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Chapter 14: Her Lonely Tower

"Yoruichi...Shihoin," Byakuya managed to reign in his emotions somewhat as he stared at the woman who had vanished a long time ago.

"Who is that? I don't know her," Hanataro spoke softly, still kneeling beside Natsuki.

"Lady Shihoin...she's back too?" Natsuki whispered.

"Former Supreme Commander of the Onmitsukido," Byakuya yanked his sword back, cutting through the ribbon that had restrained it. "As well as the Corps Commander of the Militia, and former Captain of Squad 2...Yoruichi Shihoin," Byakuya stated as Ichigo stared at the purple haired woman, who up until an hour ago, had only been a talking male cat to him. "I have not seen that face in a long time. You too have hidden your whereabouts for over a century. I considered you long dead," he commented.

"Oh, his arrogance is really starting to annoy me," Kirara muttered.

"Yoruichi...you came to help me...thank you," Ichigo spoke softly, watching her. Yoruichi didn't look around. "But I need you to move out of the way. I have to take that guy down," he declared. Yoruichi finally glanced around at the boy.

"Take him down?" she repeated, sounding curious. "You? Take him down? Fool," she rolled her golden eyes. The next thing Ichigo knew, her hand was piercing the wound still healing in his stomach.

"What...what are you doing?" Ichigo managed to say, before he inhaled sharply. She pulled her hand free, and Ichigo slumped forwards, allowing her to catch him easily.

"Medicine?" Ukitake realised. "Piercing Point or Collapsing Point, you pounded some kind of powerful aesthetic directly into his internal organs," he accused her. "What are you going to do with him, Yoruichi?" he questioned.

"Ukitake..."

"At least someone figured out he's no match for Kuchiki," Kirara muttered.

"Whatever you are going to try, it is useless," Byakuya took a step towards her. "You cannot escape from here," he told her.

"Oh? You've learned to talk big, haven't you, Little Byakuya?" Yoruichi grinned at the man she had played with when he was young. "Was there even one time when you beat me in tag?" she teased.

"In that case, shall we see..." Byakuya rushed her, but Yoruichi dodged his slash. Her movements were far faster than his, even when carrying Ichigo's dead weight. He ripped the last of the ribbon from his blade, and continued to attack her, but none of his strikes connected. She then landed at the end of the bridge, only for Byakuya to appear in front of her.

"Did you think you could escape with such sluggish Shunpo?" he questioned, striking her. For a moment, it seemed as if he'd actually struck her down, before he realised she was now balanced on his arm, her golden eyes shining with mischief.

"Did you think you could capture me, with such sluggish Shunpo?" she taunted him, and leapt up onto the roof of the building nearby. "Within three days, I will make this boy stronger than you. Selfish as it may be, until then, we will take leave from the fight. Follow us if you wish. Shunpo Goddess Yoruichi...is still far from being caught by the likes of you," she told them, and glanced to the others. An apologetic look shone in her eyes as she glanced to Kirara, before she looked at Shinji. "Shinji, we need to go," she told him sharply.

"Not without-" before Shinji could argue, Kirara pulled her wrist free from his grip and backed away.

"I'm dead weight, and you're nowhere near as fast as Yoruichi," she told him as he turned to her, eyes wide. "Get out of here," Kirara whispered, shaking her head and stepping back again. Shinji stared at her, knowing she was right. They'd never escape with her. However, it didn't mean he liked it. And the defeated look in her eyes pissed him off to no end. His fists clenched and he stormed towards her.

"Shinji!" Yoruichi shouted again, glancing around. She rolled her eyes as she saw him pull Kirara into a kiss. "I bug you two idiots for years, and you pick now to resolve this?" she complained loudly, but was ignored.

"I'm not giving up," Shinji muttered as he pulled away from Kirara slowly. She stared up at him with a baffled look not unlike the one she gave him the first time he'd kissed her, a long time ago in another life. He then grinned at her, letting go of her hand. "So stop giving me that sad-ass look," he told her, and her expression changed; her eyes narrowing and her lower lip sticking out a little.

"Dumbass. Get out of here," she folded her arms and jerked her head away, her cheeks colouring red as he laughed. In an instant, he was gone, and when Kirara looked up at the roof, Yoruichi and Ichigo were gone as well.

"They got away..." Ukitake commented lightly, and Byakuya started walking away. "H-hey! Where are you going, Byakuya?" he called to the noble. "You came to arrest the Ryoka, didn't you?" he asked, confused.

"I have lost interest," Byakuya stated as he turned a corner. "Do with them what you will," he told the other Captain before disappearing.

"He's as...spoilt as...ever..." Kirara commented, and Ukitake couldn't help but chuckle, having been thinking exactly the same thing. Hearing a thud, Ukitake glanced around to see Kirara on the ground, unconscious as Hanataro crouched beside her, calling her name. He sighed, sensing her exhaustion, and glanced around.

"Hey, Sentaro, Kiyone!" he called, and Natsuki glanced up in surprise. "Get out here!" the two leapt into view, landing and kneeling in front of the Captain.

"You called for us, Captain?" the pair asked. Ukitake glanced around and saw Natsuki and Hanataro huddle protectively over Kirara.

"So you did follow me," Ukitake smiled as he faced his subordinates again. "How long were you there?" he asked. Sentaro leapt up quickly.

"Since you sighed and said 'oh dear, why don't you stop there' and stopped Captain Kuchiki, Captain, sir!" he yelled loudly. Natsuki shook her head. The two third seats of Squad 13 were as crazy as ever.

"So basically from the beginning," Ukitake summed up. "Didn't I tell you not to come because it was dangerous?" he frowned.

"Forgive me, Sir," Sentaro saluted to the man. "I have such respect for you, sir, that I could not keep from secretly following," he admitted, still shouting.

"That's not fair, Kotsubaki!" Kiyone whined. "Captain, I did so as well, I'm the one who lo-no, I mean...respects you more!" she caught herself quickly. The two seated officers turned to glare heatedly at each other, arguing loudly.

"Okay, fine," Ukitake sighed, used to their behaviour. "Anyway, Kiyone, you contact Squad 4. We have one possible fatal injury and one bad injury. Have them send an advanced rescue unit urgently," he ordered, and she nodded. "Sentaro..." the white-haired man sighed heavily. "You put Yamada back in the cell," he instructed.

"Yes, sir," Sentaro walked towards the group, and Natsuki pushed herself up, holding up her massive Zanpakuto. "Move," he told her, scowling.

"No," Natsuki shook her head, making his eyes narrow even more.

"Dammit, Hamasaki, you think I want to do this?!" Sentaro demanded angrily, and grabbed her, knocking her Zanpakuto out of her hands. With her injuries, she couldn't fight back, and her sword clattered to the ground noisily.

"Natsuki!" Hanataro leapt up, but the man caught him and shoved him to the ground.

"You can't do this..." Natsuki pleaded with him.

"Hamasaki, we have no damn choice," Sentaro shook his head as he frowned at the woman he'd known a long time, due to her friendship with his father, which continued on even after he'd been forced to retire after sustaining a bad injury. He then shoved her aside, but ensured she was still on her feet, before approaching Kirara and lifting her into his arms. "Sorry Yamada...I heard a lot about you. The Captain and I'll negotiate with the brass and get you outta that cell for sure," he murmured as he approached the cell. Natsuki clamped her eyes shut, sliding down to the ground as her clothes were soaked with blood.

"Um..." Hanataro turned to Ukitake as the man approached Ganju, who was still breathing, but it was ragged as he lay in a pool of his own blood.

"'Why are you helping us?'" Ukitake finished for the boy.

"Y-yes..." Hanataro nodded, nervous.

"Of course I will help," Ukitake spoke softly. "Since we don't know who killed Aizen, there is a high probability that you, outsiders, have information about the killer. We cannot kill you without investigating," Hanataro stared at him as Natsuki didn't move, shutting down at her failure. "And most importantly, even if your methods were wrong, you tried to rescue Kirara from her cell," Ukitake glanced around. "How could I ever let such people die?" he asked him.

"But...Kirara isn't..."

"What? A Shinigami?" Ukitake asked, and Hanataro fell silent. "She was once a friend, and it seems she still is to some," his eyes darted to Natsuki for a moment. Hanataro didn't speak, not knowing quite what to say.

Laying Ichigo down on the mat in the middle of the desolate room, Yoruichi took a deep breath as sweat ran down her face.

"Getting old, Yoruichi?" Shinji asked, watching as he leaned against the wall.

"What was that, Shinji?" her voice was quiet, and despite her being out of breath, she kept a threatening tone well. Shinji didn't repeat himself, and Yoruichi sighed. "I suppose this is the price for keeping my distance from combat for a hundred years...I didn't imagine I'd lose my breath from just one or two hundred of continuous Shunpo" she muttered. "I sure have become weak," she complained.

"Staying in cat form so often probably didn't help you," Shinji pushed himself off the wall and approached. "I'll handle healing the idiot's wounds. No doubt he opened them before you decided to put your hand through his organs," he commented as he sat opposite her, rolling up his sleeves.

"You shouldn't have let him think he could take Byakuya," Yoruichi chided softly as a green glow lit up the room.

"And you shouldn't have let him out of here after his fight with Kenpachi Zaraki. You know there's only one reason he's surviving these blows that should be fatal," Shinji retorted. Yoruichi kept silent as her breathing settled. "He has a score to settle with Kuchiki, and I know what that's like," Yoruichi lifted her head to watch Shinji, who was focusing on keeping a healing kido going. The darkness in his eyes was a familiar one to the former head of the Shihoin clan.

"What's your opinion on what's happening with Sosuke's supposed death?" Yoruichi asked him. Shinji snorted, and Ichigo let out a soft breath.

"I think that once again, he has the entire damn place dancing to his tune," his voice was quiet but rough, filled with the anger that he had kept in himself since the events that took place a century ago. "And that he'd choose to do it now, when we're here, doesn't make me feel any better about it," Shinji then sighed heavily, falling silent. Yoruichi watched him, her eyes glittering in the poor light.

"We'll get her out, you know," she told him quietly. Shinji didn't respond, his eyes remaining firmly on Ichigo and healing his wounds. A grin then spread across the woman's face, and she leaned her head in her hand, balancing her elbow on her leg. "Especially since, y'know, you two have finally-"

"Yoruichi, I didn't put up with your shit a century ago, and I'm not about to now," Shinji told her, his jaw clenched as he kept his head down, praying that the green glow of his kido didn't reveal his face turning steadily redder. Yoruichi started laughing.

"So how long has it been going on? How long ago did you finally accept how you really feel?" she prodded as he stubbornly kept healing the still unconscious boy. Shinji didn't speak. "Oh...no way, that was the first time on the bridge? That's so cute!" Yoruichi was laughing loudly at this point, and it was almost as if they were back in their previous roles, when she'd visit him in the Squad 5 barracks and torture him, just like she was now.

It wasn't as if he'd planned on doing what he'd done. In fact, it was the opposite of what he'd been thinking since she'd been taken back to the Soul Society. He'd been furious with her for being so stupid, but when he'd seen her and she'd started yelling at him for being crazy enough to try and rescue her, he'd snapped.

Shinji let out a barely audible sigh. He supposed it was a long time coming. Feelings could only be suppressed for so long.

'I've been warning you of that for almost a hundred and ten years,' a female voice commented in the back of his mind, and he could practically see her smirk. 'And look! I was right. You're crazy for your Princess!' Shinji immediately shook his head, refusing to listen to what his Zanpakuto Spirit had to say. She then laughed, and when Shinji finally glanced up at Yoruichi, he found she was still smirking at him, her eyes bright with delight. He just rolled his own.

Women.

Kirara groaned as she slowly came to. Her head pounded as she tried to remember the events of the day. Pushing herself up, she found herself in the middle of the floor in the Shrine, and gave a small sigh.

"I told those idiots it was useless," Kirara mumbled, letting her head fall back. She looked up at the walls that seemed to go on forever, with the tiny window that taunted her of the bright sky outside. It was starting to take on an orange hue. "Wonder how long I slept..." she muttered to herself, running a hand through her hair, letting it fall from her usual ponytail.

As she lifted the green ribbon that had fallen to the ground, she heard the door of the tower start to move, and looked around sharply to see it lifting. Light streamed in, making her flinch as it stung at her eyes, before two familiar figures stepped inside.

"Oh, you're awake," Ukitake commented, looking surprised. "I expected you might still be resting," he told her.

"Must have sensed you delightful Captains approach," Kirara replied quietly, a hand to her throbbing head.

"How are you feeling?" the pink haori-clad Captain beside his friend asked. Kirara met his gaze, and arched an eyebrow silently. "Right, stupid question," Kyoraku chuckled. "It's good to see you again Kirara, even in such circumstances," he gave a soft smile, and despite everything, Kirara found herself relaxing, in the presence of the two Captains she couldn't help but respect even now.

"Why are you here? I wouldn't have thought the Captain-Commander would allow it," Kirara didn't move from where she sat.

"He gave special permission due to the...situation," Ukitake told her. "Regarding Captain Aizen's death. We'd hoped you might know something about it," he said. Kirara snorted.

"If it hadn't been for his Lieutenant trying to kill me, blaming me for Sosuke's death, I wouldn't have known about it until Kuchiki mentioned it on the bridge," she shrugged, glancing away. "But I do know this. None of those idiots who've come to the Soul Society to break me out would have done it," Kirara told them seriously, meeting Ukitake's gaze.

"And why do you say that?" Kyoraku asked her curiously.

"Because Ichigo isn't that kind of person," Kirara said certainly.

"He incapacitated both the Lieutenant of Squad 6, and Captain of Squad 11," Kyoraku pointed out.

"Incapacitated. Not murder in cold blood," Kirara challenged. Kyoraku hummed as he realised she could be right.

"And no offence to the big guy, but he wouldn't have been strong enough to take out a Captain," the man muttered, more to himself than the other two there. Kirara frowned.

"Big guy?" she repeated, before her frown grew. "Tall, quiet, insanely strong for a human?" Kirara described, and Kyoraku nodded. "Dammit, he brought Chad along too? I'm going to kill Ichigo myself," she put a hand to her face as she felt the guilt rise up in her again.

"What about Shinji?" Kirara stopped at Ukitake's quiet question. "He knows his way around this place, could he have done it?" he challenged.

"No," Kirara answered honestly. "Because if Shinji had killed Sosuke, he wouldn't have made his body a public spectacle," she looked down at her hands. 'And if he'd somehow gotten the jump on the rat, there wouldn't be enough left of him to tell the tale,' she thought.

"But he does have reason to kill Captain Aizen?" Kirara froze at Kyoraku's next question. She looked up at him sharply, her eyes going wide. "That's what you inferred. Plus," Kyoraku's grey eyes pierced her. "You call him by his first name, even when we called him Captain," he accused her. Kirara swore internally. He'd caught on where nobody else had.

"You're asking me these things like there's a certainty to them," she finally got to her feet, brushing herself off.

"What? That the Ryoka are responsible?" Ukitake guessed.

"No," Kirara shook her head, an amused look on her face as she lifted her head. "That Sosuke is actually dead," this took both by surprise.

"Kirara...I saw Captain Aizen's body. Impaled to a wall with his own Zanpakuto," Kyoraku told her firmly.

"What could you possibly mean by him not being dead?" Ukitake pressed, baffled by her statement. Kirara rolled her eyes, turning away.

"I'm saying that Sosuke has been treating this place like his own damn puppet show!" she exclaimed, unable to keep it to herself any longer.

"Kirara?" Ukitake stared at the woman, who was quivering in her anger.

"He's planning something, just like last time," she shook her head, walking over to the wall.

"Last time?" Kyoraku parroted, and exchanged looks with Ukitake, who looked baffled. Then a memory filled his mind, and the man's eyes widened. "Kisuke Urahara," Kirara looked around sharply at the mention of the man. "He was arrested shortly before his disappearance, along with Captain Tsukibishi of the Kido Corps," he remembered. Kirara didn't speak, her eyes on him. "You can't be suggesting that Aizen had something to do with that," he shook his head. Kirara didn't speak, and he sighed. "I don't know what happened back then, but I can say with confidence that he wasn't involved. I saw him myself in the Seireitei that night," Kyoraku told her confidently.

"Did you really?" Kirara's soft question took him by surprise, and she looked away.

"I don't pretend to know what happened back then, to you or the others. In honesty, we believed you all to be dead," Kyoraku told her seriously. Kirara didn't look at him.

"Lisa misses you. Even if she calls you an idiot when she brings you up," the Captain jolted in surprise at the soft words.

"Kirara, what aren't you telling us?" Ukitake asked her, knowing there was much more to what Kirara knew. She didn't reply, keeping her gaze firmly on the wall. He glanced to Kyoraku, worried, but the man shrugged and sighed.

"I think we've gotten all the information we're going to get," he said, glancing to Kirara again. "Just so you know, we're appealing this with Central 46. It would be easier if you'd tell us what happened back then. We might be able to get you out," the Captain told her.

"Good luck with that," the scepticism in Kirara's voice was evident, and with another sigh, the two left. Kirara closed her eyes and fell to her knees, and as the door slid shut again, a sob wrestled it's way out and tears started trying to break free. She punched the wall, furious at not only herself, but everyone else too.

I'll be away from my PC for at least a week while I house-sit, so I won't be updating this for a little while as I won't have access to the episodes!

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