Secrets In Her Smile

This is the first installment to The Secrets Within series.
This story is a remake of the story Secrets and Scares.

Summary: Rukia wasn't the only one who was taken to the Soul
Society that night she was found. A student at Karakura High, and
also a friend of Ichigo's, named Kana was unwillingly taken. Ichigo
and his friends now must save Rukia from execution and discover
the secret Kana hides within.

Warnings: Violence

Disclaimer: I, xX-Star Sapphire-Xx, do not own anything relating to
BLEACH. This means anything relating to the anime, the manga,
characters, plot, etc. Tite Kubo owns all rights to BLEACH. I only
own my original character that I have implanted into Kubo's
piece of work.

Chapter Eight: Honesty
"Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom."
-Thomas Jefferson

Kana was concentrating. Her tongue was slightly sticking out of her mouth as
she connected her pencil to paper. She shaded a few spots on a face and
added a few lines to the hair. She was just about...

Done!

What she drew was a sketch of her two best friends in school, Tatsuki and
Orihime. They each had an arm around each other, grinning like they would if
they were taking a photo. Kana smiled at her work. She missed her friends.

She wondered if Tatsuki won her karate tournament. Kana wouldn't doubt it.
Tatsuki was the best martial artist in school, and that included the boys.
Tatsuki would probably win with an arm tied behind her back.

Kana also thought about Orihime. Was she eating well? With Orihime's
strange recifpes, Kana was surprised her friend hadn't gotten sick or fat.
Hopefully Tatsuki was making sure Orihime was taking care of herself.

The blonde teenager sighed and leaned back leaned forward in her seat. She
was in her uncle's office, bored and lonely. Her uncle was sitting at his desk,
too busy to pay any attention to her. Kana wasn't surprised by this.

"Uncle?"

Silence, except for the pen scribing on to paper.

"Uncle?"

More silence.

Kana gave up. She already knew her uncle wouldn't let her leave to see
Renji. Her uncle still didn't trust her enough to let her walk around by herself.
It was starting to really get on Kana's nerves. She thought their relationship
was fine since they bonded the other night. What else did Kana have to do
to get her bond back with her uncle?

Suddenly, a shiver ran down her spine. That usually meant someone with
high spiritual pressure was near. It happened quite often, being in the
Seireitei and all, but this time was different. She recognized who it belonged
to and tensed up. Before she knew it, the soul reaper entered her uncle's
office.

"Hello, Captain Aizen."

Her uncle turned his head and smiled. Kana cringed. How could he
acknowledge that man but not his own niece?

"Gin Ichimaru. It's nice to see you outside of the meetings." Her uncle stood
up and looked at Kana. "Kana, you remember Captain Ichimaru, don't you?"

Kana swallowed hard. She wished her uncle was still oblivious to her
presence. Kana just nodded in response.

"I didn't even see you over there," Captain Ichimaru told her, giving her a
closed-lipped smile. "How was your stay in the Living World?"

Kana didn't respond right away. She looked at her uncle, then back at the
white-haired captain. "Good." Her voice was void of any emotion and quick.
The less she talked with him, the better it was. Maybe it would even make
him leave faster.

"What brings you here, Gin?"

Captain Ichimaru turned his attention back to her uncle. "I was just at the
North Gate. A group of Ryoka tried to get in."

Kana was shocked. No one could just walk through the gate. There were
gate keeper soul reapers guarding them, and they weren't gate keepers for
just any reason. They were big and really strong. Not just anyone could
defeat one of them.

"And I think they're here for Kana."

Kana gasped and clutched her sketchbook. The first thought in her mind was
Ichigo. Could he be in the Soul Society? That meant he was alive, and he
regained his soul reaper powers. She smiled. She might be saved. Rukia and
she would live to see another day.

"Is it them?" her uncle questioned, looking very worried. Kana was confused
by his reaction. He looked too worried, like a human child wasn't trying to
break in. His expression reminded her of the day her mother was declared
missing. Kana was young, but she could never forget that day.

Captain Ichimaru nodded his head. "I believe so. They made it quite clear
who they were."

Kana looked at the white-haired captain uneasily, then to her uncle. She
hoped they were acting like that because it was Ichigo who was at the gate,
and they didn't want him to take her away.

"Who are 'they'?"

Captain Ichimaru looked surprised by her question. Kana never saw him
surprised before. She didn't think he knew what being surprised meant. "You
haven't told her anything yet, have you, Captain Aizen?"

Her uncle shook his head. He walked over to Kana and sat next to her on a
cushion on the floor. Now Kana had a bad feeling, worse than the moment
Captain Gin Ichimaru stepped into the office.

"Kana, I haven't been completely honest with you. Please forgive me for not
telling you the truth sooner."

"Honest about what?" What could her uncle be talking about? He was one of
the most truthful soul reapers in the Soul Society. He may not voice it, but if
he thought something wasn't right, he would say so.

"About the real reason why you're here in the Soul Society."

Kana stopped breathing. The truth was finally coming out. She always knew
that she didn't belong there. Instead of feeling relieved, she felt scared.
Scared that her life was going to change forever in the next few minutes, and
not for the better. She was also disappointed; disappointed in the fact the
Ryoka at the gate was not her orange haired friend.

.: - :.

After weeks of training, Ichigo finally made it to the Soul Society, He didn't
come alone like he originally planned, His friends Orihime and Chad came
with him. Ichigo didn't even know they had special powers. He felt guilty
because it was his fault they had such abilities that got them in the situation
they were in now. Orihime and Chad volunteered, but they wouldn't have if
they didn't have special abilities. Now Ichigo was worried they were going to
get hurt, but he was also glad they came.

Ichigo stared at the large wall in front of him. It was what surrounded the
Seireitei. The group tried to enter through the gate, even defeated the large
gate keeper, Jidanbo, but they were stopped by a captain named Gin
Ichimaru. Without making a sweat the captain pushed Ichigo back into the
Rukon District. Yoruichi said Ichigo wasn't ready to fight a captain, but Ichigo
didn't listen, like usual.

Yoruichi was a black cat that went with Ichigo and his friends. Apparently he
was an old friend of Kisuke Urahara's. Ichigo was still freaked out that the
cat can speak in human tongue. The teen probably wouldn't get use to it for
a while. Ichigo also wondered how Kisuke became friends with a cat. An
image of lonely Kisuke with dozens of cats surrounding him popped in
Ichigo's mind. The teen smiled. He wouldn't doubt it.

The sun was beginning to set, Ichigo could see that clearly from the roof of
the building the group was staying at. After defeating Jidanbo and then
healing him (thanks to Orihime), then defended the large soul reaper a
captain, the people of the Rukon District welcomed them. Ichigo could hear
the leader of the district talking to Orihime and Uryu.

Ichigo almost forgot the Quincy tagged along with them. Ichigo wasn't sure
why Uryu would decide to come to the Soul Society. Uryu said it was to get
revenge, but although it was true, Ichigo thought there might be another
reason. Even so, the soul reaper was happy to have another ally.

But now Ichigo felt stuck. The group will have to go through the gate again.
What if more captains were on the other side of the gate the next time?
Even Ichigo knew he wasn't strong enough to defeat one captain, let alone
two or three. He wondered if they went to another gate that they would
have a better chance.

Ichigo sighed and jumped down from the roof.

He had to make it inside. He had to find Rukia. He was indebted to her. He
wasn't going to let Rukia die when she saved his life along with his family's.
He wasn't the kind of person to just sit back and watch someone in trouble.
That was why he also needed to find Kana. He wasn't sure why, but he knew
she was in trouble too. He made a promise to himself that he was going to
bring them both back.

Ichigo heard something behind him. He turned around and found Chad walking
up.

"Chad?"

"Yeah," was his friend's response. Chad was a guy of few words.

"What's up? If you're behind me, you should say something," Ichigo told his
friend as he turned to face him completely. If Chad wasn't so big, Ichigo was
sure he wouldn't even notice him walking up.

"I'm always behind you." Without any expression on his face, Chad gave
Ichigo a thumb's up. That wasn't what Ichigo meant, but Ichigo smiled anyway.

Even if Ichigo was worried about his friends, he was definitely glad he had
them here by his side.

Author's Note: Another short chapter. Sorry! If anyone has
a better quote to use for the chapter title, please share! I
couldn't find one that really caught my eye.
Thanks for reading! :)