Chapter Eleven- Don't Ignore Your Past

By some miracle, Haruka actually did get along with Kirio's replacement. She and Kisuke weren't exactly best friends or anything, but they got along well enough and even shared a few inside jokes with each other. He wasn't nearly as spineless as Kensei had initially thought him to be; if anything, the man seemed to have a plan for everything, like he was always at least twenty steps ahead of everyone else, if not more. Some people may have found it unsettling, but Haruka appreciated a certain amount of preparedness in a person, especially when that person was a captain in the Gotei 13.

Zaku had yet to bother her, either. She hadn't seen him again since he was placed in the Fifth Division, and she would consider that a huge blessing seeing as quite a few years had passed since then. Maybe she was wrong and it hadn't really been him, or if it was, maybe he just didn't remember or recognize her. He probably thought that she was dead given the circumstances of her childhood. Whatever the case was, she had neither seen nor heard from him, so she assumed that she was in the clear from that mess.

What she wasn't in the clear from, however, were her ever-growing…she didn't even know what to call them. No matter what Dokudosu said, she refused to acknowledge them as 'feelings', because that would imply that she had some sort of romantic inclination towards him, and that just wasn't the case. If anything, she would describe it as lust. She could admit to that without any shame; he was a handsome guy, with a strong jawline that she would legitimately kill someone over, and then he had those bulging muscles that she would give anything to just trace every line and sinew of…Yeah, she was definitely still lusting after Kensei, but that was it.

'Denial.'

She couldn't even begin to imagine why she would have feelings for him. They had been at each other's throats when they first met, not a shred of civility between them, but to his credit, she did think that he was a good captain. He was a strict guy, but it was out of desire to make sure that the members of his Division were the best Shinigami that they could be so they could do their jobs and not get hurt too badly in the process. It was that acknowledgement that made her start to respect him, and then for whatever reason, he started to respect her as well, and then they actually started talking…There were no feelings between them, she just happened to enjoy his company and maybe, just maybe, he made her feel safe. That was it, though.

'I'll have to tell you that you're in denial until the day you die, won't I?'

Another thing that she couldn't get away from was proofreading duty. No matter how hard the Editing Department worked, Kensei always had to give everything in the Seireitei Communication one last look over before it was sent for publishing. Once he found out just how literate she was and that she could accommodate his stickler ways, Kensei started making Haruka proofread everything one last time, as well. It was flattering really, that he put enough faith in her and her intelligence to let her do that, but it was time consuming, and every time she did it, she would be left alone in a room with him and then her mind would start to wander to places that should have been absolutely forbidden, and she'd be left a flustered mess all while trying to fix somebody's grammar. It wasn't a pretty sight, but Kensei never seemed to catch on to her dilemma, so she was stuck suffering through it every week.

Currently, she was sifting through some romance serialization that Shūnsui was attempting, and that, to be brutally honest, was actually putting her out of her usual mood. It was good for her, but not so much for Shūnsui. It's not like it wasn't well-written or anything, it was just…cheesy? Cliché? She doubted that it would resonate with any of their readers, especially the female ones if they were anything like her. It just didn't make one feel as if they were about to be swept off of their feet and have their breath taken away.

'It doesn't make you feel the same way a certain captain does?"

Haruka had taken to the practice of selectively ignoring her zanpakutō a long time ago. Whenever Dokudosu brought up words like 'Kensei', 'romance', 'love', 'feelings', or 'denial', Haruka immediately tuned her out and turned her attention elsewhere. It was truly becoming subconscious at this point. Whether Dokudosu was offended or not, Haruka didn't know; her mind was off elsewhere.

"Are you almost done with that piece?" Kensei called over to her, causing her eyes to shift over towards him. She had been sitting down with her elbow propped on top of a desk and her chin resting in the palm of that hand while her other hand held the manuscript in question.

"Just about," she told him. "Out of curiosity, how were the ratings on this?"

"Not that great, if I remember correctly. Why, is it really that bad?"

"No? Maybe? It's just…It's something, that's all I can say. He's trying, I'll give him that."

"It's a wonder that Lisa hasn't tried to add her ideas into it."

"I didn't think we let that kind of adult content into these."

"…Fair enough."

"Captain!"

There fun little conversation was interrupted by a Ninth Division messenger. It wasn't anybody that she remembered, so definitely not a seated officer (she at least had the decency to try to be familiar with them given her odd position in the Division).

"What is it?"

"There's still no word from the advance team that was sent out."

"It was about time for us to follow them anyways. Go round up the available officers."

"Yes, sir!"

Once the messenger left, Haruka reluctantly put Shūnsui's manuscript on the publishing table. He was a captain, so it wasn't like she could just throw it away. He'd just have to get his heart broken by poor ratings and the mocking from Lisa that would surely come from it.

"You gonna take me out for a stroll, Captain?"

After being stuck on the word 'captain' for a moment, Kensei finally turned to Haruka and shrugged.

"Might as well. It's not like anyone else could handle you while we're gone."

"You're probably right with that one, brother."

'Denial.'

"Kenseiiiii!"

The poor man was trying so hard not to snap. His eyes were closed, he was taking deep breaths, and doing basically everything else in his power to try to ignore Mashiro, but with every prolonged call of his name, his patience was worn thinner and thinner. Haruka was just waiting for the inevitable. She had learned a long time ago to not try to deter Mashiro when she was in one of her moods, because her intervention just made everything so much worse. As much as she hated to do it, it was best to just let Kensei deal with it on his own.

"Why are we out here, Kenseiiiiii? Didn't you send out an advance team? Why aren't we just waiting for them to tell us what's going on? We don't even know what we're looking for! You're such a show-off!"

Obviously, that was the last straw for Kensei, because Haruka and few of the other officers immediately had to hold him back and try to calm him down.

"Please don't encourage her, Captain!"

"You were doing so well, too," Haruka commented.

"When did I even ask her to come?! Just go back home, damn it!" Kensei grunted, in the process of walking away in order to contain himself again.

"I'm your lieutenant, I have to stick by you! You're such a dummy sometimes, Kensei-baka!"

Kensei looked like he was about to rip somebody's arm off, namely Mashiro's. Thankfully she decided that that was an appropriate time to throw a fit over being hungry, prompting Kensei to give up and tell everyone to leave her behind. They didn't make it far, however, before screams tore through the air. Looking off into the distance, they could clearly see a humongous Hollow chasing something. Upon closer inspection, that something was three children.

"Haruka, grab the kids. The rest of you are with me. Let's go!"

Kensei hardly finished his sentence before Haruka had Shunpo'd off towards the Hollow. The seated officers had obviously jumped in after her, because the Hollow was focused on something behind her instead of its initial prey. She quickly swooped in from the side and gathered up all three children before using Shunpo again in order to get to a safe place behind Kensei.

"Blow him away, Tachikaze!"

Once she saw that Kensei had blown the Hollow's head clean off, Haruka finally loosened her grip on the children and looked to make sure that they were alright. One was focused solely on Kensei, in awe of the man that had just killed the Hollow that had terrorized him, and that particular child possessed a familiar mop of dark hair.

"Shūhei?"

"Haruka!"

Shūhei practically pushed his friends away from him as he latched onto Haruka, burying his face into her neck and clutching at the front of her kosode. She held him to her with one arm and pat him on the head with her other, looking off into the distance as she took a moment to consider where they were.

"Is this really where the disappearances have been?" she asked, looking up to Kensei for confirmation and receiving a nod in reply. Shūhei's body started to shake against her and she felt something hot drip against her neck, so she held him closer and started to rub his back a little.

"You're awfully good with kids," Kensei muttered.

"Oh, am I making you turn into a broody hen over there, Kensei?"

'Since when did you get so bold as to openly tease and flirt with him?'

"Bold of you to talk right now knowing that I'll just tune you out," Haruka thought to her zanpakutō, only receiving a snicker in response.

When had she started to tease him? It wasn't like he ever reciprocated it. She imagined that he was well above teasing somebody in order to flirt with them, but he also never blew gasket when she did it, either. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

'You're so damn awkward. He totally teased you earlier in the editing room.'

And now she was no longer paying attention to Dokudosu.

"Tch, as if. Oi, kid, why are you crying? You're alive, right? You should be happy!"

Shūhei had looked at Kensei as soon as he started to speak, only to go back to Haruka's neck once he saw the…smile that Kensei tried to give him.

"That's really special, Kensei," Haruka commented, causing the captain's eye to twitch in response.

"Alright, she's coddled you enough. Stand up!" Kensei commanded, grabbing the back of Shūhei's robe and lifting him away from Haruka (he was surprisingly gentle about it, Haruka noted). "What's your name, kid?"

"Hisagi…Hisagi Shūhei," was the sniffled reply that Kensei got.

"Well, that's a damn fine name you've got there, so don't cry!"

"Cute," Haruka thought to herself. Maybe she was the one that was about to turn into a broody hen.

"What about you two? Are you alright?" Haruka asked, turning to the other two children that had been chased. She didn't recognize them, so they must have been new to the village. They were both as teary-eyed as Shūhei was.

"We're fine," one answered.

"Are you…really Haruka? From the village?" the other asked.

"Ah, heard of me, have you? I was hoping they'd forgotten me by now," Haruka mumbled.

"Kensei!"

"Damn it, Mashiro! Where the hell did you run off to in the middle of battle?"

"Look! I found these Shinigami robes in the thicket over there! A whole bunch of them, too! Ten whole outfits!"

That was the last straw. Things were getting far too suspicious for Haruka's comfort. She quickly reached forward to tug Shūhei's robe, bringing him back to her so she could embrace him again, which he happily accepted. She leaned her head close to him so he could hear her whisper.

"Shūhei, is the village doing alright?" He nodded against her.

"Kenshin's doing a good job?" Another nod.

"That's good. I need you to do me a huge favor, alright, Shūhei? I need you to go back to the village. I don't feel any more Hollows around, so you'll be safe heading back. I need you to go to Kenshin as soon as you get there, and tell him, in these exact words, so try really hard to remember for me, okay? Tell him 'the red fox can't run while he's stuck in the coop'. Can you remember that for me?"

"Mhm."

"'Atta boy. Tell Chie that I said to make you and your friends something sweet for being so brave today."

Based on the muffled 'yay' that she heard, Shūhei would be all too happy to do that.

They were all very distressed by the fact that Shinigami had fallen victim to whatever was causing the disappearances, but none more so than Kensei. After sending Shūhei and his friends home, he sent one of his officers, Tōdō, back to the Seireitei to request aid from the Twelfth Division and called for another to set up camp for the night; whatever was out there, it wasn't going to get anywhere near the Seireitei on his watch.

Haruka was ordered to help search the area. They searched for hours, but they didn't find anything, not even a trace of spiritual pressure was left of the members of the advance team. Worry gnawed at her gut the entire time that she was looking around; she could only hope that Kenshin got her message in time and took the appropriate precautions.

They all fell back to the camp once night fell, with a few of them taking watch while the others took a quick rest. Haruka was going to join the first watch, but Kensei decided to give her a new order instead.

"Haruka, go out and meet whoever the Twelfth Division is sending. See if you can find Tōdō, too. He should have been back by now, but he might have just stayed back to escort the Twelfth member."

"No problem, brother."

"And be careful, Haruka. I'm sending you because you're the best at hiding your presence. I'd rather not send you alone, but I don't want there to be too much commotion outside of camp to draw attention away from us. Do you understand me, Haruka?"

"Loud and clear, Kensei. We'll be back so fast that you won't even have time to miss me."

"Tch, just hurry it up, will you?"

"Are you alone, Hiyori?"

To her credit, the young lieutenant didn't scream when Haruka popped up beside her. She didn't try to lash out at Haruka, either, showing that she understood just how serious the situation was getting.

"Yeah, it's just me."

"Did Tōdō stay back in the Seireitei for some reason?"

"No, he left right after he gave his message. Why, somethin' wrong?"

"He hasn't shown back up, yet."

"What?! He should've been back forever ago!"

"He should have. Stay sharp, Hiyori. Something shady is going on. This shit seems way too planned out to be something like a pathogen."

"You think a person is behind this?"

"Maybe. Or a really intelligent Hollow. Whatever the case is, we need to hurry back to the camp."

Hiyori nodded as they continued to make their way down the path back to where Kensei and the others were waiting for them. As they got closer to the camp, it became clearer and clearer that something was wrong. Neither of them could feel any of the officers' reiatsus, and what they could feel was…not normal. They had never felt anything like it before, but it seemed to be Hollow-like in nature, whatever it was. It played into Haruka's theory of an intelligent Hollow being behind everything, so they went forward with that in mind.

They were nowhere near ready for what was actually waiting for them.

They were greeted by the sight of blood and abandoned uniforms when they made it back to the camp. The uniforms all belonged to officers, but Kensei's haori and Mashiro's uniform were nowhere in sight.

They didn't even have time to catch their bearings before a loud roar nearly frightened them out of their own skin. Whatever had made that noise was one of the sources of the strange reiatsu, and that source was coming at them at a breakneck pace.

"Move!"

Haruka and Hiyori jumped back just in time to avoid being hit by a massive punch. The ground shattered where they had been standing and dust clouded the air, momentarily obstructing their view of what had attacked them. When dust cleared, however, Haruka choked.

"Is that…Kensei?" Hiyori stammered. If it had just been wearing his uniform, she might have tried to deny it, but the tattoo on its stomach was a clear indicator that what was standing before them was in fact Kensei. They couldn't see his face; something was covering it, some dull white pasty substance that had no real shape to it. There was no telling what had happened to him, but he obviously didn't recognize them, and he was obviously very pissed off.

"Run, Hiyori!"

The lieutenant didn't need to be told twice. They both started to run back the way that they had come from, having to zigzag in order to dodge the attacks that were thrown at them.

"What the hell is going on?!" Hiyori yelled, throwing the supplies that she had brought with her back at the monster that was chasing them. The box clanged against his head, but that only seemed to make him even angrier. More punches were thrown at them, and the substance that was covering his face spread down his arms and to his back; the clump that was on his face was starting to take shape, forming an incomplete mask that showed two very enraged and inhuman eyes. Haruka couldn't see a single trace of Kensei in those eyes, and that honestly frightened her.

It felt like they had been running for hours, but it had probably only been a little over ten minutes since they had left the camp. They had yet to be hit full-on by one of Kensei's punches, but they still had a few scratches and bruises from the shrapnel that popped up once he hit the ground. He didn't seem to be fazed at all, but Haruka knew that they could only use Shunpo so many more times before they started to get winded.

"Haruka…"

"What the fuck was that?" Hiyori breathed. Haruka had no idea whose voice that had been, but she doubted that they were an ally. Their voice sounded far to condescending for that, as if they were trying to taunt her.

"Did you really think that I would forget, Haruka?"

The next punch from Kensei was much stronger than the others had been, and it knocked Haruka and Hiyori both off of their feet and caused them to roll across the ground for a few yards. Haruka stopped rolling when she hit a tree, and as she scrambled to her feet she caught the shimmer of a blade in the moonlight. It wasn't coming towards her, but it was close to where Hiyori had landed.

"How could I forget, when you ruined everything that I worked so hard to build?"

Haruka Shunpo'd towards Hiyori as fast as she could, barely making it in time to grab the lieutenant and carry her away from the sword that was about to come down on her. Haruka wasn't fortunate enough to completely dodge the blow herself, receiving a large cut to her side, and even though blood poured from it, it still wasn't enough to warrant too much concern, at least not at that moment. She kept running once she grabbed Hiyori, but they must have gotten turned around when they fell, because she almost ran right into Kensei. If her reflexes had been just a second slower, she wouldn't have been able to duck in time to dodge Kensei's swing, and if that punch had hit her, she definitely would have been out cold, if not dead.

"Did I kill too many people for your taste, you fucking bleeding-heart?"

She was running out of directions to run. Kensei was waiting one way and an unknown assailant was waiting at another; she was started to feel cornered, but she kept running anyways out of sheer instinct. Hiyori tapped her on the back to let Haruka know that she was alright, and the former-bandit quickly dropped the girl so she could hit the ground running.

"Do you know how hard it was to get all of those idiots to willingly follow me? How long it took me to work my way into the black market? So what if a few people had to die in the process? A real fucking bandit wouldn't have cared."

The snide voice was coming from behind her now, and Haruka was finally able to look back and see who the hell was following them. She should have expected it, honestly; she wasn't nearly lucky enough for her past to not come back and bite her in the ass. She wasn't expecting it to happen like this, though.

"Zaku," she breathed. She should have killed him when she had the chance, back when she and her bandits had raided his estate. She should have chased him down to make sure that he never hurt anyone again, but she hadn't, and now she and her comrades were the ones getting hurt.

"I will never forgive you, Haruka. I will make sure that you suffer before you die, and that village of yours will suffer next."

She never broke eye contact with him, keeping her expression stoic the entire time, refusing to dignify his threats with a response. She didn't care if she suffered or if she died, and she trusted that Kenshin would keep the village safe; Zaku greatly underestimated them if he thought that they would go down easily. Not only was her village strong, but it was prepared for just about anything that could be thrown at it. The only thing that she regretted was that Kensei and the other officers had been dragged into Zaku's plot. Hiyori, on the other hand, she could still save.

Zaku faded out of her vision, but she focused onto his reiatsu, feeling it move far away from them before it went out of her range. Kensei was still closing in on them, though.

"Hiyori."

"Who the hell was that, Haruka?! What the fuck is his problem?!"

"Listen, Hiyori! This thing isn't slowing down and we sure as hell will soon enough. There's no way we'll make it out of here like this. I need you to keep running while I distract it. Go and get help, alright?"

"What the hell are you talking about?! He'll kill you!"

"Not if he can't hit me."

"You're already injured, you dumbass! There's no way you can keep up with him!"

"You're right, I am injured, and that's why you have to go. You'll be able to get away and call for reinforcements much faster than I will. You understand, don't you, sister?"

Hiyori was silent for a moment, biting her bottom lip as she contemplated what the yellow-eyed woman had said.

"I hate you for making me do this," she finally conceded.

"I'm sorry."

With a quick Shunpo, Haruka fell back towards Kensei and landed on one of the cylinders that had formed on his back. He tried to swing around and grab her, but she used Shunpo again to get away from him. She started to run in the opposite direction of Hiyori, and thankfully Kensei started to follow her instead of the lieutenant.

She ran and dodged for as long as she could, trying to give Hiyori enough time to get away from the area, but she had already been running for so long and the wound on her side was still bleeding. Her dodging started to get sloppy, and Kensei's punches kept getting closer and closer until one finally nicked her on her injured side. She hit the ground with a pained groan some ways away from Kensei, with pain radiating through her side and more blood pouring from her wound.

"Damn it."

She got up as quickly as her body would let her and kept running for a little while longer. There was some hesitancy behind the next few attacks that came at her, which was probably the only reason that they missed her, but one last punch finally hit home, completely hitting her and sending her flying into a nearby tree.

Haruka was never one to exaggerate much, but it really felt as if her whole body was broken. She was tired, her muscles ached, and quite a few of her bones had been broken by that last hit, namely her ribs and her left forearm. Her attempt at getting back up was laughable at best, and she had to settle for setting up against the tree that she had landed on while Kensei loomed nearby. He didn't rush at her like he had before, instead slowly creeping towards her, like he was testing to see if she would run again or not.

"Who'd've thought that we'd come to this?" she chuckled, giving up on keeping the neutral expression of her face. Kensei was right in front of her now, bending to where his covered face was level with hers, just staring at her with those monstrous eyes and waiting.

"You'd be so pissed if you knew what was going on right now."

With a small smile on her face, Haruka slowly reached up with her uninjured hand and brought it to the mask that had formed over Kensei's face. It felt smooth under her fingertips as she slowly caressed it, and if she had been in her right mind, she probably would have been surprised that Kensei had stayed completely still as she touched him. She may have also noticed when he tried to reach for her, but by then she was long gone, her hand falling from his face as she fell unconscious with a smile still on her face.

Even as far away as she was, Hiyori could still clearly hear Kensei's next roar. It was much louder than the first one, and it sounded much more enraged. It made her run even faster, hoping that she could get help soon enough to save Haruka.

She didn't expect for Kensei to catch up with her so quickly, though, still showing no signs of fatigue. If anything, he was moving faster, and his attacks had grown even stronger. It wasn't long before she got to the point that she just couldn't dodge anymore, fatigue kicking in and all of her minor injuries finally adding up and weighing down on her. She thought that her death was imminent, but at the last second, Shinji managed to run in and save her from the hit that surely would have ended her. He was followed by Rose, Love, and Lisa, and all of them were in shock at the sight before them.

"Where's everyone else, Hiyori?" Shinji asked her, cringing as Kensei charged at Love and took a swing at him. Love was able to block it for the part, but he still took some damage along his side and arm.

"Kensei was the only one me n' Haruka saw."

"…And where is she?"

"She…tried to distract him so I could get away."

"I see…damn it."

"What are you gonna do, Shinji?"

"Stop him."

"But it's Kensei! You can't-!" Her plea was cut short by a series of coughs raking through her.

"That's the very reason we have to stop him," Shinji pointed out.

"He's too important to let this go on," Rose added.

"Don't worry. We can stop him without killing him," Lisa assured her, thinking of the best way for her and Rose to go about subduing the Ninth Division captain.

That was a lot easier to say before the other two showed up. One was obviously Mashiro, face covered by a bug-like mask and legs covered by the same material that made up the mask. The other appeared to be Haruka, body covered by the white, bonelike armor but with short spikes sticking out of it in various spots. Her mask was plain for the most part, the most distinguishing features being two sharp antennae on the top that almost looked like horns and two large fangs protruding from the mouth.

Mashiro and Haruka both went down rather easily once Hachigen arrived and used Kido to bind them, but Kensei broke out of his initial bindings. Everyone except for Shinji and Hachigen got injured, but even then they were still able to distract Kensei long enough for Hachigen to use a stronger spell on him. The second try rang true, and it looked like things would end well for them, but then Hiyori was overtaken by a mask, as well, and attacked Shinji. Everyone else was then cut down by yet another assailant, this one turning out to be Tōsen.

The betrayal that night ran much deeper than Tōsen and Zaku, though. The whole thing had been orchestrated by Aizen, and the followers he gathered helped to implement his 'experiment'; those followers included Tōsen, Gin, and Zaku. Everything about them and their presence in the Gotei 13 was a lie, and that lie cost their victims greatly. Kisuke and Tessai tried to apprehend the culprits, but they were unsuccessful, and ended up taking the blame for the crimes committed that night. Luckily, with the help of Yoruichi, they were able to escape to the World of the Living, and the ones that suffered from Hollowfication were saved by Kisuke's diligent work, though their lives were changed forever in the process. They were alive, though, and from that night in Rukongai, after that betrayal, they carried with them mountains of regret and a deep desire for revenge.

AN (I forgot to do this last time): A special thanks to Lovetoshea, Nymphadora Jackson, Azulish, AzuraOfGlass, bleachalones, Ebony-Roza-Black, zZhell-butterflyzZ, GreenGod48, rebecca taylor, Dragon Queen001, , OtakuisOtacool, lunatic4eva, TenebrisMeiConsolatione, AKAkris10, Irah, Feyre55109, Crossdresser123, kanlananime123, and alyssagodinez16 for all of the love!