Disclaimer: I own the plot, not Bleach; that honor goes to Tite Kubo.
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'Thinking'
"Talking"
'Emphasis during flashbacks'
(Recap)
"You may not trust me Aizen, but right now, I'm the only one who holds the key to you're triumph; not the hogyoku or any of your Espada's."
A playful grin stretched over peach-tinted skin.
"What if I don't trust you?"
The man was obviously playing with her; accepting her in, but also keeping her at bay.
Rukia stared directly into his eyes, despite the chilling feeling at her core.
"You have no choice."
A tragic story; a broken fairytale.
Instead of an innocent, hopeful heroine looking for her knight in shining armor.
The female protagonist was a monster in disguise, having torn apart body parts with her bare hands. Hope or anything else as trivial was long forgotten and the thought of her knight in shining armor long gone.
Instead of the baby blue sky looking down upon lush green meadows, sprinkled with vivid flowers,
Her world was nothing but black and white, her heart having already accustomed to the lifelessness.
Nothing but an empty shell that harbored rage, fury, and wrath.
These were the only emotions that had once filled Rukia's soul; a walking entity of brewing hatred, whilst dwelling in the nest of death.
She had created a solid wall around her and the outside world, secretly worrying of its stability in case the darkness seeped between the cracks to poison her heart.
The war took her world.
She came to hate war.
The smell of war.
The sound of war.
So why...
Why was she so obsessed with it?
So obsessed with him.
The one who created the war.
Why was she sleeping under the same roof?
Why was she talking with the very monsters that killed her comrades?
And why was she so –dare she say- comfortable in this war-torn world of hers?
And this was one of the confessions that had managed to linger on the tip of her tongue, back then and even to this day; a confession that she fared not to bring to light.
For She couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of a world there was before her one.
Rukia remembered wishing for those times of peace and tranquility, when in truth, she couldn't even remember them anymore.
She was gambling with the devil.
And she really wouldn't have it any other way.
After almost losing control in the hallway, Rukia had kept a closer look out for the orange-haired princess.
She had lost her friend once, she wouldn't let it happen again.
Walking down the white corridor; the sudden sound of a thud brought Rukia out of her thoughts.
Snapping her head toward the source of the disturbance, she saw a little child on the floor.
Correction, a little Arrancar child.
Rukia brought her full attention to the boy.
He had a thin frame and a short stature; with short, messy black hair that clashed with his deathly pale face, his panic-stricken lavender eyes were wide as they stared into hers. Finally the hollow remains of a hair-clip was visible.
'A child in Hueco Mundo?'
Certainly a rarity, but not something she hasn't witnessed before.
They were delicacies of war, usually brought by a higher ranked Arrancar as a play-thing - for the children, death would've been a salvation.
Gray-violet followed the form of the small boy as he stood up from the floor and flattened himself as much as he could to the wall behind him.
Rukia could see the faintest of trembles in the outline of his form and softened her gaze.
"Are you alright?"
She out-stretched her hand and took a step towards him but stopped when he flattened himself even more against the wall -his trembles becoming more visible.
"P-please don't kill me."
A barely audible plead came from his dry, cracked lips.
In surprise, Rukia stepped back to create distance between them; during the war she had killed many children, but to see one looking straight at her and pleading for her to spare his life was gut-wrenching.
The boy slipped away at her hesitation. However, the resonating footsteps stopped too earlier for Rukia's liking.
"A soft one for kids, aren't ya?"
Her ears twitched at the familiar voice.
Glancing to the side, Rukia saw the tousled light-blue hair; the narrow teal-blue eyes; the open hakama that revealed his tanned, chiseled body.
The girl felt a grin etching its way on her face.
"Kitty."
Despite the fact that the Sexta Espada had hurt many of her friends and that he had been a difficult obstacle to jump over. Whilst living in Hueco Mundo, he was the only person Rukia really could relate to.
Call it comradeship, companionship or just two lonely, chaotic souls bonding if you may, however, Rukia knew that they had a rather deep connection -something that had managed to surprise even her.
The elegant figure saw a deep frown set between his brows and a snarl making its way on his lips.
"You trynna pick a fight here?"
The Arrancar boy, who was stuck in the middle, quickly tailed his way out of the possible war field.
"Put away your claws, I'm not here to fight with any of you."
The sound of running footsteps bounced throughout the wall in a steady rhythm before going silent. Another took its place with heavy steps as Grimmjow made his way towards her.
Gray-violet looked up to gaze into teal-blue.
Rukia felt rough hands grabbing the front of her identical hakama and bringing her face dangerously closer to Grimmjow's.
"I don't care what the hell happened in the fucking future, you're still a shinigami, so don't act all buddy-buddy with me, got it?"
Through his beautifully mesmerizing teal-blue eyes, Grimmjow saw the absolute absence of emotion.
She was just staring at him.
And the most uncomfortable thing was that he felt as if her lone eye was unraveling his deepest thoughts; breaking down his walls that were built up of past corpses who were of allies and companions alike. He didn't like it at all.
Time froze just like that.
Tick.
Toc.
Tick.
Toc.
Her nonchalant response was what broke the heavy silence.
"Well, we weren't exactly buddies, but you liked me some-what."
The Espada blinked at her sudden remark before snatching his hand away from her collar.
"W-What are you on about, woman!"
Rukia reached to casually smoothen out the creases on her uniform.
"You're a big talker, but you're nothing but a cute kitty on the inside."
What the hell did she just say?
Grimmjow felt blood coursing through his veins.
This-This shinigami bitch just called him a fucking cute kitty!
The taller man felt like absolutely obliterating this woman and ripping out what was left of her freakin' eye, but he dared not to get closer to her.
There was something not right about her; how she stood; how she looked; how she carried herself as if she was one of them, but at the same time, not.
The Sexta Espada had to question just what kind of power she harbored for her to have such… liberty even when she was right in the middle of the enemy's base.
It was at this time when a familiar reiatsu loomed over theirs.
"It seems as though you made friends, woman."
Ulquiorra.
The mood in the atmosphere took a drastic turn at his statement.
"I do not consider those who hurt my loved ones as friends, Ulquiorra; we all had mutual respect for each other, and that is the only thing keeping me from killing each and every last one of you while you're still weak, so please do not press any further before I reconsider that thought."
Either from fear or excitement he didn't know, but Grimmjow felt his inner animalistic instincts tremble at her murderous intent.
Rukia silently walked past the two with a solemn look on her face.
"'While we're still weak?' on what grounds do you think you can kill us?"
Ulquiorra didn't turn around as he spoke, his monotonous voice never wavering; but he didn't fail to register her little threat. Ulquiorra wasn't foolish enough to underestimate an enemy without having observed them first.
At his comment, Rukia stopped and turned to look at them; her gaze lingering at his back before moving to Grimmjow's face.
"The dog inside of me wants to break free and sink it's fangs into enemies and allies alike; it's what turned me into a monster… it's what Aizen turned me into."
Her solemn expression was replaced with something that Grimmjow couldn't describe.
She looked almost…scared.
"The leash isn't short enough to contain me and it's only a matter of time before it snaps."
Grimmjow followed her figure as she continued to walk away and didn't even look at Ulquiorra when he did the same and walked passed him.
The Sexta had so many questions running through his mind.
Why did she give herself to the enemies?
Why did she put in the effort of restraining herself?
Why did she come back to the place she loathed?
And the question that he wanted to ask the most; the question that tempted him to run up and interrogate her.
Why did she look so scared?
For herself?
For her friends?
For her enemies?
Why?
But there was one thing that managed to keep all of Grimmjow's curiosity in check; one thing that managed to root him to the spot and stop him from asking; one thing that had him growling but not biting.
'Damn that bloody eye.'
If she could, she would of have forgiven them.
If she could, she would of have forgotten them.
If she could, she would of have given up all the power she had attained and her one measly body to get them back again.
But as she stayed longer inside the walls of Las Noches, her path wavered and she felt like giving up.
After all, what was the point in getting back her future by waging the very war that had taken her past?
She felt tired of it all and just wondered what it would feel like if everything simply came to a stop.
Resting her hand on the white door knob, Rukia carefully twisted it and pushed it open.
"Hime-chan?"
he heard her voice slightly cracked and willed herself to bury her turmoil from showing. Walking in, she panned her head around the spacious room and saw a single couch; so lifeless.
"Is that you Kuchiki-san?"
A mellow voice called out and with the sound of tapping shoes, Orihime came to greet her visitor.
Rukia felt herself smiling; to her, it was a relief that Orihime didn't break and that she still believed in her.
"Yeah, you want to go outside for a bit?"
Orihime froze at the older woman's proposal.
"O-Outside?"
Gray-violet softened when they saw the slight fear in the other's eyes.
"It's okay, I promise to protect you with my life."
Delicate hands reached out to grab onto white sleeves.
"It's not that I doubt your promise, I…"
Rukia felt the strength in Orihime's hold weaken and eventually pull back.
"…I just don't want to see you hurting."
"Hurting? I can handle a few scratches you know."
Ginger locks swayed from side to side in a disapproving shake.
"You know that's not what I mean."
She felt as if she was drowning in a sea of gentle gray.
'Since when did the little princess mature so much?'
Rukia had to wonder.
Resting her hand on the younger girls head, she patted the maple-colored hair soothingly.
"You grew up a lot haven't you, Hime-chan; thank you for caring about me."
Her hand was so delicate when handling her; as if she would break.
'Was this what it felt like to have a mother?'
The fluttering sensation in her stomach went away as Orihime saw the outstretched hand before her and looked up at Rukia's face.
Was it wrong for her to feel so safe?
Because right now, looking into the shinigami's eye, Orihime felt as if she was confronted with God.
So certain; so powerful; so sturdy.
She felt like she could get through this so long as she continued to follow behind Rukia and gaze at her small, yet strong back.
Orihime lifted her own hand and rested them into slightly larger ones; she felt slender fingers curling snuggly around it.
'So warm…'
The teen gave a squeak when she felt Rukia's arms encircling around her waist.
"Come on, we'll never get out of this place if we walk."
Shunpoing out of the building, Orihime had to wonder if it was always this dizzying.
"What if I don't trust you?"
"You have no choice."
He never would've predicted this outcome in a million years.
A humorous one definitely, but equally dangerous.
Did the girl come back for revenge?
Did she come back in hopes to change her future?
Just how did she get here and why?
Moreover, why would she come to ally with his side if he was the one who caused her future's demise in the first place?
'Questions, questions.'
So many questions, yet very little-to-none answers.
'Ulquiorra wasn't doing a very good job tailing her, was he?'
A feral grin stretched along his face.
Looks like he'd have to make a few adjustments in his plan; a pity too, he favored his original one.
Aizen leaned back in his chair whilst drumming his fingers on the armrest.
During the girl's stay, he had yet to figure out why the shinigami had brought her human friend with her. The auburn-haired creature wasn't initially a part of his plan before.
Unless it was a sign?
The ex-Taichou knew for sure that the shinigami had lied when she had said that she had no bonds with the ryoka girl.
That human had to have a reason for being here.
'But what?'
So far, Aizen could only think of two options.
The girl being a trump card could be the truth; however, knowing that the Kuchiki noble still considered her as a friend, she could of have made a very large leap by actually bringing the girl here with no intentions of letting them use her.
'Perhaps a reverse Trojan Horse?'
Or the Kuchiki was willing to let everything loose, going as far as acting as a catalyst to wage war then tie everything up in one go.
Either way, Rukia Kuchiki was in the middle of it all and Aizen just wondered how on earth the girl was going to get out of it alive.
A screen materialized in front of him and showed the blur of the time-traveler shunpoing out of the building with a splotch of orange in her arms.
He'd have to stay alert around her.
"It seems as though it's hard to get a clear observation out of her, am I right Ulquiorra?"
The new presence stepped up beside Aizen's chair and stared at the screen.
"The progress is very slow; the Kuchiki woman is overly cautious when I'm around."
Silence befell between the two before Aizen pointed out one of his own observations with his voice laced with amusement.
"'The Kuchiki woman'?-"
His chocolate brown irises never left the screen and only danced with mirth.
"-She must of have garnered some of your interest if you're calling her by anything other than trash, ne Ulquiorra?"
Aizen's only reply was silence.
'Amusing.'
He'd have fun monitoring this little stray that managed to weave inside his walls of comfort.
'Amusing indeed.'
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To be continued…
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Firstly:
I have no religious background, but putting aside the irony, My prayers and condolence go out to all those in Japan who are facing one of the most darkest moments of their lives -if not the worst- and have managed to unite the world through one of the most tragic events in history.
~기도 를 빕니다 .
~私は彼らのために祈る .
~ We need Peace .
Secondly:
I apologize over and over again for the very late update. I've been having minor writer's block and I've started on a new story (Oh, Kami-Sama!) and another one that I will post after I'm done with drafting. Thank you to all those who have kept a look out on this story!
~Peace,
M.