So the story is winding down... just another chapter or two to go... hope y'all enjoyed it... looks like almost noone actually read it sob oh well...

I DO NOT OWN BLEACH! It's too harsh on my clothes. (j/k)

Catalyst

"Things... laws too.. can change for the better." Those had been the words of a wise little Mantis-

child. But Kuchiki Byakuya had also heard the unspoken part of that sentence. People can change

for the better, too... One person... one catalyst... For the first time in his life, Kuchiki Byakuya

wondered whether he was strong enough... brave enough... for something. Did he have it in him to

become that catalyst? Could he stand up against the world? He looked towards Rukia, as his

thoughts turned to his relationship with his adopted sister. IT was a difficult thing to examine,

really, for said relationship seemed strained, stolid and solemn. God! These past two days had been

so difficult for him that he wondered what was left of the man he had worked so hard to build

himself up to. Why did change have to be so... different! Why did his world have to turn inside out!

Would he ever be able to right it again? And how? Where should he even start? With a heavy sigh,

Byakuya gave in to the rushing tides of change and allowed himself to be swept away by whatever

thoughts and actions might come. Without really standing and walking, he somehow found himself

next to Rukia in the back of the cave. He was only minutely aware of the worried gazes of Renji

and Ichigo, and even then they didnt seem to matter right now... He had to know, from Rukia

herself...

"Rukia... When you look at me... who do you see?" The world as this group knew it seemed to

shatter, like a funhouse mirror that had been distorting the world, but now, as it was broken,

revealed pure truth behind it.