It had been ten years since Namiko had left for Hueco Mundo. She had been isolated from people, she hadn't seen a single soul in Hueco Mundo, which was a good thing. Because to her, people were dangerous, they always leave. They leave you hanging and they promise you things like 'I'll be there' but they disappear like vapor when you need them. The closest thing to a human or person she had seen so far in Hueco Mundo were three human like creatures clothed in black robes, they even looked dangerously close to a Soul Reaper. One of them even looked like Aizen from the Fifth Division. She hadn't called out to them, whoever they were, thinking that it would be best if she just left them alone.

She was returning back to Sereitei today. She was going back, hopeful that things had changed for the better. Hopefully, Hisana's sister has been found. Hopefully, Hiashi's disappearance had been investigated and concluded. Hopefully, Jyushirou and Kaien were fine. Hopefully, Byakuya... Well, never mind.

Namiko stepped out of the Senkaimon and set her foot on Seireitei. Her hair was half tied into a bun, the rest of her hair fell to her chest and back, curled and wavy. The air in Seireitei was the same, the buildings, the structures all looked the same as when she had left for Hueco Mundo.

She continued walking and as she passed the groups of Soul Reapers moving about, a sense of nostalgia hit her with the wind. It had been so long since she was in the company of so many people. She smelt the air of people, and as much as she hated how people were like, she couldn't deny the fact that she couldn't do without them. Having been in the care of 100,000 or more hollows for the past ten years, to be able to see and be with a group of real people was indeed a luxury.

Ten years was indeed a long time. 'Hinamori must have graduated,' she thought. 'I wonder if there's a change in captains and all.'

Namiko walked around some more. She was pretty sure that she was nearing the Thirteenth Division but then if she was -

"HEY YOU! GET TO WORK!" An overpowering yet familiar voice interrupted her thoughts.

Okay, she was really near the quarters. That voice.. It was no mistaking it.

Namiko walked towards the man who was yelling and his back was facing her. As she inched nearer and nearer, she quickly flash stepped past him, appearing in a swift, a few steps ahead of him.

"And who might you be." He asked.

Namiko turned around and smirked. She didn't even change much other than the fact that she grew taller and her hair was put in a different manner.

"That's really sad. To think you would have forgotten about me, Kaien-ni, or rather, Lieutenant Shiba." She teased.

Kaien's eyes widened in surprise and his mouth was agape. He moved forward and grabbed Namiko into a hug, just like he did when they had sent her off to Hueco Mundo. He really wasn't expecting her so soon. It wasn't that they didn't want her back or anything. But ten years really flew by in a blink of an eye.

"Lieutenant! What are you doing! If Miss Miyako sees that, she will be enraged!"

Kaien released Namiko from his crushing embrace and turned to his men. Before he could yell at them, Miyako's voice interrupted.

"Rather than enraged, I think I would be elated to finally see you again, Namiko." She beamed and Namiko, stretching her arms open and Namiko instantly ran to her and collapsed into a hug.

"We didn't think you would be back so early!" Miyako told her.

Namiko smiled to herself. She didn't think so too. Truth be told, she could have returned much earlier. But she didn't. Sure, the paper stated ten years of absence here, and ten years of presence in Hueco Mundo. However, both Unohana and Namiko knew that she could just come back whenever she felt ready to face the world, to face Byakuya and everyone else again.

But she didn't want to come back so quickly. For every hollow she vanquished, she hoped to save another soul. Every movement, every kidou fired and every slash she performed overshadowed the regret that was welling in her heart. If she was completely honest with herself, what she really wanted to do was get away from all the pain ; from Sojun, from Hisana, from Byakuya. All the people who mattered so much were the ones who were affecting her the most.

"Um, well, I uh, gotta go find my brother and then I have to report to Captain Unohana? So, um, like, I'll catch up with you all later!" She fumbled as she talked, she had forgotten how to speak proper sentences after 10 years of zero interaction with anyone.


Byakuya Kuchiki sat at his desk, listening to the reports of his subordinates about how the training of the new members of the squad had been. It had only been a year of this and he was getting, well, bored.

A year ago, his grandfather Ginrei Kuchiki, had stepped down and retired from his job as the Captain of the 6th Division. And two years before, Byakuya was made the head of the Noble Kuchiki Clan.

After all the years of training and lessons, Byakuya had learnt the art of concealing his feelings. It took awhile, but he learnt how to adjust his cheek muscles to not react with how he felt. He hardly smiled anymore, even if something made him happy.

For he was empty to begin with.

When his wife left, Namiko left him as well. And he had to take on the role of finding Hisana's lost sister, who was found at the Soul Reaper Academy. Hisana's sister was so near yet so far and she didn't manage to find her sister while he did, in just a year.

His current daily life was just, wake up, meeting with the elders, squad work, paperwork, reports, more meetings, meeting again, look at the koi pond, look at the moon, sleep.

Byakuya Kuchiki was tired. It wasn't from the lack of rest - it was something deeper, something inherently present, in the fibers of his skin, in his tendons and his eyes. He was exhausted, fatigued by the lonely life he was living, fatigued by the noise and the silence, the leaving people and the empty rooms. He was tired of the light and the dark, by hope and by despair. Byakuya Kuchiki was so worn down by this sad world that nothing in it could ever refresh mind from the constant buzzing sound that reminded him how pathetic he looked. He was tired, and there was not enough hours in the night for the type of rest he would ever need.

For what he needed, was her. He missed Hisana, but he never showed it. He covered it up by hiding behind the stack and pile of work that he had to complete. He excused his weary and sad expressions with stress that formed by taking over the Kuchiki clan and as the new captain of the 6th divsion.

As much as he missed his late wife, he missed his best -, no, he missed Namiko. Just a bit. After living for so long and having someone attack him out of nowhere almost everyday, when that daily routine disappeared along with Hisana's death, he couldn't help but feel a bit lonely inside. Not to mention that he had the same routine almost everyday and all those stupid meetings with the elders really threatened him to suicide.
Byakuya had made a vow to Hisana on her deathbed, actually, Hisana sort of forced him to, to swear that he wouldn't let his important people leave him again. It was an odd one really, considering how the most important person to him was going to slip away from his life.

What Byakuya did not know was that Hisana was trying to imply that he should pay better attention to Namiko. To keep her close, and not let her go. For Hisana had known for a very long time about Namiko's feelings towards Byakuya. And she knew that her time was coming to an end, and she wanted the two people she cherished the most to be happy.


"Captain Unohana, there is someone who wants to see you."

Unohana Retsu looked up to see who it might be. She looked at the lady who just entered the room. And she almost couldn't recognize her.

Namiko had grown all a bit taller, her hair was longer, browner and wavier, but she looked like she hadn't eaten in ten thousand years. God she looked too malnourished for her own good. Her face was so narrow and squashed that her cheek bones were protruding out like they had been there the whole time. Her collar bones were also defined and sharp, and so were her elbows, wrists, knees and everything. Maybe sending her off to fight the hollows was a horrible idea after all.

"Captain Unohana. I'm back." Namiko greeted.

Namiko stared at her captain, or ex-captain, and after ten years, she still looked the same. Maybe her braid was longer this time. She wondered how the squad had been, was there any war when she was gone? Where was Isane damn it, she hadn't seen her 'successor' yet.

"I can see that. How was it? Did you manage to accomplish what you set out to do?"

Namiko's lips curved to one side and her eyes focused on the window instead of her captain. She tried to think of the past ten years, how it had been, what she had done, what was she thinking about and all.

Did she manage to get over Hisana's death? Tick. Did she manage to get over Sojun's death? Tick. Did she manage to improve her sword skills? Tick. Did she manage to grow taller... The list went on, for Namiko was trying to avoid the most important question.

Did she manage to get over her feelings for Byakuya? Haha.

"Well, the mission, or rather, vacation was... a 95% success." She stuttered.

"I would imagine that the 5% of a flop was the part where you could not face your feelings."

Namiko gagged, and tried to remain unsurprised at the fact that her Captain had guessed it right again.

"Anyway, there's no turning back now. The ten years break for you has passed and well, it's time to get back to business. I'm still unsure what they want you to be doing though. It's really up to the Head Captain. Although, I have a feeling they won't want two lieutenants in one squad." Unohana delivered her 'sentence' in a matter-of-fact way.

Namiko simply nodded and left the office, wrapping up her report for the 'mission'.


As the younger sister of Ukitake Jyushirou strolled out of the 4th Division, she spotted a raven-haired short girl speaking excitedly to a tall man with glas- oh holy crap, it was Captain Aizen. She wanted to check with him and ask whether he had visited Hueco Mundo lately. Oh but that short raven-haired girl, she looked so familiar.

From afar, Namiko scrutinized the girl and noticed that she was a Lieutenant, as can be seen from the lieutenant's plate that was wrapped around the girl's left arm. Ah, she remembered now. The girl was Hinamori Momo. The student she had taken on before she left Hueco Mundo.

"Oopps. I forgot to say goodbye to her." Namiko face-palmed.

The last time Namiko had seen Momo, was their third training session. Momo had blasted the freaking canyon into freaking pieces of boulders. It was a splendid sight, but not breathtaking. Namiko had done way better and more awesome stuff than what Momo had done. But still, it was commendable for someone her age.

The next task that Namiko had instructed Momo to carry out to improve her Kidou, was to shoot her kidou at leaves, wait no, leaf. She had told Momo that it was important to have precision in firing their kidou. No matter how strong your kidou is, or how damn big a magnitude your blast has got, if you don't hit the target, then it was just as useless as catching fish with a broken net. What Namiko wanted Momo to do was to use Byakurai on the leaves of the trees, and carefully destroy just one leaf without shredding the rest. It was a tall order, but Namiko was sure that Momo had it in her.

On their last training session, Namiko claimed that Momo's kidou was already well-developed enough and she had to start working on her footing and using her sword. She had taught her how to do the forward slash, the backhand attack as well as the back-blocking ; all the basics of sword-fighting. Namiko advised Momo to practise against her classmates or maybe take on commoners or trees in Rukongai who were keen and eager in swordplay. Well, the trees were for target practise of course.

And then Namiko left. Although she hadn't said that she would continue looking for Momo when she was done, it sure wasn't nice to leave without saying anything. Much like with Sojun and Hisana. Oh gosh, why was she returning to this sad topics again. "Shoo you inner demon thoughts, shoo!" Namiko chanted in her head.

Just as she was about to leave and go her way, Momo called out to her.

"Namiko-sensei!"

Namiko bit her lip. Should she continue going, flash-stepping back to the 13th Division? Or should she turn around and answer Momo like nothing happened?

Heck, she did the thing she thought was right, she ran the hell away.


Namiko was moving fast, so fast she didn't see who was in front of her as she continued shunpo-ing through Seireitei.

Ack, she banged into someone. The person, was wearing the typical shinigami uniform, with a haori. Uh-oh, a captain. And the person's hands, had some glove-like ornament or whatever it was. Worse, he was a noble. And then she looked up, he had long hair, and he wore a kenseikan. He was the last person she wanted to see and he was Byakuya Kuchiki.

"My life seriously sucks." Namiko mentally cursed.

"Um-uh. Are you okay? Um, I didn't see where I was going. I just wanted to return back faster and I-uhh-uhh..." Namiko's voiced trailed off. And she was stammering. Ukitake Namiko didn't stutter. She was the fearless beast-ess that guys in the other divisions were afraid of. And now she was stammering and at a loss of words in front of the guy that she, well, she kind of liked or maybe loved. And heck, why was she doing those weird finger pointing twirling actions!

The person opened his eyes, his violet-blue eyes. And he looked and stared at the girl who just bumped into him. On the outside, he looked expressionless. But on the inside, he was sort of taken aback. He hadn't expected to see Namiko just like that. Well, he would be lying if he were to say that he didn't hate her for leaving. But then again, it wasn't like she was to stay by his side or anything. That wasn't really important though, what Byakuya couldn't figure out was why Namiko was speaking like that. She was the one who sent chills down his back when they were really really really young. It was her demanding and commanding voice that made him a little afraid of her. But he had come to accept that it was just part of Namiko.

When Namiko made eye contact with the seemingly fierce eyes that was looking at her with discontent, she remembered that she hadn't apologized for bumping into someone. Well it was kind of one of the side effects of staying in Hueco Mundo for too long. Over there, she didn't had to say sorry for bumping into a hollow. She simply just slayed the monster and the rest surrounding it.

"Oh, uh sorry. I shoul-" she was cut off.

"Sorry? And what might that be for." He asked coolly.

Now it was Namiko's turn to stare. Not really stare, she was just a little bit shocked that he had said that.

"Is your apology for running into me or for going away without saying anything?" Byakuya rephrased.

Namiko froze. What? What did he just ask? It wasn't like she left on her own accord for fun. She freaking left because it would probably hurt him more if he stayed! She was Byakuya's, well, self-proclaimed best friend, and she was the one who introduced him to Hisana. If she continued to be near him in the times of his mourning, then he would only be reminded more about Hisana, and maybe, hurt more than he should be hurting.

Instead of answering, Namiko clutched her hair. A familiar action to Byakuya, that showed her that she was a little uncomfortable and a little unsure about what to say. When she returned her gaze on him and was about to speak, he said,

"If you do not have an answer, it does not matter. Return to where you are going, I doubt that we will see much for each other again, given the circumstances. And I imagine that it will be awkward as well." After which, Byakuya vanished in a flash, returning back to his office.

Namiko stood there stunned, she was rather confused as well. Byakuya had some what changed.

He looked colder, his eyes and exterior told her everything. And he talked to her differently. With a noble's tone this time.

Damn it. She had failed to guard him from what Sojun had told her to do. Now Byakuya was the person that neither Sojun nor Hisana nor Namiko wanted him to be. The stuck up noble that only cared about pride and so on. This was so bad. And she forgot to ask about Hisana's sister.

Ah, he probably wouldn't want to talk about it too. I think it'll hurt him too anyway. She thought.


Namiko returned to the 13th grounds, still a little shaken from what happened. And then it occurred to her that she hadn't spoken to her brother yet. She quickly bolted through the corridors and training grounds to the main office. He wasn't there.

Gah, that means his sick and lying some where again. Blagh, why is he always like that. Namiko grimaced as she turned back to head to the Ukitake household. Just as she was about to leave the office, her eyes focused on a fairly short girl with short black hair that curled upwards at the end.

Namiko walked towards the shinigami, hoping that the girl would know where her brother, or the girl's captain might be. As she approached the girl, an influx of images of Hisana loaded onto her mind. Odd, why would she be reminded of Hisana?

Sure, this girl was short, had the same curled short black hair, well kinda broader shoulder blades due to Shinigami training but...

The girl suddenly turned around. And when she saw Namiko, she recognized her as Captain Ukitake's sister.

"Uh- good afternoon Namiko-san!* I am Kuchiki Rukia." the girl greeted.

Oh my heavens, Namiko gasped, her eyes widened in shock and her mouth agape.


*Well, i think the shinigami in the divisions would greet the senior ranking officers every time they see them. I'm pretty sure the relative or family of the captain or lieutenant gets greeted as well. So hence the greeting from Rukia yeah.

oh my gosh, 7 reviews for the last chapter! when i checked my email, it made me really happy :) thanks guys! here are the replies for those who reviewed anonymously

mustardandhoney : I've corrected the sentence! thanks for telling me 'bout it!
jamenite : well, you've just gotta read on to find out.
Guest : thanks for reading :) glad you liked it :)
tracykoh: woah hey tracy, Sandra's such a big mouth tsk, thanks for your support!

Not one of my longest chapters, but I'm still in the middle of my prelims so please forgive me. i'll try to edit the rest of the chapters as well once i'm done with this exams thing.

thank you all for your continued support!