - this one of intensity and concentration as well as surprise.

"We have bigger problems." He said before jerking his head to his squad of shinigami. "Hollow!"

Matsumoto jerked to attention, grasping at her waist as if her zanpakutou was there. "Where, taichou?"

"It's just about to appear…right by Karakura School…"

"The school?" Rukia questioned. She had somehow gotten the wooden sword and her fingers were flexing around it.

"Oh, no." Hitsugaya said, taking the sword from her hands and moving it away from her grasping fingers. "You're not coming. You're no where near ready. And this wooden sword can do nothing against a hollow! You should know that."

"I should go! Even if I can't fight, I can still watch! You know, watch how everyone fights…learn how to maneuver…there are so many things I could learn, and…"

"What if the hollow got to you?" Hitsugaya interrupted her ranting with a stern gaze.

"There are five shinigami and one Quincy. I think you can handle it."

Hitsugaya smirked at her confidence. "Fine."

"What!" Ishida exclaimed, the shock evident on his face.

"You will not come into the sight of the hollow, though." Hitsugaya continued. "And Ishida and Hinamori will stand guard with you."

"I can stand with that deal." Rukia said, her eyes confident.

"Good. Now let's go!"

"Tatsuki, I got the flowers!" Orihime said, her gray eyes happy and bright as she stepped forward, a bouquet of lilies in her arms.

"Ah, good." The short haired girl said, her brown eyes looking over her best friends and the flowers she carried.

"I'm sure this fall festival will be wonderful." The orange haired girl said as she sat the flowers on the table where people would come to buy their tickets to the various kiddy rides that would be going on at Karakura School the next day.

The sun was setting rapidly, almost unnoticeable against the horizon. Orihime turned her head to the sun and felt the fleeting rays warm her cheeks. She moved back to the dark haired girl and smiled, "Hey, I'll finish up here, okay? You can go on home. Everything's about done here anyway."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Orihime brightly chirped, closing her eyes in a friendly smile.

When she opened them, Tatsuki was on the ground in a pool of blood, and a skeletal mask was leering menacingly at her.

End Chapter Ten.

And there's chapter ten! I know it's been a long time since I've updated, but I've had college and other fics I've been working on and it's all been…hectic, would be the best way to put it.

So! I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! It was a rather fun on to write and I really hope that everyone would review with their opinions and thoughts!

Thanks again!