A/N: I'm sorry for having disappeared for almost a year. m(._.)m Some stuff went down in real life, and it somewhat affected my creativity (and frankly, I suck at time management.) Since some of you might be concerned whether the story will forever be left in hiatus, I'll just say that I intend to complete every story that I published whether the story is popular or not. (If I didn't die first, that is.) If you're reading this, thank you for still remembering this story. Some reviews would be nice, but at this point, I'd be happy to have a few hits on the new chapter. Till next time, hopefully soon.
Chapter 11: The Load We Bear
"Let's see...you won't be hungry again, unless, of course, you happen to have some spiritual power, then you'll feel hungry and need food to sustain yourself. Besides, Soul Society is peaceful, well, for the most part, except you're really out of luck and get sent to—"
Rukia would have continued to tell the male spirit in front of her about what Soul Society was in order to try to convince him to accept the konsō from her; however, she was interrupted when someone tapped her right shoulder.
"Umm... Nanashi, even if what you said is true, I don't think you're supposed to tell him that. You're only adding anxiety to the Plus's already agitated state."
Rukia turned to her right and saw that the person who had interrupted her was none other than her teammate in that konsō training trip, Yamazaki Yoshihiro. Although Yamazaki was the one who mentioned it first, it seemed he wasn't the only one who was concerned by what Rukia had just told the Plus, since their other teammate, Okuda Akane, seemed to share that same expression with him when she backed him up.
"Yes, Nanashi-san," Okuda said in a whisper. "If I recall correctly, you are from Rukongai, which means you were a human once, right? Back at the time, would you willingly accept the konsō if the Shinigami who sent you had told you exactly what it could be like in Rukongai?"
Rukia blinked twice. She would admit her teammates were right but it wasn't as if she knew how else to answer that spirit's question regarding where he would be sent to after her received the Soul Burial.
"I wouldn't know," Rukia responded, "I couldn't remember my time as a human. Even if I do, wouldn't honesty still be the best policy?"
"Yeah, if you want all the Pluses to try to run away," Yamazaki noted, "which your Plus is trying to do just now."
Rukia groaned in annoyance as she noticed how the spirit she was conversing with earlier was slowing taking a step back away from her, hoping that he would be able to sneak away when she was paying attention to her teammates.
"Oh, no, you don't," Rukia said darkly as she quickly caught up with the Plus. "You're gonna be sent to Soul Society whether you like it or not."
"But I don't want to go," the Plus protested. "It didn't sound like a good place."
"Well, guess what? Nobody cares for your opinion. The dead are not allowed to stay in the World of the Living and that's the end of the story, so off you go."
Without any further ado, Rukia swiftly tapped the hilt of her asauchi to his forehead. The Plus shrieked in fear as a circular portal suddenly opened up behind him, but the shriek soon went silent as the Plus disappeared and all that remained was one hell butterfly.
With the spirit finally gone, Rukia sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose. She had intended to persuade that Plus to crossover to Soul Society and keep the konsō process as painless as possible; however, it didn't seem to go well with her personality. She supposed she should commend herself for not slapping that soul upside the head or kicking him in the rear, since that was how she normally responded to those who had annoyed her.
"I should have said nothing and just given him the konsō from the start," she muttered to herself. "Why even bother to persuade them to crossover when they don't have a real say in this matter anyway?"
Taking a deep breath, Rukia did her best to replace her dark expression with an upbeat mask before she turned around to give her teammates a sweet smile that didn't seem all too genuine.
"Alright then, shall we continue to look for more spirits to practice on, Yamasaki-san, Okuda-san?"
Yamazaki and Okuda looked at one another for a moment. Yamazaki then shrugged while Okuda turned to give Rukia a smile before both of them walked over to her.
"Of course, Nanashi-san," Okuda replied.
As the three of them walked silently together, looking for more souls to give Soul Burial to, Okuda decided to break the silence.
"I have to say being teamed with you in this training today makes me realize that you're nothing like how I always imagined you to be, Nanashi-san."
Rukia raised an eyebrow at that. "And how exactly do you think that I would be like?"
"Graceful, reserved and ladylike?" Okuda offered. "You know, the kind that make people feel they were not worthy enough to be in your presence."
"Graceful, reserved and ladylike? Me?" Rukia repeated, incredulous. The qualities that Okuda had previously named didn't fit her descriptions at all. "You've given me too much credit, Okuda-san."
"I was being honest though," Okuda insisted. "You see, I was afraid to start a conversation with you, since I thought that even if you were not a noble here in Soul Society, you might have had high status back when you were alive, so you might not want to associate with ordinary people like me, and I guess many of our classmates share my sentiment. But I guess I was wrong. You also have an awkward and clumsy side like the rest of us."
Rukia furrowed her brows slightly. It had never occurred to her that someone might have viewed her in that way, since she usually thought that most of her classmates, even the one who were from Rukongai themselves, were looking down on her as she came from one of the worst districts in Rukongai and didn't even have a real last name.
"But I'm not saying that your personality is bad or anything, Nanashi-san," Okuda quickly added as she saw Rukia's expression. "The truth is it's my own fault that I just assumed things and went with my assumption instead of trying to get to know you first."
Rukia gave Okuda a smile to let her know that she didn't really mind it.
"No, it's not your fault, Okuda-san," Rukia remarked. "Actually, it was my own fault for not opening up or trying to approach people to make new friends myself."
Okuda let out a sheepish laugh.
"I guess we are both at fault then," she concluded. "But let's put it behind us. It's still not too late to get to know more about each other now."
Rukia nodded. "I suppose you're right."
"Of course, I am," Okuda said triumphantly. "So let's be good friends from now on, Nanashi-san. In fact, if you don't have any other arrangement today, how about we go and have dinner together after the training is over?"
Rukia widened her eyes in surprise, as she didn't expect that anyone would come to suggest that they should be friends and start to hang out together out of the blue. In fact, if she came to think about it more carefully, no one had approached and made friends with her for the sole reason that they wanted to be her friends. The handful of people who she had counted as friends came to be her friends because they were grateful that she helped them escape from the person who chased after them. While those friends had become the closest thing she had to a family, Rukia doubted she would have been friends with them should they meet on a different circumstance.
However, she was glad that Okuda suggested that they become friends. After all, she could use more friends, especially ones that she didn't know through Renji, since she couldn't keep having her life revolving around him. Therefore, Rukia responded with a genuine smile.
"Sure, Okuda-san, I'd love to have dinner with you."
"Great!" Okuda said enthusiastically. "I know a good place just close to the dorm."
As the girls were happily chatting away, Yamazaki rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"If you two are done with girls bonding moment, can we focus more on finding another soul to give konsō to?" he asked. Then he added under his breath, "Seriously, why do I have to be teamed up with two girls when there are many men in this class?"
"Eh, you don't have to be jealous just because you were momentarily left out, Yamazaki-kun," Okuda said chirpily. "You can be friend with us and join us for dinner too. Right, Nanashi-san?"
"Right," Rukia eagerly nodded.
"Thanks, but no thanks. You girls have already given me enough headache for one day," Yamazaki complained. "Do whatever you like. I'm just gonna go on ahead."
He then proceeded to ignore them as he went ahead to look for a soul that he could perform Soul Burial on.
"Don't mind him, Nanashi-san," Okuda whispered. "Yamazaki-kun might act like that but he's actually a nice guy."
Rukia had a thoughtful look on her face. "I take it he's a serious type."
"You can put it that way, but if you ask me, I'd say he's more of a tsun."
"A tsun?"
"You know, a type that—"
Okuda didn't have a chance to finish the rest of the explanation, as her sentence was interrupted by the subject of that conversation himself who turned over his shoulder and called them:
"Oi, Okuda, Nanashi! I've found another spirit over there, so let's go. You can save your girls bonding for later."
"Alright, Yamazaki-kun, we're coming!"
With that, Okuda hurried over to where Yamazaki was while Rukia followed slightly behind.
As she followed her teammates to where that spirit was supposed to be, Rukia couldn't help wondering if they had wandered off too far from the rest of the group, as their surroundings seemed to have changed from a residential area to some kind of urban park with many huge trees. While she would be glad to explore the World of the Living a little more, she still didn't feel too good about heading off too far from the rest of the class, especially when their seniors had instructed that them to remain close the rest of the group.
"There, that's the Plus I was talking about," Yamazaki said before he ran off after that Plus.
The Plus appeared to be a spirit of a young girl with short black hair. She was wearing a pale pink cape with black collar. Although the girl looked relatively harmless, Rukia still felt that something was off about her. There was something strange about her presence that Rukia couldn't quite put a name on. It just seemed different from other Pluses that they encountered that day, and the fact that said spirit had led them to a rather secluded area didn't make Rukia feel any better about the situation.
Because of that thought, Rukia stopped moving to take a more careful look at that spirit. She then realized that while that girl felt like she was a Plus, she didn't have the Chain of Fate that all the Pluses had. More importantly, there was a suspicious shadow with ominous presence that stayed behind the dense trees close to where that girl was standing.
"Wait, Yamazaki-san! She's not—"
Rukia didn't manage to utter the whole warning, as the suspicious shadow that Rukia spotted from earlier suddenly came out of the dark to reveal a large Hollow with green bushy fur and bird-like hands and feet. The girl spirit from earlier turned out to be some kind of lure that grew out of a tentacle on the Hollow's forehead. Said Hollow didn't give Yamazaki any time to react as it suddenly impaled him in the stomach with its bird-like hand, making him cough off some blood. The Hollow then threw Yamazaki to the ground.
Okuda screamed at the sight. She was visibly shaken and she remained frozen stiff on the spot even as the Hollow turned its attention to her and aimed for her next.
"Run, Okuda-san!" Rukia yelled, hoping that by doing so Okuda would be able to get enough grip to get away before the Hollow got her down too. However, Okuda didn't seem to budge. Seeing so, Rukia cursed under her breath before she shouted, "Hadō number 4, Byakurai!"
Lightning was fired from Rukia's fingers towards the Hollow. Although it was merely a low-level spell that might not be able to do much damage, it was the one spell that Rukia was certain that she could use in emergency without any misfire.
The lightning hit the Hollow straight in its body. However, it didn't seem to do any damage to the Hollow at all. In fact, the Hollow looked totally unfazed by it and even laughed at Rukia's futile attempt.
"You won't be able to hurt me with such a weak attack, girl. You could either run away or join your friends as my dinner."
With that, the Hollow slapped Okuda out of the way, sending the girl flying to the side with blood splattering from where she was hit. Then it moved toward Rukia's direction in order to deal with her next.
"Hadō number 33, Sōkatsui!"
Rukia shot a wave of blue energy out of her palm, hoping that it would be at least inflicted some kind of damage to that Hollow. However, after the smoke was clear, all the spell managed to do was some minor scratches that only served to anger that Hollow.
Rukia briefly recalled a conversation she once had with Byakuya about how her enemy would not go easy on her because she was a novice, and she came to realize just how true that was. There was no way she could win against that Hollow if she couldn't even draw a single blood from it after having used the skill that she was most confident with.
Every instinct told her to run while she still could and save herself. However, doing so would go against everything she had been taught in the Academy and would take away her pride as someone who aspired to become a Shinigami. If she ran, she might have a chance to survive; but how could she face herself if she left her friends behind to die by the hands of that Hollow without trying to prevent it?
With a resolve, Rukia took a deep breath before she unsheathed her sword and braced for the Hollow's next attack.
Blood dripped to the ground as flesh was cut by broken glass. Although he didn't consider himself clumsy, Byakuya had to admit that he had been very absentminded that not only had he knocked the glass vase off its place on his late wife's shrine but he had also cut himself while trying to clean up the mess.
Just as he placed the broken glass back down on the floor was about to apply healing kidō to the cut on his finger, the door to the room was suddenly slid open.
Byakuya turned to the door with his eyes narrowed. It was an unspoken rule in the Kuchiki household that one simply did not disturb the master of the house when he was paying respect to his late wife unless there was a pressing matter that required his immediate attention, but even then, the person who went there to get him would know better than to just barge in without waiting for his permission first.
Although Byakuya had seen her face a few times before as she was one of the household staff, he didn't really know her by name. The maid paled visibly as she realized that the room was occupied by the head of the family himself. She dropped to her knees and gave him deep apologetic bow.
"M-my apology, danna-sama," she stuttered. "I heard something break so I—"
"Leave," Byakuya curtly cut her off.
The girl's sweat dropped at Byakuya's cold tone. She didn't dare to utter any other words as she gave her master yet another deep bowed before she scurried away, closing the door behind her.
Once the maid was gone, Byakuya closed his eyes and sighed. When he opened his eyes again, he turned to look at the photo of his late wife for a moment before he turned his attention back to the shattered vase.
"I know you don't like it when I do things that might intimidate the helps, Hisana," he said softly as he continued picking up the pieces of the vase, "you were always kind to them that sometimes I wondered if you cared for them more than you did me."
Having picked up all the pieces of the broken vase, Byakuya rose to his feet then walked to the corner of the room where a small bin was placed.
"Not that I could blame you if you did," he continued as he trashed the pieces of the vase into the bin. "After all, I was such a failure of a husband."
With that said, Byakuya sighed once again before he walked back to stand in front of the shrine where the portrait of his late wife was set. He took a long look at Hisana's picture and wondered if she had always looked that sad or it was merely his own imagination.
"I'd promised you many things when I asked you to be my wife," he mused, thinking back to the day he proposed to her.
He could still remember how beautiful she looked in that lovely coral pink kimono, the way disbelief reflected behind her eyes the moment she heard his proposal and how hesitation showed in her voice when she eventually accepted. Even then, he had known she did not love him in the same way that he did her. It would have been stupid of him not to notice, yet he chose to ignore it and hold on to the hope that with enough time she would grow to love him. Alas, time was not the luxury that they had.
"I'd promised a better life, a cure to your illness and a reunion with your sister, all of which I failed to keep, but you never complained or showed your disappointment. Instead, you just smiled and told me not to worry. You hid all your worries and concerns no matter how much I wanted you to share them with me the way I shared mine with you. Maybe I hadn't tried hard enough to make you open up to me, or maybe I just wasn't good enough to be entrusted with your troubles, I guess I'd never know."
Byakuya looked at Hisana's photo for a long time as if doing so would give him some kind of answer.
"I think the only trouble you ever shared with me was about your sister," he recalled, "but then that's too big of an issue to hide, especially when you spent all the free time you had searching for her."
Looking away from his late wife's picture, he absently watched how the smoke from the burning incense swirled in the air.
"I used to resent your sister's existence," he confessed. "There were times when I wished she never existed because if she didn't, you wouldn't have had to keep looking for her and worsen your health while doing so and I wouldn't have had to feel helpless when I couldn't do anything to ease your sorrow. Even when you asked me to continue searching for her and then protect her like she was my own sister, I didn't think I could ever view her as anything other than a promise that I'd made."
Byakuya sighed softly.
"Now I wish I could hold on to that resentment and see Rukia-kun simply as another promise."
Byakuya cast his eyes downward to the wooden floor. When he entered the room, his intention was merely to replace flowers in the shrine's vases and then pay some respect to his late wife like he normally did. He didn't intend to say anything about what had been bothering him, since it wasn't as if anyone was actually there to listen to him. However, now that he had started, words seemed to flow out before he could stop them.
"To be completely honest with you, I didn't intend to actually care about your sister," he continued. "My initial plan was to find her and adopted her into the family regardless of the consequences. I didn't plan to care whether she would be accepted by rest of the family nor did I plan to care if the rest of the world would see her as a new pet being adopted into a noble house by a noble lord. I didn't intend to care about what she hoped to accomplish in her life. I didn't intend to care how she might look at me or feel about my actions as long as I could keep her safe. The truth, Hisana, is that I never intended to get to know her at all. I always told myself that all I needed to know about your sister was that she was someone I had to protect at all costs – nothing more, nothing less.
"But somehow without actually meaning to, I got to know Rukia-kun as a person, and the better I knew her, the less I could view her as just a promise I had to keep. Now I don't want to just make sure that she had a good quality of life and that she was protected from any physical harm. I want to protect her spirit, her dreams and her smiles as well, but how can I protect them when I kept doing her wrong?"
Guilt and regret flashed behind Byakuya's eyes as he continued:
"The only thing I believe I've done right by her was choosing not to adopt her into the family. I could tell she would suffer the same fate as yours once she entered the house, or perhaps it would be worse for her, since you never hoped to be accepted or welcomed here while she always dreamed to have a family she could call her own. Other than that one choice, it was one bad decision after another, and it could lead to a total disaster if I am not careful enough."
Byakuya cast his slate eyes back to Hisana's photo. Although not much was revealed in his expression, there was a mix of loss and distraught in his eyes.
"What do I do now, Hisana?" he wondered. "Do I tell her who I am and why I got involved with her in the first place? Would she be hurt? Would she be angry? Or would she not really care?"
Byakuya lifted his hand up to touch the frame of his late wife's picture and then he sighed. Whatever he planned to say to her after that was interrupted when he felt something vibrate near his chest.
Narrowing his eyes in annoyance, he released his hand from the photo so he could dig into the fold of his kimono to pull out what appeared to be a flip phone.
Flipping the phone open, he glanced over the message on the screened. His slate eyes widened slightly after he read the message. Then he closed his eyes for a brief moment as if to focus on something.
Concern was evident on his face when he opened his eyes and rushed out of the room without bidding farewell to his late wife much less closing the doors to her shrine or to the room itself.
Rukia skidded across the ground and crashed into a huge tree after the Hollow hit her right in the midsection with what appeared to be its fur. Although she was bruising and bleeding all over, she ignored the pain and tried to pick herself back up so she could continue with her battle.
Before Rukia could get up, the Hollow already appeared above her and aimed to crush her skull with its large hand. However, before the hit landed, Rukia managed to use her sword to block it.
She gritted her teeth. Her whole body was shaken as she used all her might to push back against the Hollow. However, the Hollow didn't seem to budge as it was much larger to her in size, and even though her blade made a direct contact with the Hollow's skin, it didn't cut through at all.
"Give it up already," said the Hollow. "There's no way you can get away now."
Rukia knew the Hollow was right. There was no way for her to escape then with her being on the ground with her back against a tree and the Hollow crouching over her, blocking all escape routes. However, at that point, she was only hoping that she would be able to hold it off until some back up arrived. After all, despite her group having strayed off far from training trip, she was sure that at least one of the students and their seniors who went to the training trip would have noticed the kidō she had fired by then.
"I could still try."
Seeing how Rukia's determination didn't falter, the Hollow narrowed its eyes in annoyance.
"I was gonna give you an easy death, but since you've annoyed me this much, I change my mind. I'm gonna make your death slow and painful."
With that, the Hollow extended long sharp claws out of its fingers, aiming for Rukia's head.
Rukia's widened her eyes in surprise and quickly turned her head to dodge those claws. One of the claws barely missed her eyes, but it still left a deep long cut on her forehead.
Although it could easily deliver a finishing blow with its free hand, since Rukia wouldn't be able to dodge again in the position she was in; the Hollow chose not to do so. Instead, it chose to play with her and retraced his claws before it extended them again, aiming for a different spot this time.
As those sharp claws were closing in on her, Rukia closed her eyes and held her breath as she waited for the inevitable. If she had to die there that night, she would not give that Hollow the pleasure of seeing her afraid or hearing her beg for her life.
Before those claws hit, a big wave of blue energy went flying toward the Hollow and hit it right on the side.
Rukia felt thick liquid splashed on her face as the heavy pressure that was pressing down on her sword suddenly lift as the Hollow groaned in pain and then fled to the opposite direction to where it was hit.
Swallowing down her pain, Rukia tried to get back on her feet. As she was pushing herself up, a figure flashed past her toward where the Hollow had escaped. Then a few seconds later, a soft hand pressed her back down by her shoulder.
"You can fall back now, kid."
Rukia looked over her shoulder and saw a busty woman with short strawberry blonde hair and pale blue eyes. The woman was wearing a standard shihakushō together with pink scarf tied around her neck. Although Rukia didn't know the woman's name, she could tell from the armband she was wearing that the woman was the lieutenant of the Tenth Division.
"Taichō has already gone after Grand Fisher," the lieutenant added as soon as she saw hesitation in Rukia's eyes. "You don't have to worry about that Hollow now."
Although she had hoped for a backup, when the backup actually arrived, Rukia somehow felt the lack of closure instead of being washed over by relief. She felt as if she still needed to do something even though she knew she would only be in the way with her current condition. With a sigh, Rukia stayed on the ground.
Just the rush of the battle was gone, Rukia's mind traveled back to the conditions of her teammates. She believed Okuda was still alive, since that one slap from Grand Fisher did not seem fatal. Yamazaki, on the other hand, seemed to have been left in a far worse situation. The last Rukia saw of him, he was lying still in the pool of his own blood, and since the lieutenant was trying to stop Rukia's bleeding instead of helping Yamazaki, Rukia doubted he had survived his injury. Even so, she still found it necessary to ask:
"How are my friends, ma'am?"
"You can call me Rangiku-san," said the lieutenant. "Your female friend was in shock the last I saw her, but she will survive. I've already asked other students to take her back with them."
"What about Yamazaki-san? Is he—?"
"I'm sorry." Even though Rangiku didn't say it right out, her condolence was enough to confirm what Rukia feared.
Rukia closed her eyes, wondering if there was anything she could have done differently that might have enabled her to save the man.
Seeing the look on Rukia's face, the lieutenant pointed, "That Hollow you fought is Grand Fisher. It's killed a number of Shinigami and been on the Goteijūsantai most wanted list for a couple of years now. There's no need to beat yourself up about it. Now relax, I'll take a look at that cut on your forehead."
With that said, the lieutenant used the sleeve of her kimono to wipe the blood off Rukia's face so that she could see just how deep the cut was. Then she proceeded to use healing kidō on the wound.
"Oh, I didn't know you could actually use kaidō, Rangiku."
The comment was made by a man who suddenly appeared behind the lieutenant. Although Rukia's focus was blurred due to the amount of blood she had lost during the battle, she could still recognize that man as the Captain of the Tenth Division, Shiba Isshin.
"What is that supposed to mean, taichō? Of course, I can use kaidō. I might not be as good as those from the Fourth Division but still," Rangiku returned, glaring at her superior officer. "Anyway, did you get that Hollow?"
The captain shook his head.
"It fled to Hueco Mundo before I could land a finishing blow."
Hearing that, Rukia's eyes shot open while she tried to push herself up only to have Rangiku hold her back once again.
"Hey, don't move now," said the lieutenant. "You're only going to injure yourself more."
Isshin's attention was drawn toward Rukia for the first time since he arrived to the scene. There was a look of recognition in his eyes when he saw her face though he didn't say or do anything else that would indicate that he remembered who she was.
"I'm sorry. I would chase after Grand Fisher if I could, but Shinigami can't manipulate the Garganta and get in and out of Hueco Mundo at will like Hollows could," he said apologetically. "So instead of doing something that could lead to your imminent end just so you protect your pride, rest, recuperate and grow stronger. You will have your chances to take your revenge and restore your pride as long as you are alive."
Hearing Isshin's argument, Rukia hung her head and tightened her hold on her asauchi. Even though she knew he was right, it was not easy to accept defeat just like that. But what else could she have done then in that condition?
"Oh, well, I guess we should be heading back home," Isshin said after a long silence fell. "I'm sure there are people who are worrying about us now."
Standing in one secluded corner near to the tower where the Senkaimon was located, Byakuya anxiously watched as students started to come out of the tower.
Although he headed to the Senkaimon immediately after he received a message reporting a sighting of one notorious Hollow, Grand Fisher, at the site where the Shinō Academy's students were scheduled to have their training; he was not the first to respond to the alert. Captain Shiba Isshin of the Tenth Division had the honor.
In any other circumstances, Byakuya would have left the scene as soon as he was informed that someone else had already responded to the dispatch. However, since he couldn't sense Rukia's presence in Soul Society, which indicated that she was one of the students who had gone to the World of the Living to train that day, he chose to remain there.
The truth was if it had been entirely up to him, he would have crossed over to the World of the Living in a heartbeat as he wouldn't trust anyone else with Rukia's safety even if that other person was a Shinigami captain. It wouldn't have mattered if she found out about his true identity and hated him for not being completely honest with her as long as he could keep her safe. However, since he was not the first to respond to the dispatch, all he could do was patiently waiting until he could see with his own eyes that she was unharmed.
Since he couldn't directly see the Senkaimon from where he stood, Byakuya had to keep reminding himself to have some faith and patience. However, it had gradually become harder to remain calm with every second that passed by without him being able to sense Rukia's presence, and the fact that a group of the Fourth Division's Shinigami just ran up the tower only served to worsen his anxiety.
It felt like an eternity had passed before a flash of light went off at the top of the tower, signifying that the Senkaimon was opened once again. He quickly searched for Rukia's presence again, and sighed in relief once he could detect her presence. However, the relief was short lived, since he came to realize just how weak her presence was.
It took all the will power he had ever possessed to keep Byakuya from making his way up the tower to see what caused Rukia's presence to be that weak. Clenching his fists, he told himself he would only get in the way if she was truly injured and needed medical treatment and that his showing up there and revealing his true identity to her at that moment would only serve to worsen the situation.
Thus he waited despite his every instinct telling him to go to her.
He wasn't sure how long he stood there, watching the top of the tower as if doing so would give him some idea what was going on up there. Everything seemed completely dark and quiet, and even Senbonzakura who usually had something to say had been strangely quiet that whole time.
Byakuya's eyes went back to the tower's gate as soon as he sensed some movements there.
The first thing he saw was a group of Fourth Division's member carrying two stretchers out of the tower. One of the stretcher was completely covered with white sheet, indicating that whoever lied there was no longer alive, while the fate of the person who was on another stretcher seemed slightly better as the person's face was not covered. He was almost relieved when he could tell that it wasn't Rukia who was on those stretchers. However, he would not be fully relieved until he could see that Rukia was fine.
A few more minutes had passed until he finally spotted Rukia among the group of the people who went down from the tower. And the moment he saw how she looked, Byakuya felt as if someone had ripped his heart out and then stomped on it.
Rukia was staggering out of the tower on her own even though one of the Fourth Division's Shinigami seemed to have offered her to help her. She had a bandage wrapped around her forehead while she was wearing an arm sling on her left arm. There could be other injuries; however, it was hard for Byakuya to see from that distance.
Even though he had expected the worst, it still pained him to see her that way without being able to do anything. He wished he could approach her, ask her if she was alright and then utter some comforting words to her should she needed him to. However, he couldn't do so. Not when he was clad in his full lieutenant uniform. Not when everyone there but her would know him as Kuchiki Byakuya. Him being there at that moment would serve no other purpose aside from adding insult to injury.
Thus, Byakuya had no other choice but to look away and then left his post as if the scene didn't bother him in the slightest.
"I didn't expect to see you here at this time, Byakuya."
Byakuya almost jumped out of his skin when someone suddenly greeted him from behind. He had been sure to be discreet the whole time he stayed near the tower; however, it seemed he couldn't escape the sight of the captain of the Tenth Division, Shiba Isshin.
"Shiba-taichō," he responded in way of greeting.
"I take it you came to answer the dispatch," the captain assumed. Then with a smug look, he added, "Too bad I beat you to it."
Byakuya wanted to roll his eyes at Isshin's general behavior. Sometimes it was hard for Byakuya to understand why Captain Shiba almost always behaved in such an immature way despite his age and stature.
"It is not as if we were in some kind of race or I was in dire need for some bounty rewards, so it doesn't matter to me who took the mission as long as the mission is successful."
Isshin's smile faded at Byakuya's words.
"It wasn't, though," Isshin admitted. "One student was killed and two were injured. That damn Hollow even managed to survive and escape back to Hueco Mundo even though it got shot with my Getsuga."
Byakuya narrowed his eyes as he tried his best to suppress the anger that suddenly rose up when he realized that the Hollow that hurt Rukia was still alive and well somewhere in the Hollow's realm. To be fair, Grand Fisher had been able to escape from the Goteijūsantai for years, and it had to have some tricks up its sleeves if it could survive the trademark attack of the captain of the Tenth Division. Even if Byakuya had been the one to answered the dispatch, he couldn't be certain he could have done better than Isshin had, since Byakuya would probably be more concerned about Rukia's well being than about getting rid of that Hollow.
"I find it hard to believe that an ordinary Hollow could to survive your favorite technique."
Isshin pouted. "Now you're making me feel incompetent."
"I can assure you that was not my intention," Byakuya said blandly. His tone indicated that he couldn't care less whether the captain would believe him or not. "It is just that this incident has me concerned."
Isshin raised an eyebrow. "How so?"
"This is the second time that Hollows attack our students this semester," Byakuya said. "Once may be considered a coincident, but twice is something we might want to look into."
Isshin furrowed his brows at Byakuya's suggestion.
"Well, someone has to be pulling a string if those attacks aren't merely coincident since I doubt those mindless Hollows could organize any kind of plan by themselves," Isshin noted. "But if someone is actually pulling a string, don't you think they would know better than to orchestrate two attacks on the students in such a short period of time and have us look closer into those incidents?"
"I could be overly concerned. Or whoever orchestrates this might expect that we would have that line of thought and wouldn't look into those incidents at all," Byakuya suggested. "Or worse, they do not care how we might look at those incidents since they didn't think we would be able to catch them anyway."
Isshin took a moment to consider Byakuya's argument then he shrugged.
"Young people these days sure are serious," he commented. "Oh, well, I guess I'll just note your concern in my report and see what the higher ups would say about it."
"If by the higher ups you meant the Central 46 Chambers, I doubt they will say anything," Byakuya said with finality. "Shinō Academy's students are never their top priorities."
Isshin nodded in agreement.
"Now that you mentioned it, I don't think I know what the priorities of those old folks actually are either," Isshin noted. "But if you're really concerned, Byakuya, you can look into the matter yourself. It's not like anyone's ever gonna complain about what you do in your free time."
"That is what I'm planning to do from the start."
Isshin tilted his head slightly as he looked at Byakuya's face.
"Since when have you come to care about what happened to the students, Byakuya?"
It seemed like an innocent question. However, since Byakuya had no doubt Isshin had already met Rukia and noticed the resemblance between the girl and Hisana, he suspected the captain had already known the answer to his own question but chose to test the water before he would decide how to thread the subject.
"I haven't, Shiba-taichō," Byakuya replied almost coldly. "I only want to make sure that no one is planning anything against the peace of Soul Society. Now if you'd excuse me, I have some other matters to attend to."
Isshin narrowed his eyes, obviously not buying Byakuya's excuse yet courteous enough not to call him out on it.
"Well, I don't really know what you're planning to do, Byakuya, but I'm not going to be your way for now," Isshin said. "But if you ever want to talk to anyone about it, you know I'm all ears."
A slight smile graced Byakuya's lips as he suspected Isshin wasn't talking about whatever it was that Byakuya claimed he had to attend to afterward. While he appreciated how the man was thoughtful enough not to press him for any explanation even after he had already connected the dots, Rukia was not the subject Byakuya wished to discuss with anyone and should there be a day when he wished to talk to anyone about her, Isshin would still not be his first choice. Even so, it was still good to know that there were still someone out there who cared enough to offer to be his confidant should he ever need one.
"I appreciate your offer, Shiba-taichō, but this is something I have to do on my own," he replied. "Good night."
Isshin nodded in understanding, though Byakuya highly doubted the man truly did.
"Good night, Byakuya."