All credit for Bleach goes to Tite Kubo ... as always

I'm so sorry for making you all wait! Bad author, bad! I was really busy last week doing schoolwork (ew)...then I was at the Rally to Restore Sanity in DC, which was super fun but unfortunately meant I was pretty much useless that whole weekend...anyway FINALLY here is the next chapter. At least it's pretty long though, haha. I'm trying something new here - I've seen similar fics by other authors and thought, Hey! I should do that too! It was really hard to keep each one at one sentence...but I managed it through the magic of semicolons :) Some of these are allusions to the Soul Society arc and DiamondDust Rebellion (of course), and a few are straight out of my twisted li'l mind. I hope you like it...as always I love getting your reviews (HINT HINT)


Air

As he sleeps, his breath condenses in the cold.

Blanket

She realizes that her Captain is not a child to be protected, but when she finds him asleep at his desk she has the sudden urge to stroke his hair and carry him to bed; all she does, though, is smile and say, "Sleep well."

Childhood

He catches himself watching intently as snowflakes collect on the window and realizes that he hasn't grown up too fast after all.

Deny

Are you still lying to yourself if the truth is pushed so far down you can't find it anymore?

Effort

It's harder than he ever imagined – pretending that he knows what he's doing, that he's alert and confident when he just feels like collapsing.

Friendship

He is slow to make friends but apparently an expert at losing them.

Greeting

Neither Hollows nor Captains nor Central 46 can make him feel as small as his oldest friend does.

Half

Ever since the zanpakuto rebellion, he can't help wondering if Hyorinmaru doesn't want to remember him.

Ink

Although he tries to do all his paperwork quickly, it's often so incredibly boring he finds himself doodling absentmindedly on it; sometimes he does it over, other times he turns it in as is and lets the Head Captain wonder about him.

Join

No matter how much he uses his bankai, he will never get used to the feeling of ice fusing to his skin.

Keep

There are things he would like to tell someone, but these are also the things he doesn't want anyone else to know.

Line

He stands in his place in the double row of Captains and wonders if he's the only one who has to concentrate on just standing still.

Mess

It would be nice to act less cold and distant, but that's the price for not falling apart.

Nest

They make such an odd picture, the small boy surrounded by the dragon's enormous coiled body.

Outside

He shares their title, but nothing more.

Prayer

He clenches his fingers around the white haori and whispers, "I am strong enough for this."

Quench

He's come near death a dozen times already … if he hadn't, he wonders, would he be any different?

Run

If they banish him and brand him a traitor, at least they won't find out what happened all those years ago.

Sugar

If anyone ever finds the drawer of candy from Ukitake, he can always blame it on Yachiru.

Trust

If things had gone differently, Aizen would have framed him and he thinks that Seiretei would have believed it.

Uniform

She whirls around hugging her new uniform and he wonders why she is so happy to be leaving him.

Vision

The world tilts and slips out of focus, leaving only the pain and the blood spreading across the floor.

Within

He does not let himself wonder why a place so barren feels so comforting.

Xenophobia

He is used to getting strange looks, but they rarely come from seated Shinigami – to reach this level of rank, it seems a certain amount of strangeness is required.

Yell

He's trained himself to wake up silently, even from the worst nightmares.

Zanpakuto

This is the thing that keeps him going, this is the joy that makes up for all the pain.